Bergman's Bruisers


A Look Into My Life Of Raising Four Rough
And Tumbly Boys

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Free Agent

I had my last weekend at work.  Retiring from my job of ten years.  Saying goodbye to my beloved coworkers who have seen me through a wedding and three pregnancies. They have helped me raise my babies with endless advice and lots of laughs.

a small sample of those beloved coworkers

So, I'm officially a free agent.

What's that you say, South Carolina?  You don't have a need for an experienced NICU nurse? 

I'm willing to work nights....weekends....holidays...still, no?

Oh, you have hospice and home health.  I see.  I suppose there can be similarities between the very old and the very young; diapers, soft foods, repeating yourself over and over, stubbornness, but my passion is for babies.  

Well, South Carolina, maybe you'll come around.  I suppose I'll be in retirement until my services are needed again. 

.....Please let my services be needed again.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cannon 4 Months


 Oh, my sweet and peaceful baby.  What a difference this month has made for you.  You are now sleeping nine to ten hours, waking only to nurse and then quickly back to sleep. An added bonus--given the opportunity, you'll take three naps during the day. The sleep for me has been ah-mazing!!  You are a go-with-the-flow kinda baby, nary a time have I said, "Well, that won't work with Cannon's schedule."  You are often pulled out of a dead sleep and loaded into the car or feedings are cut short due to crisis with your brothers--and you just go with it.  Now, there are some things that you stand your ground on, like you hate riding in the car and you make sure I am aware every time we're in the car.  Being put down in the evenings is a no-go, too--you want to be held and then held some more. But, for all you give in to, I think these are reasonable demands.

You have found your thumb!  I know this is only cute until your first dentist visit.

 Cannon, you are the only baby I know who has toe jam and finger jam!


 I don't want to throw the word 'advanced' around, but, come on, what other four-month-old sits up unattended for 4.2 seconds?! 

 You continue to look so much like your oldest brother, Harrison, with a little bit of Gavin thrown in the mix.  I think your favorite part of the day is in the evenings, after the older boys have gone to bed and it's just you and me.  I prop you up on a pillow on my bed and we Skype your Dad or we just play and giggle.  Sometimes when you are restless, I'll put you in your baby bath hammock and we'll take a shower.  You'll lay in your hammock for as long as I'll let you, you are so peaceful as the water just pours over you.  You fall asleep almost instantly after a good shower. 

 Going....

 Going....

Gone is my baby who was three months old and is now four.  
Slow down, baby, there is no rush to grow up!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

 We made our sixth annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  The shirts that Gavin and Cannon have on are the ones that Harrison and Gavin wore in 2008.  Harrison didn't seem to notice he was the only one not festively dressed and I surely didn't bring it up, I would've had to confess I just forgot about getting him a new shirt. We love this place, it really gets you in the spirit of fall.  Bales of hay, a bazillion pumpkins, lots of character cut-outs, bounce houses, carnival food, and hay rides!

 Always a good  time when you're with your friends.  These guys have been playing together for years!

♫ Which one of these is not like the other? ♫


 Gavin has already developed quite an affinity for the ladies.  He spots 'em quick and hooks on like a tick.  Ava kindly allowed him to stay steady on her heels.  

 I'll be honest, Cannon didn't love the pumpkin patch. I guess I'm not surprised, what's a four month old going to enjoy at one of these things?  Not even the hay ride or all the bouncing did much for him.

 He did pass a little time looking at hay.  

These friends have been playing together for years, too.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day

I'm working on this post trying to share my struggles of parenting and Blogger is not cooperating!  My pictures won't align, my text is going awry, and my words aren't coming easily. Oh, the irony!


