Getting a few answers

In the last two weeks, Jon, Ben, and I have all been to the doctor. Frankly, I'm sick of doctor visits, but we still have another couple left this year.

Jon had allergy tests done. Way back when we were trying to figure out what set off his breathing emergencies, the doctor recommeded allergy tests. Since he turned out to not be allergic to anything they checked for, I think asthma is officially off the list of possibilites. That's great news!

I took Ben to Children's in Dallas last week. Since we had been told be so many that surgery on his arm was a probability, I convinced my father-in-law to come with us to the appointment just to have an extra set of ears hearing all the details (Thank you, Randy!!) When we got to the facility, Randy and I were both impressed at the efficiency. Even though we arrived almost two hours before our appointment (thanks to no Dallas traffic the week of Thanksgiving) Ben was x-rayed (a LOT) immediately. The doctor, a pediatric orthopedist, looked at the x-rays, turned his arms a few times, and confidently informed us that his elbow was not dislocated, but that he had Congenital Radioulnar Synostosis -- basically, when his cells were dividing and creating our sweet little boy, his ulna and radius did not separate completely. Though it is extremely rare, he was born with the two bones fused, and that's why he never complained and we had no way of knowing anything was wrong. Since his range of movement is not too limited (and his wrist is extremely flexible) the doctor explained that he will not catch fly balls with his left hand, and he will not do normal chin-ups, but otherwise, his life will be normal (as far as his arm goes.) She said there was no need to do surgery for that. No surgery was what I'd been praying for...AMEN!!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. The dentists have been telling me since about college that I needed to have it done, but first school was the excuse, then new job, then new insurance said I had to wait six months, then I was pregnant, then I had Will at home, then I had a new business, then I had three babies, and then I finally told the dentist to quit telling me to get it done. I promised to have my teeth extracted when the little kids were in school full-time or when the teeth were bothering me. They started hurting earlier this year -- especially one that was coming in sideways and always biting my cheek, so I scheduled the surgery before I chickened out. Since Allen already had the week off, and my in-laws were able to help with the kids, Thanksgiving week turned out to be a good time to do it. The surgeon told me that the third and fourth days would be the most painful, but I seemed pretty comfortable then, and I was thrilled to have gotten through it all pretty easily. Sunday, the pain was horrible!! I went to bed in tears and woke up Monday morning still in excruciating pain. I called the office and explained the pain and asked it I could come in Monday instead of the scheduled follow-up on Tuesday. That day, they packed one of my sockets - EXTREME PAIN! - but it only lasted a few minutes. Today, I'm doing better. I do hate to admit it has been harder to handle than I thought. I still have to take Tylenol or Motrin so the pain is bearable, but last night, I slept through the night without needing to wake up for medicine. ... and at least, I won't have to go through this again.

Romo is a Turkey?

Will's homework assignment last week was to decorate a turkey. He chose to decorate it like Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo -- a little bit of a surprise since he isn't really one to focus too much on football, but he really had fun creating it.

UPDATED: Will brought home the paragraph he wrote about the turkey. They were working on adjectives.

"Hi. My name is Tony Romo because I'm a football player. My feathers are fuzzy, white and gray. I own 19 tremendous feathers! I wear a big blue jersey and I am #9. My last name is Romo. My first name is Tony. When other good-looking turkeys see me they say "Hi, Tony." Soon I will be choped up for Thanksgiving dinner! Save me if you can!!!" 

Still keeping it together

Monday morning I made a list of everything going on in our family until Thanksgiving Day next week. The list was long:

• Psychologist appointment with Will, Allen, and me (still trying to figure out how to make school a positive experience)
• Hair cut for me
• Cub Scout meeting
• Dinner with my girlfriends (These keep me sane when our schedule is like this)
• MOPS meeting
• Preschool Thanksgiving feast
• Jon's allergy testing
• Jon's well-kid check-up
• Shopping for jeans for Ben and Jon (all 12 or 14 pair have ugly holes)
• Family Christmas card photo shoot
• Take little kids (and me) to the Kaisers'
• Ben's appointment with pediatric orthopedist in Dallas
• Will's Thanksgiving program at school (at the same time as Ben's appointment)
• Cub Scout pack meeting
• Surgery to remove my wisdom teeth
• Back to Kaiser's for Thanksgiving weekend

My list is exhaustING, but not exhaustIVE -- on my big list, I didn't include the normal activities like laundry, trips to the grocery store, picking up kids from school and lots more. Somehow, I am feeling the peace, though. Sunday, we did everything we could think of that would make life run more smoothly. We made lunches to two weeks, made a menu that included several meals from the freezer that have already been prepared, did all the laundry, decluttered the kitchen, and tried to just relax with a good book.

