Pinewood Derby car from last week. I told him to add some stickers or something so we found the googly eyes upstairs right before the race.


Okay, I realize he really needs a haircut, but I still can't bear to cut off those curls and I can't figure out how to cut the top a little shorter without it looking like a mullet. I know as soon as we cut it, he'll end up with dark, straight hair like his brothers and that makes me sad, since he's my last baby.

So we were driving home the other day from pre-school and Peanut asked me how much birthday money he had left because he wanted to buy some color changer cars. I told him he had $3 and that they cost that much. A second later he said, "I would need $6to buy 2 of them." I was like,"Yes, you're smart to know how to add like that." He said, "I just did it in my head." Wow! He got $5 more today from my dad and grandparents right before we went to the store, so that was perfect because then he could get more cars. Did you know that you can never have too many cars? He didn't get a color changer because the "Cars" brand cost $6, but he got 2 "pwain" ones from the movie. He got 2 of the guys that drive alongside Mack and put him to sleep while playing their Kenny G music. I swear pretty soon he'll have the entire cast. I think it's cute, though, that he loves something that much. I wanted to watch a movie with him yesterday and suggested several Disney ones that he hasn't watched in awhile, or never seen at all. He picked "Cars" and wouldn't budge even though we just watched it last week. He told me, "Cars is my favorite movie mom." We read about 15 library books before going to the library today after school to pick up 2 books that the older boys were holding. While we were there, Jo Jo sat in front of the board book section with Peanut and they proceeded to put book after book into our bag while I was trying to help the other boys look up books and okay movies for them. I didn't even notice until I started taking them out at the counter. I honestly have no idea how many he got, but he got 5 movies and at least 20 board books. I was like-oh well at least they're short. The older boys ended up getting a couple of chapter books and comic books even though they already have some at home they need to finish reading. I left wondering why I let them do that instead of making them read the other ones first. At least they love to read.

JP's ankle has a really puffy spot full of fluid again. It has us a little worried. I hope it's not anything bad. It's causing him to limp really bad. He has baseball starting soon-which he loves to play-so I really hope this doesn't affect him too badly. It would break his heart (and mine for that matter) if he couldn't play. Bubba starts practice on Mon. He ended up on the Yankees again this year and he couldn't be happier. We were able to get on the team of a dad from football so he has 3 or 4 kids from football on his team. I love baseball season-even though it means driving 2 kids to practice 3 nights a week at the same time. They are really fun to watch.

Happy Birthday Little Peanut

This year I decided to throw Peanut a little party with 5 friends (since he was turning 5). He got to have his party in the afternoon on his very birthday. One boy didn't come, but another boy's sister came because she's a friend too and was feeling sad. The day before I made the cake. I didn't flour the pan and figured it wouldn't make that much of a difference. But I left it cooling in the pan too long I think, so it broke a little around the edges coming out. Of course I didn't think it looked as good as it could have and I didn't have enough frosting to cover the sides very well, but that night when I was done I asked him if he liked it. He said, "It's GREAT!" That was worth the whole thing-the crazy 5 year olds at the party with 30 second attention spans and the cake frustration. I did save $24 on the cake. I had ordered one that he picked out thinking it was only $14, but as she totaled everything up, it ended up being that much more, so needless to say I cancelled it. We did a Cars theme. We played a few games that pre-schoolers could understand, but like I said, they had about a 30 second attention span. They were spinning out the whole time. The best game was the one where they danced to the music and when I turned it off they froze. That gave them a chance to get out all their wiggles. There was one little boy who kept cheating at the game where you put different items in bags and they have to feel what it is and then guess. He would pull the thing out. Luckily, he was at the end of the line. He got some fun stuff. We gave him the Cars little car wash thing. You can drive the cars through and slide them into a cup of water and the color will change. We also got him an extra color changing car and a regular Mater. The other thing we got that he seemed to be just as excited about was a wooden pizza. It's cut into slices and velcroed together and has velcro toppings and a slicer. He's really been wanting that. There's also a birthday cake, a sandwich one, a cupcake one. He pretty much wanted all of them so I picked the one that I thought would be the most fun.

1st Birthday-so careful with the cake and even ate it with a fork later.

Got his Spiderman 4 wheeler for his 2nd Birthday.

