Ty's New Bed!!!

I was driving to pick up the boys from school which is about 15 min away from our house. I remembered that I received a text that Ty's crib had arrived at Walmart. I figured rather than make two trips I would save my gas and have Arik meet me at Walmart to pick up the crib. In order for me to get it I would also have had to of taken all the car seats out and leave the kids at home with Arik to fit the box in the back of my car.

I called Arik and he agreed to meet me. We rendezvous in the parking lot and Arik decides he will wait in the car with the kids while I run in "real quick". As I trade him spots he says to me, "Please hurry." I assume it was because given a choice, he would rather not have to wait in a car, cramped with restless kiddos.

I run in the store and head towards the Customer Service desk. I wait....and wait ........and wait. Sheesh!!! 4 clerks and it was still taking forever for my turn. Finally I hear that I am being called forward. I quickly tell her that I am here to pick up a bed I ordered online. She looks at me and points WAAAAAYYYYYY to the rear of the store and explains that, "Oh, yes....you will need to go the the Site to store pick-up counter." GRRRRRRR. Of course....who knew.

So I make my way to the back of the store and once again I wait.......and wait .........and wait. There is only one man in front of me, but there is also only one ....very.......slow........employee helping him. Predictably, I get a text from Arik, you almost done? I contemplate responding. Avoidance may be easier in this case! Finally! It's my turn.

Thank goodness there are no pick-up dilemmas. The employee asks me to wait again while he runs and grabs it. I get another text from Arik while I'm waiting, Why don't you come out with the kids so I can pull the car up and load it up? As I am responding back to him I hear the employee coming back out. He looks at me and says , " Do you want me to get a cart for this?"

I stare in horror at the little box in his hands! " Is that everything?!" I exclaim. "Yep." He glances over the receipt to make sure he grabbed the right box. I kid you not the box was so thin and so small that I seriously feared walking outside with it and facing Arik. Here he made the trip to pick up the box that "wouldn't fit in my car" and endured waiting in the car for at least 20 min all so I could walk out with a box the would easily fit in my front seat.

I erased the text I was going to send to him and instead wrote, You don't have to do that. Then I bravely....okay not so bravely....made my way out to the car where Arik was impatiently waiting. On my way out I graciously bought him a Dr. Pepper thinking that it may ease the blow.

Hmm, not so much! If you could have seen his face as I walked up carrying the box in one hand!

Thankfully when we got home even after all that, he sat down to take the time to assemble Ty's crib. Just when he thought that he was on his last two pieces he realized that he had put the side panels in upside down, so he had to unscrew a lot of what he had already done and do it again. Poor guy, the bed turned into such a headache for him!!! But he finished it!

Ty initially was not thrilled. He stood at it furiously pointing at the mattress and letting out a dissatisfied cry. I guess he thought the mattress being on the floor was as good as it was going to get. He started yanking the covers off the bed in an attempt to get the mattress off of the bed. I thought, Oh no, this isn't going to work! But then a light bulb went off. I yelled, " Hey Olivia!!! Come here!" Seconds later Olivia came hauling into the room screaming, "BED BED TY BED!!" Seeing her climb onto "his" bed was all it took! As you can see from the pictures Ty immediately resorted to torturing Olivia by standing and sitting on her. ( Livi gets him back you see though) Then he started acting silly and excited as he grabbed his pillow with his teeth and held it for me to see. He would then stand precariously on the edge of the bed and look at me with daring eyes, "Jump?" He asked. Then he leaned over "jumping" off the side.

So the bed ended up being a success. Bedtime was no problem and he slept until 6:45. Overall I am very happy and I think he is too! However, don't look to see any 'Livi new bed' posts any time soon. I'm hoping we can crib her for at least another year! haha....now that is going to be a nightmare when that day comes!!!!

