Beach Trip 2012

Our sweet friends, Kristen and Vic, invited us to spend the weekend with them at their vacation beach-house in Topsail Island.  B and I have taken day trips, but never stayed with our family at a beach-house right on the beach.  I was starting school so we had to come back on Sunday, but we had a great time.  It took us almost 3 hours to get there and we followed the O'Janpa's out there stopping a few times for potty breaks.  We arrived around 3 pm Saturday and headed straight for the beach, since it wasn't time to check into the beach-house.  After playing for a while, we headed inside around 5ish and took showers so we could clean off.  Saturday night we headed over to the Caldwell's beach-house (about 11 miles down the road) for a cookout.  Their families picked the same week to vacation.  The cookout was fun and the food was yummy. 
This brings me to the thought about our own family vacations.  B grew up having vacations with his family and all sorts of different ones.  I grew up with vacations being centered around holidays and not really involing much sight seeing or new stuff.  My mom took me to a lot of soccer tournaments and sometimes those felt like mini-vacations because we stayed in hotels.  B and I want to have a family tradition of family vacations, separate from holiday travel.  We spend a lot of our saved money for holiday travel to MS, LA, TX, and OK.  We might not be able to budget for a family vacation every year, but at least every 2 years.  We will also have to alternate between the beach and the mountains.  I love the beach, especially when we can shower off right after we've been on the beach and B loves the mountains especailly when their is skiing involved.  We will have to compromise on that one.  I'm not sure when the ideal time to start family vacations is, since we've never really built it into our schedule, but I guess maybe when B's done with school and our kids are a bit older.  The idea of our family staying in a beach-house or mountain-house for 1 week, without work/school would be so nice....we're not really sure how this feels.  But then again, if B can only take 1 week off for vacation, I would (and I hope he would want it too) want him to use that week for Civitan Camp.  Just thoughts for our future....
So Saturday night we headed back to K/V's house and put the kids to bed and watched the Saints play the Texans.  I was just so excited to be able to see it since all the other pre-season games were not on 'normal' chanels.  I think it was after 11 pm before we went to bed.  Sunday consisted of pancakes by B, scripture reading by B, and then more beach time.  We were out on the beach most of the morning and then inside for showers and lunch.  After lunch we loaded up the kids so they could nap while B drove us home.  I got in a quick catnap too!  After arriving home, we still needed to go grocery shopping for the upcoming week, plus I needed to do a few last minute things to get ready for school.  I was glad we went though, even if for a short time.
We never took our camera out to the beach, but K/V took some pictures for us.  Here's a few to capture our time at the beach.

King of the mountain

B taking R & W out

Family :)

B, K, R, A, W

starting to build a pool

pool almost done

complete!

the kids' sand chair

W

Rin's 1st sleepover

We have amazing friends here in NC and we've met most of them through our church, Crossroads Fellowship.  Our small group meets every week and the other 4 couples have become very close and special to us.  One of the families has a daughter about 2 weeks older than R. Bella and R play really well together and they are at about the same level.  Both girls love to do puzzles, arts and crafts, ride bikes, and play dress up.  We have spent a lot of time with Bell and her family over the summer.  Kristen, Bella's mom, stays at home with Bella, Julia (almost 2) and is due late November with their third girl, Anna Kate.  We are actually going to the beach this weekend with the O'Janpa family and we are looking forward to a beach day before school starts. 

So we brought R over to Bella's house about 5pm on Friday afternoon.  We dropped R off with her sleeping back, her toothbrush, and her bike.  We were not worried by any means, but just reflecting on the fact that R is growing up fast.  It's weird to imagine this being the beginning of her social life.  I guess next will be birthday parties where the parents don't stay???

I'm not sure of what all they did, but I know they had fun.  When I went to pick R up on Saturday morning, she didn't want to leave.  Kristen was so sweet to send me some pictures of them together.  They are cute girls!

camp family

This is just a quick post with a picture of our family from camp.  I look forward to when all of us are at camp for the entire week. 

July 2012
Wes is 14 month, Katie is 29 years, Rin is a few weeks shy of 4, Bryce is 30 years, and Abe is 2.5.  

