Finding Our Limit: Camping and Geology

We found our limit. We packed too much into a weekend and now more than half of us are sick. I know it isn't because of the weekend, but I definitely feel like we need a break from our busy-ness. We did have a lot of fun over the last few days, but I'm not sure, yet, if it was worth the weariness.

First off, we packed up the van with lots of gear and headed off to Cooper Lake State Park for a family camp out with Will's Cub Scout den. There were about six families there while we were there, but some others showed up after we left (and we left a day early.) Friday, we got to the campsite just after sunset. It was a challenge to set up the tent in the dark, but it was harder to keep up with the four kids while we were doing that. After we set up, we all went to bed -- yes, early. Saturday, we got up at dawn, had breakfast with the others, cleaned up the dishes, and headed to a river that was mostly dry from the drought. One of the other boys' dad is a geologist and he and his coworker introduced the boys (and siblings) to different types of rocks and fossils. After the short lesson, we all descended a steep cliff. We had been worried about getting all the little kids down, but it went quite smoothly since we let them sit and slide down on their bottoms. It was steep enough that they slid quickly, but not so steep that they didn't have control over their speeds. Once we were in the "river" we all started searching for different fossils, including shark teeth, shells, and vertebrae from a particular dinosaur (that I can't remember the name of, but that was the reason the geologists chose this spot.) I finally relaxed a bit and let the kids wander as long as I could see them. Maddie found a lot of fossils, but they were of the big, heavy type, so I took a picture instead of hauling them back up the cliff. Ben and Allen found some shark teeth. Jon, Maddie, and I preferred to find the pretty and smoothed river glass. After all the second-grade boys got tired of hunting for fossils, they had a blast climbing the cliffs and sliding down what they called "avalanches." Thankfully, he didn't wear the seat out of his pants, but I'm not sure how he didn't wear through them. Ben eventually got bored with looking at rocks and just kept asking me, "Mama, please walk with me and lets find an adventure." Jon continued to crack me up as he had been trying all morning to get the attention of five-year old, Sadie. At breakfast, he insisted on sitting where he could see her. After a potty break, he demanded we walk faster so he "could spend more time with Sadie." At one point, while we were at the river, he ran to me to giddily explain, "Sadie smiled at me!" We all found pretty stones, a few shells and fossils, petrified wood, and quartzite. For the most part, we only brought back what would fit in our pockets, though. After we wore the kids out, we headed back to camp to pack up, eat lunch, and head for our next adventure.

Three New Bikes

It is just two days after their birthday, but they finally got their new bikes. Monday was their birthday, but we ran out of time. Tuesday, we were home, but all three of them were in trouble by dinnertime. Without naps, they really needed to go to be early and we wouldn't have let them ride anyway. This evening, we planned to be at church, but I had an awful headache and my meeting was cancelled, so we stayed home. The plan was for the kids to be surprised when the garage door came up and they saw the three new bikes, but Ben was the only one who showed any surprise in his facial expressions. All three were excited about the big-kid bikes and the now big wheels have been labelled "Little Kid Bikes." I figure the Big Wheels will still be fun for awhile since Daddy lets them race down the driveway with them and it will be awhile till they are that confident on the big bikes. The boys were both immediately comfortable on the bikes, but Maddie is still having a bit of trouble pedalling.

Two Hours Later...

Today, I took Jon to a specialist. We are trying to figure out why he ended up in the ER twice over six weeks with the hope that if we know WHY, we can avoid it happening again or have the tools on hand to keep us home instead. Thankfully, Allen was able to come pick up Maddie and Ben and take them to school, because it would have been hard to keep all three kids busy for two hours. Jon and I were talking with a nurse or doctor for almost two whole hours and we don't really have more answers.

For now, the doc does not think he has asthma. There are three main signs that indicate asthma and Jon is negative on all three: we have no family history of it, he doesn't have wheezing with certain temperatures or activities, and he does not seem to have allergy problems. We have set up an appointment for allergy tests next month, just to rule that out completely, but the doctor doesn't think that his episodes were related to allergies, either. In the end, this doctor believes that both times at the ER, Jon may have had sudden onset croup.... that really would not have been avoidable, but now we do have the meds on hand to try to keep him from getting croup. I think the last thirty minutes of the appointment the nurse and doctor were helping me make a list of when to give Jon which medicine. We have five new ones now and I need to make a flowchart so that Allen and grandparents can tell what to give him if he starts getting the sniffles.

