Florence Nightengale?

Warning: This post contains miserable stories of vomit and another word that I can't bring myself to even type, but it starts with a "D". Last Monday, Nicholas had a 104 fever for 24 hours. This was followed by a weird rash on Wednesday, similar to Roseola, but not quite the same. He also spent many a night that week waking up screaming which made me wonder about an ear infection. Wednesday night, my smallest angel decided to wake up at 2am and stay up until 5 am. There was a lot of rocking and bottles and back and forth to the crib during that time. Just as I was dozing off about 5:20, I hear the big angel saying, "Mom, mom, my tummy hurts!" (this is always funny to me because Chuck is clearly Patrick's favorite, but in the middle of the night, he can't seem to remember his name...). Anyways, Patrick made it to the bathroom in time and proceeded to vomit every 15 minutes for the next 5 hours. About 6am, I tried to come back to bed and, my dear husband asks "What's going on?". I then said in my meanest voice possible "I'll tell you what's going on..what's going on is that I am just now coming to bed!". I laid down and felt a little pull at his extra pillow I had just stolen only to feel him let it go, probably afraid to take it back. So later that morning, we went to the doctor on what must have been the busiest day of the year (lots of kids were in for physicals before the new school year - nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?). We had to sit on the floor most of the time because every time we would leave our seats so Patrick could go throw up some more, they would be taken when we returned. It was so heart breaking, because by this point, he was just screaming in agony every time he threw up the nothingness left in his stomach. So eventually we were called back to see the doctor and given some suppositories for Patrick and surprise, surprise, there was nothing wrong with Nicholas' ears. We left and got the suppositories and I won't reveal the gory details, but it was funny how Patrick just passed out on the floor within minutes of me putting it in. After that, we took a family nap, and about 3pm I was woken up by my biggest angel telling me he had thrown up at work and was coming home early. He must have felt really bad, because he has worked with his entire hand swollen from a grease spill, a bleeding leg wound and a smashed finger before, so this told me he was not in good shape. He came home and went to bed. Patrick woke up and felt better and all was good until...Tuesday I had a stomach problem which caused me to miss birthday club on my birthday month. Then last night, I was on my way out the door to church, when all of a sudden I became extremely nauseous and had more of the "D" word followed by a wonderful night of non stop puking my guts out. I am better this morning as I can hold down a glass of water and I am off for a nap now, as my parents saved the day and took Nicholas for me. Please pray that he won't get this "I think I am going to die" virus. I wouldn't wish these stomach pains on anyone.

Back to School

Patrick started 1st grade yesterday. As far as I could tell, he liked his new teacher and was happy with his new class. He was questioning us the night before about whether or not we had remembered to sharpen all of his pencils and if he had enough new school clothes. I can't believe I now have a first grader! He was also excited to be in a class with his good friend, Edie. Edie's mom and I have been friends for a very long time and they have known each other since they were babies. They didn''t start out in the same class together, but the numbers didn't make and Patrick's original teacher was moved to another school. Funny how life works out sometimes!

BIG NEWS!

Nicholas has been officially walking for about a week now. He also started climbing about 3 weeks ago. I think I have my hands full with this one! He has already figured out how to move objects in order to use them as a step. His favorite things to do right now are kick balls, point, meow at the cats and hug stuffed animals or anything soft. He is also enjoying books, shape sorters, puzzles and rolling around on the floor and giggling. He cracks us up when he throws a ball because he makes this tough guy "uh" noise, and when you throw it back to him he makes the noise for you, too.

Also... Pumpkins!

We were so thrilled to see two giant pumpkins at my MIL's house last weekend. Our garden here was a disaster from all of the rain. We barely had any tomatoes. But the pumpkin plant we gave Grandma survived and flourished!

And...We're Swimming!

I failed to mention earlier this summer that Patrick has learned to swim! A couple of months ago I took Patrick and his friend, Rainey, swimming. When he discovered that she was swimming with out a float, all of a sudden he could, too! He took swimming lessons in July and perfected his technique.

Finally, Vacation Pictures

We have had a busy summer with birthdays, trips and Chuck home for 5 weeks! After VBS, we went to Lake Eufaula, OK for Chuck's families annual reunion. We normally go to Lake Texoma, but the places we have stayed at in the past were bought out and torn down, so this year we went to Jack's cabin in Eufaula. After Eufaula, we were home for a night and then went to stay at the Four Seasons in Austin. After that, we were in San Antonio for a couple of nights. It was a fun week and the boys did great. Nicholas doesn't sleep well in the car, but Patrick still does! We play Nicholas Baby Einstein DVDs to keep him quiet. He is such a loud child.

