There were four in the bed and the little one said

Since Peanut hurt his leg, he can't do all the things that super active two-year olds normally do. You know, like walk. So as a result we've kinda toned down all the family activities. Every morning this week I let the boys take turns choosing a DVD to watch in Mom & Dad's room. {Why this is so much cooler than watching in the living room, I don't know but to toddlers it is}. By keeping them in our room, the older non-injured boys aren't dragging out a million toys to tempt poor Peanut with. They love it!

 Of course, every single time Bubba gets to choose the movie, it's Scooby Doo!

 Pooks begged me to let Sissy sit next to him..he is such a good big brother!

 All my monkeys in the bed

are you noticing the hand holding between pooks and sweetcheeks? that kid...tests my patience one minute and does something to melt my heart the next!

There is a first time for everything!

At just one week shy of her ''4 Month Birthday'' Sissy rolled over for the very first time today!

Well maybe it was yesterday.

She would hit a "major" baby milestone right around midnight and thus make me guess on a date for her baby book.

See I laid her down for the night on her belly (don't judge, I know they say to lay babies on their backs but I'm a rebel. What can I say.) and then I went and hopped in the shower. Afterward as I was brushing my teeth I heard her fussy cry. So I finish brushing my teeth (can you tell she's the fourth?) and head to her room where I find her laying on her back, staring up at her mobile and looking completely confused. I flip her back over onto her belly and she resumes sucking on her binky and falls right back to sleep.

It might not be a big deal to her but as her mother I can say, that she started rolling over before any of her brothers. Bubba didn't roll over until right after the 4 month mark. I remember because as a first time mom I was freaking out that at his four month well baby visit. The paper said that at 4 months he should rolling over but he wasn't rolling over. Was there something wrong with him? Was he okay? Was he going to be delayed for life?

You know, first timer worries.

Then I had Pooks who finally decided just shy of 5 months to roll over from belly to back. He had me slightly worried because he didn't roll the opposite way until NINE months old. I know people whose baby started cruising furniture at that age, lol. He was a very laid back baby.

I know that Peanut rolled for the very first time just one day shy of the four-month mark. I know because I blogged about it, ha! So now I'm doing the same with Sissy. So one day, eventually, when I finally fill out her baby book I can pull up the blog and search ''milestones'' and transfer all her firsts to her book. See then I'll look like some stellar Mom who even on her fourth baby still found time to record every last milestone in a baby book. Baby book, blog...really what's the difference? And while this has nothing to do with rolling, I'm sharing it just because she is so dang cute!

 

and yes, her hair really is that out of control in the back. I think she may be well on her way to growing a mullet :)

Well it's really wasn't worth waking up for...

 Yesterday I posted about how Peanut fractured his leg. Today we met with the Pediatric Orthopedic doctor and he reviewed the x-rays and confirmed that yes, Peanut would need a cast. Well I say "we" but I use the term loosely. What really happened was Peanut and I went back to wait for the doctor and he fell asleep. I mean the poor kiddo was out.

 So the doctor showed me the x-rays, explained the fractures (one a buckling and one a non displaced tibial plateau fracture):

He also explained that this is a super common injury seen in kids and that Peanut will heal up nicely with no lasting effects. He will need a full leg cast for three and a half weeks, keeping weight completely off of his injured leg. Now, keep in mind that as he's explaining this to me, Peanut is still asleep. So as the Doctor is talking to me, he is simultaneously working on little mans foot. First they did a layer of cotton, followed by plaster on the bottom half of his leg...

 then they did the same to the top, holding his leg at this angle. Never once did Peanut wake up.

 Lastly they wrapped his leg up in the colored fiberglass tape...since he was sleeping I got the choice of choosing a color and I went with a light blue (as opposed to a hot pink, neon green, neon yellow, dark blue, black, purple, regular green and regular yellow).

I mostly chose it because I knew that when we signed it, the Sharpie would really show up well.


After it was dry, I had to wake him up. The doctor wanted to make sure that he could wiggle his toes and I needed to get him dressed. Needless to say he was less than thrilled. I think he woke up obviously disorientated and then on top of that, his entire leg was in a cast. I promptly said "Look, your leg band-aid is blue just like Tow Mater". So now he is calling it his Mater :) Once he was awake and got his sucker, he was in much better spirits:

 We got him home, changed into some plaster-free clothes and he went right to playing. Here he is showing Chuck his owie...

With the leg bone connected to the knee bone, and the knee bone connected to the thigh bone...

Today we met up with some friends at a really cool indoor playplace that is full of bounce houses, inflatable slides, and kids' toys. The boys had an absolute blast and we were there for over 2 hours this morning! When we were leaving the playplace and on our way to get lunch, the owner mentioned that the $7 we paid was good all day. So if we wanted to come back after lunch or after naps, we were more than welcome to and at no cost. So we ate lunch, came home and took a nap. B ended up coming home from work over an hour early and we had told him all about the playplace. Well I figured ''Hey why not get our moneys worth and head back over?" Thinking we would go play for another hour then get dinner and the kids would sleep like babies tonight. B was up for it, the kids were beyond excited, so off we went.

