We took Ethan to Disney for his birthday yesterday. Can’t believe that 5 years ago we were dealing with two major hurricanes that swept through our area and hurricane Jeanne was kind to bring us Ethan. He has grown so much in the past five years! He was so excited to go to Disney to celebrate his birthday. We stayed at the Dolphin resort and enjoyed their fun pools. They were very kind to bring him a cake for his birthday. Ethan’s asthma had been giving him trouble the past week and we were hopeful he would make it through our trip. Sunday night we were up all night with Ethan’s asthma and Ian refusing to sleep. We went to Magic Kingdom Monday morning and Ethan had a blast. His favorite ride I think was Splash Mountain. I mostly hung out with Ian so Ethan and George could go on the rides. Ian refused to ride Dumbo but begged to go on the Carousel. We went home tired after lunch and Ian took a really long nap. After dinner we had planned to go to Epcot but Ethan was sounding terrible so I spent two hours with him at a walk-in where he was diagnosed with a sinus infection and also given steroids for his asthma. We did end up going to Epcot for their late hours but sadly for me, all the food and wine festival vendors were packed up for the day:( I took Ian on Nemo but he completely freaked out during the ride. (he’s at an age where he is easily scared) So Ethan was up a lot again last night coughing so we decided not to go into any of the parks today and just headed home. He didn’t let his sickness bring him down though, he bounced his way around the whole trip:)

While the rest of our country is beginning to enjoy fall, it is still hot as heck here. Today I took the boys to an outdoor event at a park. The fountains and children’s museum are at the park so the kids had a lot of fun in addition to the bounce houses, games and treats that were there. Ethan went for a ride in a sailboat with his friends and they also got to sit in a fire truck before we left. I felt completely gross and melted by the time we left. Suprsingly, Ian would not take a nap after all that fun in the sun (he didn’t take a nap yesterday either). What amazes me even more is that they played in the pool together for at least an hour and a half this afternoon. I’m hoping they sleep well tonight because tomorrow after church we are heading to Disney for Ethan’s birthday. He turns the big 5 on Monday!

3rd times a charm don’t they say? Well after cancelling two other appointments, I finally went to get my sinus CT scan. My doctor ordered it before George had his surgery when we thought I was getting another infection. Thankfully I never got any worse so waiting this long hasn’t been a big deal. It’s been four years since my last CT scan so it’ll be interesting to see what has changed. It’s also been four years that I’ve been getting shots. My cat allergy seems to have improved some but my dust mite allergy has not. They keep trying to increase the strength of the shots to get me to a level where I will experience an improvement but I am so highly allergic (off the charts) that every time they increase it my arm swells up more than twice it’s size and I break out into hives. Sadly, I am so allergic to dust mites that I think I am allergic to the YMCA where Ian does his gymnastics. Crazy! Miss Karen came and watched the boys so I could go the the appointment. CT technology is really fascinating. The first one I ever had was hours after Ethan was born and I was so out of it I didn’t appreciate it. I love that it sounds like you are in an airplane that is taking off but it’s a peaceful taking off because you’re not listening to the stewardess tell you about airplane safety. After the CT scan I then went to Panera’s for a while to read my new book “Searching for God knows what” that a friend and I are reading together. The simple joys of sitting at a restaurant by myself and reading a book was quite heavenly. Then I went and got my haircut. A double treat! As usual, when I returned home, both Ethan and Ian were upset that I had returned. “Mom, why are you home! I want to keep playing with Miss Karen!”

I imagine most kids Ethan’s age are asking tons of questions and wanting to learn more about everything. We’ve passed the “why” questions of the 3′s and now we are in the “how” questions. I get at least 15 questions a day about a variety of subjects including anatmony/physiology, history, biology, astronomy, engineering, etc. I don’t remember being so widely interested in things as Ethan is, maybe it’s a boy thing. He’s always wanted to know how things work. So we are now hooked on the Magic School Bus. A recent episode had them going inside a chicken egg to watch the chicken grow. We also went online to the Hubble telescope to see pictures of space (very cool by the way). I’m looking into different science projects we can do together and I think he’s getting an ant farm for Christmas. As an eager learner he is sometimes too smart. I realized I entered a new stage in parenting the other day when we were leaving a store and he didn’t want to leave so Ian and I left and went out to the car making it look like we might leave without him. He did come to the car but then asked “mom, were you really going to leave me there or did you just do that so I would come to the car?”

I have to apologize to my blog for being so neglectful. I usually like to post at least every other day and I’ve really been slacking off. George is struggling to get better and he’s not fully ready to help out with the kids (he had to take two naps this past Saturday). So I’ve just been really tired and keeping up with the kids seems to give me little time for blogging. Ian for some reason is sleeping terribly and I’ve been up with him in the middle of the night. Satan is really trying to tempt me to fall and being so tired it’s harder to be patient and kind to everyone. But God is faithful and I keep praying for strength and perseverence. I’m hoping George will be back to normal soon, though unfortunatley he thinks he may have a sinus infection. Oh the irony!:O I will end my post on a funny note. Ian has lately developed a bad habit of pooping everytime he is in the pool. It’s profoundly gross and I am usually carrying him out of the pool saying “Oh Ian!” So recently, Ian started saying to me “Oh Ian” everytime I change his diaper:)

We’re getting into our new routine for this school year. Ethan is in school 5 half days a week so to keep Ian from being too lonely I’m taking him to gymnastics once a week. I’ve also been able to rejoin a morning bible study at our church. I had to stop going for almost a year and a half because they didn’t have any babysitting available. I’m very happy to be back in it. Ethan is really tired out from being in school every day so he and I spend Ian’s nap time each afternoon doing our “homeschooling” lessons. Ian starts preschool the beginning of November and for the past few months I had been discussing with a friend an opportunity to work for her. It was looking like it would involve much more work than I would get compensated for as well as putting in my own money for supplies so I’ve been praying about whether it is something I should be doing right now. God answered my prayer in a very obvious way that at least for now, it is not something I need to be doing. (I love when things are so clear!:) We have a busy fall ahead of us since we all have birthdays this fall (as well as the kids friends), we’re going to Disney twice, I’m going to Women of Faith, my parents are coming for a visit and sometime in the midst of it all I’m supposed to have surgery. As it says in Proverbs, “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.” (16:1-3)

Today I had a break down at Ethan’s school. I have been so tired and exhausted from the past week from taking care of George and the kids and not getting any sleep that I finally broke down. Usually when this happens it’s over something really small and in a public place. And wouldn’t you know it, a little thing happened today when I went to pick Ethan up that when a teacher asked me how we were doing, I started crying. And then I cried for an hour after that. Poor Ethan could not figure out why I was so upset. I’m actually suprised it took me this long, it’s only by God’s grace I’ve made it until now. Thankfully George is starting to feel better and can start helping me a little with the kids. And hopefully I can drop Ethan off and pick him up tomorrow without any major upsets:)