NOOOOO!

My life has officially become more complicated:

This is how Ashton rolls to a KU game

Sugar high...

The best part of halloween is the entire week after when you can dump out your candy, choose the most yummy treats in the pile, and eat until you're nearly sick. After a week all the good stuff is gone and your left with a dozen 12 year old rock hard now and laters, sugar free suckers and gumballs. Gross!

Yesterday we decided we needed to rifle through some candy, so with Syphr laying on my lap Talan dumped out his pink halloween pumpkin unloading the sugary treasures. I wasn't prepared, though, for Syphr's reaction which was to do a combination of a roll and a nosedive off my legs in order to be the first one to touch the candy. I put him on the floor and watched him act like a crazed maniac! He started grabbing for candy and holding it hostage under his chest like he was yelling 'THIS IS MINE!' at the rest of us. It was insane! 

After a few minutes of digging and hoarding, he finally rolled over only grasping onto one treeasure....a bubble gum dum dum. 

He looked it over carefully.

Tried it out.

And realized he had to figure out how to get that paper off! 

Guess he has a sweet tooth.

Still allergic.....still asthmatic

On behalf of Talan's current allergies, dogs and peanuts, we would like to welcome weeds/pollen, mold and cockroaches to the "lets make Talan as miserable as possible" clan. It only took 21 total pokes to find that out. 

We now have a new allergy and asthma plan though which I am excited about. I think will be more successful at keeping us out of the ER. Talan got 4 stickers and 10 chicken nuggets at McDonalds so I think he is excited as well. 

Isn't it great when the Dr. clears you to go, but then comes back into the room to announce that it is imperative Talan gets a flu shot? Talan's response? "No, I don't want to do that. We can do that when I come back later." Nice try Tal!

Happy Halloween!!

When Ashton was a baby he had 3 characteristics that didn't go unnoticed:

1. His eyes. I'm very fortunate that Brads blue eye gene dominated my brown eye gene which left me with 3 very blue eyed boys. Couldn't be happier about that. 

2. His head. Ashton had a huge head from the second he entered this world which may be why both my other deliveries welcomed the epidural. When he was a baby and toddler I could only buy him button down shirts. If I did get a regular shirt to go on him, it was very traumatizing to get off for both of us.  Now I realize his large head was just due to his super smart large brain. Couldn't be happier about that. 

3. His belly button. I was 19 when I had Ashton and certainly not a belly button expert. I had no idea his belly button was abnormal at all. I knew it was huge, but I had never seen a baby with an outie belly button and thought it was just that....an outie that would shrink down into a smaller outie. Made sense in my 19 year old head. Then at one of his routine check ups I learned it is in fact not normal for an outie belly button to squish in and out, or be as big around as a 50 cent piece. I was told he had a hernia. (his stomach muscles aren't closed quite all the way which leaves a small hole behind his belly button. Fluid, or tissue, or intestine will poke through the hole which makes these particular belly buttons squishy).

Two years later it was a little smaller but still about the size of a large grape. I was told it was fine and it should be gone by the time he was 5, but if it wasn't then they would do something about it. It was the same. Fast forward 3 years and a different doctor we were sent to a children's hospital to have it checked out by a surgeon. Better to be safe and have it looked at now before it did become a problem. Turns out he wasn't pleased it was not closed by now, and while not an emergency wanted to get him scheduled to have it fixed. So glad we have a doctor that goes the extra mile to make sure my kids are healthy and doesn't brush off a hernia that sticks around 8 years. Couldn't be happier about that. 

That said, I have been a little sad about the fate of Ashton's belly button. I love his squishy belly button. Good thing we can still squish Syphr's.

The patient with his super cool belly button

He let everyone have a last opportunity to squish his button.  Such a nice kid.

Surgery was yesterday. After an almost 3 hour wait, and 12 hours without food for the patient, we walked down the elephant hall where we had to say goodbye and leave his new belly button in the hands of Dr. St Peter. The anesthesiologist gave him some banana flavored sleeping gas and the next thing Ashton knew he was waking up with a gauze filled belly button. The surgery only took about 30 minutes and according to Dr. St Peter everything went perfectly. Couldn't be happier about that.

A few seconds ago we removed the gauze to see what lies beneath.....

It smells a little, is a little swollen and bruised, but still is super cute. HERE IT IS!:

Pumpkin Patch 2010

It has become a tradition every year to drive to the middle of nowhere, get lost in a field of corn several times, and take a tractor ride to find the perfect halloween pumpkin. (by perfect I mean a pumpkin that you can lift yourself and hold over your head for 10 seconds without dropping. If I didn't make that rule Ashton would only find the biggest pumpkin in the entire patch, and I would end up carrying it.) It is a super fun tradition that our whole family looks forward to. We were sad Brad couldn't be there with us, but we are all excited he will be here for trick or treating this year.

Syphr is unsure of the corn, but is pleased to have lots to look at.

Syphr really wanted to play on all the cool slides and climbing things like all the other kids.  Next year Syphr!

Talan jumped at the chance to pee on the corn.

Sadly, my camera bit the dust half way through our adventure. Thanks to the trusty old Flip camcorder I now have tons of videos which may be better than pictures.

5 months old

Likes:

• being held
• standing
• toys that make noise
• being outside
• sleeping on his tummy
• the binki
• his vitamin d supplement

Dislikes:

• the vacuum that makes a little too much noise
• being woken up from his nap
• teeth ripping their way to the surface of his gums 
• anything to do with riding in the car or the carseat

Talents:

• laughing
• talking
• sleeping through the night (occasionally)
• putting things in his mouth

For the past few years Ashton has been playing soccer. His team is not exactly great. In fact, they have only won 2 games in that three year career. Despite their lack of winning, all the boys seem to have a great time...that is really what it is about, right?

Ashton is a thinker. He is incredibly smart, loves to learn new things, and is a bit of a daydreamer. Often times I see him looking at the sky, pretending he is a ninja and fighting invisible bad guys, or doing a new dance move only to be startled back into reality as the action of the game comes into his entertainment zone. The boy just can't help it. 

So...95% of the game we see him like this:

The other 5% of the game Ashton spends in full action mode. It is almost as entertaining as ninja mode. 

Lately Talan has been referring to himself as if he is his own species. Here are some secrets Tal has let me in on lately:

Talans are good runners.

Talans like chicken nuggets.

Talans like to wear boots.

Talans don't take naps.

Talans like the letter 'T'.

Talans like to eat hot dogs.

Talans are allergic to peanuts.