Christmas Season 2008

Grammie and Bronson on his 1st Christmas

Bronson in front of Grammie's tree

3 Generations of William Deets



Christmas morning

Eating French Toast

Bronson and Mommy putting a ribbon on the tree for Jackson

Bronson "riding" Olivia's bike

Bronson was so excited, Livia got shoes!!!

All of girls and kiddos

I have lots to catch up on, but I will first start with Bronson's 1st Christmas. I can't believe how well he did with all the people around. We started the holidays off at my mom's house in Blodgett. Bronson and Olivia celebrated her 2nd birthday first with a piece of cake. I let him try this cake out so that he had practice for his birthday party. Olivia is such a sweetheart to Bronson. Any gift that she would open would immediatley be given over to Bronson to play with. It didn't matter what it was as far as she was concerned it was meant for Bronson. She brought her bike over because she had to let "Baby Beau" ride on it. He LOVED it!!! Great idea for us for next year.

Christmas day Bronson got to try his first french toast and a little grape juice. He then wasn't too keen on the idea of opening presents. We helped him open most of his presents and then he took a nap while the four of us (Kyle, Ann, Bill, and I) opened presents. It was nice being able to slowly take the time to treasure each and every gift while he was napping. My family really spoiled me this year. They kept saying it was to make up for last year, but as far as I am concerned...Bronson was the best Christmas gift of all!!!! Kyle got me a new wedding ring for our fifth anniversary. It is beautiful!!!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and Bronson and I managed to take a small nap together. Ann aka Grammie made us a fabulous prime rib dinner and Bronson ate more than his body weight in food. He scarfed down lots of prime rib, green beans, and even managed to use his own spoon to feed himself mashed potatoes. Our doctor commented that we wasted prime rib on a 1 year old; nothing is too good for our boy. He loves it!!!

We finished off the evening watching some family videos and planning for an all day shopping trip the following day. We decked Bronson out in Beaver attire and took him to Eugene for some returns and shopping for Kyle. We all spent some time relishing in the fact that Bronson was able to be with us and eat at Chili's when just last year we were there eating while worrying about our baby boy in the NICU.

We hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas season, this will be a holiday that we will never forget. We will never forget that the reason for this season is the birth of our savior Jesus Christ and this year more than anything we were struck by how blessed we are as a family. God is soooo good to us!!!!

Have I mentioned lately?

How awesome my husband is? Kyle spent the entire day yesterday "fixing" my house. We have lived here just a little over 1 year and I finally got my living room in order. Kyle had our neighbor help him install our TV. We have been living in limbo with our big screen on a stand for the last little while, but with our little man moving around this has been making it quite a hazard. I have been extremely afraid of him knocking the tv over on himself. Kyle and I are both so excited to have our house looking a little more homey. We stayed up way too late last night admiring our combined handy work. Thanks again Dave and Amy for all of your help. We love it!!!!! I have enclosed a little pic of our maniac baby in action.

Daddy and Bronson

Today I took an adventure with my friend Amy Bertolini; we walked to Safeway. It is covered with snow and ice outside, but the idea sounded great prior to stepping my feet outside. Anyways, it was some much needed time out of the house and it was nice for her and I to be able to reflect on everything that we are thankful for. I am thankful that I am not celebrating the holidays from my hospital bed this year. I am also thankful that we have this snow because it is forcing everyone to slow down a bit and enjoy staying home with their families. It was nice for Amy and I to be able to sit in our church sanctuary and spend some time praying to God for some people on our prayer lists and to reflect on how great He is to us!!! Our church service was canceled for the first time since I have ever been going to Grace Community Church; close to eight years.

While I was gone Kyle took care of Bronson. I came home to a very quiet house. Kyle sitting on the couch eating a graham cracker and Bronson nowhere in sight. Kyle said that he was awesome while I was gone. He was now upstairs in his bed taking a nap. I am in awe of how Kyle can do it, but somehow he always manages to get him into bed and for a long period of time. The two men in my life have such an amazing bond. Bronson loves his daddy so much. Da-da is his favorite word and he now squeals, I love da-da very clearly. Of course this just melts Kyle's hearts and allows for Bronson to wrap himself even tighter around his daddy's finger. I am so proud of the father that Kyle is to Bronson. He never complains about the amount of attention that Bronson requires or about getting up at 4am to make him bottles. He does it so willingly and with love. I am so thankful for these two guys in my life.

Christmas Cookies

Why is that most people wait until the 1st birthday to indulge their babies with sweets? I say what is it about the magical number of 28 this month to allow my son to have some cake. I am all for sweetening them up if I think he can handle it. I allowed Bronson to recently indulge on some wonderful sugar cookies. My payback...he stayed up until 1am. Gotta love it!!!

Some Recent Photos

Christmas Tree Hunt 2008

Big Jim doing what he does best

I wanted to shoot the Desert Eagle

Messy Face Boy

Our chubbers

All bundled up strolling with the grandparents

Our little man in front of the tree

Merry Christmas from Bronson

He is GROWING so much!!!

I want to capture each and every moment of Bronson's growth and development, but lately it has been so hard. He is doing so many new things; it seems like it changes everyday. These are the new things he has done this week:

• Started wearing size 3 diapers





• My fingers no longer fit around his legs to measure





• He shakes his head no all the time





• He dances





• He says very clearly, I love you...





