With my boy life's just one big adventure

The lies we tell to make ourselves feel better

2012-01-27T03:22:00.000-08:00

I have never been one to lie about what happens just to make myself feel better. I dislike those who do. Why lie??? What do you have to gain??? How stupid do you look when the truth comes out? I'd like to give people the benefit of doubt here and think that they would be honest about stupid things. Then when people lie about what they do at work, home, with their kids or significant other or even just by themselves it just cements in my mind that they aren't comfortable with what they're doing/did or they think others will look down on them. Tonight I ran across an old blog I had saved from an old friend. In reading parts of that blog it was painfully clear that they lied. I don't know if I should be upset over the fact that they lied about myself, my boyfriend and my son.... Or the fact that they lied to make themselves look better by comparison. If we want to get honest here, the lie that was published was over something they didn't do themselves. Don't freaking lie about what food was brought in the house or complain about cleaning, when there were numerous occasions where they'd rather play on their computer than clean, cook, or pay attention to their own child.

I am not going to sit here and say that my house is spotless, and right now it's not. Unfortunately, having undergone surgery on Monday and being very limited in what I can do, not much has gotten done. But the boys in my life are trying to get everything done and I can't fault them for that. I won't lie when I say that there are a lot of times where we have eaten out because it was quicker. I won't lie over the fact that, yes, we have brought in sweets and soda, but most of them weren't even fully eaten or drank before going bad. But We have also brought in lots of healthier stuff over the last several months and its going to stay that way. Blaming others for your own decisions that were unhealthy or downright stupid isn't cool. The problems in my life are things that I won't blame on others. Yes I'm a single mom, but I was married when I had him. I don't blame anyone for the fact that his dad and I are divorced. Things happen and we're better off now. Yes it's hard raising a child with little help, but I wouldn't change that for anything.

I don't sit here and blame others for the misfortune of having a child who catches everything, a mother who's disabled or even for having to help out more at a young age because of the disability. I love my family. I love my friends. I have no reason to lie about anything. If I didn't wanna clean one day, oh well. Learn to deal with it. Because there were more times than not that I cleaned the entire house, dishes, laundry and all. If I want my child to follow certain rules, he'll follow them. I take offense to the fact that it was put out there in the manner it was. But then it just goes to show how petty and childish people can be. I can't say that I'm surprised by what I stumbled across, but I can say that it's sad. It just goes to show again that I shouldn't have gone out on a limb to help someone I considered family. It just burned me in the end. At least I can sleep well at night, knowing that I've told the truth and I'm better off.

Goodbye 2011... Hello 2012

2012-01-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

The last few years I've looked back on past years in a month by month break down of how things went, but this year I'm not going to do that. 2011 wasn't a horrible year, but it brought some definite hard times and low points. It also brought some good times and great memories. I'm just going to highlight a few of each of those good and bad this time. I think it puts more into perspective for me this time around.

So we'll start with the bad or low points of the year. I think it's better to end on a good note.
The major low point of the year was William's appendix and recurring illness at the end of the year. After visiting his dad and step mom in Bend over Memorial Day weekend, he came home sick. What we thought was just a normal viral illness and eventual stomach upset turned out to be much much more. It landed us at Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for six days, requiring surgery, numerous tests, and an ambulance ride. We left the hospital in much better shape than when we entered and I am now happy to say that we are completely back to normal. The end of the year, however, brought much frustration. October left him fighting off pneumonia, November brought strep throat, and December brought ear infections. It just seemed like he couldn't catch a break. That too, for now has subsided and we are hoping for a much better year health wise for him.

My big downer has been an ongoing fight with nausea that has led to them diagnosing gallbladder issues. 2012 for me is going to start off late in January with surgery to see if it corrects the ongoing nausea issue.

Last year also marked the loss of a friendship I had had for a long time. One that I was hurt to lose, but am finding that things are much less stressful and drama filled without said person. I learned the hard way what trying to help someone can do and never imagined that this person could say the things they said, do the things they did, and blow off their financial responsibilities like they did. I do wish them well on their journey through this life. I hope they find what they are looking for and that they and their child have what they need and want in life. The loss of this person also affected the children involved as they've grown up together. Maybe someday they'll wake up and see what they've lost, but until then we're moving on in life and so far so good.

In November, we had to make the hard decision to put our cat to sleep. She had suddenly become very jaundiced and sick. After consulting with a veterinarian and doing what the suggested it was clear that she was having no part in what the treatment required us to do. Force feeding a cat is a hard task, I don't care who you are. She eventually got to the point where she just wanted to hide and was very skinny and frail no matter what we did. It wasn't an easy decision and there were many many tears shed over it. The person who helped us at the humane society did ease our minds. She said after working at the numerous vet clinics and how she'd seen many cats in her condition just have their lives prolonged in ways that were not only painful (iv lines, force feedings or feeding tubes) she said it was in her best interest to be put to sleep. Prolonging the suffering is no way for any animal or person to live. We said our goodbyes and as I was waiting for them to bring out her towel and container William found the kittens. We ended up adopting a sassy black and white kitty. Her name is Astra and she is a handful. I know it doesn't bring back Nica, but it's helped him cope with the loss of a cat who was older than he is.

Okay enough of the depressing stuff, lets get onto the good stuff.
2011 brought some good times too, William's 6th birthday kicked off the year on a good start. There were lots of people there and he had a ton of fun with friends and family. We had a good time and were thrilled to see the turnout of family and friends there to celebrate. It meant a lot. I couldn't believe my baby was 6 and now seven is just right around the corner. It truly is amazing how quickly time flies.

We were able to take a couple vacations this last year. My boyfriend and I were able to take a little vacation on our own to Vegas at the end of Feb. beginning of March. We had a great time seeing several different shows, walking the strip, sightseeing, and just relaxing. I sure missed my kiddo though and even though we had fun I was very happy to get home at the end of the week. I've never left him with anyone longer than just a couple days, so a week was a long time. We talked everyday and I know he was good for grandma and grandpa,but I still missed him tons.

Our second vacation came just a few weeks after he got out of the hospital. We traveled down to California again. We visited several family and friends. We went to the beach, park and just hung out. We also saw Transformers 3 and went to a fair while we were there. William had a blast and made a couple new friends. We can't wait to get back, but hopefully soon some of them will be able to visit us. We had quite a good time even though we drove and it was a very long drive.

Outside of the holidays, which were amazing, the end of the year brought first grade and football. William has an amazing first grade teacher who he really likes and enjoys learning all sorts of things from. He has made several friends and I'm proud to say is at a third grade reading level. During their reading time they go to different classrooms he is in a room with all kids who are at a third grade reading level, whether they are third graders or younger. It's great! I love that he's gotten so smart and is such a great reader. Football started right before school did and he had a blast. It was great and we all had a good time. There were lots of games and his team managed to win all but 3 during the season. They were able to play in the playoff games at Reeser Stadium in Corvallis and they all earned medals and trophies. We look forward to playing again this next season.

Well that's the best and the worst from this last year. I certainly hope that 2012 brings more good than bad. That we all find happiness, love, prosperity, health, and most of all the ability to be content with our life and those in it. So goodbye 2011... Hello 2012.

Summer Vacation, Football and First Grade

2011-10-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since our 6 day stay at Doernbecher's. We hoped for a quick recovery, but we weren't released until Wednesday morning. He had a few complications that we were saddened to see him go through, but he is now all healed up and I couldn't be happier. It's a relief to have great doctors and nurses taking care your child, but it's even more of a relief to be home and to be able to move on with normal life. William has since leaving the hospital we've done quite a few things. The first thing we did after he got the OK from the surgeon to resume normal activities was our vacation. We spent a week in California. William had a few new experiences and got to meet a bunch of new people. We spent the first days of our vacation with Ron's parents. William also got to go into a Bass Pro Shop for the first time since we don't have them up here. He loved it! We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with Frank and his family. William and Braden became friends fast and we had a lot of fun. We spent time at the park, dinner out with another friend of Ron's and then the beach on Wednesday. Monday while we were there Ron went to check on his mom and we finally got to meet her. She even gave William a ukulele. We spent Thursday and Friday at his parents house. Thursday we took William to go see Transformers 3 (3D). He loved that too. As he said it was the best one so far. Friday we all went to one of the many fairs that were going on that day. We had a great time. William really enjoyed going around on the golf cart at the house and looking for the deer that were out on the golf courses. We drove to Medford on Saturday. It was a long drive, but we spent that evening with Ron's grandparents.
After vacation there were a few small events that were pretty exciting, grandma's birthday, 4th of July, our very first sunburn, and dad's wedding. While he enjoyed all of those, but the sunburn, the most exciting thing after vacation for him was football starting. We missed football certification because he was down at his dads wedding, but we did make up certification a week later. Outside of the enormous line and having to wait for helmets because they ran out of small helmets it wasn't too bad. The weather was at least cooperative and not overly hot. We started practice just a couple days later. Practices to begin with were 5 days a week. We've since dropped those to two days a week with games on Wednesdays since school started. It was rough going and still is with a few kids. They just don't wanna listen to what the coach wants them to do all the time, but they have gotten pretty darn good. William was the first child to have a position assigned to them. He is center (the person who hikes the ball to the quarterback). They have now assigned offensive positions to all the kids on the team. He is part of the white offensive line. He has done amazing. He has already informed us that he wants to play next year. They are the Huskies. They have been part of a lot of fun things so far this season. They had a PPK kick off weekend at Silverton HS and had an opportunity to play a short game there. They were invited to come down on the field at the high school game back on 09-23-11 and have their names announced there as well. They were all super excited about that. They won their first two games, tied the 3rd, but unfortunately lost the 4th. We've been very lucky to learn that in November they will be able to play at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. They get to play 3 games down on the field and will have their names announced. He is super excited for that. I'm just super happy that he's loving the sport, making lots of new friends (he's friends with all of them), and learning lots of new skills. Ok, I have to admit I love seeing him in the uniform too... He's just too cute!

He started First grade on 09-07-11. He already knew several kids going into his first day in Mr. Taylor's class. We had heard nothing, but good things about him. So far I'd have to say we really like it. He's doing well in there and he loves having a male teacher. William's got a pretty packed schedule for the day, but the part that takes up the biggest chunk of time is the reading groups. They spend about an hour and a half in reading groups every morning. They have several smaller spurts of math throughout the day, but the reading is a big deal. We recently got a notice back regarding their evaluation of him for where he should be and we were very pleasantly surprised to find out that he is reading at a second grade level. They have started him off at level 2.1 of the program which is the first half of their second grade program and they are reading chapter books or small novels. I am very proud of him. They haven't sent home much homework yet, but we are working with him on numerous things. They have sent home vocabulary and words to watch for. He is good about finding those and reading for 20 minutes every night. He also has been very honest about what he needs to be doing and I haven't had to do much interrogating to get information about his day. The best part of this school year is that even though Austin isn't in his class his best buddy is back in school with him. Austin suddenly moved away last year right before William ended up in the hospital and in August we drove by the park and saw him. We surprised William by taking him up there and we learned that he was going to be back for school. He was beyond excited.

I can't wait to see where the rest of this year goes. I'm glad to say that we're happy, healthy (keeping my fingers crossed that continues), and super busy. I hope that it just keeps getting better from here.

Who Really Needs an Appendix Anyways??

2011-06-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Not William.... Or at least that's what William's body thought. My sweet little guy left me Saturday feeling great... More than great... Excited to go visit his dad. When he got back Monday though, it was clear, there was something wrong. I got home from work and when I gave him a hug he was burning up. I took his temperature and he was at 101. He was fatigued and quiet but doing ok. Tuesday he stayed home from school even though his temperature was normal. He was complaining of a sore throat and given the fever the night before we kept him home. We weren't taking any risks. He was able to go to school Wednesday. He did complain part way through school that his tummy hurt. But given that it was so close to lunch, his teacher figured it was due to him being hungry. He went home and I got a phone call at 5:45 pm that he was vomiting and complaining of stomach pain. It all sounds so innocent. Probably the flu, right?? Nope. By the time I got him at 6:30 PM he had vomited again and was in a lot of pain. He ate three bites of applesauce and had a few drinks of water. He went to bed and fell asleep before 8. I called the advice nurse and given his symptoms and low grade fever she felt it might be flu like too. She gave us a few things to try and said to call back if symptoms got worse or the fever got higher. He woke up at 10:30 PM screaming and crying. His stomach hurt. We tried a few things to get him comfy and got him back in bed. He had a low grade fever 99 degrees or so. He went back to bed and t 5:30 AM he woke up crying again. In pain again. This time we did the same things, but I gave him Tylenol and checked his temp. This time he was at 101. He went back to bed. He woke up not long after at 7:15 having the same issue. I rechecked his temp, again it was at 101. He layed on the couch with me. I called the doctor's office and they had an appointment for him at 11:40 AM. He fell back asleep and we got him up just after 9 AM. He ate some applesauce and we headed to the dr.

His doctor immediately saw that something was wrong. He had some tests run. When the results came in the dr wasn't happy. Given his temperature, his stomach pain, and a very high white blood cell count they immediately gave him an IV with fluids, referred on to a surgeon and an ambulance to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for further testing/treatment. We had an ultrasound done and it didn't show anything. After being given some options and him being on some pain medication to keep him comfortable, we opted to do a CT scan. The CT scan showed that his appendix was in bad shape. It also was sitting behind the bladder, which was why his pain wasn't located where they typically see it. We were then moved to a room they had on hold for him since 6 PM. He was started on antibiotics and we were told they would contact us about surgery. He continued on pain medications and something for nausea. His temperature continued to go up and down all day/night. He had an up and down night with sleep and restlessness. At 4 AM the surgeon came into the room and got us all set for surgery. He had surgery at 7:30 AM.

We were moved from his room down to Pre-OP at 7. He went in and at just after 9 AM, the surgeon came and notified us of how the surgery went. We weren't expecting to hear that it had ruptured. They had to clean him out pretty good. We will be at the hospital for at least 3 days and he will be on antibiotics, pain meds, tylenol, and IV fluids for a while. Right now... He's sleeping peacefully in his room. I am thankful for the quick work of his pediatrician at Kaiser and the great staff we've had here at OHSU. It's made it somewhat more tolerable than it could have been. We're hoping for a good speedy recovery so we can get him home where he's even more comfortable.

