I am BLESSED

I have been blessed with FOUR healthy, beautiful, intelligent, loving, caring, sweet-as-can-be children. I have been blessed four times over! Sometimes when life is crazy, and we're running from appointment to appointment, to the grocery store, to gymnastics, back home where it seems we live in a whirlwind of chores and homework I forget to be thankful.

I forget to just stop. And say THANK YOU.

I never knew what a blessing motherhood would be. And sometimes, even though I certainly don't intend to, I know I take it for granted. On the days I'm going a million miles a minute I do, I do take things for granted. How well behaved they are as we whip through the stores. How most of the time they willingly help me at home with chores. How Joshua will play with Leah just to make her happy, and how Hailey's favorite thing to do is read to Grayson. These are all GIFTS that I too often forget to be thankful for.

Now at night, when I'm lying there, moments before sleep, and I say my final prayer for the day of course I give thanks for my kids, but it's all of the little things that add up, and while, like anyone, I don't have time to name EVERY single little thing I am thankful for, I know I could definitely work on not taking them for granted.

So today I am giving all of the little things their due. I am reminding myself that my kids ARE AWESOME. And that they're MINE. And I am so, so, so thankful. Today I will soak in every laugh, and every smile, and I will work on not shushing the loud moments, I will not just let my little ones crawl all over me, I will greet them with hugs and kisses and HOLD them on my lap.

And I will tell THEM thank you. And remind them, again, how very much I love them.

Too long...

I can't believe I have gone this long without blogging! I feel like I've hardly documented Grayson's second year at all. :( How sad that makes me. I have, however, been capturing his life and the oh-so-many changes in photos at least.

My kids are awesome. They always have been, and I'm pretty sure they always will be.


Joshua is about a month away from graduating from the 5th grade. This kills me. KILLS me. He's only months away from being a middle schooler. I look at Grayson and I just think of Joshua, and how he was at this age. I still feel like Joshua should be so little. He crawls up into my lap and there's hardly any room. "What are you going to do when you don't fit anymore?" I asked him sadly the other night. "I'll always fit mom, and if I don't, when I'm big enough, I can hold you." Talk about tear-jerker! I just wish I had a time machine. I would get more hugs and cuddles and kisses in. I would just soak up more of him. Time goes by too quickly. We spend too much time worrying about things that don't matter. I want time back that I will never have.

He's still young enough that he likes me to lay down with him at bedtime. We talk, and he plays with my hair. {Just as he has done since he was an infant, nursing.} I asked him last night if he would always want me to lay with him. For the first time he put a time limit on our little tradition. He said when he's 15 or 16 he probably won't want to me lay down with him anymore. I fear that time will come sooner. But I hope that time NEVER comes. I can honestly see myself driving to his house one day, and curling up next to him. I guess only time will tell! lol


Hailey has started gymnastics and is just amazing. I knew she was a natural. She just has a little gymnast body. But I never really had anything to compare her to. Now I do. And now I truly know how awesome and amazing she is and can see an awesome and amazing future in this sport for her! Her VERY first class, she blew me out of the water. She was SECOND BEST in her class. Second only to a girl several years older with experience. And there was even a move my Hailey could do that the older student couldn't quite yet do! Talk about proud. I called everyone I knew on the way home and just beamed. I love watching her every week learn more, do more, and get better and better. She loves to show people her "tricks". She has mastered the back bend into a bridge and can flip over. I'm so excited to see where she takes this!

She is growing up so much too. I discovered this year that I can no longer buy her clothes. She's reached the age where she prefers to pick out her own clothes. Even though she likes my input, and for the most part like my style, she likes being able to pick the colors, etc. of what she wears. Sometimes I feel like she's 8 going 16. She can be so sassy. But then a sweet side to her comes out. Especially with her baby brother. They still have a special bond that melts my heart. I don't think it will ever go away. I certainly hope not.


