Things I Never Thought I Would Say

Maybe I'm naive, but these are things I never thought I'd say (to my children, however, I have 3 boys, so...)


Don't play catch with the kitty. 

Stop licking my car window.

No, it wouldn't be "cool" to jump out of the window while I'm driving. 

No, that is a turbin on his head, he is not a "real-life" genie.

Don't go pee at the same time as your brother.

Don't put the plastic bag over your head.

Don't put the plastic bag over your brothers head.

Don't try to jump into the neighbors backyard from our playhouse. (And yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that you would get splinters if you accidentally pancaked against the fence.)

Do not tape your brothers mouth closed.

Don't write on yourself with a sharpie.

Don't put play-doh in your ear.

Don't draw with chalk on your legs.

Don't draw with markers on  your legs.

Don't wipe boogers on the wall.

Don't wipe boogers on your brother.

Don't eat your boogers.

Don't bite your toenails. Gag.

Don't cut your own hair, yes I can tell... you now have short bangs!

Don't put your dirty underwear on your brothers head. 

Don't put your brothers dirty underwear on your head.

Don't write on my furniture with sharpie. Yes, I can see your name written on my dresser.

Don't pee in the bath.

Don't poop in the bath. Oh. My. Word. You pooped in the bath.

Don't lick your brother. Don't lick the shopping cart either, please.

Don't fart on your brother (like 9,000 times).

Do not climb up on the roof.

No, we're not making squirrel soup for dinner.

Yes, girls have pee-pees too.
Yes, girls fart.
No, girls do not pee out of their bottom.
No, you may not jump from our roof to the neighbors roof like you saw in the movie.
You can't hang from your fan.
You can't hang from my fan either.
No, You can't pull the car in the garage  "just for fun".
I'm pretty sure I told you to not put boogers on the wall.

No, it wouldn't be cool to see how long we can go without brushing our teeth.

No, we can't have bird stew for dinner either.

Take the lizard out of the house.

You... smell like a wet dog!

No, you can't eat all of the vitamins.

No, we're not going to pretend like we're camping and not brush our teeth.

Don't jump out of the moving golf cart. (And yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that you would get road rash if you jumped out of the moving golf cart.)

Don't eat the Lego's. Okay, maybe youre not eating them, but take them out of your mouth.  You had that many in your mouth????

Don't spit on your brother.

Stop making science experiments in the bathroom.

How on earth is the new bottle of hand soap gone already?

No, you can't use a corn cob as toilet paper like great grandpa used to.

What dead animal are you hiding in your room?

I know there are a lot more, but these were the statements off the top of my head :)

My cuties (a few years ago).

Catchin a break

While I know that with three boys you have to 'expect the unexpected', one never plans to spend the evening at the ER :)  About 10 minutes into my sons football game, he made a tackle and two guys fell on his outstretched hand.  When he got up slowly, I knew he was crying and I noticed the way he was having to hold his arm to support it.  (With the intention of taking a great 'action' shot, I photographed the injury occurring - kinda sad to see it on film.) I knew in my mommy heart something wasn't right, but I decided I wasn't going to be melodramatic and run down there. We have an awesome team doc who assisted Logan right away.  I patiently sat in my seat, and after a few minutes I noticed the doc searching the stands and I knew he was looking for me = sinking heart.  He told me he suspected Logan's wrist was fractured. 
I went down to the field to my sweet boy and while he wasn't crying, he was occasionally moaning :( The medics later made a splint/sling for him which really helped to support his arm.

At the ER on a busy Saturday night, triage examined Logan, gave him pain meds and sent him for x-rays right away. Every single person we saw there was awesome, they were so helpful and kind. 

When the doc called us back to review x-rays I knew there was a break (I peeked at the x-ray on the computer screen), but I wasn't expecting to hear that there were TWO breaks.  My sweet boy has had a rough couple of weeks.  He sprained his ankle a few weeks ago and had to miss a game (he was so upset), and on Tuesday he had 'hardware' placed in his mouth (the path to braces), resulting in him basically being on a liquid diet all week, and now this?? But, he's not complaining, so I won't either.  Proud of my little trooper. 

To be honest with you, I'm really surprised we've gone this long without broken bones for one of our 3 boys.  Especially our accident prone Logan.  He's had stitches, x-rays, has been in the hospital several times, has gotten road rash from jumping out of full speed golf carts, has pancaked against our wood fence while trying to jump into the neighbors yard (splinters in nose, forehead, chin, chest, legs, etc), has had a concussion, and has had giant goose eggs popping out of his head at various stages of life.

Had this happened last year, I would have freaked. I thought broken bones were terrible. This year, totally different story.  I have told the boys on numerous occasions that it's not a big deal if they break a bone. It will heal :) And, it's not a big deal :) And it will heal :)  No surgery is needed and it's not his writing hand! He will see an orthopedic specialist in a week and have it re-casted. My hubby, who coaches Logan's team is really sad, because while he enjoys coaching all the boys, "it's just not as fun when your own son is not out there with you." :)  We were definitely blessed by all of the wonderful people who helped our sweetie yesterday. 

