Lemons

Had to write this one down quick before I forget!

Elijah was harassing Sammy about something or another, so I said, "Elijah! You're pushing it!'
E: "What am I pushing, Mama?"
Me: "Your limits!"
Long pause...
E: "But why am I pushing my lemons?"

:)

My cutie boys!

Explainin'

Sorry, you guys. Every once in a while things get to a place on this (public) blog that I don't like, and that happened again. I apologize for the deleted post/comments, you guys! I appreciate your feedback, but didn't feel it was a good use of blog time.

Since one person claimed to judge and another inquired about some of my statements in my previous post, I wanted to further explain how we handle Elijah's constant questions.

We provide Elijah with plenty of answers! He is repetitive and inquisitive to the point where it is obsessive. When he asks, "Mama, what's his name? Who is that?!" We provide him with legitimate responses: "I don't know, Honey." Sometimes we say, "Who do you think it is?!" and we let him provide a story. But this doesn't always help. It can go to a place that just is not productive.

No matter what we do or say, Elijah becomes extremely obsessive. As I stated in my last post, Elijah's behavior is not always productive. Yes, he is only 5 years old, but we AS HIS PARENTS, recognize behavior that isn't necessarily appropriate and try to redirect it. We know what is best for him, and we love him more than anything in the world (right along with Sammy!).

Please trust that we are caring for him as best as we possibly can. We love this boy!

We have been on a long journey with Elijah and I sometimes assume that everyone reading knows us as a family. I realize this is not the case, so I will be sure to explain things as well as possible from now on!

Productivity

One of my main thought patterns lately has revolved around productivity. I am constantly thinking back to my working-full-time days and how unproductive I was in every aspect of my life. I literally scraped by for years, not doing much beyond the bare minimum. But NOW...if I am not doing something that is genuinely productive in some way, I feel like I am letting myself (and my family) down. And it feels good! I actually accomplish worthwhile things these days! At the end of (almost) every day, I feel great about what I have accomplished, even if that just involves giving my boys tons of love.

I have also been more aware of my boys' time and how productive they are. I allow Elijah to play Angry Birds for about 10 minutes every day, and that is IT. It is not a productive use of his time, but in very small doses I'm fine with it. Elijah is SMART, so so smart. He is constantly asking questions..."What's his name? Where is he going? Whose car is that? Whose horn was that?" (seriously, CONSTANTLY)...so in the past few days I have started telling him that the answers to those questions aren't necessarily productive.

We need to start directing his inquisitive nature toward productive activities. Things that are going to stimulate his smart brain (not Angry Birds). So tonight I asked Dan to begin chess lessons!

He did pretty well for his first time! I need to figure out what other productive activities I can place before him this summer because it will be here quickly! Hours on end at home without cognitive stimulation=not good for our 5-year-old.

I did not have this inquisitive nature when I was his age. This is all new to me. I am hoping we can feed his need for obtaining all kinds of information in productive ways!

1st heart anniversary!

Today is the 5-year anniversary of Elijah's first open heart surgery! We are so proud of how far you have come, our brave boy! I will never forget that day, and the days to follow. Daddy, Sammy and I love you so very much.

Sammy and Elijah are drawn to each other. They always want to sit in the same chair together, even though they start swiping at one another's faces after 60 seconds. They are becoming more and more interactive, but usually things don't end well. Dan and I have to be ON those two so they don't harm one another! But we know they love each other very much.

Sammy is constantly letting out a stream of sounds that don't always make sense. Elijah, with his obsessive/perfectionist tendencies, has to know EXACLY what Sam means to say every time he speaks. "What does DAH-DERRR mean???" This is seriously a constant stream, and it can get rather annoying. We have to remind Elijah all the time to be patient with Sam and his speech. One of the words Sammy says a lot is his word for CRACKER, which comes out STATUE. Elijah gets almost mad at Sam, saying, "He's saying STATUE! WHAT is he saying?!" This goes on and on and on. "Elijah, please be patient with your brother." "Sammy, please stop screaming the word CRACKER."

