Kindergarten...and so it begins!

So, this is what a Kindergartener looks like!

Austin was just SO excited for his first day of school today! He picked out what he wanted to wear last week when we bought a school shirt at open house. He didn't want to wear anything else but that shirt. He's obviously very proud to be an Overhills Elementary Lynx!

When I went in to wake him up, he popped right up out of bed and got dressed. He really wanted to ride the bus this morning. I'm not sure when he started talking about it, but we heard about it all morning long. He didn't think it was fair that the other kids got to ride the bus and we were taking him to school this first day. In fact, we heard all about it on the way to school as well. I think that's all he talked about!

When we were taking pictures outside the front door today, he kept watching the little girl across the street walk down to the bus stop with her mom...I'm sure you can tell that he wasn't even looking at the camera and he's not exactly happy that he's not walking to the bus stop as well.

It wasn't anything a little tickle couldn't help though!

When we got to school, he was really embarrassed that we were going in with him and that (gasp!) Mom was going to take her camera! In fact, he told me that he didn't want me to take any pictures inside...I set him straight and told him that this is just what Mommy's do! That one day, he'll thank me for getting these important pictures.

I did keep it to a minimum in the hallway though. I told him I'd get one good picture and that was it in front of the banner. It's not the best picture, but I really didn't want him to get too embarrassed on his first day!

He is in a classroom full of green frogs, so it's perfect for my green-loving boy!

He and Daddy emptied all the school supplies into his cubby.

The cubbies were quite full when all was said and done.

Then, he went over and put his frog at the lunch option that he had for the day. He wanted to bring his lunch the first day. However, Thursday is pizza day, so he has already decided to buy that day. (He doesn't go on Wednesday...this school has a really weird start schedule for the Kindergarten!).

Mrs. Bruner, his teacher, gave him his "morning work" and he went to his seat and started working.

Our little boy is no longer so little!

This is where a picture of him getting off the bus should be. However, his regular bus driver wasn't here today and she had a sub. Apparently, this sub is a bit faster than the regular driver and was dropping the kids off before we could get down to the corner. All of the moms in the neighborhood were just walking out of their houses, so I know it wasn't just me! LOL. I'll get some pictures on Thursday since it will be his first time at the bus stop in the morning.

When he got in the house, I asked him how school was. I am not kidding when he said, "Not so good...we only got to play outside for just a little bit!" I'm guessing recess was high on his priority and it just wasn't long enough for him! Plus, he said that it was ALLLLLLLL the way at the end of the day. When I asked him more about school, it seemed like he had fun despite recess not being long enough. He's the type of kid that needs some reminding as to what he did...we can't just ask him what he did because he won't remember. We have to ask specific questions, so it takes a little longer to get the details out of him. :-)

No, I didn't cry. Yes, it's hard to believe he's in school already, but I am so excited for him! I guess that excitement kind of overshadows anything else. I know that school is the best thing for him and that he is just going to grow so much this year! It seems like just yesterday he was this little baby in my arms...and I know that in 13 years, I'll look back on this day and think the same thing. They can't stay little no matter how hard we try to keep them that way!

Handsome Boys

The boys had gotten haircuts and when we went out to play that evening, I wanted to get pictures of my handsome boys!

Colten just LOVES to ride on his green 4 Wheeler. You can't really see it in this picture, but Aunt Nancy got it for him when we lived in Arkansas and he is really good at driving it now! The steering is still a little tricky for him, but he's learning more and more.

Austin is still not allowed to ride his bike, but is allowed to ride his scooter. It's so low to the ground that it's just about the same as him running around and we knew he'd go crazy if he couldn't do ANYTHING outside when his friends were all riding their bikes and Power Wheels.

I wish he would have taken his helmet off at one point for me to get a picture of his haircut, but I LOVED this picture of him anyway! You'll see his haircut in another post soon.

Soon, we'll have THREE handsome boys (and their handsome Daddy).

Getaway...Weekend One

Austin had been begging to go to the beach all summer. With moving and the usual stuff that goes along with moving, we hadn't had the time to do it until this particular weekend. It was basically this weekend or not at all since the other weekends before Aiden is born were full.

We mentioned to our friends, the Fleshman Family, what we were planning on doing and they decided to go as well! What fun! Our families have so much fun together and the kids all love each other so much...sometimes enough that they fight like brothers and sisters!

We decided on Carolina Beach, which is just outside of Wilmington. We got there a little before lunch and got the cars unloaded and our stuff lugged to the beach. The kiddos were all anxious to get in the water, but sunscreen had to be applied first. When we finally all got out to the water, it was apparent that we were going to have some very tired kids by the end of the day! They had SO much fun!

