Michelangelo Watch Out You've Got Competition...

I was cleaning out Gabriel's school folder the other night when I found this drawing. I looked and wondered if I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. I asked him who all the people in the drawing were. He said the big person was Mrs. ____ (His teacher). Hmmm, so then I asked what are these here?? "Her boobs!" Yikes!! How the heck am I supposed to address that one?!? I braced myself as I asked where he was when he drew the picture, and was VERY relieved when he answered Nanny's house. I could've used a warning on that one Nanny. :+) I'd never be able to show my face at school again if he'd been there. I told him he did a great picture, but shouldn't draw boobs anymore. Stephen and I had a good giggle that night after all the kids were asleep. He keeps us on our toes.

This morning during breakfast he held it up and asked, "Mom do you like my picture?" "Yes" I answered, "but you probably shouldn't draw boobs." "But, I wanted it to look like a reeaall person, Mom." Deep breath, respond carefully, don't crush him for life, don't discourage observation of the world around him, don't make our bodies seems like a shameful thing, don't make him feel embarrassed, how to respond, how to respond....

"That was a good job adding details to make it look more like a real person, but you'll have to be careful how you make people look real because sometimes others won't understand it." He answered, "Oh, Ok." I watched his eyes because they are so expressive I would've know if his feelings were hurt. All was well with his eyes....I don't know if my response did damage or not, but it was the best I could do at the moment.

To an outside observer he looks like a semi out of control (or sometimes a fully out of control), ill behaved, wild child, but this boy doesn't miss much. I don't know how he picks up on so much through all the wild, but he does. We have to be very careful around here. Before all the early intervention started working this kid was totally checked out of the world around him and we could do or say whatever we wanted with no worries. Those days are definitely over... and that's a good thing. If we can get his wild channeled in a productive way and he can learn to tap into that wild for his own benefit he'll be very successful at whatever he wants. If not...well... there just can't be an if not.

Little Lincoln's Weight Check....

This is a really bad picture of our Little Lincoln. (It's from my phone because the dang battery in my camera is always dead!) The library did a story time all about Groundhog Day. At the end all the kids got to come out of their "burrow" and check for their shadow. Gabriel helped Lincoln come through.

I just took him back into the doctor for his weight check. He came in at 19 pounds 15 ounces. The nurse commented, "Wow that' really good weight gain, and only one ounce shy of 20." I'm pretty sure if they'd weighed him BEFORE the huge poop he made, while waiting, he would've been at or above 20 lbs. I was pretty excited about it too. Four weeks ago he'd lost weight and was down to 18 pounds 8 ounces. The doctor said, "Well, he's doing great now, I'm glad to see it. Keep doing what you're doing and I'll see him at the next well check." Fastest visit ever....

It was no easy task convincing this kid that food is ok and that he should eat more of it. He's got a robust appetite now and seems happier. He's still not a fan of evening times, but that is just the real him. It was frustrating to be doing everything we could think of and still have him regressing.

Every time we're in to see the Pediatrician I have a feeling of gratitude wash over me. Gabriel came 2 1/2 weeks early; when the hospital asked who the Pediatrician would be the only name I knew was the one a friend had mentioned after he'd performed a procedure for her baby. I gave his name to the hospital and hoped for the best. The next day he came in to check on Gabriel before we went home, and I was SO relieved that I liked him. He's proactive when problems come up, he starts with the more "homeopathic" type treatments, then moves to the more aggressive treatments if the others don't work, he's never looked at me like I was crazy or judgementally, he was great during the times that we were uninsured and paying out of pocket with helping us keep the bills down while maintaining good healthy kids, and is just a nice guy that is a doctor because he wants to help people. I have felt the Lord had a huge hand in us finding him, and I'm grateful for it everyday.

