We're getting an education...

Cooper is doing great, totally back to normal. As I type, he is listening to my heart with a toy stethoscope. Listening for my "heart beeps" as Ava likes to say.
But today I have to post about Aidan. I have found there to be two precious sides to the kindergarten coin; the sweet, imaginative child-like side, and the testing boundaries and limits side. And in the last 3 days, I have witnessed both.

Side #1:
On Friday night, Aidan, Ava, and I were walking out of the grocery store to the car, and it was dark. I heard Aidan's little voice behind me say, "Starlight, starbright, I wish I may, I wish I might....". I thought that was so charming. I said, "What did you wish for Buddy?" He gave me a small little grin and said, "I was wishing that my toys would come to life, and then they can come and find me when they want to play, instead of me always looking for them."
Isn't that cute? I loved that answer. I just had to kiss that little 5 year old face!

Side #2:
Aidan and I are in the family room, and I was checking my email. Zoe was running around the room like a lunatic, randomly biting our toes. She's still a puppy, no big deal. Well, I guess she nipped Aidan kind of hard, because I heard him yell, "Zoe!!!! That dog is a whore!"

WHAT?!?!???!!!!

I think my head might have popped off. I was horrified. I cross-examined him for 10 minutes, and still don't know where he heard that word. I asked him if he knew what it meant, and then I immediately thought, 'Why did I say that?' I'm sure that he doesn't know what it means, and I do NOT want to explain that. So when he answered, "No," I just said, "Well you should never use words if you don't know what they mean." After that whole exchange I was just not happy with how I handled everything. I don't want to be that parent. The parent who freaks out just because their child says a bad word. There really are bigger issues. But what if he said that word on the playground? Or at a friend's house? I don't want to be that parent either. The parent of a cussing kid. So we sat down and had a talk about the fact that now that he goes to school, he is going to hear lots of new words. And we don't use a lot of those words in our house, because they are not nice words. So I told him that any time he hears a word that he doesn't hear Daddy and I use, he needs to ask me about it. And I promised that he would never getting in trouble for asking questions. But if he uses a "new" word in an angry fashion, he will get in some trouble. Because that tells me that he knows it is a "bad" word. He seemed good with this explanation.

Bring it on public school........

Coop came home.

We are home!!! (Insert Happy Dance.)

Yesterday at lunchtime Coop's nurse decided to turn off his oxygen, "just to see how he'll do". We were unsure if it would last, even left the nasal cannula in nose so that there wouldn't be another fight if we had to turn it back on, but as the afternoon creeped by, Cooper's oxygen saturations stayed >92%. This was an awesome development, because during the night we had to turn up his oxygen to keep his saturation >87%. So to be doing it on his own so quickly-----yea!!!!

Our second little miracle of the day happened after dinner. Cooper's doctor decided to pop by and check on him before his shift ended. I was surprised to see him----he'd already told us around 9am that we were staying put today. But the nurse mentioned how well he was doing on Room Air, and the fact that he slept for 2 hours, and still didn't desaturate below 90%. So after examining Coop, Dr. Bishop asked if I felt comfortable taking him home, and I started packing us up before he could even leave the room! Children's Mercy is an unbelievable hospital---but we needed to go home!

Cooper is doing much better today. His appetite hasn't returned, and he looks kind of pale, but he's smiling and playing, and that's enough for us! I want to thank everyone again for their support and their prayers. There is not a doubt in my mind that Cooper's quick recovery was a direct result of the power of prayer.

I have spent the day trying to put my house back together, and get back to domestic business as usual. I am cherishing our normal routine. Just chauffeuring the kids to and from school, making meals, and even cleaning, feels like a blessing today. I am also wiped out, though. So please forgive me if I haven't returned a phone call or email. I'm trying to get our lives in order and running smoothly before the weekend. I'm supposed to run a 5 mile race with Traci at 7am tomorrow, and then head to work for the day. And it will be a GREAT day----since my Cooper is okay.

