What an unbroken leg can do

Exactly 3 weeks to the day of having his cast removed, I look down the hall and see this happening.









"Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of a mother in her children, for that is compound of two cardinal virtues - faith and hope"

Charles Dickens

Our Pen Pal, The Tooth Fairy

Abigail has had a correspondence going with many of the people who visit our house. She's left and received letters from the Easter Bunny (to whom she apologized to for the mess she left in the house, and received a footprint from), Santa and his elves (who have congratulated her and also given her stern warnings on her behavior), and the Tooth Fairy (who has also congratulated her and given her stern warnings on her oral hygiene). She's a little writer, that one.

She showed me this letter with the latest of her lost teeth. It made me a little bit sad.


It can't be her last tooth, can it? Have we really gotten past the stage of loose teeth and letters to the tooth fairy? See? Sad. But, even though I really, really want my baby toothed Abigail back, I sure love the permanent toothed Abigail she has become. I told my lovely girl that I was sure the Tooth Fairy would love to keep writing her. Even if it's not for money. She just has to make sure to give the letters to mom first to put on the right amount of postage (wink).

My Buddy

After much procrastination and under much pressure from family (Abigail) I buckled down and started the potty training process with Hudson a little bit ago.

Potty training! (you say with great emphasis on the exclamation point!) Why that's the highlight in any mother's life! It's the thing you look forward to as soon as you see that second pink line! You say "We are going to have a baby! And then, we are going to be able to potty train in about 3 years!" Hooray for fertility! (exclamation point, exclamation point, and more exclamation point!)

I had other plans with this Buster. I was ready to let him go to kindergarten untrained, and then be shamed into doing it by his peers. Then I would just transfer him to another school and my work would be done. "Easiest kid to potty train" I would tell you. But my plans were not everyone else's plans, as it turns out.

But really, this post isn't about potty training my Hudson. I'll just tell you it was relatively easy after he figured out that no matter how passionately he cried, he was still going to do it. And once he had that revelation, he also figured out that when it was time to "go try again" he had mom to himself, all to himself, for as long as it took and he loved it (and not so secretly, so did I). We've had many fascinating conversations, my Buster and I, while waiting things out. We've discussed the weather outside the bathroom window, "Ooh. It's winny taday, mommy". He's given me wonderfully helpful makeup tips when it comes to foundation and concealer, "Your noggin! Don't forget your noggin!". I love it when I say, "Do you need to go potty?" and he replies with "Yup. You sit wis me, mommy?". Sitting wis him has actually become the nicest parts of my day.

The best thing that has come from all of this is my new BF(hopefully)F. Suddenly with all the time I get to spend with just my Buster Blue, he's become my newest suitor. Wherever I go he goes. I teach him everything that I know. Now, all we need are matching overalls and to start climbing trees to make this thing legit. You don't know what I'm talking about? Why it's only the best song from Saturday morning commercials in the 80s, and the thing I sing to Hudson every time he wants my company.



It's a good thing we had a theme song already, right? I think that was the thing that put this potty training in the bag for us both. Done and done. I love my buddy.

My Brave Boo

We all know that Leah is scared of everything. Seriously. I really do mean everything. If she even gets a whiff that something is new or unknown to her it invokes one of three reactions; panicked tears and the grip of death, the mad dash of terror, or the possum limp drop of the dead. Any one of which is my favorite, or least favorite, as it were. Take your pick.

You might think I am exaggerating. To illustrate my point, I'll tell you that anytime the kids bring home one of those Disneyland vacation fantasy guides (why do they hand those out to elementary school kids? Huh? HUH?), Leah will say "Who in the world would want to go there? Not me. That place looks freaky". I really am quoting her there. She actually used the word "freaky" to describe the Happiest Place On Earth. Swear.