The REAL Birthday

It is hard for me to believe that my three "babies" are actually FIVE years old today. How can it seem like just yesterday, yet, seem like a life-time ago that they entered this world? Somehow the years whizzed by, but we've had many, MANY long days. Today didn't go quite like I planned. I baked cupcakes all day, Allen got home and we ate quickly, let the kids blow out candles, and eat half their cupcakes, then we rushed out the door to a Cub Scout awards ceremony and fall festival. Unfortunately, the adults who planned the meeting didn't do a good job -- they forgot to recognize all the hard work of the boys and, instead, made announcements of stuff going on through February. The festival was chaos and candy. We let Will pick a few treats and we left, getting home just in time to open one gift then head to bed. I was bummed -- maybe even more than the kids were. Though they did get a cake and a song, I had planned to celebrate a bit more. They were all excited to get the helmets and can't wait to ride their big wheels with them on. Ben put his on and ran across the house and bashed into the steel front door head-first. He was THRILLED that the helmet worked, but not thrilled that I told him to stop. Hopefully, they'll get their big present tomorrow.

It is fun listening to their conversations about their birthday. Since they are five today, they are saying that they'll be six on their next birthday. The funny part is they are trying to convince us that their next and sixth birthday is next weekend (that's when their "party" is.) Earlier today, we stopped by the doctor's office to pick up some records. The three kids sat in the waiting room visiting with others while I was talking to the receptionist. I overheard a man ask who was the oldest, they replied, "We are all the same age." He said, "I know that, but who was born first?" The three replied in chorus, "WILL!" The man chuckled and tried clarifying what he meant, but they reiterated, "We are triplets! That means we were born at the same time and we are all the same age."

Last year, on their birthday, I quizzed the kids about their favorites. I thought it would be fun to see what their answers are a year later. Here are their replies (in the order they came to ask me what I was doing.)

Jon's Favorites

His favorite color - dark green

His favorite book - Captain Underpants

His favorite TV show - Power Rangers

His favorite toys - Phones

His best friend - Mama

His favorite thing to do - Play with dinosaurs

His favorite song - The ones on the TV, science is real

His favorite movie - Star Wars

His other favorite activities - play legos and tools

Ben's Favorites

His favorite color - blue

His favorite book - Dinosaur

His favorite TV show -  Power Rangers

His favorite toys - Cookie Monster, Big Wheel

His best friend - Jon

His favorite thing to do - play

His favorite song - Dinosaur Train

His favorite movie - Star Wars

His other favorite activities - swinging, Daddy throwing me in the air

Maddie's Favorites

Her favorite color - pink and purple

Her favorite book - Fancy Nancy and Barbie

Her favorite TV show - Word Girl

Her favorite toys - doll house and baby dolls

Her best friend - Daddy

Her favorite thing to do - color and make art and cook

Her favorite song - Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Her favorite movie - Barbie princess movie

Her other favorite activities - take pictures, ride my bike, and eat pizza

Purge Piles!

... and it has been another busy weekend. Saturday, Allen, the kids and I worked on the kids' rooms. While all of them (yes, ALL of them) were watching Saturday morning cartoons, I went through the little kids' closets and took out everything that was size 2T and below. It is funny that the kids will be five tomorrow, but they wear size 2 to 4 in shirts and 3 or 4 in pants. I've been trying to put them in 5s because the others are starting to be too short, but I haven't found any 5s that will stay up -- even with the straps pulled so they are as tiny-waisted as possible, they still won't stay put. The pile of outgrown clothes was enormous. I also cleared out some baby gear I've been hoarding... or maybe I just haven't made time to deal with it. After cartoons and a few "ahems" to remind everyone what my our plan was for the day, Allen helped Will clean his room, while I worked with the little kids on the toy room. We pulled out all the toys that had been confiscated or sorted to another room and we reorganized it all. After we had all the bins perfectly sorted, Will came to help with the purging. Somehow we got rid of a lot of toys -- or rather we WILL get rid of them when we have a garage sale in a couple weeks.

The stuffed animal pile has always been difficult to purge. The triplets got SO many stuffed toys when they were in the hospital because they were there around Christmas, and several benefactors bought toys for all the NICU babies. We spread all the stuffed toys out on a sheet (that was to keep their attention directed to one place,) and I pulled out all the animals that the kids are attached to and a few that tugged my heart strings. Each of the four kids picked up two toys -- one to keep, one to get rid of. Since all those toys are public domain, all the "get rid of" toys had to be approved by the others. If someone really wanted to keep one that someone else was ready to purge, they had to use their next "keep" vote on that animal. Usually, they ended up finding another they wanted more and most of the "purge" toys really were purged. We did the same thing with some other toy categories that we had overloaded.

The pile for the garage sale is getting to be big enough I won't be embarrassed to have a sale. I am hoping we are not biting off more than we can chew by adding another demanding weekend to our month, though. Sunday was not quite as busy. I planned on doing art with the kids, but it ended up being a Wii and football kind of a day. Allen helped me get enough PB&J made for school lunches for the next two weeks since we will be gone next weekend. This week is going to be crazy... the story of our life, though, right?

