It started off innocently enough with Katie crawling up to see what Tom was doing.
Then she has to sidle up next to him.
Waiting for Owen’s potty break:
I definitely see Uncle Rob in these next two pics (she’s definitely a Hudson):
And just like that, all the fun ended when Katie spit up on me. Katie and Owen had apparently just played and laughed so hard for so long that Katie spit up milk chunks all over me. And not just your run-of-the-mill spit up…but horrid smelling curdled nastiness that required a quick shower to get the stench off my skin.
New birthday outfit from Aunt Marie, Uncle Doug, Gabby, and Robert. You can’t really tell from the picture, but the skirt is navy blue with tons of ruffles (and it’s actually skorts). I have other colors of the same skorts (also from Schwalms) so you’ll see them again in a better-photographed-color!
Tom was Skyping with his mom and brother when Charlie jumped up and Katie just started going crazy with her. Charlie was pretty good—but you can tell she definitely wanted the attention.
First outfit of the day…a white onesie (with design that could be covered up by the sticker) from Gramma Jean. I didn’t put her in the matching pants because they clashed with the sticker. 🙂
Here you can see the actual onesie. She started ripping the sticker off after the first 100 photos. 🙂 This is also where she loves to play—the coat rack. I’m not sure what she’ll do when we finally get hooks attached to the bottom level for their coats!
Post-nap outfit change! This one is from Grauntie Sue! It’s scary because it’s size 18mo and fits pretty well.
Doug and Marie added a day to their vacation to be able to stop by before we had to leave. It was great seeing them—and the kids loved each other!—but the visit wasn’t nearly long enough. 🙁
Tom bought some little firework-type stuff to show Owen…and also to hopefully desensitize him to those noises.
The poppers bothered him at first, but then he got right into it and loved it!
Then it was time for the snakes! He thought they were cool, too…and called them fire snakes and poop snakes (since they really quite look like poop when they’re done). And then of course he was being a ham.
Grandma Marsha bought Owen some Captain America missiles so Uncle Rob and daddy took him out to play before dinner. Grandma and Katie came out to watch.
A one-in-a-million photo: Grandma Marsha looking at the camera with her eyes open and nothing blocking her face! And as a bonus, Katie is ALSO looking at the camera with her eyes open! 🙂
Tom took Owen to stay at Grandma Marsha’s overnight and they went to the Kaliseum. Why does Kalkaska have something like this and Jacksonville doesn’t?!
Owen was having fun playing with the other kids and then even went down this big waterside by himself!! Twice!!
He had a blast there! He called it a hotel, though… 🙂
They all went to Big Boy for dinner, where Owen ordered his own hot dog dinner!
During dinner…
Owen: Guess what?
Uncle Rob: What?
Owen: Not you, I am asking your mother!
And then had ice cream back at Grandma’s.
And Uncle Rob tried to sleep with Owen, but Owen told him “No, Uncle Rob, this bed is my size.” 🙂
We went to Kalkaska today so we could go with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob to see some relatives who live out in the middle of nowhere. Katie enjoyed standing in the breeze and looking out the front door.
We took Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob out for dinner to Traverse City and we picked Harrington’s On The Bay. It was quite yummy—and while Owen was really good, Katie was pretty good but got a bit antsy/squawky towards the end. Owen was a MUCH better diner than Katie is so far…but she’s a MUCH better eater (tonight she ate calamari, French fries, asparagus, filet mignon, yogurt, and chocolate cake).
Since we typically miss the Christmas get-together, we got everyone together for dinner in Bay City!
Owen did okay getting back in the car again but Katie was. not. thrilled. and let us know. 🙁 However, during one moment in which Katie was momentarily quiet, we heard Owen pope up: “Good job, Katie. You’re being patient.” 🙂
Everyone adored Katie and most of them said she was a mini Jenny (we still don’t see it).
A birthday balloon for Katie from Grauntie Rose:
On the move…
Rocks taste good:
First beer!
Owen LOVED playing with Jessica and Alex…but obviously liked Jess just a little more!
With cousin Aubrey, who is six months older—can you believe it?
The gaggle of young cousins:
Nick (almost 9), Gracie (almost 7), Aubrey (almost 5), and Owen (4).
