Monday, March 30, 2009

Did someone say, Candy?!

Ok so I totally fell for this. It's not eating candy, it's blog candy! Even better, not so fattening!


Check it out here! You can win free stuff!

Also keep your eyes on my crafty blog for a chance to win some blog candy from there!

Extra! Extra!! Alert the presses...It's a miracle!

Julian ate a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. And, the best part. He asked for it.

"Mommy, I want a purple, juicy sandwich." (that means grape jelly, roughly translated)

OK! Right away! This is a major break through. He's such a weirdo in the things he likes to eat. I'm glad he's starting to be a 'normal' child and eat 'normal' kids foods. Gabe LOVES PB&J, actually, let's be honest, Gabe just loves food.

Gabe is feeling much better, thank to Amoxicillan and his inhaler. Oh yeah, those numbing drops for the ear, BRILLIANT. Gabe slept for 12 hours last night, he's totally making up for his lack of sleeping the past few days.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Interesting...to say the least.

Well Gabriel, once again, woke us at 3:15 am. This time, there was a twist! A temperature of 102.6! Yikes! We quickly dosed him with Motrin, and he fell right back to sleep with the aid of his trusty pal, Bink. **Please remind me to blog about operation "Bye Bye Binkie" ** At approximately 7:02 this morning, he woke again, and was burning up again. A quick temperature check showed him at the steamy temp of 101.6, while he was still under the Motrin! Yikes again. Barry got out his otoscope, and checked out the situation. He noticed Gabe's right ear drum was red and swollen.

Today was Julian's birthday party, and after giving him Tylenol upon waking, and Motrin at the party, Gabe was quite the trooper. When we got home from the super fab party, pics to come later, Gabe's temp was back up there, and he just couldn't get comfortable, even after more Tylenol. So, we opted to go to the ER.

The ER trip was a little interesting. So I've never taken a child to the ER. Luckily, we have a children's hospital within a short driving distance. We first signed in, and told this woman behind bullet proof glass our name. I spell out Gabriel's name, and she automatically puts an "a" at the end?!?! So we go into the triage room, where Gabe got to practice his standing skills, and was weighed. I forgot how much he weighed, but it was a lot, and also in kg. Then we moved to the waiting room. Here's where my adventure starts.

I'm pretty sure there was a drug deal happening in the ER waiting room. Seriously. Prescription pills.

Then there was the barfing kid. Seriously, never heard so much barfing in all of my days! **shudder**

Then there was the almost accident, that actually wasn't almost at all. They have an automated door that you have to push a key code to get in. Gabe thought that every time the door opened, that meant he should go in. So I was standing, seriously, 12 inches from him, and the door closed. He was pretty close to the door, but there's no way he was actually going to smash his fingers in the door. A tiny littler nurse, like 5' tall, gasped, and totally made a scene. I said, "I'm right here. His hand wasn't going to get smashed." She said, "Oh, it scare me." (No there's no typo there.) I scooped him up, then sat him down again.

Then Gabe begged for food from these kids eating chips.

THEN we finally get called back. The nurse comes in, does a pulse ox on him, 99, perfect. He was having rapid breathing, but was still getting enough oxygen, so that's good. The nurse practitioner comes in, and I tell her his symptoms. She listens to his breathing, and I tell Gabe, she's just listening to your heart like daddy does. And she asked me, "Your husband is a doctor?" I said, "Not yet. Medical student at DMU." She nodded. Then she gets out her otoscope, and I say, "OH my husband did notice his right ear was red, BUT he's just a first year, sooooo." And she and the nurse laugh so hard?! She agreed with Barry's diagnosis of an ear infection. He also has a cough, and so she prescribed him an inhaler! :( I hope he feels better soon!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Oh what a night & morning.

