Noah: (holding his hand out to me) "Mommy, I have a booboo"
Mommy: "How did you get your booboo?"
I lifts his hand to my mouth and as I am kissing the booboo...
Noah: "from the potty"
Mommy: very discretely wipes her mouth off while trying not to vomit.
Minnie the turtle has found a new home today at the Outdoor Learning Center. She began to hibernate and we just couldn't adequately accomodate her lifestyle so she is better off in her own habitat. The boys took it really well. It was a little heartbreaking today when Camden was reading a book and came across a picture of a turtle and labeled it "his pet, Minnie". They will take excellent care of her and nurse her broken shell back until she can be released to the wild. We didn't have Minnie very long and that is probably for the best, because we learned she is actually a HE! Wow, think of all the therapy he would of required when he found out he really wasn't a girl!
Gracie, our Lab, spent some time today in the vet's office. She was in the middle of a down and dirty game of wrestle with the boys when she got popped in the mouth. I discovered what appeared to be her tooth shoved up into her gums. Turns out, she has a common tumor on her gum that will go away on it's own. She is scheduled to have her teeth cleaned and we are all looking forward to that! She also has a fatty tumor on her belly that is common as well and nothing to worry about.
While at the vet's office, Brian got reassuring news that we are still doing the humane thing for Whittie. She is senile and finds herself in a corner quite often and can't get out. She is also having a hard time walking on the tile and falls over very easily. She is still eating and wanting to got outside and those are all good quality of life factors that the vet is happy to hear about. It is a struggle to see her go through this and lots of tears have been shed. She is just the sweetest dog and I don't want her to suffer for one minute!
It was a tough weekend for myself. After a CT scan, a sonogram and 2 different doctors, I still am in pain on my right side. It most likely was a ruptured cyst, however there is no visible evidence of such on the latest scan. My right side is clear and my left side now shows a small cyst. (I give up!!!) The pain I am still having could be from fluid that has caused irriation or from something else. I am stuck at this point as to what to do next.
Good news... my mom's kidney stone has been blasted and she will be feeling like her old self very quickly!!!
The boys are healthy and still enjoying school. Noah had his cast removed last Wednesday and after a few days of being cautious he is really starting to use his right hand again. I do believe if he had to wear the cast any longer, he would have been left handed. He adapted almost too easily to his left hand and still favors it.
Camden is doing better with his tanturms. He was rewarded at church last week for walking away and letting another child have a toy. For the most part he does very well sharing with his peers, he seems to have a problem sharing with his brother. All very normal and expected.
Noah has started early making a list for Santa and just about everything he passes in the store gets added to the list. I am currently searching for his Halloween costume and do not even want to think about Christmas at this point. Noah wants to be Diego and Camden is probably going to be the map from Dora for Halloween.
What are your kids going to dress up as? What was your favorite costume growing up?
After a day filled with lots of abdominal pain, nausea and just feeling bad. I will not echo Noah's sentiments of "today was boring". Today was filled with lots of feelings of anxiousness in between seeing the doctor, have blood work done and experiencing a CT scan for the first time. Am I any further along in a diagnosis than I was this morning... probably not. My internal organs have been given a clean bill of health on the outside but there is something wrong...very wrong and I want it fixed. Maybe I will have a clearer picture on Friday.
Please pray for my mom, myself and my friend Brooke.
Sharon
Here is what I have learned during the last week:
First, I wasn't aware until today that we have a budding Picasso (Camden) in our house. With this new fact comes the knowledge that windex will remove crayon from just about every surface of your home.
Second, I learned that when loading your groceries into the back of the car, make sure the milk and eggs are not near the door. Did you know that a gallon of milk takes more than one roll of papertowels to clean up? Your cleaning is not over after the papertowels either because then you have to mop the entire kitchen and garage floor because now it is sticky.
Third, we have a new pet in our house. It is a three-toed box turtle named Minnie. Not Minnie Mouse, but Minnie the turtle in case you were confused. (Noah, just wanted that clarified.) She was found in our yard and is fairly old. She appears to be a very active turtle and to the kids amusement she is out of her shell most of the time. She was supposed to be a temporary pet but of course the kids have fallen in love with her and now her fate is up in the air.
Fourth, the kids really are enjoying pre-school. Camden is still a bit shy at drop off but warms up quickly. He really likes playing trucks with "Michael" and going outside to play with Noah.
