Hewitt and Titus Update

Sorry for the delay on this. Things have been crazy around here. Even more so than usual, if you can imagine that.

Once again I am feeling thankful for God's hand on our search for a neurologist back in 2008-2009. He was a comfort to me in the hospital with Titus, assured me that what he was dealing with was common and really put my mind at ease. He is funny, caring and brilliant. I am so thankful for him! If you are in Seattle area and you need a pediatric neurologist, I HIGHLY (yeah, I shouted that) recommend Dr. Marcio Sotero.

Titus: The EEG showed that Titus is not having seizures. The neurologist explained to me that they're tics and the only reason we even did the EEG was because of Hewitt's history. I am so thankful to have seizures ruled out. It's a huge relief and has cleared a lot of space out of my brain not having to wonder and worry. He did tell me to watch for OCD and ADD, as those tend to be issues that typically arise in children with tics. He shared some great information with me about how common it is for boys to have tics and that for a lot of them it goes away on it's own and never needs medical intervention. I'm so thankful to be able to move forward on this.

Hewitt: Well, he continues to have some seizures. They are almost always absence seizures but I do notice them and this does concern me. I still thinking I am seeing an occasional myoclonic seizure in his hands as well. We have a 24-48 hour EEG scheduled for him in June. The dilemma we are facing now is that he is as high as he can go on the medicine he takes for absence seizures. He doesn't tolerate it at a higher dose. So, if he is having as many seizures as I think he is, we will need a new plan. Right now, we are talking about a diet change for him that would include higher fats, low carb, no sugar. This would be a hard change for him, but I think we could do it and we might just do it for everyone if we do. I don't know, we'll see. We might end up being in the hospital for 48 hours this time. We are hoping to catch these episodes he has at night, so they might keep us in 2 nights instead of one. We won't know until we are there though.

Hewitt came and visited Titus on the second day in the hospital and I caught this great pic of the two of them. I love it so much. We had just ordered Titus' lunch and Hewitt and Titus were exchanging stories about hospital food as I took this pic. It was pretty sweet!

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5 reasons to be excited you're having a boy

1.  Boy parts.  Boy parts will make bathroom issues easy.  For example:  Changing a boy diaper is much less complicated than a girl diaper.  Everything is on the outside and you don't have to worry about wiping the wrong direction!  Also, on road trips going to the bathroom can easily happen in a cup or on the side of the road!  And, if you have one bathroom like us and you have a kid that just can't wait his turn, the tree in the backyard makes a pretty great urinal when you're a little boy.

2.   This one might be a little selfish, but boys fall in love with their mamas. It is fun to be adored. You are the first person they want to marry.  You are their measure of what's beautiful.  (my future daughter in law's should appreciate where I've set the bar on this one ;) HA!)   This inspires me to be a more beautiful person, inside and out. 

3.  Boys love to work.  They were created to work.  You might look at a lot of men today and disagree with this statement, but we directly influence our son's behavior and attitudes about work.  We are given the unique opportunity to ignite that desire within them!  (I could do a whole post about this topic.)

4.  Boys are simple to dress.  And, although I have complained relentlessly about the availability of stylish (non-corny) clothes for the last 10 years, boys wardrobes have one thing going that I love.  Their wardrobes consist of about 5 things.  Pants, shorts, long sleeves, short sleeves and underwear.  Need I say more? 

5. They help you better understand your husband.   I'm not inferring that men act like children. (ahem)  More like, I have 3 sisters, I have never been a boy.  I will never be a boy.  I can never fully understand how my husband's mind works, but having the opportunity to watch my boys gives me a glimpse into how the male mind functions.

*disclaimer:  This is a pretty generalized list, not a list of promises.  Obviously not all boys are the same, just like all girls are not the same.  Please don't hold me responsible if your son wants to wear leg warmers or scarves or other accessories (which obviously fall outside of the 5 clothing items category, I have one that enjoys boy accessories). 

 

What we have been up to

Kingston Magnus LeRoy

10.15.2011

7lbs.11oz. 20.5 inches

in the bathtub

Hewitt, Titus and Phoenix took a bath together tonight and I loved this one between Hewitt and Titus.

