No Real Theme

I've got a bunch of stuff to write about but no real theme to this post. :-P

First of all, 1 year molars #2 and 3 are IN!!!! :-D Only one more to go in this set. Also, Jonas has learned to walk and he's talking more too. He knows how to say "Blues Clues." :-/ Oh well, I guess it could be worse.

Isaac is still loving school. I'm so happy about that! I've volunteered in the school library twice now. The first time she had me calling out about 5 kids' names to go look at books and to call new kids as the ones who had been looking came back. The 2nd time she was swamped with checking out books so she asked me to read to the kids. That was fun. I like reading to kids - doing character voices and all that. When Isaac's class came in (they're 2nd out of 3 classes) he was surprised and excited to see me in the reading chair. He kept saying "That's my mother!" So sweet. He still wants me around, lol.

As for me, I'm completely and totally wiped out. I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and switched from Zoloft to Welbutrin. The Zoloft tends to cause weight gain (intense carb/sugar cravings) and fatigue. She also gave me orders for bloodwork just in case the zoloft wasn't the only reason for the fatigue. It turns out that I'm deficient in Vitamin D and my thyroid levels showed slightly lowered function. I'm on - get this - 50,000 iu's of Vitamin D once a week (that would be 25 - 50 OTC tablets but mine is a prescription so only one pill) for the next 8 weeks. Nothing for my thyroid yet. They want to retest both at the end of 8 weeks.

I thought the tiredness was from being up with Jonas but if I'm truly honest with myself I know it's more than that. Isaac slept worse than Jonas does and I feel at least as bad as I did with him. It's more than "Oh, I stayed up too late last night and I'm feeling tired." It's a nauseating exhaustion. If you got sick/tired during 1st trimester pregnancy then that would be a pretty close description of what this is like. (On the flip side, if you didn't get sick or tired during pregnancy, I don't want to hear it. ;-) This tiredness goes to my bones and it is a painful tired. I really hope this supplement does the trick.

New Toofers and Other News

Jonas has a molar! I had thought they were coming through several months ago but nothing ever came of it. He's been crabby the past few days but I didn't think much of it. I thought it was because we were doing so much to keep Isaac occupied that Jonas was getting tired of being out all the time. Yesterday when I was putting him in his car seat he opened his mouth and screamed. I saw something. Later on I felt his gum and sure enough, the bottom left molar is through. I don't know exactly when it happened but I'm using August 12th as the date.

In other news, yesterday was the meet-your-teacher popcicle party at Isaac's school. He had a good time. He met a few kids on the playground and had fun playing with them. This was a relief as he has had some trouble in the past with being nervous around other children. Last night was the open house where we got some extra information. I also had to bring his school supplies and they all had to be labeled. Sounds easy enough but he needed to have 30 glue sticks...yes, 30 glue sticks...so labeling took some time. :-P

Tomorrow is his first day. He will go to school for 2 hours and then on Monday he will start full days. He's excited and I think a little nervous. I'm excited and nervous as well. I really want school to be a good experience for him.

Milestone Alert!

Jonas stood for himself for at least a minute today. :-D He's never done that before. He was in his pack n play while I was putting away laundry. He started making "get mommy's attention" noises and when I looked over he was standing right in the middle and not holding on to anything. He's getting so big!

Updates and Stuff

So my mom informed me today that she has no idea what is going on with us since I haven't updated my blog in over a month and she isn't on Facebook. :-P

Hmmmm...so what's new with us? We took a vacation to Branson and visited Silver Dollar City last month. We had a great time! I promise to do a post on that complete with pictures once I get the pics on the computer.

4th of July was uneventful for us. It rained so we didn't have Sean, Deb and Ryan over for a cookout, intending to do that the next day. Unfortunately Sean hurt his back so we wound up not having it on Sunday either. We were able to go to a fireworks display on Sunday night and really enjoyed that.

Isaac started day camp today at a local church. His Pre-K teacher recommended that he attend some sort of camp over the summer since he tends to be shy around other kids and this would keep him used to using his social skills. He went to a camp at the park last summer and it was a horrible experience - he ran away several times and wound up having a meltdown so bad one day that I had to go pick him up. This was the start of my whole insisting he had ADHD post-partum meltdown that resulted in him having an evaluation last fall. Needless to say I did not want a repeat of THAT experience, and Isaac told me that he did not want to go back to camp in the park. So I thought this one would be a good match. It's 3 mornings a week, and a lot of it takes place in the preschool classrooms which is a good thing for Isaac. There isn't the temptation to run away like at the park. When I picked him up today he said that he really liked it and that he wants to keep going. It's 9:40 - 1:00 and he takes his lunch, which he also really likes.

As for me, well, I'm just trying to get through the summer. I've said it before but I really hate summer. Warm weather and sunshine do to me what cold, gloomy weather does to a lot of other people. I find myself becoming easily depressed, unmotivated, and just all around "blah" feeling. Ugh. It's not too bad so far (I've had times when it's been much worse...) and keeping busy and making sure to be around other people really does help.

Since it's not a blog post without pictures I thought I'd add a couple. Here's a picture from when Rex and Isaac went fishing at Jay's pond:

Oh, and crochet is my new addiction. I just LOVE it! Pretty much any free moment that's what I'll be doing...from Little Gym to swimming lessons to MIF meetings to Monkey Joe's. :-P Most of what I'm making is for gifts so I can't share pictures until after I give them but here are a few things that I've made.

I made this mitten (no, I still haven't made the match, LOL)


And here is a tooth fairy pillow that I made for Isaac. After I finished his I made one for our neighbor's daughter who had 2 teeth pulled last week. She told me that they are sometimes made with handles to hang them on the door, and so that is how I made her pillow. I'll be adding a handle to Isaac's as well. Isaac picked out the yarn for his pillow himself.

More End-Of-The-Year Events

Isaac had his last Little Gym class last week, and they had a little show for the families. He has really learned a lot these past few months. Here are a few pictures from the day:

He did a routine on the balance beam...



And the uneven bars...


And at the end of the show they all got a metal...


It was a really fun time and we're excited about the summer session starting next week!

