Long night

Our weekend ended with a bang. Rory was quite cranky yesterday, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I discovered she was covered with large hives over a good portion of her body, and she was running a fever. Rory and I had to stay home and miss out on the church's cookout and fireworks show, and it was a pretty long night. She was up ALOT. We got up this morning a little after 5:00, and she was still running a fever and miserable. She doesn't have any symptoms of anything so I'm not really sure what's going on, but hopefully it won't last too long. She had hives earlier this week as well, but no fever. Not sure what it is with my kiddos and hives. Camden used to get horrible hives all the time, but he eventually grew out of them.

Here are a few pictures from last week.

Camden is very interested in bug hunting these days.

A serious picture

Her cute cheesy smile

Boring isn't so bad

I’ve kinda struggled with this whole stay at home mom thing. Struggled a lot actually. To be honest, it’s pretty boring much of the time. I can hear the collective gasp of the rest of the world's stay at home moms either because (a) I admitted to the world it’s a bit boring or (b) that I would actually think spending 24 hours a day with two of God’s most precious blessings is boring. But it’s true. I was in a funk most of this week with the sameness of it all. So Friday afternoon I sat down during naptime and did some reading on being content and started listing my blessings. And as I did, I realized that boring isn’t so bad. Boring means everything is going really well. Boring means I have nothing to complain about. So my goal is to spend a bit more time reveling in the boring times and thanking God for them.

Gone Fishin'

Oh, my

Rory learned how to work a doorknob today and to open closed doors. And this is just when I'd finally was able to have private bathroom time again. Sigh.

Random Thoughts

Rory is 21 months old today. How did this happen? We're only 3 months away from the Terrible Two's.

Christine, you can purchase the papers and elements I used for the Homework page here.

Brian and Camden went fishing this morning, and a SNAKE ate one of their fish. (video coming soon)

Speaking of snakes, check out my sister's blog for a great story.

Camden told me this week he was "terribly bored". I told him bored was a bad word.

Rory's new favorite game is to close her eyes, stretch her arms out in front of her, and blindly walk around the room until she bumps into something.

Our favorite new game is to watch her do it.

When you're a SAHM, there's not much to distinguish your week between your weekend. I think this explains my bouts of depression every Friday and Saturday.

Camden is going to be quite the charmer. He was staring at me during lunch today and I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I'm just looking at your beautiful eyes, mommy." I'd believe him except for the fact I'd just gotten out of the shower, my hair was still wet, and there was no make-up to be found on my face.

Okay, enough randomness.

My site meter tells me there are almost 200 people a day checking out my boring stories. (At least there are good pics of my cute kiddos to look at.) Who are you people? :) Leave me a comment!

Here's a picture of Rory praying yesterday. She looks sincere, doesn't she?

Our day

Our day yesterday: I read Camden a batman book yesterday morning. He spent the rest of the day with his batman blanket wrapped around his neck re-enacting the book. Seriously, for hours. Rory spent a good majority of the day either crying/wanting to be held, reading books on my lap, or getting shoes out of Camden's closet. This is her favorite past-time. She LOVES to wear other people's shoes, but especially Camden's because they're not so big that she can't walk in them. In fact, at one point last night before church, I was trying to help the kids get the house picked up so it would be clean before bedtime, and FOUR times I asked her to put away the shoes she was wearing and FOUR times she put them away but brought me back a new pair. It was hilarious. Well, it would have been if I hadn't have been trying to pick up the house.

And here's how I spent my day (well, aside from reading the farm book to Rory dozens of times):

Wednesday

Rory's biopsy went fine yesterday. Maybe a little more traumatic and a bigger deal than we were lead to believe by the doctor initially, but it's all okay. She's got several stitches with industrial strength stitching (doctor's words) and it's pressure bandaged so I haven't actually seen it yet. All I know is that I looked over at it while they were working on it (I was holding her head and shoulders down) and there was alot of blood! We have to keep the pressure bandage on for 24 hours and then re-bandage it every day for 10 days and then go back to have the stitches removed. Oh, and no bath for 72 hours! We're hoping to have the results either Thursday or Monday.

