Has it been a week already?

As I was uploading the picture of the sock we found in the vacuum this morning. I realized it has been a week already since our traumatic day at the doctor (and since my last post). I wondered to myself where it had gone and the pictures I uploaded reminded me.....

Oh yeah, I spent the week saving Owen from himself and when I wasn't saving his life, I was cleaning up his messes. I have a new found respect for all those moms who have raised (or are raising) a whole slug of boys (you know who you are..Michelle, Jan, Cindy...). I have always wanted a BIG family...like 5,6 or 8 children (crazy, I know). I like the chaos and challenges that come with having a large family and I LOVE babies, but I have to tell ya, I'm seriously second guessing myself. My girls are so well behaved. I rarely have to ask them not to do something more than once. But Owen, seriously, he lives to see my blood pressure rise. Please enlighten me. Is this just the nature of boys?...Or do we have an especially challenging one?
He was the perfect baby..really..he was. Always happy and easygoing, never fussy and so loving. He not only tolerated the nonstop kissing and hugging his 3 big sisters gave him, he LOVED it. But then he started to crawl and walk and climb and then RUN....and holy moley that child is non-stop poor judgment. And he loves it when he's in trouble and I have to chase him down while he's running and laughing his little heart out.

And since I'm sort of ranting, I should probably write this down so I remember that he can still be oh so sweet. Last night at family home evening, he spent the whole time moving from one person to the next, showering all of us with hugs and kisses and then when it was time to pray, he knelt down next to the coffee table and folded his sweet little roley poley arms and melted all our hearts. Yeah, we love that boy.

Check out that grin. He knows he's in trouble and he loves it!...so naughty

On the counter again and with a whole box of Cheerios...
I couldn't blame him for climbing on the counter this time. Wouldn't you risk life and limb for a Golden Oreo? And check out that goose egg still loud and proud on his forehead.

My Dear Boy,
Do not assume that just because I don't have picture-proof of the 764 times I hoisted you down from the counter last week...or of the entire box of Fruity Pebbles that you so graciously emptied on my floor, or of the tube of sunblock you squirted on the carpet, or the head of lettuce you carefully shredded and spread about the kitchen, or of the Vaseline you smeared all over your legs and across the floor of the castle tent, or of the banana you stabbed right through with a knife only missing your fingers by a few centimeters, or of the unassuming home teacher who sat innocently on the couch while you snuck up behind him and attempted to smack him over the head with a pole from the above mentioned castle tent...that I will forget. No son, I have filed all of this in my long term memory and when you are 16 and you want to borrow the car or 10 bucks, I will remember and I will most likely decide that, while I love you more than words, I probably don't owe you any favors.
Love,
Mom

He did have one good idea this week. He found this helmet and put it on...now if only he would leave it on...then I could let him climb on the counters at his will:)

Helpful

Owen loves to vacuum, but sometimes it's hazardous when he does. This is what we found in the vacuum this morning(clear up by the motor)......a sock....half burned up. Nice.

A Traumatic Tuesday

While Owen was taking his morning stroll across the counters after breakfast Tuesday morning, he lost his footing and fell to the tile below...directly on his head. Just thinking about it still turns my stomach. For anyone who is not familiar with O (like the Dr. who asked me if I "put him up there") I've never "put" him on the counter, he is a super climber and climbs everything. His most favorite place to climb is onto the counters. I spend the better part of my days repeatedly retrieving him off the counters. While I don't condone such risky behavior, I'm not exactly sure how to stop it. He has been climbing up there for some time now. When he first started, I moved all the bar stools out of the house, and had about a week of relief before he figured out how to climb up onto the counter from the chairs. Since I have not been sucessful at stopping him, I do my best to do damage control by never leaving knives out on the counter and trying to keep the counters cleared off and dry. My cooktop looks like this....no knobs.
I keep all the knobs in the cupboard because one day he climbed up and turned on the gas! While I had high hopes that this head trauma had cured him of his climbing obsession, no such luck, I have retrieved him down three times already this morning.

