Nola @ 11 Months

I didn’t write Nola’s 10 month post.  I didn’t have time.  Things would happen and I would think, “that’s something I need to remember for her monthly post.”  I don’t remember those things now.  But, I do know what she’s doing now that she wasn’t doing at 9 months and here it is…

Nola turned ELEVEN months old on December 27th!  (Yes, I realize that we’re a week from her turning one.  Cut me some slack.  I’m doing the best I can.)
Here's what she's up to these days...

• Nola went to the doctor on December 20th for well visit.  She weighed 22 lbs, 1 oz, (80.08 percentile) was 28” tall 34.18 percentile) and had a head circumference of 46 cm.  She got her flu shot at that appointment too.
  
• She still takes 8 oz bottles when she wakes up.  She still eats some jar baby food, but really prefers to eat table food that is cut or mashed up.  She loves bananas and will bite off the ends of those if we hold them up for her.  She also eats anything we put on her high chair tray, especially fruits and noodles.  She eats finger foods at daycare too, though it makes me nervous.
  
• Nola wears size 4 diapers and 12 month clothes.  The clothes are starting to get pretty small, though.  We’ll be moving up to 18 months clothes soon.
  
• Nola can crawl like lightning.  She cruises furniture and can walk while pushing things like her baby doll stroller or a chair.  She will walk if we hold her hands, but doesn’t really like to.  She’d rather crawl.
  
• Rudy holds Nola and asks her if she wants to “go.”  She points forward and says something along the lines of “ga” or “uh” and he runs across the room with her.  She giggles hysterically and they do it all over again.
  
• Nola’s babbling comes and goes.  I think it’s because of her ears, but I don’t have any proof of that.  When she babbles, she has this sweet little tiny voice that just melts me.  More often than not, though, she just yells and throaty “aaggghhh” that’s not nearly as cute.  She always does this when people take things from her and when she doesn’t like things.  She waves bye-bye, blows kisses, covers the sides of her head to play peek-a-boo, signs “more” when she’s cued while eating, dances when she hears music, shakes her head (and grins) when we tell her no and nods her head when we do.  Nola cracks us up by making what we call her “grumpy face.”  She looks at people like she is so angry at them, then she raises her eyebrows and grins.  It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen.
Grumpy face & eyebrows up:

Peek-a-boo (sort of):

• Look at all of that hair.  I took these after Nola’s bath one night when her hair was fluffy and curly.  I know she’s going to curse my genetics someday for these curls, but they are awfully cute now.

• Yes, she’s still sucking her thumb.  That thumb is going to be the death of me.  Nola’s speech path mom doesn’t like the idea of her sucking her thumb.

• Nola has 6 teeth – 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom.  So far, she’s gotten really sick each time she’s cut a tooth.
  
• She still sleeps really well at home, but some days doesn’t nap at all at daycare.  We can’t figure out why or what to do to get her to sleep.  She’s moving up to another classroom in February and will have to nap on a cot instead of in a crib.  We’ll see if that is helpful or not.

Snow Days

We had a couple of snow days last week, but there really wasn’t enough snow to play in and it didn’t stick around very long.  When the weatherman started calling for big snow this week, everyone got pretty excited.  Sure enough, school was closed on Thursday and Friday this week (1/20, 21).  Despite the potentially bad roads, Rudy and Caleb could not be contained Thursday morning.  I held my breath as they walked out the door and told them to have fun sledding.  Rudy took the pocket camera with him and took some pictures and video of their great adventure…

The boys came home exhausted.  Caleb took an actual nap and woke up recharged and ready to go.  He wanted to share the snow fun with Nola, so I bundled her up and we all went outside for a little bit.


Nola wasn’t impressed with the snow.  She loved riding in the sled for about 5 minutes, then she touched the actual snow.  She did not like it one bit.  The girl and I went right inside and got out of all of those wet clothes.  We are definitely not snow people.  Those boys, though…

Buzzy and Ronnie

We got Caleb’s first pet for Christmas.  (Well, the first pet he can remember having.)  He wanted a pet so badly and we’ve sworn off anything with fur.  I refuse to have anything of the reptile group, so we decided to get a fish.  Rudy and Caleb went to the pet store to pick out the perfect fish.  Caleb chose a beautiful turquoise betta fish and named it Buzzy.  (We have no idea why he chose that name.)
The boys set up the tank and got it all ready.  Caleb picked out a fake plant and a sunken ship that he calls a submarine to decorate the tank. 

