The Red Swords!

I didn't sign Cal up for basketball last year. #fail Eddie couldn't believe I didn't do it-- I just kinda didn't think about it.  Cal was upset, Eddie was upset.  Okay, my bad! I was NOT going to miss the sign up this year!

We had our first practice on Saturday and it was fun! On a typical "practice day" they practice for half of the time and then have a game with the other team that is having practice.  Since this was our first one, we just did a practice...

They started by meeting their coach and all of the kids on their team-- this wasn't too difficult because we knew every single person on the team but one little boy. 

We thought they were get their team shirts so Cal and Brad aren't really wearing their athletic wear on top.

After making introductions and telling everyone their favorite foods, it was time to stand up and go over a few basics.

They did some dribbling...

Andy is not on the team.  But please don't tell him that.  He dribbled around the court about 92 times.  When we left, he was a.sweaty.mess.  I mean, the back of his shirt was soaked.  Maybe it's because of the thick socks he had pulled up to his crotch. #whateverfloatsyourboatkid

Dribbling it up.  

The practiced shooting too-- I love these low goals.  The kids loved shooting on them too!

More dribbling? Okay.  Sure... keep it up, kiddo.  

He shoots....

 ...he scores!!!

The season has started so we will be enjoying some basketball on our weekends now!

A few things I want to remember:

- each Saturday we have a different start time. This week, our time was 2:15.  This was TORTURE to the boys.  They woke up and got dressed for basketball as soon as their feet hit the floor. They probably asked a million times how much longer.  Cal kept looking at his watch saying "why isn't this saying 2 yet?!?!" It made the day drag on!
- at the end of practice, the teams does some kind of a prayer or devotional-- which I thought was really neat! And then they discussed and decided on a team name: THE RED SWORDS.  Their shirts are going to be red, and why not throw a weapon in there? Exactly.  Fear us. 
- practice time was great for Andy because he could just dribble around and he wasn't really in anyone's way... however, when the games start, I can't imagine he will be allowed to do that.  It might get ugly.  Real ugly.  Can't wait!




 

My little finger sucker

Andy started sucking his fingers pretty early on in his life.  He was such a fussy baby, I tried 4 different kinds of pacis to soothe him, but nothing worked quite like those fingers. 

The amount of pictures I have with him sucking his fingers is amazing.  The amazing thing is, every time I try to take a picture, I ALWAYS say "fingers out, Nug..." and yet, I still have this many pictures with him finger sucking!

This isn't an easy habit to break-- a paci you can just take away or have the "paci fairy" to come one night.  But, you can't take his fingers away...

It's his left two fingers-- pointer and middle finger.  Always.

He sucks his fingers when he is mad, when he's upset, when he's frustrated, when he's nervous...

He sucks his fingers when he is thinking, when he is watching something, when he is just hanging out...

He always sucks them to fall asleep.  Always.  

This was our attempt at his passport picture.  I had to pry these fingers out of his mouth to get a usable picture.  

Lately, he's been sucking his fingers NONSTOP.  Like, every time I look at him, his fingers are in his mouth.  And this is germ season! 

The pediatrician said not to push it, and he would let us know when he was ready to stop.  For a kid with some anxiety issues, it's good he has a way to soothe himself.  Fine.  But gross.

I thought it looked like his teeth were sticking out in the front, so at his regular dentist cleaning, I mentioned his lovely habit.  She said that while it may bother us to have him with his fingers in his mouth, he was actually do no harm to his teeth or his bite.  So we didn't have that ammo to use.  

We let it go for a while and then insisted he could only suck fingers in his bedroom-- where he is sleeping (or where he is sent when he is misbehaving...), but that didn't work.  At all.  

For Christmas, Cal got a watch.  He loooooves this watch.  Andy was upset because he did not get a watch.  I explained that watches are only for big boys and big boys don't suck their fingers.  He said "okay, I won't suck my fingers any more." Obviously it isn't that easy, but having him on board is a HUGE part of the process.  SO, we broke out the bad tasting polish (it is the worst tasting stuff EVER) and every morning, he wakes up and we reapply it to the two fingers.  We take it off at night time to help him sleep-- sleep is such an issue over here that we need him to be able to soothe back to sleep.  I have been going in to check on him in the night and he isn't sucking his fingers much in bed, so maybe that habit will ease out too. 

We have been doing this for a week and he has done it! No finger sucking (during the day) for an entire week! Yay! He has picked out the watch he wants (it is all of $8) and I am ordering it for him....

We are celebrating over here.  Sounds minor...but it's big!!!

ps- can I just say how much fun I had doing this post? I loved looking at all of these pictures!!!! I miss my little guys!!!!!


 

#carriedaway2015: week 1

A quick note: I wrote here all about how I wasn't going to do #carriedaway again this year.  But then, after reading that post, I realized I would actually MISS taking a picture every day.  I really enjoyed documenting my year with my family.  And if I liked it, why wouldn't I do it again? If people on instagram don't want to see it, they can always unfollow me, right? So, here we go again.... another year....

Week 1:

 Day 1: carhartts and camo hats... #herewegoagain #isworeiwouldnotdothis

 Day 2: "mommy, I growd-ded last night." -Andy, the kid who insists one wearing shorts and high socks- no matter the temps.

 Day 3: what more could they want than a chick-fil-a picnic on the floor and espn on TV?

 Day 4: obsessed. Him with football. Me with him.

 Day 5: porch football playing #socks

 Day 6: celebrating 40 years of marriage tonight!

 Day 7: 3/4 of the Williamson boys. And Bruce is smiling at the camera.