Sweet Babies!

I just love this picture of our babies, so I had to put it on here. I swear I will get all the pictures uploaded in the next few days. There are a few really cute pics of all our little Turkey Babies.

Best Friends

Welcome Addison, we are so happy you are here. Can't wait till you are big enough to play with all your new friends. But for now, just stay tiny and cute and let your Momma sleep a little.

WELCOME BABY COOPER!

Welcome to the world! We are all so excited to meet you and see you grow up! You have wonderful parents who love you so much!

Ohio Trip and various tidbits

Well I survived my first solo trip on a plane with Rebecca. Yeah! Our trip was great and it was wonderful seeing most of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Here are a few highlights--

We first went directly to Cleveland where my dad's sister lives. Rebecca was great and even slept for about 30 mins. When we got off the plane people said "I didn't even know there was a baby on the flight!" The lady next to me on the plane was an angel. She was super nice and even offered to hold Becca so I could take a break.
Funny thing---her name was Catherine Cooper!!

My cousin Laurie who works at a day care center got Rebecca a very loud but cool toy and she loves it. Kylie is not a fan! :P We stayed in Cleveland from Thursday to Saturday then headed across the state to my Uncle Greg's house. It is actually where my grandmother lived but his family moved in when she passed away. I love it there. It is a large farm and very quiet. It was cool enough at night to sit outside and talk-imagine that! There were a ton of fireflies and I was tempted to catch a few!

My cousin Stephanie is expecting in November so we had her family shower while we were there. There were 22 people there and Rebecca was the highlight. She smiled at everyone and sang and babbled. She was then nicknamed "the happiest baby". She even napped with all the excitement. Rebecca got to meet her Great-great Aunt and Uncle (my grandma's brother). We took a ton of pictures! Alanna was able to change her work schedule so she drove up to see us. I miss her! My cousin Nathan also came home to "harrass" Uncle Bob. I used to babysit Nathan and play with him. Now he is a college grad and training to be a Police Officer. Between you and me--Nathan is one of my favorite people ever!

The flight back home was great since I had my parents to assist. Rebecca slept most of the longest flight--man she gets heavy! She was wide awake when Sean picked us up and she got the biggest hug from Daddy. He really missed her! Kylie of course went ape crazy when she saw us and her new toy from Gramma and Grandpa! We are settling in today and I sent my parents to the grocery store while Rebecca naps, plus I need 15 minutes by myself!

Tidbit--(long story short, I hope). Sean's co-worker's mother (got that?) owns a restaurant and needs a new GM. She wants to show Sean the property and talk about him running it. It is located in Stuart, Fl about 2 hours from Orlando and 2 hours from Miami. The pay is average but he was offered 50% of the profits. That has a ton of potential salary-wise. The restaurant has been in business for 13 years. Needless to say, this is such a weird time for us. We are going to head up to the restaurant this weekend, I think and check it out. We have a ton of preliminary questions before we even talk about this career change. The what-ifs are overwhelming! I feel good about the opportunity even if we pass on it. I just know that something will come for us and we will work it out. As long as we are together we will be fine.

Happy Birthday Kater Tot! ;o)

Just wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday! Hope you and Brian enjoy a fabulous b-day weekend in Amelia. Thank you for your wonderful friendship. Sending you much love and very happy birthday wishes.

Happy Birthday sweet friend! I LOVE YOU! xoxo

Oh BOY!

Another Lengthy Update

(because I'm COMPLETELY incapable of making these short)!

As I'm sure you won't be surprised we've got ALOT going on. It's Wild, it's Wacky, it's downright EXHAUSTING (or maybe that's just me being pregnant...lol).

My dear sweet friend Meghan just got married and Loki and I were both in the wedding. It was SUCH a treat to be in a wedding with him and he was SUCH a trooper. It was SCORCHINGLY HOT and he was NOT in any sort of attire appropriate for such heat. But he hung in there the whole time and did GREAT for photos. Here are just a few teasers for you for now.

In the picture above, we we were all supposed to be disgusted by the newlyweds kissing so I told Loki to stick his tongue out - which he did - only then I was trying to get him to look at the camera...LOL.

