Our new best friend

Mr. Liam has a new best friend.

Liam was diagnosed with asthma last summer after four straight months of breathing issues. We had him tested for seasonal allergies but everything came back negative. We never found his triggers. He managed to stay pretty healthy through the fall and into the winter. His pediatrician even talked about taking the asthma diagnosis off Liam’s chart. But alas, the good news was short lived. Liam’s asthma came back this spring and came back fast. In the past month he has had two major flare ups. Flare ups equal lots and lots of breathing treatments. And since we seem to be repeating last year to a T (both springs started with Bronchiolitis and an infection in the right ear), Liam has been put on the long term inhaled corticosteroids. This means a typical day for Liam includes four or five breathing treatments. A boy gets bored, let me tell you! He was getting antsy and frustrated at each treatment. I went looking for help where I usually do, EBAY! There I found Liam’s new best friend. We got our little dragon in mail this week and Mr. Liam took him for a test run. A successful one!

Now I must warn you that you will see my sweet baby with leftover Spaghetti-O’s on his face and dirty finger nails… life happens! Liam loved his new friend… until big brother brought him a police car to play with…

“Back on your mouth Liam!”

“Back off, lady” That’s the steroids talking…

“Liam!”

"Like this mom?"

"Yes, Liam. That’s perfect!"

I think that I may be just as happy with Liam’s new best friend as he is.

Not my potty chair!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

What a long weekend it has been! After three days of non stop runny noses, breathing treatments, crying, cuddling, and constant trips to the potty chair with my overacheiving toddler, I most certainly had NOT had enough. There is not way that I took this adorable little fellow:

out of the bathroom and placed him smack dab in the center of my living room. I did NOT follow this heinous act by taking my child's unders off and then just let the little comando roam. Nope NOT ME! I have ALL the patience in the world! Potty training my two year-old twins never gets old... I swear!

I should add that this was succesful! Liam had a place to go (constantly!) and I didn't have to spend my day on the floor of the bathroom!

Thanks Elmo!

Do you love Elmo?

 Me neither.

Ok that's not really the truth. Ben was never interested in Elmo or Sesame Street for that matter. He was a Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine kind of man. But the twins love Sesame Street, I loves Sesame Street as a little one too. But recently the writers of Sesame Street have taken the show to a whole other level! Today while watching with the little ones I was suprised to see Ricky Gervais, one the funniest men alive! You must check it out, Elmo has such great chemistry with celebrities!

Thank you Sesame Street writers for making my 'children's shows only' life a little more interesting.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Independence

Boy am I glad it's Wednesday, I'm feeling rather wordless these days....

I title this

Independence

It's a wonderful thing!

Not My Christmas Cards....

I am working on a much longer in depth post, something about perspective, so this will be a short Not Me Monday but I wanted to post one none the less.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So have you  put all of your holidau decorations away? Are they safely packed away for next year? Mine are! Well at least that's what I thought until I realized that I had forgotten something. This is most certainly NOT the back of my front door. There is no way that I didn't notice the few token Christmas cards left hanging there. I am way more observant than that... really....

I guess it's time to take those down....

My tangled ball of yarn

I don’t feel like blogging. I don’t feel like myself.

I feel like this:

A tangled mess of yarn, pulled and twisted into something unfinished at both ends, wound into knots and shoved into a little plastic jar.

Life happens to be stressful right now. And I have no desire to take it in stride. I am blessed to be married to a man that just goes with the flow. He may be like “what the heck” for a moment but then he simply shrugs his shoulders and says “that’s life”. But I don’t want to be that level headed and adult. I want to stomp my feet and pout in the corner. But I can’t. I shouldn’t.

We have to move soon, out of a home that I love. A home that we really thought would be ours but is being sold out from under us and we have been asked to leave. So in April we leave. But I don’t feel like it. I don’t feel like looking for a new rental when what I really want is a home of my own. I don’t feel like packing or moving or leaving my big backyard or the morning doves that live in the tree in the front yard. I just don’t feel the way I want to feel. There is nothing at this point that I want more than to be excited about this change, to take it on as an adventure and a chance to grow as a family. To learn to rely on my Lord, my rescuer. But sadly, I just don’t feel like it.

The mood that I’m in is no help to where we are in life. Liam has been sick for the past few weeks. His asthma has been persistent which called for steroids. Oh the steroids! Poor Liam is a savage when he’s on steroids. He is uncontrollable and aggressive. I am truly exhausted from policing his wake. But I’m forced to look on the bright side; the wheezing has stopped and the inhaled steroid he was put on causes fewer side effects than the oral one (like turning my sweet gentle baby that says ‘thank you much’ for everything into a sibling attacking monster).

Thankfully, venting helps. Airing my complaints and frustrations down on paper…or a computer screen… puts things into perspective. And quite honestly it makes me feel bad for feeling like this. So I’ll make an effort to feel better, to find joy in my frustration, to make my tangled mess and turn it into something wonderful.

Generations of Love

As Valentines Day approaches, I've been thinking a lot about love. Not just the love between my husband and I but the love that created each generation of my family. The past in my family is a long and beautiful tale of lifelong marriages.

Can you see it in my Great Great Grandparents?

The beauty of a family's love story.

My paternal Grandparent's had never met but fell in love through letters during WWII.

 

My stunning maternal Grandparents on their wedding day, my mom wore that dress too.

My mom and dad, married six weeks after they met, had five beautiful children and have been the greatest influence on my life.

Erik and I have a lot to live up to, a long way to go. But as we get ready to celebrate our thirteenth Valentines Day together, more in love than ever, I'd say we're off to a good start.

Happy Valentines Day!