Check, check, check and check

Here are all the ways we checked off the items on our summer bucket list.

I had to make a slide show because, really, I just don't have 3 hours to upload all of these pictures one by one. Sorry.

So that's it! Tons of fun summer memories all wrapped up in one little slide show!

Now I just need to print the pictures and put them in our book and we're all set to remember Summer 2010 for a long, long time!

Hope yours was fantastic, too!

Our Summer To-Do List Scrapbook

You may or may not remember this from my last post:



It's our Summer To Do List.

Here's how this project went down.

{Including weird conversations with myself.}

Whit, Olivia and I gather at our raggedy old kitchen table and start talking about the things we reeeeeeeeally want to do this summer.

I have to give them a bit of a jumpstart, but then they're off and running with it.

Once I start writing on the big white foam boards Whit chuckles to himself and makes a snarky little remark that I'm sure acting like a teacher *or something.* {Insert 6 year old eye roll here}.

Me (to myself): ACTING like a teacher?? ACTING? Get it, buddy. I *AM* a teacher. Hmpfff. {Insert 34 year old eye roll here plus hands folded across chest like a two year old.}

We're on item number 8ish and I start thinking to myself (which is generally never good for the kids)...

"Now Leigh...seriously...how can you turn this fantastic project into something educational for the kiddos??"

"Hmmmmm."

"Let's multitask here."

"OH, OH, OH!! I know! I'll have them write the items down on some paper and we'll put them in a book."

"That'll be fun for them and they'll love checking off the boxes."

"And, I'll be throwing in some literacy and handwriting practice, too."

"Yessssss. Sneaky, Leigh. I like it."

"And, maybe we could add a few pictures to the book along the way...just to remember all the fun things we do."

"In case they ever forget how awesome their mom is to take time to do this sort of thing with them."

"Or, in case they ever want to blame me for ruining their lives or something ridiculous like that."

"I'll have proof to the contrary."

"Sort of like a scrapbook."

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"WAIT A MINUTE! I GOT IT!! WE CAN MAKE A SCRAPBOOK!!!"

And, so our little project was born.

After we wrote down all of our items on the foam boards, I pulled out some cardstock and markers.

We decided which items each child would write and I put their initials in the boxes on the foam boards and they proceeded to write out their designated items.

I made the check-off boxes on each page and they did the rest.


Then the cutest thing happened.

Olivia made swirly letters.


Cute, no?

I helped them write out the majority of the list because frankly, more than one page of writing just wasn't gonna happen.

After they were all finished, I whipped up a cover for our book using this kit and printed it out from my computer.


I hole-punched the sides and added rings to hold the pages together.

And then I added the ribbon.


We all know about my love affair with ribbon, right? It's a sickness, I know.

Here are a few of the final pages.





And, here are two kids who are very much looking forward to eating ice cream tomorrow morning for breakfast!!


We've added a few more since then and we've checked off a few, too.

I'll be updating you later on that.

And that's it!

Hope you all have a happy summer and do something fun with your kids or dogs or husbands, if you have them.

If not, do something fun with your neighbor's kids or dogs. But not their husbands, because, well....that would just be inappropriate.

Love and hugs everybody!

Happy Summer-ing!

Leigh :)

Snaggle Squared

4 days after Whit lost his first tooth, this is what he looked like:




Yep...he's a double snaggle now. And the two reeeeeeeeeally crooked teeth on the bottom??

They're about to wiggle their way out, too.

I've never known a kid loose so many teeth at once.

Of course, I've never really been interested in kids loosing teeth either, so that *could* be the problem?!?

Anyway, he's pretty snaggly right now and soooooooo stinkin' proud of himself!

I'm just wondering if the Tooth Fairy could maybe get a loan to get us through this busy phase??

A wee bit snaggly

It finally happened!

Whit lost his first tooth.

He was so excited I thought he was going to have a heart attack, or pee on himself or both!

Not long ago, he noticed that *ALL* the other kids in his class had started losing their teeth.

And, by *ALL* I mean the 4 boys that sit at his pod in his classroom.

So, when that top tooth started wiggling (about 3 months ago), he got very excited. Little did we know it would take a few days short of FOREVER to finally pop out.

But, pop out it did and now I officially have a snaggle tooth child!


Checking out the tooth in the car after school.


And, I couldn't resist posting this picture, even though it is very blurry, of his sister, who was every bit as excited about the lost tooth as Whit was. Bless her.


You may remember this post where I told you about my tooth fairy tins. Well, that little tin came in mighty handy on Friday night when the tooth fairy came to visit. She left Whit $5 and also let him keep his tooth. He had to write her a letter and ask if he could keep it and obviously she agreed because Saturday morning he woke with money and the tooth still in the tin!

Lucky kid.

And that's all for now!

Dear January...

Good riddance!

