3 Days

Well it has been three days without fever! I think we have moved on --and not to bigger and better things.
We got to Greenville on Wednesday afternoon. We'll be here about 10 days. If you read this and are there, call me and maybe we can get together.
If I can find a way to do it, I will post some pictures while we are here, if not I'll be sure to post when we get home.
Going to get some sweet tea!

50%

One well boy is better than no well boys, right? Jackson is doing better. He still has a runny nose, but has had no fever for over 24 hours. I've got some real mixed feelings on the whole flu shot right now, but since he had the flu shot and got better much faster than Miller I might have to give it some serious consideration next year.
Miller has developed a bad cough-which I expected. Since my only experience with having a boy with a cough involved pneumonia, I called the doctor, as any good paranoid mama would do. Turns out she was concerned about his new symptoms and continued fever and wanted to see him. Good news is that his lungs and ears look good! So now we wait to see when he stops running fever. Thanks for all your prayers--they work!
We hope to be driving to Greenville on Wednesday. If Miller isn't better, we will play it by ear, but we are still going! He has to meet all his peeps!
Hopefully tomorrow I will have some great news!

Since Thursday

Since Thursday...we have wiped gallons of stuff off of their noses, gone through two bottles of Tylenol and two bottles of Ibuprofen, bought a pair of cowboy boots and a John Deere tractor ride on toy, made one call to poison control (It was a clerical error not a medicating error it turns out), slept in 4 hours shifts, watched the movie Cars, cancelled our date night and wished this would hurry up and pass umpteen thousand times!
Since babies tend to stop progressing while they are sick you wouldn't expect much in the way of development, but you'd be wrong. Miller is sitting up for a lot longer, he is worming his way through the house, and has cut his first tooth.
Since Thursday I've been lazy and have hardly taken any pictures. When I can see straight I will post them then. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, we still need them!

F-L-U

My poor baby has the flu and it is the most pitiful thing you have ever seen. He has been kind of puny for a couple of days. I thought he was teething --and he is because I can see those teeth through the gums-- He had a low fever before bed last night. The plan was for Allen to feel him at 2:45 when he gets up (Can you believe that he has to get up at 2:45????), but Miller woke up at 2:30 with a fever of 102. Oh my, my heart stopped for a few beats. Tylenol helped bring it down we rocked and rocked. I tried watching American Idol, but he thought that meant it was play time, so I had to turn it off, you can't blame a girl for trying to catch some entertainment after an hour in the rocker. He eventually went back to sleep about 5.

I knew deep down in my mama heart that it wasn't right so I took him to the doctor this morning. Since Jackson's bouts with pneumonia I always err on the side of caution and throw my $20 copay to the wind in the name of peace of mind. It is always a virus and it always has to run it's course, use a humidifier, blah, blah, blah. That's what I was prepared for, but that's not what we got. Before we left his fever was 102.4, so he got more Tylenol, then when we got there it's 103.4. That isn't good for anyone, especially an infant. Our sweet pediatrician checked him out then said she would run a flu test and an RSV test, and she would call me with results later. Well apparently his test was immediately positive, so we didn't have to wait for the doctor to call us. Tylenol, Motrin and lots of TLC are the prescription for recovery.
Jackson has gotten some of the same symptoms and is doing OK. He got a flu shot in the fall, so if he gets the flu it will be less difficult for him to recover from. It doesn't take a genius to figure out when he was on the sofa this morning watching the Today Show and not asking to watch Curious George that he was headed down the same road as Miller. Which is a good thing because with us getting about 4 hours of sleep last night there are no geniuses to be found in this house.
So, say a prayer for the Butterbean (and the Bug too) and hopefully he will be able to recover well.

This is how he looks. His eyes say it all...


Here is Jackson watching the Today show, he particuarly liked the Suze Orman segment.

I two and a hat

Yesterday was Jackson's half birthday. We hosted playgroup at our house (always an adventure), and practiced using the potty.
I wish I could capture his cuteness right now. He is always saying something that we can't quite figure out, but then when we do, it makes perfect sense--for a two year old!
When you say, "How are you?" He always answers with, "I two!" That reponse is perfect because it sums up a lot of his emotions and things he does. It is much more informative than him saying, "I'm fine".
This morning I told him that he was two and a half now, so I should not have been surprised when I asked him how he was and he said, "I two and a hat."
He doesn't get a two and a half checkup, so I will give you my mommy checkup stats.
*Jackson speaks in full sentences.
*He LOVES the movie Cars and eats, sleeps and dreams Cars. One of his bedtime stall tactics is to look right into your eye, hold your face between his two hands and demand "Talk about the movie Cars!?!"
*He weighs around 30 pounds.
*He sleeps from 7:30ish to 7ish.
*He uses stools to reach things he wants to get(but sometimes shouldn't)
*He wears underwear all the time (except to sleep).
*He uses the potty when we ask him and sometimes asks to use it.
*He is a fan of TV, and would watch all day if you let him.
*He enjoys going to preschool.
*He wants to read books at least once a day.
*He loves play-doh and will concentrate for long periods of time while using it.
*He cracks me up about 86 tgimes a day and makes me pull my hair out about 74 times a day.

Pile on

Jackson doesn't really play WITH Miller, he plays near him. He isn't really sure what to do with him, but is happy to cooperate if you ask him to give Miller a toy or his pacifier. The other day Allen asked Jackson to give Miller a toy while he was sitting in his excersaucer, and this is the result. If one toy is good, then 27 must be awesome. These boys, I tell you!


