Happy Hallowe'en!!!!!

Ok. Eggs are cracked, coffee is on and I just got willie nursed down (again!) but I wanted to quickly share our day.

It was awesome!!!! We've been so excited for today, J's been anxious to wear his costume for weeks. When I went in to get him this morning he remembered and said "J choo choo ticky teat (trick or treat) mommy. I went in saying spooky in our funny way too so it was off to a good start even with the little sleep anyone got last night.

After breakfast we played for a while and then while Willie napped J and I finished up the decorations outside. Well, we attempted to but Willie and I actually finished while J was napping. (they've been tag teaming me with naps for weeks. hard to get stuff done you know!?!) So, we decorated we practiced trick or treating and we even had a few treats.

Jimmy picked up some yummy BBQ from the Smokin' Pig for dinner and we were eating by 4:15 and by 5:10 or so the boys were suited up and we were ready to hit the streets. We were definitely the first ones out but who cares! J was so awesome. He was a little shy but very very polite it was really sweet. He said "ticky teat please" and as soon as the treat was in the choo choo bucket he's say "thank you". It was awesome. He rode in the wagon here and there but really enjoyed himself. He was so excited to see all the treats going into his basket. He inspected each and every one and hollered about each one equally. He wasn't into running up to every single house just every once in a while he's point and say let's go. Cutie pie. Willie rode on my back in his pumpkin suit and was by far the cutest pumpkinator i've seen. He was really sleepy from our night last night but he still enjoyed himself. I think just riding on my back outside makes him happy.

When we got home it was already 6:30 or so and J was even more excited to get to give out treats. Once he got the hang of it he was double fisting it and giving each kid 2 great big handfuls. At first I thought we were going to run out of candy but nope, still have lots left. He would look out the window with Jimmy and say nope, no kids. and when Jimmy would tell him he saw some kids coming he'd run to the door, open it himself and wait anxiously. He was loving every second of it. Jimmy and I were just laughing and having a blast watching his little eyes light up. He was so excited. Oh, and it was so cute too. As soon as we got home he had to dump out the bucket and inspect everything. I remember vividly doing the same thing. Being a kid is so cool and it's even cooler to be the grown up and remembering feeling the way I see J and Willie feel. You relive the excitement and the wonder. It's like being a kid all over again but being wise enough to embrace it and engrave it in your memory.

So, after a wonderful holiday day today I just have to say. I am so in love with my boys. They are just amazing little beings and I feel so blessed every day to have them in my life. I love watching them explore and discover just regular life things and be completely excited and fascinated. They are truly thrilling. I know Jimmy feels the same way. It's just so awesome to be blessed enough to have them in our lives. What a cool little family! Thank you God!

So along with Hallowe'en comes something very exciting in the Towne house. It's the kickoff to the HOLIDAY SEASON!!!! Are you ready? Are you stoked? We love this time of year. Bring it on!!!!!

Good night!

FREE TACOS!

Do you like tacos? If so, go to Taco Bell today between 2pm and 5pm for your free taco.

Why are you getting a free taco?

Don't you watch baseball? There was a base stolen during the World Series. The owner of Taco Bell said he'd buy everyone in America a taco if someone stole a base!

Enjoy your tacos I know we will!

Pray for Ethan

Ethan is a little baby who was diagnosed with leukemia at his 2 month appt. in February. He is the same age as Willie and is not doing very well.

His parents are asking for prayers. Please pray for Ethan. You can read up about Ethan and his battle at www.ethanpowell.com

I know I need to update on us but I just can't tonight. We're all ok.

Please take the time and pray for Ethan.

BeLIeVe.

Dr Update for Willie

So after months of begging we finally got in to see a ped GI specialist on Friday. The Dr was awesome, he played with J, seemed to listen and talked to me so I could understand. I didn't get that "you're wasting my and everyones time" feeling. I just wish I didn't get that bottled up nervous feeling when we're there. It's just trying to watch to make sure no one is getting into trouble (wink wink boys) and really have a conversation with the dr is hard. Anyway, he's where we're at. Seems like the infant reflux is GERD so he won't really grow out of it. Of course it's easily managed especially when he's older and we can really hit on his symptoms. For now we are on Prevacid Solutabs 15mg one (holy cow, what will i do with all my free time) time a day. He recommended stopping the Reglan immediately but to use the Zantac as a back up until the Prevacid really kicks in. We talked quite a bit about how hard of a time Willie is having with solids. And this seems to be a misunderstood problem to a lot of people we talk to. It's not that Willie isn't interested in solids or that he's just bored with it or doesn't like it or whatever. It's that he has a hard time swallowing the food all the way down. It seems like he really has to work for it and sometimes it doesn't happen. period. this is a bummer for me to see because he IS very interested in solids. he's trying to eat, he's munching at everything it's just that he can't seem to get things down. It stinks.

We go back in 3 weeks, November 6th, for a follow up. At that point if he's better we'll give it some more time. If he is the same or worse we'll start a little more testing. His first test would be a modified swallow study. I haven't done near enough research on this yet to really make any good thoughts on it.

Uh oh. Somebody is stirrin' again. I better run, i will be back to finish later or tomorrow.

