My Date with Tubbs

Luke and I thought it would be a great idea of I had some individual "private time" with each of the boys this week.
Yesterday I whispered in Tubbs' ear, "Would you like to go to a movie with me?" Tubbs looked at me and whispered, Yes!"
I told him it was our secret and not to tell anyone. He really liked that part! He did pretty good, but he did brag to Bubba and Luke last night that we had a secret. Of course Luke knew what the secret was, but he didn't tell Tubbs.
My gift to the boys for Christmas was a gift card to "Foot Action" in the mall. They have been wanting to run with me (and they need new school shoes) so I thought a gift card for each of them would be a good idea for "running" shoes. I also thought it would be a good idea to take Tubbs to pick out his shoes before the movie today, for some extra time together.
Arriving at the mall! All smiles....and ready to find some shoes. Tubbs held my hand the entire time we were walking though the mall. (It was my favorite part of the date!)

We were only in Foot Action for 5 minutes since they had NOTHING. Tubbs also informed me that he would really, really like a pair of Heely's. I vaguely remember Luke mentioning this tidbit to me last week before Christmas. (I wish I would've known before I got the gift cards to Foot Action!)
So... being the softy I am, I told Tubbs we could go somewhere else and look for Heely's. After a few stops, we finally found them at Journey's Kids. Tubbs tried on a few pairs and was struggling to find a pair that he liked AND fit comfortably. He kept biting his lip and finally whispered in my ear (in a distressed voice),"I just want to look cool."
I nodded and told him we would make sure he got some cool shoes. After trying on 3 pairs, he finally found just the right ones.
(Yes---its the end of December and my son insists on wearing shorts!)




On our way to the movies Tubbs opened up his wheels for the bottom of his Heely's. He thought they looked really cool!


We went to the 12:30 showing of "Gulliver's Travels" in 3-D. We were very excited to get our glasses! We stopped by the snack bar and got our popcorn, milk duds and water. We made it to our seats about five minutes before the movie started, so it was perfect timing.


Tubbs wasn't really eating too much but was guzzling down the water. About 30 minutes into the movie Tubbs said he wasn't feeling well. He laid his head on my lap for about 10 minutes when he started quivering with chills. His eyes were closed he was really warm and he was trying to fall asleep. I asked him if he wanted to go and when he said yes, we took off. He had his new shoes on with the wheels, so I held his hand hand tight all the way to the car.
Thankfully we live five minutes from the theater so Tubbs was home in no time. We got him home and into a bath to soak.

I love you Tubbs! I am sorry our movie date got cut short, but let's do it again soon when your little body is feeling better.

Sick of Sick Kids!

What a Day!
It seems there is nothing really relaxing about Christmas vacation---especially with three kids. Any plans we seem to make get blown out of the water on a daily basis. We have to take it minute by minute around here.
Tubbs was out of bed first this morning and came crawling into our bed with a headache. (He has a lot of these it seems). He said he wasn't feeling good so he burrowed into the covers and tried to go back to sleep.
Minutes later Bubba came dashing into our bedroom (in his usual "Kramer-style") and right away I noticed his right eye. It was very swollen and red. I took a look, then Luke put on his glasses on and took a peek. Probably pink eye, but since none of us have ever had it, we weren't sure.
Tubbs posted up on the couch with a blankey and refused to eat breakfast, saying he was queasy. I called the doctor at 8am and they said they could see Bubba at 11:30am. 10 minutes later they called back and said 9:30am. I ran to the gym real quick, squeezed in my 5K run and hurried home in time for Luke to take Bubba to the doc. All morning I kept thinking to myself, "I am so glad we are both off work for two weeks!" With all three of the kids being sick, its been a relief to know they aren't missing school and we don't have to worry about work. What a great blessing.

