The Bravest of them All...

Hands down, Greer is my most sweet and sensitive child (although Kean might give her a run for her money on that). A couple of weeks ago she showed us some strange looking bumps under her skin on her middle finger. Evidently, she has had them for months but only thought to show them to Holland who didn't bother to say anything to us (and can I tell you how many times she's been with me at the doctor's office!!!!!!). But hey, you know me, I have nothing better to do and nothing I like more than more doctors appointments! Our doc had no idea what the bumps were, so referred us to a Dermatologist.We jumped through all kinds of hoops to get in to the Derm. I'm realizing they must make a heck of a lot more money doing dermabrasions and botox shots than actually practicing medicine-- however, he was not concerned but did a little biopsy to make sure its what he thinks it is (Grannuloma Annulare-- not sure of the spelling but it's no big deal).

My little GiGi was so brave. She didn't even so much as whimper when he gave her a shot in her finger, did the biopsy and then gave her two stitches.

He's having her wear a little finger brace to keep from bending her finger and popping the stitches. So it looks a lot worse than it is. But of course, she's milking it for all its worth.

Kids!

Forgive me for the subject matter

My car has been exiled to the outside of the garage. The girls are like little elves making a massive "Barbie" house. What's truly amazing is that no one has hurt themselves during the construction phase.

I have a feeling the ol' car will be out in the cold for a while.

Reese did come in for a "potty" break. I was biting my tongue, my lips, my cheeks-- you name it to keep from laughing. I apologize if you think this is gross-- but I thought it was hilarious. Here's Reese's very one sided conversation:

"Mom, I've got to go stinky. I was in the garage and I had gas and I was like 'cuse me and then I had some more gas and I was like 'cuse me and then I knew I had to go stinky so I came inside and I have to go stinky but only a little stinky. Only one stinky. I'm taking off my boots but I'm not going to take off my jacket because I won't let it dip into the toilet and get yucky. I'll be careful......... "

I finally stopped her to remind her to get going to the bathroom.

The girl is a character. Here she is all ready for preschool yesterday. She begged me to let her wear these shoes. So I let her. Why not? If you squint really hard, they kinda match.

I wonder what Kean thinks of all this madness.

His First First Aid

We've been watching some pretty amazing crashes on the Olympics... so not to be outdone-- Holland dropped Kean this afternoon. He hit his chin on the magazine holder and then tumbled onto his head on the floor. Let me put it to you this way, our quiet baby was quiet no more! He cried and cried and cried. And then to make things even more fun- Holland cried and cried and cried. She felt so bad.

So far no bruises, just a decent cut on his chin and one very cool fishy band-aid.

His "do"

There is really not anyone in our family who is follicly challenged. My father, mother, grandparents, children and Byron's side of the family all have hair and lots of it. And now there is Kean. He has a nice thick crop of hair-- unfortunately, it's only coming in in the very center of his head and that's about it. I lovingly refer to it as his comb-over. Poor guy. Good thing he's so cute! Today was pajama day at Reese's preschool. She was so excited to wear her nightgown and robe. To help round out the day-- we decided to have breakfast for dinner (sausage or ostrich as we call it in our family*, eggs, hash browns, bagels and OJ). Yum.

*When Holland was probably Reese's age, we were camping up in the mountains. Byron was just outside the camp trailer cooking up some sausage in the great outdoors. Holland walked down the stairs and over to him, sniffed the air and went "Hmmm, hmmm, I just love ostrich in the morning."

We've called it ostrich ever since.

By the way, I went to a 2 hour seminar last night for therapists, doctors, teachers and parents called "Building Better Babies". It was fascinating. It helped bring together all the therapies and various measures we are working on with Kean-- the "whys" behind it all. I wish I'd known all this when my girls were babies.

Where's my spoonful of sugar?

Kean had his 6 month check up today. He now is tipping the scales at.......... 13 pounds. I swear he'll be ready to drive and date by the time we can get him out into public and introduce him around!
This is our Pediatrician, Dr. Sandstrom. We adore her, mostly because she adores our kids. She gets down on the ground and plays and giggles with them.
I asked her today when, when, oh when can we get off house arrest and take Kean out. She said they are seeing a huge amount of babies with RSV-- more than ever this season. But since Kean is getting the 15 thousand dollars worth of RSV shots-- he should be safe. Dr. Sandstrom says she has not seen any babies with RSV who have gotten the shots. The flu and H1N1 or Heinie flu as I like to call it-- are still out there but taking a back seat to RSV.
Soooo... it looks like we will take Kean to church and bless him (the Mormon version of Christening) on Sunday, April 11th. He's doing great and let's hope he stays that way!
He did get 3 yucky shots this morning. Pre shots picture:
Post shots:

Poor little guy!

My Valentines

Eleven years and he still owns my heart. Rico Suave' eh? Happy Valentines everyone! Byron and I had a big night out-- Elly came and watched the kiddos and we headed to a church dinner. We were pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. Dinner was yummy, they music program was hilarious and the slide show of everyone's wedding photographs was so crazy funny-- everyone asked for it to be played twice. Our friends teased Byron that he looked like he was trying to be Edward from Twilight. Byron whipped up a Valentine's breakfast for his girls-- yum (especially since I didn't have to cook it)!

Our friend, Jean, gave us this mondo balloon to take home for the girls. It was a humongous hit.

