Stitches Already!

James beat his brother and sister at having stitches and he's only 2 years old. He did have help in getting them from his brother. Monday night just before Ryan got home from work, I was working downstairs and heard a blood curdling scream upstairs. By the time I got up there (all of 2 seconds), the side of James' face was covered in blood. I ran him into the bathroom to clean him up and figure out where the bleeding was coming from. While I was doing this, I called Ryan to let him know what was going on and freaking out at the same time. He called our neighbor who came over to look at it with me as I was unsure what to do. James had a cut in the crease under his eye and a nice scratch down his face. The bleeding had slowed down a lot and was just bleeding here and there. My neighbor thought it was fine and when Ryan got home he thought James would be ok too. I wasn't sure but knew I was an overzealous mom. The story I finally got on how it happened (3 hours later after James felt up to telling on Benji) was that Benji was rocking our entertainment center with his feet slightly. That made a huge heavy stone tile with a saying about families on it that Dave and Kim made for us a couple of Christmases ago fall and hit James. We were lucky it was just a little higher as James could have lost his eye. I guess James just needed to be hit upside the head with the message that Families are a Blessing!

That night, we put Neosporin on a bandaid and put it on his cut. I made him sleep in our bed so I could watch him. In the morning, you could tell it had been bleeding some through the night so I made Ryan take him into the doctor as I had my own doctor's appointment that morning. I just wanted to be sure he was going to be ok as I still didn't have a great feeling about it.

We got Benji and Alyssa to school and I headed for my appointment while Ryan took James to the doctor. I finished my appointment at 9:45 and called Ryan to see if he was at work so I could pick up James. They were still at the doctor's office and the doctor still hadn't determined what they were going to do with James. Since it was in the crease under his eye, it was hard to determine exactly what the damage was. After I got to James' doctor, he came in and looked at it again and determined it needed stitches. We were definitely blessed. I guess after it's been so long, the doctor can't normally do stitches as it has started to heal but I guess they were able to with James because it was still bleeding a little bit.

Have you ever seen a doctor try to stitch a 2 year old? It's like trying to hit a moving target. They had to strap James onto a papoose board which has him strapped from his head to his feet. On top of it, Ryan had to put the weight of his upper body on James as he was trying to wiggle out of it and screaming at the top of his lungs. Good thing Ryan was there because all I could do was stand in the corner of the room with tears streaming down my cheeks. I know it was for his own good and they were trying to help him but do you know how hard it is for a mom to stand there with her son screaming at the top of his lungs for her to help him? I can't imagine how Heavenly Father felt when his son went through the Atonement if all I could do was bawl while my son was getting stitches. We finally got through it and James has four stitches. We have to put Polysporin on it every two hours and that's just as bad as getting the stitches. You have to hold him down just to get it on. All in all, it take a good five to ten minutes depending on how hard he's fighting. He's not going to like us on Saturday when he has to go back and get them taken out but that's Ryan's job.

Air Hockey With Benji

This air hockey table has been a great gift. The boys love to play each other and even Alyssa likes to play her brothers. Mom and Dad have been able to play each other once or twice. The best is when Mom or Dad play Benji. Benji has great hand/eye coordination and can play the game really well. Mom is not so lucky. She has yet to beat Benji. Just when she thinks she has the game, Benji comes roaring by with the points. He usually beats her by at least 3 or 4 points. It's a lot of fun and mostly funny for everyone else as Mom isn't trying to let him win and is really playing her hardest. James loves to play with everyone else and we usually have 3 people playing on the table with 2 pucks going at the same time. These are times we will definitely treasure and memories we will always have!

Merry Christmas!

Ok. I know it's the middle of January but this is the first chance I've had. The kids had a great Christmas and, as every year, are spoiled. Who needs Santa Claus when you have grandparents? Anyway, they each got a V Tech handheld from Santa along with a new game and a keyboard V Tech. It was a great idea Santa had and has been a big hit. They don't fight over who gets to play games anymore as they each have their handhelds and they get to play games where they actually learn something which is what mom likes. They got a few toys and clothes from mom and dad and the big family gift was our 6' air hockey table. Even James loves to play with it and asks Benji to play with him all the time. It's fun to watch him stand on a chair so he can reach and try to beat Benji. I think he just likes it when people score as he always says Score! no matter who did.

Grandma and Grandpa, Nanny and Grampy, and Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sharon did their spoiling of the kids also. The kids made out like no other with all the new toys, games, and clothes they got. The boys each got a new bike which Benji can't wait until the snow melt to ride his and James loves to get on his even though he hasn't quite figured out how to work the pedals. Alyssa got a new doll house that dad is going to have fun putting together. Problem is we have to get around to painting it first.

The gift that Alyssa loved the best was the one from Heavenly Father. There was an envelope under the tree to Benji, Alyssa, and James from Heavenly Father and when she opened it up it had a pink paper inside of it. I kept telling her that Heavenly Father determines if we are going to add a boy or girl to our family and he is blessing us with a little girl. She was so excited that she hugged the paper. It was really cute to watch. All the kids got to call Ryan's family and tell them what we were having and the kids thought that was pretty cool. My family came over for dinner and I told them that we would tell everyone after we said the prayer for dinner. Alyssa did really good since it is especially hard for her to keep a secret. She likes to tell everyone all the exciting news. As we were in the kitchen, she came over and whispered to me asking if she could tell Bre and Dan it was a girl before dinner. Of course, Bre was standing right next to me and heard the whole conversation but I told Alyssa that we needed to wait for dinner and she kept it secret. Then we set the table with pink napkins and my nephew Giovanni was complaining about using pink napkins as they are a girl color. Alyssa looked at him and told him shhh, it's a secret for me and my family. I just started laughing and asked Alyssa if she would like to share the secret with everyone else which she was more than happy to. We almost made it to when we had planned as that happened as soon as we sat down at the table. I think everyone is pretty excited. Alyssa has already told me she's going to help hold her sister and give her a bath. She asks me everyday when the baby is coming as she is having a hard time waiting. It's been fun to see her so excited and I've been soaking up every minute watching her as this is our last one.

All in all I think we all had a great Christmas. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ok. So I'm bad at keeping my blog up-to-date but December is just a crazy month so here are a couple catch up blogs. Ryan's birthday was December 19th and lucky him got to spend it at our ward's Christmas Party. Hey, at least he was treated to dinner and a show as they were doing a play. He got a drop down ladder for our garage from his parents and a New York Yankees jacket from my parents. The kids and I just got him a shirt and tie as it was what he was in need of. December birthdays are hard as your trying to get ready for Christmas but I hope he had a good day overall.

The kids are always excited when daddy comes home. It usually starts an hour before he arrives asking when he'll be home and as soon as he walks in the door, their faces just light up. Their world revolves around daddy and, even though he won't admit, he can't live without them either. I'm so glad for every year we get to celebrate another birthday together.

Happy Birthday Ryan! We love you!