Hewitt is soaping up and says "After this, I need to put some deodorant on" 

and Titus responds with "Yeah, your armpits smell like crackers!"

boy names

i think we have this little man's name narrowed down to one of the following:

Harrison
Easton
Deacon
Kingston
Griffin

oh boy - it might take us a couple days again to name this little man when we meet him!  would love to hear any name suggestions any of you all might have!

our criteria:  not traditional, common...unique without being weird!  and at this point i think 2 syllables since his brother's names are ALL 2 syllable!

baby gifts

My sweet friend that has the handy talent of knitting showed me this morning the beautiful gift she knit for our newest little boy arriving in October.  I don't have pics of the actual ones she knit - I will post them too though.  So, in the mean time, you can drool over the pic of this one - mine is in a gorgeous dijon yellow - notice the detail of the owls...this is so completely me, and makes me feel so loved!  Thanks Dellaina!

It's from this fun knitting website - www.comfortwool.blogspot.com

letting go

There was a lot of speculation as to whether or not baby #6 would be a girl and whether or not I wanted him/her to be a girl. A LOT. Obviously when you have so many boys already there is part of you that has just resigned yourself to accepting your life as the only female in your household. I pretty much did that around boy #3. At that point, we didn't know how many children we were having. We have always said we would take it one at a time and go from there. I'm sometimes surprised we didn't stop with #3 considering the challenges he brought and how COMPLETELY different he was from his very chill older brothers. But, with those challenges came a uniqueness that I cannot imagine our lives without.

So, for the many of you that have asked, and some that haven't. YES, I was bummed it wasn't a girl. When the sonographer said it was in fact another a boy I was stunned, and for about 10 minutes, I held the tears in. Then I thought of Everett, my sweet little nurturer and how sad he would be when he finds out it's another brother. I felt sad for him. I felt sad for all of the boys that they would miss the opportunity of having a sister. I just kept saying "really?" "Is it really?" Is that really possible?" For the first half of this pregnancy I've been saying with my mouth "it's going to be a boy, of course it is" while in my heart hoping and longing for a girl. I want to buy girl clothes. I want to do something remotely feminine with SOMEONE'S room and while that is all good and fun, those aren't exactly soulful reasons to want a girl. I am always thankful when we find out that the baby is healthy and there aren't any complications - I certainly don't want to minimize the tremendous blessing of a healthy baby! God has been working on my heart though and I am always amazed at His timing. I had the opportunity to see an old friend last week and I was humbly reminded of the simple fact that I am fertile and there are so many people that aren't. I have had 6 healthy pregnancies and that is an amazing and beautiful thing. There will always be a part of me that wonders what a little girl from us would've looked like, sounded like, all of those traits that encompass that. But, at this point, I'm excited for what IS and thankful for my sweet little (or not so little, depending on your perspective) family!

*****And for those of you that might be skeptical like me, it wasn't the umbilical cord. As you can see in the pics it is VERY clearly defined. So, I am so thankful for ultrasounds and for the opportunity to prepare myself for the arrival of another boy! There is something fun and unique about having all of one gender. I look forward to meeting this new little one!

a few things we've been doing

A short update on what we've been doing for the last month or so!

The two pictures on the left (both top and bottom) are of our discovery of a "new to us" park in town that the boys have officially dubbed the Rainbow Park!  We stopped and played tag, ate ice cream bars and let them burn off a little energy before bedtime the other night!

The rest of the top row pics are at our first visit to a newly opened spray park in town.  I picked a cooler night (high 60's) and slightly drizzly and figured there wouldn't be a soul around!  We are originally Western Washingtoners after all and can handle a little rain and low temps...I was right in my prediction  about there being no one around, but my boys have acclimated to the warmer weather more than I thought!  They played, but they froze.  Phoenix just asked to be "cozy" the whole time and snuggled up in the towels and laid on the bench!  Seriously, who's kid is that? 

Oh, and snuck in there on the top row is a pic of a shelf I built on a Tuesday night (while Hayden was at youth group) out of some scrap wood.  It's rough, it's ghetto, but it's sturdy and will hold some shoes on the back porch until I can find another solution!  I was pretty proud of myself because I used a circular saw for the first time.  WOW!  That was pretty fun.  I'm looking for more scrap wood to cut now. :)

The two fishing pictures are of us at one of our new favorite weekend hangouts.  There is a great local family fishing pond in the next city over that is free for the kids to fish at and stocked with some pretty decent size trout.  We have spent quite a few afternoons there over the last few months!  It's been a fun "in town" getaway!  Just don't ask how many fish we've caught.  That's not really the point of being there!

