Fiddlin, Fishin and Fireworks!

For the 4th of July weekend, we rented a cabin on Center Hill at the Sligo Marina. Me, Mom, Courtney and Levi went up Friday afternoon, and Jeffrey got to come up Sunday and Monday. We had an AMAZING time! It was so nice (especially after a week of sickness) to get away and just relax with family. Unfortunately, Levi got sick Saturday night. :( I was so glad to have Mom and Court help so I could be with him. But...he was better the next morning, so we stayed and enjoyed the rest of our time together!

*WARNING: There are a LOT of pictures in this post!* :)

Friday consisted of getting to the cabin, playing with homemade bubbles, going to the Smithville Jamboree and a very longggg trip to Wal-mart. If you've never been to the Jamboree, I highly recommend it! We're already making plans to go back next year. It is like they took my favorite parts (food, exhibits, music) of the Wilson County fair and took out all the other stuff (rides, games, thugs, etc.)! I loved all the booths of handmade and local goodies, not to mention the delicious "fair" food! (Yes, I ate fried chicken on a stick! Yum!). :) They also had contests for everything from fiddlers to square dancers. It was so much fun! In fact, we had such a good time (and missed so much) that we went back Saturday night too! :)

I do have a Levi story to tell (of course). :) They had a "train/trolley" for the kids/big kids to ride. I wasn't sure what Levi would do since he'd skipped a nap, but we went for it. He seemed to just take all the sights in. Every once in a while, he'd smile, but he mostly just observed everything. I had my arm around the back of him so that my hand was on the outside part of the cart. About halfway through the ride, he looks over to my hand, takes it and puts it on his side, then pats it while smiling up at me. He didn't let me move it the rest of the time! I have to say that goes down as one of my favorite moments of his life so far. :)

We were supposed to have a boat Saturday, but it didn't work out, so we hung out on a houseboat at the dock (thank goodness for Courtney's friends, Sierra and Luna). :) We swam a little bit, laid out a little bit, but mostly chased Levi with his water gun. He made a fast friend when Sierra filled it up for him. :)

Dancing with Aunt Cece



He stayed like this for almost 3 hours!

After a nap and some fishing, we headed back to the Jamboree! We got to see some amazing performers, and I racked up on some Christmas gifts! :) The dreaded "throw up incident of 2011" happened when we got home that night. For those with weaker stomachs, I won't go into detail. Let's just say I didn't know a toddler, or anybody for that matter, could throw up that much. Yeah, not fun. Poor little baby. :( I think I slept 2 minutes that night just praying he didn't do it again.

Oh joy, the nose-picking stage...

We took it easy Sunday, keeping a close eye on little man. He never got sick again and was back to his usual self, so we headed out for some swimming! Jeffrey arrived that afternoon so we all went fishing before heading back tot he cabin for dinner and fireworks. The fireworks were great, but I was more amazed at the amount of boats and people! The marina was covered! Thankfully, we had a perfect view from our porch, so we didn't have to fight a crowd anywhere.

Testing the water

He loved his little chair!

My little fishing man :)

LOVE this picture!

Wasn't bothered at all by the worms. :)

We went swimming and fishing again on Monday (see a theme here?) before Jeffrey and I headed back home with little man later that day.

This picture cracks me up for some reason. :)

We are some fishin ladies!

I love spending time with my family, and to do it at the lake with fishing makes it even better! We all had such a good time, and I can't wait to go back next year! :)

We went over to Jeffrey's parents that night for a bit so they could see him. They got down an old wooden truck of Jeffrey's, and Levi loved it. :)

Helping Nana clean it up!

They had some poppers and a bottle rocket for Levi, and his reaction was more than I could've ever hoped for or imagined... :)

As you can see, he liked Poppa making the "motion of throwing" as much as he liked the actual throwing of the poppers! :)

Love hearing him say "wow"! :)

Overall, I'd say we had a pretty fabulous holiday weekend! So thankful we all got better to be able to enjoy it! :)

We're Alive!

