All Clear For Now

Lennon's rash wasn't any worse this morning so for now we are going ahead and assuming that both kids are well.  One thought I had was that possibly Lennon is getting my bodies antibodies to the virus right now since he is still nursing.  I have no idea if that's true or not, but I know it works that way with other stuff.  Supposedly from the skin to skin contact you get when you are nursing your body develops antibodies to anything that the baby might have and then the baby gets them through the milk.  Also if you are exposed to something at the same time as the baby it works in sort of the same way.  I am going to run that past my doctor and see what he says, but for now I will at least worry a little less cause it seems like it might make sense.  

On another note, Mia and Lennon are starting to be soo cute together.  He will just toddle over to her and bury his head in her and give her the biggest hug ever.  She is loving it and has remarked several times recently how much she loves having a brother.  Yesterday she said, "I'm so glad we have Lennon.  Aren't you?  I prayed and prayed for a sister, but at least I got a brother.  And he is so cute!"  

Stay Tuned...

We found another rashy area on Lennon today.  I'm still hopeful that it is just a regular old diaper rash, but we'll have to wait and see in the morning if it is better or worse.  

Rashes and Blisters and Pain, Oh My!

For those of you who I haven't talked too already, I have shingles!  And for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a form of the chicken pox virus.  Anyone who has ever had chicken pox is susceptible to breaking out with it at some point.  Basically it started out like an itchy splotch that I thought was some kind of bug or spider bite.  It has now turned into painful blisters all over my chest, back and under my left arm.  It's not that big of a deal except that if you have not had chicken pox you can catch it from someone who has shingles.  

Now, if you had asked me two weeks ago how I felt about my kids getting chicken pox I would have said, "no big deal.  Everyone used to get chicken pox.  I've had it, all my brothers and sister and husband and his brothers and everything had it.  Everybody has had it, it's no big deal."  Well, suddenly the possibility of it is looming over head and it's a little unnerving.  It's not so much that I'm concerned about the actual disease, although there are complications in about 1 in every 1000 people to get it, as it is I just don't want to basically be responsible for the suffering of my kids and also we are flying to Texas in a couple of weeks and after doing a little internet research I found that they will not let you fly if you have active chicken pox.  Which sort of brings me back to one of my basic objections to the chicken pox vaccine in the first place.  If you've had the vaccine and you are on that plane it shouldn't be a concern and if you've had the disease it also shouldn't be a concern cause you would be immune.  I'm not saying I think you should be able to fly with chicken pox, I know that's crazy.  I'm just saying they maybe should do a little more work on the vaccine before unleashing it on the public.  Anyway, the point is.  I have shingles and if my kids come into contact with one of the blisters they could get chicken pox and we won't be able to fly to Texas.  

That being said, I am being super careful.  As careful as I really can be considering where the blisters are.  With Lennon still nursing it presents a particularly tricky problem.  I am having to just be sooo careful when he nurses and wear shirts that fully cover my arms and chest at all times.  During the hottest summer month this is especially fun.  Yesterday we had a little scare.  I noticed during Lennon's bath that he had a bit of a rash under his chin on his chest.  He has been prone to skin irritations since birth and under different circumstances I wouldn't have thought twice about this rash, but I then showed it to Shelby and he seemed convinced that it was indeed chicken pox.  I honestly thought it was probably heat rash or something cause he's had it many times in the past, but still was a little worried about possibly dealing with a baby with chicken pox for the next 10 or so days.  I decided I would take him in to the doc this morning just to check it out.  Luckily, when he woke up the rash was almost totally gone.  Disaster averted!  The bad news is that even though that was not chicken pox, there are still plenty of days left that I will be contagious.  Here's hoping the kids don't get sick now and we get to come to Texas as planned in August!

The Mia Show

Some of what she learned in gymnastics last term.

Definitely, Maybe, Pretty Sure...

Shelby and I were just sitting here in the living room playing with Lennon while Mia was at a friends house and Lennon had asked to nurse and then got sort of distracted and frustrated when Shelby brought me a glass of cold water.  We then realized that what he wanted was not to nurse, but to have some of my water.  After giving him a long drink he seemed much happier.  We continued playing and then he came back toward the water and as he did his sign for "more" we are almost positive he also said "Mooe."  It was different from the usual "ma ma ma" sound he has made in the past.  