And the same group two years ago (April 2011). Nick (almost 7), Gracie (almost 5), Aubrey (almost 3), and Owen (just turned 2). Owen outweighs Aubrey by at least 12# and is about 5# less than the 5yo.
An attempt at a family photo:
Timmy did the grilling!
With Aunt Lori:
And Gramma Jean:
The whole family (minus Greg, Aunt Sue, and Uncle Marv…plus friends Chris and Pete):
Katie in a fancy dress… Lisa brought a few bins of 3T clothes for me to sort through for Katie—a bunch of which were winter clothes and fancy dresses (which we don’t need) but this dress was SO cute I had to put her in it just for a few pictures. She loved it!
Owen had SOOO much fun he didn’t want to leave, but we had to drive back to Grayling… The big test was to see how the kids did sleeping in the car and being taken directly into bed…which they both passed with flying colors!
Well, I had an awful night. The whole barking dog fiasco combined with a very sore back (a combination of having been to the chiropractor on Thursday and the passenger seat not being very comfortable since it’s tweaked to best fit Katie’s car seat) meant I tossed and turned all night…and was wide awake enough to see midnight, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5a on the clock. I gave up at 5 and caught up on email, Facebook, forums, Scrabble, the blog, etc. Tom woke up about 6, Owen was up about 6:15, then Katie woke up while Tom was showering. We were packed, breakfasted, and on the road by 7:30. Well, 7:40—as we were pulling out of the parking lot, Owen said “Where’s my B?!” EEK! He had had it in the room so I wasn’t paying attention…and he obviously set it down. Tom ran back in and got it. Phew!
The first sibling game of the day was sharing (that’s Owen’s B).
Then we stopped in Troy. I had to return some shoes to REI and we wanted to grab some sushi from our favorite place and take Owen to his old park stomping grounds.
First, Katie had some fries.
She usually offers to share.
Daddy and Katie sharing a fry, Lady & the Tramp style.
Owen was really excited about his fries on the way there, but once we got there he was way more excited about playing.
So off he went!
Katie after her first daddy-assisted trip down the slide.
And this is how she wanted to attempt it on her own.
Owen on his way up to the BIG curly slide!
He went down it about 10 times! He almost attempted a belly first (which we were going to allow) but then he changed his mind.
Katie’s first time on a real swing (and not just on one of our laps). SHE LOVED IT.
Owen would have stayed to play for another hour (and we hated to leave the memories as well), but we had to get on the road to Gramma Jean’s! Unfortunately, Katie had HAD it with the road trip and squawked for quite a bit. She did conk out for a few minutes, but about a half hour out she was JUST. DONE. Kicking and screeching and definitely not happy. I wanted to tell her I understood—I hate long road trips, too.
But then we were pulling in the driveway and Owen was so excited to be here and Katie was excited to be out of her car seat and the grandparents (including Grauntie Marge) were excited to see the kids…and then it was a flurry of activity as we unpacked, Tom’s mom and brother arrived, and we all ate dinner.
To officially start my vacation, I had a bottle of wine (yes, you read that right: bottle, not glass). And to make sure I slept that night (and didn’t get a headache from the wine!), I took two Excedrin PMs and a back pain pill.
So back in February, a friend of ours posted about this really cool family portrait he had commissioned by KateWhitmoreArt on Etsy. Everyone RAVED over it and said they would love one…including me. And then a few months later, I finally said YES, I’M DOING IT! But it was going to be a pre-deployment surprise for Tom.
I worked with her for about six weeks before we had a final product—sending ideas, evaluating sketches, changing details, etc.—and I managed to keep it a secret up until the very end, when I needed his input on something (though, honestly, I could have decided on my own—but you know how I am about surprises and the final reveal would only be a day or so away anyway).
And I have to say that for someone who doesn’t get choked up too easily…I think Tom was actually a bit choked up. 🙂
In it, you will notice all the small details of our family that I gave her to make it perfect…
Owen driving his police car.
Me taking a photo of Owen with my iPhone.
A replica of our favorite Troy playground/park in the background.
Tom wearing an MSU shirt.
Katie wearing pink and grabbing my hair. The artist did the hair-grabbing thing on her own. I did NOT provide that detail.
Owen is wearing blue.
All pets are accounted for—and Charlie even has the nose dot.
