Tough Guy

Aidan had to have his blood drawn today, due to this lingering tummy thing. He still gets really tired, isn't eating very well, and just seems drained. So, to ere on the side of caution, his doctor ordered a blood work up today. I didn't tell him about it. In fact, his arm was on the table before I explained it because I didn't want him to stress about a little poke. And he did GREAT! He closed his eyes, we talked about ice cream cones and it was over. You can see the remains of his vanilla DQ cone all over his face here. He left his bandaid on until Daddy got home so he could show him just how brave he was. Way to go little buddy!

First day of Pre-school

Aidan started Pre-school today! (his second year) He's headed back to Little Jag's, the preschool run by our high school that is just across the street. He was so excited and showed no signs of the wanting mommy to stay that he did last year. He's growing up, that's for sure! Yea, Aidan! Have a great day at School!

Six Smiles for Saturday

I have lots of things to be happy about today! Let me share a few with you!

1. Aidan appears to be feeling much better today. I haven't heard one complaint of tummy pain! This is the best news of all. We're not ready to proclaim him "healed," but it's looking up.

2. The sunflower's bloomed in the backyard. They were planted with Grandma while we were in Hawaii. We were starting to wonder!

3. Yogurt party on the floor this morning. Chandler's Idea.

4. The Laundry is all done and put away for the week! (before 3 p.m. I might add) The boys were even mildly helpful, as you can see. . .

5. Chandler sings sweet songs with us sometimes. I love it.

6. I make really cute cupcakes. So move closer to me and have a birthday, okay?

Wonder of Wonder's, Miracle of Miracles!

Can you hear the angels singing the hallelujah chorus? Do the birds in the trees sound a bit sweeter than normal? Do you have a kink in your neck, that makes you just a little bit happy every time it "thwang!'s" you? I do! Why? Because for the first time in 8 or 9 days, I slept last night! We thought we were in for yet another terrible night last night, as Aidan went to bed with stomach cramps again after a HORRIBLE afternoon , but apparently the promise of "out to lunch with Daddy" was enough to keep the poor little guy in his bed, because we heard not a peep from him all night long. I sent Gordon in to make sure he was breathing this morning because it seemed a bit too good to be true. We think he's suddenly feeling better, which is such a relief! Maybe he will be able to eat a bit more now, and gain back some weight, let alone SLEEP! Oh, sweet relief!!!

Ahoy Thar!

Avast me Harties! It was Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of apple juice today at first grade. So hoist the jolly rodger, and wear yer favorite pirating gear and set sail for school. Lots of Pirate games, burried treasure, and (we are hopin') some good book learnin' too. AAaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

Chandler Tricks

Chandler is about to turn the corner into 18 months old, and he is getting so tricky! Yesterday we were playing and Daddy was videoing and he FINALLY decided to perform for the camera! So, without further adieu, I am pleased to present to you, CHANDLER'S TRICKS! It's a bit long, but he really starts performing half way through. . .

Back to almost normal. . .

Yea! Thank you everyone for your concern and especially your prayers in Aidan's behalf. He seems to be out of the woods now, even if he does get a tummy ache when he tries new foods. We'll keep a watch on him and hope that it was indeed a bug. I heard him tell Grampy today that he is 85 "pre-cent" better. I'd say that's about right. We are hoping to make it to his pre-school orientation this week, but we'll see. We kept him home from church today and he and I had lots of fun together making Salsa and painting pictures to mail to grandparents. It was so funny, I looked up after a few minutes and he was COVERED in paint, and totally clueless. He had a great time. The salsa was fun, but my feet are a bit sore now from being on them for several hours straight. But, with many a pint of delicious salsa to look forward to, it was well worth it. Enjoy the slides!

Out of the woods. . .? I hope!

It has been a rough 40 hours around here. That's about how long ago Aidan started with a "tummy ache." I think I wrote about how well he slept that night. Well, the next morning, things seemed to be getting a bit worse, and his tummy hurt so bad, but with no fever, or nausea or vomiting, or poo poo problems, so the doctor became concerned and had me come in.

So, in we went, where Dr. Nason examined him, and decided to do a urine test. There was some microscopic blood in his urine, and because he wasn't having any other symptoms, he sent us over to the hospital for an X-ray of his tummy, and an ultrasound of his kidney's to rule out kidney stones. (the kid was in pain!) The kidney stones were a negative (thank heavens!) and the docs decided that he was probably just extremely plugged up for some reason, and that we should try an enema (poor kid!) and see how things went. Hopefully that would relieve the pain. But he said we could wait a while to see if maybe it passed on it's own, so we thought that was the best option. But, at midnight, after not sleeping ONE bit, I was off all the way across town for the enema. We decided we'd better give it a try so we'd tried everything. He was writhing in pain. He would sleep maybe 20 minutes at a time, grind his teeth, and wake up just delirious with pain. Gordon and I decided he slept about a total of 1 1/2 hours last night. (as did we).

