Christmas Eve 2008 part 2

On Christmas Eve, I awoke to Wyatt lying in bed next to me. He whispered, "Mama, Santa was here!". Still tired from the late night before, I told him it was still sleepy time and we both went back to sleep. Soon the three of us were joined by the other two and we all got ready to go downstairs and open our stockings. The boys were a bit unsure of what they would find at the bottom of the stairs, but went right for the stockings to see what Santa had left for them.

The boys were thrilled to get the particular Thomas trains they asked for. They also got a huge string of licorice, crazy straws, doodle pads, play dough, and a few other items inside. The big gift Santa left the kids, was their workbench. It has a working drill, lots of screws and nails, and a little car that they can screw the wheels on. Plenty for all three to do at the same time, thank goodness!



We stopped opening presents long enough for the seven of us to go out for breakfast. Once we got back home, it was time to get back to the presents! They had fun opening even more Thomas trains and Hungry Hippos was a huge hit, too. Puzzles, a doctor kit and a few fun computer like games rounded out their new stash.

After a few hours of playing, we all went to my parents house to have a big family get together. The boys ran around the house with little Reagan and there was lots of yummy food and Don's famous homemade oreo cheesecake. The night was rounded out with a (not so) serious poker game in the dining room.

The day was wonderful and full of lots of fun. It was really nice having so much family around -both sets of parents, lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. Lucky for the kids, they would do Christmas again the next day at Nana and Pops house. What more could a kid ask for?

Christmas Eve Eve 08

Don's work runs 6 days a week. Sundays are sacred and no trucks run that day, but any and all holidays that don't fall on Sunday, are still work days. Last year Don worked Christmas (the tips are plentiful at Christmas time) and even though I was thankful for the money, the holiday just didn't seem the same without him. This year he decided he would rather miss his Wednesday route than his Thursday route and we celebrated Christmas on Christmas eve. We figure the kids are little and they won't know the difference, and it still gave us a family day to celebrate on.


So on December 23rd, we opened a few presents mailed from family out of state and then hung the boys Christmas stockings up on our toy cabinet since we are without a fireplace. The boys were excited and ready for Santa to come, so we quickly brought the boys upstairs to go to bed. Don told his Mom to jingle a big bunch of bells when he gave her a signal and told the boys that when they hear the bells ring, it is Santa here with his sleigh. Well Vicky gave the bells a good jingle and all the boys got super still and silent -as if they were sleeping. They Wyatt popped up his head and started crying out, "no thank you, no, thank you!" He was scared, I think from a talking to he got earlier in the day regarding opening the door without Mom or Dad around. I told him that some people were not safe, and we needed to keep the door closed. Well, I think he put the scary people in the same category as Santa and got really scared of the ides of Santa in our house.

Here is a video of their before bed excitement.


Soon we got him settled down and all three went right to sleep. I started putting their tool workshop together and Don went with his Mom to do some last minute shopping. They were on the hunt for all things Thomas. After a few hours of wrapping presents, we all went to bed and got ready for the boys reactions in the morning.

Time Warp

Back track to 2008
Some how time has flown by me the past month and I have fallen way behind on my blog. I downloaded all my pictures (took me a half hour!) and can’t believe all this has passed me by, so I am going to dedicate the next few entries to catching back up. Bear with me please :)

Wyatt- Post Op

After Wyatt had surgery on Wednesday, he slept a majority of the day away. He would wake for a few minutes here and there, but the anaesthesia really knocked him out for the most part. At about 7pm he started to come around, only to fall back asleep for the night around 10:30pm.

Then yesterday he started the day out with a whole cup of yogurt, followed by some scrambled eggs for lunch. We were surprised he ate so much, but thrilled he seemed to be do better than expected. Slowly during the day he started to decline. It became obvious he was very uncomfortable and he just looked so sad.

Last night was hellish. Wyatt (he is sleeping in our room while he recovers) woke at least once an hour all night long. He now wants nothing to do with his medicine, telling us it is "yucky". When I tried to get him to eat some food to put in his belly before he got his medicine, he gagged it up and ended up spitting it out on me, which in turn made him cry.

About 3am, I decided to try some tylenol instead of the "yucky" heavy duty liquid Lortab. Wyatt took it after a bit of coaxing, but it did little to relieve his pain,as he has been waking at least every 20 ins since then crying for water.