Day 2

Cooper and I are still at the hospital. No going home today, unfortunately. Coop seems a little better, but he still needs oxygen, and he had a little trouble during the night, so I think that set us back a little.
This morning he ate part of a pancake, and he's laughing and playing, but he tires easily. I got the doctor to agree to take him off of his heart monitor. This little boy was attached to an IV, oxygen tubing, telemetry wires to monitor his heart, and a SpO2 monitor on his foot. It was like he was on 6 different leashes, and boy did it make him angry at times. I have also spent at least 2 hours, in the last 24 hours, untangling him.
Thanks everyone for your comments and prayers. Please continue to pray for us, specifically that Cooper will get better, but also please pray for Johnny as he tries to hold down the homefront. Please pray for Aidan and Ava, too. It has been really hard for me to be away from them. Love you all!

Cooper is in the Hospital

Well, this post is coming to you from the Family Resource Center at Children's Mercy Hospital....so it may be brief.

Cooper was hospitalized this morning with respiratory distress. We took him to Children's Mercy Urgent Care at 5am, and they transferred him to Children's Mercy Hospital in KC, MO, by ambulance.
It's been a long day. Cooper has been diagnosed with a "viral lower respiratory infection", either RSV, or a flu strain. He's doing a little better, but he will not get to go home until he can be weaned off of his oxygen, and he stops retracting when he breathes. They tried to wean his oxygen off today, but he's just not ready.
We are so touched by the calls, visits, and texts from our family and friends. I can cry just thinking about how many of you have offered to take Aidan and Ava and keep them overnight. We truly have the best friends and family in the world.
For now, we ask for your prayers that Cooper will have a speedy recovery. We have placed our son in the hands of his Father, and we humbly continue to feel His presence.

Love,
Cori

Paging Dr. Freud.....

On the average weeknight, my bathtub rarely has just one child in it. I am a multitasker. I see all of that wasted space, just filled with clean, soapy water, and I just grab a little naked body and toss him/her in with their sibling. Sunday night it was Aidan and Cooper together. This doesn't happen often because Aidan's legs are so long that he usually wants to bathe alone, (so that he won't feel squished.) This conversation started while we were drying off. Ava had wandered in by this time.

(Cooper kept trying to touch Aidan while saying, "BeePee". Aidan very gently backed up.)

Aidan: "No, no, Cooper. You have your own peepee. See?" (Aidan points it out.)

Cooper (looks down for a second, and then continues to try and grab Aidan): "BeePee!"

Ava: "Mom, I think Cooper just likes Aidan peepee better."

Aidan (very seriously): "Yeah, I think he wishes his were bigger."

Ava: "Yeah!"

Already? Really? Must we go there? Sometimes I have to remind myself that God thought I would do a really good job mothering boys, because he gave me, not one, but two. But, seriously......

The Princess has a butler.

(Aidan is scrubbing Ava's dresser with a baby wipe.)

Me: "Aidan, why are you doing that?"

Aidan: "Ava has decided that she wants a servant. So I'm going to be her butler. She told me that I needed to clean everything in her room that was white."

(I swear--- Ava was standing in the corner, wearing her usual frilly sundress, hands crossed behind her back, nodding as if to say, 'Yes, that is all correct.' She even had this haughty little look on her face. I felt kind of intimidated for a second.)

It was no joke. Aidan made her bed, picked up her clothes, put away her books, and tucked in her stuffed animals. Then I see her go to her Princess Vanity and open the drawer to reveal a large amount of change and a few loose dollars. She picked out a few pieces of money, and then grandly handed them over to her new butler. Oh. My. Gosh. This all seemed very hilarious, but I had this parental warning bell going off in my head that this should concern me. The only problem was, I wasn't sure who was exploiting who.

I left it alone, chalked it up to something to blog about, and it was all good until we went shopping that evening. Ava wanted to buy a trinket at the grocery store, and sobbed when she realized that she had no money. "Aidan made me give him all of my money!" Ava has no concept of the value of her money, so I told Aidan that he would have to give some of the money back, and I told Ava that she needed to stop hiring out her jobs. I figured that this would end Aidan's brief career stint as Mr. Belvedere. As usual.....I was WRONG.

Today while I was at work, Johnny gave each of the kids two cookies for dessert after they ate lunch. Ava very carefully saved one cookie. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this one coming. It's true. My son is whoring himself out for Keebler's E.L.Fudge cookies. Aidan jumped right back into butler mode, cleaned Ava's room (again), and was rewarded with a sugary treat. Should we stop this? I don't know. Aidan is a bit of a capitalist. And Ava likes to have people wait on her. Hmmm.

But her room is clean.

I think I am going to buy some more cookies.

