The Replogle's

If you don't know much about me, one thing that is very obvious, is how much I love Christmas. I love the music (yep, play it in October), love the decorations, love traditions, love what the holiday is all about and love Christmas trees. Greg and I have had four Christmases together and we always have a "discussion" about getting the tree. He grew up with a fake one and wants a fake one. I grew up with a real one and want a real one. So this year I caved (gave up, chose my battle) and agreed to get a fake one. Mostly because with Brayden's asthma we wanted to make sure we didn't bring anything into the house that might make it worse or give him allergies. So one day we packed up the boys and headed into Menards to look and see. We walked in and found this 12 foot tree and we really liked it. We wanted a really tall one to go up in our tall ceiling. So we bought it and more decorations to put on it and headed home all excited. Before we set it up we thought...hum, it might have been a good idea to measure the ceiling first...hum, it was only 11.5 feet tall. Yeah, thats not going to work. We set it up, just hoping it would fit. Hoping the Lord would expand our ceiling like he did the fish and bread:) Yeah...No. The top of the tree bent sideways at the ceiling. At first we were both really upset and then we both just busted up laughing and pictured peoples faces when they would walk in and see this enormous tree bent at the ceiling:) Finally we got smart and realized that the tree came in four peices...duh. So we just left out the base section, so now we have a 10 foot tree. Much better. We had a great time decorating and I am very happy with the tree. Plus, we have a very happy two year old that is so excited about his big important job of turning on the Christmas tree lights. So for the words I know Greg has been waiting for...you were right, honey:)

Who is the crazy emotional lady, you ask? Well, it's was me. Brayden has been struggling with colds and breathing problems in the last few months so we took him to the doctor, again! After going through all the scenarios the doctor came to the conclusion that he has asthma. I was so upset. First, because this poor child has been sick practically his entire life and all we do is take him to all these doctors and then I'm told he will be on prevenative medicine pretty much indefinitly. Second, because through all of this, he has been teething, so in two months I averaged about five hours of sleep at night (not together I might add) and the night before the appointment I maybe had three. Third, because we have been under some stress lately and this just totally added to our burdens. Fourth, because our insurance doesn't cover his medicine because it is prevenative. Okay, so my crazy emotional story picks up at the store picking up his nebulizer. I walk in and everyone is busy...helping no one that is in there...and I stand in line...oh wait...by myself for assistance. Finally someone is "free" and we sit down at the desk and my eyes are all watery because I'm done. Done for the day, done with my kid always being sick, and done waiting in line by myself. The lady looks up and asks if I'm getting it because I have allergies. I attempt to say no, but all that comes out is this horrible cry and I start balling. So I try to explain through hiccups and gasps that I've had a bad day, my son has asthma, and all I want is a nap. I'm sure you can image the drama unfolding here. The poor woman looks at me, looks at her co-workers and says, "Are you ok, is there a problem with your spouse". Bless her heart:) She was full of the best intentions:) She was very sweet and explained that her son uses one and that they are so good for them. Then to top it all off, she asks who the doctor is. I tell her and she's like...oh yes, I babysit her children. Awesome. I'm sure it will be quite the story she has to tell my doctor:) Oh well, I love my doctor and I will tell her anyway...it's actually quite hilarious now...but oh, not then. So to update you on Brayden. He is doing much better. He is sleeping a bit better and breathing much better. We give him two treatments a day and if we hear conjestion, we give him some acute medicine. He likes the nebulizer for the most part. He usually lays back a bit with his mouth wide open like "ah, air":) or he sits up and trys to lick the mask. The kid is too adorable.

We are such airplane nerds:)

Also, Brayden turned 9 months this week. Yea! He is quite the big boy...weighing in at over 22 lbs and 30 inch. He loves to stand all the time, crys when you try and sit him down. He is trying to crawl...okay, not really. We put him on all fours, he rocks a bit, laughs at how funny it feels, then lays down to roll over. He "talks" a lot and loudly all day long. He loves the jumper we put in the doorway and would jump most of the day if we would let him. He loves watching Jett do anything and thinks he's so cool. They play a bit together and laugh at each other a lot. He is one special little boy and I can already tell he is going to have such a great personality. He also has the best laugh, you can't help but laugh yourself:)

On Sunday, Greg, turned 30 years old. I decided to surprise him by taking him away for the night. All week/weekend I kept saying that we weren't going to do anything. Then on Saturday afternoon my mom showed up to watch the boys as I sang, "Our bags are packed, we are ready to go...":) I packed and everything. He had no clue, it was so much fun. I didn't even tell him where we were going until we pulled into the hotel....which was also a waterpark. I wanted Greg to feel young again! We checked in and then went to the waterpark right away. They have huge slides that you can go down double. I giggled the whole way down (I had never been on one before). We went on the lazy river, went down some other slides and then found ourselves in the hot tub quite often. They also have this huge bucket that when it fills up, it pours out...we got caught up in the "fun" unexpectately. I screamed, everyone laughed. Then we went out to eat, came back, took naps and then more waterpark. Afterwards we just relaxed and watched a movie. It was so nice to take our time doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Then we slept ALL night long and slept in until 9:00am! Then we had an amazing breakfast buffet and stuffed ourselves miserably:) Afterwards we came home and had Greg's family over for lunch and spent the rest of the day with the boys.