Southern Babies

If It’s This Cold It Should Snow

2012-02-12T21:18:00.001-05:00

Brrrr, it’s been so cold this weekend. I actually saw 4 snowflakes yesterday. That’s right folks, 4 snowflakes. We’ve had such a mild winter that we all got excited by those 4 snowflakes!

Lou got her cast off on Monday afternoon. She told me to never take it off her, but sorry, girl, it had to go. She got a good tub bath Monday night and it was so easy! After we took her cast off she was walking pretty good on her left foot. She was getting her heel down which was great. When she started running she went back up on her toes. But her PT said it was probably because she was weak from being in the cast for two weeks. We’ve been doing stretches all week and I do think I see a difference. She is able to get her toes up when we duck walk and has been doing great at some other stretches. Hopefully she’ll continue to stay stretched out and off those toes.

Tuesday we picked Lindy up from school and headed straight to the dentist. If you remember correctly, it’s never gone well for Lindy and always ends in puke. We’d been talking about it for a couple days so she knew where she was going. Will went first and as usual did a great job. We let Lindy watch for a minute and she was fine, until they called her name. We decided a private room would be the best bet so we headed there. I felt a bit bad about leaving Will all alone. He didn’t care a bit and they brought him to us when he was done. It took some convincing to get Lindy in the chair and to lay back and to let the hygienist look in her mouth, but she eventually let them do everything. She gagged and tried throwing up but since she had no food in her belly she didn’t throw up. She did finally let them clean her teeth and then the dentist came in and she let her put fluoride on her teeth. We got out of the dentist with no vomit! A pure miracle. We headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch and to let them play and headed home. We had to skip gymnastics because of the appointments.

Wednesday I had a MOD meeting and the kids had school and music class. Drew picked them up from music and brought them home for me.

Thursday morning Will and I went to church for a United Methodist Women’s meeting. The leader of the meeting, Bec, brought her husband to play with Will. She also brought Lincoln Logs so Will and Wayne built houses while we had our meeting. Will enjoyed playing with Wayne! We left the church and picked Lindy up and did a parent session with her teacher. She did pretty good reading a story and answering questions afterwards.

We have done nothing this weekend. Friday evening I did get Drew to go out for a little while. We got (free) milkshakes from Chick-fil-A and went to the mall so Drew could spend a gift card at the Deacon Store. We also went to Barnes and Noble for a little bit and then headed home. Saturday the kids and I headed to Sam’s Club and then stayed inside watching movies all day and night. It was so cold and windy we didn’t want to go out! Today we had church and we’ve got no plans either.

The fluid in Lindy’s ears have really been causing her hearing problems. Everyone is seeing how much it is affecting her hearing. We’ve noticed it at home and both her teachers are seeing it as well at school. I don’t really know what to do about it though. We went to the ENT two weeks ago and he wanted to give her until the beginning of March to see if it’d clear up on it’s own. But she has had so much trouble hearing us that I don’t know if we can wait that long. I might give it a week and if it’s still this bad I might have to give them a call.

So that is the week in review. I didn’t take many pictures but here is what I have.

Look at that beautiful foot! I don’t miss the cast!Cute and warm outfits.Church outfits today.Ladybug Girl (and for those who know I hate ladybugs – I’m actually coming around to them lately. My new hatred is with stink bugs. Which are a lot more gross).Monkey See Monkey Do.I don’t know what these crazy grins are or why they are both doing it. They came home from church and played their ixL’s while I was making lunch. I found them facing the wall while playing. It looked funny!We had red velvet pancakes tonight for dinner. Thanks Nana!FYI – when you throw up red velvet pancakes – they come out white. I know this because she choked on her allergy medicine and we saw these pancakes again. Who would have thunk it?!How I found Lou tonight. I think she needs another pillow. What do you think?!

We made our Valentines this year so that took us a couple of afternoons to do. I’ve had these Valentines planned for an entire year, after I saw them in Family Fun magazine last year. I went out after Valentine’s Day last year and found the right pan to do them in and I saved crayons the entire year. If we went to a restaurant and the kids got crayons I took them with us. And then Pinterest happened! Although I love it and I’m addicted, my idea for Valentine’s is all over Pinterest. So we’ll see if we were the only ones to make the heart shaped crayons. The kids helped do most of it so that was fun.

Peeling the wrappers off the crayons.Our pile of crayonsTime to snap them into little bits!Guess who LOVED this part!Filling up the heart molds with crayons.Today Will wrote his name on all of his. The finished products! Here is what we did for the kids’ teachers. We gave them each a little tube of lotion with this message on it. Lindy has 6 teachers. yikes! We had to do something economical!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

2012-02-05T20:28:00.001-05:00

The Super Bowl is on! I want the Patriots to win. I’m a former New Englander and I don’t like Eli Manning. Go Pats! Although it’s not looking so good. We made pizza bites and buffalo chicken bites and they were scrumptious! We stayed home to watch the game because we’re tired and lazy.

Hope you have had a good week. Ours was fine, seemed busy and it went fast. Of course they all go by fast.

Tuesday we had gymnastics and Lindy did okay. She stayed in there the whole time which is a miracle. She normally has to go potty and she likes to come out and visit me. The theme for the week was football so they had pom poms and did stuff with a football. It was cute.

Wednesday was a particularly busy day. It was pj day at the kids’ school. It was also 70F outside. I couldn’t very well send them in the fleece pjs they actually wear to bed. But Lindy has no lighter weight pjs that fit her right now. The one maybe acceptable pair wouldn’t fit over her brace. PJ day ended up stressing me out! We kind of made do with some fleece pants and a shirt that kind of matched. Will was at least easy to dress! After school they had music class. Drew picked them up because I went with my sister-in-law Jamie to a wedding guild luncheon. Jamie has her own wedding and event planning business, Southern Celebrations, and I’ve helped her with one wedding and hope to start helping her with more weddings. I went with her to get a feel for the wedding business. It was interesting to meet a lot of people in the biz!

Thursday night the kids had choir practice at church. Drew took the kids so I had some free time at home by myself! I exercised in my free time. I can’t wait to see them perform their songs in church in a couple weeks!

Friday was pirate or princess day in Will’s class. I wish it had been pirate or princess day in Lindy’s class since she was a pirate for Halloween. We had no pirate clothes for Will. Will and I spent time shopping at Goodwill on Thursday putting together a pirate outfit. It actually came together pretty cute. I was a little irritated that I had to spend money on the whole thing but I wanted him to have an outfit. He did not love the bandana but he at least wore it to school and I’m sure took it off right after he got in his room!

We had a very fun weekend and it’s not even over. Friday night was the spring consignment sale for my mothers of multiples club. It was way earlier then normal this year so I’ve been working on tagging clothes and toys for a couple weeks now. I had to take all my stuff Friday night and then I got to shop Friday night. Then a group of us went out afterwards for some food and a drink. I don’t know anyone all that well but it was fun to meet new people and get to know others better.

Saturday Drew taught classes at our district confirmation retreat all morning and afternoon so the kids and I hung around here. We did have to go pick up my leftover stuff from the consignment sale after lunch. I brought back about half my clothes but I didn’t bring home any toys. I love getting my checks in the mail from the sales! Last night we had our friends Duncan and Meredith over for dinner. Actually they made dinner and basically brought it to us. They know it’s easier to eat here with the kids since all their stuff is here. We put the kids to bed and fired up the Wii! We had a little dance competition and a Family Feud competition. A fun time was had by all.

Will said something pretty funny yesterday. Drew told him to do something and he talked back to him so Drew fussed at him. Then Will came upstairs and said to me, “Mom, I’m getting so tired of Dad’s attitude. It makes me tired, tired, tired!” Will didn’t know Drew was outside in the hallway so he heard it too. We died laughing!

Have a great week! Lindy gets her cast off tomorrow! I’m looking forward to giving her a real bath tomorrow night!

The cast didn’t slow her down one bit! Not even in gymnastics. We had some crazy warm days this week so I took the kids out to ride their bikes. By myself. It was interesting. Lindy fell off and hit her head – thank goodness for the helmet!Will is doing great on his bike. Lindy is getting much better too!Pj and favorite stuffed animal day. Will took Spotand Lindy took Mr. Quackers.Will has started building bridges and ramps. Lindy has packed this bookbag and carried it all week. This day it was so heavy she kept falling over. I finally had to take stuff out!Look at Miss Priss’ attitude!He was hiding!Pirate day!Lindy chilling one afternoon.More crazy Will buildings!The 100 piece set they got for Christmas lets him build even bigger buildings!Spending more time outside blowing bubbles.Will’s bike has a slight issue. One pedal keeps coming off.Trying to fix it.Dance party with Duncan and Meredith.Couple of thug dancers. ha!Church outfits today. Finding leggings to fit over the cast was fun!Ready for some football! We have this Bad Frogs book and Lindy likes to act like one of the Bad Frogs. Eating dinner in the living room while watching football.Our Super Bowl snacks! Yum!

New Camera!!!

2012-01-29T21:01:00.001-05:00

The most exciting news of my week was that I got a whole new camera! Not just a lens like I was hoping but a whole new camera!!!!! Tuesday afternoon I finally remembered to call about my camera. An hour and four people later I was a very happy lady! My old camera was a Nikon D60 which they don’t make anymore. I ended up getting a D3100 which is actually nicer than my old camera. It has a couple more features on it (like video) that my old one didn’t. Will and I went to hhgregg on Wednesday morning to pick it up. I walked in, handed them my invoice number, had to pay $44 (the difference) and walked out – in shock that they gave me a brand new camera! I love it! It feels so fast.

Other events of the week include Lindy doing gymnastics in her cast. She did pretty good too. The cast has not slowed her down one second. She kept up with all her friends just like there was no cast on. She’s done amazing in general with the cast. She has been so excited about showing it to everyone and all of her teachers have signed it. In the beginning of the week when someone asked what happened she was telling people she fell. ha! I’ve tried telling her it’s stretching her ankle but I’m not sure she gets that. We’ve done two baths in the kitchen sink this week. First time I’ve ever had a babe in the kitchen sink! She did not want to get in at first but as soon as she was in she loved it! It’s working pretty good though. I just couldn’t imagine sponge bathing her for two weeks.

Wednesday I had a March of Dimes meeting and the kids started the spring semester of music class. Drew picked them up for me and brought them home and put them down for a nap.

Thursday Lindy went to school but I picked her up at 10am so we could head to ENT and check the fluid in her ears. If you remember, she had completely flat tympanograms last week at her hearing test, indicating fluid in her ears. The ENT said yes she had fluid in her ears, but he’s going to give her 6 weeks and see if it clears up. He said I could keep her on allergy medicine, just to make sure we have that base covered, but he said it was probably from the cold she got a week or two before Christmas. I took Will with me and he did fine. I put Lindy in a stroller and Will helped me push the stroller. Lindy did not want to be riding in that stroller though! She didn’t care if she was the only one with a cast on her foot. We left ENT and headed over to audiology and they changed out the battery in Lindy’s FM system. I’m hoping that solves a few weird issues I keep having with it. We finally headed home after that and I was ready. Toting two kids all over a big hospital wore me out!

Thursday evening the kids went back to choir practice. Will is loving it. I’m so glad he finally decided to give it a try. Lindy did better sitting and standing still but only because I basically sat near her and told her when to sit still or stand up. I hate having to hover but she won’t do it otherwise. The first week I didn’t hover and wanted to see how she’d do without me. She was all over the place. She is learning the words and hand movements which is great but she also needs to learn to stand with the other kids.

Friday night we had dinner with Mike and Janice. She sent a late email asking if we wanted to join them at Applebee’s. We had no plans and no food and a gift card there so we said sure. They came over afterwards to visit awhile longer. It’s always good to see them.

Saturday morning we had another one of our babysitters come over, but not to babysit. Jennifer is in nursing school and she is taking a pediatrics class this semester and she needed to do a developmental test on a kid and she asked if she could use one of the kids. She came over and used Will as her testing subject. He had a good time playing with her and did really well with everything she asked him. Her sister Julie came over and helped me entertain Lindy while Jennifer was working with Will.

Saturday afternoon Grandbob and Suzette came over to the house because they were going to be babysitting for us that night. Ed and Jamie also came over. We all ate dinner together and then Drew and I headed out to get some culture. We went to Mozart’s Birthday Concert at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. We have this amazing college in town that does some amazing things and we never go see any of it. Drew got an Arts Card for Xmas that lets us go to 5 shows this spring. This was our first show. Mozart turned 265 years old. That’s old! We enjoyed our evening out and enjoyed the music. I enjoyed watching all the old people sleep. I’m sure they’d say they were listening to the music with their eyes closed but most of them were totally sleeping!

The only other news is that Lindy seemed to get another cold this weekend. Friday night she started coughing and having snot. She didn’t sleep well and ended up in our bed sometime in the early morning. She was so snotty and had a bad hacking cough all day yesterday. She couldn’t eat hardly at all. Everything made her cough, gag, and then eventually she threw up once at lunch. Lunch and dinner were a no-go for her. We were a little worried about leaving her with GBob and Suzette but they said she was fine and didn’t start coughing until she laid down to sleep. Which is normal because all the phlegm starts running down her throat. She was keeping Will awake so around 10pm we stuck her in our bed and she slept with us. Except I was having trouble sleeping so we kicked Drew out and he slept on the couch the rest of the night. Lindy and I slept better after that. Since she was coughing all night Lindy and I stayed home from church. Drew took Will and then GBob and Suzette picked him up from Sunday school. I’m disappointed Lindy has another cold because this will NOT help the fluid in her ears. uggg. On a good note though, she has been tons better today. I started her on Delsym as soon as she started coughing Friday night and so after a couple doses yesterday she is doing tons better today. She ate lunch and dinner so that’s always good! She is still coughing but not constantly.

That’s the news from our house. Enjoy some pictures from my NEW camera! Strange thing is I really didn’t take that many with it!

First picture on the new camera. Jack.Look at these gorgeous children!Lou had the pout going on full force one night. Not sure at first…but loved it!I forget now what he was eating but I thought his mustache was funny!The only picture I took yesterday. I never get Suzette in pictures so I’m glad I got this one because it’s a great picture!

Happy Birthday to Me and a ‘Special Boot’

2012-01-23T21:59:00.001-05:00

Let’s see…Seems like last week was so long ago. We’ve had a fairly eventful week!

Last Monday the kids didn’t have school because of the MLK holiday, but I don’t remember doing anything of interest.

