Sleepover Spring Break!

Over Spring Break, Jackson wanted Cole to spend the night so that sounded like a good idea!  These boys play so incredibly well together... It's so sweet.  Well, even tho they're only 4 months apart, Cole started Kindergarten and Jackson's in Bridge, so they're a little different right now when it comes to reading ability.  I had a baby monitor on to spy on what these boys were up to in Jackson's room and at one point, Cole picked up a Children's Bible Story book and started reading out of it to Jackson!!  It was the sweetest thing ever!!!  I couldn't help but take a picture of it... Especially since they didn't know I was listening.  When Ryan got home, he built a Spiderman Lego set with them, and Cole talked me into letting them all watch Pokemon on Netflix at bedtime... These boys are a blast!  We love having Cole (and Lily) over.... Just like family.  :)

Grandparents Day!

Couple weeks ago was grandparents day at the boys' school.  Jackson and Ethan reminded me daily for about a week prior.  They were so excited about Poppy coming to their school!  The school set up donuts, muffins, juice and coffee and my daddy was at their school promptly at 715am to take them.  He didn't want me to go help - he said "I've got this."  So he took both boys to the fun and then he took them downstairs to the book fair.  I gave my dad strict instructions that each boy could have ONE book.... Then my dad safely escorted each boy their classrooms and waved goodbyes.  I was so proud of my dad!  That's a big job!  However, when the boys got home, Jackson had 7 books and Ethan had 2... and one of the books Ethan had was a duplicate of one that Jackson had because Jackson said "we both wanted it."  POPPY!!!!  I called my dad and asked what the heck!  He said... "They just picked out what they wanted... I'm new at this... they knew I wouldn't say no." No wonder my very spoiled boys were so anxious for grandparents day!  They sure do love their Poppy!  Thanks Daddy!

Is he growing?

I made Jackson try on his shorts to see what clothes we needed this summer...  He still fits perfectly in ALL of his shorts.  They're 4T!!!!!  He's going to be 6 in May!  Sassy boy built just like his Uncle Ray - short legged and skinny.  I think Ethan will catch up to him soon.  Should be interesting when I'm buying 5T shorts for both boys.

Ethan's Soccer Fun!

Ethan started soccer again.... He's an orange lion now. On his team is Lily Kate Searcy and Jasper Stephenson.... So it's basically a really fun playdate for Ethan. I don't think he fully understands what he's supposed to do yet, but he's having fun with Lily.  He has a fancy Spiderman soccer ball that he's so very proud of and I just bought him a soccer goal to practice in the backyard.  At the game, LK and Ethan spent the whole time hooked to each other's side like this.  Pretty cute.  When it was time to charge the field, they just ran straight to the goal, bypassing the ball altogether.  I'm pretty sure they just thought it was a race to the goal.  Adorable, I know.  :)  My friend Sarah took these awesome pictures!  I love the one here where Ethan is antagonizing the other team!  That's SO Ethan!!!

Anson and Christian

6 weeks apart... and their siblings are destined to get married... so they're destined to be buds.  

Oh... and they like each others' cups.  So sweet.

Ethan's hearing test.

 

Yesterday, I took Ethan into the ENT to see how bad the damage is of 6 months of fluid in his ears has had on his hearing.  Turns out, it could be much better, and it could be worse.  Ms. Lori was amazing with Ethan and he really loved her.  I am super impressed with the way they do hearing tests for children this age... Ethan wore these headphones and Lori could talk to him thru them.  She set behind the glass and they "played a game."  When he heard the beep, he put a toy into the basket.  He loved it.  He listened and listened til she turned it up loud enough that he heard the beep, and then he tossed it hard into the basket.  He thought it was way cool.  She did a series of tests like this and at the end, we found out his permanent hearing was good, but he definitely has mild hearing loss due to the fluid.  His number was around 35 and Dr. Lee said at 40, they call it "moderate" hearing loss so he was on the border.  So we've decided to schedule the t-tubes for Ethan and get all that fluid drained out.  I'm so grateful he's finally going to feel normal again.  As it stands now, he says he feels ear pain - especially when he blows his nose, loss of balance, loss of appetite, cannot hear when we talk to him.... I don't know the long term effects of having that fluid in his ears this long will be, but I'm hoping these bigger T-Tubes will keep the fluid from building up in there anymore.  Fingers crossed for our baby boy. 

Attention Walmart Shoppers....

My baby boy says hello!!  He's going to be in every WalMart soon!  This pic was taken in the OKC Walmart!!  YAY!!!

me and my 1 year old.

It's a party!

 So my baby boy turned one!  In the past, we've had these enormous parties for them on their 1st birthday, and feel so crazy running around trying to greet everyone and this time, we opted to do a family only birthday party.  We have several people in our family who have birthdays in March.  My brother's birthday is the 5th... but closer to Christian's is my uncle Roy, my cousin's boy Mason (who turned 6), my cousin Courtney (who turned 20!) and Christian... So we decided to celebrate everyone's party!  It was a good plan with Christian still not walking cuz he could just roam around in the living room, hanging out and it was totally non-stressful.  So nice. We ordered pizza, had tons of dessert and watched a slideshow of Christian's 1st year... And the pizza... it was great.  I took over 400 pictures for Christian's birthday weekend... so I'm just putting a few on here and I'll make his Shutterfly book with the other pics.  It was a great party celebrating my baby angel and these awesome peeps!

A big day and More ear issues.

Happy Birthday to Christian! But....

