Chunks

Do you ever have those moments where you feel like you’re going out of way to do EVERYTHING right, and yet the Universe is basically just spanking you in the rear showing you that you’re, in fact, doing everything kinda wrong?  Do ya?  Do you know what I mean? 

 

Here’s how it went down: so, we enjoy eating out.  We used to eat out fairly frequently (at least a couple of times a month).  We ate out A LOT when the house was on the market and we’d get a call at 4pm saying, “We’ll be there to see your house at 5:30.”  Not a ton of healthy-home cooked meals were a-happenin’.  BUT, now that we’re on a much tighter budget, we rarely eating out.  And that is why we DID eat out last night.

 

We know the boys love Red Robin and we’re able to get gift cards through points earned with our credit card.  So, we’ve been saving the RR gift card to go for a special near-Matthew’s birthday outing.  We even had a free meal coupon to use as well.  My dear friend Rachel is staying with us for a couple of days, so she also could join in the festivities.  All around, it seemed like a good idea, right?

 

Well, shortly after arriving, Kayli started to be a fit-throwing toddler-rage person.  She’s been a picky eater lately and my guess is that she was kinda starving since she hasn’t been eating all that much at meals.  Then, Mike and I discovered that we didn’t actually have the RR gift card with us.  The whole point of going to Red Robin, the whole reason we could do it in the first place, was because of this gift card.  But we’d already ordered food and couldn’t just pack up and leave, so…there was that.  Then, after eating a little bit, Zach suddenly announced that he felt like he was going to throw up.  If you know us, you know that we’re kind of a pukey people.  It’s what we do.  And we’re pretty good at it.  Mike quickly steered Zach towards the restroom only to find a couple of people standing in the way, blocking the door.  I don’t know if they were coming or going or if loitering outside Red Robin restrooms is something they do for kicks, but unfortunately they were doing it at the wrong place and at the wrong time.  Zachary proceeded to vomit all over the floor.  Awesome.

 

We can now add Red Robin to the list of restaurants that we have, er, marked.  Also on that list are: The Olive Garden – ‘when you’re there, you’re family’ and I guess we felt just a little too at home.  McDonalds – that Zachary sprayed with Easter candy rainbow vomit, and Jack in the Box, where Matthew finally let his ‘car sick’ outta the car. I don’t think anyone will ever invite us out ever and really, I don’t think we SHOULD eat out for a VERY long time…or maybe ever.

 

Mike left to take Zachary and Kayli home while Rachel, Matthew and I calmly finished our meal and then split the check (the sweetheart!) for the meal that we really shouldn’t have had to pay for and sadly didn’t really manage to enjoy.

 

So, the money thing: we’re on a tighter budget now, which I DO think is a good thing.  It’s definitely more stressful, but it makes us count every penny we spend.  We eat home, so we’re eating healthier food; the kids know that they’re not going to get whatever they ask for (though I’d like to think that they didn’t even before either); we’re just getting more creative and spending less.  Anyway, I feel like, again, we’re doing a good job, we’re trying anyway and yet…and yet…we had to get new tires and breaks for the minivan – Boom $$$.  We had to buy a new furnace (which we knew we’d have to do) – BOOM $$$$$!!!  We got the bill for Kayliana’s trip to the ER on our anniversary – OUCH $$$$!!  We got the bill for her second elbow relocation – OWIE $$$.  Mike and I haven’t been to the dentist in two years (yikes!), but his work doesn’t provide dental, so we’d have to pay out of pocket for that.  Not gonna happen right now. The boys are now due for a dentist check-up, and I dread setting up the appointment because of what it will cost.  Wah wah wah. Whine whine whine.

 

Obviously, we CHOSE to move, we KNEW we’d have a bigger mortgage and a tighter budget, I just wish the universe would stop pooping on us!

