Rookie Tooth Fairy...Fired!!

I am STILL covering for that Rookie Tooth Fairy that visited this Summer!!
Remember the fairy dust? How she woke up my kids? ...Well there's more!

I am....well let me rephrase that...I have a girl that has been coming to help me organize the house and make the most of what little storage space we have. A few weeks ago she cleaned and organized my closet. One night last week, I came home from hanging out with some of my girlfriends and Brad warned me that David found a tooth in a box that looked exactly like his first tooth. It was in a box of "junk" that the storage girl had left for me to go through (and I still haven't). I asked Brad what story we were going with. Thankfully, David had come to the conclusion that it must have been my tooth from when I was little and I forgot to put it out for the tooth fairy. Since this happened last week, I certainly wasn't going to bring it up again...I thought he forgot about it. Yesterday evening, David told me I was going to have to go to bed early. Ummm, OK...I certainly don't mind...but why? He told me about the tooth he had found in a little BLUE box from when I was a kid. :) I needed to put it under my pillow so the tooth fairy would leave some money for me! Soooooo, last night I went to bed early (he and Brad stayed up to watch the Saints game - since he doesn't have school today!). This morning David woke up early to make sure "my" tooth was gone and it was!!!! I got a quarter from the tooth fairy!!! WAAAHOOO. This time, the tooth fairy took the tooth and disposed of it properly...if you catch my drift! :) Funny how I got the same amount that I received 25 years ago - but David's tooth fairy adjusted for inflation!




For those of you that were aware of Christopher's Developmental Test last week. He didn't do too well. Understandably so!! I went to pick him up from Mom's Day Out to bring him to the School Board Office. He threw a fit because I "forgot" Jacob. It took me about ten minutes to explain that Daddy was coming to get Jacob when school was over. So we were late and running up the stairs at the very old, outdated, cold yucky LeBlanc Services building (a very OLD school that they tried to spruce up on a Trading Spaces budget!). It was not one of those places where you get a warm and fuzzy feeling. In fact, as soon as we walked in it reminded me of a hospital! When we arrived in the testing room there were six adults sitting around a kiddie table staring at us. They wanted Christopher to go and sit in the empty seat. Of course, Christopher froze. I ended up sitting in the chair and he was on my lap. They took turns asking him to do and say things and before he could even respond, the next person was asking him something. Christopher didn't say a word or do anything that they requested. I tried to hold back, but all of a sudden my maternal protecting instincts kicked in. I started tearing up and someone had noticed and asked if I was OK...I explained to them that Christopher CAN speak and he can do many of the things they requested. I agree that he has speech problems but it was not to the degree that they were witnessing for those 10 minutes that they were with him. They decided he will start attending Dutchtown Primary School the week of his third birthday to assist in his speech development. He'll attend a few hours each week. They have requested that he is fully potty trained. ...Here is where I think the tears may have helped me...One lady piped up, because of his medical issues if he is not potty trained, we understand and will work with him! :) Ummm, obviously she doesn't understand...but I'm going with it!! :) His heart defects have NOTHING to do with his mother's lack of commitment and consistency on the potty training!! :) Since he doesn't have Mom's Day Out this week, I thought I'd make another attempt at the potty training. Christopher wore underwear ALL day yesterday and NO accidents. I attached a picture of his living sticker chart next to his sticker chart on the wall.

I'm "working" (or at my office!) and Brad's lovely Mom is watching the boys today, so I'm not sure how today is going...Poor Annette! So sorry!!! Yesterday, I was on bathroom duty with him all day and during the process Jacob took advantage of the distraction. The same gal that organized my closet, organized the pantry last week. She doesn't have children and it was obvious. She put the cake, pancake seasoning mixes, etc on the bottom shelf of the pantry. Jacob decided to take advantage of their new location and opened the box of "pancakes" and poured Bisquick mix all over the floor. I didn't complain too much, because the Bisquick mess could easily be Dustbustered up and was nothing compared to the day before.

On Sunday morning, all three of the boys got together and created a "lotion potion" in my mop bucket. I was in the shower assuming their father was watching them and he was unaware that he was "on duty". Anyway, they opened every bottle of the hotel shampoo, lotion, conditioners (yep, I'm one of the people that takes them home!!) and poured it into the mop bucket. Yesterday, when I went to mop it took me an additional ten minutes to get all of the soap out of the bucket. And then last night, when I went to wash my hands, bubbles came up from the sink. I must admit, it brought a smile to my face when the bubbles came up...I guess this is just the beginning of what it is going to be like with three boys!!!




