Time to CHILL!

This morning I discovered a little something about my parental skills as of late. It is DEFINITELY time to CHILL. The following event is what led to this eye-opening discovery:

On Tuesday Sam went to school decked out in his cute little brown GAP zip-up hoodie since the morning was going to be chilly and the afternoon was going to be warmer. (see, I watch the weather! Maybe I'm not doing such a bad job afterall - ahh, if only it were that simple!) He got home and we chatted and went on with our day. Fast forward to Wednesday when the same scenario was about to unfold with the hoodie chilly/warmer day and to our surprise, the hoodie was nowhere to be found. Sam wasn't quite sure if he brought it home and I didn't remember seeing it on him after school. I sent him to school in a different jacket and made him promise to look for his hoodie and to ask the bus driver if he'd seen it. He got home on Wednesday with no jacket. When I asked him if he looked for it he said "oops, I forgot". Grrr. I got a little more agitated and expressed the need to FIND IT TOMORROW! The next morning I reiterated my previous request. PLEASE look for your jacket today Sam, we NEED to get it back. Sam asks "what if I don't find it?" to which I say, "I don't know, but you NEED to find it or you'll be in big trouble!" (let me interrupt here just to point out that I say this phrase a LOT...but mostly out of jest in a teasing-ish voice and truly didn't think my kids ever took me seriously - especially Gabe who almost daily says MOM! Det me some Milk or zyou doh-een to be in BIG TWUBBLE!) SO, we said a quick prayer, I kissed them on their head and they were off to the bus. When Sam got home I quickly noticed there was still NO JACKET. I said "no jacket, huh?" but I actually said it really nicely because by now I had figured it was time to just say good-bye to the hoodie. He looks at me with his huge eyes and his lips were literally trembling as he explained that he looked for it ALL DAY. He asked his teacher and the bus driver AND his friends and that one of his friends had seen it but he didn't remember when. I looked at Sam and said "Sam, guess what - I'm NOT mad at you, it's OKAY". To which he just completely fell apart. Tears were streaming down his face and as I embraced him I thought the following: Note to self: This is SAM, this is NOT JOSHUA, this is your child that takes EVERYTHING literally and THIS is your sensitive one. OH THE GUILT! I'm pretty sure I felt my heart break in half. I quickly explained that I understood that he did his best to find it and that is all I ever wanted. My words from the morning came crashing down on me like a brick wall. I told him he'd be in big trouble. Did I REALLY say that to him?! I really didn't mean it!! GRRRRRRRR. I told him that we would go together later in the afternoon and look for it and how proud I was of him for remembering to look. So, for the rest of the day yesterday I stewed over the fact that my poor 6 year old was at school all day worrying about a stupid piece of cloth and probably afraid to walk in the door of his own house. How could I do that to him?!!!! Am I really teaching my children what is important in life when I'm so worried about a $15 article of clothing that my child is afraid to come home?! Um yeah. Time for a MAJOR reality check. I HATE mommy guilt. UGH.

And wouldn't you know it, we FOUND it in the HOUSE about an hour later. We were both so excited and laughed and hugged and bigger hugged. Then later I took the boys to the Mall because Webkinz are buy one get one free. Yep. That is why. They are buy one get one free. It has nothing to do with the fact that I am a crappy mother NOTHING at all. Nope. Buy one get one free I tell you. BUY 1 GET 1 FREE!! We are now the proud owners of two new family members: Roary the tiger -josh, and Andy Clarin Cain the Leopard - Sam (the names of his pets just KILL me! He also has "Dexter the diving dolphin" and his frog is named "Decky." This morning after thinking about it all night I'm sure, he announced that his leopard was now not just "Andy" but Andy Clarin Cain! How cute is that?!)

So yeah, please take a lesson from me today and if nothing else take a second to CHILL and hug your kids. Lucky for us, I think they can sense we're doing the best we can and REALLY LUCKY for us, they are SO forgiving. I'm SO thankful for that. Sigh.

The story of Sam...