Luke sent me an email around 10am saying that Bubba had pink eye AND ear infections in both ears. When the doctor asked him if his ears hurt he said, "No...not anymore." Apparently the kid is used to it....which makes me sad. He gets ear infections a lot every winter, but he NEVER complains about them. So, they often go untreated unless he is seen for something else. Hopefully the kid doesn't go deaf at an early age from all the damage to his ear drums!
(There I go again...getting all paranoid and extreme!)
After leaving the doctor, Luke took Bubba to Panera for muffies. Bubba was all excited because they have free wi-fi and he could play Words with Friends on his ITouch while he ate. (After only 24 hours he is addicted to the game like the rest of us.)


Yesterday, Tubbs and I had made plans for some "private time" today and were planning to go see "Gulliver's Travels." I didn't think we were going to end up going, but by the time Luke and Bubba were home from the pharmacy at 11am, he said he wanted to go. I combed his hair and we headed out to the mall. Unfortunately, we had to cut our date short because Tubbs had a fever and starting shaking 45 minutes into the movie. (See future blog post!) Needless to say, the remainder of the day was not good for Tubbs. At dinner time, Tubbs was as queasy as ever and anyone saying the word "cheese" sent him into convulsions. Petunia loves slices of American cheese, so I had to turn her high chair around so he wouldn't throw up. By 8pm Tubbs was leaning over the toilet (again) crying when he looked at me and asked, "Mommy...can we say a prayer together?"
It melted my heart and I of course held him close to say a prayer.
Poor Tubbs.
He had taken 2 showers today and one bath! He is a very clean, sick boy. Hopefully whatever he has passes and tomorrow is a better day! He seems to get a lot of headaches...so we probably need to get it all checked out.

(I should have taken a picture of Bubba before his eye drops. This pic was taken in the afternoon.)

Christmas Eve 2010

I had grand plans for Christmas Eve day/evening.
Not really. :)
Actually I was kind of clueless as to what needed to be done before the "big day" tomorrow as well as trying to establish some kind of evening festivities.
The one thing I knew I wanted to do was go to the gym and run.....so I could feel better about eating whatever the heck I want tomorrow.
But--Petunia had other plans for me. She has had a fever off and on the past two days and fell asleep on Luke's lap at 6:30 last night. After I rocked her back to sleep during the middle of the night,I told myself if she woke up with a fever I was taking her to the doctor.
I called her pediatrician at 8:01am and their office was closed today.
What the heck?! Who takes Christmas Eve day off of work?! :)
So, I loaded her up and took her to the Urgent Care a few miles away. As soon as we were called back by the nurse she lost it.


Its a double edge sword when you take your kid to the doctor. You want to feel like your diagnosis is correct and make it worth the $20 copay. But at the same time, you don't want your baby angel to be sick.
Needless to say, Petunia has an ear infection. I thought maybe thats why she was sleeping so terrible. But she also has A LOT of chest/nasal congestion. The doctor tested her for RSV, which I have no idea what that is. He told me the test results would be back in 4-5 hours and if she tested positive I needed to take her to the ER.
Wow. Christmas in the hospital. The thought was bringing me down quickly. As I pulled out of the parking lot I said a prayer in the car.
I got her antibiotic at the new pharmacy by our house and called my home teacher from church. He came over and gave her a blessing, and I was so thankful. Luke and I said a prayer together and we went on with our day. Presents to wrap and laundry to be done. No time for moping or wondering what we'd be doing for Christmas Eve if Petunia was in the hospital.

Petunia took a nice LONG nap. Thank goodness. She really needed some good rest for her little body.
The boys lounged while Luke ran last minute Santa errands.

Luke took the boys on a bike ride and went to visit some friends in the neighborhood. When Petunia woke up we bundled up and took a walk. We were still waiting for the test results for the RSV test.
We ran to the store and I ran out of patience so I called the Urgent Care. They called me back while I was inside Albertson's to tell me the results were negative.
I wanted to hug the person next to me in the frozen food aisle. Instead I gave the nurse a jolly "Thank you" and she wished me a Merry Christmas! It was a GREAT Christmas present indeed.

To celebrate we stopped by (where else?!) Sonic for beverages and cheese bites. Petunia even got her own cherry slush.

