Titus' "Father/Son Picture: Matt and Army Hat"

It started when Matt and Isaac took a picture together while Isaac was wearing an Army/camo hat and Matt was in his ACUs.  

And then we couldn't stop.  Father/son picture of "Matt and Army Hat" is born.  TRADITION!!!  

Each kid has taken a picture with Matt in ACUs while wearing an Army/camo hat themselves.  It also happened that each photo also has Matt as a different rank, etc.  So not only are we able to see how the kids all look around ages 2 to 3, but Matt's career in the US Army as well.  

Titus: Age 3--but practically 4 (two weeks after the photo)

Matt: Age 30; rank 1st Lieutenant--two years into active duty 

(location in Georgia, US)

After the Army hat he demand that his Atlanta Braves hat be worn and photographed as well.  ("As you wish, my liege.")

And here's a fun little refresher on the other boys' photos with Matt and Army Hat, as well. 

Eli:  Age 3

Matt: Age 28; rank 2nd Lieutenant--freshly commissioned into active duty, before PCSing to duty station

(location in Boise, Idaho, US) 

Isaac: Age 2

Matt: Age 25; rank Sergeant--about 8 years in National Guard

(location in Rexburg, Idaho, US)

And only one photo… WHAT?! 

I've Come to Terms

With the fact that these boys will continue to grow and grow and look more and more like their father, than their mother.

And that's okay.  Their dad's pretty hot.

[picture] :: Behold, the Baby Bird!

Remember this post?
And how (HOW?!) can we forget this post?

Well it's now time to highlight Titus in his "Baby Bird" element:

Is it possible he's this vocal and worried about food because he's the youngest of 3 boys?  Whatever the case maybe, we know when he's hungry and wants to be fed!  Subtle he is not...
... Nor is he quiet about needing toys, watching a show, wanting to play, needing to take a bath.  He's just a vocal little dude!

Typically happy, too.  He's never really in a bad mood.  I also call him my "ray of sunshine."  His hair helps with the sunshine imagery, don't you think? :)

The Boys as Birds, We Imagine

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!   

And since we're are speaking about birds, let's talk about the Studly Boys and what me and Matt consider them to be in very general terms of the Aves Class.

It started with Eli, when he just couldn't get out of a bad mood. 
"Son," I laughed, "you are one Angry Bird!" 
"I NOT!  I ELI!  I NOT ANGRY BIRD!" screamed Eli.
"Yes, Dude, you sure enough are," I reply.

Then I started to think about Titus and his little self.  That child is lovable, but always needing something--especially food.  Hmmm... I think I shall pass my nick-name from my parents to him.  Baby Bird!

I was telling Matt about Angry Bird and Baby Bird (with Angry Bird yelling at me: "I not Angry Bird!  I Eli!"), and asked Matt what he thought about Isaac.  With hardly any hesitation Matt said, "Giant Bald Bird!"  Oh yes, the bird from one from Matt's favorite YouTube videos. 
I think it works really well.  Isaac is great at grabbing onto his brothers and scaring them to death!  And he loves Bald Eagles.

Yup, this is what we do for fun: give our children nicknames and compare them to birds.  Please tell me we're not the only ones!

The Boys as Animals, I Imagine

I do this a lot.
I see people, myself, and close friends and family as animals.

Sometimes the imagery changes.  For instance: when I was in 9th grade I thought I was comparable to a brown puppy dog and the guy I liked was like an orange cat.   I now think of myself as a middle sized wild cat--but brown, since I have brown hair.   Personality change had a lot to do with this switch.  I'm calmer, fiercer, but still a little spunky.  (9th grade Shannon was a happy, crazy child.)

I've never assigned Matt an animal, I think it's probably because he's so dang good looking; I mean, why give him something so earthly as an animal when he's clearly a Greek god!  (I'm serious.  Have you looked into his eyes?  Yup, the universe stands still.)


And though I think my children are all very handsome, I've still given them an animal likeness.
It has a lot to do with the way each one looks.  Hair texture and color, eye shape, head shape, body build.


Isaac:  Red Panda 

• Isaac has fuzzy-stick-straight up hair!  With lots of volume. 
• He also has a square face, a little wide too. 
• I don't see Isaac as a primate, and I don't see him a real bear either.  So I think the Red Panda is a great fit.  
• Though the only thing is: Isaac is long and skinny.  The Red Panda is a bit fluffy, but doesn't really have the heavy body mass of other animals.   I think it works!

Eli:  Grizzly Bear Cub

• Oh my, I love this match up!  Eli really is a bear cub to me.  Large head, small body. 
• There is nothing I love more than Eli holding on to me with his whole body and screaming, usually naked.  He is furry all over, he has a stocky build, and his hair is soft and bristly at the same time!   

Titus: White Faced Monkey

• Titus is such a little monkey!  He's always had a primate face to me: facial features on the lower part of his face, beady eyes, and a narrow face.  
• His body type is long and small.  So when he holds on to me screaming I can just imagine a little baby monkey doing the same thing to his/her mother.  
• And shall we mention the hair?!  White and furry. 

Next animal comparison:  

If our kids were sharks, which ones would they be most like?

Yummy "C-yoll!"

Daddy serves the best breakfasts! 

