True Love

E, you never cease to amaze me........
You make me tivo "Great White Expedition" on the National Geographic Channel. You, like your father, are so very scientific and curious. You will sit, watching open-mouthed at all the wonders of the world and quickly tell me when I'm watching a "girl" show ;)
You surprise me constantly with your vocabulary. Today, Dad asked you how you liked the peach you ate from the Farmer's Market and you replied, "It was delightful and delectable." I'm not sure where you even heard "delectable!"
You are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made" and I love, love, love you.

Our little peanut

For those of you who haven't heard, we are expecting another child. Here is our first ultrasound of the little peanut --- literally, the size of a peanut!
I really thought we'd wait a while to tell, but my body had other plans. Although, he/she is only the size of a grape, I feel like I'm 5 months. This may be the longest 9 months of my life!

Firsts

Child rearing has made me very aware of all the "firsts" that occur and how memorable they will be ---and that everything needs to be caught on camera! There was that first coo, then first steps, first time at the beach (tear), first year to play t-ball, etc, etc. I do have to say, though, that my small mind sometimes envisions something so perfect and special that I am often let down. Why do I do this to myself? I just can't help it!!! But, don't you think that's part of our jobs, as mothers, to try to make everything special?
Here is our most recent first.....the boys first time fishing. There was a local fishing rodeo this past weekend & every time we passed, the boys begged to go. Daddy was helping on a project most of the day and promised to take them Monday. Well, as is usually the case at my house, we are trying to squeeze too many things into not enough time. After R worked all day, mowed the lawn, and took E to the ballfield (yes, we had a game, too.) P and I packed a wonderful cooler picnic for the night's dinner at the pond. All seemed right in my mind, until I got to the ballfield. E was coming out crying that he wasn't going to get to go fishing & Daddy was mad because E cried when he didn't get the ball. Aarrgh! I hate walking into that!
Well, we FINALLY made it to the pond. No time to eat the picnic while you continuously bait crickets. Oh, well. Every one (except me) left happy. And, I got over it. Especially, when I looked at my pics the next day :)

Time flies.....

Well, it's been 2 months since I've posted. Things have been extremely busy! I took another class that was a "summer term" course. It was only 1 month (May,) but every day in Jackson :( Another one down! Here are a few pics to remember these last couple of months :)


First year of t-ball!





P's Batman 3rd birthday!





Making lots of end-of-year and birthday gifts for people!



Redecorating P's room.....this will be a full post later!

P's Post

Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break and P's surgery. I'm hoping that one day I'll look back at this post and be glad we made the decision we did. P had a frenulectomy. He was what is known as "tongue-tied." The frenulum (skin that attaches your tongue to the base of your mouth) was too tight. It causes individuals to be unable to clear out the back of their mouths, sometimes speech problems, inability to lick an ice cream cone like most do, etc. It makes the tongue appear heart-shaped. It's just one of those funny hereditary anomalies :) What was surprising is that the more I started talking about it, the more people started telling me they or their child had it. I didn't realize how common it is.

Anyway, so we decided to clip it. R told him he was going to get a magic tongue at the doctor. Okay, that would have scared me! But, he was so brave. He went back without even crying (shocker!) They said that once they got him back, he began to whimper a little, but went under quickly. They came to take us back to see him. Many of you know the temperment of a child coming off anesthesia and it's not pretty! He wanted to know where his balloon was! I thought he was loopy, but the anesthesiologist had him "blowing up the balloon" that is attached to the gas mask. When I asked him about what happened after that, he told me he smelled orange juice! Again, I thought "loopy," but we were told the gas was fruit punch flavored! That's one good memory!

I was so impressed and grateful to the staff that took care of him. Our ENT prayed with us before the surgery, the anesthesiologist talked to him and joked with him, and the nurses just loved on him :) I was a little nervous on Sunday about it all, but after meeting with all the staff, I felt much better. No tears!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Thank you, Alexander Fleming! Penicillin rocks! Woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat. 8 hours later, I was in bed with fever. By the next morning, I was in the doc's office with strep. Yuck!! Monday was awful, but by Tues. afternoon, I was feeling 75% better. What a difference a day makes --with meds!!! Praying my family doesn't get it :)

Red fish, blue fish, green what?

In honor of Dr. Suess' birthday, we decided to have green eggs and ham. While I thought boys would love this idea, they thought it sounded gross. I let them help me so they would see that they're not really green eggs, we just color them. I even read the story at the table to encourage trying different things. Still, no sale. They ate everything, but the eggs! Oh, and notice that I didn't have ham, so bacon was the next best thing :) So much for being adventurous!

Favorite Pic of the Year.....so far!

I looooove this pic from our recent snow days! I took the boys out to my mom's house (since our yard is completely flat.) We had so much fun and I loved hearing my mom laugh like that. It's good for the soul :)

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye......

NEWS ALERT.....This is a MONUMENTAL post.....there will be no more pull-ups at this household....I repeat...No more pullups!!!!
My little man is officially potty trained!! What will I do with the extra cash I save each month? Manicures? Buy myself flowers? Go out to eat? Nah, as most of you parents of boys know, it will probably funnel over into buying Clorox wipes!

Vices

What is willpower? Is it the ability to drag yourself out of the bed at 2am to give another feeding? Is it going out into the 20 degree weather looking for the dog when no one else will? Is it coming home from an exhausting day to cook dinner for your family when you really just want to drive through McDonalds? Apparently not. Apparently, willpower is the power to restrain yourself from doing something. And, apparently, I have none because I REALLY want that chocolate, glazed donut my kids are eating. Yes, I'm venting. Is there something wrong with me that medication can fix? Psychiatrist? Hypnotics? R has the metabolism of a 15 year old boy and eats any and everything he wants. After I told him I was dieting, he wants to order chinese! Uggh! Anyway, as I begged him to eat the last chocolate donut this morning so that I wouldn't be tempted (I only bought 3 so that I wouldn't have one,) he lectured me on willpower. Do I really lack that much willpower? Yes, I have a hard time dragging myself out of the bed to workout, but I get up all those other times when no one else will. Doesn't that count for something? Now, that I've vented, I feel better. Thanks, bloggers:) Please share vices!!!! Misery loves company :)