My First Stitches

Brian and I just got back from the ER.  I was trying to get a pit out of an avocado and ended up stabbing myself in my hand.  I called out to Brian and I guess he could tell something by my tone, because he instantly hung up the phone to see what was wrong.   Initially it didn't hurt too bad, but I could tell by looking that it was deep.  It started bleeding like crazy and pretty quickly I started to feel dizzy and everything started going dark and I knew I was about to pass out.  I made it to the couch and my dizziness passed in a few minutes.  Susan came over to watch the boys and Brian and I headed to the hospital.  It started to get a little more painful and it would shoot up my arm periodically which felt like I had hit my funny bone super hard.  We got to the ER, got a tetanus shot, litacane injections in my palm and three stitches...good as new.  All except my pride. :)

One funny thing - when the doctor came in to look at it, he said I needed 2 or 3 stitches and after he left, Brian said "You should get three.  That sounds better than just two."  It was hilarious...I love my husband's sense of humor.  He made the wait time anything but boring.  He knows exactly when I need calm, when I need sweetness and when I need a good joke. I love that guy!

Update: Here's a pic for those interested (I know you're out there). :)  This is 24 hours after it happened...you can see the beginnings of a pretty wicked bruise from the cut down to the bottom of my palm.  Too bad the picture doesn't show the swelling.  Not only is my palm swollen, but I have a huge lump on the backside of my hand.  And for all of those who know my disgust with lumps and swelling, you know I'm just lovin' it.

Taking it Easy

After being in the car all day Monday driving back from the beach, the boys and I spent most of yesterday in the car running various necessary but tedious errands.  I knew they needed a break (I know I did), so we went swimming at Gammy's house today.  Gammy got out her camera to take a picture of the three of us and here's what she ended up with:

Okay, Reed - not what we were going for...let's try that again...

MUCH better.  

Bring on the summer!!

Beach Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures I snapped last week.  A few of them are dark and I was going to try to fix them before posting, but I realized that it may not happen for a while, so here they are.  Not in any particular order, thanks to blogger.  :)  Enjoy!

Hudson with his seashells...

Our rented beach house.  It was getting dark and I didn't have a tripod, so the picture's blurry.  But I like the effect of the lights reflecting in the water.

Pelicans on the "legs" of what used to be a pier.

I love Hudson's reflection in the water in this one....

This is what Reed spent the majority of his time on the beach doing...

and this is what Hudson spent the majority of his time of the beach doing...

Sweet boys

Watermelon...YUM!

Beach "Vacation"

Whew.

I now understand when people say that a trip is when you go away with your family and a vacation is when you go without kids.  I'm exhausted. This last week has been fun, but I'm glad to be home.  The boys were not only a handful, but Brian ended up not coming down on the weekend because rain was in the forecast (and I thought it ridiculous to drive 6 hours to sit in the house).  The fun started on Tuesday with a 6 hour drive with a 5 year old and 1 year old who didn't understand why he had to stay in his car seat so long.  Good times.  Throw in a nauseated grandpa (I'm sure from my driving) and bad directions and we were all just downright chipper.  :)  When we finally made it to the beach house, we were all too tired to go back into town to get groceries for an actual dinner, so we ate rice krispie treats and other various snacks.  We got the groceries out of the way on Wednesday and started out to test out the sand and waves.  Neither of the boys had ever been to the ocean, so I was anxious to see how they would react.  Reed wasn't too excited about the water (it wasn't clear and he was afraid of the "fish" which I think meant sharks - he watches too much Discovery channel with his daddy).  However, he LOVED the sand.  He spent the majority of the trip digging, making sand castles and just plain getting dirty.  Hudson didn't care for the sand, but loved the water.  He would kick his little chubby legs like crazy when the waves hit him - so cute.  He loved low tide when he could run around and splash without falling down.  One funny thing about Hudson - when we would take him down to the beach in the middle of the day and he hadn't had a nap, he would get whiny and want us to hold him, then he would promptly fall asleep!   As the week progressed, Hudson got whinier (I believe for a lack of toys and his familiar surroundings) and by our last night, he was crying out a lot and I only slept about 4 1/2 hours. Follow that with 7 hours in the car (yes, it took longer to get home than the trip down - we missed a turn), and I am beat.  It might take me a few days to get the pictures posted, but at least we made it back home in one piece.  Gotta love "vacation".  :)

Memorial Day Trip

We have a tradition of spending Memorial Day weekend with my parents.  We rent a house somewhere (when I say "we", I mean the grandparents - they are kind enough to let us tag along) and we spend a long weekend hanging out.  I look forward to it every time.  This Memorial Day, my parents picked a house right on the beach in Freeport, near Galveston. The boys and I are leaving tomorrow and Brian is going to finish out the work week (yes, I know you're all shocked he'll be working) and join us this weekend. I have a LONG list of things to get done today, so I'd better get started... but I'm sure I'll have plenty of funny stories and pictures to post from the beach, so stay tuned! 

