Family Picture Time... Ugh!

I think we are getting past the point where we can use the camera's timer to take a family picture. Watching the blinking light doesn't cut it for at least 2/3 of the Felker Family. I can get some cooperation (sometimes) when I'm behind the camera, working hard for a smile. See? These turned out pretty cute on Easter:

Mallory gave me a nice, toothy grin.

And Drew gave me a blue, toothy grin. Thank you Easter Bunny!

Elizabeth always offers a diva pose.

Ross is pretty easy going. He's usually game for my camera craziness.

Aside from the blue teeth and Ring Pop, I think this one turned out pretty well.

A bit goofy, but fun.

Here's what I'm talking about with the camera's timer:

Mr. Uncooperative, Drew, started off not wanting to humor me with a nice family portrait.

I had the audacity to fix Mallory's bow. What was I thinking?

I told everyone to get ready, but I wasn't ready myself! Mallory is trying to squirm out of my arms. And Drew is apparently trying to sneak in a "purple nurple" on Ross.

Oops! That flash caught us off gaurd.

Sadly, this was our best one. I'm trying to tell myself that Mallory was just trying to smile, not shriek. Um, yeah. That's it.

When Pigs Fly

My brother, Aaron, called to tell me a joke today. It went like this:

Many people said pigs would fly before a black man was elected president. Sure enough, on President Obama's 100th day in office, swine flu.

Hee hee hee.

Big Birthday Girl

My baby girl isn't such a baby anymore! She turned two Saturday.

~ The two birthday girls blowing out their candles~

Mallory shares a birthday with her Aunt Annie

Mal was so cute. She tried over and over to blow out her candles.

After a bunch of tries, she finally asked, "Mommy help me?"

Goodbye hugs for Uncle Aaron

Ross Update

I've been asked by lots of people how things have been for us just a week out of the diagnosis. Things are going really well. Ross continues to have such a positive attitude. He adds up the number of carbs he eats per meal quicker than Edward and me! He is giving himself his own injections in his stomach and legs before each meal. I think he's kind of proud of that. He can't quite reach his arms, so we help him when it's time for a shot there. We have to rotate the injection sites each time so scar tissue doesn't build up. That would affect how he absorbs the insulin.

It was really hard for me to send him to school on Monday! I was quite anxious the entire day. I take comfort in knowing we are less than a mile from school. Also, the school nurse is wonderful. She has had diabetic students in the past, and her foster son had type 1 at the age of 3. I feel comfortable knowing he is in her hands, although I wish he was with me 24/7 right now.

His blood sugar continues to fluctuate a lot. The nurse called me once yesterday, and twice today to let me know he was hypoglycemic, or low. He had to take his glucose pills to raise it quickly. He reached 58 this afternoon. He did have an incident last Saturday that was a bit scary. He came to me and told me he was feeling low. I took a blood sugar reading and it was 88 - at the low end of his normal. He ate a snack, and about twenty minutes later he he started slurring his speech. He seemed very dazed and then began sweating profusely! I'm talking he looked like he was playing baseball in full catcher's gear in July! And he was just sitting there! We gave him his glucose pills, and within 5 minutes he was fine again. Crazy! I wish we would have tested him again at that time, but we were just trying to get him back to normal.

We have been so touched by the prayers, thoughts, and support of our friends and family as well as strangers! Edward had a client that came into the office specifically to give him a Jeremy Maclin rookie card (Mizzou player just drafted to the NFL) that we later learned is worth $70 right now. He's never met Ross, but he wanted to give him something to cheer him up. I've also been contacted by our local chapter of a diabetes support group. They have bent over backwards to make sure we're doing okay.

Thanks again for the prayers! We can feel them.

Our New Life

We're home! Whew! What a whirlwind! We got to leave the hospital one day early because Ross is so awesome, and Edward and I seem to be quick learners. I just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers as well as phone calls. Let me start from the beginning.