Just an Update

I'm trying to write my updates on the days that I work. I have a little more time to sit in the quiet and write then. Now that I have the laptop it is MUCH easier for me to transfer my pictures from my phone to the laptop and upload them onto the blog site. With our old computer it would take 15 minutes just to get the pictures up!

We hit a big milestone this past week......Ty is officially out of his crib! It all started about three weeks ago. He started coming out of his room after I would lay him down. I would hear a thud as he scaled down the side of his crib and a few seconds later the door would slowly creak, followed by the thud thud thud of his little footsteps as he made his way to wherever I was. He would look up at m, blanket in one arm, sippy and "dog" in the other arm. There would be no objection from him as I swooped him back up and returned him to his crib. He would obligingly lay his head back on his pillow and forcefully shut his eyes , knowing that as soon as I shut the door he would give it a few minutes and try again. And try again he would. I'd say this would happen a good two to three times until he'd eventually give in and succumb to the sleep. Unfortunately this wasn't where the problem was. Along with his new bedtime routine, he figured that Arik and I needed a new morning routine. So every morning for about 3 weeks he would bee line it to our room at 5 am and hop into bed with us. Now this wouldn't be so bad if he went back to sleep, but he seemed to have other plans. The jaunt from his room to ours must have cleared the fog from his mind and got the blood flowing enough that he felt as though we should get up with him. We started putting his sippy next to our bed and he would grab that first and occasionally doze off for a little while longer, but before we knew it he'd be poking at us or climbing all----over--us insisting that we wake up. I would give, usually around 6:15 and make my way to the living room to start our day.

I decided that I'd had enough and even though they had tested the waters of climbing out before, this time it appeared there would be no turning back. ( At least for Ty, fingers crossed Olivia doesn't get any crazy ideas! ) I ordered him a cute little wooden toddler bed and put his crib on Craigslist.

As of Friday we officially sold the crib. As Arik was taking it down I realized that I should probably be a little more sentimental about letting it go. After all it was the crib we had used for each of the boys, but I just didn't seem to have the time to feel any sadness. Arik didn't understand why I bought a toddler bed for Ty since our purpose of buying the triple bunk bed was so Ty would eventually be able to use the trundle portion. I told him I just felt like Ty still was too young and associated the trundle as being a play bed. I felt if he had a bed that he knew was for sleeping the transition may be easier. At least to use until he is about 3 or 4. Arik then asked where Ty was going to sleep that night since he now only had a mattress as the toddler bed hadn't arrived yet.........Good question:)

I ended up just putting soft covers on the mattress and making him a cozy little spot where his crib used to be. And guess what!? He LOVED it. He was so proud and excited for his new " big boy" sleeping area. Jaxon and I tucked him in that night and , knock on wood , he didn't budge from bed. He fell right asleep! And ....wait for it.......he slept until 6:45!!!!!! Woo-hoo!! Now I have been at work all weekend and haven't had a chance to ask Arik how last night went, but hopefully it was just as good:) As soon as I get pics of the bed I will be sure to post them.

And otherwise not a whole lot to report. Jaxon had his firt follow-up x-ray and everything is healing beautifully! Olivia had a Doctor's appt Friday because she was on day three of severe diarrhea. The Doctor ordered a stool sample, however, in order to obtain that I was to line her diaper with saran wrap and collect the sample after a bowel movement. Now of course this would become Arik's task as I am at work all weekend and somehow I just don't see that happening haha. So hopefully when I come home on Monday the "bug" will be gone. Because to be quite honest I'm not too thrilled about doing that either!

Maddox is good. He has a little stink mouth on him lately that I am not happy about. He is in the copycat phase. He even applies it to when he is being reprimanded by copying what I say to him. Errrrr, that gets my blood boiling. Or if I say, "Maddox!!! We are leaving the park. Load up!" He will respond in a high-pitched voice, " Yaayyyyyyyy, I LOVE leaving the park." This takes various forms, yay I love not having friends over, yay I love not playing video games, yay I love turning off my t.v. shows. You get the point. But I think I've finally found something that works. He "likes" timeout in his room or "quiet time" in his room, but change the name to "restriction" in his room and he BEGS me not to. It's not that the time spent in there is any different he just associates restriction with something much worse than timeout. So I have been testing using that out and it seems to be working. Hopefully my sweet little Maddox comes back soon because I feel him slipping a little more into too old syndrome very quickly!

