Doing Well

Sam has been amazing today.  He has acted like nothing happened, eaten anything I have put in front of him, and just been a happy boy all day.  We were even able to get out and go for a walk after lunch.

Sweet, sweet boy!!

Tubes In!

Sam had tubes put in his ears this morning. Everything went well I am so happy to be done and hopefully have his ears healed.

Waiting in the waiting room.


Now we wait and play in another room.


How cute is his backside? I went with him from this room to the surgery and stayed with him until he fell asleep.


Waking up was hard for him. Once he had some juice, his paci, blanket, doggy, and snuggles with Mommy he started to relax. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. It had been a long morning after having to wake up at six.


Thank you to my mom for being at the hospital with me and to Lance's mom for being at our house with Reese and Lance (who is fighting the flu again).

Once we were home Sam wanted to eat and play. He walked around the house barking like a dog and dancing. I am so thankful for an easy morning!!

- Posted from my iPhone

Sweetness!!

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

Besides the crazy, mysterious temperature that is going around our house (seriously this winter is doing a number on us) it was a beautiful day!  We were able to spend some time outside after naps.

Sam is the one sporting the fever right now but you would never know it if you didn’t feel how warm he is and see the temperature on the thermometer.

He always has so much fun outside.  I venture to say that he will be much more of a dare devil than Reese will be.  Please say a quick prayer for him that this fever/sickness does not hurt his chances of getting tubes this week!!  We don’t want to wait any longer to get that done!

We still can’t figure out why but Reese just doesn’t want to drive this Jeep.  Sam loves to ride in it but she is just so stubborn she never wants to drive it.  I think it goes back to where if she doesn’t get it right the first time she wants no part of it.  We keep trying though and I know she will eventually love it.

Since Reese was being such a stinker about driving the Jeep she decided she was done.  So I jumped in and gave Sammy a little ride around the backyard.  Reese couldn’t stand being left out so she jumped on the front.

After a ride in/on the Jeep, Lance sent them down the hill in the car.

They both have so much fun speeding down the hill.

And it is so fun to see their big smiles as they enjoy it!

Thank you, God, for a beautiful day!

A Questionnaire for Reese

When Reese was still a tiny little baby I saw a fun little questionnaire a Mommy did for her kids.  At the time I could not imagine being about to have a conversation like that with Reese.  Well today I did!  I asked her the same questions about me and her daddy but did them at separate times so she would have different answers for each of us.  Her answers are in italics for me and are in bold for Lance.

*What is something Mommy/Daddy always says?
  Don’t be mean.
  Don’t be afraid.

*What makes Mommy/Daddy happy?
  Me being nice
  when I smile at him

*What makes Mommy/Daddy sad?
  When I make bad choices…hmmm…can you tell what we have been working on around here lately?
  when I am mean to him

*How does Mommy/Daddy make you laugh?
  funny faces and funny things
  be funny

*What did Mommy/Daddy like to do when she/he was little?
  play with Barbies
  At this point in the questioning she announced that “the question party is over”.  I eventually came back to her after a break but she didn’t know what Daddy did when he was little.

*How old is Mommy/Daddy?
  43
  15

*How tall is Mommy/Daddy?
  this tall (while raising her hand above her head)
  I don’t know

*What is Mommy/Daddy’s favorite TV show?
  the news
  Braves Game

*What does Mommy/Daddy do when you are not there?
  Go to meetings. I followed up with, what kind of meetings? Barbie meetings
  play with Sam

*What is Mommy/Daddy really good at?
  doing fun stuff
  silly faces

*What is Mommy/Daddy not very good at?
  juggling
  being a stinker

*What does Mommy/Daddy do for her job?
  clean up…ha…I’ve got her fooled
  working

*What is your Mommy/Daddy’s favorite food?
  not healthy stuff
  pasta

*What makes you proud of your Mommy/Daddy?
  making dinner
  being silly

*If Mommy/Daddy were a cartoon character, who would she/he be?
  Minnie Mouse
  Goofy…haha!!