January was probably the single worst month I've experienced in quite some time.

In all honesty, I experienced some really low lows that I've never been through before.

It's hard to come here and write about life like everything is perky and wonderful when really, it's not. Our lives usually are perky and wonderful. I'm generally a funny gal who makes the most out of every situation, but January was not fun for me.

Not even a little bit.

We are very lucky as a family to have the life we have, and trust me, we do not take that for granted. But, every once in a while, the "stuff" takes over and we get bogged down in the details.

I won't go into most of those details here, but Whit has had a pretty rough month. We finally {FINALLY} got in to see the specialist we've been waiting for in Greenville (after 7 long months). The visit was awesome! Whit's doctor is wonderful and really took a lot of time with Whit and with us. We left there feeling better than ever! On top of the world, even.

But, that all quickly changed when we began our first round of medication. The medication interacted horribly with Whit's system and eventually ended up causing the week from Hell for us. We had lots of moments that looked like this:



It was awful. Whit's doctor swiftly made the call to take him off of that medication, but still, the damage was done. I'm not sure what happened that week, but all of the progress that we've made this year with Whit went spiraling down the drain.

Gone.

It was like the medication removed a filter for Whit and suddenly we were hearing lots of things that we'd never heard from him before. Unsettling, scary things. Things that run through his little innocent head that he believes are true. Things that you'd expect from a teenager filled with emotional angst...not a six year old boy. Things that made me weep. Repeatedly.

So, needless to say, we're back to square one. Actually, we're back to square negative 10. Whit had made a lot of progress this year with his anxiety and suddenly we're waaaaaaaaay back there {again}.

I do not blame the medication. I'm thankful for what we've come through because now at least we know what's going on in that little mind of his. When you know better, you do better. We can do better by him now. At some point, we'll be back at square one. Just maybe not any time soon.

I'm okay with that. I've made peace.

So, that's what's been going on with us.

Plus, on top of everything, our computer crashed. CRASHED.

Add another layer of chaos to the mix.

Mommy wants to pull her hair out at this point.

I LIVE by my computer. Everything, EVERYTHING I do is on the computer. My work files for school, my scrapbooking files, everything.

Gone. GONE!

Just another layer of awful. I had it all backed up through Mozy, but we spent a few weeks first trying to repair the computer, which did not work, and then another week replacing it, so it was a big ole' mess.

I'm glad to be back here now.

Hope your January was awesome!

This is going to take a while...

so just get ready.

Here's the thing, we really haven't had anything that exciting going on lately.

Not that I'm complaining. Please, Lord, know that I'm not complaining!!

But, really, I'm just not sure if anyone really wants to hear about the mundane daily activities of the Theo clan.

I mean, a gashed head, sure. People want to know about that.

Cute freebies. Maybe.

But, regular old life?? I doubt it.

But, since I've really, really missed writing on the old blog, I thought I'd give her a little update.

Just in case you don't know, I really LOVE the writing part. It's kind of cathartic for me. I've always loved writing, so this blog is a great way to get my writing-fix! Plus, I'm sort of treating it like a scrapbook...I'll record my memories here in the hopes that one day each one will make their way into a real scrapbook about our lives.

So here goes.... I'll start with back to school. I think I'm ready to talk about that now.

Waaaaaay back in August, Whit, Olivia and I all went back to school. For most of us, it was no big deal.

For Whit...well, yeah...it was a big ole' rotten, stinkin', no good, very bad deal. He didn't want to go back to school. Not even one little bit. He was having a veryfinetimstayinghomealldayeveryday, thankyouverymuch. He really wasn't sure school was even necessary at his age and asked repeatedly why kids have to go to school.

A couple of times he made the argument that he could learn anything and everything he needed to know just by "browsing the internet." I mean, seriously, how can I argue with that? He is, in fact, correct. But alas, as I said at least 1000 times the week before school started, "all kids go to school and unfortunately, Whit, you are a kid, so that means you, too." I really couldn't think of a better argument that would make him understand and "because I said so," just never seems like a viable option with Whit.

The day school started, we got off to a rough start. I mean, just look at the excitement on his face:



Things got a little better after I begged for just a little smile. Okay, maybe it was a fake, but I don't care.




Once we were on our way, I was pleasantly surprised by the chipper attitude I could see peeking out behind the nervous smile!




But, once inside the school, I could tell the anxiety was starting to take over and his little lip started to quiver. I swear I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown standing right smack dab in the middle of the brand new Spartanburg Charter School.

I don't know. There's something about sending your child into a situation that you KNOW is going to provoke the worst possible feelings for them that just makes you feel like a bad mom. I KNOW I'm not a bad mom. In fact, I think I've probably earned a few stars in my crown for the things I've endured as a mom already, but geez...this was awful.