Tuesday Lindy had school and then we had gymnastics. After gymnastics Will rode home with Katie and Claire so I could take Lindy to what I thought would be a routine hearing appointment. Unfortunately it turned out her ear drums weren’t moving, meaning she has fluid in her ears. It really irritated me. Especially since at the pediatrician 5 days before they said her ears looked good. The first fluid she’d ever had in her ears was last June but it cleared up with allergy medicine. The ENT told me to keep her on allergy medicine until it got cold, probably October. We have had a very mild winter so I’ve kept her on it up until about the middle of December when I figured I could surely stop. So now she has fluid. She earned a trip to the ENT on Thursday to see what he wants to do. I’ve for sure started allergy meds again so we’ll see if anything has changed by Thursday. I’m afraid she’s inching herself closer to tubes. Which I know aren’t a big deal, but I still would just rather avoid them altogether. They attempted a hearing test and what they could get did show her hearing was down quite a bit. So we’ll shall see what happens on Thursday.

Wednesday was one of the most important days of the year – MY BIRTHDAY! What a great day. I love birthdays – especially mine. I turned the big 35 this year. I’m officially in the mid-30’s. I had a great day. The kids told practically everyone at preschool that it was my birthday. I seriously didn’t prompt them either! Drew made me lunch, dinner, and a cake! It was fabulous to have the day off of cooking! He made a delicious Caesar salad, chicken rolled with mozzarella cheese in a wine sauce and bread. And my usual cake – chocolate with rainbow chip icing. My favorite present is probably Just Dance 2 for the Wii! I love dancing – even if I’m seriously bad! It’s a good workout!

Thursday night I took the kids to their first children’s choir practice. The kids got to ring the bells last week in church and Will was so jealous! I told him if he wants to ring bells that he has to go to practices and he agreed to go. He did awesome. He picked the words up to the songs right away. He had a blast. Lindy picked up the words to the songs pretty well but as usual she was a wanderer. We’ll have to work on the wandering. They both had a lot of fun with Miss Anna and Miss Lisa.

Friday we had a fairly easy and good ophthalmologist appointment. Short wait and and a good report. He dilated her eyes to check her prescription. Last year he measured her at –23.00 and this time he measured her at –19.00. I don’t really think her eyes are getting better. I think it’s a fairly subjective test because I’m sure she is moving around a lot. We aren’t changing her prescription (which is -21.00). That’s nice not to have to get new glasses. He did say that he’s seen a lot worse eyes than Lindy’s and I think this has shocked him. I truly think in the NICU that he didn’t even expect her to see. She is proving him wrong. He also said that her eyes look about the same but that she totally uses her left eye. She doesn’t use her right eye unless her left eye is patched and she has to use her right eye. But then she does fine when her left eye is patched. He doesn’t know why she mostly uses one eye. But at least nothing has changed!

Saturday the kids and Drew headed to our neighbor Benjamin’s birthday party while I helped Jamie with a wedding event. She has started a wedding business Southern Celebrations. I worked and got paid! First money I’ve made in awhile! The kids had fun at the party and playing with someone else’s toys!

Sunday we had church and then we went over to Katie, Kris, Claire and Micah’s house to hang out and eat. Jamie and Ed were there as well. It was supper club with kids. Not a most relaxing supper club but it was last minute. But we still had a good meal and enjoyed hanging out.

Today was the big day for Lou Lou. She got her cast – her special boot- at 9am this morning. We got up and she got a good bath – her last good soaking for two weeks! She objected to sitting in the chair at first but I finally got her in there. She was okay once we got started. I had the iPad and she got to watch a show. She kept telling Jill she was done. She got to choose any color she wanted and she chose yellow. I didn’t know she liked yellow but she said today it was her favorite color! She was actually kind of excited about her special boot when she saw it. I signed it first and then Jill signed it. She got down and walked great on it. We got home and she was so excited to show Drew and Will. They both signed it and then she wanted to sign it. ha! She signed her own cast! She has done so well with it today. It’s seriously not slowed her down at all. At nap time she asked if I could take it off but at bedtime she told me I couldn’t take it off. When I was leaving her room she told me thank you for getting my special boot and for carving pumpkins! Ha. That girl cracks me up! She has done great around the house and I suspect she’ll do fine around her classes. I’m not sure about outside or on the playground but we’ll find out. She is so excited to show her teachers and get them to sign it. What a girl. She’s my hero and it was extra special since she didn’t throw up!!

I still don’t have a camera so here are more bad cell phone pictures. Although I got awesome news today on the camera front. I sent it in to get my lens checked on AGAIN and was keeping my fingers crossed that after the 4th time I’d get a new lens. I found out today I’m getting a WHOLE NEW CAMERA!!! I’m hopefully picking it up tomorrow!!!

Sleepy boyTickling her to wake her up.NOT happy to be awake!My scrumptious birthday dinner!My ghetto fabulous birthday cake. 3 7-2=5. ha haMe and my sweetieMe and the crazy girl!My camera will catch them sleeping – hence the many sleeping pictures! haI put Will in her bed and she put her arms around his head.She woke up and asked where we were going. I said nowhere and she goes, “I don’t want to go to the hospital” and stuck that bottom lip out so far! Now she’s happy!After her eye doctor’s appointment she was ‘checking Drew’s eyes.’ Even though it appears she is enjoying gouging his eyes out!More Wii this week.A new hair-do for church on Sunday.Cute church dress.Getting the special boot today!Checking it out.Hey, it’s not so bad!Jill (her PT) signing her cast.Daddy helping Will sign it. It’s hard to write on a cast!Daddy signing it.Me helping Lindy sign her own cast!The special boot!

The Puker Strikes Again

2012-01-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh
Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

In the hallway, I tell Miss Lindy
The doctor we needed to go
In the hallway, the mighty hallway
She starts to puke her lunch

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Near the laundry room, and the car
and in the waiting room.
Just the mention of the doctor
Sent her over the edge.

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
This doctor won’t hurt you
Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
She needs to check your pee.

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh
Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh

That sums up our Friday. I’ll get there in a second!

After school on Monday I picked Lindy up and Drew picked Will up and took him home. Lindy and I headed to the hospital to have blood drawn to check her kidney function again. The blood work from December showed her bicarbonate was low but the doctor was skeptical about it so he ordered more blood work. I told Lindy we were going to see Ms. Martha and she was going to play with her arm and Lindy was completely fine. We went in and she charmed Ms. Martha’s pants off but never cried and hardly even flinched at getting her blood drawn. We left there and went to PT with Jill. She measured the catch in her ankle and her left ankle is at a –10, which means it is making her walk on her toes. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better SO… we are going to try to cast her and see if that helps. Jan. 23rd Lindy will get a cast for two weeks to try and reset the position of the catch in her left ankle. I’m a bit anxious about it. I hope she takes it in stride, just like everything else in life. I’m more worried about the logistics (bathing, the playground at school). I just hope it works!

Tuesday our nephrologist called with the blood work results and said everything was fine!! Yippee!! We don’t have to start any new medicines for Lindy! So glad to hear her kidneys are working right, even if they didn’t grow last year. We also had gymnastics on Tuesday and as bad as it sounds, I’ve stopped paying attention as much. It’s so stressful to watch Lindy and not be able to discipline her. Or redirect her I should say. It’s much more peaceful to talk with the other moms and not completely stress over her.

Wednesday I had a March of Dimes meeting at lunch time so Drew picked up the kids from music class for me. It was our last class of the first session. We take a week break and start up again at the end of the month.

Friday Drew and I went out to eat breakfast in the morning which was nice. I decided to call and make Lindy a doctor’s appointment because in the last week and half she has started urinating a lot more frequently. I have noticed it at home and both her teachers at her schools have mentioned it to me multiple days when I’ve picked her up. It didn’t seem like she was drinking more but she was definitely going a lot more often. Lindy had been on an antibiotic her entire life and we were just given the okay to stop it in mid-December (because her testing showed she finally outgrew the kidney reflux). I was worried she had a UTI.

The fun part started when after lunch I said, “okay Lindy, we need to get going. We’re going to see the doctor to check on your pee pee.” Things went downhill quickly. She started crying and saying no and started coughing and gagging and threw up twice. I grabbed an empty box sitting around and she puked in there. Drew and Will had not planned to go with us but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to be driving and have her in the back by herself and throwing up. They ended up grabbing coats and riding with us. She fell asleep for a few minutes and then woke up when we pulled into the doctor’s office. She started crying all over again and puked two more times, one being most of her lunch. We had to get her cleaned up and we finally made it into the doctor’s office. Drew takes them in the waiting room, where she promptly throws up. He takes her to the bathroom to get her out of the public eye! Everyone was looking at her with pity because everyone thought she had the stomach bug. The receptionist asked how long she’d been throwing up like that. I had to tell her it’d only been 20 mins ago and it was not a stomach virus, it was that she makes herself sick when we say the word doctor. The nurse finally calls us back and she thinks she had a stomach virus. Once we got in the room she was okay. They checked their oxygen saturations (which we seriously haven’t had done since they took that dreaded oxygen out of our house years ago). I had them do it on Will first and then she was fine. Lindy ended up being totally happy and in a good mood. That girl drives me nuts. We saw a new PA that was super nice and we really like her. Lindy weighed 30.8 pounds. Of course they thought it was a UTI so I had the fun job of getting her to pee in a cup. A first for us. We tried once and she wouldn’t do it but when we tried again we had success. M&M’s were a good bribe! The urine test came back fine though, no UTI. They pricked her finger, just to check her blood sugar and it was fine. (I was a little paranoid after having my niece get diagnosed Type 1 diabetic two years ago). Two hours later, they couldn’t find anything wrong. Ugggg. At least we know for sure.

Saturday I had a United Methodist Women’s breakfast at church and then we headed to Charlotte to celebrate the January birthdays in the Southern family. Drew’s is the 2nd, Anna is the 10th, and I’m the 18th. (3 days till my birthday people!!) We had a yummy lunch and yummy cupcakes. Lynn made me cinnamon toast crunch cupcakes and they were so good! I LOVE cinnamon flavored stuff! She made Anna red velvet cupcakes and Drew banana pudding cupcakes.

That wraps up our week. I still don’t have my camera back so I used my cellphone all week. I played with the Instagram app which makes the pictures look all kinds of funky ways! I love my phone but it is not fast enough to catch my kids!

It was warm enough one afternoon to play in the garage blowing bubbles and riding bikes. Lindy wore her helmet and blew bubbles. She never rode her bike. Will is getting really good on his bike, in the garage. Getting him out of the garage will be another issue. More Wii! Their favorite new activity.It doesn’t always go so well. Sometimes she doesn’t want help.Lindy has started ‘checking our underwear’ when she wears her gloves. Her teacher at one school always wears gloves when she changes diapers or helps kids in the bathroom. Checking Daddy’s underwear.Shell shocked at the doctor’s office. Post traumatic syndrome maybe?The birthday kids!All the kids!Anna rocking the Ove Glove and Onion goggles!Lindy testing the onion goggles!Bob ‘trying’ to play charades. Needless to say, no one got this clue!Lindy pretending to be Aunt Jamie.Today’s church outfits. Cute dress but major big bow. (Not as big as Ms. Alabama’s bow last night at the Miss America pageant!) She would not leave it alone!Tonight I made snowman pancakes. Hoping for a little bit of snow that the kids can play in! It’s cold, just no moisture in the air!

Happy Birthday Drew/Daddy!

2012-01-08T20:54:00.001-05:00

Well we got back into the swing of reality this week. Sort of. I really struggled to get up each morning and to get all the Christmas presents and Christmas decorations put away. Everything is down now, I just have to pack it up and put it in the attic. So much fun. Will has been so sad to see the decorations come down. He was crushed to see his little Christmas tree leave his room. I’ve left some snowmen stuff for him. Now he just keeps asking when it’s going to snow?!

We got home last Friday night and spent all day Saturday unpacking. Let’s see, New Years Eve was on Saturday night, wasn’t it? We partied so hard that I don’t remember what we did. NOT! The kids got some Wii games for Christmas that we tried out. They got a dancing game and a Wii Fit game. They loved both of them. We danced the night away. After they went to bed Drew and I played games on the adult Wii Fit. Drew beat me in every single balance game we did. Booo.

Sunday we had church and then we had a little birthday get together for Drew, whose birthday was Monday, January 2nd. Ed and Jamie, Duncan and Meredith, Katie, Kris, Micah, and Claire, and our neighbors Robert, Jasmine, Elia, and Benjamin all came to eat chili and watch football. I think Drew enjoyed his little party for his 36th birthday!

Monday was his actual birthday. The kids didn’t have school Monday so it was another relaxing day of trying to put more stuff up. Drew requested tacos for dinner and wanted a banana pudding instead of birthday cake. Whatever makes him happy! The kids and I aren’t huge fans so he ate the entire thing this week and was in heaven!

Tuesday Lindy headed back to school. She was very excited to go back to school. She missed her teachers and friends. Will and I went and got the oil changed in my car. He loves going with me to the dealership because they have a golf putting game he loves to play. We headed to gymnastics after school. I forgot Lindy’s FM system – my mind was still on vacation. She still did okay without it. She got some new leotards for Christmas and she looked super cute!

Wednesday Will finally got to go back to school as well. He was very excited to see his teacher and friends as well. After school they had music class and boy were they wound up. They were excited to get back to reality I guess!

Thursday morning Will and I ran a few errands and then headed to story time. We picked up Lindy and headed back home. Friday was a normal school day as well. We did end up going shopping on Friday evening for a birthday present and then we went out to eat. We got home and played some more Wii dance and Fit games. The kids love these games and Will gets pretty upset when I tell him we are not playing them everyday, like he thinks we should!

Saturday we had the most gorgeous winter day ever! I think it got up to almost 70F! Drew and I got the Christmas trees packed up and we got all the outside lights down. It was so nice out we even got our gutters cleaned out. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts in January! Crazy! We finally got showered and ready to head to our friend Berkley’s 5th birthday party at Bounce U. The kids love this place. Will is finally able to do almost everything by himself now. Lindy still requires a ton of help. This was Drew’s first time to Bounce U and now he understands why I come home exhausted! Berkley’s dad, Brett, has an identical twin brother, Josh. Lindy kept going up to Josh because I’m sure she thought it was Brett (who she knows)! Lindy somehow got Josh to take her up this big slide two times because Drew was helping Will and I didn’t think I could carry her up it. She loved that! Even if she thought it was Brett! She also loved Berkley’s great grandfather’s cane. She could have played with that all day long!

Today has been a normal day of church and doing odds and ends around the house. This week looks to be a busy one for us. On a happy note, it’s the only 5 day week we have in the entire month of January! We have two more Mondays off of school!

I sent my camera in AGAIN to have the lens looked at. It’s the third time I’ve sent it in because the lens keeps coming loose. If they agree that there is a problem then I can possibly get them to buy me a new lens!! Keeping my fingers crossed! Some of these photos are not the best since they are from my phone.

