More Stitches & First Day of School

For a moment, I was almost sorry that I had another boy if this is how it's going to be. Mister Brady had ganother accident...this time requiring six stitches. Let's see, so far he's suffered from a cough that lasted for four months which included a bunch of tests and bloodwork, busted the side of his face and got two stitches, had a bout of Croup in which I thought he was dying, had a shower curtain bar fall on his nose (no damage, thankfully), knocked a chair over backwards while he was standing on it (also no damage done), fallen off a chair several times onto the tile floor, and now most recently, slammed his face off a table. Yes, I know that some of this stuff isn't his fault and could happen to anybody. But needless to say, if this is the first two years, I'm not looking forward to the rest of it.

Ricky and Ana were here on Sunday afternoon/evening to watch the Patriots game with us that we had recorded from earlier in the day. We had just gone upstairs to watch it on the big screen. The kids were in the playroom, playing, with Ana. As happens with kids, they'll put themselves into bad situations and in the blink of an eye, before you can even stop them, bad things happen. In this case, Brady stood up on this big ball (looks like a giant yarn ball) that we are using as chairs at our table in the playroom. He didn't hold on to anything and just like that, he fell and he landed facedown on the table. Splat. I heard the screaming and I thought I heard someone say it was his nose and I was imaging a broken, mushed in nose, but it ended up being his eyebrow. I couldn't even look. Thank goodness Ricky and Ana were here so that Rick could drive Duncan, who was holding Brady, to where they needed to go. The "where" was up in the air. Once again, I tried to get them into Nite Lite Pediatrics but two of their locations would not do stitches on a two year old. So frustrating because they are a PEDIATRIC facility. I mean, it seems like many kids must get stitches. I didn't want to do the ER because we have a co-pay of $175. Fortunately, the Centra Care down near Disney was open until 8 pm and they were able to get him in just in time. We weren't sure that they would do the stitches there either (they did his first stitches but this was in a little bit more precarious of an area) but in the end, they did. When they got home at about 9:45, with a big sundae from McDonald's for Brady who woofed it down, they filled me in on how brave he had been. When they put the numbing needle in and then did the first four stitches, he barely made a whimper. Only on the last two stitches, since the numbing needle apparently hadn't numbed that area, did he cry a little. The nurse said in her fourteen years she's never seen a 2-year old be so brave. So hey, probably by the next set of stitches, he'll smile through the whole thing. Ha!

Pre stitches.

Monday was our big day. The first day of school! Things will never be the same again. By the time we had breakfast, had worship, and I took a shower, we didn't get started until about 9:45. As I've mentioned, we're using "My Father's World" first grade curriculum and it's great because everything is all laid out for you. You just follow the lesson plan book step by step which honestly, is something I really need at this point. I don't know that my creative juices are really flowing right now with the amount of sleep I'm getting. My plan was that the baby would be sleeping (he was) and that Aubree would entertain Brady (she didn't). Instead, Aubree pretty much thought she was a student along with Calleigh and wanted to do everything she was doing. It ended up being fine and actually, these last two days, she's only been half involved. So I think she will just come and go. At any rate, the curriculum starts you off pretty slowly, which I'm appreciating, so it's really only taken us about an hour and a half, at most, to get through the schedule each day. We have had to break it up a little bit because I've had to stop each time during the lessons to feed the baby. I think it's nice to have a little break though anyway. So far Calleigh appears to be enjoying it. Three days down, only 2,157 to go.

Everyone else did these really cute signs they got off Pinterest. I didn't have the energy to do anything but this!

Yesterday we had to do our school in the afternoon, during quiet time, because Colby had his two week checkup...back at our old pediatrician. Ironically, I had to wait 35 minutes to see the doctor. Nonetheless, I was still happy with the decision to go back. For one thing, I was able to drop off the other three kids at Ron and Elaine's, which they are always excited about, and which obviously makes things easier for me. Secondly, I do really like the doctor I have for the boys. As far as Colby goes, he is up to 8 lbs, 11 oz compared to his birth weight of 7 lbs, 14 oz. Last Tuesday he was 7 lbs, 12 oz so he gained almost a pound in a week which is excellent. Oh, if only I could have a chubby baby! Brady gained weight really well too until he got sick. I hate going through the whole "not even on the growth chart" thing so it would be so nice if Colby could maintain a good weight. For now, I'll just enjoy seeing a "75th" percentile next to weight on the card. Besides the weight, the big thing they look at at the two week appointment is the heart which thankfully was fine. Everything else was good too.

