The Tooth Incident

In January S lost a tooth. At age 3. To be more accurate, he literary tore one of his top teeth from his gums. It was a terrible accident, but as the dentist said, it wasn't an eye or an limb.....
The story is; we had a beautiful sunny day in January, the kids were outside playing and S was driving the little toy battery powered jeep. He drove around towards Grandma's house and passed between the apple trees, under the hammock. As I started to call to him not to drive under the hammock, he started to scream. "Mommy! Mommy! I got out my tooth". When I got to him there was blood already everywhere and his tooth was literally pulled to a 90 degree angle out of his mouth. He had somehow hooked it on the net of the hammock and the force pulled it right out... almost. So, thankfully my mom being home, we were able to get everyone back to the house and start making phone calls about where to go. We ended up at the pediatric dentist who was able to see him immediately. But the tooth could not be saved. S ended up having oral surgery early the next morning. For the second time in a matter of months J had to hold one of his children while they were put under general anesthesia. He is done with that experience! S is fine, but will be toothless for quite a few years!


Before:


Mom managed to get this only picture of him with the tooth. For the most part he was very uncomfortable and self conscious. Not smiling, he spent the evening not eating or drinking and just sitting on J's lap.

After:

It's Official!

On February 7th we received the final adoption papers for L! He is now an official forever part of our family. We are so thankful for the opportunity to be his parents...
He is now 20 months old. He loves outside, being active (anyone up for spinning on the office chair?), looking at books, climbing, getting a "closer look" at the baby and things with wheels. He is not so thrilled about diaper changes (understatement), face washes, and the word "no".
Recently he has started waving "hi" and "bye" (so cute), saying some words (mama, dada, baby, night night, wa, truck, more). He mimics Daddy to the tee by pacing back and forth staring at the floor with the Iphone saying, "yah. yah... yah. yah....". All in all, he is a very happy little boy!

Whose foot is that sticking out of E's new bookcase?
Why L's of course! Isn't that what this is here for?
How big am I?

Welcome Baby

I so badly want to break my no-first-name policy in introducing our new little girl to you! Her name is so sweet, a tribute to her dad's heritage and has a lovely meaning of "merciful graciousness".

She arrived as planned, via C Section, on February 15th. 8 pounds 8 ounces, also what we expected. What I didn't expect was the fierce hollering she set about when born. And then getting right into the business of eating. With the help of wonderful friends and our great family we were able to have another memorable and peaceful hospital stay. The kids bounced back and forth between the hospital and home- visiting us and having sleep-over style parties with cousins and Grandma. I ate my delivered meals, napped, talked with J, a friend and I spent a few hours enthralled by a few (mind-boggling) cable TV shows that I didn't know existed and of course enjoyed being able to hold the tiny A for hours at a time. Near the end of the stay I began some complications resulting from a bad reaction to the adhesive bandaging. That turned into quite a mess and I almost didn't get to go home as planned on the 18th. But I did go home, on antibiotics, which I also had an allergic reaction to! I ended up with "botox-gone-bad" swollen lips, a full body rash and blisters in my mouth. Things got a little worse before they finally started to improve last week.... phew.
Baby is almost 5 weeks old now and is doing great. She does appear to have the same milk protein intolerance as S did, so it is no dairy and no soy for me! That's OK though, if I could just kick the jelly bean habit....
She is doing great and I expect will start giving us real smiles in the next couple weeks. Her siblings adore her and want to get a turn holding her several times a day. L is almost beside himself with his fascination with her. He tries regularly to remove each of her ears, such is his love for her! E has been promoted to being able to carefully reposition her when she is holding her all be herself and she thinks this is pretty great. S often gets to have nap time with her in our big bed.
There have certainly been "moments" but so far so good in this full household of six...

(Photos by professional)

At Year End

The year was not over with Christmas. On December 29th tragedy hit our family in a way we had not yet experienced. My brother's wife was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 32. Mother of two young daughters ages 8 & 10, beautiful young wife, dedicated believer and brilliant pharmacy student. She was 2 months away from completing her doctorate of pharmacy, having been on the dean's list the entire 7 years straight. Our family grieves her loss, none as much as my brother and two nieces who keenly and painfully miss her every second of the day. We do not understand but we place our hope in that which we know, that we will see her again on the other side.

Christmas

Christmas was lovely, as always. A beautiful time of year. We got a tiny bit of snow earlier in the month, but none nearer to the holiday.
Navigating Christmas tree fields in search of the perfect tree is a favorite tradition. As is the celebration of Sinterklaas and decorating competition of gingerbread houses (this years theme: boats) earlier in the month. A cookie exchange with good friends, a Christmas Eve visit with extended family and a Christmas morning of stockings and presents and breakfast next door rounded out the festivities. Also as always, we tried to keep our "gift" part under moderation- as always we pretty much failed.

Two Birthdays

Being totally honest here.... it is one day away from the first day of Spring... in honor of that I am changing my background on the blog and, um, trying to catch up with some overdue posts.
You may be thinking this is a post about new baby- but in an effort to keep thing chronological, I am going to pick up where I left off, Fall!

Two kiddos have Fall birthdays- E and S- only a couple weeks apart. We have been celebrating them together with a "big"party. And then individual small celebrations on the actual day. It occurs to me that this is actually making two birthdays into three parties, not exactly simplifying!
It was technically E's turn to pick the theme/Grandma Spectacular cake. Last year was the amazing train cake for the birthday party. She debated and pored over pictures, narrowing them down to only a few remaining. I was sure she would pick my favorite.... and I had games and decorations planned in my head. I was careful, though, not to let on which one I hoped she would choose. Finally she said she had decided, and with an apologetic tone and look that let me know I was much more transparent to my daughter than I realized, asked for a "guitar" shaped cake. Oh. This wasn't the cake I thought she truly wanted! And it wasn't the plan I had already begun in my head! Abandoning my Mommy of the Year Award once again, I told her that it was her birthday and her choice (good so far) BUT that I didn't know any guitar games or decorations and I thought as a theme.... the other choice was better... The Princess and The Pea. So, it was up to her, guitar cake- OR, Princess and the Pea cake with lots of decorations and fun games.... She agreed the Pea cake sounded much better as I put it, so that was what was ordered. There were some lessons learned here- mostly for me. Next time I will try to better. But in the meantime, she truly LOVED her cake and all the cute decorations and games....
Aunty next door felt bad for S turning 3 with a princess cake so she made him an adorable camping cake complete with a little guy sleeping in a tent next to a fire.