Lydia Lyin' Low

Lydia had an accident on her scooter in January that got her an ER visit and four stitches (and cost her parents an arm and a leg!). She rode the scooter over the bumpy pavers in the back yard and hit a bump that knocked her off, but as she fell the scooter handlebars tipped up so that the metal rim of the handle cut into her nose. Her nose and mouth were so bloody initially that I couldn't tell what had happened. Once we cleaned it up a bit and I saw how deep the slice was, I knew we'd be headed out for medical help. Josiah had a friend over to play, which complicated matters, but I figured I didn't want to haul the rest of the siblings to urgent care or the ER unless absolutely necessary anyhow. I finally got a hold of Jeremy at work. He came home and drove Lydia to the ER after we called urgent care to find out if they would/could stitch up children (answer: no).

Smiling for Daddy on the way to the hospital!

Jeremy and Lydia spent about five hours at Phoenix Children's. Lydia was thrilled with the chance to watch a bunch of movies: Lady and the Tramp, Minions, The Good Dinosaur, and probably a couple others. She wasn't so thrilled with the shots of lidocaine (one of which wore off before they started stitching--so she felt the needle--and then when the staff gave the second shot, she jerked and the needle bent in her nose) or the stitching up. Jeremy wasn't too thrilled with the delays that caused the lidocaine to wear off or the inexperience of the resident who did the stitching (he had to redo a stitch or two, causing more trauma). Thankfully her scar looks pretty good, so the resident must have done a reasonable job.

I've made the scooters off-limits til Jeremy fixes the handles somehow so the sharp metal isn't exposed. I know the kids could do a score of other activities to land them in the hospital, but at least I'll eliminate that one.

My sister Elisabeth (Aunt Bobo to the kids) sent Lydia a TJ's card that said, "I hear that you are lying low." It had a picture of a nurse mouse ministering to a sick one with some other "helpers." Aunt Bobo wrote in that she was the nurse mouse and Lydia the sick one. Lydia proceeded to name the others ('Siah and Ab) and memorized the card greeting. She delighted to "read" it to everyone.

Poor Lydia has been "lyin' low" quite a bit lately. Though the nose injury didn't keep her down for long (amazing how quickly little kids heal!), she (and the others) caught a cold at the end of January. Just as that started to subside, she got another virus with a bad cough and lots of congestion. A week and a half ago, she had a fever and complained of an earache, and woke up a few nights with coughing, bad dreams, or earache. Thankfully the coughing is lessening and her chest congestion sounds better.

Her teeth evidence the thumb-sucking, and she's supposed to have sunscreen on her nose to prevent bad scarring

In the midst of that illness, Lydia also contracted a case of pinworms. She complained one night of her bum "tickling" and persisted enough in her complaints that I thought it might be more than a random itch. I mentioned that Aunt Rach had gotten worms quite often when she was little and explained the basics of the condition. Poor Lydia, driven to distraction with her bum itches and wounded in pride, said, "That's not for real!" I assured her it was. Then she said, "That's not a very nice joke."

Sure enough, we discovered (in a quite unsavory way) that Lydia did indeed have worms. She cried and cried about the tickles in her bum until a dose of over-the-counter medication did away with the disgusting creatures. Now she's sensitive to every itch in her bum and is very worried she might get worms again. It's actually motivating her not to suck her thumb (sometimes). She came to us in tears the other day to confess she "ate some dirt" that apparently "fell in [her] mouth." She was sure this meant worms had once again infested her body. We hope not . . , They have been a real tribulation to her!

Now we're just hoping she (and the other two girls) don't get strep, since Josiah came down with that last Thursday. And I'm praying against another strep cycle like we had two years ago--but so thankful we've had two years being strep-free!

A Peachy Weekend

Yes, it's a bad pun--but with our Mid-pride peach in full production, how could I avoid using it?

We really did have a nice weekend, despite the June heat. As we discussed plans Friday evening (or set impossible goals for home improvement and cleaning and cooking), Jeremy suggested taking the kids to the zoo. I balked, but eventually came around to the idea. So we ate a quick breakfast and got out the door as soon as we could Saturday morning (after the obligatory sunscreen session, which is always interminable torture).