The water had to condition for 24 hours and then it was time to let the little fella’ swim…

Buzzy lasted less than 48 hours.  We bought him on the 21st and woke up to find him waterlogged on the 23rd.  Caleb took it better than I expected.  He just asked if he could get another one.  Rudy thinks that watching all those wild animal shows on TV have conditioned him to the cycle of life.  Maybe.  Or maybe he just wasn’t all that attached.  Who knows?

The boys went back to the pet store and found out that contrary to what the previous salesperson told Rudy, bettas aren’t supposed to have filters in their tanks.  Cause of death:  Buzzy literally wore himself out.  He swam himself to death trying to escape the pull of the filter.  Read this again to make sure you understand:  Our fish swam himself to death.  Seriously.

The other possible cause of the problem could have been the water temperature.  Just to be on the safe side, Rudy bought a little heater for the tank and removed the filter. 

Buzzy’s replacement is named Ronnie.  We’re pretty sure he’s named after Pops, but Caleb hasn’t fessed up to that little evidence of hero worship.  Ronnie looks almost identical to Buzzy, but he’s not as wavy.  Ronnie is a little on the lazy side.  He hangs out by the heater a lot and seems to prefer floating over swimming.  Ronnie is going to fit in just fine around here.

Caleb @ 4 1/2

I haven’t posted a Caleb update in a while, so I figure it’s time, but I really don’t even know where to begin.  He’s learning so much and doing so much and just…growing up.

Here’s a picture of him on Monday with Coach Eric, his Happy Feet coach.  We signed him up for Happy Feet at his daycare.  Coach Eric comes once a week and teaches the kids soccer skills through stories and games.  They don’t actually play soccer, but they learn some fundamentals.  Caleb really likes it.  Rudy was off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day, so he went to watch Caleb and take some pictures for me.  He said that Caleb had a few lapses in listening and got frustrated when the task was hard, but that he did okay.

Last week, I was wrapping a gift for a girl in Caleb’s class and wanted him to write his name on the card.  I drew a line for him to write on and told him, “Write your name on the line.”  This is what he did.  He wrote his name ON the line.

Caleb is learning so much at daycare.  He can write his name and all of the letters of the alphabet.  He knows the sounds that the letters  make and can rhyme words.  He is also enjoying making art “projects” by gluing together anything he can get his hands on.  His cubby at school is always full of stuff he made in the art center.

He had his 2nd dentist appointment on Monday.  The dentist gave him an A+ and told him that his teeth looked great.  Hallelujah!

Caleb really likes music.  He went through a phase where he wanted to listen to rock & roll a while back.  There’s not a lot of rock & roll that’s appropriate for kids, though.  We got him listening to country and he sleeps with a radio on in his room that’s on the country station.  He recognizes songs now when we’re in the car and tells me “that’s on my radio!”  He can even sing along with some of the songs – when we least expect it.  Rudy told him that the song “If He’s Anything Like Me” makes him think of Caleb.  Now if the song comes on at night and Caleb isn’t asleep yet, he comes in the living room and tells Rudy that “that song that makes you think about me” is on.  Rudy usually goes in his room and they listen to it together.  Pretty sweet.

Please excuse the scratch on Caleb’s eye in the following pics…a little basketball incident with Daddy’s fingernail.  No need to call DHS or anything.  It was pretty funny to hear him tell everyone, “My daddy did it” when they asked what happened to his eye.

Football is his other big interest.  He wants to play football with his daddy all the time.  They tackle and run and bring half of the dead grass in the yard inside with them.  I love watching them spend time together.  We use football as a way to get him to do a lot of things.  Rudy told him that broccoli would make him a good football player because it would make him strong and give him energy.  One day, Caleb came home from school and asked for broccoli for his snack.  I asked him why and he said he needed to eat some so he could play football. 

