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Toadfrogs & Elephants

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Month: May 2014

31 May

May 31, 2014

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Backyard fun.

31 May

May 31, 2014

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Backyard fun.

30 May

Hello Summer

It’s definitely short weather and time for skinned knees on little boys.
knees

30 May

May 30, 2014

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It’s official. Alex obviously damaged the root of his front tooth when he fell a few months ago. (The difference in color is just getting worse as time passes. Maybe he’ll loose it soon.)

30 May

May 30, 2014

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Can you guess what we had for breakfast?

29 May

Sunset

I kind of love the view from my front porch.
view

29 May

May 29, 2014

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Trying to stay cool.

29 May

May 29, 2014

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Trying to stay cool.

28 May

Hello 34 Weeks

34weeks

28 May

May 28, 2014

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Alex is our creative problem solver. He is always designing/building something. Today it was a butterfly trap. The necessary materials included the dinner bell, a metal chain, bucket, basketball net, string, and water.

28 May

May 28, 2014

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TROUBLE

27 May

Dislikes

I have never been a big fan of vaulted ceilings. I love high ceilings, but not the two story high. Here is a perfect reason why:
light

27 May

May 27, 2014

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I walked in to our bathroom to find all the boys testing out the bathtub.

26 May

Car Boy

cars
This boy loves cars. He talks about cars nonstop. He plays with them constantly. When someone is leaving our house he wants to watch “car back up.” Yesterday I was trying to convince him to go swimming with Alex and Daddy in our neighbor’s pool. Our conversation went a little like this:
Me: Teague you love to swim. You are a good swimmer.
Teague: No. I good car driver.

26 May

May 26, 2014

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Walking home from a neighbor’s pool party.

25 May

May 25, 2014

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The boys have loved their nightly job of “cleaning” random items in the shower – lego squares, plastic bins, storage containers, etc.

24 May

Mail Call

Alex has been mailing letters since last fall. He would bring home a sealed envelope from school and tell me who he wanted to send it to – usually grandparents. For his birthday, Granny made him a box of supplies – paper, stickers, envelopes, and even stamps. Today Alex showed up with a completely colored coloring book and wanted me to write words on each page. Then he prepared a package for Abram and wanted to mail it.
package

24 May

May 24, 2014

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Alex has been requesting “stories” constantly. Poor Gram doesn’t appear to have run out of them yet.

24 May

May 24, 2014

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Daddy has the funniest games.

23 May

Dandelion Soup

Alex loves experiments and today he wanted to create dandelion soup. I’m not sure of all the ingredients but I did see Worcestershire Sauce and Hershey’s Syrup being added.
soup

23 May

May 23, 2014

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Gram and Alex went exploring and came home with a new plane.

23 May

May 23, 2014

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Still loving the water balloons.

22 May

Really Doctor?!?

Teague was scheduled for surgery today at noon. My mom drove over yesterday so she could stay home with Alex. Teague was a champ about his breakfast of apple juice and jello – only clear substances till 10 and then no food. Then the highlight of his day was parking in a parking deck (he’s so easy to please) before walking into the hospital. We were only in the waiting room a few minutes, but I was extremely impressed that they had little tykes cozy coupes and trucks for the kids. Teague loved driving around.
IMG_9802
The surgery was very quick and uncomplicated. In my consult with the doctor post-op, he mentioned the procedure could probably have been done in his clinic without anesthesia. Then I was a little annoyed. This doctor had no idea what I was about to go through with Teague and the rage he embraces as he wakes up.
I had tried to warn the nurses and anesthesiologist about Teague and his reaction to anesthesia, but I knew no one was taking me seriously. They came to get me very quickly upon his waking. Then the nurses were great about asking what I needed and leaving us alone. Teague raged for quite a while and we had a random anesthesiologist (not ours) come by and try to convince me Teague needed morphine. I told him this was normal for Teague and would pass. Teague finally calmed down and we got dressed to leave for home. The nurses were quite concerned about his reaction and wanted to know why I hadn’t mentioned it. When I told them that I had they then rolled their eyes about the doctor not even noting it in the file. They did suggest we transfer hospital records next time in addition to medical records. (I hadn’t even realized this was necessary or possible.)
We got home and I couldn’t even convince Teague to take a nap. He was good to go the rest of the day and quite happy to play with his brother.

22 May

May 22, 2014

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Alex has loved drawing “treasure maps” the last few days.

22 May

May 22, 2014

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Teague waiting for surgery.

21 May

Unhappy Camper

One of the perks of a moving company is they will come back to your house (whenever you choose) to pick up boxes and packing paper. We had pretty much filled one garage bay so we scheduled a pickup. Alex was extremely unhappy with this decision.
boxes

21 May

May 21, 2014

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I thought Alex and I were both reading during Teague’s nap time. Then I realized he had been really quiet and really still for a long time.

21 May

May 21, 2014

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It’s a water balloon kind of morning.