She was pretty cranky and clingy yesterday afternoon when we got home, but after supper she and Camden played so well together and even got into some mischief so I put them in time out. They look like it's a real punishment, don't they!



Rory likes to pour water "over her head" in the pool. She scrunches her eyes closed and pours. Of course, as you can see, she misses her face most of the time!


I walked with Mayme this morning and feel tired! I was still awake at 1:30 last night so I didn't get much sleep, but the exercise should rejuvenate me, right? We're going to the library reading/craft time this morning so I need to get moving and get us all dressed and ready. Brian's out running errands with his dad so I've got the kiddos to myself.

If I'd only known!

We implemented a new system with Camden yesterday. Instead of punishing him for his bad behavior, we're rewarding him for good behavior. I put up a behavior chart and every time he is helpful or sweet or doesn't complain when we ask him to do something, he gets a sticker. His reward yesterday was chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Now, it was only the first day so I'm not completely sold, but he was like a different child! It was the best day by far that we've had in probably months. Even grocery shopping for 2 hours in 2 different stores wasn't bad. I am so hoping this will continue to work!

We pulled out the little pool yesterday and the kiddos had fun splashing around. In fact, Camden stayed outside with Brian after Rory and I came in for another hour just playing by himself. Rory likes to pour water on her head, and it's so funny. She scrunches her eyes and mouth closed and then pours the water. Most of the time it never reaches her face, and then she wipes her face off on the pool. I think Brian has a video coming shortly with all the pool fun.

This afternoon we're taking Rory to Vanderbilt for the biopsy on her leg. It's called a punch biopsy and should be over in 3-4 minutes so I'm not too worried, but I certainly don't look forward to her screams of pain during those 3-4 minutes. I hate it even when she (or Camden) has to get shots! Camden is going to Mayme's while we're at the hospital, so I know he's going to have a blast with Ashton and Brady. We'll probably have to tear him away when we get home!

I did have time to scrap yesterday and managed to finish up two pages.

Back to the Grind

On today's agenda is grocery shopping with the whole family, doing multiple loads of laundry, and then folding and putting them all away. Sound exciting?

Here are several pages I scrapped while we were in Illinois.

Pictures

Here's the trip in a nutshell. Our flights were terrific. Rory was an angel on Sunday - not a cranky word or whine out of her the entire time. We sat next to a military man on our second flight, and he entertained her for 2 hours. He was so friendly and quite taken with Rory. When the flight was over, he gave her his U.S.A. patch off his uniform.

Tuesday we went to the zoo with some friends. I don't think Rory was too impressed with the animals. There were too many distractions for her to be very interested, but we had a good time. The weather was amazing. I'd forgotten how dry the Illinois air can be after living in the sticky south for so long. In fact, the weather all week was great. It was sunny and 78-80 degrees all week.

On Wednesday mom, Rory, and I had a shopping day, and it was so fun. I can't believe how nice it was to shop with someone else who actually enjoys shopping and we spent lots of hours browsing shoes and purses and children's clothing. We didn't really buy too much, but had lots of fun looking. We did meet an adult Korean adoptee and her mother at Marshalls, and they were so sweet. I enjoyed talking with them. It's actually the first time another adoptive parent has ever stopped to talk to me in the 4.5 years I've been a parent.

Thursday was more shopping, along with some horseback riding. Rory didn't love riding the horse, but she didn't protest either. She did like petting the horses and being outside with Grandpa. In fact, she liked to anything with Grandma and Grandpa. She ran into their arms at the airport and never looked back.

Brian and Camden had a good, but exhausting week of camp. VBS starts tomorrow so Brian has spent the majority of the day over at church getting ready.

Some new things Rory learned this week.