Leah, oh my sweet Leah. She absolutely loves preschool! I only have one more year with my sweet Leah before she starts kindergarten. :( I will still have her Monday and Fridays anyway. I don't think I'm ready for her to be gone all 5 days. I don't see how I will ever be ready for that. :( She's my sweet baby. She's so sensitive, loving, and caring. She can bring out the sass at times, but really, she's just sweetness. She's my little mama for sure. She has an Itty Bitty Baby Doll that she's named "Lisa", and she takes care of that baby so well! Every time we go anywhere she buckles her in. It's precious. She "feeds" her and "nurses" her and changes her little diaper. She says when she grows up she wants to be a mommy like me. She wants 5 or 6 kids. lol I hope she is blessed as I have been! I can certainly see her being a wonderful mama!

Leah has gotten the gymnastics bug as well and I HATE that we can't put her in until she's older. I feel like she has so much potential that we are wasting by not getting her in. She is SO insanely flexible and talented! She can already do a perfect cartwheel, and is very close to perfecting a back bend into a bridge! She can lay on her belly and bend her head back and touch her toes! It's crazy! This summer we're going to work on riding a bike without training wheels, and reading. I feel like she's behind in reading because she misses the cut off by 8 days, she's older than everyone in her class and always will be. :( She's not able to identify all of her letters and I really want to work on that. She's so smart I know once we start working on it she'll have it in no time!


Grayson is growing too fast for my liking, just like all my kiddos. I find it so hard to believe he's so close to two. I'm not ready for him to be two. I'm not even fully able to accept that he's ONE! I've delayed so many things, feeling like it's keeping him a baby, but I know it's all going to come to and end eventually whether I want it to, or not. He's still nursing. I know that shocks a lot of people. But believe me when I say, I COULD NOT CARE LESS. I won't even go into the health and emotional benefits of it all. But it's been an amazing adventure for us. I worry it's going to be so hard on the both of us when the end comes. I've always been holding off on his first haircut. Some days he has a beautiful head of blonde curls. But most days he looks like a little surfer toddler. Some days he looks like Einstein. I love his hair. I LOVE it. I'm so not ready to cut it. But sometimes I see boys his age looking all sharp with their big boy cuts and I wonder if I'm depriving him of a cool hairdo! But then I remember he's a toddler and doesn't care. And also, he's freaking ADORABLE. With, or without a hair cut.

His birthday is just two short months away. For a couple months I began collecting ideas and planning a "Book" birthday. This kid LOVES books. We read ALL day. And night. All the time. He just loves to read and listen to stories! But recently, he's become obsessed with monsters. His favorite app on the iPad is a book called "Even Monsters Get Sick", he loves a book we have about hungry little monsters, and also he loves Monster's Inc., so now I'm torn. I don't know if I should do Monsters or Book! I'm running out of time to make a decision!

G is crazy smart. He is a little parrot and repeats any and everything. He can talk SO WELL and pronounces even hard words well. He's so funny too! He can say all of his ABCs, and can count to ten with help. We're working on counting to 20, and also working on his colors. He's had his first serious boo boo that needed glue, and it was so funny listening to him tell the story. "Running, kitchen, drawer, hit it, OW." He's working so hard on putting sentences together!  He's still a crazy picker eater. It's hard to get food in the guy. But when he likes something he can eat SO MUCH! Technically he can start preschool next year. So I could have middle schooler and my BABY in preschool. But he's my last, so he's staying home with mommy until pre-K! {I want him to go at least one year to get ready for kindergarten.} I will have fun teaching at home until then.

So there's a little update on my babies! Time just flies by and they grow and change so fast! I need to do this more. Thank goodness for cameras!

A Very Zombie Birthday

Joshua and I began collecting ideas for his 10th birthday about 9 months in advance. Originally he wanted to do a Lego birthday. I thought it was an awesome idea! As his birthday grew closer though he became unsure and was truly undecided as to what kind of party he wanted. I told him that it was completely up to him, but that he needed to let me know soon so that I could begin shopping, and crafting for the big day!

