My Precious Boy

Today is my baby's 5th birthday. How can this be? It seems like only yesterday, he was born! I often say that if Roan had been the first, he'd have been the only! He has been an interesting boy to raise, but our family would not have been complete without him!

Some things about my little guy that I love &/or don't want to forget:

• He nearly killed me when he was born. He was huge and was presenting forehead first. We ended up with a c-section, which was NOT part of the plan! We found out later that his chest was almost an inch bigger around than his head...he never would have come out the 'right' way!
• When he was born, he had bright ORANGE hair and blue eyes. I remember thinking "Please Lord, let his hair change!"
• Ted and I liked the names Riley, Evan and Roan. We chose Roan for a couple of reasons. Ted has a long-ago grandfather named Roanoke. My family came from Europe and settled in Roane County TN. He was born with bright red hair and the word 'roan' is Celtic for red. So, we knew immediately that Roan was the name for him. I do wish we had avoided the Celtic spelling and spelled it 'Rowan'; it gets mispronounced and misspelled a lot.
• He has two middle names... Roan James Michael. James after several family members, namely, my Grandpa, Claude James Jones. Roan is Grandpa Jones dead over, so it fits him well!
• He rolled over at 3 days old. No kidding. He sat up at around 4 months, crawled at 5 months, walked at 9 months. He was a handful to keep up with, to say the least.
• On Libby's second birthday, he stopped sleeping. He never slept more than an hour at at time for an entire year. I thought I would die.
• Libby didn't talk until she was past 2; she signed instead. Because of this, I didn't teach Roan much sign. He spoke on time, but had serious articulation errors. Until this last year or so, no one could understand him, but me. Thank God for speech therapy!
• Roan is, and always has been, a momma's boy. Part of me loves it, part of me doesn't...he can be a little overwhelming!
• He is a recovering dress-lover. See previous posts for incriminating pictures.
• He is a ladies' man. He currently has two girlfriends, and a crush another "older woman" who won't give him the time of day!
• Roan has the sweetest spirit. He is incredibly empathic for such a small child. He cries when he sees homeless people and worries if he sees stray animals in the neighborhood.
• Although life with him hasn't always been easy, I love this boy with my whole soul. I hope I raise him to be a loving, Godly, respectful, strong man.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

A Tale of One Meal...OR ...The Challenge of Toothlessness!

Libby was born a picky eater. What she chose to eat was very healthy, which was a blessing, but...it's limited. Since she could eat table food, she has pretty much only eaten fruit and pasta. Her Auntie Sarah convinced her to eat a Little Smokie when she was a toddler and that opened the meat door...but still only hot dogs and Little Smokies. I know I'm the parent and should have insisted she eat what the rest of the family was eating, but I didn't... I always made her a separate meal. If we went anywhere (to a friends' house, to a restaurant), I just packed Libby's cooler with what she liked. No big deal.

When Roan came along, he ate most anything. So, for all these years, dinner consisted of two meals...what Roan and I have and what Libby has. When people learn this, they look at me like I'm crazy. I've never really thought that much about it...until recently. The kids spent the night at Aunt Suzie's house...so I packed the famous cooler with what the kids liked. Suzie laughed when she told me that both kids ate what she cooked. hhmmm. This got me thinking... Then, when we started visiting Shannon's, I brought the cooler. He thinks I'm nuts. And suddenly, here's Libby eating what he makes for breakfast. Things like bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. With no fussing. What I'm figuring out is that I'm a sucker for these kids!

So last night, Roan and I stopped at Hy-Vee to pick up the cake we ordered for his classroom party. (Yes, I know, I'm a horrible mom for not making it myself. Usually I do...but...). Walking by the produce aisle, he saw corn on the cob and begged me for it. So we bought 4 ears. Then he saw broccoli (which he LOVES) and begged for that too. A 5 year old begging for vegetables? Like I could say no to that!? We headed home with our Ben 10 cake and veggies. Roan tells Libby what we got at the store and she says...hang on now... "I want that for dinner, too!". So, both of my children ate the same meal: steamed broccoli and corn on the cob. Nothing else. I nearly fainted. So, I think the days of separate meals are over! Gee, it only took 5 years. I needed to get a clue, seriously.

As you know, Libby has no front teeth at the moment. I thought this would stop her from eating her corn on the cob, but no....
she devoured it. It took a little longer, but she got it done!

And of course, Roan ate his like crazy. Please ignore the fact that the cob holders are two paring knives. We ate so much corn this summer that all of our cob holders bit the dust, except one pair which Libby quickly claimed. Being the oldest and being toothless affords one certain privileges, I guess.

So, that's the tale of ONE dinner last night. Let me tell you, it was exciting! Suzie and Shannon will be so proud of us! lol

Libby + Stella = LOVE

We have an awesome cat named Stella. We got her as a tiny kitten, so she has grown up being loved on by Libby and Roan. Stella and Libby have a very special bond. Stella sleeps with Libby every night; she lets Libby carry her around the house, put hairbobs in her fur... it's hilarious!

