Hello Again!

Here we are! Living in Missouri - the "show me state". FYI I looked up why it is called the "show me state" and there are conflicting stories. Basically it means, "oh yeah? Well show me!" Less talk, more action. I think. Google it.

Life has been interesting since we left PA. We were living in a Residence Inn in O'Fallon. The staff was lovely and the hotel was actually a pretty decent place to stay... if you didn't have three busy little boys. I didn't blog because I was just trying to survive.

The Pros of living in a hotel was I had no other obligations and was able to spend a lot of time with the boys and just play with them. That was also one of the cons... not a lot of room to escape. Did I mention that it was above 100 degrees outside almost every day? We were on the fourth floor too so it got a little warm sometimes. Fortunately we had an indoor pool and we escaped there almost every evening.

Here are some pictures from our hotel living experience.

Of course most of the pictures are of Sammy, and rightly so - he is so dang cute and funny. Besides, his life needs to be chronicled. I will write more later!

Gabes First Fish

This is long overdue but I'm finally getting the video up of Gabe's first fish, caught about a year ago with Papa Featherstone.  It's a bit slow at the beginning, but it's worth the wait.

Sam's First Words

Sam is one year old!!

I can't believe it but Sam is officially one year old as of yesterday.

I thought I would write the activities of the day -  "A day in the life of Sam".

Woke up about 7:30 am and had morning snack (a little milk). Squirmed to get out of my reach as I tried to change his diaper. Joined us for morning prayers - didn't close his eyes but was a distraction as he climbed up Gabe and mommy.

Ate cheerios and yogourt for breakfast. Clapped when he finished. Went upstairs to help with the laundry - mostly banged on the washing machine - it sounds really cool.  As mommy was folding laundry snuck into the bathroom and sampled the soap. Mommy confiscated the soap. Found the garbage and tried to eat some paper. Mommy confiscated that as well.

Time for morning nap - after getting dressed and reading some stories. Sleep for about 1 1/2 hour.

Wake up have a snack and time to go to the grocery store to buy a birthday cake. While at Wegman's Sammy enjoys the wonderful pizza - loves to chew on the pizza crust. Keeps Sammy occupied the entire grocery trip.

Take Gabe to preschool.

Come home and wrestle with mommy. Loves to jump on mommy and growl.

Another nap. While in bed, throw blankee on the floor and cry for a bit until mommy retrieves it. Throw it on the floor again - this time no response from mommy. (sorry buddy).

After a very short nap (due to blanket dropping) go get Gabe from preschool. Try to stay awake when we get home but still very tired. Make another attempt at a nap. It works.

Wake and have some milk and dinner - spaghetti and meatballs - YUM.

After dinner have about three bites of chocolate cake - not too sure he likes it.

After dinner we open presents and have a dance party. Sam bobs his head and shakes his booty.

Bath time - the highlight of the evening and then bedtime.

That is pretty much the gist of it. Sam isn't walking yet but he can crawl fast and walking isn't too far away. More adventures will ensue, I am sure of it.

He is such a fun, happy baby. He laughs easily and he is loved by him family very much.

New way to remove baby teeth

When I was younger and losing my baby teeth, my dad liked to experiment with ways to remove our teeth when they were coming loose. Most of the time he would chase us around the house, pin us down, yank it out with his fingers.

Not too long ago Mike, Ben, and Gabe were wrestling on the living room floor. Ben was riding on Mike's back, while Mike was being the bull and Mike bucked him and Ben flew forward landing on his face. When Mike looked up he saw two little white teeth on the floor and Ben was covering his mouth while blood trickled out. Prior to this, Ben had been coddling those teeth, too afraid to pull them out on his own. They were barely hanging on, but Ben stubbornly kept them attached.

After the teeth expelling incident, Mike told Ben, when Ben misbehaved, that if he didn't watch it Mike would knock his teeth out.

Where has the time gone! Time to catch up

So, I admit that it has been a while since I last wrote. The reason is simple - I despise our computer that takes 30 minutes to start up, cranks along at the breakneck speed of a snail, and is in the dank, dark, basement. Because of the impending doom (not yet but certainly in the near distant future) of this PC we decided to get this new piece of instrument called a "laptop"! 

If you don't already know about this fabulous piece of technology I highly recommend it! I can hook it up anywhere - the kitchen, in my bedroom, the bathroom (probably not a good idea though). Mike and I are shocked that we didn't get it sooner! To top it off, it is faster and has more space than our big PC.

Well, I guess I will pick up where I left off and tell you the good stuff. Forgive me for going back in time, but I am doing this for the sake of posterity.

In the beginning of December Ben showed me a funny little red mark on his bum cheek - looked a little like a pimple. I shrugged it off and told him to leave it alone and it would go away. It didn't. I took little Sam in for a dr. appt and told the doc that Ben had what looked like a boil on his bottom. The doc's reaction made me a little nervous. He wrote up a prescription for an oral antibiotic, gave me some antibiotic cream and said to watch it closely.

Meanwhile, at school Ben was having trouble sitting on his left butt cheek because it hurt. His teacher asked if he was ok and he said, "I have a nipple on my private parts." Not the explanation she was expecting, I'm sure. I sent a note to school explaining the situation.

Finally, the boil opened up and we did our best to keep it clean and open so it could do what it was supposed to do - I will spare you the gruesome, yet fascinating details.

On Monday, my birthday, I took Ben to the doctor to get it checked out and he told us that it was probably MRSA and to take him to the ER so he could get is opened and drained. At the hospital things were all fine and dandy while we waited until Sam (who was on his own course of antibiotics) gives me the present of a full throttle, up the back, all over the clothes, blowout in his diaper. I picked a secluded corner, stripped him naked, washed him down, and put him in a new set of clothes.

Fortunately Dad showed up in time to be there by Ben's side while he was cut - I can't watch, I get a little oogie. The boil is healed with no more infection residing in our home - til the next crazy event.