Sick

It seems like with a family of five someone is always sick. I long for the day when all five of us are healthy at the same time! :) John has another sinus infection. This is like his third one in the past two months. He is back on antibiotics and some steroids. Preston had a stomach bug on Friday and now on Sunday Carter has it. Preston only thew up a couple of times and acted completely fine in between. Carter started throwing up right after dinner and hasn't stopped. Since about 7 tonight he has thrown up at least 7 times. It is now 10:00 and he just fell asleep. I pray that noone else gets this. I am doing my best in sanitizing everything and washing and washing and washing.

Silkie

John and I go in and check on the boys everynight before we go to bed. Carter has this habit of putting his silkies into his pullup which causes a problem as he still wets his pull up most nights. So, we go in and make sure that he hasn't done that or take them out if he has. Well, the other night I went in to check on him and this is what I found...

Yep, they had been stuffed into his socks!! I have no idea how he was able to get all FOUR of them stuffed in there but he did. We left them there but had to take pictures!

I also had to take a picture of Preston while I was in there! :)

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! I have had a fireman costume for Carter since he was born and it was going to finally fit him this year. However, he had different plans. He actually had an opinion on what he wanted to be. He wanted to be a bumble bee. I think he got the idea from one of his friends at school. Well, it turns out his friend wanted to be Bumble Bee from the movie Transformers. Carter has never seen Transformers nor will he for quite a few more years but he had his heart set on an actual bumble bee. So, I went on a hunt for a bumble bee costume that wasn't too babyish and wasn't made for a girl. I finally found one at Target and got one in his size and one in Preston's size. They were the cutest bumble bees! Liam went dressed as a ghost. I have an infant bee costume but it was too hot for him to wear it.

We started the festivities with Trunk or Treat at our church. It was the first time for us to go to anything at church since Lian was born. So, it was nice to see everyone and for people to meet him. Carter and Preston certainly got their share of attention too. Carter would tell people that he really wasn't a bee it was just a costume for Halloween. So cute!

After the Trunk or Treat we headed back to our house with MiMi and Ken. John and I took Carter and Preston trick or treating down our street while MiMi stayed home with Liam and passed out candy. Preston walked the whole way and his little legs were tired by the end of our block. He loved every minute of it though.

Carter and Preston doing the cake walk with Aunt Vickie

Greeting the trick or treaters.


Preston checking out his loot.

Bath Time

Bath time is one of the boys favorite things to do, except for Liam. Liam hates the bath and cries during most of it. Carter and Preston take their bath together and have a great time playing.

Liam is starting to look like the Michillin (sp?) Man. I love the rolls!!

Ahhhh, Boys...

We had our first trip to the Emergency Room this past week. Last Wednesday (Nov. 4th), John and I thought Carter and Preston were sleeping. We were watching TV and about to go get ready for bed. We heard something fall and then heard Carter crying. John quickly went into their room and called for me to come in there as he could see blood on Carter's head. I ran in there and took him into the bathroom. I got a wet washcloth and started to clean the blood away from his hair to try to figure out where the blood was coming from. We finally got to the source. He had a cut that was about 1 1/2 inches long and about 1 cm wide. We immediately knew we had to take him to the ER...he was going to need stitches. This was about 9:45 at night and we had to get all three kids into their car seats and off we went. I sat in the backseat with Carter and held a towel on top of his head. He asked me if he was going to be behind the glass with othe babies. I reassured him that he wasn't. It made me laugh though because his only association with a hospital is me having babies. We went to Richardson Regional at 190 and Renner. I must say that I was highly impressed with them. We immediately got into a room and immediately saw a doctor. I'm not sure what time we got there but we left our house at 9:45 and we were back in our car going home at 11:15. Carter ended up with two staples in the top of his head. He was such a trooper. He didn't cry until the second staple. You could tell it really hurt when the doctor put that staple in. Preston was very sweet and shared his silkie with Carter. (in the panic of getting out of the house we forgot his silkie!!!)

So, what happened...Carter was playing with a soft stuffed soccer ball and threw it up towards the ceiling. It hit the light fixture which came down and hit his head. The light fixture didn't break or anything but the force of it split his head open. I'm just so thankful he wasn't looking up at it when it fell.

You would think that Carter had learned why we tell him not to throw things in the house but nope. I caught him today throwing a football in the living room. I reminded him that he had staples in his head because of throwing a ball. I still don't think it really set in! :)

I know this is just the beginning of what's to come raising 3 boys. And to think, Carter is more cautious than Preston right now...