That's about all for now. I posted some videos of my little ham Jaxon. He loves taking pictures and videos of himself. He was looking at his school picture yesterday and said, "Mom, I love me." I laughed and said, "I love you too."

What Happened to the Time?

Over the past 5-6 years I have received numerous tidbits of advice on parenting and childhood. Simply put, the advice I hear most frequently is , "Treasure the moments." And to be quite truthful I do and at times I don't. How could I honestly say that I treasure 2 hours of crying/fighting/whining/cleaning and more crying! That would be unreasonable. But I do attempt to see a bigger picture than just those blocks of time. Cherishing the looks, the sayings, the kind gestures that are occasionally exchanged, the moments they achieve something for the first time, their faces while they are peacefully sleeping. The moments that hit me when I think, 'these children are mine.......' High school memories a blurb and the single life a universe away, flash forward to parenthood. The moment my life began. And here I am almost 5 years later.

I constantly question myself, 'Am I doing things right? More importantly, 'Am I doing things wrong?' Then I quickly scold myself because by the time I think I have it figured out I realize I have wasted precious time concerning myself with things that don't matter. Are my children healthy and happy? I can confidently say yes. So I must be doing things right, right?

Even in knowing this, I can't help but feel guilt about one thing I know I have done wrong. By the time I knew what was happening it was too late to stop. Having children close together most certainly has its advantages, however, your daily life pace increases ten fold. Maddox was one year and 7 days old when Jaxon Carl came into this world. It didn't take me long to realize that I simply didn't have the time to do the things that I was able to do with Maddox during his first year. No monthly pictures, no scrap booking , no documenting of any sort. Nothing.

Recently a friend sent me a picture of Jaxon being held by a clown. I don't remember the day, where we were at or who we were with. I found myself struggling to pull memories of Jaxon as a baby. It was not that long ago. I believe I was in survival mode and just didn't know it or want to acknowledge it. Now don't get me wrong, I am and have been in survival mode for a long time. The difference is I know it now, I have worked harder to recognize it and I truly have made a effort to document more with the expansion of our family. Hence the blog.

Some nights I lay next to Jaxon while he is sleeping and can't help the overwhelmingly sad feeling that rushes over me. He has gotten so big and is so independent. He rarely needs or searches for my affection and I blame myself for being caught in the whirlwind of the past few years. I apologize to him and find it hard to leave his side some nights. I put his hand in mine and trace the outline of his little fingers struggling to remember the way they were as a pudgy baby, but careful to hold onto how they are now.

I've said it before, I welcome the progress, growing, changes and birthdays my children go through, but I can't and won't forget the days that I am going through now. These are not only the times I want to treasure, but most importantly,... the memories.

It Happened... Our first broken bone:(

Before I get into the "news", let me update you quickly on how busy ( hmmmm, go figure?...me use the word busy again! ) my/our past week has been.

4-12 I worked

4-13 Cami and Caron flew in. I brought the Fire Engine to the kids school for a visit and tour.

4-14 Training for a committee I recently got involved with for the Fire Dept. ( Critical Incident

Stress Management "CISM" ) during the evening.