We got Caleb a Wii game for Christmas called Mario Kart.  It’s a racing game.  When we first tried it out, Caleb was horrible at it.  He couldn’t keep his cars on the road and came in last every single time.  Even I could beat him and I’m REALLY bad at it.  Now, he loves it and most of the time he comes in first or second on the races.  He would play it all night if we’d let him, so we limit how much he can play.  It’s usually an activity that he gets to do while we’re getting dinner ready or something like that.

We’re still working on Caleb’s emotional toughness.  He tends to whine a lot when he’s tired and sometimes when he’s not.  He gets his feelings hurt easily and sometimes cries instead of speaking up for himself.  I really don’t know how to address it other than to tell him to “shake it off” or to ignore him when he whines.  Honestly, this is the one thing that I worry about when it comes to him going to kindergarten next year.  I’m nervous about him being emotionally immature.  I know he has the academic skills to be ready.  I’m just not sure he has the maturity. 

Caleb LOVES his little sister.  He wants to play with her, hug her, kiss her and talk to her all the time.  He’s pretty sure he’s going to marry her.  (We’re pretty sure he’s not.)  He says that he can’t marry me, so he’ll marry Nola.  I’ve been amazed at how well he has even shared his toys with her.  He knows what things she can damage and what things she can chew on without hurting.  He’s also pretty cognizant of the things that can hurt her.  He’s good about picking up things that are dangerous and even says that he’s picking them up so Nola won’t get hurt.

Sometimes I forget that even though language is one of Caleb’s strengths, he still has his Calebisms that remind me that he’s still four:

• Last week when it snowed, he wanted to go sledding so badly.  I told him that the only way he’d be able to go sledding was if it didn’t melt and he and his daddy could go after school.  As the sun came out, he told me that God didn't want him to go sledding because God doesn't like snow. God only likes plain grass. That's why he sent the sun to melt the snow.  (sounds logical to me)
• He always says gave instead of give.  (“Mama, are you going to gave me a bath tonight or is Daddy?”)
• After dinner, he always wants “bizzert.”
• turquoise = “toy coys”
• Rudy has taught him several phrases that always crack me up:  “I’m gonna’ take you down to Chinatown” and "bring it on, Donkey Kong” are a couple of my favorites.
• When Caleb does something independently at my mom’s house, she always teases him and tells him that she thinks he must be 5.  He giggles and reminds her that he’s 4.  Last week, he buttoned and zipped his jeans by himself for the first time and told me, “Mama, I think Lala may be right.  I think I’m 5.”

(Did I mention he has learned to climb trees?)

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Back in July, I wrote a pretty open and honest post about my weight.  In it, I talked about my plan for losing approximately 40 pounds in the last half of 2010.  Yeah…about that…not-so-much.  Instead, I managed to gain 10 pounds.  (Insert cursing and gnashing of teeth here.) 

I tried.  I really did.  I gave a good effort.  I wore my Bodybugg for a few months even though it was short-sleeves weather and everyone looked at it like it was a house arrest monitor.  I learned from it that in a typical work day, I burn about 1600 calories from the time I get up until the time I leave work.  It motivated me to try to start a Zumba group at my school even though I was new there and doing so might have made me seem a little strange.  It motivated me to write down what I ate and keep track of my caloric intake.  Now, my Bodybugg is in my purse.  I haven’t worn it in a while. 

I’m not writing a post of excuses.  I’m writing a post to tell myself why I failed at this attempt.  I’m writing a post to let go of my frustration, wipe the slate clean and start again.  I have a one-word answer for why I failed:  STRESS.

It’s no secret that I eat when I’m stressed.  It’s an automatic response for me…one that I recognize my need to overcome because I’m certainly not grabbing carrots to comfort myself.  This semester has been one of incredible stress. 