I realized today you probably all think I've crawled into some dark black hole until my son gets past the terrible two stage. Fear not! Not only am I back, but I can officially say we have NOT started the terrible twos (thank the good Lord in Heaven!)! Turns out his little episode at Sunday lunch was the start of a VERY long week with a stomach bug. :( Now, while I had prayed that it was NOT the terrible twos, I definitely didn't want it to be this! It was horrible! He started throwing up Monday around lunch and again after nap. I went home and got him, and we stayed home until Wednesday morning when I took him to the doctor. Because he'd thrown up for almost 2 full days at that point, they gave him some Zofran. Now, I usually leave the doctor (or get off the phone) very frustrated when he's sick because it's always "viral" and we just have to "wait it out". Yes, that's what she told me this time too, but she took it seriously enough to give him medicine. Score for her! :) He was fine all day Wednesday and Thursday, then I went to get him Friday morning and he (and his crib) was covered! Poor baby had just laid in it all night not making a peep. I was so sad. :( But, he seemed fine! So weird! Anyways, we had a couple more episodes over the weekend, but I think it's finally all out of his system. I can officially say there is nothing worse for this mom than seeing her son sick or hurting and not being able to do a thing about it. Saturday was the worst of all, and all I could do was watch and comfort him. We got in the shower, fully clothed and covered in puke, and he just cried and hugged me. I realized then, with puke in my hair and on my new shirt, that a mother's love (biological or not) is unconditional.

I also realized from all of this that I have some AMAZING friends and family! Jackie had Levi Monday when he got sick, and bless her, she had to clean it up, resulting in her getting sick as well. Julie got him from his nap where she found him and his bed covered in puke, and she cleaned it up! Mom and Courtney helped out all week because Jackie was too sick to keep him. Then, poor things had to clean up Mom's car when he puked Saturday night. Amanda, Amanda's mom Angela, and Doralyn all pitched in to watch him so I could go to work. I know people do it all the time, but I can not imagine raising a child away from friends and family. I honestly don't know how we'd do it. We are so blessed, and we are so grateful!

I've got a ton of pictures from our weekend at the lake, as well as some from our company cookout Friday. So, be on the lookout for more posts soon! :)

Don't Say It...

If you've seen my Facebook page, you already know that I had a (hopefully) *brief* glimpse into what a lunch in "that stage" would look like. You know the stage? The

HORRIFIC

HATED

SCARY

DREADED

I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

TERRIBLE TWO STAGE!!!

 Dun dun dun.

*Cue scary horror flick music*

I'm hoping and praying that this was just a bad couple of hours due to um, urn, lack of sleep? Teething? Anything?

*Please, for all of you mothers of older children, let me think this for now. It helps me cope. :)*

Seriously though, it could have been a one-time thing, right? Ok, maybe not one-time, but one-time as in "not part of the terrible twos" thing. No? I'm delusional? Ok, thanks.

I can honestly say I've never seen my child act that bad. Here's the story:

We were at Cracker Barrel. (Ok, I realize now that was our first mistake. Cracker Barrel on a Sunday at noon? Yeah, bad idea.) It was crazy crowded, and we had the worst server known to man. Levi was perfectly content with his trains and books until the food got there. Then, out of nowhere, he wanted out of his chair. And I mean, NOW! But he didn't want to sit with me. Oh no, he wanted DOWN, as he told me over and over again in that whiny pitiful little crying voice. Once I made him sit back down in his highchair (the one without a strap-second mistake of the day), he actually ate a little bit. Granted, he only wanted his chicken if it was dipped in thousand island dressing, but hey, he ate. And then, BAM, the brat side came out of him like I've never seen. He was inconsolable! After an internal debate, I took him to the bathroom. We "talked" and I made him sit by himself for a minute. He seemed sorry (gave me a sweet hug) so we went back. It took all of 30 seconds for him to lose it once again. Now the internal debate (and external) really got going. Do I take him out, making everybody around me happy, but ultimately giving him his way and not helping anything? Or, do I make him sit there, making everybody miserable but teaching him that he is NOT the boss? I did a compromise: We went back to the bathroom for another timeout and a "talk". This one seemed to work because when we went back, he was much better. It took all of my willpower (and pride) but we stayed. We didn't stay much longer, but we stayed.

