SKYE

We said good-bye to Skye girl today.  She would have been 15 years old this May.  She was a great dog.  It was a hard thing to do but I stayed with her and petted her until she feel asleep.  I am very sad.

Yes they can

If you've been reading my friend's blogs, you have read about our recent discussions about men and what they can and can't do.  Last night, I experienced a first.  Zachary, for whatever reason, was extremely fussy yesterday.  He literally hadn't slept more than 20 minutes all day.  The only thing that made the screaming subside was being held in my arms.  So I finally gave in and decided to hold him while he slept.  I was thinking that getting some sleep while cradled in my arms would lead to sleep in his crib later.  (I believe sleep begets sleep.) So I finally got him to sleep at 8:00 pm and by 10:30 pm I really really needed to pee.  Afraid of waking sleeping baby, I enlisted Eric's help.  My beloved husband literally pulled my pants down and then back up again.  Mission accomplished!!!  

Guilt

So Zachary is a sweet sweet baby, but has recently starting biting down hard while nursing.  I think he may be teething already, but it hurts really bad.  This is just another notch in the "Wish doctors still thought formula was better than breast milk" thoughts in my head.  I secretly wish that an act of god would dry me up so I wouldn't feel guilty about wanting to ween.  I was thinking about the whole thing a bunch last night after I realized my breasts were as sore as they were in the beginning (due to the biting).  

Today, we are stuck inside waiting on the auto windshield guy, watching Back to the Barnyard.  The animals are having a disco dance party in the barn and the cow says, "Come on guys.  The shaking don't stop until there is butter in the utters!"  After laughing out loud for several minutes, it brought the whole breast feeding topic back up.  I guess I will just suck it up and wish for a Christmas miracle.

a few more

Also... a stamp cutout print (Eric's favorite), abstract art??, and Nathan applauding for the musical entertainment at the show. 

Work of ART

Last Thursday was Nathan's preschool Christmas program and his first Gallery Show.  For those of you who don't know, Nathan attends preschool at the Wichita Center for the Arts.  They had all the kids artwork tastefully displayed.  Here are a few highlights... they include a self portrait (black/white with newsprint around), photography study (taken at the zoo completely on his own), clay sculptured tree, and a wild thing.

Another Memorable Moment

Once again ... it speaks for itself!

Too bad we missed the best part, because the camera man was laughing.  But listen closely to Eric's commentary.

Preschool Christmas Program... Priceless

Unfortunately, I was laughing too hard to get the video footage of Nathan knocking over the little girl next to him because he was trying to encourage her to do "twinkle twinkle" with her fingers.  But I was able to capture this memorable moment...  I think it speaks for itself!

Worried

I'm a little worried!  Red heels, pink necklace, sword, net, fireman coat and hat, orange oven mit...  his description was that he was a "fire fighter princess hero".

Dear Santa

Nathan's first letter to Santa Claus!  

Contagious!

Beware . . . Sword fighting is contagious!  Lately if you play with Nathan you must play either Star Wars or Princess.  I don't get it either!

Wish Granted!

Nathan got his new teeth today.  It was surprisingly easy.  In and out in 15 minutes.  

most famous

Santa Claus and his most famous reindeer...

jingle bells

Zach is getting very big and smiles all the time, except when I'm trying to capture it on film.  He was laughing out loud when I was singing until I decided to film him.  He looks so big in his little chair until I took a picture with Nate sitting next to him.

Christmas Wish

I LOVE THE 80s

Saturday Night we got dressed in our most Bodacious 80s clothes and went to a party. Before the party we meet several friends for dinner at TGI Fridays. They sat us in the very back of the restaurant. We had a great time and have decided to have a themed party at least once every few months. 

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Karaoke

  Friday we went to Karaoke.  Unfortunately we ended up at a bowling alley in Derby, but it was fun anyway.  Here is a picture of a 50 something lady that was totally digging Eric.

  

Angela and Tymon.

False Teeth

Some time back Nathan had 3 major traumas to his 2 front teeth.  They finally fell out on the day Zachary came home from the hospital.  Cosmetically it hasn't been a problem, but we have noticed a couple speech changes.  After visiting with an Aunt this weekend whose daughter was in speech therapy up until Junior High for the same problem, I decided to pursue the topic with another orthodontist (the first one totally blew me off).  We saw one this morning that agreed it would be a good option.  So Nathan really is getting his two front teeth for Christmas.  They are making him a little retainer that will stay in place until his new teeth start to come in.  Yeah!  I didn't even have to go "Glenda Stoner" on them.  They were very nice!!!

Missing front teeth can cause a speech disorder, but it would be very specific to the sounds that typically require the tongue to touch the teeth, the best example is "s" which ends up sounding more like "th".  This is more a factor for a child who learned the sound with teeth, then lost them. Erin E. Harrison, MA, CCC-SLP

Speech/Language Pathologist 

Come to an End!!

My quest for the perfect lip gloss has finally come to an end.  What will I do with all my spare time?  Revlon Super Lustrous  I have 3 different colors.

REJECTED!!!!

Apparently, my abdomen rejects dissolvable stitches.  They result in Angry RED Scars.  Tonight, after Eric called my OBGYN for advice,  I laid down on the kitchen island and Eric cut my stitches and pulled them out.  I'm left with a red puffy scar that resembles Frankenstein.  Now I get to take large doses of antibiotics for the next seven days and I have to try not to rip the stitches open.  So Fun!

Swollen

So I just discovered that my stomach could be swollen for weeks. :(  And I am supposed to avoid heavy lifting and exercise for at least a week.  Whoops probably shouldn't have done yard work yesterday!  Yet another obstacle in my way to normalcy. 

SNIP SNIP

Yesterday morning Eric and I took off at 7:00 am and headed to the surgery center.  By 9:00 am I was waking up and officially sterile.  Eric and I feel very blessed to have two beautiful boys and decided our family was complete.  Seems a little weird, but I was actually a little gitty.  Who knew that a tubal ligation could be sooo very freeing.

What's in name?

Nate wrote his name tonight without any help.   I'm so proud!

PROUD

I know that several of us have very different political views, but I am so very very proud that I get to explain to my 3 year old son how important today was in history.  We live in a country that has come a long way.  I am so optimistic!!!!

Happy Baby

Zachary is quite possibly the mellowest baby ever.  This is me trying to capture his smile.  For whatever reason he turns his head away when he smiles.

ART

Nathan did some portraits of Zachary and I.  He told me I have a big head.  The bottom one is me.  Notice the large teeth.  The top one is Zachary notice the wide open mouth.  

Trick or Treat

Last night we went to a Halloween party at the Arnett's house.  Here are some pictures.  My camera was behaving badly so they aren't as good as I would have liked.

HAPPY FALL

I'm very excited about Fall.  The weather is getting cooler and the trees are beautiful.  I don't think we will have a very long Fall before it is bitter cold and everything is covered in snow.  But we will enjoy it while we can.  

May the force be with you

Trying on our Halloween costumes.  Too cute!