To test it out, we baited him the glass of water, asking him again if he wanted more, and out it came:  "Moouue!"  It was like nothing we had ever heard before and he was going toward the glass of water that he clearly wanted "more" of and took another long drink before looking very satisfied with himself and going back to ride his horsey some more. 

 

So, although we may never know if this was really his first word or just a mere coincidence, Shelby and I are going to count today, July 27 2008 - the day before Lennon's first birthday - as the day he spoke his first word.  Yeah!  

Sign it Lennon!

Lennon using his sign for more/again as Mia and I make him laugh.

Paradise

Today we went to lunch at Chic Fil A and while we were sitting there I said, "well I guess Kelsey and Bethany are back from paradise."  To which Mia replied "Paradise!  Wow!  Can we go to Paradise some day?"  

"Hopefully"  I said.  "Do you know what paradise is?"

"Yes.  France.  You didn't think I knew what paradise was did you?"

Oh Mia.  

Our Week Down South

What a fun week!  I did such a lame job of retelling all the fun from Plymouth that I decided to take notes this past week in Atlanta so that I wouldn't forget anything super important.  Hopefully this post will be more entertaining for anyone who reads it.  

The trip didn't start off too well.  The morning we left was kind of hectic.  The kids and I had to take a taxi and when he got here it started raining and I was in a panic for some reason and suddenly realized I would have to take Mia's booster seat with us and once we finally got everything loaded into the car and were half way to the airport I realized I had forgotten the stroller!  Without time to get back to the house I sucked it up and realized that I would have to lug two kids, a diaper bag that currently weighed about as much as the baby because of all the stuff I had crammed into it in a futile attempt to make sure Lennon was sufficiently entertained on the airplane, a backpack full of DVD's and books for Mia, and a soft cooler with a day's full of food cause you never know how hungry kids are going to be while traveling and it's better to have too much than too little when you are thousands of feet in the air and the only choice is rotten peanuts or pretzels with junk in them.  Not so much fun as you can imagine, but we all made it.  Lennon did pretty well and Mia was awesome as usual.  

We basically got into Atlanta, where we were met by Granmommy and Grandaddy with lots of hugs and excitement, unpacked ate dinner and went to bed.  Tuesday Granmommy, Mia and I went to the bridesmaid's luncheon thrown by the bride, Bethany and her mother, Candy.  It was really great.  It was at this cute little restaurant called The Old Town Cafe on Main and it was in downtown Woodstock.  They did such a great job of decorating.  Everything looked really cute and pink.  The wedding colors were green and pink so everything the whole week was green and pink.  After the lunch Mia and I went with Bethany and the bridesmaids to make wedding party t-shirts.  Mia had a lot of fun painting and then got to watch Cinderella.  It was fun for me to get to see Bethany comfortable with her friends.  I feel like I really got a good idea of what she was like.  I am so excited to have a new sister in law.  Especially one as sweet and fun as Bethany.  Lennon had fun with Grandaddy most of the day and then with both Granmommy and Grandaddy once she got home from the luncheon.  I got home with Mia just in time to put him to bed.  I had worried that Lennon would be difficult for Grandaddy, but he told me he did great.  

SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA RULES MAN!

Shelby got in late Tuesday night so that early Wednesday morning we could all head out to Six Flags!  It was so fun!  Both babies and both kids did awesome and had a great time.  Mia was tall enough to do several rides and also old enough not to complain about lines very much.  Granmommy and Grandaddy were so nice and hung out with the kids a lot of the time while the rest of us rode some of the bigger rides.  There was even a little water park with several slides and sprinklers for the kids.  Mia and I just went down the slides in our clothes and Lennon slashed in the water fully clothed too.  Luckily we had a swim suit of Lennon's that somehow fit Peyton cause he was too proper to get in the water in his clothes.  The whole day was awesome and everyone had a good time.  I didn't think we would stay very late but all the kids were in such good moods that we didn't end up leaving until about 7.  Back at the hotel we could not put the kids to bed without baths so we went over to Dustin and LeNan's room to bathe them cause our rooms just had showers.  First in was Mia and Reagan.  While they were in Lennon decided to throw his blankie in the tub.  Luckily it needed a bath anyway and we had extras.  Next in was Peyton and Lennon threw in Peyton's Big Brother Bear.  LeNan caught it before it got to wet and then when it was Lennon's turn he tossed in his pacifier and the baby shampoo.  While I was grabbing them he slipped and smacked his face against the side of the tub pretty hard.  The kids were exhausted so I quickly dressed them and got them tucked in a asleep by about 9.  Phew.  What a long fun day!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAGAN!!!