More Shirts

We're going to a birthday party tonight and I decided to make the birthday girl some T-shirts like I made last week.  These shirts are easy to make, inexpensive and most of all, SUPER cute! 

I was at Dollar Tree (LOVE THAT PLACE) and I found a bin of T-shirts up front.  After digging through, I came home with a few and decided that my boys needed some shirts of their own...

Oh, seriously - how cute are those?  :)

We recently found the charging cable to Reed's Gator battery, so instead of the Gator sitting sadly in the yard, it's been on the run the last couple of days.  Reed loves driving Hudson around. This pic is before we had it fully charged - Hudson grabbed the wheel and you could tell he felt like a big man.

Here's Reed with a technique that he hopefully won't employ when he begins driving for real.  (Ugh - I'm going to be the worst mom of a newly driving teenage EVER.)

Sweet boys!

On a different note, I want to begin by saying that I had nothing to do with the following:

I was minding my own business and figured that Reed and Brian were "fixing" something because the pair of them had gotten awfully quiet.  But it didn't take long for me to hear Brian's laugh - the "I've done something really hilarious" one - followed by "Heather, come look at this!"  And yes, I laughed...hard.  :)
Never a dull moment with my 3 boys in the house...I wouldn't want it any other way!

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

• My dishwasher.  I hosted bunco Tuesday night and ended up running the dishwasher twice just that day.  I need to wash more dishes this morning and am so glad I don't have to do it by hand!
• My washer & dryer.  Have a ton of laundry to do today - so glad that the biggest "issue" will be folding and putting away. :)
• My parents.  They kept the boys on Tuesday and I was able to cook for bunco and get ready in peace.  I was also able to go to the car wash on Wednesday (sans children) and get Reed's Dr. Pepper stains shampooed (sp?) out of the carpet!
• My husband. He is smart, hilarious, kind, a great daddy and I love him soooo much.  I'm so glad he picked me. :)

Exciting News!

We recently bought some acreage and are moving!  We've been looking for some land for quite a while and it's getting harder and harder to come by because of all the houses and developments that are popping up.  After looking and looking, Brian has found some beautiful acreage and we are so excited!  It has a house on it that we will be living in it until we begin the building process on our "forever" house - which could be a year from now or 10 years depending on if we decide to renovate this house or not.  Right now the plan is to be there for about a year to a year and a half, so I've started another blog (yes, this will be my third blog and I am not ashamed of that) to document the things we do to the house to spruce it up a little - for those interested, here it is. 

A conversation between myself and my oldest child today:

M: I love you, buddy.

R: I love you too, Mom.

M:  I love you better!

R: No, I love you better!

M:  How can that be? I love you the best!

R: Well....I love you 20 miles an hour.

:)

Thankful Thursday

Reed, today is your 5th birthday and I wanted to list a few of the many reasons we are so thankful for you and enjoy you so much.

• You are a funny, funny kid. You constantly have me, your Daddy and your grandparents in stitches. You have a great sense of humor and are always keeping us on our toes with your funny sayings and come-backs!
  
• You are a great big brother. You are so sweet to Hudson - with your hugs, how you share your toys with him and how you watch out for him. You are helpful, sweet and truly a protector for him!
  
• You have a tender heart. Things affect you in a way that show me how sensitive you are. You care about others and how they are feeling and you love very sweetly.
  
• You are smart. You pick things up quickly, want to figure out how things work and I know you will love all the learning that you'll do at school.
  
• You make good choices. Of course you make some bad ones too, but the good FAR outweigh the bad. You're going to grow up to be a very good man.
  

Your Dad and I are so very thankful for you! We love you so much and wish you a very, very Happy Birthday!

(I know there are a lot of pictures, but trust me, these are pared down!)

