It's a Miracle

We did it! We have finally rid Zavion of his bottle for good! He misplaced it earlier in the week and had to go to bed without it. I figured if he went to bed and slept fine without it, he wouldn't get it back. Not to mention that I didn't know where it was. I finally located it and said nothing, just threw it away when he wasn't looking. He has asked about it a few times but I just kind of ignore it and tell him to get his big boy juice cup. He has done SO much better than I expected him to without it and I am glad. We also switched Aidric's bottles hoping a smaller frame would encourage him to hold it. He was not thrilled and it took him a whole day of crying and screaming to understand that he wasn't getting his old bottle back to finally drink it. Now everyone is for the most part semi happy with their beverage containers....what a week!

The Three Munchkin Ears

In three short days my first baby, and he will always be my baby, will be enrolled in kindergarten. While I want him to be the smartest boy ever and get a great education, most of me wants to lock him in his room and board up the windows. I can't belive in just a few short months he will be putting on his little uniform and backpack and taking off with his lunch box. To counter balance starting a new school life, we decided to enroll him in soccer. The base has a great program that starts at age 5 and plays against other base and I think a few local youth teams. I think it will be something he will enjoy and can't wait to see him on the field.




As time marches on I have started to worry less and less about Zavion's speech. Dr. Parker wanted him to see a speech therapist if his speech wasn't better by September. Zavion must have thought that was a bad idea because now getting him to stop talking is nearly impossible. He even sings along in the car to his Imagination Movers CD and a few of my favorite songs too (picture American Woman or Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz sung by a two year old...it's hilarious). He is starting to make small sentences and getting better at saying words he used to have trouble with. I do however still worry about his little legs and I am going to talk to his doctor. Shriners Hospital said it should correct itself and he should come back in a year. But it doesn't seem to be getting better, and he falls a lot and right now has maybe 4 or 5 bruises at least on each leg. My biggest concern is that our Shriners is at the top of the list to close, making the next closest one in Houston (not that I would mind a trip back to NASA or the Houston Zoo). I think if his coordination doesn't improve over the next few weeks (though if like his mother he will be doomed for life as I have NO coordination skills) I will take him in and see what Dr. Parker suggests.





Aidric, or Tank as my dad now calls him, is growing like a bad weed that won't die. He eats a pretty big breakfast in the morning and I think soon he will start demanding more bacon, less baby oatmeal. He usually has one or two small bottles before lunch and then he will have a fruit for lunch. Then a few more bottles between then and dinner, which is usually a vegetable. Today for dinner he had an entire fruit and an entire vegetable and was content; untill he put on his adorable new big boy whale pajamas. I brought him out of his room so he could show his daddy his new jammies and as soon as we sat down some dinner came out. I didn't even have time to get the camera and take his CLEAN picture. I feel as though he is a little behind physically as well. He grows well but at 7 months still won't hold his own bottle and pitches a fit if you don't do it for him. He's not sitting up all the way, which could also be caused by the 9lb fat roll we call his stomach. I was hoping to make it all the way to the next scheduled appointment with no in between visits and so far so good. We only have all of May and most of June to go. So hopefully these boys will get there act together.

It Costs How Much?

I recently had the brilliant idea that I wanted mirror image toes; meaning I wanted my toes to match the rims on my car. I figured in all the companies in the world and all the millions of nail polish colors SOMEONE had to make this nail polish. Turns out I was right.



Unfortunately, this is not something I will be buying anytime soon. As it turns out this is a product that MANY people were demanding that companies make so those wonderful people took advantage and decided to charge at what I so far found to be the least expensive: $15. I absolutely cannot dignify spending that kind of money to paint my toes. My favorite brand, Pure Ice, is only $2 at Wal-Mart and that is more than enough. I toyed with the idea today of getting a different brand but I just could not in my own mind justify spending $7 for nail paint. I guess I will have to save my loose couch and laundry change for quite a while before I can get my chrome nails, and by then it will be out of style. Guess I should just stick to my favorite brand and continue to stock up on their colors.

Pro BMX Biker in the making

So today Justin built Zavion a small ramp for his cars so he could sit in the window seat and roll them down the ramp to the floor back and forth till death to him part. He had a blast for about 30 minutes then wanted to move it to the couch and do it there. So he helped Justin move the ramp, so he could show him right where he wanted it.

About ten minutes later Zavion comes from behind the couch with his bike and starts picking it up and trying to put it on the couch. I didn't see this going at all well, and since my friend's 4 year old recently broke his collar bone, I decided to stop it before it even started. So now Justin is outside building Zavion his very first bike ramp for his Fisher Price bike. Nothing too professional and extravegant but something that will keep him off the couch and off of people.

Happy Easter

They boys woke up this morning and climbed into bed with us as they usually do on the weekends. They must have forgotten that it was Easter because they said nothing just got into bed. So I sat up and said my Happy Easter and then the big question came: "Did the Easter Bunny come?"

So I got up and 'went to the bathroom'/hid the eggs, while Justin got the boys dressed. I got their buckets and out the door we went.




