The end of the hiatus?

Hello all,

Just wanted to let everyone that in theory, we are back online. So in theory, I should also be making blog posts again. If nothing else, I will attempt to do a summary of the last 6 months, as well as throw a few pictures up from that time. Let me know what you guys want to see most and I'll start with that! Comment below......

~hugs

Chris 1st Birthday Slideshow!

There were a few people who never got a chance and have requested to see this video. This is a video of Chris' first year of life. It was made with a lot of love and tears. I hope you all enjoy!

Camping April 2011...

As promised here is a photo journal of our camping trip! Can't remember the name of the campground but it was really close to Rockaway Beach. I know I know, I really messed up by not getting any pictures of the campfire. To be honest we didn't have very good fires, most of the wood we brought was wet and we didn't want to buy a lot since it was really expensive. Sorry about that, but we have fires in our backyard pretty regularly, so I'll throw a pic of one of those on here for ya, when I find one. Also, this is a really thrown together post, not a lot of time, so if you want to see photos chronologically you must read from bottom to top. Sorry. Hope you enjoy our camping trip as much as we did!

Tyler holding up a Cockle clam. These are racked up instead of using a clam gun to dig them out of the sand. Also, they don't dig down really fast like a Razor clam, they just sit an inch or two under the sand and wait to be scooped up. Tony raked all of these, and had fun doing it too! Although he was waste deep in the bay! We decided we definitely need to do it again, since digging Razor clams kills Rob's and my back!!!! And tonight Robert made clam fritters which we dominated!!! So yummy, and they turned out great especially for a first try!

A picture of all the Cockles before Robert cleaned them. That sure looks like a lot of unpleasant work!! He is going to save all the shells and serve hors d'oeuvres on them, like a fancy seafood restaurants!!! :)

Tyler finding what the Easter bunny left him in the trailer on Easter Sunday. He was so surprised that the Easter Bunny knew he was camping!!! We are going to do an egg hunt on the next nice day. We really didn't get a chance to dye boiled eggs. Easter kinda snuck up on mom!

Tyler looking very relaxed as he roasts his marshmallows for smores. He didn't do to well, but hey it was his first time. He really just wanted to catch them on fire, and we were all a little nervous about him holding a roaster stick!!!!

Tyler reluctantly holding a salamander that big brother Tony caught. He figured he should since baby Chris did. Thank goodness for sanitizer. ;)

Chris was very curious about that little critter.

Even though they are so slow out of the water, I couldn't get a good picture for some reason. Oh well, you guys all know what a salamander looks like. :)

Chris after I said 'don't you smile!'

Chris before I said 'don't you smile!'

Chris digging his little toes in the sand. He was a little skeptical but then he really liked it!

Cute little toes dug in the sand.

Action shot of Chris nearly missing his face with the sand.

Another action shot of Chris throwing sand. I didn't take too many of these since I didn't want to deal with the sand in the eye, ear, mouth, etc, situation.

Chis smiling in the sun sitting in the sand!!

Rob will kill me for putting this pic of him on the blog, but I thought it was too cute how they are both holding their fishing poles facing opposite directions.

Refer back to my Norman Rockwell post. How great is this picture. I mean it wouldn't win any contests or anything, but I just love that it's a toe-head teenager, fishing on the jetty with his dog. I mean, do you EVER see that anymore? I don't and I live somewhere where everyone fishes!!! It's rare to see a teenager without a phone or ipod glued to their hand or ear. I think he had a lot of fun, even though we didn't get any fish.



Videos of the camping.

Please disregard Robert yelling at the dog. I couldn't really edit it out without ruining the video, and it's so cute. He was fishing in a little tide pool and caught on so fast!!! He was really intent on catching a fish out of there. BTW Copper had been whining like that for about 20 min.

More video of my cutie pie playing in the sand. Silly mom didn't bring a shovel or any toys for the sand, so there was only one thing to do with it!!

Hugs

Easter Craft Factory, and Videos!!!

Hi kids!! This post should really be called 'The Mother Load!' I found my card reader and there were some pretty fan-flippin'-tastic photos and footage on it!!! :) So I did this the best I could to go in order but Blogger is kinda difficult for me to rearrange more than 3 or 4 pictures. So that being said the table should be at the very end as we got it about a week ago. It's a corner booth table as you can see. Robert has wanted one for awhile, and our other table was on it's last leg, literally and metaphorically. Other than that, proceed throughout the photos in order and enjoy!!!


Fabulous corner table. Saves a lot of space, but we don't love the tile top and we want to get some cushions made (or make them heh).




Finally, some pics of Tony. This is on the way home from my mom's at the end of Spring Break. It was so wet out but he had fun. Robert went too, but I went inside with Ty and Chris since it was a tad COLD and RAINING so no pictures of Dad gunning it and spinning out into the mud!!! The big boys had a lot of fun!






Before he realized he could go faster!

My cuties wrestling.

More cheesy smiles.

Caught him off guard while playing. I thought he looked so cute in his overalls and his little chubby cheeks!

