Bedwetting Woes

I'm overwhelmed and I'm scared. And I don't want to talk about it. I just want to trudge through each day trying not to worry myself sick over it.

Landon has had bedwetting issues since he was potty-trained. When we took him off of some asthma meds a few years back, his bedwetting stopped with a few accidents every now and then (one-two/month). The past few months, it's started back up again with a fierceness. We are talking accidents 5-6 nights a week.

Sure, there are some kids that wet the bed until an older age. But he was "trained" and went back to wetting, which concerns our pediatrician.

He tested negative for diabetes and no bacteria was present in his urine. We don't give him caffeine or let him drink anything after dinner. He doesn't drink a lot of milk as that has been linked to bedwetting in some kids. He pees before bed, sometimes twice. There are no stresses going on at home or school that would cause this. I've tried waking him up in the night. Yes, we have thought of it all and are following all of the rules.

We've talked to the doctor about medicine and the horrible, IMO, bedwetting alarm system. Before we do that, he wants Landon to see a pediatric urologist. I don't know much about this appointment except that they'll most likely do an ultrasound of his kidneys, bladder, etc. and probably some bloodwork (fun!). His appointment is October 23 and I'm trying to put it out of my mind until then. Hopefully it'll be a case of "oh, he'll grow out of it" but until I hear those words and they show me that everything is okay with his little body, it's going to make me sick with worry.

Carter Goes Marbles!

This summer while Landon was at the beach with his grandparents, we decided to take Carter Bear to Marbles, a local hands-on kids museum.  Carter typically goes along with whatever big brother wants to do, so he had a blast making the decisions and spending as long as he liked doing whatever he liked.  It was a super fun day!

YMCA Camp Rising Sun Talent Show

Landon went to the Y's Camp Rising Sun day camp all summer, and LOVED it.  He had a blast, made new friends, got to try out awesome activities like fossil hunt and lacrosse, and was surrounded by many loving, Christian counselors.  He is already ready for next summer!

To finish out their summer, they put on a talent show for the parents.  Landon and his Balboas group (along with counselors, Katie and Matt) performed a Lion King song complete with choreo!  Landon's smart mom (that'd be me) dressed him up in a lion hooded towel!  One point for the "creative" mom!

Kissy Lips

The Creek 2012

Every year, the Bagleys get together at the creek on the Bagley Farm for a cook-out and creek fun - fishing, wading, splashing, & dam-building.

People often ask Beth and me if these two are twins.

Someone learned, out of necessity, to pee standing up.  I couldn't resist...

I love this place.  It is so peaceful and serene.

T.G.I.F. & The Bad Guys

First, a smile for your Friday!

This little guy is so scared of the bad guys at night.  We tell him that we will keep him safe, we lock the doors, God keeps up safe, Daddy has a sword to keep us all safe, and that the policemen are out there locking the back guys up in jail.  While we were at the Bagley's, we told him that Grandpa has a gun and will shoot anyone that tries to get in (yeah, probably should have thought about that one a little longer first...I'm sure he's told his teachers that his Grandpa will shoot bad guys).

My SIL, who works at a library, recommended some books.  Hopefully that will help ease his little mind.

Anyone else go through this?  Any suggestions?

Family Fun at Bond Park

We went over to Bond Park in Cary one Sunday afternoon with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Beth, and cousin Olive.  After a lunch picnic, we fed the ducks and took a bumper boat paddle boat ride. 

Garden Fresh

There's nothing like a cuke straight out of the garden.

Grandpa Bagley with Carter, Landon, and Olive

Today. Eleven Years Ago.

9/11.  Everyone knows that date and what happened.  My family knows it a little too personally.

I will never forget the hours that crept by when I didn't know whether my Daddy would be walking me down the aisle at my wedding 5 months later.

He made it.  He saw a lot.  He went though a lot.  But he knew that he had to make it home to his family.  And he did.  I grew stronger in my relationship with God that day.  I grew stronger in my relationship with my family that day.