Boys Truly Are The Best

I think I have the sweetest 3 year old in the whole wide world. Last night, I had a melt down. I hate it when my kids see me cry but sometimes it is just unavoidable. My nerves are really starting to get to me and I'm basically just freaking out about having a baby on Monday. While I was "cooking" dinner last night I just started crying. I had my back to the kitchen and was trying not to let Carter see me. I was talking to John and explaining to him why I was upset and he was trying to comfort me. Carter walks up to me and grabs my hand and says, "Mommy, don't be sad. Maybe you need a hug." So, I picked him up and he hugged me for at least 10 minutes. I would ask him if he wanted down to finish his pb&j sandwich (why "cooking" was in quotes, lol) and he would tell me that he wasn't done hugging me. So, we stood in the kitchen having the longest hug I think he has ever given.

Carter, you will never know how much that hug meant to me at that very moment. You made absolutely everything so much better in my world last night when I thought things were falling down around me. I love you so much and you are the Best Carter in the Whole Wide World!

Really? Sick 3 Days Before Baby Comes?

I started feeling bad yesterday and started to run a low grade temperature. I had no other symptoms so I called and spoke to Dr. J's nurse. She told me to just take Tylenol and give her a call in the morning if I still had it. Then last night I started to get some major sinus pressure and Carter was getting a little nasally (is that a word?) too. Carter started to also run a low grade temp. He woke up in the middle of the night with a 101 temp. So, we gave him Tylenol and he got to sleep the rest of the night in our room. I called this morning and got him in to see Dr. M. They performed a flu test which came back negative, Thank God! So, he prescribed him a zpak just to be on the safe side. I spoke to my nurse this morning and as soon as I started talking she said, "Oh you don't sound good." LOL And I didn't feel good! She was so sweet and I didn't even have to go in to see the doctor. She called in a Zpak for me. I asked her if this would affect my c-section on Monday and she said the only reason they would delay it would be if I was still running a fever. I hope and pray that I'm not!!! We picked up both prescriptions and have already started them. I certainly don't want Carter sick and not able to be around the new baby. How heartbreaking would that be? And I most certainly don't want my c-section delayed. I am very ready to meet my third baby boy!!

Carter's Video: February 2006 - December 2007

For Christmas 2007, John and I made a video/slide show of Carter's life up to that point. John put in a lot of time and effort into making it a video and we gave a copy to family as a Christmas gift. We decided that it was best to make one every other year since it is so time consuming and it makes for a better video when there is more time to cover. So, I am now starting to go through all of our pictures starting at December 2007 and pulling the pictures and video to include. It will be so much different than the first one we made since we will now have two new children to include. I got a little sentimental and decided to post the video we made of Carter. The quality is significantly reduced so it can be uploaded onto the web so I apologize for that in advance. I hope you all enjoy Carter's first year and a half!

Finally, We Can Play Outside

Now that the weather is cooling down a little bit we actually got to go outside and play in the backyard. John and Carter went out this afternoon while Preston was napping and then we all went out after dinner. This was the first time for Preston to play on the new playset and he LOVED the swing. I was actually shocked at how high he wanted to go. The higher we went the harder he laughed. Carter pushed him for a little bit but was a little rough. I was scared that Preston was going to get whip lash but he loved every minute of it. Carter played with balls and loved throwing them up the slide and watching them slide down and loved just throwing them up in the air. John helped Preston slide down our little slide that Aunt Shannon got Carter last year but he wasn't so sure about that.

Train Ride

Carter has been asking for a few days to go to Collin Creek Mall. He LOVES trains and they have a little train that kids can ride for $2. He could care less about the mall but he has been wanting to go and ride the train and eat. Why are kids fascinated with the food court? So, today, we actually didn't have anything planned. It was a nice change of pace. We got up and had breakfast and Preston took a morning nap. After Preston woke up we headed to the mall. The first stop was at the train. He was so cute. I gave him the money and let him buy his own ticket and he loved handing his ticket to the conductor. He really wanted to ride in the engine and told me he was the engineer.

He is funny...after taking a ton of pictures he actually told me, "No more pictures, Mommy."

Silly God

Carter is learning so much in his Bible Class at church. It is really quite amazing how much a 3 year old can pick up in 45 minutes once a week. We do talk about the Bible stories at home and read his little picture Bible but he learns a lot at church. Yesterday, on our way home from running errands, Carter sees some cows. He tells me that God made those cows. Then he starts saying everything he sees and how God made this and he made that. He tells me that God made him and Preston and Mommy and Daddy. We then start to pass Kroger and he starts to giggle a little. He says, "Mommy, God even made Kroger. Silly God." And continues to laugh. His attention quickly went on to something else but it made me crack up with the "silly God" comment.

