Monday, September 29, 2008

update on ian...

so...we recently had ian's 3 year doctor appt with our new pediatrician!!

he's weighing in at 44lbs. (off the charts) and 40 in. (90%)...she actually said i should make sure he's excercising and not vegging out all day. since he's a lot heavier than he is tall, she had to say it...though if you have known ian in the past, you know that he's actually slimming up a lot!! :) she wasn't worried, just had to say it kinda thing. didn't bother me, cuz he's always been a big guy, and i know he's active and rarely eats junk food...and well, he's not eating all that much these days anyway....he's my little giant....:)

i also talked with her extensively on the whole milk allergy thing....she sent us to get a milk rast...they draw his blood and test it specifically for a milk allergy. the results were in today and dr. goff called me personally. (another reason i love this office....its not always a nurse calling you! the dr. has called me several times personally!) she said that he definately has an allergy. they rate them on a scale of 0-6 (6 being super serious)...and ian was at a 3 ... which i guess is why he doesn't react to milk in things like bread and crackers...but can't handle things more highly concentrated. anyway, she said that he does have the antibodies that can produce an anaphylactic reaction (the really dangerous reaction that results in wheezing or swelling of the throat), so she prescribed him an epipen (an emergency shot). from what i understood, you can be allergic to something but not necessarily have the anaphylactic antibodies...so he could be allergic to something but it not be dangerous. however, when those antibodies are present, they won't necessarily show themselves when reacting to an allergy... which is why we've never seen them....he's vomitted, and broken out with hives before...but because they see that the antibodies are there....it means, he could have an anaphylactic reaction at some point, so to be safe....we keep an epipen for him. because of the family history of anaphylactic allergies (andy and his peanut allergy and my nephew having an anaphylactic milk allergy) we're also going to consult with an allergist (Lord, help our bank account)...because she isn't sure if he should do further testing and make sure there aren't other things to stay away from. so...long story, but at least i know for sure he is allergic to milk...and hopefully an allergist will help guide me in how to proceed from here.

big happy families...

we have a family tradition with my 2 best friends (shell-middle, molly-right) of going somewhere as a family each fall and taking pictures together. this year we ventured out to las colinas and had a blast in this amazing area! we shot a ton of pictures, then had dinner together right on the canal.....its always a challenge, but each year gets a little easier as the kids get older and begin to understand the concept of bribery....:):)
here's a few of my favorites from the afternoon....




jason, shell, and jake mccarthy...




brian, molly, and madeline bell...



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

my boys

i feel like i haven't posted pictures in awhile, so i thought i would throw a few up there. this first one is mainly what i had to work with. you'd think that being a photographer, i would have these amazing pictures of my boys, but frankly, ever time i try, i come in sweating...with a million pictures and 2 that are decent. its cuz they are sick of pictures i guess. and kids are always better for other people than for their mom. anyway, at least i got one of logan smiling...and to get them all smiling in the same shot is so far an impossible task. but what do you do....
boys will be boys....

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

being appreciated...

i know its our sinful nature that causes the need to feel appreciated. it really boils down to being selfish and needing the glory...and lately i've been struggling with this 'need' to be appreciated for what i do. all in relation to my boys....and what's weird, is its mainly in the area of food. i LOVE to cook. love love love to host things and cook for people. baking is ok, and i enjoy that....but i love to cook simple dishes that seem amazing. i'm pretty sure that's why God gave me all boys, because i will really enjoy their teenage years when they want to eat all the time, and i'll be the popular mom who makes the best food, and everyone wants to come to our house!!! isn't that horrible that its a dream of mine? selfish, i know. but for now....i'm stuck in the age of pickiness and texture issues...and everything needs to be separate or they won't eat it. our biggest struggle with the both boys is dinner time. if its not pizza or chicken nuggets, we have to fight them every night to eat! (the days of ian eating anything and everything are long gone) some days i just throw my hands up and let andy deal with it, cuz there is some level of hurt and feeling rejected when my boys won't eat a great meal! i don't really know why, well, it has to do with my love language, but i know they are toddlers and i know for sure they will appreciate me some day. anyway...that's all background and venting...
this morning, i decided we'd stay home and i'd make a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon... its the boys favorite breakfast.... surprisingly, even ian loves scrambled eggs! so, we're sitting there, and about 3 bites into it... logan looked up and said, "mom, this sure is a great breakfast you made"... and i about broke down in tears just feeling so loved because they actually liked what i made them! so of course, i had to take a picture of this monumental moment.
so...this is "brownie"....ian has developed quite an attachment to this little puppy. he has started taking him everywhere, and he says "its my baby".... and he treats him like he's real. he feeds him, changes his diapers, burps him (and makes a burping noise for him), puts him in bed for naps, lets him ride on his shoulders...even makes cooing noises and baby talks to him. its really amusing...and so sweet. this morning brownie was eating breakfast with us at the table. ian will get the bumbo seat out so he can eat with us...

