The Grenade War

Rick is in Charleston for work and I am home with the kids and Carey. Carey has been so sick all weekend with the stomach virus and has banished himself downstairs for most of the weekend. I needed to go to Sam's today and Blake wanted to stay home with his friends to play. Since Carey was here, I let him, but instructed them not to make a lot of noise and to play outside. Unfortunately, it rained. I was gone for about an hour and a half. When I got home, it was obvious that they had never left the house. There must have been twelve empty fruit snack wrappers, coke cans and cracker trash in OUR bedroom. They cleaned it up and I sent them outside.

A little bit later, Blake decided to get on the laptop. When he opened it up, he said, "oh no." I knew that this was not a good sign. The way he said it was weird- like he knew something and wasn't really surprised but tried to act like he was. I looked at the screen and it is cracked. Of course, he tried to gently work his way through it, but to make a long story short, Blake and his friend decided that they would take the top knobs off of our bedposts and make them grenades. During the grenade war, one of the grenades hit the laptop screen (that was not even supposed to be in our room) and cracked it. Needless to say, Blake is on computer restriction and Rick is on his way home now with 2 hours to think of Blake's fate. What in the world posesses boys to do such stupid things???

Should I Be Worried???

Bryson came home from school on Wednesday and said that Timothy kissed her at school and told her she was "hot!" Rick told her that no boys were allowed to kiss her and I told her that kissing wasn't allowed. Obviously it didn't make that much of an impression because tonight she asked me if she could take lipstick to school tomorrow. I asked her why she needed to take lipstick and she said that all of the girls were bringing lipstick to school to kiss boys on the playground. If she is this way at 4, what will she be like at 14???? Her Daddy and I are scared!!

By the way, Brett got his first 2 teeth this weekend!!!! Go Brett!!!

Kellie

The Pacanimal

As I have mentioned before, Brett is the most laid back, easygoing baby ever. However, he does make one demand...that someone hold his pacifier in his mouth when he wants it! It's not a lot to demand, but it does become difficult when you are driving and he is facing backwards and Blake and Bryson are watching a DVD (which we wouldn't dare interrupt because they are quiet and not fighting!!) and do not want to hold the pacifier in his mouth for the duration of the ride.

Lately, we have been making frequent trips to Atlanta to visit Emory Hospital for my Dad. Many of you know that he has been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. When we go to Atlanta, we are fortunate enough to stay with Dad's sisters who happen to be my two most favorite aunts, Cheryl and Kathy!!! They are always willing to babysit while I go to the doctor with Mom and Dad. We spent several days with them at Thanksgiving and they laughed at Brett's only demand!!

A few days before Christmas, I recieved a box in the mail from Pacanimals. Even though I had done a lot of online ordering, the box and name did not sound familiar. I opened it and this is what I found:

Inside the box was a note that said, "Brett, I saw this and thought this may help you to hold on to your pacifier. Love, Aunt Cheryl" It was a monkey with a pacifier attached that helps the child hold on the the pacifier by holding on to the stuffed animal. Apparently, you can get them in several different animal styles. Cheryl picked the perfect animal because we have always called Brett our "Chunky Monkey" and that is what he was for Halloween. In December, Brett was not grabbing onto anything. Lately, he has started reaching and grabbing for things and he loves stuffed animals to hold on to. This weekend, we gave him the Pacanimal. See for yourself....do you think he likes it???

He ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT and it is WONDERFUL!!! I can't wait to try it out in the car. We will head back to Atlanta next week and the monkey will definitely be going with us!! Thanks Aunt Cheryl for the most perfect and UNIQUE gift!!

Brett's Hearing

When Brett was born, he failed the newborn hearing screening at the hospital. This is not uncommon and they told me to bring him back for a retest in 3 weeks. We did..and he failed it too. The audiologist said that he had fluid in his ears and that was the cause for failure. At 5 weeks, he ran a high fever and had to be admitted into the hospital. Because all of the viral cultures and spinal tap returned negative, Dr. Oliver decided to put tubes in his ears. This was not a surprise since all of our kids have had tubes. After the tubes, Brett still failed the hearing test. Dr. Oliver decided to refer him for an ABR test- auditory brainstem response. Brett took that test on Oct. 31 and it looked like he had mild bilateral hearing loss. Because he was awake and moving some, they decided to sedate him in Dec. and retest. This is the most definitive test for hearing loss. Brett took the test on Dec. 23 and the results were the same.

