Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John

One day this fall, I got fed up trying to figure out what was happening every night. I complained to Michael, "What the heck is happening? Every time I get John out of his sleepsack, he is wearing ONE slipper!" He replied with the old nursery rhyme.

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,

Went to bed with his trousers on;

One shoe off, and one shoe on,

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John!

We've since found that other slipper and tried to keep them on him during his days of toddling around our house.(Yes, he finally started walking right before he turned 18 months old!! So, you know how we have these nicely refinished (well, once upon a time they were) wood floors...and how we have only put down a moisture barrier and not insulation in our crawlspace, right? Well, our floors are freezing. Last week, John's lips turned blue on 3 different occasions. Once he was outside wearing a bunting and no mittens (won't keep them on), and the two other times he was walking around the house, sometimes without his slippers. We're not totally sure that the blue lips are because he was cold or if they are related to something going on with his body.

On Tuesday, he had his 18 month checkup with our beloved Dr. Hosford. She checked him all out and determined that he looks pretty good. Here are the stats taken at 18.5 mos:

Height: 33.5" (75th%ile)

Weight: 23 lb 9 oz (25th %ile)

Oxygen count to check if the blue lips were related to asthma - 100% (right on!)

and for his meds:

continue giving him 15mg Prevacid tablets for his reflux, but after another month, try to gradually wean him from it (over 2 weeks go to 6 pills/wk, then after 2 more weeks, decrease to 5 pills/wk, etc.)

continue giving him .25mL of budesonide (Pulmicort) through the nebulizer daily

AND... she heard a heart murmur again at this visit. After much deliberation about whether or not to get it checked out, she decided that the blue lips earned him an echocardiogram. You'll remember (or maybe not) that our 3rd post on the blog was to share the results of the same procedure with Thomas. Thomas was determined to have a PFO, which should not present many problems for him in the long run.

John will be going to get his ECHO on Fri., Jan 7th in Cary, a mere 35 minutes from our house. Even though we live within biking distance from UNC Children's Hospital, our new High Deductible Health Plan complicates things. We're thankful for insurance, for sure, but this new plan is pretty shocking to our minds and to our cashflow. We are required to pay the first $3000 of our medical bills out of pocket, then we will start having some things covered. The additional cost of being seen at the hospital is about $500, so we are making arrangements (yay, Grandma and Papa!) to get Amelia to preschool and to keep Thomas at home while we take John to his appointment, to delay having to spend the extra $$ this week. Actually, since Michael started his new job this fall, we've had the privilege of paying most of our medical expenses out of pocket. The most shocking call was Medco the mail order prescription drug company calling to say that our bill for 3 months of John's meds exceeded the amount they were able to charge our credit card - $900. We struggled with how to find ways to get him the meds. It has been challenging to pay for all these things out of pocket all Fall, then to turn around and start paying another $3000 starting Jan. 1. Such is life, I guess. We are thankful that God continues to provide for us and love us despite our faults. We pray John's procedure will come back with just normal findings. He's a good little guy! Hope you enjoy the picture of him taking a break from saying his few words (mama, dada, cheers, ball, stool, shoes, thank you, and a host of grunting, growling, squealing, screaming, and screeching noises) to get what he wants. Today he's wearing a backpack for the first time, and he allowed me the privilege of putting it on his arms instead of around his neck like he prefers to wear things (costumes, sleepsack, my pj's, etc).

Beware of our Spiderman!

We don't know exactly how the song goes, so maybe my super hero-loving brothers Luke and Caleb can teach it to us later. For now, he're our Spiderman singing his song... enjoy it!

Amelia's First Sleepover!

This weekend the Thomas family cousins (and grandparents) were all getting together in Atlanta. John urped on Wednesday night, so we decided on Thursday to cancel our trip just in case he continued. Friday came and John was totally fine, still didn't have any fever or other symptoms. We decided to go ahead with our travel plans. Amelia went to preschool while we packed, so we picked her up before noon and headed to GA. We had lunch and snacks in the car, then finally dinner in the car as well. While riding reclined and rear-facing in the dark van, refluxy John urped again. We'd promised family members that if anyone threw up, we'd just turn around and go home. So, we did. We were about 30 minutes away from Allie and Rob's house. Amelia was SO bummed about missing out on all the fun with cousins Claire, Stephen and Elizabeth. With the help of caffeine and the van's DVD player, we made it back home around 1:40 a.m. It taught us that we (sort of) can do a 14 hour drive if necessary.

