Little MD or Little NP?

Last week, Liam took an interest in my clinical tools. He is used to me looking in Gavin's ears, but he wanted me to show him how it works. He was using Dane as his guinea pig. Liam learned a lot about heart and lung sounds and examining ears...all very useful skills to have.

In Need of Haircuts?

The time is now...my boys have unruly hair! Unfortunately, I took them to get haircuts and they CHOPPED G's hair! I asked for a little trim and to "clean it up" and the first snip of her scissors took off quite the chunk of curls. I was not prepared, but it looks good. I will post some post hair cut pictures soon. They look so grown up now!

A Picnic in the Park

Last week on a lovely 70 degree day, I packed a lunch and took the boys to the park for a picnic. Here are some of the pictures from our afternoon. The highlight had to be putting Liam in the back of my car to pee into a McD's cup in effort to avoid taking him to a port-a-potty! He thought is was hilarious, and I was proud of myself for my ingenuity. 

Wonderscope

The boys and I met our friends Ellen, Aidan and Maeve for a morning at Wonderscope. It is a children's museum in Kansas City. The building was an old school which was converted into a hands-on place for kids. All of the old classrooms each have a theme for that room. There is a grocery store, a space room, a hospital room, a water room and even a padded climbing room for little babies. The boys all had fun together...maeve had fun watching. This was a banner day as it was my first outing without a stroller! I let Gavin walk around and play to the best of his ability. Here are some pictures of the kids:

Here are Liam & Gavin in the water room

Here is Gavin catching up on some phone calls in the hospital room. That design on the carpet is a well known symbol of Children's Mercy (where I work). This is in the hospital room. 

Here is Gavin in the ball room.

Here are Liam, Gavin and Aidan in the hospital room all playing with a medical kit. I love it!

This is Aidan trying on a space helmet.

Gavin was loving the action in the ball room! 

Liam got to learn about a pulley system for lifting heavy rocks.

We had a fun day! It was a little daunting to have two kids running different directions, but they did great. Gavin is getting to the point that he listens well to direction and I think he was happy to have a break from the stroller. 

Now I know what gluten does

I tried to be a good wife and make Dane cookies. He has been off gluten for quite some time now due to his DH. He loves my chocolate chip cookies and I wanted to make some for him. I used my same recipe and substituted a gluten free flour for all-purpose flour. This was the result. SAD! They were paper thin, crispy and tasted like alphalpha sprouts! Now I know what gluten does.

Playing With Daddy

Playing racecars in the living room

Liam in his "Ka-tar" shirt...which he loves

My little boy is starting to look so old

The boys are in love with their little chairs and spend many minutes each day wrestling in and on them. This is the one in G's room and they love to stand on it and look out into the backyard. I know it looks like a PICU admission waiting to happen, but I swear, the windows are solid!

Petite Artits

The dining room is where I can find the boys often these cold winter days. They love to draw and color. That is where we keep Liam's easel and coloring table. Liam would draw and color all day long. He is really trying (at times) to stay in the lines and make his drawings reflect the real thing...like coloring Thomas blue and grass green, etc. Because Gavin follows Liam around like a shadow, he wants to do the same things as him. The other day I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I realized I couldn't see Gavin anymore. I walked a lap around the main level and he was in the dining room, standing at the easel scribbling with chalk. It was very purposeful and he was so proud of himself. It was adorable. He would put a piece down and pick a different color and scribble more. Then he ate a piece of green chalk...it's non-toxic, right?