If you look close I snapped a super awesome spit bubble here.

Wondering why I must always disturb him with a flash while minding his own business.

Just love all those teeth!!! Please note, he has cut one of his first yr molars now, bringing the count to 6 !!!!! Two other molars have been giving him grief lately. :(

Ty being goofy when I asked him to point to the AWESOME Easter Egg tree we made together! Ya I know, he looks like he has a Eater Egg Tree growing out of his head hee hee. He didn't really want to be in the picture...shocking.

We found some good branches in our back forty, though I would've liked some with blossoms. He helped dye the blown eggs. Of course I did the dirty work. He helped me make all the ornaments and of course was a great helper when it came time to hang them. He also helped Daddy pick out these great bunnies since Daddy knows I love decorations and I don't have any for Easter. Ty thought I would really like them. The have ceramic eggs you can interchange and he thought that was great!

Super awesome Peeps sitting on their chocolate eggs in their rice crispy coconut nests. Ya I know, one nest lost it's Peep, don't know how that happened. But honestly there were only 5 in the package ;)

Chowing on his Peep.

And a little more...

I love thinking up captions for the expressions I get on camera. I think this is: " Yes,... this indeed is the Crunch bar chocolate egg of the Easter variety, extremely rare."

It's getting serious when the 3 yr old rolls up his sleeves of his own free will and with no one suggesting it!

Yes, mom ... this was after a strictly balanced dinner ;) Ps I would think that there would be no delicate way to eat a rice crispy nest, but doesn't Ty look ever so dainty with his little fingers. I think this may be to throw people off the scent. (BTW my mom is the one who sent us all the stuff to make these great goodies!)

Chris definitely wanted to make sure he wasn't missing out!

My thought caption of choice for this one is, "What gives? You've never seen a baby eat a rice crispy nest before? Sheesh."

I think he liked them!

I very toothy grin!

These are some crepe paper carrots that Ty helped me make. There are stickers and chocolate eggs inside and when you unravel them you find out what you get!! You could also hide them in the grass with eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt too!


I didn't take any pics of the BEAUTIFUL front deck and new grass, because it has our old dryer and stove and kitchen table sitting on it for sale. Haha...I will show some before and after photos of all the hard work the hubster as been doing since he got laid off as soon as we get rid of that stuff!

And now on to some exciting real-life footage. This video was taken after dinner and before bed. They had been going like this for 10 -15 min prior to getting the camera out. I was dying of laughter. I hope they wore themselves out! At the bigging and end of the vid you might notice Chris trying to stand up by himself. It's either that or he's doing the 'down dog' yoga pose!

This was just a completely unnecessary side note of what pops into my head when Chris does what he does.

When he does this that is....

And this!

So that's all for now folks. We are going camping tomorrow for a few days so that should be exciting. I'll post pics and vids of our adventures upon our return!

Hugs,

The Wirts

The Mother Load...

Hi guys,

I know I haven't been very diligent about posting lately. I could give you a laundry list or even a grocery list of excuses as to why, but, I mainly have stayed away from posting due to anxiety and stress. I don't wish to use my blog as a venting/complaining venue. That's not to say I will only post when there is rainbows and My Little Ponies to write about, but, I simply don't wish to bring everyone else down. That being said, my less than savory mood as of late, is mainly due to our non-weatherized (understatement) home, Robert's recent lay-off, and Chris' upcoming angioplasty. I also have been having some pretty rough emotional highs and lows in regards to recalling where my family was this time last year. I have pretty much tried my very best to put on a brave face for the world, while deep (or not so deep) down I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed by all manner of things.

Too many to list, but the short list is, I'm overwhelmed by:

• fear of the unknown


• lack of knowledge


• 3 yr old tantrums


• rain puddles in my yard


• my big dog


• my responsibilities


• testosterone


• never ending laundry

and the list could go on... I wanted to say that I am even more overwhelmed by:

• love from all my boys


• love from friends


• love from strangers


• generosity


• selflessness of others


• children's laughs


• good food


• kind words


• hugs


• kisses


• snuggles


• tolerance of all who know me


• the Lord's mercy


• the Lord's love


• my hubby's spontaneity (in a good way)

This turned into a weird post, but hey, I must've needed to say all that. I was originally going to post a metric butt-load of pics and vids, and I still will. I guess I just needed to preface my last few months this way. So here is some pics and vids of some of what's been going on. These are way out of order but enjoy anyway!

Birthday cookie fruit pizza thing Mom and I made for Aunt Mollie even though after everyone (except mom) got a piece, it still ended up going down the road with me, hhmmmm. (We cheated and combined a couple of other pics we found online till we got one we liked. Thanks for putting up with me Madre.)

This is about a week after Chris' birthday when he just started figuring out the shopping cart. I caught him a little off guard I think. He's usually much more smiley.

Tyler just needed some picture taking attention, so he wanted to show you all some of his bugs. I tried to tell him that he needed to hold it down a little so we could see his face, but he insisted he hold it up so you all could see it very well.

