Merry Christmas 2013

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Sleep Study.

 So before we left for Japan, one of the big things on the list,

 was to get a sleep study done for Ronan. 

It. was. not. fun.

(to put it very, very mildly)

I can honestly say that aside from labor to bring my children into this world, 

this was probably the other hardest thing I have ever done. 

It was TERRIBLE- physically, and emotionally. 

So why do it, you ask?

Well, to spare you the exhausting details; Ronan has always been a horrible sleeper from the day we brought him home from the hospital. And by that, I mean really, really bad- 20 minutes at a time for the first year max. Now to this day, he has improved some with a few good months here and there; but six years later I would honestly say my body feels like I am on constant alert. I go to bed just waiting for him to wake up. Considering the other things we have now going on with him, the doctors really wanted us to get a sleep study done to get a good overall picture of anything in his sleep patterns that could be influencing his daytime behaviors. 

So despite my nervous urges to cancel the appointment on numerous occasions, we decided we better at least try to get it done. Knowing what we did about how the experience would be, 

we were not very optimistic that it would even work! 

It was going to be a HUGE challenge to get everything set up and monitoring correctly.

 In anycase, we packed up our overnight bag and Ronan and I headed up to Johns Hopkins. 

As you can see above, there were cords, tubes and wires all over him.  Legs, arms, chest, face, nose, head, finger and toes!  And the best part? All of this had to be put on him while he was awake! Even the nose thing! aack!

Here's how it went down. I sat behind him in the hospital bed and held him while he screamed, and screamed and screamed! It was awful! Of course nothing actually hurt, but he was petrified and super uncomfortable! The nurse put all of the leads on his legs, arms, chest, etc and then his head, with super thick yucky glue stuff. Then eventually she wrapped it all up tight so that it would stay on in the correct spots. It took multiple hours and he finally fell asleep at 11:00pm. 

She said that about half of the time the child/and or parents really can't handle it and they have to quit.

After all the effort we had put in, there was no way I was going to let it be for nothing! 

We stuck it out, and got him to fall asleep!!

Now I had come prepared with new
 PJs, new videos, games, fruit snacks, and juice-

but you know what the only thing that helped him calm down was?

As a last resort- our awesome nurse pulled out a glove and made a balloon! He LOVED it. Only he needed like four more! 

She totally saved the day! 

We took these pictures with him and his 

special balloons the next morning, 

after he got to take all of the wires off. 

It was 6 am, so he was still a bit sleepy.

 I had to get a picture with our amazing nurse! She is honestly the only reason we were able to complete the sleep study! She was SOOO wonderful with Ronan, even when he screamed at her for hours!! The best part too, as we chatted I found out that she had just spent the last 5 years in Madagascar in the Peace Corps! So Awesome! As some of you may know, we have a big connection to Madagascar in our family, so it must have been meant to be! We chatted all about Mada through the evening and compared stories from when I was able to visit Madagascar in 2003 with Noah. 

She was truly an angel sent from Heaven,
and an answer to prayer, I have no doubt!

We did the test shortly before we moved here to Japan,  so we are still in the process of understanding/ and utilizing the results; but all I can say is that I am glad it is over! I do not ever plan to do that again!!! 

See you later sleep study!
 Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

(but seriously, thank you for wonderful technology that can help us help our little guy)

Father's Day Baseball!

 For Porter's Father's Day gift this year to Noah he wanted to go to a Nats game, just the two of them!

Noah of course loved it when he opened the tickets, and they had a fantastic time!

It worked out well that they were playing the Colorado Rockies! Double Bonus!

The fun part of going just the two of them without the littles and Mommy in tow, was that they could go extra early and watch batting practice! It was during said batting practice that Dexter Fowler on the Rockies, went to retrieve a ball, and then instead picked it up and threw it straight to Porter! 

Pretty much one of his best days ever! 

 Guess who won't let anyone touch this ball?

Porter- and his "very special ball". 

Thanks Dexter!

(pictures taken pre trip to the gift shop for new t-shirts)

Slowly turning these Phillies fans into Nats fans?

Only time will tell...

Ronan's Preschool Graduation

 Of course, I couldn't miss posting a few snaps from
 Ronan's preschool graduation! 

Next stop Kindergarten!!

 Mommy and the happy Grad.

 Miss Kirstie. Wow.
All the world was better when she walked in the room!

( They had a special bond-she was a Foreign Service Kid too:)

 And his two main teachers- Miss Amy and Miss Kim!

They did such a great job with Ronan this year, and we will forever be grateful to them! 

Ronan was so wiggly this day, that most of the other pics I attempted are super blury! 

So also a huge shout-out to Miss Kathy! (not pictured) who was also so wonderful!!

We will miss you all dearly!

We Heart Little League

Is this not the cutest little baseball player you have ever seen?

I'm quite sure he is the cutest one I have seen. 

Oh, the emotions that accompany these photos for me. 

 

This one was on opening day, after the opening day parade. I was so proud of him. 

It was freezing outside, and we had to walk for multiple blocks, but he did it. With his team. 

He was part of the group. I cried. Not going to lie. 

