Rough Day

So Coco has some dairy sensitivity issues. He's been drinking almond milk since he was a little guy, but used to be able to handle other dairy. Not so much now. After a long conversation with a lactose intolerant friend, I decided to try giving him a Lactaid anytime he wanted any dairy. It has helped immensely. Unfortunately, I didn't have any in my purse the other night and he had a cheese quesadilla while we were out at dinner. I completely forgot by the time we got home to give him one. He was fine that night and I didn't even think about it. The following night for dinner, he had a casserole that was full of sour cream and cheddar. Again, I didn't even think anything of it. Until he woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. Fortunately he's at the age now where he makes it to the toilet 99% of the time. He went back to bed, but threw up again in the morning. And again. And again. Poor guy threw up all day long. I thought maybe it was a flu bug, but he had no other symptoms. Then I remembered that he had all that dairy. Mom fail. By late at night, he hadn't eaten or had anything to drink. He tried some saltines and Sprite, but proceeded to throw that up fifteen minutes later. By Wed. morning, I was worried he was dehydrated so I got him some Powerade and he was able to keep that down. By the time we went to a party last night, he wanted watermelon, cookies, chicken, rice. I decided to make him take it slow, but he's completely fine now. Rough life when you're tummy is sensitive to dairy.

JP was out all day yesterday riding bikes with his friends downtown, doing cool teenager stuff and probably hunting Pokemon guys. So he met us at the party. Unfortunately, his back brakes were loose on his bike and he took a nasty spill over his handle bars right before we got there. So I dropped everyone else off and took him home to clean him up. He landed on his elbows and one side was missing skin almost to the bone. He hit his chest and was struggling with breathing and was worried he'd broken a rib. He also hit his hip hard. I was panicked when I started looking at everything and he was going into shock because he was in so much pain. Dad got home to talk me down from the ledge because I really wanted to take him to the ER. But really, what could they do? He didn't hit his head, if a rib was bruised, they can't do anything about it. He's doing better today. His elbows have stopped burning and throbbing. His chest still hurts really bad, but that's probably going to hurt for months if something got bruised. But he's really become a tough kid so I know he'll be fine.

Here's to a better day today!

Boys' Life

I watched a show about UFOs last night with Coco. I was in the kitchen working on dinner when he says matter-of-factly, "Aliens are real." That kid cracks me up. He is a boy after my own heart. He believes in Big Foot, aliens, Loch Ness monster, the lost city of Atlantis and he's on the fence about ghosts. I don't want to freak him out so whenever he asks if ghosts are real, I always tell him that some people believe they are. But he's seen enough creepy stuff on Ghost Hunters with me that I think he believes.

He also loves watching any show that delves into unknown mysteries and legends. He loves Expedition Unknown (and was rather annoyed that I deleted the vampire episode before he could watch it). He totally gets into shows where they are hunting for pirate treasures, Robin Hood, King Arthur, etc. And because he spent more time with me at home before going to school than the other boys, he knows a lot of random facts. We had lots of conversations in the car about anything and everything. He told his brothers one day how you would technically pronounce a local street name here since it actually used to be called Chinese Garden. None of them believed him until they asked me. He likes to randomly tell people things like that. I love that he enjoys learning new things.

And the kid seriously has the most accurate English accent of any non-British kid I've heard. It's hilarious. He's good at pronunciation and other accents as well. 

Peanut, on the other hand, loves any TV show where they build something or remodel something. He has such an engineering sort of mind. He loves puzzles and Legos and you can almost see the wheels turning when he is concentrating on something. He's my quietest boy for sure. If he's alone in the car with you, you'd never know he was there. He doesn't ask a thousand questions like Coco or tell random stories like his other brothers. I saw a movie with just him the other night and he didn't laugh or make a sound, but after the movie told me he thought it was a really funny movie. I never have any idea if that kid is enjoying something. It's a little weird since it's totally opposite from the rest of the family. He can be loud for sure when his brothers are teasing or attacking him, but other than that, he's a quiet one.

And then there's JP. I'm not sure what he's really into other than video games lately. But he's started eating a lot before bed just like Bubba. Last night we realized it was starting when he finished the spaghetti noodles with nothing but cheddar cheese on them and then had a bowl of ice cream right after. The scary thing is that he was always my best eater as a baby. He ate three jars of baby food at every sitting and still nursed and had baby cereal. He seems to be pretty in to Star Wars stuff lately since he saw number seven twice. He spent all of his Christmas money on one Lego set from the movie. 

Bubba eats non-stop, has grown another inch in the last month, and is driving. He and Coco are the loudest children for sure. I shushed him today after school when he was right next to me telling me something rather loudly. His reply, "I'm using my inside voice." Not really, son. Not really. He's in to snowboarding lately and almost his entire Christmas list consisted of equipment he wanted/needed. He joined ski club and will have his first competition this Saturday. He's getting gigantic-huge feet and hands, getting taller. He's definitely a man-child now. He enjoys pointing out how short I am now since he has a whole two inches on me. He's very lovey with me, which is also great. I always worried my boys would stop liking me when they became teenagers, but it seems like they like me more now. Dad used to be the cool one, now it's Mom. 

I love my boys. I love being a mom of all boys. I love watching them play baseball and football. I love that they love 80's music, techno and Flogging Molly. I love that I can impress them with my loud soda belches. I love that they think I'm cool and tough and strong. I love that they missed me profusely when I went to Ireland for a week and California for several days without them. And that they were worried the house might explode without me here or that Dad might not do things right. But I also love my Labor Day weekend every year when my boys all go camping and the house is completely silent and I can watch twelve different chick flicks and eat ice cream for breakfast and sleep until noon. 

I'm definitely one lucky girl to have five amazing guys in my life. And they treat me like the Queen. Bubba even said, "Your Highness" the other night (and not in a mocking way).