January Review

We started the month off with our traditional dinner. CHINESE

We got into a regular gym routine (I'm super proud of that)

Spent every night of an entire weekend in the ER. Tom partially tore a tendon and sprained his ankle pretty bad on a Friday night. Saturday, I went to get my hair done and walked away with chemical burns all over my face from the stylist using magic eraser to remove the excess color. Sunday, I woke up with a swollen face and was in pain....I ended up getting secondary infections on both sides of my face.

Had a week off work to deal with all the dr appointments and attorney consults. Not to mention, I couldn't do my job while taking 9 different prescriptions.

Celebrated Eli and Hunters 1st birthday with a memorial balloon release.

Celebrated Tom's 23rd Birthday

I decided I needed to get better at updating this blog.

We also enjoyed 65 degree weather!!

I finally finished reading The Help

Goals for February:
-continue going to the gym at least 5 days a week.
-make weekly menu plans and get back into using coupons
-drink at least 64oz of water a day
-read another book
-plan a fun date
-pay off a credit card

Instafriday....err Saturday?

Im jumping in late to the game....but better late than never right? Here is my very first Instafriday and in typical late fashion its actually Saturday!! Ha!!  I promise I will get better at being on time!! Im linking up with Life Rearranged.

Here is what my week looked like

Sunday we just laid in bed most of the day, Tom slept while I played around on the internet and checked out some new blogs.

Monday was my first day back to work in over a week.  It was a rainy dreary day....not a great way to kick off the week but oh well.

Tuesday I enjoyed a sky party...what's a sky party you ask? Its when I take pictures of a beautiful sky then upload them to instagram only to find that many of my friends were doing the same thing at the exact same time!!  Also, Tom and I have been hitting the gym on a fairly regular basis. Just wanted to remember this so when I am feeling unmotivated I can just look at it and remember nothing to it but to do it!

Wednesday I started the day off with some Good Morning Cuddles from the little girl I nanny for, it was also my Hubby's birthday!!

Thursday brought another skyparty!!!

Friday was a stressful day at work....coming home to this cutie made me forget all that stress!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Im playing catch up....this post is a few days late, I'm trying to get better at posting more frequently!!! I want a place to remember our day to day lives!!!! January 25th my AMAZING husband turned 23!!!  We started the day off working, on our way into work we saw the sunrise and it was absolutely beautiful.  I told Tom that Im pretty sure that was a gift from our boys to him!!

After work we went to celebrate his birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings!!

I got Tom two pairs of gym shorts, a Stone's Band t-shirt, an Oakley t-shirt, a pair of Oakley Sunglasses, and a hard case for his glasses. 

We had drinks,

played games,

WINGS,

and good company!!!

After dinner, Hubby was treated to another gift from our boys

We headed over to some friends house to enjoy a few drinks and of course whats a birthday without cake? Better yet cupcakes?!

1st Birthday Balloon Release

I still cant believe its been a year since our boys got their angel wings.....sometimes the pain still feels like it happend yesterday.  We decided since we didnt get to plan a funeral or memorial in memory of our boys that for healing purposes we would have a balloon release on their first birthday.  Going to the party store to pick out which balloons we would be sending to heaven cut me like a knife.  It seems so unfair that we had to pick out balloons to send to Heaven instead of getting to plan a first birthday party. I knew I wanted something special for them not just something I walked in, grabbed and left. I must have spent a good hour in the party store looking at different colors, themes, styles.

 I finally decided on these

I knew as soon as I saw the number 1 sports themed balloon that I wanted it.  The boys nursery was suppose to be sports themed (their daddy loves sports).  I got 28 latex balloons in red, light blue, dark blue, and green for everyone else to release. 

The day of their 1st birthday was very emotional.....it was cold and rainy, seemed fitting for the day.  We had to go to the party store to pick up the balloons I had ordered, I just remember feeling so numb. We walked in the store and the minute I saw the balloons for our boys a lump formed in my throat and tears welled in my eyes. We drove to Lancaster Park for the release, Tom decided he wanted to do the release on the football field....it ended up being a muddy mess from the rain so we settled on the side of the field.  Our sweet friend Kathy came out to take pictures for us so we could document their first birthday, and all of our closest friends who have been so supportive of us this past year came out to remember our boys with us.  It was a day of saddness but it was also a day of healing. 

Family and friends in Michigan also had several mini balloon releases for our boys.  It meant so much to us to have people remembering and loving our boys just as much as we do.

Mom, Lindsay, and Stephanie's balloon release

My sweet friend Kelly released balloons in memory of our boys at her daughter's Birthday Party.

Another sweet friend of mine, Holly had a balloon release for our boys as well.

And my BFF Tiffany released two balloons for our boys as well.

It was a day that we will never forget.....we can not thank our family and friends enough for their support and love.  We will always love our boys, we will continue to remember their short lives and always try to honor them in some way!!  Happy 1st Birthday Eli and Hunter!!!!  Love, Mommy and Daddy

Ringing in 2012

Happy New Year!!  We are relieved to put 2011 behind us and excited for what 2012 will hold.  Tom was able to take the first 6 hours off today, so that meant we were able to ring in the new year a little different than last year!!! (on the couch sleeping) Our original plans were to go to dinner and a movie but the final showing of our movie was at 6:45pm.  We decided to go to the movie first and then see what the night held for us.  We saw We Bought a Zoo, it was such a good movie.  I got teary eyed several times, we are both certain that our boys wanted us to see this movie.  It had an inner story line about healing from grieving the loss of a loved one and moving on and learning to find your happy again.

After the movie we decided against going out to dinner so we hit up Walmart to pick up some snacks, party supplies, and a few games.  We met Zack and Kimmy at home to start the festivities!!

We had a few drinks, ate some snacks, played games, and watched Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve Party!!  When the clock struck 12 we shared our first kiss of 2012 and blew our horns to ring in a new year that offers a fresh start. 

2011 is a year we will always consider bittersweet. It was the year we became parents, the year our family grew from 3 to 5, we learned what unconditional love for your children felt like, but the year also brought the worst heartache we will ever experience in our life time.  The loss of Eli and Hunter has consumed us this year, we made it through the first year without them, it was the most difficult year of our lives but we survived thanks to the help of our amazing family and friends.