• My job is overwhelming most days.  I have way more kids on my caseload than I can manage and the additional requirements like testing and paperwork make it almost impossible.  In my type A personality, I don’t have the ability to “let go” of it and just let it slide.  I’ve tried.  I don’t work like that.  Instead, I had many weeks last semester where I worked from 7:15 AM until 6:00 or 7:00 PM or worked during the school day and then brought home a big bag of stuff do after the kids went to bed. 
• One or both of my kids have been sick at all times since August.  All you have to do is look back through this blog or see my Facebook statuses to see that.  When my kids are sick, it’s exhausting – mentally and physically.  We don’t sleep well and we don’t know what the next day will hold.  I cringe when my phone rings during the day – just hoping that it’s not the daycare.
• Rudy is taking classes towards his principal’s certificate.  While I am exceptionally proud of this effort and I have encouraged him to do this, it does add an element of stress to our household.  In the fall, he is required to be at the high school band rehearsals on Tuesday nights.  This fall, his class was on Monday nights.  This meant that I had both kids by myself the first 2 nights of the week.  Going back to that whole thing about them being sick…it was tough.  It got much better when band was finished and he only had one night a week to be gone.  Classes don’t just mean class, though.  He had a ridiculous amount of work for his first class and needed lots of time to work on papers and reading.  I do give him tons of credit, though.  He did an awesome job of managing his time so that he didn’t have to do much of that at home and almost none before the kids went to bed.  (BTW – As a result of this experience, I have a renewed respect for single moms and I know that I never want to be one.  They are true superheroes.) 

As the semester progressed and my stress level got higher, my Bodybugg was no longer a motivator.  It was just another thing adding stress.  It triggered guilt, which is stress’s best friend.  It reminded me that I had fed yet another difficult day the wrong way and that, despite my best intentions, the deadlines at work had shoved away yet another workout session.  The Zumba group at school didn’t materialize beyond the first month.  One of the other SLP’s graciously offered another place to have it and I have gone to her school several times after school to try to shake, shimmy and dance away not only pounds, but stress itself. 

That brings me to today.  Here I am – 10 pounds heavier than when I wrote that post in July.  What’s the plan?  I can only say that I am rededicated.  I am renewed and getting back on my horse to try again.  I joined Weight Watchers on the 10th.  I’m actually going to the meetings this time.  It really helps me.  I’m also using their e-tools so that I can track my food, weight and activity on my iPhone app.  I Zumba’d for the first time in 2 months on Tuesday and it felt great.  I want to do this.  I want to achieve my goals.  I lost 1.6 pounds in my first week back on WW.  This week, I’m trying to drink more fluids and get in more activity, hoping for a bigger loss.  I’ve cooked 2 WW recipes as well and we haven’t gone out to eat except for one night of Chick-Fil-A, which I calculated points for and budgeted into my day.   

I visited with my doctor last week about my continued fibro pain and my frustration with the pain in my legs keeping me from doing what I want to do.  We made a treatment plan that begins with me and the changes that I’m making.  He encouraged me to add in some stretching every day to help my joints and muscles. 

I’m determined to make 2011 a year of taking care of myself, meeting my goals both on the scale and off, enjoying my family and becoming the person I want to be.  I make no promises.  I make no apologies.  I make no excuses.  I just recommit with the full intention of succeeding and the lessons that I learned the last time fresh on my mind. 

Mine Fields of Snowballs

A couple of days ago, I posted this on Facebook: 

I find nothing more humbling or soul-stirring than for someone to tell me they are praying for me. It is the greatest expression of compassion I've ever experienced firsthand.

It seems that lots of people are praying for me (us) these days.  I’ve had several people specifically tell me that they are praying for me.  I can never express enough gratitude for their prayers.  I need them right now and here’s why…

Christmas break was wonderful.  The kids were out of school and away from the inevitable germ pool of daycare for 2 whole weeks.  I was away from the stress of work, we were with our families, we didn’t over-obligate ourselves.  We really just enjoyed the time.  It wasn’t utopian, but it was good.  It was rejuvenating.  It was healing. 

Back-to-school brought back-to-reality.  Within days of getting back to daycare, Nola got sick.  Her perpetual runny nose came back and then her ears started draining.  Her cough got so bad that she wasn’t sleeping well.  I took her to convenient care on Saturday, the 8th.  The doctor there ordered a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia.  Thankfully, it did just that, but I have never seen anything like the way they go about getting a chest x-ray from an infant.  Stripped to the waist, she was lowered into a table with a seat that looked something like a bicycle seat.  Her legs were hanging below her.  I had to hold her hands up in the air while the tech fastened two hard plastic shields on either side of her body to hold her still.  She cried and cried and I wiped tears away for the 5 minutes that it took to get the necessary x-rays.  I couldn’t get to her fast enough when it was over.  I just wanted her out of that contraption.  Fortunately, the x-rays were clear.  She was diagnosed with bronchitis, prescriptions were written and we were sent on our way.

