Nightmares

Since Ethan had the reaction to medication last week, he has had a lot of trouble sleeping. He's been waking up after having a nightmare and not going back to sleep. He won't sleep in his bed anymore. We think that the experience he had with the hallucinations brought back his fear of the dark and it triggers bad dreams and in waking from those dreams, he's too scared to go back to sleep. Needless to say, we are all tired at our house. Tonight he agreed to sleep in the lower bunk of his bed (he usually sleeps on the top) if I went and bought a nite light that is brighter. So we are trying that now. I told him that all of his lack of sleep is making him too tired and grumpy and that if he doesn't sleep again tonight, I won't be taking him to school tomorrow for camp. He plays hard there which will make him even more tired. Hopefully the memory of his experience will soon fade!

Baby Formula

I came across an interesting opportunity to write a post about baby formula. I had supplemented with formula with my first child and used it solely with my second. It was the best choice for our family, yet it cost a fortune. From what I've learned, Consumer Reports for the past year or so, has been urging parents to purchase store brand formula because it is a significant way to save money over brand name formula. The publisher recently released it's 10th edition of Consumer Reports Best Baby Products edition. Consumer Reports also recommends that "if you choose or need to use infant formula, buy powdered formula. It costs less than concentrated liquid or liquid formula. And keep in mind that all infant formula sold in the U.S. must meet the same basic nutrient requirements specified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." They found that Walmart's brand formula costs 50% less than the national leading brand, Enfamil. I used the baby formula savings calculator to see how true that really is. I entered the name of the formula I used with Ian and found that by using Parent's Choice brand, from Walmart stores, I would have saved over 50%. And in a years time, I would have saved $683! Since all formula marketed in the United States must meet the same nutrient specifications required by the FDA, babies are getting the same nutritional standards, just at a less cost to the consumer. Of course the most economical way to feed a baby is breast feeding and is the best for the baby but for those who need to use formula, it sounds like store brands are the way to go. (I am kind of hoping my husband doesn't read this post because if we had known how much we could have saved...:)

Scary Morning

Ethan woke us up at 4am this morning. George said he had had a bad dream about bugs being in his bed. George talked with him about it and prayed with him and put him back to bed. Not too long later we heard him screaming. George went in and Ethan was crouched in one corner of his bed, trying not to touch any of it (which is difficult since he's on the top bunk). George brought him back to our room and we tried talking to him about what was wrong. He kept talking about seeing bugs and even saw them in our bed. I told George it looked like Ethan was having visual and tactile hallucinations. It really is horrible to watch anyone experiencing hallucinations and I think even worse when it's your child. We had all the lamps on in our room so there was plenty of light and encouraged him to rest in our bed. He couldn't, instead sitting very stiff and on alert, constantly looking all over the bed. My first thought is that it is related to some new medication he is taking. But in the back of both our minds lurks the fact that they have a genetic disposition to metal illness because of my family history. We left the bedroom and he asked to have breakfast and he was fine ever since. I researched a new medication he started called Xyzal which is an antihistamine. Wouldn't you know it--one of the reported side effects is hallucinations? Obviously we won't be giving that to him again. Since early this morning Ethan's been asking "why was my mind playing tricks on me?"

Kmart's Blue Light Specials

These days we are all looking for ways to save money. I know I've been scouring ads for great deals, clipping coupons and searching online for sites with great discounts and free shipping. Remember Kmart Bluelight Specials? I remember them well and they've brought it back. Kmart Bluelight Specials are a great way to get the things you need and save lots of money. Kmart is having a one day special sale tomorrow July 25th all day in stores and online. There will be Blue Light special sales all over the store including patio furniture, grills and jewelry. All day, every hour on the hour, throughout the store there will be over 40 Blue Light specials to check out. You can also check out Kmart online for specials all day tomorrow. Kmart is also offering free shipping on all their Christmas Lane items, today and tomorrow. This includes even trees and lights. If you shop all year for Christmas as I do, you'll definitely want to see what they have online. (yes I do shop all year--less stress and it saves me money!)If you twitter like I do, you can follow Kmart's updates at Kmartdealsnnews on Twitter. So go tomorrow to Kmart and watch for the Blue Light Specials and save lots of money!

