Sunday, September 28, 2008

Bad Eater

So here is where I need ya'll's (I can now say this since I am living in the South- but is that the correct plural form???) HELP!!! I have this darling baby who is the happiest baby in the world and who pulls on my heartstrings every time I even glance at him!

However, this kid will not eat a thing!!! No soft cheerios, no mushed up food, no rice cereal, no baby food, no yogurt, no bottles of any sort (he thinks they are toys) and not even sweets that Connor tries to sneak him! He LITERALLY gags every time I give him anything other that the good-old-fashion breast milk! I have Dylan try to make him laugh to open his mouth so I can sneak something inside. I doubt much even makes it down. He is going to catch on to my trick sooner or later. But we are coming up on 8 months now and my race is a few weeks away and there are also some Child Life Conferences ahead as well (As professional as that would be to take him with me!!) I am quite flattered that he thinks I am SO delicious but I need some space (I guess time is a better word.)
So my question for you:
How do YOU make food look more enticing than yourself???

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Night Out

Corbin and I were lucky enough to get a night out together. Just me and him, a good mother son outing. It was great bonding time. We even got to stay at this amazing Hotel! Granted it was a very expensive Hotel with only one small bed and a very uncomfortable chair. But there were lots of buttons and gadgets, pre-warmed blankets, a nice flat screen TV and a few people at our beck and call. Here is where we stayed Thursday night...

It is hard to tell from the picture but it is our local ER. We are so lucky to have one just 2 minutes down the road from us, and brand-spank'in new!

We got to go see their beautiful radiology room. I got to experience an infant chest x-ray, great for my Child Life profile!

Right now my brother, Nate, is laughing and thinking I am crazy for taking one of my children, AGAIN to the ER. Really I do feel like a frequent visitor of these places as of late (and I have visited them around the country!). However, I have all evidence. A month ago Corbin came down with a cold which ended in an ear infection, no big deal. But he was also having a very hard time breathing. I thought that was in the past until out-of-the-blue, Corbin practically has a breathing attack Thursday night and can't breath. I rush him in, I was frustrated with the lack of rushing from the nurses. But after all the tests, we found that Corbin has pneumonia, and an ear infection. So our fridge is stocked with meds (steroids and antibiotics) and Here is the newest addition to our family...

a nebulizer to give Corbin his breathing treatments. Let's just hope that this is just pneumonia and no indicator of asthma!

So just as we were getting Corbin to sleep through the night, we are back to square one- or are we in the negative seeing as we have no choice but to get up and take care of his wheezing and mom is still trying to make of for the lost night.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Durham Bulls


Can you believe it- we got to go to a Durham Bulls game! For those who don't know, it is a minor league Baseball team. Luckily, the tickets were free and we didn't feel too bad leaving at inning... 5! Dylan just doesn't sit like he used to for live sporting events. Sadly, I feel like there is a void in my life. There really isn't a team to root for here. We have always been in cities where there is a "fan fire." I mean we were in Boston (Celtics, NE Patriots, Red Socks), Cleveland (Browns, Indians, Cavaliers, Ohio State), Colorado (Broncos, Avalanche, Nuggets, Rockies), and Utah (BYU, Utah, Jazz.) What now? Next move maybe.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Life and Science

Yesterday my friend Kendy and her son Matthew took us to the Durham Life and Science Museum and we could have stayed for a week! Here is a quick glimpse of our day...

We saw bears, lemurs, and wolves. We played on a really unique playground, played with wind chimes and drums, steered remote control sailboats, played with water pumps, touched clouds and tornadoes, caught "dispersing seeds", and went to the butterfly house.
Ashlyn loved the the sandbox!

Are you sick of my collages yet???

I just can't get enough of my kids!!!
My single car seat stroller has really turned out to be so versatile- it instantly converts into a triple!!!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

My Effort to Stay Organized

This is my new project-

Connor was sick of my old Calendar that my mom used for the last 20 years. So I created this new one. I made custom magnets to make this smaller calendar more efficient. It is hard to tell with the light, but they are small glass marbles on top of paper and a magnet. So far it has been wonderful!!

First Day of school

Last week Dylan started preschool. I was stressed already from finding a somewhat afforadable preschool and a bad meet-the-teacher day. This combined with last year's experience- well I was a little worried. However, things went wonderful. He was excited to start school and we made it a whole week before he started saying he didn't want to go to preschool. But he comes home happy and smiling!
He is enjoying Chapel time, Spanish time, music time, and fitness time!!

As you can see Ashlyn is also ready for school!

Friday, September 5, 2008

"A Hurricane's a come'in"

For all those Little Mermaid fans!!

Hanna has hit and we have just experienced our first hurricane. Now we are preparing for Ike. It really wasn't that bad, just a lot of rain. Just seemed like a regular Cleveland storm. But it didn't have a high category rating either. Ike is a 4- so I will tell you what that is like. I even went out with a friend for a run this morning. We joked that we were "running in the hurricane." So I can put that on my bucket list!

We also had our first ward social tonight- a "Pig Pick'in"- a southern barbeque. Quite interesting. They barbeque a whole pig and top it with a vinegar based sauce, with a side of deep fried bread (hush puppies), which are delicious. Then there were games galore for the kids.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Labor Day Fun

We have now experienced the beach in the SOUTHEAST!!! Much warmer than the Northeast I might add! It was a nice, windy day. The waves were huge, to Dylan's delight!!! He could have jumped waves all day long!!! We flew a kite and watched the kite surfers- something I must try before I die. However, the kids eventually got sick of the sand and salt in the mouths.
I made Corbin a little seat in the sand and tried my hardest to create a "sand free" zone for him. As you can guess it didn't last long. He actually ended up falling asleep- it must have been an awesome seat!! What a little trouper.

Ashlyn LOVED the sand. I dug her out a little seat and she enjoyed it until it fell apart.

I also got turned into a Mermaid- just the way I hoped to be! Didn't they do a great job?
Hope you had a great Labor Day too!!