Drew in the ER

I posted "A Week in the Life of Drew" a few hours too soon.

A couple weeks ago Brandon got a split-rail fence installed on each side of the house and we found a lock that we installed on the front door that was not too destructive to the molding or door. With these improvements, my life has become less hectic knowing Drew is contained. We figured we better purchase a couple kid attractions so there was some incentive for the kids to stay out of the street and want to be in the backyard. A trampoline was one of those said purchases.

Drew of course loves it. He only lasts so long by himself, but if Corbin - his admired older brother - is with him, he has a blast. Tonight, both boys were laughing, and having fun while they jumped as I prepared dinner. Strategically, the trampoline is right out the kitchen window and I can easily see them while I cook. But, in the minutes that I was not watching them, tragedy struck AGAIN!!!

I have heard things like accidents and death come in threes, so I'm hoping we have reached our quota. March 18, 09 - Drew falls off a 4' playset and lands on his head. March 27, 09 - Corbin runs Drew over with his Motorcycle. April 1, 09 - Drew jumps into Corbin's waiting arms to dismount the trampoline, knocks his bigger brother to the ground, and smashes his own face into the concrete. To Corbin's credit, he was standing on a chair trying to help. But Brandon and I imagine Drew jumped at Corbin like he does with us off of any ledge. Now Drew weighs 29 lbs. Corbin who is three years older, weighs 34 lbs. We give Drew another couple years before they are the same size.

Corbin came in the house crying because Drew landed on him and he knocked his head. When I went to get Drew, he was having a hard time standing as blood gushed from his nose and mouth. When he was still crying 20 minutes later, I knew it was bad. He's pretty tough and doesn't usually cry that long. Not even a bath was tempting to him. He wouldn't let me leave his side but wanted to lay down and started going to sleep. The bleeding had eased up, but the doctor recommended taking him to the ER.

All in all, he lost a tooth as the doctor was checking his teeth, but appeared to be acting himself and didn't seem to be suffering from any other symptoms of a concussion. He may have possible bone fractures in his jaw and nose, but in little kids, noses are pretty much cartilage. We go to a Ear, Nose, Throat specialist on Monday after the swelling has gone down. X-rays would be able to confirm any fractures/breaks, but even if so, nothing can be done to assist the healing.

Again, he's a pretty lucky kid. And cute too. Quite the fighter spirit even when he feels down. We couldn't be more blessed to have him in our family.

Spring Skiing

Brandon, Audrey, and Corbin made it up to the slopes one more time this season. It's nice since there is a decent hill 45 minutes away from our house and even on a busy day, it's not that crowded. Granted, I'm taking Brandon's word since I sit home with Drew and my growing belly. I figure by the time our youngest is old enough to ski, I will learn and we can make it a family event. Until that time, skiing is something the kids do with dad.


I'm told both Audrey and Corbin have done really well this year! Audrey and Brandon got skiis for Christmas and we rented some for Corbin to use this season. We wanted to make sure he liked it. I thought he would complain of the cold, but apparently he does pretty well.

A Week in the Life of Drew

Now everyone knows how accident prone and mischievous an active 2-year can be, but when so many things happen in one week, a mom (THIS MOM) really turns around and wonders, "Is anyone watching that kid?" The answer: Must be the angels because apparently it's not me. :)

A couple weeks ago while I was weeding in the front yard, the kids meandered over to the neighbor's house to play in their backyard. Audrey does a good job to care for Drew and help him up ladders and whatever else he wants and I'm amazed at her strength because I can barely carry him myself at his 30 pounds of rough and tough boy. Well, either by his own brute strength or with some help, he got up to the top of this playset with an attractive yellow slide. There was not a rail preventing a rear exit from the four-foot platform. Next thing I see/hear is Audrey carrying Drew across the street explaining he landed on his head. He was crying, but it sounded more like moaning and his head had a giant goose egg. After all, when gravity takes over, wouldn't any child lead with their noggin? Drew was more than happy to go inside (a rarity) and I put him in the tub to help calm him down. I didn't detect any signs of concussion but I did take him to the chiropractor assuming something would have gotten jammed up from an impact like that!


About a week later, Brandon was teaching Corbin how to ride his motorcycle. They were in the open dirt field behind our house with Audrey and Drew as spectators. Now Drew was not anywhere near the action, but lately he seems to be a magnet for danger. Brandon had attached some training wheels to Corbin's motorcycle so he could learn to balance and ride by himself for more than a few feet.