Sweet Clara went with the flow, as she usually does. She took a short nap in the stroller as the big kids played at the zoo splash pad. (Josiah made a new friend and had tons of the fun; the girls got cold a little too quickly and, while they enjoyed it, didn't have quite as much fun as we hoped.) We hit a few animal sights--the new tiger exhibit, the orangutans, the camel, the anteater, the otters. All three wanted to visit the farm area, so we went there after they tired of the splash pad. They all loved the goats--even Abby and Clara!

Lydia is a born animal-lover

Clara liked pulling on this little goat's ear

I'm glad Abby has overcome her former fear of the goats! She was sometimes leery of livelier ones, but touched and petted several

I didn't get pictures of the splash pad or other areas of the zoo. We left--hot, tired, and hungry--around 11 a.m. and came home for lunch and naps/rest time.

Saturday evening we did some of our around-the-house chores, and we spent some time in the back yard both Saturday and Sunday. The kids picked most of the ripe cherry tomatoes, and I worked on the peach tree. Clara enjoyed watching everyone and picking at the grass:

Jer worked on bikes and mowed the lawn.

As usual, there were some "little lamb" or "little goat" games going on at times . . .

Abby

Our crazy-haired girls got all hot and sweaty running around. While these aren't the most flattering of Lydia, I'm struck by how old she looks. Please don't leave toddlerhood so soon, Girlie!

And the cute boy, who gets longer and leaner by the minute, it seems (he also references time by "a long, long, long, long time ago when I was four" or "after I turned five"):

Meanwhile, in the yard . . .

1. Our lemons are green and hard but growing! We won't see these ripen till fall.

2. Our disappointing peppers are still going strong. We bought plants labeled as bell peppers. Unfortunately, they've all produced these long, thin, bitter-tasting peppers instead. Em and James thought they were poblanos; Dortha suggested Anaheim. I'm not sure, but we don't really like them unless they're wholly disguised by other flavors.

3. Ah, but the peaches! These more than compensate for sadder crops around the yard. Our Mid-pride peach tree is loaded this year with beautiful fruit. We netted the tree a few weeks ago in anticipation of the bird horde descending as soon as the peaches started ripening. Good thing we did! Birds have still gotten into a peach here or there, but we've protected most of them. It looks like some bugs have attacked some of the peaches--we've seen cat-facing, bruising, etc. on some, but we haven't seen the actual bugs this year.

So far I estimate we've picked about 100 lbs of peaches from the mid-Pride. This box-full was just from Sunday night's picking:

And as you can see, we left plenty on the tree to swell and ripen for a couple more days:

While the peaches deserve the spotlight, our grapes are worth mentioning, too! The flame grapes (red) are ripening before the Thompson seedless (green). Here's a bunch that the children quickly devoured the other night:

Jeremy has brought in a couple bunches of green ones, too, and those are tasty, if still a bit on the tart side. The flame grapes are so nice, though: plump, crisp, and sweet (though much smaller than ones at the store).

So there's a glimpse of life lately: petty peachy, hm? But of course, not everything stayed peachy for long . . . we ended the weekend with Abby and Josiah throwing up as we entered the wee hours of Monday morning. Ah well--c'est la vie when you have small children.

Of Late

So many pictures, so many domestic happenings, and so little time to blog!

As you can imagine, adding a fourth child has changed up our routine. Well, truth be told, we don't really have a changed routine yet--we're still figuring things out. And my mom was here till this past Tuesday, so I've only had the kids on my own for the last few days.

There's nothing momentous to tell, but here's a little photo journal of our recent life . . .

Six weeks old

Clara is a delight! Everyone loves her. Josiah came up with his own pet name for her: "Honey-bun-boo." I'm not sure how he thought of that, but he thinks it's quite funny and has stuck to using it for weeks now. The girls like to copy him and so use it, too, though they more often call her "Baby Sisser Flara." 

 Two weeks old

Just under three weeks old

 

Four weeks old

As with each child, we marvel at Clara's meeting of milestones and above-average skills. :) She has pretty good neck strength and lifts her head easily and well. (Of course, she still flops plenty, too!) She gained over three pounds in her first month of life--at her one-month check-up, she was 9 lbs 5.5 oz!

Three weeks old

Four weeks old with friend James Jr.--two weeks her junior, but a couple pounds heavier! 