Pomp and Circumstance

Speaking of growing up, we went to our nephew, Shelby's, high school graduation this weekend. The weather has turned hot as of last Thursday, and the heat in the HS gym was awful. Add to that two fussy children (it was at 7 pm) and the fact that Jonas spit up on me before the ceremony ever started, and you have a recipe for a disastrous event.

It wasn't, though. People around us were kind about the children's various noises and Jonas didn't have any other tummy troubles after the first incident.

There was a pretty cool video presentation that had baby pictures and the senior pictures of the graduates, along with various other pictures throughout the years. Of coarse, my sappy self started to tear up just thinking about how all these young adults were at one point somebody's little baby.

There was a party after the ceremony at the graduate's house. Here is the cake that I made for the party:


We ended up staying until after 10:00 and the kids were up way too late. Mommy was up too late too - in fact I just dozed off at the computer for a few minutes, LOL. I'm hoping (fingers crossed!) to have a restful night tonight and a productive day tomorrow. :-)

He's Going To Be In Kindergarten Soon

Yesterday I registered Isaac for Kindergarten. This all happened suddenly as I thought we had to wait until July since May registration is for returning students. It turns out that they like for new Kindergarten students to register in May as well so I had one day to get all the info together but that wasn't too difficult since it was all mostly in the same place anyway.

Isaac was at Little Gym yesterday so Jonas and I went to the school during that time. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get into the parking lot (the signs are confusing) but managed to get in and find a spot. Walking into the school I got that familiar nervous-stomach feeling that I used to get every year when I was starting school. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself by blubbering like an idiot when I was just there to fill out a few forms. I'll save that for the first day of school when I can properly embarrass Isaac. :-P

It really was a pretty easy process. He's all registered and now we just have to get his physical, eye exam and dental forms filled out. After that there's nothing to do until August 12th when he goes to the school for a Popsicle party and Rex and I go for open house. Then he has his first day on August 14th (a very short day) and his first full day on August 17th.

My baby is growing up. He says he's ready. Am I?

More Milestones For JoJo and an Important Day for Me

Yesterday Jonas learned to clap. Awwwwwwwwwww!

He also has several new words that he has said on occasion and a couple that he says regularly.

The ones that he has said are:
green
blue

And the ones that he says regularly are:
dog
bubble

He is also feeding himself most of his meals now. He's getting to be such a big boy.

Oh, and today is a very important day for me as well. 9 years ago today I had my very last cigarette. At one point I was a 2-pack a day smoker. It was really hard to quit but so worth it.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Jonas turned one on April 28th. The day was happy with a little sadness mixed in, as he is our last baby and it is hard to see him growing up so fast.

We decided that he should have his first bite of birthday cake on his birthday so I made a little cake for that day. Isaac helped me pick the colors.
Jonas also got to wear a special hat.

BTW, he likes cake. :-P

On Saturday, May 2nd we had a birthday party. It was a really fun day. :-) Jonas took a nap before so he was in a good mood for the whole party. We had our family and some friends there. Isaac had friends there as well, so it was fun for him too.

This is the cake that I made for the party.



This is the 4 of us at the party. You can also see the little cake that I made just for Jonas to smash.

And here are a couple of pictures of Jonas smashing his cake.




And here he is waving as we are opening his presents.


I have some really cute video that I will also add to the blog when I get it on the computer.

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog lately. As I said a few weeks ago, I had mastitis for the 3rd time. I thought it was getting better but it turns out that it wasn't. The day before the party I had to go to the doctor and was put on a new antibiotic. If that one didn't work I was going to have to go see a surgeon as it could have been an abscess. Yikes! Thankfully by the following Wednesday I was feeling better. With all the planning for the party and the extended bout of mastitis I'm still feeling a bit run down so I haven't been very motivated to post or to do much else. :-( I'm hoping this gets better after I rest up some more.

Much, much better...

I'm happy to say that I am feeling much better. I'm well on the mend from my illness. Now the challenge is to remember to take my medication until it's all gone. I have to take it 4 times a day, so this is not easy. Before children I could just leave the bottle in a very visible location to remind myself to take it. But with a curious 5-year-old that is no longer possible.

Speaking of children getting into things they shouldn't, I got to call poison control once again. Rest assured, everything is fine. But on Thursday after Isaac's class at Little Gym was over we decided to stop at Home Depot to get some flowers. We picked out some daisies and I put them in the cart. Jonas was in the front of the cart and I had put the flowers in the back. I thought they were far enough that he couldn't get them but he proved me wrong. He managed to get some petals off one of the daisies and was chewing on them. I remembered that some plants and flowers can be toxic and didn't know about daisies so I called on the way home. They assured me that the worst that would happen was some stomach upset but otherwise he would be fine.

Oh, and the tooth that we have been waiting on is through! Yay!!! I noticed his sleep wasn't so disturbed last night so I checked this morning and sure enough, there it is! It's the bottom, right one next to the front teeth. The next ones should be the molars...hopefully not for a while though.

After church today we went to Target to look for a present for Jonas' birthday and for a new outfit for him to wear for his party. I picked something out and then was all choked up because the clothes looked so "big boy." Then I found a display of rompers and decided to get him some of those instead and put the "big boy" outfit back. Yes, he's getting big but I think I'll keep him my baby for just a bit longer. :-)

Stuff About the Kids and, Well, I Just Have To Whine...

First the fun stuff. Jonas is learning more and more every day. He can pull himself up, cruise, and crawl at lightning speed. He's starting to make more sounds that sound like words. He said "green" and "blue" in the last week. He also points and says something that sounds like "that." He got 2 new teeth on Thursday, April16th. They are the top left and bottom left next to the top teeth. We're still waiting on the bottom right one. This brings his total to 7. He's also feeding himself quite well and has entire meals of foods that he feeds himself at times. He's getting so big!

Isaac is finishing up his year in Pre-K. I have a conference with his teacher on Monday. Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa are coming to take him to school and he is pretty excited about that. He cracks me up with his humor. Just yesterday he said "You eat polliwogs a lot, don't you?" I have no idea how he came up with that but he says it in such a funny way that I can't help but laugh. He's also going to bed all by himself now. This is a HUGE deal as up until 2 weeks ago he needed Daddy to lay down with him in order to go to sleep. He also came into our room whenever he woke up at night. Now he's doing it all by himself. I'm so proud of my little man! It was all his idea too.