Every December, it usually happens that the Thomas Family Christmas and Cousin Campbell's birthday party are on the very same day. Amelia almost always has to miss her same-age cousin's fun party while we travel to visit my family. Since we were back home, Thomas, Amelia and Michael decided to fancy up on Saturday morning and head back down the interstate to High Point. They all enjoyed the fun surprise party at Chick-Fil-A! After the party, Amelia got a special invitation to spend the night with Campbell. This was nearly a dream come true since she spoke her wish last month, "Oooh, a star...I wish I could live with Campbell!" Aunt Amber and Uncle Mark promised to take good care of her, so Michael dropped her off for the night. Things were so quiet at our house while she was away. I wonder how it was for them having 4 children to care for during the evening. Yikes.

The next day, we all met for lunch in Chapel Hill to get our girl back. She said that sleeping on a bunk bed, wearing a gown, brushing her teeth by herself, and playing Polly Pocket with Campbell were so much fun. Amber said that Amelia was so well-mannered and pleasant. By the end of lunchtime, she was back in our care and screaming about most everything. Amelia says that she's ready to go back tomorrow or maybe go live with their family for most of the time when she does not have school.

Snow Day!

This afternoon, we were working on our Christmas cards when we looked out the window to see snow falling down! Shocking, since no one had even mentioned there was a chance. After I returned from a neighbor's funeral, enough had gathered on the ground for some real fun! We all got bundled up to play in the yard and stroller over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. We played with Aspen, Miles and Lex (neighbors), then took one neighbor, Mr. Madi (Esme's dad) with us on our journey. Esme and her mom, Zoe, are out of town. We missed them! On the way home, we found a big field of fresh *PERFECT* snow in front of the Burger King on 15-501. We crafted up a snowman for each of us, then left them there to play over night. We look forward to seeing them as we drive by the intersection each day! Click on the picture to see more of our adventure!

A Baby Still, Barely

John has reached the 15 month mark this week. We are amazed how fast this happened! He took a few steps the other day, motivated by electronic devices. Other than those, he really doesn't care to walk just yet. He really prefers to climb instead. He can be found on the top of the couch, the tables, Amelia's big bed, the big plastic pickup truck in our living room, or up the ladder/slide on the playset. He keeps us on our toes, just as his siblings did. He has a wide range of grunts, squeals and screams, and a few things that sound like words. Amelia is attentive to his every need, so maybe once she's in school, he'll start talking more. Well, with her out of the picture, there might actually be quiet airtime so he CAN talk..

He's really a happy, smiling, most-of-the-time mellow boy. He knows that bibs go around his neck to catch his teething drool, and that all things with buttons are used as cell phones. He was about to drop his morning nap, but got a cold that put him right back into the 2 naps/day routine. He tolerates a nebulizer nightly, and more frequently when he has a cough. He was actually chewing on the tubing of it during Thomas' dance video, so now we know who to blame for it breaking!

John enjoys eating with a fork as well as his hands, and he really enjoyed having corn on the cob like the big kids this week. We're still (per dr's orders) feeding him a jar of food daily to try to get more calories in him as well as mixing a supplement (pediasure) into his whole milk. At his last weigh in, he was in the 95th %ile for height and 15th for weight. For Thomas's sake, I was trying to find skinny elastic waist pants, but since they are both proving to be extremely long and skinny, I see our future will include all the "slim" pants we can find. Unfortunately, they make them starting in size 4, and that's a year away for Thomas and several years for John. All the pants I pinched and sewed the waistband up for Thomas will be great for John this winter! I hope we have enough as he went through 4 changes of clothes yesterday, not including pajamas.

These pictures of John were from the Duke football game we attended with Papa and Grandma last week. It is Allen's first real semester of retirement, so John made it a point to share his favorite gesture with Papa.

Here Comes the _______ Man!

Delivery

Motorcycle

Recycling

Garbage

Doctor

Cowboy

Farmer

Fire

Train Conductor

Puppy

Sgt. Pepper the Cat

Take your pick. Thomas loves to pretend someone different ALL day long. I recently grabbed some costume bits at a yard sale, so it is rather fun to watch him redress and "announce" himself. Some favorites are "Bud Lightyear" after seeing the new Toy Story 3 or when playing with Amelia and friends...Thomas the Cinderella. He knows blue is for boys, so he grabs the blue princess dress and shoes when they're being handed out. He actually just ran into the room with me announcing, "Here's Thomas the Runner! I run really fast." lol

Thomas has been wearing his backpack as if he were going to school, like some of his 2yo friends. But, I decided to keep him home this year so that he and John can have some good brother bonding time. We go to Kindermusik class on Thursdays, and he just adores Mrs. Rebecca and her music. It is fun to watch how differently he responds to music each semester. He often plays his guitar, sings a song, or finds our musical toys to demonstrate his tap-dancing routine. Here he is one night before bed, dancing to a random x-rated song on a local radio station. You'd think with his dad's 4-ipod collection, we would have appropriate dance music on hand.

