Stairs Sometimes Bite

This past weekend was a very snowy experience for this area of the country. We got about a foot of snow...which is way more than we ever typically get. (Way more than a foot in some areas...maybe a little less in others.) We spent the weekend sledding (and just staying inside drinking coffee and watching football when it was too blizzard-y to play outside) with some of our awesome church friends, building a crazy igloo, and eating way too many snow day snack.

Towards the end of the day Sunday Billy had gone upstairs in our friend's house to put Amaryllis down for a potential nap. In classic Billy fashion, he and Amaryllis -who he was carrying- fell down the stairs. (He has a flair for falling down stairs, unfortunately for him. Usually it's in his sleep because he sleepwalks a lot, so I'll give him that.) He tried really hard not to land on her at all, but ended up landing partly on her foot/leg. We really aren't sure which it was at this point...but we think her foot since it was a little swollen late that night. She seemed ok at the time after we calmed her down...and we went ahead and put her down for a nap since nothing was visibly wrong with her foot or leg at that point.

(Amaryllis took this herself, during a break from her 

favorite activity of looking at puppies on instagram.) 

A couple hours later when she got up from her nap, I noticed she was refusing to put that foot down on the ground and wouldn't walk around on it. She spent most of the time sitting on my lap, or crying when she tried to get down and walk because she was obviously hurting. We hung out for a little bit longer, fed her some pizza, and made the trip home. We kept thinking, because she didn't seem upset unless she was trying to walk, that we would wait and let her sleep that night, and take her to a doctor in the morning if it was not any better.

We got home and I ended up deciding to go ahead and take her into the ER that night. Billy was most likely going to be working in the morning, and I figured I would just go ahead and get it checked out while I didnt have three other kids to worry about along with it. She and I went to the local pediatric ER, and since it was pretty deserted we were in and out fairly quickly. They did x-rays and said all looked fine, but because they are always concerned about damage to growth plates (I still need to do more research on that, because I really have no idea what they are and I probably should) and because it could possibly be sprained, they wanted to be cautious and have her wear a splint for a few days. They put her splint on and we went on home so we could finally get to bed.

Yesterday and so far today she has seemed mostly like herself. She's a little clingy and cranky...but that's mostly because I'm trying to keep her from walking around -which she is insisting to do...this goofy crooked walk because of her splint- and she is annoyed with me and the splint. She doesn't seem to be in any pain right now, which I'm very glad for! I think it was probably just sore/tender from the fall, and am very grateful that we aren't dealing with a break in one of those adorable , chunky baby legs. I'm also very grateful that, even though I have four wild, rabid animals for children, this was only the second time we've had to make an ER trip. Hoping we keep it that way for awhile, and that this little munchkin is soon relieved of the splint that is holding her back from her typical shenanigans.

Troublemaker

Amaryllis is a typical "fourth child". You know how you get more and more chill with each baby...the oldest gets the best of everything, including things you don't really need, and their successors get handmedowns and you stop even bothering to clean the pacifier when it falls on the floor. It's not that you love them any less, you just get busy and realize that cleaning the pacifier that fell on the floor really isn't going to keep them from ingesting every germ in sight. So you just focus on the important stuff like "did you eat actual food today"?

Another thing about being the fourth child, is that she has many older siblings to learn shenanigans from. She also has many other people to distract me, giving her the opportunity to get into said shenanigans. First thing this morning she watched me throw a leftover piece of a snickers bar in the trash. She waited until I was out of the room dealing with another sibling, and then she got it out of the trash, made herself comfy on MY pillow, and ate it right out of the wrapper. When I found her she casually handed me the wrapper as if to say, "oh, was I not supposed to have this?"

Later in the afternoon we were working on school. Or trying to at least. She spent most of the time getting up on the coffee table where the kids were working and waiting until they were distracted, and then throwing their papers off the table, stealing their pencils, or just dancing on the table to provide a little entertainment. She thinks she's really funny, as stereotypically babies of the family do, and that's probably because we DO think she's really funny. (I try to hide it, but she gets away with a lot of things simply because I can't stop laughing at her.) She definitely reminded me of why I try to do school while she is napping. 

