Monday, July 28, 2008

The house of brotherly love

A few photos from the last few days:

 

Hunter in his exersaucer. He's growing like a weed!
 

Wilder climbed onto the table to be close to Hunter and give him his bink. For now, at least, he really loves his baby brother.
 

Here he is crushing ... err, I mean, hugging Hunter. He learned to pin his hands down after Hunter twice grabbed deathgrip-handfuls of Wilder's hair.
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Toothiness ...

This post is purely for Hunter's future self's information:

Honey, you cut your first tooth on Sunday, July 27, 2008. One step closer to real food!!

PS. You were characteristically tough about it ... not much fussing. You did, however, fuss quite a bit after you pooped your drawers on the way to TCBY and we didn't realize it until we got home. Pain: You can handle it. Sitting in poo: not so much.

Some photos of the boys TK soon.

Friday, July 25, 2008

My new best friend

On Fridays, I stay home with my boys. They're a handful, and I'm usually exhausted by late afternoon, but I'm finding more and more that Fridays are just magic days. In particular, lately Wilder seems to regard me as just the coolest thing since sliced bread. Which is a far cry from the "go away mamas!!" of a couple months ago.

Today, for example, Wilder and I started the day by watching "The Land Before Time" while Hunter snoozed. Wilder ran and got us two pudding cups and two spoons and it was so cute and sweet that, even though it was 8 a.m., I couldn't say no.

At lunch (again, Hunter was napping) we had a picnic on a blanket in the sunroom. We built "ships" out of Legos.

After his nap, we went to the sprayground (Wilder calls it the "waterfall") and then quickly visited the adjoining playground. Hunter was all smiles until he crapped all over himself and me. Then lots of boo-hooing until I went and stood by the sprayground pumps (loud!) and the noise lulled him to sleep.

Then the boys and I drove around our neighborhood, just for something to do, looking at houses. Our new 'hood is pretty well established and it's pretty cool what some of the people here have done with their homes/yards. So we took 30 minutes or so to explore. Hunter napped. Wilder yapped at me happily. I voyeured. Perfect.

Then we all tumbled into the house and into the "big bed" to watch cartoons and let Hunter nurse. Jerry came home, we had dinner and then Wilder and I walked to the park to play and kick the soccer ball around. I let him stay until well past his bedtime. He met a new friend and had so much fun, happily chattering to me all the way home.

I just wanted to write about this day because, for me, it was near nirvana. Happy sighs ... happy sighs.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The coolest website I found today ...

One of the coolest part of my new job as web editor — when the new site launches anyway — is a little something we call Link Lounge, which basically means I'll get to surf the internet a good portion of the day looking for interesting, funny, profane and downright useful stuff. Right now I'll need to change the links daily, so right now I'm trying to build a library of sites that I can go back to again and again.

Today, here's the most fun site I've found so far. It's so pretty and so whimsical ... I love it:

Small Magazine

Click on Small Spaces and look at those swings! Wilder would die with pleasure to have either one of those.

Speaking of Wilder being happy, this weekend he will be. We have — count 'em! — TWO birthday parties to go to. One on Saturday and one on Sunday that I just found out about. Since he pretty much wanders around the house saying "happy birthday" and yelling "Party, mama! Party!!" ... he'll be so pleased.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Oh my achin' back

Hunter had his 4-month checkup today. He's healthy and strong and getting ready to push through a couple teeth. He had four shots, hollered bloody murder while getting them and then was done by the time the nurse was finished band-aiding him. Tough little dude.

So, yeah, about that back ... it's aching because he is:

18 lbs., 5 oz. and 27.5 inches tall. Off the charts for height. I think he's going to be tall like Jerry and built more like my dad, whom I've often referred to as being built like a brick shithouse. Perfect for rugby. Or football. Or watercolors ... whatever makes him happy. Really.

Here's a recent pic:


He continues to be a mellow and happy baby. He rolled over a couple days ago and is now quite happily exploring all the possibilities that increased mobility can provide. Sometimes I lie him down only to come back a few minutes later and he's spun himself around and is halfway turned over. He's also developed a deathgrip to beat all deathgrips. Which is great, except when it's my boob he's got in his killer clenches. YEEEEEEouch!!