Colten is a fishy. However, the waves made him a little apprehensive at first. He tried to walk in the shallower water, but the waves were hard to fight for him. He was pretty good in Daddy's arms for a while, but you could tell he really wanted to get in the water. He just had to get used to it first. By the end of the day, he was trying to swim away from us and walk and jump through the waves.

Austin has turned a 180 since living in Hawaii! He was not that fond of the beach and ocean while living there. It made for some very relaxing trips to the beach since we didn't have to worry too much about him getting close to the water. Not anymore!!! This kid spent all but about 15 minutes in the water. He didn't really want to come out of the water for lunch and as soon as he was done eating, he wanted to go back in. He got irritated that he had to wait for an adult to go back in with him. It was funny that when we got in the car to leave, he kept saying how it still felt like the waves were hitting him...he was in the water that much!

Pure Joy.

Still a little apprehensive, but it was shortly after this picture was taken that he was in the water full force.

Our friends' daughter, Sydney. LOVE the puddle jumpers that the "little girls" have. Austin's too big for them so he wears a regular life jacket. Colten isn't quite big enough to wear them. Maybe next year.

The older three Fleshman kids...Autumn, Tiffani, and John. These kids are so great. I know they give their parents problems just like any other teenager, but I am so impressed with them!

Fun jumping over the waves.

Strong Man! These three are hilarious together.

Colten LOVED the birds on the beach. He just kept chasing after them.

I'm not sure if he thought he would eventually be able to touch one or not, but he had fun trying!

After a fun day at the beach, we got some quick showers at the hotel room that the Fleshman's rented to stay in that night (we had to drive back since we had the dogs) and then headed out to a Japanese Steakhouse. I'd post more pictures, but this post is getting long enough as it is!

It was a great day though and was exactly what Austin had wanted. He was so happy! In fact, that morning, before we had even left, he showed his appreciation for this trip. I had woken him up and he was climbing down from his bed and he stopped, looked up and said, "Mommy, thanks for the beach day!" I knew that it was going to be a good day no matter what and I was so happy to give our kids a day of fun in the sun!

A Year and a Half

At a year and a half, our soon-to-be middle son makes us laugh each and everyday! While he can sometimes turn cranky in a split second, he has such a FUN personality! I must tell him multiple times a day that he's silly. From putting drums on his head to smearing Mac and Cheese all over his head, he has so much fun doing what he does!

It's so funny to have two boys that seem so much alike, yet are so different from one another! I KNOW I have a picture of Austin doing this same thing with his shirt. It's funny how they both just pulled their shirt up over their head like this and enjoyed the reaction they got.

Comparing the boys doesn't go much further than pointing out how each are special in their own ways. Colten loves to "dance" around to music or sometimes to the beat of his own drum. He hasn't once told me to stop singing like Austin used to do! :-) He has had a lot of fun dancing in these wooden clogs on our wood floors.

We have used this growth chart to measure Austin since his Nana and Papa sent it to him for Easter one year. We decided to use it for all 3 of the boys and measured Colten a few days after he turned 18 months old. We'll do it every year around their birthday, but since we started Austin at 16 and 18 months on this, we decided to start at 18 months for the other two.

He's a little shorter than Austin was at this age. About 2 inches, actually! He makes up for it though...he's a strong kid and has been known to tackle Austin to the ground when he feels like it.

Soon, Colten will be the big brother. He just doesn't quite realize it yet! He's going to do great though...if not at the beginning, then eventually. :-) I've seen the sweetness in him. Sometimes, it's hard to see when he's got that mischievious grin on his face as he is about to whack you with a golf club, but I know it's there. I've seen him love on a friend's baby, run to give hugs to people he knows, and check on his big brother when he thinks he's hurt. It's going to be fun to watch him figure things out in the next few months and adjust to his new life.

Austin Update

First, I want to say thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to us and I know that whatever we find out, we have our friends and family surrounding us (even if it can't be in person!).

We have tried very hard to just go on with life normally. I try not to ask Austin how he's feeling all the time or treat him any differently unless it truly is something I have to do. For instance, keeping him off his bike. It's very hard to do and there are days when he'll ask me again why he can't ride it, but when he is reminded about his safety, he is ok with it. He doesn't like it and I hate telling him no, but it's not a huge fight and for that I am grateful!

The hardest part for me is at night. Since it happened while he was sleeping, I have turned our baby monitor up all the way and every time I wake up at night (which is often since I'm at that uncomfortable point in my pregnancy), I listen to the monitor for a moment or two to make sure I don't hear any weird noises. Sometimes I go in there and just check on him. I don't think that will go away anytime soon. I wonder all the time if this has happened before and we just didn't know it.

