If Only I Had Been Warned.....

Of the stresses of Motherhood...
I still would have my three boys and still love every minute of it!!
Just maybe it wouldn't shock me so bad though when I have "one of those days"........

Yesterday was quite the day for our little family! It started out pretty normal. Mike got up and flew off to L.A. for a little business trip. {Okay, that's not normal. But, him getting up to go to work is.} I got the kids up, dressed for the day, fed them breakfast, and got them off to school. Then I was able to get some housework done, a little laundry, etc. until it was time to pick Brady up from school at 11:30. Then it's lunch and getting Connor down for a nap. While Connor was napping and Brady was busy coloring pictures at the kitchen counter, I decided it was a good time to exercise so I could shower and dress before having to get Shawn from school.

WELL....as I was upstairs working out, I all of a sudden heard a VERY LOUD scream, followed by hysterical crying, coming from Brady. I of course dropped my weights and ran to see what happened. All I could see was his hands over his mouth/nose area and blood everywhere! I hurried to get the blood cleaned up, stripped off his clothes {which were covered} and got him holding a cold washcloth over his mouth. At this point I could now tell that it was his lip that was cut badly and a possible loose tooth {he would not let me touch or even look at it very closely for a while}. His nose bled too, but only for a minute. I of course panicked to know what to do....are lip injuries serious? I had no idea. I couldn't call Mike because he was in meetings in L.A., so I called my mom. She said that from her experience, lips pretty much healed themselves if it was all on the inside, but to call his doctor and see what they thought I should do. (Brady was already scheduled to have his "Kindergarten check-up and shots" later that afternoon, but of course we canceled that until a later date.) So I called the Pediatrician's office and they of course told me to go to the ER because depending on how bad it was, and if on the lip line, a plastic surgeon may have to get involved. {Thank goodness that wasn't the case!}

SO....I hurried and got dressed (didn't want to go in my workout clothes!) then we picked Shawn up from school (just happened to be that time!) and headed out. I decided to try the Urgent Care first, since it would be less expensive than an ER, and I new they can do stitches. When we walked in the lady asked me what we were there for and I told her. She asked what insurance I had and I told her. Apparently, their contract with our specific insurance doesn't allow them to do stitches. Dang! They were very nice though and (free of charge) the doctor came out into the lobby to look at Brady and to tell me if she thought we even needed stitches or not. Of course we did. So...off to the ER with all three kids in tow!

Here is a picture of Brady before we left home. It's not a very good one, his lip was seriously HUGE and this doesn't do the cut justice at all! But you can see it's swollen and some of the skin hanging down.
{I know this is gross, and way too much detail for some of you, but this is our "journal" of sorts so I wanted to document it for that purpose. I'll try to keep it minimal!}

The ER we went to was fantastic! (Gilbert Hospital on Power/Williamsfield area) They weren't busy and got us in right away. Brady thought he was pretty cool to be able to be in charge of the remote to the TV in his room. Disney Channel all the way! :)

The doctors checked it out and decided that he did need a few little stitches to hold his lip together to help the "natural healing process" go a little quicker. I guess the inside of our lips heal themselves and quite quickly too, especially little kids. There was just enough of a gash that they thought it would be better and more comfortable for him to have it stitched up. So Brady got to drink some "magic medicine" that made him sleepy and relaxed. He never fell asleep, but he was so still through the whole thing it was amazing! I thought we'd have to hold him down, but he did great! He cried a little when they gave him the shot of medication to numb his lips {the needle didn't hurt, just the medication burned/stung a little when it touched the sore.} Then he was numb and they were able to give him the 3 stitches without him feeling a thing! After they were done it was time for a Popsicle! Yum! For a kid I guess that makes it all worth it. :)

The hospital staff were so nice they even gave Shawn and Connor both a Popsicle too! They were such good sports to have to go with me. And they were so good the whole time!

After we were done there, it was off to get the prescription filled. (They want him to take an antibiotic for the next week or so to keep it from getting infected as it heals.) We dropped off the prescription and they said it was going to take an HOUR for them to fill it. Bummer! SO.....we went and ordered pizza for the other two kids for dinner (Shawn had one of those free personal pan ones from the school).....went to the grocery store to get some ice cream for Brady (they said to only give him liquid and popsicals and ice cream for a day).....realized that one of the stitches was coming out and we probably would have to go back and have it fixed (frustrating!)....went back to pick up the pizza.....went and picked up the prescription....then off to home to let the kids eat dinner (now that it was already 8:00 at night!)....bawled on the phone to my mom (thanks mom!) the whole drive home since I was so physically & emotionally drained from the days events....got home and ate....made Shawn hurry and get his homework done that was due the next day....changed kids into their jammies so they could fall asleep in the car....then had to take all three kids BACK to the ER to get the stitches fixed. The ER is a little busier at night so it took a little longer than hoped, but not too bad. They recognized us (since we had just left a couple hours before) and so they got us back there pretty quick - very nice of them! - and they didn't make us pay again - very, very nice of them!!) Then we were able to go home and {FINALLY!!} go to bed! I just feel bad having to keep Shawn up so late on school night - we didn't make it home and to bed until almost 11:00 at night! I hope he can keep his eyes open at school today, poor thing!

This morning I tried to get a picture of Brady's lip. My mom wanted me to take a picture so she could see what it looked like. It already looks so much better today! But you can still see how swollen it is. This first pic he "puckered up" so you can sorta see the stitches in the inside.

The next couple pictures you can see how swollen it is still compared to the other side of his lip. (Please excuse the dried blood in his nose. Sorry about that!)

