Friday, September 26, 2008

It's been awhile.....

I figured it was time for an update. Nothing too exciting to report. We did have a little scare with Reggie a couple weeks ago. He has a relatively large mole that concerned us last year in a very sensitive, manly place. We had it checked out and it was fine, but it developed what looked like a freckle on it. So, I took him to the dermatologist here and he didn't feel good about the changes and thought it would be a good idea to biopsy it. I had a long talk with Reggie, explaining what they were going to do and he said o.k., as long as he got a toy. We read a book during the procedure and he almost lost it once, but I focused him on his prize (Optimus Prime) and he was all smiles. I think it was more traumatic for me than anyone-Ainsley watched them cut/stich and was very interested! When the whole thing sunk in the next day, I was having a hard time with the thought that something might be really wrong. I put in a prayer request at our church and gave it to God. It took an entire week to get the results, but thankfully, everything is fine. It is a good reminder of how fragile life can be and how I need to work on my appreciation of my kids on a daily basis (as I sit here and write, Reggie is screaming/crying because once again Ainsley took something, destroyed his train track and pinched him-so, fifteen minutes later, after a time-out and snack, maybe I'll finish this!). I don't know what I was thinking trying to do this while they "play". Anyway, we went back this morning to get the stich out and it was a complete disaster. Thank goodness Ryan came because he was holding his legs while I held his arms and we could barely keep him down. I wonder what the other patients thought was going on? He has hundreds of tiny broken blood vessels on his face from screaming/crying and trying to get away. Glad that's over!!!
On a more positive note, Reggie is still enjoying school and we've been spending lots of time with his new friend Michael. He started swim lessons again and none of the other kids have showed, so he's been having a private lesson! His teacher is pretty aggressive, which I think is what he needs at this point. He's been playing the games and doing their activities for awhile and not doing much new. She has him hand crawling along the edge of the pool and going pretty deep and working on differents strokes. She dunked him 2 weeks ago and now he doesn't want to go, so we'll see what happens the next couple weeks.
Ainsley has started a mommy and me class Wed. nights. and she loves it! I think she feels like her big brother. They have dolls/babies there, so I always ask her if she is ready to go and she says, "Babies?!" and runs to the car. This week they gave the dolls a bath. She is very much into the arts/crafts which is so different from Reggie. We have an art wall in our hallway that is filling up quickly! She has been talking up a storm lately and although everything isn't perfectly clear, we usually get the message.
Ryan has been working hard at work and we are still getting used to this new schedule. Reggie has said more than once he wants to go back to our hold home so he can see daddy more. But, then in his next statement, he never wants to go home because he loves that he and Ainsley have their own sinks in the bathroom. Too funny! I'm sure we'll adjust soon. Ryan joined a parenting class through our church called "Boundaries" which teaches parents how to create boundaries with their children. He has started to learn not to parent in the present, but parent for the future. Many times we get busy with work, chores, errands, etc... and when our children are acting up we want to fix the problem quickly. Well sometimes that isn't the most healthy/wise thing to do because a lot of the time it means giving into their wants. Learning to step back and take a deep breath and being able to say no is the best thing for our children down the road. It teaches them respect, discipline, structure which are key elements to a Godly child. It's been very helpful....
I joined the MOPS group here and that has been really great. It is nice to have a morning with adult conversation and interesting guest speakers. We've had a few park play dates with school mates, which has been good for me to meet other moms in his class. I'm still looking to join a gym, but I think I have another month of daylight to do my running/biking/swimming outdoors.
The whole family (except Ryan) got our first cold of the season and I seem to have it really bad. I'm not quite ready for this! I thought being in a warmer climate, the sun would kill more "bugs", but I'm not sure that is going to be the case.
We've been bad about taking pictures lately, but I'll try to get on that and post some soon.

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