This video courtesy of ice cream!

This video is brought to you by homemade (really! it was not a mix!) mint chocolate chip ice cream!

4 Months!

Asher is 4 months old today! Wow! Our little guy is growing so fast. He now gives the best smiles. He is slightly less fussy and demanding. He can roll from his back to his tummy and from his tummy to his back but he hasn't strung the two together yet. He is figuring out how to grab things and stuff them in his mouth. He is pulling my hair out (this is why I got a short cut when Jude was around this age - but not this time I'm rocking the braid and bun). He found his feet. He has the bottom two teeth and it won't be long until more pop up because he is always drooling. For a week or so he was waking up between 4:30am-5am all smiles (mommy was not so happy) but thankfully he reset himself and is now making it to 6:30am-7am! He sleeps 4-7hours straight at night as I nurse him in bed sometimes I don't really remember feeding him so I can't say for sure he didn't wake up and nurse though I can usually figure it out since he will be on the opposite side of me. He is a little over 16lbs. He is about 26". Some of his 6 months outfits are already too small but I think we can put off the 9 month clothing another week or two. He still likes mommy to wear him :) He takes good naps in his swing or if I lay him in my bed and slowly move away from him once he is asleep (I surround him with large pillows but this solution is about to come to an end as he is starting to wiggle and roll over - I do not need another monkey falling off the bed). He makes the cutest squeaks. He stuffs his hands in his mouth and sucks his fingers - just like his Auntie Drea did. He gets fussy when he gets hot - just like his Auntie Charity did. We love him so much. God has been so good to give us another son!

Some pictures of the last month:

Fun in the Sun!

The heat is on in Houston but we are keeping cool with friends and water!

The Aftermath

In the aftermath of Jude falling down and breaking his crown there have been many calls and messages asking how Jude is doing. Let me answer that Jude is doing wonderful! Thank God. Thank God that though Jude fell over 5ft and landed on his head he only sustained a fractured frontal bone that did penetrate his sinus cavities. I know that sounds bad and I suppose it is but it could have been much much worse. He could have had concussion. He could have had swelling or bleeding on his brain. He could have had fluid leak from his sinus cavity onto his brain and spinal cord causing meningitis. But God has been so good and Jude has not had any of these. In fact if we didn't have a CT scan we wouldn't even know he had a serious fall. Jude is completely unfazed and acting just like his normal self and there is hardly even a bruise (I highly recommend the use of vaseline on bumps and bruises - I have no idea how or why it works but really it does).

A couple of tidbits from this experience:

Jude was adamant at each of our stops that he not be subjected to a shot. "Mommy, tell the doctor I don't need a shot." And upon the exit or nurses or doctors he would jubilantly exclaim, with arms raised, "I didn't have to have a shot!"

Jude was fascinated with everything. So much so that at the ER I wondered (before the CT) if we should have really come he seemed so normal.

I have been told I was so chill, put together and strong - ummmm I guess on the outside but I was freaking out and Chad can tell you this is true. In answer to this I would just like to say that it is only because I have faith in the love of Jesus for me and for Jude that I was able to make it through this situation. So If I was peaceful or strong it was really the peace of Jesus and the strength of Jesus. Jesus is my everything. And he reassured me several times of his love for me through the support of friends and family and even the radio when a passage from Matthew, the one about Jesus saying to let the children come to him was read and it reminded me that Jesus loves children and will take care of them.

We were like the walking dead on friday.

Jude's nose is apparently full of boogers. CT's don't lie.

We were given instructions to keep Jude from: rough housing, wrestling, jumping, climbing, riding bikes, etc. Basically don't let Jude be a boy.

I am extremely disappointed that we are going to have to postpone the birthday present I had planned - a trampoline! Ahhhh mommy wanted to send the boys out to expend energy. I also am a big kid and want to jump too :( But it would be rather cruel to say happy birthday but you can't jump as your head is broke.

Anywho we are off to the pool.

1 Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed...

Jude fell off and bumped his head. Hard. He may be hard headed but evidently not hard enough.

It all started on a peaceful afternoon - by peaceful I mean that our friends were over and it was chaos in my house. A good chaos to be sure but chaos nonetheless. The kiddos were happily playing all over the house and my friend Liz and and where chatting and gathering her things as she prepared to leave.

