These boots were made for walkin'!

We've been having some of those days, since Andrew turned three, where we just want to pull our hair out!  He is all boy, and I'm slowly realizing that my house isn't always boy proof!   He wants to run around and be chased around the kitchen island.  All the time.  It literally wears us out!  He goes to each of his toy bins and dumps everything out.  All over the floor so there isn't even a place to walk.  He doesn't nap anymore at home, so our weekends are filled from morning until night with finding constructive things for him to do.  Every minute.  And he's only satisfied with something for a few minutes at a time.  Yeah, it's exhausting.  

  

He's been into everything lately.

  

Including mommy's boots!

  

This just makes me laugh.  Enough said! 

Recently I came across a blog of a family who is losing their little girl to cancer.  It made me reevaluate my priorities and was just another reminder of how grateful I am that Andrew is here.  Is able to make those messes, and has the energy to go from morning till night without stopping.  I think all parents could use this reminder sometimes.  So I copied a paragraph from this mother's blog.  Her words just cut through me and made me feel guilty for ever thinking that bedtime couldn't come soon enough...

The house is quiet. I am able to go through the motions of laundry, dishes, cooking and picking up without interruptions. But I WANT interruptions. I WANT Layla to be under my feet asking for cookies. I WANT to hear her playing with her toys. I WANT to take 45 minutes to unload the dishwasher because she keeps trying to help. For every time I uttered the words “I just can’t get anything done with these kids under my feet all day” I am eternally regretful. The days that I looked forward to naptime so I could get a grocery list made, or finally fold all the piles of laundry…I regret those days too. If I could do it all again, I’d enjoy EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT I had with her. I would never wish for her to sit still or take a nap or go to bed early. I would never look forward to the days when she could sit through an entire episode of Dora silently. I would treasure every second with her.

Laylagrace.org

I just think those words are amazing.  A reminder to hug our kids a little tighter and be grateful for every interruption our kids are able to give us.  To remember that each interruption is a blessing, rather than a distraction.  Andrew has taught us many of those same lessons.  But I am only human.  Sometimes I forget too.

Thank you again to those who left comments or emailed me about Andrew needing tubes and his adenoids removed.  I spent this week trying to find spare minutes during the school day to call Andrew's long list of doctors to involve them in this decision and get everyone's opinion.  All of them were on board with it.  And to top it off, I received an email from the school audiologist who had tested his hearing and the results were not good.  And we've noticed at home he's not hearing as well either.  We'll try to get his attention or talk to him and he doesn't even notice.  (Well, either that or he's just ignoring us!  Ha!)  But we think it is time to get something done about it.  With his hearing already being a concern, it just makes sense.

I spoke with his local ENT a couple of days ago to ask some final questions I had about the procedure, and to remind him of all of Andrew's needs.  Our cardiologist recommended a cardiac anesthesiologist, and also wanted me to make sure they knew Andrew takes a daily aspirin (blood thinner).  When I went into detail on these things, the ENT seemed more reluctant to go ahead with the adenoid surgery.  Oddly enough, he mentioned that Iowa City has one of the best ENT clinics in the country.  I concluded that he felt more comfortable with us going there to have this done.  A few of you had mentioned that I should check out Iowa City as well, so this seemed like a sign to me. 

I called and made an appointment.  So we are headed to Iowa City on Tuesday to meet with a highly recommended doctor there.  It'll seem strange to go there for something not related to Andrew's heart!  But we know this is the right decision, and we feel good about it.  We love Iowa City.  We trust them.  We know Andrew is in good hands there.

So he'll have his consult and then we'll go from there once they give us their assessment.  I spent most of the day yesterday faxing forms back and forth to release information from all of our doctors here to the ENT clinic there.  All of this during school when I need to be writing lesson plans and getting ready for conferences coming up.  Who ever said working full time and having a child with *increased medical needs* would be easy???  (*A nice way of saying "high maintenance!")  It's okay.  I brought the mountain of school work home with me to work on during all my free time at home.  Ha!

Last weekend my niece, Mary, and her boyfriend were in town visiting from New York.  Mary is Andrew's Godmother, and we just love every chance we get to see her since she moved to NY.  Mary and I grew up like sisters, we are only seven years apart.  I am so proud of her as she moved to NY after college for an internship, and didn't know a single person there.  I don't think I could have survived on my own in NYC!

 

Andrew had a blast playing with James and Mary, as you can see from the look on his face!

  

We all met at my mom's house to play for a little bit and then have lunch.  We wanted to go to Hickory Park, but it was packed so we settled for the Pizza Ranch.

  

The Pizza Ranch is a pizza buffet, and they have other things also, like chicken, etc.  It's a great place for kids!  Because you don't have to wait for your food!  Ha!

 

 Andrew just loved James and Mary.  They brought him a birthday gift, and that immediately made them his best friends!  He wanted to hold their hands, it was so cute.

 

We loved their visit and we miss them so much.  Wish they lived here!  But I am trying to talk Craig into visiting them sometime, especially since they are only a couple hours away from the Sesame Place (SS theme park!)  Andrew would go nuts!

  

This is the giant snowpile outside my mom's house.  It's taller than Andrew!

  

This was so funny.  When it was time to head home, Andrew didn't want to leave Ga Ga's so he just plopped right down on her sidewalk and wouldn't move!  Ha!

  

So Ga Ga had to carry him, kicking and screaming the whole time!  He loves going to Ga Ga's and he never wants to leave!

  

I guess he'll be happy to hear that he is going to Ga Ga's again tonight to sleep over!  My mom is watching him again so Craig and I can have another date night.  We did this a few weeks ago, and we enjoyed it so much that we wanted to do it again.  Sooner rather than later!  Plus, my mom and Papa loved having Andrew stay.  Andrew got spoiled.  All of us were happy.  Ha!  I think we are going to head out to one of our favorite places- out to Jordan Creek by where we used to live.  They have great shopping and eating places.  Our church is there as well, so we will go to the Saturday night service, which we rarely get to do anymore!  I am looking forward to it so much!

Even though I'll miss my little monkey like crazy...

  It's good for us to do these things sometimes.  It makes us better mommies and daddies!