Earlier this week, I made a rare stop at the mall to pick up some jeans for Ben and Jon. I went in Old Navy and picked some out that I hoped would work. When I put them on the boys later, they were way too big. My only option was to take my kids to the mall and have them try them on. I hoped to do that Wednesday afternoon, but the kids were bouncing off the walls, and I wasn't going to attempt that on my own (yes -- I COULD do it, but it was likely I would get really frustrated.) Allen and I took all the kids to the mall last night. It is rare that I go to the mall, and even rarer that kids go with us. When we got there, Jon and Ben asked to see Santa. I explained that we were there for jeans and that Santa probably wasn't even there. Maddie and Jon tried convincing us that EVERY time we go to the mall, we see Santa because that's where he lives. Ben told them that Santa lived at the North Pole, and we continued to walk. Seconds after that conversation, who should appear? Santa spotted them and came to greet them. I might have snapped a picture of their joy, but two of them were in shorts and sandals and, even WITH Santa, it didn't feel Christmassy enough. That made their day, and now they are all back to believing that Santa lives there.

This morning, Maddie reminded me about the Thanksgiving program at the preschool. She was so excited that the moms and dads get to come listen to them sing, and I broke her heart when I told her I couldn't be there. As big tears ran down her face, her big brown eyes looked at me with confusion. I have always come to their programs and she raised her voice in protest, "Mama! All the moms HAVE to come hear us. You don't get to decide. You HAVE to come... Ms. Peggy said so." I tried rationally explaining that Jon had an appointment at the same time and that I would love to hear her sing, but after a few attempts, I realized I can't rationalize with a heart-broken five year old. I am so sorry I can't be there, maybe not so much for the songs, but for the confidence it gives my kids to see mom out in the pews beaming at them.

After the kids finished breakfast, I assembled the "fruit tray" I signed up to bring for the preschool Thanksgiving feast, and as the turkey took shape, excitement filled her face again. Jon understands he is hanging out with me all day as we go from one doctor to another. When Ben heard I wouldn't be at the show, he shrugged and went back to running through the house gobbling like a turkey. Now I have a moment to sit with my coffee before we are off and running for the day. I am grabbing peace and quiet every chance I can just trying to keep from getting overwhelmed. So far, so good....

Down Under

Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you enjoyed your trip. The kids were excited to get a postcard, and Allen and I were amazed that it was postmarked just four days before we actually got it -- just FOUR days to get from Australia to Texas. While you were gone for so long, I missed talking to you every few days. We've had enough crazy things come up that I wish I could've called, but they weren't a big enough deal to interrupt your trip.

A few interesting things have happened in our country over the last several weeks. I'm sure you have all the newspapers to read through, but, in case you don't see these, here's a few stories we might have discussed, in no particular order. The Texas Rangers lost the World Series in the seventh game to the St. Louis Cardinals. Lots of earthquakes hit Oklahoma, some even happened while tornadoes were in the vicinity -- if you see the signs that say "Welcome to Oklahoma: Home of the Quakenado," you'll at least know what that means. New England got lots of snow right before Halloween. Bank of America changed its mind and won't be charging for using the debit card. The Republican Party is quickly dwindling its list of potential presidential candidates; or rather, the candidates are clowns and politics are getting to be a bit depressing.

In family news, you can go back through all the stories on the blog for the details, but in the last month, here is what we've been doing: Jon went to the doctor to follow up from ER visit; she sent him to a specialist who said it is not asthma, but we will do allergy tests next week to see if that gives us any more answers; Ben and Jon have been to the dentist; Ben and Maddie have had their well-kid visits; we asked the doctor about Ben's arm and were sent to an orthopedist, his elbow has been displaced for several years, and now we have an appointment at Children's in Dallas with another specialist because it is not an easy fix; Ben, Maddie, and Jon turned five; we went camping as a family and enjoyed searching for fossils; after the campout, we went to a carnival at the school in Melissa; the next day, we had a birthday party for the little kids, but Ben was so sick, he didn't get to enjoy it; the day after that, Allen and I got really sick -- he worked through it, I slept through it; Maddie had an ear infection; Will is still hating school and we had a meeting with his teacher to make a plan to make it more enjoyable; the kids all had fun at Halloween; Will opened his Free Enterprise store with his GT class; we had a garage sale and the kids had a lemonade stand; and daily the kids surprised us with what they are learning and kept us giggling over all the funny things they say. There were so many times that our bits of drama made me say, "God, I can't handle any more." The next day, God added to it an proved I could. Through our craziness, there is still a ribbon of peace and we really are doing just fine. Since my Facebook updates are usually the funny quotes, here are many from the last month.