Thursday was Reagan's first birthday!!!  LeNan planned a cute little family part for both babies at The Cheesecake Factory across from our hotel.  After lunch each baby had their own giant cupcake.  LeNan had tried to order some really cute personal size smash cakes, but what we got were gigantic cupcakes with the scariest icing you have ever seen.  After singing to the babies and blowing their candles out for them they both had a fun time exploring the interesting thing before them.  Lennon was not a huge fan of the way the icing felt on his hands, so I ended up cleaning him up pretty quickly.  Reagan on the other hand loved her cupcake and ate almost the whole thing.  Way to go Reagan!  After lunch we all took naps while Shelby went with Kelsey to have his hair cut.  I even got to sleep longer than Lennon because Grandaddy got up with him and let me sleep.  After naps my good friend from high school came over to the hotel with his new wife Mandy to hang out with us.  We all went over to check out Kelsey's fancy downtown pad and then Brandon, Mandy, Shelby, Mia, Lennon and I all headed back to the hotel for dinner and bedtime for the kids.  We got to chat with them for a little while and then they had to leave cause they had work early the next morning.  It was so nice to see them!

Friday after breakfast Granmommy, Mia and I went to get pedicures.  A first for both Mia and Granmommy.  We all really enjoyed being pampered while the boys went to pick up their tuxes for the wedding.  LeNan was nice enough to stay with both babies so that they didn't have to run errands with anyone.  After lunch we ran down to have milkshakes with Mike, Denise, Rick and Bev at The Varsity - a popular hamburger joint near Georgia Tech.  When we got back to the hotel Kendra, GranGran, Pepa and Randy had arrived and the girls got to go swimming together before we all had to go to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  The rehearsal went well and dinner was awesome!  I had to leave Lennon with his first babysitter and was pretty nervous about it.  However, when we got home she told me, and I quote "he was so easy, I feel guilty accepting money."  She said he was the easiest baby ever and that when she went to put him to sleep he was so sweet it was hard to put him down.  It was so nice for both Lennon and me to have such a great first experience with a babysitter.  She was the best friend of Bethany's brother's wife, so she wasn't just some random stranger from a babysitting service or something.  

Bethany showing Mia her bouquet

The Big Day!  Saturday came faster than any of us could believe.  The day was kind of crazy even for me so I can only imagine what it was like for the rest of the wedding party.  Mia had to be at the hairdressers house, which was half an hour away at 11 in the morning AND I had to have the car back to the hotel no later than 12 30 so that we could leave for the wedding.  We just barely made it back in time with me driving like a crazy person the whole way there and back.  I endedup getting ready at the church while the wedding party was doing pictures.  My mom and Jeremy drove all day friday to get there for the wedding and were so helpful in letting Lennon nap in their room and then dressing him and bringing him to the wedding.  He looked sooo adorable!  The wedding was so beautiful.  The ceremony was sweet and both bride and groom seemed calm and completely in love.  I loved watching Mia walk down the aisle and stand up there watching the wedding and Peyton did a great job as ring bearer.  He is just so so cute!Oh yeah and Mia caught the bouquet after the wedding!  She was so excited but Shelby said he felt sorry for all those bridesmaids who were going to have to wait 25 years to get married.  After the reception we all went to a BBQ at the house of a friend of the mother of the bride.  I had debated staying at the hotel and putting Lennon to bed cause the BBQ didn't even start until after his bedtime, but I ended up deciding to take him in the end.  LeNan was smart and left her kids both with her parents.  At the house I tried putting him to sleep, but the room was hot and bright and loud and he just cried.  I had a meltdown and started to leave, but Vickie talked me down from the ledge and convinced me to stay.  It ended up being great once I relaxed and everyone around took turns holding Lennon who was basically in a trance.  He didn't get to bed that night until almost 10 I think.