It was almost a relaxing day. Almost. I had to give a talk in church on Service. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous since I was talking about something very personal. I focused on the "second side" of service-- receiving service. And in that our family has been the poster family for receiving service, I decided to talk about what I know. I focused on how Christ humbled himself and accepted service throughout his ministry and if we deny others from serving us-- we are denying their blessings. I'm so glad it's over.

Here's a cute picture of Dawn-- in January we switched the time we go to church and Danielle's church time overlapped with ours-- so now dear Dawn watches Kean so I can run to the first hour of church.

Valentine's Booty Boxes

The girls came home from school laden with candy. They each decorated boxes for their class parties. Cavities, here we come! Ug.

For Holland's class, they were assigned to make a Valentine's box with a "small machine" aka-- lever, pulley etc. Byron was out of town last weekend and so when Holland came up with her idea and I had no earthly idea how to pull it off-- I sent her down to Grandpa Bodily's house. Of course, he saved the day. Let me let you in on a little secret: he's a retired engineer. SCORE! They planned and plotted, drilled and glued and voila:

Her box oohed and ahhed the other kids. SCORE again! Her box lever works kind of like a fishing pole. It swings around, drops down and clips on the lid to open it up. It also clips on the Valentines to help deposit them into the box. It's pretty darn cool.

Plus, Grandma Bodily**** donated some lovely "wedding" wrapping paper to the project that Holland fell in love with.

*** Okay, I mentioned that Grandpa Bodily got remarried haven't I? I'm worried I haven't. At the end of November, he married Karen and we already love and adore her. He only "came out" that he was dating her in October and things moved quickly from there. They've actually known each other for years. Karen put her mother in the same nursing home where Jeanine (Lee's first wife) was-- just weeks apart. I'll post a picture of the two lovebirds soon.

I also wanted to show you a picture of Kean's new therapist, Pat. Today was visit number 3 and we are already seeing improvement in the strength of his mouth.

Today we put him on a light blanket and helped him to practice crawling, well, moving his feet and legs in the right position and direction. He loved it-- for a little while and then he was

ex-haust-ed!

He's a superstar, I tell ya!

Smoochie's birthday

Holland has christened Kean with a new name: "Smoochie". Really it should be her name in that she is constantly kissing on her brother. Thankfully, he doesn't mind the nickname and really relishes the kisses. He rewards her with a big gummy smile- usually.

I'm not so good at catching the smiles with the camera. So you'll have to trust me. It's awfully cute.

But then again, he's awfully cute. Couldn't adore him anymore.

By the way, he's now 6 MONTHS OLD (5 adjusted). How did this happen? Wow. Byron was just saying this morning that he wishes he could hit a pause button for a year or so. They're all growing up so fast.

Girls Weekend with a token boy

First off, here's Kean's 5 month old picture. He'll be six months this week (or 5 months adjusted age). Wow... time flies when you are stuck at home day in and day out. I'm only partly being sarcastic. I truly can't believe he's getting so big.

Byron went to Seattle and the Oregon Coast for a few days to help out a friend. So the girls and I had movie night twice! We watched Enchanted and Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. I know all of you out there are wishing you had as an exciting a weekend as I did.

Kean just loves his exercise mat. And as you can see, so does Reese. She is constantly hugging, kissing or nearly smothering him.

And finally, oh dear, it was only a matter of time. Guess who I found pretending to pump. Monkey see, monkey do! I'm spending far too much time of my life in this position.

Today's "Reese-ism"

I was sitting on the couch this morning feeding the baby, while Reese was sitting at the "little" table cutting up paper and going through half a roll of scotch tape. She came over to me and asked me to take the lid off of the glue stick.
Me: "What are you making?"
Reese: "Oh, just some crap."
I think she meant to say some crafts.
I didn't have the heart to correct her.

Winners in my book!

I've gotta walk into the RC Willy store here in Meridian this week. My parents smiling mug shots are on a poster on an easel as you walk in (so I hear). With their new home, they've been doing quite a bit of shopping (rugs, kitchen table etc.)... and earlier this week they were the big grand prize winners for the store.
They scratched off their tickets and won season tickets to their favorite college football team. I wouldn't say Boise State is their favorite team (yet)... but since they now live here, that's what team they picked. Cool, eh?
I told them they need to go play the lottery next and see if their lucky streak continues.

A small snippit

Reese: "Mom, my tummy has a headache."
Me: "Uh, oh."
Reese: "Yup, so I can't eat any more waffles."

Spotlight

Reese skipped her nap today so we could surprise Holland at school today. There was an assembly for the 3rd through 5th grades. Holland was one of the 3rd graders honored for being especially kind and compassionate. She had no idea (even after she saw us). Reese is like the school's honorary mascot. All the kids in both Holland and Greer's class get a huge kick out of Reesey-- so look who just plopped herself down with the rest of the class!

Notice the boy on the left of the picture-- that's Sam. I'll tell you a little bit more about him in a minute.

Come to find out-- Greer won the same exact award at an assembly earlier today for the Kindergartners through 2nd graders. Only, Greer's teacher somehow spaced letting the parents know. The other child in her class-- Clarke (pictured below) happens to be the brother of Sam, the boy standing next to Holland in the earlier picture. Crazy coincidence-- both of these brothers won the award today as did the Barker sisters. I got talking with their mom-- she has 3 boys and 1 girl (the same ages as my kids). Her youngest boy has Down Syndrome. As you can imagine, we had plenty to talk about-- the same therapists, health issues etc. What a small, small world. We can't wait for warmer weather to get the families together.