Sammy has a few fears that have been existent since he was a baby. He does not like loud noises (cars, motorcycles, airplanes) and there have been a few balls that he has been truly frightened of (??). For the past few days he has been TERRIFIED of the bath. I'm talking exorcist-like screaming and thrashing, and I am not kidding one tiny bit. I put him in the bath tonight, and then started fearing that he might drown himself. This lasted just long enough to get his hair barely wet. It was terrible! If our neighbors were anywhere near our windows, they must have thought an exorcism was taking place! I have no idea what is going on with that.

I have been trying to teach Elijah appropriate behavior lately. He sooo likes to be silly and say silly things, but those silly things are not always appropriate. He and Sammy like to make animal noises and call each other different animals, but he has to learn that calling a girl at the park a "cow" isn't necessarily nice. So we have been going over all of that. He started calling me "old lady" a few weeks ago, just because he doesn't know any better. I have started telling him that that isn't a nice thing to say to people (after hearing him call his OT an "old lady"), so we are working on alternative phrases. Tonight I taught him to call me, "Pretty lady!" :) I'll take it!

And here is when they start to get annoyed with each other...

We are also working on NOT POINTING FINGERS.

This week flew by! We have no idea what is in store for the weekend since our lives revolve so much around the weather. Have a fun, safe weekend, everyone! Thank you so much for checking in!

Potty, poo, dz and bro love

Friday while Elijah and Sammy were sitting in the blue chair watching Super Why on my phone, E said, "Mommy?" I peeked around the corner and said, "Yes?" He did the sign for potty. I asked him if he had to go potty and he said, "Yes!" and ran to the bathroom. And went. With no complaining. And his pants were totally dry. Hmmm. I'll take it! He never tells us that he has to go potty and never initiates it on his own. I'm hoping this is a step in the right direction! Then he kept his underpants dry during nap time, which is a big deal. He did pretty well over the weekend with just a few accidents.

I took E to see his urologist today for the first time in a couple years. We wanted to completely rule out having any physical hindrances to using the toilet. What we found was a little bit surprising! Without getting too descriptive, he is very backed up. This is something we did not think was an issue AT ALL. I was shocked. And apparently this can be a reason for delayed success in potty training. We will attempt to take care of that, which will hopefully help out a bit. If things aren't improved in three months, we will take him back for a renal ultrasound to make sure everything in his kidney is functioning properly.

Before we arrived at the hospital today, I said to Elijah, "Wouldn't it be fun if we saw Dr. Gremmels while we are here?" And sure enough, just as we were walking to the elevator, Dr. G walked out. It was quite the coincidence since he is one busy man! We chatted for a bit, he asked E how he was doing and told him he liked his haircut. Elijah was beyond excited to see his most favorite doctor! It was a nice little surprise for us. We love Dr. G!


I wrote these on Facebook the other day, but thought I would share these Elijah funnies from the day:


While eating his SpongeBob mac-n-cheese I saw him scrutinizing one of the noodles. "Look, Mom! It's the Eiffel Tower!" I looked at it closely and said, "Uhh, I think that's Patrick, honey." "Oh."

Then he saw a photo of Ryan Gosling and said, "Look at THAT guy! He's so cuuuute!"


Upon learning he could play Angry Birds for a bit after breakfast, Elijah happily said, "I WOVE YOU, MAMA! Happy Christmas, sleepy lady!"

I'm not sure if I have mentioned on here how much Sammy loves the tv show Super Why. It's a show on PBS and if there were any show for my child to be obsessed with, it would be that one. They review letters, uppercase and lowercase, and small words, and they also teach a good moral lesson during each episode. I realized a few weeks ago that Sammy knows his letters, thanks to this show. 


We had a fun weekend at the dropzone. Exhausting, as usual, but it is always fun. The boys ran and played so hard that they will need to go to bed early for at least three nights to catch up!

The other day while Elijah and I were lying down for a nap (he has been taking naps since being sick last week, which is NICE), he said to me, "Mama? I fink we should get Sammy a piñata for his birthday."
Me: "Oh, that would be fun!"
E: "Yeah. I fink it should be a cupcake piñata."
Me: "What a thoughtful idea!"
E: "Yeah. And I fink we should get him a Super Why toy. From Target."
Me: "Wow, honey! That is really thoughtful!"
E: "And we should have his party at the dropzone again this year and let him eat cake."