Just One Thing

Every mom I know has had the same experiences with taking their kids to the store. One of my friends, her son even bit into a raw egg in the grocery store:)! Periodically, I inform George that I will no longer be taking the kids to the store with me but sometimes I can't help it. Today I had to run into the grocery store for just one thing--my husband's addiction to Mt. Dew--and it took half an hour. How does that happen? Since we were just going in for one thing, I thought we didn't need to do the whole cart thing, but no, I had to argue with Ian about it because he insisted on riding in the car cart (he won). Ethan had to go to the bathroom right away. Then I disinfected the cart before putting them in it and discovered that someone had left their keys in the cart. So we went to customer service to turn them in. I went to get the addictive substance I was there to purchase and then Ian started whining about wanting milk. I stopped by the organic section to get some soy milk for him. Then they needed to have a cookie from the bakery, of course! I go to checkout to pay and Ethan starts having a cow about wanting to help me use the credit card machine (which would involve him getting out of the cart to do so). Ahhhh! Finally back to the car and giving Ian his milk. I feel like I went to battle to get my husband his drug of choice--I should earn a metal!:)

Tiredness and Tantrums

The boys had at least three nights last week where they were up past ten and neither of them have caught up on the sleep they lost. Ethan's behavior has gradually begun to disintegrate. He gave me a lot of trouble at my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon and this morning was horrible. I warned him that his behavior would require a consequence. This morning we were going to go to his swim lesson and then go to Starbuck's for free pastry day. We were also invited to the beach by some friends and I had hoped if they were doing well we could go. He was such a problem for me that I informed him that his behavior required that we would not be able to go to Starbuck's. He freaked out and could not calm down. So when we arrived at his swim lesson, I had to tell his teacher that he was in no shape to go today:( I then went to George's office and he talked to Ethan for a while--he has a special gift to get Ethan to calm down. He finally did calm down and we decided to go home and not do anything today. He drew me a nice picture with lots of smiley faces and the words "I'm Sorry." He's been great the rest of the day. Hopefully we'll make swimming tomorrow. As for my free pastry...well maybe next time.

Ian's Day at the Park

Today Ethan started his stroke class with the swim school. After the class I took him to camp at his preschool and Ian and I went to a park to play with friends. The park is located on the river and has a great playground and a sand box area with a water feature. Ian was covered in sand from head to toe and loved it!

Friends, Communication and Technology

Lately, I've been taking more advantage of all the technology available by connecting Twitter to FB and to my blog. I love one stop shopping:) It's interesting how technology can help us be more connected with friends, yet disconnected at the same time. How is that? I'm sure there are many sociological theories and textbooks to be written on the subject, but my personal experience is this: the more I provide the details of my life through my blog and on social networking sites, the less there is to talk about face to face. I really don't know who reads my blog, other than the comments I receive. So I may begin to tell someone about an experience I've had or something we did and they say, "oh yeah, I read about that on your blog." So I often hesitate to say anything about my life because I'm not sure if I'm just repeating myself. The same is true of my "friends" on FB or my "followers" on Twitter (the whole definition of how the word friend has changed because of these sites is for another post). Those who are on these sites more often tend to know more about what's going on in my life than those who rarely check FB or Twitter. Despite these issues, I will continue to participate in technology because I find that there are times when sharing my life with others opens doors for interesting discussions where I learn more about others and also myself. Has anyone had the same thoughts about how technology has changed our interactions with others?

Ethan's visit with grandma

Ethan spent a couple of night's at Grandma's house this week. I went to pick him up today. He did not miss us at all! I have to say that Ian didn't miss him either:) I think he enjoyed the extra attention from us. It was strange having only one child to take care of, I felt like I was forgetting something. I did get to take a nap yesterday afternoon since I didn't have to entertain Ethan. The boys got right back into bickering and snatching toys from each other as soon as we got home!

