Some pictures from September

As I am "nesting" and cleaning off the camera's memory card, I found these pictures that I failed to post in September...

Andrew feeling the baby move

Bedtime stories with Grandma and Grandpa. We loved this book from the library called "Clancy, the Courageous Cow."

An impromptu picnic with Jackson on the porch. Lunchables, the tired, pregnant mom's best friend at lunch!

There may have been more playing than eating occurring...

Fire Rescue Boat project

This past Saturday was build a Fire Rescue Boat project at Home Depot. The boys haven't been in awhile and when Keith saw the project, he wanted to take them. The problem was Jonathan was still pretty sick and contagious. So, we decided that Jonathan would stay home with me and Andrew would go to Home Depot with Keith. This has happened before and has never really affected Jonathan. But Saturday was different. He gets it now. And he DID NOT want to be left out.

It about killed Keith to leave him, but we really didn't have a choice. I told him to ask if he could bring an unfinished project home to a sad, sick boy. And they willingly gave him one. You would've thought he brought Jonathan a puppy. He hugged that block of wood and tried to read the directions. And he was so proud of the finished project and that he got to build it. We love Home Depot projects. Now if I just knew where to store all of them...

Jonathan - the Ornery One

This child named Jonathan has got to be the orneriest kid around. He just oozes trouble and can't stop himself from looking for it. As soon as he is caught, he looks up at you with those chocolate brown eyes through his long lashes with a little smirk, as if to say, "You wouldn't dare punish me. I'm too cute."

He asks "Why" at least a thousand times a day. And he's developed a bit of smart mouth at the tender age of 2:

me - "Jonathan, why is your shirt all wet?"

Jonathan - "Because it is."

me - "Jonathan, why are you doing that?" (that -being anything he shouldn't be doing.)

Jonathan - "'Cause it's my job."

But early Friday morning, he gave us quite a scare. We've all had the sniffles, but I just chalked it up to the changing seasons and allergies. We noticed Jonathan seemed out of breath Thursday night after running around outside, but tried not to make a big deal out of it. Around 3 am, I heard this awful coughing sound and went to check on him. He was laying in bed, wheezing and sounding as if he couldn't catch his breath.

I woke Keith up and had him listen to Jonathan to see if I was having a pregnancy over-reaction. I wasn't. Keith agreed that he sounded TERRIBLE. By this time Jonathan is fully awake and talking and asking me to sleep with him. Selfishly I was afraid to sleep with him and share his germs. So I held him for awhile instead, and he talked the.whole.time. But in between each sentence he would wheeze and sort of gasp for air. We quickly decided a trip to the ER was in order. We didn't know what we were dealing with.

So, Jonathan and I went to the mini-ER down the street. We were their only patient that early Friday morning and received wonderful care. Jonathan was quickly diagnosed with croup, which I didn't know existed any more. Most children just get a bad cough, that sounds like a seal barking, but some, like Jonathan, suffer from a constricted airway. So, after some steroids and a popsicle, we were sent home and back to bed we all went.

I'm convinced that we all have croup now, but we are able to manage it and cough up the junk. And Jonathan is feeling much better. He has two more days of steroids, which seem to have upped the orneriness factor. But I'll take ornery over wheezing sick boy any day!

Baby Belly

36 weeks

34.5 weeks

Andrew at 36 weeeks

Jonathan at 37 weeks

Here are some pictures to prove that I am indeed pregnant. Everyone keeps telling me that I'm small and hardly showing, but after looking at past photos of the boys, it is clear that everyone is lying to me! I'm pretty sure I'm at my biggest with 2.5 weeks to go. I see the doctor tomorrow and I think I might resort to begging to be induced sooner rather than later. Sleep, how I miss thee!

The Air Show!

The boys going to check out the C-130.

Standing at the back of the C-130 with Daddy.

This was Andrew's favorite act - Matt Younkin's Beech 18. He performed cool tricks and it wasn't loud!

I love this photo!

The same red and blue favorite plane.

Another favorite - a fire-shooting school bus.

It was powered by jet fuel and raced down the runway at 300 mph.

C-5

Andrew and Jonathan sitting in the C-130

F-15

I love that plane in the sky in the upper right. It looks like it's crashing, but no, it's just part of the show.

P-51 Mustangs

B-2 bomber

F-18 Super Hornet - super cool, but VERY loud. We had to break out the headphones for the boys.

By the end of the day, Andrew was riding and enjoying Dippin' Dots ice cream.

Andrew posing with the fire trucks.

Walking back to the car. Jonathan was enjoying some nachos.

Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to McConnell to enjoy the Air Show. The Thunderbirds were the big act this year but weren't scheduled to perform until late afternoon. We knew we couldn't make it that long, so we went until we were tired and watched some cool acts and saw some BIG planes. The boys loved it! And this morning on the way to church, Jonathan asked if we could go back to the airplane show.

The weather was in the high 70s and there was a great breeze, so I was able to handle all the walking. We foolishly took along a chair and blanket, thinking we would be able to sit and watch the show. But the boys wanted to stay on the move and weren't as interested in the planes in the air as they were in the ones on the ground.

We lasted almost 3 hours and were all VERY tired by the time we got in the car to go home. We noticed the sky was getting more and more blue, the closer we got to home. Turns out we left just in time. They cancelled the afternoon performances due to a thunderstorm that moved through the area.

It was great to back on a base, but a little nostalgic for both Keith and I. And it made us a little sad that the boys won't remember our life in the Air Force. But we'll take them to the Air Show again and show them pictures of "way back when."

Nap time Destruction

You know it's a bad sign when you walk in the boys' room and find this...

And then this...

Cranky Jonathan. Too bad he wasted so much nap time emptying all the drawers!

Andrew's handiwork - age 2, September 2007

And he was very proud of his accomplishment. *sigh*

So apparently, a 2-year-old rite of passage I was not privy to is the need to destroy your bedroom during nap time. Jonathan has been taking a nap most days due to the fact that he wakes at the crack of dawn and then is a train wreck until nap time. Unfortunately, some days, he chooses an alternate activity to sleep, like emptying all of his dresser drawers. Andrew use to do the same thing. I don't understand why they would choose destruction when they have the opportunity for a blessed nap!

Responsibility Chart

So proud of the 21 smiles he earned.

Jonathan's mini chart is on the bottom board.

We've been having some trouble lately with respect, love and kindness in our house. So I was out shopping one day and found this great Responsibility Chart by Melissa & Doug. We had been thinking about creating a type of chart with stickers, but this one is magnetic, which makes it easy to add and remove smiles as needed. And unfortunately, we do lose smiles on certain days.

This chart has been a bigger hit than I anticipated. Andrew wants to please and be good, but sometimes he gets out of control. This chart has served as a good reminder for not only chores, but also manners and behavior issues. We've had to modify the use of some of the pre-made categories, like "Don't use bad words." Not so much an issue, but we don't always use nice or kind words, so that's how we use that one. And "Do Homework" is another category we've modified. Preschoolers don't have homework, but they do need to do their work at school and cooperate. Another small issue we were having a couple weeks ago, which seems to have resolved itself!

We haven't figured out the reward system yet. We plan to keep track of the number of smiles he earns, and he can bank them to buy something big or use a few to buy screen time. The details don't seem to be important to him right now. He's just excited to go over his chart each night after dinner to see how many smiles he's earned. Hopefully this chart will work for a long time until the good behaviors become habit!

And Jonathan didn't want to be left out, so we added a couple categories for him. Unfortunately he hasn't been as motivated to earn smiles as Andrew. He's only earned a couple so far, but we're working on his manners, too!