A New Mattress

I got a new mattress yesterday. We have needed a new one for a couple years now, but other things kept taking precedence (like buying a bed for TJ, then needing to buy bunk beds for TJ and Sam when we found out Nolan was on his way). We had our own supplier; a neighbor from Pendleton had his own mattress store. I had purchased from him before and he always gave me a great deal.

Apparently, he gave too many good deals and decided to close up shop before he went bankrupt. I knew about this, and Bill urged me to get over there and pick out a mattress before he closed. I finally did two weeks ago. I bought the floor model because the guy gave it to me for an unbelievable price (again, maybe that's why he never made any money!). The mattress was wrapped, so it was clean even though it had been on the floor for a few months. I agreed to let him keep the mattress until he was ready to close the doors for good.

When he delivered it last night, he thanked us for letting him hang onto it--he sold four more of that model. He gave us a really nice mattress pad as a thank-you (again, uh, that would be more lost profits!).

The mattress is a bit firmer than I was used to, but at least it's flat. I no longer feel like I'm sliding off the edge. Ahhhh. Heaven. This was the best thing that happened all week. Is that sad? :-)

TJ's report card

We are officially halfway through the school year. TJ came home with his report card yesterday. Report cards for Young 5's are pretty amusing. They don't get As, Bs, and Cs. They are graded by S (Successful), P (Progressing), T (Tries, has some success), and N (Needs more time). Here are some highlights from TJ's:

*Perfect attendance (woo hoo!)
*Can sort objects by color, shape, and size. Grade: T. Comment: Needed lots of prompting to sort. Mommy knows best: This was a boring task for TJ. If she had asked him to build a train or a space ship, he would have done it in a heartbeat. Of course, he NEEDS to learn to sort, so we'll work on that.
*Knows Basic Shapes. Grade: P. Comment: Did not know rectangle. Mommy does NOT know best. I had no idea! He really does not know what a rectangle is! Sam, however, knows what a pentagon and an octagon are! Clearly, Sam will need to tutor TJ in this area (Mommy will assist).
*Counts objects accurately to 25. Grade: P. Comment: Counts to 29 but skips 15. Um, why is he skipping 15? That's weird.

He successfully identified 21 of 26 upper case letters. That also surprised me. I would have expected that to be 25 or 26 out of 26. I wonder if he wasn't concentrating. He knew 21 of 26 lower case letters, which sounds about right to me.

He was also graded by his computer teacher (his grade was "Progressing Successfully") and his Physical Education teacher. It's a small school--he has the same teacher does both! TJ can gallop and hop well, but needs to work on skipping. That made me smile.

His music teacher also said he is doing well. Oddly enough, my child who sings beautifully and is always on pitch got his lowest grade for 'melody'. Whatever.

TJ has grown and changed so much. I can't believe how much one semester of school has done for him. He's still absolutely exhausted by Friday evening, but he loves school and never complains about going. And I still think his teacher is a saint for handling 18 other kids just like him.

He's off the growth chart

Nolan had his 9-month well-child visit today. He has officially fallen off the bottom of the growth chart. My little man weighs 14 pounds, 12 ounces, and is 26.5 inches long. His height is in the 2.5%. At least that is still on the chart!

The doctor isn't concerned. She feels he is a petite child and that by age two, he'll have gained some ground. I told her about his eating habits (4 to 4.5 ounces of milk every 4 hours, and about 2/3 of a jar of baby food per day). If he eats more than that, he sends it back up. She said he's getting enough to eat for a baby his size.

Overall, Nolan is more advanced than Sam was at this stage. Nolan attempts to feed himself Fruit Puffs, and he sleeps well. He wakes up once a night if he's hungry (and of course I feed him!), and then he goes right back down. Sam was up 3-4 times a night at this stage. I am hopeful Nolan will not have the food/tummy issues that Sam did.