So Julian is officially three and Gabriel is one, doesn't that mean that they should sleep through the night? I think I need to clean out their inbox or something, because they are definitely NOT getting that memo. Last night, I woke to Gabe crying at 3:30 am. Generally speaking he's not a crier, and a good sleeper. So I got up, went into his room, to see if perhaps, his binky had jumped ship. It had. So, I quickly laid him back down, and turned on his mobile and crib music thing, and his eyes became droopy, so I hastily escaped. As soon as I closed the door, he was up and crying again, SO not like him. So I scooped him out of his crib, and what do you know, he's WIDE AWAKE. I brought him downstairs, and made him a 4 oz. bottle, yeah I know, he's one, he doesn't need a bottle in the middle of the night. I didn't think to change his diaper, and fed him and put him back in bed. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I have trouble doing that, I hear him cry again! This time it woke Barry, and he went in to assess the situation. He determined that a diaper change could remedy the problem, and ran downstairs grabbed a new diaper, and changed him, put him back in his crib with a binky, his eyes got droopy & then, Julian bounded into our room!!!

Julian is like me, once he's awake, he as trouble falling back to sleep. I tried to put Julian back into his bed, but it didn't work. He was up. He said, "Mommy I want you." which is his way of saying I'm tired but don't know what to do, so I bit the bullet and went to lay in their room. Gabe had heard all of Julian's antics, as well as Barry and I taking turns putting Julian back to sleep, and wasn't happy. He was crying again! So I get the bright idea to put them in the same bed! Right! Gabe will be happy because he's not alone, and Julian will be happy because he's not alone. Uhm, no. Not my smartest move ever. They decided it was time to PLAY, at 4:30 in the morning! I finally got Gabe to sleep, in his crib, and Julian to agree to stay in his bed, with promises of capturing bugs today, for sharing time.

Fast forward to 8:54 am. Julian runs into my room, freezing, because he won't sleep in any clothes but undies, they all make him too 'sweaty' ! I look at the clock and freak out! We leave for preschool at 9:12 at the latest! So I manage to get both boys dressed, me with some decently matching clothes on, and gather Julian's snack and sharing time stuff, (not bugs) and get him to the school at 9:31! Pfew! What a morning! Please boys, sleep tonight.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Girl's Night Out!

I don't know if you remember, but in November, I went to the movies with a bunch of girls to see my favorite movie of all time, Twilight. OK, stop laughing, I really *do* love that movie. Not so much because it's a perfect representation of the books brought to film, because it's totally not that, but I like to think of it as it's own little tidbit of Twilight-y goodness. Added to the fact that Rob Pattinson completely surprised me with his ability to bring Edward to life, and wow! Perfection. Anyway, wow that was way off topic.

Last night the girls & I went to see another one of my favorite books turned movie!
Confessions of a Shopaholic! Sophie Kinsella is truly one of my favorite 'pink book' authors. I love her wit and charm. Having read the Shopaholic series I went into the movie not really expecting to be wow'd. I'll admit I generally love the books more than any movie. (For example, The Devil Wears Prada, I much prefer the book over the film.)



This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised. I LOVED the movie. Seriously. I honestly don't think I've laughed that much, out loud even, at a movie, ever! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can watch it, and make Barry watch it. I really think that it's universally funny, not just girls night out funny! If you get the chance, go see it!

And thank you to my husband for not only watching our kids, but watching Natalie's little boy for an hour so that girl's night out could happen :)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Honestly...

...I have the best kids possible.

We flew from Seattle this morning home to Iowa. Our flight left Seattle at 6:10 am, which means we had to be at the airport SUPER early. I literally set my alarm clock for 3:00 am! I honestly have never seen that side of three am before! Gabriel woke up shortly after I did, we all 3 slept downstairs at my MIL's house. Gabe slept in the crib, and got the best night's sleep for the whole week. Julian fell asleep shortly before 9, and woke up at 3:30 when I was attempting to get him dressed without waking him! HA! We all got dressed and piled into my FIL's car (bless him for taking us soooooooooooooo early this morning), and battled no traffic to the airport. There weren't many people at the airport, which meant security wasn't absolutely horrible, just a little bad. Also, bless the TSA agent that after my stroller went through the x-ray machine, popped it open so I could put Gabe in instead of watching me struggle with the 29347329874032 bags and baby paraphernalia that I needed to travel with! We got to our gate with time to spare, so I tried, with no avail, to get Julian to potty. I then decided pastries would be fabulous, and spent the best $8 of my life.