A Day of Reflecting

I am now officially past the point in pregnancy where I had Carter. I had Carter at 34 1/2 weeks and I am now 35 weeks. Carter is now a very healthy 3 1/2 year old so I know if Baby was born now he would ultimately be okay but I don't ever wish to visit another NICU. It was a very scary day, the day Carter was born. He was our first child and the not knowing was hard to deal with. It was hard to see him hooked up to a breathing machine and feeding tube and the next year that followed was hard. We saw a pediatric cardiologist and pulmnologist along with his regular pediatrician for that first year. We are very fortunate that he has outgrown all of his complications from being a preemie and forever thankful!

A hard picture to look at but this reminds me of how lucky we are now.
Date: 2/4/06
Weight: 5 lbs 6 oz

Now an extremely active, happy, healthy 3 year old!
Date: 8/2/09
Weight: 29 lbs

A Good Day

We have been having quite a few rough days lately so it is so nice to report such a good day. Granted, it's only 3:30 but usually by this time I am completely ready for John to be home. The day started very early as Preston woke up early. We all got up and had breakfast and were in the car and on our way to a park by 9. We met some friends from our local Wylie Mom's group. Carter was excited because the train park is one of his favorite parks to go to. I don't really get it because it seems like it would be boring as it is just a train with no moving parts but the kid loves trains!

The train park is part of our outdoor mall. So while we were there, we walked over to the Stride Rite store and returned a couple of shoes I had gotten for Preston. I had found some super cute shoes at the Stride Rite outlet and figured I would save a little bit of money. We also went into the Carter's store to see if they had gotten any of their "Big Brother" t-shirts in. They only had long sleeved and the smallest size they had was 3T, which isn't going to fit Preston. I need to order the ones I designed for the boys. They are really cute.

We then loaded back into the minivan and were headed home. I needed a few things from the grocery store and I figured I wouldn't want to get back out so we went ahead and stopped at Kroger. Both boys were so good!

We came home and ate lunch and for the first time both boys went down for nap with only a few tears and I only had to make one trip in there to rescue a pacifier. While searching for said pacifier I hit the outside of my eye on the crib and bruised it. The crib is nowhere close to childproof from the outside as it is 30 something years old and there is a metal piece sticking out that I so gracefully bumped into.

I am hoping that the rest of the day and evening go as smoothly and maybe, just maybe I can get out to go get a pedicure that I so desperately need!

Does It Really Start This Young??

Carter is giving us a run for our money! I'm shocked at what comes out of his little 3 year old mouth. Carter eats breakfast with John every morning while I take a shower and get dressed. They share a bowl of Cheerios and then Carter gets his own breakfast. Yesterday morning John was cleaning up from their bowl of Cheerios and Carter starts banging his spoon on the kitchen table. That is a big no no in our house and Carter knows it. John asks Carter to stop and reminds him of the rules. Carter looks at him and says, "Daddy, just go to work so you can't hear me." Wow! So, he knows he is breaking the rules but thinks if we can't hear him then it is okay?? The teenage years should be a lot of fun!!!

Counting Elves

Carter's new favorite movie is The Polar Express. He is addicted to it. Seriously, if I would let him watch it over and over again he would. We do watch it once a day and as it is a very good movie, there is only so much of one movie you can watch.

We are having a hard time in this household with listening and following directions. One of the hardest times is going to bed. We use a timer and when the timer goes off he knows it is time to go to bed. Last night, the timer went off as usual and we started the routine of hugs and kisses. He really wasn't into it and started to throw a tantrum. John had a lot more patience than I did last night. I think something was in the air yesterday because from what I hear, a lot of kids were testing the patience of their mommy's. So, anyways, John started talking to him and getting him to calm down. He told him he should lay in his bed and count elves and see how many elves he count. He told him that he might even have dreams of elves. So, Carter went off to bed to count elves!

About an hour later, John went to check on him and make sure his pull up was pulled up and cover him up and everything. Carter was still barely awake. He looked up at John and with excitement in his voice he said, "Daddy, I'm counting evles! There are twenty of them!" John said he was so excited about it and he really was counting. I wish I could have seen it because I can just picture him. I love that little boy!!!

Live Life Abundantly

John and I watched a Will Smith movie, 7 Pounds, a couple of weeks ago. It was an oddly great movie. It had a great message but was presented in an odd way. It really made me think about how we treat people in our daily lives and truly made me want to go out and do some good deeds for others and live my life abundantly!


