Another Day, Another Swimmer In The Family!

There has been so much gushing and attention paid to Mr. Carter in the last week, that Addie reminded us tonight that we shouldn't forget about what she can do... we are simply blown away...

This Is For You MeMe!

Diane,

I know how much you love to take the kids swimming and you will be so proud of both Addie and Carter when you see them in action. But until then, here are a few more videos from the past few days, to tide you over. We love you! B, M, C & A

With 6 of the last 8 nights being dinner at the pool, these 2 kids have developed into quite the swimmers in the last week. Carter is even going down the big slide 100 percent unassisted and now we even wait at the bottom of the pool for him and he climbs the stairs, waits in line and comes down all by himself. He did it at least 35 times this weekend.

Then it was time to MASTER the diving board. We did this jumps at least 15 times.

Carter couldn't be out done by his little sister. But once he got the hang of it, he didn't even need or want me out in the middle catching him.

Carter has literally made such enormous progress the past week, I am speechless. I'd like to say it was the 2 individual swimming lessons I gave him but I think it was a combination of things including living at the pool in recent weeks.

Clint, Jessy and Kids In SA!!

Could it be? All smiles and all looking at the camera....

 

I loved seeing all their smiles and steady laughter on the tire swing. Addie kept up with all the older ones... surprise surprise!

The Brown boys and their babies!

2 group shots in one trip?!?! WOW

A really fun few days with them!

Vegas - Alli and Kelli

A handful of the memories when we are 80 and old (good thing we have Kelli's memory):

*i'm just packing a pair of flip flops and 1 other pair of shoes and probably carrying on*the man under the waterfall*disclosing our inner most secrets to the 60 year old women from washington state*kir royales*the dental student waitress*alla, guy and monty a.k.a blake*antonio, we will be your money managers*steve (kelli's dad,) lori & jim*late night pizza place*i really love red pepper*lookin' for ice*no rich people allowed on this floor*the only ones in vegas up at 8am*searching the wynne for coffee in our glasses, pj's and no makeup*carrot top or love*we were proud to be the girls at the european pool with the most clothes on*are we worse than the guys?*sam, dre and jay*champagne delivery*the fun cabana*the big straw hat*finally in the pool*taking time to smell the flowers on the way up to the room*each had our own way of getting it together and ready for dinner and the show*mellow dinner at sushi zamba*you either peak in high school or you peak in life*fun show at treasure island - love with the beatles* someone took a little nap*late night pizza place (again)*swiss guy at the table*we actually made ourselves sleep until 9*mommy time out wine*last time at the table with the dealer that loved to tell stories.

So... since I didn't have the blog 12 years ago when I first met thesetwo lovely ladies during rush when we all 3 pledged Kappa, I had fun tonight looking back through boxes and boxes of pictures and reminiscing our first nights together. I never knew back in 1998 which of these 2 girls would I live with for 2 years and have in my wedding 7 years later.

Oh, but let's not just stop at 2005... let's go back to when it all began... in the rooms of Texas A&M's Mosher Hall.

Nearly 4 years later (and 9 years ago) in a cab, Alli and I together in New York City!

Kelli and I 11 years ago... wow... look at those socks!

2004 all together again in College Station where I was living (right after Kelli moved to Boston!)

 In the fall of 2004, we all met up again in Boston to visit Kelli.

2005 Alli's Wedding and Bachellorette Party in South Beach!

Could We Have Found An Answer For Addie?

After 5 months of a constant cough and the most recent sudden onset of wheezing 4 weeks ago, we along with our new pediatrician, decided it was time to take the next step and take Addie to a Allergy & Asthma specialist - Dr. Dennis Dilley.

We had our 2 hour appointment which included a 48 item skin test and the results blew us away. (This picture was taken with in the first 5 minutes... I refrained from taking it at the end of the 15 minutes of swelling before reading the test.)

After getting past the guilt of not listening our gut instinct 18 months ago, after our original ped. said allergy testing wasn't a good idea, we now know that Addie is allergic to a handful of tree & weed pollens like Lingustrum, Mesquite, Mulberry & Short Ragweed. 3 common mold spores in the air year around in our humid conditions. Cats like her mommy and dust mites (which is more than likely part of the culprit that makes her night time cough so bad in her room.) The food allergies are the part that were the most alarming, she is allergic to beef, chicken, milk, orange, rice, pecans and CHOCOLATE!!!! So we welcomed back the world of SOY MILK on the way home!

