Past, Present, and Future

As the new year is beginning I thought I would reflect on 2010, think about what is going on right now, and what might be to come in 2011.  The first thing that comes to mind when reflecting on the past year is how much the boys have changed.    Hayden went from being 6 mths old to 18 mths old so of course a lot of changes took place.  He began walking at 11 mths old in May and in June we celebrated his first birthday.  We had a cookout with family and close friends.  Since then he has learned to jump right in there with Daddy and Isaac when they wrestle, is feeding himself more and more, and has in the past month started to say more and more words.  I feel like he is on the verge of saying a lot!  He tries a lot of words now and really seems to pay attention when others are talking to see how to say a word.  He understands a lot and is great about shaking his head yes or no when you ask him a question.  Isaac went from being 3 to 4.  Isaac became a big brother when he was 2 1/2 and has been a great big brother ever since.  He didn't show as much jealousy as I thought he would and he really seems to enjoy Hayden.  I think he has my love for little ones.  Sure there are times as Hayden has gotten older that they will fight over a toy or both want my attention at the same time, but for the most part they get along great and I love to watch them interact.  You can already see the love and the bond that they share.  Hayden adores his big brother and Isaac loves his little brother.  This past Summer Isaac became quite the swimmer!  He has always loved the water.  We were going to try and set up swim lessons with someone that Terry works with, but that never worked out so Terry just taught him different times that we were at the pool.  Terry's parents' house in Tallahassee, Florida has a pool so he got a lot of swimming in there.  By the end of the summer he didn't want to wear his swim vest and was jumping off the diving board and coming back up to the top of the water by himself (although we always made sure that one of us was close by in the water).  This past Fall we decided to continue building his swimming skills by signing him up for lessons at the Collins Hill Aquatic Center.  I probably signed him up for too basic of a class, but I didn't want him to be in over his head either.  Another milestone for Isaac was starting preschool this past Fall.  He goes Mon, Wed. and Fridays from 9:30 to 1:30.  At first he wasn't too crazy about saying goodbye each morning.  Most parents drop their kids off in front of the school, but you can also walk them in to their classroom.  He was fine if I walked him in, but he didn't like for me to just drop him off outside.  I think he didn't like seeing me drive away.  There were some tears shed, but he pretty quickly got used to saying goodbye whether I walked him in or dropped him off.  He is loving school and his teacher, Ms. Heather had a lot of positive things to say at the teacher/parent conference in the Fall.  She said that he always reminds her of things she needs to do and she said that he is one of the brightest kids in the class.  I know there have been many more wonderful moments in the boys' lives over the past year, but of course I can't cover them all now and now that I am blogging I can record more of them in the coming year!

When I started thinking about Terry and I, I first thought well we haven't hit milestones, we haven't changed in the past year, but then I quickly remembered that there have been significant moments in our lives as well.  I really believe that God is working on both of us.  This past Fall I decided that I wanted to plan a Ladies retreat for our Bible class.  I did this a few years ago and really enjoyed it.  I knew that I needed a weekend away and that many others needed one as well.  Although a little stressful at times I really enjoyed planning it.  We had a great time!  Also this past Fall our friends Brent and Robin who have been Upreach leaders for our Bible class for the past 6 years (with help from different people at different times) asked Terry and I if we would take over this role.  They had been fulfilling this responsibility for a long time and needed a break.  I love organizing events, I love our class, and I wanted them to have a break so I was anxious to say yes, but didn't want to do so unless Terry was on board.  I knew that he was having his busiest, most stressful school year that he has ever had so I wasn't sure if we would want to take on another responsibility.  He knew how much I wanted to do it and agreed to take on this role with me.  Well, right after we were asked to do this an announcement was made at church that our long time preacher had been having an affair with the previous children's ministry leader.  This was a big shock to all of us, but I was proud of the way our elders and everyone handled the situation.  For many of us instead of turning us away from Campus this renewed our commitment to this church family whom we love.  We didn't want this to tear us apart, but instead make us closer and stronger.  Robin and Brent decided that it wasn't the right time to step down as Upreach leaders and committed to leading with Terry and I.  Our friend Taylor who had been teaching our Bible class was asked to preach in the auditorium so Terry stepped forward and said that he would teach.  He said that being asked to be an Upreach leader and then with what happened with our minister he felt called to take a leadership role.  He spent many years when he was younger working in youth ministry and now works in a leadership role as a teacher and head of his department at GACS so for the past several years he was happy to let others lead at church.  He said that he thought many times, the men in our class should step forward and teach.  He realized that it was time he stepped forward and took more of a part in our class.  He has done such a great job as a leader and a teacher.  He has walked our class through the Experiencing God book.  He has a great way of getting his point across with music and stories and takes in everyone's comments as well.  About a month ago Terry was asked to become a Deacon at our church.  I am very proud and blessed to be his wife!

