Stories

4/24/07-  Daniel is starting to sign "please!"  When I was at Books-a-Million the other day, I looked at a parenting book that had some sign language, and saw "please," in there and thought that would be a good one to start with.  Daniel understands SO much, but he just doesn't talk as much. So, instead of hearing him grunt and point at things he wants, I thought we'd see how he did with signing "please."  Well, he's got it down already.  In two days!  It is so cute how he does it.  I'll have to get him on video. 

This afternoon, the boys and I went over to my school to attend chorus rehearsal for Cornbread Festival.  The kids were having some problems staying (or even just singing) in their head voice.  So, I asked if I could say something, and I was holding Daniel, and I said, "People, where is your head voice?" and immediately, Daniel patted his head!!!!  I couldn't believe it!!!  Everybody got a kick out of it.  He's been pointing a lot to his ears when we ask him where his ears are, nose, eyes, and sometimes mouth.  And I think we've done hair and head a few times, but he shocked me when he did that with the chorus.  Little smartie!

Something else Daniel has been doing is raising his had when we ask a question, like, "Who wants to eat?" or "Who wants to go the library?"  He'll raise his hand with a big smile, like he's saying, "I do!!!!"  So cute!!

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4/22/07-  Well, I don't know if any of us slept well last night!  I stayed home with the boys this morning from church.  Daniel still had this rash on him when he woke up and Caleb still talked about his ear bothering him.

Caleb felt better by evening services and went with me to church.  Then after church, we went to Books-a-Million and McDonalds', which he loved.  Special time with Mommy and Caleb!

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4/21/07- This morning, I took the boys with me to ladies bible class and they played downstairs with some of the other kids who were there, while the dad watched them (thanks, Josh!).  After bible class, we raced home to pick up Nana's birthday present and the highchair so we could head up to Uncle Matt's for her birthday party.  The boys took naps on the way, which worked out GREAT!  When we got there, we all played in Matt's big and beautiful yard.  He got the boys these adorable little "wood grain-looking" bats that were actual made of foam!  They were so real looking, but they were just the right size for the boys.  They had fun with those.

We had a great lunch that Matt made, and then Daniel threw up all over the place.  He hadn't even really eaten anything on his tray, and that should have been my sign, because he always eats.  But, he had been fussy, and I picked him up, and he just started throwing up.  I felt so bad for him and for Matt, since he had made a nice lunch.  Next thing we noticed, Daniel was rubbing his eyes, and I thought at first he was sleepy, but they were actually itching.  We could not figure out what was causing all of this to happen to this poor little guy!  I ran to the store to get some Benydryl, because he was having some type of allergic reaction to something outside, we thought.  He took a nap later and then threw up one more time, but not that bad.  He was fine on the way home, though.  However, then, Caleb started complaining about his ear hurting when we were almost home.  It was a very interesting day.

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4/16/07-  After lunch, we headed over to East Ridge Hospital (ParkRidge East) to see Baby Lawson- Lorence and Laney's new little sister!  Caleb kept telling Lisa and E.J. that she was so sweet and their baby was so cute.  It was precious!  The boys were really good while we were there and we stayed just for a little while.

After the hospital visit, we ran to the mall for me to check on a couple things and I let the boys play in that little play area there, which they loved.  They fell asleep on the way home after playing and getting all that energy out.

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4/12/07-  Today, my mom and dad and dad's sister, Lorraine came for lunch.  Then, Papa stayed with the boys while mom, Lorraine, and I headed to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN for a ladies weekend with some of my dad's family!   In the evening, Papa took them to the Creative Discovery Museum free night!  Then, they met up with Daddy afterwards for dinner.

