St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was so much fun for me this year. As a little girl, I remember getting all dressed up for school to celebrate. Addie was excited to do the same. She was thrilled to have green hair and an all green outfit, not to mention the bow and shamrock Muddy whipped up.

Her teacher emailed me to say that she looked so cute.

Sunday in the park

We went to the park this morning, and it turned out to be colder feeling than we expected so it wasn't that long of a trip. Still, it was nice for the kids to get out in the fresh air.

Ben only has one speed and it's fast. He literally ran from each piece of equipment to the next, never slowing down.

Addie enjoyed the swings, in case you can't tell by this picture. She made her loud belly laugh the whole time.

Ben was more subdued in his typical way. His bump is now clearly brown (and his skin around it is too- but not because I haven't tried to not have it contact his surrounding skin, mind you- I've tried very hard, but oh well) and it hasn't changed size at all. I'm thinking we'll be heading to the plastic surgeon.

Again, she hated every second of this.

Peek-a-boo, I see Ben.

"The red bump"

So you've probably noticed that Ben has had this red bump on his cheek for several months now. It started in July (you can actually go back to the blog and watch it develop! Thanks to technology and my photographic journaling, I can pinpoint when it was) as a little pimple type thing that he scratched and it's gotten bigger progressively since then. When he went to his 4 year old well child visit in November the pediatrician said she thought it was either a pyogenic granuloma or a spider angioma. Not matter, it would fall off and not be a problem.

Well here we are in March now and it's still here and obviously getting more pronounced on his cheek. Strangers are now asking what it is! We were at breakfast this weekend and a stranger commented how much he liked Ben's red hair and then said, "and he's got a red thing on his face." Kids in Addie's class have asked about it a lot, etc. Ben feels like he's always had it, and his answer is usually like "it's my red bump." Duh!

I took him to the pediatric dermatologist (actually Muddy brought him, and I met them since it's at my hospital). It turns out that it's a combination of the two! It will continue to get bigger if we don't do anything, so I'm glad we got it looked at now. Last night we started an at home treatment of silver nitrate on the red bump, which we will alternate every other night for a week. Ideally, it was shrivel the bump away to nothingness, just leaving a flat red mark. If that happens, then he will go back to the dermatologist for a one time laser treatment (it's just a flashlight, not really as exciting as it sounds). That will "kill" the blood vessels that are clustered and it'll disappear totally. If the silver nitrate doesn't shrivel it up within ten days, we'll be heading to the plastic surgeon to have it removed. I'd rather not have it go that route, but time will tell.

So if you look at the picture I posted from tonight, where he's being his sweet angelic self, you'll see the red bump has some brown on it and there are some brown ashes on his cheek-that's from the silver nitrate. It didn't look any different this morning when he woke up and throughout the day, that part turned brown and I guess he smeared it. Hoping the other stains come off of his skin eventually!!

What my kiddos look like

We got a new camera this weekend, as my old pal the Sony bit the dust.

Just after we got home, Ben was eager to pose. He's so cute.

Then later that night after baths, he was mad at me. :)

Cutie Addie was doing her homework

Then tonight they were posing while we were eating dinner.

The Addie-point-and-rotate move. On a separate note, she got some new clothes this weekend. On Monday, she wore the outfit that's in the picture of her doing her homework. This morning she woke up and got dressed and wanted to wear that shirt again. I told her she couldn't, so she chose this dress which is short sleeves. She's wearing her pink shirt underneath it. She is in head to toe pink. Quite a vision.

I took this picture tonight and said, "Uh oh, I know LouLou and Bub will be having a new background now!"

An email from Muddy

I got an email from Muddy on Friday that had the subject line "Your Conniving Son" which I knew just had to be a good one......

Muddy: Ben, how about if you go on a hunt for missing socks, all around the house-- under beds, under tables, chairs, sofas? I'll give you a Sour Patch Kid candy for each sock.

Ben: Sure!

Five minutes pass

Ben: Here, Muddy!
One pair of very dust-covered sock handed to Muddy; Muddy doles out two SPK candies. Ben's eyes glow. He disappears.

Five minutes pass

Heard overhead on the second floor: the slamming of dresser drawers.

Muddy: Nuh-uh! Ben, socks from dressers don't count.

Overheard from second floor: ooooooooohhhhhhhhh :(

Minutes pass

Ben: Here you go, Muddy!
Two immaculate but mismatched socks handed to me. Very ornery look on face of Ben.

Muddy: Ok, Ben-- where'd you get 'em?

Ben points to the pile of CLEAN LAUNDRY.
Foiled again.

Ben: DARN!

Just call him Benjamin "Dior"

Today Ben had to go to the pediatrician to get checked because he's got this bronchial irritation going on. He and Muddy met me there. He was very excited to tell me that he made a surprise for me and couldn't wait to give it to me. Muddy chimed in that Benjamin made it all by himself.

When I got home I was greeted to an apron, including a pocket with several colors of thread and designs on it, and a stitched line at the bottom that says "To Mommy Love Ben, 3-2-2011" repeated along the hem! Watch the video to see him make it.

This kid'll be selling them in no time! (Thanks Muddy too, for sharing your talents and skills with him! Most other 4 year olds wouldn't know what to do with a professional sewing machine!) There are pictures of him making it too, but I have to upload them. Of course I'll post a pic of me wearing it too.

I joked, "maybe I could wear it to work tomorrow," and he smiled and said, "I guess you could..." but he knew that wouldn't be a good idea.

Wacky Wednesday

In honor of Dr. Suess' birthday today, Addie's class was encouraged to dress "wacky."

Below is Addie's interpretation of "Wacky." When she was picking out her clothes, she said, "i don't know what doesn't match!" So I told her to bring me some options and I would tell her. She brought the striped shirt and the polka dots pants, which was perfect....just know that she also wore the exact same outfit one day last week...and it wasn't "wacky" day. Note she is wearing two different shoes. Under them, she actually has mismatched socks too. We threw her hair up into some pigtails and her cornrow braids are still in from the weekend. Muddy even made her a name tag that said "Eidda." Gee, we're so wacky.