Book Bowling...

As we worked on Eliott using the potty, we had to find many activities at home to keep us from going crazy.  Many days we stayed in PJ's until lunch and had fun at home.  I am usually kind of a busy body, so it was really good for me to be forced to be creative at home.  We had lots of fun!  The 'one-hand-clap' is one of my favorites... when Madison is proud of something she has just done (such as bowl down several books) she gives her self one big clap... like a cheerleader would on the sidelines of a football game.  ps... excuse the bare buns, potty training in session...

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

I need to start updating my blog with this all-wonderful post... I'm not one to show off my belly to the world, more less my over-sized pregnant belly, but here goes...

After Madison was born I never had the feeling of 'I want to wait awhile for #2'.  Don't get me wrong, I was totally overwhelmed in my new world of being a mom, but for some reason I new #2 would happen relatively soon.  After Eliott was born, I new I wanted a break.  Not because of him, but because I wanted my body to have a bit of freedom from big bellies and a constant food source.  We're not quite sure when we decided #3 was on the radar, but it was somewhere between Eliott and Madison successfully sharing a room and Matt finding a different job which would land me at home.  We decided we would give #3 a whirl and a month later we had a positive.  Wahoo.

The next several weeks went by and only Matt and I knew.  We are kind of secret-keeping people and like to keep it between ourselves for the first trimester.  We like to hear/see life before we spread the news.  Well... #3 bellies grow much larger and earlier and I had several people inquire.  I'll always remember the day that the kids and I were in our bedroom.  I turned to grab something and Madison says, "Mom!  What's in your shirt!??"  I'm still amazed that she caught onto that, but I told her that it was a little baby.  We weren't telling people but Madison is not the girl to go blurting out news to random strangers so I figured we were safe.  Since then she has asked many many questions about the world of having a baby.  One of my favorites, "How does God put a baby in your belly?"  Try answering that one.  The concept of 'miracle' doesn't quite sit well with her... she wants an explanation.

The ride of pregnency has been relatively smooth and I am starting to feel on the larger stage now.  I am 22 weeks along and due on January 7th.  I know that so many say that going to 3 is crazy since you are outnumbered but for some reason I have little fears about going to three.  Maybe I will be surprisingly overwhelmed, and I know there will be days, but I am so thankful to have my focus at home for the first time when a new baby arrives.  No thinking about long-term subs, going back to work and pumping milk, finding day care, ...  My mind gets to be in one place.... simplified (sigh).  Madison will be a great help.  Eliott... well I'm sure he will still be scaling counters and getting popsicles out of the freezer but he will keep himself constantly entertained.  I'm sure there will be productive days of tower building and cookie baking, and then others when it seems like I got nothing accomplished and when Matt comes home and I hand them over and collapse on the couch.  I am so thankful that my kids get to have brothers/sisters.  It is so much more work to have multiple children but my joy so full when I hear them squealing in laughter with one another.  Or when I hear Madison say, "Good job T!"  I pray often for the love that they have for one another and thank God that they do.  We talk a lot about how God gave them each other and they are so blessed to have one another.  Little #3 will move right in as a new little blessing for us all.

I am soaking up days of having two mobile, good-sleeping, independent kids that we can do so much with for I know soon these will be coming to a close.  Loving my little family in our humble little house on Hawthorne Dr.

Gone Fishin'

Great night for fishing... Madison has asked Daddy several times lately, "When are we goin' fishin'?". I know it just melts his heart. Thanks to an early off at Matt's work we headed out. Madison was pretty focused as always and matt did his best (picture two) to help a three year old think she caught a fish all by herself (as he sets the hook by the string and tells her to reel!).

Continued conversations with Madison...

While sitting at the breakfast table, Madison turns to her brother and says, "T! Don't comb your hair with your fork... you'll get syrup in it!"

After drinking a bunch of gatorade leaving it all over her top lip, she runs into Matt into the living room and says, "Dad, look at my mustard!"

Eliott's Latest... landing him in the ER

Out of all the different things that Eliott could have been doing that would have landed him in the emergency room, this one could have been a bit more 'Eliott'.  He wasn't climbing on dressers, jumping off playgyms, or standing on a stool which is standing on two other things...  Where do I start.

About a week and a half ago, Eliott started to be quite the grump.  If anything didn't go quite his way he let you know about it.  It was such a sudden onset that I had to believe that it was possible he was getting another ear infection.  He didn't have a fever or anything other symptoms, so I just let him be.  Many told me 'he is getting close to two', but I refused to believe this was my new little man.  A few days later he got a bit better and has been 'better' since... not himself... but better.

