You can blog about me

The other night, when I was trying to blog and Allen was getting irritated that I was not playing a game on my computer, I explained what a blog was and why I blogged about him. I honestly didn't think he was listening ...

Fast forward to yesterday morning. After Friday's tragedy in Connecticut, I really felt like the three of us needed a family day. I just wanted to be focused on Allen and on spending quality time with him. Brian and I had already discussed what we wanted to do with him, but we wanted to see what he was in the mood for ...

Me: Allen, we're going to have a family day today. What would you like to do?
Allen: we could go to breakfast, and then come back here, and you can blog about me ...

Evidently, he likes the idea that I write about him and you all read it :)

Sadly, Allen is sick (so I guess he was fighting something Thursday night). So we are sitting in bed now, watching SpongeBob ( I loathe this show, but he's sick ....). I think he may have Strep, as his only complaint is a sore throat. Yuck ... I hope I don't get it.

That's all for now ...

Xoxo

Growing Into His Paws

I really do want to be blogging again. I promise. It's just harder than it used to be. Allen's not a toddler anymore. Everything he says and does is not hilarious (sometimes, it's downright infuriating!). He's in school from 8:00 to after 3:00 everyday, and on days I work, I don't see him until almost 6:00 in the evening.

So it's hard ... he's not providing me with witty one-liners or hilarious stories or funny dances on a daily basis anymore. He's still hilarious -- don't get me wrong -- but he's so much more independent now, that we just don't see it as often.

Please bear with me, and don't give up. I may not be able to blog every single day, but I will continue to blog. So keep checking, and if you haven't heard from me in awhile, nudge me with a comment.

Now, onto some cute/sweet/funny things from the last week.

• Last week, he saw a commercial for the new Ice Age Movie coming out on Blue Ray & DVD on Tuesday, December 11th. Don't you know that he remembered! He said multiple times over the last several days, "On the 11th we have to get new movie!" (he kind of sang it and did a little dance each time). You can imagine his excitement Tuesday morning!
• Sunday we had some friends over (hospitality after the meeting). He was so excited for everyone to be there and sat at a table with friends who were all probably over 60 years old. But he loved it. He has such an affection for the friends at the Kingdom Hall, especially the older ones. In fact, he made one man ride up the elevator with him so Allen could show T his room (T is in his 60s). 
• He decided on Sunday that he wanted to start picking his chores again each day (we use the fisherkids system) and did really well earlier this week. The past couple days he's slacked off though :/
• This morning, because we all had an early meeting to attend, Nana, Papa, and I all took Allen to school. As he got ready to get out of the car, he gave us all kisses. The staff member helping the kids in, said, "Oh, you've got a lot of love this morning." To which Allen replied, "I've got three loving givers today!"
• Tonight, we're home from our meeting because he's running a fever. However, he's not acting sick ... he's been waving his light saber around, putting puzzles together, playing games on my computer and iPad, and now he's whining that I'm NOT playing a game on my computer. So, he has the fever, but I'm the one who's feeling dizzy and sick.
• Since I wrote this, Allen's fever has suddenly disappeared. He has been super hyper, and as he was taking pillows off my bed (and hearing me warn him over and over again to watch my wine glass), knocked a pillow into my glass -- at full speed -- and spilled wine EVERYWHERE. Seriously it was like a wine massacre in our room. Splatter all over the place. Good times for Mama.
• Lest I forget the title of this post ... Monday he had a tennis lesson. It was just he and another little girl this time, so he was able to get more personal attention. And it was Coach Warren. Coach Warren (not my dad) tends to be a little harder on the kids. He's not mean at all. He just really makes them focus. So during a water break, he came over to talk to me. We discussed Allen's progress and what Coach has been helping him with, and then Coach said the greatest thing: "Kids all grow into their paws at different times." He went on to tell me that his 14 year old just grew into his paws. It made me feel so much better. Because Allen is SMART (he scored in the 95 percentile in Math and 99th in Reading in standardized testing)! But, he doesn't want to ride a bike ... or take risks ... and he can't consistently catch a ball. So to hear Coach reassure me that Allen is OK ... that Coach has seen kids like Allen before (maybe even his own child) ... made me breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. My child is not destined to be an athletic loser like me. Whew!

I guess that's all for tonight. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Still trying to remember to include them/take them in the first place.

xoxo!+

Pneumonia

That's right. My sweet boy has Pneumonia! I don't know how he got it, and fortunately we got it early, but still ... When he woke up this morning, his fever was 104 degrees! That's the highest his temperature has ever been!

The nurse assured me that a temperature that high is OK. It means his body is doing what it should. It will not cause brain damage, but it could cause a Febrile Seizure. Apparently they are scary as all get-out to see, but don't do any damage. Grrreaaat ...