9/29 - Will's homework tonight: watch TV. And this is for his G/T class. Good thing he brought an explanation from the teacher or I'm not sure I would've believed it.


10/2 – “Mama, I'm sorry your head hurts so much. I know how to make you feel better... I'll stand right next to you and play my favorite harmonica!” - Jon

10/3 - I always dreamed of having an American Girl doll, and this year we decided NOT to get one for Maddie because she & her brothers are still too hard on toys for us to be willing to spend $100 on a doll. Both our dreams came true, but she won't know it till Christmas. We just won TWO of them-- Cecile and Marie-Grace -- from a Barnes & Noble drawing. It will be easier to let her play with them knowing we didn't spend a lot of money on them. I can't wait till Christmas to play with the new dolls with her.

10/3 – “Mama, where's the E? You said we were going to the Farmer's E! This is just the medicine shop” – Jon

10/6 - I was typing up a wish list of for the kids and asked the three 4YOs what they wanted. Maddie surprised me: "I want a pink camera and a telephone. Not a toy, a REAL telephone for talking on, but it would be nice if it had a button for taking real pictures, too. Don't forget to write 'real one' on the list, Mom."

10/6 – Today I took Jon to the doctor for a follow-up. Partly to see if he is getting better after the croup a few days ago that put him in the ER. Partly to figure out how to avoid the ER with similar episodes. The doctor put him on a different nebulizer steroid because his lungs are still congested and she is setting up an appointment with another doctor who specializes in breathing challenges with kids.

10/6 - Jon is one lucky kiddo. It turns out his Sunday school teacher is a manager at ChickFilA. When she heard that he had been sick and was with me while the others were on a field trip, she brought him icecream so his day would be better. I'm the lucky mama who got to spend the day with him

10/8 – “But, Mama, I DIDN'T punch Maddie!! I just put my fist out when she walked by, but SHE ran into my hand!” - Ben

10/9 – Allen headed out of town for a business conference for several nights.

10/10 - Jon is not going to stop playing for a breathing treatment. He is sword fighting with Will on the Wii while he sits on the kitchen counter with the neb. mask on his face.

10/10 - The morning glories are blooming beautifully! ... and they match the color of the cosmos.

10/12 - I've recently noticed my brain skips over everything "toddler" -- clothing styles and sizes, toy age groups, and even a "Teach your toddler to read" article. I guess it's about time my brain explains to my heart that my little Kids are growing up

10/12 - "My library book is dumb. It's called 'Poisoned water' and I wanted to read how to MAKE poison water.... it was really about oil spills so I'm taking it back." -Will

10/12 - Do I have to feel guilty about letting my kids watch tv on this rainy day? Cat in the Hat is teaching them about paramecium, diatoms, amoeba, and the thing-a-ma-jigger.

10/13 – Ben got a day out with Mama. He had a great visit at the dentist, we ran a few errands, and we read lots of books together.

10/13 - "You know, Mom... Since I'm already a science-man I've discovered ALL animals with tails are really tough. You know what I mean? Like our cats and dog -- they are REALLY tough because of their tails. I keep trying to break them, but they are tough like you." -Ben

10/14 - I find it funny that Will's teacher wrote "100% - Great Job!" at the top of his "Speling Test"

10/16 – It is odd to think that when I wake up tomorrow, I will have a house full of five-year-olds.

10/17 - Ben, Maddie, & Jon are FIVE and telling everyone they see today!!... and there were many times I wondered if we all would survive this long.

10/17 - Today, I took the trio for haircuts. Ben told his stylist, "you sure look pretty." she asked who he was talking about. "I'm talking about YOU." She blushed in surprise and commented how nice he was. He replied suavely, "Yeah... I like the girls. Now that I'm five I'll get a girlfriend." Everyone heard him. We all were tearing up as we tried to hide our laughter. … He keeps going for the older ones. The one today I would guess to be late 30s... He used a similar line on a lady at the dentist office waiting room. I'm guessing she may have had grandkids his age :)

10/18 - Choosing my battles. Thursday is picture day, so today, I'm letting Maddie choose her outfit completely. It almost makes me dizzy to see her wearing a fuscia top with striped sleeves and cupcakes on top "layer", a dark blue denim skirt with rhinestones, light blue socks with Little Mermaid print, sparkly silver Toms, and in her hair are a neon orange pony tail holder, a purple butterfly clip, and a yellow clip. She is SO proud!!

