lost tooth

I had just come back from my road trip. The next morning at breakfast, I noticed Finn had his first loose tooth. It was all wiggly.

I have often pondered the mystery of how the Lord created us--teeth popping in and falling out. Then popping in and falling out again. Strange creatures we are.

At lunch I made the boys a sandwich. I noticed that Finn looked a bit glum and that his eyes were red and teary looking.

"What's wrong Finn?", I asked.

"I don't know", he replied in a squeaky voice, ready to cry.

That's when I noticed that his bottom tooth was gone. GONE, people!

I was shocked that it came out so soon and quickly started to comb the area for his itty bitty tooth.

But there was no tooth to be found. Not in his sandwich. Not in his mouth. Not on his plate. Not on the floor. Not on the couch. Not under the couch. Not in the house. Not in a mouse. NO WHERE.

I started to panic. What if he swallowed it? I tried to keep calm in front of the children.

I quickly called my sister on the phone. "Jess, I think Finn swallowed his tooth. Is he gonna be ok? Do I need to call the doctor? Do I need an ambulance?"(ok, j/k about the ambulance).

Now, unlike me, my sister is very level-headed. "Um, I don't think anyone calls the doctor for swallowing a tooth...it says here on the internet that hundreds of kids swallow their teeth and they are all fine..."she went on.

So I got off the phone and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Um, that would be false.

I quickly dialed our pediatrician, hoping they would tell me to take a chill pill. In fact, I was fully expecting them to laugh at me and tell me everything was ok.

Um, false again.

"Oh NO!", the nurse exclaimed. "Do you want to bring him in for an x-ray?"

"Are you kidding me? Is that standard protocol for swallowing a tooth?" I asked, completely flabbergasted.

"Well, I'm not sure about a tooth" she answered, "but that is what we do when they swallow a penny, to make sure they did not inhale it into their lungs..."

Me again, "Are you kidding me? They can inhale it? Well, I think an x-ray is complete overkill", I declared. Because I have an M.D. and all.

The nurse then said, "well, as long as he is breathing ok...try to find the tooth in his poop..."

And one more "Are you kidding me?" thrown in for good measure.

I hung up the phone, a bit traumatized from our first tooth catastrophe.

I guess that's what you get for calling the doctor for a swallowed tooth.

Should I just forget about it like my sis said? Or do I check the potty for a tooth?

Decisions. Decisions. Being a mom sure is fun. Weee!

That night, John and I discussed what to do. He thought I should MOVE ON. And not check the potty. I was not 100% sure yet, so I told Finn not to flush. Ew, I know.

The next morning, I woke up and found Calvin playing in the living room. But no Finn. Hm, this was odd.

I scoured the house and found Finn moping in his bed, close to tears.

Oh no! My first thought: He fell ill from inhaling his tooth.

"What's wrong, Finn", I asked.

But he would not tell me.

Finally, he managed to choke out "Calvin did something he was not supposed to"... sniff, sniff, ... "he flushed the toilet this morning"... his little voice rose about 8 octaves.

So, it seems, my decision was made for me. I would most certainly NOT be checking the toilet after all. Phew.

I would just have to assume that Finn's first tooth took a sad little journey to the ocean via the porcelain express.

"Oh, it's ok honey", I consoled. "We will just make a tooth out of play-dough like Miss Gretchen suggested, and leave that one for the tooth fairy".

"I was not worried about that", Finn stated. "I was worried that the tooth was gonna break the toilet".

Ah, the things kids worry about. Bless his heart.

The next night, I made a die-cast of Finn's exact dental imprint and crafted the exact replica of Finn's tooth, so as not to dissuade the tooth fairy. I hear the tooth fairy is cracking down in this recession.

And Finn left a note, explaining his predicament.

The tooth fairy was satisfied with Finn's plea and accepted his legal documentation. And she left Finn $5. Not bad in this economy.

Finn declared this day to be a "big boy day".

And he is mighty proud.

i need a nap

Ah-yee{Ollie} here, taking over the blog, since my mama has been a slacker all week.

When mommy last posted on monday, things were still going ok. I took 2 naps that day.

Then tuesday hit. We all took Finny to school and I cried in the car. Then we dropped him off and I cried the whole way home. My mommy had no idea why I was crying.

When we got back home, mommy decided to put me to nap a little early. I sat in my big boy bed and just kicked the wall for a little while. I finally fell asleep. Then something terrible happened.

My mommy came into my room and WOKE ME UP. Doesn't she know you are NEVER supposed to wake a sleeping baby???? Well, I showed her. I curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out.

I cried in the car to get Finny.

Finny was very excited about his kindergarten class. He thinks it's so much fun. What-ev.

In the car, Finny was eating his noly bars{granola bars} and decided to share one with me and GeGe. Well, GeGe did not want to share with me and so he threw a HUGE fit. Mommy could not calm him down and he would not stop screaming, so mommy took away his noly bar.

When we got home mommy put me in the high chair and gave me a different noly bar that I did not like, so I pushed it away and starting screaming. She gave me some of my new organic milk and I kept screaming. GeGe was also screaming because mommy put him in bed for throwing a fit. Since Gege and I were screaming, Tweetle decided to join in.

