Monday, October 30, 2006


I got out of the shower a few days ago to find Houston standing in front of the tv watching cartoons with the can of Ovaltine. He would like his fingers and stick them in the chocolate and then eat it off his fingers. He made such a mess. The scary part is how high up in the cabinets the Ovaltine was. He is such a monkey these days. He climbs on everything!

Some friends of ours had a Halloween party last night. I was a witch and Brett was a warlock. Houston was Blue from Blue's Clues but he fell asleep on the way there and slept through the whole party. He was tired from spending the day bird hunting with Daddy. Brody was a little halloween baby.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Thank you Rachel, for the reminder ... where would I be without you?


The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference.

Monday, October 16, 2006

You have got to be kidding me!

Apparently I now have the hand, foot and mouth crud as well. I felt a little feverish yesterday but thought I was just feeling drained due to lack of sleep. I noticed my tongue felt a little funny last night too. Well now I have a sore on my tongue and let me tell you ... that is not a fun thing! My whole mouth feels kind of achy. It's a strange feeling. I feel like i've been chewing on my tongue.

I think last night with the boys was definitely the worst so far. I forgot to give Brody his reflux medicine yesterday so I spent most of the night holding him in an upright position to keep the acid from coming up and burning the sores in his mouth. Sounds fun huh? Everytime I would doze off and he would start to move he would start screaming again. It took me about three hours of this to realize what I had done in forgetting his medicine. I went ahead and gave it to him and we finally got some sleep about an hour later. Houston only woke up a couple of times but of course it was during the time when I was getting a little cat nap. The three of us camped out in the living room last night and I kept moving from couch to recliner to loveseat depending on who I was comforting at the time.

I had to cancel my accupuncture appointment and my tutoring session for today. Apparently i'm not going to get to go to the gym either. I figure i'll be the good samaritan that I am and not go spread this crud around the gym. Well I hear Houston crying over his mouth pain again so I better go for now. That definitely seems to be the worst part of it. The rash doesn't seem to bother either of them much.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

What a weekend!

Well it's 4pm on sunday already and I don't have anywhere near the amount of work done that I wanted to. I have not had much sleep lately due to the hand, foot and mouth crud we have. Houston was up the first half of the night with a fever so I suppose he'll have the rash and mouth sores by tomorrow if not sooner. Then Brody was up the second half of the night crying and being uncomfortable. He seems to be doing better as the day rolls on though so maybe he's finally turning around. I am in serious need of some sleep though, let me tell you! I've been staring at the same engineering project for about three hours and i'm not even halfway done. These jobs usually take me a couple of hours. I'm definitely moving in slow motion. Speaking of which, I think i'll go get another cup of coffee before I get back to it. I have three jobs to finish today. The first one was a no-go because I found out the plans were drawn wrong and they are missing a critical page so i'm down to two for the day. I should have been done by now. I'm sitting here looking at the clock on the computer and I just don't feel it should be this time already. I guess waking up every hour or so for the last three nights in a row is beginning to wear on me. And my left eye has been twitching since friday afternoon. What is up with that? Super, super aggrivating. Well enough complaining and procrastinating for now. I better get back to work. I really hope this hand, foot and mouth thing goes away soon. Not only because I want some sleep but because Houston and Brody's Pappy Tom and Grammy Lee are getting married on saturday and I really don't want to bring this crud with us to the wedding ... and i'm sure they don't want us to either! If Houston does get a rash by tomorrow and it runs its three day course then he should be not contagious two days after that. If all that works out then he should be good by friday when we leave ... just in the nick of time!

Friday, October 13, 2006

What a day so far!

