Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012! Christmas was so much fun this year as the boys are now old enough to understand it a little bit better and of course, get very excited about it. Thanks to incredibly generous family & friends, the boys had plenty of gifts to open, so we spread them out over the entire day of the 25th. Naturally, there were lots of cars, trucks, and all things boy…with a few Lightning McQueen/Cars related presents thrown in as well! We thoroughly enjoyed a special day of celebrating the birth of our Saviour together with wonderful family & friends–doesn’t get any better than that.

Aiden is (finally) nearly recovered from surgery and doing much better with his O2 requirements. We have been able to reduce his constant breathing treatments so they are less frequent, and he is sounding and feeling much better, although he has been a little junky and had a little dry cough the past week. He is making huge progress in his occupational therapy, and is also doing very well with his feeding therapy (eating yogurt, chocolate pudding, etc., and making progress with learning how to handle textures). We are praying that he will stay healthy and hoping that his new meds will help keep this winter from being a repeat of the past 3 years.

Ethan and Evan are growing and getting bigger every single day. They are writing their letters and learning how to read, which they are very excited about! Of course, they keep us on our toes with lots of interesting questions as they are trying to figure out life & the world around them. Both have had ear & sinus infections in the past couple of weeks due to an ear tube that became blocked and has started to come out, but otherwise and doing well and enjoying life.

We are so thankful for each of you and your continued support and prayers, and pray many blessings for you and your family in 2012.

2011_12_002.jpgRacing around

2011_12_003.jpgAiden is so happy

2011_12_016.jpgEvan tries to help him up the slide

2011_12_035.jpgHolding hands

2011_12_044.jpgThe first round of Christmas presents

2011_12_050.jpgWho is it from?

2011_12_053.jpgTime to open

2011_12_059.jpgWhat did you get?

2011_12_081.jpgMore cars?

2011_12_111.jpgThey love racing their new toys

2011_12_120.jpgLots of gifts!

2011_12_128.jpgSmile

2011_12_134.jpgThe trips keep ripping into their gifts

2011_12_202.jpgSome new books

2011_12_205.jpgUh oh, Aidy got put in time out for bad behavior

2011_12_256.jpgBedlam!

2011_12_259.jpgWow…McQueen pajamas

2011_12_273.jpgA new “lightbulb” McQueen after the old one broke

Tonsils, tackles and Thanksgiving…

Brrrrr! Winter has come to Texas so early in this December! Just before Thanksgiving, we went from 80 degrees to our first freeze, and we’ve been experiencing a cold spell ever since. The boys just don’t understand why they can’t get up and pull their shorts and sandals on first thing every morning…all this gear (shoes, socks, long pants, sweatshirts, coats…) is taking quite some getting used to for these little boys, who “want the warm back!” Ethan said yesterday “I think spring is almost here, Mommy. Is it going to be warm tomorrow so I can wear my shorts?”

This Thanksgiving the boys had their Papa, Grandma, Uncle “Oak”, the future “Mrs. Oak” and Amisha in town they loved every bit of it!

Their other new love is playing football…it gives them an excuse to tackle each other! In the video below, you can see the boys playing ball and poor Evan getting tackled every which way (even Aiden tackled him). Additionally, they love their new gymnastic classes. We love it too because it gives them some physical indoor activity thus making their naps a little longer 🙂

This past week, Aiden had his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as getting ear tubes. Given his medical condition, they wanted him to stay overnight at the hospital even though the procedure is typically outpatient. Aiden is still requiring O2 and did have some rough patches but, all things considered, he had done fairly well as long as we remained proactive with pain management.

We will of course monitor his vitals and handle the O2 wean, meds, feeds, etc. at home as we have for the past 3 years, as long as we have an effective regime in place and are not seeing dangerous complications such as choking and aspiration.

We are so grateful and blessed by your continued prayers, kind thoughts, friendship and support, which means so much to our family.

2011_11_016.jpgPapa got Ethie

2011_11_024.jpgLook who!

2011_11_031.jpgToo much hair

2011_11_034.jpgAiden and Papa take a walk together

2011_11_045.jpgNot sure which way to go

2011_11_050.jpgBoys, stop wrestling outside!

2011_11_052.jpgWait for me!

2011_11_066.jpgTried to climb but got stuck and Ethan tried to help

2011_11_069.jpgPapa chases Evan

2011_11_078.jpgGrandma watches the boys play

2011_11_084.jpgHaving fun

2011_11_099.jpgAiden, you are doing it!

2011_11_109.jpgSuccess!

2011_11_114.jpgAmisha reads to the Trips

2011_11_116.jpgLoving their gymnastics

2011_11_120.jpgAiden poses in the middle of a routine

2011_11_132.jpgEthan too

2011_11_137.jpgGood job!

2011_11_142.jpgFly Ethan

2011_11_146.jpgFly Evan

2011_11_151.jpgAiden goes down the rabbit hole

2011_11_177.jpgEvan swings on a rope…

2011_11_182.jpgEthan swings (and the drops later)

2011_11_191.jpgJump!

2011_11_193.jpg“Oak” help the boys decorate

2011_11_204.jpgFinalizing the tree