We're home!

Okay, so I realize I haven't posted in FOREVER. We left November 18th for our trip to CA and I was slammed with orders up until a couple of days before we left so if I had a kid free moment I was either sewing or sleeping!

Our trip to CA was fabulous, we got to see just about everybody! I have tons and tons and tons of photos, but blogger is terrible to upload pics too. If you have facebook, I've posted most of them there as we went through each leg of the adventure.

Just a recap, first we stopped and saw my Grandma Lou, then on the way back to Mom's the next day, we saw my Grandma Helga and a couple of cousins and an Aunt and Uncle, then we went back to Mom's for a few days and hung out there. Shawn was still in NY so I didn't get to see him, but got to hang out with Alan a bit!

Wednesday we left to go to Dad's, and we were busy there! Saw most of the family on Thanksgiving, went to Santa Cruz, had a Birthday/Christmas brunch and a relaxing day. Monday morning we left for San Diego and got to spend a couple of weeks there. The weather was beautiful! We managed to have a few family dinners, hit up the Scripps Aquarium, the Zoo, Balboa Park, we got to spend a lot of time with Jeff, Marnie and Hannah. Taylor and Hannah had a blast together, it was so cute watching them play together!

Our trip back was a lot more smooth than the one there. We drove to Mesa to see Drew's Aunt and Uncle for the evening, then spent the next day at my good friend Ashley's house in Tucson (that is where we would like to get stationed actually!).

Once the kids were ready for bed we loaded them in the car and hit the road. It was 19 hours from Ashley's house to home, but that wasn't too bad since the kids slept on and off for about 10 of it. We got home right about 2pm and still had time to unload the car, let the kids have naps, go get our Christmas tree and do some decorating!!

I'm pretty sure we were sleeping before our heads hit the pillows!

I have to go for now, kids are getting hungry and Drew is at work, so need to manage to cook dinner before melt downs occur!

Piiictures!

I can't tell you how long it took for these to load! I seriously need to find a better way to share photos. All of these took over an hour! There's still TONS!!! But I'm exhausted and falling asleep at the computer so I'll have to try more later. I still need to share photos of Carson's first birthday!!!

Anyhoo.. here's Taylor modeling a dress I made for her. I'm loving sewing!


A baby bunny we had in our garden.. there were actually 3! They took off though, hopefully before it rained!
Taylor and Carson at the park.

Carson showing off a pattern Iwas working on.. I didn't care for this one (though it looks super cute) but I DID find anohter tie pattern I LOVE! I'll have to post that one later.
I also ran my first 5K!! The Susan G. Komen race for the cure! It took me right about 40 minutes which isn't great, but I finished it.. and I ran as much as I could!!! Well, more like jogged :) I had a great time and look forward to another 5K in my future! We had to be there EARLY though.. about 7AM (Drew and the kids came to support me!) and it was still in the 90s and humid by the time we got running at almost 9!!

Don't know if I can keep up!

I know I haven't posted in forever!!! Please forgive me! Things have been crazy here...

Lets see... the last big thing was that the kids somehow got Salmonella. Poor Taylor was sick, sick, sick.. but she was still eating and drinking and so she was able to stay home, but Carson ended up dehydrated and we ended up in the hospital with him for 5 days hooked up to an IV to get him feeling better. We didn't know until the day before we were discharged that it was Salmonella!

We don't know how they got it.. our eggs were never on the recall list, so we think that it was a coincidence. I mean, the previous few days, we'd eaten pork, chicken, eggs, the kids are always getting into the trash, or the dog bowls, Carson finds shoes and chews on them, the dogs could have tracked it in... we really just don't know.

Most importantly, they are both back to normal, and their immune systems will be stronger for it! It was a VERY VERY long few weeks though. Carson did not have a remotely solid diaper for 18 days. Taylor went about 10 days, but she was sooo good, she went in the potty the whole time. I think she must have spent most of those days in the bathroom.

Also, my Etsy business has been picking up a bit! I've been selling boppy covers pretty regularly, and a few camera straps. I've also gotten some custom orders for dresses that I've been working on, so I spend a lot of my evenings sewing once the kids go to bed.

My Mom came at the end of July for a few days before heading to a Mary Kay conference in Dallas. My brother Shawn and his girlfriend Emmy came for a day on their way back to school at Syracuse.

Drew is getting ready to go TDY again for a week, then he goes twice in October.

We are still going to Music every Wednesday, and both kids started Mom's Day Out again on Friday. BOY do Drew and I enjoy that 5 hours!!!