I am very impressed with Noah's teacher and the way she instructs her class. It appears he will be very prepared for Kindergarten next year. He is learning to "think outside the box". They are learning ways to solve problems without running to the teacher. Listening skills are being worked on as well as growing their attention span. These things will help with sitting in Kindergarten next year. She doesn't acknowledge whinning which has helped us since Noah seems to be in that stage currently. She also strongly encourages "higher learning" through the use of materials brought home and worked on with mom & dad. We are very blessed that God has provided the right teacher for both of the kids this year.
Fifth, We are in the middle of potty training with Camden. He is doing great wearing a pull-up and staying dry most of the day. We have experimented with underwear and it usually is a disaster. I have not found the right "incentive" that works for Camden yet.
Sixth, has anyone seen my fun-loving 2-year old? He seems to be missing. The terrible two's have arrived at our house, and it is not pleasant. There is a lot of jumping up and down, screaming, throwing toys and just down right being defiant going on at our house. I know this phase doesn't last forever, but one week has been long enough for everyone!!!
What are some of your tricks to save on food and clothes?
How do you generate a little extra income?
How do you entertain on a budget?
What are some ideas for an inexpensive night out?
Please share your ideas.
My pastor sent a cute little email out listing children's respones to different questions asked. I decided to ask Noah the questions and here are his responses:
Why did God make Mother's?
"To take care of us"
How did God make Mother's?
"by using his strength"
What ingredients are Mother's made of?
"people and God"
Why did God give you your Mommy and not some other Mommy?
"because my mommy lives in my house"
What kind of little girl was your Mom?
"I don't know"
What did Mom need to know about Dad before she married him?
"If he knew how to get dressed"
Why did your Mom marry your Dad?
"It was a long time ago and I don't remember"
Who's the boss at your house?
"Mommy"
What's the difference between Mom's and Dad's?
"Daddy is a boy and Mommy is a girl"
What does your Mom do in her spare time?
"She does something... like work or something"
What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
"for her to get dressed"
If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
"She would wear different clothes"
Enjoy!
Most mom's would agree that we usually don't make time to do something for ourselves. So when I received a monetary birthday gift, I jumped at the chance to spend it on ME!
Today I fulfilled that gift and went with a good friend out to lunch and then met up with several other good friends to see a play called "Nipples to the Wind".
It was a laugh out loud funny play about many different women that you have either encountered or have been sometime in your life. The title of the play is a euphemism of "head up, chin out" and it was truly befitting every one of the characters.
Thank you Sharon, a.k.a, Tutu for a wonderful birthday gift! I enjoyed myself all day!
Dip-A-De Do!
I'm suprised I haven't had some "blog fanatic" complain about my lack of posting recently. So, with out further adieu...
Last week was full of eye-opening experiences.
The first being that I started back to work 2 days a week for a couple of hours and was met with such hostility that it took until Friday to realize how much it overwhelmed me. I will not go into the gory details because they are not what is important. What is important is what I learned about myself in the process. It was made crystal clear to me how much I have grown in my faith of Jesus. My lack of attitude and positive reaction to a bad situation was eye opening at best. I confronted the situation with an open heart and asked God to give me the strength, words and provide the timing to do what he wants. I was obedient and felt good about myself at the end of the day. I have peace that God has provided this opportunity for me to be a witness but it will not be accomplished without pain. Pain that is so minor in comparison to what Jesus did for me on the crosss.
A side note: After my first bad day back, I picked Noah up from school and asked about his day. I asked if he went to chapel and he said "yes". I then asked what he learned and he said "Mommy, God is around us all the time". He was right. (Noah has never told me what he learns in chapel, this was the first time.) How perfect is his timing!
The second amazing thing that happened was also about being obedient. I faithfully have been praying about a situation and asking for guidance. Well, the Lord answered and provided in his timing what was best for this situation. Matthew 18:15-20 was played out right before my eyes, and that was powerful!
Those of you who know me, ecspecially those of you who knew me growing up know that being obedient doesn't come easy for me. This is a new wonderful feeling! Praise God!
Great! After a visit to the Dr. today, we found out that his bones are 75-80% healed. It was really cool to see where new bone has already formed. He now has a cast that stops right below his elbow which allows him to move more freely. This cast is also water proof and we are actually encouraged to pour water down inside of it and get it wet. This is supposed to wash away the dead skin underneath. He will have this cast for 3 more weeks and then he should be all healed. He should not require any physical therapy when the cast is removed.
