What If....

Hudson didn't have curly hair? He may look like this...

Or like this...

This might be nice....

Or my personal favorite, like this....

Thank heavens for those curls.

"He no rike it"

That torturous phase in babydome has reappeared in our house. It is now time for...

DUN DUN DUUUNNNN....

Solid foods.

I don't like the baby food stage. Never have. It's way too time consuming, what with the 3 days of this yuck before introducing a new yuck. Plus, they should make it with stain remover mixed right in the little jar. Seriously, that stuff doesn't wash out of anything. The goop is so gross I get all kinds of mommy guilt over shoving it into my little one's mouth. But, here we go again anyway.

I give you "Holden's first solids"!

Part 1 - The Excitement

Part 2 - The Confusion

Part 3 - The Realization

Part 4 - The Trauma

Part 5 - The Return

Part 6 - The Crying.

Part 7 and 8 - The Refusal

Hudson was my audience for this show. He sat next to me and with every gag and retch that Holden presented to us, Hudson got angrier and angrier. "Mommy! He no rike it!" he would say each time I put the spoon back to his brother's lips. I no rike it either. Solids are gross and stain everything, and mean that my baby is getting bigger. I no rike it one little bit.

The Breakfast Of Champions

When you need Bo to babysit your kids, and it involves breakfast, be warned that this is what you'll find when you come home.

Is it any wonder they are always asking "when is Bo going to have a sleep over?" Thanks for sugaring the kids up and then leaving, Bo.

The Duck Pond

I will venture out to Provo every now and then for only 2 reasons: the Bean Museum, and the duck pond. Oh, and a birthday dinner every now and then at the Brick Oven. I guess that makes 3 reasons. And on a day when the school is closed because it almost burned down (it was so close, darn it), and we are tired of just waiting to be evacuated, we decided that a picnic at the good old duck pond is a perfect reason to make the drive.

A picnic! Hooray! We are so excited!

At a park named after Harrison. Awesome, man. Rock on.

We climb trees to see the ducks from above...

... and keep our eyes on them from the path.

We have our trusty baby be the keeper of the picnic blanket. He can do that while sucking his thumb at the same time. I know. We have a genious on our hands.

Now, this duck pond runs a very distant second place to aunt Karen's back-duck-yard. But, to try to make up for the lack of Karen, this duck pond has the as-many-turtles-as-you-can-fit-on-a-log log.







And duck bums!









And more duck bums!






The End.

Bones Breaking, Pirate Teeth, and Blue Ribbons in Motherhood

The Young Men were having an activity at the park where they roll an enormous sheet of plastic down the hill, cover it with soap, and turn on the water. A king size slip and slide. Jeb decided to bring along Leah and Harrison for the ride. He also, unfortunately, decided to let other people come as well. This resulted in Leah's face colliding with another kid's head. She came home complaining that her teeth hurt. Me, as mother of the year, told her to put some ice on her mouth and she would be fine. Within a few days, her tooth began to discolor and I knew that it was more than just a "walk it off" injury. One of the short people in our house dubbed it her "pirate tooth".

A visit with the dentist confirmed it. Yup, it definitely hurts. He recommends doing a baby root canal to ease the swelling on the blood supply. I take her in first thing in the morning, she gets a shot in her patoot, goes limp, and they take her off to the back rooms. Once the dentist begins to work, her tooth crumbles. It was so filled with tiny cracks that it basically just disintegrates. Dr. Eric says to me over and over again "she had major trauma to her teeth" and "she suffered a really major blow to that tooth". Yeah for me! I told her to ice it! Super good advice. At least it was easy for Leah. I asked her what she remembered about her appointment. "I got a shot in my tushie. Then I picked a prize. And then... it was time to go home!" She doesn't remember the small detail of me pinning her down to get that shot. Thank heavens. We only have college funds set up for the kids. No future therapy funds - yet.





Exactly 3 days after that dentist visit, I get a call from Harrison at school. "I fell at recess and my hand really hurts" he said. I replied with "Bubba, you only have an hour left. Do you think you can stick it out?" It was just a fall while playing soccer, right? Nothing serious. Not even a band aid.


When he came home I put him to work doing his homework and chores, all the while he was complaining about his hand still hurting. Since we've met our maximum out of pocket for the year (which would be nice if it hadn't come at the expense of a hernia surgery, delivery of a baby, and 3, count 'em, 3 kidney stones) I figure we can send him in for an x-ray. Jeb takes him over to the ER where it's discovered that Harrison has broken his hand in 2 places. The nurses ask him "on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most painful thing you have ever felt, where is your pain at right now?" Harrison contemplates his answer for a minute, and then comes back with a response of "30". And I added another gold star to my awesome mom chart.





Don't you just love it when you get this mothering thing down? No, really, I'm asking because I have no idea how it feels to get this mothering thing down. Do you love it? I'm a superstar among mothers, I tell you what. Harrison is now in a cast for 6 weeks, and Leah has a new tooth. Supermom in action. I rock. Hopefully the state will call before they come to get the kids. That way I can pack for Harrison, what with his bum arm and all. It's the least I can do.

He's 5 months! Hooray!

Holden has his 5 month checkup today. I know, I know. It's supposed to be 4 month checkup. Close enough. But even still, the doctor was able to confirm it. Yep, he's definitely 5 months old.

The stats:

Wieght - 15 lbs 12 oz. 40th percentile. You get 10 kids and line them up according to weight. He's 4th out of 10. Funny since he was such a major heavyweight. I guess he gets a pretty good workout with all the complaining he does.

Height - 26 1/2 inches. 80th percentile. He's a sprouting, our littlest.

Roly Poly - He's right up there with the best of 'em. Rolling front to back and back right on over to front again. Doll face.

Kicking - Top of the charts. These legs are in constant motion. Especially at night, and even more so when he's supposed to be sleeping next to his sleeping mama, but decides to be kicking her instead. Oh man, am I tired.

Fluffy - Out of 10 kids, he's 214th. He's so fluffy! And chewy! And oh couldn't you just squeeze him while gritting your teeth and speaking in a really, really high voice saying things like "I could smother you in grandma's mustard and swallow you whole"!

The other thing we learned from this visit is that he is a bit dramatic. After his shots, the pucker face was cranked up to maximum. It seems like he thinks that if he pouts, but with his mouth wide open, he'll elicit more sympathy. Too bad it just makes me laugh.

He's wonderful, my little fluffy. We're all coming into our own around here. Mostly me, and mostly him. We've gotten used to each other, my baby and me. And, my, how he makes this place so much better to be in.

And the heavens opened

Lo, it began to be cloudy. And lo, the rain started to fall. Yea, it fell even for 8o and 9 minutes. And the waters began to puddle. And the puddles begat pools. And the pools begat ponds. And the ponds begat rivers. For behold, the storm was large. So large that the people of the valley girded their loins and began to scramble to collect food storage. And lo, the girlies of the house did scream and squeal in delight. They delighteth in every boom and flash that came forth from the sky. And when the rain did ceaseth, the girlies did soak in a warm bath. And behold, it was filled with bubbles.

Yea, and the mother's heart was filled. Even to overflowing. For so great was her happiness.