JBS' Birthday at School

Of course, there is never just one birthday celebration these days.  There is the party, the family party and the school party.  Since we were having a camping party at home, we weren't exactly sure what to do for school.  So, JBS and I reached for my trusty cupcake book and it did not let me down.  I suggested to JBS we had a picnic party and I was thrilled for JBS to be excited about it because these cupcakes turned out so darn cute...

First, the chicken legs and mashed potatoes...

Corn-on-the-cob...

Peas and carrots and dessert...

I don't think the pictures do them complete justice as they looked very believable in person.  So believable that children in JBS' class actually turned down a cupcake.  His teacher was cracking up saying, "Children! These are cupcakes loaded with sugar. You will love them.  They are not really peas and carrots and chicken legs!"  The few that kindly declined, took them begrudgingly and never really figured it out.

I guess that was a compliment, but I am not really sure...

This Little Toot of Mine

This little toot of mine is the toot of all toots and the heart breaker of all heart breakers.  He knows how to flutter his eyelashes at just the right moment to melt your heart, even in the midst of total deception.

WHS found the cowboy hat in the dress-ups and was right at home...

He has also become quite entranced with wearing the big boys' underwear...on top of his clothes.  Here he is in JLS' Scooby Doo's on top of his sweat pants. (Clean underwear, of course!)

WHS' most recent "thing" is sticking food in his ears and nose.  We have never had this issue before.  I saw a piece of bread go up his nose and after trying to tweeze it out, we ultimately ended up using the big blue bulb.  A very large chunk was removed.

When we took Grammy to the airport, WHS had a little baggie of mixed cereals in his lap.  He started sneezing and twitching his nose.  All of a sudden, the little squirt sneezed and out came a Quaker Oatmeal Square!  I was shocked at first and in complete disbelief that that thing fit up his tiny little nose.

Needless to say, WHS is a mess.  He is the messiest of 3 boys.  Somehow, though, as busy and messy as he is and all the work he requires to keep him tidy, he still absolutely melts my heart...even when his ears smell like peanut butter.

JBS is SEVEN!

Holy cow.  JBS is SEVEN!  Six still sounds like a little boy, but seven?  He is a kid and I can't stand it.  JBS' actual birthday was on the 23rd, which I knew would be the day I got out of the hospital.  So, I tried to think of a fun way to celebrate his birthday a week earlier.  I really wanted to avoid the huge Pump-It-Up party like we had last year and JBS was agreeable to having a party at home.  I don't know how it slipped out, but I suggested a slumber party.  (What was I thinking?)  He really wanted to have his friends over to roast hot dogs and S'Mores.  So, I thought we could have a camp out...an indoor camp out, at least.  He was all in.  So, we invited 3 of his buddies(that I know their mom's well) to spend the night in our tent on the playroom floor...my kind of camping.

I can't believe I was the mom who initiated slumber parties, but it was just 3 close friends that all live within a mile of us.  The boys had a high time.  I realized that the younger siblings of each of the boys usually came to our parties, as well.  So I didn't leave them out, I invited the families over for a cook out and cake.  When the boys were ready to head to bed (ha!) everyone else left.

Once again, I paid for a cake and once again, I was disappointed in the outcome.  I actually bought icing to doctor up the cake I bought.  It was all air-brushed, which I didn't like at all.  So, I re-worked the top of the cake with real icing.  It was OK.

Of course, it rained. And rained and rained.  So, the great idea to roast hot dogs and S'Mores and have a family cookout on the new patio was dead in the water and the party moved inside.

Once the festivities calmed down, the big boys headed to the tent and jumped in their jammies.  By about 9:30pm, I went upstairs and was intercepted by JBS telling me, "So and so keeps waking us up."  I was thinking, "Wow! This is going to be easy!"  So, I turned off the movie and told them it was time for bed.  Within minutes of settling in to my bed, the giggling began.  Then, at 11pm, I heard walking and talking.  When I made it upstairs the boys were getting dressed.  I asked one of the boys what they were doing and he said, "But I don't shower in the morning."  I finally figured out that they had, indeed, fallen asleep, but woke up again and thought it was morning.  I told them to get back in bed and and go to sleep.  At this point I decided that this might be a good age to have JBS' one (and only!) slumber party because they were still young enough I could be bossy about going to sleep. When I told them it was midnight they each pumped their arms and said, "Yes!" as though their mission was accomplished.  By the time I was back in bed, it was completely silent.

The boys thought they were so big that they had stayed up til midnight and lived through a sleep-over.  We had donuts and an 8am pick-up.  A great 7th birthday for JBS.  Mission accomplished.

If only I had told the boys it was Midnight earlier...

