Our Son is 2!

Our sweet Noah John is 2. He was born weighing 8 lbs, 8 oz and was 20 inches long. He was born 3 days before my due date and 2 days before the csection was scheduled. My dr let me labor with him to try to avoid the surgery. After an hour of pushing and 13 hours after my water broke (in the same spot as it did with Grace!), I was wheeled to surgery. When I first saw him, I said through tears, "I'm so happy to finally meet you." (I was a tad loopy/sleep-deprived and just happy-emotional). Anyway, he smiled at me. I know that is hard to believe but he grinned. (My delivery nurse told me a couple years ago that I laughed out loud after I was delivered!) Back to Noah John's big boy accomplishments: He now speaks in full-on sentences, can count to 10 and recognizes that items are numbered...example "How many birds do you see?" NJ: "3".) He can repeat anything, loves to laugh at and make others laugh, has a will of IRON (which makes me wish parenting came with an instruction book), likes tv (he started out saying, "I una hotch pb" which is now "I want to watch tv.") His favorite movie is Alvin & The Chipmunks and Yogi Bear ("Wogi Beaw"). He likes tractors (imagine that) and trains. His bday party will be Thomas the Tank Engine. :) He also loves animals, like his vet-aunt, I tend to think. He likes sweets, french fries, chips, goldfish crackers, and by far, his favorite snack is pretzels. For example, Grace asks for apples as a side; NJ asks for pwench pwies. His favorite vegetable is tomato and his favorite fruit is banana. He loves to drink milk and juice (*watered down) and has figured out that when I go to the fridge door and push the button on the front, he is getting water (to which he complains sometimes but when he gets really thirsty, he stops!) I limit the kids' sugar intake/junk intake but I don't prohibit sweets and snacks entirely. He is the most active child I have ever seen. He runs everywhere, climbs everything, loves to be outside no matter the weather, and is a bit accident prone (which REALLY stresses me out!) He has a head full of dark brown hair with lot of natural body and a good amount of curls. He has bright blue eyes and long lashes. One of his most endearing traits to me is that when he gets shy, he diverts his big eyes up and over and rolls his tongue around in his mouth, turns it sideways, and sticks it out. It makes him look uncomfortable and embarrassed. It's really cute. Maybe I can catch it on video sometime :). He and Grace have just started fighting over toys, etc. He is determined to keep his toys but any time I intervene and ask if Grace can see it (or have her ask him), he always obliges. He likes playing in the sandbox, in the yard sprinkler, and the swimming pool. He has little to no fear, which again, greatly stresses me. He constantly has bumps and bruises and they barely slow him down at all. He is all boy! And he is so loved and cherished!

ANNOYED AT BLOGGER

I am having a difficult time redoing my blog backgrounds...well just all of it. I'm clueless as to what I'm doing and in my effort to "learn" how I have messed it up more! Stay posted for an updated, fresh look, but apparently it may take me awhile!

PreK Program aka Grace takes the cake! :)

Pics and post coming!

Flowers

I Peter 24-25
All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

&
Matthew 6: 28-34
See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I'm not sure how or if this relates, but in my mind, I keep mulling over this. These flowers in the photos are weeds, about to be plowed, turned over into the ground. What we consider flowers are really weeds in life sometimes too...because the only thing that is truly beautiful and lasting is God's word, according to scripture.

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.

Easter

My parents came to spend Easter with us! I don't think dad has ever been anywhere but "home" for Easter. We had a nice weekend. On Saturday mom and I took NJ to an egg hunt. Grace chose to run errands with her daddy and Poppa. Her answer when I asked if she wanted to go to another egg hunt..."NOT ANOTHER ONE!!!" She marches to the beat of a different drummer, one I think I marched to at that age, come to think of it. ;-) It made me happy that mom and I had some time alone while Noah napped in the van. Then, we focused on him during one of his first egg hunts and we enjoyed that too. :) After the egg hunt and errands, we all came home for yet another tornado warning. I am so glad to report that none have touched down in Hopkins County. It rained all afternoon and all night last night...we are supposed to get 8" by Wednesday.

Today is Easter Sunday. I set the alarm to go off a little earlier than usual because I needed to get a jumpstart on the day. I had deviled eggs to fix and the kids to get ready. Noah John was easy...suit pants, vest, tie, shirt and a quick brush of his hair. Grace was not so easy. It took me about 30 minutes to fix her hair. It turned out so pretty. When she was in cousin Chelsea's wedding, she was given a tiara to wear. I wanted her to don it again today. It took 4 or 5 painful attempts to get it in place. I told her, "beauty isn't easy." Then I quickly corrected myself with, "You are beautiful with or without a tiara..." I had to use Shawn to distract her as I curled her caramel brown hair. He has had a super bad eye infection for 6 days and didn't really feel up to it, but he obligingly squatted in front of her and talked to her about all the things that came to mind while I curled away. If you are not gathering it, curling hair is an event in and of itself. Not always a happy event but one my daughter is learning to tolerate for the desired outcome of curly locks. I think she has perserverence in her veins. If it surprises you that I would that out here, you obviously have never curled her hair yourself. It requires patience from both of us!

