Scary Sick!

Sickness has been a craze at my school since we came back from Spring Break, I mean as in this past Monday we had 15 staff members out, not to mention the dozens of students. Then all that disease and funk made its way into my house. Holden has had a cough for about a week now and Hayley out of no-where got a rash on her face and arms, so I made them appointments for last Thursday. Doc says that Hayley has a virus that is causing the rash and Holden has a double ear infection (again). So we started meds and head our way into Friday (all the while now mommy is starting to feel bad).  I stayed home with both kids and we all had low grade fevers, nothing too serious....
Thennn, Holden goes down for his afternoon nap at around 2:15, when he wakes up at 5:00 he is screaming! When I went upstairs to pick him up he is BURNING UP! I mean HOT, so I take his temperature... 104.7, that's correct, you read it right, no need to blink, my 10 month old son had a fever of almost 105 degrees. crazy scary temperature. So I gave him medicine and wiped him down for a long time and after about 2.5 hours his fever was down to 100.9 but it never got any lower. So I start calling my mom, it doesn't matter how old I get, I will never be too old to call my mom for help. Then Chase called his mom, I called our insurance company's 24/7 nurse answering service, then I even broke down and got a hold of my friend Ashley who works at their doctor's office.
The nurse I spoke to told me to take him to the ER, but I really didn't want to do that. I knew he had something going on besides just his ears, because ear infections don't cause temps that high, and I didn't want him sitting in the ER with all the other sick people catching whatever they had. So I decided to just keep him at home and watch him. Chase and I decided that if it started going back up again, if it got above 102 then we would take him to the ER. Other than that, we were going to watch him all night. So that's exactly what we did, we got up every hour and a half and checked the kids. Hayley's fever wasn't as high as Holden's but she was sick too. We went back and forth between motrin and tylenol every 3 hours, watching his temperature. It ranged all throughout the night but finally at 6 Saturday morning his fever broke! Thank goodness!
I called the doctor's office just to check in with them to see if I should still bring him in, but they said that since his fever broke, just to keep an eye on him.

I'm surprised at how calm I stayed (even through the crazy amount of phone calls). I guess with baby number two that happens, cause if that would've been 3 years ago and been Hayley, I can almost 100% guarantee I would have been at the ER.

Both kids are feeling better now, Holden still has a nasty cough, but he is his smiley self again. Hayley was still running a low grade fever yesterday, but she seems to be okay now. They were snuggling on the couch yesterday morning watching cartoons. So sweet.

In the midst of all this, I forgot how bad I felt. It wasn't until the end of the night each night that I realized how sick I felt, I didn't have time to feel bad, I was too worried about my babies. I finally broke my fever yesterday, and went back to work today, back to the germs...
I just hope the worst is behind us... hope y'all stay healthy!

"Yes little one, I love you as the stars love you, constant and bright above you, giving you joy and peace and wonder. I love you as the stars love you, forever, and ever, and always"

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break from school and while I usually venture off each day, that just wasn't the case this time. As you already know, I did take the kids to see my grandparents (where the hair incident happened). So when we got back from traveling for about 12 hours between Monday and Tuesday, I needed Wednesday to get myself back together.
Thursday I took the kids to the Children's Museum, Hayley loves this place. For those of you who don't live around this area, everything in the museum is super kid friendly (obviously). Unlike Museums for us, you are encouraged to touch everything!

I am so proud of Hayley for how she behaved while we were there. We ran into one of my best friends, Sarah and her family while we were there and we got to talking about how rude most of the children were. What made it even worse, was the parents that stood behind their children watching them run into other kids, push their way into where others were playing, and never say a word. Then you have Hayley, who is only 3, being ever so patient and waiting her turn; tapping people on the shoulder to ask if she could play, you know... having manners! Sarah and I have both said numerous times how thankful we are for our children, they are amazing. Corny, but true.
Despite some of the other children, they had a lot of fun, even Holden. They have a toddler area and he got to get out of the stroller and crawl around for a little while.

My mom has recently started a community garden here in Whaleyville, so our Saturday mornings consist of me taking pictures, and Hayley running between "helping" with the garden and playing on the playground.

