Saturday, June 26, 2010

7 Months and Just Checking In!

Matthew is officially 7 months old now!  I can't believe it.  He's getting so much more mobile and he can definitely army-crawl to get what he wants!  He's just a roly-poly little thing and he is so squirmy!  He is such a sweet baby and he gets happier and sweeter as time goes by!  He's a little over 22 pounds and he can wear 12-18 month clothes.  He wears size 4 diapers and he does NOT like my homemade baby food.  Unlike John Michael, he just prefers Gerber!  Oh well, at least I tried!  Matthew is over the ear infection/sinus infection and then whatever viral illness the boys picked up and brought to Alabama.  All those combined made for a rough week around here with little sleep for me!  I'm glad both boys are happy and well now!

Oh what a sweet baby!  And yes, that's him sweetly holding his medicine dropper!  I think we'll keep him!



Nothing too exciting to blog about.  I'm just checking in and saying "hi"!  My camera is dead, I can't find the battery charger, I have no disk space left on my laptop so I can't upload anymore pictures, and the pictures I have taken are on my mother-in-law's computer....so that leaves me unable to blog about anything going on recently!  I really need to find my battery charger!  Everyone have a happy weekend!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Boo Hoo!

It's just been one thing after another on our trip back home!  Matthew is sick and has had a pretty high fever and then today after nap, John Michael had a fever also.  It took us 2 hours to get Matthew down for bed tonight.  I'm just so tired and sleepy! I keep thinking the dark circles under my eyes are never going to go away. I hope I can get a good night's sleep sometime soon.  I did take a nap today, so that helped a lot! I know this too shall pass but it's hard when you're in the thick of it! 

Also, my grandmother is in the hospital and I really need to go up and see her, but I can't leave the boys when they're sick like this.  I know she really wants to see them and we really want to go see her.  I don't think she's really doing all that great so it makes me really want to go see her soon!

I miss my happy, smiley baby!  Go away virus!  Don't you just hate when your little ones are sick?


Mainly, we've been swimming in the 500 degree heat.  John Michael has really been warming up to the water and he actually wants to go now.  He loooooves jumping off the edge into our arms.  I love swimming with him!  It's such a fun, sweet time for me!  On a more random note, I haven't straightened my hair in over a week and a half.  With all this humidity, crazy doesn't even begin to describe it!



We've also been making good use of our water table.  We've been going out after dinner a lot of nights and getting wet and playing and playing with the water!  John Michael loves to throw the water out onto the ground.  He ended up watering Meme's flowers and getting all of our feet and legs wet!



Matthew is even enjoying the water table.  Even if John Michael throws water on his little face!




I'm thinking we might have to go back to the doctor if Matthew continues to run a high fever.  I would have thought it would have gone down by today, but it hasn't.  I hope JM only has a slight case of whatever this is.  I'm not sure I can take days and days of more high fever.  Poor little guys!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Gardenin'

We have been having a kind of weird time on our trip back home to Alabama.  I came on this trip to come home and help my mom because of her messed up knee.  What has ended up happening is that I messed up my lower back.  I am having the same sciatic nerve pain that I have had with both pregnancies.  I couldn't really walk yesterday and it was really bad again this morning.  I finally got a chiropractic appt (out of pocket, ouch!) and it has helped me so much!  I hobbled into the office and I was able to walk out!  I'm going to go a few more times while we're here.

Now, to the good stuff!  Meme got John Michael a water table and he has had a good time playing with it.  I dont' know about y'all, but I have to force JM to go outside and play.  I think he doesn't like to be hot and sweaty.  He'll go back to the door and say "all done" and "help" as he tries to open the door himself!

After he's done screaming because he has to go out and play, he usually has a great time!


He loves water so much!  This water table was such a great idea.  We're going to get them to bring it up to us whenever they come out to visit.



