Eye Doctor

A few weeks back, I took Sage to the eye doctor. When she was born, she had dark spots on the whites of her eye. At her 3 year check-up, they seem to be a bit more noticeable. Dr. Elia suggested we got see a pediatric ophthalmologist up at OHSU to make sure they weren’t anything serious. Turns out, they are basically ‘freckles’ on her eyes and that she shouldn’t have any problems with vision or anything later in life. The only thing that was suggested was to wear sunglasses when outside.

I was so impressed with Sage and how she acted at the appointment. She did all of the tests so easily and loved going out to the waiting room to see the fishes. I am such a proud mom when she does so well at the doctors! Glad it ended up being nothing to worry about!

Here are a few very cute pictures :)

Birthday Celebrations

This past month has been a month full of birthday celebrations!!

On September 27th, we celebrated Mac's second birthday at the pumpkin patch! It was our first visit of the season and we had a great time.

Then we celebrated Finn's 1st birthday on October 1st over at the Bales house with cupcakes. That following Saturday, we celebrated at his first birthday party at Baggenstos pumpkin patch. We got another fun hay ride and more pumpkins to bring home. Both kids loved this place!

On October 11th, we celebrated Nolan's 3rd birthday at Tigard Play-park. This was a gym filled with all kinds of kids toys and play structures. We only brought Sage, as Evan was home sick with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a pretty cool spot to let the kids run wild!

On October 12th, we celebrated Laila's 3rd birthday at Build-a-Bear in the mall! This was pretty fun- Sage got to pick out a bear to name, stuff and dress up! She had a lot of fun doing that. 

PHEW!! We got through them all! Lots of birthday's for all the little special friends in our life! Happy Birthday to Mac, Finn, Nolan and Laila! We love you all little ones :)

Brushing Teeth

Sage does such a great job brushing her teeth! She is using a big girl toothbrush and toothpaste and is learning to rinse and spit! She watches herself in the mirror and all the “bubbles” the toothpaste creates. And it’s pink- an added bonus!

And naturally, Evan must be doing the same thing. He brushes his teeth and pretends to spit too. It’s probably one of my favorite parts of our morning routine. Getting them dressed is a very different story J

Duck Game

Brad and I were able to make it down to a Duck game this year, thanks to Mike and Lynda letting us have their tickets while they traveled!
I hadn't been to a game in two years! (how did that happen!?!) We had a lot of fun. We tailgated in a new spot- the Boy Scouts field and Autzen is very different with all kinds of changes! It was fun seeing it all.
We went down with our friends Ariel and Ben and had a good time tailgating and watching the Duck game.
Now, if only the outcome of the game was different, then it would have been perfect :(

Sick Days

The kids have not been feeling all that well the past two weeks. There was a day or two that Sage was not allowed at school because she had a runny nose! Bummer!
Evan never got to the point where he needed to miss school.
I brought Sage into work with me for a little bit on the one day I had to go pick her up! She had fun hanging out with me, pretending to work like me, on her iPad playing her "puzzle game"!
Here are a few pictures!

New School

Well, the kids started a new in-home daycare on August 25^th. It has been one hell of a month for Brad and I. I’ve taken some time off of blogging because of what was going on in our lives. But this blog is for us- to capture our moments, the good and the bad. I’m happy to share it with you, but this is our digital scrapbook, our avenue to share our life and to recap what has gone on.

The past 8 weeks have been difficult for us- there have been moments, actions and words that have hurt us deeply. We are working hard on trying to heal, but, for me at least, I still struggle. I can’t speak for Brad. We deal with things differently.

One of the things that we have dealt with is losing our amazing Nanny, Mandie. We never wanted to lose Mandie. We never wanted our kids to not see her every day. At times, we often wonder how we even got to this point. It started out as Brad and I being concerned about our kids and then seem to spiral out of control. No one saw eye-to-eye on anything and the result was us having to leave Mandie.

We are so blessed to have had Mandie raise our kids the past two years- she was the best thing for them when they were just babies! We absolutely love her- she became family to us. We miss seeing her every day.

