Ears, Take 1

Cole had his surgery today.  It did not go well.  Well, I take that back, it did not go as hoped.  I should have guessed today was not going to be a great day.  Shelby was up 7 or 8 times between 10:30 and 4 this morning.  I finally managed to get 2 1/2 hours of sleep in a row, at the expense of my alarm clock which apparently shut itself off this morning.  Pat called wanting to know if I was up 15 minutes before we needed to be on the road.  We were not off to a great start.  We managed to get there on time, miraculously.

The surgery process itself was fine.  Cole was a trooper.  They said he hopped up on the bed and chatted away until he was out.  They came to get us 20 minutes later.  I knew that wasn't a good sign.  Turns out the drainage in his ear isn't drainage.  He has a cyst which may be harder to remove.  They took his adenoids out, then went to suction the drainage, but kept getting chunks, instead of liquid.  So what does that mean?  He has to have a CT scan to get a look at the ear bones.  The cyst can erode the bones of the ear, so they need to check that they are ok or if they need to rebuild them.  It will also give them an idea of the placement of the cyst.  The reason they don't do the CT scan first is that drainage and cysts look the same, so they don't know what they are dealing with until they go in.  Removing it can be as simple as lifting the ear drum and scraping it out or as complicated as having to drill in the bone behind the ear to get at it.  The CT scan should give them a better idea of what they are looking at.  I'm obviously hopeful for the first option, but not terribly optimistic.  He has his scan on Friday.  I'm not sure what we are looking at for surgery #2 yet.

Coming out of surgery was no picnic.  He did well, but he was hurting and didn't know what to make of it all.  As I write this he is back to his normal self, so he bounced back quickly.  I gently broke it to him tonight that he would have to go back again, but this time they wouldn't be messing with his throat, just his ear.  He takes it all in stride like he usually does.

As far as his hearing goes, if the bones are not eroded, he should regain perfect hearing.  If they have to rebuild bones, he can come away with good hearing, but it will never be perfect.  I guess I'm just glad it's not life threatening and he still has perfect hearing in his right ear in which to ignore me with. :)

8 months!

 My baby girl turned 8 months last week.  I cannot believe how fast she is going.  Facebook lost my album of her and so I went back and added her pics since she was born.  I can't believe how much she has changed!

Without further ado... her 8 month pics:

So big!

 Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a picture of an 8 month old?!?

Yummm!  Camera!

We did manage to get a fairly decent shot.

She is semi-mobile and gets a little more ambitious every day.  The trick she learned this morning...

She did that all on her own.  She's started pulling her knees up underneath her too.  I was hoping our tree would be safe this year, but I have a feeling she won't wait until after Christmas to start moving.  She finally started rolling all the way over this weekend.  She'd go over but wouldn't pull her arm out.  Now she just rolls and rolls and rolls.  She's never in the place I leave her.  Guess we need to start using baby gates again!

Hearing Part II

Cole met with another audiologist and the Otolaryngologist (aka, ENT, but that word makes me look smart right? Especially when google doesn't even recognize the word) today.  His hearing was not as bad as last time he was tested, but still not where it should be.  This points to the blockage in his ear being caused by lack of drainage.  The ENT also pulled out a dime sized portion of what looked like crusted boogers out of his ear.  This also points to excessive drainage.  So what does this mean?  Cole will have surgery in a couple of weeks to put a tube in his ear.  Since he is 6 and does not have a history of ear infections it also means that something is causing the blockage and the ENT seems to think that his adenoids are the culprit.  I don't disagree.  He snores and his tonsils are enlarged which typically means the adenoids are as well.  The fantastic news is that his nerves are not damaged so once we get the drainage out of the way, his hearing should fully return!  The only complication is that if the blockage is caused by skin, it's a much more invasive surgery, but all the signs point to drainage and not a skin blockage.  I am praying that is true.

In other news, Shelby is semi-mobile.  She's not crawling, but she is finally rolling.  I don't think crawling will be far behind.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  Both boys were late with everything, and while she certainly isn't early, it's nice knowing where she is.

