Ma Ma

He said it - for real...not just a fluke, Cooper really called me ma ma ma ma ma!!!! How cute! And he waved for the first time tonight. Like the "bye-bye" wave. He's never done that before either. He's growing up so much. Cooper absolutely HATES to have his diaper and clothes changed and HATES to have his face wiped off. He screams bloody murder and wiggles and flips over and throws his head back...anything but to have his clothes put on in the morning. Makes things a little difficult. But as soon as the last button is done, he's a happy camper. He's trying to play more and more with his big brothers, who have been really good about it - except when Cooper grabs their hair.

James is just a good boy (as good a s a 3 year old can be). He's just very sweet. I love getting his hugs when Ken gets him home from daycare, or when I get home from work...he makes me feel so special because he runs to me to get his hugs and kisses. He's recently been voicing his concern about the monsters at his granny's house - not sure what that's about. I'm always worried about what he might remember, and if he's confused. I love when I have alone time with him, like if I take him to the grocery store - just the two of us.

After about 2 weeks of daycare madness for Nathanael, things are calming down a little. It's inevitable, no one will ever love him like I do. He is so very hyper, I can totally understand any daycare worker getting frustrated and exhausted with him. But like I told him, when he hits and kicks people, they can't see all the sugary sweetness that Jesus put in him. At church, Nathanael sings, claps and raises his hands in praise...not that he knows the words, mind you, he's singing his own tune, but he knows he's singing to Jesus. We've had so many people comment to us about how precious he is during praise and worship. Maybe I should ask them to help me put him down for a nap in the afternoon!! But truly, he IS precious.

Numbers

# of diapers a week: 60
# of pull-ups a week: 7
# of bottles Cooper drinks in a week: 35
# of sippy cups filled per week: 14 (2 kids x 7 days)
# of times those sippy cups are filled a week: 48
# of "tuck me in again"'s a week: 14-20
# of baths given a week: 21
# of loads of laundry per week: 10
# of times I say "how do you ask nicely?": 4,000,000,000,000
# of boo-boos kissed a week: 500 - 1,000
# of times I tell my boys I love them so much and that they are precious: countless

Just a Nice Night

The weather was great tonight - finally a break from the heat. James suggested we have a picnic for dinner, but we have ants in the yard, so we sat outside on the back porch and had a nice relaxing dinner - no, really - the boys provided a nice relaxing dinner. Then a tractor went by our house and the boys were dying of excitement, so we started walking down to the end of our road so they could see it. Turns out it was a guy who owns land way at the end, so we had a LONG walk, and i was holding Cooper! Man, he's heavy! The boys were so well mannered and said "can I please look at your tractor?" What a difference 11 months can make! I have to pat Ken and I on the back...by no means are we perfect, and we lose our patience, and we let the boys go to bed without brushing their teeth sometimes, andwe let them drink too much chocolate milk, but overall, I think we have perserveared and done a good job at 'civilizing the farrel cats' as Ms Reed put it. They are the most precious babes anyone could ask for.

Poor Cooper

He's been a sick little fella. Started Monday night with a fever, which I thought was from getting a new tooth. Tuesday morning - still a fever and very lethargic. Daycare called at about 11:00 saying he had slept all morning (NOT Cooper) and now his hands and feet were very dark blue. I told them I was on the way, and I called 911 to get an ambulance there because if he was deprived of oxygen, I didn't want to wait at our sorry a-- emergancy room. By the time I got there, his coloring was fine, he was just lethargic still. Oxygen levels were normal. EMT suggested he may have had a seizure, and to take him to his regular doc. Spent several hours there - testing blood, urine, etc. Couldn't find a thing (still lethargic and sleeping). Said it was probably a virus that would last a few days. Call back if fever goes back up. Ken took him to his mom's for the remainder of the day so we could go back to work. He woke up at 5:30 with a temp of 104. Called doc. Give Tylenol and a cold bath. If that doesn't help - take to emergancy. Needless to say, we ended up at urgent care and turns out he has double ear infections. My poor little baby. They gave him 2 shots of antibiotic to get it in his system quickly. He had a terrible night of sleep last night, but seemed his bubbly self this morning, thank goodness.