Coupon Crazy

Obnoxious picture day has arrived. As a new graduate of Coupon College---that's what my pal Jen M. calls it----I headed to the store to test my "skillz". It wasn't a total success---I think I may have been overcharged $2, but I could not figure out the receipt, and I had my whole family with me, so I had to just deal with that. My hungry children wait for no refunds.

Here's what I purchased:

---2 Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Refills

---2 Transformers (for a birthday party)

---1 Dove Ultra Antiperspirant

---1 Speed Stick for Men

---2 Pert Plus for Men (will easily last Johnny a year!)

---1 Aveeno Body Lotion

---1 Sally Hansen Nail Polish

---1 Ajax Dish Soap

*Total before coupons: $38.11

*Total after coupons: $11.29

Nothing to really brag about, but off to a good start! Tomorrow, I tackle the grocery store..... I may have to get up before the sun rises to strategically plan my attack. I sure hope my enthusiasm lasts. And I sure hope my husband quits pointing out that I'm wasting a lot of ink printing IP's. (That stands for Internet Printables---a coupon found online. Another cool vocabulary word from Coupon College.) Just leave me and my coupons alone, and no one will get hurt.

Drama, Party of 2, Your table is ready.....

A panicked Aidan burst into tears at dinner tonight. He bumped his tooth with a spoon, only to discover that it was loose. HIS FIRST LOOSE TOOTH! That's right, God is just going to finish me off in one week. (And Johnny thought Aidan could be dramatic....)
After we explained to him that this was a normal process, and that he had not knocked his own tooth loose, he relaxed a little bit. This picture was taken right after the tears stopped.

And this picture is for those who have asked, "Does Ava miss Aidan now that he's gone every morning?"

The young Evil Knievel stays busy. And with preschool starting next Monday, she won't be risking her life everyday with her new game "Riding the Laundry Basket Down the Stairs".

This gets easier, right?

The carpool lane at the elementary school is SCARY! There are two kinds of people in this line; parents rushing to work who appear to be filled with road rage, and parents who barely managed to throw on some clothes and put baseball caps on their bedheads. The latter group, of which I am a member, are not nearly as caffeinated and awake as the Monday morning commuters. So when the principal comes out and starts yelling at parents who dropped off in the wrong place, it's a little bit scary. I can't even remember that woman's name. Crap. I'm sure that I'm supposed to know that. I hope that there's not a quiz at the PTA meeting.

There is a lot of peer pressure in the carpool lane as well. For example, the teachers told us in orientation that we were never supposed to drop off past the yellow line----but everybody does it, and if I don't, I will hold up the line. The rule-follower in me was so torn. Be a carpool lane rebel, and risk Principal McScary's wrath, or make other drivers wish they could run me down? And, the school doors don't open until 8:50am. A lot of parents drop their kids off and then go, leaving those kids to wait by the locked front door. Uh...NO. I could sense that those kids were just waiting to devour a lone kindergartener, so the early drop off is sooo not happening. It was hard enough to drop Aidan off and let him walk into the building by himself. I have spent the last half hour praying that he found his classroom right away. But this isn't like the babysitter's house. I can't call Mrs. Salazar up and say, "Hi, it's Cori, just checking to see if Aidan found the classroom, hung his backpack up on his peg, and found his pencil cubby?" No, I get to worry that I will go to pick him up at 12:00, and they'll say, "Aidan? Aidan never came to class today." I have already envisioned the manhunt looking for my lost child; the choppers, the police dogs, the searchlights.....

Kindergarten is going to age me, I think.

The Kindergartener

Aidan William Ingram started Kindergarten today, and his mother survived.

Here is Aidan and I at home this morning. I think he is the most handsome kindergartener of all time.

Here is Aidan hanging up his backpack at Kindergarten.

Here is Aidan looking a little unsure of himself. (Can you hear me sniffling in the background?)

Here is Aidan getting out his pencil box and crayons, and starting to join in the morning assignment. (Do you hear the teachers dragging me out while I sob into my Kleenex?)

