Too Cute

AJ walked into the room this morning to show me his situps. It was so cute I had to record it. Being the goofball that he is, he was all too happy to oblige me in my request to repeat it for the camera. I don't do true situps but Jake and Caleb had their school fitness testing recently and afterwards Caleb was eager to do pull ups from the bunk bed. I wonder if sit ups were part of his exercise routine that I missed. I love them so much, they are so candid and funny.

WHAT A DAY!!!

Well... Risa has decided she isn't going to be mother of the year. I'm pretty sure I won't either. Up until now I have managed to avoid stitches for any of my boys, we have had some close calls but today was the closest. Levi was sitting in my lap at the computer while I checked my email and looked up a recipe. Quicker than any adult could be he reached up and grabbed the cord for the speaker for the computer. Ryan had put it up on top of the hutch to listen to a cd earlier. Anyway, he yanked and in less than a blink the thing came down on his forehead. It's actually pretty small but it must have hit him just right because it split his forehead open and like all head wounds, blood started gushing. My old lady reflexes weren't fast enough to stop the chain of events but I jumped up for a towel. Jake and Caleb saw the blood running down his face and started screaming, "He's bleeding Mom!" Now Levi is screaming, Jake and Caleb are screaming and I'm yelling at them to calm down. I got them calmed down and they each got me the wet towel I had asked for, what good helpers, since the paper towel was already bloody. When I got the blood cleaned off it was just a little cut, long story short, I put a steri strip on it to butterfly it. I figured that would be less traumatic for him than taking him in for what they would likely only close with dermabond. It seems to be working. Anyhow, while I am holding pressure, did I mention head wounds bleed ALOT, Jake and Caleb went outside to play with their new Nerf dart guns, thank you uncle Sean. AJ as usual had stripped naked and went into the bathroom to get his pants on so he could go out also. I'm still holding pressure remember. I notice that he is much too quiet and has been in there for a couple of minutes so I sent Jake in to investigate. Good thing. He had seen Ryan's razor, I'm not sure how that transpired. He decided to shave. Jake brought him out bleeding and holding his face. Here is where I had to hold it in and not FREAK OUT!!! Seriously two toddlers bleeding from unrelated causes. WHAT THE FREAKIN' HECK!!! This is where the magic mom hands come into play... still holding pressure on Levi's forehead which had slowed to an ooze finally, I cleaned all the blood off of AJ and thankfully, he had only cut his lip. We had to talk about why Dad shaves and he doesn't. It looks like the steri strip is doing it's job and you can barely see AJ's cut lip now. Does this stuff happen to other people? Other than the late afternoon excitement, it was a good day. Seriously.

INDIANA JONES

Anyone who knows my boys knows they are an adventurous bunch. Yesterday AJ and Levi went out into the backyard to play but within moments the fun hit a snag. AJ tried to swing from a rope that was tied to the fort. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure he tied it up there. Anyhow it didn't go well as you can imagine. He was crying and kept repeating "Jones do it, Jones do it." He apparently saw some scene where Indiana Jones was swinging on a rope/vine. I tried to explain that it was TV and he can't do it. He still insists Jones do it and so can he. Looks like he is following in his brothers' foot steps.

I'm such a softy

I started making the dogs run with me on my bike ride. I figure they need the exercise at least as much as I do. Anyhow, last week on my ride I took Neptune out first. They can't go as long as me so I break it into halves and take them out seperately, I don't have a death wish after all so I won't take more than one. Back to my story... I was almost home (for which Neptune was grateful) when I saw a cat laying in the middle of the road, it moved I kept going. I took Jazzmin out and watched a truck go right by it and it didn't move. So I'm thinking there must be something wrong with it. Here is where my mom started laughing uncontrollably. I ride over to the cat who stands up and starts hissing at Jazz but didn't run away. I tried to get it to move out of the road, all the while a truck is honking at me, I have Jazz's leash with her on the end in my left hand, I am straddling my bike with the trailer and AJ and Levi in it. I get the cat in my right hand and get turned around to go back to the house and put it in the garage since I'm pretty sure this is either the most mellow cat or it's broken or something. Anyway, for not liking cats... now AJ gets the cat he's been asking for the last 2 months. The cat is limping on her left foot but is super affectionate and tolerant. I bought her a collar today and litter box today. I figure she can be a garage cat and make sure we don't get mice, she seems to like it out there.