Last week (only 9 days ago), Ross started telling me how tired he was and was complaining that he had no energy. I honestly just kind of pushed it off as getting over Easter weekend. We had just made a two day trip to Memphis and back, filled with lots of stops. We had a weekend of late nights and irregular meals. And of course Easter is filled with candy. I told him we would just keep an eye on it. Ross is my kid that is always outside shooting baskets, jumping on the trampoline, hitting baseballs, etc. So, when he just felt like staying inside all week, I knew he really was tired.

Then Friday night he kept telling me how thirsty he was. He kept asking for drinks. Ping! That was when diabetes first entered my mind. Again, I knew I would just keep an eye on him. And as I thought about it more, I remembered him getting up several times during the night to use the restroom that week - not normal for Ross.

Saturday morning he woke up, and I was STARTLED by his appearance. As strange as it sounds, my normally thin little guy looked absolutely skeletal to me. And this was just basically overnight. I really started getting concerned at that point, and I voiced my concerns to Edward for the first time. We got online that night, and I was pretty sure Type 1 Diabetes was what we were looking at, although I didn't want to get myself too worked up at that point. I'm not much of a worrier, so I thought I would make a doctor's appointment first thing Monday morning. Until then, we would just keep on living.

At my parents' house on Sunday I weighed Ross. He had lost 5 pounds. That was 14% of his weight! Now, in all honesty we hadn't weighed him since the end of November. However, being his Mommy, I know that the weight loss was just that week.

Thankfully, our family physician's office got him in at 9:30 Monday morning. I gave the nurse all the symptoms, and she said that our doctor would most likely want a urine sample. Ross gave it, then the nurse came in and said the doctor was in the all, but before she came in she wanted to get a blood sugar reading. At that moment, I knew exactly what our doctor would say when she walked in the room. And that is what happened about three minutes later. She came in and very sweetly but matter-of-factly told Ross, "I'm sorry you had to get a finger stick. And I'm sorry, you have a disease called Type 1 Diabetes. Blah blah blah, and you're going to have to give yourself about three shots a day in your stomach...." At that point I wanted to scream, "WAIT! Let's let this sink in a little before you tell him about that!" Oh well. We really love our doctor, but I didn't want her to tell him that part just yet. I was watching his face as she was talking, and I could tell he was stunned. The doctor told us her receptionist would set up an appointment to see the specialists at a pediatric hospital in the city. She was on hold for a while, so she sent us home and told us she would call us with the appointment time.

As we were walking out to the car I put my arm around Ross and asked him how he felt. At that time he broke down. I asked him if he was more upset that it was a disease or that he had to give himself shots? He said because it was a disease. I told him if he was to get a disease, this is the one we want because we can control it. It's not cancer. It's not leukemia. We can control this.

I got home and called Edward. After we hung up, I got a call from the receptionist telling me that we needed to pack a bag for 3-4 days, and it was urgent that we come up right away and report to the ER. At that point I felt a little more anxious, but I knew it would be okay.

Fast forward when we got there. He was still feeling so, so weak and tired. The I.V. was the hardest part of the whole stay with him. We were told his blood sugar range should be 80 - 150. When we arrived his was at 447! He quickly got some insulin, and we were absolutely astonished at how quickly he became more like the normal Ross! He felt so much better within 30 minutes!

I won't go into every detail of our stay, but overall it was wonderful. The staff there is amazing, and so helpful. We basically had to stay for the three days, of course to help get his blood sugars where they need to be, but also for us to learn how we need to live now. We called it diabetes college. We learned so much. It's still overwhelming, but I am so confident that we will do well with this new way of life. We've learned how to count the carbs to determine the amount of insulin he will need before each meal. We've learned how to check his blood sugar with the finger pricks and administer the injections. It's still really hard for me to give my own child a shot. Ross has even been giving himself injections. And can I just say what a cool kid he is! He is amazing!! He has not fussed or whined or cried once about the blood checks or the injections! He doesn't even flinch when he gets them! He's a stud!

He will be getting at least a total of four injections per day. He gets three, quick-acting insulin doses before each meal, and he gets one long-lasting dose before bed. Shortly he will be getting them with small snacks between meals if the snacks have a certain number of carbs. We are to keep in contact with the endocrinologist daily for the next two weeks, then we will return to clinic. After that we will be in contact daily with the diabetes nurses, and two weeks we'll have another clinic. After that, we'll return every three months.