We spent COUNTLESS afternoons on the computer searching birthday websites and blogs for ideas. We tossed around ideas like a Hunger Games birthday, an army birthday, a Lego birthday, a science lab birthday, Star Wars, hunting/camo, Adventure Time, I could seriously go on and on.

Once we found it though, we knew INSTANTLY it was "the one".

ZOMBIES

There's no hiding the fact that my son and I are somewhat insanely zombie obsessed.I knew this was going to be just as fun for me to plan as it was going to be for him to celebrate!

Inspiration was somewhat hard to come by. I couldn't really find any other zombie birthdays. But luckily when it comes to zombies I have all I need to become inspired right at home!

This was Joshua's 10th birthday. DOUBLE DIGITS! So I wanted this to be a big bash.

{Clockwise} I was able to find some awesome bags from Oriental Trading! I bought test tubes from Amazon and filled them with nerds. They were the 'zombie antidote'. I found zombie necklaces, and my favorite, syringe pens! They were the zombie 'vaccine'.

I lucked out and our local Dollar Tree had "CAUTION: ZOMBIES!" tape, and even blood splatter window clings, complete with a bloody smeared hand print. :)

I made good old fashioned Jello dirt cups, and stuck some zombie hand cupcake toppers in them, topped with a gummy worm.

I found an awesome recipe for "swamp" cake and thought it would make a GREAT graveyard cake. After adding some zombie hand cupcake toppers, eyeballs, and various other severed body parts it looked perfectly zombiefied and almost too disgusting to eat!

We had a "Zombie Outbreak Response Team" kit filled with survival gear that you would need to survive the zomie apocolypse. Rope, a canteen, flashlight with batteries, various bandages, a screwdriver, etc. These were the prizes you could pick from if you won a game!

{The "Let's Paint the Town Dead!" table cloth was from BirthdayDirect.com, along with the blood splattered gauze, plates, cups, and zombie hand cupcake picks.}

{Clockwise} We had a "zombify station" where our party guests could get into character. We had make-up, fake blood, bloody bandages, and zombie teeth to help give them the perfect zombie look!

I lucked out because my mom had a brain Jello mold! We made it into a worm filled Jello brain.

"Pin the Brains on the Zombie"! {I would have loved to see the face of whoever printed that out at Staples! lol} We had to have some zombie games and what's more perfect than feeding a zombie some brains? When I first thought of the game I just assumed we would pin the brain to the zombie's head where his brain would go. But after having it printed and hanging it I decided that we should do the obvious and pin the brain to where it SHOULD be. The zombie's mouth!

Okay, so technically these are mummies, and mummies aren't zombies, but they ARE the walking dead. So close enough right? I just called them "walking dead dogs".

A closer look at how the table came together.

{Clockwise} The birthday boy! I think the smile means good things. :)

The zombie walk!! First we had a zombie walk, where each guest did their best zombie impression one by one. Then we did a zombie race! But you couldn't just run, you had to move how a zombie would move.

We used a bandage as a blindfold and the guests got to try their best to get the brain to the zombie's mouth.

A zombie hoard!

{Clockwise} A zombie party wouldn't be complete without Ghoul Aid! I started with a recipe I found online and just added a few things here and there until we ended up with something yummy but completely gross looking!

"DO NOT ENTER: dead inside"

Zombie cake pops! I did my best to make some living dead cake pops. Some zombie had their eyes gouged out, some had nasty zombie teeth, some had mohawks, some were bald. They were as different and unique as real zombies! And they were delicious...

"CAUTION: zombies ahead"

Another shot of the graveyard cake, this time with 10 candles for the birthday boy!

{CLOCKWISE} After "pin the brains on the zombie" our zombie became a target for target practice! Nerf bullets were dipped in fake blood to mark where they hit. {It served to purposes, we knew where the bullets hit, and it created a really cool splatter effect!}

The boys chowing down!

Taking aim at the zombies brain.

This was one of my favorite pictures of the day. Grayson just stood by observing all of the chaos and activities with his little hands behind his back! It was precious. :)

Joshua making a wish and blowing out the candles!

