Wiggle!

So, Jack just turned 4 last weekend, reminding Amy and I that we no longer have any babies.  The boys are growing up so fast it is ridiculous!  Today we were given yet another momentous reminder - Braeden lost his first tooth!  I know right?


See yesterday morning on the way to school he was talking about loose teeth and asking questions.  Amy and I just thought he was curious, I had just asked if they'd remembered to brush their teeth that morning.  Then, later that day his teacher came and told me that he totally freaked out about it in class.  After more tears it seems as though the problem was that he was terrified that he would have to go to the dentist to have the tooth pulled.  I have to bear some blame for his fear of the dentist.  I hate the dentist, but we never talk negatively about it so it must be inherited or something.  Anyway, then he got sick and that seemed to take over our thoughts, and blog posts.  Today though I got a text from Amy that it had fallen out!  The culprit?  A french fry!  He is totally alright with the idea now and Jack is quite impressed and in awe of his big brother.





The tooth is safely stored in the never-before-used Tooth Fairy Pillow awaiting her arrival tonight.  He really wanted a toy instead of money, but we informed him that toys are big and the tooth fairy is small so we are not sure she could carry a toy.  His solution?  He wrote a letter to her asking her to give him money so he could buy a toy!  Too cute!  Now we wait and see if she comes through, but I have a feeling she will come!  :)

Crazy how life goes though, we totally are shocked by the sudden realization that we have a child old enough to lose teeth!  We thought for sure he would go at least until the end of Kindergarten or the beginning of First Grade before he started to lose them!  But sadness over their ability to grow up so quickly aside, I am so ready for tons of cute gap-toothed pictures!  

All is well, with one less tooth, in Drosche Land.

 Here he is!  Proudly showing it off!

 Too cute right?  We got it long ago when Braeden was first born!  I am so excited to finally use it!

The tooth!  Excuse the writing on my hand, I got gas this morning and the pump was out of receipt paper!  

Something Wicked

This way has come. As in a plague upon our house. A curse. Some kind of abomination on the inhabitants of Drosche Land. See tonight, just when we thought things might settle down, Braeden gets sick. Yes, you read that correctly. Yet another dramatic medical malady (like the alliteration?) has befallen us. We went about our day as planned and all seemed normal. After Braeden's practice tonight, however, he looked droopy and was whiny, complaining about pretty much everything and, of course, saying he didn't feel good. Sure enough, he has a fever. This should have come to no surprise to us as Amy has been predicting this for a few days, since Jack got better in fact. Never mess with a mother's intuition I guess. So, yet another member of the family, 2 actually, will be home tomorrow as Amy is staying with Braeden. We are hoping it is just tomorrow, that by some stroke of luck it will pass and not be like the illness Jack experienced. However, we are also preparing for the fact that he will be out Friday as well. The worst part is that he has his very first field trip of the school year that day! That and he will miss his first night game tomorrow, he was so excited about having a night game. Bummer!

So, in case you are keeping track, we have been in school for exactly 30 days as of today. In that time at least one of us has been home at least one day a week for the entire year. There has not been one full week when we have all been at school together for the entire week. The first full week of school Amy hurt her shoulder and I missed work with her to go to the doctor. The week after that Braeden was out sick. The week after that was Amy's surgery, with the following week being her recovery. Then there was last week when Jack was out for half the week. And now we have Braeden out. Crazy. I'm not sure what we did wrong, who we angered, or how we stumbled upon this curse, but we've got to get rid of it. Cure ourselves or at least pass it along to some other unsuspecting family. Amy is joking that we need to get all old-school, Bible-style and offer up some goats or lambs as unblemished sacrifices!

Seriously though, something's got to give because I am not sure how much longer we can go on this way! Neither of us are in the position to work from home. Not unless teaching via iChat or Skype becomes an option! Until then I guess we are left with prayers and dealing with it one day at a time. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow brings a miraculous cure and we can resume our daily adventures. We shall see.

All is well, possibly cursed and searching for a goat, in Drosche Land.