Now my turn to whine. Today I came down with mastitis for the THIRD time since having Jonas. This is a horrible thing. There is localized pain but also fever and body aches. The last time I had it I was very, very sick. This time it doesn't seem to be quite as bad and hopefully since I started taking medicine quickly it won't get as bad either. I don't know why I keep getting it - I never had it with Isaac. But it's causing me to seriously consider weaning.

Jonas' b-day party is next Saturday and I'm so behind on everything! I still haven't mailed out the invitations. I will hopefully get those out tomorrow. The cake has been planned. This weekend I will make the candy plaque and some of the royal icing decorations. Then next week I'll be baking, cooking and decorating. :-)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, this is getting to be a busy time of year! Last year at this time I'm pretty sure was the week that I was on bedrest. We had already had Easter and were waiting for Jonas to make his arrival.

Last weekend there was a birthday party for Rex's brother and cousin. Rex had to work that day so I decided to take the boys and go. We stayed at my parents' house and went on Friday so that we could get together with Amanda and her kids. She and I met in 5th grade and were friends all throughout Jr. High and High School, even though we went to different schools by then. We also hung out some during the college years but then lost touch. We found each other on facebook (see, facebook is awesome those of you who refuse to get on!) and started chatting. Last Friday we spent some time at her house and then went to the park for a picinic and so the kids could play. It was such a good time! I'm so happy to have her as a friend again, and Isaac is really excited about his new friend, Gabe, her 2-year-old. She also has a baby, Sawyer, who is just a little bit younger than Jonas. We didn't get to meet her daughter, Chloe, since she was at school. I hope that we are able to continue to get together on a regular basis.

Now we're getting ready for Easter and then for Jonas' birthday party which is going to be 3 weeks after Easter. There's not much time to get everything done! We have the church reserved so that takes care of location. I can't decide on the theme though... I've had the cake pretty much planned out since I was pregnant, LOL, but either of the themes will work with that. I went to the store sure of what I wanted today but then saw the adorable Sesame Street 1st theme http://www.birthdaydirect.com/sesame-babies-1st-birthday-65-in-sq-lunch-napkins-16-p-10980.html and remembered just how cute it was. Isaac had that one though, so Jonas should probably have a different one. I'm leaning towards the teddy bear http://www.birthdaydirect.com/hugs-and-stitches-boy-in-sq-beverage-napkins-16-p-18277.html. (For some reason I can't get the option to make those links clickable work so if you want to see them just highlight the bolded links and paste them in your address bar.) Jonas can have Sesame Street (and the adorable Sesame Street marching band cake toppers!) for his 2nd or 3rd birthday. :-P

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE birthday parties? I'd love to have a little child's party to plan all the time. It's too bad that I don't have the same feelings about weddings or I could have quite the little business going, LOL. But yeah, I'd love to just plan children's birthday parties all the time.

The reason that we were out in the first place was to find Easter clothes for the boys. We went to Kohl's (in the rain!) but didn't find ANYTHING for Jonas. I saw a couple things for Isaac but wasn't crazy about any of it. So now I'm going to look around the house and find something that they already have.

When we got back home Jonas was sleeping so I put him down in his bed and boiled some eggs. Isaac and I then colored Easter eggs. We used the Pas Tye-Dye kit. They turned out really cute. There is enough dye and eggs to do more tomorrow. It's a good thing that I eat several hard-boiled eggs every day (low carb eater) because I think there are close to 2 dozen! It was fun though, and tomorrow Rex gets to join us. I know Rex will be so excited to hear that. [/sarcasm] But it does mean a lot to Isaac when Rex is able to do stuff like that so Rex does it with a smile, and usually winds up having a good time as well. I will post pictures when I take them. They will be in this post so be sure to check back.

Today is Good Friday and so there is service at church tonight and rehearsal for Sunday immediately after. We sing the same opening hymns every year on Easter - "Christ Our Lord is Risen Today" and "Thine is the Glory" - and I get choked up every single time. There is a cross in the front of the church made out of chicken wire. We bring flowers and during the opening hymns we walk up and put them in the cross. It's pretty moving.

I'll never forget that cross and our very first Easter at the church. Choir was walking up to do one of our songs and at that time the risers were right behind the flower cross. I wasn't watching where I was going and walked RIGHT INTO THE CROSS! Smacked it with my head. Some of the flowers fell off. I was so embarrassed that I got up on the riser and didn't even look to see them. I was even more embarrassed when I saw that two other choir members were picking up the flowers and putting them back on the cross. I'm sure my face was bright red. I think of that moment every year when I see that cross and it brings a smile to my face. It's a funny reminder of how much I love our church family and how at home I truly feel there.

If I don't talk to you before then, I hope that each and every one of you has a truly blessed Easter.

I Did It!

I got my hair cut! It's really short. The last time I cut my hair short Rex didn't like it very much but this time he said he does like it. Isaac said he likes it too. Then he said "Why do you look like Aunt Sharon?" :-P I'll take that as a compliment - I think Sharon is a very pretty woman and I know that Isaac does too. :-)

Rex has been on vacation most of this week which has been really nice. We didn't go anywhere - this was more to do things around the house and to use up his vacation days before he loses them. On Wednesday Isaac was picked up from school by both of us which was exciting for him. Then on Thursday I went to school with him. That is so much fun and he really enjoys it when one of us is able to go with him. I can't believe he has less than 2 months left in pre-K. My baby is growing up! Sob!

Jonas is doing new things every day. He can pull himself up now and is cruising. I've been calling it his cruisin' and bruisin' stage. He takes a spill every now and then which I hate but I know it's also a necessary part of learning to walk. He has a tiny bruise on his cheek next to his mouth from one fall but other than that the other falls have been mild with little or no tears. I was concerned about his ears this week. He just finished his 2nd round of antibiotics for a double ear infection and the congestion came back the day before finishing (which is what happened last time.) I took him to the doctor yesterday and there is NO infection and NO wheezing. It's just a cold. Poor guy has been sick for 2 months now. He just seems to catch everything. Hopefully when the weather changes for good he will be able to shake it. He is 11 months old today. I can't believe he is going to be 1 in a month. My little baby is growing up! Sob!

