Our weekend and Monday

Our weekend went by very fast so I was excited about that. I had been dreading it a great deal because I thought and knew that I would really miss Jeff over the weekend.
Friday was a beautiful day, so I took the boys to the zoo and to ride the train. On Friday night, the Harrell's hosted date night daycare(we don't have a name for this yet), so I took the boys over there and I went out with one of my favorite girls, the lovely Juanita. We went and had dinner at Mimi's cafe.
Saturday, Marnie took the boys for a good part of the day while I went grocery shopping. After going shopping, we came home and hung out here for the rest of the evening.
Sunday morning we went to church, then out to eat with my in-laws.
We came home, took naps, watched the Colts win (Whoop!), and then headed over to the McDaniel's for some devotion, food, and fellowship.
While we were at the McDaniel's, Joseph didn't take a bite of his dinner and complained here and there that his stomach was hurting. I didn't really pay much attention to him not eating his dinner because when he is around other kids he is usually really distracted. The stomach hurting, I wasn't too concerned because I just thought he had to go #2, so I tried taking him while we were there, but he wouldn't go.
As we were starting to head out, he got sick all over their couch. So a quick bath and a change of clothes, we sped home and got settled for what I thought was going to be a long night. I am so thankful that he slept good and woke up pretty healthy. After we arrived home, he threw up two more times and maybe a little, early this morning, but that was it. He went shopping with me today and to Chick fil a, and he has been happy and running around since.
I finally broke down and called his pediatrician today. I called because several times last week he complained of a stomach ache. I just chalked it up to be that he had to go poop. (I am pretty sure my child has anxiety about being wiped, so therefore, he holds it for several days. FYI, if you are ever taking care of my oldest and he says he has to poop, he has to go and he has to go now.)
Then towards the end of the week, he was complaining more about it and then he said his back hurt. This raised a yellow flag for me regarding his hydronephrosis problem. When he was 9 months, the urologist said, the fluid around his kidneys was gone, but if he ever starts complaining about abdominal pain, come back in. I wasn't able to speak to the Dr. directly, but he did call back and I missed his call. He said he wanted to talk to me, so I don't know what he wants me to do with him.
I have only three more nights and our knight and shining armor will be home. I can tell you that it is going to be a mad dash for him when he arrives home.

Can you guess what C is eating?

It is something very yummy and he got to have his own tonight!

I really wanted Joseph to wear his boots to church on Sunday, so a little pep talk.."...and Jack wears boots, so does Mark, Junie, Tilly and Papaw..." and four M&M's later, I was able to get him to put them on. Go me!

(To answer your question, No, he didn't like wearing the boots or the belt.)
Alright, please continue to pray for us because I can feel God's peace and grace over this household.

Later

*Christian is eating an icecream sandwich.

Day 3 and 4

*No Pictures*

The last two days have flown by which I am super excited about. Yesterday, I started my bible study at Friendswood Community Church and it was great. After my study, Marnie, me and the boys, along with the Harrell crew went and had lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was a good time visiting and letting the kiddos run wild.
After lunch, we headed home, took some naps and then when the boys woke up we played for a while. We ate some dinner and off to church we went.

Today, we didn't do anything other than go to the Y. After that, we grabbed lunch and then the boys went down for some naps. I organized our linen closet and it looks awesome. I organized the medicine and put it all at the very top!!! (Those of you who didn't hear, Joseph got into my pre-natal vitamins a couple weeks ago. Apparently, this is very serious! We called poison control and they right away said we had to take him to the ER. But once the lady talked to us a little longer, it was determined that he would be okay. FYI, iron overdose is very fatal to children under 6. We got lucky because the vitamins were over the counter one's and not one's prescribed by my doctor for when I am pregnant.)
Once the boys woke up, I had asked Marnie to come over because I thought I might have an ear infection. Being the most awesome MIL that she is, she cancelled her night with her quilting group to come watch the boys while I went to the clinic in Walgreen's. I didn't have an ear infection, but the lady said there was a lot of drainage, but it was all clear. She thinks I ruptured my ear drum. By dinner time tonight, my left side of my face was so sore and it felt like I had been socked in the face. She prescribed an antibiotic and highly recommended me to go see my ear doctor. That's on my agenda for next week.
Tomorrow we are headed to the zoo. I hope to get some pics, but this is usually pretty hard when you are at a place like that. It's hard to mess with settings of the camera, keep the subject happy and watch the other child run wild.

Later.

Day 2

Day 2 started out a lot better. We woke up, had breakfast and played a little. Christian went down and then Joseph and I continued our study on Creation. This has been a lot of fun. I know this is only day 2, but I am really enjoying the one on one time with him and the teaching part of it.

