Make a pretty picture!!

Isn't this cool???? Looke closely and we're even all using our right hand to hold our left hand up, even though Cole & I are right-handed and Shelby is left-handed. Brilliant genetics! :) haha And don't anyone tell me that my kids look NOTHING like me. Let me photoshop some blue eyes onto me and we might have some matches. woohoo.

No surgery tomorrow!!!

Coleman was scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to correct his hydrocele, but since he was sick and on prednisone last week, they have suggested that we wait at least a few weeks to make sure his lungs are in perfect condition before he goes under general anesthesia. On top of that, we found out that the surgery is going to cost a lot more than we thought. Like, over $1000. It's fine but not what we were told at first, and not what we had planned on. Well for one, we had the surgery scheduled before the end of the year so we had already paid about $400 of our $1000 out of pocket max (from his birth this year) Since we are having to reschedule the surgery, the out of pocket max will start over in January. So I started doing some research on the internet. All the hospital people and nurses I talk to about this keep calling it an "elective procedure" so I was curious... Well I find several things. First of all, they usually give it until the child is at least a year to close up on its own. Some things I found even say that it can spontaneously correct itself until they're 18 months. So, if we waited until he was 18 months before having the surgery, it could correct itself and not even be necessary! Other sites said that the surgery is usually done after a child turns 2, again, to give it a chance to close on its own. So why would we rush into this surgery before he's even a year if we don't have to? I read that it's not a dangerous condition, and it's not painful to him. So anyway, we're leaning towards putting the surgery off until September. That will allow it ample time to close on its own and we won't feel like we're rushing into something unnecessarily, and it will also allow us to take the $1000 out of my flex spending plan (which starts over in September) and at least have a little tax savings. I'm going to talk to the surgeon and his doctor to make sure I am finding the correct information of course, but from things everyone has said and things I have read it seems that this surgery is certainly not something that should be done asap.

On a completely different note, we opened a bottle of wine I bought from the Girls Gone Wine winery in Broken Bow, OK and it SUCKS. I spent $24 on this stupid bottle of wine and it tastes like it is carbonated! It even leaves little bubbles on the glass. Gross!!! I got taken by the hick Oklahoma wine ladies. Ugh. Note to self: Never again buy overpriced wine with homemade labels from "wineries" in Oklahoma. Duh.

Santa pic

We made it to see Santa this year!!! And amazingly, neither child cried. They were a little starstruck (haha) but no tears!!!