It was about 1pm or so. We heard a thunk and then Jude crying. Liz rushed to Jude's room and I followed more slowly, mistaking his cries as falsely intense. Lately even the slightest bump or stub of the toe results in his failing bloody murder - I may need to start telling him the story of the boy who cried wolf. Upon examination I saw a huge bump and bruise forming on his head. He said he fell off the ladder of his bunk as he was climbing down. Sam, Liz's 6 yr. old, helpfully answered our questions and we determined he had not hand anything slow his fall. Straight from ladder to floor. I was comforting Jude, having handed Asher to Liz, and realized Jude's nose was bleeding - all over my brand new skirt (thank goodness for peroxide). I asked if he had hit his nose or if it hurt and he said no.

So I gathered him up and carried him to the living room, set him in the rocking chair and went to rummage in the freezer. I was able to scrounge up a bag of frozen peas to place on his head. Jude was still crying and I couldn't get him to calm down. Liz suggested I put vaseline on the bruise to help it not swell and not look so bad. So I went in search of vaseline and paused to put my skirt in the sink with peroxide. Having applied vaseline to Jude's head. I helped Liz out the door.

Jude was whimpering still but much calmer. Asher had fallen asleep and been laid down in my bed by Liz. So I hurriedly got Shiloh ready for nap time, reading his book and singing him to sleep. It was about 1:45 when I finished up with Shiloh and went to check on Jude. He had fallen asleep in the chair. I scooped him up and took him to his room. Waking him and checking his pupils for dilation because I was slightly concerned about concussion. Jude went back to sleep and I let him be. Nervously checking every 15-20 min to make sure he was alright.

Around 4pm Jude, Shiloh and Asher were all awake. We skyped with my parents who are in the Cayman Islands. Jude was kind of lethargic and still fussing about his head. In addition he was complaining that his tummy hurt. So Mimi and Pops googled concussion while we were skyping and I determined to watch Jude closely. After hanging up with Mimi and Pops I tried calling Chad but couldn't reach him so I texted him a picture of Jude's head. He called me right away and after hearing Jude's symptoms wanted me to take him somewhere. I almost had a mini meltdown because if you know me you know that I hate making phone calls and dealing with this sort of issue freaks me out. I decided to call Dr. Mick our Chiropractor and started to get the kids ready to go there and have him give Jude a once over. Shortly after hanging up with Dr. Mick Jude threw up. I called him back and he said I should take him to a clinic or ER. Freaking out again because my first course of action was no longer the best I called my friend Miranda. Miranda would know what I should do. She has five kids and has been in this situation countless times. Bless Her. Miranda suggested maybe a clinic so I ran with that. But which one? Which would the boys insurance cover? Freak out again.

Chad saved the day and located an urgent clinic for me and off I went. Pausing long enough to stuff some diapers in a bag and call Liz and ask if I could leave Shiloh with her - thankful, thankful, thankful for friends in the neighborhood, God answered my prayer for friends so well! Jude, Asher and I made our way to the clinic. Only once we arrived and explained the situation they advised us to go to an ER as they could not do a CT scan. So if you ever have a head injury, skip the clinic and go to and ER. We loaded back up in the car and headed to Texas Children's West Campus in Katy. We stopped long enough to wait for Chad (who being downtown at a work conference had gotten a ride from some co-workers).

We made it to Texas Children's around 6pm. Got checked in. Got Jude's vitals taken. Got situated in a room. The nurse turned on Planes for Jude and he was quite content. We saw a Dr. The Dr. thought after a little exam we could go home. Then came back - on second thought she wanted to know how high he was and then decided since it was  above 5ft. we should do a CT. Jude had some goldfish and gatorade (things which we never buy but we hadn't eaten dinner and he was hungry) which made him happy. We got CT done and settled in to wait for the report. Good news we could go home. Then the Dr. came back, ummm actually I'm sorry but I think there may be a fracture I just thought I should look again and thats when I saw it. So the Dr. began to consult with Texas Children's main campus where the neurosurgeons where. We where then told we were going to be transferred.

