Girls Weekend at the Spa

Mom, Tara, Darcy, and I spent the majority of the weekend at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs and Spa. http://www.ojocalientesprings.com/ The girls have never done anything like this and we had so much fun that we are going to make it an annual event! They have several different hot springs/pools such as the soda pool and iron pool, but our favorite was the MUD POOL.
I wouldn't usually post photos of myself (or my mom) in a bathing suit, but the mud hid the majority of our imperfections! :)
We enjoyed lounging around at our own pace, but finally got a little goofy. "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, Speak No Evil".

Like I said, we got tired of whispering and finally had to be silly.

Aunt Darcy Visits

We hadn't seen Aunt Darcy for 5 months! It was so much fun to have her here! The kids adore her.And she adores them too!
She's going to be a great mom one day! :)

Ready, Set, Go!

Levi is officially crawling everywhere and finding everything!!! We've had to baby proof again and buy new gates. I even had to gate off one side of my kitchen because he's obsessed with the oven (and shoes...disgusting!).Logan thinks Levi is loads of fun now that he can get places and poor Luci has double troulbe now with 2 little brothers always getting into her stuff! :)
Well, I'm off to clean the kitchen (my least favorite chore) and make dinner.

ABQ Zoo

We took Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Fred to the ABQ Zoo and everyone had a blast. It was a beautiful day and we had a picnic lunch and Levi enjoyed playing in the grass. Look at that cute little pointer finger.
Logan loved piggy back rides from Grandpa Fred.
Just a photo of the grandparents and grandkids.
Luci loved the camel ride!

We also rode the choo-choo train, which Logan loved of course.

Grandma Kathy and Luci are watching the polar bears. This polar bear was playing in the water with a ball and would pounce on the ball and then bounce it back and forth on the wall. It was so cute!

We had sooooo much fun with Fred/Kathy! We also went shopping at ABQ Uptown and Brant and I had a date night at the fair so that we could ride the crazy rides! :) Thanks for everything Grandma and Grandpa. Can't wait to see you for Christmas in Kansas City.

New Mexico State Fair

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Fred are visiting and yesterday we went to the State Fair and had a blast. Luci is a thrill seeker, just like her parents. She loved all the rides! Logan enjoyed several of the little kid rides as well, but mostly loved this dinky little trumpet that makes alot of noise! Levi was content to hang out in the stroller and sleep or watch us eat hot dogs, snow cones, cotton candy, and funnel cake. We also saw a Mermaid and Mariners Dive show and Luci loved getting her picture taken with a Mermaid! As we were walking back to the car we stood next to the race track and saw the horses come speeding by. It was a fun packed day! :)

We had one very scary moment at the fair and it still shakes me up. We decided to take a break, get the kids out of the stroller, and relax for a bit. I took Luci to the bathroom and I guess Logan decided he was going to follow me, without me knowing. While we're in the restroom, Brant calls my cell asking if Logan is with me and he wasn't so for about 5 minutes Fred, Brant and I were frantically searching for him while Kathy stayed with Luci and Levi. A nice gentleman saw that I was freaking out and said that he had sent his older son after a little boy blowing a horn who looked lost and was heading back towards the rides. I went running in that direction and found a policeman holding Logan. Later, Logan told me, "I asked that policeman, where did mama go?" Thankfully he was ok. When Brant and I were at the St. Louis airport this summer, we found an 8 year old boy who got lost from his father and ended up taking him to security. It's nice to know that there are good people who understand how much child means to a parent, because I can't even let my mind wander as to what horrible things could have happened.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub, 3 Kids In The Tub

Everyone in our house LOVES bubbles! It's so nice to be able to bathe Levi with Luci and Logan. I'm all about simplicity! This photo was actually taken about 2 weeks ago. Now we don't even use the tub insert and just use alot less water. In fact, I've sold this tub insert, as well as the infant car seat, breast pump, bumbo, swing, sling, baby bjorn, and several other baby things that Levi has already outgrown. :)



Today we also went to a new orthotist to have her look at the ankle foot orthosis (AFO's) that are attached to the foot abduction brace (FAB). The orthotist was fabulous and she's only a few miles from the house! :) Levi's worn the brace alot less these last 2 weeks due to a blister and I thought she was going to have to do an adjustment. But, she said that the foam that Brant put in to relieve the pressure on the red spot was working great and we're going to slowly try and get him back in the brace for 12 hours a day over the next week. She also took the time to show me all the different types of AFO's as Levi will need one when he starts walking to prevent foot drop. The technology is so amazing...different flexibility in plastics, different adjustments (like a dorsiflexion assist), shoes, etc. I'm so happy to have found a local orthotist that we like. Too bad our ortho doc doesn't live here, but he's such a wonderful, educated man that it's worth it to travel to St. Louis.

