Walburger.com

Family Pic

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:27:00 +0000

Well, at this point in the game we cannot expect to have everyone smiling in one picture! Ben and Ty did not look happy because the whole time they were fighting over who got to put their hand on my neck. But no matter the expression I am biased enough to love looking at all my kids (and cute hubby) in this picture!

This was right after Natalie's baptism, I love that now we have everyone in one shot, Thanks Grandpa!

Little Boys!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Ben and Ty are... Ben and Ty. They make us laugh with their silly antics- they love us with long hugs (Ben) little leans- tilting his body to just lean his head on us or give hard drooly kisses ONLY when he feels like it(Ty).

They talk to us with their hands and mouths- Ty walks around yelling "MAAA!" all day and Ben has different lilts to his voice that express his happiness, sadness, surprise and delight all with the same syllable "Ah."

They both talk soundlessly- Ben sings along with his mouth even though no sounds come out. Ty says yes with a silent "yah yah yah." They both know you are supposed to talk with your mouth because they see us do it.

Ben knows about 60 signs and his favorites are "mom, dad, scott, natalie, jack, baby ty, cheese, banana, car, please, NO/STOP, lie down, Woody and Buzz (Woody is patting his head for Hat and Buzz is reaching his hand high in the sky.. to Infinity and Beyond!), watch/look at, water, play, toys, and his #1 is "come here!" come be by me.
Whenever Ben hears music he stops whatever he is doing to just groove a little- like he cant help it, just feeling it! He is so funny- he will stand by the table holding on dancing and switch hands back and forth so his whole body can be into it. He tries to sing sometimes with a "laaaaa" and it is obvious he just loves music.

Ty is really wanting to be included with his signing. He is much more vocal than Ben but signs to be big. His little fat hands and arms work hard! His favorite signs are; EAT (with his whole fist!) more, water, play, thank you, dad, car, elmo and "Ty" where he just pats his chest to show us who we should focus on. He is LOUD with his sounds- kind of sound like a little lamb, "maaaaa" all day.

They are so similar in size- Ben is two inches taller but Ty weighs two pounds more. They talk back and forth to eachother and while they dont play much together yet they love to play BY eachother. They just migrate around together. Ty is the one who grabs EVERYTHING Ben has and runs to be the first. if you want him to do something act like you are giving it to Ben. He will finish eating in his chair, and when we put him down he will beeline for Ben and try to grab the food from his tray. (Or the bowl from his hand!)

They think they are helpful when it comes time for breathing treatments and like to hold it for eachother :)

I feel like we have twins who physically want to do all the same things but mentally they are
still at 3 yr old and 1 1/2 year old mentalities! Ben will try to play with Ty or hug him, just interact with him and half the time gets a whack for his efforts. I love this picture above because Ty is copying Ben (Ben just got done waving at us) and Ben thinks its so great. He just loves Ty but Ty needs to start appreciating his big brother a little more :) I can already see though how they are going to be such good friends.

Busy days but we have some of the sweetest little boys in the world.

Battleship anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Playing Battleship with Jack-

Me: B3

Jack: Um, mom if my ship is REALLY close to that is it a hit?

Me: No

Jack: Ok, Miss!

(later)

Me: J7

Jack: Miss- I dont have ANYthing on J Mom.

And Jack still won!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Natalie: (after dancing for an hour to Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift)

"Mom if I am a famous singer when I grow up I am going to lipsing. I am really good at lipsinging."

Do you mean lip-sync?

"No, some people call it lipsinging."

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:11:00 +0000

The other day I was upset about something.... something so important I cant remember what- I think it had something to do with shoes. I lost my temper and yelled at Scott and instantly regretted it so I went over and apologized to him and right away with the sweetest face he said "thats ok Mom, I forgive you." He could have drawn it out a little, milked it!

I guess that is why we are supposed to become like our children, ready to forgive and slow to hold a grudge. He still loves unconditionally and I need to remember to have a heart more open and soft like his!

Good News and Bad News...

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:50:00 +0000

Natalie has turned 8! She was getting ready to go to her interview with the bishop to talk about getting baptized and she kept asking me questions like "Mom have you ever known anyone who didnt want to get baptized?" No, why do you ask? Are you not sure if you want to be baptized? "Well I do want to be baptized, I just feel weird about everyone looking at me!"

