September Already

We started September off with a bang around here.  Here's how last week played out...

Monday:  Rudy had band Monday night.  I brought the kids home and my friend Jamie came over for dinner and a good visit. 

Tuesday:  I had to be at school from 5:15-7:30 for Back to School night.  Came home to a fussy baby girl.  By the time we put her to bed, we realized that she had a fever.  Uh-oh.  Tried to put her to bed and she wasn't having any of it.  She cried and cried like I've never seen her cry.  We eventually decided that Rudy would stay home with her on Wednesday, so he took care of her overnight.  It was a long night for him.

Wednesday:  Nola still had fever.  I had to go to Conway for a training for work.  I met Kerrie at 6:45 to drive to Conway.  When I got there, I called to check on Nola & Rudy.  He told me she was still running fever and we needed to make plans for Thursday.  I called my work and told them I wouldn't be in on Thursday.  Drove home after my meeting, picked up Caleb and came home to take over with Nola.  Spent the rest of the night holding her and trying to keep her comfortable.  She slept on my chest on the couch, but only slept in 15-30 minute increments.  It was a long night for me.

Thursday:  I took Nola to the doctor.  He said that he suspected that it was just a viral infection, so no antibiotic was needed.  He did prescribe an inhaler because she sounded so wheezy.  He suggested 1/4 tsp of Benadryl to help clear her out so that she could breathe enough to sleep.  That helped tremendously.  Thursday night was still rough, but it was better than the previous 2 nights.

Friday:  Everybody went where they were supposed to go.  Nola had a good day at daycare despite her congestion.  Rudy brought pizza home and we had a very low-key night.

Saturday:  The day we had waited for since November:  Game Day!  Jerry and his brother-in-law, Charlie, came by to see the kids on their way to the game. 

My friend Kelli came over at 2:30 to watch the kids so that Rudy and I could go to the game.  We went to Fayetteville and met up with my friends Jamie and Jodie to tailgate.  We made it into the stadium for the pre-game festivities and enjoyed the game.  Our Hogs beat TN Tech 44-3!  After the game, we went back to the tailgate party and then headed for home.  Kelli said the kids were great while we were gone!  It was a great day!!!

Today has been very calm around here.  Nola is feeling a little better, but still coughing.  I never got out of my PJ's!  Caleb and Rudy went to scout a wilderness area.  When they got home, Caleb fell asleep (about 3:00).  I tried several times to wake him up, but he just wouldn't come alive!  At one point, he was sound asleep with his body draped over the front of the chair in the living room and his feet on the floor.  I finally picked him up and moved him back to his bed.  I made him go to the bathroom, but I don't think he ever woke up.  Rudy and I are nervous that he's getting sick.  He has never done this before!  I guess we'll find out soon...

Nola @ 7 months

Nola turned SEVEN months old on August 7th! Here's what she's up to these days...

• She went to the doctor on Thursday for a viral infection and weighed 19 lbs, 4.5 oz (78th percentile). 
• She still takes 8 oz bottles, now only 4 per day.  She eats a fruit for lunch and a vegetable for dinner.  We haven't found too many things that she doesn't like.  Her favorites are peaches, sweet potatoes and avocadoes.
• She still wears size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. 
• Nola is sitting up by her self with ease and can scoot herself on the floor to wherever she wants to go.  She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks, but doesn't crawl on her hands/knees yet.
• Now that we're back into a school routine, Rudy gets Nola up in the mornings at about 6:30 and gives her a bottle.  She takes a short morning nap and usually a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap in the afternoon at daycare.  When we get home from daycare, she sometimes takes a short nap and then plays for a while after dinner before going to bed for the night at around 8:30.  She doesn't sleep very well at daycare, but we're working on that with the use of a white noise machine.
• Just in the past week or so, Nola has started imitating the syllable "DA".  Sometimes she whispers it and sometimes she absolutely yells it.  If we say it, she'll repeat it and she's just so proud of herself. 

One Month:

Two Months:

 Three Months:Four Months:

Five Months:

Six Months:

Seven Months:

Caleb's 4 Year Checkup

So, this is a little late.  Our insurance won't pay for the kids' well visits unless it has been more than a year since the last one.  We had Caleb's 2 year visit in May, his 3 year visit in June, had his 4 year visit scheduled for July and had to reschedule it for August.  It'll be September before we get his 5 year visit in.  Crazy! 

