sick days

Nick's been home from school for the last couple of days with tonsillitis and bronchitis. He's on all kinds of medication - tylenol, antibiotics, oral steroids and nebulizer treatments. Andrew has another ear infection (the 4th one in 3 months) that just doesn't want to go away. He's been on antibiotics and benadryl for almost 10 days and as of yesterday, it was still pretty bad. He may need surgery to have tubes put in if he keeps getting these. Poor little guy.

Although not feeling the greatest, my sons have definitely enjoyed being together while everyone else is gone. The baby has been thrilled to have his Nick there when he wakes up. Andrew definitely loves his big brother and I think Nick gets a kick out of having a little buddy.

can you believe it?

(click on image for full size)

This is the first scrapbook page that I've made since Sept. 2006. I can hardly believe it's been that long. I actually started this page awhile back. It's been sitting on my scrap table, abandoned since last Oct. A few days ago I received a scrap magazine and today I decided to browse through it while I ate lunch. There's nothing like a little inspiration to get you excited again. I'm not so sure that the layout is so good that it should have taken 3 months to create....but....I am pretty fond of it. ;)

11 months old and a stinker ;)

Hard to believe that a month from now we will be celebrating Andrew's first birthday. Time is just flying by. Before we know it, he'll be walking and talking. *sigh*

This morning I tried to take his monthly "growth" photo. Since he was a little over a month old (I started a little late) I've been taking his picture in the same chair with the same stuffed animal (his giraffe that he received the Christmas before he was born). The last couple of months have been challenging. He usually tries to climb out of the chair to get to me. Well, this month he decided that he wanted to stay in the chair but without the giraffe. No matter what I did, he threw him down. lol

Next month, I'll post all the different months and we can see how much he's grown. :)

tax time...

Nick spent Saturday morning on the floor of my scrapbook room going through a year's worth of paperwork. ick. He did have a little helper to make things easier. ;)

Nick gave Andrew an entire stack of paper to play in but guess which papers he really wanted? Of course, it would be whatever Dad had in his hands or neatly stacked in front of him. :)

AWANA Grand Prix

Last week (Jan. 9th) the boys were able to race their cars. It is something they look forward to every year. They worked very hard on them during Christmas break. Every year Dad lets them pick out what they want and helps them design it. This year the boys did a lot on their own. From helping to cut them out to painting. Jim this year did the entire thing by himself and was quite proud.

Everyone came home with awards this year. (Pictures were taken by my friend Susannah) Josh came in 2nd for both speed and design in his division with his Charger.

Nicholas took second for design with his really cool truck.

Steven came in 2nd for speed and won 1st for design with his Jeep.

Jim grabbed 2nd for his design and 1st for speed in his division. He also took 2nd place for speed overall (in all divisions).

yesterday's post....

I posted my photos and concerns about Andrew's head on the Cranio Kids forum yesterday. There were a few "sagittal" moms that have had the same worries as I. Most were told by their surgeons that although they are narrow through the temples it is not something that would require a second surgery. Hopefully this will be the case for Andrew. Anyway, just wanted to share that encouraging little tidbit. :)

6 months post-op

It's hard to believe that it's 6 months ago this month that Andrew had his surgery. I took some photos yesterday to show some comparisons. I must say, that overall he is looking good. I have been mildly concerned for the past month or so that his head is starting to look more "sagittal" again. The bone is all grown in now except for a small spot up front (not sure if it grew in too quickly or not.)

Anyway, it's not as narrow as it was before surgery but it seems to be elongated some again. Nick(unusually optimistic) insists that this is just the way his head is and that I am just a "head-picker" now. lol I do admit that I am always looking at head shapes but hey, who can blame me?

We see Dr. Smith next month and hopefully she will put my mind at ease. Please keep him (and us) in your prayers. It will be tough emotionally, physically and financially if he has to have another surgery.

front view BEFORE

front view AFTER

forehead BEFORE

forehead AFTER

back of head BEFORE

back of head AFTER

side view BEFORE

side view AFTER

top view BEFORE

top view AFTER

winter break

Christmas Eve is always spent together with the Christmas Story read (straight out of the Bible) by Dad.

Everyone sat on or around around Dad's lap except for Jim, who opted for a nice empty spot on the couch.

My boys in glasses

Steven & his baby brother

Christmas morning
Andrew's first Christmas

the surprise of the year
Nick "hugging" his present

New Year's Day
my brown eyed, red-cheeked baby

Daddy playing blocks with Andrew,
who now knocks them all down.

Nick's big vacation project.
The motor is going into the Chevelle....
....someday

the other project
AWANA Grand Prix cars

Look who has front teeth!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. Nick and the boys were off of work/school for 2 weeks and I've been enjoying their company. :) It was a great time of relaxing and just being together. Of course, Andrew and I are now adjusting to the quiet house.

Christmas was really nice. We spent it with Nick's family. I was disappointed not to be able to see my mother though. The kids were all thrilled with their gifts. Here's a few of the items they love the most....Jim has a cell phone, Steven a few video games he picked out, Josh, the DS that he's been begging for, Nick a bigger dirtbike that he's been wanting and Andrew, well, he LOVED the wrapping paper. lol

New Year's was spent at home this year with a few of our good friends and the all time tradition of playing Scruples. The boys ALL made it past midnight. In fact, we had to make them go to bed.

Nick spent one of his days of vacation taking the motor out of the black truck and quite a few more working with the boys on the grand prix cars. Oh, and yes, the boys did help this year (heehee). Lots of work those things are but they so enjoy it.

The older boys all ended up with colds over their vacation. Andrew and I managed to stay sick-free until this past weekend. I'm getting over mine but poor Andrew has another double ear-infection. I took him to the doctor yesterday. He now weighs in at 21 lb. 1 oz. He's such a big boy. Oh, he has now started crawling the "right" way (forward instead of backwards) and I'm in trouble. He is in to EVERYTHING. Some of you know, that this is one of my not-so-favorite stages - chasing babies. :)

Well, that sums up the past couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll get posting more often again. ;)