Round 2

We just got done with Baylor and Dax being sick, now it has moved on to Grif.  What is strange is they have all had something different.  Grif has been puking and had a fever for the last two days.  Happy Halloween to him.  Poor kid can't go trick or treating and right now doesn't even care, that's how sick he is.  He laid in bed all morning and when I asked him if he wanted to go up to my bed to watch cartoons this is what happened:

He made it half way there and just gave up.  I tried to lift the boy but that didn't work out so well.  I'm going to go ahead and add push-ups to my to-do list.  Notice the cute little feet above his head?  Baylor is standing there trying to cheer him on, or thinking about jumping on him, i'm not sure.  It took a good ten minutes for him to get to my bedroom.  Then he laid on the floor for another ten before he had the strength to pull himself up on the bed.  Poor kid.  He is the only one who has gotten the flu shot already and he has been hit the hardest.  So much for me trying to be on top of things.

On another happy note I got my first ever "I hate you mom".  I thought I was hearing things because seriously what kid could hate me?  I'm the coolest mom I know.  Nate turned and said "what did you just say?" followed by another "I hate you mom".  What the heck?  I don't even know what I did.  Seriously I can't remember at all.  Dilon is 9 and has never said it, Grif is 7 and i'm sure has thought it many times but never actually said it.  It came from the 3 year old.  Not cool Dax, not cool.  I just walked away and let Nate deal with it. 

Here's to hoping the pukes and the "I hate you's"  will go far far away and never return again.  A mom can wish, can't she?

poor little sickies

We've had a bit of a bug going around the Wright house this last week.  Poor Baylor has been the worst trying to fight off croup.  I thought he was getting over it and he actually slept 12 hours straight last night, much better than the 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep the 3 nights before that.  I hate sick kids.  Maybe I should rephrase that, I hate it when kids are sick. I try to get things accomplished but never can.  When I tried to get on the floor to exercise this is what happened:  

He decided for me what the most important thing to be doing with my time is.  He doesn't care if I am packing a few extra pounds or not, he just cares about his mom loving him.  I need to remember that.  

Burpee or silvermint......tough choice

I attempted my first burpee today.  Glad no one was around to see that.  I long so badly to get rid of this baby belly and I have good intentions of doing so.  Then I go ahead and do something stupid like a burpee and I'm defeated once again.  I opt for the elliptical.  I feel like it is the lazy mans workout and it suits me just fine.  Plus I can watch TV while I am doing it.  Multitasking at its finest.  

I have always felt like I have a runners soul as well.  I get all gung ho and know I can go run a mile or two without a problem.  How hard is it really?  We have all been running since we were 1.  When I actually attempt it I make it about half a block before I remember why I don't do it.  Plus I'm sure I look like Phoebe from Friends when I run (seen that episode?  it's a good one). 

So what's the trick to getting in shape?  I'm pretty sure that box of silvermints from Schwann's I devoured last week didn't help, but I was in Heaven.  So darn delicious.  This week someone brought us a big ol tub of ice cream.  I can't let that go to waste. Waste not, want not.  Then next week is Halloween.  Four kids trick-or-treating means the jackpot for me.  You know you are out of control when you dream about eating a pan of brownies while on the elliptical and truly believe the calories won't count because you are just burning them right off.  I also remember, when I was eating all those silvermints, that I thought my pants were feeling a little loose lately.  It is totally cheaper to buy silvermints than new jeans.  Who wants to argue with that logic?  

Boys will be boys

Anyone enjoying Fall Break/UEA (which one is it called now days?) as much as I am?  

It's the first day and all of my kids have been grounded already.  In fact they were all grounded by 10:30 this morning.  I've decided that punishing them only punishes me.  I took away all things that have to be plugged in plus any kind of treat whatsoever. Now they think they have absolutely nothing to do and it's driving me crazy. They can play outside, read books, or play with their toys.  I don't think they even know what toys are anymore, they haven't touched them in so long.  I'm sitting here doing my best to ignore all the begging to play the wii or watch a movie.  I'm getting pretty good at it really.  I've heard a lot of "please mom", a lot of crying, and a lot of screaming but i'm going to be strong.  I'm not going to cave.  I took the wii away for a whole week.  I'm wishing myself good luck with that one.  I'm a pushover and I know it.  This time I am serious though, I am not going to cave.

I thought they were finally playing good together and went to go bask in the glory of my great mothering skills when this is what I found.  They had been boxing for a good 20 minutes, serious boxing, and I hadn't noticed.  I'm very observant.  There are no broken bones or blood stains on my couch though so I'm going to go ahead and call it a successful bonding moment.

