My Spelling Bee

Josiah and I spent some time today just playing together, reading and writing while Naomi was asleep. We had a really good time talking about words and spelling them on his white board. I would give him a word and then he would sound it out. These are the words he wrote on the board after sounding them out. I am so proud of him and his desire to learn new things. I told him at lunch today that we will have to practice so that one day he can be in the National Spelling Bee.

List of words in case you can't make them out:
dad
cat
set
sat
Naomi
mom
Josiah
lip
and the letters y and R

A Funny Thing Happened...

This morning we woke up to the sound of a real alarm clock. I can't remember the last time that happened in our house - and I am not talking about the "kid model" alarm clock either.
Sleep has been much better lately. Naomi has been sleeping from about 8pm until about 4am. we have still been giving her a bottle at 4am, but decided to start weening her of that. She will usually go back to sleep around 5am and sleep until 7am. So we have been doing much better on all levels.
Thanks to everyone that gave us ideas on how to get her to sleep. We took all the suggestions and used them to come up with one that finally worked. We still do what is called "wearing her down" at bedtime. We carry her in the carrier until she falls asleep then we place her in her bed and hope and pray for the best. If at any time during the night she would cry, we let her cry for 5 minutes then picked her up and rocked her back to sleep. Then next time he would cry we would leave her for 10 minutes then rock her back to sleep. We continued this pattern until she slept pretty much through the night. I think the most we had to leave her to cry before she figured out it was better to just go back to sleep was 20 minutes. She still wakes at night, but gets herself back to sleep in about 3 cries. This morning neither her nor Josiah woke up at the usual 4 am. I was till awake since I think my kids have me programed, but I went back to sleep quickly.
Another fun thing that happened today is around lunch time Naomi came up to me and signed more. I looked at her and said, "more what?" Without missing a beat she signed back more food. She was hungry and thought I should know. We went downstairs got lunch ready and ate. She was a happy camper. She also learned how to sign cracker today during lunch and she signs music for me occasionally. The little stinker refuses to sign all done. She would rather shake her head from side to side violently and laugh. All in all we have had a fun day.

It's Been A Busy Week

Monday started out with Josiah having closing ceremonies at pre-school. We got to go and see the children perform 3 very funny songs they had been practising and then we had a picnic with our children at the school. The aids from Josiah's class grilled some very yummy hot dogs and hamburgers. We had potato salad, chips, beans and drinks to go with them. The kids played on the playground and the parents talked and had a good time.

Tuesday was election day so no school. We had a quiet day at home. Wednesday was Josiah's last day at school for the year. After nap time in the afternoon, Naomi woke up with 102 degree fever. We had guest coming over for dinner and it was too late to let them know. Our guests arrived and decided to stay even though Naomi was sick. We had a fun time.

Naomi did not sleep Wednesday night and cried continually. I wouldn't generally take my kids to the Dr for a fever until it has been 24 hours for Naomi and 2-3 days for Josiah. Naomi was just so unhappy and wouldn't eat or sleep so off to the doctor's office we went. Turns out she has coxacievirus. This is the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease which I am positive that she picked up in our church nursery. She has been completely miserable until this morning. We have been feeding her her bottle with a syringe and trying to force her to eat. She has been in so much pain in her throat that she would not even swallow her saliva. The poor girl has been drenched from chin to belly for 3 days. Today she drank 2 bottles of formula and ate breakfast - I think she is on the mend.

Friday was Greg's birthday. Since our babysitter was unable to come over due to Naomi being sick, we convinced Grandma to babysit for us. Greg and I went to Stoney River for dinner. This is a very nice steakhouse. Our next door neighbor happens to be the managing partner there and was working last night. He talked with us when we got there and told us to leave room for dessert since he was going to send something to our table that we should like. It was 1/4 of a very decadent chocolate cake. It was good! We had a great evening out just the two of us. No screaming, wining or crying at the table. I didn't even have to convince anyone that they had to take 2 more bites in order to get dessert. We should do this more often.

So, the surprise of the evening came when we got our bill. We knew it was going to be rather large and were prepared. Greg opened the check and looked bewildered and confused. Our neighbor had comped our entire meal - the total was zero. We wanted to leave a tip for our excellent waiter Todd. When Todd came by our table he looked at us and said, "Hey what are the two of you still doing here?" We told him we wanted to leave a tip and he politely said, "oh that's not necessary!" We insisted, so he had to bill our credit card a penny in order for us to leave his tip. So we ate at Stoney River for a penny. Not a bad deal I would say.