Sawing off the old cast was a little intimidating today. It was loud and scary having a saw blade that close to your arm. However, Noah took it in stride. I was asked if we wanted to keep the old cast and promptly said "NO". That thing stunk! Yuck!
Noah is only limited in he can't jump on a trampoline or climb a rock wall. All othe activities are good to go! That is such a blessing since our weather has taken a turn for the better and we will be outside much more than we have.
The second picture is of Camden wearing his "listening ears". He made these at school and I just thought he looked adorable.
Well, it's time I go mow the yard. When the kids were outside earlier, the grass was up to their knees.
I'm going to be brutally honest.
Yes, we were not thinking when we leased our Tahoe. All that went through our minds at the time was "this is an awesome car with every imaginable feature on it, let's buy it today!"
We never looked at what the future might hold for us... like 2 children and one income! To put it mildly we have struggled the last several years and are now looking forward to making the right financial decision for our family next spring.
Here is where the challenge comes in. We started checking out the terms of our lease when it expires and realized that if we kept driving the Tahoe we would be paying LOTS of money in overmileage fees. The way it stands right now, we can only drive 300 miles per month until the end of our lease in July. So, with a little help from my parents (they are allowing us to drive one their vehicles that also gets much better gas mileage) Brian is now driving the Tahoe to work everyday. Even if Brian drove everyday to work, it will still be necessary for me to take him to work 1 or 2 days a week so we don't go over the mileage. I have never been one to shy away from a challenge and this no different.
So far, we have come under the 300 miles for the month of August. Woohoo!!! Bring on September!
Another term of the lease is that all 4 tires have to be identical. I didn't think this would be any big deal until I went out and looked and low and behold we have 1 tire that is different from the other three. I was not looking forward to the cost associated with purchasing another tire. The Lord works in mysterious ways and this tire is no exception.
Brian came home from work one night last week with a flat tire. He came out of school and found there was a screw in his tire and it was flat. He happened to be parked next door to a Discount Tire but as luck would have it they were closed. The next day after finding out that this tire was covered by road hazard, Brian went and got another tire for the Tahoe. After we put it on, we realized we had not checked to see if it was the same as the rest of the tires. After checking we found that it did indeed match the others and this could have only been a "God-thing".
To God we give the glory!
One of the things I look forward to after summer vacation is having a routine again in our daily lives. My kids just seem to handle life better when they know what to expect and so do I.
This past week marked the end of summer for us and the beginning of our fall routine. While the kids are back to pre-school, my life doesn't seem to slow down any. My week has been filled with driving my carpool two days a week and contemplating when and if I will start back to work at the office for a few days. I attended the bible study I am involved with on Fridays and I also have been reading my book for book club. I am so happy to be reading again after a long summer of nothing stimualting for my mind. I am also currently involved with two church committees that will keep me busy. Oh, did I mention I squeezed in cleaning a house and going to the gym 2-3 times a week?
So, that has been our week in a nutshell. I give thanks to the Lord who has provided faithfully to our family and who gives me strength in all that I do.
The first day of pre-school was a success. Noah walked right in and started playing immediately. He is an old pro at this and was ready to get things started. He took his "arm" as show and tell today and had a good time telling everyone how he ended up in a cast. He makes friends very quickly and already had 5 girls chasing him around on the playground.
Camden walked right in and layed down on the ground with his hands over his eyes. This is what he does if he is embarrassed or shy. He was down for about two minutes and then was a bit clingy. However, that did not last long once he saw the train set. I checked on him a bit later and he was having a great time as well. He told me all about his day when I picked him up. He "played trains, ate my lunch, outside two times, and sang Twinkle Star". He was pretty worn out from his first day as evidenced by the three hour nap after we came home.
I was a bit sad dropping Camden off today. After all, it is my last baby to go to pre-school.
Today is the first of pre-school for Camden. Judging by the 5:00 a.m. wake-up, I am pretty sure they are both excited. They have both met their teachers and they seem to be a good fit for each of them. Camden is in a class of 6 with mostly girls. Should be interesting! Noah is in a class of 12 with mostly boys. One word... LOUD!
They are both so proud of their backpacks and lunch boxes. Here is the low-down: Noah is sporting an "Incredibles" back-pack with a "Cars" lunch box. Camden is sporting a "Cars" back-pack with a "Buzz Lightyear" lunchbox. Are you confused? I am!