Rudy took Caleb last Monday for his checkup.  Unfortunately, shots were involved, but Caleb was a trooper!  He really didn't fuss much at all.  He even got a gold medal to wear home for his bravery. 

Weight:  40 lbs, 7 oz (73.72%ile)

Height:  40.5" (36.15%ile)

Dr. Schaefer was pleased with his stats and his development.  He was able to do all of the things that he's supposed to be able to do at his age. 

Here is his 4 year picture with his bear.

And here's last year's bear picture:

I'm so proud of how he's growing up and becoming such a great little boy.  He's certainly not a baby anymore.

Friends and Fears

One of Caleb's friends moved away this week.  We had a playdate at the park on Sunday to say goodbye.  We're sure going to miss Brady-man!

Caleb, Brady & Michael

On another note, one night last week, Rudy was reading the book, Hello, Big Red to Caleb for bedtime.  Caleb asked why Big Red's parents aren't with him in the book. 

Rudy: "Because Big Red is at college and parents don't go with you to college."

Caleb: "Will I go to college?"

Rudy: "Yes. Some day you will."

Caleb started crying because he wants us to go to college with him.

Bless his precious little 4-year-old heart. We'll see how he feels about it in 14 years.

Frisco Fest

When I picked Caleb up from daycare on Friday (8/27), he asked if we could go with his friend Michael to the place with the rides and the train.  I knew he was talking about Frisco Festival.  We were planning to go at some point, so I told him that we probably would see Michael there.  When we got home, he ran to his playroom to color a picture for Michael.  Before we left, he asked Rudy to put the picture in his pocket in case we saw Michael while we were there. 

We loaded up and headed downtown, stopping to eat dinner before going to the "fesuhbal" (Caleb's version).  I took these pictures of the kids while Rudy was paying the bill at the restaurant:

When we got down there, we realized that it was absolutely packed.  We could hardly walk down the street because there were so many people.  We came around the corner and Caleb reminded us that in the place where the bungee trampolines were, there had been a giant slide last year.  How does he remember stuff like that???  Actually - when I first mentioned the festival to him earlier in the week, he asked me if he could get a yo-yo.  I wasn't sure why he thought they had yo-yos, but I told him we'd try.  Lo and behold, he went running over to a craft booth where they were selling water balloon yo-yos and said, "See, Mama!  Yo-yos!"  The kid has a memory like a steel trap. 

We managed to make it from one end of the street to the other and we were incredibly disappointed in what was there.  There were only about 4 kids' rides and the lines for them were waaaaay too long for us to stand in.  We were about to head for the car when I looked up and saw Michael.  I pointed him out to Caleb and I thought Caleb was going to do a cartwheel!  He was so excited to see his friend.  The boys ended up playing for almost an hour while Rudy and I talked to his parents.  I snapped a couple of pictures of them that I think are just too cute:

Photo Practice

A random August evening at the Villines house:

And, now, for my favorite.  

I've never seen her look more like me with that exasperated look on her face. 

I think we'll be seeing a lot of this expression in the years to come....

Bedtime Story

I walked into Caleb's bedroom one night to find this scene and practically broke my neck running to find a camera.  The closest one was my phone, so the quality isn't great, but I think it might be my favorite picture ever. 

...and they lived happily ever after.

Wheel Bug

Caleb and Rudy were playing outside one afternoon when I heard Caleb screaming.  I ran outside to see what happened, expecting to see blood and guts or broken bones.  Turns out, he had picked up an interesting bug in the driveway and it bit him.  After some investigative searching online, Rudy found out that the bug was called a wheel bug or an assassin beetle and that its bite is reported to be 10 times worse than a hornet's sting. 

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2007/11/08/wheel-bug-20

Moral of the story:  DON'T PICK UP UNKNOWN BUGS IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!!  Somehow, I doubt my 4 year old bug lover learned that lesson, though.  Oh...and he's fine.  We watched his thumb closely for a day or two and it didn't swell, turn colors or fall off. 

