Family Alive

Well. What a weekend it was. Last week was rough with both Analise and I being sick. She wasn’t running a fever by the time Tuesday came around for Mother’s Day Out, but I didn’t feel like she should go with her cough. I was REALLY sick on Tuesday, though, and wishing desperately she was well enough to go. My wonderful mother-in-law rescued me and took Analise for the day. Whew! On Wednesday, I called a friend to cancel getting together for coffee, and when she heard I was sick, she offered to come pick Analise up to play with her daughter for a few hours to give me a break. What amazing people I have around me! Analise had a great time, and I’ll definitely have to repay that well-appreciated favor.

Wednesday, though, wore me out getting ready to host our group of 12 for home church. By the time everyone had left and the kids were in bed, I was exhausted and feeling so bad and miserable for myself. Thursday, Analise was well enough to go to school, and I thought I felt ok enough to go to my Bible Study. I went but it sure wore me out and I sounded like I shouldn’t have been there. We were all happy when Friday arrived signaling the week was almost over and we’d have Brian around to make us happy:)

But Friday afternoon, Analise woke up crying from her nap after only 45 minutes. I tried to get her back to sleep, but she’d only doze and then start crying again. I thought she was being a grumpy 2-year old, and I was kind of crabby that she’d woken Josiah up. We were supposed to go to a birthday party that evening, so I kept trying to get her to stop crying so we could go get a present at Toys ‘R Us. She’d stop for a bit, but hen start up again. It was very unlike her, but I was sure she was just being an overly tired 2-year old. I put her in time out for a bit, but she kept crying. Brian’s mom stopped by to drop something off, but even she couldn’t get Analise to be happy. They went out to play, and she’d play for a few minutes before starting to cry again. She was crying for daddy, so I called him to come home a little early. Even when he got there, she still wouldn’t stop crying and it had been 2 full hours of crying.

So finally, at 4:55, I decided maybe I should call the pediatrician’s office in case something was wrong. They got us into the after hours clinic just down the road from us at 5:45. She hadn’t been running a fever, but she started to feel warm when we got there, and sure enough, when they took her temp it was 101.5. The doctor quickly found she had a bright red bulging ear infection in BOTH ears. I feel like the WORST mom. How are you supposed to know that something’s wrong and they’re not just whining?? She never said anything hurt, and it wasn’t very much different from her usual 2-year old whining, except that it lasted for hours. I guess I’ve learned something, but I sure feel like I need some more of that “mother’s intuition”!

So Analise is feeling better now, though all of us – including Brian and Josiah – have nasty sounding coughs. Josiah came down with congestion as the week progressed. He was grumpy and needing to be held a lot this weekend, so I finally called the after hours nurse and we went in again Sunday afternoon. He’s already 14lbs! He doesn’t have an ear infection, maybe due in part to the low-dose antibiotics he takes to prevent a urinary tract infection from his reflux problems. He does have the start of bronchiolitis, though, which is a constriction of the airways from coughing. Monday was quiet and everyone rested well today, so hopefully, this week will see us all feeling better.

I’ve learned that it’s HARD work to be a mom to 2 when you’re feeling good. It’s nearly impossible when you’re sick, and you honestly have to do a lot of relying on God’s grace and patience. And I had just recently “decided” that we could “handle” normal life with 2, but when you get behind… watch out! It’s overwhelming and exhausting to catch up. Note to self and anyone else interested: When friends have child #2 (or more), offer to bring dinner to freeze and do some laundry – especially folding! You can let life pass you by, but eventually, laundry has to get taken care of. It took me ALL last week to get 4 loads folded, and just now that it’s all finally put away, I’ve got several loads waiting to be washed again. THIS is my exciting life:)

Ok, you’re caught up on our life. Above, my little jailbird boy propped up on the couch with all the pillows. Below, the two unhappy campers in the glider rocker. In the next picture, Analise found Josiah laying on the floor chewing on his thumb (he hasn’t quite found it to be good enough to suck), and she laid down next to him to suck hers. Next, Josiah’s newest way to sit in his swing. He loves his feet! Lastly, a message Brian had left for me with the fridge magnets on the kitchen floor to find when I came home from my women’s bible study. What a sweetie!

Alright, it’s been too long since you’ve seen my sweet

little ones. I’m not going to write an actual post,

otherwise this will never get posted. I’m exhausted

this evening, still fighting being sick, but I really

wanted to get these pictures up so I don’t feel so far

behind! Because i was in a hurry, please forgive the

fact that I didn’t crop or adjust any of these pictures.

First, some pictures form Grandma

Beverly’s birthday dinner last night at Macaroni Grill.

