A little of this and a little of that

We have been pretty busy around here lately with knocked out teeth and broken bones, but we have been having some fun and enjoying our "summer" too!

Last week the Bugs and I were able to enjoy a day on the beach with some of our good friends.  The weather wasn't very nice, but it didn't rain (much) on us and it wasn't (too) windy. The kids were hilarious because they actually shed clothing the longer they stayed on the beach!  They started out in swim shorts, rash guard tops and fleece jackets and ended up just down to their swim gear (after first soaking their jackets in the ocean, naturally.)  The kids spent the better part of the day digging in the sand, rolling in the surf and battling with stick-swords outside of drift-wood forts and us moms spent the better part of our day chasing after runaway toddlers, stripping and re-dressing wet, cold kiddos and rescuing beach toys that were stolen by the waves. By the time we called it a day, the kids were thoroughly worn out and the Bugs and I were able to grab a quick dinner at Mo's Chowder House before driving back home.  I tried their shrimp special and it was really good!  popcorn shrimp, prawns and grilled shrimp skewers!  It was more than I could eat so each of the Bugs had their first shrimp-experience as well (they liked it!)

We also went strawberry picking a couple of times!  The Bugs were really into it the first trip out.  They listened attentively and then spent the entire trip crouched down, inspecting strawberries, finding fully ripe berries, carefully twisting them off the plant and adding them to the bucket.  I was actually pretty impressed! Baby-Bug started out doing okay as well, but quickly began stuffing the strawberries into his mouth instead (stem and all)  Since we wasn't be very discriminate about the ripeness of the berries he was eating (some green....some smushy - yuck!) He ended up riding on my back in the carrier instead.  Let me just say squatting down to pick berries with a 30 pound kid on your back is quite a work out!!  The second berry picking trip was not so smooth, which is ironic because the farm had a fantastic organizational system in place.  They assign you to a row of berries, then you walk all the way down the row until you come to a flag staked in the ground.  You start to pick at the flag and you bring it down the row with you as you progress.  This way each group that comes to the field has an easy time finding berries and doesn't have to scrounge through picked over bushes (very smart!) Unfortunately, the kids decided they would rather sword fight with the flags than pick berries, so I picked as fast as I could, filled our bucket and got the heck out of there!  We picked up a box of freshly made strawberry scones and I grabbed a coffee from the farm stand and we all sat in the back of the car munching on goodies while we waited for our friends who were actually interested in picking berries :)  I think we are going to try blueberry picking next, I am hoping this will be more successful because it will be new and because there is no squatting involved ;-)

We also took a family trip the the beach this month.  I had to work during the early part of the day, so we packed the car and headed west for an evening of hot dog roasting and beachy fun!  It was a relaxing time, Big-Bug realized for the first time that it is actually fun to splash in the water and we couldn't keep him out of the surf after that discovery.  Baby-Bug learned to open the cooler by himself and was in heaven helping himself to carrots and bottled water and Middle-Bug.....well, Middle-Bug broke his arm on a log.  But he was having a ton of fun right before it happened!

Deja Vu!

We have another injury in the house.  About a week ago, my husband and I took the boys to play at the beach and roast hot dogs over a bonfire.  It was a fun evening and toward the end of the visit Middle-Bug was really having fun running to the waters edge and then racing away from the waves as they crept towards his toes.  He was laughing his head off and screaming and we were all having a good time watching him.  Unfortunately he lost his footing on the retreat and fell into a driftwood log wrist-first. He cried pretty hard and we spent a while checking his wrist, asking him to wiggle his fingers, rotate his hand, etc.  In the end, it seemed like everything was fine.  He stopped crying, he had full range of motion, his hand wasn't puffy, his circulation was good, there wasn't even a bruise or a scrape.  By the time we were heading back home, Middle-Bug had totally forgotten his hand.

