He Needs A What?

I have to take Brant for a Bone Age today. I never thought I would have to take him for one, they are not bad, just an x-ray of the hand. I am used to Cheyenne getting them regularly because she has been having them since she was 2, but she is growing so fast they do them to keep track of how rapidly her bones are aging. For example the last one she had, her bone age said she was almost 10.5 but she actually was only 7.5...which means her body (and hormones) are growing faster than they should.

However Brant is short, he is smaller than most 13 years olds, he looks about 11. So the other day when I took him for his checkup, she informed me she felt he was developing too fast...WHAT???? I didn't take her seriously at first, I kinda laughed and said well he is 13...and she said "more advanced than most". So now she wants him to have a bone age to see if his bones are growing right with his age... I'm not really worried, because he is very healthy and it may only mean that he may end up shorter than most men... I don't know how it works other than if they start producing hormones too early it will make them shorter than they are supposed to be...they tell me that Cheyenne (even though she is the tallest 3rd grader I have ever seen) could end up short??? Confusing I know. Cheyenne takes shots to keep her from developing any further right now...but I'm just so shocked that Brant is also doing the same thing and with totally different characteristics. I'm actually interested in knowing now if it is something in my genes that causes this. We will have to wait to find out...I'll update when I get the results!
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Need a little comedy break?
Kids say the funniest things sometimes and I wish I had a recorder or notebook at all times to write them down, because I cant remember them all...One day I will have to do a post on the ones I do remember...
Anyway this morning we went to the gas station and I asked Brant to pump the gas, I told him I would get out and get it started but I wanted him to pump it...I just had on a pair of my walking gym shorts and a tank top with the little bra top built in (not much support in those)...so when he gets done I get out and help him close the cap and jump back in the car, when I did I looked up and some man waved at me...I said "Oh that's great, he probably saw my outfit", Brant asked me "What would you do if a man asked you for your phone number?" I showed him my hand with my wedding ring and before I could say anything he said "Tell him 1-800-I HAVE A HUSBAND!"
Out of the mouths of babes!!! Have a great day!

One Proud Mama

On Friday, We had a sleepover for Brant's Birthday. Our first one ever...

There were 3 boys from his baseball team, 1 best friend from school and my best friends son Chase who spent the night... Of course Cheyenne was here and Jordan stayed to keep the boys straight for a little while. They had lots of fun playing football, running an obstacle course (which included putting on a dress and running around the house)riding bikes, skateboarding jumping on the trampoline, roasting marshmallows and did I forget to mention playing XBOX 360 all night long!!!

What is a sleepover without staying up all night? I remember those all night sleepovers when I was young. They were good though, Larry only had to get up once at 4:30 a.m. and tell them to quiet down and which they did. They may have slept for an hour around 6 they said... but I was up at 7:30 waiting for Jordan to come back. They were up and ready to go some more, they played again all morning and we took them to the Oxford park for a little while! They all had such a blast! He had a great 13th birthday!

Below is a pic of Larry & Brant playing football and Chance (our puppy) wanting in too!

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Now this is why I don't bake! I asked Brant what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said yellow with chocolate icing. I'm thinking no problem, I can do that... yeah right!!!

I baked the cake no problem, so I go to turn it over into a cookie sheet to put icing on it and when it landed on that pan it looked like an earthquake hit it, there were cracks through the whole thing... So I decide to "cover it up" with icing...wrong answer...I didn't let it cool, so it just melted into all the cracks...I thought "Those boys will never eat this cake!"...here is a pic of it!

Thankfully,a very dear friend of mine, Mrs. Tammy, came to drop off her son. I showed her the cake for a good laugh... She saved the day! She told me to put the cake in the freezer and let if completely cool, then spread cool whip on top, shave a Hershey bar over it and drizzle Hershey's chocolate over that! It was awesome! Much better than just plain cake. She is such a lifesaver, I don't know what I would do without all her great advice!!! Needless to say, the boys still didn't eat it, they only wanted ice cream, but that's OK because the adults liked it! Here's the after pic!

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Today I got to shop all day! How great is that!?! We don't really have extra to spend, but it was really nice to go and hang out with Janet at Hobby Lobby, looking at all the things I would love to decorate my house with... Fall is definitely creeping into my thoughts! We had great conversation and I enjoyed not finishing cleaning my floors to spend the morning with her. We will have to do that again soon!

Then this afternoon, Brant & I went back to Ocala to the mall for him to spend his birthday money. Cheyenne had dance tonight and went to her dad's, so he and I took our time and enjoyed being together...