R's 4 year check up

R turned 4 last week, but her doctor and dentist appointments were this week.  She had a doctor appointment Monday and dentist visit on Wednesday.  I have a feeling that all my kids will go to the doctor and dentists in August before school starts back.  It makes sense in my mind. 

The doctor visit was fabulous until the very end that concluded with shots-four of them.  R passed all her other tests with flying colors.  The vision screening was a breeze and R new all the letters on the entire board.  To test her hearing, R had to wear ear phones and then tell the nurse when she heard a beep.  R would repeat the beep and even change her pitch to match that of the beep.  R weighed 38 almost 39 pounds and was either 46 or 48 inches tall (I can't remember).  Everything from her BMI to her joints, ears, and eyes were great.  Dr. S was on vacation, so we had a replacement doctor.  She was very nice and R told her all about her new bicycle she got for her birthday.  The doctor explained that R needed 4 shots between now and when she started school (next August).  B and I just decided to go ahead and get them done since we were already there...had I known how R was going to react, I would have waited. 

It was taking a long time and W was getting frustrated so B took both boys to the van to wait.  I stayed with R to get through her shots and check-out before getting lunch.  The nurse came in with the shots and R knew what was about to happen.  As Nurse LaLee was getting her first arm ready with the alcohol wipe, R freaked.  I mean she just freaked.  I had to hold both arms down and the nurse had to pin her legs against the bed.  After getting the first shot in, R started screaming "Stop, please stop, I don't want anymore" and crying uncontrollably.  It was unreal.  I've never seen R lose control like this.  She was trying her best to get free, but we wouldn't let her go.  The hardest two shots were the leg shots because R is stronger in her lower half.  I wish B had been in there instead of me.  It has horrible.  I guess I felt like if we had waited, R would have been able to handle herself better in the situation of fear.  That's what it was.  It wasn't the pain, it was the fear of the shot & pain.  R was overcome with this terrified fear and totally freaked out.  It's hard for me to even explain what it was like.  I hope I never have to witness that again from her.  I'm just glad it was over, and after she got a sticker from the receptionist, R was all better and excited about Chick-fil-a for lunch. 

I took R to the dentist with me on Wednesday.  I went first with my cleaning and R waited in a chair in the hallway.  Everyone complimented her on how well behaved she was, just sitting there.   When it was R's turn, she was super excited.  The hygienist first counted her teeth, then poked around in her mouth before polishing them.  After polish, Dr.Smith came in to the check her mouth out.  Her teeth looked great except for a tiny small spot of staining on the back of her top middle tooth.  We just need to do a better job of brushing her teeth and that spot will go away.  We are terrible about remembering to brush, so we started brushing while getting ready for a bath.  I also put brushing teeth on R and A's chore chart.  I know we are supposed to brush morning and night, but at this point, night is the only one I have a chance at remembering.  I'll shoot for morning next summer!

Rin is healthy and thriving.  She's a joy to all those around her and an awesome big sister.  We love you Catherine Elizabeth!

W's 15 month check up

Well I'm a little behind with this entry, but late is better than never right?

Wes had his 15 month check up on August 7 (R's birthday).  Our pediatrician office doesn't have a lab so for blood work, we have to get it done somewhere else and the results are sent to our pediatrician.  W needed his blood taken for a lead test so Monday (the 6th) we went to Rex lab here in Wakefield and got W's blood work done.  W was a champ! The nurse tried to go through his elbow for a vein, but couldn't get one.  After digging in his arm for a while (seemed like forever but was only 2 minutes), she moved to a finger prick.  He didn't cry for that either, it just took forever to fill up the little tube.  We tried to get R's blood taken the same time, but her prescription was expired.  We'd have to come back.

So Tuesday morning was W's appointment and he did great.  At 15 months, W weighs 25 lbs 1 oz, is 30.25 inches tall, and his head's circumference is 18.6 inches.  His weight is above average, but the rest of him is normal for a 15 month old.  Dr. Sevilla checked him out, and W was great for the entire visit.  He got 2 shots at the end and only cried after the second shot.  He didn't cry for long though.  Like I said, he was a champ!