The zombie party was definitely a success! The food was good, the guests had a blast, the activities were fun and prizes were won. When the goodie bags were handed out and everyone headed home we were POOPED.

This was hands down my most favorite party to plan! I hope Joshua will look back and remember this party for the rest of his life!

Home Haircuts

I've been saving money by cutting Mel's hair at home for years. Recently I also began cutting Joshua's. It's not the best, but it's free! I think he looks handsome with a good clean cut. ^_^

i ♥ my crazy kids

Leah and Joshua March 2012

A Story By Joshua

My kid's a comedic genius. I laughed until I cried when I read this. This is only a rough draft, he's got a much longer version complete with details.

Gah, I love him...and his crooked smile...

Thankful Day 12

Today I am thankful for this boy...



He brought me breakfast in bed yesterday. He's NINE YEARS OLD and brought his mama breakfast in bed! He's going to make an AWESOME husband and father one day. He blows me away.

Yesterday was the best day. Of course any day that starts out with breakfast in bed is going to rock. :) We had a yummy breakfast of pancakes {frozen, come on he's 9}, I got up and added some scrambled eggs. Then we hung on the couch and vegged out to a few first season episodes of Vampire Diaries. {He's one cool kid for putting up with his mom's taste in shows.} Then we packed up and headed out to hang with friends. After a few hours of Joshua playing with his friend Mikey, and myself hanging with Mikey's awesome mom Kay, we headed out to lunch. A mommy/son lunch at Monterrey, a super yum Mexican restaurant.

We came home and hung out, telling knock knock jokes, Joshua played with his baby brother, we laughed a ton. The perfect day ended with Dad and Leah watching Zookeeper.



Awesome day.

All because of one awesome kid.

I love you Joshua Brian!


brianne.renwick{@}gmail{.}com


Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for me @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

Halloween 2011

The Gangster

Don't cross him, he'll take a bat to your knee caps.

The Angel

Don't let that sweet smile fool you, that halo's hiding devil horns.

The Monkey

Ooo-ooo-eee-eee such a cute little monkey.

The Dragon

Rawr might mean "I love you" in dinosaur, but it means "CUTE" in dragon.

The Gang

brianne.renwick{@}gmail{.}com
Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for me @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

First Day of School 2011

Today I officially became the mom of a 4th and 1st grader. I can't even begin to tell you what a stick of dynamite that is in my ear hole. It blows my mind. I remember 1st grade. A little bit. Okay barely. But I really do remember 4th grade! My teacher was Mrs. Strawn, my favoritest of all time, in all the world. She used to give me time to come to the front of the class and put on a "show" in hopes of containing my maniacal outbursts. It didn't work out too well. But bless that woman she tried!

Yesterday was open house. Which I thought leaned a little towards the retarded side. Having open house the day before school that is. I think it should have been at least a few days before. To give us time to work out any kinks. Luckily there were no kinks to work out. We met Hailey's teacher, Ms. Turner. She's British and has the best accent ever! But now all I can picture is a British nanny that pops hands with rulers and yells things like threats of "boxing your ears" and such . Is that racist? She seemed nice enough, but I can't help but think that anyone from "across the pond" finds us American's gross. I kind of find us gross. Anywho, we lucked out, and our prayers were answered because Joshua got Mrs. Little. His same teacher from 1st grade that we LOVED!


I'm hopeful for an awesome year. As awesome as last year at least.


You know I can't end this without "Back to School" pics! Most of them came out shaky, and blurry, and out of focus for the most part because it was still dark when we went out to wait for the bus. I only really got one good clear shot just before the bus came, the sun had finally come out enough for good lighting.

My Fourth Grader

{See how dark it was?? I had to use my pop-up flash.}

My First Grader

{This was taken, right before we went outside to wait for the bus.}

Just before getting on the bus to head off to their first day of school.

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

A look into August 2011...

I feel like I never, or at least rarely, share photos anymore. I don't participate in the Before and After blog hop on Thursdays anymore, or any other photo sharing link-ups really other than an occasional Wordless Wednesday, and maybe even a Shutter Love Tuesday, or Paper Mama Photo Challenge entry.

