4 YEARS!

Wow!!

What an adventure it's been...

Can you say "CHUNK"!

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

I love you SO much, Little Lady!

Happy 4th Birthday, Audrey Faith Sullivan!

Good times!

We've been busy the last few weekends!

Last Saturday (the day before Valentine's Day) Michael and I dropped the kids by his parent's house and headed down to San Diego for a V-day getaway.
We've been trying to be really smart with our finances lately, so we lucked out when Michael was able to get a night for free at the beautiful Marriott (near the gaslamp district in downtown) by cashing in his "award points" that he gets through work...
This is actually the same hotel that we stayed at the night we got married...ahh...memories :)
Oh yeah...and I had saved some money that I made a while back from doing a little design work on the side...so that paid for dinner. Nothing beats a free (or at least cheap) getaway!

So we headed south, went to lunch at Pat & Oscars and did some browsing at Ikea in mission valley. I haven't been there since college. I LOVE how cheap everything is! I know its not always the best quality but if you're just buying accessories to decorate with, its good enough for me! I got a really cute lantern for $15! We just hung it in our dining room as a make-shift chandelier. I'll be sure to take pics of it soon...I really like the way it turned out!

So anyway, we got all dolled-up and went out for a yummy seafood dinner later that evening.


I borrowed my entire outfit from my neighbor...since my closet basically consists of jeans and cotton t-shirts, there's not a coctail dress in sight!
Have I mentioned that I love having a fashionable neighbor/friend? Especially since she's pregnant and can't wear any of her normal clothes. I feel like I'm back in college, playing dress-up in someone else's closet.

So, the next day we woke up and had breakfast in bed, got ready, then headed over the bridge to spend the day in Coronado. The weather was absolutely beautiful!
We walked on the beach, had lunch, and just really enjoyed spending the day together, with NO interuptions!...talking...daydreaming about what our future may hold...etc.

It was sad to head back that afternoon but at the same time, its always great to be welcomed home by our munchkins wrapping their big hugs around our legs!



Fast forward 5 days...

Here are the pics from Friday, when we took Audrey to Disneyland for her early b-day present.
It was great to spend the day with just our little lady. So many times Wylie demands the most attention from us, since he's the youngest, and she gets "the short end of the stick"...so it was wonderful to devote the entire day to her.

The highlight of the day (by far) was meeting 3 of her favorite princesses...

Belle

Tiana

Ariel

oh yeah, and Tinkerbell

Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan were there too (celebrating Dan's birthday) so we were able to have lunch with them.

We had a great time and enjoyed a FULL day at the 2 parks. We got there around 8:30am and didn't get on the road till about 10:30pm. Audrey passed out in the stroller around 9, so she missed the awesome fireworks show. She INSISTS that there were no fireworks that night and that Daddy and I aren't telling the truth when we talk about the fireworks...I guess she thinks that the world stops when she goes to sleep.

So...those were the exciting things that we've done lately.
Now I'm just prepping for a week as a single parent, since Michael will be away at Pole Climbing school (not to be confused with pole dancing school...thats a whole other "profession").Luckily he'll be able to come home for a bit on Thursday night to celebrate Audrey's birthday with her. Oh my gosh!...I still can't believe that my little baby girl is turning 4!
Tear, tear!
We'll save all those emotions for another post.

Surgery details

Thank you to those who said a prayer for Wylie yesterday! His surgery went very well.
We got up bright and early...ugh, scratch that...we got up DARK and early. Audrey had stayed the night at our neighbor's house cause we couldn't take her with us (H1N1 precautions) ...so we just had to get the 3 of us ready.
Michael and I scarfed breakfast while Wylie was still sleeping. I didn't want to eat in front of him, since he couldn't eat or drink anything since the night before.
We were on the road at 5:30...to check-in at 7am. Turns out there was no traffic on the way to Loma Linda, so we were there SUPER early (just the way Michael likes it)
...so our little man got to play while we waited


Then they took us back into the "sit and wait forever" room, where we got Wylie in his gown...which he hated (probably cause daddy told him he looked like a sissy-boy). He wasn't too fond of the cap thing either...although he thought it was really funny when I put it on my head!
His surgery was supposed to start at 8:30...which turned into 10:00am. All because the anesthesiologist couldn't get to work on time...ugh!
Anyway, despite being hungry and thirsty, Wylie did surprisingly well!
30 minutes before his surgery, the nurse came in to give him some medicine to make him drowsy, so the transition from us to the doctors would be easier on Wylie. Whatever they gave him must have been some good stuff (as you can tell from the picture below). He could barely hold his head up he was so drugged. Michael and I thought it was hilarious (which probably makes us bad parents) and I asked the nurse if I could get some of it for the next time we take him on a plane (which probably makes me a worse parent)...Unfortunately, she said no.
The doctor took him from my arms and carried him back to the operating room. Wylie found the doctors mask fascinating (must have been the drugs). He wasn't fazed a bit by being taken from us (again, the drugs).
So we waited about 30 minutes and watched the View in the waiting room, then the doc came out and told us everything went very well.
So we headed back to his recovery room. His piercing cry directed us straight to his room. Lets just say he didn't do so well with the whole "waking up from anesthesia" experience. He was P'd OFF that he had tubes coming from his foot and arm...and ESPECIALLY that they put the IV in his right wrist and wrapped his arm in gauze from his fingers to his elbow, which meant his right thumb was not accessible (to suck), which in Wylie's world is like the worst thing possible.
Anyway, we managed to calm him down. They gave him a popsicle and a bottle of diluted apple juice. He didn't quite know what to think about it since A) he hasn't had a bottle in over 6 months and B) he never drinks juice (only milk and water).
After he had been in recovery an hour, they took his IV out and we were free to go. Here's a little video from the car when he first discovered that he had more range of motion in his tongue...it was really funny (I wish I would have caught it earlier when he did it more, but you can get the idea).

Now he's acting as if the whole experience never happened...which I am VERY thankful for! This kid hasn't missed a beat!

Surgery

Our little man, Wylie, is going in for surgery tomorrow morning. They'll be cutting the frenulum under his tongue, so he won't be tongue-tied anymore.
I know its a minor surgery so I shouldn't worry, but there is nothing comforting about my little guy being put under.

You can see in this photo (from several month ago) that the tip of his tongue is basically "tied" down to the floor of his mouth...see how it pulls in the middle?
...so he can't lick an ice cream cone, stick his tongue out at his sister, french-kiss (when he's 30), etc.
One of the major reasons we've decided to go through with the surgery is so that it doesn't effect his speech.
Oh, and I just learned that my dad was born tongue-tied! However, his was clipped right after he was born. I've always read that it could be genetic but my Mema just now shared this information about my dad...he didn't even know!

Anyway, we check in at 7am and the surgery should begin around 8:30.
Please keep him in your prayers!

Head-banging Bruiser

Who needs TV when you've got this sort of entertainment?

Have I mentioned that boys and girls are just a LITTLE different?

We call him BRUISER...

On Saturday, Wylie fell at the park. The cement (and his face) broke his fall.

This is the damage (after 2 days of healing)...

Welcome to BOY-HOOD my adorable lil' man!