Dawsons Ditties

Dawson is growing like a weed. Long and lean like his Daddy, soft, sweet heart still very much intact. His two loves are microbiology and the Air Force. He talks from sun son up to son down about both. I found him a flight jacket at a yard sale for 25 cents and he lives in it. Todd made his wagon into a plane with boxes, duct tape and sparkling water bottles. He "flies" down the hill in our yard, often crashing, which is frowned upon in a real  plane. He constantly talks about Salmonella, T-cells, clogged arteries, army tanks, tape worms and their scolex, stealth bombers and machine guns. Every night the boys are lulled to sleep with stories of lice, hook worm life cycles, bacterial infections and army weaponry. He has his 1st loose tooth and doesn't care one bit about it. Ella wiggles her very un-loose teeth out at the slightest hint of movement and has those suckers yanked from her jaw in 24 hours. Not Dawson, he's not in any hurry to grow up, and that's fine by me. I see glimpses of sweetness between him and the twins, which makes my heart feel settled and happy. I love him and I just like him so much. I love spending time with him and I could just sit and watch him talk for hours. He is so expressive and animated. He is stuck somewhere between baby and boyhood, a place where there are still plenty of kisses for Mom and yet I see a toughness and maturity in him that surprises me.

Dawson said when he grows up he's either going to be a soldier, or a Tootsie Roll factory worker. Seems like quite opposite ends of the spectrum;)

Dawson brought home some very messy penmanship and when I asked why it was so sloppy he answered "I was writing with my eyes closed, thinking of you..."

Dawson came downstairs after getting dressed and said with a pout "nobody likes my sense of style"

Dawson informed us that "God's plan for me is NOT to drink beer in public places."

Dawson ran over to me and said "I'm coming to give you a kiss, and little hearts are going to go 'ding, ding, ding' over my head."

Dawson was talking about a sentence he wanted to write and told me he wanted to put an "excitement mark" at the end;)

Dawson is not a dare devil by nature so I was impressed to see him cruising downhill on our driveway on his bike. I told him I was proud of him and he said "it's pretty scary going downhill fast, but I thought, well, I've got this helmut on to protect my brain so...let's go for it!"

Dawson still thinks he's going to marry me when he grows up and told me this "when we get married I'm going to have a present for you behind my back, something you've always wanted. What have you always wanted?" I told him "you, you are something I've always wanted."

Apparently Dawson has our honeymoon planned. He said we are going to Disneyland, then Hoo-waii then Galapagos to snorkel. The twins asked if they could come and Dawson said "no, it's just the two of us. Duh, we're getting married."

At TJ Maxx Dawson told me he didn't think it was fair that "Adam and Steve were the first people God made." I tried not to laugh as I corrected him and said it was Eve, not Steve. Then he said "well it doesn't really matter, none of us are real anyway, we're all robots. At least that's what someone at school said."

I had all 4 of the kids at Lowe's at some guy called out to me in the parking lot "those can't possibly be all your kids?! You look like you're 18!" I said "guilty! They're all mine and I wish I had some cash to tip you for the compliment even though it's a lie!" We laughed and went our separate ways and then Dawson said "you know Mom you do look 18, 'cept...'cept you probably should be a little skinnier to look 18."

Dawson, pointing to his testicles, asked Todd "what's in here?" Todd said "that is where the chemicals and cells that make you a man are stored." and Dawson said "ohhhh, so it's like a sack of weed killer."

We passed by the hospital and Dawson asked if that's where he was born, then proceeded to say "I don't get it, why do Mom's have to go to the hospital? Why can't they just lay on the couch and push their babies out then start milking them?"

At bedtime I was up brushing the kids' teeth and noticed the jar of flossers was almost completely empty and a huge pile of them in that trash. I asked "who dumped all the flossers?!" and Dawson replied "not me, I would never do that, you're my sweet little cherry."

This is all 3 of the boys' favorite book;)

