Bentley's Birthday Pics

We are doing a combined party for Riley and Bentley this year, but we had a small celebration on Sunday for Bentley.  First, I took her for her first pedicure with Elyse and Aunt Tricia.  She LOVED it!  The salon had chairs that were made for little kids and it was so cute.  She picked out her polish (HOT pink) and then went to her chair.  I thought that she would not like the filing, clipping, and such, but she didn't even flinch.  She was even holding her hands out before and during them painting them - it was soooo cute.  She told the lady doing her nails she wanted them zebra....I kid you not!  So that is what she got!

Then we went home for grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and boudain.  Memaw and Elyse, Nana and PawPaw Ric, and Ryan and Terie helped Miss B celebrate.  She got tons of princess gifts and loot.  I made her an eggless cake and it was actually pretty good.  All in all, it was a great day. 

Bentley and her best friend Elyse

BB and her Aunt Tricia

Look at me in my Princess Chair

Filing her toes

I know I am biased, but that is my gorgeous angel

Tada!!!!  Zebra toes

Riley got a "bag of tricks" from Nana and that was the hit of the night...here he is with a nail in his finger

BB opening gifts

Uncle Ryan and his nail in his finger

She just blew out all the candles

I got the Tangled tower.....

AND I AM PUMPED!

The next morning, dressed in my usual attire with my new lip gloss on....thanks Aunt T

3 Years Old Already????

It has been such a crazy weekend, I am just now sitting down to blog about my baby girl's 3rd birthday....

Oh Bentley......how you make my world complete.  I probably always go back to this, but this is just one of the many ties that bind us....
Three years ago, so much happened.  My world changed in so many ways, I really could have come unraveled at the seams.  But between God's grace and your smiling face, I persevered.  First, I knew my company was going down and in flames.  That was so sad to me....I really enjoyed working there and I also met tons of great friends.  Many of which I am still close to today, in fact, even closer to today than I was then.  I had been with Royce for 6 years and I was pregnant and emotional and it was really hard to let that chapter of my life close.  I knew I was going to stay home once you arrived (due date 7/27/08), but I was going to work until you graced our presence. 

Then, on March 30th, the most traumatic event that has happened in my 33 years (at that time) took place.  I lost my father on a Sunday morning and it was the toughest time in my life.  I so wanted to crawl in a hole and die really.  I had Riley, but Casey took great care of him knowing I was hurting so bad.  But you were a part of me....you were 100% dependent on my actions.  On one hand, that was so tough on me, but on the other hand, I HAD to go on, for your sake and mine.  One day when you are pregnant with your child, you will understand how your emotions are just slightly out of control and you will appreciate this situation.  Between you and the good Lord, I made it...every day.  I ate, I rested and I cried a lot.  Time passed and some complications arose.  My body could not really carry you any longer.  So on June 26th, I woke up having contractions about 3 1/2 minutes apart and called the dr.  He told me to come in and we would just deliver you.  You were 5 weeks early, and the nurse was talking to me about how you would spend time in the NICU since you were early and that would be normal.  But God didn't think that was really what you needed.  He knew you needed to get me through the hurt that came along with you being the only grandchild that Tom Oliver never met.  So that is just what happened...you went to the NICU for about 4 hours and then you were sent to me.  You were fine...lungs, blood sugar, heart rate -everything!!!  Steven sent my placenta off to the lab to be tested and the results showed that my placenta was failing so that you probably would not have made it through the weekend (you were born on a Thursday). 

You were a miracle to me in so many ways and you still are.  I love you more and more every day and I believe that I am the lucky one.  I thank God for you everyday because I lost one of the most important people to me and less than 3 months later I gained a different one. 

Happy birthday baby girl....Pawpaw Tom would be so proud of you!

Last T-Ball Game

This last Saturday was Riley's last t-ball game and boy I am glad - only because of the heat of course.  Riley did great with t-ball.  He loved it and was very good at hitting and throwing.  He still needs to sharpen up on the catching and fielding, but overall he was awesome.  He really enjoys playing sports and his daddy and I hope that he keeps up that passion.  They had a little end of the season party with pizza and cupcakes and trophies and Riley really enjoyed that too!

Riley and his buddies eating some pizza

He was pretty stoked about the trophy

Riley and Bruno who was moving that day to Connecticut :(

And the Saga Continues

Riley went to see the allergy/asthma specialist today.   We have really been close to Dr. Zambrano for the past few months seeing as though all four of us have been under his care.  After hearing about the episode that we had about 3 weeks ago, Dr. Z felt like he should be allergy tested again (it's been 2 years).  I had already warned Riley that they would probably "poke" his back, and at first he was a bit upset, but once I mentioned that they had a treasure box for good patients, his worries were cast aside.  He was a champ...they told him to lay down and they began to poke him.  He just laid there and watched Scooby Doo and every once in a while winced.  It was harder on mommy I think!  Immediately, he started to react and was ithcing.  He also started that dry, non-productive cough that he gets with his asthmatic symptoms.  The test was finally done and turns out, he is allergic to mold and dust/dustmites.  They gave him a couple of puffs of a rescue inhaler and he was fine.  They also had him blow into a peak flow meter to check his output and it was a little low.  The bad thing about his allergies are that in Houston, you cannot get rid of mold (too humid here) and therefore, he feels like he needs a preventative to keep him from asthma attacks.  So we got a bag full of goodies (medicine) and an emergency plan. 

I will say, I really really like our Dr.  I am not familiar with asthma and it makes me really nervous.  Casey has asthma and knows how all of this feels and understands it.  Dr Z really walks you through everything.  His "emergency" plan is very well maped out and so is his plan of treatment.  I really felt comfortable with all of his advice and instruction when I left his office.  If you need a good allergy/asthma dr, Dr. Zambrano comes highly recommended from our family.