 James Jr. is only 3 weeks old here, but he started out at 9 lbs 2 oz . . . Clara may never catch up :)

She obviously smiled at me for the first time at a little over three weeks old. (She possibly smiled at Jeremy and Grandma a day or two before.) Now she more readily smiles at me when she's alert and fed--big, dimpled, beautiful smiles. Pretty soon she'll be smiling at her siblings. They're always eager to see her awake ("Let me see her eyes!" Josiah says), so I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see her responding to them with smiles.

A day after her due date--almost two weeks old!

 

Six weeks old--she's filling out!

She likes to look at fans (like her brother did), and she startles more at noises. Unfortunately this also means we're leaving the newborn ability to sleep through everything. I have more trouble getting her to sleep when her siblings are in and out and about; and she takes better, longer naps when laid down in our room in her bed. (She slept her first six-hour stretch last night!)

During my mom's stay (just under four weeks), I mostly didn't have to worry about laundry or getting up early or cooking everyone breakfast or wiping poopy bums. It was wonderful! She capably handled lots of household and child-related work and allowed me a more leisurely recovery. Because of her, I was able to better enjoy Clara's newborn days--with plenty of time to cuddle and nurse her without constant interruption. I also had the luxury of sleeping in with Clara because my mom graciously got up with the older kids.

They loved having Grandma around (Josiah even started calling her "Dramma" vs. "Lala/Glala"). Most days they played outside and she joined their games. I asked Josiah what his favorite game to play with Grandma was, and he said "Dread Pirate Grandma." 

The girls are forever pretending to be animals, so sometimes they were lambs and Josiah and Grandma made a sheep pen for them. Sometimes they were newborn colts just trying their legs. Sometimes they were Santa's reindeer (and Josiah was Santa and Grandma was his wife). Together they made a campfire of sticks (unlit), swept up their house (patio), traveled abroad on their ship (the fort), baked plenty of pies (dirt and leaves), collected gold (leaves and rocks), etc. 

 

My mom made some great progress on potty training the girls while she was here. They mostly wear undies and stay dry/clean during the day now! We have to be on top of making them sit on the potty regularly (and long enough to do something), but they often tell us on their own when they need to go. They still wear diapers for nighttime and naptime, though, and will use diapers if they have them on.

Indoors the kids continue to love their Duplos. Lydia loves building houses or castles. Abby likes to make trains for all the guys to ride. Josiah is thoroughly Boy in his love and design of guns. Tonight he asked Daddy to help him make a "skewer" (bayonet) on the end of his Duplo rifle. (I'm not even sure where he's seen such things . . . He always has a stash of weapons both indoors and out. And we often must remind him to shoot animals, not people.) Sometimes all three collaborate (usually with encouragement from us) in a building project. But often they fight over the platforms, the long pieces, the last few pieces, etc.

Grandma also took the kids to Chick-fil-A (which Josiah calls "Chipotle with the cows") and Einstein's Bagels, as well as to the park and the zoo. They each enjoyed an individual outing with her, too, and still talk about that. They still often talk about when Pa and Grandma from Flagstaff took them to Chick-fil-A and Burger King and let them watch Lassie and Flipper! (Today they played pretend games involving both Lassie and Flipper.) "Maybe sometime you and Daddy will leave and we'll watch those movies again, Mom," Josiah tells me.

Lydia enjoying her cup of water and ice from "the bagel store"

 

 Abby on left, Lydia on right

Starting with Josiah, the three big kids came down with a cold this week. Josiah and Abby have a croupy cough and a runny nose, and Lydia started coughing yesterday. They've been reasonably good about covering their mouths when coughing (in the crook of their arms, just like Pa taught them!), but I'm still concerned about Clara catching the sickness. So the constant task of keeping them a safe distance from her has certainly added to the stress of the last few days!

Lydia especially misses cuddling with Lala

 Can you believe these angelic children get into spats?

Colds make everyone feel miserable--but not miserable enough to actually take naps or just lie quietly on the couch. So we've dealt with lots of fighting, crying, tantrums, whining, bugging, etc. 

Still, I'm thankful the kids normally play pretty nicely together!

Well, it's past 1 a.m. and I'm squandering sleep to write this . . . I probably shouldn't stay up later, because I'll certainly pay tomorrow! Let's hope everyone sleeps in (no naps + cold + late sunrise = later wake-up? I pray so!). But I may see this face at 6 a.m. . . .

 

. . . and almost certainly this one at 3 a.m.!