As Brandon describes it, just like riding a bike, you tend to go where you are looking. And Corbin was looking right at Drew. It was if they were being drawn to each other and as much shouting that Brandon could muster for Corbin to let off the gas, he just kept going. He clipped Drew from behind with his training wheel, knocked him flat down in the dirt and ran over the back of him. Corbin finally stopped. Brandon was right there to pick up Drew and dust him off. Drew was crying but mustering the words, "I'm O.K." and "Caca" with a mouth full of dirt. Fortunately the training wheels on the bike teeter from one side to another so there was a bit of clearance and not the full weight of the bike that ran over him.


When the crew came in for the night and relayed the story because I asked, "Why is Drew so Dirty?", Corbin was extremely emotional. He was crushed that he may have seriously injured Drew. I am sure he was scared but this was his buddy!!! They have started to play so well together it is fun to watch.

On a brighter/scarier note, Audrey had a turn on the motorcycle and was scared, just as Corbin was. When Drew took a turn...HE HAD NO FEAR!!! He laughed and was totally energized by the excitement this bright orange machine provided! Experiences like this remind me that these little spirits have missions here on earth and they are not ready to go. At times they are being protected by angels. As a parent, I try my best and pray for the rest!



In his independence, Drew climbs in and out of the tub, on and off the toilet (yet no action), insists he can put on his own shoes, and even tries to HELP ME get dressed. So far it's still cute and not annoying, but the other night he came down for dinner after disappearing upstairs for a few minutes. He was washing his hair...with thick white lotion. After climbing into his high chair, he proudly grinned "cheese" for the camera.

Audrey's trip to Utah

For Spring Break, Brandon's mom took the boys to Idaho so Audrey and I could spend some one-on-one time together. She seems like she is growing fast and school takes up a lot of time!!! Don't get me wrong, growing fast right now is good for me, that means the others are following suit and I am excited for the day when all my children will be past three years old. :) But, I want to create memories along the way while building relationships with each one of my children. SO, for the week we went and saw a movie, got pedicures, got our haircuts, and de-junked all the closets and bedrooms. Of course that was her least favorite part. We then headed to Utah for a few days. We caught the tail end of the Draper Temple Open House. This was Audrey's first time in a temple and she said her favorite rooms were the baptistry and celestial room. She thought the bride's room was pretty too.




Once Audrey's friends Grace and Annika were out of school, we took them back to the hotel and let them go swimming for a while. The girls had fun - always the constant battle of three cheifs - but they worked it out without TEARS!!! They must be growing up! Now if we can manage no whining I will know they are completely mature and ready to be college roommates. :)




I told the girls to pose and they seems to have arranged themselves into future Charlie's Angels. I had to laugh.


This was Audrey and Annika's version of the High School Musical pose.


On Saturday, March 14, 2009, both Grace and Annika were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Audrey thought it was pretty cool and had plenty of questions for the two of them..."Were they scared?" "Was the water warm?" "What did it feel like?"

Audrey sure does miss Grace, her first best friend!!! They have been friends and neighbors since birth. That is, until we moved last summer. Devastation!!! Seven years is a long time to have to up and leave someone. Sorry girls.


Here's a picture of me and Audrey at Grace and Annika's luncheon that followed the baptism. It was nice to be able to experience the event in preparation for her own baptism this summer/fall.

Corbin's Construction Party

Because I love to do parties, and birthdays are such a fun event, I told the kids they could have a big friends party every four years.  Truth be told, it started with Audrey when she turned four and I went all out.  I was exhausted and decided I couldn't do that every year for every child.  I decided to make them momentous events...Age 4 or 5, 8, 12, and 16.  Now if you asked the kids, they would be happy going to Chuck E. Cheese EVERY YEAR!!!  So I figure the party deal is a win-win. I can only handle so much of the mouse.

I didn't even go all out...we bought the invitations and did minimal effort on the decor.  (Ah-hah, I am learning to simplify!)  We even combined parties with his friend across the street, Will Heaps.  They were both turning 5 and have birthdays 5 days apart with practically the same friends.  We opted for a Construction Theme.