Yesterday we went to Savannah Speech and Hearing. Brett was fitted and had the molds made for hearing aids in both ears. Hopefully, he will only have to wear them in both ears for a few years until he learns all of his sounds. Hopefully, he will not have to have speech therapy in school and will be fine. Of course, we hate to think that anything is wrong, but we are thankful that this is something that is treatable and not life threatening. He is such a sweet child and the best baby ever!! I will keep you updated on his hearing. He should be getting his hearing aids in the next few weeks.

Have you ever seen such a cute puppy???

The Wedding

We went to a friend's son wedding last night. It was the first wedding for Blake and Bryson. Blake was dreading it because we told him that he would have to dance with a girl!!! He was so stressed. Once he told his best friend Noah that he was going and Noah informed Blake that he had to go too, Blake seemed a little less stressed. Blake's main concern other than dancing was what kind of food was being served. Imagine that!! Bryson wanted to know if the wedding was going to be like Mamma Mia!! During the wedding, Blake and Noah were bored and Bryson was in awe. She LOVED the bride. It was so much fun to watch the wedding through her eyes!!! At the reception, Bryson followed the bride around and danced the night away on the dance floor!! She partied all night. At one point, if you wanted to dance with the bride or groom, you had to pay money to go towards the honeymoon. I gave Bryson $1.00 to dance with the groom, but she gave it to the bride and she picked her up and danced with her. That was the highlight of Bryson's night. Meanwhile, the boys were playing hide and go seek and football outside in between sneaking chicken fingers and punch. Unfortunately, I left my camera in my car, but before we made it out of the reception, this is what Bryson looked like:

This morning, Bryson was talking to her grandmother and she told her that the bride was beautiful!! When she got a shower this morning, she said that she smelled like the bride. I asked her what the bride smelled like and she said, "sweet!" Here are some more pictures from our night:

The Kids

Since I am just starting out this blog, I wanted to introduce you to the three people that I will talk most about...my kids- Blake, Bryson and Brett. Here they are: This is Blake. He is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. Blake acts just like his Daddy!! He is full of energy and loves to play jokes on people. Blake is very good at soccer and baseball. He also takes piano lessons. I always tell Blake that he needs to get a job so that we can afford to feed him. He loves to eat and will eat anything. The only problem is that he is skinny as a rail because he is always on the move!! Blake loves to play outside and play airsoft wars with his friends in the woods. He loves to be outdoors and he especially loves hunting with his Daddy. Blake is the oldest and he loves to fight with his sister, Bryson. He is an excellent big brother to Brett.
This is Bryson. She is 4 years old and is in PreK. Bryson is the life of the party and the Drama Queen.!! Life is a social event for Bryson and she is always up for a good time. Bryson is very sweet and is definitely a "girl's" girl!! Bryson takes dance once a week and does ballet, tap and jazz. Bryson demands attention and loves to play dress up and put on makeup. I think that Bryson will be a teacher one day because every night, we all have to be her students while she teaches us what she has learned. Unfortunately for Daddy and Grandaddy, they stay in trouble all of the time because they do not follow directions in class!!! Bryson is all girl and we are thankful that she is our only one!!! Bryson loves to fight with her older brother Blake and thinks that she is her younger brother, Brett's, mother!This is Brett! He was our surprise after Christmas last year!!! Brett is 4 months old and we can definitely say the the third time is a charm!!! He has been such a blessing to us!! Brett is the happiest baby and is so easygoing!! He grins from ear to ear all of the time. He is definitely the biggest baby of the three. He is loving his baby food and so far, he has not found anything that he does not like to eat. Brett is starting to coo and talk and he likes to pull himself up. Brett has the prettiest blue eyes and is spoiled rotten by his older brother and sister. While Mommy is at work, Brett stays with both Grandparents one day a week and Mrs. Ivy and Neal for 3 days a week!

The Beginning

I can't believe that I am starting a blog. I have thought about it for a while and have finally decided that it is much easier and faster for me to type than to write everything down. I am not necessarily starting this blog for anyone to read but more for my kids to read later and to keep track of cute and funny things that they do. So...here's a little bit about our family. My name is Kellie and I am a very lucky mother of 3 wonderful kids- Blake is 8, Bryson is 4 and Brett is 4 months. I am married to Rick and I teach Kindergarten. We have 2 dogs- Dozer, a mastiff and Hannah, a bassett hound. We are starting off the new year being lazy which is rare for us! We had a party last night with oysters and fireworks and a lot of fun with friends! This is what Bryson and Brett looked like at the end of the night!!

Well, I am going to post this and see if it works!! If so, I will be back soon!!
Kellie