What-Nots

• I have been keeping track. One of our kids spills their milk at least once a day. Which gives new meaning to the phrase "there is no use crying over spilt milk." Those guys...the phrase inventors...don't know what they are talking about. Either that or they have never had to clean up milk. Every. Single. Day.

• Penny has been asking every day to have her nails painted. It is cute. Also cute, and nail related...the conversation between Laney and Canon that went something like this: "Canon, mom just painted my nails. Do you think they are golden or silver? I will give you 5 guesses."

• Canon in preschool has turned out to be a great bargaining tool. Mostly Canon doesn't care what happens to him. Now all of the sudden when I threaten that he can't go to preschool he listens. If I had known that was going to work I would have in listed him in preschool years ago. Never mind the fact he wasn't old enough.
• I want them to bring back Birthday Oreos. They were delicious and gone too quickly. I am thinking of starting a petition...only I am not really that gung ho. So while I say I am going to start a petition I am mostly blowing smoke in the hopes that someone thinks it's a good idea and starts it instead.

• I love this face.

• Almost as much as this one.

• Gavin lost another tooth. I tried to remain calm about it...and I kind of succeeded up until the moment that Blake needed help with some floss...around Gavin's tooth...and I was holding it in place...Then Gavin said we had to stop because "he didn't want me to scream or pass out." Such a sensitive boy. Concerned about his mom's weird phobias.

• I am so glad the tooth is out now. He ended up loosing it while brushing his teeth. Go figure. Which is good because it was sticking straight out and starting to turn a weird grey dead color. No exaggeration. 

•  I found this beaut at an estate sale. Paid $5 for it. I thought of all the things I could use it for. I sanded it, painted it, got new hinges, put a top coat on it, and found a place for it inside. Now my only problem is that I don't know what to put in it. At first my options were endless. We do not have a lot of storage space. But I don't want to fill it with things, and wish that I had used the space differently. So instead it sits empty. Makes perfect sense to me.  

The Mark Of an Unguren is a Jacked Phalange

I am just going to come right out and say it. 

Even if I am only half way through.

I am strongly disliking this month. Dare I say, hating?

Strong words, I know. It doesn't change how I feel though. 

Me and May? No Bueno!

Sure, sure...laugh all you want.

You can think I am crazy but I am fairly certain this month is cursed.

Don't believe me?

Listen to this: (and "this" will only be just the tip of the crapsville iceberg that has been happening recently)

Last Monday was a big day for Laney. She was going to get her cast off and she couldn't be more excited. The doctor told us that we needed to soak the cast off before we came in so that they wouldn't have to pull off the tape and pull out her arm hairs in the process. No problem. So we got her in the bath and got that cast nice and wet and soggy. As I am taking off her cast it is pulling on her arm hairs and making her cry, so I ask her "Do you want me to take it off or do you want to wait till you go to the doctor?" She tells me that she just wants me to do it. So I try to get it off as quickly and painlessly as possible. I get all the tape off and then all that is left is the hard cast around her thumb. I try to gently pull her thumb out and it doesn't budge. So then I am holding onto her cast and all of the sudden she gives her hand a good tug...and out comes her thumb....and out comes one of the pins. 

Umm...I am pretty sure I wasn't suppose to pull out one of the pins on my own. 

Then Laney looks down at her thumb and just starts screaming and crying and turns white as a ghost and starts saying things like "I don't feel good. My stomach hurts. I need a drink of water. My stomach hurts. I am thirsty."

Not that I blame her...It is a lot to take in. 

A hand that has been covered up for 5 weeks is not a pretty sight.

Then she went to the doctor where he took out the other pin with out even a tear.

Now she has a splint that she wears around when she is playing.

The doctor says that the bone is still broken but he is confident that it will heal on its own. 

Her finger just curves a little funny now.

Not to be outdone.

No weekend at our house seems to be complete with out a trip to the Instant care/E.R.

On Saturday we decided that we were going to go out for burgers.

We loaded up the kids in the car and headed to the restaurant. When we got there Blake went to open the door and opened it right on Canon's foot.

That by itself doesn't sound bad...but...

he was wearing flip flops and the door cut off his entire big toenail. Just sheared that baby right off. When we got to the Instant care they had to numb up his toe and then they removed the rest of the nail. They said that he had severed part of his nail-bed and that there is a chance that the nail might not grow back and if it does it might be deformed.

