Wild Willie

Poor Willie. He doesn't know what's coming. Friday morning he has a vet appointment. You could say that Willie and the vet are not exactly friends. His most recent vet visits have consisted of biting Greg, shredding the hands of a substitute vet that didn't heed our warning, and being placed in an isolated room with a sign on the door that read "use extreme caution." Even the poor receptionists are afraid of him. But our beloved vet, Dr. Gengenbach, continues to take good care of him. It's hard to believe such a sweet boy could become so vicious.
Willie has always had flaky skin, but all of a sudden it has really become flaky and it's time for the vet to check it out. They are planning to sedate him if needed to examine him and draw blood if needed. I'll post an update when we know more.

The Cookie Snatcher

Here's a funny story about those cookies that I took to work:
I had an IEP meeting with the parents of one of my students yesterday. They brought along the student's older brother who has autism. The cookies were sitting on a filing cabinet across the room from this boy when he suddenly jumped up, made a beeline for the cookies, grabbed 2 of them and started gobbling! I assured his parents that it was fine for him to eat them, but they couldn't even get him to give part of one to his little brother. So I shared a cookie with him too!

A Dream or a Nightmare?

I definately have dogs on the brain since we are anxiously awaiting to hear when we may be able to adopt a golden retriever. I had a crazy dream a few nights ago. I dreamed that GRRIN (Golden Retreiver Rescue in Nebraska) had a golden for us to adopt and they also gave us a 3 year old boy from Australia to adopt as well. How crazy is that? We would have our hands full...

Comfy Carseats?

Greg and I have been seeing a chiropractor regularly for about 2 months now. We recently started taking the kids as well. Chiropractors can offer wellness care to children just like adults. I have to admit that I was skeptical at first, but with Garrett's on-going tummy issues and Avery's recent ear infection, we decided to give it a shot. They've been seen for about 2 weeks now and the chiropractor detected slight swelling along Avery's spine in the middle of her back. He asked us to bring in our carseat today so he could take a look at it. He removed the cover and showed us how the dense foam padding behind her head and shoulder blades abruptly stops, creating a horizontal ledge along the middle of her back. Since he showed this to us, I have been amazed that we never noticed it before because you can feel it as you run your hand down the seat. We have a nice plush Evenflo carseat. He said that most carseats do have this problem including the nicer brands such as Britax. This is especially a problem with younger children when they sit rear facing and their seats are reclined, placing them somewhat on their backs. So on his recommendation, we bought some thick batting and cut it to fit to fill in this gap and make a smoother surface for her back. This makes me feel terrible, thinking of the many long trips to Cimarron when Avery screamed for hours at a time. Now we know her back was probably hurting. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference this might make.

Cookie Cravings

I made homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight and am taking them to work tomorrow. I don't often make homemade goodies to take to work. I think that is because Greg and I both have to dig in to them as soon as they are cooled from the oven. That doesn't work so well with a pan of brownies for example. You hate to take a pan of treats with 1 or 2 missing! But I decided it's time that I invest a little effort for my co-workers.
Is it a bad sign that I can make my chocolate chip cookies from memory...

Big Brother

Garrett and Avery have their moments together, just like all siblings. It is fun to watch them play together and see how much they love each other, but they also know how to drive each other crazy. I was pleased when Lynette told me during week 2 of our new daycare that Garrett is always keeping an eye out for his lil' sis. She said that he always has to know where she is! That makes me smile.
Today Lynette said that Garrett found a small toy on the floor and brought it to her. He said, "This might be a choking hazard for Avery."
What a great brother.

Missing Miss Kysa

Mondays can be tough for all of us. We recently switched daycare from our in-home nanny, Miss Kysa, to a traditional in-home daycare. Garrett & Avery are both missing Kysa very much! Garrett also misses being able to hang out in his jammies every morning. Now we rush about to get out the door in time. Kysa watched the kiddos from August until March, so this was a big change. Avery had never been cared for by anyone else. But they've adjusted well.