 

But then, just when I’m so super frustrated with things going just kinda-a-little-puke-ily wrong, something amazing happens.  Kayliana and I nearly get hit by a car.  This was amazing because we WEREN’T hit by a car.  We were walking from Spin at the gym today down the shopping complex to the Safeway.  Kayli wanted to walk and kept stopping and was taking her sweet time which was fine with me as we weren’t in a big hurry, so I let her linger.  We’d just started walking after another little for-whatever-reason break, when an old man floored it instead of stepping on the break and proceeded to drive his car (about twenty feet in front of us) on to the sidewalk and up against the brick wall of the building.  Without much pause, he quickly threw the car into reverse and went to a different parking spot in the lot as if nothing had really happened and he hadn’t just smashed his car into a building, leaving chunks of his hood and bumper on the sidewalk. 

 

I’m thankful that we weren’t the chunks on the sidewalk.  Thank you, Universe.  Thank you, God!

First Day

I’m not quite sure how this happened, but I blinked and now have TWO elementary school offsprings – a 1^st grader and a 3^rd grader.  The latter will turn 9 tomorrow.  That’s like, ELDERLY by little kid standards.  It’s not little kid even, it’s just full-on big boy, stinky-feet KID.  CRAZY.

 

Thankfully, before this morning’s momentous school bus departure, the kiddos and I spent a lovely weekend together with my parentals (along with my brother Chris) at their Port Ludlow beach house.  We went to the “lagoon beach” to catch crabs and find sand dollars, we swam in the pool and collected sea glass at a different beach.  Mike stayed home as he was attending a video grame tournament/conference thingy – basically the OLYPMICS of video game playing.  Needless-to-say, we ALL had a great weekend.

 

Before we left town on Friday, the kids and I went to their new school to meet their teachers. I’m pretty sure they both scored in the teacher department this year.  Matthew’s 3^rd grade teacher seems totally great and lives down the street from us with her hubby and three daughters!  Zachary’s 1^st grade teacher: well, her last name, if lacking an “e” would be “Ms. Candy,” and she sure does seem sweet.  Honestly, if Zachary doesn’t have a crush on her by the end of the year, I’d be surprised.  I already do!  She’s adorable! 

 

In the classroom, we waited (Kayliana, IMPATIENTLY) for our turn to speak with “Ms. Candy.”  We kept having pain-in-the-butts cut in front of us in line.  While some DID apologize, (“Oh, so sorry, this’ll just take a minute.”)  Others took forever.  One family – new to the school like us – even asked Ms. Candy things like, “What’s on the lunch menu on Tuesday?!”  ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME. RIGHT. NOW.??  Did that seriously just come out of your mouth hole?!!  Look it up on-line, peeps.

 

By the time, Ms. Candy finally made it to us; she was quietly VERY apologetic for our having to wait.  Zach – not one to typically be shy – immediately clammed up upon meeting his teacher.  She put out her hand to shake his and he just stared at it as if he had NO clue what to do with such a gesture.  (She ended up just patting his hand).  And when she asked him if he preferred Zachary or Zach, he gruffly replied, “I don’t care.”  Nice.  Friendly kid!

 

This morning, on the walk to the bus stop, I asked the boys if they were excited. 

 

Matthew said, “Yeah, but I’ll have no friends.”  I reminded him that nearly his entire baseball team goes to our new school, and that they’ll all be at the same recess even if they’re not in his class.  Also, he’ll make lots of new friends as well.  Zachary piped up with a (NOT) helpful, “Matthew doesn’t make new friends well.  I do that way better than him.”

 

I chastised him, saying that wasn’t nice, but Matthew quickly interjected, “No, he’s right.  I’m a lot shyer than he is.”

 

Well, OK, then.  Both boys did get on the bus happily and without incident in their MATCHY shirts (which THEY decided on).  Mike, Kayliana and I waved them off and headed home for our first day with two kids gone ALL day.  WhatEVER shall I do with myself?!

CAMPING!

I’m happy to report that we were/are happy campers.  We had a WONDERFUL five day camping excursion to beautiful Orcas Island with our besties: Jason, Rebecca and their three stellar offspring.

 

When we first arrived at our campsite, we were very disappointed to discover half of it blocked off  with construction fencing and a note stating that due to a not-yet fallen tree limb, camping should only be done on one part of the site.  To the right of the fence, our campsite ended in a steep hill down to the road below.  Awesome.  Sure, totally safe for two toddlers!  But, then, we realized that the saying is true: every cloud has an orange construction fence-lining.  We unrolled the remainder of the fencing roll and barricaded in a huge portion of our site, making it basically baby-safe magicness.  (Or as safe as can be outside).  That and the huge wooded area complete with awesome creek-playing capabilities for the boys made our site totally the best in the campground.