Teaching boys

     I'm not sure if you have noticed, but there aren't many female teachers out there who understand little boys. I used to teach High School English, Speech, and Debate. I also worked for several years in my boys classrooms. I have taught Sunday School. I have boys. I teach my boys. I have a hard time understanding them sometimes :)

     In second grade Cameron had a female teacher. She had no children, never married, was an only child, and I believe she was detrimental to my child for a period of time.  Clearly she had little experience with boys. This teacher and her negative effect on my child was the main reason the idea of homeschool 'popped' into my head.  As I have stated before, I never thought we would be a homeschool family. I never had a desire to homeschool. But here I had this precious 7 year who started off the year by running to me at the end of each school day, excited to share with me, and within no time he became a complete introvert. He was so quiet, and he constantly had the look of defeat on his face. It broke my heart. She was breaking my child. The previous year, in first grade, he had a male teacher. Not only did he have a male teacher, but he had a male teacher who truly appreciated him. This teacher rewarded Cameron's hard work, and in turn, that caused Cameron to work harder. Needless to say, the difference in my child within a year was astounding. I could go on and on, and on about our situation, but, it is what it was :)

I believe teaching boys in a classroom setting does not provide you with the same knowledge or familiarity as having sons, or being raised with boys. Boys are different. Verrrrrry different. Sometimes I feel like my four boys are from a different planet :) But back to the topic at hand, not only did my sons teacher not understand or appreciate little boys, but the school had a no run, hands-off policy as well. No running on the playground? Is that even legal? My boys are fairly well behaved, and they enjoy learning... but they REQUIRE movement. Lots of movement helps little boys to sit quietly in class. 

     Teachers who don't understand little boys and the need for them to burn lots of energy look at it as ADD, or ADHD. I'm not saying there aren't those students out there, I'm just saying that a good portion of them are probably just busy little boys who are misunderstood. 
     Or, maybe your little boy who started at age 4 isn't as mature as the older kids in his class.  This article is really interesting and talks about the misdiagnosis of ADHD.
http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2010/nearly-1-million-children-potentially-misdiagnosed-with-adhd/

     The other day in the car (while shopping alone) I listened to an audio I purchased at a homeschool convention several years ago, it was by Andrew Pudewa, titled "Teaching boys and other children who would rather make forts all day".  If you're not familiar with Andrew Pudewa, he is the founder and director of The Institute for Excellence in Writing. The reason it took me two years to listen to the CD was because I thought it would be boring (and that he would be nerdy).  It was hilarious! It provided me with such a better understanding of teaching my boys. 

     The past two years I have taught my boys, I encouraged them to use a lot of descriptive words in their writing. Adjectives are the key to writing, I told them. Well. After listening to this CD I realized how wrong I had been. Pudewa used the example of asking a little girl and a little boy to draw a picture. What does the girl draw? Nouns. Lots of beautifully colored nouns; horses, faces, flowers. What does the boys draw? Something in pencil or a dark crayon. When you ask what it is (because it's hard to tell) he proceeds to tell you how it is a spaceship that just rocketed from earth very fast, it hit a star, and it blew up into a million pieces, and... Notice the difference? The boys picture/writing = verbs and adverbs. The girls picture/writing is nouns and adjectives. 

    It seems as though our schools are geared toward effectively teaching girls.  Most of the teachers are female, and those female teachers generally tend to favor the female students. 

This is a short YouTube clip of Pudewa discussing "Teaching boys and other..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzaFZ2CRQZU

     I am going to try to encourage my boys to use more adverbs in their writing this school year :) I think they will appreciate it.  


     Love this quote from an article I found;
How much Ritalin could remain on the shelves if we created schools that are ready for boys rather than boys who are ready for schools?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-day/why-boys-are-failing-in-a_b_884262.html
It's from an article titled "Why Boys Are Failing in an Educational System Stacked Against Them".
     Here's another article regarding how the school system is failing young boys;
Failing a generation of American boys - http://spectator.org/archives/2013/03/13/failing-a-generation-of-americ


     This is a book I have (I have read bits and pieces and agree with a good portion of it). - http://www.amazon.com/The-Trouble-Boys-Surprising-Educators/dp/0307381293

     This is clearly a topic that I could write a lot about, but you get the picture :) If you have a son, be overly involved in what is going on his classroom.  Educate yourself. It make require you to take the initiative and be proactive in your sons education to ensure his success. 

My 'wilder-men' love to be busy outside

                                                              they enjoy 'roughing it'

                                                                      they like to fish

                                                        they love shooting bow and arrows

                                                        setting bear traps in the wilderness

                                and their favorite thing might be fire. or maybe poking sticks in fire...

                                                              or maybe shooting things...

