11/1 - Did Halloween just pass?

I've gotten quite behind on everything to be honest. I had quite a hiccup with my new medication and it took me out for a bit. It does a great job of giving me a good nights sleep and condensing my REM sleep into alot at night BUT there is one minor  major problem - it makes me nauseous. I'm not talking a little bit either. I'm talking I wasn't able to eat for days. Literally. I couldn't touch a bit of food (usually a cracker) until mid-day and then it was a handful of crackers and a few bites for dinner. So I have this amazing medication that has sorta given me my life back it makes me really nauseous and then to further complicate things, the medicine that I take during the day to help me stay awake makes me dizzy. Needless to say, I've had to play with my medications a lot and figure out the right combination for me. Oh yeah. During all this, my awesome doctor has stopped practicing medicine in Florida and is moving to NC and my primary doctor (her nurse actually) can't understand how to write a referral to get me to another sleep doctor. After weeks of playing with my medication myself and medical personnel having no idea how to write referrals, I have switched my insurance so that I don't need referrals anymore, and I'm down about 15 lbs. On the upside, I just got an appt for next week with my new sleep doctor and the nauseous is finally starting to subside (so thankful for this) and I haven't been dizzy in almost 2 weeks which has felt AMAZING!!

Eli had to get a few vaccinations a few weeks ago and he had a reaction for the first time. He got the shots on Friday (Brad had to take him which was a first for him and Eli - he visited at just the right time) and on Sunday evening I noticed his arm getting all blotchy and red and very warm. After talking with a few friends and reading up on it, I took it as a mild reaction but definitely something I need to tell the doctor about next time. I'm not even sure what shot caused it because they gave him all 3 shots in the same arm (great idea for quickness, horrible for reactions). It took a little over a week to go away but thankfully all was fine.

My mom got really sick after Brad left and was out of commission for a few days. She literally slept almost the entire day for a few days. That said, Aiden had an in-service day on a Friday but I knew my mom couldn't stay awake to watch him so I had to bring him to work. I made him a little corner but at the last minute moved him to the back of the class. He did pretty good. He started standing up and making noises towards the end of class which was really distracting to me but thankfully most of the kids didn't even know he was there until I pointed it out. I was in a bind this day because Eli had testing through the school system and I wasn't allowed to bring Aiden. Thankfully Kia was also out of school and she watched Aiden for an hour while Eli did his assessment. Eli is being referred on through the system for further evaluation because .... he's just so inconsistent. When the woman tested him on his colors he only got 4 right. She asked him again mid testing and got 7 right and then asked him again at the end and he got the same 4 right he did the first time. Very bizzare. That and he won't hold a pencil, marker, crayon, etc in anyway resembling the correct way to hold something. It doesn't help that he keeps switching back and forth from a lefty to a righty and then lefty again. Mrs. Jen had made the boys pumpkins and they were pretty excited about it.

I decided to take the boys to a pumpkin patch and found one not too far away. It was definitely aimed at their age group which was good. There was a tractor ride, a mini barrel ride, a maze (man I miss the Maryland corn mazes), bounce houses, playgrounds, and even a mini petting zoo which the boys wouldn't go near because it smelled too bad. Even though it was the 2nd week in October, it was HOT!! Man I was sweating to death and the boys' faces were all red from running around and jumping in the bounce houses. After 2 hours we left and got a bite to eat on the way home.

The boys don't get much time together at home anymore it seems since we started Tae Kwon Do so I think they are appreciating it a bit more when they do get it. Here they are wrestling and being silly. For the last 2 weeks almost we had a cold front (in Florida it's considered that) and the day temperatures have been in the 70's and low 80's. It was awesome!!!

Rusty, Aiden's former therapist, suggested I try something with Eli and I was all for it. I recorded each segment and then sent it to her so she could see for herself. I asked Eli about his colors and shapes in a book that we have by quizzing him. He got the majority wrong the first time. I then put him in the swing and twisted him all up and let him go a couple times. He was laughing and loving it. We did that for a while and then I re-tested him (I never told him the correct answers before) and he did SO MUCH better. It was quite amazing. Not only did he get most of the answers correct, but he was actually sitting still and attentive when I was asking him which was not what happened the first time I asked him. So now I will let Eli "play and swing" some before I work with him and he actually does better. So amazing.