6 year old worries

Cole is a worrier.  I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but he hasn't grown out of it like I had hoped.  This week is the book fair at school.  They did something new this year called Reach for the Stars.  Each child was supposed to read 20 minutes each night for about 2 weeks.  Each night they filled in a star to show that they had read that day.  They got sponsors and half the money donated went to the school for new library/classroom books.  The other half the kids got to keep in the form of a voucher for the book fair.  If kids did the reading but didn't have sponsors, they still got a $5 voucher.  So each kid that did the reading got at least one book from the book fair.  I thought it was kind of a neat idea.  My boys had some sponsors (thank you grandmas and grandpas and aunts!)  so they had a bit of money to spend.  They had all sorts of neat books and Cole picks out Earthquakes and Tsunamis among other less worrisome titles.  It was a factual book, but every page brought a new round of questions along with "can that happen here?"  Ugh!  I tried to convince him to look for another book, but nope, he wanted THAT one.  I tried reassuring him that we are not going to have earthquakes and tsunamis here, but it couldn't wipe that worried look off his face.  He is the kid that you make sure you don't watch or discuss news around.  I'm still hoping he grows out of it.  Enough to not be afraid, but not enough that he stops caring.

Ears

I've got this kid.  He's a good kid; well-behaved, even-tempered, mild-mannered.  He's the one who's had surgery, broken a leg, broken a shoulder, and now has significant hearing loss in his left ear.  My heart breaks for him.  Thankfully, it appears the hearing loss is treatable, but it's just one more thing he has to go through.  He's just that kid that if something bad is going to happen, it's going to happen to him.

At his normal check up in June, he did not do well on his hearing test, but whether it was from too many distractions or actual hearing loss, we weren't sure.  The free audiology testing is only done during the school year, so I figured we'd wait until school started.  Then cross country started so I figured I'd just wait until I was done coaching to take him in.  At about the time that happened, I got a call from the school nurse saying he didn't pass his hearing test.  So in we went.  The audiologist said his hearing loss is equivalent to wearing an ear plug and holding your hand over that ear.  The funny thing, no one noticed.  He never said anything.  His teacher didn't notice.  I didn't notice.  Talk about making you feel like a bad parent.  How do you not notice your kid is half deaf?!?  We see an ENT at the end of this month.  Pray it's an easy fix and he gets to spend the rest of his years as "normal."

Dress Up Day

aka, Halloween.

Last year I decided to attempt to make the kids costumes.  I had always bought them before, but the kids were little and didn't care what they were, so I could wait until the last minute and buy them on clearance and choose whatever was left.  Last year I found instructions for making a puffin costume that looked easy enough and Cole was very compliant.  Tate eventually settled on a shark which was easy enough to make also.

This year Cole came home from school in early September informing me that he wanted to be the black ninja because his name was also Cole.  For those of you who aren't parents of elementary aged boys, the black ninja named Cole is from Lego Ninjago.  Tate thought that he could be the red ninja.  Turns out, ninja costumes are super easy.  Red shirt, red pants, red scarf, red stocking had with a slit cut in it, Voila!  Cole even made nunchuks out of twine string and milking inflations.  Tate used the pirate sword he got from the children's museum.  Super easy!

Having a girl is different.  When Cole was a baby, we didn't do Halloween.  Tate was a lion only because we had to bring him along anyway.  That was not going to be good enough for my baby girl.  She needed to be extra cute!  I found an idea for a candy corn costume on pintrest.  It looked simple enough.  The only problem, I couldn't find the right colored material, so I had to dye it. This fabric didn't dye particularly well, but good enough.  Her costume took a lot more time and money than the boys, but she was awfully stinking cute!

2 ninjas and a candy corn

The sweetest candy corn ever!

Sentimental Value

I had a garage sale last weekend.  Of course, that meant going through tons of baby clothes and deciding what to sell and what to keep.  It's not an easy task.  One of the things I came across was a pair of socks.  I set them aside and when Cole came home from school, he asked why I wasn't selling this particular pair of socks.  I told him these socks had sentimental value.  He wanted to know why.  These are the socks I'm talking about:

This was Cole the day of his surgery to close his PDA (a small duct above the heart that normally closes after birth, technically it wasn't surgery, but they had to knock him out and do procedures and stuff).  If you met Cole his first year of life, you wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with him, but he was small, he slept a lot, and his feet were always cold.  I just chalked the latter up to a family trait.  He always had socks on.  He was the first one in that morning for his procedure, then he had to remain completely flat for 6 hours following, to make sure the site where they went in closed properly.  We lost one of his socks at some point and while I was searching for it, Pat told me to touch his sockless foot.  It was warm.  For the first time in 14 months our baby's feet were warm!

