Celebrate!

Today is a day of celebration!

Today is the last day I have to take 10 pills a day! Hurray! (And if you know me, you know I hate taking pills. Blah.)

I haven't really talked about it much, mainly because I don't want to seem like I'm complaining, but I've had a lot of health problems this year. Ranging from a weird skin virus to back injuries to, most recently, a bacteria in my stomach.

For almost 8 months now I've been having intense pain right under my ribcage and horrible nausea off and on. It started out in bouts happening maybe once or twice a week, usually at night. However, it started to get more and more often and more severe.

In February, I came down with Pityriasis Rosea. It's my fun skin rashes I had all over. I thought maybe my stomach problem was a side effect of this virus, so I kind of brushed it off.

And then in May, I went back to a doctor and was diagnosed with Gastritis and a bladder infection. Again I thought the pain and nausea was due to the infection, but again it didn't go away.

So then I went to a specialist. They had my blood drawn. Never get your blood drawn when you haven't eaten anything in 18 hours. I didn't really think about it, and I wasn't hungry. (Food has been my enemy lately).

I felt bad for the poor lady drawing my blood. I felt fine, but after a little bit I started feeling woozy and seeing spots. I was almost certain I was going to pass out. The tech kept yelling, "Don't pass out on me! You're fine! You're not going to pass out!" And I kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. I think I'm going to pass out. I'm going to pass out. I'm so sorry. I'm usually not like this." And then there was a lady waiting in the front office yelling that she had been waiting far too long and wanted to be taken care of immediately.

You should have been there. It was quite a scene.

I asked for some crackers, but they didn't have any. One of the workers went to the break room and came back with some sun chips. I felt pretty guilty eating a random stranger's lunch. It did help me feel better though! I stopped seeing spots and apologized about a zillion times. The nice lady said not to worry that it happened all the time, usually to men. I think she was just trying to make me feel better.

Next time I will make sure to eat breakfast. Lesson learned.

Anyways, one of the things they tested me for was for the H. Pylori bacteria. The test came back inconclusive meaning I am in between normal and not normal. They told me that if I had been taking antacids or acid blockers (which I had been) it may alter the results.

They are pretty sure that's what I had, so instead of taking me off medicine for 2 weeks to test me again, they prescribed me 2 different kinds of antibiotics and another acid reducer. I had to take 10 pills a day for 2 weeks. I am grateful for modern day medicine. Even though it is a pain to take, I'm glad it's going to help me feel better. It does make me feel bad though that there are people who have to take that many or more pills every day for the rest of their lives.

Darn you H. Pylori for camping out in my stomach! I am crossing my fingers that my stomach problems will go away.

But in the meantime, I am celebrating my last day of taking pills! Wahoo!

Yummy yummy breakfast and late night snack.

It's no fun being sick.

Chuck-E-Cheese, Harry Potter, and Other Ramblings

First of all, I would like to say a big happy birthday to Mr. Harry Potter.

 

 

Nerdy? No. Awesome? Yes!

Anyways, moving on...

Did you know that I have this giant checklist on my phone with all the things I want to blog about and not forget. I also have about a million pictures and videos I have been meaning to post, but haven't. I feel like a world class #1 slacker when it comes to blogging. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll be able to catch up!!

We took Jackson to Chuck E Cheese for the first time a couple weeks ago. He loved it. He was content playing on the little playground and watching people. We probably didn't need to get any tokens at all.

Here is Jackson dancing to the music.



Jackson was a little nervous to ride on the ride on toys. He rode his first one at the mall. He hated it! He started panicking and begged to get off. Goodbye 50 cents! We tried again at Chuck E Cheese, and he took it a little better.

Proof:



Ryan had fun competing with the other dads at skiball. They take it pretty seriously.

 Jackson was Ryan's ball boy.

 

We saw Chuck-E-Cheese, but Jackson could care less about him.

 

Other news: Jackson loves to push his push toys down the hall. Not so sure if the neighbors love it though...

 

Busted

Jackson knows the cat food is off limits. Unfortunetly, playing with Meow Mix is one of his favorite pastimes. He loves making kitty stew by putting the cat's food into the water. What can I say, he's a natural chef.

 

Whenever I see him sneaking toward the cat food, I always say, "No, no!" I guess I have done it so many times now that when I catch him in the kitty food, he looks at me and says, "No, no!" before I can. Little stinker.

 

One day, I walked around the corner and discovered Jackson trying to clean up the mess he made. He looked at me innocently, pretending like he didn't touch a morsel of food.

 

From the looks of it, he grabbed a kitchen towel, shoved as much kitty food in it as he could, and hid the rest under the tarp. It might've worked if the tarp hadn't of been see through.

Busted.