It's nice to see Garrett playing with other children. Lynette is their new daycare provider and she runs a small daycare out of her home. She only takes a few children and Avery is the youngest. Lynette incorporates a lot of preschool-type activities - which are wonderful for Garrett. He loves doing storytime and he brings home many arts and crafts that he has made. Last week when I picked them up, Garrett didn't want to leave! That is always a good sign!

More Time Outs!

Time out seems to be the norm at our house. We've been working really hard with Garrett, trying to teach him to listen and follow directions the first time, without us having to give him repeated directions. He has definately improved when we are consistent with time-out, but he still likes to test his limits! At suppertime today, he was pushing the limits and smearing his food on the table. He didn't stop after we told him the first time and then Greg picked him up to carry him to time-out. Avery was sitting there in her highchair waving "goodbye" to him! It's hard to keep a straight face when these things happen.

Dave Ramsey

Greg and I are quickly becoming big fans of Dave Ramsey, the financial guru. We are reading his Financial Peace Revisited book and listening to some of his audio books. He has great ideas regarding how to become debt free and make your money work for you. We are currently starting to implement his "debt snowball" ideas to eliminate our debt and are thinking of ditching the credit card! Although it's still a little hard for me to imagine life without a credit card!
For a taste of Dave Ramsey and his view on purchasing cars, check out this link:
www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free
It really makes you think...

Zoo Day

We've had plans to go to the Lincoln Children's Zoo on Friday all week long. Avery has been battling a cold though and it seemed like Garrett was getting congested on Thursday night. He kept telling me Thursday night that he was getting sick. Then he asked me, "What are we gonna do tomorrow?" I said, "Well if you and Avery feel well and aren't sick, then we can go to the zoo." A little bit later he was laying on his bed, holding his breath and grunting really hard. I asked the logical question, "Do you need to go poop?" He said, "No, I'm trying to get the sick out of me!" He realized that he better not be sick if he wanted to go to the zoo! If only getting over a cold was that simple!
We did go to the zoo and had a great time! We had to leave a little early because Avery was getting tired, but Garrett was a good sport! He had a blast. Riding the train was his favorite part, of course. As I'm typing this, I asked him what his favorite part of the zoo was. He said, "The poopy train!" Potty talk is a big thing at our house these days.

Grandma Knows Best

When Garrett was little, his Grandma Reimer gave him two special blankets. They are both very soft and fuzzy. She said that she wanted them to be the blankets that he drags around everywhere he goes! Well, that is exactly what happened. Here he is snuggled up with them watching cartoons in the morning. And they go everywhere we go...including back and forth to daycare each day. Our hands are so full each morning that we can barely get into the door at Lynette's house (our wonderful daycare provider). I asked Garrett this morning if we could leave his blankies in the car and then they would be waiting for him when I picked him up after school. He said, "But why? Why would we leave them in the car? Why?" in a sweet little voice. Who could say no to that?

Weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's

We spent the weekend at Grandpa and Grandma Stohs's house for the annual Tulip Festival. We took several walks around the ball diamonds behind their house. On a walk, we discovered a small garter snake. He became snagged in the mesh holding down the new grass along the walking trail. Later that afternoon we walked back to see if he had escaped, but he was still stuck. Garrett said, "Ooohhh, how are we gonna help him?" So Greg and I had to free the snake. I'm proud to say that Greg held his head down while I released his body! We just couldn't let our little boy worry about that poor snake.

Time Out

Avery recently experienced her first time-out. She has a lot of experience watching her brother in time-out. Monday night she was picking on Garrett and he had asked her to stop. She kept walking up and poking him. Greg warned her twice and moved her away but she continued and began to giggle, obviously up to some mischief! He took her to the time-out spot and sat her down for 10 seconds. She was in heaven! She grinned at us and we could barely keep a straight face. It was pure pleasure for her. When Greg told her she could come out of time-out she wanted to stay longer! It think we may have our hands full with this one...