Here is my little guy all poked up!

Pepto Pink

I have been a diagnosed diabetic for 18 years (WOW, cannot believe it has been that long!) and I have been on a pump for about 16 and a half years.  I just got my 4th new insulin pump last night and it is pink!!  I call it pepto pink because that is what my rep with Medtronic called it.  The pumps have changed tremendously over the past 15+ years.  I am really excited to get this one up and working.  It is like getting a new pancreas :D

Pepto pink!

Funnies

Did you know that Bumblebee loves to have topless tea parties with Princess Snow White??

Sims Family Reunion 2011

Every two years, my side of the family has a reunion.  It began in 1976 and has continued all these years.  It is my mom's side of the family and we always have a good time.  This year it was in Burleson TX, outside of Fort Worth.  We went up one day early and went to a water park (I didn't have my camera) and the kids loved it.  The park was in the Jellystone family of parks and was super nice.  We had a cabin that we shared with Memaw and Elyse.  Riley and Bentley got to sleep on bunk beds which was their favorite part!!!  We got to do a meet and greet of Yogi Bear (Bentley hated him), ride a firetruck around the park and do crafts.  Riley became a pretty good air hockey player and he and Bentley both enjoyed playing with all of their cousins and second cousins. (We have 15 kids under the age of 8).  Casey and I had a great time catching up with everyone too.  Casey and his team won the friendly golf challenge and get the Sims Cup for a couple of years. Thanks to Lindsey and Renee for hosting this one. It was a great time and I look forward to the next one!!!

J Lo and RT getting ready to swim

Firetruck

Waiting for the Yogi Meet and Greet

Riley and Robbie his second cousin and new BFF

Firetruck Ride

Bentley painting Cindy Bear

Riley coloring a pillowcase

The golf champs (Riley is an honarary member)

Bentley and her Best Friend Esse

New Car

I got a new car last week!!!!  I love love love it!  I have driven an SUV for 16 years and lately, I have just had the itch to get a new car for multiple reasons.  First, I HATE the gas mileage my Yukon was getting.  I averaged around 13.8 miles per gallon.  Secondly, although the Yukon looks big, it really has little cargo space.  If you have the 3rd row in, you get little space in the back.  I began looking at what my trade would be and I got some good numbers, so I kept looking.  There were some smaller SUV's that I liked but they were either really expensive and/or they didn't get much better gas mileage.   I decided to broaden my horizons and open my mind to a sedan.  The only sedan I really really liked was the VW CC.  I thought they were too expensive but when I started looking, they weren't.  And they also got great gas mileage.  So me and mom went to the dealership to see what they would give me for my trade.  After talking with them and looking at the new car and putting numbers together, the deal they were giving me looked great.  Casey talked with his cousin and confirmed that the deal was good.  Casey, however, did not really like the size of the car.  He felt like I was going from huge to tiny and that I would not like it.  He also felt like we were cramped in the car.  I, on the other hand, looked at the situation differently.  I wanted to drive something smaller with better gas mileage while I can.  We are out of the stroller, pack n' play, phase but we are not quite in the phase where I haul all kinds of kids around to football practice and to the movies and the mall.  I want to take advantage of that while I can.  I know that one day I will get another SUV, but I am enjoying scooting around in this little ride while I can :)

Isn't she pretty?!?

Healthy and Not so Healthy

Well, I can honestly say that 2011 has not been our year healthwise!!  I keep praying about all of this, and I know in my heart that all of this is happening  for a reason, but sometimes you just get overwhelmed with frustration!!!!!

Riley - between battling a bad case of the flu this year and having recurrent ear infections (3 since end of March), we decided to visit with Dr. Tuong, the ENT.  He does have constant fluid on his ears and he has recommended a second set of tubes.  In the meantime, he had a bad case of tonisilitis and a pretty bad asthma attack.  After his asthma attack at 3 am 2 weeks ago, we took him to the pedi and he was diagnosed with asthma and was referred to the allergist to see if he has allergies.  (Yep, now I carry rescue inhalers and an epipen!)  We are praying that we find his allergies and control them and hopefully never have to really worry about asthma issues too much.  Also, we are hoping once he gets the tubes back in, we will have our healthy boy back.

Bentley - well, our little ball of allergies is getting better.  Now that we have identified her allergies, we are getting a handle on things.   She played with Sadie's collar one night and ended up broken out in hives (pics below).  We are also very lucky...she pretty much won't eat anything with eggs.  Last night we made her a lean pocket and didn't realize that it had eggs.  She kept saying it was hot and would not eat it.  I finally looked on the package and it had eggs.  I made her some chicken instead and she ate it.  Dr. Zambrano said that egg products probably burn her mouth!!  Isn't that amazing how she just wouldn't eat it!

These were taken with my phone and are not that good, but you can see the hives and her eye was almost swollen shut before bathtime...all from playing with Sadie's collar

Casey and Carrie - Casey has had some acid reflux issues for a while and the dr has him on Nexium and it is slowly getting better.  Now he thinks he has gout, LOL.  I am still having foot issues.  I have been to the dr and we have tried several things and now she feels like the tumor may have grown back.  I go next Thursday night for an MRI and we will see from there.  I just want my foot back to normal.  You take your feet for granted. 

All in all this is nothing compared to the struggles that some people face, but it is annoying to constantly have a sick one and a multitude of dr appts and lots of money spent on health issues.  But I am thankful that we have what we have and that we are on the mend.