Our Christmas vacation

We're back from our family cabin vacation and our trip to see the family in Arkansas. The past days since last Wednesday have been everything. Exhausting is the first that comes to mind, but also delightful, inspiring, trying, awe-inspiring, filled with laughter (and tears), love and FAMILY time to the max. The kids and Jeff and I have all been together pretty much nonstop since Friday (9 days ago) at 3pm. Good thing we really love each other!!! Coleman came down with a cold, which moved down into his chest so the 2nd doctor visit in 3 days resulted in rx for antibiotics for an ear infection, steroids for the chest/breathing problems, and breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock. He was not diagnosed with asthma (yet) but man was he wheezing so bad last Monday!!! I am pretty proud and amazed at how well he nursed back to health. We were afraid we were going to have to cancel our trip to Broken Bow (beavers bend state park) Oklahoma when his cold turned worse. But, 2 days of prednisone and breathing treatments made us believe he would only get better so we set out. The cabin was amazing. We went with my long-time best friend, Kelly, and her family (Chris, 4 yr old Reagan, and 1 yr old Rylee) We had the greatest time and learned that it is smart to never travel with your kids with anyone who doesn't have kids, because our kids took turns making sure none of us felt bad that ours were the ones acting up. :) It was great. We took a couple of great hikes down into the state park alongside a river, and even though the leaves were gone and the weather was dreary, it was beautiful. The weather was actually about as perfect as it could be for mid-december. Mid-50's to low-60's and I even worked up a sweat on our walks. I think we got some good pictures, and I plan on sorting through them and posting a few after this. At the cabin we also enjoyed a 2-hour game of cackling laughter-inducing hide and seek, a great outdoor fire complete with marshmallow and weenie roasts, and a late-night hot tub on the porch under the stars. You can see the stars out there! :)
When we left the cabin we headed another 4 hours north to NW Arkansas to see my family. We got to spend lots of down time at Mimi's house and almost a full day at my aunt Jan's house with enough people to warm up her freezing cold house (these people have the ac running when it's sleeting outside!) :) We love seeing everyone and this year Shelby and McKenzie got to play together. It's great when they get old enough to do that. McKenzie is about to turn 2. We enjoyed an interesting game of white elephant, where we all wrapped up something from home that we didn't want or need anymore. The funniest gift was a KML monogrammed golf shoe bag that was meant for one of my cousin's groomsmen (who got married 2 years ago), and a couple of hideous hand-made mini pillow cases in a forest camo print; there was also an old army blanket that my grandma submitted, and an 1836 penny from Papa G, which was the year Arkansas joined the Union. My dad ended up with that one!!!
Amidst all that was going on, Coleman caused us to have some LOOooooooong nights. Well maybe not so much "us" as "me." Although Jeff might not agree, I believe I bore the brunt of his nighttime fits. He kept waking up in raging fits, and screams like we've never heard before, and even after trying to rock and calm him, the ONLY thing that would stop the screams was letting him nurse. Since we were sharing a cabin with another family, and then a house with 12 other people, I had to give in and just pop it out to keep him quiet, even though I knew I was creating a horrid habit. I do not want to be a night pacifier to my 1 year old. :) So for 5 nights, as Cole slept by my side, I had to pop the boob out at least 4 times a night. I am a stubborn person and I never would have given into that had he not been keeping other people awake. So tonight is our first night at home and we already decided to nip that in the bud. I know a mom whose son is SHELBY's age and she proudly admits that her son sleeps by her in the guest bedroom every night, sucking on her boob throughout the night. "I'm basically just a pacifier," she has said to me. That will NOT be me. Anyway, as I started typing this post, Cole had just been put into his bed and was of course standing in his crib screaming. Jeff went in there once to put some music on, but he has already stopped crying (quite some time ago, this is a long post!) I don't know how the rest of the night will be, but I know he will be fine even if we let him cry a little bit. :)
I could have written things in here a dozen times or more from cute or funny things that have happened over the past week. Shelby is quite the entertainer when she wants to be, and can make her daddy and I secretly crack up listening to her babble on in the car.
Coleman took his first 2 steps on Friday night!!! It was in Mimi's bedroom! He will be running around here before he goes back to school on Jan 2nd I bet!
Jeff has to go back to work tomorrow, but then is off Tuesday (Christmas), Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday (New Years day). I go back to work a week from Wednesday so I still have some good time off left. I'm so glad we uncharacteristically planned ahead and had Jeff take this time off of work, and enjoyed a long span of family time, travel, and relaxing fun. Christmas is in 2 days and it will be so much fun!
I could go on and on but I'll save some stories for another time. My kiddos are asleep and I plan on cleaning out some toys tonight to make room for the new Christmas stuff, and unpacking tonight. The job never ends!!!
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Another Christmas design

I love this one!

The imagination of a 2 yr old

Jeff saw Shelby in the living room with her Elmo doll laying on the dog pillow, and she had him all covered up with a blanket. Jeff asked her what Elmo was doing, and she responded, "Elmo's mad because he's lost in china, the ants is gettin him and he doesn't have any mothers to help him." Ummm, ok....
Haha. Yesterday when I picked her up at school she had 6 identical bears all lying on top of 6 pillows which were all lined up in a row, and they each had blankets neatly tucked around them. She had to pick them up before we left, so she had to take each blanket and roll it up in her particular way, it took forever!
She makes me laugh.

Things to remember.

A couple other things I want to get down (to document.) Coleman started pointing on Dec. 1st. He was mimicking sissy, as they were sitting side-by-side in the stroller at the FW Botanic gardens. I looked over and she was pointing at a waterfall, and he put his hand up and pointed at it too, and they were both looking at it. So cute! Since then, he's pointing at all kinds of things all the time. He points at people and dogs (as he says "Daw") and sometimes he just points at nothing. We've still got a couple of years before I have to teach him that it's rude to point.

A couple of nights ago the kids had their first night of roughhousing. Shelby was literally rolling Coleman tummy-to-back completely across the length of the living room, and she was being pretty rough, and he was just cracking up. He was pulling her hair and tackling her and she was laughing too. They were having such a grand ol time and I felt so OLD when I kept thinking, "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." So THAT'S what they meant when they said that! Fortunately, it was just all fun and games that night. I'm sure we'll have plenty of bumps and bruises that these 2 inflict on each other in coming months/years.

One more thing: The other day I asked Shelby what she wanted to be when she grew up (the first time she's been asked this) and her answer was "a doctor." So let it be documented for when she becomes a world renowned brain surgeon that the dreams started when she was a mere 2 years old. :) hahaha

I got DUH'ed

I've already told a few people this story but she did it again! She "duh"ed me.
I can't even remember right now what she was doing, but we were in the car and she was doing or saying something that I was telling her not to do, and she said, "Fine Mom, I'm fine. DUH." And she says "DUH" in this lower tone and draws it out like "DUUuuuuuh." I couldn't help it- I laughed at her and then she said it all night, knowing that I thought it was funny.
I shouldn't have laughed at her, duh!

