Monday, January 28, 2013

...The Mother of All Posts...

I don't even know how to go about starting this blog. It's a post that I have been wanting to put up for 17weeks now:) So I guess I'll start with this:
Yes this is a German Pregnancy test we purchased when we were there at the end of Oct.
So we found out we were pregnant at the beginning of November and within a few weeks I KNEW I was pregnant! If I'd ever thought I was sick with Maddix it was NOTHING compared to this pregnancy.
One day Travis came home and found Maddix sitting on the counter tops eating banana chips from the container... he then found me barely conscious on the bathroom floor. Every day went this way and Travis was finding he was doing everything. I couldn't function without running to the bathroom; and the vent above our bed became a constant dry-heave trigger since it often wafts in strong smells of fish, beans, and cabbage from whomever is cooking below us! Another place I could not enter was the kitchen. I could smell the fridge and the garbage from the hall. Poor Travis was barely hanging on to make grades, shop, cook meals, tend to Maddix, fulfill his church callings, and keep me alive.

Needless to say that first trimester couldn't go by quick enough. And when it did, it brought on a new challenge: How to find a doctor... and a good one. My first decision was I was going to ask a single mother in our branch, who spoke English, if she could help me out. The morning we were heading to church I just kept getting this reoccurring  feeling that I should ask Anna and Arek (our friends that I have mentioned). I felt strange that I should ask them since I had only met them a few times and always for short periods of time, but I felt very strong to ask them. After church I pulled them aside since no one knew we were expecting and they, of course because they are wonderful, were more than happy to put me in touch with her doctor... and set up my appointments... take me... and basically always make sure I was taken care of. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. They were a blessing put in our life. I will thank Heavenly Father the rest of my life that we became friends with such wonderful people.
So my first appointment came. Anna translated with the nurse then left me to go see the doctor (who is wonderful and works in the U.K. two weeks each month and speaks wonderful English). The first things he said during the ultrasound was, "uh oh." I FREAKED OUT. He calmed me and said the baby was just fine and healthy but my trophoblast was in the wrong place. At the end of this appointment it was determined that it looked like I was almost 14weeks, we were 80% sure baby  was a boy, and that I was going to need to be on bed rest. The trophoblast (or would be placenta) was sitting directly on top of my cervix instead of up near the belly button. Long story short the bed rest was a precautionary watch for Placenta Previa. I was told a long list of restrictions, among which were no exercise and no heavy lifting, i.e. no carrying Maddix; that has been rough.
The last few weeks we've been ordering groceries online, and what we can't get Travis then picks up on Sat. mornings. He also has to carry everything from Maddix to the backpacks, and all the garbage by himself. I am useless. However as the weeks have been progressing I can cook again, clean, and actually hold a smile.
T to B: Full baby shot, his hand and arm, and then his gender shot!

Full side shot of baby
 Now I was also sent down to the clinic to get some blood work done and the results did not come back pretty. Also I want to note that Arek met us there before he went to work and translated for us. My results showed that I was extremely anemic, had a yeast infection, urinary tract infection, and that I had a hypothyroid. So I was put on a numerous amount of safe meds and told to wait three weeks then we'd meet again. I'd really run myself down by not eating (and only eating high-carb whatever I could get down) those 1st trimester weeks.

During this time we were also dealing with a major problem. We had applied for our residency cards and been denied because the process took 45 days and our visas were expiring in 26 days... it turned into a real mess that was consuming every thought and action. My doctor was so mad that they would try to make us leave, so he wrote up a certificate and had Anna take it to the immigrations office stating that I could not fly due to my bed rest; we though this would work, but we were still denied. We called our friends at the embassy and after many phone calls on their end they told us our option was to find a way to Ukraine, stay there while our visas expired, come back as tourists, and then apply for residency cards! But to also know that it was a sketchy, somewhat legal loophole that would only work depending on the mood of the boarder patrol. WHAT?! So I was looking getting stuck in Ukraine, unable to fly anywhere else while pregnant! Anna and Arek instantly volunteered to drive us, but that Arek wanted to try one more time to see if he could make something work. So last Monday he took work off and went to try again for us. That night we received the best news we'd heard since we read the pregnancy test: we could stay. I don't know how, or who he spoke with, or really how it all works (well we know it was all in the Lord's hands), but we can stay; case closed. And it ended up having a lot to do with the doctors note; so, what a blessing it turned out to be.