The Happy Couple

Sunday everyone took off pretty early and we were still there at the hotel until about 2 30.  We had to be out of the room by 1 though.  Mia was so tired she feel asleep in my lap in the lobby of the hotel and we both napped for about an hour sitting straight up!  Candy, the mother of the bride was kind enough to take us to the airport where we waited forever for our delayed flight.  Every time we checked the board it was leaving later and later.  We finally got home and got the kids to bed at about 11 PM.  Sigh.  What a long, fun week!  Monday we all took good long naps and felt pretty well recovered by Tuesday morning.  

CONGRATULATIONS KELSEY AND BETHANY!  Oh yeah, the bride and groom are spending a week in St. Lucia!  

Lovin Cousin

Mia and Lennon both adore their cousin Jackson.  Mia cried hysterically when he and Hillary had to leave on wednesday morning and every time Lennon sees a picture of Jackson he gets a huge smile on his face.  We miss you Jackson!!!

Plymouth Rocked!

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that our vacation to Plymouth was beyond awesome!  The house was great.  I found it online several months ago and it would have been difficult to find a more perfect match.  I think the only complaint anyone had all week was that there wasn't central air.  Shelby and I were fine cause we've become sort of used to it from living up here, but all the Texans had a bit of a hard time a couple of days.  Other than that though it was fantastic.  You could see the ocean from several places in the house and it was a short bare footed walk to be on the sand.  With three babies under one year, a super active six year old, two restless bachelors and four couples, there was always something going on almost all day long.  When one baby would get up from a nap, another one would go down.  Some days a couple people took off for the grocery store and didn't return for three or four hours.  Each couple had the opportunity to get away for a little date during the week and take advantage of the grandparents free childcare.  Shelby and I used our day to take Mia out and have some alone time with her.  There is so much to do in Plymouth and one such thing is a pirate ship adventure.  Mia loves pirate stuff and was super excited to get to go out on a pirate adventure.  We searched for stolen treasure, shot water guns at the bad pirate who had taken it, finally got it back, found some fresh lobsters and crabs and got to hold one of each and learn about them and enjoyed being out on the water on a beautiful day.  We even got Mia a cute pink shirt that said "Pirate Girl."  Afterward we took her out for pizza and got her a piece of chocolate on a stick.  

The most amazing part of the whole week had to be the 3rd of July.  I know the 4th is what you would expect me to talk about, but on Manomet Beach it's the 3rd that is the big deal.  There were bonfires all along the beach  tons of people shooting off sweet fireworks, hippies playing bongos and guitars and dancing, sparklers and people of all ages having a great time together.  Shelby was in charge of our fire and it was the longest burning fire on the beach!  Mia had a blast with her friend who was staying next door to us, Nicole.  They were fast friends and spent most of the week playing together at either our house or theirs.  

Lennon had such a good time.  He loved being in a different place and having a huge deck to explore on every day.  He really loves being outside so the beach destination was great for him.  Jackson and Lennon really enjoyed each other too I think.  They were so cute in their little swimsuits that Gaga bought for them.  I felt like for the first time I could get to know Jackson a little better because Lennon was doing so well I didn't have to constantly hold him.  He is such a funny guy.  He's always smiling and laughing and making funny noises to get noticed.  He and Lennon are both very curious about everything.  One day we went to this indoor playground called Imagination Island and all the kids had a good time.  There was tons to investigate and manipulate and the babies and Mia all had a blast!  The men all got bored and went on a little trip to WalMart while the women stayed behind to watch the kiddos.  The best part about the place was that all the babies were free and Mia was just ten bucks.  

