Bein’ Franklin

Posted by DaddyFranklin at November 2nd, 2007

Here are the long awaited photos of Timo on “Grown-up” Day:

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 31st, 2007

I know the title of this post and the picture don’t really go together. I just really liked the picture. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Zachary is a mama’s boy. Emily and Timothy both went through a phase when they chose mama over daddy, but Zachary’s phase has lasted a little longer than theirs did. I really think he’s starting to come around. The two of them are starting to joke around a little, which is definitely how to reach Zachary’s heart. He just loves to laugh.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 31st, 2007

Emily will probably want to blog about this, but I wanted to go ahead and upload the pictures from her birthday party.

With the recent move, Emily decided she wanted to have a sleepover with her two best friends from Plainview. The much anticipated event finally arrived last Friday. It really required very little planning on my part. We went to Wal-Mart that morning to buy what we needed for the cake, a few things to decorate with, and some craft items for the girls.

That afternoon, I baked and decorated the cake. Part of the party festivities was to have them decorate the cake, but there was a little work that needed to be done before hand. Here’s what the cake looked like before the party.

The party girls arrived at 7:00. After having hamburgers, we headed over to play at the Legacy Play Village. It was getting late, but they all had a great time playing. After about an hour, it was time to head back to the house for cake and ice cream. The kids (especially the boys!) showed great restraint as they stopped from eating while they decorated their part of the cake, and it turned out really cute.

After decorating, we sang Happy Birthday to Emily and she blew out the candles. Then we served the cake and ice cream. Emily had chosen Bubble Gum Ice Cream and I picked Vanilla (just in case). It was great!

After cake and ice cream, the kids all decided to get into their pajamas before Emily opened her presents. She got some great gifts. She was very excited. We moved all the gifts up to her room. She got a Karaoke machine, so they had a great time singing with that. It was soon time for a few crafts. Each girl decorated a gifts bag that they would use for the stuffed animal they will make at the Bear Castle the next day. The made their bags beautiful using foam shape stickers and sharpies. Then, Emily made a friendship bracelet for each of her guests.

While the girls were busy decorating their bags and making bracelets, Scott kept the boys busy in our bedroom. We decided to let them have a sleepover of their own in our room. This gave the girls free run of the upstairs and let the boys have something special too. Zachary had a pretty tough time understanding that it was Emily’s special day, so this helped out a bit. The boys were both asleep by 10:00. Scott and I watched a little TV in the living room so the girls would be within earshot. Around Midnight, we got the girls situated on Emily’s king size bed (we pulled the trundle out from her daybed) and they picked out some movies to watch. Then we went to bed.

The plan for Saturday was to go to the Bear Castle, the Science Spectrum, and McDonald’s. The girls would be picked up around 1:30. The Bear Castle and Science Spectrum both open at 10:00. So, we got up around 8:00 and had waffle sticks and strawberries for breakfast. We decided the Bear Castle would not be a great place for the boys to go, so the girls and I headed over there right at 10:00. The girls had a wonderful time making their animals. They each made something different, decorated a t-shirt for their animal, and picked out one outfit. It was fun. By the time we got back to the house to pick up the boys, it was 11:00. With only a couple hours left to party, we decided not to go to the Science Spectrum afterall. Instead, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. This way we were not rushed for time and the kids had a great time playing. We’ll have to go to Science Spectrum another time.

We made it back to the house about a half hour before the girls’ ride arrived. The kids were a little cranky, most likely from a lack of sleep, but they really played very well. I know Emily had a great time.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 22nd, 2007

Yesterday was Scott’s birthday. He left for work before the kids and I woke up. When I reminded the kids that it was Scott’s birthday, Emily quickly began making plans for how we could celebrate. She decided that we would all turn the lights off at 5 o’clock, hide around 5:15, and jump out to surprise him when he got home. She then started making cards for him. She said that she was doing it because Timothy and Zachary wanted her to, but I know she was having fun. She just likes to make sure we know that having two younger brothers is an inconvenience for her.