Anailse looked exceptionally cute because she’d had

school pictures taken in the morning, though you can’t

appreciate her cuteness fully in these pics, as usual!

Josiah enjoyed the dinner in his carseat, spending some

time with his newest plaything – his feet.

After dinner, we came back to our

house for a bit, and Analise brought all her friends out

to the living room couch to relax with Grandma, while

Josiah and Grandpa Tom relaxed on the couch in the

family room. I had a sweet moment on the couch with my

cuties in between baths and bedtime.

Lastly, some random pictures of

Josiahs’s ever-more-frequent smiles (though today hasn’t

been one of those days). He enjoys his jumper, although

he doesn’t enjoy it when you just set him in it and

leave him to go do something else. He also has a little

turtle that you can see in the last 3 pictures, that has

a flat, water, filled pad that he can lay on for some

tummy entertainment. I know it looks a bit like he’s

under the couch, but he’s not!

Where’d the weekend go? And where have I been for the last week and a half? Life’s been BUSY. We’ve had: Mother’s Day Out on Tuesday and Thursday, a new women’s Bible study by Beth Moore on Daniel on Thursday morning, a Tastefully Simple party last Sunday, meetings for organizing the children’s ministry at church, the usual home church on Wednesday night, getting things ready to sell at a local consignment sale, and just trying to keep up here. Analise came down with a runny nose on Friday, that escalated into a fever and a nasty cough this weekend. Even though I’ve been praying since Saturday, I woke up sick this morning and Josiah’s sneezing. AG. I hate seeing sickness spread through our family! Actually, I REALLY hate being sick and having to be mom. Hopefully, besides a trip to the doctor, we’ll have a quiet day (folding 3 loads of laundry and cleaning up a messy kitchen). I’ve got a post half-written, and I’ve got several cute pictures to post, but I thought I’d put something up so y’all don’t think we’ve fallen off the face of the earth! Hope to be back during nap time!

I’m out the door to a meeting in just half an hour, so I REALLY shouldn’t be posting this. (Should be feeding Analise breakfast, but she’s engrossed in a Pooh video so I’ve got a few minutes.) I snapped a couple great pictures of Josiah’s sweet smile this morning, and I wanted to share them. When I downloaded them from the camera I found these other cute pictures too. We’ve introduced Josiah to his Fisher Price Jumperoo, which he really enjoys. He’s a bit on the small side for it, but he does enjoy have his legs under him and boucncing and being upright. Analise has taken to using my pouch to carry her “babies”. Please forgive the fact that I didn’t crop or adjust colors – just uploaded for quick enjoyment. Have a great day – we love y’all!

Today was a first. I went shopping with both kids, by myself. I know you probably won’t believe that after nearly 3 months of being a mother of 2 I’ve not had to go out with both of them. We’ve gone to Chik-Fil-A… well, to the drive-thru. We’ve gone to Bwacka and Boppa’s. But I’ve not had to go anywhere and manage both of them. I’m really lucky that Brian’s always willing to watch one or both while I run out and do errands, or Beverly or Tom are available for me to drop one or both off for a quick trip. More likely, I head out to shop after they’re both in bed. But today I decided I was ready to test the waters. Analise starts her mother’s day out program tomorrow, and I have to find a lunch box and a clear backpack. Walmart is the obvious choice, but I really don’t like WalMart, so I thought we’d enjoy a trip to Target.

All things considered, it wasn’t that bad, at least the kids weren’t. Analise was pretty good, especially since I gave her a package of granola bites to enjoy. I used one of the HUGE child-happy carts. You know, the ones that feel like you’re driving an 18-wheeler. This one sounded like a train. It was so loud! I wasn’t sure what to do with Josiah, as he wasn’t happy in the pouch, so I put him in his carseat carrier in the basket. Now, even with the massive cart, I had very little room for stuff. All the better for my wallet:)

So we walked through the store, clogging up the aisles so people couldn’t get around us. You could hear us on the other side of the store. Anyway, there were no clear backpacks. And no plastic lunch boxes. ARG. And to top it all off, the one other thing on my list was string cheese, which scanned at $3.99/pkg rather than the $1.66 I thought it was. Needless to say, I wasn’t paying $8.00 for string cheese, so I didn’t get it. The cashier wasn’t willing to go check the price, and when I pushed me big rig over there to check myself (after we had finished checking out), I was the one in the wrong. All in all, a frustrating trip, though not because of the little ones.