Tired mama

When the boys were younger I thought I was tired.  It was a different kind of tired. It was the kind of tired in which a 2 year old and 7 month old keep you on your toes all day.  

Now, not only are we busy with sports, but because I homeschool (all 3 boys now), I often feel exhausted with the pressure of being their educator. I love being home with them, I love teaching them, but I do get exhausted.  I pore over curriculum options, I make lesson plans, I teach them the subjects, and I grade their papers. I make them breakfast and lunch, and try to keep them from starting a war during recess. I wash their sports gear, lay it out, feed them pre-practice dinner (we call it dinner #1), make water jugs, watch them at practice, and then come home to make 2nd dinner, showers, bed, and damage control, etc.  

This is no joke, as soon as I put them in bed and sit down on the sofa, I breathe a big sigh of relief.  I thought my days of pure exhaustion were over now that there are no little ones waking us (correction, waking ME) throughout the night.  But to be honest with you, sometimes I feel more tired now.  It's probably because I'm older :) 
I believe mental exhaustion is a different kind of tired.  Before it was just "no-no's", now it more serious, 'big' boy issues that need need to be dealt with.  The heart attitude of our boys is so important. 
My oldest (he'll be 11 in October) recently started rolling his eyes and mumbling under his breath. Not okay. But I can't just snap at him and discipline him for it.  I want for that type of behavior to be repulsive to him. That's possibly a bit dramatic for a 10 year old, but what I mean is, I want him to feel uncomfortable with that kind of behavior.
We are fairly strict parents. Well, that's what I think. To be honest with you, I'm sure there are others who look at us and have completely different opinions :)  For instance, our boys are "the only boys in the world without a phone".  Once we explained to our boys (a few times) why they wouldn't be getting phones anytime soon, they have come to realize it's not okay for them to keep asking. My reasoning: there are several, but the main being Internet access. Yes, I know, you can block it, but I still don't like it.  Another rule we have is that they are not allowed to LOOK at other peoples phones or ipods.  Oh, so strict! you say... Well, sadly, there have been many young boys 8, 9, and 10 who we have heard or seen viewing highly inappropriate material. So sad. Do you check your kids browsing history? YouTube history? You might want to. 
Another way we are strict; we don't allow our boys to go to other kids homes. There have been very few exceptions to this rule.  We rarely allow sleepovers at our home (this is kind of a newer rule this year). My reasoning for this is because there's generally not a lot of good that happens after a certain time of night. Thankfully our boys are still young, and it's not been a problem yet, but we figure it's a good time to implement this rule.  (They are allowed to stay at their grandparents.) The boys are completely fine with these rules.  They know that we have a home that will always be open to their friends.  We want to be the 'hangout' home.  We don't care if kids come hang out in our game room, raid the fridge, or play football in the street. 

Raising a young boy to acquire admirable qualities is not for the faint of heart.  It is a daily decision. It requires daily prayer. It requires constant instruction. It requires you to be a consistent example. That is so hard sometimes! I can't tell you how many times I have had to look my boys in the eyes and say "Mommy is so sorry. I did not handle that well at all. I was wrong. Will you please forgive me?". It's exhausting, and I fail. A lot. 

Sometimes I look at one of my boys and think "Who are you? Where did you come from? Did I act like this as a child?" Often times I worry about a character trait they have that does not represent God.  It makes this mommy heart sad. But, I want to instruct them in a manner that is not forceful in those areas. I don't want to threaten them into being something because that's what I want. I want them to be more like Christ because they love Him.  

