Ayden is currently spending the night with his "girlfriend" Brooklyn. We see no harm in this at their current age. I don't think they know about "playing doctor" yet. There'd better not be any of this going on...
...or Mark might have to take out his shotgun!
This summer has had a little excitement and fun amidst the chaos. For example, Ayden took a two week swimming class with two of his friends. They all did very well and I am very pleased with what Ayden learned-although he won't do any of it with me. Ayden's cute little report card from his teacher says he did "excellent" with floating & kicking, "well" with breath control and freestyle, and he even began work on the backstroke. The thing that impressed me the most was that he could swim with his head under the water and come up for breath multiple times. He would also jump in, then swim to the edge and pull himself out of the water (comforting for his mommy to see).
He decided on his own to add some height and started jumping off the starter blocks, but when I tried to watch him, he got stage fright. NO FAIR!! Now the goal is to get him to the pool as much as possible this summer.
We had two ER visits this week for two different kids. One of which turned out to be a 48 hour hospital stay.
Visit #1
Friday afternoon we met Josh at our favorite lunch spot, Dempsey's. When we were leaving, Ayden was holding his throat and saying he had to throw up. That's his tell tale sign of anaphalactic shock. This restaurant has a lot of seafood, so I thought maybe something fishy was mixed in with his burger and fries UNTIL he said he thought he was eating M&M's but it was peanut butter. After some quick investigation and Ayden vomiting in the restaurant bathroom, I finally figured out that he snuck some Reeces Pieces off the candy dispenser trey that someone left behind. So poor Ayden learned the extremely hard and painful way that he should always ask first before eating any candy. I had to use the Epi-Pen for the first time, and it was NOT pleasant. Then we had to race to the ER, because the pen has 3 steps: 1.take off the cap 2.stab your kid in the thigh and hold for 10 seconds 3.seek medical attention. They were extremely busy and a trauma came in right after we got there, so I used my best judgment and left after the initial check in, where a nurse checked his breathing and blood/oxygen levels and said he was fine. She couldn't legally tell me I could go home, but I pushed her enough to get a good reading from her that if she were in my shoes, she would go. We kept a close eye on him all afternoon just in case, and he was fine.
Visit #2
Sunday evening. The boys were in bed around 7:30 then we watched a movie. When we were about to go to bed I noticed that Afton felt warm, so I checked her temperature. It was 100 point something, so I gave her a bath, thinking that she might just be warm from snuggling with me on the couch. Her temp. went down, so I slept with her on the couch all night, checking her temp. just in case. Early in the morning it got to 101.5, so I called the on call nurse and she said to go straight to the ER. I hurried in panic because I know it's very dangerous for a newborn to have a fever. We got to the ER, where they did a blood test, urine test and spinal tap (a whole story in itself). Then I was informed that we would be hospitalized for 48 hours so they could rule out any possible bacterial infections. So, Josh took of work and had the boys all day by himself for two days, while I stayed with Afton at the hospital. She turned out to have some sort of virus-nothing bacterial-and we were FINALLY discharged Wednesday just before lunch. Our "normal" week didn't start until Wednesday afternoon. It feel really strange. We all survived the week with a lot of support from family and friends, and we're now playing catch-up. Thanks to Robin and Mimi for feeding my family while I was being held captive. Also, thanks to Robin for coming to visit (I actually got to take a shower!). Thirdly, thanks to my good friend, Lindsay, for watching the boys Wednesday morning so Josh could get his teeth worked on-even though they punctured his crown he was supposed to get for the second time (another story in itself). We're happy that we're back together again and everyone is okay. *Phew!!*
It is Josh's first Father's Day with his little girl!
Growing up, my dad always had one of us sitting with him in his recliner while we watched TV. Now Afton can build that memory with her daddy...
...and mine! What a lucky girl.I had to solve two scary problems today. I heard Ian saying, "Mommy, it's scawy!"
(scary with a "w")
When I figured out what the problems were this is what he was troubled by:
1. A string on his socks. He wouldn't relax until I pulled it off.
2. His banana peel. It does look a little like octopus tentacles if you think about it. Again, he couldn't get over it until I rescued him from the peels and threw them in the garbage.
She's filling out and doesnt fit in her preemie clothes like this cute outfit anymore. 
Ian
Ayden
Afton
A friend of mine-you know who you are-wanted the instructions on how to make knee high headbands, and I thought I'd share it with everyone here. Afton is modelling the headband I made for her with these instructions. I made one change with mine: I sewed the ribbon loosely around the headband instead of hot gluing it so I can slip in different bows as you see above. I have one in white, black, navy, and off white. I'm on the lookout for funky bright knee highs... Enjoy your bow making! 
The Glamorous Burp Cloth 
The Fancy and Functional Hair bow Holder
The Super Fabulous Butterfly Chandelier
Yesterday was our first "normal" day with my parents back in Idaho and Josh back to work. Josh was almost home from work-about two houses away-when he noticed two ladies running and screaming. His first thought was that there was a fire, so he stopped to ask if he could help. They both dove full speed into his car and one of the women screamed that her husband was shooting at them. Josh looked straight ahead and saw the man walking in the street, so he put the car in reverse and sped backwards until he reached a crossing street, turned around quickly and drove to a nearby gas station. He said he kept his cool the entire time and never had any adrenaline. He credits this to his profession where he hears this sort of thing all of the time. The cops were there quickly and Josh called me to make sure we had our doors locked-which I always do to keep our kids inside more than anything. Josh was in the right place at the right time and saved these ladies from who knows what could have happened. We had 12 (I counted) police vehicles on our street in no time and this man was easily caught and arrested, thank goodness. I am proud of my husband for thinking on his toes and being a real, live, action hero!
Now, before you judge- which you probably have already-we live on a very peaceful street. We are surrounded by great neighbors, and this came as a big shock. Domestic disputes can happen anywhere, in any neighborhood, so please don't be concerned that we should sell our house and move away immediately. The last action to happen on our street was before we lived here when someone backed into a cop's car.
Anyway, after things settled the women told Josh what happened. The "wife"-we'll call her woman #1-had her friend come over-#2-as a mediator, while she told her husband he had to move out and he apparently had a freak out moment. He had a gun and shot out of their back window. #1 was so shocked that she froze, but #2 ran out of the house. This woke up #1 out of her shock and she followed. They don't remember any more details, because of their shock. The husband followed them outside, but Josh said he was just walking. I think he realized what he was doing and calmed down a bit. The women both only ran about a city block before Josh came to the rescue.
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