Wow, life has been a little crazy, but good. Here’s a few funny things the kids have said:

Random from Keaton and Berkley

Keaton: “Mom, when grandma was your son did you like qubo?” (Aug. 2010)

Berkley (while eating a banana): “Mom, I hate bananas, but I still like them.” (Aug 2010)

Keaton (while holding up a snail with a big crack in it’s shell…it was obviously dying): “Mom, I found he’s heart. I found the poop, too.” (Aug 2010)

Keaton: “Mom, I just killed a snail but it’s still alive, and I can see it’s poop. Come see it.” (Aug 2010)

A conversation with Jaxon:

Jaxon: “Mom, I’m getting really big….do you know how I know?”

Me: “How do you know?”

Jaxon: “Because, when I go pee the bubbles are really big.” (sep 2010)

As we were driving down the road the other day, the kids saw a log cabin:

Parker: “Wow, that house is made out of lincoln logs. If a car ran into it, it would just fall down.” (Sep 2010)

Between Keaton and Scott

Keaton: “Dad let’s pick a number between 1 and 20.”

Scott: “Okay, I’ll pick the number. You guess.”

Keaton: “40.” (Aug 2010)

Between Jaxon and Scott

Jaxon (wearing his white shirt and tie from church): “I’m going to wear my church clothes all day today, dad.”

Scott (thinking Jaxon was going to say a reason that is spiritual): “How come?”

Jaxon: “Because, I want to be a secret agent.” (sep 2010)

And now here are a few pictures from our summer:

For boys who claim to hate everything that is girlie, they sure love this barbie car.

Below are photos of how we spent most of our summer

And below we have Keaton who LOVES his baby sister, but before she was born, he kept saying he didn’t want a sister, and he was upset that we were having a girl. He wanted another boy, but to his surprise he has learned to love Swasey.

Parker/Keaton news:

*Parker had another eye appointment a while back and once again his eyes are all clear, and he’s doing great. So we are continuing with his meds and hoping it all keeps going good.

*Keaton went to see the OT/PT—whom when we went to these appointments both therapists said to me, “So why are you here?” Apparently he is doing so good that they don’t even know what to do with him when he comes in. However his leg continues to give him trouble. The more he grows, the stiffer his ankle is getting. So, we go back in this month to the physiotherapist to talk about a rhizotomy again and also the possibility of surgically lengthening his achilles tendon.

Also, Keaton broke yet another pair of glasses today. I guess we’ll be getting more glasses for him.

Other news:

Jaxon lost both his front teeth and Parker lost one of his front teeth. I will post pix later. The kids started school. Swasey had her 2 week appointment and cried and screamed. The doctor and the nurse both commented on her feisty temper. I’m tired and life is a blur right now.

I found these pictures yesterday when I downloaded the pictures of Keaton climbing the bunk beds.

Berkley loves food!!

1st pic: Berkley had eaten pancakes with apricot syrup. He really enjoyed them. I’m not sure how he got the syrup to spread so evenly over his nose.

Jaxon’s many inventions….

A rocket ship and I’m not sure what the 2nd one is….All I know is, you are supposed to look through the little ring thing he taped on it.

A castle and Jaxon made his very own compass

Here Jaxon has something made out of paperclips, and the last one is him showing off his lost teeth.

(Below)Halloween Pix:

Ninja Turtle, Ghost

Power Ranger and Bumblebee

4 cute little boys celebrating Jaxon’s bday….