Owen’s drink is his actual cup.
We have USMC Tervis tumblers. (I wasn’t expecting them to have a visible design, but I can tell they are the USMC one that I sent her the sample photo of.)
Our exact diaper bag is under the table.
It turned out more perfect than I could have imagined. But, it did take a bit to get there. Here’s the first draft, when she was trying a Christmas theme (I told her we loved Christmas):
She sent it with this:
I thought it was a little too ‘out there’, possibly. I thought it would be cute to have you guys in the tree, surrounded by your ornaments and lights! I just felt it might be a little fun—the ornaments would have either icons/colors for your interests, the USMC, Cars, things like that, and something a little more unique than a standard portrait. Something you can’t get a photo of, you know? If you don’t feel this one, though, just let me know and I can take another crack at it!
So, while I did really like her unique take on us INSIDE a Christmas tree (I had told her we LOVED Christmas) I just wasn’t loving it enough…so I gave her the suggestion of a park or the ocean and sent a few more pics, after which she came up with this:
My thoughts were more YAY! but it wasn’t QUITE there yet. She said she didn’t do a slide (as I had suggested) because the spacing/sizing didn’t work out right. So to me it didn’t look like we were really at a park but more just having a picnic—which we haven’t really ever done. And I wasn’t sure about the kite as he’s never flown a kite so that’s just not him. I thought I might be over-thinking it but my online sounding board assured me I wasn’t…and that the artist DEFINITELY wanted clients to be happy. So I asked her to put Owen in his power wheels police car, have me taking a picture with my iPhone, have our actual sippy cup/Tervis tumblers on the table instead of a pitcher of lemonade, and change the picnic basket to the diaper bag (a long story, but it took trying/buying/returning about 15 bags before I settled on that one, so it’s kind of a running joke).
She was fine with all the changes and then sent this, which was IT.
Then came the color version and it was almost perfect. Bonus points if you can see what the last missing detail was.
Highlight this text to see what it was: The white S on Tom’s shirt.
So overall I’m absolutely and completely THRILLED. I’ve already ordered artwork for our walls (I had bought a Groupon ages ago unsure of what I would use it for…and I’m glad I saved it for this) and I’ll just say that I’m sure this will turn into Christmas presents… 🙂
Well the pediatrician says impetigo or herpes so she’s being treated for both. It’s still contagious, but not as bad as molluscum.
That said, I texted my sister the diagnosis (and of course I didn’t get her text until I left the office) and she said “It’s not herpes if it’s on her finger, too.” Hoo boy. So now I’m leery if these docs don’t even know something that seems basic… But I guess we’re covered either way with the meds (one twice a day for seven days and one five times a day for 10 days).
We were also referred to an ophthalmologist since it’s by her eye so that’s this afternoon.
—
Ugh. That was painful.
Our appointment at the eye doctor was 1:15 and as a new patient I had to be there at 1:00. Fine. We got in about 1:25 so not bad. Then it was AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER by the time the doc came in. Oh, at about an hour someone finally came in and said “He just got back from surgery, he has one quick thing to do, then he’ll be in.”
What? JUST got back? At 2? So why the hell were we scheduled for 1:15? (They didn’t say emergency surgery.) And then it still took another 30 minutes.
The pediatrician didn’t say “Good news, they squeezed you in!” so I assumed we had a normal appointment. Apparently not.
So let me just tell you HOW MUCH FUN it was with an already over-tired baby WAY beyond her nap time and an energetic 4yo cooped up in an exam room. Thank heavens Tom met me there and could help out. I may have lost my mind otherwise.
And the actual doc part? Seriously two minutes. GRRR. One squirt of dye in her eye and a quick look with a blue light to see if there were scratches. Nope, okay, use this ointment. See you in two weeks.
😐
Then Katie was out within two minutes of me starting the drive home.
Before we left, I noticed two red spots on her face by her eyes. I just thought they were random baby pimples and didn’t think much else about it.
We came home and she had another one—and the old ones weren’t gone. Another day, and she was up to five—all around her eye.
It was at this point I decided to ask my sister, Kathryn, who has professional dermatology experience. Her diagnosis was Molluscum, a type of wart. (FYI: don’t google–EEK!—though the pics are all WAY worse than what she has.)