 It can be completely overwhelming to be a mother. Just when you think you have a little bit of a routine down, it gets completely thrown out of whack.  I always think of numerous things I would like to be doing more of as a mom. Things I need to teach them. Things I need to talk to them about.  Ways I need to pray for them. Special time I want to spend with them. It's easy to get caught up in our failures.  
I had ALOT of failures this week. Like, a ton. Our first day of school was on Monday. We have a 5th grader, 4th grader, and Kindergartner. 20 minutes into our school day, 2 out of 3 were in tears. I felt like joining them.  It was a rough day.  It didn't help that an hour into school, my middle son had an ortho appointment. He is in the process of getting braces, so it had to be done.  I also had to take my oldest to the chiropractor that morning.  He injured his neck the week before (he woke up 'crooked'), and after the chiro evaluated him, he said his injury was much worse than he thought at his prior evaluation a few days before. His back and neck were locked, he was having near constant neck spasms, and had apparently damaged the tissue in his neck. He's 10. Worrying about him and worrying about making the right decisions regarding him playing football = stressful moment.  We had to do several exercises for him throughout the day to drain fluid and help loosen things up.  We didn't finish school until 3:30 that day. Not fun. Scheduling appointments during school hours is not something I generally do. (Ordinarily I don't even answer the phone.) All of that scheduling nonsense was a bad idea on my part, but we made it!
Tuesday, I had an appointment that had been scheduled two months prior, to receive breast thermography (?). My mother in law, sister in law, and I went.  I have a fairly strong family history of breast cancer, being that my mom was diagnosed in her forties, and my maternal grandmother was diagnosed last year. The appointment was also during the middle of the morning, so it was another late school day for us. 
Wednesday my sweet grandpa was scheduled to come over at 1pm to talk to my boys about the importance of a strong mental game while playing sports. We scrambled to get done before he arrived, but didn't quite make it. Another late/long day of school.  
Thursday, our educational specialist came over at 1pm to test the boys and discuss the school year. Another long day, but much smoother :) 
Friday morning I had an OB/G appointment (scheduled several months ago). My hubs was able to swing by home and watch the boys during my appointment and EVEN do school with them. Wow! What a great guy :) He said it was really fun.  We didn't even finish all of our work Friday though, because I had to end up taking my little sister to the doctor and then to the ER.  She is 13 weeks preggo and was in the ER the night before for an apparent allergic reaction, but they thought it sounded more like a stroke.  Her hubby stayed home to watch her little ones, and most of our family was out of town, so I went with her.  Thankfully the MRI showed no stroke, but she still had weakness/numbness in her left arm, tongue, and left side of face. ScArY. 
Saturday = football day.  Our oldest was given the all clear to play (yesterday afternoon), much to my relief. My boys love football :) My husband coaches and is on the board, so it's always a long day, especially for him, but for some reason, I'm usually the most exhausted at the end of the day. 

I'm definitely not the busiest mom out there. I'm not the most stressed. Our life runs fairly smoothly and we are so blessed by amazing family who live nearby.  I have a husband who helps put kids to bed or shoos me out the door when he sees I'm stressed. But yet I still allow myself to sweat the small stuff. I still allow life to exhaust me. I have no clue why I do this. I even know I'm doing it! 
I worry about school, am I teaching them effectively? how can I help my oldest to not be so fearful? how can I help him to have a more kind and loving heart? how can I help my middle to not have such emotional breakdowns? how can I help my youngest to control his anger at his brothers? how can I fix them healthier meals? how can I spend more time with God? did I remember to pray for their future wife? their future friends? how can I be a better wife? how can I get more sleep? are the boys getting enough sleep? did I remember to pay all the bills? who is on snack duty this week so I can give them a heads up... Did I remember to wash the uniforms? 
You moms know the routine :) From grocery shopping, to laundry, to dishes, to cleaning, to scheduling appointments, to being a taxi, helping with homework, being a referee, being a cook, paying bills, cleaning out the fridge, and soooooooo much more, it's exhausting.  My encouragement to you, try not to let it overwhelm you.  We have an insane sock problem in our home. I literally have a basket full of lonely socks. Drives. Me. Crazy.  However, I try to have the mentality that it's not always going to be this way.  I'm not always going to have someone asking 100 questions.  I'm not always going to have 3 little boys that want to cuddle me when my to-do list is pages long. I'm not always going to have to deep clean the toilets like this.  This stage of life will fly by. It is flying by. Try to find joy in each role you play as a mom.  Allow your children to see you finding JoY in these different situations.  Don't allow them to always see you being stressed or exhausted. (I'm totally guilty of that.)  Let them see your joy :) 

At the Boardwalk... they mostly enjoy playing arcade games and trying to win tickets to buy 'prizes'. Pretty sure my husband is the biggest kid of all when it comes to these kinds of things ;)

                        He wanted his face painted so bad! He was extremely proud of 'spiderman' :)

            Our boys playing football, courtesy of the best team photographer EVER! (Mr. Stime)

Stevens Johnson Syndrome

Scariest moment of my life. Easily.
     
     Last fall my four year old had a reaction to a Cephalexin antibiotic. An RX that he had previously, with no incident. A very rare reaction.  I gave him the antibiotic before bed, and because of his high fever, he and I slept on the cozy sofa in the game room. He itched incessantly throughout the night, but because he has eczema (pretty bad), this isn't completely out of the ordinary for him. I didn't turn on the lights during the night to take a closer look. I had no reason to believe it was anything other than eczema. In the dark, I put some of his steroid cream on it (which I rarely ever use), as well as Aquaphor. It didn't help. In the morning I was amazed when I looked at his little skin. (To be honest with you, I am only fairly certain it was Cephalexin, it could have been Children's Advil. I can't say with 100% certainty.) 
    
      I have wanted to write about this for a while now, but have been unable to put our experience into words. It still brings up such raw emotion in me, brings me to tears, and completely humbles me. Our story could have had such a different ending, and only because of maternal instinct, which can be summed up best as: BY THE GRACE OF GOD, we have a completely healthy five year old today. 

