Ear Infection

Alex recently had a nasty head cold and was really congested. It ended up causing a double ear infection, so he had to go on antibiotics. He is terrible at taking liquid medicine, so we opted for chewable tablets instead. When he took the first round I thought he was going to throw it right up. He started gagging horribly and crying, but finally chewed it up under duress, drank a ton of water to wash it down and then smiling through the tears, exclaimed, "I did it! Are you so proud of me Mommy?!" He goes through the same drama each time he has to take his medicine. I keep hoping he will get better at it, but at least he finally gets it down. We have about 6 more days of this. Wish us luck! Alex was in a lot of pain at one point, so at least we know the medicine is working because he is back to his high energy self!

Beautiful Day!

What a difference a few days makes! We were shoveling snow 6 days ago and now it is 80 degrees with bright blue, sunny skies! We spent much of the day outside playing and doing yard work. It feels so nice to be outside. Spring is definitely here!

Snow Day!

This past Monday, the South received a very unusual surprise - a snow day in March! We only received about 3 inches of snow, but it was enough to close schools and cover up the newly blooming daffodils and tree blossoms. Those of us former upstate New Yorkers laugh every time, but it was fun for the kids.

Paige attends a year-round school and there are no built in snow days, so they have make-up days on Saturdays, one negative to snow days. However, this snow day was worth the make-up day because there was enough snow to play in and boy did we do a lot of playing. The kids couldn't wait to get outside. It was all I could do to keep them indoors until 8:30am. We headed out and found some neighbors and had a ball building a snow man having snow ball fights and sleigh riding. It was really cold though, low 20's and a little breezy, so once your pants get wet it becomes even colder. All Alex wanted to do was eat the snow. We lasted for a few hours, but were all very cold, so we headed inside for some hot chocolate. Alex doesn't like hot chocolate, so he just enjoyed some mini marshmallows.

My Mom called and said she was off due to the snow day and Dave had gone to work and said the roads weren't bad, so we packed up and headed to my Mom's for the afternoon. We had a picnic lunch on the floor upstairs in their bonus room, which the kids really enjoyed. Then we bundled up again and headed back outside. Mom of course wanted to get in on the snowy fun. We tried some sleigh riding, and made a huge snowman. Mom found Dad's old ski hat and we put that on the snowman. What a blast from the past. Mom and Dad have a pretty good hill for sleigh riding and the kids were able to get going pretty fast. We needed Uncle Matt to build one of his famous jumps!

After hours of outside fun, we headed back inside to warm up and played a few card games and the kids played dress up in Mama's closet. Then it was time for us to head back home before the cold temps set back in and the roads froze over. It was one of those days where we just enjoyed every minute and I think we all needed that.

Today as I write this, it is nearly 80 degrees, a pretty big change from our Monday snow day, but that's why I love the South! Snow one day, gone the next!

Potty Training

Alex turned 3 last August and we began potty training him earlier that Summer, but with little success. We tried and tried to work with him, but just kept getting more and more frustrated. I know you aren't supposed to compare children, but Paige was fully trained by the time she turned 3.

Alex began preschool in September and still wasn't potty trained. The months passed by with small successes here and there and then he would regress. Bribes didn't really work, neither did positive reinforcement. I happend to talk with 4 other Mom's in his preschool whose boys all have August birthdays and every single one of them was struggling with the same thing as I was. It was a relief to hear that it wasn't just me or Alex.

Finally we had a breakthrough in February! It was Dave who actually moved things along. After Alex went in his pants AGAIN, Dave gave him a box of wipes, put him in the bathroom and told him to clean himself up. I was out with Paige, so I didn't get to witness this (or have to clean up after it, thanks daddy!). As you can imagine it was a mess and Alex was very upset about it, but after that episode, Alex decided it was time and embraced wearing his big boy underwear and going in the potty. He was so proud of himself after he finally gave in. While it was a bit unorthodox, it worked for us. Alex is now daytime potty trained! It was a huge cause for celebration around here!

There are still things we need to work on, like how to pee without taking off all of your clothes, and making it through the night, but what a relief to have this challenge almost behind us.

Getting Started!

Hi everyone!


My Sister-in-law started a blog when she moved to Taiwan as a way to stay in touch with everyone here in the States, and I have enjoyed reading hers so much, that I thought I would start my own. I love to scrapbook and journal, so I thought this would be a good way to keep a log of our family life and to stay in touch with some long-distance family and friends. Hope you enjoy reading!