The Wheels Are Turning

My kids are getting older and more curious about life. One of the great joys of motherhood is watching those wheels in their little heads turn. One of the great fears of motherhood is not being able to field all those questions correctly. I don't have a lot of great advice and the advice I do have is not even original, but I learned first hand the truth of one of them. That is to not give unnecessary information when answering questions.

On Saturday Sophie and I went to James' wife Tiffany's baby shower. She's fascinated that she has a baby in her belly. Sophie is obsessed with babies lately. Every toddler at church is hilarious, every baby at the store is "so cute" and it seems every Nick Jr. show she watches has a baby in it. So out of the blue in the car today, she asks me, "Mom, where is Tiffany's baby going to come out?"

I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts then scrambled to buy myself a bit more time and asked what she meant. She said, "Well is it going to come out at her home?" I let out a sigh of relief and informed her that no, the baby would come out at the hospital. That was it. No further questions. I had my speech about the special place all prepared and didn't even need it, for now anyway.

I may not have much more of a reprieve with the boys though. I recorded 20/20 on my DVR last week and it happen to be about a girl who got both eyes and her nose blown off because someone was playing with a shot gun. I called the boys in thinking it would be a good reminder of why we never ever play with guns even if we think they are not loaded. Well it was a very heart warming story about how she triumphed over her disability. She married a nice guy who was also blind and how wonderful it was because they got to know the real person instead of relying on looks. And the voice over goes on to say as only 20/20 can, "Seven years into their marriage the unthinkable happen - they were blessed with beautiful baby boy!"

At this point Dylan looks to Jake and says, "What? Well, how did two blind people get a baby?"

I did the mature thing and left the room. My only regret is that I didn't get to hear Jake's response. I'm still trying to figure out what about being blind precluded people from getting a baby in DB's mind. I guess I'll never know.

A Word About Lo

Where were you the evening of March 25th, 1995? If you are a reader of this blog there is a decent chance you were at the Maternity Ward of Good Samaritan Hospital. That's the night that my niece Lauren was born. She was the first grandchild for both sides of the family and to say we were all a little excited to welcome her into the world would be an understatement. No one was invited to attend the birth and we probably all owe poor Cheryl an apology for crashing it, but the experience still ranks up there as the coolest in my entire life. When Lauren let out her first cry, the room erupted in cheers and then tears. (Cheryl's tears were might have been for more reasons than one.) I can hardly believe that is has been 15 years since that night. I just have to say that Lauren has brought all of us so much joy. She was the sweetest, happiest, little chubby cheeked blue eyed cutie you would ever meet. I would take my life into my hands to go visit her everyday after (and sometimes during-don't tell) work at their tiny apartment in the hood. She brightened my day then and still does today. She has a beautiful singing voice, plays amazing cello, is an accomplished artist, and is just an all around great girl.

Tonight we were able to go to a Museum downtown to see an art exhibit where she had a piece displayed. Even my kids who have the attention span of knats, were impressed. I thought I would share it...

Lauren and her proud family.
This is a pen and ink piece inspired by the quote, "Music is an outburst of the soul." (I'm pretty sure I couldn't even recreate this work if my very life depended on it, let alone create it from scratch. That's just talent.)
Cute Lauren and her art work.

And speaking of talent, Dylan had his first grade play "Goin' Buggy" tonight. He was a pro at singing all the songs. I happen to sit next to his music teacher who gushed about how much she loves Dylan and thanked me for sending such a fine young man to school. DB is universally adored by all his teachers. I guess he saves up all his naughtiness for me. Just kidding...kind of. Love you Deebs!

The cute first grade class singing their hearts out. DB is in the middle in the white shirt right below the "n". And a final shout out to the Mesa Schools for understanding that even a mother doesn't want to sit through a two-hour musical. 30 minutes was just right.

Warts And All

Warts have infested our home to the point where I think we are freakish enough that we may be able to get a show on Discovery Health. I am the only one currently not afflicted, which is ironic considering I take the blame for starting the epidemic. As a mom, I would take them all if it would mean my kids wouldn't get ostracized for it. DB has it the worst with 36 on his face and too many to count on his hands and knees. As it turns out, grade school kids can be real jerks if you happen to be different in any way. It took all I had to not start crying in front of him tonight when he told me that no one wanted to play with him anymore because of his warts. Wes and I have done everything in our power to conquer the warts including driving to Flagstaff for treatment and numerous visits to a Pediatric Dermatologist in Scottsdale. We have exhausted every over the counter drug, several home remedies, all the traditional treatments, several "off label non-FDA approved" treatments, and are currently trying a last resort skin cancer drug that has helped in some cases. Every time we try something new I read the literature about how in the studies this was 80% effective. And every time poor DB is part of the 20 percent. The warts he has keep growing bigger and more hideous looking and new ones seem to crop up faster than I can count. I am frustrated beyond words and literally hurt for him.