 Saturday night Chase and I took Hayley to her first Tides Game! She did better than I thought she was going to do, so I guess we will be making more trips to baseball games this summer.
This was her, cheering on the "black team"

And we finally got the chance to meet TT's (Chase's sister Stevi) boyfriend. Hayley has met him before and is slightly in love with him. When Hayley wasn't holding his hand, Stevi had it. They were adorable, that young love cutesy stuff. :)

Slide back to Friday morning, I got a call from one of my best friends from college to tell me that she was PREGNANT! yeahh! So excited for Maggie and Blake, they are going to make wonderful parents and I couldn't be happier for the two of them. They got married last year and now they are expecting a wonderful little bundle of joy in November.
This was Maggie and I our senior year of college. Just a couple of Education students, who could not believe that we did not meet until our senior year. I think the first night we met each other, we spent the entire night saying how sad we were that we hadn't met before, now we only had a year to get to know each other. That was 6 years ago, and I still love this lady, my M3.

And this was last year the morning after she got married. She was glowing and I was 7 months pregnant with Holden.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far and enjoy your weekend!

"Yes little one, I love you as the stars love you, constant and bright above you, giving you joy and peace and wonder. I love you as the stars love you, forever, and ever, and always"

Patience

Patience... it's something every person must learn (if they haven't already) when you have children. I was one of those people that had to learn.
I have always been someone to speak my mind during any situation: classroom, ball field, bar, you get the picture.  When I started teaching I did have more patience but it wasn't until I had Hayley that I finally learned what it truly means to be completely and utterly patient. Babies are born ready to learn. If you take the time to notice, around 3 months babies start looking at your mouth when you talk, not at your eyes. It's because they are trying to learn the words that you are saying. They are beginning to understand the difference in your tone of voice, the form of your mouth when you say sounds. That's why it is SOOO important to TALK (and read) to your kids, tell them everything. No they aren't going to talk back yet, but they will eventually. When Hayley was little everyone would comment on how they couldn't believe she was talking so soon. My response "well I talk to her all the time, so she doesn't really have a choice but to talk back."
Now until they start talking (and yes after) the have to communicate somehow. And how do they? They cry... Every cry means something, hungry, dirty diaper, tired, mouth hurting, sick, it means something. And it's our job as the parents to understand the difference between each cry. And now is where your patience comes in, if you don't take the time to get to know your kids, you won't have a clue as to what each cry means and you'll worry (and cry yourself) for hours trying to figure it out.

Now, I know everyone has their moments when no matter how patient you're trying to be, you have a breaking point. I had a breaking point yesterday.
I took the kids on a trip to visit my grandparents. They live in Bayse, it's about 4 1/2 hours from our house. It took 6 hours to get there on Monday between food breaks, filling up on gas, and diaper changes. Not the funnest thing, but my grandparents are getting older and I don't seem them enough. My grandfather is not doing well at all and I wanted to make sure I saw him at least one more time. The kids were fantastic during the car ride, so good! However, when it came to bedtime, it was a different story. I fought with each of them for 2 hours between dinner and finally going to sleep. Holden doesn't sleep well when he's not at home and he didn't have more than a 40 min stretch of sleep all night. Hayley is a crazy person sleeper (she literally rolls and jumps all over the bed in her sleep). So I think total I slept for maybe 2 hours Monday night.
Tuesday morning... the dreadful morning. Holden is ready for play time at 5:45 so we're up and having breakfast. A few hours later Hayley is up and playing when I notice that she has hair all over her sweatshirt... then I look up... SHE HAS CUT HER HAIR! At which point I promptly start yelling.. I was furious. So upset, I started asking her why she would do that, was that a good choice (the teacher in me). Inside I knew I had to calm down, but on the outside I wanted to scream. She was upset and crying when she realized what she had done to her hair, "I want my pretty long pretty hair back". Now, I know that this is something that most kids so, but it doesn't make it any easier when YOUR kid does it. As angry as I was, I had to hold her and hug her and tell her how much I still loved her. She had to know that no I didn't like what she did, but I that I love her.
Her hair looks ridiculous, she cut it just at the top, where there is no way to fix it, we just have to wait until it grows back out. But she's alive and she's healthy, she didn't stab herself with the scissors (or her brother), she just cut her hair. And as upset as I was (still am a little, her pretty hair :{ ) I love her. And that's all that she cares about, that she is still mommy's little girl. And there is nothing in this world that she could do that will ever make me not love her.