I've actually gotten a lot better at getting my camera out. Babies grow up so fast, I don't want to miss a single cute moment with Grayson! I only wish I snapped more of the older kiddos. Anyhow, I thought I would share some of my most recent faves.

Grayson getting kisses from Aunt Kay Kay. He LOVES kisses! They get him smiling almost every time.

My handsome boy, I just love that face!

My gorgeous girl, with her crooked little smile! She's growing up too fast, I feel like I'm having a hard time catching up...

I love this look. As soon as he saw what was written on the box, he turned around and gave me this sly little smirk over his shoulder.

Hailey is the BEST big sister! She is the biggest help. She makes everyone nervous, except for me. She's GREAT with her baby brother.

Joshua and his guitar have been joined at the fingers since he opened it. I actually have to force him to do other things. He has no idea what he's doing, yet has this remarkable ability to make his random strumming pleasing to my ears.

He seriously loves his guitar!

Speaking of growing up so fast, this I can't believe. Look at that handsome, mature face! He's going to be a heartbreaker in a few years. Even going through this awkward time with losing teeth, growing big teeth, and being skinny as a rail he's gorgeous.

Lastly, the cutest little burrito in all the land. He loves bring wrapped up super tight, but hates the swaddle technique, so I literally have to just roll him in a blanket. It's hilarious, but works every time.

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

Joshua is 9

 

I can't believe we're here again! Celebrating yet ANOTHER birthday for the kid who made me "Mom". A year short of a decade ago I gave birth to two lives. The one that grew in my belly and would breathe his first breath, and to the new life I would live from that moment on. A life of selflessness, a life with one purpose. To nurture, and coach, and raise another human being. I still can't believe that someone trusted me with that job. But I can honestly say, hands down, that it was the greatest gift ever given to me. You know the phrase, "With great power, comes great responsibility?". Well that is parenthood. You're given a lot of power and you best not abuse it because a life depends on it. Literally.



Joshua is 9 years old. Nine. So what is it, do boys just skip hop on into preteen stage when they hit 9? My precious innocent boy, my baby, recently discussed his wishes to live in a South American tribe so that he can look at naked woman as much as he wanted without it being inappropriate. I laughed until I cried. My boy is growing up. There's not much more that screams "growing up" like wanting to see naked ladies. {Hey, what can ya do, boys are boys, right?}

Other clues my baby is becoming a young man? He's actually starting to care about what he wears! Hats? They now only go on sideways. Hoodies? They're worn even if it's triple digits outside. Favorite foods have gone from burgers and chicken nuggets to steak and ribs, tacos to pollo con creme, and suddenly he's too old for the kids menu. Saturday mornings are even different. No 6am wake up calls. When left to his own devices he sleeps in! Then makes his own breakfast of cereal or some sort of toaster pastry. Long gone are the days of "The Wiggles", even Spongebob, and iCarly have been neglected these days, replaced with shows like Deadliest Warrior, and Falling Skies.

Joshua's Faves @ 9 Years Old:

•Food- Mexican

•Drink- Gatorade & Root Beer

•Animal- All kinds.

•Color- All kinds. Except pink. {Of course.}

•Hobby- Hunting, fishing, drawing, playing guitar {thanks to his oh-so-awesome birfday gift from ma, pop, and Grandpa} & reading.

•Sports- Basketball, Football & Soccer

•Movie- Striking Distance, Zombieland, Commando, Terminator, Expendables, Rambo...{okay, pretty much any "dude" movie} oh and Surf's Up. {Maybe there IS a little kid in there somewhere. ^_^}

•Book- Zombie Chasers, The Red Pyramid, Goosebumps Horrorland

•Toys- Lego's, Nerf guns & cars {Hot Wheels and such.}

•Video Game- Call of Duty {Hmm, funny, he's not allowed to play Call of Duty.}, Donkey Kong, Mario

•Gaming System- PS3, Wii, and DSi {It was IMPOSSIBLE for him to pick one. For the record we only own a DSi and Wii.}

•Subject in School- Art, math, and science.

