Perspective

When I was little there was a story that my mom would read to me about a little boy who was having a very bad day and kept saying he was going back to bed. Thats me today, and for the sake of, well, the world, I  think I should go back to bed.

I got up this morning, worried about sending my first grader out into a world that is scary and dangerous and evil. I was more than just a little irritated at him for having the audacity to cough but not have a fever, therefore making my excuses for a sick day null and void.

My husband didn't kiss me full on the lips as he walked out the door and one of my kids spilled their milk all over the living room floor where the kitchen table, and the fridge for that matter, are currently parked. I got the crock pot out, sick of eating McDonalds double cheese burgers and it was covered in dust from our kitchen remodel project. Speaking of that, I am wondering why we sat down and looked at our calendar and said, hmmm the week we leave for North Carolina for Christmas promises to be hectic, lets do it then!

The ham didn't fit in the crock pot and so the potatoes sticking out turned colors and the lid won't fit on it. My brother mentioned that he doesn't think we'll have enough tile to finish the floor this week, and there will be no way that my washer will be hooked up in time to do laundry before we leave.

I got cut off on the way to school to drop Kyler off and I had a weird conversation with my husband that left we wondering if we were fighting. Back at home the baby screamed for an hour before taking a nap, and the two year old pooped his last clean pair of underwear.

I got an email saying that my five year old needs a gift for a gift exchange in his clasroom tomorrow.

And then I remembered that I have alive and healthy kids that drive me crazy, I have a kitchen that I am fortunate enough to be remodeling. True I don't know if I can stand that Veggie Tales movie AGAIN, but thank God there is someone there who wants to watch it 50 times in a row!

My brother told me to see all of these little things as opportunites to learn how to be more flexible. He is currently trying to fix the world deepest wedgie for that comment!!

And so I am thankful that I have to wipe dust off of the peanut butter everytime we eat. I am thankful we have peanut butter so we can eat even without cooking appliances. I am thankful for friends who graciously invite me to use their washer and dryer. I am thankful for my smart mouthed little brother who is working until his back breaks to get my floor in. I am thankful that my husband and I haven't killed each other and like each other just enough to probably keep us from actually killing each other any time soon. I am thankful for the four sticky little mouths, and the fighting and the 25 excuses for getting out of bed at night and the wet underwear and the clingy baby that wants me to hold him and the dead flies I find in my son's pocket. Ok maybe not the flies.....

 

 

 

 

UH OH!

Ask any mom what her least favorite part of motherhood is. Hmmmm Teething? Heck yeah that bites! (pun totally intended) Getting a call from the teacher telling you that your child has a rock stuck in their ear? Yep not the best mommy moment! Realizing that you are standing in a group of executives at your husbands Christmas party and have spit up in your hair? Ew! For me its potty training! I hate it!!

Its that year or 3 that everything smells like pee and your couch has been cleaned so many times its a completely new color and you now have to buy new curtains to match the new color.

Caleb decided he was done with diapers one day. I put him in big boy pants and for three days straight not one accident. People I am thinking that maybe I am finally figuring out how to be a good mother to this child and I am overlooking the fact that he is sticking lego light sabers up his nose or spitting the almonds back into the chex mix bowl, because he is diaper free!!

Well all good things must come to an end and we wouldn't want me thinking I have this mommy thing figured out!! So we throw in a few accidents, never at home mind you, or when I have remembered to bring extra clothes along.

If you are a mom you have probably experienced the following. You are out somewhere. You are talking to someone who is telling you how cute your four little boys are and you are glowing with maternal pride, when you look over and you see THAT face. OH NO! You grab the kid holding him slightly away from you as you search frantically for a bathroom. Line out the womens restroom, can't sneak in the mens. He's biting his lip and crossing his legs and you are desperate. Finally an older experienced woman recognizes the crossed legs wide eyed situation and motiones you ahead. You make it to the stall door. YES! you got this! Aaaaaand then there is a puddle around your feet and the child with the worlds largest bladder is soaked through and through!

Well what would you do say, if you were all dressed up for the older kids piano recital and had no extra clothes and reeked of urine? What any mother would do! Try to soak the pee up with paper towel, rub a little soap onto the jeans and make the kid sit on the floor on his coat, while the the other older one whispers loud enough for the entire room to hear that "HE STINKS!"

Yesterday I was stting in the doctors office and potty training child starts whining that he has to go potty. We are about to be called back. What do I do? I bribe him. Hold it and I'll buy you a pony! Pretty soon he looks up at me and loudly exclaims, "oh no I don't have to go potty, I just had to fart!"

Oh Lord!!

And later he asked the doctor if he wanted to see Bullseye and I realized where he was wearing Bullseye just in time!! Our doctor informed us he was moving out of state. Coincidence??

 



My Little Angel

10 and a half months ago I once again welcomed a male child into my world. He was huge and stubbornly refused to nurse, and I knew he was exactly the little kid that could survive three older brothers who were rather lacking in the "children should be seen but not heard" department.

As Liam is Caleb's brother, we are all holding our breath waiting to see just how much of the "Caleb" gene he possesses.

Because of the problems Liam had with his ears and needing ear tubes, he is kind of behind on talking. The day that he started saying "dada" I rolled my eyes. Of course he would say daddy first, as if daddy was the one who got up in the middle of the night and came back to bed with spit up running down his legs, or cleaned up the diaper that managed to located its contents clear up to Liam's ears, or sat with carrots splattered all over his face when Liam decided to show his impressive raspberry talent at lunch time.

But mama had to be next, right?

Nope!

It was Micah! Come one! Mama is a lot easier than Micah! Next it was Kyler, then baba, and possibly hi. By this time I was thinking the kid would say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, before he said mommy. But finally last week Mr. Liam was crying for his bottle. I was doing dishes and trying to tune him out long enough to get the day old spaghetti off of the bowl. In desperation, on a sob, he broke down and wailed, "MAMA!" 

I dropped the pan, spaghetti and all and started hollering. Liam stopped crying mid-wail, and with terror in his huge eyes, stared at his crazy mama. I gave him his bottle, heck I gave him two! After he was done, I encouraged him to say it again. He did and again I jumped around the room cheering! Liam dissolved into tears of fear. I forgot about his reaction and did this 3 or 6 or possibly 10 more times. Needless to say Liam doesn't say mama very much anymore.

