Random

Remember the Facebook thing going around a few years ago. 
Where you had to list 25 random things about you?
I did it then. It was two years ago.
All that has going on around my house is nose wiping and baby cuddling, so I needed a post idea.
I figured I would do one here.

So...25 random things about me...

1. I am the only sister to 3 brothers.
2. I married one of my brother's best friends. (...oops...)
3. My two favorite places to be are 1. On the top of a ski hill with my snowboard strapped to my feet in a blizzard. 2. On my beach towel at Lake Michigan on a hot summer day.
4. I am a college drop out.  Thank you sweet Karson.
5. I wouldn't change the fact that I am a college drop out for the world!
6. I have an alter ego when it comes to cars I drive.
7. I spend way too much time talking to my dog. When I'm not yelling at her to STOP BARKING!
8. She too is a 'puppy school' drop out.  Thank you trainer's dogs that felt the need to bite her.  Twice.
9. Absolutely nothing stands in the way of my Wisconsin weekends.
10. I would rather spend the evening at home with Karson, than go out with out him.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have left him.
11. I have baby fever.  My husband thinks I am crazy.
12. I love to take Karson to my favorite places.  Places I have so many memories of as a kid.
13. I bought him a pair of skis before he was even born.
14. I am a germaphobic.  I am lightening up, as Karson gets older.  He will still never be allowed to use a drinking fountain.
15. Munchkin and I take a Sign Language class.  
16. The other day I called him 'Karson.'  My husband looked at me like I was crazy.  When he is older, and he tells you his name is 'Munchkin' just go with it..
17. I drink way too much coffee.
18. Ya know those happy pregnant women, that love being pregnant?  I am not one of them.
19. I may have been a miserable pregnant woman, but I have one of those Karson's delivery was amazing, relaxing, perfect, and everything I wanted it to be stories.  Plus he was 3 weeks early.
20. We canceled our dish when Munchkin was born to save money, best idea we ever had!  Along with not knowing what a drinking fountain is, he will also never know who Sponge Bob is.  We now get ABC, ABC, and ABC....we listen to the radio a lot!
21. I love cloth diapering, and cringe when I have to use a disposable.
22. I must get 8 hours of sleep.  It is a known fact.
23. I can not wait to move, and live on a safe road to take a walk on!
24. I didn't put Munchkin down until he was 3 months old and I still rock him to sleep when he lets me. 
25. Being a Mommy is absolutely the BEST job there is!

 After I wrote this, I went to look on my FB to see what I said two years ago.  It was two years ago, exactly to the date, that I posted my 25 random things.  For fun I will post that list here too.1. I have been married for 47 days!
2. My friends and family are my world!
3. DJ and I had a perfect wedding!!! My dream wedding day!
4. I live out in the country.
5. I teach 2 year olds, and love it!
6. I go to GVSU for Special Education.
7. I have 3 brothers who are all a foot taller than me.
8. I would die without coffee!
9. I have the best parents in the world!
10. I am in bed before 8:30 almost every night...I do however get up at 4:30.
11. I can't wait to be done with school and have my degree.
12.My recent car issues would amaze you. I've come to believe my Kia has ben cursed. We will see if it ever makes it back on the road.
13. I love going out for coffee with friends!
14. I have been tap dancing since I was can remember.
15. I am a sucker for chocolate!
16. I hate exercising, unless its dancing or snowboarding.
17. If I don't get 8 hours of sleep at night you don't want to be anywhere near me. Unless, you are bringing me coffee.
18. I have the best husband in the world!
19. I love football!
20. I have lost the ability to hear how loud music I listen to really is. I blaim that on years of trying to hear music over 10 tap dancers.
21. I would be lost without my faith.
22. I love to read, but rarely get the time to.
23. I can't wait for Leesh and Brian's Wedding!!!
24. I would rather be in a blizzard on my snowboard than in 80 degree weather.
25. I love my life and can't wait to see what God has in store for me!

JarJar

I love her.....

 I really do...

 But if she doesn't stop barking, I will have her debarked.

Except I really won't.

 If she doesn't stop barking, I am going to put her outside and leave her there.

 Except I really won't.

But really, she has got to STOP barking!

Am I the only one whose dog thinks they need to bark at each snowflake that falls?

...and the garbage man?

...and forget the garbage man, how about trash cans in general?

