For the Grandma's

 

 

You're not a true Texan unless....

you take pictures of your child in the bluebonnets!  Since it was time for Axton's 9 month pictures, we couldn't resist taking them in a patch of bluebonnets near our house. 

 

 

 

Sleep Bank

I think our family must have needed to make a deposit in our sleep bank.  EVERYONE (parents and children) slept until 9:00 this morning!!!  I don't remember the last time I slept this late!  It felt wonderful!!!

Barrett's Eyes Update

Last Thursday was Barrett's eye checkup.  Over the past month I have noticed some drifting in Barrett's eyes, but I second guessed myself...so I was anxious to hear the doctor's opinion.  The vision in his right eye has improved.  With correction he could read the picture labeled size 20.  (They start with big pictures at size 100 and gradually decrease the picture size and see if he can still tell them what the pictures are.)  With his left eye (with his glasses on) he could only see down to size 50 clearly.  She did notice that there was some movement in his left (weaker) eye and it was of some concern that the vision in his left eye had not improved at all. 

So.....we're back to patching/dilation drops.  She gave us the choice of patching his good eye THREE hours EVERY day or putting 1 drop of dilation solution in his right eye M-W-F.  The hope is that by making it so he has to use his left (weaker) eye, that he will strengthen that eye....holding it in the correct alignment and improving his vision.  When I asked him what he'd rather do he said he wanted the drops. I asked the doctor if there were any long term side effects of using the drop and she said they've been using them since the 1970's and haven't seen any side effects.  She said she has patients that have used them longer and more frequently than she's recommending for Barrett with no ill side effects.   

When you put one of the dilation drops in his eye, the blurry effect lasts from 12-24 hours.  The dilation of the pupil, however, lasts from 7-10 days!  So that means that his pupil will be dilated all the time now.  This also means that I really have to plan ahead for photo sessions! lol  I want to take the boys pics in bluebonnets today, so we dilated on Sunday but then have been patching this week so that his pupil won't be enlarged for pics.  He's ready for me to hurry and take the pics so he doesn't have to wear the patch anymore! lol

On Sunday we put drops in for the first time before his nap. When he woke up he came out of his room and said, "Momma? Before my nap I could see and now I can't see very well!" I told him his left eye would adjust in a few minutes and he asked to go get his glasses. When we were sitting at the dinner table Mike asked him to close his left eye and said, "Can you see me out of your right (the dilated) eye?" He closed his left eye and then said in a laughing voice, "You look like Mr. Potato Head!" Guess the drops are working like they're supposed to!

We go back in 2 months for a follow up.  She wants to keep a close watch on his eyes.  We want to strengthen his weak eye, but we also want to make sure that we don't weaken his right (stronger) eye in the process.  Your continued prayers are appreciated!

Baseball under the lights

Barrett played the late game (7:15 pm start) tonight.  It makes it easier for us to eat and get to the game on time when it's the late game....but the players are almost ready for bed by the 2nd inning!  I think Barrett took a laid back approach to batting this game.  He walked slowly to the plate (looking at me, Daddy Steve, and Namaw the entire way from the dugout to home plate) and slowly got ready to bat. 

Coach Mike giving Barrett tips about running to 2nd base.

Sliding into home!

 

In the first inning Barrett played pitcher. He did a great job fielding balls hit his way and throwing them to 1st base!

 

 

 

In the 2nd inning he played 1st baseman.  I laughed when this kid ran the ball almost all the way to 1st base and then stopped 3 feet from Barrett to toss it to him!

 

I'm not sure if he was trying to be taller....or if he just thought it was comfortable, but I looked over at one point to see this....

 

I guess his teammate, Caleb, thought it looked like a great place to sit too!

 

Who lit up the moon?

When we got back to our Jeep after Barrett's t-ball game tonight he asked us, "Who lit up the moon?"  I said, "God did."  He said, "No...who lit up the middle of it?"  I replied again, "God did."  Barrett looked at me confused and said, "Well I didn't see him do it!" 


