Cough, cough, COUGH....yuck, yuck, yuck. The illness continues. Colin was diagnosed with pneumonia on Monday. He can control his cough with cough drops being continuously in his mouth but that leads to a hurting stomach, sigh. He WON'T eat ANYTHING. Well, that is, without bribery. Rarely do I resort to this as I really don't normally see the point. If I want my children to do something I believe they should know that they will do it because I expect them to, not because I am going to give them something. Alas, on that note, I have abandoned all good judgement, as sometimes happens, and we have recently gone into bribery mode. It works, he will eat for Star Wars action figures or a new toy gun and I am satisfied that he is not starving to death. Bribery at its best. In other news, we celebrated our last day of co-op for this semester on Tuesday. That evening, we, along with Ryan's parents, were invited to attend an art show featuring our little budding artists, Colin and Pryce. I love that the children have not only done art projects, they have also learned about the different artists, their styles and how their works of art came to be famous. MK's latest....she has been modeling for our babysitter who is participating in a photography class at ASU. Cute pics.

***Update....Colin has now been diagnosed with both pnuemonia AND bronchitis. So, onward with the meds and now we welcome the beloved nebulizer into our home as well! This little guy has had a time!

The Shot

Cough, cough, hack, hack, cough....tis the season to be sick in our house! And who is the lucky victim, COLIN. Colin, the one who rarely gets sick, the one who IF he does get sick it only lasts a day or two, Colin who has two projects to complete by Tuesday, Colin who is just plain old sick. It started with a simple cough. We pretty much ignored it due to the fact that someone always seems to have a simple cough in our home. Well, the simple cough turned into the constant simple cough and I finally realized the oxygen level in his lungs was lacking. So, off to the dr. we went. During the ride to the drs. office, Colin asked me if he was going to need a shot. I said I really didn't think so - he was sick with a cough, we weren't visiting the dr. for a check up. We get there, we are in the room waiting on the dr. to see us, in walks the dr. and Colin, in between breaths, asks the dr. if he is going to need a shot. Now, just know that Colin was asking this in a joking manner.....his dear mother had already assured him no shot was going to be needed :) HA! The dr. pulls out Colin's chart, runs his finger over it a few times, looks up and says, "Well, yes, you do need a shot - the second shot of the Hep A series...." Colin's eyes immediately darted over to meet mine as he mouths to me, "Is he really serious?" Unfortunately, yes, the dr. was serious, Colin needed a shot. I am not sure at what age children stop fearing shots but in our household, age 9 is not it. With tears streaming down his face, in went the shot. Ouch! With what we think will cure the simple, constant cough in tow, we leave and go fill the prescription. Three days later, no cure in sight, we switch antibiotics. I said to Colin, "I am sorry. Mommy should have taken you to the dr. sooner so it wouldn't have turned into this!" Colin replies, "It is quite ok mom. If you had taken me earlier, I would have had to have gotten my shot earlier. I am glad we waited."
And on an MK note. She is so unhappy with the fact that we will not allow her to have any cough drops. They are hard. She is not allowed. She thinks they are candy. She cries big tears when she sees Colin with one. I told her yesterday, "Mason-Kate, you do not have a cough, you do not even need a cough drop." Should have known better. She started coughing. On purpose, of course.

The latest on MK....she goes to bed singing "Jesus Loves Me" and she wakes up singing "Jesus Loves Me." She loves to sing the alphabet song. My favorite part of the song is when she gets to L, M, N, O, P, which goes something like this "blah, lah, lah, blah, lah, Q...." She tells us almost daily how she "cried, cried in China" until her mommy and her daddy and her boys came to get her, this is really quite pitiful to hear. She is still in a crib and no sign of wanting things any other way....with this, I am quite comfortable. No need to rush all babyhood away. And that is it on the newest with MK.

Outstanding Quote

This evening Ryan came in and sat down heavily on our couch. He said, "B, I am tired!" I had no comment really. Colin, on the other hand, felt the urge to respond. Colin said, "Dad, really mom should be the one who is tired.....you should see what she has to deal with day in and day out. I mean, really!" Classic!
(In Ryan's defense, he works very hard, he gets up early and he should be exhausted EVERY day....it was just kind of eye opening to see through Colin's eyes for one moment.)

