Funny stories about my kids. . . Chili, Head & Paint

Now do I have your attention? By a title like that, I would assume someone would be interested in reading this post. I was thinking the other day about stories when the kids were small that I just needed to type up. A few weeks ago I was looking through the baby books and Lincoln's was literally bare. I didn't have one thing in it. Then I thought. Hey, now that I'm older, I like hearing stories about what I did when I was little instead of reading about when I got my first tooth, or what my daily routine was. So, maybe my kids will feel the same thing - and they will be able to read all sorts of stories!
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Sierra: Sierra's birthday is in September and we moved to the country a month after her 1st b-day. The house was so icky and she was only allowed in a few rooms and we blocked the doors with gates so she couldn't get into the other parts of the house. We had a paint pan sitting out because Jon was going to paint again that next morning or he forgot to put the paint pan away the night before or something. I can't really remember, but point being, wet paint was exposed and on the kitchen floor. Jon was already at work and I ran into the bathroom to check my lipstick and when I came back into the kitchen, Sierra had white stuff on her fingers, in her mouth and on her lips. I was shocked and thought, "Dear Lord, what do I do?" It was regular latex paint and so I called Poison Control and they said that everything would be just fine and to wash her hands and get as much paint out of her mouth as possible. Ugh. At least nothing happened and she was ok!

Mercedes: Mercedes' bday is in October and a few days before her 2nd b-day, she had a bit of an accident that required staples! She was a kid that always tipped her kitchen chair back on 2 legs while she was sitting at the table. It was after work and we were eating supper. Jon wasn't home yet and Mercedes was eating and tipping back. I got mad and told her to quit or she'll get hurt. I was doing something in the kitchen sink and just as I looked back at her, I saw her tipping over and it was everything was in slow motion. I couldn't get to her in time and she fell completely backwards and hit her head on the oven door. Immediately she stood up and did NOT cry. At first I thought, "What the hell? Why isn't she crying?" She had this absolutely stunned look on her face and I asked her if she was ok and she just nodded her head. She was maybe 7 ft from me. She had on one of those wipe off bibs and I could see something dripping into her bib. (It has a pouch at the bottom to catch the food.) I went over to her and here her head was bleeding and it was running through her hair and starting to pool in her bib! Plus, she still WASN'T crying! I paniced a bit wondering if I needed to bring Sierra somewhere else and bring Mercedes in, or just bring everyone to ER. At this time Sierra came back into the kitchen and held on to Mercedes and told her everything would be just fine and that she needed to go to the doctor and get her head fixed. Why she stayed so calm is beyond me. She was a natural and it was amazing; and to think she was only 5 yrs old! I told Sierra to stay with Mercedes and I was going to call ER. Jon works at the hospital all the time, so the people knew who I was. Anyway, I call there and say who I was and what happened and ask, "Do you think I should bring her in? I mean, the blood is pooling in the bib, but yet it looks like it quit bleeding? Well, never mind, I'm bringing her in and I'll be there in about 20 minutes." Thinking back, I remember the lady on the other end saying, "We'll be waiting." I never gave her the chance to even respond to any of my questions as I was talking a mile a minute. lol. We get to the hospital and by now Mercedes head had quit bleeding and I still couldn't get a hold of Jon. Mercedes still wasn't crying at all and on the way to ER, she was commenting on the farm machinery in the field and at the trees and I'm wondering, "Dear Lord, is she crazy? Is she in shock? Why isn't she crying?!" Sierra was talking with her the whole time as I told Sierra it was extremely important that she doesn't fall asleep. Sierra didn't have any problems talking with her the entire way. lol. Looking at her head, the gash was huge and deep. I will never, ever forget that. The docs put something on her head to clean it out and she still didn't cry. Then, the doc said she would need staples and I must have had a paniced look on my face because the nurse asked me to hand over Mercedes and to wait in the waiting room. I told her I couldn't leave her there and then Sierra (like the little woman she is) said, "Mom, we need to wait outside. You don't have a choice." She took my hand and led me away. Mercedes started crying when I left her there and within a few minutes the nurse came back and the staples were in. She had 7 staples and I wondering how on earth they could staple someone's head? When I looked at her head, I almost puked. It looked horrendous. They didn't even shave her head in that spot and there was some hair stuck in one of the staples and I asked about that and they said that was ok and it wouldn't get infected. Ok, ok, I guess they are doctors and should know. About 5 minutes after the staples were in, Jon finally came and Mercedes had a huge smile for him and started talking a mile a minute and acted as if she just got her second wind. The doc said she never really cried over the staples and she just whimpered a bit and she was fine when they told her mommy would be right back. Absolutely crazy with how strong she was and that she didn't cry. Amazing how Sierra was so mature at that time and led me to do what I was supposed to. We had to leave the staples in for about 10 days and then she had them out. I made Jon come with because I didn't think I could do it on my own. We were able to go to our regular doc to have them out (we went to our regular ER, but it wasn't our own doc). My goodness, it looked like a regular staple remover. It wasn't, but I just couldn't watch. The doc told me to sit down because I started getting so pale and Mercedes was crying because it hurt and Jon was holding her while the doc took the staples out. That was horrible. Then, her head started bleeding even! Man, that was tough. She and I were never so happy to leave the clinic as we were that day. She was still so strong. I know how much it hurt getting the staples out after the c-section and then to have them taken out of your head and a few of them were stuck and you have bone only so far below the skin and so it has to pinch even more when you have trouble removing them.

