Growing Boys

While Mom and Grandma were here, they "encouraged" and assisted me in cleaning out the garage. I say "encouraged" (aka pushed and prodded, in a good way) because a majority of the boxes in the garage held most of my life from childhood. Memories that I had saved that didn't need to be saved that have been moved from place to place since college! Nick is VERY happy to have been relieved of so much junk. To him it is junk; to me, it was precious moments in my life. However, going through all the boxes, I found mostly junk. Things that I had saved as a memorial to specific events. I can't tell you how many dozens of movie stubs and play tickets I had saved. I had the "Happy Graduation" banner from my grad party. Ridiculous. So, it was a good cleansing.

One thing that we found were a pair of 3-D glasses. Joey LOVED these. He loved the rainbows he saw when wearing them. At one point, Nanny asked if she could see the rainbows, hoping to have a turn with the glasses. Joey debates within himself for a moment, trying to decide if he wanted to share these very special glasses. Finally, he pointed at the lamp and said, "It's right there," as if Nanny should be able to see what was so obviously visible to him. It was the funniest thing.

Another thing we found in the boxes were two old cans of silly string. Guess what? They still worked. First, I thoroughly got my husband covered. That was a priority. Then I turned the can on my sons. Nick was kind of scared of it, so I didn't spray him anymore. But Joey had a blast. He thought it was a lot of fun, as evidenced by his expression in the picture above.
This is such a precious picture. It looks posed, but it wasn't. Joey and Nick absolutely adore Ethan. They are both so gentle and they both want to hold him and help take care of him all the time. If Ethan is in his bouncy seat or laying on his Pooh mat and makes any tiny whimper one or both of them come running trying to make sure he is okay.
On Sunday, I had asked to be put on the schedule to sing the offertory. I knew that Mom would be there, and I wanted to sing while she was there. I had told Alice, the pastor's wife, that as long as I had had Ethan by Friday the 22nd, I was intending on being in church to sing on the 24th. Thankfully, Ethan cooperated and came in time. After church, Mom took a family photo of us, and I think it turned out beautifully.
There is nothing more entertaining to a couple of boys than some empty boxes. Grandma kept commenting on how we should save our money at Christmas and birthdays and just give them some empty boxes. These pictures were taken one morning as Nanny and Grandma watched the boys while Nick and I slept a little extra in the morning.
Yesterday morning, I made my first attempt at taking all three boys out by myself. It was a sucessful trip. Unfortunately, it was just to the doctor's office....nothing fun and exciting. Nick had his two year check-up and Ethan had his two week check-up. Here are the statistics; Nick weighed in at 26.8 pounds, landing him in the 30th percentile. He was measured at just under 35 inches, keeping him in the 50th percentlie. And his head circumference ws measured at 50.5 cm....90th percentile. My boys have big noggins thanks to their Daddy.

Ethan weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces, down to the 50th percentile. He has gained back much of all but 2 ounces of his original birth weight. He is still 21 inches long and his head measured at 37.5 cm, 75% and 70% respectfully. Both boys are looking healthy and growing right on track. I'm told that I am doing a good job!

Nick got one vaccine and had to get his finger poked twice to measure the hemoglobin to check the iron level. He did not have a good time. He was so upset he was upsetting Joey too. The nurse finally took Joey out of the room to look at the fish while the lab tech finished with Nick. Then Ethan had to get his heel poked for his 2nd PKU test. Thankfully, he slept through the whole thing. I only have so many hands to hold crying kids, after all.

I have much more to share and many more pictures, but enough for now. I am not the only one who likes to use the computer after all. I must share. Hope you all have a wonderful, safe Labor Day weekend.