our little family

I have always intended this blog to be for my own personal use as well as to share our life with our family that is spread across this country.  This one's for the family, sorry if it's boring to any (most welcome) onlookers!  If it seems like mommy-brag, it's not; we're a mess!  But a very thankful, happy mess.

Jack:
He's talking so much more now, I was a little concerned for awhile.  It's like it finally clicked and he just started repeating everything anyone said.  His grammar is horrid and he loves to speak in this really low voice, which makes for a very amusing combination; you can imagine.

He's strong-willed and says "no" to everything but doesn't usually mean it.  If you tell him to do something, instead of asking him if he wants to, he will usually obey without much of a problem.  Usually.  Sometimes he needs a little convincing.

He loves to swim but has no idea how, and he loves to go under water.  We had a close call at a neighbor's pool a few months ago.  I was watering some plants and letting him put his feet in on the side.  I turned around and he jumped in.  I looked over and he was in the middle of the pool under water.  He was only under briefly, but it was still scary.  I jumped in with my clothes on and pulled him out.  He coughed a minute and then smiled and said "Me went under."  Like he was proud?!  And it didn't scare him in the least.  I guess they both need swimming lessons.  Sigh.

He's totally potty trained. After a complete poop disaster on my birthday at June's house (almost included picture but had second thoughts) and a few other set backs, and there's the time when I gave up completely.  But just like the talking, something just clicked.  Now he goes on his own, whenever he needs to.  Yeah!  He's still in a pull-up at night.  If anyone knows any reusable, waterproof training pants that aren't those loud plastic ones, I'd love an alternative!

He's got a big appetite and occasionally breaks out in song or dance if he really likes something.  I have a video of a recent muffin song and dance that I'll try to post sometime.  I have no idea how big he is or how much he weighs, but he is about the same size as Acacia.

He loves to play the drums or the guitar, or the air drums or air guitar.  When we have our Friday night youth group he hangs out on the stage singing into the mic and playing the air guitar or sitting at the djembe.  I wonder if anything will become of it... whether I should encourage it or just let it go and see what happens.

Acacia:
Acacia Joy.  Her name means guileless.  Guileless and joyful.. a beautiful combination and it totally fits her.  She places a very high importance on telling the truth and usually sees things as either black or white.  Her mom, um hum, has been known to be somewhat prone to hyperbole.  In situations with something that is unknown, she chooses to believe something positive.  She thinks Spiderman spins webs for disabled spiders and florist delivery trucks bring flowers to people who are unable to grow their own. 

She spends a tremendous amount of time writing cards and lists of all sorts, her grocery lists are my favorite, and sometimes I do actually use them.  She especially likes writing long, difficult words and sentences.  I haven't taught her how to read or write yet, so it's all phonetically spelled and her sentences rarely go only from left to right.  She also likes to draw and has very recently been drawing detailed pictures of specific things like her sitting in my bed reading a book.  I love watching her inner artist emerge.

She's been really into sign language lately, I've always loved sign language and I think it's so cool that she's enjoying it.  She loves to teach Braj signs she knows when he comes home from work.   She's also devouring the Little House on the Prairie chapter books and thinks if we have a baby girl, we should name her Laura... or perhaps Whipped cream.  If it's a boy she wants to name him Yikes.  Scary, huh?

She loves to build and she asks Braj everyday what he built at work that day.  She'll listen while he explains all about digging footers and all sorts of other engineering things.  Then later I'll catch her explaining it to Jackson over some legos.  They get along so well and it delights me to watch them play together.

She's still having the vomiting spells every other month; in fact, we had one today.  It always starts first thing in the morning and she vomits every 30 minutes until I give her Ondastron orally or take her to the ER.  I know it's not viral because of the consistency and Jackson never gets it, but that's what the pediatrician always said.  So I took her in to see him today while she was still puny.  He called her "frail and gaunt"  not the two words anyone wants to hear their daughter described as; he seemed genuinely concerned and wants to do some testing to find out what is causing this. He seems to think it is something called Cyclic Vomiting or Abdominal Migraines.  I think that is a likely possibility but I'd really like to figure out what the trigger is.  There is no cure or solution to cyclic vomiting and our pediatrician says there are no triggers, but I think there must be.  She's a little on the small side to begin with, only 30 pounds at age 4.5.  I'd like to see her put on some weight and maybe get a little bit stronger.  She's very active and eats well; I just think that if maybe she had a little extra meat on her bones the vomiting spells wouldn't make her quite so "frail and gaunt".  I don't know. 

Well, all this and it's only a small fraction of what's actually going on, but at least it's a snippet.

Sidenote: I have more pictures from our North Carolina beach trip that I will post next.  Sorry it's taken me so long.