Sunday Snapshot - T-Ball & Cake

Well, today Jackson actually turned 4!  I can't believe it, where has the time gone?  He woke up so excited and ready for the day, constantly commenting throughout the day that it was his 4th birthday!  He was adorable!  After church we headed to his choice of lunch: Chuck E. Cheese!  Pizza and games made his day.  Then it was off to Crave for some special birthday cupcakes.  We started this tradition last year on my birthday.  After Amy's surgery she cannot eat many sweets and a big cake is just too much for the 4 of us.  So, we make a special trip to Crave on each birthday and we get our own cupcakes.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home because yesterday proved to be full for us all and we were (and still are) rapidly approaching exhaustion!  But the excitement of a birthday keeps us going.  I made his cookie cake to take to school tomorrow, complete with Batman candy decorations.  At least I got to make something!  But it was an awesome day and he truly enjoyed himself with everything we did.  

So, as promised here are pictures of this weekend's special festivities.  2 boys.  2 special events.  Here are some highlights.  Enjoy!

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

 #8 for the Padres!

 Seriously waiting on 2nd base!

 On the pitcher's mound!

Ready to bat!

 

 Run!

 The happy birthday boy!

 One of his favorite presents - his Captain America costume!

 Rio!

 Fun at Chuck E. Cheese!

Yum!

 

What A Day!

Well, today was quite the eventful day here in Drosche Land.  2 boys, both with big events going on.  Today was Braeden's first T-Ball game and Jackson's 4th birthday party.  We were worried about how today would go this past week because Jack was home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with a wicked fever virus.  I stayed home with him on Wednesday and Thursday, Amy took Friday.  I was fearful that the party would be cancelled any my baby wouldn't get his party.  See, not everyone could make it tomorrow for his actual birthday and next weekend is even busier (hard to imagine) than this.  Luckily he got over the illness yesterday and today could go ahead as planned.  I'm glad because he gets his party and also because we had ordered a Costco cake (yes, another birthday goes by without me getting to make a cake) and while I do love me some cake, what would the four of us have done with a ginormous chocolate cake?  I don't need that kind of guilt!

From the moment we woke up both the boys were practically vibrating with excitement, each awaiting his own big moment.  I lost count of the number of times we were asked how much longer until the game/party!  But it was cute to see them both so happy and eager for their time to shine.

Now, I'm not going to brag (much) about Braeden, but he did an awesome job at T-Ball today!  I'll admit, to no surprise, that he gets none of his athletic ability from me.  Stop nodding your head, I know it's true.  But the boy does well in sports.  Also, he was super cute in his uniform, go Padres!  He was on first base at the beginning of the game and did a really good job.  He truly understands the game and the way everything works, yet again a benefit from his avid sports-watching and studying!  I see tons of ESPN in his future!  When he was at bat he hit the ball on the first try (not that I was counting all the players' attempts) and when he was at bat again later on only the 2nd try. (again, not counting).  The only down side to the game was the oppressive heat and lack of shading.  But such it life.  It looks like we have an exciting season ahead of us with Braeden once again jumping head first into a sport!

Having Jack's party on the same day meant our family got to be there for both of the boys' adventures.  Everyone followed, caravan-style, back to our house for Jack's party.  The theme was Batman as he is a huge fan of pretty much every superhero.  The birthday boy's menu?  Chicken nuggets, potato chips and onion dip, and grapes!  He's easy to please!  It looked as though I would get to make my first-ever birthday cake.  Jack chose me over Costco.  Amy helped me plan out my Batman logo cake and I was all set.  Then last weekend Jack informed us that he wanted a Costco cake instead.  Dang!  Oh well, there's always next year's birthdays.  Luckily I get to make a cookie cake for Jack to take to school on Monday, that will have to do.  Some day, one of them is going to let me make a birthday cake, I'm holding out hope!  The party was a success and he loved his gifts.  The top gifts were definitely his Captain America costume and his camera!  I think he may have inherited my love of picture-taking!  Within an hour or so he, and his cousins, had taken 240 pictures (more than my 224 of the entire day)!  Granted many were blurry and indecipherable, but he loves it.  He also loves his costume which is complete with muscles and a shield (which he adorably calls a shelld).  

All in all it was a wonderful day.  Crazy busy and exhausting, but great.  Everyone is asleep but me.  I wanted to blog and of course go through my 224 pictures.  I'm proud to say I was able to whittle it down to just 98.  Not too bad for one day.  I know you are wondering where they are, well not all 98 but the highlights.  Well, you will just have to check back tomorrow for the Sunday Snapshot.  Of course, given the number of pictures and the fact that it was a big day for both boys, there will be many pictures so I guess it will be a Sunday Snapshots post!