We got there and naturally, Sissy decided she was ''starving'' so I was nursing her while B was playing with the kids. We were the only ones in the entire building so B was able to do everything with them, not just watch. They had so much fun going down this huge inflatable slide {I'll have to share the video later, its' on his phone} and shortly after moved on to the actual jump houses. Well one minute they are jumping and the next I hear Peanut crying. I go over to see what's wrong and if I can help. I see B holding Peanut against him telling him that it's okay and asking what hurts. Apparently with him and the big boys jumping, Peanut got bounced a little too hard and fell. Well he didn't point or say that anything hurt so we assumed he was just still really tired and worn out. I took him from B and we cuddled on one of the couches with Sissy while the big boys continued to play. Never did he say that anything hurt, he was just really clingly.

Well 5 minutes pass and he is still not getting down and wanting to play so B and I trade places. I run around with the big boys while he sits with the littles. Maybe 10 minutes later he hollers for me and says that he thinks Peanut might have hurt his ankle. B had asked him to put his shoes on and when Peanut slide off the couch to go get them, he immediately started crying when he put weight on his foot. Okay so I take off his socks and really look at his feet...nothing. No swelling, no bruises, no bones sticking out or anything, but as soon as I moved his foot, he started screaming.

Okay so now we're worried. So I ask him if it hurts and he just cries. So I tell the big boys that we're leaving, Peanut has an owie and we need to go. I try to put his shoes on and he screams. Okay so I'm really worried. This isn't like him at all. We get into the van and B and I decide to take him to an Urgent Care for X-rays.

To make an already long story a little bit shorter, it turns out that it was much more serious that Peanut let on. He ended up fracturing his tibia, right below the kneecap  It caused some buckling on the outside of his leg as well. They ended up splinting it for tonight {we were at Urgent care for over 3 hours!} and referring us to see a Pediatric Ortho Specialist tomorrow. The doc this evening, thinks that the Ortho will end up casting it tomorrow. Here is Peanut after dinner, he was telling his brothers how he told the doctor ''No touch me. No bandaid".

So for tonight at least, he is sleeping in our bed with his little leg propped up on a pillow after a good dose of Tylenol. He really is a trooper; while he was extremely tired, mad and obviously in pain at the clinic he would yell at them to stop and don't touch, etc but then when they gave him stickers he would stop crying and say ''Thank you''. He ended up with about 12 stickers and he very nicely, without prompting, gave one to each of his brothers :) Such a sweetie!

Boys will be boys

Saturday was a total Fun day for the kids. We got up and out early for a trip to the Texas Transportation Museum with some friends from a local mom's group that I joined. While the ''museum'' was tiny, the boys were thrilled with the real train, the model trains and being able to ride on a train.

 

 They look so little!

 And lastly we got to go on a real train ride...

 

 All the boys liked it but Pooks really enjoyed it!

 The train that we actually rode

After all the trains we decided to join up with one of the other families (who happen to have 3 boys as well, ages 4, 2 and 1) and visit the zoo. It is a good zoo and the kids loved it! It's not very big but it had neat animals, was really up-kept, and it was the perfect weather for it!

 

 By far, the hippos were my favorite

 

 Bubba couldn't wait to see elephants

 

  Watching the gazelles

 There is a part of the zoo where you can buy a cup of Agave Nectar and feed the Lorikeets

  The boys didn't like it very much but B and I thought it was really cool!

Now, I understand that being in a small area with a ton of birds might freak the kids out but seriously, Bubba was in love with the snakes! All of them. And he was even disappointed that the 28ft Anaconda wasn't in his cage...(where else they could possibly put him, I don't know but I didn't ask!) Here he is with a different snake...

And after this, my camera died. I had on a whim taken our little Cybershot point and shoot instead of my DLSR and apparently the battery wasn't fully charged :( But take my word for it, they loved it!

my little cheesehead

Yes dad, this is the jersey you bought Bubba, what...three years ago!? Fit's peanut perfectly and apparently he's good luck!

Dirty mouth?

Well apparently Peanut thought so. Today I was a busy little bee moving his bed into the same room as Sweetcheeks. Bedtime has been a nightmare with all three boys in one room and since the plan was to move Peanut over once we got his twin bed, I just sped that up and moved him over now (even though he's still in his toddler bed). So I moved his bed over and had just sat down on it to nurse Sissy when all the sudden he started saying "Mmmm". To which I responded "What are you eating!?!"

Prior to his exclamation, he had been taking out all of Sissy's hair bows and putting them back again, so he shouldn't have been eating anything.

Well rather than turning toward me, he turned farther away.