In the middle right side of the collage is a pic of a dessert I made for our church's Memorial Day picnic.  I found the recipe on epicurious.com, one of my favorite recipe collections online.  It's a White Balsamic Custard Tart with Fresh Berry topping.  It's simple to make and really delicious!  I loved the combo of the balsamic and the berries.  It was supposed to be done in a tart pan but I didn't have one big enough so I did it in my pie plate and it turned out fine.  I would like to try it again in a tart pan though!

And the last two pics are of us camping Memorial Day weekend.  We only got out camping once last summer and we are determined to go LOTS more this summer.  We found a park about 20 minutes away from our house and managed to get the last campsite for the weekend!  We had a great time relaxing, hanging out with my awesome sister Katie and just getting some good down time away from home. 

One of my goals for summer is to make blogging a more regular thing!  Sorry for the looooonnnngg delays between posts!

overheard

Overheard between Titus and Hewitt yesterday:

T: Hewitt, how old is Annie?
H: Annie is 4
T: Am I older than her?
H: No, she's older than you. 
T: Oh (disappointed)
H: But, don't worry Titus (putting a comforting arm around his shoulders) you're older than all of the 1 year olds in the whole world.
T: Yeah, and I'm older than all of the 2 year olds too!

Seriously loving the friendship between these two.  They totally have each others backs!

proof

titus loves books, magazines, video game how-to manuals...this boy loves literature.  i can't wait until he can actually read!

my mom sent us a box in the mail this week!  i love getting mail.  love it.  it's contents included a variety of things; things we left at their house last time we were there, some fun t-shirts, some books she got at the school she works at, and some kid magazines my dad bought at his local library for the boys.  the boys spent at least an hour pouring over these magazines for school on monday morning.  i loved it.  they loved it.  good times for all. 

lincoln working on his history lesson.  we were studying the gupta dynasty on monday and it was really fun....he hates it when i take his picture though, so i had to sneak this one!  he is changing so quickly now.  why didn't anyone warn me about 8?  he has matured so much this year.  i can't believe he'll be 9 in april.  oh wow - i hadn't had that thought until i just now typed it.  moving on...

everett is my only lefty.  (i'm holding out hope for phoenix)  i love that he is a lefty (like me).  he loves that he's like me this way too.  when i was in elementary school i had terrible handwriting and we like to blame the left handedness for this.  he follows me in this way too.  oh well.  i learned to write legibly by 5th grade...i think.

it was a beautiful sunny morning on monday.  i am looking forward to more of those beautiful sunny mornings.  they make doing school so much more enjoyable. 

some days i wish God hadn't asked me to school these boys.  but, days like monday, make me so glad that i am.  this is time we'll never get back, and i'm so thankful for it. 

afternoon snuggles with my Ty-Ty

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making me laugh

I love Phoenix's moves and how Titus can't stand still in between each hand motion.

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Tornado

Phoenix has transitioned into a new phase.

He is a walking, drooling, climbing little mass of a person.

He is our most mischievous and destructive child yet.

He has his moments of sweetness and he is always cute. But I can't turn my back on him for two minutes without something being destroyed! He is exhausting me.

He is fiercely independent, (unless he is hungry). As frustrating as it can be at times, this is one of my favorite personality traits in my boys. It gives me comfort that they will think for themselves and be strong individuals (someday)

I love seeing how God creates them all so different.

Can't wait to see how this plays out.

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park day. fall leaves. new friends. fantastic time.

all of these photos were edited at http://www.picnik.com/

i am loving this free editing software...trying not to go crazy with it, but everything looks better souped up a little!

baby

while at another pumpkin patch with some friends today, phoenix managed to escape from my sight.  (don't worry, it was all enclosed, he wasn't really that far away).  this was his adventure.

i adore him.

149 pounds

we managed to round up 149lbs. of pumpkins at the pumpkin patch last weekend.  149 lbs!  i'm pretty sure that's what i weighed in high school. (proudly...longingly)  wow.  i have to admit, that i thought we were getting ripped off at first, but looking at this picture now, i suppose that all of those pumpkins are pretty heavy.  it definitely weighed our car down as we drove away! 

we had so much fun scrounging the field for just the right pumpkin.  everyone had something they were looking for.  i thought the gourds were the most fun.  they can be so crazy looking sometimes.  i managed to sneak out of there with 3 of my own pumpkins!  or was it 4?  who's counting anyway...i just had a hard time narrowing it down.  but now i have a pretty fall display of pumpkins on my front porch that complement all my beautiful fall trees and falling leaves!

this is our friend Robert, he came along to give us an extra set of hands!  wow, it was so nice to have an extra set of hands, who knew?!  bless you Robert!  we'll have to do that again sometime :)