The boys decided bike riding was how they would get their exercise last weekend and said that was great. I was just following them around everywhere and remembered/realized a few things. They love hidden sidewalks and secret paths. They really do enjoy nature and ask awesome questions about things. They are getting very fast and I can take them out jogging now!!! And finally, I think Eli is ready for those training wheels to come off.





My friend Sue has a Halloween party every year and this is her last year throwing it. I invited Grace and Mike (and Arin when she got off work) to meet us there. I grabbed dinner for the boys on the way over and they ate it once we got there. Aiden wanted to be a bat (not batman) for Halloween and Eli's was Superman. It took three tries to make those bat wings for Aiden using different materials and different measurements because he's so sensory overloaded and many things bother him. The boys had a blast with Grace. Once it got dark and they needed their finger lights, they really started to have fun. They jumped in the bounce house with their lights too. Once it got pretty dark (7:00ish), we watched a Shrek Halloween movie. It was too loud for Aiden so we ended up missing most of it because we had to find Sue and see if she had any headphones Aiden could use to block out the sound. Eli, Grace, and Mike had fun watching it though. It was a fun outing for all of us.

On Thursday, Aiden had to dress up as a book character for a Character Parade his school hosts for the K-1. He went as a pirate. His teacher asked me to come help and that was a lot of fun. I actually didn't get done until he did (it was a half day) so I just brought him back home. My mom took Eli to daycare and then stayed there to help with Eli's school Halloween festivities. I'm not excited about his teacher right now at daycare. He really enjoyed his other teacher but the class was so big that they divided the kids up and Eli needed to be separated from this other little boy that would kick, hit, bully him everyday. Please send a prayer up for me to do the right thing for Eli and his daycare situation. We've never had problems like this before at a daycare and I just don't know what to do. I'm paying a lot of money right now for what feels like babysitting, not teaching. We'll see. I'll continue to go in at random times to check to see what is going on. I went this morning and was totally not impressed with what I saw for 30 minutes!!!

Nana was pretty tired from working outside all day at Eli's daycare so she rested at home some while I took them to Chick-fil-a to trunk or treat and get some dinner. here are my silly boys. We came home and went out around our neighborhood. This is what I posted on Facebook when we got home later that night: "Call me old fashioned but here are my rules for trick-or-treating: walk to the houses (not ride golf carts or piles in trucks when the houses are all close together), don't walk in other people's grass (use the driveway and entry path), when people offer you a bowl of candy you take ONE piece unless they say you can take more, you politely take what you are given and don't ask for a specific kind of candy, and finally, say thank you. What are your expectations on Halloween? Man I'm getting old apparently."

I was exhausted from running around with them but they had a great time. There favorite time was trying to chase people down to give candy to once we got home. They love it when trick-or-treaters come and really like to give them candy. It's just too cute to watch. I will plan better for them to be able to give out more candy next year by getting home a little earlier. I never put a decoration this year and usually I do. I just didn't have time. I even got a pumpkin but didn't carve it ... until tonight. The day after Halloween. I even got all the tools for 50% off!! Better late than never. I've just been burnt out and feel like I'm just always playing catch up. Brad was supposed to be home 2.5 weeks ago but we knew that wasn't going to happen. We are praying he comes home in mid-November but we will have to see. 

11/5 - Halloween Pictures

So I had some cool pirate costumes for the boys and then Eli refuses to wear his ... little stinker. He didn't like the belt thing I made for him but it totally made the outfit. Needless to say, he went as a Harley Davidson biker guy and Aiden went as a pirate. They were so excited.

They dressed up that day to go to daycare. Aiden dressed up as "daddy" as he says (which is a flight suit) and Eli wore the biker boy outfit but was asking to take it off before we even entered the daycare building. They were both in regular clothes by the time I picked them up later in the day. We left our house at 6:00pm and went trick-or-treating to a couple houses that were on our way to daycare. The church that the daycare is part of had a trunk-or-treat with bounce houses and games. It was quite a production. The boys were so excited. After we got some candy, the boys were itching to go on the bounce houses. They stayed together for a while but eventually, they split up to do different bounce houses.

After they were done After we made them go inside, there were lots of games to do. They both waited in a long line to do a little putt putt game. Although Aiden holds the club akward, he did well enough to hit the ball down to the hole. 

Eli on the other hand, just did his own thing. Brad tried to help him but .... Eli will hit how he wants. :)

They then found a baseball game where they had to throw the ball into the hole. Aiden did pretty good and got 2 balls in.

Eli is still working on his aim (he is only 3) and eventually walked right up to the hole and threw his ball in. It was priceless. We didn't even have to tell him it was okay to move up; he just decided that on his own.