Panting

This week Amelia started back to preschool with "pink"tails in her hair and smile on her face. She's in Jenny Jones' 4yo class, and she sighs with pleasure every day at pickup time. Here is a picture of her classroom. Some friends from her T/Th 3yo class are in there, along with some new ones she's excited to play with. Playground time, circle time, center time and gym are all her favorites.

Yesterday after lunch, I walked into the kitchen after putting the boys down for naps. Amelia had been coloring a booklet from Sarah Ellie's Thomas the Train birthday party. She was panting heavily and said, "Thomas is blue and Percy is green and Harold is purple and Emily is green and I can't color this book fast enough!!!!!!! I think I need to take a breath and breathe!" I hope this is not the start of school-related stress, but rather just the excitement of a new pack of markers.

In the first picture, she's checking her work after putting on her $1 thrift shop dress (backwards), putting barrettes in (without brushing all her hair), and donning new princess shoes from her friend Missabella (Isabella). Isn't it great to be a self-sufficient 4yo getting yourself ready for the day?

Amelia has been talking about wanting a house with "family stairs" for quite some time. Last night, we finally got an explanation. "Family stairs" are ones inside the house where kids and adults can walk up, and there could be beds for the kids to sleep in up there. The other kind of stairs are the ones we have - just "attic stairs" that only the parents are allowed to walk up and bring stuff down, but kids are not allowed to walk up. We're glad to have the mystery solved as we've been wondering about these "family stairs" she has been mentioning for so long.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today we celebrate 5 years of Holy Matrimony. We're exhausted, but happy. Last night, we went to the gym to walk. The gym is the one place we're able to walk and talk without screaming, climbing little people interrupting. John was having no part of being left in the nursery, so it doesn't always work as planned. A huge storm was coming at that time, so we came home early after a lap or two on the track. The kids were so excited to use their rain umbrellas Grandmama brought them. We're having a nice dinner at the Melting Pot tonight, and just maybe we'll get a picture of the two of us (with no kids) to celebrate!

The great attic purge of 2010

We decided to purge our attic of all of the empty boxes except for a few. A lot had accumulated over the past five years. Now we are reset for the next five! Have a look at a few pictures: Photo Gallery.

Happy First Birthday, John Allen Kelley

It's official! He's ONE! Big sister woke him up saying, "JOHN, you're 1! You can walk now! Get up and show us!!!" He'll celebrate this evening with some family and friends, so more pictures later, of course. We're so blessed to have this little smiling, thumb-sucker in our family!

And She's Off...

Amelia has been riding a balance bike, which is a bike with no pedals for some time now. Thomas has taken her bike over, so we decided to get her a bigger one. We discussed removing the pedals so she could get used to the new, bigger bike, but she flipped out at the thought. She wanted the pedals on it. Guess she knew what she was talking about. This clip was taken after she flew around our block on the maiden journey. She just got right on and rode. She needs a little help doing the "push off" but that's it! No training wheels ever for this gal!

Thomas' New Best Friend

Could it be Esme, the sweet, fun neighbor girl who encouraged him to start using the potty? (Thanks, Meme!) Could it be Charlotte, who was here for several days to play with us while her nanny was away? Could it be Levi or David or Natalie or Will or Lex? Could it be big sister 'Melia whom he loves so much? Could it be little brother Johnny in the next crib over who jumps up to scream and giggle with him?

Nope, none of those...Thomas' new best friend is Quentin, the man who brought a new big boy bed to his very own bedroom! Quentin and Wesley drove the big black truck from Furnitureland South all the way to our house to bring a comfy new place for Thomas to sleep. While they were carrying parts in from the truck, Thomas watched from John's crib. (John was actually napping in Amelia's room, and Amelia was at preschool. No one else knew how the bed got here!)

While the delivery guys were setting it up, he excitedly watched the assembly procedure, especially the use of the cordless drill. He pretended to assemble the crib with his very own toy drill, which he promptly showed to his new friend. They compared tools and enjoyed one another's company. Thomas was SO VERY thrilled about the whole event, that it's hard to explain just how much. Once the mattress pad, sheet, pillow, sleeping bear, etc. were all set up, Thomas gladly went down for a nap in it. Of course, he woke up completely upside down with his feet by the pillow, but whatever...he napped happily! Quentin and Wesley, thanks for bringing little T a bed of his very own! He thinks you the bed is a gift from you guys, just because you like him! Here he is having sweet dreams in his very own big boy bed. Awww...

