There's a First time for Everything

We knew it was going to happen, we just didn't know when. There was a close call in July, but we mangaged to scrape by without actually going through it, but this time we had to.
We made our first trip to the ER. It was great, as far as going to the ER can be.
Our day started off wonderfully, picking apples here. It was fabulous! (Irma has some great pics on her blog)
Then we went to a park and the children had so much fun. Until, somehow, Jackson fell off the picnic table. He bit through his tongue, loosened his bottom teeth, and got a huge bruise going accross his neck, another abrasion going accross his chin/lip area, and to top it all off he cracked open his right eyelid.
You know how some moms have a First Aid kit with them? I had a paper towel.
As I left, I called Allen at work and asked him to call urgent care and tell them we were on our way, as I knew our pediatricians were closed for a while for lunch. He called me back and let me know that they couldn't see us for two and a half hours. So we just headed to the ER.
Forunately for us, our hospital that is about 3 miles from our house, has a pediatric ER. We have to deal with traffic every time we run to get a gallon of milk, but it is great to live in the big city when you need medical care.
We walked in and never sat down until he was in the treatment area. Great service! The Dr. put Steri-Strips on his eye gash and sent us on our way. Here in the big city stitches are a thing of the past, unless you have a bad jagged cut, then you have to have stitches, but he had a nice clean cut. Good to know if you are a mom! Allen got there just as we were finishing up. It was THAT fast!
Since I had my camera in my purse, I just had to document the event for posterity. My mom said, "That's what you get for having boys." Hopefully this one will last us a while.
He was a great patient

You can't really see his neck, but it was really bruised.

He looks so little, even though there were pediatric beds.

Close up of the eye.

Ta-DAH

As my mother would say, "Drumroll, please!"
We now present our new kitchen!




Here we are coming into the kitchen from the hall.
LOVE the countertops!

The backsplash tile that Allen installed.

The floor tile, also installed by my handy husband!

The new farmhouse sink. Do you see that dishwasher? It's on in the picture, because we use it EVERY night!

Pantry on the right.

Didn't get the switch plate on before this picture, but use your imagination, ok?



Now I have room for all the glasses.

And all the plates!

Love the Lazy Susan for all our pots and pans.

These pull outs are beside the stove.

A place for everything

And everything in it's place.

There is even room for my plastics

Glass dishes are up high out of Miller's reach!

See this nice cabinet?

It pulls out and swivels so I can use ALL the space way in the back!

It may not look beautiful to you, but now I have a place to put food...in the kitchen. Yes this is a novelty!


Let me remind you how it looked before...

He IS charming

Recently, my shoes are scattered all over the place and it is tough to find a matching pair in one place.
The Butternean has been doing this:

I find it absolutely charming.

Now I need to go put another coat of paint on the back door, so we can reveal the kitchen soon!

Just to be Fair

In case I gave you the impression that Jackson is the only one who is mischievous around here, I wanted to correct that misconception. Miller has lots of nicknames, but lately he has been called Naughty Baby more often than he is called his real name.
This is what you think of when you think of Miller. Sweet baby.

A hint of a smile, or is that an impish grin coming on.

Profile of an angel.

See the happy baby playing in a puddle on the driveway. I just sprayed the plants, so I know it was clean water (wink, wink)!


Well maybe, he just wants to see what it feels like on his hands.


Um, what is he doing? Looking at his reflection, right?

Oh, he is drinking that *clean* water from the puddle on the driveway!


Since I know I am still in the running for mother of the year, I took his picture. I am going to have some pictures to show him when he is older. I think those look like great bribery photos there. After all, we bribe because we care!
Then there is this one. We came home from Target, and I put my purse in the closet, but must have not shut the door fully. I'm going around putting things away and then come back into the living room and find this


In the closet there was a very full COSTCO sized contained of baby formula. We didn't need it and I have a friend whose son is using that formula. we were going to give it to her until he did this. How? Why? How? I ended up burning up the vacuum cleaner on this one.


Oh yes, that is Jackson's hand reaching in there. And yes, I popped it too.

