Pride

Josh: Mommy, I'm so proud of you!
Me: You are? Thanks.
Josh: You're welcome.
Me: Why are you proud of me, Josh?
Josh: Because you always take us to school.

Yes people, I am appreciated around here for my greatness.

The New Cast of Characters

I am Heidi, aka Doodlebelle. I grew up in the beautiful town of Burlington, VT. I now reside in a rural area outside of Charlotte, NC. I have custody of my three step-children, as well as my four biological children. I am trying to navigate this world, keep my sanity, and laugh everyday while parenting 7 kids. Sometimes I do a good job of it. I enjoy reading, dancing, singing loudly in the car, losing my shit, and procrastination.


This is Brittney aka Weirdo. She is the twin of Brooke, (She is the older twin.) She enjoys her horse, reading, and being moody. She also enjoys thrashing around wildly while dancing, and completely ingoring me when I ask her a question.


This is Brooke, aka Miss Social. She is the twin of Brittney. She enjoys soccer, her friends, her phone, and her computer. She also enjoys dancing in the living room while watching her reflection in the TV, and arguing with her siblings. If ever she goes missing, you can find her in the bathroom, straightening her hair or taking pictures of herself for myspace.


This is Kyley, aka The Genius. She is super intelligent, and extremely weird. She enjoys her horse, her music, reading, and watching TV. She also enjoys sighing heavily and stomping when asked to do anything.


This is Andrew, aka Super Recovery Boy. He lives with brain cancer. He is funny and amazingly resilient. He enjoys playstation, computer games, drawing, talking back, and trying to get out of chores and school-work.


This is Rainia, aka Lil Mama. She is bubbly, fun and hyperactive. She enjoys competitive cheerleading, writing, being a princess, eating, telling everyone else what to do, and bossing around whoever she can.


This is Jake, aka Rotten. He is the twin of Joshua. He is funny, sarcastic, and entertaining. He enjoys action figures, bugs, dancing, making people laugh, being the center of attention, trying to annoy people, and ruling this family.


This Josh, aka Sweetness. He is the twin of Jacob, the youngest in the family. He is loving, sweet, and affectionate. He enjoys Computer games, Playstation, sports, singing, Showering people with hugs, and screaming at the top of his lungs when he doesn't get his way.


To contact me: iamdoodlebelle@gmail.com

Holy Smokes Batman!

Our house almost caught on fire last night! And I don't know what is going on here, because I have lived my whole life without any fire issues, and now I have 2 almost catastrophes in the time of one year. It was actually almost exactly a year ago that this happened. And now, This:




Okay, now that I am looking at it, I can see how the pictures are not very clear. Let me explain. In our bathroom, when the door is open all the way, there is a lovely perfectly round hole where the doorknob busted through the wall. Well, there used to be a perfectly round hole, until last night. Now it looks like those lovely pictures. Why? Because the boys were trying to kill the spiders. And we DON'T even have a spider problem! How were they trying to kill the spiders? Well, Jake was the lighter, and Josh was the holder. Josh held the toilet paper while Jake lighted it, and then Josh threw it INTO THE DOORKNOB HOLE!!! Holy Smokes Batman!!!

There was smoke billowing out of the hole, and when we ran in, Rick happened to be holding a beer in his hand, so he dumps the beer into the hole. And it is STILL smoking! So I grab this metal bread pan, because I bake bread so much that the breadpan is located in the bathroom, holding lipstick. I dump out the lipstick, fill the breadpan up with water, and pour it into the hole, and all down the wall, and all over the floor. Repeatedly! Because it WOULDN'T STOP SMOKING! Kyley runs in with a gravy boat (from the kitchen, although that thing would probably be good for holding Q-Tips) so I start using it, because it fits into the hole better. Now Rick runs in with the fire extinguisher from under the kitchen sink, and Oh Shit! It doesn't work! And somehow, now Rick has a pair of pliers, and is ripping the sheetrock with the pliers. So I run into the kitchen, and run back in with a large knife, and now he is sawing away at the sheetrock. I am continuing to pour water. And suddenly the power goes out! "OH CRAP!!! I think I just cut through an electrical line!!!" OMG! You should be dead! Sawing through an electrical line with a large metal knife, while standing in water.

