Bleeding From THE Head!

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed.
1 fell off and bumped her head.
daddy took her to the doctor and the doctor said, "eight stitches for you, silly monkey!"

unfortunately, we didn't get a photo before we cleaned up most of the blood. :-(

Okay, so the topical numbing stuff didn't work at all, in my opinion. she screamed and kicked and squirmed like crazy when it was time for the numbing injection. me and a male nurse had to hold her down for that. then it was time for the stitches - first 6 were a breeze, but the last two were either in places that hadn't been properly numbed or else the numbing agent had worn off 'cause she screamed again. fun stuff. she actually did really well w/ those last two stitches though - I asked her to take deep breaths and she did and calmed right down after each.
(In John's words)

So now John and Addie both have fun head wound stories to tell from their childhood experiences. John's scar is over his right eye and Addie's over her left. It's all very character building, as Addie has been talking about nothing else today other than how brave she was and what a big girl she is. She hasn't mentioned the pain or being scared, and so I'm left without regret for allowing my kids to run around the entire upstairs chasing each other like crazy monkeys and jumping on the beds! Life is good. Life is grand. And sometimes blood is spilled! All in good fun.
(and this is my take on the event after missing the screaming and pain from inside the Urgent Care. I suppose I might be feeling differently if I had had to be the one holding her down while kicking and screaming in pain...I can't even think about it! But I do think that I did do a good job of holding it together as first on the scene to witness blood and an open wound on my baby's head!)

Missus Nesbit!

MVI_0567.AVI
Originally uploaded by SheelaghC

Whenever the girls put Jonah in a dress and/or pretty hat, we call him Mrs. Nesbit. He rather enjoyed the attention this morning.

(In related news, he's going to hate us come High School graduation time.)

Full of Thanks

I realize that my last post was slightly less than Thankful, and on the eve of Thanksgiving...what a faux pas'.

(And I'm thankful for my little Fall fairies too!)

But I am, thankful that is! I'm especially thankful that those yams turned out great! Not over candies at all. Yummy and sweet and melt in your mouth delicious. I like candied yams, but get enough of them on my first helping of Thanksgiving dinner. It's my sister in law who can't get enough, so she got the left overs and I swapped them for some of her yummy turkey, ham, and pistachio-cool whip stuff. Yum!

As far as thanks go, I'm full of it. All I can think of this morning is how blessed we are! So many wonderful things go on in this life. Many of them fly right under the radar. So many of then I don't take the time to appreciate or write about or even speak about. I'm sitting in a dry warm house, with a full fridge, a ton of laundry (meaning lots of clothes to keep us warm), three beautiful sleeping children and one wonderful conked out husband, and on and on and on... I tend to fall on a negative pathway now and then. I sometimes find myself down and out for most of a day and in and out of two or three - in a row. But as soon as I come out of the funk, I can see clearly now...and I see so much wonderfulness all around me (and yes, I know that's not a word, but I like it so I'm using it!).

My kids are really truely nice people. They fight and yell and sometimes have to take some time to think about that, but over all they are nice people. They pray on their own sometimes ("talk to God") and know at least a few things they are thankful for, including their siblings! And I didn't tell them to say that, they just did, that they were thanksful for each other, and their brother too! I was blown away. But see, this is the reality, my kids are nice and I sometimes forget about it., when I'm elbow deep in diapers and whinning and the everyday over-sillyness of it all. Their personalitiesa re coming out though and they are good, strong, smart little people. What moe could a mama ask or....oh well....they are cute too, if I do say so myself!