I woke up about 7:30 to a quiet house, jumped in the shower and when I came out, Wyatt was sleeping on the floor outside of the master bathroom door. He has been sleeping since (it is 9:15 now) and I am so thankful he can get some uninterrupted sleep. I know this surgery was the best thing for him, but it has been so hard to watch him be in so much pain for such a long stretch of time.

Hopefully, today will go better and he will not fight the pain medication so much. This is not easy for any of us.

Operation Day

Last night as we were driving home from Target, Don and I had a talk with the kids about today's plan. I let Jax and Luke know they were going to go to Nana's while Wyatt stayed with Mommy and Daddy for his operation.

Jax got real snotty and told Wyatt he was not going to Nana's THEY were. Wyatt was not allowed to go to Nana's tomorrow.

I was a bit irritated with Jax, but didn't want to make it into an issue, so I reminded Wyatt that yes, he had to stay for his operation, but after his operation he would get lots of ice cream, yogurt, pudding and other yummy treats. Wyatt thought that sounded good to him.

Apparently Jaxon thought so, too. The next thing we heard was Jax saying, "I love getting operations, too".


**Please say a prayer for Wyatt and his Doctors this morning. It would be much appreciated.**

Merry Christmas!

More Snow

I know all your snow pros out there are wondering what the big deal is all about. Snow is snow, get over it. But hey people, remember I am in LAS VEGAS. Where we got about 5 inches of snow today. Schools are closed, the airport is closed. Major roads are shut down, people can not drive or fly out of Las Vegas tonight.

Makes me kinda wish I had a fireplace :)

Snow Fun

Yesterday we took the boys up to Red Rock Canyon when Don got home from work. It is a bit higher in elevation, so we were hopeful we would find the snow there. Jackpot! The snow was so fresh and powdery, and the air was crisp and luckily without any wind.

First we did some sledding


Then Don taught the boys how to pack the snow into a snow ball


Uh oh, looks like someone is going to get ambushed!





After an hour of fun, Wyatt had enough and sat in the car to warm up


Don had an idea to bring home a tub full of snow home, and the Jax and Luke used team work to fill it up.


The view of Las Vegas through the mountains on the way home.

Las Vegas Winter Wonderland

Last month the preschool taught the boys about fall/autumn. Realistically, looking for a tree with changing leaves is not that easy here in Las Vegas. Mostly it is the mulberry trees that change out here, and those are frowned upon because they are bad for allergies, there for they are short in supply. If you are lucky, you can sporadically spot one while driving down a street in the older parts of town.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that we are in December right now. Until last week, the boys were able to play out front with short sleeve shirts on while Don put up the Christmas decorations.

I think all of Las Vegas was shocked to wake up and see there is a "Winter Weather Warning" for Las Vegas until 11pm. It is supposed to be a high of 42 with a 70% chance of rain and the forecast actually calls for SNOW. It wouldn't be the first time it snowed out here, but to have it forecasted -that is new to me.


Getting the boys ready for school today was a new experience. How do you dress a kid when it snows? Layers? Big sweaters? Just a long sleeve shirt and a winter jacket? Better yet, what was I going to wear to keep warm? Do I bring the kids gloves in case it actually does snow? I wanted to just dress them like normal, thinking they could just run from the car to inside the preschool, but I didn't want them to get chilled so I went the opposite route. Tee shirts under sweaters, under a huge double layered winter jacket. And I brought their gloves just in case.

And the umbrella.

Today was the boys last day of school for December. Each of their teachers are going through hard personal times and they had decided to end the session a little earlier. One of the men that works at the school dressed up like Santa and passed out candy canes.


When we walked out of school, there were huge fat snowflakes falling. It was such perfect timing and the boys were just loving it. After a few minutes, the cold set in and we ran off to the car. Hopefully we can get some more snow tonight. Who knew Las Vegas could be a winter wonderland?

Wyatt's ENT Visit

Like the other boys, Wyatt has his own personality. He has always been a bit more of the "baby" -more cuddling, more pouting, more drooling and less talking and a bit less inclined to be the first to learn things. I noticed he was stuttering the first word in a sentence, almost as if he couldn't remember what he was going to say and would just keep repeating the first word over and over and over again.

After speaking with a speech therapist, we started talking (much) slower and made our words more pronounced. A few months of this seemed to almost completely take care of the stuttering issue. Then in the past week or two, I noticed his speech was now becoming warbled- almost as if he was talking around a marshmallow in his mouth.

I decided that being he had both the stuttering and the warbling issues, I would call and get him evaluated, but first I wanted to bring him to an ENT (ear, nose and throat Dr). For only $20, we could make sure everything was in it's right place before we moved on to speech therapy.

