August, Part 6: Johnny's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Oh, my sweet, sweet Johnny. His first day of kindergarten was a little bittersweet because it also happened to be the day that we had to go in to have his stitches removed. He was feeling a lot of anxiety about starting elementary school and he was also really stressed about having his stitches removed--especially since they hadn't numbed him sufficiently when he got the stitches and the pain he felt when he got them was still very, very fresh in his mind.

Jeremiah was gone on another business trip, so my mom came to watch Dan while I took Johnny to get his stitches taken out. Peter, of course, was at school. Thank you again, Mom! You were a lifesaver that day and the day that Johnny had to get his stitches!

I wish I could say that it was a piece of cake to get the stitches removed, but it wasn't. It was pretty hard to keep Johnny calm. He was so stressed out and was freaking out a little bit. However, as with all things, time passes, and things get accomplished. Johnny got his stitches out, even if it wasn't effortless or painless. We then headed home, took some first day of school pictures, got some lunch, and then headed off to school. It was early out day, so I dropped Johnny off to school at 12:30 p.m. and by 2:30 p.m. he had already completed his first day of school. Mom was already ready for bedtime. Ha ha! However, even though it was hours until bedtime, bedtime still came soon enough and life goes on! On to another day!

Above: After the crazy morning of getting his stitches out, he was all smiles!

Above: I love this sweet handsome boy of mine!

Above: My sweet Johnny is in elementary school now!

August, Part 5: A Pretty Rotten Day

Daniel's actual birthday (August 23rd) was a pretty terrible day. We ended up celebrating Daniel's birthday on August 22nd because Jeremiah had to leave on a business trip. Perhaps that was a good day since Dan's actual birthday was not a good day.

Peter started the day by coming up the stairs and then collapsing to the ground and crying. Apparently (and unbeknownst to me until that moment), Peter had gotten injured at soccer practice the night before. Dan had a follow-up visit in the afternoon that day because he had gotten croup the Friday before (my only kid to ever get it). So, I took all of the kids to Dan's follow-up appointment and had an appointment set up for even later in the afternoon to get Peter's leg looked at. Mercifully, the doctor looked at both Dan and Peter during the same appointment time so that I didn't have to come back. She said that she didn't think Peter's leg was broken, but just to be safe, we should go and have it x-rayed. Yuck. So, after the appointment with our pediatrician (their office is at St. Mark's), we drove to the Intermountain Medical Center to get Peter an X-ray. Luckily, we found out later, that Peter did not have a broken leg, but his leg was swollen and he needed to take it easy for a couple of weeks to let it heal, so he had to take a break from soccer games for a bit.

That night, after putting Dan to bed, the boys and I had some much needed mellow time together and watched a little Studio C. We needed to unwind and have a good laugh. We stayed up later than I intended, and right as I was herding the kids to their beds, Johnny fell off the couch and hit his face against the ottoman and bit through his lower lip in the process. Since Jeremiah was out of town, I had to call my mom to come over (so that both Dan and Peter could sleep). She got there around 10:20 p.m. and I headed off to the ER with Johnny. Poor Johnny. They did a lousy job of numbing his lip and when they gave him his stitches (he had to have two), he totally felt it and the pain wasn't numbed at all. :( It made me so sad. It really hurt him. I was fighting back the tears as I was trying to comfort him. We got home at 12:30 a.m. Bless my mom's heart for helping me out. She didn't get home until around 1 a.m. What a long and tiring day. I hate days like that.

Above: Sweet Johnny was so sad. :(

Above: Ouch.

Above: They really thought this would do a good enough job of numbing his lip? Well, I learned a lot from this experience for sure. I will be asking a lot more questions and trusting a little bit less that they know exactly what they are doing. I was so sad that those stitches were so painful for Johnny.

August, Part 4: Celebrating Dan's First Birthday!

Happy birthday to my sweet Dan! This little guy has brought me so much happiness. He is such a sweet, good-natured, smiley guy. He has been so patient with me over the past few months as I had to pack up our old house and unpack and organize our new house. I sure love this little boy. He's crawling like a champ now and loves the freedom of being able to get around on his own rather than relying on others. Happy first birthday, Dan!

We actually celebrated Dan's birthday on August 22nd rather than the 23rd because Jeremiah had to leave on a business trip. It was kind of a crazy day because Peter had soccer practice in the evening, so we had to fit dinner, cake, ice cream, and birthday presents around Peter's soccer practice.

Above: I went simple on Dan's cake this year. I just didn't have a fancy cake in me this year.

Above: We did have cupcakes too though. I felt that the cupcakes would be easier for Dan to eat than cake.

Above: Peter decorated his own cupcake.

Above: Johnny decorated his cupcake too.

Above: Dan was not a fan of everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him.

Above: In fact, the whole process stressed him out quite a bit.

Above: Dan wasn't quite sure what to do with his cupcake.

Above: I tried to give him some instructions, but he pretty much just bopped himself in the face with his cupcake without actually ingesting any of it.

Above: My sweet Dan didn't stay concerned for long though. This guy loves to smile and he enjoys life to the fullest.

Above: Dad was better at helping Dan figure out how to eat his cupcake than Mom was.

Above: Cupcakes are yummy, but messy!

Above: Silly Johnny.

Above: Sweet Johnny.

Above: Dan didn't eat much of his cupcake, but he sure had a lot of fun making a mess with it! 

Above: What a ham!

Above: I love this animated, handsome guy!

Above: This sweet and handsome guy needs a bath!

Above: After a quick bath to wash off all of that frosting, Dan is ready to open presents!

Above: Pete was a big help opening the presents.

Above: Everyone had a fun time practicing juggling with Dan's new balls.

Above: Dad is pretty good at it!

Above: We celebrated a little later with Nammy.

Above: What a great birthday! Dan got some really fun things and some awesome books. Yay for this sweet boy who is now one!