Now that we have any misconceptions cleared up, I just want to say. I am so thankful that I have to curious boys who think of ways to entertain me and keep me on my toes. No matter how tough it gets, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Oh and since Kelly has been telling me that I am teasing you about the kitchen, I will tell you this. I will be revealing kitchen pictures later this week. It's not teasing, it's called building anticipation!

That one is for you Kelly!

Getting There

They say that the journey is just as important as the actual destination. So here are a few pictures of the work in process. We are so close to being finished and revealing the new kitchen.
This what our living room looked like for longer than I would have liked.

Here is Allen hard at work tiling the floor. It ended up being quite a task.

The kitchen after I did my hasty paint job. Most of this is now covered, but we wanted to be sure that anything that might possibly show was painted.

The cabinets as they are being put in.

This is after the cabinets are installed, but the doors aren't on.

Stay tuned!

I taught him this

Warning! This post contains T.M.I. If you know me well you won't be surprised that I'm sharing, but still, don't day I didn't warn you...
Last Spring when Jackson was just potty trained, I showed him how he could use the bathroom outside, in the yard. I showed him a very concealed corner where only one neighbor, who is rarely in her yard, could see him, and only if she was looking for a 3 foot tall elf in the bushes.
His father was shocked that I would show him how to do that. If you have boys, one of the good things is that they can use the bathroom anywhere, so why not capitalize on that?
So he makes sure he uses it almost every time we are outside. The novelty has not worn off. As Spring turned to Summer he got a little more bold, but he was still always in the back yard, which while not visible from the street, is visible to 4 and a half yards. It's a slippery slope you are saying...
Fast forward to last week when we went to chic-Fil-A for lunch. As usual, I took Jackson out of his carseat first. We were parked beside a median thingy. You know the kind of thing the city makes developers put in parking lots with one scraggly tree, some monkey grass and maybe a juniper bush. The other side was the driveway to the drive thru. Jackson is V-E-R-Y good in parking lots. Always wants to hold hands and super careful. So I tell him to stand on the median thingy while I unbuckle Miller. I knew he would obey. And he did.
I'm assuming that you have been to Chic-Fil-A and you know what it is like there are 12:17 on a Thursday. Slap full parking lot and Drive Thru line.
When I turn around from unbuckling Miller from his carseat, that boy is watering the Monkey grass. In full view. Of all the cars. And all the people eating lunch.
Why, does he see the need to humiliate me like that? Why do I have to learn lessons the hard way? Why is it so hard to pull up underwear when you are holding a squirmy 1 year old?
I hustled his little exhibitionist self right into the Chic-Fil-A as fast as I could. It was a few steps before I remembered what I always say to my friends when they share a story about something embarassing that their child has done, "You need to hold your head up high and smile, because everyone is looking at you!"

Nothing and Everything

We haven't been doing much anything lately. At the same time we have been so busy we just have no time. The kitchen is operational and there are a few more things still left to do. Hopefully we will get these things completed in a couple of weeks.
I can't wait to share it with you, but I'd like to wait until it is finished to get the full effect.
My sister was here for 5 days and it was so great to have her here. I would have lost what's little is left of my mind if she hadn't been here to help us several times when we REALLY needed it!

Jackson has been coming up with all sorts of funny things. And by funny I mean GROSS. Things like, "Mama I swallowed a booger." We don't even use the word booger. So like the good thoughtful mom that I am, I told him that he shouldn't do that again because it'll make his tummy hurt. I have a gift with this parenting thing, I tell ya.
J got a bike with training wheels and is learning to ride it. This morning I drew a chalk racetrack on our driveway so he can race around it.
Help baby boy, stop growing up!






Miller is into Everything. We have no locks on the new cabinets so there is such a mess all the time. He is also into having two ear infections and Hand, Foot & Mouth Virus. Nothing like a trip to Urgent Care, with a 104 degree fever, on a Holiday weekend. It's better than the ER, but still....He is recovering and has gotten a wee bit spoiled by being held constantly for 5 days. I'm not complaining though. Love me some baby lovin'. You'd never know from these pictures that he has been sick!




These pictures are a little different. See how he is wearing just a onsie? That's because he had a big old fever! But He wanted to ride the tractor, so we had to let him!
This is the closest we got to a smile for a few days. But he is still the BEST baby ever!



Riding off into the sunset. Not really they are going to hit the fence pretty soon!