Hmmm...what else has been going on? We moved the furniture around in our living room. The way we have it now actually makes the room look smaller but Rex and I can sit on the couch together to watch tv after the kids go to bed and I like being able to do that so we'll probably keep it.

Oh, and I learned to crochet! It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time but haven't known how. I tried to learn on my own a few years ago but that didn't work out so well. A few weeks ago my friend Kimberly taught me how at one of our morning MIF meetings. She taught me how to do a couple different types of stitches and how to read patterns. It's slow going - I'm still working on my first project - but I'm doing it! I can tell that I'm getting faster now then when I started and what I'm doing is looking better too. I could pull it all out and start over but I want to keep what I did at the beginning so that when it's done I can see the progress that I've made. I really enjoy doing it. It's very relaxing and therapeutic.

I thought I'd put a few pictures of the boys on here. We had their pictures taken in November (I guess it's time to do it again) and these are some of the ones that we didn't order.

Hair Heeeeeeeeeeellllllllllp!!!

I am in desperate need of help. My hair is a mess and I don't know what to do with it.

Whenever I've had a baby my hair grows out frizzy/curly for a few months and then goes back to it's usual texture. My usual texture has a slight natural wave but not much, and is very heavy and tends to go flat. Several inches of my usual textured hair have grown out now so my hair is frizzy and slightly curly on the sides and flat on the top. It looks like I'm growing out a really bad perm.

It takes me at least 1/2 hour with the flat iron to get it semi-presentable and even then it still looks a bit frizzy. I don't have the time to be doing this on a daily basis so I usually just look a mess.

I've decided to cut my hair short in order to get rid of most of the friz. This is a picture taken earlier this week - it was actually a low friz day but you can still see how it is.



As you can see, the friz starts about an inch below the hairpins.

I'm not opposed to going very short. Unfortunately I have no idea of what cut to get. I think I really need to have bangs because of my forehead. Also, I have an extra chin so I don't want to call too much attention to that. If you haven't seen me in several years, I've gained a lot of weight and am a great deal larger than I was.

I'm not opposed to using a flat iron once in a while but I'd like something that on a daily basis I can just use a bit of product in and go. I like messy styles best. It's when every hair has a specific place that things go horribly, horribly wrong in my world. :-P

So if anyone has any ideas, please send me pictures. You can email them to me or post them on Facebook and tag me or get them to me any other way.

Thank you for any ideas you can give.

Some New Little Visitors...

It looks like wildlife has again invaded, but at least this time they are outside.

Last Thursday I went outside to get the dog and I noticed him digging around and he was very excited. At first I thought there was a bird nest in the yard because I saw a lot of brown grass and what looked like feathers. As I got closer I could see that it was not birds at all but some type of baby mammal and there was one in Riley's mouth! I got him to drop it and carried my very unhappy dog into the house. I grabbed a paper towel so that I could push the animal back in the hole. When I got back outside I figured out that it was a den of baby bunnies and that the one that Riley took out was still alive.

I got the bunny back with his siblings and covered the hole back up with the grass and fur (what I had thought was feathers.) I also looked up how to tell if baby bunnies are being cared for and what to do if you have them in your yard.

The advice given was to leave them alone as much as possible and keep pets away (especially pets that would want to "play" with the bunnies as ours would) and to check them periodically to make sure they are thriving. It also said not to worry if we never saw the mama bunny as they only come to nurse once at night for about 5 minutes. There was advice on how to tell if the den was being visited at night by putting twigs on top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. If the twigs are moved in the morning but the den looks neat then the mother has been there. There was also a recommendation on who to call if it appears that the mother is not coming around and the babies look dehydrated.

So far it looks as though they are being cared for. When I looked at them this morning they were fatter than the first day I saw them and their fur is getting thicker. I managed to get a couple of pictures of them this morning.


Cute little critters, aren't they? You can see the grass moving around on the top of the den sometimes and Riley gets very excited if he happens to be outside when that happens. We will be taking him out on a leash for as long as the bunnies are here so that he can't bother them.

Isaac thinks they're pretty cool too but he knows not to go near them or bother them. I certainly don't want him to go messing with them. I found out that what we were always told about how the mama won't care for a baby that has been touched by humans is a myth (probably made up by parents to keep their kids from touching wild animals and picking up who-knows-what kind of horrible disease) but it's still not a good idea to mess around with them. Not only could they be accidentally injured but who knows what kind of diseases they could be carrying that could be potentially harmful.

Hopefully they will continue to grow and thrive, and then be on their way!

A Funny/Icky Story From Last Summer

Before I get to the story, Jonas got a new tooth! This one surprised me because I didn't know it was coming in and it wasn't the tooth I thought he'd get next. His sleep has been crummy but I thought it was because of the ear infection (and that probably did contribute) so I didn't really think much of it. Monday when I was cleaning off his teeth after lunch I noticed that the spot to the right of his upper front teeth looked a little strange. I felt his gums and there it was! This is his 5th tooth and it's the upper right tooth next to the front one. His are coming in a little out of the "typical" order now. :-P

Now on to the story...

WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS SPIDERS!!!!!

One evening last July, Rex went into the bathroom to get ready for Isaac's bath. Soon after I heard him call to Isaac: "Hey, Isaac, come look at this!" Isaac goes in and I hear some chatter between the two of them about a spider. Ok, so I'm thinking a teeny-tiny spider was in the bathroom. No big deal, right? I go in there and in the bathtub I see this:



Shudder.

I've made the picture small to remove as much of the ick factor as possible. But let me tell you, this thing was big. I'd say it was at least the size of a golf ball and here in Illinois, that is big for a spider. I took the picture because we did have some concern about what kind of spider it was. Comparing it to pictures that we found online we determined that it was a wolf spider and therefore harmless. I'm not sure exactly what happened to Mr. Spider but I think that Rex took him outside and found him a new home. All was well again and we went on about our business...

Until a few days later...

It was a weekday so Rex was at work while I was home with the children. I had been loading up the washer with towels and was going to the bathroom to get the last ones for the load. When I walked past Isaac he casually said "You have a spider on your back."

