Ultrasound

I had another ultrasound a little more than a week ago.  Everything still looks really good.  And the baby is still a girl.  :)

Profile view

Hand

(I'm pretty sure the oval is a top view of her head)

I like this one with her arm and hand up across her face.

Marble jars

About a month ago I decided we needed to do something about some bad behavior around here.  The kids were being disobedient, complaining when asked to do things, and were not being nice to each other in words or actions.  And, as a result, I was not noticing or praising any of their good behavior because I was so frustrated by the bad.  So I decided to institute a marble jar system.  (This is not original at all, and I'm sure many of you have done it too.)  Simply put, you do something nice, or obey mom and dad, etc... and you get a marble.  You do any of the bad behaviors and you lose a marble.

Here are their jars about a week after starting.  I didn't tell them they had to choose a certain color, but Natalie wanted to be blue, Kelton wanted to be green, and Damon decided each time what color he wanted.

I must say, I had no idea the power that these little marbles would hold.  It was truly amazing.  I heard Kelton stop and nicely ask Damon to "share" his own toys with him (instead of grabbing, yelling "that's mine!", hitting, crying... you get the idea) and Natalie was a lot more cooperative (overly so at times) about doing homework, putting her shoes away, etc.  They were always looking for ways to get marbles.  Which resulted in everyone being a lot nicer and happier, myself included.  And, it was nice for me to be able to notice all the good things that they do.  And it is amazing how positive reinforcement encourages more positive behavior.  I just know that as a parent I will a lot of times get stuck in a rut of just getting upset with all the "bad" behavior and then I end up grumpy all the time.  So, these jars really helped me too. 

Over the weeks, we were not as dilligent as the first week or so.  But we've tried to get back on track.  Today the marble jars were full.  Natalie's was all the way full and Kelton's was only five or so marbles behind, so I figured we would get all their rewards on the same day.

I let each of them choose what they wanted to earn when the jars were full.  (I did guide their choices a bit by making suggestions.)  Natalie wanted ice cream from McDonalds and to play in the Playplace.  Kelton wanted one of those big balls you always see in the isle at Walmart.  Damon is a little too young to understand the whole concept, but he did understand some.  He really loved being able to put marbles in his jar and did realize that he got them for doing good things.  But he loves ice cream, so we decided his reward would be the same as Natalie's.

Here they are with their rewards.

I couldn't choose just one picture of Damon.  Each one was just so indicative of his cute personality.  Such a happy kid.

Kelton had to choose the exact ball that Damon got on his birthday so that they would each have the same one.  I couldn't even sway him with the balls that had the dots all over them.  He was so happy. 

And I did feel a little silly taking a picture of him with his ball in the middle of Walmart. Other people were probably thinking my poor kids were so deprived for this to be a big enough thing to pull out the camera. :)

The marble jars are now empty and we are starting the whole thing again.  The kids just need to choose a new reward.

Lost toenail

Just as a warning... this post might be gross or kind of weird to some of you... but it's for my personal record keeping.

Back before I met Nate, he had a reoccuring issue with an ingrown toenail on his big toe.  He went to the podiatrist a few different times to have it taken care of, but it then grew back with a fungal infection.  When I met Nate, he told me that his toenail had fallen off once and that it was about to fall off again "any day now."  That was about nine years ago and I have never seen his toenail fall off.  Until about two weeks ago.  So, he decided it was time to just go in and have the podiatrist kill the root so it wouldn't grow back again and he wouldn't have to mess with it anymore.  He went in at the end of May and had it taken care of.  (Don't worry, I didn't take any gross pictures.  It wasn't that gross anyway.)

(Just a note:  my house is around 82 degrees and my kids still wrap up in their blankets. I can't imagine.) 

 Now Nate has a whole care routine he has to do twice a day for a few more days.  I think he is ready for it to be done with.  I'm interrested to see what his toe will look like once it is all healed and doesn't have a toenail anymore.