Oh Let Me Count The Ways...

Every day I find more and more reasons why I can't wait to move to our new house. Here's the list so far..

1. More space
2. 2 car garage
3. screened in porch
4. big fenced in backyard
5. closer to our friends
6. closer to Target (and a billion other stores) :)
7. nicer area of town
8. I won't have to hear my neighbors through the wall
9. no more yardworkers waking up my boys during their naps
10. little neighbors peeping through our windows
11. not having to put in a gate code every time I enter the neighborhood
12. a laundry room not right near the boys' doors
13. a linen closet (yes we don't have one in this place)
14. landlords who care and actually fix things when they are broken

Things I will miss..

1. being so close to the Williams family
2. super fast and easy access to the highway
3. Jeremy's quick commute to work

Clearly the positives outweigh the negative. Hurry up June 15th!

P.S. Please pray that our renters would stick to their word and would pay us all the money they owe once they get their tax money. We have been more than gracious them, but they are now 2 months over due and we will have to start the eviction process soon.

What's New With Us

I feel like my post have gotten fewer and farther between these days. Though we've been busy, I have taken very few pictures...maybe because the events weren't really picture-worthy. Therefore, here's a long update on us sans pictures.

Jeremy- He's been working like a mad man lately. He works his regular 8-5 comes home, does dinner/playtime/baths/bedtime with the boys, then gets right back on the computer to do more work. Thankfully his company is compensating him for all this overtime work. Truth be told, I'm not sure what he is really doing all the time on his computer. His programming language makes my head hurt just looking at it.

Shannon- The summer schedule has arrived, which means all groups and Bible studies are on hiatus. I am already getting a little stir-crazy. :) I'm trying to plan lots of playdates, because I'm not the only one who needs to get out some. I've lost some weight, remarkably without even trying. If I wasn't already an advocate of breast-feeding, this has now put it over the top. Thanks Oliver for helping me burn those extra calories..now if I could just find time to work out, I could really be skinny. Speaking of that, I have a job interview at the YMCA on Friday. It's in the Childwatch program and I would basically be watching people's kids while they work out. It has great benefits, like free childcare while I work, a free membership, and you get paid. I think it's ideal situation so please pray that this will work out. Any little bit of money can help pay the medical bills. Lately I have been really struggling with wanting to do something to help out. I feel like this could really be a great solution.

Owen- While he is cute as ever, he has also become quite the handful. He is definitely a 2 years old and is having the tantrums to prove it. His favorite saying lately is "no, no, no, no". He thinks he should be able to watch Curious George and be allowed to graze on anything in the cabinet

all day long... sorry buddy, that's not the case. With the tantrums along came the return of biting. He started biting Oliver first; it starts as a multiple kisses to the hand then he sinks his teeth in. The hardest part is that while he is getting reprimanded, he smiles and thinks it's funny. Nothing boils my blood more. Now he has moved onto biting his friends again. I still believe it is a lack of communication skills; every time it has happened, someone has either taken something from him or he wants what they have. While we have worked on the words, he really just can't express himself to say, "I was playing with that" or "May I play with that?". It's a learning process. Speech-wise he is improving though; he is putting 3 to 4 words together. He has developed a little of a studder when trying to start a sentence with I. It's very strange! In other news, he was fitted for his orthotics last week and they should be ready in a couple of weeks. Poor buddy has such flat feet and they roll inward when he walks. We are hoping that they will help his balance and foot placement.

Oliver-Love this little guy to pieces. He is getting so big..he's almost 6 months old! He started cereal a few weeks ago and loves it. You really can't get the spoon in fast enough for his liking. The hardest part is getting the spoon in his mouth before he is able to get his hand in there. He loves sucking on his hand, your hand, his foot, really anything he can get in his mouth. I think he may be teething but I can't see anything white near the surface. He has become a great sleeper, he naps well and long now. He can put himself to sleep (not without some super loud crying first) and is now sleeping on his stomach. Nighttime sleep has been a little sporadic lately and I think it could be a number of things from a growth spurt to teeth to a full moon. :) While he still gets up once in the night, he is going 9 hours..it just stinks that he wakes up around 4 am.

Whole Family-Every weekend has been packed! We went to RM for Mother's Day then Jeremy's parents came up for a day trip the next weekend. This past Saturday Jeremy had to attend a wordpress (content management program/software) conference for work in Raleigh and we all tagged along. Well we didn't attend the conference, but instead visited family and friends. We spent Friday night with my aunt and uncle and it was a horrible night (sleeping wise). Owen kept escaping his room and we finally got him to sleep around 11 only to have him wake up again an hour later screaming. We're not sure the cause but he was totally freaked out and ended up sleeping in between us. I then had to get up with Oliver and Owen stole my space in bed. It was a long night to say the least. Naps didn't go any better because he learned he could escape again. Needless to say I was happy to get in the car and come home. We did get to see our friends the Derbys and the Bonnetts, which was fun.

We are moving to our new house on June 15th and we have backed a total of 4 boxes. :) Go us! We really need to get on it but it's hard to get motivated and lately to find time. This weekend we are taking family pictures then off to see Jeremy's family (his brother is coming in from FL) then my mom's side of the family reunion the next. I love being busy but when is there time to pack?

