Pants Down Races

Last Thursday, Jason told me a really funny story about the boys so I told him to write it down so I could put it on the blog. So here it is, as told by Jason:

I was in the kitchen making dinner and I could hear the boys running around upstairs and having a good time. After I was done, I went up stairs to see what all the noise was about. Here what I was told:

Jason: "What are you guys doing up here?"
Aidan: "We're having pants down races."

Without wanting to know too much, here's the explaination of a "pants down race." You pull your pants down to your ankles and then race to a stuffed animal.  I didn't ask but I'm hoping at that point the race is over and you pull your pants back up until the next race. Leo was cracking up hysterically playing pants down races.

Now pants down races has become a family game. Just kidding!!

So for those of you checking in, Leo is doing fantastic after his surgery. He is eating, sleeping and behaving as usual. He is in such great spirits. We have to remind him that he can't run, jump, or play too hard. We are still resting a lot and yesterday he took a really long nap and then at night at about 8pm he asked if he could go to bed. I said, "you want to go to bed?" and he said, "yes. it's so dark outside." I can't believe how well and how quickly he has recovered but I couldn't be happier. He is such a big, big boy. Thanks so much for all of the checking in.

Pink Glove Dance

I thought this video was great. It is for Breast Cancer Awareness and was put together by Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks Joan for sharing!

A trip to the Dentist

Aidan and Leo went to the dentist last Tuesday. Aidan has been to the dentist a number of times before this visit but this was Leo's first visit to the dentist! Whoo-hoo! The day before (Labor Day) we were over at Doris' house for dinner and I remembered they had their dentist appointment and excitedly told Doris that Leo was going to the dentist for the first time. To my surprise he cried and said he didn't want to go! We stopped talking about it immediately! Uh-oh, this did not look good for Tuesday. Let's just say he was not impressed and there is a slim chance that Leo will aspire to be a dentist.

Aidan went first in the chair and as you can see he is an old pro. The dentist said that his teeth look great! She said that he is getting his adult molars and that soon his other baby teeth should loosen and fall out. That was pretty neat.

When the dental assistant came in and wanted to check out Leo's teeth he cried and pretty much refused. She was very nice and didn't force herself or her tools on him and said "let's just wait for the dentist."


When the dentist came, Leo layed on Jason's lap and the dentist's lap and he did really well. No crying and he let her look at his teeth. He allowed her to look at them just enough to count his teeth. She said the first visit is really just to get the kids familiar with the dentist and the procedures and so all they really need to do is just look in their mouth and count their teeth. That was done! So there was a major success there!

Cousins Chillin' in Seattle

C-Force

From the moment we walked in the door of Auntie Heather's house Aidan and Ethan were the best of friends. They hung together just about every moment of every day. The only time we saw the boys was when they got hungry or when they wanted something to drink. They jumped on the trampoline, played Wii, swam in the pool together, played legos, watched TV and movies (including Sponge Bob-we have a rule at home: no Sponge Bob cartoons except at Crow's house--or Auntie H's), slumber partied it up, played little Star Wars guys, caught bugs, dug up rocks, and so many, many other things only kids can think of. The "big guys" and the "little guys" as they became known to everyone, played so well together. Aidan and Ethan included Leo and Riley in most of their games and the four of them played and laughed. Only occasionally did the "big guys" ask for "alone time". The wanted "alone time" in the trampoline so that they could jump as much and as high as the wanted to and they wanted "alone time" in the swimming pool so they could splash and jump around in the pool as much as they wanted.

Leo, Ethan and Jason's legs in the pool

Aidan and Ethan swimming and playing

When the four of them were jumping in the trampoline it was so much fun to watch. They jumped, made up games where the little guys chased and attacked the big guys. Brothers on brothers (Leo chasing Aidan/Riley chasing Ethan) and cousins on cousins (Leo chasing cousin Ethan and Riley chasing cousin Aidan). They played a game invented by Uncle Jason that including placing coins on the trampoline and jumping and scrambling to collect the coins. Even Pa and Grandpa Russ jumped on the trampoline. Grandpa Russ did a flip! The often went from the swimming pool straight to the trampoline. For the first few days, they went non-stop from activity to activity and game to game. They were exhausted by the end of the day but they were happy.

Leo: out like a light

After a few days of not seeing very much of Aidan, I started to miss him and occasionally went to find him just to give him a hug. On the other hand, I really felt like he was growing and becoming more independent and it was a great thing to see. Leo's favorite part of Auntie Heather's house was the two kitties, Leia and Raven. They are beautiful kitties and they are very well behaved and very good with kids. Leo spent his days following them around and when he disappeared and was no where to be found we always knew we could find him upstairs in Heather's room or her bathroom where the kitties like to lay in the two sinks.

Best Buds!

The first couple of days of our trip we we hardly went any where and we did not do too much because I arrived sick. I started to feel like I was coming down with something on Saturday or Sunday before our trip. I ended up having a work-related training on the Saturday before we left and I just think in planning and preparing for the trip I was run down. I don't take vacation very often; it had been March 2008 since the last time we travelled to Seattle. I was so disappointed to spend my first week of vacation sick. We arrived on a Tuesday and since I was not feeling any better by the Friday I decided to visit a doctor. He gave me some meds and over the next couple of days I started to feel much, much better. The first time I literally made it outside Heather's house was that Friday when I went to the doctor and afterwards Heidi had so kindly met me and we had a DQ blizzard and talked for a couple of hours. It was great to get meds, get out of the house, and especially to see Heidi.

During the first few days of being home we visited with family and got a chance to see Grandpa Russ and Grandma Joan, Pa and Crow and Oma and Opa. We had BBQ's, pizza and enchiladas. Although I was feeling under the weather and probably not very social we had great meals, fun visits, and the kids got a kick out of hanging with their grandparents.

Did I mention Grandpa Russ is the Dog Barber Whisper? Teddy got a shave to beat the heat!

Insomnia

I feel like I have a bit of insomnia. It is 2:30am and I can not sleep. I have a feeling it is stress related because I wake up thinking about all of the things I have not done. Why don't I wake up thinking about all the things I have done? Or better yet, what if I didn't wake up and I just slept through the whole night? This does not happen regularly but I would say off and on 1-2 times a month for about 3-4 days at a time.

I am sleeping downstairs with Leo because it is much cooler downstairs than any part of the house. It is about 10 degrees cooler. I think I will probably go get the ipod and watch a movie or something. It didn't help that Leo lifted his head and bonked it on my head just above my eye (ouch!). Nor did it help when on the way to the bathroom Jason's pull up bar fell down and slammed my calf. On the plus side, the basement is a black hole and that helps me sleep.

I also have this slight fear that maybe my insominia stems from the fact that I am getting older and older people don't sleep as much. I have thought about this a lot and asked numerous people, at various ages, how much they sleep. Based on this "research", I have come to the conclusion that my best sleeping years were before children. How come no one told me this? When you have small children you don't sleep through the night because they don't sleep through the night. You desperately want to sleep because you are exhausted but they won't let you. Then as your kids get older, you don't sleep because you are up late worrying about when they are going to get home and whether they are safe. Then when you actually have the chance to sleep because they are out of the house you just can't sleep because of your age.

Lovely to think about and anticipate isn't it?

Well, good night, sleep tight (hopefully).