Boys

Will I ever understand boys and their sense of humor? All it takes is a straw and an armpit to provide hours of fun.




That's right.
A boy taught us this one many years ago.
I think our neighbor boy was about William's age then. He came over just to show us this "trick."
My kids showed him their appreciation by laughing hysterically.
I showed him my appreciation with a polite, yet sarcastic, "Thank you, Alex."



So, here is my oldest boy teaching his younger brother the art of...whatever you want to call it.

I guess that's what I get for replenishing our supply of straws.

Here We Go Again!

It's "moving in day" at our house.

I'm not sure whether this is the previous Mama Bird coming back to her nest or if this is a new Mama Bird.

It's funny.
When the first Robin family moved in back in April, I didn't think that this was the best location for their nest...what with all the traffic in and out of our front door and on and off of our front porch.

But it turned out to be the perfect place to raise a family. We were all pretty protective of the birds and helped them out as much as we could. The robins became pretty comfortable with us, and Mama Robin even stopped flying away when we would come out the front door.

Carrie has already offered a gesture of good-will. We keep a big tin trash can on the porch that holds the dogfood. Some of it spilled outside the tin last night, so there were several varieties of birds on the porch picking up stray pieces of dogfood this morning. Mama Robin was flying around in a tither, trying to chase the other birds away from her nesting grounds. Feeling sorry for all of her wasted energy, Carrie went out and swept the dogfood off of the front porch.

So, here we go again! Another opportunity to watch a miracle in progress.

Wordless Wednesday...Sweet Dreams

Free at Last!

That's right!
Joshua is free at last!

We went back to the bone specialist last Tuesday morning and were told that his arm is looking great. The doctor showed us the x-ray and said, "Ah! The power of youth!" He pointed out the new bone that is there. It's just amazing the healing that has taken place in just four weeks.

The doctor told us to wean Joshua off of the splint. He said that whenever he is ready, he can take it off and go without it for as long as he is comfortable. I really thought that he would want to wear it for awhile--a "security blanket." But as we were walking out of the doctor's office, I asked Josh if he wanted me to put the splint back on, and he said, "NO!"

So, we celebrated with donuts! It was an 8:00 AM doctor's appointment--we had to get donuts!

I had also told him that when he got his splint off, we would go to the park and play. He added to that by saying, "With chicken and pop!" So, Thursday evening, we all stopped by McDonald's to get supper and took it to the park. Josh ran around saying, "I'm so exciting!" (I'm so excited!) When it was time to leave, he sat there in his car seat and said, "I love that park." Then, with a really sad face, he said, "I'm not exciting anymore."

Josh loves to tell people that he has "new bone."

He is also loving to do all the boy stuff that he hasn't done for awhile...




...like climbing in and out of buckets.



Paul tells me that it's a good thing there's a hospital with an immediate care at the end of our road.

Not what a Mommy likes to hear.

Multi-Tasking

A boy after my own heart!

Joshua can hold baby Matthew and play with his trucks at the same time.
As he holds him, he says, "Aaaaw!" and "He likes trucks!"





No more cheesy smile!
If I say, "Smile!" I get the cheesy smile, but if I say, "Say McDonalds!"...


...or "Say Mama!" then I get a pretty good smile.

I must remember to think about what the last syllable of the word will do to his face--for example, "Tacoooooo!"

Live and learn.



Speaking of multi-tasking. Not only can I "Matthew watch" while holding him--I can bird watch too.


But, I must admit, Matthew watching is much more fun!



Matthew update...
We went to the doctor for his one month appointment yesterday.
Matthew weighed 10 pounds and 4 and one-half ounces.
He measured 22 and one-half inches.
He's a growing boy!

Wordless Wednesday...I Love You!

To Spoil or Not To Spoil

We had a pastor at our church several years ago, Pastor Ken, who commented on the question of spoiling children.

Can you spoil a child by holding him too much?

Pastor Ken's answer was something along the lines of...

Think about how food is spoiled. It is left on a shelf and forgotten.

Don't you just love it?

At our house, we're working on keeping Matthew from spoiling.


Grandma


Grandpa


Grandma Gilda


Aunt Carol


Uncle John


Cousin Marilyn


Linda


Mike


Uncle Scott


Daddy


Carrie


William


Joshua


GG


Mommy (Three Generations)


I think we're doing a pretty good job of preserving little Matthew.

Wordless Wednesday...If Your Two-Year Old Gets Too Quiet, Check on Him!

Empty Nest

It's hard to believe.

I never dreamed, as we stood there watching that robin begin building her nest, that we would be blessed enough to see baby robins fly from that same nest. That was a little more than a month ago--and ever since then, we've had a front row seat to one of God's very special miracles.