*What do you and Mommy/Daddy do together?
  draw pictures
  eat doughnuts

*How are you and Mommy/Daddy the same?
  we have the same hair…I probably need to get her eyes checked
  work…???

*How are you and Mommy/Daddy different?
  different faces
  different faces

*How do you know Mommy/Daddy loves you?
  because it is about Valentine’s Day
  because when you loves somebody that means love

*What does Mommy/Daddy love most about Daddy/Mommy?
  hugging him
  hugging her

*Where is Mommy/Daddy’s favorite place to go?
  the beach
  the store

*What is one thing you wish you could change about Mommy/Daddy?
  her face….wonder how I should take that? I asked how she would change it and she said by magic.
  his hair

*What would Mommy/Daddy do with a million dollars?
  buy a fairy dress
  buy a giant biscuit

*What do you wish you could go and do with Mommy/Daddy?
  Chuck E. Cheese
  I don’t know…I think she was totally over this by now

*What is one thing you hope never changes about Mommy/Daddy?
  her hair
  eyes

Six Years

We have had a fun day today!! We started our day out celebrating our sweet little friend, Jocelyn. For her second birthday we had cake at her house and then went to the circus with her and her family. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a lot of traffic and missed the first half. There were three huge events going on downtown and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. Once we were there the kids had a blast though. It is so fun to watch their faces with all the acts. Sam loved the motorcycle trick and Reese loved the "alphabets" (aka acrobats). After the circus, Lance and I went out to dinner for our sixth anniversary. The weather today is almost exactly the way it was the day we got married. It was so comfortable and nice that day. I can't believe it has been six years since then!!

While we were at Jocelyn's party, Sam face planted in to their stone patio. Now he has a huge bruise on his face. Poor sweet baby!!




- Posted from my iPhone

Sweet Girl

When we got home from the ENT with Sam the other day, Reese asked how it went.  I told her that Sam is going to get tubes in his ears to make them feel better.  After her nap (aka jumping in her bed) she asked if she could make him a feel better picture.  She asked me to draw her a big heart on the page and then she did this…

She has learned how to write Sam’s name and then all of the other letters spell out “feel better”. 

She is such a sweet sister!!

More Mess Making

Sam has decided that he would rather feed himself with the spoon than let us do it. 

But sometimes it is more fun to use his hands.

Climbing

Sam is starting to become a climbing machine. He climbs on everything. He loves to climb on the stools in the bathroom, climb the stairs, and anything else he can grab a hold of. The other day I was doing laundry and kept hearing Sam squeal. I finally looked around the corner and he was sitting on the bench in the hallway. He was so proud of himself when I finally looked at him and he had the biggest smile on his face. I tried to get a picture of him quickly but he was off as soon as I had my phone out.



- Posted from my iPhone

The Mess That is Us

If I am being honest, I am a horrible housekeeper.  I know that it is part of my job as a stay-at-home mom but I just stink at it.  Our house is rarely clean unless other people are coming over.  It makes me crazy but I always seem to be playing catch-up.

Each meal turns in to this…

And this is actually tame compared to how it normally gets under Sam’s chair…

There are always shoes at the door…and yes, these are all three mine.  I, actually, wore all of them in one day and seemed to have forgotten where my closet is located!

Grrr….the dishes!  Cleaning the kitchen is probably my least favorite chore.  I always feel like I am playing catch-up in this area.

Our counters are magnets for clutter!

When I actually get on a clutter-busting mission, the stairs become a hazard.

And the playroom…good thing it has a door on it!

Reese’s bookshelf seems to throw books off of it on a daily basis.  Either that or Sam loves to yank them all off.

I am proud to say I got most of that cleaned up yesterday…but you wouldn’t know it to walk in to my house today!

Happy Valentine’s Day

Tonight Reese and I made a chocolate chip cookie cake.  I then let her decorate it with pink icing which Sam seemed to love.

It didn’t turn out that pretty.

And Reese didn’t seem to really like them.  It is totally my fault.  I didn’t have any baking soda so I had to substitute baking powder and I only had seven tbsp of butter instead of eight…and that really seemed to make a difference.