This all changed so quick. I don't think I'll ever look at those set of symptoms the same way again. I know when there's something wrong with him. This pain wasn't like other pains before. This pain had him in tears, vomiting, barely walking, and very very very uncomfortable. I feel horrible for my baby. I wish he never had to go through this pain. Hopefully we'll never have to go through this type of thing with anyone else we're close to again. It's been scary. It's been emotional. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions. The more time we're here the more I long for home. Hopefully soon we'll be there.. I know there's a doggie at home that his missing her kiddo.

Turning Six....

2011-01-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

"When I was One, I had just begun. When I was Two, I was nearly new. When I was Three, I was hardly me. When I was Four, I was not much more. When I was Five, I was just alive. But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever." ~ A. A. Milne

If we thought five was great, six is going to be even better. Well if you ask William six is going to be better. He was so excited for his birthday. We had talked about several ideas for invitations and cakes. He ultimately landed on Camo..... He really really loves camo. We found ourselves some camo invitations (more army style) and we actually found a cake (granted at Walmart) that was camo and had a tank on it. The tank actually transforms (he LOVES it!). We actually had a pretty good turn out of kids, which was good considering I almost had a minor heart attack at the lack of RSVP's we got at the beginning. We, of course, ended up at Chuck E Cheese for the 4th year in a row.

They played A LOT and they all enjoyed some pizza. When it came time for presents, everyone was excited and wanted to help. Although, a few friends were pretty shy and wanted to stay close to mom and dad. The picture above (camo boots) was a very special gift from William's best friend Austin. Austin knows William all to well. When his mom RSVP'd for the party she mentioned that he wanted to get William something camo. :) The other kids had great gifts for William too. And there were several that he had been asking for for a long time. The woodworking kit, helicopter, hot wheels, transformers, NERF dartboard, video games, etc. He made out like a little bandit.

Grandma and Grandpa Neet even got him a few special things. A book from Grandma and Grandpa got him a couple tools (hammer, etc) for his tool kit he got for Christmas. He loved it. He also got a few pictures from a couple friends he loved. That was super sweet of them too. I think my kiddo has got some pretty awesome friends. I'm glad he knows how to pick (99% of the time) good ones. Let's just hope that keeps going.

The party went off great and everyone had a good time. I'm sure we'll figure a way to out do ourselves next year. Granted we won't be at Chuck E Cheese. I'm proud of my kiddo. Some of the best moments of him turning six came from his party and the treats we took into his class the day before. From Ocean asking him "IS IT YOUR BIRTHDAY????!??!?!?!" two inches from William's ear and nearly yelling, to Tayler talking with Julie and showing off her Iphone... to all the other kids who came and made it a very special day. It's on his birthday that I'm especially reminded of how truly special my child is. He is an amazing kid, who is smart, funny, rambunctious, sweet, loving, stubborn, opinionated, and most of all mine. I am blessed to have him as my son. I know I don't have to make such a big deal out of his birthday, but I do, because it's his. I want him to enjoy his birthdays. Growing up my parents didn't always have the money to throw parties like what William gets, but we always had fun. I want him to remember just how loved he is and know that each year he's here is a year we celebrate.

I tend to look back on his birthday to when he was born. Holding him for the first time. Celebrating the fact that he was here and healthy. I can reflect all I want on that day, but it doesn't compare to his happiness on his birthday. For me that's all I need. I will always hold those first memories dear and they are as clear today as they were six years ago. But this year it was nice to celebrate with everyone on his birthday. It made it just that much more special. So Happy Birthday to my little.. oh I mean, big six year old! I hope that this year is better than last.. that you grow a little taller, smarter, stronger.... And that no matter what you remember you are loved... and that you give love back to those important to you.

2010 in review

2011-01-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

So where did 2010 go??? It seemed like the year just flew by. Seemed to fly by much faster than previous years. So what did we do in 2010 you may ask? Well maybe its time for a review..

January- Well what a busy month January was. In January, William welcomed a new cousin into the family. William turned 5, which was big, turning 5 meant that he was turning into an even bigger boy than he already was. Kindergarten was right around the corner. January was also a time for doctors. Just a week after his 5 year check up we were back for ear infections that caused horrible pain. Just a few weeks later we were back to see an ENT for sinus issues we'd been having for months. My poor kiddo just couldn't catch a break.

February- February was a month for big changes. We moved. And by moving it meant moving out of grandma and grandpa's house, the only house William ever knew, into a new house. A new house with his own room. Much different from what he knew. This change caused some anxiety and some missing grandma and grandpa issues. That changed when he started having fun and realized he still got to see grandma and grandpa every day. February had two big doctor appointments. One with the ENT to see what the issues were with his sinuses. The ENT suggested that his adenoids be removed as they were fairly large and probably the cause of his issues. At the end of February He had surgery (at a very very early hour) to have those pesky adenoids removed. He did great and outside of some residual pain and a left over sinus infection he healed up fast. We also learned this month that William has issues with latex paint... that makes painting our house harder.

March- Spring break and Mommy's birthday. That's right.. March was a month full of spring break and well My birthday. I turned 26. We celebrated in the greatest of ways. I had lunch one on one with my hunny.. Then later we had dinner with my family. The best part..... William and my mommy made me the best dinner ever. I am such a lucky girl! The end of March, however, brought changes in a very painful way. For whatever reason, I can't think of any, my upper back and shoulders started causing issues. I literally went to bed fine one night and woke up the next in horrible pain and hardly able to move. After 2 days of trying my best to deal with the pain, I caved, and went to the doctor. March was also the month that William caught his first fish.

April- Easter, Fishing, and trying to make mommy feel better. That's what April was. We kicked off the month with William catching 3 fish... His second time out and he caught 3 fish. He was so proud of himself. Mommy was still trying to get the back pain to stop.. The doctor thought there was muscle spasming and was not happy about the lack of response from my left arm. That made the doctor suspect there was nerve compression. The medications given to help didn't really help very much and I was left in more pain in the mornings after using the muscle relaxer than when I went to bed. William and Ron both did their best to make me feel better. I don't know what I would have done without them. Easter was just a few days after his fishing trip and he got a ton of stuff. We spent the day partially at home and then with family for dinner. I believe April was also the month that William was helper of the week at school. He was so happy when it was his turn. He waited a very long time for that. He also started t-ball in April.

May- T-ball, allergies, and almost summertime.... May brought some frustrations back with William's allergy issues. He had been doing so well with no sinus issues and then all of a sudden we were back to sniffling and sneezing. After allergy testing in 2009 showed nothing we were pretty sad to see him struggling again. We did allergy testing again at the end of the month. We did blood testing instead of the scratch tests. We were hopeful that it would give us some answers. T-ball was in full swing and it was sad that the weather didn't want to cooperate like we would have liked it to. But he did great and we all had a lot of fun. It wasn't long until there was itching for warmer weather. Summer break was just around the corner and William was ready for summer to begin.

June- End of pre-kindergarten, birthdays, and allergy test results. June brought the class field trip.. This year it was to the zoo. It was a fun time, but the traffic was horrible. We nearly missed it. William had a great time going through the dinosaur part of the zoo and had a blast seeing all the animals. Unfortunately the end of the trip left William with a migraine and he ended up sick to his stomach later on from it. We also enjoyed a very nice pre-k program at the end of the year. This time William actually sang! I was such a proud mommy. This also brought a sad time. The end of pre-k. William made so many friends and had such a good time. The last day was bittersweet. He had a fun time and came home with a "Look out Kindergarten.. Here I come" hat. But it also brought goodbyes to the teachers and friends staying behind there. We also celebrated birthdays for Grandpa, Anna, and lots of other family members at a picnic later in the month. Everyone had a blast.. This was the month where the boys learned that goofing off can hurt. They both ended up face first into a toy bin, leaving each of them with black eyes. The month also brought results from the allergy tests. Again those left us stumped as there was no allergies found. In July he started a new allergy medicine that helped him a lot.

July- Rodeo, the 4th, Trip to dads... July was a fun month.. The beginning of the month brought the Mollala Buckaroo and the 4th of July. Along with Grandma's birthday on the 3rd. We were packed with things to do. This was our first time to a rodeo. William and Marcus each rode on sheep. William held on til the end and well Marcus.. he gave it a good shot. William loved the rodeo. Granted it was long and they both started to get bored, but William really enjoyed it. After the rodeo we went to Grandma's for the 4th of July for fireworks and a barbecue. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was the year before, but we all had a good time. Later that month William took a trip down to visit his dad. He had a good time.

August- Mom's root canal, another trip to dads, and our first eye issue.... This was a month of ups and downs. I had to have a root canal and I have to admit, the dentist was awesome. I expected it to be much worse. But the worst part was the fact that he couldn't get a vein to do the anesthesia like we talked about. William was great and tried his hardest to make me feel better. Near the end of August, William had another trip to his dads. He was there for almost a week. Near the end of his trip I got a call that he had gotten something in his eye. I was expecting him to maybe have some irritation. Nothing like what I saw though.. Poor kiddo. We ended up at urgent care the next day and spent a good part of the morning there trying to get the stuff out. During the appointment we were told he had fluid behind his ear. I fully braced myself for ear infections later on. But we left the appointment with eye ointment.. That, however, lasted less than a day as it burned so bad he cried most of it out in the two doses he had.. I had that changed later that day to eye drops and he did much better. When he followed up with his doctor 2 days after urgent care he had full blown ear infections in both ears. His pediatrician stopped the eye drops and went with oral antibiotics. Now we just had to clear it up before school started.

September- Kindergarten and a love of football.... September brought with it the first day of Kindergarten. He was lucky enough to get a great teacher.. His teacher he told me later is the mom of a kid who was in his preschool class. We dropped him off on his first day and before school started he went in and said hi to his old preschool teachers. One was so cute, she forgot he was in Kindergarten.. They were getting another William in their class this year. She was so sad when she realized he was in Kindergarten.. She asked for a hug and said she'd love for him to say hi or wave if he saw them. They just adored him. He quickly made lots of friends, but also experienced a few issues with another student. Something we weren't used to. Having to explain to your 5 year old that sometimes you won't be friends with everyone was very hard. He also learned of some disabilities that others have. Once football season started though he was all over that. Football became a big thing in our house. The house was divided at times.. people rooting for the Beavers and others for the Ducks. The Ducks prevailed though. Having an amazing year.

October- Halloween, birthdays, and homework... October brought a few changes. He had homework for the first time. I don't remember homework in Kindergarten. We celebrated Marcus' 5th Birthday and the things he was learning in preschool as well. The boys had a great time at Marcus' party. And of course there was Halloween. He had a scary costume for the first time. William also learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He was so proud of himself. However, we all ended up sick in October. There was a stomach bug going around and William, like always, was the first to get it. Followed by me and Ron. It made for a very miserable part of October. William also was evaluated for and started in a reading group. For someone who kept saying it was too hard to read and he couldn't do it, he certainly could. He was one of 5 kids in the morning kindergarten classes to be in a reading group so early. The rest of the kids will start in late January or early February.

November- Thanksgiving, reading, jealousy... November meant starting Christmas shopping. That brought out jealousy issues we had seen glimpses of in the previous months, but nothing like what we got. It was so sad to see my kid who is generally so good about giving be so upset and jealous about getting others things. It was a lesson learning time for him and he's come out better. We continued with reading and he has done so well. He is just flying though those books like they are nothing. I am so proud of him. Thanksgiving was spent with family. I made the turkey for the first time. The boys (William and Ron) made some very tasty brown sugar bacon wrapped little smokies. We all had a good time. However, William and some issues eating and regressed to issues we hadn't seen in months. That made for a very long and miserable weekend and couple days there after. We got our Christmas tree and decorated it with William and Marcus.

December- Christmas, Winter break, New Years, Birthdays, Report cards..... December was a month packed full of things. We celebrated Ron's 29th birthday, Julie's 27th birthday and William's first report card early in the month. William had a great report card and it just further cemented the fact that he is a smart kiddo who is doing great... even when he doesn't think so. Unfortunately the last week of school before Winter break was spent more at home than at school. He woke up with a bout of croup that was horrible. A trip to the doctor the following evening for a dose of steroids.. Later that week we were back due to a severely congested cough. We were told to wait it out over the weekend and see if it cleared up. When it didn't I called back and his doctor gave him a prescription for a steroid liquid that took 4 days to kick in. He had his last doses on Christmas. My wish for a healthy child for Christmas didn't happen, but he had a great time. On Christmas Eve, we tracked Santa, left out cookies and milk for him. He even left out water and carrots for the reindeer. We had our usual fondue dinner with family and we all went to bed early. Christmas morning we woke up to open presents at home early. William got 2 things he had been wanting so bad.... A bow and arrow and a Nintendo DS. After opening up presents at home we went to grandma and grandpas where he got more gifts including a new bike. We had a great morning with them. Then we drove down to Medford for Christmas with Ron's grandparents, parents, and family. We had a wonderful time there too. William again got spoiled with more things. New years was spent at home for Me and Ron.. William was with Grandma Connie and had a great time. Even though he wasn't up like he wanted to be at midnight. He had a fun time.

There were more things through the year that I missed I'm sure. William's first time shooting and getting his BB gun, migraines, Grandma's health issues, and many many more. However, 2010 was a good year. We had a lot of good changes, a few that I'd rather change, and many many fun times. Here's to hoping that 2011 is even better. Hopefully I'll be better at keeping up this blog and sharing even more of the adventures in our lives. :)

The Training Wheels Are OFF!!!

2010-10-13T23:03:00.001-07:00

William is finally riding his bike without training wheels. After another friend riding without the training wheels off her bike, led him to ask us to take them off. He didn't wanna be the last one of his friends riding with the training wheels on their bike. It didn't take him long at all to pick it up. Within just a few minutes he was off and doing well. I am so proud of my little man!!!

Random pictures

2010-10-13T22:50:00.001-07:00

I love these pictures. These range from the one above of our trip to the beach to the following two from the second day of school... To Gabe's 6th birthday party...

These next several pictures are from the school carnival this last weekend.. Outside of not winning a goldfish, William, Ron and I had a great time!

thankful...

2010-07-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for the great friends, family, boyfriend, son, pets, and other things I have in life. Lately we have been through some changes in our lives that have made me think and made me really look at what is going on in this sometimes hectic thing I call life. William played t-ball for the first time and did an amazing job. He LOVED it. We had games and practice twice a week. He had fun playing with kids he went to school with and some he didn't. He got to play games against classmates and had a wonderful time learning about teamwork, sportsmanship, and most of all the game. I am thankful for his love of the game, his enthusiasm, and most of all his curiosity.

