Mother's Day

Wow, what a week it has been!

Monday I was looking forward to finishing one last final exam and then having two weeks off of school.  I still had to work, of course, but Matt and I were hoping he could get the swamp cooler installed and the floor joist put in so we could get going on the front two rooms. We were also hoping to go out for our anniversary, and to take the family to the Tulip Festival.  But Monday evening when I was taking a timed final exam, I got a call from Matt.  I could tell something was wrong but he just kept asking when I was going to be done.  He told me that he had run over his foot with the lawn mower.  I called a couple neighbors but no one answered.  I finally got a call back from our friends who were our old neighbors, and they rushed over to help.  The husband took Matt to the ER and the wife and her daughter were going to wait with the kids, but I made it home just as Matt was leaving for the ER.  I went out to the mower and found Matt's shoe with the top front of the shoe chewed up and gone.  Inside the house there was a small blood trail from the back door, through the laundry room, kitchen and into the bathroom.  When I was finally able to talk to Matt again he told me that he had been mowing the lawn when the blades had gotten knocked out of place on one side.  Normally if he knocks against the mower the blade will lower back to its right height.  The mower is old and hard to start so he hadn't wanted to turn it off.  He kicked against it a couple of times, but the third time his foot must have slipped.  He didn't remember taking his shoe off outside.  But he did remember the sound of the mower hitting his shoe and immediately knew it was not good.  He went into the house and called for Jack to get his phone.  Jack was all business.  In fact, he asked Matt if he could see his foot.  Matt showed him and then Jack went into work-mode, got two phones, brought them to Matt, and then ran next door to get Jane from the neighbor's house.  Our friend stayed with Matt at the ER and then brought him home at about 11.  Matt lost the tops of two toes, down to the first toe knuckle.  The podiatrist cleaned the wounds of grass and bone fragments, and sewed him up.  Because lawn mowers can be so dirty he was given a tetanus shot and preventative antibiotics. He's been all wrapped up, wearing a Velcro boot and using crutches.  He's been taking a lot of pain meds and not walking very much.  He was pretty mad at himself about it at first, but has been in much better spirits. 

That night, when he finally made it home, we realized that Matt wasn't going to be able to get around the next day so I found a babysitter for the next day and then packed all the bags, school bags, school lunches, my own work bags and lunch, and showered and set out everyone's clothes so that the following morning we could all make it out of the house on time.  I also needed to fill Matt's prescriptions and get him crutches in the morning.  I got less than four hours of sleep and my sickness got much worse.  The next five days was the longest work week of my life.  I never made up for the lost sleep and struggled with a horrible cough. Poor Matt wanted to help, but was pretty much unable to do things around the house.  I definitely gained a new appreciation for just how much Matt keeps things going around here now that it was up to me to do all the cleaning, picking up, dishes, bag packing, laundry, grocery shopping, bedtime routines, bathing the kids, and on and on and on.  

Unfortunately, I could use a three-day nap.  But I did get to sleep in until 10:30 today!  Then the kids gave me their cute gifts from school and some home made cards and then we all cuddled on the couch and watched the old videos that Matt had made me of the kids.  It was fun.  I work six days next week so I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up around the house with dishes and laundry and healthy food prep for the fridge.  But I think we all had a pretty fun day for being stuck at home and I am just happy that Matt's toes are healing.  He had a follow-up appointment on Friday and things seemed to be doing ok--tissue is healthy and no infection.  We are both hoping he will be more mobile pretty soon!

Hank told me that he wished he could have gotten me a huge TV with lots of Ninjago episodes on it.  

Jack told me that he loves me because I make pizza for him and buy him toys.

Even prior to this crazy week, Hank had started asking a lot about who was going to be home with him on which day.  He seemed a little nervous that one of the days we were both going to leave.  One day he asked Matt, "What's it called when two people leave their kid at home and go to work?"  Matt said, "I don't know what they call it."  Hank said, " I think it's called.......KID IN DANGER!"  After Matt laughed Hank went on, "What do you call it when both mom and dad are in the car and the car leaves?  BABY IN DANGER!"