Amelia Turns FOUR!

Yep, it's official. Our baby girl has now grown big. Here she is sleeping on the night before she wakes up older. Amelia Grace Kelley enters a whole new world on May 18, 2010. And, she's ready for it...with pigtails and her "ballallet" shoes. She loves "all thinks pink" but her favorite pink is what she calls "that very light, most beautiful pink!" She loves items that are soft and cuddly, like the pink dotty blankie Aunt Amber made or the pink, blue and yellow blanket from Nana (Gran's mom in KY) at the bottom of the picture, and Dolly, a gift from Grandmama when Thomas was born. You'll see Dolly's legs curled up at her belly. Sparkles, the furry pink poodle handed down from cousin Allison, is probably in the bed somewhere, too.

She loves going to the 3's class at preschool two mornings a week, to Sunday School and to Children's Church. She prays beautiful, heartfelt, and practical prayers for others. Tonight, she ended her prayer with "Amen...And Mom, it is now time for you to leave my room, please." You'll often hear her saying things like, "Dad, when you make my plate for breakfast, please remember to put all the things I like on it." Sometimes, there's even things like, "Thomas, you should not do ______. Go to time out right now." We remind her that she needs to eat food to grow, to put away her dolls, to put a bow in her big hair, and NOT to pick up John and carry him around the house. She loves pumping her legs and swinging by herself, doing anything to help with John, aggravating and/or playing with Thomas, making up her own (off-key) songs, and riding in strollers (while we have to wear or carry little brothers!) Often she will ask the most interesting questions, and we're not sure if she's really wondering that or if she just likes to hear herself talk.

She's really good at hitting baseballs on the tee, kicking soccer balls in the yard, riding her balance bike, and yelling. She's so good at yelling that Uncle Caleb recently dubbed her "Amelia Megaphone." She wakes up early (6:30) and waits patiently to announce, "Good Morgan (morning) brothers!" as she climbs into their cribs to give a hug and a kiss. When there is the slightest hint of rain, she will quickly don her raincoat and boots, then grab her fairy umbrella. Of course, if she can't find it, she will tear the house apart looking. This is in total contrast to Thomas, who could only find one rainboot, so he stretched out on the floor, grabbed the zipper on his raincoat, sucked his thumb and kept asking ME to find the other boot. Another strength of Amelia is her amazing ability to sniff our a grandparent from over a mile away. The shrieking and dancing let you know she has detected one.

Here she is explaining (for the third time that night) a new game she learned on the big playground at preschool... Duck, Duck, Goose!

Just have to share this...

Amelia just brought me a picture. You'll notice the T over Thomas, the A over Amelia and the J over John. Awww.... I'm so proud of her!

Happy Birthday, Michael Charles Kelley!

Tonight we celebrated Michael's 40th birthday with three friends named Mark, plus their families. It was great to see them all, since we VERY rarely get to actually sit and chat. The children (all 5 - one had to stay home) enjoyed the festivities and cake. Thomas was especially entertaining when dancing to the musical card. It sang "Bow Wow Wow, Yippee I Yippee Ay" which caused him to wiggle his behind, stomp and squat in perfect rhythm. Notice the open window in the picture. Forty candles may be a little too many to actually put on a cake. They created quite a bit of smoke! Come back later to click on the picture and see more fun...

It was uncertain this morning, but I think Michael IS going to move gracefully into his 40's. I'm proud of the man he is and blessed to be his wife.

Uncle Luke Did NOT Show Up :(

Today Amelia got in the van after preschool, and sadly said, "We did Balentines today, but Uncle Luke did not show up. He wasn't there at all." I had to hold back my giggle as I buckled her in and shut the door. Here's the backstory...

Last week, we were having lunch after preschool and she was telling us (Thomas, John, and me) how they were making valentine (with a "b" if you are 3) bags in her class. I was feeding John, giving her 1/2 my attention, and trying to maintain sanity during lunchtime. After she explained the preschool activity, we talked about how we saw Uncle Caleb on Skype the night before. I started to explain that he and "Uncle" Chelle were getting married in a couple weeks, and that we'd start calling her "Aunt" Michelle instead. :)

The conversation then went something like this:
Amelia: "Uncle Clalob"
Thomas: "Uncle Lewk"
Amelia: "Uncle Clalob"
Thomas: "Uncle Lewk"
etc., mostly in a really loud I-can-shout-louder-than-you set of voices.

