Sharkarosa and a Cabinet

Last Sunday our church had their annual "thank you to the children's workers/volunteers" dinner. The church has had this at various places, but this year (and last, but we didn't get to go last year) we went to the Sharkarosa Ranch in Pilot Point, just northwest of McKinney. We were able to check out the website of the ranch the week before and Caleb started talking non-stop about the camels that they had there.

I liked this picture of Jes and Caleb. We were waiting for the safari ride to go see the camels and all the other exotic animals that they had on the ranch.

Here's a couple of the camels. The ride we took had places to put feed buckets on the side of the vehicle, so the animals came right up to us to feed. It was little close for me, but Caleb and all the other kids on the ride thought it was just great!

Caleb watching for more camels. He was just thrilled with each and everyone of the camels, as well as the other animals.

I had to have a picture of this camel, named Goliath. He was the grossest camel I have ever seen. He slobbered everywhere and the tour guide told us that he loves to pee on his tail and then flick it at everyone. Needless to say, we moved Caleb away from the side when Goliath came near.

Today, Jes finally got this cabinet hung in our dining room. We have had this cabinet for around 3 or 3.5 years in our garage. My dad gave this to us for our house that long ago, but we couldn't just hang it because it needed to be refinished. It is a very old shelf that was built for my dad's mom by one of his brothers who is now deceased. It is quite old and didn't match anything, but now it's on my wall and I am SO excited to finally have it to put things in!

We're Still Here

I know I haven't posted in a week or so, but we've been so busy here at Casa de Mathis that I just haven't had a chance to compose my thoughts and make out something that is somewhat coherent. So here it is, in bulleted form, the things that have been going on 'round here:

• We FINALLY moved Caleb into his new room. He loves it and talks about his new, big boy room constantly. Unfortunately, all that is in his room is his furniture and his toys as it is taking slightly longer to get the closet cleaned out than we thought. Pictures will come when we are finished.
• My parent's anniversary was Monday. They have been married 27 years and are still going strong. I was going to write a sappy post about them, but of course I didn't and it's too late now. Love ya anyway Mama and Daddy!
• My feet continue to swell a little more everyday, despite following the doctor's orders. I elevate, elevate, elevate and they swell, swell swell. Last night when I returned home from work, Jes had to help me pull my shoe off one of my feet because I couldn't get it off without bending over (something I try to avoid at all costs these days). I guess it could be worse, I can still see my ankles...
• I only have 9 weeks left of this pregnancy and I have to say I am SO over it. I'm ready to be done, have my kids and get on with my life and not have to do this again. Hm, feels good to get that out.
• Next week we start finals week at the college, so I will be MIA for quite sometime. I am up to my eyeballs in grading right now, as I always am this time in the semester, but I am just looking forward to having some time off. I'm not looking forward to the missed pay this summer, but to not have to drag myself off to work every evening will be nice for a little while.
• We had some heavy rain last night and Logan discovered that there was a leak in my car this morning. For some reason the rear passenger floor board is all wet. I'm off to mop up water. When it rains, it pours. Ha ha.

Caleb's First Dental Appointment

Yesterday I took Caleb to the dentist for his very first appointment. We went to a great pediatric dentist down the street from us where there were so many things to make him feel very comfortable and at home. He had x-rays taken and was very compliant about holding the films in his mouth during the pictures. I was a little concerned that he wouldn't do this, but the dental assistant was so nice and calm and walked him right through it. After the x-rays, the dental hygienist looked at Caleb's teeth and cleaned them. He didn't want to lay down on the table to watch the movie playing on the tv, so I sat on the side of the table and he leaned up against me while she cleaned his teeth. He even let her floss his teeth, something that we have to start doing now. I never even considered that you have to do this for a three year old, but I suppose it does make sense. The dentist then came in and took a look. He said that Caleb's x-rays looked good and he has no cavities but that he was little concerned about how crowded Caleb's bottom teeth are. He will just keep an eye on it and we will have some type of intervention (braces, etc) when it is time. We have always figured that Caleb would need braces, and I have had them and Jes probably should have.
It was a great visit and Caleb is still talking about the fun that he had! We go back in 6 months.