• the word "stop"
• that she really wants to eat what everyone else is having, not what I give her
• to say her own name
• to call everyone Mama (when will she ever learn I'm the only mama!)
• to count to five (not that her numbers sound like anything you'd recognize)
• to take off her own shoes
• to say "wheeeee" every time we go over bumps in the car
  

I decided to do a slide show of pictures because there were so many, and I thought it might be easier that way.

We're Home

We're home, but really tired (and desperately wanting computer and internet time). I'll try to post pictures and recap of the week tomorrow, but for now thought I'd bring you up to date on Rory's appointment with the THIRTY (yes, 30!) dermatologists tonight.

There were 6 families there for consultation with the dermatologists, and Rory was clearly the star. Although to be honest, she was the only baby - the others were old geezers. She was tentatively diagnosed with an eccrine angiomadous hammartoma back in April, but we're scheduled for a biopsy this coming Tuesday to try to determine if this is correct. Our specialist has been doing some research and there are only 85 documented cases in the world, so as you can imagine the interns and residents are kinda geeked out about seeing her leg, and our doctor's resident clearly felt like she was his star patient. It was kind of funny. I can laugh about it because her situation doesn't seem serious.

Anyway, all the doctors examined her and then were meeting this evening to discuss her leg and decide what they think should be done. For now, we're continuing with the biopsy on Tuesday. Many of them mentioned to us specifically that they thought we should go ahead with that. I'm hoping that this will help give us a firm diagnosis and treatment plan. I'm not too worried about it since the spot has clearly not changed since birth (other than growing with her) and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She did really well with all the doctors examining her. She cried pretty hard for the first couple of doctors, but then must have decided they weren't hurting her after all and calmed down.

I'll hopefully post tomorrow if I can pull myself away from the piles of laundry Brian and Camden brought back from camp.

Happy Father's Day

Pee-Pee

We had pizza for supper tonight. Honestly, it's quite a staple in our house - enough that Rory recognizes it, and she asked for Pee-Pee tonight. Has a catchy ring to it, doesn't it.

Brian had in-service Friday so the kids and I played outside and worked on laundry. We met Brian's parents for dinner last night. Today has been full of packing for our trips, and Brian is frantically working on VBS material so it will be ready when he gets back. I was able to make a quick pedicure break, which is always nice.

I spent much of Friday afternoon and this morning praying and crying with my dear friend Mayme. They finally, after almost 2.5 years of waiting, received the referral of a sweet little one from China. Mayme was such a source of encouragement to me while we waited for Rory and especially now that Rory has been home, and I am just so thrilled for them. I have been overwhelmed with emotion, and I can't wait until she is home and with their family. She is close to Rory's age, and I told Rory this morning that she has a new best friend. LOL

I had an interesting phone call yesterday evening. We have a biopsy scheduled for Rory's leg on June 24, and the dermatologist called and asked us if we would participate in a seminar they're having next week. A group of 20-30 dermatologists are meeting at Vanderbilt, and they wanted to present Rory's leg as a case study. The spot on her leg very unique and quite large. Each of the doctors will examine her and then discuss her case and make a decision as to what the diagnosis and treatment should be. We are thrilled to be able to participate in this, and I know it will give us peace of mind that we've done everything possible. Of course, she is going to scream bloody murder while they examine her, but it's worth it.

Blog posts will be scarce for the next week or so since I won't have Internet access, but I'm hoping to take Brian's laptop and my EHD and get lots of scrapping done.

Operation Laundry

Operation Laundry begins today. I’ve been saving it up all week so that I could make sure to get every spare piece done. Rory and I are flying home to Illinois for the week, and Brian and Camden are going to camp (Brian gets the privilege of being a counselor during Junior High week and Camden is along for the ride). I tackled the clutter and toys yesterday afternoon; today is designated Operation Laundry, and Saturday will be cleaning day. I hate coming home to a dirty house after being out of town.

