HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kira is 1!!!

I'll post a bunch of pictures of our birthday girl later in the day!

Freakazoid

Poor Mike.

He went with Jacob and the 11 yr old scouts on their campout this past weekend. And now his face and lips are covered with poison ivy (or some other plant... he's allergic to EVERYTHING!).

He looks plain freaky. It worked it's way into his right eye overnight and now it's all swollen like his lips (which are also oozy).

Poor, Poor Mike.

And to make matters worse, he has his annual business meeting next week. I would say that maybe he'll have time to heal by then, but he's Mike and will probably have it completely covering his face by then. Maybe I need to knit a couple of leper bandages. I told him he was reminding me of Robert the Bruce's father in Braveheart. He was an evil, hideous looking guy. Mike's not evil, but he's not too far from hideous.

No. He's not hideous. Pitiful is more the right word here. I'll say it again:

Poor Mike.

(Kira is walking across the living room with one of my flip flops on her foot.)

So lots of kind thoughts in Mike's direction will be appreciated.

Four Kids, Four Winds

I know I have five kids, but the saying doesn't work with five. And Kira's a bit young to be going off on her own.

Anyway. Yesterday Mike and Jacob headed out to Jacob's 11 yr old scout campout. They left around 4pm with the plan to come back today around 5pm.

At 4:15, Reid comes in asking if he can go to Parker's (his good friend here). He had a day full of church activities this morning and was supposed to be done by 4pm, but I haven't heard from him yet. There's a Stake dance tonight at 8pm that he's going to, so if he doesn't come home before that I probably won't see him until tomorrow morning since I'll be in bed by the time he gets home tonight.

Then this morning around 9am, I got a call from a friend from Austin who is up visiting family in McKinney. They invited Cole to spend the day and night with them (their son is Jake, Cole's one and only friend from our neighborhood in Austin). So Cole left with them this morning and won't be back until 11am tomorrow.

Zach has stayed home and thankfully my dad called (they've got their own wind and are spending the evening with my step brother James who is performing in a play tonight) and asked if Zach would wash his truck if he dropped it off here and picked it up tomorrow on his way home. Zach was thrilled. The truck is now washed and all spic and span.

I have had an unusually empty house. I like it when my house is empty. :) I know that in 10 years when all the boys are gone, I'll feel differently, but for now, I really enjoy a quiet house. Cleaning is so much easier that way.

I had decided last night that my cleaning strategy for today was to start at the front door and go from there. It has worked pretty well. The house is pretty clean and I've even got dinner in the oven.

However, the dinner also has a wind because it's going to the neighbors who just had a baby. I didn't have enough ingredients to double it and make some for us...

Oh well. Be free, dinner. Be free.

New Experience

I've known for a long time that no matter how many kids I have, I'll always feel like a bit of a first timer. All my kids are so different. And recently I've been proven right all over again.

It's been clear for a while now that Kira likes to nurse. A few months ago, when she started walking and becoming a little more independent, she would, at times during the day, stop and just cry and cry at my feet. She wanted to nurse. The boys never really cared. She nurses a lot more frequently during the day than they ever did at this age. The two boys that I was still nursing at 12 months were down to twice a day. Naptime and bedtime. And by 14 or 15 months, I decided it was time to stop, so I stopped. No big deal. They didn't care.

Not so for Kira. Yesterday she was fussing, so I picked her up and she started banging her head against my chest. Then today she was sitting beside me on the couch when she lifted my shirt up and started "nursing" on my stomach. When I pulled my shirt down, she started crying and banging her head against my chest while also lifting my shirt.

I don't really have a plan for weaning her. I guess I figured it would be like it was with the other boys. I'd decide I was ready to stop and stop. I had thought the other week that I might want to nurse her through the winter to hopefully help her avoid colds and such. But now I'm not sure. I don't know that I want to continue on and have it become a big fight. But I'm not necessarily ready, either.

So... something new for me to experience. Lovely.

Good News

Jesse is home from the hospital. I called him yesterday afternoon to see what room he was in and he said he was home. So Reid and I went over to his house yesterday afternoon to take him some cookies and a small gift. He looked good. I visited with his mother and grandmother while Reid talked with Jesse. They are really nice people and were very nice to Reid. Jesse told Reid that he was going to be out of sports for 6 months. So he won't be able to play basketball like he had planned, but he said he'd be playing baseball in the spring. It just emphasizes the fact that while you know it's all part of the game and everything, Reid has changed this kid's life.

While I was thinking of what to write on the note that we sent with the gift for Jesse, I kept thinking of the line from Better Off Dead: "Sorry I blew up your mom, Ricky."

Well. A little, cute girl just made a present for me in her diaper. I should go tend to that.

Double Ack.

So yesterday I picked Reid up from football practice and asked if he had heard how Jesse (the boy who got injured) was doing. Reid said that Jesse was still in the hospital with broken ribs, a cut spleen, and a bruised kidney. I pulled the car over and went in to get Jesse's parent's number from the coaches. Good grief. I knew I needed to do something for them.

So I called the number today and talked to Jesse's dad. He said that Jesse was still in ICU and that he wasn't allowed to move at all because of the danger with his spleen. They're trying to keep it immobile so that it can heal. They're trying to avoid surgery and removing the spleen. Then he said, "But they let him start eating today." How do you respond to those things? And then he says, "It was really great of you to call. You really didn't need to worry." Didn't I? I know it's part of football, but my kid just put your kid in the hospital for four or five days... I think I'm required to call!

I asked if it was okay if we take a gift basket to Jesse and he said of course. They are supposed to be moving him to a regular room tonight or tomorrow. So we might get to visit with him a bit. Hopefully he's out of the woods surgery wise and may even get to come home on Saturday or Sunday. I certainly hope so.

Ack.

I went to pick Reid up from football practice today. As I was coming up on the school, I noticed an ambulance in the parking lot where I pick Reid up every day. I pulled into the lot, trying to make sure I didn't get in the way of the ambulance (and fire truck). I'm wondering what's going on and if it has to do with Reid's team, another team, or the middle school football players who are playing a game at the high school field. I knew Reid was okay because he had called me a few minutes before to come pick him up.

Reid starts walking to to the car and as he's getting in, I ask him, "Do you know what's going on?" He says, "Yeah, I tackled a guy and he came down on my knee and broke his ribs."

ACK. I was not expecting that.

I feel bad for the kid, but as Reid's mom, at that very moment, I felt really bad for Reid. I asked him if he was alright and what the coaches had to say and all of that.

I think he's alright. But I'm going up to give him a big hug before bed just in case.

And I think I'll make some cookies for the kid who has broken ribs. Reid has a class with him, and hopefully he'll be back at school soon.