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Mystery Illness

So what's up with this? Wednesday, my baby is a puking screaming mess. Thursday, my husband is a puking miserable mess. So, I wake up Friday morning, I don't feel ill so I think we're in the clear with this whole stomach virus thing.

Wrong. William's baby sitter calls me at 3:00 yesterday afternoon saying that buddy had laid down to take a nap at 10:45 and didn't wake up until 2:15 and as soon as he got up she gave him his milk and he promptly puked up everything he'd eaten all day.

All I can figure is that William and Daddy are passing this thing back and forth. So, I forbid them from kisses for 24 hours. Daddy is not thrilled about this new rule but we've got to do something to eradicate the puke bug.

Here's hoping for no more puke.

Celebrate

I PASSED MY COMPREHENSIVE EXAMS!

Barf-o-Rama

Well, we woke up to less than pleasant sights and smells this morning. Our poor boy woke up around 6:45 this morning crying. This is unlike him. He usually sleeps until 8am or later unless we get him up.

Ben was going to be home for a little while anyway because he was taking William to his 18 month well baby appointment so I asked him to go get buddy while I finished getting dressed and ready to go to work. The next thing I hear is "HONEY!" So I take off to buddy's room only to find my child and his bed clothes covered in puke.

No sooner had I left the house and Ben was calling me to tell me he'd puked again. Every time Ben put anything in him, including water, it all came right back up. Good thing he already had a dr. appointment considering he'd puked 4 times before 8:30am.

Dr. said he has a stomach virus and should be feeling better soon. (Also said he'd gained 2lbs which is great news for our poor little ethiopian baby. However, I'm sure he lost all of that in fluids today.) Poor Ben stayed home with him all day. Needless to say Ben didn't have the greatest day. He got in lots of snuggle time but the rest of the time he was either listening to a screaming sick baby or being puked upon. Not a great day.

Good news is, sweet guy is sleeping well and has been for an hour and a half now. The hope is that he will sleep through the night and be all better in the morning.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Weather, weather, weather, weather, whether you like it or not.

Thursday night, we got POUNDED by a crazy strong thunderstorm. I hadn't been feeling well Thursday afternoon so I called Ben and asked him to go get William from my folks house and pick up some dinner on the way home. I came home took a nap, felt some better and greeted my boys when they came home.

We'd just sat down to a nice dinner of Whataburger and had the news on in the back ground when we hear the weatherman say something about people living along FM 920 taking cover. Umm....that's where we live. So, we turn the volume up on the TV and sure enough there's a huge thunderstorm headed our way and the radar shows a BLACK hail center to the storm, producing SOFTBALL sized hail that is supposed to slam down right on us. Not to mention, the several rotations dected by the radar in this storm.

William, still strapped in his high chair was promptly relocated to the hallway (our only interior area) as well as all the cushions from our couches. Ben was watching the storm approach from the west out the back window. I knew things were going to be ugly when hail stones first hit the east side of the house from a storm moving in from the west. I'd guess that's an indication of some rotation with in the storm.

You know how they always say that tornado producing thunderstorms make the sky look greenish. I'd say this thunderstorm was a close relative of kermit the freakin' frog. Needless to say I was a little scared. We all 3 sat in the hallway as hail pounded the crap out of our house. William, poor kid, seemed oblivious, sitting in his high chair in the hallway, eating his french fries.
The good news, no tornados touched down, and we only got about quarter to ping pong ball sized hail at our house. The bad news, our house, and my jeep, got the holy ever livin' crud beat out of them. So, we'll soon have the pleasure of making aquaintances with an insurance adjuster at our house.

I felt very fortunate when I got to school Friday and learned that the community near my school, Mineral Wells, actually did get pelted by softball sized hail. All of the sky lights at Wal-Mart busted out, and the store closed for a couple of weeks while repairs are done. My school nurse and her husband were in the car trying to get to safety when their front and rear windshields were broken out by softball sized hailstones. He continued driving until they got somewhere safe, she crawled over broken glass and laid on top of her two boy who were in the floor board to protect them from the hail. She had a few cuts from the glass but the worst was the huge ugly black and green bruise on her back from one of the hail stones. Some wonderful waitstaff at the Chili's in Mineral Wells helped them get their boys out of the car and inside. Things weren't much better inside Chili's where there was water pouring from the ceiling and everyone was huddled in the walk in refrigerator to keep safe from possible Tornados.

Needless to say, things were a little crazy in North Texas on Thursday night and we all woke up Friday morning with one more reason to count our blessings.

Here's some pictures of the aftermath at our house. By the way, that's all hail, not snow!

