Hello 2012!

To say our Christmas break was eventful is a huge understatement! So much has happened and I was just way too busy or tired to blog about it. Here goes a summary!

The first weekend of break, Tony's mom, sister, her husband, and kids came to meet Lynleigh for the first time! I love getting the kids together! Brady an Josh act as if they have never spent any time a part. Jordan was just happy to have another girl in the family...well...until she realized that Lynleigh isn't fond of playing with others! So, she (Jordan) and Kaden hung out and played like they always do!


We decided to try and get the kids to all pose for a picture. I can't believe we actually got one where they all looked decent!

And of course they had to have one with silly faces! Look at Lyneigh! She's even sticking her tongue out!

Grandma likes to get a picture with the kids every once in a while! This was another large feat to get them all looking the same way and no crying (from you know who)!

The Wednesday after they left, Brady started having ear pain. So we went to the doctor and since we were there I decided to get Lyn's second flu shot. Well, the shot wasn't the only thing she got that day at the doctor's office! By Friday, she was running a fever and super sick. So, back to the doctor we went. This time at the doctor's office, they decided to give her a flu test and it came back positive. While we were waiting for the results, her fever dropped really fast causing her to have a febrile seizure. I am so grateful we were sitting in the exam room and the doctor was in his office across the hall. I am happy to report that she is doing just fine and there seems to be no damage from the seizure. I'm not going to lie though, I haven't slept well since and was completely freaked out!

That was Friday, Saturday, we went back to the doctor because Kaden wasn't feeling well and the doctor wanted to see Lyn again. Are you counting? That's 3 times! By Saturday evening, both Kaden and Lyn had rashes all over their bodies! So, I called the call back nurse. Sunday morning was Christmas and I was determined not to go back to the doctor. Well, I ended up talking to the call back nurse again about Kaden.

So, here we are to Christmas day! Oh, sometime Saturday, Brady found all of the Santa presents that were in my closet (thanks Tony for leaving the door open)! So, on top of all of the sickness, now we have to deal with telling him the truth about Santa! I was so heart broken! He did cry but then asked if he could help put out Kaden's toys.

Each year, Santa leaves three gifts. They also get things from my mom and dad and we let them exchange gifts. I would say they were pretty happy with how the day turned out!



Lynleigh didn't really understand what was going on but she likes tearing the paper off of the presents. She didn't feel good and you can tell by the look on her face!

We always go to my aunt's house for Christmas day dinner and I tried really hard to get a good picture of Lynleigh for her first Christmas. You can see her cheeks are red because she still had a fever Christmas day!

My dad gave her a gift card to Build A Bear since she loves stuffed animals. I think she would have had a good time had she felt better!

Now on to New Year's Eve. Finally, everyone is feeling better! We invited some friends over. Since we are in love with Just Dance 3 on the Kinect, we thought that would make for some good times!

Lynleigh gets out there and dances and it's so cute!

We live in the city limits so one friend brought sparklers. I had seen some really cool pics on Pinterest so we had to try!

Holly made a heart...

"B" is for Brady. We made more attempts at things like 2012 and more shapes and letters but these two were the best!

Our friends started leaving around 8 (cause we all have small kids) but I managed to get a picture of Lynleigh and her sweet friend Sophie. Sophie is a month younger but has been home with her family a year next week! They are so cute together! I love that they are so close in age and hopefully it will help Lynleigh when she is older and feels like she's the only one in our world that looks like she does!

So, despite the sickness, the seizure, and the many trips to the doctor...I vowed to make sure we enjoyed our break and I will say that we did just that! I will be glad to get back into a rountine later this week!

I hope you have a wonderful new year and I can't imagine ours being better than adding our sweet, spoiled, and stubborn Lynleigh Ren to our family! But I know that God has great plans for us and I can't wait to see what that means for this year!

Christmas Card....Blog

MAY YOUR DAYS BE MERRY AND BRIGHT!

I really had good intentions of creating a Christmas card and sending it all of our family and friends. But what I have learned this year...three kids is a big change and sometimes you have to let go of the little things!
So, in lieu of a Christmas card...I figured I could send this out to many more people if I wrote a blog!
In the 11 days since this month has begun...the Pillstrom's have been super busy!


We decorated the Christmas tree.

Each kid hung up his or her ornament.

This one says "Lynleigh, born in our hearts 2010." It's hard to believe that this time last year we were still up to our eye balls with paper work! And here we are getting ready to celebrate our sweet girl's first Christmas!
By the way...I'm sure you can tell that she's not really hanging up her ornament but instead a tag that I had already taken off the tree!

We had yet another snow day here in the south! I know! Repent! Snow...in the south...in December! It never happens! But I couldn't resist trying to get another picture of her in the snow. So this time...I chunked her out right in the middle of it!

Yeah...she hated it! She just stood there looking at me in near tears, silently begging me to help her out of this monstrosity!

So like the good mother I am, I took a few more pictures and THEN I helped her out of the snow!

This weekend was warmer (50 degrees) so I thought it would be a great day for the park! We have cooped up in the house for so long.

We bundled up and hoped that it wouldn't be too muddy.

Well, it was and despite what it looks like...she didn't really care for the park!

She really liked walking up and down the steps on the slide and I actually got the three of them to stop long enough to take a picture. Brady said this would make a great Christmas card pic but I thought showing my kids behind bars wasn't sending the right message!

So, I held little girl while the boys horsed around. I made them run a few laps just to get rid of some energy and then we went to lunch.

It's been a great month so far and with this being our last week of school....I foresee much more "fun" with the whole clan!