And anytime you are taking a picture of Brady {for anything} he thinks it is an opportunity for a "photo shoot". Here he is being his silly self. Please don't ask me what these poses are...he does it all on his own! :)

This one is him being a "beat boxer". Funny kid! :)

And that was our crazy day! Oh the life of a mother with three little boys! But you gotta love them! In hindsight the day wasn't as bad as it could have been, but in the moments of it all it was so hard! As I said before....being a mother can be stressful at times and quite draining emotionally and physically, but it is definitely SO WORTH IT!!! I love being a mother and even during hard days I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

February Fun!

I have some random pictures from this month I thought I would put all together in one posting. The first is me and my best friend since 4th grade, Alyson (Hardy) Harper. She lives in Utah still so I don't get to see her very often. She came down this last week to visit her little sister who lives in Gilbert and they came out to my house one day to visit/play. We took all our kids to the park for a picnic and to let them play while we got to visit and catch up with each other. That is always so fun to do! And of course what would a reunion be without a couple pictures? :)

Another event that happened this month was this. We decided to just get in the car and go for a drive to get away for a bit. We happened upon this old "Ghost Town" (old mining town from the early 1900s) along Route 66 and it was pretty cool to see. I love old buildings and things. The Hotel that you see is the one that Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind - and many other famous movies - if you don't know who he is) and his wife stayed there for their honeymoon, and apparently went many times after because they loved it so much. Just a fun little fact for ya!

The funniest part about this little old town was there were donkeys everywhere! They just wandered around the streets. (You can buy carrots to feed them, but we didn't.) They were so stubborn to. If there were people walking across the road, or cars coming down the street, they could care less! They would just go where they wanted and you had to step out of the way or be run over! Too funny.

{I don't know what was in this lady's purse, but that donkey sure wanted some of it!}

Another fun thing we did this month was take the kids cosmic bowling one night. It was a blast! Here is the bunch of us having a good time.
Mike and Shawn

Connor

Emily and Brady

Shawn and Brady

Mike thinks it is so funny to give everyone silly names --- Hot Mama (me), S Funk (Shawn), Big Papa (Mike), and B Mac (Brady).

I just have to brag for a bit. I won the game with a whopping 128!! {I have never bowled over 60-something before in my life!! Total luck!! It was fun!!} I of course had to get my picture taken with the score board for proof that it really happened! :)

Well, I think that about finishes off our month (since the end of February is nearing) We've definitely had some good times!

Renaissance Festival 2010

Last Saturday we took the kids and went to the Renaissance Festival. We went last year for the first time and had so much fun that we decided to take Mike's parents {since they were here for the weekend} and go again. It's fun to walk around and see all the cool little shops, play some of the games, see a few of the shows, and enjoy all the festive costumes. We let the kids pick a couple games to play and one "ride" to go on {you have to pay an extra couple bucks for each thing you do inside - besides the shows which are free - so we had to limit the fun, unfortunately!} Their choice:

THE GIANT CASTLE SLIDE!!

Here is Shawn coming out at the bottom:

and Brady:

And here is Connor chillaxin' in the stroller. He was pretty good to be in there for the most part - only got fussy about it a couple different times when he really thought he should be doing what his big brothers were doing! :)

We ended the day with the "Tournament of Champions: Fight to the Death" show. It was a lot more gruesome than I remember it being last year. Oh well. Here are the Renaissance Royalty overseeing the jousting tournament:

Each side of the stadium has a rider that they cheered for. This was our guy:

The kiddos think it's cool to sit down in front on the bales of hay. Here they are waiting for the show to begin.

{Yes mom, we are wearing shorts in February.....the joys of living in Phoenix, Arizona!}

That is it for the pictures of the day. {I took more last year and it sorta seemed redundant to take more pics of the same things :) } I should have at least got one of the gargantuan turkey legs we ate for dinner though. I think I can't eat turkey again for a very long time!!:) All in all it was a fun time!

Valentine's Day Swag!

So I realized as Valentine's Day is nearing, that I really have no decorations for this holiday. Being that it's not a major holiday I never bothered to purchase decor for it. Then I realized that I love the colors for the holiday and that they go so well with my already Black/White/Red decorated house!:) So I decided to add a few extra touches this year. The only decorations that I had from previous years was a little bit of ribbon (which I basically just tie around everything in the house and call it good), a V-day table runner for my kitchen table (courtesy of my mom's mad sewing skillz), and some cute heart shaped votive candles for the table as well. That's it! So this year I added some pink rose petals (fake of course) to add a little splash of something. I think it works pretty good! Here's the table runner/centerpiece:

Aren't the heart candles so cute?!

My already-in-place coffee table decor with a little ribbon and petals to jazz it up:

Rose petals and ribbon added to the picture shelf:

Along with the roses and ribbon, I decided to print out a couple cute V-day pics to liven up the picture frames as well. Here's one:

and the second one:

These cute LOVE blocks are also new this year. My Mother-in-law had the kiddos make these for me for Christmas. Aren't they so cute?! I think I will put them somewhere in the house year-round, but for now they are rockin' the TV stand. :)

SO....I always see people with the cutest banners for different holidays and I decided to try my hand at it for this one. It says "Be Mine." I think it turned out pretty good. I kept it pretty simple so it was really easy to make. (Maybe next year I'll work on embellishing it a little more!)

(Please ignore the reflection of my house in the window - it was nighttime when I took these pics if you can't tell!)

And this isn't a house decoration, but just something fun I made for Girl's Night Out this month. It happens to be at my house just a couple days before Valentine's so I thought I'd make some cute little goodies to send home with everyone! {Too bad I can't eat them with this diet I'm on! I only snuck a couple m&m's while putting them together.....promise!}

(I know they look like huge jars in this photo, but really they are baby food size jars! I would never subject anyone to that amount of sweets! Although, I'm sure no gal really would object to that much chocolate!)

Well, Happy Valentine's everyone!!!