I gave Cole the shortened version of that story and about teared up holding those socks.  We had wondered whether this procedure was really necessary since he never seemed to have any ill effects of that duct, but we did what the doctors recommended.  I guess warm feet were our sign that this was the right decision.

On a side note, one of the socks has gone missing again...

Little Old Men

Cole's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. J, attends our church.  On Sunday I was telling her how impressed I am with his writing.  When he started his first year of preschool, it took days for him to write his name.  Now he wants to bring a notebook everywhere so he can write his words.  I was also telling her how another mom and I are frustrated because our boys can't seem to venture far from the farm.  Everything they write is about tractors, semis, cows, or something farm related.  Mrs. J proceeded to share how she has this group of farm boys and loved listening to their conversations.  She said it's like listening to little old men.  "We finished corn last night, how about you guys?"  or "We started chopping corn stalks today."  It just made me laugh because the image is perfectly clear in my head.

My boys have also become very anti-John Deere.  We have a mish mash of machinery, but only a couple of John Deere pieces, an old 60 tractor that was a gift for my father-in-law as that was his first tractor.  We have an old baler and a seed drill that are also JD, but most of our tractors are red.  The boys take this to mean that John Deeres are gross!  Last year with the dry weather a lot of combines caught on fire, mostly John Deere, so now, according to Cole, if you ride in a John Deere combine, it might blow up.  The boys in his class, and one of the paras, love giving him a hard time about John Deere green.  He had a field trip to the apple orchard, where one of the boys spotted a combine in a shed and Cole refused to look at it because it was John Deere.

Last night on the way to bed I was pointing out everything in our house that was green.  Cole thought he might have to move.  I told him Antarctica was the only way to go since nothing grows there, so he wouldn't have to worry about green plants or grass.  I also told him I probably wouldn't come visit because it is way to cold.  His response: "do phones work there?  Cuz then I could just call you."

The College Fund

I had a garage sale this weekend.  I understand, now, why some people refuse to do them.  I thought I would try it once.  I don't know that I would do it again.  I prefer to just give people my stuff if I know they can use it.  I actually have 4 boxes upstairs waiting for delivery to a friend.

Anywhoodle, Friday night was spent loading the pickup with boxes and totes of clothes and toys.  Since I live in the country, a neighbor and I decided to haul our stuff into town for the community wide sales to generate more business.  After things were loaded, Shelby and I took off to do a little garage sale shopping.  When I got home, Cole had convinced Pat that he was coming with.  I promptly told him no.  He didn't want to know why he couldn't come, but instead wanted to know how else he was going to get money for college!  No money for toys or candy for that one.  It's going straight for college!  So how is it that a 6 year old is planning that far ahead?  Well, remember our pigs?  Our pigs, and any red steers, fund our kids college funds.  So Cole was convinced that he had a ton of money coming to him when we sold our pigs, only to discover that the money was going for college.  So now he thinks all money needs to go for college.  I feel sorry for his future wife, if he has time for one.  That girl is going to have to be completely smitten to take second place to work all the time.  :)

Oh, and as for the garage sale.  I made enough to pay up our neighbor for babysitting Shelby and the advertising and had an extra $5 in my pocket.

Answers

Before you go any further, make sure you read this post.


Did you read it?




Did you make a guess??




Ok, last chance....



Here are the answers:
Top:  My blue eyed beauty, Shelby
Middle:  My future farmer, Cole
Bottom:  My only non-redheaded child, Tate

Look Alikes

People always claim my kids look alike.  So here's a test.  Who is whom?  (is that proper grammar?)  So here they are, in random order, all wearing the same outfit at about the same age.  By the way, the outfit is a hand me down from my now almost 12 year old nephew.  Still in pretty good shape, eh?

Stay tuned for answers!!!

