Mother's Day 2015

 Mother's Day 2015 was practically perfect in every way. The sun was shining. I got to sleep in (all the way till 7:15!). The Hubs made me my favorite breakfast. The kids were (mostly) on best behavior. And I got a FitBit!

Halfway through the day, Clem and Cam had an urgent errand to run (spoiler alert: they brought me flowers!) so Dutchy and I grabbed coffee and then kicked back in our yard to blow some bubbles.

But for some reason, even with a backyard FULL (literally) of outside toys, Dutch was most interested in the mechanics of the patio umbrella.

 Later that afternoon, we took a family walk at Tennant Lake. If you have been  here before, you know that we really took a risk taking this rowdy 2  year old with us. The board walk is un-railing-ed almost the whole way. We told Dutch that he had to hold on to SOMEONE'S hand during the walk. He begrudgingly chose Clementine (although you can see him trying to pull away in lots of these pictures. Our girl is relentless!)

 In the distance, we could hear bullfrogs, woodpeckers, crickets and trains. Dutch called back what he could hear.

Our crew made it just over a mile when, like most of our outings, Cam ended up having to carry a crying child back to the car.
Still! I had a wonderful day with three of the humans I love most in the world!

In Sickness and in Health

It's a good thing we started off Spring Break with a bang because the rest of it was a tumultuous roller coaster ride. Cam got sick. And by sick, I mean we both thought he was dying.

On Easter Sunday, Cam went from egg hunting and feeling fine to a fever of 106 and having a seizure in the bedroom. In less than an hour, I saw his face drain of all color turning a color I can only describe as corpse gray. I was terrified and felt totally helpless. Cam was convinced this was something he ate, food poisoning or something he could sleep off. He was so convinced that I became convinced. When sleep clearly wasn't going to fix this, my gut said "Call the paramedics" but I ignored it because Cam was talking to me clearly and I thought "Well, I am known for overreacting..."

Looking back, I know now I should have  listened to my gut. I should have insisted he go to the hospital (although he kept repeating the phrase: "Don't take me to the hospital, I get something worse than this!" and I said "What's worse than this?? Staph??")

Irony of ironies--he had staph and that's what was making him so ill. We found out because I insisted he go in to our family Doctor the next day when he still had a high fever but was feeling so much better. His fever was 104.9 now. His infected leg was nearly double the size of the other one.

With a heavy doze of antibiotic at the doctor's, plus a 10 day hard core antibiotic to take home, Cam started to show improvement and we both realized what a close call this was. The doctor told him within a few days, and possibly just a few more hours, Cam would have turned septic and this story would have a very different ending.

This man is my whole world. Don't even get me started on how much my kids and I love him and depend on him and want him to be well. As I sat on the bed next to him on Easter I felt like I was living my worst  nightmares. I sat and watched him shake and changed the damp blankets he'd wrapped around him and sweat through in just minutes. I locked the door to our bedroom because I didn't want our kids to see this nightmare unfold.

It's been nearly three weeks now and Cam is really still healing. He missed two weeks of work to rest at home. In that time  he lost 31 pounds. Walking is still really painful for him and there are still some fun staph-y after effects to deal with but he's here with us.
My entire body and my whole soul feels wrung out from this experience (and I can only imagine how his is feeling). I put this here because I know this is a turning point in our story together and I'm certain that we'll look back on this someday with gratitude that we got through another tough time together.

Spring Break Kick-Off

 Yesterday was the first day of our Spring Break. Since it was sunny out, we decided to hit the road for a good old fashioned day trip--this time to one of my all-time favorites: Port Townsend!

 We got to PT right before noon. We picked up a pizza from Waterfront and high-tailed it on over to the campgrounds to have a picnic right on the beach (although we did do a little real estate snooping and wild daydreaming).
Dutch forgot about the picnic part, though, and just hightailed it right onto the sand.

 Give that boy a sandy beach and he's a happy camper.

 And this girl got some perfect wind going under her frog kite. She ran back and forth up and down the sandy beach for nearly two hours.

 Side note: the poor girl got this frog kite a little out of control at one point. It started twisting and turning, along with her now much longer hair. This turned out to be a bad combo as she came running back to Cam and I holding the kite's string with a BIG knob of her hair that had been pulled out! My poor girl!

 It didn't take long for both of these rugrats to ditch the rainboots we'd brought (I pictured them walking out into the water but these Washingtonian babies know better). Dutch ran windsprints back and forth across the sand with his mouth wide open hollering as he went. In socks (??).