In other news...the boys' biological grandmother and grandfather (not the great g-ma that took care of them...the crack head ones) were in a terrible drunk driving accident and the g-ma is in critical condition. Ken saw it in the newspaper. I talked to aunt Beth about it and she said their daugther's 19 year old boyfriend was driving them on a 'crack run' and they were all drunk. Crazy. Aunt Beth also told me the baby's name is Anna, not Gracie Lynn. Huh....? Who knows? Beth saw the boys' bio parents at the hospital and when she asked where the baby was, she wouldn't answer her.

weekend wrap up

I few things from the weekend:
Friday night, we all went to Lowe's Hardware to buy paint and then went to eat at Andy's, where the boys get thier food served to them in a car, and they get stickers at the end.
Saturday, Ken, the boys and I painted the dog house...well, the boys painted - themselves, the grass, and a little paint got on the dog house, but they had fun, so that's all that matters. We followed up painting with playin in the water hose (to clean them off!). Saturday afternoon I took the boys to ride thier bikes in a church parking lot near us. We took Cooper's little riding car and he got the hang of pushing forward! It was so cute! Nathanael got another bonk on the head...his accidents always look so bad, I think beacuse he's so little, it just looks like a rag doll flying through the air, but he comes out with minor scrapes. This time, I was putting Cooper in the baby swing and Nathanael started towards the playground on his bike. I saw that he was picking up speed, so I started screaming "hit your brakes!!!" I ran toward him, but there was no way to make it...he headed down the stairs (luckily only 4 of them). He held on till the end, and then went over the handlebars. He got a scrape on his head, but nothing more than a few tears. He may be little, but he's mighty!!
Today was relatively low key. We went to church, and played around the house this afternoon.
Personally, I am psyched the Olympics are on.

Depot Park

Still no pictures since I washed the camera...

Tonight was a total picture taking night...so I'll just have to remember it fondly! I took the boys to Depot Park, which is a little park in downtown Sanford where there is a train engine the boys can play on and on Thursday nights in the summer, they have live music. Tonight was bluegrass. So I loaded the boys up, we drove to town, stopped in Gregg's restaurant (my friend I ride bikes with) and got the boys smoothies, and walked over to the park. We met my friend Kelly and her son Javi there. And it was just a fun evening. Nathanael and James danced and clapped their hands and were the hit of the show...alot of older people in lawn chairs. Another little girl from the daycare was there, so she joined in the fun. I had the boys in matching outfits. It's the first time I've done that, and I have to say, it was totally adorable. After playing on the train for awhile, it was already past bedtime, so Kelly helped me pack up the crew and we headed home. All babes asleep within 10 minutes of hitting the sheets!

Over the weekend

Nothing overly exciting to report, just updating you on the boys. Let's see - Nathanael had a great week overall with his potty training. He went to daycare and all evening activities in underware. He had an an accident at daycare twice. And that's it. I thought that was pretty good for his first week! Don't want to jinx myself though!

Friday morning, I was getting the boys dressed, and I swear James is growing out of things like crazy! I put on 3 different pairs of socks that were too small. I said "you are grwoing like a weed!" almost immediately, James relpied with "I need my own lawnmower." I thought that was pretty clever of him to think of - so I cracked up of course and so he added that he also needed his own weedwacker...the sillly little things in life are sometimes the funniest.

Yesturday (Saturday), Ken was working, so I took the boys to San-Lee Park. Their favorite (and my least favorite) part was looking at the snakes - yuck! Nathanael had a pretty rough fall and had a quarter-sized goose-egg on his forehead. He got running down a steep hill and his body was going faster than his feet and he just flew forward and practically bounced off his head. Good thing he's strong-willed. After a little crying, we stayed and hiked the trails a little more until it was too hot to stay. We left and went to the Sanford Flea Market and met my friend Bev there. We got some fresh fruit - the boys nawed on peaches, and then they played on the "real life choochoo", followed by running around in the water fountain. THat was the most fun - it was HOT. Then we went over to Cafe 121 that my friend Gregg owns and we got fruit smoothies - then home for a long nap!!

And lastly, Cooper is officially eating solids. Not everything of course, but peaches, crackers, french fries, cookies. He didn't like scrambled eggs or peas, but we'll try them again.