Christmas Eve dinner; We don't have a traditional meal yet. I was craving Tony's Pizza (as usual) but agreed to a breakfast dinner. We love breakfast dinner.
We even had bacon in the fridge, that was neat-o mosquito. We had eggs, PB toast, cinnamon rolls, and bacon.

The kids got cleaned up after dinner and were bouncing off the walls. The boys couldn't wait to open their one gift---which is a tradition from when I was a kid.
Tubbs kept asking me, "When can we read the Bible so we can open a present?"
Soon Tubbs. Soon.
Luke was outside getting the tether ball ball (on a tire) set up that a friend had been storing for us. He had snuck outside to help get it off the truck and moved to the back yard. It was dark outside but I thought for sure one of the kids was going to go outside to look for him. As soon as he snuck back in, we settled the kids in for the story of Jesus' birth in Luke chapter 2. We had Bubba get out his scripture and read this year... and he liked it. Thank you Bubba.

After our scriptures and discussion about Jesus' birthday we let the kids open their gift.
Grandma Hogue made the kids each five pairs of pajama bottoms and we wrapped them up for their Christmas Eve present. It was interesting watching the boys strip down and try to decide which pair to wear to bed.

Next item on the agenda: Toss the reindeer food out on the lawn for Rudolph. :)
Boys brushed their teeth and into bed.
Bubba's prayers utilized the word "Santa" a lot. He asked that Santa would make it all the way around the world tonight and that he would get lots of presents. Tubbs asked Heavenly Father to help us remember Jesus when we open our presents tomorrow.
I love my boys.
With the kids tucked in bed, Luke went to work on writing his letter from Santa. I am always entertained reading these and picturing the boys' faces when they read it in the morning.


What a day!
I am listening to "Santa" sleep on the couch behind me as I type. Time to wake him up so we can fill stockings. I guess I better make sure the boys are asleep first, because I never know with "Foxhole Tubbs."
Merry Christmas Eve!

Bubba-Lish

Bubba...Bubba...Bubba.
Sometimes I don't know what to make of him.
Bubba talks a lot....and he makes a lot of noise. But regardless of that, I don't know much about what makes Bubba tick. Lately, he and I have been like oil and water. I find myself raising my voice in almost every conversation with this boy. I guess in my head, I "raise" my voice because I don't think he can hear me.
The fact is, I think he has been tuning me out for YEARS.

Bubba is my child who doesn't really care much about grooming himself or hygiene. Considering he has no sense of smell, this causes me GREAT concern. The boy is only eight years old(I know) but if I blink he'll be graduating from high school.

Bubba has always said he isn't going to grow up. However at dinner last week he stated he will go to college, but that's it! This is a huge leap from our last conversation, where he stated he would turn nine, and that's it! :)
Luke and I secretly joke that he will be the child living in our basement or spare bedroom when he is thirty years old. I secretly wouldn't mind, but ask me in 22 years and that may change.

What makes me crazy about Bubba lately?
His chapped lips! I own about 5 tubes of chap stick/lip balm and I constantly have to police him licking his upper lip. Sometimes I resort to concealer when we go out in public. :)




What I love about Bubba, is that when he speaks words of love, I know he means them. Its rare for Bubba to stop what he is concentrating on or playing with and participate in family activities. (He always seems to be on his "own page.") So, when he does, it's extra special.
Last week Bubba suggested we have a family movie night (for FHE) with caramel popcorn. I asked him what movie he wanted to watch and he picked out the animated scripture movie about the birth of Jesus. He wanted to surprise everyone so he made clues about what we were doing and hid them through the living room. I surprised him and not only made the popcorn, but I made some sugar cookies. Bubba was really excited and it was sugar overload.

Two things Bubba really enjoys:
1. Tetherball.
He loves taking the bus to school, because that means he gets there early enough to get a court. He even wears gloves. I love hearing him talk about other kids who come to "his court" and his tales of victory/woe. He doesn't know, but the boys are getting a portable tetherball (on a pole/tire) for Christmas... so they have plenty of time to practice before school starts up again.



