He who strengthens me

Life has been rather crazy lately so once again I've gotten behind. Life is grand though. What to tell, where to start. I tend to keep a lot to myself. That may be an understatement.

[Braedyn] He is about to hit 2 1/2 and he's already one of the strongest little boys I know. A couple weeks ago, he had his first surgery and set of scopes related to his Gardner's Syndrome. It was not easy for us in any way but we somehow found the strength and calm that we needed to get through it. I find a lot of strength in different ways - my faith/spirituality, my family, and other supportive outlets. His EGD and colonoscopy went pretty quick as planned and went well. They did find a questionable polyp and yesterday it was confirmed to be a adenomatous polyp. He will have a further "test" to study more into his GI tract and the scopes will be done again later on in the year. When the surgeon got in to do his portion, he found more than he expected to find (also learning to not rely as much on the type of X-ray done for the issue). Dave and I were oth quite nervous when the estimated time passed by and we had still not heard anything. Any parent sitting there I'm sure would have felt the same way. In my head, I knew they found more than what he thought it was and it turned out to be that I was right. When the first word out of your child's surgeons mouth is, "I should have listened to mom's gut," you know without the further details. At that same time, no parent wants to hear bad regarding their child's health. The first day or so was pretty rough but truthfully, after those couple of days you would never have known he had a surgery. I'm starting to understand more what my mom went through with me as child. She is the strongest woman I know. I know I don't say it much, but it is the truth. I admire my mom for countless things and one of them is her strength. I'm blessed and thankful to have her for my mom.

[Liam] I can't believe he's already 7 months old. It seems like just yesterday he was this teeny tiny 6 1/2 pound little boy that even newborn clothes ate whole and now he's this squishy 19 pound short stack. Like his brother, he's such a joy. He is definitely one of the happiest babies I've ever seen and full of giggles. He is well-known for his cheeks. People love his cheeks, as do we. At 6 months, we were told he was already developmentally ahead. It's always good hearing positivity regarding your children and it truthfully makes me proud. We work quite a bit with our boys to ensure they have a good foundation in their life as well as how they feel about themselves. I believe it begins from day one. He babbles and wiggles like no other. Today, he finally officially crawled not 10 minutes before Dave got home. It was so great to see. Reminds me of the day Braedyn first crawled. He has been rolling and doing his funny looking "crawl" for over a month now but the normal viewed on all fours occurred this afternoon. He's began pulling up more and more. It's sometimes hard to grasp how fast they grow up. I still remember over 2 years ago when Braedyn couldn't back talk (haha).

[Other aspects of our life] I have noticed recently how great it feels to be so happy with the way we have chose to raise our boys and how we do what we do. I never saw the day that I would be thrilled to do things the way we do either. Breast feeding, baby-wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping...attachment parenting is amazing and very rewarding for all of us in the long run. I have had people ask when we will stop doing this or that and why we do, there's a short and sweet answer I prefer to use - I don't have a plan honestly, I am letting them lead the way. I want to do what I feel is best for them and our family. If others don't like it, I truthfully could care less and they can keep their negativity and ignorance to theirselves. The things people have said to us about every aspect of our decisions based on those above named really just make me want to try harder. Our boys are happy and healthy, that's is what matters. Not how weird others think it is. I'm passionate about parenting in a way that sets a solid, strong ground for them and my amazing husband stands by me. I've seemingly became more and more passionate about car seat safety. I do have my own opinions regarding all of these things but decisions should be made in the best interest of their well being. With that being said, I should hit the hay while I can. I will work on writing more frequently again because I do love it. Hugs and love to all!