Well....this is interesting...

Hmmm.....This is the last week of school. Filled with parties, field day, awards night, lots of fun stuff. However our family is not participating in any of this. Why you ask? We have fallen victim to a Chicken Pox outbreak.

Yes we have.

All of our children have been vaccinated so thankfully the cases appear to be very mild, none-the-less we are stuck in the house because, according to my grandmother, they can not go outside and play or even take a bath. So picture this...three kids...sunny weather, in the house non-stop for two days....starting on the third day tomorrow.

Send help....and ice cream....and Benadryl.

It is hard being two

It is a rough life for a two year old.

You have to deal with that big brother, the one who will sneak you a string cheese and juice box from the fridge, who loves you so much that he shares his Saturday morning blanket and couch camp out in front of the cartoons...yeah...that has to be rough.

You can scream and cry and make the meanest face you can come up with and all mommy does is giggle and tell you that you are cute.

You just can not relax ANYwhere. It is so hard to get comfortable.

You have to get angry at mommy again and scream GRAPE loudly to get your yummy fruit.

But the one perk of being two is that once you get your grapes...you look adorable with a little tear while you munch them down.

Croup

A week or so ago, on Friday night, Cameron woke up with a horrible cough. I stumbled into his room at around 12:30, telling him to calm down and take a deep breath. As I began to emerge from my sleepy haze, I realized that he could not calm down or take a deep breath. He was in a constant cycle of; *cough cough cough GASP* *cough cough cough GASP*.



I picked him up and took him outside into the cool, damp night air to help him open up and get his breath. As we stood on the porch his cough was not letting up. I brought him back into the kitchen to pour him some juice and call my mom. I handed him his juice, he has still not had a break in the cough. He can't drink his juice, not even a sip the coughing is constant and I am getting scared.



With my mom on the way I took him into the bathroom and turned on the hot shower hoping that would help calm his cough. It did not. Mom arrived, walked into the bathroom, listened to his chest, and said "take him to the ER now". She would later tell me what I was not able to see, I guess because I had been looking at him up close for better than 10 minutes, I had not recognized that he was pale and his eyes were swelling from struggling for air. She also had heard that he was moving next to no air through his lungs.



As we blew into the ER, the triage nurse saw that he was still struggling for air, though his cough had finally subsided, he was still retracting as he breathed and was noisy while gasping for air. She took him from my hands and straight into a room, his oxygen stats were only 87 upon arrival. This had been one of the scariest experiences of my parenting life, standing there helpless while my baby coughed and gasped was terrifying. That feeling that there was nothing I could do to help him was sickening.



While we were at the ER he was treated with two breathing treatments and an injection of steroids, diagnosed with croup and sent home. Now starts the comical part of this story........



Cameron was sent home with steroid therapy to be given twice a day for four days. Well....when an already very busy 5 year old boy is treated with sterriods...well....lets just say 'hyper' is an understatement. To prove this, I will leave you with some humor. This is MA with a steroid hyped up Cameron attached to his leg. After trying unsuccessfully to shake him off several times, he gave up and just let him hang there....for 30 minutes.

First Time Out

As Olivia traverses her second year, her sense of "self" is ever evolving. She has learned that certain words, phrases and tones get laughs, some get the "mama look". Also that some actions get chuckles and some get her in trouble.



She is still learning what "trouble" is .



Last Sunday she was the center of attention, her favorite place to be. She repeatedly made a grand entrance from the hall into the living room to of the claps of our family. She then would proceed to prance through the living room, while her captive audience would say "come see me Olivia" "Olivia, come over here and talk to me". She would cut her eyes sharply, and give a coy little grin and in her sweet, two year old, sing-songy voice say "noooooo"



This scene repeated its self over several times, much to her delight.



However...........



A few days later she was watching "Super Why" (on PBS...what you do not know what Super Why is? You have not lived.....) While watching her favorite show, she began to empty the clean sock basket one sock at a time. (yes, clean sock basket....we have it because her mother hates to fold socks and leaves them for last...don't look at me that way....you come fold them then....yeah...didn't think so) As I gently redirected her to please pick them up and put them back in the basket, she said "NO!" I took a deep cleansing breath and silently reminded myself that she is two. Again I said, "Olivia, pick them up and put them back in the basket" At which point she furrowed her eye brows at me, picked up the edge of the basket and dumped them all in the floor and then threw the basket.