That was our very first trip to the ER. Sierra never had anything where she had to go and then Mercedes' trip was just a few days before her 2nd b-day and I thought, "My goodness, what does she have in store for me if she's only this old?" Well, she's almost 5 and hasn't had to go to ER since. Whew.

Sierra: Sierra was about 3 years old and we had chili one day for lunch. It was on the weekend and it was a perfect day to fly a kite. Sierra was just so excited to fly this kite. Well, again, we had chili and she didn't like it. Jon and I were very firm with her and told her she had to eat it or stay there until supper. It was about 1pm already and Jon and I were finished and Sierra insisted she would not eat it. We finally told her that we were going to fly the kite and would check back with her every once in awhile to see how she's doing. (She was sitting at the kitchen table and could see us out of the patio door.) We could also see her sitting at the table so we knew she was not out and running around the house. About every 15 minutes we'd hollar over to her and ask if she was finished with her chili and she would say "no!". We'd tell her we'd check on her again. Long story short, we stayed outside for about 3 hours and finally we gave up and went in the house. When we told her we were done flying the kite, she said, "mommy was it fun? Did you have a great time? It looked like fun!" and she acted like it was no big deal. I told her that we were done flying the kite and she missed out on it and she said, "Well, I told you I wasn't going to eat my chili, didn't I?" I told her she did and washed her up and let her get out of her chair. Needless to say, I didn't give her chili for supper. She made her point loud and clear. . .

Peace.

DANCE RECITAL - 05 20 06

Gosh, I always have hopes of updating this blog each day at work (he,he), but sometimes I just don't have the time to. Ugh. I try so hard, too! :0)

Last weekend (05 20 06) was the girls' dance recital. Guess what happened? Around 11pm onThursday night (as in 2 days before recital), Lincoln starts crying and run in there and he puked EVERYWHERE. He was in a coughing fit, so I thought maybe he coughed too hard and that would be it. He seemed just fine after that and so we changed everything and gave him a drink of H2O and he went back to sleep. Or so we thought. Long story short, our washer couldn't even keep up with him. I think about once per hour he threw up. Starting around 7:30am (Friday am), I gave him 1 tsp of H2O in a dropper every 5 minutes as that is what the Pediatrician told me to do for Sierra once. He loved it and wanted more, but I didn't give it to him. Sure enough, 3 minutes later he threw that up, plus more. Ugh. So, I decreased it to 1/2 tsp every 5 minutes. He was fine with that and after about an hour, I increased it to 3/4 tsp. After about 2 minutes, he puked up everything I had given him that morning and then some. UGH. I gave him a sip after that and tried laying with him in the rocker. He did fall asleep while laying on me for about an hour, but he was coughing and twitching the whole time. Long story short, he started getting diarrhea a bit before lunch and I kept thinking, "The girls better not get sick!" Sierra had school and Mercedes went to daycare, so I was home alone with Lincoln. I ended up having to bring him to the doc because his puke was now yellow and his diarrhea was horrendous. Well, $40 later, he just had a virus. Saturday morning he still had diarrhea and I had to bring 2 samples of it to the hospital for lab. I got the girls ready for dance that morning and a lot of yelling and crying was done, but off we went and Lincoln stayed with Jon. But, around 7:30am (Saturday) the backhoe guy, Warren, came and started doing our second driveway. Aaah, what else can happen? Jon was supposed to be helping watch Lincoln so I could get the girls done and then Jon had to go outside with Warren. Then right before we left, Jon walks up to the house and said he broke the hoist on the flatbed because he put too much cement on it. What else can go wrong? Then, mom called and said my cousin, Kristin, was being brought in for an emer c-section with the baby and she was only around 27 wks. Gulp. Well, the girls and I left and on the way to recital, Sierra is looking peaked and I ask her if she's sick and she tells me her tummy hurts. OMG! She has 2 recitals that day! SHE CAN'T BE SICK! Mercedes was just bouncing off the walls and was soooo excited. I told Sierra to put her head back, listen to the music and relax. We arrived and the girls ate peanut butter sandwiches and crackers and H2O and soon both were bouncing off the walls and Sierra felt fine. Whew. I spoke with Jon in the meantime and he said Lincoln was getting worse and wouldn't drink out of the dropper and all he was doing was crying and saying, "mommy!" Jon was going to come in the afternoon and see that performance and then mom was going to watch Lincoln in the afternoon and then I would come back at night with the girls for their evening one. Well, Jon said Lincoln was too sick and he could not make it in the afternoon. AAAAHHH! So, I said Jon would attend the night performance and I would stay home that night with Lincoln. Jon said he was so stressed out and didn't want to deal with anything and we hung up. Great (sarcastically). I brought the girls backstage and went to charge the phone before recital started. Jim and Marlys came to the afternoon performance, too. I called Jon again and he said Lincoln was finally sleeping. Jon was a bit more calm and I told him he was going at night with the girls and I would stay home as I would be able to see the afternoon recital and I should be happy I saw one and then he can see the other. I told him it was done - end of story.

