Let's pick the kids up off the pavement

Today was officially the last day of school for the monkeys. Both had the last day of preschool last Friday but JM2 had the last day of Speech Therapy Preschool at the elementary school today. He has had a little cough that turned into a big cough with a runny nose today. I let him go to school for the last day party and then I took him to the dr to figure out what to do about the cough.

Here's where it gets ugly. I pulled into the parking lot at the pediatrician's office and turned around to unbuckle JM2's 5 point harness. I hopped out, got the stroller out of the car, unhooked JM3 from the carseat and refastened him into the stroller and wheeled him around to the other side of the car to open the backseat door for the big boys and get my purse and diaper bag out of the front seat. As I opened the back seat door I passed it to get to the front seat and get my stuff. The back seat door flew open and JM2 comes flying out face first on to the pavement. I drop all my things and rush to the ground to pick him up. He is lying face down. I pick him up and try my best to comfort him while trying to get everyone together to get into the dr.s office. JM1 gets my keys off the ground and JM2's shoe which fell of during the fall.

We got inside and quickly get back to a room. Although I have already told the nurses what happened no one is cleaning him up, so I try and dab away the dirt with a paper towel and water. It's then that I realize that the black on his face is not from dirt. It's bruising! The RN comes in and checks out the damage and gives me some cough medicine for the viral infection. She also tells me to go get JM2 an x-ray to be sure he didn't break anything in his face. (it looks that bad). So, me and all three monkeys head to the x-ray shop to get him x-rays. He is so tired and in shock that he just lays where they want him to which made it go so much faster. JM1 and JM3 are in a dressing room since they can't come in due to x-ray exposure.

The nurse just called and JM2 did not break his face. He is sleeping with Motrin right now but is still in a lot of pain. And he's coughing which just makes it worse.

He also hurt his little knee in the fall. Poor kid.

I'm supposed to go play Bunco tonight with the ladies in the neighborhood. I guess it will depend on how the monkeys are doing before I go.

Until next time...

My 2nd Baby is Three Today!

Happy Birthday JM2!

I put helium balloons all over the house last night so when he woke up this morning, the house said Happy Birthday to him. He came in my room and we watched Sesame Street in my bed while we woke up. JM1 came in and we all just laid there until the monkeys started getting restless and JM3 woke up. I gave JM1 and JM2 celebratory donuts for breakfast and then JM2 got to open his presents. He got a Leapster and a bubble machine. We had lots of fun outside with the bubbles. JM2 had speech therapy this morning as well. Overall it was a nice morning.

Then we went to the movies.

It was a good idea overall. I would take all the monkeys to see "Meet the Robinson's" around the time for the baby to take a nap and then I would nurse him during the movie. What could go wrong? We got to the movies early enough to get tickets and make it to the concession stand. I had the older boys split a hot dog since it was close to lunch time and then I spent $30 on popcorn, cokes and giant boxes of candy. Still things are going well. JM1 helps with the stroller and I carry all the food and we get to the theater with still a few moment to spare to set up. JM1 opens the door for us to all go in and it is already so dark in the theater we can't see anything. Since JM1 can't steer the stroller into the small door and I am holding the giant food holder with all our drinks and foo, the only way to actually get into the room is for JM2 to go first and JM1 to prop the door open so I can push the stroller through while balancing the food on top of the stroller. This would have worked except that JM2 is afraid of the dark because he can't see anything so he won't go into the theater. I finally lead him just inside the door so we can all get in and have our eyes adjust before we get seats. I tell him to stand right by the door and then I go and push the stroller in with all the food through the door while JM1 holds it open. As I go through the door, I can't see JM2 at all. He is gone. I can't see anything and begin to get slightly ticked because the movie isn't supposed to start but the reason it's so dark is because they are playing this stupid cartoon that I don't let the kids watch anyway!! Finally I see that JM2 has already found a row and a seat on his own and we head down the aisle to catch up.

The row he chose is on the left side and it's good and we all pile into the row so I can sit on the aisle by the stroller. JM1 goes in first, then JM2, then me and the stroller is in the aisle. We sit down and the kids eat the hot dog and I realize that we are the only ones in the entire theater. YEA! What a relief. Everyone was doing great and I realized that since we were the only ones there we could probably move down a little closer to the screen. JM1 and 2 agree and we choose a row a little further down. It's on the right side and JM1 goes in, then JM2 then me and the stroller is on my left this time. The previews start and I realize what a mistake we have made. Where we were before was under the section where the movie projector is so the ceiling is lower. Therefore they don't have huge Dolby speakers in that section. Where we moved to had giant speakers on either side of us. And they had the sound turned up so loud we could have probably just heard it at home! Needless to say, the baby wasn't so happy with the new position and didn't hesitate to let me know by way of screaming. By this time 2 other families had come in behind us so it was really too late to move all of our stuff and the baby and the monkeys. So we toughed it out and I prayed that God would spare the children's hearing.

The seats are those kind that flip up when you stand up so JM2 isn't heavy enough to keep it down. So while I held the baby, I also draped my leg over the edge of his seat to hold it down.

