Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the WHOLE World! We didn't get a good picture with Daddy on Father's Day (Mommy wasn't on the ball)...so we waited to take a nice one of us at the Brewer Game. We got Daddy the tickets for Father's Day. It was a great day for a baseball game!

What did we get Daddy for Father's Day? Well, we got him some new sandals b/c his had a whole in them. I (Grant) mistakenly spilled the beans on that one though and told him that's what we were getting him. Hehe! We got him a couple Harley Shirts too b/c he likes those (thanks to our good friend Mike!) Then of course the Brewer tickets. Daddy already had a Brewer shirt to wear, but Alayna and I didn't - so we got him shirts for us to wear. :)

Anyway - we had a great time at the baseball game. Bernie Brewer went down the slide a few times - it was a lot of fun to watch.

Thanks Daddy for taken a Daddy Afternoon! You're the best! WE LOVE YOU!

RAIN

Rain, Rain GO AWAY...Come Again Another Day - that is how Grant would sing it! I would say - come again another day, but not at 4am. I generally never wake up from thunderstorms - but for some reason this morning I did. Brian did too. He thought "something" just wasn't right and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get back to sleep. Brian got up and started checking the house...well - thankfully he did because our little buddy had rain dripping through is ceiling - right onto his bed! THANKFULLY - he didn't even wake up, but oh boy!

The roof over Grant's room is a flat roof. We've had an issue with this in the past, however assumed after replacing the roof last fall this problem would be fixed. Well - as it turns out -it wasn't. The roof itself didn't leak. However when the guy fixed the roof he told us to get a new storm door. Well - who takes an old storm door off before they have a replacement? That guy did and hence the reason we had water pouring into Grant's room this morning.

We ended up drilling holes in the ceiling to relieve some of the water pressure so it could all drain out quickly and emptied his entire closet with the exception of the very top shelf. So I currently have Grant's closet all over my kitchen and we are waiting for the little bit of carpet to dry out and tonight's rain to be done before we reload the closet. Tomorrow the new door will be put on - so this should NOT happen again.

Whew - what a way to start the day! Oh well - it could have been worse!

Here you can kinda see the water streaming through the holes

Our "catch" bucket

The gross looking water

The empty closet

The FULL Kitchen! :(

16 Months

I am 16 Months old! What am I up to these days? Still in size 3 diapers, 12-18 mo clothes and 3.5 shoes. My hair is getting longer and thicker. I don't keep barrettes in my hair and I don't sit very still for my Mommy to put my ponys in - so if you see my hair looking pretty silly - that's why! :)

If you are looking for Spunk - you've found it! I got it! I have a mind of my own and am not afraid to express when I disagree with you. I am also very sweet and loving though. I like to give hugs and snuggle before I go to sleep and when I wake up. I blow LOTS of kisses and wave a lot too!

I'm saying a lot of words. I will repeat (or try) just about anything and I do a ton of animal sounds. Mommy and Daddy tried to get me on video, but I know so many the video was too long to post. We'll try a shortened version some other time :)

Me and Grant having smoothies - I love drinking from straws.

"CHEEEEEEESE"

"Say aaaaa Daddy" I LOVE my Daddy. I get SOOOO excited when he gets home from work and sometimes I even cry when he leaves. He's the best!

No new teeth to report as of now, but I'm pretty sure there are some about to break through. I've been a bit cranky and have been limiting my diet to applesauce, yogurt, fruit and cheese lately - that's a pretty good sign for teeth.

What else is new for me? Well - I love playing outside. I like walks and running with Mommy, love the park, love the zoo (but I don't like to stay in the stroller there - you can't see the animals with all those bushes in the way), LOVE the sandbox - I sit right in it. I'm very in to putting things in and out of other things. Like the little foam bathtub fishies...in and out of the jar container they came in, the plastic keys, comb, phone and lipstick in and out of the Elmo purse I got from my cousins, etc...it keeps me busy for a long time. I also really like dishes - play dishes, cups, silverware, tupperware containers. I will take them in and out of bags, drawers, stack them, pull them apart...it is lots of fun!

AND of course by now you've heard about my leg. So far I have a stress fracture on my left fibula that is just healing on its own - no cast or anything. Mommy and Daddy think I am limping on it more though as of today. SO - we may be back to the dr tomorrow...fun stuff!

Fracture Video

Here is a video of Alayna's walk on Tuesday morning before her appt at Children's. To some it may look like she's simply walking like she just learned how to walk. She hasn't had that walk for a little while now though - so you can tell she is favoring her left leg.

Well - now (Thursday) we think she is walking worse. So - tomorrow we will possibly be heading in for more blood work to make sure there is not an infection and possibly a second x-ray. I don't know - it's one of those things... Is it really worse? Am I looking too hard? If I don't take her in now and wait and it really is worse - how bad is that!?!?! Man this parenting stuff is tuff :)

"Toddler Fracture"

Yes - "Toddler Fracture" - a new term that has been added to my vocabulary. Alayna has a "toddler fracture". "How did this happen?" you ask. Answer - WE HAVE NO IDEA! How's that for making you feel like the worst parents ever! Saturday I thought she was possibly walking a bit odd. Well - at the time I noticed she was walking on the grass. I simply figured it was because she was walking on grass and the grass was uneven which made her walk that way. Sunday rolled around and I didn't see her walk or pay attention to the way she was walking really until after dinner. We were at church in the morning, the air show in the afternoon - she really hadn't had much of a chance to do a lot of walking. Well then evening rolled around and I noticed there was a limp. Brian could see it too. We both thought it was so strange b/c we had no idea what had happened. We tried to figure out what it was that was bothering her...her foot, hip, leg, ankle. No luck. We thought it was maybe her ankle but it wasn't swollen or anything. So - a mystery.