Maybe this is a southern thing, but my dad has always had a garden and whenever we have friends or family over, they always end up in the garden.  This happens when we go to other relatives' houses too.  Is this just a southern thing...showing off and talking about your garden?!  They go down there and talk about what they planted, what died, and what has already been harvested!  It's kind of funny!


Here's everybody heading down to Papa's garden.  JM wanted to go too!



Uncle Judd was showing JM how the tiller worked.  He kept calling it a truck!



What's that you have there?!  What did you harvest?



Oh my!  It's a lovely squash from Papa's garden!



We checked out Papa's roses....



and I got to eat these first little tomatoes of the season! 



Now I'm just waiting on these lovely little tomatoes to ripen so they can go on my sandwich bread!



My grandparents couldn't hold out any longer once they found out we were in town!  They came up for a quick one day visit.  They'll be back another weekend.  They can't stay away from our boys!



The weather has cooled off a bit.  It's not quite as hot and humid as it was and I am happy about that!  Have a great week!


Verse O' the Day:



Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

Matthew 16:23

 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Our Trip So Far!

*I realize this is so long, but I like to document little things that go on in our daily lives.  I can't even remember what I ate for lunch, so I figure in a couple of years I won't be able to remember all these little things!

So, I was working on a little surpirse last week.  Since Jordan's mom and sister were visiting with us, I decided I should make our annual summertime trip back home with them.  I decided to keep it a secret so that we could surprise my family!  We left early Thursday and drove to Mississippi and spent the night.  JM was super-happy because he got to ride in his Aunt "nanya's truuuck" and watch lots of movies in the backseat with her.  It worked out well and Matthew and I followed in our car!

A few crazy things happened along the way; hey what doesn't happen when you're traveling with little ones and a doggy?!  We had adjoining rooms at the hotel and they had two baby beds for us.  I set up all of our baby bed items like crib sheets, blankets, stuffed animals, sound machines, baby monitors and crib mobiles to make it more like home.  We ate at the restaurant next door and then headed back up for baths for the little ones.

Neither went down very well.  Matthew did pretty well but JM was just absolutely a crying mess and then he would wake up Matthew and they would both be up.  Gaga eventually got JM down for a little bit.  Both were up different times that night and then Matthew woke up around 3 am and had fever, he also wanted to play.  This was just a sign of things to come!  So, by 6 am we were all exhausted!

We packed everything back up and got on the road around 10 and we made it home after lunchtime.  My mom was SO shocked when we rang her doorbell.  Special delivery, huh?! 

The next two days were a blur of sleepyness.  Matthew's ear infection had gotten WAY worse and he now had fever and was throwing up.  Our doctor called in a new antibiotic for him and he's getting better.  Also, JM was not napping or sleeping well and was waking up multiple times during the night along with Matthew.  I was so exhausted I just cried one afternoon while I was trying to force him to take a nap. 

Luckily, things are getting better.  I sent JM over to his Gaga's house just around the corner so that he can sleep in peace without being woken up.  It has helped him and he has finally gotten some good sleep.  Matthew is better, but after antibiotic #3 he still seems to be pulling on his ear occasionally.  A visit to my childhood ped. might be in order if he's not better in a few days!


On the road again.  Thank goodness for our helpers.  Each time we stop we take Jack to potty, give him water, change each baby and then I feed Matthew.  It takes forever and there's no way I could do it all by myself with them at this age!



JM chilling at the hotel while we load up the luggage "truck"!  Our hotel had the Disney Channel!  Yay!



Matthew was just as happy to be leaving to head home to Sweet Home Alabama!



We've had fun while we've been home.  Matthew has been sitting like a big boy in JM's booster seat!  Our parents are totally over the moon about these two!



Say cheese!



Now, onto my pooltime story!  Jack either jumped in or fell into the pool.  I'm not sure which one.  It all happened in slow motion, but luckily he knows how to swim! 



If you know anything about bichon hair you know what a pain it is to groom them.  Luckily, I hadn't gotten him groomed before we left, I would have been mad!  He was totally soaked and he ran all around getting dry.