•Asked "If you were given $100 what would you do with it?"- His answer, "Give it to charity.". {Ohh my little humanitarian! ♥} 

 {Don't be embarrassed, it's the newest I have! And you look cool, dentist bib and all. ;) I promise a new pic as soon as possible.}

Lastly, a letter to my son, on his ninth birthday:

Joshua,

9 years ago I was given my greatest and most precious gift. YOU! You are my biggest joy Joshua! You are so funny and whitty and you make me laugh like no other. You were the cutest baby, most adorable little kid, and now you're growing into the most handsome young man! I am blown away by how smart you are. I can't wait to see where your intelligence takes you in life. I know it will be far. You are destined for great things!

I can't say it enough; You are awesome Joshua. You're everything I could ever want in a son and more. I am the luckiest woman alive to have you call me mom. Whoever you pick to be your wife will be so blessed! I know you will be the most amazing husband and daddy because you are the most amazing son and brother.

You are loved beyond measure and one of the greatest things about you is that you're humble enough to know it. Never doubt yourself. I love you!

Happy Birthday Joshua!

♥Love, Mom xo

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

"Sweet" 

Joshua meeting his baby brother Grayson for the first time. This literally brings tears to my eyes and I know it will each and every time I look at it.

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

the little things.

Just a few little things that I want to remember from this time:

Leah- She's just a few months shy of 3 and at that age where everything she says and does is just hilarious. This kid LOVES dancing. She will dance to anything and everything. Commercials, jingles, background music in movies, even "sad" music. If she hears a tune, it moves her. Literally. She loves watching any sort of dancing on TV as well. I love her "moves", I melt and crack up all at the same time!  Leah is my most cuddly kiddo of all. She still loves being held and cuddled, and is constantly telling me she loves me out of the blue. Some things I just don't want to forget {cute or not} from this time:
•She and Mel go back and forth, "I love you", "I love you too", "I love you three", four, five, etc. Lately she has started saying, "I love you seven" out of the blue.
•After a HELLACIOUS grocery store trip, Leah later came up to me and apologized! I was shocked and SO in love with my thoughtful little girl!
•"Yes it are."- Yes it is. and "No my not!."- No I'm not.
•"I'm not a kid! I'm a Leah!".
•"You don't have to be so bossy!" {Complete with an eye roll.}

Hailey- My valley girl. The other day in 100% valley girl accent she declared: "Kay Kay is soooo beatiful." Complete with a hair toss and then a lengthy explanation on how she {Kay Kay} does her make-up so perfectly. Hailey is just a girl's girl. She's 6 going on 16, and I'm not really liking that. We're already struggling with clothes and what's appropriate and what's not. I hate this fight, and honestly don't know where she gets this idea that showing skin is not only okay, but "cool". We're trying our best to nip it in the bud now. I hate how self conscious she is. Although when I tell her how beautiful/gorgeous she is, she smiles and says, "I know.". That? I love. I want her to always feel that way. But she's starting to complain about "hairy legs" and how her legs are "bigger" than her friends. I hate this. It's hard to remember she's a rising first grader and not 5th grader. I want my little girl to stay a little girl! It's seriously enough for me to rethink public school. I'm also in disbelief that she's a RISING FIRST GRADER. She has {nearly} completed her first year of school! She has done AMAZINGLY well this year. I'm blown away by here reading and only wished she enjoyed it as much as her brother and I do. Some things I don't want to forget from this time:
 •"I know it's a boy." Hailey SO called it! She new Grayson was a boy and wasn't afraid to tell anyone and everyone. She would often say she hoped for a girl, but knew it was a boy anyway. Sure enough, he turned out to be all boy.
•Leah fell asleep on the floor in the living room. "Does she have a paci in her mouth?" I asked Hailey. "Yea, she does." She answered. "Huh, I wonder how she got that...". Hailey's response? "Maybe a paci fairy flew in and put it in her mouth." And this wasn't a cute little idea from the imagination of a 6 year old. This was a sarcastic, cheeky, smarta$$ answer! Complete with side-eye. I couldn't help but laugh. {And feel stupid.}
•On scabs in the shower: "When you get in the shower God heals it, it goes up in the air. It's invisible when it goes up in the air, that's why you can't see it. He makes it invisible."

