Short and Sweet

I wish I would take the time to do some kind of catch up on this blog and I feel bad for being so terrible at keeping up with it as of late. Apparently it just has not been a priority for me!

Eliza is doing good in school she is really starting to pick up on her reading and math seems to come pretty easy to her so she seems to like that part more. She really is one smart kid! I'm proud to be her mamma! I can't take much credit for her awesomeness but I did help get her little spirit here so I'll take credit for that much!

Alayna is also doing awesome in preschool! She loves everything and her teacher has nothing but nice things to say about her! She is still working on her fear of being the center of attention. She is such a little perfectionist that she hates to be the highlight of anything! She willingly stood in front with the class for their last performance even though she didn't sing she also didn't cry either! Big progress!!

Parker is my little buddy! We get to spend a lot of time just the two of us while the girls are at school each day and we both just love it! He has a really good arm and incredibly powerful feet... He's pretty much all boy and we love to do all boy things! He's really into trains and cars currently but the best ones of all are the ones that can go by themselves! He is currently going through a little separation anxiety which is brutal for me because i'm a total pushover and want to cave to anything those blue eyes plead for!

Ben is really doing good! He gained a whole 5 lbs the last time he went into the doctor!! YAY! He is also getting more energy and hasn't been sick too much this winter (knock on wood) We have only had one hospitalization this winter so far for him and that is big progress from last year! He got a cold and it was borderline pneumonia so being that we were in an ER of a hospital that is not a transplant hospital, it really freaked the poor nurses and doctors out to have him walk in the door with a fever of 103. Poor guys, we tried to talk them down but they just don't know how to deal with a patient who knows a little too much about the 'normal procedure' for a complicated patient! He is working more and just finished a LiveStrong program at the YMCA all of which seem to be really good for him!

Sarah is happy! Busy being a mommy hanging out with kids and running around for school, dance and piano. I have also started making lots of fun silly hats and am trying to make the time to actually set up an etsy account to sell them because they are just that darn cute! (plus it doesn't hurt that they're really in style currently so it's easy to sell them!) I finished my first quilt it turned out pretty dang cute and Parker loves it of course! I have been a little crafting crazy as of late and have made quite a few Christmas gifts for the kids that I'm pretty excited about!

So that is the short and sweet update, none of us are dead, all of us are happy and we are looking forward to the holiday's!

 Ellie went to dance with the girls while she was here visiting!! so cute to watch!

 Alayna Turned 4!!! She had a Sophia the First party! I made Sophia aprons for all the girls and they turned out pretty dang cute if I do say so myself!

 Eliza lost her very first tooth!! She even pulled it out all by herself!

 Photo booth from Ben's First re-Birthday party!!

I can't Believe IT!!

I can't believe it! It's really happening I'm old enough to have a kid going to school! Eliza starts her first day of Kindergarden tomorrow! I am somewhere torn between extreme excitement and absolute terror that I wont be there to help her and encourage her to become exactly the kind of person I know she will be! Anyway back to the recent happenings in the Merritt household:

Summer flew by way too fast in this house it was filled with many trips to the pool, park, and a few bike rides!

Eliza has taken very well to riding her bike! She now officially rides a two wheeler and she is getting really good at it! She still likes to ride with daddy on the Tag-a-long bike the most but I think that because she doesn't have to work nearly as hard on that as she does on her own bike! She is thrilled to be starting school so soon and we had a blast going shopping for school supplies! She has recently gone through yet another growth spurt and it has caused me to have a whole new appreciation for the difficulty of keeping your kid in cloths that aren't 2 in too short or shoes that squish their toes. When they grow that fast its brutal! We still have to go in to do her Kinder shots but I will find some kind of bribery that will hopefully make it less miserable for her! The girls did 7 weeks of Dance at the local gymnastics gym. Eliza is actually very good at dance, very attentive in class and excited to learn everything! She is now trying to convince me to sign her up for gymnastics as well but for this year she is stuck just doing ballet and tap I am sure she is going to continue to love it even more once school starts and she switches to the older class with more kids her age and can be a little more challenged!