Anyway, we had been waiting until sometime this week to be able to call the pediatric neurologist for an appointment. I started calling Tricare for the authorization number on Monday, a little earlier than the referral office told me to start calling, but I figured it couldn't hurt. It wasn't until Wednesday that they had processed the request and I had the number written on a piece of paper. I called the doctor's office and was told that they get the information from the insurance company and then call us.

That didn't work for me. I called later that day and talked to the lady that was in charge of doing that and explained that while I understood that they usually did things a different way, that I just couldn't wait any longer. She completely understood and said that she gets that a lot with parents who have kids coming to see the doctor after a first seizure. She said she'd be doing the same thing if it was her kid.

I got Austin an appointment for an EEG and then a consult with the doctor. I wish it was a little sooner, but I was actually expecting a little longer wait, so I'm pretty happy. Today, I got a call from them because as they were making the appt for his EEG, someone else was also making an appointment for an EEG and had gotten the same spot she scheduled him for. It just didn't show up on the computer until later that he didn't actually get scheduled for that time. Now it's just a few days later.

So, he'll have his EEG at the very beginning of September. He has to be sleep deprived for it and they want him to fall asleep during the procedure after staying awake for part of it. We'll see how that goes. I predict a hard day with him, but it's worth it to get the test done. The consult with the doctor isn't until mid-September.

We'll keep everyone updated as we know more, but so far, he's been doing great.

Oh, and I will be posting more pictures soon. I just haven't felt like uploading them from the camera. I have a few posts that need to be written, so look for those in the next few days!

Eviction Notice

I, the landlord (aka Mommy), am issuing a notice for eviction. Tenant (Aiden Parker Steele) will have until September 9th at 12:30pm to vacate the current premises. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.

The tenant is being evicted due to breach of contract and destruction of property. Expansions ONLY to the front of the property, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only were these limits exceeded, but expansions to the rest of the property were also made without approval by the landlord.

Austin

As some of you know from Facebook, Austin, our 5 year old, had some sort of seizure activity last night. Here's what happened and what we know now...

Austin and his friend were wanting to do a sleepover and last night was the night. All the kids in the neighborhood were outside playing for a while after dinner, so after a quick bath at home, Brian walked him down the street for the night. Our two families have quickly become good friends, so we went on with our night knowing he was in good hands. We are so thankful for this family!

Brian and I watched some TV and then was about to go to bed for the night when we got the call. It was 11pm, so I figured it was just something that Austin just had to have to go to sleep or some other kid-thing like that! Brian answered the phone and I knew from his voice that something wasn't right. He said Austin was having a seizure and told me to stay here as he was running out the door and down the street. After what seemed like a lifetime (which was probably only 10 minutes or so), our friend, Jen, came to stay at the house for Colten so I could run down there and check things out for myself.

What we have been told is that the kids watched a movie and then it was time for bed. They had been in bed for about 30 minutes or so when their 13 year old daughter heard noises coming from the bedroom. After a minute or so, she went to see if they were still up and playing and saw that it was Austin and that he wasn't acting right. She told her parents and Jen came up and started to roll him over so she could see what was happening. When she saw that his right side was twitching and he was drooling/foaming at the mouth and the right side of his face was scrunched up, she knew he was probably seizing and put him back on his side for safety. At some point, John, the dad, also came up and we were called. 911 was called as well (when Brian got there) and the paramedics were there when I got there. His temp was taken to rule out febrile seizure and it was normal.

Brian said that when he got there, he could tell Austin wasn't right. He did see some recognition in his eyes, but Austin couldn't tell him who he was or anything. At some point, he reached up to Brian's face and also reached up to the right side of his own mouth like he was confused as to why he couldn't talk. A couple of minutes later he was able to tell them who Daddy was and what his name was and how old he was. He was really out of it and very groggy. When I got there, he was still like this, but knew who I was and was answering some questions. The ambulance took him and Brian to the hospital on post while I got things together for Jen to stay at the house while we were gone.

The ER visit was long and it took 3 hours or so to get the lab results back. Austin was allowed to sleep most of the time, but needed to wake up for the doctor to exam him a bit. The doctor wasn't all that great...we'll just leave it at that. I had already told Brian that they probably wouldn't do much more than blood work they sent to the lab and that's exactly what happened. All lab work came back normal, so they discharged us with instructions on what to look for in another seizure and things to limit until cleared by a doctor. We were to follow up with his primary care doctor today.

