Thanksgiving photo op.
Kieran was not into taking pictures so much, so you'll see more of the girls than him.

Daddy with the girls

Mommy with the girls

Pretty girl

Relaxing in the hot tub after a long day of eating and playing!

Andromeda

Our "fat cat" Andy died this weekend. She has been heart broken since Jakey died. She stopped eating and was really going down hill. It kind of reminds me of an old married couple who have been married forever and pass with in months of eachother. We always joked that Jake and Andy were husband and wife.

14 pounds and counting

So from the title you might have thought this blog was going to be talking about Aislin. Well you were wrong. Aislin is up in the 15 lb. mark, but at 5 months old she has only put on 7 pounds since she was born (she weighed a little over 8lbs coming home from the hospital). No this blog is about Marra. Last January Marra weighed 64 lbs and looked great, she was also in the gym 6 days a week cheering and tumbling. The picture below is from last cheer season when she was right around 64 lbs.

If you read back over my blogs, Marra was down to 54 lbs in June after all her medical problems.

Below is a picture taken on the 4th of July. She was so skinny she looked unhealthy.

The next picture was at the beach about a month and a half later, she was starting to put on weight at this time, but still was too skinny.

Tonight she just happened to put on the same swim suit to go in Mama Lou and Pappy Jim's hot tub. She looks so much healthier! She is up to 68 lbs!! That is 14 lbs in 5 months!

She has yet to put all her muscle definition back, and we are only in the gym 2 days a week this year. But she is healthy and happy. She has also grown 2 inches in the past 3 months and gone up 2.5 shoes sizes.

This is Marra at the beginning of October carving pumpkins with cousin Ethan!

Turkey Day Fun

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Kieran Update

Kieran went in for his esophageal scope and colonoscopy yesterday.

He had these tests done because he has been having blood and mucus in his stool and he has been having a lot of acid reflux again (he was on meds for this from 6 months old until 1 and a half). We did two stool analyses and a blood test before scheduling the procedures, all came up negative, which pretty much just told us that all his organs were functioning correctly and that he did not currently have any bacterial infections. The GI thought the most plausible cause of his problems was colon polyps.

So Tuesday was lots of fun. We had to do a colonoscopy prep, which consisted of shoving laxatives down Kieran's throat all day long and then cleaning liquid pooh diapers every 10 minutes. Good Fun.

The esophageal scope showed the upper part of his stomach is red, inflamed, and irritated. The colonoscopy showed that there were no polyps, which is wonderful! No cancer, no Crohns! But all the lymph nodes in his colon are swollen.

The swelling causes bleeding and mucus every time poop slides over it and irritates the lymph nodes.

The lymph nodes are swollen for one of two reasons. The first he had an intestinal bacterial infection and the lymph nodes are still swollen because of the infection, or he has food allergies that are aggravating the lymph nodes.

So we get to have him on a laxative to make his pooh soft to keep from irritating the lymph nodes until we figure out exactly what is going on. She took biopsies the entire way up and down so that she can figure out what is going on. We should have those result by the end of next week.

Busy Weekend

We kicked off the weekend with Trick or Treating on Friday night - see below for pics.

Saturday Marra had her first party with 9 friends from school and the gym over to watch movies and eat tons of junk food! The girls seemed to have a good time and they all got along wonderfully!

Marra's girlfriend Tabby spent the night and they decided to get up at 6:30 AM, thinking it was 7:30 (because that is so much better) since we had the time change.
Sunday morning we had Sunday school and church and the kids sang in church

We then went to Mama Lou and Pappy Jim's and hung out for the afternoon

Good thing Marra had off school today so we got to lay around and recover from our weekend!

Halloween

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone, And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them

Hercules and Eri

Some of you have been asking how the kittens are doing...
Well here they are, they are so much fun, I have had kittens before but I don't think I have ever had two at the same time. Our 4 year old cat Cassie is still having some issues accepting them, but they are doing great. These pics are from a few weeks ago and they are even bigger now.

The bigger one is the boy.

This praying mantis has been hanging around our house for a few years(I think it is the same one we see every year). I think she is so cool. Kieran is thrilled with her and Marra admirers her from a distance.

Copy Cat

About a month ago one of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while saw Aislin for the first time.
After looking her over for a few moments she asked
"So how does it feel to be a Xerox machine?"

A day at the Moreaus'

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent at my parents house with extended family!

Aislin Kaiti God's little princess

Aislin was baptised on October 12th, it was great to have so many of you be able to join us for this celebration and thank you to those who sent us cards!

Aislin Kaiti

Lini with God Mother Krista

Pretty Lini

Princess Alanna turns 4

My niece Alanna turned 4 at the end of August and we celebrated at Mama Lou and Pappy Jim's with a Princess Party.

Princess Marra, Princess Alanna, Princess Emma

Court Jester Kieran, Princess Avi, Sir Ethan, Princess Marra, Princess Alanna, Princess Emma

Big cousin Marra helping Alanna get her costume perfected

I love this picture because check out Emma in the back ground, too funny

Kieran

Oh my Kier boy is a joy. I love being able to stay home during the days with him. He comes up with something new everyday and is constantly making me laugh. His favorite word is Cool, he has been pooping on the potty all by himself the last few weeks and once in a while he will pee on it too!

Yesterday was an especially cute Kieran day. We were walking out the door to take Marra to school and he tells me he has to poop, I told him that he was just going to have to go in his pants because we didn't have time to sit him on the potty and get Marra to school on time (Kieran is a 15 minute sitter if you know what I mean). The whole way to and from school he kept saying "sorry mama" because he pooped his pants, poor baby.
A little after we got home from taking Marra I presented him with new slippers, Cool. After I helped him get them on I started to walk away from him to go do something else, he came running up to me and gave my legs a huge hug.
I had something to do in the afternoon so Kieran and Aislin were going over to my friend Christine's house until Scott could get them. Christine also watches a little boy named Jack. I told Kieran he was going to play with Jack (who he's met before), he was so excited. I didn't want him crying for Christine when I left so I kept talking to him through out the afternoon before we left. He said "play Jack" and I said "Yes but mommy can't stay. You're not going to cry are you?" Kieran says "Bye Mamma", ok, I think, lets hope this goes well.
Kieran then disappears upstairs to his bedroom for a while. I heard him coming down the steps, then running through the dinning room, he jumped through to the living room and yells "Ahrge" he had dressed up like a pirate and wanted to go to play with Jack looking like a pirate.
We got to Christine's and I unbuckled Kieran from the car, while I was getting Aislin out Kier crawls out of the van and says "Bye Mamma" and starts up Christine's steps. He had never been to Christine's house and although he spent a lot of time with her when he was a baby I'm sure he didn't really remember her, but he wasn't going to cry because he was going to play with Jack, he didn't need me, it's one of those bitter sweet moments.

Pirate Kieran
Kieran played so hard yesterday that around 8 he crashed on the living room floor