The worst part was he was being SO BRAVE!! He was trying SO HARD to push his nervous feelings away and be strong. He wants to like school, he really does. He just can't.

His doctor explained it well this summer. Imagine something that terrifies you. For me, it's public speaking. In college, when I had to give presentations, I would literally feel like I was going to throw up. And, when I say throw up, I mean PROJECTILE VOMIT MASSIVE AMOUNTS. My heart would race, my blood pressure would soar, I just generally felt horrible. For days in advance, I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't get the fear of the presentation out of the forefront of my mind. No matter what I was doing, that fear was always present.

Well, guess what? That's the way Whit feels almost EVERY SINGLE DAY. Unless he is at home, he feels this exact same way. The uncertainty of a new routine or new situation (even if it is a safe one) scares the life out of him.

Imagine that. Imagine feeling this way ALL THE TIME.

It's awful. He can't concentrate, can't sit still, can't focus. Last year, we thought it was possibly an attention problem. But no. His doctor thinks it's the anxiety?!? How could I not have known that before?!

My heart was just breaking for him on the first day of school.

But, he put on a brave face and walked right in.

I lost it. I literally had to go outside the school building and cry. It was like years of not-knowing and uncertainty all came out in that one moment. Not that we know for sure what, exactly, is going on, but at least we have a better idea. We are scheduled to see another specialist soon, so hopefully we'll know more then. Anxiety just seems much more reasonable to me than ADHD (in my humble opinion). I mean, the kid can sit for HOURS and play something that interests him (like his DS, for example). And, he's not hyperactive (usually). I can do science experiments with him for 8 hours straight and he never once loses concentration. But, put him in a new situation and whew, what a different kid!!

So, Whit's first day at school went okay. He asked his teacher probably 60 times, "how much longer" and "what comes next?" On the second day of school, she not-so-nicely suggested we buy him a watch. Good idea! We bought the watch and now, after a few weeks, the questions of "how much longer" have ceased. He can also successfully count down how many hours he has left until Mommy comes in any given day. The first few weeks were hard. We had some random "adjustment moments" and a few days of sporadic crying spells in class, but overall, he's done great!

Early on, I was shocked and amazed to hear Whit talk, with excitement, about his days at school. He really seems to thrive in the type of environment the Charter School offers. He tested high on his MAP test, so twice a week, he gets to go into an "advancement period" with others his age who scored highly on the test. He really seems to enjoy everything the school is offering (even the yoga class and especially Spanish). We have been very pleased with our decision to try the Charter School! We wanted something different, which is why we switched, and we have been so excited to see how well he's done!

Needless to say, I'm proud of this little guy!



Then, there's Olivia. The school-loving, friend-seeking girl that loooooooves to try new things. Loves school. Loves learning. Loves going ANYWHERE that involves leaving our house.

How is it possible that they came from the same womb? I just don't get it.

She started school a few weeks after Whit and has been having the time of her life.







I just pray she continues to love school as much as she does now!

So that's it! That is our back to school story.

I fully intended to get more written, but now I'm tired. I think I wore myself out emotionally once again.

I'll write more soon. I know I promise this a lot. Okay, an awful lot. But, seriously, I will try to write more soon!

Love and hugs, everybody!

Have a great week!

The layout...

Here's the layout I did about Whit's accident. The image is clickable (if you click it, it will enlarge so you can read it).



Credits are here.

I hope I never have to scrap images like these again. *Shivers*

Well, that was fun!

*** WARNING - THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE SEEING CHILDREN WITH THEIR HEADS SPLIT OPEN, MOVE ON TO THE NEXT BLOG!!***

Yesterday was supposed to be just another typical day in the lives of the Theos.

Except it wasn't.

Everything started off great (foreshadowing event #1). When a day actually starts off GREAT, I typically know something is going to go wrong. We don't have *GREAT* days. We have good days and we have bad days. We have GREAT moments and GREAT events, but GREAT DAYS?? Notsomuch.

Whit woke up in a super good mood and Olivia was her usual chipper self. We had breakfast and the whole house looked just fan-freaking-tastic, {especially seeing how just 24 hours previously, it looked like a clothes tornado had blown through our living room}. Things were just peachy.

Summer came over to make invitations for her sweet girl's 2nd birthday party {which, BTW, turned out SUPER CUTE}. Brynn, Olivia and Addie all played so well together! Even Whit sat quietly playing his games and no one really made a fuss about anything! {SCORE!}

We had more friends coming over in the afternoon to shop Olivia's closet before it hits the consignment market, but since we finished fairly early with the invitations, I decided the kids and I would head over to our favorite consignment store to check out their new fall clothes.

Much to my surprise, EVERYONE in the house was down with that plan and got ready to go in a jiffy!! (Foreshadowing event #2).

We had a pleasant ride over to the shop and when we got there, the shop was fairly empty, which is a very good thing because it is a small store and when there's more than 5 people in there, it's...well...a bit overwhelming and closterphobic-ish.

