Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Bossy

This past Sunday morning (which happened to be Reed's birthday) we were all getting ready for church.  I was in the boys' bathroom barking orders...probably trying to get their teeth brushed or something when Reed said, "Mom, do you know what bossy is?"  I stopped in my tracks and stared at him.  I said, "I do, do you?"  He replied, "It means rude." 

On another note, Reed is now finally 4, but he told me last night that he just really, really needs to be 5. 

Love to all,

Brittany

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pictures

These are from the 600 pictures that I told y'all were on my camera that needed to be uploaded to the computer.  Hope you like them.  Most of them make me laugh. 

This is Reed during a "rest".  All his animals are taking a nap.
 


Actually being sweet to each other.




These are Gaines' first day of school pictures.  You can tell he was really excited for school.  In case I haven't mentioned it, he goes to a mothers' day out one half day a week.  Doctor approved.


I think this face is hilarious. 

 



These next two make me laugh.  Beau and Reed were working on something and had to wear their safety gear.  Safety first!



My mom is going to kill me for this one but it makes me laugh so hard.  This is her and Gaines having a parade.  That stick in his hand is the Irish walking whistle that she brought him back from Ireland.  Of all the things to bring back... 


These skates are from about 20 years ago or more.  Each of my cousins had a pair and we'd skate our little hearts out at my grandmama's house.  She's been saving them all this time and the boys had so much fun with them.

 


Spaghetti-Os for lunch.


This was at a pumpkin patch birthday party.  Beau and Gaines didn't get to go because Gaines ended up pretty sick after last year's pumpkin patch adventure and we didn't want to risk it.  We think its the hay.

 


 


Reed and his buddies at the pumpkin patch.

Beach Pictures

Pictures from our October beach trip.  I told y'all I'd post pictures this weekend.  I know you didn't believe me.   Excuse the captions.  They aren't doing what I want and I give up.  This is Reed in his awesome shades.  He reminds me a little of Tom Cruise here.









Matching pajamas.









Me with my sweet boys.









Gaines learned to tolerate the beach some...but this is how he felt most of the time he had an encounter with the sand.











Love this one.











This one is pretty indicative of our life most days.  Don't worry.  Reed was only hugging him.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Nonsense

The thing I forgot yesterday was to declare publicly my love for Lay’s Jalapeno Kettle Chips. They make making your own lunch worth it.


I would also like to let you all know that I found a rotten pumpkin in the boys’ bathroom yesterday. Apparently pumpkins do not last if you break their skin by sticking plastic face pieces in them. It was really gross and my hand has been stained a little orange all day. Who knew that pumpkins stain? About an hour later I found a rotten banana. We seem to have a rotting produce problem at our house these days.  I just needed y'all to know that.

Here's another human interest story for you, we’ve been going to Wednesday night church lately but I decided to let us skip last night. We’ve been going so much and just needed a night at home to be normal and it was rainy and I know that neither of those are good excuses but I talked myself into it. It's ok though because God punished me by having Gaines throw up...on me…in my work clothes. I swear He has a sense of humor.

Reed’s birthday is coming up on Sunday but he moved up classes at school on Tuesday so he thinks he’s already 4. That sweet baby just can’t wait.

In other Reed news, he made the real news yesterday. They had a fire prevention deal going on at school yesterday that involved a smoke house and fire truck. They interviewed Reed and while I’m sure he had some profound comments on fire safety, they only used the clip of him saying, “It was a little smoky”. I wish I could put a link of it on here but apparently CBS 8 doesn’t feel that cute little almost 4 year olds sharing fire prevention advice was a worthy enough story to put on their website.

I guess that’s about it for now. Two posts in two days and this is what you get. I’m trying to get better with the blogging. I really want to.

Love to all,

Brittany

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Gaines' Big News

First, my apoligies for dropping the ball right after I said I was going to post pictures.  My dad ended up having pretty major surgery the next day and my little world and to do list just had to wait.  We were at the beach the next weekend and just got back on Monday.  Trying to do something like uploading pictures during the week just isn't going to happen.  So, here's hoping that I get some up this weekend.  I'm pretty sure I will but I'm just not going to promise any more. 

A few other housekeeping details, you all need to have your skin checked once a year and wear SPF sunscreen.  I had two moles "biopsied" last week and while thankfully they were ok and only "abnormal", the whole thing kind of shook me up.  I'm not sure if you all are aware but I have a bit of a vivid imagination and it is not alwasy a good thing.  Anyway, I wore sunscreen at the beach and the world did not end when I did not come back tan...weird.  I also did not come back sunburned which was a nice change of pace.  So, there is my skin care PSA.  Take care of it. 

I had something else riveting to say but I forgot it.  So moving on to Gaines' big news...

Gaines' speech therapist did his 6 month evaluation the other day and he did so well! His score was 26 out of 29 months. The test has two different pieces, one that focuses on what he’s understanding, and the other on what he’s able to articulate. The articulation piece was 27/29 and the understanding was 26/29. I am really, really pleased with that.
I kind of kept it to myself before but, at his first evaluation in speech, that understanding piece was 13 out of 24 months. I knew that part of it was Gaines not cooperating that day (he’s just not going to do what he doesn’t want to do-working on that) but honestly, it also kind of scared me and I didn’t want anyone to know about it. So…I am super excited with this result. This score means that he no longer qualifies for Early Intervention and will only have one more session.

The therapist did mention that if we were still having trouble understanding a lot of what he says (like right now “mama” sounds like “baba” which is common in all kids) around the time he turns three, that we might want to have someone look at him to see if he needed help with his sounds. She said that right now he was too young for that to be a concern. We’ll cross that bridge when and if we need to but right now I’m just so excited that he’s catching up and understanding.

There have been a lot of unknowns with Gaines that we’ve had to be patient with and watch unfold…I mean, his sats were LOW (like do you want us to call in the chaplain low) the day he was born and he had to be resuscitated his first night…that doesn’t bode well for lots of things brain-wise. But y’all…he’s getting there and overcoming all the concerns one at time. First by holding his head up and sitting, to walking and now this. I could not be more proud of my littlest boy! God is good!

Love to all,

Brittany