Finally February!!

I love most times of the year, but (despite it being Pj's and my birthday month and also Valentine's Day), I can't stand January and February.  They are long, cold, icky, long (did I say that already?;-)) months.... and I think we could do without them.  Winter is fun until Christmas.... the first snow is magical and cold days call for lots of hot chocolate.  But by December 26th, I'm ready for spring.  Or at least windy, rainy March! 

That being said, life in our house has been fairly slow the past month or so.  Trey and I have been housebound most days.  But Trey is making the most of it!  So here is a quick update on him:

1. Trey loves to twirl.  He usually does it when he hears the music for Veggie Tales (still his favorite show).  He will go round and round and round, get really dizzy, and then fall down and usually hurts himself and runs to me crying!  But he does it again despite getting hurt.
   
2. Trey gives real kisses now!  He's done it before every now and then, but the past week if I ask him for a kiss, he will come up and give me a big sloppy kiss on the cheek!  So sweet:-)
   
3. Trey's vocabulary has skyrocketed!  I seriously wouldn't even be able to list all the words he can say now.  Some of them are "Cracker", "Book", "Poop", "Tent", "Fish" (for "Goldfish"), and "Cheese".
   
4. He loves to attack Daddy and wrestle with him, all the time growling like a bear or something!
   
5. When he watches TV, he will gather every single stuffed animal he can find, AND every pillow and blanket and they must be with him on the couch... so there isn't much room left for me to sit with him anymore;-)
   
6. He loves to play kickball... and he's pretty good at it... working in some footwork these days.  I have a feeling we'll  be starting him in soccer early on.  He obviously inherited his hand/eye coordination skills from his Dad!
   
7. Obsession with crayons.  I have to hide them!  If he sees them, he HAS to have them.  He colors a little bit, but mostly he likes to just hold them or organize them in the box they go in.  We are currently learning NOT to color the carpet.  Our beige carpet has a few colored spots.  I'll have to research how to get that out!
   
8. He sings now!  Usually when music is playing, you'll hear him do it.  He can't hold a tune AT ALL yet, but we're hoping for the best;-)
   
9. Lastly, ketchup goes on everything edible apparently!  All I have to do to get Trey to eat something (he is a picky eater) is to let him dip it in ketchup.  Sometimes it's pretty gross.  For instance, he was dipping his green beans in it the other day!  But atleast he's eating;-)

We have Trey's 15 month appointment in a few days and I am prepared to hear that he weights 5 tons.... atleast that's what it feels like carrying him around these days.  I have to let him walk most times because he's getting too heavy for me.  He's well over 31 inches too in height.  He's starting to fit in some of his 18 month clothing.  My little boy is growing up so fast, losing all that chubby baby weight and becoming a crazy, energetic toddler, running and screaming around my house!  I love it:-)  Every different phase has been fun and different!

There isn't much else to report on!  Pj and I aren't as interesting I guess;-)  Pj has been enjoying alot of snow days from school lately, but is glad to be back at it before work piles up too much.  Thankfully with his line of work (much of his time spent being a disciplinarian), the kids can't get in trouble in school if they aren't in school.... so that atleast is good.  As for me, I've been pretty sick the past week.  First with a head cold, then the flu on top of that, and now I feel like I have another cold... or the first one just never left!  So I'm whipped these days!!  Looking forward to spring... I literally can't wait!  I am coping by making lots of spring/summer plans for us... trips to the zoo, park, orchard for strawberry picking... you name it!

That's it for now... till next month!!  Here are some recent pictures:-)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Everyone!  We hope you all had great times with family and friends.  I know that we did!  I can't believe its already 2011.  Where did the year go?  My resolution for 2011 is to try enjoy each day to the fullest since I feel like time is going by more quickly than it did when I was younger:-)

It's been quite a crazy month for us, so we're kind of glad to say goodbye to 2010 in some ways too.  A week before Christmas Trey had a come-and-go fever and diarrhea and a double ear infection.  But then one night the fever went up to nearly 104, he was throwing up and very out of it.  And he was refusing all liquids, not a good mix when everything is coming out of you.  We rushed him to ER at Shady Grove Hospital (where he was born) thinking that we would just be there for a few hours.  At first, they sort of dismissed everything, saying to just keep trying to get him to drink and that it was just a little bug and he would be better.  But then when he wouldn't drink, they put an IV in him and ran some bloodwork.  The IV helped him alot!  But he was still so out of it.  It was the scariest thing to see your little baby looking so weak and listless!  They ran blood tests and said that his white blood cell count was too high for just a double ear infection.  So they did an x-ray and when the results were back we found out that he had pneumonia and that he would be hospitalized for 1-2 days, depending on how quickly he healed.  What?  There had been no signs or symptoms of this, other than the fever.  So we were given a cute little room (emphasis on "little") with a crib and a little armchair that pulled out into sort of a bed for one person (but Pj and I both managed somehow to squeeze onto it to sleep).  Trey was hooked up to all sorts of machines, wires on his chest, an IV for fluids and antibiotics in his arm.  Most of the time we were there, he was too sick to really even care or move.  His high fevers would come and go, it was really frustrating.  But finally on Sunday afternoon Trey started pulling through and seemed much  more like himself and the fever broke.  He started eating and drinking again.  Yay!  We were released late Monday afternoon.  It took a few more days for Trey to fully recover, but now he is back to himself with more energy than any of us know what do with;-)  We are so thankful that God answered our (and everyone else's prayers).