She is a little troublemaker, for sure. But I feel like there is a lot of other people who contribute to her delinquency. One of the perks of being fourth baby, I guess, you get to blame your older siblings for teaching you all your tricks, and your mom for laughing at you. 

Bloom

Recently my mom gave us a box with a plant in it. Well, what could potentially be a plant. It was an Amaryllis flower. All I had to do what put in into the pot and water it. (You guys have no idea how terrifying this is for someone who has never been able to get plants to stay alive. Of all the plants in the world please let me be able to grow this one.) I heard rumors that these things are really sturdy, and grow in any condition, so potentially this was the plant for me. And obviously I've correctly named my youngest daughter, who is as stubborn and sturdy as her flowery namesake.

I watered it, made sure it was getting sun, all that stuff you're supposed to do for plants. It started growing, and a couple weeks later (today) the blooms finally started to open. I was SO excited. It's great to see this little bit of color in the middle of winter. I even made Amaryllis pose for a few pictures beside it. She was mostly interested in trying to poke it.

The first time I heard of an "amaryllis", was in a song by Shinedown, Billy and I's favorite band. We joked that if we ever had another baby, and it was a girl, we would definitely name her Amaryllis. I didnt realize until a little later that an Amaryllis is a flower. We also didn't think we would really end up having another baby at the time...but you know the rest of that story. I'm so glad that we were able to use that name, and grateful for the wild, stubborn goofball baby who goes by it.

One of the lines of the song goes like this: "Cuz I wanna know you, Amaryllis. Bloom." I love that song, and I love how fitting it is for the youngest member of this family. She is bright and bold and sturdy and stubborn...much like this flower. She is an unexpected bright spot in our lives, one we didn't know if we would ever see when we lost her twin sister. I'm so grateful for the chance to watch Amaryllis bloom.

Caught Up

I've typically been right on schedule with the kiddos well check-ups. I know that they aren't really always necessary...but I kinda like having someone else look at them besides me and say, "hey...they look alright to me...carry on." So we go to our regularly scheduled check-ups and get a shot or two and give a nurse or two a headache. I had recently gotten behind on check-ups, however. I went to schedule them for the three kiddos who needed them, and the office had implemented a new policy where you can only schedule two kids for checkups consecutively. It's like they knew I was coming.

Billy used his skills of persuasion (read: he is WAY nicer than me to people on the telephone and somehow always manages to talk them into stuff that I can't) on them, though, and they let us bring them all in at the same time one last time. One final attempt to see if their doctor ever manages to get rattled by screaming children. He does not...he is the most patient man I have ever met and somehow still manages to crack jokes while an 18 month old is smacking him in the face. I probably would have switched offices by now for various reasons if this guy wasn't just that awesome.

We managed to survive the hour and a half trip with no casualties...just lots of bandaids. The kids are all healthy and growing and successfully wiped out the office stash of lollipops. And I'm just really grateful we don't have any more well checkups until July.

My Biggest Baby Turns 4

 This big ol' baby just had his 4th birthday. It's always hard to believe how fast your kids grow...and this birthday for some reason was even crazier to me. They always say the days are long and the years are short, and the last four years have definitely been particularly short. (But oh the days...definitely some long days in there.)

This guy, as many people know, has always been a "big guy". People are continually surprised when I tell them he's only 4 years old. He may be a big guy, but he's still a baby in so many ways. He hates to sleep without a night light, he has to have his bedtime snuggles, he still calls me "lovie" instead of mom, he still needs a nap every single day or he will just fall asleep wherever he happens to be.

He is also notorious for being a "grumpy cat". He has had those grumpy eyebrows since he was in the hospital as a newborn, and he knows how to use them. But despite those grumpy eyebrows, he has such a big heart. He's the first to tell me, out of the blue, "I love you, lovie." He loves to snuggle. He loves to play with his little sister, and the two of them can often be found in her room, with him showing her how all of her little toys work.

I am so proud of this big little guy. I love watching him grow. I love everything from his big brown eyes to his adorable dimple. He stole my heart, all 9.2 pounds that he was, when I first heard the nurses say, before I even saw him, "he's a big baby!" I'm so proud to be his mama, and as much as I wish time would slow down, I love watching him grow. Happy 4th birthday, J Baby!