Sweet little Peanut. I can't believe you're already 5! Next school year you will already start Kindergarten. What will I do without my little buddy every morning? I love so many things about you. You play so well with your baby and can be by yourself for hours. When I think of you I think of your crazy eyebrows, cute dimple and smiling eyes, your love of cars, puzzles and Legos, animals, your long legs, your cute contagious giggle, your pokey hair, fruit snacks, bread, Eggo waffles, french fries, bear hugs, when you come up and say, "I love you mom" and rub my arm. I love when you want to snuggle with me on the couch. You've been my sweet, sweet little Peanut from the first time I saw a picture of you in my belly. And you will ALWAYS be Peanut to me. I love you little boy.

Dear Dr. King,
I know you were a great American leader. It must have been hard to fight against racism. Thank you for standing for your beliefs. I love your I have a dream speech.
From,
JP

He came home from school the other day with this mounted to construction paper with a picture of Dr. King on it.

Last night while I was making dinner I heard JP reading Peanut's new library books to him. He never asked him too, nor did I. He just started doing it on his own. That totally made my crappy day all better. His leg is still swollen, not as much I think. Someone threw Bubba to the ground yesterday after school. Luckily he went face down and not on his side. Worrying about that kid will be the death of me. Jo Jo has started talking with his tongue in between his teeth. I don't really know how to describe it, but he mostly just makes noises and it's annoying. Yesterday he climbed in my lap and said, "I a baby." I said yep, you're my baby. He always will be no matter how big-or stinky-he gets.

It's Official

Yep, JP really has arthritis. We saw the pediatric orthopedic doctor today and that was the prognosis. He's still swollen. We're supposed to keep him full of Motrin to get that down. He'll see him again in 4 weeks. If it's not down by then, he'll have to get a cortizone shot in his knee. That will not be acceptable to him I'm sure, so we're hoping the Motrin works. He will also have to see a pediatric opthamologist to get his eyes checked since this can also cause the back of the eyes to swell. Just what we need. Actually just what HE needs. Poor guy. He's such a trooper. He's never complained, just let us know that it hurts after being on it for awhile.
We also took Bubba to see him at the same time. That was nice to not have to drive to that side of town several times since Jo Jo and Peanut had their swine flu boosters over that way today too. So anyway, we took him there because we got a statement in the mail from the insurance the other day informing us that his previous doctor is not in our network. We're most likely going to try and dispute his $450 bill (for only 2 visits mind you) since neither the hospital (who are the ones who referred us to him) nor his office told us that. Can I tell you how upset I am about that? Luckily this new doctor is (who the new hospital referred us to). I was feeling a little overwhelmed this morning-and claustrophobic in the "room" behind that curtain they gave us. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." His PA (who was a MAN wearing slacks and a dress shirt) was super nice, and the doctor (who was also dressed up) was very nice and we got a good feeling from him-unlike the other doctor who seemed like he could've cared less. So can I tell you how much better I'm loving this new hospital and their doctors. How much difference it makes for your experience.

My friend has posted a few of the pictures from our shoot. I can't believe how cute they are. If I get 15 comments she'll give me two 3x3 accordion albums for free, so even if you don't comment on MY blog, please leave one on hers. Thanks for your help. www.fabianabeatrizphotography.com/blog

A couple of days ago I opened our new crockpot that I got with a giftcard. I heard some noise in the other room and this is what I came in to see. I have absolutely no idea how they both fit in that box.


My cute little boy who stays up until midnight with mom and dad put on brother's hat last night-and even kind of smiled. For some reason he doesn't smile very often when he looks at the camera.

 

Is this not the most gorgeous boy? We went to my neighbor's house yesterday (who is also in my ward). She's been taking pictures for a little while now and offered to take birthday pictures for free if we let her put his picture on her website. I haven't seen them yet except for this one that she emailed me yesterday. It was so fun. She's awesome. She had so many fun things for pictures. He wasn't that in to it, but we bribed him with candy and hopefully we got at least one with him smiling. She had Peanut come in after we were done and she started taking pictures-with his holey jeans and pokey hair. I said, why don't I just go home and get him an outfit and we can do his birthday picts. too since he'll be 5 in a little over a week? So I left them there and came back and did his hair and put him in a cute sweater and jeans. She said he was so photogenic and said that every picture was the cutest one she'd ever seen. He was soooo good. What a big boy.