bou

Another week come and gone

I missed church again this week. This time it wasn't because my kids were sick or because we were out of town. This time it was because my boys are all boy. Yesterday AJ was playing at the park with his brothers. I was in the front yard washing the truck and mom was over watching all of them while I did. She got busy with Levi for a second and in that second AJ does what he has done many times before at home on a smaller slide and rode his radio flyer down the slide. He hit the bottom and fell off, cried for a minute and got up so fast that in the 10 seconds it took to get to him, he was already up and going back down for another try. Fast forward to later in the evening a couple of hours and he is whiny and limping. Insert the music here, DUM DUM DUM DUMMMM. He kept saying his leg was broken but since Jake and Caleb say their arm/leg is broken evertime they get hurt I figured he was mimicing(is that spelled right?), anyway I didn't worry too much. I did the nurse thing and moved it and felt for swelling, heat, crepitus etc. None of the above. I gave him motrin and put him to bed. Fast forward to this morning. He has been crying all night everytime he moved or was moved and still limping this am so I took him to the emergency room. Let me just say, 4 kids in the ER on a Sunday morning is almost as painful as the $125 copay. Four xrays and 2.5 hours later, no break. I don't know if it's just a pulled muscle or deep bruise I can't see but after a hot bath soak tonight he was finally not crying everytime he moved it. Life with boys is never dull that's for sure. Thanks to my mom for helping me and especially for coming over today so that I could take a nap this afternoon. so this video is what they were doing but on a bigger slide. This weekends slide is half that size and not so steep.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Buddha Belly

Out of the mouths of babes...OK...I always tease AJ about his buddha belly when I tickle him. When he wants me to tickle him he pulls his shirt up and says buddha belly only in AJ speak it sounds more like boooda bedgy. Anyhow I know I slacked off on exercising and watching what I eat during the holidays but I'm back on track now and AJ reminded me why I'm working so hard. The other morning while I was sitting at the table eating my shredded mini wheats he pulled up my shirt and said "you boooda bedgy." I said no I don't have a buddha belly and he very firmly said "yes, you boooda bedgy". That's great. Needless to say I have really gotten back to my routine this week and have ridden my bike and or done my PT workout everyday except yesterday, I took a break because my legs were dead from the day before. So... my new years resolutions...? First, be more patient with my kiddos. I want them to have fun memories and that means I need to let them be kids and clean it up later. Second, make memories with them. Third, tone up and slim down. I'm down to my high school size, I want to be down to my college size or at least in between the two. I'm keeping it simple and I think I can make it.

OUR NEW YEARS

Well New Years came and went. To be honest, I'm not all that excited about staying up to greet the new year. I'd just as soon greet it in the daylight. I'm much more excited about a good nights sleep and that seems to happen about as often as a new year frankly. That being said you can imagine how excited I was when Jake and Caleb informed me that they wanted to stay up and "cheers" for the new year. I had mostly put them off until New Years Eve when I couldn't avoid it any longer. Mom called and said that she would come over and toast with them, sparkling cider of course, so I agreed to let them stay up. Ryan of course was working and had no idea of the eve's events unfolding at home. Mom came over all right. Levi was asleep at normal bedtime. A "I no go bed, I no tired"J fell asleep finally at 10 on the couch in my arms wrapped up in his towel of course. This is my mom, asleep on the couch at 10:30. Although she swears she was not asleep, she slept right through me taking this picture, including the flash and through me talking to Ryan about her being asleep on the couch. She did however wake up at 11:45 to toast in the new year. So, I stayed up for the first New Year's toast since Jake was born. Mom promised to get up early with the boys so that I could sleep in but since Levi was up early as usual and she isn't who he wants I was still up early. At least the boys had fun.