2. Reading.
He will deny loving to read, but he is drawn to it. At night he asks if he can turn his bed lamp on and read after we tuck him in. For Christmas Grandpa Baer got him some Pokeman books and he put down his DS until he finished both of them. (Which he did in less than a few hours) It really makes me proud when I see him doing so well in his reading. A few months ago he brought home a few Harry Potter books he checked out from the library and really enjoyed them. Go Bubba.


Bubba's wish list for Christmas:
1. IPhone 4
2. IPod Touch
3. IPad
4. Machine Gun

Interesting.....he must own stock in Apple. And I have no idea what he wants to do with a machine gun! :)

Petunia Pickles

Petunia:Another baby angel who is adding grey hairs to my head, slowly but surely. This little sister is sixteen months old, with a sixteen year old attitude.
It absolutely kills me. I thought my boys were ornery, but Bubba and Tubbs don't have anything on this girl.

About two months ago she started waking up through the night. I don't really know what she wants. I tried a bottle and if she isn't interested, she acts as though she wants to roam the house and scream.
If I put her back in her crib she will scream for hours. She has the willpower of a monk!! Its amazing. There are night she will scream for 1-2 hours.
UGH!

Petunia is also my raccoon/squirrel. She is constantly roaming the house and looking for items to get into/hide. One of her favorite things to do is pull toilet paper off the roll AND pull shoes off the shoe rack in my closet. Of course over the past week or two, she has enjoyed grabbing presents from under the tree and taking off with them. (As long as she doesn't lose any of my gifts, she is fine!)


Two of my favorite things about Petunia:
1. She will eat about anything. The girl loves to eat and it makes me very happy. (She takes after her mother in at least one way)
Eating a Egg and Cheese Biscuit after a early morning run to WalMart.


2. She loves to dance and shake her rump shaker



She LOVES her pacifier. We never really thought to give her one, but when I went back to work in January, the babysitter gave her one. She has been hooked ever since.

Tubb-lerone

Tubbs:
Don't let his charming smile fool you. Tubbs is the "peanut gallery" in our family. He likes to sit back and watch us all go at it...and add his two cents. He really enjoys taunting his brother and adding his comments and jabs in when Bubba is getting in trouble. This boy is a handful. (Mostly because he has his father's blood running through his veins.)
Don't get me wrong....He makes me laugh (alot). He has an interesting sense of humor and with his raspy voice its always a good time to watch Tubbs have a good time.
A few days ago Luke let the boys pick out shoelaces at the Kid's Foot Locker store. This is what Tubbs chose:
When they got home and showed them off, I looked at Luke and said they looked like girl laces. Luke just smiled and said, "That's what he wanted." Tubbs is definitely his own man. When I was going through the family photos we took last weekend (and trying to find thee perfect one,) I was disgruntled to find that Tubbs was doing his best Jerry Lewis impression in quite a few.
Thanks Tubbs.
He loves to sing and dance!! His favorite singer is Justin Bieber and he talked his dad into downloading the latest Kids Bop tracks to his IPod so he can sing along to them in the car.
This video is one of many that will live in infamy!!
I can't wait to show this to his wife and kids one day! Can't wait!! :)

Tubbs' Hero

Last month both boys came home from school talking about this assignment they had at school. They received a piece of paper titled “My Hero” and they had to name their hero and draw a picture.
Tubbs told me I was his hero.
I thought he was joking.
But he was serious.
It really touched my heart because I thought for sure it would be his dad. I told him to bring it home so I could see it.
Then he told me that his paper won an award and was hung up in the library….which meant he couldn’t bring it home for a while.
A few weeks ago was the book fair in the boys' school library. On family night I took the boys to pick out a few books. When I was paying for the books, Tubbs pointed up on the wall and showed me his Hero paper. He wasn't lying! It really said his mom was his hero. It melted my heart!!
I love you Tubbs…and thanks for picking mama as your hero!

