Poo(h)

Oh...what a day. Halloween. My dad's wife, Kiki, bought Jack a Winnie the Pooh costume a few weeks ago and I was so excited for him to wear it today. We put it on this morning and BAM! his day was ruined. It was like I put a suit filled with needles on him. He cried. And whined. And cried some more. And whined some more. So I took it off.

Fast forward to after dinner (which was a big fight that I don't even want to get into), we decide to put Jack back in his costume and take him to a couple of houses in the neighborhood. We tell him that he will get CANDY if he leaves the costume on. So, we walk to the houses, get the candy and it hits him that he will get CANDY with his costume on. So he agrees to leave the costume on in the car on the way to church. And he leaves it on through most of church...until I have to take it off because he is overheating. He was more than happy to leave that thing on after I gave him a big piece of chocolate. I really wanted to stay home and pass out candy tonight, but we had obligations at church tonight. Maybe next year. Either way, I think Jack makes a pretty cute Pooh.

Fall

Can we say, "growth spurt?"

Jack cleaned his plate at breakfast. I think this is the first time ever. (Well, maybe I exaggerate...but it's been a long time since he ate everything I gave him.) He ate two banana pancakes and drank a whole thing of Danimals yogurt. After he was done at the table, he ate two more pancakes and an orange while he was watching cartoons. Wow. Then he had crackers while we were in the car and almost a whole piece of chocolate chip/banana coffee cake at Starbucks. All before lunch. Then he had 1/2 a bowl of noodles and some more yogurt. (I'm pumping yogurt into him because he's on some strong antibiotics for his ears. Hopefully it will help his tummy.) We'll see how the afternoon goes. I might have to go grocery shopping again! :)

He's definitely turned the corner as far as this bug goes. He's feeling much better and playing much more. Praise the Lord! :)

Did I miss something?

So, we have a box of Trix sitting in the pantry. I decide to have some this morning. (Uh, because the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms are stale...why else?) I look at the box and notice that something looks different. I look inside. Yes, they look different.

Since when did they make Trix into circles? Didn't they used to be shaped like the fruit they were supposed to artificially taste like? Or am I dreaming? (Truth be told, I wasn't allowed to have cereal like this when I was a kid, so it is entirely possible that I could be thinking of something else altogether. And, that is also the reason why I feel the need to eat this garbage as an adult. I am making up for lost time.) Needless to say, I was a little disappointed and my morning wasn't as wonderful as it could have been.

On to more important news....I had to take Jack back to the pediatrician. AGAIN. The Amoxicillin wasn't doing its job, so they switched him to a new antibiotic. It had better work. The poor boy cried for an hour straight after he woke up from his nap...which is why I made the appointment. It's unlike him to CRY for that long. Scream, maybe. Cry, no. My heart was just breaking for him. But, in true toddler fashion, he stopped crying as soon as he saw the doctor and was all smiles for the rest of the afternoon.

Ear Infection/Pinkeye x 2

Apparently, my body wants me to understand everything that Jack is going through right now. So, I have also managed to get an ear infection and eye infection. Woohoo! It seems that maybe he is finally on the mend now, and I am getting worse. Which is fine. I would much rather be sick than have him be sick. But...it just sucks the life out of me! I had a hard time finding energy this evening to play with him. And he was so full of play.

One more vent about this whole "sick" thing...prescriptions/insurance/doctor bills are just no fun. I have to remind myself that I am thankful that we even have insurance...but sometimes I expect it to do more for us. My doctor prescribed a strong antibiotic (because, apparently my ear looks "nasty," in his professional opinion) that doesn't have a generic. So I got to pay $50 for 7 pills. Grrrrrrrrr. Again, thankful that we have insurance, but not so thankful when it doesn't do what I expect it to. So, I got to get told what I already knew for the mere price of $70. Yessss!

Jack has an ophthalmology appointment on Wednesday (unless they won't see him because of his eye infection) for a check-up. He's been turning his left eye in more with his glasses on, and I figured we should get it checked out, to see if he needs a new prescription. Which would be perfect timing (not) because we just ordered a spare pair of glasses with his current prescription! I take a lot of pictures of Jack in the bathtub (because that's when he's happiest!), but I am always hesitant to post them because of his eyes. His left eye turns in a lot without his glasses on and it looks funny. But, he is still my precious boy and looks adorable no matter what his left eye is doing. :) Here's a shot from bathtime tonight.

