You'd never know

that just a few days ago we had suffered the trauma of John's fall.

Yesterday morning John woke up still not being able to put much weight on his ankle/foot. By mid-morning he was hobbling around on both feet. It took no time for him to try out his bike, then a neighbors trampoline and later swimming. I kept cringing and telling him to take it easy. I got the usual "Mmmmmmmmmoooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm fine." Well, the dr.s orders were activity as tolerated. He seemed to be tolerating it very well.

He seems almost completely normal, as if it never even happened. I know, I know.....nothing is impossible God!

God is GOOD!

When you finish reading this post you will be saying the same thing!

Sunday, June 8 at about 3:30 p.m. John fell 16 feet out of his bedroom window. He will later tell us that he was sitting on his window sill & leaned backwards. That popped the screen out and John fell backwards. I was outside, heard him scream & looked to see him fall & hit the ground.

We rushed him to the ER. After several x-rays & a cat scan there was found to be no broken bones or any major bodily harm to John. His ankle is very swollen & tender. I'm assuming for now it's just a bad sprain.

He is still at the hospital, being held for about 24 hrs. for observation. When I left him (Jim was staying the night with him) he was in his normal spirits, laughing & joking around. We will be able to talk more in depth with his doctor tomorrow. The ER dr.s dealt with & cleared him of any major medical trauma.

God's hands were completley around John today. John told me later he could feel his pastor praying for him. I completely believe him, we had many praying for him and God no doubt heard & answered those prayers. Isn't God good?!?!?!?

Of course, I had my camera handy. I took these pics only with John's permission & well after we got to the er & was cleared of any immediate danger. We were waiting around for them to come get his x-rays.

This is how he was right before I left him for the night.

Do you think Andrew is tired?

Bzzzzz Bzzzzzz Bzzzzzz Bzzzzzz

The library summer reading program has a bug theme this year. They had a professional bee keeper come in & talk about his job. He brought along a hive of bees & some pure honey, which we were allowed to taste. Mmmmmm.

(baby) Carmen

Carmen has been hitting some big milestones herself. She is still such a sweet delightful baby. We did go through most of May with her night time sleeping being off. Ugh, it was such a pain. I was at my wits end a few times. I seriously try to never never complain. I feel so lucky to have been blessed with Carmen (and all our kids), she is worth every sleepless night. And really if this is the extent of my baby problems I'm quite fortunate. Anyway....

Back on May 5, she rolled over for the first time. I had an inkling she was ready to when she had turned herself all cattywompis in her bassinet. She had filled that bassinet completely and couldn't turn due to the confined space. So I took that down & put up her playpen in my room. Lo & behold I found her on her back in no time after her nap (she's a belly sleeper). Now she flips with great ease. She can half way roll from back to front. We're getting close.

On sunday June 1st. I plopped Carmen down on the floor and was surprised to see her sit there fully errect for about a minute. She was pretty wobbly, but she did it, all on her own. She also got tired really quick, but I was able to snap some pictures real quick of her big moment.

I also fixed her hair in a little Pebble ponytail for the first time that day. She was too cute! When I wash her hair it has this funny Alfalfa look down the middle, sticking up in a funky way. It seemed perfect to stick that part in a ponytail. At first I didn't think it would stay, but it did for most of the day.

Yesterday I was changing Carmen on my bed & she was making her noises, her *talking* as I call it. I wasn't paying particular to it, but heard it. Suddenly I stopped dead in what I was doing, stared at her intently and asked (as if she could really answer) "are you saying dada?" She paused, looked at me & continued....."dadadadadadadadada". Again, another million dollar moment for me. I called Jim right away at work. He told me he thought he had heard her say dada a few times before, but figured I wouln't believe him. I was estatic!

I'm still breastfeeding Carmen. The longest I've ever breastfeed any of our kids. I've tried introducing cereal to her, she's not interested in the least bit. I'm lucky if she even takes 2 bites. I've caught my sister trying to give her mashed potatoes & Jim trying to give her whipped cream. I've only tried to give her some banana, she did like that, but didn't take too much. Technically you're suppose to introduce the 3 cereals first before you give them any other foods, but I am actually considering starting her on fruit babyfood. Wondering if we'll just skip the whole cereal phase. Anyway, she's still much more interested in her mama's milk so we'll keep with that.

Enjoy some pics of my baby girl....my mini me, Carmen jr., little Carmen.... whatever you want to call her.

sitting up all by herself (with big sister close by, just in case)

still sitting, a better look at her ponytail

happy baby w/ chubber cheeks...you should see the rolls on her thighs, they are so cute (now). Look at her hair closely, you can see that funky thing it does after being washed.

just hanging out

Potty training

We had a big moment yesterday morning when Andrew went potty on the potty chair for the first time.

We've had prior attempts at potty training. You'd think I was asking him to sit on an electric chair the way he acted with the potty chair. It came with tears & big fits of screaming. OK, then he's not ready. We'd still talk about going potty and being a big boy. But I was not going to push the issue. And quite honestly I'm too lazy to really work at this area. Either he's ready & gonna do it or he's not. Don't look at me to set the timer for every hour to ask him if he has to go & make him try, etc. etc. Just me.

None of the other kids potty trained until they were closer to 3. Angel is the only one who did so before her 3rd birthday, everyone else was a month or two after their 3rd birthday. Let me tell you though, when they got it, they got it. Literally within a day or two. I've never done pull ups, we've never had accidents in public. Just done & potty trained. So I'm in no rush, Andrew doesn't turn 3 until November. I'll admit the thought does tempt me. Sure I'd love to have him out of diapers. I'm tired of buying them & changing them.

Two weeks ago we had a break through when he went potty at the Y. They have one of those cute toilets that sits 2 feet off the floor. They babysitter told me he went potty when they changed his diaper. From that day on he would at least sit on the potty with happiness & delight. To me that is an inch forward in progress. So we've been doing this off & on at home. Sitting on the potty.

Yesterday I sat him on the potty then turned my attention to getting Carmen changed & dressed when he proclaimed "I done". I realized that I wasn't even paying attention to him even sitting there. (Normally I sit right there & we talking about potty, we *listen* to hear if it's coming, etc.) I looked real quick & saw potty in there! WOO HOO! You'd think I just won a million dollars.

Now, he then went the rest of the day in his diaper. We did try again that night, but nothing happened. I told you I'm lazy so I didn't give it as much thought at he did. Now if he had come to me & said potty then sure I'd sit him on there. I'm just thrilled that we are inching forward toward this big change. He'll get it one day. Until then, we'll just take it one potty at a time : ).

Below you will find a slideshow featuring the kids & their academic awards. Angel recieved almost all A's on her report card landing her on the honor roll. She also won a $10 giftcard to WalMart. If you recall back at the beginning of the school year she received the FISH award (look back in September). Through out the whole school year she was nominated 11 times for this award and was one of 3 others who was nominated the most times.

Mandy was honored for her helpful service in the lunch room & was also given the Steele Succesful student award. That means that even though she did not receive all A's & B's on her report card, she is still a very hard working student showing excellent character & hard work.

Brianna & John do not receive letter grades on their report cards yet. So their Steele Succesful Students awards don't have quite the same meaning as the others. It's more equilvent to them having the top grades in their classes. John also participated in Richardson Readers. He had to read a certain number of books & then was tested on those books as well.

It's been another great year of academic learing for our school aged kids. We've already signed up for the library reading program to help keep them on track.