ALMOST ROLLING OVER AND NAUGHTY/NICE

Here's a video clip. I was changing Brady's diaper the other day and while the diaper was off, I was pretty sure that he was going to roll over. So, I got another diaper on him quickly, got his shirts snapped and grabbed the camera. He is so close! He just needs to kick that leg a little bit harder and he will get there! While I was video taping Brady, Tyler was doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing--imagine that! So I caught him in action, also. I hope that you can view the video. When I played it last night, the sound and the moving of the mouths was off a bit. Here's our boys!

3 GUARDIAN ANGELS

Tyler, Brady, and I had our guardian angels among us on Friday morning, January 22.

As we left the house that morning, there was a little drizzle coming down. That, with the cold temperatures created a thin sheet of ice. I knew this, and was driving slow and steady, until I came to a curve. Once I took that curve, I never regained control of the van and we went into a very deep ditch. Because this ditch was so deep, the van ended up on its side. The driver's side was down on the ground and the passenger side up toward the sky. This put Tyler and I closest to the ground and Brady up above. The first thing I did, was to look back at the boys. My first look at Tyler and all I saw was terrified little eyes. Once I asked if he was okay, he started to cry. I could see, though, that he was okay. I looked over at Brady and he was crying and arms were flying around. He was not a happy camper, but he also, was okay. It took me a bit to get out of my seat. My right leg was stuck under the stearing wheel, but once I got it out, I was fine. I had no idea what to do first. Do I get out, knowing that I will not be able to get that passenger side door open by myself from the outside? Do I get the kids out of their car seats first and then get myself out of the van? If I get the kids out, they will just be sitting/laying on the cold windows that are in the snow. If I leave them in their carseats, I know that they are okay. Yes, they are hanging there in their seats, but I believe that they are okay. Standing on the passenger seat, I needed to open the door. It was so hard to open that door! Once I got it open and let the weight of that door rest against by body, I was hoping that a car would pass right then and see us. No cars came. I knew that there was no way that I would be able to keep that door open and get the kids out at the same time, so I got myself out to get help. It was so hard to leave the boys in the van and walk away to get help, but I knew that is what needed to be done. I needed help! Before I shut that door, I made sure all the doors were unlocked. I then looked for something that I could put in the door so that it wouldn't latch all the way down. I found nothing. Now that I look back at the situation, over and over again, I wish that I would have taken my boot off and used that. When I made it up to the street, there were still no cars coming. It was the worst seconds/minutes of my life. A car came. She couldn't stop right where I was at, because it was so icy, so she passed and then turned back around. I opened her door, told her to call 911 because I had two kids in the car. As she was doing that, a man in a truck pulled over. Yes! A man! I really needed him to re-open the door. He couldn't get the door open by himself, so I needed to help. I stood so that my belly was touching the top of the van and he stood with his touching the underneath side of the van. As we were trying to get the door open I noticed that only Tyler was still crying. Peering into the window to make sure that Brady was still moving was the scariest moment. Thankfully, I saw his little hands still waving in the air! We finally pulled the door open, and I crawled back in to get the boys out. I took Brady out of his seat and handed him off to the lady that had called 911. As I was getting Tyler out of his seat, he kept saying, "I'm okay, I'm okay!" This crushed my heart that I put them in this situation. When I handed him off to the guy, he said, "I fell down in Mommy's van." The man asked him if it was a fun ride and Tyler said, "No!" When we first went down, I could not find my cell phone. When I went back in to get the boys, I did find it. We sat in the ladies car, with both boys cuddled on my lap. I got a phone call out to my babysitter who came to where we were at to help. I also got a call out to another teacher who passed the word onto the principal. Then my phone went dead. I used the ladies phone to call my mom, who had just left Newton to go back to Iowa City. I told her what happened and she turned around to come back. I also used her phone to call Lee, who was still out of state, and left a message on his voice mail. Our babysitter came. Once she saw the van, she started crying, which made me lose it. She asked how we got out. At that moment, I wasn't so sure how it all happened. I just knew that we did get out and that we were safe. I gave the man and woman two great big hugs before I got into my babysitter's car. They saved us! We waited there until the sheriff came, at which we had to open that door again so that I could crawl back into the van to get the insurance, registration, and my purse. My babysitter drove us to our house, where my mom was waiting. I stayed home and the babysitter took the boys out to her house. My mom and I got things done that needed to be done. Insurance called, clean out the van once it got towed, and got a new cell phone. My coffee was obviously thrown in the van and gave my cell phone "water" damage. I am so thankful that my mom was there to help me get through this. I was in shock the entire day on Friday. It wasn't until Friday evening that everything hit me and crying was the best thing to do at that point.