By the way, it's about a billion and a half degrees here.  I couldn't believe I had forgotten how hot it is.  It's not nearly this hot in NWA this time of year.  I guess I've forgotten my southern roots already!  It's felt like being in a hot steam shower and my poor, poor hair is not fairing too well!


John Michael was so tired from the trip and not sleeping well that he actually fell asleep in the pool!  Jordan's mom had him and I looked over and he was actually asleep!!  He slept for quite a while!  He was wiped out!



We've rested up and gotten back on a better schedule so we're excited to get out and about and do some fun things around town this week!  More pics to come!


Verse O' the Day:



No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

 

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Weird Weather and A Kitchen Helper

We had a big, nasty storm blow up the other day.  The wind was blowing so hard and these crazy clouds were blowing in.  I have never in my life seen clouds that look like this.  I wasn't the only person in the neighborhood outside looking at them.  They were moving fast!


Aren't they cool?  The almost looked like smooth ocean waves!



I can never get used to the wind out here.  It was so windy it was almost blowing me over. After living here a few years I'm used to having my hair permanently blown over my head when I'm outside most of the time.



In other news, Matthew has been wanting to "stand" at the activity tables.  We have to hold him, but he loves to stand up and play with everything.  He is getting over an ear infection that is taking 2 antibiotics to clear up.  We had a really rough night Monday but I think as of this morning he is feeling much, much better.  By the way, I had to search high and low for some generic baby Motrin.  That stuff is hard to find!  He weighed 21 lbs 12 ounces and he is wearing JM's clothes from last summer.....when JM was 13+ months old!



JM had to show him how it was done!



And here's Jack making a blog appearance.  He's not on here much anymore!



Also, two year olds are great helpers.  JM likes to help me with laundry and he loves to help me when I get out the mixer or food processor.  He helped me make some buttercream icing for a cake the other day so I let him nibble on the spoon. 



I think he liked it.



We have had one successful potty attempt this week!  I'm not really pushing anything and I haven't really even read up on anything but he did go after naptime on the big potty!  He is such a big boy!  He's just now two and I'm just not going to stress about it.  We're going to start slowly working on it and see how it goes!  I might be wanting to pull my hair out by the end of the summer!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Fun-Filled Days

The end of last week was pretty fun!  On Wednesday we went to the park to swing and play after naptime.


JM played and played with his favorite steering wheel,



and Matthew has begun to love the swings!  Look at those chunk-ola legs swinging!



JM has been in a big swinging mood lately.  He just loves to swing and swing!



Thursday was playgroup, which was SO much fun.  Tracy (e.i. Martha Stewart) hosted us and there was lots of yummy food and so many water toys for the little ones to play with!



Of course, JM and Braxton barely touched the water toys.  They found trucks and tractors to occupy their time!



Matthew had fun in the swings while I got to chit-chat a bit!



Saturday we had a birthday part at Jump Zone for our friend, Clay!  We love Jump Zone!  It is SO much fun and JM just loves it.  The sad part is that Jordan and I really, really like it too.  We usually end up going down a few of the slides ourselves.  It's so much fun!



JM shocked us to no end with his new big boy behavior.  Last time we were there it took him a really long time to warm up to it.  This time, he just ran straight in and hopped into his favorite one!  He's starting to be a little more outgoing and brave with new experiences.  I guess that comes with being over 2 now!



"See ya Mom!"



Look at all the cute little ones!!  We had a fun weekend.  Jordan's mom and sister drove in on Sunday so we're spending some time with them and the boys are enjoying having new faces around the house besides just me!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Up And At 'Em

Matthew wants to be on the go so badly!  He's just dying to get going!  He can get on all fours now and rock back and forth.  He can occasionally throw himself forward and then roll to what he wants.  He's a creative little guy!


John Michael loves to bring Matthew this little yellow bat.  It's just his size!



He has so much fun rolling everywhere all over the floor!  He's starting to get a little bit of a personality this week.  He's starting to get mad if you take something away and he is constantly grabbing at anything that comes anywhere near him!