I immediately get up to see him hurriedly squeezing Desitin  out of the tube and into his mouth. His lips, chin and chubby fingers are covered in white cream. And not just regular Desitin but the ''Maximum Strength" thick cream that has the strongest Zinc oxide that an over the counter diaper creme can contain. He is still saying ''Mmm" as I yank the tube out of his hand and tell him to stick out his tongue. I grab a baby wipe (it was closest) and furiously start rubbing off all of the cream from his tongue and face, then get to work on his fingers all while telling him ''No, no. We do not eat this. Desitin is a medicine for when your butt is yucky, we do NOT eat it''. I get to looking at the tube and while I know it was new and recently opened, I know that realistically as fast as he was trying to squeeze it out that he could have consumed up to a teaspoon. Granted a lot of it was on his face but rather safe than sorry, I called Poison Control.

For those that need to know, poison controls phone number is easy: 1-800-222-1222

The lady was extremely nice, completely non-judgmental and assured me that not only would he be fine, but it's a common call. She said that if he consumed enough, he might throw up or become nauseous but it didn't sound like he ate that much. The best thing to do was to feed him something so the cream wasn't so strong on his stomach lining and just to keep an eye on him. 

Well, thankfully he is fine. He ate lunch like normal, then took a nap but not until I removed every single bottle, container and tube from the changing table. Lotion, butt cream, ear cleaning solution...all of it, the whole basket is now on the top shelf of the dresser with nothing that he can climb up on. Granted, it probably should have been up there all along as a precautionary but none of the kids have ever so much as attempted to open it, let alone eat it.  Ugh!

When B got home he said to Peanut, ''[Peanut] we do not put anything but food in our mouth." to which Peanut responded ''Des-tin yucky. Booty medicine no, no, no." No kidding dude, no kidding.

Isn't she pretty?

Truly the Angel's best

Boy, I'm so happy

 We have been blessed

I can't believe what God has done

through us he's given life to one

But isn't she lovely made from love

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

Appropriately enough on Sunday, B was able to take Bubba and Pooks to their very first Monster Truck show. The boys had seen the commercials and really wanted to go so after some discussion it was decided that Peanut would stay home with me and Sweetcheeks while B took the ''older'' boys. Realistically there was no way I was taking a three month old and it would have been very difficult for B to take all three boys by himself. We decided that Peanut just turned two, he wasn't really old enough and this was something special for the big boys.

They had a blast. Granted, I only have pictures but you can see how excited they were! Their seats were nosebleed at the Astrodome which was intentional; B and I figured that was best for there first show. It would be loud and sometimes, Pooks isn't as brave as he pretends to be. {Hello, he was scared of dolphins at Sea World}.

 Before the show, inside the Alamodome

 The start of the show...

 Monster Trucks!

 Bubba was too interested in the trucks, I guess!

 

 

 Standing in front of "The Tower of the Americas''

(apparently it's 87 feet taller than the Space needle)

 and looking tiny in front of the Alamodome

When they got home they were very excited to tell me all about the trucks, the popcorn, and the ear plugs...they were strangely excited about the earplugs, lol.

 All in all, a huge success!

Even easier, easy-peasy cheesy potato soup

Last year at about this time I came up with Easy Peasy Cheesy Potato soup. And, it is delicious. Easy and delicious. But after making it for a full year, I've come up with a revised recipe. This is even easier {in my opinion} and more delicious...the kids and B agree, they eat this ''version'' much better. It's essentially the same but this is a bit more flavorful and it's a bit thicker. But, did I mention delicious?

So without further ado, Even Easier, Easy Peasy Potato Soup:

You will need:
- 32oz pkg of country style hashbrowns
- bacon
- velvetta (1/3-1/2 block)
- chicken stock
- salt, pepper, seasoning

1. First, take your bacon and fry it right in your stockpan. I used 8 slices.

 2. Once all your bacon is fried up nice and crispy, drain off the grease but leave the tidbits of bacony goodness.

 3. To the bacony goodness, add your hashbrowns and a small container of chicken stock.

 4. Then top with water just until most of the hashbrowns are covered. A few won't be covered and that's okay, you don't want runny soup so just trust me.

 5. While your hashbrowns are thawing and softening at a low boil/high simmer, cube up your Velvetta {or in my case, knock off store brand} and crumble the bacon.

 6. When your hashbrowns are nice and soft and have cooked down so they are kinda mushy...

 ....add your cheese and bacon. This is also when you would season with salt, pepper and any seasoning you may have. I *love* Paula Deen's ''House Seasoning'' but it's pretty much seasoning salt, garlic powder, onion powder, the usual.

 7. Give it a good stir, turn it down waaaaaay low and let it all melt up nicely for about 5-10 minutes. Remember to keep stirring it often. Viola, you're done. If you have lots of small children like me, then serve in cute little Ikea bowls and top with some extra cheese.

I find that cooking the bacon fresh really adds a flavor depth, and the cream of chicken that I previously used was kinda pointless...for less calories and a richer flavor, the stock works better.