A few days ago Middle-Bug was playing with his brothers and he bumped his arm again and said "ouch! my owie arm!!"  This raised a little red flag for us because there was no way his arm should have still been hurting that many days later.  But, when we pressed on his arm and asked him him a few more questions Middle-Bug said it didn't hurt at all.  We decided it was possible that he just smacked the same arm and it was just a coincidence. 

Yesterday I took the boys to meet a friend of theirs at the McDonald's playground. Middle-Bug was up in the tubes sitting at the top of a slide when another child squeezed passed him and shoved his arm against the side of the tube.  He started to wail and was so upset he had to come sit with me for quite a while before he calmed down.  He was pointing to the SAME spot on his arm and telling me it hurt.  So when I loaded the kids back up into the car I called their pediatrician on my cell and they were able to get us right in (The boys have the most wonderful pediatrician!) They examined Middle-Bug's arm and couldn't feel any noticeable breaks, but he was tender in areas that made them nervous.

So...this morning I took Middle-Bug for a wrist x-ray where they determined he has a green-stick fracture in his right radius very close to the wrist.  After the radiologist, we headed back to the pediatrician's office where they set him up with a splint and called in a referral to an orthopedic specialist.  Now I am just waiting for a call from their office so we can set up an appointment for Middle-Bug to get a cast.  He was a really good patient today, he has some reservations about the x-ray, but he ended up doing very well and was cooperative and pleasant the whole time. He got to pick a treat on the drive home and opted for a cake pop and 'nilla steamer from starbucks :) I feel bad that we let him walk around so long with a fractured arm before we took him in! Ironically he was actually IN the dr's office with a broken arm while Baby-Bug had a check-up!

Oddly enough, this same thing happened to me when I was about 5.  I tripped on my blanket while I was running down the hall and fractured my arm, but it was such a small break it took my parents a while to realize it was actually broken! Deja-vu!

This will definitely make our beach trip this weekend a lot more interesting.....

A not-so-relaxing week

I officially give up the search for relaxation.  After this week, it has become quite clear that seeking out relaxing moments actually sets some cosmic force in motion that results in strange, bizarre and often exhausting circumstances.

It all started on Monday night when I took the family to a Fourth of July party at a friend's house.  There was a fantastic firework show put on by the local golf course, and these friends have a front row view from their porch.  The kids had an amazing time eating popsicles in the dark, throwing pop-its and running around the lawn with their buddies, waving a flag and watching the fireworks exploding overhead.  Meanwhile, we were enjoying a fun visit with some awesome friends and having a good laugh watching all the little boys tumble around together in the grass. Ah yes, it was a prefect recipe for a magical childhood memory :)  We were having such a wonderful time, we even stayed until 11pm!  This was quite a treat for the kids and I must say, they did pretty well with the late night!  So where did I go wrong?  I'll tell you.  Tuesday morning the boys were still asleep at 9:30 (which is highly unusual) so I just took advantage of the quiet, made some coffee and sat down to read the news and have a little "me time."  10:30 rolled around and the kids were STILL asleep.  "nice!" I thought to myself. "what a relaxing morning!" Unfortunately, this relaxing morning resulted in kids who were not tired at bedtime.

Tuesday night I was playing host to the book club I have been attending for almost three years.  I was really looking forward to our meeting because the other ladies are so much fun and the conversation is always lively.  Since it was such a hot day, I thought it might be nice to hold our discussion out on the patio with a small fire and refreshments.  Unfortunately, my fire pit did not want to cooperate with this and tried to smoke us all out instead, so the fire was nixed.  We did sit on the patio however and the breeze was really nice.  Since the kids were tucked into bed and I was going to be occupied all evening, my husband decided to go out bowling with some friends....while I am really glad he had a fun night out, this turned out to be a bad combination of events. Instead of sleeping, my boys decided to alternate between hollering out the window at us, running down the hall and peaking out at us and crying (baby-bug's contribution to the chaos) For their grand finale, the boys ended up outside in their pjs, barefoot, playing on the swing set in the dark.  Needless to say this was a bit distracting, and didn't make for a very relaxing girls' night!!

