First Suture

Ok, honestly, it's not a suture. But for lack of a better/cooler word, I'm sticking with "suture". Today was the first day one of our boys had to get put back together!

I got a call around 2pm today from James' school informing me that he was fine, but he had slipped on the play ground stairs and had a cut on his chin. The nurse said he needed to get it sutured or super-glued back together and to see a dr. I went and picked James up from the office, and I tell you what... what a trooper that kid is! He didn't cry at all (... yet) and was being so brave. Once I told him we needed to go to the dr's and get stitches, then the waterworks and hyperventilating came. Oops. I finally got him to calm down when I remembered Tangled was in our DVD player and put it on. 

I called my dr's office what felt like a billion times, left a message for the nurse, talked to the appointment makers, and got zilch on if he could come in on or not. I love my kid's doctor office, but today they basically failed in my book. All I wanted to freaking know was if they could see him REAL quick to just put his chin back together. His school is pretty close to his dr's office, so I just stalked the phone line while in their parking lot. Since I couldn't get through, I decided to try our health insurance's nurse help line to see what I should do. I also called Urgent Care to see how long their wait was. The nurse was super helpful and said a 45-minute wait at Urgent Care is pretty good (didn't seem like it to me...) and said some other stuff about taking care of the cut. 

In the end, I decided to try a walk-in clinic to see if they were less busy (aka less sick-hurt people!). There was NO wait there and were able to see James right away. The poor kid was trying so hard to keep it together, even though he knew he might get stitches. The doctor was super awesome with the boys and explained things great to James. James was super mellow (totally unlike him) but he listened really well and promised to not touch his super band-aids later. The doctor said that he wasn't going to need to do stitches (phew) but he was going to put some super-tape on and then glue the cut closed so it could heal. James cried a bit when they cleaned the wound up and when the doctor had to push the cut closed. But, really, he did amazing. The doctor than let him choose a red or blue camoflauge band-aid to cover the cut and tape. Red won :) Once James knew he was all put back together and we were leaving, he was back to his chatty self. We then got him a Happy Meal for lunch and we all got a sundae too. Heck, when you cut yourself and have to see the doctor, you better believe you are getting a special treat after. 

Now James says it was his lucky day (he got a Happy Meal, it's a good day!) and he gets a cool scar out of it. He is super proud to be in my league of getting "cracked open". I've told him before the story of when I fell down a man-hole in the third grade and got stitches in the back of my head. He said, "Mom, you and me are the same now. Yours was a bit worse, but we've both been cracked open now. What the heck... this is so weird." It's pretty funny and dang cute. 

There we have it- our first trip to the doctor for a cut or break. I cannot even say how grateful I am it wasn't worse. He hardly bled and it was a super clean cut. He could have cut himself worse or broken a bone... so grateful this was our first incident. Let's ease into the world of blood and broken bones. I am super surprised this is our first incident with three little boys. I for sure know there will be lots more in our future :) Just bound to happen!

Randoms

Today for breakfast Gavin announced to me, while chewing his Cheerios, "My mouth is making music."

James is becoming super attached to me again. It started right before our vacation to Cali and peaked at school yesterday when he was crying for me to not go, and has now petered out to a more normal attachment. It's hard. It's hard to give him boundaries when I want to just give in, even though I know that wouldn't do any good either. For example, he wants to be with us. Always. I mean, that means we are really cool, right?? He said he'll sleep in the middle of our bed so he can be with us. So sweet! Buuut... not going to happen.

I wrote this a while ago and I'm going to publish it now. These boys are just too awesome

Smart Kid

Last night, as usual, the boys did not stay in their beds. It's been mostly confined to the two littlest, who share a room and have waaaay too much fun together. But last night was James. Instead of sending him back to bed, we let him stay up a bit with us. What is the first thing he does? Tells Brad he didn't give him his good night hug and kiss. What is the next thing he does? Hugs us both, saying, "You guys are the best parents ever.". Ah, straight to our hearts!! You better believe he got to stay up for at least twenty more minutes. And what did he choose to do with that time? Tell Brad how smart he is, that he knows everything, and, again, so smart. Then we had a spelling game. He gave Brad and I words to spell, then I'd give him a word to spell and we'd sound it out and spell it. This kid... oh James loves to learn. It's amazing to see this spark come to life. Just in time for kindergarten (eek!).

Own Language

As hard as it is, I really love having the boys being so close in age. Mostly because of their bond with one another. If James is leading, the other two follow. If Gavin is leading, the other two follow. Jack is still working on the leading, but there has been an occasional following of Jack... which usually involves screaming. Two-year olds. 

