Photographic Update

Shut the front door! I blogged twice in one day!
Scroll down or click here to read my post, “Adventures in Potty Training!”

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Last Wednesday, I logged on to Carnival’s website and saw this:

Which led me to do this on Wednesday afternoon…

My hyacinth is blooming. I absolutely love hyacinth. It smells heavenly! I just wish it bloomed all spring and summer long! I’ll be sad once it goes away.

These pretty babies are (were – this picture is a week old) blooming right outside of the doors that I walk through to go into school every day. They always make me smile and are a good start to my work day. =)

On Thursday, I returned to Henderson so that I could waste an entire day for no reason for a “Hot Topics” day. While waiting in the library for Stephen to finish up an assignment so that we could get the heck outta Arkadelphia go home, I hopped on a computer to read some blogs. Obviously, the fine staff at Huie Library is not using my $60 Library Fee (PER SEMESTER – plus $15 each summer session I’ve taken) to buy frigging canned air. There’s no telling what nasty things are growing in their keyboards. Think I should send this picture to them? Gross.

I took this picture of Christopher a week or two ago. I used the Red Stamp app on my iPhone to create a postcard to send to Nana and Pop Pop. The picture of Christopher is perforated so they can pop it out if they ever choose to do so. They loved it!

Last Friday night I wasn’t very hungry. I had bought a box of Lucky Charms for a St. Patrick’s Day themed Bunco party I hosted last Monday, but I had forgotten to use it during the party.  It sounded good for dinner, so that’s what I had. It’s been forever since I had Lucky Charms… I always eat the cereal part and save the marshmallows for last. I’ve done that since I was a kid. I also do that with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream… I eat around the cookie dough and save it for last then stuff as much of it into my mouth as possible. It’s really an attractive quality…

I had bought Almond Milk about a month ago for making smoothies and I’d only used about a cup of it for one smoothie. I decided to try it in my cereal. I couldn’t tell the difference between this and regular milk. I believe it’s something I’ll keep around.

My super hero… love this boy!

Today (Monday) I’m feeling yucky. I was sick yesterday, too… head cold/sinus type junk. Not to mention girl problems, ifyouknowhatimean.

My sweet hubby brought me this during lunch today. Caffeine for my headache. Yes, please!

Adventures in Potty Training

Last Wednesday, Christopher came home from his baby sitter with a very bad rash. I’m not sure if it was his jeans rubbing his legs or if he had worn a wet diaper for a long period of time, or what. We love his new “school” and “teacher” and I know that she is very busy with a lot of kids – but it was a bad rash. Like nothing he had ever had before. Anyway, it just made mom and me sick to our stomachs. I had to be out of town on Thursday and mom was already planning on keeping Christopher that day since Stephen and I would be leaving home early – 6am – and not getting back until 7 or later on Thursday evening. So Mom decided to try out potty-training again on Thursday. I think they had accident after accident for most of the day on Thursday, but that afternoon he seemed to finally “get it” and asked to go to the bathroom twice.  Mom decided to keep him again on Friday so that they could focus on it some more.

Thursday evening at our house went great.  He kept his undies dry and told us when he needed to go. He put on special Thomas the Tank Engine underwear to sleep in (overnight) and we told him – keep “choo-choo” dry! Don’t let him get wet! Friday morning when I woke him up, he was dry and SO PROUD of himself for keeping choo-choo dry. In a matter of about 15 minutes, he had to go potty three times. When the third time came around, he was already dressed to go to my mom’s – wearing jeans and socks and shoes. When I put him up on the toilet, he wasn’t able to “spread out” the way he had been previously and the toilet seat topper didn’t have one of those nifty “cup” things on it that helps the boys out when they’re going. You know what I mean? So add those two things together and when Christopher started going, well, the pee shot up OVER the toilet seat cover and went ALL OVER Christopher’s choo-choo underwear. When he realized what was happening, he started crying, “Nooooo! Choo-choo WET! Choo-choo WET!”   He was crying real tears and so upset about it.  It seriously broke my heart. I was right there with him, about to cry. I kept telling him that it wasn’t his fault, that the toilet seat had gotten choo-choo wet. Oh my goodness… he’s got his momma’s sensitivity. Needless to say, we made sure to get a proper toilet seat for boys after that incident.