When she got home from her interview she said "Well there was good news and bad news. The bad news was I couldnt stop smiling the WHOLE time! The good news was Bishop Lund told me lots of good stories." Oh like what? "I cant remember. But they were good."

Her baptism day was just such a nice day with both sets of grandparents, Uncle Scott and Aunt Susan there to save the day (and our stomachs) with chocolate waffles after the baptism, The Bailey cousins... Both grandmothers spoke (Janie on Baptism and Mimi on the gift of the Holy Ghost) Mom sang/cried a baptism song, Dad baptized Natalie, Ben and Ty roamed the room, and Scott and Jack sang "Let the Holy Spirit guide" and did such a great job! (The next day at church Jack said that people kept talking to him about his singing :))

Watching her grow and seeing not just my baby, but the unique and wonderful PERSON she is now, and going to be in the future, I am so glad (and a little overwhelmed) that I get to be the Mom to this girl! I love that she is my little shadow now, and we like to remind each other that we were probably best friends before we came to earth and that is why we chose to be family.

Beautiful day, beautiful girl!

Jacks Big Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:09:00 +0000

I have been posting so much on my cupcake blog lately and I realized that while cupcakes do "delight" me- it is my family that INSPIRES me so I decided to set a goal to blog 3 times a week.
My kids continue to make me laugh and want to cry because they are so sweet and growing so fast, I want to try and keep better track....

Jack just turned 6 and had his first black eye (compliments of a trampoline accident with Natalie and Scott) When Jack was getting ready for school he kept going to look in the mirror and told me several times that "people are going to notice my eye." Oh yes, school pictures this week, cant wait to see this one.
He is seeming so grown up all of a sudden. NO baby fat left just solid little guy (wish I had abs like his!) and never stops moving. He makes me laugh every time he answers a question with "No clue." (what? stop sounding like a 10 year old!)

On his birthday night he asked "is everyone was going to gather around me while I open my presents?" When we were all "gathered around" he reminded everyone that they needed to say 3 things they liked about him and he ticked them off on his fingers as we took turns telling him why he is WONDERFUL. So cute.

For his birthday dinner we went (despite my strong protests to Jonathan that there HAD to be another place!?!) to Home Town Buffet- a favorite of Jonathan and the kids, they started going there when i would be at the hospital with Ben or Ty and they love it.

Natalie got (with her own money) a pair of roller skates for Jack! They will have a lot of fun together, they used to try and share her pair putting just one on and scooting with the other foot. I thought about offering to pay for part of them so she wouldnt have to use all her money but decided to let it be her thing- and she was so excited and proud to do it so I was glad I didn't get in the way of her generosity.

I CANT BELIEVE he is 6. I just put a toddler picture of him on the fridge and why am I so sappy that it does kind of make me want to cry when I look at it? Love that boy.

New Postings

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:51:00 +0000

I finally got around to posting the latest cupcakes on myblog!(http://justbecausecupcakes.blogspot.com/) Still waiting to get pictures from one party but its been a lot of fun!

Snow in Folsom

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:06:00 +0000

We had a once in a decade snow in folsom the other day. The kids stayed home from school and made a snowman. The snow melted so fast that it was gone before noon. Jonathan took the kids up the mountain and filled up the trailer with snow and brought it back down to our house. We then made a 25 foot snow sled run that lasted for about 4 days. The kids loved it.

More Cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:16:00 +0000

I made these for our Enrichment party last week. I am on the committee so I volunteered- a lot of work but a lot of fun! Especially since I love the ladies in our ward! The Christmas trees are lemon cake with a white choc meringue buttercream and the others were pumpkin and chocolate. I tried making the cupcakes from scratch this time and I realized Lemon is tricky! My first try turned out more bread than cake so I had to resort to a cake mix with add ins. The chocolate and pumpkin were Martha recipes and turned out great. I love doing these but need a reason- who wants 60 cupcakes sitting around the house? Not to mention the 100 mini ones that went along with them.

"LIFE IS NOT FAIR"

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:29:00 +0000

That is what I tell my kids all the time-
When they are complaining that someone got TWO cookies and they got one- or someone got to stay up later- or go to more birthday parties- or do less work..... the list goes on and I try to remind them it would be CRAZY if we tried to make everything exactly fair.