After getting everybody ready, we were running about 10 minutes late for service at our church (which starts at 10:15) so we decided to go to Nebo Baptist, where Shawn grew up and where his parents still attend. It was just wonderful to be in church with my parents on Easter Sunday (Shawn's parents had nursery duty). I thanked them for coming to be with us, as I know how hard it is to want to be in two places at once on the holidays. After the cantata (which was so good) we came home to change clothes and headed to Shawn's parents for a delicious good ole Southern lunch. The kids hunted eggs inside after getting their Easter baskets from Mamaw and Papaw. Grace shrieked and jumped when she saw that she got Rapunzel's tower and Rapunzel, Flynn, & his horse. Tangled is THE movie of the year for little girls this year. Noah John got a Little People Barn with a horse, duck, farmer, and red tractor. He also got a cute duck that laughs when tickled. His favorite, though is a yellow school bus that he calls his "cool bus." Mamaw and Papaw are great gift-givers. They are just generous in general, and I love that about them. Which reminds me, the other day, I asked Grace if she knew the true meaning of Easter. This year I let go a little bit and let the kids have their taken with the infamous white rabbit. I wanted to make sure I hadn't foiled the real meaning of Easter. I am happy to say Grace answered quickly that we celebrate Easter because Jesus rose from the dead. I'm not sure if I have relaxed my standards or just simply relaxed but this year, the rabbit and the little basket he left didn't bother me as much. Here is a picture of the two who have my heart, taken on Easter morning.

And another:

After taking very long naps during the afternoon (all 4 of us) we jumped into Shawn's jeep and splashed down to the farm. We fed the catfish and sloshed through big puddles. It was fun. A good way to spend Easter: with each other just going with what we had been handed (a mega-wet, dreary weekend). It was wonderful and I wouldn't change it.

4/27 UPDATE
This past week has been even more rain-filled (and stormy). Hopkins County did have a tornado afterall, a couple days after I started the post. Terms that come to mind from this past week are: flood, tornadoes, over-flowing, full, to the brim, gushing water, more rain, water...you get the point.... Thankfully no one was injured in Hopkins County and here in Nebo, although it threatened, the storms were moderate. Unfortunately, so far the death toll in the deeper south is at 250. This is such a sad time for many people. I lift up those people and pray that they will find peace and restoration. The mile-wide tornado that hit caused a lot of devastation. Lives lost. Homes gone. Towns flattened. The grief that many are enduring must be overwhelming right now. For many, their lives are forever changed. Prayers going up and I'm believing that from this, blessings will come down. Please agree with me in prayer about this right now. Late one afternoon, the storm was approaching Nebo so the kids and I went into the closet. Grace took the time to arrange blankets and pillows in the floor, plus 1 toy each for her and Noah John. Very calmly, I informed the children that I would be putting helmets on their heads in case of a tornado. I thought I should record that somewhere, in case somewhere down the line, I might look back and laugh. :) Ha. Shawn came home in the middle of it all and let's just say he wasn't sure what to think about the kids sitting in the closet floor with their blankies and bike helmets on. lol

On another note, after about a week, the sun came out...the rain halted....and we had a playdate this morning. The Duncan girls came over (3 and 1). It seemed the ideal time for a playdate as it is the first time in a week that the sun has been shining all day! They stayed through lunch. It was so very nice to have them over. My heart "runneth over" with gratitude that we have friends like them. Noah John and Greta are still too little to play unsupervised but of course, they are growing like weeds and this time will pass before our eyes just as fast as it did with Grace and Emma.

Thank you God for today, tomorrow things will change
Thank you God for today, although my house's rearranged
Thank you God for the toys, my floor is covered up
Thank you God for the toys, like that big stuffed animal pup
Thank you God for food and drink, juice's splattered on my floor
Thank you God for food and drink, may we never want for more
Thank you God for our home, it's a cozy place
Thank you God for our home, where my 1 and 4 yr old race
Thank you God for all the things you bless us with each day
Hugs, smiles, and songs...what else can I say?

Thank you God.

Better than a Hallelujah

I felt compelled to write a little post about the video I posted. If you don't watch anything all day, watch it. It's not the video so much as the words to the song. They are beautiful and true.