As un-kind as he is to his brother a lot of the time, this was so nice to hear. He loves his bro! Today after spending most of the day away from him (Dan had Sam with him while E and I ran from school to the doctor to OT/PT), Elijah said, "I want to see Sammy!" :)


Here we are, at the start of another week! Have a great one, and thanks for checking in.

More sickness and a great kindergarten meeting

I mentioned that E had a slight fever last night, right? Well this morning he had another, but it was super low-grade, and technically not even considered to be a fever. I should have known, though, since his "normal" is well below 98.6. He went to school and all seemed to be fine. I brought him and Sammy to their old daycare for a few hours this afternoon so I could get a few things accomplished. When I picked them up Elijah felt fine and was acting fine. He was his usual chatty self on the car ride home. We walked in the door and I turned around to find Elijah lying on the couch. I asked him if he was ok and he said, "No, Mama. My tummy hurts." I took his temp and it was 101.5. Then he started pointing to his chest and saying that hurt, too. Of course my mind went straight to his heart, and panic was starting to set it. I called the doctor and they wanted us to come in right away.

He has a double ear infection and strep! What the heck?! He has never in his life had strep, and only once before had an ear infection. So we are on antibiotics for 10 days, and contagious for 24 hours. Sammy got tested, too, and so far so good.

We had a ton of fun weekend plans! :( If everyone is feeling ok tomorrow evening (post-contagion), we will resume said plans.

Elijah's kindergarten prep meeting this morning went great. His current teacher provided the new staff information about Elijah, every little piece of information she could think of. And based on what she had to say today, she knows that boy pretty darn well. He has been sooo blessed with amazing care! After she was finished talking, I had the thought that nobody (besides Dan and I) could have explained him any better.

His current teacher explained his "quirks" (tendency to talk gibberish when anxious, arm flapping and tendency to get obsessive about things) his deficiencies (gross motor and anxiety surrounding that and also his need for assistance with potty still) and his strengths (social skills and his brains). The new staff seemed very receptive to everything and by the end of the meeting they were super excited to meet him.

His current teacher and Dan and I all requested that he receive the most nurturing kindergarten teacher possible. He really does need a good balance of nurturing with a sprinkling of firmness. Without the firmness, his smart manipulative side tries to get people to do everything for him. Those who know better know that he is a very capable little lad!

Back when we went to kindergarten round-up last month, the three Jackson kindergarten teachers were lined up and immediately upon seeing them I pointed to one and said, "That's her. That's the one." I knew immediately which one would be best for Elijah. Later, when we were checking out the classrooms, I approached her (fighting back tears) and introduced ourselves. She was very kind and warm. I loved her immediately. I have had it in my mind since then that she would be "the one" that I have been praying for since he was born.

Well, guess what?! She just happened to be in the meeting today! She said she remembered us and was again very kind. I told Dan when we left, "That's her!" :) I hope so! We will find out in July for sure.

I can't say enough how blessed we feel, and have always felt, about the care Elijah has received. Thank you, God!

Thanks for checking in! Please pray with us for NO CROUP tonight.

Parks and friends

On Dan's day off this week we took the boys to a different park for a picnic and play-time (since we are getting a bit tired of the same ol' parks in our neighborhood). What you see in this photo is the happy time before the madness. Soon to follow was Sammy's fall on the gravel, resulting in a bloody lip and many many tears. 

Do you see the turquoise ("light blue" by Elijah's standards) slide in the background to the left? It was literally just finished being installed when we arrived, so Elijah and I were the FIRST ones to ever go down the slide! And do you see how long those slides are? Can you believe that our cautious boy went down both of them all by himself multiple times?? He did. I was proud. He did not stop running up those stairs, which is a great sign.

Sammy has been battling a little cold this week involving green snot and extra sass. Tonight when I put Elijah to bed he had a mild fever (ugh), so I gave him some Tylenol and a big smooch and said a prayer that he will feel fine in the morning.