My Creative Weekend

On Saturday, August 21st, I got to spend the whole afternoon and evening letting my creative juices flow and it was wonderful.  I went to a photography class in the afternoon, hosted by NWAMotherlode.com and a local photographer.  I learned so much about using my camera's manual settings and how to get really great pictures without using a flash.  It turned out that nobody had volunteered to bring their child to be our practice model, so I ran home towards the end of the class to get Nola.  I ended up with some amazing pictures of her and she did a great job being our model.  Here's a link to the photographer's story about it on her blog:  http://www.mjwphotography.com/blog/2010/08/21/our-little-model-nwa-photography-class-for-moms/

And here is my little model at work:

My favorite shot that I took that day:

Once the class was over, I brought Nola home to Rudy, packed up my scrapbooking supplies and met Stacy at Signed Sealed Delivered for a night of cropping.  We got in several good hours and I was pleased with how much I got done.  It was a good day in my book!

LaLa & Pops Save the Day!

Every year, it seems that Rudy and I have our schools' meet & greet on the same night.  That means that every year, we scramble to find somebody to watch our kids because we both have to be at work.  Last year, Mom and Mr.L. came up and got Caleb the week that school started so that we could do our back to school stuff and get the school year started without having to worry about who could pick Caleb up and who needed to work late.  It worked out so well last year that when they offered to do it again this year, we jumped at the chance.  We weren't quite ready to send Nola away for a week just yet, but Caleb LOVED getting to go hang out in Hot Springs for a week without us. 

After school on the 17th, I ran to get the kids from daycare and brought them home where LaLa and Pops were waiting for them.  I freshened up and hustled back to school for our meet & greet night.  Caleb and Nola had a blast playing with LaLa & Pops!  I finished up my duties at school and came home to pack Caleb's suitcase.  On Wednesday morning, I took Nola to daycare and Caleb headed down south with LaLa & Pops. 

Throughout the week, I got pictures and texts updating me on their activities:  boating, fishing, swimming, making crafts, baking banana bread, etc.  I did my work in peace, knowing that Caleb was well cared for and not worried about us at all.  We did have to shuffle around a bit to take care of Nola, but Rudy really did the bulk of that since he wasn't trying to find his footing in a new job like I was. 

On Sunday, I stayed home with Nola while she napped and Rudy went to Ft. Smith to meet my parents and bring Caleb home.  I was awfully glad to see the little stinker and he sure had a lot to tell us, starting with how he and Pops had gone hiking on a mountain and caught some snakes and he even got to hold them.  I checked his facts on that story and it turns out that there weren't any facts to it at all.  We still can't figure out if he dreamed it or just made the whole thing up.  Either way, he has quite an imagination...

Last Hurrah

Rudy laughs at me because I'm always saying that we're having a "last hurrah."  I just like to do it up right when things are about to get serious - whether that means one last crazy dinner before renewing our diet plans or one last fun event before going back to school.  This time, it was a trip to Silver Dollar City before school started.  Some of our friends had some "bring a friend for free" passes, so we took them up on their offer and went to SDC for free on 8/15.  We managed to make it a no water ride day, which I was glad about!  Caleb got brave and rode a couple of things that he was scared of the last time we went - and of course those things ended up being his favorites.  He'll now ride the swinging pirate ship and the big swings, which I love. 

Crazy enough, I experienced motion sickness for the first time in my life on our way to SDC.  I thought I was going to lose my breakfast!  Once we got there, though - I was perfectly fine and could even ride the rides without feeling queasy. 

We enjoyed getting to meet the Dickinson kids and getting to visit some with Patty and Jake.  Caleb loved having some friends his age with us.  Nola was just along for the ride, but she did actually nap a little during the day - a change from our previous visit!

Southern Tradition

Rudy came home from the grocery store with a watermelon, so I grabbed the camera to take some pictures of an old fashioned Southern tradition:

Caleb had never seen anything quite so amazing!

A big ol' watermelon smile!

My Snuggle Bunny is Semi-Crawling

When I took Nola back to daycare on August 12th, she went to a new "class."  She moved up into the Snuggle Bunnies room.  Her helpers, Alicia and Susi, are awesome and I feel really good about leaving her with them.  Well...as good as I'm going to feel about leaving her with anyone.  They have done a great job of letting me know when they need things and when they want me to do something differently.  They give me great feedback on Nola's day and they honestly seem to like being with her. 