And my husband, oh no...oh yes...it's gonna get sappy here! He really truely is my very best friend, well he kinda has to share that with my big sister, but since I talk to him more and see him more and married him, I guess he wins! But seriusly, he's the person who knows me best and still likes me! He sticks around through the not so nice parts, even when I tell him to "just leave me alone". He knows what to do and what to say and he does it even if he doesn't want to. He loves me! I love him! I'm amazed just about every day that we have been given each other. I sometimes wonder how and why I have what seems like the most wonderful marriage in the entire universe. I guess I am simply and wonderfully blessed. That is the only answer for it. We each chose the right person for ourselves and it's paying off. I still look at him, after 3 kids and not much time alone, and think he's super sexy and good looking, the hottest husband I know! He gives me foot massages when things get hairy around here, when a baby who shall remain anonymous screams and screams through the night only to be quieted by his mommy's milk! He cuddles with me at night, even though I know he must be too too hot. He holds my hand and hugs and kisses me like we sis when we just met. He has taught me many things, but the most important of those is how to love and how to be loved. He's a good teacher!

I also have some great families, both sides are pretty wonderful. I think the list could go on and on. Friends and family, food and water, clothes and transportation. The ability to stay home with my kids. So many wonderful people in my life who have enriched me and made me who I am, a strong and thoughtful woman who will now impart at least some of that wisdom onto my own children. I LOVE my life. I love my family. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my God for bestowing all of these blessings upon me.

Candied Yam Randomness

Cooking Candied yams takes a lot longer than I remember (actually it might just be me since this is my first year going it alone. Last year I got into the ritul by my sister as I was her sou chef)! So here are some of my random thoughts as I cook...

I don't love or dislike Thanksgiving. I like it for what it is and what it used to be in my life. For what it is = being a day to think of all that we are thankful for. And for what it used to be = a day full of cooking, a warm noisy house, and lots of crazy family all around! Oh yeah and did I mention the Thanksgiving Day Parade? If I could get a minute in front of a TV that wasn't playing football, I glued my eyes to the fun floats and awe inspiring performances. My sister and I loved that part of the day...if we could get a chance to see it that is. The love for football in my house was BIG, much bigger (in terms of 6 foot ish big brother big) than the love for the parade (5 footish little sister big)!

I don't dislike the traditional food either, turkey, ham, whipped potatoes, stuffing, jello, cranberries, rolls and butter, pumpkin pie, most of it sounds good to me! YUM!! But now that I'm stuck with this dairy problem, I find that I'm not as excited to get to the table on Thanksgiving Day. So much is prepared with milk or slabs of butter that my tummy is destine for some upsetedness. There's just no way around it, unless I bring my own plate of previously prepared food.

Every year I don't think much of the holiday until it gets here and then I remember the great Thanksgivings of the past and I miss my family so very much. I don't just miss my mom and my sister, my brother and my nephew, or my dad and grandma, but I miss the past. I miss us. How we once were. Me, young and silly watching as all the adults cramed into the kitchen and cooked together. Dad getting grumpy with too much help and grandma offering advice here and there. It sounds like nothing you would want to do over again, but I loved the chaos and the heat from the kitchen. The smells that came from the oven. I loved too many people talking all at once and shoulders touching because there were too many people in one small space. I loved all of it (and now you can see why I might want to have a big family!). Oh how I miss that! How I want it for my kids. The too many and too much and too loud. The cooking and eating and watching and drinking and being thankful together.

Oops...and now I just used the last of the brown sugar in my glass jar! That's a lot of brown sugar and at least enough butter to upset this tummy! Can you over candy a yam? I might have just done so....shhhh don't tell. No one's counting calories tomorrow...right?

The Third Child

Being our third child, Jonah has a much different life than Mayzie did, and different even than Addie. He moves around the house playing with his toys, but also interacting with other littlish people most of the day. He always had some companionship here and there, but when he is interested in doing his own thing he gets to do that too. I think I was much more in Mayzie and Addie's way all day. Jonah must be breathing a sigh of relief to go into the play kitchen, pull himself up and check out all the toys that are available, without anyone bothering him. When he gets that opportunity that is!