How each boy pronounces the word "cereal:" 

Isaac, "tear-re-al" 

Eli, "cear-we-ol" 

Titus, "c-yoll"

Our 3 Babies' Faces

Titus (age 15 months) had one yummy cookie, and as he enjoyed this cookie I decided to take some pictures of him. He smiled and smiled, while I was trying my hardest to get the right exposure. At last it came to me, "Make the aperture (or F stop) lower, dummy!" 
I got the exposure right, and voila, Titus stopped smiling. 

   

I looked over these pictures and it got me pondering about the other two boys when they were around this age. I realized that there were a lot of similarities between all of them. From the posed happy face, to the sad face, and the shades of emotion in between. 

I've put together a few pictures that I hope show case these emotions, and are a good comparison of Titus' photos above. 

Here we go! 

Isaac's posed smiling face at age 9 months (first two smiling photos) and age 17 months (last smiling photo). Then Isaac's serious face, age 14 months (the two photos in the green hoodie.)

And here's Eli! At age 15 months, eating a cookie. He's trying to decided if he wants to pose for the camera or not. The first two are him contemplating the camera, the third is his posed smiling face (with his eyes shut, haha!), and the last two are him being very sad and upset... WAIT! I found some from his 1st birthday were he is officially pose smiling. So the last three in the bunch are him at 12 months old.

 

Oh boys, you guys have grown so much! So please stop, okay? I don't think my heart can handle all this change. 

Picture Perfect.

April 2009

Eli about a week old.

A few days after surgery number 1 (PA band) and on the recovery floor.

August 2011

Eli 2 and a bit years old.

A few days after surgery number 3 (Fontan Procedure) and on the recovery floor.

................................

It's midnight, I'm in the hospital room with Eli, and I just have ton on my mind. Enjoy the randomness:

Eli is doing wonderfully. Staying in his bed and not trying to run out is really helping his recovery. Today he got his big chest tube out, along with the pacing wires. The day before the extra IV in his foot, the urine catheter , and the two arterial lines (neck and chest) were removed. He still has the neck IV on his right side in and two small chest tubes... I think that is it! He'll have oxygen on the whole time we are here and I'm not sure if we'll go home with oxygen or not.

See even though this is his last (hopefully) surgery, and they did separate the blood, a small opening was left in the conduit--a fenestration--to help his body adjust to the new plumbing. This is especially helpful in high altitudes. If this fenestration does not close on its own in a year or two he'll have another cardio cath to close it. What all this means is that he still dips down into the 80s, and his oxygen saturation will probably level out to low 90s. Still tons better than 75 to 80 which he was at before this surgery.

We may come home soon, like Sunday, but I'm not sure. They need to make sure the draining from the chest levels out. It started to dry up yesterday and this morning but once we got onto recovery floor his chest started to drain tons... so we were told Sunday, but we'll see how his body levels out.

Really the only hard thing we are dealing with right now is the cough that Eli has. When a person's chest is opened the lungs are exposed, the lungs in turn create mucus to protect themselves, which of course causes that person to cough. He hurts when he coughs and get scared. We support him in the sitting position while he tries to clear his airways, and he looks at us with big eyes which seem to scream "What is happening to me?!" He sweats a lot during these episodes... I mean A LOT! Soaks through pillow coverings and sheets. He's on good medication though and once these episodes are over is able to catch a few hours sleep.

This hospital stay has been a lot like the others. Have had a lot of the same nurses, but some new ones too. I love these nurses. They become family during the 12 hour shifts. Jill was my favorite for this stay, but I did spend the most time with her out of any of the others. This is new: my mom is here for the long haul, her first time being at the hospital for the whole visit. (She usually takes Isaac back to Rexburg, but since we live in Boise now Matt's parents have the two other boys.) It's been nice to have her around. She's great with Eli and is a wonderful blessing to me and Matt. Each of us three take shifts and turns, so I hope no one is getting too overwhelmed with the hospital.

Eli misses his brothers. We looked through family pictures tonight and the only name he said was "Isaac." I don't think he has forgiven us for bringing him here. There has been one slight smile, but I think that was more for the "Cars Toon Mater Tall Tales" show than for us. I hope he will understand on day... or just forget! Please, please forget! It hasn't helped that he has had some traumatic experiences with needles and IVs. He gets stuck with a needle 4 or 5 times before one is able to get a stick for an IV or blood draw. For the cardio cath last week (in Boise) we counted over 15 sticks that they tried before getting a good IV. (Eli was unconscious and asleep during all those pokes though.)

Well I may as well try to get in a few minutes sleep. To be honest it doesn't look promising, but I'll try!

Bless These Bums

Isaac and Eli.

They maybe brothers, but they have very different body types from one another.

Would you believe that the 2 year old (Eli) and the almost 5 year old (Isaac) are just a few pounds in difference? I think this photo makes that point clear. Eli is broad, and Isaac is thin.
*Note the color difference. Eli is bluer. See? It's his oxygen saturation. He's 80%, and Isaac is close to 100%.

May their differences always compliment each other, and may their brotherly friendship grow stronger with time!

On Their 1st Birthday

On the boys' 1st birthday, they looked like this:

Isaac in 2007. Eli in 2010. Titus in 2011.