Toddy with the long body

I know a bunch of people have been asking about Todd and wanted to give a quick update. It's kind of been a one-step-forward, two-steps-back situation for a while. Great news and a BiG answer to prayer is that his biopsies didn't show cancer. He's had soooo many doctors appointments, procedures, tests...it's unreal. Our insurance company is going to celebrate with a keg party when we switch to another company next month because of changes with his job. Unfortunately, he is still suffering the same pain and symptoms, he is so discouraged and worn out. Next month marks a year that he has been dealing with this. So after 3 surgeries, a battery of tests and endless lab work, still no idea what is going on. Several of the tests were done to rule out a rare form of Crohn's. A blood test that cost over $700 confirmed that he doesn't have Crohn's, we are grateful for that. In the meantime, his surgeon and G.I. specialists have told him that they recommend a temporary colostomy, to which Todd responded with some dirty words. He had me cracking up because he said "how can I travel with a colostomy bag?! You can only carry on one bag, and there's a limit on how many ounces of liquids you can take on the plane!" He was half serious which made me laugh even harder. He has been on every kind of drug you can imagine and nothing has really helped. He is still on pain meds and losing weight, I just can't even begin to say how badly I feel for him. I hate watching him suffer and there's nothing I can do:( I am trying my hardest to take the load off of him at home, but the kids and I miss him. When he laughs or smiles I feel like a parched plant finally getting a drink of cool water! He had a CT scan to rule out other problems in the G.I. tract, and everything looked beautiful and healthy, but they did see something in his liver. He was sent in for an ultrasound, and they could see a mass so he has an MRI scheduled for tomorrow. Most likely all is okay, but since his Aunt died of liver cancer it will be a relief to get it checked out and know for sure. He had appointment #792 yesterday and was there for about 2 hours. The doctor sent him in for yet another round of labs that no one at PAML has even heard of, and put him on another kind of antibiotic. If that doesn't work they are sending him to UW. And we have certainly met every terrible doctor in Spokane, as well as the {few} good, so we might as well expand our horizons. I can't believe some of the insensitive things doctors have said that show a complete lack of compassion and humanity, and how many times we've had to call 6,7, 8, or more times just to get a doctor to call back with results etc. Todd's sense of humor is still intact {sometimes;)} and he told me that he wishes he could just grow a cervix so he could see a good physician like Dr. Fine {my OB is the BEST doctor in the universe}. Poor guy is so done with all of this. I know he appreciates every one's prayers as he struggles through this while still working his butt off and trying to be a Daddy and husband.
I put some songs together for Todd to listen to and one of the songs I love is by JJ Heller. It talks about struggles and trials and says "he's praying 'I don't know what you're doing, but I know Who You are" and that has become our new anthem. Even if this life is full of sorrow and loss and suffering, and thankfully ours isn't, in Jesus we have hope beyond the shadow and vapor of the earthly life.

Chuckles

Charlie just is funny, he doesn't necessarily say funny things more often than the other Rufflings, but his physical humor, body language, and expressions are priceless, and a constant source of laughter around here. He is a perpetual ninja/warrior/soccer player/super hero, and I would film him 24/7 if I could. These are a few recent acts of cuteness I wanted to jot down so I don't forget.

Charlie was looking at the flowers on the table the other day and asked "what part of the flower gives you the God-bless-you's?"

This is one of the cutest things Charlie does at the moment: When he does something he's proud of, or if we offer help and he doesn't think he needs it, he says loudly and proudly {actually, everything he says is loud} "I did it all by my best self!!" with one hand on his hip, and his thumb pointing at his puffed up chest;)

Ella had a rough morning before school, so the boys and I packed a lunch and decided to surprise her at school by waiting for her in the cafeteria at lunch. I told the boys to load up in the car, and on accident said that we need to hurry so we can "eat" Ella, I was trying to say "meet Ella so we can eat with her" but my brain missed a few steps. Before I had a chance to correct myself, Charlie said "we can't eat Ella, hers our precious girl!"

When playing hide-and-seek, this is how Charlie responds when asked where he is: "here I is, here me are!"

Since we're talking about Charlie... On a serious side note, on Sunday as we were getting ready to leave the house for a party, Charlie ran up to his room to grab his wallet. I heard a LOUD crash and an instant cry, the bad kind. I ran up as fast as I could, skipping who knows how many stairs at a time. As I turned the corner to their room I saw that their huge dresser had fallen on him. It was leaning on his body and his lower leg was tweaked and pinned under it, holding the weight of it. It is solely God's protection that he didn't at the very least break his leg, or worse, suffer a head injury. I am definitely a Mom that is on the paranoid side of the spectrum, and have always insisted that Todd anchors furniture. In fact when we moved to this house it took months to get their book shelf up because I refused to until he had the stuff he needed to anchor it to the wall. But I never thought their dresser would fall, it's a bureau and is much wider than it is tall. And it's solid oak. So after the dust cleared and we knew he was okay, I asked what happened, half assuming he'd climbed on it because he is our naughty{est} child and the one who takes the most physical risks. He said that he opened all the drawers to find his wallet. I guess the weight of all the wood drawers hanging out at once, weighed down with clothes, was enough to tip it over.  Just wanted to share this so you can be careful! About a year ago I read on a home schooling Mom's blog that her 3 year old boy wasn't so lucky when a dresser fell on him, he died from brain trauma. Please check your furniture, even if your kids are past the climbing stage. And thank you Lord for your protection. I've been replaying this scenario in my head over and over and know it was a miracle that he wasn't hurt.