First Thang's Giving

If anyone ever loved a holiday it was probably not as much as Miss Thang


loved this one! You know this girl LOVES to eat...well, Thanksgiving was right up her ally!


But before the eating could begin, she had to dress up in her newest Miss Thang outfit!

Each year, my mom and step dad come to town all the way from Texas.

Once they arrive, we hang out at my aunt's house! Usually, we "plan" to eat around 2pm but that never happens! This year, we had plenty of time to make lego trucks,

take a quick nap,

and have a special visit from a native American (not my step dad who really is native American).


After Lynleigh got a quick hour and a half nap, her favorite part of the day arrived!

It was like food over load...and what ended up over loaded was her diaper at the end of the day! Don't worry, I didn't take a picture.

But we did learn that Lynleigh is a food conartist! She would beg anyone and everyone for food which meant she ate way too much! She had 4...yes 4 dirty diapers by the end of the day!

At the end of round one, the kids decided to rest and watch a movie. The boys ended up watching all of Cars 2 but Lynleigh found it more entertaining to climb on and off the bed until I got tired of that game and she ended up playing outside with my aunt.



Our weekend also included Black Friday shopping on Thursday night and a visit with Santa on Saturday!

Saturday night, we decided to try to take a cute family photo.


This one of the kids was amazing! I love that they all smiled at exactly the same time! That never happens!

Add Tony and me to the mix and well, you can hear the circus music already!

We did finally get a cute picture, however, we couldn't make a circle with our heads to save our lives! I ended up crying I was laughing so hard and a big headache where Lynleigh kept banging her big head on mine!

Oh the memories! I can't wait until Christmas! We will be decorating tomorrow so that should be fun with a two year old! She has no idea how much she has made this holiday the best one EVER!!!!!!!

Two Months

Wow! Can you believe we have been a family of five for two full months? Yesterday marked the two month anniversary of our Gotcha day! It seems like yesterday we were in China waiting for our sweet girl to walk in the room! And then again it also seems like she's been here forever!
Who knew how fast time would fly?

Sorry I don't have anymore pictures that this one. I had misplaced (well put it in my backpack and forgot) our camera. But I couldn't wait for you to see this one of all of us! She just fits right in! We have to send pictures to China and I was so happy that she didn't look miserable in a picture with us!

Miss Thang is getting braver each day! Today, we went to Lowe's and she actually walked through the store for a few aisles! Those of you who know us well, know that she ALWAYS wants to be carried! She also walked some at a craft fair today! She's so brave!

She loves playing with her brothers! We try to go outside anytime we can. Tonight, she wanted to wrestle with the boys so she would run up...hit one of them (usually Kaden)...laugh...and run off! She's such a thug!

I'm interested to see how she responds to Thanksgiving! You know that girl loves to eat! Now that I found our camera, I'm sure I will have plenty to blog about after Thursday!

The End Has Come

I can't believe that I have been off of work for seven weeks! In that time, we have traveled half way around the world, added a tiny, person to the family, and started having tea parties! Boy has life around here changed!

One thing that hasn't changed is how much time we spend outside! Like her brother, this girl


loves to be outside! It's ashame that it's cold today! Thankfully it will warm back up this weekend so that she can chase this guy...

and of course...this guy (who also happens to be the love of her life)! People keep asking me how are the boys with her and does she like them. Well, they think she hung the moon and will do anything for her!

She, on the other hand, tolerates Kaden (unless he has food) and thinks Brady is the greatest thing in the world! However, she doesn't like either one of them in the morning!

One thing she does like is riding in the dump truck! It cracks me up because I used to do the same thing when I was little!

She also loves to chase the boys down the street! I hope this isn't a sign of the future! Thankfully, we live in a cove so playing in the street is ok!


Yesterday, we went for her one week post op check up! She left there all smiles! She got the arm restraints off and the doctor said that she's doing great! She can eat anything she wants and can drink out of a sippy cup. Her future holds a few more surgeries but he is very optimistic about that! He said that her mouth had a spot that he couldn't get closed this time so he put in a bonding agent that would fill in wit scar tissue. It's pulled apart a little but it's still closed. He will probably want to touch that up in a year or so. She will also need a bone graft when she's about 6 or 7 and possible need a touch up on her nose. It will all depend on how she grows! I have no doubt that God will repair what HE wants and will allow the doctor to do the rest!

So, what will I miss when I go back to work?
This

of course! What will I not miss?

You guessed it! BTW, she's smiling because we are watching Tangled! She brings me the remote for the DVD player...she knows the difference...and points to the tv and yells! Then she laughs every time the horse comes on! I hope she can survive the day at the sitter without her best friends from the movie!

I'll leave you today with a cool picture we took the other day outside! I love our five people family and thought it's only been this way a few weeks...it seems like forever!

Seriously, She Gave Me A Rat!

All Hallow's Eve started off with a BANG!


A friend came over so we could hang!

A tea party set for not one, but two...

and she's still not sure about sharing her toys...who knew?
So, after our visit, it was time for a nap.
We ran a few errands,
Then it was time for some scarin'!

Two ninjas...ohhhh so scary (yeah right)!



How about a princess and fairy to top off the night.

It's amazing I was able to get a picture of all four,
Then it was time to head out the door!

A trick and a treat...

And some candy to boot,
Brady, the ninja cracked us up...what a hoot!
We thought one house would be where it's at...
Brady said, "I don't know why, but she gave me a rat!"
The girls headed home and the boys kept on treating...
We came home to find that the dads had been eating (candy!)
Despite the cool temps, and the scary house that was lame...
All Hallows Eve, like every night, ended the same!
Two boys and a girl are all fast asleep,
Hey, look is that candy?
SHHH! I'll just take a peek!


The End!