Out of Comission

With so much to do in the next week, Shon and I decided to run some errands on Saturday after Emma was finished with track practice. Our first stop was Lowe's after eating lunch. Of course Emma and Jake decided they needed to use the bathroom after being there for 5 minutes so I took them toward the back of the store. As we were walking, Emma's foot kicked back and connected with my flip-flop covered foot and I felt instant pain that took my breath away. I seriously think this hurt worse than childbirth--I could barely walk. We finished in the store with me walking very slowly--I probably would have used one of the scooters if they had had one in the store:-)
We obviously did not go anywhere else but home after that and I hobbled in the house and put my foot up. We got Will down for a nap and that's when I noticed my toe felt numb--so I decided it would probably be a good idea to go to urgent care and get an xray just to be safe. I told Shon I was leaving and drove myself there.
Thankfully I was the only one there at urgent care and was seen and taken care of in about 20 minutes. They took an xray and it was definitely broken--I received some pain meds and a lovely black boot/shoe to stabilize my foot when walking. I dropped off the script and headed back home. Shon went and picked it up and I took some meds and finished the rest of the night on the couch. I also buddy taped my toes (which means you tape the injured toe to the one right next to it to stabilize it more) and that helped some but it still was pretty swollen as I went to bed.
The doctor said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to heal completely--but that the first 48 hours would probably be the worst. Today has been better than yesterday but it is still hurting. Emma felt so bad about what happened and has apologized at least 15 times:-) So, I will be more careful from now on when walking in flip-flops:-)

Emma's Birthday in Kansas City (warning: picture heavy post!)

Emma with her cheesecake:-)

Emma's 8th birthday was April 13th, and she requested that we go to Kansas City so she could go to the American Girl Doll store there. We invited my parents to join us for the fun, and they agreed. We fit a lot into basically 24 hours in Kansas City. When we arrived and after we checked in to our hotel, we left to go eat at Cheesecake Factory (yum--I had never been before). After eating we went to Barnes and Noble so the kids could use the gift cards they got from my sister. By the time we finished there, we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning after breakfast we checked out of the hotel and got ready to go to the American Girl store:-) Emma was so excited:-) We arrived a little before the store was open, so we went into another Barnes and Noble (we apparently like books a lot) and shopped some more. Then it was time to go in. Emma ran in and started looking at everything. She had brought one of her dolls with her, so she took her over to the doll salon (these people know how to get you to spend money). We signed Julie (her doll) up for a cleaning and hairstyle and ear piercing. Emma, mom and I then went and looked around the store while the boys gladly escaped to the rest of the mall:-) I had told Emma she could have the doll of the year for her birthday, so we set about buying her and 1 outfit (Emma picked a running combo) and mom bought her another outfit and a little purse thing to carry her dolls in. When we were finished we met the boys and did a little more shopping. Then it was time for lunch! We had decided to try and eat at the T-Rex Cafe. It was at another mall near the Kansas Motor Speedway, so we headed out. It was a very neat place to eat, and of course the kids wanted to go to the Build-A-Dino store they had in the restaurant:-) ( I know it sounds like they are spoiled, but we rarely buy them things other than birthdays and Christmas, so we felt ok letting them have a few extras this trip). They each picked a dinosaur to get (except Will--he slept through most of the restaurant). After we ate, our last stop was to go to Union Station and go to the Science Museum. It was a little pricey but the kids had a lot of fun looking at the different exhibits and they loved all the hands-on stuff. We left KC and headed home, where my sweet husband stopped at Krispy Kreme donuts for all of us a few miles outside of KC. We also took a quick tour of Shon's corporate headquarters, since they are based in Kansas City. All in all, it was a great weekend and a lot of fun for all the kids. Caleb has requested to go to St. Louis for his birthday in a few weeks, so hopefully we will have a fun adventure there as well.