Despite our mishap yesterday, the kids did have a great Easter Sunday. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

"Yes little one, I love you as the stars love you, constant and bright above you, giving you joy and peace and wonder. I love you as the stars love you, forever, and ever, and always"

Pink and Gray

For weeks, I have been planning a surprise baby shower for my best friend in the entire world. She has been by my side through all the big moments in my life. When I turned 16 and got my license, when we graduated, went off to college, needed a shoulder to cry on the first time I got my heart broken. She was outside in the waiting room for almost 30 hours (with Lauran too :}) while I was in labor with Hayley. She stood by my side when I promised to love Chase forever with my whole heart. She drove down late at night to come see Holden when he was born. She threw me beautiful showers for my wedding, bachelorette and two baby showers. She's the absolute best friend anyone could ask for and I'm blessed that I get to call her mine. I cried through my entire speech at her wedding because trying to express what's she has meant to me over the years is hard... point of the story, I just love her :)

Chase, Kristen, Kristen's parents and I went into the city to see the Cherry Blossoms, which weren't there. No biggie, we just walked around, playing the sight seeing role and then we went and had dinner. Sunday morning Chase and I said that we had to get back to get the kids.  Little did Kristen know that I had everything packed away in the car for her baby shower, so we drove over to Danny's sisters house and set everything up. Kristen was supposed to come over for her birthday lunch later in the day. (The story that Shannon and I came up with changed about a zillion times before Kristen had any idea she was coming over.)

I planned every detail of this day out and I wanted everything to be perfect for her. Here are some pictures from the shower.

This is the table once I put everything out.

 It's a girl sign! with balloons

 baby cupcakes

 Mason jars I made for the drinks. I hot glued pink ribbon around the edge, then put a piece of sheer gray around the pink.

 Pink and White marshmallows in a vase, and pink and silver gumballs. Not to eat (unless you wanted to) just for some pretty coloring

 I painted the letters for the Emerie sign and glued them to this piece of wood and added an elephant. Somehow "elephants" became the theme of the shower. It's because it's the only gray animal. 

I also made this BABY GIRL sign using scrap book paper, wooden letters, and ribbon. Probably my favorite decoration that I made!

 Everyone seems to be making diaper cakes for baby showers now, so I decided to make a diaper basket instead, filled with goodies! loved it

 Pink and White pom poms that Chase and Kristen's niece Ashley pulled apart for me

 Clothesline (staple at every baby shower)

 presents for Emerie Grace

 I made pink chocolate dipped oreos (very yummy) I even put pink jelly beans into lifesavers to make "binkys"

 I pulled out our white Christmas lights and got pink and silver mini cupcake liners and put them around each light. It just added a little something extra to the room.

On the back of the invitation, I put "Although cards are nice and read once or twice, a book is a treasure forever and ever. So instead of a card to be put to the side, please bring an unwrapped book with your name inside." I wanted to start Emerie's library.

 For a guest book, my friend Stephanie painted a tree and wrote Emerie Grace underneath it. Then as people came in, they used a pink stamp pad to put a thumb print on the tree and sign their names.

eating baby food! (Amanda, another mommy to be won this game (she's ready for her baby girl I see!)

How BIG is the belly (not very, she's still so tiny

pretty mommy to be

I had so much fun planning this baby shower! I even had some of Danny's friends come to surprise him too, they played games and pool downstairs and brought diapers and wipes.(Thank you to Shannon for letting me use her house, Anne and Shirleen for helping with food, Danny for getting Kristen to Shannon's and everyone who came for keeping it a secret!)
Then I tortured Danny by making him take a few pictures when we got back to Kristen's house.

Did I mention it was Kristen's birthday?? Yes, for her 27th birthday, she got a surprise baby shower and surprise guests because Chase and I went back and stayed at her house. Kristen and I cleaned out the closet and put baby stuff away and Chase and Danny put the crib together.

After a long weekend away, I was happy to get back and get my babies. I had to take Holden back to the doctor to check his ears. His ear infection is gone but he has the start of thrush because he has been on 3 different antibiotics for the past 6 weeks. Lucky for us, we caught it really quickly (as in he woke up with it this morning) so it's not too bad yet. Thank goodness. Now that I'm done planning this shower, I can start planning Hayley's 4th birthday and Holden's 1st!

Hayley was doing a little bit of puddle jumping last weekend when it rained

Look at this fat little happy face, I just eat him up!

Here's Holden with my dad last weekend

"Yes little one, I love you as the stars love you, constant and bright above you, giving you joy and peace and wonder. I love you as the stars love you, forever, and ever, and always"