Today we met dad at Carl's Jr. for lunch before heading to the grocery store. They have this thing there that you can put balls in and it sucks them up to the 2nd level. It was taller than Jo Jo and he said, "Help me Mama. I put the ball in there." When did he start talking like a 3 yr. old? I guess it helps your vocabulary when you have 3 big brothers.

Super Long Post-Beware

Sun. night we were hanging out in the living room and B noticed that JP's 2nd toe on his right foot was swollen. He didn't remember hitting it and said it was like that all the time, though I know it's not. So later when we were putting them to bed and he was wearing his pajama shorts, B noticed that his knee and ankle were both really swollen with fluid as well. We decided I should take him to the ER Mon. since the doctor would be closed for the holiday. The doctor was concerned with 2 things-arthritis and infection. They had to take fluid from the knee and also draw blood so we could test for both. So, they had to prep the knee with iodine and put one of those blue cloths with the hole in it over it. You know how you see those on tv when they're doing stitches? So the doctor first stuck in a needle with numbing fluid. Then he did the 2nd one to remove fluid. He told JP if he needed him to stop to let him know and we had to stop once. I spent the whole time hugging him so he wouldn't look. He was so so very brave. He didn't scream or cry.
-This is from this morning when it was looking much better-

Then they had to draw blood from his arm. He did NOT do well with that. However unlike his mom with the smallest veins ever who has to be stuck 5 times, he has a really big vein in his right arm and they were able to get what they needed right away. He shed some tears during this one and said it continued to hurt for quite awhile-which if you've ever had blood drawn or an IV you know it does since you have that thing sticking in your arm. They were the best nurse and doctor I've ever had in an ER. After the experiences with the bad ones with Bubba lately, it was really nice. They both explained everything they were doing to him in detail. The nurse even got out a clean needle casing to show him all the parts (minus the needle) and let him keep it. They let him know how it would feel, that it would hurt, but it would go away and he could squeeze mom's hand. They were so impressed with his bravery. We went to a different ER this time (that is a different hospital) because our insurance will cover them, and I will never go back to any of the other hospital's locations. So results-it took a little over an hour for results (which I was thrilled we were getting them the same day) and there was no infection. Everything looked great-white count, kidneys, etc. The rhematoid arthritis sample came back negative as well. However, the doctor said this doesn't necessarily mean anything. he said if it's positive, then it's definite, but sometimes negative doesn't mean he doesn't have it. He talked with an orthopedic doctor who wants to see him next week. He said it was arthritis (there's more than just the rhematoid kind). I know you're thinking-kids can get it? Yep, which I already knew because we have friends from our old ward with a little boy who has it really bad and has to take daily shots. I'm really hoping this is not JP's case. We will know after next Tues. He's really a trooper. He had a birthday party after that he'd been planning on for awhile and they said as long as he didn't run around on his knee for awhile he'd be okay. He told all of his friends that he has arthritis, though when I asked him if he knew what that was, he said no. It's funny that he's like "whatever" about it. He never even asked me afterwards what it was, though I did explain after his party. Although I had a hard time trying to figure out how to explain it and he was only half listening anyway. He never even complained about any pain this time so hopefully that's a good thing. He's complained a lot before about his legs hurting, but we always assumed it was growing pains. When the doctor and I asked where it normally hurt though, he pointed to his knee. The doctor asked if we had any in our family and I said I didn't really think so, though I have problems with my hands and wrists. The doctor has always told me before that I was too young to have it. He's an old friend, so he's not a very good doctor for us. Then after talking to my mom, I found out my grandma has it and my mom has it a little, though it doesn't bother her anymore because she takes one Aleve everyday. So much for that. I was talking with a friend last night who is an occupational therapist about how I have knee trouble too, and she said that if I have a high pain threshold, I might not even realize I have it. That makes sense. I had all four boys with no epidural so I've always known I have a high pain threshold. We already met our deductible with Bubba this year, so now we're really getting our money's worth. I would like no more visits to the ER this year please Heavenly Father. Sorry this was so super long, but I just wanted to let you all know what is going on with our sweet boy. I will keep you updated.