On a side note, we think he says Caleb too, only it sounds like a high pitched please-someone-save-me scream. 

Liam means "protective". I can't help wondering if there is something very unique that Liam was created for, something special that God has him here to "protect". Of course Kevin reminds me that very few mothers think, yeah that's a kid who will probably be a high school drop out, with no future and very little potential. But I still think my kid is something special!

I thank God for Liam. I thank God that Liam is Liam and not "Leah" like I thought he should have been =). I thank God for my special little boy that completed the "Wilson brotherhood". He is an incredible joy to our family!!

I pray that Liam will stand firm in his faith and have clear direction in life. I pray that he will have a purpose worth dying for and live every day to the absolute fullest. I pray that he will be kind and gentle and humble. I pray that he will always love his brothers like he does now and that all 4 boys will be best friends until the day they die. I pray that Liam will be an incredible protector of justice, and will change the world!

Caleb

A few days ago, my darling husband asked me if I was planning on writing blogs on each of the boys. I told him that I had planned on it. He chuckled and shook his head. "Good luck writing the one on Caleb!"

Ask anyone of us and even on the most exhausting day, we would all tell you that we are thankful that Caleb is part of our lives. We will probably be rolling our eyes and shaking our heads, but even the brothers kind of like having the little turkey around; even if its for the sole reason that he takes the attention and disciplinary actions off of them.

Caleb was one of the easiest babies in the world. He slept 13 hours through the night when he was just a month old. He was oh so happy all of the time and cute as a button. At just nine months he became very mobile and we were given a frightening glimps of what this child might be capable of.

When dividing up the kids, the equal division goes, Caleb and then the rest of the boys, and we will argue over who gets the three. At night when he is tucked in his bed sleeping away with Liam's pacifier in his mouth that he had hidden under his bed, we smile down at him and comment on how adorable he is. In the morning when we get up for the day, we threaten anyone who wakes him up. Wake everyone up if you must, just not Caleb!

Even our babysitter has threatened to start charging us double to watch him!

Caleb has a talent for scaling any height and for scouring the darkest corner to get to a pacifier. I am honestly worried that if we don't find a support group soon, the pacifier will soon become a permanent part of his mouth. Can't find Caleb? Look under the crib; look in the pantry; look in the drier. You will find him in any of these places, sucking on a pacifier.

Caleb recently dicovered a love of coffee. As if uncaffeinated Caleb wasn't ....amazing enough. We told him there were yucky caffein bugs in coffee. Now he goes around crying for caffein bugs; Starbucks is the caffein bug place! One night he ran back and forth across the living room making siren noises after drinking half of my coffee. He didn't even take breaths!! We sat on the couch watching him in terror!

He watches Backyardigans and Veggie Tales incessantly, and he sings Taylor Swift songs at the top of his lungs. He loves to use the word actually and he is obessed with Q-tips. The other day we were walking through the store. Next to a display of candy was a rack of Q-tips. Caleb starting yelling at the an impressive decible with imense enthusiasm. "mommy, Q-tips!!!"

I have no idea what I did with all of my time and energy before Caleb became part of my life!

Caleb loves his brothers! He can't wait to hug Liam every morning and he always makes sure his older brothers know how much he misses them when they are at school. He meets his daddy at the door everyday as if Kevin has just come back from years away at war.

Caleb loves to hug. He hugged the Schwan's man the other day...although when he brings Rocky Road ice cream, who can blame him? The other day I was in a restaurant when I turned around to find that Caleb had a stanger's baby in a headlock, smooching the poor unsuspecting child full on the mouth!

I am so glad God decided my life was a little too boring and needed massive amounts of excitment. There is something so incredibly unique about Mr. Caleb, and I can't wait to see all that God has for him! I pray that his heart will always be big. I pray that he will live life to the absolute fullest and always smile at the future. I pray that his loyalty and passion, touch everyone he meets and makes this world a better place.

Thank you God for my gift of Caleb!!!

Farmers and Egyptians

Today I am thankful for my kids' school. I almost want to go back and go through grade school. I never did all of the things my kids get to do!

Last year I was introduced to Mother Goose Day in the Kindergarten class. If you will remember we had quite the adventure creating Humpty Dumpty for Micah. Thjis year it was Kyler's turn to participate in Mother Goose Day. Thankfully I chose this year andidn't even let him think there was a choice. I drove to every store in town before heading out to Falcon to find overalls in Kyler's size; insert Falcon jokes here. We got a hat and caled Kyler Old Macdonald. He was adorable! 

In class when it came time for him to recite Old Macdonald, he proudly added that Old Macdonald had a snake. I breathed a sigh of relief, no costume's to uncover my horrific lack of creaive skills.

WRONG!

Micah mentioned Egyptian Day and in exploring the website I found that he was supossed to be dressed as one; a week from the day I was looking at the flier!

I couldn't find a costume for boys.  A friend found one, but it was kind of expensive. So I went online and found "easy" instructions to make my own. I went out and spent the same amount on supplies that I would have spent on ordering the already made costume.

I spent hours cutting ans ewing an recutting and trying on a piece of fabric on Micah that was full of needles holding everything in place.

He started screaming at me at one point because there was a needle stuck in his ear. I told him to stop being so dramatic and pulled it out. Then I threatened his life if he got blood on the white fabric. We already had one bleeding character for school!

This morning my little boy skipped off to school in what we are calling an Egyptian costume. There is no way he is coming home with that thing in one piece!!

I am told that in the later grades wll be reinacting a war and will need sardines and toilet paper bandages. Maybe if I had days like that I wouldn't have minded history so much!! Especially if the cute kid I studied in class instead of my American History was part of the history lesson......

Surprise Miracles

Confession: I am currently supossed to be working on finding a cause for night leg cramps in a middle aged woman and writing a convincing plan for combatting said leg cramps, but all I can come up with is, give up your tennis for soap operas. Since I know my teacher won't accept this treatment plan, I decided to turn on the TV. I freaked out when I heard who they were predicting to win today's election and ate 5 Snicker Bars. Since eating massive amounts of sugar and biting my nails off wasn't being productive in helping me procrastinate, I decided to blog!

Today I am immensly thankful for my Kyler bug!

I was told I couldn't have children. We used fertility measures to conceive our first and were somewhat shocked at how easy the process was. When that first kiddo was only 7 months old, I found out I was 2 months along with an all natural and shocking pregnancy.

Kyler has been consistent in keeping us in a state of shock ever since!

When he was little he was infamous for changing his own diaper and hiding the dirty one in any conceivable place. At two he emptied an entire pan of lasagna on the white living room floor while I was getting dressed.

At three he got a peanut stuck in his nose; at 4 he broke his foot; at 5 he broke his collar bone.

Kyler is fascinated with anything that he is not allowed to do! But he has discovered so much! Like how shocked people act when you tell them that the woman dragging you through the store is not your mommy. How loud the neighbor girl screams when she notices a little boy peeing out in the yard next door. How hard you hit your head on the wall at the bottom of the stairs when you ride the laundry basket down them.

Kyler loves to laugh. His giggle is the most contageous thing I have ever heard. Kyler also holds the world record on how many questions one little boy can possibly ask. "What would happen if I stuck that quarter in the electrical socket?" "How did I get here?" "Do you think God could make a real light saber?"

Kyler loves to cuddle, especially after he has been told to go to bed. Those are the best cuddle times ever! Kyler has been named, "The best friend in class" in school, and is one of the most loyal kids I know.

Once when describing one of his friends who had a different skin color, he described hair color and height and clothing, but never once did he mention that his friend had a different appearance than himself.

Kyler is the best surprise I have ever received and every time I think of my shock and surprise I laugh out loud. I am so glad God knew we needed Kyler, even if we didn't. Our family wouldn't be the same without him!

I pray that Kyler is always thankful for the person God created him to be. I pray he continues to love and care about people. I pray that he never gets tired of asking questions and uses his discoveries to honor God and his fellow man.

I pray that he will be all God created him to be and will always choose to see the good in everyone and every circumstance. I pray that he will always have a soft heart!

I am so thankful for my Kyler bug and I thank God every day for the miracle that is my little boy!

My Rock

Ok its like day 4 or 5, (wait what day is it???) and this is my second proclamation of thanksgiving, but I am currently up to my eyeballs in sewing Egytian costumes and writing research papers on chicken pox.

Today I am thankful for my husband. His name is Kevin, he is hot, and he is way way older than me! He is bi-polar on Sunday during football season and addicted to Starbucks. He makes me laugh and roll my eyes and feel like the most special girl in the world.

If there is an easy way to do something, he will find every other possible way to do it. Without his iphone, he would be sitting on the side of the road three hours in the wrong direction at any given time. If there is a problem with my car, he can fix it, and if I need a lightbulb changed he'll do it....within the year!

My husband is one of the most caring people I have ever met! He spends every day working at a job that is taking care of hungry little children all over the world. He dedicates himself to speaking up for those you can't speak up for themselves.

He is an amazing husband. He is my defender and protector. The sholder I cry on and the other sholder I punch when he makes fun of me. He does dishes almost every night and he changes a diaper every other month! He has stuck with me through the hardest times of a marriage and through the most happy and romantic times. He is my best friend!

Kevin loves being a dad, even when he realizes that his two-year-old is snapping his DVD's in half. He loves roasting marshamllows with his boys....and a heating gun. He plays catch in the backyard and will talk to his boys about anything they want to talk about. At Christmas I usually only have to remind him a few times that we bought the toys for the kids and that he should probably let them have a turn.

Kevin has tought me so much! How to tell what year a Chevelle is; how to forgive when its the hardest thing in the world to do; how to laugh at myself realizing that tomorrow its not going to seem so devastating. He has taught me how to properly put the roll of toilet paper on the dispenser and that duct tape really can fix anything. He has taught me that a fishing trip where only one fish is caught is indeed a successful fishing trip!

Just last night he drove across town to deliver the wolds heaviest tv that he sold for $20 on craigslist, for a young mom who couldn't fit it in her car and had just moved here by herself with her 20 month old little girl, after her husband headed off to Korea for a year. True he spent the money that he made on gas, but that people is my man!!!

He is an amazing man, friend and lover and I am FOREVER thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life by his side!!

Micah

I have friends who every year use November to say what they are thankful for every day of the month. While I will never have the time to actually verbalize it, I'll do my best to think of something new every day and whisper it to myself in the shower, which very well could be the thing I am thankful for.

I must confess I have gotten into a bad habit of reciting to myself al of the things that I am frustrated about; this is making my shower longer and longer and then our water bill goes up and I irritated with one more thing!

So today I am thankful for my oldest son, Micah. He is turning into such an incredible boy! He'll be 7 in 3 months. If you ask him he already has the days counted down until his birthday!

It really doesn't feel like its been 7 years since I laid in a hospital bed crying my eyes out convinced that this baby would NEVER come into the world! He had to be helped along by a C-section and he was very purple from his reluctance to leave his little cucoon, but I have never felt that kind of love as they handed me my son.

I knew I would do anything for him! I purposed to be the perfect mother to him and never yell and make sure he ate broccoli and could read by the time he was two. I didn't do any of those things, but in spite of my imperfect mothering he is turning out ok!

True, he does like to see if he can make his classmates laugh by sticking rocks in his ears and up his nose, and he thinks its hilarious to leave plastic spiders in my jammie drawer, and that its awesome to watch Star Wars every day, but its probably the lack of broccoli I feed him.

Micah is one of the most caring people I know. Unless he's yelling at his brother or fighting with his carpool "sister" he can't stand seeing other people hurting. He gets upset when he sees other people being picked on, an he will confront anyone who dares to look at his brothers cross-eyed.

His smile can turn my whole day around! I don't know why God saw fit to give me such an incredible blessing, but he did and I will thank Him for it every single day of my life.

I pray that someday Micah will grow to be a man that loves God with his whole heart and seeks to serve him every day. I pray that he learns how love his wife with a selfless love and never ever stop pursuing her. I pray that he kisses his kids every day and knows that throwing a ball around in the backyard, has much more eternal value than working longer hours to make a few more bucks.

Thank you God for an amazing gift! Thank  you for giving me Micah!!

Family Memories That Last FOREVER

Well its October, my husband is finally on US soil and all bones have healed. I had a two minute window where every one had relatively unmarred faces, no casts, slings or bandages, at least any that were visible to the public, so I did what any mother would do. I went out and bought matching shirts for my boys and threatened everyones life if they didn't smile for a few family photos.

We called a friend to come take a few shots at a cute little spot with lots of trees and I ignored all complaints about how every other kid didn't have to get up at 6 on a Saturday morning to take pictures when their mom already took 2 million a month.

I threatened to not feed anyone until after the pictures so there wouldn't be food on their clothes, but Kevin cried the loudest so I covered everyone in napkins and allowed a few bites. It takes a lot of napkins to cover a 6 foot man!!

The trees were gorgeous!

 The colors were beautiful! I don't know why we don't go strolling around first thing in the morning with a bunch of bikers in tight shorts more often!

 And then we started posing. Some of us didn't understand that we weren't trying to make it into that book of akward family photos. We took the time, however, to explain that we weren't and Micah kept his mouth shut for about 25% of the rest of the pictures.

 We decided that maybe even if we didn't want to get into the book of akward family photos, we could just make our own! Me: "Liam, stop looking at the bug!" Kyler: "Dude, eat it, eat it!" Micah: "I really have the hardest time keeping my eyes open when my mouth is closed, why can't they understand this??" Caleb: "I wonder what would happen if I threw my shoe at that guy on the bike." Kevin: "Crap did I change my fantasy football roster??"

 Smile!!!  Um rocker dude, that goes for you too! Liam I understand its been 5 minutes since you last pooped, but can you please hold it a few more minutes and look at the camera??

 Me: "NO! Caleb, go stand by your brothers! Kevin: "Maybe you'll hear what I am saying better if you see my scary finger pointed at you!"Micah: "They are all nuts! I HAVE to have been switched at birth!" Kyler: "What? Whats happening?" Caleb: "SQUIRREL!!!!! Liam: "I'll just scream until I get my bottle....or Micah drops me."

 Thankfully they heeded my threates of dismemberment and we got a few shots that we might be able to send to you all for Christmas.

 Ok I said a few, not every one......

5 out of 6 looking is freaking amazing people!!!



Setting Co-pay World Records

Well its September 14th, 2012 and as of 1:53pm everyone in the Wilson house was, amazingly enough, alive and in possesion of, or at least knew where all of their appendages were.

After survivin broken collar bones and emergency appendectomies, refer to past blogs for weird details on these momets, my husband kissed us all goodbye and hightailed it out of the country for a week. The day he left, I had doctor appointments and carpool and lunch dates. We stopped at the store before dropping Kyler off at school. We forgot to ask Caleb if this was ok and after getting out of the car, we heard from him that in fact this was not ok with him.

Mommy crazily enough, still thought of herself as the boss and drug him through the parking lot. To remind mommy that she wasn't really as in charge as she thought, Caleb went limp, landing himself in a heap on the asphalt.

I gritted my teeth dragging my screaming child and smiled at the elderly lady staring at us. I bribed him with M&M's and we got through the short shopping trip with enough time to only run half the red lights to get Kyler to school on time.

Caleb, Liam and I headed to our lunch date at Chik-fil-a, where Caleb insisted his leg hurt and he couldn't walk through the parking lot. I was irritated enough to threaten taking the possibility of ice cream away. He ate his lunch and wanted to go play, but when he stood up, he cried and wanted to just sit with me. Now I decided to bribe him with ice cream to get him to play on it. If I coudl deny that it was hurt bad enough to hinder walking, I could fool myself into thinking that we weren't headed back into the oh so very familiar doctors office.

No joke, my doctor mentioned to me on one of my last visits that they were having a plaque made that said "parking spot reserved for Mrs. Wilson and all her boys"

Well by 4 he still wouldn't walk. I called my doctor and his nurse said they had no more appointments. Thankfully my doctor in now familiar with our craziness and said it wouldn't be a regular work day if he didn't see us, so he slipped us in for x-rays at 5pm. Turned out it was a bone bruise, and it took him several days to startwalking on it regularly.

Tuesday I patted myself on the back when everyone was nestled sweetly in their beds and I had yet to visit the doctor's office that day. I was tured, however, so I decided to wait on the bulk of my homework until the next evening.

Wednesday dawned delightfully cool and rainy. I got Micah off to school and everyone else slept in. I got Kyler to school on time and started laundry. The younger two, in a rare turn of events, both laid down for naps and I turned on the TV to catch up on my shows while I folded laundry.    

Then the phone rang. It was the school nurse. She wanted to know if I could come and try to get the rock that was lodged in Micah's ear, out.I shook my head, "I'm sorry I thought you said my 6 year old has a rock stuck in his ear." Indeed he did. Naptime was cut very short as I loaded babies up into the van and drove through the rain that was now annoying me.

The school nurse and I chatted while Micah yelled that we were hurting him and I dug in his ear. I am not sure how I feel about being so quickly recognized in the front office at school so early in the year, but my reputation proceeds me.

We went to our pediatricians office again. The guy at the front joked with me about how impressed he was not to have seen me the day before, then the PA tried for a while toget the rock out of my kids ear.

Frustrated I finally drug it out of my stubborn 6 year old that he really had stuck the rock in there. He looked at me and said, "but at least the one on the other ear and the two in my nose came back out" What?!?

We were shuffled onto the Urgent Care, and tucked into a room we shared with a lady who kept calling out that her pain was a 10. The nurse came in and tried with no luck to dislodge my son's classs clown act. Then the doctor tried for a while. Thankfully he was successful in removing the rock. He thanked Micah for the most fun he had had all day and gave Micah a cup to keep his rock in. The only reason I would have wanted to keep that stupid thing was if it had been made of solid gold and could pay for all the co-pays it had caused me!

 

Thursday we managed to keep out of any medical establishments, but today was a new day and Liam was scheduled to have tubes put in his ears. Thankfully Kevin got home last night and was there to hold my hand for the very long 15 minutes it took for the surgery to be completed.

Liam was not impressed that we allowed strangers to tie him to a bed, shove gas in his face, and cut into his ears. He made sure that everyone understood this as he filled the whole place with very angry screams.

We brought him home snuggled him into his bed for a nap and thanfully my adorable and happy little guy emerged 4 hours later.

 

You have no idea how scared Sunday is making me!!

It'd be covered by your shirt, but not your HMO

Caleb loves the belly button song sung by the boyz in the sink. If you are anyone you know exactly what song that is and which group of gourds sings this hit.

This song has taken on new meaning lately. And I shall now tell you why in way more detail than probably anyone wants to know.

August 27th Micah came home from school with strep throat. I ran around trying to get him into the last available appointment so that he only had to miss one day of school, because lets face it, less fighting has been a rather welcome event since school started, and I didn't want to disrupt that for too long.

After our fast and greasy burgers we gobbled at dinner time, my husband complained about a stomach ache. The man lives on grease alone, so a stomach ache really isn't that shocking. I'm rather bitter that his diet dripping with grease and deep fried everything has forgotten to raise his cholesterol higher than mine and I eat a tad bit healthier!

After being up all night with pain, he went to his doctor who decided that even though it could possibly be appendecitis, indigestion was much easier to treat. At this point I will pause and say, your welcome world for the hypochondriac that is me. I take full responsibility for the crazy, leave-his-socks-on-the-floor guy that is Kevin still being around to leave his socks on the floor. I insisted he go in. Just in case.

I waved as he headed to the ER on his own. People, don't judge, I have 4 boys, one who had strep and one who was finally taking a nap and you don't mess with nap time!! So when it became apparent that he was going to visiting the operating room, I called the babysitter and filled a backpack with chocolate (for me), and clean underwear(for him)  and went to be by his dressed-in-an-open-backed-gown side.

I sat in a waiting room with a large tv playing a medical drama, and listening to a woman loudly tell the story of how her friend almost died from her ruptured appendix. She left, the show changed to CSI or something, and it got dark. Then the doctor came out. I was sure he was going to tell me that something bad happened, like maybe he accidently cut the wrong thing out!

Thankfully he didn't and my husband was sitting in a recovery room. He told me that while they were in there they had repaired a small hernia. When I was finally allowed back to see him, he was hurting and had to pee, but grouchy about the fact that he had to PAY someone to TAKE something from him.

He spent the next few days on Percocet, taking advantage of being waited on hand and foot, and then his belly button bandage came off.

I wish so bad I would have pictures, but he has threatened to leave me if I take any. Before surgery, Kevin had no belly button. It was just a little dent. He hates belly buttons and I kind of enjoy getting a rise out of him by touching it. After surgery he has a very defined deep belly button! Where is the belly button that I married? What did they do in that OR??? Sometimes I wake up at night and freak out, wondering who the guy in bed with me is, and then I remember the surgery.

Belly button Uh Uh!

Things that go AHHHHHHH

Sometimes I wonder what my life would have looked like had I decided to become a nun and live in a secluded convent away from people and husbands and kids and everything else that makes up my life. I probably wouldn't be on a first name basis with ER employees. I probably wouldn't have arguments with my husband over whose turn it is to take out the trash. I wouldn't have to juggle which extended family we are spending Christmas with. I wouldn't have to spend hours on the phone arguing over lost financial aid forms. I wouldn't be doing homework at 8:00pm on a Sunday night, or trying to decide which uniform goes on which child at 6am. 

As it is I got married and started fighting immediately with my husband about toothpaste brands. I had 4 boys who break bones a few days before the first day of school and need bottles at 3am, and forget to do their homework and hide in the corner to suck on the babies pacifier. I have in-laws.....no comment. I have debt, and sleep in my makeup and let my kids watch TV everyday. I have a half completed degree and very little motivation. I have things growing in my fridge and I'm usually late to church.

About a week ago, I was feeling somewhat in control of my life. I had things that weren't exactly how I wanted them to be, but on that Friday I had purchased all school supplies and uniforms and had childcare lined up for the first day of Kindergarten on Monday when parents are included. I had half of my house cleaned. I was registered for my biology classes, getting me one step closer to my nursing degree. My husband and I had gone a full 24 hours without arguing and except for an impending surgery for ear tubes on the baby, everyone was well, and even the surgery was scheduled on a day that would work for everyone. We were good.

And then we weren't. 

We were at a family picnic type day for Compassion, at a park. It wasn't too hot, but such a beautiful day. The baby had finally fallen asleep and the older two were playing with their friends. I was finally going to get a minute to chat with a friend. I was smiling and felt unhurried. I encouraged Kyler to race his friend to the swing. He did. He fell. He screamed.

I told him to shake it off and go play. When his face lost all color and he laid down in the grass, I told him to go show daddy. Daddy told him to stop screaming. I explained to several concerned people that he was tired. First aid people checked the mobility of his arm encouraging a wide range of very painful movement and said it wasn't dislocated. He's good he just needs a nap.

After a nap he was still screaming so daddy took him in. He had broken his collar bone.

At this point I am hoping that inhumane amounts of radiation from impossible numbers of x-rays aren't to terribly bad for a little kid!

Its amazing to me how good that shoulder feels when he wants to jump on the trampoline, yet how impossible it is to move it when its time to make the bed. And did you know that broken collar bones require lots of candy and extra hugs at night?

The two older kids started school. We are now immersed in last minute homework, running out the door, breakfast in hand, and long carpool lanes.

But just in case we foolishly think we might have life together, Kevin is going to be in Africa and the DR for the month of September and Liam is having surgery and I am frantically trying to find last minute forms to remain in my biology classes. We have bone doctor appointments and ear doctor appointments and I just remembered picture day.....

Love with a pulse

August 1st. Holy Cow! Or Chicken!

I have spent the last two weeks in North Carolina by a pool and out of touch with the world a bit. But of course I have Facebook so I caught up! The last day of July I heard someone mention that the next day was Chick-fil-a appreciation day. I thought "Perfect! A perfect excuse to eat out that day."

My husband ended up working from home that morning so he agreed to taking the kids to an early lunch at Chick-fil-a before going into work. When we got there we had to wait through an insane traffic jam to even get into the parking lot, and it wasn't even 11am! We stood in the line that wound out the door and down the sidewalk for 30 minutes before deciding to go eat somewhere else. 

Later I got on Facebook and saw awful fights between friends, and hurtful articles, and accusations about things that I wasn't even aware was the issue!

One popular article I read this morning was all about shaming any Christian who went to Chick-fil-a that day, saying that it was unloving and hateful and that Christians wouldn't have lined up to help homeless people like they did Chick-fil-a. This was a pastor! Isn't that being condemning and unloving?? You really have to hate certain people to love certain other ones??

Incidentally, I picked up a book this last week that changed my view on loving people and being loved by Jesus. I determined that I was going to learn how to receive the unconditional love of the Father that holds no condemnation and learn how to turn around and offer that same love to the world; gay, straight, Christian, un-Christian, in-law, or out-law. Of course every time you determine to do something, it seems you get so many more opportunities to practice it!

My beliefs as a Christian are that God created marriage for a man and a woman. I also happen to believe that gay marriage should be legal. I don't think the government has any business in it. If the government can take away gay rights, they can take away Christian's rights and women's rights and anyone's rights.

The reason I went to Chick-fil-a on August 1st was because it seemed like a great excuse to eat chicken. But the thing I was supporting when I stood in line for those 30 minutes, was my right to my personal belief without penalty. 

Chick-fil-a serves gay people every day with a smile and a "My Pleasure". They employ gay people. Never once has Chick-fil-a denied homosexual people chicken or rights, or acted in hatred against them. The founder was asked his personal opinion on marriage. He gave it. Now Chick-fil-a's are being denied existence in certain cities. Intolerance? Yes, against people who believe differently. Perhaps gay people should have been lining up to buy chicken on August 1st, since they know first hand what it feels like to be hated and persecuted for your personal views. 

Now if Chick-fil-a had made a statement saying that gay people don't have rights or value or acted hateful, I wouldn't step foot in a Chick-fil-a again.

I have gay friends. I value them. I think they are loved and special and deserve any right that I have. I believe they deserve to have a voice and an opinion.

A friend of mine said on Facebook today that while August 1st was about making a statement about our freedom of speech, make today a day about making a statement about love and consider buying homosexual couples lunch at Chick-fil-a. Maybe instead of arguing about who is more loving or right or intolerant, we can make love a verb.

United we stand!!!

Weekend Waterbeds

Do you ever think that maybe instead of civilization advancing, that maybe we are just getting crazier in the head? Take, for example, those poor pioneer women who had to live in tents and sleep on the ground and go without running water, mascara, and facebook! Then there is us. We CHOOSE to pack up an ENORMOUS amount of stuff, to sleep on a cold tent floor with unbathed children, and eat food that has fallen into the dirt a few times, and we turn our backs when we catch our children drop their drawers and pee in front of 15 other crazies who have chosen to go without facebook for a few days! I mean what makes us do this???

We decided to do our once a year camping trip to remind ourselves just why we don't go twice a year, this last weekend. We had been experiencing 102 degree temperatures, but the minute our tent was up, it dropped to about 50 and never went much higher. To keep things interesting, we weren't allowed to light a fire because of the wildfires and the dryness that is Colorado. Try nursing without turning blue in those conditions! 

Before we left we noticed a slight chance for rain. That slight chance turned into probably, with a few drops, and then definitely with a steady downpour which lasted.....every single minute of our time there except for maybe 10! (This doesn't happen in Colorado people, unless the Wilson's decide to take their annual camping trip, which may have just turned into every 5 years camping trip)

My Sister-in-law and her 2 boys and my mother-in-law and father-in-law were also along. They at least had a camper, but do you want to know what happens when you stick 6 little kids, one wet dog, and 6 grumpy adults in one tiny little camper? No you don't! So we decided to head into town to hang out at McDonalds so the kids could at least play for a while. 

When we headed the opposite way of home and back to the campsite, there was much wailing and trying to escape the van, until Kevin told me I was scaring the kids and needed to get ahold of myself. 

So it was Liam's first experience camping. He wasn't really impressed; neither were our neighbors at 1:15am when he screamed enough to scare wildlife away within a 30 mile radius. Typically he loves outdoors; just not when its trying to drown him!

Kyler loved it! He got to pee outside every time he had to go; which was usually about every 4 minutes. Even the elderly couple in the site next to us got used to it and stopped yelping in horror every time he waved to them as he was watering the trees.

Micah enjoyed it also. Of course he found it fun to convince his little brother that every noise he heard or dog he saw was indeed a bear coming to specifically eat Kyler. Micah also learned that there is no space that cannot be considered prime time-out real-estate! We did however learn that he was small enough to break into campers. I have no idea what may come of this particular talent. I try not to think to much about the scary parts of raising 4 boy who are way to much like their daddy.

And Caleb, well Caleb thought he had died and gone to heaven. Dirt, no baths, and an endless supply of juice loaded with sugar. We had to tackle him into the car and tie him down when it was time to leave. We did however, learn that a constant diet of guacamole can really clean out a two-year olds system. And isn't that just the kind of thing you want happening inside of an over occupied, under ventilated tent that is slowly filling with water and floating down the mountain!

Like I said are we advancing, or just nuts??

The Blundering Tooth Fairy

About a month ago, my oldest excitedly announced his first loose tooth. Now to call his tooth loose is being pretty generous. Every 5 minutes for the first few days he asked me to check if it was looser than 5 minutes ago. This child is only excited about a tooth falling out, because he has heard that you get money for teeth that are no longer attached to a mouth. 

At first he felt that each tooth was worth $19. When I came back with 25 cents, we both agreed we could live with a buck a tooth. Don't you have like 20 teeth? Times 4 kids, I'm going to owe $80 for gross little baby teeth? What, no sleep as they were coming in and spending my life savings on baby Motrin wasn't enough??? Now I gotta pay for them to fall out?

Anyways, two weeks ago kid #2 came into my bedroom at 6am panicked because something was wrong with his tooth. Much to my surprise the thing was so wiggly I had no idea how it was still hanging on. Imagine #1's utter dismay to realize his little brother was going to lose a tooth before him. Now Kyler had already lost a tooth, but it had to be pulled at age 2 by a dentist with a large scary needle and a humorous amount of laughing gas, and had been awarded a Tootsie Pop by the tooth fairy so it didn't really count to big brother. 

Knowing Kyler I am very suspicious that this tooth's mobility could have been encouraged by face planting on the trampoline, or falling face first out of the top bunk, or sumo wrestling with brothers over the back of the couch. Last night the thing was hanging by a string, and as today was the last day of preschool it would be his last chance to show off his new gap, so he tried eating a bag of apples and nothing happened. Over the course of several hours he worked up the courage to let daddy take a pair of pliers to the dangling little chomper. 

At this point I will again point out my dear hubby's amazing handiness with garage tools when it comes to  our children's health care needs. You may remember the blog on the peanut that found itself lodged in the same child's nose a few years back, and when Kevin was threatened with an ER with 3 children by himself and the co-pay with it, he went into the garage and found a poking tool, extracting the little nut himself; no co-pay required. 

Kyler wiggles in bed more than anyone I know. Never once have I gone into his room to find his head nestled on the pillow, in fact a few times I have had to move the head that was hanging off the edge of the bed back onto solid mattress. Knowing this, the thought of a little tooth hiding unsuspectingly between sheets made me shudder, so we decided to let the tooth fairy know that the tooth would be waiting for her on the kitchen counter. The Tooth Fairy is very nice so she can roll with the punches! 

11pm I am finally drifting off to sleep after getting the baby with an ear infection calmed down yet again and my hacking husband with pneumonia has settled into a moaning slumber. Suddenly I realized there was a tooth awaiting a swap with a dollar sitting on my counter. I sit straight up in bed and shout, "oh no the tooth fairy!" My sick husband jolts awake, "Where??"

I go scrounging for a dollar. I don't have any, so I find 4 quarters and fumble my ways downstairs. I trade the tooth for the coins and then I am left holding this little gross thing that has lived its life in my son's mouth! What do I do with it? I stand barefoot in the middle of the kitchen in my pink pj's with the stove light on staring at this thing for 5 minutes. Finally I flick it into the trash can and go running back up stairs. My husband can't believe I threw it away. What am I supposed to do with it? He thinks we should have kept it in a baggie. Now I feel like a bad mom. Do people really keep those things??? What else do they keep?

I finally get back in bed, but then I hear what sounds like someone in my backyard and go investigate, because hubby is sick, and yes I did make him get up and run into the back yard wearing only underwear to rescue a plastic swimming pool at midnight once while it was snowing, but he didn't have pneumonia and a 102 fever then. (Our neighbors probably never go to bed, because they want to see what else those crazy Wilson's will do)There is no one in the backyard, but in getting up I wake up the baby again and my husband rouses, sending him into yet another 45 minute coughing fit. I saw almost every hour last night. Stinking tooth, I could have been asleep by 11......!

My Mom

Today I looked at my husband and said, "How the heck am I the mom of 4 kids?? I have become my mother!" And I am proud of it!

My mom taught me some very important lessons! She taught me that if your man is loading dishes in the dishwasher in the most ineffective way known to man, to never ever say anything. He'll never load it again!

She taught me that if your dishes come out with a few little pieces of food still stuck on, that is perfectly ok. Its clean food!

My mother taught me that if the dryer is making a horrible noise and seems to be walking across the laundry room, then your radio is not even near high enough!

She taught me that no matter how old your kid gets, you still lay awake at night worrying that they ate the right food, have the right friends, marry the right person and changed their underwear today.

I must admit that I made my mom's job every mother dream, no mom, not night mare, I said dream. I remember one day my sister and I were doing something we weren't supposed to. Hard to believe I know.  Anyway we were sentenced to the downstairs indefinitely. The downstairs had this window that was level to the ground. After a while, and I am sure this was my sister idea, we climbed out of the window and went to play. 

I remember once a neighbor boy walked me home. It was starting to get dark, and we stood outside talking. At one point I glanced up at my bedroom window directly above us and my mothers nose was squished rather disproportionately against the window, lips leaving smudges, as she tried to hear what we were talking about. 

I remember my mom taking me to get my ears pierced and 10 years later convincing her to do the same. I remember my mom reading to us for hours at a time. I remember sitting on the floor for inhumane amounts of time as my mom painstakingly braided my hair in little tiny braids so my hair would be wavy for church. I remember my mom prom dress shopping with me, and her tight lipped smiles when I headed out the door with my prom date. I remember my mom hugging me good bye at my wedding, trying not to cry. I remember my mom, tears streaming down her face as she held her first grandson for the first time, and even though he looked like something from a horror movie with his odd shaped purple bruised head, saying he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and she totally meant it!

I have called my mom sobbing. I have called my mom so excited I was breathless. I have called my mom with nothing really to talk about and hung up an hour later. I have called my mom asking, what do I do if my son eats THAT? Or what should I do if my kid is still in diapers in college? What should I do if I have baked the pie for 2 hours and its still runny? What should I use to get pee out of the carpet? What should I do if I am sick and my kids aren't? What should I do if my kid is covered in red spots?

Mom I am so proud to call you mom!! I love you more than I will ever be able to tell you and I hope I can be as good of a mother as you have been. Thank you!

And God Said.. STOP CLIMBING ON THAT!

I don't know about you, but right now my life is crazy busy. I have friends who go to several Bible Studies a week, I have friends who, every day post Bible verses as their facebook status that they came across when they were doing their three hour quiet time. I have friends who have read every single devotional and are that perfect Proverbs 31 woman. 

Don't get me wrong, I want to grow and be everything I can possibly be. I probably do need a huge dose of "Spirituality" in my every day life. I have a friend who put it so well; "I really try hard to make the Lord my number one priority, but lets face it, the Lord isn't asking me to change his poopy diaper RIGHT NOW."

I determined to read my Bible more. I tried doing it at night and the next morning I had drooled all over Adam naming the animals. So I decided I would try it in the morning, but the baby decided breakfast was more important than the "two by two's" making their way into the ark. I finally found a perfect time to read my Bible; while I am pumping. See I told you I need more spirituality in my daily routine!

Bedtime rolls around and I am determined to be that mom who prays with her kids and has kids who grow up to breathe and sleep and eat prayer and pray prayers that produce food for hungry kids and heals broken limbs instantly. My kids start their prayers, and in between hearing them thank God for Nintendo and asking Him for Luke Skywalker to become a real life person, I must have nodded off, because all of a sudden there is World War 3 going on over top of me because one kid prayed for the other kid to let him use his bicycle and for God to hit him over the head if he doesn't. 

You know that verse about praying without ceasing, I think I am doing better at that! "God please don't let that police officer catch up to me" "God please don't let my kid puke from eating the tube of toothpaste" "God please keep the bank open an extra 20 minutes today" "God please help me not to intentionally lose my fighting kids in the store." "God PLEASE let the bathroom scales be wrong!"

We read a Bible Story the other night and I was interrupted by one of my inquisitive sons; "Mommy what did Noah do with all that poop from the animals on the ark?" Before I could answer  another one asked, "Yeah and where did Noah go to the bathroom?" Which reminded the third kid that he had a poopy diaper, and poor Noah did not get off the boat full of stinky animals that night.

