Spencer James

Spencer is and always will be my favorite. (I meant to start Syd's post out with the same sentence. replacing of course Spencer with Syd)

My misunderstood child. no really. he's totally misunderstood. no one can understand a thing that poor kid says. :)

segue right in to......

Speech therapy. The therapist has come to our house 2 times. Once to get an overall picture of what we do during the day, what Spencer's likes and dislikes are and what our goals for therapy are.
My goals ? ......"ummm, I'd like to understand what the heck he's saying"
It couldn't be all easy like that...it had to be all, our goal is to have Spencer creating 2 word sentences. Again, me internally screaming, "LADY ! He's speaking in full on sentences.....you just don't understand what the crap he's saying" (of course nodding my head in agreement with her)
Write down whatever sounds good and now get him to say something using more than one syllable and with the use of both vowels and consonants.

She's telling me that I need to talk to him. All of the time there are opportunities to be talking to him.
I talk to him. ALL I do is talk. "Spencer get down, put that back, stop, don't, not on the table buddy, get down, Spencer please stop antagonizing your brother, in a minute buddy, put the knife down, WHY are you always in to stuff, close that, put that back, put the chair back, no scissors dude, Spencer can you give it back to Cameron, Spencer you're not supposed to be in there, get down, get out, get up, go, go now"
Apparently I should be phrasing it, "Spencer can get down, Spencer can put that back, Spencer can stop......" you get it, right ? :)
Friggity frack, I don't know about this whole thing, but hey.....whatever works.

Spencer brings a whole new meaning to the words curious and mischievous. That kid has had me chasing behind him cleaning up mess after mess with only a 2 hour break in a 10 hour period.

He can unscrew, get in to, unlock any child proof contraption, bottle or door there is. When it's quiet I usually find him with a bottle of something (spray bottles, lotions and soaps mostly) under the kitchen table, the computer desk or one of his brothers cribs.....spreading it ferociously in to his hair or the floor.
Oh but don't get me wrong. That kid is the coolest thing since otter pops. All it takes is a tilt of the head while explaining something and you want to pick him up and squeeze him.

He plays so well with other kids. He's always up for whatever his sister wants to play; dress up, house, school, beauty parlor. He makes friends easily and does this without much communication which amazes me. He's definitely a neighborhood favorite.

Spencer will run like a mad man to expel extra energy. He doesn't need a lot of direction he just runs...around...back and forth...wherever his feet will take him.

He is THE BEST...oh yes this part I can safely say ONLY applies to Spencer......THE BEST sleeper. Honestly the BEST. He falls asleep on his own and within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. He sleeps all night and doesn't wake up until the next morning.
oooooooh, see, that makes me want to kiss his whole face off right now. hold please.
done.

Spencer got a bike from the EASTER bunny. oh yes he did. He jumped on and like his sister before him, took off. I have a feeling that the training wheels will come off before 5 with these boys.

I love every single part of this little man.
Being Spencer's mom is like a dancing....he keeps me on my toes, spinning in circles, but I have fun and usually have a smile on my face.














WAIT WAIT WAIT !!!! Spencer pooped in the potty last night.
Ok, so he has diarrhea and all it takes is a little grunt to get some out but either way we danced around the house like idiots singing Spencer went potty in the paaaaw-TEE. Spencer went potty in the paaaaw-TEE ! :)
Today I left both boys diapers off during craft time. Spencer peed on the chair and in front of the fridge. Cameron peed on the front of the fridge and on my cabinets and the floor. They are both now wearing diapers.
Hey, it's a start.
I think next time I will place the potty in front of the fridge. :)

Sydney Jae

Syd had her 5 year appointment. She has been sick, absolutely SICK for weeks about getting her kindergarten shots. It didn't help that her Uncle Brian told her that they hurt really, really bad and that he cried pretty hard. NICE ! He's 34 years old by the way.