Unfortunately, they are contagious, and can be spread on herself or to Owen (or to us). 🙁 But how do you keep a baby from touching her eyes/face/mouth? EXACTLY. YOU CAN’T.
My sis said to keep her (and Owen) very moisturized because it spreads more easily to dry skin. So I lathered her up really well last night…but then she woke up with three more around her mouth and one on her finger! Ugh. I bandaged the one on her finger but then I have to watch that she doesn’t chew the bandaid off (and swallow it). And of course it’s one of the two fingers she puts in her mouth to comfort herself. 🙁
They’ll (supposedly) eventually go away on their own but it sounds like it’s something that can stick around for a long time (like 5 years) and the best treatment is burning or freezing. 😐 Though my sis says from what I’ve said and pics I’ve sent they don’t seem to be that bad. There are other creams but Googling says they’re not very effective (and my guess is they shouldn’t be applied around a baby’s eyes).
I just hate that she has to deal with this. (Okay, I’m not kidding anyone. I hate that I have to deal with it as well.) They look awful but don’t seem to itch (fingers crossed). Though she does seem to be more cranky than she’s ever been…and I’m guessing her no-nap days are because of this somehow, too, though she does sleep all night.
We have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow so we can confirm. We don’t need to quarantine ourselves (you just have to take precautions) but I really want to because it just seems easier. I did cancel our playgroup date tomorrow but I’m sure we’ll be back next week depending what the doc says.
With the help of my stepsister Kathryn who went to her local (Atlanta) IKEA to pick up the shelf for me…and then hauled it to Myrtle Beach where I then picked it up at my parent’s condo…and then Tom putting it together…we now have a revamped playroom!
When I showed it to Owen for the first time, his eyes got really wide as he said “HOLY MACKEREL!” 🙂
Then I told him everything had its own basket.
Me: Cars go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Trains go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Animals go here.
Owen: YEAH!
Me: Puzzles are here.
Owen: YEAH!
Why didn’t I see it in 1986? Because I was 12 (or 13) and my mom saw it first and said “It’s just a bunch of planes flying around and it made me sick.”
I KNOW, RIGHT?!
So I’ve watched it about 25 times on VHS…then DVD…just waiting for the day it MIGHT come back to the theater.
And that time was now…for a special limited release in IMAX 3D!
To help promote the films upcoming 3D Blu-ray release on February 19, Paramount decided to re-release the classic in a six day run that started on Friday, where the film averaged about $6,600 per screen.
And it was only an hour away in Wilmington so HELLS YEAH I was going! WOOHOO!!!
We considered it an anniversary [of when we met in February 1997] / Valentine’s Day outing so ate a sushi lunch first then walked down the street to the theater where I saw this:
And had to have some!
Yum!
Then it was off to the movie. Aren’t the 3D glasses stunning?
And the movie was AWESOME! Wow. The 3D aspects didn’t blow me away…but there were some cool aspects and the actors felt very close and sometimes it felt like you were IN the cockpit with them!
Also, interestingly, with the awesome THX surround sound, I heard A LOT more of the background noises that just melted away in TV showings even with a decent home surround sound system (like a running shower and background music that were never as pronounced).
It was my first actual 3D movie (other than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids at Disney about 20 years ago or 3D/IMAX attractions at Cedar Point) and I’d have to say 3D has come a long way. And it took a good 20 or so minutes until I finally stopped noticing that I was watching the movie through glasses and just enjoyed it without distraction. Well, except I had to pee about 30 minutes in but hell if I was going to miss one second of the movie after waiting 26 years!
We ended our day’s outing with a trip to Costco…so it was a great day! And I can cross See Top Gun on the big screen off my bucket list!
So, Owen loved opening presents, but usually didn’t seem too thrilled with the actual item. But I knew he’d get to them eventually…so it’s fun to see what he’ll bring out of the toy room next.
Just now, he came out with three new packages of Cars cars that he opened from papa and Grannie Lin last night. 🙂
He wasn’t terribly interested in it when he opened it…got a little interested when he saw it in action…carried it around but refused to put it on…until bedtime when he HAD to have it! Fast forward 15 minutes and he was out of bed so I went in there and he didn’t want it on anymore and HAD to give it to me (versus just putting it on his dresser).