The interesting part is that as a child myself, 4-7ish, I had bad allergies and asthma and remember taking a medicine mixed in my applesauce every day. I was allergic to milk as well, and they got so bad, I even had to do a couple of years of allergy shots every week. As bad as it was, I gradually grew out of it, the asthma really only bothered me while exercising hard in middle school and high school, when I had my very first major asthma attack due to being a around a cat for the first time and jumping on a trampoline soon afterwards. As an adult, my allergies are completely gone (minus CATS.)  Even this year, in March, when nearly everyone was miserable with whatever was in the air, I had no reaction. Dr. Dilley told me that many studies are being published now showing 60 percent of the children with severe allergie,s who took allergy shots as a child, grow up not to be affected as adults vs. those that didn't do shots.  He said that will hopefully be what happens with Addie once she is old enough to do them.... pretty interesting. He also stated that allergies and asthma are highly genetically passed on and specifically same sex parent to same sex child, which makes sense, that Carter has had NONE of these problems.

There are 3 Asthma Risk Factors: Addie has 2 of the 3, being1. Family History (Addie has from me) 2. Positive Allergy Test to Dust Mites, Cats or Alternaria & something else (Addie has 3/4) 3. (I forgot to write down the 3rd but she didn't have this.)

As far as the game plan - with Dr. Dilley's agreement, we aren't going to go over board and dramatic and have hard wood floors installed in her room tomorrow morning (as her and Carter's rooms are the ONLY rooms in the house that aren't already hard wood) or cut the 2 protein staples in our house (chicken and beef) out. We are going to vacuum her room once a day, no more stuffed animals in bed, doctor said the curtains need to come down (which by far is the hardest part for me since they have such meaning!) and ideally, in the future, we will need to get the 10 year old carpet out of her room if the changes we make now don't make a significant improvement. We changed the 2X/day inhaler from Flovent to Advair, which is supposed to have better control for night time cough. Dr. Dilley said to continue Zyrtec on a daily basis and we are continuing the Singular for her cough, allergy and asthma control and of course CUT OUT all milk, most cheese, yogurt, ice cream, orange, pecans and chocolate and see if those changes alone, reduce the congestion, cough and upset stomach that Addie often complains about. In the last 48 hours, since these changes, we think we have already seen a significant decrease in the congestion during the day and cough at night, as it is almost non-existent during the day already. We aren't going to celebrate yet but rather take a deep breath and hope we are heading the right direction.

Over Night...

Literally, this confidence came out of no where, except a lot of pool time!

Such a proud momma and dad!

Carter's 1st Sports Camp

So, I had to miss the first day of camp for Carter for a work meeting in Austin so I had everything he needed laid out for Blake in the morning to make it as easy as possible and to help relieve some of the guilt I had for not being there.

Each day, when Carter arrived, the counselors would be there ready to meet Carter right away. He would be a little timid at first and would quickly got in the routine of finding his name to hang up his bag and find his blue mug with his name on it and get it filled up with water and ice before meeting all his other friends 3.5-7 on the tennis court.

Each and every MORNING and AFTERNOON, Grandpa was there before us ready to play with the kids until camp began. He would also meet Carter, Macy and Marshall each and every afternoon for an ice cream snack. It was such a special treat and we are so thankful to Grandpa and YaYa for doing this for Carter.

They would warm up to stretch and this would be the time we adults would head out!

THE BIGGEST THANK YOU goes to my INCREDIBLE step-sister Julie for filling in my slack while I was gone and picking up Carter a couple of the afternoons. Julie, you are amazing and I am so lucky to have you! I OWE YOU big time again... so next time you and Sean need a date night.... you better call us!!!

Carter got the award for, what else, but BASKETBALL and we are so proud of him!

What an amazingly positive experience for Carter's first "camp" exposure... I have a inkling we will have many more in the future years with this boy. Right now, we have him excited for Addie joining him in 2012!!

Aunt Erin!

We headed to pool to get some hang out with my family and see some old friends. Aunt Erin was there and was incredible with the kids! They love her SO much!

The excitement happened when Addie climbed up on the diving board ALL BY HERSELF and proceded to jump in!

Then and Now

July 2009 - Addie 14 months old and Carter 2.5 years old.

Just 1 year and 10 days later, same place. Addie just over 2 and Carter 3.5 years old...