Seriously. If traveling with children, buy this, or something like it. No lie, Julian colored almost the entire flight from Seattle to Chicago. Insane. Gabe and I napped, and Julian colored. We had a 3ish hour layover in Chicago. I was starving, and I assumed the boys were starving as well. I stopped at the first restaurant I saw, McDonalds, and ordered lunch. I packed everything into the basket under our stroller, took 2 steps and dropped my diet Coke onto Gabe's head. It bounced off his head and splashed ALL over the floor. Oh man! I was sooo embarrassed. A fellow traveler helped me mop up the soda/pop from the ground. I could tell he was mortified for me, as well as praying that I and my 2 kids weren't going to the same town he was! We made our way to our gate, and thus far the Chicago O'Hare airport wasn't living up to it's horrid reputation. I kept imagining that I was seeing celebrities, ha! The boys are like birds, and then were soooo done and we still had 3 hours until we boarded! Yipes!
Enter Alex! The most adorable 19 month old girl I've ever seen. The boys were both in love, and I think that she might have had a thing for Gabe! She hugged and kissed him so much. However, Julian was more her speed...like fast wise. They ran together and were sooo cute. Yeah we got dirty looks for letting our kids run a muck, but seriously, I didn't blame them for going crazy! They weren't totally a muck anyway, we were riiiight behind them, most of the time. Alex and her mommy boarded their plane, and we were back to square one. Restless & bored. We ran to the bathroom, where Julian finally peed, and then went to a book store. We bought this at Barbara's Bookstore. (Carly, that's what I'm getting Big G for his birthday. He will looooove it.) Both boys played with it. <3

Chicago sort of lived up to its reputation. They changed our gate twice about 15 minutes before we were going to board. Serious stress out by me! OI! We made it on the plane, and the boys were super fab! I have the best travelers ever! Never made a peep, except for Gabriel laughing because he kept stealing J's bink, and J was sleeping!

Next up for us, operation bye bye binky! Wish us luck! This operation starts tomorrow. We're also going to buy a Beta fish.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Greetings from Washington!

The boys and I left for our adventure yesterday at 5:00 am! We boarded our relatively tiny American "Connection" plane at about 6:30 and left at 6:55. There were like 10 people on the plane, excluding us and the flight crew. It was nice, but I didn't quite understand why they stuck a single flying man RIGHT in front of us, but whatever. He didn't seem to mind the mindless chatter that Gabe provided, or Julian's inquisitive conversation about the clouds, and how to make 'Big Jet go faster'. We landed in Saint Louis, also known as, the friendliest airport EVER! Seriously. The lady from American Airlines was so amazingly sweet, I couldn't believe it was really happening! Not only did she clear whole row for us (no grumpy kid-hating neighbors, YES! Prayers were answered), but she let us PRE-BOARD! And I'm not talking, before the rest of the passengers, but after the first-class-flyin'-business-people, but seriously, pre-board, after only the flight crew. It was amazing not to feel rushed into our seats, and me adjusting the carseat. I will admit that Gabriel did fall off the airplane seat while I was adjusting said carseat, but uhm, luckily nobody else was on the plane to witness it! He cried for only like 10 seconds and was peachy keen. My boys were so wonderful on the plane. I honestly couldn't ask for better travelers. Julian was a little miffed that the didn't have hot chocolate, they probably did, but I'm not paying $5 for some instant hot chocolate, ya know? They were so good, and almost completely ignored by the flight crew, which is good, right? Oh Julin did have to go pee on the airplane, ha! It totally freaked him out when I showed him the toilet, but he did it, and now brags about his 'blue toilet' ;)

I somehow managed to take Julian, Gabriel, our Britax carseat, my backpack, Julian's backpack, our jackets, and 2 huge suitcases from baggage claim to the 'arrivals' deck of Sea-Tac airport, all by myself! Go me! Stacy picked us up, and Julian was sooooo excited to see his BFF 'Stace' :)

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so it was good to fly in on her birthday. Julian was SO excited to see her, it was adorable! Gabe cried, but he was sosososososoos tired, and was totally fine after 5 minutes of chill time! We went out to dinner for her birthday and it was so so good! Kids are coming after me now, so I will blog more later!