He runs back in with a flashlight, because we have to be sure that the fire is out, and it still looks like smoke, and he is still sawing, and I am afraid to dump any more water in there, because the electrical line is probably exposed, but he reassures me that the breaker is completely off, so I am dumping, and he is sawing. We stop. We take a little break to reevaluate the situation, there in the dark, with the flashlight, and it seems that there is no more smoke. A huge sigh of relief. We examine the electical line with the flashlight, and it actually looks fine. Rick heads to the breaker box, telling me to yell if I see any sparks. I hold my breath, and now the lights are on, and nothing is sparking. OH THANK GOD! There is no smoke coming from the hole, the fire is out, and we still have a house.

Coming Soon: We disclipline two 6-yr-old boys who almost burned our house down

Conversations with Josh

Brooke and I went on a shopping trip. We were not home in time for dinner, and stopped to get fast-food at this awesome place, which is my downfall:



She didn't finish her chicken strips, and had put them in the fridge, saying "Rainia can have those for her after school snack tomorrow." So tomorrow came, and was actually yesterday. Is that confusing? Anyway, I pick up elementary school first, which is Rainia, Jake and Josh.

Rainia: What can I eat when I get home?

The girl has an obsession with food. she cannot get enough. I think that because of her extremely hyper-nature, and metabolism, she really is always hungry. She burns it as soon as she eats it.

Me: Actually, Brooke saved her dinner from last night for you. Wasn't that nice?

Rainia: Yay! What is it?

Me: Chicken strips.

Josh: But I wuv chicken stwips too. Did she give me some?

Me: Sorry bud. You're going to have to eat normal snack.

Josh: Why did she give it to Wainia?

Rainia: Everyone knows I am the eater in this family.

Josh: (Is very upset, his face turns red, and he yells) "You awe NOT my leader!"



And on the same trip, the highlight of my day:

They are having a book fair. We always buy books at the school book fairs, and they sent home a catalogue for the kids to look through.



Rainia: Look at the book I want Mommy.



(Rainia's other obsession)

Josh: And wook at the book I want Mommy, Andwew weads these books.



Josh: It's called Diawea of a Wimpy Kid. It's about a kid that poops all the time!

Pajama Mama

I am not a huge fan of pajama's. I don't actually have anything AGAINST pajama's, I just can't seem to justify buying them. At good ole Walmart, kids PJ's cost about $10. Adult PJ's cost about $20. So for us, with 3 kids in adult size clothing, and 4 in kid's sizes, we are looking at about $100 for PJ's, FOR ONE NIGHT! This is why I am a HUGE fan of wearing a t-shirt and shorts to bed. or maybe sweatpants. Yeah, sweatpants make for nice sleepwear.

But, today was 'Polar Express' day in kindergarden. They got to wear PJ's to school, and slippers instead of shoes. They got train tickets, and watched the movie, and drank hot cocoa. So off to Walmart we went, to buy some PJ's, and Oh. My. God. I can't even believe I have been missing out on this. These boys were so cute that I could have eaten them alive. I mean seriously, have you ever seen anything this cute in your whole life?





No, I did not have to ask them to hug each other, because that is what they ALWAYS do. They just love on each other all day. They never fight. Ever.

Definition of accident

An actual conversation that happened tonight at the dinner table:

Jake: Ooooh!!! These new cups are cute.

Rainia: Are these glass or plastic?

Kyley: They have to be plastic. I highly doubt that they would buy glass to replace all of the glasses we have been breaking.

Josh: Maybe I will accidentally drop one when I get up to put it in the sink, and then we will know if it's glass or plastic.

Rick: (joking people) Maybe I will accidentally bring you in the kitchen and accidentally spank your butt.

Me: Yeah, Josh, if you plan out dropping the cup, it wouldn't be an accident, it would be on purpose.

Josh: NO! I PROMISE it will be an accident!

Hhhhmmmm...Here I thought I was doing a good job by never disciplining an accident. Like the time Jake broke one of Rick's special Japanese Saki cups. Or the time Josh dropped Andrew's laptop...Is there a definition of accident that I didn't know about?