 

And we had so much fun.  On our first full day (Thursday), we all set out for a three-ish mile hike to Cascade waterfalls. Our boys – rookies when it comes to hiking – handled it well and kept the whining to a minimum.  Zachary and I speed-walked/jogged the whole way back so we had a chance to change clothes and grab a picnic lunch for our 3 hour whale watching boat ride!  (I got the tickets for free from a friend – score!!).  Zach and I were disappointed when, first thing, the captain told us that just the night before he’d followed the three resident Orca pods (87 whales total) as they headed North towards Canada.  He basically prefaced our whale watching tour with “Don’t count on seeing any whales…but we’ll see seals and Bald Eagles and other cool animals.”  Sorry, not nearly as cool as seeing whales on a whale watching boatride. 

 

Though, the day had started with a few sprinkles it ended up being a gorgeous afternoon and we had a wonderful time.  We saw TONS of seals, a few people on the boat spotted some porpoise (we missed those, sadly), we saw a Bald Eagle in its nest and…AND…we DID see a whale.  Yes, A, as in singular.  One whale was hanging out and having lunch in middle of a bunch of islands.  It was pretty comical to see all the different whale watching boats come charging out of nowhere and then bob around trying to catch a glimpse of this one Minke (pronounced “Mink-ee”), who Zach named, Twinkie the Minke.  For a while it was easy to keep track of as we’d hear the “Oohs! Ahhs!” and “There!s” from the other boats. Twinkie was approximately 24 feet long (according to the Captain’s guesstimate) and at one point, he/she did come close enough to the boat that we could hear (and see) it spout water.  It was very, VERY cool and something that Zach and I will always remember.

 

So for the not awesome part of camping: sleeping whilst camping was a tad rough.  The first night was seriously a worry.  Kayli started crying several times after we put her to bed and of course we stressed about bugging other campers.  We ended up having her on the air mattress with us most nights.  The first night, after she’d finally settled down and we’d all fallen asleep, we awoke to clanging and grunting and rustling and…hooves.  We peeked out the window in the tent door and saw a young buck, five feet away, eating our bananas!  We managed to scare him off long enough so that we could collect what garbage and food scraps that had been accidentally left out.  While I was grabbing the garbage bag, Mike was flashing the light all around.  (I had brief visions of being rammed in the butt by the buck a la Spanish running-of-the-bulls style).  At one point, Mike flashed the light and I saw a raccoon pacing on the other side of our construction fence (God bless that small barrier).  Needless to say, we moved as quickly as possible to get everything cleaned up and into our car.  A few minutes after we were safely zipped and tucked in, we heard the hooves approach again and quiet munching followed as he finished up whatever small chunks of banana peel were still in the dirt.  I decided his name was “Sir Hoofington.” Sir Hoofington visited every single night, but we managed to not leave anything fancy out for him after the banana incident.

 

On Friday morning, we drove up to the look-out tower on the top of Mt. Constitution where you can see the most sensational views of the San Juan Islands and surrounding areas (Bellingham and Canada included).  In the evening, we took our delicious Tomale Pie in the dutch oven and cooked dinner down at the beach where the kids all swam and played in the sand and on the playground (where two of our six combined children – Kayliana included – managed to fall OFF the play structure but, thankfully, they avoided major injury).

 

Saturday, we decided that another beach day was in order and we packed a picnic lunch so we could spend the majority of the day there.  The forecast had been so-so leading up to our trip, but this was one of those occasions where we were SO thankful they were wrong.  It ended up being perfect – not too hot, not too cold, with enough sun for the beach but enough evening coolness for a fire and s’mores.  Beautiful.  Saturday afternoon and evening we did as much packing as we could and then enjoyed the boys’ presentation of a skit they’d been working on for days.  It actually was fairly impressive – there was drama, intrigue, suspense – Zachary even had a death scene (twice!).  It was award-winning, I assure you.