Tall Tales

Tate has been busy telling stories lately.  Most of his stories involve his "cousin" J.  She is his second or third cousin (however that works), and he sees her at school, but doesn't really know her very well.  Anywho, he always has stories about what J has or the time he was at J's house.  Before J, it was stories about going to his friend's house, which he's never done.  Sometimes his friend lives in China, sometimes wherever we happen to be driving.  I'm just not sure how far to let it go.  Yesterday on the way home from church he was telling me about when he goes to his "other" dad's house.  At that, I nicely told him he doesn't have another dad.  I'm really just at a loss.  Is this normal?  Do I just let it go?  Do I tell him over and over again that it's not true?  I'm just not sure how to handle this.  I can't help but laugh a little, but I have a feeling Pat won't think the "other" dad business is quite as funny.  Any advice out there bloggy land?

For your viewing pleasure, since I haven't posted pics in a while.

New Found Freedom

I realize it has been a long time since I updated.  What can I say?  Things have been BUSY!

Tate is now in his 3rd week of preschool.  He loves school and being a "big" kid.  He did have a little incident the first day of school.  He called another kid a baby and refused to apologize.  He even stomped his foot, used his angry arms, and yelled at his teacher that "my mom is going to come get me!"  Needless to say, we had to have a little chat at home about that. He's got it in his head that he is the only one who turned 4, and everyone else is still little.  He did surprise his teacher with his outburst.  I tried to warn her that Tate is NOT his brother and she got to finally see it first hand!

Tate's first day of preschool

 I am enjoying my "free" days.  I've had a couple of days now when I just get to stay home with Shelby.  It is amazing what you can get done when the only kid you have around naps!

Shelby is growing like a weed.  I can't believe how fast these 5 months have flown by.  She's not moving, per se.  She scoots herself by kicking her legs and rolls side to side, but hasn't gone over yet.  She's such a happy girl.  She's full of smiles and laughs.  Yesterday she went from a sit to this position.  She couldn't figure out how to get her leg out from underneath her, but she was perfectly content to be like this:

Once she figures this rolling thing out, her brothers better beware!

Life and Death

So, I am rewriting the original post, sorry.  I got some misinformation yesterday, so I'm just going to write it over.

Remember this post on Dairy genetics a couple of years ago?  Of course you do!  Anywhoodle, that cute little red and white heifer calved yesterday morning.  She even had a little red and white heifer calf.  Unfortunately, the calf didn't make it.  The momma cow is ok (I had originally thought she died), so there is a chance my red and whites will continue, but now we have to wait a whole year and hope she has another heifer.  I was really excited for that little calf.  I thought all hope was lost for my red and whites and then Bean, yes, we named her Bean, came along.  It's been 2 years of waiting and we had trouble getting her bred.  I guess all we can do is wait some more and hopefully a year from now I'll have a happier post to write!

Here is Bean now.  She's lost all of her red except inside her ears, but we know there are red genes in her, so we'll keep trying!

So Long Summer

My baby boy is off to Kindergarten.  People always tell you it goes by in the blink of an eye, but until you experience it yourself, you can't truly understand how fast it really goes.  I remember this picture like it was yesterday.

Now he's off to school and for the rest of his life he will spend more time with others than he does at home.  I'm not ready.  He is, but I don't think I will ever be.  So today I will snuggle my baby girl and breathe in that sweet baby smell because I know the day I put her on that bus to kindergarten will be here all too soon.

The Post Where I Complain About Monday

Yesterday was an awful day.  It started off bad and just went down hill.  It wasn't all bad, but overall, not a good day.

The day started at 7.  Cole got up, came downstairs, stood by his sleeping sister and said very loudly "Mom!"  Which of course woke up sleeping sister who now thinks she needs to eat.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but yesterday Shelby had a doctor's appointment at 10, so getting up at 7 means she will want to eat at 10 and I don't have time in the morning to try to adjust her schedule.

After babies were fed (human and bovine), I proceeded to get Tate up and ready to go to Grandma's while I  took Shelby to the doctor.  Only he was mad that Coley rode the new 4-wheeler (that's another post) and he had to ride in the car.  That resulted in a complete melt down.  Normally I would take the time to snuggle with him and calm him down, but there just wasn't time yesterday as I was already running behind.  So I left a screaming Tate with Grandma and booked it to the doctor.

The doctor's appointment didn't go all that well either.  She is healthy, but not growing as well as she should. Our doctor is very good and giving reasonable suggestions.  Our last pediatrician thought the solution to everything was to stop breast feeding.  Of course, during the appointment she was hungry!  I fed her while we were waiting for the doc to come in which actually worked out ok.  She spit up after eating, which is normal and it was kind of nice for someone else to see how much she actually spits.  Anywhoodle, the first thing we are going to try is starting her on some cereal and see if that helps with the weight and the spitting.

