The Fanning Four

I was looking for something on this blog the other day and loved reading through what our kids were like at different times. So, I decided maybe I should blog a little more again. We'll see how that goes... Halloween 2013 Bethany did not waiver at all in her desire to be Minnie Mouse. We ordered her costume from the Disney Store and it was adorable and held up through a day at school for "Favorite TV character day", 2 dress up days at gymnastics, and trick or treating.  At gymnastics, when my friend told her that she was such a cute Minnie Mouse she responded, "I know, people have been telling me that all day." :) Our small group and my in laws came over for a party and trick or treating. It was fun to see the kids holding hands, going from house to house. Bethy finally got the hang of saying Trick or Treat and remembering to say thank you so she started saying "I said BOTH!" as she would walk back to us. She must have asked me 10 times to ...

Happy 5th Birthday Bethany! 4 was an absolute delightful year with you. You thrived in pre-k and bring so much sweetness and love to our household. You keep us on our toes and constantly remind us how your intelligence can be used for good and to get what you want, haha! Soft-spoken and shy in public, and loud and outspoken at home- you are the spunk in our family! You weigh 38 pounds and are about 42 inches tall. Your favorite foods are pizza, chick-fil-a, spaghetti, shrimp, quesadillas,fruit, smoothies, salad, and of course, candy. You wake up between 6-7am and only take naps occasionally but you are very good at taking a rest time. You are in bed by 7:30 unless you take a nap. Every night you like for us to stay in your room for 5 minutes, plus 1. The last thing I hear from you most nights is, "Please scratch my back and sing me church songs." You finished pre-k this year and will be starting kindergarten in just a few weeks. You love school, made some great...

Happy 4th Birthday Caleb!!!! This picture sums up your personality! You love to make us laugh! Funny faces, dances, jokes, laughing all the time, you are our joy! Over the last year, your personality has blossomed and your comfort as a part of our family has settled as you have come to trust that you are a part of a family forever. Today we celebrate you, our little buddy!!!! You weigh  34.6 lbs. and are 40.5 inches tall which means you are only 1.5 inches shorter than your older sister!!! Your favorite foods are cereal, crackers/chips, bananas, applesauce, lasagna, PB,J and overall you're a good eater. You wake up about 5:00am and play on the Ipad and eat cereal until we wake up. You take an afternoon nap for about an hour and are usually in bed by 7:30pm. You completed a year of pre-K this year and are ready for another in the fall! You LOVE school!! Your best friend is Sophia. You just started gymnastics and are in the tiny tots group. You love the movie Car...

"If you were a boat, my darling A boat, my darling I'd be the wind at your back If you were afraid, my darling Afraid, my darling I'd be the courage you lack If you were a bird, then I'd be a tree And you would come home, my darling, to me If you were asleep, then I'd be a dream Wherever you are, that's where my heart will be Oh, do you know we belong together? Oh, do you know my heart is yours? If you were the ocean, I'd be the sand If you were a song, I'd be the band If you were the stars, then I'd be the moon A light in the dark, my darling, for you" Boat Song- JJ Heller Two years ago he placed his little red hand print on the official document and became a Fanning forever. My heart is his... After all the paper work was done, in a very emotional exchange, Caleb was placed into Tom's arms and quickly fell asleep. When he woke up hours later, the fun began as we worked hard to earn his trust and show ...

Happy Father's Day! To my Dad who is kind and wise and would drive 8 hours round trip just to fix my car. He worked hard to provide for our family and I love him very much! To my Father In Law, John who is always willing to lend a hand, who is so loving to us and his grand-kids, and who reminds me where my husband got his sense of "humor". And to my husband, Tom. It is so fun watching him as a father. My kids are so blessed to have such a fun, loving, kind, and Godly daddy. Finally, I am thankful for all my grandfathers.I never knew my biological grandfathers but I hear stories of how wonderful they were. Through the years, I've had other grandfathers, Jack, Jim, and John. They have all been so lovely and wonderful and accepted us as their own grandkids. Happy Father's Day to all of you. Thinking also of those who want to be fathers, those who have lost children, those who do not have good relationships with their fathers, and those wh...