8 Months Old

Will, you are 8 months old today! You have finally learned to roll over from your stomach to your back (on March 19th) but have not tried the other was:) You are babbling so much the past week or so--a lot of lalala and gagaga but no true words yet. It appears you found your voice while the other kids were gone on Spring Break:) You are still enjoying baby food--you have tried all of the 2nd foods now. You will chew on a sippy cup filled with water but are surprised when you actually get a drink:) You probably weigh over 19lbs now--we go back to the doctor on Wednesday to re-measure your head circumference, so I will post the weight then. You wear 6-12 month clothing for the most part, although I did put you in some Old Navy pjs that were 12-18 months since I think they run small. You still wear a size 3 diaper. You love to take a bath and splash anyone in sight. You also are drooling like crazy and want your hands in your mouth constantly--but still no teeth. You are still not completely stable sitting up although you are much improved. You still have trouble sleeping through the night and that is the 1 thing mommy wishes would resolve before you are 9 months old:) You still light up whenever you siblings come into view--after not seeing them over Spring Break you just jabbered when you saw them for the first time. We had to travel to Texas for my grandmother's memorial service and you were such a great car rider. We rode down and back with nana and papa. Mommy calculated that we were in the car for about 30 hours total getting to and from Columbia and you were wonderful. You have started taking an interest in other people and will flirt quite a bit if someone talks to you:) Will, the time is flying by! I can't wait to see what the next month will hold. We love you!

Random post

I want to try to "catch up" with several things that have happened over the last few months. So, here goes:-)
We have had record snow falls here in Columbia (and in NWA as well). My kids missed 5 Fridays in a row of school--I was about to go stir crazy. We have missed a total of 9 days of school so far for weather, so that puts the kids getting out on June 3rd as of right now. Our biggest snow fall of the year was around 19 inches--it was crazy to see so much snow--I don't remember ever having that much growing up.
During the big snow and freeze that happened in Fayetteville, apparently a pipe froze and burst in our house there--this was discovered by a realtor attempting to show our home--instead he found about 1 inch of water everywhere in the downstairs. He did turn off the water and called our realtor, who went out to the house, took pictures and called us. So for the past month I have been dealing with getting the claim started, getting people out to the house to get the water-damaged areas stripped, and now we are waiting on a contractor to give us an estimate to start fixing all the damage. I will say that so far things have not been to overwhelming--I just hate not being there in town. Our realtor and one of my very best friends have gone to the house whenever we needed someone to be there, for which I am grateful. Our insurance will cover all the damage except for our deductible--which was smaller than I anticipated, so that is another blessing.
We are gearing up for spring by getting ready for baseball season with Caleb. He has player evaluations on Saturday--I am hoping his nerves don't get the best of him:-) Emma has decided she wants to try track, so the sign up for that is also this Saturday. Finally, Jake has a birthday party that I still need to go out and get a gift for that is tomorrow as well--very busy weekend.
Spring break will be here in a few weeks as well--the older 3 kids are going to stay with my in-laws because Shon will be working and Will and I are headed down to Texas for a memorial service for my grandmother (my mom's mom). She passed away after dealing with Alzheimer's and then got pneumonia and quietly passed. So, I am headed down there with mom and dad to meet my aunt, uncle, cousins and their families, and my sister. I am actually looking forward to this mini-reunion. It's been years since we have all seen each other. Another thing I am looking forward to over Spring Break is rearranging the kids bedrooms to try and get Will upstairs and out of our bedroom-this momma is ready for a full nights sleep again. Speaking of Will--I just heard him crying to that is my cue to cut off this post and go get him!

7 months old

Will, you are seven months old! It doesn't seem possible that you are now closer to 1 year--time is really flying by:-) Here is what you have been doing:
You still are not sleeping through the night--most nights you wake at least once. You still won't go to sleep without being swaddled--we tried last night and you did eventually fall asleep, but you refused to stay that way, so momma swaddled you anyway--and you slept from 10:30 until 4:30 this morning. So who knows what we are going to do with you and sleeping.
You have tried all the first foods and most of the 2nd foods. We give you one fruit, one vegetable, and one cereal 2nd foods everyday. You usually have cereal in the morning, but I switched it yesterday and today to fruit in the morning, veggie at lunch, and cereal at bedtime to see if it will help you sleep longer. We will see if the better sleeping continues.
You wear size 3 diapers and size 6-9 or 6-12 months clothing.
You are able to sit on your own for a few seconds before you topple in different directions.
You still are refusing to roll over--you hate to be on your stomach for any amount of time at all--you actually look a little like a reverse turtle-your hands and legs are flailing and you rest on your tummy (shell). Mommy and daddy might have laughed at you quite a bit when you do this:-)
You love your brothers and sister--they can make you smile even if you were just screaming your head off--and they love trying to make you smile--so no jealousy still, which is nice.
You are taking 2 naps (for the most part) each day--one in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening.
You have graduated to the "big" bathtub. We have tried several things and when you are sitting up on your own we will use them but for now you lie down on a little sponge-type blue penguin and love to kick and splash mommy with water:-)
You are drooling constantly but still no teeth or swollen gums--you can soak a bib in about 5 minutes time, though.
You still love the jumper and will tolerate the swing, but you have not been enjoying the baby gym as much.
We went for a walk outside in a stroller and you LOVED it--mommy can't wait for warmer weather so we can do this everyday.
Will, we are so proud to have you in our family and look forward to seeing what you accomplish over the next month!