Then, Amelia went back to the Valentine Party conversation, and finally ended up telling herself that Uncle Luke would be coming to the Valentine Party at her preschool class. I just smiled and laughed at the series of conversations, knowing that I'd need to explain to Luke that he needs to make an appearance on Feb. 11 around 10 am at her preschool in order to not disappoint his loving niece. Unfortunately, Uncle Luke lives a couple states away and will not be able to make it, I'm guessing. We're hoping to spend some time when he comes to town for Uncle Caleb's wedding in a couple weeks!

The rest of the story...I broke the news to Amelia finally. She was very sad, but she came up with an idea. She hopes to take Uncle Luke over to her preschool playground on the weekend when he visits!

The Snowstorm

Despite some warm days this week, we're set to have a massive storm that is a "threat to life and property" according to weather.com. We pray it won't actually threaten us in that way, but we want to enjoy the beautiful snow. Tonight we headed to the gym for a quick soak in the hot tub after dinner. By the time we got to the other side of our neighborhood, the weather changed from nothing to full-on snow. It was crazy! We skipped the gym but needed to stop at the drugstore. By the time we made the loop back to our house, the ground was covered with at least an inch. The kids were so excited (maybe we were too :) ) so we geared up and ran around outside. After some books about snowmen and a long night's sleep, the little people should be ready for a fun day of play!

Sledding down our driveway was the unexpected hit! See here.

My mom is officially retired!

Today was her last day of work after 41.5 years of service as a public school educator. She says she's going to sleep for 2 weeks. She deserves it! I'm so proud of all she's done to touch the lives of millions of kids during her career. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago when Amelia and I flew to FL to attend her retirement party. Amelia walked her out of her high-rise building, which was weird, since she's almost always worked inside a school building.
(Of course, be sure to check back to see the rest of the pics which will be uploaded after the kids are asleep.) Way to go, Judy!

Naptime Entertainment

This is why I never get anything done. I was going to knock some things off my to-do list including signing up to bring meals to friends with new babies, planning a packing list for tomorrow's trip to my mom's retirement party, organizing the thank you notes we hope to send out this quarter, finishing our Christmas cards, etc., when Amelia trots out of her room dressed up and ready to tap dance. Thank goodness for the nice padded rug in our living room which dampens the sound of the yard sale tap shoes! Do you think we should start actual lessons this year? At the end she says, "How did that work?" meaning, "make sure you get me on video, because I constantly ask to be photographed and recorded on video."

Smiling Kids

Michael caught this little smile while John was sleeping in the swing this morning. We've tried to follow all the advice of sleep experts about not sleeping in the swing, but desperate times call for desperate measures... Ever since we returned from our Christmas travels, the little people have been sick. John's been up a whole lot the past 4 nights with a pretty rough cold, cough, gagging, crying, etc. We finally decided that horizontal sleeping wasn't working, and we put him in the swing after he woke up screaming from drainage issues. After a 2nd trip to the dr. in a week, he's on augmentin and albuterol, plus zantac, hopefully on the mend. He's being introduced to vegetables and fruits right now, but with all this illness, he's not too excited about solids or eating in general. Click on the picture to see the videos.

Thomas has another ear infection - or set of them. He's got his own meds too, but click on his picture to see a video of him from a month or so ago. He had been making this funny sound while I was playing on the floor with John and Amelia. Finally, I figured out what he was doing and got a little laugh. He is pressing the "button" on the outlet cover, pretending it is an automatic soap dispenser. Listen carefully. He washes his hands, then reaches for a towel "Right behind you down there" which is his stock answer for any where question. "Thomas, where are your shoes?" "Right behind you, down there." It has slowly progressed to "Right behind you, kitchen." Always..."Right behind you" + the actual location of the object. Another thing we hear him say often is, "Help! My pants are falling down!"To remedy that, Michael brough home a Sam's Club pizza, quite possibly his favorite food. In the middle of the pizza dinner he screamed out, "FROM SAAAAAAAAM's!"


Amelia is back at preschool today (hence my ability to type this and to fold 2 loads of clothes!!!), and she was so thrilled to see her friends and teachers! She was totally bundled up in her coat, hat and mittens for the 24 degree drive across the street. She's also actually, battling a very, very junky cough that has persisted for over a month. She is enjoying getting meds too, but she said her body didn't like the taste of the new one she started this morning, augmentin. With all these sick little ones, we're administering 11-13 doses of stuff or treatments each day. We almost need a home health nurse to get that and meals into everyone. Here's Amelia playing Thomas' beloved ukulele her own way. Click on the picture to see a video of her singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to her new baby doll at Christmas.