A few days ago I asked Scott if he wanted a special meal and cake for his birthday. He said he wanted to eat out and that he didn’t want cake. Around 10:00 yesterday, I decided that he was not allowed to not have cake. So, I emailed Gran and got her recipe for Hummingbird Cake. I remembered that being one of Scott’s favorites. In fact, the groom’s cake at our wedding was a Hummingbird cake.

The kids and I made the cake after lunch. Gran had given me some shortcuts, but I decided to go ahead and make it from scratch – except for the cream cheese icing. Around 4:00, I frosted and decorated the cake. Here’s the finished product:

The kids and I carefully set it on the kitchen table and went about our business. We decided to send some e-cards to Scott. Then, per Emily’s plan, we turned off all the lights in the house at 5:00. Not long after that, I received an instant message from Scott saying that he was going to be late coming home from work. He and his co-worker had to finish designing a poster first. So I told Emily that the surprise would have to be delayed a bit.

At 6:00, Scott called again to tell me it would be a bit longer. Things were going slow. He knew going into this job that there would be days that he’d have to work late. It’s unfortunate that the first time he had to work this late just happened to be on his birthday. He promised he would call before he came home.

So, the kids and I waited. The call finally came at 7:00. I answered the phone to a very tired sounding Scott asking if the kids and I would meet him at the restaurant for dinner. When I got off the phone and told the kids to get their shoes on, Emily’s face fell. She had so wanted to be able to surprise him. I told her she could surprise him with the card she had made, and that we would keep the cake a secret so he could be surprised with that. This seemed to satisfy her, so off we went.

We got to the restaurant about 10 minutes before Scott. Emily decided it would be fun to hide around the corner of the building and jump out to surprise him. She and Timothy took the next few minutes trying out different hiding places, and I kept running out to the parking lot to retrieve Zachary. I finally spotted Scott pull in to the parking lot, so the kids ran to their hiding places and Scott dutifully acted surprise when they jumped out and shouted “Boo!” We went to our table, and the kids presented Scott with his card. Timothy was a little confused that Daddy hadn’t brought his e-cards with him, so we explained to him that they were on the computer. During the meal, Timothy did let it slip that there was a cake at home. This time, Scott really was surprised.

After the meal, it was time to go home for cake. Yumm!

Despite the late start, it was a pretty good birthday celebration. Happy Birthday Scott!

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 6th, 2007

Swimming lessons is over, so we’re back to normal around here. Potty training is going well. I bought him some cloth training pants this weekend, and he has been accident free so far today. I am not having to remind him to go to the bathroom as much, which is great. His motivation right now is chocolate, but at least he’s making it!

Today, Emily and I made the invitations for her birthday party. You can see pictures of them over on her blog. Plans for her party are going really well. We’re pretty much to the point now that we just have to buy the stuff for her party. We won’t do that for a couple more weeks.

Since Emily was getting to make something, Timothy wanted to make something too. Timothy decided he wanted a black cat. Emily helped him cut out the pieces and put it together. Then, Zachary woke up and decided he also wanted a cat. But, he wanted a white one. So, I helped him with his. Then, Timothy announced that we would be naming the cats after the cats of some friends of ours from Plainview. Now we have our own Bogey (the white one) and Bacall (the black one). I’ve never seen our friends’ cats fly like these do. They tend to keep to themselves whenever we go visit. The boys have taken to calling them Super Bogey and Super Bacall as they go flying over the staircase handrail.

There’s not much planned for this week. Tomorrow we will go find out the name of Emily’s 2nd grade teacher, and that’s all I’ve got on the schedule for the week. I’m sure we’ll find some way to keep ourselves busy.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 3rd, 2007

Today was the last day of swimming lessons. The children were all very excited to go to what their teachers had described as “fun day.” We weren’t sure what that meant, but it sounded good. When we arrived at the pool, we were a little worried that the rain would be a problem. We knew we would still get to swim since Tech has an indoor pool, but were still wondering what was going to happen. It wasn’t a real heavy rain and there was no lightning, so it appeared things were continuing as normal. The only difference was that all the people were gathering in the small covered area. Talk about crowded.