Christmas Designs!!

I've been busy making Christmas cards for people, just because I like to! I love it when they love them :) Here are a few:

Coleman

* He loves hanging upside down and loves to climb and swing.
* When he's concentrating on something he breathes really hard through his mouth.
* He loves cuddles and kisses from mommy.
* He sleeps in his crib on his tummy, and he tucks his little fists under his hips so his little booty sticks up in the air.
* He likes MaMaMa to put him to sleep at night, but when he wakes up he cries for DaDaDaDa.
* One of his favorite places to play is in Sissy's room.
* He prefers no shoes but will leave them on if they're not tight.
* He smiles and waves a million times a day and is so happy.
* He loves pineapples and any kind of meat.
* He's not a big Baby Einstein watcher like Shelby was. He prefers to roll around on the floor with mommy, or be off somewhere exploring.
* He loves his Fisher Price musical chair, and the little piano we have. Aspiring musician???
* He can repeat so many sounds. "Naw Naw Naw" for Nonnie, and "TyTy" for Tyler and "Pop Pop Pop" for Poppie are ones he says.
* He says "Mmmmmo" when he wants more food, and "Nuh Nuh Nuh" (Nummies) when he wants to nurse.

That's my fault

Just now, I threw Shelby's dolly up by her when she was sitting down to watch a movie in my bed. She was not in the best mood, and took the doll and threw her off the bed, saying, "I don't WANT that baby!!" So I told her that she was not going to get to do nice things like watch movies if she was going to be a gripey little girl. She said what she often says, which is, "Leave me alone mommy!" I told her that she does not tell me to leave her alone, I'm her mommy, etc, etc. She said, "Fine! I'm FINE! That's my fault." She's been saying that a lot lately. Where did she learn that and how do you respond to that?!?! haha

Fashionista

I was jokingly walking around in little short shorts, a tshirt, and my black tall ugg-style boots tonight. Jeff just started laughing at me. I asked Shelby if she liked my boots and she said no, so I started pretending to cry. She said, "What's wrong Mommy?" and I said, "You don't like my booooooots!!" Jeff said, "Mommy, you need to put some pants on with those boots." Shelby just kept looking at me as I pretended to cry. I said, "Shelby don't you like my boots?" and she said, "No." I still boohooed. Then she said, "Mommy, you need to put some pants on with those boots." Haha, no matter what I tried I couldn't get her to come over to "my side" and like the boots. She must have a great fashion sense bred in her.

Random thoughts!

* I can't stop tapping my foot right now.
* I had 7 boxes on my doorstep Wednesday after work. Jeff thinks I'm crazy.
* We put up lights on our house yesterday.
* Shelby and I slept in until 9:00 this morning.
* Jeff and I had 2 bottles of wine last night.
* I'm about to have a $950 dentist bill
* Cole woke up screaming last night and was completely inconsolable for 15 minutes. He's never done that before.
* I am burning a candle in my office and hiding it because my "boss" doesn't like candles.
* I am getting impatient on our photographer who took family pictures 5 days ago and I have yet to see one. They were supposed to be for Christmas cards/presents and we are down to the wire on getting them ordered!!
* Our house looks like a tornado hit it, and the housekeepers were there only 2 days ago.
* I can't wait to watch Grey's Anatomy and Big Shots tonight!
* Shelby's won't stop talking about Jeff's missing tooth.

Wacky Wednesday

Shelby watched her first traditional Christmas movie last night. Rulolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on and she sat there and watched the whole thing. She was crying to watch Dora but as soon as the snowman started talking, she said, "I want to watch THIS Mommy!"
Right now Jeff is braving the doctor with both children all by himself. What a brave daddy! It is very difficult, even when it's both of us, to keep Shelby near us, and not let Coleman down on the yucky floors (and he hates being held these days.) I can't wait to hear how it goes. Since he's less obsessive and spazzy than me, it'll probably go fine. And I just won't think about how Cole probably touched all kinds of germy surfaces that I wouldn't have allowed!! (They're just there for flu shots and Jeff's going to ask about the milk allergy thing.)

Cole's surgery is scheduled for December 27th. It is a Thursday and should be a perfect time. We can get through the rush of Christmas, and then I will still have 6 days off work after that surgery day. He'll be fine in just a couple of days so it seems like it will all work out.

