Not The Best Day

Yesterday Gavyn was just not himself. Sleepy, cranky and not wanting to eat as much. At first I thought maybe another growth spurt except for the eating less. This morning he had a tiny wheeze after he would cough so I decided to take him to the Doc. On the way Nevin let out a terrible cough as well. When we got there I asked if they would have time to look at Nevin as well and they said they could squeeze them both in.

You have to picture me doing this as well, by myself...

Baby not happy. Boys getting energy as the day starts. Me trying to get everyone dressed and fed and out the door. Get to the doc's office and park close by. Get Gav in the baby sling, hold Nev's hand, Sky walks. Make it to the door, Sky opens the door like a little gentleman since both of my hands are full. Sign in. Get called back. Nevin throws himself on the floor screaming because he doesn't want to leave the toys. Baby in the sling, Skyler walking back to the rooms, trying to pick Nevin up. Get back to the room. Set Nevin on the table and get his shoes and shirt off. Take baby out of sling and get him undressed. Carry baby out to scale and both boys take off in the opposite direction. The nurse takes Gav, I grab the other two. Get baby weighed. Nurse hands baby to me. Nevin won't stand on the scale. Pick Nev up and put him on the baby scale. Finally make it back to the room. Somehow the doc got both of them checked over, Gav screamed while he got checked, Nev yelled while he got checked, Skyler starred at everyone. Find out Baby just has a bad cold and there is not a lot to do but wait it out. Nev has a double ear infection and we need to get meds. Make it out to the counter, get stickers and cookies, out to the car. Once we got in the car I dropped the script off, got home, unloaded, fed the baby, loaded back up, picked up the script, got home, gave the meds, made lunch.

Oddly enough Nevin has been in a really great mood all day! He and Skyler have been playing together, building Lego's, crashing cars, watched the movie Cars. Every now and again the poor guy will grab his ears and let out a cry. After a short cuddle he is fine though.

Poor Gavyn is not doing so hot though. Back and forth from being OK to crying. Eating fine, crying and not wanting to eat. Sleeping and waking up. It wears a mommy out. On top of it I start worrying about his shunt not working right. I keep reminding myself that the NeuroSurg warned me this would happen, anytime something is wrong you will think it is the shunt and 95% of the time it will be something else.

Just another day at the Stanley house...

Arrrgg!

Today is the day of Pirates. I feel the need to go buy big hats, eye patches and rum...

No internet!

Holy Cow we lost Internet for awhile and it was no fun! I think I had withdrawals from no blogging....

It has been a very busy week around the Stanley House.

Tuesday... Playdate with our good friends Melissa and her baby girl Violet in the morning. It was so nice to just hang out at the house, play with babies and big boys, catch up on things and talk about how Mom's don't seem to get as much credit and encouragement as they should. That night Ryan's brother and his wife Patty along with Ryan's parents all came over for dinner. It was really nice to have the whole family together. It seems like we usually see just his parents or just Andrew and Patty. I am one of those people who loves to have the whole family together and things to be sort of loud and crazy. I always thought I would have like 4 or 5 kids and when they were all grown they would all be married with 2 or 3 kids and Christmas at my big house would be loud and fun. Hopefully in 20 years we will have a bigger house so if all my boys are married with 2 or 3 kids we can all fit in the house together!

Wednesday was a nice break in the week. No one came over, we only ran out for about 2 minutes to drop off recycling. Just me and my boys playing at home and catching up on cleaning and laundry.

Thursday was a playdate at our friends the Biber's house. They have two little kiddos, Eli 4 and Grace 3 who just crack me up! They both say the funniest things and are just great kids. Skyler has so much fun playing with Eli and they are so excited to go to school together in the Fall. Thursday night we went to Kirkwood for the free concerts they have right by the old train station. The company my Mom works for just started a charitable group to build orphanages in Hatti. All the money raised that night is helping them make a difference in the lives of the kids down in Hatti. It is really awesome everything they are doing. The people that my Mom works for are just amazing people that have become a second family.

Friday my parents had a new shed built in the backyard. Of course I took the boys over for the day to watch the construction and play with Grandma, Pa Pa and Uncle Matt. They kept the 2 big boys while Gav had his 4 month check up. That night we co-hosted a Pampered Chef party that did awesome! I have to pick out all the free product I am going to get. Exciting!

Today brings Speech Therapy for Nevin, church tonight and a small group for marrieds this evening. And tomorrow is all about Pirates with a Pirate themed birthday party for one of Skyler's good friends and our neighbors are having a BBQ to celebrate the new pirate ship that Shawn built for their son Logan in the backyard! Eye patches here we come.

Monday, Monday

Today was a busy but good day! Mom has taken Monday's and Friday's off during the Summer from her job to help me make it through all the doctor appointments. Give me some help to catch up on things that are getting pushed to the back burner.

On the list today was grocery shopping with Skyler, Cardinal Glennon EEG test done for Gavyn, cooking dinner with Nevin.

