Lent Season-A look back

         OK...so I know Lent season is over and everyone has puked Easter pictures everywhere (don't worry I will too...I'm just forever behind the times).  Just for a refresher, I gave up Peanut butter for Lent and also chose to add praying every day/night.  I kept a prayer journal and I absolutely loved doing that, I hope to keep the journal and pray every night.  Now don't get me wrong I missed days/nights of praying but as a whole I was aware and for me that's important. 

When all was said and done it was hard giving up peanut butter because I do like it so much but also because it is such an integral part of our food here.  At least one person is eating it at some point, so I was always dealing with it.  Very hard to not lick a knife or fingers while making lunches.  My mantra "must not lick my fingers...must not...must not!"  .  I also had 4 little boys who enjoyed keeping me accountable and an ever constant reminder for me...No peanut butter for mom!

This was a good Lent for me and I haven't quite grasped what I prayed I would take away from this, but I hope to continue to think on it and look back on it and find different nuggets.

Who I am most proud of though is Ian.  I told my boys about what I was doing and asked them if anyone wanted to join me in Lent this year.  Ian took me up on this offer and to his credit, he stuck it out 40 days.  He chose to give up caramel (Ian says it the fancy-to big for your britches-way) and chocolate.  He did really good, he stayed aware of what he was eating and asking what was in things.  We came across a few things where he had to decide what he meant by giving up chocolate...did that also mean white chocolate? Did that mean Hot chocolate too?  It really got him thinking and I loved that! 

A moment that really impressed me was when his 'lame' mom packed his lunch thinking she was packing it for Lee and not Ian.  She packed a chocolate muffin and a chocolate & Peanut butter sandwich for him for lunch.  He made an amazing choice...he chose to not eat those things and had a very, very small lunch.  He stuck to his guns and that's what I'm going to take away from that.  My baby is growing up and finding things out about himself and we are getting glimmers of the man he can grow up to be.

He was starving when he got home and I felt so bad!  The worst part of it was I didn't even mix up the lunches like I thought I did...I just outright wasn't paying attention! 

On a more important note...Easter has come and HE IS RISEN!  So many opportunities for me to talk to the boys about what Easter is all about.  I read the Easter story to the after we watched Passion of Christ (that title doesn't sound right but I can't think of it).  We have started praying as a group in the morning, well try and remember...starting a habit takes time.  Most of the time I just pray  but they have prayed a time or two and it makes my heart warm.  We are branching out and it's so important that I/we keep doing it, to grow. 

This Lent was a most revealing one and growing one, glad I participated this year!

Thanks be to God!

 

11 Year Streak...

....has been broken!  I don't know whether I should cry over this or not.  Four boys and outside of a surgery that's the only time we've ever had to get stitches.  Along comes Eli and blows that right out of the water!  He's the only one who has colored on the walls with markers (the permanent variety), climbed the walls or book shelves, and as of now the only one with a story and stitches that back it up. 

So do I pat his back and say bravo?

 

 

 

OK folks...here goes nothing with the story on THE incident at our house this morning 08:20 this morning. 

I don't even know where to begin other than it starts with naughty boys...surprised? Yeah me either. So Eli and Lee were not getting ready for school this morning and instead were running around the house and my couch.  Eli got to running again because Lee was chasing him, and during all that Eli tripped and went head first into a hard plastic bin.  Not a Rubbermaid bin...that kind of plastic but a much harder/stiffer plastic (the kind of plastic they use to make the bin for needle disposal at a Dr. office).  He went fast and hard into that bin and of course immediately started crying.  So I went to go pick him up and it was like a picture from a crime scene.  All this blood was pooled by his head...this quickly became more than I had anticipated.  The shaking and freaking out commenced about then...go ahead and ask Dru, Lee, and Frank...they'll tell ya.  Thankfully Ian wasn't there...he would have been freaking out way more than I was.  That child does not do blood (showed him the pictures and he started getting antsy from looking at those).

Anyway, I call the Dr. office to get in...I knew right away it was going to need stitches but not an ER visit.  They couldn't get me in for an hour...I didn't feel it could wait an hour...what a hour that would have been!  I could have probably have waited the hour anyway, because we went to the next town over and went to the Urgent care and when all was said and done it took about that long to drop the big boys off to go to school, get gas (cause of course I didn't have enough), get there and fill out paper work...but I felt like I was doing something and things were moving somewhat.

 

*I should mention if you are queasy I maybe wouldn't look...personally I don't think they are too bad.

So this is what I saw when I picked him up, just less bloody.  Not a great picture here but everything is matted down and has sorta dried. He has stopped crying but it hurts.

 

 

 We are at the Urgent Care and are waiting to seen...didn't take the nurses long to see that they were gonna have to move us to a procedure room.  *I could have told them that...LOL*  He was such a champ, wanted his daddy there with him but put up with me instead.

 So this is what I saw at home and knew immediately that we'd need stitches...2-3 stitches tops.  Pretty gnarly looking but I'm seriously glad the crazy bleeding has stopped.  Apply pressure!

 THIS is how big the wound/laceration was...I had no idea! At one point when they were moving hair and what not I thought it's never gonna end...it's gonna keep going.  The wound really is that big folks...I'm amazed.  The more amazing part is that while I was looking at it and (GROSS ALERT) moving the skin around and looking I wondered if I was looking at bone and had myself almost convinced that it wasn't...but my gut said different.  It was confirmed that yes that was his skull I was seeing...but with kids it doesn't take much to get to their skulls...so there you go.  Today I saw Eli's skull, let's all seriously hope I don't have to see it again!

 So here we are!  A liquid numbing agent was put on but it didn't work and then before stitches they had to do 5-6 numbing shots with a needle to the cut, Eli was a champ, barely cried.  8 stitches , one CT scan and a Tetanus shot later!!  It was a real doozy that's for sure. 

 

 

Of course this was all fixed with a phone call to his dad and asking if his daddy could take him out to RR for doing really well.

 

What a day (and yes we went to RR and met his dad there)!

* On a side note...the dr's and nurses were very concerned or intuned to scarring and such and that was the farthest thing from my mind.  I was more of the opinion do what you have to do and let's get it done?  I got to thinking about that and wondered if I'm the only one who doesn't care so much in perhaps this instance about scars?  It just wasn't and hasn't been anything I've ever been concerned about.  Even with Ian they talked about scars and I was like where ever you gotta go in do it, we can not worry later about scars.

 

Take Me Out...

......to the ball game!

That's right folks, it's that time of year again!  Baseball season is upon us and we are in the thick of it!  Games have started, well yesterday they did, either way...we are in it now!

Dru had his first game last night, they are going by the name Mariners...which is funny because last night the MLB team Mariners had their opening day last night.  Dru just thought that was too funny, on top of that though both teams won their games last night!  GO MARINERS!

Lee's first game is tonight, they go by Thunder Kings.  I have no idea where that comes from but the coaches came up with it.  I can't tell if he's excited or not...baseball with him has been major drama this year.  Well everything that has anything to do with Lee turns into drama...and people think I don't have a girl...PLEASE!

Eli will be doing T-ball, have no idea when that will all start...they said it would start in April...and it's April and no word. So they better get on that...soon in my opinion or people are gonna start leaving and wanting their money back.  Me included!!

Things heard around my house this year when practice started for baseball...things no one told me I would hear....


Wait for it....


"Mom!!!! Wear is my cup!?!  I need my cup for baseball!!!!"

"Uhh son???  Last time I wore it was?????"


Yeah...that's a new one for me and they just look at me like I grew a third eye or something. 

Ok, off we go to get a kid from practice and off  to a game!