While Brody was waiting for Barrett to finish talking about the moon and get in the Jeep, he asked a question that, to him, was just as profound.  He said, "What is this thing on the door?"  I looked to see him pointing at the key hole below the door handle.  I told him it was for the key.  He look at me with a look of total confusion.  I then proceeded to show him how it was possible to unlock and lock the car doors with the car keys.  He was amazed....and I was dying laughing!  It cracks me up that our boys had no idea that there's a place on the car to use the key to unlock it.  I always use the remote that's on my key chain to unlock/lock the doors.  I wonder if there will come a point in time where we no longer have keys for automobiles? 

Antique Baby Photos

 

 

Two Hamilton's?

Caleb, Audria, Axton, Daddy Steve, and Namaw came out to cheer Barrett on in his t-ball game tonight! 

 

While Barrett's game was going on, Brody played with a boy from his team, Cade J., who was at the fields watching his brother, Blake, play ball.  For a while they stood at the backstop watching Blake's team and I had to get a picture of them in their Hamilton shirts!  Cade is the boy who was playing pitcher while Brody was 1st baseman in their first (and only so far) game of the season.  He's a good little ball player!

 

Daddy Day

Today was Breakfast with Daddy at the boys' preschool.  They were SUPER excited!  They've been talking about this day for over a week.  Mike went in to work late this morning so that he could take the boys to school at 9 am and then stay for the breakfast and program.  Jill (the mom of a little boy in Barrett's class) was there taking pictures and sent me a few of the ones she got of Mike and the boys.

The boys had decorated coffee coozies for their Daddy.....

Barrett was so happy to get to show Mike his classroom!

 

Luke's 9 month photo shoot

Last Saturday we went over to Tyler and Ann's for dinner.  Before dinner, Ann and I took Luke outside to get some pictures of him at 9 months old.  He is absolutely adorable!  I LOVE his bright blue eyes!  Gorgeous!  The chair in the pictures belonged to Grandmommy and Sharon when they were little girls and Sharon passed it down to me.  I bet she never knew how much use I'd get out of her little chair!  Here are Tyler and Ann's favorite pictures from our session....

 

 

 

It was almost dinner time for Luke, so when he got fussy Ann gave him his lovey.  It was so sweet how he'd hug on his lovey!

 

 

 

 

 

This one wasn't one that Tyler and Ann picked as their favorite....but it's my favorite so I'm gonna post it too :)

 

Tyler wasn't in any of the pictures because he was making dinner for all of us. Yes, you read that right.  TYLER was making dinner!  No....it wasn't boxed mac & cheese.  He made bacon wrapped shrimp for appetizers and a Cajun chicken pasta with grilled asparagus for dinner!  We may not have eaten until 7:45 pm (I don't think he realized that a recipe that says "15 minutes" actually takes way longer than 15 minutes to prepare)....but it was worth the wait.  It was a DELICIOUS dinner!  We had lots of fun talking and hanging out with Tyler and Ann.  We put the boys to bed at their house and  stayed up talking until we were all yawning.  Then we carried our sleeping boys to the car and drove home.  Fun times!!!

Babysitting Axton

This morning Caleb asked if we'd watch Axton for a few hours so he and Audria could go to a movie.  Brody was so excited that Axton was coming that he'd ask every few minutes, "Is it 10:30 yet?!?"  Then when it was a few minutes past 10:30 he started fretting that they had changed their minds and weren't coming!  Needless to say, both boys were excited when their cousin arrived.  I think Axton had fun playing with us too!  He was so good! 

He thought our living room rug was so funny!  He'd reach down and run his fingers through it and then stand up and laugh!  So cute!

 

Brody and Barrett decided that it was warm enough for a swim today.  The pool is only 67 degrees, so I think they're CRAZY...but they had fun! 

Axton sat on the side with me splashing his hands in the water.  I'm not sure yet if he'll tan like Caleb or fry like Audria, so I lathered him up good with baby sunscreen and then put Uncle Mike's hat on him.  He had a baby hat in his bag, but he wouldn't leave it on.  I guess he thinks the Ducks Unlimited hat is cooler ;)

 

Eager to Help

Why is it that when you're 5 years old...using a vacuum cleaner sounds like soooo much fun....yet when you're 32 years old it's not something you jump up and down with excitement to do? 

 

Brody was so excited when I told him he could vacuum his own room....and Barrett threw himself on the floor crying when I told him that he could "help me" (ie. not do it by himself).  What can I say?  Our vacuum probably weighs more than Barrett!  I tried to let him do it himself and he could hardly push it!