I just love these pictures. It just sums up what a productive summer we had. Noah with his broken arm and Camden with his black-eye. It should be fun to compare to the end of the year photos. Well, it is about time to take them to school. I will update on their day later.
I want to start by saying that I think all Wednesday's should be removed from our week. Good things do not happen to us on Wednesday's. Last Wed., Noah broke his wrist and this Wed. is no exception.
Now, back to the public library. Who gets injured in a library? The more I thought about it I realized they are a prime place waiting for disaster. What child or more specifically 'boy', can talk in a soft voice, not run and keep their hands to themselves? Not mine!!! When you combine the library with a Wednesday, you have a really bad situation for our family.
Camden is now sporting a lovely black & blue cheek and eye, after running as fast as he can straight into the corner of a table in the library. The impact was so great that it layed him out flat on his back. I am going to make a t-shirt that says: "No, my brother didn't do it!" Because when you see him next to Noah that is what you automatically think.
I am furious with the librarians. They will not be winning any compassion awards any time soon. They just stood there and never offered help. The look on their faces was of disgust that my child was screaming LOUDLY in a library. Well, I said a quick prayer for them and we were on our way. Thank heavens we already had a Dr.'s appt. lined up an hour later.
There is a good note for today. Camden had a speech evaluation today that was very positive. I was hoping this would be his last appt. however, it was determined he still needs some work on his "T's" and "F's". We are only meeting with his therapist once a month from now on. When Camden started speech 9 months ago, he was about 3 months behind. Today, I was told that he has caught up more than 12 months during this past 9 months. Yeah for Camden!!! He is even ahead of his peers in certain areas! We are so proud of you Camden!!!
Noah went to see the Orthopedic Bone Dr. today. Boy, does he talk fast!!!! It was hard to keep up. Learned lots of really interesting info. regarding kids and broken bones. Note to any moms out there: kids heal REALLY fast and bones don't have to be set perfect to heal perfect. Also, put a kid in a room where the examining table is literally a fire truck and they forget how much pain they are in when the Dr. is manipulating their broken bones!
All that to say that Noah is doing great. He is now the proud owner of a "blue cast" that he is considering having people sign. We return in 2 more weeks with another set of x-rays and hope that he has not done any further damage just by being a rambunctious 4 year old in that time.
We were given a warning to watch closely any siblings because the cast usually becomes a weapon in about a week. Great, just what we need... a trip to the E.R. for stitches on Camden! The positive if any to this is we met our insurance deductible for the year back in January!!!
Noah- As of Saturday, he is doing much better. He was pretty shocked for a couple of days and mostly watched t.v. and movies. All of which is totally expected. Saturday, he awoke to his usual spunky self and has been playing with toys, alienating his brother and even cooperating with wiggling his fingers. We see an Orthopedic Bone specialist on Tuesday, so please continue to keep him in your prayers.
Camden- Not much was mentioned about his reaction to all of this. The first couple of days he was understandably confused and scared. He lost his playmate, who also happened to be getting ALL the attention. Jealosy started to rear it's ugly head. He would pull the support pillow out from under Noah's arm or he would "bump" into Noah when no one was watching. He even told Brian that "he broke his arm and needed to go to the hospital to see the baseball man". (Every person in a uniform is a baseball man). It has to be very difficult to comprehend this situation at 2.
Whitney- Wow, since the last time I posted it has been an emotional roller coaster. About 2 weeks ago, I was certain that she had very little time left. She didn't eat for 4 days and was very weak. A call to the vet was placed and the "last possible option" was given to us. Well, I am glad to say that we did not use that option and she currently is doing very well. Don't ever underestimate the power of chicken soup. She started drinking chicken soup and it stimulated her appetite. She has been eating like a queen ever since. Homemade chicken thighs with rice or noodles, hamburger meat, eggs, etc. She has slowly gained her stamina and last night for the first time in weeks she actually ate her own dog food. Praise god! She is alert and happy to see us, and wants to be a part of the action. I know this is only short term because she does have cancer, but I will cherish every minute I have.
Brian- His start back to school has been eventful with a root canal and a trip to the E.R. with Noah. I hope this is not a pre-cursor to what is to come this year.
There truly is NEVER A DULL MOMENT IN OUR HOUSE!