Just kidding. We both did very well until I kissed him goodbye. He clung to my neck, and I could tell he was scared. So I whispered into his ear, "Remember buddy, Jesus is always with you. Just ask him to help you be brave." When he answered, "I know, Mom," I felt my heart break. Then on went the black sunglasses, and I made a dash for the door so that he wouldn't see me cry. What got to me most was that I remember being a kindergartener, and sitting in the front seat of my daddy's car, and crying because I was scared to go to school. It wasn't the first day, I was just scared of Mrs. Baker. She was a witch. But that's another story. Anyway, I still remember my dad telling me that whenever I'm scared I need to ask Jesus to give me strength to do whatever I'm scared of. That's the first recollection I have of anyone ever talking to me about Jesus, and I have never forgotten it. So as soon as I heard myself say those words, it hit me like a ton of bricks. In 29 years, I have come full circle. And I'm getting old. And this moment in time with my little children at home is not going to last forever. And we're all going to die someday. How's that for cheerful first day of school thoughts? Mommy was needing some serious pharmaceutical help this morning. But then I also thought, what an awesome legacy, to teach your children about Jesus, and to pass that legacy down from generation to generation. And then I said a prayer that someday my son would get to take my grandson or granddaughter to kindergarten, and that he'd hear himself saying those same words. Because life is short, and there really isn't anything more important than that.

And then I pulled myself together and went to the grocery store. Because that's what moms do. We love, we cry, and then we get back to taking care of everybody.

Aidan, if you read this someday, your Daddy and I are so proud of you. We could not love you more. We are so glad that you are our son. And I'm glad that you loved Kindergarten so much. Seeing you hop into the car at 12:05 was the highlight of my day. It made me smile that your favorite moment of the day was when you got to eat a Rice Krispy treat and drink chocolate milk. And I'm so glad that I get a front row seat to all of these moments in your life----what a blessing.

Prehistoric Art.

Ancient man left cave drawings. This is how we learned about their lives; what they hunted, what they ate, how they survived. Archaeologists find cave drawings to be very useful. Some have been dated to be as much as 16,000 years old!
Fast forward to 2009, Midwest suburbia: Aidan and Ava spent a long morning playing quietly under her bed. It was a cave, and they were cave people! I love creativity. Love it so much that I let them play unsupervised for over an hour. So when those two little faces, shining with excitement, ran into the kitchen and said, "We drew cave drawings!" I said, "That's awesome!" (Where? Where did you do this?) Then I very calmly asked,

"Where did you draw your cave drawings at?" (Don't say the walls, please don't say the walls!)

"Under Ava's bed!" (Under Ava's new bed?!)

"Wow, that's very.....smart of you. Did you draw any on top of Ava's new bed, where Mommy and other people can see it?" (Uncool Mommy always slips in somewhere.)

"No! We only drew in our cave!"

And heaven help them, but they did only draw on the bottom of Ava's bed. Ava's new bed. But no one will ever know except the two of them, me, and the monstrous dustbunnies that live there. I could barely crawl under there to snap this picture. They must have looked like Michelangelo trying to paint the Sistine Chapel, laying on their backs like that.

They're drawings of dinosaurs, in case you couldn't tell. And no, nobody got in trouble. How could I get mad at my creative little cave people? That's the coolest thing they've done all week! Cave drawings.....

Not a dull moment...

It is my personal theory that around 18 months of age all children pretend that they are entertaining the idea of becoming potty-trained. They express some interest in the colorful little potty chair. Parents get really excited----look how advanced my child is! Once or twice a day they may even use it. But you are a FOOL if you throw those diapers away. If your child needs a diaper, even at night, they are not really potty-trained. Ava did this to me. I was on to her tricks after about a month, though, so I quit taking her to the bathroom everytime she said, "Need to potty Cori Danielle." (She always called me by my full name back then. She was only 19 months old.) It was a full year before she was potty-trained after that fake out.

Now Cooper is testing me. Little does he know, that I passed Mommy 101, and I'm just going to keep diapering his cute little bottom until he can put on his own Bob the Builder underpants. (See? I don't even call them "panties" anymore. Girls wear panties. Boys wear underpants. All part of the Mommy 101 curriculum.) Here's Coop's new game. He gets out of the bathtub, runs down our frieze-carpeted hall, and when his chubby little feet hit the hardwood floor in the kitchen, he pees. Not once, or even twice, but about 5 separate times now. It is very intentional. Then he laughs his little head off, points to it, and says, "BeePee". Well, that's half-right Coop.

Everyone who hears this story says the same thing, "Well, sounds like he's ready to be potty-trained!" Nope. I'm pretty sure he just likes to pee on the floor and see me gasp. But just in case.....because I am the eternal optimist, I got out our potty chair.