So we were home for a few days and then Pj got the flu.  Aghhh!!  Thankfully it was quick and he was still able to spend time with family for Christmas (although we may have passed the bug on unfortunately).  We spent Christmas Eve at home watching Christmas movies and eating our favorite foods, which was cozy, although I really missed the traditional candlelight service at church.  Then on Christmas morning who woke up bright and early and tried to wake me up so we could open gifts?  Pj;-)  So we got up first and then when Trey woke up he got to open his, although he mostly just cared about the wrapping.  Later on we went over to Pj's parent's house for more presents and a yummy breakfast.  Then we traveled over to Pj's grandparents in Mt. Airy for most extended family celebration and a big mid-day meal.  Then we drove up to Sykesville to be with my family and siblings for more presents and dessert.  It was a long day but so much fun!  We're glad we got to see nearly everyone!

The following day we were supposed to leave for the long-anticipated week-long vacation to the beach house in Corolla, NC on the Outer Banks.  But of course the blizzard was making its way through there.  We decided to try to outrun the blizzard (even though it was coming towards us??).  It was a VERY scary and long ride down there.  What would normally be 5 1/2 hours ended up being 9.  Thank God for the DVD player we got for Trey along with Veggie Tales movies... last minute purchase that saved our lives!  So anyways, we still made it to the beach!  I think we were the only people there who owned a shovel!  We should have rented it out to make money for groceries;-).  The week was fun!  We mostly relaxed and watched HGTV and took walks on the beach.  Pj's parents and siblings and nephew came down a few days later and we spent New Year's Eve with them as we do most years.  We planned to leave Saturday night, but then Saturday afternoon Pj pulled something in his abdomen so much so that he was in severe pain and couldn't walk.  So we spent a few hours in the ER making sure it wasn't a hernia.  Thankfully it wasn't!  So we left the next afternoon instead, and enjoyed all the standstill traffic on 95 that we would have missed if we had left the night before. 

And that is why I am excited for a new year;-)  Enjoy the pics!

Happy 1st Birthday Trey!

We can't believe it's been a year since God changed our lives for the better by sending Trey to us!  It's been fun:-)  He came to us on a warm November day only 8 lbs and 5 oz and 21 1/4 inches long with a head full of reddish brown hair and big wide open eyes.  He is now nearly 23 lbs and 31 1/2 inches long, with wavy sandy blond hair and keeps us smiling every day with his antics, even when we're exhausted!  Mommy & Daddy love you Trey!

On Trey's birthday on November 6th (which happened to be on a Saturday this year!) we had a party at Pj's parent's home.  We are so thankful they let us hold it there because there is no way we would have been able to do it at our small condo.  It was pretty crazy!  Even though we just invited family that lived close by and close friends, it was still around 40 people or so.  A few of Trey's little friends came and it was fun to see them playing in the living room with the plastic balls that came with the blow-up ball pit PopPop (Pj's dad) bought and also the balloons were a big hit!  It was a Veggie Tale themed party of course, so we had alot of green and red and I had laminated some of the characters that I had drawn in Illustrator and printed out.  Trey loved his cake!  He loves all his new toys!  Lots of fun, but I think next year we will do something way smaller and simpler;-)

These days I am spending my time chasing after my little runner!  Well, not quite running, but he walks so well and so fast now that I really do have to speed up to catch him.  He LOVES to walk!  Sometimes he will just walk up and down the hallway really fast back and forth until he gets worn out.  It's cute!  I was in the store the other day and for the first time I held his hand (had to lean over a little bit since he's still so short) and we walked together through the store... which is quite a feat when you have a stroller to push as well;-).  Part of me was sad because my little boy is growing up so very fast!  Trey is always learning how to use his large crayons, but he mostly just likes to open the box, pull them out, and put them back and close the lid.  He also likes pushing toys off of chairs and tables and watching them fall and make a big noise (Mom and Dad don't like this one very much!!).  Our poor neighbors downstairs!  He loves to wrestle with Lilbit.  And of course... he still loves to watch Veggie Tales.  But Elmo is still a big winner around here.  He doesn't really watch Elmo on TV ever, but he loves Elmo book and stuffed animals.

What else is new?  Well, we've been fighting lots of colds since mid-October.  Trey's has had three in a row.  Pj is getting over one now.  And I might have had one or two.  Thankfully, I don't really get sick very often!  I've gone into germ-psycho mommy mode now!  I don't mind a cold here or there, but three in a row is just a bit too much, both for Trey's health and my energy level (long nights and days!).

Pj and I had a fun night last night!  My parents took both of us and my youngest sister Rachel to Toby's Dinner Theater to see "The Christmas Carol", the musical.  Dinner was delicious and the show was just awesome.  We had a table right next to the stage!  Those people are so talented... sometimes I get jealous wishing I could sing and dance like that.  Oh well!

Pj has been, as always, very busy with his job!  But thankfully he gets a break this week for Thanksgiving!  We're looking forward to going to my Grandfather's house in Lutherville, near Baltimore, along with my parents, siblings, aunt and cousins.  It's going to bring so many wonderful memories of Thanksgivings growing up.  When I was little all our Thanksgiving's we're at my grandparents house!  We stuffed ourselves and then my siblings and cousins and I played in the playroom in the basement or we took the bikes around the neighborhood to the playground or creek.  It's just weird to think that now I have my own little boy!

Well, that is really all there is for now!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone:-)