Monday morning I took her to the pediatrician. Yup - something definitely causing her to not walk normal. Off to get x-rays. X-ray results showed a small fracture to her left fibula (lower leg bone). We were to call Children's ortho and schedule an appt to likely cast her leg the following day (Tuesday). Tuesday morning at 7:15 we got to the drs office. They looked at it and classified the fracture as a stress fracture. Something that was very small and could have happened by something as simple as her kicking her crib really hard (which I don't think she did b/c she doesn't really do that - but was the drs example). So - the drs said no cast - WHEW - to watch it over the next few days and make sure it doesn't get worse, feel warm, look red or swollen, etc. We were sent for a blood test as well to insure there was not infection anywhere. Alayna had been running a bit of a fever - but nothing more than she would get with teething which is what I assumed it was from. She's not eating great these days so I'm thinking teeth are coming in as well. ANYWAY - we were SO thankful not to have a cast. What fun would summer be in a leg cast - no sandbox to sit in, no bathtub, no swimming, no fun at the lake...NO THANKS! We received a call later Tues morning with the results of the blood test and those results were all normal as well. One was slightly elevated - however that could have been caused by the teething (is what I was told). SO - over all we are VERY thankful Alayna is going to be fine :) She's still wobbling around and so far it's not really looking any better but I have to be patient...it won't be better overnight. She really doesn't seem bothered by it and continues to play like she did before. Not much is going to slow her down!Getting ready to have the blood work done. She really HATES the doctor's office...not a fan of even getting things "checked" much less the needle business.

Waiting for our car to be pulled around after everything was all done!

Thanks to everyone for the concern, prayers and checkin' in on her. She (we) feels "the love" :)

I attempted to post a video of Alayna's wobble about 4 times, but it will not load for some reason. I'll try again later.

Time Out

Oh Boy! Alayna was put in time out by Daddy last week...she was pretty sad about it. I don't exactly remember what it was for, but can be 99% sure it was for hitting. She swats her little hand so fast sometimes it surprises you. She's got a lot of spunk and sass that needs to be tamed a little bit - so we're working on it. Time Out, Time Out, Time Out...she'll get it right? There's a sweet innocent little lady hiding in there somewhere...right?

I don't want to stay here...

Really...I don't want to stay here...can I come out please...

OK, I'm sorry Grant...for hitting you. Here is your hug.

Memorial Day Weekend

We started our Memorial Day weekend on the couch. We were planning to head up north on Thursday, however Grant woke up with a bug. So - he was borrowing Alayna's blankets while his were in the laundry and just hangin' on the couch.
Daddy flew up north this time with a friend of his. 1.5 hrs compared to 3.5 plus in a car with two toddlers. Hmmmm...

Papa bought the grandkids a new toy. Yikes! Grant loves it - as does Alayna...Daddy will be busy with rides when we are there.

Walkin' with Daddy

Runnin' with Mommy (notice - same running stance - although Mommy's is slightly exaggerated) :)

The bird's next found in Briana's tree. There's one egg in there and that had fallen out.

Grandma and Mommy found this swing set at a rummage. Great find for those non-lake days!

Daddy pulled them around in the boat. Alayna's not a big fan of the life jacket - sorry sweetie - you gotta wear it! Poor thing - if she lost her balance she'd fall over and not be able to get back up. Grant is just big enough to be able to move in his...unless it involves bending - then he can't do that either.

Alayna LOVED playing in the sand

Two thumbs up Grandma

Grant loved helping drive the boat but is sad this might be the last ride of the season already. The lake is about 6 feet (or more) lower than other years. It's bad for boating, but is great for sand play. If it's going to happen - this is a great year for it - the kids LOVE the sand and it makes Mommy just a little (very little) less nervous on the lake side of the house.

ICE CREAM!!!

Briana's tree with the new pink lights. The tree is showing a lot of new growth this year. We're hoping it will take a good step forward. Last winter was hard on it so we didn't know if it would make it through last year. So this past winter Papa put a fence around it to keep the animals away. That worked great! The bottom seems to have a lot of brown...but the tips are new and green. What does that mean?

Grant's ready for his first jet ski ride. He LOVED it!

3 years ago on Memorial Day weekend we planted this tree in memory of Briana. We never knew then how blessed we would be just 3 years later. Thank you God!

Alayna's first corn on the cob - she did great!

Not Tired

Last week Grant insisted he wasn't tired and wouldn't settle down in his room for a nap. After playing quietly for an hour and a half I let him come out and watch some tv so I could finish getting some things done. With a half eaten apple on his lap...he was out :)