The Lil Man aka "Bruber"

All tuckered out after eating his vanilla custard bananas!

Prestton Charles. We decided on this name for a couple of reasons. The first being that the name Charles has deep roots in both or families; Billy's dad, my grandfather and my grandmother's brother. Prestton was one of the few boy names we could agree on and being a teacher, a name that I have not had in the classroom! When we put it together we felt that it was a strong/ respectable name. And being strong is exactly what our lil man has had to be since day one.

We recently had a renal scan done to determine whether or not his right kidney was obstructed or just not in working order. The time leading up to the procedure was extremly nerve racking due to the fact he was being put to sleep. Thankfully, my longtime friend Amber was able to break away from work and go with Prestton and I to TMC. All went well and we meant with his urologist last week to determine the next step and what the scan revealed. 

On a positive note, his kidney IS functioning! So for the time being we do no have to worry about Prestton having only one:  ) On the other hand, he does have an obstruction in which on our time table now needs to be rushed more than we wanted. Sadly, Tucson has only one pediatric urologist and our doctor will be moving in June. So we will be heading up to Phoenix this coming week to meet with our new doctor and make a plan for treatment. Most likely we are still looking at surgery within the next 1-2 months, but only to free up the obstruction. I am VERY relieved, but being the mommy, have a whole new set of worries. I am just ready to get everything "fixed" and move on with things. 

On a much brighter note, Prestton is at very best "crawling" EVERYWHERE! He is not sitting up yet, but tries his best to pull himself up in his crib. This kid has NO fear! He also has two beautiful bottom teeth had more on the way... not so fun. Feeding time is more like a game of how much I can get him to eat before he starts gnawing away like a puppy. 

We also had our first allergic reaction ever! (none of my girls ever had hives or rashes!!!!) introducing foods to our lil man has been a bit slower than his sisters due to all the medical stuff. I started him on rice cereal, veggies and finally fruit. His favorite has been bananas. So when Target had their baby food on sale I stocked up! Moving up to second foods also gives us more choices, so of course I get everything with bananas. At lunch time he is eagerly ready to try his new food; vanilla custard with bananas. He starts to rub his eyes after two bites. I think he is sleepy, after all it is almost nap time. My dad starts to wonder if it is because of all the dust from the remodel. He continues to "hoover" his lunch. I pick him up... mmmm he is really splotchy around his eyes... wipe him off... are those bumps!!?? And within 30 minutes he is covered with red/ white hives ALL over:  ( 

I called the doctors office and of course it is Saturday and speak with the triage nurse. No swollen joints, no purple around his spots, air way is clear. Great! But my poor lil man is itching all over. She gives us the o.k. for a very small dose of Benedryl and to continue to watch him. By the end of the day he is cleared up, mostly, but has not slept and started a low grade fever. Again, not fun! All this while Trynnity is having a 2 year old day and see previous post... remodeling!!!!! What was that Ren and Stimpy song?? Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy?!!! 

Demolition Day

The poo poo wall as Trynnity calls the color of the paint

Baylee "helping" with Prestton

The view from the inside Baylee's room 

Looking into Baylee's room as my poor dad takes a break form tearing down stuff!

Less than 24 hours after being released from school for the summer, we have started our latest project... Baylee's new door, closet and wall. As most of you know, we moved to our new home a little over a year ago. It is beautiful, the kitchen being the prize. Of course we only had the three girls when we closed the deal and each one of them had their own room. Baylee being the oldest was the first to choose her domain. Funny thing- she picked the room that was originally meant to be an office/den right off the kitchen. Thus no privacy or closet for a young tween. No worries, we have our own personal construction superintendent; my dad. He is also a bit of a procrastinator... but we are very happy that it is late than never:  ) 

So now the tear down and rebuild has begun! Did I mention I am also in the midst of painting our family room, play room and kitchen??? (and Billy is working nights, trying to sleep during all this in the day- so he went to his mom's house for the weekend!) Our goal for completion= one week. If they can do it all in one weekend on trading spaces, we can conquer this little stuff in that amount of time! Right???

Stealing Precious Moments

 This last month can be best explained as a snow globe that has been shaken... and I have been waiting for all the "flakes" to fall back into place.  It has been a mix of excitement, anxiety, anger, love and stress. And finding any "quite" time in the day is near impossible. However, as I drove to work this morning, I was thinking about all those special memories made in the last month by all the little things we do to keep us going. 

It is these precious moments that put a smile on my face as I begin my day.  For instance, our drive from home to school is about 35 minutes (on a good day- no train, no accidents, no road closures etc.) so Baylee and I flip through the radio channels trying to find something good to listen to. We have found at 6:30 92.9 has a mind bender question. A first we would just try and guess to see if we knew the answers. Then one day, Baylee dialed the number and she actually got through! We made our guess, but did not prevail. But we now try almost every morning to win what ever tickets they have to offer. (we have made it on the air 3x so far!) 

My moments with Devynn are a little more sporadic. (are you surprised?) Devy still enjoys getting her hair done by mom when we have time, or getting to help in any way with cooking or school stuff. She truly has a heart of gold and laugh of life. 

Trynnity has become SUPER independent and NEVER wants to sit still. But when she gets tired and is ready for cuddles time in the late evening or when she first wakes up, it is truly some of the best hugs and kisses you could get! And though she is the third and I do know how fast time goes by, I am still amazed at how much she has grown. My eyes get all watery and I want to freeze time so that I can capture and hold onto each second. 

Next is my lil man. Oh how my heart soars when I think about getting to hold him! He too is super wiggly and doing his own version of crawling... I have been trying to get that on video. Our time is also bedtime. He gets put down about 7:30 and LOVES for you to rub his head, back and belly. Then off to dreamland he quietly goes. He takes in everything right now; watching to see what he can get into and where he can go. His big two teeth grin is contagious as well as his giggle when he gets tickled. 

Finally my husband and I get very few moments. He has now moved to the night shift:  ( We recently had our 8th wedding anniversary... celebration TBA. But he does try! On his days off he goes back to trying to be with us during the afternoons and evenings, and I even get to cuddle up 2x a week. Something I am not sure if I will ever get used to. 

I admire many of you that juggle all this on your own. Things are only as easy as we make them, but I am reminding myself every day to be thankful for all these moments. Because in enough time they are memories that get more distant each day.  Eventually my "flakes" will fall back into place, but I am sure there will be something else to shake it up again:  )