My Three Sons

There is no polite way to say this...April 2011 sucked.
On April 12, a 17 year old kid walked into the pawn shop where our dear friend Chris Deaver was working, pointed a gun at his head and pulled the trigger. Twice. There is now a four year old little girl who will grow up without a daddy. A young woman who will never get to marry the father of her daughter. A mother who no longer has a son. And countless people who have lost an amazing friend. I still can't begin to wrap my head around what happened and WHY. It makes me sick to my stomach when I think about the "whys" and "hows" and "what ifs." I don't understand why God let this happen but I am beginning to see his plan. Florence banded together after this tragedy in a way that I have never seen. Fundraisers galore have been planned. A trust has been set up for sweet little Morgan. Love has been poured out to the Deaver family. It makes the heart-break just a tiny bit more bearable.
On Easter Sunday Henry woke up with a fever and sore throat. We skipped church but went to Ed's dad's house for lunch. He was the one who noticed that Henry's neck was swollen. After a call to the on-call pediatrician, we wound up in Urgent Care and received a diagnosis of Strep Throat. The doctor checked his neck but said it was swollen glands. By Tuesday morning, his neck was red and hot to the touch and had developed a large knot. We started at the pediatrician's office, headed to the ENT, then to the hospital. By 5:00 that evening, he was in the OR having an abscess drained. We spent three nights in the hospital with a drainage tube in Henry's neck and an IV pumping antibiotics into his arm. He was p.i.t.i.f.u.l. for the first 36 hours but by Thursday evening he was starting to bounce back. By Friday morning when he was released, he was the same ol' Henry. This experience absolutely drained me emotionally & physically. In the end, I am so incredibly grateful and blessed. It was a terrible experience, but I am thankful that it is the worst we have had to endure.

I have had an amazing weekend & I have my husband to thank for it! Friday was Parents' Night Out at our church and we spent it on the Fountainhead patio having a couple of cocktails with friends. We didn't even leave to get dinner so we picked up Townhouse on the way home. (Supporting two local businesses in one night...score!) Saturday morning we took the boys (all three of them!) for haircuts. Andrew's hair has lost the curl but it is still wavy which means it is pretty unruly without some attention. I gave him the ultimatum that we had to either cut it short or grow it out a little and he had to let me fix it every.single.morning. He was really excited about growing it out so he kept telling Mrs. Myrtle she was cutting too much off. We just got it shaped up a little and I think he is going to be so handsome once his hair grows out a little and we can style it in kind of a big boy style!
After the big haircuts, Andrew had a baseball scrimmage. I have to admit, baseball at this age is NOT my favorite sport. Call me a bad mom but it is kind of miserable for me. Picture it: baseball where no score is kept, every kid bats until they hit and only two innings are completed in an hour and 15 minutes. Add to that two children who don't want to sit still and watch the game and things are not pleasant. I even missed Andrew's second at-bat when he hit off the machine because I was chasing Jacob and Henry!
Sooo, after the game, I headed to Charleston for a girls' night! So fun! My college friend Dia was in town visiting our friend Noel so I went to surprise Dia. We had so much fun together! We went to dinner and out for drinks and dancing. Oh my gracious it was F.U.N.
Back on to the kids. Big news for Jacob! We were down to one good binky and I said we weren't going to buy anymore. Well, one night the good binky went missing. Nowhere to be found. I looked at Ed and said "It looks like tonight's the night." He cried and screamed for about 40 minutes until he wore himself slap out and fell asleep. He woke up again around 11:15 and cried and screamed for about 15 minutes. Let me tell you it broke my heart to hear him screaming "Mommy! Daddy!" but I knew it had to be done. He hasn't screamed for the binky anymore since then but he asks for it occassionally. However, he has been SUPER whiny and clingy. Holy smokes. It is pretty miserable. Say a prayer that it passes...soon.

