Never Saw it Coming...

One of my favorite pictures of John...I just love this handsome guy :)

This past Saturday John decided to do his workout in the afternoon since we were all going to a friend's house for a party that night.  Since the kids were up he figured he'd workout in our room so there would be fewer interruptions...and questions..."Daddy, what are you doing?"  "Daddy, why are you doing that?", etc.  He was using resistance bands with a P90X workout.  The bands go through a loop with a ball attached to it that you put over the door and then close the door.  Normally we had done this workout in the living room and used the garage door for the bands.

To make a long story short, John was using the bands when the door came open (on it's own...nobody opened it) and the bands came flying at him.  The hard plastic ball and the loop (made from the same material as a dog leash) hit him on the face.  I rushed him to an urgent care center where he ended up with 14 stitches to close up 3 lacerations from his upper lip to his nose.  He also sheared a large part of the skin off the right part of his nose.  They did a CT scan of his face to make sure his nose and any other facial bones were not broken.  They also did a chest x-ray because he had some large red welts on his upper chest from where it looked like the bands smacked him.

Scans/x-rays were all good and we left with a prescription for an anti-biotic (he got a tetanus shot) and percocet for pain.  Towards the end of the visit he started complaining about one of his bottom teeth hurting.  The CT scan didn't show any fractures but he thought it felt loose.  We called our dentist on Sunday and he told John to come in on Tuesday morning so he could do individual x-rays of the teeth.

Monday morning he woke up with some swelling in his face that was new and under his right eye looked like a bruise.  I took him to our regular dr. and she put him on a steroid to help the swelling in his face and his upper lip which had swelled pretty badly right after he got hit and didn't seem to be going down.

Tuesday morning he went to the dentist on his own and called to say that the tooth was indeed fractured and he was going to have to go in for a root canal at 1:00 that afternoon.  During the root canal it was determined that the tooth itself was broken and could not be fixed so it had to come out.  He'll have a post inserted and a new tooth constructed by our amazingly awesome dentist.

Another appointment he had Tuesday afternoon did not go as well as he had hoped either.  The dr. at the urgent care recommended he consult a plastic surgeon to make sure his nose was healing properly.  The urgent care made the appointment with a dr. they frequently recommend.  The guy was a complete jerk and made John feel worse than he already did.  For a plastic surgeon he had a horrible bedside manner and acted like he had never seen anything like it.  He even told John it was good that he mainly talks to clients on the phone and doesn't meet with them face to face!  JERK!!!!!  Obviously this guy just makes his money off elective nose jobs and butt lifts, etc.  Every other dr. John had seen about it had said that it looked like it would heal just fine and there was no infection.  This guy tried to tell him that the skin looked dead and infected...sorry but that's a bunch of bull****!  He also told John he would ONLY recommend this particular cream and how convenient was it that he sold it in the office...for $100 bucks!!!!  Of course after he practically scared John out of his wits John bought the cream.  I told John he would NOT go back to that idiot and I would find him another plastic surgeon to consult with and to remove his stitches next week.  He's got an appointment next Tuesday morning with a wonderful dr.  I called "bad dr.'s" office and cancelled the appointment he had made for next Tuesday.  The lady asked if I wanted to reschedule and I said no, he was going to see a different dr. So ;p on you meanie dr.!!!!!  I would have loved to give the woman an earful of what I thought of that dr. but it's not her fault her boss is a jerk so it wouldn't have been fair to her. (Can you tell I am just a tiny bit ticked off???)

