Friday, February 10, 2012

Vinnie's 6 month check-up, Calendar, and Update!

Feb. 7 Tuesday
We had MOPS for the first time in a while this day.  We weren't going to go, because Luke woke up with a runny nose, but then Liz said all the kids have runny noses so, to go ahead and come.  So we did.  I stopped at the pharmacy and got Luke some medicine and then we went to Dunkin Donuts for some donut holes to share and McDonald's for some breakfast.
MOPS went well and Luke had a good time.  Afterwards we must have done something but I didn't write it down, so its history!

Feb. 8 Wednesday
Both boys were up a lot during the night & woke up cranky.  I posted on FB that I'd love a helper around the house & my friend Casey offered to let Luke come to her house, runny nose & all.
So, I got Luke lunch early and down for a nap by 11 am and then got ready to go to her house.
On our way out the door a stray dog that looked similar to our neighbor's dog came up to me.  I got him trapped in the cage in the back yard & headed out.
Luke ran right into Casey's house & started playing...so I didn't feel bad leaving at all.
I went first to Vinnie's 6 month check-up.  He came in at the 10-25% for all of the areas and was otherwise fine.  He weighed around 16 lbs (I honestly didn't catch his height or weight!)
After the doctor's appointment we went to PetSmart & got dog food.  Then we went to the eye doctor to pay for my glasses.
From there we headed to Wal-Mart to get some groceries & have Vinnie's pictures done! They turned out AWESOME!
After the pictures we went back and picked up my glasses.  Then we got lost and drove around for almost an hour, before finally finding our way back to the babysitter's house.
I finally picked Luke up around 5:20 and we headed home.
The evening sucked. We didn't get to go to church and both boys were cranky and wouldn't sleep.

Feb. 9 Thursday
Happy 11th Birthday Ashley Nicole!!
In the morning we got up and put together my new vacuum parts.  I worked on housework until it was time to get ready to go to the fire station...but then Luke started being a butt and refused to get ready to go!
 We ended up missing the entire presentation and all, but still getting to the fire station in time to see the trucks.  Luke didn't want anything to do with climbing in the truck though. :(


After the fire station, I ran home to grab some diapers & make Luke a sandwich and then headed to MacArthur Center with my friend Karen.  Luke fell asleep on the car ride there, so we sat in the car while he napped and she shopped.  When he finally woke up, we went inside to the play place and had a good visit with Karen & Thomas.  After they left we hung around for a little while, until Luke started being whiney.
We walked around the mall a little bit, looking to see if they had any shops that might have something I could wear for my boudoir photos with no luck.
By the time we got home I knew I was starting to get sick.  Mandy came over and brought colored bubbles and some Nerf dart guns.  We let Luke play in the bathtub with the bubbles for a long time and then Tim got home.  We made dinner and all ate together before Mandy left around 7.
Then it was baths and bedtime for the boys and Luke went to bed with Tim. (he didn't nurse at all, all day!!)
By the time I went to bed I was miserable and having a hard time breathing.

Friday Feb. 10
I woke up today sick as a dog.  Both boys also have the fun cold I have.  We cancelled our plans to attend the Babywearer's meet-up and have a play date with Selena and opted for a day in our jammies.  Around 11 I decided to go ahead and get checked for strep, but after an hour at Patient First, we confirmed I only have a cold. (I didn't have them look at the boys, since its just a cold.)
Both boys fell asleep on the way home, but only Luke stayed asleep.
Mandy came over and helped out with the two of them so I could eat lunch and then nurse them separately.  She just left at 3:00 and I'm counting down until Tim gets home and I can take a nap.

I'm a busy girl! If you want on my calendar you better say so! :)

Feb.11 Chesapeake Sq. Mall Valentines Event 12-2
Feb. 12 Hanging with Mandy & the boys
Feb. 13 Peace.Love.Swap at Kangaroo Jack's 9:30-1:00, Luke check-up 2:30
Feb. 14 Cloth diaper swap (bring craft)
Feb. 15 Valentine's party 10-1, Valentine's Day pictures 4:00, Church 6:45
Feb. 16 MOPS playdate @ Ches. Sq. Mall 10
Feb. 17 Valerie & crew coming over 10-1
Feb. 18
Feb. 19 Church & lunch with the Johnsons
Feb. 20
Feb. 21 MOPS (or dentist if I don't reschedule)
Feb. 22 4:30-5 Thomas the Train Storytime, Church 6:45
Feb. 23
Feb. 24 9:45 Dr. Morgan check-up
Feb. 25 Happy Birthday Leslie!! 
Feb. 26 Church & out to lunch with James & Missy
Feb. 27
Feb. 28
Feb. 29 Luke & Vinnie surgery (ear tubes, adenoid removal, tongue tie release)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Face Lift!