• He clicks his tongue





• He is starting to get more foods and mommy has been sneeking him some much needed treats (cookies)

Bronson is loving all the Christmas spirit on our house and loves the snow!!! I am trying to make our house super traditional with the holidays and have had lots of fun including our little man in on our cookie making and playing in the snow. He is so much fun.

Major Meltdown

This weekend I blew up!!!! At first I couldn't understand where all of the anger was coming from. I couldn't even boil noodles. I made a full pot of spaghetti and ended up having to remake the noodles because I spilt them all over in the sink and on the floor. Kyle watched all of this unfold and knew something was wrong. He instantly scooped Bronson up and took him to look at Christmas lights. He said later that he knew that I was about ready to fall apart, but he knew that I needed some space. This was the day that we decided to take the time to decorate for Christmas. I started the day off fine, but slowly I started becoming a mess. Kyle and I never really enjoy decorating the tree together because it normally starts a fight. He hates the mess that the tree makes and I have a "certain" order to how I like the tree to look. I decided that it really wasn't fair for Bronson to just watch mommy decorate the tree, so I let him help hang the last ornament on the tree with daddy's help.

After all of the decorations were done is when the dinner began to fall apart. I became a raving lunatic. I couldn't even think clearly. I was so angry towards Kyle that I couldn't even put into words what I was feeling. We had dinner and then things started becoming a bit clearer. I AM ANGRY BECAUSE IT IS DECEMBER. I love Christmas, don't get me wrong...but this month is the hardest yet. I explained to Kyle who was having similar feelings that I am looking forward to and also dreading the 28th of this month. It will be a year since I got to lay eyes on my precious son, Jackson. It is also a day for serious celebration. Our son Bronson will turn 1 years old. I am so amazed that he has made it so far.

During a long talk with Kyle I discovered one serious issue that I am having. We still have not taken steps towards dealing with Jackson's remains. They remain in a beautiful box in Bronson's room. No one would even know that they were his ashes unless I told them, but it is beginning to really bother me. This has been a serious strain between Kyle and I. We can't decide what is the best way to honor both Jackson and provide our family with closure. I need CLOSURE. I will NEVER get over losing my son, but I need to be able to close this chapter in my life. I am the one that every two days goes into Bronson's room and dusts off the box and tries not to think of what lays inside. I obsess over whether it is more honoring to spread the ashes or bury them. I obsess over if I should get a headstone or place a plaque on the rock up at our family cemetery. I also dread making a decision. Sometimes I wish that the decision would just be made for me and I could be done. Well, Kyle made the decision and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

I made the call yesterday and a plaque is being made with his name. We are also going to purchase a statue to sit on our beautiful, Lindsay's grave. Kyle and I will spend our 5th wedding anniversary (12/27) spreading our son's ashes at the location of where he proposed to me over 7 years ago. God was fully in these decisions. I had been thinking of this plan for awhile, yet when we talked the words flowed so smoothly from Kyle's mouth exactly what I hoped he would say. We both agreed that this would be a day that would mean something to both of us and allow for a small part of closure in dealing with the death of our son. I write these thoughts down so if anyone out there is dealing with a similar situation they will know that they are not alone. My heart is broken. God is busy repairing it. I physically can feel this pain, yet I know that God will provide healing. I try not to think of this too often, but it is hard to remain in the present when you know someday you will see your angel baby in heaven. I am so lucky to have both Kyle and Bronson in my life. Bronson is such a blessing to Kyle and I. He reminds us daily that God answers prayers and that he will provide our family with healing.

December will be a hard month for our family, but also a month of celebration. In today's world it is a proud accomplishment to be able to say that we have been married for 5 years. We also will be celebrating our son's 1st birthday. Most importantly we will be celebrating God's promise, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and we promise to provide you with lots of happy picture posts to follow.

Bronson's 1st Thanksgiving!!!

On Thanksgiving with his great grandparents
11 months old/ 11-28-08

Deets Family

Thanksgiving Dinner, yummy!!!

We are a few days late in posting about Bronson's 1st Thanksgiving, however, I think that the wait will be worth it. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Kyle, Bronson, Ann, Bill, and I all drove over to Redmond for the holiday and spent it with several relatives at Kyle's Uncle Kelly's house. It was a wonderful meal and Bronson really enjoyed being able to eat lots of different foods. His favorite food for the night was Uncle Rick's sweet potatoes. He also got to have some cherries and turkey and mashed potatoes. It was a very short trip, but well worth it. Bronson got to spend lots of time with his great grandparents and we couldn't get him to stop wanting to kiss and hug on Great Grandma Kerfoot. It was the sweetest thing. Bronson has accomplished several things the past couple of days.

He melted Grammies heart by being able to say Grandma on Thanksgiving. He also told everyone hello and goodbye upon his arrival at Thanksgiving. He is also cruising along furniture now and doesn't mind letting go whenever he feels like it. It is lots of fun to watch how fast he is learning. We are looking forward to several wonderful changes in the next couple of months. We are wondering if walking is in his near future.

Here are some of Bronson's stats for his 11 month birthday:

-He weighs 17 pounds, 8 ounces

-He is 26 1/4 inches tall

-He says mama, dada, no, baby, good, grandma, bye-bye, and hello

-He can eat almost anything, but doesn't like peas

-He crawled on the 20th, but hasn't really done much since, he prefers to stand up and try to walk

-His favorite toy is his walker and jumperoo

Happy Holidays to all of you!!!!