I made the introductions, and sat the chubby little Cooper on it after his bath. Did he use it? No. He cried. He was scared to death of it. Well that's a new twist. Way to keep it interesting Coop.

A Busy Week.

I hosted a BeCentsable Workshop at my house tonight. Wow. I am currently in information overload. BeCentsable teaches you how to maximize on sales and coupons. They also have all of the tools to do this condensed onto their website, in order to save time. Once you attend a workshop, you become a member on their website. They understand that we don't all have hours to dedicate to clipping coupons and reading sale ads, so they bring all of the info to one website, and they do a lot of legwork for you.
We had a small group of financially savvy chicks; me, Cassie, Kristin, Jen M., Nickie, Jen S., Traci, and Sharon. We laughed a lot----it was a really good time!
I am excited to try out some of their strategies. If I score big, you will hear about it. That's what crazy shoppers do. They take pictures of their loot and brag about how little they spent. Our BeCentsable educator, Carolyn, passed around pics of all of her "successes"---a table full of groceries for $9.00, etc.
It makes me laugh to think about how much I have changed in the last 15 years. I can remember when I was 20, spending $150 on a pair of sunglasses. Now I have parties for my friends where we ooh and ahh over coupons.

Yesterday we enrolled Aidan in Kindergarten. We found out that he has morning kindergarten with Mrs. Salazar. We paid for his milk for the school year, purchased his yearbook, and turned in about 10 papers regarding health and immunizations. Aidan is not riding the school bus. And not because we don't want to pay the $200. (We live less than 2.5 miles from the school, so there is a fee.) I just cannot bear the thought of my child standing at a bus stop, or being driven around by someone that I don't even know. He is my BABY for goodness sake! I thought I was ready for this. I know that Aidan is ready for this. But I found my eyes welling up with tears more than once at enrollment.
On the upside, I found a few things to add to my Soccer Mom resume. I joined the PTA, and I signed up to be a room mother. I now know why these organizations exist. It gives struggling parents the illusion of control in their child's new world. Seriously, why do you think that the kindergarten class always has the highest parental participation? The fee to join the PTA, which is renamed The Basehor Bluejay Team, was only $5. That immediately stopped my pitiful sniffles, as I signed up at the nice lady's table. Only $5 to be involved in Aidan's new world? What a bargain!

The Little Brother.

I KNOW that this is a terrible picture. But it captured one of the funniest quotes of my week. Cooper and Aidan were sword fighting, and Coop was hanging in there, I was impressed. So was Aidan. He said to me;

"Mom, look at Cooper! He's almost like a real brother!"

I don't know who that statement made me feel sadder for; Coop or Aidan?

I love my boys so much.

My Beloved Window Treatments...

I have struggled with a design for my front windows for 4 years. They have always had the 2" white plantation blinds, but I wanted something dressier. The problem is that all three of them are 108" in length, which means "special order' only. I got a quote for roman shades once---$640 per window, which brings the grand total to $1,920.oo. Uh, no. So Jen reminded me of something we saw on The Lettered Cottage. It is a design blog that we follow. I love design blogs. LOVE them. Especially the Do-It-Yourself ones, or the Shoestring Budget-types. Anyone could decorate/design a beautiful room with a truckload of money and an army of professionals. I like to see what people can do with very few resources. Creativity is one of the traits I most admire in people. This is what my front windows look like now:

And here's my fave part. The whole thing---all three windows----cost $60, including tiebacks, and hardware.

The drapes are DROPCLOTHS from WalMart's paint department, $8.97 each. They come 108" in length! See, it was meant to be! (This was part of my sales pitch to the handsome man that I'm married to.) They are thick, hemmed, and a beautiful woven cotton. The fabric actually has a smooth burlap-look, with tiny multi-colored threads woven into the khaki. I made the tiebacks for $1.50 each. I have wanted to blog about this for 3 weeks, but my darling husband is still slightly unnerved by my choice. I think his exact words were, "Don't tell people you did that!" I love them, though. Eventually I want to replace the plantation blinds with dark brown bamboo/rattan blinds. This will give it all some "texture", as Jen says. Plus, I like the idea of the light/dark contrast. So a big thank you going out to Layla at the Lettered Cottage for her cool idea.

My Beautiful Babies....