And here is our sweet man, soaked in sweat, ridiculously smiley and completely unwilling to change out of his "Handsome Attire"

I should also mention that while we were at Meghan's wedding, we had a tour go out...the VERY first tour, we've ever MISSED. It apparently went well. It's WEIRD having your business go on without you, but it did and I'm excited about what this means for our weekends!

I'm really in a VERY happy place right now. I've been a little more busy with work than I'd like to be this week but I am supposed to be full time and I'm probably not working more than a full time load, I'm just not accustomed to such a steady stream of projects! That being said, I couldn't be happier about our current situation. We DEFINITELY made the right decision staying put. I get to see the kids and WB thoughout my "work day." And I STILL have quite a bit of flexibility in my schedule. It's GREAT.

AND I just got the brand new HTC Droid Incredible today! And it's just that...INCREDIBLE. Well, OK, so really I don't know for sure if it's incredible, yet, since I've only had it a few hours and for the majority of those WB's been setting it all up for me and trying to figure out how to use it so he can show me...but I have high hopes.

We'll probably be headed down to Jonesborough Days this weekend to celebrate the 4th. And we have a cook out planned with my sister. So we should stay pretty busy. I'm a little bummed that we probably won't get to see any fireworks this year. Loki could probably handle them and would likely enjoy them, but Elora's still a little small and again with the whole not wanting to traumatize our children...

It's too bad we're not all together again watching the fireworks displays over the theme parks from the comfort of the resort's stair well. Sigh. Good times! I guess that's probably the ONLY thing that I'm NOT happy about: my distance from you ladies! Well, there's still time. Who knows what the future holds. I love you all and hope that you all have a Safe & Happy Fourth of July!

Potty Power

Meet Cornbread...son of Whitebread! LOL!

Yes, that is my child sitting on the toilet with a large piece of cornbread, looking like he's been picking up chicks on the beaches of Maui. The more I see our families grow the MORE I realize that the apples REALLY don't fall far from the trees (cough, cough...Reagan James & Katherine Schofield Yallaly...cough, cough)!

So, we're potty training...sigh....No really, it's going GREAT! I am THRILLED that we are down to one in diapers (since we'll be back up to two again in December...but why worry about that now...besides, they say that you can potty train girls quicker and easier...so Elora should be ready next week, right?!)

Before I dive into our full PT (potty training) philosophy and methodology, I want to make sure to point out that this is NOT our first potty training endeavor. Oh no...In fact, I decided that as SOON as Loki could walk, he could be potty trained. (I'm fairly certain I read that somewhere...probably on the Internet...and if it's on the Internet, it MUST be true, right?!). So, we purchased Potty Power, a silly DVD that does a surprisingly good job of explaining the whole potty process (and the tunes are pretty catchy, to boot). We also ordered The Potty Train, since the kid likes trains. Well, THAT was a COMPLETE waste of money. Do NOT order this book. Loki enjoys reading it, but the innuendos are SO vague that I can't imagine ANY child would understand that "When you feel like you've gotta go, take a ride on the potty train." has ANYTHING to do with putting excrement into a toilet. All that being said, we did have some MILD success when we first started. By "mild" I mean, he did pee on the potty ONCE and he would sit on the potty frequently (as long as he got an M&M each time he sat down).

We did the whole treat thing with each sit on the potty, until it became VERY apparent that we were being scammed. Loki would sit on the potty, demand a treat, promptly get off the potty, only to return to the potty minutes later and demand a second treat. TROUBLE.

Since that wasn't terribly successful, we sorta curbed our enthusiasm for PT'ing. However, that enthusiasm returned with reckless abandonment with each disposable diaper purchase (bear in mind that we don't actually purchase all that many disposables, either since we mostly do cloth).

So, we tried again, shortly before his second birthday because he started coming to us to tell us that he needed a diaper change. Now he didn't tell as ALL the time, just on occasion. But it was enough inspiration for me to purchase a NEW DVD and a NEW book. This time it was Elmo's Potty Time, which I actually enjoy. It's a GREAT supplement to Potty Power and a nice switch up for when the overly smiley Potty Power gal gets to be a little much...but I purchased it in conjunction with Too Big For Diapers, a Seasame Street board book ~ ANOTHER complete waste of cash! I'm just not impressed with the books. They don't seem to be able to convey the whole concept quite as well as the DVD's. And I will say that I am FAIRLY certain that it was all because of the DVD ground work we did that set us up for Loki being ready last month for all of this. But he WASN'T ready, then. He understood all of the concepts, knew that he should sit on the potty, got that "Big Kids" used the potty and "Babies" wore diapers, but with each extreme PT beginning he would literally BEG to have his diapers back. So, we gave them to him. I don't want to traumatize my kid (well, I'd like to keep it to a minimum, anyway).

