First Camping Trip!

The boys had their first camping experience this past weekend. We went with the Knott’s to Nails Creek in Lake Somerville (about 40 miles from Austin). We all had a BLAST!
The kids got to fish, go on several hikes during the day and one night time hike in the woods with flashlights. They saw horses, an armadillo and tons of creepy crawly creatures. Cole held about 10 “Daddy Long Leg” spiders. We sat by the fire, cooked hotdogs and ate the best S’mores. For whatever reason, campfire S’mores taste so much better than home cooked ones. : ) The weather was perfect and the little ones (Reid and Cooper) did great. I was concerned about this being an easy thing for us (mom and dad) since Reid is only 2 ½ and still in diapers, but honestly it was great and now know that they were "ready" for a real camping trip! Joe and Kevin were such helpful, manly-men and set up the entire campsite for us (tents, fire, food and kept us feeling safe the entire time. Well… except for when they tried to scare Lisa and I at night after the kids went to bed.). :) Oh and everyone but me, heard packs of wolves howling the entire night while we slept. We are ready to go camping again!


Addi, Coop, Cole and Reid.



Where the Rentfro's slept.



Hiking the woods in the morning.



Our crazy kiddos. :-)

Our bonfire.

Itsy Bitsy Spider in our tent. We found 3 Daddy Long Legs in our tent in the morning.

 

Our tent at night. Can you see the little flashlights?

Halloween will be here next week and we can't wait!



Friday, I left work at 1pm and took the boys to get their flu shots. They both cried but thankfully got over it pretty quickly. I always feel so guilty taking them to get something that is painful. I am making it a tradition to get them ice cream after their yearly flu shot. So, afterwards I took them to get ice cream and we went to the park to eat it. The weather has been TOO nice to be indoors lately. We have been spending a lot of time outdoors, especially riding bikes. We stopped by Mama and Papi's house to say hello. Then, we met Joe and went to a Mongolian restaurant. The boys thought it was cool to get to pick your ingredients in a bowl, but they weren't too impressed with eating the food.  We then went to the Fall Festival at their school. The school had all kinds of games set up in each of the classrooms, a firetruck trolly that took the kids for a ride in the street, fire trucks and police cars for the kids to sit in and blow their sirens. Cole loved it but Reid started crying when he heard the fire siren. He was too scared to sit in either. : -(  I still get amazed at how different their personalities are. When we got to the festival, Cole took off and was walking up to his friends parents to say hello. Reid on the other hand, was attached to our knee cap. :)

Hopefully, this will be the ONLY time he rides in one of these. :-)

We couldn't find Reid's bike helmet so he put on a baseball helmet. This is what he wants to wear  everytime he rides bikes now. :)

President and CFO.

According to Reid, this is a sheep.

Cooper, Reid, Addi, Juan Perez and Cole.

Mommy and Daddy at the Texans game with Kevin and Lisa. Thanks Bruce and Carrie for watching our boys!

Have a great week. We are really looking forward to this weekend. We (and the Knott's) are taking the kids on their first camping trip! 



Poop Breath

Reid’s breath smells like poop. So much, that I actually check his pull-up diaper to make sure he doesn’t actually have poop in his pants. Most of you know that, to me, one of the best things in the world is the smell of my babies' breath. The other is their little feet. Reid’s little breath smells like sweetness, normally. He's never had bad breath (even in the morning) even though he still sleeps with a pacifier. I love it when I get him in the mornings and I kiss/hug/snuggle him to pieces. After his surgery, I started to notice a poop aroma. So, I researched and found that one of the side effects of adenoid removal is a bad breath for 10-14 days. Thank God it’s temporary!!! :) So far, his tubes have been a blessing and we are SO glad we did it. He can hear and is talking SO MUCH more. Amazing that we have noticed a difference in 1 week. For example, I knew that he could say his ABC's, count to 10 in Spanish and English, but it's actually clear now. He's constantly saying something and being loud now. There have even been times where Joe and I have looked at each other and said "what have we done???" :) Not sure how he managed to be such a chill baby even though he's had ear aches for most of his life. We have an appointment on Nov. 1st for Dr. Albright to check his ears/tubes and for a hearing test.
Lately, Reid is asking that I cut every single tag out of his clothes. Good luck to the people that get his hand- me downs guessing the size of something! He is becoming a clothes maniac just like Cole. = \
Speaking of Cole...He came home last week so excited because he could name 11 of the states. I did not know that they taught the names of the states in pre-k. My friends that are teachers have always preached the importance of pre-k and I finally understand!

I am off tomorrow (Columbus Day. Love those bank holiday's...) and have no plans but to play with the boys. I will attempt to take them shopping for fall clothes. Cole' pants from last fall/winter look like capri's on him!

Happy 10.10.10! :)

Turtle Thursday

Cheeeeeeeeeese!

Cole's latest pose: the thumbs up.

Three hand picked little bitty flowers from my 3 turtles.

Happy Birthday Pops!

Four little monkey's singing Happy Birthday to Pops!

I forgot to post this picutre. This is Reid before his surgery showing me how tough he was going to be. He's so tough with an iPhone in one hand and a huge muscle in the other arm.

Wow

How do parents cope with children that are truly sick or that have to go through serious surgeries? When I became a mom, I gained an immense respect for single moms because I would not be able to do this without Joe. This morning Reid was put under anesthesia for something EXTREMELY minor and I felt so uneasy inside (to put it mildly). Actually, I was mortified. You feel like you don't have control over the situation and it hurts to see your baby hurt or be put in a situation where there are risks. Before Reid's surgery, I never wanted to think about how parents coped with something like that. Now that I have experienced a tiny taste of it, I don't understand how parents are able to make it each day with a child that is seriously sick. I am in awe of the ability for humans to deal with those hardships. I find myself learning so much each day as a parent.  Children have a way of teaching parents things that can't be taught anywhere else and I love it.

Reid now has tubes in his ears and no adenoids. The surgery took 15 minutes. When the doctor came in to tell us he was done, I thought he was going to tell us one of 2 things. Either, that they weren't able to do the surgery for whatever reason, or that he was just put under and that they are ready to start the surgery. When he told me that he was done and everything went well, I asked if he was joking! When Joe and I went back to see him in the recovery room, he was freaking out. Crying and so angry! He was pissed at the IV in his arm and we couldn't reason with him. It took him about 20 minutes to finally relax. After that, he slept all the way home, threw up once when we got home and slept another 3 1/2 hours. After nap, he has been almost 99% back to normal. He is a little bitter when he wants something because he wants it NOW (not too different from a regular day)! :) Other than that, he is being my sweet snuggly little turtle.
Thank you Mami and Papi for being there for us. Kev and Lisa, your surprise visit was awesome! Thank you. It's nice to have family and friends support you even during silly little surgeries that are typically harder on parents. :-)

Ninja moves right before surgery in his gown.

At home resting with his new buddies. This is how he slept the whole time.

Have a great weekend and keep your fingers crossed that UT beats OU!!! :)