Family Vacation at the Beach

We are at the beach this week for 7 days and are having so much fun! Both boys are doing great! Tyler is so excited to be here. So far his favorite things have been going in the swimming pool without his life jacket, playing Braves baseball on the beach, and flying his kite! Who knew Jason knew how to fly a kite? I've never flown a kite in my life! I asked Tyler what he thought Matthew's favorite part of the trip has been and he said watching him build a sandcastle. I'm sure Matthew was thrilled with Tyler's sandcastle building ability! Here are a few pictures from our trip so far. I hope to post some more later in the week.

Update on Tyler & Some Cute Weekend Pics!

Tyler is much better today. When he woke up this morning his hives were gone but his feet are still a little swollen. We have counted the ant bites on each foot several times and I am not kidding when I say there are over twenty bites on each foot! It's easy to see why his body broke out in hives yesterday. The doctor gave him a steroid to take until the end of the week and, if you've ever had a child on a steroid, it is NOT fun! It makes him do things out of character for him such as spraying sunscreen all over the stairs because he was "painting them". Ask me how much fun it is trying to get greasy spray sunscreen off of carpeted stairs. Our entire house smells like sunscreen!

On another note, I wanted to share some cute pictures we took this weekend of Tyler and Matthew and their friends Reese and Kate. It's rare for Tyler and Reese to get together and smile for a picture so you'd think getting all four kids together would be very difficult but they all just sort of fell into place and posed for the camera.

We're off to Atlanta tomorrow to cheer on the Braves. Hopefully I'll have some cute pics to post of Tyler enjoying the game.

Sick Day

Do you remember sick days when you were a kid? I mean the days you couldn't go to school and you had to go to the doctor or simply stay home all day? I remember dragging my Barbie dolls into my dad's room and sitting at his feet while he worked on the computer. I remember going to my mom's office and playing with wind-up toys underneath her desk while she worked. I remember sitting in the doctor's office waiting room petrified of getting a shot and then crying when the doctor looked at my parents and said "Lauren's going to need to get a S-H-O-T".

Today has been one of those sick days for us. As I was leaving my doctor's appointment this morning I received a phone call from the director at Tyler's daycare. She informed me that Tyler must have been bit by something while playing in the water today during swim day and he was broken out in some sort of rash from head to toe. When I got to the daycare I found my child bright red from head to toe. He looked like he had a severe sunburn. He had white and red whelps all over his body and his feet were so swollen that he wouldn't walk on them. He immediately wanted me to pick him up (in his damp bathing suit and all!) so of course, I did. He laid his head on my shoulder while I talked to the director and carried him to the car. Definitely not the typical behavior of my three and a half year old rambunctious little boy! We went to the doctor and found out that Tyler was broken out in hives. He called in some medicine and told us to keep giving him Benadryl for the next two days until the hives go away.

I asked Tyler several times what had happened and he wouldn't answer. Maybe he just didn't feel well and was tired of talking about it. After nap when I asked him again, he finally told me the story. While playing in the pool a ball rolled into the grass in a pile of dirt (AKA an ant bed). He told me he didn't step in the ant bed when he went to get the ball but he looked down and had bugs on his feet. So, in typical 3-year-old fashion I guess, he ran to the pool and put his feet back in the water to get the bugs off. Never once did he scream or tell his teachers there were bugs on his feet until they were back in the classroom. By that time, his feet were so swollen that the ant bites couldn't be seen. Only after nap today, around 5:00, when his swollen feet were a little better were we able to see the ant bites. I have never seen so many ant bites on one person in my life! I can't believe Tyler did not scream or yell when he was bit so many times. He was too consumed with playing to pay attention to the "bugs" on his feet! Ah, to be three years old again without a care in the world...

Update: Tonight his feet are still swollen and he's still broken out in hives but not nearly as bad as this morning. Hopefully he will recover soon and we will be able to go to Atlanta on Wednesday to see a Braves baseball game as we've been planning to do for several weeks. Keep us in your prayers!

Summer Days

Do you know how much I love summer? Yes, I enjoy teaching or I wouldn't spend my days with a classroom full of fourth graders August through May, but one great part about my job is having the summers to spend with my boys and get recharged for the next school year. We're four weeks into summer and the boys and I have already had such a great time just spending time together. It's also a great time for me to catch up on some sleep and read some great books. I'm on my third book of the summer, the second book in the Redemption series (thanks Micheal!). If you've never read these books you should definitely check them out. They're addicting! Ok, so enough about me. Here's what the boys have been up to during the first half of summer...