Well, I took quite a bit of time talking about the past year so I will try to make my present and future thoughts a little shorter.  When I think about what is going on right now it is what has happened in the past year continuing.  The boys are continuing to change and I love watching them grow (although I wish they would slow down a little bit!)  Terry is going to continue to teach our class and we are looking forward to continuing to lead in our class.  The women's ministry leader asked me to be a small group leader for our upcoming Spring retreat for our church.  This is something that I have never done before.  I am a little nervous, but mostly looking forward it.  As I mentioned earlier, Terry is have a very busy year and it has been pretty stressful for him so we will both be glad when it is over.

The future, hmmm...I really don't want to make predictions because that has gotten me in to trouble in the past.  See I like to plan and know what is going to happen and how it is going to happen and when it is going to happen, but I have learned that it is best not to make plans, but instead watch and listen for God's perfect plan for our lives.  I have found that when I make plans I get caught up in how I think things should go and get a false sense of being in control.  However, when I completely put things in God's hands I see things work out perfectly.  As many times as I have seen my plans fail and God's succeed I still have many moments where I try to make plans and be in control.  You would think I would have learned by now!  Why are we so thick headed and slow to learn!  Well, fortunately God is forgiving and willing to give us as many chances as we need to get it right so I will keep on trying to give up complete control.