Mmmmmm....washcloth.....

My husband ROCKS

He went to Wal-Mart last night and bought a new computer. So I could stay sane this week.

He spent more than 2 hours trying to set it up last night.

He spent time this morning (before 4:00 am) setting it up.

He got it set up before he left for a business trip.

He gave me lots of hugs and kisses before he left.

He rocks. :)

I love you, honey!

Our first ear infection

Jack has his first ear infection. :( We did pretty good avoiding them for 2.5 years! The doctors/nurses are always surprised that he hasn't had ear infections since he was formula fed. Ha!

We took him to urgent care this morning because his cold just was NOT getting any better. It was getting worse. Sure enough, he has an infection in both ears and also an eye infection from rubbing snot in his eyes (ewwwwww, gross). My poor little guy.

As of tonight, his cough is also just getting worse, so I am worried about that. Oh, and it seems that the antibiotics are giving him diarrhea. Fun, fun. So we're making a call to the pediatrician tomorrow morning and maybe even making another trip in. They're going to start greeting us by our first names. Good thing we live not even a block from the doctor's office...we can walk there!

I am still feeling yucky, but hopefully I'll be on the mend soon. When I think of how horrible I feel, it makes me feel even worse for Jack because I can imagine how yucky it must be for him...not being able to fully communicate what's bothering him or what he needs to feel better.

And, to top everything off, our computer broke this morning! Seriously?!?! I'm having one of those days where I just want to yell "WHAT, LORD?!?!? What are You trying to teach me? What are You trying to get me to change? WHAT?!?!" So, Lonnie's at Wal-Mart right now, buying a desktop computer. On credit. Because we suck. I am hoping that we can at least access the hard drive of the broken laptop...all of our pictures are on there. We have them backed up on another hard drive up until we moved to MN, but the past 5 months of photos aren't backed up. Computers....such a hassle. It's pathetic that they've become such a necessary part of our life.

Please keep us in your prayers this week! It's going to be a long one.

Sick Sickies

Jack and I (Stephanie) are sick. We both have nasty colds. It is not fun...at all. My poor baby has a yucky cough and I can hear it while he's sleeping. It just makes my heart hurt when I know he's hurting. If his cough is still bad tomorrow, we're headed off to urgent care. Please keep us in your prayers!

"Vacation"

I don't really think it can be considered a vacation when you bring your toddler with you. Maybe for some people...but not us. Not with OUR toddler.

We knew going into this that Jack doesn't do well sleeping somewhere other than home. He held true to this and slept horribly the entire time. He was tired. He was grouchy. Which made mommy (and daddy) tired and grouchy.

Here's a few highlights of our trip -

*We got to visit Nana and Chuck. Jack was so excited to see them. He clapped his hands excitedly when we would pull up to their house or when we would visit Nana at work.

*We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Jack loves playing at their house and being able to wander around the two sides of the house. He also loves the little keyboard (piano) that they have. He's going to be a rock star.

*We got to visit Danyelle (Lonnie's sister) and her two daughters. Yay! Jack had so much fun with Grace and Allison. They are such precious little girls and are so good. They brought a pink doll stroller with them and it was Jack's favorite toy....ever. We're trying to find a blue one right now.

*We went to the pumpkin patch. Actually, we went to two. The first was with Nana and the second was with Grandma, Danyelle and the girls. Jack behaved the same at both - tired, grouchy, and full of tantrums. It was a blast.

*Jack did pretty well on both flights. It took constant entertaining, a portable DVD player, a bunch of new toys, lots of chocolate, candy, and other bad-for-you snacks...but we made it. Only a few outbursts. Oh, but don't worry, we still got plenty of eye-rolls and dirty looks from the business travelers around us.

*We aren't doing this again for at least three years. Seriously. We were all so tired and grouchy by the end of the trip. And, we all picked up nasty colds too. Stupid airplane air. Jack still isn't back to his "regular" sleeping routine at home and is just being a real challenge right now.

Here's some pictures from our "vacation!"

On Nana's computer

He's watching a movie. "Cars" to be exact. Do you think he's tired here?

Jack and Mommy feeding goats

"I'm taking a call right now, please be quiet." Taken at the airport.

New Home!

Hi everyone! We're here at our new blog "home." We decided it was much more budget friendly to move the blog to a free site. I haven't had time to move all of the old posts over here...but maybe sometime in the future I'll have some magical time. We hope you enjoy visiting us over here!