We have been spending a lot of time at parks in these nice-weather days. I have been observing a lot of behaviors at said parks, both from other kids and my own. I won't get into the behaviors of other children because I could write a novel on that and it would be mostly negative. I will tell you what I have observed about Elijah. Nothing surprising, and they are all things we have known for a while but it is still all interesting.

HE LOVES PEOPLE. When a new kid enters a playground, he gets extremely excited. His little arms start flapping like he's going to fly off the planet. "Mom! What's that kid's name? Where does he live?" Sometimes if he is feeling confident, he will approach other kids and say, "What's your name?" Once the other kid wants to start running around (because most do), Elijah withdraws and usually starts talking gibberish (not good).

He physically cannot keep up. Not even close. He is just slightly ahead of Sam with his gross motor skills, which puts him 3 years "behind" his peers. And I can tell it makes him a little bit sad. It definitely hinders his interactions with other kids his age. Because he is more slow climbing stairs, he does NOT like people being behind him. Ever. I think he feels like he is going to get trampled. He constantly lets everyone ahead of him until he is the last in line. He will not go down a slide if other kids are on the playground equipment with him. He has to be the only one or else he will let everyone in front of him.

The other day he was telling me about the monkey bars at school and how a friend of his was hanging from them. Then he got this super sad look on his face and said, "But.....I cannot do that, Mom." Ohhh my heart hurt for him! He wants to be able to "hang" with his peers so badly, but just cannot. I said, "I know, honey, but you will! We are working so hard on it!" "I know, Mom."

We saw one of his classmates at the park the other day and he was running circles around Elijah and climbing and jumping and hanging. Elijah was trying soooo hard to do the same things. He would take one step up the climbing wall after his friend but then would step back down. His classmate would say, "Why aren't you coming?!" And Elijah would start his nervous gibberish talk, which means he doesn't want to talk about it.

I used to always think he would catch up eventually, but at this point I'm not so sure. I know that he will keep progressing, but he will always be well behind his peers in the physical/gross motor sense. And I guess that really only "matters" during these really young years when kids are so active. I have prayed, and continue to pray, SO HARD for him to connect with a friend in kindergarten who will not want to run around the playground at top speed and dangle from the monkey bars. I pray that he finds a patient little pal who will stick with him and hang out with him because he is smart and funny and friendly. I envision that friend being a girl because up to this point all of his good buds have been girls.

And speaking of kindergarten, Dan and I have Elijah's kindergarten meeting tomorrow with his new teachers, and current preschool teacher. We will put our two cents in regarding his care next year. I'm curious about it and don't really know what to expect. I just know how much we adore our boy. We will always be his biggest advocates!

Heartbeat 5000

Last summer I got connected with a fellow heart mom who also lives here in the Cities whose name is also Megan and whose heart baby is also Eli! Megan and Eli were kind enough to visit us after Elijah's third open heart surgery last summer, and she has been a huge source of comfort for me. We have shared with each other that it is strongly on our hearts to help other heart children and their families to get the best, most comfortable care possible. I would like to ask for your help with an upcoming 5k called the HeartBeat 5000 that is taking place on June 23rd. Megan and I have created a team for our Elis called Double E. We would love support in any way you are willing to give! Whether it's a donation or whether you join us for the walk/run or if it's just an encouraging email or a prayer. We appreciate anything!

Our anniversary and our fiercely independent Sammy

Sunday was Dan's and my sixth wedding anniversary. Last night we got out for our traditional lovely dinner, and afterward we sat on our patio pondering the past six years. Six years ago we had no idea what kinds of adventures were in store for us! It has been quite the journey, and I realized last night how very very very blessed I am to have had Dan next to me through all of it. There were times in the past year (I'm talking months at a time) when Dan was VERY patient with me through some very dark and scary crap. Honestly, if roles would have been switched, I don't know how patient I would have been. To think about it now makes me realize how much Dan loves me and what a patient and incredible husband he is.

I woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to share more about the past year, and I wrote a lot of it out...but I don't want to freak anybody out. :) I will sleep on it. (I see that I accidentally posted a portion of it, so some of you got the story! So there it is! I guess it was meant to be that some of you know about the craziness. :)

So let's talk about Sammy for a bit, our FIERCELY independent young man. He certainly has his own ideas all of the time. A few examples..

He woke up from his nap today INSISTING that he wear "BOO SHIRT!" as seen in the below photo. Ok, Sammy, but it's warm outside, and... "BOO SHIRT!" Okie dokie, so on boo shirt went. Then we came inside and he said, "BOO SHIRT OFF!" Ohhh-kaaay, off blue shirt went. "WOBOT SHIRT!" And on went robot shirt..

And the puzzle you see in the background? He insists on putting that puzzle together all by himself, except, well, he can't. If I try to help him he yells, "NOO! NOO!" and runs away. So what I've started doing is putting the correct pieces next to each other but not snapping them in and walking away. Then he will happen upon it and click the pieces together and say, "'ook!" "Oh wow, Sammy! You did it!" Then I'll sneak back and set a few more pieces up for him.

Sammy and I often frequent the grocery store together. We usually do it while Dan is at work and Elijah is at school. But it's a bit stressful, even with just the two of us. He will NOT sit in the front seat of the cart without screaming his head off, so I usually end up putting him in the main part of the cart on his butt. The only thing that will keep him on his butt is if I set an open container of blueberries next to him. I always pray that the person checking us out will have compassion (some don't) and understand that it was necessary to eat them before purchasing. Because every time, ALL of the blueberries are gone before we get to checkout. I'm just glad it's blueberries and not candy!

Today Dan and I took the boys to a park for a picnic and park play. We could tell Sammy was a little bit extra tired. He went running across the playground toward the swings and I ran after him. He tripped and fell hard on the rocky pavement, hitting his face on the ground. He cut his lip and was bleeding a bit and cried sooo hard. :( He has scratches on his nose and upper lip. Poor guy. I hate seeing my boys in pain!

That's about all for now. We have beautiful weather this week in Minnesota, and we are loving it! We are excited for the weekend. Lots of fun adventures ahead. Thanks for checking in!

'Roid-ing

Elijah hasn't been on a 5-day course of steroids since he was a baby, and now it's all coming back to me. I am remembering those tired, crazy days very well, except now in 5-year-old terms. WOW. The past few days have been nuts! Elijah always has always had obsessive/repetitive tendencies, but when he isn't feeling well those tendencies become magnified times a thousand. Our home has not been a peaceful one this week. Since stopping the meds yesterday, things have gotten ever-so-slightly better. We're hoping for more progress in the next few days. I'm wanting my sweet Elijah back!

The little boys and I went to the dropzone for our first visit of the season today. Both boys were obsessed with the swing set (Elijah is finally swinging on big-boy swings!), so I can see what this summer is going to be filled with. For some reason Sam HATED it every time I would sit on the swing by myself. "NO SING, MAMA!!!" and then he would run away from me and suck his thumb. ?! I'm not sure what that's all about! We had a fun day watching Dan skydive and playing in the trailer and seeing friends again.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so Happy Mother's Day to all of you awesome mothers!

Healing

The steroids are making Elijah a bit crazy today, as they usually do. His obsessive and unkind behaviors come out BIG TIME when he is tired and grumpy, and that pretty much describes our day. We are staying on top of the meds and nebs, though, to ward off that nasty croup!

I have to mention two things today that Elijah said that made me giggle and smile.

At dinner tonight, he said his usual, "Thanks, Old Lady!" after I brought him a second glass of milk. He says this to me all the time because he knows it makes me laugh. I said, "I'm not an old lady!" He pondered that for a few seconds and said, "But Mama! If you are an old lady, I will take care of you." I hope so, Elijah, and thank you.

Then tonight I was talking to him about our time in the hospital this week. I always try to keep open dialog about hospital time with him. I asked him if it was scary for him, and he said, "Just when we were doing the nebs in the hospital. That was scary. But I need to take deep breaths!" I told him that was exactly right, and he said, "But the rest of hospital time was fun!" Oh boy, hospital time, fun?! I know what he was saying, though. He was referring to the one-on-one time with me. We got a ton of snuggle time and watching-tv time and just plain old time together. And he loved that. WE loved that. Even if we were in a hospital. Then a few minutes later, he said, "Mama, I miss you from the other day." "I know, sweet boy, I know."