John stayed home Monday and Tuesday and went back to work yesterday.  As expected he has been upset by the whole thing but I keep reminding him about what he said when he was waiting to get his stitches...It could have been much worse because if it had hit him about an inch higher he WOULD have broken his nose or a little to the left or right and it would have gotten him in an eye.  Having the swelling all but gone now has improved his outlook considerably and now if I could get the nagging doubt out his head about his nose (that the stupid idiot moron numskull dr. put in his head) then he'll be good to go.  He can't wait to start back up with the P90X workouts (minus the resistance bands that we threw in the trash!) but wants to wait until his nose has healed up more and he gets his stitches out.  I told him I still think he's a hottie :) 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!  I hope today (and everyday) you know how much you are loved and appreciated :)


To my Father-in-Law, Jack ~  Thank you so much for being such a positive role model in John's life.  Thank you for raising him to be a good and loving husband and father.  I see a lot of you in John...his love for being in the yard and growing things and his love of maps are just a couple of those things.  Thanks for being such a great Grandpa too :) I hope you have a wonderful day and know that you are loved.


To my husband John ~ Thank you for being the best daddy to our zoo precious babies.  You have been a hands on dad from the beginning and I truly appreciate all your hard work.  Thank you for being their protector, provider, coach, co-disciplinarian, role model, jungle gym, teacher, and friend.  I could not have picked out a better father for my children, I am so glad that God chose you for me to share this crazy roller coaster ride wonderful journey with :)  Thanks for taking our kids on bike rides, to the beach, to the pool, to the playground.  Thanks for teaching them to ride their bikes and being excited about doing it.  Thanks for teaching them about God and what it means to love Him.  Thanks for being excited about showing them the alligators in the pond, the hawks flying over head, beautiful sunsets, deer playing in the backyard, fire trucks, flowers/plants starting to grow, and every golf course that we happen to pass by :)  Thanks for wanting our kids to be the best they can be and for helping them get there.  Here's to your 9th Father's Day...


To my Dad, Joe ~ Words can't begin to express how much I love you and appreciate everything you have done for me.  You taught me so many things and continue to do so.  You taught me to work hard and not to give up or be afraid of it...or to be afraid of the ball hitting me :)  You taught me to do it right the first time and to make it count (and to completely erase my mistakes on my paper or to get a new piece of paper and start over!).  You have taught me to think for myself and do for myself.  You pushed me to do better because you knew I could.  I probably didn't appreciate it back then but I do now :)  You made so many sacrifices for us and never complained (well, maybe to mom but we never knew!) and even when you were out to sea when Shea and I were young, we always knew you loved us and we couldn't wait for the day you came home.  Although you would never let us "help" in the kitchen we learned so much from you (my family appreciates the love of cooking I got from you). Our "Super Dad" could mow the lawn, cook dinner, and balance the checkbook all at the same time :)  I am so proud to call you my dad and I only hope I can pass on all that I have learned from you to my kids (if Max wants to eat when he moves out I better teach him how to cook!)  Thanks for being my coach, thanks for painstakingly decorating my birthday cakes, thanks for providing us with wonderful opportunities, thanks for providing for us, thanks for listening, thanks for loving us!  I hope you have a wonderful 40th Father's Day!!!!!!!!!

Ruby's Housekeeping Service

Ruby had a small bowl of Cheerios as a snack this morning.  She spilled it all over the floor (typical).  She came to me saying "mess".  I asked her if she would clean it up and she picked up the empty bowl and "ran" into the living room saying "Otay"!


Now, you'd think since she took the bowl with her that she was planning to pick up the food and put it back into the bowl.  Ha!  She had a better idea :)

Yep, bent right over and picked the cheerios up with her mouth!  Also, did you like the little dance right there at the end?  Crazy kid.

I tried to get her to pick more cheerios up and she decided to mix in her own brand of yoga with her cleaning.

Good thing I don't pay her any money for housekeeping.  She does get to keep what she picks up though :)  I think it will be a while before she can officially open her own housekeeping business...maybe she can learn to use a vaccuum first?

P.S.  Sorry for the poor quality on the video...I was using my cell phone :P

SHE DID IT!!!!!

Guess who FINALLY made it to the 20 lb mark?  