It was about 11:30 pm, I was laying in bed and super uncomfortable. Mark and I started timing contractions about 1am and realized they were close so we decided to go to the hospital. We called Grandma and told her we were on our way. We woke up a sleeping little Joshua and headed to Grandma's house. We got to the hospital at about 2:30 am. My baby had been breech the entire pregnancy but miraculously had changed to the head down position just days before....or so we thought. When we got to the hospital the nurse checked to see how far along I was and said....I'm just going to get the ultrasound machine to see how this baby is positioned. I just don't think that's a head I'm feeling. The ultrasound machine confirmed my WORST fear. He was still breech and because I was in labor there was nothing they could do to turn him. They tried to stop my labor twice to no avail so at 7am we delivered our baby boy via cesarean. I was SO not happy about this. I'd been watching "A Baby Story" religiously every day and they always seemed to cry and have a really hard time when the doctors said they needed to do a c-section. It was my worst fear, though I really wasn't sure why...I just knew it must not be a good thing if it made everyone so unhappy. I was SO excited when the doctor told me he had turned and SOOOO upset when they said he either turned back, or never turned at all. Grr. Add to that the fact that we had been up since about 6am the day before (Mark and I had awoke early the day before and couldn't go back to sleep so we spent the day getting things done) and I was not in good shape. Either was Mark. I remember looking at him at one point and he looked green, really truly green and now I completely understand that expression whereas I hadn't before. We had an AMAZING anesthesiologist that was the saving grace of this whole experience. I remember bawling my eyes out and him wheeling me into the operating room and telling me how brave I was being. Although I wanted to SCREAM at him that this ISN'T WHAT BRAVERY LOOKS LIKE it did make me feel so much better. Also, as they strapped my arms down to the bars on the table I was crying that Mark could only hold one of my hands and the anesthesiologist happily said, "I'll hold your other hand for you!" and he did...through the WHOLE thing. Mark and I were so pleased with him, and we were lucky enough to get him again when we had Will, he was so funny and had a little photo shoot with Mark, the baby and I while they were stitching me up. ....sorry, I got carried away... ANYWAY, it was a really really yucky morning but the best part about the experience was the birth of this amazing little man that we call Sam. He was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 18 1/2 inches long. We noticed the little dimple in his chin before we noticed anything else! We also thought he had a TON of hair...until we had Gabriel and realized what a ton of hair really looks like. :) He made it all worth it and I'd do it all again right this very second if I needed to. I just LOVE this boy. Love love LOVE him. He is without doubt the smartest and wittiest little 6 year old I've ever met. We've been able to see his mind at work from the minute he was born. He's ALWAYS been such a thinker, he really has such a brilliant little mind. He's also VERY competitive...and absolutely COMMANDS fairness in every sense of the word around this house. He has always been a favorite with his teachers, I remember asking his preschool teacher how he was one day and she said "Oh...OH, he is so good... he is JUST SO good!" and I said "Really?, because he can be a challenge at home sometimes" and she didn't believe me AT ALL. Then, during Sam's first official parent teacher conference for Kindergarten at the beginning of the year his teacher said "I just wish I had 30 Samuel's" it was so funny. He is always so good about following the rules and trying to be a good boy. He is also absolutely strikingly beautiful, people stop us all the time at the places we go to tell us how beautiful he is. We love him SO much and don't know what we'd do without him in our family. We love you Mr. SIX!!!


When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was nearly new.

When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

-- A.A. Milne

This poem is perfectly Sam. He IS clever as ever, and he says he already "feels bigger" now that he is six"

Sorry about the billions of pictures...when I pulled out the CD for 2002 I couldn't decide which pictures to post so I posted them all....and now I'm going to go cry for a bit. Seriously, how can they grow up SO STINKING FAST!!!!
Everytime Mark would see this picture he'd say "there's my crooked head boys!" That's all I think about when I look at this picture now. :)



For all my family out there reading this, this is a picture of our cousin Shanel giving Sam his first haircut. I LOVE the expression on his face here!!

Oh! He also lost his FIRST TOOTH today!! What a day of milestones for this wonderful little man. He was SO excited and had to call daddy at work and call and wake up Grandma (she's an hour behind us so it was like 7am..YIKES) So fun!!

Ice Cream!!

It is the 8th of April and the Ice Cream Truck just took a drive around our neighborhood. Sam started running after him before I could tell him he needed to go get his dollar, so then I had to SHOUT it and he ran back to me, with strict instructions that I was to "Stay HERE and watch for the truck" until he came back outside (which I didn't do because I had to grab my camera!) When we made it back to our driveway he was coming back up in the opposite direction so it worked out great! Ice Cream trucks on the 8th of April....this is going to be an expensive summer!

All gone!

On the way back to the house Sam said "Wow, this is the BEST DAY EVER!" Isn't it fun when a dollar can turn a totally normal day into the BEST DAY EVER! While eating his popsicle he was thinking....this is what Sam does - he THINKS. He is the best 5 year old thinker I know. He was thinking about Ice Cream Trucks apparently and why they play music. This is what he came up with (word for word, I happened to be typing an e-mail and just started typing his words as he spoke them):

"Mom?"

*What?*

"I think I know why the Ice Cream Truck plays music so loud."

