Spring Break!

After being semi-concerned about how I would handle Spring Break, I am happy to report that the week was a good one.

Having all three home all day sometimes stresses me out but for the majority there was not more fighting or whining than I could handle. Luke and Ava have been fighting like cats and dogs for the past little while, but I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. He tends to hit her whenever she upsets him. Which is like, all the time. And I have had very little luck with "time outs" or punishments. I think it helps that he is growing up in general and especially since he is now talking so much more.

It's hard to tell your child to "use your words" and not his hands when he doesn't really have many words. So this week, he actually said, "Don't touch that!" which I find a much better alternative to whacking his sister.

This week...

...The weather was beautiful (minus one rainy day in the middle) and our grass went from brown to green.



... We enjoyed a visit from Tiffany and her boys, of which I have no photographic proof. But we had a great time.

...We purchased some bikes for the kids. Luke's bike still needs the help of a drill to become fully assembled, but Ava's bike has had the tour of a couple of parking lots and we're looking forward to many more.


Ava had never really learned to ride a bike or a trike, but she picked it up fairly quickly and has gotten a lot of satisfaction from learning.


...We also had a "Horsey playdate". Ava loved to ride around on the horse and especially pet a miniature horse. I literally had my hands full so it was difficult for me to take pictures. Luke was excited by the idea of seeing and riding the horses, but when we actually got there, it was another story.



When we leave the house now a days, you can usually count on him yelling, "My purse! My purse!" and he scrambles to find the blue purse with the colored flowers full of his trinkets and toys and phone. I have tried to convince him to carry something a little more "man-bag"ish but without success.

Anyway, as we headed to the garage to go see the horses and he yelled, "oh no!" I assumed he was going to find his purse. But instead he ran to the fridge and yelled, "Carrots! Carrots!"

So although he did not want to ride or even pet a horse, he did find satisfaction in sharing his carrots and collecting rocks.

...Ava lost another tooth! her other bottom tooth had been hanging on by a thread for days.


We'd periodically ask her, "Ava, is your tooth still there?" and always she would answer in the affirmative.




Then, when we were playing on the floor together I caught a glimpse in her mouth and thought something might be missing,

"Ava, is your tooth still there?"

"Yes."

"Really? Let me look." And her tooth was totally gone. My mind raced because i knew she would be devastated if it was lost. We had just made cupcakes and images of us breaking open two dozen cupcakes in search of a little tooth flashed through my mind. Luckily, she hopped up, started looking all around, and found it within a minute on the kitchen floor. Awesome!





But that night, the darn Tooth Fairy forgot to come. Not Awesome! She (He) made up for it the next night by being very generous.


...This week was also eventful in Maxs' little life. I ended up weaning him completely. It was a painful process for both of us, but I think it was for the best. I know I was not making enough milk and I had hoped to supplement him with a bottle but he was not going to have it. It just came down to the fact that if he was going to get enough to eat it was going to have to come from the bottle.




It was a very hard adjustment with it overlapping his ear infection, but I have seen him much more satisfied after eating and looking stronger each day. Although I still feel there are some kinks to be worked out as I figure out how much formula he actually needs and his little tummy adjusts to digesting it all. And I am not convinced that his ear infection is actually gone. I guess we'll see what this week holds.

And in case you were wondering, weaning a baby cold turkey hurts. It really, really hurts.

Housekeeping and Clean Up Loud Too, Okay?

Tonight I am just sweeping up all the little dust bunnies skeetling around in my head into one nice, neat little pile.

Ava has been saying "forpetely got" the past few days in the place of completely forgot. I can't bring myself to correct her.


I heard Luke rustling around in the pantry today with what sounded like the box of Chiclets gum. When I opened the door, he turned around looking a little surprised and a lot guilty and said, "What doing?"


My milk is going the way of the desert and Max is not a happy guy. In fact, he has been sick this week with his first, and probably not last, ear infection. He can't stand the amoxicillin and screams the whole time we are forcing it down. And then to add insult to injury, I am trying to shove a bottle in his mouth, filled with formula, which he also can't stand. Just the taste of it brings on the gags. He's had a little fever for a few days now and he's just not feeling good.

After tonight's bedtime routine I decided that "all the things" must be documented. After we read a story and say prayers, Ava has to tell me "all the things" she needs to tell me. This saves me from being called back to her room 50, 000 times because she forgot something. "All the things" is a list of things she must say before she goes to bed. The list started small and has had some additions over the last few months. I will just write the classics.