Friday morning he had a few accidents at Mom’s house, but I think the afternoon went okay. (I think.)  Friday afternoon at our house went well – as did the whole weekend! He doesn’t always stay dry overnight – maybe 1 out of every 4 nights he will wet himself. But all weekend long he kept himself dry and always told us when he needed to use the bathroom – except for going Number Two… yeah, he still prefers to go off in a corner or behind furniture and do that in private, without our knowledge. I hope as soon as he actually GOES in the toilet and realizes how easy it is -  not to mention cleaner and nicer - he’ll have no problems.

Overall – for me at least – it was a really simple process.  My  mom had to clean up most of the messes though, so she might argue that statement with me. I’m impressed though – it only took 2 days for him to really get it and I know that for some kids it takes much longer. Of course, he’s also two and a half and lots of children potty train earlier than that age so it might take longer because of that reason.  Either way, I’m super proud of him. I can’t believe that Stephen and I are done buying diapers! (At least until Christopher has a little sibling!)

weekend fun

If you consider cleaning fun, of course.

Last Saturday, Stephen had do leave around 8:30 to go to a tournament several hours away. Christopher was up early that day so I decided to make pancakes for breakfast before Stephen left for the day. I didn’t think to get any pictures of the pancakes… but they were yummy!

After Stephen left, Christopher and I got busy cleaning the house. Well, I got busy cleaning the house. Christopher has always been really good about independent play, and he’s getting to the age now where he is content to play in his room instead of dragging everything out into the living room or wherever else. He also likes to help me fold towels or take laundry from the dryer to the living room to fold. I had washed, dryed, and put away (!!!!!) three loads of laundry by noon on Saturday! That’s big for me.

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday, so after Christopher woke up from his nap, we headed outdoors to do some projects/cleaning outside.

 

Both these pictures (above and below) are of Christopher saying CHEEEEESE.
He cracks me up.
He sometimes doesn’t let me take pictures of him – but when he does, he always says CHEEEESE,
then he says ME SEE! and wants to look at the picture.

Another one – you can’t tell he’s saying CHEESE as much in this picture, but he has his hands underneath his chin, which (I mentioned in my last post) he also does frequently when I take his picture.

We got so much accomplished that day and we had lots of fun in the process. That afternoon, my family came over to help with a few projects (replacing our old thermostat with a new digital one, hanging new blinds in C’s room, and replacing some door knobs) and we ordered pizza for dinner. Stephen got home late – midnight – and I had just gone to bed when he got home. He got up with Christopher the next morning and I slept until 10:38 on Sunday morning! I was exhausted from such a long day of cleaning a projects the day before, I guess.. ha!

Chryptorchidism

Yesterday, we took a trip to ACH in Little Rock for Christopher’s specialist appointment.
On our way there – blurry, but he does this thing now where he puts his hand under his chin and says “CHEEEESE!”

About a month ago, during bath time, I noticed a big lump/knot in Christopher’s pelvic area. It scared me – a lot. I have a grandfather who had testicular cancer, so yeah. Scared me.  When I went to show it to Stephen a few hours later, it was gone. Weird, right?

Taking a picture in the wavy mirror.

Within the next few weeks, I saw it again, as well as my mom and Stephen. It would just show up at random times. Sometimes it was big, sometimes it was small. It wasn’t always in the same exact spot. We made an appointment with our family doctor – which happened to work out well because that’s when Christopher was sick with a cough and an ear infection. The lump wasn’t there when he went to our doctor, but my mom did have a picture of it and showed the picture to our doctor. He made a guess that it was cryptorchidism.

His “bracelet.”

