Swell

We all made it back in one piece! Whew! We all caught a nasty cold the day before we left to come home...not a good thing when you're traveling, let alone traveling with a toddler. But, we made it home and are glad to be back in familiar territory. :)

Flight to Phoenix - Great. Couldn't have gone better. Jack shocked us and did wonderfully. I think we were all a little surprised.

First days in Phoenix - We were so happy to see Uncle Josh and Auntie Nan! We stayed at their beautiful house near Phoenix and got to meet their puppy, Beckett. Jack was leary of Beckett's barking at first, but eventually warmed up to him. Another shock - Jack slept on an air mattress at their house - and he actually SLEPT! It was very hot there (surprise), but we managed to stay cool most of the time. We went to a park near Josh & Shanna's house that has a water play area and Jack really enjoyed it.

Drive to San Diego - Eh. 7 hours or so in the car with Jack isn't exactly the way I'd chose to spend my day, but we didn't have much of a choice. He did great most of the way and only had a couple of meltdowns. It was nice that we were able to "share" him with Josh & Shanna toward the end of the trip - I think the change of scenery was good for him. We made it to my mom and Chuck's condo in the afternoon and enjoyed the awesome pool there!

6 Days in San Diego - Oh, how I miss San Diego. It is beautiful and warm - and then there's the beach. We went to the beach and Jack LOVED it. He had so much fun jumping in the waves. It was hard to leave. My mom's wedding was on Friday and it was wonderful. It was H-O-T, but we survived. She looked beautiful, the ceremony was very touching and we all had a great time during the reception. Chuck made the food and it was yummy. Jack stayed up until 11 pm - the latest he's ever stayed up! He was a trooper though, and danced until the last song. :)

We had a great time visiting my extended family. This was the first time I've seen a couple of my cousins' children and the first time several family members got to meet Jack. We wished we could've stayed longer (or moved down there!). :)

Drive back to Phoenix - I won't even mention it. We were all tired and miserable and just wanted to go to sleep. It was hot. We'll leave it at that.

Last 2 days in Phoenix - We got sick. :( Jack caught a cold and shared it with the rest of us. But, we still had a good time just relaxing with Josh & Shanna and even got to enjoy an awesome Mexican restaurant. It was so hard to say goodbye to them. We miss them so much and Jack talks about them every day. When we picked Buster up from the kennel, Jack kept calling him "Beckett." It's hard being away from family...hopefully it doesn't last forever.

Flight Home - Fine. Not great, but fine. We were all tired and now we were sick, so it was much less enjoyable than the flight to Phoenix. My ears just about killed me on the way down...I was in tears and just wanted to land. It felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife in the sides of the head. Ouch. I was so glad to get off the plane...and even happier to get home and take some Sudafed.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip (I know...how many synonyms are there for wonderful, good, great, fabulous, etc.?....Oh, I just looked it up on http://www.synonym.com and here are some good ones - bang-up, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing.) So, all in all we had a nifty trip. No, a swell trip. Swell is a good one.

Pictures will be coming soon, I promise. It took me long enough to get all these words down. :)

Yawn...it's 9:30 pm and we're driving somewhere in AZ and I'm using Lonnie's phone to post this. We left San Diego this afternoon and are on our way back tp Phoenix. This has been the longest car ride of my life...Jack picked up a cold in CA and is grouchy and tired...which makes me grouchy and tired. Oh well, we'll be there soon enough. We just pulled into a gas station...5 minutes after Jack fell asleep...of course, he's awake now.

Enough typing on this phone. I'll have many vacation updates when we get home!

Play Outside???

This is the first thing Jack has been asking me when he wakes up from his nap. And when we're walking through the store. And when we're playing inside. And when we're getting ready in the morning. And when we're eating dinner. And when we're breathing.

Washing his fire truck.

Mud on his face after splashing in a puddle.

Drinking water out of the hose - one of his new favorite things.

More mud.