So how come I dont remember that when Ty is coughing so hard his whole head is red and I am afraid he wont stop-
Or when I am carrying him up at night and have to avoid looking at his little neck because I dont like to see the trach hole-
Or when I cant take him out to the park to watch his brothers and sisters because his lungs might get too dry and then we are back to the coughing-
Or when Ben has had his trach out for a year and 1/2 and is doing SO well and his doctors tell me he needs it back in. Whaaaaat? How is that fair? How can that be what we need to do to him?
He is already fighting so hard in his little body that cant keep up with his mind.
Why cant I take all their troubles for them?

I know life is not fair-It is not SUPPOSSED to be fair. I just need reminding sometimes.
Because usually I can remember how blessed I am that these little boys are even still here.
They remind me that they dont even see their lives in anyother way but loved and wanted.
Their faces remind me that WE get their sweet spirits and faces and bodies in our home.
That they NEVER get tired of hugging us and loving us.

They are not complaining that life is not fair.
But sometimes I just want to stomp and yell for them.... "ITS NOT FAIR!"

Et tu Pierre?

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Not often you see this much facial hair on a Walburger boy.

It weighed 165 pounds......

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:51:00 +0000

"Well, while you all were divvying out candy I was baking, pureeing and cooking down the flesh of a 165 pound pumpkin that Natalie won from Trader Joe's. We carved it and had it out for one night then started cutting it and feeding it to ourselves and the chickens! I now have 15 little bags of puree in the freezer- pumpkin pie in the fridge and a whole slab of cooked pumpkin I am going to cut up to make pumpkin soup. So what did YOU do all weekend?"

I am not sure I would recommend doing this- it was quite a messy project but I guess it was satisfying putting all those little bags in the freezer!

Spooky Halloween Night

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Natalie- same costume as last 2 years- spider queen!!!
Jack - scary vampire "mom- with my black hair I could be ANYONE, no one will know who I am!"
Scott- poor car accident victim
Ben and Ty- not cooperating for the picture in SCARY spooky Halloween shirts.

Turning 10

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Scott just turned ten last month and watching him I am reminded of how GREAT it is to be ten.
Life is good when you are ten. (I still remember being ten!)
He is getting so grown up yet he still likes to play outside and still loves cartoons.
The conversations we have are so fun!
I love his questions, his jokes, his thoughts.
I am lucky to have a boy who LOVES to talk.
From the time he was in preschool he would just follow me around talking about EVERYTHING,
and he still does.
I will be walking around cleaning and he will just follow me with sweet little boy chatter.
I love our afterschool afternoons when he does his homework in the kitchen with me
and will interrupt every other math problem with.... something!

No teenage angst- no girl troubles (besides his sister)
No wanting to do anything major we have to say no to.
Still thinks I am SO smart.
A quarter is still a lot to pay to the money jar when he is in trouble.
Still yells "love you!"while blowing me kisses when I drop him at school
and is NOT to big for hugs.
So happy with his life- so happy with his family!

When I think of Scott growing older and more "teenagery"
I am clinging (grabbing on with both hands!)
to the words of a past Prophet- President Benson when he said:
"there need be no generation gap, and the key is love"
Scott we LOVE LOVE LOVE you!

The Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:10:00 +0000

On the even years the kids get to have a friend party- Scott has such great cute friends. Grandpa Gary helped Jonathan take them to laser tag and then back for the cupcakes he had requested way back in February.

Fat Sweet Little Feet (nightlight included)

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:37:00 +0000

SO many nights we look over and see one of Ty's fat feet just draped over the side of his bed. At night in my bed it is one of my favorite things- a little foot plunking down from the co-sleeper onto my bed. His little monitor lights up so some nights we see little lights flying around. I can't give those little feet enough kisses, those are the moments when I look at his sweet fat legs and squishyness and wish I could freeze the moment. I know it will fly by and he will be too big too fast!

IT'S A DIRTY JOB. (But I'm glad to be the one to do it!)

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Some nights I go to bed and glance in the mirror at my shirt and see spots on my shoulders from baby drool etc. Some days it worse than others. I took a look at my black t-shirt after holding Ben and Ty while they snacked on crackers and it was literally covered from top to bottom.

