Blood Bath

It's been a bloodbath around here. Two and a half weeks ago Graham bit me while nursing like I have never been bit before. He drew blood and left two tiny teeth marks. I thought after the scream of pain I let out he would never try THAT again but proceeded to do it on the other side, although not as bad. I almost gave up nursing on the spot. I am still healing.

Then this week Ethan was caught making potions in the bathtub with the cherry hand soap.

He called it his BLOOD BATH.

And lastly, today Zach invited over one of the sweetest boys we know after school. As I was hanging up the phone with his mother, I heard a scream and crying from someone that was not my kid.

I went running down the hall to see sweet Carlos crying, holding his nose and blood POURING out of him. Apparently Ethan had hit him with a toy. He did not intend to maim him, but was just too rough, as he often is. Blood was dripping everywhere, as it does with nose injuries, so I quickly sent Ethan to his room, set Graham down, and took Carlos to the kitchen for some towels. It was there that I began to think this was more than a nose bleed. I won't go into graphic detail but I think the nose may be broken.

While trying to help Carlos I called Chris on speaker phone to get home ASAP because Graham was hysterical, Ethan frantic, and Zach was running around screaming, "I've never seen so much blood before!" I just needed an extra pair of adult hands and quickly. The poor guy has never ridden home so hard in his life because all he heard was, "HOME NOW, BLOOD!" and chaos in the back ground.

How do you say sorry adequately to a mother when your 3.5 year old unintentionally disfigures their child's face?

By the time I got Carlos home the bleeding had stopped and the swelling had begun. His mother was not upset (she has two boys) and Carlos' biggest concern was that he wouldn't be invited over again.

Bedtime Battles

Does this sound familiar?

In a whiny voice:

Just one more story... pleeeaaaseee!

I need a drink. No, you'll wet the bed. But I'm so thirsty I'll die!

There's too much light.

There's not enough light.

Where's my teddy?

I just need to go potty one more time.

I'm NOT tired!

I hear something creepy outside.

He keeps talking, I can't sleep.

He won't get out of my bed.

Mom, just one more thing...

I don't want to miss Letterman!

Okay, maybe not the last one, but these are the usual bedtime battles we have-- as well as the completely-coming-out-of-the-room. If they dare do it three times my angry mom comes out.

That is until we put them on their school schedule of being up at 6:30AM and go, go, go until the blessed hour of 7:30pm... one of my favorite times of the day. Chris and I actually have a bit of an evening now. 

The night before school started we had a battle of another kind: lightsaber vs. Nerf gun.

This went on for about 20 minutes... and Chris couldn't understand why they didn't want to go to bed.

1 Down 2 To Go

I don't know who has been more excited about Zach starting school, he or I. When anyone would ask what he was most excited about he always responded MATH! I'm not sure why, because I'm numerically challenged, but Chris is, well, an engineer. I have a feeling Zach is going to do very well in school academically.

One who is not excited about all this...

is Zach's shadow Ethan.

It will be interesting to see who Ethan befriends in playgroups because he has always played with Zach

and his friends, or at least tried to.

Zach insisted on wearing his new favorite shirt of a Lego skater. He got it three days ago and I had to sneak it away to wash it for the big day.

We all headed off for the long (three minute) walk to school. Although the school is just across the street, the entrance isn't. Then we had to wait for the security guards to let everyone in.

All the nervous Kindergartners huddled up and watched as the big kids lined up before entering into the school.

A few last minute words of encouragement from Dad.

And then Ethan broke away from me to do this...

At first everyone thought Ethan was trying to line up with the big kids but he just had to give one last hug goodbye to his best friend.

Exploration....At A Price

No, his horns aren't sprouting... he's just been exploring. The one on his right side is when he found the bed frame hidden behind the bed skirt. The one on the left is from when he tested the durability of a porcelain toilet.

Graham is ten months. He thinks all bottom draws must be inspected... repeatedly. He loves anything with a hinge that opens and shuts. After several rounds of pinched fingers, I've had to be creative and ensure drawers don't shut completely. Oh, and the dropping game is ever so much fun.

Yesterday was one of those happy...

to sad...

to really sad in seconds days. He was like this most of the day and we're not sure why. New teeth? Bad milk? Mint Milanos were on the 50% off shelf (near expiration) at the commissary so I've been indulging. In the past he has not liked it when I eat dark chocolate.

Whenever Graham gets close to something he shouldn't (Legos, paper, anything the boys have constructed) they start yelling RED ALERT, RED ALERT and then Ethan takes it upon himself to remove Graham from the situation. Sometimes it's helpful and sometimes it's downright more dangerous than the initial problem.

Today when the boys heard Graham awake in his room they jumped in his bed and started jumping around singing, "You're the cutest baby around! You're the cutest baby around!" Chris and I agree, 100%.

Decorating Disappointment

Zach and Ethan spent the other afternoon decorating the outside of the house.

It was HOT, but by this time of the day the porch was in the shadows. They made posters, invitations, and games for Ethan's birthday. Anytime someone would walk by they would run out and invite them to the party. Ethan really wants to celebrate his birthday but it isn't until November.

While the boys were outside decorating I was inside doing a bit of decorating of my own. I wanted something bold on this huge wall. When I saw these vinyl wall decals at IKEA I thought they would look great. I have used Uppercase Living vinyl wall words with great success in other parts of the house...

but these are peeling and falling off my wall as I write this. The humidity that just rolled in and the wall texture make for a bad combination. A complete decorating disappointment. Oh well, I just laugh each time the boys bring me another sticker. One fell on Graham yesterday and he became totally frustrated trying to unstick himself.