Rory’s vocabulary is really taking off. In the last week, she’s mastered the following words: cracker, baby, color, milk, towel (from Korea that she carries around everywhere), down. She’s also learned the valuable skill of shushing people. Yes, she shushed Camden during prayer time Tuesday night, and Wednesday night she shushed me as I played with her. She’s been playing with her baby and loves to change the baby’s diaper. She also went to her room, opened the closet door, and stood there pointing and grunting at her own diapers after she dirtied her diaper yesterday. Oh, and she picked up her camera and said, “Cheese. Smile” to Brian last night.

In other Rory news, she had a bad nursery experience last Friday night during revival, and I really think it’s affected her in a negative way. I know that it doesn’t seem likely that not having access to me for 90 minutes could really affect her, but there is plenty of evidence. She suddenly is crying when I put her down for naps and bedtime; she begs to be held during meal time; she wants to be carried 24/7; she has started rejecting Brian again at times; she is just more solemn in general. I feel like we’re in the “two steps back” portion of the phrase, “one step forward, two steps back.” I’m not necessarily concerned, I just know I need to give her extra attention and take precautions that it doesn’t turn into something more serious. It’s exhausting, but necessary.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. The first set shows her "mad" face - totally fake as you can tell!

Not Such a Bad Day After All

While Rory chowed down on her pasta with both hands at the supper table tonight, Camden (in his own words), “when I was eating my cherry cheese cake, I asked God into my heart for the first time.” To be honest, we thought he was too young to completely understand, but he’s been asking questions for several weeks now, and tonight he had the longest conversation on one topic that he’s probably ever had, and he asked very good questions and definitely understood what was going on. I don’t know about Brian, but I shed a few tears (although through the laughter – see below). Of course, in typical little boy fashion, the point that stuck out to him the most was that he did it while eating cherry cheese cake. Here are a few funny things that happened throughout the conversation.

• He says “hell” with the hickest southern accent you’ve ever heard. It has something like three syllables when he says it.

• He wanted to know specifics of who was in hell and thought we should be naming names.

• When Brian told him that Jesus died for everyone’s sins, he asked if it was true for “everybody in the America’s and also for the African people.”

• “But I don’t have any money” said in an incredulous tone when we told him that someone had to pay for our sins.

• “Awesome” – how he responded when we told him that Jesus took care of our debt for us.

• “We should have a party” when Brian told him that June 12 was a very big day for him!

• “I’ll give you a great big bear hug and smile when I see you in heaven. I don’t think Rory will be there, though.”
  

It's been a day

Without going into all the boring details, it's just been one of those days. You know, one of those parenting days that convince you that either your child is the most unhappy, disobedient child around or that it's your fault, and you've made so many parenting mistakes that your children will never turn out right. But the reinforcements (a.k.a. Brian) are back from in-service and hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Since I don't have any new pictures or pages to share, here are a few from last weekend in the pool.

MiMi

I have a new name. After this post, Rory pretty much stopped calling me Mama again. Well, over the course of the last two days I've become MiMi. Camden calls me Mommy, and I think this is her version of it. As long as she calls me something besides Daddy (her name for EVERYTHING).

Our day ended with some excitement last night, although not really the right kind of excitement. Camden, for some reason, thought that he should give Rory a bottle of red Crystal Lite in the living room. Of course she spilled it all over her and the couch. While I was talking to Camden in his room about it, Rory went to the bathroom and poured out the entire bottle (that I just bought) of Camden's soap and about half of her soap. Oh, and the day started off right with Camden calling his daddy a curse word - his first! I have no idea where he's heard the word, and he clearly didn't know it was a bad word.

I walked with Mayme again this morning, and the weather was quite a bit cooler, which was nice. Rory and I are headed to Nashville today to go to the library and to meet a friend for lunch. Camden is staying with Brian and is going to "help" in the gym with VBS set-up. I'll be glad when Brian is finished with this project - he's missed bedtime 3 out of the last 4 nights and the kids are really missing him.

