Reward Chart

We are very proud of our Case for completing another reward chart. 

We have worked with these off and on for the last year or so, 

this time we are working on:

-Not whining

-Listening & Obeying the First Time

-Good Choices

So every time we catch our guy doing one of these things, 

without being reminded he gets to (in this case) fill in a box. 

It has really been helping,

our growing boy has a lot to learn about controlling his emotions,

especially when frustrated, or if little brother is bugging him, or if someone around him isn't following the rules.

Lots of triggers, but it has been helping a ton!

We need to remind him daily,

but he'll get there. 

Trying to get ready for big kindergarten this fall!

This time he chose a Hot wheels wall track, and picked out some ice cream bars from the freezer section. :)

Momma may or may not have eaten most of them when boys are in bed...

Proud of our boy. 

He's getting so big.

The Flu!

Monday morning, the weather here was calling for frigid temperatures. 

We had already planned on staying in, 

our schools were even closed in our county, and surrounding counties due to the below freezing temps. 

That morning, Case only drank about 2 sips of his milk, 

and didn't want any breakfast. 

...and when he was a whiny clingy mess all morning, 

and finally said "Mommy, I just want you." 

I knew right then and there he wasn't feeling well. 

I asked him if he wanted his pillow, blanket and Bob. 

He nodded yes, so I grabbed them, and I put on a movie for the boys.

Rhett saw this, and insisted on having his pillow and blanket too. :)

Well, I ran upstairs to start some laundry, and looked over our banister and saw this...

Uh oh. 

It's never ever a good sign when they fall asleep on their own. 

The boys had gotten up very early, 

(like 5:30am. Oh my.)

since Rhett seemed to feeling fine, 

I figured he just got cozy and fell asleep, but I knew Case wasn't feeling well, 

as he doesn't take naps anymore. 

Well the next few hours, were exhausting for this pregnant Momma to say the least.

Just being honest. 

About a half hour later, I took Rhett upstairs to put him in bed...

Rhett had peed through his clothes and onto the couch, since he fell asleep without his usual nap time pull up. 

I take off couch cushion, scrub it, take it upstairs to wash. 

Come downstairs, Case wakes up, and keeps complaining about his belly hurting.

 All he had had all morning was Sierra Mist, and about 3 minutes later, while sitting on the other side of the couch, he throws up, about 3 times. 

Bless his heart, it scared him so much, and I promised him it was okay.

 He was so upset because he had thrown up on Bob and Mommy had to wash him. 

I go upstairs to switch laundry again, to wash the things Case had just thrown up on, well I had apparently accidentally washed a Pull Up and all of the absorbing crystal things were EVERYWHERE. ON EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING

DISGUSTING.

Soooo I have to rewash all of that, while poor Case just wants his special blanket and Bob since he doesn't feel well.  

 I set up a TV and Netflix for Case in the guest room, and while both boys were resting in a bed, 

I psycho cleaned downstairs. 

If you are like me, if I know sick days are coming, I feel the need to have the house very clean and tidy so I don't stress out about dishes or vacuuming and can just take care of little boys. 

So by the time they woke up I was just exhausted. 

Oh and Rhett wakes up from his nap and pees through his pull up AND clothes...more laundry! ;)

Shew! 

So, boys wake up from naps, (Case fell asleep again upstairs)

and Case seemed to be completely fine! 

Bouncing off the walls, ate a few crackers and a string cheese. 

Nothing big, but was playing, and acting completely fine. 

He was very ready to go to bed, and felt a tad bit warm to me, but I was definitely thinking he was on the mend. 

Well, that morning, Rhett snuck into the room with Case before waking us up, 

so we found them watching Netflix together in the guest room. 

I felt Case's head, even though he kept insisting,

"Mommy! I'm okay, I not sick Mommy."

He was burning up though, took his temperature and it was 101.2. 

With Matt having a temperature too this week, and going in to the Dr. and on amoxicillin, 

I asked him what he thought...should I go ahead and call the Doctor? 

Matt ended up staying home all day Tuesday with a fever off and on! :( 

It was Tuesday morning, and the schools were cancelled again, so thankfully I didn't have to call in to preschool. 

 So we decided to call the Doctor. 

It was 8:35am, when I called and they said they had a 9:15am appointment so we flew to get ready, and got there just in time.

 (Our Doctor's office moved downtown, so it was quite a stretch to get there on time!)

By the time we got there, I could tell he really wasn't feeling well. 

When we got to the new office, he sat by me on the chairs instead of playing with toys. 