Family Pictures 2010

Ya know--it was a lot easier getting "family" pictures before we had three kids.
Its like a LARGE miracle when you can get everyone to look in the direction of the camera at the same time AND smile half way decent.
I am so thankful for digital photos because I think I could have burned through 10 rolls of film!
This latest adventure starts with rain and the cancellation of our photographer. We had a professional photographer lined up, but since she doesn't have an indoor studio she cancelled the morning of the photos.
I understand--she didn't want to get her equipment wet and possible damaged, but the show had to go on. My oldest sister, Jody and her family drove down that morning for the 9am photos, from Redding. We don't see each other but maybe once a year. I had to do the calculations and I hadn't seen my sister Jody since my grandmother's birthday party in October 2009 and I hadn't seen her husband since July 4th 2009.
So--I knew we had to try and take some family pictures no matter what.
Luckily I brought my digital SLR camera with me and my dad had a tripod--- so we took turns snapping pictures of each family.

22 people on the steps of the Veteran's Hall in Royer Park. No one wanted to take off their coats or stand in the rain---but we survived! The original location of the photo shoot was apparently muddy and swampy from the rain so we found this location Friday afternoon.
I was in charge of the timer on the camera, so I ran back and forth between sets of photos to look at the results....and determine if we needed more. My younger brother Dari was not in the family photo and I was disappointed he chose not to make it. Otherwise, I think we all did the best we could to put smiles on our faces.
Each family chose a different color, which made the photos even more interesting. I think most everyone was shopping last minute trying to find something for the little people.

Grandma and Grandpa with all 10 grand kids.
I tried to edit the rain drops off the sweaters, but I am just not that good. Oh well.


Running to daddy! Its time to hit the road.


We were very happy to be in the car and going through the Starbucks drive thru for hot cocoas IMMEDIATELY following the "photo shoot."

The kids were also happy to be in the car and not having to get out in the cold for one more shot. Poor Bubba had his usual chapped lip and I had to resort to using some of my make-up on his lip. He doesn't know it was make up since he is so used to us running his lip down with something. But I was very happy he didn't have monkey lips in our pictures!
After we got back home I tried to take a few more pictures of the kids. Petunia wanted absolutely nothing to do with standing still next to her brothers or being held by her brothers. She was ready for a nap! It wasn't really worth the extra effort, but I captured the normal faces of the boys when they are together.




My Big hunk in my parents' back yard.

My parents and youngest brother, Bert.

Turkey Trot

I think we found a new family tradition for Thanksgiving.
In Roseville they have their "Turkey Trot" 5K/10K event on Thanksgiving morning. Here locally, it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. (Which I am thankful I didn't sign up for since it was raining.)
Somehow, I managed to talk all of my Roseville family into participating in the event with me and I am glad they did. While I was the only family member who ran, my family paid the expensive registration fee ($35/$40) and braved the 40 degree weather with me at 9am.
Thank you!
Originally I was signed up for the 10K but I was sick for a week leading up to the race. When my dad picked up my registration packet on Wednesday night, he asked if I could switch races. I have to admit, I am glad I did.
The course was at a park and the 10K racers started 10 minutes earlier but had to run the course twice. The last hundred yards of the race, there was a person waving the 5K runners off the path to the finish line and yelled "10K runners, one more lap!" And I thought to myself, I am glad I only did the 5K.
There were a lot of people out there---alot of them were walkers. I guess they felt it was great exercise before they chowed down on a holiday meal. Unfortunately for me, I got sick around lunch time and didn't even get to eat.
So sad! It should be a crime to get sick on Thanksgiving.

My mom, sister in law Lindsay, and sister Sarah.

My brother Robert and mom

My nephew Cooper and my brother Bert

She loved running around the park after the race was over

Luke, Petunia, Grandpa Baer, nephew Holden and niece Autumn. (Sarah and Bradyn are in the background)
After I finished we walked over to the road to find the rest of the family...and walked the rest of the way with them.

This was my first race where you wore a time chip on your shoe. I thought that was interesting.

