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Thursday, July 29, 2010

bibbity bobbity boo

Here's the conversation at our house tonight before dinner.

Jason: Amelia, you need to go upstairs and help your sister clean the toy room.
Amelia: I don't want to go clean the toy room. I want my fairy godmother to come and clean the toy room for me.
Jason: I don't think you're going to find the fairy godmother to come and clean the toy room for you. Go upstairs and help Bella.
Amelia: Yes, I will. The fairy godmother lives by Nene's house and I'm going to call her and have her come here and clean the toy room for me.

Go figure..

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

the one that completed my heart

I began negotiating Drew's arrival on December 3, 2007 and most of you know that is the day that Will is born. You may not know that I was sitting in recovery, with all kinds of tubes and monitors, minutes out of a c-section, holding a screaming baby that was only about 45 minutes old. I looked down at William and he was perfect. And beautiful. I looked up at Jason and simply said. "I guess I'm not done." He looked back at me with his mouth hanging open and was pretty much speechless. I had just delivered two babies in eleven months and I wanted another one?! Crazy, I know, but I knew at that moment that I definitely did.
Nine months later we were pregnant. I was sick from the time I found out I was pregnant until the day I delivered Drew. It was miserable. I was convinced he was a girl. I remember going in to get the ultrasound and he wouldn't unfold his legs. I said it doesn't really matter, I know it's a girl. My friend Amber was in there with us and she left, and came back with an assortment of caffeinated beverages and chocolate. I chugged a Mt Dew, ate some candy, laid down and tada - there he was. Jason especially, was ecstatic. I was so happy that our family would be even and Will would have a little brother. We had achieved perfection - two girls and two boys.
Drew has been the best baby by far. He's so calm and laid back it's amazing. He never cries. He slept through the night very early on. He loves to watch and laugh at his brothers and sisters. He really is the fan favorite of his siblings. They adore him and for the most part do whatever they can to make him laugh. When I watch them him, with his silly somewhat toothless grin and blond curls, my heart is complete.

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet boy. Your mama loves you.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ten on Tuesday

1. It's HOT hot here. The thermometer in my car said 105 when I was pulling out this weekend. We are limiting the kids to the pool and playing outside a little bit before or after dinner. They're usually dripping in sweat and their little faces are beat red.

2. Open house is next week at Bella's school. We get to pick up all of her school supplies and finally meet her teacher. Some of our friends that go to other schools have known for weeks who their teacher is, not us.

3. Amelia is still carrying around her preschool letter announcing her new teacher. The paper is a wrinkled mess and I ask her frequently if I can throw the paper away yet.

4. I have been on allergy shots, twice a week for two months now. They are absolutely miserable. I'm severely allergic to grass and cats and my reaction to the shots are getting worse each visit. I can't for the life of me understand why they insist on mixing both of these serums into one shot.

5. Jason finally found a part time job. I say finally because his search for a part time job was becoming a bit of a joke and a lot ridiculous. Everywhere he applied he was "unqualified to work".

6. On his first day of work my husband did not take a lunch. His boss "Jason you have to take a lunch. It's the law." Jason, "I only worked 6 hours. I'm legally required to eat?" Ahh, welcome to the civilian world my dear. You get a smoke break too if you want one.

7. Being the only Yank, in a house of southerners is starting to affect my accent. I've recently caught myself saying y'all and more disturbing calling Will, "Wheel". A friend of mine said she heard herself say "fixin to" the other day and was completely mortified. I reckon I'm not quite there yet but it's only a matter of time.

8. Jason and I are both now licensed and tagged to drive here. Expect our driving skills to decrease rapidly. I need to go out and practice the legal left stoplight u-turn (yes, an actual traffic maneuver) a few times so I can get the hang of it.

9. We received Bella's schedule for kindergarten. She is attending school on the second day of school, not the first. The boys get to go on the first day, girls on the second. Bella (in true Bella fashion) is upset she isn't going to school on the first day. She must get this being first all the time from her father.

10. Drew (and Will) has become quite attached to his Daddy. He follows him around the house, saying DaDa Dadadada. It's pretty cute and he's going to miss him now that he's working again.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

summer dance

The girls just completed 6 weeks of summer dance. Amelia is repeating preschool one this year. She was two and half when she began dancing and the youngest person in the studio. I've seen huge improvements in her maturity but I still don't want her to be in a class of 5 and 6 year olds. Bella is going into her fourth year of dance. This summer she took creative movement with one of her favorite teachers and really enjoyed it! She's looking forward to starting jazz in a couple of weeks!