Winter Event...Arizona Style

We have one side of our fence that is still the original 30 year old crappy wood fence. It's barely hanging on. The other two sides of our yard now have a nice block wall that will never go anywhere, but this last side requires a tall retaining wall to be up before we can finish the fence. So, anytime the wind blows we usually lose a section. This is one of the many repairs Stephen has made on our side. Our neighbor next door has made just as many on his side. You may be thinking that's the ugliest repair EVER. You're right, and Stephen agrees with you, but we're running out of good anchoring ground so that's the best we could do. Last night the wind started blowing....LIKE HOLBROOK! I haven't been in wind like last night since I left Radiator Springs, uh, I mean Holbrook.
Right before we went to bed, I looked at Stephen and told him, "It will be nothing short of a miracle if that fence stays up."
IT STAYED UP!
I've gotta give that boy credit. He can usually fix or figure out a way to fix just about anything. Although, I think those engineering classes have probably contributed to that. ;-D

The back 3 panels of fence didn't fare so well; they all came down. This is the neighbor's yard. I heard our neighbor out there working on it and told him when Stephen would be getting home so they can work on it together. I think between the two of them they'll be able to come up with a more durable fix because we know that darn retaining wall is a LONG way off. Our darling little puppies will be spending the day with Nanny so his 3 black labs/rottweilers won't eat them.

I checked on the other side of the house and only had one word to say about this....I won't share it with you, but I DID share it with Stephen. He loves it when I do that. We were going to sell this set at a yard sale in a couple weeks. We set it up on the pavers you can see on the left of the picture, wrapped a huge tarp around it with a bungee cord to hold it on in the wind and figured it'd be fine. This morning I found it flopped over laying in the mud puddle with no dang tarp covering at all. GRRRR! We'll be making a dump run if anyone has anything else that needs to go.

I wouldn't be even a little annoyed about all the ruined and broken stuff if the storm had damaged something useful in the process. We need a roof! Did the storm rip off the shingles? NO Did it blow the swamp cooler to the ground so we could replace the 30 year old monster? NO Did it rip a whole section of roof off? NO
RUDE, RUDE, RUDE STORM!

I am VERY grateful we have already cut down all our big eucalyptus trees; last night's storm would've brought them down. Stephen says in Australia, or somewhere like that, those trees are called widow makers. I believe it, they are so brittle and just can't handle storms like that.

However, I loved the rain, and my front yard plants loved it too!

Oh, To Be A "Growle"

This happened a couple months ago, but I don't want to forget it. It's just for me.

While shopping for a birthday present for a girl with Garrett in tow...


Garrett: Someday when I'm a growle (his weird pronunciation of girl) I would love that!

Me: A girl? You're a boy silly.

Garrett: No, when I become a growle.

Me: But you're a boy, how do you plan on becoming a girl?

Garrett: When you eat growle food, then you get to be a growle, and I would love that.

Me: What is girl food?

Garrett: Girl food. (said so incredulously)

Me: Sorry kiddo you're gonna be a boy forever.

Garrett: Noooo, when I grow up I'll be a growle after I eat growle food. I would looove that.

Our little conversation went on the entire trip to target. The men we passed gave me dirty looks. I kept trying to emphasize that he's stuck being a boy, but he wasn't buying it. He seemed really excited about all the girl stuff he'll get someday when he grows up and can be a girl.

The next day we got together for Arianna's birthday party and he was running around talking about being a growle again. Soooo, Arianna took her magic princess wand and gave him a bipity bopity boo so he could be a girl.

The day after that he was walking around home saying, "I still a boy. Arianna bibby boppy boooo, but I still a boy. (long sigh)" He was SO disappointed that the wand didn't work.

The little phase has passed and he's accepted that not only is he a boy, but a big boy....most of the time. I don't know what is going on in that kid's head most of the time, but am pretty sure I'd be scared if I did know. :)

Quasimoto's New Girlfriend!

A few weeks ago pink eye went through all the kids. Thanks Kindergarten. One night my eye started feeling a little itchy and was kinda bothering me so I just took the kids left over eye drops and started using them as a preventative measure.

The next morning (the official first day of Christmas break) when I woke up my eye was RED! I thought, "Wow, this is really bad I need to use more drops." It got worse and worse so I used more and more drops...you can see where this is going. By 1:30 in the afternoon it hurt like crazy and was swelling so I went to the "minute" clinic at CVS. I waited for over and hour just to have the nurse take one look at my eye and send me to urgent care. So, I spent another couple hours at urgent care. That doctor gave me a prescription and sent me home with not much of an answer.