New Years Eve on the Wii Fit!The only picture I took from the party Sunday night. Will and Benjamin bouncing.Happy Birthday Daddy!He wanted and got a chin-up bar. And he was happy to get Kung Fu Panda 2!The birthday banana pudding!I didn’t have a 6. So I put one 3 and then two more threes, one in front of the other. 3 + 3 equals 6. Get it? It was my ghetto fabulous birthday candles!We got a super cold blast of winter weather in the beginning of the week so Lou had to wear a cute sweater to school!Playing golf while getting our oil changed.Lou in one of her new leotards!More cute sweater action!Trying out the new chin-up bar. Lindy asks daily to do her exercises!The kids got new towels for Christmas. Lindy loves her blue elephant.But likes to walk around with it pulled all the way down. A bit dangerous for her!Will does not love his lion. No clue why!The birthday girl, Berkley.By the time Lindy got home from the bounce party, she was sporting a very 80’s side pony tail!Lindy taking a picture of Will this morning.It got quiet today and we found the kids like this. For whatever reason I think it’s so cute when they cuddle up together to do something (like play their leap pads today).

The Rest of the Week in Ohio

2011-12-31T22:29:00.002-05:00

We stayed all week in Ohio but it sure went by fast. Monday was all Christmas all day long. Tuesday we ventured out to see if there was any Christmas decorations left at any of the stores. My sister scored two Christmas trees, much to her husband’s dismay! They had to be brought back to Missouri on the top of their van! But hey, she got a good deal!

Wednesday morning my dad, my sister and I left bright and early and headed to Royal Oak, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit). I have a great aunt who lives there and had just been put in a rehabilitation nursing home on Monday the 26th. She has no husband or children and her only living brother is in Florida. She’d been taken to the nursing home from the hospital and therefore had nothing from her house. My dad has been helping her out a lot lately so we made the almost 3 hour trip so we could see her, visit with her, and help my dad out. We stopped by to see her first thing and she was not in great spirits. She was having trouble adjusting to the new surroundings. We visited a bit and then left for lunch and to run errands and go to her house. We cleaned her house out a bit since she won’t be going back and we picked up some of her clothes and belongings. We headed back to see her and visited for awhile more before heading home. I think she truly enjoyed the help and the visit. I hope she can adjust because it is the best thing for her!

Thursday, after a long walk (in pretty cool temps with my mom and sister) and a quick trip to Costco, we headed out with all the kids to the movies. This was Lindy and Will’s first ever trip to a movie theatre to see a movie! I’ve always been too scared to take Lindy, not having a clue whether she would be able to see the movie. We saw the new Chipmunks movie, Chipwrecked. We sat on the second row, partly on purpose and partly because there were no other seats available. It worked out great though! Lindy seemed to see the movie. She might have been more interested in the popcorn, but she definitely saw the movie! I had visions of her not seeing it and therefore not wanting to sit still in her seat but she actually did great. Will sat the entire time and watched, only moving to my mom’s lap after a little while. Lindy did finally want to sit with me and she actually did fall asleep at the very end of the movie. She watched all but about the last 10 minutes. I was so very proud of her! I always expect the worst and love to be pleasantly surprised. After the movie we went to my parents’ Thursday night stomping grounds, Buffalo Wild Wings, for dinner. They have a group of friends they meet there every Thursday night. After dinner we headed back to my parents’ house for a little birthday celebration. We have three January birthdays in my family (Drew is the 2nd, I’m the 18th, and my dad is the 27th).

We got up Friday and got everyone bathed and fed and we packed up most of our belongings. Lee flew back in from Missouri that morning so my dad went and got him and then we all headed to get family pictures taken. Something the boys LOVE to do – NOT!!!! It was actually a rather painless experience. The entire family picture is the best one of Lindy but oh well. They only had one photographer for a group of 10 people. After the group picture another lady came in and helped make the kids smile. I really wish she could have been there from the get go. My parents got an awesome picture of the four grandkids. Everyone is looking and smiling! I can’t wait to get my copies of them.

We got back to my parents’ house, finished loading our things in the car and we headed back to NC. It was a much, much more pleasant car ride home since no one had diarrhea! We got home about 10:30pm last night and put the kids straight into bed and they were out in a few minutes.

I’ve spent every waking moment today (aside from a trip to Walmart) unpacking from all our Christmases. It’s a definite love hate relationship with all these presents. Especially stocking stuffers. I love getting them, all very useful, little items, but they all have to be put away! And I can’t help rearranging or organizing or cleaning as I’m putting stuff away. Maybe I’ll start taking Christmas stuff down tomorrow. The kids had a pajama day while I worked putting everything away.

We rocked our New Years Eve tonight playing the kids’ new Wii games. They got the Nick Dance and Nick Fit game. We all had fun tonight playing games. Now the kids are in bed and I’m going to beat Drew in some Wii fit games! Happy New Year!

Dancing with the kids’ new gamesThese two take their dancing seriously!My beautiful niece, Hayley!Lindy got new flip flops with her name on them and she was loving them. She has never worn flip flops because of her braces.Amy and I with our Great Aunt MargaretAt the movies for the first time ever!Alvin and the Chipmunks!Three cousins! Rylee is so funny!Lindy loved her some Aunt Amy this week.Group bedtime hug with Papa.Sweet hugs for Nana.Awww!The birthday kids!My dad was laughing at the sweet card my mom bought Drew for his birthday. Something about their daughter picking out a prince of a guy. My dad thought it was pretty funny.Me and Lou.

Christmas Day with Papa and Nana

2011-12-31T21:57:00.001-05:00

We got up on the 26th and did Christmas with my parents. My sister, Lee, Hayley and Rylee had been there since Friday.

My parents usually assign each kid and grandkid a certain color of wrapping paper but with 8 people that was getting a little tough. You never know what color you are until you start passing out gifts. This year everyone was assigned a number and we didn’t know what number we were until the little kids started passing out numbers. My dad made number tags that everyone had to wear.

The kids got lots of fun things from my parents and sister. They got Leap Pads from my parents which they think are neat. Will seems to have caught on but I think it might take Lindy a little longer to figure this one out. She does well on her iXL so I think she’ll get the hang of it soon. The kids got some clothes, more Magnatiles, cars and a car case and a pirate ship. Will got an ambulance that he played with all week. Lots of fun new stuff!

After presents and everyone getting ready, we had our traditional Christmas dinner – prime rib! Yummy! One of my favorite meals all year! Dad and Lee smoke the prime rib and my mom makes my grandmother’s special rolls. A favorite for sure!

#5#7#6#8The memo boards I made for Hayley.It was a very piratey Christmas for Lindy!The memo board I made for Rylee. The only gift she liked that we gave her. She voiced her disapproval of the other things she opened.The canvas I had made for Amy.

A yummy lunch!

Lee was there, I just didn’t get a picture of him. Although he did have to fly home on Monday night because the FDA decided to conduct a big inspection at work. He flew back in on Friday morning but missed the whole week of family togetherness. (He’s probably secretly thanking the FDA!)

Christmas Day

2011-12-31T21:46:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve night ended up being a doozy. During Christmas Eve at Lynn’s house, Lindy started up with a hacking cough again. She started acting like she was getting the second round of the cold she had a week or two ago. We put them to bed but she just hacked and hacked so we ended up with her in our bed.

We had to wake the kids up at 7:30am on Christmas Day! Will told us that Santa had not come because he had not heard reindeer hooves or Santa saying “Ho Ho Ho.” He was pleasantly surprised to find that Santa had come!

Santa brought the kids a mini-trampoline (good PT for Lindy! Great idea Santa!), kid-sized snow shovels, a fire station Lego set for Will and a Dora pirate toy for Lindy. And of course stockings full of goodies.

After looking at Santa presents and stockings we had our cinnamon and orange roll breakfast. Then we resumed presents from us and to each other. We got the kids some books, a shirt, a new water bottle, some house slippers and wagons to attach to their cars outside. The kids really enjoyed exchanging presents with each other. They both liked the DVD’s that they picked out for each other.

Since Christmas was on a Sunday, we were all supposed to head to church. Lindy coughed all night long and all morning long. We felt it was best not to take her to church. I didn’t want anyone else to get sick and she would have been very disruptive coughing so much! Drew headed off to church and I was able get everything picked up and get the car loaded.

We left for Ohio around 1:30pm and got there around 9:30pm. We had to stop 20 minutes into our trip for Lou to go poop. That should have tipped us off. She ended up having diarrhea and we ended up having to stop a bunch of times. She did SO well holding it (most of the time – there were two small accidents) until we could get off the interstate and into a bathroom. There were two very well timed rest stops in Ohio that were lifesavers. Whew – it was a rough day for the girl with the coughing and runny poops but we made it safely to Ohio. Boy we were glad to pull in my parents driveway. I’m sure everyone at my parents’ house was not glad to see us pull in the driveway with everyone with a cold of some sort and one with diarrhea!

Santa’s Presents Santa even left Jack some treats and a new toy!Waking up the sleepyheads!Pretending she slept in her bed all night! Waiting patiently on the steps for pictures!Will’s first glimpse that Santa had really come!”Swiper, no swiping!” The sly fox on Dora swipes a lot of things at our house, according to Lindy. She loves Swiper!Pint-sized snow shovels. Because we have these, it means it will not snow in NC this winter!Lindy opening Will’s gift.Will opening Lindy’s gift.Will with his present that he made us at school.Lindy and the present she made us at school.Getting every last present under the tree!New wagons for theirs cars outside.When we got to my parents’ house the kids found Santa had filled more stocking for them in Ohio.

Christmas Eve and Mimo’s Birthday

2011-12-24T22:27:00.001-05:00

Today we went down to Waxhaw to have Christmas and birthday celebrations with Mimo, Ed, Jamie, Corbyn, Molly, Anna, and Brian. Today, the 24th, is Mimo’s 37th birthday!!

We had a tasty brunch and then Mimo opened her birthday presents. After that we moved onto Christmas presents. The kids got some new fun toys they were excited about. Will got a cool doggie guitar that he played all afternoon. He also got some new cd’s and some new Legos. Lindy got some cute new leotards for gymnastics, some pirate magnet toys, and a new doggy that is supposed to act like a real one. Unfortunately, it needs new batteries so we’re not sure exactly what it does yet. Lindy is suddenly all about dogs. She used to not like them but now she loves them!

After the celebrations were over we headed out to meet a friend of Drew’s for dinner. Jay is of the nomadic type. He moves all over the world. Since we saw him 3 years ago he has lived in Mexico, the Philippines, Australia, and now he is in South Korea. We met his fiance Lizzy and got to see his mom, too. It’s always nice to visit with him when he is back for the Christmas holidays.

Most of the gang at lunch.Who gave the crazy lady a staple gun??!!Cookie, the pup!Will and his doggy guitar!LOVE this shirt!!! So true! Says, “And though she be but little, she is fierce!” So perfect for her!Aunt Anna made the kids a new bulletin board for their room!Mimo is going to try out the eggies and let us know if they work!So maybe Jamie and I bought each other the same snowman? So what! We both liked them!So what if I bought one for Mimo, too!Lindy lifted Molly’s Hello Kitty sweatshirt!Ed’s normal look!Lindy’s new hat. She kept pulling it down and saying, “Mimo, I can’t see you!” She’s a nut!See? She LOVES Pooka now!At dinner tonight with Jay and Lizzy.Jay and Lizzy.

Both kids fell asleep on the way home but we woke them up so we could put out reindeer food and cookies and milk for Santa. Tonight was about the cutest I’ve ever seen the kids. They were so excited. Will wanted to go to bed so fast so Santa could come! He was whispering, but I’m not sure why! He was going to listen for reindeer hooves and Santa’s Ho Ho Ho. They were so cute!

Unfortunately, Lindy was coughing badly the whole trip home and is upstairs coughing up a lung right now. Hope we get some sleep tonight! She always has trouble getting over a cough but tonight it seems to have gotten worse. Hmmmm…

One tired boy!Putting reindeer food out in the front yard.Putting cookies by the fireplace for Santa.Here comes the milk!The kids and I each had on white undershirts and red shirts on top today. Totally not planned, just how it worked out!The kids also ate the last piece of chocolate in their charts! Then we brushed teeth and went to bed!

The Week Before Christmas

2011-12-24T22:17:00.001-05:00

After our fun filled Monday, Lindy had her last day of school on Tuesday. She had another party at school for Christmas and two kids’ birthdays. Tuesday evening Drew and I went out to eat with a few other couples, and Jennifer, a girl from our old church, watched the kids for us. Between the fact that Lindy has always done well with Jennifer and us prepping her all afternoon that we were leaving and telling her that Miss Jennifer would change her pjs and put her to bed, she didn’t throw up! Yay!

Wednesday Lindy and I got up and headed out for the morning. She got a haircut and then we went Christmas shopping so Lindy could pick something out for Will. That has been a fun thing this year and surprisingly they have not told each other what they got each other! We ended up spending all morning out because it was rather busy out at the few stores we went to. Wednesday afternoon Drew and I turned our kitchen into a bakery. We made 11 loaves of cinnamon pull apart bread for Christmas presents. We had quite the assembly line going! Right as the last loaf came out, Uncle Ed, Aunt Jamie and Molly and GrandBob arrived at our house. We had dinner and then we headed to a Wake Forest basketball game. The Deacs were playing UNCW – my alma mater! We got to the game and met up with Anna and Brian who had also driven up. It was slightly strange to not be cheering for Wake! We used to have season tickets and of course we always pulled for Wake. But I would have loved to have seen my Seahawks win! And they tried hard and gave the Deacs a good game. Really I was happy with whichever team won. GrandBob spent the night with us that night because he was headed to West Virginia to pick up Suzette’s mom the next morning.

Thursday morning the kids and I made Christmas cookies. I got the dough all ready but they helped cut the shapes out and then ~~covered~~ decorated the cookies with colored sugars and little chips and colored balls. Will went especially heavy on the little chips this year and Lindy went heavy on, well, everything! They each made a pan and then I kicked them out of the kitchen while I finished the rest.

Thursday afternoon Lindy had physical therapy with Jill. She says the catch in Lindy’s left ankle is getting worse. It is most likely due to the growth spurt. We worked hard on getting her toes up and then stepping up and down on mats without holding onto anything. She had to step between two mats without falling in the hole. She actually did really well with both of those. Jill actually wants us to go back to every other week now because of her left ankle. She is going to watch her but she mentioned possibly doing some serial casting with her. It’s a cast they put on that Jill said could possibly ‘reset’ the position of her catch. Anyway, we’ll see what the new year brings. So glad she is growing but I hate that it is causing problems!

