What a find!!

This was found behind a chair in the living room followed by the comment, "Mom! Nash is eating a black banana." My guess it's 2-3 days old. Oh, what a find!

Wait until....

you see a 7!!! That's what we've been telling Braxton every night before bed. Braxton went through a phase of getting up at 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00 a.m. to get in bed with us. Of course he would come to my side of the bed and man, mommy sure was tired. My sweet friend, Julie, suggested this trick and it works! I thought I'd pass it along to all you mommies out there who may be experiencing the same thing.

Here's what we did: Steve put duct tape over the last two digits on the clock. When Braxton sees a 7 he can come to our room. Covering the last two numbers is crucial...if the clock said 5:07, then sure 'nough Braxton would've been in our room. It took about 3 nights of him coming in our room, me saying "Do you see a 7?", him saying, "No, it's a 4", and me walking him back to his bed saying "Wait until you see a 7." It worked like a charm!

Now if we can only get Nash to read the clock....

Take me out to the ballgame!

Baseball season is upon us! We had our first game today. This is the last year for "not keeping score"...everyone wins!! :) Braxton did great today. He hit the ball to the fence, threw it to first base a couple of times, and even ate some dirt. Yes, that's right, dirt. We had a little chat after the game about not catching yourself with your face when you fall. Daddy was on the field with him and gave some quick TLC, a drink of water, and a good dusting off. All in all it was a great day for a ballgame..a little chilly, but great. We are so proud of our big boy!

Happy Easter

Baskets...Braxton dove into his before I could get a picture of them.

Our backyard hunt...Braxton is very pleased with his find.

The Boys. Yes, Daddy has a matching shirt.

"Yum! I'll have another chocolate please."

"Come on little brother. I'll show you where to go."

Chikezie

We love American Idol! We faithfully watch it every Tuesday night and again on Wednesday night to see if our favorites continue to the next round. Braxton has jumped on the bandwagon and makes comments during the entire show. "Is she your favorite mommy? Is he the best? Do you think he will win? His hair is long like a girl, right daddy?"

Well......last week during the show a new question arose. As Chikezie began singing Braxton asked this, "Is that who we're giving money to?" What?!? "You know, we're giving him money because he doesn't have a home or food."


Steve and I busted out laughing! World Vision recently came to our church. They had our entire gym set up like an African village....you could walk through the village with headphones and hear stories of several different children. They provided opportunities to sponsor children as well. As a family we decided to sponsor a child.

Our sweet Braxton thought that Chikezie was the child we "adopted".

Just thinking....

I did not major in English in college, but I do consider myself to be pretty intelligent...don't laugh! I make grammatical errors like everyone else, but here are a few things I believe are "no-brainers"...things everyone should know.

1. Marshmallow - It is not "mellow". There is an A in the second syllable. Look on the package the next time you are in the grocery store.

2. You're and Your- If you say "You're my friend" please remember that it is a contraction. "You are my friend." Too many people use "your" and "you're" the wrong way. If you're not sure which one to use, say "you are" in your sentence and see if it makes sense.

3. Their and There - "Their" is a group of people. "There" is a place.

Okay, I could only think of three. What about you? Do you have any spelling or grammar pet peeves??? Do share. Let's make the world a little more smart! :) Even though I pointed these things out, do not expect spelling perfection from me. I will still have typos and use prepositions at the end of sentences. These are just my thoughts for the day.

A turkey is done, my blog entry is finished. :)

FYI

Still don't know what happened to my pictures that go with the post "All is well". If you got to see them before they vanished, then YAY! If not, sorry...I don't know what to do to get them to come back.

Drink, Drink, Drink

We've been trying to get our Braxton to drink, drink, drink! We have drinks all over the house for him to choose from. I thought I'd gather them all up for you to see. He is not a "good" sick person...takes after his daddy in that area for sure. So many people have said, "Oh, he'll bounce back just a few days after surgery." Hmmmmm, still waiting for that bounce.

After 5 days of "sickliness", he IS starting to feel a little more like himself. It is still a battle to get him to take his meds, he is still waking up hurting in the night, and he has to be reminded to drink, drink, drink. But he's loving his leggos and watching Noggin 24/7. At bedtime last night Braxton pointed to the ceiling and said, "Do you think HE knows I got my tonsils out?" Of course He knows baby! (Smile)

If I were you...

We are so thankful that Steve's mom has been here to help with the boys during their surgeries. Thank you Mimi! A little tidbit about Steve's mom is that she loves to talk. The running joke this week has been comparing Mimi to the book "Little Miss Chatterbox". (We love the Mr. Men and Little Miss book series.) Anyway, Steve was having a hard time getting Braxton to cooperate this evening when it was bath time. Mimi tried to help. Here's how the conversation played out:

Mimi: "If I were you Braxton, I would go ahead and take the bath Daddy's asking you to take. You will feel better."

Braxton: "Well, if I were you Mimi, I wouldn't talk so much."

Priceless!

All is well

We are home!!! Yay! The surgery went well, recovery is underway.