Here is a classic pose...Libby and Stella snugged up on the couch. Note the fat cat belly hanging out!

Libby and Roan were at their grandparents' house this weekend; Stella did not handle this very well. She roamed the house and cried all weekend. When the kids got home, Stella practically climbed Libby's leg! They had to spend some time snuggling and catching up!

Toothless!

Well, we have officially lost her top two teeth...and is Libby proud! These teeth hung on by a thread for weeks! Libby got brave and pulled the second one herself ... the tooth fairy left her a dollar.
Note the gaping hole... the adult teeth are already peeking through! How can my girl be growing up so fast?

Snow Storms, Tooth Fairies and Birthday Fun!

Last Friday was my birthday...what did I get? A massive snowstorm! The kids and I headed to Jefferson City; the plan was for my best friends, Michelle, Sharla and Lisa to come from Columbia to Jeff to have a little party at Shannon's that night. Well, given all the snow, the party was postponed. So, we just ended up having a quiet night at home, which is always terrific.

Meanwhile...Libby's front tooth has been loose for WEEKS. Truly, it's been weeks. Every day, we say "That tooth is going to fall out ANY MINUTE!!" Her adult tooth has started coming in behind the baby tooth, so it really needed to come out. Evidently, my teeth behaved the very same way, requiring the dentist to pull many of my baby teeth. While we were at Shannon's, the tooth loosened even more, and was hanging by the tiniest fragment. Libby finally agreed to let me try pulling it... and finally the silly thing let go! She was thrilled!!

My sweet, toothless girl!!

So, after the tooth excitement, we all packed up and headed to Michelle's house in Columbia. I brought the chili intended for the night before, and my sweet friends also got an ice cream cake from DQ. We ate, laughed, played cards, and had a priceless time. I've been friends with Michelle since Marching Mizzou auditions in August 1986. We showed up wearing identical shirts. We walked up to each other and said simultaneously "I think we're gonna be friends!" That began a most treasured friendship. I met Sharla shortly thereafter, also in Marching Mizzou. The three of us have been through so much together! We were roommates, we've survived college, men, babies, jobs, loss, happiness...I don't know what I'd do without them!!

Libby loves taking pictures...this is one of her shots of Sharla (foreground), Barbie and Ken (artfully posed), Michelle, and Lisa (right).

This is Roan, post-ice cream cake. Note the chocolate face... the boy LOVES ice cream cake!! Then again, who doesn't??

Gee, who could this be??

Shannon is a master gift giver... he got me a bottle of perfume and... (OMG, I nearly died!) a remastered DVD of Elvis' 1968 Comeback Concert. I love love love Elvis. He even watched it with me Saturday night! What a great birthday! The best I've had in years!

Birthday fun!

We went to Cynthia's last night, (as I mentioned in my previous post). She baked a birthday cake for me, and let Libby and Roan decorate it. They had a blast!!

Roan, looking handsome, getting ready for cake decorating!

Busy little kiddos, decorating mom's cake. They loved it!

Of course, I needed help blowing out my candles! Thank Heaven, we only had about 10 candles... not one for every year!! ha We ate cake and ice cream until we almost popped!

Up in Flames!!

My friend, Cynthia, invited the kids and I over last night. She is graduating in a few weeks (hooray!!), and has cleaned out all her notebooks. Roan loves her fireplace, so she asked us over so the kids could help her burn all her old notes.

Yes, my son always "cheeses" for the camera... but if you look behind him, you'll see the huge stack of notes, ready to go up in flames!!

Libby getting ready to throw the first bunch in...she was a little intimidated by the heat, but she got it done! We didn't get through much of the pile, but they sure had a good time! Thanks, Cynthia!!

Libby's First 100 Days

Libby's Elementary School celebrates Kindergarten's 100th day. The students were to bring in a shirt with 100 "somethings" on it... each student could put anything they wanted on it. Libby chose jingle bells... yes 100 jingle bells on a shirt! All the kids put their shirts on Wednesday afternoon and had a parade through the school to celebrate their first 100 days on Kindergarten. She thought it was terrific! She said her shirt was "the coolest", but her little friend's shirt was "the prettiest"; her friend glued little rhinestones on her shirt. It's amazing that half her Kindergarten is over! My sweet little gal is growing up so fast!!

Libby with her jingle bell shirt. She even tied jingle bells to her boots!!

Cleveland Chiropractic Winter Formal... Otherwise Known as a Hot Date!

Every year, my college hosts a "Winter Formal" dinner and dance for students. Everybody puts on their dressy duds and goes out for a nice dinner, some college awards and dancing. This year, the Formal was at the Hyatt Crown Center. My friend, Shannon and I got all dressed up and had a great time! This will be my last one...I'm graduating in 6 months!!

What a good lookin' couple!!