Skyler and I left around 9:30 this morning to hit up Aldi for our weekly grocery shopping trip. We did not need a lot put once we hit the produce section both of us sort of lost control of the list! Everything looked sooo good and I love when Skyler asks to get fresh produce over chips and chocolate. It is hard to say no when he wants to try Cherries, Strawberries and Blueberries! Of course we bought them all, plus green beans, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, spinach and apples. And I can't forget the peaches!

Once we got home it was time for Gavyn to have his bottle and then lunch time for the rest of us. Skyler wanted to try the blueberries, he was talking about how Curios George loved blueberries and he happily popped one in his mouth. Unfortenetly George must have lied to him about them being so good because he got a sour look on his face and spit it into his hand.
"I don't like that!" he declared.
Oh well, here's to trying! Thankfully Nevin really enjoyed them and I love them so they won't be going to waste.

Next Gav had his appointment and that was a 3 hour trip to Cardinal Glennon but all seemed to go good. We won't hear anything for a couple days.

Skyler helped me snap the beans for dinner. Nevin sat on the kitchen table and "talked" to me while I cut up the strawberries, he was excited, they are his favorite. Ryan was excited as well, we had cheeseburgers and those are one of his favorite. I always season them with salt, pepper, basil and garlic. Oh man... dinner was good!

After you eat good food you must go work it off. Got my butt kicked at bootcamp while Dad held down the fort with the 3 boys. Everyone was happy and ready for bed when I got back home. I love all my little men. And so thankful for a husband who put 3 boys to bed, cleaned up the kitchen AND cut the grass tonight! Spoiled...

Father's Day Breakfast

I woke up at 6am (I normally do with baby Gav) this Father's Day morning and started to plan the breakfast fest.

Nevin sat on the kitchen table and watched me get everything ready for the Sugar-Top Coffeecake

He did not like the noise of the mixer though!

While the coffeecake cooked we started preparing the French Toast and eggs.

Sugar Top Coffeecake
1 1/2c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 tblsp. butter, softened
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tblsp. flour
2 tblsp. butter, melted

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.
In large bowl using mixer at medium speed, beat sugar, vanilla, egg and 1 tblsp. butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in sour cream until well blended.
Reduce speed to low; beat in dry ingredients until well blended. Pour batter into greased 8x8 pan.
Use a small bowl and stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and 2 tblsp. flour. Add 2 tblsp. melted butter; mix until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter.
Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until cake is browned and toothpick comes out clean from center.

Cinnamon French Toast

3 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tblsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
8 slices of bread

In a pie plate mix eggs, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended. Quickly dip bread slices into mixture, turning to coat both sides.
Place toast on well-greased hot griddle. Bake turning once, until toast is golden brown on both sides.

Meet the Men in my Life

Skyler Chase is my oldest. I still have a hard time believing that he is 4 years old and not still my tiny baby riding around in the baby sling. He has a zest for life that is hard to keep up with. The great outdoors are his playground, he loves to go to his Grandma and Grandpa Stanely's house and run around in their woods and play in the creek. He gets his mechanical mind from his Grandpa Miesner, putting trains together, trying to fix things around the house, building towers. We are an artsy family and he has just taken to painting with water colors. He can sit at the kitchen table for long periods of time painting pictures in his coloring book. Our bathroom is magically turned into China on more than one occasion and his aspiring hero right now is to be the little boy from the movie Up and travel the world.

Nevin Lucas is my second born and a little cuddle bug. For a 2 year old who doesn't talk yet he sure can get a point across. He is learning to stand up for himself against his big brother but he is still a baby at heart. Cars, planes and trains are some of his favorite things. He loves to make your arm, head, stomach the road for his automotive. Animals are one of his favorite things. Our dog Peanut (a 50lb. Peanut!) is one of his greatest joys. We got Peanut when she was only 6 weeks and Nevin was almost 1. She was small enough to sit in his lap, now he sits in hers. They are a cute couple. Nevin is the most compassionate person in our family, he is always ready to offer a hug and kiss to make it all better. Yet he is still 2 and ready for battle and stubborn when he wants his own way.



Gavyn Elliot is my third born and 4 months today and already a little trickster. When I was pregnant I knew this was how he was going to be. On Thanksgiving I had some tiny spotting (I was due February 19th) and realized I was going to need to take it easy for this pregnancy. By the end of December I was positive this baby was going to come early and my midwife gave me very strict orders to take it easy. Of course being a young mom of two little wild men and a rambunctious puppy this was easier said than done. We did manage to cool our jets the best we could and by 37 weeks we were geared up for baby to arrive. Of course by 37 weeks Gavyn had cooled his jets and decided he wanted to stay put until his actual due date, he would be right on time!

These are my little men and I love them all more than I thought was humanly possible.

It's all new and fancy

You may already read my other blog: processinggavyn.blogspot.com This new fancy blog is more about our day to day lives and just whatever I feel like writing down. Keep track and try to keep up it is a crazy life at the Stanley's!