Tuesday

We had a good day yesterday. Nothing too extraordinary happened, but there were no major fights between Rory and Camden so I'd call it a good day! Brian was gone most of the day working on VBS, and he's back at it today.

I've been up late the last 3 nights, and they're finally catching up with me. I can't seem to get moving this morning, although I did get up and walk with Mayme at 6:15 this morning, but I came home and crashed. I'm taking Camden to the library story/craft time again today, but Rory is going to stay at home with Brian this time. She'll have fun "working" in the gym with him, and it will be much easier to help Camden out with craft time.

I may have mentioned here before that Rory is quite the drama queen. Well, it's gone to a whole new level. When she gets in trouble (and by trouble I mean that I tell her "no" for something), she boohoo's, buries her face in her hand, and finds a quiet place to pout. Sunday afternoon we found her in the bathroom sitting in the dark with the door closed on a rug. Yesterday, she was at the end of the hall sitting on her little car. It's hilarious! She's half crying and half faking it and definitely looking for attention. She's also become a big fan of playing Patty Cake, which is fun about the first dozen times, but then starts to get old!

If you're interested in looking at the pictures we had taken at JCP last week, click here. They are under Melissa Lewis.

A New Week

I need to brag on Camden a little bit. We've had a rough time with him ever since Rory came home. It's been a big adjustment for him to not be the only child anymore, but I think we maybe reached a turning point this past week. He had many moments of sweetness towards Rory, and there were times each day that they played together and I heard lots of giggles. It was definitely the best week we've had with the two of them. I'm hopeful that it wasn't a fluke and that it will continue! Not that things are perfect. I mean, she's a toddler and he's almost 5 so they can't live in complete harmony, but it was much better!

Rory was a little thrown off by our church schedule this weekend and by being in the nursery more often than usual so I ended up staying with her Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night, so I feel like all I did all weekend was sit in the nursery! It's worth it if it will make her feel more secure. She and Camden both have been a bit cranky because of the later nights, but our schedule should be normal this week and they'll get back on track.

Not much else to share today. I'm headed off to walk with Mayme, and then will get started on laundry left over from the weekend when I get back. Brian is very busy getting ready for VBS, and he also has 2 days of in-service at school this week.

Friday

Not much to share today. Brian and Camden are headed to camp to pick up the teens and will be gone all morning. I'm meeting a friend for lunch and will make a quick Target run while I'm in town. We have revival at church tonight so it will be a fairly busy day.

Enjoy the weekend!

Rory's Gibberish

We have "conversations" like this all the time. She jumps right into our conversations with each other and while we're on the phone and "talks" our ear off.

Try, Try Again

Thiebs and Pop Holders

Camden and Rory enjoyed the library yesterday. Camden took a while to warm up, but once he did, he was fine and enjoyed it. He complained when we left that it wasn't long enough. Rory, of course, had a good time. She's happiest when we're out of the house.

Camden rarely messes up a word these days, but yesterday he mispronounced two words. He had drawn Jesus on the cross on his magnadoodle (hopefully that isn't sacrilegious) and asked me who was on the cross next to Jesus. I told him two thieves. Well, he thought I said "thiebs" and proceeded to talk about them the rest of the ride to the library. When we got home, I asked him to pick up a pot holder that was on the ground, and he said, "Sure, I'll pick up the pop holder. What do you do with a pop holder?"

Now that Rory has learned she can ask for a "nak" she asks ALOT. Thankfully, she doesn't get upset when I say no. Well, not too upset anyway. Oh, and she's added "stop" to her vocabulary.

Here are a couple more pictures from the fun in the sprinkler over the weekend. It's hot enough that I think we're about ready to break out the kiddie pool.

Popsicle pictures

Here are some pictures from our time outside on Monday. Yes, I'm embracing country life and letting Rory run around only in her diaper.