The True Spirit of Christmas

Today, I went with my mom for an appointment at bella permanent makeup studio. She had an appointment to have her eyebrows permanently penciled in (tatooed) because all of her hair, inluding her eyebrows is gone from the past several years of chemotherapy treatments. Since there is likely to end to her treatments, she decided to opt for a permanent option. We met two wonderful ladies at bella. Shirley and Debi.

Mom's appointment was with Shirley who had told mom she'd knock $100 of her procedure because she's a cancer patient. We got there and Shirley started on mom's eyebrows. When Debi showed up she told mom she'd do her eyeliner for free because she was a cancer patient. As the day went on and mom was having some beautiful hair stroke eyebrows tatooed another client came in to have her eyebrows and lips touched up. The lady asked mom if she was going to have her lips done. Mom said not today but sometime in the near future. Debi looked at me and silently asked if she should do her lips too and I said yes. Debi also did permanent lip liner on mom today for no charge.

While mom was sitting in the chair with numbing gel on her eyes and lips, Debi left the studio and went to her house and came back with two wigs. After giving my mom $700 of free cosmetic procedures she also gave her two wigs that she owned but never wore. Could this woman be more caring, more giving?

When mom finally got to look in the mirror, she wept. And soon all 4 of us were in tears. My mother looked like a woman I've not seen in many years. Her face once again reflected the amazing, vibrant woman who lives within a cancer ridden body.

Debi personified the Christmas spirit today. I hope that each and every one of you who reads this will have a chance to encounter the Christmas spirit in human form this holiday season. I did today, and it was truly amazing.

Thank you Debi. You have given my mother a gift bigger than color and pigment. You have given her a reflection that shows who she really is.

Firsts

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th. My family was engulfed in a frenzy food, fellowship, and fun during our big family reunion. When my sister decides to share pictures I'll post but for now, I'll just have to share news of William.

We've been experiencing quite a few firsts around here lately. William has recently begun pulling up. This has created quite a bit of excitement for hubby and I. Needless to say he falls down alot. He learned to cruise (move around holding on to things) almost simultaneously with pulling up so there have been lots, and lots of "No William"s happening. He has already decided this is not his favorite word.

Another first is that Grandma bought William his first bath toys. Three baby fish that sit on a momma fish. He LOVES playing in the tub. Up until he got the toys he would splash but didn't show much interest in playing. Now that he has his toys, he gets upset when I take him out of the tub. He's having too much fun.

Can't wait to post pictures of the 4th. Be prepared for naked baby pictures. So much fun!!

I just can't resist including this pic. It's my favorite recent pic of my big boy. It's all going by much too fast.

Please don't give up on me

No, I haven't left the blogging world forever, it's just become very low in terms of importance in my daily life. Combining work and being a mom, while challenging, has become somewhat routine. However, there are some things that have had to suffer because of it. These things include laundry, dusting, attention for the dogs, correspondence with friends and family, and as you've noticed blogging.

Don't take this to mean that I don't have wonderful amazing things to share about my son. He's becoming more and more fun by the day. While he's not yet crawling, he scoots with amazing speed. We are definitely entering the "no William" stage. He dosen't quite understand what that means yet, but we're working on it.

He's eating baby food and learning to drink water and juice from a sippy cup. Both of these actions provide us with much amusement, especially since eating baby food has corresponded with his learning how to "motor boat" with his tongue. This often results in green baby mush flying everywhere. William gets quite a few giggles out of watching Ben or I duck, turn our heads, and squeeze our eyes closed when he does this.

William is a talker. Of course, there are no words to speak of, but there is constant sound coming from this boy. Oohing, aahing, screaching, and babbling. Thankfully, not much crying. He is such a good boy. It's not at all uncommon for us to go a whole day with out a single tear. His biggest point of contention is going to sleep. It doesn't matter if it's nap time or bed time, sometimes he just decides he does not want to sleep. Flailing arms, kicking legs, tears and screaming ensue. So far, the parents have always come out the victors in this battle. However, there are many battles yet to come.

Also, since I last blogged, my 32nd birthday and my first mother's day have come and gone. I must say, I enjoyed mother's day much more than my birthday. I'm getting to that age that birthdays just remind me of how fast my life is flying by and how I really wish I could make it all slow down so I could enjoy it more. Especially now that we have William. Mother's day was a ball. I scrapbooked a 6X6 board book for my Mom and William gave her a plant. William (via grandma) got me a sweet card and twenty bucks. Ben (via several reminders) got me a sweet card and twenty bucks. This was in addition to cash from my folks, my in-laws, and Ben for my birthday. So, with scrapbooking money in hand, I'm a happy girl.

Finally, one week of school left. And due to various activities, I only have 4 days actually left in the classroom. Hooray!! So, the end is drawing very near and I can't wait to spend my summer with William. It's going to go by faster than any summer I've ever had before I'm sure, but, oh well, atleast I've got it and can enjoy it while it lasts.