Busy week!

Blowing out candles on his Monster Truck cake.  All he asked for were Monster Truck cupcakes, but Boppa MUST go all out!

The family after dinner

The inaugural video attachment!!!!  I didn't realize the blog had that capability for free.  Hopefully, it will come across so you all can view it.  Kai received a new bike from Grammy and Papa, Mama Louise and Eric and me for his birthday and he loves it.  Everyday he asks if he can go outside and ride his bike--unfortunately it has rained a lot this week.  At first he was afraid to even pedal, but this was videoed just a few hours later and he quickly became a pro.  If you can't hear what he says, he's talking about going to the library and "the restaurant" (McDonald's) for his birthday and that he's going to tell Mama and Boppa "all that stuff".

Now for some bad news...as many of you know, Mad had a kidney infection at the beginning of school.  We took her for a cystogram imaging test on Monday to check for urine reflux back into the kidneys.  While we were at the doctor for Kai's 3-year well baby visit, we learned the results.  She has pretty severe vesicoureteral reflux so we have scheduled an appointment for mid-Oct. with a pediatric urologist to understand treatment options.  Later in the week, we took our third trip of the week to a medical facility because she was complaining of pain in her side/back.  Turns out she has a urinary tract infection.  Another round of antibiotics.  Please pray for this little girl and her future care.

Breaking News

• So the greatest news is that I quit my job!  No, Eric doesn't have one yet, but it became exceedingly difficult to be the kind of wife and mother I am meant to be with the demands of the job I had.  Suffice it to say, 10 hour work days, monthly travel, personnel issues, and stressful work expectations do not support being a mom of three little kids.  I saw my children for about 1 1/2 hours daily, was plagued with dreams of work, risked my life by trying to catch up on emails during my drive home, and life revolved around not the to-do's of my personal life, but the to-do's of my work life.  It was all too much and there was no end in sight.  Therefore, Eric and I prayed and prayed since May for the right answer and the right next step.  The Lord made it very clear to us that He would provide and that my life was not to revolve around work.  He has greater plans for us.  Stay tuned!
• I am calling the next 3 months "detox" and we'll see what happens next--maybe part-time work, maybe not.
• I just finished my first week as a stay-at-home mom and was truly wooed by my little boy.  He knows that I tend to have a Pepsi around 9-10am instead of coffee and would ask me if I was "sirsty" (thirsty) and bring me one!  I have discovered that this precious thing talks non-stop and starts every sentence with "Mommy?"  Such a lovely sound, but every sentence?  ha!  I think I wore myself out trying to organize, clean and run errands.  I need to learn that, just as in my career, there's always more to do and you have to know when to draw the line and chill.  I didn't feel I could do that here, but I can make those sort of choices at home.
• Eric has been amazing--knowing my tendency to over do it, tells me to do nothing some days. 

Funny things Kai says and does:

• "That's not my job" when he's been asked to do something he doesn't want to do.
• "I'm busy right now" as another stall tactic.
• "Thanks a lot" out of context.  He is copying Madelyn as she commonly uses this phrase right before throwing a fit and getting a spanking or being put in timeout.
• "Hmmmm" and stroking his chin when he's pondering a question.  We have no idea where he's seen this!
• "Bay-bing soup" (bathing suit)

School Daze and other things:

• The first few days of school were quite a challenge for the new kindergartner.  She got in trouble at school and on the bus a few of those days, we received one call from the teacher about her behavior in the bus line and one another call from the school nurse. 
• Turns out, Mad had a kidney infection so was out for a few days recovering.  She's completely healed now, but we are going to have an imaging test done to see if there are issues since she's had a UTI before and this one went to the kidneys so quickly.
• Rylie got in her first school fight...on the bus, day 3, with her SISTER!  That was maddening!
• We learned that Rylie's best friend, Emma, will be moving to New York.  Those girls are inseparable thanks to having class together the last two years and our backyards touching. They are excited about Skyping/Face Time and being pen pals.  What a treasure it will be one day when they are adults and still friends, but this is going to be hard on all of us.  Her family still needs to sell their house, so it could be a few months from now.
• Madelyn says "My bad".  Is she really a girl from the 80s?  Maybe rebellious Madonna incarnate?
• Rylie is doing awesome at math so far and struggling in Social Studies.  That's opposite from last year.
• Ry got to ring the bell at gymnastics for the first time.  When one of the kids sticks a skill, they ring a bell and everyone is quiet and watches them perform their skill.  She got her back walkover! Yea, Ry!
• Funny: right before school started, we were talking to Madelyn about what riding the bus was like, where to sit, etc.  We decided that she and Rylie would sit together for the first few days (hence the future brawl) and Rylie said, "Do NOT sit at the back of the bus.  That's where the big kids sit and they talked about bad stuff."  I asked what the big kids talked about. "Breaking news," Rylie said with an air of mystery.
• Rylie was very excited to walk her sister to class each morning.  As we prepared for what the school calls "Independence Day" where all children are to walk independently to class, I could see the look of worry and disappointment on Rylie's face.  Good big sis! (even though she often speaks to her sister with a tone of distain--we need to work on that)
• Speaking of, one day Madelyn was looking at a photo album and there was a picture of both girls hugging each other and smiling. Madelyn said, "Mommy, is that from last year when sissy liked me?"
  
  
  

  

  Our street buddies on their first day of school



BFF Joey



Kai had to have his own backpack



Quick trip to Holden Beach to visit Emmy and Matt with Matt's family



Emmy and Rylie practicing handstands



Twins





You've knitted atop your playset, right?



Emma and Rylie

Seabrook 2011

I am way behind on the blog posts so I will put the highlights from Seabrook and focus on uploading the pics since I know that's what you visit the site for anyway! :)

• During a shower with me, Kai slipped, fell and had to get 3 stitches on his chin.  Eric and I drove 45 minutes to Charleston to get to the nearest ER; thankfully it wasn't worse than that!  Kai was super brave and so patient as we waited for care.  Got home at 1am that night (first night).
• This was the trip of injuries, including Ry and Eric both getting jellyfish stings. Leon kept a daily list of all the injuries. We capped off the trip with me getting a piece of sand stuck under my eyelid. My Charlotte optometrist took it out for me and I was SO GRATEFUL--it hurt like crazy!

• Awesome experience seeing the dolphins close up as they congregated at low tide in a tidepool area. It was so cool to see how they communicated and worked together to move the fish to a certain area along the shore, then made the fish fly up, caught them and ate them.

• Super hot weather, good times with family, great waves for the boogie board. We love this place!

The Titlers love their Bocce.  You'd think we were old Italian men!

Kai means "sea water"...






Miss Sandi, Brian's girlfriend






Hunting for shells and fish



My babies in the morning light






Beautiful Love



Dolphins getting breakfast