Our first beach adventure

The week of July 4th, Kris and I were invited to attend a wedding on St. Simons. Since we were also looking for a place to take the kids to the beach, we combined the trip. My wonderful mother-in-law came with us and took care of the boys while we trapsed around the island doing wedding stuff. Spencer loved the ocean and tearing down the sandcastles Kris patiently made with him, while Patrick was more partial to eating the sand. Mimi worked hard to keep him from eating it. He was temporarily satisfied with the wet-wipes package. We also took a morning and went to the local water park. Spencer has really taken to swimming and loves Daddy throwing him in the air to splash in the water. He even went as far as to let Kris teach him how to body surf!

Spencer turns THREE!

We were at the beach when Spencer turned three, so we celebrated in St. Simons. Kris picked out a cookies & cream ice cream cake that was really yummy and lasted more than just our birthday! Our favorite cartoon character of the month, Diego, hosted us with his candle, plates and hats. Spencer got lots of cool stuff like a race car that "vrooms" and races across the floor, of course Deigo toys, big boy underwear (yes, we are getting that potty thing down) and sand toys for the beach. Even Patrick had fun watching all of us look silly and wonder why we were making him look silly too.

Loving brothers

Every day Spencer becomes more attached to Patrick and Patrick wants to follow Spencer's every movements. Today Spencer insisted I take his picture with his baby brother.

Spring Fun

Kris' birthday was this weekend. We enjoyed a night at the lake and then had lunch with friends on Sunday. Spencer has learned what a jet ski is and insisted that Daddy take him out on onw. The he actually got in the seat and wanted no parts of it! Patrick and I watched gleefully from the dock. Three Dollar Cafe hosted a surprise gathering for Kris with the amazing Cindy Jenkins doing her magic on the birthday cake.

Spring Is Here!

Spring is finally here and we are loving it. Spencer likes to drive his car on the deck while Mommy gets dinner ready. Patrick is beginning to realize he has toys around him and wants to put everything in his mouth. He really enjoys the exersaucer for short periods and we have just put up the jumpy swing - which he played in for 20 minutes this past weekend! Spencer is studying pets at school this week. His letter of the week was "D" s of course we had to take a picture with Georgia for his classroom. While we were at it, I pestered her into patiently staying still while I leaned Patrick against her. She got something out of it though as his hand apparently had some yummy smells on it.

Spencer loves taking pictures with Patrick and at bed time has a routine (if they are both still up at the same time) of making sure he gives lots of hugs and kisses for having good dreams.

We are heading into spring break this week. It will be a nice vacation from school fro all of us and we hope the weather holds out so that we can stay in shorts for a while!

My First Hospital Stay

Well, I'm not sure how many know, but Patrick and I spent a weekend in the hospital a few weeks back. Poor little guy got pneumonia from the RSV upper respiratory virus going around. We got to the emergency room Thursday night around 7 and were admitted at about 3:30 AM.

I will be honest and say for a hospital experience it was great. Children's Scottish Rite does a fantastic job of making you comfortable in a tough situation. We had a few bumps in the road when we first started, and a few interruptions with maintenance, but I give kudos to the nursing and tech staff. One nurse even did a little cover over his IV hand and cut out a hole for his thumb so he could still get to it to suck. They were awesome. And the cafeteria food wasn't half bad!

I took a few pictures to capture the moment. They had just removed his oxygen nose tubes, so he still has the sticky patches on his cheeks.

He is almost completely recovered now and at our last check up came in at a whopping 13.9 pounds. Only 11 pounds lighter than Spencer! And speaking of big brother, a few days ago Spencer inherited Patrick's yuck and I was home with him Wednesday and Thursday. The doctors believe he has the early signs of asthma, but we are on regular breathing treatments and he is such a good sport about it. He sits in my lap for the full 20 minutes watching Goofy or Handy Manny or something else Disney to keep him occupied. And between you and me, I'm hoping he is just enjoying the mommy time! His vocabulary is growing every day. My friend the speech therapist works with him every Monday. She has an 8 year-old daughter who plays flash cards with him and he eats it up! He has a new favorite word... "NO!" and has learned to count to nine, which he practices all the time. Poor Kris' ears are very tired.

I am back to work and loving it. We are busy non-stop with technology and supporting teacher's doing research. As well, the school's website got a little backed up, so I am updating that as well. We are a little fearful that Cobb County is going to drop the second media specialist in high schools as several other counties have already done. which would leave me by myself, but I have a wonderful parapro who I knowwill help me survive. Kris is home from travels for a few weeks (heading back to Korea on April 2nd) and we are looking forward to a restful spring break. Hope all is well with everyone else!

The Great Return to Work!

I am now on my third day back and am doing great. The boys are happy in school and love the trip to the gym after I pick them up. We get home around 6, which seems late, but they aren't any the worse for wear and I am feeling better with the little break between work and family duties. We've been attending Johnson Ferry Baptist Church on Sunday's and every time we pick Spencer up, we hear, "I love church! I had fun at church." Patrick is growing like a weed and I am fearful he will be bigger than Spencer one day...look out big brother! Our winter storm lasted about a day and it was Spencer's first time playing in the snow. He wasn't much interested in helping me build the snow man, but loved the sledding. Adreneline junkie, just like Dad. Patrick, of course, snuggled inside in his swing, sleeping, while we played.