HALLELUJIA!!!

This day has been 3 years in the waiting. Daniel saw his surgeon this morning and was cleared to no longer wear braces! His feet look fantastic and he is expected to do well long term. He doesn't need to be seen for another year or 2. I am all smiles and beyond happy. This has been such a long journey and to see it end is thrilling. Of course will still have issues to deal with (mega wide shoes, low muscle tone, etc.) but that is all nothing compared to where we've come from.

Take a look at the before and after of his feet.

1.5 weeks old

3 years old (taken today trying to recreate baby pose)

sitting normally

And to top it all off, my brother called me on Monday and while he and his family were in Brazil they learned that Vanessa's cousin has an infant born with clubfeet and they are struggling to pay for the shoes/braces and clothes to fit him. Plus, they are using the old style Dennis Brown Bar and Daniel had the far superior Ponsetti style brace. So I am going to donate Daniel's shoes and bar plus some of his baby clothes to this family. It makes my heart happy to know I'll be helping out another mother going through this journey and making life more comfortable for her little one.

Can you think of a happier ending?! We've had so many prayers on our behalf along the way that have helped lift us up. To be at the end vs. the beginning of this is an incredible feeling and I couldn't be happier on this day.

update - this is LONG but has really cute pictures

It has been two months since I updated.. sorry. Life has been eventful and I’ll pick up where I left off in September…

The boys found Brent’s ear muff things and had so much fun putting them on and they looked so darn cute I had to bust out the camera

Mid-month I finally gave in to Brent’s constant badgering and we took Daniel to get his first haircut. He did so well and, as expected, he looks like a little “old” man.


- Before, I loved his little mullet -

- During, look at that smile! -

- After, don't tell me he doesn't look like a little old man -

Near the end of the month Daniel and I few to Utah to attend the baby blessing of my brother John’s new daughter Serena. The Navy transferred him to Norfolk, VA (from Oak Harbor, WA) and they were making the drive across the country and stopped in Provo along the way where most of my family is so we could all be together for that event. I had a wonderful time and wish I could have stayed longer. Here are some pictures from that trip;

- Me and Mary (1 week from delivery) I'd never seen her pregnant in person before.. I got such a kick out of seeing my little sister all big and preggers.. she had such a cute waddle.

- My studly brother John, My dad and Daniel -

- My beautiful Mother and me -

- My equally beautiful Grandma Eddington and me (can you see where I get my eyes?) -

- 3 of my nieces, you can't get a more precious picture than this -

- John holding his new little angel, Serena who sleeps like a rock -

October was an extremely busy month but it had many highlights. On the 10^th I celebrated my birthday and my neighbor/friend organized a surprise birthday party/ice cream social for three of us ladies that had birthdays that week. I was really touched since nothing like that has ever been done for me. I did meet my goal for my weight by my birthday. I had a good experience doing my Biggest Loser diet and so I started it over again after the 30 days were up. I ended up losing 4 pounds in those 30 days and another 1 pound in the second 30 days. Granted I didn’t follow it as strictly the second time as the first. I’m almost to the point where I am going to repeat it one more time. The food was good and I really liked being told what to eat for every meal and snack every day. It left no room for cheating.

Then came Halloween. Jacob is at such a fun age where he is starting to realize what is going on and then gets really excited about it. The week before Halloween we attending our ward’s trunk-or-treat and Jacob went as a Lion, Daniel was a giraffe, and I went as an injured jogger (I love doing make up). Brent went as himself. For the actual day we went to a “Not so scary” Halloween party that we were invited to that had a few other young families. We carried on the Turner tradition and made mummy dogs. I was a really happy woman since they served homemade root beer, which I love.


- My little lion and his brother the giraffe -

- ouch -

- At the trunk-or-treat -

Here are some pictures we took when we went to a pumpkin patch with the kids;






- Daniel LOVES his Dad and snuggles with him all the time -

The came a much anticipated event. Jacob’s third birthday. He talked about his birthday for a good two weeks before hand and is still talking about it now. He really likes robots and loves to imitate and talk like a robot so I thought it would be fun to make him a robot cake. His other obsession is fireworks and so when I went to my local cake shop and found sparklers in all the numbers I had to buy the number 3 to set atop his cake. The end result was one really fun cake and one really happy little boy. We invited a few of his friends over to play and celebrate with him and in all had a fun evening. I love that little boy. Sometimes I don’t always show it or I whine about the bad moments, but he really is precious to me. He is so smart and loving and I feel so privileged to be his mom. All of the big transitions I dreaded almost always ended up being easy. He transitioned from a crib to a bed without a hitch, he potty trained quickly and easily, he loves his routines and lets me know if I’ve missed or skipped something. He dances to music and sings along with to his favorite shows and his evening lullabies. He is always eager to help and always wants to be near me. I try to recognize that that won’t last forever and to have patience with him and enjoy these days. And I think that I do. I wouldn’t trade him in for anything or anyone.