The other side of that is that we might not have as many pictures of Mr Baby, and I certainly don't have the foresight or time to write down each and every change and milestone. I've been pretty good because I have a desire to remember, but I certainly have not marked the exact calendar date for each change. I sometimes wish I did, when said new skill is starting to become perfected and I try to think back to when it was new! Jonah is knocking down the skills one by one, very very quickly! Once he has learned something new and I am thinking that I should write it down, he is on to the next thing. As soon as he learned to crawl, he was working on sitting up, and almost at the same time that he figured our how to sit up without falling over onto the hard wood floors, he was sitting up on his knees and as soon as that was happening he pulled up on one piece of furniture or another and was off onto the next skill. Now he's starting to cruse around the house and try out his standing here and there and I can't even remember when he pulled himself up for the very first time. I guess it doesn't really matter what the exact date was, but time flies by so fast that I'm left wondering which month is was that each thing happened. I can see how baby books get left blank and younger siblings lives are left undocumented. I definitely don't want that to happen to my little man, so I'm trying desperately to remember and get it written down.

And in between the remembering, the sporadic witting down, and the incessant watching in awe as he knocks down yet another milestone, I do actually spend some minutes sitting on the ground playing with my son, now and then. Sometimes holding him and zerberting with him. Sometimes crawling after him or giving him a ride on the go car. Sometimes teaching him new words or signs. Reading books to him or with him when he lets me. Giving baths and taking him swimming now and then too. It's a fun life we live, Jonah and I, just an average day among the squeals and screams of the sisters.

Jonah @ 8 months - SO big

Jonah has almost been in the world as long as he was growing in my tummy! The months are flying by and checking off one by one so quickly! I can't believe it, although I guess I can since he looks, acts, eats, and communicates like a one year old.

I was waiting to weight him till I took him to the Dr for a check up, but apparently he doesn't need one for another month so I did it and...He's currently 20.4lbs. Not as big as I guessed given his weight 2 months ago. I guess I thought he was growing faster than that. It's not as easy to measure his length, but my best guess/ try says about 29 inches (but with a wiggly baby boy who doesn't like to sit still for long, I'm not sure how close that really is).

He is trying to do some crazy things these days too. Standing alone for a few seconds and walking with help and now cruising from chair to table. He's been pulling to stand for a few weeks, but really not very long. Before that he was sitting up for just a short time before he ventured to sitting on his knees and his feet weren't so far from there. It's crazy how quickly he moves from one trick to the next! At the end of October I was just starting to help him stand up, playing the balancing game and allowing him to balance on his own two feet for a short time before catching him as he fell into me. Not long after we returned to Portland from our Halloween Haunt in San Jose he started to get his independence and stand up on his keens, gaining interest in standing and pulling up to see the world beyond his known realm. He forgets sometimes and thinks he can do it all on his own now. The other day he was watching his sisters and playing with them and when they scattered out of the room he let go and tried to follow them...but his legs don't work all that well yet! Crash! Bang! That's a noise we know all too well here. And sadly enough Jonah opten bumps his head on the hard wood floors, even if I'm sittig right next to him it's impossible for me to catch his every fall. He still crawls to get where he wants to go and just pulls up to see what he can see and which new toys he can pull down to play with. He is getting really really fast on his crawling legs too!

The sisters think he's thoroughly entertaining these days, still. Luckily! I know one day, or rather I think one day, they are doing to be running away from him and wishing he wasn't so mobile and getting into their toys. I hope I'm wrong and that they continue to love his interactions, but onl time will tell. Already he grabs for things that aren't up high enough. The IKEA art essle has recently become a favorite of his. He liked the chalk and pens that are stored there. And who wouldn't be interested in such colorful things?!? Yeah, my 8 month old with green pen ink and blue chalk on his hand and sides of his mouth! nice!