The week that followed that Saturday was crazy. 

• Monday - Rudy got a surprise snow day.  I took Caleb to daycare and Nola stayed home with Rudy for another day of recuperation.  I had a meeting Monday night and didn’t get home until almost 7:00. 
• Tuesday - I had a snow day, so Rudy and I reversed roles.   I had a hair appointment at 5:00 and the roads were fine, so I went.  I didn’t get home until after 7:00.
• Wednesday – I had meeting after school.  When I got out of my meeting, I wasn’t feeling great, but went to run an errand and then picked up the kids from daycare.  By the time I got home, my head was hurting so badly that I could hardly see and was starting to feel nauseous.  I turned the kids over to Rudy and went to bed at 5:00.  At 1 AM, Rudy woke me up and said that Caleb had a fever and extreme ear pain.  I looked in Caleb’s ear with my otoscope and I could see that he had an ear infection and that his tube was either out or coming out.  I got up with Caleb, sent Rudy to bed and e-mailed my principal to let her know I wouldn’t be at school.  I tried to sleep with Caleb, but he was so uncomfortable that he couldn’t sleep, so neither could I.  He literally yelled and cried most of the night.
• Thursday – Rudy took Nola to daycare.  I had Caleb at the ENT office as soon as they opened at 8:30.  The receptionist told me that the doctor wouldn’t be able to see Caleb until 11:45.  I told her that we would stay until he could see us.  While we waited, Caleb was able to sleep for a while, but then woke up screaming because his ear hurt so badly.  Not surprisingly, they called us back to see the doctor shortly after that.  We had been there for over 2 hours.  Dr. Lee took a look in Caleb’s ears and said that he did, indeed, have a unilateral ear infection and that both of his tubes were out and laying in the ear canal.  He removed them, wrote a prescription for Caleb and we left.  We came home and Caleb slept on the couch while I showered and straightened up the house.  I had a doctor appointment scheduled at 3:45.  More on that in another post.
• Friday – Everyone went to school.  Everything was fine.  I worked a little late to get some things wrapped up.  When I left the building at 4:30, I found that I had a flat tire on my car.  I went back in the building, called roadside assistance (thank you, Allstate!), called Rudy and waited for the repair guy to come change my tire.  When I got home, Rudy was showing Kathy around and giving her instructions for the kids for the evening.  We had a date night planned and after the week that we had, we weren’t about to cancel it!  I hurried to get freshened up and we were out the door.  We had a wonderful meal at Mr. B’s steakhouse and then went to JJ’s to listen to some live music and watch the crazy people.  It was the best night I can remember in a long time.

Does that explain why people have been praying for us?  Rudy and I were talking about it one night and he put it quite well:  “It’s like we’re walking along and out of nowhere, someone throws a snowball at us.  Just as we get the snow wiped off, they throw another one…and another one…and sometimes two at a time.”  While I’m grateful that it’s just snowballs and not bullets, I sure could use a break from all of the snowballs.  They are cold and uncomfortable and quite inconvenient. 

In the midst of all of this, a friend of mine posted this video on Facebook.  When I watched it, I cried and then watched it again.  It is so universally true and so appropriate for the life that Rudy and I are living right now.  We recognize that our snowballs could be so much worse, so much more life-altering, so much more dangerous, yet we are still dancing in the mine fields…

BTW – if you like this song, I highly recommend Andrew Peterson’s album, Counting Stars.  I bought it on iTunes and it is wonderful from beginning to end. 

Gimme’ Some Sugar

I spent the better part of December in a state of inner-turmoil.  My beloved Hogs were chosen to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl in my beloved New Orleans…and I didn’t get to go.  Seriously.  I am a dyed-in-the-wool Razorback fan.  My entire family loves the Hogs.  I was raised to call them.  My favorite season of the year is football season.  I refused to get married in the fall and planned my pregnancies so that nothing would interrupt football season.  I love my Hogs.

And, oh, New Orleans.  I named my daughter after the city.  Rudy and I have vacationed there multiple times.  I have photographs and framed art all over my house of it.  I love the music, the food, the people, the spirit and the energy that it entails. 