Knowing all that, imagine my surprise when one day Harrison and Abigail had forgotten their lunches, and in bringing them to the school Leah said she wanted to bring them in and deliver them to the front office. By herself. Without me. Alone. Just her. Oh, you get it. Shocked and stunned is more like it. I agreed to it, thinking that she would walk 3 steps away from the car and turn back and ask me to come with her. She asked me what she needed to say, and then began rehearsing in the car on the way over. "These are for Abigail and Harrison Brammer" she whispered to herself, "Can you please make sure they get them?". Over and over I heard her literally talking herself into it. "These are for Abigail and Harrison Brammer. Can you please make sure they get them? These are for Abigail and Harrison Brammer. Can you please make sure they get them?" Then when we drove up to the front of the school she hopped out of the car, took a big breath and closed the car door. She walked all the way up the walkway and into the school. By herself. She never even turned and looked back at me.

When she came back out she was beaming. She was shining brighter than the sunshine that day. I couldn't believe it. Her smile was met with mine along with some proud mama tears. My sweet, shy, scared girl had done it. It was a big day for her. She was so proud of herself that day, almost as much as I was.

Plus now I owed her one, seeing as I was still in my pajamas and all. Those guys at the front office have seen me in my pj's more than Jeb, I swear. They owe a big thank you to my Boo as well.

Free At Last!

My broken blue eyed baby's cast came off today. Hoo-ray. It has been a long 3 weeks where he learned that he could lay down on the tile in the entry way and BANG! and BANG! and BANG! his cast on the floor and mom would come running to see who fell this time. Or that he could lay in his crib and drag his cast along the bars of his bed like a prisoner with an old tin cup along the bars of his cell, and mom would come running to stop the racket. I've done a lot of running in these past 3 weeks, I tell you what.

Oh, he adapted well, my casted kid. He could stand on his perma-bent leg in a little baby squat and get to wherever he wanted while crawling and swinging his peg leg to the side. But after 3 weeks of gimping, it was definitely time for it to come off.

He had no cares in the world at the doctor's office. Hudson covered his ears when the doctor pulled out the saw, but Holden just sat on my lap, eating his apples as if this happened every day (heaven forbid). The doc sawed and then pulled the cast off, and I was surprised to see only 1 cheerio but not surprised to see just bits of an orange and red fruit loop (since those are the best loops of the looped fruit variety, you know). The doctor said that it might take 6 months for him to recover fully, but before we could even leave the office that boy had his leg streeeettttccched aaallll the way out like he hadn't felt anything that good since the day I let him smear a custard filled donut in his hair. He was right back to normal, including his weird toe that has been crooked since he was born. Hoor-ray indeed.


The crooked toe at birth,

the crooked toe post cast.

Heart and Soul

Funny how that's the name of the song they're playing, too.

Easter, Easter and More Easter

Our Easter started with a visit from the Easter Bunny to our house. He's pretty crafty, that Easter Bunny, and hid all the baskets amidst the children's favorite things. Abigail's was in the oven, since she loves to cook. Harrison's was behind the computer. Leah's was mixed in with the coloring books and colors. Hudson's was behind the chocolate milk, and Holden's was in his high chair because, well you know, the kid can eat.

Jeb kept telling Leah over and over again to look under his chair. She did it every time until Harrison came to her rescue and helped her look somewhere else.


Next was the big hunt at Grandma's and Papa's. The Easter Grandma always goes way out for this one. The kids can hardly contain themselves once we get there. It kills them that all the blinds are closed so they can't peek outside to see the explosion of Easter that is all over Papa's yard. We started in the backyard where Jeb and I had lots of help from Brandon, Jenn, and Scottay with the littles.



This is probably my favorite shot of the day. Brandon is so cute with the smallest of the bunnies. He's a great dad.

The action shot with Hudson and Scottay.

The backyard loot.

And now on to the front yard!!


The assignment of the colored stickers for each kids. That's hard to do when there are 7 of them, and 3 of them have the same initials.

And in the end Dalton claims this as a victory for Easter everywhere! Happy Easter!