Talking to a cousin

Ross played Wii, XBox 360, PlayStation 2, air hockey, pinball, basketball, watched movies, played his DS, took walks, read magazines, etc. He cracked us up because he kept saying, "Everybody back home is thinking, 'Poor Ross!', but I'm here having so much fun!!" He also kept saying, "I don't feel like I'm in a hospital. I feel like I'm in a hotel!"

He got lots of flak from the staff for wearing his Yankees gear!

He wore his own clothes the entire time. He had the option of wearing these p.j.'s, but he didn't care to wear something that said, "tired little tiger." :)

And I had to include this charmer. Of course Edward and I wanted to stay with Ross the entire time. We sat on this nice, big couch during the first evening. When Edward unfolded it that night for bed, it was pretty much the size of a twin bed! So we shared a measly little blanket and slept on opposite ends of the "bed." Oh, it was funny. Have you ever seen Willy Wonka (the original)? Do you remember the scene where all four of Charlie's grandparents shared a bed? That's how I felt!! I kept calling Edward "Grandpa Joe." :)

Anyway, this has been a supper long post. Sorry! We all have great attitudes about this. We can do it! Do you know what has been the most surprising information to us? We don't have to change a thing about Ross' diet! He can eat anything we can eat, we just have to give him more insulin if he will be eating more carbs. Now, we feel like this is a good starting place for our whole family to eat healthier. This condition (we'd rather call it that than a disease) just requires more planning and balancing, and who couldn't benefit from that.

Ross

Hey everybody! Just a quick update on us! We got an unexpected diagnosis for Ross yesterday. We found out he has Type 1 Diabetes. We have been at Cardinal Glennon's Children's Hospital since yesterday morning. We'll continue to be here through Thursday. He's doing well. We're here to learn how to treat this and what to expect. I'll post when I can. When we get home, I'll fill you all in on the whole story. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

SEMO ARC

On our way home from Memphis last weekend, we told the kids we would take them swimming since we didn't get any hotel swimming in. Southeast Missouri State has recently put in a beautiful aquatic rec. center. It was c-c-c-c-freezing, but it was fun! For $5 per person (excluding Mallory), it was a great day of fun. Because it was the day before Easter, we pretty much had the entire facility to ourselves.

Monkey Boy Ross on the rock climbing wall

Swinging like Tarzan on the zip line

Daddy had to show us how it was done!

Elizabeth's turn on the zip line

Poor Drew is terrified of water! Actually, he's terrified of lots of things - winding roads, puppies - all scary to him! So he just hangs out on the steps and makes his own fun.

Muscle Man

Mallory was content in Daddy's arms.

But she did play on the steps too, and she swung like a monkey on the hand rails.


Elizabeth talked me in to trying the zipline, but fortunately enough there is no record of it on film. I love doing fun things like that, but I didn't really want to do it that day. First of all, we were going to a restaurant and doing a little shopping after swimming, so I didn't want to get my head wet. This is something that men nor children can ever understand, am I right ladies? They just don't get it. Elizabeth assured me I wouldn't get my face wet. Right. Secondly, I didn't want to do it because you had to hold yourself up with a vertical 2 inch rope. Now, my flabby, un-toned arms weren't up for the challenge. After deciding to be a good sport and take the plunge, I took my place and knew I would not be able to hold myself out of the water. If you want to go really far, you have to pull your body up, missing the water because it slows you down. Pretty much I jumped off the platform, and my lack of arm strength caused me to just drop my lower body into the water while dangling from the rope. Classy, I know. I let go of the rope and of course my head went under. I surfaced to see my entire family laughing, as well as the three 20 year-old-100-pound-female-lifeguards. Glad I could make your day folks.