 

Sunday morning was all about the quick (as quick as possible, anyway) tear down of the tents and last minute necessary camping accoutrements. We were worried about making the 12pm ferry as they only run every few hours, and we’d heard horror stories of people missing one and being stuck just waiting by the car for the next boat.  Thankfully, we made it and had a couple of hours to enjoy one last picnic (and bottle of champagne) together!

 

It’s always sad when the summer comes to an end, but there is a part of me that secretly begins to yearn for normalcy, a routine, children in school…the boys start a week from tomorrow, so ready or not, here it comes!

 

 

Getting the girls to face the camera and not the water was tricky...you can tell they're pumped.

 

 The ladies

 

 Ready for our hike

 Such handsome boys!!

 Whale watching

 Our prime real estate with partially fenced-space

Bubble Wrap

I like to think that we’re decent parents.  I mean we’re not the best; we’re not the worst.  I often joke that I’m a self-proclaimed “slacker mom.”  I try to keep my childrens’ expectations of me low so that 1.) they’re not disappointed and 2.) if/when I do go beyond the bare minimum, they’re extremely impressed and touched.  Lately, I feel like as parents, we’re JUST squeaking by with the lowest of requirements: we’re just trying to keep the children alive and mostly unscathed.  And we’re kind of failing.

First of all, there’s Kayli’s elbow.  Obviously, she’s fine and I was/am/will always be thankful that the dislocated elbow (thus far) is her worst injury that we’ve had to handle.  But, seriously, that child may just give us a heart attack soon.  Last week, I was heading in to use the downstairs bathroom.  I saw something out of the corner of my eye and glimpsed Kayliana clinging to the OUTSIDE of the stairwell banister.  She was only about four stairs up but she was en route to climbing up, up, up on the out, outside.  She was holding completely still as if thinking, “If I don’t move, maybe she won’t see me and I can continue in my escapade.”  I, obviously, quickly got her down planting her feet firmly on the floor and scolding her.  She immediately began talking in her baby gibberish with hand motions.  I don’t know if she was trying to change the subject and distract me with her cuteness of if she was telling me off in a string of toddler profanity.  At any rate, I turned around and took care of my business in the restroom.  When I came out, there she was again, clinging like a little tree frog to the stair banister again.  Seriously?!  THIS time when I scolded her, in her anger, she began yelling, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” and ran back to try and throw the stair railing (she’s an angry thrower, if you’ll recall).  I explained (in vain) that the stair railing was not hers, that she could not continue to climb it nor could she throw it.

On Saturday evening, we were SO excited to get to see Mia – Kayli’s birth mom.  We haven’t seen Mia in quite a while and she came to see us, the new house and join us for dinner.  Shortly after Mia’s arrival, we were in Zach’s room where he’d just been showing her his “set ups.”  (This is the THING lately in this house.  The boys spend HOURS on building these elaborate scenes – “set ups” – with Legos or Playmobils – and then I don’t have the heart to always make them put them away because they ARE quite impressive and they spend an entire afternoon working on them.)  Mia and I had stayed in Zach’s room and were chatting when all of a sudden we heard a huge crash, a loud scream followed by crying and Mike yelling at Zach.  It was ugly.  Apparently Zachary had “accidentally” pushed Matthew.  (We’re thinking it was one of those “accidents” that could’ve easily been avoided).  Matthew had fallen hard, hitting the back of his head against the sharp corner of the wall in the hallway.  Matthew was crying (but thank goodness not bleeding – for his sake and our carpet) and had a huge bump forming under his hair.  Poor kiddo.  Zachary was crying for being unjustly accused of being too wild and injuring his brother.  Kayli was watching it all and enjoying the excitement of the moment.  I was praying that Mia wasn’t regretting her decision of choosing us as her daughter’s family.  Then, just when things had settled down: Matthew was resting with an ice pack, Zachary was calmly being discharged from time-out by Mike, Mia and I had gone back downstairs to retrieve our Pina Coladas….thud, thud, thud, WHUMP, SCREAM, crying, and under-breath cursing.  Kayliana for only the 2^nd or 3^rd time in her life and tumbled head-over-heels down the stairs.  Yup, we’re parents of the year. 

