Christmas is here!

2012: William and Harrison with Santa

Leah, Santa, William and Harrison.  {Leah is Harrison’s future wife.  Well some days I wonder if not William’s future wife but Harry calls dibs :) All three of them are so cute together.  And we are hoping Leah and Harrison will be in the same Kindergarten class together next year.  At-least, I will be requesting so.}

Here is our little Shepherd boy.  He was a Shepherd in our church children’s Christmas program. 

  

And the festivities begin.  This week we will have William’s school program Tuesday and Harrison’s on Thursday.  More updates to come soon :)

Merry early Christmas!

We surprised the boys a couple weekends ago and told them we were going for a drive.  2.5 hours later, we ended up at SeaWorld San Diego.  They were so excited.  We haven’t been there in a couple years.  We had such a great time.  I am so amazed by the animals there as are the boys.  We had such a wonderful family fun day followed by visiting Santa and his reindeer. 

 

 

  And we were all worn out afterwards :)

My how a year changes!

My babies are growing up so fast.  Look at how much they have changed in one year!

An update on Harry

Harry had his doctor’s appointment with a new ENT on Friday.  She agreed that Harry needs tubes for his ears again.  This will be his third set and they are going to take his adenoids out this time as well.  We were able to get his surgery in before the end of this calendar year.  He is set for surgery December 19th.  AND he has to stay home with a parent for the following 4 days afterwards.  The last two times he had tubes, he didn’t have to stay home for 4 days so I don’t know if having his adenoids taken out is a bigger recovery process.  I will have to look into that.  Although one of the times he had the surgery, he did end up in the hospital the next day with pneumonia so I think the extra precaution of staying home longer is necessary.  So we ask for your prayers that the surgery goes well and his recovery is quick.  Also that this set of tubes last longer and he can be ear infection free for a long time. 

When Daddy is in Charge

Well Scott freaked out the other day.  He had the week off and got to spend a lot of time with the boys.  Mr. Mom was not prepared for all that little boys can do when Daddy is not looking.  This was the picture sent to me via text with the comment, “this is AFTER washing his face 4 times and using stridex pads!!!!!!” 

Poor Harry Bugs

Well poor Harry had a rough few days.  Last Saturday I ended up taking him to urgent care.  He had yet another double ear infection.  The doctor recommended getting tubes AGAIN (a 3rd set) and this time find a new ENT.  So hopefully we can get him in by the end of this year while it is still on this years medical insurance.  He has a consultation on the 30th so please pray with us that we can get him in A.S.A.P.  A couple days later he had to get 4 cavities filled.  Well since Harry is a “fighter” when it comes to the dentist, simple laughing gas is not enough.  He had to get put fully under.  Well the poor guy practically bit his lip in half.  We didn’t realize exactly what he did.  Here he is in recovery.  Everything looked normal. 

Then if you look after he got home, now check out his bottom lip. 

And when he woke up!

 

So it stayed like this for 2-3 days.  Now if you look on the inside of his mouth, you will see it is all full of puss.  He is barely eating because everything hurts right now.  He must of kept biting the inside of his lip while it was numb.  Besides the white and puss, it is bleeding so everything he tries to eats, burns.  Hopefully a few more days and he will be healed.  William had his tooth pulled and got a cool little holder for his tooth.  The Tooth fairy was not as lucky to get his case because he thought it was too cool.  lol

Look who made a second visit!

William had to have his second bottom tooth pulled on Monday.  Both of his permanent teeth came in but for some reason, his baby tooth was not falling out.  His dentist said that now that it is pulled, the adult tooth and grow properly now.  William was more excited about the coins under his pillow than the dollar bill.  If it only stayed that easy :)

On Safari

William had to make a story this weekend for school so I thought I would share since it is fresh on my mind.  He was responsible for writing the story and coming up with the pictures.  My only job aid was to “shoot” what he told me.  Here it goes:

 

“I went on a Safari in my backyard.  First I saw two lions.  When I saw them, they roared at me. 

 

A toucan flew over us. 

 

Next, I chased the elephant but it was too fast. 

The monkey was swinging over us.  

Then, I saw a tiger.  It roared at me too.    

Last, I cuddled with the panda.

I enjoyed my safari with the animals.  We all got together for a group picture. 

By: William Archer

My birthday

Alright I am updating the blog in absolutely no particular order.  My birthday this year was not great.  LOL  I only say that, not because I am not thankful, but for the events that had happened.  On my actual birthday, Harrison was sick so I was up the night before with him taking care of him and doing breathing treatments.  So the day of my birthday Scott stayed home with him while I went to work half asleep.  The weekend before my birthday, Scott made a huge surprise for me and arranged a babysitter for the boys while we took the train to Santa Barbara.   

It was nice to get away.  We hit a couple wineries.  