Family Visits

This post is pretty much for our far away Felker and Sargent families. On Friday and Saturday, we travelled down to Memphis to visit with Edwards Grandma Sargent and his Aunt Michele Hathaway's family. On our way down, we were able to visit Aunt Tootie and Cousin Carrie in Sikeston. As always, Cousin Carrie thought of the children and had made Easter cookies for them to decorate while we visited. We had a wonderful visit and a yummy lunch before we made it down to Memphis. And I was sorry I didn't take pictures of the trees in Sikeston. Due to the ice storm that hit the area in January, it literally look like a tornado ripped through the town. You can't believe all of the limbs that were still down three months later.

~Our family with 90 year-old Aunt Tootie~
~Edward and Grandma Sargent~
She looked good, despite her blue cast! She said this is the longest she's ever had her hair.

~Ross, Elizabeth, & Grandma Sargent~

~Our crew with Grandma~

Can you tell Drew did not want to be in the picture?

The kids took a movie break with cousins Drew & Aaron Hathaway. The boys were very hospitable!

Cousin Drew did A LOT of entertaining!!

My Little Man

For dinner one night last week, I set a divided child's plate at Drew's place. When he sat down, he picked it up and announced, "Mom. I don't need this anymore. I'm a man now."

Parental Warning Advisory

I feel it is my civic duty as an upstanding citizen of this country and as a loving mother of four to warn you, my wonderful readers, of a very inappropriate product that is out on the market. This product is causing much trouble and heartache. This horrific product of which I speak is called Moon Sand.

Several years ago I bought into the hype of this cursed product and bought it for Drew for his birthday. I naively believed the claims that it was "mess free." I don't think they use that claim any more in their marketing because I believe they were probably sued for false advertising. I believe the makers of Moon Sand also probably helped create Anthrax. I look at both as being equally dangerous when put into the wrong hands. What sane adult would say, "Hey Herb. Let's create soft, colorful sand that can be played with indoors." "Great idea, Frank!"

After Drew has begged me for several months to play with it, I finally relented today. I quickly remembered why it has been locked away in a high shelf for several years. It is an awful, awful thing. When I finished cleaning up after Drew and Mallory today, I headed for the trash can. Then I thought, "Drew will be in tears." So either I'm going to require that it only be played with outside, or I'm going to offer him money in return for the blasted stuff.

So consider yourselves warned. And I'm sorry if I bought Moon Sand for your child as a gift in the past. Either that or I really didn't like you.

Boohoohoo!

My beloved ER is officially over. Oh, how I'm going to miss it. It has been a staple in my life for fifteen years. I can remember watching the very first episode. I have literally been watching it for half my life. And I have never missed an episode. If for some strange reason I was going to be gone on a Thursday night at 9:00, I always recorded it. I even remember watching it with Edward in the hospital the night Elizabeth was born. In our early years of marriage, I got Edward hooked on it too, although he isn't quite as much of a fan as I. Thursday night has been date night after the kids are put to bed. Farewell, my favorite TV show of all time!

April Fool's Day, Oh how I love thee!

I love April Fool's Day! I'm a big fan! Now, I do not like pranks where people feel bad or are embarrassed - just the good natured prank! And I really can't take credit for the gags I pull. I get most of my ideas from Family Fun Magazine. They have some really good ones.

This year I moved a sleeping Drew from his bed and put him into Mallory's empty crib (she has been sleeping in a toddler bed for two weeks). He was quite befuddled to wake up in the middle of the night to unfamiliar surroundings.

I squirted a couple of drops of blue food coloring in Elizabeth's empty glass this morning. I asked her if she wanted a drink of water. She said yes, and I had her watch me as I filled it with tap water. She was so confused at seeing the clear water coming from the faucet turn dark blue in the glass!

I also pulled some good ones on Edward. I filled his Jeep with inflated balloons. He woke up to a party in his car! My favorite, though, was another idea I got from this month's Family Fun. I blew up a balloon but didn't tie a knot in it. I carefully held the unknotted end and closed it in the door leading to the basement. As Edward opened the door, in the dark at 6:00 a.m., to exercise, he was blasted in the chest with a deflating balloon. He said he about wet his pants. Oh, the thought of that has made me giggle all day.

