Happy New Year!

I am starting out the New Year with a blog post. I did not realize how many people read my blog until I took a break. I did transcribe the first year blog and saved it a Pages document, but never got beyond that as far as publishing goes. I think blogging again will be one of my goals this year.

Q4 blew by very quickly. I find myself sitting here wondering how in the world it could be January 1, 2011?? Heath and I have been off from SAS for the last 8 days for the winter break - YAY! Carita and Marshall have been here for about 10 days, which is so nice. I hope that they have enjoyed the chaos that has become our house as I know we have all really enjoyed having them with us! We will be sad when they leave this Wednesday.

To give an update on the boys, they have really grown and changed so much over the last three months. They are talking, communicating, being affectionate, are potty trained and like to do most everything for themselves. Their teachers have submitted their paperwork for them to move up to the Children's House when they turn three this month. They are acting every bit of three. I love them dearly (more than words could possibly say) but there are times when they really push their boundaries and press our buttons. I don't think they could be any cuter and sweet though. Three will be a tough year for us, but a magical age. The age when they will really transform into little boys. I will try to savor every minute of three and survive it at the same time. I know once we turn this corner this stage of my little babies will be gone forever.

Tas notices and remembers EVERYTHING and asks us why, what, over and over, etc, etc. He is very inquisitive. I am convinced that he has a photographic memory and a built is GPS. He always knows exactly where he is when we're driving and remembers people's faces, locations of places, etc. To give two really good examples:

About two weeks ago, I took the boys to Cameron Village to get some Christmas gifts and eat dinner. On the way home, Tas had to pee so we stopped at John and DeDe's house, which was very close by. After leaving their house, I drove to Western Blvd where we saw the WRAL tower decorated with Christmas lights. The boys loved this. This past week, we took the boys to John and DeDe's for a holiday dinner and visit. When we left, as soon as I got to the intersection of Pullen Rd and Western Blvd, Tas said "Mommy, we're going to see the tower now." I was amazed!

Even more amazing, yesterday we went to visit Oskar and his family for the holidays. On the way out of their intersection, I ran into a work colleague named Tom who had just come back from running and lives on Oskar's street. I introduced Tas and Chance to him. As I pulled away, Tas said "Mommy, Tom is the drummer." I hit my breaks, put the car in reverse and pulled back to Tom. I told him what Tas had just said. This really blew our minds because Tom is one of the people who does the drum circle that we went to a few times this summer!! Tas remembered him completely out of context. It was then that I realized that Tas must have a photographic memory and that this was clearly a gift that he would be able to leverage throughout his life.

Chance is really thriving and is brilliant in his own right. He is always trying to figure out how everything works and how everything goes together. He is a very focused and determined individual and does not let diabetes slow him down. He is also left handed and has some tendencies towards being artistic. I have tons of artwork that he has done at school. More than I have wall space to hang.

Chance is doing really well with his diabetes except for a few bad lows in the 40s that we have had this past week. For reasons that we don't know why, we have had to reduce Chance's total daily insulin by about 30%. We have moved to glucose tablets to treat lows instead of apple juice. These work much faster to raise Chance's blood glucose levels and are much easier to administer and have on hand. Yesterday, I was out walking on the golf course and all of sudden Chance got very quiet and pale. I tested him and he was 45. I almost had a heart attack because I was about 15 minutes walking distance from our house, but luckily I had grabbed Chance's kit and the tablets were in there. Phew!!

As for me and Heath, we are in the process of establishing our goals for 2011. I think I want to keep these simple since surviving (and enjoying) the threes is clearly one of our biggest challenges and goals so I don't want to have too much else to worry about. I do however want to set some goals for us having more quality time together and more time for me. Good luck with that you say right?

Here's to a fantastic, happy and healthy 2011!