Ethan woke up this morning at midnight, crying loudly.  I go upstairs and he is crying that his ears hurt.  I wasn't too surprised considering his ear history and the fact that most times, his ear infections never fully clear up so tubes are inevitable.  I gave him some IBU and he reluctantly went back to sleep after some coaching.  I took him in this morning... He is a champ.  He knows the drill at this point.  Walked over for the measurement  - 3'3" (55th percentile) and scale - 36 pounds (66th percentile), did bp, temp, etc.  He is a pro.  He sat in the room, playing my iPad, acting like nothing is wrong.  Doc looked in his ears and said they aren't necessarily "infected" but they are red and "his ear drums do NOT look good." As I already knew, doc said he has tons of yucky fluid in there and that it's probably a good idea to consider the t-tubes.  Anyway, he opted to treat what looks like "an inevitable infection" meaning it would've turned into that because of how red it is.  So we are on another round of antibiotics - this time Omnicef (Amox last time).  I think Ryan and I have just decided to go ahead and schedule those tubes.  Ethan will feel so much better.  Poor baby and those crazy ears!

I felt bad having to take C to the doc on his birthday - not even for him!  But Christian didn't mind... :)

And now HE has an ear infection!

This is his birthday week!  He's not supposed to get sick!?  But he woke up yesterday morning with 102.2 fever... very whiny and cranky and wouldn't eat.  I immediately got him an appointment with the doc.  He fell asleep on me at the doc office (totally unusual for Christian!) and doc had to use two different utincils to clean all the wax out of his ears - but said his ear is, in fact, infected.  Just as Ethan got off antibiotics, Christian got on.  He has been an AWFUL patient... like just wants to cry.  Not wanting to eat, sleep, drink, rest, play or walk around... Just wants to scream.  Pretty bad day.  :(  But today is a new day....

Zzzz's....

It was so pretty the other day... Went for a walk on the trail.. good exercise I thought.  Well, C loved it.. Zonked right out.  How cute is he!?

These two....

These two sweet friends take the cutest pictures together! I love how Eden is giving Jackson a giant hug in this picture!  So precious!!

Another ear infection....

Here we go!  Both tubes are officially out and we're already infected.  Doc said the fluid is still full back there and his ear is red and "not looking good."  He really thinks all this fluid has or will affect Ethan's hearing, so we are scheduling a hearing test for him and likely a 3rd set of tubes.  He's such a trooper... never even complains!

Snow, snow and MORE snow!

I must admit.  I hope for snow!  I hope for school cancellations.  I don't hope for it for any other reason except that I LOVE getting to have my boys home all day long unexpectedly!  It's like winning the lottery for me!!  We lay around in PJ's, play and watch silly cartoons, eat whatever we want, and just get to be lazy.  I feel like God was blessing me with the "record snow days" this year... forcing me to stop and enjoy my last year before 'real' school begins. I wish I would've known when Jackson was small how fast those days would go by but as we approach kindergarten this fall, I'm cherishing these snow days so much.  They're only small once... and it's just a glimmer of time... Then, they're big and I'll be begging for them to stay home with mommy and hang out in PJ's and be lazy... 

So I'm loving every second while it's here.

Ethan's First 'REAL' Drawing!

He drew a train!  I'm so proud of my boy - and doesn't he write his name so well!!!?  

Love this little man so much!!

Christian's first graduation...

Mrs. Lynn has meant a lot to our family... We needed her when Ethan was a baby too... Both of these little stinkers needed her expert therapy to learn to eat - to learn to swallow solids.  It didn't come easy for either of them, but with her help, it's all better!  Today was Christian's last therapy session!  We are so grateful to Lynn for her patience, wisdom and guidance for a little weasel who was too scared to swallow any foods... and to a momma who had no idea what to do to fix it.  Christian is now eating just about anything!  After 3 months of therapy, Christian went from gagging at any or all purees, cereals or even just formula on a spoon - to grabbing a full banana and gobbling it up! His favorite foods are mango, crackers, and yogurt.  He recently has tried chicken, blueberries and cheese.  He's doing so well and loves to eat.  

I'm so thankful for his rapid catch up - but it's all thanks to Lynn.  :)

Sleeping Prince Must Wake.

My baby boy.  It's such a hard thing.  Waking this little angel... several days a week... in order to go pick up his brothers. I struggled doing this when Ethan was a baby, but it was only 2 days a week that Jackson was in Mother's Day Out.  Christian's big brother goes to school 5 days a week... fortunately only 2 long days.  I expect this fall will be tough too... having to go pick up Jackson and Ethan around 230p ... I'm hoping to train him to nap around 1130am so he can have time to easily wake up on his own... but who knows.  I don't know any mom who wouldn't have trouble looking this sleeping little soul and think "Dang IT!!!  I wish I didn't have to wake him up!"  Guess this is why they say the 3rd kid is so laid back... We'll see!

 

Cousin Love

My cousin Linsey and her husband Bobby drove up here the other day to get their car tinted and we got a pic... ALMOST got everyone looking!!

My Artist!

 

I'm impressed!!!

My Blue-Eyed Boys

Brother Best Friends!!

It's been a wild road, but these two boys are truly best friends.  We are finally at an age where they can play at each other's "level" and see each other as equal partners to play... They don't necessary love the same things - Ethan is still a uber train lover, and Jackson is all about star wars and legos right now... but every day they compromise with each other... You'll see Jackson playing Thomas with Ethan and the next hour, you'll see Ethan in Jackson's room talking about storm troopers and putting legos together.  I'm so thankful I had these two so close in age because now they are best buddies.  My heart is so full.