But, there is light at the end of this tunnel. We found an in-home daycare. Just three blocks down the road from us. A co-worker, who knew of our situation, found a posting of our new school and sent me the information. I called right away and set up a meeting to visit. Tracey came with me to interview and we both walked away feeling very good about the daycare and Miss Sandra who ran it. Brad and I went two days later with the kiddos and sealed the deal.

When I first interviewed with Miss Sandra, she was comforting ME about our situation. She had made me feel better about everything. I knew she was the perfect fit if she could comfort me- she would be the best comfort to Sage and Evan.

It’s been 4 weeks since we started with Miss Sandra. The first 3 weeks were extremely rough. Lots of tears. LOTS. It was a huge transition for us. Everything changed. Everything! Each part of the kids day was different. Even when they were home, we were developing a new routine. Each day was hard. And I think it broke us more than the kids.

But today- today there are no more tears. Today, we wake up and start our morning routine. Each part of their day seems to be a routine. They know what is coming next. And Sage and Evan do everything together. They are excited to go see Miss Sandra and their friends. They run to the car- not kidding!

It’s glorious!! They are thriving!

This was not the direction we ever wanted to go, but I’m a true believe that “Everything happens for a reason”.  We hated going through it, but we knew there was a reason. Right now, I can see a “reason” and I’m sure I’ll see many more “reasons” as the years go by. I can already see a difference in Sage and Evan. She is more outgoing, she loves playing with all the kids and talks to anyone she meets. Evan is doing everything on his own (he’s tooo young to be a little boy!!) and he is talking so much more and even tries to sing when Sage sings J

I’m also thankful for the support we got from our family. My mom and dad both calling to check in on us and how the kids were doing in those first several days and weeks was comforting to Brad and I. And Mandie who was always checking up on the kiddos. And so thankful for Tracey who was there to help us talk through the ideas of a daycare school setting for the kids and interviewing with me! Getting feedback from her being a teacher was so important and really helped us make the right decision!

And I’m not sure how I would have gotten through every day without Alicia, who checked in with me, who answered my phone calls every day and even let me come over a few times to cry on her shoulder.

This experience has definitely stretched Brad and I in our parenting, among other things. I’m thankful that we’ve remained united and agreed on every situation we are dealing with.

We’ve enjoyed this time that we spent just focusing on us, the kids and getting priorities in order! 

Home Videos

Here are just a few of my favorite videos of the kiddos these past several weeks.

Sage turns 3!!!

We cannot believe Sage turned 3 years old last Sunday!! I can’t believe it was 3 years ago we had her little tiny self in our arms!

I LOVE Sage’s birthday- more than my own! Her and Evan’s birthday mean the most to me- it was the day our amazing children became what we would live for!!

What was SOO fun about this year for Sage is that she REALLY understood what a  birthday was- and that it was her birthday and she was turning 3. We started talking about it a few days leading up to it. We would ask her if she wanted an ‘Elsa Birthday’ or a ‘Minnie Birthday’ (thanks to all of my family in town who celebrated Sage and gave her all presents FORZEN!!), she naturally chose an Elsa Birthday. And she would get soo excited for it every time she put her Elsa dress on. We would talk about her birthday by telling her all her friends that were going to be there – she was so excited and listed her friends off to us (too cute!!)

When the day arrived, we would sing to her all day long, letting her know about her big party and all the presents she’ll get to open. She always had a big smile on her face!

We had such a fun party- and I thought the theme was a lot of fun. I actually did a whole theme and lots of décor. Brad even made a blue cake with purple icing (delicious!). Sage loved it!! She opened the door to our first guests (the Bales family!) and said “Hi, it’s my bifday!!”

She was so excited for her cake and was beaming with pure happiness when we sang to her (versus last year when she cried!) and she had fun blowing out her candles.

It’s going to be so fun when Evan starts realizing what his birthday means too!

We appreciate and thank everyone who made an effort to come to the party and Sage loved talking to Popi and Gangy on the phone- telling them “it’s my Elsa Birthday”.

So, Happy 3^rd Birthday to our adorable, silly, beautiful, funny little Elsa princess! You are our world- and we love you so very much! Excited for next year  (funny, when you become a parent, how much more excited you are about your kids birthday, than your own!) I’m hoping to do a Minnie Mouse party next year J