Chris, about a week after his birthday, just finished ravioli for lunch and now having some animal crackers! Once again looking a little confused as to why he's getting his picture taken whilst eating.

During the week of Chris' birthday Madre came to visit, and she had all sorts of great food ideas for kiddos! You are supposed to use raisins for eyes and almond slivers for ears, but they turned out okay for what ingredients we had! Ps they are pear mice, just so you know!

Once again, Grammy's animal artwork appetizer! It's a hot dog octopus, oh so easy and fun! Although the kiddo's were skeptical about the green ramen noodles!

Ty and his friend Emily eating their hot dog octopi! Woo Hoo (disregard dishwasher in background and car on table)

So here are a couple of decorations my mom and I made for Chris' birthday. I really wish there wasn't a glare on the banner because it's super awesome!!

Quilt that I made, and my mom helped finish up when she visited. It's for baby Ryan (the above pictured blond girl's baby brother). I wanted to do something that he wouldn't outgrow for awhile so it's a big quilt with big boy camo!!!

This needs no description! =)

So, when I find my card reader there are some rad pictures of the boys messing around, more food crafts, and the work that's been being done on the house. The boys have really started to play so well together in the last month. They always have, but Chris is a little more patient with Ty than he used to be, and vice versa.

Before I forget, I'm trying to write down as much stuff about the boys that I can so that I won't forget about it later. Tyler says some of the funniest stuff, but I never write it down, so I'm really truly going to try to write it and see what I have by the next post.

If anyone remembers visiting Chris in PICU he always had his legs straight up in the air. I never really understood that. He still does it all the time when he has his nighttime bottle. I'll take a pic or vid, because it's so funny when you see it. He's laying there drinking away, and just feet straight in the air. Wouldn't you think that would be too much effort, especially while eating! Also both boys always slept with their hands behind their heads like they are chillaxing, but they were much too young to understand what that means (don't know if I do!) . They would always wriggle out of their swaddling shortly after falling asleep and put their hands behind their heads. Maybe that's how they were comfortable in my belly. It's really funny to see a two or 3 month old sleeping that way.

So that's all for now. I will sincerely try to find my card reader as well as post more regularly. It is probably equally annoying for you all to read long posts as it is for me to put them together. Hope you all are well! Hugs

Chris turns ONE!

Hi everyone! I know I haven't posted much about family this month, so I will attempt to remedy that now.

I run the risk of making this a depressing post with this paragraph alone, but hopefully those of you who know me, will see that I'm really just stating facts.

This has been an overwhelming month for our family. On February 18th our little man Christopher turned one! We are so grateful that he is here and doing well. Many parents of CHD kids never get to celebrate the big milestone that turning one is. While we were so excited to celebrate his birthday...the 18th also brought many strong emotions flooding back.

I will share some of my journal entries from that day and that week one year ago, when I locate my journal.

So for now, just a Chris update!

Our youngest baby Chris, turned one on February 18th. He is a very busy little guy. He is very curious, and loves to wrestle his brothers. He is fearless, and usually has some little bruises on his little head to prove it. He is a big snuggler, but is wary of new faces.

At 1 yr old Chris:

- has 4 teeth, but not the ones you'd think. The two bottom were first, followed by a huge top one, which was followed by the one to the side of it, not the other front one! Now he is cutting the other front tooth.

- is transitioning from bottle to cup. He still likes his bottle from time to time, but is figuring his cup out and really likes his watered down apple juice from it.

-drinks whole milk (yay no special formula, and no more regular formula to buy!)

-still army crawls, but is very quick (big bro Tyler did that forever and didn't even get his tummy off the floor til he was almost walking!)

-walks everywhere by pushing his walker and Tyler's shopping cart.

-walks down the length of the couch hanging on for dear life!

-has slept through the night forever but now sleeps 12 straight hours and 2 or 3 naps a day

-has no more binky's !! (though sometimes i wish he still did)

-says a lot of words and understands many more. He knows mama and dada of course, but can also recognizably say hi, bye, (and waves when saying those) baba, he also says mmmmaaaa to imitate a big kiss sound (we thought he said you're welcome the other day but haven't been able to coax him into saying it again, could be wishful thinking). He understands "can i have that?" "time for meds" "time for bath" "time for bed" "do you want this?" , "YAY!" and when we say yay, he smiles and starts clapping. This isn't a word but he loves to slap his hand on his mouth to make the Indian sound. He probably understands a whole bunch more, but that's all i can think of right now. When called on the phone he will babble for a few minutes while smiling. He babbles all day.

-he loves Popsicles

-he loves bread

-he hates peas

-he is not a picky eater but will let you know if he doesn't like what you've offered him.

-would gladly play with Tyler all day (but Tyler gets annoyed with him sometimes)

-Has had 4 surgeries

-has caught up and surpassed many children whom have not had surgery

-is his parents pride and joy

-is the happiest and most cuddly and photogenic baby i have ever seen!

Happy 1st Birthday my snuggle bug! We love you!

ps I will post more pics from his party and some from our adventures with Grammy and Grandpa at a later date! Hugs