I am working on Cole's first birthday invites when I get bored during the day. I don't even know when or where we're having the party but I am thinking it will just be at our house. Maybe it'll be a nicer day that Shelby's was last year, when it snowed in April!!! I can't believe he's already almost a year old. My how time flies. Everyone says it but you don't truly understand the meaning until it happens to you!

Letter confusion

Yesterday at my mom's house, Shelby hugged Coleman and told everyone, "This is my friend Bubby. He's my best friend." So then today in the car after picking up Coleman, I said, "Shelby is Bubby your BFF?" She got so mad saying, "No this is NOT my BTF mommy! This is my Coleman!!!!" That was kinda funny, but I just dropped it. Then, we got home and Jeff came out to help us all get out of the car. When he picked Shelby up, she immediately told him, "Daddy, Mommy said Coleman is my ARP but I said he is NOT my ARP." (Jeff is laughing) I say, "No Shelby I said he's your BFF" and shelby says, "NO HE IS NOT MY QRS Mommy!!!!" Well, she may not have her letters down but she knows what letters are. haha

Mommy Shelby and Cole's surgery update

Shelby is such a little mommy. This morning, she and I were up on my bed and Coleman was on the floor. She watched him pick up a tag (trash) off the floor and start to play with it and put it in his mouth. She said, "Oh no Mommy, Coleman gots something!" She quickly jumped down and took it away from him, sternly saying, "No no bubby!" and then started walking out of the room. I asked where she was going and she turned around, held up the tag, and said, "I'm going to put this in the trash in the kitchen so brother doesn't eat it anymore, Mommy." (Like, duh mom, what do you think I'm doing?!?!)
Coleman is starting to get really brave with standing and walking. I bet his first steps aren't too far away. He is letting go while he's standing lately so it could be any moment that he moves those feet forward without holding on to anything. We had his consultation with the surgeon last week and I am hoping to call the office today to schedule the surgery. It is basically hernia surgery, they are going to cut into both sides of his pelvic area. Right now the hydrocele is only on his left side but the surgeon said there's a 60% chance that there's also one on his right side so they always open up and look. If it needs fixed, they fix it, if not, they just close it back up. He also had a little belly button issue that they're going to fix since he'll be in there anyway. He had a major outtie when he was born but it went in and looked normal for a long time. Then last week, it started poking out some again so we mentioned it to the surgeon. He felt around and said that there's some piece of belly button in there that should have fallen off but didn't, or something like that. It caused his belly button to not properly stick in and stay. It was so crazy when he was feeling around, he just put his finger in there and pulled Cole's belly button out like a little tongue! It was like an inch long! So he said it's not a big deal, but could cause hernia sometime down the road (in 50 years) and mostly would just be weird b/c it looks like this long big outtie belly button. So, we are going to opt to fix that since he'll be in surgery anyway. It's probably not something we would fix if he wasn't already having surgery but it is a very simple thing since he'll be out anyway. The dr. said they cut a little smile under the belly button, and he'll remove the little piece that's left over, and then tuck in the belly button properly and reclose it. I'm sure Cole will thank us for not having an embarrassing belly button his whole life! :) So anyway, 3 little cuts, 45 minute surgery, outpatient, he'll be good as new in a day or 2. The doc said you can't even try to hold him down- he'll be up and around the next day like nothing happened, so that's nice! We really liked the doctor so I feel okay about having this done. Baby boy will be just fine!!!
Another thing has been going on with Coleman too. We think he might be allergic to milk. We gave him some a few days ago and I don't think he actually drank any of it, but got it all over his belly while "playing" with it. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his belly got all red and bumpy. Then on Sunday he actually drank some milk and Sunday night he had the most awful painful looking diaper rash that was blistered. I have talked to some friends who have experienced this and read that it can get worse with exposure so I am going to try to hold off on dairy a little bit for a while, and talk to his doctor. He's been fine up until now, but I really don't eat a high dairy diet. I don't drink milk at all. I hope it's something that was either a fluke or that he grows out of quickly!
PS- At the surgeon's office, Coleman weighed 24 lb 4 oz! What a big boy!

Aspiring Dentist??

I just walked into the kitchen to see a little conversation Jeff has written on the back of a receipt sitting there on the island. He wrote it down for me to note it in here- it is pretty funny!! (Note: Jeff is missing a back tooth, he was born w/out a permanent tooth so once the baby tooth fell out, nothing ever replaced it. It isn't very noticeable but Shelby has noticed it before.

Shelby: "You missin a tooth Daddy."
Jeff: "Yeah."
Shelby: Don't worry. We put your tooth back on tomorrow."