But last month, Loki started telling us that he was "pooping" in his diapers and that's what did it for us. We were ready to do it AGAIN. Fortunately, I had JUST gotten my Parenting magazine in the mail and I found the "Extreme Potty Training" article and figure it was RIGHT up our alley. We didn't follow it to a T, we took ALOT of her recommendations and tried to modify her plan to accommodate for what she thought were short-comings and we couldn't be happier! On a VERY important note I should say that when we started for this FINAL round, we shifted to giving treats ONLY when something made it into the potty...and after the first couple of days, we stopped offering the treats all together. If Loki remembered and asked for one we would DEFINITELY give him one, but that didn't last long. And he doesn't even think about it any more. He just gets TONS of verbal praise and the occasional "Potty Cheer & Dance" from Momma!

We're 4 weeks in and we still have bad days but for the most part, Loki's making it to the toilet or a potty EVERY time! WOO HOO!

One down...two to go!

And on a side note...ladies, if you are using the potty seats that fit onto your adult sized toilet and you happen to share a bathroom with your toddler...be SURE to remove said seat before going to bed, or you'll be in for quite the surprise in the middle of the night!

Sorry to keep you waiting

Heeeerrrrrrreeeeeee'sss BAMBI

Please keep in mind that these are taken with my phone, so not the best quality. Brian spent all afternoon yesterday cleaning her up a bit and she looks a million times better. Still a long way to go before she is "usable" but we are excited. He is working on a name for his blog, so hopefully that will come together this week. I thought "One man's junk" but then he reminded me that "junk" is also a term for a man's business (if you know what I mean) so that was pitched. I'll keep you posted.

Pictures from this weekend

I just took this one of Reagan this morning, how funny is she? I swear she has on every accessory that she owns!

These are from our beach trip yesterday. Loki and Reagan had a great time, Elora - not so much.

And here are just a few of the pictures that I took at the condo. I am going to upload them to snapfish this afternoon.

Look at our cute little hatters!

Some pics from our mini-Stetson shower. We love you Katee and we are so excited for you and Kirk. You are going to be super parents and I can't wait to meet this little Cooper.

Oh, and look what Howie made last night. If you can't read it, it says "and then there were 20, Love the Bunn's +1". Yep, you aren't seeing things. There is another Bunn in the oven. Congrats House and Whitebread!

Next year, we are going to need a bigger house!

SURPRISE!

Please ignore my previous post. It would seem that we are, in fact, NOT moving! I know, I know...you think your head is spinning trying to keep up with us...try being US!

I don't really want to get into all the details, but the fact of the matter is, the timing is just WRONG.

Moving to Indiana and taking a job with Hanapin is the right decision for ME, but it's not the right decision for my family. WOW is it hard to come to terms with that!

Remember this post? Well, I've been re-visiting that ALOT lately. That and about a GAZILLION other things...In fact, here's WB's question for me the other day, "When you're 62 and you're writing your memoirs, what do you want to be writing about?"

I realized that I want to write about my family, about my friends (about YOU) and about my wacky bus tour company. I like Search Engine Marketing ~ I really do. And isn't that fortunate? I feel pretty lucky that I do, just so happen to enjoy doing the job that's paying all of our bills (mostly). But still, it's not really that notable. I mean sure, who doesn't love being successful and seeing their work benefit the company that's paying them? It's just that in the grand scheme of things, I don't find it particularly fulfilling to help companies get an edge over their competition through online marketing tactics.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to quit doing what I'm doing. And in fact, I may have to work a little harder to make it all happen. I don't exactly have anything lined up, now that I've turned down Hanapin's offer. Oh yes...we are in a rather precarious place! Certainly, there were atleast two other companies vying for my services, but whether or not their offers still stand remains to be seen.

OY! We may have just screwed ourselves over royally...but I'm oddly all right with it. Other than the In-Law drama that would probably follow me wherever I move, I'm very happy that we're staying put for the time being.

