Tag: maddux
It’s the little things
Seven Year Old, Bakri’s First Song
Our oldest son, Bakri had an assignment to do a family culture project for his second grade Fall project. He wrote a song about our family. He sang the lyrics. I jotted them down quickly. We made our way to the piano and he continued to sing. He wrote several verses and a really cute chorus. I worked on recording the music and then Bakri sang his part. We recorded it with garageband. Once Bakri’s lead vocals were recorded, the kids and I recorded our parts. Once the song was done, we recorded video for the music video. I am very proud of my Bakri and his brothers and sisters. What a fun project!
Leeland’s Birthday Painting, the Third Painting in the series
When I began painting the first of what would eventually be three paintings, I had no idea that I would be painting variations of the same painting more than once. The first painting was for our first son, Bakri, when he turned one. We planned a baseball themed birthday party. I made him a cake shaped like a baseball and decorated like a baseball and I painted a baseball jersey on canvas for his wall in his room. I used the painting as part of the decoration for the party and I made a cake that matched the jersey. That was all for the first birthday of the first child. Little did I know, God would bless us with 2 more little boys with first birthdays! So, this week, I began the fun job of painting Leeland’s first birthday painting to go with the paintings for Bakri and Maddux. Here’s how it went:
A Link to Music from Our Lessons and Carols Service @ St. Andrew’s Presbyterian featuring me- El Momma Leading Breath of Heaven
Trips to the ER with boys
Our little primate with his buddy the orangutan!
What a day. What a week. What a life!
Is this what I am to “expect” with boys?
That is what I keep hearing. Everytime I tell someone about our 2 year old’s experiences with falling and needing stitches over the last 3 weeks- someone tells me their horror story. I’ve heard numerous stories of 12 ER visits or 15 ER visits or stitches every year. All of these stories were boys, by the way. But, none of them were comforting or encouraging in the least.
I guess I should be comforted to know that it all works out ok in the end. But, that’s hard. When you are going through it, it is traumatic. Our sweet little boy was screaming, crying and foaming at the mouth when the doctor failed at her attempt to glue him back together with dermabond. It was one of the most awful experiences we’ve had as parents.
Did I just say “failed at her attempt to glue him back together with dermabond?” Yes, I did. After having the glue on the skin for a few days, it begins to flake off and then you can actually see the success or unsuccess of the glue. In this case, it was unsuccessful. His laceration is just as open as it was when we arrived to the ER Saturday night. And what do we have to show for it? Well, we’ve tortured him by strapping his arms down, caused him extreme pain while attempting to apply dermabond while he was crying and sweating profusely with no numbing medication and we still have to get stitches tomorrow.
Oh, I am not looking forward to this. please pray for our Maddux. May he be brave and strong and trust in the Lord.
xoxo,
me
Our Trip to the plastic surgeon
Here is a picture of our sweet little boy, Maddux on Labor day. So, technically, this is his “before the slide accident” photo.
On the following day, Maddux went to Mother’s Day Out. It was his third day. I got a call 25 minutes after leaving him as school. The voice on the other line said “Maddux hit…” Right then, I was afraid Maddux had hit someone. And for a moment I was mortified. Not that my child would hit someone. Obviously, I don’t want him hitting other children. But, I know that happens. But, I pray I never get a call that my child has injured another. So, let’s go back to that phone call “Maddux hit his eye on the edge of the slide and we thought you should come look at it.” I was out the door so fast. It was the longest 5 minute car ride ever. I was just nervous about knowing the right thing to do. I began praying that God would give me wisdom to know what to do.
Maddux wasn’t even crying when I went to pick him up. The bleeding had stopped, but he did not look good. The cut was on the bone below his eyebrow and it was very open. I took him to the pediatrician so I could get a recommendation from his doctor. He recommended we take him to a plastic surgeon. He feared that the ER doctors would want to stitch him up and that he would have a larger scar than necessary. I was at the pediatrician’s office waiting as Nurse Kimberly made calls to try and find a plastic surgeon that could see Maddux and stitch him up. Suddenly, I remembered visiting a plastic surgeon’s office in the same building just before Trinity was born, when Moustapha had his accident with his finger. I called Moustapha and asked him to call. Luckily, he was available to see Maddux.


Cute Videos of Trinity and Maddux
Trinity loves peaches. And, this is How much!
Trinity had a big week. She learned to clap her hands this week. She also turned 8 months old yesterday and is pulling up on everything and walking around the furniture. Slow down, girlie! In this video, she is clapping and Maddux is singing to her.
Tee-Ball, Art Car Parade and Michael’s 45th
I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since I’ve posted anything. I guess I have some catching up to do. So, here goes.



Christian, Michael and Patricia’s 2 year old- riding the pony.



Maddux meeting Cousin Shawne for the first time. She ended up down in the dirt with him.
Keeping up with the El-Hakams is so much fun!!!- and so exhausting!




And Trinity, of course, can sleep anywhere. Here she is sleeping in the double stroller. I’ve finally gained enough control of the kids that I can let Bakri walk around and he doesn’t run away from me. I’m very thankful for that. It has made traveling with 3 kids a lot easier for me to handle on my own.
Bakri really loves the California Sea Lions. We can not leave the zoo without seeing them and telling “Cali” the sea lion “goodbye.”
Maddux loves the sea lions too. I think that is Cali in the background…