Elijah and Sammy have been interacting more than ever the past few days. It's not always in a positive way, but I am so happy that there are times when they enjoy each other. It's always an adventure in our house!

The potty issues are absolutely crazy these days. BAD crazy. I have consulted with E's teachers and OT/PTs, and we are coming up with a plan. We have got to get this under control! Please pray for progress in this area! Dan and I are at our limit for patience. This is a "toughie," as Elijah would say.

Please pray for my wonderful stepmother to heal well from her surgery today! And my friend Sue, too. They are both amazing people.

Thanks for checking in!!

Croup: Season 4, Rounds 7, 7.1 & 7.2

This silly suitcase-sitting little boy of ours sufficiently scared his mama last night.

Dan and I had literally been home from date night last night for 3 minutes when we heard the good ol' Elijah stridor (thank goodness for our timing). We gave him an epi neb, but the croup was not much better, which is highly unusual for him. Dan sat outside in the cold air with him for a bit, and it was still pretty bad. He was also shaking uncontrollably, which is something we have never seen before. He always gets the racing heart and he gets a little bit jittery, but the shaking freaked me out. I grabbed my keys and asked Dan to help me get him into the car. It was a little bit too scary for my comfort, so E and I headed to the hospital down the road from us (non-Children's).

By the time we got there he was sounding a tiny bit better, but he was still croupy. We snuggled on a bed together and Elijah fell asleep resting on me. He began snoring very loudly, so I woke him up to get him to cough. The croup was back with a vengeance! It was super scary. I pressed the nurse button and asked for immediate help. I have to say here that this really is a great hospital, but it is no Children's. I found myself beating myself up a bit through the rest of the night for not taking the time to drive there in the first place. 

Elijah sufficiently freaked everybody out with his crazy stridor and low sats. The doctor gave him some oxygen and that helped a little bit. It was bad enough that he had to receive another epi neb, which caused him to do more shaking and then he began vomiting. That was a scary 20 minutes! Once the neb started working, the doctor decided we needed to spend the night. I was half hoping they would send us to Children's, but we stayed put.

We got moved to a room and Elijah had a very loud nurse who didn't want to stop talking (at 1am). We finally fell asleep around 1:30 and I woke up every 20 minutes or so to listen to E's breathing. His sats looked pretty good through the night, and he still sounded croupy but was sounding much better.

At 4:00 he was starting to sound very croupy again, but I had talked him into remaining CALM (something he was not able to do the previous two times) so the RT wasn't convinced he needed another neb. I knew he would be back! Sure enough, 2 hours later Elijah woke up with even worse stridor than the previous night! Frustrating and so scary! So we gave him his third neb of the night and his second dose of oral steroids. After this it was morning, so croup said good-bye to us (good riddance).

Getting discharged was an ordeal (like I said, not Children's), but we are just thankful for good medical care and most importantly that our boy is safe. There were a few moments last night that produced genuine fear in me. It was not fun times.

E will be taking a 5-day course of oral steroids to knock this junk out. He has a cough and sounds congested, but otherwise is seeming just fine. We all took a huge nap today and we all plan to go to bed early tonight! Please pray that our boy's body heals and that we have a few nights of peace. Thank you for checking in. If you have an extra spot in your prayer list tonight, pray that my friend Sue recovers well from her surgery today! Thank you!!

Improved vision

Have I mentioned that I entered Sammy into a baby model contest? He is just so beautiful!

Elijah had his follow-up appointment with his opthamologist yesterday. Great news! His vision has improved by four whole rows on the eye chart! The doctor said that three months ago he was legally blind, so this improvement is quite a relief. We will continue to patch his good eye through the summer for 2-3 hours/day, and hopefully by then his vision will be closer to where it should be for his age. We have been very consistent with having him wear his patches, so it feels good to know that has paid off. Thankfully he does really well with it. He will occasionally ask if he can take it off, but responds well to, "Not yet!"

