It's Off

I wanted to update you all on Isaac's cast. His cast was taken off on Friday! They took some x-rays and everything is healing nicely. It was such a relief, I couldn't stop smiling. He can now take baths and play outside in the sand and water with no worries! I had to laugh at the Doctor's comment. Isaac wore through the bottom of the cast on his heel. The Dr. said he has never seen a young child wear through a cast, usually it's older kids. What can I say, the boy does not sit still!:)

The babies are starting some Mommy clinginess. They will both sit at my feet and cry to see who I pick up. If I happen to pick up one of them during the day, the other comes over and cries at me. This is not a fun stage and I'm hoping it ends quickly!

We also had some good news for Cardale. The social worker said everything looks good for him to go back with his Mom, they're just waiting for paperwork, etc to go through Indiana. It's frustrating b/c IN is not moving quickly, which doesn't help Cardale at all. The transition is going to be hard enough for him, why make the separation even longer? Please pray that paperwork gets done quickly, that his Mom continues to do well, and that the transition goes smoothly for him and our family. We do not have a timeframe yet of when he might leave.

On a fun note, Nate and I went out for a date on Saturday night. It is always nice to have dinner away from the kids and have a conversation without interruptions.:)

Happy Birthday Honey!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband! Nate turns 29 today, he finally caught up to me.:) I was looking back at how we celebrated his birthday last year. Thankfully he's not in the middle of an outage this year, he doesn't remember much about his birthday last year.:) We opened presents this morning when he got home from work (he's working 3rd shift this week). After he slept today we drove to a local children's museum. Nate's nuclear power plant teamed up with the children's museum to have a nuclear reactor exhibit at the museum. Tonight was a free night for all the power plant employees. The exhibit was neat for older kids, but ours weren't that impressed.:) We're all caked out here after having Isaac and Caleb's birthdays recently, so Nate is having apple pie.

We love Nate so much and thank God for him daily!


Happy Birthday to Janna as well!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

For some reason I can't get this picture to load correctly. Grr. You get the idea of the cake.

Pig cupcakes

Caleb and Wesley admiring a toy
Pinata!

Caleb is 4 years old today! Yesterday, he celebrated his birthday at school. While I was browsing through a cookbook he saw a picture of pig cupcakes and decided that is what he wanted to bring to school. He had lots of fun making the cupcakes with me and loved sharing them at school! Today we celebrated by having his friend, Wesley come over with his family for supper. Caleb's pick for his birthday dinner, hotdogs and chips.:) So we grilled out and had chicken for the adults. Caleb originally wanted a Clifford cake, but then saw a picture of a racetrack cake and changed his mind. It was a little more difficult to make this cake because the kids were around. Isaac stuck his hand in the side of the frosting and Caleb kept bumping me while I was decorating. Oh well, they had fun and the cake was great! I also learned that they don't make pinatas like they used to. Now there are strings on the bottom that the kids have to jump up and pull off until they pull the right one to release the candy. I guess it's safer than swinging a stick around blindfolded, but where's the fun in that?:)

I am so proud of Caleb. He has grown up alot this past year. Since his 3rd birthday we've added two babies to our family. He is such a good big brother and is great with babies. I really can't leave the house with the babies unless Caleb is with. He pushes Cardale in the stroller while I carry Isaac. Such a good helper! He also loves feeding Cardale his bottle and petting his hair of course. Caleb has left the toddler years. He can now get himself dressed and goes to school without crying. When did my boy grow up? We thank God for giving us such a wonderful boy to raise!

Operation Table Food

You want me to do what with this?
So far so good...
Success! No puking!

Cardale has a terrible time with table food. Anytime a Cheerios or tiny bit of food touches his tongue, he gags and throws up. He's 9 months old now and we decided to try teething biscuits. He did pretty well with this first one. Everytime a tiny chunk came off in his mouth he pulled a horrible face. But, he didn't throw up and he kept putting it back in his mouth. Progress!

He has his 9 month checkup at the beginning of October. I'm curious to see how much he's grown. He has gained about 4 new teeth in the last month or so. Teething is so hard for him. His gums get all swollen and bruised and sometimes bloody. Poor guy. Isaac is also getting his molars, so lots of fun in our house!

Cardale loves being mobile! He enjoys being able to crawl to wherever the action is. He is also showing his temper more. He has the angriest sounding scream when he wants his bottle, now! He also mimics sounds really well. He says da-da, claps his hands, waves goodbye and I think he does the "all done" baby sign.

Cardale has been with us 3 months now and I feel like we have finally established our new groove as a family.

Ouch!

So, Isaac decided to break Caleb's record and get a cast at 12 months of age instead of 15 months like Caleb. And yes, this broken bone involved a bed again! We were at my grandparent's cottage over the weekend and Nate was changing Isaac on a top bunk bed. Caleb ran into the room and yelled, "Daddy!" Nate turned to look, and Isaac rolled off the bed. He cried for about 15 minutes and wouldn't walk, so we took him to the local ER. They took x-rays and couldn't find anything. This past week he has been walking, but noticeably favoring his left leg. I took him to an orthopedic Dr. today and they determined he broke his tibia right by his ankle! He will be wearing a cast for 3 weeks. At that point they will take the cast off, get more x-rays and see if it's healing. Isaac is very frustrated today and just sits on the floor and cries, hitting the cast. The Dr. said in the next couple days he'll figure out how to walk on it. As you can see in the last picture, he is starting to take some steps.

We're glad Isaac doesn't have anything seriously wrong with his leg, but we'd appreciate your prayers over the next couple weeks!

Another First

Getting ready for school!
Home from preschool and still smiling!
Last day of Dash and Splash at the gym.


Caleb had his first day of preschool today! The day went so smoothly, I never would have predicted how well he did. Your prayers for him definitely worked! He was very excited and didn't shed any tears or talk about being scared. He was a little nervous when we got there, but was ok when I left. He was all smiles when I picked him up and said he had alot of fun! It helped that his teacher came to the house last week to meet him, so he was comfortable with her. He has school in the mornings, Monday-Thursday.

My morning was wonderful today! I had a taste of how Moms of older kids get so much done. Cardale takes a long morning nap and Isaac takes a 1/2 hour nap too. So for 30 minutes I had the house to myself. I got so much done! I could get used to this school thing.:) However, I was a little sad to see my first baby going to school. Where does the time go?

Now that Caleb is going to preschool, he can no longer attend the dash and splash program at the gym. I really wish the gym offered the class in the afternoon too. He made alot of progress in that class and is more comfortable in the water.

Cardale is officially crawling now. We'll have to post a video clip of that soon.