Not so easy

We wanted to thank everyone again for your thoughts and prayers in Raef's behalf this last week.  If you did not hear, Raef was back in the hospital again for 3 days due to a cold that induced his asthma.  The first day I took him in was the worse I have seen him.  Trent and I both apologize for not speaking with everyone about the situation and keeping you all up to date this time.  We went numb both of us.  I think perhaps to protect us from breaking during that moment.  We are so beyond exhausted and tired of this happening to our little boy and feel helpless as we watch his asthma progress to emergency status within 1 day.  It's scary to say the least.  In four years here in Ohio, we have been to the ER with Raef 6 times and ICU 3 of those.  We are tired of talking about it with people.  I feel like maybe if we don't talk about it anymore, it will go quickly and we can get him home and pretend it never happened.  We both know, looking back, that that is not the best path we should have taken, but until you have gone through something like this over and over again, it is difficult to explain.  So, please know of our gratitude to all of you and although we may not have been in contact with you, we knew that you loved us and that's what we needed.  We are optimistic and hopeful that Las Vegas will do miracles for Raef and allow him to stay out of the hospital and no more rides in the ambulance.  Please join with us in prayer for him that his lungs would heal and he would grow strong enough to fights this.  We love you all and are tremendously grateful for your love and strength you give us.
 

A day outside in the mud!

We hadn't gotten outside for awhile due to the weather so we all jumped at the chance, even if it was muddy. The boys couldn't wait to get their boots on and go tromp!  I hadn't taken pictures for awhile either so I enjoyed the time and found myself taking way too many as usual.  

It took a bit of work to get them all cleaned up but it was well worth my house staying clean for awhile and their big smiles!  Man, I love boys!

I wish I could somehow hang on to this age forever.  I butch chopped Ryan's hair and am under strict orders not to touch it again until after the graduation and wedding this summer.  Sorry bud!  Could he look any more like his Daddy?

The lighting on this photo is off but I still love it.  Raef has always had the most beautiful blue eyes and this picture captures that.

Muddy but still adorable.

This shot reminds me of the big brother, little brother relationship the boys have.  Raef tries his best to always protect Ryan and take care of him.  Although Ryan has a much tougher personality and can take care of Raef just as well.  They are a perfect pair.

Doing some stunts on his favorite possession!  Everytime we go outside for anything....anything at all, he runs for his bike.

We found Bumblebee!!!!!

While having our car fixed yet again, Trent spotted an amazing find!  He couldn't wait to get home and tell the boys who he found. But....it was a secret of course because if the deceptacons found him, they would try to kill him.  So, under strict instructions that they couldn't give away his location, off we went to see the real Bumblebee.  They were so excited they could hardly stand it.  Ryan was carrying his little car Bumblebee and kept saying, "I can't believe it, we found him Dad."  Bumblebee is Ryans favorite transformer!  They rode inside and then even got to rev the engine and turn his lights on.  He was decked out to the max with transformer symbols everywhere on the outside and in.  Good find Dad!

Poor Ryan hit a table on his nose and ended up with quite the swollen nose.  I left work to take him to the doctor because his nose was so crooked and swollen.  They x-rayed him and said it was just crooked because of the inflammation.  On the way to the doctor, I gave him a pb&j sandwich but he took one bite and said, "mom, I can't smell this, what kind of sandwich is it."  It was about 1 week later before he said he could smell and he was so excited!  He sounded funny because of his one nostril being closed off.  This picture looks bad but about 3 days into it was definitely the worse when it bruised and looked like a very bad black eye.  Poor guy!

Raef's big 5!

We are still in disbelief that our baby is 5 years old!  And he is just the coolest kid we know.  We love him so very much and feel tremendously blessed to have him in our little family.  He wanted a dinosaur and transformers themed birthday party and we let him invite a few friends and family.  Papa was there to celebrate with us also!  It seems like he is smiling in every one of these pics because he was smiling the whole night.  This is what he loves most!  We had pizza first and play time and then cake and icecream and presents finally at the end. 

Ryan kept asking why it isn't his birthday.  We felt bad after he endured a party for Raef on Friday night by Uncle Cam, a friend party for Raef on Saturday night, and then a celebration for Papa on Sunday.  "No birthday for me," he kept saying.  He hung in there though and was a good sport, just very sad and confused. 

These are the nicest dinos I've ever seen.  They are very heavy and look quite real.

Raef was very spoiled with presents everywhere and tons of cool handmade cards.  Phone calls poured in the entire day and he actually got annoyed by the end of the day and I just spoke to people.  If I told him the phone was for him, he would hit his forehead and say, "what, another call just for me?" "I'm so lucky!"  It was a perfect day!

A visit from Papa

Papa surpised us and called to say he would be flying in the next day. We were excited for the visit but had a busy couple of days planned. We decided not to change plans and just have Dad join us. He had game night with us and some friends at our house and was definitely voted the MVP after willingly embarrassing himself over and over and making us laugh. Thanks dad! We spent much of the time together relaxing at home and dad got to enjoy putting his feet up and watching some football. Lots of play with the boys and plenty of magic tricks and wrestling filled th days. then we had a few birthday parties for Raef and then celebrated Dad's birthday on Sunday before his plane left(well kind of). It was a bit rushed and then Dad ended up staying the night again due to fog so he enjoyed his dinner and dessert when he came back to the house. The boys loved playing with Papa and Ryan now calls everyone he sees with salt and pepper hair "Papa". There is one gentlemen in our ward that I literally have to hold Ryan back each Sunday as he yells "Papa" and goes running up to the stand where he sits. Too cute!