And MY vision has improved, as well. Not the vision from my eyes, but insight into my oldest boy. I was lying in bed this morning thinking about the book The Five Love Languages. There's a version written for children, and I have it on my bookshelf. I started thinking about what both Eljiah and Sammy's love languages are. How do they perceive love? Elijah is without a doubt a Quality Time guy. I know that all children need quality time with their parents, but Elijah reeeeeeally needs QT with us. It is the thing he asks from us most of all. When he was a baby I remember getting home from work in the evenings and starting dinner and he would become terribly fussy, which was out of character for him. Over time I learned to come home and immediately give him 30 minutes of my undivided attention. After that, he was just fine! I could go about my business and have a content baby for the rest of the night. He needed that one-on-one time with me immediately upon seeing me.

Fast forward to now. Dan and I really do spend soooo much QT with Elijah, together and separately. We always have. But I realized in bed this morning that perhaps our timing isn't the greatest. As when he was a babe, he needs that QT right away in the morning, and of course again throughout the day here and there. Also, now that I am working from home, being on the computer is something that needs to happen on occasion. I will admit that my computer can sometimes become a distraction for me. Between both blogs, Facebook, Pinterest and editing photos, a lot of my time can be consumed and I can be distracted from the QT a little more easily.

Right away this morning I brought Elijah into bed with me and tickled and played with him for 20 minutes straight. Pure one-on-one time while Sammy snuggled up against me (who happens to be a Physical Touch guy). Getting ready for school was a breeze! Maybe it was coincidental, but I am hoping I am onto something. When E got back from preschool this afternoon, I took him outside and spent 15 minutes playing baseball with him (one of his new favorite things to do in our yard). The afternoon went great! We had some more one-on-one time throughout the day, and I knew he really loved it. While playing Candy Land, I was the one to suggest another game and his eyes lit up.

(Here is Sammy with his wearing-Mommy's-shoes obsession.)

And tell me if this is a coincidence or not....NO POTTY ACCIDENTS TODAY! I am sure it's partially coincidence, but maybe not totally. 

(Elijah, wanting to play more baseball!)

There is my insight for the day. Our boys are both so special in their unique ways. We love them so very much!

I want to share a couple funnies before I sign off. Last night we got our (very gross, dirty, disgusting, puked-on, pooped-on, yucky) carpet professionally cleaned (for free). It looks great! Elijah likes it so much that he won't let me put our rugs back on it. Every time I put them back today, I would find them in the kitchen. "Mom! Don't put rugs in our new house!"

Elijah has begun calling himself "Ben" and calling Sammy "Rennan." Last night I heard him ordering "Rennan" around. "Rennan! Put on Mommy's shoes!" Then I would say, "Sammy, you don't have to put Mommy's shoes on." Elijah would say, "He's not 'Sammy!' He's 'Rennan!'"

I keep forgetting to write this one down. This is a funny one! You all know how much Sammy loves and has always loved balls. He almost always has a ball in his hand and seeks them out constantly. A few weeks ago in church an older gentleman was sitting across the aisle from us who happened to have a walker with tennis balls on the bottoms as stoppers. Sammy saw the tennis balls that had slits in them to fit around the bottoms and was aghast! "OH NO! BALLS!?!?! OH NO!" He couldn't understand why anyone would destroy balls!

Tonight we had a picnic in our yard for dinner. The boys enjoyed it, although sitting that close together always leads to some sort of trouble.

I think I will save my thoughts on kids at the park for another post. It relates to my worries about Elijah and kindergarten. We mamas are always worrying about something (or many things), right?!

And since Elijah kept his pants dry ALL DAY TODAY, we went to DQ for a post-dinner treat! The boys were so happy!

Look at this messy but happy Sammy!

We are still missing Dan, although he FINISHED HIS SKYDIVING COURSE! He is now licensed to teach AFF! We are so proud of him for putting so much time and effort into it. We love you, Daddy Dan!

Thank you for checking in! More adventures are certain in the near future..