He finished pre-kindergarten this June and enjoyed a few final moments with some good friends and two amazing teachers who have given him some amazing skills. I am thankful for my sons growth and for all he's learned. I am thankful that he has a wonderful school. A small school that's got more of a community feeling than just a school you send your kid to for several hours a day. I can't believe that in just a few weeks my son will be in kindergarten and more than that will be on to a new adventure of making new friends, learning more, and most of all going to school in the morning instead of afternoons. That's going to be the toughest change for us.

We endured two hospitalizations of my mom (grandma) and it has been a difficult road. The first was for a minor issue, but it made a big impact and left her feeling very ill. What seemed to be food poisoning wasn't food poisoning and could have been avoided had other symptoms been present. It made mother's day even more special to have my mom home before and able to celebrate it as a family. This latest one.. still ongoing.. makes it even more real that my mom's health issues can turn insanely overwhelming in the blink of an eye. We have endured the scare of very low blood sugar levels to very high blood sugar levels.. to an er trip that showed sudden dangerous levels of potassium.. We endured the thought of kidney failure, dialysis, specialists and ICU. As of today we are thankful for the wonderful doctors, nurses, and health professionals who are taking care of her. Who have made her condition so much better. That have given my mom the word that her kidneys are in good health, that her potassium levels are down, that she would be moved out of ICU and into her own room. I am thankful that the doctors and specialists are taking a look at her medications and have taken her off two that may have interacted and helped this happen. Thankful that my son will now be able to visit her while she's there. Thankful that I will still have a mom and that they are doing everything they can to ensure that she is on the right medications for her conditions and will be coming home. Most of all I am thankful for my mom. I know William is thankful that he still has his grandma.

I am even thankful for the changes in my sons father that led to many calls and a trip to visit dad. I am thankful for the changes he made. The growth he's shown and hopefully it will continue.

Most of all I am thankful for those that are close to me to help me through these times. I just want to say thanks to everyone near and dear to me for everything they do.

t-ball time is almost here... and mommy pain..

2010-04-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

I guess the title says it all... almost.. In February we got papers home from school regarding T-ball and baseball sign-ups through the school district. At first it listed t-ball as kids that were 5 and in kindergarten. Later they sent home another paper listing that the kiddos in pre-kindergarten were allowed as long as they were 5 before a certain date. I contacted the person listed and they were still accepting the sign ups so we quickly got William all signed up. After waiting patiently for just over a month we finally got an email from the coach for William's team. The teams were assigned colors and William's team is the green team. Try finding baseball stuff in green.. not so easy to do. We got William his pants, shoes, shirt, and belt. He looks absolutely adorable in them. He also has his own glove. The first practice is on 4-6 and their first game is 4-29. The rules were sent out in the email and each child will get a chance to hit the ball, run the bases, catch, be first to bat, etc. The coaches goal for the season is to get the kiddos throwing the ball properly. NOt a bad goal for the kids I think. They also have the option to try hitting a ball being "pitched" to them by the coach. If they don't hit it in 3 pitches then they go to the tee. They don't have a time limit or a number of tries to hit the ball. It should be interesting to see.

The second part of the title.. well.. Mommy (that's me) is in some pain.. Starting Wednesday (3-31) night, I have been having neck, shoulder, and upper back pain. Enough that I haven't really slept, have been nauseous, and the pain has induced headaches. After suffering for basically 2 days with no relief and being barely able to move my neck... I gave in.. My boss was nice enough to let me go home... I called the dr and ended up going in for the first open appointment they had.. 6:30 pm... The dr did a few basic tests and feeling my neck, etc.. she came to the conclusion I have extreme muscle tightness.. maybe spasms, and the ever exciting nerve compression.. If I lay on my left arm or hold it in just the right mannor/angle my left hand starts to go numb. It gets better once the pressure is taken off that arm. she gave me a mixture of a pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, and muscle relaxer to get this to go away, but wants me to recheck if it isn't better in about a week. If the numbness in my hand doesn't go away after the muscle stiffness/spasm goes away then I need to go in for x-rays. I'm hoping that the nerve issues subside once this goes away. It's been a long time since I've had back pain to this extent. Hopefully I'll be feeling back to my normal not in pain mommy self soon for me little guy.. Poor kid tries giving me a hug and it hurts. He's not hurting me.. just my back and neck are.. Too bad he sees it as him hurting me when he does that..

Hopefully the weather will also clear up in time for his first practice and I'll be able to get some good pictures. On another note.. we took him fishing for the first time last weekend and he caught his first fish. Today (4-2) my boyfriend Ron and my best friend Julie took William and my nephew Marcus fishing. Marcus caught one fish, fell into the lake, and well ended up having a hard time behavior-wise for a while.... William caught 3 fish and even helped Ron clean all three of his.. The first one he was a little apprehensive of touching, but after that he was fine. Looks like we'll be doing a lot of fishing and shooting and maybe even hunting with him...

Why I love my little guy...

2010-03-17T22:09:00.001-07:00

He had his adenoids out on 2-26... on 3-1 we went back into the dr who told us he had a cold. we've been dealing with the symptoms off and on since then. Saturday he started in with more of a cough and had some icky green snot when he blew his nose.. It's just progressed down from there. Tuesday (3-16) he was up until after 1 am coughing.. Coughing through his albuterol dose, coughing after delsym... Just coughing and coughing the poor thing. After talking with the advice nurse for his doctor we have an appointment at 8:20 am on 3-18. While explaining to him that the doctor is just going to check him out, listen to his lungs, check his ears, eyes, throat, etc. He asked how they were going to check his throat. After explaining that they will have him open his mouth, stick out his tongue and say "Ahhhh", he came back quickly with "but mom! it's dark in there"....

Even after trying to re-explain to him that what they will use to see down his throat has a light on it and they will be able to see his throat just fine, he again came back with "I don't have a light in my throat mom.. it's dark in there." He just makes me laugh sometimes. I certainly got a laugh out of him tonight. Not to mention he wants those "bad buggies" gone.. I can't blame him. It's those "bad buggies" that are making him sick. Hopefully he'll get better soon. After all what fun is spring break going to be next week if he's sick???

Adenoid Removal..... Update

2010-03-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

William had surgery to remove his adenoids on 02-26-10. We had to be there super early. William was the doctor's first patient at 7:30 am, but that meant we had to be there at 6..... It made for an early morning leaving the house at 4:45. We got there and checked in. I had one other paper to fill out and then we were called back. We got William all settled and soon the fun began. The nurse came in and placed another bracelet on his wrist and allowed him to watch some tv. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after that and talked to us and more importantly William. He asked William a few questions and then asked him to come see the balloon they would have him blow up. He went with him willingly so they decided he didn't need the sedative to make him relaxed enough to go without an argument. After the anesthesiologist left the nurse came back in and put some numbing cream on the top of his hands and covered it with a clear bandage on each. They numbed the area for the iv with the cream, although, they really didn't need it since he was under anesthesia when they put it in. Before we knew it the doctor came in and did what she needed to for the surgery to go on. It wasn't too long after that when they wheeled him into the OR for surgery. He gave us hugs and kisses and off he went.
Ron and I went and met up with William's dad, grandma, and uncle. We got some coffee and talked. Before we knew it the 1/2 hour surgery was up and just as I was walking to go upstairs to get his medicine from the pharmacy out walked the doctor and we were called back. She said that things went very well and that there were no complications at all from the procedure. He was asleep when we got back to his room. He looked so peaceful. There were two nurses there checking on him, but on his table there was a stuffed dog. The admitting nurse he had that day had searched to see if there were any extras and just happened to find some. she said its something the volunteers at the hospital give to them so they give those to the kids who have surgery. When he woke up he didn't talk much, but when he did he wanted grandma and daddy. They came in and visited with him. I went and got his medicine. They gave him Tylenol with Codeine, which we later had flavored sour apple, and that didn't help his pain much. We later learned that they had way under dosed the tylenol. They gave him some apple juice and chocolate pudding to eat. What a great breakfast at 9 am..
We had a pretty busy day after that. We ended up at Target to get his medicine flavored and get a few things before heading home. We stopped and had lunch and the poor kid had a hard time eating. The scrambled eggs were ok, but the minute the applesauce hit his mouth he looked like he wanted to cry. I gave him the pain medicine while we were at Target and he ended up using some chloraseptic spray to numb his throat so he could eat. That continued throughout the weekend. I did call the nurse for the ENT and they were at a loss as to why he was in so much pain. They said that there is a chance for referred pain, but the amount he was having sounded like that of a child who had tonsils out. He had a lot of pain in the middle of the night for a few nights, but thankfully has been healing up nicely since. He is able to breathe much better and I am thankful that his sinus issues are for the most part a lot better.
A couple days later he had ultrasounds to recheck a problem they spotted with one of his kidneys as a baby. I got a letter from the doctor today that his kidneys are just fine. :D

ENT appointment update....

2010-02-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

Today we had William's ENT appointment. We were looking forward to it to see what they thought his issues were. As we were standing in line to check in, he looked at me, and said "mommy, I'm scared." Apparently the thought of what could be going on or could be done to him was scary. After we checked in we had barely made it up the steps when the nurse called his name. We went back into a large room (too bad the dr's offices aren't that big) with a chair for him to sit in. Lots of things on the walls. After a few questions we were met by a very nice dr. She was very understanding and asked several questions. We went over a lot of things and she checked out his ears, throat, and nose. She numbed his nose a bit and then stuck a lighted scope up a ways to see his adenoids. She told us that they are enlarged. They aren't huge, but they are definitely a problem and need to go. She went over all of the risks, etc. She also went over what days she has free to do surgery until early March. She will be going on maternity leave and wanted us to be aware that if she goes into labor they will reschedule. He is set for Friday the 26th. Hopefully all goes well and he will heal up in no time.

Drs appointments, sick kiddo, and migraines

2010-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

And that's not all of it. To top off the 3 dr visits in less than 3 weeks, severe ear infections, meds, and no change in sinus symptoms, we also had the first migraine in months today. Poor kiddo just couldn't get comfortable. He whined, moaned, groaned, and just flip flopped. After 2 tylenol and another 20 minutes of whining he went and layed down in his bed and fell asleep. However, that meant, I had to stop packing up out bedroom.. Yup, that's right, packing up our bedroom. We are moving. In less than 2 weeks he will have his own room and for the first time in his life live outside of grandma and grandpa's house. He will still be there almost daily due to school and me working, but he finally gets his own room. He's really looking forward to that A LOT!

So in the meantime between packing and working we have an ENT appointment on the 17th to go to. When we saw the ped. on the 28th she was concerned. But after hearing that he woke up at 1 am screaming that his left ear hurt she was more than sympathetic to why we were there again so soon. She looked in his ears and immediately asked which antibiotic we wanted. :( It's sad when event he doctor is losing track of what he's been on. Granted most of them have been for his sinuses. We did a round of Zithromax which is very easy for us as its once daily for 5 days. we love those ones. :D

We were also using some numbing ear drops, but after 5 days of antibiotics he was still complaining of ear pain. We went back into see his dr. She noted that his ears were 1000% better than they had been, but that she wasn't sure what was causing his ear pain to persist. We discussed his sinuses and if the antibiotic helped at all, which it hadn't. She asked again what we were doing for his sinuses and we both agreed that at this point it'd be best to stop and wait for the ENT appointment to tell us more. The pain in his sinuses is above his eyes primarily, but he complains of his whole nose hurting at times. Hopefully we will find something out and we won't have anything more come up before then.

I'm hoping that if anything serious has to be done after the ENT appointment we can do that before 4/1... Our insurance changes and suddenly we have a deductible that we've never had before.. :(

My little man is 5!!!

2010-01-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that my little guy is 5! Where did the last 5 years go??? This year, like the last 2, we had his party at Chuck E Cheese. He picked that again. We sent invitations to his entire class and were thrilled when 9 kids and 3 of their siblings rsvp'd to show up. We had a good mix of girls and boys and he several of those he REALLY wanted to be there at his party. It was nice meeting the other parents and watching him interact with the other kiddos. The day started off hectic with me and Ron being 20 minutes late to my own son's party. However, we may not have been late had Albertson's not taken forever finding his cake. Apparently saying William and Spiderman equals Noah and Cars.

Once we were there we ended up ordering pizza and getting tokens out to the kiddos. The kiddos had a lot of fun playing, whether it was games with the tokens or up in the play structure, it was a blast and I'm glad they all had a good time. Zak and William and a great time. Zak even asked if I could get this picture of them while they were eating pizza.

Lily and Zak argued over who was going to get to play with William more. Chloe and William had fun too and I love the look on her face as he was opening her present to him. Hayden was a little shy, but they had fun, and he sure enjoyed the frosting off of William's cake as I was told. I was glad to see that sophia and her sister Grace had fun. And even though one classmate had to leave early due to her mom having to work it was nice to hear that she was so excited to go.

Gabe and his brother were so nice in picking out several things for William and he loves every single one. Zak had to show him how to use the gift he got him. There were lots of good things given to him and He absolutely LOVED that everyone was there for him. He opened his presents from the family Friday night. Thursday he got a very big gift. he got his bb gun from Ron and he got to pick out some targets. He loves that gift and did very well listening to directions and using it for the first time.
It's hard to think of him as being 5 now. He is no longer a baby or a toddler. He is a BOY... He is a growing boy who has big plans. those plans as of now include school, playing football, trying to impress Chloe, and college one day. I hope he keeps on with those plans.. Even though trying to impress Chloe is one I'm not ready for... I'm proud of his accomplishments. I'm proud of him for the things he can do now.. spelling certain words, writing, spelling and reading his name, reading other classmates names, being inquizitive about things he's interested in and loving school. I love his enthusiasm for the many things he loves. Most of all I love being his mommy. Happy Birthday to my little man, I hope that this year brings many new friends, memories, and most of all good things for you. I love you!

waitng.. for... answers....

2010-01-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

After 6 months of prolonged sniffles, negative allergy testing, and 2 failed rounds of antibiotics William's ped is at a complete loss as to what is going on. We now have a referral to ENT department and she is hoping they can shed some light on the issues that are causing him such grief. He is having issues sleeping, he's grouchy, he is just not his normal self all the time. My hope is that the ENT can actually tell us something and not another let down like allergy testing was. His ped was almost sure that his issues were allergy related. So I will wait for word from the ENT department and if we haven't been contacted by the end of next week I will contact them to get his appointment set up.