Wilder has returned to a sweet stage. He takes care of me these days, bringing me snacks to share with him and wanting to cuddle with me watching "TB (tv) in the big bed!" as often as possible, often imploring Jerry to "GO AWAY Papa." Luckily, Jerry thinks it's pretty cool that Wilder wants just-mama time. Good man that Jer. :-)

Well, I hear the little one protesting the mama-imposed nap. Aren't shots supposed to make a baby sleepy? This one ... not so much.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Hunter's first video!

Our littlest boy has discovered he can blow bubbles. And boy does he like to show off his new skill.



The background noise is Wilder enjoying his bath. We have not, though it might sound like it, adopted a wild monkey.

Hope you enjoy!

Our weekend? Craptacular!

Not much to report from this past weekend. For me, at least. I was wrapped up in stomach cramps and, err, other assorted gastrointestinal distress for most of it. Make that two crap weekends in a row.

Jerry probably would want me to point out that he picked up my slack. And did a damn fine job at that. In addition to having to endure my colorful stories of lavatory adventure, he also had to clean poop off a couch (Wilder's) and puke off the carpet (Betty's).

Man, the fun NEVER ends in this household, I'm telling you!

So we're keeping our fingers crossed for this coming weekend. May it not involve moaning, hospitals, vomit, poo or any other assorted unpleasantries.

Here are some photos ... discomfort be damned, it will not stop me from taking heli-cute photos of my boys. Take that, intestines!!

Practicing the future faces they'll no doubt make right before they do something like dress the cat in my wedding dress and teach it to swim.

Wilder holds "the bebe."

Truck sheets are cool.

Hangin' in the sunroom.

Handsome Hunter.

Because this is what most of my photos of my sons really turn out like.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Photozzzzzzzzzzzz

These first five are from the neighborhood parade, before during and after.




Wilder this morning, still in his hospital gown. He was promised ice cream by assorted medical staff for 10 hours straight and never got any (once they realized his glucose was reading high they'd reneg ... bastards!). So, at 7 a.m. when we got home and our poor little boy quietly suggested "ice cream" ... well, how can you say no.

Hunter weathered the night better than any of us. Here he is in his brand-spankin'-new jumper, which he hasn't quite figured out yet. Tonight he was mostly just launching himself wildly around, freaking himself out.

I love the sort of diabolical big-brainness this picture hints out. The seemingly huge forehead, the crazy glint in his eyes. You can't tell in the pictures I post, but Hunter can his right eyebrow and does quite often. In this photo it's raised, and it makes me wonder what he was thinking about.
All right, I'm off to the Land of Nod. Nite all.

One last observation on the night from hell

It can be difficult to entertain a 2-year-old in an emergency room for hours on end. After exhausting all the games I could think of to entertain a little boy hooked up to fluids and many monitors -- the opposite game, this little piggie, I spy with my little eye, etcetera etcetera -- Wilder spied the tiny TV up on the wall.

I turned it on and changed channels, Wilder repeating "no ... no ... no ..." until he saw something that caught his eye.

So what did we watch for an hour while waiting for our ambulance escort to hospital No. 2?

Octopussy. The best part? It was dubbed in Spanish. When you're 2, watching Octopussy goes a little something like this.

"Choo choo! Choo choo mama! ... Car! Ooooooh, helicopter! Mama, they crashed!!! Look Mama! Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Mama, mama, mama ... CLOWN!!!!"

Party interruptus

So, about that blood in the carpet ...

Well, that's the short part of the story. Betty tore a nail and tracked it all over the house. Some of our party guests got online to figure out how to clean it up. Then they did.

That's that. But don't feel cheated out of a story because the question is: Why were our guests cleaning blood out of the carpet instead of Jerry and I? Well, Jerry and I were at the hospital with Wilder. In fact, last night we spent, between the two of us, 12 hours in two separate hospitals, where Wilder was subjected to all manner of tests, including and culminating in a CAT scan.

Before I go any further, Wilder is fine. Today, he's running around the house -- pantsless, mind you, which is his favorite way to explore a house -- as exuberant as ever.

So here's what happened. The party started at 2 p.m. It was going fantastically. Lots of people showed up. Tons of kids in the pool, having fun, many of their parents with them. Hunter was being mellow. Wilder was having a ball.

