Good friend becomes family

I could fill this page with a lot of words...kind words, thankful ones, humble ones...but it would take weeks to get them right. Josh and I are blessed with many great friends that help us whenever we need. We are so thankful for each and every one of them (you know who you are).

Having said that...every now and then..a friend crosses the line into the family. Tricia...we love you and are thankful for you every day. My boys love you and will understand someday how lucky they are that you are in their life...God bless your heart and caring spirit with our family.

Is it so?

Wow....

Have we not posted since the beginning of November?.....fail! There is so much to catch up on. Let's see...in November, Graham and I turned another year older and we were able to spend Thanksgiving with our family in Cincinnati! Christmas was ushered in quickly and I suppose that is about the time the blog really got away from us. The boys are keeping us soooo busy. January was very busy with work, therapy sessions for Graham, and playdates for the babies. In February we began the search for a new home and listed ours for the second time in as many years. We really feel like now is the time for us to move. That has been an exhausting job to say the least.....but yesterday we signed papers on what we hope pans out to be our dream home...pictures to come soon. I became a godmother to the beautiful Addison Riese at the beginning of the month and it was one of the greatest days of my life..it was sweet really. I took a trip to Keystone Colorado to present some work that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of, and as always, the kids made it interesting while I was there. I could ramble for hours about all the juicy details from the last four months...but it would bore you, and infinitely worse, waste your time....so I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

p.s. You will notice no pictures from Thanksgiving or Christmas. Thanks to our little guy Graham, our old camera was dunked in a vodka/tonic on Thanksgiving thus ruining the camera and requiring a new purchase.




Baby Addi and Aunt Mel (that's a real smile on my face!) Cutie baby on her baptism day.





That innocent face....one of my favorite shots from the new camera...we were thankful to have some really mild winter days and get in the yard to play!



Graham's smile here caught me off guard, he was chasing Henri under the slide!



It's so fun to see the boys finally begin to play together and entertain one another...even in the tub.



Drumrollllll ladies and gentleman. Graham has been working so hard with his therapist and here are some of the first fruits of his labor. He is really getting good at getting on all fours these days and beginning to crawl a bit. He still prefers to scoot...Henri has began calling him "scooter", but he is doing great. In other news Graham was fitted for his AFO orthotic braces and those should really help with getting him on his feet and a few steps closer to walking!!



I normally never put pictures of just me in the blog...but going to conference is by far one of my biggest professional accomplishments and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity. How about that view?!



Stay tuned...the next blog post promises to be much sooner.

Fall Fun

Whew...October went by in a hurry here at the Byrge house. We were very busy squeezing every ounce of daylight and warm weather out in play dates and outside play. We kicked the month off by celebrating our buddy George's 4th, yes 4th...eeek birthday. He wanted a scary theme so Henri and he did Halloween crafts. Henri and Graham both really enjoyed George's toy selection. They really had a great time!



Craft time for the boys!

Graham has hit some major milestones this past month! He has mastered the cheerio and contrary to our history, this boy is now eating anything we place in front of him. He is getting much better at using his signs and for sure signs when he is finished. He is beginning to babble a little bit more and has discovered that he really enjoys and everything his big brother is doing! He turned eleven months old this past month....and he is for sure gearing up for his first birthday.





I participated in a 20 mile bike ride (yes I survived) this past month to raise awareness for bike safety. The Project Jennifer had their inaugural event and I had a blast. The weather was picture perfect and I was able to join some of my co-workers for the ride. We rode in memory of our co-worker Dr. Jennifer Cole and I am already excited about the idea of doing this annually.



My friend and boss Mary and I at the bike ride.

We had some great family time this past month and took advantage of the unusually warm weather by getting the kids to as many parks as possible. Henri is really beginning to engage Graham in his play and it is really neat to watch. Graham is all to eager to join him!





We had a wonderful visit from Aunt Andrea and were able to have many outings with her while she was here. She went to the pumpkin farm with us, we went to Boo at the Zoo (save your money, not that impressive :( ) and Grant's farm. The boys can't get enough of the one on one attention they get while she is here and we are looking forward to seeing her later this month at Graham's first birthday party.















My bestie Andrea and her nephews....she loves those boys spoiled rotten.


Henri is really taking an interest in cooking with his Dad. He loves putting on his apron (thanks Aunt Mary Jane's mommy) and helping any way he can. This past month he baked his first batch of brownies with Dad, and much to my chagrin, Dad indeed let him lick the spoon...salmonella anyone?





Ewwww....he loved it.