He is also going to have a recheck that should have happened in October 2005. When he was born we had to see a urologist before he could be circumsized and when we finally got into the urologist in April 2005 we were asked a bunch of questions related to how he was doing and if he was urinating ok. Well his frequency has always been normal to me, but if it's actually normal compared to others who knows.. At that appointment the urologist went over the results of the ultrasounds done the day after he was born. They showed that one of his kidneys is smaller than the other. To me it sounded like it wasn't much, but I'm not a dr and what do I know when it comes to those things. So I asked his ped about that and she looked it up in his records and wants to do a recheck just to make sure all is ok. she said as long as it looks good and there are no real issues then we won't worry about it after this, unless issues start to come up.

So now its just a waiting game.. waiting.. patiently... for... answers... well waiting as patiently as I can for answers. I know in the bigger picture I'm blessed with a child with minor ailments compared to others. I'm also learning to not take for granted the times where we are all healthy. When you can see your child's health decline in anyway it can be scary or nerve-wracking. I've gone from a child sleeping through the night since 18 months old to now up at least once a night. My almost always happy child is now more grouchy and at time down right mean. My normally independent, let me do it myself, child has become overly clingy at times. My son now REQUIRES a child's breathe right strip for bedtime or he FREAKS out. The only thing worse than seeing him like this is knowing that his ped is at a loss, the allergist can't entirely rule out allergies, but thinks its more than likely recurring infections, and blindly trying things in hopes that they work with no resolve. After 6 months I'm exhausted mentally.. physically and just want it to get better. So for now.. I will wait.. as patiently as I can.. for any resolve. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T23:57:00.000-08:00

Hello 2010. Here's to hoping that this year brings lots of good times, good health, time with family and friends, and lots of new adventures.

Christmas Part 2...

2009-12-25T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas Eve was here in a flash and I made our usual dinner of Cheese Fondue with Chocolate Fondue for dessert. However, with mom in the hospital since Tuesday, it just wasn't the same. Before dinner I called mom and William got to talk to her. He misses her tons and it was nice for him to get to say goodnight. After dinner William got a bath and then it was time to play for a little while and get ready for bed. That morning Julie and Marcus were at our house and the boys opened their gifts to each other. William gave Marcus the wrong present at first and he got it halfway opened before I noticed. After getting him the right present he opened the Color Changing Hot Wheels track we got him, which apparently was a huge thing for him as he was almost in tears. I missed his face though.. :(
William got a Batman on the Batcycle and he LOVED it. The look on his face was priceless and we just had to open it up now for him to play with it. It definately made his day.
Before we knew it Christmas Morning had arrived and it was time to open presents. William found the Red Dino he had been wanting left out just under the tree. And then he got to open his stocking. Inside that he found some candy and a pack of bendaroos... He had been wanting those for a long time. He's made several things. I'm sure we'll be buying him more. Then after waiting "patiently" for Grandpa it was time to open presents. It was a frenzy of opening gifts when it came to William. He loved all of his gifts and just kept saying thank you to all of us and santa.. He even threw in a few "you are the best mom ever!" in there. Silly kid. I managed to get some pictures for mom.
Later on after getting some of the gifts put together grandpa thought it'd be fun to shoot William with the NERF gun he got him. Thank god William is a good sport.. He laughed and got the biggest smile on his face. It was good for a laugh. Mommy even tried on the Bumblebee Voice Changing Helmet he got and made aunt Anna laugh. I just couldn't resist. Breakfast consisted of sausage and eggs. After breakfast I called grandma back after she called us early this morning to see when we'd be up. Turns out she needed to have a quick simple surgery done and she didn't know when that would be happening. We just have to wait for her to tell us when to come visit. She doesn't wanna miss spening some time with William and us on this day.
I do feel sad for William on this Christmas. Grandma has always been here for Christmas and this is the first time that he's really experienced her being gone for something like this. We have been to visit her and he was almost in tears as we left. He just wants grandma home. He keeps asking when she'll be coming home and he was hopeful that it would be Christmas. Instead we have another 5 days with grandma gone and mommy has to do all the cooking for Christmas dinner.. Let's hope I don't mess up the Ham.. I think Anna would cry. I know I would. I am, however, thankful for what I do have on this day. I have a wonderful son, a great family, wonderful friends, and am even blessed with a wonderful man who has been a blessing this year. William too is thankful for his family, friends, school and most of all the good things he has. It's a reminder this year that even though Mom is sick and not with us at home that she's in good hands getting better, and that this day is meant for more than just presents and for some the big dinner that comes with the day.

Christmas at our house part 1

2009-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

So Christmas at our house started a couple weeks ago. William just couldn't wait to get the house decorated and the tree too. We purchased some ornaments and apparently $55 is what it costs to do that at our house. William picked out the star for the top of our tree. He picked everything out.. ornaments, lights, decorations, and the tree. He knew what he wanted. We added lights around our window and he helped grandpa get all the lights up outside too. He decorated the tree as best as he could and was so proud of himself. He was especially excited to see Santa.. The whole santa experience was fun for him. And the biggest plus, was that we didn't have to wait in line for 2 hours to see him.
This year I tried something new. We generally put all the presents out Christmas eve so that there is no trying to peak at the gifts, but since this isn't going to be the case everywhere we go or later in life. He has to learn that he can't peak or open presents early. I realize that this could be considered a tease to the kid. Presents under the tree with his name on them, the ability to read his name has made this harder I think, has been a big issue for him. He was able to feel one and "accidentally" ripped the paper. He immediately knew by the feel of it that it was a gift he asked santa for. :( Definately not what I had wanted him to do. But as time has gone on he has been getting better. He has been able to leave the gifts alone a lot more.
This weekend he spent some time with his grandparents and dad. It gave me some time to get the rest of the shopping done, presents wrapped and placed under the tree, except for those few presents Santa will bring Christmas Eve. With all the presents under the tree he has been curious to know whats his and from who. He's even shaken one to see what it could be.. Too bad for him it just doesn't shake well.

Poor kid just can't wait. And I can't wait to see the look on his face when he opens his presents. I also look forward to Christmas Eve.. Even though I work we will enjoy our new traditional Christmas Eve dinner.. Fondue. I make a cheese fondue and this year we are having a milk chocolate and also a white chocolate fondue. We will also enjoy watching A Christmas Story. William and grandpa started that tonight... I can't wait for him to see the whole thing. He really seemed to enjoy the first part of it.
This is just the start of our Christmas posts.. To Be Continued Christmas Eve...

Negative allergy tests and antibiotics.

2009-12-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

William had allergy testing done early in November. They tested for several things which we thought would be positive and we were let down to find that all of them were negative. Poor kids been dealing with what has seemed to me horrible congestion due to allergies and then nothing. The allergist felt he could have recurring infections, which wasn't much of a relief, seems like more of a problem. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night with what sounded like a deeper sounding croupy cough and had some trouble breathing. I used his inhaler and gave him a dose of prednisolone and luckily within an hour and a half he was peacefully sleeping again. I made an appointment with his dr just to be on the safe side and after looking him all over she said that his lungs were clear, but that antibiotics were the last thing she could give him for the congestion. He is now on a combo Erythromycin and Sulfisoxazole combo (brand name Pediazole) which we found out is now discontinued and it was only by luck the pharmacy had it. He is taking this antibiotic three times daily for the next 21 days. It took me by surprise when the pharmacist noted that it was for 21 days. He's never been on anything longer than 10 days. Our hope is that this antibiotic will kick the congestion of what his dr is referring to as a sinus infection (must be one heck of an infection) and that he will start sleeping better and most importantly feeling better.

We will see how this goes. He's never had either medication so we will see if this is an ok combo or if an allergy pops up later like it did with another antibiotic just over a year ago. We will continue to try the suggestions his dr is giving and maybe with the right combo of things he will no longer have to deal with the chronic congestion which has been bothering him for months now.

Cali trip part 3

2009-10-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

We spent our day Sunday (10-25) in Santa Cruz at the beach. William had a blast playing in the water. That is definately not something that you would be able to do in Oregon at this time of year. It was a lot of fun. And well all the playing led to a nice little nap in the car.

We spent our last evening at a corn maze. Since William and I had never been through one before it sounded like fun. We went through 2 of the 3 mazes and it totaled over 5 miles of walking. It sure didn't seem like that long. Poor William his allergies kicked in and made him have a harder time with his nose.

Soon it was time to head home. It was hard to leave, vacation wasn't long enough, and William didn't wanna leave his new found friends. He was teary eyed in the airport. The flight home went well outside of some turbulance and coming home to lots of rain and cold weather.

California Trip part 2....

2009-10-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday (10-24) in San Francisco. Most of the day was spent at the Steinhart Aquarium and a few of the exhibits at the California Academy of Science at Golden Gate Park. It was amazing and William really enjoyed it. We started out by seeing the T-Rex fossils and some of the animals in the area around the Rainforest exhibit. Then we made our way inside the 4 level rainforest that took on the climate of 4 different rainforests from around the world (Borneo, Costa Rica, Madagascar, and the Amazon), not only was it beautiful, but it was hot and humid.. The kids loved seeing the different animals and all the butterflies.After that we went into the Aquarium part of the building and went through several different sections. They had many different types of fish/aqauatic life from all over the world. William loved watching the octopus climb the glass and seeing the electric eels was pretty awesome to him. The one animal that took everyone by surprise as the white Alligator they had. After the aquarium we checked out the rest of the building seeing penguins and then exhibits showing animals in Africa. The kids were starting to get worn out and definately getting hungry. So we decided we'd head off for lunch to the one place William had been talking about for a couple days.
We ended up down at the piers and had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. William had been talking about going to that place for a while. The place is amazing and the kids loved it. The animals (all robotic) were all over and some had been dressed up. Every so often the animals would start moving and it would start raining. William enjoyed some tasty mac and cheese for lunch. It's definately a place we'll go back to. After lunch we walked the pier for a while and made our way to Ghirardeli square. We made one more stop before we left San Francisco and drove down Lombard street.. Great view... packed street... and there is no way I could live in that city, the driving alone is horrible.

California Trip part one..

2009-10-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

William has been looking forward to this trip for weeks and the last few days before we left was particularly hard for him. He just wanted to go NOW! He was even more excited for his first time on an airplane. The early wake up call wasn't exactly welcomed well, but once we were there it was time for fun. The first day (10-22) was spent visiting the Jelly Belly factory and playing at home. He even got to meet Cam and Jaz and they quickly became new friends.
On Friday (10-22) we went in to San Jose to the Children's Discovery Museum to play. The kids were so excited and had so much fun. There was so much to do. William wanted to play in the water tables, Jaz wanted to make a corn husk doll, and Cam was down for just about anything. They got to play in a firetruck, with bubbles, water, and numerous other exhibits. The water tables were a big hit and when we left we had one soaked little boy. We tried finding a name on the tile walls outside of the building with no luck. But after no luck there we decided to head to the park. It was loads of fun! Even with Jaz falling off of the merry go round. Poor girl just slipped. Soon after it was time to head home to have dinner, play a little Wii and get ready for bed. The kids were definately worn out, but looking forward to the big day ahead.

first day of school

2009-09-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today was William's first day of school. This is his second year of preschool. There were a lot of new kids in his class. This year is gong to be fun and full of new experiences. First off is going to be learning about the child in the wheelchair, Christopher, and this is a good experience I feel. He has never been around a child like that. What a great learning experience about helping and compassion that can be. Next is just making new friends. The first one he met was Hayden, who also had a Bumblebee backpack and Optimus Prime tennis shoes, and they managed to show off their stuff to one another. Mrs. Owens is his assigned teacher this year although he also has Mrs. Beiser again. They are in a combined class with both teachers in there. It's a good experience. I can't wait to see some of the projects they make, songs or stories they learn, field trips they go on, and friends made. It's going to go fast and with William turning 5 in just a few months, Kindergarten is right around the corner. Oh they grow so fast!

Fair and sunburns..

2009-08-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ahhh today was the day of the fair. The day that William has been looking forward to for a few days now.. It was awesome. We started out the morning meeting up with Melinda, Justin, and Baby Allie. Allie was in the cutest baby contest and won in a few categories! I'm so happy for the proud parents because that little girl is absolutely beautiful!

The boys weren't interested at all over the baby contest and soon it was off to ride some rides. We started off with The Spider. I love that ride. William, however, doesn't and mentioned as the ride started going that he felt like he was gonna throw up. Luckily he held it all together and made it through the ride, however, I will never be able to get him back on it. We rode several rides and the boys had a blast. Too bad the tickets just didn't go far enough. The rides were very expensive.

We had a good time looking through some of the booths. The boys got their faces painted like Spiderman and they both looked super cute. When it comes down to the food we enjoyed some traditional and not so traditional fair food. We enjoyed Hawaiian ice and sno-cones, almost had a hot dog (it ended up on the ground), funnel cakes (yummy), and pan fried noodles with chicken and teriyaki sauce. All of the food was good and even though William wasn't happy about the hot dog falling on the ground he did end up eating about 1/2 of the funnel cake.
After we were all outta tickets Julie, Marcus, William, and I were getting ready to have our picture taken to have it put into a large button (kinda cheesy, but hey we wanted them) and all of a sudden we hear Anna scream. For the second time in 3 days she was stung by a bee. The first time was on her back.. this time was on her finger. After calming down enough to only have tears streaming down her face and us having finished the picture taking part of the process we told her to go get her hawaiian ice and go to the car where we'd meet her. She went and we got out buttons. However, she didn't get far, we ended up catching up to her and just left the fair at that point. We all had a great day and we've all come away with some pain either self inflicted or bee inflicted.

Which leads me to the second part of the title.. Sunburns.. As a mom I should know better. If you are going to be out in the sun remember to put sunscreen on, especially if you know you burn or are more prone to burning. Today I didn't think about it and I have to say that I probably got the worst of it. William is ok, Marcus just fine and Anna too outside of her bee sting. Julie is a little darker and has a slight sunburn, but me... Well lets just say I've learned my lesson.. At least for now I have.

Thank You's to God...

