Play time with Daddy

WARNING! This is a brag post. Blake loves his Daddy. Raun is so good with him and is such a wonderful Daddy. He gets up in the middle of the night to check on him when he whimpers because his wife is sick. He changes so many diapers, including the diapers in the hospital. He does that without complaining or making any comments. He's quite good at it, too. I think he's only been peed on a couple of times. He rocks Blake in the middle of night and lets him sleep on his chest when Blake is sick. They take naps together and play with the dogs together. Raun is truly the only person so far that can get a real good laugh out of him. Many people can get him to giggle, but Raun can get him to laugh really loud. It's so funny to watch him do that. He give Blake a bath when I need to get the dishes cleaned up and he does a much better job feeding Blake WITHOUT making a mess. Sadly, you can tell when I feed him! He's been very supportive of me breastfeeding him, and sees the difference of a baby on a schedule. He is also learning sign language so he can help Blake learn to communicate early, in hopes of taming the tantrums later down the road. He's a great husband, but is also a wonderful daddy!

Future Dog Whisperer?

I dare say that we may have the Future Dog Whisperer on our hands. Our baby boy LOVES the dogs. And not just any dogs...our dogs. And most people who know our puppies and their personalities would naturally think that out of the two dogs that Ellie would be his favorite since she's so sweet and cuddly and friendly. However...his favorite dog is:


That's right...it's Suzzy. He absolutely loves her and she loves him. She lets him pet her, grab her hair, rub her, etc. She is very gentle with him and graciously awake Blake up from his nap when she's ready to play. She takes away all of the things he doesn't like, such as nose syringes, tops of medicine bottles, etc. so that he doesn't have to experience things that are uncomfortable for him. Why wouldn't Blake get a smile on his face EVERY time she walks/runs into the room? I mean, if I had a dog do all of that for me, I just might get a huge smile on my face, too!

St. Patty's Day with a set of Great-Grandparents

Since I am way behind on posts.....here is how we spent St. Patty's day. My grandparents (Nanny and Papa from Florida) were passing through to go home so they called to see if we would like to meet them for lunch. Of course, we did! I brought my camera so I could make sure to get some pictures of them with Blake since the wedding weekend was crazy and half of the time I forgot my poor camera. By the way, I will post a few pictures from their wedding, but I will also give you the link later this weekend so you can go look at their pictures for yourself. The photographer did a great job.

Elmo!!!!

For Christmas, we got Blake the newest Elmo that dances and moves, sits and stands, sings and tells stories. We saw it at Babies-R-Us as a demo and all of the adults thought it was kind of freaky. I must agree. It was a little weird to see Elmo shake because he was scared or to ask for his nose back or to say "uh oh...Elmo fell down. Will you help Elmo back up again? Awww...thank you." However, we put Blake in front of him to see what his reaction would be and he smiled and got the attention of several parents-to-be. Needless to say, it changed their opinion of this Elmo toy, as well. Anyway, we didn't want to pay a lot for it but since KB toys was going out of business, we got it at a really low price and Blake loves it! He is just now starting to try to mimic what Elmo does. When Elmo flaps his hands, Blake moves his. It is so cute. I think his favorite part about Elmo, though, is latching on to Elmo's nose and eyes. I'm afraid he thinks he's nursing because I hear him sucking quite hard!

Life in a Box

Blake loves this empty box above so many of his toys that we have. This box joins his love for spoons, measuring spoons, and bowls.

Sickness...again

Well, our little family is batting 3 for 3 at the moment. We got Raun and Blake better (or so we thought) and then learned that we were mistaken. Last Thursday, I had to take Blake to an aftercare pediatric office because we noticed that day that he had eye crusties and his eye was swelling. He wasn't eating and was refusing to nurse or eat his baby food, so I knew something was up. We called our pediatrician's office and the nurse told us to go to this office because she couldn't figure out over the phone why Blake was running a fever. So off we went in the pouring down rain while Raun was left to work on taxes. Yes...a procrastinator he is! Anyway, the doctor looked at his eye (which I had left along despite the fact that the crusties were bugging me) and said he had pink eye. We have no idea where he got it because he wasn't around any children or adults other than us and we didn't have it. The doctor said that he could have touched something but who knows. On top of that, he also had an ear infection from the cold he had the week before that I told the pediatrician about earlier. However, since there's nothing to do for the cold, it turned into his 2nd ear infection. She said that was probably why he wouldn't eat because it hurt to swallow. It was also the reason for the fever. Oh...and he still has a cold. And teething. Poor little boy. Raun got over his bronchitis but is now suffering from allergies and is plain tired because now he's taking care of his other two sicklings. I...who has managed to stay well throughout the past 3 weeks despite hardly any sleep....is sick with I'm not for sure what. I'm going to the doctor today to find out, though! So....as we stand now, Daddy=partially sick and tired; Mommy-sick and tired; and Blake=better from pink eye despite his hatred of our fingers in his eye to put the eye cream in, working on the ear infection, and has a runny nose....again. I know these things are just minor but it does make for a dreadful week where we are just trying to make it from one day to the next! I am incredibly thankful for our health and that we are all at home, though.

So much has happened since my last post. I've been meaning to post for so long but haven't had time since I've been cuddling so much. Blake stood up for the first time on March 30. I was cooking dinner and I had him in a box (which he loves to play in) and I turned around to check on him and almost freaked out because he was standing up. Wobbly, but standing up, nevertheless. I dropped what I was doing and picked him up, mostly because I was so shocked. When did he learn to do that?! I called Mom to tell her and she asked if I praised him and I told her "no, because my first instinct was to pick him up so he wouldn't fall!" She just laughed. However, since then he has done it several more times and I've made it a habit of praising him and getting all excited. He tries to pull up on everything! Looking back on his baby book, I see that March was a big month for my little boy. It was the month that he held a cup, bathed in the big tub, sat unsupported, and stood up. He's still working on crawling. He wants to so bad. However, he would much rather walk. He knows how to put one foot in front of the other and move forward while holding your fingers. I just hope he breaks me in easily and crawls before he walks! I credit his early learning to watching Eli crawl and walk. Tell you what...leave him alone for half a day with a boy 2 months older than him and look what he learns. Sheesh!