As the nurse led us to our appointment room she asked Wyatt what his name was and how old he was. Just from hearing him answer those questions, she said, "Oh, you're here for his tonsils then?". I just looked at her and didn't know what to say. Then she told me that is why Wyatt's speech sounds like it does. Kids who sound like that generally are having tonsil issues. Wow.

Shortly afterwards, the Dr came in and looked at Wyatt, and then sent us down the hall for an ear test. Imagine my surprise when he sat back down with us and told me Wyatt needs both his tonsils and adenoids removed -as well as tubes in both ears!

Apparently right now Wyatt has about a 20% hearing loss from the fluids in his ears. His speech is suffering from both the tonsil/adenoid situation as well as not being able to hear as well as he should be. He snores like an adult man and drools like a baby who is teething. As a plus side to having his tonsils taken out, we may see an improvement in his asthma.

It is a lot of news for us. We had only gone to cover our bases and were just blown away by the diagnosis and the speed at which everything will be done. He will have surgery at the end of the month and by the middle of January he will be able to breathe easier, drool less, hear better and speak clearer. It is a big change for such a little boy.

Oh Christmas Tree

On a recent trip to Walmart Don and I bought a box of about 40 assorted ornaments, all shatterproof for about $15. Our tree is a little 6 footer, so those ornaments along with a few unbreakable ones we had already collected were plenty to cover our tree.


Don and I attached the hooks to the ornaments, stuck them in a basket and let the boys have at it.





Wyatt really got into it. He was speedy and a little bit of an ornament hoarder as well.


Jax looking for an ornament that rolled under the tree


Luke's finishing touch


All done!

Did I ever show you...

I don't think I did. My last class was only the night before Fresh Squeezed Tarts open house, so I think this beauty was forgotten. She sits in my kitchen, but I have no idea what to do with her. I want to make more, but I need a reason for a project before I just jump into one. Any ideas?

Good bye Radiator Springs

It has actually happened. My kids seem to have lost their obsession with the movie Cars. Their obsession started about a year ago when they watched the movie going to Baby Jake's birthday party in California. It was the first movie they had ever quietly sat through and once Don and I realized that single movie could buy us a full two hours of silence, we latched on to it.

Who knew that encouraging the addiction of the movie would become so costly to us? I am sure Don and I have have purchased the full town of Radiator Springs as well as at least 8 Lightning McQueen cars and a bunch of random others. Somehow only a handful can be found any given time, but I bet if Don took his metal detector out to the sandbox, he would find most of the town hidden underneath a few inches of sand.

So goodbye, Sally. I am so thankful I no longer hear Wyatt whine about you every morning until I groggily walk into their room to lift up his mattress to find you where you must have been hiding from his drooly spot at night.

Good bye Lightning. All 8 of you. The kids fought over every one of you constantly. The "owie" Lightning, the Bug Lightning, the "hot dog" Lightning (Nana called him that when he did the tongue sticking out jump and it stuck), Dinaco blue Lighting, and all the original ones as well. Hopefully you never get recalled because I am sure Jaxon has eaten the paint off at least three of you by now.

Goodbye Chick and King. Luke lost his first green Chick during a garage sale where some kid stole it. That incident helped us get the kids to keep toys in the car from that moment forward, but it did cost us almost $4 to replace you. Ah, but I guess the lesson was priceless. As was the only one toy in the car rule we implemented because the boys would try to take no less than 4 of you into the car every time we drove anywhere.

I hope to never forget how excited Jaxon was when Don found his Nitro car in the sandbox one day. Jax came in screaming about how "Daddy found it, Daddy found Nitro!" and then Jax loudly proclaimed that "Daddy Rocks!".

So I have to admit, even with the obsession of this movie and the toys that go with it got overwhelming at times, it was such a major part of this past year. Don and I really enjoyed the movie (all 200 plus times we have watched it) as well as seeing the boys use their imagination with the cars while they played. I am sure as time goes by and the boys begin to uncover more of the lost Cars in the sandbox, each will be celebrated and the interested renewed a bit for a little while. But for now, I just wanted to document what has been such a huge thing in our house before it is completely gone.

Thanksgiving 08

We had such a busy day today! Don worked so we just hung out at the house this morning until he got off. I prepped the food for the sweet potatoes and stuffing (seriously- you have got to try these recipes, they both were delicious and fairly easy!). Once all the prep work was done and Don got home, we were out the door and on our way to celebrate.