Speaking of Sam, there was a very good reason why he was fussing last weekend (see my note from the beginning of the week). His right ear is infected. I honestly think his left one is too, but there is so much wax, the physician's assistant couldn't tell. She was able to determine the right one was in bad shape, so she wrote the prescription. My mom took Sam in yesterday, since I had to work. I requested an antibiotic other than amoxicillan, since that upsets his stomach. Yikes. The one she prescribed had a $25 copay! So much for free antibiotics at Meijer. Anyway, he is acting much more normal today and his tummy seems all right. I'm giving him extra acidophilus to help his tummy deal with the antibiotics. Sometimes, figuring out what works for Sam feels like a science experiment!

Survey Says!

I got this from Amy's blog, because hers is the coolest one out there! :-)

Just copy and paste this to your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland ... and Disneyworld!
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Made a prank phone call.

If you do this, be sure to let me know!

Sam-a-thon

This morning, while Bill was helping Sam get dressed for church, he called Sam "Sam-a-thon". Sam promptly responded with, "I'm not 'Sam-a-thon'! I'm a garage door!"

A little while ago, I was sitting on my bed, reading (I was procrasinating....I should have been on the treadmill) and I heard Sam fussing a little. I went in to his room and asked him if he was okay. He responded loudly (two-year-olds do NOT know how to whisper), "Shhh! I'm sleeping!"

I'm going to assume he's fine. He is sleeping now. And I did my 30 minutes on the treadmill (in case you were wondering).

Today's Tidbits

It's another cold, miserable day. Too cold for TJ to play outside. He's getting stir-crazy. I feel sorry for him, which is why I said "yes" when he asked if he could build a fort.

TJ's idea of a fort is to pile every blanket, pillow, stuffed animal, and book he can find on either his bed or Sam's bed. It's a huge mess, so he has to promise that the mess will not leave his room, and that he will help pick it up.

Today the mess was on his bunk. He informed me that he sleeps on the 'Upper Case' and Sam sleeps on the 'Lower Case'. I managed not to laugh.

Here's a picture of a fort a week or so before Christmas. They've gotten much messier since he started dumping all of my old Beanie Babies into the pile:


Sam has two sayings that have special meaning. One is, "I need you." That always means "I'm hungry and need you to come with me so I can show you what I want to eat." The other saying is, "Carry you." He walks up to me or Bill and says, "Carry you". He expects you to say, "What, Sam? You want me to carry you?" In other words, "Carry you" means "Pick me up, please."

Nolan did something very exciting yesterday. He picked up a Fruit Puff and put it in his mouth. I know some of you are thinking, "So what?" This is a big deal! Sam wouldn't self-feed until after his first birthday. In fact, Sam didn't put anything in his mouth! It was a big concern for us at the time. So to see Nolan acting like a typical 9-month-old was very exciting. He really loves his Fruit Puffs. He opens his mouth when he sees me get the canister out of the cupboard.

Normal

As much as I love my kids, sometimes I wonder if they'll ever be 'normal'. I know most of you think they look perfectly normal, and I'm here to tell you looks can be deceiving. My children are weird.

Some examples from the past few days:

**CHILD #1 (known to most of you as TJ): Only has outdoor recess on Fridays during the winter. I don't blame his teacher at all, since getting the kids in and out of their winter gear probably eats up a half hour. Anyway, as he's walking in the back door after school yesterday he casually mentions that he thinks his socks might be a 'little bit wet'. I asked him if he'd like to change them, and he said yes. I asked him to put the damp socks in the hamper, but being his father's son, he left them on the floor. I picked them up later and was shocked. They weren't a 'little bit wet'! I could have easily rung a cup of water out of each sock!

**CHILD #2 (alias--Sam): Yesterday he is busily playing with Duplo cars at the Lego table in his room. He is carefully hooking each of the cars together, so it looks just like a train. He then turns to me and says proudly, "Look Mama! I coupled all these together!" For those of you who don't know train lingo, he's absolutely right. Train cars that are hooked together are 'coupled'. I was shocked and highly amused to hear him say that.