Alayna has a love hate relationship with dance. Currently she loves it but we are fighting against some real anxiety about performing in front of people that is a bit of a challenge for her. We are going to have her keep doing dance and she is going to be in the recitle at the end of the school year which has the potential of being very hard for her but I am sure she will do great! Alayna is going to be starting preschool this year as well! She is very very excited to be going to Miss Sara's school where Eliza went last year and she is especially excited that her friend Oliver will be in her class as well! Alayna is my little cuddle bug. She loves to snuggle and sometimes you can really tell when she hasn't had enough mommy time because she turns into a cat and she'll start rubbing up against you no matter what you are doing she's just start rubbing you. It's adorable! She has started to attempt some writing which is very impressive I think in the next few weeks we will have her writing her name which is awesome! The kids and I have started reading some of the early reader chapter books the girls are really into some of the fairy books and they both love to listen to me read! We recently turned the closet in the kids room into a reading nook equip with an over flowing bookshelf and beanbags to snuggling into. Alayna and Parker can both be frequently found sitting in the closet reading books together! Warms my heart!

Parker, What a little dude! I am never lacking in adventure with him around! He is wicked fast when he runs away from you so don't ever let him have a head start or he will outrun you! He has also discovered that everything can be a weapon, guns are the COOLEST toy ever to him. When Ben pulls out the nerf guns he comes running! His favorite thing in the whole world is his 'Gripper' blanket. He has started figuring out how to drive some of his little cars and gets such a kick out of it when he goes fast! Outside is also the best place in the world to be at all times. He doesn't care what the weather is like just so long as you will let him out! He still struggles with road safety and is obsessed with playing in the car. He loves to color, we now just need to see him figure out how to convince him that cleaning up all his 'art work' isn't worth it. So far we have colored and cleaned, tile, walls, chairs, couch, storage boxes, and countless baths to clean the child of coloring. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of markers these days.

I'm good! my weight has leveled out which is great and I've even managed to put on a few pounds. The kids keep me busy but I have also wised up enough to start spending a bit more time myself taking care of things I want to do not just the 'have-to' list. I have been spending lots of time with my friend Christine Martin and her three boys we have such a great time together and I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had a friend that close! She is one of those kinds of friends that you can call anytime and just hang out with no real purpose but still have a blast together! Ben has been accessorizing his bike and in the process we were on a ride one day with the kids when my bike had itself a bit of a meltdown so Ben basically rebuilt my bike and it is so amazing now! I have an incredible husband! Now to get back to training so that we could ride in the MS ride next year! It's going to take some work but I think it will be worth it! I have also been working on things for the carnival this year it's been interesting to actually be involved in the whole process this year unlike last year where I did nothing! It should be good this year!

Ben is doing pretty dang good! He is working about 3 days a week which is amazing considering that he then comes home and still has energy. He works really hard at it but he is motivated and pretty determined to accomplish whatever he sets his mind to.The actual work part of work has been going well for him too I think that he is really happy to have something to do in the office and not at home!  We are still fighting food. His body really doesn't like him to eat. It's a pain because he just keeps loosing weight but he is hungry. He keeps trying food but sometimes it just refuses to stay down! This week he did a swallow study and they said there isn't anything wrong with that part of him so his food issues are just in his head for now. We will meet with a nutritionist in a few weeks and he is going to start trying some super smoothies to increase his calorie intake. He seems to be having fun counting calories which is entertaining, we used to count to loose now we count to gain! Ben is also having a hard time keeping his white cell count up but  thanks to one of the medications he is on. They gave him a shot to increase his count while they wean him off the medication but if that doesn't work they will just pull him off the med and allow his counts to return to normal. Ben is also part of the LiveStrong program at the YMCA so he will start working with a trainer there in September to start trying to rebuild some of his strength and muscle that has disappeared in the past year!

So that is where we are at today! Wish us luck with all the school madness coming now!

 This is the face of someone when they manage to slither their little body in between the foot rest and seat of daddies recliner

 Parker's new favorite toy!Daddy taught him how to use it!

 Peek-a-Boo

 Parker and Gavin poundin' the ivory

 Dancing in the rain!

 Grandma Waite put mommy to work but the decor looks pretty dang good!

 Parker's first real fat lip!

 At Grandpa's work party. They each got to build and decorate pinewood derby cars! so fun! Alayna held the track record with 3.79sec (and she was within the weight requirements)

Texas

I have not given an update in so long I should be ashamed. But instead I am just being proud of myself for finally jumping back in and getting one done so I can post some new pictures as well!