The kids and I met up with Zachary’s class, who was waiting to ride on an inflatable boat. Zachary was anxious to join his class, so I told Emily and Timothy to sit and wait until Scott arrived or their teacher’s found them. Zachary and I headed to the boat. While we were on the boat, Emily was directed to her class that was playing innertube soccer in the deepest part of the pool and Scott arrived to hang with Timothy. After the boat ride, Zachary and I headed to the shallow part for a free swim time. Scott was taking pictures, so Timothy got in with us. I couldn’t keep up with both of them, so Timothy hung out on the steps during Zachary’s “lesson” time. Zachary rode on a big inflatable Shamu, practiced jumping off the wall, and even jumped off the diving board (with a little help from me and his teacher). After Zachary jumped, it was time for Timothy’s class to play in the water. Timothy had gotten out when Zachary went to jump, and was very cold by this point. It took him a bit, but he did finally go over to where his teacher was waiting for him. They didn’t do anything much different from their normal classes, except that they went all the way to the other side of the pool instead of staying in their little part. While this was going on, Zachary thought it was only fair that he get to play on the steps. He was joined by Emily when her class ended a few minutes later. I just stood on the side getting drizzled on and watched them all having fun.

Each of the kids received a “report card” at the end of the lesson. The teachers all left very nice comments. Emily’s teacher mentioned some specific things that Emily needs to work on, and said it would probably be a good idea for her to take level three again next year. I was planning on that anyway. Zachary will be an aquatot and Timothy will be in Level 1.

Swimming has been a lot of fun the last couple weeks. I guess we need to find a local pool to go to so the kids can practice all their new skills!

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 1st, 2007

Today was safety day at swimming lessons. If I’d known what that meant, I most likely would have skipped lessons. I was tempted to skip today since we were going to be pressed for time to get to the summer reading party on time. But, the kids wouldn’t let me.

Are you wondering what safety day means?

For the parent & me class, it meant that we got to watch a training video about infant and child CPR. This is a wonderful skill for parents to have, but could have been done much better. For one thing, most of the parents were too busy watching their little ones to really pay much attention to the video. Plus, the video and demonstration lasted about 25 minutes, leaving about 5 minutes of classtime. Our instructor decided that was not enough time to warrant actually getting into the pool. This was fine with me since we were needing to get away quickly and I am confident this didn’t phase the infants, but was not good news for the two years olds in the class. It would have been nice to save myself the trouble of getting him ready and excited to swim. He was very disappointed that he didn’t get to swim, and he was sure everybody at the pool knew. I couldn’t blame him a bit. I think the safety instruction would be better done in small parts during each lesson, but that’s just me.

The other two classes were better done. For the aquatots, it meant that their class would read a book about pool safety together and would then wear lifejackets in the pool. At the end of the lesson, they jumped off the diving board. Timothy insisted on jumping by himself, even though the other children in the class required a teacher to walk with them to the end of the board and hand them to the other teacher who was waiting in the water.

Emily’s class practiced saving each other. They would wade out into the water a bit and tread water until their partner came to save them. She said it was pretty fun, but she was ready to get back to diving.

After swimming lesson, we headed to the summer reading celebration. It was being held at an elementary school in Wolfforth, about 20 minutes from Tech. Once we arrived, we got in line to get balloon creations for the kids. After standing in line for about 20 minutes, we were getting pretty hungry so we decided to split up. Emily and I stayed in line for the balloons and Scott and the boys went to fix hot dogs for all of us. We finally got our balloons and were eating right when they started announcing the winners.

When they started announcing second grade winners, they started by saying that it had been a close race all the way until 8:00 last night. This made us all a little nervous as we hadn’t added anything since 5:00 yesterday. At that point, Emily had been in the lead and we really hoped she hadn’t been knocked out of the top three.

Turns out we had nothing to worry about! Reading almost 2000 pages this summer, she won the first place trophy! Way to go Emily!

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 27th, 2007

The ride home from swimming lessons today was marked with the children telling about the things they had done at swimming lessons.

Z — Hold wall all by myself!