I KNOW this stuff happens.  I know that awful, tragic, horrible accidents happen to the most diligent of parents, but when they start stacking up in frequency you do kind of start to feel a little sucktastic.  Um, childrens’ guardian angels: do you mind stepping it up a little ‘cuz I’m feeling like we need a little more back-up?!!

Today, we’re getting ready for our biggest camping trip of the summer.  We’re SO excited!  The boys have been asking everyday for the last several if we can just leave early.  I’ve explained that while I’d like to as well, camping – with three kiddos especially – takes some serious prep and packing.  In addition to all of that, Mike will have another task today: dismantling Kayliana’s crib.  Last night she fell out of it.  Recently, she’s climbed out of it a couple of times successfully.  But last night in her anger and fury (with the fact that we were ignoring her 2am cries for “num nums;” sorry the kitchen was closed) and with the handicap of pitch-blackness, we heard the awful sound of a big THUD followed by harder crying.  She was fine, her arm/elbow was fine, but my heart didn’t stop racing and I couldn’t go back to sleep for nearly an hour. 

So, camping: open water, sticks, roots, rocks…I’ll be bringing the bubble-wrap for our children.



Morning cuddles in Zach's bed (notice the wall color "Martin Midnight Magic").

                                                         A new fave photo!

All dolled up for the neighborhood luau.

                                                     
                                         Kayli IS seriously buff from all her climbing/working out.

Riiiiight.  So, when the ER doctor said “Once a child dislocates her elbow it’s likely to happen again…” I didn’t realize that he meant like TWO DAYS LATER.  Here’s what happened: on Monday, I’d just gotten Kayli up from nap.  I changed her diaper (on her changing pad which we just put on the floor).  And just as it’s happened a gajillion times, I finished changing her and she put up her hands for me to pull her up to standing.  Did you catch that?  I PULLED HER HANDS – basically the EXACT thing you’re not supposed to do with this whole dislocated elbow business.  Yeah, it was a mistake, an accident, a completely forgivable mishap, but really?! Come on!  So, I pull her up to standing and I feel and HEAR a pop sound.  Kayli froze.  We simultaneously gasped.  She turned white and sucked in air and then shakily said, “BUMP!” and then started to wail.  Crap. Crappity crap crap crapums. 

I called the pediatrician’s office and thankfully they were able to get us in immediately which saved us a trip to Urgent Care (and mucho buckos, I imagine).  The doctor told me that since Kayli had just dislocated her elbow two days before, the ligaments were stretched out and would just be ‘extra’ sensitive for a few weeks….if we could make it without her dislocating her elbow a bunch of times, then, hopefully, in a while it won’t be as likely to happen.  But in the meantime…she showed me how to pop Kayliana’s elbow back in – something that is REALLY something I don’t want to have to do and honestly, I don’t know if I’d be able to.  I’d really like to not find out, but signs are sorta pointing to more likely than not.

On Tuesday morning, I took Kayli and Zach to the gym so that I could do Spin.  Mike was a little concerned, “What about Kayli’s elbow?  I mean all the kids ripping around and stuff….” I reminded him that we weren’t going to be putting Kayli in a bubble for the next two years, so we’ll just have to risk her, you know, being released into the wild and interacting with the other natives.  Zach proudly told me in the car that he’d “look out for Kayli.”

When we arrived, he walked up to the check in gate and told one of his buddies (a very serious looking four year old boy), “Don’t touch my sister’s hands, she has elbow problems.”

When I explained to Monique – the childcare lady – what had happened to Kayli and that, if she could just avoid pulling or picking up Kayli by the hands, that’d be ideal…she looked at me like, “seriously?! You’re leaving me with this situation?  Yeeeah, I won’t be touching your kid at all…” 

We’ve now made it two whole days without elbow dislocation.  I call that a success!

Emergency Room on August 11th

Often people say that their wedding is the best day of their life.  I can’t completely say that.  Our wedding day was beautiful in many aspects and sacred in that we did celebrate our sacrament of marriage…but it was also really stinkin’ traumatic.  The first time Mike saw me in my dress he was lying down on a couch in the back room of a photography studio, so unbelievably sick.  I was a mess – shaky, scared and a complete emotional wreck.  We got through the wedding, thankfully, and many would say that it was a lovely event; the reception was even fun!  But spending our wedding night in the ER was NOT.

