Wednesday, August 27, 2008

OUCH!


I was in the kitchen when I heard the screams. Not your typical scream, but the only-mom-knows-something-is-seriously-wrong kind. Then next thing I know Caden is dripping blood across my kitchen floor and crying hysterically with his hand over his mouth. I managed to get a little look and saw two tooth-sized gashes on the inside that were bleeding so fast I could barely see them. My heart was racing and I was trying to stay calm and figure out what to do. So I called mom. My brother has had his share of split lips so I figured she could help me analyze the situation. In the meantime I got the battered and bloodied Caden onto the couch with washrag and ice so I could evaluate the rest of his body. One badly scraped and bleeding knee, a long scratch on the other leg, a bruised and scratched belly and, we later discovered, one missing tooth (that was contributing substantially to the bleeding). Fortunately Trace was able to find the tooth (which had already been loose) in the street. Unfortunately when it tore out it also managed to tear the gum in two spots all the way up (ouch!). After a call to the doctor we determined stitches wouldn't be necessary and a visit to the dentist checked out ok too.

Now for those of you who know me well, you will remember that I don't do well with medical situations involving myself or someone I care about. I break out in a cold sweat, get nauseous, shaky and just have to sit and take deep breaths. It isn't pretty. Especially since it usually happens during a rather inconvenient time (like when my child is bleeding to death!). Well, thank goodness my parents were able to come right over and as soon as he was comfortable with Nana I got in the shower and tried to get myself back under control! What a nightmare. Just typing this makes me feel queasy again! I'm pretty pathetic, I know.
Update:
Thanks to Darlene I realized that I never mentioned HOW this happened! We live in a neighborhood with a few hills, including our street. The boys like to go with the neighbor kids up and around then ride down one hill turn then turn again and go down our hill picking up speed all the time. Then we also have those new fangled curbs that are a big bump and don't slope into the street. (Exactly like the ones in Minooka - for those who are there!) Put two and two together and, well, you get Caden. I guess he tried to turn into our driveway and the way his tire caught just threw him. He is doing much better tonight and spending the night with Grandma. When the motrin wore off he started showing it a little so we drugged him up again. The dentist asked him right away if he was wearing his helmit - YES! We are huge pro-helmit around here - no helmit=no bike.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Zoo!

Looking at a bunny. Just thought this was a cool picture.
Watching the penguins.

Even though we were all exhausted from over 8 hours of driving the last two days we decided to go ahead and go to the zoo with Rick's cousin and family who are in town just a few days. It was a beautiful day and just perfect for the zoo - not too hot, not too cold. The boys haven't been since they were in pre-school and back then were highly unimpressed. Paige had never been. Well, I am happy to say that all three of them had a great time and really enjoyed the animals. Paige was just fascinated with everything and kept saying, "lemme see, lemme see!" She says her favorite was the bears, specifically the black bear who came right up to the glass and walked back and forth! It was really cool to be less than a foot from a real black bear! When I ask her what her favorite was she says the bears then growls. We were really lucky to get to see a lot of the animals up and moving; the otter, the sea lions, the bears, the penguins all gave us quite a show! It was a fun day and we are happy to be home now to finally put our feet up!

Little cabin in the woods...

Taking a boat ride with Dad and Scott. Notice the little spot in the water just in front of the yellow barrel. That's Trace!
He made it in to the dock from the swimming platform before hypothermia set in!
The kids and I after 'summiting' our mountain! We were a long way up, and I do mean up! Straight up.
I took this about half the way up the rock wall/landslide that we climbed. The picture doesn't do justice to how steep it actually was!

Rick's sister and family in invited us up to their family cabin this past week. The drive up was nothing short of agony with three bickering kids in the back but is was a great chance to visit with Rick's cousin and family who went with us. The lake was absolutely beautiful though. The weather was a bit cool so we didn't do any boating or swimming (most of us), but we did relax, throw lots of rocks in the water, and do a bit of climbing.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

New Pictures





I'm having so much fun taking pictures of the kids! Paige is obviously more fun but I was feeling like the boys were being slighted. So this last weekend I took all three camping and took a ton of pictures of the boys. Let's just say one is a bit more photogenic than the other but I eventually got a few good ones of both. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out and the setting was just perfect! (I also added on the collage I made from Paige's pictures last week).

Monday, August 04, 2008

Our little princess





This outfit was given to Paige when she came home by a friend of mine (thanks Cheri!). I've been wanting to get her picture in it before she out grew it. Today seemed like a good day! I think they came out pretty good.

Take me out to the ball game...




Aunt Chris gets to take family to a Beavers game every year curtesy of her company. This year we were the lucky ones since we had just moved back and hadn't had the chance before. I didn't tell the boys until the day before though. They were soooo excited! We rode MAX which is Portland's above ground subway type system, something we had promised the boys we would do this summer. At the stadium we discovered that our seating area was literally right on the field! We were standing on the same turf as the players! Trace and Caden chose a table right in the corner against the Beaver's dugout. About half way through the game a man came over and slid a ball under the net to Trace. Trace was bouncing around with excitement but Caden, of course, was bummed. So we sent both boys over with instructions to stand there looking at them, acting like you're having fun, and politely asking for a ball. It worked! Caden had his ball too. By the time we got on MAX to head back to the cars everyone was pretty beat. We had a great time and really appreciated Aunt Chris for taking us!