Another Man Down

This poor guy woke up with 101 fever this morning!  Since Jack was just diagnosed with the extremely contagious hand, foot and mouth, I decided I better call Dr. Sherwood's office and see if they wanted to take a look at Sam before the holiday weekend.

His fever didn't go down much after I gave him Tylenol so I decided to take him in right after lunch.  Dr. Sherwood didn't find any ulcers in his throat but did a strep test because she said it looked awful.  It came back negative so she thinks it is probably a bad virus that could last anywhere from 3-5 days.  

My sweet boy was pitiful so I took him to Heroes and Dreams, a comic book store near our house, in hopes of putting a little smile back on his face.  He picked out this Wolverine action figure he fell in love with and a few comic books.  By the time we got to Lili's house to pick up Jack and head home Sam was burning up in the back seat and almost limp.  The fever had come back so fast and it was REALLY high - almost 104.  It wasn't time for more Tylenol yet so I called the pharmacist to see what else I could do.  She advised to alternate Motrin and Tylenol and the Motrin did bring it down a little.  Bless his heart, he just wanted to sit in my lap and be held so I knew he was really feeling bad.  Hopefully we can rest over the weekend and everyone will be back to normal soon!

The Good, The Bad and The Mobile!

Jack learned a new trick this morning!

He put his two hands together and started clapping away.

He was SO proud of himself and every time I would say "Yay!!" he would start clapping and laughing again. The smiles faded and the clapping ceased around lunch time when he started running a fever.  He had pitiful little sick eyes and acted like he felt awful so I knew we better go let Dr. Sherwood take a look at him.  Sure enough, poor little Jack has hand, foot and mouth for the SECOND time this summer.  His only symptoms are the bad ulcers in his throat and fever.  Luckily he doesn't have any spots yet so she is hopeful that it won't be as bad the second time around.  

After we got home from the doctor Jack seemed to cheer up a little.  Adam hadn't been home from work long and all four of us were visiting in our closet while he hung up his work clothes.  I guess Jack got tired of being stuck in one spot so he just got up on all fours and crawled right out of that closet to go find his toys.  Look at him go!  He is very precise and focused when he crawls and it won't be long before he really gets the hang of it and is all over the house.

Sam is ecstatic about Jack's new mobility.  He just stared in disbelief as Jack crawled and Sam was such a great cheerleader.  I guess he thought Jack was going to be a boring baby forever!  ;)  

Sam's Dirty Clothes Spot

Oh yes...this is a picture of our toilet brush.  And yes..that is a pair of Sam's underwear wrapped around it and three more pair in the bottom of the holder.  

I discovered a stash of Sam's underwear this morning when I was cleaning up.  I noticed the toilet brush wasn't quite fitting down into it's container and when I tried to push it down I realized that something was inside of it.  When I found the culprit I called for Sam and asked him to please explain.  About three words into his clever explanation I knew there wasn't a chance in the world that he was going to get in trouble for this.  With his serious face on he proceeded to tell me that the toilet brush was dirty so he thought every morning when he changed underwear he should put his dirty pair in the brush container.  How in the world could I argue with that?!   :)

Fun in Orange Beach

Wednesday morning we loaded up and hit the road for Orange Beach with Lili and Shuffie.  Sam has been excited for weeks and couldn't wait to get there and play in the sand and the pool.

On the way down we stopped near Mobile to eat lunch with my aunt, Sissy.  This was her first time to meet Jack!

We loved our visit with Sissy! 

Wednesday night we ate at one of our favorite places -  The Original Oyster House.

While we were waiting on a table, the nice clown outside made Sam a giraffe balloon animal.

The clown kept these two entertained for most of our wait.  :)

Sweet Jack was so excited about his first trip to the beach and couldn't wait to go check it all out.

At last!  Sam was right where he wanted to be and nothing in the world was wiping that smile off his face.

We setup a tent on the beach with a little baby pool of fresh water for Jack.  He stayed cool and had fun too!

Fun on the beach with Lili!

Sam and Lili getting some more water for their sand castles.

It is moments like this that I'll always remember.  Welcome to the beach my sweet baby Jack.

"What is this stuff, Mom?"

Watching the waves

Love every single minute with these two.

We sat back and watched Daddy swim in the ocean...

...and then went to the indoor pool to swim a while and get out of the sun.  

Friday night dinner at Tacky Jack's

Saturday was my birthday and I was so blessed to be able to spend it with some of my favorite people.  Sam kept asking what kind of party and cake I was having.  I told him this year we were going to go with a beach theme.  ;)

Sam woke up this morning and said he was going to stay at the beach forever.  He was so very sad that it was time to go but Lili promised we'd go back again soon.  Thank you Shuffie and Lili for such a fun beach trip.  We had a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Tonight we celebrated the upcoming birthdays for me and Uncle Easy at Pop Pop and Bobi's house.  The big boys had so much fun singing and helping us blow out the candles! 