We met with a pediatric surgeon at ACH yesterday who confirmed that it is, in fact, cryptorchidism. The solution is surgery – an orchiopexy, to be exact. We have scheduled the surgery to be March 29th. It should be a fairly simple surgery and should not require a hospital stay. There is a possibility that they may have to do it in two stages, but they will not know if that’s the case until he is under anesthesia and they actually go in there. The surgeon said that more than likely, it would not require a second surgery.

Bracelet I bought a few weeks ago. ($4 on Groopdealz – yay!) I thought it was appropriate for our appointment yesterday.

We are so thankful that it is nothing more serious than this.  We are also thankful for Arkansas Children’s Hospital! They are one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation and I know that Christopher will be in the best hands possible for his surgery. I’m nervous – don’t get me wrong – but it could be so much worse. We saw some seriously sick kids yesterday. Makes our problem seem very minor.

Exhausted from a long day – he was alseep before we got out of Little Rock city limits!

two point five

Christopher today…

Six months ago today…

One year ago today…

One and a half years ago today:

Two years ago today…

Two and a half years ago today…

Christopher Tyler,
How is it possible that you are two and a half years old today?!?!?! I cannot believe how time has flown by over the last 30 months.
The last two and a half years have been, without a doubt, the best of my life.  I love you more than I could possibly ever say. I am blessed beyond words that God chose ME to be your mommy. You are a bright, energetic, loving, silly, caring, well-tempered, huggable, loveable, squeezable, slightly OCD, Elmo-loving, blue-eyed, blonde-haired little boy and I have loved watching you grow from a baby into a toddler and now into a little boy.
You have really started using words over the last two or three months and that is when your true personality has really started to shine. You crack me up! You are so smart. You have my bossiness and a bit of my temper but you are mostly laid back like your daddy. You love to sleep and recently you have really gotten into playing with smaller toys, like cars and trains and such. You love to play “hide and seek” right now. You hide under the desk or table or under a towel and say “Moooommmmmaaa!!! I HIDE!” and after I’ve “found” you, you say “I HIDE MORE!” and you stay in the same exact spot. Also, if you’re hiding and I ask where you are, you’ll tell me… so you haven’t exactly figured that game out.
You love to watch certain types of programs on TV. You’re not a big fan of cartoons. You still like Shrek but right now you LOVE Elmo, Choo-choo (Thomas the Tank Engine) and this old-school 1980s movie that I watched as a little girl called Wee Sing Together, which is about a live-action musical. You prefer live-action over animations, I think.
You say please and thank you and are very well-behaved 99% of the time! We have started saying prayers at night and you always remind us if we forget. (Part of your OCD-ness.) Oh! You are in a toddler bed now and you did SO good with the transition! We had no problems whatsoever with that and I had been putting it off for awhile because I was afraid that you wouldn’t stay in bed. But you do! And when you wake up from naps or overnight you so “Momma! Up!” and you wait for me or Daddy to come into your room and get you out of bed.
You started at a new daycare in January when I started my internship. You go to a home day care now and we both like it SO MUCH BETTER than the place you went in the fall. It took you about a week and a half to adjust to your new daycare. You don’t cry when I drop you off in the mornings and it makes it SO much easier on me to know that you are happier here and have a lot of fun all day with your friends.
I know there are a thousand things I am forgetting that I could list here, but this is all I can think of right now. I love you SO much, sweet boy, and I know that it will be no time at all and another two and a half years will have passed and you will be turning FIVE! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and your daddy and we absolutely love being your parents. There is no better job in the entire world!

I love you to the moon and back (times infinity.)
Mommy

Randoms and Pictures

Christopher has been battling a cough for the past 2-3 weeks. It started mainly at night and worked its way into a full-blown cold complete with coughing ‘round the clock, an extremely snotty nose, and fever. Our internship program has a (semi-)strict policy of not missing more than two days throughout the entire semester (obviously, they will work with you if you have extreme circumstances) so I had my mom take Christopher to the doctor today. He originally had an appointment for yesterday, but our dusting of snow yesterday caused the whole town to shut down. Not that I’m really complaining. I loved having a snow day yesterday and got a lot accomplished here at the house.