It all started about 4 am. Brody woke up crying and I couldn't calm him down for anything. I did notice that he started crying worse every time he peed. Well finally about the fifth diaper change at about 8 am I decided to put my glasses on and was quite surprised at what I saw. Poor little guy had a really bad rash all over his thighs, diaper area, chest, chin and even on his lips! So I called the pediatrician and we got ready and headed to Gainesville. On the way there I realized that I started taking grapefruit seed extract on wednesday and started to worry that I may be responsible for the mess on my child. So I called my friend Angela, a lactation consultant, to ask her about it all. She couldn't find any info to point to anything i'm taking so I felt a little better about things before I got there. (read the post below about the whole tooth infection thing) She made a good point about not telling the doc right away about the supplements so that I didn't steer her towards an easy answer and away from investigating things further. Didn't take her long though once she looked at him. Turns out he has hand, foot and mouth disease which sounds horrible but is almost like chicken pox. It's just a virus that has to run its course. The bad thing is that it is painful. He has sores all in his mouth and that's why he keeps refusing to nurse. The doc said to give tylenol for the pain and keep him hydrated. I've been giving him water with a straw and he seems to really like it. He sucks it down. The tylenol seems to have helped him some too. I went to Target on my way out of town to get him some tylenol and some disposable diapers (to keep the wetness off the rash, we usually use cloth) and some disinfecting supplies since the doc gave me the wonderful news of how contagious it is and that we will be lucky if we all don't end up with it. So looks like we will be spending the weekend alone, in hopes of not spreading this any further. We were just at the doctor on monday for Brody's 4-month check-up so that is probably where we got it from. They said it's been going around and they have seen several cases recently. That's the second time in two months we've picked up some sort of crud from the pediatricians office. So much for "well baby" check-ups huh? They should call them "hope your baby is still well after this" check-ups.

Oh and my favorite thing of the day besides the constantly crying baby and lack of sleep and hearing about the possibility of us all getting the crud? After I drove away from Target and was about to get on the interstate I reached for my phone to call Brett and guess what? I didn't have my purse anymore! I turned around and high-tailed it back to the Target parking lot and found my purse in the buggy in the parking lot!!! Holy cow man, what a day. At least I didn't leave a kid in there! Luckily I parked way out in timbucktwo in the parking lot so as not to get a dent in the pretty new car i'm driving around so my purse was out there by itself. Well that and the thing is pretty big and i've realized i'm not that good at parking it yet. I've come out of some places to get back in the car and looked at where I was between the lines and thought "now who in the heck parked that thing?". The extra walk is good for me too since my body seems to be resisting losing the baby weight this time around. I've been going to the gym three times a week and watching what I eat and I can't seem to lose a pound. Okay well that's not completely true. I've lost about two pounds in two months. That's pretty ridiculous. I never even went to the gym after Houston was born and I lost almost all my baby weight by this point. I still have 15 pounds to go. Everyone keeps telling me it will come and I guess I just have to go with that. I'm really getting tired of wearing the same four outfits I have that fit me though. Something has to change. That milkshake I decided to get as stress relief on the drive home after the Target fiasco probably isn't going to help me any but it sure was good. I got one of those Smores Halloween Milkshakes from Steak 'n Shake ... yummy. It actually has marshmellows and graham crackers in it that are small enough to fit in the straw. What an invention!

Okay ... that's enough rambling for now. I have a killer headache. I think i'll go take some tylenol myself and try to rest my eyes for a bit. Yeah ... like that's gonna happen.

One other thing i've been meaning to share with you all ... if you ever have pee, dog, kid or otherwise on your carpet and can't seem to get rid of the smell I found a wonderful solution. Wet the carpet and pour some Borax on it. Work the Borax into the carpet with a broom and let it air dry. When the carpet dries vacuum it up and the smell will be gone. We had some dog pee in the boys room (don't ask, long story) that I was sure I was going to smell until we ripped up the carpet. I had a box of Borax for flea control (natural flea killer/repellant also) and I noticed something on the box about using it to get urine odors out of matresses. I thought i'd try it on the carpet and I am amazed. I can actually put my nose IN the carpet and take a big whiff and I don't smell any pee anymore. YAY!!!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Some Ramblings..