Thank you SO much Heather for the tickets. I love you!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Gabe's Party Recap

Here are some pictures from Gabe's Birthday Party.

If you click on the picture, it will take you to a full-sized version (which you then can print...mom ;)) :

Gabe...before the party and sugar
From GabesParty


He's crying...hey it's his party, he can cry if he wants to!
From GabesParty


Gabe's Baby BFF, Benton
From GabesParty


The SUPER cute Luke! (It was his birthday too!)
From GabesParty


I think you'll recognize this rapscallion
From GabesParty


The ever sweet David! He loved to play with the balloons. (For the record, the key to a successful 1 year party is balloons, with helium!)
From GabesParty


Carter, Julian's BFF. He is Benton's older bro
From GabesParty


Wild men!
From GabesParty


Gabe ate some Cheetos...
From GabesParty


"Stick the tail on the horsey" That's what Julian called it
Luke
From GabesParty


Julian
From GabesParty


David
From GabesParty


Carter
From GabesParty


Gabba
From GabesParty


About to eat some cake! HOLLER!
From GabesParty


grub grub
From GabesParty
From GabesParty

And one of Julian...

Presents sans pants!
From GabesParty


Mya!
From GabesParty

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Super cute photo opp!



My BFF (best friend forever!) is having a great promo!!! Check it out! Those that are in Washington, please take advantage of this fabulous photographer!!!

Monday, March 2, 2009

DOWN WITH NEGATIVITY

So recently some things have come to light, some drama has been around me. I've come to the realization, or sort of been forced to the realization, that I hate drama. Everything to do with real life, or cyber, internet drama. H.A.T.E. The only kind of drama I like is General Hospital. :) And I, am going to keep it that way. I vow, to you, my loyal blog reader (yeah I think there's only one of you) that I will no longer partake in anything drama filled. I'm 25 years old. I do not need to associate with 12 year olds, or adults that act as such. I also need to rid myself of negative energy.

Have you ever had a friend that everything they said was SUPER negative? Just nothing ever goes right in their life? I need to keep faaaaaaaaaaaaar away from that girl. I swear I'm a magnet for that person. I'm pretty sure I'm realllly impressionable. And that girl, she brings me down with her. I need to stay far above that negative level, and look at the positive. I have some great friends, and once I cleanse myself from the negative influences, the drama seekers, I know for 100% fact that I will be a better, happier person.

PS Tomorrow I will post pictures of Gabriel's birthday. I am going to bed now!

Gabe's Party Recap

Here are some pictures from Gabe's Birthday Party.

If you click on the picture, it will take you to a full-sized version (which you then can print...mom ;)) :

Gabe...before the party and sugar
From GabesParty


He's crying...hey it's his party, he can cry if he wants to!
From GabesParty


Gabe's Baby BFF, Benton
From GabesParty


The SUPER cute Luke! (It was his birthday too!)
From GabesParty


I think you'll recognize this rapscallion
From GabesParty


The ever sweet David! He loved to play with the balloons. (For the record, the key to a successful 1 year party is balloons, with helium!)
From GabesParty


Carter, Julian's BFF. He is Benton's older bro
From GabesParty


Wild men!
From GabesParty


Gabe ate some Cheetos...
From GabesParty


"Stick the tail on the horsey" That's what Julian called it
Luke
From GabesParty


Julian
From GabesParty


David
From GabesParty


Carter
From GabesParty


Gabba
From GabesParty


About to eat some cake! HOLLER!
From GabesParty


grub grub
From GabesParty
From GabesParty

And one of Julian...

Presents sans pants!
From GabesParty


Mya!
From GabesParty