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February 17th, 2011 | by Jessie | I briefly mentioned in our Christmas recap post that Jude loves to watch Lego reviews on YouTube. You might be wondering what they are. Well, you could do a search on YouTube and see for yourself. Or I could just tell you… that works, too! There are over 16,000 videos dedicated to talking about and reviewing the various sets that Lego produces. Jude likes watching the videos specific to Lego Star Wars sets. In the videos, the reviewers talk about how many pieces a certain set contains, how many *US dollars* it costs (which I always giggle when I hear, these boys AND MEN, tend to be very specific when it comes to descriptions), how easy it is to put together, special details like the coloring and characters. I’ve heard Jude – when he’s playing with his Legos – mumble *facts* about what he’s playing with as if he’s doing his own review.
One morning before school, I heard him “reviewing” his favorite set to himself, and I had my phone on me, so I asked him if he wanted me to record his own Lego review. He thought it was a great idea! I thought it was particularly cute how he uses a husky, big boy voice when he introduces himself. Or am I imagining things? I also like how when he doesn’t know what to say, he talks about what a “great set” it is. Without further ado:
I recorded this on my phone that was maxed out on storage at the time – which is why the video cuts out for a second or two here and there… I think.
February 15th, 2011 | by Jessie | So, I’m kind of blogging to tell you I won’t be blogging today.
I will be working on cleaning my house today. We have a showing this evening, and I want things to be as near perfect as I can manage. Maybe this will be the year to sell and find something new. Our house has been on the market for awhile now. The last month was pretty slow with no showings and next-to-nothing moving on the market, period. But with the warmer weather gracing us, we’ll have had 3 showings since Friday.
Don’t worry, I’m keeping the faith. I can’t help but think, “This might be the last time I have to get the house ready for a showing!” And one of these times, I may be right.
February 10th, 2011 | by Jessie | A couple of days ago – it was actually the same day that Jett went to the dentist to get his cavity filled – I noticed something strange in Jude’s mouth.
He has a tooth coming in behind his baby tooth! I hadn’t noticed it before. He had just been to the dentist a week and a half before, and there was no mention of it, which either means they forgot to tell us about it, or it hadn’t emerged by then.
I googled “tooth coming in behind baby tooth” and got this article:
Adult Permanent Teeth Coming In Behind Baby Teeth: Shark Teeth
Yes, that’s right! The condition is commonly known as shark teeth! Jude is going to be so excited to know that’s what it’s called. Sharks are his favorite animal. He’s exited anyway to know he’s got a new tooth.
What I learned from the article is that it’s a fairly common occurrence, happening in 10% of children, and that once the baby tooth’s root dissolves and the tooth falls out, the permanent tooth will likely move into its correct place. The baby tooth is just starting to feel loose. We’ll have to keep working on it.
February 9th, 2011 | by Jessie | We’ve had three various medical appointments within the last couple of weeks, which is quite unusual for our household. First up was just a routine teeth cleaning at the dentist’s office about a week and a half ago. The older boys both got their teeth cleaned and examined while I had a cleaning at the same time. It’s nice to get it mostly all done in one trip.
Jude and I were cavity-free. Jett was not. Ooops. Actually, he had one cavity and another that was borderline that they thought probably should be filled. Yesterday morning we went back to get both cavities filled, which were both on the top back teeth, opposite sides.
Jett loves going to the dentist. Actually, I told both kids about going to the dentist for check-ups the day of because I knew they would be so excited. And sure enough, when I spilled the beans that morning, they were jumping up and down, high-fiving each other, saying, “Woo hoo! We get to go to the dentist!!”
*Rolls eyes*
But, interestingly enough, Jett was not looking forward to getting his cavity filled yesterday, although I gave him no indication of what that might entail (partially, because even I didn’t know what to expect). He arrived at the office in good spirits, instead of stating his name to the receptionist as he so often likes to do (“My name is Jett! I love bears and teddy bears! I LOVE EVERYONE!”), he opted instead for a stirring rendition of a solar system song which he recently picked up from watching tv. The receptionist was so impressed. No really, she was delighted and asked him to sing it again. Thanks for the encouragement, lady.