Joshua- My oldest is SO incredibly encouraging and thoughtful! Joshua is definitely going to be a humanitarian when he grows up. Once he told me that he hopes to go to college and get a great paying job so that he could afford to buy a truck, fill it with blankets, clothes, and food, and deliver things to the needy. He also said he wants to volunteer to build shelters for homeless. My boy seriously has a heart of gold. Pure gold. He doesn't have a mean or hateful bone in his body. I can't even begin to convey how proud of him I am. He was on A/B honor roll the ENTIRE year this school year. THE ENTIRE YEAR. He also completed his first year of EOG testing with 3's and 4's. Seriously blows me away. This is all while facing OCD and ADHD, challenges he has faced and fought through since the beginning of Pre-K. Some things I don't want to forget from this time:
•While helping me cook dinner one night, I asked him to retrieve a jar of mushrooms from the cupboard. "What are these for mom?", he asked nervously, I was busy reading a recipe, and scurrying around collecting ingredients and didn't answer right away. "Mom? What are the mushrooms for?", again, in my own little world, muttering under my breath each ingredient, I delayed answering him, finally, "Mom, I'm getting concerned...". That stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't help but laugh.
•At my nieces preschool graduation last week he started cheering, clapping, and whistling loudly as the preschoolers collected their diplomas. He didn't start doing this until after his cousin had collected hers. "What are you doing love?" I asked. "Brinley had so many people cheer mom! They all deserve that, I'm just encouraging them.". {Talk about heart meltage!}
•"I don't have a whole lot of friends mom, but you know what? That's okay, because I've got two AWESOME friends. Jesus and God. They'll always have my back. Huh mom?". That they will my boy!
•He gives the BEST massages. Seriously. I'm not just saying that. It amazes me. I've had adults try and give my shoulders a rub and he blows them out of the water. It is truly a gift.

I can't believe that in a few short months I'm going to be the mom of a newborn, 3 year old, 6 year old, and 9 year old. How did this happen??? I seriously vow to start doing this more, and writing more about who they are in these years where they are growing and changing so quickly!

All I can say is that I'm over the moon in love with my kids and have to give myself a pat on the back because they are AMAZING and I made them. They are beautiful perfection, so incredibly funny, intelligent, and caring. All of them so.

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

A Scare from Mr. Dramatic

 {I love this boy more than you'll EVER know! ♥ My little drama king.}

I spent yesterday driving Joshua from doctor to doctor, or really from hospital to hospital. Okay, so we only ended up at {1}Urgent Care {2} Hospital #1 {3} Hospital #2. But it was a looooooong, long-long, long, long, very long day. Monday afternoon Joshua mentioned not feeling well when he came home from school. He seemed to be acting fine though so I let it go. It wasn't too much longer later that he really started to complain. He {very dramatically} gripped his tummy and told me "My stomach HURTS!".

Being the dramaking he tends to be, again, I really thought nothing of it. I told him to try using the bathroom. He did. And he seemed okay for a while after that. When the dramaking again embraced the theatrics and did a full on, "I'm dying, oh man, my stomach hurts SO BAD.", I kind of started to worry. "Do you need to poop? When was the last time you pooped? Is it gas? Do you need to fart? Are you nauseated? Do you need a bowl? Are you going to throw up? When you went potty did you have diarrhea? Where does it hurt? What does it feel like?" For the next several hours I was asking every question I could think of. By the time he was finished with his evening bath he was nearly in tears with pain, and I was nearly in tears with frustration.