*oh yeah? Why?*

"Because if he didn't then none kids would be able to hear him and because then his ice cream would never ever get delivered, and HE would have to eat it all. Because children can't DRIVE to chase after the car and then they wouldn't even have a dollar, but if it plays music then the kids in the HOUSES will hear it and be able to get their money and run outside. "

*Yep Sam, I think you're right!*

This is what baby Will thought about us leaving him playing on the floor while we went to get ice cream....not happy...not happy ONE bit! Oh, but don't those eyes just KILL you!!

Famous!

Well....kind of.... :) for those of you that get catalogs from the "Oriental Trading Company" and happened to get their new one for spring 2008, I'd like you to go to pg. 44 lower left hand corner and read the name of the "sample" personalized pencils. For those of you without a catalog here's a picture:
Yep, our little Sam is famous, at least his name is! This has actually been the "name" on the pencils on every catalog I've received from them since Sam was an infant. A friend of mine noticed it first in her catalog forever ago and brought it to me to check it out. We've always thought it was so funny that his exact name is printed on them with the exact spelling and everything...I mean seriously, it's not like it's a hugely popular name! We thought it would be fun to call and order him some pencils with that name, just to see if they said anything, we could just tell them to send us the exact pencils from the photo. HAHA!

On a slightly similar note, this catalog is killing me with it's darling party stuff. I'm now convinced that Sam needs to have a "luau" party and Gabe needs to have a "Beach Monkey" party this year for the big 6 and 3. SO FUN!!

Conversation between 5 year olds

Okay, so Sam has his little friend over today. The same friend from this previous post. They are turning into quite the buddies these two. I took them to Wendy's to get some lunch because I just didn't feel like fixing anything today. We're on our way home when I overhear this conversation:

Sam: Hey Brodey, guess what? (ALL of Sam's conversations lately start with "Guess What?")

Brodey: What?

Sam: Um, me and my dad watched this funny movie, and guess what the guy does with a ball?

Brodey: What?

Sam: He gets blood on it, so he paints a face on it and starts to talk to it, it was SO funny.

Brodey: Oh.

Sam: And guess what else?

Brodey: No, wait a minute, STOP! What was the name of the movie? (I thought that was so cute)

Sam: Oh, it was called "Castaway"

Brodey: Oh, hee,hee. Kind of like "Flushed Away"! And guess what happened in Flushed Away?

Sam: What?

Brodey: The guy gets flushed down THE TOILET!

Sam and Brodey simultaneously: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

....BOYS!

V.I.P.

I'm a V.I.P. in my FAMILY I'm a V.I.P. you SEE! I'm a V.I.P. in my FamilEEE and that's a very good thing to be! A Very Important Person! A Very Important Person! A Very Important Person that's SAM!!
Today was Sam's V.I.P day at school. We got to make a poster of his favorite things and share with his class why he is such an important part of our family. We talked about how he loves his family and loves to play with his brothers. His favorite foods are Turkey, Ham, Salad, Ramen Noodles, Egg Nog, Pumpkin Pie and Cookies. His favorite colors are Red and Blue, his favorite games are Shrek Super Slam and Clue Jr., he likes the movies Monsters Inc. and The Cat in the Hat and he loves the book "Cookies, little bite sized life lessons" (this is a new book from Grandma Reading and he LOVES it!) He also likes to watch "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" on TV and he LOVES Spiderman. After we showed his poster the kids got to ask him a few questions. He called on his best friends first, then he called on a few girls which I thought was really cute. They asked really great questions for their age I thought, like "what is your favorite Holiday" and "What is your favorite kind of Ice Cream". I went and stole Joshua out of his class for a few minutes so that he could be there too, he was really excited to be there and Sam was so happy to see him walk in. I couldn't find his Spiderman figure to take to show the class so I settled for his Disney Mix Max (he calls it his Ipod) and his Spi-dog (speakers) we played one of his favorite songs which is "I walk the Line" by Johnny Cash, this CRACKED his teacher up and she kept saying "you like Johnny Cash, Sam?!" Then she told him that she likes his songs too. It was really funny. She is a FANTASTIC teacher and SO good for Sam. She is so positive and just LOVES LOVES LOVES her little 5 year olds. The kids all sang the V.I.P song and then at the end they did the Chicken Dance which was HILARIOUS! They had so much fun doing it, they are all so cute.

At the risk of seeming a little too "video happy" I'm including the videos I took in his class today. Mainly for me to look back on later, but they are pretty cute to watch if you don't have anything better to do. :)

Here is a clip of the class shouting er...singing the VIP song to Sam:

Here is a clip of them doing the Chicken Dance:

Sam

So, Sam had a friend over on Tuesday and I pulled out some mini carrots to munch on. His friend was in the front room so Sam runs to the kitchen and snatches a carrot for himself and proceeds to return to the front room. This is our conversation WORD for WORD (I immediately e-mailed it to myself so I could remember everything):

Me: "Wait a minute Sam, is that being polite" (this isn't in front of his friend, we are in the other room by now)

Sam: "Um..No?"