Thursday evening we had our neighbors over for supper for a holiday celebration. They are Jewish so they brought the Menorah and lit candles and admired all of our Christmas decorations! They brought the brisket and potato latkes and we did salad and dessert. It was a fun evening and the kids had fun playing with Elia and Benjamin.

Friday morning we did some more baking (I’m baked out) and last night we had our Christmas Communion Service at church. Ed, Jamie, Corbyn, and Molly joined us and we enjoyed all the music and communion.

It was a busy, busy, busy week but it was full of a lot of fun things. We just aren’t used to socializing so much, so it wore us out! And the baking. It wore me out!

My beautiful girl!Christmas headbands!She puts a new spin on the word ‘headband’Wake Forest vs UNCW basketball game!The kids wore their Wake stuff but I wore my UNCW sweatshirt!Aunt Anna and Brian!Making cookies in our matching Wake aprons!Can you see the flour all over her face? Let the decorating begin.You can’t even see the cookie under there. Tasting the final product!Turns out Will didn’t like all the mini chips and we had to take them off. She had her bags all packed and was ready to go see Santa Claus!Will’s new hiding place this week.

Lindy’s Homecoming Day 4 Years Ago

2011-12-20T10:59:00.001-05:00

(Her homecoming was yesterday, December 19th, but Blogger wouldn’t let me post last night.)

Four years ago we finally brought our baby girl home after 143 days in the NICU. 43 days after her brother had come home and just in time for Christmas. We were SO excited that she got discharged for Christmas.

Her 143 days were a pretty rough 143 days. She had 8 surgeries during her time in the NICU. It seemed like every time we turned around she was headed to the OR! By the grace of God, she made it through each one and she grew and got healthy enough to go home.

I remember the day she came home very well. Bob and Suzette came up to our house and Suzette babysat Will for us while Bob drove me to Durham to meet Drew who was already there. After a few last minute instructions, they let us have her! We had to drive two hours home with her and her oxygen and oxygen meter. To say we were nervous was an understatement!

Lindy has come a long ways in her four years at home. When we brought her home we honestly had no clue what her quality of life would be. She had Grade III and IV brain bleeds and we had no clue if she would ever sit up or crawl or walk or run. Throw in the severe vision and hearing loss and we didn’t have a clue what to expect. We have been so pleasantly surprised at how well Lindy has done in life. Yes, she had struggles with vision and hearing and cerebral palsy, but sometimes you’d never know it! Sometimes we forget she is ‘different.’ The girl has one heck of a work ethic and determination that has brought her far in life.

We love our girl more than words can really say. Life would be boring without her. (There would definitely be a lot less throw up if she wasn’t around. ha ha!)

We love you so much Lindy!

Since Will and Lindy will always share the same birthday, we celebrate their individual homecoming days as well. For now we pick a fun activity but when they get older they will get to pick something to do.

Lindy had school this morning but when I picked her up we headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch and to play on the playground. It was a bad idea. Her class had their Christmas party so she had apparently eaten a lot of (green) food already. She had hardly eaten much when she threw it all back up. Hence how I know she ate green food. ha! After that she was completely fine. The kids loved playing in the playground, even if I had to crawl halfway up in the thing to help Lindy out.

We went home for a nap and then we headed out this evening to the Denton Farm Park to the Country Christmas Train in Denton NC. The kids took their first ever train ride and had a blast. We took about a 20 minute ride that included a little movie about the Christmas story and then lights along the way. They had lots of little houses you could go in and look around. They had an old Methodist Church where you could go in and hear stories and singing. You could also see Santa but we didn’t wait in line for that since we’ve seen him a few times already. We roasted marshmallows and had our first port-o-potty trips. Actually we toured most of the bathrooms in the Denton Farm Park. It was a fun family night and something new and exciting to do!

At Chick-fil-A. After the throw up incident.Heading down candy cane lane to the train.We rode in the caboose!Lindy was ‘taking pictures’ of me!

Christmas Play and Southern Family Christmas

2011-12-18T23:13:00.001-05:00

This morning the kids were in their first ever Christmas play at church. Will was the cutest cow ever and Lindy was the cutest sheep ever. They both did exactly as they were supposed to which made us proud parents of a cow and a sheep!

Mimo made Lindy more hair clips!

Right after church we headed to Aunt Joan’s house for the Southern Family Christmas. We had another yummy lunch and then the kids got to open more presents. Then the adults had a dirty santa game with “As Seen On TV” gifts. I enjoyed the game because I brought home a ShamWow. I’ve always wanted a ShamWow! I’m not sure Drew was very happy with his Breast Lift Pads but it was fun! The Southern Family tradition is to play a big game of kickball each time we get together. Even though my team lost, it was still fun. A few people who always sit on the sidelines decided to join in this year which was fun. It’s fun getting together with family!

Lindy and Abbey – Lindy was totally using her for her phone.Bob was excited about his back scratcher. Because you know old people can’t reach that far.Our team.The opposition.Joan’s first year in the game. She was on fire!”We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher”Look at that form. Not bad for an old guy!Kelsey and Abbey - Two of my favorite girls ever! Even if Abbey is a dork!

Christmas with GrandBob and Suzette

2011-12-18T23:07:00.001-05:00

We headed to Charlotte Saturday morning for our first Christmas of the season. We had a yummy lunch and then got to dig into presents. The kids scored some fun presents from GrandBob and Suzette. GrandBob bought these kind of random little suitcases and the kids loved them! Who knew they’d be the big gift! They played and played with them, pretending to go on trips with them. At one point Lindy asked for the car keys so she could be on her way. Too funny. Lindy passed out as soon as we got in the car to head home. That always signifies a good time!

The kids are old enough to hand out all the gifts!Let the opening of presents commence!Drums!A pirate ship!The suitcases!Ed and JamieAnna and Brian I wrapped a fruitcake in four different boxes and made Bob work for it. I try my hardest to irritate him!Cool and the Gang. (I’m cool and this is my gang. ha!)Wouldn’t be a get together without some wrestling. When will they ever grow up?

Lots of Christmas Goings-On

2011-12-18T22:58:00.001-05:00

Let’s see….we did lots of fun things this week. First off, we finally talked to Lindy’s nephrologist about the kidney testing we had done two weeks ago. It is official that she FINALLY outgrew her kidney reflux! Her urine no longer flows back up in the wrong direction!! Because she finally outgrew it, she gets to stop her daily antibiotic! Lindy has taken an antibiotic EVERY day of her life, until this week. For the first time ever, she is MEDICINE FREE!! It was great news we were really excited to hear. No more yucky cystograms or VCUG’s! As good as that news is, there is something we have to figure out. We found out at the appointment that her kidneys did not grow. Because they didn’t grow, the doctor ordered blood work. The blood work did come back showing that her bicarbonate was low. It should be above 20 and it was at 17. This would mean her kidneys are not getting rid of acid correctly. But the doctor was surprised to see this. He said people with low bicarbonate are sluggish, don’t eat well and don’t grow well. This is the polar opposite of Lindy right now. She is definitely not sluggish, she eats like a horse right now, and she is in a growth spurt. He said clinically she does not appear to have low bicarbonate. We are going to redo her blood work and see if it is low again. If it is then she has to go on some new medicine. I may try to take Lindy on Thursday to get blood work done again.

As for fun activities, we had gymnastics on Tuesday and we went out to dinner with Ed, Jamie, and Molly to celebrate Jamie’s birthday. We had fun celebrating with her and hope she had a great day.

Wednesday we had our last music class of the year and then we went to the Pilot Mountain Christmas Lights that evening. It’s someone’s backyard where they put 350,000 lights up and let people walk through. We’ve been to the Pilot Mountain Lights the last three years, 2008, 2009 (but forgot the sd card for the camera), and 2010. It’s a definite Christmas tradition for us. We used to have to carry the kids and now they can run through. Some years it’s been so cold and this year it was about 55F out. This year a car had crashed as they were turning into the parking lot. Thankfully no one was hurt but the police, ambulance, and fire trucks did add plenty more lights! The kids had fun running from one display to the next. I like it so much because everything is so close for Lindy to see. They had new additions this year so it’s neat to see how it keeps growing.

Thursday morning after Will and I dropped Lindy off we went and picked our friend Claire up and brought her home with us to play for the morning. Will had a lot of fun playing with her and didn’t want her to go home. We took Claire home and picked Lindy up and did a parent session with her teacher. We got home and ate lunch and soon afterwards Mimo and Aunt Anna arrived. Soon after that Jamie and Molly arrived for an afternoon of gingerbread house making. We didn’t actually use gingerbread, instead we used these cool reusable houses Mimo bought us. It’s a plastic house you decorate and then clean off when you’re done. You can decorate houses all year round if you want. This was the first house the kids and I have ever decorated. I iced it for them and we let them each do two sides of the house. Lindy just threw candy on it but Will as a little more methodical. Jamie and Molly made a really nice looking house. The kids had fun, even if we had to stop Lindy from eating all the candy!

Lindy woke up Thursday morning after a kind of long night. She went to bed Wednesday night and woke up a few times saying her tongue hurt. I had NO clue what she was talking about. We finally put her in our bed but she still didn’t sleep great. She seemed to get a little congested throughout the night. I finally figured it out that she probably meant her throat hurt. She seemed to act okay Thursday morning so I took her to school. When I picked her up from school she did seem like she didn’t feel great. Her teachers said she had been okay, just sneezing a lot. They had gone outside to play and it must have worn her out. She did end up having a low-grade fever in the afternoon and evening so she actually stayed home sick from school on Friday. It was the first time this whole school year either one of them has missed a day from being sick. Pretty good to make it to the middle of December. She actually acted pretty good on Friday. Her fever was pretty much gone. She just took it easy all day and she definitely felt better.

I’m going to do a couple separate posts on the weekend but of course Will and I have gotten her cold. My throat started getting a little sore on last night and the faucet called Will’s nose started running this morning. This evening he had a low-grade fever and acted like he didn’t feel great. I hope he feels a ton better in the morning because I don’t want him to miss his Christmas party at school tomorrow. I hope for a good night with him!

Hanging more ornaments on their tree.Does this girl look sluggish to you?????For old times’ sake – a sideways picture!Pilot Mountain Christmas Extravaganza We thought this looked like our old church!They stopped to listen to Frosty and then…busted a move to his singing!The tunnels into the backyard!Our little elf!The decorating of the gingerbread house. Will’s side.Lindy’s side.The gingerbread crew.

Christmas Decoration Tour

2011-12-14T21:26:00.001-05:00

Here is a little tour of our Christmas decorations at our house.

Starting outside the front door:

Inside the door we have five Christmas trees. We had five last year as well but the one in our living room is a new tree we got this year.

Our new tree in the living room which has all mine and Drew’s ornaments on it.

The kids’ tree in the dining room. It has all the ornaments that have been given to Lindy and Will and ornaments that they have made.

The trees in the kids’ bedrooms.

And finally, Adam’s tree. It has gained a few more ornaments this year as well.

This year I had some new things to add to our decorations. Throughout this year I got Christmas decorations from my grandparents and a new decoration from Drew’s grandmother. All of our grandparents are now gone, so these decorations have become very special.

My grandparents (my dad’s parents) have been gone a couple years now but I just got my box of things from their house. I was so excited to see the tree skirt that is around Adam’s tree. My grandmother made this tree skirt and it always used to be on the bottom of the ‘grandkid Christmas tree.’ Every year my grandparents had a little tree at the top of the stairs that the grandkids got to decorate. This was the tree skirt on that tree. I also have ornaments from that tree as well.

Another special decoration from my grandparents is my stocking. My grandmother made four stockings and each year the grandkids had a drawing to see which stocking they got that year. We never had just one stocking. When the four grandkids split up the stockings we did another drawing to see who got which stocking. I got this Santa stocking.

This year I also got a neat little Christmas tree from Drew’s grandmother, Nanny, who passed away a little over a year ago. Drew said he remembers this tree in Nanny’s house. It’s a great addition to our decorations.

As for decorations from our other grandparents, I do have a bell from Drew’s other grandparents, Mimi and Pappy. Drew’s mom claims that Mimi did not make it, but I did get it from her house so it was technically part of her decorations. And I like it. So we call it Mimi’s bell.

As for my last grandparents (my mom’s parents), I don’t have anything. My grandfather passed away way before I was ever born so I didn’t know him. My grandmother, who we called Grammer, passed away when I was a freshman in college. At the time I never really thought about getting any Christmas decorations from her house. My grandmother was kind of funny about decorations anyway. She had a little table top Christmas tree that she kept in the attic, with a trash bag on it. She’d get it down, take the trash bag off of it and she had her decorated tree. After Christmas she’d put a trash bag back on it and put it back away! My mom only has one small snowman decoration from her mom. I have already told her I want it someday – when she is no longer needing it. ha! My mom did tell me that my grandmother always had mistletoe hanging up in the doorway from the kitchen to the living room so I think I’ll pick some up and it will be in her honor!

And that, my friends, finishes our tour of Christmas decorations. I have lots more decorations but I’m not going to bore you with pictures of all of them.

But I will leave you with a rather random decoration that was also in the box from my grandparents’ house.

Merry Christmas!

Another Busy December Week

2011-12-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

Seems like the weeks get busier and busier. But they have also been fun and more fun, so it’s all good!

We started off last Monday with school and PT for Lindy. In November, Jill was not pleased to see that Lindy seemed to be toe walking more than in the past. She sent us home with instructions to do a lot of ‘duck walking’ and let Lindy walk in our shoes (makes her get her toes up off the ground so she doesn’t trip on our long shoes). We went back and Jill said Lindy looked better but she was still doing it – mostly on the left foot. She checked her all out and Lindy still has really good range of motion – it’s not just a stretching problem – but she has a catch in her left ankle stopping her from getting good heel contact. She mentioned that it could be a growth spurt – which can make a kid look tighter than they really are. I forgot to write this in my post last week, but they weighed and measured Lindy at her kidney appointments last week and this confirmed she is in a growth spurt. She was 35.5 inches and 28.4 lbs on August 1st and on December 1st she was 36.75 inches and 30.25 pounds. So while we are happy she is growing (and this explains why she has been eating so incredibly well the last few months!), it is also making her ankles tighter. Jill found an old brace – a tall one – and we tried it on her left foot and Lindy did walk better in it. We were sent home with the brace, with instructions to wear it in the afternoons at home and to continue the duck walking and we are going back the week before Christmas to check her again. If we want to order new braces or anything we want to do it before the end of the year (the whole insurance deductible thing). So we’ll see what Jill says on the 22nd. I’d hate to see another tall brace but we’ll do what we have to do.