2009-08-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

There are times where William just melts my heart.. Tonight was definately one of those times. After reading him a bedtime story twice and tucking him into bed, he gave me hugs and kisses and said that before he fell asleep he needed to say his 'Thank you's" to God. I said it was fine to say those while he was laying down and he soon started in with those "Thank You's". As I stood there listening to my son it was clear that he knew exactly what he was thankful for today. The one line that melted my heart the most was "Thank you God for bringing me home where I belong". To hear a 4 1/2 year old say something like that is just amazing in a sense. It's something that can melt a heart, he definately melted mine tonight, and made me feel so blessed and happy to have him as my son. He's asked from time to time why God gave him to me and I have to say that on nights like this I can truly say it's because He knew I needed William. He was just right for me. :)

I'm thankful for my sweet little guy, even when he's not so sweet, and I can't imagine life without him. After him being gone for 4 days I am glad to have him home.. I just wish he didn't sound so grown up each time he comes back.

countdown begins for school days again

2009-08-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

And the countdown begings again for the first day of school. William can't wait and is definately looking forward to going back. Me, on the other hand, am getting irritated at the lack of certain school supplies being available. I never knew trying to find 8 oz bottles of Elmer's school glue and Avery brand Glue sticks, plus Crayola watercolor paint sets would be so hard. Everyone is either out or doesn't carry them at all. :(

This year is the first time I've had to go out and buy things other than supplies and well socks. I actually am having to due some clothes shopping. And what breaks my heart is that hes no longer in the toddler section for some clothes.. Pants being the biggest thing. And well, hes' also gone up another size... My little guy who isn't even five is wearing a size 5 from the big boys section, however it's just for the length, but it's still a size five.

This summer has just flown by and the next few weeks are sure to do the same. But before school starts we are going to cram in as much fun as we can. I'm so glad he's going back to some good friends and a classroom with teachers he loves. They are awesome and I'm just so blessed to have a happy boy who loves his school. I'm sure this school year is gonna fly by just as fast as this last one, I just hope that this time he doesn't catch everything going around and that they don't have an extra week off due to weather. I'm looking forward to seeing some more growth in William as the school year progresses. I'm looking forward to meeting new friends, seeing new projects, taking more pics, and lots more field trips. I think I'm just as excited as he is. :)

Mohawk

2009-07-03T22:19:00.001-07:00

Well its official... William has a mohawk again! What brought this change about??? Well two things brought this change about, he needed a haircut and well I think he's adorable like this!!! Thanks to Julie he looks wonderful and, well, just look at that smile. How can you resist that face!? He loves it and so do I. It's amazing what one little haircut can do.

What does boredom + sleep deprivation + restlessness get ya??

2009-06-27T12:22:00.001-07:00

It makes for one very grouchy mama and one very moody little one. The combination is not a very good one.. Poor kid is bored out of his mind since school ended and running out of things to do and there is only so much tv one can watch. For me, however, there is a different reason for the grouchy attitude.. sleep deprivation... Lately I've found myself having a hard time sleeping and so what do I do.... I spend time online... Talking to friends and then I find myself exhausted during the day, but unable to fall asleep. All the restless activity is disrupting the normal flow of life.. My usually worn out boy has way too much energy and it translates into some less than ideal behaviors at times. I'm dealing with a child that doesn't always wanna listen and wants to talk back in the headstrong nature of his, because he wants to play instead of go to bed.

I think that build up of energy he has is disrupting me as well.. I find myself feeding off this energy.. Exhausted as I may be.. his restless behavior has me feeling restless, needing some time to myself to relax and it's just becoming clear that school really made a huge difference. For the last several nights it's been at least 10 pm or later before he's asleep. I really do need to find a new activity for him to do that will wear him out.. The lack of sleep is really starting to get to me.. When I wanna sleep I can't, when I shouldn't sleep, that's when my body decides it's nap time.

So my plan is to spend as much time outside during my vacation as possible (as long as its nice outside) and see if that wears him out at all.. Maybe if I can keep him active enough he'll fall asleep sooner, so mommy can go to bed sooner.. Just a small experiment to see if I can get him (and me) back on a schedule before school starts up again in just a few short months. Hopefully it will work and in a week or so I'll be back to my usual, not sleep deprived, self.

End of School...

2009-06-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

And my poor son is bored outta his little mind. School officially ended on June 8th. The week prior to that was filled with loads of fun stuff for them to do.. It included some child/parent activities.. The best being the music program.. I only wished my son had sung more. He got stage fright with everyone there and only sang during the first song. It was really a cute program. Before the program we had a picnic. It was fun meeting some of the other parents and kids in the classes. It was also funny to see the little girls chase him, hug him, and well call for him.. hehe.. I've got a heartbreaker on my hands.

just a few pics from the show

They ended the school year by the kids helping to clean up and pack up the classroom. Giving them the closure for the end of the school year they needed. The final day was games and fun stuff.

Since school ended he's been bored.. He has made one big trip. He went with grandma to visit great grandma and family. And he's done great. I'm so proud of my boy.

fire station field trip

2009-05-31T13:05:00.001-07:00

The trip to the fire station was a blast. They got to try on gear, sit in the firetruck and an ambulance, watch a video, and try out the fire hose. It was a great trip. The kids had loads of fun. William's favorite parts were trying out the fire hose and then having his heart rate monitored.. He was their brave volunteer for that. It was a good day.

Not many times at the Oregon Coast can you do this....

2009-05-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

It was a complete joy to see my son and nephew be able to play in the water, even if it was a sprinkler and a lake, at the coast this weekend.. Thankfully the weather cooperated. Bright sunny day at home.. slighly overcast at the lake. They had tons of fun. I couldn't help but take some pictures of them in the midst of their fun!

Starting here with a couple from them in the sprinkler... Apparently 11 am is the perfect time to run through one with your underwear and shoes on, without asking Mommy for permission..

And then here at the lake.. where they had so much fun swimming and playing they didn't wanna get out!!!

school days winding down....

2009-05-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well its hard to believe but this school year is almost over already!!! And soon my sweet little one is going to be bored out of his mind at home. I can't believe how quickly these last 9 months have gone. Seems like just yesterday we were taking him for his first day and soon in less than in 3 weeks there is no more school. He is just growing up so fast. Highlights of the last month have been planting sunflowers at school, 2 field trips (one to an organic dairy farm & one to the Aurora fire station), an impromptu birthday party for a friend, making a mom's day gift, and of course just the fun make up days they've had for missing a week in December due to snow...
He is one of a few returning next year and his teacher can't wait. We are very happy with the progress he's made, along with friends and just how grown up he's become. However, it does break my heart to see him get so big. I, however, am working on a scrapblog to document all the things he's done over this 9 months in and out of school. The changes physically, the things he's learned, projects he's made, and things he's just been proud of and us too. I can't wait to catch the last few pictures for this school year.. The stickers on his folder that goes back to school each Monday, the destroyed backpack that has to be replaced, him on the last day, and maybe one or two on the bus.
Since he's been so active at school, my plan is to buy a Wii with some games he can play with his aunt and grandma at home. Along with free range of the cleaned out garage with this toys and the swimming pool, he aught to be completely worn out at the end of the day. He also has 4 free classes of TaiKwonDo to go to in June. If he likes it we will work a way for him to continue.. Even though it is kinda expensive. We will definitely have lots of fun things planned over the summer for him to do. I know he isn't looking forward for this school year to be over. I will definitely have to send something to his teachers thanking them for all they've done with him. He has enjoyed that class and the teachers so much. The least we can do is thank them.

Just a few things that have changed over this school year:

he is more outgoing
he loves to read more
he knows all of his letters and numbers
he can count to 30 with little to no help
he can use scissors without help
he has become less picky with food
he is more confident in himself
he has less separation anxiety

I love this boy with all my heart and I am so proud of his growth over this last school year.. We definitely can't wait until his school picnic and music program.. :)

second conference and school days update April...

2009-04-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

So fast this last month has gone.. And how quickly the end of the school year is coming. Seems like just yesterday he started preschool and here we are nearing the end of April and completing the second parent-teacher conference for the year. So what a perfect time for another update on how school is going..

First, April, has been an amazing month.. Lots of new experiences and things to learn. They had their 100th day of preschool. They did reviews to see how far they have come from the beginning of the year. They have been learning so much. They celebrated Earth Day by learning more about recycling and how you can make new things out of old things. They made collages to bring home after conferences and they have been learning new songs and reading new books. He has had so much fun.. its going to be hard this summer when he's not in school.

His conference went very well. He is actually ahead of a lot of his classmates. He can cut without any help, his fine motor skills are very advanced. He can write his whole name and can write it smaller than he used to. He can draw circles, hearts, squares, rectangles, triangles, but needs some help with diamonds. But, hey, diamonds are hard to draw even for me. HEHEHEHE! He can count to 30 without any help and only mixes up a couple numbers. His alphabet is coming along very well. He can read his name and the names of 3 other classmates. He is very considerate.. very artistic.. Loves the library and since the book fair was on during conferences we went in and he bought a couple books for himself and then we bought one on the teachers list to donate. She loved it! She can't wait to read it on Monday. She looks forward to having him back next year and has said that not only will he be a leader in her class, but by this time next year she fully expects that he will be reading. He has grown his vocabulary very well. He has also had a big growth in self confidence since the beginning of the year. We are very thrilled to see the changes.

pcoming are a few events that we are very excited for. On May 14th the class will take a field trip to an organic dairy farm in the area. We love this as we have been buying organic milk for ages and he LOVES it. Then on May 28th they get to take another field trip to a fire station in the area. They had the firefighters in once before to the class and they got to check out a fire engine... This time they get to go explore the fire station and do some learning things there. Then the final thing we are looking forward to for the year is the Preschool Music Program on June 4th.. I will make sure to take lots of pictures for his scrapbook.. Can't wait to see what they do.

busy monday.......

2009-04-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

And what a busy day Monday will be. William will have a Dr's appointment at 8 am regarding the headaches he's getting and hopefully that will go well. I am anxiously awaiting this appointment. I just want him to feel better and hopefully this will be nothing more than just headaches. Please God, I'm praying that's just what it is. Then off to the dentist by 10 am for his check up and cleaning. He's always had good check ups. So that should go fine. After that its time to grab lunch quickly before he has to catch the bus for school. UGH, talk about a busy morning. Mommy is definitely going to need coffee just to get out the door.

Hopefully, Monday, will go smoothly and we will be to our destinations on time... I try to be to appointments on time, but its not always easy to do. I am, however, dreading having to be up so early on a day I requested off for things like this. Mommy, desperately, needs a break from everything..

School Days Update #2 December-March

2009-03-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

It's definitely been a while since I last posted about how William is doing in school and I think it's time for an update! There has been a lot going on and a lot of BIG changes. I'll go month by month as it's easier for me to remember what happened when this way...

December was an interesting month. They did a lot of learning about the season (winter), as well as the holidays that are celebrated in December (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, etc). They learned lots of songs and made lots of decorations. William to this day can still sing the songs for the holidays. He loved listening to the Holiday music in the car and loved singing plenty of those songs as well. The weather, however, didn't stay like it normally does and they were met with practically an extra full week of Winter Break. They had a holiday party on the last day they had school and he was very excited to share his present that he made in school with grandma. They made picture frames and in the frame was a picture of them.

January meant back to school time and boy was it time! He COULDN'T wait to get back. It also meant just a few short weeks until his birthday. He spent his 4th birthday in school. Coincidentally it landed on the day they had their pajama party and I brought in Dinosaur cookies for his class as his birthday treat. They were a big hit and he enjoyed the extra attention lavished on him with the crown and singing "Happy Birthday". He got an award on his birthday and was allowed to pick a prize from the prize box. He had his birthday party and a few kids from the class attended. It was a lot of fun. He had a hard time learning patience, as they stopped doing many helpers throughout the day and went to a helper of the week. At the end of January he did get sick again and it went through to the beginning of February.

February was a month of Love for them in school. We were met with a horrible respiratory infection that led to horrible ear infections, a sinus infection, and a round of zithromax to kick it, along with two trips to the Dr, two breathing treatments, and a round of prednisolone that didn't help his symptoms get better. Talk about exhausting. They made several crafts including the envelope for their Valentine's party. Each child got to bring in cards for each child and teacher and a snack. They had a great party and William was so excited to show us everything they got when I got off work. February also marked his turn to be helper of the week. We got to make a collage to show the class and when he was on his last day as helper he got to bring in show and tell, which was his big Bumblebee. He had a great time and they spent the month learning about Jungle animals and habitat.

March has been a fun month. The class had a Leprechaun that played tricks on them. They were always on the lookout to see when Patrick O'Shea would be trying to trick them. They made lots of fun crafts (as William calls them) and learned a lot about authors like Dr. Seuss and Eric Carlyle. They made crafts like cupcakes and pancakes (if you give a cat a cupcake, if you give a pig a pancake) and hats from The Cat in The Hat... Green eggs and ham things... He has enjoyed every one of those books and I am thrilled that my son is an aspiring bookworm. Patrick O'Shea did bring a pot of gold to them on St. Patrick's day and each child was allowed to pick two things out of this as a prize. He has been upset from time to time that the weather hasn't held out and been good enough for outside recess, but he's had fun anyways. On his last day before Spring Break they sent home a paper asking parents to sign up for Spring Conferences. I can't believe that its almost time for that again! It will be exciting to see the change from the beginning of the year until now though.

I can't wait to see what April, May, and June have in store for him. It is sad though that summer vacation is right around the corner. My poor kid is going to be so bored and antsy all summer long..

Headaches.. Will they ever stop???

2009-03-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

"Some 2.5% of preschoolers and 5% of elementary school age children have migraines"-NeuroNews

With statistics like that its hard to swallow that a child as young as 3 or 4 (possibly younger) could go through such a painful thing and as a parent we not know it or not recognize it. As if dealing with asthma and allergies weren't enough, now we are facing the very real possibility that William could also have migraines.

Although, I'm not shocked about the possibility of this, I do FEEL absolutely AWFUL about it. This would be something that, although I can't control genetics, I gave him. Migraines run in the family, my side to be exact, and tend to affect the women in the family more so than the men. I know I've had them my whole life. They are awful and I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. I was "blessed" in a way that my migraines didn't become as frequent and severe until high school.

I am trying to sort out all the details and in my mind keep going back to a critical piece of this puzzle that I feel was overlooked. Back when he was 18 months old my mom noticed that he would become whiny, fatigued, and look like he was in pain. On top of those symptoms he would rub his head. The Dr he was seeing at the time told us that it was just a learned behavior and that unless he had an "episode" of these symptoms and there was drooping of an eye involved that we shouldn't worry. We were told that if he had an episode with drooping of an eye to take him in immediately. I know that it's not a good sign when that happens. Being somewhat understandable of what the Dr was saying we just went about life.

At this point and time these headaches are starting to become more frequent and my child is dealing with what he says is the worst pain ever. He becomes very whiny, clingy, nauseous, at times vomits, and becomes pale and tired. Sometimes confused about what is going on and sometimes spacey like the pain is too much for him to handle. As much as I want to just take these away I can't. I can't imagine what he feels like at 4 having headaches like that.

