Spring Break-ish

I've taken a few days off this week to do some fun (and not so fun) stuff with the kiddos. Yesterday I took Audrey and Wesley to daycare so I could take Evan to the dentist. But before his appointment we were able to go paint some pottery and it's the first time we've done that. It was super fun and they really enjoyed it. Can't wait to go back. 

Evan had a dentist appointment to get a couple of fillings but it just so happens his front tooth was super wonky and loose. It'd been looking pretty bad and I get kind of squeamish when it comes to teeth. 

Exhibit A. 

He's been wiggling it quite regularly but no luck on it coming out. So when they asked at the dentist if they could go ahead and wiggle the front two out I said yes please! Turns out his top two permanent teeth were already coming in anyway. 

Poor guy was kind of pitiful after that and the filings but he was excited to have finally lost them. 

After the dentist I brought the E's home and went to daycare to get just Wes because he had an ENT followup appointment for his sleep study. 

This appointment the doctor told me that the sleep study showed Wes has mild sleep apnea. He took a good look at Wes' tonsils and commented a few "wow"s and told me they were gigantic. Like, really huge. He was surprised Wes doesn't have more problems sleeping and eating for that matter because they leave little room for food to pass through. He said he's surprised to hear he's not a very picky eater - only wanting to eat apple sauce, yogurt or other soft foods. We've been lucky, our Wessy will eat pretty much anything. 

So unfortunately the doctor recommends we get the tonsils out. With just then sleep study he probably wouldn't have made that conclusion but seeing the tonsils himself up close he said defintely. He said we should do it for primarily sleep related issues. He said even though he seems to sleep fine for us for the most part imagine you have a cold and you know you just sleep cruddy when you have a cold, well that is how Wes is sleeping every night. He said he would recommend waiting until Wes is 3 but that's only a few weeks away. We will most likely wait a month or so to get them taken out. I'm extremely nervous but we want to do what's best for him long term. 

Today I also took the twins to daycare (sorry A&W!) so we could go to Squire Boone caverns. The E's have never been to a cave before and I thought they would enjoy it. We also took Lisa from daycare and her son Colin - one of Evan's besties. 

The tour was good and I think the kids really enjoyed it. I remember going to these caves when I was in school but didn't really remember inside them. It was super neat!

We hung out by the old Mill and took some pictures, it was a great photo spot with the rolling creek beside it. I can't get used to Evan's toothless grin!

And of course we needed to buy junk candy and plush owls at the shop. And Evan bought a bag of rocks, because boys :) 

It's been a great week so far. I'm off one more day and don't really have any plans for tomorrow. I might try and get A&W's 3 year pictures weather and moods permitting. I wish I was off all week, love spending time with my crew! 

Whaaaaat's Going On?

I feel like this is a theme for most blog posts lately. Catching up on life in the fast lane. I wish I made more time for blogging – I know if 20+ years I’ll look back and want to see how little the kiddos were and what was going on. 
Christmas was great this year, and the kids are at perfect ages for all the wonderfulness that is the Christmas season. Here are some snap shots – Evan and Erin still believe in Santa so this year Santa needed to get Evan a drone and Erin a unicorn. Santa came through!

New Years Eve was not spectacular – we just stayed in and Evan and I were the only ones to make it until midnight. I think Erin might have made it to 8pm ;)

After New Years we’ve just been surviving the winter. Honestly this winter has been really mild but still being cooped up I’m ready for Spring and spending our evening in the backyard. Sooooon

Erin and I went to the Little Mermaid last weekend and we loved it. We skipped the Nutcracker this year so we could see this and I’m so glad we did. I bought Erin a new dress and shoes and she looked beautiful. I love love love that she’s so girly and is as excited as a pretty dress and shoes as I am.

Evan competed in the Pinewood Derby with Cub Scouts. It’s his first year and even though his car was slow and not perfect it was great he and Todd could work on this together. I’m sure they learned some tricks for next year to make it an even faster car! (he was last in the video :( )

Evan pinewood derby from Kelly Marsh on Vimeo.

Wes’ sleep study was last night and I’ll  blog about that in another post. His pediatrician was concerned about his “gigantic” tonsils and referred him to an ENT doctor. Then the ENT recommended the sleep study. 

Sleep Study for Wessy

Well last night was super fun :(
Wes and I left for his sleep study at about 6pm last night. We got to the hospital about 7:00 and waited to be let back in the pediatric sleep unit. I took the ipad so while Wes rested he watched a movie and relaxed.

 About 8pm they came in and started hooking him up. Poor guy just grunted and squired but didn’t scream or anything. They hooked about 8 leads up to his head, 2 on each leg, about 4 on his chest and he had a nasal thing and lead on his index finger. The finger and nose seemed to bother him the most.

We watched the movie until it was over and then he drifted off to sleep at about 9:30. He slept decent until about 11 then he woke up pissed. He thrashed around and tried to take off the wires. Eventually he would calm down and fall back asleep. He repeated this 4 or 5 times throughout the night. Eventually they had to put those arm boards on him so he couldn’t pull of anything or touch his nose, he hated this of course.
At about 5am I woke up and heard a storm outside. The thunder was SO loud! I  can’t believe it didn’t wake him up thank goodness. At about 6am the nurse came in and started to unhook him, I was so glad for it to be over. She said we’d get the results in about a week. I hope it was worthwhile to have the sleep study but I also don’t want anything to be wrong with him. I don’t want him to have to have his tonsils out so young.

Fall Happenings

Oh blog. I'm so sorry you are so neglected. Oh my goodness August 3 was the last time I posted.

So. To catch up. Soccer, Dance, Cub Scouts, Fall, Pumpkin Patch, Anniversary, Halloween, Family pictures. OK done! I kid.

