David's Made Up Words

I've got to share a little story with you guys. I'm in the study doing a little work and David just came in. Out of the blue he says you know if you take your ice out of the freezer and put it in a drink it will melt. But when you put it back in the freezer later it will freeze again. I'm like "mm,hmm, yeah, great" and then he says you know what you call that and I turn to actually focus on his face and he says "rechangeable ice"! I just had to grin and say cool.

Spring Pictures

We have also used Stan Foster for our studio photographer and he is fabulous!!!!! We love him and have used him since David was just a few weeks old.
But this year I just felt I wanted something different, specifically non-studio. I have a friend who uses Grace Photography and the results I have seen are awesome. She showed me a recent session with her two kids at Hampstead and I was sold, LOL. So she introduced me to Grace O'Connor.
Last Sunday the kids and I met Grace out at my dad's and did an outdooor session. I loved it - you could tell from the different areas and the way the light fell that it was going to be great. She put a little peek from the session on her Grace Photography Blog, click on the link and then scroll down to find Em and David - WOW!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad & David

David and my dad's birthday's are one day apart so we like to get the two together to celebrate each year. Regular birthday parties and regular cakes had already happened so we decided to go with an easy favorite of David's, you'll see by one of the pictures with his big "O" face that he is thrilled and surprised.

a pool table like daddy's

Some of you may know we have a full-size pool table in our house, it's one of Dan's prized-possessions and not something kids are supposed to play with. I've been encouraging him to teach David how to play and all that, but we haven't reached that point yet. So the other day David and I are in Kinnucans and they have a tabletop pool table - very realistic and looks like ours. David is over the moon because there is a pool table his size!! Then begins the campaign for this pool table - it lasted weeks and there were lots of tears and promises, etc.
Then to the rescue, Kim and family "hooked him up" for his birthday. Check out these pictures.

Spring Soccer

David has really come a long way since that first game last fall. There are all of these opportunities to see our children progress and I love being front and center for them. Here are some pictures of the boy in action. And check out the tongue in a few of the shots - I fear that will become his "athletic concentration" trademark in years to come, LOL.

Click on this link for the pictures.

and summer begins...

We have had a blast already this summer out at the pool. The pictures are of the kids in action. I have a new camera and it is great at catching them. New to the fun this year is the "roller coaster" into the pool. Enjoy the pictures.

I think the boy is left-handed...

Poor David, I think we've done him a disservice this year...

He never strongly showed an inclination one way or the other toward his left or right-hand. One day I would think it was one and then the next day the other. So when he started PreK and they started writing I didn't even think of it. They naturally worked with his right hand, everyone's natural assumption. Dan and I worked with it too - never questioning should we be using his left-hand instead. Didn't occur to us.

Subsequently his handwriting is HORRIBLE and believe me I am not exaggerating. His is the worst, by FAR, in the class. And his cutting skills are pretty weak too. His report card for the year is a ton of S's and then U's and N's in handwriting and cutting. I kept assuming he was just a little slower to develop motor skills or whatever and we just practiced a little more. And to be honest I wasn't really worried about it. So he writes bad - who cares, this is the age of typing and he "knows" the stuff; just struggles with the act of writing it.

Then we started golf lessons. The first lesson the pro asked me a few questions about David's left/right-handedness and I didn't think anything of them. The second lesson he said he really felt David was left-handed and that he didn't want to teach him with right-handed clubs. So the third lesson we came with the left-handed clubs - the pro was happy - said David was definitely left-handed and he played much better.

Ok... that's cool. My dad, who he's named after, is left-handed and I think it's awesome that David is too. But what do we do know about writing and cutting? Sports - he'll do all left-handed, great. But do I "re-teach" cutting and writing??? Or do I let him go forward with crappy writing and be one of those people that writes with their right hand and does all else with their left hand.

They don't discuss this in the parent manuals :-)

sometimes I feel so depressed with this world

This morning driving to and from school I was listening to local radio for a change instead of XM, essentially only Rick and Bubba get me to do this, LOL. Anyway during one of the commercial breaks the short spot by Lester Spencer came on; his daily "Perceptions" talk. He is the Sr. Pastor at St. James United Methodist Church here in Montgomery and his radio spots are on like 6 stations, so if you are local you have probably heard of him. I have heard him for years and while never "moved" by anything he has said also never offended. They are just nice little messages designed to draw in visitors.

Today however I am mad. I have googled and searched, etc. for an actual transcript of what he said this morning and I have had no luck, so I am going to attempt to "re-tell" the story.

The King of Morocco was visiting the White House and travels with his entourage of 12 wives and his genetic match for heart/liver/kidney transplants. This transplant guy has dedicated his whole life to the King with the knowledge that he could die at any time for him. So we all need someone who is our whole life like this transplant guy... I'm thinking ok, now maybe he'll finally get to the point about God and be sure we know he agrees that this King and the transplant guy are both wrong and it's God we should devote ourselves to. NOPE!! He finishes by strongly encouraging us to find this person we can devote ourselves to.

Can you believe that???

David's 1st Golf Lesson

David is taking golf lessons at Wynlakes with some school friends. It is really cute seeing him tote his little bag of clubs out there and work with the pro. Here are a few shots from the first day.

Did you say high school?

Can you believe Emily is finishing the 8th grade and will be in high school next year? WOW, when did I blink and she stopped being 3 and started being 14!!