Carson had his FIRST birthday! Can you believe it's been a year already??? I can't!!! We just spent the day together as a family. Drew had to go to work that evening, so we had a nice lunch together, let Carson eat his birthday cake (which was a giant cupcake that looked like a monkey!), and open gifts. Taylor took that kind of hard, because you know... EVERYTHING is hers. We're still working on that.

Anyway, he also had gone to the doctor that morning for his 1 year checkup. He was 18.4lbs, and... I forget his height.. but he was in the 3rd percentile for weight, and the 25th for height. He's gone down a smidge on the weight scale (he was at 10%), but considering he was just getting over his illness, the doctor wasn't too concerned.

He's not walking yet, but he cruises the furniture, pushes chairs around, walks a little with the push toy, and if we are holding his hands, but rarely stands and lets go on his own and hasn't tried taking a step without holding on to anything yet. He can crawl like the wind though! He isn't talking a whole lot yet, though his babbling is increasing. He does say Dada, occasionally Mama.. he was saying it a lot, then he stopped and now only says it when he's upset, he says Dogs, and we think he says a few other things that we just can't understand.

Taylor is also doing great.... I think she had a growth spurt because all of a sudden she seems tall! She's still teeny tiny though for her age, mostly wearing 24 month clothes... and SOME 2T. Most of it is way too big in the waist though so we have to make sure her pants are elastic all the way around, or adjustable. I've been making a lot of her clothes lately so I do make them to fit (or a lot of skirts and dresses!)

Her vocabulary is expanding every day. She picks up little things here and there when we don't think she's listening or paying attention. She is speaking in longer and longer sentences. She's getting her own sense of humor and is starting to crack jokes on her own.

We still struggle with her bedtime, but once she's asleep she sleeps great. She likes to pick on her brother, and get out of bed and play. We were doing great with her wearing big girl jammies at night, but then she regressed and started being poopy picasso again so she had to go back into her backwards zippered jammies. It's strange because she goes on the potty before bed... and then still does more once she's in there... I don't know where it all comes from.

We also have exciting news... Carson has slept until 7am the last two mornings!!! I don't know if we had mentioned it before, but for the past few months, he's been getting up around 5AM. For us night owls.. 5AM is early. Luckily I have the best husband ever, and we trade off who gets up.. and whoever gets up, gets to take a nap when the other person gets up. Sometimes we have to swap up for certain obligations, or if Drew is working long hours, I know he needs his sleep so he can perform well at work. He's a champ though, and I appreciate all of his help with the early waking.

So yeah, we've pretty much been sleep deprived for a while. We are either walking around in a stupor trying to keep up with the caffeine, or napping if we can. Another reason why my blog is slacking!

We also have a somewhat new addition. A few weeks ago when we came out of Music class, this kitten came up to us and started purring and rolling around at our feet. It was in a business area with no homes, and somebody that worked there came out and asked if it was ours and we said no. She told us that it had been there all morning and they didn't know where it came from.

Of course, we have more than our fair share of animals, and are short on space. We really didn't want another animal. However we were right on the highway and I didn't want it to get run over, so we took it home to try and find it's owner.. or a home.

Note* Last year there was a dog running along the side of the freeway, but I didn't have the dog gate in the trailblazer, and the kids were in the car.. I thought about going back to get it once I took the kids home, but figured by the time I unloaded them, put the dog gate in, and went back, I wouldn't be able to find him. Well the next morning, I went to get on the freeway and there was the poor dog.. on the freeway, right off of our exit... run over. I. felt. horrible. Not only did the poor dog die.. but in this state, they don't pick up roadkill... so it decomposed for months on the side of the road. Every time I got on the freeway, I had pangs of guilt for not going back and looking for him. I told myself, never again would I not stop for a stray, even if it meant I had to go back. If that would have been one of my dogs, I would have been devastated. So yeah....

back to a few weeks ago. Got the kitten home, and put an ad on craigslist that I had found this kitten and to call or e-mail if it was theirs... waited a few days, then put an ad for the kitten to find a home (as well as on facebook). I got a lot of people telling me "good luck, we're trying to get rid of some too". Oh man! Apparently there are tons of kittens around here looking for homes. Another thing about this area, is that animals are low on the totem pole, and people don't spay or neuter like they do in say.. California. Even in CA it's bad, but nothing compared to here.

