Honoring Isaiah

In May of 2010 we lost our nephew, Isaiah, to an epileptic seizure. He was 11 months old. During his short life my brother and sister-in-law grew frustrated with the inadequate pediatric neurology resources available to them in Oklahoma. After his death, they decided to do something to ensure other families in the state wouldn't experience the same struggles that they did.

They formed the Isaiah Stone Pediatric Epilepsy Lectureship Series to raise funds to assist their ongoing efforts at OU Children's Hospital. When Isaiah had his first seizure there was only one pediatric neurologist in the state of Oklahoma, now there are seven.

Dave and I weren't able to attend last year's event, but the timing worked out that we could make it this year, and bring both the boys to spend some time with their cousins, Nana and Pops as well!

It was a great week, we even found time to celebrate an early Thanksgiving, complete with Pop's green bean casserole and Grandmother Bowman's Pumpkin Pie. Here are just a few of the pictures from the week!

ISPELS Fundraiser at Wine & Pallette

My butterfly painting at the ISPELS fundraiser

 

Hanging with the cousins

 

Bath Time!

 

 Morning Snuggles

 

Piggy Back Rides With Jackson

 

 

 Photo Shoot with the Cousins

Playing in the leaves with Walker

Fun times with Nana

 

It was a lovely trip, the kids did great on both flights and we had so much fun with Ren, Lee Anne, Jackson, Walker, Nana and Pops. It's a great start to the holiday season!

 

Pumpkin Patches

Changing of the seasons, especially the transition from summer to fall, has to be one of my favorite things about living in Northern Virginia.  The seasons seem to change so sharply here, though they sometimes change back for a few days before committing to the new season!

This fall has been so beautiful, the trees have been so pretty and the weather has been lovely.  It's an especially great fall thanks to sweet baby TJ.  As nervous as I was to have a toddler and a baby, it really hasn't been very tough, and that's mainly because TJ is such a good baby. Yes, I could use a little more sleep (I'm ready for him to sleep through the night!), but when awake he is very sweet and calm, smiling and laughing, or just sitting back and observing.

Anyways, we took advantage of the great fall weather and did two different pumpkin patch trips this year. One with Dave's sister Abby and her good friend Megan, and one with my good friend Kendra, in town from Seattle.

Here are some pictures of our farm/pumpkin patch adventures!

Great Country Farms (I promise TJ and I were there too!)

Miller and Abby planning their fun day!

 

 

 

 

Cox Farms - Centerville, VA

 

 

No, Dad, we don't think this makes for a great "photo op"

Sweet cuddles with Kendra

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brotherly Love and Halloween

The most common question we get these days is, "How is Miller handling the new addition?". While he has his moments of frustration ("No TJ Mama!"), he's mostly been very sweet with TJ.  He loves to play games that incorporate TJ in some way. All of a sudden he likes playing in his crib, if TJ is in there with him. I love watching TJ start to interact with him more and more each day, it's so fun to think how much they will play together in a couple of years!

 

 

Last week was Halloween, and while TJ is still too small to care much about it, Miller really enjoyed himself this year. He dressed as Elmo and TJ wore Miller's monkey costume from his first Halloween. We went to a children's parade last weekend with the boys dressed in costume. One thing I hadn't anticipated was how many kids would approach our little Elmo, wanting to touch him and hug him. It was like having a celebrity kid! To them he was Elmo. Miller was really great about it, high fiving and hugging kids when they approached. Proud of my sweet boy.

 

Our little Elmo

Monkey Man TJ

 

Miller also went trick or treating for the first time and seemed to enjoy it. He's still not big on candy (who is this kid!?), but had fun meeting all the neighbors and seeing all the costumes.

 

Now that Halloween is over, we're getting excited for Dave's family to come to town to celebrate Thanksgiving, just a few weeks away!



TJ at 1, 2 and 3 months old!

Our little pumpkin is getting so big! TJ turned three months old on Friday, though we often joke that it feels like he's been a part of our family forever. Sometimes I have to remind myself how young he actually is, especially because he's so big!

Here are his stats from his two month check up -
25 1/2 inches long (99th percentile)
14 pounds 1 ounce (90th percentile)

1 Month Old

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

 

 

In other news, TJ rolled over for the first time last week! What a stud!



Oklahoma Stones Come to Visit

The original plan was for my brother Renzi and his family to come visit us a few days after my due date. We thought it was safe to assume that this baby wouldn't be as late as his brother was. Well, we were wrong! So the day before they were going to arrive they rescheduled their trip for this last weekend instead. It all turned out great and we had so much fun!

Lee Anne and Walker arrived on Thursday afternoon - Ren was away on business and Jackson was sticking around OKC for his first week of Kindergarten (!!!) but both were going to join us on Saturday morning.

Aunt Lee Lee and TJ!

Lee and I were a bit nervous how Walker (18 months) and Miller (just turned 2) would play together. There were certainly some battles over the weekend, but their interactions were hilarious. They both love to throw water around, so they bonded over that right away. :)

Friday morning Lee Anne was kind enough to take the two boys while Dave and I ran to a quick meeting.  She took an adorable picture of them in our double stroller - which reminded me of when we watched Walker last October for a few days and took a similar picture. Look how much they've grown up!

October 2012

August 2013

One of the reasons the timing of the trip worked out so well was because Friday night was Marcine's surprise 60th birthday party! Dave, Lee, the boys and I all piled into a car and headed to Annapolis for the afternoon/evening. During the party Marcine's sweet sister-in-law, Kerri, took some great pictures of the family. We joked that Lee Anne looked like my sister wife in these pictures since Renzi wasn't there to join us!

The party was a success and a lot of fun! We had to leave earlier than we wanted to, but the kiddos were exhausted and needed to get back to Arlington and to bed.

Ren and Jackson joined us on Saturday and we spent another lovely afternoon in Annapolis. The rest of the weekend we were in Arlington just relaxing, cooking good food, going to local parks and just enjoying each other's company.

All in all it was a great weekend and visit from the OKC Stone's! We miss them already.

We're also so excited for our next visitor, my brother Grant!! He'll be here next week, can't wait!