From swim trunks to snow boots

   What a different, but great Christmas we had this year!  Terry's parents, sister, and ourselves decided to make use of their vacation club membership and rent condos in Pompano Beach, Florida the week of Christmas.  I knew this would be quite different for this Northern raised girl, but I was looking forward to getting away and to the warmer weather!  We stayed at a place called Wyndam Palm Aire Resort and it was very nice.  We each had a 2 bedroom condo that were a good size.  The resort had 4 heated pools, a small put-put golf course, playgrounds, a spa, and an activity center for kids.  I have to make a little side note here to explain what we did at the beginning of the week.  I love Christmas and everything that goes with it, decorating, baking, looking through toy catalogs, shopping for others, and the anticipation in our kid's eyes as well as getting and decorating a live tree.  So, before we left I got out our Christmas decorations and I so wanted to get a tree, but I told myself that it didn't make sense to spend money on and put up a tree when we were going to be gone before, during, and after Christmas.  I told Terry how much I wanted a tree and he assured me that we could get one in Florida.  So, that is what I wanted to do the day after we arrived in Florida.  I wanted to get it as soon as possible to get more into the Christmas spirit and to be able to enjoy it all week and so we did.  I don't think Terry was thrilled about going through the hassle of putting the tree on the car, lugging it into the condo, etc. when we would only be there for a week, but he didn't complain. He followed me around as I picked out a tree, a stand, a tree topper, and lights (I brought ornaments from home) because he knew it would make me happy!  I love him so much!  When we got the tree set up Mimi, Papaw, and Aunt Lauren came over to help us decorate it.  It was great!  A favorite memory.
   It wasn't quite as warm as we hoped it would be, but of course we didn't complain because we knew it was a lot colder back home.  One of the reasons I was hoping for warmer weather was so that Isaac could do what he loves to do, spend a lot of time in the pool.  The mornings started off in the 50s or low 60s and eventually warmed up to the high 60s or low 70s.  Those temperatures aren't too bad, but it was also windy most days so it seemed even cooler.  We did still go to the pool some since they were heated, but we usually didn't stay much longer than 30 minutes if that.  Besides playing with Isaac and Hayden in the pool I also wanted to get some sun so one morning while Mimi, Terry, and the boys went to Walmart I laid out. It was pretty warm that morning and it was great to just relax by myself.  We didn't spend a lot of time at the pool, but we found plenty of other things to do.  One afternoon the resort was serving ice cream sundaes by the activity center so Isaac and I got one and then he made a craft in the activity center.  He painted a soccer ball bank. We then watched the 2nd half of a movie that they were showing.  That was one of my favorite afternoons because Isaac and I got to spend so much time together just hanging out.  At home there is just always so much to do that I rarely get to spend that much time with him one on one.  One day Isaac, Hayden, and I made our first annual Christmas train.  Last year we attempted a gingerbread house which turned out to be a disaster.  It was so hard to get the sides to stick together, Isaac took a bite out of one side before we got it put together, and it was just hard to manage so this year I wanted to try something different.  I had found a cake pan that made different train cars. We made a train track with black licorice and then put the train cars on it and decorated them.  We used gummy life savers for wheels and gumdrops, licorice, and sprinkles to decorate the cars.  I was happy with how smooth it went and how well it turned out.  That is also another favorite memory of the week.  Another favorite memory was watching Hayden light up on different occasions, try new words, and sing la, la, la, and ho, ho, ho to different Christmas songs.  His ho, ho, ho was my favorite!
   One morning we all went on a sight seeing boat called the Jungle Queen.  It took us by million dollar homes and to a small island where they had alligators, exotic birds, and monkeys.  It was a little chilly on the boat, but we had a good time.  That afternoon the resort had an animal show.  Terry, the boys, and I went to that.  They had a lot of different animals and the boys really enjoyed seeing them all up close.  During the show we ran into a family that Terry knew that used to live in Atlanta and were vacationing there as well, small world.  Wednesday night Terry and I had a date night thanks to Mimi, Papaw, and Aunt Lauren.  We debated about what to do, but in the end decided that what we always enjoy is just a nice dinner out.  I asked the concierge desk for recommendations and got several.  I looked at all their websites and chose a restaurant called Sea Watch.  We had a good dinner and a nice evening together.   Thursday afternoon Terry, the boys, and I went to the beach.  It was probably in the low 70s this day and the wind wasn't too bad.  This was really Hayden's first experience at the beach.  The only other time he had been to a beach was when he was 4 months old (Daytona Beach close to Thanksgiving), he wasn't feeling well, and he stayed in my arms the whole time.  I took his shoes off and let him walk and he seemed to like the sand, but when we got to the water and saw some small waves he wasn't too sure about that.  When the water hit his feet, he started to cry a little bit, and backed up.  He was content to play in the sand for a while, but after I coaxed him to try it again he got used to it and seemed to like it although he still needed us close by for reassurance.  Isaac saw a young man playing a banjo and wanted to go by him several times so that he could see him playing.  We stayed for about an hour and then needed to get back so that Hayden could take a nap.  On Friday Terry went fishing out on a boat with his dad and uncle.  Terry is not a big fan of fishing, but his dad loves to fish and so he went to spend time with him.  They left early and were gone all day.  Terry is a good son!  Apparently Terry caught his first fish when he was sleeping!  Then he caught a couple more.  While they were fishing Marjorie and Lauren wanted to take me and the boys to a mall that they had discovered the day before.  It was called Sawgrass Mills Mall.  It was a huge mall and it had this play place for kids that was like nothing that we had ever seen before.  It was called Wannabe City.  It was basically this huge indoor city for kids where they can try out different jobs.  They could be doctors, photographers, firemen.  I can't even explain it well enough to do it justice.  I have been to hands on play areas for kids before, but this one was better by a long shot.  It also had a city fair where there was rides.  Marjorie and Lauren took the boys to it, while I finished up some Christmas shopping.
   Christmas Eve I made Italian Sausage and Tortellini soup, we made sugar cookies for Santa, sang a few Christmas carols, Marjorie gave us each an ornament that we put on the tree, and the boys watched a Care Bears Christmas movie.  Saturday morning Hayden woke up early like he had been doing pretty much all week, but I was able to get him to go back to sleep in bed with us.  We ended up sleeping until 7:40 which is late for us.  I had Terry stay in the bedroom with Isaac and Hayden while I made sure everything was ready (Marjorie was going to add some things to everyone's stocking).  Terry said that while I was doing that Isaac said "I don't understand why we have to stay in here.   Most kids just get to run out.  I guess it is because we are in a condo."  We had a fun morning opening presents.  Santa Claus was good to everyone.  Another nice part of this trip was that I got to meet and spend time with quite a few people in Jim's family that I had heard about, but never met.  Jim's mother lives with her daughter and son-in-law and we went over there for dinner one night.  That evening one of Jim's brothers joined us for dinner.  Another evening Marjorie and Jim had Jim's mother, sister, and brother-in-law over for dinner and another brother and his wife came as well.  Christmas day we went back to Aunt Sharon's house and there I met her daughter, son, and some of her grandkids.  Isaac especially hit it off with his new cousin Taylor who is 6.  Isaac also liked their dog Max, but Hayden wasn't too sure about him.  After we got back to the condo we had a small birthday celebration for Isaac.  We put candles in the train cake and sang to him and he got a few presents.
   We took off early the next morning to head home.  On the way to Florida we broke up our trip into two days, but on the way home we decided to do it in one day.  Most of the time I don't get motion sick, but a couple times in the past couple years I have when I have been on a long trip, looking down, and moving around to give things to the boys.  I had taken a Dramamine the first day of our trip to Florida, but not the second and I was fine so I didn't take one before our trip home and I thought I would be fine. I also had packed everything up and didn't know where it was.  Well, that was a mistake!  It was very windy on the way home and after just an hour or so I started getting a headache and feeling nauseous.  After just about 2-3 hours I started throwing up and did so a total of about 5 times over the next few hours.  I couldn't believe I was so sick and we still had such a long ways to go.  Terry asked if I wanted to stop somewhere for the night, but even though I didn't feel well I just wanted to get home.  I had eaten breakfast before I got sick, but I didn't eat anything the rest of the day.  We had heard that there was snow in Atlanta Christmas day so we weren't sure what the roads were going to be like.  As we got closer to Atlanta we could see a little bit of snow and Terry said he could see some ice, but the roads weren't bad.  Isaac was excited to see the snow and touched it as soon as we got out of the car.  We got home about 8:15 and got the boys right to bed.  We had a great time in Florida, but were glad to be home.  It is true that there is no place like home!  When Isaac went to get in bed he said "My bed is lower."  He has a low car bed and he had been sleeping on a regular bed at the condo.  I have to mention something else cute that Isaac said, on the way home he said "Am I 4 now?" and when I told him that he was he just got a big smile on his face.  The next morning he asked the same question and when I said yes he said "But I am the same height"  I assured him that he has grown a lot in the past year.  That morning the boys were eager to go out in the snow even though there wasn't much on the ground.  We couldn't find Hayden's gloves so his poor little hands froze when he touched the snow.  I eventually put socks on his hands so his hands would at least be a little warmer.  We had a great vacation and Christmas and now we are unpacking, doing laundry, and packing for our trip to Nashville!

