Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals: Happy Thanksgiving!

Another amazing year of ups and downs, but we are always thankful for the people in our lives who help keep the ups way higher than the downs. The boys just continue to amaze us, and we feel truly thankful for them every day! For me personally, I am ever so thankful for my husband. He is the constant care giver for our family in more ways that just earning the moola! Raleigh had an awful fall on Wednesday, and as I called to let him know we were on our way to the ER, he was so quick to say he would meet us there. I cannot tell you how much I feel his support unconditionally. Additionally, it was great to have even more supporters when I was able to leave Gus with our neighbor and friend, Miss A, so I could go with only one two and a half year old! Truly thankful for her kindness!!! My mom of course was also there in a blink of an eye, her selflessness this year is beyond amazing. Seriously, this week alone she got my car washed, and scrubbed my awful cream colored sink that is my nemesis, and of course cooked a delicious turkey yet again this year. Of course, my dad is always there too, making us ridiculously amazing food on a almost daily basis. Some days I think I may starve without him! We are thankful that we got to spend another birthday on Thanksgiving with the big guy, especially after a hard year dealing with so many heart issues. We are thankful that Auntie Peta is joining us next week for the entire month. The boys even get to spend Christmas with her! What a treat. Sadly, the grandies are not joining her this year, but we are thankful that we get to see them soon in the new year. I am so thankful for the friends who have come into our lives just because we had twins! How lucky to have joined a spectacular group of women and moms that my kids can enjoy time with their kiddos, but I really benefit from their friendships most. I am thankful that my best friend in the whole world is still my best friend after 30 years and I even get to see her once and a while despite our different states of residence. Simple things I am thankful for, include, nap time, wine, great books, time to read, music, time to listen to my music loudly, mom’s night out, and not having to work (well outside of the home that is). I could go on and on and on and on!

We were even more blessed this year with a change in plans the day after Thanksgiving to meet our friend Miss Stacey yet again for free entry into Disney. We even got to see Stacey’s mom, whom I have not seen in probably 18 years. We hit Animal Kingdom, and although it was busy and we got rained on before the parade, we all still had fun. It was great to enjoy the park with Daddy and the boys. We got to spend a lot more time in the dinosaur area of the park, and I have to say, it is really cool. I still think Busch Gardens blows away all other zoos and animal parks in regards to animal proximity, but this has the coolness factor of Disney, so it was still great. The animal sightings on the Kilimanjaro Safari experience was spectacular! The weather was slightly cooler than our last trip, and it was overcast, so a ton of animals were just chilling in the savannah. Amazing.

Back to Raleigh’s fall. He fell up the stairs in our backyard. Miss A and I were on the porch, just opposite of where he fell, and heard him hit the cement and I was truly thankful he did not hit is head anywhere except his chin because I think he may have knocked himself out. Unfortunately, he hit his chin just right so he left himself with a pretty big gash. I knew as soon as I saw it he would need stiches. So off to the ER we headed where bravely endured the three stitches along his chin. Now he has matching scars to Poppy, me, and about 50% of the population who fell on their chins at about 2 years of age! It was more painful on me…I think. He did not cry to badly, and even slept like a champion that night and ever since. He really hates getting his Band-Aid changed, but even that is getting to be less stress on him. I cannot tell you how painful it was to help hold him down while they put in the stitches. It took two other nurses to hold him down, on top of him being completely swaddled in a bed sheet. Whew! He is strong little bugger. His pain tolerance is amazingly high; probably stemming from his time in the CVICU.

Here is a picture from the day after the fall. Looking good. It is just now getting to the point of being itchy, so we hope it is not too bad before he goes to get them removed on Wednesday this next week.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving – love the shirts the boys did themselves for the occasion – and Disney. If you are reading this, just know how thankful I am, it makes me super happy! What makes me even happier is a comment or two every once and a while…Enjoy!

the next two picture are pretty indicative of how much the boys don’t want to take pictures right now! They may smile, but mostly don’t want to look at the camera! Oye, I thought I had them trained;-P

Here is a piece of sweetness. My favorite part of Thanksgiving happened during this picture taking. Matthew and I had just kissed and Gus looked at me, then looked at Matthew and said “Daddy loves you too, Mommy.” Then he reached over and planted one on Rals. Ah, at least we are doing well at “training” them to be sweethearts! What good men they will be some day!