From four wheels to two

I was in the mood yesterday for what Trey (and I) would consider a "proper Sunday dinner" -- you know, a really good meat & three -- so we headed up to my hometown and met my parents' at our local favorite restaurant.  The boys are always happy to get a helping of baked ham, fried okra and delicious, melt-in-your-mouth macaroni and cheese -- with a side of biscuits, of course.  

Afterward the boys were looking forward to going to Nannie & Papa's house to ride their John Deere bicycles.  As they were doing that, I was inside looking for a few things when I heard one of the boys crying.  I slowly made my way outside, thinking one of the boys must have fallen off their bike and onto the concrete, but that was not the case.  Instead, when I got outside and asked what was wrong, I was told nothing, just that Trey had taken the training wheels off Thomas' bike.  He was not amused.  

After assuring him that we would not let him fall, he finally agreed to try riding his bike without training wheels, but he would not stop whimpering and crying.  It was a pretty pathetic sight.  He was doing okay at first, but he did manage to fall a few times and that just made him all the more upset (not that he was hurt, but that his training wheels weren't there).  He finally managed a few smiles (and by then, I had my camera):




We did have to keep reminding him to keep his eyes in front of him!


Still, he was not convinced.  He begged and pleaded for his training wheels but his Daddy stood firm.  I was ready to put the things on myself (for fear that he would no longer want to come to his grandparents' house).  After a little break (and some time riding his brother's bike) he went up to his bike again.  He immediately fell (before he even got going) and was initially ready to quit.  But then he decided to give it one more try.  And sure enough, the boy found some confidence and he started to really have fun.  He even told his Daddy to "Please let go and let me go!"




Turns were a little tricky at first, but straight paths were no problem!


Stopping proved to be the most difficult, but when he fell, he got up smiling.


He needs a little help to get going (just a quick push) but then he can go just fine (until he has to stop!).






I tried to teach him how to come forward off his seat when he stops to keep the bike from falling over and he finally started to get the hang of that, too.


In the end, he had a ball and his Daddy was right.  He was ready after all!  :)  He just came up to me as I write this and asked, "When can I go to Nannie's house and do it again."  I guess we'll have to take the training wheels off his bike here at home soon also.  But since we don't have a large grassy yard here, we might have to get some knee and elbow pads first!  :)  it's hard to believe our little boy is growing up so much!

The sun is calling my name

Finally! Today it was almost, dare I say, warm! I know it won't last, but for today, it was fabulous! We played outside and even read books outside before naptime/rest time. I know when it's 100 degrees this summer I'll be wishing it was cooler, but right now, I'm so tired of being cold! Today was good for my soul. Here are some pictures from our fun in the sun.






Thomas is very into taking pictures these days. Soon I'll have to post a few of the hundreds he has taken recently.


Our dog, Sully, was gladly soaking it all up.


There's a new sheriff in town, and he's got his badge to prove it...


Parker has a bit of a cold. He wasn't overly smiley today, but I promise he was happy to be outside too. :)


I hear there are cold days a-coming, but I will continue to enjoy any moments we can get to feel warm outside!

Roommates

As many of our readers know, we sold our house at the end of the summer and moved into a rental house until we can figure out exactly where we want to be next (and hopefully for a long time!). Our rental is convenient, and that has been a wonderful asset. My commute to take the boys to school has been reduced from up to 40 minutes (one way) to as little as five minutes. Trey has enjoyed the same.

We are living in an older house. Older homes have character and charm, no doubt, but this one needs updating and more importantly, insulation. This winter has been difficult!

When we moved in, we ended up putting Thomas downstairs next to our room and Parker (who is still contained in a crib) upstairs. Unfortunately, when winter set in, the coldest room in the house was Thomas' room. At night it would get below 60 degrees in there. On the other hand, all the heat goes upstairs and Parker's room is a comfy 70 degrees or more. So last week, we decided to try putting Thomas' bed in Parker's large room.

Concerned that it wouldn't work, we decided just to give it a try with just Thomas' mattress before we went to the trouble to take his whole bed up there. I've been pleasantly surprised that thus far, the experiment is going well. They talk a little bit at first, and then Thomas will fall asleep even if Parker is still talking to him.