     Throughout the night, my sweet boy had developed an extremely abnormal, unusual, bizarre, atypical, significant (choose any synonym you want) rash, that was predominantly on his lower body. I read the information packet given to me by the pharmacist that describes the RX, and it stated; "Call your doctor right away if you notice... rash...". So, I did call the doctor right away. I spoke with the receptionist who did not take me seriously at all. She said that the doctor would be able to get back to me by the end of the day. I explained to her that I was not overreacting, and my child had a previous mild reaction to amoxicillan, and this was completely different. She reminded me again that the doctor would contact me before the end of the day.Within two hours it started to spread to his ears, hands, and elbows. I called the doctors office again. They suggested I "stop the medication and look forward to a call from the doctor by the end of the day". It was extremely frustrating. I asked them SEVERAL times if there was ANYONE I could email a picture of his 'rash' to, but of course, there was not. 

     I texted a picture of my sons skin to my mother in law, who happened to be at a pharmacy picking up a prescription, and she showed it to the pharmacist. The pharmacist told my MIL that it definitely didn't look like a normal allergic reaction to a medicine and we should call the doctor right away. So, I called the doctor. Again. For the third time in 3 hours. And, for the third time I was ignored. 

     I didn't know what to do. It definitely didn't seem like something we needed to go to the ER for, but I just knew that it wasn't a normal reaction. That day was a really rough day. My little sweetie was very uncomfortable. At the end of the day, when I FINALLY heard from the doctor, he suggested I stop the medication, and they could write me a prescription for something else. I was not very fond of this particular doctor to begin with, and by this point, I really disliked him. The receptionist and the doctor did not need to tell me to stop the medication. I only administered ONE dose to Brody, which was done the night before. I felt like shouting "DUH!" at them. 

     The next morning his rash looked even worse. There were little bubbly spots on his fingers, hands, and feet. I called the doctor the second they opened. The said they could get me in that afternoon. Ugh. I was really interested to find out what was going on, so I called several different pharmacists, describing what was going on. Every single one of them was much more helpful than the pediatrician I had spoken with the day before. All of this prompted me to do some online research. The one thing that kept coming up was Stevens Johnsons Syndrome, or SJS.  Very scary. Very serious. Can be fatal.  I told my mom on the phone before Brody's appointment that I thought it might be SJS. She thought I was being dramatic. My intuition told me otherwise. I just had a feeling.  I packed a very small hospital bag just in case. All five of us went to the doctor appointment together. 

     We saw a brand new doctor that day. In fact, we saw the ONLY doctor in this area who was familiar with this condition. How is that for luck? Beyond crazy. Too bad I don't believe in luck. I do believe in God's hand of protection. SJS is so RARE. This doctor, this amazing, brand new doctor, looked over my baby and quietly told me my worst fear. SJS. I tried so hard to hold it together. I had done my research. I knew what this condition did. I knew what it looked like, and I saw how people ended up. This is a condition that basically burns you from the inside out. It is a life threatening skin condition. You can't stop it. There is no cure, only supportive care to help ease the pain of the patient.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stevens-johnson-syndrome/DS00940

     
      I had to leave the room so I could cry without my boys seeing me. I didn't want to scare them. I allowed myself one minute. We were told we would need to wait while they called the hospital to get a room ready for Brody. After my one minute was up, I phoned our parents, who dropped everything they were doing to meet us at the hospital. 

     When I said that our doctor was the only one in this area who was familiar, I wasn't joking. She just happened to study at Georgetown, where she 'just happened' to see several SJS patients. This condition is so rare, that few doctors have actually ever seen it. We were blessed to get one who was very familiar with it. 

http://sjsupport.org/

     When we arrived at the hospital they took Brody to his room right away, while I stayed to fill out the mounds of tedious paperwork. About that time our parents arrived. Our parents were devastated. I had never seen them so upset, so worried, so broken. I felt like I matured a lot that night, whether it was peace or adrenaline, or both, and I felt like I was the one providing comfort to them. If you have ever been in one of these situations, you understand. You don't have a choice, you just react. 

     Once situated in our room, Brody was assigned a hospitalist, and unfortunately, our pediatrician who was familiar with SJS, was gone. We were stuck with a doctor who had barely heard of SJS let alone seen it. Each time he came to check on Brody, which was several times a day, he brought numerous different individuals with him; to come see the 'medical mystery'. That was fun. It was tough, I'm not going to lie. The first night was AWFUL. My baby scratched and clawed at his skin all night long. 

     The next day the doctor said he wanted to start Brody on a steroid, and if there wasn't marked improvement within several hours we would need to transfer to Stanford to be near a burn unit. Scary. I was receiving so much pressure from family members, who had done their own research on SJS, that thought we needed to transfer Brody somewhere else; out of our small town hospital. I felt a little overwhelmed on what to do. 

