Anybody for Some Stir-Fried Kruz?

Last night Kori and Kruz were playing 'drums' on the pots and pans while I fixed supper. Looks like Kruz wanted to be the main course instead.

Letters from Home

Yesterday morning as we were leaving for a walk Kori met the postman delivering a letter from Great Grandma Mowrey! She sent 3 cards! Thanks Grandma! We love getting your letters!

And The Worst Parent EVER Award goes to......drum roll please!

ME!

I wasn't going to tell this story but decided, after careful research, that I'm not as horrible as some other parents. Just horrible by my own standards.

A little over 3 weeks ago on a Tuesday night I began cooking supper - nothing fancy, just spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. The best garlic bread is to be made here because the Europeans have the best crusty bread - hands down. Oh, so anyway, not to get off topic - I put Kruz in his walker (yes, even tho he's walking) because he can reach the top of the stove and when the oven is on the door gets extremely hot. I gave him a piece of crusty bread because it's chewy and he'll entertain himself for awhile so I can cook. Literally, 45 seconds later he chokes and screams like he swallowed a nail or something and vomits about 4 times in a row. I felt terrible but he eats everything just fine and he's had bread before with no problems.

The next day, and the next, and next, and next he won't eat anything. Every time he tries, he swallows then vomits and screams bloody murder. Maybe the bread scratched his throat?

I have Kelley tell the team we need a doctors appointment but seriously, these things are not a priority with management so it took them until the following Wednesday to set up an appointment for the next Wednesday. By the time the day of the appointment rolls around Kruz has started to seem a little better. The day before I was able to feed him very small bites of rice and he kept it down with no screaming. I almost cancel but decide to take him anyway. The doctor checks him out but refers us to a Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist for Friday. Go figure. We ended up canceling the appointment because by Friday he was totally back to normal and we had no problems over the weekend.

Then on Monday I made taco's and he ate about a million little pieces of diced chicken with no problems whatsoever. Tuesday morning (exactly 3 weeks from the day he choked) we woke up, came downstairs for breakfast, changed his poopy diaper and started school.

About 10 minutes later I heard Kruz cry out in the other room. He had crawled up on a kitchen chair, his chest and arms were lying on the seat of the chair and his legs and hips were hanging down the side. I figured he thought he was stuck - hence the yell- so I picked him up and he wrapped his arms around my neck and screamed so loud. His little body was so tense, classic baby constipation symptoms. He pushed and screamed for about 2 minutes and I finally laid him down on a towel and took off his diaper.

You'll never believe what I literally had to pull, with my fingernails, out of his little tiny baby bottom.


This 2 cent European coin. I'd guess about the same size as a penny. I don't know where he got it, well yeah, on the floor somewhere, but the sucker was lodged in his esophagus for at least 2 weeks then it took another week to pass through the rest of his digestive system.

I've never felt like such a failure until I did a little research. I started looking on the Internet to see just how harmful a penny could be and in 1997 alone over 21,000 children swallowed coins. And that's just the documented cases. Twenty One THOUSAND!

I guess I'm not the only horrible parent after all.

By the way, you should see the statistics for pets that swallowed coins. There's one man I found that swears his dog swallowed a quarter and he got back two dimes and a nickel.

Wedding Bells

Congratulations are in order to my baby sister Megan and her beau Luke. They became engaged this week in Vegas. She proposed to him on a golf course and he of course accepted. I've self appointed myself Wedding Planner. Funny, she's not returning my calls anymore.........

Seriously, could he be any cuter?

Well, he's been walking everywhere and he's got 7 teeth now. It seems like overnight he went from being a baby to a little grown man. My, how time just flies by. He'll be 1 next month!!

Can you Lick Your Elbow?