Colby continues to be an easy baby. One thing that the doctor said was that by this age, you can usually tell what kind of temperament they are going to have. Boy, I hope so! If that is the case, we have been very blessed. I told my mom that when Colby cries, I almost don't even recognize it because it happens so rarely. He just really never cries. Of course, that's probably because like most babies his age, he's asleep a good portion of the day. Nevertheless, I know how tough it was with Calleigh and her crying and all that so I know a good thing when I see it. We are obviously not in any kind of schedule yet with him but I will say that after his eats at about 7:30, he goes to sleep in his swing until about 11:00, eats, and then goes into his bassinet. He'll wake up around 3:30, eat, goes back to sleep, and then wakes up again about 7:30. Of course, these are not set times or anything but we've had some four hour stretches and a five hour stretch already so it's looking promising for the future. Meanwhile, I've gone through the 22-episode first season of Revenge on Netflix. Very entertaining show, I must say. It's funny because I just really don't watch much TV but once you have a nursing baby, you find yourself turning it on. Oh, and I did attempt to watch Downton Abbey but apparently it's not on Netflix any more.

Strange sleeping position

The girls like to "dance" with him, as they call it.

His cord came off when he was nine days old so time to get out the tub. Despite his face, he didn't cry. And yes, my hand is covering up the stream of pee that immediately started shooting out.

My mom left on Friday morning which was a very dramatic event. She started crying and then Aubree just started bawling. It took her probably the whole day to get over it. At one point during quiet time, both girls came downstairs and sat on the landing and started crying, "We want Gigi." Aubree declared that she wished Gigi could live her for a whole year. I didn't have the heart to say to her "Gigi wouldn't live here in a million years." At any rate, it was SO nice to have my mom here for so long and we are counting down the days until Christmas now.

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Thursday night (evening before she left) although the actual day was Monday (9th).

Monday was the first day that we were really alone since obviously Duncan was around over the weekend. We ventured out in the late afternoon to get a prescription at Walgreen's for Brady and then I needed to go to Publix. As soon as we got out of the car, Brady spotted his usual cart that's shaped like a rocket. I broke the news to him that we weren't going to be able to take that cart because there was no room for Colby's car seat. Well, this news did not go over particularly well. I had no idea he was so attached to said cart but apparently he is (he also only had an hour nap not to mention went to bed late the night before do to the stitches). He started crying and crying. I told him the two choices were to take a regular cart (and he would need to walk) and we would get a cookie (Publix gives them out to the kids) or we were going to leave. He didn't stop crying and there was no way I was going into Publix with a screaming kid so I had no choice but to pick him up and carry him all the way back to the car. Not sure how carrying a baby in a car seat and a 23-pound kid under the other arm works out with recovering from my surgery but I had no choice.

After the Publix fail, I was determined that we would make it somewhere with the five of us. After picking up the kids from Ron and Elaine's, I decided to make a stop at Sam's Club, mainly because I needed diapers (as a side note, it's so frustrating how both of my boys have not been able to wear size Newborn diapers even though it's supposed to go to 10 pounds. They leak out of them and I've tried multiple brands. I'm assuming it must have something to do with the placement of the little appendage). Colby was asleep in his car seat and since I only needed a few things, I knew I could put him in the big part of the cart and have Brady and Aubree sit in the front seat (it's a double). I retrieved a cart and started loading everyone in. I've totally got this, I thought. Nobody is crying or complaining about this set up. So yup, feeling good....until a lady beeps her horn at me and says "Ma'am, your dress is stuck in the back." OH MY WORD. My dress was partially stuck in my underwear. Fortunately, nobody else was around and it wasn't competely revealing but STILL!

Later in the day, I went back to Publix for round two hoping for better results. Thankfully he had given up on the space shuttle cart but then he wanted to sit in the regular cart meaning I would have no room for the groceries. I thought we were going to be at a stale mate again but then it suddenly occurred to me that I have an able bodied six year old who can push a cart. Problem solved! Calleigh pushed Brady in one cart and I pushed Colby in the other with Aubree tagging along behind. So we made it...coupons and all. In a few weeks, if not before, Colby will be ready for the Baby Bjorn which will make it easier.

Monday night I had a little middle of the night visit. My sleep is precious to me as I am getting a reduced amount these days so I wasn't too thrilled when I heard a noise that did not sound like the baby. Through my sleepless stupor, I made out the figures of two little girls who were standing next to my bed. They didn't utter a sound until Calleigh finally said "Does Satan live here?" I replied "No, Jesus lives here. Go back to bed." And with that, she was gone (we had to prod Aubree to get her to go back because she had already fallen back asleep on our bed). The next morning, I found out Calleigh had a bad dream. I asked her why she had woken Aubree up when she came down to my room. "Well, I thought it was real and Satan was in this house." I told her that I was really glad she hadn't waken up Brady too. "Oh." she says. "I forgot about him." So there you go. Hopefully there's never a real emergency.

Not to be outdone, Brady had a middle of the night wake up too which is an unusual occurrence. When it does happen, it's usually because his binky has fallen out of his crib. He started calling my name and this time I was awake nursing Colby. I had no choice but to go up with Colby still attached. I didn't say a word to Brady, just gave him his binky and turned around to walk out of his room. "Bye Colby" he says. It totally cracked me up because I seriously haven't heard Brady ever refer to Colby by his name. It's always "the baby" or "my baby brother."

I will end here with some pictures.