He ran back to the exam room when he was called back and then proceeded to keep his mouth defiantly closed for 20 minutes. Yep! Wouldn’t even let them swab the topical numbing gel on his gums – nothing. The first small victory was when we talked him into wearing the gas mask. His daddy LOVES the gas, so I was hoping it would work on Jett and he would become a little more… compliant. It wasn’t that he was freaking out or crying, he was just not going to open his mouth. We did a lot of reasoning and bargaining with him and finally he agreed to open his mouth, under two conditions: 1) that he could see himself in the mirror with the cool mask on and 2) that he could wear the dentist’s glasses with the built-in magnifiers. The dentist was quick to take him up on those terms.
Jett opened his mouth widely and didn’t even flinch when they gave him the shot (and were very careful to hide the needle from him so he didn’t even know he was getting a shot – I loved that). We decided that we’d come back on another date for the second filling since it took so long to do the first and also so he didn’t have to experience both sides of his mouth being numb. Hopefully he will be more comfortable next time. Considering everything, he really did a great job. I was thankful to get out of there without any tears or traumatization.
We visited Josh at work when we were done so that he could pick out a treat from the vending machine (which was part of the bargaining that took place previously). Jett tolerated his funny-feeling mouth well. When we got home, he wanted to address the valentines we got for his preschool class and did so with staggering efficiency: write, tear apart, tape candy, seal with sticker in groups of 4 at a time. I don’t know where that organization comes from, but I’m glad to see it!
This morning we had an unexpected appointment. Jace had trouble sleeping last night. He felt a little warm to me, not that I could take his temperature; the older boys broke the thermometer while punching holes through Jace’s dismantled diaper box, because, why wouldn’t they need to take Jace’s diaper box apart and poke holes in it with a rectal thermometer that had just been used? Yeah…. so…
Jace started showing some cold symptoms yesterday morning. First, just a runny nose. Then he developed a cough that sounded kind of painful. Finally, with him having trouble sleeping and touching his ears occasionally, I took him in first thing this morning.
Turns out he had quite a nasty looking (according to the doctor) double ear infection and a very red throat. Combine that with the congestion and 4 teeth coming through, and I’m sure he’s not feeling well, and no wonder he couldn’t sleep. Poor little boy.
He started 10 days of an antibiotic today so hopefully this junk clears up soon. He’s amazingly still in a good mood being playful and even giggling during his exam! So, I’m guessing the ear infection was the source of his temperature and subsequent seizure last Friday. It seemed odd to me that he didn’t show any other symptoms and his fever went away for 3 days, but nonetheless, I’m glad the mystery is solved now.
Here are a few pictures of Jace taken by big brother Jett yesterday:
Politely refusing the squash I baked for him (or mostly me).
I’m including this picture that Jett took just so I could experiment with editing out my blemishes. I have the skin of a 14 year old. Interestingly, my skin is the clearest when I’m pregnant… but Proactiv is cheaper.
February 8th, 2011 | by Jessie | My sibs and I are experiencing a time in our lives where we’re all living within about 20 miles of each other, and that hasn’t happened since about 1999, when we were all living under one roof. My brother is living with my sister right now before he gets married in July and buys his own domicile.
We’ve been getting together more regularly at my house since the broseph’s move has taken place. We’ve settled on calling our get-togethers “Grandma Bev’s, Jr”.
Back where we were raised, my mom & dad get together with her siblings & spouses at their parents’ house almost every Sunday. Aka: Grandma Bev’s. Thus, we are the next generation, or junior. Makes sense.
Most recently, we hung out for the Super Bowl/addressing Save-the-Dates for Jacob & Morgan’s wedding.
Isn’t Jace a sweetie? Playing badly-out-of-tune piano with Uncle Jacob.
Jude would still rather be tucked away in his room playing with Legos instead of enjoying the company of others. Speaking of juniors, this is My Husband, Jr.
Here is Morgie making her yummy salsa/veggie dip. She didn’t want her picture taken, so we are respecting her wishes… obviously. Welcome to the family!
The beautiful Save-the-Date design courtesy of NGCO’s own Emily Phipps.
I had to chuckle when I uploaded this picture because I must have missed the 2 watches on Josh earlier. (?)