(Thankful he didn't, since we didn't know he had the flu!) 

Well by the time we get back, his temperature was 102, and his ears and cheeks were bright red. 

Doctor checked him out, did a strep test, and then a flu test. 

Strep was negative, and while we were waiting on flu results he fell asleep on me in the office. 

I had a feeling it was the dreaded flu at that point, and it turns out I was right. 

:(

He prescribed him Tamiflu, along with a prescription for the Rhetter man as a preventative.

Along with advice to call my OB for Tamiflu, and have Matt call as well. 

Oh my. 

So after spending a fortune at the pharmacy, 

we got all of our medicine home, Case hung out in the guest room again, but threw up his first dose of Tamiflu instantly. I called the Doctor, and asked some Momma friends advice on helping him keep it down. 

We ended up hiding it in gatorade mixed with a little orange juice, and he drank it up, 

along with a few bites of macaroni and cheese. 

Which apparently is a very good sign with the flu! 

Even came downstairs to eat, and cuddled with his big dog for a little while. 

 

Not having as much luck this morning with the medicine,

did the same mixture but he keeps insisting he doesn't like it. 

Even tried blue gatoade with a little Sierra mist, but he's not having it. 

However, little guy has zero fever this morning and is playing! 

A little tired, and cries easily, but he seems to be feeling very well considering. 

Gotta figure out a way to get this medicine in his system though! 

Hopefully we can figure something out that will work again today.

Been praying like crazy for our little guy, 

and for my big guy, and for my littlest guy. 

Also praying that God keeps me and baby healthy,

especially so I can take care of the boys. 

Also selfishly hoping everything will be okay for us to keep our big ultrasound this Friday, 

you know, the big gender reveal ultrasound?? 

Of course we will do whatever is best for everyone.

Just hoping it just gets better from here, and not worse!

Things I Never Want To Forget

 

The fact that these boys are best friends.

They fight.

They play.

Case loves showing Rhett new things.

Rhett adores his big brother.

Every day when Rhett wakes up from nap, he says "Where Chase?"

(Rhett calls him Chase)

They play in their rooms every morning now before letting us know they are up.

They play together all day long.

They fight over something every day.

They drive each other crazy.

They would not know what to do without each other.

We have entered the "Case is not SHARING!"

"NO MOMMY! Rhett is NOT SHARING" stage.

Yay us! ;)

They wrestle.

They worry about each other.

They watch out for each other.

They are crazy.

They are fun.

They hold our hearts.

They are amazing boys.

 

 

CASE

 

 

5 years old.

How did that happen?

He is so silly, and cracks us up daily.

He is hilarious.

He loves making people laugh.

He loves his little brother.

He loves baseball.

He still loves puzzles.

He loves books.

He favorite colors are blue and brown.

He is a little artist.

He can work a brand new 100 pc puzzle by himself.

He loves playing computer games.

He loves reading books.

Boy is starting to sight read.

He amazes us all the time with what he can do.

He loves to dance the robot.

He loves country music.

He is sensitive.

He loves school.

He is testing.

He is learning so much.

He is getting so big.

He loves movies.

He has almost completely dropped his daily nap.

He can't wait for kindergarten, and to ride the bus.

He loves Gunner.

He loves playing at parks.

He is precious.

 

 

RHETT

 

 

Almost 3 years old.

He is SUCH a stinker.

He absolutely never ever stops.

He is crazy.

He loves being naked. All the time. I mean, ALL the time.

He is so affectionate.

He loves his big brother.

He loves dinosaurs.

He loves the color orange.

He loves movies.

He loves Nick Jr's Paw Patrol.

He loves school.

He loves waffles and fruit.

...and pretty much only waffles and fruit.

He is such a picky eater.

He always has some sort of battle wound from playing too hard.

He is always doing something he's not supposed to be doing.

He loves playing outside.

He loves cars.

He is starting to sing all the time.

He is starting to make his own decisions when it comes to what he wants to do.

Which drives his big brother crazy. :)

He loves babies.

He loves girls. Oh my word, he loves girls.

He has no fear.

He goes all in, in whatever he's doing.

He loves dressing himself.

He loves books.

He is precious.

 

 

Life is so busy right now with these two boys,

and I just don't want to forget anything.

I know I will miss these days like crazy when they are gone.

 

Love you precious, crazy, wild boys.

 



FIVE YEARS OLD. Case's 5th Birthday Party!

What??

 

I am still not used to saying,

"I have a 5 year old."

 

Can't believe our sweet little baby is 5 years old.

