Blogging Again

Ed is finished with school and so may have some time now to get our PC fixed, so I plan to start blogging again. I've missed blogging and sharing with you all. We are so proud of Ed and I know he is so relieved to be finished with school. But I don't who is more excited, him or Fletcher and I. It will be nice not to to hear "I have to go do homework" any more. He said he didn't know what he'd do with himself. I said I'd make him a list! :) We are planning to go to Mom's on Friday or Saturday and stay through the weekend for Easter. My Aunt Susan and Uncle Mike have a little cabin by a creek in Alexander County and have invited everyone to come to the creek for an Easter picnic. I hope the weather is nice so that we can. It sounds like so much fun and a great photo opportunity. All the kids will have a blast playing in the creek. I remember doing that at my Aunt Linda's house as a child. We've been celebrating Easter for a week now: Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast at the Yenicheck's last Sunday and an Easter Egg Hunt at Fletcher's school on Wednesday. Both were a lot of fun. Fletcher's new absolutely favorite place is the Sand Lot in Davidson, right across the street from his preschool. It's a huge sand box with all kinds of toy trucks and earth movers, plus lots of grass to run in and a paved path for bikes, etc and a tunnel that we like to pretend is a firetruck or rocket ship. We've enjoyed the beautiful weather and have been 4 times this week. More soon, plus some pictures.

Back Soon

Our computer hard drive crashed and so I'll get back to blogging whenever it's fixed/replaced.

More Paint and Bubbles, and Silliness

We had fun outside again this morning: painting with spray bottles, more bubble blowing, and watering the plants with soapy water, which Fletcher thought was very silly. Fletcher's art shirt shows the evidence of over a year-and-a-half of art projects. On another note, Fletcher has been wearing underwear for the past few days, but not without incident. Hopefully, we'll make some progress soon.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

I was reading an article in Real Simple recently about what their staff and readers favorite household items were, the things they counldn't live without. I thought about my favorite things, items I use everyday, and thought I'd share them. Leave a comment with your favorite things and I'll add them to this post. 1) My Dust Buster: perfect for sucking up the crumbs that come with 4 toddlers in the house at one time and better than a broom and dustpan for getting the little stuff. I have one upatairs and downstairs, 2) Clorox Wipes: to wipe up all sorts of messes plus general wipedowns and makes me feel confindent that I'm killing germs in the process, 3) Burts Bees Chapstick: my favorite lip stuff, great alone or under their lip colors. I use this so much that Ed made me one (as a joke) for Christmas with a string so I could wear it around my neck!, 4) Baby wipes: for wiping dirty hands, faces, etc. after meals and art and more, and of course for their obvious use. Look forward to hearing your favorite household things! Here is Tonya's list: My favorite household things:1. Lint roller: used for removing cat hair (which I tend to be pretty compulsive about)2. Baby wipes: used for everything (Emma even uses them to dust for me!)3. Espresso machine: used to help me regain sanity4. Laptop: used for looking up stuff (even when there is nothing to look up)5. Food: used for over-indulgence6. Stroller: used to walk off excess pounds caused by over-indulgence of #5

Glorious Morning

We are slowly coming out of hibernation. We were back to the doctor yesterday because Fletcher had a bad earache on Sunday night. He has an ear infection and is on more antibiotics and we are scheduled to return to the doctor next Wednesday. Today was a beautiful morning to be outside, so Fletcher and I took the easel, paints, and paint supplies out to the patio where Fletcher painted 3 beautiful pictures of red, yellow, green, blue, and orange. We later filled a washtub with soap and water and found bubble making items like a slotted spoon, a colander, and constructed a yarn and straw bubble maker and made some really cool bubbles! We also made our own mini pizzas today for lunch which Fletcher really enjoyed (making and eating).

Mom and Dad?

I recall that while visiting with Ed's family back at Thanksgiving that my sister-in-law was dismayed that her 6-year old daughter Emily was calling her "Mom." Well, now I can relate. Over the past few weeks, I have become "Mom." Ed is has also become "Dad" in recent days, but doesn't seem to mind. I however, do not savor my 2-year old baby boy calling me "Mom": "Hi, Mom." "Mom's home," "Come on, Mom. Let's..." He's just too little for me to be his "Mom," but I am reminded every day just how fast he is growing up.

100% Fletcher...Again

After a scary few days, Fletcher is back to his old self, for the most part. Sunday night we went to the ER and Fletcher was diagnosed with pneumonia. We were back in the ER on Tuesday and admitted to the hospital. Fletcher had breathing difficulties and was on oxygen. He had oxygen and breathing treatments over the next 2 days and was diagnosed with RSV. He was released on Thursday afternoon. He is still having breathing treatments every 4 hours and on an antibiotic but is feeling like his 2-year-old self again.

For the most part, he did really great in the hospital and cooperated with all the poking and proding, comings and goings very well. He remembered his pleases and thank yous and tolerated the hoses and tubes in his face more than I would have.

While in the hospital, Fletcher amazed all the nurses and technicians: "How old is he?!," "What did he just say?!," "Wow, he's really smart isn't he?!" He explained to his nurse on Thursday that the bed could move up and down because it has pistons and later was pretending that the wheels on the over-turned wagon (that we rode round and round the 2nd floor in) was a potting wheel and he was making pots.

He will miss all his friends this week, but isn't suppose to be in close proximity with other children for the next week. We can go to the playground or other wide-open spaces, thank goodness!

Thank you all for your phone calls, kinds thoughts and words, and goodies for stir-crazy boys and parents! We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful support group.