ProActive and other 'gems' from Carson

      As the  sacrament prayer finished, Carson turned to me and said, "If you buy ProActive you can clear up all the red marks on your face."  He is not convinced that it doesn't work on everyone because the TV people claim otherwise. 
     Carson has a cold sore.  He has been sick this week and his dad gets cold sores.  He has also been to the dentist this week.  After the next prayer at church today Carson asks why the dentist gave him a cold sore.  I told him it was an infection and now he thinks that the dentist is an infectionist.

     Grandpa had called yesterday and told me about some issues with a funeral home in Lethbridge.  I am medical examiner and Clarke will often help me with my exams.  We were discussing the funeral home and an incident where they cut off someone's finger to get a ring.  Carson obviously heard the conversation as he made Jay cry tonight with a little story.  Carson got a new CTR ring at church.  They are sizable but Jay obviously isn't aware of how they work.  He wanted to wear Carson's ring and Carson told him it was too small.  If Jay were to put it on he wouldn't be able to get it off and would have to go to the hospital to take it off.  If they couldn't get it off they would have to cut off Jay's finger because Carson really wanted his ring back!  I had to reassure Jay that he could always get Carson's ring off because of the way it is made and that doctors don't cut fingers off, just rings!  If Jay has nightmares tonight Carson is grounded for a month!

My Feelings are Hurt!

OK, so no picture with this story but had to share anyway.  So, I nearly ended up in the ER with Jay on Thursday night.  He was fine when he fell asleep and then he awoke at about 11:22 with a horrible barky sounding cough and wheezing.  I went into his room as he was sounding worse and worse within seconds and the harder he tried to breathe the less oxygen he was getting and he was panicking.  Me, being the doctor, ran to get the prednisone (so who other than me has prednisone in their house?) and the ventolin, and a stethoscope!  I managed to get Jay to swallow the prednisone.  Breathing in the ventolin with an aerochamber while he was wheezing - and indrawing! with a tracheal tug! - was a little harder.  After 5 doses of ventolin with me saying, "Slow, Jay!  Sssslllloooowww!  Slow down your breathing" (and each dose being two puffs of ventolin and at least 4 breathing attempts) I could finally hear air entry in his lungs.  At that point, I decided that I need to have an O2 saturation monitor present in the house and that it would be on my next wish list!  I got Jay to lay down with me beside him, stroking his hair, reminding him to breathe slowly.  About 5 minutes later the wheezing and barking was coming back with a vengeance so we had more ventolin and went outside for a few minutes.  When he needed more ventolin about 7 minutes later we went back upstairs where I then got the humidifier and cranked it up in his room.  I could hear better air entry then and decided we probably didn't need to go to the ER but I still sat beside him and we repeated the ventolin regimen about every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours.  (I stopped it when he told me that it made his heart run fast!)  Once I finally got Jay settled and he wasn't panicking anymore I asked him if he could tell me if he hurt anywhere to which he replied, grasping his little chest with both hands, "My feelings hurt."  Oh my Jay!  I wanted to cry for the little man.  Clarke finally got home from work at 3:15am.  I had sat by Jay until 3 and had finally decided it would be safe to go to bed.  I told Clarke about my night and we both checked on Jay again and then I crashed until 6 when I had to get up for work.  When I went in to check on Jay he was breathing quietly and opened his eyes just for a second.  I asked him how he was and he answered better.  I could go to work then knowing that his "feelings were better".
      (I would like to add as an additional note here that I don't know how mom's can be mom's sometimes.  I don't think I would survive if I wasn't a doctor.  I never gave mom's a hard time for coming in to the ER at 2am and after this episode, I know how scary it can be with a sick little one.  I have not gone out and bought an O2 saturation monitor and I think I will survive without one but I never want to have another episode with Jay's "feelings"!)

Once there was a snowman...

Melted Snowmen!
So, about two weeks ago my friend Lynn, posted some pictures of the cutest cookies I have ever seen.  Melted snowmen.  So, for New Year's Eve entertainment, I let the boys - that would be our 3 and our friends 2 - make melted snowmen cookies.  Oh my, they were incredibly cute.  The ages of the artists are: 2,  4,  5,  7 and 9.  Here are a few samples of the artwork: 

Carson creating!

Jay showing off!

Jay was having problems getting the icing bags from the bigger boys.  Being the 'glue' lover that he is, he didn't care if he got the same stuff as the other boys as long as he could stick something on the cookies he was a happy man!  I must admit that these are the funnest cookies I have ever done with the boys and I am getting much better about letting them do things they way they want. I actually just laid the stuff out, showed them what the final product should look like, more or less, and I walked away!  This activity kept the boys entertained for about an hour,  it was great!