It is official, MK is no longer a diaper wearing girl, morning, noon or night! YAY! (or, rather, :( ) She is so proud of herself, she must do it all by her own self, complete with washing her hands! Of course, she asks us to join in and sing when the proper potty going has been accomplished - and we have to dance too! The boys are such sports, they sing right along beside her as if they have accomplished potty training all over again!

What a terrific weekend! First, we visited with my grandmother on Friday. The children went bearing gifts from their heart. MK with an owl pic she made a school, P with a poem and picture he perfected at home, and C with a story about his time with Nannie....she loved them all! After enjoying a nice visit with Ryan's parents on Friday evening, we awoke and left our children (all three of them!) in SC with my parents for the night. Saturday was deemed "Ryan's Day"....he was served what he wanted to eat (steak and twice baked potatoes), he watched whatever football he could get his hands on, he rested - it was a well deserved day for him. We both enjoyed our time together and hinted to our parents that a coupon for another "weekend alone" would be a great, inexpensive gift for Christmas! Everyone needs some time alone. We missed the children, of course, and we were all reunited with smiles on Sunday afternoon! Big news of the week....MK is potty trained! There will be no turning back now. She went all weekend, away from home, traveling in the car, without mom/dad and had ZERO accidents. Why am I sad???? Another sign our girl is growing up too fast!

Long bullet post, anyone?

• Monday - normal, school for boys at home, school for MK away from home, piano, and home. Normal.
• Tuesday - Happy 1/2 Birthday to Pryce! 7 1/2, wow! He was up bright and early awaiting his special day festivities. No cake for breakfast. Instead, he was served a pile of pancake halves with a Kiss on top as a substitute.....the 1/2 cookie cake came later in the day with his friends at co-op. He topped his day off with a southwest night out for dinner - his choice - and a boyscout meeting with friends! Now, in between his festivities, something else occurred. There is a little girl in our home who is 2. She is usually a diaper wearing 2 year old but on Tuesday she had a change of heart. P, MK and I were at a bookstore while C was doing a writing class. MK had a rather large, full diaper on. I decided to take it off though I did not have another diaper with me in the store. I knew she would be ok until we could make it back to the car. She was. Thing is, I FORGOT to put a diaper back on her! She was wearing a cute little monogrammed diaper cover without the diaper! So, we went to co-op, I took her to her class - yes, diaperless! I left. Two and a half hours later I went to pick her back up and she is wearing a summer outfit. I inquired as to why. Their response, "Well, she was going potty and her dress was a little too long and it got wet. She has done great, though, with the potty. She went several times!" At this point, I realized she had gone to co-op minus the diaper and I figured we may as well try our hand at potty training!
• Wednesday - Up bright and early. Abandoned school for the day. The boys were off to a friends house to play while Ryan and I took Mason-Kate to the hospital for her one year check up with our local cleft team. All in all, a good report. Palate has healed great. No mention of a fistula. It is long enough. Her air flow is good. No nasal sounds. This means nothing to those who do not have a cleft child. But for those who do, she looks good. Her lower jaw is growing at a faster rate than her upper jaw - not a shocker as this is common with cleft children. The shocker was when they told us she would do orthodontic work prior to her next surgery. We had never heard this one mentioned before. We knew orthodontics would be involved obviously but we assumed that would be after her bone graft surgery. Oh well, they will guide us. Her speech is good. Her ears are good. All looked good. They even gave us an option to see them in two years versus one.....I declined their offer. I like to check in, so we will see them in a year. Following her appt., we picked up the boys and headed to the grand opening of Publix. This is not a biggy for some but it is HUGE for me! I am in love with this grocery store and what their ice cream selection has to offer to my own palate. The boys declared this the best day ever when they were allowed to buy a hot dog and a drink for the mere cost of $1.oo. Did I mention that the new Publix is only a mile and 1/2 from our house - YAY! It really is the small things that make the world go around!
• Thursday - Normal. Busy. Fun. Day.
• Friday - That is today. We are off to spend some time with my grandmother who turned 89 years old yesterday!