He surprised me (and made me cry tears of joy)...while we were in Inland Ocean I pointed out a car sticker of a sun that I thought was pretty...so we paid and walked back out into the mall, he asked me for some of his money and said he had forgotten something, he went back in the store and came out beaming and handed me a little bag... he had bought me that sticker and said "Thanks mom for bringing me shopping today"...my heart melted and I teared up...that boy knows how to make a mama proud!!!

Baby Steps Into Growing Up

My 8 year old daughter Cheyenne, is very shy, and everyone says I named her perfectly. We actually call her Chey as a nickname. She has always been one to take so long to warm up to everyone and everything. We once took her to a water park in Daytona and she was scared to leave my side the for the first hour, then when she finally did and started enjoying herself it was time to go. I can't say a lot about it because I am also a little shy, maybe not as much as I used to be but sometimes when we are around a lot of people around me I get nervous and I defiantly can not speak in front of a crowd!

The first few years of school was no picnic either, most mornings she cried and threw up before school. It was awful, that is one of the reasons I quit my job and last year in 2nd grade was better for her, no throwing up and she only cried a few times... Now this year is a whole different story, she gets up in the morning, gets ready and actually has a smile on her face. I have seen her blossom so much in the past few months, its like she is trying to leave the baby behind and come into being an adolescent or more importantly a tween...oh my, I'm not sure I'm ready for that one. She already acts like she is 16 sometimes, thanks to Hannah Montana!

She is also afraid to spend the night anywhere, the only places she would stay are at her dad's or her dad's mother's house. But this summer she did stay with my Mom once, for the first time in a really long time. She said it was great and asked not long ago when she can stay with her again. We are working on that feat but she is doing alot better. Im not sure I will get her into children's church anytime soon either, but you never know she may surprise me.

I am especially proud of her right now though, I saw her overcome a fear of speaking in front of people last night. We joined 4-H and they asked her to be the secretary, the whole time Im saying "she's not gonna do that", but all the parents assured me they would help her along, so we agreed. So last night was her first time and she had to read the minutes, she was scared to death and I could see the fear on her face. She wouldnt even participate in the activities before she was so nervous, but when it came time for her, one of the leaders stood beside her and helped her with the words she had trouble with and she read the whole thing aloud!!!! She did AWESOME... I was so proud, then she actually wanted to stand up in front of all of them and recite the 4-H pledge, she couldnt remember it this time, but we will study hard for next time.
She even asked if we could do a presentation in one of the upcoming meetings! WOW is all I have to say, is that my little Chey who is scared of her own shadow sometimes??? Yes it is!!! We are also going to enter the Southeastern Youth Fair in Marion County where she may have to speak to judges, we will cross that bridge when we get there but for now we will take these baby steps into growing up!

Tidbits From Our Weekend

How come the weekends fly so quickly? This one went by very quickly or maybe I'm just tired and I needed more rest. Saturday morning came early for us, at 6:30 a.m. Brant's step mom called, he was running a fever and complaining of a sore throat. So she brought him home. At that time I felt like maybe it was a virus... I looked in his throat it didn't show signs of white spots on his tonsils and his temp was only like 99.9, so I decided that we would wait it out for a little bit.

A man came to look at the boat and he bought it! Although we were happy since that alleviated one of our monthly bills, we were also sad to see it go...But I promised my honey that we will have another boat in a few years and this time it will be the best tricked out Bass Boat of them all...he informed me it will be a Triton!!!

We then went to my Nana's to work in the yard and do some more cleaning...(I have another post in mind about that subject, that is on my "to write" list). Poor Brant was still feeling bad but he went along and slept on the couch. After being there for about 5 hours and dusting almost everything in that house, while the men cut down shrubs and trees, we came home.

By then Brant's fever was a little higher and he was feeling worse. My sister brought me more Tylenol and we kept alternating it. Still the whole time I'm thinking its a virus... That night he woke me up burning up and could barely swallow, so I went into sleep with him for a while (I know he is almost 13, but he is still my baby)and he was just miserable. Around 8 and he was still not feeling any better and his heart was racing, I knew it was more than a virus by then.

There is a new Urgent Care on 466 going toward Target called Paramount Urgent Care. I have been told by a few friends that is was good and boy was it! We were in and out of there in less than an hour. He had strep throat. They ended up giving him 2 shots to speed up the healing. The rest of the day he and I laid around the house, I felt wiped out too, while Larry smoked some ribs on the smoker, what a great man he is. And by the end of the night last night he was feeling better and even ate supper. I kept him home today and maybe tomorrow depending on the white bumps on his tonsils, but so much better than Sunday morning!!!!

I felt horrible about not taking him sooner though, they always tell me its a virus and there is nothing they can do. So this time I was gonna be smart and just save the money...I know I'm not the only one who has ever done that, but it sure makes you feel awful knowing if you would have taken them the day before they wouldn't have gotten so sick.