Since JM3 was so upset by the noise I decided to go ahead and nurse him which I had planned on doing later on while the movie was on. I took him out of the stroller and hooked him up. He did great. So all was well despite the volume for a little while. Then about 1/3 of the way into the movie, JM2 decided he was bored with where he was sitting so he got up to move to the seat on the other side of JM1. That was fine with me. He held the seat down and proceeded to enter the seat feet first. Then the seat popped back up and he got stuck. I am still nursing the baby so I can't just get up and help him and if I put the baby in the stroller he is going to scream, so I try to talk him out of it but he starts screaming that he needs help. I adjust my shirt and get up with the baby and squeeze in front of JM1 where I attempt to pick up JM2 but he is really stuck. His legs are stuck through the back of the chair. I attempt again to lift him out but to no avail. One leg pops out but the other one is not moving. JM3 decides he will have no more of this jostling around and proceeds to tell me so. I maneuver the baby somehow to be able to hold the seat down and wedge JM2's leg out of the seat where I find out that his sandal is caught on something behind the seat. I stick my hand through the seat and figure out what has to be done and then I pull his leg out. (Thank goodness there wasn't anyone directly behind him!) At that point JM2 decides that he no longer wants to watch the movie and starts to cry. JM3 is already screaming because of the all the commotion. I decide that since it is JM2's birthday that he is the one that needs to stop crying first so I put the baby in the stroller which makes him scream even more. I get JM2 and hold him in my lap and ask him if his feet still hurt and if he's ok. JM3 is not quieting down so I reach into the diaper bag and get a container of baby food which I manage to open with one hand and start to feed him as fast as I can with my left hand. (I am right handed but the right one is holding JM2.) JM3 is really not interested in what I am trying to do so although he stops screaming, he is still making way to much noise for the movies. JM2 decides he doesn't want to sit in my lap anymore so he starts moving to jump down but all the food we bought is on the floor directly in front of me in the jumbo food container. I quickly tell him to not jump but he is intent on it and starts to scoot off my lap. I grab his arm and yank him back just as he was getting down into the popcorn and put him in the seat next to me. He starts throwing a fit as does JM3. He is so upset that he hits my arm in his fit and knocks the babyfood spoon that I was holding onto the floor. So no more babyfood! I pick up JM3 to comfort him he snuggles up for a second. Meanwhile JM1 is oblivious to everything. I don't think he even knew that JM2's legs were stuck! After about 5 minutes, I see that JM2 has taken one of his shoes off. I tell him to NOT take the other one off and I put the shoe in the stroller so we don't loose it. JM3 starts to fuss again and so I stand up to bounce him. He needs to be walking around so I tell the boys I am going to be right back and I take JM3 for a walk to the back of the theater. I can still see the boys and they are doing great as is JM3. That last for about 3 minutes. JM2 gets up and runs to the back of the theater where I am. He only has one shoe on. Great.

I lead him back to the seats and we sit down. JM3 has pretty much had enough of the movies but we still have about 40 more minutes! I try to calm the baby down by bouncing him on my lap while he is standing and he seems to be in a fairly happy mood so things go ok for a few more minutes unless I stop the bouncing. JM2 takes off his other shoe and hands it to me.

Finally we are in the home stretch. The movie is almost over and JM3 has settled down enough for me to attempt to nurse him again. As the credits start rolling I look down and he's asleep. Figures.

The lights come on and I hand JM2 his shoes and proceed to clean up our mess.

We grab lunch on the way out of the mall and head home. At home, JM2 will not eat his lunch so he goes to nap immediately. I haven't had much sleep the last few nights, so I read a few verses in my Bible, talk to God for a minute and then take what I thought would be a 25 minute nap. I woke up an hour later to the baby crying. He got a nap also.

So we get up and open Nana and Uncle J's presents. Then the monkeys play in the packing peanuts and I try to figure out what to do for dinner. Red Robin wins. I'm not sure why but maybe I just like the idea of spending $10 for a hamburger. Who knows? So we (me and all three monkeys) head to Red Robin and get a table right away. JM3 gets cheerios immediately and we get our drinks and place our order. The monkeys were pretty good at that time. But then the food took a while and by the time it got there. JM2 was just done. Literally, he was done. He wouldn't eat, drink, sit still, sit in his chair or mind me in any way. And JM1 decided he was tired of the sitting up part of the high chair so he tried to lay back in it. He was doing it pretty well but it couldn't have been comfortable. I pulled out the Gerber Stage 3 Chicken and Vegetable Dinner I brought for him. He snarfed that up, but I had to hold him after a while because he wouldn't sit up. Then JM2 wanted to sit in my lap so I hold him too. I finally was able to get all the older kids in their chairs so I could eat my Turkey burger. I told the waiter to bring on the sundaes and he just looked at me like he felt my pain. I hate it when they do that. For one thing, nobody had started crying so it was still a successful meal. And even though I paid $10 for that Turkey Burger and had to wolf it down, I still didn't' have to cook it myself or clean up afterwards so all in all it was a great meal. They came and sang the cute s birthday song to JM2 and we got outta there.

Tomorrow is Carsons Birthday celebration at preschool. I am supposed to bring stuff for the class. Nothing fancy, but more than I have at home so we had to make a quick stop at HEB. The kids were GREAT and amazingly we got in and got out in record time.

When we got home, Memaw and Pawpaw called to sing happy birthday to JM2 and I threw all their jammies on and put them in bed.

Heavy Sigh. This day is over!