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4/9/07-  Daniel had an appointment to see Dr. Fox today, to check on his ears.  Last month, when we were there for his 15 month check-up, Dr. Fox noticed that there was fluid in his right ear, and had a note in his chart that there was fluid in there at the 12 month check-up.  So, he had asked him to come back a month later to see if the fluid is staying in there, or coming and going.  This time, the right ear looked good, but the left ear had fluid.  So, he wants to see him in another month.  Daniel is just at that crucial age of speech development and we all want to make sure the fluid is not staying in there.  He doesn't think he necessarily needs tubes, like Caleb did, but if the fluid continues to be consistent, we might have to take Daniel to the ENT dr.  Hopefully, everything is okay. 

Daniel is responding great and just doing so many cute things right now.  My favorite thing to watch him do is carry around a little bible.  He'll get one of those little bibles and come show me it, hold it up, and say, "buble!"  Then, I'll sing his favorite bible song, "take your little bible and pat, pat, pat, and hold it close to you!" and he'll just pat it and hug the bible.  Then, I'll sing another bible song, and he'll just sway back and forth as I sing it.  It is precious!  The other thing that's so cute to watch him do is another little song that I made up to go with one of Caleb's memory verses: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  With this one, we point up to heaven for the first part of the song, and then pat our heart for the second part.  Well, that was January's memory verse, and we've done it a few times since then, but we started singing it the other day, and right away, Daniel started patting his heart!  It was so adorable!  He had such a huge smile on his face.  I'm so glad the boys love the Lord and bible class and learning about God's word.  It is such a joy.

Caleb earned his 20 points before bed tonight!!!  He was so excited.  And wow, the difference in his attitude is great.  Doing it for 2 days really helped, because it bacame a habit.  Before I gave him his basket, I told him I really wanted him to keep up this good behavior.  He enjoyed looking through everything in his basket.  I had found this Thomas DVD WITH train: Percy's Chocolate Crunch and Percy Train FOR $.96 at Target!!!!!!!  (Those things usually run almost $10.00-$12.00!)  What was wrong with it?  Well, the Percy train was supposed to have brown paint, like chocolate, on it to go along with the story, when the chocolate dumps all over him in the story on the DVD.  Well, this Percy didn't have it, but  knew Caleb wouldn't care.  And he didn't!  He asked if he could watch the DVD before bed, and it was already late, so I told him we'd watch it tomorrow.  Instead of, "aw, Mom, I really want to watch it tonight!!"  I got a, "yes, ma'am!  Good night!"  I love my almost 4 year old boy...

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4/8/07-  Happy Easter!  Thankfully today we were going to Sweeten's Cove, and they start later than North Terrace, so we all got to get some much needed sleep.  The people at Sweeten's Cove had baskets for them, filled with candy.  I don't know what I'm going to do with all this candy in the house! 

I had some little baskets for the boys of little things that I picked up for them on Friday when I was out.  We gave Daniel his in the morning, but we talked to Caleb about how he needed to earn his basket, because of his behavior yesterday at the egg hunt.  He was very good about the whole thing and understood that his behavior was not good yesterday afternoon.  We talked about the things that he needed to work on, and then setup a points system.  He had to earn a certain number of points in order to receive his basket from us.  Well, he was so excited about this.  Caleb typically says "yes ma'am" and "yes sir," but that was one of the issues yesterday.  He kept having an attitude about things when he was told to do something.  So, he could only earn points when he responded with respect to a situation in which he would normally have an attitude or argue.  We made it clear that he wasn't going to get a point every time he said, "yes ma'am" or "yes sir." (Boy, that would be so easy!)  Example: When he's really wanting to do something else, but we need to go somewhere, "Caleb, it's time to get your shoes and socks on so we can go."  Caleb: "Okay!  Yes ma'am!"  That got him a point, because other times, (not all times) we would hear, "But I want to....!"  He earned 13 points by bedtime Sunday evening.  I so wanted to let him have his basket that night, but I knew we needed to carry this over one more day and stick to the goal of 20 points.  Not once did Caleb say, "Can I have my surprise basket now?"  He only kept asking, "how many point do I have now?"  Discipline can be difficult at times, but when you see the rewards of it right in front of you, it's so worth it!