Christmas and Sledding

Daddy had to work Christmas day so we had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with Uncle Jason.  Santa came & brought way too much stuff.  We opened presents as a family & had breakfast together.  After Daddy left for work Mommy & Uncle Jason thought it might be fun to take the boys sledding.  We asked Jay if he wanted to go tobogan and he said no, he didn't like it.  I told him he had never been before.  Apparently he thought it was a movie and it sounded boring!  Once we got to the hill he decided he liked it and didn't want to leave.   Uncle Jason was a little more adventurous than Mommy and went way up to the top and down with all three of the boys.  He had problems moving the next day, but he did it.  The video wouldn't upload.
     Uncle Jason had to go home to feed cows on Boxing Day but he did help get the boys ready for church which was great.  The boys were actually pretty good through Sacrament & I didn't have to go out with any of them (yay, that is a first!!!).  Nursery was a dream as we only had 9 and that was with 2 visitors.  We even made it out of the church to head home in record time.   We headed home and had lunch with Daddy then he headed off to work again while the boys and I started a Lego marathon - putting together all of the Lego that Carson and Jay got from Santa while also watching movies.  When it came time to putting the boys to bed I wished we had been able to go sledding Boxing Day too!  Way too much energy and excitement in those little bodies.  Oh yeah, and way too many Skittles all over the floor!
     The boys were full of energy again this morning.  I was feeding Jay and Nathan breakfast when I heard Carson 'yelling' from upstairs.  I ran up the stairs as Clarke was trying to sleep to find Carson singing "Jingle Bells" as loud as he could.  I hushed him quickly and reminded him that Daddy was sleeping to which he replied, "That's okay, I have a good voice!"  Sadly, I think he is tone deaf like his Mommy.  Clarke woke up.  I took the boys out shopping then to try to give Clarke some more sleep time.  Can I say that we really like sales at Carlton Cards in the mall in Medicine Hat?!  This is the second year in a row now that we have been able to buy Jim Shore Christmas carvings for 75% off during Boxing Day/Week sales.  I honestly didn't think there would be anything left after Boxing Day craziness yesterday that we didn't participate in for numerous reasons.  I came home with an amazing Mickey and Winnie-the-Pooh.  They go nicely on the mantle beside Eeyore that we got last year.  There was nothing else really at the mall that fascinated us so we left and went for lunch at Jay's favorite store, Costco!  Gotta love their chicken and fries and no annoying toys to take home!
      Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our Friends and Family!  May the New Year be full of Joy and Amazing Adventures.

The Christmas Haul

I am only putting these up for those who don't get to see my boys that often...  I have friends that like to wrap up multiple presents and send to the boys (FIONA!!!) because apparently they think they 'need' more things.  Granted mommy likes to cheat and she lets Santa bring toys while mommy and daddy bring clothes and other necessities, like toothbrushes and books.  Based on how quickly Jay is growing (now in size 6 and 6X) clothes are extremely important and I think you can never have enough books!

Jay and his 'stuff'

Carson 

Nathan (almost lost in his pile)

Now, the other crazy thing is that the 'group toys' like games are in a separate pile so they got even more stuff than is pictured here.  It is important to pass on that there were at least 6 pairs of pajamas, 3 pairs of blue jeans, 4 cowboy shirts, 3 sweaters, 2 vests 4 T-shirts and 2 pairs of shoes in here as well as 3 quilts (compliments of Grandma).  It's not really as bad as it looks!

December Fun

Jay's 4th Birthday Party

Jay was excited for his party.  We cheated and had it early.  Having a birthday the week prior to Christmas is tough to work around sometimes.  We had a party at "Kidsworld" a playplace at the local bowling alley.  It was great as the kids got to run around for 2 hours on a cold winter day and they all slept beautifully that night!  Jay choose Toy Story as his theme and had fun helping me make goody bags for all the kids and could hardly wait to blow out the candles on his cake.
    I didn't post these pictures until now as today was Jay's actual birthday and I didn't want to jump the gun.  Jay was excited for all of his presents.  The Lego was the biggest hit for him and his brothers though as it is "big boy" Lego, the real stuff!  He also got a tool set that Carson and Nathan spent much of the day fighting over and here we thought he'd be disappointed as it wasn't the Transformers he asked for.

Meeting Santa

We also snuck in a visit to Santa early in the month so that the boys could get their orders in and not miss out with Mommy and Daddy going off to Las Vegas for 10 days.  It was a great trip but just added to the chaos that often surrounds December.

"Helping" in the kitchen

The boys were excited to 'help' do some Christmas baking with Mommy.  They all have aprons now as Nathan just acquired one.  Carson and Jay are a little jealous because Nathan's came with a matching chef hat.  The boys are pretty good at taking turns putting things in the bowl but not everything from the measuring cups always makes it in!  Sometimes baking with the boys is a little frustrating but they like it and it sure helps with early math skills!

One week until Christmas now and the boys are all nestled snug in their beds which is of course how I finally have some time to write a quick message!  Here's hoping that the Christmas season is warm and peaceful for those we love and care for.

The kids participated in Trunk or Treat, an activity at the church on the night prior to Halloween.  One of the members, Tracey, was taking these amazing photos of the kids for free.  Wow!  She was nice enough to send me a copy of them so I could upload them but also to make copies if I wanted.  I know I am well past the Halloween time but just had to post these.  Thanks again to Tracey!