Surprise, Surprise!

Well hello.....I had no idea oatmeal came with a surprise inside. I guess I just won a work truck...?

No Bauers Allowed

Last weekend the girls performed a lockout. You can't blame a girl for wanting a little quiet time without her lip gloss being devoured or the dismemberment of her dolls. Don't worry about Bing, they slid random bits of paper under the door for him to gnaw on.

A Good Cleaning

Most of the time when Brigham walks in the door after a long day of work he is greeted by a natural disaster. I say natural disaster because a filthy home is what naturally happens when you have four little ones running amok. When this happens I have been known to say: "If I only had one day to do nothing but clean then I could catch up." If I didn't have diapers to change, meals to prepare, fights to referee, boo boos to kiss and little ones undoing everything that I have done then I would win the fight against the house.

So today I got it. A whole day to do nothing but clean. Brigham rearranged his schedule and instead of working he took off to the desert with Bing and Ruby. They skipped rocks, ate hot dogs and drank thirst busters.

Now I just need to clean these two little ones.

P.S. Brigham got them all cleaned up and in bed.

"Oh no, not the freshest Fruity Pebbles on the whole street!"

That's what I screamed when I walked in on this.

Just kidding but Ruby might of. I can't remember.

This was actually quite fun to vacuum up. Me and the vacuum have a very good working relationship, unlike Brigham. (Brigham and the vacuum not Brigham and me. You Beesons know what I'm talking about) Whenever I hear its therapeutic hum I'm taken back to when I was a little girl curled up on the couch watching Thunder Cats and listening to my mom vacuum the living room. Vacuuming was the finishing touch after she spent the morning cleaning the house. Then after all was done and if I hadn't been lulled to sleep by the vacuums hypnotic music, I would drag my feet through the house messing up all the vacuum lines in the carpet.

How To Stop A Thumb Sucker

This method worked like a charm. I was really apprehensive when he developed the dreaded thumb sucking habit. Avery had a pacifier. That one was easy. Take it away. But how do you take away a thumb? I had no idea, but this is actually possible. What they do is encase the hand and arm in fiberglass for about 5 weeks and viola! This technique was a little pricey, but effective.

Unfortunately he has now taken up shoving his blanket in his mouth and chewing on it all night long. Harmless, I know. Except for the fact that his blanket constantly smells like death. I wash it as much as I can but as soon as he and blanket are reunited it is back in his mouth and back smelling putrid. I googled "How To Stop A Blanket Biter". Would you believe I came up empty? Guess I'll have to live with this one.

The Kid Likes His Meds

A Bauer Update

Look at those chubby little fingers!

We walk in the front office and the swooning begins. One nurse is dazzled by his sky blue eyes. Another nurse comments on his pearly white teeth. Many are smitten by his infectious smile. But all are mesmerized by his hypnotic words, which aren't really words at all. More like complex mumbling. Nurses and Doctors alike find themselves listening intently to what little Bauer has to say. He is definitely a charmer and apparently has a story to tell.

As for his arm, it was all good news. The Doctor said it didn't look like it needed surgery. We'll go back in a week to see how it's healing and reassess. If it still looks good then no pins. For now he was fitted with a cool green cast. The color of which I got to pick out. I've always secretly wanted a green (the best color in the whole world) cast, but unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of breaking anything.

Bing remains a happy little stink despite being reduced to the use of only one hand. Amazing considering the broken arm contains his thumb-suckin' thumb.

A Day With Bing

Yesterday I got to spend the whole day with Bing. We cuddled, laughed, cried, played peek-a-boo, sang songs and I even gave him his first sucker. At the end of the day he fell asleep in my arms. Something he hasn't done since he was a newborn.

It all started with him doing the Nestea plunge off of the little kid table out back and landing on the cement. I was not there to witness, but Ruby assures me that's the way it went down. When I found him he was laying by the back door crying the "scary cry". You know the one that tells you something is really wrong. I didn't know what it was at first but then I noticed he wasn't using his left arm so, off to urgent care we went. Brigham joined us there as Bauer was examined and x-rayed. Brigham took x-ray duty and I was grateful to have him there. From what I heard down the hall it hurt quite a bit. Brigham broke the tension when he busted out with the fact that he was pregnant and was wondering if the x-ray machine would have any affect on him. The technician just looked at him and said, "Ya, you've got problems".

After seeing where the break was located the doctor sent us straight to the children's hospital at John C. Lincoln. There, Bing was fitted with a temporary splint and a sissy-lookin' sling. The docs referred us to a orthopedic surgeon to find out if he needs pins drilled into his bone to fix it right. When I heard the words surgery and pins I excused myself to call my brother Eric who knows a thing or two about orthopedics. He concurred with everything that I was told(You can use the word "concurred" when you're talking medical-talk). Thanks, Eric for putting my mind at ease. I'm sure my life will be filled with many more emergency calls to you. Thanks also to my mom for watching the girls so that Brigham and I could both hang out with Bing on his "special" day.

What I've Been Missing

I love having girls. I know the difficult days are ahead of me (i.e. three boy-crazed teenagers in one house) but I was so happy to JUST have girls. Maybe it's because I was completely content with having my family of girls that I was so blindsided by the arrival of Bing. I'm loving having a boy. Not just any boy, but my boy.

1. Low maintenance hair
2. Boy clothes (Thank goodness for some blue and green to break up the monotony of pink)
3. Finding the perfect pair of church shoes. Cute girls shoes are everywhere but it takes skill to search out a fine pair like this.
4. The fact that Brigham will eventually have to take him on potty breaks.
5. Sleeping 12 hours at night and taking at least 2 long naps every day. Now I know this is not specific to boys, but mine does and I'm grateful.
6. Having double ear infections and croup and never acted the part.

Boys Rule!!!

My Little Baller

I took Bauer to the doctor with croup and double ear infections the other day. Needless to say I came out of there with a couple prescriptions. At the pharmacy drive-thru the pharmacist kept asking me how I pronounce Bauer's name. There was some confusion and the speaker was a bit crackly. I finally said Bauer, like Jack Bauer. Brigham says I should have said like in Eddie Bauer. Ether way, come on lady! I didn't think it was that hard to figure out. It wasn't until later that evening when I got Bauer's medicine out that it all became very clear. After some laughter I tried to compose myself so I could call the pharmacy back and let them know that I did not name my kid "Baller". The lady on the phone gave a little laugh and said they were all wondering.

A couple of days later we found this lovely ball at Ross.

Yard Work

Last Saturday we spent the morning doing yard work. I found Avery and Bing working their fingers to the bone

It's About Time

We had a little mix-up with our insurance and for that reason Bauer went without shots for 7 months. On Jan 31st we finally got him in. Poor guy really got shot up. Surprisingly he was in a better mood after than he was before.

Here he is waking up from his nap after the shots. All smiles!