Let Me Take A Moment To Brag

I need to brag on my first born. He is know going poop and pee pee on the potty. I stressed about this for a little while this summer, because I wanted him to be potty trained before preschool started back. I worked with him some, but soon gave up when I realized that he was just not ready and that it was a battle of the wills. I decided that I was not going to worry about it anymore. People have always told me, they will go when they are ready. I thought, "yeah right, then I will be waiting forever." I was willing to wait though and just keep doing diapers (especially since I get them for little of nothing using my coupons!!!)

Well, we have been in school for two weeks now and all but one of the children in Micah's class is potty trained. I have not said much about it, but I guess Micah was feeling a bit of pressure from his toddler peers. That peer pressure starts early and it can be a good or bad thing. In this case, it has been a very good thing. Last night, he came up to me and said, "poop mama." I said, Micah do you want to go poop on the potty...thinking he would refuse as usual. To my surpise, he gladly walked back there pooped and peed on the potty. WOW! I was in shock and made a huge deal about it! He got to get a car of his choosing out of the Potty Training Treat Bag, a sticker to put on his chart and a small piece of chocolate (this in itself is a huge deal for Micah). But some occasions call for chocolate!

He woke up this morning and went straight to the potty. He takes Mickey Mouse ("Ra Ra") with him. "Ra Ra" sits on one potty and he sits on the other. He can't wait to get to pick something from the treat bag when he is done. Last night he slept with his new car and showed it to me first thing this morning. He is so proud of himself!

Today he is in BIG BOY UNDERWEAR! We will see how it goes. I am not a big fan of the Pull Ups, because they feel too much like diapers. Maybe he can wear his big boy underwear to school tomorrow.

The Lord Protects

Last night, I was thinking about my blog. I knew that I needed to post something, but did not know what to post. Life has been pretty busy, but uneventful lately. I could not think about what to post on. Well, an outpouring of the Lord's protection took place early this morning and I feel as if I need to praise him publicly.

We never realize when an emergency is going to rise and test our abilities to remain calm and help as needed. This morning, Noah awoke as happy as ever and ready to eat. We went through our same routine of feed, change and play. He was lying on the couch cooing and then all of a sudden burst out in a pain cry. I knew that was not like him, so I rushed to pick him up. The minute I picked him up, he shut his eyes tight and refused to open them. He laid his head on my shoulder and did not move without being prompted. I tried to get him to respond for about two minutes, but was not successful...his eyes remained shut. At that point, I decided it was time to wake Charlie. He jumped up out of bed, took him and laid him on the bed. At that point, he began to flail, but would still not open his eyes. I knew that it was not a life or death emergency, because he was breathing and had a pulse. My first thought was that he was having a seizure. We pried his eyes open and realized that his left eye was watering. We were relieved, realizing that he probably just scratched his eye and was acting the way that he was due to the shock his body probably experienced from the pain. He then started to develop what looked like a rash on the left side of his face. I contacted the doctor on call and he said that he probably got something in his eye and to watch him over the next hour. If he was not better, then he would meet us at the office. Thankfully everything turned out just fine. Noah's eye finally stopped watering and the blotches around his eye disappeared.

That is probably the first time that I have ever felt sudden fear and panic for one of my children. After I knew that Noah was fine, I couldn't help but think that it could have been a lot worse. It could have been a life threatening situation. We never know when we will be faced with such a situation. Our health and safety is not guaranteed, but we will always have assurance that the Lord protects and blesses in every situation that we face. It is only by His grace that some situations do not turn out a lot worse.

First Day of Preschool!

I started back to preschool on Monday. Micah missed his first day, because he was sick. Yesterday was his first day and he was excited! He got to pick-out his backpack. A friend from church who has a boy named Micah gave him a nap mat with his name on it. He also wore his preschool t-shirt. He was ready to go. This is his first year in a more structured preschool setting. He did great. The biggest issue he faced was only getting two servings of cookies at snack and not wanting to stay on his mat during rest time.

Another Reason Why God Created Women...

This is the outfit that Noah was wearing Sunday morning after having spent the entire weekend with dada. He had on Micah's Spiderman top and Micah's bug pajama bottoms, which were both 2T. When Charlie got up, I asked him about the outfit and he said, "I could not find Noah's pajamas." What???? Noah has been with us for 4 months now and Charlie does not know where his pajamas are!!!

It gave me a good laugh though and a picture to help me remember that God created moms, because he knew that daddys would need a little help.

Women of Faith

This past weekend I left both the boys with Charlie and went with a group of ladies from the church to a conference in Atlanta called Women of Faith. Friday, Beth Moore was the main speaker. How AWESOME! What a wonderful Christian woman! Of all the Christian speakers and writers, she is the one that has had the strongest influence on my Christian walk. I have been part of about 5 of her Bible studies, so it was an honor to see her in person. That night and all day Saturday we heard from singers Sandi Patty and Nicole C. Mullen. Their performances were incredible! The speakers were the Women of Faith ladies. They made us laugh, they made us cry and they gave us the encouragement to look to Jesus when we travel through life's valleys.

What a wonderful weekend. It was nice being away. Every mother needs that at least once a year. I did miss the boys though and called several times to check in with them. Charlie did great keeping them and I don't think that either one of them realized I was gone. But Noah did get very excited when he heard my voice as I got him up to feed him Sunday morning. When I got Micah up...he asked for Dada. Oh well, those precious boys love their daddy.

WHERE DID HE COME FROM?

I took Noah to the doctor today for his 4 month check-up. I usually have a list of questions to ask the doctor...none today. Noah is doing great! I don't have any complaints. His reflux has cleared up and he is a good baby. All that I wanted to know was how much he weighed. I thought that he was probably tipping the scales at 17 lbs, but NO....He is 19 lbs 3 oz!!!! WOW! At this age, Micah was only 10 lbs. He is almost twice the size of Micah. He was off the charts for height, weight and head. The doctor was not concerned, because everything was proportionate. He said that either he was going to be a football player or that his growth would slow and he would be more average around 9 months. I guess we will see. It is interesting though to compare the difference between him and Micah. Above is a picture of Micah at 5 months and Noah at 3 1/2 months.