Afternoon performance went WONDERFUL. I saw Mercedes and immediately started crying again as she danced her little heart out and she looked so proud out there. All of the other girls were looking at her and doing whatever she did. She was flawless. She was also in the front row so everyone could see. Sierra was absolutely flawless as well. She was perfect in her 2 dances!!

We got home from afternoon recital and notice Lincoln and Jon on the Cushman. What? Yeah, turns out Lincoln felt 110% better after a good nap. Whew! Jon was much better and so the girls ate supper, got their make up touched up and then Jon, the girls were off to pick up mom and dad. The night performance was flawless as well and Jon said both girls were FABULOUS!!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF THEM!!!!

Lincoln update: That night he was fine and went to bed early and then was totally normal on Sunday and ate and drank fine and we went to Spencer's b-day even. The 3 kids and I did and Jon stayed home.

Peace.

Sierra's shoe story

This is a great story about something she did last year in Kindergarten. . .

Sierra has always been my girlie-girl. She loves the glitz, glam, sequins, beads and high heels. Ever since she could walk, she could walk in those high heeled girl dress up shoes. Her feet were so itty-bitty, but yet she could walk just fine in them and quickly learned to run in them. I know, I know, I could only tell her so many times to walk and not run. :0) Anyway, as she grew up, she still loved the shoes and would wear them around the house. Lo and behold, I got an email from her teacher asking to please not send the dress up shoes with Sierra anymore. WHAT?! SHE'S BRINGING THOSE TO SCHOOL?!?! So I shot an email back and said, "Huh? What shoes are you talking about?" Well, Sierra was bringing them to school (thinking she's all that and then some) and changing into them during the day. She'd clod around the halls with them on and Mrs. Pomplun (Kindergarten teacher) asked her to quit bringing them to school and then she emailed back and said she sent a note home with Sierra telling me about it. Well, well, well. Hmmmm. So where were these shoes and where was the note? Needless to say, we had a chat at home and she claimed she didn't know where the shoes were, etc. Well, we found the shoes and note tucked waaaay underneath the backseat in the Yukon. After a quick lesson on lying and not telling me about that stuff, the shoes went in the "Big Green Toybox" (dumpster outside). She cried and cried, but she needed to learn. Yikes.

Peace.

"I ya you, Mommy. . ."