Tuesday we had gymnastics and for once, Lindy did really well. She listened in circle time and only picked up her square one time. And she only did that because she saw the little girl next to her do it. Between the time I picked her up from school and the time class started I told her 13,098 times not to pick up her square! They had all kinds of Christmas decorations out which all the kids loved. Wednesday we had music class, which was a normal class.

Thursday we met up with Mike and Janice at the ‘ice cream shop’ for a Christmas dinner with them. The kids (well we do too! ) always enjoy their dinner dates with Mike and Janice. After dinner Janice came back to our house and watched the kids for us while Drew and I went and got some culture. We went to the theatre to see Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the High Point Theatre. It was so good. I’ve obviously heard of Scrooge and Bah humbug before but I’d never read the book or seen the play. Now it all makes sense. We thoroughly enjoyed our night out at the theatre!

Friday morning Lindy had a Christmas party with all of the hearing impaired students in our county. We let her skip her other school so she could go with her friends to the party. They had crafts and Santa and then each class (preschool all the way through high school) performed a little skit or song. There were only 5 out of 9 kids in Lindy’s class there and Lindy and one other girl were the only ones doing the hand movements. I couldn’t tell whether she was singing or not. We were proud of her because her teacher said Lindy has only practiced a couple times with them. She did great and she looked super cute!!

Friday night we had a fun Christmas party at church with our friends from the UMAR houses in town. These are adults with developmental disabilities who live in these group homes. We have two houses of women and one house of men in town. Our church has become fairly active with them and it’s been a wonderful thing. Friday night we got to eat, sing, play bells, and give all 18 UMAR residents a Christmas gift. I think they had fun and I know that we all had fun. They love seeing the kids and they love Drew. If Drew ever needs an ego boast, he just needs to hang out with the ladies. They think the sun rises and sets on him. His head is always a little bit bigger after he hangs out with them!

Friday night we pulled out our ‘cool parents’ card and we decided to do a little Christmas camping in the den/playroom. We blew up the air mattress for the kids and we pulled the bed out of the couch (which blew their little minds to see the couch turn into a bed!) and we all slept downstairs. We all slept by the light of the Christmas tree. The kids thought it was just the neatest thing to sleep downstairs! I think it might be a tradition we’ve started and will do each year at Christmas time.

Saturday we had another birthday party to go to, this one for a little boy from Lindy’s class. His mom was so nice and said that Will was invited as well. His party was at the Children’s Museum which was a big hit with the kids. All 25 of them at the party! They got to play in the museum, eat pizza and cake, make a fireman hat, and then go out and see a real fire truck. Will and Lindy were sad when the party was over and the museum was closing up. The other fun thing we did on Saturday was go to the car wash. Lindy slept through the entire thing but Will thought it was the coolest thing ever. When he was little he cried when going through car washes, but it’s now become a fun thing for him.

My little man has had an upset tummy this week. He acts fine and has basically eaten fine but something is upsetting his innards. When he tells me he needs to go, we hurry quick-like to the potty. I don’t know what it is but I hope it hurries up and moves on quick.

That wraps up our week. Tonight we have our Christmas musical program at church and we have more fun planned for this upcoming week! The house is completely decorated and the shopping is 90% done so we can just have fun the next couple weeks doing all kinds of Christmas things!

Christmas shirts. These are from last year but they still fit.Isn’t my girl beautiful in her Christmas dress?Making a wreath at her Christmas party.Lindy with her teachers, Ms. Mary and Ms. Asbury.Talking with Santa again!Performing on stage at the Christmas party.Gloves have been a big hit this week!Will did great ringing the bells at church Friday night. It’s these cool bells that are all color coded and someone stands in front and holds cards up. If your bell color is on the card you ring your bell. Will did it perfectly by himself!Lindy couldn’t see the cards so she rang hers when she saw us ringing ours.I busted out footed Christmas pjs and you would have thought it was Christmas morning. They were so excited. Will thanked God for his cool Christmas pjs in bedtime prayers last night! ha! Christmas camping in the den/playroom. Sleeping babies are the sweetest things ever!Playing at the Children’s Museum on Saturday.They made a fire hat but Lindy put a new spin on hers. She reminded me of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. See?Amazed in the car wash!Sweet Christmas outfits for church today.They are the most beautiful kids ever. Don’t you think?Self portraits with the kids!

First Visit With Santa!!

2011-12-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

After looking back through pictures of the week, seems we were pretty busy!

Monday after the kids got up from their naps we decorated their little Christmas trees that go in their rooms. I give them complete free range on their trees. Will did a decent job actually. Lindy had trouble getting them on the tree so I ended up having to do it. She pointed and told me where to put them. Her ornaments ended up a lot more bunched together.

That evening we headed out to Tanglewood to the Festival of Lights. It’s a big park that does a huge light display. We met up with the church bus which was filled with kids from our church. We jumped in the bus with them and the kids all got Happy Meals. After they were done we drove through the park. Will really enjoyed the light show and liked the ones with words best. Lindy saw a ton more lights than I ever imagined. There were plenty right on the side of the road that she could see. It was a fun evening to really kick off the Christmas season!

Tuesday we had our regular gymnastics. I forgot Lindy’s FM system, which helps her hear in noisy situations. Lindy didn’t listen great, but that isn’t anything new. Wednesday the kids had music class and Drew picked them up for me while I went to a lunch meeting.

Thursday was Lindy’s annual kidney testing. It’s the worst thing she goes through every year. With her recent string of throwing up, I made Drew come with me as a throw up catcher. Will went to my friend Katie’s house to play with Claire. Lindy’s first appointment was a nuclear medicine cystogram. Her appointment was supposed to be at 9am and they didn’t call her until 9:45am. She also had 10am and 11am appointments so everything got completely thrown off schedule. Lindy has never had a nuclear medicine cystogram so this was new for us. The past few years she has had a VCUG. I thought this one was a little bit better. She still had to get a catheter but they used a radioactive substance instead of x-rays to check for kidney reflux. They tried to fill her bladder up with 180ml of fluid (which is based on her age). They got 150ml in her the first time before she started to pee. The second time they only got 85ml in her and the third time they got 170ml. She still had to lay down but she wasn’t strapped into the horrible, awful baby board and turned in all kinds of crazy directions. She just got to lay still with just one ‘seatbelt’ on her to hold her in. We held the iPad directly over her and let her watch her favorite shows. It was definitely no piece of cake because she got very uncomfortable each time they filled her bladder up. She dry heaved and gagged but thankfully she never threw up. (We limited her to a very boring dry cheerio and water breakfast just in case she did get sick). We definitely got the worst test over with first. We headed up to radiology for a renal ultrasound of her kidneys. The ultrasound tech has been doing ultrasounds on Lindy she was in the NICU so we always enjoy seeing her. Lindy was slightly freaked out at first but once we got her on the table she was fine. Klista let Lindy 'help’ with the ultrasound. She got to help hold the wand and she thought she was hot stuff. She got to play the iPad again while she was on her belly. After the ultrasound we headed to the actual appointment with the nephrologist. We ended up being very late and had to wait awhile. We saw Dr. Lin, who we hadn’t seen in a couple years. We’d seen a different doctor the past two years.

The official report for the cystogram had obviously not been written, but Dr. Lin was able to see all the pictures they took during the test. Last year Lindy had Grade 2 kidney reflux on the left side (Kidney reflux is when the urine goes back up towards the kidneys. It’s on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst and requiring surgery). When Dr. Lin looked at the pictures, he saw NO kidney reflux!!! It’s possible she finally outgrew it! He wouldn’t say it was definite until he read the radiologist’s report but from what he saw he didn’t see anything. This would be great news! She has been on an antibiotic every day of her life to prevent any UTI’s from damaging her kidneys. She might get to stop her antibiotic!! Although this is great news, there was a little bad news. Her kidneys did not grow at all last year. They are the exact same size as last year. He was not happy to see they had not grown. Because they had not grown, he ordered blood work for her. He said the blood work will tell us whether or not her kidneys are working correctly. We are still waiting to hear how the blood work turned out. Keep your fingers crossed or say a little prayer that her kidneys are functioning correctly. I have NO clue what happens if they are not functioning right. Not thinking about it unless I have to. We’re anxiously awaiting a call from Dr. Lin; we really hope we hear tomorrow.

The afternoon/evening after Lindy’s kidneys tests are always quite painful for her because of the catheter. She needed to go pee but it must have hurt pretty bad. She held off as long as she could. I ended up putting their little potty right in front of the tv and parking her on it while she watched tv and she finally went. The more she went the better it got. She got treated to a Kripsy Kreme snowman donut after dinner because she had been such a brave girl all day. I tell you, that girl is a trooper!

Friday evening a few people from our church met at Target to do some shopping for an upcoming Christmas party we are having. The kids were not into shopping at Target on a Friday night and let us know it.

Saturday morning our church had a Happy Birthday Jesus party. The kids had breakfast, heard a couple stories, made toiletry boxes and Christmas cards for the above mentioned Christmas party, and then got to see Santa! Both kids were completely fine with him. Will kept trying to tell Santa he wanted more Legos for Christmas but Santa thought he said Rattles. There was some disconnect going on there! To remedy this situation we are going to write letters to Santa tomorrow to make sure he knows that he wants Legos, not rattles!

The fun week ended today with a birthday party for a boy named Jared. Jared and Will were in the same class last year, but are in different classes this year. Jared did come to the kids’ party this summer though. It was super sweet of them to invite Lindy to his party as well. The party was at Bounce U, the same place they had it last year. Will was definitely able to do more stuff this year since he had grown. Lindy struggles with bounce houses and such. She can’t climb up things like everyone else and actually has trouble just walking in them. Which just meant that I basically had to do everything with her. The big slides and obstacle courses. I was exhausted by the end of the hour!

Now let’s see if I can get this down to a manageable number of pictures. Probably not!

The kids have been obsessed with making beds in the chairs with a pillow and a Christmas blanket.Decorating their own trees!Just because I think Will’s face is hysterical!Going to see the lights!We hopped on the bus and rode through the lights. They rode like big kids for the first time ever. Thankfully we went no more than about 15mph throughout the lights!Before Lindy’s big appointments we played doctor. She HATES the doctors’ bed and the paper they use so I created my own doctors’ bed on the couch with tissue bed. We practiced getting an ultrasound. I even squirted her belly with lotion and I used her tag reader to pretend I was looking at her kidneys. We all took turns being the doctor and looking at each others’ kidneys!I’ve been trying to teach Will to smile without saying ‘cheese’ He thinks he needs to use his fingers to make a smile now. Waiting for her first appointment Thursday. She was having a great time in the waiting room but it ended once she finally got called back.Her special treat!Okay, he got one too!About as matchy-matchy as it gets these days.At the Happy Birthday Jesus party Saturday morning.Will’s first glimpse of Santa!Lindy saw him when he got closer to her.Lindy and her buddy, Hailie. Lindy loves her!One excited boy!
Santa!After their nap Saturday Lindy wanted to ‘hold Will.’ At Bounce U today.Lindy loved this hat. I wouldn’t mind her wearing one every day of her life to protect herself!Silly Girl!

Thanksgiving Week

2011-11-27T21:35:00.001-05:00

We had a nice short school week and enjoyed a ‘vacation’ to Charlotte – as Will and Lindy kept saying – for Thanksgiving.

We played outside a lot in the beginning of the week because it’s been so pretty. Tuesday after gymnastics we watched our friends Micah and Claire. We played outside and the kids had a blast having friends over!

Wednesday we got up and got down to Drew’s mom’s house outside Charlotte around lunchtime. We ate lunch and got dressed up in Christmas picture clothes and we headed out to try and get one good picture. Aunt Anna was the photographer for the day and Mimo was her assistant. They had a hard job of keeping the three kids happy – Lindy, Will and Drew. Drew hates doing these Christmas card pictures but he insists we do a family picture. Go figure. We took at least 250 pictures and got two decent ones. Christmas cards were ordered and are waiting to be picked up!

After pictures we changed and then headed to see Aunt Anna’s new apartment in Monroe. We saw the new digs and then headed out to eat. We spent Wednesday night with Drew’s mom. Lindy and Will loved Mimo’s dogs. Anna also had her dog, Nelly, over there and Lindy even liked her. Lindy has always been more weary of the dogs, especially Nelly since she’s a lot bigger. She was totally fine with them this time though.

Thursday we got up and got around and then headed to Drew’s dad’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was just his dad, Suzette, the four of us and Lynn (aka Mimo). Although a small crowd, we still had a very nice and tasty meal. We poured over the Thanksgiving day circulars but I just didn’t find anything I had to have. For the first time in many years, I did not go Black Friday shopping. We did get up on Friday morning and go to one store before we ate breakfast. That was all the shopping I could get Drew and Bob to do! We hung around all morning and then we headed home.

Friday night I put up one Christmas tree. The kids were SOOO excited!! I’ve slowly been getting out decorations all weekend and they are loving it! Will thought Saturday was actually Christmas. I had to keep disappointing him and telling him it was many days away. Last night I got the kids’ little trees for their rooms and had them in there when they woke up. They were again so excited to see them. Now we just need to get them decorated! We are still waiting on our brand new tree to arrive. And of course the outside still needs decorations. The kids have really enjoyed the holidays this year. They are really starting to get it!

Saturday was our last home Wake Forest game of the season. I tried to stay home, just so I could get a lot of decorating done, but Drew convinced me to go. I wish I had stayed home. It was a horrible loss for the Deacs. Lindy threw up at the game too. She ate all her snack and then got choked on a piece of a pretzel and upchucked. Good times.

Today we had church and then the kids had practice for the Christmas program at the church. They are going to be a cow and a sheep in the program. Lindy is a bit of a wandering sheep but what’s new!

That’s all folks. Now some pictures of our week!

Playing with the leaves Drew and I were working out early one morning when Little Miss woke up. She did the cool down part with us! Playing with Pooka at Mimo’s. Phoebe was around some when we first got there but hid most of the rest of the time we were there.Hanging with Suzette!GrandBob telling Will a story!I don’t remember why she was upset but Will was taking care of her. So sweet!Just plugged the Christmas tree lights in!So excited!He loves the Christmas lights!Someone decided a jump rope should be the first decoration on the tree.My cute church-dressed kids!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkeys!

Kids’ Holiday Program at School

2011-11-20T21:56:00.001-05:00

This week seemed kind of crazy. So crazy that I actually forgot to take Lindy to an ophthalmology appointment on Friday afternoon. I just noticed tonight that it was on the calendar. I totally missed it. I can honestly say that is the first time in 4 years I’ve ever completely skipped an appointment. Two times I had therapists show up at our house for sessions I had forgotten about but we were home and it was all fine and good. I’ll have to call tomorrow and see if they charged me for it. I hope not.