 

 

I still remember all the details of the day this sweet baby was born.

As soon as he entered this world,

I remember saying over and over,

"He's gorgeous! He's gorgeous isn't he!"

 

Sweet boy wanted a Monster Truck Party,

so we celebrated with immediate family at our house on a Saturday.

Always so much fun, love how much he loves his birthday,

and the excitement he shows as he's getting older!

 

 

 

 We kept it simple again this year, pizza and a Monster Truck Cake
(thanks Kroger!)

Case couldn't wait for everyone to get there,
he was beyond excited!

 

 

 

Case was hilarious for presents this year,

he started really getting into the fact that there was a camera,

and everyone paying attention to him...

Crazy, silly boy!

Love him!

 

 

Oh my word!!! Ha!
Case is a pretty blessed boy,
he got lots of fun presents from family, and he truly loved every single gift he got!

Then it was on to cake!

Happy 5th Birthday Precious Boy.
We love you so very much.
Your Mommy & Daddy feel so blessed to call you ours.
Love love love you.

 



Last Day of Preschool

Although I can hardly believe it, 

this year of preschool has come to an end! 

This was the first year for Little Blessings, 

and it has been an awesome year.

Amazing teachers, fun field trips, 

& adorable parties

He's made some sweet friends along the way.

and we are in awe of how much he has learned this year! 

Our teachers enclosed a few papers,
showing off their progress from September, January to May
in writing their name.

How precious, and so fun to see the difference!

The last day, we came in at 10am for a party and reception.
(My friend Kelly watched the Rhetter man for me, 
since we all know he wouldn't have sat still for 1 minute :)

We arrived, and the kiddos went to their classrooms,
and the parents went into the little theater room & waited.
Then they all walked in, all in their Sunday best,
and sang a few precious songs to us!
It's so sweet to see their shy, sweet faces up there on stage!

After a few songs, they were each called up to receive their
Preschool Certificate!

 

Then is was lights out,
and a PRECIOUS slideshow of pictures taken throughout the year.

Followed by treats and Good-Byes, and plans for pool dates.

We are so thankful and blessed to have wonderful teachers,
Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Susan
were just absolutely amazing.
I'm also thankful that I was able to help, and sub some this year,
I loved working with these sweet ladies.
(Including Ms.Heather & Ms.Jamie in the 3 year old room)

So after some deliberation, and advice from our teachers,
we have decided to send Case one more year,
as opposed to sending him on to kindergarten this fall.
(Oh my word, how he is old enough to be talking about all of this?)

I know Case will miss his friends this summer,
and I know Momma will miss her days with just one kid for errands. ;)
We are looking forward to summer fun though,
and hopefully have lots of play dates at pools and parks with our school friends!

See you again this fall Little Blessings! 

First Spring T-Ball Game

After a few weeks of adorable t-ball practices, 

it was time for the real deal. 

First Game of the Spring Season. 

With "real" Indians gear, complete with his last name and number.

Oh man. 

Love this boy. 

Go Indians! 

This kid loves baseball. 

Surgery Day

To my surprise, Matt and I actually got some sleep the night before surgery. 

Thankful for that, since we were up bright and early for his 6:45am check in time. 

The night before, my Mother in law, Sally came in to spend the night, 

so she could stay with Rhetter the next day. 

(Thank you Nanny!)

We gave Case a long, warm bubble bath. 

Scrubbed his hands with the special wipes they gave us. 

Put him in cozy pajamas, prayed about his surgery, and kissed him Good-night. 

After our alarms sounded, we got ready, then scooped Case out of bed

and headed to Shriner's Hospital. 

We had been talking to Case daily, leading up to his surgery day.

"Dr. Riley is going to fix your thumbs, Case!"

"You are going to take a nap at the Doctor, and wake up with bandages on your thumbs, 

and they'll be all fixed under there!" 

After checking in, we were led back to the outpatient area, 

where we be spending the next several hours. 

What happened throughout the rest of the day, 

we can not even begin to explain or express how blessed, and loved on we felt.

First of all, they had TV's right above the beds, 

so right away Case was watching Mickey Mouse. 

Right across the hall was a play room, fully equipped with all sorts of toys. 

We played almost an hour in there, while simultaneously filling out the boring paper work etc.

Every single person we came in contact with,
were such a pleasure to be around.

Everyone made us feel so at home and comfortable.

A couple of hours later, we were walked down the the pre op area.
Again, we were blown away with all the things Case could play with while waiting.

