Looking Back At The Past 4 Years

Every birthday we have for Will is one that is very emotional for us. We look back at how many obstacles he had to over come before getting to his fourth birthday, let along his first, second, and third. I can still remember every single blood stick, blood transfusion, test, surgery, intubation, like it was yesterday. Will's NICU stay was filled so many new words, abbreviations, emotions, and firsts that it makes our heads spin sometimes when we think about it.

Lots of people say, oh that was so long ago, you "have to get over it". And it just saddens me to hear people say that, because mothers never "get over" something like that. It will be ingrained in my mind forever. And I know it is that they just don't understand, they have never had to watch their child fighting for every breath, every day, and just having to stand there helpless. Or watching them do all these horribly, painful test to your little (tiny) baby, knowing it hurt them, and all you could do is just stand there with tears in your eyes, holding his little finger telling him it will be ok.

It was such a trying time for us in so many ways. And I know that we would have not made it without the love, support, and prayers from so many of you! You gave us hope when there wasn't any, and held our hands when they were full,and dried our eyes when they were full of tears. Thank you! For with God's miracles and the wonderful doctors and nurses there at Mercy, we got to take home our little one pound miracle and have the most amazing four years with our sweet angel!

Sure, we have had our trying times over the past four years, I would never ever change a thing for my little trached, Gtubed, miracle baby! Will has taught us so much, more than he will ever know. We always take it one day at a time (as we did in the NICU), we always celebrate the great things (all the firsts. . . and seconds), and never take one single day for granted (each day is something new), we always look forward tomorrow, and never let him go to sleep without a kiss, hug, and I love you!

Here is Will on his birth day

Here is Will on his first birthday
Will on his second birthday

Will on his third birthday

And Will on his fourth birthday

And many more to come. . . . We love you Will!

Oh goodness, and to think we get to have the same kind of story with our little miracle Ajay! We could not be any more blessed to have TWO little miracles! Thanks for making me have such wonderful Mother's Days just by having you two in my life!

Will's 4th Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!

Well, my little baby (I guess he is a big boy now) turned 4 this month! I absolutely cannot believe that it has been 4 years since the day he was born! It seemed like time just crawled at a snail's pace during those 6 horribly long months we were in the NICU! But boy, time sure does fly when you are having fun and making wonderful memories! My little miracle has come so far over the past four years, I am just so proud of him and blessed. I can remember every little minute he has been alive over the past four years and am so looking forward to every minute for years to come!

Will wanted a "Digger Tractor" birthday theme, so we pulled out all the stops on getting him what he wanted (go figure). It was a GREAT day!! We had so much fun!! I am so grateful that the rain held off for those three hours everyone was here! It was a little chilly, but I don't think the kids noticed since they were running around like crazy everywhere!

A special thanks to: Grams, Grandy, Grampy, Wendy, JT, Trevor, Tori, Logan, Easton, Kim, Johnna, Josh, Jaree, Ella, Garrett, Ashley, Russell, Addy, CeDana, Danica, Jennifer, Marlene, Laney, Richie, Megan, and everyone else that got to come and have fun with us!! We are so glad you came!!

I had rented the Big Bounce House for the kids to jump on, and we had fresh sand in the sand boxes, the swing set, and ride on tractors for the kids to play on. I think everyone had a blast!! They were running around jumping from one thing to another! Sorry Mom's about the socks, I am sure most of them were ruined!

We let the kids play, then had hot dogs, and cake. Then we opened presents! I had to convince Will to come and in and open them because he was having so much fun playing with everyone!

Here is the birthday boy blowing out his candles!

Ajay, Mr Cutie Construction worker! He was the only one I could get to wear the birthday hats!

Here are the kids playing in the sand box!



And Will and Laney going down the bounce house slide!

And of course, the "big kids" had to get in there and have some bounce house fun too! I didn't realize how old I was until I got in that thing, man it was a work out and boy was I sore the next day!

All in all, it was a GREAT DAY!! Thank you everyone for making Will's birthday a complete fun time for him, he was talking about how wonderful his birthday party was for days!

Dinosaurs!