After nap time we headed over to the property for a photo shoot with my wonderful sister in law, Lindsay. We had Christian's one year pictures done and they are so cute! Well, the one's I have seen. I really wanted to post the one's I have so far, but I decided to reveal them later. We got Christian and Phillip (my nephew who is 2 days older than C) matching Birthday Boy shirts and got a couple of pictures of them together.

After the photo shoot, we came home, the boys took naps while I organized, cleaned and hung up some pictures. I finally heard from Jeff and he was at his hotel room safe and sound. I breathed a sigh of relief. He ate some pasta and shrimp for dinner, and he was very pleased with it. The one thing I do like about his trips are the food stories. His Mexico City food experience was very interesting! While I was organizing I found Christian's birth information and realized I don't have either one of the boys birth certificates yet. Am I the only mother that has gone 3 years without getting that done?

Once the boys woke up, we took a nice little walk around the neighborhood. The boys really do love being outside and our new ride. Once we got back home, we took the tractor to the cauldesac and took some more pictures.

We then came in, heated up dinner, took baths, played and then it was bed time.

Pretty easy, laid back day. Tomorrow I will be going to my bible study class and I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a study by Kelly Minter and her book called 'No other Gods.' This should be very interesting.

This is what I see all day. Joseph looking at me like, 'What?" And Christian freaking out. (Now when I call Joseph's name, he immediately responds, "Why?" I don't know if he is asking me Why he is doing what he is doing or he just doesn't want to hear me tell him what he shouldn't be doing, and just wants to know why he can't do it.)

There is this too, throughout the day.

No, it's not his birthday. He just had the shirt on from the pictures earlier.

Boy, tractor and thumb...can't beat that.

Please continue to pray for my energy and peace. I couldn't go to sleep last night. I think I ended up going to sleep after 1 am and then woke up at 6:30. Then tonight, my ear started hurting, so hopefully, it's not becoming an ear infection.

See you tomorrow.

Day 1

Today started my first day with me and my two boys. Jeff will be out of town for ten days, and since I won't have an adult to talk to at the end of my day, I will let you all know what I did each day.

So, hold on to your seats, this goin' be excitin'.

This morning started out really rough. I will spare all the embarrassing details, but having Jeff leave is always hard for me. First, having him be away from home, having to fly, having to fly over the ocean and being in another country(Don't other countries dislike Americans?). I honestly don't feel like I breathe until he steps foot into our door.
After me trying to spend most of the morning pumping myself up for the next ten days, we had our breakfast, played and then put Christian down for his morning nap.

Today I wanted to start something new with Joseph so we did and it went pretty well. Lately,I have been feeling really convicted about getting him into the Word and him watching way too many cartoons in the morning. So, yesterday, I grabbed his little Story Bible and made a lesson plan for this week. Today we started with creation. I read the story from his book, sang a song, and then said a memory verse and then we were done. I posted the memory verse on the frig and in his bathroom and the goal is for him to memorize it by Friday. I then created a memory chart that we will fill with stickers and when he gets 10, he gets a prize.
The only thing I am conflicted on is how much of the verse should he repeat? Any suggestions? I don't want this to be stressful thing, but a fun, learning experience. When I asked him throughout the day to say his memory verse, I would start it and he would finish it. I know it's just the first day, but it made think how much of it do I want him to say, to be able to get a sticker. All, half, or just a word?
After our lesson, we loaded up and headed to the Y. That was a stress reliever for me and it was really nice to get out of the house since I was cooped up all last week with two sick boys.
We came home, had lunch and then the boys took naps. I did some chores and have started organizing like crazy! Seriously, I have been in this 'nesting' phase and I usually get that way for one of two reasons. I am pregnant or I am ready to get pregnant. Well, I can assure you that it's not the first so maybe the second.? I have been cleaning and organizing drawers, closets and today, I started on the garage. So much junk and I have even started a garage sale pile. I haven't decided if I want to have a garage sale or just wimp out and give everything to Goodwill.
After nap, the boys and I took a quick walk around the block in the new limo, as Jeff refers to it. I have debated whether or not to get a double stroller, but some Christmas money I had been saving and then a coupon to Babies-r-Us gave me a friendly nudge to go for it. After a sale and my coupon, I got $100 off this stroller. We love it!! I didn't realize how much I hadn't been doing because I dreaded hearing whining from a little someone about not wanting to walk. I used to love taking walks in the evenings after nap when it was just Joseph and I; now I can do that again because my eldest has a little place to sit.

Here is Joseph telling Christian to smile. By C's look, it is as if he is thinking, "Don't tell me what to do." Mr.Happy back to his normal self. He had an ear infection last week and man it was a long week!

I bribed him with M&M's to pose for me here.

