Say Cheese!!!!

Brenden is growing up way too fast. Here he is smiling and laughing at his BIG sister, Riley. Brenden is starting to do his social smiling and Riley loves to play with him and tell me when he is smiling at her. Riley will do anything to get him to smile. Let me tell you it does not take much for Brenden to smile at his sister. From the first day at home he smiled and laughed at Riley.

OUR SAD GOOD-BYE

Look at that cute smile.

Ben preparing to leave for his third tour in Iraq.

On Monday September 24, 2007, just 1 year after returning home, Ben left again for Iraq. This will be his third tour. We had a wonderful weekend but a very sad Monday. Our last weekend as a family of four we spent in Ohio at Dustin's parents' house. Dustin is a good friend who also left with Ben on Monday. We had a great time just being a family. We all got to visit with some good friends and relax before the craziness started. Here are some pictures of our good-bye with daddy.

Here are the three amigos; Dustin, Derek, and Ben. They have grown to be great friends and over the next 15 months they will learn more about each other and their families. They will be working together and spending lots of time with each other.

Riley had one final ride on daddy's shoulders while we were waiting/visiting with everyone who was leaving on Monday.

Brenden too had to have his small talk with daddy. Brenden was talking and smiling at daddy the whole day. Then just before this picture was taken daddy (Ben) was telling Brenden about growing up and playing with his sister. It was cute and sad all at once.Here is the final hug that the kids gave to daddy. It was so sad. I was strong all day until this picture was taken. To see Ben smile and put on a strong face was hard for me. I broke down. I knew it would not be easy but this was a lot harder then it was the past two times. I guess it will get easier once time goes by and we get back on a regular schedule.

WE LOVE YOU DADDY!! HUGS AND KISSES!!!

Growing too fast

Here is Riley on her new bike that Grandma and Grandpa Ringman bought her while they were here. She loves to ride her. She is now on a mission to buy a helmet so we can ride down our street and on post on the trails. Riley is very good at riding her bike and is very brave. Thank you again Grandma and Grandpa.

Brenden is growing up too fast too. He is now 8lbs. 8oz. and 22 inches long. He is filling out his 0-3 months clothes now. He still looks really small next to his little buddy Reese.

Here we are sleeping in our swing. He is filling out up his bouncy and swing too.

Relaxing at the house

Now that we are home we have had some time to just relax. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids relaxing in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.

The Many Adventures of Brenden

Well now that its just the four us again. The adventures of Brenden began. Saturday after everyone headed back home, Brenden had a play date with his buddy Reese. Reese is just 3 days younger. We all went to Nashville to the mall. While we were there Brenden and Daddy and Reese and his Daddy went to Build-A-Bear to build a "Daddy Bear" with the guys voice in them to have while they are gone to work for 15 months. They did a nice job. During our trip I noticed that Brenden slept a lot and was only awake to eat. I did not think to much about because of the busy week had had with Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.

Brenden with his "Daddy Bear"

Riley and Brenden's "Daddy Bear"

Then on Sunday Brenden's one month birthday I noticed that Brenden felt warm to the touch. I took his temp and it was 100.7. So off to the ER we went. The place was super busy. Most of the chairs were full and there were lots of people just standing around and waiting. I knew we would to there for most of the evening. We arrived around 4:15pm and waited for about an hour to see the nurse. Once we saw the nurse we were taken right back to talk to the doctor. Brenden's temp was now a 101.7. We waited for a little while and the doctor came to talk to me. He told the test he wanted to run and what would be happening. First he had a blood drawn. Then they went in and took a urine sample and that was all sent to the lab. Once that was done he head to x-ray to have a picture taken of Brenden's chest. Then we return to the ER and the doctor comes in to do a spinal tap on Brenden. A spinal tap is when the doctor draws spinal fluid from the base of the spin. This was painful for me to watch. Not only did I know the pain that this caused but the doctor was unsuccessful the first time and had to repeat the procedure. Still coming up empty handed. So he called for Dr. Rowe to come and try. Once she came I found out that we would not be going home Sunday night. Then she tried the spinal tap too. She tried and was unseccussful not just once but twice. I guess it was important that they get this because she tried again and on her third try and Brenden's five they got what they wanted. After being poked in the back 5 times we had to try and get an IV started. This too took many tries by a couple of different nurses before "Grandma" nurse came and had one seccussful go at his little arm. So then it was up to the fourth floor we went. This is were we stayed for the next 48 hours. We had lots of different test ran and everything came back negitive and Brenden went 24 hours without a fever. So the doctor sent us home today 11 September and we will go tomorrow to see Dr. Henry to be re-evaluated. Here is what the past 48 hours looked like for Brenden and I.

Trying to sleep

Finely asleep

Ringman Family Visit

The first time in two years Bill and Angela were able to have their whole family together in one place. Michael, Andi and the kids surprised Angela the Saturday after they arrived. It was nice to have us all together again. The last time this happened was when Riley was the size/age of Abigail. I am going to get you.

The hugs that never stopped.

Then came the kisses. Kissing cousins. Austin and Riley played well together the whole week they were together. She started missing everyone as soon as they left the drive way.