A Couple of Head Cases

We are the worst at getting to church on time. We try hard, but fail almost EVERY Sunday! I think poor Hayden was punished for our tardiness last month.

As we were sneaking into the back row, Bear tripped and smacked his head against the edge of the metal chair. I didn't even get to take off my purse or coat...I simply scooped him up and headed to the hall. When he wouldn't stop screaming I thought we had a problem, and after seeing the blood coming from the cut near the corner of his right eye I knew we had a problem.

I left everyone at church and headed for the pediatrician's after hours clinic (thank heaven's it wasn't another trip to the emergency room). I got the bleeding to stop, but still wanted a doctor to tell me if it was needing stitches. After half of eternity waiting, the doc decided that it was too close to the eye to stitch without sedating him, so steri-strips would work. Hallelujah!

I had just taken Rachel to get her stitches out earlier that week and her head was steri-stripped too. It's not looking promising for my children & their heads this year! I am starting to think we are a couple of head cases! Maybe I should put Lauren & Ben in helmets for a couple months, just to make sure the curse is lifted!

You think that would cure us from being late to church again, right? Nope, we still like the back of the overflow...what can I say, that's how we roll!

Angry Eyes Update

I didn't even make it four weeks before I waxed my own brows again.

I thought they didn't look half bad this time. I asked my friend, Cessalea, if they looked okay...she said they did, but then again we were in a movie at the time.

Hmmm...maybe I should get a second opinion? Then again, it won't change anything. I will still be waxing my own eyebrows off in a few weeks again! Some people never learn!

A Non-naked Monkey & a Track-hoe

For her 3rd birthday (last year), we asked Rachel what she wanted for her birthday. After some serious contemplation, she announced: "I want a pink monkey, and some clothes for the pink monkey so she's not naked, and I want to dig a hole with Grandpa."

Intriguing requests. I had seen a pink monkey in Build-a-Bear and they definitely had the clothes for said monkey, but the hole digging was what blindsided me! I asked if she meant digging a hole with a shovel in the backyard or if she was thinking grander like a track-hoe. Of course she meant the track-hoe. Her birthday arrived and I put a little track-hoe on top of her cake. We went to the mall & stuffed a pink monkey. She picked out a lovely swimsuit, sparkly flip-flops, and a yellow hard hat for the monkey to wear. Rachel named her monkey, Digger-the-Pink-Monkey. Oh yea, did I mention that the monkey was going to go dig the hole with her and grandpa? That's why it needed a hard hat (which is highly ironic since she didn't wear a hard hat when digging on the track-hoe)!

Too bad Grandpa was having some allergic reactions to medications at this time-Rachel isn't the most patient person (as much as it pains me to admit, she gets that from me). But he soon recovered and the hole-digging date was set, they were going to go dig a hole in the church Grandpa was building in Santaquin. Nana came to pick her up and Ben begged to go. Since it was Rachel's birthday wish she got to decide whether Ben could come along. She sized him up for a minute then declared "You can come Ben, BUT I get to dig the hole. Not you, ME and Digger!"
She loved every minute she spent with Nana and Grandpa (she even let Ben dig in the hole when she was done)!

I wish all birthday wishes were this simple!

Bear and His Frog

I used to cringe and commence with the internal criticizing when I saw people who had let their kids keep their binkis or bottles too long. My pediatrician always told me that if my kids had a habit that needed breaking, it was easier to do it before they were 18 months. Lauren, Ben and Rachel all had their pacifiers taken away by then, but with Hayden I just haven't been able to bring myself to pull the plug. I totally get it now & feel apologetic toward those nameless parents I have criticized over the years!

I've tried...more or less (emphasis on the less). The kid goes to bed like a dream. All he needs is a bed, blanket, drink and his "kiki". We put him in bed, he blows us a kiss and that's it. Seriously, why would I disrupt that? The naggy part of my brain told me it was time to eliminate the binki, if for no other reason than for his teeth (lets face it, our kids are headed for orthodontia anyway but I don't need to make it worse for them than it has to be). I determined that we would break him of his little habit by his second birthday.

With the best of intentions I took the kids to the mall one evening in early December. Armed with the binkis (and there were many in the arsenal) we headed for Build-a-Bear. I thought I was a genius. How much better does it get than to let the kid choose an animal and stuff the kiki's into it? Since Rob was home with a migraine, I didn't have the proper parental backup for the kid-store-holiday-shopping-madness.

By the time Hayden had picked out the darling little frog, the other 3 kids were DONE!!! I told Bear it was time to stuff the frog with the Kiki's and he went ballistic! He grabbed the handful of binkis and bolted for the door! After capturing my escapee, I made the executive decision to admit defeat, take the frog, un-stuffed, and go home. Into the top of my closet went the frog.

Fast forward to the end of February. While getting something out of the closet I knocked down the bag with the sad, limp frog body. Bear snatched it up and was excited to find a "fog". Being the mean mom I am, I took it back and told him that it was for big boys that didn't need kiki's.

"Mine fog"

After more negotiations, and dropping off morning carpool, we were headed for the mall once again. I doubted this was going to work. If by some miracle it did and we got the kiki's into the frog, I knew that we'd have a decapitated amphibian by Sunday night.

He was so excited to shove the remaining three kiki's (we'd lost about 4 kiki's since Christmas) into the frog. Bear giggled as he squished it and could feel his beloved kikis inside the frogs tummy! It was going great

UNTIL NAPTIME!

9th grade biology class kept flashing in my mind. Poor frogs never saw it coming! I prayed Bear's new stuffed buddy, Kiki-the-Frog, wouldn't suffer a similar fate. Well Sunday night has arrived, and outside of the fact that at naptime I have to lay down beside Hayden to get him to sleep (darn, a nap for mom too?) he is taking it all very well!

Let's hope that this holds out and Bear adapts to kiki-less life easily and quickly. (I think I spoke too soon...he just started crying & doesn't seem to want to stop!)

What an Odd Life

Sitting in a chick flick for a much needed girls night out and the phone buzzes with a text. Since it was 11 o'clock I knew it had to be Rob, and I knew it wouldn't be good news. Either someone in the family has died, or one of the kids is vomiting. After the kind of winter we've been having with illness, I was guessing the latter. Reluctantly I looked at the text.

"Brad is at house-Kevin needs help with PG house that exploded"

That was not even close to what I was expecting. Apparently the fire department was frantically searching for Kevin all night because they knew he has a brother-in-law that is a structural specialist for the Urban Search & Rescue that lives in Pleasant Grove. Too bad for them nobody could remember Robs name!

An old house across the street from Purple Turtle exploded (they suspect a gas leak). Rob was happy to be of service (any chance to use his training is exciting)! But there I sat in a girly movie praying that he wasn't headed into an explosion from a meth house-he doesn't keep his full gear at our house & even if he had, he couldn't use it because the call-out wasn't Federal! Once I got past that initial concern I didn't worry TOO MUCH because he is good at what he does and he's not going to put himself or others in danger.

After the mad scramble to find Rob, I bet from now on a couple firemen will know how to find him! From now on I will have to figure if Rob is texting me during a girls night out it is for death, sickness or explosion...what an odd life we lead!