Tuesday we had normal gymnastics and then we went to the mall with Katie and Claire to do a little shopping before some coupons expired. The kids were wound up and not very well behaved but I got some good deals so it was worth it. They both fell asleep on the way home so I pulled in the garage and was just going to sit with them in the car for a few more minutes to let them sleep a little longer. Will started coughing and then woke up and threw up. It was the same thing he did to Jamie a couple weeks ago. Woke up coughing and threw up. He was fine but then we had the fun task of getting throw up out of the car seat.

Wednesday I got another day away. Jamie and I headed to Charlotte and met Anna and Lynn at the Southern Christmas Show for some shopping. We spent 6.5 hours there! More looking than buying but we got a few things. The shopping was fun but the drive to and from were not fun. We drove down in rain and got stopped in traffic. On the way home we ran into another storm. It looked so eerie out that we actually called Bob to ask him about any bad weather we should know about. He told us that there were actually tornado warnings out so we made a detour to his house and waited out the storm. It was convenient that he’d made dinner so we got a good dinner and then headed out. We hit more rain in Winston but finally made it home. I was so glad to get home! Drew took care of getting the kids to school and picking them up from music class. He also took them up to the church for a Thanksgiving dinner. What a dad!

Thursday was the big day for the kids. It was the kids’ holiday program at their preschool. Lindy went to Cook from 8-11am and then we headed over to Maple Springs for the program. Ed, Jamie, Lynn, Anna, and Bob all came to see it. Last year Will sat like a deer in headlights and didn’t do a thing. I was totally afraid that Will would do that again and that Lindy would get up and start wandering. But they actually both did GREAT!! Will knew all the words and did all the hand movements. Lindy sat still the whole time and did most of the hand movements and sang some of the words! We couldn’t have been more proud of them. They were treated to a Happy Meal at McDonalds by their grandparents afterwards.

Friday, instead of taking Lindy to her appointment, we went out shopping for a new, fake Christmas tree. We found one but they had to order it and we’ll pick it up Tuesday. I’m sure Lindy would say it was more fun than getting her eyes dilated.

Saturday we had a home Wake Forest football game that ended up well. Wake beat Maryland and they became bowl eligible. Both kids passed out for a little while, which was nice. ha! We only have one more football game and then we’re done. Unless we venture to said bowl game.

Today we had church and then we went with our neighbors to hear the Winston-Salem Community band. We’ve heard them play once before. The kids enjoyed the music although they all got a bit restless and we left a little early. Thankfully the people around us were more entertained by them than annoyed!

That sums up the busy week. Here comes another busy week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Cute kids Can you see all the snot on his face? It’s been flowing this week. It’s even down below his mouth, just in case you missed it. Enjoying our warm days during all our up and down temperature days.

Holiday program!He was in the center again this year! They must always put the cutest boy in the center!Lindy kept yawning! Either she was tired or bored!Shopping for Xmas trees.Our Wake football player and cheerleader!Aunt Joan and Uncle Curtis came to the game with us and they brought the kids cookie pops! They own the Cookie House at the mall!Enthusiastic Wake fans!Church outfits today. Same outfits as Thursday if you didn’t notice!The four kids listening to the community band today.Maybe one day they’ll get married and we can show them this picture!Lindy was practicing for the Mary role in the Christmas play. I’ve had to wear my glasses all weekend so we switched glasses. She saw mine and said, “I like them!” The kids are obsessed with playing with pillows to make gates and they have sleepovers such as this one going on in our bathroom.

Little of this, little of that.

2011-11-13T21:44:00.001-05:00

Monday was the most exciting day of our week and I’ve already posted about it. So let’s see what else we did.

Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment so Drew picked Lindy up from school and fed them lunch and took them to gymnastics. He said she didn’t listen well. Same old, same old. Tuesday night Will tried something new: tae kwon do! He has a friend in his class that takes classes and it was friends week. Will and a few other boys all went on Tuesday night. It was so funny. I’m actually pretty surprised he even went out on the mat with them. He definitely wasn’t sure when we walked in the door and heard all the yelling going on. He did go on the mat and it was hilarious to watch. They had a bunch of instructors helping out all the friends that came and Will definitely needed help. I honestly don’t think he could understand the main guy giving all the instructions because I couldn’t really understand him. He wouldn’t do any of the yelling for most of the class but towards the end I did see his lips moving a little. At the end of the class everyone got to break a board and he did think that was pretty darn cool! He’s showed it to anyone who has come to our house this week. Now Lindy keeps talking about when she goes to tae kwon do. Sorry, girl. Lindy at tae kwon do would be a disaster – even worse then Lindy at gymnastics!

Wednesday they had music class. I was a bad mommy and forgot to make shakers with the kids for class. Oops.

Thursday we had a surprise visit from Mimo and Aunt Anna. They were up in the area so they came by in the afternoon. The kids were excited to wake up from their nap and find them here. They stayed and ate dinner with us but conveniently left right before bath time. ha ha. There was lots of playing and dancing going on all afternoon.

Friday the kids didn’t have school because of Veterans Day. They are hardly in school in the month of November. Drew left early in the morning to go on a camping trip with his friends so the kids and I were flying solo. We messed around the house in the morning and we went to the mall in the afternoon. I quickly remembered why I go to the mall on Monday mornings. It was packed! We got the one thing we needed but we walked around looking for awhile. We ended up leaving because Lindy was really tired and crying. They fell asleep on the way home.

Saturday morning we had another lazy morning. GrandBob and Suzette came over a little after 11am. We had lunch and then I left to go to Raleigh and hang out with my friends from college. Grandbob and Suzette watched the kids until Drew got home from his camping trip. The kids had a blast playing with so many different people this week. I wonder who was more tired Saturday night. Lindy and Will or GrandBob and Suzette??

I spent the night in Raleigh and then came home today. Drew and the kids actually got home after me. They had children’s activities and youth group after church that they stayed for.

And that wraps up this week. And for some reason I took hardly any pictures this week.

These aren’t good pictures since they are from my cell phone and I was far away. Will is in black in the back right hand corner. The main instructor was getting him ready to break his board.There he goes!Aunt Anna!Lindy and Mimo deep in conversation. Lindy’s hair is crazy. Post nap French braid makes for crazy hair!The friends I hung out with Saturday night. Heather, Nicole, me, Julie, and Joanna.I think this picture is so funny. Joanna and I were roommates our freshman and sophomore years. We went pot luck and we lucked out! Anyway, I took this picture of us but it looks like we are hiding under a tent at summer camp. My hand must have been partially over the flash.

Will’s Special Day

2011-11-07T21:03:00.001-05:00

Yesterday (Nov. 6th) marked 4 years since we got to bring Will home from the hospital after 100 days in the NICU. Wow, times flies!

Since the kids will always have to share their birthdays, we have also celebrated each kid’s ‘homecoming day.’ Since they are still young, I have always picked the activity we do, but when they are a little older we intend to let them choose something special to do on their homecoming day.

It was kind of funny explaining to Will why yesterday was his special day. He knows it’s the day he came home from the hospital when he was a tiny little baby. Lindy knows that she was still at the hospital when Will came, but that is about all they know and understand. They’ll understand someday how special a day it really was!

Yesterday was a fairly normal day because we had church and then naps. After they got up from naps I asked Will what he wanted to do. We played a game of dominoes and then they got to watch tv. He got to watch one extra show since his favorite show was coming on. Then he chose grilled cheese and oranges for dinner and he got a piece of cake for dessert. He got to take a bath in our big bathtub, which he thinks is a treat! It was low key but we reminded him often that it was his special day. We couldn’t go out and do anything to celebrate because Drew had a wedding yesterday afternoon.

Lindy had two appointments after school today and Will had to come with me. We first went to neurosurgery to have a routine check-up on Lindy’s shunt. All looked well and her head circumference was 48.4cm. It was and always has been in the 10% percentile. They love that she is perfectly following her curve, even if it’s a little head! Lindy tried to throw up. I kept telling her no and somehow she didn’t do it. I convinced her she did not have to get up on the bed. As soon as she saw it she started freaking out. It was a close call but somehow we avoided the puke. The PA used Will as her model and he loved it. Lindy seemed to be fine if she first did it on Will. Will’s head circumference was 49.6cm, which was in the 25th percentile. Her PA was impressed with how well she is doing but we were sad to hear she is leaving. She’s seen Lindy since she was in the NICU.

We had some time in between appointments so I took the kids over to the NICU to show them where they were at the hospital. The kids have pictures on the walls from when they were 18 months old so one of the nurses took the kids back to see the pictures. They thought it was neat to see themselves up on the wall! Not too many people were there that we know so we didn’t get to see many people. One day they’ll understand about the whole NICU thing!

We left the hospital and went to a physical therapy appointment. Will also thought this was a treat because to him it’s a big room of toys! The PT was so great to include him in what she was doing with Lindy. She noticed Lindy seems to be pitching forward a bit more when she walks. She gave us some exercises and wants to see her again in a month.

We left PT and then we went to celebrate Will’s special day. We took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese’s for the first time ever! We got there around 3:30pm and it was empty! It was definitely the right time to go! They had a blast riding all the little toys and playing the games. We had pizza and then they got to play a few more games. Both were tired because they had no nap today, but both really enjoyed it. I’m not sure Will had a favorite game or ride, but Lindy’s favorite was the school bus. She probably spent 6 tokens on that one ride! She seemed pretty subdued but she had almost fallen asleep by the time we got there so I think she was just tired. Both kids fell asleep on the way home.

I know they had fun, even if they don’t understand why it’s a special day. It definitely is special to Drew and I. We got our first baby home. What a great day November 6th will always be!

Playing dominoes yesterday on his special dayCake on his special day.Reading books on his special day.With our PA neurosurgeon, Danielle. We’ll miss her!In front of their pictures in the NICU. Individual ones to the left and the big one of both of them right above them.Will’s special day observance at Chuck E. Cheese’s!Her favorite ride, the school bus!Forced smile picture.Check out that follow through!Asleep in the car after a long, but fun, day!

We love you so much, Will! We sure are glad you came home to us on November 6th, 2007. You were the sweetest and best baby ever and you’ve grown into the sweetest and best boy ever!

Grecos In the House

2011-11-06T21:53:00.001-05:00

The highlight of our week was that my friends Callie and Chris came to town to visit. More on that in a minute.

It seems like Halloween was weeks ago but in fact it was just Monday. Tuesday we all seemed to be fine getting up and back in the swing of things after the long four day weekend and all the Halloween fun. I did a speaking engagement for Brenners Children’s Hospital, where the kids spent 3 months of their lives. It was for the local Extension Club. I was just asked to speak about our story and what Brenners means to me. It turned out to be 20 sweet, old women who loved the pictures of the kids that I brought. I got a sweet umbrella out of the deal! I left there and I met Drew and Will downtown to help celebrate that the local mayor was declaring November National Prematurity Month. They had a few neonatologists talk and then the mayor made his declaration. Drew was interviewed by one of the local newspapers and it turned out to be a great article. We left there and headed to get Lindy and went to gymnastics. Lindy was doing about the best she has ever done, until she pooped in her pants. ugggg. She told me she had to go so we went to the potty but then she claimed she didn’t have to go. Well she obviously really did. She has had maybe 4 accidents since this summer so I guess I have to cut her some slack.

Wednesday was music class and Thursday I took Will to story time at the library. I tell you, we are loving this free story time at the library every week. He loves the books and then they get up and dance in between books. It’s a great little program – and it’s free!

Friday was when the excitement happened. My friends, Callie and Chris, flew in from NYC. They met me at the kids’ school on Friday morning and Callie went in to pick up the kids with me. (By the way – Will and another boy ran into each other and collided and Will fell back and hit his head very hard. They happened to have a fireman in the building who completely checked him out and said he thought he was fine. He told me the signs to watch for to see if he had a concussion – although he didn’t think he did. Will was sad and I know it hurt and he milked it for every penny it was worth!) We ate lunch Friday and then Callie, Chris, and I went to Wake to walk around. Chris went to Wake Law School. After a trip to the bookstore we dropped Chris off and then we did a little shopping at Costco – how exciting! Friday evening Aunt Jamie came over to watch the kids so that we could all go out to eat with another friend of ours and her husband. Callie and I met in grad school at Salem College and we ate dinner with another friend of ours, Vicky, from Salem. We had a fabulous dinner and were thoroughly enjoying ourselves until we got a frantic phone call –or ten- from Jamie telling us Will – not Lindy (who usually throws up) – had thrown up. Of course we cut our night short and headed home because we were a little worried about the whole concussion thing. Jamie said he was almost asleep on her and he sat up and started coughing and then threw up. Poor Aunt Jamie. She gets thrown up on every time she babysits. She’s done babysitting for now. Maybe we can talk her into it in a few years! We checked Will out and he seemed just fine. His eyes looked fine, he could follow my fingers, his pupils were the same size. Everything just seemed fine. We decided not to do anything except put him in bed with us and watch him. I set my alarm every two hours and roused him to make sure he was fine. He woke up just fine on Saturday morning. Who knows if they were related or a freak accident or just him coughing on phlegm????

Saturday morning I got up and made breakfast and we took our time getting around. Callie and I headed out for a girls lunch with 3 other girls from Salem that we went to school with. We headed home to get ready for the big Wake Forest vs Notre Dame football game, the real reason Callie and Chris had flown in. Chris grew up a ND fan but then went to Wake. The game was at 8pm – so late! Janice came to babysit the kids since there was no way we were taking them to an 8pm game in cold weather. We tailgated for a few hours and went to the game. Wake lost – boo – but the kids did great for Janice. Thankfully no throw up!

Today Callie and Chris headed out at 9am to have breakfast with friends and then to fly home. Will was so sad they were leaving. He was sad when we got home from church and they were not here. It was so fun having them visit. If only we lived closer!

Today is a special day for our family though. Four years ago today we brought Will home from the hospital after 100 days in the NICU. Because of church and a wedding Drew had this afternoon, we didn’t get to really celebrate his special day. Stay tuned for another post tomorrow when we actually go and celebrate his special day!

A few pictures from the week…

Callie and I at Wake ForestChris and CallieThose crazy Grecos bought the kids Wake presents. Callie convinced me to let the kids eat their dinner in front of the tv Friday evening so they could watch their favorite tv show. She is celebrating her victory in this picture.Mr. Chris reading to the kids!Callie loved playing dress up with Lindy. She had fun picking out her clothes and doing her hair. She has a two year old son so she doesn’t get to do the girly things.Lou in her Callie picked outfit and hairdo.My sweet boy on his homecoming day!A little sibling love.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T21:06:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween from our Pirate and her Parrot!

Over a month ago Lindy saw a show about pirates on Backyardigans. Ever since then she has talked about being a pirate. Will on the other hand, would not be a pirate. Randomly, he decided he would be a parrot! They don’t really get that it’s kind of funny that he is her parrot.

