Hunting buddies

Although Josh hasn't said it, I know he's thrilled that Eli is obsessed with hunting now. He has been practicing his bow since Josh started practicing this summer for his elk hunting trip and it's literally stuck since. Eli will watch the hunting channel, look at hunting magazines. Josh even put up a tree stand in the yard for him to hunt birds in the hayfield. It's very funny.
Eli came home with a paper from school about what he was going to do this long weekend. "I mit (might) go huntin with Dad. I hop (hope) I see sonin (something)." Then there was a very detailed picture of Eli in a tree stand and a huge buck standing there. :0

Cousins

The three cousins, Will, Camden and Matthew. Will is 6 months old, Camden 2 months and Matthew is 1 month in this picture. Cute.

Camden

He's smiling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packer fans!

Our Packer boys!

Hanging out with Auntie Kay

Auntie Kay and Camden

Logan being crazy

Just thought I'd share some pictures of the boys watching the last Packer game. Auntie Kay stopped by in her Packer gear too so we had to snap some shots.

Logan

I needed to post these pictures to remind myself how cute this little boy is. I've been up since 4 a.m. with him and it's easy to forget when you're soooo tired. :)

Book buddy

At Eagleville school every Friday they have what's called book buddy time. The 4th graders are paired up with a 1st grader and they read books together. Either the 4th grader reads to the 1st grader or vice versa.
Isaac's book buddy is Jack. Jack is so smart he says he should be in 6th grade. A couple Fridays ago Isaac was telling me about book buddy time. He said, "Mom, I don't like book buddy time." I said, "Why not?"
He said, "Because I have Jack and guess what book he had me read to him? The dictionary!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Poor Isaac.

Camden

Camden is doing better. He had a relapse a week ago but we just needed to refill his medicine sooner and he's doing better. It was very obvious to me when he was off his meds how severe his reflux is. He was choking, gaging, coughing, spitting up TONS, crying more. Just very uncomfortable. The trick is getting the medicine IN him. He doesn't take a bottle so I can't mix it in there (well, mom doesn't push the bottle). He has learned not to swallow and then it just pours out of his mouth. Frustrating when this medicine is $41.00 for a small bottle. My sister Tana gave me an infant feeding tube and syringe she had from Matthew. So far I've been using that but it's tricky. I have to tape the feeding tube to my breast and when Camden nurses, I insert it into his mouth and S-L-O-W-L-Y dispense the medicine. So he's drinking it along with the milk. Tricky but it seems to work and then he benefits.
I've also moved him to his crib and he actually slept in it two nights ago the whole night! He was still up at 3:30 to eat but went right back to sleep in his bed. Last night didn't go as well. He was up at 3:30 but didn't want to go back to sleep in his bed. It's hard to let him cry it out in the middle of the night. I'll have all three other boys up too! So I just brought him into our room and put him in his car seat. Off to sleep he went. That just still seems the most comfortable spot for him.
Otherwise, he's smiling so much and he even laughed out loud at us the other night. So cute! The giggles. He's such a cutie pie and I'm really happy he's more happier. I don't know how I made it through these past three months!

Parent-teacher conferences

Yes, it's that time of year. For some reason, I always got nervous when conferences came around. I'm really not sure why. I was a good student. Maybe I was nervous for those kids who weren't so good.

Anyways, I met with Mrs. Wilson (Isaac) and Mrs. Kujawa (Eli) last Tuesday night. It went very well and I was a bit choked up when I left. My first conference was with Mrs. Wilson, Isaac's teacher. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about Isaac. She congratulated me on teaching Isaac and said I had done a great job. Isaac is at or above where he should be in every subject. She was amazed at the things he knew and said some times. I attribute that to all the interesting books he reads. Apparently he offers "facts" to the class from time to time and they are all amazed. Kind of funny. His classmates enjoy him very much. She said he is somewhat quiet but everyone encourages him to join in. She watches him at recess and he's always laughing and having a good time. They don't receive report cards until the end of November, but as far as where he is now, he's a straight A student. She thanked me for sending Isaac there. And it only took the fourth time of her saying I did a good job at homeschooling him for me to finally say "thank you." :) She also brought up the student council election process. She knew how excited Isaac was for this and said he was very surprised when he was elected. When she announced his name, he stood up and said, ME?!?!?!? She said, "I wish you could have seen him the day he gave his speech. It was so neat. He was up here giving his speech and the kids all loved it and were cheering him on." How wonderful.

