almost a month done

This is what came home this week. Its hard to see but on the first day of school Colin felt Sad. Made me sad to see it. But the curly hair makes me smile.  That was just the first day. He really is having a great year in first grade.  He really does love it. He has a great teacher and the school is really great. I was dropping him off the other day at the drop off and the teacher who is always at the drop off said Colin was the best kid in the whole school.  I'm not surprised since I think he's pretty great.  Its fun seeing him walk in and the teachers calling out "Good Morning Colin" They all clearly love him.  I still miss him a lot during the day. 

 

Its funny how the questions I ask Colin aren't what did you learn but who did you sit next to at lunch or on the bus. I think that social stuff is what makes me the most anxious.  And its not that he will learn bad things from kids.  I would rather Colin learn now while he still thinks Mommy and Daddy are the greatest how to interact with those kids/things/situations.  And I'd rather him learn at an early age to stand up for what he knows is right and wrong.  I've already seen him go against the other kids for what he knows is right.  And he was so excited to tell me about that.  But its the times when he's sad that no one sat next to him on the bus type of things that make me want to sweep in a give him big hugs and tell those other kids to sit next to my child (dont worry I wont) But for a momma thats the hard part.  I can't protect him from that.  I like to control things (which I'm sure my whole family will agree) but sending my child to school is hard because I can't control his day.  And lately its hard because by the time Colin gets home from school Joel is tired, Colin is tired from school, Norah is tired from not napping much and only wants mommy to hold her, and Mommy is tired so I feel like Colin just gets whats left over if there is anything left after a long day.  So the mommy guilt is there but we're getting through

 

.  And for those of you who are teachers - parents HATE homework.  Why torture the parents or children anymore.  Give them a break.  He really hasn't had much homework but some nights are hard to figure out when to get it done.  I can't imagine if we were doing a sport this fall how we would get it all done.  So dont give homework!  Colin loves to be a helper and was so excited that yesterday he was the lunch helper and got to take a wet rag and clean up after everyone.  ha! wish that worked at home.  Maybe I should just leave a soapy bucket in his room....

 

When he had his surgery he stayed home an extra day just in case he was nauseous from the medications so I was working with him on some school work and I told him that it was almost like what Noah and Adah do all day (they are homeschooled) and while I was thinking how nice it was and wishing we could homeschool, Colin commented how boring it was.  He couldnt wait to get back to school.  He loves it. Its fun to see him come home singing the songs he learned in music and teaching me the games and exercises he learned in PE.  And he just loves Art.  I can't wait to see what he brings home.  So I'm glad. But I'm still counting down until summer.  

Hokie Weekend

 We spent this past weekend celebrating the first day of fall with a football game at one of my favorite places in the world.  Norah was excited for her first Hokie game.  I think after all these years Brent finally understands what a special place Blacksburg is for me.  He is almost as excited as I am every year. 

 We tailgated both before and after the game.  We usually leave right after the game to get back to the farm but this time we stayed around.   My uncle David came by with my cousins William and Capers for a while. 

Two of these brothers went to University of Richmond.  Both those UofR brothers sent kids to Tech.  One would think that if a majority of your money + precious children at said school you could at least not wear blue to the game :) 

Norah met some cousins.  Crazy that the first time we brought Joel to a game william was a freshemen. And now he's a senior. 

Jeff broke his sholder in 3 places the week before.  Surgery was yesterday but he came to the game anyways.  No pain killers - I think the beer worked better. 

Colin was really excited about the game.  He sat with Ant Ant and Uncle Jeff and convinced Ant Ant he needed two sprite drinks, a hot dog, popcorn and icecream.  Joel sat with us and got water and a small bag of cracker jacks!  Next time both boys will want to sit next to Ant Ant. Colin said he loves Blacksburg and has been asking me all about college.  Its fun reliving it with him. 