We found a game where the kids had to throw a hula hoop over a pumpkin to get a prize/candy. Aiden had a little trouble doing it. He actually just knocked the pumpkin over one time and thought he was in trouble (see the picture below). He's so cute. He had to scoot up pretty close to get the hoop over the pumpkin.

Apparently Eli did a great job observing his brother try a few times because he went and got it on the first try. Whenever people would let Eli choose a treat, he always went for the dum-dums. This boy truly does love lollipops.

A favorite game of the boys is fishing. I'm not sure why they like it so much. I'm always surprised by how long they will stand in line to play this game. Amazing. Totally not worth it in my book but ... I'm not a kid. They both had fun though.

We finally convinced the boys we had done/seen all the games inside and that it was time to go home. We parked our stroller by the fire truck and when we came back out, they were letting kids sit in the back to take pictures. Here are Eli and Aiden. It's actually hard to see Eli because he's in the shadow of a pole.

 

We walked home and stopped at 2 houses on the way back to trick-or-treat. It was about 8:00pm and the boys were excited for people to come by our house to get candy. Once we got home, the boys set up their chairs outside and waited extremely eagerly for trick-or-treaters. They were so cute. They got so excited when people would come. They would get out of their chair and start walking towards the person who was 15 feet away in the driveway. I had to coach them and tell them to sit down and wait and be patient. They had a blast handing out candy. I only got one bag so we ran out quickly (I didn't think any trick-or-treaters would be left by the time we got home). I had to turn our lights off so people would stop coming to our house. Aiden was so sad when I had to do that. He said, "mommy, there are people coming." I told him we were all out of candy and he looked in his bag and pulled out 2 pieces and said he would give them his candy. What a heart of gold.

Here are a few random pictures from the past couple days after Halloween. The boys were playing frisbee outside. Aiden is getting pretty good at throwing it but his wind-up (see below) cracks me up and is kinda scary if you are standing by him. I thought he was going to decapitate Eli in the picture below but he actually threw it out in the yard.

Eli is getting better too at throwing it. They love throwing the frisbee and having brother go run and get it.

We started our Thanksgiving Tree. It spent a long time cutting this tree out but think it looks pretty good. Every evening, we all say what we are thankful for, write it on a leaf, and put them on the tree. I can't wait to see what it looks like at the end of the month.

We had a movie night for the boys a few nights ago. Here is Eli watching the movie after his dinner. This is what our living room looks like on movie nights. I have our picnic blanket down, the boys both have a stool they eat on, and we get to watch a movie. We do have to stop the movie and/or remind the boys to eat their dinner during movie nights. I try and let the boys have a movie night once every week or 1.5 weeks.

We were watching something that was a tad scary the other night. Here is Eli just rolling around in the living room watching TV. 

Aiden on the other hand, gets so scared during tv shows and movies. He was hiding under a blanket for some of it (I actually think it was a Dora or Diego episode they were watching). He usually gets up and leaves the room during the "scary" parts. I am very thankful Eli hasn't picked up this habit :)

Here is our tree after a couple of days. Eli  ALWAYS says he's thankful for God and Jesus so I told them you can only say something one time to put up on the tree. Eli has had to branch out a little and Aiden has been encouraging him and giving him ideas. It's pretty cute. Tonight, Aiden was thankful for going out to eat and getting to play and Eli was thankful for church. 

There are some really big changes coming to the Hoyt Household very soon. I've completely freaked myself and Brad out and we are taking dairy and simple carbohydrates out of our diet. In fact, most carbohydrates are gone except a few whole grains. Some of the research out there is terrifying and crazy. I feel like the USDA has just blindly given America recommendations over the last 30 yrs without the kind of research needed to do that. I'm a little nervous about such a big change for us but at least we are all in it together. We are going to eat more like they did in the olden days: lots of meat and protein, very little carbs. It's called the Paleo diet although it's not a diet, it's a way of eating. We'll see how it goes. There is lots of research to show that a number of diseases and disorders can be prevented by eating this way.