Everett has repeatedly begged me to let him carry Phoenix in the backpack.  i have repeatedly refused.  this was our compromise!  he did well, but i think he realized that carrying some weight in there isn't as fun as it looks!  i'm guessing the begging will stop. 

it was a beautiful location in west pasco, we really enjoyed the views around the farm as we walked throughout the field! 

they were especially drawn to the rotten pumpkins...why is that?

it was a successful trip.  no injuries, no crying, no whining (amazing right?), just lots of fresh air and a whopping 149 pounds of pumpkins to rot on my front porch.  can't wait!

happy fall my friends!  (btw, if you want to comment and give me great ideas of things to do with all the pumpkins/gourds before they rot all over my front porch, i would certainly be open to your ideas!)

homeschool p.e.

I love it when everyone else goes back to school.  It really frees up the space at the parks for my kids to play. An added bonus, I'm not so stressed out about taking them to some of the bigger parks for fear of losing one.  Today, we went to a big park.  The boys were oddly in awe of the amount of squirrels there and told me multiple times that it was in fact a "squirrel habitat."   (umm, guys, have you noticed our back yard, not to mention our whole neighborhood...?  oh, to look at the world with wide eyed wonder.)

 Titus was having a hard time scaling the bigger rocks, but thankfully there were some 3 year old rocks close by he could leap off of.

 and some creepy fish to climb on

straight up thugs, yo

you know, thugs with silly bands...

 I love this park, there are so many different options for the kids to climb

 That is a face of absolute pride (in a good way).  This is the first time he's made it up any of these rocks and I think he surprised himself.  I love seeing this look on his face.

Titus the conqueror...or something like that

He definitely jumped off of that.  This was a compromise because he wanted to jump off the part of the rock that was about 3 feet higher than this. 

That thing spins.  It's a good ab workout for sure.

Hewitt (and his shadow) jumping off the lower ledge.  He landed this perfectly!  Quite an accomplishment.  6 months ago his legs would've given out and he would've landed on his face.  So, he's looking pretty good here!

We really had a great time.  They climbed rocks. (I drank coffee) They played tag. (I drank coffee) They flew down the zip line. (I drank coffee) I snapped pictures. (they got some exercise)  Fun was had by all.  Well, almost everyone.  We were doing great until we stopped for a little snack.  When snacktime (horizon yogurt tubes) ended we had a very unhappy baby on our hands.

He did this for like 5 minutes.  The boy likes to eat and that measly little 3 oz of yogurt just wasn't cuttin' it for him.

He was so mad he was trying to take his shirt off.  This was quite amusing to me.  I'm sure the other Mom's on the playground thought I was a jerk.  But, he's so cute.  I had to take his picture and laugh at him.  We went home shortly after that because it really was close to lunch time and the other youngin was doing this kind of thing...

He was quite entertained by these pictures after his fit was over.  I'm sparing you the worst folks, trust me.  This was an ugly one.  Feet stomping, coat throwing...ugly fit.  But, cute nonetheless.

 

joy

I don't think I would've believed you if you told me 3 years ago I was going to have a blonde hair, blue eyed boy for my 4th son.  Hayden and I both have REALLY dark brown hair, so the thought never crossed my mind this might occur.  (i know, weirder things have happened)  I have thought about taking him to the salon and asking to have my hair matched to his. (no joke.  secretly, i've always wanted to try blonde, don't judge me). 

Another thing I wouldn't have imagined is that he would be such a charming little boy.  All my boys are great, dont' get me wrong.  They each have something(s) incredibly endearing about them.  But, Titus....well, if you know Titus, you know what I mean.  He is just so darn cute and funny and smart for a 3 year old.  He is such a joy....with the exception of today when he threw a huge screaming fit about going to bed.  But, really, he is a joy.  And, I'm so thankful to call him my own.

perspective

I love the different perspective my boys bring to my life.  We've been hitting the Farmer's Market here in Richland every Friday morning for the last several weeks.  As we walk in, they climb everything they can get their feet on to stay off the concrete path.  (mostly because it's hot burning lava that Hayden and I die in every week) The first couple weeks I was telling them to get down and stay with me.  Then I realized I was being uptight and there wasn't really a good reason for them to walk up on a ledge instead of the sidewalk, etc.. and I am seeing things now from their eyes.  Every ramp, every ledge is a challenge to climb up on, under, around, jump off of, balance on, climb over....I love this about my boys.  (maybe just boys/kids in general)  I love that they see opportunity where I don't.