And of course I've been hearing things all day from the kids like, "Mom, you have a spider on your shirt!" and "I have a really sore throat" followed by "APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!" Ross really got Edward this afternoon after the kids' dental check-ups. Edward asked how it went, and Ross replied, "I have two cavities, Elizabeth has three, and Drew has one." MY sweet husband that hates to spend money was VERY annoyed. He was quite relieved to hear, "April Fools." Elizabeth told her speech teacher today that I was going to have a baby. Her teacher excitedly grabbed her and yelled, "What!?" She about had a heart attack when Lizzy informed her, "April Fools." I thought that was a pretty good one.

In years past I also pulled that one on Edward. I had saved a positive pregnancy test (don't ask me why - I've since pitched it) and presented it to Edward one year when Drew had just turned one. Again, he was relieved to hear, "April Fools."

Another one of my favorites was the time I took a message for Edward when he was gone. I told him a Mr. Lyon had called and asked for him to call him back. The name didn't sound familiar to him. He didn't think it was a client. So he called the number I had written down and heard, "Hello, St. Louis Zoo. How can I direct your call?" Luckily he didn't have to ask to speak to Mr. Lyon before he figured it out. ;)

My favorite prank of all wasn't actually on April Fool's Day. My sister's family had been in Nashville for the weekend visiting her sister-in-law's family. While they were gone, I took a queen size white sheet and spray painted in big red letters, "WELCOME HOME ANDREA AND TOMMIE - 2005 NASHVILLE SQUARE DANCING CHAMPIONS." We snuck over to their house about an hour before they were to arrive home, and we hung it up on their house for all their neighbors to see. Later that night, I got a call from a hysterically laughing Andrea telling me, "Guess what our neighbors did?!?!" She proceeded to tell me about the sign, thinking all along it was their next door neighbors. At that point I just had to go along with it and laugh too. She hung up with me, and I decided I wouldn't fess up if she didn't figure it out. A few minutes passed, and she called me back, laughing even harder, asking if it was us. I confessed, and she told me after she called me the first time, she called her neighbor (thinking she was the culprit) and said excitedly, "Bonnie! Guess what? We just got home from the Nashville Square Dancing competition, and we won first place!" A stunned Bonnie just said, "Oh?! Um, congratulations." It was then that they figured it wasn't the neighbors. I don't think I'll ever be able to top that one! It was priceless.

Happy April Fooling!

It Doesn't Work

You know what doesn't work? Coming up with a lame contest for kids, to see who can behave the best on family outings. The reward was a candy bar. I take it back, the contest only works for kids under 5, not for 8 and 9 year olds. Their too old to buy in to the gimmick.

We're In Trouble

Two nights ago our family enjoyed the wonderfully mild weather by taking a walk in our great neighborhood. Mallory began pointing at certain houses and saying, "I want to go in that one house." We noticed a pattern. The houses she was saying that about were the nicest, biggest, most expensive houses in the neighborhood. By the end of walk we were laughing so hard. Edward would purposely point to a smaller house and ask her if she wanted to go into it. She would say, "No." Then we would pass by another big house, and she would say it again. We laughed hysterically when we passed by an Infinity QRX-pensive, and she said, "I want that car." Her Daddy told her she needed to start thinking now about which doctor she would marry when she grows up. She's not even 2 yet, and she already has a taste for the finer things in life. We're in trouble.

Funny Question of the Day

Posed by Drew, age 5

"Mom, do chickens sweat?"

Out of the Mouths of Babes

*I found this parent/child survey, and I thought it would be interesting to see how my oldest three answered.

Ask your child(ren) these questions and enter their answers...Quite amusing!

Answered by Drew, age 5
Elizabeth, age 8
Ross, age 9

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"I love you"
"I Love you"
"How was your day?"

