Mmmm...Sliders.....

From 'The Dad'...

As I have settled into my new job, I have slowly grown accustomed to working from my home office 5 days a week. Two of those days (Monday & Friday), Molly is off work and the house is full of people. I shut my office door and work diligently throughout the day, appearing only for meals and biological breaks.

Those days are challenging at times. At least once a day, Raegan will come bursting into my office singing, yelling, or excited to tell me some tid-bit of news that I just HAD to hear. Of course, this only happens when I am on a call with a client or on a conference call. Needless to say, I am fast to hit the mute button- but sometimes not fast enough. Gavin, although quieter on his visits to dad, enjoys pulling things off my desk that interest him and immediately bolting across the basement with them all the while laughing.

Raegan does take some interest in my work. She will bring in her little chair, sit next to me, and ask if she can help. I keep a notebook with a sharpie nearby and make her take notes (e.g. write her name, draw a circle, etc.). She likes looking at my site plans and maps. Raegan has also become my mobile assistant. Days that I have to do site visits or head to T-Mobile's corporate office, she typically joins me. She has become quite popular with my clients that when I show up without her they tell me "I was hoping Raegan was with you today..."

She joined me today to do some work out in Livoina. It was lunchtime and she was begging for McDonalds. When came up on a White Castle and she asked me what it was. I replied "sliders". Her lack of response confirmed she was confused. I followed up with "Little hamburgers served in a castle.." That sold her. We went in and ordered up a 1/2 dozen sliders. She was a little apprehensive, questioning the ingredients as she lifted the bun and peered at the mystery meat. I instructed her not to ask questions about what was in it and just to eat it. She enjoyed it. I on the other hand have been reliving them via the occasional 'Verp' and rumble in my gut. The smell of onions lingers in my car. That reminds me, maybe I should crack my windows...

Gavin has suddenly become Mr. Independent and Mr. Aggressive. We have repeated our efforts at removing him from the crib and into his toddler bed. He's adjusting well, but will abuse his new found freedom. Last night, after about a half hour of assuming he was fast asleep, we heard music. Molly and I glanced at each other and rolled our eyes. I walked in his room and he was on his floor playing with his 'Handy Many' musical tool box (thanks Unlce Mike & Aunt Beth) His nightlight is giving off just enough light to allow him to play. This was short lived as I scooped him up and rocked him. He was fast asleep within 5 minutes and remained there until morning.

With Gavin's growth comes his manly-ness- meaning he has become a little more aggressive lately. Taking flying leaps off the couch and not hesitating to give you a body slam if your are not paying attention. We are trying to keep this in check, but it is hard to do when you are laughing at him. He's becoming more interactive as well and we are getting better at interpreting what he is saying. However, I cannot say the same for him. If he is being bad, our threats fall on deaf ears. Thus, Gavin has been introduced to 'time-out'. He hasn't grasped the concept fully, but he is slowly getting the idea.

Both kids are doing well and are healthy as can be.

Later!

Brand New Nephews!

Bob and I are the proud new aunt and uncle to two new nephews - Kolton William Longmuir and Logan Dale Longmuir! My brother, Mark and sister-in-law, Nikki had these two beautiful boys on Monday, January 5.

Welcome to the world, little guys!

They join our 1-year-old nephew, Caden Michael Wheaton, into the list of little men to spoil!

Check out the links on the side to catch up with all three of them.

Raegan's first parent teacher conference

Raegan's new school does parent teacher conferences and we just had our first one. It's amazing to hear about how your child behaves with other people.


We know that Raegan is a great kid, but the child her teacher was describing didn't seem like our child.

Here are some examples:

Raegan @ school - plays nicely with the other kids and doesn't take toys away from anyone. Raegan @ home - is constantly getting in trouble for taking Gavin's toys and yelling at him to stop.

Raegan @ school - is very polite and always uses her manners.
Raegan @ home - says things like "Daddy, I want water NOW!"

