Shout out to our friend Ashley and her baby boy Colton

        During this Christmas season I would like to give a rather late welcome to Colton Daison.  Colton is our friend Ashley's little baby boy.  Congrats Ash and have a merry Christmas.

'Tis the Season to be sick

    Well as the cold weather starts to settle in for the winter here in middle America it's also the time for our most common illnesses.  I am witnessing this firsthand as my son is fighting RSV right now.  Respiratory syncytial virus is a very common virus that causes as infection in the lungs, but it is especially dangerous in babies and very small children.  Alex has been very sick for the last twenty four hours.  He is running a very high temp and is constantly coughing.  We were able to get him into the doctor yesterday and now we are administering his medicines every three hours.  He has stopped coughing but we still haven't broken his fever yet.
    He isn't really eating but at least we are keeping him as hydrated as possible.  I have to say that Tonya has been giving most of his medicines to him because I kind of sleep like a rock and it is just plain hard to wake me up in the middle of the night.  So now I am letting her nap while me and Alex are watching marathon episodes of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  I have to get back to it because Alex said I'm missing The Hulk.

This is my review of Confident Parents, Amazing Children 8 principles to raising amazing children you will love to live with

                I have to say that when I first heard that you could have a well behaved child without ever having to actually punish them I was a tad skeptical.  Then I started hearing things from the other parents in our inner circle start singing this book's praises.  The first chapter in the book very clearly states that your child wants to be successful.  As I read this it really resounded with me because I know deep down that even when Alex acts up he doesn't want to be bad.  Then as I read further I realized why it happens.  Sometimes it can be because he is emotionally frustrated and is trying to get my attention to feeling.  Or sometimes he is just mirroring what we think of him.  Like if there is an expectation of bad behavior it really isn't surprising that he fullfills all the things we think he will do.  Once you realize that the standard order and punishment is a faulty one that only confuses your child's natural cues.  A child naturally wants to be good but sometimes there are stumbling blocks in the way.  Not only do the principles improve the behavior of your child but it is going to drastically improve the your understanding of your child but it will also improve the bond between you and your child.
            Bonnie Harris isn't just some lady that decided to write a parenting book.  Bonnie Harris has a Masters Degree in childhood development with a specialization in parent/child development.  Not only does this provide the groundwork for the future it also provides examples of how to apply these things in real life settings.  There is only one thing that I can definitely about this book is that it works.  Period.  Just think about it, if there is even a small chance that you won't have to dole out heavy handed punishments or make empty threats or even cave in on your own ultimatums anymore and things get better rather than worse.  ( You don't have to say it I know because we all do it, sometimes I just can't resist my adorable little man)  Give it a try I did and it has made bonding with my son so much easier.  I would like to give a big thanks to Caitlin Mason, Marketing/Publicity Coordinator for Adams Media as well as Adams Media for giving me a chance to review this for you all.  I was not reimbursed for this blog post but they did send me a copy of the book to review.

Moving moving moving

                       Well today I spent the majority of this evening helping my mom and sister move all of their things into their fabulous new home.  In my family he who is tallest helps move so at 6'4" I help people move a lot.  So we set up the u-haul contract and then all the fun begins.  There was a couch, love seat, washer, dryer, deep freeze(which is a sit down freezer in southern speak),and many more things of which there is far too many individual items to possibly name them all.  I thought that it would be just me with this collosal task ahead of me to complete alone, but alas I underestimated the kindness of my circle of friends.  My brother actually showed up which is amazing considering he is late to bed and late to rise.  I'm just kidding Jacob thank you for all the help, we have loaded that deep freeze without you.     

                         Then we get to my dear friends Sara and Dee who were so instrumental in pulling this off that we would have literally never got started without them so to you beautiful ladies thank you gals as well.  My sister ironically was the brains of all the coordinating of this move.  She managed to get a couple of friends to come help out with everything and even though I will not name thier names without their consent I am officially in debt to you both for this.  My mom got everyone connected from the home base so if you are reading this Thank you too and you know that I got lotsa love for ya cinny poo.  Well now is my time of rest and I leave you with this.  Just because you lose in life don't lose the lesson.

P.S. Thats my brother Jacob with D'nea and my friends Dee and Sara in the pictures above.  

Happy Holidays

        Well it seems that the holidays are a time to pull all your loved ones together, whether its your family or just your close friends.  Its a time to hold them close and truly be thankful for the things that you have in your life.  I Have to say that I'm thankful for both my family and all my close friends.  My sister Shannon recently moved into town to help take care of my Mom.  So this post isn't gonna be super long but I just wanted to tell Shannon and Cindy(my mom) that I love you guys and I'm looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with yall. By the way spellcheck yall is a southern word for the term you all. 

Laura Faison Rest in Peace

Laura we will miss ya.  I hope you have more peace in the afterlife than you ever did in life.

Product Review

                 The Wii
Over the next few weeks as Christmas approaches I am going to try tp start reviewing some of the hottest toys for the kids or really anything  that could be good for the family to spend together.  The first such thing that I have had an opportunity to review is The Nintendo Wii.  While we were in Tennessee Alex, Ryan, Tonya and myself had a chance to put a Wii through its paces.  Ryan is a little older than Alex so he recognized the Wii immediately.  The boys started with playing the baseball game(with a little help from me and Tonya).  I didn't think that Alex would be able to play it but my theory was soon proven be wrong as seen in the picture below.  The game was very basic and easily geared towards younger children but I think older kids like me and Tonya lol would be bored quickly with it.  We switched to the boxing and I noticed right off the bat the controllers aren't very accurate at all.  We also played the tennis (boring) and then the bowling which was excellent.  So all in all the Wii and Wii sports was a blast for the little ones but I wonder if it has the staying power to compete with the new peripherals for the PS3 and XBOX 360.  I hope to be reviewing the other two motion devices in the coming weeks.