We had a really nice afternoon.  We got to go on a walk and I loved it!!  It was so nice to be outside in the beautiful weather with my little lovies!

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Brad Paisley

For Christmas, Becca and I bought Tommy and Lance tickets to see Brad Paisley.  Last night was the big night.

And it was so much fun!!

The four of us went to dinner first and then made it to the Arena in time to see Darrius Rucker (aka Hootie).  We missed the first opener. DR played three Hootie and the Blowfish songs and one Hank Williams, Jr song.  He put on a great show.

Our seats were center stage…second to last row.  Ha!  They were actually really good though.

And he got closer to us for a few songs. 

He even came and stood at the bottom of our section before he walked back to the stage.

We had so much fun!! I am glad we had this time together with Becca and Tommy…and BRAD!

And, yes, this concert was much more my speed than the USHER concert.

Sam~15 months

Our little man turned 15 months old yesterday and today he had his check up.  He did great and is still small!!  Lance blames it on my family genes.  Lance is 6’2” and most of his family is tall too.  My dad is 5’10” and his brother is 5’8” (on a good day).  So we very easily could have a daughter who is taller than our son.  Ha!

 

Sam is 30.5” (32%), 23.4 lbs (32%), and his head circumference is 18.5” (45%).  He hasn’t grown much since his 12 months visit but seems to be staying on the same curve so that is good. 

One thing that we are struggling with are his ears.  He has had ear infections (both ears) going on three months now.  We went through three round of antibiotics and then three weeks ago we did all three rounds of the antibiotic shot.  Nothing has helped so we scheduled an appointment with an ENT for Monday.  Today when the doctor looked in his ears he said they do not look good.  It wasn’t what he said but the way he looked when he said it that scared me.  He said we could do the shots again but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that to Sam again.  They are so painful.  When I said I didn’t know if I could do that again he said he wouldn’t do it right now if he was making the decision.  He knows how painful they are.  I even cried the last round with him so I knew I couldn’t handle it again (like its about me).  We have started another round of antibiotics instead that is as close as you can get to the shots.  I am not surprised that his ears are so bad because he is not sleeping well.  He is a trooper though.  When Reese had a double ear infection (the only one she has ever had), she woke up screaming with a really high fever.  He just whimpers until I come in to get him, rock him, and he falls back asleep in my arms or I lay him down and he is right back to sleep.  He is amazing!

He LOVES bubbles.  We were bad parents and didn’t do bubbles with him until recently.  He gets this huge excited face every time we start playing with them.

He also loves his sweets.  I went to the grocery store the other day and this huge bag of M&M’s was on sale.  We have popcorn and M&M’s every Friday while watching a movie so I figured I would stock up.  While I was unloading the groceries he spotted this bag on the floor and immediately dove for it.  He then carried it around  for a long time. 

He is very much so a boy.  He loves to play rough, climb on things, make all kinds of noises, and loves to make us laugh.  If we laugh at something he does, he will do it over and over again.

Reese seems to tolerate him when he is being crazy but will constantly give us a play by play. 

Sam is always interested in what Reese is doing and what she has…and then he has to have it.

While waiting on his prescription at Publix today I got him a cookie from the bakery.  He was in heaven until he dropped half of it on the floor.

Sam is, surprisingly (because of all of his ear problems), becoming very vocal. 

He says:
*Ma-ma
*Da-da
*Bye-bye
*Ba (ball)
*Cah (cup)
*Ah-ah (hot, hot)…when he touches the oven, warm food and then he blows on his food to cool it off
*Eh-o (Hello)…when he picks up my phone and puts it to his ear

He signs:
*all done
*more
*thank you (occasionally)

He barks when you ask him what a dog says and when he wants to go outside.  He also barks for any other animal…silly!

When it is bed time we all go to Reese’s room, read two books, do a devotional, say our prayers, and then say good night and give kisses.  One of the sweetest things he has recently started doing is when we start wrapping things up and start saying good night, he comes over to each person, puckers up his lips, and gives kisses.  He will go to each person and then start on another round.  It is so sweet and funny.

Getting in to things at the drs office