By the way, Willie took baby steps today!!!!!!!!!!!!1

You know you're a sleep deprived mom when.......

So in my 2 1/2 years of being a mom I have done my fair share of silly things. Mostly just goofy things like putting milk in the cupboard and cereal in the fridge, looking for my glasses everywhere when they are already on my face and other fairly common things. The funniest thing up until today I'd done was while we were living in Florida and J was just a newborn. At the time I was still trying to figure out the whole nursing and baby thing and was nursing endlessly and was super duper sleep deprived. The doorbell rang and it was the UPS lady delivering a package. I signed for the package and it wasn't until a half hour later that I realized I had just answered the door with the milk maker hanging out. Silly mama.

But today was funny. We went to our new playgroup downtown at Forsyth Park. I was sitting on the grass beside a couple other moms when I looked down at my legs. I thought for a moment and then looked down again and yep, sure enough one leg shaved, one leg not. We had a good giggle about that one.

J did a funny too. We were all just sitting around talking about baby carriers and cloth diapers when J just randomly stood up and blurted out "my daddy has goatee". He was so proud of this fact. Then he did the goatee rub for the next 10 minutes saying "no J goatee, daddy goatee". He is so funny!

And Willie. Willie stood today for 25 seconds (yes, i counted) all by himself in the grass not holding onto anything. He even had a little bounce going. I just know that boy will be walking soon. It's so unbelievable to me that it has been almost a year since our baby Willie was born. Nuts I say! He is so funny these days too. We still have the ball pit set up in the living room from Football Sunday and he has spent the last few days getting himself up on the edge and rocking until he falls in face first. Then he laughs at himself and does the same thing out of the ball pit. When the ball pit isn't set up he spends his time crawling all over MaryJane. He is a climber. He'll be the one jumping from the table I just know it!

No wonder I have gray hairs!

The Ice Cream Man

Today J and I were outside picking up the MaryJane bombs in the yard and all of a sudden J heard the ice cream man. He had to have been a few blocks over but sure enough super-ears heard him. So we ran inside put shorts on, found some change and ran out front. Billy and Jacob were over after school so they came out too. It took him about 10 minutes to make it over and I was just fixin' to give up when alas, there he was.

J had the hugest most proud smile on his face and he held my hand and told Billy and Jacob "c'mon mice meam man". He and Jacob got the deluxe ice cream bar and billy got a nutty something that looked like a drumstick.

He held my hand the whole time and he was bouncing up and down, totally anticipating getting to eat that ice cream. We held hands the whole way up the driveway and then he ran to the "baby's seat" and ate his ice cream.

It was so awesome. And then once he'd had a few bites he says "Thank you mice meam man mommy" "thank you, thank you mommy" in his sweet little J voice. He is such an awesome little guy.

The ice cream man rocks. He plays that perfect little ice cream truck tune and everything in the world is perfect for a few minutes. Boy, I wanted an ice cream too. I wanted a Creamsicle so bad. Oh well, won't be long now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All you crazy Canadians!

I am roasting a turkey breast for supper tonight.

Have a great day.

Hello? Mama and grampa?

My parents are in Vancouver BC visiting with one of my dads oldest and best friends. The boys and I are suffering from withdrawal symptoms. It's kinda crazy how affected we (ok, ok mostly me) are. Now, I'm half kidding but half not. I talk to my mom and dad almost everyday. Maybe once during the week we'll skip a day but no more then a day at a time. Yikes. This is nuts. I haven't even got to talk about the bugs at the Indians/Yankees game the other night.

Umm....hellloooooooooooooooooo! Just 'cause you are on vacation doesn't mean I've waived the rights to my daily phone call.

Here's my random babble I would normally yap about
baseball:
can you believe that 3 of 4 teams in the divisional series' have swept? Holy moly, it's nuts. These teams are on fire! With Manny being Manny I don't know if anyone will touch the Red Sox. And the Yankees, geesh. Avoid the sweep. I guess it's a good thing, at least now they can't blame it on the bugs right?

football:
Why would you take Joey Harrington out in the 4th quarter? Come on, what kind of message does that send? After everything this team has been through these last few months, you've got to support these guys. It's not like it's been 5 weeks of getting worse, they are all just gelling. Ugh. So frustrating but on the bright side, how tough was our defense? 5 turnovers.

Willie:
we finally got a referral to a specialist. Maybe we can get off this nasty Reglan and get on something a little better. Don't have the appointment date yet but we should hear something today.

Me:
I am running a 10 minute mile now. Totally awesome. Of course I'd like to get it a little better but in less then a month I'm already running a 10 minute and I've increased my runs to 4 miles. Awesome.

My glasses broke. Man, it just stinks. I have my old ones but that prescription is ancient. Oh well, just have to deal with it for now.

J:
got the coolest cow toy on Saturday. You pull this little trigger thing by the cows butt and his mouth opens and he moos and there's a light (like a flashlight) that shines out. It's super cool and he loves it. I won't let him take it to bed wince it is bright and noisy so it's had to sleep beside our bed the last 2 nights. That kid is so funny!

Jimmy: back to work. Mondays are such a bummer. Oh well, we had a great weekend and are counting down until Friday.