95 degrees in May!

Seth loved being in the kiddie pool!

Does anyone feel like May is a little schizophrenic? On Dax's birthday, May 1, it was snowing in the morning. Then this week, it has been so HOT! I don't remember a year where we were in the 90s in May. Then last night, I read this: "Is anyone else depressed that I still have my heater turned on and it is May 18th? I cannot believe how crazy this spring weather has been and my children are itching to be outside." This is a direct quote from two years ago when we were blogging about hikes on our other blog. I laughed last night when I read it again because I had been complaining that it was so stinking hot and it's only May 14th.  

We have actually had our air conditioner on for a few weeks and I feel like it is constantly running. When it kicked on this morning at 8:00 AM, I knew we were in for another warm day. My boys are LOVING it! They have been living outside. And we have already gone through a lot of popsicles. 

Yesterday, I decided to break out the pool and water toys. We spent the whole afternoon playing in the water. Seth was napping, but when he woke up we decided to let him try the pool. He's never had the chance. Seth loved it. He cried when I took him out. I just loved his big smiles. It's going to be a fun summer!

Warmer weather mean lots of outside adventures this year.
Here we are on Temple Square!

So happy!

Garbage Truck Party

The Birthday Boy!
I ordered this shirt from CafePress.

When Dax told me that he wanted a Garbage Truck Party, I had to admit I knew it was coming. He is obsessed with garbage trucks. But do you want to know the funny thing? Dax is also afraid of garbage trucks. I know, right? On garbage day, he worries and worries about being outside if the garbage truck is coming, but then he cries and cries if he misses watching the garbage truck dump our garbage from our window. Wednesdays are a little emotional around here.

Anyway, I looked all over the Internet for ideas for a garbage truck party. I did find a few ideas, very few, but it definitely got my brain going. I'm putting all the ideas from our party on here for anyone else who might need some help with a garbage truck party.

There aren't garbage truck birthday plates and such, so I glued a garbage truck on their party cups and drew a garbage truck on all the napkins, just to make it seem more festive. That was all the decorating that I did.

My garbage truck party gear.

As the guests arrived, they started by playing garbage trucks on our car mat. I pulled out all the smaller garbage trucks (we had 10) and put them around the outside. Then each guest picked one to play with while we waited for everyone to get there. I was surprised that they found it as fun as they did. We did this for about 10 minutes. Then we played Garbage Bingo. I created these bingo sheets using clip art of garbage related items. We used smarties for the markers, so they could eat them at the end.

Playing cars!

Playing Bingo!

The next activity was probably the biggest hit. I had seen the idea to get garbage picker uppers and have them pick up trash all over the yard, but they are expensive. Like $10 a piece. Then I saw these ice grabbers in the $1 section at Target that I thought would work. Since they were small, I put cotton balls and pom poms all over my basement floor instead of pieces of garbage, gave them each a bucket, and let them go to town. When they were done, they dumped them all out and did it again. After the second time, they made me promise we could do it again before they went home. Best $10 I ever spent.

Pickin' up trash!

Cleaning up the basement. They were great garbage men.

Next we went outside for a little recycling relay. They had to empty trash cans filled with garbage into a larger trash can. It was fun to see how intense 4 years old can get.

We had a trash shoot around. They had to shoot a diaper, newspaper, empty milk jug, and a fruit snack box. We did this activity a few times as well.

Even Seth participated in the relay!

We had a garbage truck picture coloring page--this was because I had to feed my baby who is still nursing so we needed something simple and quiet. Randy was in charge of this station while I was out of the room. It was a last second addition or I would have done silly prizes or something.

For the treat, I made dirt cups. The kids were a little nervous about eating them...I think they really thought it was dirt. When they saw Randy eating it, a few of them got a little more adventurous, but everyone ate the gummy worms, of course.

Mmmm! Dirt!

Last we opened presents and played with the garbage trucks for a few minutes while we waited for everyone's parents to show. I ordered these cute garbage cans for a $1/each which Dax filled with candy for their take home treats. They also got to take home their garbage picker uppers/ice grabbers. I thought it was a great party, and probably one of the cheapest ones ever.

He loved all his presents!

The party favors

Great party!

Here We Go Again

The stitches. Poor kid!

We have another set of stitches here at our house. This time Seth was the lucky candidate. He pulled the lamp off the dresser in his room, and it broke and cut his toe. I had left Seth in his room with Dax to grab the phone, and I heard a crash and immediate crying. I hurried down to see what happened and as I picked him up I saw blood all over the carpet. I started checking his head, mouth, but I didn't really think of his toe. Once I finally figured it out, I had walked down the hall to the kitchen (the kitchen is like our ER--that's where all the band-aids and medicine are kept). There were drips of blood all down our hallway that I later spent about a half hour scrubbing.