**Also CHILD #2: My mom was here yesterday since I work every other Friday morning. Sam came to her with a roll of toilet paper and says, "Look Grandma! I have a organ!" He then proceeds to hum into the roll of toilet paper. She laughed and that encouraged him to pull the other roll of toilet paper from the main bath and bring it to her to show her a second 'organ'. His Daddy had shown him how to blow into an organ pipe in order to hear the pipe's tone. In Sam's mind, an organ pipe and a toilet paper roll apparently look similar.

**CHILD #3 (Nolan, my very own caboose): Does not like his vegetables, with one exception: sweet potatoes. He loves them! Barely tolerates squash, green beans, and avocado, and peas he gags on. I can understand that, but I hate sweet potatoes, so I think it's very weird those are the one vegetable he will gladly eat. I can hardly stand the smell when I'm feeding them to him. And trust me, his diapers also smell like sweet potatoes. Blech.

One last story about Sam...we were at my mother-in-law's tonight. As we were getting coats on, Bill asked Sam for a hug. Sam obliged and sweetly said, "You're welcome."

Kids are great.

Edited to Add: How could I forget about Child #4? Most of the time I refer to him as Bill. While I was eating lunch today he was walking around the kitchen carefully splicing some wires with my kitchen scissors (I'll have to see if he remembered to return them to the drawer). I asked him what he was doing and he said he was re-wiring the pedal board on his organ, as it wasn't working. In my mind, not a normal thing to do on a Saturday. Later, I hear "music" coming from the basement. It was TJ playing the organ. Bill had given him permission, because "the organ is really dusty and the more he plays it, the more dust he gets out for me."

I wonder who the boys are taking after????

Amanda's Big Day

Amanda got married yesterday. Considering it is January, she had a pretty good day. No snow and temps in the low 20s. It was cold, but not awful.

TJ and Sam were bell ringers along with my nephew Clark, niece Suzy, and Anneke--Amanda's best friend's daughter. The kids were supposed to precede Amanda down the aisle, ringing their little silver bells. We had no idea how this would actually turn out during the ceremony, considering it got worse every time we practiced with them. We had 3 crying, one running, and one pouting at the last run-through at the rehearsal. But it went well during the ceremony. No tears. Suzy refused to walk, so Kristi carried her. That worked out beautifully, as both Anneke and Sam tried to join the bridal party at the front, and Kristi was able to shoo them over to the stairs. The kids stayed in the nursery during the ceremony in order to avoid disruptions.

Amanda looked beautiful. She and John are perfectly suited for each other. It still strikes me as funny, though, how the two of them wound up together. John has been my brother's best friend for years...Eric was the best man! It just took awhile to get John and Amanda set up together. If it hadn't been for Kristi's plotting, it may have taken even longer!

After a week in Disney World (I'm so jealous!), Amanda and John will settle down in his home in Grant. It's a bit of a drive, but definitely better than driving to Macon!

Congratulations, you two!

TJ, Clark, and Sam. For some reason, I neglected to take a picture of all 5 bell ringers. I'll have to get that from the photographer:

John and the boys. No, Sam was not cooperating at this point. His Sally car is by his side, and even that didn't help!

Amanda and John with the best man (Eric) and maid of honor (Brianna):

My two favorite sisters (and two of my best friends)!

Even Nolan got some one-on-one time with the bride:

Doesn't he look good in a tux:

9 Months Old!

Yes, another month has flown by. Nolan hit 9 months on New Year's Day. Tiny Man still shows no inclination toward crawling, but is grabbing at everything (my poor earrings!) and stuffing everything he can in his mouth. His big brothers have been warned to keep Legos and other small objects away from him.

I just had to include this one. He was trying so hard to peek over the edge of the tub to see if his bath was ready: