What's Up with Mads

For about the last month or so Mads has been trying to copy things she hears us saying. She trys to say her brothers names and although she says the same things everytime, they are nowhere near their names. One thing she HAS gotten is "thank you". She says it a lot and it just amazes people when they hear it! It is SO STINKIN CUTE!

She has become a Mama's girl lately. When she hears the dog bark in the evening she yells "Daddy" and goes to the kitchen. But when he walks in and smiles at her, she runs to me and hides behind my leg, smiling back. As soon as he goes and gets a snack though, she is his best friend (because best friends SHARE). I think she is going through a stage. When I am not in sight she is fine without me.

I cannot stand in the kitchen, fixing dinner or cleaning or anything, without her walking in wanting food. If I ignore her request, she screams and pulls at my legs! It makes cooking dinner interesting! This girl wants to eat ALL. THE. TIME! None of my boys were this bad! She is still tasting (and eating) anything she can get in her mouth too! Our little goat!

She is walking everywhere now - and getting into everything. She discovered that the world is much different when you get off your knees and use your feet. She had already learned what was in all of the low drawers, now she is learning the mid-drawers and has learned to open cabinet doors. If I leave her for just a second (to change out laundry, potty or whatever), she will have my kitchen floor covered in things that were once in drawers and cabinets. And, boy is she always proud of herself!!

Every night, her and I walk to the end of our road and back. It is a pretty long walk for her, but she usually does at least half of it. About every three steps she stops and does this:


makes for a long walk, and some funny faces, and even a few honks... I am not sure if she is smelling her feet, the sidewalk or just wanting an upside down view of the world!










Friday we went to an ENT (ear nose and throat) dr. Daddy finally agreed the weekend before that she should get her ears done, but only if she went to a dr to do it. So, we did. He seemed to be a great dr, and I was kind of glad we went since we have ENT issues with other kids! Now we know where to take them if we need to. She was mad before the dr came in because she wanted down, and we would not let her. She screamed when I held her face against my chest and the nurse held her hands, but that was it. As soon as we let go of her, she was happy. No, really. I mean happy. She looked at the dr, smiled and waved bye to him. We went to eat right after, here is her first pierced ear shot:



















She LOVES the water. When we are walking she always tries to walk through any sprinklers that are on. Daddy filled the little swimming pool and she enjoyed getting in and out of it. She kept trying to drink from the hose when Daddy would spray it. I don't know where she learned that - I haven't seen the boys do it.



















I went out Friday for a girls night out (which I haven't done in over 2 years). I got some new shoes before we went, but I wasn't sure I was going to get to wear them. Mady is a shoe hog!! If she sees shoes, she takes them. It doesn't who's shoes they are. She wants them ALL!!! When I was getting dressed Friday she was trying to put my shoes on her feet. I sure hope she has the same size foot I do, otherwise the two of us may break Daddy when she gets older!

Trip 2 to the ER (in one night)

I got home from the first trip to the ER and Daddy was not happy. I guess I was supposed to know that there was no radiation in an MRI. Then, I was telling him how the dr said he held open the wound while he was glueing, so that it would heal from the inside out. Made sense to me....but I don't have a medical degree!

Paul starts looking online at the proper way to glue a wound (including Dermabonds website). EVERYTHING said to HOLD THE WOUND CLOSED AND GLUE. So Paul calls the nurse at his office who thinks it was supposed to be closed. She calls the dr who works for the office....HE says closed and should maybe have it checked by someone else. By now, it is after 10. After hour clinics are closed and it is a 30 minute drive to the next nearest hospital.

Paul called the pediatricians office to see what they suggest. The nurse has no idea why the dr would hold it open and glue and calls the dr. Dr has no idea and says it should probably be checked again.

Off we go for trip number 2 to the ER. This ER is nice in that it is seperated, adults and pediatrics. We did not have to sit with the middle-of-the-night-crazy-ER crowd!! In fact, we were the only ones in the waiting room for most of the time we were there.

None of the nurses that we saw before the dr came in understood why it was done the way it was and WHY ON EARTH it was done with his hair pulled up and back (this after the dr at the first ER made a point of saying his hair would stay how ever it was when the glue is put on...but I was not watching him glue and did not see the hairdo he gave my child!).

The dr came in. After we went through everything again with him I asked about an MRI. He said they would have to do a CT scan and the radiation for that is about 100 times more than the radiation from a chest xray. If the first dr had explained this instead of handling it the way he did, it would have been much better! But the pediatric dr did an exam - checked for any fractures around the wound, checked for fractures in his jaw (which he complained on the way to the hospital that it was "feeling funny"), did a neurological exam (much like a sobreity test) and a couple of other tests. Everything checked out fine.

He explained that he had no idea why it was glued the way it was and he had never see it done like that. BUT, it would be VERY painful to get the glue off and cleaned so they could either re-glue with it closed or stitch and that in the long run, it would not pull it much more closer together. He just did not want to put Caleb through the pain and not see much difference.

He said that he was sure there was a concussion, BUT HE told us what to watch for.