10/18 - It probably doesn't help that he has no symptoms now, but we are trying to figure out how to avoid the ER. Nearly two hours visiting with a doctor and we still don't have answers for what's been going on with Jon, but we are 99% sure we are ruling out asthma. Doc doesn't think he has allergies either, but a round of test are in the works to be sure.

10/19 - Blue school logo shirt, brown floral shorts, purple and pink Tinkerbell socks, sparkly silver Toms, vest with polka dots and leopard print on reverse, neon pink hair tie, neon green hair tie.

10/20 - Smiling! I just watched Jon help Ben into his "picture clothes." he buttoned Ben's shirt then shoved his hands in Ben's pants. Why? "He needs it tucked, mama."

10/20 - When I took the boys to get haircuts, Maddie was begging me to let her get hers cut, too. I reminded her that she kept telling me she wanted it long like Aunt Jenn's, but she told me, "today I want it short like yours. Tomorrow I'll start growing it long." I didn't argue.

10/20 - Maddie to Allen: "when you're done airing my [bike] tires, I need more air in my helmet."

10/20 - Daddy to Maddie: "I just TOLD you I'm leaving the wheels on. How many times do I have to say it till you believe me?!?" ... She balmy replied. "Four."

10/23 - Camping out, hunting fossils and rocks, fall carnival, and a family birthday party all in 2 days. The Kaisers are worn out and more than half are sick. We definitely overdid it, but at least now we have an idea of what "too much" means.

10/24 - All by himself at age 5!! The only thing I did was help straighten a long sticker and keep Ben from taking the pieces. No longer paying attention to the recommended ages on the box.

10/24 - Aiming for "underachiever." not only will my kids NOT have the best-decorated pumpkins, but we haven't even started decorating them, they are due tomorrow, and we aren't doing them before school. Homework for preschoolers stinks especially when there are three to have to complete.

10/25 – Today I got another day with Jon, but this time he is healthy! He had a dentist appointment for a cleaning, and that went well. We also got all the grocery shopping done and had lunch with Allen. It was a fun day!

10/27 – Today was a day for me to spend with Maddie. It started with a trip to Target, then we had her well-kid check up and found out she has an ear infection. We didn’t run too many errands because we wanted to be sure to make it back to the preschool in time to enjoy the Halloween costume party.

10/27 - I'm going to bed now. The kids promised to kiss me goodnight when they get home from bike-riding. I'm hoping they'll wake me up in time to watch the Rangers play & win.

10/30 - Today -- Still have sickness in the house, Allen got called in to work, Jon got a bead stuck up his nose, Will "leaked" Sharpie on my antique table, Ben bit Jon, and somehow I'm still okay and haven't even yelled... yet.

10/30 - "Mama, my eyes hurt. Why do they keep closing?"... Because you are tired..."but I don't wanna be tired. Can you tell Daddy it's time to stop playing so we can go to bed?" - Ben

10/31 - One of Jon's favorite Halloween treats tonight? A wrapped prune!

11/1 - Last night a teen dressed as Batman came to the door and was trying to talk to my kids with a British? accent. Ben put him on the spot with the question of the day: "Why are you dressed like BATman and calling yourself 'BUTTman?' Do you realize that sounds ridiculous?!"

11/1 - Heading out to make Will smile... he loves when Mama brings sushi to school for lunch together.

11/3 – Today I spent the day with Ben. We went to WalMart, went to the bank, went to his well-kid check up, got a few x-rays of his elbow, and made it up to the school to see Will’s “store.”

11/4 - More xrays ... Two days in a row. This time we had to close the garage sale a bit early because our doctor called and insisted we get Ben to an orthopedic specialist immediately. I am thankful we could do so with very little stress; Allen was home and could help get Will from school and keep the others while I took Ben to the next doctor.

11/4 - Since our life is so dull....we completely missed that Ben's had a dislocated elbow... for a LONG time. Now to schedule the visit to Dallas Children's and will probably have to have it surgically corrected. I just THOUGHT I felt bad that I didn't know Maddie had an ear infection, but now I feel like a really bad mom. :(

11/5 – We finished up the garage sale today and the kids set up a lemonade stand. It was a great weekend to make about $500 selling our stuff.