Syd weighed in at 41 lbs, she's 45 inches tall. That roughly puts her at 90% for height and 50% for weight. Her BMI, and yes, they do keep track of body mass index now. fell just below normal into the low. I'm ok with that. (wish I had the same)
She passed each test with ease and confidence. Freakishly strong...like her mother. ;)
Eyes and hearing- great. Wears a helmet and her seat belt, doesn't smoke (didn't know what cigarettes were and the ped. told me that now is a good time to start telling her about terrible things in life such as cigarettes and drugs)

Next. SHOTS. She screamed harder than she did when she was a baby. The nurse had to hold both legs between her own. I held her arms and she still managed to break the first needle off squirming and moving so much.
FOUR SHOTS she got! She screamed for 3-5 minutes after it was over....I wished that I could have let her latch on to quiet her down. for the love Syd....
She got to chew gum and pick 2 stickers out.
Good night nurse that was an ordeal.

Syd is SUPER smart ;) She reads like a rock star. She knows her 1 times tables :) ha ha
She can add double numbers. oh yes she can. well she can add a double number to a single number. she has a fantastic memory and can still remember when mama scratched her neck and pulled her hair 2 years ago. (don't ask)

Syd is an amazing gymnast. She's working on roundoff back handsprings now....and has just about mastered her back handspring on her own.

She JUST learned how to ride her bike minus training wheels. She jumped on and was out of the gate with a purpose. She of course wobbled and tipped over a few times.
But then she was off. and by off I mean, she left J in the DUST !
She has not been allowed in the street up until this point and was told that once she could turn around she was free to move about the city. She immediately turned around in the driveway and took to the asphalt.
(new trick to pull out of a hat...how to keep the little boys from following her in to the street)

Syd is dramatic, beautiful, sweet, sensitive, loving and has an amazing personality and a ginormous heart. All of these qualities scare and excite me for her future.
I have this HUGE job of helping her to grow and become the amazing person these qualities give her the potential to be. I really don't want to let her down.
I'm tellin' ya, this girl will fly one day....nothin' will keep her down. (hopefully this won't involve a parachute or drugs)






Could she be any prouder of herself !














Thank you for staying until the end. Next up...Spencer !

A dress, some adjustable velcro and a sisters help...voila !

**Seriously though. He's kinda pretty right ?





















We knew it was only a matter of time before she started dressing either the dog or the babies up. Sadie looks relieved don't you think. Or maybe worried. that's it. worried.

And the sun came out upon our land

and the grass started to green, and the sand became more than abundant (delivered and wheelbarrowed back by J) and the kids faces were kissed by the sun for the first 2 days, we've got to remember to put sunscreen on them, and they played and they chased butterflies. and ALL the while the babies slept peacefully inside. (well today any ways)
The end.


Lots of pictures of the boys chasing butterflies. however only one picture with the butterfly actually in it
A cool dude. with a new big boy haircut.
And a little lady who's grown up so much I can't stand it. She plays in the sand and doesn't eat it....and even though that hasn't happened for the last few years....I haven't given it any thought until today.

Potty talk !

I'm getting in the shower...standing just so the hot water bounces off of the tile and hits my legs. I reach to turn the temperature down and I hear..."that's a pretty big butt" I turned around to see Syd smiling up at me. She then says, "it's a good thing I'm in the bathroom with that kind of language."

We don't say butt at our house. When Syd starts talking "potty talk" as we call it. I tell her to go to the bathroom.."with that mouth" She has actually done it. She will go in the bathroom and say things that aren't appropriate and then come out smiling and pleased with herself. (sigh)

Teething

Nathan got his first tooth last Monday (March 30th, I'm a little behind). It's just peeking through. He's off the Lortab and not happy about it. (I don't know WHY I took him off of the sauce before both teeth were through)

The end.