4-15 I worked ( Last shift at my old station 7:( Sad, will miss them )

4-16 Introducing Nicki's Kid Center ( I had 8 kids ages 6 and under all afternoon and 3 stayed

the night. Thank you to Mimi because she kept Maddox. Surprisingly it went GREAT! We

played in the sprinklers all afternoon, assembly lined bath and showers, dinner, movie and

bedtime. Everyone was on their best behavior and all slept well:)

4-17 I worked ( first day at my new station. It's way out in the country. We are surrounded by

cows, horses a gator and an occasional bobcat! Big changes and looking forward to catching

up on training and rest!! )

4-18 I worked :P ( This was my day off on my old shift , but I owed someone a day from months

ago. I LOVE my job and typically one day away from my rugrats is tolerable, but 2 days in

a row gets to be a little rough. Arik thankfully brought the kids out to say hi, which of

course I appreciated: )

ANNNNNNND that's where the "drama" comes in. So I get a phone call around 5 or 6 the night of the 18th. Arik was concerned because apparently Jaxon drank some RedBull and thought he had wings. ( No he didn't really drink RedBull ) . Jaxon attempted to jump off the top of the swingset and landed hard on his left arm. Arik said that he did not see any obvious deformity, but said that Jaxon had been whimpering about his left arm "really hurting him". I immediately called my Grandpa who is able to do x-rays. He agreed to meet Arik right away at his office. Thankfully my Mom was home and was able to watch the other kiddos.

When Jaxon got to the office , he was only complaining of his wrist and hand hurting him. He was able to move his writ though and wiggle his fingers. The concerning part was that he had been supporting his arm with his other hand the whole time. ( Now Jax is a pretty good faker and can put on a show, but even he gets bored with the act and wouldn't put on for this long....I knew something had to be up ) My Grandpa took an x-ray of his hand and wrist area and there was no obvious fracture. He gave him a brace and made sure that Arik watched him closely. If there was still pain in the am he wanted him to go to the Emergency Room.

Meanwhile back at work I am progressively getting sicker ( aches, chills, headache and sore throat ) . Thankfully we slept most of the night. Our morning tones went off at 7 am to wake us up and not a minute later I get a phone call from Arik. " You need to take Jax to the ER. He was up 2-3 times throughout the night crying because he was in pain. " I asked how he was and Arik said he had been laying in bed with his arm propped on a pillow.

I told my Lt. who knew what was going on and they let me leave work a little early. When I got home I immediately went in to check on the little guy. I knew right away from how he presented to me that something was up. Believe me if one of Jaxon's arms is not swinging/flailing/hitting or batting I know something is wrong! I checked his movement in his fingers and wrist and he seemed fine, but when I asked him to lift his arm up he said he couldn't. ( Now keep in mind this whole time he isn't crying, whining or scared. ) I explain to him that I'm pretty sure he broke his arm and that we needed to go down to the hospital to have it checked out. He looked at me and laughed, " My arm isn't broke!!! Seeeeee " I smiled and told him that it was not actually his arm, but the bone inside.

If I had planned ahead I would have brought a triangle bandaged and sling from work, but I was in such a rush I didn't think about it. So I made a makeshift sling with a long-sleeve stretchy shirt ( as you can see in the pictures ) . Jaxon thought it was absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary, but he wore it and did admit to it feeling better.

When we got to the ER we lucked out. The same Physicians Assistant that did Jaxon's stitches was there and we specially requested he come again. He has a heavy accent and is quite funny and certainly has a way with kids. Jaxon had made up his mind that he wasn't going to talk to anyone, but within seconds of Alberto being in the room Jaxon was cracking up. He poked Jaxon with his finger in the belly and under the chin and tweaked his ears to make sure he was in working order. Jaxon asked him if he was going to cut his arm off. He replied matter of factly, " No because what would we put there? A wooden arm? With a hook?" He told Jaxon if he had a hook for a hand all he would be able to do is poke at all the little cookaraches. He then made several poking gestures on the end of the stretcher. He did say that Jaxon could put a patch on a row a little inflatable boat with his good arm and when all his friends ask him why he has a wooden arm with hook an eye patch and an inflatable boat, he could reply, " because that's just me!" Well by this point Jaxon was even more relaxed and Alberto was able to completely assess Jax with no problem. Jaxon let him hold his arm, turn it and poke at it. Watching Jaxon and how he was tolerating it, I thought, ' Well gosh, maybe nothing is wrong and it's just bruised.'