Ok - I owe you guys an update on her headaches and sorry it has taken a few days. The CT scan was clear!! Nothing crazy in her brain ;-) and no sinus cavity issues. So the headaches have to be stress, hormones or Graves disease. Pediatrician offered a stronger headache medicine, but we don't want to use it right now because it would knock her out at school. We will use it this summer if necessary. On Tuesday of this coming week her mom and I will take her to Children's in Birmingham to see her Graves disease doctor - we will discuss the headaches with her as well.

Here is Emily's 8th grade spring picture:

coffee and blogging, a cure for the Blues

I am terribly out of sorts this morning and need some serious caffeine to jump start my brain. I also need to whine a little; maybe get this out of my system so I can move on to the fun posts - Emily, Field Day, Mother's Day, David's 5th Birthday, golf lessons, etc.

They have a chapel service every morning at David's school led by the Principal and teachers, but on Wednesday they have a full chapel service with the Priests and Holy Communion, etc. One of the other things they do at the Wednesday chapel is sing Happy Birthday to the kids whose birthday's fall on that week. I had planned to go today since they would be singing to David. So last night I am crazy tired (even dozed off at Bible study) so I set two alarms for this morning and in my head I knew the "David" alarm would also have me covered because he normally wakes up between 6:30 - 7:00... I wake this morning to David snuggled up beside me and he is talking about spare tires. He had just woken up and normally his first conversation is wide open just like him. I enjoy the snuggle for a minute or two then sit up and look at the clock - 8:35. WHAT the HECK!! I was so irritated. I assume I turned off both alarms in my sleep and his body chose today to sleep in. And no need to rush out the door because chapel ends around 8:30 on Wednesday's. So we are home today - me blogging and doing laundry and David building tracks and cars and all the normal things he does.

My broken right heel has been doing so much better, but silly me volunteered for a whole day (rather than 1/2) at Field Day Friday. I was on my feet for about 7 hours; at the lunch break I had to run over to Kinnucan's and buy some Keene's to give some relief to my heel. That helped a little, but I can definitely tell that I set myself back because it is swollen and hurting again.

And to add insult to injury my back was doing the spasms and referred pain throughout the whole day. The weekend was calm (in relation to my heel and back), but I evidently did something to it because when I was walking into the house yesterday I heard/felt the "break". Immediately after the pain intensified and the swelling started and the tingling and weakness in my right leg started. This is exactly what I heard/felt when I was doing boot camp - with boot camp though I didn't know what it was and thought maybe my back popped or something and I kept on pushing for two more months. That's what put me into my second surgery. What it was and what I assume it is again is a piece of my deteriorating disc breaks off and lodges in the spinal nerve... Oh joy!

This past Saturday was David's 5th birthday party (more about that later) and it was a fun day and our friends were out en mass. It wasn't our Em weekend, but they brought her over for the afternoon so she could be with us for the party and play with David a couple of hours after. I was sad that David had no extended family there because all the parties we go to there are many family members there (often having flown in).

So here I sit, feeling better because I whined/blogged and am now on my 4th cup of coffee. Pity party is almost over ;-)

Now I just need to suck up the back pain and finish my laundry and clean my house and in between that play with David and pay all the business bills and cook dinner. LOL - sounds bad, but only today. Usually I'm fine and love it because this is my life and I am blessed to have it.

If you stuck through to the end, thanks!! I'm working on some shorter posts with pics!!

Headaches for Emily

For the past few weeks Emily has been complaining of bad headaches. With a bazillion questions/scenarios we can't come up with a trigger. They just happen and don't respond to Tylenol or any of the others. They come and go at their own pace with no rhyme or reason. After two weeks of this we took her to see doc and we were told it was cluster headaches and given a prescription for Midrin. This didn't stop the headaches, but did stop the pain and she had about 5 days of being able to stop the pain. Then Friday afternoon it started hurting on the right side above her eyebrow. Nothing could make it stop hurting, not even the Midrin. It also hurt to touch it - like she would cry out and eyes fill with tears if you slid your finger across it. She had some relief over the weekend, but by Sunday afternoon it was back even worse. So Monday back to the doc. Appears it could be sinus cavity related?? Sounds kind weird to Arlene and I, but what do we know LOL. She is having a CT Scan today at 1:30 so hopefully we will know something tomorrow.

Please pray for her relief and the doctors wisdom!!

Maybe the phrase should be, "6th times a charm"

David went under yesterday for the 6th time and of course yet again it was for his ears. Monday morning at Children's in Birmingham his doc cleaned out both his ears, checked on the site where he removed the tumor (looked great), removed the right tube that was growing into eardrum and patched the hole. No replacement tubes this time, which is a new thing to try for us. Crossing our fingers and asking for prayers over here.

He did great at the hospital, which is no surprise. He is so used to the whole deal that he just takes it in stride. He talked to the anesthesiologist and picked cotton candy smell for his "go to sleep" gas. Then he went walking down the hall with the nurse into the double doors to the OR. Doc came out super fast and gave the good report. It was a little long before he came from recovery. Turns out the nurses were in love - he had made a girlfriend of the patient in the bed next to him and they were just chatting away. The nurses were cracking up and didn't want to interrupt. Also he told them all his birthday was coming up and that they were all invited to the party in Montgomery and that his mom would "call them with the details".

The recovery has been fine. Little pain in the right ear, irritability and fever (to be expected). He is home again today, but probably would have been ok at school. He seems to feel much better this morning.