A few months ago Gavin came up with a word. And this word became their word. "Badobe". They will say this over and over and laugh and laugh. I'm not quite sure what is means but it is definitely used to create laughter. 

Really, I just want to remember this. Because I forgot it and it was driving both Brad and I mad not remembering it. Brad wins for getting it right. Now it's on the internet for-ev-er

Phantom Camera

Sometimes there are moments through the day that I wish I could permanently capture. Whether it's the boys playing together, our tickle fights, reading books, just resting together. Whatever is special, but so unspecial. But seeing as how I'm usually a part of said moment, it rarely happens. Like tonight. I "had" to go to Target to get some things because a coupon was expiring tonight (hey, those coupons are important!) so Brad put the boys down while I was out. I came home to realize I forgot to return our redbox movie so out I went again. Brad was in with Jack, who I could tell was having a hard time settling down. When I came back again, Jack was definitely still awake even though Brad had sung and laid down with him in his bed. Jack only wanted me. Which can be a tiring role sometimes, always being the one he needs. But it is my job and I am (usually) happy to oblige. I came in and he about spazzed out just to have me instead of Daddy. I laid down with him and he just couldn't contain his excitement and laughed for a good five minutes. Out of happiness. Because his mommy was laying down with him. It was so sweet. Anyway, after many songs, moving around, and finally getting him to stop laughing out of nowhere, he started to settle down. He kept trying to get just the right position of cuddling with me- on top of my cheek, right next to my head, my arm around him, my arm off, his arm next to me, his arm on me, on his back, on his tummy/back. He finally settled on foreheads together, his arm around my neck while the other one held on tight to his papa bear, slightly on tummy, my arm around him. It was ideal. And I finally had good access to his back. Rub this kid's back, and he will for sure slip into sleep. And slip he did. So there I was, laying down in my two-year old's bed, wanting so bad for a random photographer to quietly come barging in and capturing the beautiful moment. My sweet baby's arm around my neck and finally asleep. But the memory was not captured for posterity's sake, but thankfully it is imprinted on my mind. And now on this blog. 

And my oh my, how I live for these moments. 

Spider Monkey

The boys have gotten back into puzzles. Which I love. The best part is Gav and James are getting more to the point where they can do it themselves. Hallelujah! One of the puzzles we have is of baby animals, and one of those animals is a spider monkey. While Gavin and Jack were taking a bath, James was doing this puzzle. Here's our conversation-

JP- What do spider monkeys eat?
(the boys love to talk about what animals eat)
Me- Oh you know... bugs, bananas, other fruit. Just like other monkeys
JP- Oh. How do they get around? Do they shoot webs out of their hands?
Me-... What?
JP- Do they shoot webs out of their hands?
Me- *laaaaaugh* No, no, they don't shoot webs out of their hands. But that would make sense, because of their name, huh!
JP- *smiles and giggles because he made me laugh*

I mean, it makes sense! But alas, the spider monkey is not like Spider-Man (or a spider from which their names derive). Some silly scientist named it a spider monkey because it's small (and their exceptionally long limbs, which i just read. learn something new everyday). Heaven forbid they just call it 'petite monkey' or something along those lines. But it's not as interesting and will continue to confuse little boys who hope the monkey is like one of their favorite super-heroes.

Our Day Yesterday

Yesterday felt like so much happened in such a small amount of time. In a good way :) 

Shortened version- Rach and Thomas came over, I went to my ward's RS birthday luncheon, we went and bought flowers, came home and weeded, planted flowers, Brad mowed the lawn, came in, made and ate dinner, went to Target, came home and James was sick with a fever, he passed out in his bed, put boys to bed, let Jack stay up while I did my Primary lesson, put him to sleep with two songs and cuddled, and then finally got to veg. Screw the dishes in the kitchen, I needed a break! It was a really great day. Buuut with any day, some not so great and almost funny kind of scary things happened. Such as...

- James pulling down his pants in our front yard to go potty. We do it at parks (waaay too much), why not at home??

- Jack keeps going into our neighbor's yard. All. The. Time.

- Jack fell into our neighbor's pond and got soaking wet. Thank heavens we noticed him missing (again- such a TWO YEAR OLD) and Brad saw him fall in. He could have seriously drowned. Ugh, kids. Love giving us heart attacks.

- Like I mentioned, James got sick with aches and fever. Still sick today. Did not see it coming.

I'm so grateful for the good and the bad. Makes life interesting. And you truly appreciate the good so much better with the bad being thrown in.