The remainder of the afternoon went fine.  I had my cross country meeting and I have 8 kids signed up this year.  Last year I had 6 and of those 8, 6 are new.  My retention isn't good, but we are growing!  This was the good part of the day.

My parents showed up last night.  My mom is staying with us for a few days while my dad attends a conference.  My dad has  neuropathy in his feet, so our stairs are hard for him to manage.  Our stairs are typical old farmhouse fashion and are very steep.  We went to bed a little after 11 and put a sleeping Shelby in her crib.  Only that was apparently her cue to wake up and think it was play time.  After much dancing and singing in her crib, she developed the hiccups.  I picked her up and also discovered poopy pants.  So down the stairs I went.  Only, I slipped on the edge of the stair and went down on my back.  It happened so fast.  The only things I remember are seeing Shelby's head sliding along the paneling and not being able to stop it, and thinking what if no one hears me, so I yelled.  Thankfully, Shelby didn't get a scratch, bump, or bruise on her.  I apparently took the entire fall on myself.  I've got road rash on my ankle, elbow, and hippish area, and my shoulder is killing me.  It made for a long night.  Thankfully all wounds will heal.

I am so glad Monday is over.

Chores

I've seen this chore list for kids floating around facebook and pinterest lately.  Somehow, feeding calves didn't get on there. I'm stumped.  Anyway, Cole has been begging me to get the wagon out for him to feed calves.  I've been giving him a hard time about why can't he just do my chores and he told me one day "if you just get the wagon, then I can!"  So a couple of weeks ago, we did.  He is in hog heaven.  Every morning he gets up and feeds calves.  Every afternoon he goes out and feeds them again.  We have close to 30 calves right now, so I gave him a group of 8 that he is in charge of.  He does a pretty good job too.  It takes him a little longer, but he's accurate.  We'll see how the rest of the summer goes, but I'm thinking he may work me right out of a job!

Farm Tour

We've had a couple of impromptu farm tours lately.  On Saturday our well guy brought out his 2 middle school aged grandkids.  I think they are from PA and hadn't seen a dairy before.  I enjoy showing people our farm.  We take a lot of pride in what we do and it's nice to show it to others.  Cole was super excited.  He is probably our best tour guide.  He took them around, explaining what everything was and they helped him feed calves.

On Sunday we had another group.  A band from CA playing for the Veteran's Association were in town and wanted to see a dairy.  They were all in their 20s and 30s and were absolutely fascinated by the farm.  This is my target group.  I enjoy dispelling some of the misconceptions about dairying that a lot of people have.  To be honest, it makes me a little nervous to have people take pictures and video of our farm.  Not that we have anything to hide, but others see things differently than I do.  But this group was absolutely fascinated by everything and I'm sure that they will portray their pictures and videos the same way.  So if you ever want to tour a dairy, or know someone who does, let me know!

Roommate Reunion

Every summer since Cole was very little, my sophomore roommate and her freshman roommate have gotten together.  We were very good friends in college (I spent way more time in their room freshman year than my own.  My roommate was WEIRD) and it's nice to get together.  We now have 6 kids between the 3 of us.  Five are boys ages 3-6 and then Shelby.  Hopefully we'll add to the group again in the next couple of years.

We took the kids swimming Monday night, then to the Science and Discovery Center on Tuesday.  The kids had a blast, minus the 10 minute "calm-down" session Tate had after he got mad that K~ pulled him out of the elevator full of strangers to wait for the next one.  Anyhow, they did enjoy it.

Tate flying a glider

Astronaut Cole

 Tuesday afternoon and evening we spent just hanging out and the kids played in the sprinkler and pool.  Shelby even got in on the action for a brief moment.  We got some hand me down swimming stuff so I figured I'd at least get a photo op out of it.

Shelby sporting her swimming gear

 This is one of my favorite pics.  Shelby has become enamored by her brothers lately.

Cole trying to make Shelby laugh

 Our group.  They had a great time playing together.

The kids all looking the same direction!

