A Mother's Nightmare

Once again, we spent our Saturday evening in the hospital. I sat there feeling so awful, wishing I could take away my little boy's pain; beating myself up thinking I could have prevented this. Am I really that bad of a mother that my children are in the hospital every other month? Gordon HATES hospitals ever since last December when he had to go in for dehydration and we had to pin him to the bed to get an IV in him (it took 4 tries because his veins kept collapsing). He was so scared and I just wanted to take him in my arms and make it all go away with the power of my hug.
What happened this time, you ask. We were finishing a wonderful day at the local swimming pool, I had just wrapped Gordon tight in his towel to keep him warm; he took two steps and fell flat on his face, with no arms to catch his fall. There was a lot of blood and tears but over all not a big deal. We stuffed some tissue up is nose and in his mouth and started to head for home. And then the nightmare began. This was our conversation in the car ride:
Gordon: What happened?
Me: You fell down.
G: Where?
M: At the swimming pool, remember?
A few seconds pass
G: What happened?
M: You fell and hurt your nose.
G: Where?
M: At the swimming pool. Do you remember swimming?
G: Yes. (Few seconds.) What happened?
M: (I'm really starting to freak out now, too many medical dramas on TV pop into my head) Honey you fell down. Where did you fall down? Do you remember?
G: Where? Tell me.
This went on and on for about 5 minutes. Then we told him he was going to the hospital and he started crying. After a few minutes he asked where we were going. Again, to the hospital. Crying.
Long story short. A lot of waiting at the hospital to find out, after the Cat Scan, everything was fine. Just a concussion. Phew!!

The Wind Caves

The Tatton family decided yesterday to take advantage of all this time we have with daddy right now. We went on a hike to the Wind Caves. Yes, we took Gordon AND Edison. Gordon did such a good job. It took us about 2 hours to hike up and only 1 hour to hike down. The hike is 1.8 miles one way. To say the least it was much easier for Gordon on the way down. I kept asking him if he wanted to take a break and rest seeing as how we took one every two minutes on the way up. He kept telling me, "No, we have to get home." I have to say, the hike down was much harder on me. I felt like me knees and hips were going to pop out. I am not supposed to feel like that yet!

About half way down Chris rolled his ankle and said a few choice words. It really scared Gordon and he kept saying he didn't want daddy to die like daddy's grandma did. (We went to a funeral on Saturday for Chris's maternal grandmother.) He was really quite distraught about it even after Chris got up and started walking. He has such a tender heart!

I am really quite amazed at how well Gordon did. Edison did good too but all he had to do was sit in a front carrier the whole way. It was a fun but exhausting day!

Power to the Little Guy

I may be behind everyone else but I am just starting to love Etsy. Not everything. But there are some pretty cool things out there. This last Christmas, Chris and I went way too overboard for our kids and we realized, they don't care! It was such a waste. A few presents would have satisfied them just fine. I told Chris this year for Christmas we are doing ONE gift from Santa (store bought) and all the others will be handmade. I am making Gordon a rag quilt, Edison a quiet book, and I haven't thought of anything for Chris yet. But I am working on it. Then I saw these on Etsy and I thought they were so amazing. I think instead of making Chris' gift I will find something handmade on this wonderful website that gives anyone a chance to be a small business owner. How cool is that?! My friend also had a good idea for Christmas: "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read." I know, I know... why am I thinking about Christmas in May?

Memories, Sweet Memories

I have been wanting to post this for awhile now but I keep forgetting. My good friend and college roommate for two years made a list of fun things we did so we could always remember the good times had. This was my second year at BYU-Idaho with roommates Kyla, Courtnie, Weezie, Noss, and Lindsay (wasn't that her name? She was engaged so we hardly ever saw her. And she was much too mature to participate in our ridiculousness.)