Now I've been waiting to record on the blog that I'm pregnant because I wanted to have one more doctor's appointment to see how things were progressing with being on bed rest, and that appointment was tonight. I found out all good news, but slightly depressing at the same time. My Thyroid levels didn't improve so I have to go on a stronger dosage (which I'm not excited to adjust too because adjusting to the first level of pill really tripped out my mood swings/depression), my other levels improved, baby still looks like a healthy boy complete with a symmetrical head, beautiful spine, and all 10 fingers/toes... however.... I am not quite as far along as we'd originally thought :( After measuring the baby (which is the most accurate) I showed that I'm actually 17weeks tomorrow... not 18 this Thursday. I know it's only a difference of maybe 6 days but it makes such a difference to me! My beginning weight was around 112 or 113lbs (I never had a scale to make for sure) and tonight I measured in at 117lbs (and that was in heavy clothes and at night), so my weight gain is MUCH better so far than it was with Maddix. And finally, we checked the placenta and it had moved!!! We are now looking at a healthy placenta that is on it's way up so it's almost certain I will fly home in May to deliver, instead of have a C-section here. However, although it's been moving, it's still overlapping a little so I am on bed rest for another month! So I still can't hold my precious baby boy for another month, but at least now it's just a waiting game instead of a wondering game (if everything continues well). So now we're in the clear. It was never really a secret since I told my family... and my family told everyone else ha ha. Love you guys.. but if there is anyone else out there that didn't know, now you do. It looks as if we are 17 weeks, with a healthy baby boy, and they don't really do due dates in Europe (and he refused to give me one and laughed because of the way American women cling to a due date like it's their Independence date) so according to our last ultrasound, our due date was July 4th (Funny enough because that IS Independence Day)... but who really knows ( I should, but it's not a European things, so I'll have to wait until MAY for an Official Doctor's statement. I find it funny :). And we've been receiving ample amounts of help/blessing from those around us. To quickly list some blessings we've experienced since getting here:
  • My extreme amounts of morning sickness: being so sick kept me in bed and unable to workout,which more than likely would have torn my placenta
  • We met Anna and Arek at church and they have been attending because they know our Taiwanese students from Yoga, so we have made good friends. 
  • We canceled our big Christmas trip because of ample amounts of sickness/tests coming up, and flying is dangerous at this point, so it could have been bad. 
  • I followed that prompting to talk to Anna which not only led me to someone who would devote more time to me than the other person, but also got me a great doctor whom I trust 100%, and also gave us the key people to keeping us here in Poland during our visa fiasco. 
  • The fact that the placenta is on my cervix and put me on bed rest granted us a doctor's note that eventually kept us here, and now the placenta is making its way to a healthy spot.
  • Ever since we announced at church that we were pregnant everyone has taken such care of us and tomorrow the Elders are taking me to the grocery store since Travis is in the Middle of End of Year Finals. 
  • Travis has been doing extremely well. His grades slightly dipped at first when I was really sick, but the Lord has really helped him use every minute of the day to the fullest and so far he did so well on his semester final in Genetics that he is exempted from the end of year final. And today he came home feeling like he crushed his anatomy end of year final. 
  • Maddix has been very understand every time I tell him I can't hold him, or chase him around, and that I can't take him outside. It's hard for him, and he's more and more pent up by the day but at least once a week someone comes up with something that takes us outside so he can get out a bit of his energy. 
Okay... I'm so sorry this is so long, but this is for my journal I plan to print out when I can afford it, and it's something I have been waiting to get off my chest. So for now, everything is good, and in one month we will go back to check my blood levels again, confirm that baby is a boy 100% (however it's pretty positive after today:), and we'll see the progress the placenta has continued to make. The End. 
12 Weeks
15 weeks
17 Weeks (on a bloated night)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The End of Another Week

Well the little guy has been recovering from his cold, but thankfully after that first day it pretty much went away and just left a low energy boy with a cough; quite doable. So essentially while Utah receives a winter identical to the one we had last year in Poland, we've been enjoying some light snow, sun shine, and temps anywhere from 15-25degrees; much nicer than other areas I think:)

