Mother's Day

A big box was delivered a week before Mother's Day.  And the boys could barley hold in their excitement.  

So Matt said it was okay for me to open it early.  And what was inside the box was AWESOME!  

I…. got…. a…. Bosch Mixer!!  WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! 

(And then the boys decided to play with the boxes… )

On actual Mother's Day I was treated to a breakfast in bed.  (I made sure to buy some pancake mix the day before… my homemade mix is apparently for my skills only, haha)

Lots of cuddle time.  

Homemade cards and awesome homemade gifts.  

A good church services. 

It was a good day! (Love having Matt home on Mother's Day!)

Dentist for 3

When I scheduled the dentist appointment for the boys, I thought the three would be seen all at the same time.  Not one after another.
When I scheduled the dentist appointment for the boys, I thought we'd be at the office for maybe 45 minutes.  Not 2 hours.
When I scheduled the dentist appointment for the boys, I thought that it'd be a nice Spring day.  Not a torrential down pour--effectively soaking me to the bone when I got all the kids out of the vehicle.


All considered though, it went really well.
Titus was seen first and was so well in the chair!  3 cavities were found, which really surprises me.  He's been the only kid to never take a drink to bed, switched from bottle to cup easily, and drinks water like a champ.
Titus' teeth are also really smushed together, with really no room between his baby teeth.  Making one question: "How will his adult teeth come down?"
He also has an almost under-bite, almost like an open-bite.  So that should be fun to correct in the future.

Eli was next.  He had x-rays, a cleaning, and also did great in the chair.
His teeth happen to be perfect!  NO cavities.  Perfect teeth spacing.  No bite problems.  Thank you!  Finally a break for Eli!
(He took antibiotics 30 min before his appointment.  It's what heart patiences do.  The mouth is a nasty place, and can easily effect the heart if something gets in the blood.)

Isaac was last.
It was more bad news than good news.  There are no cavities on his adult teeth, but a few of his baby teeth have issues  (all my fault for letting his take bottles to bed till he was almost 3.  Totally ruined his baby teeth's enamel).  He also doesn't have a lot of room for his adult teeth to come down.  We will probably be seeing an orthodontist next year.

In June, Isaac and Titus will be seeing a pediatric dentist to fix their cavities.  

Update on Family Members (No Pictures... Shock!)

My dad is doing really well. 

He was released from the hospital yesterday, and checked into an intense physical therapy rehab place(?).   There he will get hours of therapy each day, with rest in the afternoon.  Just what he needs--he's really ready to see how much he can push his body. 

I'm not sure of I'm visiting Bama next week or not...

... Matt is leaving on Thursday for his grandmother's funeral (his mom's mom).  She died yesterday morning. Her passing wasn't unexpected, for she had been sick for a while.  

It's good that Matt's going, for many reason.  He hasn't seen his family since before he left for the last deployment, or when we moved from Idaho (so over a year for his parents and two years for his brother and other relatives);  and he hasn't been to Canada since Isaac was 1 years old.   

My Dad had a Stroke

If you've been keeping up with me via FB or IG, I'm sure you've picked up on that my dad had a stroke last week.

It.  Was.  Unnerving.  To say the least.

I didn't know how critical it all was till I arrived at the hospital on Friday.  My mom had been talking about how sick Dad was all week--all of us thinking that it was an inner ear infection, with an extreme case of vertigo.

I talked to my mom on Thursday morning.  She had taken Dad to the ER for the second time that week.  His speech was funny, he had fallen in the middle of the night, and he couldn't remember facts about his life.
After lunch my sister called and said that she just talked to Mom, and that Dad was suffering with a stroke and that he was being life-flighted to another hospital.

It was settled then that I was going to Bama for the weekend.
I left early Friday morning from coastal GA and arrived at the Birmingham AL hospital right at lunch… It was then that I realized that Dad had been having a stroke since Monday night.  And that it wasn't vertigo at all.  I was under the impression that the fall in the middle of the night Wednesday morn had prompted the stroke.

The facts about Dad's stroke:
-  It was in the cerebellum, the area under the brain that affects balance.
-  He did not have the typical signs of a stroke because of the area it was in.  That's why it was really hard to diagnose.
-  It was a clot stroke, not a bleeding stroke.
-  He was not at risk for a stroke, so it is thought that his sometimes abnormal heart rhythm caused the clot.  (If the heart doesn't pump correctly, the blood will spin, making a clot.)
-  He will be on blood thinner the rest of his life.
-  He has a shunt in his head to drain the excess brain fluid.

The three days that I was there me and Mom spent a majority of the time at the hospital.   Since my dad is in the ICU, there are only certain visiting hours.  So we'd visit for an hour, then go get something to eat and catch everyone up, then go visit again.  Like a 3 hour cycle.
We slept at my parents' home.

At the moment my dad is still in the ICU, but he should be moved to his own room soon.  (Kind of hoping today.  He just needs the shunt removed and his blood pressure to remain low.)  He is doing remarkably well!
He can eat by himself.
He can stand without weakness on either side.
It's pretty miraculous, actually!

My parents are well, well loved.  They have had a lot of support: during the week that Dad was so ill, and at the hospital.   Many friends have shown up, and his sister has even driven down from Pittsburg to be with him this week.

I don't know when I'm going back to Bama.  We had planned on going during memorial weekend, but I may go next week with the boys.  (Matt took the boys solo this last weekend while I was gone.)

I've Come to Terms

With the fact that these boys will continue to grow and grow and look more and more like their father, than their mother.

And that's okay.  Their dad's pretty hot.

Just Me and Titus (+Friend)

Now that Eli is in full-time preschool (and has been since the beginning of January), it's just me and Titus.

And he loves to be spoiled and spoiled and spoiled...

Like shopping for days:

Wearing whatever he wants without his brothers bothering him:

Enjoying story-time, toys, etc., all to himself:

Not to mention all the gadgets are his.  HIS!  HIS! :

5 vultures watched him dig holes.  It was weird. 

But then the fairy tail ends, and the brothers come home (actually he's pretty ready for them to be home by 3pm):

Eli and his food.  It's legit. 

Isaac and his LEGOs.  

And for a few days, it all changed.  Me and Titus looked after a little Miss for a few days while her mama was busy with a new baby.
At first Titus wasn't so sure, but then when we no longer had this 18month old around and she went back to her mom, he was really upset.  For, "She's our baby!  She's our girl!"  This happens to be a complete 180.   He LOVES being the baby, and never wants to have another kid in the family again, haha.

(PS, she fit in the family of all boys perfectly.  Managed their crazy like a champ!  Even enjoyed a few of their baseball games.)