So, we have this kitten. It's super sweet, Taylor absolutely adores it. It loves Taylor, it stands up to the dogs, it's determined to be friends with Eibach (Eibach hates it). We don't want to take it to the pound because more than likely it will get euthanized there. It's way too sweet and affectionate of a cat to do that too. So it's still here. We're still trying to find it a home.. asking everybody we know.. showing photos of how cute it is to try and sucker them in.

Drew named it INGA. Which stands for *sigh* "It's Not Going Anywhere".

So... anybody want a kitten????

Okay, I need to get back to my bathroom... I'm painting it tonight and was taking a break for it to dry a little so I could make sure I didn't miss any spots before cleaning up. I don't have any photos right now because I'm not on that computer, but I did want to at least post an update.

If any of you that read this have Facebook, I post updates there fairly often and upload some photos since it's a lot easier to upload there than here... but I will try and get here when I can. I can't guarantee anything! I'm hoping that my Etsy business picks up more (oh.. by the way.. it's www.etsy.com/shope/ALatteCreations). It would be nice if I could supplement our income AND be able to stay at home with the kids! Not counting on it yet, but at least it's helping to pay for the hobby. :)

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Love to you all,
Jen

A picture is worth a thousand words?

So we've been pretty busy this month...again. Okay, really... when are we NOT busy anymore??? Getting photos processed and uploaded takes the longest...I've been trying to take more photos in an uploadable format so I can do it faster, but I forget. Anyway.... not many words today, but here are some photos from July! I'll post more later, but here are some to tide you over for now. :)

We SURVIVED!

Well, after a SUPER LONG MONTH, we are still here and alive!

Drew worked some crazy shifts, then spent 10 days in North Dakota at Minot AFB. In the meantime, the kids and I were going to appointments, and classes, and trying to keep as busy as possible to get through these long days without Dada!

First off, let me give you an update on Carson. He is doing MUCH better. A few weeks ago, we had the WORST DAY. It started off, little man woke up with a rash all over his legs and some on his arms. I called the doctor and she said they had me bring him in. She determined it was some type of contact allergy, though we weren't sure what from (maybe sunscreen?). She gave me a prescription for benadryl so we picked that up and came home.

He took a short nap, then woke up and I was trying to feed him and he kept doing this weird seizure looking activity. He would arch his back and squeeze his eyes shut and push his arms out, and scream while he was doing it. He had done something similar before, but never this many times in a row. He was almost doing it non stop for 30 minutes or so. I called the nurse back and she said to take him to the pediatric ER on the far side of town.

As soon as Drew got home to stay with Taylor, we hopped in the car and left. Of course at that moment, a severe thunderstorm decided to strike and I was forced to drive 20mph on the freeway, the rain was so thick I could barely see, it was freaking me out a little.

We finally made it to the ER, soaking wet. The doctor checked him out, and was concerned that they might be complex partial seizures, so he called Carson's neurologist to consult with him. They decided to start him on an anti-epileptic until we could get back in with the neuro.

By the time we got home, we were all exhausted and was in no mood to figure out dinner, so we decided to go out to eat. While I was making Taylor's plate, I cut up a piece of honeydew melon for Carson. A few second later I glanced at him and he was choking on the stupid melon. I'm not one to panic when they are choking, Taylor used to inhale food so fast she'd often choke on little pieces of things and I'd quickly give her the baby heimlich and it would come right up. So, I whipped him out of his seat, and did the same thing. He started crying, so I assumed the melon had come up, but when I sat him vertical, he started choking again. Each time I would put him on his belly and start giving little blows to his back, I'd here him gasp for air and let out a little cry, but every time I sat him up...he'd start choking again. At this point I started to panic when I couldn't get it out, so I yelled for the waitress to call 911. She was standing there the whole time so she had her phone out and ready. I ran up to the front still giving him the baby heimlich trying to get the melon dislodged.. I knew he was getting some air because he'd let out a cry now and then and I could hear him getting small breaths in, but I could not sit him up. I was so scared that I was going to lose his airway that I was afraid to move, and he just had tons of saliva pouring out of his mouth. Finally (after about 3 minutes), the ambulance showed up, and they got us in and checked him out. They couldn't see the melon and they could hear him getting air so they suctioned out his mouth and they decided that he was choking on the mucous that was forming each time he would gag.. which would in turn make more mucous. They suctioned him out some more and had me sit him up and let him calm down, and eventually caught his breath and was fine. Of course, I was bawling by this point, and shaking like crazy. I just wanted to go home.

We got our dinner to go, and came home and all went to bed early.

Worst. Day. Ever.