We had lots of awesome food and played games at night and generally just hung around the house or the beach and relaxed and enjoyed each other.  One day we went out into town and toured the Mayflower II, a replica of the Mayflower that actually made the voyage from England to Plymouth in the 50's.  It was cool.  Mia and I had toured it a couple of years ago, but it was nice to see it again and to share it with the rest of the family.  It was awesome and we're definitely looking forward to more vacations like it in the future.  Thanks Nana and Papa!  

So, we got back from Plymouth last saturday and everyone except Hillary left on sunday morning.  Hill and Jackson stayed until Wednesday morning and then Dusty came in town for a little visit Thursday night and just left a few hours ago.  In the morning Lennon, Mia and I will be getting on a plane for Atlanta for Kelsey's wedding.  I've had just enough time to unpack, do laundry, clean the house and repack and prepare for our next week of vacation.  Phew!  We're having lots of fun this summer, but it is super busy.  I just can't believe this time next week Kelsey and Bethany will be married!!!

A Night At The Museum

Okay, not the Ben Stiller Movie, but it was super fun.  The Museum of Science here in Boston has members only sleepovers for kids ages 6 and up.  Mia has wanted to sleep at the museum for a long time now and the last one of the year was the week after her birthday, so she just barely made the cutoff this year.  She had been excited for months about this and I don't think she was let down at all.  She loved every minute of it.  Poor Naomi had fractured her arm a week before so she had a cast on and was limited in how much running and jumping she could do, but she was such a trooper she didn't complain once.  It's amazing, we've been to this museum so many times in the past years and we still find something we've never seen before every time we go.  It is huge!  The girls learned about sign language, built models of baseball stuff,  experimented with friction, learned about what happens to the energy when heavy and light balls fall to the ground and had lots of time to explore the museum.  At 10 PM the museum provided a snack for everyone and much to Mia's delight it was none other than Dippin' Dots!  After our Dippin' Dots we went up to the Baseball exhibit that is currently at our museum and we all got to see how fast we could throw a ball.  Mia and Naomi did surprisingly well and I threw miserably as usual.  Just before midnight we headed over to our assigned "campsights."  After rolling out our sleeping bags Naomi started feeling a little homesick.  She called home and talked with her mom and ended up doing great.  The girls crashed almost immediately when they turned the lights out.  I on the other hand had a really hard time falling and staying asleep.  The floor was the most uncomfortable floor I have ever slept on, but it was totally worth it for all the fun we had.  In the morning we had a so-called breakfast - white bagels, yogurt in a tube, cereal and orange juice.  Naomi had brought chocolate milk boxes for her and Mia and they managed to save them for the morning.  Naomi put her chocolate milk in her cereal and ended up drinking it with a straw out of her cereal bowl.  It was pretty funny.  After breakfast we had a special planetarium show and then we got to see an omni film.  Both were awesome.  The planetarium was especially awesome because I knew we would be on the beach looking up at the stars the next night and the omni film was really cool and about prehistoric sea creatures.  Neither girl had ever been to the omni theatre before and I was a little worried that one of them was going to get scared especially since there were some moments in the movie where one giant scary looking fish would attack or eat another giant scary looking fish.  They both had an awesome time though.  After the movie we ran around the museum a little more and then headed home.  Directly after getting home we changed clothes and headed out with everyone to go down to Plymouth.    

Storyland: Glen, NH

I'll do this in installments so that you don't have to spend an hour reading about our last couple of weeks.  A lot has happened since Father's Day with us.  The big events were going to New Hampshire with Papa and Nana, having a sleepover at the Museum of Science with Naomi, and going to Plymouth with Papa's side of my family for the 4th of July.  

So, Papa and Nana flew in here just a couple days after Gaga left and we headed out the next morning for New Hampshire.  We stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast right in the center of a town called North Conway.  The owner was really nice and the cottages we were in worked out well despite some initial concerns.  It was motorcycle week or something so there were tons of dudes on motorcycles in the area and especially at the place we were staying, so sometimes it got a little noisy.  Still, the kids slept fine and we had a great time.  The best part was since we were in cottages and not a traditional hotel we could cook our food out on a grill instead of having to go out to restaurants every night.  