- His Robot cake -
- The kids at his little party enjoying their sugar high -

- Daniel, with his mysterious fetish of putting this particular ball in his mouth (he'll keep it in there for an hour and only take it out to swallow and then put it right back in) -

That night (Jacob’s birthday) was the last night I nursed Daniel. I think we were both ready to be done and it was time. I nursed him for just over 15 months! I’ve loved my time with him and yet I also feel relieved to be done. I look forward to a nice break where my body is completely my own before having another baby.

Last week Daniel started walking!! We were told that he probably wouldn't walk until around 18 months so we are really thrilled about this. He is so proud of himself and loves exploring his new heights. I'm amazed at how much he has improved and how much faster he got in just one week.

And that brings y'all up to date! I will try not to let it go another two months before updating again. Life is busy but good and I wouldn't trade with anyone (at the moment anyway)

What I've been up to

The other day my friend Desire came over and we made jam, real bottled jam! I've only attempted freezer jam up until now. I made one batch of strawberry and one batch of raspberry (thinking of you Mom). I was surprised how easy it was and that I had all the tools to do it. I love my food processor, it chopped all my fruit into little bits in seconds. They turned out great and so so yummy!

- strawberry is on the left, the raspberry is on the right -

Other than that all my focus has been on potty training Jacob. He has been out of diapers during the day since Memorial Day weekend. It has been hard to find underwear that fits him and that he likes, but this week I did find some and he is wearing them. So I don't have a streak running around my house anymore.

I've also been walking on my treadmill again and trying to get ready for jogging. I'm scared of hurting my foot, it isn't better yet, but I'm "testing the waters" and seeing what I can and can't do. I worked out 6 out of 7 days last week and aim to repeat that this week. It feels so good to be exercising and doing cardio again.

This morning I decided to take some pictures of the boys;

My observation: Jacob is so white next to Daniel. I love the expression on Daniel's face...



And this is a good shot of Daniel's "orange nose" I guess I feed him too many carrots and yams;

The two of them... and my toe.

Memorial day weekend and Daniel's 10 month pictures

It has been a while and there is lots to update on. For Memorial day weekend we drove up to Oak Harbor Washington to spend the holiday with my brother John and his family. The boys did very well in the car and we made good time. We went to Chuck-E-Cheese when we arrived and Jacob and his cousin Cindy had loads of fun there. We made homemade ice cream, barbecued, went to a beach, roasted marshmallows, hung out and had just a wonderful time. I am so glad we went. Jacob was sick most of the time with a nasty cough but it never held him back. While we were there Daniel crawled for the first time. He has been scooting backwards for a while and rocking but never tried to actually crawl. Then he just started doing it!Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Also, I am way behind and never got Daniel's 9 month pictures taken.. so here he is 10 months and I finally got in to do it. I had a few taken of the two of them to give to Brent for Father's Day. My favorite is the close up of Daniel's face, such a handsome boy!

Daniel's first bike ride

This is from last week. Brent had been doing practice rides in preparation for bike to work day (last Friday). And on one of them he took Daniel out for his first ride and said he did great and had fun looking around. We had to document it.


- All geared up and ready to go -


- Not sure what he thinks about all this -


- looking worried -


- All ready to go with Dad -

For memories sake:
This is a picture of Jacob's first ride (they are both 9 months in these pictures (Jacob was quite a bit bigger than Daniel at this age))

Rhododendron Garden 2009

So I went to the garden last year and loved it. This year I got a group of ladies together and we all went early in the morning on Friday. Again, it was beautiful! Last year was there were more in bloom, probably because it was warmer this time last year than now.. but it was still beautiful. Here is a slide show for you:

We've had a very ruff couple of days. Jacob has been very sick. We had allergy testing done on him and I thought it was a result of that. Long story short, lots and lots of diarrhea and vomit. I took him to the doctor today and everything checked out fine, she said it wasn't viral and now I don't know what to think. Poor boy, he screams whenever we change him and put ointment on, it breaks my heart. Now Daniel is getting it... he doesn't have diarrhea yet, but had an explosive vomit session while in the check out stand at Lowe's Hardware store. Parenting is lovely isn't it?!