Sunday we spent the day looking for a Christmas tree. I know, it is not Thanksgiving yet, but I like a big full tree and they are always picked over on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Brad is way to busy at work on Black Friday and Saturday, so it is usually the Sunday before we are able to get out and get a tree. It will stay outside until after Thanksgiving. I guess that shows my true greed. :(


David wants to "be charged" (that is how he says "in charge") of watering it. He is getting to be so big and responsible. I am super proud of him. Yesterday he helped me go through the little boys rooms and purge their outgrown clothes and toys. We are bringing them to some friends that have younger kids and the rest to Goodwill. David ran to his room to look for things that he could give away. He grabbed some old Vacation Bible School t-shirts that he doesn't wear anymore and some shirts that are saturated in stains to add to the give away pile! My sister, Cathy sends him the Highlights Kids magazine. He went and grabbed one and a pen. He wanted to know what her address was so he could send it to her dog (she doesn't have any children). I guess he thought the dog would read it?!? He was serious and so I told her the address. Sis, Sierra should be receiving her book soon! :) 'Tis the season for giving!

Not too much going on around here. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. The kids are excited, I am too. I hope the food turns out OK!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Santa's Elf Has Arrived at Our House...

NaugtyNize (sitting on cross)

and the book Santa sent with him

Yesterday, when we came back from picking David up from school we had a new book on the coffee table. It was about an elf that watches kids for Santa. David soon noticed that an elf was on the fireplace mantle! The book said we had to name him. Christopher wanted to name him "Santa Claus". Since that may be too confusing, David came up with "Whitie Red" (he is red with a white collar). About two hours later, when everyone else was outside and had forgotten about "Whitie Red", David out of the blue says his name is going to be "NaughtyNize". So he is officially "NaughtyNize" (no, not naughty nice). According to the book and the tradition. Every night he goes to the North Pole to give Santa a behavior report. The next morning, he'll be in a different location. When Brad came home, David told him all about NaughtyNize and how we have to be on our best behavior because he will tell Santa everything...even how we act at school and work!! When he got to the part about him being in a new spot every morning Brad looked at me like, "How the heck are we going to remember to do that!" So last night Brad and I came up with our story just in case he doesn't move one night! :)

I figured since NaughtyNize is watching everything that the boys do, Brad and I will take the night off tonight! :) Just joking...we have a sitter. We are going to the Hornet's game tonight. We have season tickets and I haven't been to the last four games. I am pretty excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the Hornets games. They are so much fun. David loves going to the games, but it is finally my turn! We told him last night that a sitter was coming to stay with them tonight and his first response was, "Oh you have a meeting?". Before Christopher was born when I was selling real estate I would work a lot and a sitter would come stay with him. Since I am only working while they are in school, we don't use a sitter as often. He still associates a sitter with me working or having a Board meeting. I thought yesterday was a good day to start telling him the truth! :) I told him that Brad and I are going to the Hornet's game, expecting him to get upset and he just asked why he couldn't go too. It is a school night so I am going to go instead of him! He was totally fine with it!!! Thanks NaughtyNize. I know that I would not have had the same response if you were not watching!! :)

UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG - Christopher just came in here and said uhoh. I look down and his underwear are soaked. ...Let me take a break and go find out where the pee is!!

OK, I'm back. Thankfully it was a small puddle on the ceramic floor. This potty training stuff is not fun. The thing that makes it even worse, I know that I'll be doing this again in six or eight months with Jacob. Part of me wants to give up on Christopher and just let them do it together after Christmas. I've heard it is even harder though the longer I wait.

Monday afternoon Jacob's teacher called me and said he had a fever. I went to pick him up and he did feel a little warm. I brought him back to my office with me until it was time for Brad to pick Christopher up. Monday's are "Brad days" (he is in charge of picking the boys up from school and keeping them entertained so I can work a full day). Once Jacob and I got back to my office I could tell he was not feeling well at all. Any other day, he would be bothering the receptionist for candy and running around my office like a mad man. This time he just sat and colored and then fell asleep in my chair. He had an ear infection. Since he has tubes, I can easily tell when he has an infection - it oozes out of his ear! Kind of yucky, but since he is not able to tell me too much, it helps so much when I can see the problem! Yesterday morning was Christopher's appointment with the ENT. Brad went with me to help hold him still since I did not want Christopher to be sedated (too risky for his heart). The ENT put a numbing cream up his nose and down his throat. While we were waiting for the numbing meds to soak in he took a look at Jacob. Jacob has a bad ear infection and a bad case of tonsillitis (possible strep). He gave him a shot of an antibiotic and loaded him up on some prescriptions (see previous post about him winning pharmaceutical trips courtesy of the Arton's!) Christopher did not want "that man" to come back. He was scared (and rightfully so!) "That Man" put a camera down his throat and we watched it on the screen. It IS obvious that he was intubated, but he doesn't think it is damaged enough to affect his voice. In fact, he didn't even notice anything wrong with his voice. He asked if Christopher ever had any problems with reflux. UMMMM YEP!! Remember when he would throw up 17 times an hour! No, unfortunately that is not an exaggeration!! Anyway, it appears as though he is still having some problems with reflux and that could irritate his throat and make him hoarse sounding. His pediatrician never wanted to do anything, her comment was if it is not bothering him- we have more important things to worry about. The ENT did agree that if it is not bothering him, the meds are probably not the best for him. They can have a lot of side effects that aren't worth risking in Christopher's case. Since it doesn't bother him and his voice is only "bothering" the therapist, we are not going to do anything about it! So, my motherly instincts were right again! ...No surgery and no big deal!