Raegan @ school - speaks very softly and the teachers would like her to work on speaking louder.
Raegan @ home - is always being asked to speak in her "inside" voice and not scream.

Raegan @ school - never asks for seconds on snacks or lunch.
Raegan @ home - eats non-stop! we even have to either have a snack for her when we pick her up from school or stop to get her something.





Here I thought nothing we said to her was sinking in, but her teacher said that it's not how the child acts with the parents, but in social settings like school. This is the first time since she was born that I feel like I might be doing something right! Well, not quite, but close enough.

Gavin's trips to the emergency room

Gavin must have felt that Raegan had a lead in the emergency room visits, so he is trying to catch up! Here's his story.

Gavin started vomiting on Tuesday of last week. It started out as mucus, so we didn't think much of it. Then he got diarreah. By Thursday, he was throwing up whatever he ate, so just stopped eating. He started to lose weight and not wanting to drink anything either. He kept this up all weekend. Monday morning when we got up, he didn't have a wet diaper. I finally got ahold of our pediatrician around 10:30 and they sent us right to the ER for an IV. All four of us went up there and all of a sudden Raegan started shaking. We think she was still traumatized since this was the same ER we went to for Raegan's broken arm.

Gavin gave them enough trouble trying to get the IV in that they were debating on sedating him. Luckily he finally let them do their thing. Once that was in place, they took him for an x-ray. He would not sit still and they ended up taking about 9 pictures of his abdomen. Luckily it came back with no blockages. All of his blood work came back normal as well. After two pediatric bags of fluid, they let us go home. He went right down for a nap and woke up like a new baby! He was almost back to his normal self. Wewere just waiting for the tears and urine come back!

Tuesday, he went to day care and we thought he was goinng to be alright. I broke out in hives at work because I was so worried about Gavin. Bob went to pick him up and I got the call that he was still vomiting. Bob asked me to call the pediatrician again. They said to go right back to ER for more fluid. I ran home to pack a bag with the DVD player and Blue's Clues (which was an absolute lifesaver!!!), books, cars, jammies, etc. while Bob dropped Raegan off at Nana & Papa's house. (She has been such a trooper through all of this.) We got to the emergency room and after 2 hours of waiting ended up with the same doctor as the day before which we were happy about. They gave Gavin more saline and more sugar water. All of the fight had drained out of him at this point, so he didn't fight very hard with the IV this time. They also did more blood work. Since he was there two days in a row for the same thing, they wanted to admit him. Then they decided that if he could eat something and keep it down and if one of us stayed home with him for the next two days, they would let us go.

About 10:30 pm, they gave him a graham cracker and apple juice. He was so excited to eat, he just inhaled it! I was so glad! They wanted to keep him a while longer so we didn't get discharged until about 11:00.

We are home and I just have to push fluids today and tomorrow.

Here's a picture of him eating the magical graham cracker!

Words, words and more words . . .

Although we have been through the word learning curve with Raegan, I am still very impressed when Gavin learns a new word. I have to admit that I was very worried about his talking because he is 20 months and doesn't know a ton of words. However, these last two weeks have brought about a lot more words! Woo hoo! Even though it isn't one of his new words, my favorite is "Top!" with the hand in front of him. He is usually telling Raegan to stop bugging him.



Last night though, I heard him say three new words in about 1 hour! This just amazed me. We were at the car dealership attempting to get our SUV back (another long story!). To keep the kids entertained, I let them in one of the new cars in the showroom. Gavin sat on the driver's seat, grabbed the steering wheel and said drive! (or at least his version of it.) When I made him get out and shut the door, he ran back up to it and said inside. I was blown over by this!



When we finally left the dealership, we decided to pick up a pizza on our way home. The whole drive home he was saying pizza, pizza. This is huge because he normally taps his mouth with his fingers to tell us he is hungry.