Here are a few tidbits:
*Braxton's tonsils were flat on the sides due to the fact that they were HUGE and pressed up against each other for so long.
*The thing he hated most was the IV in his hand and the clip on his toe to monitor his breathing and heart rate. Oh, happy day when they both came off this morning.
*The pain medication is making him CrAZy. Seriously. I am not going to give him the next dose. We are going to try Tylenol and if that doesn't relieve the pain then I'm going to call our doctor about prescribing something different.
*He's doing great at drinking and eating soft foods. He's loving popsicles, sweet tea, and juice. He ate scrambled eggs this morning and swallowed them beautifully.
*The most important thing right now is for Braxton to stay hydrated and stay away from sick people. We will be laying low for the next few weeks.

Here are a few pictures from our hospital adventure.

Braxton and Freddie's bandages. I thought this picture was sweet.


Yummy! Just enjoying a popsicle with my pillows and stuffed animals. Notice my fake smile. Come on Mom, stop taking pictures!


So very tired. We're hoping our precious boy will sleep this peacefully at home tonight!


Time to go home. Riding in the wheelchair was very cool!


Weird camera on the wall in our room. Sooooo glad the nurse told me it was there before hand...before I got into my pj's right there in the middle of the room!

Goodbye Tonsils

One last peek at the melons living in my throat.


If you find yourself thinking of us tomorrow, please pray for Braxton. He is getting his tonsils and adenoids out at 11:30. He cannot eat or drink anything starting at midnight tonight. We are going to stay up super late eating cookies, oranges, and pizza (his favorite things). Hopefully he will sleep in and not wake up hungry. We will let you know how we are doing after the surgery!

Can't think of a title for this post

*We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland....well, not really. It did snow last night and left patches of white in our yard. Our car was covered this morning and Braxton was extremely excited to make a snowball. I was hoping for a snow day, but of course, that didn't happen. We bundled up and headed to school. On the way to school this morning the topic of conversation was, of course, snow. Braxton wanted to know where the snow came from, how it is made, where does it go when it goes away, and why it wouldn't be in our yard when we got home. I proceeded to give my best lesson in precipitation to my four year old. Here's the response I got:

"So, the cloud just breaks all apart and falls on the ground? Because look in the sky Mommy. There are no clouds. It must be them on the ground."

*On the way home from Target this evening I saw a small sign below a large lit up Veterinarian sign. It read, "Dental Discount Month. All Chickens Welcome." Seriously? Do chickens have teeth? Beaks, yes. Teeth? I don't think so. Who would bring a chicken in to get his beak checked anyway? Or are they talking about a pet who is afraid to go to the dentist, therefore being called a chicken? Either way, I thought about the sign all the way home. I guess it reached it's goal by getting my attention.

*I have chapped lips. Bad ones. It's the second time this month and I can't figure it out. Why? Why? Why? It looks like I attempted to put on pink lipstick and couldn't stay in the lines.

My Skills

I came across this silly test. I thought it was fun. Test out your skills!

68 words

Speed test

One down, one to go....

Nash's surgery went well this morning. The tubes are IN and he was a champ! We got to the surgery center at 6:20 a.m and we were home by 9:30. Wow! Of course, this bloggin' momma took her camera to document our morning. :)

Just waiting on the doctor. Check out my tiger hospital gown!!!


Hold me mommy! I'm tired of waiting!!!


We are home for the day, recovering, taking it easy, and trying to use our quiet voices. Nash is extra sensitive to sounds right now because he can HEAR! It will take a few days for him to get used to it. I'm ready for him to say "Ma Ma". I'm already working on trying to get him to repeat me. :) He's also in for a rude awakening when he realizes just how loud his big brother really is!

Okay, one down, one to go.....Braxton is getting his adenoids and tonsils out on Thursday.

One is not enough!!

This is how I roll...two in my mouth and one in each hand. And yes, this is considered a paci for newborns. Deal with it. I love them almost as much as I love my mom.

A trip to the farm

Last week we took full advantage of the great weather! The boys had a blast visiting Owens Farm. We fed the goats, saw chickens, horses, cows, and a newborn pony. We had a great day eating outside and wandering leisurely around the farm. Here are a few pictures. I promise I was there too...just behind the camera. I need to have Steve take some pictures of me with my children to document that I'm their mommy!!

How many bites?

I made chicken sandwiches for dinner a few nights ago. Braxton was excited!! He loves Chick-Fil-A and seemed to think my sandwiches were just like them...which they were not in any way!!! "Mommy, how did you make this? Are you magic?" He even wanted to take one in his lunch box the next day. When we got home from school I asked, "Did you eat your sandwich today?" The conversation proceeded like this....

Braxton: "Some of it."
Me: "How many bites did you take?"
Braxton: "4 bites."
Me: "Only 4 bites?"
Braxton: "Okay, 5 bites."
Me: "Five?"
Braxton: "Okay, 6."
Me: "Six bites?"
Braxton: "Hmmmm, 7?"
Me: "You took 7 bites?"
Braxton: "How many bites do you want me to say Mommy?"

The kid catches on quick!