Murals by Christopher...Full Size - Any Location!

What a week! This past week we were gone every night. We were in Lafayette on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for Chick-fil-A Grand Opening Events. Christopher does not like the cow. Well, it is actually more than him not liking the cow. He is terrified and traumatized of the Chick-fil-A cow mascot. He literally shakes in fear. Sunday night after the first event of the week, he kept saying even after we were home, "Mommy, no cows!". Before he went to bed, I had to do a cow check of the house. By the Grand Opening on Thursday, he was too scared to even go into Chick-fil-A. We would get to the exit on the interstate and he would start crying, "Mommy, no cows!!"

One afternoon when Christopher was suppose to be taking a nap, he was busy practicing for a possible career as a artist doing wall murals. I've attached a photo of his first wall drawing. He not only does walls, but also bed linens and furniture. You may also remember his try on ceramic tiles too! If not, see the "How 'bout Jakey" post. Christopher doesn't take naps anymore but he has to stay in his room for quiet time until we go and pick David up from school. I went to go and tell him it was time to go and get David and he was super proud of his artwork. I asked him who did it and he showed me everywhere that he drew (carpet, chair, ottoman, sheets, wall, train table, trains, etc...). I asked him where he got the marker and he went straight to his bookshelf and showed me the book that had a dry erase marker in it that was suppose to be used for writing in the special book.

In other mess making news, Jacob decided to pour the entire bag of Doritos mix out. I'm not sure how he was able to reach up in the cabinet to get the bag down. I have a good idea, but I'm not sure! :) ...David...

On Thursday, David had Grandparent's Day at school. Brad's parents were busy with the Chick-fil-A opening and my parents didn't attend either so David went with us to Lafayette. Since he missed school, I tried to make it a somewhat educational day. After performing his very important job of quality control of the Chick-fil-A playground, we went to the Children's Museum in Lafayette. The boys had a fun time. Their favorite part was the ambulance inside the museum. David and Christopher enjoyed playing in the back of the ambulance. While Jacob loved being the e driver. I've attached a picture of David performing CPR on Christopher.

Saturday morning was the AHA Heart Walk in Lake Charles. We went over and spent the night with my parents Friday night since the Heart Walk was early in the morning. It was not like the one in Baton Rouge. I think the boys had fun, but I was a little disappointed. It appeared as though they didn't know children are affected by heart disease too! I did meet one other Mom of a CHD child, she mentioned that they don't have any type of support groups or events for kids. I told her about our foundation...and that my friends, is another reason you should support http://www.lpcf.com/ :) We have started working on the annual tennis tournament fundraiser for LPCF. If you have an item that you'd like to donate for our silent auction or would like to be a sponsor, please let me know!! :) We appreciate everyone's help in making the fundraisers so successful. Last year we were one of the top fundraisers for Baton Rouge and had a lot of fun doing it!

David was super excited to hear that my dad got a four wheeler! The boys rode around the yard many times.

After the Heart Walk and visiting my Grandparents, Brad headed back to Lafayette to work. The boys and I headed out to Sam Houston State Park for a picnic with my mom and dad. Christopher kept running ahead and so my dad picked out a stick for him to hold one end and my dad to hold the other side. It worked for a while. Jacob on the other hand had to be held the entire time. He was heading straight for the water or the road. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a good time being outside - even though we missed the LSU/Bama game! I like this picture of David, Christopher and my dad walking on the nature trail.

My Target Shopping Experience on Election Night!!

WAAAHOOOOO AMERICA - We are getting a dog!