Now What?

Monday night I started getting phone messages from my friend Rae. We have known each other since our family started going to the North Campus of our church and her husband has been our fabulous music minister. We have been in the same small group, shared our families with each other, expressed fears, excitement, etc. I even sat with Rae the day that she was first able to see her third child in the NICU, while she cried and drilled me with questions, knowing we had been there before.
When I finally got back to Rae after class Monday night she informed me that our head minister (not our pastor) let Randy go suddenly after helping to establish this important campus at our church. When asked the reason, Randy was told that he had done nothing wrong, just that he didn't share the same vague philosophy as our minister, whatever that means. They gave him little severance and told him that this coming Sunday would be his last.
I have to say that I am more than a little disturbed at this turn of events. Many of you know my family's personal history of employment within the church and I am, and will always be, pretty untrusting of those who hire/fire, due to this history. I just can't help but somewhat understand the feelings of hurt, embarrasment, disallusionment, and betrayal by the very church that should protect their families from that.
So, now I ask now what? What do I say to these dear people who have 3 children, all 5 and under who have no income to their names? How do I, a church member, not dredge up all those feelings from the past that I have worked so hard to get past? I fear that we will lose people from our campus over this, now that the word it out. I have already started getting emails about sending a letter or email to our minister and our pastor regarding this. Maybe I'm taking this too much to heart, but I still can't help but ask, now what?

28 Week Visit

I just got home from my 28 week visit with my ob. All is well with baby and her heart rate was 140, or as best as he could tell. She's one active child. I guess that means she won't have any trouble keeping up with her brother!
Dr. Robins was a little concerned about my weight gain, just 7 pounds this past month, but he feels like it should be slowing down, not increasing. I guess he forgot how sick I was until about 3 months ago. He thinks a lot of it has to do with water retention and swelling, which I have noticed in my feet especially. My feet and legs never swelled with Caleb, so even though it's not too bad compared to some, I have really noticed the change lately. He told me to put my feet up and stay out of the heat. I don't really know how he expects me to do that with an active 3 year old who would rather be outside than anywhere else! About 10 more weeks of this and we'll get to meet our little Piper!

Dermatologist Appointment

Well, it is the time to make the rounds with our doctor's around the Mathis household. Today, we added a new on the the list, Dr. Kerry Carder. She is now on our list, and in my cell phone, as Caleb's pediatric dermatologist.
We were sent to see a dermatologist because Caleb has a red spot on the front of his left shin that has been there for quite some time. Family, friends, and strangers have commented ad nauseum about it and the pediatrician thought it might be scar tissue from a scrape that Caleb got when I pulled him out of his stroller too fast when he was just 3 months old. Today, we found out that it is actually a mastocytoma. Basically, it developed before he was born and is made up of a large amount of mast cells, the cells in our body that trigger the allergic reaction and release of histamine (the chemical that causes all those nasty allergic symptoms). She told us that that is why it is itchy to him, especially when he has been running around and is hot or very active. We will just treat it with Benadryl and it should fade and be almost completely gone by the time or shortly after he hits the dreaded teenage years.
It all makes sense, and give my mommy guilt a little rest to know that I didn't break our child!

