Dr. Visits

My Brothers Visit

My brothers, Josh & Jon came to visit us for almost two weeks. It was neat to be able to spend some time with them. We did several things, but unfortunately I misplaced my camera several days. This is what I did get documented!

We took them out to the ranch one day so they could experience the "big sky" and fresh air.

Josh got to open a gate...and get caught on some barbed wire. Morgan loves spending time on the tractor with grandpa.

Okay, both girls like to be on the tractor!

Jeffrey tests my patience daily. While this is not the best picture of him, it is one of his many faces. This one I will call the shrek face - lol.

Josh learned to ride the motorcycle and shot some clay pigeons - actually caught the edge of one.

Jon tried the shot gun as well. He decided it was too heavy and too loud. He said his favorite part of the visit was riding the 4-wheelers.

That is Jarrett's favorite part too.

Meredith even got to try a solo run this time. She did awesome and mommy held her breathe the whole time.

The whole gang. Our family, Josh and Jon, and Mikalah's friend Malia.

We also checked on the cows. It is calving season and there were lots of babies - this one was less than six hours old!

I have so much sympathy for this momma!!!

And we checked on the horses.

And fixed a tractor.

And played with the dogs. I think Morgan would love to live out here!

A day of fun!!!

So, missing my camera for a few days, we skip ahead to Easter.

Josh helped filled eggs for the great hunt.

Jarrett's goofy look.

This girly just doesn't take bad pictures.

Dying eggs is such a fun tradition. And thankfully our kids like eating the hard boiled eggs, cuz neither Mike nor I can stand them!! Jon said he didn't remember ever dying eggs. So he dyed one - I couldn't talk him into any more. Must not have been that much fun for a 22 year old!

My girls...I love them all...

And then I lost my camera again. I think it needs a permanent home!

Crazy Kids

Jeffrey: Mommy, I need apples and cherries to make my famous chocolate milk!

Morgan: Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o
And on his farm he had a pig, e-i-e-i-o
With an oink, oink here and an oink, oink there
here an oink, there an oink, everywhere an oink, oink
Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o

Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o
and on his farm he had a moose, e-i-e-i-o
With a moose, moose here and a moose, moose there
here a moose, there a moose, everywhere a moose, moose
Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o

Speech

Jeffrey has been in speech therapy for about two months now. We are seeing some improvement, but the main problem is that his tongue is not very strong. It's like it doesn't know what to do...so we are training it. We get a lot of "L" sounds, and struggle a bit with "T" and "D". For instance, "Glama" instead of "Grandma". However, this afternoon Jeffrey was singing a Sunday School song and the mistake can not be attributed to speech - at all!

Today's Song: "I'm In The Lord's RV"

What? You didn't learn that one in Sunday School either - who knew?

Photo Editing

This is the picture that I posted today over at my Day by Day blog.
Now if I hadn't been quite so hasty and had taken a few sec to "perfect" the photo, it would have looked more like this...

Just getting that silly bunk bed out of the picture makes a difference.

My favorite part about taking this picture (aside from how sweet these kids were being with each other) was Meredith yelling down the hall, "You should put that on facebook!" Apparently I have an addiction that my six year old noticed.

Overheard Today

Jeffrey: Are we going swimming?

(Mind you today it is 72 degrees, overcast and windy)

Friend of mine at the park with us: Oh no, you would freeze your tail off!

Jeffrey: We don't have tails! (as if that makes it okay to go swimming)

Report

Meredith: doing great

Jeffrey: still struggling

Mommy: at the end of her emotional limit

Oh, and Happy 4th Birthday, Jeffrey. Hopefully you will at least try to eat some of your ice cream cake.

Spring 2008

Prayers

Meredith and Jeffrey really seem to be struggling to drink. They just don't want to. We have popsicles often, but I'd really like to see them drinking more. They are also still looking for their pain meds right at four hours, so I know they are still in a fair amount of pain. Please pray that they would be thirsty, that they would drink some of their fluids, and that Jeffrey would be okay with being quiet!!! The boy still talks non-stop! (Think Elijah, Carrie!) He needs to rest his voice and he doesn't seem to "get it".

On a side note, please pray for me and my motivation. When I spend this many days in my house I tend to want to just sit and play on the computer or watch tv. No place to go, no one coming over...the laundry sits, who cares that the beds are unmade or toys all over the living room, and since two people aren't really eating I don't really have to cook, do I? See what I mean - need to keep up my motivation.

And pray that I remember to come back and update you - lol. If you don't hear from me in three days - send out a search party!