Last night after David's tennis lessons, I decided to run into Target to try and grab a few items. I RARELY take all three of the boys shopping with me (especially that late at night) - but Brad was working in Lafayette and we needed some things, so... I'm grabbing some diapers and all of a sudden I hear a woman yell from across the store "OBAMA'S PRESIDENT". Then through out the store everyone was clapping and screaming (I did hear a few moans!) I tried to remain calm and prayed that my little David would not voice his opinion since it was VERY obvious that the people in Target did not vote the way I did. I have heard all kinds of rumors in the media that riots would occur if he was not elected. Oh no...I freaked out...Is there about to be a "joyous" riot in Target right in front of my young children???? I could imagine people grabbing can goods and throwing them across the store, unrolling the toilet tissue and "rolling" the store, shaking bottles of champagne and opening them in celebration... And then David asks in his loud big boy voice. "Mom, why are they yelling?" Trying to keep him quiet and not alert everyone that we seem to be in the minority I respond that "I don't know. ...Let's just grab the diapers and head home." Once we got in the car, I told David that Barack Obama is going to be the next president. He was upset. David is very competitive. He knew who we wanted to win and was upset because "our" Maverick didn't win. He wanted to know if Daddy was going to have to pay "Rock" more (that is what he called Barack). Oops - at that point, it was obvious that we have talked too much politics in front of David! :) I tried to explain the election process to him. I told him that "Rock" had more people that wanted him to be president (I didn't explain the ACORN stuff to him!!). The person that gets the most people, wins! He was OK after I explained that "everyone" else wanted "Rock" to win.

I will try not to get on a political rant...but as a wife of a self-employed "small business owner" that will be affected by Obama's tax plan and as a mother of a "special needs" child that has weekly therapy and long-term medical expenses and as someone that has to pay OVER $1,000 a MONTH for health insurance (not including co-pays and prescriptions)..I am looking forward to finding out what "Rock" will be doing for us as we are handing him our hard earned cash!.... The really sad thing is that this is not only affecting us as "self-employed" people. This is going to cause the price of everything to go up. Do you think Joe the Plumber is going to keep his rates the same? Nope...he will be increasing his service charges to cover the increase in taxes that he will be paying. And those taxes will be paying for the "First Dog", dog food and steam cleaning the house training of it! :)

On a more positive note...A few weeks ago we were looking at houses. We asked David if he would rather live in a neighborhood or have a house with a big yard. He told us he wanted to live in the White House. I told him that is where the president lives and that Daddy will not be the president. He wanted to know why Daddy would not be the president. One really good thing about Obama becoming our next president is that he truly does show that anyone can be president. I am not talking about just the color of his skin. In just the past few years, he has gone from a typical American to the White House (with a few questionable financial donations). I must admit that I am excited that he is not a "professional" politician. On the other hand, I hope his lack of experience (political and age) does not hurt him make good decisions. Hopefully he will choose good people to be on his cabinet that will reassure the public that he is not only "changing" America, but changing it for the better! Change is not hard - and after our current prez, the bar has not been set too high! :) Make us proud "Rock" and prove me wrong! I wasn't in front of you last night, but now that you are the Prez- I'll get behind and support you! :) I do however, request the same from you...think about ME and my family sometime!! :)

Here is a picture of Christopher and his favorite Speech Therapist, Ms. Alyssa.

In other news, I brought Christopher to the ENT last week for the vocal cord scope. He was unable to do it because (much to my surprise!) Christopher was too congested and had ear infections in both ears. So we ended up leaving with four prescriptions (antibotics, steroids, ear drops and decongestant) along with another appointment in two weeks to try and do the scope then. Since I already was ranting earlier....I'll continue :) Do you ever get the feeling that the Doctor creates prescriptions for those trips and prizes that the drug companies offer them? And what about scheduling follow-ups? Now he gets two office visits!! I mean really!?! Christopher was not in ANY pain, showed NO signs or symptoms of even the common cold and I left with four prescriptions to fill. I filled the ear drops and the decongestant (just in case we needed it), but I'm not big on unnecessary antibiotics and since he is a cardiac patient I didn't want to give him a steroid to increase his heart rate even more -so I didn't get them. I hope I'm not the one that prevents the Doc from the cruise that the pharmaceutical company is offering! :) But I am the one having to pay for the prescriptions. :)

Anyway, I'll update on Tuesday when we try again to do the scope to check for vocal cord damage from him being intubated during his heart surgery. His therapist seems to think that the "physical therapy" he was doing while he was in the coma may have also affected his tonsils. It is pretty common problem with kids who have been intubated for an extended period of time. At this point, I'm not worried about it. I hate to sound like I'm not concerned, but really...at this point, I am thankful he is just able to speak. Remember earlier this year, at two years of age he couldn't even say "Moma"?!?! My prayers for him to speak have defiantly been answered...and Christopher LOVES to constantly show me!! :) Maybe I am naive or in denial, but I really don't even notice the voice problem everyone is pointing out. Then again, if I listened to everything that his medical team has try to scare me with in the past, he wouldn't be able to talk, walk or even be alive.