One-Liners

Things I have heard in my house lately:

Part of Josh's speech deficit is that all sounds with a G, K, or hard C, sound exactly alike. They all sound like a K sound. So for him, the words got and caught would sound exactly alike. They both come out like "Kot" So just imagine for me, if you would, all G's in the following sentence sounding like a K. And yes, we are VERY sick parents to have found this so funny.

Josh: "I got gum! I got gum!" "Why awe you yaffin? I yuv gum!"


Jake: I need a spoon.
Rick: Well go get yourself one. This isn't a restaurant!
Jake: (takes Rick's hand and drags him into the kitchen, and then points to the wall) "Look!"
Me: (laughing hysterically) OMG! He got you honey! Don't underestimate Jake.

Rick: Boy, that sign says Rest-Stop, not Restaurant! You better get your own stinkin' spoon!


After we saw this:

All the kids thought it was so cool. Then a classic Brooke moment

Brooke: But how did he get his hair to come out the top like that?

All the kids had to laugh, and then all of them tried to explain to her how it was a helmet. That it was made like that.

During a precious moment where Rick and I were alone in the car.
Me: Stop confusing me Bitch!
Rick: Will you stop calling my navigation system that? I LOVE her!
Me: Sorry honey, but what the hell is her name then? You are going to have to name her or I am going to keep calling her bitch.

And the best thing I have heard recently around this house is the word "Mom", spoken many times recently, by Andrew, describing me!!!

Parent-teacher Conferences

Yesterday was parent-teacher conference day. Always a big deal in our house, but this year was different. Having the boys in Kindergarten means we now have 7, yes SEVEN conferences to go to. How do you attend 7 parent-teacher conferences? Let me tell ya. Bear with me, one day my kids will look back on this, and want to know. So here we go...

First of all, for some reason, which I am still trying to grasp, only three out of our 7 dwarfs were responsible enough to bring home the sign-up sheets. On the sign-up sheets, you tell the teacher what 3 times would work for you, and then they send home a note with the time of your conference. So Rainia brought home her sheet, and was scheduled accordingly. As were the Kinder boys. For the unknown reason uummm...irresponsibility, NONE of our middle-sch. students got scheduled. So Wed. I told the kids they better get me a conference time. So Andrew did. They just listen so well. That left 4 out of 7 conferences actually scheduled.

So they got out of school at noon. The kinder-boys and Rainia took the bus as usual, and I headed to pick up Andrew and Kyley. As soon as I got there, Kyley says "I got you a time! And it's RIGHT NOW!" Quick internal conflict: Brooke and Brittney are waiting on me at the other Middle School. Rick is only going to be able to work until 1:30 today. The teacher's are waiting for me in the school. Shit! OK, let me just run in here and get this one down, and that will only leave six more. So I run into the school with Kyley and Andrew, have the conference, and run out. Kyley is on honor roll, 3 A's, 2 B's. PROUD!!!

We jump in the car and quick-drive over to the other middle-school. B&B get in the van. "Did you get me a time?" Nope. "Well girls, you are not getting out of this. Get your little butts in there and get me a time." Brooke runs back out to inform me that the teacher's can do RIGHT NOW. So I head into the school to explain that Rick really wants to be there, and can we get a later time? 3:30 is agreed upon, and we head home.

I get home to find Jake in his underwear and socks OUTSIDE which he knows he is not allowed to do. I quickly get him dressed, grab Josh, and we head to pick up Rick. We get to elementary school, a couple minutes early, so hit the book-fair. After Josh chooses a book for himself and Andrew (AAWWWWW), and Jake chooses a pointer, Yes people, a pointer, we head over to Kinder-building. Jake's conference is first. He is on grade level, did not identify a rectangle for his teacher. (WTF?) He sometimes has trouble staying on task, and Occasionally has attention issues. And oh, by the way, do you know how funny your son is? Uummm, yeah.