 Then there's dax.  He is probably the worst one when it comes to minding me. But he just flashes me that little smile with those sparkling blue eyes and I give in.  What's a mom to do?

I love this picture

 

I went to Idaho to visit my grandma and turdhead yesterday (that really is a term of endearment for my grandpa, he calls me one too so really it's fine.  I promise).  I had to go out to my car to get something and when I came back in the house my turdhead was rocking my Baylor.

Not the best quality picture here (darn cheap cell phone) but I love this photo of Baylor Von and his namesake.

my wiggly butt on the wiggle car

Looked out the window the other night to see the boys having a demolition derby on their wiggle cars.  I decided to step in and show them who's boss.  As soon as I sat down Dax told me my butt was too big.  Thanks buddy, I hadn't noticed.  

Right now I am pondering why my butt is still larger than I would like it to be because every time I sit down to eat this is what happens:

They are like flies on a pile of.....well you know what.  I never seem to get a full meal to myself so you would think the pounds would just be melting away.  Not happening.  It's okay though, Nate likes me better thick.  Yep, he has actually said that to me before.  My self esteem is just shootin through the roof right now.  

and yes I am sitting on the stairs eating my bowl of cereal.  I figured my butt was too big for the kitchen chair so I had to resort to the stairs. 

Ah Saturday! We meet again!

I love me some Saturdays.  Days of the week never seemed to matter to me, until football started.  Did those words actually just come out of my mouth?  I find myself talking about football all the time now.  Don't read too far into that.  I'm not talking about your big barbaric NFL (did I use the right letters there?) teams.  I am talking about youth/college ball.  I love watching dilon and his team play.  They had their last game of the regular season today.  They lost. Their first loss on the last game. So sad, but really the refs were not playing nice. Shame on you grown men dressed in stripes that are ignoring obvious calls that even this old lady could make. Doesn't matter, they are in the playoffs.  I can't wait until next week.  I am a little sad to know it will be ending soon.  I have loved our little family outings to the ball field each week.  Does that make us totally lame?  Our great outings are heading to Logan/Brigham/West Haven to go to a game.  Who needs to go cool places when you can go sit on grass and yell half the day? 

Then Nate and Dilon ditched the rest of us-so rude- and headed to Logan for the Aggie game.  I'm sitting here all sad and alone.  Okay, not actually alone, the other kiddos are in bed.  I should be enjoying this peace and quiet but I can't seem to get my butt off the computer.  Shouldn't I be eating chocolate or sleeping or taking a bubble bath or something? What do women do now days when they don't have a kid hanging on their leg wanting to climb on their lap just to climb back down again. Then repeat 110 times just because.  Okay, I think I may have ADD I just got sidetracked again there.  That happens to me a lot.  So many thoughts and nothing to do with them.  So how about them Aggies.  They are awesome.  Nate also scored tickets to the BYU/Aggie game next week.  Oh I so want to go.  Probably won't happen but doesn't a cougar tail sound delicious.  I skipped dinner.  I am really wanting that cougar tail.  Again, sidetracked.  The point to that was I have never wanted to go watch a college game and now I do.  What happened to me?  Am I so desperate to get a date with my super busy hubby that I would resort to a ball game or have I actually become a football fan?  When I actually start cheering for the pros then I will know something is very very wrong with me.  I hate watching football on Sundays.  Hate it.  Nothing ruins my nice Sabbath day more. 

So to my new bff, Saturday, this week was great (except for that darn loss that ruined a perfect season for those awesome boys).  Until we meet again.  My countdown has already begun. 

Oh what a difference a year makes

Just a bit of a heads up, this will probably be a long post.  Too many memories......

 

Today is my little miracle mans birthday.  It has brought back so many memories it is crazy to think a year has already gone by.  But at the same time it feels like it was forever ago.  Here's a bit of a back story on my little Baylor boy.  I know I have already blogged about his story months ago and I was going to just attach the link to it but technology hates me.  I seriously have no clue how to do it.  

Anyway, when I was prego with Baylor we were told at our 20 week ultra sound to prepare for the worst.  Something was wrong with our baby.  They didn't know what but IF he survived he would have a genetic disorder.  I was heartbroken but was trying to prepare for whatever would come our way.  Two weeks later we went back for the test results and another ultra sound and there wasn't a thing wrong.  The docs couldn't believe it.  I can't even begin to explain the feeling you get from hearing them say everything is okay.  So we did our little happy dance and were so thankful there weren't going to be any problems.