Goodnight.
I love you.
Sweet dreams.
Is my rest not a long time?
Are the shadows nice?
Is nothing scary in my room?
Are there sharks under my bed?
Make sure I have dreams about unicorns.
Do I not have school or church tomorrow?
Make sure there aren't any monsters in my room.
Clean up loud, too, okay?
Coltons Forever

That's right, Baby, Coltons Forever!

I didn't even proofread this

No time for contemplation about word choice or even punctuation. If I want to post a blog, which I desperately do, I am going to have to make it snappy. Problem is, there's alot I'd like to say. I have been unable to be on the computer while any child is awake therefore, I am never on the computer because somebody is always awake! Thank goodness for the ipod touch which allows me to "stay connected" but it is not so user friendly for endeavors such as emails of length or publishing a blog. But enough blah blahing, I'd better get on with it.

1. Our home life has improved so much it's ridiculous. I am pouring my heart out in thanks to Heavenly Father for answered prayers. Things are still very hard and challenging for me with these three hudlums, but we are now back in the realm of what I would consider "normal".
Ava was having such a rough time and the severity of her tantrums was beyond description, truly. It had me on the edge of my sanity just dealing with them, anticipating them, and I was consumed with worry over her because she was obviously very stressed out.

I believe that it was a combination of things that unfortunately overlapped all at the same time. Namely, stress over school, Max being born, and a developmental growth period. As something I had dreamed up and then found scientific reference to, way back in the terrible two's, many professionals agree that during times of developmental growth in a child, they enter a stage of chaos internally, and then as they reach that next developmental stage, they re-organize themselves only this time with newly acquired skills. They happen about every six months. These re-organizations are evident in some children more than others. I have witnessed this in Ava time and time again. In any case, Ava is back. And the improvement is immense. She is a wonderful child. And I mean wonderful and full of wonder. I could write about her, analyze her til the cows come home.

2. We went to a "tea party" put on by a local performing arts center. There were young girls dressed up as The Princesses. And all were invited to dress up in their finery and have punch and cookies while they performed. Ava was in heaven. I was a little surprised to see how young the princesses were (maybe jr. high or high school) and I thought it was so funny how none of the little girls in attendance batted an eye at the fact that more than half of them had smiles full of braces.


Later though, as we got home and looked through our pictures, Ava let me know that she wasn't fooled. She asked me, "What's her name when she's not being Sleeping Beauty?" I guess it wasn't that she didn't notice, more that she just didn't care.







And oh yes,
3. I cut my hair. My sister Chandra came to visit my parents last month and due to SNOW



in Dallas, her plane landed in Houston. So I got to keep her for a night and then we all drove up to my parents. I was so ready for a hair change so Chandra cut it for me. I really love it. At first I wanted to be able to pull it back so that on days I couldn't "do it" (maybe everyday?) it wouldn't be huge and ridiculous. But what I have found instead is that I don't have to do it! I just get out of the shower, put a little sticky stuff in it and that's it!
But that was not the best part of her visit. Just being with her was the best and also, seeing her with my kids. They've never gotten to have her to themselves before and for the first time, Ava was very sweet with her, Luke loved and kissed on her, and Max was thrilled to have a second Mommy. I just love Chandra so much.

4. Luke has been a slow talker. I kept waiting and waiting for him to really get going, kind of like Ava did, but it just didn't seem like it was happening. So I called ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) and they came to do an evaluation. It was eye opening to say the least, though I am not sure it was completely accurate (that would be my fault). What they found was that he was delayed in speech as suspected but also delayed in a few other areas. I was a bit shocked.

The evaluation consisted mostly of them asking me questions about his abilities. Unfortunately I having been barely keeping my head above water lately, let alone not paying much attention to the way Luke holds his crayon or his ability to line up objects by size. Anyways, I could not answer all of their questions with surety and that somewhat skewed the results. However, he will be receiving speech and developmental services weekly. I don't know why this has been a little bit of a struggle for me. Have you seen the Office episode where Holly thinks that Kevin is retarded? If you haven't you should cause it's really funny. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, nevermind. But it almost seemed like they looked at Luke with retarded-colored glasses. But I am over it. This past week, even before they have come, Luke's speech has picked up tremendously. I know that what they provide will only help so I am saying, "Bring it on!"

5. We moved Max to his own room (the former office) in his own crib. I am now the proud owner of three cribs. What is wrong with me? I think I have a problem. But Luke is still in his and Ava's old crib is conveniently located at my parents. So what's one more? He has been doing so much better now that he has his own space and since I paid a visit to my old friend, The Baby Whisperer. He is still not very regular as far as times go, but the order of his patterns is so much more clear and predictable. I do not love waking up multiple times in the night to walk down to his room to put the paci back in his mouth or pat him back to sleep but I think (I hope!) it will get better soon.