At 6, we called our doctor's office and were directed to the "on call" people who are the emergency nurses at the children's hospital here. After describing the tests already done and everything he'd gone through in the night, she thought we'd probably need to come to the ER, but decided to check with our doc first. He said to hold off, come in to the clinic right at 8, and then we'd decide from there. So, we trekked off to the clinic right when it opened, and the first nurse practitioner that examined him was of the same opinion. Right to the ER. There might be a twisted bowel, or something serious like that. She suggested we get one more opinion from one of the other docs there at the office before she sent us off, which we decided was a good idea. And then came our little miracle. . .

Between when she walked out the door and when the doctor walked in about 5 minutes later, he totally turned the corner and the stomach pains stopped. Just stopped! The doctor's exam was completely different, and we decided we would observe him for a few hours before being sent off to the ER for a barrage of blood work and imaging and such. I am so grateful that he turned the corner right then or we would probably be in the ER right now, poking him with needles and such. He's suddenly so much better. The cramping stopped, he's asking for a little bit of soup and drink, and he SLEPT, 2 hours straight. I feel like my thousand prayers I had said in the middle of the night were answered right then and his body was able to relax that tummy right in time.

We're still of course watching him very closely, but he's a different boy than he was for the last 40 hours. He talks now and then, whines instead of screams, it's a relief! Okay, that was a novel. I just needed to vent!!!

A special little visitor

Yesterday, Aidan and I ran up to meet the bus like we always do when Ethan is on his way home. On our walk home, this beautiful orange butterfly followed us, all the way home! When we got to the front door, it kind of flew around in the flowers and then seemed to fly off. About an hour later Aidan found him on the front porch again! He stayed there for another hour or two! Aidan looked so sweet sitting there making friends with the butterfly!

And then he suddenly disappeared. I knew this had happened because Aidan came screaming into the room with a horrified look on his face, and then continued to howl for about 30 minutes. So sad!

This was also the moment that Aidan announced that his tummy hurt. A condition that got worse and worse, kept us up all night, and the poor kid too. He was squirming with "tummy hurting!" all night long, and spent the whole night wandering between his bed, the couch, the guest bed, our bed. He'd have a tummy cramp, get up and wander, fall asleep somewhere new, have another cramp, wander to a new room . . . on and on. It was so sad! Poor boy, I hope you feel better today Aidan!

A Camping We Will Go. . .

We headed out this weekend for our last camp of the season. It's getting very cool at night and it was kind of "now or never." So, we headed out to a new state park very close to us to check it out. The campgrounds were a bit crowded and out in the open, (we prefer primitive campsites that are drive-upable) but we made it our home for Friday night.

Chandler was into EVERYTHING that evening and we started calling him "little bear" because he was so bothersome! It was a relief to put him to bed so we could stay up and roast marshmallows with the boys. About 10 minutes after we put him to bed though, the big boys were begging for their beds as well. We tried to convince them to stay up and roast marshmallows and such, but after about 10 minutes of begging for mercy we gave in and sent them all off to bed. We enjoyed a windy night snuggled warm in our tent, with only a brief 3 a.m. waking from Chan-man. The birds made sure we awoke bright and early and didn't sleep too late.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the rest of the camp and checking out the "hike in" camp that maybe we'll be able to do in a few years when the boys are old enough to carry a bit more. There were even cabins there we might utilize in the winter, brand new. A fun discovery!

Chandler trying on Daddy's new Hiking Boots

Aidan happy in the morning, with Marshmallow shrapnel still all over his face. . .

Don't you think we could sleep a bit more?

Sweet Releif!

"My Feet Hurt!" This is a commonly heard phrase around here lately. When I'm pregnant my feet just hurt like nothing else. (probably due to the hormones that relax all of the joints in your body in prep for birth - don't you think this is a bit premature?) The kind of hurt where at four o'clock when it's time to start thinking about making dinner I just want to cry. My sister in law Keren made chili for us the other night while she was here because I think I looked a little desperate! So, I sent myself out in search of comfortable shoes, that might provide some relief. This was a daunting task in itself, because I knew they would be expensive, and I knew I'd have to WALK through shoe stores, and then my feet would hurt at night. But, after three shoe stores, I finally decided I needed a pair of these beauties. . .

yes, these are the kind of clogs that nurses and doctors wear because they stand ALL day long. But guess what, so do I! It was hard for the sales ladies to convince me to buy these, as they are $115, but I was willing to try anything. So, with a money back guarantee from clogs'n'more, I jumped in and let me tell you. . . blessed day, my feet don't hurt for the first time in weeks! Worth every little penny. I put them on in the morning before my feet touch the kitchen floor and don't take them off until I'm ready for bed, and low and behold, my feet don't hurt. So, if you're tootsies are aching. . . trust the clog people (dansko) and get the shoes that feel like they could not possibly be comfortable. (they feel like hard wooden shoes at first) My toes are happy!

