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.

Super Shopper!!!

Saturday morning I got to have a few hours out of the house by myself to do some shopping. I had the best time, because the deals were hot! I went to a few yard sales. At one of the yard sales there was a ton of size 0-4 junior clothes. They were all name brand. The price...10 cents!!! I got an entire big box full for $3.40. I got dresses, skirts, shorts, shirts, jeans and Capri's. I was pumped. Then I went to K-mart and they were having a super clearance. I spent the entire time there in the little boys department where I found about eight outfits for $2 each. This is a picture of my precious boys dressed up in their new outfits. Noah's outfit came with sandals to match his shorts. Since there is not much time for anything else now with two children, my new hobby is finding bargains and saving money!! I went to Ingles that evening and got $86 worth of groceries for $24. Gotta love those coupons!

Dada's Rabbit

This is a picture of the newest member of our family. Charlie finally got his rabbit. The car that he has talked about for months.

Week With Mimi and Paw Paw

Charlie is working part time as Youth Intern at our church this summer. This past week he went with the high school students to Daytona Beach. I do not like being home by myself, so I packed up the boys and visited my parents for the week. We had a great time down there. I would put the boys in bed around 7:00 each night and then my mom and I would go shopping. We don't get to do that together very much, so that was a treat. Micah had a great time too. We took him to Chuck E. Cheeses. He also got to stay up late one night watching home videos from when I was a little girl. He wasn't sure what to think about that.


Noah, Paw Paw and Babygirl


Micah and Paw Paw making snakes out of Playdough

Noah with my great aunt who is 93

3 Months Old

Noah is now 3 months old. It is hard to believe that that much time has already passed. He is weighing in at almost 16lbs (the size of a 9 month old)! I never thought I would have a baby this big. I'm sure that will change as he starts moving around. He is laughing now and close to rolling over. The biggest accomplishment...sleeping 10 straight hours at night! His reflux is also getting better. Big brother has adjusted to having him around and is very sweet to him most of the time.

Happy Fourth of July

Sunday we went to the fairgrounds for our church's Patriotic Celebration. Our Sunday School class was in charge of several of the booths and Charlie and I were in charge of the puppet shows. Micah's favorite thing was watching "dada" play the part of the crazy man puppet.

This evening, Charlie and I are finally going out on a date...first one since Noah has been born. We are going out to eat and to the movies. It has been so long since we have been somewhere without children. It doesn't even matter what movie we are going to see, we are just going to be free of responsibilities.

Cleaning Out - Making Money

Well, Charlie and I have been busy cleaning out closets to get rid of junk and make money as well. We are both trying to find different ways to make extra money to buy some things we have both wanted for a while. Last week, we cleaned out all of our closets and attic and went to the flea market on Saturday. Our table was the hot spot, because we had stuff priced cheap! We still made $130 on just junk that we were not using. I also did a yard sale in May and make almost $200. I sold some stuff at a consignment sale in March and made close to $200. I am also still selling on Ebay. My goal was to raise all this money to buy a bedroom suite, something I have wanted for years. I still want that, but I might have to put that off a little longer, because there is something else that I am wanting now. I played a Nintendo Wii this week with one of my friends and loved it! It was my type of video game, because you were never still, but up interacting with the game. Great exercise!!! I know that sounds childish and I am surprised that I have come to this, (my husband has rubbed off on me) but it is tons of fun. They are also pretty cheap when you consider game systems. Charlie has just sold his Xbox as well. Our 5th anniversary is this Friday and if we can get our hands on one, that might be what we get for each other. That might be how we will spend our 5th anniversary after the boys are in bed. It is hard these days to go out by ourselves. Noah is very needy and a lot of time, I am the only one that can get him to stop crying. This soon will pass and we will celebrate then.

And yes, I almost forgot...Charlie is working hard to raise money to buy a Rabbit. This is something that I have heard about for months now and he is excited that he has gotten the go ahead to look for one. He wants something small to get back and forth the work in. At least it will be good on gas.

Weekend with Granny and Grandpa & VBS

Twins


The New Member of the Family ("Ra Ra" - Mickey Mouse)


Sweet Smile








Getting into the Spirit

It has been over a week since I have posted. It has been a very busy week. We just got finished with VBS at our church. I ended up filling in for the director a couple of days, because she fell and hurt her knee. Everything went great though. I really enjoyed working in VBS this year and Micah and Noah both loved it has well. Micah looked foward to going every morning and Noah received one on one attention in the nursery. The theme was a sports one and the boys dressed alike 3 out of the 5 days.

The weekend before VBS, we visited Charlie's parents. Charlie took his dad horseback riding for Father's Day and his mom and I took the boys to a small festival at a park in town. When they got back, we had our turn to get out as well and went to a tea.

All of the big things for the summer are over now, so it is time to focus on doing some of those jobs that we don't get to do very often. Over the next several weeks, Charlie and I will be cleaning out closets, cleaning out the garage to get ready for a yard sale.