Max is such a smiley little guy. I love him so much. Really, he's the best surprise of my life.

6. Because of this move, we had to relocate the computer and my sewing stuff. It all landed in the master bedroom. Then we got the wild idea that if we got rid of Sophie, we could in turn get rid of the litter box in the laundry room, where there would be plenty of space to put a desk and the computer. We think that Max's location is temporary but we're not sure how temporary.

So Dan listed Sophie on the classified through his work. A nice lady emailed the next day saying she wanted Sophie. It was like a dream come true! She only had a teenage daughter (Yea for no little kids!) but she did have another cat. Another cat in fact, that made Sophie look like a most uncharismatic specimen. I am sure the moment they met Sophie was insanely jealous and felt she would always be the ugly step sister. So they came on Wednesday night, and just like that we shoved Sophie's fat butt right into the cage and they took her away! Forever!

Psych! As they left, the woman said, "we'll let you know if we have any problems", and I knew in my heart right at that moment that this was not "goodbye", merely a "see you later".

Sunday, without warning or decorum, they dropped her off saying, "Things didn't work out...she didn't get along with our cat....she's forgotten she's litter box trained!" And they dumped her fat butt right back into our foyer.

Where she left pee soaked footprinnts in a trail all the way down the hall and under our bed.

And that's all I've got time for today.

Life Lessons

A few months ago, Ava called me into my room where she was watching TV and asked me,

"Mom, did God die?"

I was actually on the phone and such a discussion was not one to be had while I only had half of my brain available. I knew she meant Heavenly Father, not Jesus, and her question made me think.

I explained that when I got off the phone we could talk about it. Then she said,

"How does God talk to us?"

I was sensing that it would just be best to get off the phone.


So I quickly asked my sister, Leah, to whom I was talking, if God died. She gave me an answer and we hung up. When I walked back into my room, ready for some discussing and explaining, she stopped me up short and simply said,

"I am trying to tell God that I love Him forever, but he's not talking back."


My toes tingled and a conversation ensued. Despite the times I think she is courting the devil, Ava knows Heavenly Father and Jesus.

She remains enthralled by the idea that Jesus loves everyone, even "the bad people". In her little mind everything is completely black and white. She says sometimes, "I just love Jesus so much."

I do too. And my Ava, my difficult Ava, has brought and taught me so many lessons about Him. It is the sweet part of the bittersweet experiences I have been having. I will take the bitter if it means I can keep the sweet; the knowledge, faith, and hope that are being cultivated.

Today she brought home a picture from preschool to color. As she got it out of her folder, she said, "And look at this one, Mom. You are just gonna lub it!" She turned it around so I could see Jesus with a child on his knee.

"Who is this, Mom?" she said in her best teacher voice, pointing to Jesus.

"That's Jesus."

"Yes! And He lubs lubs lubs little kids!"


She colored in every detail. Then asked me about "that man that died." I racked my brain and then remembered she must be referring to the Bug Man (the guy who sprays our house). A few weeks ago we got a letter in the mail informing us that he had passed away. When she heard me gasp as I read that letter, she inquired and I informed.

So today she called me over to see her finished picture and then flipped it over to show me where she had "written" a few things on the back.

"This says, 'I love you, Jesus' and this says 'I'll pray for the Bug Man'"

I have a lot to learn and Ava is turning out to be a pretty good teacher.

A little help?

I can't figure out how to upload pictures to our new computer, but I do have approximately 7 minutes before someone is likely to be screaming for me. So I come forward with a plea.

If anyone still reads this blog, what do you think it's new name should be? Afterall, poor Max is nearly 3 and a half months old and is still not included in our Big D.E.A.L.

Someone suggested Big Deal and little Max.

I kind of like it. Though at some point Max won't really be little anymore and I'd have to change the name again. And at some point we might have another baby and then I'd have to change it again. Actually, scratch that last sentence. It's still too soon to go there.

So, any suggestions, you wise and generous readers?

I would love to hear them.

What the BEEP?

Dan is a fairly stable man. Really stable, actually. That's why he's good for me, he never gets too riled up about things. But this week I have seen his feathers ruffled and the source of his anger, frustration, and obsessing has been from a most unlikely culprit, if you ask me.

You see, we have been plagued by beeps. Beeps loud enough to be heard throughout the whole house.

Beep!



Beep!



Beep!


It does get kind of annoying.


We tracked the beeps to our smoke detectors. Off of our hallway are the two kids' bedrooms and a bathroom. And in the hall there is a smoke detector and one in each of the kids bedrooms. The only other one is in our master bedroom. But the beeping seemed to come from the hallway.