last weekend my niece, aubren, spent the night with us. it was her first time away from both parents at one time, but she did awesome! she got to join in on Bible story time...that night it was the story about the blind man being healed...when Jesus spit in the mud and then put it on the man's eyes to heal him....well, andy is super interactive, so of course, he made all the kids pretend to spit in mud and wipe each other's eyes to help them understand the story.... and yestarday trey and stacy told us that aubren has been getting in trouble the past few days for spitting on the floor....hmmm...i wonder where that came from? :):) o, the sweet applications of innocent children...:)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

yipee!

our friends alexis and travis airington (alexis works with andy) are going to be on the family feud!!! we are so pumped and excited!! what's even better than that? when they called, alexis said "the vanderveers said to tell ya'll hi!" and he said "what, the twins?".....that's right.... over a year later, and they still remember us!!! :) :)

Last year in the twenties...

well, i'm 29 today. i don't feel old, but when i say that i do. andy took me iceskating and i felt really old then! that is freakin hard!!! then my boys made me breakfast, and hid presents in the living room...logan loved getting coach me by saying "hot" or "cold" when i got close to a present! the little things in life....:):)
then i got a precious song from my sweet sweet neice...you can see it here. :)

i'm off to enjoy my last year of being under 30!!!! ahh!!!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Goodness, Gracious

Did anyone see Family Feud today? It's a new season, so me and the boys turned it on over lunch today. The boys like to pick "teams" that they cheer for, and Ian told me today "my team is gonna win da bonis wouwnd.".... well, even Family Feud can get a bit of dirty humor in under the radar...

The question was simply "name something that goes up" .... and the answers were things like airplanes and balloons.... until they read the remaining answers and the last one (that no one had gotten) was "Mr. Happy" ........ really, people? Does everything have to be sexual? My so sweet little 4 yr. old who was watching, looked at me and said, "what's that, mom?" .... to which I replied..."its a smiley face, dear"....I'm so glad that was not the question when we were there! Goodness gracious people!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Conversations with a 4yr. old Bible Scholar

Logan: "Ian, read this book"
Ian: "No, I don't want to"
Logan: "Ian, I said, read this book!"
Ian: "No!"
Mom: "Logan, don't tell Ian what to do. He can decide what he would like to do"
Logan: "No, mom, Ian has to do what I say"
Mom: "Logan, Ian does not have to do what you say"
Logan: "Uh-huh! Cuz in the story when Jesus walked on water...John said, 'brother do it!'....so Ian has to do what I say" (he's quoting something from a Bible movie)
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Dad: "Remember the story about Jesus healing the deaf man? And then he could hear!"
Logan: "yeah, and sometimes I wish my ears didn't work, cuz sometimes Ian is talking to me and I don't want to hear him"
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Dad: "Jesus is so amazing that he walked on the water" (proceeded to tell the story of Jesus walking on the water...)
Dad: "Can you walk on the water?"
Logan: "No"
Dad: "What would happen if you tried to walk on water?"
Logan: "Our legs would go down..."
Dad: "That's right, cuz only Jesus can walk on water...its cuz he's so strong and awesome. He's the only one that walk on water..."
Logan: "Um, Dad....didn't one of the disciples walk on water?"
Dad: "oh, right, yeah..."

Family Favorites

One of our favorite pass times as a family is take walks. At our old house we would walk several times a week to get a Slurpee at 7-11....and we have continued the tradition at our new home by walking to Dairy Queen or Sonic. The calories are so dangerous, so its definately not several times a week anymore but still a family favorite!!! We're all geared up to go!
I'm also a sucker for bathtime...I love the clean smell of baby wash, and especially love it when Tysen's hair is so squeaky clean that it stands straight up! :)

Monday, September 1, 2008

Working with dad....

it was so fun tonight to see andy teaching logan how to change the license plates on his car. both boys were immediately interested because they love tools, and logan pretty much did it himself with dad supervising. i love to watch this father- son relationship grow. andy is an amazing dad, working so hard right now but still making time for the little things that mean so much to the boys!
(can you tell that logan was slightly annoyed that i made him stop for a second to snap this picture? :)

ian worked with them for a minute, but then was captivated with the hammer and trying to smash all the ants he could find on the sidewalk! :)

Return of Batman...

Thanks to one of our JV leaders, Caitlin, who found this amazing costume for Ian for his birthday! He pretty much wants to wear the mask and cape all day long...he is so animated and so passionate about the "super hero" world...next time you see him, just watch the way he walks, or really, its a macho strut...i like to call it the matt stewart strut. (all of you who knew matt in college know exactly what i'm talking about!)