This doesn't mean that we're here for the long haul. In fact, I'm fairly certain that we will be relocating in the not too terribly distant future, but it won't be happening next month!

At the very least, this should mean that we will be relatively stress free this weekend and we can't wait!!! We are SOOOO excited to see you all!

Sha Kon O Hey

Ladies and Gentlemen...

That's Loki's new catch phrase..."Ladies and Gentlemen...1...2...3...GO!"

We're really not sure where that came from. We've never taken him to the race tracks or anything like that.

But yes, we do have some pretty big news to share. In fact, It's down right ALARMING (as atested to by the above firemen)! I bet the suspense is killing you! Well, it looks like these little Stetson girl gatherings are going to be a little trickier for us to get to, because we're MOVING!!!!

I've actually been in an odd state of denial about the whole thing. But after showing our house TWICE on Wednesday, it's finally starting to sink in. I accepted a position with Hanapin Marketing in Bloomington, Indiana. (The top picture is of the Bloomington Co Fire Dept in the early days of the previous century - I sure do hope they've updated a few things since then ~ atleast I hope they've gotten some slightly more fashionable uniforms ~ these just don't scream sexxy calendar boys ~ do you think?).

Anyway, I will continue doing the Search Engine Marketing work that I have been doing from home, only now I'll have an official office (or maybe cubicle) to sit in. More importantly, I'm going to have a steady income AND benefits!

It's been a wild, crazy ride these past few weeks as we made all sorts of decisions. I must admit that I'm a little flattered. I ended up in the middle of a bidding war between 3 different companies desiring my services. And if it wasn't so STRESSFUL, it would have been amusing!

One of the 3 is actually local, and I've been hoping they'd hire me on for some time (I've been doing quite a bit of contract work for them over the past few months), but they weren't willing to shell out enough dough to make it worth my while).

The other is the Houston based company, I've been contracting for, as well. And they even offered to let me continue working from home. Even though the salary bids were very close, Hanapin's commitment to it's employee's and my opportunities for growth were more than enough for us to chose them! While I'm not thrilled about moving, I am SUPER excited about my new position and the company I'll be working for.

Whitebread will be Mr. Mom for the next year or so as he gets things figured to attend Graduate School and Indiana University. I won't lie. I'm a little jealous. I'm supposed to be the SAHM! But this really is the best thing for our family for now.

And Jake? What about Jake? Well, there are still some decisions that have to be made. Jake is DEFINITELY staying here. We're just not sure if we're going to keep managing it (with the eventual possibility of Jake moving to Bloomington) OR if we're going to sell him. Luckily, we do have that option. We have a couple of people interested. So, that's nice, too.

Whew! I was hoping that like my previous post, getting this all out there would make me feel better but I think it's making it worse! We have SOOO much to do before we go. Lost State Tours has NEVER been busier (and it's still not as busy as we're hoping it will eventually be)! And of course, we're riding that train for AS LONG as we can.

We are still DEFINITELY coming down for Memorial Day! And we couldn't be more EXCITED! But suddenly we have alot of other things to figure out. As in, I think I may have just rented our house come June 1st! AAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!

52 in 52

DISCLAIMER: this is NOT the BIG news, you've all been waiting for...this is just an intermediary blog post to set forth a proposition...

All of these decisions we've been working on making (NOTE: many decisions have STILL yet to be made), has really gotten this gal a thinkin...and I promise to reveal the big news SOON!

I've REALLY been trying to figure out what I WANT out of life. (And I feel like atleast a few of you, my fellow Stetson Sixers are in VERY similar boats). I really just don't know. I honestly thought I had it all together. You know -> graduate high school, go to college, travel around the world, go to graduate school, get married, have babies, start a business....

When I sit down and think about it, the next BIG thing on my agenda is helping Elora plan her wedding (assuming that she wants one). Which means that we're looking at a gap of atleast 20 years here (and WB & I are hoping for MORE). Sure there will be plenty of other milestones. Plenty of exciting events and occassions between now and then but what do I want?

And I can't say that I've entirely figured it out. Well, you know, I want the usual: health, love, happiness, prosperity, male servants bringing me bon-bon's on my patio while I basque in the late summer sun! And I think that I can get most of that (saving the male servant bon-bon thing). But HOW do I make all that happen? Do I want a career? Do I want WB to have a career? Do we send the kids to school? Do we try to homeschool them? Do we like our kids enough to homeschool them? SHEESH! Sooooo, many questions.

Now, I'm not opposed to a career. I've always sort of figured I'd have one - though I NEVER knew what it was going to be. I'm sure that part will all come together one way or another...but is that ENOUGH? Is that all I want out of life? (Not that having ALL of that would be bad). But I think I want more. (I know you're all thinking, "Damn, she's a greedy little looney bird, isn't she?")

But really! I do WANT more. And I'm beginning to realize that if I just VOCALIZE (or in this case, print) my dreams and aspirations that there is a VERY good chance that they JUST might come true.

So here it is:

In 10 years, I want to travel the WHOLE world with my immediate family. I want to take 52 weeks and visit 52 unique locations.

Loki will be 12, Elora will be 10 and who knows about any of the rest of the wild young un's we plan on producing...

But we'll spend a week in each locale. That gives us enough time to rest and recuperate before traveling again and it allows us to keep to some sort of schedule, which I think will be important for the kids - even if they are older.

Now, I know that there is a VERY good chance that this may never come to fruition. There are a TON of things to figure out and to take into consideration. But I have 10 years to try. 10 years to plan and organize and put it out there to the world that THIS is what I intend to do, so any help, encouragement, or enthusiasm you want to throw my way, GO FOR IT!

I am so SUPER excited to have this out! To have this down and documented! This could be the beginning of something BIG (and it may just be a dream), but it's a GOOD one.

What's your goal? What's your dream? What do you want the world to know?

Dolly Would

Part of Loki's 2nd Birthday present (and Aleaa's 6th Birthday present) from my Mom was a family trip to Dollywood! It was a little rainy to start but we had a BLAST none the less. And in case ANY of you crazy kids decide you want to head north and visit Dolly's Model City ~ we've got season passes and would LOVE to join you (Plus, I think we can get you a discount ticket!)

Enjoy the pics!

This is our fancy schmancy double stroller (complete with breathable rain tarp)!

Loki and his cousin Aleaa ride the pigs (no, they don't fly)!

Loki and Aleaa in front of the Dollywood Express

This is a cute family photo ON the Dollywood Express. The sad story behind this picture is that we had waited ALL day to ride the train (it was ALL Loki talked about). But by the time the train pulled out ~ Loki had fallen fast ASLEEP. Note to self: Next time, ride train FIRST!

It was a GREAT day and a well needed holiday. The timing was PERFECT as we had just received some long anticipated news which would soon require some SERIOUS decision making on our behalf.

Stay Tuned....

Birthday Madness

It's a little wacky to think how much babies change in 24 short months. Our sweet little man officially turned 2 last Sunday. It's been a wacky ride!

He has learned so much!!! It seemed like it took him FOREVER to walk and now he's got a mind of his own and we can't keep him out of things. Who's idea was it to name him "Loki, " anyway?!

I can't be entirely sure that the poor kid really understands "birthdays". He was sort of born amongst a slew of familial birthdays and right around the same time a few of our friends had children. So, I think that he thinks it's a SEASON. But how awesome is that? That instead of just one day, he gets a couple of WEEKS!.

Needless to say he's been LOVING singing, "Happy Birthday" to anyone and EVERYONE. Yesterday, he was singing it to the cows we passed in the car.

Because we've had so much going on and because we don't really think TWO is quite big enough for his own party, we just had a small dinner at our house. It was actually a pretty big celebration. Not only was it Loki's second birthday but it was also Easter and my Mom's birthday.

Even though it was just family, we did put in a little effort. Loki's ONLY birthday request was to have a Train cake. In fact, he talked about having a Train cake for weeks. I have NO idea where he got the idea. But I figured I needed to get it for him, so I found a nifty Wilton Cake pan and made him a Train cake.

It turned out pretty well (as evidenced by the included photos). I baked the cake the night before, and when he woke up on his birthday, I showed him the unfrosted cake. He took one look at it and said, "I need a spoon."

And when the time finally came for him to blow out the candles (he'd been practicing all week), he was SO excited that we had to re-light them 3 times because he wanted to do it again!