Two days after being in the Snuggle Bunny room, which is for "mobile infants", Nola decided she wanted to be mobile too.  I had put her on a blanket on the floor in our living room and she started pulling herself towards a toy that was just out of her reach.  She has now perfected the art of the solider crawl and can get anywhere she wants to go in pretty quick time.  My favorite is when I'm laying on the floor playing with her and she scoots herself over against me to snuggle.  She only does it when she's tired, but it's the greatest thing ever! 

She can also get up on her hands and knees (see photo below) and rock back and forth like she's revving up her engine to crawl, but then she drops back down on her belly and scoots across the floor.  I've tried several times to get a video of it, but when I get the camera out, she stops moving.  (This has been the case with laughing, babbling and now crawling.  There's not going to be much video of Nola!) 

My New School

Last April, I was given a difficult choice to make.  I was just coming back from maternity leave and was offered the opportunity to interview at another school in my district.  The SLP who worked there was retiring and her position needed to be filled.  I weighed all of the pros and cons of leaving the school where I was and decided that if God was putting an opportunity in front of me, I needed to at least see where the path would take me.  I interviewed and was offered the job.  Then the big decision-making had to be done.  I had some reasons to want to make a change, but I won't go into those here.  I've left them behind me.  But, I still had some things that I was having trouble with.  Could I leave the friends that I had made?  Was I really willing to make another job change after only 2 years?  Would it be the best thing not only for me personally and professionally, but also for Caleb, who will start kindergarten next year wherever I am working?  After much prayerful deliberation, I decided that the change was one that I needed to make.

The school where I started to work on August 12th gives me the chance to spend much of my time working with children with Autism.  I have a journal entry from 1994 - my freshman year in college - where I wrote that I felt that God was speaking to me to use my work to help kids with Autism.  The opportunity to answer that call was placed at my feet and I had to take it. 

So, I'm working in a new school.  The first few days were a personal challenge.  The first day, I felt like a fish out of water.  I didn't know anyone and didn't fit into any niche.  I went to lunch on my own, didn't have anyone to catch up with after a couple of months away, didn't know the expectations, norms or school culture.  The whole first week was tough in that respect.  I was glad on Friday when my assistant came to work with me in our room.  (Yes, I have an assistant.  I've never had one before and probably will never have one again, but I am incredibly blessed to get to work with Kerrie.  She has done speech therapy for longer than I have and is an awesome person.  She was a big selling factor in me taking the job.)  Once the kids came to school on the 19th, things started to make more sense, but I still struggled with learning new duties, new personalities and new procedures.  I didn't start seeing kids right away - I'm still trying to get all of the kinks worked out of my schedule - but it seemed that everyone started working together and I was able to figure out a lot more.  My new bosses have been great.  Their expectations are high, but reasonable and they are personable and professional at the same time.  I feel comfortable with them.  I have met all of my students at least once, if not more, and I think I'm going to enjoy working with most of them.  (Nobody can say that they enjoy all of their students, but either way, I'll do my best to help them!) 

Here's to a great school year!

MRI and Other Fun Stuff

I thought about whether or not to post this story, but I really need to write about it, so I am.  If you're a regular reader or a real life friend of mine, you may already know that I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2005.  That diagnosis isn't an easy one to get and it's even harder to treat.  In 2004-2005, I went through a series of medical tests to check out some symptoms that are sometimes related to fibro and sometimes they can be related to other things with scary names like MS and ALS.  The tests included an MRI and a biopsy of some muscle from my left quadricep and some nerve from my left ankle.  That left me with very little feeling on the outside edge of my foot 2 not-so-pretty scars - one that is on my thigh and one that runs parallel to my Achille's tendon.  Fortunately, the tests came back negative.

I was not diagnosed with a life-altering disease...unless you count fibro in that category, which many people do.  My fibro symptoms come and go and sometimes even change, but the whole thing can pretty much be summed up as chronic pain to some degree all over my body.  Lots and lots of people have it.  My goal is to be one of the many people who have it but you'd never know.  The other end of the spectrum is the people who have it and literally lose their quality of life because their pain is so great that they can't function.  I, thankfully, don't fall into that category.  What I do experience is chronic fatigue and achiness with occasional flare-ups causing those symptoms to be exacerbated.  Sometimes, though - strange symptoms pop up that I've never had before. 