Evan played soccer at the YMCA again this year. He was in the 7/8 boys and it’s the first time his team wasn’t co-ed. I was excited to really see him be competitive this year. BOY was I wrong. Evan was competitive and played his little butt off but most of the other kids, not so much. We had a couple VERY awkward boys and a couple special needs boys and God love them but they were completely outmatched at every game. The other teams were filled with athletic boys who well, tried. Evan’s team was outscored at least 10 to nothing every game. We scored one goal all season. But Evan kept SUCH a good attitude all season saying things like “at least we’re having fun right?” or “hey, we got it to the other side of the field this time”. Oh his sweet heart!!! I on the other hand have never been so frustrated in all my life! But oh well, at least he had fun. We might try a different league next year to see if he can have a little better chance of being competitive.

He had a cute audience for the games too.






Erin started another year of dance. She still likes it but the logistics of getting her to and from is a little difficult. My sweet friend Melissa takes her every week and we pick her up. I feel guilty I can’t be off work in time to take her but hopefully it’ll just be this year and next year she will have a later class. If not, I’m not sure we can keep her in it. I want to start Audrey in dance next year so I’m hoping it works out they can both be in it.

Evan joined Cub Scouts at the beginning of the school year. He was SO excited to join up. He’s earned his first (bobcat) badge for learning the pledge and the laws. He was so happy! He’s been a little disappointed that he’s only going to meetings and not having “real Boy scouts”. I think he thought it was all camping and fishing! Haha, hopefully he will be able to do all that stuff soon too.



Fall snuck up on me this year and man did we get busy! I had tons of photo sessions and tried to squeeze in as many fall activities as I could. Fall is my favorite!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch one day and man oh man. Going anywhere will all 4 is a challenge. Todd was dealing with a hurt back and right now the twins just want TO RUN! And Audrey slipped out of Todds grip and almost ran into the busy road. After that heart attack moment I was ready to pack it in and just go home. But we persevered. Once we got to the pumpkin patch Erin was SO worried about the twins running away she just could not let them go or let them out of her sight. She fretted the entire time and I felt so bad for her. The twins would run, trip, run, trip, Erin would cry because I wasn’t holding both of them all the time and thank goodness Evan happily looked for a pumpkin. If it weren’t for him the whole trip would’ve been a waste.
Erin fretting.










I tried to get pictures but it was pretty difficult. Here are our happy pumpkin patch pictures. Obviously Audrey loves to sit for pictures.











That same weekend Todd and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary. 15 years!! It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. I feel like this past year has been the biggest challenge for us so far. This life right now, is not easy. At all. The kids keep me incredibly busy along with my full time job and part time job I feel like I am just giving all all the time and there’s nothing left for me. And Todd's job has him very busy working 12 hour days most days. We don’t have a lot of options for babysitting right now and it’s also a matter of the expense of getting a sitter for date nights. We both know we need to make more time for each other but it’s been a constant struggle to make that happen. And I know as the kids get older it might get a little easier to find sitters but for now, it’s tough. Hopefully all we’ve been through this year will only make us stronger and we’ll look back some day and laugh and miss the chaos.
Here are a few of the family photos we had taken this Fall. I am obsessed with them.

Halloween was pretty fun this year. Here you will see my Green Lego Ninja, Nemo, Cinderella and my Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn.



Erin loves that costume so much, she has worn it out. I’m getting my money’s worth so I say go for it.

We went trick or treating at at a Trunk or Treat and Melissa’s neighborhood again this year and the kids cleaned up! So much candy. We are still working our way through it now almost 3 weeks later.





So now…let’s see, is that it? I feel like I should talk about Audrey and Wesley! Oh my gosh are they growing. And talking and did I mention the running!? They are what you'd imagine a two year old to be...except there are two. Do destruction x 2, mess x 2, tantrums x 2, finding socks x 2. Audrey is a ball of energy, fire, sass and sweetness and lord I love that girl so much. She is her sister made over and man, stubborn! I think I'm raising some strong women and I love it.

Wessy is still my sweet sensitive boy who is always in the mood for a snuggle.



He doesn't talk quite as much as Audrey but I think that's normal - Audi just talks all the time! We have had some pretty awful sleep issues the past few months. They just don't want to go to sleep - ever! Since we moved them to toddler beds it's been a struggle anyway but the last couple months it's been TODDLER PARTY until 10 pm every night. I put them down at 8:30. No fun. And it's not like I could leave the room either - Wessy is the most persistent crier outer in the history of crying it out. He never gives up. So I would sit for 1-2 hours in their room until they drifted off. I eventually called my pediatrician for solutions and he suggested melatonin. 1mg at bath time and they should be ready for sleep by bedtime. OMG y'all!!! Life changing. For the past two weeks they sleep within 10-15 minutes of putting them to bed. It's been so amazing and I hope it continues.

What else....hmmm, I think those are the highlights. I'm sure I missed some stuff! Geez, sorry this turned into the longest blog post in history, thanks for hanging in there!

So here I am. Birthday 39. Feeling so blessed I don’t know what to do with myself. Even though these past few years have been hard/trying/exhausting I have never ever taken for granted how incredibly lucky I am. Truly. Just turning on the news or scrolling through a news feed is sometimes all the affirmation I need that I am so blessed and have not one damn thing to complain about. My children are happy, beautiful and healthy. We have a roof over our head and can keep food on the table and the lights on. Todd and I have great jobs and good health insurance, those are tough to come by. I have the most wonderful, amazing and supportive friends a girl could ask for.

I am so so grateful for all I have. And even though it’s no easy life, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.