I just can't believe how fast he is growing up!

School Bells and Update...

Ahh, another month or two goes by without an update.




All is well in the Wheaton house. Raegan and Gavin are growing like weeds. Gavin in verbalizing more lately and has made a few attempts at complete sentences. Raegan is a non-stop chatter box and has the ability to switch topics mid sentence. Her negotiating skills are improving but Molly and I still hold our ground and use the time out when needed. Gavin follows his sister everywhere and has figured out how to 'fight back'.


We witnessed this during a disagreement between them over his blanket. Raegan kept taking it away. So Gavin got a running start from one end of the kitchen and gave Raegan a solid back-check from behind- sending her flying to the floor. Raegan laughed but Gavin was all business when he turned around for another run at her. All Molly and I could do was stare and say "Did he really just do that?". I was able snag him in mid stride to prevent a second hit.

Raegan began pre-school today. She cried and protested in the morning but was glad to be there when we arrived. She toddled in with her Princess backpack and made herself at home. She was excited to see "little toilets" they had there and blended in with the other kids quickly. She discovered a book that was the same as the one she had at home. The teacher asked if she wanted to read it. Raegan replied "I can read this book" (She can read through memorization, which is pretty impressive given my ability to comprehend anything). So I encouraged her to go read the book to the teacher. No screaming or crying when we left. I got a a hug and kiss on the cheek. I looked over my shoulder as we left and got a wave and little smile as she climbed next to the teacher and began to open the book.


As Molly and I left, it took everything in my power not to spin around on my heels and go back for one more look. Granted, she is only three, but I felt a little tug on my heart knowing that this was the beginning of a new stage in her life. My 'baby girl' became a big girl today- and I could not have been more proud of her.

New Beds!!!

Our little munchkins are growing up way to fast! I keep telling Raegan that she needs to stay little and she gets pretty mad at me and says "NO!! I want to be big!"


So Raegan had started giving us problems with her sleeping. She doesn't want to go to bed, wants to sleep with us or on the couch. After yet another night of her not sleeping in her bed I finally asked her why she keeps getting out. Her response was "my bed's not soft." Bob and I talked about this not quite knowing what to do because her crib will turn into a full-size bed, but her room will not accommodate a full-size bed and all of her toys. We finally decided to get her a twin bed and just put away the crib frame until there was more room. So I took Raegan to the furniture store to look at beds. We are lucky enough to have a friend in furniture sales, so he talked to Raegan and let her jump on the beds! We finally picked one out and made the purchase. I'm not sure I have seen her this excited before!


Then when I told her we needed to get sheets and a comforter, she told me she wanted to go to Target. What the heck!! She's three!!!! How does she know that they sell that stuff?? Anyway, we go to Target and she doesn't like anything (because I won't let her get Disney Princess). So then she says "I want to go to Kohls." Now I KNOW the only reason she wants to go is to ride the escalator but then she shocks me again and says "We need to go upstairs to look at the beds!" How do they get so smart????? Anyway, she found her bedding set at Kohl's and of course they don't have the twin size, so off I go to another store to get it for her.


We had to pick the bed up to avoid a delivery charge and Raegan was able to go with Bob which was a VERY big deal to her.


So here is a picture of her in her big girl bed!

Now Gavin doesn't want to be left out of all of this! He has been in and out of Raegan's toddler bed since he was able! He had really shown an interest in laying in her bed recently, so the night that we set her new bed up, we decided to make his crib into a toddler bed. That night he did awesome! I don't think that he realized that he could get out. Last night was a different story! Bob put him to bed and he came out carrying his blanket looking really confused, like "how in the world did I get out here by myself." So back to bed he went and this time he stayed. This morning I must have been making too much noise when I got out of the shower because all of a sudden he came bursting out of his room and then stood in the hall blinking and looking confused!

It is just so sweet to see him turn into a little man, but at the same time, I want them both to stay little for a while longer!