Pool

Our friends from church blessed us with a guest pass to their neighborhood pool where we can go whenever we wanted...for FREE.  Today was a hot one so we took advantage of it.

Just For Laughs

A conversation with my logical son:

Ethan: We don't know when we'll go to heaven like we don't know when Uncle Ryan comes home every night.
Me: Interesting comparison, but I guess you're right.
Ethan: What if Jesus comes back to take me and I don't have time to write you a note?
Me: Um, do you even know how to write a note?
Ethan: No.  Oh I know, maybe you'll be up (in the morning) and then you can write Daddy a note to let him know where I went.
Me: Okay, sounds good Buddy!

Pee Wee Paddler I

Today is Day 4 of 7 for Ethan's swimming lessons.  Wasn't sure if he would mind being in the pool without me, but he was fine.  In fact, Mr. Social was having so much fun giggling with the other kids that his teacher had to remind him to listen.  The plus thing about having this indoor is that I don't have to lather him up with sunscreen and weather is not an issue.  I finally remembered to bring my camera so here are some pictures:

 

Party x 2

Saturday afternoon, we headed to the church picnic:

 Oh did Ethan had so much fun

 And the prizes!

Then later that night, we got a sitter and headed out to Bobby McKey's, a dueling piano bar to celebrate Ryan's birthday.  The National Harbor, MD is pretty AMAZING!  It's like a city of its own out in the middle of nowhere.  Then there's the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.  We're definitely doing a stay-cation there one of these nights.  Anyway, we had so much fun that we didn't get home until 12:30 am.  Seriously haven't stayed out that late in who knows how long...with church the next day and all, but it was oh, so worth it!

"Twittering" on Blog

These past two weeks, Brian has been putting in 120+ hours and we weren't sure how we were going to survive.  But by God's grace (while solo-ing it), my boys have been nothing but amazing!

Gavin Update VI

Hopefully this is the last of Gavin's ears update.  Went in for a post surgery check up and everything looks good.  FINALLY, his ears are both clear of infections and fluids!  Although I must say I was wondering about the tubes there for a while.  Two days after they were in, he would scream each time we put him down for nap/bed.  Then he ended up having on and off low grade fever for two days.  I guess it was more of a combo of teething and an early case of terrible twos (at 16 months).  Oh it has begun!  Anyway, another check up in four months and the tubes should fall off by themselves anywhere between 9-12 months.

Mamma Wisdom of the Week

I finally finished reading Boundaries with Kids by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend and thought the concepts were great although the book itself was really boring.  This is what I got out of it:

• since you can't always make your kids do thing, let them make choices and then live with the reality of life/consequences without:
• nagging, 
• screaming and displaying of anger
• taking the victim stance to the child's behavior
• stirring up all the wrong emotions in the child (guilt, resentment, & anger)
• and then making sure it costs the child something.
• My only job is to give unconditional love and to empathy with them, but to stick to the consequences whatever it may be.
• It is okay for them to not like what they're supposed to do (like chores or homework) and expressed it, but they still have to do it.
• As much as I would have like for Ethan to be this child who just do and never question everything, the book said, "If your child is compliant about everything, there may be a problem...Encourage your child to think for himself, disagree, and talk about his feelings while accepting your authority."

Ethan has always been head strong and hardly ever make life easy for me.  But I'm realizing more and more that with his personalities, he is without a doubt a leader...just like his daddy!  He doesn't just accept things just because, but he wants to know the 5 W's and How.  When we were in KY, Brian's sister said something that really struck me about Ethan, "He is the youngest one but he's telling everyone how to play."  So true.  I'm also so thankful that he has finally come out of this "constantly-wearing-me-out" stage and I can't wait for you to go to bed to this "enjoyable-affectionate-self-entertaining" stage and I can't wait to see you tomorrow!  He is now the most polite, the most obedient and the best sharer kid I know.  Oh how we've come a long way.  Now I just might cry when he goes to kindergarten after all.  Thank you Jesus for the consistent joy that I've prayed for and longed for!

New Dentist

Took Ethan to the dentist for cleaning for the first time yesterday and he did really good.  I don't know where he gets this idea that they're scary, but that's what he kept saying.  Dr. Shaafi, our new dentist #2, totally eased his fear and came down to his level.  She explained everything and checked to make sure he was 100% comfortable before proceeding.  I was so impressed!  No x-ray, just cleaning and no scrapping "ever again" because it hurts.  I guess by the end of the visit, he liked it so much he wanted to go back again today since his teeth got dirty again.  Haha.

As for me, I'm personally pretty picky when it comes to finding doctors/dentist because I prefer them to be friendly and just somewhere that's happy medium.  So she was great unlike our new dentist #1 whom we saw last year.  She told Brian and I that we both have four cavities each and can fill them with "white" fillings (which costs more) that same day.  Talking about a rip off considering neither one of us have any.  The office was simple which was fine with me and I think the whole pediatric dentist thing around here is so overrated.  Still miss Dr. Kenny from back home, but she's up there.

Daddy's Day

Our present for Brian this year:

  

and a card that stated it perfectly:

For a wonderful

husband

and father

who gives so much...

his time,

his heart,

his all,

his best. 

"Twittering" on Blog

There were 2 ladies on rotation for Gavin at church on Sunday.  He wanted to be held but did NOT want them to sit down. 

Summer Time

We've officially kicked off the summer with our own pool party in the front yard today.

Waiting patiently for Gavin to get up from his nap

 Copying big brother

 

Brr, so cold but so much fun

 

I hear an airplane!

