Ben

Ben started walking back in November, and I totally meant to post about it then.  Then December came and kicked me in the rear.  Now that I’ve recovered and regained my inner peace (cleaned my house), here’s what he’s been up to:

Walking!  He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get going, but he finally got it down in November.  Mike said he took a few steps in church on the 28th, but I didn’t see it, so it doesn’t count.  I did see the steps he took the next day.  Teeth!  Holy Moly, this kid is a tooth making machine!  He was born teething (literally) and hasn’t stopped since.  He has his 2 year molars already and his 4 canines just came through this week.  These have been the hardest ones yet.  After this, he should be done until he gets his 4 year old molars.  Hopefully they will come in when he’s 4!  I have been impressed with how happy he has been through it all.  Ben is definitely my mischievous child.  Carter is sassy, Samantha is destructive, and Ben is just mischievous.  He knows when he shouldn’t be getting into something and loves to do it anyways.  The bathroom is his favorite place to be naughty.  I caught him with some of my mixing bowls in the toilet one time (yes, they have been thoroughly cleaned since).  He loved to pull everything out of the bathroom cupboard until I put a lock on it.  He laughs and squeals when I catch him.  He loves to sneak through the baby gate when one of the kids are a little too slow closing it behind them.  Mostly, he just loves to get in trouble. 

He is a copy cat.  He loves to imitate everything and everyone.  When we walk outside he will caw like a crow.  He is talking quite a bit and says lots of words, just because he likes to copy what we say.  He will try to say pretty much anything you ask him to.  He saw me clean the toilet once and since then has tried to do it himself a number of times.  He saw me clean the litter box and keeps trying to do that too.  Needless to say, there has been some serious hand washing going on around here. 

He’s learning his body parts.  Ask him to show you a nose and he will stick his finger right up whoever’s nose you are asking about.  He discovered the cat’s nose tonight.  I don’t think she was super excited about that. 

He is a great sleeper.  He goes to bed around 6:30 and sleeps until 7 or 8 in the morning.  And he usually takes a good afternoon nap.  I guess he got the memo about me needing my sleep. 

He loves to eat.  He will eat pretty much anything and a lot of it, although yogurt and “nanas” are his favorite as of late. 

He’s awesome!  He knows more about temper tantrums than I would like, but what can you do?  Lucky for him, he’s cute then too. 

Invited you are…

To take a glimpse into the coolest birthday party a six year old could ever ask for.  Seriously, it was fabulous.  I’d like to think that all of the kids left happy.  As they arrived for their Jedi training, they were given proper Jedi attire.  Carter and Samantha modeled them for me.  We all know that half of what makes an outfit is the attitude.  These kids seem to have that part taken care of.  Every Jedi needs a light saber, right?  These Jedis needed non-lethal ones, so they got to decorate their own foam versions.    After using the Force to pin the light saber on the Jedi, they went to the basement to hone their light saber skills by keeping balloons up in the air with them.  That was when this very modern looking droid came to them with a message from Princess Leah.  This had to be their favorite part.  They got to go on a scavenger hunt to find Princess Leah (AKA Samantha).  They found her being held captive in the guest bedroom by a storm trooper.  After storming the room, they showed that storm trooper who was boss.  That would be Mike in the fetal position.  Surprising how much damage a big blob of duct tape at the end of one of these can do.  Note to self for next time – use tissue paper.  The boys kept asking if they could go find Princess Leah again.  Mike wasn’t so keen on the idea.  Go figure.  This was my version of the Death Star.  Ok, I have a confession to make here.  Are you ready for this?  I’ve never actually seen Star Wars.  I’ve seen bits and pieces, but not enough to know what the Death Star is actually supposed to look like.  In the end I painted it too dark, but Carter was appeased when I made the laser thing grey.  Regardless of the final product I feel that I deserve an “A+” for effort.  And don’t mind that old mattress in the background.  We’ll get rid of it one day.  For now the kids jump on it sometimes.  Carter picked his cake from Sam’s Club.  It was delicious, but I think I probably could have whipped up something that looked at least as good.  Oh well, it did the job.  As far as I know, all of his birthday wishes came true.  And then some.  And here are the sugar-high Jedis at the end of the night.

I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the night.  Mentally and physically.  It was worth it, but I think Samantha will have a nice quiet tea party for her birthday. 

