Big Sigh of Relief!

Nathan had his follow-up visit with the finger specialist this afternoon. Nathan was terribly excited to get his splint off and Kev and I were just hoping that everything had healed well. Luckily for Nathan (and us), everything seems to have healed just fine. His finger is no longer drooping. In fact, it is perfectly straight and he cannot bend it right now. The doctor says that is normal and that flexibility will come back with time. He also says that a finger that heals with less than a 10 degree bend in it is considered a success and Nathan's finger is actually nice and straight. This type of injury can recur and if that were to happen Nathan would go back into a splint for six more weeks. If it should be re-injured a third time, then the doctor would do surgery. But the doc thinks that Nathan won't have any trouble because he is so young and heals quickly. But in order to prevent problems while the finger continues to heal, Nathan will wear the splint when he sleeps and during rough play for another month. He has done a great job keeping his splint on and it seems he has reaped the benefits of that!

And as a random side note, the doctor told us mallet finger is a very common injury. He sees two or three patients a day with the same injury!

Baby Picasso

Malia is getting around.  Although she doesn't crawl yet, she rolls and scoots all over.  So we have been trying to get the boys to keep their stuff off the floor.  It has been an uphill battle because Matthew's idea of picking up is to take something from one location on the floor and drop it in another location on the floor.  And all three boys have a wicked case of domestic blindness so they honestly cannot see the junk scattered all over the place.  I'm trying my darndest to keep the floor free of potential baby hazards but it is pretty much 2 against 3: Kev and I vs. the boys.  Today Matthew left a Lightning McQueen pen on the floor after I told him to get it off the table so we could eat dinner.  Malia thought it was a very exciting find:

It's a good thing she's washable.

This Is How Malia Feels About Green Beans…

I suspect Esther would concur.

S’more Peeps

We like Peeps around here.  But in spite of that, we can actually only eat so many before we get tired of them.  Then the rest usually hang around getting all hard and nasty until I discover them in the bottom of the treat bin halfway through the summer.  So what’s to be done to prevent the annual dismissal of the Peeps?

Yummm.

“He is not here: for he is risen”--Matthew 28:6

Although we do the whole egg hunt bit and eat candy and all that, we have never been into the Easter Bunny gig.  In fact, our kids know there is no Easter Bunny.  And it works for us.  We do all the eggs and candy bit because it is fun, but we focus on the resurrection.  So yesterday we did a quick egg hunt with my sister Rachael and her family (stash and dash-hiding the eggs took longer than collecting them all back up) and today we kept things a bit more reverent…as reverent as a house full of boys all hopped up on sugar can be.  We went to church and made singing with the choir a family event.  Kev, Daniel and Nathan sang.  Malia was with Kev and she looked mighty confused because I was leading the choir.  Matthew trooped up with all of us and grumped when I wouldn’t let him stand right behind me and then grumped some more when I wouldn’t let him talk to Nathan while we were trying to sing: Mommy Mad Face-2, Matthew-0.  Afterward we all watched one of the videos the church has produced about the crucifixion and resurrection.  I was actually kind of surprised by how much the video affected Nathan and Matthew.  Nathan cringed and covered his eyes at the horrible things that happened and Matthew was sad and solemn for the entire time, quite a feat for a five year old boy.  I am proud to see that they understand what this holiday is all about.

So yes to eggs, candy, and cute Easter dresses, but yahoo to kids that know why we eat the hot cross buns.

Egg-less Easter

As all of you know, Matthew is allergic to eggs.  And most of you probably know that I’m on his diet while I’m nursing Malia.  Add to that the fact that Daniel doesn’t care for hard boiled eggs in any of their forms and that leaves Kevin and Nathan to eat all of this year’s Easter eggs.  With all these things in mind, we decided as a family to skip the dying of real eggs this year.  Instead, we made felted plastic eggs using wool roving.  It was a craft we found in the Family Fun magazine and we had a great time!  (And yes, there was a moment when the domestic deafness made Daniel exclaim, “Put on our pantyhose??!!!!” What I really said was, “Put your eggs in the pantyhose.”)

