Brotherly love. Or something like it.

a Baby no more.

April 5th, 2012. Meeting big brother at one hour old.

 Our fierce, loud, sensitive, musical, crazy, snaggle-toothed builderfixerguy is TWO. No babies in this house anymore...the week before his birthday we started potty training and the week after he lost his plug-and that was it. Bam. Big kid city. This particular two-year-old has brought us challenges that we've not experienced before; but it's still just such a super-fun stage of life. I have two good friends who also have three and we all agree:  third baby=game changer. He's crazy :) New words, new phrases..getting in between the two bigs when they're arguing and shouting out "Pax! Stop! Now! One...teww..." and then "spanking" his brother (that's a hard one. Defending his sister vs. hitting. See? the kid is a conundrum!) Getting put in his crib for a timeout (for hitting said big brother) and subsequently pulling his pants off and peeing all over his bed to show his displeasure. The kid is smart and very, very aware of EVERYTHING. Pax has nicknamed our good friends "the Behs" because littlest calls all of them (including the dad) "Beh". He can say Loren and Cora and I've even heard him say Charissa. But, no, they are all "Beh!" After their mama Beth, whom he loves. A lot. 

He knows he's funny and frequently plays the ham to make people laugh-especially his big brother and sister; something he's done from a very young age. And he's still the biggest sweetheart, running to the freezer for a "col pool" (cold pack) if his sister or brother (or anyone else) hurts themselves. (Beth is pretty sure he's gonna be an athletic trainer based off of that one!) He gives the biggest and sweetest hugs, frequently sprinkles French words and phrases in among the English, and wants to do exactly what Pax is doing. I cannot believe how much I love him or how much joy he brings to our family-we are so thankful for this silly little blessing!   

April 5th, 2013-first birthday!

We had a small family party at home this year, just my folks and I-Adam had a clinic he had to work in the morning, so we spent the morning getting donuts and shopping for new boots for the birthday boy (one of my folks' gifts. Blaise looooves his boots and was so sad when he outgrew the last pair!). After naps, we had a little party with balloons, presents, and-of course-cake! By far the biggest hit of the day was putting all of the balloons on the trampoline. The kids jumped and bounced for at LEAST and hour and had a fantastic time! Seriously... this might be an every-year occurrence!

 

                         Pure. Joy. This prettymuch sums up little Adam Blaise's personality perfectly!
                                                                   April 5th, 2014.
                                                                 and now, he is Two.

Muddy Buddies.

 Once there were three little buddies, living in Arizona.
The older two were told stories of when they were tinys- of winters of snow and ice and cold...

but-
 it was all rather of hard to believe
on a February day
that was 75 degrees
and a yard full of dirt begged to be turned into mud.

So-

"su! su!" the littlest begged, running with silly baby steps to the drawer that held his swim trunks.

The bigs dressed themselves, bolting out the door.

Then pies were mixed and mud was thrown and really, really big sticks were dragged around by too-small boys

     until Daddy came home and it was time
for dinner and dark.



And that, my friends, is winter this year
     in the land of Arizona.

A tale of teeth.

