Baby, please don't grow up! (Happy 4th Birthday Will)

4 years ago today, November 30 2007, my baby was born!  Will Gregory Johnston weighed in at 9 lbs. 9 oz.

I have written and re-written this post three times now, trying to tell the story of Will's many complications in his first few months of life.  No way I tell the story seems quite right, so I am going to give a very condensed version and you might want to Google some of the words (I will put them in bold print).

During Will's birth he had Shoulder Dystocia which caused him to be born not breathing and blue!  His APGAR scores were 1 at one minute and 3 at five minutes (not looking good!).  After three days of monitoring in the hospital, he was released and given a clean bill of health!  At his two month immunizations we found out that he had Plagiocephaly caused by Torticollis, which was caused by the shoulder dystocia (are you still following?).  We had to take him to physiotherapy for most of his first year and during his second visit there the pediatric occupational therapist came in and told us that she believed he had Cerebral Palsy!  Our world was rocked!  As we struggled to come to terms with this new revelation, he needed to go to the head clinic at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton to be fitted for a DOC band aka helmet because of his plagiocephaly.  When we arrived there we were told by an OT that we needed to see a neurosurgeon immediately because she believed that his skull plates were fusing too soon!  One more thing to shake us up a little!  The doctor said that was not the case, just a severe case of plagiocephaly and he needed the DOC band asap!!  We had him fitted and for the next four months we took him to Edmonton regularly to have it checked re-sized.  As for the cerebral palsy, we saw specialists who told us that he did NOT have it but we new something wasn't quite right!  Will was about three months delayed in almost everything in the first year, so I made sure he went to physio and OT once a week and had Early Intervention come into our house every couple of weeks to work with Will.  We will never know if it was a all the hard work of the wonderful professionals, myself and Will or just the grace of God, but by Will's first birthday he had caught up and was reaching all the milestones he should have been!  I was still proactive with him and when I noticed some delays in speech, I got him right in to see the speech pathologists.

That is a very condensed version of the roller coaster ride that we were on for that first year, but I want to focus on what Will is now, at four years old! 

Will is the clown in our family, always doing something to make someone laugh!  He is the sweetest little boy I have ever known and loves to call me Mama!!  I call him Baby, which perhaps I should stop, but I know I never will. 

Will is very spoiled, probably because he is the baby of the family, but I think that deep down inside of me I will never forget what could have been.

He amazes me every day with what he knows - he can get apps on my iPhone quicker than me (and the only thing that is saving me from a huge credit card charge is that he doesn't know my password!) and he is a whiz on the computer!  It always amazes me when he says things like: "do you need dot com or dot ca for that one?".

Will doesn't ever want to leave home, not even to go to school...he even dropped out of playschool earlier this Fall!  I don't mind.  I will have him home with me until he goes to Kindergarten in September of 2013! 

Will loves veggies and white milk.

Will loves his stuffed puppy more than anything else in this world (well, except for his Mama!).

Will LOVED his soother soooooo much that it was one of the most painful things I have ever had to put a stop to (and I didn't do it until he was well past three years old)...but every once in a while if he really need it, he still gets it!

Did I mention Will is spoiled and I know it?!

Will hates giving hugs and kisses, but every once in a while he surprises me with a hug (but never a kiss!!)

In honour of Will's 4th birthday, I will list four things that describe Will best:

1. Spoiled rotten

2. Special boy (I bought him a shirt at Bubba Gumps that reads "My Mama Says I'm Special"...that is the perfect shirt for Will in more ways than one!)

3. Big smile!

4. Funny man!

After going through everything we did with Will early in his life, I will never take him for granted and I know we are so blessed to have him with us!

SJ

Will being monitored just after birth

This bear has a heart beat which helps regulate the babies heart beat

Me & Will after coming home

Will's second mother - Grace!

Sweet, sweet boy!

Because every baby deserves an Aerosmith shirt!

Will's first DOC band - 4 months old.  He wore this 23 hours a day...

...even when sleeping!

Will's second DOC band - his head grew so fast he needed a bigger one made!
8 months old

Look at me now!!