I held a towel to stop the bleeding for a minute, and then took a better look. I knew immediately it was very deep so I called the doctor as we were getting in the car. Getting stitches with a 10 month old was definitely a million times worse than Mark getting stitches. Mark held still and was very calm (other than getting a shot). Seth, on the other hand, screamed the entire time. Two nurses held his right leg, one at the knee, the other at his foot, while I held his arms and left leg and tried to comfort him at the same time. The comforting part didn't really work. Four stitches later, Seth was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. No one could believe he needed that many stitches on his little tiny toe.

Such cute little toes. I didn't get any before pictures this time.

Seth has been a champ other than the actually suturing time. He has been crawling around everywhere and is still into everything. I have to keep shoes on him all the time because he kept yanking his socks off, and the bandaid would come off too. Seth doesn't like having socks and shoes on, so I have one pair he can't pull off. He'll be wearing these shoes a lot!

These shoes are slip-ons, that's why he can't get them off.

I'm definitely not going to win any awards for being a great mother this year. I am grateful Dax was in there so he could tell me what happened. I feel so guilty because it was so preventable. Now, I hope we can keep Dax safe from stitches!

Just a little bit clingy to mom, but that's normal anyway.

Busy as ever!

Dax is 4

Yesterday was Dax's birthday. When he woke up, he came running into our room and said, "YEA! I'm four!" It was such an accomplishment to Dax that he made it to four. I think that partially comes as being the last of four cousins to turn 4 in a 6 month span.

Dax went to preschool on his birthday. He brought his favorite treat--chocolate chip cookies. He was so excited to go and show off his new birthday shirt.

Dax is the king of silly faces!

Really? Snow on my birthday!

After preschool we went and had lunch at Arctic Circle with his cousins. Alice, who is two weeks older than Dax, had done this a few weeks ago, and for some reason Dax decided he had to do it too.

For dinner, Dax told me he wanted soup. He has been loving any kind of soup lately. He picked chicken noodle soup. I think Randy and I were just as excited as Dax was for dinner--it's our favorite right now.

Dax probably asked me 50 times when he could open presents. So finally after dinner, we opened presents and Dax opened the big garbage truck and garbage cans he had been waiting for all day. He has been playing with it nonstop.

So excited about this truck!

Today Dax said, "Well, I guess I'm almost 5. I'm 4 now, and that's pretty much 5."

Dax wanted a garbage truck cake for his birthday and for some reason I didn't stress over this cake as much. Some years I fret and fret over the cake, but even though this cake was time consuming, I stayed pretty calm. And even if I do say so myself, I think it turned out pretty amazing!

I remember four years ago when my doctor pulled and pulled with the forceps trying to get Dax out after I had been in labor for 19 hours, and then looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry Natalie. We're going to have to do a c-section." At that point, I didn't care and since my mom had c-sections, I wasn't too surprised. It was the best thing that happened. I recovered more quickly with Dax than Mark. Dax was and still is a happy kid. He has the best laugh. When he was a baby, everyone would comment on his laugh and how cute it was--Dax still has a great laugh. Dax has always been our best sleeper. Up until he was 3, he would tell us he was ready for a nap and would go lay down. It was awesome.

Dax has the kindest heart and is so defensive of his family. Today, I told Mark he couldn't play another video game and Mark started to cry. Dax immediately looked at me with a mad face and said, "Don't make my brother cry!" We wish Mark would learn some empathy from Dax. Dax has been more challenging than Mark for me as a mother, but he has provided me with some of the sweetest moments when he just walks up to give me a hug. Dax is a great helper as long as it is something he wants to do--usually yard work or taking out the garbage!

Dax worries me already from the teacher perspective. He loves to be silly and make others laugh. I just know he is going to be a class clown, but right now his preschool teacher says he is a great listener. I hope that keeps up. Everyone loves being around Dax and he has many friends. I hope he will use that for good as he gets older. Dax is very creative and makes up stories all the time. Really, Dax is just like his dad, which is a great thing. Dax also looks the most like his dad.

I love Dax so much and I'm grateful for the past four years to be his mom. I have learned a lot about patience from Dax, but also a lot about having fun and showing love.

Dax always eats the frosting first! Happy Birthday buddy!

Moments I Love

Yesterday, I went downstairs to switch the laundry. When I came back upstairs, I found all the boys in my home reading. I love it!

Mark snuggled up in the rocking chair.