This morning, I woke up with Colten and called the appointment line. Got an appointment for 2pm, and researched on the internet until I had to leave for my OB appointment. When I got home, Austin was up and playing like normal. We have told him a kid-friendly version of what happened.

His doctor appointment went pretty well. We were prepared to fight for Austin to get tested more and didn't even need to get worked up. The doctor was all about getting him evaulated more and called a pediatric neurologist off post to see what needed to be done, etc. We now have a referral for that pediatric neurologist and are just waiting for the referral to go through to call for an appointment. Hopefully, we don't have to wait too long.

Until he's seen by the neurologist, Austin is not allowed to ride his bike or skateboard or things like that. He's pretty bummed about that, but overall, he's doing great. Playing like normal and eating like normal.

It's probably safe to say that Brian and I are a little freaked out, but know that there's a good chance that this could be his only episode. I know there's also a chance that we'll never know what caused it, which is hard to accept as a parent. How can you prevent another one if you don't know what caused it in the first place?

All I know is that it's going to take me a while before I am comfortable with not having a baby monitor in my kids' rooms. I know that if it had happened at our house and we didn't have a monitor (we do since Colten shares a room with Austin, but let's just say for a minute that we didn't have one), we probably wouldn't have ever known about it. Our room is on the opposite side of the house and Austin insists on sleeping with the bedroom door closed. I don't think we would have heard the noises (probably gagging) he was making and would have slept through the entire thing.

We are so thankful for our friends, Jen and John, and their daughter who did exactly what she was supposed to do. It's also great to have Matt and Paula nearby again as they were begging us to do something and got to stay with Colten today during the doctor appointment. :-)

We will update as we know more, but that probably won't be until we see the neurologist. Until then, we thank you for your prayers and concerns. They mean so much to Brian and I!

Waiting...It's so hard to do!

A post otherwise known as The Ramblings of a Pregnant Lady.

Why is it that my shortest pregnancy seems like the longest? Is it the fact that I KNOW that at 39 weeks that we'll have a new baby boy in our family? Is it other factors (age, summer heat, close pregnancies) that make it seem longer and harder this time around?

I keep telling Brian that I don't remember feeling like this with either of the other two boys. I know that my heartburn is worse and I'm actually experiencing third trimester nausea that never seemed to appear with Colten or Austin. I hurt all over, but especially my stomach. I feel like Aiden will just push his way out through my skin sometimes!

I know that in a couple of weeks, I'll have that baby in my arms. Eventually, I'll miss being pregnant. Yes, weird, I know, but I will. This could possibly be our last baby. I need to make an effort to enjoy the rest of the pregnancy. I need to enjoy the ease of 2 kids (you know, compared to 3). It's easier getting ready, getting them in and out of the car, running errands, and so many other things. I would say I should enjoy a full nights sleep while I can, but I'm not getting it anyway! :-)

On Thursday, I go to the OB clinic again. We'll find out when Aiden will make his arrival. I've had months to prepare for this c-section and I still haven't accepted it fully. I've tried. Really, I have. I don't think I ever will. I had my eyes opened while researching years before Colten was even a thought in our mind and while there are days when I wish I could close them again and ignore it all; I can't. I know I'm giving in. Not really taking the easy route, as a c-section is far from easy. I guess I'm just giving up on what I've wanted. It's hard for me to give up.

I am amazed that Aiden will be so much earlier than Colten. If I have my c-section at exactly 39 weeks, he'll be 3 weeks earlier. I keep wondering how big (or little) he'll be, as both of his older brothers had more time to grow.

There's so much more I need to do before Aiden is born. Seriously, we still need to get the carseat! I think we are procrastinating so much more this time around. I'm determined to use cloth diapers this time around as well. We still need to buy those. Good thing is that they are made of a synthetic material and don't have a big prep period needed like some of the organic materials. I just wash them up like regular baby clothes and they'll be ready. I have to say that I'm pretty excited about those diapers. They are SO soft and I know they'll not only be better for Aiden's bottom, but they'll save us money as well! I'm hoping to use them with Colten as well....at least most of the time! He still might have to be in a disposable once or twice a day, but I'll get it figured out as a few weeks go by. If you're wondering how they can both be in the same type of diaper, they are a one-size diaper. That means the size is adjustable and can go from a newborn size to a toddler size with just a bit of adjusting. The particular brand I want uses the same system as the adjustable waist bands in most children's pants.

If we could get those two purchases out of the way and put the crib together in our room, I'll feel much better!

I think I have rambled long enough and Colten seems to agree as he is pushing his way up to the computer. I have some pictures I'll upload soon and hopefully I'll be better about posting than I have the last week! :-)