With that said, in one of his 'fits' after getting his diaper changed, I just let him be.  What happened next I am not totally sure, but from the evidence (the blood trail), I think he flopped off the bed and started running like a mad-man out of our room.  I think he ran smack into the corner of the wall, bounced to the floor, got back up (now screaming even louder), came sprinting out of our room... where I met him.  I soon saw the huge spout of blood shooting out of his eyebrow.  Matt was standing a couple of feet away so I scooped my little man up, turned my head away and asked Matt to look at it.  He took one look (with squinted eyes) and said, "Yep, we need to go".  Once we held the towel on his head (which took two of us) for a few minutes, the blood clotted enough that we could get loaded up.  The four of us headed to urgent care.  The doc told us to go the the ER where they have better 'equipment' to hold a little one in place to stitch him up.  So off we headed to the ER.

We finally made our way to the room in the ER and waited there for what seemed like forever when you have four hungry people and two antsy kids that wanted to jump off the hospital bed (TT included), play with the buttons, ...  We had many nurses come in before the PA finally came in to stitch him up.  Side note... She checked his vitals and his ears and eyes.  He did have a bit of an ear infection.  She offered anti-biotics and I told her that we wanted to wait and see if it cleared.  Side note on the side note - most ear infections are viral and antibiotics don't even help (I didn't say all).  All of Eliotts' (maybe 4 or 5) have just cleared up on their own in a couple of days and we haven't had to deal with side effects of having antibiotics (tummy aches... etc).  We do use a chiropractor and I think that has helped.  Anyways, back to the main reason we were there.  I was so thankful to have another woman who seemed to have a  very loving yet 'let's get the job done' personality.  She told me that we were going to wrap him up with a big blanket to keep his arms and legs down and then the nurses and Matt and I were going to hold him down (I'm not sure if this is the 'equipment' that the urgent care dr. was referring to).  I took my brave little three year old girl down to the nurses station (she so wanted to stay and watch and desperately did not want to leave Mommy).  I was hoping I could convince her to stay long enough that I could get back down to Eliott.  The nurse was wonderful and I quickly and reluctantly left Madison with them.  With my incredible (not) sense of direction I walked out of the nurses station thinking, I paid no attention to how I got down here and am not sure how to get back.  Then I heard the ear piercing scream of my little man and just followed my ears.  I figured, wow.... they already started (they weren't sure if I was going to part with Madi or not).  By the time I got there, they hadn't even gotten him wrapped in the blanket yet.  I helped get my panic-stricken 1 1/2 year old strapped down and they immediately started the process.  I knew how strong Eliott was but it took all of us to hold him still, head in place, on that bed.  The PA stuck him with the numbing needle.  It took awhile for him to pull in a breath.  Then it's tricky b/c you don't want to rush into it (to let him numb up) but you don't want to leave him there longer than necessary.  She started in with the first stitch.  I quickly asked her if she thought he was numb enough and she said yes.  I talked to my screaming boy for the next three or four minutes as she threaded his eyebrow back together.  On the third stitch, he about jumped off the table so I know he wasn't quite numb all the way to the top.  I asked her again if she thought he was numb and she reassured me he was and quickly placed the fourth stitch in place.  I scooped him up and he rather quickly calmed down.  The nurses told us that he did great.  I thought to myself, 'what does it look like not to do 'great'?'.  He did do great.

I later told Matt that I am continually interested in the reactions that I have as a parent to my kids and can easily relate them to God's relationship to us.  I felt terrible for Eliott, knowing what he was going to have to go through.  But I had no doubt that forcing him to lay down on the table, lay on top of him so he couldn't wrestle the P.A., was the best thing for him, because I knew what he needed... stitches were needed to hold his face back together.  If it were up to him he would have rather kept the huge gash in his head, but as his Mamma, I knew what he needed.  Have there been times in my life that God has 'allowed' a circumstance to enter my life... one that I felt I had no control over and could do absolutely nothing about... and even felt like someone was 'holding me down', but it was what I needed to make me a stronger, healthier Woman of God.  If only I could have His 'viewpoint' sometimes.

As soon as TT calmed down I couldn't wait to get down and scoop up Madison (she is not a fan of new places or people so I had a bit of a feeling like she was freaking out as well).  When I got down there she was sitting on the nurses lap, wearing the nurses name badge, while the nurse was braiding her hair.  Madison has colors and a coloring book spread out in front of her and was snacking on a cookie and drinking a carton of milk.  Oh my, my heart melted.  She offered me a bite of here cookie and I said thank you a hundred times and we headed down the hall way to finally check out.

We found some dinner and picked up some ice cream... stopped by some friends' house (that we were a bit tardy for) and then stayed up late enough to watch the 4th of July fireworks out the car window.  I would have done anything for that little boy that night.  He's a tough little man.

PS.... if you ask Eliott 'Where's your owie?', he responded by tearing off any shoe he is wearing and showing you this scabbed over scratch that is about 1 cm long on the top of his foot.  At least I blog so someday he will be able to 'remember' this event.  Love him.

Conversations with the miss...

Madison - "Mom, I little you a little bit when you don't brush your teeth... but I like you A LOT when you do brush your teeth."

... unconditional 'like'

My fun little 'big' man...

I choose to believe he is trying to pick a flower for his mamma...