Seth pulling books off the shelf, but he would open one page and look,
then pull another one. That's his favorite book he's holding.

Randy helping Dax read--he's not really making a lot of progress,  but at least he's trying.

Seth is 9 months

Technically Seth is 9 1/2 months, but he just barely went for his 9 month check up. He weighs 22 lbs and 2 ounces--he is our chunkiest baby by far. But he is only in the 71% for weight. Seth's head circumference is off the chart. Our pediatrician told us his head is average for a 2 year old. We weren't too surprised since we can barely squeeze most of his shirts over his head. Other than that Seth is healthy and doing well.

Seth is such an easy baby. I have probably posted that before, but he is so easy going. I wake him up from naps constantly, we drag him on all sorts of adventures, and he keeps on smiling. Seth loves his brothers. They can both get him giggling and they are usually pretty nice to him. Seth also loves his mom. He is pretty clingy to me, but I feel like the last two weeks he has started to like his dad a little bit more. I hope that keeps up.

Seth loves to eat food, as long as it's not baby food. He moved past baby food about a month ago. The real problem is that he won't let me feed him. He only wants to feed himself. It's so frustrating having these independent children--Dax was like that, too.  And his highchair is SO messy. I hate cleaning it after every meal. Seth loves pears! He would eat them all the time. He also loves those Gerber yogurt melts and Gerber Lil' Crunchies (especially the cheese ones).

Seth is crawling. He is a whirlwind--books off the shelves, toys scattered, the destruction is everywhere. It's fun to have him mobile, but his brothers are having a hard time with it. Seth thinks he can walk. He pulls up on everything, cruises around, and then falls when he tries to reach something too far away. He has a permanent bruise on his forehead.

This is a short video of Seth's crawl. 

This took him about 2 minutes.

Seth is a light in our lives. His smile brightens our days and his happiness is contagious. We all dote on him (which is going to come back to get us later) and we are grateful every day that Seth is a part of our family.

Seth is pretty proud of himself. He loves to stand up in his crib.

Seth loves being outside!

One of Seth's favorite pastimes is spinning wheels. Any car or truck he picks up, he immediately turns it over and spins the wheels. Look how hard he concentrates!

Every day Seth has to play he piano. Whenever Mark practices, Seth has to practice too!

Always happy!

This picture is from Easter. Isn't he so handsome?

Stitches!

Mark was not happy about me taking this picture. He is very worried about uncovering his stitches.

It eventually had to happen. Mark has been working his way up to stitches for a long time. First glue, then a staple, and today we hit the big time. Four stitches in his elbow. I wish there was some amazing story to tell, but all he did was fall down in the road while getting on the bus.

About 9:20 I received a call from the school. Being a former teacher when I heard them say, "We have Mark in the office and we think you should come look at this cut on his elbow," I knew we were talking about a more serious injury. I have sent lots of students to get a bandaid in the office and for some ice just to make them feel a little better about a scraped knee or elbow. Hardly ever did I need students to call home because of an injury. So I woke Seth up from his nap and dragged him and Dax over to the school.

The office staff had been so nice to Mark and they told me how brave he had been--no tears. I saw the blood on his shirt and slowly pulled off the bandaid. The wound looked pretty open and I told Mark we had better let Dr. Knorr take a look. Then he started to cry. Not because we were going to the doctor, but because he had to miss school.

The wound--I decided not to subject you to the close-up that I took.

So we went to the doctor's office and the nurse looked at it and said, "Yep, stitches." So she put some numbing gel on his elbow and said she would be back in 20 minutes to check on you. So we settled in and watched Toy Story 3. She came back in and tested to see if he could feel--of course he could, so then we were in for 10 more minutes of waiting.

Finally, the doctor came in and looked. She also tested and Mark kept saying he could feel her poking his wound. So she tried to secretly give him a numbing shot, but he saw the needle and started to cry. The whole point of the gel was to avoid the shot, but Mark got both. I got him calmed down and the doc started stitching. Mark asked me a few minutes after she started the stitches when she was going to start. I told him he already had one stitch done. He said he hadn't felt a thing and then relaxed for the rest of the time. I think I could have distracted Mark more easily I hadn't been trying to hold Seth and Mark's hand at the same time. Dax was amazingly good thanks to Toy Story 3.

I never got much more information about how he fell. Just that he fell, someone might have tripped him, and then he got on the bus. His arm started hurting while he was waiting in line at school so he told his teacher, and she took him to the office. I was very proud of Mark. He really was very brave. We have to go back and get the stitches out next Monday. I hope that is easier than today.

Mark waiting for his arm to numb.