Travis has really been focused on his studies and that has left Maddix and I completely on our own. We have really enjoyed some quality time together. The nice thing about my child getting sick (if it's even nice to say there is good to it) is it's the only time he'll let me hold him; it's my favorite thing to do. So he cuddles me while we read, nap, or watch movies. He's also been missing friends and family a lot and doesn't like to play alone, so I've put the dishes down, shut the computer down, and really just had some Mommy/Maddix time, and I just love it. I just love him. I love the opportunity to be a mom.
Wasn't feeling too well this day
 One night we all made some Pizza from scratch and I dare say it was the best I've ever had. And besides the crust directions, everything just went according to taste; I'd like more now!
Ignore the middle; I let Maddix taste test
Every morning we've been waking up and reading scriptures in my bed and it is amazing what he remembers and comprehends. We have a toy sword and the other day he poked me with it and said, "I smite you!" I died because we've been reading the war Chapters in Heleman and that is where he got it from.
And on many afternoons we often build lego towns complete with community park, construction yard, jail, fire station, and racetrack:) p.s. click on the photo to view larger 
He really love this time together

This would the park and Fire Station

The racetrack!

L to R: Fire Station, Jail, (on couch) Construction yard)
We have also taken giant steps backwards and once again are at square one in potty training.

On Wednesday I went to teach my Institute lesson and was happy/surprised to see Elder Wilson. We miss him and it was good to see him once again; Warsaw received a good young man.

Thursday morning I woke up at 7:15am and realized I was supposed to meeting our friend, Arek at a clinic in town so he could translate for me while I got some blood work done. Within 5 minutes I was out the door looking oh so American in a sea of dolled up Polish girls. However, I barely made it on time and on Monday I should see what the results say. 

Travis is busy busy with meetings every Sunday and I am now a Sacrament Meeting widow while he sits up front:) And it makes for an interesting event when I have to go play the hymns and Maddix realizes he's unsupervised!

This next week is Travis's Finals Week and then he has a week off so I am REALLY (well we all are) excited for those 7 days!
Other than that we've just been cleaning, cooking, eating
Common snack of apples, PB, and Nutella:)
  playing tag, indoor baseball, etc to pass our days, and they've been some good ones as of late.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Another one bites the dust

Well as I said, I picked up a nasty cold by hugging one wrong person; and unfortunately I passed it along to little Maddix :(.
Last night around 1:30am I heard the terrible croupy cough followed by tears and went in his room to find him just laying there miserably. He asked me to stay in bed with him and after fixing him up with some water, toiletpaper, and vix, and laid there and held his hand. Neither of us fell asleep and an hour later he was burning up; this is when I whipped out the Tylenol. I though for sure this would knock him out, but it took about an hour before he dozed off or about 20mins. I had just crawled into my bed when he sat up crying that he was scared and came into our room. He asked to sleep in our bed which is something he's NEVER done. This boy likes his space, and we never let him sleep in the bed to start with, but last night was the first. So for a few hours the three of us shared our little futon/couch bed (it was REALLY small) before getting up and watching movies all day to keep the little one down.

As he watched his Mickey Mouse Club House we had him tanking juice/water sippy's and before I knew it he had spilled one on the bed. So I stripped our blankets. A little later all that juice shot through him and I now found myself stripping the sheet, his blanket, clothes, and our brand new mattress toppers and scrubbing those on our kitchen floor. Wasn't a big deal, but days like today I could have really used a drier. My apt is draped with blankets all over the chairs and in front of the heaters:)

Basically it was a down day of trying to nurse our baby boy back to health, I went and taught institute, and Travis found out he scored high enough on his semester final in Genetics that he exempted out of the year final. Only two other people did that as well. So in a week hopefully he will still be alive after all his tests!
Here are some random photos just for hanging in through all the reading:
One day he made a "love you" note for daddy
The boy loves Peanut butter

And being silly
And I love taco salad!