I got SO many descriptions of what the pain felt like, "My stomach is boiling! It's burning into my chest! Someone's punching me! I can't breathe it hurts to breathe! It feels like I'm being stabbed!". I couldn't decipher what it could BE! He didn't want to eat dinner so I gave him two tums, and a small glass of milk and sent him to bed. For the next 2 hours he wasn't able to sleep, and I was really growing concerned. I called his Grandma and we agreed that it would be best for me to check on him through the night in case a fever hit or anything got worse. If he wasn't better in the morning I would take him to the doctor.

Around midnight I snuck in for one last check on him. He was FINALLY asleep. I reached around him and pushed on his belly some to see if I could feel any bloating. It woke him, yelling, from a dead sleep. I was really worried then. I couldn't sleep all night and continued to check on him. Anytime I touched his belly he'd wake up whimpering.

By morning he seemed a lot better. He actually ate breakfast, but he was still complaining of pain. I asked him to lay down and pressed all around his belly. His right side was the most tender. I asked him to point to me where it hurt and he pointed from his belly button to the lower right quadrant of his belly. All I could think of was "CRAP, it's his appendix.". Even though he had no other symptoms, no nausea, no fever, etc. I thought it may be in the beginning stages, and also knew that everyone's experiences were different. {I know 4 people closely that have had appendicitis and all 4 have completely different stories of their experience and symptoms.}

I waited for the docs phones to switch over, calling REPEATEDLY until someone picked up. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to see him until the afternoon and I didn't think that was soon enough. So I decided to take him to Urgent Care. Luckily they were just opening and we barely had to wait. They checked him over and sent us immediately to the ER. {Luckily they very kindly refunded our copay since there was nothing they could do for them.}

We also lucked out with a very short wait in the ER. Although once we got to a room things slowed down dramatically. They started by starting an IV {just in case} and drawing blood from the same spot. They also took urine. Then, he was rolled in for an ultrasound. The doc checked him over, feeling his belly, asking all the normal questions. His blood came back normal, which was great, no elevated white blood cells so that pointed away from appendix. But the place it hurt still raised red flags. It turns out that the ultrasound couldn't get a view of his appendix.

It was then we were sent to the uptown children's emergency center to see a pediatric surgeon. They were still really concerned that it was appendicitis. They wanted to send him by ambulance, but I declined and said I could drive him. After signing something saying I WOULD take him to the other hospital we were on our way.

I picked up Mel from work on the way to the hospital. I was worried about surgery and did NOT want to have to go through that by myself.

Miraculously from the the time we left the first hospital to the time we arrived at the second Joshua made a complete turn around. He was hungry! STARVING! And his stomach was hardly hurting at all. He did complain that each step hurt as we walked in though.

I was so frustrated at this point.

Finally we saw the peds ER doctor who said he really didn't think it was appendicitis. He said 9 times out of 10 it's constipation so they did an x-ray. X-ray came back normal. All we could do now is wait for the surgeon to come in, review everything and give their opinion. The entire time Joshua was FINE. Absolutely fine. And I was frustrated and aggravated, and FRUSTRATED.

The surgeon came in and said that at this point everything was pointing away from appendix rather than towards it. HUGE relief. He said that basically he didn't know what it was. His best guess was swollen lymph nodes in the intestines caused from a virus.

I have NEVER heard of lymph nodes in the intestines.

We were give the regular speal. If this happens, this happens, this happens, call them, or them, or us. Do this, don't do that, call if this. You know all the regular stuff. Joshua left, literally bouncing out of the hospital ready to eat a horse.

Mel and I left more than a little peeved.

Don't get me wrong, we were SO thankful that Joshua was okay, and wouldn't need surgery. But so frustrated with Joshua! He is so dramatic that it's really hard to know when something is really wrong. In fact that's why when he said he didn't feel well I really didn't think nothing of it. He tends to make mountains out of molehills. The frustrating thing is that we now have to deal with the "Crying Wolf" syndrome. I never know when to know if something is really wrong, and then I'm left worrying that I may be overlooking something serious.

Joshua went back to school today, not complaining once of a stomach ache.

We shall wait and see if he comes down with anything else very soon. And I just hope I can take him seriously. He's got my mom spidey senses and instinct all jacked up.

Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!