Harry Potter

I went with a group of friends last night to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was good and as usual much is left out from the book. But I can't blame the writers because the books are so long it would be impossible to include everything into a 2 1/2 hour movie. I was suprised I didn't cry when Dumbledore died but I guess I must have processed my grief when I read the book a few years ago. George didn't come with me, I've yet to talk him into seeing any of the movies. So I tagged along with my pastor and his family, some other teens from church and a friend and her husband. Thanks guys for letting me join you all!

My New Table

My new dining table arrived today and I'm very pleased with it. It's from the Amish in Ohio and I've been imagining an old Amish man making my table by hand in his old red barn these past couple of months. Silly I know:) My grandfather passed away a year ago and he left me some money and I told George the one thing I really wanted was a really nice dining table. This table is made of oak and will last forever, at least a few generations (I know this because we have a few Victorian era pieces made of oak from the late 1800's). The craftmanship is beautiful, a work of art. It has four self-storing leaves which extend it really far, it could probably seat 14 people. I guess that means I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year:)

Closet #2

My husband has been diligent in completing both closets and finished the second one on the weekend. I have banned him from putting his computer on the dining room table so he made a desk for himself in the second bedroom and also installed some shelving for storage. I'm so proud of him!

Closet #1

Whoever said "a place for everything and everything in it's place" was a genius. I love the quote and live by it. When we decided the boys would share and room and that we would turn the other bedroom into a den I knew we would need to come up with some storage solutions. Thankfully we found the bunkbed with tons of storage and we also decided to add a closet organizing system to the closet as well. I got a few quotes from closet companies and after learning that it would cost at least $800 to have it done, we decided to do it ourselves. I dearly love my closet system (I told George recently it's my favorite thing we have done to this house--he thinks I'm crazy:) we had done a few years ago by a local company and I had hoped to have the same thing put in to all the other closets but it just isn't worth the money for such a small closet. So George and Ethan put the closet together last weekend and I think it turned out great. Now on to the closet in the soon to be den. In the next closet we're going to try and add a desk in the closet as well.

Wannadoo City

Yesterday we took a road trip with a friend and her kids to Wannadoo City. The younger kids didn't have quite as much to do as the older ones but they did enjoy pretending to grocery shop and riding on some rides. Ethan and his friend (aka fiance) Maddie, got to role play being fire fighters, veterinarian's, paleantologist's, EMT's, and pilot's. The crazy thing about the day was that the AC was broken at the place so it was very hot there--and packed with people. My friend Kristine and I used that as an excuse to leave with the younger ones to go shopping (the park is located in a large outlet mall). The kids had a blast and I got some good exercise walking all over the mall. A good time despite the hot temperatures:)

Sun and Sand

Today we went on the boat. George had the day off so we invited some friends and enjoyed a day on the boat snorkeling, swimming, kneeboarding,and tubing. Ian hated wearing his life jacket but begrudgingly accepted his fate. Ethan had a blast on the tube and we enjoyed watching daddy get back up on the kneeboard. It was a fun filled day!

Day of Appointments

Today I had a sitter so I could go to a couple of doctor's appointments by myself. First the dentist followed by the dermatologist. I would certainly rather be doing something else with my free time but it is so worth it to go by myself. When I returned home after lunch, Ethan was disappointed and asked if I could leave again so he could play more with Miss Karen:) Later in the day I had to take both of them to my allergist because I am still battling a sinus infection (going on a month now) and it's been aggravating my asthma. More meds to try. I'm thinking maybe I should just live in a dust free, allergen free bubble, do they make one that can fit around my house?