3 screaming boys.

Poor mommy.

She almost started crying too. It was very, very bad.

Only Finny was happy.

Mommy decided to try to put me down for another nap, like she did on monday.

Well, I was not going to fall for that trick.

So I screamed and cried.

Mommy finally came in to see what my racket was all about. She found me on the floor, half-way under my changing table/dresser.

She felt sorry for me and picked me up and held me for a while. I was cranky for the rest of the day and cried over every little thing because I was so tired and confused.

We all went for a walk later on and I could not stop yawning.

My mommy was pretty frantic and when Grandma Betty called, mommy told her the whole story about me being a "big meh" {big mess}. Grandma decided to pick Finny up the next day and the next day, so I could have my big nap.

I love my Grandma Betty for letting me nap.

Look how happy I am to have a nap.

Grandma Del told mommy that she needed to find someone to watch us "littles" while mommy picked up Finny, just so I could nap. I must be very special.

Mommy loves my mousy little cheese smiles.

Some of the other mommies might help pick Finn up. Mommy is still ironing out the details of this whole kindergarten thing and is still recovering from the shock of our new schedule.

She just isn't thinking straight. Yesterday mommy was supposed to go the Parent's Club at 7:45 AM but she thought it was PM and so she missed the meeting. Silly mommy.

She said she is already flunking out of kindergarten.

But as long as I get my naps, that's all mommy really cares about for now!

So, even though it was Finny's BIG week of kindergarten, my mommy thinks this week was more about me.

But that's ok. See? My mommy still loves me.

formal education.

And thus beggineth our years of formal education.

Finn and I are going to kindergarten. Well, technically Finn is going to kindergarten, and I'm just along for the ride. But when he's in school, I feel like I'm in school.

So, we had some shopping to do.

We needed to get Finn some more shorts, and everywhere we went, they were out of his size. It was quite frustrating and I had to keep reminding myself "this is kindergarten, not a fashion show. Kindergarten, not a fashion show."

In desperation, I dragged him to Kohl's. Nothing against the place, it's just not normally where we shop.

Little old ladies were milling about, laughing and talking. Smiling happily at me, Finn and Twain. They make me feel so much better about everything:)

As I am digging through racks and racks of Tony Hawk clothes, Finn is silent. We pass by some McQueen swim trunks and Finn perks up. They did not have his size. Thankfully.

And then Finn spies something out of the corner of his eye.

"What are those things mommy?"

Oh, he knew full well what those things were.

They were backpacks. McQueen backpacks. Big, huge, plastic, obnoxious, 12 dollar backpacks.

I kind of gulped. Then remembered what I wrote here, about kids getting to pick out their own backpacks. This was it. It was really happening to me. I took a deep breath,

"Do you want that McQueen backpack, honey?"

Finn kind of stammered and looked away, all sheepish.

"You can have it, if you want it", I offered.

"Um, uh...no, I don't want that backpack. I already have one...besides it would just make Calvin want one..." Finn muttered wistfully.

And I knew, right then, that I wanted to surprise Finn with a backpack the first day of school.

But not that backpack. I ordered a plain black backpack online, along with a cute McQueen patch from ebay and sewed it onto the backpack. I also ordered a Mater patch for Calvin and sewed it onto Finn's old backpack.

It was the perfect compromise-- Finn still got his "character" backpack, but it was still neutral enough to go with his clothes. And Calvin got to recycle Finn's old pack.

I was so excited. I could not wait to give these backpacks to the boys, the night before school.

In the meanwhile, I had a few bucks left in my "health and beauty" envelope, so I bought some new make-up for our first day of school.

I'm loving that shade of purple/pink nail polish. As are my boys. They love staring at my brightly painted toes. Even little Ollie says "oh-ohhhh" when he sees them, and tries to pull my toes off.

Last friday, Finn and I (along with 120 other people) got to meet the kindergarten teachers.

It was hectic.

It was chaotic.

It was hot.

Nobody was really smiling.

Not a lot of people were mingling.

But Finn's teacher. Mr. M, was awesome and I was thankful for that.

I went home beat.

The night before school, I got out the backpacks and gave them to the boys. They were quite ecstatic and started running around the house filling them up with loot.

Finn said "You got me this backpack because you knew I wanted one when we went shopping for clothes". I could not believe he remembered our Kohl's shopping trip. It was over a month ago.

Here is my little-big-boy-darling the first day of escuela.

And in case you can't tell, here he is wearing his happy face.

What can I say? My kid is just exuberant.

John's mom watched the "littles" while I carted Finn off to school.

On the way over, I almost cried.

I escorted him to the cafeteria, where he sat by little Jordan. Such pip-squeaks.

I was very busy talking to all the kids and made friends with a little boy named Harry. He wanted me to open his Sponge-Bob fruit snacks and I happily obliged.

I talked to some moms and about this-that-and-the-other. Everyone seemed much more friendly and talkative today.

Soon enough, they lined up our kiddos. It was time to go to class. Moms were taking pictures right and left.

