Max had a great 2nd birthday filled with lots of family fun! We first celebrated the same day as Ryan's blessing so the family that was in town could enjoy it! He had a cake with a train on it and in the video, he's noting that the candles are HOT!
This is how far Ryan would let me be from him. To round off the birthday fun, we took him to the zoo with Aunt Stacey. Here is Max laughing at the meerkats.
Tony has come a long way since the plane crash last November. I thought it would be kind of cool to remember some of the things he's done in physical therapy. Lately, he's been using this treadmill that you get zipped into and it makes it so you are walking without bearing all of your weight. It's called the Alter G and sometimes marathon runners use them to build up their endurance.
A caterpillar crawled it's way into our house, or somehow we tracked it in. It totally shocked me to see a brown fuzzy crawling across our back doormat, but we had to keep him. As soon as Tony came home, he built him a little habitat (I love having a husband who can create things and fix things). Here are some pictures of Tony and Max observing our new friend, Billie Jean (He came into our home the same day Michael Jackson died and we had to keep with our theme of 80's music names with our pets. We've had two beta fish, Devo and Major Tom).
We kind of worried that we might kill him, but the next day, lo and behold, we had a cocoon. We're excited to see what kind of creature Billie Jean morphs into.
I wish I'd known about these two handy dandy things earlier (the Shark vacuum steamer for hard floors and a pumice stone for toilet basins). So, I am so not going to be posting about cleaning products on a regular basis (probably never again) but, I have recently been shown these two items which have saved me from having to spend a lot of time on cleaning (not my favorite thing to do on a sunny day). Thought I would share.
Grandpa J sent this video today so we can all see Max's race debut during the Sound to Narrows. He was so excited that Tony had to hold him back so when it was time to go, he tripped with the momentum. Then he ran, well, as you can see, it was not straight! But he loved doing it! What a champ! He is on the right side!
Ryan was blessed on Sunday, 6/14/09. It was a great day. Uncle Roger and Sean drove Grandma and Grandpa up and all of Tony's family was able to be there. My brother Dave was unable to make it because of crazy flight loads and we missed him. Here are some pictures of family and some individual ones I took of Ryan today (a week later because last week was so busy)! Thank you to all family for the support and love you've given us!
This video shows how sweet Max can be with Ryan. He really does try to help out with him a lot. He definitely had some jealous times in that first week, but now, he does really well!
This is the house that Tony and I signed a contract for in December of 2004 before we got married. In fact, they insisted that I sign it under my maiden name because of concern they had that we may not go through with the 2 week away wedding. HA--take that cynics! This house has taught us a lot about gardening and lawn care. We pretty much had to learn or it would have been a jungle. We had the faucet shoot off the wall and water come gushing out of the wall the first night we stayed there. It had weepy windows and no screens in the bedroom windows. It had retro lime green countertops in the kitchen. But despite those few flaws, we had fun in this house. There are a lot of great memories from the first 4.5 years of our married life. We made a lot of great friends in our area. We hated the property management company at the end (had to battle for our deposit) but what a great first abode!
The Sound to Narrows has been a part of my life every June for the past 5 years (except for 2007 when it was one week before I was due with Max). The S2N raises money for stroke prevention and is a huge dealio in Tacoma. Last year Tony and I did the 12K. This year, he cheered Ryan and I on while we walked the 5 K with my friend Juanita. Kate (MIL) and Mike (BIL) ran the 12K. Max even did the diaper dash. I will have J (FIL) send me the video footage of that once he gets the internet up in Billings. I was nursing and didn't see it, but Max had fun even if he tripped and ran off course a bit. The diaper dash was for crawlers, under 24 monts, 2 year olds and then 3 year olds. Max and Ryan can both do it next year!
Dad's Story (mom's story at the end): May 28th at 12:27 PM Ryan Anthony Epperson was born. He and mom are both doing very well. Ryan weighed in at 9lbs 9 oz slightly smaller than Max, and is 21 and 1/4 inches long.v Max is getting used to the fact that he is not center stage anymore. A short story of the brother's fateful meeting: Max wanted to hold Ryan and when he did it lasted for .05 seconds and he said "All done" and he was off to count the bugs on the out side of the hospital window...
Mom's Story: I was so wanting to go into labor on my own and not get induced again (stuck to IVs, etc.). But then, the waiting for and growing of the baby could not go on much longer so I scheduled an induction for 5/28. I had contractions the Sunday before but nothing happened and then after scheduling the induction, I went into labor the day before it was to occur. I started having contractions early on wednesday and thought that Tony might have to miss his orthodontist appt. (that's right, my hot hubby has braces) but it wasn't that fast. So, we did the normal move and clean stuff until that night they picked up again. They were four minutes apart so we went to the hospital after making a pit stop for lip gloss (you know I'm crazy). I had progressed to a 4 and then while at the hospital I progressed another centimeter when things totally slowed down. Luckily, I was 10 days overdue and going to be induced in the next 6 hours at that point, so they kept me. I was induced Thursday morning and my doctor broke my water when he did rounds (around 9:30 or so) and I started having major contractions. Even though I'm pro natural births, I've gone back and forth about getting an epidural and decided to get one so I could be more alert and present during the birth as people have told me. But the anesthesiologist was busy with another woman and I progressed super fast. So after a very panicky transition, I started pushing and baby Ryan finally came out about 30 minutes after that. We are so in love with him. He needed light photo therapy because of a high bilirubin count. His and my blood were incompatible so I got a shot in the hip and he has to sleep on a blue light bed. Tony and I decided that people should ask their significant others what their blood types are before getting married ;).