That was Wednesday, so fast forward to that Friday and we went to his 9 month well-baby appointment. It was a little late, he was actually almost 9.5 months by this point. I have been concerned about his gross motor skills. He still doesn't put his arms out to stop himself from falling over when he's sitting. He wasn't pulling up, but was army crawling a little. While I was filling out the paperwork I was marking "doesn't do this yet" on a lot of the gross motor skills section.

Luckily he has a really pro-active pediatrician (I love her!) and she agreed that we should get him a physical therapy consult to see what they thought. I also showed her the video of Carson's seizure like episodes and then as soon as she watched it, he had one right in front of her. She asked me if he had ever shown signs of acid reflux and I said no, not that we had noticed. She then asked me if I ever heard of Sandifer's Syndrome and I said no. She told me that it's something that's associated with acid reflux and that his movements looked a lot like it. She put in a consult for a pediatric GI doc as well.

So, the following Tuesday we went to the neurologist, and he watched the video and said that those were not seizures and had us stop the anti-epileptic med. He said to follow up with the GI doc to see about Sandifers. We go back to the neuro in October to hopefully be released from his care.

The next Monday (last Monday) was our GI consult. I didn't care for the doctor, but he said the video does look a lot like Sandifers and ordered an Upper GI, as well as starting him on Prevacid, a slow releasing acid blocker. We started that and it seems to be making a BIG difference. Not right away, but now that it's been almost 2 weeks, his episodes have gotten a lot less frequent. Last Thursday was his upper GI. We went in, he had to drink some barium (poor kid was so hungry since he wasn't allowed to eat 4 hours prior, he practically inhaled the barium!) then they took a series of several x-rays to see what it did in his belly. We are still waiting to hear the results, but since we haven't heard yet, I'm assuming we'll have to wait until our recheck appointment on the 19th of July.

Also Thursday he had his physical therapy assessment. Of course, in the week and a half since his doctors appointment, he started pulling up to his knees, and for a couple of days had been pulling up to his feet. He is still army crawling but boy can he fly! So, the physical therapist spent 45 minutes with him doing various tests and exercises to assess his development. We actually just received the written report in the mail today, but essentially, he's slightly (about a month or so) behind on his Locomotion skills. He's slightly ahead on his Stationary skills, and on track for his reflexes. She did show me some exercises to do with him to get him working on his locomotion skills (crawling on all 4's, his protective extension reactions, and standing activities). As long as he keeps on this path, we don't need to take him back, but if he continues to show, or shows more delay, then we will need to reassess his development, but for now.. we're good!

Poor Taylor has been having it rough this last month. She has been showing increasing signs of sibling rivalry. Pushing Carson and chucking things at him. It's hard to blame the kid, with Carson's medical issues and a lot of doctors appointments, and Drew working so much, she hasn't gotten a lot of one on one attention with either of us. It breaks my heart, and I try to do as much as I can, but there is only one of me.

I've been doing some reading on Montessori, and Waldorf teaching methods to try and incorporate into our daily activities. A lot of the problem I think, is that she is under stimulated and my problem is, I'm not sure how to show her how to do new things. We have begun to simplify the amount of toys and increase the imaginary play, as well as getting her hands on with helping me prepare meals and other things. It seems to help some, and I'm hoping we can keep adding things for her to do.

She is definitely a smart cookie! She's talking up a storm (as long as it isn't in public!) and comes up with new things every day to make us laugh. Lately she's been asking "What's That?" about everything. She adds, "huh?" at the end quite often, and I have no idea where she picked that up at! She'll say "What's that, huh?", "Who's that, huh?" Silly goose.

Drew came home on Tuesday afternoon, went in to work Wednesday for a while to in-process, then worked day shift today. He has FOUR WHOLE DAYS OFF, YAY!!! Then starts back normal swing shifts on Tuesday. We are excited to have Dianne (Drew's Mom) here for a few days starting Saturday!

Taylor has been in absolute heaven having her Dada back. She really missed him a lot and it shows. Every time we would see a yellow car, or a man in BDU's, she would say "Hi, Dada!", then I'd have to explain to her that it wasn't Drew. It's very hard, but I'm glad this was just a short trip.

We have also signed her up for Dance classes in the fall. She will be in the 2 year old class on Monday afternoons. I wanted to do gymnastics, but she can't do it on her own until she's 3, and if I have Carson with me, I can't do it with her, so we thought we'd start with something else that she can do for now to see if she likes it. She does love to dance at home, but she also loves to tumble!