I hate that I prefer Target to Walmart so much, and I keep TRYING to go there for my stuff, only to have bad experiences. Last time I was in there I was 9+ months pregnant, trying to get Analise a tricycle. Not in stock, had to stand in line for 15 minutes to get a raincheck, this after walking through the whole store. I thought I was going to go into labor for sure. Then a plastic bin I was buying had a broken lid, and the cashier said I could go get another lid. Are you kidding me? As hugely pregnant as I was, I was NOT going to the back of the store. I asked if she could get someone to get it for me. No, she said without calling anyone, we’re too busy and I’m sure there’s no one available. Such customer service!

Anyway, it’s a normal day here. Samford doesn’t have the day off, so Brian had class and we’re just hanging out here. Tonight, though, is our “in-house” date night. For the last couple weeks, we’ve been enjoying an hour of “us” time from 9-10 after the kids go to bed. At 8:30, one of us goes out for nice coffee drinks, and we have a good time together. It’s been really nice to have that to look forward to. Seems like “us” can get lost in the daily grind and the busyness of taking care of kids and life. Hope you’ve had a good Labor Day!

More photos for you! We’ve had a teriffic time with Aunk Kat visiting this week. Sadly, she had to go home and back to school today. This marks the end of our busy summer of hosting guests – first, my mom and dad in June, then the Hafflys earlier this month, and finally, Kat. Who’ll come visit us next? It could be you! I’ll have the sheets changed and the bedroom clean in a day or so!

Anyway, we had a most fun trip to the zoo yesterday. Although it was hot, the Birmingham Zoo is full of fun things to do. First, we headed over to the giraffes. Last time we were there with the Hafflys, Analise fed them, so of course, we wanted to do that again. I didn’t get the great picture that Corrie got, but she still enjoyed it just the same. I did get some cute pictures of the new baby giraffe, though! Mama giraffe and I have a lot in common, nursing and snuggling our little ones!

The baby giraffe would occassionally take off running, first towards the ostriches, sending them scattering with their feathers flapping. Then he would quiet down, but take off in little circles around the feeding station. His long legs were flailed when he ran, but he was quick! It was so cute!

Then we headed over toward the birds, walking by the alligators on the way. It was feeding time! There were 3 baby alligators, who splashed around snatching chunks of meat. I’m amazed they didn’t grab each other in the process. The big guy in this picture didn’t seem to be hungry, but 3 others big ones in the water right below our feet grabbed all the meat chunks and dead rats that got tossed their way. And then they made these huge gulping alligator burps. It was GREAT!

Our next stop was the lorikeet aviary, our second favorite experience behind the giraffes. You can buy a cup of nectar and feed the birds in their enclosure. Other times, it has been overwhelming as 5-10 or more birds land on you, all vying for a spot around the cup of nectar. This time, though, they were not as frantic and settled on Kat’s arm one at a time. Analise enjoyed seeing them up close. Kat loves birds and has a little parrotlet at home. When all the nectar was gone, the birds found her ankle tasty, licking her until we left!

We finally caught a picture of Analise and Kat, with both of them smiling when we rode the train. Here are a couple cute pictures of Kat and Josiah from last night, too. It’s hard to catch his smiles on camera, though, because he prefers when people get up close to him. His smile just melts you, but he saves them until you really focus on him close up. He loves to gurgle and coo at you, like he’s trying to tell you how much he loves you. It was so cute!

Ok, the long awaited photos of the new sofa and my cute kids! Aunt Kat (my sister) is visiting this week, and we’re having a great time. Analise is enjoying having someone to play with. We had a quiet weekend while Brian got ready for the semester to start today. We’re headed to Samford to hear the bells play from the bell tower and then out to our favorite Thai restaurant. After dinner specialty is a new chocolate cake recipe I’m testing out.

(Please forgive the lack of organization and layout of this blog – I’m trying to hurry, bc Josiah’s starting to fuss and Analise is due up from her nap any second.) The first 2 pictures are the new couch. I love the pillows – got them from Kohl’s. Notice in the first picture how it hangs past the doorway just a tad:) The next couple pictures are of everyone enjoying the “chaise” end of the couch. It’s Josiah’s little play area. Analise likes to climb up next to him and snuggle. Lastly, the parting photo from Steve and Corrie’s visit with us. Enjoy!


edited to add: I just proofed this and thought there weren’t enough photos of Josiah, so here are 3 more for good measure.

I’m so far behind, I don’t know where to catch up. But

I if I didn’t catch you up, it would be like you somehow

missed a couple chapters of our life! It’s been a crazy

week and a half! Let me start by telling you about the

sofa…

The Sofa Story
We’ve wanted a new sofa for a long time. Our

hand-me-down sectional was pretty comfortable and good

for seating large groups of people that we regularly

host, but it’s had a good life, and we’ve talked about

getting a new one for some time. With some extra work

Brian’s done over the summer, he told me to “go get a

room” as we’ve joked about doing at Rooms To Go. So I

did. But when i took him back to see what I’d put money

down on, he found something we liked better, a beautiful

brown microfiber plush with faux leather sectional.