For the intro activity as everyone arrived, we had them decorate their yellow hard hats and tool belts (little nail Aprons from Home Depot.)  They each got their own construction pencil and then went to work in the construction zone (set-up and mess was in the garage.)  At Home Depot I had them cut a bunch of scrap pieces of wood, bought some glue, sandpaper, and had some twine, tools, tape measures, popsicle sticks, and pen paints.  The dads supervised any hammering with nails.  Apparently Will loves to build on a daily basis and has his own stockpile of wood and his very own bottle of glue.  That's where I got the idea for the construction zone.  The boys loved creating and building masterpieces and it took 45 minutes!  They would have gone longer had we not convinced them to play games.

My friend Diane (Will's Mom) had creatively come up with some construction games...toss the bean bag in the back of the dump truck (self-explanatory), Wrecking Ball (Stack a bunch of boxes and number them, hang a tennis ball over the banister and let the kids try and knock the boxes down in order), and then Construction Bingo that she made on the computer.  We also bought a game - Pin the stop sign on the Construction Zone.  :)  Other fun ones that we had in our back pockets as time fillers...Dump Truck Relay (Race filling up dump truck with rocks or dirt and running across yard and dumping them in a bucket, and Tower Building (who can build the highest tower with blocks.)

We fed the kids lunch and then sang Happy Birthday and served Dirt Cupcakes with these cute hard-hat picks. I found a great party website...way better prices than Oriental Trading and fast shipping! (birthdaydirect.com)  For cupcakes we used Girl Scout Thin Mints (it is that season you know) and crushed them to sprinkle on top.  We gave out cute construction sign goodie bags with random treats and truck stickers.  Plus they got to take home their hats, belts, and wood creations!  

Corbin had a good time.  Yeah!!!  And so did I.  Wasn't too hard or expensive. Of course, it was nice that some parents stayed and helped, and the party was at Will's house - that definitely cuts down the energy expenditure on my part!  Now it's time to think of Audrey's #8 coming up this summer.  Yikes, are we already there?

Drew's 2nd Birthday

Drew is finally 2-years old!  I say "finally" because he's been acting like a 2-year old for six months now.  We had a family party with Thomas the Train.  He loved the "Choo-Choo Happy" cake - completely sugar-free I might add.  (Sugar-Free Sidenote - For the last 12 months he has had molescum and I'm tired of dealing with it.  It is a toddler virus that is contagious through contact - I think.  All I know is I didn't let Corbin and Drew bathe together for the first year of Drew's life because Corbin had it at the time.  (He got it from Audrey when she was about 4 1/2 and he was 2.  Corbin just barely grew out of it.)  Well, I don't want the new baby to have it so we have tried to figure out why Drew has it.  The latest theory aside from being susceptible because he has eczema, is that it is a food allergy.  His "allergic" reaction happens to be to SUGAR!!!  Shoot me now.  Do you know how limited your diet is if you take away sugar, fruit, fruit juice, honey, pure maple syrup, and limit your carbohydrates.  FOR A TWO-YEAR OLD nonetheless.  But, in my best efforts I have found recipes that accommodate his diet.)  I was pretty proud of the cake considering the strawberry sauce (berries have minimal sugar) was leaking out the sides when I tried to frost the flat cake with BLUE  lemon cream-cheese frosting.  And then I pulled apart a Thomas the Train set and used it as decor.  :)  Way easier than trying to create a cake and find stuff to decorate with that is sugar free.

Anyway, we had pizza, which is Drew's new favorite, and sang happy birthday.  He loved re-lighting the candles to blow them out again and again.  Each time he got a little better.  The first go he probably spit on that cake 10 times before he had any results!  Drew loved his new tricycle. Now we'll work on pedaling!

In all the pictures, Drew is wearing pretend safety eye-goggles. He found them a day or two ago and loves to wear them around. It's hilarious, but makes for a good looking party hat! Now Corbin on the other hand needs a party hat. A week ago his hair was "bugging" him so he cut it. Very proudly, he came and showed me his new do in which he said he was very careful to use hair scissors. Haha...we had a talk about who is allowed to cut his hair.

We also sang Happy Birthday to Corbin and let him open his presents since Brandon will be gone fishing on his Birthday. For months Brandon has been telling me he needs a hobby to share with Corbin. SOOOOOOO, welcome to the world of dirt-bikes. Corbin got his very own motorcycle.

At the "nudging" of friends and family, I'm making another attempt at this blogging world.  I've been keeping up on Facebook a little too much, so why not divide my time.  :)  Here are some pictures of the family we took for Christmas cards last November - that is, if I can figure out how to post pictures.