The blog got a face lift--if you are reading on a Reader, please stop by & let me know what you think!

I love it, its fun & springy & makes me feel happy.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Sunday Update--Another week down...and counting....

Man, life is just flying by me right now!

Jan. 22 Sunday
This day was a big turning point for me.  It marked the first time we left Vinnie with a babysitter.  I had already left him a few times with Tim (for dental work) but this was just Tim & I, out to dinner, with neither of our kids.  It was weird.  But good.  We left the boys with Mandy & went to Olive Garden for calamari, dinner, and a raspberry cheesecake dessert!

We were gone for two hours and although they weren't really happy, both boys survived. :)

Jan. 23Monday
This Monday marked eight years together for Tim and I.  It was in 2004 that we met at Debbie Gooden's funeral/memorial (on Tom's birthday) and rekindled our high school flame.  I am glad that Lauren went along with me on our un-official first date & that I took the chance on Tim.  (I had sworn of dating after a really bad experience the year before.)

Jan. 24 Tuesday
Root canal day.  Yuck.  Tim took the entire day off of work so that he could take me and pick me up.  Afterwards we went to Girl Scout Council & visited with Peggy for a bit.
Then we got lunch at Chic Fil A and did some grocery shopping before heading home.
Dad also had another surgery on his foot.  He's not healing well, but I'll get back to that.

Jan. 25 Wednesday
I'm sure we did something but I've got nothing in my calendar other than church that night at Central Baptist that night.  Luke is enjoying the Puggles Awana group he is in and I'm so glad!

Jan. 26 Thursday
I wasn't feeling well and just could not get myself together so we had to cancel our play-date that morning, I'm pretty sure the whole day sucked.

Jan. 27 Friday
I got up and started getting the kids ready to go to the La Leche League meeting in Norfolk, but we were just running way too far behind.  So, I posted on Facebook that I was looking for somewhere to go and ended up at Valerie's house.  Her 4 kids are fun & we had a good time.  I need to plan another play-date with her soon!
In the evening I got the boys loaded up and headed to Thalia UMC in Virginia Beach.  Our church, The Gathering UMC was hosting a couples/singles game night there with child-care and we were totally excited by it!  We had a great time playing Catch Phrase & Mad Gab with about 20 other folks from church!  It was a good time & you should come too if you're local--its to be a monthly thing!
Vinnie had avocado for his first food.

Jan. 28 Saturday
All I've got in my planner is that we had Aaron and Tim went out for Guy's Night.  I seem to remember something else going on, I know we did a ton of housework getting ready for Vinnie's baptism, but I didn't write anything else down.
Vinnie had a taste of avocado at dinner, he decided he didn't like it.

Jan. 29 Sunday
We had Aaron.  We went to church in the morning and then swung by Tom & Peggy's house before heading home.  We had to keep Lucas up  until 10 pm that night, which was hard, in preparation for his EEG.
Vinnie got to taste banana at dinner.

Jan. 30 Monday
Luke had his EEG and he was such a trooper.  I forgot to take my camera in, so I don't have any pictures to show, but they didn't have to restrain his arms, he didn't shed any tears, and he followed all of the directions!  When he was done he got a little mini-beach ball!
We came straight home afterwards and Tim worked on homework most of the day.  Dad had a doctor's appointment in town but we didn't get to see him, because of the EEG.
Vinnie had a rice Mum Mum with dinner.



Jan. 31 Tuesday
We got Tim's paycheck a day early, so I headed straight to the grocery store to stock up on our LONG list of supplies needed.  After we left there we headed to Luke's doctor's appointment.
He still had an ear infection and all of the lymph nodes in his body were swollen, so the doctor again stressed the importance of getting him in to an ENT (soon) and said that if he isn't better by his next check-up that she'll want to do blood work to make sure nothing is wrong.
After the doctor's appointment we had to go to the grocery store again, to get the cold stuff.  We got home around the same time as Tim.

Feb. 1 Wednesday
Tim took the day off, but worked from home instead, so that I could go back to the dentist to finish my root canal.  It was much less painful this time around & I drove myself.  After the boys' nap, I went to the Post Office and then we went to the playground to enjoy the 70*+ weather.  :)  We rushed home to make hot dogs and macaroni & cheese for dinner...only I didn't know we were out of milk, so the mac n cheese was pretty yucky.  (Almond Vanilla milk is NOT good in Mac N Cheese)  
After dinner, Tim headed to class and the boys and I headed to church at Central Baptist.  I actually put Vinnie in the nursery for about 40 minutes, until they came & "fetched" me from class to pick him up, because he was having a totally hysterical fit.

