Happy Birthday Pa

Darrin's dad turned the big 6-0 today.  We celebrated by meeting in Paducah for dinner.  Miles is always a little questionable at restaurants, but Olivia & Ava were there, so that really helped.  They played on the DS most of the night.  Miles thought it was so cool.  The girls let him play on it by himself for a little while and he could barely contain his smile...

The kids with their Pa...

Darrin's mom & dad...

Pa had to cover his eyes while we gave him his presents b/c none of them were wrapped...

It was a little warm in the restaurant and Miles' cheeks were red.  I really hope that's all it was and not sickness again.  This pictures cracks me up...

Miles went home with Granny & Pa, so Darrin and I are home alone.  I'm blogging & he's playing a video game.  We are so exciting.  Tomorrow we are going to Memphis with my friends from work for our Christmas party.  A little shopping and a lot of eating.  Miles is staying at Darrin's parent's house until Sunday.  He was really excited.  We miss him already, but a break is good for everyone.  No Candy Land tonight folks!

Moms' Night at Daycare

Tuesday night was Moms' Night at Daycare.  We were invited to come for an hour and see what our kids do during the day.  It started at 6:30pm, so we had around an hour to go home, eat, change clothes, give Miles a bath, and get back to daycare.  In that hour, Miles was awful.  I threatened the whole way back to daycare that we would leave if he started acting up.  

The first thing we did was circle time.  Miles & Thomas sitting on their mats...

Miles & Amelia acting silly before circle time started...

I wish I could say that this picture exemplified his behavior.  He looks so polite and respectful...raising his hand and all...

After circle time, which is where they talk about the calendar & the weather each day, we went to our first learning center.  This one, lead by Mr. Josh, focused on letters and fine motor skills.  The kids had fun throwing balls at letters on the wall...

Miles & Avery Reece at the second learning center, where they had to match puzzles together...

Third, we went to Ms. Glenda's learning center and put on a snowman show.  Miles and I are actually holding the two snowmen like puppets....it's just hard to see us in the picture...

We went to the math learning center last, but I don't have any pictures b/c I was trying to manage Miles and the marker that he was holding.  It ended up all over his face, so I probably should have just taken pictures.

After the night was over, we had some refreshments.  This picture quality is terrible, but I had to include it.  This is Miles' friend, Alex Pitz.  He always calls him by both names b/c there is also an Alex Belew in his class.  Miles tells me frequently that Alex Pitz is his only friend.  Sometimes he tells me that no one else is nice to him.  I try not to make too much of it b/c he seems to like daycare and rarely puts up a fight to go.  Actually most days he's asking us when we can leave the house.  The other day I asked him who he played with that day.  He said, "Alex Pitz only.  I go with Alex Pitz b/c he's nice to me."  I asked the teachers if they play together a lot and she said "sometimes".  Who knows the whole story when you are getting it from a 3 year old.

Miles & Ms. Mercedez.  He loves her hair :)

As I said, I wish the picture of Miles raising his hand showed what our night was like.  Unfortunately, I think it's safe to say that he was the rowdiest one there.  He was laying down during circle time and never listened as the teachers gave directions at each learning center.  One time the teacher even got onto him while I was standing right there.  I've thought about it a lot since Tuesday. I parent a lot different than I thought I would.  Darrin and I are both pretty laid back.  Are we too laid back?  We let Miles get away with more than I ever thought we would, and probably more than we should.  Don't get me wrong, the kid has structure....we have rules and we do the time out thing.  But, we let a lot go too.  I've learned that you could find something to get onto kids about 24/7 if you wanted to.  It's exhausting for us and I just don't want to break his little spirit.  I'd rather worry about bigger picture things.  Even as I type, that sounds like a cop out.  For now, I think Darrin and I are pretty comfortable with how we are choosing to raise Miles.  He's a handful, but he's happy, healthy, he's nice to his friends, and he LOVES us.  It's always good to do some self reflection, which is what Tuesday night caused me to do, but for now we're going to keep on keeping on.

Wordless Wednesday

 

We Have A Gamer

On Black Friday, I bought Candy Land for $3.88.  Since we were home all weekend, I saw no reason to withhold this gift until Christmas.  I think we've already gotten our money's worth out of it.  I didn't know if he would be able to wait for his turn and properly follow the rules, but he has done a great job.  I love to play games, and he seems to be following in my footsteps.  We have already played 3 games in the 45 minutes that we've been home. 

He really likes to win, which is taking after both of us :)  I definitely need to find some more age appropriate board games for Christmas.

Change of Plans

This year, the plan was to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family, and Christmas with Darrin's side of the family.  All of our stuff was packed and ready to leave for my mom's house as soon as I got off work at 5pm on Wednesday.  I actually started packing stuff on Sunday so that I wouldn't be so stressed on Tuesday night, like I usually am.

Darrin took Miles to get his hair cut on Wednesday at 2:30pm and then called to report that it did not go well.  Apparently Miles had a major meltdown.  He said his neck hurt....he didn't like the cape....he didn't like the way the hair was falling on his neck....etc.  Darrin said it was unlike any other fit he's ever thrown.  The hair cut did not happen and they went home.  We chalked it up to him still not feeling 100%.  When Darrin got home, he checked his fever and it was back.  He'd been fever free since Monday so we thought we were in the clear.  After a call to my mom, we all decided it would be best for Miles (and everyone else) if we stayed home.

I think the final decision took place between 4-5pm.  I was at Walmart by 7pm shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Since it was just going to be the 3 of us, the menu was somewhat abbreviated: turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, caramel pie & peanut butter & chocolate bars. This was our first Thanksgiving to prepare all by ourselves.  I have to say, we actually pulled it off quite well.  My main goal was to make the stuffing like my mom's, but when you shop at 7pm, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, in a small town, you can't find exactly what you need.  We made it work, and everything was really good.

