Sweet Nater Tater Tot

My sweet little baby

See How I Have Grown!

I am ready to keep up with my brothers

Truly our gift from God

Nate turned 6 months old on the 25th! Where has the time gone? I love watching him grow and I hate watching him grow. My sweet baby. He is so precious. He is so good-natured and happy. He is rolling over like a pro and starting to sit up. He is already doing an inchworm crawl. He is eating solids and really likes them. And he gives the sweetest, slobberiest kisses. His personality is really starting to come out. He loves his bubbas soooo much. I love watching how incredibly sweet the boys are with Nate. At the doctor's office today, Cade was doing a little dance for Nate and Nate was laughing so hard (this was BEFORE the shots). Tonight, Chase was playing peek-a-boo with Nate and Nate was giggling and giggling. I love how the boys are learning to treat each other nicely (most of the time). I am so thankful that God sent Nate to us. He brings us nothing but joy. He truly is our gift.

The doctor visit was eventful today. We have another peanut on our hands. He weighed 14 lbs. 12 oz. and was 25 1/4 inches long. That puts him in the 10th percentile for height and weight. Sweet little guy. He had 3 shots today (ouch). He ate right after the shots and then we were checking out when he threw up all over the place. The nurse sent us back into the room while she cleaned up the mess. We tried to check out again when Nate emptied out the rest of his stomach contents. He became so pale, clammy, and weak. The doctor checked him out again, but he seems to be okay. You should have seen the looks I was getting from other parents. My poor guy. He was grumpy the rest of the day but no more throwing up. Hopefully he is okay. Mark seems to have it now. Hopefully the sharing will stop there!

Attack of the Killer Starfish

Cade is beyond funny sometimes! He loves to stand in the bathtub while I am taking a shower. I have a bowl of shells that got moved to the corner. The shells have a STARFISH in them (scary, right). Cade is petrified of the starfish and wants me to move it. Impossible because I am in the shower. After I got out, we took some pictures! Notice him cowering away from the TERRIFYING starfish. I tried to get him to hold it, but the best I could get is a touch. He makes me laugh!

It's Finally Happened

Dylan came home from school yesterday with some new information that I would rather he not know. He educated me on the fact that your middle finger is bad and it means f***. I could not believe that I heard that word out of my sweet Dyl's mouth! I have to admit that I had to stifle laughter. It seems that a boy in his class (one that I was concerned about) has been educating Dylan. Dylan also asked me if there was a bad word that started with an "A". We talked about how that word means you hate that person and you hate God. We talked about how we don't use words like that in our family. We also talked about being nice to this boy, but not choosing him as a friend. I don't want a snob but I don't want a potty mouth either! I am talking to his teacher today!

Trying the pictures again

Here is how I did it!

My purple cast!

I love my outer space gown!

The Broken Arm

Although this happened in January, I want to be sure that it gets remembered. Sunday, January 1st, Cade and Dylan were playing upstairs. Cade was on the stepstool in the bathroom when he fell and hurt his arm. He was really crying and I could tell that he was hurt more than normal. He is our dramatic child so sometimes it is hard to tell. Mark really thought that he was just overreacting. (Not to mention the fact that our deductibles reset on January 1st!!!) Mark believed that Cade could tell I was worried and was just feeding off of that. I really thought something was wrong because he was not wanting to move the arm and he was not sucking his thumb (his sucking thumb was on that side). I went off to church that evening with the other boys and Mark stayed home with Cade. I called to check on him and Mark finally agreed that something was wrong. I took Cade to the doctor with a neighbor (Mark had been a little sick and was not able to go with me). The x-ray was the worst part. Cade was SCREAMING! It hurt to move his arm. Sure enough, it was broken. Luckily, it was the mildest break. They splinted his arm and gave him an outer space gown (he did not have a shirt on). Yes, Daddy felt bad about it! We went a few days later for the cast. Cade really wanted a yellow one (his favorite color) and Mommy was hoping for a brown one (can you imagine the dirt that would show up on a yellow one). Fortunately for Mommy, they didn't have yellow and Cade had to settle for purple. He was very proud of his cast. He got it off on January 26th! He had to have another x-ray and he was terrified of that. He was holding on to me for dear life and was screaming, "Get me out of this place!" After he realized that it wouldn't hurt this time, he was fine. He still loves his outer space gown and would wear it all the time if I would let him. Hopefully this will be his last broken bone! I can always hope! Here are some pictures of him with his splint and outer space gown, his cast, and him demonstrating how he broke his arm.

Conflicting Emotions

I know how very blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband, 4 great boys, and a job that I truly enjoy. I am so glad that I am able to stay at home with my boys and still work at a job I enjoy. But there are some days, more lately, that I really, really wish that I did not work at all. I wish that I did not have to do any typing during the week. I wish that I could spend more time with Cade doing puzzles or playing with Play-doh. I am so afraid that he will be in Kindergarten before I know it and then I won't be able to spend that time with him. But I have deadlines and promises to keep. I wish I could just catch up and then stay on top of things. I can get so stressed when I stop to think about all the pending projects. Really, how can I get it all done? I used to be better about staying up late but I just can't seem to do it lately. I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed. Now back to work.

Helping Build a Family

February 13, 2005

Today I was able to help build a family. An adoptive family that I have worked with has had a very rough road. They had a precious baby girl in their home for 5 months and then had to return her to her birthmother. They were matched with a birthmother and then discovered that she was probably scamming them. I was unaware that they were no longer working with a birthmother until this morning. An agency contacted me Friday because they were searching for a family for a baby. Sunday night (actually early Monday morning), the adoptive mom was in bed and felt a strong urge to email me right then and let me know about the failed match. Monday morning I saw the email and immediately called them about this baby. After contacting the agency and a quick trip to their home for a home study update the family traveled to the hospital and picked up their baby!!! What a day for them! It makes me happy to help people become parents.

Here are my 4 precious boys. I can't imagine life without them. This will be their story so that I can remember the important moments of their precious life!

February 12, 2006

We went to Abilene this weekend to visit Mark's grandmother who has had a stroke. Chase is really struggling with the fact that she will not be with us much longer. Chase started crying and said, "But she has such a sweet spirit and has always been so full of life." Where does he get his sweet, sweet soul? Both he and Dylan were talking a lot about Great Grandma White who died last year. They were both talking about how much they miss her. This is going to be a hard time for them. Death affects them greatly. Chase still talks about the babies we lost. My sweet, sweet boy with the sweet, sweet soul.

Great Gran was really wanting to see Nate. She still knows who we all are and can respond to questions. Cade is not really aware about what is going on. You should have seen his face when Grammy was putting in Great Gran's teeth!!! He did not know what to think about that. Later, Grammy, Dylan and I were talking about Great Gran's teeth. The talk turned to George Washington's teeth. I said that I did not think they were wooden and Dylan said they were Hippopatmus teeth. Grammy and I did not know about that. I looked it up later on line and guess what, he is right! Smart cookie! He read 3 chapter books this weekend (not 3 chapters but 3 chapter books). I am so glad that he loves to read like I used to love to read. I hope to find some books that we can read together. I don't know if I can talk him into Anne of Green Gables (oh well).