Hello Old Friend…

Hello blog.  Remember me?  I used to stop by every so often and drop off a new post.  I know, I know, it’s been a while.  Ok, it’s been a long time.  That cast that Carter got the last time I stopped by?  Well, it’s been replaced with an Iron Man-esque boot.  And that little Iron Man?  Well, he turned six and I haven’t even gotten around to telling you about it. It was a pretty awesome party if I do say so myself.  Ben started walking a while back – I can’t believe I forgot to mention that one. We also had a fabulous Christmas and a rockin’ New Year’s Eve.  The kids have been nothing but trouble, but that really hasn’t changed, has it now?  What’s that you say?  You’d like to hear all about it?  Even when it was all so long ago?  Well ok, I’ll do what I can to catch you up.  And I will try to stop by more often.  But as always, I make no promises!

Big Red, meet Little Red…

In case you have forgotten the fateful day that was January 17, 2009, feel free to go here to read up on it and you can go here to meet Big Red.  Apparently my kids break easily and Carter has broken his leg again.  Different leg this time, his left Tibia – last time was his right femur.  On Sunday, Mike was lifting him over the baby gate (which we have since replaced with one that swings open) and kind of dropped him down on the other side, the same way we have done a hundred times.  Apparently he landed wrong and broke his leg. He knew right away it was broken, he was screaming that he needed an x-ray and we had to go to the hospital right away.  I gave him some ibuprofen and we headed out to Children’s Hospital (lesson learned from last time).  By the time we got there, he had calmed down to the point that no one really thought it was broken.  Other than not wanting anyone to touch right where is was broken he seemed ok.  He could turn his foot and even was ok  when the doctor put pressure on his heel.  But once the x-ray came back it was pretty clear that Carter was right and it was broken.  It’s hard to see here, but it’s the little white line running down the bone towards the bottom. 

Luckily, we know a great pediatric orthopedist.  We were able to go on Tuesday and get his cast put on.  In general, this hasn’t been nearly as bad as the last break, but I did cry a little bit when the ER doc said he would be in a wheelchair again (note to self, take anything said by any doc outside his specialty with a  grain of salt).  It’s just so hard when it’s snowy and so cold outside, and really being in a wheelchair just kind of sucks.  Luckily, when we went to get the cast Dr. Van Valin decided to let Carter get a walking cast.  The look on Carter’s face was priceless when he found out. 

After that, he just laid on the table with a pleased look while they put his cast on.  In honor of Christmas he got a red and white striped one – “Santa will be so surprised!”.  He’s obviously pretty pleased with it.  And the best part?  The white part glows. 

He only has to have it on for four weeks, at which point he will get a boot. For some people, this could be a pretty big deal.  Unfortunately, it’s turning into an all too common occurrence around here.  A friend came over to check on us and told us about how he had broken 6 bones.  We are putting the kids on extra calcium supplements and hoping they don’t follow suit. 

Winter is here!

Ok, so it has been for a while now.  It actually didn’t snow here until December 4 this year, which is fine by me.  There wasn’t much snow then and there still isn’t.  We’ve only had to shovel 3 times so far, and haven’t even started the snow blower.  After the last few years, I will definitely take the break.  The kids were excited about it though and couldn’t wait to get out and play in it.  I wish I could still get so excited about snow.  I guess it all changes when you have to get rid of said snow.  Is it just me or is he just the cutest thing ever when he’s being sweet?Even Ben got all marshmallowed out and went out for a minute.  But he preferred to watch from inside.  Afterwards, we finally got our tree put up.  I really try to love that tree, but every time we get the ornaments out and the kids start grabbing at everything and breaking things I just get frustrated and want to put it all away.  That’s the Grinch in me.  I try to keep it hidden.  It came out pretty strong the next day when Carter and Samantha stripped the tree of all the ornaments and left them in a pile under the tree.  Not my finest moment. 

I thought with a fake tree we wouldn’t have to worry about strange creatures coming into the house in it, but apparently one little monster got in:

And a little stinkbug too. 

Sometimes…

Being youngest has its disadvantages. 

Only in Milwaukee

I was at Pick N Save the other night and saw this:

What is this you ask? It may not look like much, but each of those bricks are at least 40 lb. Just sitting out in the bakery like people buy 40 lb bricks of cheese every day. That's almost $500 worth of cheese! These people and their cheese.