Revenge of the Goiter!

The Goiter has sensed that I have spoken ill of it and has now reached it's vengeful tentacles into our lives. Poor, sweet Finn will be admitted to Banner Desert hospital within the hour. He will be placed on IV antibiotics for 24 hours and at a 1pm tomorrow the ENT specialist will perform a minor surgery to drain his mump.

Wishes and prayers are appreciated.

Green Pancakes, no ham

Being Saturday, Jackson and I thought we would like to eat green pancakes for breakfast. Why green you ask? Why not. We ate them with fresh strawberries and pineapple and syrup.

At our house we call syrup "tree blood" because we want our sons to realize exactly what kind of environmental damage they reap with their selfish penchant for sweets.

Just kidding. That's twisted. What's wrong with you?

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter holiday. Our neighborhood threw a huge Easter egg hunt with 10,000 eggs AND orange juice AND donuts. :)

Jackson (but really Finn) found the prize egg and won a huge basket filled with sports stuff - he was so proud.

Jackson insisted that we purchase carrots for the Easter Bunny and he left them beneath his little table before bed. The Easter Bunny forgot to set her alarm and woke up in a panic at 6:13 am. I dashed through the house placing baskets and eggs and then ran to the backyard to chuck eggs at the lawn. I crawled back in bed when I remembered that I hadn't eaten my carrots! I grabbed the carrots and replaced them with an egg and headed back to bed. Just as I closed my eyes I heard a creaking noise from down the hall. I kept waiting for Jackson to rush to my room in excitement, but I just heard little movements here and there. I finally had to call for him. He runs to my room stark naked and tells me "there's eggs all over the backyard! I must get them!" So we got dressed and collected all our Easter goodies. Their baskets contained some much needed swim trunks for the summer (thanks Easter Nonna) and some summer shoes too. Jackson got practice golf balls in his eggs and a few whopper eggs, Finn got no candy at all, but did get 101 Dalmations. All in all we had a nice family weekend.

Happy Birthday Baby Brother!!!

Your nephews miss you.

Lunchtime

"Please just sit down and try and be careful with your lunch, Jackson"

"I better eat naked."

Date night....

I took Jackson on a date last night to rent movies and then Amazing Jake's. Wow. I can't even talk about it. Wow.

The whole drive there I told him we were going on a love boat so we could smooch.
"NO MOM!!! I don't want to go on a love boat!" he wails from the back seat.

"If we don't go on a love boat, how am I going to get smooched?" I ask.

He gives this some thought, "Okay, maybe I give you ONE kiss at the movie store."

"No way, I want lots of kisses. The love boat it is."

"Noooo please mom, no love boat!!!"

"What if we did pizza and games then?"

"Oh! Piper Piper Pizza would really cheer me up, mama!"

Irresistible, my son.

The Goiter....

The MMR
Finn received his first MMR immunization 6 weeks ago and within 24 hours had a giant mump on his neck. His lymph node is so swollen he looks like Quasimodo after swallowing a golf ball. We promptly took him to a pediatric urgent care where we came home with absolutely no helpful diagnosis ("it's a reaction to the immunization") but we did come home with a vile case of the rota virus. We followed up with a pediatrician only to receive the same non-diagnosis "it's a mild reaction to the MMR". Flash forward 3 weeks and Finn still has a giant goiter. We returned to the pediatrician and Finn was placed on a diarrhea causing antibiotic that did nothing for the lump. We were also referred to the ENT specialist which is where we went this morning.

The ENT:
After waiting 2 1/2 weeks to be seen (and told we were lucky to get in that quickly) we finally arrived at the office this morning. I had, of course, diligently filled out the 7 pages of paperwork they had mailed to me so that our visit would not be unnecessarily prolonged. I turned in the 3 page medical history documenting Finn's tobacco, alcohol, and recreational drug use, as well as a complete history of every medical condition known to man. I tell the nurse, "we were unsure if we should check depression and claustrophobia, because it's really only mild and we didn't know if this meant 'clinical'." The nurse returns a look completely devoid of humor and replies, "you can go over that in depth with your doctor".
"He's 13 months old," I mutter, "bad joke,.. he's not claustrophobic... I'll just sit down...now."
I spend an hour in the waiting room begging Jackson to just "please sit down and watch the cartoon" while engaging in a WWE match with Finn fit for pay-per-view. Suddenly, a small girl enters my personal space .... and then invades it. Before I know what is going on this bowl-cut, pinched-faced, child is on my lap without a sound. Okay.....where's her mom? I'm sure any moment her mother will tell her that it's completely inappropriate to climb on strangers....... I look about the waiting room. Silence. I spend the next ten minutes reading to my children and my new adoptee wondering if someone will see if I push her.
When we finally see the doctor she enters wearing a full-blown surgical mask, and one of those old school headbands with the metal circle. I still have no idea what she looks like. She examines Finn for less than 10 minutes and sends us on our way with ANOTHER prescription for ANOTHER antibiotic (oh gee, I hope this one causes diarrhea) and tells us if he's not better in another 10 days we'll do a CT scan.
I can't believe I waited 2 1/2 weeks for this. And my son still has a giant Goiter. The other children will call him "mumpy" and he'll never have any friends.

Oh how I HATE that Max and Ruby!!!! Where in the world are their parents? Why is poor Ruby forced to take care of bratty little Max's every need? What about Ruby's needs? Maybe Ruby would like to just go play with her dolls or go to bunny scouts without being worried whether or not Max is trying to eat ice cream for breakfast. Why is Max's breakfast Ruby's problem? Was she the one who decided to have another kid? I think not! I am angry and resentful over Ruby's usurped childhood. I just hope her parents pony up for all the therapy she's going to need.

One year....

As we approach a new Easter I cannot believe a year has passed so quickly. My boys are growing before my eyes.

My Jackson is unbelievably grown in so many ways. His independence asserts itself in little ways ; he likes to wear his underwear backwards "so the transformers can be in the front" he says. "Knock yourself out" I say. He wanted the training wheels off his bike after the first ride. "I am the boss of brother" he insists proudly.

My always sweet Finn is beginning to display a stubborn streak that one would never suspect is lurking behind his cherubic smile - I'm nervous that it is a preview of moments to come. He is so vocal - so much that chatterbox Jackson tells him "brother, stop yelling! I'm sick of you yelling all the time!" Finn replies louder, "DA DA DA DA DA DA DA!" He thinks he's the big time when he gets to walk around by himself and he loves to get chased. Now if he would just stop putting stuff in his mouth........

Zoom in .....

On Jackson and I driving in the car sharing a veggie tray. Jackson takes a bite of a cherry tomato which promptly burts all over his shirt and blanket - he loses his cool completely.

"Jackson we will go home and wash your blanket. It will be fine."
"No mom! He's people!"
"Okay, Jackson, he's people."
"No mom, he's REAL people."
"Okay, Jackson, we will go home and put him in the washer."
(distressed) "People not go in the washer mom!"
"Okay, Jackson, we will go home and give him a bath."
(interested) "In the bath tub?"
(I picture myself trying to wring out a sopping blankie in the bathtub)
"No, Jackson, in the washer."
"Okay, mama"