Feb. 2 Thursday
In the morning, both boys had visits with the ENT, Dr. Keyes.  I was very impressed with the doctor himself, but not so much with the rest of the practice.  :/  Anyway, he was willing to do Vinnie's tongue-tie clipping there in the office but it ended up being too severely tied for him to do, so we had to schedule a surgery for him.  And, Dr. Keyes said that after just hearing Luke's medical history he knew he'd recommend tubes (he's had 6 rounds of antibiotics since October, all for ear infections)  but when he looked in his ears he said he definitely needs them and that he has a bad case of "glue ear".  He said that Luke may be having trouble hearing, but they weren't able to test his hearing.
When we left there, we headed to Regent to pick Frankie up.  From the college we went to CiCi's Pizza for some lunch. :)
After CiCi's we headed down to Pigtails and Crewcuts to get Luke's hair cut (and nurse Vinnie).
Our last stop, while the boys napped, was Rock a Bye Baby to get some 9 months non-fleece clothes for Vinnie.  He is allergic to fleece and unfortunately that's what a lot of his hand-me-downs were.
The boys napped for 3 hours in the car (much of it spent parked in our own driveway!) and then at 4:00 we followed an impromptu tip from Facebook and met up with Hilary, Aubrey, and Delaney at their playground! We had a good time and stayed and played until after 5:30!  We grabbed fast food on the way home and that was a good day!

Feb. 3 Friday
We spent the day cleaning and getting things done around the house.  Luke helped me bake cakes!

In the evening, the boys and I went to Liz's house for a play - date with Hilary and Karen too! :)

Feb. 4 Saturday
We cleaned and got ready to go in the morning.  Peggy came over around 10 and we all headed to Chesapeake Square Mall.  We signed Luke up for the Kidgets program and then left him with Peggy to do the activities.  (he didn't end up doing them, oh well, better luck next weekend)  Amanda met us there, so we did some shopping.
We went to Burlington to get Vinnie a onesie for his baptism and some clothes for me.  Then we went to Target to get some laundry detergent and a new robe for me.  When we were done we met back up with Peggy & a very tired Luke.
Peggy bought the boys matching shirts from The Children's place.  Mandy & I liked this "Brother" shirt better, but Peggy was buying, so she bought our 2nd choice!
We came home and the boys napped.
In the evening we went to Tom & Peggy's for dinner & then to Chrissy's to pick up Brianna & Carolynn.
Brianna was a HUGE helper, while we cleaned and cooked and prepped for the big baptism party.  She was up until 12:30 and Tim and I were up until 1:30.

Feb. 5 Sunday
Vinnie's baptism at The Gathering.  I ended up running late and having to drive like a maniac to make it on time (only missed 1 song) and it was a beautiful!
After church, I drove all the kids home.  Tim went to the store for a few last minute groceries.  Mom, Mandy, and Frankie were the first ones back to the house.  Betti and Chrissy got lost. (How Chrissy gets lost coming to our house, where she lived for 11 months amazes me....)  Tom and Peggy didn't get here until we had already sat down to eat.
We had a great meal and it was 2:15 before everyone had headed out.
Tim took Luke, Aaron, Carolynn, and Tyler and headed to Virginia Beach to drop Chrissy's kids off.  I took a nap with Vinnie. :)
In the evening, Tim had homework to do, so the boys and I headed to Amanda's to watch some of the Super Bowl.

 I laid Vinnie on the ottoman and he was so in to the game! He held his head up & was just a watching away. J.C. felt sorry for him & stuck a pillow under his head after a little bit.




In the 3rd quarter the boys got tired.  J.C. snuggled a sleeping Vinnie & Luke passed out on the couch.




Feb. 6 Monday TODAY!
Mom and Dad came in to visit with Luke.  Mom got Luke a new "gini" or Lamborghini for those who speak in grown up talk.  He is thrilled with it.
I had a big old mix-up with getting the boys' appointment with the surgery scheduler at the ENT so I ended up calling on a friend for a favor.  My friend Karen came over and babysat my cranky, mean boy, so Vinnie & I could go in to do the paperwork and schedule their surgeries.
When I got home we visited for a few minutes before Luke was just too gosh darn cranky.
Mom and Dad came back by around 4:30 and visited for a while before heading home.  Dad is being recommended for hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments.
We ate left-over lasagna for dinner and put the boys to bed early. Their surgeries are scheduled for Feb. 29.  Luke will also be getting his adenoids removed.