     When the doctor checked Brody that afternoon, he said his 'spots' looked better. I disagreed. My husband disagreed. Our family disagreed. We thought they looked worse. We had been with him all along, watching this thing progress. I had taken tons of photos to document what was happening on his skin. He now had 'spot's on his mouth, lips, face, in his nose, and his arms were starting to get covered. It looked terrible. My sweet baby did not look good. We tried to explain this to the doctor. He was only going off of memory. Nothing else. He said we should give it until the next morning. By the morning his spots had started to dry out and turn a very dark red, but it didn't look like new spots were appearing.  There was really nothing else they could do for him at this point, we could monitor him at home, so he was discharged.  My sweet, little boy sat in a giant wheelchair and was wheeled out of the hospital. It was such a sad sight, but a relief to be going home.

     I was given a giant packet of discharge instructions. Those steroids were no joke. He got puffy. He gained weight. He had to pee every 5-10 minutes. His brothers teased him about being on steroids and being a muscle man, his nickname was Melky (for Melky Cabrera). It was no bueno. But the worst of it, not related to the steroids, was that his skin started peel off. It was so disgusting. It was mostly on his feet, hands, and knees. It looked like a pile of cornflakes in his bed. So disgusting. 

     All of this led to lab work, 2 echo cardiograms, finding out that he previously had Kawasaki Disease, seeing numerous specialists at the Children's Hospital, and being scared to death to EVER give him another RX again.  It was a long several months. But it's over :) I don't think about it much at all. Although I will say that I shed a few tears while writing this. And I sobbed while looking at the pictures, vividly recalling our experience. 

    This happened from just

ONE DOSE of RX. One dose. Can you imagine if he had more? It's something I would rather not think about. That first evening Brody was admitted, Psalm 57:7 kept running through my head. "My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music." That verse was very comforting to me. And, I'm not sure if you believe in the power of prayer, but WOW, did we have some amazing people praying for us. On our way to the hospital I put these 7 words on a facebook post; "Pray for my sweet Brody please. Thanks". Nobody asked questions, they just prayed. We felt those prayers. And we appreciated them so incredibly much. We basically had the best possible outcome to our situation that their could be. Wow. How great is our God?

This is the first time I have posted any pics. I am only doing this with the hope that this might help someone else. 

 It started off like this...

 Spread to nose, ears, and mouth (some sores were inside mouth) :(

 This is what they looked like before they flattened and started to dry out. 

 It basically burns you from inside out... you can see how bright red his foot is, it looks burnt.

 See all that lovely peeling? So sad. 

 NOT cornflakes - it's dry skin that peeled off while he was sleeping!

 My sweet, sweet baby. The 'spots' started drying up. 

This still just blows my mind. 

His knee

"bubbling up"

This is what he looked like when the doctor (who sent us to the hospital) examined him. 

Notice how the skin is just bubbling up - it's burning from the inside. It's burning the skin and then it peeled off. Sooooo crazy. 

What it's like

     I am always so amazed at how 'easy' it is when one kid gets taken out of the mix. It doesn't matter which kid, but something about the dynamic of 2 versus 3 is so much easier. Cameron stayed at my in-laws last night, which gave Logan and Brody some "best-bud" time. Then, my mother in law graciously took the boys to see Epic, and I almost didn't know what to do with myself ;) Should I pay bills, exercise, do laundry, do dishes, clean, read??? So, I decided to do something that I don't normally get to do when the boys are around... go for a walk. Pretty mellow stuff. It was a rare occasion in which I didn't have scooters nipping at my heels, or having to answer thousands of highly intellectual questions.  Moments like that, although infrequent, are so nice because they give me an opportunity to think, pray, and reflect. 

     While walking today, one thought in particular stood out far above the others; "So this is what it would be like EVERY single day if my boys were in 'regular' school (as opposed to homeschool). I would have so much free time."  But guess what? I didn't feel like I was missing out.  Correction, I don't feel like I am missing out. 

     As many of you know, homeschool was never in 'our plan'. I never had a desire to be that mom, or quite frankly, to have those kids.  We all know that most homeschool kids have a 'label' attached to them, it might be a positive connotation, but more likely it is 'nerdy', 'anti-social', or 'weird'.  I'm not going to lie, I labeled 'them'.  I attended a home school conference.  I didn't fit in... at all.  I wear makeup, and many of those precious women do not care about that. High five to them, but I like makeup, and I would probably get really tired of people asking me if I was sick, when in reality, I was just bare faced.  Many of those sweet women also sew their own clothes.  Considering it takes me about 3 months to sew the arms back on the boys stuffed animals, I would probably be in the same dress everyday, and it would have just one sleeve sewn on.  The biggest difference I noted between most of the home school families and myself was that our boys play sports.  Most of the mothers I spoke with said that they either didn't believe in sports, or their children weren't interested. Our boys play sports 12 months out of the year. Sports has been a big reason why homeschool does work so well for us. And, outside of the homeschool conference world, we have met numerous wonderful families who are similar to us :)