Oh and Ryan has got his haunches in the air. He's on his knees and rocking.
It's funny...everyone will leave the room and now Nathan follows....leaving Ryan sitting there with a ball in one hand and a look of "what the hell people?" on his face. Soon my stationary son. very soon.
They are both pulling up on stuff. Not yet couches or anything. but the play block, their brothers chairs, my leg. :)

TA DA
Cute pictures.

"Doctor doctor it hurts when I do this"
















"Ya wanna see mah tooth, it's raht here"



















"you think it's funny. Let me jab this dinosaur tail in your gums and see how YOU like it !"



















"What. I'm supposed to be getting teeth. Nobody told me"

















"I'm just here to look cute"



















"oh and for the lotion massages after bath time"

Slippery little sucker !

I decided to post pictures to tell my story because I fear that just writing it the story may get lost in translation and you would think horrible things of me.

It started out to be a GREAT day.
Syd - home from preschool
mom - SHOWERED !!!!!
The story could end there and it would be shocking enough but oh no. Continue reading.
Big boys - DRESSED !!!!
Again. so many highlights to this story.
Babies...not yet dressed but getting there.
Ryan pooped out and needed a new onsie.
I changed Nathan's diaper 1st and then Ryan's and was changing his onsie when disaster. DISASTER PEOPLE. struck.

(due to the pure danger and graphic nature involved I used dolls in the re-creation of this story)
(no dolls were harmed in the taking of these pictures)


Here I am, happily talking to Nathan. "oh I love you buddy. You are mama's sweetest boy"



















Here I am putting a clean onsie on Ryan. You'll notice that Nathan rolled over to his tummy and got up on all 4's















Thing is, he came back down on his belly and instead of coming straight down, he pushed himself back putting himself DANGEROUSLY close to the edge of the bed. Look at the HEIGHT of that bed.















He started to fall..I had my hands tied up in Ryan's onsie so I was only able to free the right hand. With lightening fast reflexes I put my hand against his back trying to catch him.
















I kind of pinned him against the bed but wasn't able to catch him. He bonked his head against the bed and landed on his feet.

















After he stopped screaming over what I thought was a bad knock to the old noggin' I noticed he wasn't holding his left leg right. So I stood him up and he wouldn't put any weight on it.

















And then I prayed HARD and I think I said over and over...."no no no no...oh please no"




















The following is ACTUAL footage taken today.


Here we are at the Children's hospital waiting for x-rays. Nobody thought it was broken because he was moving it all over and acting fine.
Call it mothers instincts but I wasn't sold yet.
















And then they took x-rays
















And they looked GREAT !!! I mean REALLY great. No splintered bones, no breaks that I could see. I felt so good about it, I called J, I called my mom, I told them both that he was going to be just fine. I thanked GOD for the great outcome. and then questioned the instinct he sent me..the still small voice telling me to RUN, TAKE HIM TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY ROOM.(furrowed brow)I chalked it up to better to be safe than sorry and then said thank you again. (big sigh of relief)


















And then the doctor came in and confirmed....from the x-rays there appeared to be no break. and then he asked me questions as to how the injury happened trying to make sure my story didn't change. (I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Sydney's broken arm when she was 13 months old)
He wanted to feel his leg. Nathan SCREAMED. He asked if he was walking while holding on to my fingers yet. YES ! I put him on the ground. He took one step with his left leg IMMEDIATELY lifted it and HOWLED !
Doctor : "Ya, so with toddlers a lot of the time it takes a week for the breaks to show in x-rays. He has a broken leg"
WHAT ! WHAT DID YOU SAY !! NO, it's just a dislocated knee cap (yes, that whole thing about babies not having knee caps is a LIE) and with a slight twist everything will be like it was. He's fine. No cast. No splint. NO. NO NOOOOOO !

so um ya. They put a splint on him. He was so good. We go back to the children's hospital next Wednesday to confirm that it is in fact broken and to cast him.
















Nathan, do you still love mommy ? no, but I like what baby alive has done with herself. is that a new bow ? Hey baby, whatcher name be ?