Pictures

Today we had Christmas pictures made of the kids. Too cute!

Christmas Program

Tonight was the children's Christmas program at church. As you can tell, Sarah was an angel. We sat in the back just in case Ben started talking too much! No problems there...the thumb stayed in the mouth the whole time!!!

Catching Up

Haven't written in a long time! Things get in such a routine around here. Well, maybe I should say that I get in to such a routine around here and have not stopped to take the time to post any news. I will try to keep it short. And not wait so long to post again!!

At school, Sarah was chosen to take Bobby Bear home with her for the weekend. Bobby Bear is the class mascot and based on behavior, each child is chosen to care for Bobby Bear for a weekend. He must go everywhere with you and do everything with you. Sarah was sooo excited when Ms. Hunter called out her name. Each week when she would come home without Bobby Bear, she would tell me, "Mom, I could see Bobby Bear looking at me and he wanted to choose me. Maybe next week he will want to go home with me." !!! How cute. I was relieved to see Bobby Bear in Sarah's arms when I picked her up at daycare...She has about 15 students in her class and it was only week 12 of the school year. Remember that it is based on conduct!! Whew, at least it was not week 15!!! :)

Halloween passed quickly for us this year. Sarah was once again an LSU cheerleader. She will probably be this again next year because the outfit is still a little too big for her!! She said, "Not again, Mom. I was this last year." If she only knew about next year, right!! We are hoping for a better season for the tigers next year, too. Ben stayed in this year since he was not feeling well.

4 weeks passed quickly and the cast is now off. No problems! Sarah was so brave when they started sawing it off. I was the one cringing when I saw the blade! The xrays showed that she actually broke the other bone in her wrist, as well. We have to go back for xrays in May since the breaks were close to the growth plate.

My parents came for the Thanksgiving holiday. They were such a huge help to me with the kids and the house! I miss them so much! We actually went out to eat for Thanksgiving at the Golden Corral...my dad's favorite place to eat when he comes out here!! The night before, Mom and I were discussing the menu and our plans for cooking when Dad suggested that we let somebody else cook and clean!!! At first we felt guilty but that passed quickly!! For the first time in a long time, we were able to enjoy our family without all of the hustle and bustle. The following day, Mom and I braved Black Friday and had a great time together hunting for the bargains just the two of us.


We put up our Christmas tree during the Thanksgiving weekend. Sarah and I had a lot of fun talking about each ornament as we hung it on the tree. (Dad was glued to the football games! We were lucky to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic!) We even attempted decorating a gingerbread house. Ok...never again in the LaRavia household. It might work at your home, but it almost caused a divorce here!! :) With two type A personalities and icing that is not thick enough, our house had runny windows and doors! Dad had to get up from the table because it was upsetting him so much!! Sarah was not concerned at all, she just continued to eat all the candy that came packaged with the house!!

And not to leave Ben out.....Each day daycare sends a note home informing us of the whens/whats/etc of Ben's day. Yesterday, our note stated, "Please bring more food." I felt like Mother of the Year! He is 8 months old and weighing in at 23 or so pounds, in 18 mth pajamas!! Since I am making his food, it is a little more difficult to judge the amount that he 'should' be eating. So today I packed a mid morning snack, a hefty lunch, an afternoon snack, and his regular 3 bottles. He ate all of it, only having 3 oz left in one bottle! WOW :) Can you tell he likes to eat!

My First Broken Bone...

Wow...this week has been very eventful in the LaRavia home! On Monday, I received a call from the school nurse telling me that Sarah had fallen off the monkey bars and hurt her arm. As you can tell by her bright pink cast, she broke her left distal radius. She will have to wear the cast for four weeks. At first she was very excited to have the cast and have everyone sign it, but now the reality of it has set in and it is now uncomfortable and itches all the time! At least it was her left arm and not her dominate right arm!!
Early Wednesday morning, I came down with a stomach virus and threw up all hours of the morning! I spiked a 103 fever and laid in bed for two days. Thankfully, Lee was able to take care of the kids. I was able to go back to work on Friday but still very weak. Still recovering!!
On Sunday evening, Lee leaves again for more rotations out of town. He will be in Columbus, Ga for four weeks doing general surgery, then goes to Rome, Ga for peds, and then does his psych rotation--not yet sure of the location yet, but out of town. Not really looking forward to 12 weeks of being a single mom again. Keep us in your prayers.