Micah Update

It has been a while since I have posted about Micah. We have entered a fun, yet challenging time with him. We have started to introduce him to the potty. I would like to have him potty trained before we start back to preschool, but at the rate we are going it doesn't look like it is going to happen. He is scared to even sit on the potty. Right now, he is just sitting on it with his clothes on and if he does that then he gets an M&M. Micah has always done so well with transitions. He adjusted wonderfully to his big boy bed and is still doing great with that, so I thought potty training might be the same way. He has decided that he doesn't want to do it and is pretty stubborn about it. At the beginning of the week, I thought we would be real aggressive with it and go straight to underwear, so that he would know when he was wet. Well, after 5 accidents and no attempt to go to the potty, I figured we better take things a little slower. He has regressed some since Noah has come along. He is wanting to be a baby again in some aspects and this might be why he does not want to give up his diapers.

As far as Micah's speech is concerned, We have been working with him a couple hours each day. We are doing flash cards and phonics on the computer...both of which he just loves! The language is still slow going, but he is doing much better. We are up to 70 words now, but only a small percentage of those are actually understandable to others. He doesn't use them all on a regular basis. The speech therapist is seeing him twice a month. His physical therapist still comes once a month to check in with him. He is doing really great in that area. The only thing that is a concern at this point is some sensory motor issues.

He is picking up new things everyday. He is really watching us and tries to mock almost everything we do. His new thing is putting on our shoes and walking around the house. It warms my heart to see him watching us and know that he wants to be just like us. What an honor and a joy it is to be a parent. The times that we are in have their challenges and each stage will. With prayer and guidance from the Lord we will make it through each new challenge. And in the end, our prayer is that they are young men that serve the Lord in whatever their hands find to do.

Phonics on the Computer


Dada's Shoes

2 Months Old!

Sweet Baby Feet!




My Favorite Picture!



I Love to Smile at Mama!


Noah will be two months old next week. He can lift his chest off the floor when lying on his belly, smile and chuckle. Where has the time gone? Time has flown by, because things have been so busy. Some days are better then others. There are the days that Noah sticks right to his schedule, sleeps well at night and Micah loves his little brother and does everything to be a help and not a hinderance. And then there are days when they both cry at the same time, Micah decides that he is a baby again and demands just as much of my attention as his newborn baby brother. It is challenging having two children so close together. They are still both very needy and consume all of my time. But, I believe the hard times will pay off when they are close and enjoy playing together and keeping each other company. I don't want to rush the time by. I love them both just the way they are and enjoy staying home with them more then anything. But I know that the time will soon come when they don't need mama as much anymore and will want to spend most of their time with dada. That day will be happy and sad. Happy in that, I will have more "me" time...sad in that, I love them more then anything (besides their daddy) and always want them to feel the same for me.

Camping With Mimi and Paw Paw

Micah with the "Quack Quacks"

Micah and Babygirl

Micah, Mimi and Babygirl

Micah, Paw Paw and Babygirl

Cute Smile

Pictures of the Week

Year End Program at Mother's Morning Out


Picnic with Granny and Grandpa


Aunt Sunnie Anne


Watching the parade in my double stroller.

What a Week!

It has been over a week now since I have posted. Things have been crazy since my last post. As soon as Micah got better, Noah and Charlie got a touch of the virus. I thought for sure that I was going to get it, but some how I missed it. The Lord knew that I had too much going on this week to have a set back like that. I have been busy planning our preschool's graduation. It was last night and boy am I glad that it is over. Everything seem to go well. It was a very sweet time for the children and their families. So, preschool is over for a couple of months and I am excited about having a short break.

I also went to Micah's program yesterday at Mother's Morning Out. That was cute. He just stood there while everyone else sang and then when the song was over he got all excited and clapped. That was the first time that I have ever saw him up on stage. Yes, I got it on camera.

This weekend we are getting away. I don't know if it will be much of a break or not. We are going camping with my parents. I would like to just sleep all weekend. My parents will be there to help with the boys, so I may sneek in a nap or two. I am a little anxious as to how Noah will do and Micah will sleep when Noah wakes in the middle of the night. We are not going to be far from home, so we can come home if we need to. That is all for now. I will post some pictures of our trip when we return.

Almost Better

Well, since my last post Micah is doing much better. He ended up catching a virus along with everything else, Wednesday he woke up with a high fever and diarrhea. Everything hit him at once, so that is why everything seemed so bad. It is Thursday and he is now able to hold food down, but has had diarrhea all day. He has been playing and eating today. It has been a very exhausting week! I have washed way too many loads of clothes and changed bed sheets a couple times a day. It was also my birthday yesterday and we did not get a chance to do anything. Maybe when things calm down a bit, we can celebrate.

Micah Update

I ended up taking Micah to the doctor today, because he still not been able to keep anything down. The doctor agreed that swallowing blood from the cut on his tongue is causing the nausea. He is also running a fever now and is congested, so the doctor also believes that he has a viral infection that is making things worse. Poor little guy. The good thing is that he is not dehydrated and does not have a concussion. He is just very lethargic. Today at 11:30, he sat in Noah's bouncy seat and went to sleep. He slept until 2:30 when he woke up sick again. He has some medicine for the nausea and congestion now, so maybe tomorrow will be a better day.