A break from packing

One Saturday in January, when we were packing to move, we took a break and packed a lunch and went to the park. I had tried to go to this park the day before to meet some friends... I wasn't going to go because I was busy packing, I was tired, blah, blah. At the last minute when picking up Parker from his make-up day of preschool, I decided to just go. We all needed the break. I parked in the driveway and hurried and packed lunches and what not. We drove there, which took at least 20 minutes because the main road (Rayford) was crowded. Got there. Parked. Started gathering things. And then realized I had left Addie's bottle and formula (all prepared) on the counter at home. I saw the friends I was meeting, called one of them and asked if anyone happened to have an extra bottle and formula. Nope, of course. So, I said goodbye on the phone from my car. Staucie started bawling. I was so mad at myself. As I began driving home, I just bawled and bawled. It is hard to get out of the house with my 4 kids (4 years and under).

I told the kids we would go back the next day, Saturday, with Daddy. So we did. It was a perfect day.

Yep, me being a bad mom and giving Addie a plastic bag to play with. I give her fruit snack wrappers and other such garbage too. She hardly ever puts anything in her mouth, which is so weird for a baby, but nice too.

The kids were spinning on the swings.

Stopping in for a quick bite before running off again. Staucie was so quick that she was gone before Daniel pushed the button.
Bensen does a lot of people watching. He gets nervous around new people.

Poking sticks into the sand.

Hmmm, looks like more garbage for Addie.

We had a new house built...

And our parents want to see the pictures... I was going to take some of the inside, but things have been crazy and drama... So here's the outside for now. We got the keys today at 4:30pm and told some friends and they have already begun moving us out. I was embarrassed that I was not completely ready because of other drama, blah, blah... I will tell all about it later... Too busy... Internet will be shut off soon at this house, that I will not miss...

It was started in October 2010 and finished the end of January 2011.

January Pictures

Bensen loves to play with Addie and Addie likes it when he plays, but lately he has been a little rough like the way Staucie and Parker wrestle. One time I caught him sitting on her head. He was smiling and she was crying. I am sure there will be more of that to come. But for the most part she giggles when he "plays" with her. He likes to give her hugs and kisses too.

I don't remember why he is naked, he probably ran away when I tried to dress him.

I don't know why she is on the table. She knows she is not supposed to be. But I thought it was funny and took a picture before I made her get down.

My little babe is always under my feet when I am in the kitchen.

When I am trying to get ready for the day Bensen always joins me and ends up real wet.

He took off his pants. He has figured out that he can and so he does.

I have let Bensen get in the bath a couple of times with Addie. But it is hard. They are both so wiggly and she always gets squished and I can't wash Bensen because Addie is always trying to stand up. I do not like bathing them together. But they think it is great!

They thought I should take a picture of their stuffed toys, Pablo and Uniqua from the Backyardigans, their favorite show.

I wanted their faces and got this...

Bensen fell on his face outside the other day. He also got a nice hole in his knuckle on his finger.

Here's a close-up so you can see his dried snot and chocolate animal crackers on his cute face!

Staucie wanted me to take a picture of her too, but she wouldn't be normal.

Parker too.

So, I had to take one of Addie too. Look how big she looks. I am fearing that she is not listening about this "no more growing" pact we made...

And then Bensen wanted me to take a picture of his pacifier.

After the kids go to bed, I let Addie stay up a little longer so we can play. She is so happy. I sit on the floor and she just crawls around and on me. She is so cute and fun!

She found one of Bensen's pacifiers. And there's Daniel's leg and the remote he is holding. I love her big eyes and big cheeks in this picture. Makes me smile whenever I see it, and giggle a bit too.

Little Angel

Congratulations to the new parents of our new niece who joined the Lees side of the family earlier this month. Baby number 3 for them and Grand-baby number 12 for Daniel's parents. That's 12 babies in less than 5 years! (And #13 is due in just a couple months!)

Little baby Summer is an angel from heaven that we have all been praying for. I haven't met her yet, but I love her so much and I am so happy for her parents and their oldest daughter. We love all of you and miss you so much!

I think it is neat, just because I like patterns, that the Lees grandchildren have come in groups. First there was a group of 3 girls, then a group of 6 boys, and now a group of 4 girls, as soon as Brittany has hers. I love when things work like that. I don't know why. Maybe I really am a nerd...

I almost forgot...

to tell the part where - while Parker was going steroid crazy and not sleeping well, he was in our bed for the umpteenth time Monday night/Tuesday morning, and Daniel woke up at about 5:30am and said he was all wet and that everything was wet. Turns out Parker peed in our bed.

Now if he wets in his bed, fine, he has a waterproof mattress pad, BUT we do NOT. We also have a feather bed. And it was all wet. How do you wash that? We keep it covered and wash that part. Ugh. The good news was that with all the extra stuff on the mattress, the mattress stayed dry. Hallelujah! I spent Tuesday, while sick, washing and washing and washing from that mess. It took lots of loads to wash all of our bedding and Parker's, since we stripped him, put him in my t-shirt, and put him in his bed for the rest of the morning while we tried to catch some more sleep. Daniel stayed home from work that day since we got no sleep and he was woken by pee. super.

I am sure no one cares, but I thought it was just one of those weeks we will laugh at when our babies grow up. I will miss this, I will ;)

Not a fun week with Parker...