Adventures of late:

I took the kids on their very first trip on an airplane! We went to Houston,TX to visit with Rachel, Bruce, Hailey, and McKalya! It was only my 3rd time flying and I, for whatever reason, was convinced that I would be just fine traveling with three kids 5 and under all by myself. That was probably my first stupid thought but in the end it was a fantastic adventure! The kids flew very well without any major melt downs from anyone. During the actual act of flying Eliza graced us with a round of vomiting on the way to Texas. We endured a 3 hour delay in the airport while trying to return home. I was reminded just how thankful I am for the novelty of trains you don't have to sit on and moving walkways it made our 5 hours in the airport far more enjoyable! Just before we boarded though, Parker graced us with severe diarrhea and a blowout earning him the right to fly home in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper due to those being the only things not covered in poo. It was an adventure to say the very least!
The time in Texas made up for any and all traveling woes so I would do it again in a heartbeat! But maybe not in the summer again. Our adventures in Texas included a trip to the beach, Body boarding, a gross amount of sand consumption, pool time, parks, mini golf, crafts almost every day including making our own texas t-shirts, Chucky Cheese,  countless walks, a trip to downtown Houston to walk the tunnels, and lots and lots of time playing with cousins!
I think the highlights of the trip for Eliza was the time on the beach! Once she got brave enough to let me help her go body boarding she was hooked! She didn't ever want to leave playing in the awesome and warm water!
Alayna says that her favorite part of the trip was getting to go to the store and buy new flipflops. She also got really good at riding a bike while we were there as well so I have been excited to have her work more on it at home as well!
Parker's favorite part there was probably all the time spent with mommy! That and the time he facetime with daddy! That little man loves to explore so he took full advantage of all the extra freedom of other kids to follow around!
My favorite part was being with Rachel... and possibly church. It was such a silly thing but I really had to giggle when the RS president in Rachel's ward ask me why I wasn't in young women's doing my calling... I laughed and told her that I was actually Rachel's sister. We also managed to confuse a number of other people because Rachel spoke in sacrament meeting so she wasn't sitting with Bruce, myself and the kids. So most of the others sitting by us wondered who's kids Bruce and Rachel brought to church and when exactly had she lost the baby she was pregnant with!? HAHA I look anything but pregnant and apparently Rachel doesn't look very pregnant yet either if she could miscarry and loose all that weight that fast! It never crossed my mind that we still look so much alike! (at least as long as we are not right next to each other!)

Ben spent the week we were in Texas at home puttering around and staying busier than he expected! He went to the lake with his family on Memorial Day to put the boat in the water (per tradition) and had a good time. He got his very first sun burn a few weeks ago when the ward came over and painted the exterior of our house (thank you to those wonderful men and women who came and made that happen!). After his burn we bought a new pop-up tent so it wouldn't happen the following weekend! The other happenings for Ben are that he is a SUPER STAR! I mean honestly! He is doing so awesome right now I have not a single complaint or even concern about him or his health at this moment! It is such a nice and novel feeling to not be super stressed about him or his risks, makes me hopeful that soon we will live life more in this world than the other! He had his 6 month post transplant, bone marrow biopsy last Monday. We wised up this time and had Ben take a good pain killer before the procedure this time so that made it much easier for him to get through the hardest parts of that process. It is a miserable one but we also need to know what that test can tell us so he is a tough amazing man and does what has to be done. We will get results from that test in about a week. He has also gone back to work part time! He is working about 2 days a week anywhere from 6-8 hours on the days he is at work. I think he is really happy to be back at work even if it wears him out he is still happy to be busy there! And I am thrilled to have him going back to work at all it gives me that feeling of normalcy that I love so very much!

Eliza started piano lessons last week! She is having lots of fun with it and we learned that she has a real knack for counting and keeping time. I am very impressed and she must have gotten that from her dad because I can't count or keep time for the life of me! She also has a weekly play date with her best friend Sophia. They are so cute and just can't get enough time with each other! One of these days I will get some good pictures of them playing!

Parker managed to get roseola and of course exposed Ben to it as well but so far we have not seen any indication that Ben caught it. Whew!

Alayna spent Friday of last week very sick. The poor kid could not keep a single thing down all day. To the extent that I was forced into scrubbing every single upholstered object on my main floor. Despite my efforts of providing a bucket it seemed to always hit her so suddenly there was no stopping it! Thankfully it was some kind of 24 hour thing and then she was fine!

I am busy as always and some days are worse than others thanks to my apparent ability to overbook myself, but for the most part I am doing everything I can to enjoy the ride! Life is Good!

Now for the fun part: Texas Pictures!

 on the airplane!!

 This is what happens when you fall asleep in mommy's arms in Texas... your ears get so sweaty they stick to your head!

 Alligator park!

 Look "Horton Hears a Who" flowers!! I didn't know they really exist!

Almost brave enough to touch the baby alligator