1 Year, 5 Months & 4 Days Old

Mr. WHS is a force to be reckoned with.  Since my sweet mom has been here as my official "Handler" since my surgery, WHS has taken on new life.  Because I can't lift him, I can't put him in his bed, in his high chair, in his car seat or in my lap on the couch.  Mom and Babe's workload has dramatically increased while mine dramatically decreased.  It's very hard to sit and watch everyone do my job for me...very hard.  However, I do want to maintain good health for my future and for my family. Since that is such a valuable commodity for me, I am doing everything the doctor orders.

In the past week, WHS has FINALLY started walking.  He often prefers to crawl, but the little toot can walk across a room unassisted.  He also gave up his high chair.  He much prefers climbing on the bar stool and sitting with the big boys at the bar, eating his cheerios out of a bowl with a spoon and drinking with a straw.  He is like a human garbage disposal.  When he crawls up on the bar stool, if there are, for instance, crusts left from JBS' peanut butter sandwich...never fear!  WHS will finish them off.  Cheerios left in a bowl from JLS' breakfast...gone.  Yesterday, I peeled a banana for him so he could hold it himself and eat it.  Gone in 2 minutes.  Today, I took the peel of a banana out of his mouth, as he would have finished that off, as well.  This kid is unbelievable!  It took him 5-6 months longer to walk than the big boys, but in a matter of a week, he has trampled through milestones.

Today, Mom and I were upstairs after she put him down for his nap.  I heard a rumble and a cry via the monitor.  I told her that it sounded more like a "hurt" cry and I wasn't quite sure what the rumble was.  She went to his room to find him standing at the door crying to get out of his room.  The toot jumped the rail of his bed.  Knowing him and knowing how mischievous he can be, I knew in that moment that it was time for the baby bed to disappear.  He climbed over once and he will do it over and again.  So, Grammy and I cleared the room, pulled out the trundle bed in his room and shut the door.  We gave him ten minutes of a suspiciously quiet room and peeked.  He was in the corner with his toys playing and reading.  Ten more minutes and this is what I found.

My sweet baby boy has mastered more milestones in a week than I could ever have guessed considering his seemingly inability to walk for months on end!  It's a big boy bed for WHS from here on out.  I hadn't even contemplated this move, but am pretty pleased with the fact that there is a trundle bed in his room for the smooth transition.  If only he would use it...

I know the minute JBS gets home, he will be vying for WHS to start sleeping with them in the bunk beds upstairs!  I have got to step in and SLOW this process down!!

Last Bit of Christmas

Not sure why, but I am always dragging with getting Christmas fun posted!  After perusing my photos, I do believe this is my last bunch of un-posted Christmas pictures.  The boys and I had so much fun, as usual, doing all our Christmas cooking...

The boys were particularly excited about their Santa Star cookies...

Master Chefs...

Buck-eyes...

Peanut Clusters...

Cheese Straws...

And, yes, all this food kills my stomach.  When I eat sugar like this, my stomach bloats and I look prego.  Was it worth it?  That's a tough question for a girl who loves her sugar!

Christmas With Grammy and BD

Since moving to Houston, we had to start sharing, or rotating, Christmases with our families.  I will admit, the first year was so hard.  However, don't think I am so courageous, as we have now had two Christmases apart from my family, but my mom and dad always come a day or two after Christmas to celebrate with us.  So, I haven't  ultimately gone an entire Christmas without my family.  We had a wonderful Christmas with Babe's family and were thrilled they were here for Christmas Day with us.  They left on Sunday and my parents arrived, with Go-Go and G2, on Monday for our second Christmas celebration.  Of course, the boys love any celebration that requires receiving and opening presents...

The tree when Round #2 began...

JLS and his sticky and gross candy beaver teeth...

Grammy gave me an apron...

The boys playing with WHS' new legos...

BD and WHS at Christmas dinner Round #2...

Go-Go opening her Scentsy...

G2's new Creationary game...

JBS bought Grammy a special pillow... 

After a bad year of broken dishes, I got a great new baking dish...

BD reading the annual Sampler Christmas Book...

Babe's Bday present from Grammy and BD...always a book...

So sad...taking down the tree.  But WHS is always right there to help!

Heaven Sent

I have noticed that my sweet JBS gets particularly worried about me when I don't feel well.  Both JBS and JLS get a bit more snugly than they already are, but JBS "gets it" a little more.  I try my best to not let him know when I feel bad, but sometimes it is just hard to hide.  They knew I was spending the night in the hospital because the doctors were going to hopefully make it where my tummy wouldn't hurt anymore.  They really liked this idea and were good with it.  Grammy was here, Daddy was in charge, and being prepared for a hospital stay was much less stressful on me.  When I had a few unplanned visits to the hospital in the Fall, I really worried about the boys worrying about me.  I just hated it.