 Have a goodnight!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

~A Day Of Relief~

Well, I have a very long post coming up shortly where I am going to catch the blog up on everything I haven't been writing, but for now it's almost 11pm and I am so tired:) So without giving too much away from what I will be writing about soon let's just say we've been facing some trials with our visas expiring shortly that seemed to be all we could focus on; it was seriously effecting every thought of our day (it will make more sense later), However, thanks to our dear, sweet, wonderful, kind, generous, amazing friends Anna and Arek, a solution has been found. After countless hours, phone calls, and many days they even took off work to help us, it's done. Yesterday I was sick with a terrible cold, and neither of us have been sleeping well, but for the first time in weeks we slept well, and a giant weight has been lifted off our shoulders. If anyone doubts that God knows them I challenge them to really look at their life. We are so blessed. God knows us. And not for one second does he put us on hold. I've been thinking that these repeat trials we seem to get must be a sign that we're not learning our lesson, but my mom said awhile back that maybe it's not that we're missing the lesson, but we're being prepared for some other lesson we'll receive in the future. All I know if today was a great day.
My boys partied while I felt worlds better from my cold, but not well enough to dance with them in the kitchen. However I snapped a photo of them raising the roof at one point
We took Travis's grandma's advice on what to do with some of our extra onions and we made Outback Steak house's Onion Blossoms
It may not look appealing, but they were tasty. We all took long bathes (well showers since we don't have a tub) to just relax, read some books together, just enjoyed laughing, and then after dinner we purchased through i-tunes the newest Chipmunk movie and watched it as a family.

Soon after this the boys decided to team up against "mommy" and chased me into the kitchen, tackled me, and Maddix gave me raspberries on the belly while Travis pinned me down. When I went to get him back, he ran in my room and this is where he hid
 And earlier while Travis and I were enjoying the evening and cooking dinner together Maddix called me from the hall and said, "Mom, come see my bed I made. It's awesome."
He stayed there practically the whole time we cooked and then cuddled with us during the movie. I sure hope he is feeling better and not worse in the morning! I hated when he would get excited and run around then stop with a croupy cough :( Well, that was our day!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

A Saturday to remember

Again, this is out of order, but as fast as I can remember it all:

Picture this: We live on the top floor of a building with no elevator, so our balcony has become home to our trash bags and dirty diaper collection until we're ready to take them down... It's been awhile... a long while, and we just had a large snow storm.
I just spent the last 10 minutes watching Travis dig out bag after bag of garbage from under the mountain of snow; and they just kept coming! Then the diaper bag froze to the ground and had ripped, spilling the diapers across the balcony,which were now frozen as well. He dug around for awhile finding one after another until he hit a layer of ice and realized there were more frozen UNDER THE ICE! He had to use his shoes to kick the diapers loose from the ice chunks. Think there are a few that will be there till spring! It was like a nasty easter egg hunt. And the garbage just kept coming. Bahahahaha!
I think the funniest part was watching him try to carry all these bags down the flights of stairs in the dark because he refused to be seen by anyone (hence why he waited until 10:30pm to do this). Now there are still a few bags remaining, tomorrow Maddix will provide us with another diaper... but he defeated the largest chunk of it! Oh it was good.

Funny thing Maddix said TODAY:
Me: Oh man! I forgot to shave my armpits!
Maddix: I like your armpits mom (so matter of factly).
Me: Well thank you Maddix
Maddix: Can I feel them?
Then he leans over for a surprise tickle attack!

Funny event from today:
So we've had a week... I mean, it has been ONE week that I won't blog about, write in my journal, or repeat because it needs to be forgotten:) So to end a long and tiring week I put off ordering our groceries (lately we have had to order online because I can't go to the store) until late; our delivery was set for anywhere between 8pm-10pm. Normally they call and say there are a few items they don't have and ask if I want it switched for something similar.
Note to self : Never order groceries for a Saturday night ever again. They called to say they didn't have lettuce, bread, cheese, etc. So they replaced it with similar items and I thought that was that. Now, also to note, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing when I order produce because to order apples it goes: 1.69zl~1kg . Okay first I'm thinking what the cost is, and second I have to convert the weight... when I don't even know how much food that is in pounds!!! I always guess. One week I thought I ordered one bag of potatoes and I got ONE potato. The same thing happened once where I got one banana. Just the opposite, I was hoping for four med. apples and I received two giant apples! Well today I guessed severely wrong. I somehow ended up with giant piles of onions. I think I have 50 or 60 onions on my kitchen floor. Anyone have a good recipe?! I think I'm going to stick a whole onion on the Elders plates tomorrow and just see what they do when THAT is the main course. Then, on top of that I think I ended up with 15 apples?! I mean.... what?