Once I got home and Stephen finished laughing at me I took a close look in the mirror. I looked like a mutant. I have green eyes and when I cry or they get red for some reason they turn bright green. The combo of psycho red and bright green made me look like a horror flick character. Anyway, when I looked really closely I noticed my actual eyeball was swelling. I was so exhausted and just wanted to crawl in bed and go to sleep; but, I was worried that it'd swell so badly over night that I'd wake up blind in the morning. There's not much work for blind interpreters. Stephen called a friend, that is also an optometrist, to see if he'd be willing to take a look at it. It was waaaay after business hours by this time. I was so grateful that he let me come over. He thought it looked like an allergic reaction. I was allergic to the sulfate in the kid's drops so every time I used them it worsened the reaction. He sent me home with better medicine and directions on how to help it get better.

I looked like a Quasimoto mutant for almost a week afterwards...church was fun. :) I'm so glad I didn't even bother trying to get family pictures this year so my weird eye wasn't a problem for that. In the end I DIDN'T even have pink eye, but know to avoid exposure to sulfates. I'm very glad to have both of my eyes back. It was such a fun start to Christmas!

Failure to Thrive

This cute little thing has just earned the title of "Failure to Thrive". Between 6 and 9 months he only gained 14 ounces, not even a full pound. His Pediatrician was concerned at how little he'd gained and ordered a blood test and follow up weight check. I'm such a great mom and took forever to get both done, but finally ended up back in the Doctor's office 4 weeks later.

His blood test came back normal. However, he'd LOST a half pound. He looks so skinny now; he's too tall for many 12 month clothes but waaay to skinny for 18 month clothes. Every time we change him it's sad to see how thin he is. The Doctor was pretty concerned and ordered a stool study (yeah, that was a load of fun to collect...EW!) cystic fibrosis sweat test, and visit to a nutritionist. Both the stool and sweat test came back normal. Today we visited with the nutritionist. She said she didn't notice any huge red flags, but thinks he might have some food sensitivities. He's allowed to have those as long as it's soy and dairy like Gabriel. It's hard enough maintaining a soy/dairy free house, I can't imagine adding something else into the mix. She gave me several good pointers and suggestions to try and recover and add to his weight. I couldn't help but think Dr. Newmark (the Dr. that helped us a TON with Gabriel) would be a great resource right now too...he moved to California.

A few days ago my parents stopped by and while my Dad was here they gave him a blessing. After, Stephen mentioned that he really felt like there was definitely something going on, but that it wasn't huge. So, I guess now we're down just figuring out what exactly it is.

He's becoming more and more fussy and seems like he doesn't feel good. He's recently earned the name "Velcro Boy" because he has to be attached to me at all times. It's taking a toll on my poor frayed rotator cuffs, but if it means he doesn't cry all day and night, I'll hold him. I go back to work later this month, it'll be rough on him if we're still working on a diagnosis. I miss my Lincoln...

Don't you love when...

you get home from shopping, with all the kids in tow, and discover they've turned you into a THEIF!?!

Towards the end of putting all the groceries away I discovered these two candy bars. I thought, "Those dang kids! I just wasted money on candy bars that you know I'm gonna end up eating and my butt is gonna end up keeping." I checked the receipt and discovered that I hadn't wasted any money at all because they WEREN'T THERE! I was really annoyed that I had to go back to the store and pay for them. Needless to say the big boys knew how annoyed I was when I got done.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I looked to the back of the van because it was so quiet. All three were asleep (why do they never all do that at home?) I cracked up when I saw our little Garrett.

Deep Thoughts of a 3 Year Old...

Garrett: (Out of the blue while driving to work with Stephen) Dad do zombies poop?

Dad: Uh, I don't know. Do they eat? (Send Mommy a text to ask her if they poop...)

Garrett: Yeah.

Dad: Well then I guess they poop; Mommy says they poop too.

Garrett: Oh, ok.

(Quiet for a few minutes)

Garrett: Do zombies pee?

Dad: If they poop then they have to pee too.

Garrett: (happily) Oh, ok!

Where they heard about zombies we'll never know. It probably came home from kindergarten somehow. The big boys are SO into talking about zombies, poop, and butts...till we hear them and tell them to stop talking about that stuff and don't say butt it's a bottom. We're not having much luck the second they think we're not listening they resume the same conversation right where it left off. I'm pretty sure it's Stephen's fault...somehow. {;-D