*deep breath....deep breath*



I once again, calmly told her that was not a nice thing to do, and told her to pick the socks up.





She threw the basket at me.



As I felt my blood pressure rise into my face, I introduced her to "time out" Was it for me or her? I am not sure.....but she sat there for two minutes (one for each year of her life) and then picked up the socks.

I can not help it...she is cute, even when she is in trouble.

Do you need more proof?

I can not imagine how you could doubt the "girlieness" of Olivia since you saw her sleeping with Makaylas' purse over her arm. However, if you are in need of more proof, please allow me to provide it to you;


See this sleeping babe? Oh, doesn't she just make you ache because she is so sweet.

My precious thumb sucking little angel.

See how she is curled up and resting, sleeping and recharging her little mind, and....wait...what is that there beside her head?

Is it? Oh my, yes it is. It is make up and perfume from Makaylas' box. You know that it is imperative that a young lady have on perfume and lip stick while she sleeps, just in case her mama comes in to take pictures.

More proof could not be needed, I rest my case, the jury can go deliberate...the verdict is certain; we have our hands full

I would like you to meet

Cameron, Joey, Rosie and Makayla

You see, our family lives in the west and we need horses to ride so we can move around, or so Cameron says.

Didn't he do a great job building the people and needed horses for living "out west"?

I think so, but of course I already knew that he is a genius.

What is that?

What is that? Do you see it? Right in the middle. Among the mish-mash of left over lunch residue. There, among the tiny little finger smears. Could it be???


IT IS! It is a foot print!

Why is their a foot print in the middle of the table? Do I really want to know?

Probably not.

Remmber those men?

A few days ago I talked about two of the most important men in my life, and I also hinted that there is one other man who has a huge part in shaping who I am today, (is that good or bad?). The other man in my life is my dad.

My dad has a lot of toys. Big toys. Earlier this week, he was using one of his big toys to work on a piece of land next to us that he has leased.

As the kids went outside to play after school, they saw dad on his big toy. Dad saw the three saucer-eyed babies standing and watching. He called for Cameron to come and ride...and he took off like a streak, climbed up the tracks of the bull dozer and rode, even drove.

Look at this huge smile on my little mans face;

here he is working the controls that make the machine go forward and back. He was having so much fun.

Olivia was wanting to ride, but we told her that she was only authorized to operate small equipment, like swings;

Next up was Makayla, here she is sitting proudly with grandpa;

and my heart skipped a few beats, look at the angle of that thing, my baby is on there!!

Still Olivia wanted to ride, but again we explained to her that only small equipment is in her league; things like coupe cars;

and wagons. She was ok with this, and even happy to pull her bubby around in the wagon.


All was well and everyone was happy..........UNTIL........

Do you know what lives in thickets and around on the ground?

Bees live in thickets and around the ground. Big bull dozers will not protect you from bees if you get into their hive. They will "bump into my face with their stinger!" See the swelling under her right eye? THAT was the end of our day.


However, riding the bull dozer with grandpa, even if it ends with a bee sting, makes for a great day.

Girly-Girl

You will often find Makayla outside digging elbow deep in the mud, looking for worms or other creepy-crawly. She will then come in and want her nails painted. She must have a closet full of clothes and is a shoe hound. She is a great mix of tom boy and girly-girl.

However, the other little female that inhabits this home would not be caught even fingernail deep in dirt. She is a little princess at all times. Even at the tender age of two carries a purse everywhere, and requires a bow in her hair first thing in the morning.

Don't believe me?

Check this out. Today, when I went to check on her during nap time, I found this;


Yes, that is in fact her sisters Coach purse on her shoulder, while she is sleeping, what can I say, the girl has good taste. (yes her sister has a Coach, it was for her birthday, and it was with in birthday budget)

And a bonus, one shoe on, one shoe off coloring on a Magna-Doodle. Just because I think it's cute.

She turns TWO!

Today we end the August birthday extravaganza, we celebrate our third and final birthday that comes in this month. Today we celebrate our babies birthday, Olivia turned two.



