I wish I had caught it on camera

This evening, Nicholas brought me his cup and asked for a drink. I asked him what he wanted in his cup and he said, "Juicey!"

I had to inform him that there was no more juice so it had to be milk or water. He toddles off into the kitchen and opens the fridge. I figure he's making sure Mommy isn't being a liar, but no he was up to no good!

He walks back in to the living room with his cup under one arm and tells me he wants a beer in his cup. I look up to see him carrying one of Stephen's bottles of beer. There is my not quite 3 year old holding out a beer for me to dump into his cup. He was serious; he wanted a beer in his cup!

What could I do? I cracked up laughing. Nicholas just stood there grinning from ear to ear not quite understanding why I was in hysterics. He was very proud of himself for finding something more interesting to drink than milk or water.

Only one of my kids, eh? LOL

The latest round of doctor's appointments

I realize that I could have a second blog, entirely focused on my boys and their medical crises.

On Wednesday, Nicholas had a follow-up ultrasound on his damaged kidney. It marked 18 months since his surgery. This ultrasound looked very much like the last 2 ultrasounds so we are now stretching out his follow-up appointments to once a year rather than every 6 months.

The left kidney is still slightly dilated but it is mild to moderate hydronephrosis now rather than severe hydronephrosis. There is no excess build up of scar tissue that would narrow the repair sites and make another surgery a necessity. At this point, Nicholas is as healthy as he can be.

Today, both the boys were assessed at a Pediatric Allergy and Asthma Clinic. They both got skin tests for the most common allergy triggers (pollen, dogs, cats, horses, mold, and a few others) and they had no reactions. Because both of them have been exposed to nuts we didn't even bother with nut allergy tests.

As for the asthma, yes it seems they have it. They are mostly triggered by colds and exercise. The doctor is treating the boys aggressively with the inhalers and in 2 months we'll reassess them and reduce the dosages accordingly. We're just trying to get their symptoms in control then we'll reduce the meds to the minimum required by each boy.

After that fun appointment, I took Nicholas to his pediatrician to have his stitches removed. It took all of 30 seconds to do and Nic didn't really fuss too much except for the idea of a pair very pointy scissors coming straight for his eyes. We blinded him with a spotlight (better lighting for the doctor) and while Nic's eyes were closed, the doctor did what had to be done. Nic has a thin scab under the eyebrow and I think the scar will hardly be noticeable.

I am now completely exhausted and hoping the boys will go to bed early so I can follow suit. It isn't likely though since both of them slept in the van on the ride home from the city. I hate admitting it, but I foresee a late night ahead of me. LOL

Next week holds an appointment to meet Nathan's new teacher and 2 weeks from today is my neuro appointment. WeeHee! LOL

Let Sleeping Boys Lie

I've always loved the sight of my boys when they are sleeping. I have a small mountain of photos of the boys sleeping. They have slept in strange places (yes, he's sleeping standing up)

in strange positions

and/or with funny faces.

Nathan is not difficult to rouse unless it is for school. He's kind of a light sleeper most of the time. Nicholas on the other hand can and will sleep through just about anything.

I have made the mistake of nursing my boys to sleep in their infancy then cuddling them to sleep later on. With Nathan, after he fell asleep it was into the crib with no detours, no bumps. If he got jiggled, he'd wake up. Nicholas is so the opposite. After he falls asleep, I take him up to his room, lay him on his dresser to change his diaper (and sometime even have to put jammies on him), then I pick him up again and put him into his bed. He barely moves through all of this. When he sleeps, he sleeps like the dead. LOL

Getting him to wake up is nothing less than a job in itself. You have to get creative. Subtlety will not work. Soft talking and a back rub...nothing. Kisses and tickling his face...mildly annoying, he'll turn away but keep snoring. Jumping on his bed, straddling his sleeping form and bouncing to jiggle the bed...sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Physically rolling him over, picking him up, pushing around the bed will eventually work but then he's kind of crabby at first.

The funniest one though was what my hubby did. He went into Nic's room and quickly grabbed his belly shaking him and yelling, "BAAAAAHHHHHH!"

NOTHING HAPPENED! Nic didn't even jump. Stephen and I just looked at each other and started to laugh. We knew he was alive but he was seriously unconscious. It took some extra work to wake Nic up that morning but he woke up in good spirits.

We've tormented the boys after a long car ride too. They will be sound asleep when we pull into the garage so we'll open their doors and start to yell and scream like we're about to fall off a cliff. Nathan wakes up immediately, confused then gives us crap for scaring him. Nic will sometimes wake up but most of the time he'll just flicker his eyes and go back to sleep.

What is nice is that when Nicholas wakes up, he's usually in good spirits. Even when we have to wake him up before he's ready. I think he may take after my Mom. Nathan is happy when he wakes up on his own but is a crabby pants if we have to wake him up. I think Nathan takes after Stephen, myself and my Dad...Wake us up early and we're down right NASTY! At least there's one nice morning person in this household. LOL

The kid knows his stuff! LOL

Yesterday in the grocery store, Nicholas starts announcing that Momma is a girl. OK, yes, you are correct; Momma IS a girl. But how do you KNOW Momma is a girl?