 “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”- Gilda Radner Tom and I like to dream about packing up and moving to St. John, USVI. We'd open a snorkeling business. We'd snorkel every day. They need missionaries there, right?!?! Snorkeling missionaries perhaps? Sometimes, when I have a hard day, I google the price of St. John homes. Yeah, in my dreams right? Recently, Tom and I made the decision that I will continue to be a stay at home Mom. The kids will be in school full time in the fall so it is technically possible for me to work part time. But I couldn't shake this verse I had heard years ago. Listen to Andy Stanley intro the verse:  I feel like God has called me to stay at h...

Me, My mother-in-law Jean, my Grandma Aileen, and my Mom Joan with the kiddos I'm thankful that I have a great Mom. She's my biggest cheerleader in life and is unwavering in her love and care for me and my family. There's no one like her.  I'm thankful that I grew up with two wonderful Grandmothers. Alice was spunky and funny and somehow had enough love and energy to go around for her 6 kids and bajillion grandkids. She left this earth almost six years ago- I saw her last on Mother's Day in 2007. Still miss her! My Grandma Aileen is still a huge part of my life. Wise and thoughtful and so proud of her family, she has a heart of gold. We love her! I hit the jackpot when I married Tom and got Jean as a mother-in-law. Kind and giving and a great cook too. She's always there for us and you couldn't dream of a better mother in law. Bethany is the little princess that ushered me into the world of motherhood and into a new type of love I hadn't ...

Update from the last post: Caleb went back to sleeping through the night after we told him to fix it himself and had him practice. Simple! Thanks for your help!! We've been saying for a few weeks that for whatever reason we think we are understanding better and better what Caleb is saying. He is definitely speaking to us as if there is a brain connection between what he wants to say and what is coming out of his mouth. He often gets the vowels close and the right number of syllables. So, within context, you can often figure out what he means. His teacher even mentioned this change. His speech therapist has also been encouraged. The progress seems small sometimes but it really is big and deserves celebration.  He's using his Ipad communication device more and more and he signs also. He's becoming quite the speller and he will often spell things out on the Ipad- mostly people's names at this point. He uses his ipad to answer questions in circle time at school, to as...

Help me brainstorm: Caleb has been very particular about the blankets on his bed for quite a while. He wants them on in a certain order- sheet, brown polka dot blanket, blue blanket, Bambi blanket. They all have to be tucked in and straight, going right up to the edges of his bed. Not too big of a deal in the scheme of life. Well, for the past three nights he has screamed out in the middle of the night, and I mean, screaming mad, until we come. What's the problem? He wants the blankets fixed. And then he's fine and goes back to sleep. And I spend the next hour trying to get back to sleep. Last night I tried to have him fix it himself with me standing there but that didn't work. So, do we just suck it up and get up each night and fix the blankets and hope it's a phase? Do we pile on the attention and affection even more than normal during the day and hope it's just that? Do we try and get him to fix it himself or deal with it? Help?

We're headed home from UAB Children's. Our appt was at 8am and we had stayed with friends in Montgomery so we had an early drive up which was nice because there wasn't much traffic and we were done with our appointments by 11. When you go to "cleft clinic" you see the whole cleft team, so here's the run down: 1. Audiology: Hearing is fine. One tube is in place and working. The other tube came out a long time ago (which we knew). No worries here! 2. Genetics- our biggest surprise. Caleb already had a basic genetics test to identify syndromes and they didn't find anything. This time the geneticist said that because of the combo of cleft, severe speech delay, and some slightly unique facial features (one example: flat section on the side of his ears) he thinks Caleb probably does have an associated syndrome. He just doesn't know what syndrome it is. So in a year they will do more extensive testing to see what they can find. It doesn't affect anyt...

If we sat down on the couch to chat, there's many things I could tell you about life right now and how Caleb's doing and how Bethany's doing. For now though, I'll have to let the pictures speak. Caleb is learning more and more sign language. In this picture he is signing "Dad" because he wants me to spell it so he can write it with sidewalk chalk.  Bethany was having some trouble hearing so she was going to get tubes but we cancelled it because her hearing is much better. She was disappointed (for various reasons) so we had a pretend surgery. This is her drinking the "happy juice" kids take before the procedure.  Caleb hasn't been much of a pretend play kind of guy in general, but he loves playing doctor. Makes a lot of sense for a kid who has spent way too much time on the other end of this scenario. Go Dr. Caleb!!! This picture just defines Caleb- he is a bundle of pure energy. He is a comedian and he is loud!