So, one day down. I have been trying to track Jeff's flight but it never fails, "The airline code is invalid," I always get this even when I type in EXACTLY the info Jeff gives me. UGGH. Please pray for my energy and loneliness. I really miss Jeff after the boys are in bed and no one here to keep me company.

See you tomorrow.

My life the past four days

It has been one of those weeks with two sick children. It has been long days and a lot of worrying for the little one. It started with Joseph getting a runny nose and cough on Saturday night. That was followed with a low grade fever, and it continued on into Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, C started coughing and having a really bad runny nose. Monday Joseph started to really bounce back and started doing laps in the house. One down, one to go. As Monday carried on, Christian started getting warm and we soon discovered he had a low grade fever. Poor baby.

Starting Monday evening, he started to not eat much, which is unlike him. Then the worry starts to set in. Tuesday, no temperature was taken, but he felt warm here and there, but never bad enough for me to take his temperature. Tuesday continued with little food consumption and noses being wiped all day long!!!

Wednesday rolls around. *Third day inside the house!* Joseph is almost 100% with an occasional nastiness flowing for the nose region. Christian is looking worse and worse as the day goes on. He is beginning to cry more and every time Joseph gets near him or touches him, he cries. Not like him at all. Take his temp three or four times that day and it was at a consistent 101. He starts to eat a little more here and there and is drinking which is a sigh of relief for me. At dinner, a light bulb went off in my head and I blurted out to Jeff, I bet he has an ear infection. *Finger in nose* DUUUHHHH.

Thursday morning he wakes up and I scoop him up, eager to see if he has a fever and when I kiss his forehead it was hot. Temp was taken and we are now up to 102.5. Tylenol was given and then he was back down for a nap a couple hours later. When he woke up, he was still warm and had a fever of 101.8. I called the peds office and they got him in immediately and they discovered a single ear infection.

I hate that he is starting so early with those. Joseph didn't have one until he was over 2yrs.
I know this isn't exciting stuff, but nothing exciting has happened to me in last four days because we have been home not doing much. It has been nice, however, being in pj's until 2p and playing with Joseph's cars....errrr, watching him play. I can only sit and watch, no touch.

Sorry for no pictures. I haven't had very happy, smiley babes the last couple of days. I will try and take some this weekend and get them posted soon.

Until then....

Adios 2009

(I forgot to add the picture first before I typed my entry, so read all the way to the bottom to see why Jeff and I are all snazzy looking.)

I can't believe another year has come and gone. We have had a great year and we are looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us.

Some highlights from 2009 (Not necessarily all great things, but things that stand out):

-C-bear joining our family.
-Joseph being sick for about 3 months straight. He had two stomach virus' that lasted 5-7 days both times, a double ear infection and a sinus infection.

-Seeing thousands of plastic eggs being dropped from a helicopter and the madness that followed.

-Taking Joseph to the beach two times this year. That kid loves the water.

-Unfortunate event in Galveston.

-Taking Joseph to Schlitterbahn for the first time.

-Joseph found a new love: Cars.

-Potty training Joseph. He has pretty much mastered it now, with the occasional accident because he is too busy playing or watching his stories.

-Christian crawling, pulling up and sucking his thumb...all day.

-Collecting Cars characters. We have become obsessed with this and we need to stop.

-Joseph hanging from the ascending garage door.

-Christian nearly falling head first out of his highchair.

-Our family trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

-Our family trip to the beach house.

-Jeff's job laying off hundred's of employees and Jeff being spared.

-My sister finding out she is expecting.

-Our good friends Mark and Megan expecting.

-Getting to see old High school and college friends this year.

-Driving through ice and snow Christmas Eve to see family.

-Jeff and I celebrating 5 years of marriage.

Speaking of our 5 year anniversary, Jeff arranged a nice evening for us (Which explains the picture). We started by going to Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse for dinner. We went out on a huge limb and ordered each of us a glass of wine. Tasted horrible, but I was able to hold it down. We then order portabello mushroom's for an appetizer. For dinner, we each ordered a steak, in which I got a loaded baked potato as a side and Jeff ordered mashed potatoes. We tried to leave room for dessert, but the food was too darn good, so we stuffed ourselves full.

After dinner, we headed on the other side of town and went to Radio Music Theatre. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a cross between, stand up comedy and improv. These three people do an entire show playing different characters which is absolutely hilarious. We went to see the show titled 'A Fertle Holiday,' which is a classic.

That pretty much sums up 2009. Hope your year was full of joy, memories and little stress.

Some things I'm looking forward to in 2010:

-Meeting baby Manning.

-Meeting baby Selby.

-Watching Christian become a little boy.

-Watching Joseph grow out of this sassiness phase.

-Watching God's work be done in our home, church and Jeff's job.

Everyone have a wonderful year!