Another Successful Birthday Party!

Yesterday we celebrated Isaac's birthday a couple weeks early with a great music themed party with family and friends!  Since Isaac's birthday is Christmas day we usually have his party a 2-3 weeks before Christmas to separate it from Christmas and to have it at a time when people aren't quite so busy with the holidays and can join us to celebrate Isaac.  This year as Isaac and I were talking about what the theme of his birthday party should be we talked about either cars or music.  I think at one point he asked if we could do both, but I told him we needed to pick one and he chose music which I was excited about because Isaac has always been all about music!  He loves to sing and he loves all instruments, but especially the guitar and drums.  I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a parade with instruments.  So, I had a banner that said Happy Birthday Isaac that the kids could decorate for the parade.  They had fun doing that and it looked really cute.  Then they got their coats on, each picked an instrument, and headed outside.  I tried to get them to line up on the side of the house, but it was a little chaotic with 9 kids as I expected it would be. None of the kids (except my niece, Kate) wanted to hold the banner because they were all holding instruments.  I needed to hold Hayden so he could keep up with the bigger kids so one of the moms helped Kate hold the banner.  They walked down the sidewalk playing their instruments, went across the street, and back towards our house.  It was a short parade (pretty cold out), but hopefully the kids thought it was fun.  Then we had lunch which consisted of pizza, chips, and fruit salad followed by cake.  I debated about whether to have Isaac's cake made or make it myself.   I thought that I wouldn't mind making it, but that I wanted it to go along with the theme and I didn't think I would be able to find any cake toppers that were instruments.  I looked around and as I thought I didn't find any so I decided to order a cake from Publix and let them draw a guitar and drum set on the cake.  Then when I was looking for decorations a man that worked at Party City suggested that I go to music store that sold instruments to see if they had anything that I could use for decorations.  I went to a music store in Buford and didn't find decorations, but they had instrument ornaments!  I saw a drum set and guitar that I knew would work perfect for cake toppers and cancelled my cake order at Publix.  It was so cute to see Isaac's big smile as all his friends gathered around he and the cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  Isaac then opened his gifts which included two saxophones.  He also got a microphone from grandma and grandpa which was perfect for our boy who loves to sing!  A while back he had told Mimi (Terry's mom) that he wanted drums so she told him that she might get him a drum set for Christmas.  This was a big deal and something that came up often in conversation from that point on.  He was so excited and just couldn't wait to get his drums at Christmas!  Well, Mimi and Papaw decided to surprise him and give him his drum set for his birthday.  He was very excited and sat right down and played.  All the other kids then took turns.  It was funny to see some of the kids holding their ears, it was quite loud!  All in all I would say it was another great birthday celebration.  I have to say though that during the planning for it as well as at times during the party I was a little frazzled.  This year more than any other I have felt a little stressed trying to plan his birthday party and get ready for Christmas (as well as getting ready to go out of town in less than a week)  We have thought about the idea of having his party on his half birthday in the summer or waiting until January to have his birthday party.  We will see which he would prefer, but I need to remind myself not to do it in December again.