So, a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday night, Daniel was getting ready to go to scouts and the kids were playing. Staucie and Parker went down our little play slide with Staucie on top of Parker, normal, but Staucie landed on Parker's head just as Daniel was going out the door. I was changing Addie's diaper and then Staucie yelled that Parker had a bloody nose. Daniel heard it and came back in. We got a tissue stuffed up his nose and Daniel left. I got the kids to bed later and all was well.

Well, later that night at around 2:30am or something, who really knows, I woke up Daniel to have him put Parker back in his bed. Parker gets in our bed pretty much every night. I can't sleep with 3 of us in our queen size bed, even though Parker always gets in with Daniel. Daniel can sleep through anything and sleep anywhere. Me, not so much. I need things perfect and quiet, which means I don't ever sleep so well... Anywho, Daniel noticed a big dark spot on his pillow when he sat up. It looked like blood so I went to get a tissue to wipe Parker's nose. I came back and Daniel shined a light with his phone onto Parker's face. It was COVERED in blood. Comletely covered. It had pooled by his eye and such, and he had smeared it everywhere. It was just a horrific scene. I thought about getting the camera to take a picture but was just too dang tired. (Now I really wish I would have.) I got a wash cloth and cleaned his face and hands. We put him back in his bed and I got Daniel a new pillow, which had 2 big spots of blood and other smears of blood. Our sheets also had blood smeared all over them.
Well, the next day when I was walking out of the boys room I noticed something on the wall by Parker's bed. It was a bloody handprint and another smudge of blood next to it. I looked in his bed and saw blood smears in his sheets and a bloody handprint on his bed railing. Then I picked up his big, blue body pillow that was against the wall and there was a big pool of blood under it. Still wet too. That must have been where he was sleeping and then finished bleeding in our bed. It was a very bloody scene. Sorry if you are afraid of blood :) I did laugh, but also had to wash it all.

His handprint on the wall. It's like a crime scene.

Another smudge on the wall.

So I spent the day washing bloody sheets. And then Wednesday night I was getting out of the shower at about 10:00pm and in comes Parker and he throws up all over the bathroom floor. I helped him to the toilet where he threw up some more. I cleaned him up and he also sounded like he might have croup so we made him a bed on the floor next to our bed and turned on a humidifier. Croup can be scary because they can't breath so we wanted him next to us that night. I am sure he would have come in anyways. I also gave him a barf bowl.

.

Then on Friday I had to take Bensen to the doctor for his well-check so I asked our wonderful pediatrician to listen to Parker's lungs because he sounded like he had croup. The doctor perscribed us some oral steroids and sent us home. Since Parker is now 3 years old his croup this year was so much better and he actually didn't even need any breathing treatments. We just did oral steroids and a humidifier for a couple of days. The only problem with it was that steroids affect him HORRIBLY! Holy moly, we were going crazy with that kid. He was sleeping even worse then before. He was throwing fits all day. I started feeling sick on Monday and ended up with some horrible sinus cold that knocked me out for a week and not feeling well made it even harder to be patient with him. Luckily, Parker finally started getting back to normal by Wednesday.

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It was like he was two again. We did not have so much fun during Parker's "terrible two" stage. I am so glad we are back to normal with Parker. Now he just has a normal cold. I am also grateful that we have not had to deal with RSV or pneumonia like others we know. Addie got croup this week, but we caught it early and now she just has a cold. She had a shot of steroids and a breathing treatment and it really helped. Luckily her steroids that she took for a couple days did not make her as crazy as Parker. I am still recovering from whatever I had, but I am slowly getting my energy back. This sick season is no fun, but I know we are fortunate that we haven't ended up in the hospital with worse problems, so knock on wood.

8 month old Addie

I know, I know. She is just the cutest little thing EVER! Don't you just want to squeeze her and kiss her? I do! And I do, every day.

Well, this is it. Addie and I have had several talks and have decided that 8 months old is it. She will stay this age and size forever. I will even change poopy diapers that leak all over everyday if it means I can keep her like this.

Her eyes are doing great just one month after surgery!

She is crawling around everywhere and pulling herself up to a standing position to everything that she can. No matter how short or tall it is.
This is one of my favorite things she does with her mouth. She makes an "O" or "oooooo" sound when she does it. Sometimes it is happy and sometimes it is not happy. But either way, I love it!

Addie is a funny baby. She hardly ever puts things in her mouth. She plays with them in her hands and looks at them, and then once in awhile tastes it, but really she doesn't put much in her mouth, which I thought was odd for a baby. But I am not complaining :)

She is a happy little girl and she loves chasing the other 3 around. Sometimes the 4 of them will crawl around laughing and she will be right in the middle, thinking she is a big kid too.

She is a very intense bottle drinker. She holds onto the top of her bottle and pushes down on it, so I have to hold tight to keep it up so she can drink it. She never relaxes and seems to enjoy her bottle, but is not happy when it is gone. Sometimes she cries or growls. Silly. I call her a bear. She is funny with her grrrroooowwwwllll. It is not always a mad growl, sometimes it is her just being funny. She likes to blow on my cheek too and then she will give me kisses (usually with her tongue). I just love her!

I found her standing up in her crib after a nap one afternoon. She thought it was great!

Love you, Addie. No more growing!