Very trendy. We were excited to get it, but it wasn’t

going to be delivered until August 16th.

Then the piano deal happened. That was an obvious “yes”

decision, because we’ve wanted a piano for so long and been looking for the right “deal”… but we thought maybe we should cancel the

big purchase of the sofa. When we tried, we found we’d

lose 20% of what we paid, almost $200. That didn’t

sound smart, especially since we’d probably still be

buying a sofa within the year. So we decided to keep

the sofa coming last week, on Wednesday.

Delivery day came… we had some problems with the

delivery guys, and when the sofa was finally set up in our

family room, much to our dismay, it protruded into the

doorway about 4 inches! AG! In the showroom, it didn’t

seem so huge, and for some insane reason, it never

crossed our mind that it would be too big. Because of

our delivery problems, Rooms to Go graciously offered to

let us do a “reselect” which is practically unheard of

in their policies. So we were going in on Thursday to

pick out a new sofa and loveseat that would hopefully

fit.

Another blow to the pocketbook
Thursday, we got a call from the a/c serviceman, who happened to be in the area and could give us a yearly service call

for their “special price”. Sounded like a good idea, since we hadn’t had ours checked since we moved in, definitely more than a year ago. Well. Lucky – or unlucky – for us, the tech found a small carbon monoxide leak caused by the heating coils being heavily rusted. AG. We don’t have a CO monitor – but we will soon! – so we’re glad he came when he did. It wasn’t bad enough to cause Brian or I problems, but it could have been a problem for Josiah if left unnoticed. Well, the work on the a/c was estimated at $1500, but our unit was 15 years old and not given more than a couple years left. Yes, the sad news is we had to shell out $$$$ for a new ac/heating unit. I’ll spare you the amount, but let me tell you, it was very expensive. I guess we can say it has raised the value of our house, but since we’re not planning on leaving anytime soon, that’s not much consolation.

Back to the sofa situation
Later that day, we headed to Rooms to Go to check out a sofa/loveseat set we’d seen online. Our sectional had been growing on us, though, and we reallly had a rough time justifying trading in something we really liked for a sofa/loveseat set with less seating and having to pay more $$ (because we bought ours on clearance, and we were having to pay the difference in price AND another delivery charge). In the end, we decided to keep the sectional sofa and ignore the fact that it hangs into the doorway:) And after a week, we love it. It’s so comfortable, and it really looks good in our family room, so good that you don’t even notice it’s a bit in the way when you head to the kitchen. I know that sounds crazy, but I promise you, it isn’t as quirky as it seems! Everyone that’s been here said they don’t notice. Hopefully, they’re not just being nice:)

And last but not least!
Oh! I almost forgot! In between the piano delivery and the sofa delivery, our dishwasher started leaking water. We’ve known for a while that it would need to be replaced in the very near future. The “very near future” arrived this month. Unfortunate timing, but we’re happy with the new dishwasher, and again… the house is worth more now!

This has been the most expensive month of our marriage, by far (except for when we bought our house, but even then, we’ve paid more out-of-pocket this month than we did then!). We had been contemplating the need for a larger car, but now I’m going to be praying everytime we get into ours that it stays in good working order for a while. Definitely a question mark, given that it’s a 1997 Altima with 140,000 miles. It’s done well for us thus far, so hopefully we’ll continue to have good times with it.

So this is what normal looks like with 2 children
Brian went back to normal work hours at Samford on Monday, so we were on our own for the first “normal” day. Monday was TERIFFIC… almost no whining or tantrums from Analise, she was sweet enough to eat fruit snacks in her crib listening to a Bible story CD while Josiah napped so I got a shower – before 10 am! Amazing how athat little thing, a shower, can determine my mood for the whole day:) That started the day off well, and it continued smoothly. The week has gone really well, and I’m even back to cooking more regularly. I think in the last couple weeks we’ve started to settle into life with 2, and it’s not seeming nearly as overwhelming. Josiah doesn’t need to be held as much (though he would prefer to be!), he’s sleeping through the night (yeah!!!), and we’re all feeling much better about life:)