The doctor thought he might have the Flu as well -- even though he got the vaccine -- but fortunately, he doesn't. For about 10 minutes though, I was terrified, because he's been in close contact with both his great-grandmothers and a little baby in the past 48 hours. (A warning: about 5 cases out of 100 that Allen's practice has seen have been cases where the patients received the Flu vaccine. So there are strains out there that laugh at the vaccine).

Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day at home, with Allen almost constantly touching me. We gave him some cough medicine that causes drowsiness at about 1:00 this afternoon. He fought sleep until about an hour before his next dose. Such will power he has!

Fever is still running pretty high, but we're armed with Tylenol, Amoxicillan, and Dimetapp. Mom and Allen will be home-bound for the next few days, so feel free to call us or email us or Facebook us or whatever. Mama's really bored!

xoxo,
AHC

Viking, David & Goliath

The other day Allen and I were at the big box store near our house. I was wandering around looking for something when I came across ... a How to Train Your Dragon Viking costume! I think I've mentioned that this is Allen's new favorite movie. Well, this costume was on clearance, so Mommy could not resist.

Allen was thrilled with it. He's been wearing it everywhere. We even convince Ms. A, his teacher, that he could bring it to school one day.

Here he is lounging at home ...

In the meantime, we have been listening to the Bible Stories on the iPod while in the car. Allen loves it. We have listened to the book probably five times through. Which means that Allen is very familiar with the stories.

We asked him what he wanted to do for Family Worship this week, and he said, "Talk about David and watch the David video." So we did. After the video we decided to re-enact the story of David and Goliath. With only minor prompting from Mom and Dad, this is how Allen performed (with Dad as Goliath) ...

 

This isn't the only story he knows. As he looks through the Bible Story book at meetings, he remembers most of the titles. Thursday afternoon, as we were listening to the Bible Stories on the way home from school, Allen heard the Introduction to one of the sections with Joseph, and he said, "That bad Joseph tried to force me to lay down with him!" That was a little strange ...

And today as Allen was watching television in my bed and I started the shower in my bathroom, he said, "Mommy, can you shut the door tight, like Jehovah shut the door of the ark?"

Allen and I are sick again. I gave him my cold, which has evolved in both of us into something different. I have a sinus infection. We'll find out tomorrow what Allen has. His fever got all the way up to 103.6 today, which was very scary for me.

After Gigi's and my doctor's appointments today, we all went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. After Allen prayed, he noticed that Gigi was starting to eat without praying. He told her to say a prayer.

Then tonight, as Gigi was telling Allen (for the millionth time) to put on his socks so he wouldn't get sick, Allen explained that Mommy had given him this sickness.

"She did? I'll beat her up!" Gigi declared.

"DON'T YOU DARE!!" Allen replied.

Such a sweet boy. Now the three of us are in bed, with Allen determined to stay awake as long as he can.

So I'd better go. Maybe he'll go to sleep if I snuggle with him instead of feeding my online addictions ...

xoxo,

AHC

At least my hair looked good

For those of you who don't know, I've had a heck of a time the past couple months, health-wise. I caught Allen's sinus infection. Went on an antibiotic. Didn't get rid of the sinus infection and added a cough. Went on more antibiotics, Prednisone, and cough medicine. Caught Allen's stomach bug (wanted to die ... 11 hours straight of vomiting).

Then I started to feel better. We went to Chicago, and I started to feel run down again. I also became increasingly disillusioned with my hair, and decided to try a whole new salon. Went a bit blonder, got my hair shaped a little better. Wanna see?

 Oh wait ... that's not me! C'mon, I can't put pictures of me without the gorgeous boy, can I?

Then I promptly got sick again. The sinus infection returned AGAIN, plus I was also privileged enough to get Strep Throat! More antibiotics and more Prednisone. But, at least my hair was cute ...

I'm happy to say that I'm finally on the mend, and am armed with all kinds of immune-boosting supplements so that, hopefully, I will be healthy for at least a little while.

xoxo,
AHC

Mean, Nasty Bug

Shortly after I finished Allen's scarf and posted those pictures, the little man woke up vomiting. And it lasted until about 6:45 this morning. Talk about hurting Mommy and Daddy's hearts. Allen's only thrown up a handful of times since he was born, and never like this ... so we really felt bad for him.

And as weird as this sounds, I was so proud of him for how in tune he was with his body. Other than the first incident, he woke up in time and was able to avoid any messes. Of course, it helped that Mom and Dad were barely able to sleep and were very aware each time he became restless. We read his signals ... the loud breathing; the thrashing around; the moaning ... and were propping him up with the bucket in front of him in no time. Sorry if that's TMI. It's an odd thing to be proud of, but I'm happy with how well we handled it (I've always had visions of huge messes and the "sympathy factor" coming into play).