 Trying to get a decent picture of all three kids can take a while. This was the best of all of them:

 It took Brent, Joel, Norah, and I a while to get into the stadium.  Brent lost the tickets.  My sister has a picture of my uncle showing Colin the pit in Pritchard and you can see the tickets on the ground there.  Luckily Brent found the tickets so the rest of us could enjoy the game.  But while I was waiting outside the stadium with Norah and Joel I ran into Mary - and since I'm the only one who got to see Mary I'd say it was a good thing Brent temporarily misplaced the tickets. 

 Norah slept the first quarter.  And then a few minutes after she fell asleep Joel fell asleep. So brent and I sat back and enjoyed the game.

 Joel slept through most of the first half. 

 We have a picture of both boys like this.  Here and Here

Beautiful Hokie baby.

 Looks like someone is getting her big brother back for always doing pretty ears to her. The necklace she is wearing is a teething necklace my friend made me for the game.  Norah played with it the whole time.  It worked great.  Norah liked it better on her than on mommy.  My sweet girly girl.

 Norah got into cheering during game. 

I love this picture of Joel and Norah.

 Joel liked to yell GO HOKIES.  At one point he was playing under the seat and someone walked by and stepped on a mustard bag.  Mustard went right into his eye.  Joel started screaming but thankfully it wasn't worse and he got over it pretty quick. 

 At the 4th quarter we went up to find Jeff and Ant Ant.  Joel was missing his brother too.  The kids haven't stopped talking about the game.  They brought out all their hokie books and have been pouring over them pointing out everything they saw.  Thanks Mom and Dad for getting us tickets every year.  Its a fun family tradition that we look forward to every year. 

Cereal

 We tried Norah on some cereal the other day.  She was excited.

 But then was a little upset it wasn't the same as when mommy gives her a spoon dipped in yogurt which is what I've done a few times so I can get my breakfast in.

 Joel wanted to see what the baby food was like.

 And then he tried to give her some.

 Somehow I think she likes the fact that Joel will let her taste his lollipops when Mommy isn't looking. 

I think we'll skip on the cereal and start right into some pureed vegetables. 

6 months

 Half a year.  Amazing. I am morning the fact that I no longer have a squishy newborn but it is really fun seeing Norah's personality come out.  She is so fun. I love six months when you see them almost start to discover the world.  Such a sweet girl and still pretty laid back.  She has gotten into this only wanting mommy phase which I don't mind.  Poor Brent doesn't cut it if mommy walks by.  But if mommy is holding her she is perfectly content and very happy.  She is a horrible sleeper - almost every 2 hours she is up.  She slept better as a newborn.  Teething, growth spurt, not sure but poor thing is having trouble sleeping lately. 

 My favorite thing she does is rest her head on my shoulder.  All the time.   Whenever I hold her.  She likes to snuggle close, put her head on my sholder for a minute, then put it up watching the boys and then put it back down again. She does this over and over.  I aboslutely love it. 

 She loves her brothers. They can get her laughing so hard.  She lights up when Joel or Colin are near.   

 Baby girl is starting to love all things girly and sparkly.  She is very happy to walk by the girl isles in the stores and loves to vocalize her happiness. Its really cute. I think we need to start adding some girly toys since the trucks aren't cutting it for her.  The only way I can put her down without her crying and melting down is to give her some necklaces to play with. 

 She will lunge for things and end up on all fours and will start rocking back and forth.  The boys were crawling by now.  Part of me doesn't think it will happen soon since after a few minutes she is like this:

And will then be very happy when you help her sit up.  She desperately wants to play with the boys legos and will throw her body towards their box of Legos so maybe if she gets desperate enough she might start crawling.  I'm in no hurry. 

And baby girl says Mama.  She will start getting upset and say mama, mama, mama until I pick her up.  I'm pretty sure she knows what she's saying.  Its no wonder thats her first word - its all she hears all day from the boys "mommy!!!"  Its fun she is beginning to talk but how did she get this old so fast....