The Aftermath:
Mental damage. It is killing me to think that I put my boys in that situation. I know that they do not remember what happened or think about it at all, but I am their mom and I'm supposed to make sure that they are okay at all times. To have to walk away from them while they were in that van crying, was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. All I wanted to do was to make them better--not leave them hanging in their carseats! This accident is all I've been thinking about since it happened. It is not healthy for me, I know, but it is so hard to not think about it. Each day has gotten a little better. I have started to sleep a little better. However, whenever Brady wakes up to eat or he's crying because of the pain his incoming teeth are bringing him, I lay awake for a good hour thinking about that accident. It puts a hole in my stomach. It stresses me out completely. It hasn't helped that the weather still is not good. Yesterday, (Monday) we had a 2 hr. delay and we do again today. I pray for the day that the roads are clear of snow and ice so that I can comfortably take them out to daycare again. Until then, my tears are getting the best of me.
Physical damage. The drivers side of the van doesn't look that great. There are thousands of dollars worth of repair. We will find out today, hopefully, if they are going to total it out or if they are going to repair it. We pray for the repair, so that we don't have to go van shopping again. Physical damage on the boys=none! Thankfully they are all okay!
Physical damage on myself=very little. I've got a bump and bruise on my head. Something, probably my jug of ice water, was on the passenger seat and probably flew down and hit my head. I've got a couple bruises and bumps on my right shin from when I was trying to get my leg out from under the stearing wheel. I was extremely sore on Saturday and Sunday. My entire upper body was so sore from pushing that van door open and from crawling in and out of that van numerous times.

I have been talking to God alot lately. I am so thankful that we are all okay and we got out of that ditch. THANK YOU FOR OUR LIVES!

I was thinking of going to take a picture of "the ditch" and of our van. However, I decided against it. If this memory EVER leaves my mind, the last thing I want is a picture to remind me of it!

THIS WAS THE DAY

This was the day that my husband chose to leave me single parenting for 3 days so that he could DRIVE 3 states away for work. He is usually a very intelligent man, however when it's freezing rain outside and they still chose to drive, makes me question him a bit.

Sheets of ice covered everything. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of the trees. They looked beautiful, but they were covered with ice for 3 full days. There were many trees and branches down in town, the ice was just too heavy for them. It is a mess in our neighborhood and town!
If you look closely at the poles on the deck, you can see that there is about an inch of ice on the side of each pole. You can see the bush in the bottom of the picture. This is also how the trees looked.

This is what our windows looked like for most of the day on Wednesday.

Tyler saw the windows first thing in the morning and said, "Look, Mom, mirrors!"

Because of so much ice, you can only imagine that we had many power outages. Our power flashed off 3 times on Wednesday. Each time, it scared Tyler (and myself). What was I going to do, home alone, if the power went out for an extended period of time? We would have no heat and I have these two little babies to keep warm! After Brady went to bed Wed. night, Tyler and I got all the candles from the house lit and found all of our flashlights.

I had such a big pit in my stomach the entire night. Luckily, it stayed on all night and we were with heat!

Thursday, schools should have just been a 2 hr. delay, but with 3 out of our 5 elementary schools without power, they had to cancel school again for the day.

Friday brings a terrifying story that I will share in the next post.

NEW THINGS

These boys do new things and reach new milestones daily! Our life and their lives seem like they change every month, week, and day. They grow up every day and seem older every minute. I love watching them every second that I am with them and love caring for them every second, minute, and day that I can.

Here's Brady holding his spoon and trying to get some of that rice cereal off and into his mouth all by himself!
They for sure have the same nose. And it's mine! YEAH!