So the fun stuff from today:
Like I said, I ordered the groceries late so all day our fridge contained butter, two eggs, one rotten apple, and condiments. Our cupboards had seasonings. I literally ran it down to the wire on this one because I was determined to eat all the food before it went bad, and I don't like to order anything early because stuff goes bad here in a matter of days! So, I had 3 giant potatoes left for lunch that I was planning on making for hash browns, only to cut them open and find them rotted. So in the blizzard we went a-walkin' down to the pizza joint about .4 a mile away. They quickly gave us our first plate that we devoured. Then as we waited for the rest of the meal we found ourselves waiting forever! I tried to go up and mumble some Polish that did no good. Travis was tempted to just leave even though we paid when he finally went up and the guy spoke enough English to discover that they had forgot.
We rushed home later than we intended, Maddix missed his nap, and we were picked up to go to dinner with our dear friends Anna, Arek, James, and Cody and Jasmine. While us ladies cooked we sent the boys out to have some manly bonding time (and to ware Maddix out a bit)

 
 When they came back, everyone was frozen from head to toe! So we quickly dove into dinner! 

 Then while we continued to eat course after course of our delicious dinner Maddix and their son, James went to play with some blocks (that they told us to take home and borrow while we are here!)


 While they were playing Maddix kept asking James, "What is this?! What is that?" And he was so excited that he started to sound jibberish. I listened and heard James say, "I don't understand you." So Maddix just kept repeating it.
We had such a wonderful time with them, and enjoyed having Cody and Jasmine there so much as well. Thank you to all our friends here for turning our week right around, and helping it to end right!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

This is random and chaotic, but I'm just writing things as they enter my brain; if I don't  put it down right away, I will forget it. And that happens quite a bit. 

Funny things Maddix said today alone:
Maddix: "Mom, I'm kicking the soccer ball with my belly button."
Me: "That's called using your abs."
Maddix: "Mom, I'm using my abs to kick the soccer ball."

Maddix: "Dad there's something gross in your arm!"
Me: "That's daddy's armpit hair."
Maddix: "What? That's Discusting!!"

Maddix: "Mom!" In a concerned voice, "I'm not mommy!"
Me: "You're not?"
Maddix: "No, I'm Maddix... and you're mommy... and I'm not mommy because I"m Maddix... and I"m not Alvin (Chipmunks) because he's on T.V."

Maddix: "Mom," With an angelic smile, and his head resting on his shoulder, "I'm so smart, huh?"  

Today Maddix was playing with Playdo and had me make several balls out of the different colors. I looked away for a moment and then looked back and he said, "I built a gun mom, pew! Pew!" And he really had made the shape of a gun. I was super surprised, and extremely impressed. Although I guess their are plenty of parents that would be disgusted that he knows that shape.

Yesterday we put Maddix in big boy underwear again to see how he would do and he did really well. He made it through nap time with no pee in the diaper so I put him back in the underwear. Then that night I dozed off and he ran to the bathroom but ended up peeing on the floor; not really his fault, plus I already had a bucket of mop water out so it was convenient. Today we put the underwear on right away after seeing that his night time diaper was completely dry and he made it the entire day! So proud of him. He's still not to the point where he tells me he has to go, but he's stopped fighting me to go every time I ask him too. However he does NOT care for the diaper anymore and asks for the underwear so I think we're making progress.
And here are some photos of our recent happenings:
Work outs with dad: High Knees!

Can you believe how big he looks during his coloring time?!

Some more workouts where they're stretching!

And one more coloring shot. Look how grown up he looks holding that pen so officially!!


Monday, January 14, 2013

A Good Way To Start the Week

Before I post about today I have to briefly say how wonderful yesterday was. I really wish I had found a moment to blog yesterday because it was the nicest Sunday we've had in awhile. Brother Armstrong and his son Jake, or "Uncle Colton" came to church and just having their presence was a nice change. Funny enough, Travis was asked to come to church early. I practiced the hymns while Travis went into a meeting and when he came out I was then called in. Had a wonderful talk with Bro. Armstrong and then in sacrament Travis was sustained as the first councilor in the branch presidency. Then he was set apart after church and all within 4hrs he was extended a call and then had to stay after church for his first meeting :) The rest of Sunday was great too because the lessons were just so organized and we had a really nice investigator show up who we haven't seen since last January so it was good to see him. We got home late and had a busy rest of the Sunday.