Yeah, ok, whatever.

The ensuing conversation went something like this:

"No I don't."

"Yes you do." said in that sing-song I know what I'm talking about voice.

I went into the bathroom and looked at my back in the mirror. I didn't see anything so I went back to again tell Isaac:

"No, I don't!"

"Yes you do!" again in the sing-song voice.

I decided to prove that I didn't once and for all. I took off my t-shirt.

"Look, see, there's no AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

As I dropped/threw my shirt this HUGE spider started running towards me while Isaac dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Sadly, this spider became a casualty in the great people/spider war of 2008. His friends must have heard the story of the big, scary giants that roam the house because we didn't see any more wolf spiders that summer.

But to this day, every once in a while Isaac will say "Do you remember that time that you didn't believe me that there was a spider on your back?"

A Couple New Milestones and a Sad News Story Close To Home

Jonas hit two milestones this weekend. On Saturday, March 6 he pulled himself up into a standing position. He has done it several times since then and has taken some spills as well, although none have been hard enough for him to hurt himself. Today, March 7, he started crawling. Real hands and knees crawling. He's been scooting for over a month but he had never been able to get his legs coordinated enough to crawl on his hands and knees.

Now onto a sad note. A tragedy occurred this morning at First Baptist Church in Maryville. Here is the story. This hits close to home because a good friend of mine used to attend this church and I've also attended workshops at this church. My heart and prayers go out to everyone involved.

A Really Fun Day

Today was a fantastic day.

Rex took today off, and it was nice having him home for an extra day this weekend.

Leighann and I met at Monkey Joe's with the kids. Monkey Joe's is a play place for kids with a bunch of those huge bouncers with slides. It was so much fun! Isaac, Gabby and Ruthie had a blast running around and playing, and Jonas enjoyed just being there and watching everyone. Leighann and I got to talk for almost 4 hours, so that was awesome! I really needed some time just to chat with a friend after the past couple of weeks. Jonas fell asleep on the way home (around 2:00) and didn't get up until almost 5:00. I couldn't believe that he slept so soundly for so long! He needed the sleep though since his ear infection has kept him up some nights lately.

This also gave Rex a chance to run around and do whatever he wanted this morning/early afternoon. He and our friend Sean wound up running around town. They were productive though. They went to the butcher shop in the next town and came home with some bacon-wrapped fillets and some ground bison. Yum!

This evening Sean, Deb and Ryan came over and we grilled steaks. Isaac was so excited to see Ryan tonight. Jonas was in a good mood, all giggles and smiles.

I finally feel relaxed for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Today was just what I needed. :-)

Let's Hope Today Is Better. :-)

First of all, I'm not cranky anymore. :-) I'm still sleep-deprived but at least now we know why Jonas is waking up screaming just an hour after laying down. Hopefully he will feel better soon with this medicine. I gave him some Tylenol last night and it did help him get a 2 1/2 hour stretch of sleep so I got to watch "Lost" in the living room with Rex and I also got some laundry hung up and folded, so it was nice to get some stuff done. Isaac still feels fine and hasn't complained once about his ears hurting.

Isaac did tell me this morning that he needed to be in the hot steamy bathroom for his nose. He also told me that he could do it by himself. Um...ok. So he went in there and ran the shower. Less than 30 seconds later he was out asking me to go in there with him. So Isaac, Jonas and I stood in the steamy bathroom for a few minutes. Did Isaac really "need" to? Probably not. But it did entertain him for a few minutes (why? I don't know.) and it certainly can't hurt when dealing with congestion.

Rex is taking 1/2 day off today and all day tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having him home early today and around all day tomorrow. The weather is also supposed to be really nice tomorrow.

I was on my church's website looking at pictures yesterday and look what I found. More stroller skating pictures! These show how well Isaac was doing. Please pardon my lovely no-make-up look. It tends to be my every-day look but I try not to do it in pictures. :-P

The three of us.


Isaac skating on his own and reaching for my hand. That's my friend Jill and she's holding her son Luke.


Isaac holding Kimberly's hand.

Now They're Both Sick!

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Isaac had a cold. Then last week Jonas wound up in the ER with bronchiolitis. On Monday I realized that it had been 2 weeks for Isaac with the congestion and the coughing, and the doctor likes to see kids that have been congested/coughing for 2 weeks because there could be an infection at that point. Since he has had no fever and hasn't been complaining of any pain (even when I ask him if anything hurts) I called and made an appoint for today because I was supposed to bring Jonas back in anyway and I wanted to avoid extra trip in.

You see, taking both my kids to the doctor's office is a nightmare. Isaac gets so bored and tries to run off when they're taking Jonas' vitals. In fact, today he took off on the way back from the scales and ran into the supply closet. :-/ And if I had to make 2 trips in this week then both kids would have had to go 2 times. 2 nightmare trips. And 2 nightmare trips would have made for an exceptionally cranky mommy. Ok, so just the one trip has made for a cranky mommy. Yes, I'm feeling cranky.

She checked Isaac out and it turns out that he has an ear infection. He's had more ear infections in this past year than he had had during his entire life up until now. At least it's not hurting him too badly.

Now on to Jonas. His lungs are clear - no wheezing. That's the good news. The possibly bad news is that we'll have to watch him every time he gets a cold to see if he's wheezing. The bad news is that he also has an infection in both ears.

So we're now going on the 5th month of one or both of them being sick with maybe a week or two of completely healthy in between. Ugh.

Mardi Gras Part Deaux

Finally, the videos are ready! If you haven't read my first Mardi Gras post describing the evening it is about 3 posts down I believe.

To watch the videos just click the arrow.

BTW, these videos are hosted on youtube (set to private so they're not available to the general public) and when you host on youtube, they list "similar" videos underneath. So the videos listed underneath mine (the little pictures under the video that show up after the video is played) are NOT mine and I don't know the content of them.

Here is "Sisters." As you can see, we were all different types of sisters. Sporty sister, Goth sister, Shopaholic sister, Business sister, Sister sister, and I was the Dramatic Sister. I'm the one in the pink feather boa (so now you see what the picture on my facebook page is from.)