We took two different trips to the pumpkin farms this year. Henri could have cared less about a single pumpkin, but that kid sure did have a thing for the tractors. He wanted to ride them back and forth the entire time we were at the farms. This year we tried Rombach's, but we are still partial to Eckert's in Belleville. The boys loved carving their first pumpkin together and Josh did a great job on design and engaging both the boys in the big project. Graham certainly enjoyed eating more of the pumpkin that carving, but a great time was had by all.















By the way..this is what Graham thought of Boo at the Zoo this year.



We were able to do trick or treating for the first time and we joined our great friends the Broge's. So it was to be that the three little pigs went trick or treating with the zoo keeper and the tiger. By the end Henri had picked up on what the girls were trying to teach him and he had many reservations about leaving the trick or treating scene to head home. We suspect next year will be a big hit for both of the boys.



Our cutie zoo keeper and tiger.

We ended the month very exhausted but no time for the weary. We are gearing up for Graham's big first birthday bash in Cincinnati and going home at the end of the month to see family for Thanksgiving. We have been busy checking out our new church and are excited about the possibility of getting involved and meeting lots of new friends.

So until next month....stay warm and healthy (bug season is upon us) and Happy Thanksgiving season to everyone!

The end of a great summer

Although this summer had it's fair share of really difficult moments.....it was filled with a lot of fun. We closed it out with busy days as usual. In really huge news....Graham has mastered sitting up this past month. Hard or soft surface..no matter. He is loving the new view and really stretching his horizons.




Papa and Gigi came for a long weekend and we all went to the transportation museum. Henri could not get enough of the trains, and Graham really seemed to enjoy the rides too. There were some pretty interesting cars there..and it never hurts that we got a sweet deal through groupon.





Josh and my dad spent the majority of the weekend working on a huge train table for the boys. They built and painted it and then Josh nailed the track together. I can tell that this little table (that is not so little AT ALL) is going to be a lifesaver this winter. Henri can not get enough it and I'm sure Graham will enjoy getting his hands on it too.




Despite my rigorous objections, Henri had his first run in with a garter snake. Josh let him touch it and give it some water. At first he was fairly hesitant, but within a few minutes he was all about it and asking lots of questions. Let's hope neither of the boys bring one of those into the house to me some day.


Henri had another really big febrile illness that took him out of play commission. There is something cute about a sick baby that crashes on a couch mid day despite the fact that they feel so terrible. He then proceeded to pass it on to all three of us.



Graham continued the family tradition started with Henri and got his tubes put in on the 16th. If you recall....he wore the same pj's for the surgery that Henri did. Henri was 8 months older than Graham when he got his tubes. Again, a cute baby in a not so cool situation.




Graham has been working very hard at therapy and with a whole lot of work has finally sorta gotten the hang of eating dissolveable solids like cheerios. He loves working with them and seems so intrigued. He turned 10 months old :( already. He seems to really be entertained more and more by Henri's silly antics and is really trying hard to "talk" back to Henri when he engages Graham.





We are gearing up for Halloween festivities here and a big visit from Aunt Andrea and Jen. Hoping this finds everyone enjoying the fall weather and some great football!!!

Close calls

August has been quite the whirlwind. The 3rd of the month brought me to my surgery to biopsy my hand tumor. The surgeon said that the bone was "obliterated", but we also found out that it is NOT CANCER!!!! We will decide on the 13th of September when the next surgery to repair the bone will be. We can handle any of that minus the cancer...for sure. Soon after the surgery we headed to Cincinnati to take a little vacation and celebrate Henri's second birthday. I can not even believe two years has passed since I met that little boy for the first time. He continues to amaze us every day. He loves to sing, especially his ABC'S and enjoys playing peek a boo with Graham. Graham is endlessly entertained by Henri.



This year, unlike last, Henri happily ate some of his birthday cake!! It was super fun to watch. He even had time to ham it up for the camera while eating his cake.









The Thomas cake brought some really big smiles from Henri.

While we were home we also celebrated Emma's second birthday and all of the grand kids were able to play together. Those times are so far and few, but a joy to just watch!










Graham started therapy recently and has made some pretty impressive progress thus far. He saw the neurologist today and is undergoing to some testing to find out why he has some gross motor delays. We are hopeful that he just needs more time to overcome his obstacles. We have enjoyed many many family outings this past month and have really learned not to take any of them for granted. He has learned to sit up on his own and is learning to enjoy the freedom to reach further and interact more with Henri while he sits up.





Serious baby at work here!!! He really loves being able to have so much more to grab at. Sweet baby browns there.

Here are a few rare family shots of an impromptu visit to forest park. We had a wonderful time watching both of the boys enjoy the fountain.






Hope this finds everyone well and thankful for the simple things everyday.