We were taken to another room for x-rays. The x-ray techs were very impressed with how brave Jaxon was in there as well. He never cried out or seemed concerned that he was laying on a small bed in the middle of a big room with a heavy blanket over him and huge equipment just above his head.

After the x-rays it was back to the room for more waiting. Thankfully we had a t.v. with cartoons. Oddly enough the only complaints I got from Jax all morning was that he was a. hungry, b. bored and c. that his back hurt from laying down! Alberto came back in after a while and confirmed the bad news. Jaxon had most definitely fractured his radius and possibly 2 other places on his ulna right at the elbow. I asked about the cast and he said that would be the least of it. He felt as though there may be a need for surgery because of the fractures that might exist near the growth plates. He told us that he was going to refer us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for further examination and follow-up. However, we were going to have to wait a few days for the swelling to go down. In the meantime he put a nice rigid splint on Jaxon's whole arm and gave us a sling ( which Jaxon incessantly complained about. He told me the sling hurt his neck. Even though it is made of a very soft material and was not on tight. He just gets bothered when things are around him! )

It's amazing to me how kids adapt so quickly. Jaxon figured out how to maneuver and use his good arm in no time. I think he has a false sense of confidence now that it is wrapped. I had to remind him several times to take it easy....and "No Jaxon...you can't wrestle Ty!"

I scheduled our visit to Dr. Sugar, the ortho Dr. for Thurs at 2:15. I just pray that our little buddy doesn't need surgery:(

Today is 4-20 and I am working again. I sent Jaxon to my good friend Sonia's for the morning. I decided to go to work to hopefully get some rest and be away from the kiddos so hopefully I don't get them sick again. ( At least at work I can space myself ). Sonia has been texting me and Jaxon is doing great. She has had no problems this morning and said he is behaving perfectly.

So tomorrow we will find out what our next step is and I will of course update when I can! I will also try to put up the pics of the x-ray if I am able to. Until then please say prayers for Jackie Jack:)

Busy Week Update!!!

Ai yi yi!!! We have had a very full week so I apologize for the lack of updates and pictures. Dee and Di-Di arrived last week with a special visitor, Adam! The boys could hardly wait to spend time with them. There is just too much to write about, each day could fill up an entire post. So in brief, we spent the past week going to the beach, the Splashpark, the playground, kindergarten round-up ( for Maddox...more on that event that completely bombed! ) sleepovers, alligator airboat tours , the moon, a wedding and the circus! Okay, I lied about the moon, but we/they did everything else!

The kids could not have got along better. I'm telling you what, they were perfect and picked up exactly where they left off last time they were together. You'd think that they played together every weekend. Maddox's face glowed one of the days as him and Adam hugged each other when I told him he wasn't going to have to take a nap that day!

Jaxon was in his first wedding on Saturday. Arik's best friend Derek tied the knot and asked that he be the ring bearer. I had the camera rolling in anticipation that I may have the next big youtube hit, not knowing what antics to expect from Jaxon walking down the aisle. But much to Arik and my surprise, he did GREAT! Well, minus the fart he let slip during the ceremony. The church was about the size of a small classroom and little Jaxon let one rip and then apparently turned to Arik and asked him if, "it stunk" !!! If only I had been sitting closer!

Today was Dee, Di-Di and Adam's last day here. I actually felt very bad for the boys, they were so bummed to have to say goodbye. I assured him that we would see each other again soon though. hmmmmmmm do I sense a trip in the works????? Let see what we can cook up Stephanie haha;)

Can You Believe It!!??!!

