Days gone by

 

On Monday…

Monday was pretty boring. the kids wanted to do pictures but no one would cooperate. Normal for them. 

On Tuesday…

For the first time since February, I left Reed at school and HE DIDN’T CRY!!!!!! This was HUGE! I was so thankful and pray we’ve turned a corner b/c I hated starting my day by leaving him screaming. He didn’t look happy in this picture, but he was fine and NOT CRYING!!!

I got home Tuesday and the hats I had ordered for Ava and me for the beach had come in!!! Exciting! I can’t wait to use them and I think Ava looks ADORABLE!

On Wednesday…

We had a second day of no crying at drop off!!!!

Ava spent the day at my grandma’s playing with the little girl cousins who were over there and she came home EXHAUSTED! She fell asleep before 8:00 and that NEVER happens!!! 

On Thursday…

Ava was just being goofy! 

On Friday…

Reed and I were happy it was FRIDAY!

On Friday mornings, Zach has been taking Ava for a breakfast date and to play before they head out to do the grocery shopping. She loves their Friday mornings!

On Saturday…

Friday evening we had gone to the store and while there, picked up a pair of goggles for Ava. She wanted some for the beach and so we finally just got them. She took them to bed with her Friday night, and she woke up and put them on immediately Saturday morning.

After breakfast, I told the kids I needed to sweep before moving on, and the next thing I knew, Reed had the broom and was helping me. He cried when I took it away. I hope his love for sleeping always lasts!!

Saturday, Zach and the kids went to visit his family for the day. I had plans in the evening that had been set for weeks, so they went on with out me. The kids smiled for me before they left. They love to sit on our stoop by the front door.

Now. While I did miss them, I was giddy over having a day all to myself!!!! I went and did some shopping/errands, watched a movie I’d been wanting to see, sat outside in the sun, read a book, and just enjoyed some peace and quiet! I headed over to my friend’s house later in the day for Girls Night In! We had a great time just talking and laughing and just enjoying each other’s company. My friend Misty made this AMAZING sangria as well as a yummy dinner!!

On Sunday…

FATHER’S DAY!!!! I’m so grateful that this guy is the daddy to my kids. He’s a wonderful dad and our kids adore him, as do I!

Reed fed his baby on the way to church today.

Ava wanted to pose for a picture after church!

After church we stopped by our favorite donut place. Ava always wants a “pink donut with sparkles”. I thought it was cute that when Zach ordered, he ordered it just like Ava says, instead of ordering one with sprinkles. :)   

We gave Zach his gifts after we were home. Reed wouldn’t take one without sticking out his tongue. He his a riot these days.

We had rain early in the morning on Sunday, and then it kind of cleared off, and then in the afternoon, it started rolling in again. I had told Ava maybe she could go out and play in it and then it stopped. And then she fell asleep for a late nap. And the rain started again. So Reed played in it. He LOVED it!!!!! 

It was a good week! Ava has swimming lessons this week and I’m excited to see how she does. Hope you all have a great week!

Days Gone By

On Monday…

Monday was the first day of summer care. Zach does lessons three days a week as well on works on stuff for the next school year and it allows Ava a chance to do fun things like putt-putt, go to the park, bowling, etc with her friends. This was them on the first morning.

Reed’s teachers are good about sharing photos of him during the day. From this picture, I can just hear him saying “cheeeee” as she took the photo. He was probably happy because snack time is his favorite! :)

On Tuesday…

I love these two kiddos!

Reed got a hold of a pencil and drew on the wall. It fell out of the container, and in the few seconds I finished what I was doing and turned around to get it, he’d already done this. However, I just thought this was bad. Stay tuned for Saturday. 

On Wednesday…

Wednesdays and Fridays, Ava stays home. Reed does some of the time, if Zach and Ava don’t have things to do. We have to pay for him regardless of whether or not he goes, so sometimes it’s worth it to send him to get a few more things done around the house. However, he was not happy to go to school without Dada or A-yuh. He cried for them both the whole way there.

That evening we went to my grandma’s for a bit while Zach was getting a hair cut. Ava was SO tired and fell asleep on the way home. Reed also didn’t like this as he kept yelling at her to try and wake her up. 

On Thursday…

Thursday night I headed out for dinner and drinks with one of my favorite friends, Amanda. We had the BEST time. We spent a leisurely three hours enjoying a break from our duties at home. We laughed so HARD I don’t think any of the calories in this yummy dessert counted! (Sounds good, right?!) 

