Sydney and Sarah with Dora

Sydney and Sarah with Dora, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

We were at the Boondocks fun center today to meet Dora! The $5 adult / $10 kid fee included a pretty good breakfast, tokens for arcade games, a ride on the go-carts, and of course the chance to meet Dora. Sydney was totally freaked out by Dora as she has been by anyone in costume. Her friend Sarah seemed to be having fun but Sydney refused to give Dora a hug. She eventually mustered up the nerve to give Dora a high five and Boots a hug but that was it. She's always been freaked by people in costume including the Rat at Chucky Cheese and of course Santa. She had a blast on the water boats (see Flickr photos) but got freaked out by the little go-carts. We put her in one and started to buckle her in but I think she expected us to ride with her. Of well there's always next time. We found some extra mini-golf clubs and balls sitting around and decided to let the girls play a round while the moms did some baby feeding. We actually ended up staying from 9:45 to 1:15 which was way longer than I expected. Both girls were pretty wiped out by then but at least Sydney had a decent nap!

Goofy Bryce

Goofy Bryce, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

Wow has it really been over a month since I've written anything! So much for June. I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from Sydney's birthday party, from when Oma and Opa visited, from when Jayne and Jerry visited, and random ones of the kids. We've been keeping busy trying to figure out why Melissa hasn't been feeling that great lately. So far we've ruled out many big bad scary things (like most forms of cancer and MS) but no diagnosis yet. It seems her symptoms have started since having kids so I blame lack of sleep and feeding our monsters. Bryce was 20lbs at his 4 month checkup (on June 5th) which put him off the chart for weight. That's a lot of breast milk! Unfortunately he was only in the 50th percentile for height so he has some lengthening to do. Sydney just had her 3 year checkup and was still in the 95% for both height and weight. Anyway keep Melissa in your prayers as we try to figure out how to help her feel more like herself.

Sydney's 3rd Birthday

The happy birthday girl, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

Sydney celebrated her 3rd birthday on May 13th at Sunflower Farms in Longmont, CO. She celebrated with three of her friends who were all turning three around the same time. Sunflower farms is basically this old farmstead just south of Longmont that they've turned into this big kiddy land. Compete with tire swings, trampoline, sandbox, tractor, bulldozer, tree house, and of course petting zoo, this place had it all. We were one of 3 parties there at the same time so there were easily over one hundred people there and it didn't even feel crowded. The kids all had a blast climbing over everything, feeding the animals, and riding the pony. Later in the day they even sheared the sheep while we were which is something I haven't ever seen live. It's a great place for a kids party!

Hard Drive Crash!

Warning! If you do not back up your computer on an external hard drive then it is time to start doing so! I learned this the hard way a few weeks ago when the Maxtor hard drive in my iMac died. It died very horribly too, so much so that when we took it to a local drive recovery place (which was going to charge between $500 - $2000 for data recovery) they said there was nothing they could do. Luckily the computer was still under Apple's warrenty and they gave me a new one without any problem. My last backup was in October so I've spent the last week downloading all our email since then and all the pictures we sent to people and uploaded to Flickr. The first thing I did when I got the repaired computer home was buy a 250GB external hard drive to mirror everything on the iMac hard drive. Sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way but don't say I didn't warn you.

Sydney & Bryce Easter 2006

Sydney & Bryce Easter 2006, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

I've uploaded some pictures from all the Easter feastivities. The ones with Sydney in her yellow rain coat were taken Sat at Bronco Park in Broomfield near where we used to live. The local realtor in the area puts on an epic Easter egg hunt with 6000 eggs all containing a little piece of candy! They basically coat the ground with eggs and then let the kids go nuts. Luckily there are three groups: 0-2, 3-6, 7-9 so Sydney had a chance in the 0-2 group. Other pictures are from Sunday brunch at the Potter's house with the Olsons. This picture was taken before church Sunday while Sydney still had her hair done. I was at church from 7:15 to 11:15 doing my choir duties which I thought was long until I heard the pastor was there from 5 until 12:30. We had four services: 6, 8, 9:30, & 11 and the 9:40 service had people in folding chairs all down the hallway. It's just too bad that so many people think the only church they need is to show up on Christmas and Easter and put $5 in the offering plate. Here's hoping a few liked the service enough to come back this Sunday. Amen.