The Long Story... (for family and anyone else patient enough to read)
So, yesterday morning, he fell off the counter onto his head. I immediately called Chris (he's better at handling emergency situations, I tend to be over-emotional...between Owen and I, I'm not sure who cried more yesterday) and he came home from work. He checked for the symptoms of a concussion and I called the hospital for instructions from the nurse. Owen really wanted to go to sleep, but Chris took him for a walk outside to visit the horse so he would stay awake. After about 45 minutes, we felt like he was going to be ok and decided to just watch him closely. Chris went back to work and I held Owen while he took a short 15 minute catnap (the nurse said he could go to sleep, but I needed to wake him every 20 minutes). He woke on his own and I was really hopeful that he was doing better, but then, he started to vomit. I called the clinic back and asked if they could see him, or if I needed to take him to the ER. They said they had just had a no-show and to come right away. We hurried over and while we were at the clinic, Owen, of course, acted like there was nothing wrong, he climbed the chairs, played with the toys and dug in the trash. The doctor said he definitely had a concussion, but felt like he would be ok. He said he didn't want to give him a CT scan unless he really needed to because it would be so much radiation for his little system. He also said it isn't uncommon for someone with a concussion to vomit once, but if he continued to vomit after we got home or if he began exhibiting any of the symptoms on the list he gave me (uneven pupils, fever, lack of coordination) to bring him back in.
So, off we went, headed for home. Once we were home, he began acting listless again and started vomiting more. I called the clinic back and talked to the nurse who said the next step was a CT scan. She warned me that I couldn't be in the room with him and they would most likely have to IV sedate him so he would be still enough for the procedure. I told her I needed think about it and talk to Chris. By the time I got off the phone with her, Owen was soooo tired. It was his nap time and I felt like he really needed to rest. After his nap and a blessing (thanks again Dan, we are thinking of getting you a noble steed and shiny armor since you seem to have a way of showing up and saving the day;) he was doing much better and I didn't feel like a CTscan was necessary. By dinner time, we were happy to see that he was back to himself and busy driving his sisters crazy.
We are so thankful that the worst seems to be over and that we have our spunky baby boy back. Today he has one of the worst black eyes I have ever seen (I actually haven't seen many, but it's pretty bad) along with a good sized goose egg on his forehead. I am certain he will only look worse in the coming days as his eye takes on more color from the bruising. He didn't actually hit his eye, but his head is draining into it.
And we will no doubt be hibernating for a while to avoid any onlooker's hasty calls to family services. And by the way, yes, I did hear about Natasha Richardson....from at least a half dozen people yesterday...not helpful, mind you, given my vivid imagination and tendency toward catastrophizing.

His daddy calls him "bruiser."

Still so cute even with a cheek full of pretzels and a black eye.

Poor sweet baby.

A Boy and his Dad

On Saturday, the girls went to Powell to spend the day at my mom's. They had so much fun, they even had the chance to each take a turn visiting my Grandma Betty and spending some "one on one" time with her. (wish I would have sent the camera with them)
Owen spent the day helping his dad outside. They burned ditches and weeds, picked the trash that had accumulated in the trees over the winter, brushed the horse and rode the 4-wheeler until it ran out of gas. Owen was in heaven. He LOVED it.

Owen coming to show me something.

This is what he came to show me....rocks.

Raking the dirt.

Owen and Lila.

Burning the ditches.

Petting Sugar. She is due to have her baby in 2 weeks!!! We are so excited!

Kissing Sugar....he loves that horse.

Pointing out the door....he wasn't ready to come inside.

All tuckered out.

Helping grandpa load the tiller before he headed home.

Has Spring Sprung?

When word got out Thursday evening that we went to the park, the big kids (who had been at school) were a little offended, so we went back Friday after school when they could come along.

Owen and his best buddy, Dakota..... Dakota and his brother Antonio come to our house after school everyday until their mom gets done at work. Antonio was spending the the weekend with his dad, so we only had Dakota Friday. Emma (aka Fancy Nancy) after just climbing the rock wall with a skirt on....and check out those shoes!

Owen already mastering the rock wall.

We just love having Dakota around...Owen adores him and he is always so helpful making sure Owen stays safe.

O smiling at me from the top of the slide.

Lovin' the dino

Could there be any better toy than a garbage can lid?...they didn't think so.

Guilty

I thought I'd share a few things I've learned in the last few days of playing major catch-up following basketball season.....(or maybe I just need to confess so I can let go of some of the guilt)

What I did...
*I let my kids have friends over without their room being clean and with laundry baskets in the living room....TWICE

*I also let them eat cap'n crunch for dinner and ice cream for dessert....(I'm having a harder time getting over this one)

What I've learned....the world has not stopped turning and DFS hasn't come knocking...however, if you are thinking of trying either of these things at your house, make sure you can handle the consuming guilt that will follow....

In an attempt to rid myself of the guilt....Today we walked to the park and I'm considering having an all vegi dinner...maybe a smorgasbord of beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, corn, beets, spinach, squash....I'll let you know how it goes over.

Baby O at the park Thursday

The End of a Season...

Holy Moley.....It's been forever since my last post. Basketball season is officially over. YaHoooo! (I would insert a little happy dance here, but Chris is coaching middle school track and it started this week...so, shucks, but the good news is the season is super short and so are the practices, he gets home by 5)
We've had a busy two weeks following the team to regionals and then state. Regionals were in Worland this year and since my parents live right across the street from the high school, it was the perfect set-up. We could walk to and from the games and when any of the littles weren't in the mood for gaming, they got to stay home and play with nana.
After the weekend in Worland for regionals, we packed up and headed out last Wednesday for State Basketball in Casper. It was a hectic and exhausting long weekend, but our kids LOVED it. They are so crazy, when I was explaining that Saturday was the very last day of games, they were disappointed and asked why basketball couldn't go until May. They were such troopers, there were days we went to up to 5 games in one day and they never once complained. (Owen was restless off and on, but he even stuck it out....however, I do owe a public apology to the unsuspecting man who took a slobery marker to the back of the arm, a water bottle to the shoulder and a rainstorm of bunny grahams...all courtesy of Owen...sorry kind sir)
We graduated to hauling 2 game bags to every game this year, in them, I brought tons of food (granola bars, fruit snacks, dried fruit, individual cookie and cracker packages, string cheese, water bottles...), the portable DVD player, 2 leapsters, 2 gameboys, a Vsmile, electronic solitare, a magnadoodle, dry erase markers with boards and books, coloring books and various art supplies, pom poms for cheering and other necessites like wipes and kleenex. I'm sure we resembled a traveling circus most of the time.