Storyland was awesome just like last year when we went with Gaga.  Although this year I was no longer pregnant so I was able to ride everything which made it a lot more fun for me.  Mia loved this turtle ride that spun around in circles while actually traveling around in circles.  My personal nightmare, but Papa, Nana and Daddy rode it with her multiple times.  One great thing about Storyland is the lines are never that bad.  Lennon was too small for most things but he did get the chance to ride his first amusement park ride.  He wasn't quite sure what to think about the antique cars, but he didn't NOT like it.  He did however like playing in the spray park there with Mia.  It is really cute and has a little yellow submarine with water guns for the kids to shoot at passersby.  While at the spray park I decided it was time to reapply sunscreen on the kids.  Trying to get in on Lennon's scalp proved to be harder and messier than I had expected.  Also later that day I realized that the kids had both gotten a little sun even with all the sunscreen.  A couple of days later we discovered that the "sunscreen" was actually diaper cream that was in a similar tube.  Moments like this really make me feel smart!  Our second day there Lennon was doing great but we decided to see if we could get him to take a nap in his stroller.  It was not looking like it was going to happen, but he seemed really tired.  SuperNana took over and took Lennon around trying to work her baby magic on him.  She finally took him riding around on the train to see if that might sooth him.  Meanwhile, Shelby and I had checked every store in the park for pacifiers because we had forgotten his and we thought he would fass asleep easier with one.  Well on the train Nana found an abandoned pacifier.  She asked me what I thought about using it and although it goes against every bone in my body and every cell in my brain, Lennon at this point was hysterical with no sign of calming down.  I gritted my teeth and agreed since Papa said he would wash it in super hot water and soap and we drenched it in colloidal silver I had in my diaper bag.  Pretty gross I know and it didn't even work.  He eventually calmed down, but never did take a nap that day.  Both days we were there it rained a little bit, but just enough to cool it off.   The weather was awesome and at night it was even a little chilly.  We all had to wear jackets after dark and first thing in the morning.  

Both mornings we were there we walked down to a playground just down from our hotel and there was this awesome coffee shop there that I thoroughly enjoyed!  On our last day we did some shopping in that same area where they had some cute toy shops and stuff.  Last year when we went we discovered these sodas that are made with real sugar and have no caffeine and they do interesting flavors like Tangerine Cream.  I don't let the kids have them but Shelby and I got some and they are sitting in our fridge still waiting for the time to strike that I might be in the mood for a soda.  I am so excited cause they are yummy!  We all had such an awesome time.  Thanks Papa and Nana!!!  

Lennon with "sunscreen" in his hair

The infamous abandoned pacifier

Mia at Cathedral Ledge on our way back to Boston

Having breakfast at The Old Red Inn and Cottages in North Conway, NH

Waiting in line for The Polar Coaster, the biggest ride at Storyland 

Mia on the Polar Coaster

Lennon on the Antique Cars wondering why he's allowed in the front seat

Mia doing her "mermaid pose" at the spray park

Following Directions

Yesterday Lennon had me read him "How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends"  over and over again.  Finally, because I was trying to get some laundry done before our trip to Atlanta, I asked him to bring the book to Dusty and have Dusty read it to him.  I didn't really expect him to do it because I haven't really tried anything like that with him yet.  Well, he took the book and went straight to Dusty and handed it over.  It was soo cool.  I guess he's that age now, but it's pretty fun to watch him grow and understand more and more every day.  I'm so excited to see him together with Reagan in just a few days.  They are both soo precious. 

Continue to stay tuned for our New Hampshire and Plymouth adventures...

Updates to come...I promise

I will post stuff from the last two weeks, I just haven't had the chance/energy yet.  My plan is to update this weekend.  So stay tuned...

Sweet Sleeping Bliss Batman!

Lennon went to sleep last night at 5 45 and slept straight through until 6 45 this morning.  Then he took an hour an a half nap from 10-11 30, normally he only takes 45-60 minute naps.  Then after lunch he slept from 2 45 until 5 15 and went back to bed at 7 with no complaints.  We'll have to see what happens tomorrow, I'm not planning on it being a trend, but it would sure be nice.  Ahhhhh...sleep!