Pulmonologist Appointment

We just got home from seeing Caleb's pulmonologist for his regular check (this would usually take me 3 days or better to post but he fell asleep in the car and is now napping in his bed!!!). He was on his best behavior and was especially entertained by the respiratory therapist who took all his preliminary information. They were very concerned about his hospitalization back in November, during Thanksgiving, but felt that ultimately the fact that he ended up with pneumonia, the flu and adenovirus all at the same time was just a stroke of bad luck on our part. I'm not so sure what it was, but I do know we don't want to repeat that again any time soon.
We are going to start Caleb on another allergy medication to get him through the spring because what he is taking just doesn't seem to cut it for him. It's one of those meds that are now over the counter, so it won't be too much of a let down if it doesn't work. We'll just try and see what happens. We also have to restart one inhaler that he was supposed to be on since we were last there. I did start that inhaler last time, but shortly thereafter Caleb had his flu/pneumonia/adenovirus hospital stay and was on so many things that I just plain forgot to start it again and just never have since. All in all, it was a great visit and the doctor was very please with where his is. Oh yea, and he now weighs 38 3/4 pounds.
We go back to the pulmonologist in August, just 4 months away because the doctor wanted to see him before fall hits. When we made the appointment they asked what day and what time of day. I'll be off all summer, but I had to think about what time of day and actually said to myself that I would have Caleb and an infant with me. Weird to think about...

Caleb's Birthday Weekend

Ok, I'm a whole week behind, but I literally just found time to go through the millions of pictures I took to find a few good ones.


This motorcycle was our gift to Caleb for his birthday. He was so excited because it is blue like Jes's and he can ride it outside.

Caleb's birthday party was a Bob the Builder theme. He still loves Bob and my mom and dad got this really cute cake complete with tool candles!

We had Caleb's birthday party at The Little Gym. I had planned on having it here but we attended a party for another friend of ours late last year and it just was apparently clear that Caleb loved this place!

We sang some songs with the staff and they made such a big deal about Caleb's birthday. When they sang Happy Birthday to Caleb, I cried. Blame it on pregnancy hormones...

The kiddos got to run around for a bit and just bounce off the walls in between activities.

The parachute has to be the all around favorite for the kids at these parties. I have even considered getting one of these for our own personal play, but it's not quite as much fun without all the friends around it to laugh with!

Since Caleb was the birthday boy, they let him sit in the center while we played with the parachute and sang Happy Birthday again. As you can see, Caleb was having a blast!

This was probably the most hilarious part of the whole party. Everytime Caleb sees anything on fire, candles, etc, he tries to blow it out. We lit the candles and put the cake in front of him and he had the candles blown out before we even got to get everyone's attention to sing Happy Birthday. I think we had to re-light the candles 3 times before he got them blown out at the "right" time. We were all just laughing at the whole thing!

The cake was really yummy and everyone loved it! This was the best birthday party Caleb has ever had and it was made better by having all of his friends there!

Sunday, Jes and I went to Grapevine with the Chadwick family to see Thomas the Train. KJ Chadwick is Caleb's best friend and he is still talking about going to see Thomas with him!

The Chadwick family. Quite a good looking group, huh? KJ's mommy, Courtney, is having a baby too, not long after our Piper will be born. It's really great that our boys can go through these major life events together!

The boys rode in these cars that were powered by them turning the handles in front of them. They had so much fun and they both just laughed and laughed as they went around and around.

It got pretty hot and the boys were running around like a pair of crazies so we took a break for lemonade.

The best part was the train ride. Caleb still talks about riding Thomas. I have a serious dislike for trains, but I bit the bullet and hopped on and rode with everyone else. I have to admit, it was nice to sit for a few minutes and enjoy the breeze.

We finished up the weekend by Caleb discovering a love for washing dishes. He just takes his stool from the bathroom and brings it into the kitchen, I give him my dish brush, put a little soap and water in the dish and away he goes. I wonder how long I can exploit this and get him to wash my dishes for me...

Flexibilty is the Name of the Game

I had so many things planned for today. I will venture to say that at least 85% of them will not get accomplished. Caleb started coughing a few days ago when the winds picked up and the pollen started flying. Today, my mommy instinct told me that he needed to stay home from school. Well, that and the fact that neither him nor I got a full straight hour of sleep last night. It's going to be a fun day!
By the way, one of the things I was planning on doing today was uploading all the pictures from our weekend, including Caleb's birthday party. I don't think that will happen on top of all the grading I have to do and the cleaning that needs to get done as well. It's all about being flexible, right?