Brady's first time being in the high chair.

(Remember that these pictures usually start with the most recent up top.)

Getting Brady ready to go in the mornings. He looks so cute in his stocking cap.

What a cutie!

Our little cutie is getting his TOP two teeth in. He is in pain and isn't sleeping as well. I'm sure that this is going to be quite the process. Right now we can see the teeth under the gum. They haven't cut the gum yet, but they sure are there!

This was Tyler's way of "baking noodles." Two weekends ago he grabbed these two trivets, cutting board and a spoon and brought them into the living room and set them up like this. He told us that he was going to bake noodles. The round trivet was the pot, and I believe that the cutting board and the long trivet were part of the stove. He would stir the noodles for awhile and then it was time to take the pot (round trivet) to the "oven." The first time he said this, Lee and I looked at each other and both were wondering where Tyler was going to make the oven be. He ended up choosing that the oven was underneath the ottoman. So, after stirring the noodles, he took the "pot" to the "oven." He would walk away and say "almost done." A second or two later, he walked back to the "oven" to take the "pot" out. He then took the "pot" over to the "sink" (which was a couch cushion) and dumped out the noodles. He would then use his spoon to feed Lee and I his wonderfully baked noodles! Our little pretend chef! I love it!

Tyler has actually been helping me out alot in the the kitchen lately. He loves to pour things into the mixing bowl that I have already measured out for him. He likes to sit up on the counter to see what's on the stove and enjoys looking through the oven door to see what's baking. A few short months ago, this was a disaster! Now he really does a great job at helping me and I love to have him in the kitchen with me!

FUN WEEKEND

The McCabes came to visit us this past weekend since they were unable to come over New Year's. We had such a fun weekend. It's always good to catch up and talk with Luke and Jessica and it was fun to watch their Dylan play with our Tyler and Brady!

Brady and Dylan are 5 1/2 months apart. Dylan is a little over 10 months and Brady will be 5 months next Monday. Here's a picture of Dylan grabbing Brady's ear. Apparently, Brady doesn't mind! Probably because he already gets so much grief from his big brother!

We don't get many shots of the four of us. This one isn't the greatest, but I still love it!

Luke and Lee graduated from High School together almost 10 years ago! Now look at 'em!

The three boys. Not really a smile on any of their faces, but it's really hard to get three boys to smile at the same time!

Brady and Dylan.
Dylan and Tyler enjoying bath time together. I think that Dylan was a bit too wild for Tyler to take it all in. :)

Tyler and Dylan.

THANKS FOR A GREAT WEEKEND, MCCABES!

GRILL COVER

This is what happens when you live in Iowa and you have a field for you back yard. Our back yard is extremely windy at any time of the year because of so much open land. This was the grill cover that I gave Lee for his b-day this past August. I guess we will need to purchase one that is a bit more sturdy! At one time it looked really cool. Well, bye-bye to the bears grill cover!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US (ME)!

We were given some spending cash from some of our family members for Christmas this year. We had been looking at treadmills on Craigslist and found one that we liked on Saturday! After we were in Indianola, visiting Baby Jack, we stopped in Des Moines to look at this treadmill. We decided that it was what we wanted, so Lee took the boys and me back home and then he went back to Des Moines to pick it up.
We then had to rearrange the entire basement, which took most of the morning on Sunday. Our basement is half living area and half play room. Right now we've got a Lightning McQueen fort and a Monster Tent. We did get rid of the box fort that Lee made, because we were really running out of room. Now our half play room is also half work out area!

Lee, with a little help from myself, brought the treadmill in from the garage and got it to the basement. I was able to use it already on Sunday and will now be waking up at 4:55 to use it in the mornings! This morning went well and Lee actually came down when I was finishing up. He did a little work out himself! Getting Lee out of bed before he really has to, is huge! I was surprised to actually see him down there this morning before work.

THANK YOU TO MOM, GRANDMA KRIZ,

SAM AND EULA, AND GRANDMA AND POPS REYNOLDS

FOR THE SPENDING MONEY FOR CHRISTMAS!

WELCOME JACK ROBERT BROWN!

