Around the house the last few days

Yesterday, LG and Carson wore Halloween themed outfits to daycare. I never get to see them in the mornings so I asked Andy to get a picture of them and send it to me. This is what I got...

 Last night, LG told Andy and I that she was going to draw a picture and that she would call us when it was ready. She drew a picture of herself and even put her name on it.

 Then she added the rest of the family. Carson's on the far left with "Lyler" for his name, I'm on the far right~note I am bald on the top, and Andy is in the bottom left corner, apparently with food or something on the corner of his mouth. :)

This picture was taken Sunday morning. I told you in a previous post that these two go everywhere together and they really do.

Final funny story~last night I was in my closet trying to pick out something to wear to work today and LG walked in and the conversation went like this:

LG: "Is this your new iron?"

Me: "Yes, but it doesn't work. It didn't work when I bought it."

LG: "I know what's wrong with it. Let me tell you the diagnosis. A diagnosis is when you tell what is wrong with something."

Me: "Where did you hear that?"

LG: "Doc McStuffins" (a show on Disney Jr.)

Me: "OK, well, what's the diagnosis?"

LG: "It's broke."

Thanks, Doc McObvious! :)

Halloween festivities

 Our Halloween festivities started on Saturday with a Halloween party at Andy's cousin, Becca's house. LG dressed up as Tinkerbell. This is her on the way home with her green vampire teeth.

Carson was an elephant. Becca is in the background~she was dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo. Her husband was Shaggy and her 10 month old was none other than Scooby himself. So cute!

Sunday afternoon we went to my cousin, Jennifer's "back-up" church for a Trunk-or-Treat. Jennifer's family hosted a trunk where they highlighted the verse, "we will be fishers of men." The kids used a fishing pole and threw the line into the trunk where a bag of candy would be attached to the line. What a great idea.

 LG enjoyed the bounce house with our little cousin and her friends~they were grapes...interesting...

 One of LG's best friends also came out to enjoy the festival with us. They have been friends since birth.

 Carson was there in all his elephant glory but shockingly he spent his time in his stroller, eating. :) We will continue the festivities tonight with LG's official trick or treating in our family friendly neighborhood, but I think Carson will sit this one out, mainly because he goes to sleep at 6 pm for the night :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Surgery and a day home with Partners in Crime

Carson finally had tubes put in his ears after several weeks of constant ear infections and antibiotics. We went to the LeBonheur East Surgery Center early this past Tuesday. While we waited for the surgeon to arrive Carson played in their waiting area and playroom.

 I tried to hide his "after surgery" bottle behind the lamp but he found it. That was a difficult few minutes when he figured out he couldn't have it.

Hanging out with daddy (fingers always in the mouth :)

All of us :)

Dr. Jeff, our wonderful ENT, spent about 5 minutes in the OR with Carson and had the tubes in place. Afterwards, most children have a period of about 30 minutes where they are coming out of the anesthesia and they are inconsolable. Luckily, we had the "after surgery" bottle and cut around 10 minutes of the crying out. It is heart breaking because there is nothing you can do.

By the time we got home Carson was ready for a nap. He slept for 2 hours and then got up, like nothing happened and ready to play with his "Partner in Crime," Chloe. Wherever one was, there the other was. I finally started taking pictures because it was so comical how they went everywhere together.

 In the kitchen...

In the office...

At the play table...

In the bouncy seat...

In daddy's lap...

And finally, in the kennel...really, the kennel?

Overall, minus the 30 minutes after surgery, it was a good, restful day and we look forward to a winter free of ear infections!! :)

Nash~vegas!!

This past weekend 5 of my close friends and I went to Nashville to do some early Christmas shopping. Apparently I felt as though I was doing my own Christmas shopping because I bought mostly for myself. :) I save Black Friday for gifts for others :)

Friday night we went to this great restaurant in Franklin named The Red Pony. The food was awesome and the drinks were great too. As you can see, the restaurant was dimly lit so they gave us menus that light up when you open them. 

