CHEESE!

I found this on the camera tonight. It's too good not to share.
I promise, more posts coming soon!
5/24/12

First Break

On June 13, we had quite the exciting adventure to the Emergency Room. Richard and Shirley were playing Ring Around the Rosie while Daddy washed the dishes when he heard a crash and then a moan of pain and whimpering crying. Rich dropped what he was doing and ran into the living room to find RJ curled up on the floor. He picked him up and realized RJ was holding his arm very close to his body. Rich tried to remove his shirt to see if there was any damage, but the baby couldn't lift his hand or arm away from his body so Rich cut his shirt off (his only Nebraska Huskers shirt, bytheway...) to try to discern any damage. When he couldn't see anything wrong he called me at work and said, "You need to clock out and come home right now." That is NOT the kind of call any mother looks forward to getting at work. I could hear the baby crying in the background and I knew it was serious...you can tell by your children's cries when something is seriously wrong, and I knew something was seriously wrong!I raced out of work without closing up shop, raced home trying not to panic the whole way and walked in the door to find a completely dejected little boy. He had stopped crying until he saw me, when his sobs started again. We were discussing what to do when my sister walked in. I had called her on my way home to keep her "on call" in case we needed to go to the Emergency Room. She decided she'd rather turn around and go home if we didn't need her than make us wait for her to get there (are we blessed, or what?!).
So, we loaded up and rode to the hospital. I couldn't believe it--there was only one other family in the waiting room and we got right in to see the doctors. Both doctors assumed it was a dislocated shoulder or elbow, which I'll admit I thought, too, though they couldn't find any evidence. When the doctor finally crawled her fingers up his arm and he shrunk away from her touch she said, "I think we are going to have to do x-rays...this looks like a broken collar bone." It was what Rich and I suspected all along, but I guess we were hoping for something less traumatic.
In the end, our boy came home with codeine and an arm bandage and a broken collar bone. I was convinced our summer was over. RJ spent three days on the couch with his arm wrapped in a codeine stupor. We watched Cars, Cars2 and more CARS! A week later we made a trip to our regular doctor for a follow up. She took his bandage off, tossed it in my purse and told us to have a nice summer. Can you believe that?! She said there is almost nothing you can do to keep a two-year-old's collar bone from healing perfectly and that by the time he is ready for organized sports this injury will be a distant memory. We are so relieved and thankful!!
God protected us from something much worse and answered so many of our prayers along the way--too many to count.
Our summer has gone on undisturbed and RJ is completely back to normal now, eight short weeks later.

First morning after the break. A sad boy watching movies.

R&R and TLC

Swing time--trying to get out of the house a little bit.

Chocolate frosting makes everything better.

You can take my clavicle but you can't take my style!
On our way to the doctor for his follow up visit.

THE BREAK.

First Shave...

Let it be known that on May 24, 2012, Richard Joseph cut himself shaving for the very first time. I still don't know how he got ahold of a razor. I mean, I didn't realize he'd even hit puberty yet.
Of course, every little boy wants to shave just like daddy... I am thankful he is ok!

He didn't even know he had hurt himself.

"QUIT TAKING MY PICTURE!!! Mom! You're so embarrassing!"

Cool dude, Mr. Tough Guy. Don't be fooled...the bandaid lasted about hirty seconds before he ripped it off.

Fun with the new camera at the park...

The super-fast shutter is great! Not a single blurry photo!



Cheesy rider.



Just because I have a fast shutter doesn't mean I can make them both look at the camera at the same time!



Looks like I got a new camera just in time to capture this photogenic boy.

Eggs

This morning, Richard begged and begged me for eggs for breakfast. So, I went to the fridge to get the eggs--that's an easy enough breakfast. As soon as I got them out, he hit the floor in a complete meltdown screaming, "No, EGGS! EGGS! EGGS!"
I said, "Here are the eggs. I'll make you some eggs."
He said, "No! Eggs! Eggs!"
Finally in exasperation, I said, "Fine, show me the eggs."
He said, "Up, up!"
I picked him up and he pointed straight to this:


So, if you're ever at our house and Richard asks for eggs, rest assured he actually means clementines.

 

He thought it was pretty cool to stand at the counter to eat. He dripped all over the stool so that his toes were sticky when I cleaned him up. A small price to pray for happiness.

Happy Ballentimes Day!!!

Richard's First Haircut!

I finally broke down and took Richard to get his hair cut this morning. Since his sister completely freaked out, I expected the same from him, but he did great! He only tried to shrink away from the stylist when she combed his hair, and giggled and giggled when she pulled out the clippers. I am so proud of my big kid! He is truly not a baby anymore!

Not too sure about this big chair...

A nice shot of the hockey hair.

He kept leaning forward to get away from that comb of hers!

Such a good boy!

Hairy lollies!

Are we almost done?

What a handsome boy!!

Happy (?) Halloween!

While planning Shirley and Richard's costumes this year, I asked Shirley if she wanted to be a ballerina because she loves her dance classes so much. She looked at me as if I had grown another head and said, "No, Mom. I AM a ballerina." Silly me. No costume needed.
Let's just say I'm glad we are done with Halloween for another year. The children looked great in their costumes, and we had a very nice time trick-or-treating with our neighbor friends for approximately 59 minutes. In the 60th minute of our adventure at the opposite end of the street, Shirley had a complete meltdown and had to be carried home by Daddy.
Richard's night started out a little rough...I think he was scared of his costume, but once he figured out that all he had to do was wave and people would hand him candy, he buzzed all over the neighborhood. At the first house, the man opened the door to greet us and Richard just walked right in! The man said, "Wait! I'm giving things away--I'm not taking anything!" After that, it was smooth sailing.
I'm sure next year will be just as "fun," if not more.

Butterfly Girl



Sad Bumble



Candied Bumble

p.s. Due to the post-ToT meltdown, I couldn't get any better pictures of Shirleygirl. Disappointed.

I love you!

If this doesn't make you smile...

Daddy's Little Headbanger

He walks!

Richard actually took his first steps several months ago, but has refused to walk all this time. We have been waiting and waiting for him to take the plunge and last week he finally did!
He's started getting very brave and actually walking more than he crawls. These milestones are so bittersweet. I just love the "drunk Frankenstein" baby steps, though. I will miss them (next week) when he is running around chasing his sister with sticks.


Sorry for my lame video commentary. Am I ever going to learn?

Richard the Builder

We've been working day and night on some major yard and deck projects, and Richard wants to be just like his daddy!
These pictures are just too cute not to post.

Richard and the Purple Crayon

Resemble, much?

Richard's (actual) First Birthday

Richard turns ONE today!

Here is our boy enjoying some of his favorite things: meatballs and peas.

The BIG One.

Cute. "Oooooh!"

Richard needed some "help" blowing out his candle.

THIS! IS! SO! EXCITING! CAAAAAAKE!!!!

"I'll help you, brother."

Not too sure about ripping paper...

Richard has been making this face a lot lately--he's figuring out his new TOP teeth. :)=

LOVING the blocks from Mama and Daddy!

Bedtime for Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday Richard and Shirley!

Family Birthday Party!

Last week we hosted an early birthday party for Shirley and Richard with our family members who live nearby. We had a wonderful time celebrating our children's births and their sweet additions to our lives. I admit, I spent the day fighting back tears as I thought about how much my babies have grown. It was a wonderful day, though, full of laughter and joy. Here are pictures from our day (Be prepared. There are a lot...I can't choose just a few):