     This isn't a post about why you should homeschool, because it's definitely not for everyone. However, I'm amazed by the moms who find out that we homeschool and look at me in bewilderment and say "Wow, that's really great, but I could never do that."  There is nothing that sets me apart from them... aside from the fact that I have a desire to homeschool. It's as simple as that. Not everyone has that desire, and that's OK! I didn't always have that desire :)  I just decided that I really wanted to spend more time with my kids. I wanted to be the one to raise them. I desire to be their main influence. I desire for them to have more rest. I desire for them to stay innocent for as long as possible. I desire to cater to each of their educational needs. I desire so much more for them than what they were receiving in traditional school. Homeschool allows us those things. It works for us. On most days it works really great for us. It is time consuming, and some days it's really hard, but 90% of the time it is smooth(ish) sailing. The boys thank me for homeschooling them.  They enjoy it, which is a blessing, because it would be really difficult if they didn't. There are rough days, days where I am not proud of my behavior or reactions to situations. Thankfully those are outnumbered by the good days :) 

     When school was ending several weeks ago, I spoke with many mothers who said that their kids were already driving them up a wall. They (guiltily) said they were looking forward to the end of summer vacation.  I can understand what they are saying. I remember those first couple of weeks after school got out and my boys didn't know what to do with themselves. They would constantly bicker and be bored out of their minds by 9am.  Homeschool has given us such a cool routine that the boys have learned how to keep themselves busy. It's normal for them to be home during the day, so we didn't have to go through that 'adjustment period'.  I don't feel like I have to entertain them. They aren't coming to me throughout the day stating that they are bored. Do you know how awesome that is? 

  Homeschool has been such a blessing for our family in more ways than one. Our boys have been extremely healthy this past year. Our boys aren't constantly asking for cell phones because all of their school friends have one. Logan still thinks that the 'S' word is shut-up. We no longer have to rush home from school, rush to get our homework packet done, rush to eat a snack, rush off to practice, rush back home to eat dinner, and rush off to shower & bed. I LOVE THAT.  And guess what? My boys PLAY again! I mean, they literally find stuff to play all day long. They are imaginative again. They are creative again. They have free time again. They were starting to get to the point where it was 'lame to play with toys', according to Cam's fellow second graders. Seriously? Last week my sweet boy sat down at the ballpark and played in the dirt and rocks for one hour straight. He's 10. I believe that is so important for little boys. To be little boys. Can I say that again? I strongly believe that it is So important for LITTLE BOYS to be LITTLE BOYS. 

     So, for now, we will be 'that' homeschool family. We don't necessarily fit the mold, (I would like to think that we have created our own mold or trend) but here we are.  And we love it :)

       

Our year in review

      Well, I must say that I am amazed at the rate in which this year has flown by. 2012 was a blessed year, albeit a crazy and interesting one. Mark and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary last month, Cameron recently turned 10, Logan is 8 1/2, and Brody is 4 1/2. We have certainly had our share of new experiences and memorable mishaps this year, however, we have realized we are more blessed than ever, and have grown closer as a result.

     This year, in which there were 366 days, I can assure you that we made the most of each and every day. Our year started with basketball season, a simple season for us, with an hour long commitment per each boy on Saturdays. That led to Cameron being invited to play on a travel ball team = bump up commitment to weeknight practices and out of town weekend tournaments, hence the title 'travel ball'. We definitely traveled; countless trips to the bay area, Tulare, and a large Reno tournament. A highlight of basketball season was Logan scoring 34 one game, they won 39-19. He generally accounted for 90% of his teams points each game. Brody got to experience his first year of team play with a basketball league for 4's and 5's. Brody would excitedly remind us after each game that his team 'won the championship'. Despite scoring several points, his biggest strength on the court however, was his enthusiasm and the uncanny ability to 'skip' down the court while simultaneously shrugging his shoulder. He loved every second of it and so did we. In fact, we loved basketball season so much, we spent 67 days at games/practices this year, not including games in which we were simply 'spectators'.

     Basketball extended into baseball, which happens to be Mark's favorite season. Mark coached Cameron's team, the Giants, while Logan played for the A's in the younger division. Logan's team won the championship, losing only one game, He played 3^rd, short, 2^nd, and even pitched some, the joys of being an 8 year old! After regular season, Cameron was chosen for Bel Passi All-Stars. All-star season was long and included a lot of traveling, but it was also a lot of fun. We really enjoyed making new friends and watching Cameron grow as an athlete. Our family loved baseball season so much, that between my four boys (Mark is zealous about his softball league), we attended over 175 baseball games/practices/lessons.

     Baseball lovingly overlapped football. My wonderfully involved hubby was head coach of Logan's football team and the Athletic Director (of their football program). It was such a blessing to have my husband be so involved with all of the sports this year. It took up a lot of his time, but I know he wouldn't have it any other way. Between the boys, we attended around 130 games/practices/meetings during the 2012 football season. I absolutely loved watching the boys during football season, some of my favorite highlights from the season were; watching Logan score 3 TD's on 3 carries, watching Cameron run for a 95yd TD, watching Logan literally steamroll his opponents, and watching Cameron chase a kid about 70 yards to make a touchdown saving tackle. Cam's team went 13-0, winning back-to-back Super bowl Championships, and Logan's team only had one loss early in the season. Our boys get so pumped for football!