I've been trying to think of little phrases that the kids say or that they have trouble saying so I could type it in here. You know, when Sierra was little, I was so anal about over-pronunciating words for her so she could say them all correctly. (Yes, other parents told me to let it go and let her be a kid.) Anyway, at an extremely early age, Sierra spoke in sentences and could pronouce each word correctly. I thought she was amazing! Well, along came Mercedes and so I just automatically figured that she would be just as easy to teach. Well, she would never repeat the word after me. (For example, after Sierra would say a word wrong, I would correct her and make her repeat it until she got it right.) I tried that with Mercedes, but she wouldn't repeat it if she knew she said it wrong the first time. Ugh. So, I let it go and now here we sit. lol. She says her "r" like "w". She'll say, "look at th ca-ow (car) over there". Ugh. I try so hard to make her say it correctly, but it just isn't working. For the longest time, she kept saying "d" for her "th's". She'd say, "The udder day. . ." and "my brodder. . .". I had enough and I actually got mad and told her that I know she can correct this and I would make repeat "other, together, mother, father" and any "th" words I could think of and within a few days, she would correct herself if she caught that she said it wrong. It was perfect! So now, Mercedes speaks perfectly other than she still says her "r's" as "w's". I talked with the doctor and Kari (doc) said to let it go as Mercedes is perfect in every other way and that she'll get the "r" sound soon enough. She told me all my kids are so advanced for their ages, that Mercedes will be just fine. **Note: in the middle of the school year, we were told that Sierra was testing out of 3 rd grade!!! She's only in first grade!!** So, anyway, along comes child #3, Lincoln. Well, I thought I'm going to nip this in the butt right away with him and I would get really close to his face and say, "Lincoln, can you say 'carrrrrrrr'?" lol, by gosh, he can say his "r's" absolutely perfect! lol. He makes the most perfect "r" sound ever. I wasn't going to let another child get by with not being able to pronounce the "r". It's just so weird because we say all the time how alike Sierra and Lincoln are. They have the same attitude and everything. lol. It's like Sierra and Lincoln have the "mother/son" relationship and Mercedes and Lincoln have the "brother/sister" relationship and they are willing to get into trouble together whereas Sierra knows she won't get into trouble and won't let Lincoln do something that's wrong. Mercedes will let him do it wrong and then tell me about it to get him into trouble. What a turd.

Anyway, Lincoln says, "I ya you" for I love you. It's the cutest thing! I'll whisper "I love you, Lincoln" into his ear and then he yells, "MY TURRRN" and then he whispers "I ya you, mommy" into my ear and then hollars "MOMMY TURRRRN". We play that game back and forth and then finally I say, "all done!"

Sierra is now reading The Babysitter's Little Sister books. She reads them with no issues and she goes through them like they are nothing. It's crazy. I just keep buying and buying off of Ebay to make sure I meet her needs. I got about15 Barbie books for Christmas and they are chapter ones and she has read all of those, all of the Junie B Jones books, every other chapter book we have and now she's on the Babysitter's ones. Crazy! I'm glad she loves to read so much, though. I loved to read and so I'm glad I passed that on to her. :0)

Peace.

Thankfully, the dentist appointment is over. . .

Due to Mercedes having a small VSS (tiny hole in her heart), she needs to have the amox an hour prior to her dental visit. Kim (daycare) and I had gone over everything last night so everything was all set. When I picked her up, she was all excited and said she "ate" her 4 pills and did so with her poptart. The pills are chewable so I sent a poptart with and told her she could chew the pill and the poptart together. We got there and she sat in the chair and she was just fine. I had explained the part about the big Qtip that numbs the spot where the shot will go and the shot itself and she did just fine. Well, right after the shot, she started crying. Like tears and everything. I know I absolutely hate going to the dentist. Even more than having my yearly at the doctor. To me, the shots hurt and I hate everything about it. Ick. So, Mercedes is crying (with her mouth open) and she keeps her mouth open just because she knows Dr Reinmuth needs it open. Ooooh, I know - Jon and I were soooo proud of her! Jon was kneeling on the floor on one side and I was kneeling on the floor on the other side. Both of us were holding a hand and rubbing her legs telling her it will be ok. Personally, I can't imagine being only 4 and having 2 cavities filled. She was still so strong through it all and I was so proud of her! So, we have her breathing through her mouth and the dentist needs to drill away the old temporary filling he put in a few weeks ago. Well, he starts doing that and she cries even harder. She never, ever, got out of control to where we had to hold her down or anything, but she was just sooo scared! I suppose the noise and everything. Well, as soon as he sprayed water, she cried again. Then, he used the suction thing and she cried again. When he used the air thing, she cried again. Then she started saying it hurt. Omg. What on earth do you do? I asked Dr Reinmuth one time if it hurt her and he said there is no way it could hurt her. Personally, I don't think he waited very long from the time he gave her the shot to the time he did the drilling, but what do I know. Man, from a parent's perspective seeing what a dentist does is an eye opener vs being the patient. Yikes. Her tooth was bleeding and then he'd spray and suction and she would gag and cry. It's hard to tell her when you'd suction because there wasn't enough time to tell her because he needed to do it right away. You know? We'd try to tell her, but I don't think she even heard us. She was so incredibly scared. You know, Dr Reinmuth is the cheapest around because he has the least overhead. He's been doing this forever and he does most things himself. He just now got a part time hygenist and she is very nice. You don't get a toothbrush when your visit is over. Stuff like that is what keeps his cost down. So, the cost of Mercedes' cavities today was $142. Compared to the dentists around, that is extremely cheap. So, I don't know if it's worth the trauma though. However, on the other hand, no matter where she went, they would still drill, use the suction, spray the air and the water. The nutshell is the same so does it make a difference really if there's a friendly lady behind the counter who greets you when you come in or just the dentist himself with a smile saying, "I'm ready for you, Mercedes." I guess not. I'm thinking she will still be traumatized no matter where she goes because the instruments are all the same and they all have to go into her mouth. Her next appointment is on May 15th at 8am to have her teeth cleaned, so hopefully after that appointment she'll realize it won't be so bad. I know they have to use water, suction and air that time, too. Plus, it will be the hygenist doing it so maybe that will help, too. Man, it just sucks seeing your baby girl cry because she's so scared. I just think to myself that this is only a dentist appointment and to thank God that that it wasn't something more serious. I also brought her green bunny from Easter with, she she was able to hold that while she was laying there. Hopefully that helped a little bit. She did have a big smile on her face when she saw it. I think she deserves something pretty special when we go shopping! :0)