While, watching the movie, my friend, Dana posted a blog of one of her friends, titled Choices. It really sums up my life right now and probably the lives for a lot of stay at home mom's. I have really been struggling with the idea of a new baby coming into our lives. As excited as I am to meet this little boy, I am super scared!! I even mentioned to John last night, when am I ever going to get a shower taken?? It seems like I am letting Carter watch a lot more TV than I used to in order to get things done around the house and even then I don't even feel like I am keeping up with the house and the things that need to be kept up with.


The Choices blog reminded me that I need to forget about the load of dishes that are in the dishwasher for just a little bit and take a little more time to play with my kids. I need to brave the heat for just 5-10 minutes and go outside and blow bubbles. I need to live abundantly!! I want to remember all of these days with my kids as great days and days of laughter and playtime and not days of being stressed out and worried. My kids aren't going to remember that the kitchen was a little dirty or their clothes weren't put away as soon as they were dry. But they will remember their mommy playing games with them and having fun with them.


Carter, Preston, and Baby, I promise from this day to live my days for you boys and play with you more and give you the mommy you so much deserve! I love all three of you so very much and I hope you will always know that!!

Vacation Bible School

Our church, Waterview, had their annual VBS last week. It started on Sunday night and ended on Wednesday night. We didn't make it on Monday as we were celebrating Cayden's birthday but Carter went all of the other nights. The theme was "Super Heroes of the Bible." Carter had so much fun!! Now, whenever I tell him that he needs to eat all of his dinner so he grows up to be big and strong, he will say, "Big and strong like Jesus and God?" I'm so thankful that we are raising our kids in the church and they are going to grow up knowing God.

The last night was a family fun night. They had hot dogs, chips and cookies. The hot dogs just kept coming out. I could hardly believe how many they cooked up!! Then after we ate we went out to one of the parking lots where they had games and bounce houses for the kids. Carter decided to go through the obstacle bounce house which actually surprised me a little because it was HUGE! He also enjoyed riding a barrel train! It was so hot though and we all left there wanting A/C and cold water.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Carter's new favorite shirt is his VBS t-shirt! He has slept in it countless times and has worn so many days! I'm shocked!!

Another Practice Photo Shoot

Yesterday I loaded the boys into the car around 8:30 and we headed to a nearby park for me to practice taking some pictures. Carter was a great sport but quickly got over it! He was fascinated by a turtle that was about 50 feet away from us. Preston did great and since he isn't a fan of the grass, he didn't move from his little blanket I sat him on. It quickly, as in a matter of 5 minutes, got super hot and humid so we were only there for about 30 minutes but I'm glad I took them out there. The more practice I get the better I am learning my camera and the better I can get. Not to mention the cute pictures I'm getting of my boys!! I just hope they don't hate me for always taking their pictures!! I posted some of the pictures on my other blog. I hope you enjoy!

How do you teach a 3 year old about disappointment?

I had to see, for the first time tonight, my three year be let down by a complete stranger. I responded to an add on Craigslist for a Little Tykes picnic table. It would have been perfect for the boys in the backyard. I was the first to respond and spoke to them on the phone. I told them we were on our way. The man asked that I call when I got close so that he was expecting us. I called him just 20 minutes later once we were closer and almost to his house. He informed me that he had just sold it to a lady that was at his house buying another item. He apologized and we hung up. I had already shown Carter a picture of the table and he was super excited! As we were turning around to go home, I told Carter that we weren't getting the table and were going home. He started to tear up and was so disappointed. How do you explain to a three year old that sometimes we run into not so nice people? In the midst of him crying he told me that he was sorry that we didn't get the table. My heart just broke. I explained to him that it wasn't his fault by any means and sometimes people just aren't very nice. I know this is the first of many times that he will be let down in his life but three years old just seems so young to start those "life" lessons.

Baking a Cake for Grandma's Birthday

Carter and I baked a cake for Grandma (John's mom) on Saturday. Her birthday was on Sunday the 14th but we celebrated with her on Saturday the 13th. Her favorite cake is carrott cake and Carter loved the idea of baking a cake for her. While we were at Wal-Mart getting all of the ingredients he told everyone he could about how it was his Grandma's birthday and he was going to bake her a cake. He had a lot of fun and even pulled up his stool to watch it bake. I learned from this experience that I am definitely not made to be a cake decorator! I had fun but can't ice a cake to save my life! It did turn out pretty tasty though. I hope Grandma enjoyed it!