Of course, his bed is not remade so he's sleeping with us again tonight ... so I can't be too proud of my mad motherly skills :) I like to keep myself humble.

In crochet news, I've begun my third (yes third!) project. "Wristers" (aka fingerless gloves) for Aubrey. I'm sort of making up my own pattern here, so I hope she likes them. Then after that comes a scarf for Mommy, Brian (my first project was OK, but he'd like one a little more masculine), Daddy, and me. Then I'm taking requests :)

xoxo,
AHC

Deflated

Well, not yet, but soon. So, I've been having these recurring sinus headaches, and I finally went to an ENT to see if I could find a reason for them. The doctor ordered a CT scan of the sinuses, and discovered that I have two air pockets in my nasal passages. I think they're called concha bullosa, but I'm not sure. These air pockets press against the sinuses and cause sinus headaches ... maybe. No way to really be sure.

While there's no definitive test to determine whether or not these "balloons" are the cause of my headaches, I came in today with a headache, and the doctor shoved gauze soaked in topical anesthetic up my nose to see if I got any relief. I did. I guess that's good news. But it means that the doctor wants to "pop" those "balloons."

This is simple enough, but it does mean minor surgery and about a five day recovery period. Which I'm happy to undergo if it means no more headaches. Hopefully this will happen next month.

That's all of the personal, sinus-related news for now. Thanks for reading ...

xoxo,

Back from the (almost) dead; word of the day

Miraculously, I am feeling better. And honestly, I thank the drugs. After four days of a hacking cough and a fever, I decided that I had to go to the doctor. And I was not above begging for some kind of drug(s) that would hopefully work some kind of magic on me so that I could function as a decent wife/mother/shopgirl as opposed to a walking zombie.

Fortunately, I didn't have to resort to begging. She took pity on me (maybe it was the coughing literally from the point they called me back through the entire nurse's interview), and prescribed a strong antibiotic to get rid of the infection and some steroids to reduce all that icky inflammation in my chest and sinuses.

Yesterday at 4:00 p.m. I had a fever of over 100 degrees, was bundled up on the couch with tissues at my nose about every five seconds, and was hacking away. This morning at 10:00 a.m. I was walking with Allen to the park (OK, still with tissues, but none of the other yuckiness):

It was a ridiculously gorgeous day here. This morning there was not a single cloud in the sky. Almost no humidity, since we had huge thunderstorms yesterday, and a lovely breeze. Allen and I walked to the park, met a stray dog that ran up to Allen and licked him in the face (I thought he was with a father and son, and the father told me it was a stray as it was licking my child's face), left the park after less than five minutes (he really likes the car-pushing more than the park right now), and walked home. We saw Miss "S" on our way back, and then discovered that birds have made a "mest" (as Allen calls it) in the beams on our front porch.

The rest of the day was pretty fabulous too. I got to sit outside while talking to my dear friend J. Allen and I took a lovely bike ride. We went to the park this evening with Daddy. And I was able to get the laundry done, read my magazine, make dinner (a recipe I invented that was actually pretty good), and have family worship night ... all before 7:30 p.m.

Oh, and the kid's word of the day ... is delicious (or, as he says it, "deyishus"). That he is. He had some genius moment's this evening before bed, but I feel like I've been bragging too much lately, so just post in the comments if you want to hear what they are, and I'll tell you.

Goodnight, loves. I am off to post on the Joli blog with the rest of this "roid" energy I have to burn off.

xoxo,

Soft shell crab festival

After a fabulous treasure hunt of sorts on Saturday morning (having to do with with our pirate ship playhouse), Mom-mom, Missy, Daddy, Mommy, and Allen went to the Soft Shell Crab Festival in Port Royal. I'm sure it was much more fun than my pictures captured, but at this point, I was running a fever, had zero voice left, and was coughing like someone who had smoked for 20 years (for those of you who don't know me, I have never even held a cigarette in my hand let alone smoked one). So I was trying my best to be a good sport, and I did find some potential new vendors for the shop, but for the most part I was just waiting until everyone had their soft shell crabs and we could leave.

Here are a few highlights from the afternoon (there was a car show which thrilled Allen and Daddy)

xoxo,

Weird eye photos; very grumpy

I've had my eye on this mascara (from Maybelline) for a few weeks now. I'm such a sucker for advertising, and those commercials just got to me. So when I saw it on sale in Walgreens, I thought I'd try it.

What do you think?

Allen was in a particularly grumpy mood Sunday afternoon. He had a good nap, and told me that I looked cute with sunglasses on my head (and my hair in a ponytail). But then I left for the drugstore, and got mad. Nothing made him happy. Nothing we did was right. He threw several tantrums. He looked at me at what point and said, "Your hair is not cute anymore," because he wanted me to take it down so he could play with it.