On Friday…

Friday evening was my company’s picnic. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. They had a yummy dinner and some bounce houses, as well as playground equipment, live music, and prizes. We all had fun and even won a great prize (a $100 Walmart card – this was my 2nd year in a row to win this!)!!!!  The kids LOVED playing and were sad to leave even though they were EXHAUSTED!   

When I went applied for this job, I didn’t know that my (2nd) cousin worked there. Not only do we work together, but we work in the same department. ha! This is Reed and her littlest swinging together. They loved it!

He was SO tired on the way home!

On Saturday…

Zach went golfing Saturday morning. I had let Ava do some painting and she had put the lids back on the jars, but somehow, Mr. Reed got up on the table, opened the paint, and I walked into the paint ON THE COUCH! Oh, this one is going to give me a run for my money. I just thought Ava was a busy kid. Reed puts her to shame. Saturday evening we attended a banquet to celebrate Zach winning the teacher of the month award. It was a really nice, fairly newish venue here in town and it was awesome. The food was great and it was just a really nice time to recognize so many teachers who work so hard. Zach was eligible to win the grand prize, and got through to the semi-finals, but picked a red apple instead of a green one so grand prize for him!

Even though he didn’t win the grand prize, my door prize ticket was drawn for a $50 gas card! He’d won one when he was selected (along with the Mrs. Baird’s goodies and a $200 Wal-mart card). Every teacher who won was also given 52 vouchers for a free Mrs. Baird’s product, so essentially we have free bread for a year! They also had a table full of all kinds of Mrs. Baird’s goodies we got to load up on. In between all of this and my win the night before, we had a pretty good weekend! And we got to have a little date night which was fun, too!  

On Sunday…

Sunday was a rough day for Ava. I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but she was playing with this toy flute, and while I was changing Reed, I heard her start SCREAMING. Somehow she’d jammed it onto the top of her mouth. She says it was the green end, but I’m not so sure. Anyway, she just kept crying and crying and I finally looked in her mouth, and there was a 1.5 inch long gash along the roof of her mouth and it was bleeding. It wasn’t bad enough to be gushing out of her mouth but it wasn’t pretty. She couldn’t eat most of the day and was pretty miserable. After a dose of tylenol, she perked up for a bit, but she was still hurting. :(

All in all, I’d say we had a pretty good week!!!

Girl Girl Bowtique (& a giveaway!)

One of the my very favorite things about blogging/twitter is the way it’s enabled me to connect with so many people that I would never cross paths with otherwise. One thing I’ve discovered is there are A LOT of talented people out there!

I have become friends with a sweet girl named Katharine. When she had her baby girl last year, she began making bows. Every time she would post another picture of a bow she’d made on her FACEBOOK PAGE – GIRL GIRL BOWTIQUE, I’d ooooh and aaaah over them. Every piece is just a little different, but they are so unique and gorgeous that I just wanted to share them with you.

I want to tell you, I was not paid in any way for this review. I simply ordered some bows, and literally squealed out loud when I got them, as they were a million times more adorable in person than in photos (where they were already pretty adorable!)! After I described the pieces I wanted, Katharine worked very hard to make sure I got something I loved. She kept me posted on what she was doing and sent me little sneak peaks of them. She hand makes each bow and puts a lot of time and thought into them. You will not find bows like this anywhere else. If you’re looking for something custom made for your little sweetie, do yourself a favor and check out Girl Girl Bowtique!

Here are the two bows I ordered. The first one was a headband for Ava. I wanted one that she could wear to school so I decided on red, white and blue. Ava’s really into headbands so she made this gorgeous cluster and put on a thin navy headband and it is PERFECT! Ava LOVES it!

 
The other one is a little, itty, bitty baby headband for one of my new little nieces on the way! When I saw this, I almost melted. The picture doesn’t even convey the adorableness or how sweet and tiny it is! When Kat was finishing this up and molding it, she had to use a baby doll’s head! I CANNOT wait to give this to her mama or to see it on her sweet little head!

 
Here are a few other of her bows she has posted on her facebook page that I absolutely love! (and her model daughter is simply too precious for words!)



When I told her I was going to blog about our items, Kat so generously offered to give away this GORGEOUS bow to one of my readers! That’s right, you have the chance to win this bow! (And if you do, it’d be a good time to order another custom one!!!!!)



Enter below. Entries will be accepted through Monday, June 10 at 10:00 p.m. The winner will be contacted for their choice of headband or clip! Good luck!!!!!

Entry-Form

Medical update on Reed

So. Five weeks ago, I posted about how I found a lump under Reed’s jaw and the mess we went through getting him checked out. You can refresh your memory here. During that visit to the walk in clinic, we were told it could be several weeks, a month even, before the swollen lymph node returned to normal.