Happy Mother's Day - Baby Dedication

Happy Mother's day (a day late) to all the wonderful mothers that read my blog and especially to my Mom. Hope you had a wonderful day and I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you.
Yesterday at church we not only celebrated Mother's Day, but also baby dedication. We had the opportunity to dedicate Naomi and affirm that we would bring her up in the teaching of God's word. She was so tired she slept through the whole thing. We had Josiah and Naomi where their Hanboks. These are their traditional Korean outfits. Josiah was not too happy with us for making him wear it and he told Greg that he didn't want to wear his clothes that make him look like a princess.
After church Greg's parents, sister and niece came over for lunch and an afternoon of Wii playing. We had a fun day.

Awards Night at AWANA

AWANA = A workman approved and not ashamed

"Be diligent to present yourself approved by God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of God" 1 Timothy 2:15

Every Wednesday evening during the school year Josiah goes to AWANA at church. This is a program where children learn about God and memorise scripture every week. I am amazed at how easy it is for Josiah to memorize a verse a week. He is in the 3 year old class and they are called Cubbies. Cubbie Bear and his friends Luv E Lamb and Ern E Elephant get into all sorts of situations that help teach the kids about good choices and about living a life that is pleasing to God.

They are taught the Gospel message - that God loves us and has a plan for our lives. They learn that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that we need a savior in order to go to heaven. They are taught that God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins and that he rose from the dead and is alive. The children are excited about learning and do a great job with scripture memory. It has been exciting as a parent to see Josiah grow and learn and ask questions about who Jesus is.

Last week was awards night. All the children were rewarded with certificates and awards for what they did during the year. Here are a few pictures of Josiah getting his award.

My Little Fish

"What would you say if you were told that there was a disease that took the lives of 11 children every day in this country? And, that this same disease causes 39 children to suffer serious brain damage? Certainly you would hope there would be resources dedicated to addressing the problem.... Regardless of where you live, there is water nearby, and there exists significant drowning risks even in homes without pools. Drowning is a nationwide problem, and is not localized to any one area. What is so tragic about a drowning death is that it is preventable. It can be prevented if the proper safeguards are in place and if these safeguards fail, it can be prevented if a child knows what to do in an aquatic accident." Infant Swim Resources LLC Parent Resource Book by Harvey Barnett, Ph.D. and Jo Ann Barnett, SMI

Yesterday Josiah completed his refresher classes of infant survival swimming through Infant Swim Resources. During his lessons Josiah has learned that if he ever falls into a body of water that he cannot save himself by just swimming to the nearest object. He has learned that he can both swim and float and that both are needed to survive. The technique taught is the swim-float-swim technique. Josiah has learned that he can swim for a short distance and then turn on his back and float. The floating allows him time to breath and to rest. After floating long enough to catch his breath he can again swim. He was taught that he needs to swim to the edge of the body of water, steps or a person. He did so well this week and I am so proud of him. Josiah's instructor Jim Josberger is an excellent coach and does everything gently and in a way that made Josiah comfortable with survival swimming. Lessons were not fun and games and he was stressed each day to achieve the best possible outcome. He didn't always like to go to lessons, but he knows he can swim and we feel better knowing that we have taken one more step to ensuring his safety around water.

Some Facts

• 4000 children die as a result of accidental drowning every year
  
• more than 1700 children who have learned aquatic survival skills from ISR have saved themselves from a probable drowning situation
  
• There are 784 documented cases of children who saved themselves from a certain drowning scenario because of the skills they learned in ISR.
  
• ISR trained children learn to respect the water and to enjoy swimming, and have confidence in their abilities in the water.
  

Taken from: Infant Swim Resources LLC Parent Resource Book by Harvey Barnett, Ph.D. and Jo Ann Barnett, SMI

E.R.

We started our day in the usual way yesterday with many plans for the morning. I was getting out the shower when I heard something big and heavy roll down the stairs. Then I heard screaming. Josiah had left the gate open and Naomi decide to explore the very inviting stairs. Needless to say she can't climb stairs. She seemed fine for about 1/2 an hour and then she fell asleep. I could not keep her awake or rouse her after she fell asleep. After a call to my friend Tracy and the pediatrician we were off to the ER. I dropped Josiah off at Amy's house and then headed to Kosair. Thanks Amy for getting Josiah to school. On the way I picked Greg up since I didn't want to go to the hospital by myself. We were able to wake Naomi after about 30 minutes and she seemed fine by the time we got to Kosiar. The Doctor saw her in the fist 30 minutes we were there and then we waited almost an hour for CT to come and get us. The CT showed she is fine and as a bonus the doctor checked for any calcification that she might have due to her CMV. No bleed, no fracture and no calcification.
Melody, Greg's sister, works at the hospital so I called her and she came down and sat with us until we were discharged. We got done at the hospital just in time to get Josiah at school. Boy, what a crazy morning.

Last night Greg slept a whole night with his cpap. He still snored just ever so slightly a couple of times, but it was very tolerable. It was so nice to sleep peacefully. Naomi slept from about 8:30pm until 4am. She took a bottle at 4 and then slept until 6:30am. We are starting out this day well!