Afternoons with Jack

Jack goes to school 4 mornings a week, leaving all of our afternoons together-mostly alone as Macy is at school & the babies go down for a nap. I love this time with him because he follows me around, usually playing in some far off fantasy world in his mind but always close. We have great conversations too...sometimes deep, thought-provoking, sometimes downright laughable, like the one that took place on Friday.

Jack, as he's stirring the pot of beans he decided needed tended too: "Momma, I have something to tell you...you know that thingy we wipe our hands on in the bathroom?"

Me: "The hand towel?"

Jack, with his free hand raised for emphasis: "Yes, well...I got a TEENY bit of gum all on it...BUT, before you give me a consequence Momma, there's good news...I got it ALL off!"

How could I possibly come up with a "consequence" when he confesses like this???

Oklahoma City Zoo

With very little planning, we decided to take the kids to Oklahoma City, to visit the zoo & Omniplex & then we zipped back home. The zoo animals seemed to be still in winter mode, so a lot of them were gone or hard to see, but the kids weren't disappointed.

This is a picture of what Jack found interesting at the zoo...which was pretty much anything BUT the animals! We were constantly dragging him out of the bushes, the leaves, the mud, the trees, off the rocks, the hydrants, the fences. The boy is a boy and he could feel the call of nature and it was saying "Climb! Run! Get muddy! Feel the Earth!" He's never been much of an animal lover anyway...but how he loves to experience the great outdoors!

Ava enjoyed her first trip to the zoo...never complained & loved to watch everything happening around her.

Lily walked her little legs off! She never got tired & rarely wanted to be held. The funniest thing was when we'd come up on a drainage grate...she would NOT cross it, like cattle won't cross a cattle guard. It was hilarious to watch her problem-solving skills at work...she would stop, sometimes throw her arms up & want to be carried across or she would scoot around them, looking for the edge to go around it.

Macy & Lily loved the animals.

This is a picture of a gorilla giving Macy a kiss through the glass.

And last, a picture of Macy in front of macy's...which she thinks she was named after.

Do the rules apply?

You know all those warning labels that they plaster all over a set of bunk beds about how unsafe the top bunk is, and that children under the age of 6 should not be allowed in the top bunk? Do they apply to your third child?? You know, the one that quietly sneaks off when you forget to pay attention (for 2 seconds!) and does things like draw on walls (swore I'd never have one of those kids!), brush her teeth with potty water, take all of the DVDs out of their cases, empty drawers, eat things off the lower shelf of the pantry...and climb, all by her little 20 month old self, up to the top bunk and proceed to jump like it's a bouncer?

Do you see that look on her face? She's a stinker and she knows it AND she thinks it's funny! You know the saying, "I laugh in the face of danger!"? Well, that would be Lily, except hers would be "I laugh in the face of discipline!" This is the face you see when scolding her...and it is impossible to not crack up at her! Oh, man, is she ever going to test our parenting skills!!

The flip-side of her disappearing act is that most of the time when she quietly slips away, she goes and entertains herself in a productive (and safe) way...unlike her brother, who cannot be around a corner alone without asking every 5 seconds if I'm still here or going to check on him soon, Lily is content to be by herself.

Her favorite thing though is for her big sister and brother to include her when they are playing-she loves being one of the "big" kids!

Life imitating life

Daddies

God made daddies good at a lot of things...

one of them being pulling teeth.

I'm so glad because even the thought of feeling the root rip out of someone's head gives me chills like nobody's business!

And, conversation at our house tonight went like this:

Macy: I AM a tomboy.

Jack: Macy, if you want to be a boy, you have to like Lowes.

So, now you know what it takes. I love it! I'm pretty sure he would also say you have to want to wear cammo-maflauge, as he calls it, if he'd had the time to really give her a run-down but it was bed time.

Ava's Eye

I don't know who knows what, so I'm going to post starting from the beginning...

When Ava was born, we noticed that both of her eyes didn't move the same but knew that newborn eyes rarely ever do so I put it in the back of my mind & didn't worry. As time went on, the normal newborn eye issues wore off but Ava's left eye still didn't work right. It wouldn't turn all the way to the left when she looked left. Still unconcerned, I happened to mention it to our pediatrician & she said to give it until 6 months. Fast forward to the 6 month check-up & it was STILL noticeable, so she referred us to a pediatric opthamologist, which I took her to yesterday.

Right away this doctor diagnosed Ava with Duane's Syndrome. Basically, from what I've read on the internet & in my limited understanding, it's a rare congenital (present at birth) condition that affects the way the brain communicates with the nerves that control the eye muscles. Unlike a lazy eye that means a weak muscle, this is a "communication" problem that can't be fixed. Ava compensates for this by turning her head when she needs to see to her left, & right now she can look straight ahead with no problems. Interestingly, this condition affects more girls than boys & is almost always the left eye. I have to take her back in 2 weeks to have her eyes dilated for further testing & hope to get more answers then.

This website has some pretty basic information & pictures to give you an idea of what we see with Ava, though her's is worse (I think) than Ava's.

Ah, Sleep...

Sleep escapes me tonight...

A Parable and a Big Day

This weekend, hubby asked the kids to clean their rooms (which, if you didn't know this already, is in the process of being declared torture right along with waterboarding, just ask my kids) and he had to keep "reminding" them of their said responsibility. After some time, daddy was starting to get a little frustrated & a little more stern, when Macy bust out in tears saying "Daddy, haven't you ever heard the parable of the king that forgave a man of his debt and that same man wouldn't forgive someone who owed him money??? Hasn't ANYone ever shown you mercy daddy???" She gets points for application and creativity in my opinion! Oh, and for the drama!

While we really try to build family unity in our activities, sometimes the kids need a little one-on-one time with a parent. On this night, Macy & I had a spa night after all the other kids had gone to bed...complete with a foot soak & rub, hand and nail care, a facial peel (I remember these from when I was a kid-my cousin would put them on us & we'd peel them off, I thought it was SO cool!). Sometimes even tomboys need a girly-girl evening!

On Valentines day, Macy received her First Communion. Her level of understanding and desire humble me at times and I thank Jesus for the work He's doing in her.

This is Macy with her 2nd grade teacher...they prepared in class and at church for her sacraments. She also thinks Mrs. J is the best teacher ever!