So, the day is now coming to a close and after the excitement has died down I realize that between the T-Ball game and 4th birthday party both of my boys grew up a bit more today.  Sometimes it seems as though it is happening so fast!  I'm running, with camera in hand, to catch up.  My sadness over this though somewhat dissipates when I see the joy in their faces.  I'm so proud of them both.  They are awesome!

All is well, post-game and after party, in Drosche Land. 

Caffeination Domination

So, it's no secret that I have a deep and abiding love/addiction for coffee.  I drink several cups every day.  The barista at the Starbucks near our house recognizes me, although admittedly I only go when I have gift cards.  My favorite coffee?  That's a hard one, I like all kinds really but I do enjoy bolder brews and fall/winter flavors (Pumpkin Spice anyone?).  How do I take it, I'm easy here too - just Splenda (or any sweetener if that's not available).  No creamer or milk, just black.  This goes back to when I was on WeightWatchers and avoided this to save points and calories.  My usual at Starbucks is a Trenta (I nearly leapt for joy when they added that size) iced coffee with 2 shots of espresso and 6 Splenda instead of the syrup.  YUM!

Why blog about coffee, well there is a reason aside from my joy over it.  4 years ago I was blessed to receive a Keurig machine from Amy.  At that time the single-cup brewers were just coming out and the K-Cups were hard to find, only on the Internet and at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I was instantly hooked and have not looked back since.  I do occasionally use regular coffee via the My K-Cup, but mostly I love to experiment with new brews, brands, and flavors.  Regular coffee, iced coffee, tea, iced tea, cider, hot chocolate!  The possibilities are endless, mind-boggling, and delicious.  A few months ago though our trusty Keurig began to show its age.  It was brewing half-cups, making a lot of noise, the "Descale" light was flashing, and the coffee was not tasting up to par.  Our dear friend was at the end of its usable life.  I was sad, Amy was not nearly as affected as I was, but she was disappointed too.  She does enjoy her daily iced coffee courtesy of the Keurig.  We (mainly I) immediately started looking into a suitable replacement.  Our first thoughts went to Kohl's, our favorite department store by far.  They have the best prices, sales, and coupons.  It was a matter of entering a waiting game.  When would the trifecta of sale, coupon, and Kohl's cash become available.  Well folks, last week our dream became a reality as we got an incredible deal on their top-of-the-line model!  

Its beautiful.  5 cup sizes, 60 oz. capacity in the water tank, fully programmable, and it came with coffee!  Needless to say, caffeinated joy has returned to Drosche Land.  We put our old one out to pasture with a simple "Well done, good and faithful servant".  Complete happiness is once again just a button away.  I've even included a picture of the new one below, I'm that proud.  If you love coffee and haven't tried Keurig you must!  Run, don't walk, and get one NOW!  If you hurry I think the Kohl's sale is still going on!  Happy brewing!

All is well, fully caffeinated, in Drosche Land.

Isn't she a beaut?!  By the way, I LOVE the Instagram app!

Sunday Snapshot - Quench

This weekend something happened.  Something common and natural but something so very special.  It rained.  Might not sound like much, but given the severe drought conditions we are under and the wildfires raging across the state, this was a much-needed blessing.  The fires haven't been close enough to our house to be a threat, but on two occasions we've had ashes falling from the sky.  Since June we've had maybe one big storm, the rogue one a few weeks ago that did in the canopy on our gazebo.  Other than that it has been hot and dry.  The heat and 3-digit temperatures have scorched and killed our grass.  It's been brown and crispy here for a good while.  

So it wasn't a problem when T-Ball practice yesterday was rained out, or our subsequent impromptu jaunt to the park cut short.  We even said a prayer of thanksgiving in the car while driving through the deluge.  This morning we awoke to the sound of rain and it was beautiful.  Hopefully this weekend's storms are the sign of some changes in the weather as next week we will be in a "cold" front, only getting into the low '90s.  How crazy is it when low '90s are exciting!  It's even rumored that toward the end of the week we could see highs in the '80s!  Looks like the weather may cooperate with the upcoming arrival of fall after all.  In the meantime we will enjoy the lingering puddles and drops from our blessing from above.