Tyler is having a great summer! He goes to school two days a week and usually can't wait to get there. Each day is something fun...swim day, bike day, movie day, playing on the playground, playing in centers. I am so thankful that he enjoys going to school. It allows me to go to appointments and workshops during the summer without worrying about him. We are so fortunate to have him in such a wonderful, Christian preschool program just five minutes from our home. On the days he's not at school we seem to stay busy swimming, playing outside, going to the movies, going to the zoo, and just playing around the house. He's found toys I think he forgot he had! We also go to the library each week to log our books for the summer reading program and check out more. So far, we've read twenty books this summer...many of them Clifford and Curious George books!

Matthew is still a sweet, happy baby! When I look at his 3 month pictures we had made in May, I can't believe how fast he's growing each day. He went for his 4 month check up last week and weighed 15 pounds 4 ounces and was 26 1/4 inches long. The doctor said he is a healthy boy who doesn't miss a meal! Believe me, I know since I'm the one feeding him. The boy loves to eat! He likes to play in his Johnny Jump-Up, his swing, and his play mat, and he likes to be outside with his big brother. He also likes to "talk" and laugh. He has rolled over from his back to his stomach the past week and is trying to roll from his stomach to his back. He still hasn't mastered the art of sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. He wakes up every night between 2:00 and 3:00 but Daddy is helping us out with these wakings. It seems little Matthew has developed a habit of waking at this time and when he sees me in his room he screams his head off until I feed him since that's all I'm good for sometimes! Since he is now eating cereal daily again, I have dropped the middle of the night feedings so, with Jason tending to him when he wakes at night, he should be able to kick this habit pretty quickly (according to our pediatrician). I'll keep you posted!

I hope everyone else is having a great summer. Time seems to fly by these days but we're enjoying every minute of it!

Happy Father's Day...A Little Late

I've been trying to finish this Father's Day collage of Jason and the boys for a few days but my Internet Explorer kept shutting itself down while I was working on it. I was finally able to finish it this afternoon. We are so blessed to have a wonderful "daddy" who loves God and his family. Some of Tyler's favorite things to do with Daddy include playing basketball outside, watching sports on TV, and going to Alabama football games. He also takes great joy in aggrivating the daylights out of his daddy! I'm sure Matthew will join in on the fun soon enough. We love you Daddy and we are thankful for everything you do for us! Happy Father's Day a few days late.

Matthew's 1st Swim!

Matthew took his first dip in the pool last week at a friend's house. He only lasted long enough for me to snap a few pictures, but he loved laying on a towel in the shade. He took a good nap in the shade while Tyler, Aunt Jana, and me played in the pool. What a sweet baby and big brother we have been blessed with!

Summer Reading

Before I begin let me just say that Tyler is about to go get his haircut...it is SO long! Tyler, Matthew, and I made our first trip of the summer to the public library today to register for the summer reading program. I must say that I was very impressed with my little boy's library behavior. Last summer he was all over the place in the library running, talking loudly, and pulling books off of the shelf. Today, he was an angel! After we registered him for the summer program, he took a few books to a table, sat down, and looked at the books while I located more that I think he'd like. I wish I had my camera inside to take a picture of my sweet boy sitting at the small table looking at books. He looked so grown up! He was excited about checking out books and checked out 10 today which he wanted to carry all by himself! We looked at picture books and checked out some Clifford and Arthur books but his favorite was the nonfiction section. He checked out a few books on animals (elephants, tigers, and dolphins) and then one book about trains. I have a feeling these 10 books won't last us through the week before we're back for more.

This post may be quite amusing to some of you, especially my mom, dad, and sister, because when I was younger I HATED to read. I'm not sure why I hated it. Maybe it was because I would rather have been playing outside than sitting down reading a book. If I only knew then what I know now! I actually enjoy reading fiction novels now when I have time, mainly during the summer. In less than a week, I've just finished Emily Giffin's Baby Proof . I read her other two books last summer and enjoyed them as well. What is everyone else reading this summer? I need some good recommendations for my next book!