Oh, Poop!

I'm up to my eyeballs in it. He's ruined 3 outfits within a 24 hour period. I had to disinfect the Bumbo seat and the bathtub. He had been plugged up for a couple of days, it looks like my plan worked a little too well. No more juice for you, mister.

Grandma's OK

Late Wednesday night my dad called to let me know that Grandma was in the hospital. She was slurring her words and was having difficulty swallowing. Two years ago she had a mild stroke, and it looked like she had just had another one.

My mom watched Everett and I went to visit her on Thursday morning and boy, was she angry she had to sit in the hospital. She kept pulling out her IV because it "wasn't doin' nothin'" and was upset that the doctors wanted to run more tests on her because she insisted that she was not sick and that there was nothing wrong with her (besides having a stroke...). She said if she knew which direction to go, she'd walk out of there. Aah, Grandma, it's good to see you haven't lost your spunk. I bribed her to stay calm with a visit from Everett when she got home.

Thursday night my Dad called to let me know Grandma was going home. Her speech had improved dramatically and she could swallow again. Saturday morning Everett and I will go for a long visit as promised. I'm glad we get to keep her around for a little longer.

Happy 1/2 Birthday

So my baby is officially 6 months old today. It’s weird, I can clearly remember my life before him, but it seems like he’s been here all along.

You crack me up. You melt my heart. I could take his picture 100 times a day (and sometimes I do). I'm just trying to remember everything. Ev is definitely supposed to be here with us. Everett, I never want to be without you, even on the days you don’t let me sleep.

Happy

When is the last time a bowl of fruit made you happy? Since Everett was sick last week, I got to spend some extra time at home - pure heaven! I got to hold my baby longer, get some extra cuddles in and get some cleaning and organizing done. It's been raining for days so I've had an extra excuse to bundle up in a comfy sweatshirt and enjoy being a mom.

While Everett was napping and I was cleaning the kitchen, the storm broke and my kitchen was filled with sunlight. It landed on a stack of tangerines from Aaron's grandparents, and they just looked beautiful. I'm weird, I know, but I'm still very focused on finding joy and happiness in the little things. A sweet baby, a much needed rain storm, a rainbow out my door and a beautiful bowl of fruit was enough to keep me smiling for days.

No Touching!

Everett's had quite a few milestones in the last couple of weeks, but this one I could do without. Two days ago he got his first cold along with a swollen goopy eye. Lovely. I've been sleeping on the couch while Everett sits upright in his swing so he could breathe while he sleeps. He's up every 1-2 hours and has the saddest little cough. I called his doctor to get some meds for his eye and got schooled on bodily goo terminology.

"So what's wrong?"
- He has a cold and a goopy eye.
"A droopy eye?"
- No, goopy.
"What do you mean?"
- Uhhh, like eye boogers only a lot thicker
"Oh, you mean discharge."
- Whatever. Goop.

To add to our petri dish of diseases, Aaron came home with a nasty cold sore. So I'm not kissing Aaron, Aaron's not touching Everett and Everett doesn't understand what "don't slobber on me" means. If I don't make it to church Sunday, you'll know I've probably got a cold, my eyes glued shut with "discharge" and a big nasty cold sore on my mouth. If I do make it to church, it's probably best not to touch me unless you want the plague.

Parental Tip of the Week

This study has been in the works for the last 5 1/2 months. I am excited to share with you the final conclusion of my last few months' hard work:

The longer you are in the shower, the less your kid cries.

.

Yep, you read correctly. I've been testing and studying, trying to find different ways to keep Everett from crying and I found that every time I'm in the shower, he stops crying-I can't hear a thing! As soon as I turn the shower off, I can hear him screaming at the top of his lungs.

.

I certainly don't want to upset him, think I'll go stand in the shower for a little longer...

1,171

It is finished.

Not only did my mom pay me to decorate the 2 Christmas trees, she paid me to take down ALL of the decorations in the whole house. Not an easy job on it's own, but ad a baby into the mix and it becomes a real challenge. I plugged along a few hours a day and almost a month later, the project was complete. Remember this tree?

My Aunt wondered how many ornaments were on the tree and challenged me to count as I took them off. The final tally was 1,171. Would you believe there was still another full bin of ornaments that didn't go on? Holy cow mom, you can stop buying ornaments now.