Josh is next. He is above grade level in every area, and unfortunately, even though he obviously has a speech deficit, he is not eligible for school-speech because he is reading. He is ready to start the "AR" program (accelerated reading) They will only fund speech classes if the deficit impairs his learning. He knows what the letters are, can identify them, and can sound them out into words (even if the words don't sound right). Internal dialogue: My kid is reading? Hhhmmm, why didn't I know this? Note to self= Have Josh read you a book. Damn, have Josh read Jake a book, let him take care of the night-time story from now on. This will definitely leave more time for wine. Also, apparently Josh doesn't know how to walk. He hops in line, and has to be told on a regular basis to stop jumping, skipping, etc.

We drop J&J off at home, and pick up B&B. We get to Middle Sch.#2, and they are having parent-student conferences, instead of parent-teacher conferences. We flip a coin, which makes Brooke's turn first. She reads off her grades, and the essay she has written on why her grades are what they are, and we are proud! 3 A's, 3 B's, and 1 C. Brittney is next, can someone say Proud Parents? Honor Roll! 3 A's, 4 B's. Then her math teacher jumps on her because she has the potential for an A, and received a B. Internal dialogue: Woman, you have about 2 seconds to shut-up. You are chastising my kid, who is on HONOR ROLL. Leave her alone.

We drop off B&B, and have about an hour before we need to be back at elem. for Rainia's conference. We use this time wisely of course. (We walk around the property, and decide where we will have our HUGE fantasy house built.) We then get Rainia, and head back to elementary sch. Another trip to spend $$ at the book-fair, and then on to the conference. We love Mrs. F, Kyley had her last year, and I use the time to gossip about our middle school kids. Her daughter is in Kyley and Andrew's social circle. Oh-yeah, and we spend some time talking about Rainia. 2 A's, 1 B, and 1 C. Proud!!! Oh, and she is citizen of the month this month, and will be getting an award tomorrow. Plus, she will not be taking Sierra to the bathroom anymore. Sierra is disabled and needs to use the special bathroom in the office, but Her and Rainia have been stopping to socialize with Mrs. Principal, and have been missing too much class-time. Internal=Uuummmm...who socializes with Mrs. Principal? Hhhmmm, my kids are nerds...I wonder if she gets close enough to Mrs. Principal, will she get some sort of award? Will Mrs. Principal take special interest in the boys? You go little brown-noser!!!

We get home with just enough time for the girls to quick-change into cheer-leading clothes, and to grab Andrew. YAY!!! ALMOST DONE! We drop off Brooke and Rain at Cheerleading, and head over to Middle Sch.#1. We are the last conference of the day. (It is 6:45) Andrew is doing great, but is missing his math workbook, and a library book. He has 1 A, 2 B's, and 3 C's. This is really a great report card, considering how much harder he has to work compared to the other kids. On our way out, we check his locker, and find missing workbook, and missing library book. Relief. And we are Done!!!

Until 8:00, when we have to leave again to pick up the girls at cheer. Busy, busy day. And I wouldn't have it any other way. WooHoo!!! We have amazing kids! And are SSOOOOOO Proud, of each and every one of them!

Jake and Josh are six!

Dear Jacob and Joshua,

You turned 6 yesterday, and it was the best children’s birthday party I have ever attended, let alone hosted. Unfortunately, only 1 out of the 16 kindergarten friends that were invited attended. It was fine though, because we have 7 kids ourselves, and Brooke’s and Andrew’s best friends came, and your cousins Zack and Megan came. So including the girl from Josh’s class, there were 12 kids, and 7 adults. Not to mention all the regular barn people. We had it at the barn, and started with hotdogs and face-painting. Then, everyone took turns riding horses on the trail. You both dressed up like true cowboys, and had a great time. After the trail rides, you all went on a hay ride through the fields of horses, and were allowed to throw hay out to the horses, which made them follow you. Sadly, the hay ride was cut short, because there was a poor injured horse in the field, which had been shot by a real arrow! Oh-my-Goodness the excitement this caused at the barn. We all watched as the horse-men applied antiseptic to the horse, and cut and pulled the arrow right out of the horse’s leg! The horse was fine, but everybody was very sad that this happened.

The Invitation


A close-up of the wanted pictures on the invitations:




You guys in the yard right before we left for the party.


