Boysies

We received a visit from Auntie Lynn and sweet cousin Kaleigh this past weekend!



Elijah was beyond excited to spend time with Kaleigh. Sammy was unsure (below is his I-don't-know-you-and-please-don't-steal-me face). Give him some time and he'll be excited to spend time with cousins, too!



Sammy has been doing all kinds of cute things lately, so I better get these down before I forget them!

The other day I caught him trying to wipe Elijah's bottom with a wet-wipe. Probably because he sees Elijah's bottom being wiped quite often. He follows Elijah around with a wipe in his hand and when E stops, he starts wiping. He has even tried to do it to me a couple times. Thanks, Sammy!

Sam does NOT like receiving help. With anything! If he is struggling to get a cap back on a marker or pull off a sock or whatever it may be, he gets extremely mad if we try to help him.

A few new Sammy words: Apple (bob-bob), Bob the Tomato (Bob), Larry the Cucumber (yeh-yeh). He can do almost all of the animal noises, and they sure are cute.

Lately he goes to our front entry-way and points at the wall and does his dinosaur growl. I say, "Sammy, is there a dinosaur over there?" He smiles and points and keeps growling. So it has become a bit of a joke that we have a dinosaur living in our entry-way.

Every time he bonks a body part, he looks at me and makes his cute little kissy noise which means he wants me to come kiss his owie. And of course I do it.

He does this cute cute cute thing where he folds his hands behind his back and walks around. It's like he is surveying his surroundings and taking everything in.

A few quick Elijah things.. The bump on his head is doing just fine, and he hasn't shown any more strange symptoms since falling. He has tolerated his glasses VERY well. Much better than I anticipated! The first few days of patching were a challenge, but now he is fine with wearing the patches, too. So many people have told him how handsome he looks with his new glasses that he seems very proud of them! I can tell that they help his vision a ton. When I take them off at bedtime, he makes some funny faces and blinks a lot.

We celebrated Dan's mom's 60th birthday with her last night, and had such a nice time! It is always fun to be with family and to watch Elijah and Sammy enjoying their cousins.

That's about all I've got for now! Back to filling out health insurance applications, wee!!

Fixed eyes, a head injury and an M&M's addiction

I have much to share! I'll start with the best news. Elijah got his new glasses! Could any kid be better-suited for glasses than him? They suit his personality very well, I think. He did ok with them today, but did not like the patch at all. He has to wear a patch on his right eye for two hours every day, and I have a feeling this is going to be quite a daily struggle (like we need more daily struggles). Patching his good eye makes his other eye work pretty hard, which is good (for his eye) and bad (for those who have to deal with the complaining).



Two days ago, I was upstairs working on my blog and Dan was downstairs doing the budget (his favorite thing). Sammy was taking a nap, and Elijah was having quiet time at the computer. All of a sudden I heard chair legs screeching on the floor, followed by a splat and a murderous Elijah scream. He had somehow fallen off his chair and landed head-first onto the tile floor. A huge bump formed very quickly on the back of his head. I probably would have been comfortable not bringing him to the hospital if the bump had been our only concern. A few minutes after the fall, once he had calmed down, he started complaining about not being able to see us. He kept saying that his head was "up and couldn't get back down," and then he would say, "Mommy, I can't see you!" I brought him to the ER immediately. I know enough about head injuries to know not to waste time when neurological symptoms are present.



The ER doctor said he had a good deal of swelling and because he had complained of vision problems, a CT scan was ordered. The results were normal. He had suffered a mild concussion, but nothing was structurally damaged. The nurse told me to expect him to be "off" for about a week, but those vision complaints within 10 minutes of his fall were the only "off" things we have witnessed.



He was such a BRAVE BRAVE BOY during the CT scan. He had complete trust in me when I told him that nothing was going to hurt. He had to get "tied down" pretty tightly for the scan, and he did great. He's maturing! Just a short time ago, he would not have done well with that. I was very proud of my boy. Then we sat together on a bed in Room 16 and snuggled and talked and hugged and sang songs while we waited for the results. I don't know exactly how to explain this, but it was a weird experience for me. Sitting in a hospital with that special little boy of mine always, no matter what we are there for, brings me to tears. Happy, sad, thankful, sorrowful tears. I tried to put it into words to explain to Dan, but I couldn't. I can't explain it. There's just deep-rooted emotion there that I don't believe will ever go away. Elijah + hospitals = emotional mama.



The bump on E's head is still there, but he seems to be doing just fine. It has not hindered his sass or pooping-in-pants at all!

Our sweet Sammy needs rehab for his M&M's addiction. I had some left over from a recipe I made the other night, so I gave the boys each a small handful after dinner. Ever since then, Sammy has been asking for M-N-M-N-M (stick your tongue out on the Ns) about every 5 minutes. He gets such a funny little concerned look on his face when he asks for them. He's an addict!

And in other news, since being unemployed (or I should say since being SELF-employed!), I have been a home-organizing lunatic! After literally YEARS of carrying the I-don't-have-time-to-take-care-of-my-home burden heavily on my shoulders, I finally have time to take care of my home! I am loving this! Dan has helped me to create an office for myself in our loft, where I have been spending a few hours every day doing blog work and photo editing. We have also gone through all of the boys' toys and put three large bags in storage (aka, our messy garage). I have also sorted through my ridiculous pile of cooking magazines and organized them. Today I washed couch and chair covers. I am consistently CAUGHT UP ON LAUNDRY, which is the absolute strangest thing on the planet. When I was working full-time, I was never ever caught up on laundry. NEVER. And the best thing of all is that I get so much quality time with my precious boys. Spending this time with them is very special to me. Getting Elijah on and off the bus every day is indescribable. Snuggling with Sammy endlessly on the couch is the best. I love having this time with my boys!

I have another organizational project for tomorrow that I'm excited about! I'll take before and after pics and share. Fun!

Thanks for checking in on us! More later!