TOMS in the wintertime. There is an unwritten story here.
My sister (shown above pushing society’s limits for how many hand lines are acceptable) had this lovely stamp made for the coolest detail on the front of the postcards.
P for perfect! As in the perfect touch.
Don’t believe me about the line-y hands? Computer: Enhance.
It’s ok, she makes fun of me for having TOO FEW LINES. Oh, and more majorly, for having swands. Sweaty hands. And I can’t deny it. I do have me some swands (and sweaty feet, but that would just be “sweet”, which would be a confusing nickname/phrase). I thought it was a curse until I started quilting. Now is a privilege and advantage. I have not found an instance in which sweaty feet are helpful, however.
We did watch the Super Bowl, too, but not very seriously. Too much work and computing to do:
February 7th, 2011 | by Jessie | We had a very scary night last Friday. Scary and yet familiar. Jace had a febrile seizure.
While it was so unexpected at the time, we weren’t astonished that it would happen to our little boy. Our oldest son Jude had two of his own febrile seizures when he was 14 months old and again at 17 months. Jace is currently 17 months old.
Febrile means: relating to fever. We didn’t even know that Jace was feverish until after his seizure – I think that’s why it caught us so off guard. We took his temperature soon afterwards and it was 102.5 degrees, so not really freakishly high, but high enough, apparently.
Jace had been having a very normal day. He’d taken a nap from about 10:30 am – 1 pm, which was very typical. A few hours after his nap, he began to get a little cranky and fussy. Josh had come home early from work that day – which he had been planning all week. Jace wanted Josh to hold him and Josh was more than happy to do so. Jace napped for awhile longer and then while he was sitting quietly on Josh’s lap, he began seizing. I was in the same room with them and Josh alerted me to it.
Josh and I learned a lot about febrile seizures after Jude had his first – the doctors told us it could happen again and prepared us for what to do. I remembered to put him on a flat surface – which for us at the time was the floor of our front room. I asked Josh to begin timing it. We knew that if it lasted over three minutes, we should go ahead and call for help.
What does a febrile seizure look like? It’s freaking scary, for starters. My boys experienced nearly identical episodes. There was a blank, unconscious stare. There was tiny gasping sounds from the mouth, and because of an inability to swallow, little bubbles forming in the mouth. Both hands and arms rhythmically jerked downward from a very tense little trunk. Likewise, both little legs jerked in rhythm. It’s so odd, the involuntary, compulsory movements – like he just need to get them out.
And then, after only 90 seconds, those jerky movements stopped on their own. We were very thankful for that! Two different friends of mine who had the horror of experiencing a febrile seizure in the first place, had the added misfortune of experiencing the prolonged seizing of their child. We’re talking from 10 MINUTES up to an hour! In light of their experiences, I feel very fortunate.
After the seizures, both of my boys were just wiped out. Completely limp and listless for a time. It takes so much out of them, the poor dears. This time, Jace bounced back and was on his feet walking probably an hour later, if not before. And he wanted to eat! He wanted to drink. He was still a sad little boy fighting that fever and all, but he was ok.
Febrile seizures are harmless. They are completely terrifying to watch, but if I could choose a disorder to have (if I HAD to pick one), I’d choose these darn seizures. Yes, it’s a weird statement, but they are short-lived with no lasting results, I can get over the scare factor because health is restored so soon.
Jace continued to have a fever all night Friday – which made it difficult for me to sleep – and for most of the day Saturday. Saturday night, his fever broke. Sunday morning he was cranky again, but cool to the touch and by the afternoon, he was back to normal. I’m still unsure of what caused Jace’s fever in the first place. The kid didn’t have symptoms – not even a runny nose. He still doesn’t. He DOES have about 4 teeth coming through at once, which explains the crankiness, but I have been told in the past that fevers aren’t directly related to teething, although as a mom, I tend to think they are correlated in some way.
We didn’t take Jace in for treatment because the seizure was very typical in length, in movement (it’s a bad sign if they are just one side or portion of the body), in age, in fever onset… in every possible category. I just got off the phone with Jace’s pediatrician’s office and they confirmed my thoughts – they don’t need to examine him unless his fever returns, then they would want to get to the cause of the fever.