Jake took this picture with his new camera (Rainia getting her face-painted)


Jake took this pic. of Nick and Andrew who are WAY too cool to get their faces painted.


Cousin Megan getting ready to go on her trail ride



After the excitement of the injured horse wore off, we sang the birthday song to you guys, and everyone stumbled over the name part, because there are two of you. You both had your own cowboy inspired cake, and then we went out to hit the cowboy piñata. The piñata actually started its life out as a “Bob the builder” piñata, because I couldn’t find a cowboy one. But you guys are WAY too old for “Bob the Builder”, so Rick covered the Bob part in red wrapping paper, and then plastered it with cowboy stickers. It was so cute. Jake, you went first to hit the piñata, and didn’t even say a word when it swung back and hit you in the forehead with all ten pounds of candy. I would have never even known it happened if I hadn’t noticed the red knot pop up on your forehead. Josh, you went second, and then a couple other kids, but it was your big cousin Zack who hit that piñata like a baseball, and busted it open. You all ran to get the candy.

Josh blowing out his candles


Jake blowing out his candles


Close-ups of the cowboy cakes




A couple pics Jake took of the pinata





After the piñata, we went in to open presents and you guys were so excited. Josh, you impressed everybody, because Andrew’s best friend Nick gave you $5. And then your cousin Zack gave you $5. And you made everyone stop what they were doing, and you yelled “NOW I HAVE TEN DOLLARS!” We were impressed because you had added it up so quickly. After the presents, it was time for everyone to go home, but you didn’t want to go home, and Josh’s friend didn’t want to go home, so all the kids played on the playground while you guys, Raven, her Mom and I walked through all the barns to pet the horses. Jake, you woke up the pig by taking his picture with your new camera, right in his face, with the flash on. Then we ran out of there because he started making some VERY loud grunting noises.

Jake took this pic of Josh's friend Raven skipping to the barn


The pic. that woke up the pig



We all spent some time on the playground after that, and finally came home. We had a sleepover with us, plus Nick and Savanna, and I set up the tents for everyone to sleep in. You guys decided to come inside with us though, and Andrew didn’t sleep out there either. We had a big campfire, and roasted hotdogs. Jake, you actually burned your finger on the hotdog by touching it right after you roasted it, but you didn’t complain about that either. You are tough boy. Josh, you spent more time inside playing your new video games then you did at the campfire. First you got Rick to play with you, then you played by yourself. Finally, you got your Uncle Sky to play with you. You did spend part of the night out with us though, dancing to the music and roasting your hotdogs.



Unknowingly, I documented Jake's injury


A few pics Jake took







Jacob, your favorite gifts were the digital camera from me and Rick, and the boots from Grandma. Josh, your favorite gifts were the “Speed Racer” video game from me and Rick, and the “Basketball” video game from Uncle Sky.

I love you guys SO much, and I can’t believe that my babies are so old.

Politics and Gas

Political Debate:

This is my conclusion: If you are watching the pol. debate, you already have a good idea of who you are voting for. The debate will confirm your decision. If you are not watching, chances are you really don't care, and the debate will not matter anyway. So, people must watch for entertainment purposes only. Although I did hear of a debate party with good food. Only catch was you had to take a shot everytime you heard the words "change", and "economy". Needless to say I didn't go.

On another note, Josh was VERY gassy at his last speech therapy app. And people say parents embarass their kids? I was impressed by the fact that he continued to say "scuze me." He doesn't do that at home. But then he got bored, and wanted to get out of the rest of the session. He asked to go to the bathroom, but I told him no. And that he only had 5 more min. This is when he got very excited and stated
"But I haf ta poooooop weawwy, weawwy badwy. Tat's wa I keep on fawtin n fawtin." The therapist cracked up at this, and I was mortified, and didn't know what to say.

I can understand him

update on Joshua's speech:

Josh is 5 yrs. and 11 mths. old.

After testing, they placed his vocabulary at 6 yrs. and 7 mths. They figured it by showing him pics, and he had to say the words. They totally missed the things he was good at though. Would they have been impressed if they had shown him every single football helmet in the NFL, and he had told him the name of the team? Or if they had shown him pics of music artists, and he had started singing their songs? Or even parts of the computer. He could have identified the monitor, mouse, keyboard, even a myspace page. Relevance people. Who cares if he doesn't know the word for thermometer. He said it tells you if it's cold or hot outside.