11/6 – We discovered a neat trick I will try again next year -- put the kids to bed Sunday night and THEN change the clocks :) ... they went to bed at 6:30 thinking it was 7:30. I am glad to get an extra hour of quiet.

11/8 - Today, I got a call that mothers day out was cancelled because of a leak. I'm thankful to have a friend I could call to keep three kids for a while so I could have an uninterrupted meeting with Will's teacher.

11/10 - "Mama, we forgot to take show-and-tell today for the letter J. Don't worry, I got up and showed and telled all about my brother. When I was done, Ms. Judy told me to put Jon back in my backpack, hahaha, but I had the best J to show." -- and Maddie & Jon were SO proud of their quick thinking.

A Sunny Day On The Beach

We have enjoyed several weekends of different art styles, but Will chose a melted crayon project to turn in for the fair. I was a bit confused that the entries were due about two weeks after the fair, but I read the entire packet to discover, he really just had to get it turned in a year before the next fair. If you want to see his entry in person, go to the East Texas Fair in October 2012. I think it will be posted under the second grade art projects. He is quite proud of his painting and I wanted to get a picture of him with it just in case we don't get it back. The entry had to fit particular size guidelines and be mounted with a title on poster board of a specific size. He named his art "A Sunny Day On The Beach." I am so proud of my little artist ... and I'd sure like to visit that beach soon. 

Four Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

I used to sing a pumpkin song to Will. I tried singing it to the kids the other day, but the loud clap startled them and they refuse to let me sing it now. I can't help but laugh that these kids are enjoying being scared by Halloween decor, but their mama clapping is just too much. Nonetheless, every time I see our decorated pumpkins, I at least hum the tune to myself. Ben, Maddie, and Jon decorated their pumpkins for school, and Will decorated one just because he wanted to. We still have a few more around here undecorated, so I may have to post more pictures this weekend ... I have a feeling those orange squashes will be boredom busters again.

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate;

The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late."

The second one said, "There are witches in the air."

The third one said, "But I don't care."

The fourth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"

The fifth one said, "Let's run and run and run."

"Wooooooo" went the wind,

And out went the lights. (CLAP!)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Garage Sale and Lemonade Stand

We just got to check another box on our lifetime bucket list -- a garage sale! We have never had one, and with all the work that went into it, I remember why. It actually went quite well. I wasn't as prepared as I hoped (thanks in part to the flu making its rounds, Allen being called out to work, and a few other things we couldn't avoid.) BUT, once I decided to be okay with not being completely ready, things went smoothly. Usually we have piles and boxes of things filling our garage and when we get tired of them, I take kids' clothes and toys to friends or family with younger children, we take extra books to the library, and we take all the rest to Goodwill. As we started the mountain of things to purge, we realized that we had enough for a sale and the kids were old enough to participate. We decided to participate on the Citywide garage sale weekend, and overall, it went really well. Allen took Friday off to help with the sale and kids, then we had all four kids helping us on Saturday.

The kids played in the yard most of the time, but on Saturday they got to have their first Lemonade Stand. They have been asking us for a while to have one, but we didn't agree to it until Will could confidently count money. This was his first opportunity, and Will enjoyed having his own money-making business. For the few hours that he had a sale, the little kids didn't help too much. I think Ben stayed near Will and helped pass out napkins, but Maddie and Jon were playing on the porch. Will made signs and set up his station. I made the lemonade and explained to him $5 was too high to charge for a tiny cup of lemonade but that's about all I was involved. In the end, he chose to charge 25-cents a cup, and he sold enough cups to make $10.25. After he counted his money, he and I figured out how much he owed me for buying the cups and lemonade mix. He proudly pushed me a pile of quarters totalling $3.50, then asked how much he should pay Ben for being a good employee. He is quite proud of earning his $6.75 "with a REAL job."

Overall, it was a great weekend. The weather could not have been prettier for us to sit outside for hours on end. The kids collected all the acorns in the yard. We got our garage cleared out. AND people paid us to help us clear it!! I couldn't believe that people were willing to pay for some of it -- we sold tons of toddler clothes, three mini potties, a car seat and cover, a bunch of stuffed animals and Happy Meal toys, lots of kids books, games, and movies. After the sale, we loaded up the van with all the extra stuff and took it to Goodwill. I still have a few small boxes in the garage to take to the YMCA, library, and to send to some friends and family. The kids learned some lessons about getting rid of stuff. Our original plan was to decide ahead of time as a family how we would use our garage sale money, but we didn't get that far... yet. Will we do it again? Maybe... but only on the citywide weekend again because there was so much traffic just looking for the sales.