So we got out the ladder and Dan proceeded try to change the batteries, but we didn't have the right size.

So I got some at the drugstore that night. Too bad they were the wrong ones. He tried pushing all the buttons, but to no avail. So all night... Beep!


Beep!


Beep!

Now it's also important to note that Luke has been having some weird fears lately. Like the door handle in Dan's car and the air vent and dry cleaner hook in the van. This mysterious beeping was causing Luke a little trauma too.

He heard it from the bathtub one day and demanded out! Crying and screaming, "Beep!"


So after the correct batteries were purchased, we replaced the old ones in every single detector. And right as Dan slid the last one back into place, BEEP!

Beep!

At night after the kids were in bed, Dan and I would sit on the couch to watch a little TV and he just radiated negativity.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked.

"Nothing."

"Is it the beeping?"

"Yes! Where is it coming from?! Why is it doing this? I've read online, Elise! People have this problems for months! How are we gonna get it to shut up?!"

He sounded like me when I talk about my emotional problems!

So I said, what he always tells me, when I am in the pit of despair and feel like I will never get out, "Don't worry! We'll figure this out! Everything will be okay."

But really, at every opportunity Dan was in the hallway on his ladder, poking, prodding, shutting on and off the power, disconnecting and reconnecting every single smoke detector.



But still, BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Last night we went in the attic. We looked all around for any possibility of a culprit. And we found nothing.

The other important thing to note is that for some reason, the battery back up to our computer started making it's own beep a few days ago. Only not the intermittent kind, the long-drawn-out-never-stop BEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!


We put it in the closet in the office with a bunch of blankets on top. But when you sit at the computer you can still hear it. Dan likes to pretend it was the wind whistling. Actually he doesn't like to pretend that, he has to.

Anyway, we slept another night with the beeps.

And then today while the kids were having their rests, Dan had had enough. He wasn't messing around another minute. He got the ladder back out. He turned off the power to the entire house. And he disconnected the smoke detector all together. And when his foot hit the second rung on the ladder,



BEEP!


We had spent countless time there in that hallway trying to figure out where the beeps were coming from. But then and there we were positive that the beep had not come from the hallway. I went in to the bathroom. I looked in the closet. I checked in the drawers. I looked in the cabinets. And it was there, under the sink in a basket full of random stuff that I found this,


And the mystery was solved. As I held it in my hands, it uttered the unmistakable and very loud, BEEP!


Dan resisted the urge to chuck it in the back yard, instead he changed it's batteries and put it in our closet. It's always good to have a carbon monoxide detector around.

So now, one down one to go. Dan's mood has noticeably improved and I think it feels good to have a win under his belt. Up next is the battery back-up. Right now I am voting that we take it in the backyard and smash it with a hammer, but we'll see.




And as a completely unrelated but noteworthy tidbit, Luke gave me his very first unsolicited "I love you" today. We sat on the couch watching TV and he reached over and patted my arm, and said, "Momma, love you."

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...













I have been going back and forth about how to catch up with my blog. There has not been so much happening necessarily, maybe just in my own head. But things have been improving lately so I almost hesitate to rehash the misery. It's kind of like Ava told me when I tried to bring up her experience getting a catheter placed for a kidney exam last year as an example of a time she was brave, "I don't want to talk about it, cause I go back there in my magination and I don't want to."

And I really don't want to go back in my magination to the unpleasant place I found myself recently either. At the same time I do want an accurate accounting of our life and our adjustment to our third child. In fact, I wanted to record some of the really special and precious things I have learned through the yuckiness, but when I try to write, they just won't come. I have decided I will just continue from here, and if things come up, they come up. But better to move forward than sit and wait to find the right words.

Last week I sat in the doctor's office with Luke who had croup again for the 2nd time this month. As we waited a young girl of about nine, with no warning, began puking in the waiting room.

Now I have totally learned my lesson about judging, especially in regards to other people's children. I'm sure it was one to many, "my kids will never do that...!" thoughts that got me where I am today. So it was definitely not with judgment that I held back my own vomit.

I simply thought, to myself, "I am so glad that Ava gives me some warning before she throws up. It really makes things easier."

But apparently that was judgment enough because two days later, as we were eating our traditional Saturday lunch at Sam's Club, Ava walks over to me and says, "I think I'm gonna throw up," and proceeded to do so all over the floor.

Thanks for the warning kid.

Then a couple of days later, Luke woke up with a swollen eye and another trip to the doctor confirmed pink eye.

We've been a little sick this past week.

Max made his first little giggle last week as well. He's either happy or sad, never much in between. He loves to be held by his Mommy and usually his Daddy and that's about it. But the voice who makes his little eyes light up the most is Ava.