Anyway. Mom took Christopher to the doctor today. He has a mild ear infection in one ear (first ear infection EVER. at least that we know of.) and he was given a prescription for that and the coughing. Thankfully, he didn’t have RSV, which is what I was worried about. He was running a 102 temp when we got home this afternoon which bothers me… but hopefully with the two different prescriptions plus Dimetapp plus Children’s Advil… well, hopefully between all that he will start feeling better soon. He has been SUCH a healthy child up to now that I’m not really quite sure what to do when he is sick with a fever or cough.  We also have an appointment with Arkansas Children’s Hospital on February 27th concerning a different issue with Christopher. (More about that later.)

I’ve barely seen my husband on this Valentine’s Day. He always helps me get Christopher ready to go in the mornings. He gets C up and dressed and takes him out to the car for me while I am running around making myself breakfast and lunch and loading up the car with my junk important things for school. We said our “drive safelys” and “love yous” this morning while rushing around and I didn’t even remember that it was Valentine’s day until I heard something about it on the radio on my way to school. I called Stephen and told him happy Valentine’s day. So romantic! He had school today then stopped at an out-of-town game that happened to be on his way home from school and of course he will have a late night at the paper tonight.

Christopher had two big Valentine’s Day parties scheduled for today, but he missed his daycare one since he went to my mom’s house and then when we got home from mom’s his temp was 102 – so I chose not to take him to his other party that was scheduled for 6:00 tonight at a local hot dog joint. I felt bad missing out on the parties but I figured he didn’t feel up to going out plus I would hate to get any other kids sick, too. I’m hoping that his fever is gone for good in the morning so I don’t have to worry about sending him to daycare tomorrow.

We had leftover Chicken Enchiladas for dinner. This was a recipe I found on Pinterest and attempted last night. We enjoyed it and it is probably something that we will make again. It’s pretty easy and quick and it could also be made ahead of time and frozen, which I love.

I’m feeling a bit sick to my stomach tonight (not sure if it is nerves or too much candy from the day) so I am going to leave you with a few iPhone pictures and I am going to settle down and watch some TV then go to bed.

BigSexyHair root pump plus mousse volumizer. It has changed my life. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

The C-Monster and me after my week-long stay in Arkadelphia for Internship Orientation. We were SO happy to see each other!

1) Big boy bed. We moved him into it when we moved into our new (my mother-in-law’s old) house. We have not had one single problem with the transition. Praise.The.Lord.
2) I have no idea why his sock is on his hand. It was not there when I tucked him it. Crazy.Child.
3) Can you tell I’m addicted to Instagram?

Woop Woop!

I bought new Toms on Thursday. Wore them on Friday. It rained on Friday morning and this is what my shoes looked like before school even started. Story of my freaking life.

I found this mask when cleaning out a drawer of my MILs. Christopher thinks it’s hilarious.

Did you know I can type 92 wpm with a 98% accuracy rate? No? Well, I can.

Chicken Enchiladas 

The weekend of the Super Bowl I had the stomach bug from you-know-where. It was AWFUL. That Saturday morning I woke up feeling nauseous and Stephen had ball games to cover out-of-town. Thankfully, my brother and Britney had stayed the night with us that Friday night and they were kind enough to take Christopher with them while they ran errands on Saturday morning. While they were out and about, Christopher informed them that he was hungry and when they asked him what he wanted for lunch, he responded with “Papas!” So off to Papa’s Mexican Café they went. Christopher ended up spending Saturday night with my mom and this is the picture she texted me before they left for church on Sunday morning. BIG boy. So handsome. And grown up. (I keep telling him to stop, but he doesn’t listen to me.)

Being sweet with Baxter.

And just a few days later – he covered him all up with towels. I guess he thought he was cold and needed a few blankets? Sweet Baxter – he is SO good with Christopher.

And last but certainly not least – my sweet Valentine’s Day message in last week’s edition of the Ouachita Trading Post. I love my hubby! <3