Here is Lake Eufaula...This is pretty much where you could find Chuck for 3 days


These are Chuck's cousin Donna's sons, Payton & Conner. They have always been so sweet to play with Patrick. Payton was in our wedding. He is starting college this fall.

Chuck hit a rough spot with the slalom ski and whacked himself in the head. We are lucky Chuck's cousin, Grant, is a P.A. I was ready to take him to the ER there was so much blood.

Relaxing at the hotel in Austin...

Riverwalk....

Guacamole...

Sea World! We did get rained on for about 3 hours but that was ok because it was so nice and cool. I was pleasantly surprised at how good their shows were. We were there for 9 hours and really enjoyed it. I highly recommend the Anheiser Busch Hospitality House if you go!

HAPPY 23!!!

For some reason, Patrick has the idea that I am 22 (vs. 32), but he knows his dad is 34. So when Chuck asked him two different times today how old I was, he said 23!!! Love that!

We had a good day starting with church and then lunch at The Cheesecake Factory with my parents and Russell. After lunch, Nicholas took a 3 1/2 hour nap while Chuck, Patrick and I looked through old pictures. Dinner was all you can eat sushi, and Tiramisu was my birthday cake this year. Regarding birthdays, there are a few stories I have to tell at this point. For my 22nd birthday, I had hinted to Chuck that I wanted this candelabra that we had seen in Portsmouth, NH. I assumed that he would drive up there on his day off and surprise me with the candelabra on my birthday. Well, to my horror (I was 22, remember), he didn't have the candelabra for me on my birthday. He had supposed that we would drive up there on my birthday and I would pick out the one I wanted. Well, we did, and I picked out a nice one (it is still hanging on our living room) and we had a great dinner on the water. All was well until we were driving home and I inquired about the cake. He is like "What cake? I just drove you to Portsmouth for the day, bought you a very expensive candelabra and seafood dinner". At this point I am tearing up about the fact that for my whole life I have always blown out candles on a cake for my birthday. So, we stopped at Star Market and I ran in and got a cake. We had candles and cake when we got home and I think he was about done with me at that point. But, the moral to the story is that I scarred him for life regarding birthday cakes with candles on my actual birth day. Last year, I tried to shrug off the cake as I was dieting and he said, "You don't really mean that. If I don't end up making you a cake then you will me mad." I told him, no, I wouldn't, but he made me a great cake, anyways.

So, here are some pictures we found yesterday and a few stories to go along...

I call this my "Cover girl " shot. I am not sure why we had hay in our front yard. We didn't have horses.

This was my best friend, Heidi. She is married and lives in Chicago now. It's funny that her dad was from Germany, and they had the same brown corduroy couches and wood cut out artwork that Chuck had in his home growing up.

Gotta love the early 80s!

Happy 16th! My mom decided to torture me with an all pink affair. Don't you love the black hair!

This was my cat, Morbid. My mom is probably mortified that I am posting this picture, as cats were normally not allowed on the kitchen table.

Happy 21st! One of our favorite things to do in Austin was to float on the Guadalupe River. Happy 24th! This was one of my favorite birthdays. Chuck sent me for a spa day at a very swanky spa on Newbury Street in Boston. I was there for 7 hours! I was then picked up by our good friends Alisa and Lance who I thought we were going out to dinner with only to be driven home for a surprise birthday party!

OK, this has nothing to do with birthdays except for the fact that my cat, Luna, has now celebrated 17 birthdays with me. When we were looking through pictures yesterday, Patrick asked if this picture of Luna was taken in Boston? Austin? No, I said. It was taken at Nana & Dada's house when I was in high school. Chuck started laughing at this point at how ridiculous that sounded. She is one old cat!

This picture has nothing to do with birthdays either. I just thought it was cute. This was in Austin and I would guess Chuck is maybe 20? Sterling passed away 3 years ago. That is bread around his neck. No, we did not eat the bread!

Thanks for traveling down memory lane with me. When Chuck asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I really couldn't come up with any very exciting plans. I feel like every day is my day because I am blessed to wake up each day with the freedom of choice. So many in this world can not say that.