So, every year, on our anniversary, for the most part, the anniversary celebration has been WAY more meaningful, special and fun than our actual wedding day.  We do have A LOT to celebrate with each passing year.  This year, as I’d said, my parents had generously offered to take all three kiddos to Port Ludlow.  I talked to them on Saturday morning while they played happily at one of our favorite beaches over there.  We call it the “Lagoon Beach” and it’s the perfect place to frolic.  The boys bring nets and try to catch crabs.  Kayli floated a rubber ducky along one of the many little streams.  They were having a ball.

Mike and I played a card game while we ate breakfast.  (He made delicious eggs benedict.  I totally won the game).  We even spent a couple of hours being productive and getting some housework done. Then, it was time to clean up and head to dinner, then head to a comedy show (with champagne service!) and plans to go dancing afterwards.  Just when we were wrapping up our dinner at the restaurant, Mike got a call on his cellphone.  I could tell something wasn’t good.  His face fell and he kept saying, “Uh oh.  Oh no.  OK.  Oh no.”  He handed the phone over to me.  I walked out on to the patio of the restaurant so I could hear my mom better.  With a slightly shakey voice speaking over the sounds of Kayli wailing in the background she told me that Kayi had hurt her arm climbing up on the bed.  She’d not fallen, she was just climbing up and all of a sudden started to scream.  She’d been crying and hadn’t moved her right arm or let anyone touch it since.  Sooooo….we quickly got the bill and a to-go box, came home to grab a few things and I changed out of my “date night” clothes (and heels).  We got in the car (where I called the comedy club to reschedule our tickets – they were very accommodating) and headed towards Silverdale (a little over an hour away) where we’d be meeting my parents in the ER.

It’s hard not to reflect on the irony here.  I mean, how many people have to go meet up in the ER because one of their kiddos is there?  Sure, that happens often enough.  But how many people have to do it on their wedding anniversary?  How many people actually celebrate their wedding anniversary in the same place where they spent their wedding night?  And how many people can actually say that location is a hospital Emergency Room?!  We’re pretty….uh….special.

I’m happy to say that while I’m really, really bummed our anniversary plans were cancelled – and in the way they were – and our weekend without kids was cut abruptly short; I handled the whole thing very well.  I feel that maybe – miraculously – a bit of maturing has occurred in the last 11 years! Say it ain’t so!  While I used to automatically jump to a “why me? Boo hoo. This is so unfair…on our anniversary…wah wah” whiney place, this time ‘round my immediate thought was, “Thank God everyone’s OK.”  (Well, yes, Kayli’s arm was hurt, but at least they weren’t in a car accident…at least we weren’t heading to the ER because of Cancer or something equally bad.)  I even said, “Thank you, God, that it’s Kayli’s arm…and not something worse.”  I was able to keep things in perspective – at least she was with my parents.  I’d have felt terrible if this had happened with a babysitter or friends (‘cuz you know THEY’D feel AWFUL and responsible.  While, yes, my mom especially felt awful, she can handled it fairly well).  I was thankful that we weren’t in the middle of nowhere camping or something.  I was thankful that I’d thought to tell Mike to turn his phone on at dinner (even though the battery is dying a slow, agonizing death and he needs a new cellphone).  I was thankful that we hadn’t gone out of town for our anniversary and we were only an hour away.  I was thankful we were at dinner and not at a movie or something where we wouldn’t have gotten the message for a while.  I was thankful the hospital called to get our Insurance information over the phone so that we didn’t have to take care of that when we got there.  I was thankful my parents were able to get ahold of friends with whom they could drop the boys while they went to the ER.  I was thankful we had a full tank of gas and didn’t have to prolong our arrival to be with our daughter in the hospital….

Anyway, we made it safely and as quick as possible to Silverdale.  We found the medical center/Emergency Room with no problem and were immediately told where to find Kayliana and my parents.  My poor little sweetie.  She looked so tiny propped up on the exam table/bed.  She had two stuffed animals to cuddle with – Zach had loaned her his dog “Zelda” and she had a teddy bear the nurse had given her.  My parents had done a fantastic job of trying to keep her as comfortable as possible, but we could tell that something was wrong.  Kayli had TWO blankies and wasn’t sucking her fingers.  (If she’s got a blankie, then she’s sucking two fingers on her right hand.  Her arm just hung limp by her side).  Kayli started to cry as soon as she saw me…which she still does every time I go to pick her up from the kids’ club at the gym.  It’s like she wants me to remember that she KNOWS I left her and she’s kinda mad about it…even though she was fine and had fun the whole time I was gone. 