Obviously we are not breeding hand and foot models at our house. 

Canon seems to be doing fine except that he keeps telling people that he broke his toe and that he has pins in it. That, and the fact that he is walking around in one sock and one flip flop doesn't help us look like we are not neglectful parents.

Only 10 more days until this dreadful month is over.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

First off...what the crap is up with the new blogger? Moving around pictures is about to give me a stroke. Super annoying. 

When I was pregnant with all of my kids I would have dreams about my teeth falling out or crumbling. I would dream that I was chewing gum and the gum would get stuck in my teeth and when I tried to pull the gum out of my mouth my teeth would get stuck in the gum and my teeth would come out with it. 

It was disturbing, no matter how many times I would have it. 

Ever since, loose teeth or teeth falling out gives me the willies.

Kids wiggling their teeth is guaranteed to make me feel like I am going to pass out or dry heave.

When it is your own kid that is doing the wiggling it is hard to be OK with it.
It's even harder to get on board with the whole losing teeth thing.

Imagine my delight that it has taken Gavin this long to loose one. 

Granted he was pleased as punch that the tooth fairy was finally going to come. 

We did it Grandma Dana style and wrapped a piece of floss around his tooth. I manned up and held the tooth while Blake yanked on the floss. 

He said it didn't hurt. 

I almost passed out from listening to the skin break.

Then when I thought we were in the clear another tooth got loose. 

It was barely hanging on...which is almost as bad as it can get. 

If there were sound affects for these pictures you would hear me going 

 "Gross. Eww. Hold still let me take a picture, fast. Gross. Stop moving it.." 

Now we are two teeth gone. Gavin is $5 dollars richer, and I think I am in the clear...at least for a couple months.

Laney. That poor girl can't catch a break.

Last week for snacks we were eating strawberries and all of the sudden she broke out in hives all over her face and body. 

The only thing I could figure was that she was allergic to the strawberries or maybe the pesticides. Then the next day we went to ballet and as a reward for being good I gave the kids some jelly beans. 

Well, she rashed out again. This time only on her face. 

So it seems that for the time being Laney is not allowed to have anything strawberry or with strawberry flavoring.

Like any good mother the only way to reward your kids for good behavior is to make them have an allergic reaction.
That'll teach ya.        

Sticks and Stone Can Break Your Bones

It would be nice if our kids didn't take Spring Break literally.

On Monday Laney didn't have school so she stayed at home with Canon, Penny and Addi (my niece that I watch). They were out side playing like kids do. Playing in the dirt, moving rocks around, finding snails, stuff like that. When I heard Laney screaming I knew that she was hurt. I went to go see what was wrong and looked down at her hand and before my eyes her little hand started to swell. Turns out that rocks the size of cantaloupes are not good to drop on little hands. We drove to the doctors office to have it x-rayed. When they showed us the x-rays, it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was broken. We just didn't realize how broken. They sent us to Primary Children's hospital that night to have surgery. After waiting at the hospital for 3 hours they said that they couldn't set it like they had hoped and that we would have to come back tomorrow to have surgery. On Tuesday we got a call saying to come in at 10 and they would start the surgery. Laney was not the most happy about the situation. Not that I blame her. Her thumb was broken on the top and the other bone was split down the center and she hadn't eaten anything but a few chicken nuggets for 24 hours. They gave her some medicine to help calm her and after that she was pretty happy. While watching Dora she started to yell out things that they were saying on the TV. She was drugged and didn't care that she was being loud. Fortunately they don't get many kids in the Orthopedic hospital so having her there was a little extra treat for them. She finally went into surgery at 1 and came out 45 minutes later. Originally they were going to "shish kabob" her bone with a pin but they couldn't make the bone stay in place so they put two pins in in an X formation. This way the bone stays put in between the two pins. She has a hard cast on her thumb and a soft gauze cast that runs up her arm. Originally they told us that the cast would have to stay on for 3 weeks but because the break is worse than they had thought she has to keep the cast on for 5 weeks. When you are a kid your bones heal faster. If she was an adult than she would have to have the cast on for 9+ weeks. She is not the biggest fan of her cast but they did give one to her stuffed bunny to match,which stayed on for about 5 minutes.

Amiss

We are adjusting to having a cast at our house.