My kids and I do have spiritual discussions. We talk about if nothing is impossible for God than he can make slime come out of his ears. We talk about how big God's fingernail clippings must be if he can hold the whole world in his hands and we talk about how God has to whisper because if he talked out loud, since he's so big, it would pop all of our ears. 

Awhile back, I had a grouchy kid giving me attitude at lunch. I prayed for our food and added a plea for all of us to have good attitudes. Without missing a beat, my child chimed in "Dear God, don't listen to mommy. Amen" 

Last Sunday after church the Sunday School teacher mentioned that my kids were in time out for karate chopping each other over the head multiple times. Yep we are officially the most unspiritual family in church. 

Thankfully I have learned about God's grace and I realize that he understands if the only Bible Verse I read  that day is the one over my kitchen sink or if He has to listen to panicked pleas to keep the child forgotten at school scarred for a short time instead of for life, more than once a week. I think he understands that someday I do plan on joining the deep discussions on how in the world the Proverbs 31 woman ever has time to sleep instead of discussing whether or not dinosaurs will be in Heaven. 

Just Another Day in Paradise

I get a lot of comments about my 22 month old. "He's so cute!" "How do you ever tell him no?" "Look at those eyes" and they go on and on. Those people do not live with him on a regular basis. When I try to convince  them that the innocence is totally superficial, I get nasty looks! So today I followed little Mr. Caleb around with a camera. I did discover he does have pretty cute eyes.

Yesterday when I was picking up Kyler at school, we were standing in line. Before I could stop it, Caleb removed his shoe and hurled it into the lady in front of him. She whirled around with a rather annoyed look on her face and then looks at me and says, "He has the cutest smile I have ever seen." I'm looking at her thinking, "Lady, the kid left a shoe shaped bruise on your shin, remember??" 

Today is Friday; cleaning day. I locked Caleb in the backyard so the house could be clean for 10 minutes.  Well the 10 minutes ended, hurricane Caleb entered the house and I am still sitting in the middle of a ripped up book, with marshmallows scattered about and Kleenex from the freshly emptied box softly floating around my head.

Micah asked for Snickerdoodles. I decided this sounded fabulous so I set out to bake some really quick before supper. Of course Caleb was tired of turning the washing machine on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off, so he wandered over to watch what I was doing. I turned around to wash the flour off of my hands and this is what happened. 

He ate three balls of dough before I stopped him, and as I was filling a second pan I noticed a few more that had not escaped the fingers of Sir Caleb.

As I was finishing up with the cookies, Caleb, who was jumping on the couch, hit his head on the windowsill. Wails and tears and hiccups ensued and I set him up on the counter while I washed up the baking dishes. I stopped to get the phone but Caleb had no problem entertaining himself while I took my attention elsewhere for a few minutes. 

He scampered away as fast as he could as I cleaned up the pond on the kitchen floor, and yelled threats that Canada could hear. By this time I am well aware that even I do not understand the extent of this child's talent for sabotaging cleaning day, so I scurry upstairs to find him. And I almost just turned around and went back downstairs once I found him.

Do you know how hard it is to get pencil off of walls? There was pencil all over every wall in the hall way. Seriously the child has impressive destructive speed! He wanted the rag I was cleaning with and when I wouldn't let him have it, he threw himself on the floor in a wailing kicking fit. I didn't look at him once, so he got up and went into the bathroom declaring "rag". I finished cleaning the wall and realized he hadn't come back out of the bathroom. 

I have no idea how he got the facet handle off, or why both of his brothers toothbrushes are in his mouth. There was a cute little hand print on my freshly cleaned mirror. At this point supper was burned and Liam was screaming for his supper. The older two were fighting and I was ready to declare bedtime at 5:30pm!

After supper we all sat down to watch a movie. 10 minutes into it, this was sweet little Caleb.

And this is just 1 kid, I have 3 more where he came from!!!

March Memories

I hate March. It seems as though March is filled with teeny tastes of spring, and long blasts of winter. March makes me feel like winter will never end. I have never liked the month of March.

This March, however, was the month of visitors. To try and buddy up to me, March has also delivered several long stretches of beautiful 70 degree weather. I am warming up to the rascally month of March.

My baby brother from North Carolina graced us with his presence the last week of February and the first week of March. We had some grand adventures. I reminded him several times of all the diapers of his that I changed and I made him clean my couches until midnight one night. He ate an inhumane amount of food and left his socks on my bathroom floor. He took my kids snake shopping. I can't believe how much my baby brother has grown up! I can't wait till he comes back to visit!! Caleb just told someone that the guest bed was Uncle Ryan's bed, and he still asks for him on a regular basis.

Our next set of visitors was my cousins Marilyn and her little baby bump, and Cheryl and her princess Malana, from New Mexico.

When we were growing up we lived next to each other for two years. Those two years have so many memories!! We had a funeral for a guinea pig and baby chick, we played Indians dressed in paper bags in the backyard. We built elaborate forts from cardboard boxes.

While they were here, we watched our kids play and make memories like we did when we were their ages. We spent an afternoon learning how to ride bikes and climb rocks in Garden of the Gods, and spent time relaxing and chatting. Micah and Kyler were rather sad the day they had to say goodbye to their cousins. Kyler dramatically stated that he "loved Malana for always".

A few days after my cousin's left, my grandparents from Bellville Pennsylvania came to visit. We had some yummy bar-b-q and looked at pictures and caught up. This was actually the first time they got to meet crazy and wild Caleb, and of course they met little Liam as well. My kids love Grandpa and Grandma Peachey, and were thrilled with Grandpa's stories about "pet snakes" found when their Papa and Uncles were boys. My Grandma raised three boys and it was fun to hear about what all I have to look forward to!

My Uncle Tim from San Diego also came with my grandparents, but he and his wife Carolyn got to stop in again, for a day a week later. Uncle Tim and Aunt Carolyn came bringing cool gifts for the boys and were instantly welcomed with open arms by the boys. Everyone competed to sit by them at lunch and every latest achievement and story were told several times by my kids. We always have such a great time catching up with Uncle Tim and Aunt Carolyn, even though every time we see them we tend to have another new family member. Maybe we should Skype or email from now on. Kyler whined that it was no fun that they had to go home!

We love having company!! And there is still a week left in March if you are feeling left out!!