It's a bit tricky in the morning if Parker wakes up early, and we have to put the gate up in the doorway to keep Thomas from trying to come downstairs in the middle of the night...but overall, the boys are happy (and warm!) and I'm happy too. I keep asking Thomas if he likes sharing a room and he tells me he does.

We are considering letting them continue to share in our next house. We'll see how it goes!

Joining the SLR world

Watch out world...Mommy's got a brand new camera! :) Well, not exactly "brand new," but close enough. I've long envied many of my family members and friends for their fancy digital SLR cameras, but we just couldn't justify the expense. But as the boys get older and more active, it has been getting increasingly difficult to capture them with a point-and-shoot type camera. I need a super fast shutter speed with my on-the-move boys.

Lucky for us, my brother decided to upgrade his SLR and offered to sell his to us. We decided to use our Christmas money on it and I think it's going to quickly prove to be a wise purchase. Plus, it will hopefully be more incentive for me to blog more.

I have a LOT to learn because I want to learn to use it beyond just using the "auto" functions, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. My computer is acting up, so I couldn't edit these very much (or at all), but thought I'd share a few I snapped today.








But I really need to catch up in here first!

Buzz on the big wheel

I'm trying to work on updating the blog...there are a few backdated entries I've done already...many more to come.  Also, my in-laws graciously gave me a Flip video camera for Christmas and I need to upload some videos from that.  Since I know there are some out there wondering about Thomas, here is a video of him today.  As you watch him talk, you can see a bit of his "symptoms."  It's most evident when he is laughing or crying, but you can definitely tell something is off when he talks.

Now granted, in this video, he starts talking silly (I think he's imitating a character in one of the Toy Story movies or something), but that's not the Bell's Palsy, just Thomas being Thomas.  :-)



Symptoms have not worsened so far, so that is good. And he still doesn't seem to mind one bit.

Where have you gone, sweet smile?

Even though my parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary this weekend, they graciously offered to keep the boys last night so that Trey and I could have a much needed date night. Since Thomas was supposed to go to a basketball game (Citadel vs. College of Charleston) today at 2 with his Daddy, we had planned to meet my mom and get the boys at lunchtime. As soon as Thomas joyously got out the car smiling at his Daddy and me, we knew something was wrong.

It's not quite as noticeable when he's not laughing or smiling big, but this is the best "smile for the camera face" I can get:


His face looked contorted and while one side was overexaggerating, the other side (right side) was doing nothing. I called the nurse line for our pediatrician's office and told her it looked like Bell's Palsy, even though I didn't think that's something children could get. Well, after a trip to our local pediatric emergency room, I have learned that while not as common, children certainly can get Bell's Palsy...and they do. And that, of course, is what Thomas does have.

If you aren't familiar with Bell's Palsy, it basically is caused by a virus (many different ones can cause it) and what they think happens is that it causes inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles of your face. He has limited movement of the muscles on the right side of his face. Thankfully, to this point, he can open and close his eye normally (though it is slightly less reactive) and hopefully it will stay that way. Otherwise, his eye will get dry and irritated and we'll have to constantly put drops in his eye and at night he would need an eye ointment and a patch. Please pray that we do not have to do this. The symptoms of Bell's Palsy usually last (according to the doctors we saw today) around 3-6 weeks. Yes, WEEKS. And there is a small chance that it could be much, much longer...but I'm not even considering that as a possibility!

He is on an antiviral medication and steroids (I am praying that these don't make him crazy like they did when he was a little, little one). And thankfully, he's not overly aware of the problem. He doesn't really know anything is wrong, aside from people asking him to move his eyebrows (he can only move one) and smile, etc! And hopefully, the 4-year olds in his class are too young to really notice either. That's the only thing that worries me, is knowing how it easy for feelings to get hurt when a child looks "different."

A few more pictures... Every time I would try to snap a picture, the flash was causing him to blink right as the picture was taken. Looking at those pictures makes me realize that his "bad" eye is not as reactive. See how his left eye is already shut?




So then I tried taking a few without a flash.


When you ask him to smile, I guess it's hard for him to smile a toothy grin. When I ask him to say "cheese" and give me a smile with teeth, I get something like this:


Looks a bit more like he should be a pirate saying "Arrrrrrgh!" :-) Trey suggested Popeye. Either way, we miss our boy's adorable smile...


And until it returns, we'll have to settle for this:


Get well soon Boog! We hope and pray that you'll be back to normal super fast!