After we finished finding all the eggs we headed inside to locate our Easter Baskets (handmade by Justin). They each got one "favorite" thing and then a bunch of here and there trinkets they like to play with. Vinny got a new Wolverine toy and Zavion a new monster truck. They also got some bubbles, little rubber bunnies, fishing toys, hersey kisses, toothbrushes, toothpaste, motorcycles, and little pills that turn into foam animals in the water. They did pretty good.







After the excitement calmed down each boy settled into playing with their new toys. Later we will dye some Easter eggs, and since no one eats hard boiled eggs, we will donate them to the chimpanzees who do so they don't go to waste. They both are excited to color their eggs, Zavion got Elmo dye and Vinny got Transformers. We will spend the rest of the day inside relaxing as the weather outside is expected to be rather nasty today.

Pictures That don't speak loud enough

Thursday night our area and it's surroundings were hit by a large storm that included several tornados. Arkansas saw the worst of it that so far has reported 3 deaths. Texas was also hit pretty hard. Our local area took a pretty nasty hit as well.




The base was slammed with a tornado that knocked out power lines and nearly a dozen poles on the main road that leads into our neighborhood. It took out a hundreds of local trees some of which went through a few houses. Fences were destroyed and lawn ornaments were missing. We also saw a shed in one front yard, with it's rook in another, and still are not sure whose yard it actually belonged in. The cops had the main road to our neighborhood baracaded for about a mile which caused a bit of a traffic nightmare and the main gate to base was closed all day. The roof of the new Sonic just across from base was found on the Commissary so I am assuming they will be out of commission for a while. Justin said rumors on base were that the wall of one of the chaples had caved in and some windows were blown out. There was minor damage done to some airplanes and from what we saw this morning a few cars here and there burried under a few big trees. A local furniture store lost most of their front windows and roof, and a small motel setting up for a weekend wedding reception also lost it's roof and had water leaking into the rooms. The had to evacuate most of their guests.

We lost power at around 10pm last night and it was restored around 12pm today. We didn't get any damage to our house luckily but with no lights, and three small boys, we didn't get any sleep either. It was a pretty gorgeous day out today and while surveying the damage we saw tons of neighbors helping neighbors repairing roofs and cleaning up trees. From the weather reports it seems as though today and tomorrow will be our calm before the worse Easter storm.

Chicken Anyone?

Well I knew it was eventually going to happen to someone, sometime. Unfortunately Zavion was the unlucky duck. He was bitten by the chicken. He has had a low grade fever for the past few days so we have just been giving him his little cocktail to keep it down and keep him happy. But tonight all his happy little red bumps started popping up. Yes that's right. The Chicken Pox. My most favorite itchy disease. Justin had a bad case when he was four. I had a bad case when I was 10. Missing two weeks of school didn't bother me but missing my first ever trip to Disney World nearly killed me. (i got to go a few weeks later as a make up since you were sick trip) I figured it's something most kids have to go through and it's not completely horrible as long as he doesn't itch too much. We are going to stock up on lots of itchy lotions and feel better popsicles tomorrow. I just wish he wasn't going to be sick for Easter. I guess no Easter Bunny pictures this year Zavion.

BAFB Not So Hidden Secret

I always knew you could go fishing on base. I knew where the little lake was and didn't know why it was such a big deal. I also knew you could go hunting on base. I also knew where you could do that...also not a big deal. Until Justin showed me why it was a big deal. There was an entire side of base I had never even seen, 22,000 acres to be exact. That's a lot of space to not know about. And it's absolutely gorgeous. It's my new favorite place to go and I don't hunt or fish. Now don't get me wrong I will gladly enjoy this place with everyone, as it is infested with alligators and water snakes. I always like looking at alligators in water, from a distance, and when we went the other day we saw three small ones. But it was still a little chilly out so there weren't many.





We also went to Moon Lake, which is a small lake shaped like a crescent moon. It's very peaceful and on the four mile drive from the main road to the lake there are small farms with camps and a swamp on the left. I had such a good time driving through the woods and it reminded me of Pennsylvania and all the woods you have to drive through to get to things there.

Unavoidable

There is a reason I always keep an eye on my children...and NEVER let them go outside without me. Not even a mile down the road from our house a little girl was hit by a car crossing a very busy street by herself. Children do this all time as do adults to get to the little street corner hang out convenience store. It bugs me and Justin and I always say eventually someone will get hit. We were right and unfortunately it was a little girl. What irritates me the most is that the police called it "unavoidable". I am sorry but in my opinion this was COMPLETELY unavoidable. Her parents could have either been with her, or had everything they needed in the house so she didn't need to go to the store. People do frequently speed through that section but there are ALWAYS cops right there for that reason. The little girl is in critical condition at the hospital right now and I hope that she is ok and that the parents are somehow charged with child neglect because a little kid shouldn't be left alone much less allowed to cross a VERY busy street just a few yards away from one of the towns busiest intersections.