So much to be thankful for

Well, I am going to try to recap the last few days without writing several pages.  I tend to be wordy and detailed when I am recalling events.  I want to try to capture events without being too lengthy with my posts.  It was great to have my parents and my sister and her family at our house this year for Thanksgiving!  I really like having family visit.  The boys loved spending time with their grandparents, and aunt and uncle, and had a blast playing with their cousins.  When family visits the house is filled with love and laughter!  Everyone arrived on Wednesday and settled in.  Thursday morning Mom, Angela, and I started cooking.  We had discussed what we would have ahead of time and each had our dishes that we wanted to prepare.  The kids were having fun playing at the house, but since we weren't planning to have our big meal until 5:00 we knew that it might seem like a long time to them if they didn't get out of the house for a little while.  Okay yes, we thought some peace and quiet for a little while might be nice for us as well.    Dinner ended up being closer to 6:00, but it was well worth the wait!  After dinner we went to the Gwinnett Fairgrounds to see a Christmas light show that we had read about in the newspaper.  When we got there we were directed to turn our radios to a certain station and the music for the light show was played.  The lights were synchronized to the music perfectly and it was really neat.  After the light show we parked and got some cotton candy and hot chocolate.  William and I went on a train ride with the kids.  It was basically a tractor pulling something that kind of looked like a train and basically did circles in the parking lot.  The kids enjoyed it, but it was kind of comical.  Santa Claus was also at the light show, but the kids didn't seem to eager to sit on his lap so we decided that we would do that another time.  Friday Mom, Ang, and I decided to check out the Black Friday sales.  We like to shop and appreciate a bargain, but were not willing to get up at the crack of dawn to stand in lines.  We left about 10:00 with no big agenda other than just looking around and enjoying a mother-daughter day.  We each got a little bit accomplished as well.  Saturday about noon we met our friend Sara who is a photographer at park to have her take our picture.  We have never taken a professional big family picture and thought it would be nice to have.  The sun was shining, but it was only in the high 40s and windy so we were pretty cold.  Of course it was hard to get all the kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time, but the kids did well and there were some pictures that turned out very nice.  After the photo session the boys and I took my dad to the airport and Mom and the Cliffords went to IKEA where we met them after the airport.  After a long afternoon and evening at the IKEA the kids were tired, but Isaac said something about roasting marshmallows.  Well, I had forgotten, but of course Isaac hadn't.  When we went to the light show some people were roasting marshmallows and Terry promised the kids that we would do that at our house one night.  So, Terry made good on his promise.  While we were at IKEA Terry went to Walmart and got marshmallows and coals.  We set up a fire on a small grill on our back patio and the kids were delighted!  My mom and the Clifford went home after lunch today.  It was really a great 5 days with family!  As I am sitting here typing and thinking about our time together I am finding that it is hard to put into words how much we enjoy being together and the memories that we made.  It is really fun to watch all the kids personalities grow.  We were constantly commenting on something one of them said or did.  We always love being together, but it was especially nice to be together for Thanksgiving.  In Bible class this morning Terry had us share what we are thankful for and as he said we could go on and on and on about all our blessings!  I am thankful for so much, but right now I am thinking about all our wonderful family, those we were just with and those we weren't with, but are always in our hearts.  I will be posting pictures soon.

