Freezing Time

Getting them to look at the camera is a task that is not easily accomplished. If you know me, you know how much I love to take pictures. I always have a camera with me. Pictures are a way to freeze time and remember each little thing that happens in our life. A lot of people have no trouble recalling and remembering everything. I on the other hand do not, if I don't write it down I forget the details.
Father's Day just passed by and my dad passed away, as most of you know, about 4 years ago. I cherish every picture that I have of him and am trying to hold on to the memory of what his hug felt like, how he smiled when he called me sugar foot and his baby girl, his laughter and his booming deep voice on the back row at church singing and praising God. He had a smile that was so easy and natural it was hard not to smile back. His hands were covered in scars and "as a strong as a pine knot" is how he would describe them. I miss the sound of him yodeling as he walked through the house to get his popcorn and vanilla ice cream.
When I look at my boys, I know that they will not get the chance to feel his hugs or hear him laugh, but they can see his smile any time they want because we have pictures.
Love your family as much as you can and try to remember every detail about them. Be with them every chance you get and enjoy just being together.
Mom and Dad Christmas 2002

Dad with my nephew Sylus

Sedation!

Isn't that the smallest little hospital gown :)



We have been so busy lately! Isn't the phrase suppose to be "Those Lazy Summer Days"

In the past two weeks, we have had what we would consider, major events. The first event, was little Davis' surgery last Mon. He had to be put to sleep to correct a tear duct that hasn't worked for him since birth. For the past 15 months we have massaged and applied cream that didn't seem to help and constantly wiped away tears and that eye stuff that forms. A lot of the time he would wake up with his eye stuck shut. It didn't take him long to notice that he didn't like for us to work on cleaning and medicating it, so it was a daily battle.
They had to put a stint in to help it open up. It will stay in his eye for 3 months to stretch it out. He was doing SO much better tonight, compared to waking up in the hospital. The nurses say that it is common for them to wake up fussy or angry like he did. He kept trying to pull the I.V. out and rub the eye. The nurse came in with an extra dose of pain medicine and that helped him calm down. I was so glad he woke up without complications that he could have cried for hours and it would have been o.k. with me :)








His face was puffy from the IV




The next week, Sam had to have a crown put onto the tooth that he had chipped as a baby. When I went for the consultation on what to expect, the dentist made me think that the hardest part would be seeing him all groggy from the medication they would have to give him to help him relax. I was a little bit nervous about that but I knew if I had made it through Davis' I could make it through his.
When we arrived at the office, they took us to a little room in the back. Sam was already getting nervous. Then, they told us they were going to leave the room while we got him to drink the medicine. Ummmmm, that was suppose to be easy for us, but it was TERRIBLE! We tried getting him to drink it, tried to squirt it down his throat, and Scott even tried to dilute it for him. None of our efforts proved to be productive, so the nurse came in to try her turn. Mind you, Sam is crying and screaming through the whole process. Another problem has presented itself, in that Scott had added water to the solution and now the nurse had 3x's as much medicine to try and force down his throat.
So finally, when her efforts failed as well, the only other option was to shoot the medicine up his nose. You might be thinking, "Why keep trying to give him medicine?" Well, he doesn't remember it!!!! The process was a nightmare which included FIVE people including me holding his hands, feet, head, and body still so that the dentist could attach the crown, but he doesn't remember how horrible his trip to the dentist was. I hope that all of the effort will pay off the next time we have a cleaning.
If we ever have to give him medicine like that again, we are going to put it in with a little juice in his cup and let him sit out in the lobby to drink it.
As hard as it is for both child and parent, there are some things that just have to be done. I hope to take a break from the medication for a while. :)




His new tooth is the one right next to his front tooth on his left side. It looks pretty good to me. I barely notice it.













Monkey moves like this is where he chipped his tooth in the first place. Boys!

OH, Wal-mart!