The Farm

 Our next trip was done without Pat.  If I waited for him to come along, I'd never leave.  We've talked for the last few years about heading up to my Uncle's, but never seem to make it.  My Dad grew up on a farm just south of Canada.  His brother runs the farm now, another lives in town, and a sister lives about an hour away.  It was our favorite summer destination growing up.

We decided to head up at the same time my sister and her family was going to be there so the kids could play together and with Uncle Roger!

Sprinkler fight!

 It was hot, hot, hot!  We headed into the pool for an afternoon too.  It was the one day there was a threat of rain, so we did our best to end the drought.  It didn't rain, but we had a great afternoon at the pool.

When Roger puts his mind to something, he goes all out.  He had a juicer and thought it would be fun to make juice with the kids.  He bought the store out of fruit and we made juice!  Cole was very curious about sugar beets, so we also juiced some of those.  He even tried the mud colored juice to see if it tasted like sugar.

Juicing sugar beets

We also got to meet my cousin's baby, born in December.  He and Shelby got a little acquainted.

4 months apart

It was a wonderful vacation.  The kids got to run free and I got to relax.

6 of the 9 next generation

 Cole's new obsession is sugar beets.  We are hoping to head up this fall and take in some of beet harvest.  I hope it works out because I don't know if I can stand the questions for that long.  He's kind of like Roger, when he's got an idea in his head, he goes all out :)

Summer Catch Up: AMPI Trip, Part 2

The next part of our journey was the dairy part.  We met with a bunch of other young families from our cooperative near Chippewa Falls, WI.  We spent time at a park with the kids and toured the cheese plant there.  I didn't make the tour.  It took longer than planned and Shelby needed to eat.  Pat went.  He said it was hot, smelly, and loud.  The cheese they make is tasty, though!  

This is the only picture I took from that part of the journey.  A white Peacock.

After the park, tour, and some delicious steaks, we headed back to the hotel for some swimming. Instead of riding the bus, we elected to drive, which worked out wonderfully.  We made it back to the hotel and got about an hour of swimming in before it was inundated with everyone else.

The next morning we headed out to tour a couple of dairies.  The first dairy left us unimpressed.  They have about 3 times as many cows as we do, but their bulk tank is the same size as ours.  The biggest problem is that they don't have the lounging space for their cows.  Cow comfort is a huge deal.  If the cows aren't happy, your milk check shows it.  The second farm was better.  Nothing out of the ordinary other than they seem to have buildings stacked on top of each other.  I thought our farm was cramped!

Summer Catch Up: AMPI Trip, Part 1

Our milk cooperative pays for us to have a little mini vacation during the summer.  They have a young cooperative program and during the summer we tour one of our milk plants and some member dairy farms from the area.  This year we headed to Wisconsin.  En route, we made an overnight stop in the twin cities.  Our first stop was lunch at Timber Lodge.  Normally that wouldn't warrant a blog mention, but here's the story.  We stopped to eat.  The boys were restless and Shelby was hungry, so the boys jumped all over the booth and I fed Shelby.  Across from us was an older (60ish) man eating alone.  He kept watching us, but as the restaurant was fairly empty, we were pretty entertaining.  I didn't really think anything of it.  We were waiting for our tab, but the waiter seemed to be avoiding our table, which was strange as he had been pretty good, and the place was pretty empty.  The older man got up to leave, shook Pat's hand, said "I got your bill" and left.  We were floored.  We didn't know this man at all and he didn't drive off in an especially classy looking car.  All I could think was wow, human kindness does still exist.

After that it was time for shopping.  We hit a few stores in the area and then headed to the Mall of America. There we met up with my aunt and cousin for a brief visit.  The boys had lots of fun with cousin W.

There favorite place, and the only place we bought anything other than food, was the Lego Store.  They each used their own money to but some Legos and I spent time visiting with my aunt while the kids played there.

The also loved seeing SpongeBob (why do kids like that show so much?)

Tate was super excited to get his picture taken with the Backyardigans.  Cole was a little less enthused.

The next day we headed for the MN Children's Museum.  The boys, of course, loved the water.

Cole the Turtle

 They had a Curious George exhibit, which Tate loved.

Doorman Tate

Up next, part 2...