                     It's funny how in a split second your kids graduate from littles to full-on kids.
    When I took Pax to AWANAS last Wednesday night, he was just as he'd always been. When I picked him up...well, first I ran into the neighbor girl. She told me Pax has showed her his lost tooth-which was news to me, as he'd had all his teeth when I dropped him off. Then the AWANAS director ran up to me with a clipboard..."I'm so sorry, but I need you to fill out this incident report," she says, and I can't help but think uhoh..what did my rambunctious boy do now?
       Turns out what he did was simply goof off with another kid from his class (ie, roughhouse in the gym during gametime) and somehow or other, as the teachers were asking the boys to stop-Pax got the perfect whack to the mouth-and a tooth popped out. A tooth we didn't even know was loose!
      Loose it must have been though, for there was no fat lip, not much blood-so it couldn't have been that hard a hit. Pax? I don't think he even noticed he had been hit, once he realized his tooth had popped out. Apparently there was a moment of teachers scrambling on the ground looking for the tooth (which they found-bless them!); and then just lots of excitement on Pax's part. He was THRILLED!! So we did the whole thing, tooth in a bag under the pillow, and the "ToothFairy" visited and left a glittery note and a doller. Pax found that at 4am, when he reached under his pillow and then proceeded to flip on the light, which woke the baby, who started to cry, which woke Adam and I up (who lived in  The House that Jack Built)...I am admittedly not at my best at 4am. But an excited, gap-toothed Pax was soon tucked sweetly and happily back into bed with his letter; and a very awake one and a half year old wanted nothing to do with sleep. "A'done," he told me.
"A'done nigh-night. A'done,"
         Needless to say, I ended up with a baby in bed, snuggled down sweetly beside me, who kept insisting he was "A'done nigh-night," and patting my face to make sure I was, too.
And just like that, my little boy is officially a KID who looses teeth!
Fast forward 4 days...
Sunday I sang at church, so I was out the door by 7:25, with only Blythe and Adam awake to kiss goodbye. Adam did the whole get-everyone-clean-and-ready-for-church bit, which he's actually quite good at, and I got home right about noon. Blaise came running up to me fussing...unusual for him. Adam commented that he'd been fussy and didn't eat anything that morning or for lunch; I figured he might be teething and so his mouth was hurting. Well, I was half right.
When I asked him if his mouth hurt, he nodded, and I sat down with him in the chair to look for new teeth. What I found was this...

I don't know if you can see it, but his right front tooth is cracked prettymuch right up the center. I gasped, and Adam asked what he'd missed.

Turns out the poor baby had taken a fall in the shower that morning while Adam was getting Blythe and Blaise ready; we have stone-like tile and it's incredibly unforgiving. But at the time, Adam didn't see much blood or a crack-we're pretty sure it started small and then just kept growing, as is evidenced by the next picture. But I was pretty sure as soon as I saw the crack that the tooth would have to be pulled.  We quickly gave him a little ibuprofen (poor baby was hurting so much!) and called the dentist-I called the family dentist here we'd just started seeing, and Adam called a student dentist he has met recently through the dental school at AT Still.
     The clinic is free for students and discounted for family; and since Adam has hole-y teeth, we've been taking advantage of that perk :) It was totally a God-thing that he even had Kelly's number-she'd randomly called him at 8:10 Friday morning to be sure he was coming for his 8:30 appointment, and good think she did! She told us Blaise needed to be seen as soon as possible and personally got in touch  with the pediodontist early Monday morning to set up an appoinment for him, then called me to tell me...seriously such a blessing because I'd called the clinic that morning and left a message, but hadn't known the receptionist was out of the office and wouldn't get my message till 1pm!
    We showed up at 1 with a sleepy, hurting little boy and two big kids who thought they were on an adventure. Blythe had a hard morning with my attention elsewhere and worry for her little brother (which mostly shows itself through tears about other things...she's learning though :) but once we were on the road to "fix" it she was good. Adam wanted to be there to help out (and, honestly, to get out of a long lecture he didn't need to be at...they're all so ready for break!) so, although I had great offers of help from some of the other PA mamas, he came over to take the bigs and I headed in with Blaise. A 3rd-year dental student came down and gave Blaise a sticker (and Pax, and Blythe) to try to "make friends"...he was cautiously friendly, but knew we weren't there for fun. And, boy, was it not fun! Don't get me wrong, the dental students did a great job and the dentist was informative and helpful. But having to help strap your baby down in a "papoose" (basically a straitjacket) so he can have shots and a tooth yanked out is not.fun. He screamed the entire time, and when they waited for a few minutes to let his gums numb after the shots he kept telling them "NAO!!" as in, "Blaise, do you want a lollypop afterwords?" "NAO!!" (vehement head shake) "Blaise, do you want another truck sticker?" "NAO!!" shaking his head even more vehemently. Then he looked at me and pleaded, "A'done! A'done!" and it broke my mama-heart.
    I'm so thankful I was able to be there with him, helping to hold him, talking to him the whole time...I don't know if it helped him at all, but it sure helped me. I would've been a wreak otherwise. Then-yank, yank (the tooth came out in 2 pieces, it had split so much) and it was done. Must have been quite a sight, though, the two dental students, me, the DDS, and the hygienist all crammed in to this teeny room with a screaming toddler! The 4th year student put gaze in his mouth and asked me to hold it down to stop the bleeding, and I was finally, finally able to hold his little head and sing "Baby Mine," and his eyes locked on mine and he started to calm down.