Peace.

Mercedes' Dentist Appt tomorrow & a new bike!

Well, tomorrow is the big day for Mercedes and her cavity. Ugh. I feel for her! I brought the RX with me so I'll give it to Kim tonight and explain everything as I won't have time in the morning. Mercedes is to chew 4 big horse pills of Amox one hour prior to her appointment. Gulp. I hope she does ok. She handles things like this much better than Sierra as Sierra worries and worries until she makes herself sick, but shines through in the end by showing her confidence in that she'd be ok. I was so worried when the dentist had to pull teeth because she literally screams any time her blood is taken whether it's in her arm or finger and any time she sees a needle. I wondered how on earth she'd handle a shot in her mouth if she can't handle it in her leg? We talked and talked and that morning she did just fine. So, hopefully Mercedes follows in big sister's footsteps.

I went to a garage sale this morning on my break at work and I found a bike for Mercedes. Granted, it's used, but I got the lady down from $15 to $8. Woo hooo! It doesn't have a kickstand or training wheels, but it's super small, so actually I think it will fit Mercedes just fine. She'll be so excited. Sierra learned on a really small bike, too, but it was a boy-bike. It's Star Trek or something. So, this is nice for her to have her own little bike. Plus, it was only $8!!! Jon will probably have a fit that I bought something else that we didn't need, but oh well. If it's for the kids' benefit, I'm all for it! As anyone who sees our house can tell. I think whatever the kids want, the kids get. I know, I know, I'm not supposed to spoil the kids. . . :0)

Peace.

Go-Kart, Cushman, SUCCESS!!!

Jon got a go-kart from Duane as it didn't run, etc and Jon thought he could fix it up. HE DID! We've had the thing I bet over a year and he just finished it this week. WOOO HOOOOO! The kids were just ecstatic! Then, to make life even better, he got both Cushman's running! The big one with the "flat bed" he totally stripped down and painted it, put it back together, etc. The other one he dug out of the barn as we never had that one running so we weren't sure what was all wrong with it. Long story short, both Cushman's are now running and go-kart. Jon, Lincoln and I were on the Cushman and Sierra and Mercedes were on the Go-kart (Sierra driving) and we chased eachother around the "circle" on the yard and the girls were just screaming in delight. Mercedes had her "piggy-tails" (her terminology) in and they were just a-bouncin' away. Jon put a throttle catcher thing on it so it can only go so fast so Sierra does just fine. She rides her dirtbike all over, but she is very conservative with that and the go-kart. We can totally trust her. Mercedes now has a bit of a wild side to her so we'll have to watch out for her. :0) She seems like the quiet one, but sometimes the quiet ones are the wildest I hear. lol. Then we got brave and drove down the driveway and the girls followed and Sierra was able to turn the go-kart around and go back up the driveway. Honestly, it was the most fun we've had in a long time. Lincoln was yelling, "HI GRRRRSS!" (Hi, girls!!) He was having a blast. I told the kids we'd do it again tonight. Last night we did all of this after dance so it wasn't until 9:30pm when they went to bed. YIKES!

Peace.