Ok, so his vocab. is 6 yrs., 7 mths, but his actual speech level is 4 yrs., 1 mnth.

Well, I understand him. Can't he just stay with me forever and I will translate for him? Sad to say, I guess that puts him almost exactly 2 yrs. behind his peers. And then he spent the rest of the time working on forming the letter "L" with his toungue, and he couldn't do it, and it was too cute to hear him try so hard.

learnin how ti talk.

The e-mail I received from Compleat Rehab on Sat.:


Heidi. I am so sorry for your experience. I will call and further investigate this.

Regards,

______________
______________
______________


The email I sent to them today, following my conversation with them:


Thank-you for finding a spot for my son. I am sure that having the treatment from your program will help him dramatically.

Sincerely,

Heidi Underhill

Somehow they found Joshua a spot! And, it's not with the "new" speech-therapist either. They found an opening with one of their "old" therapists. I'm guessing they magically had an opening appear this week, because there is no way they would have had an opening THREE MONTHS AGO! When we got the doctor's order.

When I told Josh, he said "toomawo? wa?"
"Remember," I answered, "So that they can help you talk. It'll be just you and me."
"YAY!!!"

Dear Compleat Rehab Gastonia,

I feel that you have been incredibly unprofessional, and I don't appreciate it. My 5 year old son was referred to you by his doctor at the beginning of June for speech-therapy. This was good timing, because it gave him 2 1/2 months to recieve help before he started school.

I heard nothing from you, and called my doctor back 3 weeks after the initial order to find out why. I was informed that indeed the order had been sent to you, but that they would send it again. 2 weeks later, I made the exact same phone call to my pediatrician, and this time, as well as sending the order, they gave me your phone number.

I called your office, to explain the situation, and no sooner than when I got the words "My son was referred here..." You told me that I needed a doctors order. I explained that the doctors order had been sent THREE TIMES! This is when you explained that yes, you can see how this happened, because you didn't have enough speech therapists right now, but one was being interviewed for the position that very day.

A couple of weeks later, I recieved a letter in the mail, stating that if I was still interested in services, I could call you to set it up. I immediately called, to set up an appointment.

My son came in for his evaluation, and it was determined that yes, he needs speech therapy, and that you needed to get approval from his insurance. Oh, and by the way, You need ANOTHER doctor's order, because the THIRD ONE you had recieved was over a month old, and therefore outdated. I immediately called my doctor to get this done. For the fourth time.

You called me yesterday to let me know that you had recieved the approval from my son's insurance, but unfortunately, you are completely filled up with patients, but could see him for a half-session once a week until you got an opening.

I am beyond angry.

In the first place, when you recieved the first doctors order, THREE MONTHS ago, and you knew that you didn't have openings, you should have contacted my doctor or myself to let me know. This way, he could have been referred somewhere else to recieve treatment. Furthermore, you should have done this upon reciept of the second and third order as well.

Also, my son has obviously been on the waiting list for three months, and deserved to have had a spot held for him until his insurance order approval came through. It is obvious that you do not care about the individual children who come to you needing help, but rather about getting paid as much and as soon as you can.

I will tell my docor's office exactly how we have been treated, so that they have further information into your practice, and can make a more educated decision as to if they should continue to refer patients to you. I will also post this e-mail on both of my blogs, one of which is on the "Care Pages", and is specifically read by healthcare patients and their parents.


Sincerely,


Heidi Underhill

They don't get no fine dinin at home

Josh got his stitches out today, and was talking to the PA the whole time she was taking them out. She said to him, at the end, "Do you know how unusual it is for a kid to get stitches out without crying or anything? You're tough." And then he said "That's cause I'm 45 pounds!" and then he said "Do ya want to feel how stwong I am?" and he made his muscle, which he likes to do.

Then we went out to eat, and Josh thought it was his special day, but really I was celebrating having 5 LESS KIDS!!!!!