It really was a great weekend but you can tell that we were all a little partied out. Elora didn't even make it to Easter dinner. The picture to the right was literally taken moments before we sat down to eat. I had ONLY just put the bib on her (and she was awake at the time). By the time the below family photo was taken, we had been to 5 birthday parties over the previous 4 day! WOW! We really are PARTY animals!!! And for a nominal fee (including birthday cake) we can liven up your next celebration!!! Just give us a call.

Lot's going on

Soooo, I have had a crazy 2 weeks. Spring break is here and in full effect. The shop was busy last week with private school break, and this week has been hopping because of public school break. Loving all the new customers, but I am pooped! I started at Weight Watchers as of today. I have finally found my tipping point and I can't take it anymore. Plus, I don't want to look like a pregnant person during our Memorial Day get-together. MAJOR NEWS: I have decided that I am going to move the new store. Yep, you heard it right, I am going to move the new store. I am TRYING to make this move in the next month. Again, yep, you heard it right. Nothing like running around like a chicken with your head cut off. I am going to look at a possible place first thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will work out, the money will be right and we can move forward. I will keep you posted. Reagan as also been off this week and is driving me a little crazy! I had Haley (a customer/friend) come watch Reagan while up at the shop yesterday. She was a big help and I think I may use her more this summer. She is in middle school, so not old enough yet to leave her home with Reagan, but up at the shop works great. I really miss you all and I can't wait until Memorial Day.

Love,
Me

Blanket over my head

So this is how I feel--can I pull the blanket over my head?!?!?

There is really no good news here. As you all know, I unexpectedly lost my job last Monday and I am still in shock. I have cried, been pissed off and hit a pillow! We officially lost the house as we don't qualify for the financing. I removed Rebecca from day care so now I am a stay at home mom looking for a job. It is really hard to find adequate time to search for a job while taking care of her.

I know all the optimists have told me it will be ok but today I am really sad and pissed at the same time. We were supposed to close on the house today. We were 8 days away from the life I have worked so hard for--we had exactly what I wanted for Rebecca and now it just seems so far away and unattainable to me. I just feel like a 34 1/2 year old failure as I still can't get my sh!t together. I have this feeling of guilt in relation to Sean as I made his personal dream disappear. That eats at me daily. I hate the fact that he had to suffer.

My parents are still coming to see Becca and allow me to search for a job during the day so that will be nice. As for the future, Sean and I have decided to limit my job search to Florida as we are both licensed if I decide or have to practice law. It would be nice to get out of S. Fl but Sean loves his job and I would hate for him to loose that considering it took him so long to find a job he loves.
The decisions we have to make are huge and I want to pull the blanket over my head!

Yallaly update

Ok, so I am so far behind in updating pictures and stories. I am working on a great post in my head and maybe in the next few weeks I will get around to posting it. In the meantime, Reagan appears to be feeling better, I am taking her to work with me tomorrow. The shop is doing really well, we are sold out for this weekend's breakfast with Bun-Bun. I have planned Brian's birthday present for May and I am so excited that I want to tell him right now, but I know I have to wait. I hope he is as excited as I am about it. Here are some pictures from the last 6 months or so......

The Joys of Parenting--Allen Style

Uggh. What a past week and half! Where to begin...

Rebecca had diarrhea for a few days so I took her to the pediatrician on Thursday, March 4th. Dr. said she looks good, watch for dehydration and give her some pedialyte. Cool, we can do that.

Oh then on Friday I get a call that the new house didn't appraise and the sale is in jeopardy. Super!

At 5am on Sat, March 6th she has a fever of 101.7F. Take her to the pediatrician, again. Of course it is the one Saturday every 6 months Sean has to work. Dr said she has a double ear infection--orders blood work and a urinalysis (don't ask). I was there for 5 hours. She was super hot and clingy. He proclaims with sarcasm that she is the youngest baby with an ear infection he has ever seen. Wonderful. Give her this pink medicine, cool we can do that.

Oh, the seller decides that she will lower the price on the house--sale back on. Whew....Now we have to re-fill out all the mortgage crap....

Go back in for check up Tuesday, March 9th--ears look better. Tell the Dr. she has a occasional cough. He said if it gets worse bring her in. Cool, we can do that. Oh, did I mention that they misplaced Rebecca's chart. I had a 9:15 appt and had to "remind" them at 10:00 that I was still here and babies who came in after me had already been seen and left. Jeesh.