This week I was finally able to state my case to Dr. Hansen's office who had previously coldly told me that he was "no longer accepting wart patients". Dr. Hansen is considered one the best pediatric dermatologists in the country, but extremely difficult to get into. He is arrogant, dismissive, condescending and has no bed side manner, but is the best in his field. I have to swallow my pride to go see him, but there's nothing I wouldn't do for my Deebs. After Dr. Powers was kind enough to go to bat for me, we were able to get an appointment for early June.

Eventually DB's immune system will conquer the warts (preferably before our Dr. Hansen visit) and I am grateful for an otherwise healthy kid. Warts are a harmless physical condition, but I worry about the emotional toll at such a tender age. If there is an upside to this, it's that it has provided a teaching opportunity for my kids to be kind to people who are different. They didn't choose it.

Spring Flings

Some of the day care centers that Wes has his Amazing Athletes program in have spring carnivals. They like Wes to come and set up a little Survivor-like obstacle course for the kids to run through. It gives him a chance to market his business and it makes them look good for having such a program. It's a win win except for the fact that Wes hasn't had a free Saturday since what seems like the late 90s. We've decided that it's high time for those slacker boys of ours to contribute, so we put them to work at Saturday's event. They helped Wes keep the course set up and were pretty good at giving high fives to the preschool participants. They just may have a future as Amazing Athletes coaches. They of course took frequent breaks to tour the ambulance, go on the pony ride, eat snow cones, have their faces painted, and play on the playground. We're not quite there on the work ethic, but they did have a great time, especially considering that it was free.Sophie was thrilled to go on her first pony ride. "Pepe" wasn't having such a good time on this 90 degree day, but to her credit only tried to buck Sophie off a couple times. Sophie just assumed this was part of the fun.
DB couldn't get enough of the guinea pigs, bunnies, and chicks.
Cowboy Jake tries his hand at riding a horse.
If Sophie was a horse, this is what she would look like.
Jake earns his keep.
I'm not sure why this chick is dyed red, but the kids thought it was cool. I am amazed at the durability of these little guys.

Congratulations, Jake (Wes)

Sophie was in charge of pictures. Don't I look proud?

Jake (Wes) made some final pre-race preparations.

Jake gets set for his first race.

Jake (Wes) had his first "Space Derby" competition in scouts yesterday. (Our scout troop boycotts the more traditional Pine Wood Derby. Seems a little blasphemous, but whatever.) Jake (Wes) slaved away in preparation for the event by carving, sanding, fine tuning, and painting his rocket. All the hard work paid off, with several victorious races. No one knows for sure how Jake (Wes) fared in the races because all boy scouts got the coveted "Participant" certificate, but it was a fun night for him nonetheless.

Ah Yes, The Blog...

I almost forgot about the blog for awhile. I guess if I am spending the week with the only reader of it, or at least the only one who leaves any consistent evidence of reading it, I figure she already knows what went on. (Thanks, Becca!)

Anyway, I suppose I have some catching up to do. Bruce and Becca made it down for a rare Easter/Birthday visit. My kids were so excited about hanging out with their elusive Hatch cousins that they could hardly contain their enthusiasm. We had a week of non-stop fun. Movies in the backyard, swimming, a slumber party, Organ Stop Pizza, the mall, lizard catching, and of course Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We managed to squeeze in some adult time too with a few meals I didn't have to cook and a pedicure.

It's always hard to have them leave. Kate and Kiki are a ton of fun and super high on the entertainment scale for my kids and me. In my perfect world they would live next door, but until that fantasy comes true, we'll have to settle for summer visits to Utah and their visits here.

Here are a few photos from the week..

Cute James and Tiffany show their true love and devotion to their unborn child.
Sophie, Kate, and puppy who probably thinks her given name is "naughty". Naughty puppy ate a lot of chocolate out of an unsupervised easter basket. No enough to kill her, thankfully.
A legendary Hatch family jumping photo. I'm not sure why, but we must have at least one at every family gathering.
And thanks to Lirio's hard work and talent, Mom's Easter wish came true. All of the kids and grand kids got together for a family photo. Mom will tell you the empty spot next to Tiffany is reserved for Leigh Ann. Without trying, we always seem to leave a spot for her. Is there anything sweeter than sleeping kids? They stayed up way too late and were tired. Kiki was a little home sick and in an attempt to distract her from crying I asked her what she wanted for breakfast in the morning. She abruptly stopped crying and said, "I want eggs in the morning, and I like to scratch my butt at night." That's easy enough. Even Sophie thought that was hilarious.
Maggie and Kate took "special" care of DB's lizards while he was at school. The lizards just needed some love and hugs.
Bruce, Becca, Kate and Kiki. Kiki's purple blankie is well represented in most photos.