The Talk

I finally had to have the "talk" with Cole.  No, not that one, the one about dementia, and my mom.  It did not go well.  I knew the time was coming, but I was honestly hoping he'd ask something and open the door for me.  It didn't go that way.  The boys ask all the time when we are going to Grammy and Papa's.  This summer has been jam packed (as my next few posts will show) and I don't think we'll make it this summer at all, except for me.  I'm planning to head out soon to look at nursing homes as that seems to be our next major step in this journey.  It's obviously a hard thing to do and especially hard to explain to a 6 year old.  So when I told the boys I was going to go, but not bringing them, the natural question was why.  I figured it was time for the talk.

I asked Cole if he noticed anything funny about Grammy.  Nope.  I asked if he notices how she forgets things.  Nope.  Finally I just told him there was something wrong with her brain that made her do funny things.  He finally chimed in with "like when she thought it snowed."  Yep.  Then I had to tell him that someday her brain will be so sick that she won't be able to take care of herself and she'll have to go live somewhere else, and I lost it.  It's hard to think those thoughts, much less say them out loud to your son.  Of course, he's my ultra sensitive child and he got all teary eyed and went and buried himself in his legos.  He did finally ask what's going to happen to her and I could honestly tell him I had no idea.  He understands death a little too well for me to go down that road.  I decided not to talk to Tate about it although I think he overheard a lot of it.  Somedays I hate being an adult.

Happy 4th Birthday, Tate!

 My baby boy is 4 today!  Where does the time go?

Tate has really developed an imagination this year.  He definitely keeps us on our toes.  He loves to play outside and play with his brother.  He's still my snuggly boy, but I imagine he'll grow out of that before I'm ready.

Look at how he's grown!

 Happy Birthday, Monkey!  We love you!

Woes of the Middle Child

Tate is struggling in his role as middle child.  He's not old enough to do everything that Cole does, but he's not the baby anymore either.  I knew he would have problems adjusting, I just didn't expect them to occur 2 months in.  I know he needs more attention from me, but there is a limited amount of me to go around.  He's taken to throwing some pretty extreme fits to show me how much he needs my attention.  I tried some different things, time out spots, putting him in his room, but the fits only got worse.  He tried hitting, kicking, running away, and I was afraid he was going to hurt someone on accident.  Then we came to a head.  A couple of weeks ago he was so worked up over something that he threw his rock collection across the kitchen floor.  Then he tried to throw a toy combine at me.  I didn't know what to do.  It's one thing to hit and kick and hurt someone when you really aren't trying to, but he knew that would hurt.  I was at a loss.  So I turned to my sister who gave me a different tactic to try.  Now instead of isolating him when he's mad, I become a human straight jacket.  I cross my legs over his so he can't kick and I bind his arms so he can't hit.  We aren't out of the woods yet, but we are progressing.  The other night he was throwing a fit about getting his pajamas on.  After about 10 minutes of the "calm down body bind" he finally blurted out "I don't want Shelby here anymore!"  My heart just broke when he said that.  Poor kid.

He is a good kid.  He's a fun kid when he's not throwing a fit.  He came down this morning sporting this little gem:

The boys had been slip-n-sliding last night and got a little rug burn.  I asked Tate what happened to his foot.  His reply "A muskrat got me."  Oh, those silly muskrats!  I love his imagination.

Father's Day

I've mentioned before how much I don't care for Hallmark holidays.  My husband, however, doesn't always feel the same way.  He's had 6 Father's Days now and I manage to blow every one.  You'd think he'd get it by now, but apparently not.  Anyway, this year I vowed to do it up nice.  Thanks to pintrest, I found this little gem:

We saved the barn windows from the shed we tore down last year so I thought I'd clean it up.  I was hoping to fit Shelby in a boot, but she was just a tad too chunky to fit right.  I think it turned out cute.  The boys even manged to mostly keep it a secret.  Granted I didn't tell Tate at all.

It would have been a lovely day, but Pat didn't feel good, so it was mostly a wasted day in front of the TV.  *sigh* Maybe next year...

Happy Birthday, Cole!

Ok, I realize I'm a week late with this post.  We've been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks and I'm hoping to be able to catch my breath this week.  

My baby boy turned 6 last week. SIX!  Soon he'll be starting kindergarten, and I'm not ready.  The thought of it brings tears to my eyes.  Preschool I could handle, but kindergarten!  That means that for the rest of his life, from August to May, he won't be home with me anymore.  He'll spend more time with his teacher than he will with me.  I'm NOT ready to give him up yet.  It's gone way too fast!