Six (actually seven) month well child check up

Will had his well child check up today--and he turns 7 months old tomorrow, so I will write about all the statistics today and write about what he is doing tomorrow (yes 2 post in 2 days!). Here are the stats from today:
weight: 18 lbs 4 oz (75th%)
height: 27.5 inches (50th%)
His head was measured but I don't remember what it was, only that it was between the 75th and 90th %--so the pediatrician wants us to come back in a month to measure it again because he had moved up some in his percentile from last time. Of course, when I told Shon he tells me he had a big head as a baby, so that made me feel a little bit better.
He also received 3 shots--which he was not a fan of. I also forgot to bring his pacifier with me, so he resorted to sucking on his burp cloth in between bouts of crying. Poor baby. The doctor said he is on track developmentally even though he is still not rolling over--although he almost did when we were at the office:-) She advised me to stop swaddling him and try to get him to go to sleep without it--that should be fun. I am also going to have to re-start him on his Zantac and vitamins. He sounded pretty bad today--the first day I have noticed him with "wheezy" breathing since taking him off the Zantac (per our ENT doctor's instructions:-) Anyway, maybe it will help with the lack of sleeping through the night-although I won't hold my breath:-) That's all for now--he just woke up from his only nap today--and it wasn't very long so we'll see how the night progresses:-)

A first

So we had a bit of excitement in the house yesterday afternoon. Jake was telling me how hungry he was and I told him to go in the kitchen and finish his peanut butter sandwich from lunch--he immediately ran from the living room to the kitchen. A second letter I hear a loud scream and then crying. I figured he must have hit his head on the edge of the bar ( he has done this several times) so I thought his head must hurt but I admit I didn't jump right up since he has done this before. However, as all moms know there are cries and then there is the cry--the one that tells you something is really wrong. This was one of those cries. I got up and went to him and immediately saw his hair looked wet in the front--only to discover it was blood, and a lot of it--he had it dripping down his face and all over his hands. I admit--I panicked! I ran to get a towel and was very upset--Shon was just telling me to calm down. Jake was crying mainly because of the blood on his hands--Shon helped him get it off and then I was able to check out his head--he had a pretty good gash on the top--almost and inch long. I couldn't really tell how deep it went because of the hair in the way, but I figured we should definitely take him to the ER or urgent care to get him checked out to be safe. So, Jake and I loaded up in the van and left for urgent care. Thankfully it is only about 5 minutes from our house and they weren't very busy.
We arrived and got checked in and were taken back to see the doctor in about 15 minutes. The nurse cleaned off his head with some normal saline and gauze very gently. Then the doctor came in. He looked at the gash and decided he needed something to help it stay closed so it wouldn't keep bleeding. He came back in the room with all his supplies and Jake turned around on the table and laid down. I held his hands and the doctor gave him about 5 shots of Lidocaine to numb the area--Jake was such a trooper. All he kept saying was ow but he kept still. Once the area was numb, the doctor cleaned it a little more vigorously and I was able to see that it was a deeper gash that I originally thought--so I was very glad I took him. He produced a little miniature staple gun and after 5 staples the wound was closed. He even made sure to get all of his hair out of the way for the staples so we didn't have to cut any of it:-)
The nurse came back in with our instructions for caring for his head and also to put some antibiotic ointment on it. Then we were able to leave. I took Jake to Andy's for some frozen custard and we went home to show the kids his war wound:-)
I was able to gently wash around his staples last night to try to get some of the dried blood out of his hair so that he could go to school today with semi-normal hair:-) The first thing he did this morning was tell every child that came through the door that he got staples in his head:-) It's never dull around here!
I am thankful that this is the first time anyone in the family has needed this type of urgent care--God has been very faithful to take care of us.