2. What makes mom happy?
Saying I love you
Telling you that I love you
Telling you I love you and giving you a hug

3. What makes mom sad?
When her brother died
When I don't listen
When Jo Jo died or when our family dies

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tell a joke
Acting silly & playing with me
Telling jokes, tickling me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Awesome
Quiet & shy
Playing sports

6. How old is your mom?
86
30
30

7. How tall is your mom?
100 feet tall
5' 10"
5' 6"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Taking a bath
Go see a Harry Connick, Jr. concert
Having fun

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Go potty
At night when I go to sleep she watches a movie & has a date with Dad.
Plays with Mallory & Drew or cleans the house

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Taking pictures
Singing and making clothes
A movie star

11. What is your mom really good at?
Playing on the computer on this network (?)
Taking care of me
Playing the piano or singing

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Going outside (?)
Dancing!
Sports like football or soccer

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Change diapers (yep!)
A stay-home mom and takes care of us
Cleans the house or a stay-home mom

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Beef
Shrimp
Pizza

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Being a good mom
Loving me and doing a lot of school activities with me
Being a mom

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Dash
A mother with bad dancing
Yo Gabba Gabba

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Get a new movie
Go to the Nutcracker every other year
Practice piano

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Blonde hair
We are both girls, and people say we look the same.
She likes sports and I like sports.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Mom plays on the 'puter a lot and I don't.
I have a different style of clothes.
She doesn't like wrestling.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
She tells me.
She takes care of me.
She says she loves me.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
I don't know.
She thinks he's handsome.
That he's handsome

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Chevy's (yes sir!)
Red Lobster (Mmmm....)
Chevy's (Do you see the pattern here?)

23. What do you love most about your mom?
Going to Chevy's and Chuck E. Cheese's with her
She takes care of me and lets us go to fun places.
She's fun.

24. If you could go anywhere in the world with just your mom, where would you go?
To visit Sterling, Chuck E. Cheese's and Chevy's
France & Hawaii
Paris

25. If you could buy your mom a gift, what would you buy her?
Chevy's food and flowers and a card
A week alone in Hawaii, and free passes to Chevy's with only her favorite food.
Jewelry

Elizabeth's Baptism

We had a wonderful weekend with our dear family that attended Elizabeth's baptism. Due to my nearly dead camera, this is the only photo I was able to take of the day, but it is one I cherish. It was a sweet, family oriented baptism, with Elizabeth and her Grandad singing a duet, both of her grandmothers speaking, and other family members giving prayers and providing the music. It was a very special day for our family.

We were lucky enough to have all of Elizabeth's "Wright" family attend, seeing that they all live within an hour's drive. We had a majority of the "Felker" family attend. They travelled from Jefferson City, Columbia, & Kansas City. We were sad that the other three families couldn't attend, but the seven, twelve, and twenty-four hour drives make a weekend trip out of the question! Saturday night we squeezed twenty people into "Hotel Felker." We actually had beds for all of the adults, and of course the kids loved being together and sleeping on the floor. The four oldest boys expecially enjoyed sleeping in our dungeon of a basement!

Lil' Blago

Mallory's impersonation of Rod Blagojevich

Random

Here are some of my random thoughts:

1. Why don't people RSVP? It's pretty annoying actually. If someone thinks enough of you to invite you to a party, you should think of them enough to let them know if you will be attending.

2. Craigslist cracks me up. I've been browsing some furniture lately, and I'm amused at how much people ask for their old, ugly, beat up furniture. You should check it out sometime.

3. Mallory discovered that she really likes prunes. And Edward discovered he REALLY doesn't like that she discovered prunes. He got to change her diaper (and clothes) last night while I was gone. Hee, hee, hee.

4. The reason I haven't gotten into Facebook so much is because I've heard how easily it is to get sucked in. Case in point, I spent TWO hours this morning adding pictures to my account. BIG WASTE OF MY TIME!

5. We will have 20 people sleeping at our house Saturday night after Elizabeth's baptism. I should TOTALLY be shopping, cleaning and cooking, but I am such a procrastinator, hence the two hours on Facebook!

6. Also, I can't figure out how to delete some comments from friends of friends on Facebook. I really don't care to have some of the language that is used to be displayed on my page. Call me a prude.

7. I'm kind of nervous about having 20 people sleeping here and getting everyone to church by 9:00... and switching the clocks forward for Daylight Savings! I anticipate some grumpy kids, but we're really looking forward to having everyone here!

8. Did you know if you go to a Chinese restaurant on your birthday, you get a cake decorated with cherries and cucumbers? It was pretty interesting, and I was sorry I didn't have my camera.