I had to tell about accident prone Berkley. I have been trying to potty train him, and he’s been doing good, but the other day, he went running in to use the bathroom and tripped on the bath mat and smacked his head on the bath tub. It left a huge bruise on his head. So, we go walking into church yesterday and on our way to sit down, a couple people commented on the bruise on his head. I hate it when my kids get hurt like that, because first of all it’s just scary and it was one of those times where you see it happen and you feel sick to your stomach, because you aren’t sure exactly how bad it is, and I also hate it, because you never know what other people are thinking when they see it. Anyways, so we make it to our seat in the chapel, and I was putting my bag down on the bench and Berkley had gone and sat on the bench in front of us. He stands up on the bench, and I looked down at my bag for just a second, and Berkley nose dived over the back of the bench onto the ground. It made a loud sound, and I ran to pick him up. He didn’t even cry. And, I don’t think it hurt him too bad, but then later Keaton needed to use the bathroom. So, I take Berkley with me, because he’s really starting to stress me out, and I was thinking I wanted to keep an eye on him, so he doesn’t fall anymore. So, we go into the bathroom and we went into the handicapped stall, since it’s big so all we can all fit in there. Well, the toilet was too tall for Keaton to stand and pee, so I had to have him stand on my feet so he could reach, and Berkley of course starts going crazy, and running back and forth in the stall. The next thing I know I hear a big crash and I turn to look and Berkley had just ran head first into the wall. I was about to cry. I think He needs a helmet. This time he cried, and there was another nice bump on his head. I grew up with 4 brothers, and I know boys can be crazy, but I swear it seems like my kids have taken it to a whole new level. One day I think I will do a blog post about all the crazy stuff my kids have done, but I don’t have time right now.

These 2 extremely cute little boys celebrated their birthdays this past week. Jaxon is 7 and Berkley is 2. After Jaxon’s birthday party, he came and told me, “Mom, now that I am 7, I can carry Berkley around.”

So, tonight I was sitting here wondering where the time goes. It seems like Jaxon was just born, and I loved becoming a mom. Nothing else even compared to it. From the moment Jaxon was born he was on the move. He crawled at 5 months old, and was walking by 7 months. At 10 months he spent a week in the PICU because he woke up one morning and couldn’t walk anymore, and not only could he not walk, but he couldn’t even hold himself up next to furniture. The doctors all suspected it was a virus called Guillan Barre virus, but the tests they ran on him weren’t conclusive enough to know for sure if that was really what he had. So, he was pretty much paralyzed for a week, and it was a horrible thing to watch. They put an IV in his head. He had 2 different spinal taps done, CT scans, MRI’s, and a bunch of other stuff. I can’t even remember all the stuff they did to him. They were about to start him on some gamma globulin (I think that’s what it was) treatments, but before they ended up starting that, he began to get the strength back in his legs and little by little he began to walk again. That was one of the most horrible weeks of my life. Jaxon became a big brother when he was only 14 months old (ha ha ha….I put 14 months old, but he was really 16 months old. I think I am going crazy), and ever since then he has had a huge responsibility. And the responsibility increased even more when we found out all the stuff that was wrong with Keaton and Parker. I remember sitting in my room on the floor crying and crying one day. I couldn’t stop crying, because I was so upset about Parker and Keaton’s health problems. It was so difficult to swallow all of that.  I was trying to accept the challenges that had been placed before our family, but that night, it all became too much for me and I just cried and cried. I didn’t know what to do, but after I had been crying for a while, little Jaxon came in my room. I think he was only 3 years old at the time, but he came over to me and put his arm around me and said, “it be okay mommy.” And he was right. Even though things weren’t turning out how I had imagined them, everything really was going to be okay. But, I remember being amazed at the huge responsibility he had. Not only was he trying to help his brothers out, but he had to take care of his extremely unstable mom.  He’s such a good boy. He can be crazy and wild like most little boys, but he really is just an amazing little boy. He can draw these amazing pictures. I think he’s going to be a little artist. He’s been such a good example for his younger brothers. I’m so glad we have him and that he’s the oldest. He helps me out a lot.