Mom's Day Out is going well. She loves to go to "school" and she learns a lot... but apparently in class she never says a word. She's been going for 6 months now and hasn't made a peep. But she plays and participates, and she comes home telling me all about it. She marches to the beat of her own drum... that's my girl!

We are still going to playgroup 1-2 times a week, music class for both kids on Wednesday and sometimes we meet up with our sweet neighbor Martha and her kids Boston and Baylor as well to play. Boston is about 6 months older than Taylor and Baylor is about a month younger than Carson so they all get along well.

I've been hanging in there. Exhausted, because I stay up to late at night working on projects and other things. I've even taken to catching a 30 minute or so nap during the day if I can manage to get both kids to sleep at the same time. Usually they will overlap a little, but Carson is a short napper so it's not usually much of one for me either! I'll take what I can get if it gets me through the day. Also been a little stressed about parenting two kids. Wanting to be able to give everything I have to both of them, and realizing that it doesn't seem to be enough. I'm so thankful that I have a supportive hubby that is so involved with the kids whenever he can be. He never hesitates to keep them both so I can catch a breather, or split them up so we can get some one on one time with each of them, he does most of the outdoor stuff with Taylor since it's so hot and humid for Carson and I.

Drew is really tired of working long shifts, but the exercise should finally be over and he can get back to his regular schedule and have weekends again! I'm glad for him, and for us, because we love having him around!

I'm going to attempt to upload some photos, we will see if blogger is going to agree with me tonight!

Okay, these aren't exactly in chronological order, but I tried. :) Blogger uploads backwards so I always have to rearrange everything and it gets a little tedious so I usually end up just grouping them with the event!

Taylor waking up from a nap to the dogs, they like to give her kisses good morning.
Drew and Carson after giving the kids a bath.
A genuine smile from our little princess.
and the little man too!
He sure loves his pops.

This always makes my heart melt. When they are eating next to each other, Taylor often reaches a hand over to Drew's arm and rests it there. Just telling him that she loves him in her own way. She continues to eat one handed, but you can feel the love there!
and Carson is just happy to have his Cheerios. At a playgroup Birthday Bash at the park. Carson and Miss Bella.
Taylor eating her cupcake.
For some reason I like this photo, she seems like she's growing up so fast!

Sporting his cool hat.
His first time in a swing! He did really well hanging on tight, and he thought it was a blast!

We went berry picking with our friends early one morning. I think it was about 8:30 am before it got too hot, but we were still sweating buckets with the humidity!

Carson was pretty unhappy at this point, but we kept moving trying to keep him consoled. This was around the time he started having a lot of his episodes.
Taylor picking blackberries
She actually spent most of the time playing in dirt.
Learning about which ones were ready to be picked.
With her walking stick.
Some fruits of our labor! I guess vegetables would be the better word ;) Our first take from our garden....curly cucumbers! We made a cucumber salad and it was YUMMY!

Our first tomato, but we never got to eat it (or the next two), the bugs beat us to it. Maybe the next one will get ripe before the bugs find it!Big sister and little brother, coloring!
He's such a ham!



A couple of my projects while Drew was TDY. Recovered the kitchen chairs in laminated cotton. Easily wipeable, and a fun pattern!
I must be on a damask kick because I recovered the glider as well. The ottoman had broken, so I repaired it and since I was doing that I went ahead and recovered the whole thing since it was getting dingy and worn. It's seen a lot of use in the last couple of years!

Love this photo of Taylor, I just want to squeeze her!




At another playgroup, a pool party this time! The hostess had a play set as well, so Taylor was in the big girl swing! Doesn't she have the cutest skinny little legs??

He's going to hate me for this one later. I ran off without his hat and it was pretty sunny out, so one of the other Mom's had an extra hat for her daughter, and we borrowed it. Notice he's NOT smiling this time. Don't tell him I posted this on the web.
She did not want to get out of this pool! First one in, last one out!







So happy to have his Dada back!

Both of them are!
Happy pants.
My wonderful man, and our babies!

That's it for now! Not sure when I'll get to post next, but we should have more time since Drew will be working normally. We haven't planned out the next month very well yet. I know Dianne will be here until the 7th, and then my Mom is coming at the end of the month. Carson has an appointment on the 19th, otherwise it will be the same ol' routine! I'll take photos when I can to post, but it's a lot harder when you have TWO kids trying to grab the camera and usually somebody in my arms! It's always out, I just need to pick it up when I have a free, clean, hand. :)

Love to you all!