Another Tooth Update

Emmett is now working on EIGHT teeth.  The dentist didn't believe me until she saw it for herself.  Four molars along with the top and bottom eye teeth.  Ridiculous.  This is pretty much what he looks like these days:

Finger in the mouth, runny nose, tears everywhere.  There are a lot of invisible front packs...again.  But, at least once these teeth FINALLY come in I think we'll have a break for a bit.

Boo Boo Cookie

I'm not going to lie, I come up with some pretty weird nicknames.  They just stick.  I had to move on from Big Bad Baby Emmett because he now walks in to the YMCA...wearing big boy shoes.  Therefore, he is really not a baby.  Damn it.  So, he went from BBBE to Boo Boo Cookie.  Brett calls him Bam Bam but that never stuck for me, I always ended up saying Boo Boo.  He went through a stage where he pretty much lived off the lovely crackers called Mum-Mum's that I would call cookies.  So I would say, "you want a cookie Boo Boo?"  Somewhere along the way I went dyslexic, switched it to Boo Boo Cookie and it stuck.  Don't worry, I'm confused too.  Here are a couple of cute pics of my mischievous Boo Boo Cookie just hangin' out in the pots and pans cupboard:

The Simple Things

Juggling three kids can be challenging.  When things get tough, we go back to the simple things.  Our go-to is the infamous Krache dance party.  Crank the music loud and dance it out.  Yesterday we tried a new simple activity.  We headed down to a local lake to feed the ducks.  The kids lost their minds.  Or, as Jameson put it, "that blew my pants out!"  Like father, like son.  Always getting the cliche's slightly wrong.

A little stormy, but still fun.

SO excited!

That big one would eat right out of J's hand!

Emmett with his pointing, it's a new "thing" he does.

Tryin' to attack the ducks.

Invitation Only

Hilarious.  The internet outsmarts me again!  I changed the setting to private on the blog and apparently it sent out invitations to everyone that was a "follower" already.  So exclusive.  :)  This blog is so cool it's by invitation only.  Sarcarsm.  Heavy sarcasm.

College

When I picked Brooklyn up from school today she was in an extra chipper mood.  She was chatting my ear off about how she can't wait to go to college.  It went a little something like this:

"Mom, in like two years when I am big, like an adult, I am going to go to college and it is going to be SO cool. I am going to have my own room and go to snack parties.  All the kids, I mean grown up kids, are going to bring snacks and we are all going to be able to share.  So many snacks.  Like more snacks then you have ever  seen.  Ever.  It is going to be so fun.  Then you can come and visit me but you'll have to go home really quick because I'll be really busy with all my friends.  I can't wait."

While it's not two years away, it is fairly accurate.  Sub beer for snacks and she's got this college thing figured out!

Dream Bars

For Biffy's Baby Shower my Mom baked up her scrumptious Dream Bars.  They are always a hit.  And, since I love to share, here is the recipe for all of those who loved them as well.  Simple, simple I tell ya:

Dream Bars
Recipe from Kim Broughton

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Flour
Mix together with a fork until fine crumbs form.
Pat into bottom of 9" x 9" pan.
Bake 10 minutes.

Filling:
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 TBLS Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
Dash Salt
6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2/3 Cups Nuts
Pour over baked crust.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Just like that!  The recipe is easily doubled to fill a 9" x 13" pan.  You can use different nuts, milk chocolate chips, etc. to switch up the recipe.

Cabin Fever

Please excuse me while I whine for a bit.  You see I have been trapped in this house for two weeks now.  If you remember from my petri dish post, we started with a case of croup followed by pink eye for all the kids.  The pink eyes cleared up, we had a brief break in illness on Saturday and went to Brooklyn's soccer game and a baby shower.  Sunday morning Emmett spiked a fever of 103.5 that wouldn't break...at all.  He was lethargic and when he wasn't lethargic he was a hot mess.  Crying, crying and crying.  Sprawling out on all surfaces in tears.  It was miserable to see.  Monday his fever spiked to 104.6 so I loaded him up in the car and headed to the doctor.  They instantly thought it was pneumonia so we were off to that same horrific baby x-ray contraption that he had already experienced as a tiny baby.  After stuffing his ham-hocks into the tiny baby leg holes he was inconsolable.  I would be too.  X-ray finished, he konked out in to slumber in my arms (hasn't happened since he was a newborn) on the way to the car.  Doctor calls, no pneumonia.  She thinks it might be the seasonal flu and is comfortable writing a prescription for Tamiflu with no further testing.  I'm crazy (no shock there) so I drive him back to the doctor for the nasal swab (Brett took him in this time, my nerves were frayed) that goes halfway to his brain to test for flu.  Negative.  No flu.  At this point it is a mystery.  We are put on watch until Thursday.  Tuesday, fever and crying.  Wednesday, fever and crying.  Thursday, no fever and full body rash.  Ah, I see, it was roseala combined with teething (four more new teeth coming in) and a cold.  I too would be miserable.  So, today there was much less crying but a whole lot of "baby scratching."  Babies, toddlers, whatever, don't really know how to scratch yet so he would just back up to chairs, walls, etc. and try to get the itching to go away.  It was pretty adorable...and yet still miserable to watch.  Poor guy.  I am hoping tomorrow the rash is gone and my happy little guy is back.  I am not sure how much more this Momma can handle.

On a good note, I haven't even noticed the time change this time around.  It usually is a nightmare but in comparison to the week we've had, it's nothing!  :)

Papa Wheelie

While playing Lego's with Jameson this morning I was trying to show him how his Lego firetruck could pop a wheelie...not only was he not impressed...but he couldn't figure out who Papa Wheelie was.  He was wondering if Papa Wheelie was like Papa Corky and Papa Dennis.  After much explanation I finally had to give up.  Minutes later he asked if a Papa Wheelie could be made out of Lego's?  Some things just never make sense to kids.

Petri Dish

This house has become and eclectic petri dish.  It started with Emmett getting croup out of no where on Friday and ended with him still struggling with croup today, adding double pink eye and sharing pink eye with Jameson.  Petri dish.

Just so you know, croup is the worst.  I think I would take the stomach flu over croup because at least you know it will (most likely) be out of your house in 24 hours.  Croup keeps you up all night, every night, until it is gone.  Up to six days.  Why up all night?  Because the croup victim can't breathe so you have to run them outside every time their coughing becomes too intense.  Fun stuff.  This is our first exposure to croup with any of the kids so I was definitely not prepared for the intensity.  The doctor gave us a home steroid treatment for Emmett tonight so hopefully (fingers crossed) he (and me) will get some much needed sleep.

So, we are quarantined (and crazy) until antibiotics can work their magic.  Off to punch my time card and switch shifts with Brett.  Nyquil here I come!