This Friday she starts coughing a lot. Of course with asthma in the genes we are keeping an eye on her. Sat the cough continues. Katee and Kirk are here to visit! Sunday she is starting to wheeze. We take her back to the pediatrician. He gets Rebecca to smile and laugh. He orders a chest xray and breathing treatments. We do the breathing treatment and she breaks out in this rash. Go get the Dr. He says stop the albuterol. Cool, we can do that.

He prescribes an alternative to albuterol. We had to go to 4 different pharmacies to find it. We find it. Yeah! Did I mention that this is all before noon on Sunday--and that the biggest street festival in the world is 2 blocks from our house and if we don't get home soon we will not be able to get home? I mean we would have to show ID to get to the area. Unbelievable. Oh and spring forward is fun....load of fun.

The final straw is that my mother-in-law is coming for a week starting tomorrow. She is renting a car at the airport but one of us has to go to the airport so she can follow us back to our house. Are you kidding me? Why is my life morphing into a bad sitcom episode--ha ha!

I will admit to having some alcohol over the past 10 days...I might need some more to make it through the week.

The Joys of Parenting

I'm sure you'll all remember my minor addiction to "tragic Mom" blogs. Well, perhaps it was all preparation for the past two weeks...

I never thought that I would EVER say, "I wish my child JUST had MUMPS!" And yet, I repeated those words about half a dozen times over the past week.

When I created this post about Loki having the Mumps, I'm not entirely certain that we even had doctoral confirmation. And while our doctor was fairly certain that we were correct and that Loki did indeed have the mumps, there's no way to tell for sure, without a blood test. And since you can't really treat the mumps anyway, we both decided that it was unnecessary, at the moment, and we'd revisit the topic the next time Loki had blood drawn.

After about a week of being not quite himself, Loki looked to be on the mend. He regained his interest in toys, his voracious appetite returned and he was pretty much the typical toddler we have all grown to know and love! EXCEPT that his mump lump didn't seem to be healing. In fact, it appeared to be getting redder and larger.

All of this would, of course, take place when WB and I were both SUPER busy AND when our doctor went out of town. So, I was corresponding with him via email and since Loki seemed to be acting pretty normally he assured us we didn't need to worry. By the time, I was too concerned to ignore this new growth that we came to call 'George', it was Friday afternoon just as the Doctor's office was closing so I had no choice but to wait until Monday morning.

By Monday, George was moving outside the city limits and trying to annex Loki's right eye. The doctor we saw ordered an ultrasound for Tuesday that nearly destroyed the very fiber that holds our toddler together and keeps his eyes in place. And by this morning George had his own zip code (and began building real estate on said eye (read: STY) !

After getting the run around nearly ALL day ~ the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist (whose receptionist wanted to know if Loki's problem was his " E - A - R" and to whom I wanted to respond to with, "No, it's his L - U - M - P" and I'm still not entirely sure why we were spelling things in the first place) took one look at Loki and told us his jaw was abcessed and that he needed to drain it. Which he did rather quickly and the promptly wrote a prescription for Amoxocillan and some crazy eye drop that should emancipate Loki's eye from the evil grips of George and his manifest destiny.

We have been worried sick for weeks and in 20 minutes time some strange man, in a strange place suctioned all of the anxiety carried in my sons ever growing chin into a little syringe and says, "I know it's kinda weird and gross but check this out," and waves around a milky bloody mess of goo that he plans to send off for analysis.

WOAH!

Between all of our appointments today, I single handedly wrangled both children into and out of Chick-fil-a. Another wild and wacky experience to add to my running list...and while it was difficult in and of itself, the hardest part was fighting back the tears as the other children on the playground looked at Loki and made faces and said things like, "I don't want to play with him, he's scary" and "Oh no, here he comes, run and hide."

Now, I know kids will be kids and I was probably a little strung out from all the anxiety of not knowing what sort of demon George was and also by the possibility of George having to be surgically removed (which is what the first doctor told us this morning), but wow, you don't really know what it's like until you are that kid (or that kid's mother). Though, in their defense, Loki did look a little frightening.

I'm just happy it's all over for now and that this "tragic Mom" can go back to being the zany mom who lets her son eat pizza in the bathtub!