Like Mother, Like Son

We planted part of our garden and worked on some landscaping this evening with the kids. Greg used the rotatiller in the garden and along the edge of the house where we are planting some irises (Thanks Alice!). This led to the discovery of 4 frogs! I am so amazed and taken by Garrett's love and compassion for animals, much like my own. He carried these frogs around, holding them against his face and saying, "I love you. I love frogs." He was very careful to find them each a safe spot in the garden for the night and was worried that they might get cold. He was even sniffing them. A little neighbor boy witnessed this and kept asking, "Do they smell good?" It was all very cute!

Gymnastics

Garrett recently started gymnastics at Jim Unger's Gymnastics. He has been to 2 classes and loves it! When the first class was over, he was having so much fun that he was almost in tears! In class he has been learning to walk on the balance beam, do somersaults, and do all sorts of different maneuvers with the bars. One of his teachers said, "He's not afraid of anything!" I said, "He gets plenty of practice jumping off of furniture at home. That's why we're in gymnastics!"

Adoption

Many of you know that we have decided to adopt a golden retriever from the Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska (GRRIN). www.grrin.org Here is an update on our adoption status. We have been through an extensive interview process that involved a telephone interview and a home visit. We are required to have a fenced backyard and agree to keep the dog indoors when we are away from home. Now we are approved and are on the adoption list! There are 2 families waiting to adopt ahead of us. We will likely be waiting 4-6 weeks in order to find a dog that gets along well with young children and other animals since we have cats and birds. Once a potential match has been found, our family will meet the dog at the foster owner's home and then if we all agree that it is a perfect fit, the dog will be ours! The adoption coordinator will be calling us every 2 weeks with updates and as dogs become available. Each dog is required to spend 2 weeks with a foster family before it can be adopted. This gives GRRIN a chance to learn the dog's quirks and know what type of family it will need. So now we must wait patiently! There are several dogs pictured on their website. You can check them out. Most of the pictured dogs have a special need (i.e. senior dog, no children, no cats, etc). The majority of their goldens are adopted so quickly that they never make it onto the website. We are so excited and we keep wandering through the dog aisles of Target. I will post updates as we know more!

Thankful Thursday

It's very easy to think of things to be thankful for...I had to narrow it down. This is an easy one. I am thankful for having children that can always make me laugh, especially my preschooler! Today while driving home Garrett said, "I have hiccups. Why do I have hiccups? Why?" "Why" is the question of the day right now at our house. When he pulled into the garage, he asked, "Will you scare the hiccups out of me?" I briefly recalled a Clifford the Big Red Dog episode where Clifford gets hiccups and his dog friends try everything to get rid of them, including scaring him!

At suppertime, Garrett kept saying, "Avery, get out of town!" followed by silly giggles! I have no idea where he heard this...maybe daycare? I often tell Garrett that babies don't always understand what he wants them to do. After supper he asked, "Do babies know how to get out of town?"

Life is never dull at our house.

Blogging Buds

I have a blogging buddy. Garrett is singing to me while I work! Notice that his singing sounds a lot like a cat's meow? That's what it is! He was singing along to hymns in church on Easter Sunday and it sounded the same. The woman sitting in front of us really enjoyed it! She kept giggling...

It's a Party!

We just celebrated a birthday on March 14th. Avery is 1! She celebrated with her favorite meal - hotdogs! We had cake for dessert of course. She didn't like how the cake felt on her fingers so Garrett happily fed her. He ate most of the frosting but she didn't mind! This was so much fun that the birthday girl had to take a nap before opening presents!

Plan Day

Today is plan day at Belmont Elementary School where I work as a Speech-Language Pathologist. While I should be busy planning for school, I am instead planning a new blog! I've been reading blogs for awhile but writing one will be a new adventure for me. I can't wait to share our family's daily adventures with you!