More than Pancakes: Griddle Art

I saw an interesting idea the other day: to put paper on a electric griddle and use crayons on it. One afternoon, while the little kids napped, Will (age 7) and I attempted to try this technique. NOTE: With constant adult supervision, this was a good project for Will who follows directions well, but I won't try it with the other kids until they are a few years older. The griddle gets extremely hot, and even the melted wax on the crayons gets pretty warm. Will and I each accidentally touched something hot at least once; it hurt, but didn't leave any marks. We covered the griddle with foil, set it on high heat with the paper right on the foil, and we used a hot pad when we needed to hold onto the paper.

When the crayon is colored onto the hot surface, it glides and blends like paint. The more layers, the more intense the color. We tried a few different backgrounds -- watercolor paper, paper textured like canvas, and canvas. The watercolor paper was much smoother and accepted color more easily. But the canvas textures were better for the "stamping" we did because the wax and pigments didn't soak in as quickly. The fabric canvas was primed on one side, and we learned the hard way that if the primed-side is against the heat (rather than facing up), it smokes and makes quite a stink.

 On one of our first pieces, Will was using a crayon sideways to make the ocean blue faster. It quickly melted down to where he couldn't hold it, so we used a paper towel to pick up the crayon lump. Our sort-of-an-accident left a pattern where the paper towel touched, so we experimented some more with the stamping and wiping. On the red and orange picture, we folded a paper towel and rolled it into a spiral (that's what the round shapes are.) When he pressed the paper towel into the wax, it lifted off some of the color. We both liked that technique enough that we tried it with a crumpled paper towel on the yellow and green one. Except for the picture of the boat and kite (to the side of the boat) and butterfly, the other pieces will be used as backgrounds in some other artwork later. The greens and browns are going to be part of a collage with Boys' Life magazine pieces (that's the plan for now, anyway.) This was a fun way to use broken and extra crayons and we did notice a huge difference in crayon brands -- Crayolas gave us the most intense color, cheaper brands seemed too waxy and didn't give us the same blend-ability and saturation. Stay tuned for more!

Same Song Second Verse

Around 11:30 PM last night, Jon came downstairs struggling to breathe. It wasn't just the normal wheezing that is cured by a breathing treatment, it was more like what we dealt with about six weeks ago, and after two unsuccessful neb-treatments he and I were on our way to the urgent-care ER again. This time was worse, as he was struggling so much to breathe and cough that he threw up before we left the house... then again and again in the car on the way, ... then a couple more times at the ER. I was struggling to keep my cool and prayed the whole way there (except when I was assuring Jon it was okay to throw up in the car.) At some point, on the way there, I was calmed. When we arrived, I scribbled our names on the list, but before I dotted the "i" of our last name, they were rushing Jon back for treatment. Thankfully, the nurse was the same nurse we had six weeks ago, and for Jon and me, that was really quite reassuring.

Last time, they gave him a breathing treatment and an oral steroid, and eventually he was able to breathe fine. This time, he had several breathing treatments, a steroid shot (which would act faster and not be thrown up), chest x-rays, a super-charged breathing treatment (that meant we had to stay three hours for observation,) several saline breathing treatments with oxygen, and an oral antibiotic once he was stabilized and not sick to his stomach. I thought I was scared before, but nothing compared to the fears I had when he was gasping for breath with his eyes wide in fear. Eventually, he was able to breathe better and he kept dozing off (understandable, considering the time and that he was sick). When all the meds kicked in, he was breathing comfortable, not struggling at all; his heart rate, breathing, and oxygen levels were back to normal; and his burst of energy hit. By that time, I was struggling to stay awake, but he kept on talking and talking and talking. I explained that I was a bit scared, and that sweet boy said, "Mom, I wasn't scared. Well, only when they gave me a shot - that was scary. But Mr. Phillip (the nurse) is a nice man and he helps you take care of me."

When he was discharged at 3:30 AM, he seemed just fine. Since he had messed up his jacket and pants, I wrapped him in a towel and clean shirt from the trunk, and we went home to get some sleep. Today, he is coughing a little bit, but you would never know what we were dealing with twelve hours ago. We are set up to treat croup and pneumonia with steroids and antibiotics for the week. Since the steroid will help his lungs but depress his immune system, he won't be going to preschool, MOPS, Wednesday night church, or play dates this week. He is a little bit bummed that he will miss the field trip to the pumpkin patch, but I promised we would do something fun and he is (so far) taking it pretty well. We have a follow up doctor visit later this week and I will talk to her about getting us some emergency steroids in case this happens again.