This was about the happiest he was all afternoon.

Turns out he's sick. He's been running a fever since yesterday, but I'm not sure why. He's not acting overly sick; just more subdued than normal. Thoughts, anyone?

That's all for now. Sorry it's such a boring post.

xoxo,

Bathroom adventures part 2; I burped; My numbah

What a weekend! We had a busy day Saturday. First we went in service, and then we went to the 1st Annual Beaufort Twilight Run, which benefited the Riverview Charter School. Joli was sponsoring it, so we were manning the shop most of the evening.

Allen's favorite part of the evening was the Wee Stream (I hope to post pictures soon) -- a miniature Airstream trailer that is being raffled off to benefit the school. Allen loved it, and spent most of the evening there or trying to get there.

Another highlight was the kid's fun run that we signed Allen up for. He was very excited about it until we got in the starting line. Then he decided that Mommy should carry him and run in the race. Mom's still recovering from that.

All that running around seemed to make his cold/cough a little worse, so Sunday was spent at home convalescing. We watched a couple movies, and he played with his cars. All was fine until around 7:00 when we sat down for dinner. Allen began complaining of a "tummy egg." At first, it was all very good-natured, but then he started to get really uncomfortable. The next hour was spent with him crying, "My tummy hurts!" and grabbing at his belly.

We tried a bath (Allen's suggestion). It didn't work. We bounced him. It didn't work. We rocked him and held him. It didn't work. We called the pediatrician. He said it could be appendicitis but in all likelihood it was the beginnings of a stomach bug. He told us if Allen got no relief within a half-hour to take him to the ER. Uncle Collin suggested some massage techniques which Daddy administered. All the while poor Allen continued to cry and writhe around unable to get comfortable.

Mommy was upstairs getting dressed for the trip to the ER, so Daddy and Allen went downstairs to wait for Nana who was bringing some "fizzy water" for Allen to sip on. That's when Allen finally got some relief. As he put it, "I burped on Daddy's shirt." And, "I got sick on Daddy and the floor, and the counter, and the sink." Brian said he's never seen anything like it. I saw the aftermath, and I don't think I've ever seen that much puke at once. Poor baby.

We got him back into the bath to clean him up, and by the time Nana arrived, he was as good as new. No more "tummy egg." No more crying. He came downstairs, ate, drank, watched some of the Discovery Channel's Planet Earth, and then decided he wanted to go to bed. No more vomiting since.

Moving onto this morning ... as I have recently shared with you, mornings at my house can be, well, interesting to say the least. Here's what greeted me as I stepped out of the shower today ...

He decided to "sleep" on the floor while I cleaned up. Thanks, Kid. Then, when we got him dressed he decided he need to wear his "numbah" from the kids' fun run Saturday. He wore it until nap time.

That's all for now ... though knowing my son, he'll provide me with more fodder for the blog before the day is over ...

xoxo,

Figures, Magic Kingdom

I apologize for the lack of posting ... surprise surprise, I got sick as soon as we got back from Disney. Between being sick and crashing as soon as Allen goes to bed, and having 500 pictures (love you Papa) to go through from the trip, the thought of blogging about our trip has been a bit overwhelming.

While I'm still trying to organize the photos, I will go ahead and share these three with you (in spite of the fact that I look like an idiot in them). They are of the Disney castle, and of our first ride -- The Carousel. I'm working on getting all the photos organized, and I hope to have some good recaps to share with you soon (once I can do something without having to blow my nose every five seconds)!

xoxo,

Sickie, Progress

So, by Monday evening, the monkey was feeling pretty lousy. And Daddy was away (long story), so when Allen woke up a second time, and asked to come into Mommy's bed (I walked in and he was holding "KittyCat," all ready to go), I gave in quite easily.

I had been downstairs paying bills, so I brought him into my room, and explained that I had to go back down to finish up some things. He nodded, and closed his eyes right away. That meant I was able to capture him and all of his adorable sleepish-ness.

On a more positive note, tonight Allen went poopy in the potty for the first time! Yay Allen!!!

Goodnight all! I'll try to post more from Disney (we leave Saturday morning)!

xoxo,

It's been awhile

It's been awhile my friends, and I apologize. As many of you know, my little boy's ridiculously healthy streak has officially come to an end. And to follow in his Mommy's footsteps, he ended this streak with a bang: a sinus infection, an ear infection, and croup. This poor kid goes for a little over two years with no illnesses except roseola. He's never even really been on an antibiotic before.

Needless to say, he's been out of sorts, and Mommy and Daddy have been worried sick. Thus, the lack of posts recently. But, I do have a couple things to share with you. So I hope you enjoy ...

xoxo,