It is nearly impossible to believe that my baby is already two. I have been weepy and sappy for two or three days preceding this event. There is something about the baby in the family getting bigger that just tears at your heart. I love watching my children grow, and seeing the amazing little people that they are becoming. Makayla is 7 now, and that blows my mind. She is asking for a cell phone already (YES SHE REALLY IS!! Can you believe it!?) Cameron is 5 and is coming into his own, but still needs his mama to cuddle at night. Olivia...but Olivia...she is the baby...there is something about that position in the family. Every thing she does is cute, even though we have seen it done twice already. So to imagine that she is now a full-blown toddler just makes my heart sing and hurt at the same time. OK, enough reflection and self exploration, lets get to the fun of the day shall we?

Today we celebrated by ummm....staying home. Olivia spent her birthday much like every other day, she lounged in the morning watching "Sesame Street" and "Super Why" and the afternoon napping. Once she got up from her nap supper was almost ready, she ate her food, and we then gave her a cupcake shaped like a puppy dog, which she really enjoyed.


She has just given me such joy today saying "I TWOOOOOOO" and dancing around every time we would sing "Happy Birthday" to her. It was just a good day.


I will recap the cupcake eating for you in pictures;

Here is the puppy cupcake, with two candles in her bum...poor puppy.

Blowing out her candles, and she really did blow them out herself!

Makayla and Cameron enjoying the treat I made for the rest of us, chocolate cookies and pudding.

Olivia licking the icing off of her puppy.

Now....I have to end with my favorite....no kidding, I have it on video...she pointed to the puppy's tail and said, "see mama..puppy's butt"

I am still giggling........

Friends and fun! Birthday part three;

OK, so I lied last time, I did not add more birthday stuff "tomorrow" or even the next day. I am trying to make up for it, I am adding it on a beautiful Saturday morning!


We will spend today watching the fun that unfolded at the birthday extravaganza

First, this is one of our life guards, a very...VERY patient woman.


arriving friends...This is Gabe, he is the son of Ashley, remember her? the whiz with a camera? He really likes to play with Cameron, he is very patient with him.


Makayla waiting for the life guards to give the OK for them to get in the pool.



Makayla and her friends as they arrived.



Ben, running to join his friends, he was a little late.



Zoe getting in the pool.



Emma pushing Makayla around in a float.



The smaller kids in the shallow pool...see Olivia running towards the water? She is the one with the cute yellow butt.



Mayci, another of Makaylas friends.


Cameron and Seth...oh man...these two are a pair!


Seth and his brother River.


Cameron being cute.


Olivia "swimming"

There aren't more of Olivia in the pool because she spent most of her time being cuddled by grandma, or mamaw or papaw or Ashley...there was no shortage of people for her to cuddle with.

And last, do you want to make your grandmother fuss at you for the next week? If so, let her watch your seven year old do this:

Randomness......

I have a mish-mash of things that I would like to share tonight, so hold onto your hats...here we go!

I will start off by adding to my list of things that I thought I would never say;
*please don't feed the cat concrete (I will let you use your imagination on that one)
*why are you laying on the kitchen table?
*no, your new batman costume does make you fly....yes I know it has wings...no..you still can not fly.

Onto the English language according to Olivia...I love these!

Choop; those crispy potato snacks that come in a bag...a choop

woo-gum; it's minty, its chewy, and daddy keeps it in his pocket...woo-gum

no; this favorite means, yes...no...maybe...perhaps...absolutely not and YES PLEASE! depending on the tone.

leep; what you do at night when you are tired...you leep

enjoy! I will add some more birthday tomorrow!!

The Family Connection; Birthday part two

Tonight we will take a look at the many family and friends that came to celebrate the birthdays of our children.


Our families are so happy that we do not make them come to 3 parties in 3 weeks. They are happy that we only have one blow out party, so they all tend to show up to show their love.


Here we have MA and his brother...not that you could tell by looking that they are brothers (insert sarcasm here);

My grand parents...my grandmother fussed for most of the party because Makayla was allowed to swim and jump off of the diving board alone....not that there were not 2 life guards and that Makayla can swim...that was not good enough.

Some more adults standing around talking, these people would be my dad, my aunt, cousin, friend and her husband...who also happens to be my friend...I set them up many moons ago. Several years and three kids for them later....you are welcome Misty!

My dad, my brother (in the blue) and Son, the foreign exchange student staying with my parents. (this was after Will and Son took involuntary dips in the pool..with their phones in their pockets, and wallets, and shoes on.....)

Speaking of Will...here he is showing off his ummm.....talent?

Oh and lets finish with a special father-daughter moment shall we?



**I have pictures of MAs family but it must be on my aunts camera...do not worry! They too will get a place on here!**