I  snapped this before we headed into the dental clinic

Once they unstrapped him, I held the gauze in a long as possible but the kid is STRONG and after the gushing stopped, I gave up and just let him snuggle me, chest to chest. He grabbed his blankie and me and cried...and cried...and finally, finally after lots of rocking and soothing calmed down. At the end he even smiled at the 3rd year who'd actually done the yanking; although he still wanted nothing to do with the stickers and toy chest gifts they tried to appease him with and just said "NAO!!" and threw the things back at them. I can't say I really blame him, poor baby.
Thankfully, by that evening he was already SO much better-he chowed down two large pieces of chicken pot pie, and then proceeded to terrorize his sister and the Christmas tree.  (a sure sign he was feeling better!) The 3rd or 4th time I found him between the window and the tree, I told him firmly "Blaise, no touch!" his response? A sweet, now-very-gap-toothed smile and "Bye bye, Mama. Shhee ya!"
Although he wasn't planning on going anywhere...
So now our daughter is the only one yet to lose a tooth; and our baby will have one front tooth for many, many years. The dentist wants us to come in for a re-check next month...I'm not holding my breath for a smooth visit then :)
Ahhhh, my gap-toothed boys. How I love them, but this mama is expecting some grey hair soon !

So Tinkerbell, a Jedi and a doctor go out one night....

... it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke; but really, it's just Halloween at our house. A month late. Please note the bells on Tink's ballet slippers, ankle and wrist--that was my dad's brainchild dreamed up with B while they were here for Pax's birthday; and she was adamant that she MUST have bells so she would sound like Tink, too. (She was beyond thrilled with the bells! And thank goodness for Halloween in Arizona, so Tink didn't need to wear a snowsuit.)Blaise was a doctor because, well, he'd been carrying the stethoscope around like a security blanket for the entire month. He was excited! he didn't know why! but he got to "go" and that's all he cared about!
         Pax's costume choice was no surprise to us, and pretty easy...I made the robe out of an old comforter. I knew it would come in handy someday! And his light-saber lights up and makes the "battle"sounds, which came in handy in the dark.We went to Arcadia with our across-the-street neighbors again to trick or treat, and hit up the big houses where they give out (not even kidding) king sized candy bars, even to the baby. Which works out well for Adam, as I'm pretty sure he was the one who ended up eating most of the candy...

...and I'm loving my stair-step children right now :) Just a quick post to document (although the pictures aren't great-sorry about that. Phone photos.) because, really, I'll want to remember the way they looked in 10 years...and that, the day after we carved pumpkins Pax asked me if next year, he could not watch while I scoop the "guts" out of the pumpkin. "Why not?" I asked him, "It's kind of fun,"

"nah," he replied, with a shake of his head and a flick of his wrist;

"It makes me feel like I'm gonna throw up,"

So, I'm thinking maybe not surgeon as a career choice for him.

Be careful what you say...

    Yesterday, as I ran around like a crazy woman trying to get dinner ready while prepping myself and 2 kids for AWANAS, I told the bigs that it was crazy hat night. We talked about some of their hat options, and they both ran out of the room to find something. good. Great! I thought. At least we won't have to deal with that part in the after dinner rush! (although it didn't actually go that smoothly...but that's another story.)
    Meanwhile, Blaise (now 18 months) was in the kitchen; he obviously was in earshot of the conversation, but I didn't think anything of it.... until he went to the Tupperware drawer, opened it, and placed a container on his head. He turned to me and grinned...crazy hat night? Check! All over it, Mama.
      Also, the kid can "sing" Darth Vader's theme song with perfect pitch and understanding. Which is what he was doing the other night, while wearing his Superman jammies (and cape!) and Pax's sunglasses.

   I'm 95% sure this kid is smarter than me already...and 100% sure he doesn't EVER want to be left behind!

Diary of a P.A. student('s wife): So we had a Monday. (and my baby has a concussion.)