For those of you who know us well, you know about our little Ronan.
I won't post the details on here, but essentially- his current listening/understanding and patience/turn taking skills were not quite where they needed to be in order for him to properly enjoy being on a regular sports team right now.

Enter Little League. An amazing organization.
Little League has Challenger teams set up throughout the country for children with any delays, handicaps or other special concerns to be able to enjoy America's pastime!

We are a sports loving family. Noah loves them all. We have three boys.
Playing team sports is something we strongly feel is an important
 life skills builder for anyone involved. And, it can be so much fun on top of that!
Sports are an onion of life skills.
Ronan may not quite be ready to reach the inner levels of that onion quite yet;
but we wanted to make sure that he got the opportunity to get whatever he could.
We wanted to make sure that he at least got the opportunity to play,
to have a uniform, to be part of a team.
Living overseas, children with any delays and differences can be a gamble.
You have to find just the right fit. We didn't know what the opportunities for sports would be once we moved back overseas; so we made sure to jump on the opportunity when we had it!

They were so fantastic. The volunteer coaches, and all the Majors teams who
came to play an extra game every week,
rotating through and giving our little ones a real experience!
Little League took such good care of us all.
They had the same uniforms and equipment, same fields as the other teams.
Just had a little more support.
It was so much more emotional of a season than I thought it would be for me.
In a great way. Of course there were hard moments of frustration, but I cried nearly every week watching these little guys do their best and be cheered on by everyone!
We are so grateful for the experience, and would recommend becoming involved to anyone.
Ronan still has a long way to go before he's a Major Leaguer,
but he really did grow and learn so much!

Also on opening day, these pics with our amazing little neighbor, and fellow Little Leaguer: Mr. J. 

Boy we love this kid. (And the rest of his family)! But I can honestly say, that little J was one of the only non-adult people in the last few years to make a true genuine connection with Ronan. There have been some wonderful people who also have, but mostly adults or his brothers. We are still really working on the making new friends things with others. J is a bit older than him, but he was so great with him! Ronan loved him, and really enjoyed being around him. That is huge praise indeed. 

J was in the Majors, and was so sweet to want to help him. We had to get a picture of our little baseball buddies. Of course my luck,  Ronan wasn't in the cooperating mood for a great picture, but still a good representation of them. Thanks for being so wonderful M family!!! 

Ronan preferred to sit on the bleachers than in the dugout sometimes during the games
 (or play in the grass behind them). But, who can blame him?
Sitting on the top of the bleachers is so fun for a little kid!

 Ronan and Coach Joe.

He was awesome! So good with the kids!

 Warming up

 Playing in the outfield

Patiently waiting his turn to hit. This was rare.

 Mostly not-so patiently waiting to hit was his style.

This is why we wanted him to play though. 

Team Sports are awesome for teaching important life skills!!

Classic dugout picture. Although, I don't think he was as much concerned with the play as how hot it was! Still cute though. He looks so concerned! 

Just look at those bright, happy eyes!

Hitting was definitely his favorite part. Such a big boy!

This Little League season had it's share of ups and downs. He had his moments where he would freak out with frustration for a minute, but then he would have awesome moments of sheer joy and being proud of himself, while also having so much fun! It was a little hard to be totally sure, as he still is not the biggest conversationalist; but I'm pretty sure he "got it". The basic idea anyway, of being on a team. He was excited, and proud of himself. He knew that he got to wear a uniform, and that he was matching everyone else. He learned that he needed to take turns, and the different parts of the game. He did understand too I think, that this was "his thing". Which made me happy for him. It was worth all of the work and effort, for him to know that it was his turn. We had been going to Porter's games all year, and this time it was for him. Even if he couldn't express it, or fully understand it; I know it meant a lot to him to get to have the experience. He got to be on a real team, and play a real team sport.

Can't wait till next time! 

Tornados Spring Soccer

 This spring Porter finally got to play on his first official soccer team.

The Tornados! 

(As I had missed the deadline for signing him up in the fall by a couple of days. boo.)

They had a great season, had lots of fun and had seriously one of the nicest coaches of all time!

Coach Steve was simply awesome!

We have now been blessed to have parents on both his basketball team and soccer team this year
that were amazing photographers, and shared with us!
Now, a sampling of his season...

Porter in his Tornados uniform

This darling team. A great group of kiddos. (and his buddy Matthew photoshopped in)

Some action shots

I was proud of myself for actually getting him kicking in this one!

 Coach Steve presenting him with his team T-shirt and trophy

two trophies this year. the kid is on fire!

(now this Trophy wasn't for the championship, but it did have his name on it, 

so it was a close race for which one was his favorite!) 

His cheering section! 

I think my favorite part of this year, was watching Miles watching his brother!

He loved to sit in "his chair", and be just like Daddy! 

He would clap and shout along. It was so cute. Love these brothers!

And yes folks, this next one is foggy- the humidity on the camera lens. yuck. 

still a cute picture though.

Great season buddy

Go Tornados!

10 Amazing Years...and we FINALLY made it Serendipity!

 10 Amazing Years!! Yes. 

It is still blowing my mind. How did time go so fast? 