Yep, our little Ruby not only hit the 20 lb mark (just in the past 3 months) but passed it by 1 lb 12 oz!!!!!  At her 15 month checkup she weighed in at 19lbs 13 oz.  I was SURE this time would be something like 19lbs 15ozs :p  Just because she has started walking/running since then and doesn't have a huge appetite...also because she's a stinker and would just do something like that :)


She had her 18 month checkup this morning...
weight 21lbs 12oz - 20th percentile
height 31 in. - 20th percentile
head circumference 19 in. - 85th percentile


Yeah, still our "Tiny Genius".  The dr. was very pleased with her growth over the past 3 months.  He mentioned that it had seemed like she had slowed down/stopped for a little while but she has picked back up and he has no concerns.  I did mention an incident that occurred at one of Max's ball games where a dog licked her on the face and she broke out in welts in that area within about 5 min.  His first words to that were that she could have a possible dog allergy.  She's been around dogs though and never had a problem so I'm not sure.  I am more convinced than ever though that we need to get some allergy testing done on her as soon as they will do it.  I don't like scary surprises!!!!!


Now I have to get her in for a checkup with the dermatologist...she is still having some flareups of the eczema and the ointment helps it as well as the Cetaphil cream I use on her but the tops of her feet don't want to clear up.  I know it's the shoes so I only put them on her when we are going somewhere and I know she'll be walking...otherwise she is barefoot.  I can't put socks on her though or her feet would melt in this heat!


Sweet girl and we LOVE her to pieces!!!!!

Adventures in Teeth Cleaning!

All I can say is...I am glad THAT is over!

Yesterday Max, Lucy and Ruby had an appointment to get their teeth cleaned.  It was Lucy's 3rd or 4th time (they all kind of blur together) and Ruby's first appointment EVER!

Max did great and got a SUPER report from the dentist.  I was not able to be near Max during his cleaning though because I was busy on the other side of the room wrestling a screaming banshee consoling a terrified 3 year old on my lap.  She refused to lay on the table AGAIN...so I had to hold her in my lap and lay her backwards so her head was in the hygienist's lap.  I told the lady she must have drawn the short straw that morning because she ended up having to do Ruby's cleaning as well :P

Lucy also had to get her first set of x-rays done.  For this she was fine!  While we waited for the Dr. to come and check for himself the hygienist decided to go ahead and do Ruby.  It was everything I expected it to be.  B.A.D.! 

There were quite a few comments about how strong she is...this is while I was holding her hands down and trying to keep her from vaulting herself off the the head off the table.  She was moving so bad that the hygienist nicked her top gum with the scraper (I was wondering why they would use such a sharp instrument on a thrashing toddler but that's just me I guess).  While she was holding a piece of wet gauze on Ruby's top gum to stop the bleeding, the hygienist went ahead and brushed Ruby's teeth.  Let's just say that I am glad that this experience did not make her hate having her teeth brushed :)  She held on to her new toothbrush for the rest of the visit and only screamed one more time...when she had to lay back down for the dentist to look at her teeth.

The good news of Max's visit was met with the bad news that Lucy and Ruby BOTH have very crowded teeth just like their big sister Abby.  Lucy's x-ray showed that the two top teeth on either side of the front teeth are coming down rotated.  The dentist said that she still has time to grow but there isn't a lot of room in her mouth right now.  He said Ruby's look more crowded than Abby's...great. With the amount of $ we have already spent on Abby's mouth this was not what I wanted to hear.  I see lots of braces in our future...

I had grand plans to take a picture of Ruby at her very first dentist visit but it's hard to hold a camera...much less take a picture...when you are wrestling a very angry toddler...oh well.

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Well folks, if anyone needs to reach me this summer I will be at one of various baseball fields.  Abby has started t-ball practice and will have games on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the middle of July.  Max is playing machine pitch here in our town's rec league (same as Abby) and will more than likely have games on Mondays and Wednesdays...to be ADDED to the Travel league he is playing on in the city's rec league.  He will have practice for that team EVERY. SINGLE. FRIDAY. and SUNDAY through the middle of August.  The only time he won't have a Sunday practice is when they have a tournament that weekend.