Matthew got bored after making one egg at which point he just sat and swung his egg around in the pantyhose.  Daniel made three eggs and Nathan really got into the whole thing and made seven or eight. 

When we were done assembling and threw the eggs in the washer, Matthew and Nathan were so excited to see how they would turn out that they sat and watched “The Washing Machine Show,” something Matthew hasn’t done in over three years.  He used to do it all the time when he was a baby.

 

As we were trying to get our eggs out of the pantyhose at the very end, we discovered that when we stretched the pantyhose when we put the eggs in, the wool crept out through the holes and felted into the nylon making it hard to get off and leaving the eggs looking hairy.  The eggs that were simply slipped into the nylons came out much easier and looked smoother.  Nevertheless we were all pleased with the results. 

Bunny Buns

No, I am not talking about rabbit anatomy.  I am talking about a recipe from the Friend magazine that Nathan found last Easter and wanted to try. However, last Easter I was 1) pregnant, 2) feeling lousy and 3) on a very strict diet so I told him we were not going to try it.  But I tucked the recipe away so we could try it this year since I am 1) not pregnant, 2) feeling fine except when the stupid headaches get the better of me and 3) not on a strict diet although I do try to eat carefully.  The boys had no school today so I figured it was a great time to try the buns.  Daniel didn’t particularly care to help although he was definitely excited to eat them and Matthew loved making the buns but wasn’t all that interested in consuming them.  Nathan was excited to do both.  And I think they were pretty tasty.  We’ll probably make them again.

 

Spring Is Sprung

In warm weather, Matthew and I frequently walk around the outside of the house checking on all the plants to see how they are growing.  Today as we walked around the house after preschool we saw daffodils almost ready to bloom, tulips sending up lots of leaves, daisies and day lilies just peeking up from the dirt, etc.  There were also lots of weeds, but Matthew sees them as beautiful flowers rather than a garden nuisance.  He noticed one with a purple blossom and asked, "What are these purple beauties?"  And he made sure to point out to me "the best" ones which were the yellow heads of dandelions.  But my favorite of today's observations?  Upon pointing out to Matthew the leaves just beginning to emerge from the branches of an apple tree, he proclaimed, "Oh!  Those are the butts!"

Let the Games Begin...

Last night, a couple of hours after getting her dinner, I noticed that Malia had hives all around her mouth.  It was definitely  not something I was happy to see.  We have been on high alert for signs of food allergies since we started her on solids a month ago and although I didn’t feel all freaked out upon noticing the hives, I did have nightmares last night…

I think I’m still a bit traumatized by needing to rush Matthew to the emergency room at five months due to respiratory distress.  It is not something I want to repeat.  However, I think I am more prepared to handle the ups and downs of food allergies than I was when Matthew started having trouble.  To quote G.I. Joe, “Knowing is half the battle.”  And I’ve learned a lot in the past four years.  So we’ll keep watching.  We know what to look for, after all, and will be cautious as we introduce more new foods.  And she is young yet.  Many babies have sensitivities or mild allergies that they outgrown fairly rapidly.  However, we won't give her any more carrots for now.

Some Things Are Cool No Matter How Old You Are

This evening we made Resurrection Rolls for F.H.E. It is an Easter object lesson that I imagine was designed for young children. (Each item that goes into the rolls represents an item involved in the burial of Jesus.  The marshmallow is Jesus-think white and clean, the butter is the oils used to anoint his body, the cinnamon sugar is the spices used and the rolls are the linen he was wrapped in.)  But I was pleasantly surprised to see that Daniel and Nathan thought it was neat. Although they could predict what would happen and even knew why we got the results we did, they were still suitable impressed.  I felt like an awesome mom. (And I'll admit that I also thought it was pretty neat.)  The end result was gooey and tasty, although Matthew thought it tasted weird.  He is allergic to so many things that in his life prepared or convenience foods are rare.  He gets almost everything made from scratch at home.  So Pillsbury probably does taste a bit funky to him.  But he ate his entire roll anyway.  And then he chomped on a regular marshmallow and declared, "Jesus tastes better."

I hope in the eternal scheme of things engendering a bit of sacrilege will be outweighed by creating a fabulous teaching moment with my children.