Jonathan Edwards

I was excited when I received the opportunity to review the book "The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards" by Steven J. Lawson because earlier in the year the devotional I use (Tabletalk) had some articles about Jonathan Edwards and I made a mental note to find a book about him. This book examines Edwards life, his theology, and his legacy. Jonathan Edwards was a puritan preacher during the early 1700's and is thought of as "the theologian of the First Great Awakening." He is considered one of the greatest theologians our country has ever produced and is well known for his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I remember studying him in church history class in high school but never considered reading about him on my own until recently. What intrigued me the most about Jonathan Edwards was his passion for holy living and as a late teenager he began writing a list of resolutions for how he would live a holy life. This list of resolutions ended up totaling 70 and he evaluated himself by them each week as well as kept a diary of his progress in his pursuit of holiness. This book reviews many of these resolutions and discusses what Edwards journals reveal about what he learned about himself, the struggles he had in putting his sin to death, and God's sanctifying work in his life. At first glance it may seem like a list of legalistic pursuits to try and earn God's favor. But for Edwards this was not the case. His entire life centered around bringing glory to God and that was the reason for his writing his list of resolutions. I know I frequently attempt to write a list of things in my life that I want to improve or fruits of the spirit I need to demonstrate but I never seem to give it my all as Jonathan Edwards did. Yet he never forgot that he could not do anything without God working through him as is seen by the introduction he wrote to his list "Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake." Here is a sample of a few of his life long resolutions: "1) Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever. 7)Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life. 67) Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them." This book has given me the opportunity to not only read about Edwards list of resolutions, but also to learn more about his life, his writings, his pastorate and his theology. There are many books written to instruct Christians in how to live a Godly life but this one shows someone who did live a Christ-like life, who resolved to grow in holiness, who trusted God's work in his life to that end and who did it all for God's glory. May that be my aim as well.

Bath Time Buddies

July 4th

George had to save lives yesterday so I hadn't planned on doing anything for the holiday but a friend of ours offered to make dinner for us and hang out for the evening. So I invited another friend whose husband was also working and we enjoyed a yummy dinner cooked on the grill. The boys had a blast throwing those popper things that make a loud noise when they hit the ground--Ian really got into it. They weren't so fond of sparklers though and seemed intimiated by them. We could see some fireworks from our house but not much so we watched some on tv. As everyone was preparing to leave, Ethan started choking on an apple. He's always had difficulty with trying to swallow more than he is capable of and we've frequently had to pound him on the back but this time it was full on choking and he was freaking out. My friend Shaun was there to help me and he saved Ethan--thank you Shaun! Ethan was pretty scared, frankly all of us were but he is fine, thank the Lord.

Dentist

I took both boys to the dentist this morning. Their dentist insists on seeing them first thing in the morning because that's when young children are at their best (according to them:) So I had to wake them up early to be there at 8am. Ethan did great as usual. This was Ian's second time there and he screamed and screamed. I had to help hold him down just so the dentist could look at his teeth. They weren't able to clean them because he was so upset. But he calmed down quickly and on the way out said "thank you doctor." (She had given them little toys to take home). What a way to start the day!:)

Two Dates

This morning I took Ian out to his first movie, Arcic Tale. We went along with a friend which I think helped him stay as long as he did. He made it through an hour before he started getting ansy and asking to leave. Then this evening I went out on a date with my husband. We did our normal dinner at Cool A Fish Bar and then to the book store. It's become quite routine for us but I can't complain because it's all my favorites in one evening: good food, books and coffee (oh, and of course my husband:)

Faith

In our process of sanctification in which we become more and more like Christ our faith is challenged and grows. Since being a mother, my sin has become much more apparent than ever before and as the HS works on my heart to change me, my faith grows as well. As I go along this journey in motherhood, I am being stripped of everything I thought I knew and everything I thought I was capable of and I come before the Lord with nothing, realizing that I can't do anything without Him. I just wanted to share this devotional on faith from one of my favorite authors: "Faith has little to do with commitment, or allegiance. When we place our faith in Christ, we are not so much taking a stand for Him as we are acknowledging the stand He takes for us. Faith is self-despairing trust in the Lord. It is coming to Him in empty-handed poverty. Faith is surrendering all, even our sense of duty, allegiance, or commitment. People of great faith are not measured by their shining commitment, but by the humbling degree to which they recognize how poor, absolutely dirt poor, they are in spirit. Their faith has power because they realize no good thing dwells within them. They bring to the Lord nothing but their open hands, ready to humbly receive whatever God in His mercy will give. Faith means being sure of Christ's commitment to you, rather than your commitment to HIm. Faith is having confidence in His love for you rather than your love for Him." From "Diamonds in the Dust" by Joni Earekson Tada.