2 years old

soother & puppy were always close by

First day of Playschool - 2 weeks before he dropped out!

There's always something funny when Will is around!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!



It never fails!

What, you might ask never fails?  The fact that every time I take my children out in public one of them ends up acting like a wild animal!!  Today I had to take Mark into town to take his picture in front of a building in our community (it's a school project), and Greg is at hockey, Natalie at work...so I was left to take all three kids with me!  We went to Webb's Machinery to take some pictures and then headed to the Dollar store to get birthday supplies for Mark & Will's parties.  After that we walked down the street to the drug store where we needed to develop the pictures.  Once we got to the drug store we headed to the get the pictures developed and the entire time I was fighting with the machines I heard a mixture of automated voices telling me to press this, click that, choose this and the voices of my three children begging to sit on my lap, begging me to buy them animal shaped suitcases and giant slippers!  After fighting with two machines, the manager finally took my memory card to his computer and printed me off the two pictures that I needed...and then said they were on the house!!  That was about the one and only bright spot in this story!  While I was fighting with the machines and waiting for pictures to print, I told my kids to go look at the toys (just as a way to get them to stop bugging me) and boy did I regret that decision!  Will found a toy motorcycle that he just had to have!  I told him to put it on his Christmas wish list and put it back on the shelf...he said no!  I told him about three more times and by then he was crying his eyes out and refusing to put it back.  I threatened to spank his bum if he didn't put it back, so he got a spank on the bum and the toy taken away...well, that didn't make him too happy!!!  All the way through the card aisle he cried, all the way through the baking aisle he cried, all the way through the make-up aisle he cried, and then he fell to the floor and just screamed!!!  I was at the till by this time paying for the two other items I had to pick up and told Mark & Grace (who by the way were behaving very well) that yes, they could pick out a treat.  I had two customers behind me as my son screamed at the end of the make-up aisle and my other kids tried to pick out their favourite treats.  I gave the girl my card, and turned to go pick up my screaming kid before I had too many people staring at me!  As I was going to get him, an older lady stopped me and said this to me: "I am so glad you didn't give into him" - my only response to her was "Thank you!" - she then went on to say this (all the while Will's face is turning red from screaming): "It is a sign of good parenting, too many parents feel sorry for the kids".  I am not sure I have ever had such a nice compliment.  I told her I was feeling sorry for everyone else in the store because they had to listen to him!!  After I paid for my stuff I went over and picked Will up off the floor and told them to get ready to go back outside into the cold.  Will had gloves that had to be put on him and let me tell you that it was not an easy thing to get them on while he was melting down!  Apparently I didn't get the gloves on quite right because he screamed all the way back down the street to where we were parked at the Dollar Store!!

My children may never see the inside of a store again at this rate!!

SJ

Bubba & Blue Bear turn 8!

Eight years ago today, November 23, 2003 my first baby boy and his bear were delivered!

Mark Tyler Johnston was my first born boy, the biggest of my babies - weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs., 1 oz. - and had to be delivered via emergency c-section after his chin became stuck on my pelvic bone (poor boy) because he was "sunny side up" (face up instead of face down).  Mark also got a special delivery (though nobody could have known just how special that delivery would be), Mark got "Blue Bear" from Grandma & Grandpa Johnston that day; Blue Bear, who is "Grumpy" from the Care Bears, has become Marks most prized possession!

Mark is the only child of mine who was named after Aerosmith (and if you don't already know this about me, I am obsessed with Aerosmith!), with his middle name being "Tyler" after Steven Tyler!  I pushed for the first name Steven, but Greg would only allow me to take it so far!  Mark got his nickname "Bubba" not long after birth, for no real reason...I just started calling him Bubba and it kinda stuck! 