Tournaments will require travel and consist of 2 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday.


And of course, every parent wants their child(ren) to be out of the house as much as possible during the summer well rounded so we will top it off with swimming lessons and a week of VBS (which will coincide with swimming lessons for 2 days so I'll have to pick them up early from VBS to get to the pool in time).  Try to get some schoolwork in with all that so they don't forget too much during their "break" and I'd say we're going to be pretty busy!


Poor Lucy and Ruby have to just tag along to everything.  Lucy will be doing swimming lessons with Abby but she's too young for any of the other sports yet and she can't do VBS until next year :(


Just because I don't think I'll be getting enough exercise (or sweating enough during the middle of the day games) I have started doing P90X again.  John is doing it too.  We have to stagger our workouts though because we do them at night and past experience has shown that as soon as I start a workout, Lucy one of the kids will wake up fussing.  It's nice though to have a workout buddy in the sense that we are both in a lot of pain right now ;p  John turns 40 in October and I will be 40 in February so I think we both want to be "Fit and 40" and not "Fat and 40"  :)  I figured since I spent a great deal of my 30's either pregnant and gaining weight or giving birth and trying to lose the baby weight that I should enjoy a fit body in my 40's...right?  I'll probably never see my 20's body again but at least I have 4 beautiful kids to show for all the stretch marks!


Wow...off track...anyway...I'll be going out to the ball games but I won't be buying any peanuts and Crackerjack!!!!!

Kid Night

Ha!  It's not as if every night isn't kid night already anyway.  Since yesterday was the last day of school and today was a pretty good first day of summer vacation (thanks to awesome neighbors who took 2 of my kids off my hands today :) )...I thought we could have a little celebration for all the hard work the kids did in school this year.


I picked up pizza for dinner and as a treat bought a 2 liter bottle of Sierra Mist Natural (the kids ONLY get sodas as a treat).  I also picked up a movie and some popcorn and movie candy.  Dinner has been devoured, showers/baths done, now it's MOVIE TIME :)


We might have to make movie night a once a week summer tradition :)  Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!

A Barrel Full of Monkey...Cupcakes?

Some call me a glutton for punishment because I will jump at the chance to make a cake or cupcakes for a school party.  I LOVE it :)  I started out making my kids' birthday cakes and I am now getting into the cupcake craze (thanks to my mom).


Anyway, I posted last week about the ocean/sailboat cupcakes I made for Lucy's class.  I made these cupcakes for Max's class party today.

I searched for "Monkey cupcakes" on the internet and found the idea and ran with it.

It was perfect because Max's teacher has had a monkey theme in her classroom all year.

Looks like a Barrel Full of Monkeys...heehee!

Since the majority of the class made or exceeded their goals on their end of the year testing she allowed them to have a "You Can't Do That At School" party.  From the time the first bell rang until 9am they ate nothing but junk food, watched movies and played video games.  At 9am they headed outside for a water balloon fight (I filled about 100 of those little buggers last night after making the cupcakes!).

The teacher played a couple of games with them using the balloons then allowed them each 2 balloons, lined them up shoulder to shoulder and told them as another part of their reward they could throw the balloons AT HER!  That's a brave woman :)

After they did that (most of them bounced off her and splatted on the ground) they were able to throw them at each other.  I was somewhat nervous when she lined them up to throw at her because she had them with their backs to their parents.  I kept thinking she was going to tell them to turn around and throw them at us :)

Max decided he wanted to stay at school and ride the bus home (it was a half day today so they dismissed at 10:30).  Lucy, Ruby, and I headed down to Abby's class because they were having a water day too.  By the time we got down there though the class had just come back inside and having their snack.  We hung out for a few minutes and Abby decided to leave with us because she has "done centers all year" and didn't care to do them today.

Tomorrow is another half day and the LAST day.  I'll go back in the morning to take Max's teacher her gift from the class and take pictures of Max and Abby with their teachers...another tradition I have carried on from my childhood...pics with the teachers on the last day of school.