In any case, we FINALLY made it to Serendipity!

(more on that in a minute)

As I attempt to document the most important things of the last Spring and Summer,

I thought the perfect place to start was with one of the most important things that happened.

We celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary!!

In perfect fashion, 10 years of creating a full, happy, wonderful and busy 

life and obligations caught up with me, 

and I ran out of blogging steam for a while, right before our anniversary.

That doesn't mean, however, that it was any less awesome, romantic, meaningful and terrific for us!

We had a wonderful anniversary! 

To be honest, our actual 10 year anniversary probably couldn't have

 fallen at a worse time logisitically for taking a big anniversary trip. 

 We happen to be in the USA for training at FSI- which basically means it is impossible to take a big vacation. They had Noah's training schedule packed pretty tight. The "ten years ago me" would have been pretty sad about the prospect of not doing some big trip ON our anniversary. I'm into dates like that. However, the "ten years in me" -just happen to have 10 amazing years of  10th Anniversary Worthy Trips already under her belt! Seriously. We have been so incredibly blessed to have seen so many places and things that most people will never see one of in their lifetime. It really puts things into perspective. We love our life so much, and count our blessings every single day.  So instead we made it count where we could, and have opted to do a beautiful beach vacation after the fact, (coming up here soon, hopefully)! Yay for being near some beautiful islands! 

Also logistically- our anniversary was on a Thursday. Boo. 

Being that our primary source of babysitters were teenage girls in DC, 

that wasn't the best option for the  big date night. 

So Thursday night, after flowers and chocolates- we took the kids to Panda Express! 

The same restaurant that we went to back on our first date all those years ago. 

We told them our love story, (which I'm sure they enjoyed oh so much:) and reminisced about our wedding day!   There is nothing better to remind you how far you've come and what you've accomplished in ten years than wrangling 3 rambunctious boys while out to eat!

 We have something tangible to show for our time and effort: chaos and laughter!

We also made sure to document the actual day- 

 Photos courtesy of Porter

The bi-product of 10 terrific years-

3 handsome boys to share our dinner (and life) with

 

 

 the flowers and chocolates; 

he's a keeper with my traditional purple tulips (just like my wedding bouquet)

and I made him a candy gram like I did when we were dating. yup. I'm that sappy.

Now for the BIG date.

We went to Serendipity 3!!!

There's a story here too, 10 years in the making. 

The first time Noah and I spent any time together was at his apartment in a big group, as I had tagged along on a whim with a friend who was already friends with all of "the guys". 

That was a fun day, but no big deal; and I left right after that for a 

weeklong trip to NYC to visit my roommate who had just moved there. 

As the movie Serendipity had just come out, we of course made sure to join the other throngs of tourists to get ourselves some Frozen Hot Chocolate at the real Serendipity. I picked myself up a cool little 

T-shirt, complete with bedazzled "Serendipity" across the front. It was a cute shirt. Seriously. 

Well, while I was gone on my trip, Noah apparently set to work devising a plan to ask me out the minute I got home. When he finally got ahold of me, plans were made to go out that very evening! 

I had just returned, and was wearing my Serendipity shirt.

Now, I'm a Colorado girl- so to get straight to my heart he took me to a rodeo. He's a keeper. 

Since this was a casual event, I decided no need to change out of my cute t-shirt.

Thus, I was wearing my Serendipity shirt on our first date!!

He held my hand that night, and we've never looked back. Been together ever since!

It was in every sense of the word, Serendipity. 

Fast forward through the years...

we have had friends living in or near NYC for much of our married life,

 and given family circumstances that landed us on the East Coast a decent amount-

 we have been to NYC numerous times throughout the years to visit them.

Given the sentimental connection to our first date, we have tried to go together. 

Boy have we tried. We have attempted on numerous occasions, and even tried to make reservations-

but we have always been foiled by hours long wait times, 

and we either had something like tickets to a show, 

or just decided we didn't want to stand outside for 4 hours. boo. 

So ten years in, we had still never been together. 

As we searched for a place to go for our actual date,

 sans kiddos to celebrate on Friday night,

(I didn't want to go just anywhere. Sure, you go to a nice restaurant, 

but we've been to nice restaurants. It needed to be a little more special.)

SO

we discovered that there was a Serendipity that had recently opened in Georgetown! 

I was thrilled!

Of course it wasn't the one in NYC, but it was still Serendipity!

Given our tight schedule for the time being, we knew we needed to take what we could get! 

drumroll please....

so finally after 10 years of trying, we finally got to get nice and cozy, 

and share a Frozen Hot Chocolate!

Also, as luck would have it, 

 the technical name of the restaurant is

Serendipity 3- based on a story of 3 princes. 

As you might know, 10 years of marriage has blessed us with 3 handsome princes of our own!

Loved it. 

Here is a quick pic of me in front of the story about the princes.

 What an amazing 10 years we have had together. It has been so wonderful, and full of spunk and adventure! I never would have dreamed it could be so incredible, and through every challenge and triumph we have gone at it together! 

Thank you Noah, for being the best partner a girl could ever have in life!

I love you more every day, and can't wait to spend the rest of eternity together!

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!!!