Just a quick checkin

Can you tell I have been working A LOT more lately? When I am at the computer now I am working so the blog has suffered. Fam is good. Mommy has the cold Gage brought home, Gage is amazing, Reece is getting the cold too...but she is coming into a fantastically funny age. Daddy is getting his eyes done this next friday so he won't need glasses anymore...Yeah! Yesterday we were out in short sleeved shirts & tonight we have a blizzard. It is very very wet snow which is great cause just today I thought I better get some water on our sod. Well I am off to read a few pages in a book. Uh oh, now you know where I have been spending my time, instead of blogging to you all I have been selfishly reading a fictional romance mystery...and I don't feel a bit guilty :0)

Good night

"I'm the Hulk"

Oh my goodness I can't believe I forgot to post this. The other day I was at my desk working while Bug was napping & Gage was watching a movie. When the movie was done there was a voice behind me. I did not acknowledge immediately so it got louder. As the voice increased in decibles my brain finally heard what had been repeated....many times. Mom, I'm the Hulk....the Hulk doesn't wear clothes. Ah yes, there's my HULK in all his glory, completely naked, grimicing and flexing his biceps. I laughed so hard and grabbed my cell phone to call Daddy & send a pix msg to him. Gage explained to me again that the Hulk doesn't wear clothes. I tried to reason with him...to no avail. He refused to wear clothes for a long time. When Bug woke up & it was time to run errands he STILL didn't want to wear clothes (and it was only about 40 degrees outside). Mom did win that battle; Hulk had to go away for a while. Later I finally convinced him (with a little help from daddy) that the Hulk wears shorts (like his skivies) but daily he strips down to nothing and plays Hulk around the house.

H U G E Crash!!!

It seems that Bug doesn't think that mommy has enough worry these days. On Sunday evening the family spent some time downstairs together. Daddy was making a "milk" box for our front porch (for milk delivery) since the wind rips the cover off every cooler we have placed out there, Gage floated between helping daddy, playing out back, chasing the dogs, etc etc etc, Mommy was grilling some steaks and Reece was in her walker on the back porch. I have used the walker to keep her out of trouble downstairs in the past...those days are OVER!!! I usually lay the hose around the edge of the patio to corral her on the concrete. She has gotten much taller & much stronger. I just knew in the back of my mind this would be a problem 'cause I made Daddy watch her every time I was distracted or had to grab something...I turned to flip the steaks and that's when I heard the cry! I turned in time to see our baby hurling down the rockiest, steepest, worst hill near our patio, stuck in the walker, flipping, flailing until I was flying myself to rescue her. I had no idea what I would find when I pulled her out of the walker from a face down position in the dirt and my stomach had crushed my heart on it's way to my throat. She had a mouth full of dirt/gravel and road-rash from above her hair line on her left side down to her chin with various other nicks (other side of her forehead, back of her arm, etc). There was one scrape I thought was deep enough to start a flow of blood (you know head wounds) but it remained just a scrape. I got the rocks out of her mouth, put ice on the left side of her head/face, Daddy got her a popsicle and while I rocked her I felt like the worst mother on the face of the earth. I just knew it but I left her in there anyway. Can I tell you the vision of her going down that hill will haunt me for the rest of my life. She is a trooper. She didn't cry hard for long and soon was her entertaining self at dinner. Her head was sore & other than whimpers through the night (when I assume she rolled to that side of her head) she did amazing. The next morning I could tell she had some discomfort but 15min after Ibuprofen she was back to normal. She has daddy's QUICK healing cause her injuries look so much better...which helps lessen mommy's guilt and sadness every time I look at her. At my lowest, she did give me a dose of laughter...when I pulled the ice off her head she looked at me and said "doh" (like Homer Simpson) which is what we say when she bonks her head. The tears & laughter flowed hard for a moment. Later, when we looked out the window (at the scene of the accident) she said "boom, boom, boom". Talk about kicking me right in the gut! Yes, honey that is where you boom, boom, boom crashed. Thank god for Daddy, he could not have been more supportive for the wrecked mommy and Bug (the little pistol) still loves me!

It is amazing how these little people can rip your heart out, fill it so much you think it will burst, drive you more mad than you ever thought possible and all you want is more! It is a love you cannot describe, duplicate or even understand sometimes. I can't even remember the person I was before I was mommy. I remember what we did, where we went, but can't understand what filled my life with importance w/out kids.

No more curls...

Bug got her first hair cut the other day. To even up the back I had to cut off the two side curls that came around her ears. I have to say it is nice to see her eyes all the time and the back looks pretty cute as it curls under now like a little bob. I'll attach a picture to this post in the next couple days.

