The Helmet is HISTORY!!!

Get your happy dance on because our helmet days are DONE!!!

For the past 3 weeks Cole has only been wearing his helmet at night (we wanted to get another 1/16 inch of growth out of the boy... making his head not perfectly round, but only 1/16 off... I mean, are any of your heads perfectly perfect???). Decreased helmet time was so nice with all these HOT summer days!!!

Cole went in for his last check up yesterday. They measured his head, and guess what... the little stinkers head grew 1/8 of an inch all in the right direction... making his head perfectly perfect... the kid's got a nice nugget now... watch out world... who knows what you can do with such a round little crown!!!

Here's a man that's enjoying his FREEDOM! Do little boys get any cuter than this???

Now for a moment of advertising....
*** Please, please, please... if you know anyone who has a child in need of a helmet, please have them contact me!!! This has not been nearly as big of a deal as we had imagined. We would love to support anyone walking through a similar situation or educate them on their options!***

I'm Baaaaacccccccccccck! :)

Well, it would appear that I have taken somewhat of a bloggy break... sorry for sneaking away without any notice! It's hard to believe that July is almost over... here's what's been going on here this month:

- We celebrated the 4th with Eric's family at our house! Eric's mom made some ridiculously good BBQ chicken and we roasted smores over the Sterno in the garage. Does it get any better than that??? Good memories.

- I met with MOPS steering team as we planned for the 2009-2010 year!!! It's gonna be a good year, girls!
- Eric and I have spent endless hours being consistent with our little friend, Sadie. Consistency may be the death of me with that girl. We.will.get.that.girls.personality.channeled.in.the.
right.direction!!! Lord, help us.
- Cole has begun scooting all over the place. If I were smart enough to put video on here, I could show you. He sits on his bottom, digs his feet into the ground and pulls himself along with his arms. He can now move from room to room to find me. :)
- At the beginning of the month Cole started wearing his helmet only at night... more on the rest of the story later!!!
- Eric spent last week at Super Summer. Two of our boys came to know the Lord as their personal Savior... we rejoice over that.
- The kids and I spent a week away also... a quick trip through Salina and then on to see my family in Topeka.

Right now...
-I'm gearing up for Sadie's Birthday celebration. She turned three yesterday (I'm fairly certain that three is the new two) and we will celebrate with our family with a Strawberry Shortcake party on Friday!
- I'm trying to decide how to decorate my classroom for VBS Boomerang Express. We will be doing the VBS thing next week... I'm teaching preschool and Eric's teaching preschool recreation... it will be a good week! :)

Thanks, but I'll hold it...

I have lived 28 years without ever having to potty outside. Apparently this is an unusual occurrence because my sweet friends, Nicole (a good ol' farm girl) and Lisa (who I call to do my tough, dirty work when hubby is gone), think this is humorous. All I can say is that I prefer using a toilet that flushes... and on occasion, in an absolute emergency (maybe a dozen times in my lifetime) I will use the port-a-potty.

A few weekends ago we took the boat out to the lake. When we first got there, Sadie announced she needed to go to the bathroom. So, we walked to the bathrooms by the boat dock... upon seeing how DISGUSTING they were, Little Missy decided that she didn't have to go so bad, after all. So, we went on out for our very bumpy and windy boat ride. When we returned Eric began trailering the boat and Sadie mentioned that she needed to go to the bathroom again. Knowing that she wasn't a fan of the public bathroom, I suggested that she potty outside.

Now... remember, I have very little working knowledge about pottying outside... but I do recall one bit of advice given to me in high school... if you ever have to go to the bathroom outdoors, hang your hiney off a hay bail so you don't get your feet wet. Obviously the lake does not have hay bails, but I did find a fairly large rock. So we got the swim suit pulled down and I was fixin' to pop her up on that rock... our conversation is as follows...

S: Mommy, what are you doing?
Me: I'm putting you on this rock to potty so you don't get your feet wet with potty. Isn't that a good idea??? (trying to sound very enthusiastic, have you.)
S: No (crying a the point), this is not a a good idea. Soto (my mom's dog) goes potty outside, not wittle girls.
Me: Oh really? Okay... well how about we try out that port-a-potty again.

And off we were to finish our business.

We clean up nice...

This last weekend we celebrated the marriage of our friends Lauren and Jason. Lauren was in our youth group when we first came to Augusta. Her dad was our church's pastor and we loved serving with them while they were with us here... they have become like our family and we are so grateful for them.

Here are pictures of my sweet family on the big day... Sadie was the flower girl, Eric helped officiate, I was a bridesmaid and Coley was just too cute.

Summer Lovin' Sunday! :)

I absolutely LOVE summer... being outside... relaxing inside... the water... the sand... AND no rigid schedule! Here are some quick snapshots of what we've been up to so far this summer! :) Enjoy!

Sadie enjoying a round of her new favorite game... she's ALMOST as good as I am! :)

Cole's new Police Car for the pool and the lake.

Little Miss doin' her thing in the sand. By the way... no matter how cool you think the colored sand is, stick with the old faithful. :)

Coley peekin' in on his momma.

He already has the ever-so-serious TV stare down... on this day, he was so intense, he couldn't move his cheek from resting on my leg. I love cuddling with my kids.

Sadie devouring her corn-on-the-cob and me wishing it had as much nutritional value as greens.

The Latest on Cole

We are in the 8th week of helmet therapy with Cole and are becoming a little antsy to finish this all up! :) It is sunny... it is hot... and our little boy is sweaty... all.the.time.

Over the last few weeks, he has plateaued in his head growth. When he was fitted for his helmet, he had a 5/8" difference between the vertical measurements of his head. The first 4 weeks or so, he grew like a little weed.... then recently everything has leveled off. In the last few weeks, his head has only grown aboutl 1/16". This leaves him with the new measurement of 3/16" difference between the two vertical measurements. The doctors would like to see this measurement at a 1/8" difference before we remove the helmet.

We return to the Orthodics office on the 30th for our check up... it is possible that we will remove the helmet IF:
- Cole's head measures in with a 1/8" difference (only needs to grow 1/16").
- AND his soft spot is closing enough to remove the helmet (he has a large soft spot... Sadie's was similar and took a long time to close).

SO.... please pray for a miracle! We would love for this event to be a memory!!!

What's that noise???

Yesterday Sadie, Cole and I were in my bedroom changing Cole's diaper. We were all talking (well, mainly Sadie and I) and then we heard this loud crash. Since I was in the middle of taking care of some little buns, I sent Sadie in to see what the noise was about... it's always a good idea to send a child to check on a strange sound.

She quickly ran and did what I asked and quickly ran back reporting that Bubba was sitting in the high chair. I thought, "Surely not." Well, it was surely so. When I walked into the dining room here is what I found... guilty much???


I had to laugh a little bit over this because just yesterday morning as I was cleaning the kitchen I was having a prideful moment over how Cole never leaves a mess in his seat. There is never a stray cheerio or dried green bean on his cushion!!! Well, I'm afraid Mr. Cole really isn't that neat of an eater and that when we are away from the house ol' Boston is helping himself to the open buffet in the high chair. He is another mouth to feed and care for, but I think I'll keep him around as my little Dirt Devil.