Okay, so today, I decided (at the idea of my best friend Mackenzie) to implement somewhat of a morning chore chart. So it was a little rocky, but I think he's going to get the hang of it quickly. Then instead of cleaning the house like I normally do, I got the courage up to take Maddix out to play in the snow. It just looked so nice outside and we HAD to get out.
This was what the morning looked like
and then it just got sunnier
  Travis ended up joining us because he said he kept looking out the balcony door and seeing how much fun we were having, but I don't think we were having any fun really until he showed up!
getting the hang of holding on

But on sharp turns he would end up
face down in the snow!

This smile says it all
And these cheeks show just how cold it was!


Another sharp turn!
But then he wanted a turn to pull us around:)

We came in and desperately tried to dry off and warm up. After a little while Maddix grabbed his stool, blanket, and the strainer that is his new toy and started saying, "take a picture of me! Mom come see me!" And this is what I found:
Ignore the face, but he had put socks all around and was fishing with the strainer :)
He was pretty much a crack up all day and was saying some of the funniest stuff; however some of it I can't repeat because it's embarrassing for us:) Tonight though while he was in the tub, I was washing my face with white soap and all of a sudden Maddix said, "Mommy! You're a snowman on your face," then he through a shovel of water in my face... oh that child. Pretty much our day rocked together.

So a few other things these past few days I woke up and heard, "mom look at me sitting on the couch. I'm awesome. Take a picture of me!" Again, this is what I found:
Tricky guy thinks he's cool when he can sit there
And then this was funny, but not okay, Travis and I were trying to measure Maddix the other day and we may have put a pencil mark on the wall while doing so... BAD IDEA. The very next day I heard, "I'm coloring on the wall!" Oh brother, we had fun trying to explain that that was not okay. Travis told me to have him clean the wall off with a sponge so it wasn't as fun. HA, he loved it. When he was done with the wall he voluntarily started cleaning the floor.
There's the little culprit
Pretty much, he's a character as I've said before.


Friday, January 11, 2013

Living With A Goof!!

Well it's safe to say that Maddix sure is growing into his own personality. He comes up with games, talks back, tells jokes, laughs when you laugh, quotes movies and books, problem solves, and pretty much has a mind entirely of his own!

Sorry for two posts primarily about Maddix, but this is what I do with my day folks, and at the end of the day, he is my overall project. Whether or not the house is clean, or the food tasted great, It's me and him and seeing his progress is really how I measure mine:) So here are some of our activities we've been up too!
Cool Guy Pillow Fights
Sock wars from our forts (I used to do this with my dad when I was little)


Sweet awesome bubble bathes with puzzles and all sorts of toys
Lots of hide 'n' seek
 He is pretty unique and completely full of surprises. Lately we've been learning how to play football, how to count, all of our colors, and memorizing our alphabet. Currently Travis is doing a work out and Maddix is doing his best to imitate him. Holy Cow it's priceless I wish I was allowed to get a photo of it!
I love my guys!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Maddix's Bag of "Goodies"

Over the Christmas break most of Travis's classmates flew home for the holidays and conveniently enough, one of them lives only a few blocks away from Travis's uncle, in California. Before we came to Poland we opened up a few credit cards to earn flier miles and other rewards, and on one of our cards we receive money to shop at the GAP, Old Navy, or Banana Republic. Well, we had some rewards points that were about to expire so we went online and found Maddix a hat and a heavy wool sweater. We had them delivered to his Uncle's so the classmate could bring them back to Poland after the break, but when he brought the bag back, we received so much more! 

My in-laws had forgot to pack a part of Maddix's bday present in our stuff when we came, as well as had gone crazy and bought him some more clothes and hats; so while they were in California they delivered their loot to the Uncle's house to be brought back to Poland as well. We were pretty ecstatic as we pulled item after item out of the bag. I thought the most entertaining way to show you what he got would be to have a modeling shoot. It started out well, with him cooperating with whatever pose I asked for, but by the end he was done! 
Here is his new Bday boy shirt modeled
 next to his cars
Here we have a new Aviation shirt with  pants that have
extra lining inside to fight the cold,
as well as new socks!
In the air his Orange shirt never looked better!
Here he models a water buffalo hat, as well as
a vintage Star wars shirt with hood 
Here our soldier dawns his helmet and sweater
as he yields his sword
Here he is drying his tears on his new scarf
And this is his new Sunday outfit he refused
to let me dress him in.
Notice as well, the beautiful Viking beanie.  
And that was our shoot:) I'm really excited to take him outside and use all his different hats. It almost makes me happy that it's snowing and cold again...