Chad rode in the ambulance with Jude while I took Asher home to get some diapers, feed the dogs and ultimately sleep for 2-3 hours. Chad and Jude made it to the Main Campus and saw the neurosurgeons who observed Jude, reviewed his scans and ultimately determined that there was no bleeding or swelling in his brain. There was a fracture running through his sinus cavities but that it was not leaking fluid into his brain causing a risk of meningitis so we were sent home with instructions to keep an eye out for some symptoms and a follow up appointment in a month. Long night. We got close to 7am.

I am so thankful that he is going to be ok! Thanks to everyone who prayed!

  

Jude's head :(

Asher chilin'

Sleepy.

20 Questions

At dinner tonight we played 20 questions with Shiloh and 19 out of 20 of his answers were "no." I love how he can say no. Sometime it is a "noooooooo" and sometimes "no!" And other times it is "noh." Super cute. Not so cute is when he cries and says no. And baffling is when he says no but means yes and I don't realize the answer is yes. Shiloh is all about "no." Anyhow dinner conversation went like this:
D: "Shiloh do you love Jude?"
S: "no"
D: "Do you love Daddy, Lilah, Boker, Asher?"
S: "no" (to each question).
C: "Do you love mommy?"
S: "no"
At this point we asked him question after question all to which he answered, "no."
Then with a gleam in his eye Chad asked: "Shiloh can mommy lift more weight than daddy?" Shiloh replied, quite truthfully, "yes!" Hahahaha. I win!

A word of caution

In case it ever strikes you as a good idea - it's not:

Do not attempt to stir your peanut butter with a hand mixer. While I was at the store Chad needed to open a new jar of peanut butter to make sandwiches for the kids lunches. Instead of stirring with a spoon or knife Chad thought he would use a short cut. Still finding peanut butter in random places.

A Play for Independece

I suppose it is very fitting that on the day we celebrate our independence as a country my oldest child would make a play for his independence at 6:30 AM. For real. We had watched "Rise of the Guardians" the night before and at 6:30 AM he interrupts my coffee time (I had been awake since 5 AM because that is apparently the time Asher would like to wake each day now...why won't my children sleep in?) with "I'm going to watch my movie." This is when things did not go his way as I informed him we would not be watching anything this morning. I could see the struggle on his face and as he was about to argue I reminded him it was not ok to argue with mommy. He got very creative and said, "well I'm going to watch it, God told me I could, he said so in my heart." I have news for you little buddy I am not aware of any place in the Bible that would support what you are "hearing" from God but I can find several places that state, "children obey your parents." This being said he threw his movie on the ground, kicked it, stomped his feet, hit the wall, made angry faces and noises and earned a one way ticket to his room and an appointment with the switch. Rebellion put to and end (at least for a few hours that is).

Anyway we despite controlling and putting down rebellions we had a great day celebrating independence.

We rode our bikes in the neighborhood parade. I tried to ride and carry our huge pool bag at the same time. This was not easy. Thankfully our neighbor was taking her girls to the parade and gave Jude and his bike a lift to the starting point because we may have missed it otherwise.

Asher and Shiloh chilling in the bike trailer.

Asher passed out in my arms during the parade.

The big boys on the train.

The community center had a ice cream cart and the boys choose the Spider-Man popsicles. 

There was also a photo booth. So Cool. We took pics as a family and then Jude and Shiloh took pics with Loic.

After the parade, lunch, ice cream, photo booth and swimming Asher and Shiloh passed out on the way home.

After naps we went to Granny's to celebrate.

We made home made ice cream.

We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. We had corn and beans. Yummy.

Even Lilah enjoyed the corn.

Granny gave Jude some money to go buy fire works.

Asher enjoyed gnawing on the glow sticks.

The boys did sparklers. Of course Shiloh touched his and burned his finger. But then we lit the "big" fireworks and he was all smiles and giggles. I don't have any pictures but Jude was mr. bossy pants telling Chad which fireworks to do. Shiloh was supper snuggly Auntie Charity. And Asher did great except for one firework scared him and he cried and held his breath and almost passed out - hmmm just like Jude yet another strong willed boy for me. Yay.

We had a great time celebrating!