Sydney Swimming Lessons

Sydney Swimming with Instructor 2, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

Sydney started swimming lessons on Monday at the Westminster Rec Center. So I (Jason) took her in the Men's locker room and got both our suits on, showered, then got in the pool. Then we see the instructor come over and say "Let's get started!" That's when I looked around and noticed I was the only adult in the pool. Apparently this was an instructor kid class and not a parent involved class. Melissa neglected to tell me that (she didn't know) so I felt pretty cool sitting in a chair next to the pool in my suit with the other parents in their street clothes. Sydney was fine without me or Melissa and didn't even make eye contact with us the entire class. It was a little weird for us to see her out there all by herself because this was the first thing she's been in that we haven't also participated in. It's almost like a date for Melissa and I as sad as that sounds. Hopefully this teaches Sydney a little respect for the water so she doesn't just walk off the steps into our local pool into 3 feet of water.

Bryce on Oxygen

Bryce on Oxygen 1, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

Bryce got out of the hospital Sunday afternoon looking like this picture. They sent us home on an oxygen tank which is hooked up to a tube in his nose. Then Monday the oxygen guy came over and gave us our own portable oxygen concentrator which produces oxygen from the air. He also gave us some small tanks of oxygen if we want to take Bryce out. We saw the doctor on Monday and he thought Bryce was doing better. We see him again on Thursday and hopefully we'll be off the oxygen at that appointment. Bryce still has a bad cough but is eating well and sleeping pretty well. He's fussy and wants to be held all the time but we can deal with that. Click on the photo to see other photos with his nursing crew.

Bryce's RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)

We had some bad news today that Bryce has RSV and now he's in the hospital. Apparently it's a lot like the common cold but hits little babies a little harder. Sydney has been sick since last Thursday with a running nose, cough, and occasional fever but hasn't really acted sick. She gave it to Melissa who had headaches, sore throat and fevers for a few days. Bryce started getting sick on Sunday or Monday with coughing and sneezing. He's also been burping up his breast milk a lot lately. Tuesday night he really scared us because he was about to puke up his milk and then stopped breathing. Melissa laid him down and gave him a quick breath and he puked up his milk and started breathing again. So we took him into the doctor Wednesday and his blood oxygen level was only 85% when you're supposed to be in the upper 90s. Melissa asked about the breathing thing and the doctor said he probably would have puked it up on his own and in the future to tip him over and slap his back. He sent us home and said to come back tomorrow if he was any worse. Wednesday was bad again with lots of coughing and spitting up so Thursday (today) he was admitted to Avista Hospital. They suctioned his nose which helped and now have put him on oxygen to help him breath better. The doctor said we'll probably be there through the weekend. It's not how we were hoping to spend our weekend, especially since it's supposed to be mid 60s here and sunny. Please keep Bryce in your prayers for a quick recovery.

Bryce's Birth Announcement

Bryce's Birth Announcement, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

This is the picture we used for Bryce's birth announcement. So if you didn't get an actual announcement letter from us this is what you missed!

Oma & Opa & their Grandchildren

Oma & Opa & their Grandchildren, originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas.

This picture was taken when Oma and Opa came out to see Bryce for the first time. If you look close enough you can see that Sydney is wearing her Iowa State dress. Go Cyclones! They were out here the first weekend in March and I'm just now getting pictures out. It was fun to see them as always. Sydney enjoyed the undivided attention from them and Melissa when Bryce was being held by the other. Whenever the grandparents are here it's always "Grandma take me to the bathroom!" or "Oma change my clothes!" Of course that's fine with Melissa and I. We even managed to sneak out and have dinner together while Oma and Opa were here although Bryce did get to come. We'll see them again in early June before they leave for Kenya to visit Brian and Katie.