B and I have a concern with W.  We just don't feel like he's talking as much as he should be.  W is verbal when it comes to baby talk and just making sounds.  He can imitate B with almost any mouth noise that he makes.  W isn't really forming words though and that's what we are concerned about.  Dr. S said by 15 months, kids should have 3-5 words other than mamma and dada.  W only has 1 other word and that's night night.  Dr. S said there's no reason for alarm as long as between now and 18 months, W shows great improvement and his vocabulary increases to about 8-10 words.  I sure hope that happens because I don't really want to have to get him into any sort of speech therapy or anything like that.  He hears R & A talk all the time, so maybe that will encourage him to start talking.  B and I talk to W all the time, asking him to talk, but he'll either sign (more, please, all done) or he'll point to what he wants.  He doesn't even say no.  Most kids learn 'no' right after mom and dad, but not W.  He will communicate if he's unhappy, but he does not say no nor does he shake his head no.  I'm sure it will come, and I'm not losing any sleep over it.  Just documenting this concern. 

W is a cute little boy and he's got a joker personality.  He really enjoys making R & A laugh and he's starting to dance when he hears music.  He eats awesome and sleeps great too.  Having a baby/kid like W makes it easy to want more children.  We love you Wesley Blake!

Rin's 4th Birthday

It's hard for me to really get a grip that R is 4.  Since I didn't blog when she was first born, I'm going to recount her birth story as good as I can remember:)

August 7, 2008 was a Thursday and I had a doctor appointment for my 37 week check up at around 10 am.  B and I were both WCPSS teachers so we had the summers off together.  We were prepared to be sent to the hospital because I was already dilated 6cm.  I believe the reason I was so dilated was because we had been to Civitan Camp for youth week in July and I was still very active-working out at the gym daily and walking with B and Cooper every evening.  I'm not sure if labor and delivery is genetic but it's pretty close to how my mom was when she had both Bubba and myself.  She worked a full day, and then went to the doctor and was sent to the hospital after dilating 5cm.  So when Doctor Moody checked me, everything was good and normal.  I was still 6 cm dilated, but 100% effaced, so she sent me to the hospital. Dr. Chawla was on call and welcomed me at Rex.  By the time B and I made it over to Rex and got in a room, it was about 12:30pm.  We turned the Cosby Show on because I love the Cosby Show and knew it came on at 12 and again at 12:30.  Dr. Chawla broke my water at 12:30 and it was the strangest feeling ever.  It was like I pee'd a bunch on myself and it was warm and just overall yucky.  Everytime I had a contraction, more water would squirt out.  The plan was to give me a few hours and see how I progressed.  At 2:30, I was only like 7cm, so it was time to start pitocin. B and I had heard horror stories about pitocin and knew that it was something we wanted to avoid if possible.  I totally trust my doctors and knew that they were the professionals and followed their orders.  Once the pitocin started, my contractions changed like crazy.  They were much more intense, and close together.  It was crazy how things changed so quickly.  After another 2 hours, I was ready for the epidural....but unfortunately, I was dilated all the way and ready to push.  My nurse told me it was too late.  So I pushed and pushed and pushed.  I must have not been doing it correctly because I made no progress for the first hour and a half.  Finally I asked how long they would let me push before just cutting me open and the nurse said the limit for pushing was 3 hours....I was ready for a section right then and there.  But finally Dr. Jacokes came in and watched me push through one cycle and said I was doing it wrong.  She sat down with me and worked through a few cycles of pushing with me and our baby was delivered 30 minutes later.  I wish she had come a lot sooner!  I was very frustrated that I had been pushing so long but ineffectively.  Lots of women say that pushing comes naturally, but not for me.  I had no idea what I was doing and was very thankful that Dr. Jacokes worked with me.  She looked at the monitor and told me when to start and counted through and told me when to relax.  That's exactly what I needed.
So at 6:26 pm Rin was born.  She weighed 7 lbs and was 21.25 inches long.  She was a long skinny baby:)  We had a lot of visitors while in the hospital.  B/J Spence stayed with us the entire evening almost and J Caldwell came by.  The Foss's visited along with Lauria.  We loved having visitors and they kept coming after we got home too.  Everything else was a little blurry, but R hit her milestones in a normal range.  She crawled at 10 months and walked at 14 months (when A was born).