We didn't get to make it to church and also missed Avery getting baptised. I felt guilty because of my recent revelations and promises to God, but I know he understood and we are planning to go this coming Sunday. I'm just so thankful Brant is feeling better and I have my fingers crossed Cheyenne doesn't come down with it!

Oh and BTW, if you want to rent a cute movie get Baby Mama...it wasn't as funny as I would have thought from the previews. But all in all a really cute movie and it made me laugh!

Parenting is Tough Stuff!

Yesterday Cheyenne and I went to the grocery store and I realized how much I have spoiled my children... which I have been noticing more lately as the money is getting tighter. They dont understand when we say we really dont have the extra money right now. She looked at me yesterday and said "we can never afford anything". Which broke my heart because not too long ago when we did have 2 incomes, we could afford alot more stuff. I call it stuff because most of it was not necessities but wants... Now we have to focus only on necessities and only wants every now and then.

I began to wonder have I done the wrong thing by always giving in to them for thier every little want? As most parents today we want to give our children what we didnt have or make their childhood easier than ours were. But in doing that I feel I have hurt them in some way of not understanding what it means to be said no too. I am the worlds worst at giving in, ask my husband or any of my family... I love them so dearly and just want them to be happy so I say yes or a no can be broken down fairly easily with me...

Most of my reasoning is because I feel sorry for them, they dont have a "normal" childhood with their parents together. They live with me during the week and see their dads every other weekend... I feel bad for what they go through emotionally, since I too lived that way, I know it is hard to live between 2 families and even as an adult now it is hard to juggle the two. So I always of course want to be the good mom so they dont one day say the dreaded words "I want to live with my dad"... I hope it never comes to that, but I have the teenage years coming soon!!!

I know I wont always be the best and here lately I feel more and more like a failure than a good rolemodel to them. In the process of trying to be "the best" mom I can be, I know I have made some bad decisions in the parenting department... So now the question how do I fix this, how do I make them understand that a No is No and I'm not being mean?

Larry & I tell them stories all the time about when we were growing up...you know the ones like we heard from our parents about walking 10 miles in a snow storm...LOL... mostly about that when we went to the store we didnt get everything we asked for and usually we knew better than to ask. That a trip to the mall or a restuarant was maybe once or twice a month not a week! They look at us like we are crazy usually, as Im sure I did at their age too.

With all the technology, the peer pressure, the television shows and advertisements of the kids who have everything how am I supposed to help them understand that just because Hannah Montana has it or your best friend has every video game system made that we really dont need it, we have more than enough, at least in my opinion we do. Being a parent is tough and boy have I grown more respect for mine over the years for all that we did have even when we thought there was never enough!

Cutting some of the Apron Strings

I had yet another "cutting the apron stings" experience this past week. Brant my oldest started Middle School on Monday (Since Marion Cty has been closed the rest of the week, I will have to do this again next Monday). During his orientation, I walked him around to all of his classes and showed him which way to go to find his way. That school is alot bigger than the one I went to with alot more kids!

During the day I met his PE teacher who told me that Mon-Wed they will have a 6 period schedule then on Thurs & Fri they will have a block schedule...Me getting paranoid I asked if they would remind the kids of this and she told me yes and reassured me that they will help the kids until they all knew the routine. I apologized for "being a mom" and she said "Well we all have to start cutting the apron strings a little at a time each time they go on into new schools and as they go through life."

On Monday we took Cheyenne to school, she starts an hour & a half earlier than him. She was a little nervous but I wasnt so worried about her, she is in the same school and in 3rd grade so she know the ropes so to speak.

Anyway, we had a little time together, we went to Walmart and got a few things and then we were on our way to the school. He looked at me and kinda took a deep breath. I knew he was nervous because he barely ate breakfast and I was naseous all morning too, wishing I hadnt eaten breakfast. I asked him "Do you have the note card with all of your classes in your pocket?" He shook his head yes and then I said, "Are you sure you dont want me to walk you to your first class?" Without hesitation he said "Mom Im going into 6th grade you dont need to walk me."

So we drove on and as we pulled up to the drive he got out and took his stuff, turned and looked with a little bit of a nervous look and just said "Bye Mom". While Im telling him I love him and waving...

I drove away and made it out of the parking lot when the tears came. I waited all day, wondering how it went. Did he find all his classes? Did he see anyone he knew? When I picked him up he said he had a good day and really liked it. Which was a great relief but a little gut wrenching knowing he doesnt need me as much as he did...

So I cut a little of my apron strings for now waiting until the time Cheyenne goes to 6th and He goes to 9th... Thank goodness that's 3 years from now! They will always be my babies in my mind even when they are 50!!!!