Then, we have Berkley. I got pregnant with Berkley right after we found out Parker had arthritis, and Keaton had cerebral palsy. I was sooooooooooo stressed out about everything with him. The tiniest little thing that didn’t seem right, I would pretty much panic. Mostly with Berkley I just remember being scared about everything. I think before he came down here to be with our family he was plotting against me in heaven. I think he thought it would be fun to scare me a little. Right after he was born he got an infection in his umbilical cord stump. It wasn’t bad, but I of course panicked. Wow, did I get stressed out about every little thing. Then, when he was 2 months old, he got sick with bronchiolitis, but I was so sure he had RSV. I kept taking him back into the doctor. I think I didn’t sleep at all for 2 whole days. I was so scared he was going to stop breathing in the night and I wouldn’t know, so I sat up with him and did what I could to help him. Then, when he was 4 months old I couldn’t get him to push on his legs or use his legs at all. After seeing what happened with Keaton, I totally convinced myself that he had cerebral palsy and couldn’t use his legs. He never did stand on his legs until he was 7 months old, and I can’t tell you how much I worried and panicked about that. I would take Berkley with me to Keaton’s PT appointments and have the PT look at him and see what she thought. And, the PT did think it was weird that he wouldn’t use his legs. I think he was just super laid back and was happy to lay on the floor. But, I would lay awake at night so convinced that there was something wrong with him, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. And, on top of all of that, when we went in for his well child check-ups, his head began to start measuring unusually large. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and the doctor seemed pretty concerned, so I asked him to please tell me what it meant and why it was such a big concern. He mentioned things like hydrocephaly (I think that’s what it’s called) and that it might be a tumor, so they would need to do a CT scan to see if there was something wrong. So of course, once again I completely lost it and panicked. We got the CT scan done, and the results came back normal. I remember I didn’t even know how to react when the doctor called to tell me everything looked good. I thought for sure they were going to say something was wrong, and I kept waiting for them to call me back to tell me they got Berkley’s scan mixed up with someone else’s and there actually was something wrong. With each of my kids I have gotten pretty stressed out when they got sick or they got hurt, but Berkley was a whole new level. I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack. I took him into the doctor for EVERYTHING. After he turned 1, I think I finally started to calm down a little bit. But wow, that was all so stressful. Mostly that’s what I remember about him as a baby…..pretty sad, I know. There was one good thing about him as a baby though, and that was how cuddly he was (and still is). Sometimes he just wants me to hold him and he’ll sit and cuddle with me on the couch. He’s such a cutie. He’s already talking in sentences, and not just short 1 or 2 word sentences, but long sentences. Today he was playing with his brothers and cousins downstairs and for some reason they all decided to go upstairs, and Berkley stood up and said, “Hey guys, wait for me!” He also will come say to me, “I want to watch (a) TV show.” Anyways, even though I was extremely tense when Berkley was born, he was really good for me. It’s kind of ironic, but when I would get so upset and scared about everything, the only thing that could calm me down was to go pick up Berkley and just hold him in my arms. Here I was so stressed over this little baby, but at the same time holding him in my arms was exactly what I needed to keep me somewhat sane. I’m so glad we have him. I really can’t imagine our family without him.

Yesterday turned out to be the best day ever for the kids. They decided to go hunting for snails and they found several snails….lucky us! Keaton was asleep for the first part of the hunting, but woke up later. They also found worms, and if they saw spiders they would scream and run away. But, it was quite enjoyable for me, too. I was laughing at all the things they were saying. I love to listen to their conversations. So, I am going to put more pictures below along with some of the funny quotes.

Now if you look closely at this snail it has an egg attached to it. The boys actually witnessed the snail laying eggs….kind of gross for me, but very entertaining for the boys. The best part was what they said when they found it.

Parker: “I see one (a snail)! I see one!”

Jaxon:  “It has eggs! It has eggs! It just gave birth! The snail gave birth!”

I think Jaxon watches too many animal planet shows.

Parker and Jaxon found quite a few snails and had put them in some plastic cups. Parker’s cup fell over and this is how the snails looked when he went to pick them up.

Parker: “Ewwwww!!! They are kissing!”

Parker lost his snail egg half way through the hunt.