Let me fast forward to R at 4 years old and she's a lot like both me and B.  She's pretty tall for her age and skinny.  She's very verbal and loves to talk. She's tenderhearted and a wonderful big sister.  I see typical "first born" personality traits in her, like following the rules and being responsible. We go to the doctor next Monday for her 4 year wellness visit, so I'll have stats next week.  As for her birthday, let me post some picture from our fun.

Even though Rin's birthday is the 7th, we had our family celebration Monday night.  We let Rin pick dinner and instead of choosing chick-fil-a like I thought she would, she wanted cinnamon rolls for dinner.  Since she was the birthday girl, we had cinnamon rolls, bacon, and blue-berry muffins for dinner.  After dinner we let R open a few gifts.  We got her a bike (that was the big one) and A got her a 'brave doll'.  B's parents sent her a helmet, basket, bell, and streamers to go on her new bicycle.  We planned to go riding at Joyner park the following day and R was so excited!

About to open the gift from Gran and Papaw!

basket

helmet-safety first

doll from the movie Brave

cute

We started our day out at the doctor for W's 15 month check up and planned to visit Joyner so R could ride her new bike, but it was raining.  A quick change of plans landed us at Kidventurez. A while back, I purchased a groupon, so we were able to cash in on that deal.  The Gillam girls and O'Janpa ladies met us there.  The kids played for 3 hours with lunch in there somewhere.  Here are a few pictures from the morning.

Birthday Girl (4 years old)

Sweet Wesley (15 months)

Silly Abel (exactly 34 months)

Playing dress up

Friends

The gang

After Kidventurez, we headed home for naps and I had some cooking/baking to do.  We decided instead of a party, we would just have some friends over for dessert.  Kristen was making cupcakes and I also planned for brownies and oreo pie.  I was also going to bake cookies, but B told me we had enough dessert so I left those out.  Our guests would come at 6:30 so I got to cooking in the kitchen.  I accidently mistimed everything so when it was time to put our pizza casserole in for dinner, the oven was full and the food needed more time to bake.  I was about to panic, when B called Ms. Mary across the street and asked if we could use her oven.  She was so sweet to let us bake our dinner in her oven!  I was embarrassed that I had such horrible timing.  Anyways, our friends came over and we had a good time (at least I hope).  Here are some shots from R's birthday celebration :)

Rin with Aiden

Buddies

Most of the friends (minus Logan)

B and I are just so blessed by the friends that God has placed in our lives.  For a 3 turning 4 year old, of course R was interested in presents, but I constantly reminded her that's not the point of her birthday.  I almost wish she didn't have any gifts, but I know this is typical and normal for kids.  She went to a birthday party not but 2 weeks ago and saw the little girl opening gifts.  I know gifts aren't bad, but desiring material things is.  Our job as parents is to raise kids knowing Jesus and longing to be like him.  I do not believe Jesus would have wanted more presents on his birthday than the 3 he received.  R actually brought that up to me one time when we were having the "gifts are not important discussion".  She said, but Jesus got three gifts on his birthday....and she's right...but we use that logic for Christmas presents.  I guess we will have to think of something else for birthdays....R's a smart chica! 

 

"Happy Birthday Rin"

An awkward but necessary conversation ;)

Last week I had an awkward, but necessary with conversation with R about #1 and #2.  We have never used those names before, but I thought that it might be time to introduce those to her vocabulary.  Our normal words are just pee pee and poo poo.  So last week sometime, we were in the restroom somewhere (not at home) and R decided that she needed to poop.  Since we were in a public bathroom, I thought about how it would have been more appropriate to say #2.  I then tried to explain to R that pee pee was #1 and poo poo was #2.  I thought she understood until she said "except for when I poo poo first, then poo poo is #1 and then I go pee pee and that's #2".  I had a difficult time trying to get her to see that #1 and first aren't always the same thing.  Usually if you finish #1, then you finish first, but in this case, pee pee is always #1.  I can see how it was confusing because in her 3 year old mind, #2 means second.  And why not?  It's the second number when we count.  It's the second place finisher in the Olympics (and we watch a lot of Olympics right now).  When we order things,  #2 is always the second picture chronologically.  At first I wasn't going to blog about this, but when I shared the funny conversation with B, he said that I would want to remember this for a laugh in the future...he's probably right.