Here's a picture of Mama Robin sitting on her perch with a worm, waiting until the coast is clear to fly to the nest to feed her babies. Daddy Robin is close by, under another tree in the front yard, keeping a guarded watch on his family. This same routine happened many times each day.


This past Friday, Carrie and I went outside to take pictures of our "babies." We were just sure that one would fall from the nest--they were really jam-packed in there!

As I took one last picture of them and turned to go back in the house, I heard a flutter of wings. I looked just in time to see one of the robins fly clumsily from the nest to a nearby tree.



Close by, Mama and Daddy Robin kept watch. When Jack ran around the side of the house barking, they began flying and making the most dreadful screeches.


I went running back to the house and called for the kids. They were able to see Baby 2 and Baby 3 take off. That left Baby 4. He huddled down in the nest, as if overwhelmed by the noise and the fact that he was the only one left.

I know, he probably wasn't thinking all of that, but I felt so sorry for him because he was the only one who hadn't flown away yet. The kids and I went back in the house to watch.

Finally, Baby 4 left the nest.

And I stood there and cried--unable to believe what we had just witnessed.

I cried, too, because the babies were gone.




I now look out at the empty nest and can't help but think about my four babies--relieved that they don't fly from the nest as quickly as baby robins do. Or do they? Wasn't it just yesterday that we brought Baby Carrie home from the hospital? And not long after that Baby William? When did Baby Joshua become such a big boy? And already three weeks have passed since Baby Matthew came home with us.

It's a reminder to me to enjoy every single moment. To take the time to be silly and to have fun.

My kids remind me everyday to lighten up. After seeing Mama Robin feed her baby worms, we bought some gummy worms, and Joshua wanted to be a baby robin.




It's really neat to think that those little robins hatched from their eggs at about the same time that Matthew was born. And when sharing with Grandma Judy that I was experiencing the Empty Nest Syndrome, she reminded me that I have many years before I will have an empty nest.

That's just fine with me...


...because if I cried over birds that were with us for only a month, can you just imagine what I'll be like when my babies fly away?!

My poor family!

"I Got a Broken Arm!"

Friday, April 18, 2008.
5:20 PM

Paul was giving our yard its first haircut of the spring. Joshua was riding on his green motorcycle. I was trying to find some green in my flower beds.

Paul said, "Hey, look!" There, in our ditch, was a duck! I told Joshua to come look at the duck. He stopped his motorcycle in the middle of the front yard. I told him that he needed to move it to the driveway so that Daddy could mow...then I turned my back to watch the duck.

"Dum, Dupid, Dinkin' Duck!"

The next think I know, Josh is on his back in the driveway crying. I went over and looked at him, wondering if I should pick him up. I asked him what hurt, and he said, "Nothin'," so I picked him up and took him down to see the duck. It had already flown away.

"Dum, Dupid, Dinkin' Duck!"

He continued to cry, so I took him up to the front porch and sat with him, asking him what hurt. He just kept telling me, "Nothin'."

It was when we got into the house and sat down that he said, "I don't wanna go to the doctor!" Then I knew that something hurt. He began holding his elbow, so I called the doctor and waited for the nurse to call me back. Meanwhile, Paul came in and checked out his elbow. He noticed swelling and a knot, so we decided to go ahead to the emergency room.

Here's the green motorcycle. Our best guess is that he was getting off of it and hooked his foot on the seat. He most likely threw out his right arm to catch himself.



After having his arm x-rayed, the doctor said that he thought there was a break at the elbow. His arm was immobilized for the weekend, and we were told to call the bone specialist on Monday.



On Monday morning, while I was in labor, Paul called the bone specialist. He was in surgery, so an appointment was made for Tuesday morning.

Paul, his mom, and Carrie and William took Josh to his early Tuesday morning appointment. He was re-x-rayed and told that he might not have a break in the elbow. Instead there might be a crack in the arm right above the wrist. He was put in a cast--blue, not pink ("I don't like pink.")--and told to come back in two weeks to have another x-ray. At that point they will decide whether to recast, put on a shorter cast, or not cast at all.

After he got his cast, he went shopping with Grandma. They were going out to find a special outfit for his new baby brother. Judy said that whenever someone would walk by them, he would say, "My arm is broken."

He has done amazingly well with his cast and isn't too anxious to get it off.

And he won't let anyone write on it!



Grandpa Les, my dad, recently had hand surgery. He and Josh had pictures taken of their injuries.



So, until next Tuesday, Josh is in a cast. He says that he doesn't want it off, but I think once he feels the freedom of not having a cast, he will change his mind.

And what do I think of ducks?

They are "dum, dupid and dinkin'!"