Monday...ahhh, Monday. It started out pretty well; everyone slept,  I had hot coffee and time with God to start my day. Even got a shower...although a certain tiny boy was up at that point. Actually, all 3 of them were up and running, at 6:30. So, that was the beginning of it-well, that and the part where Adam took an extra 20 minutes to study and then still decided he could "fit a run in" before he left. Which made him dash out the door 10 minutes late (I think we said "good morning!" in there somewhere...), not horrible but not good on a quiz day. Ok, we can settle into our day now, right? Until I saw his briefcase. Still sitting on the counter. Ten minutes AFTER he'd left. A quick phone call, a sigh, a car turned around, another phone call to ask if I'd meet him at the end of the driveway, 8 minutes of waiting at the end of the driveway chatting with the construction workers; a quick kiss thru the window, and I thought Monday could settle down.
      After the baby finished breakfast, I set him down and let him run around the house while the others eat, do devotional with me, etc. Then I started the never-ending dish cleaning....
...and quickly discovered that Blaise is now tall enough to see onto the giant island in the middle of our kitchen. Where he spotted his sister's bracelet, full of tiny beads, which I'd confiscated from him sometime last week. He asked (ie, pointed and said, "dat! dat! dat!") if he could have it; I told him that wasn't for Blaise, that it was sister's, and turned back to scrubbing the oatmeal pot (ohh, the oatmeal pot!).
      My children are strong-willed. Have I mentioned that before? ALL of them, chiefs. Which pretty much means that half the time they assume what mom says is just a suggestion, or possibly means, "try harder". So, quietly, he scooted the step stool over to the oven door; then proceeded to climb onto it. I glanced back just in time to see him try to climb up the oven...and too late to save him from falling, hard, onto the unforgiving tile, cracking the back of his head. Thankfully he hit his cloth-diaper covered bum first. But he screamed, I quickly checked and picked him up, he screamed, Blythe stood in front of the freezer deciding which cold pack to get him, I grabbed one out, he screamed....poor baby. He cried and cried for at least 5 minutes, which is a long time in little-kid-injury-cry-time. Then he just lay on my chest, and that was my first clue that something was not right. I mean, other than the fact that he'd just cracked his head on the tile...but kids hit their heads a lot, and B had dance class, so he lay on the couch while I helped her find her tap shoes, a tutu, braided her hair, grabbed sand toys for the boys, and got everyone into the car. Thinking his behavior a bit more unusual than the normal head bonk, I texted Adam and told him what happened, asking him about concussion symptoms. He sent me a check list back, asking if he'd thrown up, how his pupils were, etc. I glanced at him quickly and thought they looked ok and no barfing, so probably he was mostly ok. He was still crying off and on in the car and was quite pale, so I gave him his plug, thinking it would soothe him.
   By the time we'd dropped off the books at the library, he'd fallen asleep. At that point, I was pretty sure we had a mild concussion on our hands...and then he woke up and threw up everywhere.
    Miraculously, I'd managed to arrive at dance class 10 minutes early; which every mom tries to do always because of potential barf or blowout issues but, well, you know how that goes. I was fully prepared to send Pax in to drop off B at class. But, thankfully, I managed to get it all cleaned up in time to get her into class. She met up with her little friend Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's mama walked out to the playground with us.
     I think we made it all of 10 feet before I told her what happened...see, Elizabeth's mama was a pediatric trauma nurse before having her oldest. It's helpful to have these friends...make a note of that :) As I got to the part where Blaise had fallen asleep and then thrown up, I could see her face change. She asked if she could hold him for a minute and gave him a quick check; then explained that while he seemed mostly ok (he recognized her, smiled, no issues there) he most likely had a mild concussion and I needed to keep a close eye on him. That afternoon before naps I also noticed that his right pupil WAS slightly bigger than the left...but they were both reacting to light equally. So, we went the path of close observation and lots of prayer...after another call to Adam, more checking, waking the poor guy up every 30 minutes during naptime to be sure he would wake up easily; a call to my cousin the ex-paramedic for more tests to check for signs of bleeding, coordination, cognition, etc; and one final check by Adam with his cool pen light when he got home. (it IS handy to have someone in the medical field in the house) Verdict? concussed, yes. Mild, yes. Ice? almost impossible with this particular 17 month old, even WITH a head injury...but accomplished with the help of a lollipop and lots of singing and rocking. And other than sleeping more than usual, he's pretty much back to normal now...although we're still supposed to "keep him quite" for the next few days to a week. Not exactly sure how that will work, especially since the kid was back to climbing whatever he could on Tuesday; I think our youngest may be the one to give me my first grey hair. And I'd like to thank the city of Scottsdale for their impeccable timing in ripping up the street right in front of our house with many "mighty machines" for the past 3 days- that was quite seriously the best thing my two boys have watched in a loooong time. Their sister liked it, too. Hey, I liked it! We gave water and caramel cookie bars to the "workers" :)
Despite the craziness and stress of Monday, (I felt like I could sleep for a week by the time the kids went to bed that night...)  I'm SO thankful for the prayers of family and friends and that little buddy is healing quickly. In fact, since Tuesday, the day after his fall, he's had a crazy language explosion-both in vocabulary and in the clarity of his words. Slightly ironic, I know. But I'll take it!

