Reunited and it feels so good!

Monday night, Theo got home! And he brought his mom and dad. This was Pop Pops (Theo's dad) first time to meet Isaiah. After the initial couple of minutes of Isaiah being completely overwhelmed, he was smitten with his Pop Pops and vice versa! It is so sweet to see him interact with his other set of grandparents. Carter and Olivia were pretty excited to see daddy too but unfortunately, Olivia has been pretty sick all week. Other than that, she is back to her old role as daddy's girl.

I spent several days cleaning and preparing for the family to arrive. I'm glad that's over with and now the house is back to total disarray. But as a friend of mine posted on pinterest "A well kept house is a sign of a misspent life!" Couldn't agree more. Carter also wanted to have a "party" for daddy's homecoming. Of course, it was just us but he insisted the party would not be complete with a banner,balloons and a cake.

I made the Southern Living recipe for carrot cake (one of Theo's favorite kinds of cake) and it was delicious if I do say so myself. I of course forgot to take any pictures of it before I shoveled it into my mouth took a bite. Oh well, next time.

Carter also got his daddy a "card" (sharpie marker on paper towel...as a sidenote, I did discover that Mr. Clean magic eraser works wonders on getting red permanent marker off of corian countertops....) Anyway, I love this! I love how Carter spelled excited :) Made this momma's heart proud.

I am so happy to have my husband, my partner in crime and life, my best friend home finally! I know there are longer separations in our near future with his new job but I am thanking God for all the moments we have together right now.

Wednesday night we were able to get away for an hour, even if it was only to go to Target to get Olivia's antibiotics.

She was supposed to have her second bronchoscopy this week but she has an awful cough and ran fever for two days. So we're postponing it to next week. Please pray for her. She seems to be doing better today but is still coughing and throwing up a LOT! I'm thankful that at least Theo and his parents are here to help me now.

So that's all I know. Theo went straight back to work but hopefully will be able to take some time off after Easter. The grandparents are doing a good job of keepin the kids entertained so I'm able to relax a tiny bit :) Hopefully Theo and I will get a real date night this weekend if Olivia is feeling better. I am enjoying the free babysitting known as grandparents!! Have a great rest of the week!

Play Day

As I was burning pictures to a CD this past week, I realized I haven't hardly taken any pictures this year! Shame on me. My life has been all consumed by motherhood since Theo left. The weather here has been fabulous. We have been to the park almost every single day for two weeks but this weekend, Carter asked if we could just stay home! :) I knew he must be worn out if he declined my suggestion to go to the park. I think he probably missed playing with his toys.  So today, I busted out the camera and took pictures of my kids playing. Not very exciting to anyone other than me and maybe the grandparents :)

Olivia as a future McDonald's employee

Carter cheesing it up for the camera

Yes, I let my kids throw balls inside the house.

Isaiah was thrilled at himself for figuring out how to dump the entire container of tinker toys out. I love the expression on his face.

Olivia at her happiest

Carter waiting patiently on Olivia to roll the car across the table to him. She plays by much different rules!

This little guy has been pretty cranky this week. If you zoom in on this picture, you can see the large amount of drool hanging from his chin. I'm sure he's getting ready to cut some more teeth. At least I hope that's all his crankiness is about!

 More race car zooming. Isaiah is such a big boy these days! And I love that Carter is such a great big brother!!

The best part of our day: One more sleep until daddy gets home!

He was originally supposed to get home Tuesday but graduated from his school a day early. So Theo and his parents are on their way home and should be here tomorrow. I'm so exhausted. I've been cleaning for three days! And still have more to do tomorrow. I can't keep up with all the messes my kids make. I'll have to do a whole separate post on that soon. You wouldn't believe it if I didn't have pictures to prove it! Ha! So glad I'll have some help tomorrow for a while. Hope you all had a good weekend!!

7 more sleeps

(as Carter would say) until daddy gets home! I couldn't be more excited. I have a newfound respect for all of my close friends whose husbands have deployed overseas recently. I don't know how they did it. I tell you what, these past 10 weeks have been some of the hardest of my life! But I see a light at the end of the tunnel and the kids and I can't wait to see daddy! And he's bringing grandma and poppops with him. I plan on taking full advantage of some free babysitting! :)

Our beautiful daughter

Mommy's little helper

Isaiah's favorite new spot....have to make sure it's empty or at least that the knives are put away. Ask me why I know this.....:)

Tea Party

Olivia got a Curious George set for Christmas. We've kept it up in the closet until last week. It was actually Carter's idea to have a tea party so I brought his little table downstairs and the kids had fun having tea!

Even Isaiah enjoyed his spot of tea.....until he made the other two mad by trying to steal all of the cups!

Belated Valentine's Day

I know I'm only almost a month behind but I wanted to document our Valentine's Day for my own sake. It was a little overshadowed with everything that happened with Olivia but I managed to grab a few photos of the two older ones opening their mailboxes.

I didn't do a whole lot this year but had gotten them mailboxes at Joanns several weeks before and filled them with candy and bubbles. Olivia thought it was neat she had her very own mailbox.

Isaiah even had his own box but was still asleep for the festivities.

Carter was so excited because he got a new Veggietales computer game (which he has played with literally everyday since then) and a new coloring book.

Olivia loved her princess ring pops but didn't actually eat them :)

Theo sent me some chocolates and a heart necklace. I am thankful for such a thoughtful husband. I got him a NY Giants Super Bowl shirt and some candy. The kids also made him some pretty precious artwork and we mailed that too. 

My greatest present though was my mom flying in early to help with Olivia. It was such an emotional roller coaster of a week. Monday night we thought Livie was going to have to go to the hospital so I called mom crying and of course she immediately made arrangements to fly up early the next day. Then we were told Olivia was fine and I felt a huge amount of guilt having asked my mom to spend an arm and a leg to change her plane tickets. But fortunately, God had a plan. Because at our pulmonology appointment that Thursday in Denver (which I almost canceled because Olivia was doing so much better), the pulmonologist wanted to admit her and do the bronchoscope the next day. So after all that, I was truly glad mom had come up early and I didn't feel so guilty. I also have to give a huge shout out to my best friend Meredith. I don't know how I could have survived the whole ordeal without her (or mom too). She let us stay the night at her house, got up at five a.m., drove us to the hospital, stayed with us for several hours and provided more emotional support than I could ever say. Olivia was thrilled to have spent so much time with Aunt "Meresis".

So Valentine's Day wasn't all we were hoping it would be but I'm so thankful that week of my life is over with and that Olivia is doing so much better. I am also so thankful and blessed to have these great loves of my life!

We have a little over two weeks until daddy gets home and I couldn't be more happy. I'm also so happy for my good friend Georgette who's husband is coming home from Afghanistan Sunday! Can't wait to meet back up with them in Louisiana this summer!!!

Haven't been blogging much since Theo left but did manage to take some pictures a few days ago. Will post those later. Hope you all have a great week!