One tough cookie...

This is how I would have to describe Garrett. Sunday he was doing the dreaded "cool tricks" when I heard crying...never a good thing when accompanying "cool tricks." When Garrett finally came upstairs, he had his hands in his mouth and amidst the tears I gathered he bit his tongue. He's prone to this, as he sticks his tongue out while doing tricks of all kinds (or just concentrating very hard on something). When he removed his hand from his mouth, I nearly passed out from the blood gushing from his mouth. He hadn't just bitten his tongue, he had bitten almost completely through his tongue. I cleaned it up to find a puncture roughly the size of his top front tooth. I had him sit down for a minute to try to control the bleeding. Then Garrett tells me he wants his lunch...a bologna and mustard sandwich and potato chips. I cringed the entire time he ate just certain that the mustard and the salt would sting...ALOT. Well, clearly this is my son, as his love for food out weighed the pain he was in. For the remainder of the day and even into Monday, every time Garrett would stick his tongue out, it would bleed again. This morning, it looks a little better. I thought that he may need a stitch or two to close the wound, but it seems to be healing. Oh, the life of a mom with BOYS!

Gladiators Ready...

For those who are not color blind, I chose the text color Green in honor of my children's newest super hero obsession: The Incredible Hulk! Pair that with the boys new favorite show, American Gladiators, and you have little boy bliss! That is exactly what happened Monday, when American Gladiators has a salute to the new Hulk movie coming out. One of the gladiators was even painted green for the night. Seriously, this has been all the boys talk about.

We went to the park yesterday and oddly enough, the park was empty. So, the boys made up an obstacle course that they could compete in gladiator style, complete with Garrett commentating. He yelled out, "Gladiators Ready?...Contenders Ready?" I was quite amused.

Brian has been out of town this week, so we have tried to stay busy. If I stay busy, I don't dwell on missing Brian and being a single parent. My hat goes off to all the single parents. I do not know how you do it day in and day out. A week is about all I can muster up the strength for.

The boys have had a fun week, and their smiles make my week wonderful! I'll post more later.

Some more results...

We have gotten results from Garrett's blood testing (or as Garrett would say, "the scientists have finished testing his blood"...the blood tests confirmed his negative skin testing! That means, in theory, that he is no longer allergic to soy, tomatoes, all tree nuts, and peanuts. I say, "in theory" because he could still react to food while it not be a true allergic response. We have begun reintroducing soy-containing products will success. I have given him a couple of tastes of tomato sauce, and he does not care for it. He did not react to it, but he probably won't willingly eat it (for now). We have been given the option to have a "peanut challenge" done (at the clinic) where he would be giving increasing amounts of peanut over the course of several hours. If he is reaction-free, we will know that he is truly not allergic to peanuts. I want to make sure that he has had time to adjust to the soy and tomatoes before we try peanuts. What a HUGE answer to prayer!

Today, Hunter went for his testing to go to school. Not too surprising to me, he scored in the 99th percentile for everything. He only missed two questions on the entire battery of tests. I am so proud of him!

It is a wonder how stores like CVS can afford to pay customers such as myself to shop in their fine establishment. I have mentioned it before, and I will again say that their Extra Care Bucks program is incredible. In the last two days I had amazing results (keeping with the blog title):
I purchased: 2-9pk charmin TP, 1-8pk bounty paper towels, 1-4pk duracell batteries, 1 9volt duracell battery, 2-Huggies baby wash (for baby shower gifts), 625 cotton swabs, 2-listerine smart rinse, 2pk oral-b toothbrushes, 1 box bandages, 4-ultra dawn dish soap, bag of chex mix, and small tin of cacao reserve truffles. I only spent $9.61 out of my wallet and I received $14 in ECB's from the last transaction to spend next time. I need to figure out where to store it all, now!

Before I go, I thought I would just mention that it is 95 degrees today!!! And then next 7 days look to be just as hot! Hello Summer!!!