For now, we are enjoying health in this household. Happiness and harmony.
February 4th, 2011 | by Jessie |  Remember a couple of weeks ago when I recapped our Christmas activities? I was astonished that Jett chewed up a carrot only to spit it out into my grandma’s beautiful glass pitcher?
It’s just a bizarre thing to do. As a parent, I didn’t think to tell him not to. Yes, he knew he was being naughty, so he didn’t get a pass for my lack of warning, but still.
I had that thought again this week….
Our toilet just wasn’t behaving normally. It sounded weird, it wasn’t flushing effectively, the water levels were off and varying.
Josh did some investigating after the kids had gone to bed and quickly found the problem.
*Someone* had stuck an empty miniature tube of toothpaste in the toilet tank.
The next day, I didn’t remember to ask the boys about it. It just spaced my mind, the toilet was working normally again so I didn’t think of it.
Until later in the day, I had to plunge the toilet… for urine. Urine and an appropriate amount of toilet paper, thankyouverymuch.
I remembered what Josh had found the night before so I removed the tank lid.
Oy vey!
Not only had the tube that Josh found the night before and then deposited into the garbage reappeared in the tank, but *someone* also threw another one in for good measure.
The tubes were wedged under the cap/seal thingy where the water empties into the bowl and was causing the problems. After I removed them, it was working again.
I went into the living room to talk to the boys. I asked them if they had any ideas as to why the toilet wasn’t working. They didn’t know, of course – no idea. And then I pulled the tubes out from behind my back and Jett instantly looked guilty. Jude didn’t seem to have a clue as to why I would be showing him toothpaste tubes, so he was off the hook. And as much as Jace likes to find unusual hiding spots, he’s not strong enough to lift the tank lid off.
Jett promised he would not put anything back there anymore. Maybe he just needed to be told not to.
February 2nd, 2011 | by Jessie | Lately, I’ve been keeping the blinds in our kitchen window drawn.
When there is snow on the ground, it’s a must.
Why?
Well, it’s not what you would expect. No, we’re not cooking meth and we don’t have nosy neighbors (I don’t think). It’s because every time I walk by the window, I see this in my peripheral vision and I always do a double take…
… because I think it’s a buck, standing majestically in the neighbor’s yard, just waiting to be noticed. Every time.
But, it never is a buck. It’s always just two mailboxes plus a bare tree.
It’s just easier to close the blinds.
February 2nd, 2011 | by Jessie | We’ve confirmed a few things in this household regarding the beverage intake and preferences of a certain young boy.
This is Jace enjoying his own mocha instant cappuccino drink.
It’s probably not a good idea to give the baby caffeine, right?
But he loves it so much!
Big brother Jett is also partial to mocha cappuccinos… we even have a little song and dance about them, of which I will spare you the details.
Oh, quick aside about Jett’s antennae: for one, that’s what they are. He’s supposed to be a bug. And two: he came home from preschool wearing them and they were still on (although a bit crumpled) when he woke up the next morning. True story.
And back to Jace and his love of strong drink:
Other drinks that Jace has been known to enjoy :: ENJOY::?
Coffee, straight-up black… cold, hot, it doesn’t matter. I know that this isn’t a one-time fluke as he’s sneaked coffee many times, usually forgotten cold cups of joe.
It’s probably not a good idea to give the baby caffeine, right?
Also…?
Wine. A full-bodied red, in fact… but that’s all he’s tried. I haven’t introduced his palette to anything else yet, I wouldn’t want to confuse him, after all.
Of course it was not intentional – the one time I had a glass of wine while the kids were still awake – I got distracted which allowed Jace to snatch the drink off the end table and start chugging. Luckily, I was close to him and was able to rip the drink out of his tight little grip after he got a big gulp down. And from then on, I had to guard my wine carefully as he was circling like a vulture. I couldn’t let it out of my hands which isn’t very conducive to “relaxing” with a glass of wine.
Oh well, live and learn.
January 31st, 2011 | by Jessie | One question:
Do the pencils in anyone else’s house look like this?
My kids love to bite the erasers off of pencils! They must be so chewy and delicious.
They do not like writing with them, however.
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