My heart aches for the families who never got to wrap their arms around their loved ones like I did.  May God wrap his arms around you today.

I love you, Daddy, my cat with 9 lives.  Thanks for never giving up.  Ever.

Carter's 3rd Birthday

Wow.  Carter's 3rd birthday party.  Yeah, that was 2 months ago.

I asked Carter what type of party he wanted to have.  His response?  A KITE PARTY!  Okay then, a kite party it is!  

I went with a few bright colors and incorporated polka dots for fun. I decorated with multi-color kites (from Target's Dollar Spot), balloons, and homemade pompoms.  I used a sand bucket for ice and gave away kites to the kiddos.

Carter isn't a big fan of cake so we had ice cream and cookies.  I bought cones and cute little plastic water glasses (from the Dollar Tree) that I used as sundae cups, dolled up with paint pen polka dots.  We had all of the ice cream sundae fixings like chocolate syrup, sprinkles, cherries, and nuts.  I also made some super-fun cone wrappers (in PowerPoint) - I think they may have been my most favorite thing (thanks to Ash and Beth for saving them...I thought the cones were perfectly round and made the wrappers straight; well, they weren't and had to be cut to fit).  Beth and I made homemade sugar cookies cut in triangular shapes (i.e. kites) and topped with royal icing.  That was a fun experiment!  Our cookie and icing recipes and royal icing instructions came from Sugarbelle - check out her cookies; they are A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

Throw in a mason jar to hold the spoons (this girl right here LOVES mason jars for decorating), watermelon cut in triangles, and yummy cheese puffs and you've got yourself a fun kite party!

Carter blew out the candles on his kite cookie complete with a chocolate syrup tail.

It wasn't windy enough to fly the kites but we had a high-flying time nonetheless!

Our Last Day in Paradise

We knew that the fun had to eventually come to an end.  It was time to say good-bye to our rain forest cabin and make our way back to the town of Hilo.  Our flight out was late at night so we were able to get a few last sights in.

We had a liquid breakfast at the Big Island's only winery.  I'm still thinking about that Symphony Mele wine (we brought a bottle home...but it didn't last long) made from symphony grapes and infused with fruits like lychees.

Christopher was like a kid on Christmas morning in Atsuka Orchid Gardens - they had hundreds of different varieties of orchids...some that even smelled like chocolate!  And of course, you know we came home with a few.

Before heading into Hilo, we discovered a few more waterfalls, Rainbow Falls and Pe'epe'e Falls.

We still had some time to kill before heading over to the airport, so we parked at the Bay.  We took a car nap, walked along the bay front on the black sands, and found our first Hawaiian geocaches!

When it was time to have our bags checked by the USDA, Christopher had to quickly eat the last of our fruit stash.

After a long red-eye and getting stuck in Chicago for a L.O.N.G. time, we made it home to our boys.  We were happy to be home to them but sad to leave our paradise.  We talk about Hawaii almost every day and comment about how we miss it so badly.  I saw a "visit Hawaii" commercial today and it made my heart break.  It was an amazing place and I am so happy to have shared that with Christopher.  There are many other places on our list to visit, but I am pretty sure we will make it back to our Hawaii one day.

Hawaii-The Volcano, Part 4

The first picture is extremely zoomed in on the hillside where the current flow of lava is (you can see some steam).  Again, the hike was too far and treacherous to get up close and personal to it.

This little brown house is the sole survivor of the multiple lava flows that wiped out this neighborhood.

If a house if taken out by lava, they still own the property but cannot set foot back on it for 10 years.  The few homes that you see here have been rebuilt after that 10-year waiting period.  They are completely off the grid and get their power from the sun and their water from rain caught in a catchment tank.

Hawaii-The Volcano, Part 3 (The Big Show)

I cannot put into words how beautiful the glow of Halema'uma'u Crater was. We spent several chilly, windy nights just sitting and staring at the glow in complete awe. How something this beautiful exists on Earth is a true testament to our Maker.