When it rains... get meds.

Good news: We got out of the house today for the first time in a long time (over a week).
Bad news: It was to go the doctor's office. Andrew has a hum-dinger of an ear infection.

He woke me up this morning around 5am whining that his ear was itchy and asking me to rub it. This fitfullness & ear rubbing went on until around 7 when he became a complete and total wreck. My normally happy 'superfast' little man was crippled by tears on the couch. So very sad (and frustrating). But Tylenol seemed to work wonders and by the time we got the docs, he was back to happy self and I was questioning the real need to be there. But my suspicious were true and now he is on meds.

We also took the leap tonight and put Andrew back into his room with AJ. And other than Andrew going from happy/sleeping to miserable the second the Tylenol wears off, they are both sleeping well... together... in the same room. It's only been a couple hours, but hopefully, with more Tylenol ready to go - the night will go smoothly.

And, Lord willing.... we will make it to Bible Study tomorrow.

10 Months

Adam Jay Reed turned 10 months old today. And really, in the last week or two, his personality has kicked in. And boy, is he a sweetie. He's so mild and happy, that with his torpedo brother running around, you just might forget about him (not literally forget - don't call social services).

He is very rarely demanding and loves to be smiled at. Loves it. Lives for it. He definately has an air of smugness to him. He communicates with those eyes. We're thinking that when older, he will be the one to pick on Andrew on the sly, and Andrew will be the one to react in a big way, therefore getting Andrew in trouble - even though it will be AJ's instigating. And I know I've said it before, but he is a Daddy's boy. He will follow that man around as soon as he enters the room - either with his eyes or with his hands and knees.

AJ has also done a really great job sleeping lately. Thanks so much for prayers. The last couple nights, have been great for him. I am so hoping it lasts - especially whenever we decide to transfer Andrew back into the room.

He recently discovered banana bread and now that's is by far his snack of choice - over his Cheerios Toasted Oats cereal. Although the bread pales in comparison to the huge bite of peanut butter/oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie that Andrew decided to share with him today. (But they were warm out of the oven - so could you blame him?) And it was sweet of Andrew to share since I know how much he was loving the cookies. I did learn today that he doesn't like cottage cheese. Not even a little.

AJ knows Andrew is a sucker for sharing his food and is super excited for the snow ice cream.

My AJ. Mommy and Daddy and Andrew are so blessed by you and your smiling eyes everyday.

Home again Home again...

Due to our weather, we are once again, home. MOPS was cancelled this morning along with most schools. It is cold artic outside. So, other than work/play around the house, I am not sure what we are going to do today. Marc bought Andrew a sled that they have yet to use.

I really need to stop complaining about the weather since we had a 50 degree December. It's really the home-boundness that's getting to me. I may have to get out when Marc is done working just by myself for a bit. I would like to hit Goodwill or the like. Andrew needs warm play clothes to wear around the house like sweatpants and sweatshirts. He wears his monkey bed pants everday (he has two pair). Maybe I'll take Andrew with me and get him out a bit, too.

I did give Andrew another hair cut last night and it is much better. Not as short as I like it, but I wanted to play it safe in case we needed to get it 'fixed'. But it's really not too shabby and looks much better than the mop he had before. Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

Sleep update: AJ had another really good night last night. And Andrew's night went well also. Although, I kept catching him in our bed. I would put him down in his bed (in our room) and next time I would go up - he would be in our bed... complete with his own pillow and blankets. So after three times, we just left him. Goofy kid.

Alright - this post is all over the board and full of rambling. I will wrap it up and get busy around here. It's almost time for 'Go, Diego, Go', so that's 30 minutes I can work around the house pretty much uninterrupted.

Not party worthy, but better than before.

Thanks for the prayers. Last night was a better night. AJ, in fact, had his best night ever. He went down around 7:30/8:00pm, woke up and fussed off and on for about 15 minutes around 10:30pm, then slept until 6:30am! At that time, I got up with him, fed him and laid him back down... and he went back to sleep. It is currently 8:30 am and he is still sleeping!

Andrew had an ok night. Not great, not the worst. His mattress is still in our room, so hopefully we can get him sleeping well and back into his own room soon without jeopardizing AJ's sleep. Alright, it's Monday morning and I have a mountain of things to do.

One main priority todady is to stay warm - it is currently -9 with a windchill of -24 in our area. Yea, we are NOT going anywhere again today. Marc's boss even called and told him to work from home instead of driving to Kalamazoo.

Keep up the prayers and have a great warm week.

The real problems of a two year old...

When Andrew was given a piece from the middle of the pizza he asked me, "Where do I hold it?"

If there ever is a reason to party...

I have nothing to post about because we've done nothing. I mean it. Nothing. We are feeling better all around which is good news. However, we were hit with a monster blizzard and can't go anywhere anyway. So another 3 days stuck at home. All the schools are already closed for tomorrow.

We did have some friends over tonight for the SuperBowl. It was a really nice break from our every other day. Plus, it made us get our house in order. With me being very much under the weather, only the bare minimum was getting done each day. And by bare minumum...that meant the boys were fed and changed. That's about it.

I want to please ask for your prayer (again) for sleep in our home. Someday, a time will come when both of my boys will sleep in their own beds in their own rooms all night and neither of us parents will be on the couch and we will all wake up refreshed and happy. Someday. And when that day comes - I'm throwing a party!

I knew all the white stuff was good for something.

What do you make when and have milk, eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla on hand and you live in West Michigan buried in what feels like moutains of snow?

SNOW ICE CREAM!
1/2 cup milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 gallons (or more) very fresh, light, fluffy snow

Over medium heat, bring first 4 items just to a slight boil wisking the entire time. Remove from heat and add sugar and vanilla. Cover and chill. Mix with snow.

(Warning - this makes a lot! I made the whole batch, but only mixed up half of it with snow and got a lot of ice cream! But since we are currently under a Blizzard Warning, we may have no problem using it all up.)

Shannon, Shannon, Bo Bannon.

I have this friend named Shannon. I have this MySpace account that was empty and ugly. I am not real familiar and comfortable with MySpace like I am Blogger. In fact, I had the MySpace account pretty much solely to check her MySpace account. The ugliness of the account was getting to my friend named Shannon... so I turned her loose.

And check out the amazing job she did!

Now, I am still a MySpace novice and will need some educating on what to do with it, but it sure does look cool! Thanks, Shannon!!

Who's winning?

The shredded apple and cheese

or AJ (in his ugly pjs)?

The Rainbow Connection

The Bad Things:

• Colds: I've got a cold that is knocking me out. Not the merely inconvenient cold, but the kind where you are confident your head will explode and your nose will rub off. It's pretty much wiped the mat with me yesterday and today. AJ still has his cold also. So he is happy, but drippy and hoarse. (which is actually pretty adorable - a hoarse little cry).


• Since I've been up for nothing yesterday, I've let the kids watch more TV than I like to. Their little brains will be fried.


• We are getting d.u.m.p.e.d. on with snow. And it keeps coming down. I don't think we would be going anywhere even if we weren't quarantined to the house.

The Good Things:

• Andrew's chicken pox (through tripled in count) do not seem to be bothering him in the least. He finds it amusing when I count them.


• AJ's scabs are getting better by the day and for the most part, my happy boy is back, praise God.


• We've been keep up with Andrew's lessons well lately. This week's theme is rainbows and prisms. We are also learning the color red (along with the octagon shape), the letter F, the number 6 and "Fear not, for I am with you" verse. The verse is especially good, since Andrew seems at an age where nighttime can be a bit scary.

Our rainbow jello (tooks us days to make it).