Recap in pictures

Recap of the past few days...in case it is a while until you hear from me again. The Empire State Building, complete with lights (for school project).Jeffrey - before

Medicine didn't seem to make him too sleepy
Meredith - before
took a nap while we waited

Jeffrey - after

Had 3 glasses of apple juice, apple sauce, 5 popsicles & 2 puddings

(and one of Daddy's onion rings)

Meredith - after

2 glasses of apple juice, 1 popsicle & 1 pudding

Daddy - after

2 popsicles & 1 pudding

Kids did well their first day at home. Seem to anticipate when it is time for more pain meds - even in the middle of the night. We had popsicles at 2 am last night. All-in-all everyone is doing great. Thank you for all of your prayers. Oh, and the whining is still there, and apparently they both still want to talk...a lot!

Post-Christmas Sugar Crash

Again?

I certainly do not want to say that my little guy is accident prone - really, he's just three. That should be explanation enough.

This morning we headed to preschool. It was snowing, of course, because it is March 31st and March 1st was a beautiful day.

So on the way into the preschool, Jeffrey slipped on the tile floor (feet wet + floor slippery = dangerous situation). However, because he was in the process of removing his coat, he was unable to put his hands out to catch himself and instead caught himself with his chin. Right on the metal strip that separates the tile from the carpet. This resulted in a gash so wide and deep that I was pretty sure he needed stitches.

Thankfully, we only went to the pediatrician's office and he was "taped" back together.

Don't you wish more of life was like that? When we make a mistake, or say something we regret and break a relationship, we could just taped it back together?

Needless to say, the little guy will be fine. He'll have a band-aid on his chin for a few days and probably be a little sore, but I'm sure in a few days he will have forgotten about it completely. Hopefully we won't have a new injury to report!

Birthday Season Open

In case you missed the announcement, Iverson Birthday Season is now officially open!

We start off with Jeffrey, who turned three yesterday. That announcement came at 7:05AM

"Today is my birthday! I'm three today, Daddy!" is what woke Mike & I up this morning.

Jeffrey's birthday always catches me by surprise. I know, it's the same day every year, but I think birthdays are still a long way off. Now that his birthday has come, I will probably have the next six planned by the end of the week. Just to make sure everything is taken care of.

It was difficult to come up with an idea for Jeffrey's birthday. What is he into? Being loud! Eating! and Running! That doesn't exactly translate into a fun party.

However, for the last month he has carried his Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat In The Hat books everywhere he goes. So I though a Dr. Seuss party would be fun. (At this point it would be great if i could come up with some Seussical rhyme, but it's Sunday afternoon and my brain is fried!)

Jeffrey had two friends come over (plus Grandma and her friends) and we had lunch and a simple party.

Right as the kids arrived, I whisked them into the kitchen and had them make a footprint that when it had dried, I framed for their parents. thus representing The Foot Book. (As a side note, it seems that some of the language was changed in The Foot Book from the original.)

Lunch:

None other than Green Eggs & Ham aka lime jello eggs & ham sandwiches.

After lunch I gave the kids some apple shaped sticky notes (what a blessing to find! I thought I was going to have to cut out many apples!) to build a tower of ten. Ten Apples Up On Top. Even though the boys could all count to ten, I don't think the concept was well explained.

Then we did presents and I tried to get the kids to act out Hop On Pop, but Mike would have nothing to do with that. Party Pooper!

Then cake and ice cream. I am not a make-your-own-cake mommy. I look for every opportunity to find someone else to do that job. This year (just like many before) Costco came through with a cake for me. I asked for a plain cake with "Happy Birthday, Jeffrey" written on the short end. Then I added colored coconut (thanks, Jill), Dum-dums, and a stuffed Horton (which by the way is the only Dr. Seuss like thing available out there right now. Thank you Borders for having something!).

Then the boys got to play, which is really all they wanted to do in the first place!

This shirt was probably my all-time favorite present!

Later Mike did take Jeffrey outside to let him try out his new bike!

And Dr. Seuss didn't go crazy, but was very tired!

But starting May 1st we have six birthdays in six weeks. Make sure I come up for air every once in a while!

Frenectomy

It's a big word, and you may be wondering just what it is!

Well, here is the official Wikipedia answer:

A labial frenectomy is a form of frenectomy performed on the lip.
The labial frenulum often attaches to the center of the upper lip and between the upper two front teeth. This can cause a large gap and gum recession by pulling the gums off of the bone. A labial frenectomy removes the labial frenulum. Orthodontic patients often have this procedure done to assist with closing a front tooth gap. When a denture patient's lips move, the frenulum pulls and loosens the denture which can be quite upsetting. This surgery is often done to help dentures fit better.

When I was younger, I had this surgery performed, and Mikalah has had the same surgery performed. It's just a family thing. Well, last night Jeffrey had the surgery performed...by himself...with the coffee table.

I took him to the dentist this morning just to have him checked, because his gums were still bleeding a little. The dentist informed me that everything looks great and that Jeffrey did, in fact, perform his own frenectomy.

Now, maybe he'll be a dentist, but hopefully he'll use more modern tools than a coffee table!