My Avengers

Happy Halloween!

 Ella is Black Widow

 Josiah is Iron Man

Micah is Captain America

 "Avengers Assemble!"

I love that the boys told me

 "You have to say 'Avengers Assemble' if you want us to get our costumes on"

Seeing as she has no hair…a bright red feather will do…right?

She hated her costume at first….

Thankfully she got over it.

Phew…

I do love a theme Halloween after all, and they couldn't be the Avengers without Black Widow.

2009

Batman and Robin

 2010

Buzz and Woody

2011

Peter Pan 

I'm Working On It

I am so tired.
I am still waking up with Micah every 4 hours to medicate him after his surgery.
I wake up several other times throughout the night while miss Ella cuts her canine teeth and Micah cries out in pain.

I have a cold and can't breath at night.

I have a 5 year old who thinks I boring, and only wants his friends.

You know how this feels.

Exhaustion.

What are you like when your tired? Do you take it out on somebody?
Generally, my sweet husband gets the brunt of my frustration; and then it trickles down to my children.

I'm working on it.

This has become my life motto. I should probably paint it on my walls.

I feel terrible after lashing out at these people I love the most in my life.

Lets take a look at Josiah, shall we?

Like I mentioned earlier, he is so bored with me.
He loves to learn from me, he loves to play with me, and he loves to laugh with me. But he often forgets he's not the only child in our home. No, I still have two other rascals running around trying to steal my attention.
I am still so glad about our decision to keep him home with me one extra year before sending him to Kindergarten. I think he's happy too.
But he has been feeling like he is playing 2nd or 3rd right now to his siblings.
I confess, he kind of is.
Micah is still recovering from his surgery and still needs a lot of extra attention, and popsicles.
Josiah is only 5 and doesn't grasp the concept of "special treatment". He is hurt that I will give Micah 8 popsicles a day, while he may only get 1 or 2.
He doesn't understand why I will make him help clean the playroom with me, while Micah watches his 100th cartoon.
He doesn't understand why I can't "make a craft" (he's really into crafts these days) because Micah is hurting and needs some cuddle time.
So, he lashes out at me.
He throws fits, and argues, and stomps, and screams, and yells.
My poor, sweet boy. He needs his Mommy just as much as Micah does, and I've been neglecting him.

This face of sweetness and innocence is getting the brunt of my frustration.

I have been unbelievably patient with Micah during his outbursts. I haven't yelled at him or even shown him any sort of consequence for his behavior.

Josiah gets it all.

I know that this makes me look terrible. And that is exactly how I feel.
Terrible. 
Today I confess; I'm working on it.

Today I will craft with him until he's sick of paint and popsicle sticks.
Today I will cuddle with him during quiet time.
I will read him stories until he asks to stop.
I will wrestle with him until my ribs hurt he is tired.
And I will answer all of his 5,000 questions.
I will even play in the snow with him today (yep….snow).

This is just so hard to do with 3 kids under the same roof. Generally it's so easy to please both of the boys at the same time, and Ella is content watching.
But because Micah has been feeling puny, I can only please one of them, and he's crying the loudest.

Which reminds me of this saying.

My poor kids.
This is my life their life.

Let's just say…..

I'm working on it.

Back Again

 It started again on Wednesday.
Ella got a cough and I just knew we were in for it.

We have a history of struggling with colds.

Every time Micah gets a runny nose I have to give him his inhaler. At this point he had not been technically diagnosed as asthmatic; we fixed that this weekend.
On Thursday he got the runny nose and by that afternoon I had to give him his nebulizer.
This was the first time I had to give him this. 3 times I tried with no improvement.

I was praying and praying and praying that we wouldn't have to stay another night. But as soon as we got there he was put onto oxygen. Not a good sign. Then we were admitted for the night. 

This ended up being our most difficult stay yet. 

He was exhausted and manifesting it by fighting every treatment. 

I'll tell you one thing about Micah; he is strong. Really strong. It took 3 of us to pin him down to take his treatments. If you've ever had to hold your child down you know what kind of torture that is for a mother. I'm supposed to protect and comfort him, and instead I'm holding his arms and head still. 

It was miserable.

He was then officially diagnosed as having asthma and given more steroids and a daily inhaler.

We were released 24 hours into our stay and I have never been happier to be home.

Then…

Just 18 hours later I was on my way back to Children's Hospital with Josiah. 

He seemed to be struggling to breath. I didn't know if I was being paranoid, but something didn't seem right. 

His oxygen was ok when we got in (93), but he was retracting (he was pulling from his abdomen when he took breaths) and his respiratory rate was right around 44 (normal is around 22).

So they began treating it like an asthma attack.
Seriously, Lord? I was just here. With a different child. Why? 
I was fried. My nerves were gone. I had nothing left to give.
When the Dr came in and said we would probably be admitted to for the night I cried. How awful is that? I cried in front of Josiah, who was being so strong. I just couldn't bear the thought that this was happening all over again.

It started to look better. Like we wouldn't have to stay the night.
Then it got worse. Much worse.
He spiked a temperature. And began to look really miserable.
He didn't complain once. Not once. He's amazing.
But he was having an allergic reaction to the medicine that made him turn red. BRIGHT RED.

They took him off of the continuous medicine and he improved drastically.
He was diagnosed as having an asthma attack due to an atypical pneumonia.
They gave him an antibiotic and tylanol and he was feeling like himself again.
They ended up letting us leave right around 1:30 AM.

But it's so strange to have two kids on the same medication for two separate visits to the hospital.
It has truly been one of the hardest weekends of our lives.
I am happy to be home; but I'm still struggling to recover.