Generous Spirits

Yesterday Ethan got off the bus so excited to tell me something! He had found some money at school and saved it so we could buy a piano!!! (I had to think back to a conversation we had at Grammy's house about a month ago when he asked when we could get a piano, and I told him maybe we could start saving for one again and get one someday. He said he would save his money and I told him I'd be saving mine) I said, "WOW! Honey how much money did you find?" and he didn't know but said he'd show it t me at home. I told him it probably wouldn't be enough for a WHOLE piano and we'd probably have to keep saving (and if it was enough for a whole piano we'd have to find the owner). Then he said, "Oh I know, maybe if I gave you EVERYTHING in my piggy bank and maybe Aidan will too, then maybe that will be enough?" So, we talked about how much piano's cost, and he was a bit shocked. (not to mention slightly disappointed) But, he's still determined. He pulled out his money from his backpack and gave it to me, and said "let's put this in the piano account!!!" It was very sweet. . .And then later last night, Chandler brought me a present from the garden. One of the whopping TWO tomatoes that grew on our tomato plant this year. The problem is, it's definitely not ready. THANKS CHANDLER!!! I spent the rest of the evening outside trying to wrangle him away from the one surviving tomato. I don't think it's life expectancy is too high now though, now that he knows how to pick them!!! :) Here you go mom!

First time for everything. . .

I just experienced my first EVER of 4 pregnancy's barf. I know, I know, I am a lucky, lucky woman for not having to go through this on a regular basis. My kudos go out to all of you ladies who do this on a regular basis and still continue to have more than one child. It was not fun. I really have no one to blame but myself. A tuna fish sandwich at 9:20 in the morning probably isn't the best thing to challenge a slightly nauseous tummy with! But I was hungry!!! And it sounded so good!!! (I've been wanting one for days) Maybe if I hadn't had the pickle on the side. . . live and learn!

Back To School!

It's such an exciting day around here! Ethan had a great first day of first grade, and so far loves every bit of it! He hopped on the bus this morning, and then I met him at school with his mountain of school supplies. We got him all situated and he was so excited to see his seat partner is his good friend Brooklyn. Very exciting stuff! Ms. Swanno was very sweet and seems to be a favorite of the kids from past years. Here is Aidan so excited to pick up Ethan from the bus stop. . . and surprise him with back to school cupcakes! (a family tradition)

It was a great day!!!

Mystery Friend

We have some new neighbors that moved in next door. Okay, they've actually lived there for about 8 months or more, but we haven't really been able to get to know them very well due to language barriers between ourselves and the parents. But, we found out today that the kids speak English, as Aidan sat and talked through the fence with the little boy for about 30 minutes. It was very cute. They even played catch over the fence for a while, until the neighbor had to go to the store. I think Aidan's still out there calling, "Are you back yet?" every couple of minutes. They were very cute.And here's a funny little one about me. . . embarassing really. We have a "hunny do" list up on the fridge this weekend, and to the end of it I added "Maternity clothes" to be taken down from the attic, as none of my pants will fit. When I walked up to the list, maybe 45 minutes after I wrote "Maternity clothes" I turned to Gordon and sincerely asked, "What's may ter Nitty clothes?" I think I may need more sleep!!! :)

Fresh Haircuts and Shiney Shoes

This past week all the boys got new shoes for school. . . and Chandler just because he's growing. They LOVE them! Thanks Gram. And today, all 4 of the gentlemen here had their haircut. A feat that is becoming more and more difficult, the more boys we have! Cutting four heads in a row is positively exhausting! (it could have something to do with the pregnancy! :) But, we're looking all shined up and ready for school to begin on Tuesday. Ethan can hardly wait!

Surgery Day

Gordon has proclaimed my last two posts were BORING, so I'm going to try to spice it up a bit here. I wanted to share some cute pictures of Aidan on Surgery day. . . thanks for coming Grammy! Enjoy!

Getting the royal treatment. A new Teddy bear and a wagon to ride in. Not to mention the COOLEST PJ's. He was sad they had to stay at the hospital!

This is how the mask works. . .

Playing XBox

REALLY enjoying his nap afterwards.

Popsicles for breakfast? What could be more fun than this?