Our plan was to have a nice lunch but we decided to hit the beach first.  Well….we had been so exhausted from beginning our new routine of me working and everyone having added responsibilities that we BOTH fell asleep on the beach and missed lunch.  Not to mention, we didn’t put on sunscreen so we woke up with huge sunburns.  That’s ok, we have the memory.  The worst part was that we got stuck on the train for an additional 4 hours because of a tragic accident.  Our train had hit a passenger and killed them.  The young girl was walking on the tracks and didn’t hear the train.  The conductor said she was looking down at her phone so we assume she had ear buds in.  It wasn’t something anyone should experience.  The conductor did an amazing job at keeping us all informed but you can hear in his voice his guilt after seeing it happen.  He couldn’t slow the train down in time.  So we were delayed on the tracks for 4 hours while the investigators came and there was a switch out of all employees.  So now you can gather why my birthday wasn’t the best.  I am VERY THANKFUL for my amazing family and how spoiled I am. 

 

Harry is at a fun age.  He opened my presents while telling me what was inside of them :)  I just loved that.  Don’t expect to keep any secrets in our house! 

Is it possible to catch up?

That is how I feel about everything right now.  The blog has definitely taken a back seat to everything else.  Our days are so packed and crazy busy, I definitely need more hours in the day.  I went back to work full time in August.  Harry started full time preschool.  William attends before school care, Kindergarten and after school care (3 different place a day for him).  We are gone from 6:45am till 6pm each weekday.  We wake up before daylight and get home after the sun is down. From 6pm-8pm, we are fighting to get homework done, dinner made and eaten, baths, reading, praying and putting the boys to bed.  It is a struggle to get the boys down by 8pm.  We would love to get them to bed earlier seeing we wake them up before 6am.  But it just isn’t possible.  Weekends are left for budgeting, paying bills, mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, errands, etc.  Our lives have definitely changed.  Although it is nice to have a well needed paycheck, me going back to work has been a struggle for all of us.  So there you have it.  The blog has taken a back seat to work.  :)  And if you could only see our house and how crazy a mess it is!  It is definitely a struggle. 

So as for Harry, he has taken very well to being in school for 11 hours a day.  He is Mr. Social Butterfly and has a ton of friends.  I love that about him.  He is easy to drop off and we love our time together in the morning driving to school.  Harry has also adjusted to taking naps at school.  This was what I was afraid of since he hasn’t taken a nap since he was 2.  But with waking up before 6am, he definitely can use the nap.  If only they would let me nap at work.

As for me, work is work.  This job is definitely NOT something I will do for the rest of my life.  I am working on a project for Bank of America and is due by second quarter next year.  The atmosphere is definitely something I have never experienced before.  Working in a contract position is very odd.  The whole office is contract and it is very evident.  No personal items, don’t get up unless it is break or lunch, don’t talk, etc.  The things that are instructed are definitely not a boost to moral.  At-least I am not the only one that feels that way though which is comforting to have made friends there.  Also I have already excelled in my position.  My manager has named me the “Subject Matter Expert” on the team and I was chosen to help her certify the other contractors once I was certified.  That definitely has made me feel better in my position.  So at-least I know that while several others “get the axe,” I have a little bit more job stability.  But you just never know.  We have a gym at work so I get to work out on my lunch hour which is a nice boost to my afternoon.  That is about all.  Here are some pictures of mine and Harry’s “first day.”
 

OH Harry!

Oh Harry and his thoughts.  When Scott and I went out for my birthday on Saturday, Scott was asking Leanza for her phone number.  Harry’s response was,

“Do you know what our phone number is?  I do.  It’s 9-1-1 Green button.  Hey did you hear me?  Our number is 9-1-1 green button!”

 

Oh dear, I hope he doesn’t give “our number” out to his friends at school!

William's first lost tooth

Little William, gently sleeping

baby tooth, now mine for keeping

Beneath your pillow, under your head

your tooth I took, your money I left

Your tooth is so shiny, so white, so bright

Keep brushing

I will return again in the night.

Love,
Tooth Fairy

William’s First Day of Kindergarten

Is this possible?!  Wasn’t he just born?  How does time fly by this fast?  At orientation, William cried and cried and did not want to go to school.  It was terrible.  So I was expecting the worst the first day of school.  He actually did very well.  He made a new friend.  The teacher kept the parents there for an hour and I think that was not a great idea.  When it was time to leave, he held on tight and started crying.  There was one other boy doing the same.  I waited until I got out of the room before I had any tears of my own.  And he has been fine ever since.  Today I had to stop him from playing to get a hug and kiss from him. 

I obviously took a lot of pictures on his first day.  He woke up to a special breakfast!

 

On our way to school.

Walking to school. Outside his classroom with Daddy.

At school with his buddy, Nicky.  Look at how tall William is.  He is in kindergarten and Nicky is in 2nd grade. 

 

Meeting his new best friend. 

At his desk.

      

His first day is over.  He was first in line and saw us right away when we picked him up.  He had a great day.  He made a necklace that reads, “I survived my first day of kindergarten.”  He also made a picture frame of his first day.  He said, “This is the best day ever!!!” 

    

I surprised him with balloons when he got home from school.  And Harry’s big surprise for him was talking Gramma and Grandpa into taking them to the JumpAround.  lol.  That kid can sell anything. 

He loves school!  Lets just hope it sticks!!!!  I’m so proud of you William.