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

 Rain on the deck, at least I know the water repellent worked!

 Our pear tree in the back yard, many leaves curled and thirsty!

 Amy's roses in the front

 More roses!

 Evidence of our overnight and early morning showers!

A beautiful sunrise!

Recovery - 2

Well, yet another busy week held me from blogging, against my will!  But I am here, with the constant hope to return to frequent posts.  Until then it seems as though the "week in review" format is what we get!  

Tuesday Amy went to the doctor for her follow-up.  The news wasn't as good as we had been hoping for.  She really did a number on her shoulder, ripping the ligaments and cartilage from both the front and back of her shoulder.  In addition to repairing this, they had to shorten her ligaments because they were so stretched out.  There was also a fracture caused by the dislocation that they had to deal with.  In short, he pretty much had to rebuild her shoulder joint.  What does this cringe-worthy news mean for her?  Well, 4 more weeks in the sling, taking it off only for showers.  After that she will begin physical therapy that will focus on loosening her ligaments (since they will be tight from the shortening) and increasing her range of movement.  I'm hoping by Christmas she will be back to normal, for the most part.  Only time will tell though so we will see.

Once more I am amazed by her fortitude as she deals with the pain and begins to slowly get back into her usual life.  We were also further blessed this week as more friends and coworkers provided us with meals.  Amazing.  HE really does have a way of bringing good from the bad.  So, Amy returns to work on Monday and we will see how she does.  Mentally she is ready, physically she is still working on it.  But, as I've said before, she is a trooper and will do well.  She is eager to get back to her job and her girls.  Returning to work will mean she is now fully on the road to recovery and our lives will slowly begin to get back to normal.  Hopefully the next shoulder-themed post will come in a month when she has to begin physical therapy.  That's the idea at least!

All is well, continuing to recover, in Drosche Land. 

Sunday Snapshot - Ready & Willing

Yes, I know I just posted but did you really think I was going to miss 2 Sunday Snapshot posts in a row?  No way!  They are some of my favorites and gives me a reason to use my camera.  So, on with this one!  The title refers to my Jack who, as of late, is always eager to be the subject of my shutter-happy addiction!  These are some of him from Braeden's first T-Ball practice where he was so cute and willing to oblige me.  It's how we kept each other occupied when our eyes weren't glued to the field watching Braeden.  The funniest part was that after every picture I took (that he caught me taking at least) he insisted on viewing it.  Guess he wanted total editorial control over his images!  He's a handful, he's goofy, he's sweet, and he's gentle at heart.  He's Jack.

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

 He enjoyed popping up from under the bleachers!

 He caught me trying to get a candid shot!

 Didn't catch me this time!

 It was his idea for me to take pictures of him charging toward me!  Very Jack!

My favorite!

 

Recovery

So, it's been a few days since I last posted but we've been busy here in Drosche Land.  As the title suggests, Amy has been recovering from her shoulder surgery and I have been nursing her back to health.  Ok, so that sounds a bit dramatic, but I have been working hard to try and help as much as I can.  

Her surgery was Wednesday morning and I took the day off obviously, to go with her.  It went well and was an easy, routine shoulder surgery.  The ligaments were torn pretty badly, but (according to the doctor) the tissue was healthy and in good shape, making the repair easy.  I brought her back home and watched over her and helped while she spent the remainder of the day in a haze from the pain medicine.  I then decided to stay home with her again on Thursday because her mobility was, and still is somewhat, extremely limited.  Adam came to spend the night that night and stayed with Amy on Friday while the boys and I returned to school.  This weekend we stayed home with the exception of Braeden's T-Ball practice and a trip to Walgreens to get the Sunday paper.  

Her recovery was slow at first, mainly because Amy does not do well with pain medication.  She was lethargic and sick to her stomach for the first couple of days.  But of course the catch-22 is that the pain is worse so she must take the medicine.  Today was the first day that she has been able to go for long periods of time without the medicine, managing the pain on her own with rest and ice.  Tomorrow she will be home by herself and I think she's ready.  There are enough leftovers for her to eat and she can relax on the couch so she doesn't have to worry about the stairs.  Tuesday she has her follow-up appointment with her doctor and her Mom is going to go with her to that.  We are hoping that the bandages get removed and she gets permission to take the sling off at least a little each day.  We also expect to hear something about plans for her physical therapy.  So, while we may not have been busy with stuff, we have been busy.  Today has been the best day by far so hopefully that is a sign that she is officially on the road to a good recovery.