He WILL end up with a battle scar on his hairline. The dr showed Caleb his battlescar where his brother was wrestling with him and pushed him into a brick wall. The scar is at the same place Calebs will be and it is mostly in the hair

We got home about 1:30 this morning. The entire trip home was non-stop talk about the stars and what the real name of the moon was.....normal Caleb conversation. Which is probably good, because I was ready to go to sleep!!

I could not convince Caleb to stay home today because they had a field trip this morning.

He had a very hard head apparently, because this morning was the first time his head hurt and he said it was a small headache around the wound. He asked me if I would bandage his head (his entire head) so that noone could see where he split his head open and his crazy hair do.

I will try to take a picture of what it looks like after the ER when he gets home tonight....just didn't have the energy this morning!

The drs and nurses at both ERs were quite impressed that we have four boys and this was only our second (and third) ER visit - especially when they heard the boys ages!!
One asked if we made them live in a bubble - cuz that is the only way that was possible!

I DID NOT get the helmet lecture, although I did give it :)

Trip to the Emergency Room

at the ER....after we cleaned the blood off his head, but it was still bleeding.


Paul and I were sitting outside in the front with Mady while she toddled around (away from the rowdy boys playing in the back). Caleb was riding his bike on the sidewalks of our street. We were headed to chase Mady and I look down the sidewalk to see 3 people and a bike. As I focused in I noticed one of those three people was my son, and the bike was being pushed by someone else.

As they got closer I noticed my son was being held up and under the white and red paper towel on his head, he was COVERED in blood! I mean his face, clothes, legs. Mama ALMOST freaked out, but held it together.

"We were looking at a house for sale" the couple began, "and we saw him flip over his handle bars and hit the fire hydrant." That is right, folks. My son had a fight with a fire hydrant. And, I am sad to report, the fire hydrant won!

What is worse....he could not tell them our phone numbers!! So they gave him a paper towel (the poor woman apologized for not having anything more than a papertowel in her car) and WALKED him home!

So, we thank the lovely couple that will now NOT want to buy a house in this neighborhood, and took him in to clean him up, although we were certain we were headed for the ER. It looked bad, so off we went! (Just a side note....on the way to the ER, Caleb says "If that couple buys that house, I will tell them I will help them with their landscaping!")

There was no one at the ER, luckily. We were in and out in about an hour. Which is turning out to be not such a great thing. The dr came in and looked at his head and said he needed stitches. Caleb immediately says "What about that glue stuff. Can't you glue it? I want glue!"

I told the dr to do whatever was best to make is scar the least and heal the best. He said they would be about the same.

I asked if an MRI should be done (as we have flashes of stories where there is a head injury and injured looks fine, but the next day dies of a head injury). He told me no, he was sure he had a concussion but did not want to expose him to the radiation.

He did not give us anything to watch for, offered no pain meds, etc. Just sent us home.

I should add that two nurses came in to clean his head and to put numbing meds on it so they could figure out if they need to stitch or glue. They stand over him and one asks the other if they were stitching. She answers "no, I think he is stapling." Now, Caleb is already freaking out - their small talk was not helping.

Then, they take the towel off his head that was covering his eyes while they cleaned his wound. The other nurse was putting the numbing meds on his head. She had the meds in a HUGE needle, but was using the needle to put the meds on a cotton ball to numb. They were so busy with their small talk that they were not telling Caleb what was going on. So, they pull the towel off and when Caleb opened his eyes he was looking up at a HUGE needle and the nurses finger ready to push the syringe in.

Caleb starts flailing around, hit the nurses hand (almost made the needle go in her face), etc. I quickly try to calm him down saying the needle was NOT going in him. It was kind of hard to be mad at him though, they should have explained what was going on AND NOT had a needle over his head when they uncovered his eyes!

So, he got his head glued back together....but the dr said he was going to OPEN the wound and glue it so that it would heal from the inside out.

Happy 1st Birthday Madeleine!!

I cannot believe my beautiful baby girl is turning ONE today!! Most days, I still cannot believe I even have a little girl! Everyone has always said girls were so different than boys....and they were RIGHT!!! She is definitely much more dramatic and knows what she wants (and she wants it NOW!!). Everything is either the best of times or the worst of times, she rarely has an in-between!

She has her demanding or upset moments, but they are nicely and beautifully sprinkled with the most precious, heart-swelling sounds of squeals and squeaks of delightment when she sees her Daddy for the first time everyday or she sees her brothers when they get home from school or she sees the bouncy ball (or whatever) she wants. Yes, the bads in life are much more dramatic with a girl, but the GOODS are also much more dramatic!! And, the good dramatics SO outweigh the bad!!








The difference I like to see the most is the side of the boys she has brought out. They have a side of them that is gentle and sweet. That is hard to see in a house of loud, wrestling, fighting boys! They become big teddy bears when they get down on her level to say hello or play with her or comfort her. Every morning when Mady wakes up and I get her out of her room...you would think it was Christmas in this house. The boys pitch goes up about 10 octaves as they attempt to talk in a girly baby voice. There are many hugs and kisses and "Good Morning Princess Pooter Tooter" (which, of course, has ended up a favorite nickname for her from her brothers), or "Did you sleep well Sistee?" or "How is the Pretty girl this morning? Are you in a good mood this morning?"