Since my initial post about Jacob using the potty, he had pretty much decided that he was happy in his diapers. Until recently. Over the last couple of weeks he has started letting us know "I stinky" or pulling off wet diapers. One day I couldn't find him so I started calling his name and heard him say "In heee-ya." He was in Andrew and Henry's room, wearing nothing but a shirt and had a pair of Andrew's underwear in his hand trying to put them on. When I asked where his diaper was he pulled it out of the laundry basket and handed it to me. It was still warm so it was obvious he had just peed in it. Then yesterday he started pulling his pants and diaper off. Once he got the diaper off I took him to put a new one on. Shortly after that I realized he had taken his diaper off AGAIN so I took him to his room to put another one on. While we were in the room I heard Ed say "Is this POOP on the FLOOR?" Sure enough Jacob had taken his diaper off and pooped on our floor. And, not to be too graphic, but I'm pretty sure he must have squatted to do it because there was no "evidence" on his bottom or legs.
Again, today, we took the boys to visit Ed's dad "Big Daddy" and Jacob kept pooting. Every time he would laugh and say "I poot." He started tugging at his diaper and saying "Off." Now on to his trick, I took him straight to the bathroom and sat him on the potty. I told him to poot and he did (and laughed). That was about the extent of that potty trip, but a short time later he started tugging at the diaper again. So, again, I put him on the potty. I told him to poot and as he was straining, he peed a little. (Cue Mommy cheering.) He straight some more and he POOPED IN THE POTTY! (Cue more cheering.) After I wiped him and got him down we both checked out the prize in the potty. He was so proud! I am very excited but I don't know if I'm quite ready for this. If he is potty-trained, he is definitely not a baby and I am not ready to not have a baby!

It is 2011. Wow. That is pretty unbelievable. In the past year these three boys of ours have grown, changed and developed more quickly than Ed & I would have thought possible. Henry lost his two front teeth (thanks to a bang on a bed rail), Andrew lost his bottom two front teeth and Jacob grew a few more teeth. Andrew started kindergarten and Henry started 3K. Jacob's vocabulary EXPLODED and he learned so much from his older brothers. They have all grown like weeds. Everyone has had more temper tantrums and timeouts than we would have liked. But we have also gotten more hugs and kisses than we could have wished for.
So here's to hoping that 2011 brings more of the same!

It's Christmas night and the Love house is quiet. The only one of my boys who is still awake and playing with Chlike ristmas toys is Ed, who is currently playing with Andrew's new Lego set! This has been a wonderful Christmas in so many ways. We saw all of our family, ate too much food and opened WAY too many gifts. However, there has been one major downside to this day. Poor little Henry is sick. No, not just sick...SICK! He is pitiful. He is beyond pitiful. He is heart-breaking. He started acting a little tired yesterday during Christmas Eve service and I noticed he was warm. Last night he actually asked to go to bed, which pretty much goes against all his beliefs. He woke up crying a few times last night but nothing too bad. Then today came. And his fever was 103.3. Even with Ibuprofen it only went down to 102.3. I am generally a laid-back mom but when I saw that thermometer said 103.3 my heart skipped a beat. Ed's dad called his neighbor, who is an ER nurse, for a little advice and to see if we should take him to the doctor. She told him what I pretty much already knew, but it was reassuring to hear from a trained medical "professional." Drink lots of fluids, get plenty of rest, keep him dosed up on Ibuprofen/Tylenol. Poor guy has slept most of the day and laid around half-comatose for about 49% of it. He perked up for a few brief moments when he got a super-cool toy. Then he was spent and laid back down. Not Henry's best Christmas. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow.

Wow, I am really slacking on this blog. I can't believe it is now 6 days until Christmas! Holy mackrel! Andrew is obviously old enough to fully appreciate Christmas and all that is has to offer: Santa, the decorations, Christmas break, the carols, the PRESENTS. Henry knows enough about it to be excited, but he really just follows Andrew's lead. Jacob just thinks there is a really cool lighted tree in our den.
The problem with Andrew really "getting" Christmas is that he knows he can ask for what he wants. And his list changes every time he is asked what he wants. Nintendo DS and XBox 360 (or, actually, 36D, as he wrote it himself) are the two big tickets items that he has mentioned. I have had to explain to him that Santa has to bring gifts to ALL the children in the world and he can't bring everything Andrew asks for.
Henry said he wants a real John Deere tractor and he has randomly decided that he wants a violin. Hm. Also, when I asked him the other day what he wants to be when he grows up, he said "a John Deere man and a violin man." Again...hm.
Jacob hasn't asked for anything but I think Santa will probably bring him a few toys;) He has some concept of Santa. He calls him either "Ho Ho" or "Claus," both of which are pretty darn cute.
Merry Christmas to all! I hope Santa is good to you!

I can't believe I am typing this post. Ed put Jacob on the potty tonight and...HE WENT. He did it! He peed in the potty! Not just a little bit either. Like a full blown pee pee! I cannot believe it. He is not even 21 months old yet. I'm not counting the chickens before they hatch so I will just hold my breath and pray that he is as easy to potty train as I think it will be.