We went to our local buffet, and Jake cracked me up by eating a whole plate of shrimp with cock-tail sauce, and then asking for another one. Then he by-passed all the cakes, cookies, candies, and ice-cream, opting instead for a bowl of hot-fudge. I started to tell him absolutely not, until he explained to me that he was going to go get strawberries from the fruit table to dip in his sauce. And I said "Boy, that is the best idea you have had all day." And then I joined him. He certainly doesn't eat shrimp or chocolate-covered-strawberries at my house, so now I know how he is living the good life over at Grand-ma's, and I'm jealous.

Still laughing

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. We took 5-year-old Josh to the ER to get stitches, and he wants to sew up his own leg. 13-year-old Brooke goes to help and passes out. lolol. Maybe we can get her out of dissecting anything this year.

Our latest jaunt to the ER

So I can't write about the part that I wasn't there for. I will start with earlier in the day, because for some reason, I guess the first time I wasn't there in an emergency, I feel like I need to justify why. We took the boys to get their "first-day" new clothes. It took hours, thanks to Jacob who is pickier and more fashion conscience than any of our girls. When we got home, we dropped them off, and had to bring Kyley to the barn. She had a rodeo the night before, which, by the way, Montana messed up in, broke the pattern, and she was disqualified. Anyway, she had to go to the barn to put her stuff away. Then we had to go to the shop and get everything ready for Rick to not go to work the next day. He took a day off to do some wedding stuff with me. Then, we went to the grocery store. So we get home, and Rainia is outside in her new school clothes. I was mad, but didn't even have time to deal with it, because I hear that Grand-ma took Josh to the ER.

I freaked out, ran to grab the insurance info, and we drive quickly to little town hospital. They tell us what room he is in, and we find him. When we walked in, Josh was in the bed with his little knee peeking out of a sterile cover, and the dr. is sewing him up with a very thick curved needle. Grand-ma and Brooke are standing there watching, and the dr. has to keep telling Josh to move his little hands, because he is sitting up, and trying to help. Josh is in a great mood, and tells us that he was "wunnin weawwy, weawwy fast. Supa fast. As fast as I could. Then I twied to jump on ma window, and I fell on a big, pointy wock."

So I asked to clarify, "Did you just say that you jumped out of your window?"

"No" he says, "I was twyin to jump IN da window. An I fell, on a big pointy wock."

The dr. is laughing, and keeps telling us how cute Josh is, and how he didn't cry or anything. And keeps telling Josh to move his hands, because for some reason, he wants to help sew his own leg up. Then the dr. tells Brooke to sit down. I hadn't noticed, but sure enough, I look, and Brooke is white, almost green, and doesn't look so well.

Brooke and my Mom leave the room, and a few minutes later, we see Brooke roll by in a wheelchair, pushed quickly by a nurse. A minute later, a nurse runs in and says, "Mom, your daughter just passed out cold and threw-up all over herself. We need your help in here." So I run in, and Brooke is admitted in another room, and is covered with vomit. Literally covered. It is in her hair, on her glasses, covering her chest and lap, and between her toes. Covered. They explain that she passed out and then vomited. She acts like she doesn't really know where she is, or what happened. "Is Josh OK?" she says.

"Josh is fine, but you're not." I tell her. The nurse actually CUTS Brooke's clothes off of her, because of the amount of vomit they are covered in. They bring me towels to wash her up, and she doesn't know what is going on, or why she is covered in vomit. I am trying to hold back my own vomit as I am washing the threw-up out of every nook and cranny on her body. My mom comes in and explains that Brooke threw-up all over HER, and she was washing herself up in the bathroom. She is very concerned, and says that she thought Brooke actually had a seizure, not just fainted, because of the way her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body was jerking.

My mom and I finish washing Brooke up, and I put one hospital-gown on her, front-to-back, and then another, back-to-front, so that she is completely covered. The dr. comes in to check on Brooke. She finally understands that she passed-out, but doesn't know why, because she explains how she did so good helping Josh, and actually even leaned over him in the room while he got his numbing shot so that he didn't see the needle. She explains that if she was going to pass-out, it should have been when the skin on his knee was hanging off, and they actually folded it back to scrub inside of it. The nurse suggests that she was to busy being strong for Josh, and when the parents got there she could finally relax, and that was when the adrenaline hit her.