Dad filled us in: the ER nurse took one look at Kayli’s arm and knew right away that it was a dislocated elbow (“Nursemaid Elbow.”)  Thankfully it wasn’t broken.  We wouldn’t have to get X-Rays.  The doctor would have to just quickly (but painfully) pop it back into place.  She’d be fine five minutes later, BUT….once a child has dislocated her elbow, it’s a lot more likely to happen again….and again…and again…they usually outgrow this issue by 3-4 years of age.  But IF they do redislocate the elbow, you have to take them in everytime.  I’ve heard a few stories of ‘Oh, our kid did that so many times, by the 7^th trip to the ER, the doctor just taught us how to do it…’  Yeah, this doctor looked very serious when he said, “Don’t try this at home.”  And I wouldn’t want to.  I just held Kayli and stroked her hair and looked away while the doctor described what he was doing.  Kayli was a champ.  She started crying just when we were taking her shirt off and she didn’t stop until the nurse offered to bring her graham crackers – ahhh, food!  and reminded her that she’d get to keep the little teddy bear she’d been given.  But, all in all, she really was better after a few minutes.  We’d sent my parents home to be with the boys and then we packed Kayli up to take home with us.  She chatted and jabbered, pointing out the window, giggling the whole drive home.  Since she’d not eaten dinner and ours was cut short, we picked up Blizzards at the DQ drive-through. 

Mike said lamely, “Happy Anniversary blizzards…” But, I WAS happy (and not just with the chocolate-coffee ice cream with Oreo cookie chunks).  I am happy and so thankful.

Pre-date (and pre-ER) hotness

the little champ

Even photogenic in the ER!

Happy 11th Anniversary!

I’m a pretty lucky lady.  More than lucky.  I’m kind of immensely blessed and, quite frankly, spoiled.  Eleven years ago today, August 11^th, 2001, I got to marry my bestest friend/love of my life.  And I can honestly say that life, since our marriage began, has gotten better and better; I love him even more now than I did back then.  I suppose, you could say, with the way things started for us (Mike having cancer, spending our wedding night in the ER), that things really COULD only improve from there.  But you never know what life’s going to give you, but thankfully, for us, life HAS improved. 

We’ve had rough times; I mean everyone has their cranky-crappy days.  Obviously, our first year: spending our time as newlyweds with Mike having to go through the torture of Chemo and Radiation was pretty much beyond super sucky.  Being completely helpless while watching your teeny-tiny preemie babies go through horrendous stuff in the NICU was insanely hard.  Seven weeks of hospitalized bedrest was really difficult on both of us, to say the least.  And then dealing with the darkness of PostPartum Depression is something that we never want to relive…but….BUT here we are.  Eleven years later.  Stronger, better, more in love and living the life we always dreamed of living.  Two sons and a daughter.  Our health.  Our forever home.  Kinda couldn’t ask for anything more.

And this is one of my very VERY favorite things in our whole entire house.  A few years ago, I resurrected and framed the tattered papers on which I’d glued the scraps of paper from our engagement/proposal day.  Mike had had about twenty of our friends, on my 20^th birthday, come into my dorm room with long-stemmed roses, some with notes, and some without.  When the notes were laid out like this I – EVENTUALLY – caught on to what they were spelling.  (This was extra difficult since the first note had been thrown in the trash by accident, so when I first looked down I saw, “ ill you mar” which made no sense what-so-ever). 

Anyway, so I framed this several years ago and had it hanging in our old bedroom above my bedside table and lamp.  But it was in a place where no one ever saw it and even I didn’t really notice it all that much. But now, even if I’m in a bad mood or had a rough day, seeing this centers me and brings me back to how it all began.  It is the last thing I see before I go to sleep at night and the first thing I see every single morning when I open my eyes.  I love it!  

