Labor Day

Busy is an understatement to describe our Labor Day weekend.

First of all, Jeremy was asked to be the best man in his best friend's wedding, which was down in Ft. Myers, Florida so he flew out on Friday morning and I stayed home with the kids.

Second, Saturday was the first "football game day" for most college teams and especially bama, which we spent all day out at my aunt's house watching all the games, eating good food, and letting the kids swim.

Third, Jeremy and I were asked to be asked the godparents of my cousins baby, Kate and the baptism was on Sunday (the day before Labor Day). We are very honored to be such special people in her life!

Fourth, my cousin Emily came in town from NY for her neice's baptism!

Fifth, Sunday, the 4th of September was my birthday and I turned 28! I feel so close to 30 at this age it's scary! For some reason I am really scared of turning 30. My 20's have been the best years of my life and I don't want them to end!!

So it was a crazy busy, but an extremely fun weekend for everyone!

A Doctor & Cowboy

Ok so I know I'm behind on my promise of 7 consecutive posts but while I'm slowly working on those I thought I'd show you the 2 cuties occupying my time.

While cleaning up dinner these 2 headed upstairs to the playroom & this is what I found. Maci Rose was wearing her doctor gear checking her baby's heartbeat and Carter was wearing a cowboy hat driving this noisy fire truck thing. It was a sight for sure! Hopefully they're getting some good practice for the future! Well the doctor at least! We'll see! Either way it gave me a good laugh after a long day at work!

Frugal Friday

5 smart ways you can use BALLOONS!!

I don't know about you but I have tons of balloons leftover from the 4 birthday parties I've thrown for my kiddos. They are stored in a bucket of party decorations out in my garage that my children seem to get into at least once a week asking me to blow up these balloons for them. And I know, I should probably find another place for it but that would require me having to go up in my attic and clear a space which is not as easy as it sounds. Anyways.... when I read this little snipet from Women's World Magazine the other day I thought this was so neat. I've never thought of using balloons other than for parties and entertainment.

1.) Open a bottle. You can use a rubber balloon to get a stubborn top off a bottle. Just use the balloon as you would a gripper.

2.) Make an ice pack. (this is my favorite!!) Fill a balloon halfway with water, but make sure you leave enough room for it to expand. Then place it in the freezer to have ready whenever you need an ice pack!

3.) Protect a cut. Slip a balloon over a painful papercut to keep it dry & clean while washing dishes, bathing kids, or doing some other type of house work or craft.

4.) Keep the shape. Blow up a balloon and slip an item of laundry over it to keep the shape of air-dry items such as bras and baseball caps. Toddler shirts fit perfectly.

5.) Save cut flowers. Slip a balloon filled with a little bit of water on the end of the stem and use a rubberband to secure it in place to help cut flowers last longer or until you can get them into a vase.

Have a good weekend!!

JaRae's Wedding

A few weeks ago we flew to Minnesota for my cousin JaRae's wedding. She was one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen. And her mom owns a salon!! How cool is that?? So all of the bridesmaids got to get their hair, make-up & nails done too.

Formal weddings in Minnesota are done differently than weddings down here, but my little sister is considering trying to incorporate these northern parties down here when she starts her wedding planning (hopefully soon ;)). They have the wedding at 2pm in the afternoon and then go bar hopping on party buses in between the wedding and reception. Then there is a sit down dinner at 6:00pm followed by dancing and reception. It's a good way to make your wedding day worth the money you pay instead of just a few hours and it also gives kids/parents time to go home and change clothes and nap in between.

Isn't her hair so cool & different?!

 The bridesmaids wore sunflowers in their hair which went perfectly with their yellow dresses. So summery!

 their first dance

 Once again, love love love the hair! So unique! Her hair is usually really straight and long so it was so different to see this on her.And this picture below is my absolute favorite!

 Father/Daughter dance

This is Taylor, the sister of the bride and maid of honor.

Bar hopping in between the wedding and reception. Of course, we had to go to the "Bar and Grill" places because of kids, but it was still so much fun!

 Uncle Mickey and Maci Rose

 We partied the night away. I havent had that much fun dancing at a wedding in a long time.

There were these little puppies there that Maci Rose threw a fit begged to bring home. She literally woke up and went to sleep every.single.day. asking to bring one home. I mean how do you explain to a 3 year old that you are in another state?? She thought we were up in the sky and then the airplane was going to take us back down to the ground and home. I tried explaining a million times. So frustrating!! needless to say, she didn't get to take one home.

 

 At Uncle Mickey's cookout.

We had so much fun and always enjoy every second we are up there!! They provide tons of entertainment! I have over 100 family members that all live in one small town called Buffalo. This is my moms side of the family or I guess you can say my grandmother's side?? Her 5 siblings & their kids and grandkids & great grandkids!! Can't wait to go back! We miss you guys already!