Yet, a BCS Sugar Bowl trip was not meant to be for the Villines family this year.  The money wasn’t there and the timing was awful.  School started on January 3rd.  The game was on January 4th.  We would’ve had to take personal days to go and couldn’t have left until after school on the 3rd or we would’ve gotten docked pay for missing the day after a break. (One of those rules that only applies when you work in certain school districts.)  We just couldn’t do it.  Don’t think I didn’t try.  Don’t think I didn’t whine, pout and wallow in my own self-pity about it.  I did.  It just didn’t do any good. 

The electricity in the air in Northwest Arkansas on January 4th was palpable from the moment my alarm clock when off.  Almost everyone was walking with a little more energy in their step.  Everywhere you looked, there was a Hog, a red shirt, a flag flying.  Even people who aren’t usually fans were engaged in the excitement.  (Some only because their workplaces encouraged it, but still…)  You could feel the anticipation growing all day.  When I picked Caleb up from school, even he was jazzed up about the “BIG GAME.”  He started calling the Hogs in the backseat of the car and – I kid you not – I got a lump in my throat.  He wanted to sing the Fight Song and kept asking questions about the game and it was awesome.

When we got home, Caleb convinced Rudy to play a little front yard football.  Rudy was partially motivated by the possibility of exhausting the child so that he would go to bed easily while we watched the game.  I grinned from ear to ear when I heard Caleb tell Rudy, “"Daddy, you're the buckeyes. I'm the Razorbacks. I'm gonna' take you down!"

We had red beans and rice for supper and then settled in to watch the game.  The Hogs lost to Ohio State 31-26, after a sloppy first half and an amazing effort in the second half that almost brought home the trophy.  There were a lot of “if only’s” at the end of the game. 

This year, my Hogs ended the season 10-3, including wins over LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.  Our only 3 losses were to Auburn (who ended up winning the National Championship), Alabama (who was ranked #1 when we played them) and Ohio State.  It was the best season I can ever remember and I’m already looking forward to kickoff on September 3rd.

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation…part 2

We came home from Hot Springs on the 30th.  On our way back, we stopped in Little Rock for lunch with one of my dear friends from high school.  Ron Hanks and I hadn’t seen each other since 1995.  Ridiculous.  He’s lived an amazing life in the past 15 1/2 years and it was so good to see him and catch up.   We just had to get a picture before we parted ways.  We also promised not to go quite so long without seeing each other again. 

Once we got home, it was time to unpack the loaded down car and spend the weekend getting things back in order for our return to reality on Monday, the 3rd.  We rang in the New Year with dinner at our favorite catfish buffet.  We opted to go out for dinner with the kids instead of our usual steak and seafood dinner at home.  We dropped the extra money for the crab legs, since it was a special occasion and we still couldn’t have had a better meal anywhere else for that price.   Once we got home, we rang in the New Year with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark on Eastern time.  When I went to bed just after midnight, Rudy was already snoring and the kids had been asleep for a long time and that was just fine with me.  New Year’s Eve was just another night in paradise at the Villines house. 

Christmas in Hot Springs

The final leg of the Christmas journey this year was in Hot Springs. We got there Christmas night and stayed until the 30th. We celebrated Christmas with Mom and Mr. L. on Sunday morning. 

Caleb helping Pops with his gift.

Sunday night, we went over to Pepapa and Anna Joyce's for the Locke family Christmas.

While we were there, several important things happened:

Maddox and Caleb became official superheroes...



My children wore bows on their heads...

More presents were opened...

A fabulous meal was enjoyed, laughs were shared by our whole family and everyone had a great time.

On Monday morning, Rudy and Mr.L. went to deer camp for a couple of days.  Mom, Caleb, Nola and I stayed in Hot Springs and enjoyed some relaxing time together.  Monday night, Becca, Jimmy and I took Caleb and Maddox to Garvan Gardens to see the Christmas lights.  They ran and played and posed for pictures until they were completely worn out.

The rest of our time in Hot Springs was spent doing things like playing Mario Kart:

...and making a rice krispie treat train...



...and we enjoyed every bit of our time with LaLa and Pops!