Dinner got a little messy, but that is to be expected.

I had to jimmy rig something in an attempt to keep the cast clean.

I think my glove worked quite effectively. MacGyver would be proud.

Blake went into look at Penny after she had fallen asleep only to discover that she had slipped her arm right out of her cast. Another trip to the doctor and now we are a purple cast family. I figured that after watching her eat her Macaroni and Cheese that it was better if we picked a darker color. Plus purple makes her feel fancy.

It Is Sad and Cute...

It is something pink...
It is really small...
It hasn't been used as a weapon, yet, but give it time. We went to the doctor today, after Penny was acting weird about her arm only to discover that it was broken. Not a bad break. It is on her forearm and in the x-ray it almost looked like her bone had buckled.
She was good for the most part at the doctor. Penny doesn't like when strangers touch her, so you can imagine how awesome it was to have not only the doctor touch her, but also the x-ray technician, and then back to the doctor to touch her some more. Other than that, she was a peach.
She doesn't seem to mind the cast much. Earlier when I asked her to show me her arm she held it up with pride. It is amazing how small it is. You can't help but think it is cute. Then you realize that it is a cast and you scold yourself for being a bad person that thinks casts are cute.I am sure in no time at all she we will be wielding it like a weapon, but for now it still holds her string cheese and that is all that is important.

Big Scare

It has been about a week.

I couldn't blog about it when it had first happened because the wound was too fresh.

I still feel horrible when I think about it. It makes me want to throw up.

But Penny is good and that is what is important.

Last week I was getting ready to go to Zumba and Blake was making the kids spaghetti for dinner. At the last minute I decided that I wasn't going to go and I was just going to stay home.

Penny was in the kitchen on the counter in her Bumbo and Gavin and Laney was sitting at the counter coloring.

Blake and I were talking and then we heard a thud. I think we both knew right away what it was. We went in to find Penny laying on the floor. She has fallen off of the counter top onto the floor. (I think we assumed that because she was in her Bumbo she would be fine...we were wrong.) We picked her up and it took a couple of seconds for her to cry. Then she screamed for just a couple of seconds and then stopped.

Blake handed her to me and she got pale and went limp. I freaked out!

We rushed down to the urgent care where they looked at her and checked her out to make sure nothing was wrong. All the while I am crying hoping that she will be OK.

After checking her out they said that she looked like she would be fine. She had just hit her head really hard and would probably want to take a nap for a little bit.

Sure enough on the way home she fell asleep and then slept in my arms for about 30 minutes.

Then she woke up to Canon screaming...opened her eyes, and started to smile and then laugh at Canon.

I can't tell you how happy her smile made me.

She had a big bump on her head that is gone now and has been replaced with a blue green tinged bruise on the back of her head.

Although it is hard to tell in the pictures it was a nasty bump for such a little head.

(Look at the bottom right) I hope nothing like that happens ever again.

(We also got rid of the Bumbo...it has bad memories now.)

The Hazards Of Being 5

I must say that our kids are not the most graceful.

Are any kids graceful actually?

On most days each one of our kids gets injured multiple times.

That makes for a lot of crying, kisses, and requests for band aids.

Every once in a while there are injuries that hurt more than others.

On Sunday when Gavin and Laney were playing in our room Gavin somehow "fell" (he says Laney pushed him...) and whacked his nose on our bed.
He now has a nicely forming black eye and a swollen nose.
He kind of reminds me of that weird cat lady.

But why not add injury to injury?

Yesterday while I was out running errands I got a call from Blake saying that Gavin had "fallen" (he says someone pushed him...) on the play ground and that he had cut open his head and that I needed to go get him in the nurses office.

Since I was about 20 minutes from the school a friend of mine went and picked him up for me.

When I got to her house to pick up Gavin I asked if I could see his cut.

I removed the band aid that was on it to see if he was going to need stitches.

A quick glance and I knew this was nothing that could be fixed with superglue. You could see his scull. No lie.

One trip to the Instant Care later, Gavin had 10 blue stitches in his head. Five inside the cut and five on top.

This must not be his week.

Cashing In

Gavin swallowed a penny on Sunday night.

He now knows how the penny is going to get out of his tummy.

I told Gavin to be on the look out.

It kinda makes you think twice about putting money in your mouth.

They say money is dirty...

but this is a whole other level of dirty.