Possibly the best thing that has come from this has been the outpouring of thoughts,prayers, and actions from our family, friends, and coworkers.  We have had constant emails, Facebook messages, and calls to check on Amy as well as several meals given to us so we wouldn't have to worry about that.  It's common knowledge that Amy is the culinary-gifted member of the family.  I prefer to keep my kitchen talents focused on the boxed and frozen varieties of meals!  This all shouldn't have been a surprise to us because we experience similar actions several times over the past year as Amy underwent her gastric-bypass surgery, broken tailbone, and then the adhesions surgery.  Our family is great, always there.  Our family at Trinity is the same way.  We are truly blessed and are humbled by and grateful for everything.  It just goes to show that good can come from anywhere or anyone at anytime, no matter how bad the situation may be.  

All is well, blessed and healing, in Drosche Land.

Play Ball!

Well, as promised here are some of the pictures I took last night at Braeden's first T-Ball practice.  I was able to narrow the collection down to 54, taking out duplicates and ones that weren't good, blurry, bad lighting, etc.  But still, 54!  For just one practice!  I see another situation similar to last spring's soccer season when I took over 400 pictures!  But hey, memories right?  It is times like this though that make me grateful for digital images.  If not for this technology I would be in severe debt due to film processing!  Here are some of my favorites from last night.  I debated saving some for this Sunday but I am sure I will have more or something else come up, I'm already thinking!  Some of these are just perfect as-is and some I have edited and played around with a bit.  Braeden, as you can see, clearly enjoyed himself and I am over the moon excited that he did!  He is continuing to work on coming out of that crazy shell of his!  Jack enjoyed running around and being Jack!  He had fun and luckily Amy had the foresight to bring a glove and ball for him.  So, here they are, enjoy!  There will be plenty more to share over the coming months!

All is well, having a ball, in Drosche Land.

 Even through the fence the pictures turned out good, love my camera!

 Field #8, our home away from home for a while!

Jack was up for being my subject during the practice!

 

 I don't know why, but I just love this one.

Adorable, working on his pitch!

 

 The newest member of the Padres!

 Team huddle time!

 Jack would be playing then see me and stop and pose.  He would then run over to view the picture before going back to playing!  He knows his camera-happy daddy!

 How cute is he in this helmet!  It was borrowed, we have to buy our own before the next practice!

This is my absolute favorite from last night!  That is Braeden in the distance and Jack was enthralled with watching.  It is a great brotherly love shot!

 

Weekend in Review

So, I thought that with the long weekend I would be able to get some blogging done about the things going on around here. Guess I thought wrong. Well, technically it is still the weekend, although not for much longer. I should be heading to bed but wanted to post so I altered the priorities. True to form the extended weekend was busy and full of fun. Though we didn't have too much going on, for once, we still seemed to keep moving.

Saturday we spent the entire day at Amy's Mom's house as I worked with Adam to repair the fence in her backyard. Hurricane Ike got to it a few years ago and it was beyond any further rigging and needed replacement. Luckily it wasn't too unbearably hot, like last weekend's 109! It was only in the mid '90s. I can't even begin to fathom the fact that I'm speaking of the low '90s as a cool relief when it comes to temperature, but alas such is the case when you've been over 100 for more days than you care to keep track of. It was lots of fun and super productive. Turns out I'm not too bad at using a post digger, who knew? Add that to the list of home improvement things I can do!

Sunday we stayed at home with the intention of doing a bunch of nothing. I am proud to say that we did succeed! We had my parents over for dinner but had to grill hamburgers inside because of the ridiculously string winds. I'll take a side note here to state that the winds from these past few days plus a freakishly strong storm from about 2 weeks ago have ravaged the canopy on our gazebo. Yeah, the one I installed and bolted to the deck I built this summer. Oh well, such is life I guess. I think it's still in decent enough shape to provide shade until I can think of future plans. A replacement canopy is a seemingly over-priced option so we shall see.