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4/7/07-  I know I will look back one day and read these stories and wonder, "how did we do it?  How were we always on the go?"  This was one of those days, but it was great!

We got up and had breakfast and then Caleb and I got busy icing and decorating cupcakes for the egg hunt that would be at the Watkins house in the afternoon.  We had Daddy make the chicken salad sandwiches while we were busy doing this.  We hurried and got ready to go to Lorence's birthday party, which was at 11:00am.  We went to that and had a BLAST!  They had pizza and one of her aunts brought a cotton candy machine and made cotton candy for the kids, and there was still cake and ice cream!  The boys did great and had so much fun playing. 

We left around 1:15pm and ran by the house to pick up the stuff to take to the Watkins house for the get-together there- the egg hunt!  Sandwiches, cupcakes, cokes, easter baskets, filled eggs, diapers, Caleb, Daniel, etc. Each item, I was saying "check" as we loaded it up.  Caleb is now doing this whenever we leave to go somewhere and bring a lot of stuff!  We had so much fun.  It was so cute to watch Daniel this year, because this was the first year that he could go around and get eggs.  He was so adorable.  Caleb was, of course, everywhere and we had to make sure he wasn't getting all the eggs.  Caleb had a few issues throughout the afternoon while we were at the Watkins, but I know a lot of that was because he did NOT get a nap on the way over there.  He was just so excited, he couldn't sleep.  I knew it would catch up with him as the day went on.  But, all in all, it was a great day.

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4/2/07-4/6/07  Aaron is on Spring Break this week- yay!!  The boys and I were excited to have him home.  We did something every night this week, so it kept us very busy!  

• Monday evening, we went to the basketball banquet at South Pittsburg High School and it was good to see everyone there.  We dressed the boys in their matching Pirate shirts that Coach Webb had made for them, with their names on them, and they looked adorable.
• Tuesday evening, we went to a gospel meeting up in Murfreesboro, TN, and had one of the teenagers over from church go with us and then spend the night.  He was on spring break as well.
• Wednesday was library day and then church in the evening.  There was an easter party and an egg hunt, so the boys had fun with that.
• Thursday was Daddy and Caleb day.  A few months ago, Aaron took Caleb to Hardees for breakfast when he was off from school, and Caleb has asked several times since then, "Daddy, when are we going to Hardees again for breakfast?"  So, bright and early this morning, as soon as Caleb opened his eyes, he went running in to Daddy and said, "It's time to go to Hardees, Dad!!  Let's go!!!"  While they were gone, they stopped to get his pictures that he had taken at SPES (we happened to be there on picture day last month) and went ahead and signed up for Pre-K.  I cannot believe he's going to be 4 years old and go to school.  After the school, they went to get haircuts at the barber shop.  Caleb came running in the door when they got home and said, "Mommy, Mommy!  Do you like my hair?"  That little adorable face now had a little buzz cut.  He looked so cute!  He's just always had hair (since the day he was born) so I was a little shocked at first, but you can see those beautiful eyes of his so well and that little fuzzy head is precious!  In the evening, we went up to Woodbury, TN for another gospel meeting.
• Friday, I went to Chattanooga to get my haircut and just run some places without the boys.  It was nice, and Aaron had fun with the boys at home.  They went outside and played and actually ran to the grocery store to get more microwavable popcorn (because they burned 2 bags!) and boiled peanuts and milk!  So funny.

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3/31/07- Another crazy day!  This March has truly been MARCH MADNESS!!  I got up early with Dad to help him saw down the door to the laundry room.  Then, he got started on the grout for the tile.  I got things loaded up in the truck to take for a baby shower some of the girls and I were doing after ladies bible class today.  Then, it was time to get all the boys out the door for a birthday party at Playworld Down Under.  So, it was a busy morning.  I hated to leave dad, but he understood how busy we were. 

