2 more treatments.

dialysis treatments are coming to a close. are we happy?? yes.

1. dialysis has been no fun for my mom. it takes 4 hours, 3 days a week and leaves her totally exhausted.

2. mom's blood pressure is out of control - not uncommon for it to be 210/119 or something crazy like that.

3. bottom line, she just feels like junk.

4. transplant date is scheduled: tuesday, february 26 at 5:30 am in salt lake city.

5. Josh is excited. so excited he is counting down the days like it is Christmas.

6. Mom is excited also. The kidney can start working the moment its placed in her. She is hopeful she will be feeling fabulous in a matter of days. she told josh she will walk on down to his room to chat b/c she is sure she will be feeling better than he will.

7. guess this leaves the nervousness to us on the outside.

big brother.

Mitchel really enjoys being a big brother. I can often find him playing with Coleman or reading to him or teaching him some wild and crazy boy behavior! He helps him get drinks and snacks and even helps him when they are out in the "deep" snow. It is so nice for me to see the kind and helpful side of Mitchel. It is a refreshing switch from his stubborn, teasing ways which are also so him!
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snuggles and a good book.

There is nothing greater than snuggles under a favorite blanket and a good book. Coleman and I love to sit in the comfy chair in the kitchen and read. The late afternoon light pours through the big windows and door and makes it all cozy. I'm so happy the boys like taking pictures these days - they actually snap some of me with the other kids and its great! Not that I really enjoy pictures of myself, but my kids are growing so quickly and before I know it these photos will be whats left of my favorite mom moments. (okay, in this case I actually ASKED Justin to take a few pictures while Coleman and I were having "our" time, but some times they do it all on their own!!)

tray for snack. pink.

Coleman really loved the whole tray idea for food! Friday when the big kids were at school Coleman insisted on a tray for his morning snack. He quickly chose the pink one, happy that Ashley was not home to fight him for it. I don't know if he really likes pink or just likes choosing whatever he knows Ashley will want. Whatever the reason, he was all alone and I was happy to indulge him with the pink tray.

reading to sleep.

grandma bought justin a new book and boy was it a good one. it is entitled Leven Thumps and it is a fantasy book for ages 10 and up. It is the longest book Justin ever attempted at 384 pages. Although Justin is an avid reader he always seems hesitant to tackle a book of such length. However, he was hooked from the first page and we would find him reading it long into the night. We worked on Justin's summarizing skills as he would tell us about it each morning (he has a habit of wanting to basically re tell the story word for word as he might miss telling us a really important part!!) In one weeks time he finished the book and took the accelerated reader test on it at school. the best part?? grandma bought him book 2 this week and he just started. I love seeing a child of mine all passionate about getting into a book just like I do. Makes me all happy inside.

ordinary lunch plus trays.

Yesterday we had a snow day. We were all excited to spend the day home from school. It really is a good feeling to be all snug and warm inside when its cold and windy and snowy out. the kids wish dads got snow days too :) When lunch time arrived I decided to spice things up and bring out the trays! What a hit! It had been a while and you would have thought they were eating something more than mac-n-cheese and chicken fries!

nighttime downtime

Coleman is a good sleeper. He goes to bed willingly most of the time, but he does insist on having his light on and he needs his down time. No matter how late it is, he always spends a few minutes in his room unwinding. Some nights its nearly 20 minutes, other nights, maybe just a few. On the long nights, we will most always find his room destroyed - all books and toys dumped out of buckets and on the floor and many things in his bed. We now have to keep the wipes in the bathroom, because he will empty the entire container of them and have them all over the floor and in his bed! yes, one time it was all 200! On shorter nights, we usually just find things in his bed with him. These are a few of my favorites from the week. Shoes that are still too big and Ashley's hat and sunglasses. It is always exciting to turn his light out at night and see what happened during his nighttime downtime!