10/30 - Brad's work Halloween party

I don't have too many pictures to post of randomness because I haven't taken many lately. Aiden was sick last Friday evening, and we kept him home all day Saturday. He missed a friends birthday party that Eli still went to (with Brad) and it was hard for him to understand why he couldn't go. It was a good teaching lesson for being sick and spreading germs and also realizing being sick isn't just about him but spreading it to others. We did let him go to Brad's Fall Festival for work. It's is a big show that they put on and we figured he wouldn't spread too many germs. He's actually really good at using his germ busters and thankfully, he hasn't been coughing all that much. He's just had no energy, hasn't been eating, and an occasional cough. When he does cough though, it's been sounding nasty. Aiden dressed up as a Biker Boy and Eli dressed up like a pirate.

Here is a little picture of Eli in his costume. Unfortunately, he lost the hats within 10-15 minutes of getting there.

They had 6 rooms decorated on each floor (there were 2 wings, 2 floors on each wing) and they had 3 different kinds of rooms: friendly, spooky, and scary. Scary was definitely out for us and some of the spooky rooms were just a little ... too spooky. Below the boys are in a friendly room, fishing for candy.

They did a great job decorating most of the rooms. Here is one in which the boys had to duck down to avoid cob webs which is why Eli is crouching down.

The one room was pretty cool. I was wondering why it was so crowded and why it was taking so long ... then we figured out why: angry birds. They had 2 stations set up and let the kids each take a couple turns hitting the cups they had set up. I don't think Aiden or Eli actually hit anything but they still gave them candy.

It was pretty cold outside but Aiden was determined to play golf. He got to hit the ball through three holes and then Eli got a turn. They had lots of fun. Look at the leaves everywhere ... I'm enjoying the seasons as much possible right now knowing that we are heading back to Florida.

Eli was pretty tired by the end of the night. Here he is resting on daddy while we go down the steps. He then realized I had the camera and perked up for a picture. Eli is just the best little snuggled. He just leans into his hugs and cuddles. I love it.

Overall, the night was a success. We got home late and Aiden fell asleep right away. He's finally starting to feel better which is very good news but it sounded like Eli was getting the cold this morning. This evening he was okay so we are just praying the rest of the family stay healthy.

10/29 - Zoo Boo

So the night I got home last week we went to zoo boo. It was fun although we had to wait forever to just get inside. I didn't even think about dressing up the kids in their costumes but thankfully there was a mix of dressed up and non-dressed up kids. Here are the boys saying by a giant scarecrow.

We went on a tractor ride and the kids got to play numerous games. My camera wasn't working so great (actually, I don't know how to work it great) so I didn't get too many pictures. They played basketball, bowling, and a few other games and earned prizes and candy. They loved the hay ride and even got to play in the bounce houses for a bit.

Here are the boys doing the limbo. They were cracking me up. We'll eventually have to tell them the right rules.

Brad entertained them while we were in line waiting for some of the games. He's such an awesome daddy. He had them giggling and laughing all night.

They were wired by the end of the night but still having fun.

There is no doubt that these little boys love each other dearly. The are best buds.

11/14 - A very late recap of Halloween

A lot has happened over the past 2 weeks which is why I haven't been posting. Brad's grandpa fell and broke his hip and his parents had to leave to go back and be with him. He had surgery a few days after he fell and the surgery went okay. I went to St. Pete on 10/31 and picked my mom up to help me out. We came back to town, picked up the boys from daycare, and headed to a friend's house who lives in a subdivision across the street to go trick-or-treating. The kids had a blast. I had to buy them off with some skittles until everyone got there but they didn't mind that. :)

Aiden caught on to the idea of getting candy from people right away. Eli didn't care for all the people and he didn't really like people putting candy in his bag. He wanted to pick out candy and put it in himself.

Aiden did a great job with using his manners and saying 'thank you.' There were a few houses that Aiden didn't want to get candy from because they were too scary or the people giving out candy were too scary (yes, they were in costumes).

Overall, the boys did great. I had to pop a few balloons for each of them as the night went on the make their costumes less bulky. They both pretty much walked the whole time. Eli got really tired at the end and rode in the wagon. Aiden actually pushed a stroller around almost the whole time.

Here is a group shot of the kids. Eli is missing because he was too exhausted and grumpy to get up and join the rest of the kids. He was sitting on the curb and refused to be picked up to joint the group.

We didn't get home until about 8:00pm and it was way past the boys' bedtime. They handed out candy to a couple of kids and found that to be quite fun. A few houses down from us built a hunted house in their backyard and it was a huge hit. There were tons of people coming to go through it. It was apparently really scary and they were actually using real chainsaws to scare people. The boys just sat outside with Nana and I and watched and listened to the kids get scared.

They enjoyed their late night out and woke up bright and early at 7:00am the next day.