Swimming Lessons 2013

We did it again!!! We signed them up for swimming lessons, even though I told myself I would NEVER do it again because it was so inconvenient!  However, Grandma and Pappy had bought a pool the year before so we needed to make sure that we were READY for a full summer of swimming in water we could not touch in!  So we did the lessons, and while we did it, we had Johnny Boy our little foster guy. This foster guy was our MOST active little buy ever and so much anxiety came as I was taking these three to the YMCA for lessons in the winter time.  However, the kids did so good! I was so very proud and their daddy came along with me numerous times too.  Johnny did pretty well eating snack and drinking his drink while watching in his stroller.  We had to WALK a lot during the 45 minutes of lessons, but he was not as I had expected!  Ava was in the class where she no longer needed a back pack and we were so proud of her!  She worked this time on her different strokes and swimming in laps in a full sized pool.  She enjoyed her lessons, though she said they were much more difficult than the previous lessons she had had two years ago.  Christian was in the younger class and his focus was putting his face in the water.  He avoided it at all cost and it was difficult to get him to do it without holding his nose. I can't blame him, because I still have to hold my nose, but don't ya know, he did it!!! He now swims underwater without holding his nose!!!!  He also loves to float and Ava loves to swim under the water.   They worked a little on diving for the kids too and form with their diving.  They worked on jumping into the pool off the diving board and then swimming to the side.  Christian hit another mile stone when he conquered that challenge!  Oh, and they both want to do lessons again soon!  Christian and Ava were both much more confident in Grandma and Pappy's pool too!

April Fools Joke Gone Bad?

I have played some pretty good April Fools jokes in my time, but never have I been gotten by such a one as I was this April Fools Day 2013. 
The kids had been sick for about a week, so finally after a long weekend of sickies, I decided to run them to the doctors before they went back to school.  They had four days off for Vacation so I figured the doctor would say they had bronchitis or some sort of infection, give them antibiotics and I would be able to ship them to school the next day.  I couldn't be so lucky.

Aprils Fools was the day and all were in rare form.  My father in law and I took the three kiddos to their appointments.  The kids were sick all weekend, as I had mentioned before, but as we entered those doors to the actual doctor's office, all symptoms went away.  It was truly a miracle.  By the time we were back in the check out room, they had become monkeys, climbing all over the place and very hyper.  The doctor mentioned that they were totally fine, and could go to school the next day.  No fevers, no strep and all he had to do was check their ears.  Ava's ears were fine. . .

Christian is where the story begins.  He peaked in one ear and then in the other.  Then he said, "does he have tubes in his ears?"  I laughed and said no that he didn't.  Then He said, "did you put something in his ears?"  Now I was really laughing and said, "hahaha Doc, your funny.  No, I didn't but good April Fools Joke."  He smiled and said, "well somebody put something in his ears, no joke.  Christian, did you put something in your ears?  Without hesitation Christian answered, "yes. . .erasers."  And there you have it. . . .my son stuck erasers in his ears. 

It took awhile to get him to tell us the whole story, but the tale goes that one day he was being "sneaky" at school and bit off pencil erasers and stuck one in his Right ear and two in his Left ear.  He got one of the two out of his Left ear, but now one eraser bit remained in each ear.  :)  So off to the ENT we went to get these ears cleared. 

I had to run home, feed them and be back to the ENT in a matter of 1.5 hours.  During that time, Christian started running a temperature, baby got tired and grumpy and Ava got bored.  I texted daddy to say what was going on and he didn't really react. Later I found out, he was certain I was pulling a good April Fool's joke on him.
At the ENT office, the nurse and doctor were concerned about Christian's now 101.3 temp and he looked sick.  The ENT thought his throat, that had been fine 1.5 hours ago mind you, was now really red.  So she was able to retrieve the eraser piece from the Right ear but when it came to the Left Ear, the piece was further in.  I guess while he was getting one of the two out of that specific ear, he accidentally pushed the other one further in, so it was up against the ear drum.  He was feeling sicker as we waited and scared as they tried to vacuum it out and then spray it out.  Finally, she laid us with this one.  He was to need surgery (general anesthesia ) for her to be able to SAFELY remove the final eraser piece from the Left ear.  However, because he was now SICK, they had to give him an antibiotic and schedule surgery for once he felt better, which the next available date was two weeks later. 

On my way home, I texted Micah and he still didn't really react, so I finally called him.  He listened and then said, "your pulling my leg?"  I chuckled and said, "oh honey, I wish I was."  April Fools gone Bad.  :)  We did have to tell him not to EVER put anything like that in his ears or nose, EVER again. :)  Surgery update to follow. 