His almost 3 year old answer..." 'Cuz YOU don't have a penis!"

So to tease him, I asked if he was sure. He said he was. I thought that was the end of it. Oh no Mommy...he's a boy and he's almost 3. He holds onto everything embarrassing and beats the topic to death.

I spent the rest of the shopping trip listening to him stating (in a loud voice I must add) that Daddy is a boy because he has a penis. And Nathan is a boy because he has a penis. And Nicholas is a boy because HE has a penis. But Mommy's a girl so she doesn't have a penis. Over and Over and Over.

I got some sympathetic smiles from other Moms, some horrified expressions from the old bitties and more than a few snickers to my face and loud guffaws behind my back.

Just another day in my life living in the House of Testosterone.

Nicholas's War Wounds

My little peanut at 2:30 Saturday morning immediately upon getting home from the local hospital with 2 stitches in his right eye brow.

After a couple hours of sleep and the freezing wearing off.

On Monday morning with a couple of days healing under his belt.

So, lets give you the lowdown...

Friday night at around 11 pm, I was trying to get Nic to head upstairs so I could change his diaper and encourage him to start heading for bed. It wasn't an easy process since he'd had a nap late in the afternoon and was still WIDE awake.

He tripped on the first couple of stairs and hit his head. I thought little about it since he's done this on countless other occasions. I will admit that I was losing my patience with him and I simply scooped him up, carried him up to his room and laid him down on the change pad on top of his dresser. THIS is when I saw the blood. Nic started to freak out a little but I actually remained quite calm. I cleaned him up, put some gauze on it and headed off to the hospital.

We finally got into the treatment room and because he was having a screaming fit, the nurses kicked me out of the room with the pretense that he'd calm down if I wasn't in sight. The stitching took less than 10 minutes and we were out the door to head home again.

Up until now, even with all the trauma, drama and medical problems, my kids have avoided actual stitches. Steri-strips, yes but no surface stitches. Is this an indicator of what he's going to look like when he starts playing sports? The kid already leads with his head. I call him the tank or the bulldozer because he just barrels on through whatever is in his way; It doesn't matter if it's furniture or people.

So all in all, he's fine. He's playing, fighting with Nathan and cuddling just like he normally does. His stitches come out on Friday. I keep thinking I could do it myself but then I realize that I only have 2 hands and it would take an octopus Mother to hold him down and snip those things. I see high drama at the doctor's office. LOL Wish us luck!

My Nathan

This is my Nathan baby at around 18 months old. I love this laughing face.

His birthday was on August 9th and he's 6 now. Man oh man has he ever changed! He's still a goofy monkey but he's more anxious for our approval now. He's compassionate and charming and full speed ahead in his behaviour. Some call him spirited, I call him high octane. He's the Energizer Bunny, he just never stops.

Daddy wasn't home for the actual birthday so we celebrated when he got home. The cake was chocolate with raspberry filling and obnoxious coloured icing that stained every bodily surface it touched. LOL Blue lips and tongue anyone?

Because he's still fully in love with Cars the movie, he got a race track with Cars characters. We also picked up extra character cars because he needed an audience for the races. LOL He got a motorcycle toy, a bilingual memory/matching game, Mack and Lightning McQueen Lego, and a Leapster game device. I'm hoping the game helps teach him in a more entertaining way that Mommy hasn't been able to duplicate.

So here he is, my 6 year old monster. I sometimes wish he was still little so I could wrap him in my arms and protect him from the world. He tries to be so independent but he's got a sensitive spirit and I know his feelings get hurt. He won't say anything but I can see it in his eyes. I can see me in there too.

Every Little Boys Dream

Did you know that in Victoria there is a place called the Victoria Bug Zoo? At first sight, it is a gift shop with bug related products...rubber bugs, suckers with bugs inside, bug nets and the list goes on. For a small price, you get to go into the back room and see a multitude of bugs on display.

Now, I'm talking live bugs in glass cases not dead bugs pinned in pans.

We got into the tour that had just started and much to my amazement, the guide started taking bugs out of their cases, holding them out for us to see up close and to pet. Some bugs he allowed us to hold as well. We had a lot of kids in our group and most of them were game to hold bugs.

Nathan held a Praying Mantis, I held a Thorny Devil, and Stephen was the most daring of us all by holding almost every bug that came out of a case including a tarantula.

Nicholas petted a couple of bugs but couldn't be convinced to hold one. Not bad considering he's had a bug phobia since being flown at by a couple of wasps last summer.

I was CONVINCED that this would be a lame and/or creepy place to visit but I was determined to go for the sake of the boys. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought Nathan would have fun and I was right; he LOVED it. I liked how informative and casual the place was. I'd actually recommend it but definitely go in with the tour because it is so much more fun when you can touch the bugs and see them up close.