Me: "Right, so what WOULD be polite?"

Sam: "Uh, to chew it with my mouth closed?" (he wasn't even chewing with his mouth open!)

Me: "No...WHAT would be a POLITE way to act when your FRIEND is over?" (giving him ALL the hints I can at this point)

Sam: "Um...hide it from him?"

Me: "SERIOUSLY SAM? You SERIOUSLY think I'm telling you you should HIDE your food from your friends??"

Sam: "No?" (notice these end in question marks...like he's not quite sure of ANY of these answers up to this point...)

Me: "Right, so what WOULD be the BETTER thing to do if you have a snack and a friend is over?"

Sam: "MOM! I DON'T know!"

Me: I go to the table, put a carrot in my mouth and say VERY politely..."Hey, Gabe...come here....would YOU like a Carrot??"

Gabe: "No Tank you, vezy Kaa Kaa"

Me: "Okay, Sam...do you know what you should do NOW?"

Sam: "No"

Me: "I JUST DEMONSTRATED IT!"

Sam: "I don't know!"

Me: "Okay, if YOU were at a friend's house and they got a snack and just went away and ate it without you would that make you feel happy?"

Sam: "No"

Me: "Right..so what would be better for your friend to do then?"

Sam: "Um..just stay right by me and eat it?" (as opposed to the "went away" part of my question apparently)

Me: AAARRGGHH!! "Alright Sam...when friends are here we play and SH....?(trying again DESPERATELY to give him another hint...he doesn't take the bait, URGH) we play and SHARE right? We SHARE! SO....WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU GET A CARROT AND YOUR FRIEND IS HERE???"

Sam: "OH! I get it! I should break it in half!" (it's a MINI CARROT!)

Me: "Sigh...yes Sam, you COULD break it in half...OR! You could just give him his own, there is a WHOLE bag of carrots!"

Sam: "Oh, *smile* OKAY!"

Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam! I love you kid!...and it's a GOOD thing you're SO cute! :) - I didn't say this...actually didn't even think it at the time because I was so exasperated - but I am thinking it now as I type this so I thought I'd add it anyway. :)

Signing Time!

I got to go on a date with my two "middles" on Monday night! We went to "Signing Time Live!" at Cottonwood High School. I was a little nervous that Sam might be too old but he LOVED it! Especially when Leah came from the stage and handed us a handful of little rubber frogs! When Hopkins (a great big frog) came onto the stage Sam was really confused because on the DVDs he is just a tiny cartoon frog - so I thought for a second, then just went for it and told Sam that it wasn't really Hopkins, it was just a guy in a costume dressed like Hopkins. Well, Sam wouldn't go for it. Mom, I don't think that's a guy in there, because how could he even see? Mom, I think he is not big enough to have a person INSIDE of him.....finally I gave up and said, "Hmmm, maybe Hopkins just grew really big for the show tonight" that settled him because apparently that notion is MUCH easier to believe than the fact that it was just a normal person in there. So much for being truthful, I guess he's not as grown up as I sometimes make him out to be. :) We went with some of our most FAVORITE people and that made it even more fun! We saw more friends when we were there too! I haven't been able to get Gabe to watch Signing Time lately because he's been SO into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but he LOVED IT and clapped and danced along with the rest of 'em. I've even been able to get him to watch it since. YAY! I'm so glad that Jenna called to see if we wanted tickets too, I didn't even know they were doing a show! I told Sam he was a great date and he said "yep, I'm the best date EVER, we should go on dates ALL THE TIME!" I was really glad I decided to bring him along. :)

My cute boys! We got there early so it looks like nobody is there yet. It filled up later. We had to move 3 TIMES because we kept sitting in the wrong place.

This is "Hopkins" it was his "surprise party" with Lindsay, Sam and Emily. Gabe wouldn't have anything to do with him.

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!

Our little Sam started his FIRST DAY of Kindergarten last Monday. I wasn't there to see him off to the bus, but Mark picked me up from the hospital early so I could be home to see him come OFF the bus and talk to him about his first day. He did SO great, he was SO ready, I am SOOOO proud of him! He had a really fun week, they colored cute little turtles and tied them to toilet paper rolls and raced them, he's loved the bus and he's been SO good about getting his homework done everyday right when he gets home! I am really nervous about losing one of my best helpers every morning but I'm glad he'll be home by lunchtime and can still hang out with us for most of the day. I'm SO glad the Kindergarten here isn't all day like it is in some places. We LOVE YOU SAM!!!