20 May

Choices Removed

While getting Teague dressed this morning he said his “stitches” hurt when we put on his shirt. I took a closer look and realized his silicon implant was actually protruding from the surgery site. I had a strong suspicion this meant it definitely had to be removed, regardless of the noticeable decrease in swelling and redness. We already had an appointment with the doctor within a few hours so we just left it alone. (For those curious what the implant looks like, see below)
implant
The doctor took one look and added us to his surgery schedule on Thursday. He did comment that this made removal extremely simple. The bad news is this means Teague will need an additional surgery in the future.

20 May

May 20, 2014

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Where’s Alex?

20 May

May 20, 2014

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It’s all about the boxes!

19 May

Normalcy

I’m not really sure we will have a new “normal” for a long time, but today came close. We said good-bye to Granny and Pop this afternoon. Wade went to work for normal hours. We even ate dinner together at the table – just the four of us! Then of course the boys wanted Daddy to read them some books.
books

19 May

May 19, 2014

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Tabit wasn’t quite quick enough to evade a little love today.

19 May

May 19, 2014

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The boys have both been carrying loose change around the last few days. I knew Teague had a penny, but I didn’t realize he had it with him when he went down for his nap. He woke up with it stuck to his cheek and never even realized it. The penny stayed in place a good 30 minutes to an hour!

18 May

May 18, 2014

car

The boys asked to wash my car this afternoon and I quickly agreed. (It couldn’t look any worse!) They spent over two hours playing in the water and the rest of us got a ton of unpacking done!

18 May

Box City

We’ve started piling empty boxes in the garage. Alex thinks they make an awesome play area.
boxes
Alex is actually wearing Teague’s shirt (as in two sizes too small). The boys haven’t quite figured out where to go for clothes now that they share a closet.

17 May

Bouncing

Aunt Emmie gave the boys a trampoline for Christmas with the understanding that the snow had to melt before it was assembled. Then we found out we were moving so we used it as a big selling point for Kansas City. The boys have been anxiously awaiting today – finally the trampoline is going up!

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jump3jump4
17 May

May 17, 2014

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One of the most anticipated parts of our move (for the boys), is the trampoline finally being assembled.

17 May

May 17, 2014

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Teague is so happy to have “red car.”

16 May

Complications

We heard from Granny and Pop on Wednesday that Teague’s surgical site over one eye was inflamed. By the next day his eye was swollen shut, the site was draining, and we were talking to the surgeon in Boston. She quickly prescribed an antibiotic. About seven hours after taking the antibiotic, Pop realized Teague was having an allergic reaction to the medicine. We contacted the doctor and she prescribed another antibiotic and scheduled us with a local ophthalmologist for this afternoon.
This morning I met Granny and Pop in downtown Kansas City, transferred Teague to my car, and headed to meet a new doctor. The staff was fantastic and the doctor even consulted with the Boston surgeon while we were waiting. The decision was made to continue the antibiotics till Tuesday. The local Doctor gave us his cell phone and told us he would check with us daily over the weekend. If the swelling got worse then we would do an emergency implant removal. Otherwise we would re-evaluate on Tuesday with the hope that the implant could be saved. (Our surgeon had told us this was very unlikely, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.)
implant
The doctor “drew” Teague’s favorite animal (a monkey) on his face to help us evaluate the swelling/redness and whether it was improving or getting worse.

16 May

May 16, 2014

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First night sharing a room – with bunk beds!

16 May

May 16, 2014

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Snuggles and books with Granny.

15 May

Updates

It appears the boys are having a lot of fun in Fayetteville. Of course they have three adults to entertain them so they should be in heaven! (I was most impressed with the obstacle course created in the church gym during a rainy day.)

bikegamescourse
15 May

May 15, 2014

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Playdough ice cream – yum!
(Photograph courtesy of Judy.)

15 May

May 15, 2014

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A gorgeous day at the park!
(Photograph courtesy of Judy.)

14 May

Adoption Funny

Wade and I have not encountered very many odd, negative, or ignorant adoption comments. Most of the comments are very positive or interested. Wade told me about this exchange he had with a lady in an elevator on the Boston trip and I am still laughing about it.
Teague: (Random muttering and comments – most likely about a blue car.)
Lady: What language is he speaking?
Wade: It’s English, but he’s three. I don’t understand him either.

14 May

May 14, 2014

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My little bookworm.
(Photograph courtesy of Judy.)

14 May

May 14, 2014

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Teague’s surgical site begins swelling.
(Photograph courtesy of Judy.)

13 May

Country Life

It only took us a day to realize Madison is still her typical self when it comes to country life. She has spent most of the last two days either in the creek behind our house or across the street in the field of horses. Surprisingly I actually prefer the rolling in horse poop to the creek. The creek is down in a wooded ravine and that means ticks. After removing over 30 ticks last night I decided a haircut was definitely in order.
shaven

13 May

May 13, 2014

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The boys always love a trip to the library but this library had computers too!
(Photograph courtesy of Judy.)

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