Today I got a little break from holding him through the entire class. He discovered that he can hold his head up by holding onto the wall. He discovered this near the end of class when the kids were jumping off the edge. He really likes jumping and I was trying to show him how to climb out. I moved him over to the wall and helped him get his leg up on the edge so he could climb the rest of the way. One of the times that we did this, he decided he didn’t want to climb out. He just wanted to hold onto the wall all by himself. He turned, looked at me, and said in true two-year-old style, “don’t want you to hold me mama, do all by myself.”

T — My teacher tied a orange noodle around me and I swimmed all by myself!

I had been a little surprised when Timothy’s teacher had told me that we didn’t need to buy floaties for swimming lessons. Now I know why. Unless you knew what was going on, it would be surprising to see three and four year olds “swimming” around the pool with a noodle tied around them. But that’s what they did. It worked great. Timothy did a great job.

E — I dived through a hula hoop in the deep end all by myself! And I wasnt scared!

Yesterday was the first time Emily was excited to go to swimming lessons. She got a little scared when her class moved down to the 10 foot deep water, but she quickly got over her fear. Her teacher is really good with her, and I do believe that Emily has turned a corner as far as her fear is concerned. It’s too bad we couldn’t take lessons at the beginning of the summer. She may have been confident enough to take the swimming test at GA camp so she could jump off the diving board. Today, they spent most of the classtime in the deep end and she wasn’t scared at all.

Good job kids!

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 18th, 2007

Okay, Scott told me that I may be worrying grandparents by not filling you in on the details of Zachary’s fall. Let me start by saying that he’s fine!

The children and I went to Plainview yesterday morning to turn in the receipts from my trip to Kansas City so I can be reimbursed, to return a bag that was left in the van, to close our old bank account, and to visit some friends. We left to come back home around 1:00. Zachary fell asleep on the way home. He got about a thirty minute nap, so I thought it best for him to lay down for a bit longer after we returned home. He would have no part of that.

Then, of course, the phone rang. The caller id said it was a friend of Emily’s from Plainview. I had tried to call her while we were there, and had learned that they were in Lubbock that day. So, I left Zachary crying in his bed and went to answer the phone. I was talking with Emily’s friend’s mom about when her friend could come over to play when Timothy came to tell me that Zachary was awake and to ask if he could play in his room. I didn’t have any more plans for the day and would possibly be going to the park to meet up with Emily’s friend, so I decided not to push the nap issue. I told Timothy that he could play with Zachary.

A few minutes later I see both boys head downstairs. They really like the hardwood floors. The like to slip around on it. I continue my phone conversation and then hear a crash and Zachary crying. I figured this was a result of fall and being tired, so I looked down from the stairs landing just to be sure everyone was okay. Zachary was laying on his belly in front of the couch. He was looking around and was crying pretty loud. So, I made my way down the stairs while talking on the phone. Zachary met me by a chair in the living room. There was a little blood on his mouth, so I figured he had busted his lip. This happens at least once a month, so I headed to the kitchen to get a wet paper towel and an ice pack. I finished my phone call and checked him out. That’s when I saw the extent of the damage.

Can you see it? His top left front tooth is chipped. Timothy informed me that Zachary had jumped off the couch and slipped.

Coincidentally, I had called the Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) office on Monday to get information about the dental coverage mailed to me. We had not used it in Plainview, so I did not have any information about the program. Turns out they have pretty good dental coverage.

Obviously, the dental I.D. cards and provider directory had not arrived yet. So, I called CHIP to see what I need to do with Zachary. By this time, he was fine. He was wandering around the house saying “couch, break teeth” to Emily and Timothy. I called CHIP and filled them in on the situation. They told me not to worry about not having our dental I.D. cards, I would just need to show the dentist their health I.D. cards for now. So, I asked who I could take him too. After informing me that there are no pediadontists in Lubbock who are in-network, they gave me the names of three “regular” dentists to call. The first two were very close to here, so I called them. They both told me that they do not see kids until they are 5 years old. This bugged me as I couldn’t understand why a dentist who is covered by CHIP would not see young children, even in an emergency situation. So, I called the third place and learned they would see him but not until Friday at 2. I went ahead and made the appointment just in case I would need it.