To end on a positive note, it has been one week since we put Daniel in Jacob's room (at night) and it has gone incredibly well. I couldn't have asked for it to have gone any better and I hope it continues to go well. Brent and I are so happy to have our room back to ourselves.

Last week

I'm trying to update so I'll do it by day:

Wednesday
I took Daniel in to check out how his feet are doing. They look great and we had no new instructions for him. While there I took advantage of having access to an orthopedic surgeon who is a bone and joint specialist and I asked him about my foot. He listened to me and asked that I make an appointment with him and bring the xrays that were taken and he will go over them and my MRI. His soonest appointment was May 19th so I took it and have to wait a few weeks and take it easy. My foot has been progressively getting worse and now I am back to not being able to walk on it normally.

This was a busy day as it was also my neighbor, and friend, Jenae's 30th birthday and I was helping her husband pull off a surprise birthday party for her. I gave her a make over before she went off to dinner so she would think that was the secret project her husband had been working on. While they were gone to dinner 40 people descended on their house and we successfully surprised her and had a wonderful party. I had a nice time and was thrilled to be a part of it all. I really enjoyed giving her a makeover, I haven't done one in so long and I just love playing with hair and makeup. I also painted her toe nails and put fun decals on them. She looked great! As if giving her a make over wasn't enough... I was also made her cake. I made a number 3 cake to go along with a round ice cream cake her husband made. I also made cupcakes and spelled out "THE BIG" on them. So it ended up saying "The big 3 - 0". It was really cute and they turned out well.


- This was the only picture we got before they arrived and then people dug in! -

Thursday
I took Daniel in for his 9 month well baby visit. He looks fantastic, healthy and just so darn cute. Here are his stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. 8 oz. - 70%
Height: 29" - 75%
Head circumference: 46 cm (just over 18") - 75%

He has uniformly gone down a full 20% in each category but as you can see is still well above average.

Friday
Oh sheesh.. now I can't remember what I was happened! Umm.. we went to a little hole in the wall restaurant called "George's burgers" they were fantastic! That is going to be our new regular joint for burgers (over Red Robin). The other note worthy thing is that we put the boys in the same room friday night! I'll let you know how it went later.

Saterday
Rain and THUNDER storms! I love thunder and Jacob was very excited about it all. It was pouring so hard, I rarely see rain like that so it was nice. We bummed around all day and kept working on our gift for our mom's for mother's day.

Sunday
This was an odd day. Church was unusually good and the boys were unusually difficult. I was glad when it was over and I could take them back home. For dinner we had some friends join us, I made a pot roast that turned out delicious. This family is from our ward in California that have moved up here to Hillsboro (about 20 min from us). I had such a nice time catching up with Desiree and I'm looking forward to more visits with her (side note for mom and mary, she looks like a mix between Tricia and Emma (dark hair but tall) or like she could be a sibling in the Elliot family).

8 months old

Daniel is now 8 months old. He is growing and changing quickly and I'm trying hard to enjoy the time I've got with him while he is still a baby. I took these pictures today;


George keeps getting smaller and smaller


Such a cute face!


I got all artsy with this shot. I'm always impressed when I can take a good picture, it happens maybe 1 out of every 100. - awe.. just look at those lips! so precious -

Fun times

I took these on Saturday night. It is so fun to see my boys next to each other and that they are starting to play together (a little bit). I look at the back of Daniel like in these pictures and it reminds me of when Jacob was that small and then I think that it wasn't that long ago and now look at him.. he's a little boy! Sheesh.



These pictures I took on Sunday morning. It is our tradition to make muffins for breakfast and Jacob is a very willing helper, especially when it comes to licking the beater. (These are chocolate chip muffins that I baked in a muffin top pan.. because the muffin top is the best, right? The "naked" looking one on the top right is a muffin without chocolate chips for Brent, who doesn't like chocolate chips).