My mom takes Brooke home, and I go back into Josh's. Rick is sitting with him, repeatedly telling him to keep his leg down, and his hands away from his knee. We leave there with an anti-biotic, a very tough little boy, and the knowledge that med. school or nursing are absolutely not in Brooke's future.

Josh's knee = 7 strong stitches

Feel the love

And a recent Josh-talk:

Jake: Josh, who do you wuv better? Andrew or me?

Josh: Jacob, you awe my twin bwover and i wuv you cuz you gave me a dowwa.

Em Bare Assed

Conversation with the doctor today during Jake and Josh’s pre kindergarden check-up

Me: So you’re not going to report me to social services or anything?

Dr.: (laughing) nope.

Me: I just wasn’t home when they got up this morning.

Dr.: It’s typical boy behavior.

Me: The majority of the boys you see don’t like to wear underwear?




Conversation with the boys after the check-up

Me: Jake, you are SO tough! You only cried for about 5 seconds, and you got THREE shots!

Josh: Mommy, am I tough?

Me: Yeah, Josh! You are SO tough! You’re AWESOME!

Josh: Mommy, I wasn’t even cwyin.

Me: You weren’t?

Josh: No. I was pwetendin ta cwy.




Conversation with my mom and Rick after check-up

Mom: Well, that’s better than I thought you were going to say.

Me: Are you kidding? Most people put clean underwear on their kids before they take them to the doctor.

Rick: Well, better no underwear than dirty underwear.

Mom: Well, did that permanent marker ever come off where they drew circles around their nipples?

Quality Time

Written 5/2/08

I have not updated in quite some time, but that is because of all the insanity raising 7 kids requires. I was about to say that nothing too interesting has happened around here but then I remembered that our lives are interesting simply because there are SO MANY of us.

Andrew went back up to Duke for a vision exam. They had told us in Charlotte that there was nothing that they could do about his vision, but after finding so many differences between Duke and Charlotte we decided to get a second opinion on that. Unfortunately they said the exact same thing. There is nothing that they can do about the vision issues. His eye has nerve damage, and the nerve is actually a different color in his “bad” eye. So no vision out of that one. His “good” eye is still not going to be affected by using glasses, they said that his is not a near or far sighted problem, but a focus issue.

I kept the boys home from daycare last Fri. because I didn’t have to work, and wanted to spend some quality time with them. During our quality time, I was in my bedroom watching Dr. Phil and they were in the living room watching Dora. Joshua threw a toy at Jacob, hitting him square in the middle of the eyebrows causing an intense amount of blood, tears, and guilt. I found Josh hiding under Brooke’s bed, I wanted to hide under my own bed, and even Dr. Phil felt bad. I rushed him to the ER, where they glued his gaping hole into a tiny scratch.

Unfortunately, the other boys at daycare can’t seem to resist reaching out to touch the purple circle in the middle of his eyebrows, but it should fall off on its own in a couple of days.

Rainia does have to have the tubes put in her ears, and she was x-rayed today to see if she also needs to have her adnoids removed at the same time. She seems to be very excited at the prospect of having surgery, and I for one, can’t wait to be her caretaker during the recovery process, because I love how she needs me EVERY 2 SECONDS when she has a cold.

Berd

Written 4/2/08

Congratulations to my berd* and her team for winning 1st place in the Battle of the Books for the first time in her elementary school's history.

We got the results back from Andrew's neuro-psycological assessment. It is very interesting, but we are still trying to decipher it. Maybe we should have Kyley explain it to us?

They are getting ready to go on the outerbanks field-trip. Rick is definately not going, but now we are questioning that decision. They said there would be A LOT of walking, students have to carry their own luggage, they will need to wear sweatshirts and coats, shed them and carry them, etc. All normal activities, but things Andrew might struggle with.

Brooke has her 1st soccer game tomorrow, and then the boys start T-ball on Sat.

That's all I have to report for today, except that next week is spring break for our school system and I am SO excited. I need a break.

-Heidi

*berd- beautiful nerd