Today's Highlight

"Mommy when I grow up, If I can't marry you, well then I am just not going to get married. "

Noah Travis Givens - Age Four

A Clean House

I had to work two days this week. Yesterday, the boys went to Kellie's house and had a great time. I went to work today and Kellie was not available, so Denise Crosby came to my house to watch the boys. When I left for work, my house was a mess. However, when I walked in from work, my house was clean. Not only had Denise done a great job babysitting, she also had swept, vacuumed, done the dishes and even mopped the floor. A clean house is something very rare around here. I was so excited, I called Joe to bring home supper so I would not have to mess up my kitchen cooking. Joe was very impressed that I had managed to work all day and then come home and whip the house into shape. After much internal debating, I finally confessed that it was not his wife, but the other Denise who deserved the credit. Many thanks Denise, you made my day... and my weekend!

Two Babies For A Day

I kept Tres today for Wade and Celeste. For those of you who do not know, Wade is my cousin. He and his wife had Tres exactly two weeks after we had Jonah. Tres is a good baby and we had a great time. I did not realize how much Jonah and Tres looked alike until Noah got them confused today! He really enjoyed having two babies in the house. In his words... "I think we need two babies all the time!"

Boys and Their Toys

Here is the story behind this golf ball. The point is to get the floating golf ball to rest on the top off the golf tee. My OBGYN has one in his office. I think it is to give the man something else to think about other than what the woman is going through. Joe picked it up every time we went in and got addicted to the thing. On Christmas morning as we were opening gifts from Santa, the golf ball game appeared. Supposedly from Santa to Noah. (Just so you know, Noah tossed it to the side and "Santa" immediately picked it up.) Joe was determined to master it. So much so that he even took it to work with him. One day Joe came in from work with the golf ball sitting on the tee. He had driven all the way home holding it so that it would not fall off. Of course he had to get the video camera out so others would believe it. As you can see for yourself, we really do lead a rather boring life!

Yet Another Doctor's Visit

I know it seems that all I do is write about doctors and puke, but lately that has occupied most of our time. First let me begin by saying that Jonah is much better. We have reached the conclusion that he is allergic to soy. This week it is Noah's turn to visit the doctor.
We made it out to the egg hunt yesterday and everyone seemed to have a great time. Just as we were leaving, Noah fell. I did not see it happen and Noah's retelling of the event gets a little more dramatic every time. (Wonder where he gets it from?) Anyway, he kept complaining that his little finger was hurting. In the ten minutes or so that it took for us to get home, his pinkie finger was the size of his thumb. He was able to move the finger some, so I gave him some Tylenol and he seemed O.K. By this morning, it was even more swollen and he could not move it at all. So off we went to the doctor to see if it was broken. Thankfully it does not seem to be broken, just a severe sprain. We left with a brace and instructions for fifteen minutes of ice at least twice a day. Noah's biggest concern now is if he will have to sit still for the fifteen minutes of ice. He is trying to come up with a way to dig in the dirt and ice his hand at the same time.
I am really hoping that this will be the last time I have to write about doctors for a while. Somehow, I don't think that will happen unless I wrap the boys (including Joe) in bubble wrap and never let them leave the house!

Happy Easter

It's 5:oo on Easter Morning and as soon as I post this I am headed to bed. Joe and I have been up all night with Jonah. I gave him a bottle of formula yesterday evening and it did not go well. He threw up all night to the point that he stopped breathing several times. We were on the verge of calling 911 at about one this morning. I think the worst of it is over now. Jonah is asleep on Joe's chest. We still aren't comfortable with having him out of our reach.
I really wanted to attend sunrise service this morning, but it does not look like it is going to happen. I will not be able to stay awake, and I do not want to drag Jonah out. He probably will need to sleep more than either myself or Joe. I think his little body is exhausted. I hope we will be doing better this afternoon so we can take Noah to Aunt Rita's house. He is really looking forward to hunting eggs.
Easter sunrise is my favorite event. It is a moment filled with such hope. I pray that each of you are blessed this Easter. HE IS RISEN!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Uncle T.J. in Texas. We are so happy that you will finally be with family on your birthday. We just wish that we could be there as well. Maybe next year? We love you and hope you have a very happy 28th. Throw the diet out for a day and at least have a piece of cake!

Normal?

I really don't understand this. I thought I was fairly intelligent until today.

Count the "F's" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

(see below)

How many did you count?
If you are like me, you only counted three. If you are like me and read it again you will only count three. It took my third time after looking at the answer before I admitted I was wrong, there are six! Read it again. The brain cannot process "OF" - incredible or what? Supposedly anyone who counts all six "F's" on the first go is a genius. Three is normal, four is quite rare.
I thought this was way cool at first. Then my husband came in and counted six on the first try. Now I can't help but be really depressed. Not only is my husband a supposed genius, I only counted three. Counting three is "normal". I have been called many things but I don't believe "normal" has ever been one of them. I'm not saying I wanted to be genius, but quite rare would have been nice. Tell me, how many did you count? Are there any more "normal" people out there?