Its hard to picture life without her.

Happy Monday

This picture just makes me smile. 

Pooch

Meet Pooch. 

He was given to Colin one Christmas by Uncle Opie and Aunt Angela.  Colin and Joel bring their "friends" with them when we go visit people and Pooch came along when we went to visit Ant Ant.   Pooch was accidentally left so Ant Ant started taking Pooch on adventures.  And texting us the pictures.  So far Pooch has been to Ant Ant's work, Dollywood, Virginia Tech twice, a football game, and much more. We all rush to the phone when we get another Pooch sighting. He even snuck in for a football game last weekend.  The hokies are his favorite team - smart dog!  I think Ant Ant is going to make a book for the boys this Christmas of Pooch's Adventures.  I can't wait. 

Today Colin had a minor surgery to remove a skin tag he was born with.  Its ironic in some ways that we went to a plastic surgeon when he was 3 months and decided we would wait until he was older and they wouldn't have to put him under - since its basically two cuts.  We didn't feel it was necessary to take the risks for something that simple.  But then we just did it to our 6 year old.  He wanted to take it off but he needed to be put under because they weren't sure if there would be more they had to remove once they started (and it turned out he had some extra cartilage that needed to be removed as well so its a good thing he was asleep when they did it)

But Pooch came with us to the doctors.  And it was a great distraction.  Colin was excited that this time we were the ones sending the pictures. 

The nurses were great.  They gave Pooch his own hospital tag and Colin said when they took him back to the operating room they gave Pooch his own breathing mask and then made Pooch laugh and laugh with the "laughing gas" they gave him. Colin did great. Poor kid has been to a lot of doctors this past year.  With his asthma he is used to getting lots of tests done while we are waiting in another room.  Back in early March they thought he might have cystic fibrosis since his chest xrays were so bad but thankfully all those tests came back negative. His lungs have been much better with his medication - we've even gone down to a lower dose on one. (and a random story - I got the call about his xrays one day while I was in Target with the boys. I was surprisingly calm for being 37 weeks pregnant and learning my son might have CF but the boys did walk out of there with a new Lego set and a box of cookies.  I had tears streaming down my face the minute we walked out the doors and was pushing a car with two happy boys excited about their new toys and never noticed their mommy crying. Norah's due date was march 20. We had a really important doctors apt for Colin march 21 that we couldn't reschedule. God worked it all out and she was born the 19th and we came home the 20th)  But after all his tests this year it was no problem for him to just walk down the hall without us to the operating room. 

I can't imagine what it would be like if it was a life threatening procedure.  I kept thinking about my friend Abbey who has spent a lot of her sons lives in the hospital with them.  It was so hard seeing him in that hospital bed.  Colin was excited to ride in a wheelchair.  He's been asking me to get him one for over a year so he can be wheeled around.  (I know he doesn't look excited but he had just woken up and was feeling dizzy.  And then threw up in his barf bag on the way home)

I thought it was really sweet of the nurse to put Pooch right next to Colin so it would be the first thing he saw when he woke up.  We did have one scare tonight- Colin was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and I heard a thump and ran to the bathroom.  He was laying on the ground not moving and I screamed to Brent that Colin had fainted.  Brent ran to the bathroom and then Colin started smiling.  Apparently he was pretending to be bone-less and wanted to see what it felt to not have any bones in his body.  Silly boy. Mommy's heart can't take much more of those experiments. 

I am not sure what adventure Pooch will have next but hopefully Pooch will stay out of the hospital for a long long time.  And thank you Pooch for helping Colin not be so scared.