Oh we were so wrong about that.  It's funny how you plan on everything in life working the way you think it is supposed to be.  I wonder what Heavenly Father thinks when we sit down here and talk about our plans.  I wasn't even the least bit prepared for what was about to hit us a year ago.  The day after Bay was born they whisked him away on life flight because they knew something was wrong with his belly/bladder/intestines they just weren't sure what it was.  So off he went to have emergency exploratory surgery.  They found a hole in his bowels, patched it up, gave him a colostomy, and admitted him to the NICU at Primary Children's.  We spent the next three weeks going back and forth everyday to see him in the hospital. 

When we finally got the all clear to go home I was so excited I couldn't stand it.  Then we actually got home and I had a baby with a colostomy bag.  I didn't know what to do.  I couldn't even look at it without wanting to pass out.  I'm not lying when I say that.  For the first couple weeks it took all I had not to hit the floor when we had to clean it and change it...every.single.day!  It sure was a struggle then but I look back now and think I could totally do that again.  If that was the worst we were going through I need to just shut my mouth and say a great big thank you.  My baby was finally home.

However, it was awkward trying to snuggle him when I was afraid I was going to pop the bag open. I was so excited to get it off of him even though I dreaded taking him back to have his second surgery. 2 1/2 months later off we went.  I knew he would have to stay in the hospital again and no kid should ever have to be there.  The nurses and docs were so fantastic (really I can not say enough good things about Primary's) but it is just not the place I wanted him to be.  But we made it through another hospital stay (only a week that time, yay!).

Taking him home for good, healthy and happy, was one of the best things I have ever experienced.

Fast forward a year and this is what we have:  a healthy little monster who is walking (sort of, he can't go too far but he is going), talking, eating like crazy, pulling everything out of drawers, screaming at everything, biting, slapping, eating, loving, cuddling and eating (did I mention that yet?).  What would I do without him? 

This is all that is left of the scar on his belly.  Barely noticeable.

I am grateful we are past that.  I appreciate healthy kids so much more now than I ever did before Baylor came along.  I often wonder about the other little ones that were there when we were.  My heart still breaks for the families there who didn't get to take their little ones home.  We are blessed beyond measure.

Like I said at the first of this super duper long post (sorry), I have so many memories.  Some I hope I forget and some I hope I never forget.

 

Some things I wish I could forget.......(by the way, isn't it funny how I can't remember to take the keys out of the door after I unlock it, but I can remember every detail of stuff like this.........)

 

**Seeing the surgeon dig into his infected wound and hearing his little screams as he was doing it.  The nurse finally looked at nate and told him to take me out.  

 

**Those families in the hall crying and knowing their outcome was not going to be the same as ours.

 

**That darn drive to Salt Lake every day for a month.

 

**Leaving a crying Dax at home every morning.

 

**Leaving  a sick baby in the hospital every night.

**That darn cafeteria food.

Some things I hope I never forget........

 

**The incredible support we had from family and friends.  It is absolutely humbling what others do to help.

**How strong Nate is.  When I couldn't even look at bay's colostomy he stepped right in to learn what we needed to do to care for it. Plus he couldn't be there everyday because of work and I know that killed him.  

**After an extra hard day I had a stranger in the elevator put her hand on my arm and ask me if I was going to be okay.  

**I had super awesome grandma's, volunteers, and nurses holding and loving my baby when I was at home holding and loving my other babies.  

**Most importantly I hope I never forget how fortunate we are to have such great medical help at our fingertips.  

I love you Baylor.  We were told you weren't supposed to be here but obviously the Lord has other plans for you.  I'm sorry you had to go through what you did but you are one tough little stinker.  You are such a little fighter.  

Happy Happy Birthday Bay!!!

hitchin a ride

I asked dilon if he could watch baylor while I mowed the lawn.  Some days (most days) he is a better parent than I am. 

I got schooled

I tried to teach Dax a lesson tonight.  Didn't work so well.  The little stinker has a strange obsession with thinking he has to salt and pepper his own food.  We are constantly grabbing the salt shaker out of his hand.  Tonight, when I wasn't looking, he snatched it and covered his plate.  I often state what a great mom I am -note the very thick sarcasm there- tonight was another classic example of just how great I am.  I made him take a big old bite of his newly salted dinner.  Next thing I know there is puke all over his plate and chair.  So much for me trying to teach him a lesson.  Looks like i'm the one that got schooled.  You know you've pretty much seen it all as a mom when you can still sit there and finish eat your own dinner because you just don't have the energy to do anything about it right that moment.  Plus I was still hungry, nothing-including a plate full of puke-will keep me from eating when i'm hungry.