It was pretty idyllic at Nana's house. Leigha helped the boys make a Ginger bread house while the rest of us watched and got some of the food ready. Having my fill of the ginger bread last year, I really didn't want much to do with it -the trying to get the boys to not eat the candy and hoping they don't crumble the house while they help, is a bit much for me with all the other things going on. Leigha had tons of patience and the boys love her so much. The house turned out really well!

After that, Aunt Judy and Uncle Ray showed up and we had a delicious dinner with way too much food. The noise level was through the roof as all the men with full bellies started to radiate testosterone and take on the tremendous trio. Apparently when you are a full grown man, having an opponent only three years old does not deter the rush you get thinking you can take on three people at one time. Both Uncle Ray and my Dad tried to wear the boys down. Each took their turn, but the boys came out as the obvious winners.

Jaxon-isms

Nana says you guys are at an age where you are learning one word per hour and boy, do I get that with you. You are a bit more advanced than your brothers with your vocabulary. You know all the jingles on the radio, you love to sing songs and you seem to retain so much information. Which can be both a good and bad thing...


Driving to Nana's house the other day I was trying to keep you and your brothers awake in the back car. I started by saying "I love..." and filling the blank with people we know, letting you all pitch in with who you chose to add. Once I said I love Daddy and you stopped me and told me, "No Mommy you love Pwusee". Obviously it sounded like a vulgar word and your Dad and I looked at each other with our eyes all huge, not having a clue of what you were saying. Asking you to repeat what you were saying was impossible without laughing at the way you were pronouncing whatever it was you were trying to say.

Finally one of you said the name Thomas and it all made sense. You have been watching Thomas the Train movies at Nana's house the past few days and even though you have only seen them a handful of times, one train in particular made and impact on you enough that you thought your Mommy should love him. Percy.

***

Every night I help you guys in to your pajamas while Daddy helps brush your teeth. You come running out of the bathroom to show me your teeth and I ALWAYS tell you they look beautiful. Well, there is a song by James Blunt called Beautiful. Me telling you your teeth look beautiful has morphed into the tune in the song. In your little voice you sing "you're b-eaut-i-ful" so proudly.

The other day when Daddy was hanging the Christmas lights outside, he had gotten a particularly difficult line hung. When he finished, he yelled out "beautiful!". You responded, "Yeah, I AM!".

Yes little buddy, you certainly are.

***

But not all things you say or repeat are as much of an "awww moment" as the above. First remember that Mommy is human. I say things when my cool is out the door, which is apparently more than I realized.

You ran into my room yesterday morning looking for your Lightning car. You look for him every morning, so it wasn't such a big deal. But the way you said you were looking for him is what caught my attention.

you: "Where's my Lightning car? My FREAKIN Lightning?"
me: "What did you say? What are you looking for?"
you: "freaking freaking Lighting, where is he?"

Then I gave you a little talk about how that was really was not a nice thing to say.

A couple hours later, we had just gotten done eating lunch. After you eat, you love to cuddle. Today you crawled out of your seat, lazily walked towards me with your fully belly eyes and said, "Mommy, let's freakin' cuddle."

****

Only you, Jaxon. You certainly make me smile.

One day...

I can honestly say that 95% of the time Don and I are attentive and at least have a handle on what is going on. The other 5% of the time are when there are projects of sorts going on or whatever it may be distracting our attention for short periods of time. Today was one of those days.

One day when the boys are in their 20's looking back on their childhood, today is the type of day they will pick to talk about.

"Do you remember how Mom and Dad would have us fend for ourselves while they put up Christmas lights? We would get away with everything!"

"Oh yeah, I remember when they let Jax crawl under the travel trailer and got stuck. Dad had to raise it up to let Jaxon out!".

"Remember how much fun we had spending most of the afternoon on the skateboard and creepy crawler, flying down the driveway and into the street? Good thing they blocked the road with the cars and lawnmower. We would have made across the street and it into our neighbors driveway if we didn't have to stop."

"Or when they let us climb up the ladder with Dad under the pretense of getting them used to ladder in case we ever had to use our window escape ladder. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Wyatt would come back every two minutes to whine about wanting to do it, too."

"I'll never forget how they sent inside once it got dark and Wyatt kept gong in the kitchen and grabbing different foods. First the bananas, marshmellows, then the apples. Mom was going nuts every time she came in and he had something else in hand."

"Man, I can't believe we were only three. They totally had no control over us. We ruled the roost, even at age three. At least for the day anyhow".