From the day Mark was born we all thought we had a hockey player on our hands, but we couldn't have been farther from the truth!  Mark has NO desire to play hockey, or any sport for that matter (though I have to say that he does enjoy playing in his House Leagues at school and even scored his very first goal in floor hockey a few weeks ago!) and his teacher wrote in his report card that he is Strong Competitor, and that he is improving in his volleyball and soccer skills!  Marks passion in life is drawing and art!  He is VERY good at drawing and would rather sit and draw than pretty much anything else in this world.  He has asked for an electric pencil sharpener for Christmas so he can sharpen his pencils faster and more often!  He has a sketch book that he draws many of his pictures in and I love to just flip through it and see all the different drawings he has done!

Along with drawing, Mark loves to build things.  With those two things under his belt, he already knows that he wants to be an Architect when he grows up!  Last year he wanted to be a "Home Stayer"- aka stay-at-home-man!  Glad that he has loftier goals in life now!  Mark has designed all of his siblings homes for when they grow up, and he has designed his own house in the field right next to our house!

Mark gets along with all most of his siblings quite well, however he is a bit of an instigator and can get all of them screaming when he wants to!  He always has a sly little smile on his face when someone in our house screams!  Mark is not at all helpful around the house, unless I have asked his sister to do something, then just like magic, Mark jumps up and wants to do that exact thing and it just happens to make his little sister scream with fury!!  Funny how that works!

One curious thing about Mark is that he will ONLY wear short sleeve t-shirts and soft pants with NO buttons or zippers!  The only time Mark has worn a "wedding shirt" as he calls dressy or button down shirts, is for a wedding or very special day like Natalie's graduation or a Christmas concert!  One day that I will never forget was Grace's 6th birthday when Mark came walking out in his "wedding shirt" and said that it was a special day that day; that is how I know he really actually does love his little sister!

Mark is a very special little boy who I look so forward to seeing grow into a young man and I can't wait to see what he becomes when he grows up! 

Before I show you some pictures of my little boy, I will describe him using his name:

M: Mama suck

A: Artist

R: REALLY (competitive)

K: Knowledgeable

Happy Birthday Bubba!

SJ

Mark just a couple of hours old

Our first picture as a family of 4

Going home - 3 days old

Mark's first Aerosmith bib - 2 months

Mark's first Aerosmith shirt - 6 months old

 Happy 1st Birthday!

Mark & Blue Bear!

1 1/2 years old

3rd Birthday

Mark LOVES to bake and decorate cakes!

                                                            
                                                              

Mark just being Mark!

Blue Bear - 8 years old

                                                                                    

Mark in his "wedding shirt" for Grace's birthday!

                                                                                   
                                                                   Happy 8th Birthday!

What goes around comes around!

Here is a little multiple choice quiz for you:

After reading this, my mother will:

A) Laugh her ass off

B) Say "I told you so"

C) Both A & B

My answer is "C"


It's official!  I am my mother!  Today we have a lovely winter storm brewing and my daugther (who is 18, and by all rights and freedoms can do whatever the heck she wants) wanted to go to her friends house this morning.  I told her she could go, but to be careful because the storm was coming.  At about 1:00 p.m. she returned, with her friend in tow and a Future Shop bag in her hand!  Now, if you don't know about the wee little town that I live in (that has only one grocery store), I can tell you this: we DON'T have a Future Shop!!  I lost my mind (this is where I become my mother) because the nearest Future Shop is located 35 minutes down the Trans Canada Highway!!!  If you could have seen my reaction you would know that I was not pleased at all and you know what she said to me??

1) "You don't have to freak out"

2) "I brought you a sausage McMuffin!" 

Number one - I will freak out because if is my God given right as your mother to freak out if I know that you are driving any kind of vehicle, but especially a 1984 Pontiac, down a major highway in the middle of a major winter storm!!!!

Number two - Don't you know I just jumped back on the Weight Watchers wagon and I am NOT going to be tempted by a cold sausage McMuffin (though if it were hot and fresh I would probably fall right off that wagon for a few minutes)!!

I couldn't believe the foolishness of that girl of mine and I couldn't believe that I sounded so much like my mother!!

My mom has said many, many, many, many, many, many, many, etc., times not to go out in "that weather" and just as many times we have said to her: "don't worry", "don't freak out", etc.  I guess what goes around comes around!

SJ