Waiting until Friday just did not sit well with me, probably because I had so many dental problems as a child most likely as a result of falling on a Little People bus when I was 2 years old. I knocked my teeth completely out though, so this was a little different. I wanted to be sure there was no permenant damage to Zachary’s mouth that is already a bit messed up due to his extensive thumb sucking, and I was wondering what we could do about the chipped tooth.
So, I called the insurance company back and told them what I had learned.

CHIP gave me two more numbers to call, both of these were out of town at least thirty minutes away. I called one and was given the same story about them not seeing children under the age of 5. It was explained to me that young children don’t sit still. (Hmmm…. I didn’t know that!) Anyway, I asked this one if there is anywhere in Lubbock where I can take him. At this point, I really didn’t care if insurance covered it or not. I just wanted him to get checked out before Friday. She gave me the number of someone I could try.

I called the place she recommended. The receptionist told me that they do not accept CHIP and told me how much it would cost. The visit would be $71 and x-rays would be $25. I told her I would pay it myself, and she said the doctor could see him in 15 minutes. By this time I had found some information at the CHIP website about emergency dental coverage. The dentist office is about 5 minutes from here, so I called CHIP to learn about the emergency coverage. I knew the extension of the person I had been talking to all afternoon, so I got past the automated directory very quickly. She explained the emergency coverage to me and said she would fax something to this doctor. It would be there waiting for me.

So the kids and I get in the van and head over there. The fax was not waiting for me. I didn’t worry about it. I would pay what I needed to pay and straighten things out with insurance later. The dentist called us back and looked at Zachary. Everything’s fine. His tooth is chipped. There is no nerve damage and the tooth was not pushed up into his gums. There is a slight bruise where his gums meet his lips at the top of his gums, but that is all. His tooth may be sensitive for 4-6 weeks. We need to watch for discoloration, looseness, or any pain. In 4-6 weeks, we may cap it so he doesn’t have a chipped tooth for the next 4 years or so. All three kids got a new toothbrush and sticker. I paid ($57) and went on my way. I called CHIP again when I got home to have them send the fax again and they said to check on it in a few minutes. By this time it was after 5, so it was going to need to wait until morning.

The saga continues. I just called the dentist office. They still don’t have the form. I will be calling CHIP in just a minute.

I am going to keep the dentist appointment for the in-network provider that we have for Friday. I realize the tooth is a baby tooth, but I would like to get it capped. Not only because it looks a little odd, but also because I don’t think it would be good for Zachary to get used to his tooth being like that. Poor guy is just now starting to talk in a way we can understand. I’d hate to set him up for a lifetime of speech defects.

This is really pretty trivial, but has served as a good distraction for me. A good friend of mine is have an endoscopic upper g.i. done today and my dad is having a needle biopsy on some swollen lymph nodes. At least Zachary’s fall is something I can actually do something about without just waiting for details.

UPDATE (later the same day): After four phone calls each to CHIP and the dentist, the form has been received. The dentist doesn’t really know what to do with it, so she will be filling out what she can and will send it to me to send to CHIP. Strange.

My friend came through the upper g.i. just fine. I haven’t heard from dad yet.

UPDATE (Friday): Dad called with good news! His biopsy came back negative for cancer.

After speaking with a Speech Therapist friend of mine, I have learned that having a chipped tooth at the age of two should not affect Zachary’s ability to speak. Apparently, the “th” sound doesn’t develop until about age 7 anyway. Sure enough, Emily is the only of our kids that says “thirtieth birthday” correctly. To the others, it is “firstief birfday.” We did not take Zachary to the dentist today. The pedidontist we saw on Tuesday said we should wait 6 to 8 weeks to do anything anyway. No need to have another dentist tell us the same thing. We’ve not yet decided if we will get the tooth capped or not.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 17th, 2007

Once again, Zachary has had a bad fall. Not as bad as the last time, but still caused an interesting afternoon. Can you guess what happened? I’ll fill you in on the details soon.