Well if you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. You are now caught up on all that's really going on with us. :) (PS this doesn't get you out of a real phone call to catch up!)

Just a Typical Night in Our House

I love my house full of boys! They always make me smile.

Like this night when Owen proceeded to run around the house in only a diaper rolling around his suitcase. Not sure why he thought it was so fun..
Jeremy and Oliver crawling up the stairs for a sneak attack.
He's getting so big.
Owen loves when Oliver joins him in his bed.
Owen has been obsessed with reading David and Goliath in his Bible. We have to read it every night. He was showing Jeremy where Goliath got hit.
I love these 3 guys so much. :)

Scrub-a-Rub-Dub Brothers in the Tub

Oliver has officially out grown the baby bath tub. Now that he can sit up assisted we tried out the bath chair. Owen was over the moon that Oliver could get take a bath with him while Oliver could care less.

Kicking back and relaxing in a warm bath

Mom, why are you taking a picture of me in the bathtub?


Owen has been really cute every time they take a bath together. He wants to help wash him and pass him toys. However, he also wants to pour water over his head. Owen better watch out though..one day Oliver is going to be big enough to dish it back.

Strawberry Picking

Saturday April 30th we went strawberry picking with a few of our small group friends. Owen and Jeremy picked while Oliver snoozed on me in the ergo carrier. Owen wanted to pick all the strawberries, despite their ripeness, so we had to have a lesson on picking only the red ones. Picking with a 2 year old only last about 10 minutes and then he's lost interest. Luckily we had brought a picnic lunch and spent some extra time just hanging out.

The McPhersons
Owen looking for strawberries
Hey Daddy, I found some!
Caroline and Charles
Rich supervising with Thomas as his wingman
Is there more over there?


Here Mommy you take the box..I'm tired of looking.The strawberries were amazing and we ate almost all 4 pounds in a 3 days. I think another trip may be in order very soon.

Oliver @ 5 Months

May 2nd marks 5 months since "baby Aw-ver" (as Owen calls him) joined our family.

At 5 months, he:

• weighs16 lbs and is 27 in tall (according to my measurements)
• wears size 2 diapers and 6-9 month clothes for the most part
• is still exclusively breastfed and has started eating cereal every night for dinner
• generally only wakes up once a night to eat and occasionally goes all night
• is a roly poly. You have to be careful where you put him down on the floor now because he will end up half way across the room.
• has started playing in the exersaucer. Owen loves to show him how to push all the buttons.
• loves to make noise and is really loud.
• rolls all around his bed. I find him in a new position every morning. I did have to remove his crib bumper as he kept rolling face first into it and it made me nervous.
• fights sleep like it's his job. He has also started rolling over in his sleep and tends to sleep better on his belly. He is taking 3 to 4 naps a day though they are short (45 mins). Just this week we have started to let him cry it out so he can learn to self-soothe. Surprisingly it only takes him about 20 mins, which is WAY faster than it ever took his brother. Why didn't I do it sooner?
• may be teething...he is chewing on everything and slobbering like a faucet
• doesn't hate stoplights as much anymore. :)
• We think his eyes are going to be bluish/green like Jeremy's. His hair is starting to thicken and fill in and seems to be as dark as mine and Jeremy's. Everyone says he looks so much like Jeremy, which is becoming more and more apparent to me. I do think, however, he has more of my personality and volume. :) I think I'm his favorite and I'm ok with that.

At his last well checkup, his pediatrician wanted a physical therapist to look at his right arm (the one with the tumor) to make sure it had the same range of motion as the left. We were sent over to the Children's Development Agency for evaluation; these are the same people who did Owen's evaluations and coordinate his therapy. Tuesday, 2 evaluators came and put him through a variety of exercises and tasks to see what he could do. Their results were kind of surprising; the tumor is not having any effect on the use of his arm, but he is behind in one area of development. They said he was in the normal range for all fine motor and speech, but he was behind in some gross motor skills. He is in the normal range in regards to rolling over, but they said his trunk and neck strength were below average. He does plenty of tummy time and can support himself on his arms, but for some reason it doesn't help him when trying to sit up right. Anytime we try to sit up, even assisted, he folds in half. I never really thought anything of it, thinking he just wasn't old enough yet. They said he is about 3 months behind on this milestone and therefore qualifies for physical therapy. While normally I probably wouldn't start services this early, we already have a physical therapist who comes to our house weekly for Owen. Now she can just stay a little longer and help Oliver. I really think that this area is something he can catch up super quick and won't need receive therapy for long. Honestly I think it's our service coordinator and therapist's fault that Oliver needs therapy; both were sad that Owen was getting ready to age out of the program and jokingly said maybe Oliver would need services so they could still see our family. I think they jinked us. :)

We went back to the oncologist on Thursday for our 3 month follow-up to check on the size of his tumor. The good news is that it hasn't grown, but sadly it hasn't shrunk either. Dr. Patt says he isn't worried at all and he has full confidence that it will or it will not be a problem for him. We follow up again in August to measure it again...hopefully this time we won't have to wait an hour to be seen for a measly 5 mins checkup. :P

Wow this post has taken all week to write up and post. Who knew Oliver was interesting?! ;)