My dearest children,

        There is no greater gift in life than being a parent.  It is a job that comes with a tall order of raising children into adults that have good character and are blessings in this world.  It's a responsibility that I don't take lightly; I read, learn from others, listen, and genuinely try to be the best mother I can.  I'm not sure what you'll remember of this time in your childhood.  My hope is that you only recount the smiles and hugs, but I'm not that naive.  As with my childhood, it is when you see your parents' vulnerability and imperfections that memories are seared.  As it was with me, you probably won't make sense or understand the emotions until you, yourself, become a parent.  The greatest challenges yield the greatest rewards.  And, right now, it is challenging having our family spread apart. I know it's not intentional when you spill your drink (for the third time during dinner) or behave as you always have, rough housing with each other.  The only difference now is me and my ability to handle all of these things at once.  When you cry and carry on with, "he's looking at me, tell him to stop looking at me!" and I've just gotten off the phone finding out there is no imminent closing date on the house in South Carolina, I'm not as tolerant as I should be. We are incomplete without your dad and our actions are showing it.  Gavin, I'll forgive you for carelessly pulling my computer and coffee off the table causing it to crash to the floor if you forgive me telling you I didn't have enough room in my lap for you to snuggle while I was feeding Cannon.  And, Harrison, when I told you that helping with your homework was a beating, I'm sorry about that, it wasn't nice for me to say.  But, I say we're even after you told me you hated me.  I know we both didn't mean it, we're not at our best right now.  Oh, and my baby, Cannon, I feel terrible when you're crying and I'm helping your brothers do something and can't swoop you up and stop the tears.  I hope you don't end up with abandonment issues like the Russian orphans. Although we're having our fair share of 'terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days' let's take the good with the bad and try to roll with it a little easier. 

                                                                                        I Love you beyond words,
                                                                                                          Mom

P.S. If one day you end up in therapy make sure to throw around your dads name, too.  I'm not going down alone.










I check on you and give you kisses before I go to sleep and then I say my nightly prayer

Lord, grant me the serenity to
Accept my children as they are;
Courage not to scream uncontrollably;
And the wisdom to know how to fix and replace things.
Living one moment at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting broken furniture as a test;
Taking, as other parents before me, this crazy environment
As it is, and not how I dream it;
Trusting that somehow things will be okay
If I surrender to parenthood;
That I may enjoy the good times.
And be supremely happy when the day comes to an end
and I say 'I did my best today.'
Amen.
               






Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Spurts of Fun


I've been pretty lame lately with parenting and doing fun stuff with the kids.  I'm working on the guilt I feel trying to convince myself this is temporary and soon we'll be back to the good ol' days of leaving toy rooms messy and endless play time.  As for now, we're making a big deal out of the small things we are doing.  Like, on this day when I took Gavin to eat lunch with Harrison at his school.  Gavin was really excited to walk through the cafeteria and pick his lunch and Harrison was equally excited getting to be the leader showing Gavin what to do.




Gavin slowed down the line a little bit by being a slow chooser, but for his first time he got the gist fairly easy. 




Cheesy boys!



Getting to carry his tray to and fro was Gavin's highlight.  Although, a close second would be the ridiculous amount of attention he received from all the kindergarten girls. 

On another day of excitement we joined Harrison's elementary school in a mile and a half walk-a-thon through the neighborhood.  Making up at least one thousand people, the entire student body, faculty, and many families joined in the fun.

These outings, while small, are helping pass the time and are keeping some level of normalcy for our family while in this awkward transition.  Steve often calls and tells me about another place he can't wait for us to go to when we get to South Carolina.  It's sweet because he wants us to experience it for the first time together as a family so he drives by places or reads about things to do but doesn't stop.  We are going to have a long list of things to visit when we arrive to our new home--I can't wait!


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Monday, October 17, 2011

Free At Last!


Harrison is free!  I think I was more excited than Harrison to say 'bye-bye' to the cast.  For three weeks I had to crawl in the very back of the van to buckle him in and covering his cast in Press 'n Seal before every bath was time consuming. 




I was really interested in seeing what the pins in his elbow looked like. I pictured small sewing-like pins, clearly this is not what he had holding his bones together.  These pins were big and thick! It did make me a little squeamish looking at them wondering how the doctor was going to take them out.  




 Harrison was pretty anxious, too, wondering how those pins were coming out.  He was wide-eyed as the doctor approached him with clamps and proceeded to just pull and tug until they were free.  I distracted him by telling him it was like Wolverine claws in his elbow that were being pulled out.  I'm surprised by how much he continues to guard his arm.  We are having to do daily rehab trying to extend his arm straight and then bending it to touch his shoulder.  He's getting stronger but I think he may be on the disabled list through wrestling season this year.  The pee-wee team has been spared a year of whoopin's while this Bruiser heals.  As for next year?  Watch out!


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