Kim and Katie

We got up Saturday morning, had breakfast in the hotel and then spent ALL day until 8 pm shopping all over Nashville. We went to the Green Hills Mall~shout out to Nordstroms!! We ate lunch at Puffy Muffin~chicken salad and cupcakes to die for. Then we went to Franklin where Stacey and I got a little pampering at Serendipity Spa. Finally we ended the day at the Opry Mills Mall, which Katie affectionately calls "Shopryland." We ate dinner at Chuy's, a Mexican restaurant inside the mall. 

 All of us at Chuy's.

By the time we finished eating we were all exhausted.

We got up yesterday, took our time getting ready and packing up. We mostly sat around and talked (one of my favorite parts of the weekend).

We went down, ate breakfast and set out to do a little more shopping. We hit what I've heard is the best TJMaxx/Home Goods store in the state. :) We ate lunch and then headed back to Memphis.

Katie's car, Myrtle, was packed up with weekend purchases.

Girls' weekends are a must! It is so much fun to get a break from reality, do some shopping, eat good food and spend some quality time with good friends. Don't get me wrong, I missed my babies, but I loved this time away with my girls! Can't wait til the next time!

My birthday and a trip to the ER

My birthday was Monday and I had a fabulous day for the most part...more on that to come :) I celebrated with some family and friends the Saturday before by going to dinner at the best Mexican restaurant around~Rancho Grande, affectionately referred to as "The Ranch." We had good food and margaritas and good company. Sorry, no pics ;)

On Monday, I received several sweet cards, FB messages, presents and Andy sent me an Edible Arrangement to work. I love getting stuff sent to me at work, it makes me feel so important. :) That night, my mom watched the kids and Andy took me to my favorite restaurant, Ciao Bella, where I ate WAY too much. My stomach hurt and all I wanted to do was get in the bed and go to sleep. That's exactly what I did as soon as we got home. 

Around 10:30 I was awoken to my mom standing at the door, panic on her face, Andy jumping out of the bed and Carson screaming on the monitor. We all ran into his room where we found him "gasping" for air and coughing with this weird sound like something was caught over his trachea. I was scared to death, to the point of almost vomiting (it didn't help that I had eaten all of my chicken ravioli at dinner). We jumped in the car and rushed him to the ER at Methodist G'town. Long story short, by the time we got there he was fine. He has the croup, which is the name given to a sound in the throat caused by a virus. The virus causes the throat to swell making air passage sound crazy. If you've never heard it before and have kids, if they ever get it, it will scare the crap out of you! They gave him a steroid shot and sent us home at 1 o'clock in the morning. Needless to say I was a little sleepy yesterday at work. 

Does this look like a sick baby?

This was taken at around midnight while we were waiting for the shot.

He had been to the ENT earlier that same day so we could schedule surgery for ear tubes. At that time Dr. Jeff said everything looked fine but since he's had so many ear infections in the last couple of months and we haven't even made it to cold/flu season yet, we better go ahead and get the tubes. So, I was shocked when just 6 hours later ,we are in the ER. I couldn't help but fear it was my fault for letting him crawl around on the floor at the dr's office~at one point he put his mouth on the part of the dr's chair where people rest their feet! I was thinking, "Oh my Lord, he has licked up some crazy bacteria!" I may need to up my dosage of Lexapro ;).

He's doing better today. The steroid shot kept him up yesterday so no nap = fussy baby. They called me from the daycare to tell me he'd been crying for 3 hours and wouldn't go to sleep. Andy and I went and got him, tried to lay him down but he still cried and stayed awake. Andy took him to see his pediatrician and Dr. Phillips said the steroid will do that. Last night he woke up at 3:15 and talked to himself until 4 am at which time he decided to stand up in his crib, hold on to the rails and holler at the top of his lungs...not cry but yell out. I think he would have been calling one of our names if he could've. I went in first, made sure he was ok, rocked him for a few minutes and gave him some Tylenol. Andy rocked him for a few minutes and then I got him again. About the time he started playing and giggling, I decided I was going back to bed and he could stay up all night long if he wanted to...in his own bed by himself. I went to bed and he did too after about 2 minutes of fussing. I'm tired again today but this too shall pass.
Oh, I forgot to mention, he turned 11 months on Monday. They weighed him and measured him in the ER:
Weight: 28 lbs 9 oz.
Length: 32 inches
Will it ever plateau?