That is right. She is spoiled already. She is RARELY called by her name! But, the names they do call her - they call with such affection that it is hard to do anything but smile! The funniest part is that it is her BROTHERS that spoil her the most (okay...Daddy is right up there with them!). They always want to be around her, playing with her, ANYTHING to make that little girl smile her big smile and show off her dimples!

As smitten as the boys are with her - it works both ways!! The guys in that little girls life ALL hung the moon in her eyes. She sees any of them and instantly lights up. Oh, how it melts this mamas heart!! She is a busy little girl that is always going, but she loves to crawl on the floor from boy to boy to boy to boy to Daddy and back to boy again!!









What a joyous ride the first year of having a girl has been! She can definitely challenge us, but the boys are REALLY good at that too! I am so blessed beyond words!!

Happy birthday Mads! We love you very much!

Scroll down for a post from her birthday party.

Boy Reading Selections

I stopped by the library to get some requesting reading for the older boys. As I was checking them out, I had to chuckle because I don't see this ending well for me. My reading selection included a couple of Sherlock Holmes, a couple of Calvin and Hobbes and several Captain Underpants books.

Why didn't I pick up on these titles when request were made?

Madeleine's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Mady's first birthday today, because - well, Monday evenings are usually typically not great days!

This morning we went to the arboretum to take her first birthday pics. Those are to come Monday.

We didn't do a whole lot, since it was just us. The place we ordered her cake from gives you a smash cake for first birthdays. It was pretty big! And the cake is HUGE! It is a chocolate cake with bavarian chocolate creme. YUM!!!!!

She did not really like either cake (her cake was angel food), but she LOVED the frosting. She kept sticking one finger in the frosting and then sucking it off her finger. She never really got too into tearing up her cake...most of the damage done to it was Daddy cutting it up trying to get her into it.

After not very long she was looking at her hands like "What have I done?" She was ready to get her hands and face clean....which gives me a little hope of her being a girly girl!! ;) My boys all LOVED the messy part of their first cake!

For her birthday she got a little purse that came with a (wooden) phone, lipstick, keys and then a wallet and mirror and a little stuffed dog. She also got a bathtime doll, that came with a few bath toys and an empty bubble bath bottle (which she loves). She was quite happy with all of it. She also got a charm for the charm bracelet we are "building" as she grows up.






















I have seen a couple of different cake knives where they are given for a first birthday and throughout until their wedding. I loved the idea and tradition of it, so Daddy and I wrote a poem (which we are NOT poets!!) for her (that is the frame on the table). This is the poem:

Here is a gift for Madeleine's first birthday
A gift for you to use in a very special way
This beautiful and shiny knife
To be part of the special moments in your life

A girl, we never thought we would see
To watch you grow and be who you will be
You stole the hearts of us all, I believe
It will be a sad, yet joyful day when you leave

Many memories will be made for you from now until then
And with your groom let new ones begin
On your wedding day you will take
A special "something old" for your wedding cake

The Zoo

Sunday we went to the zoo for Andrew's birthday. We went early, before it got to warm and crowded. It usually only takes about 2 hours to walk our zoo. On the kids birthdays they always get to choose where we eat either lunch or dinner. Andrew wanted mexican food (it is bad if the three year old can name the mexican food joint like it was McDonalds) so we went to eat mexican. He was given three free sopapillas since it was his birthday (the kids also eat free all the time - which is why it is one of our favorite places). It was the first time he had ever had them and he LOVED them! Then we went for a walk on a local trail and headed home.

Everytime someone would say Happy Birthday to Andrew, he says Happy Birthday back to them. I guess he thinks it is EVERYONES birthday!

Daddy's birthday is Friday and he told Andrew that he could have it! I guess he will be turning 4 Friday :)
we were the first ones in the zoo. When we stopped at the elephants, this one walked up as close to us as she could. She kept stretching her trunk across the ditch towards us. We thought maybe she was just happy to see people. After a couple of minutes she turned around to where her butt was facing us. I made a comment about not wanting to stand down wind as I moved from behind the elephant. The boys, however, climbed up on the gate to get a closer look. Seconds later she did what I would expect (because I live with so many guys. She let out a huge fart! I died laughing as the boys took off running and making gagging sounds.

concentrating on an animal

more interested in the water than the otters

If you know about Andrew's birth you see the humor (and seriousness) of this sign for me :)

looking at the cats

Isaac on the playground

Mads in a hippo mouth

taking a walk with Dad

Andrew on the playground

Bryce on the playground



Caleb on the playground



Caleb, Isaac and Bryce petting a donkey

Isaac the prarie dog

Caleb the prarie dog
Mads is unsure about touching that goat

But she likes Daddy petting it

baby rhino