Happy Birthday Rowen!

Happy Birthday Buddy! I can't believe you are FOUR! You are such a joy to your family, we all love you so much!

Sweetest-boy-ever!

18 Months Old!

I can't believe our adorable baby is turning 18 months old today. She is such a sweet little thing, a dream baby really! She wakes up in the morning as happy as can be, talking to her stuffed animals in her high pitched, chirpy voice. She is talking like crazy, and knows exactly how to get what she wants. The Dr. said she is speaking at the level of a two year old already! Her favorite thing to say is "Shoes On... Go Outside!" If her brother or sister is hurt, she will pat them on the back and say "Ya okay?" (But if they are bugging her she points at them and shouts: "Go-Way!") She is still a Daddy's Girl, but she gives me just enough hugs and kisses so that I don't feel too bad. She is truly a "Joy" just like her middle name proclaims!

23.6 lbs (4oth percentile)
31.5 in (46th percentile)

My Sassy Seven-Year-Old

Forgive me if you've already seen these on facebook. I have been having fun with my kiddos and my camera. Here are my favortie pictures of Makaylee. I will be posting more of the other two kids soon. . .

R.I.P. Twiner

Grandma had bought Makaylee three pet fish for her birthday. They were her first 'real pets' and she was so delighted. Two of them were identical and she named them both "Twiners." (The larger fish, she named "Sally.") Yesterday, when we got back from swimming, Makaylee came sulking down the stairs with tears in her eyes. She reported, in a broken-hearted-way that "Twiner" had died.

Without realizing how cold hearted I sounded, I said: "I am sorry sweetheart, we probably should flush him down the toilet."

Her eyes got huge and she fired back: "NO! I am not going to flush Twiner! We need to bury him!"

"Uhhh, Okay. . . if you want to bury him, I guess we can bury him in the back yard."

She rushed over to our Tupperware, and grabbed a tiny little container. "You know how they bury people in boxes so that the dirt stays off of them? Let's bury Twiner in this box! "

The thought of innocently digging up the Tupperware at some random point in the future, while adjusting a sprinkler head popped into my mind -- and made me dry heave all at the same time. I quickly explained that when animals and plants die, they are buried in the dirt, and become part of the earth. This confused her, but luckily she put the Tupperware down.

We brought "Twiner" outside, dug a little hole, and buried him. She smoothed the dirt, picked at the rocks, and then decided to say a prayer for him. She said, "I am so thankful that I had Twiner for a pet. He was such a good fish, and I am going to miss him so much. . . Please help him to be happy in heaven, and please help him to be my pet again in heaven." By the time she said "Amen" we both had tears rolling down our cheeks.

After the prayer she declared, "We need to put a stone on the dirt."

I asked, "Oh, do you want to put a rock over him so that you can remember where you buried him?"

"No, Mom. I want to put one of those stones over him that you carve his name into." She wanted to make him a little headstone. Although we didn't have the tools necessary for inscribing on stone, she chose out the perfect rock anyway. She wrote him a sweet message in permanent marker, and there it sits, marking his grave site. . . Rest In Peace.

Nursemaid's Elbow

It was 10:00PM. ( A little late to be putting our kids to bed, I know...) Terrill was putting Aleeya to bed, because she won't have it any other way. He pulled her up with her outstretched arm and felt a pop. She yelped and her arm went limp immediately. I was just tucking the other two kids in, as Terrill walked into the room with her wailing in his arms. I knew immediately what it was. "Nursemaid's elbow". . . or radial head subluxation. ( I prefer to call it the latter, because I don't think anything that painful should have the word "Nurse" in it.) It happens when a child's elbow bones get partially pulled out of joint and don't line back up normally.

Terrill suggested that since I am a nurse, I should just pop it back into place myself-- to which I responded. 1: I did not have to take any "Joint Popping" classes to earn my RN, and 2: I wasn't about to experiment with joint-popping on my own sweet baby that was already crying in pain!

We had no choice but to take her to the Emergency Room since even the kids instacare closes at 10:00PM. Aleeya was in too much pain to put her in her car seat, so Terrill had to hold her in the front seat while I drove, (which meant we had to drag the other kids out of bed to come along as well.)

While we were checking her into the ER, Aleeya was crying softly and whimpering. Rowen was hovering over her, and patting her, and saying "It's okay Leeya. . . I am sorry you hurt your arm Leeya. . . it will be better soon Leeya. . .I love you Leeya." He was in his footy jammies, and it was quite a charming scene. A few people that were walking out of the ER paused to watch them for a moment and said. "Ohhh, what a darling big brother!"

Makaylee, on the other hand was scared. She was cowering in a chair in the far corner. I am sure she was convinced that things were worse than they really were. I tried to reassure her, but I was already quite busy reassuring Aleeya, and her heart-broken-Daddy as well. When we made it back to the exam room Makaylee darted into the bathroom to hide, only coming out for a few minutes at a time.

When the MD finally came in, it only took him a few seconds to assess her, straighten her arm, and turn it inward until he felt a tiny pop. She screamed out in pain for a second, and then she was just mad! She was yelling at him in baby talk and even chirped "Go-Way!" in her little staccato voice. He grinned and said "I am going to go for a few minutes, to let her calm down, I'll come back in and check on her in a minute." When the MD left the room she sighed, and said "All Done!" Terrill let out a nervous laugh -- and took a breath for the first time, I'm sure. She started moving her arm right away, and didn't seem to be in any more pain. We were all so relieved, and so tired! ( The whole ordeal ended just before midnight!)

Darling Dancers

Makaylee took dance this year with two of her best friends. I took some pictures of the girls in their fancy costumes. I ended up taking way too many, but these girls are just so adorable, I couldn't help myself!