Parker: “Snail egg! Snail Egg!”  (He was yelling for the snail egg like you would yell for your dog when you want him to come to you. I don’t know if he thought the egg would come crawling to him or what, but he kept calling that snail egg)

Later…..

Jaxon: “My little snail egg is going to be so cute when he hatches.”

Jaxon found a baby snail.

Jaxon: “Mom….snails don’t give birth to live young.”

Me: “Thanks for the info Jaxon.”

Keaton made it in time for the worms. Here’s a worm Jaxon gave him. He was quite happy.

Parker: “Mom, Jaxon dug up a fighting worm for me.”

Me: “You have a fighting worm?”

Parker: “Yep it’s in my cup.”

Parker: “The baby snail is pretty cute.”
Jaxon: “Yeah he’s so adorable.”  (I’m not sure where he heard the word adorable. I never say it)

Well, I must say yesterday was SO fun, even though I’m not very fond of snails and worms. The kids always try to bring them in the house and keep them as their pets. But, they were out digging and hunting for so long. It made me realize that kids really don’t need expensive things to be happy. They were so happy and excited about those snails and worms.

Jaxon: “I’m so tired of working so hard.”

Berkley had fun, too. He loved looking at the snails, but Jaxon and Parker were very protective of their snails and did not want Berkley touching them at all. So mostly he just watched and played with rocks and sticks on the ground.

And here’s one last quote that doesn’t have anything to do with the hunt. I had to take Keaton to occupational therapy yesterday, and while I did that, Scott took the other kids out to lunch. Here’s a conversation Scott and Jaxon had.

Jaxon: “Dad what is this place called?”

Scott: “Midvale.”

Jaxon: “Oh…..What language do they speak here?”

This summer has been a little hard for Jaxon. He’s not supposed to ride his bike, jump on the trampoline, and we aren’t supposed to go to the park. So, he’s been pretty restricted and he’s going insane. He’s excited to get his cast off. Once he gets his cast off, I’m sure he’s going to go straight to the trampoline. He’s cried a few times, because we won’t let him jump. Then, we have Parker–he’s doing good. He just had an eye appointment not too long ago, and his eyes are clear of any inflammation! That was such good news to hear. I really didn’t expect to hear that. I was sure they were going to say his eyes still had a lot of inflammation and we would have to add another shot. Right now he is on the methotrexate. The other shot they talked about giving him if his eyes didn’t clear up is a medicine that stings as it goes in, so I was really nervous at his appointment. For awhile it got really bad when we gave him his shots. He would start kicking us and punching us and doing anything he could to get away, so we made a chart for him, and he gets to put a sticker on it every time he gets a shot. So after he’s done getting six week of shots we told him he could go to the store and choose out something he’d really like. He already chose what he wants—a fishing pole! Ever since we started the chart he has been so good! He still whimpers a little but he will just lay there and say “ouch” as we give him the shot, but then he gets really excited to put a sticker on the chart. Now he only has one more sticker to get. He’s pretty excited, and he obviously is expecting to go fishing, so I guess we will be taking a fishing trip. The bad thing with Parker’s shot is that he gets sick easy, so he got sick all last week. He had a fever from tuesday until saturday. I finally took him into the pediatrician and found out he has strep throat. Once they put him on the antibiotics he started doing better. So, for the most part, Parker is doing really good. I’m just so glad his body is responding to the methotrexate (MTX). I really hope it continues and we don’t have to add any other meds to his list.

We celebrated the 4th with Scott’s parents. They set up the slip and slide—as shown in one of the posts below. And we had fireworks. The kids had a lot of fun.

