Little Personalities: June 2011

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Best Daddies in the World

We are oh so thankful today for all of the amazing fathers in our life!

They are a treasure and a blessing to us!

...and the glory of children is their fathers.

Proverbs 17:6b

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Birthdays

We went to the first birthday party for this little man today! :)

And I think we decided what to get Lily for her SECOND birthday!

Adam was so sweet in helping her drive around. She was looking for him when he stopped! :)

The kids came home with these balloons that were a BIG hit!

Thanks, Cha Cha! We love y'all!

paint & a play date

I decided to have the kids paint canvases for Mike for Father's Day (a little selfish motivation mixed in there). Peter picked his color and I picked Lily's.

It was quick and easy and I really enjoyed it... quite therapeutic!

Then they each added a touch of another color.. Peter added green and Lily added pink.

When I was buying the paint, I found these "X" and "O"s on clearance and painted them with the leftover paint for Valentines decorations (for the years to come)

Then the Andrews boys came over to play... :)

Peter and Luke got their exercise!

After naps, we added hand and foot prints to our art. I was SOOO pleased with how they turned out. I had them on the far corner of the table to dry. Then, I found this... AHH, SADNESS & frustration...

There's the culpit, driven by the hands of a little boy who lives in my house.

I asked him if he knew why Mommy was upset, he said "b/c I drove my car thru the paint, my flying car". Thanks for being specfic, Pete. I had to look away so I didn't smerck.

The disappointment ruined the rest of my day. :( I'm gonna try to fix them.

My Swimmer!

Way to go, Pete!

Bubbles!

from the river last weekend...

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

lip stuff & leisure {in cell pics}

Lily is a lover all things girly. I know I can be a little girly and princess-y myself but I don't think I encourage it that much... . These pics are from a day at Peter's county speech appt. I forgot our bag of goodies (b/c we'd be 3 other places that morning, which is not a complaint) so I had to resort to things in the purse...

She is quite the conversationalist & can say anything she wants to...

* "i want some dat" ("lip stuff")

* "who gave me dat?" (i often talk with the kids about who gave them different things to encourage thankfulness, I guess she has picked up on this more than I had in mind and asks it about everything)

* "is my time up yet?" (in time out)

* at the pool, she told me "my dress is wet" (meaning her swimsuit's ruffle skirt)... ha!

Its fun to think of this as "extra time" with her since she is catching onto things so quickly and earlier than we were used to. And for Peter, I love thinking that we get "extra time" with him too since he has a "late birthday" so gets to go to kindergarten late. :)

Peter finished his school therapies this week (only 1/2 hr weekly) so it's exciting to have a little more freedom in our schedule... & practically, its nice to not have somewhere to be at noon (we like to be getting ready for naps by then) . Its nice to streamline our therapies. :) We weren't sure where we'd end up therapy-wise so I'd pursued a lot of options.

Onto the leisure part... :)

We have loved this week! First, the weather has been uh-maz-ing & gorgeous.

Peter is in his second week of swim lessons so we've made it to the pool every morning. This week he is the ONLY KID signed up (after a class of 8 last week) so he's gotten one on one lessons for the price of a class. Woohoo! He's done so well this week!

We've been sole family at the pool most mornings after lessons so we've nearly had our own private pool (this is when I see the introvert in me come out). I've loved it!

And I'm realizing something about myself (or feeling more freedom to "claim it, admit it")... I really enjoy being with my kids and managing them by myself without the distraction of a big crowd and lots of friends.... (not in a snobby way, I enjoy a good play date every now and then but I'm always torn b/c talking to friends and needing to watch my kids & engage with them too.) I certainly need others lots of the time for help & for my sanity, but its also sweet to have times when the sole focus is being with, enjoying, watching, and engaging with my little loves. They are at such sweet ages (most of the time) and I want to savor it & stare at it with my full attention.

And have some quiet time to myself while they are entertained, for heavens sake! ;)

Lily is in time out here for running (I mean, she's still cute when she pouts!)

Peter has been doing really well this week. I can see ways he's growing up and maturing. And he's just so sweet (except when he's whining or complaining, of course).

In these next 2 pics, Peter had made a "cupcake" for them with a cup and sponge ball. They were taking turns having "bites" and saying "YUM! MMM! MMM!"

Peter is a sweet boy about thinking of others and his sister. The other day, I asked him if he'd like a cheese stick & he said, "I need two. One of me and one for Lily."

I asked them if they'd say "Cheeseee" for me so I could take their picture. Peter and his lack of personal space (I love that about my little man!) insisted on getting closer and closer in my face... These "up close" ones were after I'd pushed him away :)!

I love his grin and chilled look in this one (its barely been 70 degrees most mornings... lovely!)

As we went to leave the pool, I realized I'd dressed them alike in their orange and yellow. ;)

My heart overflows with thankfulness & love.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sprinkle Rinse

Peter got a haircut this morning while Lily slept in (til 10am, I might add).

His treat afterwards was to rinse off in the sprinkler (and a piece of pound cake!)

Funny conversation that Peter and I have so often:

I love you, Pete.

I love you, Mommy.

You're my boy, Pete.

You're MY boy, Mommy!

I'm not a boy, Pete, I'm a mommy.

hehe, he laughs.

Monkeys

Oh, how I love and enjoy these babes.

One night this week Daddy had a guys outing so instead of going right to bed, I let them stay up and jump in Lily's crib. They had a ball! Its one of their favorite things to do... and its summertime and they're kids! YAY for siblings and childhood fun!

(i have video but for the life of me and Mike, it will not upload to blogger... i think its our camera software?)

Lily is potty training. Hooray, I can't wait to trash our changing pad!

...but I'd be happy to need another ;)

Peter's Keppra is being increased this week to 400mg 3XD, which is the max dose. He's had the occasional myoclonus jerk over the last few weeks (mostly when he's tired or grumpy) and so I called the neurologist and she is going to increase him and then draw a Keppra level next week when we go for his ENT visit, since we'll already be at VCU.

Please pray with us that this increase would totally do it for Peter and he'd stay seizure free and be able to remain on only Keppra. He's done so well on it! Pray that God would heal him & grow our boy up healthy and seizure-free, for His glory. And I'm praying for God to give us the faith to trust Him, always on ongoing request. Peter's had a great week so I am reminded to look at how Peter is doing, not just his medication. And its always a good reminder to love and treasure my children.

We'd been waiting to see if our insurance would approve speech therapy for Peter. We found out this week that they have! We praise God for this blessing!

The caged monkeys (aka: Pete and Re-Pete) were happily worn out...

and ready to go ni-night.

I am tossing around ideas of when to take Lily out of the crib and what to do with their sleeping situation/rooms.... share a room with twin beds and have a guest room....oh, I'd LOVE that. And I love the idea/challenge of creating a boy/girl shared space. Or should I keep separate rooms b/c of their different AM wake times.... decisions, decisions. I'll enlist Brenda's help after she is all recovered. ;) Love you, BD.