Joel

Joel has been playing with Playdoh a lot this week.  Maybe because he misses his Bubba.  Poor thing is a little lost without his Bubba.  I miss Bubba too - and am also a little lost without Colin.  But I am enjoying getting to spend some good time with Joel.  The other day I was cleaning up the playdoh so it wouldn't dry out and I hear from the other room,  "YES I HEAVY!!!!! I THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!" So I come around the corner and see this:

I guess he thought Norah needed to have a change of scenery so he picked her up and carried her around.  And was extremely proud of himself.  And I would be too - when you pick up someone who weighs almost the same as you I think you would feel like the strongest man in the world. 

 Joel has also likes helping me cook.  On this day he wanted to make muffins.  All by himself. Its a little flour, milk and then some frosting.  Then he asked for fire to be put on it.  (fire=candles) So I sang him happy birthday and my heart just melted at the look on his face.  Sometimes I think everyone needs to feel a little special and sung to on a day that really isn't their birthday...

Brent came home early one day last week when it rained and was there when Colin got off the bus.  A few minutes before we walked down Joel walked into the room and asked us "where is Colin?"  Brent and I looked at each other and I saw Brent a little teary eyed. Joel has always called Colin Bubba. He named him.  we aren't ready for him to stop calling him Bubba.  Thankfully Joel has said Bubba ever since.  These kids.... don't they know they need to stop growing up so fast. 

oh and one more Joel story:
Colin wasn't too excited about going to school one day last week and we talked about how maybe this year he will get an actual snow day from school.  Colin is now praying for lots of snow but Joel heard snow and that if it snows Bubba can stay home from school that day.  So he went into the closet and picked out his heaviest sweater to wear and wore it the whole day in 90 degree weather fully convinced it was going to snow.  Sweat was dripping down his face but he never wavered.  Sadly it never snowed :)  But it was so cute how badly he wanted his brother home. 

First day of First Grade

 This morning started off good.  Joel is in Jedi training...(I think trying to stop Bubba from leaving today. He did not want me to take Colin to school)

 Colin was little excited.  And a lot nervous.  He did really like his teacher at back to school night. And so did I.  Two boys that were in his kindergarten class are in his first grade class so that made it fun for him and also gave him something to look forward to. And I didn't cry that night - I'm making some progress I guess.

I took him to school and he was really talkative. And then we started walking into the school and Colin said very softly, "mommy I'm a little scared" So I hugged him and said it was ok to be a little scared and then we went into school. I dropped him off at his class and he never looked back.  Watching him I just wanted to go give him another hug but its also really amazing to see your children face their fears and almost grow right before your eyes.  I did cry a little in the car on the way home but not anything like last year.

We came home and Kelly, Lucy, and Ellie  came over so Kelly and I could pretend we weren't watching the clock the whole morning :)  Thanks Kelly!  It really helped to have you there and feel the same way and also for Joel to be distracted from not having Bubba there. 

 (I took this picture when we were praying for Colin's day. I just quickly snapped it and love how his hands are the only thing in focus)

It was hard for me when the time came for when I used to get Colin from his kindergarten bus and to know that there were several more hours in the day for him at school.  Joel and I were more than ready to go get him from the bus stop. Colin was ALL SMILES.  Such a difference from last year where the poor kid could barely talk because he stuttered so bad and never said much about school the first month.  He hasn't stopped talking about it all night.  During dinner he said that he just wanted to go right back to school right away.  I am so glad.  It made me so happy to hear that.  I think its going to be a great year for him.  He is one happy happy boy today. 

The day just got better too when I went to get the mail.  Brent usually gets it when he gets home since our mail comes around 5:00 but for some reason I decided to go get it.  There was a letter from our insurance in there and I quickly opened it with a sinking heart since nothing we've gotten from them has been good. BUT it was a letter stating that we won our appeal and that our coverage was accepted.  I started crying - and I'm not usually such a crier but with the whole first day of school and then the whole summer trying to get this appeal ready - the tears came and I couldn't stop them.  Its been this weight on me all summer. 

Its been a wonderful wonderful day full of many answered prayers for school and our appeal. 

Goodbye Summer

Summer - you were good to us and will be missed.