No longer a thumb sucker!!!

On Monday, Barrett informed me that he wasn't going to suck his thumb any more.  Well....we've heard that one before (many times in fact), so I said, "Ok.  That'd be cool!" and then thought "whatever....don't believe it."  We may have mentioned a few times to him that he's too old to be sucking his thumb, but we figured he'd eventually stop on his own...that we couldn't make him stop unless he wanted to.

On Monday night he said, "Daddy?  Will you put jalapenos on my thumb so I won't suck it?"  lol!  We decided that might burn his eyes if he rubbed his eyes, so Mike came up with the idea of using ginger.  We got Barrett's thumb wet and then sprinkled powdered ginger on his thumb.  He went to sleep holding his thumb upright on top of his belly....looking at it with a pout on his face.  He woke up the next morning and was soooooo excited to show us that he hadn't sucked his thumb all night!!  We were so proud...and VERY surprised!

As an extra incentive to keep it up, we told him that if he made it to Saturday without sucking his thumb at all (naps or bedtime) then we'd get donuts for breakfast.  Well.......

 

The next goal is a month.  We told him that if he makes it 4 weeks without sucking his thumb that we'll take him and Brody to Legoland!

Brody (seeing that the reward is bigger at the month milestone) asked, "If he goes a year without sucking it what will happen?  Will we get to go to Disney World?!?!?"  lol.  Not sure what we'll do...but Disney World sounds like fun to me too ;)

Here's my excuse

I know I've been absent from blogging.  Last week (as in March 12-16) was Spring Break for the boys.  They did tons of fun stuff with Daddy Steve over Spring Break and I was waiting to get pics from him to blog about it.  But then when I got the pics there were over 300 and since I wasn't there it's harder to blog about it!  This meant I kept putting off posting about things I wanted to post about that are happening now (because I felt like I had to post about SB first!)  So....I'm going to go ahead and just post what I want now and then when time allows (remember....it's tax season), I'll got back and post about SB.  I'll be sure to post links to posts I create about their Spring Break adventures :)

That's all for now. 

Brody and Barrett on Spring Break - Tuesday

Barrett and Brody really enjoyed the great beds at the Hilton DFW Lakes on their Spring Break trip with Daddy Steve;  Barrett does a body slam on Brody.

Daddy Steve and Brody

Daddy Steve and Barrett

Ann treated them to a full breakfast at the Hilton restaurant.  It was a great breakfast and so much fun for them to see Ann first thing in the morning.  The Hilton staff treated them like royalty!!!  Ann's smile looks much more natural than Brody and Barretts!

After breakfast, the Daddy Steve and the boys went fishing on Hilton's lake.  The Hilton provided the fishing rods and tackle box full of fishing gear.  Brody and Barrett enjoyed casting but the closest they came to catching a fish was the turtle that swam by.

Brody and Barrett came up with a game called the "Decoration Game."  Whenever they walked down the hotel halls, they had to jump from one paisley decoration on the carpet to the other.  If they missed they would fall into the "fire" and burn up.  Of course, they made Daddy Steve do it too.  Silly but fun!

Once they got to their room, Brody and Barrett would have to take turns opening the door.  The Hilton now uses proximity keys instead of card readers.  They loved unlocking the door!

Nest on the agenda - raquetball.    Barrett could be dangerous with the raquet!

Brody in his baseball stance - ready to play raquetball.

Steve posing for a photo on the court.

Another fun thing to do was ride up and down the 9 floors in the Hilton elevator.

  

They ate at Sonic in Grapevine because that is where Ann worked when she was in High School.

This might be a real smile for Brody!

Barrett gave me his "real" smile.

Neither boy wanted to take a nap, but when they laid down to rest for a minute, they were out like a pop up fly in the ninth inning.

Brody taking a very rare nap!

Once they awake from their nap they were back in full motion!

They walked back over to Austin Ranch to see what they could do over there.

This is Barrett riding a bucking rooster at Austin Ranch.

Ann told them about the horshoes at Austin Ranch.  Barrett was the expert thrower!

Almost!!!!

Now that's the way to get a ringer!

They loved looking out of the 9th floor hotel window!

They drove across the Grapevine Dam as one of their adventures.

And as they passed the train station, the boys really wanted to ride the train.  It was time for their train to go to bed!