The newest one started 2 years ago.  I was walking down the hall at school when I felt like I had been electrocuted in my right leg.  I had to stop walking and catch my breath.  The shock only last a second or two, but WOW it hurt.  I didn't have another one for a while.  Now, they come and go and sometimes will happen more than once a day and sometimes only once a week.  They now happen in places besides my leg and the most common location is in my tongue.  That's a strange sensation and a bit of a hindrance for a speech pathologist.  I find that stress makes the shocks worse.  After they continued for a couple of months, I made an appointment with my doctor to get his opinion.

My doctor put me on B12 supplements and told me to come back in a month.  I didn't see any improvement with the supplements.  When I went back to the doctor for my follow-up, I had just found out that I was pregnant with Nola.  We decided to hold off on any tests until after Nola was born.  My doctor told me to follow up with a neurologist after that. 

This summer, I had my first appointment with the neurologist at Mercy.  I was scared to death.  I had read some things online about people who experienced the shocks that I was feeling and most of them had MS.  I had researched MS the first time around and knew what that could mean for me.  Even worse, though - I was nervous about having to endure a spinal tap - a common procedure for MS diagnosis.  The doctor listened to my symptoms, asked me some questions and did a physical exam that tested my balance, reflexes, etc.  He ordered some bloodwork and an MRI. 

I went for my tests on August 3rd.  The MRI experience was just as I remembered it - loud.  I was given headphones to listen to music and I know that God was giving me peace the whole time.  I smiled because as I was laying there on the table, the music coming through the headphones was Zac Brown and Kenny Chesney - both musicians who make music that makes me happy. 

When I went back for my follow-up appointment, the neurologist told me that my MRI looked good.  I got tears in my eyes as I heard that.  I never thought I would say the words, "So it's JUST fibro?"  But, yes, in this instance, it was JUST fibro.  I'm supposed to follow up now with a rheumatologist to look into some fibro treatment options - something that I haven't done yet because I wanted to make sure we were finished having children before I began taking any medications. 

Hallelujah for JUST fibro.  I can handle that most days.  Actually, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

Nola's BFF

I put Nola on the bathroom counter in her Bumbo seat one morning while I was putting on my makeup and fixing my hair.  She met the cutest baby in the mirror and spent quite a while having a grand old jabbering conversation with her.  I hope she'll always like that girl in the mirror as much as she does right now... 

Naturals Game

We're really fortunate to have some cool things to do in Northwest Arkansas.  One of the boys' favorite things to do in the summer is to go to Arvest Ballpark for NWA Naturals games.  We decided to all go to a game at the end of July.  Here are some pictures from our night at the ballpark:

It's not a Naturals game unless Strike the Sasquatch is there!

Caleb loves going to the kids' field to play baseball with the big boys.

Caleb and Rudy on the big screen!

Rudy helped Caleb get a real game ball from one of the opposing players as he was coming

back in from the outfield. 

Nola and I enjoyed the game too!  I think that bow is bigger than I planned for it to be. 

She won't be wearing that one again until her head is a little bigger! 

Summer Caleb Pics

Caleb kept us laughing this summer.  One minute, we'd see a little boy and the next he was growing up before our eyes.  Here are 2 pictures of him that I snapped on my phone this summer.  The one on the left was taken at the mall after church one Sunday.  We went into the hat store and he picked out the sunglasses.  Rudy popped the Cowboys hat on his head and Caleb cracked us up with his pose. 

The picture on the right is from the movie theater.  We went to see 2 different movies this summer:  Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me.  Caleb loves going to the movies, but he gets fidgety by the time it's over.  He doesn't like it when the movies get loud or when things are scary.  He does like having his own popcorn and drink and getting the special one-on-one time.  I like our movie dates too.

Caleb's Fine Motor

Caleb's fine motor skills have really taken off this summer.  He can now write his name and is drawing pictures of people.  The people that he draws are funny because they are usually one big oval for a body, straight lines for the arms and legs, huge eyes and a giant smile.  Sometimes, he even gives the people some hair. Here is an example of how he writes his name.  This one is really funny to me because he ran out of room on the paper, so he combined the E and the B.  Sometimes, he throws me for a loop and writes it completely mirror-imaged.  We bought him a Leapster Explorer in July and he loves to practice writing letters on it.  I really think it has helped his fine motor development a lot.