 Then he found a big driftwood covered in "popsicles" (barnacles; see previous post "Speaking Dutch"). This was fascinating for a good long time.

 In keeping with tradition, we hit up Elevated Ice Cream before catching the ferry back home.

And eating our cones on the new playground next door! We had such a blast. I'm glad this crew shares my love of day-tripping.

Speaking Dutch

Dutch is our little chatterbox these days. It's non-stop talking marathon around here. I wish I could capture Dutchy's raspy little boy voice, or the way he thinks superheroes sound. But the following Dutchy anecdotes will have to suffice for now:

**A few weeks ago, Dutch was bouncing from ottoman to couch,  yelling out "I'm a bad minion/superhero/monkey!" as he leaped. When I walked over to him to ask him to use his inside voice, I said "Bad minion/superhero/monkey---I need you to turn down that volume." In earnest, he placed his sweet little hand over his bare chest and whispered "It's me, Dutchy, mama."

**Yesterday, there was a bee stuck to the netting of our  new trampoline. As the kids bounced, both of my critters calmly ignored the bee critter. But when that bee landed ON the trampoline, Dutch practically scaled up Clementine trying to get away. They both high-tailed it on our of that trampoline, Dutch, in a froth, said "Mama! Call Teacher Kayla! There's a bee! AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

**Dutch loves to hold hands with me wherever we go (YES!!!). While holding both of my hands a few days ago he says "WHOA WHOA WHOA! Mama! YOU have 10 fingers??? I have 10 fingers!!!"

**The days of him calling Clementine "Shoo-shoo" (from when he couldn't pronounce "sister") are nearly gone. He CAN pronounce sister, now, and he has even started calling her Clem! Also, the days of him calling Cameron "Cameron" (from when he was doing battle for alpha male of our home) are nearly gone, as well. He DOES know who is alpha in this house and he's starting to call him "Daddy" again.

Pacific Science Center

 

 Last weekend, Clem and I hit up the Pacific Science Center to celebrate Sissy's birthday. Just the two of us went down as Dutchy wasn't feeling so well so the boys stayed home, snuggling.

 It worked out to be just the thing this little lady and I needed. A little time for just the two of us to adventure. (In this picture, we thought we were getting the Space Needle behind us. The selfie didn't quite work out, but I love Clem's sweet grin so I'm keeping it.)

 Can you find Clementine at the base of the space needle?

 We met up with Sissy and fam with Yaya just outside the Science Center gates.

 "MOM! I just touched this! It's Dinosaur POOP!" Hilarious!

 

 

 

Super Park!

 Last month, while the rest of our state was busy cheering for a football game, our little foursome took advantage of the empty parks, clear roads, abandoned skating rinks and we made a little day of it.
A new park opened up here in town and it packs a wallop! Unfortunately, we'd gone twice before to discover ALL OF BELLINGHAM there with us.

You see, the new park has a zip line. That's all I really need to say, but I will detail the other cool features.

 Slides galore!

 OMG. Is that a spinner (of doom)??!! (I'm sure you remember that Clementine fell off of a spinner last spring, breaking her elbow...mama gets a little protective.)

 A swing to corral Dutch.

 Good lord! This thing spins around WHILE CHILDREN CLIMB IT!!

 The fort is outfitted like a tree house in the woods so the climbing structures are built like stumps, for example. Perfect for posing on.

 My children paid attention to the musical components for approximately a split second.

And Dutch could hardly be torn away from these, the stairs. That's all they are. But he loves 'em!

It's Happening

 

 It's happening (yeah, no thank you).

 

 

 His baby fat is melting off of his cheeks. The dimples have disappeared from his chubby little hands. He is using the potty to take care of his needs. He wants to do it himself (shoes, coat, socks, pouring milk) and he wants to get it himself (hello climbing the pantry shelves in search of snack). He is sleeping in a big boy bed instead of his crib. He wants to do chores like his Shoo-Shoo. And I can't wrap my mind around it. My baby! My last baby is suddenly turning into a wee boy. My heart is simultaneously breaking and exploding with pride.

And at the same time he is initiating kisses and hugs. He puts  his hand on either of my cheeks and says "Pretty girl." He is in his car seat after daycare and says "Guess what? I missed you today Shoo-Shoo." He is singing along to familiar songs and telling me the story of the three little pigs.

 

(And he looks at Cameron with a frown on his face and says "You be quiet, CAMERON!" with extra emphasis on the "Cameron" part because he knows. Oh, he knows.)