Cute mud. :)

Eye Update

Jack had an ophthalmology appointment earlier in the week and I just haven't updated on here because...well, because there really isn't anything new. The doctor is pleased that he keeps his left eye (the weak one) straight while he's looking through his glasses, but it's not as strong as he wants it to be. So, we are to continue with the homatropine drops to dilate his good eye (so he has to use his weak eye more), and he wants us to increase it to 3 times/week. He wants to see Jack back in two months and mentioned that he might have us go back to patching if he doesn't see more improvement with the weak eye. Patching every other day - on the days when we don't give him the eye drop. Kind of disappointing, but not horrible. Jack was a trooper through the whole appointment - even when we had to wait FIFTY minutes to see the doctor. (Yeah, I'm seriously considering finding a new one, just for that fact alone.)

I promise, he IS a light sleeper...

Things that have not woken Jack up from his nap:

Thunder
Rain
Marching Band on the other side of the street (seriously)
Weather Radio alarm (soooo loud)
Loud phone ringing
Me going to the bathroom
Various toys going off as I picked them up

He never sleeps this hard during a nap. I swear.

Menu Plan Monday

Good grief - Monday already! This is a short week for us...we are going on vacation in less than a week! Woohoo!

Monday - Teriyaki chicken (on the grill) with rice

Tuesday - BBQ Chicken Ranch Salad with garlic bread

Wednesday - Fajitas with "Chili's" marinade

Thursday - Pasta Pomodoro

Friday - Taking Broccoli Salad to a church/small group BBQ. :)



Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for many more menus!

Can we catch a break...please?

Tuesday night we headed into the ER because Jack was having a hard time breathing. He woke up around midnight not being able to stop coughing and he was wheezing. Badly. I walked into his room, heard his breathing (or lack of), scooped him up in my arms, walked into our room and announced to [a still sleeping] Lonnie that we were going to the ER. I was dressed and putting Jack in the carseat while Lonnie was still waking up. I don't think I've ever moved so fast.

So...2 hours, one breathing treatment and one steroid shot later, we left the ER with a diagnosis of Croup. Yuck. So, now we're dealing with a nasty cough and lots of congestion. Thankfully we haven't had any episodes like we did Tuesday night.

It's June. My child has been battling some sort of illness since November. We've had a couple of weeks here and there when he's been healthy, but I don't think we've gone any longer than that. I am exhausted. I don't understand why he's been so sick. I don't know if it's the harsh Minnesota winter or if it's being around more kids than usual or if it's something else. I do plan on talking with his pediatrician about this in the near future...I've just been nervous to because I don't want to seem like the paranoid mom that insists there's something very wrong with her child....when there's not.

So, that's what we've been up to. Being sick and hanging out at home. Oh, and watching some awesome thunderstorms! We had a tornado warning last night, but nothing came of it. Just some wind, rain, lightning and thunder. Which is good...I was really dreading the possibility of having to wake Jack up and spend time in the basement in the middle of the night. Not my idea of fun. :)

Fears.

I understand that toddlers have quirks. I understand that they're unique individuals still trying to figure out how the world works. BUT...some things just baffle me.


Take, for instance, this teddy bear.


A harmless, cute, very soft teddy bear. Jack is TERRIFIED of it. If he even catches a glimpse of it, he breaks out into hysterics and it takes a good 10 minutes for him to calm down. He saw the back of it in our closet and he flipped out. As I type this, I have to make sure that the picture of the teddy bear isn't on the screen.



And then there's the washing machine.

He's had a fear of the washing machine for quite some time. At least 6 months. If I ever want him to come upstairs from the basement, all I have to do is turn the washing machine on. Actually, when the washing machine is spinning, he calls it a teddy bear. This might seem like a logical connection if the teddy bear made some sort of noise or something...but it doesn't.



There's several other things that he's apprehensive about, but these two are the worst offenders. I guess there are some things that I'm not meant to understand. :)

Menu Plan Monday (one day late)

Um, so I'm a little late with this. That explains why we had Burger King last night. :) This is a super easy week. It's warming up here (FINALLY) and I don't feel like being in the kitchen much.

Monday - BK

Tuesday - Sub Sandwiches

Wednesday - Taco Salad

Thursday - Breakfast (eggs, biscuits, hash browns, bacon, and fruit!)

Friday - Chicken Caesar Salad

Saturday - Nachos

Sunday - Steak Sandwiches

And, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for MANY more menus! :)