What language is this?

I think I've mentioned we have a routine with LG where we read a Bible story and say a prayer every night before bedtime. Last night, Andy thought it would be a good idea to try to teach her the Lord's Prayer. When he got to words like "hallowed" and "debts" and "debtors," he had to repeat them several times before she got even close to pronouncing them correctly. In about the middle of the prayer, she stopped and said, "Is this in English?"

OMG! I laughed until I cried!!!!!!!

I am overjoyed!

These two are the best gifts from God. 

He knew exactly what He was doing when He gave me a spunky little girl who loves baseball, basketball, Dora and most of all, her little brother.
 She's smart, funny, wild and confident. All that I could ever ask for in my sweet "angel baby."

And this little BIG ole baby. He has my heart. I melt when he does anything. I love his laid back temperament, the fact that he is always smiling, his chunky legs and cheeks. I could just EAT HIM UP!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus! I am so blessed.

There's a first time for everything

This past Saturday, Andy, LG, Carson, and I all went downtown to a church to participate with our Sunday School class in a service project. We were helping All Saints Presbyterian Church clean up a vacant lot in a extremely unfortunate part of town. On one corner is a club, on the other is a well known drug house and on the other is the corner store where everybody gets their beer for the day. This is the lot where everyone is busy cleaning, mulching, planting herbs, and setting up for a lunch cook-out.

There were so many  neighborhood people walking up and down the street, so many opportunities for witnessing. I absolutely loved it! LG and Andy worked hard landscaping. This is the first "first"~LG mulching. She helped for an hour. 

Carson and I were the social committee. We talked to everybody that walked by and heard some sad stories. Everyone in the neighborhood made us feel so welcomed. We met so many sweet but troubled people. This is "ReRe" and some of her friends.

Second "first"~ReRe gave Carson a Chico Stick to suck on when he was crying...hard candy with PEANUT BUTTER in the middle.Guess we know he's not allergic now...

Third "first"~LG was acting up at the beginning so I made her sit in time-out which happened to be on the corner of Jefferson and Claybrook where we were working.

 Don't worry, I didn't go far. After about a minute, Frank, an ex-addict from that neighborhood turned active church member, had a talk with LG about being a big girl and obeying your parents. She was an absolute angel the rest of the time we were there.

This is Frank helping to set up the grill.

 I could do that EVERY weekend. I am looking forward to more service opportunities in that neighborhood.

Fourth "first"~Carson and LG were taking a bath last night. I got LG out first and dried her off while the water was draining out and Carson was still playing. I turned my head for 5 seconds and when I turned back around, Carson had pooped in the tub!!!! AHHHH!!!! I mean, he pooped ALOT! I screamed for Andy to come and help me. Even though that is one of the most disgusting things I have ever dealt with, how can I get mad at a baby with a face like this? :)

 Fifth and final "first"~Carson crawled up the stairs yesterday. Luckily my mom and I were standing right there talking. I looked over and he was at stair 3. What?! We stood behind him and watched him crawl almost the top. 

He went to the doctor this morning because he woke up last night around 9 pm and cried on and off for about an hour. Even though he didn't have any fever and no visible signs of illness, I knew something was wrong so I gave him some Benadryl and Ibuprofen. Andy took him to the dr this morning and she said he had an infection in his left ear (the second in 3 weeks). She put him back on Cefdinir. I called our ENT to see if tubes are in the near future.I am waiting on a return call from them. He weighed 27 lbs 14 oz. I'm sure that's not a first but the dr did say it would be good exercise for him if we allowed him to crawl up the stairs with us right there. LOL!!! So~a baby exercising at 10 months old might just be a first! :)