...and cars?

...and anything that moves?

...or anytime things are just too still?

...or ALWAYS?

ALL DAY LONG?!

Please know I would never leave her outside all day, but I will threaten it all day long. I will never get her debarked, but I will threaten it every time she wakes Karson up from his nap. 

And as soon as a I get a good JarJar picture, I will explain the title...


Munchkin update: I took him back to the pediatrician today.  He was coughing so hard at night he was throwing up, and couldn't catch his breath.  They were worried he has pneumonia.  He doesn't. But he does have an ear infection now, and a nasty cough.  We finally got him some meds. Hoping he will sleep tonight!

Sick

I love winter.
I love the snow.
But I know understand why Mommies look forward to spring!
My baby is sick.
Last week we noticed that all he wanted to to was snuggle.
Unlike him, but he had no other symptoms. 

I texted DJ this picture on Friday. 
Telling him to look forward to lots of snuggles when he got home from work.
Munchkin was extra cuddly.

 On Sunday he was out of character, fussy.

He is an easy baby.

The only reason he fusses, is because he is hungry.

Give a crabby Karson food, and he goes about running around our house, and terrorizing Molly.

This was Karson on Monday.

When I posted on FB that I thought he might actually be getting teeth.

I was wrong...again...

he stayed in his crib for all of 2 minutes before he wanted to snuggle again

Same day.

Same position.

Different nap...

Yesterday his nose started.

His cough started.

His fever spiked.

Worried Mama.

 

After a long night of crying, fevers, and no sleeping, we headed to the pediatrician.

Where Karson just laid limp on my lap.

Did not fight getting his temperature taken.

Did not fight the gagging-strep test.

Did not fight the pediatrician checking his ears.

He has a temperature.

No ear infections.

Negative strep test.

to the surprise of the pediatrician

No medications means we wait out whatever is making my baby so sad.

Until then, this is how we have been spending our day.

In our PJs.
Snuggling in the rocking chair.
We are ignoring any TV rule, and have our Praise Baby DVDs on repeat.
I have let go of my nutritional obsessions, and offered him have jello.
FYI...the 2nd ingredient in jello is HFCS.   ick
I bought him chocolate milk, because he refused his bottle, and I already know he won't drink regular milk.
He took a few ounces, and was done.
I have yogurt in the freezer for him.
DJ picked up juice cycles on his way home, to sooth his raw throat.

He is sad.
He is miserable.
...is it spring yet??




Excuse the picture quality...they were all taken from my phone.

The Little Things

Last week was hard.
It is not a week I would want to repeat.
The majority of it, I would rather not remember.
But then there are the things I never want to forget.

There wasn't a whole lot of picture taking going on.
Because I was too busy enjoying my baby.
Karson wanted to cuddle for the majority of the week.
Which is fine by mama.
I was looking through my pictures tonight to see if I had anything to blog about.
I found some pictures from one day last week, when I was just playing with the settings on my camera.
Pictures that remind me of why I do the things that I do.
Pictures that remind me to enjoy the little things in life.
Pictures that remind me to look at things in a 'glass half full' perspective.
Pictures that remind me of what I want to remember about last week.
A reminder of just how important the little things are...

She is currently healthy.

We have not had a vet bill in quite a few months.

She has not eaten anything off our counters in weeks.

(just jinxed myself I'm sure)

Karson absolutely loves her.

I have successfully passed on my love of children's books onto my son.

 One of his favorite books to read is his Baby Bible.

 There are few things sweeter, than watching my baby read all about God's love for him.

 Our house still has not sold.

Which annoys me.

However, the Realtor's lock provides a fun new toy for Karson whenever I open the door.

And reminds me that everything happens in God's perfect timing.

'glass half full'

We cloth diaper.

We love our cloth diapers.

He loves his cloth diapers, just as much as Mommy and Daddy do.

And the ironic thing, the reason this picture cracks me up...

By the looks of his tiny bum, I am pretty sure he is wearing a disposable (rare occurrence), and carrying around one of his cloth diapers.

...shhhh...don't tell!!

 See that tuft of hair on top?

He finally has enough hair to have bed head.

For that, I am thankful.

It was his favorite book to carry around.

He ripped it into pieces.

They are now his favorite pieces of a book, to carry around.

 Horrible picture.

Funniest face ever...