Where does the time go?

I can't believe we are past the midpoint of the month and I have yet to download any pictures from this month! In fact, my camera battery died last weekend during our camping trip (that I haven't even blogged about!) and I haven't even gotten around to peeking at those pictures yet.

We are just about over the sickness that has held us hostage since before Halloween. We are left with a lingering cough (Lucas), a nasty sore throat that is affecting the way everything tastes (me), and lots of boogies (from Wyatt and Jax). I am trying to load them up on orange juice, but I am just thankful we are at the tail end of it in time for Thanksgiving.

The boys are really enjoying all the Christmas happenings they see. Don is loving hearing the Christmas music on the radio and amazingly, Jaxon seems to remember some of the carols from last year! Luke and Wyatt are learning them quickly though.

Hard to believe Thanksgiving is in less than a week!

Wyatt

This morning we noticed you were not playing with the rest of us and had to do a little searching to find you. Daddy found you in your bathroom with the door closed. Upon opening it, you were so proud you had brushed your teeth all by yourself. At least that is what he assumed since you had the toothbrush out with toothpaste all over your mouth.

Then later this afternoon we got sidetracked outside talking to a neighbor. Soon after I came in to make lunch and was trying to see if you were in the cubby or what and I called your name. I heard you and finally saw you under the kitchen table eating a lollipop with at least 4 empty lollipop sticks around you. Needless to say, you were not hungry at lunch time.

And just now your Dad and I were talking about our neighbor when we heard you close the bathroom door. When your Dad opened the door, he saw you covered with the baby lotion.

You sure are great at keeping yourself busy.

Feeling better

After beating us up for the past two weeks, I think we are finally on the tail end of our sick phase. The boys have been visiting us just about every night in bed -which usually we don't mind, but every night is a bit of an over kill- and they are beginning to sleep through most of the night. No crying three or four times before 11pm is a great start. Poor babies were just sick.

One midnight run to the clinic diagnosed Luke with an ear infection. A couple days later Jax seemed to be getting one, but when Don took him and Wyatt in to our regular Dr, she said their ears looked fine, but they had a virus that had been going around. I am sure we got it from school, but hopefully since I kept them out on Wed, maybe it will help lessen the spread for the rest of the kids.

Mom and I have been sewing like mad. We got a few more patterns up of our full aprons and about 10 more cut out of our half aprons. It is a slow start up for each new batch, but it seems like we finish 15 all at the same time, so it is nice once we get past the hump.

The boys have been talking like crazy. They are picking up so many new words. Jaxon told me the other day, "I am drama drama". Yes Jax, if you only knew the half of it. Wyatt is still stuttering, but it seems like it is getting better. He is full of trouble, but grinning the whole time. I really think he is just trying to make everyone laugh when he does the things he does. Lucas is still trying to be the leader of the pack. His favorite phrase is, "I have idea!" when he is playing with his brothers. They are doing really well together, not much sibling rivalry besides the occasional fight over a car or something. Luckily the timer still is helpful when that happens, so the fights are usually short lived.

A couple weeks ago the boys were fighting over a big orange race car. For the first time I can think of, it was all three boys fighting about it. There was lots of screaming and yelling, even when we decided to set the timer. Finally I made my voice really loud and excited and said, "Wait a minute guys, I have an idea!" I took the car and put it in the trash can. "Isn't that neat? Now no one gets it and we can each go and pick out another toy to play with". And they did. No arguing, and absolutely no crying over the trashed toy. They just all got another toy and played nicely together.

I wish everything was that easy.

Happy Halloween!

This is what we looked like this morning at about 9:30am. The boys were all laying on the bed whimpering like little puppies. Somehow in my obvious surprise that it was months after preschool started and not a cootie in sight, one snuck in.

It started Monday and has slowly and quietly made it way through the family. Nothing horrible and it was barely anything above inconvenient. But this morning all three boys wondered into my room at different times, complaining that "my tummy felt bad", "I don't feel well" and ""my tummy feels sick". They understand that if they have to "spit", it goes in a nearby bowl, not on the couch or bed or floor. Yay.

The good news is at least Lucas is feeling better, he is looking through pictures by my side as I type this out. The bad news is Don is out for the count. Sleeping on the opposite couch as Jaxon is right now, with little Wyatt by his side. Hopefully they can all pull it together for a half hour this evening so we can at least hit our street. The boys (all four of them) have been looking forward to Halloween and I know they will be disappointed to see they slept through it all.