Oh yeah and he loves the stairs, but luckily has yet to figure out how to climb up any higher than the bottom step. I know that won't last long with his sisters showing him how to do it, but I can hold on to my normalcy while I can, and then, when that ends, I'll put up the baby gate. Also noteworthy is his love for the bath. Even when it's not his turn to go it, he loves to check out who's splish splashing. He also simply enjys the bathroom as a whole. Anytime the door is not closed (which is not very often) he crawls in to check it all out. Ewwww! And completely off topic, he loves the camera and will smile as soon as you point it towards him. I hope this continues for a long long while, but the more he tries to grab it and the more I take it away from him, the few smiles I expect to get. He not only wants to smile for his adoring public, but he wants to taste the camera and drewl on it too. He still prefers finger food to baby mush on a spoon, and he prefers the real thing to the bottle, but will take it if he must. He also just leraned to zerbert, blow raspberryes, growl, and scream (oh wait, he has always known how to do that, but is now screaming happy screams of delight as learned from his sisters!).

He's also communicating really really well. Advanced I would say. He's signing and talking. I can't believe it most of the time. He says Adda for Addie. He hasn't yet said Mayzie or any variations of that. He says mom and dad (that's old news). Now he also says more and all done too. I know that only his mom and dad would ever hear these "words" (his sisters do too) but we know when to listen for them and they are real, if not a bit garbled. He also signs those words. More, all done, milk. That's it so far, but it seems like a ton to me for his few 8 months of life. But he does have in house trainers to watch at all times. His sisters are so helpful and so very proud of him when he does new things. Who wouldn't want to practice something new when you get so many cheers and praises. So cute! What motivation!!

He really does remind me of a one year old already though. He's bigger than both Addie and Mayzie were at 12 months old! Kinda sad since he's only 8 months now. He's jetting through the baby stages so fast! Luckily he still loves to cuddle, especially before he lays down for naps and bed. And he has a ton of smiles to give out to everyone. Not to mention the cute little shy move he does when he meets newpeople or sees old friends. He puts his little head down on my sholder and gives a sly and flirtatious smile. Too cute. This kid is so much fun for all of us; a perfect balance to our girl dominated family!

BOB, you're expencive but I LOVE you

I got my BOB last week! I had doubt. I had second thoughts. I was unsure about the massive amount of money I threw down on BOB. It took me months and months to make the decision to buy. It took even longer to actually pull the trigger and then once we did it took more time to get the thing in our possession. It finally came and I was again unsure. Actually, I was almost sure that I would return him right back to the store after I tried him out and took him for a test drive.

But...I think I'm in love. I drove. I tried. I like BOB. He rocks my world. The kids are all safe and happy with BOB. I wasn't sure how to effectively cart around my three kids without a triple stroller, which was kinda out of the question, what with one of them pushing 4.5 years and all. I mean we all need some exercise and we all have to learn to fly at some point. I did want a lazy-day option for my big girl though. One that didn't include me say, "NO, you're too big. You're a big girl now and big girls walk, they don't ride." I can't help it, I want all of my kids to have comfortable options, even if it's just for every now and then. After having the girls sooooo close together I don't want Mayzie to feel again like she has to grow up too fast...well ok, truth is I don't want to feel like I'm making her grown up too fast.

But now the options are great. The options are comfortable. Everyone seems happy, so far. The maiden voyage has been completed, as short as it was, and all parties were happy, including me. I love the fact that the thing fits through the doors easily, mostly. I love the fact that Jonah is happy, that Addie can peak at him through the canvas and he laughs. I love that Mayzie has a spot all to herself. That she likes it and even laid back and relaxed in her new spot. All my kids fit in one stroller and they liked it! They smiled. It might be because of the newness, and the cool orange color. I mean who wouldn't smile when surrounded by that ooh cool Autumn orange. It's happy making. Smile inducing.

I love my orange BOB that holds my three babes comfortably and safely. Thank you UP and thank you John and thank you me! It worked out and we're not poor. We haven't bought ourselves out of house and home. We have a nice stroller that is more expensive than I ever thought to spend, but it works and it's lovely!