I just got home from the lovely wal-mart. As I am sure you all know it is one of the hardest part of being a mother of 2 kids 3 and under. It seems to be getting increasingly hard b/c Sam is getting bigger. When I say bigger, I mean that literally. He doesn't fit as well in the back of the buggy with the groceries. So, either I get home with all of my groceries squished or I let him out of the buggy. I can't decide which is worse.
If Sam isn't sitting on the groceries, he's kicking them out of his way, or throwing something out of the buggy to make more room. Davis is usually screaming or throwing something out of the front of the buggy like his juice or snack. He also likes to reach around and grab anything that he can chew on, which leaves the groceries half chewed up or opened. And when they aren't doing that they are fighting with each other.

Usually, I end up letting Sam get out of the buggy toward the middle of the trip, to make room for the rest of the groceries. Which results in telling him "NO we don't need that and go put that back" about 100 x's.
While all of those things are happening I am suppose to be concentrating on what we need and how to save money. It is sooooooo Exhausting.
I haven't even gotten to the part where we have to check out. Getting everything onto the counter, reminding the cashier of the items that have been opened, placing them all back into the buggy and paying (which takes almost every bit of the money I have for the next week).
Now, that Sam is potty training, we went to the bathroom 3 x's while in the lovely Wal-mart, but on a good note he didn't wet his pants YEA!
Next, we have to get them all in the car and then up the stairs at my house, and finally put away.
I didn't even throw in the diaper changes for Davis and needing to eat lunch before everybody passes out on the drive home, only to be carried up the stairs and put into bed.
Forgive me for venting a little, but I feel so much better. I have decided that I am going to have to have a serious talk with Sam about how mom has to pick out what we need. I don't know if it will help but I am going to try. If anyone has any advice on what they do, I would LOVE to hear it!

Date Night in TN

This was the first time Scott and I have left the boys over night anywhere. Granted the grandparents are the best case scenario, I still had trouble letting go. I am SO glad I took a leap of faith and let go a little. We ALL had a wonderful time.
They went and spent the day with Nanny, my mom, then Granny and Grandaddy picked them up for the night and the next day.
Scott and I drove up and got there by lunch. We were both starving so we went to the Boathouse restaurant that was recommended to us in downtown. Scott's was great and mine would have been minus the ginger dressing that was all over it. I learned something new about myself, I DO NOT like ginger when not in a cookie. We then went and checked in to our sweet and cozy Bed and Breakfast to take a nap :) That was such a much needed treat.

We then tried to decide exactly what we wanted to do for the night. There were tons of places we could have gone and things we could have done, but we wanted to do things we can't do when the kids are with us like DINNER AND A MOVIE! We went to buy our tickets for the movie first to see what time it was showing 9:45 (This is a time foreign to parents with small children) So we went for it and decided to go to the mall before supper.
On the way we saw a Krispy Kreme, yes the light was flashing. We could Not say no to the light, so we came out with an assorted dozen. Of course we were planning on taking some home to the boys the next day, but had forgotten what was waiting for us in the car. We drove Scott's car so that we could leave all the car seats in the van to make it easier. Scott's car is a little bit messy (to put it nicely) He also has an ANT PROBLEM. So when we came out of the mall, the box was covered in ants! I grabbed it and knocked them all off the box and Scott drove to the nearest grocery type store to buy ziplocks. Those things work like magic :)

Then we went to Outback for soup and salad (the doughnuts must have filled our stomachs)Then to the movies. We had a hard time choosing a movie b/c Indiana Jones was out, but we ultimately went with the date movie Maid of Honor(loved it). On a side note, are we in the dark ages b/c we were both a little bit surprised to pay $18 for 2 tickets. I had no idea it costs that much now.


The next morning, I had to drag myself out of bed at 9:15 to get dressed enough to make it to breakfast (the stop serving at 10:00) IT was so perfect and the food was Great.

We laughed about Starbucks being featured on the Rock City sign and remembered when we had gone to Rock City 10 yrs earlier. We were so young, who knew we would be were we are today. God is so Good!
At Rock City Scott had real issues with how high we were, his heart was pounding and his toes were curling. But for some strange reason he still loved it :)

Yes, that is us in the corner of Lover's leap.
After ROck city we went down to the Art District and loved looking around. Everything was around $1000 which reminded us how lucky we were to be without children in there.
They even had a tractor made of wood for $1025, I am positive one of the boys would have had to try it out. Scott found this picture and we both liked it, we looked at all of this aritist's pieces, they were fun. This one is called Sloth.