New Babysitter

Since Mom is going to Texas to visit T.J. and Holly for a few weeks, I had to get a fill in sitter. I only work two days a week at the most, so I have never really had to rely upon anyone but my mom. Kellie Mixson said she would be willing to help me out. This morning was the first time I left the boys with her. She has two boys, a three year old and a one year old, so I was sure that she would be good with the kids. However, I was a nervous wreck this morning wondering how Noah would react to a new environment and if Kellie would be able to handle Jonah. I even typed up and printed out three pages of instructions for her. I had to force myself not to call all day to see how they were.
When my day at work was finally over, I rushed to go get them. She still had all of her hair, and agreed to keep the kids tomorrow, so Jonah obviously was not too difficult. I should not have worried about Noah even for a minute. He cried all the way home because in his words, "I wanted to live there forever." They must have had a busy day because both boys were asleep before 7:30 tonight. It is such a relief to find someone who will take care of my babies that way. Now I can go to work tomorrow and actually concentrate on what I am doing.

Willie Blue Fishy

Noah has a blue beta fish named Willie Blue Fishy. A few nights ago, after being told not to, Noah decided to feed the fish by himself. In the process, he dumped half of the bottle of fish food in the bowl. Upon seeing this, Joe said something along the lines of "what are you trying to do, kill him?" At this point Noah breaks into tears because of course he wasn't trying to kill his fish. While Joe tried to calm Noah down, I tried to get the fish taken care of. After I dug through the fish food for a while, I finally found him, got him out, cleaned the bowl, and got him back in. I think the shock of everything was a bit much for such a tiny little fish.
Yesterday, Willie Blue Fishy was floating backwards near the top of the water. I watched all day as it got worse. I could not stand the thought of the fish dying and Noah thinking it was all his fault. Joe was working late, so I dropped the kids off at Mom's house and headed to Wal-Mart to buy another blue beta and switch them out before Noah noticed. When I got home, Willie Blue Fishy looked worse but was not dead. I could not bring myself to flush a live fish down the toilet, so I decided to wait until this morning to take care of it.
Yep, you guessed it, this morning Willie Blue Fishy was swimming around as if nothing had ever happened. Not only did I make a trip to town for nothing, now I am stuck with $3.57 fish that is identical to Willie Blue Fishy and can't go in the same bowl.

Easter Fun Day

Today was the annual Easter Fun Day that the Sunday School puts on. The boys had a great time. Noah played lots of games and won lots of prizes. His favorite was the jumping castle. Jonah enjoyed being outside and getting cooed over by everyone. The puppet ministry that came was great and the clown performance was very funny. Noah was scared by the clown at first but was soon laughing. After such a big day, I hope the boys hit the bed soon and sleep all night, I know I sure will!

No More Soccer

Hallelujah!!! Soccer is over. Today was Noah's last game and it could not have come quick enough. Noah decided a few weeks ago that he no longer wanted to play soccer. He wanted to quit and play baseball. I refused to let him quit, thinking that I was teaching him an important lesson about finishing what you start. Boy was I in for it! I think he tried to do everything in his power to embarrass me enough that I would just take him off of the team. Last week he stood in the middle of the field and dug a hole while everyone else played soccer around him. This week was totally humiliating. I noticed that Noah seemed to be rather aggressive toward the other players. By this I mean that whenever he ran by someone he would stick his arm out to purposely hit them. This progressed to all the other players being chased off of the field by my son because they were afraid that he was going to smack them. AAARGH!! I could have died of embarrassment. By the way, Noah will NOT be playing baseball. If he runs the players off the field in soccer, just think of what he would do with a bat!

No More Puke

I have been afraid to post this before now because I did not want to jinx things, but I think that we have finally "fixed" Jonah. The medicine has almost completely stopped the vomiting. We still have the normal baby spit-up, but nothing like before. A big thank you to everyone who prayed us through this. Jonah is enjoying life so much more now and we are all enjoying him. Noah has been such a good big brother. Noah is very gentle with Jonah and I love watching how they interact with one another. I know it will not be long before they are fighting over toys but for now it is a beautiful sight.

The Doctor's Office Again

Jonah has been doing much better since we have started with the newest medicine. I had cancelled the appointment with the specialist on Monday and was looking forward to a week with no doctors. I had such plans for the day, clean the house, practice soccer with Noah, get baby food made up for Jonah, the list goes on and on. My plans however went out the window when Joe called at about 10:00. He apparently had slipped while getting off the loader at work and in the process of trying to catch himself, ripped a gash in the palm of his hand. We ended up at the doctors office with him getting six stitches and a tetanus shot. For those of you who know my husband, this was no easy task. My Joseph is wonderful, but he can't stand needles or blood. He even leaves the room when the dog has blood drawn. Thankfully he made it though this time without passing out, although there was one time there that I was a little worried. I wanted to video the whole thing for future blackmail, but I figured as the supportive wife, maybe that was a bad idea. I did manage to get a quick picture of Joe and Noah just before they started stitching!
Silver lining in it all... Joe has to take it easy with his hand for a few days. This means no work and more time at home. Yippee!!

False Teeth And Deviled Eggs

Today at the dinner table, while comparing whose teeth were "sharper", Uncle Roger took out his false teeth and showed them to Noah. The look on my son's face was priceless. Memories came flooding back of when I was a little girl and my Uncle Bill took his teeth out and showed them to me. I remember spending hours in front of the mirror trying to get my teeth to come out. I was sure everyone would be impressed when I learned how to do that trick.

It is amazing that the older I get, the more I want my children's childhood to be like mine. I grew up surrounded by both my Mom and Dad's very large families. As strange as they all were (and still are) I would not change that for anything.

I love that now my family has dinner every Sunday at my Grandmother's house, surrounded by lots of other family. Amidst all the chaos and arguing over who ate the most deviled eggs, my children are not only experiencing the love of their family but are making memories that they will hopefully cherish for a lifetime.