Now I'm just wondering how long it will be before he takes off crawling!


Friday, June 4, 2010

I Survived!

Today was my first big day at the pool with two children in tow!  Although I did have help from friends who were also there, I did a pretty good job!  JM was totally brave this year and just ran straight in.  I was so shocked.  Last year I had to hold both of his little hands because he wasn't quite 100% walking.  Not so this year.



Our little guy was fearless in the water and he kept trying to wade in up to his chin.  I'm going to have to keep an eye on him.  It was a little scary but I was kind of glad that our sometime-shy firstborn did his own thing and didn't even really stay with me most of the time!



I packed so much stuff and I ended up taking the stroller in so that Matthew could take his morning nap.  My plan worked perfectly because Matthew nodded off about 10 minutes after we got there!  I was already in the water keeping an eye on him from afar as he was laying in the stroller and the lady beside us was like "he's crying".  I knew he needed to cry for a minute or two before he would fall asleep.  I guess she was thinking I was just leaving him there! 



I survived and we had a lot of fun. By the time we got home, unpacked, had lunch, changed diapers, and got everyone ready for nap, I was exhausted.  I felt like I had gotten a good workout.   I'm sure this will just be the first of many trips to the pool this summer!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Lazy Mom

*Since this IS my blog and I like to keep it for recording things that go on in our daily lives, I want to record something that happened the other day because it broke my heart and set me on a path of "why, why, why and it's not fair."

After naptime I packed us all up and we headed to the park just to get out of the house and to kill some time before coming back home for dinner.  Since it was an odd time to be at the new park, no one was there but us.  This particular park is situated in the downtown area in the middle of some older homes.  We love this park because it's new, but on this day it was just terrible to be there.

There was a man (and I use the term loosely) in the backyard of one of the houses that's adjacent to the park and he was on a complete and total rant.  Excuse my language, but he was complete and total white trash.  I have never in my life witnessed such a horrible, terrible display of complete verbal abuse to children.  I sat in shock as I could hear him over the lawnmower that his wife was pushing, by the way, as he raged around their backyard screaming insults and curse words at the kids.

There were 4 children and I had to kind of look through some bushes and trees to see very much, but I could definitely hear him.  Cuss words were flying; profanities at these children.  I was in shock.  Total shock.  I stuck around the park for a while because I was just daring him to hit one of those kids and I would be on the phone to the police so fast it wouldn't even be funny.  I do believe he hit one of their dogs while I was there.

Tears came to my eyes as I had to listen to this while my children played carelessly nearby.  Oh how it wasn't fair.  How could God let these crazed lunatics have 4 children and yet others have none?  I don't get it.  How could they treat their children this way when there are SO many couples who want children and would never treat them this way.  I just have to be honest that this is something I just don't understand...I'm human!

After a while I had had all I could take of hearing this verbal garbage.  It hurt my soul just being near enough to hear.  I kept thinking, if he's doing this outside what is he doing to them inside?  My heart still hurts for those kids and I keep praying for a hedge of protection over these children everyday from this crazed man.

I cried on the way home and as I kept looking at my boys I just couldn't figure out how anyone could do these things.  I'm not perfect and I don't always keep my cool but this was just so off the charts.  Even now, a few days later, I still feel so distressed over this.  Those poor kids!  I always wish there was something I could do.

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So what do you do when your children decide to wake up super early and you feel like you've been run over with a truck and you're so sleepy you can hardly walk straight?

Well, if you're me you gather up all said children, all diaper changing supplies, grab the laptop (for sesamestreet.org games) and put on "dot dog" i.e. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and lol about in bed until you can fully wake up!


I don't know what was with me on this particular morning but I was just so exhausted I could hardly stand it.  I like being all piled up in bed with them, though!  It's always so fun plus it gave me some extra time to wake up!



Matthew must have seen something funny on the laptop!



I'd snuggle with these two cuties any day!



Verse O' the Day:



We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9