My Challenge to Myself

Hey everyone!! I'm alive I promise.

And I have sooo much to catch you up on so I'm challenging myself to do a post everyday for the next 7 days. These will include Carter's 15 month update, my new job, our trip to Minnesota, & just a little about what has been going on around here. This should be interesting to say the least. Here's to hoping I can stick it out!! Wish me luck!

3K

Well another year is here and Maci Rose is off to 3K!! I must say that this is a good way to get me prepared for kindergarten. She gets dropped off & picked up in a carpool line just like we used to when we were little. And while it's a little bittersweet in the morning as she gets out of the car, this kid LOVES school!!

As soon as she hops in the car when I pick her up she is telling what she did, who she played with, what she ate/didn't eat before I can even get a breath to ask her those questions.

We also recently received her school pictures from the end of last year. And I think they turned out great!!

Below is a picture of me and Jeremy at 3 years. I'd say she has my eyes and mouth and Jeremy's shape face & coloring. What do you think?

And I'm not sure if you remember this post but I promised to post her "DOLLS" picture that was placed in her school art show last year. So here it is....(you may have to turn the screen sideways)

Here is a picture she drew the other day of a bird....

 

I know these may not be the best pictures to you, but the fact that she is telling you what she is drawing as she draws it...for example, "mom here is the bird's eye" or "let me draw him some legs" as she draws them is pretty cool and shows that even if we don't see it she knows what it's supposed to be.

Just for the record, I've been typing this one post alone for about 3 hours now. Maci Rose pinched her finger and spilled a sippy cup full of V-8 splash on my bedspread and Carter clogged up a toilet with a whole roll of toilet paper. And since I've been promising her to make strawberry cake one night this week I decided this might cheer her up so I've done bandaids, used spot shot, a plunger, spankings (more to come on this), made dinner, fed 2 kids, and baked a cake all while trying to finish this post. I don't know how you people with more than 2 blog out there. Props to you!! Because this seems to be the norm for me these days!

A trip to Children's

A week ago at this very time we were sitting at Children's waiting and wondering if our little girl was going to have to go into surgery or not. What a difference a week can make!!

Many of you already know, but for those of you who do not, Maci Rose woke up last Wednesday night/Thurs morning at 1:45am screaming and crying and bent over in the fetal position saying that her stomach hurt. She had also been running  a fever between 101 & 102 for 2 days straight prior to this.

 Of course, like most mothers I thought ok I can fix this. I  brought her to the potty and tried to make her go. At that point, she was screaming so hard that she was gagging (which was one of the scariest things I've ever seen from a child). So I took her off the pot and laid down with her in my bed putting pressure on her belly and rubbing her back.

10 mins later she dozed off. Voila! I thought what in the world just happened?? So I moved her back to her bed around 3am to be awoken again 45 mins later to even louder, harder screaming and more gagging and this time she didn't come walking into my room like before, she stayed bent over in her bed and wouldn't move. I tried to pick her up to bring her to the bathroom but she would scream so loud and say "Your hurting me momma", so I decided to call the nurse. When the nurse heard her in the background she immidiately said you need to bring her in, this sounds like appendicitis!

At this point, I had every thought cross my mind, what to wear, what to grab, what to do with Carter, what will comfort her on the ride there, etc.? It's the worst feeling!! But it's part of the job description for being a mother. So I did what I thought I should and we left. I dropped Carter off at my parents on the way. And my mom met us out at the car where she saw and heard Maci Rose from her front porch! I'm telling ya.....it was the worst screaming ever!!

When we walked into Children's and they heard and saw Maci Rose they immediately put us back in a room. And for all of you who have waited for hours in the waiting room, you can probably know how I scared I was that we went straight to a room!!

They ran tons of tests on my baby girl. 2 x-rays, blood work, ultrasound, and put her in a hospital gown with an IV in her hand, and a catheter. She was one sick looking child.

 I was trying so hard to fight back my tears, and I almost lost it once. It was so hard. When you've been awake since 1:45am and you're sleep deprived and you have one of your babies away from you and another one in front of you in pain and in a hospital gown, it's not easy!!

Thank the Lord Almighty for watching over her and protecting her when I couldn't do anything!!! He is so good & all you have in situations like this!!

Everything came back normal, we found out that she was severely constipated, her white blood cell count was a little elevated, and her lymphnodes in her stomach were swollen showing that her body was fighting some type of infection (hence the fever she had for 2 days prior). They gave her an enema and a few hours after she went she was so much better! We finally left the hospital around noon on Thursday.

I know most of you are probably saying what my husband was saying at that point, "She just had a $200 poop???" Yes, I guess if you want to put it that way!

Now she is taking Metamucil and fiber gummies to avoid these issues again.

But seriously, the screaming was so intense that I woke up twice the next night thinking I was hearing it again.

Now she is back to her normal hyper self. I'm so glad my baby is ok!!