Ladies class went well and afterwards, I called Aaron to see how the party went and they all had a great time.  He was taking them to the new park in St. Elmo next, which was nice. 

Getting ready for the baby shower was lots of fun and the shower turned out great.  It was fun to be with all the girls.  And Daddy had fun with his boys.

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3/30/07-  Today the boys and I worked hard outside while Papa worked hard inside.  I mowed the yard and washed the car and the van.  Then, when Aaron got home from work, we got ready to go to a singing in LaFayette.  Dad stayed and layed the tile.  He had to leave early in the morning and needed to lay the tile so he could grout in the morning before he left. 

We had a good time at the singing and then went over to some friend's house afterwards for their little girl's birthday party.  It was a fun night and the boys were really good and played well.

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3/29/07-  Dad came again today to work the next couple days on the laundry room/bathroom.  He can only stay for a couple days, so his goal is to finish all of the sheetrock, drill down the cement block sheets and lay tile and grout.  Busy busy!  Caleb was excited when he got there and was all dressed in one of his new playshirts that we got the other day.  It said, "Grandpa's little sidekick!" and it had tools all over it.  He enjoyed helping Papa hammer and draw lines on sheetrock and wood. 

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3/8/07-3/16/07-  CRAZINESS!  Papa (my dad) came to work on our laundry room/bathroom downstairs, and it turned out to be a bigger project than he expected.  He ended up having to gut the whole thing down to the studs and even tear up all the tile and redo the floor and all the plumbing.  When he left Friday the 16th, most of the sheetrock was up and the plywood on the floor so we could get the washer and dryer back in.  8 days of laundry really piles up!

The boys were so good throughout it all.  They played a lot outside since the weather was so nice.  That really helped.  They loved playing on all the riding toys and running around together.  Caleb is getting so good at dribbling the basketball.  He does a great job with his right hand and really handles the ball well.  Daniel is trying to run everywhere - he's getting so quick!!

I went through the house in fast cleaning mode after Dad left, because everyone is coming down for Grandma Medvedik's Birthday party at our house tomorrow the 17th.  March has been SO crazy so far!!

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3/6/07-  We went for Daniel's 15 month check-up today- 24 lbs. 10 oz. and right on average for everything.  He's doing everything he's supposed to be doing and Dr. Fox says he's looks great!  He did notice that he has some fluid in his right ear and had a note in his chart that he had fluid in there when were there for the 12 month check-up.  So, he wants to see him in a month, just to check and see if the fluid is staying in there, or it just happened to be there at 12 months, went away, and came back for this check-up.  He doesn't think that he'll need tubes like Caleb did, but he might need to see the ENT doctor.  We'll see in a month what's going on.

We are having such BEAUTIFUL weather!!!  It's so nice outside!  I planned on taking the boys to a park today, but first, we went by my school so I could talk with the 6th Grade teachers about their upcoming program.  We hadn't been to the school in a while, so the ladies in the office were excited to see the boys.  I had them wear their matching little Pirate shirts that have their names on them- they were adorable!

While we were in the office and the secretaries were spoiling the boys with tootsie rolls and various things, a guy from the local paper came by and started asking the ladies there what they would do if they won a million dollars (some story they were doing that week- guess there wasn't much going on that week!).  Anyway, nobody really wanted to answer the question, so they asked Caleb!  Wouldn't you know, that little stinker, with all these tootsie rolls in his hands, answered "tootsie rolls and toys!!"  They thought it was priceless, so they took his picture for the paper!  He's been so much better about having his picture taken, and I'm so glad. 

We headed to Monteagle for the park and had a great time.  The boys had so much fun playing.  Daniel is trying to climb on everything just like Caleb.  He does really well, I just have to watch him.  He loves sliding and climbing.  Caleb had fun playing in the sandbox and also going across this cable on a long rope.  He did really well on it!

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