And since no family road trip would be complete without a puker, Owen graciously stepped up to plate for us on our way to Casper and puked all over 2 carseats. Although my initial reaction was a quick trip to the dumpster and then Wal-mart for replacements, my sister lives in Casper......so I didn't get off that easy. We just went to her house as soon as we got into town (I'm sure she was wondering how she got so lucky) and washed the carseats and puke clothes. I'm really not sure what brought on the all the barfing, but I'm just REALLY glad it wasn't the flu and we didn't all get it. I was having a bit of a panic attack thinking about having 4 puking children in a hotel room....or driving 4 puking children home 5 hours by myself.

Emma showing off her cheetah-print fruit roll-up at the game...or is it leopard-print?

Watching Scooby-Doo at the game

When we didn't have games, we gave the kids a break by taking them swimming at the hotel and to the children's science museum in Casper. It is a super fun place for kids. It's very small in comparison to some of the children's museums we have been to, but it's really laid back and that makes it fun. The man there was constantly getting the critters out of their cages and letting the kids touch them if they'd like. This time he brought out the tarantula and told the kids, "Just pet it on it's back, not too close to it's head, they are poisonous, but it won't kill you...just make you sick."
Lily and my sister were the only ones brave enough to touch it from our little group. The man also got out a giant African millipede that was equally disgusting and a bearded dragon that actually wasn't too bad. He let the bearded dragon run around the floor and fed it a few meal worms. The other highlight of the science museum was the bubble room. That room alone was worth the $4 admission. There is just something about giant bubbles....as long as you didn't look too close at the water in the bubble trays...it was so nasty.

My crazy sister petting the tarantula.

A turtle pile-up.

Checking out the more tolerable bearded dragon.

Yummo!

Grace smiling through a bubble.

Emma making a huge one.

Lily bracing herself for the spray from the POP!

Cupcakes and the Tooth Fairy...

The TOOTH...

Emma lost her first tooth on Sunday, March 1st at my mom's house. We were there visiting for the day and Emma was eating a piece of bread and exclaimed OWWW!!! She's very dramatic, so my natural reaction is always, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" (usually never looking up from what I'm doing...very attentive...I know) My mom is less experienced with such outbursts (I was never so dramatic), so she promptly gives her a thorough examination and finds that one of her teeth is very loose. And while I have a bit of an obsession with ear cleaning (weird, I know), my mom has an obsession with teeth pulling (*shiver* ewwww. I can't stand loose teeth, I can't even look at them).

So, once my mom knows a loose tooth exists, she casually asks the unsuspecting child if she can "just look at it" and then fast as lightening plucks it out of their mouth.....and that's exactly what she did to Emma. I will give my mom the benefit of the doubt this time, Emma's tooth must have been quite loose because as I said previously, Emma is very dramatic and she hardly flinched at the tooth pulling, so either it didn't hurt very bad, or she was so ecstatic about finally losing a tooth, she didn't notice the pain. (She has been waiting for 2 years to finally lose a tooth.) Anyhow, the tooth fairy came Sunday night and all is well.

The Cupcakes...
So, last week was the 5th grade cake raffle...some fundraiser they do for something, (I don't have to remember what because I haven't had a 5th grader yet, right?) but it's an annual event. Emma asked her dad after school if she could have money to buy some tickets and of course he said yes. (smart move on Emma's part asking her dad...I would have told her she could earn some money, but dad's nicer)

Anyway, the next day, the kids were at school and Chris asked me where I put $8 that he had left on the kitchen counter. I told him I hadn't touched it, and asked him if he had given Emma any money for tickets. He said he forgot and I immediately knew she must have decided it was the money she could take to buy tickets.
When she came home from school, I asked her about it and sure enough, she had taken it thinking it was fair game, afterall...."Dad had told her he was giving her money." I asked her if she used it all to buy tickets and she said "yup!" Uhhh, that would be 80 tickets, they are only 10 cents each!.....We had a little chat about asking before taking money because sometimes it's not ours and I was just really grateful that, in spite of 8o tickets, she only came home with one plate of chocolate cupcakes on Friday. By the way, she hates chocolate, so she shared :)

Happy 18 Baby O!

Our baby Owen turned 18 months today.....hard to believe he is going to be 2 in another blink. I'm so not ready. I still snuggle him up (when he's not wiggling away) and smell his little neck and pretend he's only a baby. As I watch my little ones grow, sometimes the realization hits me hard and fast that this season in my life is passing by all too quickly. There are days of frustration, but there are many more where I catch myself just sitting and holding him through his nap because I can't convince myself to put him down.

(Random pics in no apparent order)

HAPPY 18 BABY O!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!