9. I loved the movie Kitt Kittridge! I think I liked it more than the kids!

10. I'm reading a book called "Life As We Knew It." It's about an asteroid that hits the moon, knocking it out of place, therefore causing tsunamis and other calamities. That causes worldwide pandemonium - runs on food, gas at $9+ per gallon, schools being cancelled. It's pretty interesting and certainly makes you think.

11. Ross decided not to play spring (and summer) baseball. So when indoor soccer wraps up for Elizabeth & Drew in a few weeks, we're freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee until who knows when! The whole family is pretty excited!

Learning to Spell

Drew is going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall. It's exciting to see him wanting to learn to read and write and create. Last night I pulled out the "Dick and Jane" book that I learned to read from 25 years ago. It is so awesome to see my baby learning to read! He also knows how to spell a couple of words: Drew, Ross, Mom, Dad, No, Yes, Love... some of the basics.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard Elizabeth SCREAM! It wasn't a playful scream, so I ran in to see what was the matter. She yelled, "Look!" This is what I found:


It seems he's learned how to spell a new word. Two in fact - Poo and Poop. And he even wrote it on the back of Elizabeth's reading chart, the one that her teacher checks her progress. I'm sure she'll be anxious to get Drew as a student!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

And to her twin cousin, Julia! They were born 9 hours apart on March 1, 2001. Even though we're sadly separated by many, many miles, they love each other dearly. Edward asked Elizabeth last week who her best friend is, and without skipping a beat she said, "Julia."

Right of Passage

In our family turning eight is a big deal because it means you are old enough to be baptized. Elizabeth turns eight next week! So to celebrate this important milestone, we let her get a big birthday present a little early. She got her ears pierced!

She really had her heart set on getting it done last night. So we loaded the whole gang into the van and headed to Wal-Mart with cameras in hand. Once we arrived at the jewelry department, we learned that the lady that does the piercing had left for the evening. Elizabeth was very disappointed. But we were told that we could purchase an ear piercing kit and just do it ourselves. Elizabeth was faced with a dilemma. Should she wait a few days and have a professional do it, or should she take a chance that Mom could figure it out and get it done that night? She chose to have me do it. So we headed back home with the little white piercing gun and starter earrings.

We video recorded the ordeal, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it loaded onto the computer from our Handycam. Anyway, as you can imagine it was pretty exciting! She was eager and smiling and nervous all at the same time. She held her Daddy's hands as we counted to three. The gun snapped, she immediately yelped and then turned her head, causing the gun to slip out of my hand where it dangled from her ear for a split second. Ouch! It hurt her, but I think it scared her more than any thing. She then asked me to use ice to numb the other ear. We iced it for about five minutes, and then we were ready to move on. She also wanted to bite down on something while holding her Daddy's hands at the same time. At that point she told me she didn't want me to do it. I convinced her she would look pretty silly if she just had one earring. She let me do it even though she was really scared. That one went in quicker, and then we were all done. It took a few minutes for her to venture to the mirror to take a peek.

Before - all smiles

After the first one was finished, she was pretty apprehensive to say the least.

Admiring her cuteness

She kind of cried throughout the rest of the night and this morning about how sore and tender they were. However, as soon as she got to church, she forgot the pain and basked in revealing her new look to her friends and family. She's pretty excited to show her friends at school tomorrow.

Lucky Ladies

Yesterday I saw two women that had babies within the last month. Both of these women's figures were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Sickeningly flat stomachs. I turned to my friend and asked, "How do you do that!?!" When the second woman was asked, "You just had this baby?!" she sweetly replied, "It's from breastfeeding." Now, I could be Octomom and nurse every single one of those eight babies around the clock, and I can guarantee you that my stomach would NOT just melt off in a mere four weeks. Heck, I still have a belly from my first baby... NINE YEARS AGO. I am reminded of a time when I called a lady to ask how she was doing two weeks after the birth of her first child. Her reply: "Oh, pretty well. I was finally able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans." I had to excuse myself while I went into the bathroom to barf.

So, if you happen to be one of these freaks of nature, er, I mean extremely blessed women, please, please understand just how lucky you are!!!!! And in my dreams I will pretend I'm you!