Furlough days aren't all bad

As economic times are hard and everyone is trying to find ways to cut corners to save money, school systems are cutting days off the school calendar.  The down side is obvious, a cut in pay, but the upside is more time with family which I love and in my opinion you can't put a dollar amount on!  Due to fewer school days, Terry and I have the whole week off for Thanksgiving this year.  Since we are both so busy during the school year we always have a long list of things that we want to get done given a free day or two.  On the top of Terry's list was cleaning out the garage which has become more of a storage for junk then cars.  So, on Monday I took care of the kids until 2 so he could sleep in and then clean out the garage. Then I took off for a while and looked around at the mall.  I wanted to see if I could find a new top for myself for the family picture we are going to take on Friday as well as possibly buy a Christmas gift or two.  I found a sweater that I may or may not wear for the picture, got a Christmas present for a family member (I can't let out any secrets) and got a Christmas present for Isaac.  His present I can talk about since he can't read yet and therefore won't be reading this.  I am having a lot of fun thinking of ideas for him this year because there is so much he can do and so many things he likes.  Of course I can't get him everything he points to in all the catalogs that come in the mail, but one thing that he has consistently asked for lately is an Ironman mask and glove.  The funny thing is that he has never seen the movie and doesn't even know who the character is, but since it is a popular thing right now he has seen it often in stores and catalogs and I guess something about it attracts him.  I had  a moment where I thought I don't really want to get this for him, but once again I had to remind myself that it is not about me.  My thoughts quickly turned to how excited he would be to get this so I put it in my shopping cart.  Today it was my turn to sleep which was a real treat.  My two main goals today were to clean and to go to Walmart to get all that we would need for Thanksgiving and for the next few days.  I asked Terry to take the boys somewhere for a couple hours so I could really clean.  He took them to an inflatable place at Discovery Mills Mall.  It was wonderful to have the house to myself where I could concentrate on cleaning.  The 2 1/2 hrs that they were gone went by so quickly!  I didn't get all my cleaning done, but I did get a lot accomplished and I appreciate Terry so much for taking them!  He is always so great to take care of the boys if I need to run errands or if I need him to take them somewhere so I can get stuff done.  He is an awesome husband and daddy and I am so blessed!  When they got back it was nap time for the boys and time for me to run to Walmart.  When I got home I unloaded the groceries and made dinner while Terry and the boys continued to play.  After dinner I cleaned a little more, but also got in some play time.  It has been a busy couple of days, but we amongst our busyness we have also spent some time playing together.  Last night it was fun to watch as Terry and Hayden chased each other around.  Terry would hide behind corners and Hayden would laugh.  This morning the boys and I played hide and seek.  I hope we get the whole week off again next year!
Tomorrow Mom, Dad, and the Cliffords arrive and I am so excited!  This is the first Thanksgiving at our house.  It will be so great to all be together!