The next two videos are a bit unsteady because Rex was also holding Jonas who was a bit fussy (although quiet) at that time.

This next one is "The Perfect Pastor."



And here is the choir singing "Amen"



Thanks for watching the videos. I hope you enjoy them. :-)

Testing Something Out Here...

I was wanting to see if I could embed posts from YouTube on here. My video clips from Mardi Gras are too big to upload here so I'm going to have to go that route.

This clip is something that a "Little House" fan did as a joke, just to show that the show wasn't all that "family friendly" after all. :-P

Updates and Stuff

I thought I would post a few updates on what has been going on with us.

Jonas seems to be improving. I haven't heard any wheezing from him since Wednesday night. He has a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician on Wednesday and hopefully he'll be all clear then.

I know that some of you have been through this with your own children but for those of you who have never seen this equipment, I took some pictures of the medicine that he is using. The first is the mask that they used at the hospital. They used a nebulizer which made the medicine come out looking like steam. It wasn't hot, that's just the way it looked. I had to hold it in front of his face and he kept wanting to play with it and chew on it. When the treatment was done they gave him the mask to play with. I think it's supposed to be either a dinosaur or a rhinoceros.

This is the medicine that they sent us home with.

And since babies can't take the inhaler as is, I attach it to this tube and mask and put the mask over his mouth and nose. At first he would cry every time but now he has started to hold his breath instead. Since I have to wait for him to take 5 breaths, this makes it take longer. I don't blame him, though. The medicine is pretty stinky.

And I just thought this was a nice picture of him sitting up and smiling.

Isaac is doing well. He has gotten over being upset about Jonas going to the hospital, at least as far as he's telling me. Then again, sometimes he just doesn't tell us when he is upset and we find out about it several weeks later. He's very sensitive so we never know just what is going on in his head.

He hadn't been getting enough sleep last week and one evening it caught up with him. We put him to bed soon after we found him but we had to get a picture first.

He was invited to a birthday party today. It was for his friend Braden, and he had a great time. He was talking about what fun he had the whole way home. I had a great time too. I love birthday parties. Since Braden was sick the day of Isaac's party, his mommy gave Isaac his present today. He likes it a lot and wanted me to take a picture of him on it. :-)

So that's what's going on with us lately. I'm still working on getting the Mardi Gras videos on here. I hope to have them on here by the end of the weekend.

A Night in the ER...

Yes, morning came way too soon and I am exhausted, but thankful.

Jonas has had a sinus infection for the past couple of weeks. He was almost completely better when the congestion came back this past Monday. I didn't know if it was the infection or a new cold started but since he still had 2 days worth of medicine to take I decided to call the doctor if he wasn't better by Wednesday. Monday night he started coughing a bit and by Tuesday morning the congestion sounded like it was in his chest. I called his doctor on Tuesday morning and they suggested bringing him in on Wednesday.

Tuesday evening around 7:30 Rex noticed a high pitched sound coming from Jonas every time he breathed. It only lasted a few seconds and was so faint that everything else had to be completely quiet in order to hear it. I heard it a couple of times too and thought that he may need to go in that night. I went ahead and got him ready for bed and by the time he was in his pajamas the wheezing was much more constant. I called the after-hours exchange that our pediatrician has and described his sound to the nurse. She had me hold the phone up to his face and told me that the sound was definitely wheezing. She also had me check his chest to see if he was having to work harder to breath. I could see the space under his ribs drawing in which is what she was looking for. She told me to hold him in the bathroom with the hot shower running for 10 minutes and then to take him in to the ER.

I could tell that Rex was worried about me taking Jonas in myself. He offered to take him or for all of us to go, or to find someone to keep Isaac so that I didn't have to be the only parent there with Jonas. Isaac was pretty upset about Jonas having to go to the hospital so we decided it would be best for Rex to stay home with him. It wound up working out well that way since by the time we got into the hospital and called Rex, Isaac was asleep.

We didn't have to wait very long at the hospital since the nurse had called ahead. After the doctor examined him she said that she thought he had bronchiolitis which is caused by the RSV virus or a similar virus. She suggested a breathing treatment which works for about 50% of children. We went ahead and did the treatment (Jonas didn't like not being able to play with the mask) and afterwards he wasn't wheezing at all. They sent some of the medicine home with us and I am going to be giving him the treatments for a few days. The treatments are to help him not have to work so hard to breath while the virus runs its course, which should take a few days to a week.

The entire time we were at the hospital, Mr. Smiley Pants was charming anyone who looked our way. ;-)

While any trip with your child to the hospital is scary, I am so very thankful that Jonas's illness turned out to be something mild and that the treatment worked and that Jonas was able to come home last night.

Mardi Gras!

The most fun night of the year!

Yes, that is a pink feather boa that I'm wearing. Yes, those are very long false eyelashes. Yes, I am wearing a ton of make up. Yes, I did paint it on. LOL.

Saturday night was the 5th annual Music for Mardi Gras celebration at our church. It's a fun way to kick back, let our hair down and be generally goofy before the serious season of Lent begins.

I think it gets more fun every year. This year I was asked by our wonderful music director, Marcia, to sing in 3 songs. The first was the "Bubble Sisters" act that we have done for the past 4 years. We sang the song "Sisters" and were all supposed to be a different type of sister. There were 6 of us and we all had different personalities. There was a sporty sister, a goth sister, a shopaholic sister, a business sister, a nun - you know, a sister-sister :-P. I was a dramatic sister. Oh yeah, that was fun!

I was also able to participate in "The Perfect Pastor," a fun, lighthearted song about the struggles that a congregation goes through when calling a new pastor. As we just called a new pastor last year, this song was very appropriate. The verses were sung by the wonderfully talented Kie and there were 5 of us to sing the chorus.

Those were the two songs that I have video of and I will be adding video as soon as I figure out how to get the video from the camera to the computer. My parents usually come to the show but were unable to attend this year due to another family commitment, so my generous husband took video of two of the songs that I sang in so that they could see them. This was no easy task as he was also balancing a fussy baby in the other hand. He did a great job, though, and the videos turned out very clear. He was unable to get "ELCA" on the video but let me tell you, that is a fun song as well.