We had a steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse on the way home.
The boys had a great time and the only boo boo we had was on Davis' blanket and clothes. He had to show his Granny that he did know how to open the foundation makeup bottle she had let him play with while falling asleep for a nap. The outfit is soaking as I write this, I have washed it 2x's so far. :) Sam only said "Sam wants mommadadda to take Sam to Sam's house" one time on Sat. afternoon. So, even if I have to throw that outfit away, it was the perfect trip!

This is Sam's favorite picture, he thinks we got to meet Hi Hoe (the seven dwarfs)

Sam's nipples

As I was changing Sam the other day, he looked down and noticed his nipples. He said "I got deese like dada". I said "yeah, how bout that". Then he asked one of those tough questions..."What are deese fer?" I explained to him that I had no idea what they were for, and that was a good question. Thinking about it for awhile, he then explained to me that he had two of them, he offered me the following explanation"Deese are fer the babies". Not wanting him to be confused, I shared with him that they were for the babies if you are a momma, but for the boys they are for big muscles. Maybe that will work for the time being...

Earning A Mother's Day

Last week was the week before Mother's Day and it was a rough one. I had a recipe book that I was finishing up and printing, a 3 yr. old birthday party to plan which included 2 other birthday boys and two other mothers to satisfy, potty training, a sugar high, 2 molars, and continuous fighting.

The boys were going crazy and fighting all week and I couldn't figure out what was different. I kept attributing it to the recipe book that required a lot of phone and computer time. On Wednesday night, after class, at church Sam's teacher came and asked me what I had fed Sam. Everything clicked right when she said that. Sam's incentive this week for going to the potty was a piece of candy, and it was working. He had no accidents while at home, which meant he had lots of CANDY. Which led to energy that he had no control over. He ended up banging on the table and hollering in class, which is the opposite of what he normally does. At home he was banging on Davis' head.
Davis (when not being bothered by Sam) was sitting in the floor crying for no reason, or so I thought. One time, while crying, I picked him up and turned him upside down in my lap only to see 2 MOLARS breaking thru his gums. I thought no wonder he has been So Fussy!
It took me the first three days of the week realize what was going on and the last three to finish everything up and help Sam come off of his sugar high and rub Davis down in oragel! By the party on Sat. everything was planned and we had fun, but Sunday afternoon we all 4 crashed for a few hours!

ALWAYS take the stroller

I had taken the boys with me to my Dr. appointment yesterday and they did well considering we were in the waiting room for an hour. During our wait Sam got up in my lap with the sweetest and sincerest look on his face and said "Sam is so sad" I asked why and he said "Mom is sick?" Then when we went into the exam room, he was sitting in the stroller at my feet and I kept feeling little kisses on my feet. He was really worried about his mom :)
After our appointment I ran down to the mall. There was one dress I wanted to get b/c I got a coupon in the mail. I got out of the car with the goal of walking to that store and back. So I thought, I could SAVE TIME by not using my stroller this one time. You probably all know what a pain it is to get a stroller out every time you stop the car and since I was in a hurry...... I think I went wrong when I thought "Hey, Sam loves escalators and he never gets to ride on them b/c we always have THE STROLLER" SO we walk toward the ESCALATOR. Sam is so excited that he jumps right on with no trouble, but with the momentum from jumping he falls forward trying to also run up the moving stairs. He scrapes up his leg and lies down screaming. I realize that there is no way I am going to make this better in time to walk him off of the escalator, and I can't put Davis down to pick him up. So with one arm I swing my second screaming son on my other hip. We walk off the escalator and ironically sit him on the stroller rental counter to check his boo boos. I end up carrying both children across the mall and receive many looks of laughter and where's her stroller. I finally make it to the store only to find that there wasn't a dress in my size.