 Our wonderful nurse, opened up a cabinet JAM PACKED with toys.
Case crawled down on the floor, so she got out a sheet,
so he didn't have to "play on that ol' floor" she said.

He's showing off his leg muscles...ha!

Then, everyone that was going to be in the operating room with Case,
came back and met us, shook our hands and introduced themselves to Case.

As you can imagine, that meant so much to us.
My anxiety started to rise a little, because I knew it was getting that much closer to Case undergoing surgery on his teeny tiny little thumbs.

After answering the last minute questions,and getting his hands marked,

we found out that Case was about to get his driver's license.

Why you ask?
Because he was about to drive his own truck to the O.R.
I mean, seriously.
How stinkin' adorable is that?
Our boy was so flipping excited, it literally took even the thought of being nervous
(for Case OR Mommy & Daddy)
away JUST LIKE THAT. 

Waiting for the truck to be pulled around...

and off he went.

...


While Matt and I walked away, hand in hand,
we prayed for our little boy.
Prayed for the Doctor's and the anesthesiologist,
prayed for everyone that would be with our boy.
Prayed that everything would go smoothly,
without any complications,
that he would have a successful surgery.

We wandered back to our room,
quickly grabbed something to eat at the little cafeteria nearby.
While eating my hash browns I started to feel it.
That lump in my throat.
 My knees started shaking, heart started racing, and I knew they were coming.
The tears.
We threw our trash away and walked back to the room where we were to wait for the call.
I lost it in the hallway on the way back,
as Matt rubbed my back and soothed my worried mind.
Matt was very confident, but I know my man was nervous as well.

So we get back, I've calmed down a little bit,
texting my sister, and friends updates, when we hear our phone ring.

They were already done!
Matt answered, and announced after hanging up,
"They are already done with one thumb, starting on the next and we can go ahead and go to the waiting room near the O.R."

We just started laughing!
It was so fast!
We had to wait a little while in the separate waiting room.
Nerves set in again, until Dr. Riley swooped in with news that everything went well, and they were all done!

Praise the Lord!

We raced back to our outpatient room,
waiting for our little man to be wheeled back to us.
 (and oh by the way, we came back to find a large bag with Case's name on it. 
Inside we found, a large puzzle book, play dough, a stuffed animal, 
a homemade fleece dinosaur blanket, and a big toy car. My oh my. I know I keep saying it, but we were absolutely blown away. Our nurse revealed that it was all donated by volunteers.)

Matt and I stood shoulder to shoulder,
when we finally saw our sweet baby being rolled in on a hospital bed.
His Bob, and stuffed Chocolate Lab (appropriately named Gunner, given to him by Avery) by his side.

When he saw us, he became so weepy.
Bless his sweet heart.
His little hands were wrapped in bandages, and blue gauze.
He just cried and cried for several minutes.
I crawled up in bed with him, and we got him distracted by watching the Disney Channel.
We cuddled as he slowly came out of the anesthesia fog.
A few hours later he finally ate some crackers and drank some sprite.
It broke our hearts when we tried to feed him crackers,
he would reach for them, but then realize his hands were wrapped up, and would just cry and cry!

I tell you what though, after that fog faded he was one hyper little boy!
I hadn't imagined him coming out of it so well!
He was jumping up and down, ready to go home, ready to play puzzles, ready to see Rhett.
Just ready! Ready for anything!

So they discharged us, we waved Good-Bye and were home by around 1 in the afternoon.

What a trooper.

We came home to Nanny and Rhett who were anxiously awaiting us.

Case wanted to show her his puzzle book right away, and that's his new dinosaur blanket behind him.

Nanny stayed the night, and all day with Rhett. Oh and brought m&ms.
Mimi brought over a Dream Lite puppy, Case named Riley after Dr. Riley.
Case's teacher/director from preschool, Ms. Jennifer brought by a balloon and candy.
Our friend Clair brought over a gift card for dinner and lots of goodies. 
Mom and Dad brought dinner and dessert over for that evening. 
Blessed.

We were just overwhelmed by all of the prayers, sweet notes, gestures, messages, and posts by all of our sweet & wonderful, family and friends.
We felt so unbelievably loved on.
So unbelievably blessed.

Thanking our loving God for watching over our baby.
Thankful his little thumbs are fixed.
Thankful for an absolutely amazing experience at Shriners Hospital.
Thankful for a wonderful Doctor, and everyone involved in caring for Case.
Thankful for an awesome husband to go through this with.
Thankful for our parents who helped out so much.
Thankful for all the words of encouragement
Thankful for the prayers.
Thankful.
So thankful.