Just For Laughs

A neighbor boy came over to play and this is the conversation that took place:

Jonathan: Dude, that's not how you do it.
Ethan: No, I'm Ethan.
Jonathan: Hey Dude...
Ethan: Stop calling me that.  I'm Ethan.
Me (feeling the need to intervene): Ethan, do you know what "Dude" means?
Ethan: No.
Me: It's kinda like saying "Hey Guys."
5 minutes or so later...
Ethan: Hey Dude, try doing it like this.

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Ethan being Ethan is constantly always asking questions.  Most of the time, he honestly really wants to know the answers.  But a small part of the time, I think he's just asking to randomly be asking.  This is the conversation in the car:

Ethan (asking questions that were leading to more questions)

Me (long silence)

Ethan (got the hint): I know Mamma, too many questions right?

Me: Yup

Ethan: But that wasn't too many questions.  It was only 2 questions.

True & Better

Our pastor shared this video by Tim Keller last Sunday and it really changed the way I read and see the different characters in the Bible now.  Ultimately, they all point to Jesus Christ.  (Note: The moving graphics is a little crazy so you might have to watch it a couple of times).

Gavin Update V

Yesterday morning I took Gavin in to get tubes for his ears.  It was pretty stinking early so I had to set my alarm and wake him up.  Thankfully the surgical place was only down the roads from us.  Got there at 6:15 am and surgery was at 7:30 am.  Everything went well up until he woke up from the anesthesia.  Luckily I prepared myself well as I thought he might in his half awake, half asleep, can't-really-calm-him-down state, which he was.  So it literally took all of me to hold him tight and not drop him as he fought me.  He eventually took his sippy cup and calm down a little bit.  Once we got home, he let me held him and fell asleep in my arms for about an hour.  It was so sweet!  He seems to be doing fine other than hating the antibiotic drops that we have to give him twice a day for four days.  The Dr. had said there was a lot of mucous she had to pull out of his ears so hopefully he can hear clearly now.

Louisville and Other Updates

Two weeks ago, the Deerings made a side trip (from Aaron's conference in MD) to visit us.  It was fun to see old friends and just catch up on life.  We've actually gotten to see each other every year for the past three years now.  So we might have to keep up this tradition =0)

Took them to the Great Falls,

The National Mall,

And a double date at Farmers, Fishers, Bakers in Georgetown, DC

After they left, we celebrated our 9th Anniversary by...packing like crazy for the next day big road trip to Kentucky.  The vacation itself sounded like fun, but the thought of driving 10 hours with our boys was not.  I've dreaded it x10 as we tried to figure out the best way to do this.  Do we drive through the night?  If they sleep that's great, but we'll be exhausted when we get there.  But if they don't sleep and have melt downs in the middle of nowhere, then what?  So we've talked it through like a hundred times and finally decided to just get up in the morning, have breakfast and then go.

Trip #1: Excited and entertained by the new coloring/activity/library books, markers & crayons and snacks.  We made it to a Burger King with a gigantic play land for lunch.  Perfect!
Trip #2: In the car and both kids were out until we were 45 minutes out to see our friends, the McCallisters.  Awesome!  So glad they just recently moved back because not only did we get to visit with them & their twins, but it gave us a half way point to stop and stay the night.

Trip #3: 2-1/2 hour into the trip the next morning, the kids were getting antsy and ready to get out.  As we were just getting ready to stop for lunch, we looked around and both kids simultaneously are zonked out.  We're not stopping now so we were able to push through until we got to our hotel.  What are the chances of that!  

Even though it has been over a year, it took only about two seconds for Ethan to get over his shyness once he saw his cousins. Oh how he loved seeing them and playing with them again.  They all seriously entertained each other the.entire.time. and freeing me only to one child which was really nice.  Contrast to our Ft. Myers trip (when Ethan was Gavin's age) we had to stick pretty close to our naps, etc in order to avoid meltdowns, I definitely felt more 'lax this time around.  It helped to know that Gavin can shutdown and go to sleep a lot easier than Ethan ever could.

We hit the Louisville Zoo on Sat.

 

 First ever, a Billman baby falling asleep in the stroller

 Loved the cousins time

Then biking on the sully at the Riverfront on Sunday:

 

Trip #4: Note: the DVD player didn't even come out until this last leg of the trip.  Headed out after breakfast and stopped at a random Christian college to each lunch and stretch our legs.  Back in the car, Gavin fell asleep and within 1/2 hour Ethan fell asleep.  We stopped again at a truck stop to let the kids run around.  Bought dinner and ate in the car.  We decided to push through and get home so I had to get in the backseat to entertain Gavin with only 1-1/2 hour to go.  Eventually made it home and everyone was so happy to be back.  Even now I still cannot believe The Billmans family did it without a single meltdown!  That will have to go down in our history book =0)  The Lord was with us indeed!  Now the possibilities are endless I wonder where should we go to next...

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Other than that, Ethan finished up his preschool last week and oddly enough I was more emotional about it than he was.  But then I realized that even though he attended preschool back in Iowa, he never got a chance to finish since we moved away.  So for him to be able to complete this year felt like a bit accomplishment and also a milestone that he's growing up.  This is what his teacher said about him:

"We have enjoyed having Ethan in class this year.  He is a leader and is well liked by his peers.  Enjoy your summer!"

On the same note, I was able to find a (reasonably priced) Christian preschool that teaches Bible/Christian curriculum in the classroom that we will be attending next year.  The hours are a little funky than what he's used to which is T/TH am and W pm.  But hopefully Ethan should be okay with his naps dwindling more and more.  We're excited!

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I also took Gavin to the ped for his 15 month check up that same day.  He got his delayed Polio and MMR shots that he was supposed to have gotten back in February.  The doctor finally cleared him for those since he only had fluid in his ears with no infections.  Here are some new stats:

Weight: 25 lb. 1 oz.
Height: 32 1/4 in.