Sometimes he's not the brightest crayon in the box...

...but I love him to pieces.  :)  I heard crying coming from our dining area earlier today.  It was the type of cry that said "I need some help and I need it NOW!"  I run in and come upon this little scene:

After watching me laugh for quite a bit, he decided that I wasn't going to help him and that he would just duck down and watch the TV under the table and through the chairs.
He soon decided that he would go ahead and cry about it until I did something.  So I pulled him out of the box, walked away and the crying began again in about 15 seconds...Yep, you guessed it...

Reed's 5th Birthday Party

Reed's birthday is on Thursday, but we celebrated this morning at Chuck E. Cheese. The party started at 10:00. (Ten o'clock in the morning? Isn't that early for pizza, you ask? Well, yes, but if I booked the party at 10:00, each party guest got 20 extra game tokens and when it comes down to it, it's ALL about the tokens, right? And we really didn't eat until about 11:00 which is our lunch time anyway, so it worked out great.) Reed is really into planets and the solar system right now, so we decided to go with that theme (well, as much as you can have a "theme" at Chuck E. Cheese.) They supplied all the stuff we needed for lunch, so I just got a few extras like rocket napkins and outerspace/alien themed favors. I made his cake to look like a planet with a little alien on the border. The inside of the cake was a fun rainbow color - the kids (and adults) loved it. Reed had a great time and is already planning his "Six Birthday" as he calls it. Here some fun shots from the day...

Reed trying his luck at ski-ball

Even Uncle Eric, Aunt Sara and Grace joined in for game time!

Cousin Sarah & the boys

Our little "Birthday Star"
Reed with his cake

Getting ready to blow out the candles

The inside of the cake - it's colorific!

Opening one of the many awesome presents

Reed and the cousins - he was so glad they came!

Thankful Thursday

This morning I had a root canal, so you wouldn't think this title would fit with this post, but it does!  Today I am thankful for...

• Drugs!  Numbing medication, pain medication and the like - all VERY awesome.
• A great dentist.  As I have mentioned before, I DO NOT care to be in the dentist's chair.  The process is much easier when I have a good dentist like Dr. Martin - very patient, very gentle and always asking me how I'm feeling and if I'm doing okay.  He even called me tonight to see how I was - a GREAT dentist.
• Grandparents.  One set kept the kids today while I had my tooth done and the other set is watching them tomorrow while I work on Reed's birthday cake.  
• Netflix.  I was able to catch up on some movies today while I laid in bed resting.  Grown up movies without any talking animals, aliens, characters with super powers or sponges who live in pineapples under the sea.
• Weight loss.  I am on Week 7 of my couch potato to 5k. This morning when I ran, it was a little harder than usual for some reason, but I'm still so proud I've stuck with it.  Did I think I would make it this far?  Not really.  Am I proud of my self? You bet.  The best part?  I've shed another 7 pounds because of the running  for a grand total of 22 pounds. Woo-hoo! 

Ear Update

I have had inquiries as to how Hudson is doing after having his tubes.  It has by no means been a "saga", but this could be a SUPER long post if I let it, so I'll give you the Reader's Digest version.

Friday: Drainage from the left ear...it was the most infected, so not unexpected.

Friday night: Still drainage from left ear.

Saturday morning: Crusty left ear when waking...followed by oozing.  Ewwww.

Saturday afternoon: Left ear ceases oozing.  Yay!

Saturday night: Crying around 10:30...get him out of bed...drainage running down his cheek from left ear.  EWWWW.  Give tylenol, clean up ear, goes back to sleep.

Sunday morning: Crusty left ear, but no drainage.

Sunday afternoon: Left ear is great!  Uh oh...drainage from right ear. 

Monday morning: Left ear still just fine..right ear crusty. Figures.

Monday: Right ear drains a little.

Tuesday Morning: Right ear crusty - no drainage!  We must be finished!  Yay!

Wednesday Morning: Right ear a tiny bit crusty...looking good!

Wednesday afternoon:  Call doctor because right ear resumes oozing. They call in some $35 ear drops and I am instructed to put in right ear (also in left if drainage resumes) until our check-up.

Wednesday evening: Pick up drops and put in ears because they are now BOTH draining.

Thursday morning: Both ears crusty, left ear draining.  

Check-up a week from Monday.  Expensive ear drops better last that long...