When we were in OKC, we decided to go check out the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo! It was really neat. They had a few "life size" replicas of the dinosaurs and they were impressive! Will thought they were pretty cool!
They had sensors on them that when you moved past them they would move, growl, bend, etc. When Will got to the T-Rex, he saw it moving it's head and he said, " Momma please don't let him bend his head down here and eat me!" Bless his heart! He was pretty worried about getting eaten!

Ajay had fun too! Then again, he is always smiling and having fun!! He is such a little trooper!

This was Will's favorite! He wanted to take him home with us! Thank goodness I talked him out of that!

OKC Zoo

Will had his annual eye appointment up in Oklahoma City the other week, and I had two days off around it so I decided to pack the boys up and head up there so we could have fun and mess around before he had to go see the doctor. I always feel so bad because for forever the only time we ever got to go on "vacation", if you can call going to Cincinnati that, is when we were taking Will to see doctors. So I never wanted him to hate going on "vacations" or for him to think that every time we got into a car we had to go see doctors that "hurt him". Anyway, so every time we have to do one of his appointments, Nelson and I try to always let him do something fun, that way, hopefully he won't see every trip as medical.

Anyway, Nelson had to work, so I headed up there by myself with the boys and we stayed with my sister. She just moved into a new three bedroom duplex in Yukon, and she was getting lonely, so it worked out good for both of us!

We spent the day at the zoo. I was a little misty and chilly, but then again most anything we have done so far this year has been that way, but we had fun!

Will just had to pose on these things! We do this every time we are up there, it is neat to see how much he grows from year to year!

Ajay didn't get to "ride" the animals, but he still had a fun day looking at all of them! He is such a good baby! He just puts up with whatever we drag him too and has a smile on his face the entire time! He is just such a little sweetie!!

While we were at the zoo, this ostrich kept following us! I was kind of weird! I think it really liked Will?? Anyway, Will got a kick out of it! We also go to see a ton a little geese ducklings! The zoo was full of them and they were just free to roam everywhere, Will really loved seeing all the baby chicks!

Here is Will on the little train at the zoo, he thought this was pretty fun! He rode it 3 times over and over again! I think he is going to love Six Flags when he is old enough!

We had a blast at the zoo and then went out to eat. It was a busy day, but the boys had a blast and we were all so exhausted we were in bed by nine! The next day we were up early and ran a few errands (ok I went shopping, I know I know, I have a problem!) then we headed to Will's eye appointment (to which he passed with flying colors!) Yeah Will!! I was a good little trip and Will and Ajay love to see their Aunt Kiki and they had a blast together!

The River Walk

The next adventure in our little visit to San Antonio was to take the kids to the River Walk, Market Square, and downtown a little. Of course, it was still pouring down rain, but we made the best of it and ran! There was really no one down on the River Walk, for obvious reasons, so it was kind of nice to have it all to ourselves!

We decided to grab a quick bite to eat for lunch while we were down there, Nelson and I didn't really enjoy our food, but Will sure did! He ate almost every bite of his quesadilla, maybe we should have ordered that! After we ate lunch on the River Walk we decided to head down the Market Square. We decided to walk, and yes in the rain, and it turned out further than we remembered, so we were a little more soaked! Thank goodness the Square is indoors and we got to dry off a little bit!

Ajay was the hit of the show at Market Square. They just couldn't get enough of his blue eyes and blond hair! Will found him some maraca and Ajay a smaller pair too! Will also found a blue guitar he just had to have, so we got that too. We didn't get to shop for too much since we had to walk the 10 blocks back to our car with whatever we bought. I got some jewelry and vanilla and Nelson carried it!

We got a little lost on our way back to the River Walk area, I think we were going in circles or squares I guess since it was downtown! But Nelson was firmly believing that he knew just were our car was parked! We finally found it, but only after we googled Express store locations (I knew there was one right by our parking garage!) thank goodness I have a shopping addiction!

After that, we were soaked and worn out! Carrying Ajay on my chest for 5 hours was my limit! I should have put Will there, he would have been lighter!! It was a good time though and we will remember it forever!