At the Old Ball Game!

We love going to watch the Mississippi Braves and wanted to catch another game or two before the season ends soon.  

Tonight they had some special guests at the park and Sam got to meet Iron Man and Spiderman!

As the Braves finished the top of the second inning, Adam stood Sam up on the 3rd base dugout and one of the players threw them the game ball as they ran off the field.  Sam was ecstatic!!  Later in the game he went up to show Trusty and got a big thumbs up!

Wild Thing!

Sam had a blast playing in the Renaissance splash pad tonight after dinner.  This boy has a good time wherever he goes!!

9 Month & 3 Year Old Pictures

Bathing in Masculinity

Checkups

Since Sam's 3 year checkup and Jack's 9 month checkup were going to fall less than three weeks apart I decided to only expose us to all of those germs once and do back-to-back checkup appointments on the same morning.  It worked out great and the boys were so good!

Jack weighed 22 lbs 8 oz and was 31 inches long.  He was WAY off the charts for his length and Dr. S commented that from the looks of his growth chart he was going to be a tall and slender guy.  She said with his long torso that it would be harder for him to crawl and that he would need lots of "exercise" to strengthen his legs enough to hold up his long body.  We talked about some of his food intolerance and she still wasn't concerned and felt like it would work itself out shortly - especially as he became more mobile.  He was doing everything she thought he should for his age and looked great!  Thankfully he didn't have to get any bad shots this time!

Sam weighed 35 lbs and was 38 1/2 inches tall.  He was so excited to see Dr. S and loved telling her all about his recent birthday party and about what Jack had been doing lately.  She couldn't believe how much he had grown and matured and was extremely pleased with his development.  We discussed his eczema and the possibility of going to see an allergist.  I had terrible eczema at his age caused by food allergies and she said that is most likely the cause of his eczema as well.  Luckily they have come a long way since I had allergy tests all up and down my arms and back.  She told me about a simple bloodtest she could do at her office that might give us some more insight.  The good news was that he wasn't going to have all the sticks on his arms and back for now but the bad news was that the blood was going to have to be drawn from his arm and not just a finger prick.  Bless Sam's heart, he had been so worried about not wanting a shot at this visit and I had assured him she was just looking at him and talking so this was quite a surprise to him.  He was SUCH a trooper though and barely cried at all.  The sweet lady that drew his blood took him to get a handful of suckers when they finished because he was such a brave boy. 

What a wonderful feeling to walk out of that office with two growing, healthy children!

Nine Months Old!

It was only a matter of time before Jack realized that he was sharing his chair each month with a fun piece of poster board.  Who can blame him for wanting to check it out? 

"Daddy...why did you have to take my sign away?"

We finally got him to understand.  :)

What has Jack been up to lately?

*He is wearing a size 4 diaper and mostly 18-24 month clothes to make room for his long legs.  We go for his 9 month checkup soon and I can't wait to see how much he has grown!

*He is still sleeping around 12-13 hours each night without a peep.  I always lay him down on his side at night and go back to find him in a ball on his stomach with his little bottom in the air.  That seems to be his favorite position.

*He has two bottom teeth.

*He is a huge fan of puffs and is doing a great job picking them up and eating them with his fingers.  He is also eating and loving most solids except the green veggies and bananas - those are still bothering his belly.  We are hopeful that he will be able to tolerate them better as he gets a little older.

*He is waving now and seems so proud of himself.  I can say "Hi" to him and he just grins and waves at me.  He also does a good job of waving back when someone waves at him.

*He is oh so very close to crawling and enjoys tummy time more so I don't think it will be long.  He is rolling a good bit when he needs to get somewhere and then getting up on all fours and rocking.  Sam better get ready!

*He loves his brother to pieces.  Sam can just walk in the room and Jack turns from wherever he is to look at him and gives him this great big smile and sometimes a laugh.  They are playing more together in the floor and Sam is so sweet to always share and make sure that Jack has one of his toys to play with.

Happy Nine Month Birthday, sweet boy!  You are so loved!

London 2012

Sam has been so entertaining re-enacting all of the "Olympiac" events we've been watching on TV.  This afternoon he setup his own "sprinter's blocks" and ran the 100 meter dash in Lili and Shuffie's living room.  Gotta love his creativity!

The Breakfast of Champions

Ready to Enjoy Our Saturday!

My Sweet Potato

Often called "Taydah" for short.  ;)