On Wednesday, January 6th my friend Jenna gave birth to a wonderful little boy named Jack! CONGRATULATIONS TO JENNA AND JUSTIN! We went to visit them in Indianola on Saturday. Her house was packed with visitors and I know that Jenna was a bit overwhelmed. But, they now have themselves a very cute little boy!

Here's Tyler giving Baby Jack a big kiss!
Here's all the kids--Tyler Reynolds (2 yrs.), Me with Jack Brown (3 days), Justin Brown with Brady Reynolds (4 1/2 mths.), Cara Bockes with Nora Bockes (19 mths.), and little Emery Sampson (19 mths.) up front. I believe that Emery wanted her pants off at this moment! :) Cara is expecting a baby boy in April to add to this bunch!

It was a fun day! I hope that Jenna and Justin were able to soak it all in and feel all the love that was in there house at that moment. All for little Jack!

OUR BOYS

I was changing Brady's diaper yesterday after a nap and Tyler said, "I want to hold him." So, I told him to get up on the couch and he could. He knows that whenever he holds him I take a picture, so he said, "Take a picture, Mom!" This is the great picture that I captured, thanks to Tyler!
Brady absolutely loves his baths! We recently retired the baby bath tub. Brady is extremely long (weird, I know!) and just doesn't fit well in the baby bath anymore. Instead, we fill up the big bath with water just up to his ears and he has much more room to kick and splash around in.

I was home again this past Thursday and Friday because of snow days. Our last day of school is now June 9th! YUCK! This was one morning that Tyler got to stay in his PJ's a little bit longer. He got this old (but new to us) lunch box that I believe used to belong to one of my cousins. It has the thermos in it that Tyler loves to play with. He "serves" coffee, soup, and hot tea in it. He really wanted Dora to have some coffee, so he put the thermos cup up to the TV to give her a drink. Very thoughtful little boy!

PINK EYE

Last Thursday, which was New Year's Eve, I noticed Tyler's eyes getting a little red in the afternoon. They started gunking (sp?) more and more as the evening went on. When Lee got home from work I told him that I thought Tyler had pink eye. We read up on it a bit on the internet and decided that we wouldn't run him to the doctor Thursday evening (walk-in), that we would wait it out and he should be better by the end of the weekend and ready to go to daycare on Monday.

Thursday night, (New Year's) Lee and I were watching movies and I noticed that his eyes looked really red. He said that they felt really dry.
Well, Friday morning came and Tyler's eye looked worse than the night before, but still not extremely bad. Friday also brought gunk to Lee's eyes. So, now they both have pink eye. Wonderful!

They both kept getting worse and worse as time went, but of course it's New Year's Day and doctor's offices are closed. So, we had to wait it out until Monday.

Tyler also was not eating. He did not eat well Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Finally on Tuesday, he ate a full hot dog for lunch. So, we knew there was something else wrong than just his pink eye. He was coughing and had a runny nose, so we just assumed it was a cold or sore throat.

On our drive across Iowa on Saturday, we stopped for lunch and tried to have Tyler eat chicken nuggets and french fries. He ended up falling asleep with a chicken nugget in one hand and a french fry in the other. Never taking a bite of either one. Poor thing! We also noticed on that drive that the pink eye was now in both of his eyes, not just the right anymore!

Everytime he fell asleep for nap or night time, he would wake up with his right eye closed shut. It would take about 10 minutes to get all the gunk out! It was so gross!

Since Lee had pink eye too, he stayed home from work this past Monday and he and Tyler went to the doctor first thing Monday morning. Yes, they both had pink eye and got drops to clear that up. (Putting drops into a 2 year old's eyes = not fun!) Tyler also had double ear infection, which he is on an antibiotic for. There's our answer to him not wanting to eat! I felt so terrible when I heard that news.

Sunday and Monday were really hard days for Tyler. There was a lot of laying around and sleeping for him. There was not much playing!

He needed to stay home on Tuesday as well, so that his eyes could get cleaned up a bit more, so my mom came to stay with him for the day. He had a much better day on Tuesday and is getting better every day.

He still doesn't have his appetite back fully, but he's getting there. His eyes are pretty cleared up and his energy is coming back! What a yucky thing to have! Poor little guy! It makes me ache every time that he or Brady is sick and I can't make it better right away.