Until about 5:30 p.m. At that point, he started to get very cranky. After a bit, Jerry and I came to the decision that he was really tired and needed a little nap. We got him out of the pool and, at that point, he really started to freak out. Lots of screaming, lots of body contorting. We took him to bed and left the room for about 10 minutes. He wasn't calming down, so I went into his room. I talked to him about taking it easy, but he was inconsolable. I mean he was either in a LOT of pain or he was competing for the Super-Mega Tantrum 2008 title.

At some point, I decided I was going to stay in his room until he fell asleep. Something just told me not to leave. I swear, this was like a crystal clear intuition. I just felt strongly, really strongly, that I shouldn't leave him alone.

About five minutes later, things got really scary. Wilder had calmed down briefly, but worked himself up again. It was like he was trying to stay angry and conscious at the same time. I was trying to figure out what was up when his eyes rolled back in his head and he started to throw up. I pulled him out of bed onto his feet. He stood there, barely able to keep himself on his feet, convulsing and puking for another five minutes. He was having trouble breathing. He didn't even seem to be in his body.

At this point, I lost it. I started screaming for Jerry. He came running and Wilder briefly came back to himself, refusing ice cream and still crying uncontrollably.

A few weeks ago, someone sent us an article on dry drowning. Basically, kids get water in their lungs while swimming, yet remain alert for a period of time. After awhile, they start to act strange and then get really sleepy. Parents will put them down for a nap, where they will drown.

Freaky, right? Well, I'd forwarded the article to Jerry and, though we both knew that the statistical chances of this happening to Wilder were very low, neither of us could get it out of our minds. And we were especially freaked because he couldn't seem to stay awake, couldn't seem to keep his eyes open or his head up.

In a flash that now feels like a slow-motion blur, we decided an emergency room visit was in order. Jerry ran out the door without shoes on, still wet from the pool. I quickly enlisted friends to watch Hunter and feed him and, barely able to keep myself calm, drove like a madwoman to the hospital, about 10 minutes behind the boys. They were already in admitting when I got there. Wilder had thrown up twice more and was borderline catatonic when I arrived. Moaning, labored breathing.

They took him back to a room, hooked him up to some monitors and started an IV to take some blood. He came to when they did that, cried out once and faded back out. It was the lethargy that was really concerning the docs (and, obviously, us).

At some point I stepped outside to call our friends and check on Hunter. I was crying on the phone about how out of it he was and how scared I was. When I stepped back into his room, he was sitting up, looked at me and yelled out: "Mama!" An x-ray tech had stepped in to x-ray his lungs and he'd perked up, just like that. Just like someone had snapped their fingers and magically brought him to.

Strange.

So let me wrap this up because this is feeling like a novel ...

We stayed at Doctors Hospital a few more hours. Wilder had low potassium and high glucose and, though he was now acting almost totally normal, the doctors decided to transfer him to Children's Hospital to rule out diabetes or anything else more serious. So an ambulance ride and 12 hours later (I had to go home at about 2 a.m. to feed the baby and Jer stayed with Wilder for the remainder of his tests), he was released with a clean bill of health, the incident unexplained. I guess it was some strange mixture of sun, fun, stress, exhaustion and who knows what else.

Everyone here today is tired, but happy. We're together, we're healthy. There've been lots of cuddles and popsicle requests granted. On that note, I'm off ... my car is still at hospital No. 1 and needs to be picked up.

Love to all. I've got pictures from the weekend to post later.

Party gone bad

Let's just quickly say it's never a good sign when, the morning after you've had a party, you jump on your computer and the web page that's been left up is titled "How to Clean Blood From Carpet."

More to come later -- I'm operating on about 2 hours of sleep. Jerry is finally down after being up all night, and not at home. Hunter is napping. And Wilder, though he should be beyond sacked out on his pillow, is -- of course -- not even remotely sleepy.

Let me assure everyone that all is well -- but the party most decidedly did not go off without a hitch.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Summer shots


Brotherly love ...


For one of them, the love didn't last too long.


Wilder's third year to enjoy the local sprayground ...


He went two days in a row and cried both times we had to leave. He LOVES ... no, he lurrrrvvvvvessss it.


At the Dallas Arboretum's outdoor stage to see Asleep at the Wheel with some friends and their kids. The music was good, but the weather, company and atmosphere were even better. The kids had a ball.


Handsome boys No. 1 ...


No. 2 ...


And No. 3 ...


Wilder and Mama's sidewalk chalk masterpiece mural.


Sir Jerry gets attacked by two brave knaves, Wilder and his new buddy Luke.