A few recent pictures









Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ten on Wednesday

1. Drew took his first steps this week!! Yay!!

2. The weather has been HOT! It's really affected Drew's asthma and he's been wheezing since last week. I took him to the doctor and he's now on prednisone on top of the other asthma medication he takes daily. So scary for such a little guy.

3. We had a busy but fun weekend. Two birthday parties and a baby shower.

4. I took Bella to buy new sneakers and an outfit for the first day of kindergarten. Two weeks to go..

5. She chose gray and purple sneakers. They are very grown up looking and have LACES. I said those are pretty cute tennis shoes. She looked at me with a funny look and asked, "what are tennis shoes? these are my running shoes?"

6. Both the girls have hair appointments next week. Isabella is begging for "cute short hair". I'm not feeling it at all. Amelia doesn't want any hair cut off. She wants hers to be as long as a little second grader she looks up to.

7. We went and picked blueberries at our friends house last week. There is nothing like fresh blueberries. Delicious. The kids had a lot of fun picking them. Everytime they eat them, if they're eating the berries they picked.

8. Jason put down the flooring in our attic today. I'm hoping he'll be parking in the other side of the garage by the weekend. He only has one major project left - staining the deck.

9. With school starting up and promotion at church, we're trying to get everyone ready for their new teachers. Jason is teaching Sunday school, I'm helping with 2nd grade children's choir and teaching AWANA every week. On top of all our "normal" school activities this is going to be our busiest year yet.

10. Will finally went and got his Basketball for being fully potty trained now. He's very excited about it and loves to go outside and shoot some hoops every night.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

ten on Tuesday

1. We finally have only one child in diapers. Yay Will. It's been a long, slow road and I know it's still going to take a lot of work on everyone's part to remain comitted and accident free. But we're in underwear and we're not going back. Expect to see a drastic drop in Pampers stock :)

2. The only major hurdle left in the potty training is pooping. Will waits until bedtime (an absolute first for him) and the nighttime pull-up to be put on, put in bed, and poops. Every single night. I hear this is typical behavior with most potty trainers but it's on my very last nerve.

3. Will is obsessed with the Cowboys and Indians and the Western channel. He loves and I mean loves John Wayne and old western shows. The other day Jason was watching a war movie with John Wayne and Will said "LOOK Daddy, the Cowboy's on tv!!"

4. Isabella and Amelia are official swimmers. They can both swim unassisted across the deep end of the swimming pool. They think they're big time now. I have to admit, Jason and I are both very proud of them.

5. Drew is allergic to Zinc Oxide. I knew this because of the diaper rash/diaper cream drama. I totally forgot about zinc oxide being in sunscreen. I switched sunscreen after reading a report about the negative effects of spray versus lotion and wouldn't you know, the lotion I switched to contains 14.5%. So my poor baby boy has a terrible rash and blisters all over his face.

6. We celebrated Drew's first birthday this weekend. I still can't believe he's turning one tomorrow. Wow, this year has gone by too quickly.

7. We have less than a month of summer vacation left. While I've enjoyed all the long hours at the pool, I'm kind of looking forward to getting back to a normal routine with the kids.

8. Three more weeks of Mother's Morning Out. I can't thank our church enough, and the ladies who provide this service FOR FREE every Wednesday morning, for doing this. You provide some tired moms with a few hours to themselves each week. I wish everyone was blessed enough to have the wonderful church family that we have found.

9. Will is FINALLY swimming in his puddle jumper. I really think he did this today to impress his little girlfriend but he was swimming in it. Alone and not screaming. In the deep end. With water in his face. I'll take it.

10. I am still waiting on my Mother's Day present to arrive. In case anyone is wondering exactly how long it takes to ship something from China to the southern US? The answer is three months. Jason is more annoyed about this than I am. It's taking so long I kind of passed annoyed 4 weeks ago.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Drew's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Drew's first birthday this past weekend. I can't believe he turns one on Wednesday. My parents and my granny came down to help us celebrate. The girls and Will had a great time visiting with Granny! They loved sending text messages with her and talking with her for hours. We sure wish they lived closer.







Saturday, July 3, 2010

bibbity bobbity boo

We went to a princess birthday party this weekend. Cinderella actually made an appearance at the party. The little girls were in awe of the princess.