Wordless Wednesday....Playdough

When will it end?

Within the past few weeks I have heard the word...

On "The O'Reilly Factor" when Dick Morris was referring to how dumb he is.

On "The Dr. Phil Show" when a guest was speaking and describing how his mother treats him.

On "Saturday Night Live" during a skit about Governor Rob Blagojevich.

When a friend jokingly asked if another friend rode the "short bus" today.

Seriously? When will people get it? When will people get that it is not acceptable to use the words "retard" or "retarded"? I just don't get it. It makes me sick.

New Pj's

Looky at what I made for Caroline and Bitty! I made Caroline and Bitty's pajama pants.

Caroline is obsessed with Hello Kitty so when we found this flannel material, she was in love. But Caroline was stressed that she didn't have a shirt to match her new pajama pants so I had to come up with a solution. I bought the black t-shirt at the WalMarts and then applied the fabric to the front. It works and she was happy with it, so I am happy with it.

Self Portaits

I took some self portraits today, I wanted to change my facebook profile picture. When I was taking them, I wondered if my children feared this woman who follows them around most days...




But sometimes I make this face to get them to smile (nevermind the double chin!!)...




This is the one the I chose for my profile picture...




I made something new for my camera yesterday. Can you spot it??

The up-swing, poker and fairies

Will has been feeling pretty bad for a week now. I think that he is starting to feel better. He is gagging less but still coughing, alot. We added another medicine for his reflux that is really helping him. He isn't running a fever anymore either, so that is good. I hope that he is 100% soon. I feel for the little guy, being sick is no fun.

Caroline had "Daddy and Me" night last night and she drew a picture that said..."I love my Daddy because....He takes me to poker." Haaaaa! That is so funny! Josh plays poker with his friend from High School that has a son that is Caroline's age. Josh takes Caroline so that her and Tristen can play while the Dads play poker. All of the teachers thought it was hilarious and Josh said that even some of the Dads were coming up to him saying "Are you the poker Dad"? Too funny!

Caroline was playing Tinkerbell today and when she was done Will thought that he needed to be Tinkerbell. Caroline helped him put on the wings.

He makes a cute little pixie!!

Cold

Will has a really bad cold. It started with a really bad cough. I took him to the doctor and we ruled out pneumonia by getting a chest x-ray on Friday. Saturday he started with the runny nose. Sunday brought the cough, gag, vomit phase. This morning he woke up with a high fever that I fought all day with Tylenol.

We haven't been able to give him his full tube feedings because he throws them up. We are just trying to keep the liquids going in. He has been really happy that I have been giving him juice all day!!

He is really having trouble breathing through all the snot. I really wish I had one of those super-duper snot suckers that they have at the hospital, those things work great. I hope that he starts feeling better soon. He walked around all day gagging from the drainage. I have wiped his nose so many times that he takes the tissue away from me and wipes his own nose!!

Save, Spend, Give

We have recently started a new thing with Caroline. She was given a responsibility chart and three jars.

Caroline has five responsibilities: make her bed, brush her teeth, take a bath and show respect. For these things she earns no money, she must do them because they are her responsibility. She is part of our family and there are certain things that each member of the family is responsible for.

She has three chores: feed and water the dog, put toys away and clean her room. For completing each of her chores she receives a quarter, so each day she can earn up to 75 cents. If she doesn't do a chore she doesn't get paid. But if she does something extra she can earn more money, for example last week she helped me dust the living room, she earned a quarter.

So we gave Caroline three jars: Spend, Save and Give.

The spend jar is for the things that she wants to purchase (right now she is working for a Hello Kitty diary that costs $6). The save jar is money that will be put into a savings account. And the give jar is for money that she can put in the collection basket at church. We let her decide where she wants to put her money. We want her to understand the value of saving her money and being able to purchase something that she really wants and we also want her to understand the value of giving.

She is doing really great at it. She has given money in the collection basket since we started. She has saved almost enough for her Hello Kitty diary. And she has save $3.

We want our kids to understand money. We want them to understand that debt is not good. We don't want them to have the idea that they are entitled to things just because they want them and because it makes them feel good. We want them to know that just because you want something doesn't mean that you go out and purchase it with a credit card and pay for it for the next 10 years. Bottom line, we want them to learn from our mistakes.

Caroline is really looking forward to getting to go to the mall to purchase her diary. We are planning a trip to the mall for the end of the week. ;-)

playdate and crafts

Caroline had a friend over after school and they made Valentine boxes (decorated shoe boxes). The girls had a great time making their craft. I think that they both did a great job on them.



It was interesting to watch them decide how to decorate, where to put the glitter or where to put their name. They really thought about each thing before placing the sticker. Where is Caroline's hairbow?? Really!

The girls had a great afternoon of playing and crafting.

Wordless Wednesday...A Tale of Two Cows, Part 2

Eatin' Some Pizza

On Friday night we ordered pizza for dinner. After we were done eating I put the pizza box on the counter because I had to make room for it in the refrigerator before putting it in. I got busy doing something and Will got busy getting into something...

I walked into the kitchen and saw this....

He had pulled the box off of the counter and went to town.

What a stinker!!

Some Friday afternoon cuteness!!

After Will got finished eating (aka: chewing then spitting out) lunch, he was a complete mess. I took off his diaper and put him in the sink. He had fun and Caroline and I had fun taking pictures.

He is saying Cheese!

Yup, he is holding himself. Why do boys insist on doing this??

Caroline wanted to take a picture too. She used my DSLR and it was not in auto mode. I think that she did a really good job!! She got him in focus (and that is sometimes hard). She took these two photos. Way to go Caroline! I think that she may need a camera!!!

What's up with Will...

Will started e-stim therapy two weeks ago. The therapy is going well. He is tolerating it for an hour each time. He lifts his head so that the therapist can put the stickers on and sits very still until she is done. He is very motivated by Cheetos. The kid can't get enough of them. Another major motivator is McDonald's french fries, go figure!

He is still chewing the food and spitting it out, only swallowing a few times. Not much goes down but alot goes in, if that makes sense. The therapist thinks that this is a learned behavior and that we are going to have to teach him the new behavior of swallowing. I don't know...I just want him to eat!

He has become very "chatty" since starting the therapy. Josh called this morning and Caroline put the phone to Will's ear and he said "How", his oh so cute version of "Hi". He is also mimicking alot, like doing the dance moves while watching tv. It helps that Caroline always stands up and does the dances and now Will is joining in.

Will has also started throwing tantrums. So age appropriate but oh so frustrating. He is doing the lay on the floor and kick his feet crying thing. I was excited about it the first time he did it, thinking "oh that is so good...he is doing a two year old thing" but now I am over it. We have started calling these episodes "meltdowns" because that is just what he does. He melts onto the floor and cries.

We have scheduled an appointment with an ENT, a new one at Children's hospital, in March. At that appointment they will be doing a swallow study where they will put a small camera up his nose and look down on the swallowing process instead of the typical front view with an x-ray. They are hoping that it gives them more information on his swallow pattern and also if there are any obstructions. I will also be asking about the ear infections and ear tubes.

Will was actually attempting to say "Cheese" in this picture. He says "EEEEEEssseee".

Wordless Wednesday...Will's seat of choice.