• John threw a big ball at Emily while she was eating a cookie so she choked on it
• Playing blind and not realizing people were watching us at our window...for several minutes, while we "watched" TV and had a blind dance party
• Noss standing on the couch and Kyla going to pick her up but then Noss fell on her and as Kyla was yelling Noss' belly muted her and instead made a zerbet/zerbert/raspberry sound
• Emily was trying to get her cookies down and they fell all over the counter then the floor and she was pretending to have a break down but then ended up really crying and went to the back leaving all the rest of us speechless...sort of.
• The blackout of 2004 when we all screamed as soon as the lights went out then stopped when they came on and then started when they went out again.
• Naming the fire works and then teaching them to roommates...
• Throwing the hard boiled eggs off the balcony trying to make it to the dumpster
• Throwing the math textbook off the balcony and trying to make it into Kyla's laundry basket
• The Ballympics- Seth's Seal, Martin's balancing on all fours, John's flying out the door
• Catching the ball with: two fingers, Tarzan hands, elbows, heads--Clark rolling the ball up Noss' body with his head
• Courtnie's 80's birthday party with Scott dancing to "867-5309" and pulling toilet paper out of his pockets that had a birthday message on it
• Weezie's "2 2" birthday party with the boys doing things of "2" like Austin spinning 22 times around a bat
• The "bad weekend" without the Pirate flag when all went wrong: couples breaking up and some couples on the verge of breaking up
• Noss and Courtnie's 16 hour date
• Having our couches flipped three times by different people and us taking pictures of it because we were so excited
• The prank war that never really happened because we took out all their lightbulbs and they didn't do anything back.
• Adam- inviting himself to things, staying past curfew, knocking that horrible loud rapid knock, hiding in the back sometimes when he'd knock. Kyla dumping him and him not coming back til the day before we left and then getting him to dance behind Weezie while whe sang like William Hung to "She Bangs"
• Eating sardines with Seth
• Playing steamroller lat one night and making it a difficult obstacle course by bouncing up and down for the next roller.
• Odd Talent Show for FHE
• Paper bag game showdown between Courtnie, Weezie, and Shaun
• The Stinky-but-delicious Pot Roast which made our apartment smell like urine/vomit/diarrhea all day but tasted so good when we ate it
• Singing goodnight with the guitar over the phone to boys in our ward
• Making farting/burping noises over the phone to boys in our ward
• Xandadu- nothing more needs to be said about this one
• Michael Jackson- learning "Thriller", watching "The Way You Make Me Feel" and concentrating on the beginning whe he yells "Hey!"; "You were scared" "Nah, I'm enjoying

• Kyla kissing the Chief of Police at McDonald’s…twice because the first picture didn’t take
• Going to Outback to get just cheesy fries as our meal
• Fat girl flipping us off on our way to DairyQueen
• Cupcake race to see who could make it the fastest also competing for accuracy, style and teamwork
• The Brownie race that started the cupcake race
• Michael Jackson- learning “Thriller”, watching “The Way You Make Me Feel” and concentrating on the beginning when he yells “HEY!”; “You were scared.” “Nah, I’m enjoyin this”
• Keyboard songs that we thought were so awesome and actually pretty good until we realized it was mostly because it was late at night
• “Johnny Snotty” being somewhat of our apartment’s theme song
• Tara’s birthday party that Emily and Kyla left early because Emily was pooping her pants, literally…just kidding…sort of
• Going to Salt Lake City to see Kyla’s family and finally meeting Mikey
• Noss hitting Sister Parkinson with the newspaper during the states game
• Our Quote Book
• Halloween cassette tape, primarily the select sounds of the man’s dying breaths and the scream that was in spurts
• Going out to eat sometimes just to get free napkins, lots of them
• The Monday Holidays: ugly shirt day, lobster day, middle name day, monotone day
• The psycho guys at the library that freaked Kyla and Emily out because they ‘hacked’ onto the computer and they didn’t know they were right next to them
• Weezie’s new hairstyle for Relief Society
• Making new bangs for ourselves like Noss’ 80s bangs and Courtnie’s asian bangs etc.
• Singing hymns loudly like men and then the neighbors below calling us
• The girls in 214 calling and pounding on the ceiling to get us to be quiet, especially Courtnie, the loud one
• Kara putting on chapstick

• Max’s proposal with the mix of Peruvian-Irish accents

Everytime I read this list I just crack up laughing so hard. I understand that obviously it won't mean that much to you but if there is a story you are just dieing to hear, let me know.

These are a few of my favorite things

Gordon loves to play "house." He is the dad and someone is always the baby. Poor Terin has learned not to fight it and just accept his role. Gordon also loves to play Tiger! He likes to crawl around and growl at me and I have to run and be very afraid of the big mean Tiger.
Of course sometimes the roles are reversed and I have to be the Tiger chasing him. We got a new bed for Gordon a few months ago and he loves to jump on it and jump OFF it onto his bean bag. After that got old he wanted to start jumping of his dresser. I told him that wasn't a good idea and he said, "but mom, it's so exciged."
He also loves to shoot things and since we don't have any guns he uses his fingers. This is his gun.
He also makes a little "pikchoo" noise and closes his eyes. It is pretty darn cute as long as he doesn't point it at me or Edison or anyone else for that matter!
Gordon is also very emotional lately. He is so dramatic; everything is like the world is coming to an end. I am trying to teach him to talk about it when he is upset or sad but we're still working on it.
Gordon loves to answer the phone and talk to anyone who will listen. Sometimes I don't hear the phone ring and then he will come in the room talking to someone. Silly kid! And last but not least, Gordon LOVES to play with my camera and take pictures. Here are a few of his best.