Shaving cream and food coloring. (Because I can't think of anything more creative than that.)

         I'm editing a photo session from last night, and I took a little break to upload and look through 54,000 photos I've taken since March which, in the craziness that has happened since then, got abandoned. Sad. But I found these! And since I told my friend I'd post this, oh, 2 months ago or so, I'd doing it now. Plus they're fun, and I think a little fun is needed around here...

This is my friend Beth. She's great-creative, funny, and waaaay more organized than I am! So when she showed up at my house the day before we left on our grand adventure with a kiddie pool, shaving cream, and food coloring; I just grinned and said "Oh, yeah!!" 

We stripped the kids down, and kid bliss commenced. Except for Blaise, who stayed as far away as he could...Beth put some on his walker and he freaked out. (Seriously, the kid wants to climb the rock wall of the fireplace, but shaving cream? Too scary, people. I love toddlers.)

 The big kids all looked like Easter eggs by the time they were done; it was a great lesson in color-mixing, too. (Science class!) Pax and Charissa (Beth's oldest girl and Pax's buddy) decided to jump in the pool after we'd hosed them off; and swim season was officially opened-in March. Yes, the pool was about 65 degrees. Nope, Pax wasn't about to come out!

  This was SO fun to watch, so easy to set up, and-best of all-a wonderful brain break from packing for both the kids and I!

Beth, you can bring your organized creative-ness to my backyard anytime ;)

Christmas + Jammies + Felt = December!

I was looking through my pictures today and realized just how far behind I am in documenting our smallest son's first year...so back to it! I went away last weekend to throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law...which Pax wasn't at all happy about. First of all because I went to Grammy and Grandaddy's house without him; secondly, I took the baby with me; and, finally, because he just plain wanted me to stay home! He cried. A lot....saying how he'd miss  me so much (which, let's face it, is nice to hear!) and couldn't I please take him with me?? (when I told him I didn't have a ticket, he told me I could just tear mine in half...wish it worked like that!) As he cried, Blythe came over to me and, looking up with her sweet face, declared, "Mama, I won't cry. I be ok when you're gone. And, if I want to talk to you, I just call you on the phone! I can do that!"
       I wish you could see the little hand gestures she used...she went from 18 months to 9 in a day, I'm pretty sure. Adam said Pax was in tears as they drove away from the airport...and there's little Miss in the back, trying to console him and get him to stop crying (love his sweet heart and how  pragmatic she can be...although ask her to go to the bathroom and she's likely to throw an Olympic-sized fit. She IS still two, most definitely!) While I was gone, Adam and the kids started on our Advent calender, among lots of other fun things (and several skinned knees). My folks gave me the felt Christmas tree to me last year, and I LOVE it. The countdown has pockets in it; so it's an activity Advent calendar. And because our holidays center around the birth of Christ, we fill the pockets with a mix of fun activities, ways to serve others, random acts of kindness, and scriptures to help us remember the true reason we celebrate Christmas. It helps the kids (and us!) focus on the reality of Christmas in the middle of the consumerism our society has turned the season into. We of course give gifts to celebrate His birth; and although we do let the kids believe in Santa, we focus on the real story of Saint Nicholas and continue to worship Christ. Thus today's advent activity....I'd contemplated making the kids a felt Christmas tree with ornaments to pull off and decorate again and again; but after spying a felt nativity on Pinterest (of course) I knew what I would make. So far, only Pax has seen it, since B is currently taking a nap-but he loves it. I think my favorite part is the flying sheep up with the angels :)

And this picture? Well, yesterday they received their Christmas jammies (they get them every year-I bought these 2 days after Christmas last year for $3 a piece :) They love, love, love this tradition-as you can see, Pax is still wearing his today! This photo was the result of an impromptu photoshoot attempt in front of the tree after they put their jammies on last night...authentic, joy-filled, life!

kids.