Typical Day

Tuesday and Thursday mornings are a bit crazy because I carpool Luci and a friend to the bus stop located at our elementary school and then the bus takes them to the preschool which is about 15 minutes away. Anyhow, I leave the boys home with Brant (so much easier not having to load/unload 2 extra kiddos) and get home just in time for him to leave for work. So today he was in the garage waiting for me and as we're switching spots, he yells, "The boys are in their chairs eating breakfast!" So, I walk in and find Levi with a string of snot from nose to chest...so GROSS! Logan seems to be catching the cold virus too and isn't quite his normal self. They said he was "quiet" at preschool today...imagine that! A friend of mine from Phx, Liz, stopped by on her way to Santa Fe this afternoon. She's also started blogging and her blog is all about family and food, you can check it out at http://roomonthecounter.blogspot.com/. She's one of the best cooks I know, next to my Grandma. Anyhow, Luci decided that instead of watching her show she needed to entertain us with her acrobats (including jumping on/off the couch, ballet moves, and hopping all over the place). Seriously, can't a girl just catch up with a friend in peace. My house really is a zoo!!!

Logan is 2 1/2 Today

The weekend got away from me so I didn't have time to post. I was too busy steam cleaning our carpet (I love my new machine) and enjoying the great weather. Happy 1/2 Birthday Logan (not that we really celebrate, though we did go to McDonalds today). He's such a big boy now! As you can see, Logan is very interested in potty training and often tells me he doesn't want to wear a diaper at nap/bedtime, but that won't happen for awhile! He's just started to initiate going potty on his own, rather than relying on me to take him every 2 hours. He loves his "Thomas the Train" and "Bob the Builder" big boy underwear. And whenever he has an accident he says, "Poor Thomas or Poor Bob, I tinkled on you". :)





Logan was disappointed that he didn't have preschool today and that Luci did. Unfortunately he had to spend the morning with me while we took Levi to the pediatrician. As I suspected, Levi has a right ear infection (his first). Both boys had a cold 2 weeks ago and then Levi was better for 2 days and then came down with another cold, poor guy! Though he's handling it pretty well. Hopefully this ear infection is an isolated incident with 2 colds back to back. Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't take after his older siblings when it comes to ear infections!!!

Love the Weather Here

When Brant got home from work today we couldn't resist the beautiful weather and decided to get some exercise. I rode my mountain bike and pulled Luci and Logan in the bike trailer. Brant put Levi in the jogging stroller and was able to keep up with me...what does that say? Our neighborhood has several paved trails so we probably did a 4 mile loop. Luci and Logan were cheering me on, especially when I had to stand and pedal. They loved the hills. Levi took a catnap and everyone had a great time. I have high hopes that we can do this a few times a week!

7 Years Ago

Wow, I really can't believe it's been 7 years since 9/11. I remember exactly what I was doing that day. Brant was riding his bike trainer in the garage that morning and I hadn't even turned on the news yet and our neighbors came running over in disbelief telling us to turn on the TV. I did home visits all that day and every house I went in we were basically glued to the TV. It will be interesting to see how my children will learn about this historical event at school since they weren't even born yet. There are a million survival stories from that day, but ones that stick with me the most are of the pregnant women who lost their husbands and their children were born never knowng their father. To all those kiddos, I will say a prayer for you tonight.

Happy 8 Months Levi

Can't believe the little man is already 8 months old...I still feel like it's January sometimes. At the moment he's a bit cranky due to teething, but overall he's a very happy, easy going baby. He's usually very predictable when it comes to sleeping and eating. He currenlty does the "worm crawl" where he inches across the room to get a toy...at the moment he's in love with Logan's rocket! He's currenlty out of his brace (should be in it 12 hours) because he's developed a blister on his clubfoot. Poor man. Not sure if we will have to get it adjusted or what. We're not due back to the ortho doc in St. Louis until December. Here's a photo of him with his ever shrinking bear! :) Grammy and Aunt Tara are here tonight, time to get dinner on the table.

Family Fun Night

We had Family Fun Night at Luci's Preschool tonight. It was all outdoors and the weather was beautiful! One of the things we like best about living in Rio Rancho. Luci's attends Shining Stars Preschool through the Rio Rancho Public School District. She is a peer model, as the school is for children with special needs and children without special needs (aka peer models). They recieved extra funding from the state this year which allowed them to accept 125 students. The preschool is on an elementary school campus and is very big. There are several playgrounds, they eat snack in the cafeteria, and Luci rides the bus to school. We catch the bus at 7:45am and 11:35am Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. She loves it!

Welcome to our Blog!

Hi. Thought this would be a fun way for friends and family to keep up with what's going on in our lives. Happy Reading! :)



Brant competed in the Enchanted Circle Century Bike Ride this past weekend. He actually went 107 miles because they arrived to a turn around earlier than expected and no one was there to direct them, but overall he had a great time riding in the mountains and isn't even that sore today! He rode with his therapy supervisor from work and they stayed the night at my parent's place.



Luci and Logan are enjoying preschool. Today was library day for Luci and she picked a book about pigs...written in Spanish/English. I guess Daddy will have to read that one to her. Logan has learned to say, "God is good, God is great, Let us thank him for our food." Though the first time he said it, it went something like this..."God is great, God is good, Let us spank him for our toes!" He's always such a silly guy! Levi is trying to master crawling, getting 2 new teeth, and is as big as ever (24lbs). I'm hoping he'll slim down a little bit as he gets more mobile!



I am doing well and tonight I'm having a quiet and peaceful dinner at Oliver Garden, sans kids, with a girlfriend. Can't wait. Will write more tomorrow.