Hm. I have no words for this picture...

Here is Finny's new teacher Mr. M. He sang them a cute little song, with sign language,

"Good morning, good morning, good morning to you"

They played some Simon says,

And after roll call, Mr. M instructed all the kids to turn around and wave goodbye to their parents. I desperately tried to get Finn's attention and was waving wildly. Our eyes met and then I had to leave.

It felt odd. Our home felt empty. And very quiet. I was very excited at the prospect of seeing his shiny little face again.

When I returned to get him 3 hours later, the first thing Finn said was "I had so so so so fun today".

He's an eager little beaver, that's for sure. He can't wait to go back tomorrow.

And this kindergarten thing?

It's wreaking HAVOC on our nap schedule. Ollie napped for 1.5 hours and then I had to wake him up to get Finn. Thankfully, I was able to get him back down for another nap after we got home, because he was Mr. grumpy pants.

And Calvin crashed on the floor right before dinner.

Big adjustment for our humble little home. We are doing well though. Just taking this school thing one year at a time!

Tweetle @ 3.5 months

Wow! What a difference a month makes. Last time I updated, Twain was waking up every 2 to 3 hours to eat at night. Thankfully, he now goes to bed around 8 or 9pm and only wakes up once or twice during the middle of the night.

I can no longer blame my scatter-brain on sleep deprivation. I actually feel part human again. It's nice to join you all again.

Twain, at 3.5 months:

You have rejected your cute orange binkies, in favor of your fingies. You make quite the ruckus sucking on them. As long as we are not in church, I am ok with all the slurping racket.

Speaking of fingers, you have squishy little hands with the cutest little dimples. I could eat them right up, so I don't blame you for trying to eat them too.

You love to view the world around you and so you don't really like to lay down. You would much rather sit in your exersaucer--which is bright yellow, red and blue--so it is not worthy of photo documentation {Why can't they make baby equipment in neutral colors like tan or grey?? I guess that would not be very stimulating for the baby...but who cares! Fashion over function!}.

You absolutely LOVE to stand while I hold you up. You always dig your tiny toesies into my legs. You have the funniest posture. You look like a little bull dog. You are around 14 pounds and last appointment you were 50th percentile height and 75th percentile weight. Such a big boy!

Your greatest form of entertainment is gazing at your mama, daddy and brothers' faces.

You are a morning person and start your day by coo-ing, squealing and talking. You are my first baby that likes to talk a lot. It is a huge treat for me to hear you serenade me each morning. And even though I am NOT a morning person, there is nothing more in this world that I would rather wake up to.

You LOVE to be held...pretty much all the time. And for a 4th child, you sure make out like a bandit.

You are a fuss-bucket during the day, unless we are on the go. So I run A LOT of errands with you, especially at Target. You sit quietly in your stroller and play with your hands and think.

As for me, 3.5 months into this "4 kid" thing:

I love having 4 kids. It's chaotic, but fun. I am happy.{John took the following photos of me}

I am still not eating sweets. I have lost count of the weeks. I am no longer counting. I guess it's now a habit. Although I will eat any fun little treat that has honey instead of sugar. And I read that raw maple syrup is very healthy too, though very costly!

I am still doing my prenatal pilates, though I think I am ready to step it up a notch.

I would like to run every day, but am going to "cross-train"(as John calls it) with roller blading because my knees were getting a little swollen pounding the pavement every day. Kind of a bummer.

I am still not ready to jump back into my little side-business of embroidering tees and blankets. I am just content "to be" mama these days.

Though I think there is nothing funner than making Twain little onesies. And what baby wouldn't want to wear a onesie with a sweater-clad wiener dog? Someone sure had a sense of humor when they bred that kind of pup.

I think I love my job as a stay-at-home mom, more and more every day if that is possible.

Twain, I love you! These months are precious to me. Try to stay small-ish!

When Mommy's Away

When mommy's away the boys do play. Finn and Daddy are taking over the blog. And this is the first posting for both of us, so Mommy can fix the formatting later.

Mommy took baby Twain and Miss Lorie on a road trip this weekend to visit Miss Ellie and left the rest of the boys behind. Of course we've had lots of fun and we've kept the house reasonably clean. Daddy even managed to get a few projects done.

Daddy worked on the shed roof and he fixed the screen door (and I took the pictures).

Yesterday we took our biggest bike ride yet to the far park. We were just a little bit late getting back for Finn's drum lessons (Mr. Canaan was waiting at the door).

We've been helping daddy cook. We had tacos last night (we know you don't like them so much, so we had them without you) and waffles today.

Last night was movie night and we watched Bolt while we ate popcorn (and milkshakes).

Calvin and I have been doing lots of chores around the house and it's almost time for a payday.

We'll probably go to the recycler later today to get some more money and then go to Target to blow it all on new Cars toys.

Don't worry about Ollie, he's having a good time.

By the way, we got some mail that you'll probably want to open. I wanted to see if it was for me, but Daddy said I had to wait until you got home.

We all love you and miss you (and no, Daddy didn't comb our hair or make us change our shirts).

Finn and Daddy (and Calvin and Ollie).