Crosby is 1 Year + 3 Months

It was quite the month for Crosby...in addition to having surgery, he has grown a ton in his ability to communicate. He nods or shakes his head in response to questions. He says "up" and points outside and says "snow". If he wants something, he is quite talented in letting us know what exactly what it is. I love the slow, affirming head nod he gives when we get it right...so cute!

 When he gets tired he will just lay down wherever he is...again, he is great at telling us what he needs:)

 This is also new this past month...an appreciation for books! He still won't sit long on my lap to read but books are capturing his attention a little more. 

 Cros is a great eater. Here he is shaking his hands which is sign language for "all done".

 He has such a cute, contagious smile. And his laugh is amazing! He loves being chased around the house and wrestling. 

 We love you Crosby Charles and your brothers love you too! At times they are too rough and Carter really loves squeezing your cheeks but they do love you:)

Carter is 4 Years + 5 Months!

 This guy has more passion and energy than I know what to do with!!!! He has so many moments a day where he just sort of goes crazy...whether he is running around or yelling nonsense like "Boo Boo Cha Chaaaaas" he is our wild man! Winter in North Dakota might have something to do with it...but being Carter also has something to do with it!

Carter loves making up stories about superheros. It is so fun listening to him come up with stories and doing more creative play during the day. He still loves "his" camera and keeps adding to his portfolio:)

He loves books! We try to go to the library weekly and we spend a lot of the day reading. Here he is with our dear friend and babysitter, Kimmy.

A new love from this past month is computer/phone games. I have let him play on PBSkids.org for a couple of minutes before his afternoon nap/quiet time. He had sort of given up his nap a couple of months ago, or so I thought, but over the past month he is back to napping. I give him the option of bringing in books for quiet time but he often tells me he is tired and needs a nap!

Some Carterisms from the past month:

-Kimmy came over after she graduated and was telling Carter about her black robe, walking in front of lots of people and getting a certificate. Carter's eyes got wide and he said, "Wow, I've been waiting my whole life to do that!!"

-Carter got 3 stars on an Angry Birds level and he shouted, "Woohooo, I'm so excited for my life!"

-When we were at the hotel for TCX he would always introduce himself to people on the elevator and ask them what their name was and what floor they were going to. He is not shy at all!

-He started making up knock knock jokes that make no sense...

Carter: Knock, Knock

Me: Who's there?

Carter: Little Einstein

Me: Little Einstein who?

Carter: Little Einstein couch

??

And then he laughs hysterically:)

Cooper is 2 + 11 Months!

Cooper is growing up so fast it is crazy. He can keep up with Carter verbally and physically. He loves saying "actually" and will correct me often: "Actually mom, you said we could watch a video now." 

He still puts everything in his mouth and has been drooling a ton lately-hopefully he is just getting more teeth. 

We had our winter conference, TCX, over Christmas break and stayed in a hotel as a family for 4 nights. There was childcare during the morning and night meetings and by day 2, Cooper did not want to go. I'm pretty sure he isn't as extroverted as his big brother and being around people all day sort of wore him down. 

He has started to get a little sassy and has a pocket full of comebacks he surprises me with. For instance, I asked him to finish his peanut butter and jelly sandwich the other day and he looked at me and said, "No, you finish YOUR sandwich." I didn't even have a sandwich to eat...

Messy eater

This is gross and a month old but as Coops was potty training he came and found us one day and said, "Mom and Dad, I pooped but not quite in the toilet." Never what you want to hear....

He LOVES his brothers! 

Christmas, Part 3

Our second stop was at the Spark house in Stillwater. Great Grandma Bev now lives in Minnesota so she joined us along with Mike, Sherah, and their foreign exchange student.

 Cooper's favorite gift-Superhero undies

 Carter's favorite gift-a candy cane. Who knew? I guess he has my sweet tooth! 

 Cooper kept putting his new underwear in this tin box, then in his new backpack, and on and on...

 Did I mention our boys are into superheros?? My oh my...all day long!

 Carter remained pantless a lot of the morning, just showing off his new briefs! 

Gigi with her great grandkids...believe it or not, I took a bunch of pictures and this was the best one:)

Christmas, Part 2

First stop on our road trip, The Carroll house! We had two celebrations there, a smaller one with the Carroll kids and then the extended family. I only have pictures from the first gathering...

 The boys with their cousin, Sawyer. At least she looks cute and like she is having fun! Come on boys!

Silly shot! Love how Cros and Sawyer and doing a stare down:)

 Thanking Michelle for the awesome legos!! 

 Look out bad guys, Hulk and Captain America are looking for trouble!

 A fun smile from Cros:)

 Sweet new TBT sweatshirts from Uncle Dave!  

And nothing like finishing off the night with a little Angry Birds!

So Nana, Papa, Shan and Bud were at this celebration but somehow I neglected to get them on camera...my bad!

Christmas, Part 1

 We headed to the Cities to celebrate Christmas with our families on December 22nd, so we had our own little celebration before we left town. We read the Christmas story, finished up our advent calendar, picked out a gift to give from the World Vision catalog and then opened some gifts. It was a simple celebration of the birth of Christ and yet totally chaotic with the ages of our boys!

 Cros is still at the age where the wrapping paper is cooler than the gift:)

 Carter got his first set of legos! Not sure who was more excited-Tim, Carter or me!

 Crosby always tried to climb to the highest point...eye surgery really didn't slow him down:)

 Cros in his new hat!

 I couldn't believe the difference between this year and last...the big boys spent most of the day on the living room floor just playing with their new toys. I guess in fairness it was a combination of playing and fighting:) 

We are still trying to figure out what traditions to have and how to make Christmas Christ-centered and special, especially when we are on the road for so much of December. I suppose we just need to take it a year at a time:)

Crosby's Eye Surgery

Crosby was born with an eye condition called ptosis, which basically means that his right eyelid was droopy. Our opthamologist checked on him regularly and in late November he noticed that his eyelid was drooping over his pupil. If left untreated, this would have affected the development of his vision so our doctor recommended surgery. Crosby was scheduled to have a procedure called an eye frontalis sling on December 4th. He came down with a bad cough so it was rescheduled to December 18th.

A couple days before surgery...you can see how his right eyelid is droopy.

 Right before going into surgery

  Right after surgery. He was really groggy and then would wake up hysterical. It took a couple of hours for the anesthesia to wear off.

He had to wear an eye patch for 24 hours...

His brothers thought it was great and wanted to join in on the "fun"!  

 A couple of days after surgery...his eye was very swollen. The swelling has gone down some but our surgeon said it might take 3-4 months for all of the swelling to go away.

Sweet guy! In the days/weeks following surgery, he had moments where he was content but it was obvious he was in a bit of pain. He didn't sleep very well for a couple of weeks after surgery. We happened to be on the road for Christmas and TCX so it was a challenging couple of weeks! Thankfully he is feeling better.

 Here he is sleeping in the van a couple weeks after surgery. As you can see, his right eye is still swollen open at times. The stitches above his eyelid are almost all dissolved.

Here is our little man today, three weeks after surgery. He is finally sleeping again at night and doesn't seemed bothered by his eye. Depending on the time of day and amount of light, it is still pretty obvious that his right eye is swollen. It even seems like his left eye has a droopy lid in comparison. The surgeon said it looks good though and is healing well!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks but we are so thankful to the Lord for how Crosby is doing and for how the whole process has stretched us in our faith in Christ.

Thanks for praying with us!