Not only is this a fun night of entertainment, but it is a wonderful outreach program as well. I saw many new faces there, and spoke with several people who had come for the show that are not members of our congregation. Who knows? Maybe someone was moved by the Spirit and will now consider becoming part of our church family.

I want to say a big, huge THANK YOU to Marcia who plans out the entire show every year and does such a marvelous job. We love you and we appreciate everything that you do!

Stroller Skating...

Yesterday morning the boys and I did something that we had not done before. My friend, Kimberly, had found out that a skating rink in the next town was doing something called "stroller skating." It is a morning that the skating rink is open to parents and small children, and even the tiniest of babies can participate. Strollers are welcome on the rink so the babies can go skating with the parents.

Isaac has been asking to go roller skating for quite a while so I thought this would be a great way for him to be able to try it out. We decided that we would give it a shot.

We met at the rink on Friday morning and laced up our skates. Along with Kimberly, our friend Jill and her husband Marc also joined us. There were 5 kids among us as well.



I have to say that Isaac did a great job. In fact, all the children did. Even the youngest children were on skates and rolling around the rink. When the children were tired of skating they were able to take their skates off and play around on the rink chasing the multi-colored lights that were zooming around the floor. There were also some games that the children enjoyed such as ski-ball and air hockey. The song list was a mix of music that was appropriate for all ages. I believe I even heard some chipmunks singing at one point. :P




They also had little scooter type things that the children could sit on and be pushed. Isaac and Braden took turns with the scooter.

It was a really fun way to spend a morning. The kids got some time with their friends, Mommy got some time with her friends, and we all got to do something active. Isaac is already asking when we can go back.





We found out that stroller skating will be offered next month as well. This rink was purchased about 6 months ago by the current owner. Unfortunately the rink doesn't have the best reputation for being a good place for little kids due to some bad language on the lockers and video games with "mature content." This new owner is trying to change that. The lockers have been repainted, the video games with questionable content removed and a zoo mural painted in the entrance. It is now a nice place for a family to go.



We plan on going again in March. Will we see you there?

I Think I've Figured This Picture Thing Out...

And since I go on about them enough, I thought I should post some pictures of my boys.

Jonas was less than 2 weeks old.


Taken at the orchard right before Halloween.

The Christmas card picture.

Oh, and since I just happened to put this picture on this computer earlier in order to send it to someone who may be interested in having me make her wedding cake (eek!), here is a picture of the one wedding cake that I have made.


I'll post some more recent pictures when I have a chance to sit down at the other computer where all our pictures are stored.

Rejection

I'll admit it. I have an intense fear of rejection. So much that it is difficult for me to ask people if they would like to get together. I almost feel like a little girl begging another little girl to be my friend.

I've also had this issue in the online world. Take Facebook for instance. I've had a page there for 2 years. I didn't use it for the first year and a half and had actually forgotten that I had it when I got a friend request from a friend who has moved out of the area. I had been regretting not keeping in touch as well as I would have liked when she moved so I figured "why not?" and started using my facebook page. I even did an email search to add people already in my address book. The thing is, I only added people that I was pretty sure would "friend" me. You know, that old rejection fear kicking in. Slowly I added friends and, at times, someone would add me as well.

Then I found out about the classmate search feature. Gasp! I have not really kept in touch with anyone from high school. Do I really want to put my information on the page? What if nobody sends me a friend request? Worse yet, what if I send a friend request and am rejected? It took several months for me to get up the nerve to put my information on that page. Low and behold, some friend requests came in! I even sent a few out myself.

Why would a woman of 35 be so afraid of rejection? If we think about it, I think we all want to feel wanted, like we belong. We all want to feel like somebody cares. Sometimes it's easier to stay in our own little bubble and keep others out in order to avoid feeling that rejection.

So here is my challenge. I am going to reach out to people. I am going to extend myself and send requests to people that I may not have known well. Maybe I'll even send requests to people that I didn't get along with. I am going to make an effort to get to know people. If they agree then great! If they say no then it will be quick and painless. I won't even get a notification about it and can go on about my way like nothing ever happened.

And to those of you who reached out to me after all these years, thank you. I look forward to getting to know you again.

Jillian Michaels Kicked My Butt

I used to be a regular at the Y. I went 4 or 5 times a week and did cardio and weightlifting. I love weightlifting. I went regularly during my pregnancy as well, although I switched to swimming then because the eliptical gave me motion sickness.

I haven't been there since Jonas was born. I have an intense fear of germs when my children are babies, especially during flu season. I think I'll be ok to take him by the end of March but until then I'm just not comfortable with having him in the child care center.

I decided to try a Jillian Michaels DVD on the recommendation of several posters at Ovusoft.com. This one is called "30 Day Shred" and is a circuit training type program. Let me tell you, this thing was intense. The circuit training part reminded me of when I was at Curves (I worked there before Isaac was born) but it was much, much tougher. I am going to be sore tomorrow. I like that feeling, though. The feeling of working out hard. I was reminded today of the "high" that I get afterwards as I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for Isaac after school, smiling like an idiot. :)

The DVD requires small hand weights. I didn't have any in a weight that I thought would work for me so when we were at Target on Saturday I decided to pick some up. I was holding the weights out in front of me and thought that the left weight felt much heavier than the right weight. They were labeled the same so I switched hands. Same thing. The left felt heavier. That's when it dawned on me that I carry Jonas around in my right arm all the time. This kid has caused me to be much stronger on the right side than on the left!

Just What is Going On at That School?

Isaac is in a half-day pre-k program 4 days a week at our church. We are very happy with the program. He loves it and I can't say enough good things about it. But some things make me wonder...

Today when I picked him up, we went through our usual conversation except today's was a bit different.

Me: "What did you do at school today?"
Him: "We all tooted."

Now I don't want to tell the teachers how to do their job or anything, but that seems like kind of a strange class project to me. :P



Speaking of Isaac, he seems to be coming down with a cold now. Jonas is on medication for a sinus infection and Isaac had seemed to avoid it but yesterday he got the sniffles. Today when I picked him up his teacher told me that he didn't seem to feel well at all today. He's really stuffy now, and sneezing a lot. No fever so far so hopefully this will pass quickly.