This is Lee trying to clean Tyler's eye out after a nap.
Tyler's eyes after a nap.

Tyler fell asleep on Lee at 9:30 in the morning. I had Lee take him up to his bed at 10:15 and he slept until 12:45!

When they first fell asleep, before I got the chance to cover them up with a blankie.

This was on Saturday in the car. You can see that his right eye even looks red on the outside. This is when he had a chicken nugget in his right hand and a french fry in his left.

TRAVELING ACROSS IOWA

Last weekend, we were supposed to have company for New Year's, but the McCabes weren't able to make it due to Dylan being sick. This gave us an unplanned three day weekend. So, with nothing to do on Saturday, we decided it was a good day to travel across Iowa to go see my two Grandmas, since we weren't able to see them around Christmas.

We started the trip early Saturday morning to drive to Dike to visit my Grandma Freese. My dad, Josh, and my Uncle Bill were there as well. My Grandma hadn't seen Brady yet and she hadn't seen Tyler for a very long time, so she really appreciated us being there and enjoyed her time with the boys. Tyler wasn't feeling the best, but he did a great job entertaining, as he always does.

From Dike we went to Dysart to visit my Grandma Kriz. My Aunt Judy brought over my cousin's little girl, Ava, so that Tyler had someone to play with. They mainly just played with my Grandma's X-Mas things that sing and dance. Tyler also really liked this fake bird that my Grandma has. Everytime you walk past this bird, it chirps. Tyler loved it and I think he remembered it from October when we were there.

This is Tyler and Ava playing with Santa and Mrs. Clause. They sing and dance. Not annoying at all!
This is the bird that chirps, which Tyler loves. This is my Grandma Kriz. (my mom's mom)

Tyler entertaining Brady with keys.

Brady enjoying his time with his Great-Grandma Kriz

Brady getting some snuggle time with his Great-Grandma Freese. (Dad's mom)

It was a great day and I'm glad we made the time to do it. I know that my Grandma's were thankful that we braved the cold with the boys and came to see them. I am thankful for every day that they are still here with us and are able to see our boys grow.

We will be able to see Lee's grandparents in a few weeks. They have not had the chance to see Brady yet and haven't seen Tyler since March, so I know that they are thrilled and anxious to see us in a few short weeks.

BRADY'S (AND TYLER'S) NEW TOYS

Now that the Christmas tree is down and Brady is wanting to be in the upward position more, we decided to bring a couple things up from storage in the basement. We first brought up his jumperoo (great deal on EBay when Tyler was a baby). Tyler cannot get into the jumperoo, but he loves to "help" Brady bounce in it. A couple days later we brought up a walker (garage sale buy when Tyler was a baby). Brady LOVES the walker. It is now his favorite place to be. And, Tyler LOVES to push Brady in the walker. The first day that it was in the living room, Tyler pushed Brady around for awhile. When it was time for Brady to go down for a nap, Tyler tried it out himself. As you can see below, he is a bit too big for it, but he loved to get in and out (or try to). There were a few times that I had to help him out because he would get stuck! :)

Tyler, happy as can be, in Brady's walker.
Brady, having the time of his life, being pushed around by Tyler.

Tyler pushing Brady in the walker.

Let's go for a spin!

Tyler and Brady in the jumperoo.

Tyler really wishes that he could get into this thing!

Brady in the jumperoo.

They love each other so much!

BRADY 4 MONTHS OLD!

Brady turned 4 months old on Christmas Day. It's amazing how many new things he learns and how quick he learns them!

His fist is constantly in his mouth.
First time trying rice cereal.

Tyler feeding Brady his cereal.

One of the first bites.

I take a picture of Brady every month on the 25th (or around the 25th if I forget). I take the picture on the same blanket each month so that we can see how much he has grown and changed. I did this with Tyler, also. It's so fun to look back each month to see the changes.

Brady 4 months old.

Brady 3 months old.

Brady 2 months old.

Brady 1 month old.

Brady has brought so much change and joy into our lives. He has made Tyler grow and change, also. We love him so much and couldn't ask for more.