Well...baby crying, gotta run. I'll try to put pictures up today in between naps and feedings.

Where My Heart Is

Words cannot really capture the feelings I have had in my heart the past couple of days. I've talked a lot about the sick babies that I know or their blogs that I have read. There is one in particular...the one with the picture on the side of my blog, name Stellan. You can either click on the picture or click here to go to their blog. Their baby is facing heart failure. 4 months of age, never supposed to live, and God worked a miracle. I find myself wondering why I had a healthy pregnancy, why I have a healthy baby (so far), and why I'm not going through what they have. Not that I want that, mind you. It's just that I've been so thankful this week that even though my family is sick, they don't have any of these illnesses or diseases or problems that so many people face. I think that is what has helped me have patience this week with my boys, despite the fact that I'm exhausted. I pray that I never have to go through any of these things. I can't imagine the pain a mother feels while watching their child suffer and having to demand for things to be done to their child. I can't even look at the pictures on Stellan's blog because he looks so peaceful and I can see Blake in him. Not that he's a look alike or anything...I just see my baby. I think God is really pressing on me the desire I have always had...to work with terminally patients. I'm a little fearful because now that I have Blake I wonder how paranoid it will make me. However, on the flip side, it will also make me more grateful and thankful. I know God's moving in my heart and is working on something, but I'm also not in the place to pursue it, yet. At least I don't think so. However, if God says go, then I must go. I would love to work with the hospice here but target specifically on children. Not that adults aren't worth it, too. It's just that's not my passion. God's shaped my heart since Shannon and my passion and desire is definitely children, terminally ill, and disabled. Please pray for me to know what God wants to do and when He wants me to do it. I don't want to miss a wonderful opportunity.

Must go...got a crying baby that just woke up from a nap! By the way, Raun now has bronchitis on top of the sinus infection.

My sick family

This week has definitely been one long week! However, it has been precious time, as well. We had a great weekend beginning on Friday with helping a friend move into their new house. We made fun of Raun because all of the other guys were carrying in huge furniture and Raun was carrying in the training potties, plastic shelves, etc. Apparently Kevin kept giving him the light stuff. Nice work, Kevin! Saturday was spent with Raun and his dad going to Bristol for the NASCAR race. Blake and I stayed home and I was actually very productive in cleaning the house (however, you would never know it had ever been cleaned if you walk into my house today). Raun had been called in to work for most of Friday night and only got about 2-3 hours of sleep before he left Saturday. I told him that I hoped he slept because he was going to get sick. Sure enough, he came home not feeling well. We were both glad that he went with his Dad, though, because it's something that they get to do together and they both enjoy it. I can't wait for those two to be able to Blake with them...but not until he's older! Anyway, Raun and I had been wanting to go to the driving range and since it was a beautiful day outside on Sunday, we asked his parents if they would watch Blake for about 2 hours so we could go play a par 3 course and go to the range. Raun and I had so much fun. I actually hit the ball! I have no idea what the number on the clubs mean, but I know that you use the putter on the green. My favorite club is the driver because I have less chance of missing the ball. My big problem is not hitting the ball like I do in softball. Apparently, you don't step, which is hard to not do.

Going back to Saturday. I had left Blake alone for just a few minutes, since he doesn't crawl, and came back into the living room seeing him with a blue highlighter in his hand. I quickly take it away and notice that his mouth is blue, his tongue is blue, and his hands are blue. I've disappointed everyone because I didn't take a picture. However, in hindsight, I would have. But at the moment, I was trying to think of what highlighter ink could possibly be made of and if any of it was poisonous. Interestingly, it all wipes off with one swipe of a wet paper towel.

This brings us to Monday. Raun was sick Monday and Tuesday (well, he's still sick) so he took those two days off to rest, which was nice. I enjoyed having him around. Blake spent those two days screaming and crying and not wanting to be held by anyone but me. I was afraid that Blake had an ear infection again because he would cry when you laid him down. So I took him to the doctor yesterday. Turns out, he has a virus that should probably last about 48 hours and he is apparently cutting more than one tooth at once...which could come in a couple of days the Dr. said. The doctor smiled at me and said, "Hang in there, mom!" as he left after the nurse had pricked Blake's finger which left him screaming. Sheesh! So we've been at home all week and I'm working on my patience. Raun's mom came over for a few hours last night to give me a little break, which was much needed. I never thought I'd enjoy cleaning so much!

Raun woke up this morning with his ear hurting, so he has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. He thinks he has a sinus infection and an ear infection. As for me? Nothing, yet. Just very, very sleepy because of my two boys who can't sleep through the night. Even Suzzy and Ellie stay in bed long after we get up. They even cry when Blake cries!

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my parents coming to babysit for us Saturday night so Raun and I can go to a concert. My Valentine's Day present was to see Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman in concert...two of my favorite Christian artists.

I've been consignment sale shopping lately and I love it. I feel like I have been indicted into motherhood! I bought a whole sack full of clothes from 6-12 months for under $100. Amazing! I have one more to go to this week, so I'm really excited about that.

That's it for now. Blake's finally asleep so I'm going to go clean or do something more productive than this!

The rest of the wedding weekend in pictures