Max was due 6-17-07. We had his name picked out before we even started having kids because we wanted our first boy to be named after Tony's grandfather who is a hero of his. A first pregnancy is always exciting and LONG because you are so anxious to meet the little one. Mine was no different. I had nausea but not too bad and swelling but I can't complain. I wanted to work as long as possible so I could have all of my leave to use after he was born so I worked up through the 22nd of June. Then I was just "done". I had an ultrasound on the 19th which projected his weight to be 10 lbs (give or take 2 lbs). That give or take thing is really quite significant if you think about where that baby is and where he's going to go. We wanted to have the baby naturally but decided that since he wasn't coming on his own, he was big and I was still only at a 3, that we would be induced. We went to Tacoma General early on the 26th and I was hooked to an IV. They started the pitocin around 8 or so. Everything was good. Both grandmas were there to support us and J came by in the beginning since he worked at the hospital. Then I got to see what labor is all about. Oh did I mention that I hadn't really had real contractions before this? They started coming and wow was I in for an awakening. It is not easy to relax even with the best of intentions through that kind of chemically induced pain. Tony was the best labor coach ever. Seriously, he was my rock and was the only reason I think I got through that (besides the fact that there isn't any choice :) Max was born after one hour and 8 minutes of pushing at 5:48 pm. The hardest part of labor was the pushing because everyone had told me that you get to relax during pushes and it's the easiest part. For some reason I was never able to relax so it was constant pain. Also, I knew they would call my doctor at the very end when the baby was close to coming out (his office is 5 minutes away). I kept asking the nurses if they were going to call him (because that would mean I was almost done). Then he finally did come and we had the most beautiful cone-headed squishy that there ever was. He weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long. Max is a sweet, fun little guy. He truly makes my heart melt everyday.
We decided to wait a year to try to have kids so that I would be mostly done with my master's degree and also so that we could have that first year to learn about each other. I got pregnant in June of 2006 and came home with a bunch of balloons (one being a balloon of a baby) so that I could surprise Tony with the news. I was 7 weeks along. I started having signs that could indicate miscarriage and was trying not to be worried but when you want something so bad, it isn't easy to "relax, and not worry about it". The next morning I woke up to severe pains and other indications of miscarriage and started going into shock. Tony was really good about helping me and being calm in the situation but I was on the floor about to pass out. He called 911 and an ambulance was there probably in 4 minutes. Tony teases me because I kind of snapped out of it for a second and said that I needed to clean before they came. So I rode to the ambulance and went to Tacoma General where yes, I had miscarried. J and Kate (Tony's parents) came to the hospital to support us. That was so hard for us. We were kind of out of it for awhile and grieving. I've always wanted to be a mom so I was not prepared to have something like that happen. We were fortunate to become pregnant again just 3 months later, but that was definitely a trial for us at the time. The positive that came from it was that Tony and I were able to see how we could rely on each other during that time and come together. We grew closer through that and I feel like our relationship deepend.
December of 2003--I was sitting next to my roommate, Kim F. before church and noticed a new guys sitting behind us. We started talking to him and invited him to a New Year's Eve party we were having. Kim and I have different views on the meeting because I thought she was flirting with him and I like to tease her that her flirting got me a husband. According to Kim she was just being friendly--hmmm... :) He didn't come to our party, but did call us up a few weeks later because he wanted to know if anything was going on that night. Kim told him that we (as in me and my 3 roommates) were having an anti-social night and were staying home, scrapbooking and drinking hot chocolate. We invited him over anyways and surprisingly he came (can you say BORED?) So we hung out and I got my first glimpse at how funny Tony is and we struck up an instant friendship that really grew when a group of us went to Little Tokyo and he and I pretended to be spies the whole night. We were friends becoming closer and closer until May of '04 when a small group of us went camping on the San Juan Islands. Tony and I pretty much did our own thing the whole weekend. We even went fishing only to catch crabs (how many crabs have you seen pinching a fishing line while you reeled it in and caught it?). That weekend we began "dating" and had so much fun. He even flew me to the East Coast to visit Philidalphia, Deleware and Maryland where he served his mission. In November, he flew me to Alaska where he proposed to me and we were married January 8, 2005 in the Portland temple. He is definitely the love of my life!
I love blogs, journaling and capturing fun moments. I'm officially switching to a blog as opposed to the family website because it's easier to navigate and we can journal life for our little family. Some of it may be interesting to others and some only to us but we're going to share "us", so hope you like it!
Tony and I have been married 15 years and have 3 sweet boys and one darling girl. We love family time, traveling, exploring, flying and laughing. Tony is an amazing pilot and airplane mechanic and I'm a social worker turned work-from-home mom.
December of 2003--I was sitting next to my roommate, Kim F. before church and noticed a new guys sitting behind us. We started talking to him and invited him to a New Year's Eve party we were having. Kim and I have different views on the meeting because I thought she was flirting with him and I like to tease her that her flirting got me a husband. According to Kim she was just being friendly--hmmm... :) He didn't come to our party, but did call us up a few weeks later because he wanted to know if anything was going on that night. Kim told him that we (as in me and my 3 roommates) were having an anti-social night and were staying home, scrapbooking and drinking hot chocolate. We invited him over anyways and surprisingly he came (can you say BORED?) So we hung out and I got my first glimpse at how funny Tony is and we struck up an instant friendship that really grew when a group of us went to Little Tokyo and he and I pretended to be spies the whole night. We were friends becoming closer and closer until May of '04 when a small group of us went camping on the San Juan Islands. Tony and I pretty much did our own thing the whole weekend. We even went fishing only to catch crabs (how many crabs have you seen pinching a fishing line while you reeled it in and caught it?). That weekend we began "dating" and had so much fun. He even flew me to the East Coast to visit Philidalphia, Deleware and Maryland where he served his mission. In November, he flew me to Alaska where he proposed to me and we were married January 8, 2005 in the Portland temple. He is definitely the love of my life! 
