Mono

Shawn has been sick for 2 weeks and 5 days. It started with an eye infection, followed by another eye infection. He has been down and out....very weak, lethargic etc. (He slept 19 hours yesterday). We went to see his dr at Vandy Tuesday (he sees an opthamologist there) and she decided it was best to do a CBC and a mono spot. Her inclination was mono...and she was right! We are so happy to know what is causing his symptoms and to know it is nothing more serious than mono. He has been eating healthful foods and drinking water and even MILK! The whole time we have been married I have only seen him drink milk on the rare occasion that I fix chocolate chip cookies or maybe brownies. I am excited about those changes a whole lot. With all due love and respect, cooking dinner for Shawn is much like cooking for a child...he is picky, doesn't want vegetables, etc. It's annoying, not to mention discouraging in that I want the junk too! He is learning from his daughter haha!!! Shawn's mom says that she has learned from Grace how to eat healthy! She eats most anything and stops herself on junk food etc (sometimes). Still working on that son of mine! :) We'll get there...last night he ate sweet potatoes because I called them "candied yams" and today I called the tilapia "potato chip chicken" and he ate all I served him (small amount but it's progress)! In case you're wondering why "potato chip chicken"...it's because it has a yummy salty breading and the boy likes chips lots. I keep pretzels and tortilla chips in the house. When I bring in other things, he and I practically fight for the bag. ;p Anyway, in all seriousness, we are really glad Shawn is slowly getting back to normal, glad it's mono. Grace was so worried about him that she had a hard time going into to prek on Wednesday. Mrs. Bone took her and spent time with her. Together, they made a "Get Well Soon" card. On the inside it said "I love you daddy. Love Grace."

On Wednesday at 11, I had a meeting to review Grace's progress in preschool. Grace is doing very well in all areas: writing, pre-reading and some early reading, recognizing and writing numbers, letters (upper, lower, out of order), shapes, and some sight words. In some areas, she was well above average for her age. I am happy with the progress she has made this year. It has been a positive experience for her. My hope was that prek would set the stage for school and it has. She is a well-behaved little girl who according to the director will not get into trouble in school. "You won't be the one to get the phone call that your child is misbehaving." She also said that "Grace can hold her own" in social settings and that she isn't usually the first to raise her hand, although she knows the answer. I'm okay with that! I told her I just want her to take her work serious and be respectful. Mrs. Bone said, "She does that." Good job Grace! She has 1 more year of prek. Next year her little brother will join her on Wednesdays when they will both go 7:30-4. I just hope I made the right decision on which days to send Grace...apparently most of the moms work so most kids are there 5 days a week. I'm sending her on TWR and on TR she will be pulled with other "older" preschoolers who have completed the 4 yr class as well. (MWF would be a total review of what she has done this year). I decided to send her all day only on Wednesday...so will she be able to go from two half days and one whole day to 5 full days of k'garten? I hope. She has a late bday and will be 6 most of her k'garten year. Maybe that will help. I'm not concerned about her academically-if she has intrinsic motivation she will excel because she is very bright-but she has said prek wears her out and it's only 3 half days a week!

It is a beautiful, sunny day today. The kids are napping (fingers crossed) and after cat-napping with them for about 10 minutes, I am back to working on Chelsea's baby shower invitations. They are turning out so cute! I am excited about baby Jackson's birth. He is due August 1st. I will be an aunt again then! Anybody who knows me knows I like being an aunt almost as much as I like being a mom! And while Chelsea is technically my first cousin, we are like sisters and she has already told me that baby Jack will know me as "Aunt Shannon." :) Can ya tell I'm lovin' it? After he's born, I will get to spoil him, then send him 7 hours south to his hometown state of GA! ;) Double wink. That was just in case Chelsea reads this.

Noah's little hip has been acting up again. The dr said he has a minor subluxation (?) in his left hip. He hasn't had any trouble with it for a couple months and last night, for about 30 minutes, he limped and it was quite pronounced. Pray for him. This concerns me some but the dr said the xray showed a very minor difference, and not to worry but I know that limping isn't normal. I will talk to his pediatrician AGAIN next week when she is back in the office. My little ones consume my heart and mind. I have to remind myself to trust God.

I'm looking forward to spending some time outside w' the kids this afternoon. They have been couped up for days and it's finally sunny and warm enough out to let them run off some energy. I better go finish those invitations so I can do just that....

And by the way our baby chicks are soooooo cute. I will take pictures this afternoon when we are out. We have Easter Eggers (lay blue and green eggs), Wyandottes (look like baby penguins!), and my favorite ever Buff Orpingtons. I am so excited to get Rhode Island Reds and Foghorn Leghorns in about 3 weeks. We have 9 right now and I plan to get 2 or 3 of the rhode island reds and the leghorns. We might have to extend their chicken coop a little. The kids enjoy them so much. Glad we got more after that horrible incident when the pit bull and another dog killed our others about 2 months ago.