Snaggle Tooth

Sarah lost her first tooth! Last Thursday, she had convinced Dad to pull it with a string. No luck...the dental floss just kept slipping off. The very next day she pulled it at daycare after school!! All this time, my mom had been sewing her a tooth pillow--like the ones she had made my sister and me as a kid. She even had an "S" monogramed on the pocket just like our initials were on the pocket of ours. On Thursday night, I told Grandma to put a rush on it!! She stayed up late finishing it to put it in the mail on Friday. But it didn't get to Sarah until Monday! Sarah was sure that the tooth fairy needed her pillow, so she decided to wait on the tooth pillow to put her tooth in. Last night she was so excited to put her tooth in the pocket of her pillow. She made sure that we all saw it...even Ben!! At 5:30 this morning, I heard running upstairs! I knew she was bringing me her tooth fairy money!!! She said, "Mom, she brought me four monies." Even though it was dark in the room, I could just see her smiling. She even wanted to bring her money to school today to show her friends at school. No such luck!

Ben's Nursery....Finally!

Since Dad was using the other bedroom as his study and he was taking his boards in June, we had decided not to set up the nursery until after boards...Ben would have been 3 months old. Well, Lee did well on both sets of boards in JUNE and it is now SEPTEMBER!! So we finally moved Dad out of his office and in to the loft. We have been working on Ben's room a little at a time. And you can see that we are still working on it!! The walls were already a maroon color and I did not want to paint!!! So we chose bedding that matched the walls....a nautical theme. The other night I was working on Ben's letters that are hung above his crib. I had already painted them...just waiting for them to dry. Sarah came out in the garage very disappointed. She said, "Mom, I wish Ben's name was longer so I could have painted some of his name." I couldn't help but laugh. So her job was to glue the wooden pieces on each letter--a lighthouse, an anchor, and the wheel (not too sure what it is really called in boating language!!). She was so excited to help me! Dad is still working on refinishing the dresser which he had as a kid. I think it is all sanded and waiting on the varnish. Who knows when he will have time to finish it. Ben turns 6 months on the 17th so we are in no rush, right? :)

All Smiles At Bathtime

Thought I would share this picture with you!! Ben enjoys his bath so much. He knows when the water turns off and as I am reaching for the towel, he starts grinning so big and just laughs. Tonight his gums are really bothering him, so he is trying to put both hands in his mouth at the same time. I am not sure if you can see his two bottom teeth in the smile!!

A New Addition

Lee's sister, Lauren, welcomed their first baby on Friday, September 5. Caleb Benjamin weighed 7 lbs and 1 oz and measured 19.75 inches. If they only knew about the many upcoming sleepless nights!!! :)

Back to School

Sarah started kindergarten this fall. She is very excited to be going to 'big' school. Each week she has five new sight words to learn and spell. At the moment, she is very excited about learning to read. Hopefully, this will last!!

At this time of the year when schools are starting back, I am reminded of the time I started college. I met Lee the day before classes started at a BSU freshman survivor bash. That was 15 years ago this August!! Wow how time flies! Who would have thought that after 10 years of marriage and two kids later, we would be in medical school!! God is good.

Dad's home!!!

I am not sure who is more excited to have Lee home with us....the kids or me (or Lee!). Sarah is on cloud nine! She is definitely a daddy's girl. Maybe Ben will be a momma's boy. :)

Lee has been gone for eight weeks doing his clinical rotations in Columbus, GA and Rome, GA. He will be here for four weeks doing his internal medicine rotation and hopefully here another four weeks doing his OB rotation. Then he is off again to Columbus and Rome for the following eight weeks.

Ben's Dedication

Here are some pics of Ben's dedication. We are so happy to have such a wonderful church family to share this with. Ms. Susie, a very dear friend of ours, happily stood in as a grandmother--even though she has made it clear to us that she will not be called any form of the word...she wants to be called Blondie when she has her own grandchildren one day!! She took us to eat lunch after church, and we enjoyed it so much!

Well, here goes!!

I have finally given in to this blogging thing! I have enjoyed keeping up with everyone else's lives and watching the kids grow. Since we are so far away from family and friends, it is nice to keep up with everyone. My biggest fear is that I will not have the time to devote to keeping this current. So we will see.... :)