In speaking with his pediatrician, who is amazing, she feels that this is more than likely what is happening. William and I had a talk about these headaches and I asked him some questions. His responses were very telling as to what's going on. The answers confirmed what we've been noticing. Although we can't pinpoint any triggers at this point. He has said that sounds become louder, he gets tired, his tummy gets upset (nausea), and it hurts ALOT!

I ran across a listing of migraine symptoms in preschoolers/toddlers and found it very interesting.. Here is the listing:

Abdominal pain
Nausea or vomiting
Throbbing headache
Specific location of pain
Associated "aura" - a funny sensation just before a headache, which may be a change in any of the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, smell or touch).
Relief with sleep (headaches that awaken children, or early morning headaches, are probably not migraines - -they might be signs of a brain tumor)
Family history of migraines

I am learning though that the best way to deal with his headaches are to listen to him, give him Tylenol or Motrin, we are going to try Dramamine for nausea/vomiting, and just let him do what he needs to do. The other day that meant letting him lay down for 3 hours doing nothing in our room all by himself. He didn't need too much more than that. Sometimes just resting is enough. And although nothing I say can make these go away immediately or stop any of the symptoms for him just having mommy there to hold him or comfort him gives him at least enough relief to know that it will be ok and eventually it will pass and he will be back to his old self.

I hope that in some small way this post will reach someone, anyone if they are reading this. If so many children get these headaches it makes one wonder why people dismiss these symptoms as nothing more than a child trying to get attention.

Turning 25 is just around the corner

2009-03-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

And what a time for some reflection. Turning 24 didn't seem to mean all that much, but I think I have accomplished some growth over this last year. I can't say that it was the easiest year for me. I've learned that I am much better off without certain things in my life and there are things no longer in my life that I'm not better off without. I can't say that I made the best decisions at times, but I've definitely done what I felt was best for my son and myself. I can say that I've learned the following:

when your 3 1/2 year old goes off to preschool after never being in daycare expect that they will catch everything that is going around and then some.
never underestimate the laws of physics.. when one thing goes bad about a dozen others do too
hot weather and two kids at the zoo don't mix.. Even if they are getting to see a dinosaur exhibit they were dying to see
life is much easier after your child is potty trained.. no more packing diapers/pull ups and all that stuff just to go somewhere.
once children learn they have an opinion and can assert themselves be prepared for back talking... the worst. :(
Potty training a 3 year old and a new puppy is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done.
it is empowering to end something that is going no where when its nothing more than a game for the other person.
I may be opinionated, but at least I can speak up for myself.
I may not have a ton of money and I may not be out on my own, but at least I can take care of my child and know that he is happy, cared for, and loved without thinking twice.
When your child has a new obsession you are going to hear about it non stop for as long as that obsession lasts.
The "why" stage is almost as bad as the terrible two's.
my family and best friends are the best anyone could ask for, even if we don't always get along
Some people have no hesitation when it comes to throwing others into disarray and leaving a mess for them to clean up.. sucks when you are on the receiving end of that

When it comes down to it I've learned a lot of lessons. I've been through ups and downs.. I'm going to go through ups and downs this year too, but hopefully 25 is going to be a year of change and optimism. Hopefully 25 brings new challenges (good ones) and new friends, etc. into our lives. I am looking forward to what this year brings. I want to put 24 behind me as a year to learn from and grow off the changes it brought.

I can't say that I can embrace whole-heartedly the challenges of parenting with the challenges that come with a child going back and forth.. I am, however, in the process of asserting my role as mom, friend, sister, daughter, and whatever other labels that may come my way. I am no longer going to allow others to dismiss my concerns, opinions, and needs. I am no longer going to sit back and just give in because its easier than letting someone be upset with me. I am making it a goal for me (at 25) that I am ok with the outcomes of speaking my mind and sticking to my convictions. I have to just allow myself to do what I feel is right even if it makes another upset. I know this isn't going to be the easiest especially in the parenting realm of my life, but it's something I have to do...

Cookie Fun!!!

2009-03-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

It's always an adventure going to see my best friend and her son, but today was a little different. The boys got to make cookies.... But not just any cookies either. Julie (my best friend) made up several batches of sugar cookie dough and once they were set rolled them out and cut out ducks, bunnies, and egg shapes. The boys got to paint these cookies before baking with an egg wash colored with food coloring. As messy as it could have been it went smoothly and the boys had a wonderful time.
What's better than painting eggs??? Only drinking one of the yummiest smoothies ever!! The boys loved these Orange Banana Pineapple smoothies! I just have to add that they were pretty darn tasty!

First Hockey Game

2009-02-22T16:52:00.001-08:00

things i've learned today

2009-02-13T21:32:00.001-08:00

if you aren't used to making large purchases on your account with a debit card don't be surprised when they put a block on your card for fraud purchases. kind of a pain... but totally understood and I appreciate the concern over id theft/fraud.

when a child is excited about something they can make almost anyone laugh! just take William and his new shoes (they have the transformer Bumblebee on them...) he just had to show everyone those..

John Deere Gator boxes don't fit easily into the back of a Dodge Caravan with the third seat down....

I love my Coach bag and the service there is awesome! I heart my laptop too!

So happy for the proud new parents!!!

2009-01-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

My co-worker (and friend) Melinda and her husband Justin welcomed their first child on 01-20-09. A beautiful baby girl they named Allie Elizabeth. She was 8 lbs and 20 inches long. She was born at 6:32 AM. I am very pleased to share her with everyone and so proud for both of them!!!! They've tried very hard and waited so long for her!!!! I can truly say I don't think there are two more deserving people to become parents!!!

well turning 4 has come and gone....

2009-01-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

and what a day it was. I can't believe that 4 years ago I was in that hospital room giving birth to the most amazing thing in my life... I can't believe that 4 years ago in that hospital room I first held the one thing that has made me make so many decisions I wouldn't normally make. The one person on this earth that I would give my life for without thinking twice, the one that I would do anything to protect and most of all do anything to keep happy and healthy. 4 years ago seems like the blink of an eye now.

The changes over the last 4 years are amazing... He's gone from an 8 lb 6 oz 21 3/4 inch bundle of joy to a 38 lb 3 1/2 (don't quote my on height) foot tall walking, talking, opinionated, smart, funny, sweet and sometimes obnoxious little man. I love this little one with all my heart and I can't imagine my life with anything less than him in it. God had a reason for giving me a boy, even though I wasn't prepared for raising one, and I guess now I see why. Life would definately be dull and certainly not as fun. I would never know all about dinosaurs like I do, I would never get to see or hear him do HULK SMASH!!! I would never get to cuddle with him and I would never hear the sweetest question on the face of the earth.... "Mommy, why did God give me to you???" My heart melts when he asks those things. I just say he knew I needed you....

God has blessed my life with him and as much as other things may have me upset from time to time, it's looking back on days like this, especially this one to make me thankful for what I do have. Right now at this moment I have a very healthy little boy who makes my heart full beyond words. We may have our moments where he drives me insane, but I definately wouldn't change a thing about it. Sometimes the best clarity comes when looking back on things. I get now why I have a son... I know why I made the decisions I made... I know that there may not always be a time for remembering the little things. Things get lost in the shuffle of daily life. I don't want to forget what it's like to just watch him sleep or the funny looks he gets on his face. I want to remember those. Life is never certain.... I just want to have those memories etched in my mind forever.

On a more positive note for today, since it was his birthday and he had school, he got to bring in a treat for his class. He decided to take Dinosaur Cookies. They were from Beaverton Bakery and they looked amazing. I can't wait for his cake this Saturday. lol... I brought them into his class where they were having circle time. All of them in their pajamas for their pajama party day and him in a crown for his birthday. He didn't even notice, but he said that all the kids liked their cookies, they sang Happy Birthday to him, and they all gave him lots of hugs. Here's to hoping that the party this Saturday goes just as well.

RESOLUTIONS!

2009-01-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Now generally I don't make them. If I do they generally get broken within a few days. However, this year, I am not giving in. William has become increasingly spoiled and I'm not blaming any one person in particular for this behavior. This is something that has just gone on for too long. William has been dead set on getting something everywhere we go. I don't blame anyone for allowing it to happen. Part of it had to be guilt out of a missing parent and part for just seeing him when they got to. In any event it has made for a very possessive and downright spoiled little one who feels entitled to anything and everything he wants. I am no longer going to allow this to go on and am having to meet this head on. My mother and I have decided that he is no longer going to get something just because he wants it or just because we are somewhere. This has however come with challenges so far. Friday he got upset that he wasn't getting something that he wanted and it was met with a meltdown that you could hear through the entire store. I cringed while at work, knowing that the child who was crying and could be heard by everyone was my own. Great parenting moment there.

On a positive he is getting better. Today we were at the store and I told him he could get a snack and that we weren't going to toys and he didn't once ask for a toy and he got a snack and was happy. He has also gone to bed on his own for the last two nights without anyone having to be there. It's been tough, but I know that if I can't stick this out I will have my sweet boy back. Now if I could just get him to stop calling my "MOOOOM!" and get back to something more preferred like Mommy! :)

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here's to hoping that this year is better than the last and that it brings lots of changes for the better in our lives.

End of year wrap up...

2008-12-31T18:40:00.000-08:00

I think it's time for reflection, to look back on this last year and see the good things and times this year brought. Some changes were for the better and some weren't. I guess it's part of life and well as we get older we get wiser and things always somehow, just seem to work themselves out.

January was well a hard time. William turned 3 and that was hard to see. Where did the time go from being born to three??? Nathan moved back and ended up more involved with William. I had some changes at work, more responsibility and all that. Felt like things were going well.

February was a blur. It went by so fast. I had jury duty and William continued to get bigger. However he did have a double ear infection.. GRRR!

March, ahhh, I love March!!! I turned 24 and things seemed to be going well. Just had some challenges with William and getting him potty trained. William also scared the heck out of us when he got sick at the beginning of the month. He ended up with bronchitis, double ear infection and possible strep all at the same time. Little did we know that he was allergic to Augmentin at the time that he got the antibiotic. 4 days after starting it he broke out in a rash. We now know that we can't use that antibiotic and we are continuing to watch him for problems with his ears. Later that month grandma ended up in the hospital and it was scary, but we are glad she is healthy now.

April went by quickly too. William had a couple big appointments. His first dentist appointment was in April and I was very proud to see that he had no cavities and was doing well. He also had a check up with the doctor where we were given the diagnoses of Asthma and Allergies. We knew about the allergies, but to have the asthma diagnosis was kinda sad. We started with just an inhaler as he needed it. He also ended up with a few shots, but other than that was doing well and seemed to be growing like a weed.

May was great. We enjoyed the weather and started thinking of Preschool. Good thing too, as we found one close to home and were able to check it out. We seemed to have more luck starting to get William to potty train more, but he was still resistant from time to time. As for work, well it was still going well and life seemed to be going along at a steady pace.

June held a lot of good times, birthdays, and a new cousin. Both my dad and sister had a birthday in June so we celebrated that. A new cousin was welcomed by William and the family. We also got him all signed up for preschool. The school district that he will go to for kindergarten also does preschool and we were thrilled to see something affordable and close to home for him. Also it was exciting to see the atmosphere and know that he would be going 4 days a week.

July brought fireworks and more birthdays and some big changes. William finally gave in and finished potty training. That marked one of the milestones that marked the change from him being my baby to my big boy. The fourth of July was a big thing for him this year too. We had lots of fireworks and had a BBQ with his dad's family. It was great, however, the next day we had a problem with the car and it later broke down...

August brought changes. The beginning of getting ready for school, the end of a relationship, the changing in the amount of time William spent with his dad and just a change in everything. Work was changing and relationships with numerous people were becoming different. William was still excited for school. We also went to the Clackamas County Fair for the first time since moving out here and William had a blast. I just wish that the weather had been slightly cooler. It was just too hot.

September brought school days and a change at work... School officially started for William. He started making lots of friends and learning a whole bunch. He was able to check out books at the library and do everything that the other kids get to do. However, he was the first one to miss school after getting sick... One of our pharmacists at work was transfered to another store after getting a promotion and we miss him dearly. It marked a change that would send up reeling for a while.

October had Halloween and more big changes for me at work... William had his first conference and I was informed that he was doing very well and how much they enjoyed having him there. The transformation from the first few days of school to then was amazing. He also ended up sick twice in October. The beginning of the month brought Herpangina that caused really sore blister like things in his throat with high fever and a few vomiting episodes. No fun. He had to miss school for a week. Halloween was very fun and he was my little pirate. However, he was sick again for the second time that month. Little did we know that he would scare us a few days later. Work had a few more changes. A new pharmacist came in in September and by the end of October he was now our new Pharmacist in Charge. Our other pharmacist, we have since learned, just walked away and didn't have a thing to say. We've had to clean up the aftermath of that decision.

November marked the beginning of the holiday season, busy times, a baby shower, and more stressed out moments. I made the decision during this time to start a medication again that I hadn't been on in years. William had croup and we had a trip to the emergency room. Scary at 2 am when he had trouble breathing. Thanksgiving was a welcome break, but the increase at work before and after the holiday weren't so welcome. Melinda also had a baby shower. I am very happy for her and her husband and look forward to meeting Allie, whenever she makes her arrival.

December has been a month of changes again. William still is doing well in school and loving every moment of it. We enjoyed a very quiet and very white Christmas this year. William enjoyed singing Christmas songs and watching all the holiday shows. I geared up for a big change at work. With Melinda going on maternity leave, it leaves me to keep the pharmacy in check. Heck sometimes I feel like I run the place. December also brought us a lot of snow. After being shut in from time to time due to the weather and lack of chains for a while, it was nice to be out of it all..

I am hoping that this next is much better and brings more luck, prosperity, and happy, joyous, love filled moments in my life and everyone else's.

Pictures...

2008-12-31T18:36:00.000-08:00

What can I say I jut can't get enough of these pictures! Enjoy!!

Just some more pictures from the snow!

2008-12-23T14:54:00.001-08:00

Just when it looked like it was safe to go outside...

2008-12-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

The snow hit and the car completely froze over! lol. No joke. When we left yesterday for our last bit of Christmas shopping it was a chilly 30 degrees outside with wet, slushy roads and some snow falling. Once we got back from our little trip to Vancouver it was downright cold at 24 degrees, snow falling and sticking, wind, and icy roads. What a change in less than 2 hours. We made it to several stores and luckily with dad's driving we never had to chain up. However we had to detour to get home, since all the truck stops at our exit were completely blocked due to jack-knifed and stuck semi-trucks. So I thought to illustrate the state of the weather here last night I'd share some pictures. I opted not to get any pictures of the frozen over car, since just looking at it made me shiver... brrrr!