Josiah news
Remember back in June when I mentioned Josiah had an ultrasound to check for spina bifida? (You can be reminded here, in the last paragraph. That was negative, but they did notice something peculiar on one kidney, so they scheduled a follow-up ultrasound for around 2 months. We had that earlier this month, and again, they noticed something peculiar, but this time on the other kidney. After consulting with a pediatric urologist, our pediatrician advised another test and an appointment with the specialist. So that test was this week, and it’s been determined that Josiah has a condition called urinary reflux. Simply put, urine backs up from his bladder to his kidneys, which puts him at high risk for kidney infections. Thankfully, this was found before he had any urinary tract infections, which could very easily lead to a kidney infection, and potentially kidney damage. At this point, he’ll be taking a low dose antibiotic daily to prevent any infections, and hopefully grow out of the condition in the next couple years. His kidneys look good, so we’ll have regular ultrasounds on them every three months and continue to see the urologist. As long as he doesn’t have “breakthrough” infections while he’s taking the antibiotics, this should not be too big of a deal. If you’re interested in understanding more of the details, here’s a good site on vesicoureteral reflux, as it’s technically called.

Check back for more…
Ok, this is a LONG blog, and I’d love to add more pictures to it, but I’m going to post it because it’s midnight and it’s been WAYYYYY too long since you’ve heard from us! I WILL come back to the computer tomorrow to post pictures of my beautiful little ones and and the lovely couch:) Check back! We’ll try to be better about posting… I know you’ve missed us, because we’ve missed you!

Sorry to all those who checked in and found this post blank! But I started to post some big exciting news that happened on Brian’s birthday. Our new-old baby grand piano was delivered! It’s a crazy story, but here’s the details…

I grew up playing the piano, but haven’t had one since leaving Shell Lake. And I’ve always dreamed of having a grand piano. A local piano store was having a sale, and when I looked at their inventory online, I noticed that they had several uprights in our price range (less than $1000) but also a baby grand for $1490. I wasn’t expecting much when I went in, but I found it to be in pretty good condition with a good sound. It is a Standard, built in 1930 (so very nearly an antique), in dark mahogany wood. It needs some good rubbing with polish, and it has some nicks, but overall, it was in very good condition, especially since no one at our house is a concert pianist (yet!). I’m not a good person with big decisions, but after a quick call to Brian, I bought it… less than 15 minutes after seeing it.

It was tuned on Wednesday before delivery on Thursday, and the salesman called me to confirm delivery. He was excited to tell us that when they opened it for tuning, they found it had new strings and hammers, making it in much better shape than they had thought. Yeah! We made room in our front living room – which looks GREAT now that it has some furniture and a centerpiece! – for delivery on Thursday. It sounds GREAT, and everyone has enjoyed playing it.

I’m so very excited to have a piano in the house – and a grand, like I’ve always dreamed! So on top of all the “deals” of the piano, they called today to tell me that the bench they’d delivered with it wasn’t right… so they brought a brand new, leather, cushioned bench with the $145 price tag still on it. How much better can it get? I’m so excited! Here are a few photos:

I’m so tired right now, but we’re having a wonderful time with Steve and Corrie. The highlight of today was the zoo, and the most exciting moment was Analise feeding the giraffe! Corrie’s taking lots of GREAT pictures, and here’s one of the giraffe experience and a couple from home (the top picture is hers, too!).

Today’s my sweetie’s big 30th birthday. Yeah! We’ve had a wonderful day of celebrating, starting with a dreamy chocolate peanut butter cake with our home church family last night. I was up late creating a special birthday present – a framed scrapbook page page of 30 ways I love him. It was well worth the several hours of effort (and help from Corrie!). It turned out great – maybe I’ll post a picture tomorrow.

Oh yes – Steve and Corrie arrived Tuesday evening, so it’s fun to celebrate with them. Brian, Analise, Steve and Corrie all went jogging this morning, and Brian made us yummy french toast (from Corrie’s tried and true recipe). Steve and Brian went biking – with Brian’s new fast bike! – later in the afternoon, there was some napping by most of us in the afternoon before we went to dinner. We ate at our FAVORITE Thai restaurant, Surin West with Brian’s parents and brother. Appetizers were half-price, so Corrie and I made our meal of appetizers – YUM. Analise ate really well, amazingly. I love that she likes thai food! Then we came back for one of my new favorite desserts, special requested by Brian, Pots of Chocolate. SUPER easy, and incredibly elegant and delicious (I tripled the recipe for 7 people, and used hazelnut syrup instead of liqueur, serving it in pretty teacups). Now Brian, Steve and Corrie are enjoying one of Brian’s birthday presents, a Mythbusters video. It’s been a great day! We’ve had some more fun, but I’ll save that for another post.

Happy birthday, sweetheart! I love you – and look forward to celebrating you for many more years.