The kids didn’t have school on Halloween day so we had a relaxing day at home. After naptime we started getting ready. Uncle Ed and Aunt Jamie came over to see the kids as well. We went to 3 neighbors’ houses, and only one was home. Then we went to our church for the trunk-or-treat and games.

The kids had a blast getting candy and playing all the games. They really got Halloween this year and it’s been fun. As Will has said today, “I’m so sad that Halloween is over” or “How do we get to Halloween again?”

Will showing his pretty wings and Lindy showing her ….we’re not sure what she’s showing??Getting readyOur sweet pirate. Although she wanted to be a scary pirate!Our sweet parrot. He was a nice parrot.It’s like she is saying, “This is my parrot!”Drew and I dressed up like bottles of Ketchup and Mustard!Uncle Ed and Aunt Jamie Martha from church had the funniest trunk. She sat in it! The kids thought it was so funny when she split those streamers and said “Boo!”

Holding up the streamers to see Ms. Martha!We had to get pictures with the Wake Forest Trunk!Lindy and Mr. Donald. He is one of Lindy’s very favorite people at church!Our trunk was going for the kitchen and BBQ theme. We brought the mustard and ketchup to the BBQ. How cute was Martha?!At the end of the night they pulled up a seat and had a little candy snack at their table!

Halloween Fun

2011-10-30T22:48:00.001-04:00

Let’s see…what happened this week? The only excitement on Monday was that Will got to bring his Halloween costume to school and put it on and go trick or treating at the nursing home next door. It was up in the air as to whether he would actually wear the costume but he came through and is okay with it now. Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures!

Tuesday the kids had gymnastics and Drew and GrandBob came to watch. Although Lindy did a lot better during circle time, she still wanders a bit during the circuits so Drew got to see her in action. GrandBob thought it was the funniest thing ever. ha ha ha. We all went back to our house after gymnastics and Aunt Jamie also came over. Aunt Jamie and GrandBob watched the kids while Drew and I went to Lindy’s IEP meeting. The kids had a blast while we were gone and when we got back GrandBob treated us to dinner.

It was one of Lindy’s easiest IEPs yet. It was a standard annual review. Her teacher had done some recent testing on her which came back good. On the PSL-4 she tested like a 4 year 4 month old. Considering she is 4 years and 3 months we were pleased! The Bracken basic skills test showed her at 3 years 10 months. But we were fine with that and proud that she is doing so well. It’s always nice to hear people ooh and ahh when they hear how well she is doing! The only changes to her IEP were to reduce two services for her. She is doing so well in speech that they reduced her from three times a week to two times a week. Her physical therapist reduced her to just monitoring her one time every quarter because she does so well in both environments. Both are positive changes for her and prove that she is doing so well! It was an easy and fairly short IEP meeting for her!

Wednesday the kids had Halloween parties at school. Both came home loaded with all kinds of goodies. They had music class after school as well. It’s neat to see Lindy singing along to all the songs this year.

Friday we had the day off of school. Actually we have tomorrow (the 31st) off as well so we have a four day weekend! It’s teacher conferences in the school system and their church preschool follows the school system calendar. We had a most lazy day but it was great! After a really nice week weather wise, we woke up to it being cold and rainy on Friday. We slept in and hung out in pajamas all morning. I had to run to the grocery store during naptime and came home and put my pajama pants back on. We cozied up inside the rest of the day.

After the kids woke up from their naps we carved our jack-o-lanterns! I carved Lindy’s and Drew carved Will’s. We let them pick their shape of eyes and nose and how many teeth they wanted. Will wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin guts but Lindy delved right in. I had to keep stopping her from putting them in her mouth. yuck. It was a fun family activity for us. I spent the rest of the night baking Halloween goodies for Saturday evening.

Saturday Drew was gone all day long so the kids and I had another lazy day. We finally showered and got dressed late morning, just in time for them to take a nap. After naptime we headed to our friends Kris and Katie’s house for a reunion with friends. Kris, Drew, and another guy Todd lived together in Durham for three years. Todd and his wife, Amy, and their twin girls, Atha and Nora, drove over from Raleigh to hang out. We try to get together at least once a year, more if we can. Kris and Todd worked with a guy, Ryan, for many years and now Drew has become friends with him. Ryan and his new fiancee came over as well. It was a very fun get-together and all the kids had fun together. Claire, Atha, and Nora played dress-up together while Lindy, Will, and Micah formed an exclusive band. Funny to see how the get-togethers have changed!

We worked on writing this week with Lindy and she wrote her name on a birthday card. It was the best and most complete we have ever seen her do it. She also surprised us by drawing a person! These are all OT goals we were working on!”Daddy is under my spell”Yes he is!More Halloween shirts arrived in the mail this week. Thanks Mimo!Commencing of the pumpkin carving.The closest Will got to the guts.Finished product. Oval eyes. Triangle nose. 7 teeth.Triangle eyes. Side triangle nose. 5 teeth.Ohhhh, pretty lights!Marshmallow witches I made.Pumpkin and skeleton jello.My pumpkin spice cake.More Halloween shirts.The kids’ table Saturday night. Atha, Nora, Claire, Micah, Will, and Lindy.The pretty princesses: Claire, Atha, and Nora.The exclusive band. Another group shot. Atha, Nora, and Claire are all a year younger than L&W, yet of course they are all bigger. Kris, Drew, Todd, and RyanMichelle, Amy, me, and Katie.Lindy decided she needed to be one of the girls!SO then we got all the girls!The kids wore Halloween colors to church. I made Lindy another ‘pillowcase’ dress – this time in orange and black polka dots. If I do say so myself, the dress and the girl wearing the dress are cute!Not to be forgotten, Will wore his orange too!

Walking to Cure Diabetes and Pumpkin Patches

2011-10-23T22:23:00.001-04:00

We had a normal week and a busy Saturday. Here goes……

Tuesday we had gymnastics and Lindy is still struggling with the wandering and following directions. She can talk the talk about listening but once she gets in there she does what she wants. She lost her tv privileges that day for not listening well. Today we set up some circuits in the backyard and practiced doing them. We practiced waiting in line as well. Maybe it will help this week????

Wednesday was music class. There were only three kids there so it was a small class. Ms. Beth picked the kids up from school and took them upstairs to the music room so I had an extra 30 minutes that day.

Thursday was a parent session with Lindy and her teacher actually ended up finishing some testing on her that she needs to have done by Tuesday for her IEP meeting. Lindy did pretty good. You had to miss 6 in a row to quit and Lindy never would. She was up in the 5.5 – 6 year old range and she’d get one right every so often so we had to keep going! I still hate those tests. They have to ask them in such specific ways that she doesn’t understand. If you’d phrase it just slightly differently then I swear she’d have gotten more. Oh well, I think she did good, although I don’t have any numbers.

Friday morning Drew and I did what will hopefully become a monthly tradition. Friday is one of Drew’s days off so after I dropped the kids at school, we met downtown for brunch! We ate at a great breakfast place and enjoyed our date morning! After we ate we walked around downtown. It was a lovely morning and we hope to try and do it once a month and try out all kinds of different places. Friday night we made Halloween sugar cookies – you know the prepackaged kind you just put on a cookie sheet? The kids thought it was great fun but waiting for them to bake was pure torture to them!

Saturday was one busy day. We rarely jump from one activity to another but we did on Saturday. We started the morning off bright and early at our church craft bazaar. We picked up some goodies and talked with church friends and then we headed out the door to Wake Forest where the Juvenile Diabetes Walk to Cure Diabetes was being held. We walked in honor of my 8 year old niece, Hayley, who has type 1 diabetes. It’s hard to believe she has had diabetes for two years now. They have done such an amazing job with her diagnosis. Hayley has become so responsible about it as well. She is a brave little girl who we love with all our heart. I just know that one day they will find a cure, which is why we Walk to Cure Diabetes. It was a beautiful morning to go out on a walk around Wake Forest. We saw the Deacon again and got another picture with him. We also saw our nephew and some old church members from Lincolnton!

After the walk was finished we headed home for a small break before heading out the door to Mooresville to Patterson Farms for some fun on the farm. We went to the same place last year (click here to see last year’s trip). This year we met Mimo, Aunt Anna, and Brian there for a great afternoon of fun. The kids had a blast. We got to see a pig race, feed some animals, ride the cow train, ride a wagon out to a bunch of pre-picked pumpkins, and we spent a long time in the playground area. They had a tiny little corn maze for the kids, a slide the kids had a blast on, and corn pits that the kids could have stayed in all day long. They had some tomato slingshots that Anna and Brian tried out. We spent a few hours there and practically shut the joint down. It was a great family afternoon that ended with a yummy dinner at Cracker Barrel. We were all pooped when we got home – actually Lindy fell asleep in the car on the way home.

And now…what you really came for. The pictures.

Of course they wore lots more Halloween shirts this week!Love this one!How I found Lindy at naptime one day. She hardly ever sleeps with anything in her bed, let alone in her arm. It totally reminded me of this picture of Will in the NICU. Little ducks peaking out of the covers!Lindy has been building a lot of her own cool towers lately.Look at that sassy pose?!!Will practiced writing one day. He did such a good job!I fish-tailed Lindy’s hair for the first time on Friday.’Making’ cookies Friday night!Ready, Set,Bake! And stare at the timer on the microwave!Hello again Mr. Demon Deacon!At the Walk to Cure Diabetes Saturday morning.We love cousin Hayley!My beautiful, brave niece, Hayley!I made the kids some neat pumpkin shirts. I did it back in 2008 too. Mimo made the sweet pumpkin for her hair!They did grow quite a bit from last year’s pictures!Lindy pretty much dumped all her food down one tube.Will very carefully, and seriously, fed many animals with his food. The cow train was a big hit!In the corn maze.The kids came out of this slide like a rocket but they thought it was so fun!The corn pit. Lindy would have played here all day and slept here all night if we had let her!Two cool cats in their protective face shields!Playing the accordion at the Cracker Barrel. Todays church outfits. (Will is on his toes. He’s not that much taller than she is!)

Happy Birthday Nana!!

2011-10-16T21:34:00.001-04:00

Today is my Mom’s 29th Birthday! Happy Birthday! We love you and wish we could celebrate with you!

Let’s see, what in the world did we do last week? I think it was a fairly normal week without too much extra stuff going on. Will and I grocery shopped a couple days while Lindy was in school.

Tuesday the kids had gymnastics but they didn’t do too many actual gymnastics this week. The gym was celebrating fire safety month so they had firemen there who talked with the kids. They practiced stop, drop, and roll and evacuating while another fireman talked to the parents. It was all interesting and common sense stuff. But I have a feeling common sense flies out the door if your house is on fire, so it’s always good to hear that kind of information every so often!

Wednesday the kids had music class. Ms. Beth our teacher ended up splitting up the huge class of 11 kids that came the first week. Instead of eating directly after preschool and going to class at 1pm, they now are going to go to music class at 12pm, right after preschool. We’ll just eat when we get home. There were 5 kids in the group and it really was much better. The kids are busy and entertained so they didn’t mind waiting until a little later to eat.

The kids have either been affected by allergies all week or they have a cold. How do I know which one? Will woke up last weekend with a cough and he’s had it all week long. He doesn’t cough constantly but when he does it doesn’t sound that great. He has no other symptoms of illness. I don’t think he ever had a fever and he doesn’t say anything else hurts. Just a nagging cough that won’t go away. Lindy ended up getting pretty congested during the week too. She does not eat or sleep well when she is congested. She didn’t sleep well Wednesday night and actually cried a little when I dropped her off at school on Thursday. I think she was tired and not feeling 100%. They said she was fine as soon as I left. She has seemed to feel okay throughout the weekend. I just hate not knowing which one it is. I haven’t taken them to the doctor at all because I figure there really isn’t anything you could do about either one. If Will’s cough keeps up and keeps sounding bad I might have to take him in soon.

Will has given me a run for my money this week. My otherwise sweet child has been trying out a big boy attitude on me. I think he’s trying to exert some independence and not just automatically do everything I tell him. Which has been nice but I can see that is changing. It’s all been little stuff such as not eating 5 bites of peaches (he sat for 30 minutes and didn’t get to play before school one morning) or refusing to color an elephant on his homework sheet (he ended up sitting there at the table and therefore did not get to play the ipad before picking Lindy up from school). I think it’s funny that he is actually punishing himself – not getting to do things he wants to do – but it still drives me nuts. I might be a tad bit stubborn myself. His teacher told me one day at school that he was just the sweetest boy ever. I agreed with her and I’m glad that he is still sweet to everyone else!

The weekend was a good one. I left Friday morning and headed out of town with Jamie (as in Aunt Jamie). Her mom and sister, and 6 of her mom’s friends, came up from Alabama to spend the weekend in the NC mountains to celebrate Lorrie’s (Jamie’s mom) birthday. Jamie was going to meet them and invited me along. We stayed in West Jefferson NC in Ashe County. We got up there around noon and headed to Ginny’s (one of Lorrie’s friends) apartment where we were staying. It was so nice and cozy on a golf course. We spent the afternoon in downtown West Jefferson which is this really cool little downtown with lots of antique stores and fun shops. Friday night we headed up to the top of a mountain to Dee’s (another one of the ladies) house. We had dinner up at her house which was a really cool log cabin with an amazing view – but did I mention it was on the top of a mountain? It was a crazy drive to get up there! Saturday morning we headed back up the mountain for breakfast at Dee’s and then all the ladies headed to Boone for a craft show. Jamie and I went back to downtown West Jefferson and walked around for a little while and we headed back home. I got home and had just a little bit of time before packing up the kids and heading out the door for a Wake Forest football game. Unfortunately their winning streak came to an end Saturday night when they lost to Virginia Tech. It was a 6:30pm game which meant we didn’t get home till late – even though we left in the fourth quarter. Better luck next week, Deacons! Today we had church and Drew went out to lunch with our Duke intern from this summer. The kids and I headed home since they are still trying to get over whatever it is they have and I am starting to get something. We all needed a good nap. Tonight for dinner we had pumpkin pancakes! They were yummy and the kids had no clue they were eating a vegetable! Score!

While I was gone Drew kept the kids busy. Saturday they went to the downtown library, to listen to some music downtown, and to watch our friends from the local UMAR houses bowl in the Special Olympics. I know the kids loved being out and about with Daddy. He is more adventurous about taking the kids out. I get overwhelmed and flustered when just thinking about doing all that stuff by myself! He is the world’s best dad and he proved it. Last week Will refused to put on his Halloween costume. Something he had picked out. Drew did get him to put it on and got a picture of him in it. World’s best Daddy!!

Okay, some pictures from the last week.