(Mom: 1, Baby: 0)

I realized after we left, I had become "that parent". You know the one where you're in the restaurant, and the kid is being horrible, and you wonder "why doesn't she just take him out?". Well, this is why: I refuse to give him his way just because I'm embarrassed. He was not yelling. He was not crying uncontrollably. He was just whiny. It was probably so loud in there that nobody else heard it. If I'd honestly thought he was bothering anybody other than the poor people at our table, I probably would've thought longer about taking him out and never coming back. But as it was, it was rough.

I seriously hope this was just a bad couple of hours. After his nap, he was Mr. Sweet again, hugging me, kissing me, and laying his head on my shoulder. How can I resist a little boy who wanted nothing but my hand as he fell asleep that night?

I have to admit, we've had it pretty easy. I mean, he's always been a good sleeper. He gave up his bottle and paci without a fight. He's a laid-back and happy kid. So, yeah, I'm spoiled. I think there was a part of me that thought my sweet little angel baby would never act like this. Boy was I wrong!

But look at this face? Is it not the sweetest?

For now, I'm going to write it off as a bad day and move on. However, I won't blame a single one of you if you don't want to go out in public with us for a while. :)

Father's Day 2011

This year, Jeffrey celebrated his second Father's Day. :) As you know, I make a big deal out of special days like birthdays, and Father's Day is no exception! I was so grateful he was off work so we could all spend the day together.

We started off the day by going to Maple Hill for church. We don't get to go together on Sunday mornings a lot, so this in itself was special. I think Levi knew it was Daddy's special day. He kept leaning over to hug him or put his face up for a kiss. Precious! :)

After church, Levi was in desperate need of a nap, so we went back home to rest and change. Well, little man decided he needed to nap for 2 and 1/2 hours!! This would normally be great, but not when you're anxious to go do something fun! Jeffrey kept going to his door just dying to wake him up. Haha. He REALLY wanted to open his presents, but I made him wait until Levi woke up. :)

Oh how this little boy loves his Daddy! :)

Here Daddy, I'll read it to you!

Testing out Daddy's new razor :)

So after gifts, we loaded up to head to Jeffrey's favorite restaurant, Cheddar's. (Yes, it's taken the place of Demos'.) The food took FOREVER, so we played with the trains (yes, we!). :)

Have to have the sound effects.

Jeffrey wanted some shoes from Dicks, so we headed there next. I know it sounds silly, but I just love shopping with my husband! Seriously, it's such a small thing, but we hardly ever get to do that together. And he was just so excited and happy about his new kicks. :)

We left there and headed to Jeffrey's parents for dinner. Somebody must have slipped crack into Levi's sippy cup on the way, because when we got there, he was WILD! (Remember the diaper incident I told you about?) It didn't take long for him to get VERY tired, but we at least made it through dinner, and I managed to get some good pictures before he wiped out. :)

Lovin on Poppa

Levi adores his Uncle Hook

Three generations

The grillmasters

They had a casualty. :(

One of my favorite pics of all time!

So, as you see, we had a fun-filled day! I hope Jeffrey felt special because he certainly is to me and Levi. :) I couldn't ask for a better husband or father to our child. I hope you all were able to spend the day with your dad or father of your children. For those like me who didn't get to celebrate with our Daddy, I hope you were able to remember and honor him on this special day.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes that I gave to Jeffrey on a picture frame his very first Father's Day:

"Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a Dad."