About 15 minutes into the race I saw this vehicle driving at my pace next to me. I look over and see its Luke and the kids with the windows down.
It was fun to see them during the race and wave.....and blow kisses.

I saw them again about 3/4 of the way through, parked on the side of the road waiting for me.
I am thankful for my family! I can't wait for next year's race. My brother says he will run it with me next year and I think my sister said the same thing.
Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving Contribution

Well, we survived another Thanksgiving holiday with our family on the road.
I have come to the conclusion that holidays aren't supposed to relaxing or enjoyable, just memorable.
In our annual tradition we headed north to spend the weekend with my parents and siblings. We always hot the road Wednesday afternoon as soon as Luke's last kid is picked up. (Seems like there are always parents who forget their kid for a few hours. Free babysitting? I don't know.)
Anyways, our memorable weekend began when Tubbs needed to be picked up early on Wednesday. (Only my child would need to be picked up early on a minimum day.) He had a headache, so I put him in the bath tub and gave him Motrin. Shortly after he began vomiting. He said he felt much better and was hungry for lunch so I fed him Cheetos and a sandwich. We thought he was ok and maybe it was just the headache that caused him to get sick. A few hours after his initial vomit we packed up the car and picked up Luke from work, ready to hit the road for Roseville. In Luke's school parking lot Tubbs vomited again. It was a nice yellow from the Cheetos. I thought I was going to toss my cookies.
We texted my mom to let her know what was going on and asked her what we should do. We asked Tubbs if he wanted to go home or hit the road...and of course he was ready to go for it. So, he vomited in a large McDonald's cup inside of a plastic shopping bag for the next 320 miles.
Lovely.

The kids passed out after it got dark on the road
We stopped at one point so I could empty Tubbs' vomit cup and it spilled on my arm.
Again, I thought I was going to lose it.
I had to take a photo!


The next day was Thanksgiving and by the time our turkey dinner was on the table I was nauseous and couldn't eat one bite. BUMMER.
Luke was the next victim who began getting sick through the night.
By Saturday afternoon my 20 year old brother was vomiting and needed to be picked up early from work.
By the time we arrived back home Sunday afternoon we received a text that my brother's 2nd grader was vomiting.
And this morning on Facebook I read that my sister's 3 year old son began vomiting through the night.
So, we brought a nice little virus with us for Thanksgiving.
That was our family's contribution.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Sick Girl

So,Halloween night Petunia started getting red bumps around her mouth. By early the next morning they looked like blisters. Never seen it before so we thought it was from her pacifier. I took her to the baby sitter's and within an hour I receive I call: she has spots and blisters on her feet, booty and hands.
"ugh...."
and more "ugh!"
Poor little girl had "Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease." Bubba got this once before when he was 2 1/2 and went to pre-school. But this case was far worse. It wasn't pretty. I never knew you could get blisters on the outside of the mouth too.
I didn't bother taking her to the doctor since I knew what it was and unfortunately there isn't anything you can do for this nasty virus....except wait it out. So, we all took turns staying home with her during the week and giving her lots of TLC and attention.
I took her to the gym with me Friday and Saturday and I think this is where she might have picked it up. I know, I know...technically she could have picked it up anywhere BUT this was the only environment where she was exposed to other kids/toys. Who knows. But I am kind of skeptical about taking her back with me for a while. This virus has knocked us all out for a while.

She was cranky without her pacifier....so to make her happy we gave it to her. But we boiled lots of pacifiers over the week!


She didn't want to eat much so we bought lots of Popsicles and Go-Gurts.

She liked reorganizing my cupboards.

This was a cranky little bug by Day 3. Not a happy camper.


When the Tylenol kicked in (and she was rested) she was in a playful mood. I know she liked being home everyday and having lots of attention.
I was home with her Monday/Wednesday, Grandma took Tuesday, and Luke was home with her on his birthday (Thursday).
What a week! Thankfully, Petunia has recovered and living back in a bubble for a while.(I wish!) :)