3.8

That is how many seconds it takes a one-and-a-half year old to open a box of 750 toothpicks and dump them onto the floor before her mother gets the chance to stop her. Ugh!

She loves to pull up a chair to the counter to "help" me, and I use that term very loosely, while I'm cooking. I had just finished icing some cupcakes for Elizabeth's spur of the moment birthday sleepover (due to soccer on the weekends, she had a sleepover on Thursday night because the kids had no school Friday for teacher development. It was two weeks before her actual birthday, but we pulled it off in about a week-and-a-half). I stuck the toothpicks in the cupcakes, covered them with plastic wrap, and walked thirteen steps into the dining room when I heard, "ping, ping, ping, ping...." about, oh, 725 times before realizing what Destruct-o-Girl was up to. I came running into the kitchen to find this lovely scene:

Crisis Averted

Last night, I was addressing some envelopes as the kids were finishing up a movie before bed. Elizabeth had made a big bowl of popcorn and was lying on the floor while munching. All of a sudden, a panicked Elizabeth jumped up and screamed, "MOM!!!!! MALLORY STUCK A POPCORN KERNEL UP HER NOSE!!!!!!!!" Now, for whatever reason, Elizabeth has a fear of getting something stuck up her nose. I don't know where that came from. She has never personally done it herself.

I looked at Mallory, who was standing by Elizabeth with a finger up her nose and a stunned look on her face. I picked her up and laid her on my lap to take a peek. Yep. There it was lodged in her right nostril. Mallory began crying, I think mostly because Elizabeth's spazing out scared her. She just laid against my chest as she finally calmed down. If I would try to look in her nose she immediately began crying again. Drew kept teasing Mal that he would come take it out which only upset her more.

So I wondered how in the world I would get it out. You can't really teach a one-year-old how to plug up the good nostril and launch that puppy out. And Edward was gone to a meeting, so I didn't have his help. I worried about the kernel getting stuck in her sinus cavity and causing an infection. And could it travel to and get lodged in her brain? Did this warrant a trip to the emergency room? Surprisingly with four children, we've never had one get an object stuck up his or her nose. About that time the phone rang. It was my sister-in-law, Katie, whose family was calling to wish Drew a happy birthday. I told her after they were done talking to Drew I needed to ask her a few questions. I knew she had some experience in the kid-sticking-objects-up-the-nose department. It's happened to her second child twice. So when I got back on the phone with her, she explained that yes, she had taken Sam to the doctor after he stuck a bead up his nose the first time. But the second time, he stuck a pill up there, and it just dissolved so she didn't have to take him in. She suggested that if we couldn't get it out, just to call the doctor to get her opinion.

I then (laughingly) called my sister who is a nurse, to get her opinion. She told me she stuck a bead up her nose in the third grade, and it never came out. She never told our Mom either. When I told Ross and Elizabeth, they thought that was amazing. Ross asked, "You mean it's still up there?!" Anyway, Andrea suggested I get a straw and try to suck it out. Hahahaha! Drew immediately ran and got a crazy straw.

About that time I decided that I needed another adult to help me hold her down. So I called Edward at his church meeting and asked him to come home. I'm not one of those wives that can't do anything or go any where without my husband, but I thought I better get his help so I didn't accidentally hurt her while trying extract the kernel from her nostril.

When he got home he held her down (as you can imagine, she was not too happy with us), Ross shined a flashlight up her nose, Drew was intently watching, and Elizabeth was sobbing uncontrollably while I came at Mallory with the straw. After two tries I realized that wasn't going to work. Edward released her for a minute while I went to go find tweezers. We put her back in the torture hold while I tried to work some magic with the tweezers. After three attempts, I realized that wasn't going to work either. So then I used the opposite, flat end and successfully flipped it out. Mallory immediately scrambled free from us and climbed up onto the couch for a little de-stressing and solitude. For the rest of the night, she would stick her finger up her nose and say, "All gone!"

And that, my friends, is how a crisis was averted at the Felker household.

Happy 5th Birthday, Drew Boy!