Grounded from the cell phone at age one!

So Bug is grounded from mommy's cell phone. She likes to play with my phone which in the past has been no big deal. She pretends to talk, plays with the antenna and demand it to be re-opened every time she closes it. The other night one of my sisters called & LM that she missed some calls. I would have just dismissed thinking she was some old calls but Reece-a-bug had my phone while I was making dinner. Every time she brought it to me to re-open it, it was off. I could hear the power up & power off music every now & again but didn't pay much attention. Out of curiosity I took a gander at my recent outgoing calls. She was busy! She called my friend in the neighborhood, my parent's cell phone 6 times, my doctors office & my sister's cell phone 2 times. The crazy thing about it is none of these numbers are in order in my contact list, & none of them had been in my recent call list so she was button happy. Oh my, is the phone thing in girls' genes? Wow! Needless to say she hasn't had access to my phone since and I will be locking my keys from now on.

Peek-a-Boo, Here I am.

Wow, I feel like a lifetime has passed since last I blogged. Friday I started a working marathon & literaly worked more hours in 5 days than I did the entire month of January. January was pathetic to say the least but wow. Carl was headed to Washington D.C. and I snuck in the office while he was gone...I have itchy fingers when I find things that NEED to get done. I found a LOT of things that NEEDED to get done & I really NEEDED the hours(translate to cash) so it was a win/win!

Gage had his 2nd cavity filled last this week. Both daddy & I cringe at the fact he has my teeth! Ughhhhhhh! Can I just say after 2 cavities we now have over $500 in his little tiny mouth. Forget college I'm going to need an investment plan to pay for dental. Anyway, he was incredible/brave/awesome.... After the "terror" of his first filling (including being strapped to the chair in what looked like a straight jacket and getting a fat lip from them trying to pry his mouth open), he hopped right up in the chair, opened his mouth for Dr. D and flirted shamelessly with the ladies. I think it definately help that Dr. D is a woman. While they were getting setup he checked out ALL the instruments they would be using in his mouth then hopped right back up into the chair for nitros...thats my boy! We laughed about how he looked like a space man with the mask. He breathed through his nose like a champ and then looked at me & say... "mommy, you can go now." Wow! I was so proud & sad at the same time. He did amazing. No crying during the novacaine but when his mount started going numb (actually when his nose went numb) and they put all the stuff in his mouth he protested. Dr. D is so fast that before I could think about closing the book I brought and taking a walk into the hallway, she was done. The BAD news is he has 1 more. Good god, 3 cavities at age 3. He brushes I SWEAR!!!!!! He even has a tickly tooth brush. I will be having a conversation with Dr. D to see if there is anything we can do to help strengthen his enamle. We already started with taking floride (Bug too) so hopefully that will do something to the adult teeth he has up there. We can hope! If he has to have my teeth I just hope he has my eyes too and won't need glasses like daddy!

Reece is talking up a storm. Most of it is not actual words but the inflection is definately conversational. She sings, mimics, yells...she has discovered her voice & likes what she hears...and volume is not an issue. She has such a cute walk. Such a girl walk with a little rump shake! She & brother have been playing chase every night for the last few nights (which is great for mom since it wears them out & they fall asleep much faster). I have to say, Gage will be the one who just does stuff & will take the consiquences if he gets caught...but Bug....oh man, she is going to be the sly/sneeky one. (Yeah Nana & Papa, she is going to be PAY BACK to me) It is so fun to watch her now but it just gives us flashes into our future. Can you get a valium filter for your furnace? Surely that will be an option when she hits her teen years. She is doing much better with the "biting" thing...with most everyone but poor big brother (not that he doesn't deserve a good chomp every now & again :) I am weening her off of the bottle this week. She has refused milk in anything but a bottle. She will drink anything else in her cups...but NOT MILK. Today we tried milk in a sippy before her morning nap, she did drink 1/2 while I read 8 books. I have one more bottle liner for her night-time milk tomorrow night and that's it. I have found that she loves to drink water. I filled up her cup with water in a mad dash to get out of the house the other day and before we left the driveway she had more than 1/2 drank. AWESOME!!!! I have been working with Gage on water too...getting away from those sugary juices...even though we only use 100% juice that natural sugar is kicking butt on his teeth!

Well I think that is enough for tonight. I just took a bunch of pix tonight of the kids in a bath so I'll try to post them tomorrow (in Keri-nese that means a week from tomorrow).

Open your hearts & your minds to new experiences & ways of thought, you never know what you might learn.

PS On baby news (god no not me!) my Bro & SIL (that's sister-in-law) are pregnant with ONE healthy jelly belly baby. She has a copy of the ultrasound pic posted on her blog.