"I bonked my noggin" - Jax

"Yup Jax, you sure did!"  -Alicia

He was pushed.  By a certain female member of our family.  And I'm not talking about me!  They were in the car playing and she wanted to read him a book and he wanted to get out and see Ben who had just arrived home from work.  Neither Ben or I saw it happen but we sure heard it happen!  There's nothing more awful than that gut wrenching sound of hearing your child's head hit the ground. I took him to the doctor's today and they said it's not fractured *sigh of relief*!  It does look terrible, though.  It really looks worse in person, I think.

So, he's suppose to take it easy for two weeks and do nothing overly active.  That's not easy for a two year old little boy.  It is nice though because I'm always trying to find ways to hold him on my lap and he loves to be held and all the affection.  He's really such a baby still.  I just forget sometimes.

These were taken by Sadie, hence a little blurry.

Speaking of babies....ours is starting to grow up.  He's becoming more independent just in the last two weeks.  I don't hold him nearly as much as I use to and he's content to play on the ground.  It will be exciting to have my arms back.  I feel like I've been holding a child for the last 4 years straight.  I pretty much held Sadie until Jax was born, held Jax until McKay was born, and I've held McKay every waking moment of his entire 10 months on earth.  You wouldn't even believe what I'm able to do one handed - dishes, brush teeth, use the restroom (too much information?), you name it....I've done it.....well, almost.

With his new found independence has also come new found messes. LOTS AND LOTS OF MESSES!  He found the cocoa powder one day and dumped out the whole container.  The next day he dumped the vinegar all over himself and the floor.  I kept thinking, "What is that smell?  It smells like Easter eggs."  And then I turned the corner to walk in the kitchen and he had dumped the entire gallon of white vinegar on the floor and was have a blast playing in it.  I gave him a bath but he smelled weird the rest of the day.  

This is what I swept up from under the kitchen table after one day (usually I sweep three or four times a day).  Contents include a cough drop wraper (this is when I was sick), cheerios, mac and cheese, pretzels, paper from crafts, sand, a hair tie Sadie refused to leave in, and who knows what else.  

We had a playdate here earlier this week.  It was fun to be social again.  I'm still congested after two and a half weeks but I've come out of quarantine. This cold was the worst of my life.  I almost checked myself into a hospital.  They probably wouldn't have let me stay, though. I really wasn't that bad but I had a few moments when I was mentally preparing to meet my Maker.  Actually I said to Ben one day, "Do you think I'm going to die?"  and Sadie overheard it and said, "Mommy, please don't die!"  Oops.  Bad parenting moment.

Anyways, we had a playdate after our two week sabbatical and if was very fun, but we found out later that some of the kids that were there had lice.  So I went a little bonkers this week with sterilizing the house.  Every single item of clothing has been washed in warm water, all the bedding was washed in warm water, I washed all the stuffed animals, cleaned the toys and they're in the garage and we aren't touching them for two weeks, I put down pesticide on the mattresses and carpets, then I steam cleaned the mattresses and carpets, washed our hair with the shampoo, and did a second treatment on our hair to kill any eggs.  I did all that in one day.  Pretty amazing, huh?  Most days I can't even get the dishes done.  How did I manage to do 11 loads of laundry, steam clean carpets, and do lice treatments on me and three children in one day?  Amazing how productive we can be when we have the proper motivation.  Ben's feeling very happy that he's hairless.  For the record I never found anything.  But the kids were laying on the pillows and beds so I'm sure it was only a matter of time.  Plus, it was a nice excuse to do a deep cleaning.

Dirt from the steam cleaner.  I took a picture to show Ben.  Multiply what you see by about 12.  That's how many times I emptied that tank and each time it was that black or worse.  Gross!

On Monday night for FHE we talked about cleanliness (this happened to be before the lice scare), both in our homes and taking care of our bodies.  That night we introduced the Gunny Bag.  Well, you would have thought the kids had seen a ghost.  Jax shrieked and screamed and ran to Ben and cried in his arms in a way I've never before witnessed.

For those that don't know, Gunny Bag is a bag man (we drew a face on him) that comes out at random times and eats toys when they're left out.  Every Saturday morning he throws up his toys and you have to quickly collect them and put them away in their proper place or he'll eat them again.  And if he eats them a second time they are gone for good.  

Anyways, the kids are scared to death by him, but my house is clean as can be.  We keep reassuring them he's not scary - we let them hold the bag and look in the bag and carry the bag....still the fear persists.  It's been very effective thus far.

During the prayer on Monday night FHE.

As a sidenote, my kids think Family Home Evening is the greatest thing ever.  I'm sure it won't be like that in a few years so just let the record show that they currently love it.  They ask us all the time, "Is it FHE tonight?"

Our FHE routine is to bring their chairs in from out back and they sit like this in front of us and we give a little usually impromptu lesson about something they're struggling with (being reverent, sharing, gentleness, who is Jesus?, why do we celebrate certain holidays, saying articles of faith, how to give a prayer, being obedient, stories from the scriptures, etc) and then they each say prayers and then we have a treat.  It doesn't last long; maybe 20 minutes.  They truly love it!

Moving on.....


When Ben arrived home tonight he took the kids to the park so I could do some cleaning and packing (we're headed to Orlando for a little getaway weekend thanks to the parents having an extra hotel room they don't need).  Plus, I promised Jax if he was good at the doctors that Ben would take him to play golf or tennis or baseball.  They ended up doing baseball.  

This is how he is greeted every day.  We sit at the front window and wait for him to arrive on the really hard days and then run out the door to greet him.

McKay kept interrupting their baseball lesson.  

Sadie's been trying to redeem herself as a big sister.  She's been reading to Jax, letting him play with her special toys and showing him videos on the computer (he's not able to work it yet but she can).  We were driving to take a family dinner tonight and Sadie said, "Mommy, I don't want you to hit turtle when we get home.  If you hit turtle you have to go to time out."  I said, "Oh no, I won't hit turtle but what should I do if he hits me?"  Sadie says back, "Just come tell me, Mommy.  But I don't want you to hit him back and no hitting Jax or Joseph or Andrew either.  Those are the rules...we don't hit or push Mommy, ok?"  Yes ma'am!  I think it's sinking in :)

So, that's a little of our life lately...bonked noggin, messes, sickness, lice, cleaning, FHE, gunny bag, outings with daddy, and learning to be gentle and share.


Yeah, the end!