Some other quotes we jotted down from the last few weeks are:

Pete was crying upstairs after waking up and Matt asked Hank, "What should we do? Should we help out our friend, Pete?"  Hank answered, "Yeah, and not punch him in dee face, and not kick him in dee face, and not lay on him in dee face, and not lay on his neck, or else he will become a zombie."

Matt was trying to get Hank to go pee and Hank was resisting.  Matt told him, "You need to get it out of your head that you have to pee your pants before you actually go to the bathroom."  Hank was smiling and rubbing his head and asked,  "Should I rub my head until it go out of it?" Then he stopped smiling and got serious and said, "I don't want to hurt myself.  Maybe I just bump my head on something a yittle bit."  

Hank asked, "Dad, do ninja's have lips?"  Matt said, "Yeah, they do."  Hank started cracking up and said, "That is funny!"

Hank kissed Matt on his knee and said, "Now do you feel like a sipian?"  We figured out later it means champion.

Hank watched Matt through the front door as he came into the gate and then the house.  Hank said, "I thought you was a baby zombie that opened the gate and was walking, but you was mine own dad."

Jack has had a bit of a cold lately and has been walking around with a roll of toilet paper and a plastic sack to put all of his used tissues in.  Jack was explaining this set up to me and Hank said, "Well.....let me tell you something.  I use that to wipe my wee wee."  

Jack woke up one Saturday and immediately wanted to watch his two TV episodes that he gets on Saturday, while at the same time playing on the iPad for his allotted daily time.  So Matt asked him, "So you're just going to blow through all your stuff?"  Jack looked confused and said, "No, I'm going to have fun."  

Pete loves to point out any trucks or motorcycles that he hears or sees.  He especially loves to point out when there are two of anything.  "Two motorcycles!" 

Any time the lettering on a shirt or sign resembles the letters in the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Pete always gets excited and says, "chicka boom boom!"

Pete has been sleeping with an old stuffed bunny for as long as I remember.  For Easter he got a new stuffed bunny which Pete calls, "new bunny."  The kids have been watching a cartoon lately that has a cartoon bunny that resembles Pete's new bunny.  Every time he sees the cartoon he says, "new bunny!"

When Pete wants you to hold him he says, "Heed you."  If he's frantic it's usually more like, "Mommy heed you, mommy heed you!"  Like the time (a couple weeks ago) when Matt was drilling into the house.  Pete was absolutely terrified.  I tried to take him to play upstairs where it wasn't that loud but he could not handle it.  Eventually we ended up going on a very long walk that day so that Matt could finish.  He is pretty uneasy about loud and unfamiliar things.  

Sometimes Matt puts funny kid quotes on his facebook, so I'm just going to copy and paste here.   

Jack: "Dad, was gum made when you were alive?"

Do they do this on purpose? Just to make me feel bad about my life? Well, first off, I'm alive, Jack, and you're chewing gum right in front of my face, so dumb question. But really, I think you're wondering if way back when I was a kid, did technology exist to make a chewy thing that tastes good and lasts a long time. Yes, the tech existed, and you're mean.

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Hank finished his apple juice and walked into the kitchen carrying his empty glass, which was made of glass. "All done!" He spiked the glass hard into the sink like it was a football and he'd just scored a touchdown. Predictably, it shattered into a million pieces that flew all over the room. "Sorry Dad." He walked out to watch his show.

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Hank: "Dad, Luke Skywalker have to kill his own father."
Me: "Oh, yeah. That's kind of rough, huh?"
Hank: "Look, Dad, it's easy."
He makes Luke slice Darth's neck with his light saber.
Hank: "And then Dath Vado's head pop off."

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Hank was hunched over playing with superheroes. I snuck up behind him and hugged him. 
"Thank you, Dad." He's an angel. 
"Hanky, we'll always be buds." 
"Yeah. And if we were bad guys, we would destroy everything." Wait, what? "As buds?"
"Yeah."
I swear he's an angel.

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You want to know how my 4 year old wins at Plants v. Zombies? As the zombies enter the house to eat his brains, he quickly turns to me and blindsides me with: "Dad! YOU'RE in that house! The zombies ate YOUR brains!" Hmm. Really? Cause if I had the iPad, I guarantee they wouldn't've got past the lawnmowers you little punk.