Mom in a candy store

This is one of my favorite spots in Kansas City. Christopher Elbow makes these beautiful chocolates. There are only two stores, the other store is in San Francisco. They have flavors like: fluer de sel, tupelo honey, lavender, cinnamon hazelnut, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, mango and tons of others. I've always been a sucker for packaging. Almost too pretty to eat. Doesn't this make you all want to visit us?

My personal favorites are the Venezuelan spice and the lime.

We also passed this little restaurant today and I had to take a picture for my little Lulu.
There aren't many opportunities for us to get out but we love to take advantage of living here when we can.

Life lately

I've been bad a blogging lately. Life has been a little stressful the last couple of weeks but we're all doing pretty good. Chuck is facing some stress at school, but we've tried to not worry about things that are out of our control.

Lucy started feeling sick on Friday with a fever of 103 and four days later she was still running a really high fever. They sent us to the hospital to have her blood work done. It took 9 different nurses and an hour and a half of trying before they finally got enough blood to run Lucy's labs. They eventually got it from her head (which is what I suggested from the beginning). Lucy has kinda hated me since then. We've also had to replace her NG tube twice in the last two days so that doesn't help either. She's pretty much terrified of everyone lately. I think she has nightmares. So sad. In better news, Lucy is sitting! I honestly have never been more proud. It felt like this would never happen. She still doesn't bare weight on her legs so I expected sitting to take forever. She's very proud of herself and loves being able to play with the big kids.

We're getting a temple here in Kansas City. It's only 10 minutes from our house and in our ward boundaries!

Angel Moroni
Jack has been so much fun lately. He's starting to move past the hard stage.

He refused to wear this hat for Halloween but he loves it now.
Lucy sitting.



She doesn't like the flash.

Randoms

We see a lot of bum around here lately.

Chuck and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past weekend. We were lucky to have my mom here to help with the kids. After the kids went down for bed we went to dinner at a fun little Italian restaurant where we completely ignored our weight watchers diet. Well almost. I was a little sad that I looked totally nasty and hadn't even showered, but beggars can't be choosers.

By the way can I just say dieting when you're stressed is like the worst thing ever. It's like I've lost all my ability to cope. Now I'm just a pill all the time. I can't even say it's baby weight I'm losing because I gained 15 lbs. after I had the babies. I'm the only person I know who loses weight while pregnant and gains it all the year after. Lame. Don't feel too sorry for me, I still eat chocolate everyday. It's good for my mental health.

Picture overload

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I'm hoping to get back in the groove. We've had a crazy month. We had a cardiologist appointment today. Lucy has been gaining awesome weight. She made it to the 1st percentile. She hates her NG tube but it's doing its job. She keeps the tube in all the time but we only use it at night. We go back to see him in a month and from there we'll probably schedule her full repair. You think we'd be used to it by now but it doesn't get easier. I think the anticipation is going to drive us insane. We've also been potty training Jack which is a lovely adventure in itself. It's going to be a loooong month.

Jack is currently obsessed with Blue's Clues. It's actually motivated him to talk a lot more.

Classic Hazel. This girl does not get enough attention. That's what she'd tell you anyway. She loves to scream. She gets it from Jack. She's going to be all drama I know it. Of all my kids she seems to like me the best. Which can be good or bad. The mornings with her are the hardest. There is just no time to sit and play which is all she wants.
Hazel adores Jack. Sometimes they will just sit and laugh at each other. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Hazel trying to teach Lucy how to be a big girl.
I can't believe I haven't posted since Lucy got her NG tube. This was her after she came home from the hospital this last time. (She was in the hospital twice last month.) Those extra circle stickers are from being on oxygen when she was at the hospital.
Both girls and Jack love this Jessie doll.
You grow girl!
She can barely touch and it needs to be raised for Hazel.
This is what we've rigged to give Lucy her feeding at night. She just gets to eat normal during the day and at night she gets a continuous feed. One perk is that she will often sleep through the night. We still have to get up to change the milk every few hours.

Chuck's happy.