Right before I had Jonas my friend Leighann told me that after you have the 2nd it's practically impossible to keep them both healthy at the same time. She was so right! It seems like one of them always has something going on.

Jonas is back to not sleeping again. This baby was such a teaser. Isaac never slept well from the beginning. Jonas, on the other hand, was a dream sleeper straight from the hospital. By the time he was 2 months old he was regularly sleeping 9 hours straight. It was pure bliss!

Then in October he got his first ear infection and his first tooth. Sleep was a bit disturbed but still he regularly slept 4 hour stretches, which is still good for an infant. In November I was hit with my 2nd bout of mastitis and that very night Jonas slept for 1 hour at a time. It was a miserable night. The next night I started having him sleep in our bed and he was able to sleep a bit longer. I was miserable but we were sleeping some. That Sunday I had to be at church for the 8:00 service because I was the cantor. I was crying so hard while getting ready because I was completely exhausted. I got through the service and then came home while Rex and Isaac went to Sunday School. Jonas and I took a nap and I felt human again and then it hit me. Jonas is going to sleep how he is going to sleep and I can't change that. If he sleeps better in our bed then that's how it's going to be. I can either fight it and be exhausted and miserable all the time or I can accept it and be much more rested and at peace with how things are. I think that is one of the first times in my life that I have chosen to accept a situation for what it is and have learned how to have peace with it.

So back to now. He was starting to sleep the 4 hour stretches again which was nice but the past 2 nights he's down to about an hour or two, so he's back in bed with us as he does much longer stretches that way. I wonder if the teething is starting again. It would make sense - the timing is right. I guess time will tell.

JoJo's Milestones

I'm so disorganized. Seriously. It causes problems for me at times. In fact, when we had our oldest son evaluated for ADHD (diagnosis - not at this time) the psychologist suggested that I may want to have my own evaluation done and told me that the treatment for adult ADHD is the same as the treatment for childhood ADHD. Maybe at some point I will. As long as I'm nursing I'm not going to add any new medication - Zoloft is all that I feel comfortable taking at this point - but maybe after Jonas weans I'll consider it.

So anyway, this disorganization leaves me without thorough records of my children's lives. I don't know when Isaac first spoke or when he took his first step because I didn't keep a record of it. I really wish that I had. So I'm going to use this blog to keep records for both of my children.

Here are some of Jonas' milestones that I remember:

September 20 - rolled from back to front. Hated being on his tummy so this one wasn't so much fun until he learned to roll the other way.

September 27 or 28 - rolled front to back. I remember it was that weekend because Rex and Isaac were out of town at the time.

October 18 - first tooth. I think it was his bottom left. I don't know the exact date because this one didn't cause him any trouble at all. I was changing his diaper in the car on Oct. 18 (we were at the orchard for some harvest time fun) and he smiled at me, and there was a tooth! It looked like it had just broken through that day or the day before.

October 23 - second tooth. This one caused him a little bit more trouble.

Thanksgiving Weekend - Pushed himself up on his hands and knees.

Christmas (sometime in the week leading up to) - started saying "Mama" and "Dada" in a way that sounded a bit different from just babbling. When he woke up he would cry "Ahhhhhhhhh - Ma-ma! Ahhhhhhhh - Ma-ma!"

January 4 - 3rd tooth. It was the top left. This one caused a month and a half of torture before breaking through.

January 12 - 4th tooth. Top right. This one caused an extra week and day of torture. His gums were so swollen with the top two teeth. It was awful.

February 7 - Forward scooting/army crawling. It was sometime in the days leading up to Isaac's party that Jonas started getting around really well.

Those are all the ones that I can remember. I am vowing to keep better records in the future.

My Brand New Blog

I've always enjoyed reading blogs but have never done one myself. It seemed like something that I would enjoy but haven't been able to bring myself to buckle down and do it. I like trying new things, though, so I'm going to give this a shot.

About me...I'm a SAHM to two boys. Isaac is 5 and Jonas is 9 1/2 months. They are awesome kids. I may be a bit biased, but I really think they are.

Isaac is a sweet, sensitive boy with a mind that I can't even begin to grasp. He's a builder. He can take blocks or Lincoln Logs or anything else and build a complicated design. He's all about the building and then knocking what he built down. He has such a good heart too.

Jonas is Mr. Personality. He's a smiley baby who tries to get a person's attention just so that he can smile at them. Every day is a new adventure since he's at the age where they learn so much and grow and change.

I've been married to Rex for just over 10 years. We've been through a few tough times in our marriage. The hardest time was the infertility. It took us 2 1/2 years to conceive our first child. To say it was heartbreaking would be putting it mildly. We tried fertility treatments and were under the care of a specialist. We had exhausted every option that we could afford, and had stopped treatments. Six months after we stopped treatment, we found out that I was pregnant. I don't know how it happened (well...) but I am so thankful that it did. It was NOT because I relaxed, or because we "stopped trying" or any of the other things that people say. I don't believe that stress causes infertility or that lack of stress cures it. I do know that I have endometriosis (diagnosed 14 months before my first pregnancy) but I don't know if that's what made it difficult to conceive.

Oddly enough, Jonas was conceived pretty much immediately after we decided to try to have a 2nd. It seems that pregnancy was the cure for our infertility.

I have to say that Rex is an awesome father. He and Isaac are really close. Rex is the type to come home and spend lots of time with the children. He also spends many of the weekend hours with them, especially Isaac. Since the baby still takes naps during the day and I like to be home for them, Rex will take Isaac on errands when he goes on them.

As for me, I've had many jobs but I'm not really the career sort. Right now my focus is on being a SAHM to my kids. I'm also active at church - sing in the choir, nursery volunteer, some other volunteer stuff throughout the year. I also decorate cakes and I'm sure that I'll be posting pictures of them in future posts. Much of my life has been clouded by an ongoing battle with depression. I'm very happy and thankful to be able to say that depression is not getting me down. I am currently on a low dose of medication due to some post-partum depression, which is working very well. I'm also commited to positive self-talk and leaning on my faith in order to get me through.

That's the rundown of my life and family. I hope to post often to keep a running record of our lives for myself, and also to keep family and friends updated on what we are doing.