Kayliana's room

Kayli’s room is 99% complete. We still need to hang her rod and curtains, put all the books on the shelves and some framed photos up on the wall (including this one of Mia and I when she was pregnant).  So, maybe we’re more like 96% complete.  The boys helped “decorate” today and then had Kayli demonstrate what she will do in her crib (“Go night night!”).  I’m so happy to get her beautiful mirror (from Auntie/Godmother Rebecca) and quilt (from Auntie Julia and her mama) up too!

Flying Solo

So sometimes I’m awesome…sometimes not so much.  The past few days I’ve fallen into the awesome category.  (Not one to toot my own horn…but…I’m about to toot……my horn, that is).  Mike found out a couple of weeks ago that he’d be attending a conference in North Carolina from Sunday through today.  He’ll arrive back in Seattle VERY early tomorrow morning.  The thought of four days single momming three kids (yes, “momming” is a verb) was a bit daunting.  How will I survive?!  Thankfully, that’s where my awesome kicked in.

Sunday was Seafair here – hydroplane races, air show, Blue Angels – and it happened to be the hottest day we’ve had yet this summer.  I decided to pack up the kiddos and haul us to the beach where we beat the heat for most of the day.  Thankfully, Kayli now LOVES her little floaty and was a complete water baby and due to the temperature, the lake was actually refreshing and comfortable – not crazy cold as it often is.  We had a great time!  I then dragged (drug?!) the three heat-drenched, tired children to Lowes and the grocery store (where they got to pick out microwave dinners – special magical treat! – and ice cream cones) before finally bringing us home to the sauna-hot house.

Monday, we had a playdate here for the boys – two brothers who go to our new school.  The boys had so much fun and when it was time for their mom to come pick them up Zach was completely incredulous.  “WHAT?! That playdate was like seconds long!!”  Time flies when you’re having fun.

I also decided to spend Mike’s absence undertaking Project Playard.  Kayli has begun to climb out when we need her to STAY in there for sleepovers, playdates at others’ homes, etc.  AND my parents just volunteered (brave folk) to take all three kiddos for this upcoming weekend.  (Our 11^th anniversary is the 11^th!!).  My parents weren’t thrilled with the news that Kayli’s turned into a little escape artist, so…I’ve had her sleeping in the playard in our closet.  In the meantime, I’ve been painting her bedroom!

Nap 1 in the playard: I put her down and began painting in her room.  Matthew poked his head in and said, “Uh, Mom, Kayli’s yelling for you at the top of her lungs.” 

I went to open my bedroom door – which I’d left open – only to discover that it was locked.  I heard Kayli ripping around giggling on the other side.

“Kayli,” I called ever-so-sweetly in my nicest mommy voice.  “Come open the door.  Let mommy in!”  She came running to the door giggling all the way.  As soon as it was open I scolded her for being a toddler-dini and escaping the playard.

"No. You stay in.  You don’t get out.  You go night-night.”  Kayli’s bottom lip trembled.  I picked her up, soothed her and put her back in the playard where she proceeded to take an awesome nap.  Success!

Later, Monday, I had a furnace guy here giving us a quote since – happy anniversary to us! – we have to buy a new furnace.  I’m pretty proud of myself for learning the details of furnaces though the subject does kind of bore me to tears.  And the fact that it costs so much brings on the tears too.

Tuesday, I woke up to Zach calling for me – he’d woken up with a bloody nose.  Despite the rough start to our day, I got us all up and out the door to the gym so I could do Spin.  We then went to the library AND stopped by the boys’ school to finally get them officially registered!  I did more painting, more playard-training, and I took us all to the pool for the boys’ to swim lessons.    

Today we were supposed to go to the Zoo and then a playdate later, but Matthew complained of an icky tummy and is definitely feverish and pale.  So, here we are, last day of solo momhood, and I gotta say, we did pretty well.  I didn’t accomplish everything that I was hoping to, but then again, sometimes you just run out of awesome.  I meant, at least   everyone survived (I did LITERALLYdiscover that Kayli had climbed up on the dining room table and was swinging  the chandelier this morning, shhhh…don’t tell Mike)…but I’m DEFINITELY ready for a weekend sans bebes and for my honey-pants to come home.