Sometimes it's really hard to see the Lord's plan in certain situations. I know he is in control. But I won't lie…I'm a bit perturbed and tired.
But God is good. All the time.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

First Sleepover

It's tradition in our home to have whatever you want for your birthday dinner. 3 years in a row Josiah has chosen Lucky Charms. This year was a real treat….chocolate Lucky Charms. YUM

I always throw birthday parities for Josiah. Big ones. Too big.

I wanted to do something smaller this year. My solution: A sleepover.

I know. Crazy, right?

I have to say….it was so much fun!

5 boys; ages 5 to 3. One little lady. 17 hours of party. Chaos. Popcorn. Pizza. Treats.

Park Playtime (best idea ever).

 The Birthday boy was dying of excitement the entire night.

They all ended up shirtless, why does this always happen at my house.
Yes…even Ella got in on that action (cool your jets girl).

James brought home a parachute and set it up in the playroom. Instant fort.
They all fell asleep by 10:15pm. I was pretty impressed.

The morning after. Looking a bit more docile.
The funniest part of the party was that they were dying to change their clothes together. They were so excited to get in the pajamas, and then more excited to get into their clothes the next morning.

And I finally had a reason to make these birthday cake pancakes. To.Die.For.

It was so much fun.
And I loved being able to be the "cool parents".
Who am I kidding…James is always a cool parent.

They Have Each Other

I'm so glad that God knows what is better for our lives than I what I do.

Nov 2010

We didn't plan on getting pregnant with Josiah, and we certainly didn't plan on getting pregnant with Micah only 7 months after Jo was born.


But I'm so glad that we did.

God knew that they needed each other.

He knew their bond would be instant.

God knew that these boys needed each other. He knew that they would be best friends. That they would keep each other company; they would always stick up for the other.

He knew that that they would save my sanity by keeping each other busy.
He knew they would get into stay out of trouble together.

He knew that they would always have each other.

Awake or sleeping.

Thank you Lord for my boys.

So if your wondering wether or not to give your child a sibling; do it.
Giving Josiah a brother has been the best thing I have ever given him.

Difficult Decisions

We have made the decision to keep Josiah home one last  year.

He will be turning 5 in September, so that would make him the youngest in his class if we were to put him in today.

Today marks the first day of our "home" school year.

But I won't lie….
I'm a bit worried.

I'm worried that his speech will not progress the way it did when he was getting speech therapy at preschool. I'm nervous that he will not be with his peers academically.

I'm not a natural born teacher. That's my husband.
I'm not patient enough.
I don't even know where to begin with teaching.

But it's important to me to savor moments with my kids.
Josiah doesn't need to go to Kindergarten for one more year. And Micah still has 2 years until he needs to go.

These are the biggest reasons we're keeping him home:

1. The kid would still take a nap nearly every day if we made him.

2. Emotionally he is not ready to deal with K.

3. He would (most likely) be both the youngest and the smallest boy in his class.

4. Keeping him home one more year will make him (most likely) one of the oldest and biggest boys in his class.

5. Preschool is a small fortune, and not paying that money will allow both of the boys to do gymnastics in the fall, and get a speech therapist for both of the kids.

6. I like him. I want to smother him all to myself.

7. Micah loves him, and would be sad without him.

8. He will get plenty of socialization through the Bible Studies, MOPS, and playdates we participate in.

So now that we have made that decision I am determined to make sure that when he does go to Kindergarten he's not behind.

I have a schedule.
I have the workbooks for the boys.
I have chore charts.
And I have the will to get it done!

But most importantly I have two boys who love to learn and who love their family time.

I've got this….right?

What could possibly go wrong…..

Superhero Fight

According to my 4 year old:

In a fight who would win?

Spiderman VS Batman
~Spiderman because he could wrap Batman up with his web

Spiderman VS Green Lantern
~Green Lanter man because he has a laser ring to shoot spiderman

Green Lantern VS Captain America
~Captain America because he has a gun, and a shield to block the laser from Green Lantern man

Captain America VS Peter Pan
~Peter Pan because he can throw his tiny sword at Captain America…and he can fly

Peter Pan VS The Hulk
~The Hulk because he's huge. 

The Hulk VS Everybody
~The Hulk because he's so so huge.

Who's the best superhero of all time?
~Jesus. Because he can do everything. He can turn to any superhero and he can become invisible. And because he came back to life. Nobody else did that!


Yeah…I really love this kid.

But with a mind like that….who wouldn't love him?

Photo Bombing and Firsts

 My boys are obsessed with the webcam on our Mac. 

Every time I jump on the computer they are jumping on my lap. 

I was trying to get a picture of this necklace I made {as a reference for length}.

Josiah stuck his head into the frame. 

Just at that perfect moment. 

I'm glad he did. It's so cute! And he gave me a reason to embrace the camera. 

In other news….Josiah is now riding his "pedal bike" exclusively.

This is what he learned to ride a bike on.

This photo is from March of last year. Jo was going CRAZY on his Strider (notice it has no training wheels or pedals). The goal of this bike is to teach them balance first. It worked great! 

He probably could have been riding a "real" bike 6 months ago if we had one that fit him!

This is the first time Josiah hopped on his "new pedal bike". He was so proud of himself. And we were so proud of him too! We take walks to the park and he's off and away. He's like a boy now…where did my little guy go? 

And here she is….

Standing up on her own.

On April 16th she took her first 2 steps and broke my heart. My baby is growing up.
It's been a bittersweet past couple of weeks.
I want my kids to grow, but I want them to stay dependent on me (except for wiping their own booty).
These little "firsts" are what makes being a parent so much fun.
I'm so glad for modern technology so we can capture every single moment!