         I love kids. I love taking cute pictures of them.Or WITH them, if they happen to be my own cuties. But really, when it comes to kids and cameras, you just have to remember....
if you can't beat 'em (or get them to smile), join 'em.

Merry Christmas!

  I had to post some outtakes from our family photo shoot-done with a tripod, a camera, and a remote. It was an adventure... but we've done it every year and ended up with a great Christmas card, so surely we could do it with one extra kid, right?

yeah....right.

I couldn't help laughing when I saw this one. I like to call it, "The Secret Hand".

 Pax's face reminds me sooooo much a certain middle-sister cousin whose photos I'm working on right now...






....and here, you can see what happens when Mama tries to be IN the picture and big brother finds the bribery just-smile-and-look-nice M&Ms. At least he's sharing...

..but this one takes the cake. My favorite by far. "Hey, Sis, you've got something in your eye!!"

six months.

Half a year.

Almost 16 pounds {your sister and brother were both 19 pounds at one year.} and 27 1/2inches tall {the same height as your petite sis at one year...you're gonna catch her by two, I'm pretty sure!}

Good natured and smiley {at everyone}
Determined roller and army crawler ; thisclose to full on crawling, and a champ at sitting, you are the one-toothed wonder.

Beloved by brother and sister {and mama and daddy}

blue-eyed and drooly

and voracious eater of squash, sweet potatoes, plums, avocados, pumpkin, pears, bananas, carrots...

and milk. Lots and lots and lots of milk. You are my only baby to use up just about all of my milk supply...I've given away only 100 oz. this time. You're just one hungry kid.

With big feet.

and a big grin.

No one can figure out at first who you look like...Daddy and I, we say you look

like Blaise.

Adam Blaise, to be precise.

Or Adam Blaise McGillkinchowder, as you big sister calls you.

Blazers. Blaise-a-roo.

{Yes, we have a thing for nicknames in this family.}

You're a pretty good sleeper...better than your brother was, but not as good as your sister was.

We took your plug away a few weeks ago because you were waking up 84,000 times a night looking for it...that helped. It took you a full 2 weeks, but now you just wake up once a night. To eat. A lot. Like I said, you're one hungry kid.

 

 Your feet are as big as your brother's were at 10 months

and you're an inch shorter than your sister was at a year.

 Good natured and determined, you're our littlest dude...and you may be the baby, and this may be 2 weeks late, but you will have a 6-month post. And a completed baby album with just as many pictures in it as your brother and sister (who am I kidding? probably more.) I, your third-child-mama, promise.

Love you, my sweet Blaise-a-roo.

Wordless Wednesday

I should be.

Adam is out of town on interview #2 (Conneticut, this time), and I should be switching the laundry or unloading the dishwasher or some such to get ahead of the kids in the morning....but. 

My smallest son turned 5 months old on Wednesday (how'd that happen??) and before another month gets away from me...

before I forget to write down that he started sitting up on his own a few weeks ago

...and saying "hi" (no really, he does...so stinkin' cute!!)

...and that he's already doing the inchworm across the floor in a determined effort to keep up with the bigger kids

...and that he's so sweet and smiles at everyone, instantly

... and that he's an inch and a half shorter than his sister was at a YEAR
...and that he hated the tiny baby carseat that we've already switched him to the one his sister was in, rear-facing of course
...and that he loves music but tends to flinch when he hears his big sister come near (she loves him fiercely)
...and that he's a huge Mama's boy right now (which I'm totally soaking up)
...and that he's already lovin' sweet potatoes and tolerating avocado
...and that he's 14 lbs and 25.5 inches of snuggly

silly

                                                                         giggly                                                                                                                                                                            
         smiley
                 fiercely determined
                          little boy.
                       

(c'mon....can you blame me for slacking off? Who doesn't love that face??)