Today we spent one more day at home but were actually quite busy. It has become a tradition of ours to put up our Halloween decorations during the Labor Day weekend and this year was no exception. Yes, I know it is super early, but who doesn't love a good Halloween season? It all started because it is one of the only times in the upcoming busy months that we will have to do it. I love to decorate the house for the holidays and this is the beginning of it all. We will change decorations out several times over the coming months, ending with Easter before Amy gets to have her house decorations-free for a few months again! After that we cleaned out the boys' closet, again! This time going through clothes and transitioning out the ones they are too big for. This also serves as a sad reminder that the boys are growing up all too quickly! Lastly, tonight was Braeden's first T-Ball practice! He was super excited, me not so much. Baseball is my least favorite sport (although that's not saying much) and I wasn't too keen on a 7:15 pm practice. Turns out it was shorter than we excepted and our practices won't normally be so late. Toss in the fact that the fields are about 10 minutes from our house and it wasn't too bad. Braeden thoroughly enjoyed himself and it seems as though he is going to have a great season! Our next practice is this Saturday and we have a helmet and pants to get before then. We always knew he was a sports fanatic, but turns out he isn't too bad at baseball, he took to it pretty quickly, just like he did to soccer! I took tons of pictures but since it's late and I'm blogging via the iPad, I'll have them ready for another post.

So, I think that's about it. I never did get any great pictures taken for a Sunday Snapshot and was going to use the ones from Braeden's first practice but it's late and getting further away from Sunday, so sadly I will have to skip this week. I'll be back though next week, I promise. Just have to start thinking about what the subject will be. Amy's surgery is still scheduled for Wednesday, barring any further insurance drama so that's the big adventure coming up for us. Hopefully all will go well and we can get things back to normal as soon as possible. Other than that though it appears to be a normal busy week here for us in Drosche Land! We will see what it brings.

All is well, caught up, in Drosche Land.

The Verdict

Ok, so I have been gone for a few days, but it is not because the events here are slowing or we are lacking in the adventure department. Quite the opposite, things have been so busy that by the time I can sit and blog I am to tired to actually do so. But today I've decided to suck it up and post because I've been missing it so. Plus I needed to update on the situation with Amy's shoulder. So, last I posted we were awaiting the results of her MRI. Well, we got them and it wasn't exactly the news we were hoping for. She needs surgery. Again. See, when Amy does something she doesn't just dabble or do it lightly. No, she goes in with both guns blazing. Such is the case apparently with her medical mishaps as well! She did quite a number on her shoulder, tearing ligaments. But not just tearing them mind you, oh no, that's too common-place for my beloved. No, she tore them off the bone. Hence the aforementioned bone fragments from the prior x-rays. The best way to explain it is to think of when you take tape off of a piece of paper and it brings with it some little bits of the paper. Such was the case with her ligaments and bones. Yikes. It still makes me cringe to thing about it!

However, we were once again given the choice to opt out of surgery because of her age. But the doctor, a new one now, did inform her that allowing it to heal on its own without surgery could very well lead to long-term problems. Namely a limited range of motion, arthritis, and persistent pain. Well those aren't things you want to look forward to when you're only 30. So we decided on the surgery. Plus the recovery time for the surgery is pretty much the same as the recovery without it. There's a silver lining, I guess. Another one would be the fact that it will all be fully covered since we have long since met our deductible.

So, next Wednesday we head to the doctor for yet another surgery. Poor Amy, she's being such a trooper, as best as can be expected. She wears a sling for most of the day but has been trying to go without it also and use it a bit, lest it get stiff and problematic. After her surgery she'll be out of work for a week, in the sling for 3-4 more weeks, and have at least a month of physical therapy. I'm hoping that by the end of this calendar year this is all behind us and we can start 2012 with some good health vibes! Time will tell though, we shall see. Until then we mentally and physically prepare for her to have another surgery. The boys know and it wasn't a big surprise to them, sadly, because they knew she had hurt it badly. Other than that though all is well. Of course there are additional things going on here in Drosche Land but I think this is enough for one post. I'll save the rest for another day, hopefully not too long away as this one was from Sunday's post.

All is well, prepping for surgery again, in Drosche Land.