(why do I EVER where black? It shows everything!) Even my jeans fell victim.
Little faces rubbing, little hands and this picture is the proof they just cant get enough of me. The feeling is mutual.

Farmer Jon(athan)

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Finally! Farm fresh eggs! We think only one of the chickens ("Champ") is laying right now. (Dont ask me why we have given our hens "boy" names and call them he.) We love going out to search for the eggs. So far Jonathan has been hoarding and eating them all, after all- they are his present. (BEST present ever! Right honey?)

Ben Walking

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Of course this is BIG NEWS at our house!
Ben boy took his first steps and surprised us all. He is tickled about it and while we don't know when he will actually be walking, we already know that for him, slow and steady wins the race. And we are all cheering him on! Go Ben!

Count your blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:17:00 +0000

So after being overwhelmed this week- thought I would go back and think about all the little things that have happened to help us stay sane (that may be up for interpretation) and get through this rough patch.

Last Friday when Ben was collapsing- the last time he did it was in the ER and I just "happened" to be on the phone at the time with our ENT. The resident was supposed to call but instead Dr Senders took the time to call me. He heard the whole thing and I cant help but think maybe that helped Ben get on the surgery list as quickly as he did, or at least that episode helped the doctors see what was going on instead of guessing by my explanation.
(I also have to remember the blessing of Jeanette Harrison- she is the clinical specialist that works with Dr Senders and is our "go to" person whenever things get crazy- I had called her from home that morning and she is the one who got the ball rolling with Dr Senders. Thank you Jeanette- we love you!)

Perspective of a 9 year old-
Scott (just home from school) "hey mom I learned that your most important organs are your heart and your brain"

Me- "yep thats right"

"so if you had to injure one which would you choose?"

"hmmm, that is a hard one! I dont know"

"You should choose your brain- cause if you have some brain damage you'd just be like Ben and that'd be fine- but if you hurt your heart you could die"

Wednesday (today) is the only weekday this week we dont have a nurse to help with Ty- so I am at home and not able to be at the hospital yet- Of all the days for Ben to be sedated this week this is the one. Jonathan is able to work a little and Ben is sleeping through it all. We couldn't have scheduled it better if we had tried.

That reminds me of another blessing- Jonathans job- he is able to work from the hospital when he has too and his bosses Mel and Scot are simply fabulous. Instead of complaining about Jonathan's spending time at the hospital they ask him WHY he is at work! (of course when he is at office Jonathan's hard work makes up for his time away I am sure- hey another blessing- hard working husband!)

FRIENDS
that make sure I have all the help I need and don't feel alone- what a huge blessing- Jack has more requests for play dates than he has days in the week. Thanks friends!

Just Because

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:40:00 +0000

Oh my..... I get the whole jar????? Ty is SOOOOO happy with any taste of food!

So brave- Ben is showing off his IV from his last hospital stay- once it was in it didn't seem to bother him. (the getting it in... not so fun!)

Can YOU do this?

SHASTA (almost)

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:17:00 +0000

Jonathan took the kids to our family reunion (Gambee side) which usually takes place in Oregon at Loon Lake- but this year we tried something new (thanks Aunt Sarah!) and went to Lake Syskiyou which is near Lake Shasta. The kids helped pay for their own fishing poles because they really wanted to learn how to fish! Each of the kids caught a fish. Now we need to teach them how to prepare and eat the fish. They gave them to Grandpa Jack, we are not sure what he did with them....
They also had quite the adventure on the Lake when the boat died (now renamed "Old Reliable") and Jonathan had to swim, drag it for two hours till it finally started. The kids said their prayers were answered cause the boat started just when it started to get too dark to see anymore. Overall they had such a great time with their cousins.

Way to go Jonathan- taking the kids camping by yourself for 3 days!!!! We were missing you guys here at home!

COUSINS!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:10:00 +0000

We were so lucky to have Mimi, Aunt Louise and cousins Clark, Elizabeth and Will come visit for a couple days. We had so much fun, one of the highlights was visiting the State Capitol and going on a little tour- actually pretty interesting, and timely since our fourth graders will be getting into this at school.
Gov. Arnold bought the bear in the picture for the children who come to take pictures in front of his office.

Evil doers beware!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Does someone have four brothers?