We also discussed his speech and decided he should be evaluated also. We don't know if he actually could benefit from speech or just slow down when he talks. I can't help but think both of our oldest kids need speech because of something I did or didn't do. I know that's not necessarily true but just the feelings I have. Hopefully Logan and Camden won't need speech because then I'll really get a complex. :)

Then I moved on to Mrs. Kujawa. This was the one I was really looking forward to. Eli has expressed to me that he feels "behind" and not where he should be. I didn't know if this was actually true or just Eli being hard on himself. Turns out Eli is just where he should be in all subjects. He struggles in language arts but it's largely because of his speech problem. He has trouble writing because what he hears and says is different than what's actually right. He has been "screened" for speech and will start taking it once all the paperwork is completed. Mrs. Kujawa said he is a quiet boy but is starting to come out of his shell and talk more. He is always respectful of others and kind. She was very sad that he felt he was behind and not doing well. We both realize we need to encourage Eli and let him know it's okay to make mistakes. I don't like that Eli feels this way. He hasn't had any "meltdowns" for her (like he did daily for me last year). But she does see the frustration when she corrects him on something. She also thanked me for sending him. Oh, and she said he really likes hunting. He told her, "I'm going hunting with my dad to kill a deer to feed our family." ha, ha! She got a kick out of that!

Computer problems fixed

I am sorry for no updates but I had some computer problems. I am back up and running now though. I had various viruses and spyware embedded in my hard drive, destroying it. Lovely. And just so you know, you can still get a virus when you have anti-virus software installed. I spent an hour with a computer guy and learned lots and lots.
I have lots to share on each of the kiddos. Now I just have to find the time to write on each one. Logan just happened to wake up early so I'm up with him. He's eating, I'm typing. :)

Student council

There once was a shy, little redheaded boy who clung to his mom any time she left him. He had been this way since he was just a little baby....never wanting to leave his mom's side. As he grew into a toddler, things didn't change too much. Mom was always called out of church to come pick up her screaming child. Sometimes she didn't even bother taking him to Sunday School. This little boy started preschool. Although he didn't scream for his mom anymore, he was very quiet in school. Definitely not the outgoing kid of the class. He had some friends but was always reserved in his actions. Mom was always encouraging him to step out, step up, speak up. He would still have some crying episodes when leaving Mom.

Fast forward to now, years later. That little boy is nine years old. He is in the fourth grade. It is his first year in the public school system after being homeschooled for three years. And what does this nine-year-old want to do???? Run for student council!!!!
I, being the mom who knows how shy he is, explain that he must give a speech to his class, be voted in and then once he's voted in, he must go to the meetings and report to his class. It's a lot of speaking in front of people, taking charge, outgoing tasks. Certainly not something for my shy little boy.

No, no, he WANTS to give the speeches. He looks forward to the speeches and speaking in front of his class and teachers. (WHAT?!?!?!?!?)

Yes, it's true. Isaac ran for student council in his fourth grade class. He gave a wonderful speech about how he wants to be in student council and why. And he found out yesterday that he was voted in by his classmates.

CONGRATULATIONS, ISAAC!!!!
I am so proud of you. You certainly have grown up and definitely come out of your shell. I know you'll do your best job. :)

Camden

Update on Camden...again.

Our doctor called the gi doctor at Children's. She had a consult with him over the phone telling him all of Camden's symtoms and what we've tried so far with him. She also told him, "This is one of my mild moms....when she says it's bad, I know it's bad." (big smile here for me....good to know I'm "mild" because I don't always think so.)
This gi doctor recommended a different medicine before seeing him. He said this is what he would recommend if we went to see him (good to know we saved some money there without the office appointment). It takes up to two weeks for this medicine to work, which is Prevacid. We have an appointment scheduled in three weeks to see the gi doctor IF this medicine is not working by then. I really pray it works for Camden! I can't bear to see him in pain and crying anymore! It's awful. He'll literally be sleeping away peacefully and then all of a sudden get this painful look on his face and let out a cry. Sleeping isn't usually longer than 20 minutes. He's hoarse some days from crying. And I really don't want to have to run a bunch of tests on the poor guy...torturing him more.
I just ordered a sleep machine for him. It plays over 30 different natural noises including rain, ocean, womb, etc. It's guaranteed to work! Ha! We'll see. I'll be REALLY surprised if it works for Camden.
In fact, I need to go. He's awake and screaming.

Some day I'll be able to get more done, right????