Since I have been home from the hospital, JBS wants to be next to me from the moment he gets home from school until he goes to bed.  He cleaned my entire bathroom in a matter of minutes...spic and span.  I really like it how he wants to please me.  He was even so proud to show me he hung his towel properly.  The last 2 days, I have been feeling pretty well, but have been very tired.  So, I have been taking lots of naps during the day.  Today, when JBS got home from school, he grabbed his DS, turned the volume all the way down, crawled in bed with me, and snuggled up to me while I slept.  When I woke up, there he was...right next to me.  Love him.  As I put him to bed tonight, he wanted me to stay in bed with him and snuggle.  I thanked him for taking such good care of me and assured him I was getting better every day.  I can't stand the thought of him worrying about me.  He hugged me tighter and asked if I ate my marshmallows.  I didn't know what he meant.  Evidently, when he got home from school, he made me a little cup of mini marshmallows and put them by my bed before he crawled in bed with me.  When I got in to bed this evening, there was a Buzz Light Year cup one-quarter full of mini marshmallows sitting on my bedside table. He is so precious, so thoughtful and he's all mine!

He must be Heaven sent...I am so lucky.

Christmas Morning...Presents!

The last I posted on Christmas morning was at 5:08am....We have a few gift-gatherings to catch up on.  By 6:30ish, we had not had the luxury of going back to sleep despite our best efforts.  We decided it would be OK to wake WHS up and show him his stocking while we finished up breakfast round #1...Overnight Caramel Rolls.

WHS was thrilled with all the excitement that waited for him outside his door. We looked at his stocking and the big boys quickly corralled us to the living room where we opened our presents from under the Christmas tree.

 Gambo, JLS, and Poppy getting their first gifts...

The boys by the tree...

Granpa and Aunt Sally showed up in time for Breakfast Round #2...

WHS showing off this favorite trick..shoving food up his nose.  Yes, it's true.  And someone has to get it out...

Playtime!  Time to play with all our new toys!!

And then we were beat...

My Man is Good!

I have been out of the loop, my friends, for more medical issues, but I am hoping to take advantage of this time with extra hands and help with my kiddos to get caught up on my blogging.  Many of you know that October was a rough month for me with my anemia getting out of control and finding myself in the hospital getting blood and iron transfusions.  I now have another "ologist" to add to my list, a hematologist.  I really like him and I know it is a good decision to be under his care, as he will keep a regular tab on my blood levels.  When my stomach was giving me so many problems in the past, I was at my GI regularly.  My problems sneaked up on me this time because I wasn't seeing a doctor regularly to keep an eye on my blood and iron levels.  Thus, they got dangerously low.

Even after I received the multiple transfusions, my iron levels would go up and then back down again.  So, with other symptoms progressing, we decided that I needed a hysterectomy.  I was shocked at first, having just had a baby, I felt really old!  Then, I concluded that I have 3 precious boys who keep my hands full at all times. I know I can't handle any more children now anyway. By proceeding with the surgery, I would eliminate a source of blood loss and hopefully be able to keep better control of my iron levels in the future.

So, Friday was the day.  I can joke about this, as one of my very first patients that I saw alone as an OT student was a 90+ year old lady.  When I walked in to her room, I asked her if she would like to stand up and let me see what she could do.  Right at that moment a very large nurse stepped out of her bathroom and said with a southern accent, "Honey!  Could you please not get her up again today?  I have put her uterus back in three times today and I just don't feel like doing it again."  With that said, I obliged and walked, if not RAN, out of that room.  I had no idea how many similar stories would crop up in my years as an OT....  So, I can safely say with confidence that I will not be the lady whose uterus falls out every time she stands up...because I don't have one anymore!

My surgery had many potential setbacks secondary to past abdominal surgeries and current issues, but by the grace of God, it was smooth as smooth could be!  I still have pain and am still really tired, but I can certainly feel the prayers being said for me now.  God is good...all the time!  Thank you to all my sweet friends and family for swooping in to take care of us, feed us, help with the kids, and just be there for us.  It means the world to us.

So, as Babe and I nervously drove to the hospital (Babe was definitely nervous), he joked, "So what kind of sympathy shoes will your mom buy you?"  I laughed it off and said that I think that was his role now. Before I was married and was so sick, my mom would take me to all the different studies that required me to be "out".  It became routine that we would go down the street to the mall and buy new shoes...many times alike.  Unfortunately, the event happened so often, we started calling them, "Sympathy Shoes."

This morning, the doorbell rang and Babe jumped and ran to the door, which is not normal.  He walked in to the den and said to my  mom and I that he decided it was his turn to take care of the "Sympathy Shoes."  I was already excited looking at a Nordstrom's box in front of me.  Then, when I opened it to find my FAVORITE Old Gringo's boot box, I squealed with delight.  Babe did GOOD!  I have an ever growing boot collection, but I really just don't think you can have enough boots! I. LOVE. BOOTS. and have loved them even before they were "in style" this time around.  So I am thrilled that I am finally stylish for wearing my cowboy boots!  And now, I have this cute pair "to boot!"