Snow Day!

2008-12-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

What did we see first thing this morning when we woke up???? SNOW! It's snowed all day and William just had to go out in it. We spent most of the day going outside to play and then inside to warm up. Since the roads where we live aren't plowed, sanded, or deiced I decided to play it safe and not drive in the weather.

Please enjoy the pictures from today.

Santa can bring anything... He's Magic!

2008-11-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

Yup, that's right, magic. If you ask my almost 4 year old about Santa he will tell you that Santa is Magic, that he can see you when you are sleeping and awake and that he's making sure you are being good. Santa can do anything!

So imagine the shock my little guy had when I told him I was going to take him to Santa's house for a visit. He just couldn't wait. We got all dressed and down to Santa's House we went. Of course, Santa wasn't there yet. So we walked around and looked at a few stores near there and then sat on the bench waiting patiently like a few other parents and children for it to open. All of a sudden there was Santa walking by and he stopped and talked to William. He shook his hand and asked him a few questions and after he walked away all William could say was Santa's magic.

Our trip was very nice and he got his picture taken and told Santa he wants "Stompy" for anyone who doesn't know William speak that is the Imaginext Ultra Dinosaur named Spike that he has dubbed Stompy. He got a candy cane and was happy to have just talked to Santa and tell him that he was being a good boy and what he wanted. Of course he forgot to mention the Jack the pops out of the box (Jack n' the box) and Hulk Smash hands, but at least he got the most important one in there.

Oh and he just loved the added touch of the reindeer statue in the bushes. We had to get that in a picture as well.

Halloween Pics...

2008-11-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

Yes I know it's been a month since Halloween and I am just now getting pictures up. lol.. Our Halloween was short as he was sick, little did we know it was Croup and not just a cold, and he was tired. My little Pirate was just not going to stay out all night and was more interested in handing out candy.

Here are just a few pictures from our short lived Halloween Trick or Treating trip. Enjoy!

School days update #1.... September to November 2008

2008-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

So William has been in school for almost 3 full months now and I guess it's time for a little update. So here goes, lets start from the begining.

At the end of August they had a Open House for the kids and Parents. William went and had a great time, of course he was most excited to try out the new rock wall in the playground, and try it out he did. He made a coconut with his picture in it and a few other things that were later sent home. It was very sweet and he was so excited to tell me about the fact that his coconut was on the tree with the monkeys.

September came too fast and soon it was time for the first day of school. He was so excited and when we got there he got in line. They line the kids up for their class before heading off and he got to hold the sign that had his teacher's picture. Then after a few directions off they went and he didn't even cry once. He even rode the school bus home. That was the highlight of the first day. Throughout September they worked on just getting acquainted and getting know each other. It was shortly there after that friends were named and it sounded like a few of them were now his best friends. Once they were finally settled into a routine they were allowed to check out books at the library, learned a new song/poem, made a few crafts, and got to play in gym class. They took turns having jobs every day and I've been notified more than once of him being line leader or door holder. They also have the chance to report the weather and what they think recess will be, indoor or outdoor, as that is the most important question for them as 3 and 4 year olds.

October kicked off with big events. First was picture day and lucky for us it was the same day as his dentist appointment and he had nice shiny teeth for pictures! We were thrilled to see some of the daily stuff come home and he was able to write his name without tracing letters. His teacher said he just doesn't want to do it consistantly all the time. They are working with him on that and we are just trying to get him to realize that he has two l's in his name not one. And for the second time since school started he missed school, however this time it was for a full week and he had some pretty yucky sores in his throat. Poor kid. He was, however, back to healthy in time for the school field trip to the pumpkin patch and their harvest party that he took snacks to. Later in October he ended up with a nasty cold that turned into Croup and although he didn't miss school he was pretty miserable.

November was well in and out of school. Lots of teacher in service days lots of holidays and lots and lots of fun. He's working on lots of new things and is proud to go to school every day. Although we had to have his conference later his skills are improving day by day and everything that gets sent home is very good. We love to see his name writing papers and his art projects. Even his pictures that were taken during picture day turned out perfect and I am proud to say that I have a happy, healthy, curious, school loving little one. Lets just hope this continues through the rest of the year.

The one thing I can say is that his teacher is very proud to have him in her class. She says that he is enthusiastic and a great helper. He sings the loudest and gets the other kids into it. He brings her leaves everyday (that will change when they are all gone) and that he hates missing school. He loves it and she is so excited to see him when he learns something. He has very fine motor skills and is always great to the other kids. I always hear about Zachary or Issac or Keenan or Baylie. Yes, Baylie is a girl and I might be over doing it here, but I think he has a little crush on her. She's very sweet and from what I've heard she's helped him a couple of times when he got upset or hurt and was crying. What a sweet girl.

I'll keep posting updates. December is going to be a crazy month. They are out of school from 12-22-08 to 01-02-09 and then it's time for birthday party planning! Ugh where does the time go???

Teacher Conference

2008-10-22T22:39:00.001-07:00

William's already had his first teacher conference. One more milestone I thought we wouldn't have to do until he was in at least Kindergarten. According to his teacher he is doing great! She went over how his assessment was and that they will do one at the end of the year when they do conferences again. He is super smart, doing very well, needs to grow the vocabulary. He knows what he wants to say, but doesn't always know the right word to use. So that's nothing to be too concerned about. He is very helpful in class and is very well behaved. She mentioned that he is very enthusiastic and sings very loud. In turn that gets all the other kids into it.

He can draw very well, holds his pencil/crayons very well, colors great and with just a little help to get the scissors held right he can cut well too. He's made lots of friends and loves going. I am very proud of his achievements so far and can't wait to see how much more he soaks in before the next conference. The only thing that she wants to do is have the speech therapist come in and see if he needs help with his pronunciation. The dr seems to think he may need some help, but his teacher doesn't think there is a problem. We'll see what comes of this, but it's nice to know that she's got the same opinion I do. That there really isn't anything wrong, it's just normal stuff that will work it's way out.

just a few new pictures before school starts next week

2008-09-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

I love these!

And the countdown begins...

2008-08-23T18:10:00.001-07:00

William will officially start preschool on 09/09/08! Oh my goodness that seems just like a heartbeat away right now. We've started a countdown for William at home and he is till oober excited to go! Just 18 days away and we will be starting a new journey. I know he can't wait, but I'm still not ready for him to go.

His dad and I will drop him off on his first day and I'm sure that we will have lots of pictures before and after. Especially of him getting off the bus for the very first time. That is such a big milestone. I can't believe it's just around the corner.

just a few pictures...

2008-08-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

moving up his birthday?!?!?!

2008-08-06T20:10:00.001-07:00

Yup as if it weren't hard enough to explain to William why he has to wait until his birthday to have another party, try reasoning with the logic of a 3 1/2 year old when they get it in their mind that they can just move that date. Our next door neighbors little girl got a Lightning McQueen powerwheels and a certain little William decided that he wanted one too. When grandma explained that he would have to wait until Christmas or his birthday for one of those type of toys, he quickly responded with..... "But Grandma , my birthday is Saturday, and it's at Chuck E Cheese!"

Yup that's right, he's decided that it's going to happen Saturday. Now with that logic he could just move Christmas up or anything else that he really wants to happen soon. Hard to reason with that, I guess, however, I have never heard of a child moving something like that or even suggesting that it could be moved up.

Grandma tried to explain that it just doesn't work that way, but he wasn't having any of it. I guess I'll have one disappointed little guy come this weekend, but it just was good for a laugh.

Allergies... The boy hates them...

2008-07-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

William has had a hard time with those allergies this year. And just like last year it's started to induce coughing... again! The worst part is that with his dr. saying he has asthma it can induce an attack. Luckilly we haven't had that problem and they were short coughing spells. One time we used the inhaler with that. So after consulting with his pediatrician she wanted to see him and so I took him in. Reluctantly on a friday I had to work and only because she wouldn't be in the office until 08-18-08 after this friday opening.

Poor kid, we get there and he's asleep in the backseat. No, nothing new there. He was exhausted and not the least bit happy with me over having to wake him up. According to grandma he didn't even want to go and told her that he would "stay home instead". After getting in there right away, literally we just walked over there, said hi to the fishies, and they called his name, we were met by a nice medical assistant/nurse. I can't remember which title she had, but she was very detailed in what she wanted. My little guy got weighed, which he is now a hefty 39 lbs fully clothed, had his temperature taken, and they got his pulse and oxygen levels. Which was a little nerve racking for me. I know he generally doesn't have a problem breathing. He's always had good oxygen levels. It was kind of a shock to see him at 93-95% just resting and breathing like normal, when he's always been at least 99% at his worst.

After some questions about what's been going on, where we live, etc. his ped. checked him out and listened to his lungs, and checked his nose for the allergy stuff. Turns out the little guy has some inflammation in his nose and lungs, which is mainly from the allergies. Could have something to do with all the farms, nurseries, orchards, vineyards, etc. out there where we live. She added two new medications on top of what we are already doing. One is a preventative for asthma and one is preventative for allergies.

I am having some issues with the asthma one as the container it is in for the inhaler piece doesn't fit in his spacer and so it makes it harder to see if he's actually getting the correct dose. We have tried by mouth and he doens't like it that way. I guess we will just have to find a way to get it going right. The one for allergies is a nasal spray and while he tolerates it, I feel bad, as I wouldn't do that to myself and I'm doing it to him. I hate nasal sprays, eye/ear drops and can't do them to myself. I can't believe that I am doing that to him. Poor kid.

However, so far, so good, and if all continues this way hopefully he won't have to use his inhaler at school. I'm hoping that once August goes and September is here that those allergies will be a thing of the past and we can get rid of a few medications for a while.

He's a big kid now!!! (officially)

2008-07-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

After feeling like we've been potty training forever, my once reluctant boy is now, officially, a big kid! Sounds so strange and kinda corny like in those Huggies Pull Up commericials "I'm a big kid now!"... lol... But it's true. One day he just sorta took off and he's been accident free ever since. There's no arguing, well most of the time, and he's fully aware of what he needs to do. The only time he's in pull ups at all is at bedtime, because unfortunately I'm just not brave enough to do night time training, just yet. I'm not made of laundry detergent and sheets, ya know!

Most of the time he wakes up dry, I'd say at least 99.99% of the time, and we haven't had to buy a new pack of overnight pull ups in at least a month, so we are doing well. I don't think it will take him long to pick up on the night time training at all. He is so proud of himself and outside of a dumb mommy moment where I left him in overalls and he couldn't get them off by himself, he's been totally accident free. That was the one time he had an accident and now we are trying to do pants that have no buttons or hooks. But can someone explain to me why you can't really find pants or shorts for little ones now without buttons, hooks, or snaps????? I have been on a hunt for them and have found 2, count them, 2 stores that have pants or shorts without anything on them.

The best part of this whole thing is that I am no longer changing diapers. YAY! One less expense!!! ;) I guess as frustrating as it was, it was bound to happen. I've heard most mothers say that one day it just took, they did it on their own. I'd have to say, however, that having to wait until he was almost 3 1/2 to be fully potty trained was exhausting.

I guess I can mark one more thing off of my mommy check list with him now. ;)

preschool...

2008-07-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

PreSchool... ask any parent about that and you will get mixed feelings. For some preschool is a great start for their children, giving them a headstart on kindergarten and learning things essential to their everyday lives, like ABC's, 123's, sharing, and other important skills. For others preschool is an unnecessary thing for their children. The idea is rather silly as they can learn all that at home, right?

Well ask any little one like William and the answer is clear... Preschool is vital. In William's case he wants to go, infact he can't wait to go. He loves the thought of riding the school bus, coloring, making friends, learning, playing, and most of all just going to school. Preschool for him is going to be an entire experience to be enjoyed. The learning and growing he will go through is immense. We had visited the teacher and he had started to interact with the other children, okay starting to interact is an understatement, he just dove right on in to what they were doing, coloring, cleaning, playing, etc. She told me right away he would have no problems joining in and that he seemed like a very social child. Which all of that is correct.

For me, however, preschool is just one more of those things that takes him from being my "baby" to being my "big grown up boy".... I am not ready for him to go off to preschool and a lot of that is me not wanting to let go of my "baby" and the other is thanks go a special little girl.... Samantha... She never got the chance to go to preschool let alone kindergarten or anything else. She is the reason that I want to treasure every moment of William growing up... I don't want to miss anything. I want him to experience being 3 and 4. I hate the fact that he is just overwhelmingly excited over this new venture in his life. One that will lead him on to 12 more years of learning, growing, changing and ultimately figuring out who he is, what he feels is right and wrong, what his beliefs are, and ultimately showing me how I did as a parent.

I am sure that things will be interesting, full of laughs, tears, frustrations and celebrations. Right now my ultimate goal is making through his first day of preshool, droping him off, without crying or making a scene. Chances are I will cry, but hopefully not infront of him. School is a big thing whether it is preschool or kindergarten. When he was born in January 2005, I always pictured school being so far away, but now July 2008, I am looking at 1.5 more months of summer and freedom from schedules and hectic days, to a September where everything changes. My "baby" (as he will always be to me) will be heading off on a big new journey, sometimes rough, but full of surprises and I'm sure lots of new friends along the way..

potty training....

2008-07-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Potty training has been somewhat of an up and down struggle as of late. William has been doing so well and then all of a sudden, these last 3 days, he has had 2 accidents. One of those has been more of a not wanting to go more than an accident. He was given the choice today by grandma that if he has one more "accident" he can lose all of his big boy things and be treated like a baby, in diapers, taking 2 naps, drinking from a sippy, etc. or he can be a big boy and use the potty every time. He's chosen to use the potty, which for me, is great because I am not buying diapers or pull ups. He has overnight pants, the ones for big kids who still wet the bed, but he doesn't like those all the time. Several times he has asked why he has to wear those at night and not his underwear. Trust me, if I wasn't opposed to washing bedding more than once a week and I had more bedding for him, I wouldn't mind a crash course in overnight potty training. However, I understand we are going to have accidents, we are going to have times where he doesn't want to go. My frustration is over these "accidents" that aren't accidents. He is going to be going to preschool in September and granted they are wonderful, they aren't requiring these kids to be potty trained, they have pull ups, etc. there and ask for a change in clothing in case of accidents, but I want him to be potty trained before going. His teacher, the one we met during a visit, has said that it's amazing how many of her kids go in not potty trained at 3 years old and within a few weeks of starting school they are going regularly. It's like peer pressure in a good way, I guess.