Recap of the week

I need to find time to write more often.  I really want to capture our daily life and reflect on as many moments as possible.  The problem is finding the time and the energy.  There are usually so many things that I want to get done during the day that I put off writing until the boys are in bed.  By the time the boys are in bed I either have things that I still want to get done before I go to bed and/or I don't have the energy to write.  I enjoy writing, but it is a process for me that takes time to think through.  Enough ramblings about that.
This past week was a good week, but difficult because Hayden has been sick since Tuesday and Isaac also had a day on Wednesday that he ran a low fever and wasn't feeling well.  Hayden really started having a yucky nose on Monday, but by Tuesday he was definitely sick.  Tori said he had a hard day and was just coughing and puny.  Wednesday morning Isaac woke up and felt warm and complained of his head hurting which he never does so I knew something was up.  I took his temperature and it was 100. something so I decided to keep him home from school.  Throughout the day he ran a low fever between 100  and 101 and complained of his arm and leg hurting.  I guess he was just achy from the fever.  Hayden continued to cough and have a yucky nose and ran a fever at about 100.  Since the boys both had a low fever I decided that I better stay home from work on Thursday.  Thursday Isaac wasn't quite 100%, but he was much better.  Neither one of them ran a fever, but Hayden was still coughing.  I debated and debated about whether to take Hayden to the doctor.  I have this debate with myself every time the boys are sick!  I know that it is probably just a cold that has to run its course, but then again I don't know for sure and question whether it could also be an ear infection or something else that is treatable.  I just hate feeling like I can't do anything to help them to feel better and if there is even a slight chance that something can be done I want to take them in.  Well, Thursday morning I made an appointment for Hayden for 11:30 and then at 10:00 I cancelled it because I had decided that it was probably just a cold that they couldn't do anything for and he had been acting better as the morning went on.  Well, when he woke up from his nap at 11:00 he seemed worse!  I decided I would just wait and see how he was before thinking about making another appt.  I decided to take the boys to Discover Mills Mall because I just needed to get out of the house.  I don't know if that was the best thing to do, but I decided that since they weren't running fevers and weren't going to be interacting with other kids it would be okay.  Since Hayden wasn't getting any better and if anything seemed worse I took him to the doctor on Friday.  Before going to the doctor though we stopped at Isaac's preschool for their Thanksgiving lunch.  Again I debated about whether to do this since Hayden had a pretty nasty cough, but didn't want to not be there for Isaac and decided I would keep Hayden in his stroller.  Isaac seemed happy to see us and we enjoyed having lunch together.   Then Hayden and I dashed off to the doctor which luckily is just down the street from Isaac's preschool.  As I originally suspected, the nurse practitioner said that Hayden had a cold that just needed to run its course.  She said he didn't have an ear infection and his lungs were clear.  I was thankful that he was okay, but not happy that there wasn't much I could do to help him feel better.  Saturday morning Isaac and Terry made their weekly run to Walmart and went to SAMS as well.  Have I mentioned that I love that they do the weekly grocery shopping each Saturday?  While Hayden took his morning nap I started cleaning out the van.  I got some junk cleaned out, but I didn't get a chance to finish before Hayden woke up.  He hasn't been napping long because his coughing wakes him up.  The rest of my day consisted of cooking.  Our Bible class had a potluck after church this morning so Saturday I made a macaroni salad and an apple caramel cake.  Then I made a lasagna for dinner.
Okay, so now we are up to date.  We took Hayden to Bible class with us this morning because I didn't want him to cough on all the other little ones.  He and I sat in the back while Terry taught and he was pretty good. He wasn't loud, but he just never stopped moving!  He is a very active little boy even when he doesn't feel well!  After church our class had a potluck.  I always enjoy potlucks however it was a little bit of a struggle with Hayden not feeling well and being tired by this time.  Hayden had woken up a couple times in the middle of the night so I was tired as well.  So, on the way home I told Terry and the boys that I wanted a long nap for my birthday and that is just what I did. As soon as we got home Terry took the boys outside and I laid down.    It is very unusual that I take a long nap and it was very nice!  After dinner we went to PF Changs for my birthday.  I love their calamari, the honey shrimp, and the banana spring rolls for dessert!  Hayden was fussy at times, but Terry was sweet and took both boys outside towards the end of the meal so I could have some peace and quiet and order dessert.  Once we got home Terry and the boys gave me a card with a homemade gift card in it good as any store.  Gotta love that!  It was a good birthday.
So, this past week wasn't real exciting and it has been difficult at times because Hayden doesn't feel well and it shows!  But this week is going to be wonderful!  Hayden I'm sure will start to feel better, Terry and I have the whole week off from work, and mom and dad and the Cliffords are coming Wednesday for Thanksgiving!

Soaking It All In

I am enjoying taking it easy this Saturday morning.  I have a million things to do, but for now I am just going to take it easy and enjoy our two precious boys!  This morning started with my early riser getting up at 6:20 which is actually sleeping in a little for him.  He ate breakfast and then we played in the playroom as we always do.  As soon as Hayden hears daddy or Isaac coming down the stairs he gets so excited.  Isaac was first this morning at 6:50.  As Isaac started walking toward the playroom Hayden ran to him and gave him a hug.  He loves his big brother!  After Isaac ate breakfast we played in the family room.  At one point Isaac said to Hayden "I will always take care of you Hayden"  Later he told Hayden that when we go camping that they will be in the same room and he will take care of him.  They have their share of fights, but it is great to see how much they love each other!  After we played for awhile Isaac decided to make pictures for those who will be coming to his birthday party.  He wanted to write their names on each one so I helped him with how to spell each name and write each letter.  He knows how to write some letters (A,T, L, I, O, M, C, S, H, J), but still has a lot to learn.  I love that he is so eager to learn.  Daddy came downstairs about 8:00 and the boys were delighted to see him!  They both wanted to help him make coffee.  Terry usually plays with the boys in the mornings and then takes Isaac with him to Walmart, but this morning he has a deacon's meeting.  I am very proud to say that Terry was recently asked to be a deacon at our church.  I am very blessed to have two precious little boys and a wonderful husband!