     Brody's highlight of the year was taking tennis lessons. All three boys played, but it was Brody's favorite. Tennis count = 36 lessons. Having a strong desire for the boys to be well rounded they also took piano lessons. They really enjoyed their lessons, but unfortunately we got too busy to start up again this fall. While playing Beethoven during one lesson, the piano instructor asked Logan if he had ever heard of Beethoven. His reply, “No, but I have seen the movie.” Music lessons = 33. Being the 'fun family' that we are, we were also invited to 50+ birthday parties/showers/weddings this year.

     Other exciting ventures for the Butler Family of Five in 2012 included, but were not limited to; 2 ski/snowboard trips (it was clear in the first 10 minutes that we are a family who excels in rather fast & uncontrolled downhill movement as opposed to graceful and controlled), basketball camps, 2 vacation bible schools, Disneyland, LegoLand, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, our first hockey game, Giants games, 49ers games, Kings game, NUTS games, the Exploratorium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cover's Apple Ranch, a cabin trip, and landscaping our backyard, in which Brody fervently prayed that we would find 'beautiful & nice' plants for our yard. We also documented approximately 65 doctor and dental visits. I will state, for the record, that this has been our most interesting medical year to date. Between our three boys, there have been numerous x-rays on various parts of the body, a concussion during football practice, blood, giant knots on heads, hundreds of bruises, deep bone contusions, blood, breathing treatments & injections, a bloody eye (that's right, a bloody eye. Logan actually cut the lower part of his eyeball which required an emergency opthalmology appt.), orthopedic appointments, blood, podiatry appointments including special inserts for shoes, labs for mono, labs for rheumatoid arthritis, 2 echo-cardiograms, blood, and several other sets of lab work – just for the boys.

     Do you realize that you are not a true warrior until you take all 3 of your children for blood work at the same time? Cameron completed his labs great, thankfully, but Logan and Brody started crying long before the needle came near. It took 9 tries and 3 separate visits to complete labs for the younger boys. I will admit that I had hoped someone was secretly filming us so we could 'win' a lot of money. It was entertainment at it's finest.

     I could possibly write a short novel on the enthralling medical path Brody has taken this year, however, I will keep it short. In September Brody had a rare and severe allergic reaction to an RX he had taken before, and when I say rare, I mean that 1 out of 1 million people get it each year. Very few, if any doctors in this area have even seen Stevens Johnson Syndrome. SJS is a condition that basically burns you from the inside out. It is absolutely horrific for those with more serious cases. There is nothing you can do to stop it, only supportive care. It was a great blessing that Brody only had one dose of the RX he reacted to, and an even greater blessing that so many were praying for us. He was in the hospital for several days, and it took a while for all of the 'spots' to clear up, but he is wonderfully healthy now. As a result of this experience, he had to visit specialists at Children's Hospital, which led to heart testing, which led to speaking to a heart doctor who specializes in Kawasaki disease. This doctor told us he was 99% certain Brody had Kawasaki Disease about a month before he got SJS. Kawasaki is another fairly rare disease, but thankfully after several tests, Brody has shown no long term effects from this. It is so humbling to think of God's Hand of protection in our lives.

     It is probably a result of all these 'events' that has caused 2012 to fly by for us. The only reason we have been able to maintain such a crazy schedule is because I homeschool the boys. It is so nice to actually spend time with them throughout the day. It's definitely not for everyone, and it has made things more assiduous for me, but, it has truly been a blessing. I never envisioned being a 'homeschool mom', but I am; hopefully you will not be disappointed by the fact that I do not make my own clothes nor did I discontinue my use of makeup. We aren't what you call a traditional homeschool family, but it's working for us.

     We just finished an entire month of nothingness (aside from parties, basketball tryouts, baseball tryouts, etc). It was amazing! Our favorite thing to do = family Mario Kart. I never envisioned being a mommy of boys would be SO MUCH FUN! It's a little smelly and gross at times, but thankfully Mark can sense when the smell is too much for me, and does a wonderful job of encouraging me to have some girl time. I appreciate that so much! I get to be the Queen and Princess in my home. My precious boys bring me 'jewelry' from vending machines and dental prize rooms, I have hundreds of 'love' letters, and they fight over who is going to marry me. I can assure you that it's not always flowers and love letters though. We are, after all, trying to raise men who love the Lord with all their heart. It can be extremely overwhelming in trying to raise Godly men, but I know the reward will be far greater. So while my patience isn't always at it's best, and I still allow myself to get stressed out when we're running behind (frequently!), I am continually amazed at the ways in which God has blessed our family of five, and I look forward to learning, growing, and making new memories in 2013.