So That's Why You Haven't Been Blogging...

I have been reading a lot lately and right now I am loving Shannon Hale. I have read Princess Academy and Book of a Thousand Days in just three days. They are books for young adults and

are revamped fairy tales. Easy reads but so entertaining. Next I am moving on to The Goose Girl series. She also has a book called Austenland for adults and is coming out with another one in the summer. Anyway, I am always looking for new books to read so I thought I would pass the info along. If you haven't read them get to your library NOW.

Kids Say the Darndest Things Part: 3

I realize I haven't added to this list since January. I'll try to get back on that!

1/2/09 - I was making Gordon's bed and asked him to come help me to which he replied, "I'm busy mom." When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I'm just busy."

12/9/08 - When Gordon got the hiccups he said, "I've got the hiccups and the burp-ups."

12/1/08 - While sitting at the table during Thanksgiving dinner Gordon giggled and said, "I just burped in my pants."

12/1/08 - Chris and his brothers went shooting clay pigeons and took Gordon and some of his cousins with them. After all the little kids shot the pistol once, they were done. Not Gordon. He told Chris, "I don't want to shoot the small one (pointing to the pistol) I want to shoot the big ones (the shotguns)."

11/20/08 - Gordon and I were playing with blocks and he asked me to build a bus. After I stacked some blocks together he said, "Good job mom, I'm going to get you a cookie!" Of course he wanted one too.

11/2/08 - Today Gordon was asking where Daddy and Edison were. After I informed him that Daddy took Edison home from church because he was sick, Gordon responded in the mother tone- "Oh, poor little boy."

10/24/08 - Gordon's new favorite word is "You're Welcome." I'll say, "Good job going potty" and he'll say, "You're welcome!"

10/3/08 - Gordon asks me everyday, "what we doin' ta-ay" and I always ask him what he wants to do and he lists off things like they are chores: "play games, ride bikes, play with friends..." And he loves to make grocery lists with me. He has to write his own list too. He always writes broccoli, eggs, and milk. The necessities!

9/26/08 - Whenever I say anything like "okay Hosea" "you're the boss" or "understand rubberband" Gordon will say, "I'm not Hosea, boss, rubberband" or whatever it happens to be and lately he has been saying "okay RUBBERBAND" with such attitude. But my personal favorite is when he whines at me, "Mommy!" and I respond with "What-y" he'll say, "I'm not Woody! Edison is Woody, Daddy's Stinky Pete, you're Jesse, and I'm BUZZ!"

Just another rationalization

Another reason I might be more irritable is this darn weather! A few weeks ago it was Spring! We would play outside every day and have so much fun. Now, I wake up in the morning to snow. It is just plain old depressing.

We have a great set up here. A couple of my neighbors and I set up chairs at the end of the parking lot and chat while the kids ride around for hours. Lately, we have taken up some long boarding (its pretty good exercise ya know.) I guess Edison thought it looked pretty fun! He catches on pretty quick; this is only his second time trying this...

Reflections

I was remembering back to the time when Edison was first born and thinking that it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, having two kids. Edison slept a lot; I could still have some time to myself; Gordon was excited about having a little brother and life was great. I have now come to the realization that it is not so easy. I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants. (Is that the right expression?) I feel like I am just living, just taking each moment and dealing with it. There is no plan, there is no progression, there is no peace. In fact sometimes I feel like I am going backwards. I am more scatter-brained, more tired, more lazy, more impatient... shouldn't I be getting better at this, not worse? I find myself getting irritated more frequently and instead of blaming it on Gordon's whininess, Edison's neediness, or Chris's bussiness, I need to change my attitude. This is my life; just love it! Easier said than done sometimes.

Zuppa Toscana Soup

As a Relief Society we had a party catered by Olive Garden and some ladies wanted the Zuppa Toscana Soup recipe I have so here it is.

1 (16 oz.) package sausage
2 Large potatoes cute in 1/4 inch slices
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups kale - washed, dried, shredded
2 Tablespoons chicken bullion powder
1 quart water
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Approx. 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (only do 1/2 tsp. for not too spicy)

Cook sausage. Place onions in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic to onion, cook an additional minute. Add chicken bullion, water, potatoes; simmer for 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale, cream. Simmer for 4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!