Referred to as the: I'm cute, and I know it face.

 My babies.

They wait for Daddy to come home like this every day...

 The little things.

They make all the difference.

A Snowy Walk

We live in the boonies.Our back yard is a corn field one year.
A squash field the next.
We are lucky if our road gets plowed.
The first nice day of spring always smells like manure.
We are trying to sell our house, and have made the decision to move closer into town.
Lately, we have been focusing on the cons of living in the country.
But occasionally, I remember why I love the country.

I love eating dinner, and looking out my window, to find a field full of deer running and playing in the snow.
I love that, although we don't live on a safe street to go for a walk, we can go for a walk through the field.
Which is exactly what we did last week.
Karson needed to get outside.  So did Molls.

We went for a walk around our property and the field behind our house.

This is the result of trying to be nice, and letting her walk without a harness...

 Pull out the gentle leader from my pocket.....

 ...much better Molly.

 

 It was a beautiful walk.

It was much needed exercise.

It was cold, but we are snow people, so we don't care.

Munchkin loved it.

Molly loved it.

...only 1 problems.

When you start out for a walk with your 10 month old, in the cold, and the wind is at your back...

...make sure he can still breathe when you turn around....

 If he can't, chances are he will scream.

And your husband will have to carry him the rest of the way home.

...not that this happened to us or anything...

 ...and another plus to country living...

Molly has a huge field in our back yard to run free in.

And no we don't worry about her running away.

The dog has severe separation anxiety.

She is afraid of rabbits.

She isn't going anywhere.

Remember

The first time we took Karson to the aquatic center?

When he actually had fun?

Remember the next time we went?

When we were trying to make up for Santa.

And he cried 90% of the time we were there.

Except for when Izzy was running circles around him, and he thought it was funny?

Remember when we went with Auntie Leesha and Aunt Katie?

When although he did splash a little...he pretty much acted like this:

Remember New Years Even when we took him?

...or right...

Didn't blog about that trip because there are no pictures.

Because he started crying in the locker room when we first got there.

Wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with it.

He finally stopped crying after we left.

Would you believe that he loved it this week?

'Auntie Leesh take a picture.  Look how cool I am?! '

That he walked around like he owned the place.

Conning two girls off of the tire swing.

Because ya know, babies are so cute.

He even actually rode on the tire swing.

"Hey, that wheel looks like it is fun to play with."

He played with the wheel forever.

Would walk to something different, then back to the wheel.

 

There was a whole lot of 

'Yaay Munchkin!' 'Mommy is so proud of you!' 'Woah...look at you!'

going on.

He did so well.

I was shocked.

Proud Mommy!

He overcame one of his first big fears.

Hoping it continues!

After all...we are taking him to Great Wolf in 2 months!

Remember how much we like snow?

We like water just as much!

Night Time

My favorite time of day?

Easy.

Bed time.

But not because the day is finally over...and Karson is goes to sleep.

That part, I hate!

 My favorite time of the day is bedtime, because it is our time.

Just Karson and Mommy.

 If you know me personally, you know I rarely, like almost never, give up Karson's bed time bottle.
You have to fight me for it.
And it has to be a really, really, really good reason.

I don't even let DJ give it to him very often.

That is our time.

You see, Munchkin and I never got the nursing thing figured out.

It was never bonding time for us.

It was stressful.

We would both be in tears.

It never was what it was supposed to be.

Bed time is our time.

After DJ is done giving him a bath, he is all mine.
DJ goes to bed, and the only ones up are Karson and I.
He gets his night time bottle, and usually, snuggles in, and falls asleep.

We snuggle for hours.

I tell him how much fun I had playing with him, and how I can't wait to play with him when he wakes up.

I try to convince him to let me sleep until morning, but that rarely happens.

We snuggle some more, and I thank God for blessing me with this sweet boy.

When he starts wanting to stretch out, I lay him down in his crib.

Give him a kiss, and tell him how much I love him.

He is starting to not want to be rocked to sleep anymore.

Maybe only once or twice a week he will fall asleep on me after his bottle.

I cherish those nights.

We cuddle for hours.

Bed time is my time with my Munchkin.

It is our bonding time.

So if you ask me what my favorite part of the day is...

...hands down...bed time

But don't think it is because the day is over and I finally get to put Karson to bed.

It is exactly the opposite.