Sea World

I know I am so late in getting our trip to Sea World and San Antonio posted, sometimes it just seems so hard to find the time to sit down! Well, so here it is, well one of two postings, it was a busy trip!!

We went to down San Antonio for a little four day trip. Will was dying to go to Sea World and we had made a deal that if he used the potty like a big boy for a month then we would go, and guess what?? He did it, so off we went! Too bad that one kind of backfired on me, because as soon as we got home he started having accidents again and then asked me where I would take him this time if he used the potty like a big boy again! That kid already knows how to work the system, now what am I going to do?? Anyway, we had a great time! It rained on us the ENTIRE 3 days we were there!! Not that it stopped us though, or slowed us down any!

We got to stay with my aunt and uncle while we were there, which was GREAT! Lots of good home cooked Mexican food ready when we got back from our little day trips and were exhausted and hungry! And my cousin had just had her baby, so we got to welcome baby Jackson with a big Edgeman family visit! Plus, Will had a GREAT time with his cousin Matthew! And I think Ajay had a great time with Jackson!

Anyway, it was a fun filled day at Sea World for us the first day! We got there right when the park opened and yes, it was raining! I figured you were going to get wet at Sea World one way or the other, if the fish didn't get you the rain would!

Our first stop was the Sea Lion Show, Will loved it! He thought it was soooo funny and was just giggling most of the way through it! Ajay was excited since he got to get out of his stroller and see the action too!

Then we had some time to kill before the noon show of Shamu so we went to ride a few roller coasters! Will had a blast!!! He was just barely tall enough for the Shamu Express (thank goodness they let him on!) He didn't want to wait in line each time though, he just wanted to stay on it and ride and ride!

Then we went to the Shamu show! It was pretty neat! Will was quite impressed! Ajay knew this meant we got to stop rolling him around and he got to get out and eat! He saw Shamu though and his eyes lit up, I don't know if he knows what it was that he saw, but I think it impressed him!

Then after the show, we had tickets for lunch with Shamu, which was really neat! We got to go behind the scenes and see Shamu (and all his friends) up close and have some lunch! The trainers went around to each table and asked the kids if they had any questions for them. When she got to Will, he asked two questions! He asked, "What do you do here?" and she said that she trained Shamu. Then he asked, "How did you catch Shamu?" She laughed and said, "that is a very good question, we don't catch any of our whales, they are all born here." Will smiled and said, "that is very cool!" I think he had a good time!

Since, we missed the dolphin show while we were eating with Shamu, we decided to go over to the dolphin tank and let Will feed them. He thought that was pretty neat and even got to touch one!

After all the shows, we took Will on the "Log Ride" and oh my gosh, he LOVED it!! That boy rode it FIVE times! And he would have kept riding it if the park didn't close! He had a blast!! It cracked us up! Nelson and I just kept taking turns, one of us waiting with Ajay and one of us riding with Will.

All in all, it was a GREAT DAY and a GREAT Mini Family Vacation!! I think we will definitely do Sea World again, maybe next time it won't rain!

Will Went to His First Birthday Party!

Well, I know I know, I am a complete, crazy germaphobe. . . But I have never let Will go to any of his little friend's birthday parties (too many germs and sick kids!). Anyway, I caved and let him go to Laney's 3rd birthday at the park, I figured it's outside so less germs right?? Anyway, he had a complete blast!! There were lots of kids his age and he loved it!!

It cracked us all up, Laney the birthday girl was the only girl there! All the little kiddos her age are boys, but I don't think she would have it any other way! She would take off to the play area and five little boys would go running chasing after her! She was definitely the boss of all those boys!

Here he is playing on the slides with J.T.
And of course, he had to "help" Laney open some of the gifts!

And then here is him eating the icing off the cupcakes (3 of them to be exact!). I swear I don't know where he gets that from (haha, his Mommy of course).

And here he is instructing everyone about the WARNING signs! He is just totally into that right now!! He loves anything that says Warning or Caution! He told Cannon, "This says warning, caution, if you stick your hands in this grey box, you will get shocked by the mad shock." He is very very serious about that!