This list has recently come across my path... I don't know of it's accuracy, but it sure has some interesting (and humorous) info:
Did you know?
-Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
-Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
-Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
-Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
-It's possible to lead a cow upstairs... but not downstairs.
-Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
-It's physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.
-The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
-A snail can sleep for three years.
-No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH."
-Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
-Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. (This is particularily true in our family. Have you seen some of our ears?!)
-The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
-All polar bears are left-handed.
-An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
-TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
-"Go." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
-A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
-The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
-Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
-Almost everyone who reads this list will try to lick their elbow.
You tried to lick your elbow, didn't you?
We did.

Slush Bucket

If you've ever spent any time in an Athletic Trainer's Office you may know about something called the 'Slush Bucket'. As part of Kelley's rehab on his Achilles tendon, he must do a slush bucket treatment after every practice and game. The slush bucket is a bucket - big enough for a large foot - filled with ice then topped off with water. Ever go thru the drive-thru at Wendy's and they give you a soda that is basically ice clear to the top of the cup and then a little cola to fill it up? It's like that. Only in a bucket. And with water. Kelley has to put his foot in, up to about half way between his ankle and knee for about 15 minutes of pure torture. Yesterday, however, he didn't have time to slush before he came home so he did it here instead. We filled up a square tote and Kelley did his treatment sitting on the couch. Kruz is fascinated with water so he stood beside the bucket and kept dipping his hand in then sucking the water off his fingers. This held his attention for about 10 minutes but then something possessed him to swing his leg over and plunge his whole leg in. He immediately screamed in pain and shock and withdrew his leg as quickly as he could. I rolled with laughter and Kelley was happy, at least momentarily, to have someone to share his misery with.

Beautiful Weather

Yesterday we had the most beautiful weather. Couldn't resist taking the kids to the park for some play time. They played so hard that Kyran told me this morning that his muscles were actually sore. He and Kori still woke up extra early this morning though. Little Twerps!

Kyran's Debut as a Photographer

Kyran came running, yelling, "Mom! Mom! Kruz climbed into the cabinet! Where's your camera??!!" He took these photo's while Kruz played.

Daddy's Hands

somebody's walking.........

Higher Expectations

Have you ever dreamed of Disneyland or even for us Ohioans Cedar Point or Kings Island but instead your parents take you to the carnival at Wal-Mart? Yesterday we awoke to the Police banging on our door telling us to move the car, there was to be no parking on the street that day. They patrolled our street for a few hours making sure no one parked - we assumed the street sweepers were going to come by. Some time later I'm sitting with Kruz on the couch and I hear what sounds like some punk driving by with his bass too loud except maybe it's parked outside the house, the sound isn't disappearing. After it finally registers that the noise is still there I go and look out the window. Lo and behold there's a marching band down the street. It's coming towards our street but then turning the opposite direction from our house. It was confusing because it was only a marching band. Nothing else. And in the rain, no less. Why are they marching and why did the cops clear our end of the street when the band didn't even march by????

About an hour and a half later we hear the band coming again so we all run to he window. This time tho, it's a different band, right outside the house and behind it is a parade. Well, sort of...... Take a look at some of the photo's I snapped. This is where the Disneyland/Wal-Mart carnival comparison comes into play. The kids didn't care - they were getting free candy! It made me miss the Rose Bowl Parade and the Turkey Day parades.

Hmmmm, not even Wal-mart would add them to the carnival!

Check out the habits these nuns are wearing. The front is wearing stiletto's and a garter. The next one...those are her bare legs!What the...?!?!That boy is staring me down. I guess I wouldn't want my picture taken either if I were twirling a baton in a girls dance group.Go ahead "Homies"!They are all holding bottles of beer.Okay......Mr. Horskey would kill us for having a conversation while we're supposed to be marching!! These two were talking so loud you could hear them over the music. Haha!Uhh....XYZ! The cows are out! The barn door is open!!And the kids are supposed to enjoy this?How are they supposed to sleep tonight?!?!Tree Boy....On rollerblades!This reminds me of someone I know....This band of misfits played so well. The parade backed up and they ended up playing for about 5 minutes right in front of us. Made me want to pick up a tuba again!Which Wild West did these cowboys come from?And what's wrong with their horses?

Scary or just weird?