Farewell, Three.

Here is perhaps the most pathetic picture I could ever post of my little guy...immediately post-anesthesia for the kernel removal. He did great, it was fast and easy (once we got to the right place), and everything is good now...

And I must post the final bit of media we have of Liam as a three-year-old. Here he says his full name:

Did you catch that? Liam Alexander Milo Bass. Yes, the child has four names, and no, he still can't pronounce one of them. But he's darn cute trying, no?

Tomorrow, my first son turns four years old. 

May.

Time flies...we've had birthdays, school beginnings, school pauses, babies born, kids busy with school, speech development exploding, grandparents buying house, and popcorn kernel embedded in an ear...all in four months. Wow.

January - visits from both sides of grandparents
February - birthdays! Grandma P, Oliver (TWO!) and I all celebrated; my parents bought a lovely house in NE Mesa...
March - lots of births
April - Clara turned nine
May - Liam put a popcorn kernel in his ear, setting off the most ridiculous chain of doctor visits I could ever imagine!

Wednesday night at dinner, Liam told us he put popcorn in his ear. Skeptical, I peeked...and sure enough, could see the thing nice and deep in his ear canal. Thursday morning, we went to Urgent Care where they tried unsuccessfully to remove it...so we went to the ER. Why the big guns? Because I figured the ER had access to an ENT, since every specialty is on call there...and it's a CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, so they would be used to such a thing, right? Well the ER doc took a peek, said it was beyond what he could do, and called in an ENT consult. Well the "consult" was a "call the office and make an appointment." That's what we got after 2.5 hours in the ER. Grrrrr. So I called the ENT - they were closed at lunch for the next hour. Waited, called - they didn't take our insurance. Got another name, made a few more calls, was finally told the PCP had to make the referral. Great. Called our (non-existent, but on the books) PCP and took Liam there on Friday. They tried again (unsuccessfully) to remove the offending object, and finally referred us on to the ENT I knew we needed two days prior. Drove actross town to the ENT, where the peeked, and said he'd need sedation in the OR to remove it - OK, I knew that by now. However, just to get there took another visit to another ENT, and another visit to the PCP for a "pre-op physical." I am SO fed up with the medical system right now - and we still have a popcorn kernel wedged in our almost-four-year-old's ear, a full week (and six doctor visits) later. Tomorrow he goes in for the removal.

More to come.

11:11 1-1-11

I saw a post on Facebook about marking a moment in time...so here are the four kids, captured in action at 11:11 am on the morning of January 1, 2011...in other words, at 11:11 of 1-1-11

Clara (eight years + nine months) and Evelyn (seven years + eight days):

Liam (three years + seven and a half months) and Oliver (twenty-two months):

Hazards of active little boys...

Broken windows!

Dan discovered the one in our bedroom earlier today, and then just this evening, Liam came running to tell us the one in Oliver/Elfie's room was broken...turns out, he was climbing on the sill, trying to open it (ack), and obviously pushed too much with his foot. While we can hold off on replacing our bedroom window, this one is at the front of the house, and with little kids involved, it will be a priority. Sigh. It's always something, huh? I'm hoping the bright side will mean a much better window (these are original 70s single-paned beauties).

First tooth!

Elfie just came in from school holding this envelope:

And looking like this!

First teeth in were those two bottom, middle ones at six months + one day of age...

First tooth lost at seven years + two weeks old!

December!

Where did the time go? My apologies to my faithful readers for the major delay (again). I once again blame Facebook, my daily addiction  time-waster diary!, for taking all the spark out of blogging...so the quick round-up from the month so far is:

four births (one still to come): 2 girls, 2 boys (+ girl on deck)

Clara still enjoys chess club - in fact, she placed second in their end-of-semester tournament; Elfie has been doing dance and as far as we can tell, likes it...she's not so verbal about her activities.

Both girls are still enjoying Girl Scouts...they went to a campfire last week and did their first "swaps." The girls helped make felt pins for the event...

Clara traded a bunch of hers; Elfie saved hers (par for the course...she saves everything!).

We visited with the Grinch:

And went to a holiday party at Liam's preschool.

The kids did crafts,

and played in Liam's classroom,

...then paid a little visit to the guy in red:

(this one pretty much sums up what Oliver thought of Santa)

Maybe with the big kids?

Yeah right, think again, lady:

So what did the big kids tell Santa?

Liam wants a firetruck;

Elfie wants stuffed animals;

and Clara wants an 18" doll (think: American Girls).

Clara, the Candy Cane Reindeer :)

Today, Clara helped me finish my "hot cocoa on a stick" project...we added Whole Foods natural peppermint marshmallows and sprinkles for fun.

The "cocoa" is sinfully delicious - rather like fudge - and we haven't even tried it in milk yet...as-is was just too good!

Finally, Dan and I actually went OUT - like, without kids! - not just once, but TWO TIMES this month! The first, we met with the wife of my very first boyfriend (not nearly as strange as it might sound). They live in Houston, but she was in town for work, so we met at Tarbell's in Phoenix for a lovely dinner. The second event was the graduation celebration of another friend...we spent most of our time chatting and catching up with another couple with four kids, who attended the girls' old school. Look, I actually have photographic evidence of being OUT!

I'll be back soon-ish with more from the holidays! Hope you are all healthy and happy <3

A parade in November...seriously?

Another little perk to suffering through the inferno that is our summer: parades! In November - when much of the US is trying to stay inside - we flaunt our weather by shutting down streets and sending floats, marching bands, and groups of little kids down the middle of them to celebrate Veteran's Day.

The girls, newly enrolled in the Girl Scouts (Brownies for Clara, Daisies for Elfie), were in the parade this year, so the boys and mama camped out on the sidewalk enjoying the show.

Free flags for all:

Gratuitous palm-tree shot for the cold-weather dwellers:

Some snuggles as we waited for sisters to come by:

The troop float:

They saw us!

The downside? Candy-throwing must be no longer allowed, which really takes a lot of the fun out of spectating...a few parade folk passed out goodies, but not a single item was chucked at our unsuspecting heads.

Three Rs for Xmas

There really are advantages to having four kids so close in age...like being able to use the same holiday pajamas multiple times! I have this thing against tight-fitting and/or chemically-treated nightwear for my kiddos - which in this country means it's nearly impossible to find PJs. Once upon a time, Hanna Anderson sold "long johns" that were not only of high quality, but loose and comfortable...until the company was bought out and switched to the "don't let your kid catch fire" style. Well sneaky me...I bought Christmas stripey Hannas for the kids through the years, adding slowly to the collection thanks to ebay and thebabywearer.com sellers...low and behold, when the cold-weather bins were brought down this year, I discovered my collection included matchy stripes for all four beauties!

 

 

(next task: getting one good picture of all four kids...)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?

We like to get the most out of our once-a-year clothing! Three outfits in particular have had more than their "money's worth" with our gang.

First we have the Gymboree skeleton sweat suit: one costume, seven years, five Halloweens, four kids!

Clara at 1.5
(2003)

Clara at 2.5

(2004)

Elfie at 1.5

(2005)

 Liam at 2.5
(2009)

Oliver at 1.5
(2010)

(and it will fit him again next year, so don't be surprised by a repeat performance...)

Then there's the Gymboree pirate outfit, currently on its third year of use, all by Liam. We're hoping it survives one more night so Oliver can use it next year...

2008

2009

2010

(definitely Liam's last year in this one)

And finally, those overalls...

2008

2009

2010

(and you'll see them again next year, no worries!)