Ginny’s Florist provided the flowers and the cake was provided by Romano’s Bakery.

A few select images…

Good news: The Giants beat the Patriots and won the Superbowl!
Great news: Aiden made it all the way through with no hospital visit!

It seems every year he gets sick around Superbowl time and ends up in the hospital. Last year, he made it through halftime but his coughing and breathing was too severe and he needed immediate medical attention (flashback). He did complain at one point about his stomach bothering him–which gave us that sinking “uh-oh” feeling–but he was fine.

Of course, Ethan and Evan are battling ear infections which cause aches, occasional fevers, etc. But, we will take this over being in the hospital

The video below is of the boys singing Winnie the Pooh (who hasn’t quite replaced McQueen but is just behind him), Aiden Dancing to a Winnie the Pooh song, Aiden talking to himself during timeout (for bad behavior) and the boys opening up some Valentine’s Day treats.

Here comes the snow

Aiden just kept staring at it…he would have stayed there all night if we didn’t bring him back in

Evan is doing a great job practicing writing his letters!

With a (fake) smile

We are extremely thankful for the new pain and respiratory medications that has been so effective and significantly improved his health and quality of life in the past several months by limiting the vicious cycle of vomiting and aspiration events and improving his lung function.

Now that his ears, tonsils and adenoids are taken care of, we are hopeful that his health will continue to stabilize and prove to be a new baseline for him. His therapy has resumed, and we are all thrilled that he does not seem to have experienced as significant a setback as we expected from the surgery.

Ethan and Evan are doing well, growing so quickly and learning new things every day, although their ears seem to be acting up every now and then. They just had their ear tubes replaced a couple months ago, but each have one tube that has started coming out. Hopefully this won’t become a recurring issue.

Our Texas “winter” has been lovely thus far, with very little inclement weather. We are praying for it to continue, as the cold weather is so hard on Aiden’s lungs. The mild temperatures have also allowed the boys to enjoy more time outdoors, which they love.

The video below is of the twins singing as “wise men” in the Cherub Choir at church just before Christmas.

Enjoying a movie

Aiden is (finally) nearly recovered from surgery and doing much better with his O2 requirements. We have been able to reduce his constant breathing treatments so they are less frequent, and he is sounding and feeling much better, although he has been a little junky and had a little dry cough the past week. He is making huge progress in his occupational therapy, and is also doing very well with his feeding therapy (eating yogurt, chocolate pudding, etc., and making progress with learning how to handle textures). We are praying that he will stay healthy and hoping that his new meds will help keep this winter from being a repeat of the past 3 years.

Ethan and Evan are growing and getting bigger every single day. They are writing their letters and learning how to read, which they are very excited about! Of course, they keep us on our toes with lots of interesting questions as they are trying to figure out life & the world around them. Both have had ear & sinus infections in the past couple of weeks due to an ear tube that became blocked and has started to come out, but otherwise and doing well and enjoying life.

We are so thankful for each of you and your continued support and prayers, and pray many blessings for you and your family in 2012.

Racing around

Aiden is so happy

Evan tries to help him up the slide

Holding hands

The first round of Christmas presents

Who is it from?

Time to open

What did you get?

More cars?

They love racing their new toys

Lots of gifts!

Smile

The trips keep ripping into their gifts

Some new books

Uh oh, Aidy got put in time out for bad behavior

Bedlam!

Wow…McQueen pajamas

A new “lightbulb” McQueen after the old one broke

This Thanksgiving the boys had their Papa, Grandma, Uncle “Oak”, the future “Mrs. Oak” and Amisha in town they loved every bit of it!

Their other new love is playing football…it gives them an excuse to tackle each other! In the video below, you can see the boys playing ball and poor Evan getting tackled every which way (even Aiden tackled him). Additionally, they love their new gymnastic classes. We love it too because it gives them some physical indoor activity thus making their naps a little longer

This past week, Aiden had his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as getting ear tubes. Given his medical condition, they wanted him to stay overnight at the hospital even though the procedure is typically outpatient. Aiden is still requiring O2 and did have some rough patches but, all things considered, he had done fairly well as long as we remained proactive with pain management.

We will of course monitor his vitals and handle the O2 wean, meds, feeds, etc. at home as we have for the past 3 years, as long as we have an effective regime in place and are not seeing dangerous complications such as choking and aspiration.

We are so grateful and blessed by your continued prayers, kind thoughts, friendship and support, which means so much to our family.

Papa got Ethie

Look who!

Too much hair

Aiden and Papa take a walk together

Not sure which way to go

Boys, stop wrestling outside!

Wait for me!

Tried to climb but got stuck and Ethan tried to help

Papa chases Evan

Grandma watches the boys play

Having fun

Aiden, you are doing it!

Success!

Amisha reads to the Trips

Loving their gymnastics

Aiden poses in the middle of a routine

Ethan too

Good job!

Fly Ethan

Fly Evan

Aiden goes down the rabbit hole

Evan swings on a rope…

Ethan swings (and the drops later)

Jump!

“Oak” help the boys decorate

Finalizing the tree