Just a few of my favorite things here.


OK Jackson, can I have another.



Let's see there is a spot over here that isn't covered up.




Um, maybe just one more.




Finally, I am up to my eyeballs in toys.



No babies were harmed in the filming of this!

We have been working really hard this weekend on a makeover in one area of our house that needed some TLC. We hope to finish up tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Baby

Miller's half birthday is today. Where has the time gone? Wasn't he born just the other day? Anyway, what's the deal with half birthdays anyway? It's not even a real thing, right? Well you'd have to be cursed, I mean blessed with a summer birthday to get it. Nothing prepares you for the realization that you'll never get to have a party at school, and to add insult to injury he'll have to suffer through the endless parade of fall and spring class birthday parties knowing he’ll never get to share his special day with his classmates. It’s like always coming in second place at field day, but with icing instead of a red ribbon. Oh wait! I think I am talking about me instead of him...
I love you Butterbean!

The Worm

Ok, so I have been a bad blogger. Days have been flying by and I am just trying to keep up, so cut a mama some slack. Lots of random stuff to share...

*The other day Jackson was eating lunch and here's how our conversation went:
Me: Do you want some fruit?
Jackson: Yep(I'm sure he really said "yes m'am, but whatever)
Me: Do you want dried fruit (raisins or dried apples)or wet fruit(peaches)?
Jackson: Clean fruit!
Me:Huh? What?
This went on a couple more times until I figured it out. We are still in the midst of potty training and to him dry = clean. That'll be clean and dry fruit!

*Sunday we had a leaky water heater. Water all over the floor. Not good. After lots of debate, my handy hubby decided to leave a project with gas up to the professionals (THANKS HONEY)! Thankfully he could take the day off on Monday to deal with it. He called the plumber at 7 and they were here by 8. We got an honest plumber who told us that we didn't need to replace our water heater which would have been about $2,000 because we had to bring it up to code when it was replaced. All we needed was a new pan. $200 and one hour later we had hot water again. Hot dog, showers for everyone!

*Last night was president Obama's first State of the Union address, and I won't go into politics here, but my message to him is this: President Obama, I think you have really good intentions and you are honestly trying to make our country better, BUT if you ever pre-empt The Bachelor again and I can't say up until 11:30 to watch the end of it, I will be very upset with you!

*Miller has been improving his mobility skills. He doesn't crawl, he doesn't lurch, he does the worm. If you are a child of the 80's you'll remember the movie "Breakin'" and I'm sure you'll recognize Miller's moves. He's got a future in break bancing... If this video ever uploads you will see what I am talking about.
He is heading for the car on the other side of the rug, but then he abruptly makes a left because he sees a little piece of shiny foil that Jackson left on the floor after eating his Valentine Candy.
Here you go, Breakin'

And it's sequel, Breakin' 2

So Sweet

Monday my friend Irma kept Miller while I went to see a preschool for Jackson. Not only was she really sweet to do that for me, but she also took some great pictures. Don't you love them?





Her son is about 10 weeks younger than Miller. I think they are going to have a lot of fun together.



Thanks Irma!
Now I have to go practice using my new camera so that my pictures will look like hers!

What is today?

Do you know what day it is?

Today is the day after Allen finished presenting his final project for his Masters. When he started we had one child and figured life was not going to get any easier for a while, so he should go ahead and get started. Good, rational thinking at its finest. We knew life wasn't going to get easier, but we never expected it to get so much harder.
Through it Allen has slaved away and little by little finished one assignment after another. He is a testament to plugging away. He may have to tweak his final paper some, if his professor asks him to, but he is theoretically DONE!
If you read this blog then you probably know me and likely him too. Please take a second to give him a pat on the back in the comments. I'll make sure he reads them all!
Way to go Allen! Now you can go back to JUST working 12 hour days!

$124.32

$124.32
That is how much I saved today at the grocery store!
Feel free to skip this post if it is too boring for you, but it is super exciting to me, much more exciting than a football game.
This morning's paper had a special Safeway circular with a 72 hour sale. The first thing that caught my eye was Coke products were 4 for $8.00 My friend Angel told me that on Friday, but I forgot. Then I saw that you got a free pizza with a food order of $20 or more. Free Pizza, now I'm listening. Oh and then there was a coupon for $10 off a a purchase of $50--We can do $50 easy!
We needed to buy some fresh food, so off we went with 2 children to the store. You know I am some kind of excited when I voluntarily take 2 children with me to the store.
Since we had 2 children and only one can fit in the sitting part of the cart we had to get 2 carts. Let me tell you it is a good thing we did. We stocked up on so many things that we normally buy that were on sale. The only things I bought that weren't on sale was baby food.
I love to wait until it is all rung up and then give the cashier my store card and coupons. So it rung up at $267.00. Holy Mortgage payment! I had $16.09 in coupons, so we paid $120.88!
Leaving the store was such a high, I was giggling and practically skipping (with my 2 carts, 2 kids and husband) all the way out to the car.
And becaue I know that YOU, my faithful blog readers (both of you) want pictures I will give you what you want. Don't say you didn't ask for it!

Ok so it is way blurry and you can't read it. But that is the bottom of my 6 foot long grocery bill that says:
Total Savings Value 47% 124.32
Can I get an Amen?