Boys Will Be Boys

What do you do when you have a huge ant hill, and no ant killer? 

Flying High

Preston is flying high on his birthday.  Started the day off with a long morning nap, birthday brunch with my family, then an impromptu trip to the sand dunes to ride four wheelers and go fishing.  Now Preston is tucked in bed for nap time, and I'm about to go join him for a quick nap before daddy and Michael get home.  Preston is my sweet, laid back baby with mesmerizing brown eyes.  More to come on Monday, but for not enjoy these two sweet pictures (he loves his new swing).  

 

Preppy Will Eat Anything

Tomorrow my baby turns 1 year old.  Oh man, I could just eat him up!

p.s. That is dirt on his mug

They're So Cute When They're Sleeping. When they're awake though....

This picture was taken when my dad dropped off Michael after taking him to Father's and Sons for the evening.  Michael must have had the time of his life based on his socks, and how soundly he slept when my dad brought him in the house in his car seat.  Kyle was gone for work, so Papa stepped in and gave me the night off.  I need another night off, or maybe I need a week off. 

Michael and I have been fighting lately, and he is most definitely winning.  I'm drained.  He started a couple of weeks ago screaming bloody murder at me.  I don't know what gets into him, but whatever it is, I need it to stop.  I think he still has his ear infection (he had a TERRIBLE one for a month), but we just finished the antibiotics so I'm not sure.  I have an appointment for him at 3 today.  Unfortunately his dad won't be there to hold him down for me.  I want to cry just thinking about it.  

I got the blood tests back that I did for his allergies and he has grown completely out of his soy and dairy allergies.  That is such great news for us.  I never thought that day would come, especially because of how severe he was allergic.  The only thing that came back positive for allergies was cranberries.  We've been stuffing his face with cranberries for a long time now.  Oops.   

Love You Forever

One of my favorite books growing up was Love You Forever.  I was so happy to receive it as a gift from my friend Ali when I had Michael.  Little did either of us know this book would be perfect to describe my relationship with Michael.  Lately Michael has been very challenging for me.  Someone put it nicely yesterday when they told me, "Michael is very assertive for his age."  He is one of the funnest kids around, but with that ball of energy and personality comes some major tantrums, timeouts and tears (from both of us).  I've had one too many breakdowns this week with Michael.  Today I was sitting on the ground crying after one of his episodes and he came up to me, sat on my lap and asked why I was crying.  I told him" it makes me sad when you squeeze my neck, hit me, scream, and won't obey."  He said, "oh Mom, you're sad? I'll make you happy."  Then he proceeded to hug me tight, kiss me, wipe my tears and tell me that he would go get a napkin for me.  Then he rubbed the snot out of my face with a cheap napkin, and told me everything was okay.  When Kyle came home for a quick lunch a few minutes later, I was obviously a little red-eyed.  He asked what was wrong so I started crying again telling him that I don't know how to handle Michael (then Michael got ticked at Kyle and told him to not make me cry).  He of course told me that everything was fine and he's just going through a stage and the only thing I can do is what I am already doing and that is to parent him and love him.  Which I already knew, but it's good to have some support on the matter.    

You can bet that every time I read this book to Michael I start crying on page one because that book hits so close to home.  Michael I hope you know that....

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you'll be.

Michael loves to undress himself at night in bed and redress himself in the morning before I come unzip him out of his crib tent.  It must have been a little dark when he put his shirt back on this time.  He was so proud of himself! 

 

**Michael has been very aggressive lately, and I suspected he had an ear infection because he had blood draining from his ear, so I took him to the ENT last week, and sure enough the doctor told me his ear was as rotten and "ticked off" as possible.  Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon.  The ear drops were just not cutting it.  Michael does not complain when he has an ear infection, instead he is aggressive and emotional.  I also am waiting back to hear the results of a comprehensive blood test that we did to see what allergies he has.  I hope we get some answers.     

  

Preppy's First "Official" Haircut

Preppy was born with a full head of hair. I couldn't believe that I had a baby with dark, long locks. Well, it wasn't too long before his hair fell out on the top of his head, and he was left with male pattern balding. We trimmed the tufts of hair on the side of his head, but those quickly grew back. I resisted using the clippers because that meant he wasn't my little baby anymore. Dad won the battle, and I'm glad he did because Preston looks so much better!! Too bad I don't have an after picture.

It's kind of sad because Preston had a habit of pulling the hair on the sides of his head, and after we cut it he kept grabbing at his head for a week wondering where his soft hair went.  Do you like how Kyle cuts his hair? Nice. If you're wondering where you can get a shirt like the one Kyle is wearing, sorry, you won't find one. He found it at a Goodwill on his mission.

Farewell....

Dear Young Women,
Some of you made me happy, some of you made me sad, some of you made me smile, some of you made me cry, some of you made me laugh, some of you made me worried, but all of you made me want to be a better person.  I'm going to miss all of you girls.  "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" Joshua 1:9 (click to watch video)
Love,
Sister M

I got released as YWP on Sunday (Kyle got a new calling).  I was a blubbery mess at church (and maybe right now too, as I look at this picture).