I just wish that he would be more consistant, I guess that's the word I want, more self-reliant in that area. He for weeks has been going consistantly and had been rushing to the bathroom when he felt he needed to go and only had slight accidents (damp underwear when trying to pull down his pants, or starting to poop while running to the restroom), but had always managed to get there and finish without it being a big deal. I know that potty training is a journey and it can take a long time. I am in the midst of this long journey and while he's been a handful at times and I've heard over and over again the excuse, "cuz I didn't want to!". I am hoping that all this frustration, laundry, and the toddler urge to be independent & his stubborn need do things themselves, will all end soon and we will be through with this long transformation!

I guess this is just one more long, but temporary journey, in William's transformation from baby to toddler to my big kid! One more journey that reminds me the changes that have transpired from his birth 3 1/2 years ago and the changes I have made in those 3 1/2 years from just being me to being someone's mommy! It's amazing being this person called Mommy.

New cousin!!! Isaac Otto Michael J....

2008-06-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

First off I would like to say that he is a gorgeous baby and a big congrats to Laura, Daniel, and Benjamin on the new addition to their family. William was super excited about his new cousin. Here are just a few pictures from our visit on 06/21/08, not even 24 hours after his arrival... ;)

Grandma and Grandson finally meet...

What a cute little guy...
William and Mommy holding Isaac

William just loves this little guy...

so reminiscent of Nate holding William after he was born... Uncle Nate and Isaac finally meet...

picture blog... owies....

2008-06-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from William's first big owies....

Picture Blog 3.. Beach and Sand... 05-26-08

2008-05-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

picture blog 2... cows and milk.... Tillamook Cheese Factory

2008-05-27T19:51:00.001-07:00

picture blog 1... feeding fish at the fish hatchery 05/26/08

2008-05-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Bike Riding.... and scooter fun...

2008-05-11T17:59:00.001-07:00

William's one big wish for Christmas was to get a bike. Not just any bike however, a Tonka bike. Christmas morning came and there was no bike in sight... but he did get a helmet and pads. Later that morning Grandpa went and brought out this bike, to the delight of William who decided we needed to try riding it immediately. Unfortunately he couldn't get the pedaling down.

Later it became apparent that his love for all those things to ride was going to be quite big and he decided that a scooter would be great for a birthday present. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Neet and the kids, that's exactly what he got. Unlike the bike, he had the scooter riding down in less than 10 minutes. He's had more fun with that than anything else.

Fast forward to 05-05-08 and all of a sudden it's nice and he wants to ride his bike. After months of trying to get him to pedal, we tried again. I had to help him get started and he would get a couple of rotations and then stop. He wasn't sure if he was doing it right. As the day progressed he got better and better, and before you know it he was off and riding. He continues to tell me that he is riding super fast. ;)

He continues to practice and the next morning he was able to ride up to the store in town with me and did it without stopping except to get over the train tracks. He loves to ride his bike and be outside. It's a great thing to see. Yet another milestone to record in the short life so far of my little man.

dr's appointments and first dental appointment

2008-05-11T11:12:00.002-07:00

So William had his 3 year check up only 3 months late at the begining of April. Everything looks good, growing like a weed and all that good stuff. He was really interactive with the dr. She's great. She put him on ProAir for asthma. It's very minor and really the only symptom he has is a cough. It's more exercise induced or strong emotional responses can cause him to cough alot. We are just watching him and I think we've had to use the inhaler maybe twice since we got it. He has the little spacer with the mask, which he loves to practice on his teddy bears and has been good about using it when he has had to. So far so good. He also has allergies and we tried Claritin to no relief and are now settled on Zyrtec liquid for the allergy symptoms and Sudafed for congestion when he has a problem with that. He did get one shot and at his 4 year check up they will do his shots for school. They don't want him at 5 to associate shots with school. Which I think is a good idea to separate them out. They want him to be excited about going to school and so do I.

William also had his first dentist appointment at the end of April. I was really nervous about that one. He had had some trouble with doctors for a long time so I was apprehensive about him actually being ok. I had visions of him screaming, crying, etc. Not what you want to happen, right? So I took extra time in picking a pediatric dentist. I just happen to find the name of one listed on my insurance and I checked him out. He is amazing. His practice is like nothing I've seen before. They really cater to kids. I took the virtual office tour and let William check it out as well. I prepared him as best as I could for that first trip and on the day of his appointment he was apprehensive and of course kept saying, "I don't want to go to my dentist!" As soon as we got there though it was a different story. He got out of the car and walked right in. He had a big smile and the look of awe on his face when he saw all the fun things they had in there. They had computers on one wall with games for the kids, lots of books, a huge toy kitchen with all the other appliances, a huge doll house with lots of toys, and plenty of other fun things for them to do. Sign in was all electronic which made my job a lot easier. They offer parents water or something else to drink (ie bottled frapaccinos). The dentist had an emergency appointment with a patient that had to be sedated so he was running a little late and for the inconvenience they gave us a coupon for a free lunch at Red Robin for William.

We stayed and played for a while as we were waiting for the dentist. Finally he walked out and introduced himself to William and talked to him for a while, he introduced himself to Nathan and I and then we went back. William got to pick a new toothbrush, which he said Batman and the dentist found a Batman one. He hadn't mentioned those ones, but that's what William wanted and that's what he got. He took us into the "fish" room where William got to try out all the tools and pick out the flavor of toothpaste the dentist was going to use. William picked strawberry. Then he got up in the chair and the dentist let him pick something to watch on the screen while he was cleaning his teeth. They have all sorts of movies and cartoons for the kids to watch. William picked a Chip and Dale/Donald Duck cartoon to watch and just sat in the chair letting the dentist do whatever he needed to do. He looked at William's teeth and had him open/close his mouth, bite down and relax his mouth to see how his teeth were in each of these positions. Then he cleaned William's teeth and he said he wanted to do a couple x-rays. Which we would have gotten done, but while we were trying William's gag reflex wasn't cooperating and he couldn't hold the film stuff in his mouth long enough for them to get those shots. He then asked if we wanted to do the fluoride treatment. We said yes and he let William pick out the fluoride which he picked grape. Hmmm..... grape and strawberry together.. Yum....

After it was all done he told us that William's teeth are perfect, no cavities and outside of how his front teeth are right now with the underbite there is nothing to be worried about. The thing with his front teeth is why he wanted the x-rays. It would show him how they are growing in. If his adult teeth grow in like his baby one's have we will have to correct that, but as of right now they are fine. He's not concerned about them. Once he was all done he got his picture taken next to the stuffed giraffe they have and was told he got to join the "no cavity club" and then off to the prize room we went and he got to pick out a prize. He picked out a bag of dinosaurs. And then we were all done. He is set for a second appointment in October to have those teeth cleaned again. We're hoping for no cavities again!

Nathan and I were really impressed by this guy. Not only was he great with William and the office was completely catered to the kids, but the other patients there came out happy and seemed really comfortable with everything. The kid who had to have the emergency appointment came out with a popcicle and a bag with a prize in it and was completely happy. Not crying or anything. That says a lot for the dentist if the kids are still that happy after that. Also what's better than a prize and a popcicle for having to have a filling or something. Makes it a little more tolerable. William is still talking about his dentist and keeps saying he wants to go back or that's his dentist every time we pass the office. It was a great experience and I would definately recommend him to anyone searching for a good pediatric dentist.

2 big milestones gone in just under a month. He really is growing up and I just wish it wasn't going by so fast.

what harm can a haircut do???

2008-03-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

I have a little rambling to do, okay more like a little venting to do. The other day when myself and Nathan took William to his gymboree class, we didn't think anything of his hair. Generally don't and after William asking for quite sometime to have a mohawk, we gave him one. Now I don't feel there is anything wrong with a little boy or anyone for that matter to have that hair style. If that's what they want, hey great for them. William however is 3 and what harm can he do at 3 years old having a mohawk??? Well apparently it makes some people judgemental and uncomfortable. From the moment we walked into his class there were two mothers who were downright irritated with him. They don't know my child, they have never once taken care of him or talked to him, they have no idea what he's like or how sweet he can be. They each have a daughter and they each either have another child or one on the way. However they were too busy being irritated with my son and trying to one up one another to pay attention to their own kids. Both of their girls were whiny and just prissy. I'm sorry, but when your child is fine playing and then bursts out crying because one of the little boys ran by and the air blew the wrong way, you have a problem. Obviously you want your child to have the interaction with the other kids and to grow and learn, but please.. babying them because some other kid ran by them is ridiculous. It was horrible knowing exactly what they were thinking when they looked at him. You could just see it in their eyes, like "oh my gosh he's got to be a little devil child... look at his hair! can you believe they did that to him??? they must be horrible parents." I mean come on.. really what harm can a haircut do??? It's hair, it will grow back. I know that there will always be judgements, there is a stereotyping that is done with that type of hair, but please when they are little what is the big deal. 99% of the time we get nothing but great compliments on his hair. Most people love it and totally agree that there is nothing wrong with a toddler having a hair style like that. I just get irritated with people who have nothing better to do than judge someone else's child and parenting based off something so superficial.

And just to show how much I love my kid and his hair... here are a couple pictures...

Before....

\

.......after

Dinosaur Glasses...

2008-03-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing William LOVES LOVES LOVES right now, it's dinosaurs. He can name them off, tell you everything about them, what they eat and how they sound. He loves to act like dinosaurs, play with dinosaurs, wear dinosaur clothes and eat dinosaur shaped foods. So when I saw this book at work with a pair of 3-d glasses I just had to get it for him. He loves that book and loves those glasses too. I just could resist, I had to get a few pictures of him with those glasses on.

He loves putting these on mommy and daddy and sharing the book with these glasses on. Let me tell you that if you wear these glasses and look at normal items, they kinda mess with you. Especially M&M's as his father found out. The colors mixed with these glasses just get a little weird. Fun to wear though if what you're looking needs these glasses. Ahhh what can amuse my little guy. He was so proud of how he looked in these.

I know every mom thinks their kid is the most adorable thing they've ever seen, but I have to say that with these glasses on and that face, how could you not love it. How could you resist getting a smile on your face or giving a little chuckle when you see that. He can be such a silly little guy and just watching him wear those brought a smile to my face as well as his fathers and just made us laugh a little. It was so amazing to see his little personality when he was reading his book with those. He just couldn't wait to dive right on into that book!

Birthdays & Chuck E Cheese

2008-03-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

So last night we went to a birthday party at the same Chuck E Cheese's we had William's party at. Now let me just say that it was great to see an old co-worker and be there for her daughters 5th birthday. Next I'd like to say that that place was completely PACKED! 6 PM on a Saturday is just not the time to have a party at that place.

William LOVES Chuck E Cheese's and we have been there a few times, but he'd never really been excited for the guy dressed up as Chuck E Cheese. Well all of that changed last night. Not only was he super excited to play and have cake, he kept asking the entire night where Chuck E. was. He would say hi numerous times to the animated one up near the stage, because we were sitting over in that area, but he kinda got irritated when it didn't answer him back. So finally after waiting ever so patiently he got to say Hi and give a high five to the guy in the costume. He was so happy about that.

After playing and eating some pizza, we went back to play and he got to have his picture taken with Chuck E., which let me tell you for a 3 year old it's huge. There is a little girl in the picture that I have no idea who she is. She was walking away when I told William to stand next to the guy in the costume to get a picture and she turned around, ran back and got into the picture too! Gotta love it! He was so excited about this picture and had to tell everyone about it.

Poor kid though had a hard time when it was time for cake. Being 3 he didn't quite understand the concept of having to wait for the birthday girl to take the first bite. But he did patiently wait and once the first bite had been eaten he devoured his piece in no time. Shortly after eating cake the birthday girl and another guest went up to this blue screen they have, infront of a camera, and were dancing. William joined for a little while, before deciding that he needed to direct them. After directing for a while he finally joined the girls and had a good time. After a little while of that the party was over and we decided to go get some prizes with the tickets William had won. He had won a total of 704 tickets over the course of the night. He ended up with a few things. But overall had a good time.

Easter!

2008-03-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

Easter came early this year and now that it's finally over I can finally share all those pictures from all the "festive" things we did. We ended up dying eggs with my best friend and her son last night, however, it didn't go as well as I had planned. They did a great job, but now we have a blue spot on the carpet and a picture or two of a blue kiddo. So here's how the egg dying went and the after shots of the eggs... Never mind the goofy smiles in the process...

Easter morning went off without a hitch. William found his basket with candy, dinosaurs and a movie. He also found all of the eggs I hid and had to open them immediately to see what was inside. The aftermath of all this Easter fun?????? One kid with a sugar rush, sugar crash, meltdown, and finally sleep!!!! Good thing that Easter, as with the other candy filled and fueled holiday, Halloween, come once a year. And now we can move past this holiday and gear up for the next big events... Birthdays!!!!

This is Marcus' blue foot! ;)

FROGS!!!

2008-03-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing that is truly different between most boys and girls is that boys tend to love more of the "yucky" things, you know bugs, spiders, snakes, and other creepy crawly things. Frogs are definitely included in this as they are reptiles too. Our backyard seems to be filled with the one thing that my son wants to find more than anything and that would be frogs. I have no idea where they've come from, but his little pool in the backyard has made the perfect habitat for them and we have plenty. Now these frogs aren't big, but they are LOUD! I guess just one or two might not be so loud, but get a group together and they can keep a person up at night.

William wanted to find some of these frogs a while back and with the help of daddy he not only found some, but got to hold one as well. Grandma was in the hospital at the time and would have freaked out under normal circumstances, as she's not a big fan of frogs, but she loved to see these pictures when she got home. I love the look on his face as he's showing off that he's got a frog in his hand.

Hip Hip Hooray!!! It's a gymboree day!!!

2008-03-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

If only there were more days like this, days where William could just run around and play until his little hearts content. It's not everyday that he gets to be around a group of kids his age. Since he's not in daycare and we live in a small town it's hard to find enough kids his age to play with. This Gymboree thing, however, I thought would be good for him. Lots of social interaction, play time, and learning all at the same time. How lucky can you get, right???

Well William loves it!!! It's been a big success and up until a few weeks ago I hadn't realized that they allowed you to photograph your child while playing. So last weekend I got a few shots, okay well more than a few, so here ya go. I thought I'd share the joy of a 3 year old when they LOVE what they're doing!!!