I remember when I was pregnant with Cole.  I've never enjoyed being pregnant.  I remember every week checking the pregnancy book and thinking, if we hit 30 weeks he could be born and be ok.  Little did I know.  At 30 weeks and 3 days we welcomed this guy into the world and I became Mommy.

I couldn't have asked for a better kid.  He's the kind of kid every parent hopes for.  Stays out of trouble, tries to help out.

Age 3

 Some kids know what they want to be when they grow up from a very early age.  I think we knew by age 2 that there would be no taking the farm out of this kid.  He wants to know how and why everything works.  As annoying as that can be, I love this kid to the moon and back and I can't wait to see the man he becomes.  I take that back, I can wait.

Happy Birthday, Cole!  Don't grow up too fast!

It Rained

A LOT!  We got 7" of rain last night and this morning.  2 miles west of us got 3".  Pat's uncle, about 5 miles west, barely got an inch.

This is our neighbor's dry cow yard.  (It's dirt and the white stuff is a bi-product from the corn plant that he uses to firm up the dirt and keep it from becoming a soup hole.)

 The dredge ditch to the north of us.  Normally there's not much water in them.  My dogs will go in for a dip and come out with only their bellies wet.  Now there's probably 15 feet of water flowing through them.

 One reason I'm glad I have 4WD.  In the 40+ years my father-in-law has lived here, he's never seen water come across our road.

Did I mention I got a new vehicle a few weeks ago?  I loved my pilot, but it just wasn't big enough for 3 kids in car seats, groceries, dog food, and chicken feed.  Pat woke me up just after Shelby's 2:30 feeding to ask if it was in the garage since we got a little bit of hail.  It was.

Meet Tate, my classy dresser.  He's stubborn and has to pick out his own clothes.  Today he went with the too small spider man polo paired with the Hawaiian shorts.  Classic look.  Oh, and yesterday the pool was about 6" shallower.

Skilled Trades

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.  There is an awful lot of truth in it.

Both Pat and I have college degrees.  I hope my kids go to college after high school.  However, I know a lot of kids that don't or go to a technical college.  Does that mean they aren't as smart as the rest of us?  Of course not.  Maybe they struggled in school, but I bet they are a lot better at other things, like welding, electrical work, plumbing, etc.  Staying at home and being married to a dairy farmer sometimes makes people believe we are uneducated.  I hate it when people talk down to me.  Just because a person works with their hands does not mean they don't have to use their head also.  These skilled laborers are vital.  A few years ago our furnace crapped out on Christmas Day during a really nasty snow storm.  Our plumbing and heating guy was here by 8AM that morning.  Next time your toilet backs up or your furnace craps out or you need new tires on your car, remember to thank those people and be grateful for the skills they have that you lack.

Mommy Wars

I'm sure by now you've all seen the Time cover.  I haven't read the article, nor do I particularly care to.  I just don't see the need to argue over who is doing the best job.  All 3 of my children will be breastfed until they are a year.  I cloth diaper.  I stay at home.  Does that make me superior to other moms?  Heck, that doesn't even make me a good mom.  I hope that I am, but there are days when I sure don't feel like it.  My husband always asks why I take such long showers.  In all honesty, it's because when I'm in the shower no one (usually) needs me, touches me, or cries at me.  At least, not that I can hear.  When I'm in the shower I can have a think a thought all the way through.  Most of my blog posts are written in the shower, but until they invent water proof computers, most of them will never actually make it to the computer.

So what makes a good mom? In my opinion, you can't parent every child the same way.  There is no foolproof method to raising a child.  There's no one book you can read or blog you can follow.  I don't even parent my own kids the same. Sometimes I wonder how 2 boys so different can have the same parents.  I know I'm not the same mom to Cole as I am to Tate.  Cole was never allowed to do some of the things that Tate does, simply because he is/was not independent enough to do them.  I'm sure I'll be a different parent to Shelby too.  The ultimate goal of every parent is to raise a responsible child that contributes to society.  So, does it really matter how they get there?

Baby Face

I love the faces babies make, especially my baby.  She's started smiling and cooing a little bit in the last couple of days.  I don't think there is anything cuter...