When the kids hopped out of the car, I asked Whit if he was going to take his DS in and ASTONISHINGLY he said, "No thanks, I don't want to lose it." (foreshadowing event #3). If he had been playing his DS in the corner, like usual, none of the following story would've probably happened.

We weren't in the store 10 minutes before all Hell broke loose.

Forgive me for using the "H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS" word, but People, that's exactly what it was.

The store has toys in the back corner (near the bathroom) and among the toys is a big wooden train table. Whit was heading toward the back of the store to see Olivia and tripped and fell {FACE FIRST} into the CORNER of the table. I was literally TWO FEET behind him and believe me when I tell you, his head ricocheted like a basketball off that table.

He immediately grabbed his head, let out a howl, stood up and turned around to face me. As soon as I saw his face, I knew there was trouble. That poor baby was in SHOCK.

I crouched down to get him and {over his screams} asked him to let me have a look.

HOLEY MACKEREL.

His head was COVERED in blood and just GASHED open.

Now, mind you, this event was HORRIFIC! I mean just AWFUL.

But, it couldn't just stop there.

Oh, NO.

Remember, Olivia? The one who passes out at the sight of blood?

Yeah, you see where this is going.

Olivia begins to FREAK OUT. I mean, she FREAKED OUT, People. Between she and Whit, the screams were enough to deafen anyone around. Luckily, there weren't many people in the store.

I immediately grabbed Whit's head and pushed as hard I could to try to make the bleeding stop before I could really get a good look at it. I knew it was bad; I mean really, really bad, but at that point, I had no idea how bad it was really going to be. There was blood, literally, spurting out of his forehead. Olivia is still freaking out and I don't know what to tackle first.

I made Olivia sit outside the bathroom and I told her to keep talking to me while I took Whit in and began to assess the situation. Soon enough, there were workers in the bathroom with me and as only God would have it, one of them was a FIRST RESPONDER! I immediately told one of the girls about Olivia and had her go out to take care of her.

Sure enough, 5 minutes into the whole ordeal, Olivia had passed out TWICE and puked all over the whole store and the owner.

Seriously, what would you do in a situation like this?

Both of your children need you.

One has what looks like a massive laceration to his forehead and one is passing out repeatedly and vomitting violently all over the place.

You are only ONE PERSON.

What do you do??

I did the only thing I knew to do.

I CALLED MY MOMMA!

Per Mom's instructions, I piled everyone up in the car {including the store owner} and drove us to the nearest urgent care. But, they said we needed to go to the ER because Whit would need stitches.

Remember my anxious child? Whooooooo, the anxiety went through the roof at that point.

Side note: Do medical professionals not know to keep the wording to a minimum when your child is sitting in your arms with his head gashed open? I mean, the lady was nice enough, but she kept saying things like "Whoa, he really nailed it, didn't he." Of course, Whit misinterprets this and thinks they are going to put nails in his forehead. Talk about freaking out! The kid went crazy.

Back to the story.

It turns out that we didn't need stitches after all. Just some super glue which we were very excited about.

The whole ordeal ended up looking like this:



And, all afternoon yesterday, Whit and I felt like this:



A little loopy, to say the least.

Today, we are recovering and enjoying some time at home. The fussing and squealing is back in full effect and it's almost like nothing ever happened.

Except that my kid's head is still split open and looks just downright nasty.

Other than that, things are looking up.

Who knew??

My little guy is SIX.

Wow!

WHO KNEW?!?!

Who knew I would get through one baby shower at work and then you would make your entrance EIGHT WEEKS EARLY, thereby thwarting any and all other showers that were planned?



Who knew you would come into this world EIGHT WEEKS EARLY and still weigh a whopping 5lbs 9ozs. {You looked like the line backer of the NICU team}. Those numbers are unheard of...



Who knew you would make your entrance nice and early thereby avoiding potential harm from a TRUE KNOT in your cord? (And yes, your head was wonky, but CHECK OUT THE KNOT).



Who knew you would survive your first few weeks at home with two weirded out nurses and one weirded out mom who acted like you would die if we didn't write down every poo, every breastfeeding, every burp, every bath, every cry and every nap.




Who knew you would survive your first year and be COMPLETELY and TOTALLY healthy with absolutely no problems by your first birthday?






Who knew by the time you were 16 months old, you would have a little sister who would totally annoy the heck out of you and drive you crazy as often as she could, all the while looking innocent and totally precious?




Who knew she would become your best buddy {sometimes}and partner in crime?












Who knew you would love so many different things?

Like swimming...




And gaming...




And legos!!




Who knew we could love you so much?











God knew!

That's why he gave us you!



We love you, Whittaker Cole! You make us so proud!

Happy Birthday, buddy!