Brody had his 4 month checkup yesterday. He weighs 17 pounds (90th percentile) and is 26 inches long (85th percentile). He is still a big boy, obviously, but he has leveled off a little bit. This is the first time he has fit on their growth charts. He's been in the greater than 95th percentile in everything up until now. He is wearing 12 month and some 9 month clothes. He's gotten really good at grabbing for things. Houston and I were eating lunch at the park last friday and Brody grabbed a potato wedge right out of my hand and stuck it in his mouth! He is definitely ready to eat but his doc says to wait until he is 6 months old. It's funny how things change so quickly. When Houston was a baby the American Acadamy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggested starting solids at 4 months. Now they say wait until 6 months because they will be less likely to be obese later in life. Houston never showed interest in food until he was about 6 months old. Brody has been showing interest since he was about 3 months old.

I finally cut Houstons long hair yesterday. I was trying to keep the curls in the back without him having a mullet. I finally gave it up and cut it all short. He looks so cute. I think it makes him look older. I'll post a picture once I find the camera. Let me tell you though ... cutting a two-year-olds hair is quite the challenge. I ended up sitting him in front of some cartoons and feeding him chocolate to get him to stay still enough. I still ended up chasing him around the house several times. What an ordeal! It turned out pretty good all things considered. It's hard enought to cut hair when you're not a hair dresser and then when your subject is moving all over the place it is really a challenge!

So that's what's up with the boys. As for me, i'm fighting some infections in my teeth. No cavaties but my teeth are killing me. I had a root canal last thursday and now another tooth needs one. I'm trying to cure it homeopathically right now. I'm sitting here wondering why I paid a dentist $1800 (ouch!) to do a root canal on a tooth with no cavaty. Why didn't we try antibiotics first if it's just infected from the inside? I was caught off guard by the no cavaty thing. I was sure I had a bad cavaty that needed a root canal. The whole left side of my face was throbbing. Thing is, $1800 later and a temporary crown and the left side of my face is still throbbing. It hurts to touch my cheek. Now it's the tooth in front of the one with the crown. Ugh! Anyone now of any natural things to try? I found some homeopathy websites that listed some remedies to try. I'm trying the first one now but I think it's time to move on to the next one on the list. I'm also trying some natural antibiotics: colloidal silver, garlic and grapefruit seed extract. I'm really hoping I can cure this naturally and not have to take any antibiotics since i'm nursing and tend to be allergic to most antibiotics. Fun stuff!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Pathfinder
















Isn't she pretty? :-)

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Our New Car















We went to Gainesville to buy our new car tonight. I feel so spoiled. I've never had a car this nice or this new. It's a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder and it only has 16k miles on it. Still under factory warranty. Leather interior, Bose sound system, 6-disc cd changer, power sun roof, 3rd row seat. SWEET!

I'll get a better picture tomorrow when it's light out.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Car Shopping

Too many decisions! Well we went to Jacksonville last night and test drove an '04 Honda Pilot. Then we went to Gainesville tonight and drove an '06 Nissan Pathfinder. We have decided on the Pathfinder. We both like it better and you can get a newer one with less miles (with remaining factory warranty) for the same price as an older Pilot with more miles. The Pathfinder is truck based and the Pilot is car based which is probably why we both like the Pathfinder better. I also like the overall look of the Pathfinder better. And the Pathfinder comes standard with more of those fancy things like a Bose sound system, 6 disc cd changer, power sun roof(love it), etc. Sweet vehicle and more my style than the Pilot.

Now we just have to find the right Pathfinder. I really like the one we drove tonight (http://www.southeastcaragency.com/detail.aspx?iid=1168316&anchor=/2006/Nissan/Pathfinder/SE/SUV. I've contacted several dealers and we are waiting to hear back from them with thier best price offer. Hopefully we will have a new(er) car by saturday.