I have been counting down the days in anticipation . As many of you know ( because I have been talking about it incessantly! ) , the twins had their first day of school on Friday!! WOO-HOO!!!! I didn't even care that they would be starting on a Friday. Mon -Fri 9-12. Perfect. Mothers understand when I say, you can't underestimate the value of 3 hours to your self.

So how did the first day go? The morning was slightly chaotic, but what's new? I got off work an hour early so that I could make sure I was home on time to have things ready. ( ok....completely off subject, but I feel the need to mention that Maddox is gleefully prancing around the back yard dangling a dead water logged lizard! Ughh, for those of you that know me, you know I loathe lizards. My stomach just churned )

We actually left the house on schedule and while driving down the road I completed my mental checklist: backpacks? check. shot record? check. lunches? check. sippy cups? ch---ughhhhh!!! I forgot their sippy cups!!! Great. At this point I was almost at their school so turning around was not an option. And I had 9:30 plans to meet with a good friend for breakfast ( who by the way happens to pick on my time management skills so I was gonna be darned if I showed up late when I insisted I'd be on time! ) I quickly called Mimi who lives right don the road from the school, hoping that maybe she would have spare sippys on hand.....nope. I assumed that I would just have to run across the way to CVS and buy 2 new ones. In the meantime I decided to get the kids to school and worry about the cups later.

Every morning when we pull into the school driveway, Ty throws a fit immediately because he wants so badly to get out with the boys. Today he was so excited because before he had a chance to let out a ug, I cut him off and asked if he wanted to get out too. I should mention that whenever something makes Ty happy or he sees something worth his while he throws his right hand in the air and yells out flatly "NAY!" ( which of course in Ty speak is Yay! ) . ...So it came as no surprise when after I asked, he threw his hand up with a "Nay!"

I think the boys were just as excited as me that the babies were starting. Jaxon loved the idea that he was going to get to have playground time with the twins class. And Maddox just plain thought it was cool. The boys were really helpful getting them out of the car and helping them with their backpacks ( By the way, best 10 dollar Illinois Walmart investment I made. They are so cute!!) Ty had a little spiderman backpack that straps in the front and gives the appearance that he is wearing a spiderman vest. Olivia's on the other hand has the Disney princesses with a ruffled strap in the front. Adorable. So armed with their matching school uniform shirts and new backpacks they marched to class.

I had zero issue dropping them off or leaving them. They took to that classroom like they were seasoned students, leaving my side without a glance in my direction. I broke the news to their teacher , Ms. Courtney that I dropped the ball and forgot their cups. And thank goodness, she was prepared more than me because she had extras that she was more than willing to share. Phew! Saved.

I helped her load the kids into the bye-bye buggy ( a red stroller for 6 ) as she pushed them to another classroom for a few minutes. It was very nostalgic for me. When Maddox was two and first started at GSL I can remember watching him load into the bye-bye buggy. It's amazing that 3 kids later, I get to watch it again.

I didn't want to make a big deal of waving good-bye, so I blew kisses and sort of snuck off. With no tears shed from any of us that morning, I was off!

The drive down the interstate to meet with my friend was .......quiet. Save for the music I had playing. I didn't even want to make a phone call. I just wanted the reality of the morning to set in.

So what did I do? Well I made it to breakfast with Tina on time for starters. After enjoying a great kid-free breakfast we went and got a mani/pedi!!! Hahaha. I don't know when the last time I did that was. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The twins teacher texted me around 1100 and told me that they were doing great. At that point I settled a little farther into the massaging chair and breathed a big sigh!!

Mom of the year award goes to me. I was of course 10 min late picking them up for their first day. They were happy to see me, but guess what!? Ty didn't want to leave! The teacher gave them a good report and told me they had no troubles. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that.

While every morning won't be filled with breakfast and nails done, I can tell you I will be doing a lot of things that in my little world will make me very happy. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to send my children to class and know that they are enjoying themselves and benefiting from their school time as much as I am:)

P.S. I attached a couple videos of Ty playing the trombone. Just cracked me up!!!