Update

Happy Graham is back and sleeping through the night. The boys are on a new sleeping schedule for school. Now we have breakfast with DAD in the morning. So long, peaceful scripture study over breakfast!

THE MOUSE IS GONE! I had pest control leave me a stack of those sticky traps. I went nutso all over my kitchen with them last night and it was caught within an hour. Mice do not scare me, but I just want to vomit when I think about it running on my counters.

I Was That Tired

On our third night home I was spent by early evening. I had fallen asleep on the bed while Chris was in the shower. I guess Ethan had gotten up and built this booby trap. I heard nothing until Chris called for help.

I was sooooo tired I moved the mats and chair and left everything else until morning... hoping I would not trip during a midnight potty break.

Welcome Home

• New Faucet- I can actually spray around the entire sink in my kitchen.
• Painted Kitchen- It is one shade lighter green than my Anchorage kitchen and I love it!
• Painted Living Room- It's way darker than what I had planned but it looks really good.
• Painted Bedroom- The color is okay, but it changes from blue to gray to an almost light lavender, depending on the time of day.
• Legos Legos Legos- Chris rebuilt all of Zach's Lego sets and put them around his room. The squeals of excitement were so high pitched! The boys have played with them constantly since we've been home.  Even Ethan has behaved himself... with a few reminders.
• Mouse Droppings- Yes, there is a vermin in my kitchen. The traps are set, I have siliconed closed holes that I found behind the oven, and I keep RE-CLEANING everything. I feel so violated every time I think about it.

Our house is finally starting to feel like a real home.

I was having mixed feelings about returning. I think that is normal for one's first time back. Today I finally reconnected with some friends and remembered why I like this little community so very much. The lifeguards, grocery clerks, gardeners, and food servers have all welcomed us back by name and asked how our trip was and expressed how glad they are to see us again. I guess they missed being entertained by a frazzled American woman trying to keep three her boys in line.

We are settling in, doing more home decor projects, getting ready for school, and tending to Graham, who is still pretty much a basket case... so unlike him. I am eager to have my happy good sleeper back. We have also enjoyed some wonderful family time with DAD.

60 TO 120 Degrees in 30 Hours

I'M EXHAUSTED! Our connections were smooth and the flights were long but Zach and Ethan were great! Graham was more of a challenge, especially on the second two flights. However, on both of those the surrounding passengers complimented the boys on their excellent behavior and were quite impressed with me for making the journey. I also had so many helping hands along the way from kind passengers.  Some went above and beyond in assisting me.

I never want to travel that far alone again... but I can't guarantee that I won't have to. Plus the boys will be in new phases by then, so the challenges will be different. Like labor pain, you don't ever want to experience it again, but you know sometime in the future you will, and with time you forget exactly how painful it was.

The boys slept off and on but I got NO sleep so I am trying to recover. Zach and Ethan are almost back on schedule. They have been getting up early every morning (like 5AM) and since school will start shortly I plan on trying to keep them on it, if not quite so early. Graham, however, is completely not himself. He's a bit grumpy and without a good sleep schedule he  JUST WANTS HIS MOMMY. I can't blame the little guy, as I just turned his world upside down again.

As for Chris, his bachelor days are over... and he likes it that way.

Yesterday, we finally met with the audiologist to have Ethan's hearing checked as he is CONSTANTLY asking us to repeat ourselves. His hearing was great, just waxy ears.

I very much appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers during our journey. They definitely gave me the strength to handle the trip. We miss Alaska but it was time to be a family again.

The Salmon Slayers

Ethan loves horses and has had an imaginary horse named Chico for almost a year now.

So when our family realtor threw his annual pony party, Ethan was over the moon with excitement.

He had several rides on Dolly.

Zach, on the other hand, was NOT interested in riding let alone getting near the horses.

On our way home this baby moose crossed our path. Grandpa thinks he's the baby of a mother who last week stomped one of his friends in the area. The guy accidentally got between the mother and baby and she attacked. The guy was out cold for at least 45 minutes before he was found in his front yard.

We finished the day with one last adventure.

Ethan collected sticks for Grandpa to burn when camping.

We headed back into bear country...

making lots of noise along the way...

but for the second day in a row this is all we saw.

The river was so full of salmon you could almost reach out and grab them.

The boys were thrilled with their catches.

It was strictly catch and release.

Ethan ended up with four and Zach three.

There was one last surprise snag of the evening.

Dad's friend Bill showed up on his bike and took this picture for us.

Back at the truck Zach sweetly said, "thanks for taking us Grandpa. We had a great time." Meanwhile, Ethan finds the one pile of horse manure in the gravel pit parking lot and steps in it. Yet he had no problem all afternoon in and out of horse paddocks. Go figure!

A Hike To The Falls

With only a few days remaining before departure and my bike packed for shipping, I had one thing left on my "must do this summer" list...

hike to Bird Creek Falls.

This five mile hike is not difficult, but it is right through Bear Country. The trickiest part was keeping the branches from hitting our littlest backpacker.

Grandpa carried the gun and I carried the jabber box.

You can see why the bears love this area-- the dark spots are all salmon.

But it's a "dead" end for them as they can't quite jump up the 25 foot falls...

although many of them were trying.