Our Slumber Buddy and Pal - Pappy Bumbaugh

Grandma was in China for a good few weeks so pappy came to spend some overnight slumber parties with us!  We enjoyed having him and the kids loved getting up to donuts everyday! :)  We played games, hung out and just spent time passing time waiting for Grandma to come home.  Love these three guys right here.  :)

Mama Ava

Well, it is officially true. . .my daughter wants to be a mama.  She walked around all last Sunday with a baby stuffed up under her dress and pretending she was carrying a baby in her belly.  She would playfully and lovingly pat her little baby bump as she walked around and she asked if I wanted to take any pictures of her before she had the baby.  She must have remembered me taking pictures of aunt Bleppies before she had Roman.  So, of course I obliged and took some quick shots before she went and had the doctor "crack my belly open and take my baby out." Christian, with his NEW desire to be a doctor, graciously offered to do the whole thing for her. . .

 

 

Then moments after, we have our proud Mama.  She was so so proud and walked around like a peacock.  She asked if I would love to see her precious baby and I said, that I would def. love that. I held her and made all over her and Mama Ava was so proud.  She just mimicked the funniest things. . .anything she had seen family or friends of ours doing while pregnant and then as a new mom.  It was so dear and for a second, but ONLY a second, I got a small glimpse in my heart of what it might be like to be a Grandma and see your daughter loving on her daughter or son.  I have to say, I am absolutely sure I will love it almost as much if not more than the moment I first held my own babies.  I will embrace the Grandma stage with open arms. . .as long as she takes her time and does it all right. :)  Love this glimpse of how fun it will be, SOMEDAY FAR in the FUTURE!

 

 

 

Texts Succ. . . . .

Ava has really been watching people with phones.  She wants one, Now. . .and though we keep explaining that she doesn't need one and won't be getting one for a very long time, she is still very disgruntled about it.  She has, in the past few days, decided to borrow my phone and text her cousin REECE.  The conversations are very cute and funny and I think they both enjoy them very much.  I haven't asked Brianna yet if she laughs as hard as I do at them, but I am certain she does. Usually their texts talk about what time they woke up and what they are doing.  Then they turn into words like. . ."poop Ava" and then "pee Reece"  yup, they have fun.  I guess they are safe to have these conversations at this age at least. :)

So, Ava gets up this morning and decides she NEEDS to use my phone to text Reece and find out if he is going to church.  She doesn't NEED my help, as she so quickly reminds me, so she is on her own. She is working for quite a while on one text and I keep telling her to get ready for church.  Finally I come and read what she is writing.  It says something sweet about going to church and she hopes he can come too.  Then she pushes done and sends it.  I walk back into the room later and she looks so so sad. I asked her what it said and she just hands me the phone. I realize that she has texted to their land line and so the text bubble that came back, to respond and tell us that is was successfully sent to land line says "this message was succ. . . . " and then you have to go on to see the rest of the message.  She was so sad and finally I realized that she thought her aunt had written her back and said her message was SUCK.  hahahah.  I had to explain the whole thing, that she had accidentally sent it to the wrong number and not her cell number.  I am not sure she quite understands yet, but it does make me laugh every time I think of it.  Poor girl loves her aunt and she was so distraught in that little time that she thought her aunt, her biggest fan, had actually said her message was suck. hahahaha.  :)  LOVE my little Beaner.

Fun with Nate and Danielle

We did it again, our annual Decorating Eggs Date with Nate and Danielle.   They are so sweet to always come and enjoy this time with us and this is the greatest!  I love it.  Nate had an egg he kept dipping in colors and it ended up brownish.  :)  Danielle had an egg she decorated with Nate's name, hence he is the love of her life.  We had scribbles and stickers and glitter and lots of decorating fun.  Then there was the posing of eating the eggs we decorated before we took the shells off.  It was  fun and my kiddos loved every minute they had with these two!   Johnny IV had fun too!

Then the night got even cooler as Danielle pulled out the next idea.  She saw me post something on Pinterest about how I wanted to try something I had found.  She brought the supplies and surprised us all.  We had a glow party.  She brought decorated mason jars with the kids names on them and decorated on the outside.  Then we broke open glow sticks and dumped them and glitter on the inside of the jar.  Next we went outside and had a GLOW party with our awesome Glowing mason Jars and then the sparklers Danielle and Nate Brought.  I just adore this special couple!  They are awesome!

Easter Morning with Johnny IV

We had a little guy named Johnny stay with us from November 2013 to May 2014.  He was a funny quirky silly and very busy little guy and we loved him.  He had a spunk for life and was as curious as they come.  We had the Joy of celebrating Easter with him and he sure did love all the Easter candy.  The little bunny ears he was wearing were from his Grandmother and his candy came from all over the place.  The Agency gave us donations of candy and buckets for the kiddos and they even gave us stuff for our own kids. :)  Ava and Christian loved this of course too! :)