Today I am reaffirmed that my job as a mom really is extremely hard and Zane is tougher to handle than most kids. Zane had his 4 year checkup today and I discussed in depth with Dr. Kaufman about my frustrations with Zane's difficult behaviors, the O.C.D, O.D.D and the constant power struggle. Our next step is to do in depth testing with a neuro-psychologist so see if we can figure out what is really going on with his behavior. Zane has almost caught up with his speech and is doing well with O.T. but his behavior is his biggest obstacle to his learning. He would rather argue with the teacher about everything under the sun instead of cooperate and listen.

In other news, we had a great Thanksgiving at home and this time Joe's parents came to us. It was wonderful having help with the kids for a few days and we even got this family photo taken for our Christmas card. We did go shopping on Black Friday at 5am and it was a crazy time. We were compensated for waking up so early by finding great deals for our Christmas shopping. This weekend we'll be driving to KC for Joe to go to a Chiefs game. We shall also have a party to celebrate Braden's first birthday.

Zane Turns 4

Zane had a great birthday celebration with his grandparents on Sunday. I really can't believe he's 4 already. I was telling everyone he was 3 until the day of his birthday. My firstborn baby is really growing up!

I spent far too much time making a Sponge Bob cake. It took hours to decorate that sucker. Zane was in a very good mood all day and he seemed so happy. We went to Chuckie Cheese in the evening and had a great time with all the games.
Joe & I had trouble deciding what to get Zane as his main gift so I took him to Target and told him to pick out a toy for his birthday. Some kids might have gone crazy but Zane spent little time finding the large purple bucket of Legos and picking it out. Z quickly moved on to the bakery and the free cookie that he gets when he behaves well during shopping trips.
Yes, Zane is bald. If anyone likes his new haircut please post a comment- I'm very insecure about it since I did it and it came out much shorter than I planned.

Sicky Nikki

The flu is no fun at all. I have been completely wiped this week. Of course my boys are all at full strength and have plenty of energy to go around.
I got sick late Sunday after dinner with my MOPS friends. Much big D and vomit ensued. Joe had to come home from work Monday at lunchtime to help out with the kids because I was worthless. This week was wasted on my illness. I spent much time in bed either reading, sleeping or watching TV- things a mom is rarely allowed to do during the day.
I'm busy getting ready for this weekend. Zane is turning 4 on Sunday and my parents are coming in for the weekend to celebrate. No party this year, just a family celebration for Zane. We'll probably go to Chuckie Cheese for dinner and I'm making a Sponge Bob cake. He caught me wrapping presents yesterday and he got quite excited. When he hears the word birthday all he can think about is birthday cake so he started demanding it quite insistently. I had to say a million times that we have to wait until Sunday to open the presents and eat the cake.
We shaved Zane's head Sunday and it's bad- I won't be posting any pictures of him for a while because he is so bald. Above is the last picture of him with hair that anyone will see for a long time.

Rest & Trust

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15

I love this verse. I just received a devotional from MOPS (www.mops.org) that's called Just Give Me A Little Piece of Quiet by Lorilee Craker. The very first chapter opened with this Bible verse from Isaiah and I immediately connected with it. It's a wonderful reminder for me that God will get me through any of my struggles and I can rest and trust in Him.

Braden is my miracle baby and his sweet presence reminds me of how gracious God is.

What a day

I received my wakeup call at 4:15am this morning and it was VERY unpleasant. Zane had woke up vomiting in his sleep and proceeded to throw up all over his bed and carpet. We quickly cleaned him up and went back to bed but this was just the start, he woke up sick a couple more times before he finally got up at 8am. The rest of us had a mild case of the flu last weekend but Zane seems to have gotten the worst of it. He is doing much better now and has been keeping fluids down all day but he has no interest in eating.

On to other more pleasant topics.

My new favorite website is: http://ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/index.php
It provides a safety rating for just about any personal care products on the market. I have been spending much of my online time lately finding out just how toxic some of my makeup really is. Actually this prompted me to go buy a few new things and throw out some old stuff. I tend to hold on to stuff far past it's expiration date so it was time to throw out the 3 yr old foundation.

Here's a picture of baby bear Braden and Mukenko. It has nothing to do with anything but it's cute.

It's nice to have friends

Isn't it nice to have friends? Here are pictures of my boys with friends their own ages. What isn't pictured is all the talking & relationship building I get to do with the other mom while our kids are playing.
It's important to me that Zane and Braden have playmates but far more important is for me to have a friend that I can share all the parenting woes with. It is SO nice to have friends.
Zane is playing with Ethan at Tom's Farm Market. They had a fun time running around the playground. Liz and I had a great time getting to catch up with each other in between the chasing and disciplining.
Braden is crawling around with his buddy Nolan. They are the same age but Nolan is about 4-5 pounds heavier. They seemed to enjoy pushing and pulling toys from each other. Brandi and I enjoyed talking about all the things our babies do.
It is So nice to have friends.