So, yesterday after church I was sitting in my house thinking how sometimes we just have boring days….no joke. I was really thinking that. Berkley and Parker had fallen asleep, and not that I was wanting to go on an adventure or anything, I was just thinking how it was kind of a boring day yesterday. Well, not long after I had those thoughts, Scott came running up the stairs with Berkley in his arms. He looked a little panicked and showed me Berkley and asked me if I thought he was having a seizure. Well, I saw Berkley and totally freaked out. He was making this weird noise with his throat. I couldn’t tell if couldn’t get enough oxygen or what was going on. His arm was twitching really bad, and his eyes were wide open, but he was staring blankly at nothing. I waved my hand in front of his eyes and called his name several times, but he wouldn’t respond at all. He had drool coming out of his mouth, and I just started to panic. All I could think was that he was having a stroke, and he was brain dead now. The words brain dead just kept going through my mind over and over again. I called for an ambulance to come, and when they got here they took Berkley’s temp. He had a fever, and I didn’t even realize it. So anyways, I guess when little kids get fevers every once in a while you have a kid that will have a seizure. So, yeah, we went to the ER in the ambulance, and by that time Berkley was done having the seizure, but just wanted to sleep. When he finally woke up he was extremely ornery, but they got his fever to come down with Motrin. His blood sugar level was abnormally high, too, so I was concerned about that. But, by the time we left it was back to a normal level. It was really an awful experience. I honestly thought he was having a stroke and he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to his brain, and he was just going to be brain dead. Anyways, I don’t know exactly what happened. Berkley and Parker fell asleep by each other, and I had no idea Berkley was running a fever, so I put a blanket on them, and went upstairs. Scott was asleep on the couch next to them. He said Berkley and Parker kind of started waking up, and Parker was trying to quiet Berkley down. Scott said he started making this really weird noise, kind of like he was trying to scream or cry, but it just sounded weird, and then after that, Parker told Scott that Berkley had the hiccups. Scott went to see if Berkley was okay….and he wasn’t. Anyways, I have never seen anyone have a seizure before, and it was super scary, and I really hope it never happens again. The doctors said it would probably not happen again, but we are just supposed to watch him closely. His fever is finally starting to go away, so I think he’s going to be okay. He just wanted to scare mommy a little.

Berkley is 18 months old now. He’s super cute and a fun kid to be around. Here are a few things he says:

Buppy (Puppy), Daddy, Mommy, Baby, BeeBee (Berkley), I doe know (I don’t know), Ma Ma (grandma), Annie (that’s our neighbor’s dog’s name. He really likes dogs), fsh (fish), shhhhhh, cheese, feet, shoes, socks, Hello, book…..

And, I’m sure there are more things he says. I just can’t think of them all right now. Berkley has been my “chunky” baby. All of my other kids were super skinny, but Berkley loves food. Usually he will eat just about anything….including food on the floor. Yum! Berkley is super cuddly. I love how cuddly he is and I will just sit and hold him, because I know I am going to miss it when it ends. He loves doing what his brothers do. He loves to dance along to music, and really likes getting on the computer and renaming all my files. He also enjoys a good fight with Keaton…yes they fight already. He’s such a fun baby. I can’t believe he’s already 18 months old.

This picture was taken by Jaxon.

Last weekend we went on a walk on the river trail, and it was a lot of fun. The kids found some reeds and sat by the river and pretended to go fishing. Scott and I aren’t big fisherman, but my kids love to go fishing. Grandpa B will take them every once in a while. Anyways, they would fish a lot more, if Scott and I were more into it. Maybe one day I will get a fishing license. But, for now I don’t really want to, because I would probably take them one or two times and it’s just not worth the expense, so I guess they will have to use the reeds for a while longer.

The story of my life: Me chasing the kids

Berkley catching some rays

Here’s sweet Jaxon with a beautiful flower for Mommy.

The kids have been begging me for a long time now to play in the sprinklers.  One day Parker came and asked me if he could run through the sprinklers and there was still some snow on our front lawn.  But, the snow has now all melted, which the kids came and told me since the snow was gone, it meant it was time to get the sprinklers out.  So, I finally gave in.  I couldn’t convince them that it was too cold.  They ran through a couple of times, but the winner by far was Parker.  He was shivering, but kept insisting on running through the sprinklers.  The others gave up long before he did.