We made the food, ate, cleaned up, and were all laying on the couch by noon.  Success!  We missed seeing family, but made the most of our little family time.

Miles wanted to help with Thanksgiving dinner...

Our yummy food...

He didn't eat a single bite....not b/c he didn't like it...just a true sign that he was sick.  He still hasn't eaten a solid meal since last weekend.

Hope your Thanksgiving was happy.  Ours was different, but good nonetheless.  It's nice to know that we can make the most of a situation even when plans change at the very last minute.  This is where we have spent the majority of the last four days...in our living room. 

Lots of quality family time....relaxing, playing Candy Land, playing Wheel of Fortune on the XBOX, watching movies, watching football, napping....but back to reality tomorrow.  I will be so sad to leave these guys tomorrow.  I'm already looking forward to dinner & Monday Night Football with them.  

Wordless Wednesday

Sharing Toys & Germs

Apparently there has been a lot of sharing of germs at daycare.  Miles' teacher said that 2 tested positive for the flu, 6 were out, and 3 were sent home with fevers....and that was just today.  Miles crawled in our bed around 4am and he was burning up.  We try to let his fever fight off the sickness without Motrin or Tylenol as long as he doesn't seem to be hurting.  He laid in our bed and tossed & turned....and asked for water, milk, a tissue....all on separate occasions.  I finally decided he needed some medicine to help with the restlessness.  He took some Motrin and fell asleep.

He woke up full of energy and has been going strong all day with the exception of a lengthy nap.  Darrin still took him to the doctor this afternoon.  I just knew if we didn't that he would start running a fever again tonight.  I didn't want to risk it with Thanksgiving.  Dr. Bates said everything looked okay, so once again we just have to wait out the virus.  He's still doing fine tonight.  Fingers crossed, we've already gotten through the worst of it.

While we were there, we thought we'd make the most of our copay.  Miles has been sleeping in underwear for around nine months.  From the beginning, he's done really well.  And, was even perfect for two months in a row.  Then, in the last two weeks, he's had five accidents at night.  I know he's still young, but given his track record, it seemed unusual.  They did a urine test today to check for a bladder infection and diabetes, which also causes bed wetting.  Diabetes runs in Darrin's family, so we specifically asked for them to check that.  The test showed no sign of an infection but did show some sugar.  So, they followed that test up with a blood test, which came back normal.  He hasn't had an accident in several days, but I'm still glad we checked it out.

Tonight we introduced the idea of giving some of Miles' toys to boys & girls who need them.  His first comment was, "I don't want to give up my castle."  We reassured him that he didn't have to, and that he could pick out a few things that he thought would be nice to give away.  He seemed excited and immediately started looking. He came up with several from his playroom...

....and a few from his bedroom...

Then, he told me to wait in his room while he went to get something.  He came back with Green Lantern...

What a sweet gesture.  He loves Green Lantern.  There were several surprises in the group.  His very first pick was his Diego jeep & accessories.  We actually bought it at a yard sale for $1 and he has played with it so much.  Why do we spend so much money on expensive toys when they are just as happy with Green Lantern from a Happy Meal and Diego from a yard sale?  So....lots of sharing going on.  We hope the toys are better received than Miles' virus.

Weekend Wrap Up

So...it's been a little while since I blogged.  We have been busy finishing up volleyball season among other things.  I finally just decided to surrender to the busyness and wait it out.  Several things have taken a backseat, blogging being one of them.  To add to the chaos, my camera is broken & my email hasn't been working, so I haven't been able to email pictures from my phone to my computer.  I know there are other ways of doing that, but what I'm trying to say is, my blogging routine has been very disrupted.  I also haven't felt the best lately.  I had a visit with my Lyme doctor last week....more on that later.

Now that I've gotten the excuses out of the way....here are a random few things we've been up to.

Dressing like a Spiderman kitty...

Circling his wish list in the Christmas catalogs...

Eating cool snacks.  When he saw this he said, "Momma....that is AMAZING!"

We also celebrated senior day for our only volleyball senior, Kasey...

We have become extremely close to Kasey and her family over the last four years.  We wish her the absolute best, and will miss the entire family so much.  As the announcer stated, she has re-written the record books at UTM and is also the all time digs leader in the OVC.  She's the real deal & we are very proud of her.

Miles has waited anxiously for daddy to come home from work on several occasions...

We went to see Wreck It Ralph.  Miles was glued to it the entire time.  This was actually taken after the movie.  The way he's looking at it says it all...

Crystal and I made the trek to Morehead for the conference tournament.  We spent last Wednesday night at my mom's house and left Miles there and drove to Morehead on Thursday morning so we could watch most of the games that day.  Unfortunately we entered the tournament as the 8th seed, after a hard fought year, and had to play undefeated Morehead first.  We lost but Crystal & I had a great time with the parents & with the girls after the game.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures....not even with my phone....and this is all I have to show for our trip...

And now, Miles is sick.  We've hung out at home most of the weekend.  He woke up with a significant fever on Saturday morning and has had it off and on all weekend.  Darrin is going to stay home with him tomorrow & pay a visit to Dr. Bates.  

Well, I feel somewhat caught up now.  Now that volleyball season is over, I feel like I can breath again.  We enjoy season so much, but it keeps us out of any resemblance of a routine for three & a half months.  The end of every season is always bittersweet.  I still don't have a camera so I may not update much until I get one, which I hope is Black Friday.  Have a good week everyone!