Wednesday night, after a long bedtime that was made memorable by a post-bath-time poop by a not-yet-diapered Baby-Bug (and the subsequent mess that occurred when his brother discovered the mess by stepping in it) I decided to try for a little down time again.  My husband went to bed early after a long day and the kids were all tucked in for the night.  Baby-Bug was already asleep and things were looking good.  The house was quiet, my to-do list was finished for the day, and I decided to take my book with me into the bath and enjoy the quiet.  Things were gong well, I was enjoying my book when suddenly I heard what sounded like a slight jiggling of the bathroom doorknob.  I listened for a moment to see if that was indeed the sound I heard, but everything was quiet.  Hmmm.  I went back to my book.  A minute later, I heard the sound again.  I decided it was time to dry off and investigate, so I grabbed a towel and was just stepping out of the tub when suddenly "WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!"  someone started kicking and pounding on the bathroom door!  What in the world!!!  I ripped the door open and discovered Middle-Bug had had a potty accident while he stood timidly in the hall waiting for the bathroom to be free.  *sigh*  So instead of reading in the bath, I cleaned up my son (and the hallway) and got him settled back into bed.

Thursday I was determined.  This was the night I was FINALLY going to relax and enjoy my evening chaos and potty-mess free!  After the kids were tucked into bed, I went out and picked up sushi and a movie for my husband and myself.  We settled in on the couch to watch a light-hearted comedy and started enjoying our yummy dinner from our favorite to-go restaurant.  Suddenly I heard noise coming out of the boys' bedroom.  Annoyed, I marched down the hall to settle them down.  When I opened the door, I found Baby-Bug asleep in his bed and his two big brothers running around the room, throwing stuffed animals.  "BOYS!!"  So I got the kids back into bed and made sure to emphasize how important it was for them to stay in bed and be quiet.  Then it was back to my movie and sushi.  A few minutes later though, I was down there again repeating my instructions and adding the warning that there would be a consequence involved if they boys wouldn't follow directions.  Again, back to the couch I go and FINALLY everything is quiet and it seems like that elusive thing called relaxation might finally be mine.  Fast forward a half an hour and I am kicking back on the sofa, laughing at the movie and enjoying my evening....suddenly *Crash*WHAM*WAIL!!  I am on my feet in a second and racing down the hall.  I throw open the boys' door and flip on the light and there is Big-Bug, sprawled out on the middle of the floor with blood dripping out of his mouth!  I scoop him up and carry him to the living room, dripping blood the whole way down the hall.  I peak inside his mouth to survey the damage and find a big gaping hole where one of his front teeth used to be!  "What happened to you!!!" I ask "I fell off my bed" he replied....somehow this explanation and his current condition just don't add up, so I walk back to the bedroom and ask Middle-Bug "what happened to him?".  "He was climbing on the crib and he fell off"  Yes, this explanation is a lot more believable.  Big-Bug admits that his brother is telling the truth while he sits on the couch, biting on a wet wash cloth to stop the bleeding.  Meanwhile, I debate the necessity of a late-night ER trip with my husband.  Thankfully, the missing tooth was one that was already loose and we had been warned by the dentist 6 months ago that the root of this tooth was dissolving quickly and would likely soon come out.  Upon closer inspection, we could see that Big-Bugs tooth had come completely out, and had not cracked off.  We could also see that the blood had actually come from his lip, which he bit into when he fell, and not his gums - so that was reassuring as well.  In the end we settled for leaving a message for the dentist and putting his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy.  Thankfully, the boys have a routine dental appointment on Tuesday already.

At this point, I decide that any relaxing activity just invites chaos into my life and just turned in for the night. As we are laying in bed reading, my husband says "didn't you make some dessert? How about we go back out to the living room, cuddle up on the couch with some dessert and read for a while."  "You know what,  lets do it!" I say.  So we hop up to walk down the hall and I look over at my husband and see an ENORMOUS bug  on his leg!! He takes a swat at it and it starts flying around the house while we alternate ducking, swiping and eeking! Yes....relaxation and me, it's just not meant to be!