This girl has perfected her pout.Just because I think it’s funny and cute!More Halloween shirts!And more (can you tell Will has his hands in his pockets? He has been doing this recently and it’s so stinking cute!)Pretending to be a Rogers in West Jefferson!Sitting like Edith Ann on a couch in West JeffersonHanging with the cows at the Ashe County Cheese Shop in downtown. Old log cabin and pretty trees on the way up the mountain.The view from Dee’s back deck! Jennifer (Jamie’s sister, if you couldn’t tell!), Jamie, and JamieInside the log cabin.All the ladies. They’ve been best friends for 40 years! Dee, Jennifer, Terry, Lorrie (Jamie’s mom), Kay, Betty is hiding back there, Ginny, and Jamie.Ginny’s apartments where we stayed.A Jamie sandwich for Jennifer!Jamie²Jennifer, Lorrie, Jamie, and GinnyJennifer, Lorrie, and JamieMy sweeties before church today. I stopped them on the steps to take a picture he did this! So cute!How I found Will one day during naptime!

The Three F’s: Fair, Football, and Food

2011-10-09T21:41:00.001-04:00

It’s been a great week. Perfect fall weather and perfect fall activities!

Tuesday was our gymnastics day. Lindy is still struggling a bit with the circle time, but she did the best ever in the circuits. There was one main difference too, they had an extra person helping them out. Lindy took a liking to her and stuck with her and the girl was able to help her out. Since there were two teachers in her group, they were able to keep her going and doing the right thing. I have no clue if it was a one time thing or she’ll be there each week. Hoping she’ll be back!

Wednesday the kids music class started back up. We have some of the same kids from last year and a bunch more news kids. In fact there were 10 kids, which was really too many. She is wanting to split the class up, so we’ll see what happens. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and have been asking to go back. They got new instruments, the slide whistle, that they have been playing a ton.

Wednesday was picture day at the kids’ school. They did individual pictures on Wednesday and then they did sibling pictures on Friday. So I had to dress them back up on Friday! They had a professional photographer in town take the pictures. They could be really great, I’m just hoping they don’t cost an arm and a leg! I’m really interested to see the sibling pictures too. Maybe they behaved well and did what she asked. Or maybe they behaved like they do for me when I try to take their picture together. We shall see!

Thursday we picked Lindy up from school and we headed back to the Dixie Classic Fair. We had lunch at our old church’s food booth and enjoyed seeing all our old friends. Then we set off to do what we went to do: ride the rides! We bought the kids a wristband so they could ride as many rides as they wanted. Lindy made the height requirements by a hair! She was just at the line. Only a couple people actually measured her but one wasn’t about to let her on. Drew and I would have rode with her but they were charging the adult to ride and we were too cheap to buy a wristband. The kids LOVED the rides. Will smiled the entire afternoon. Lindy enjoyed herself but she wasn’t always smiling. Most rides had a steering wheel on them and she took her job of steering very seriously! Every time they got off a ride she’d ask to “Ride one more.” It really was neat to see them riding the rides by themselves and having so much fun. There were only two rides that I got a little nervous about. One went a lot faster and was a lot jerkier than the rest and Lindy’s hearing aid kept flopping. Thankfully she fixed it each time. Every time she came around the corner I’d count hearing aides! The other ride was this airplane ride that actually went up in the air but only had a rope to keep the kids in. Almost all of the other little rides had an actual seat belt and this airplane had a rope. I threatened Lindy with her life (okay, really with just not watching tv) to make sure she didn’t stand up. She did great on all the rides though. The only ride Drew and I rode was the Ferris wheel. I can’t even remember the last time I rode a Ferris wheel. It was neat and we got a great view at the top! We held onto the kids for dear life!

The fun didn’t stop there though. Friday night we met my friend Wendy and her girls Riley and Berkley for a night of “Fun on the Farm.” We have a local children’s home that has a big farm on it and they were having a kids night out there. There were some animals to pet, a bouncy house, a band, the parachute with balls, dinner, and s’mores. It was just an okay event, but the kids all had fun playing together, so that is really what matters.

Saturday was the most PERFECT fall day ever. Wake Forest had a home football game at 12:30pm. It was perfect, 73F temps, and it was the debut of the monstrous video board Wake installed this summer. The game started with four people parachuting into the stadium, the last being the Demon Deacon! It was pretty cool! The new video board is awesome and the game was awesome! Wake beat Florida State (who was ranked 23rd in the nation)! How about them Deacs? We enjoyed seeing Suzette, who hadn’t been able to make it to a game this year. Suzette and Aunt Jamie were a huge help with Lindy. They let her ~~pester~~ sit with them for a long time. Lindy took a nice nap on me for awhile in the first half but woke up raring to go in the second half!

We left the football game and headed to our church for a chicken stew. It was SOOOO good. According to Wikipedia, a “Southern chicken stew ("chicken mull" in northern Georgia) is a traditional dish from North Carolina. It is a type of stew consisting of parboiled whole chicken in a cream or milk based broth, butter and seasoned with salt, pepper and other ingredients. Traditionally, the stew is served in the late fall and winter months. Often the term "chicken stew" refers to an event or gathering where the dish is served.” And man oh man, is it good! You load it up with crumbled saltine crackers and eat the sweet goodness. It was the perfect fall evening for a chicken stew. Just enough of a nip in the air to let you know it was fall. I’m dreaming of more chicken stew……

Today we went to church but we had a special preacher – Drew’s cousin, Deirdre. She is the Senior Regional Director for the Southeast Region of Operation Christmas Child. She runs the Charlotte processing plant for all the shoeboxes that come in. They’ll process 2.1 million shoeboxes in Charlotte this year! She came to talk about Operation Christmas Child and did a great job. After church we got to eat lunch with Deirdre, her husband John, and her mom Joan and her husband Curtis. Ed, Jamie, and Molly also joined us. After lunch the kids took a nap and we headed back to church for a stewardship kick-off tailgate. All I can say is that Drew was dressed up like a female cheerleader and I honestly forgot my camera. I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on someone else’s pictures!

Speaking of pictures, here are mine from the week.

October means Halloween shirts!This child is seriously crazy.A cute school outfit.The Chiefs won last week (and this week too!) so Lou wore her Chiefs pj’s! Go Chiefs!Playing the slide whistle.At the top of the Ferris wheel!Fast forward 12 years and they’ll probably be doing the same thing except in a real car!My favorite picture of the day! Lindy smiled the whole ride. This was the faster, jerky ride. Maybe the other rides were too boring for her!The airplane ride. See the rope? A rope was supposed to hold them in???Exhausted after so many rides!Lindy was the special student in her class this week and she got to take in her favorite toy and a special treat. We made banana ghosts. Frozen chocolate covered bananas!Fun on the farm with Riley and Berkley!Berks is 8 months older than the kids and a foot taller!First time roasting marshmallows for s’mores.First bites of s’mores!The parachute and the balls were a huge hit with the kids!Church outfits today. The lady doing the children’s time asked me to dress them in Wake gear, so we obliged.

Dixie Classic Fair – 2011 Edition

2011-10-02T21:40:00.001-04:00

So tired. Eyes having trouble staying open. Talking in short sentences. I’ll stop now.

It’s been a fun and busy week! Tuesday Mimo came up to visit us for the night. She met us at gymnastics and got to see the kids in action the last 15 minutes of class. Gymnastics was okay this week. Lindy did better than last week. No running across the circling and tackling Will. I guess that’s improvement!

We had Uncle Ed, Aunt Jamie, and Molly over for dinner Tuesday night so they could visit with Mimo too. Mimo played lots with the kids while I ran to the grocery store and cooked us all dinner. Wednesday morning she went with me to take the kids to school and got to meet their teachers. Once we were kid free we did a little shopping. We picked the kids up from school and Mimo treated us to lunch at Chick-fil-A. Mimo had to head out after naptime but we enjoyed her visit. I just realized I don’t have pictures of her visit. That’s odd.

Thursday I had a parent session with Lindy’s teacher after school and then the kids both got their flu shots at the pediatrician’s office. It didn’t go so well. I had Lindy in my arms and said to the receptionist, “We’re here for flu shots.” It was over after that. She immediately said she didn’t want a shot. She started crying a bit and wanted Drew. Then she started gagging. Drew ran her to the bathroom and she gagged some more. While we were in the bathroom they called us back. We went back and she really started gagging. They handed us a little throw up pail and of course she threw up. The nurse kept asking if she was sick. I had to convince her that no, she wasn’t sick, that she was making herself sick. I got on the table and held her arms and the nurse just gave it to her. Two seconds later she was fine and acting like a pirate. Everyone keeps saying she’ll outgrow it but she’s actually getting more skilled at it. It used to be she only threw up when she was crying really hard. Now she just decides she doesn’t like the situation and throws up – sometimes without crying. We left there and treated ourselves to some frozen yogurt as a treat.

Friday morning Lindy had speech first thing at her school and then we left and headed to their other preschool. Friday night we had supper club at our house with Ed, Jamie, Katie and Kris. A good time was had by all, even though I stuffed myself until I didn’t feel good. uggg. We made my great, great grandmother’s apple dumpling recipe for dessert. A true labor of love because they take awhile but it is quite possibly my favorite dessert ever. They are so good!

Saturday morning we did a first. We split up the child care duties all day. Will and I left mid-morning and headed to Raleigh. Our first stop for the day was at my friend Cathy’s house. Cathy and I went to high school together and then lived together two years in college. She had a little girl baby, Adeline, the end of July so we went by to meet her and drop off our baby presents. It was great to meet Addie and it was so fun to hold a little baby!! I got my baby fix in! We left Cathy’s and headed to a birthday party in Cary. My best friend Carrie’s daughter, Anna, turned 6. Her party was at a park and playground. Will had a blast playing all afternoon. The main reason I brought Will with me is because the party was at a playground. Lindy and playgrounds make me so nervous. I actually got to sit back a little bit and just watch him play. It was a beautiful fall afternoon to spend at a park. We left the party and headed home, while stopping at two Old Navy’s on the way home to look for pants in the right size. We had no luck at either one. When we got here, Aunt Anna and her boyfriend, Brian, were here. We hung out with them last night and they went to church with us this morning.

This afternoon we all headed to the Dixie Classic Fair. It’s the local fair but it’s the second largest in the state. Our old church has a food booth so for years we always worked at the fair. Now we just get to be fair goers. The kids had fun walking around and looking at animals. Our snack today was a deep fried Snickers bar and deep fried Oreos. Both were tasty but the candy bar was better. We mainly looked at animals and exhibits today. We are going to go one afternoon after the kids get out of school and let them ride some rides when it’s not quite so busy. It was another beautiful, crisp fall afternoon. A perfect day for the fair!

Can’t believe it’s October. How did that happen??

A cute Lindy girl in a cute school outfit.After the shots on Tuesday. Will passed out on the way home. Yummy apple dumplings!A little Saturday morning reading in Will’s bed.Sweet Baby Adeline. She’s snarling because her crazy mommy and daddy put her in an NC State outfit! Cathy and baby Addie.Getting my baby fix!At the birthday party at the park. Green cupcakes!Mommy-son day!The birthday girl, Anna.Will and the birthday girl.Busting out long sleeve clothes since the temperature dropped this weekend. Anna and Brian at the fair today.Checking out the chickens and roosters.Will next to the 400 pound pumpkin. This goat just crawled up on that animal and laid down for a nap. They were so excited to feed the animals!Anna was super excited to feed the animals too!Eating deep fried Snickers and Oreos!Our nephew, Corbyn, drew this picture and it was hanging at the fair.Little man passed out again on the way home!

What a Difference a Week Makes

2011-09-25T21:25:00.001-04:00

Last week when I wrote my post I felt like poo. I felt like poo ALL week long. I finally started feeling better yesterday and slept well last night and feel about back to normal today. What a miserable week.

Since I was sick I didn’t do much. I thought I was feeling better on Tuesday morning so I picked Lindy up from school and took the kids to gymnastics. By the time I got home I felt like poo again.

Gymnastics didn’t go as well this week. Of the three times we’ve been, it wasn’t the best and it wasn’t the worst. Actually it was the worst she has done in the beginning circle time. She kept taking off, running across the circle, and tackling Will. The last time she did it she got close enough where I grabbed her and had a sweet little chat with her. She did better in the circuits than circle time. We had another little chat when she had to go to the bathroom, but I’m just not sure she understands consequences. The theme this week was football and they did some cute football things. They had to roll down a slope with a stuffed football and then tackle a big mat. Will is doing great in gymnastics. He listens well and is having a blast. He is getting a little less hesitant about trying the new things as well.

That about sums up the week. Besides the fact that I was sick, it rained the latter part of the week. Lots and lots of rain. The kids were stuck inside with a sick mama. That meant they watched a lot more tv than they usually get to. They were loving life.

We had a much more exciting weekend though. Friday night we met Uncle Ed and Aunt Jamie at a Wake Forest girls volleyball game. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. Lindy and Will didn’t love it or particularly sit still very well but oh well, we were out of the house. Saturday Drew had a youth event at church where they packed 20,028 meals for Stop Hunger Now. Last night we had dinner with some friends in Greensboro. We ate with one of Drew’s best friends from middle school, his wife, their almost four year old daughter, and 4 month old son. Lindy and Will had fun playing with Hannah and all her toys and we had fun catching up. I didn’t hold the baby since I’ve been so sick all week and still have a cough. I couldn’t get in my baby fix! Next time! Today we went to church and then we went to a Wake Forest girls soccer game! Even though it was a bye week for the Wake football team, we still saw a lot of Wake Forest sports!

We’ve been having a lot of trouble with Lindy’s hearing aides this week. I keep hearing static and a crackling sound and I’ve had trouble syncing her hearing aides to her FM system. (Incidentally she likes to ask me to ‘sync’ her hearing aides now. She has no clue what that actually means.) I thought it stopped doing it at the end of the week but it’s been doing it this weekend so I’m definitely taking them in to get checked out. They are just like all other technology, they are amazing when they work and so frustrating when they don’t work right!

It was cool in the beginning of the week and warm by the end of the week.Football day at gymnastics! About the only thing Lindy listened to during circle time was following the directions to go to middle, put your arms in the air and say, “Ta da!”Rolling with the football.Hut, hut, hike!Tackle that dummy!Tackling the dummy was RIGHT up Lindy’s alley.She struggles to walk on the trampoline….much less bounce!Lindy trying not to smile after I caught them in a sweet moment!GO DEACS!!! We saw the Deacon up close and personal at the volleyball game!Aunt Jamie!I left the pantry door open today and came back to find this.Sneaking chips.Today at the Wake girls soccer game. It started pouring rain on us so we left, but they were winning 4-1 so we felt safe leaving!