Wednesday afternoon I got a call from his teacher. She asked me if we’d notice the lump before because one of the helpers had been cleaning his face and felt it. Before making any calls, I wanted to see how it felt to me as I’d been checking it here and there. It had seemed to be smaller, but sure enough when I checked him that night, it was very enlarged.

Friday morning we took him in to see his pediatrician. While we were there we used that time to tell him what had happened when we first called about this and how the office staff treated us. He apologized profusely, and gave us reassurance he would deal with it.

Well. The lump that was proclaimed a swollen lymph node by the doctor at the walk in clinic five weeks ago, is in fact, NOT a swollen lymph node. Reed’s doctor feels fairly certain it’s what is called a thyroglossal duct cyst. Yeah… sounds lovely, no. According to what we’ve read, this is a congenital defect, meaning he was born with it. During gestation, the thyroid cells begin to form at the very back base of the tongue. They then descend down low into the throat. Sometimes the cells don’t close up entirely which leads to the formation of this cyst. There is a also a small horseshoe shaped bone called the Hyoid Bone that sort of floats in the neck at this level. It is not attached to any other bones and it’s main function is to support the tongue.

The treatment for this type of cyst is surgical removal. It’s done as an outpatient procedure. When removing the cyst, part of the hyoid bone is removed as well. The procedure takes about an hour.

While we’re unsure this is what we’re dealing with, it does seem pretty likely. Our next step is that we need to see a pediatric ENT specialist. Unfortunately, there are none here so we’ll be traveling to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for this. We weren’t really given a timeline when we were at the doctor, but I received a phone call this morning telling us that an appointment had been scheduled for July 12. While I certainly wish the appointment was sooner, it does provide a sense of comfort in the fact that he’s not being rushed in for testing. We really won’t know more until we have this appointment. We’re not really sure what tests will be done for diagnosis, but they range from physical examinations, blood work, and ultrasound. I may call the clinic in a week or so to see if they can give us somewhat of an idea of what to expect. I’m not sure what protocol is, but if he needs fasting bloodwork, it’d be SO much easier to do that here before the appointment when we could wake him up and take him instead of making him ride three hours in the car with no food or drink. Anyway, I’m sure this is all going to get answered in time.

This is what the lump looks like:

If you’ve dealt with this or know anyone who has, I would LOVE to talk to you/them about it and ask a couple of questions.

While I feel in my heart that he is going to be just fine, we covet any prayers for our sweet boy. Things could be so much worse and we’re grateful this is minor, but it’s still a little scary thinking about him having surgery. Thank you all for the support and encouragement!

Days gone by

On Monday…

 Ava wore her flag dress in honor of Memorial Day!

We had our first snow cones of the season! Almost all the stands were closed but we found a new one very close to our house and it was VERY good! :)  

On Tuesday…

I had lunch with Zach and Ava while Zach was working up at school getting some things wrapped up before summer.  

Ava got a gorgeous new headband (stay tuned! Giveaway coming soon for a custom made bow!) and she had to pose! 

I love the slower pace in the summer. We have more time to relax and spend time having fun and being silly! 

I love that in the above picture, Reed was trying to stick his tongue out and couldn’t quite figure it out!

On Wednesday…

These two snuggled up to watch Mickey Mouse this morning. Ava had Giraffey with her and I love the look Reed is giving it in this picture!

Zach had to work up at school again and I suggested he take Ava’s nap mat so she could lay down if she wanted. She took a nice long nap! 

On Thursday…

Ava looks so grown up to me in this picture!

Ava spent just a few minutes with me at work and occupied her time by drawing me a picture! 

Reed didn’t find using his fork to be as effective as just picking up his bowl and eating straight from it.

On Friday…

Reed had a doctor appointment (more on this in an upcoming post) and afterward we had a quick lunch date! 

At dinner that night, the humidity had made his hair stick out! Love it!  

We spent a good portion of our evening watching the weather in OKC with the tornados going through as my parents were in the path. They were underground and safe. I hate that they’ve moved to the tornado mecca of the US.

 

On Saturday…

Reed loves making himself at home on Ava’s bed. He especially loves it when Ava is gone with one of us and he can go in there and have free reign.

 

On Sunday…

Reed let out his inner Picasso and drew a masterpiece on the back door. Thankfully it was just crayon and thankfully it was on a window and not the wall.

Me and my beautiful girl! I’m going to need her to stop growing!!!

Hope you all have a good week!!!!