Also, just for funsies, here is a video of Jackson playing with his new kitten. (Just kidding....He wishes!) This was at the pet store, and no the kitten didn't make it home with us.

Rainy Times

It has been a very rainy summer here in Georgia. I joke with Ryan sometimes and ask him if it feels like home (Washington). He claims to love the rainy weather and cloudy skies. For me, it's hard to go out and do any summer-type activities with Jackson. We tried going to the pool yesterday, and swam for about 15 minutes before we had to go running back inside due to a down pour. Poor Jackson didn't quite understand why we had to end our fun early.

It was really funny because on Friday, construction workers were on the temple roof fixing something and it kept raining off and on all day. It would stay sunny and out of no where, it would start pouring. They would scramble and get everything under this giant blue tarp and hide out for about 10 minutes until the rain stopped. Then they would come out from under their temporary hideout and work as fast as they could before the next downpour.They did this 5 times at least. It probably delayed the completion of their project because they were still up on the roof at 10 pm. I guess if they waited until the rain stopped completely, the roof might not be done until Fall.

About a month ago, Ryan went hometeaching. Jackson wanted to get out and do something, so I took him to Target. I let him play in the toy aisle for awhile and then put him back in the cart to get some stuff we needed. I was almost done when the lights started flickering eerilyand then went off completely. I felt like a hush spread throughout the store as if everyone is holdind their breath. Everything was silent, until a couple seconds later the lights turned back on. Then everyone released the breath they were holding and continued on.

This lady next to me started exclaiming to her friend that they better hurry or they'd get stuck in the bad storm. Storm? It was sunny when I got there...

As I was checking out, the Target employee was asking me if I drove. Puzzled, I said yes. She exclaimed, "Oh good! The storm is so bad out there! Buggies are flying everywhere!" I had no idea what she meant by this and just nodded like I understood what she was talking about.

As I was walking to the exit, a different Target employee stopped me. "You can't leave, we are sending everyone to the freezer section." What? Okay...

I turned around and watched as other people were herded to the land of frozen food, when again I overheard a conversation. Someone was saying that tornadoes were spotted in the area. I glanced out the exit and saw a downpour of rain, lightning, and a pitch black sky that only an hour ago was bright and cheerful.

At this point, Jackson was starting to get restless, so I let him out. He decided he wanted to play with dog food bags. Whatever keeps him happy, right?

After awhile, I looked around and noticed that we were the only ones in the freezer section. Everyone else had left. I asked a worker if it was safe to leave, and they said it was.

I went outside and the sky had a weird yellowish haze. It was still pouring and lightning. I didn't have an umbrella and was a bit afraid of walking all the way to the car. I didn't want to wait around though just in case the storm get worse. I looked at Jackson and asked if he was ready. He just looked at me with his big brown eyes.

I took a deep breath and ran outside. I didn't make it 10 feet when a gigantic lightning bolt hit right in front of me. (It felt like it was right next to me, but it was probably pretty far away). I felt the warmth of it, and it felt like my hairs were standing from the static electricity. I turned right around and ran back inside. Jackson was crying. I called Ryan, who was still hometeaching, and told him I was stuck at Target.

He was having fun, hometeaching with flash lights (the power was out), and telling ghost stories. Just kidding, they were just chatting, but I felt like ghost stories would have been more fitting.

About 45 minutes later, the rain stopped and the lightning could only be seen in the distance. I was still weary, but walked out to the car. Luckily, we were not struck by lightning. As I walked through the parking lot, I understood what the Target worker meant when she said the buggies were flying. It was like a shopping cart graveyard outside. They were every which way and some were even smashed up against cars. My car luckily was unscathed, and I hurried and got us in the car.

On the way home, lights were out, wooden panels from construction projects were scattered on the street, its nails poking upwards, tree branches everywhere, etc.

When we made it home safely, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ryan had a little more trouble getting home due to fallen trees in the middle of the roads. He had to take some detours, but got home as well.

I'm glad the storm was pretty fast moving and that we weren't swept away in a tornado. I guess if I had to be stuck anywhere, Target is a pretty good place to be!

Mama Bear and the Chick Magnet

Yesterday we went to the mall even though Ryan was really tired. That Ryan, he's such a good family man. He stays up late watching tv or reading books with me, wakes up early to go to work, works all day, and comes home and hangs out with the fam. Then the cycle continues.

I usually offer to take Jackson out so Ryan can take a nap, but he won't have it. He wants to spend as much time with us before Jackson's bedtime. I married such a good guy!

Anyways, back to the story. Jackson loves the mall. He loves the Disney Store with it's tunnel display and princess castle. He also loves this tv display on the ground that is like a video game. You step on it and it responds to your foot. It's pretty cool.



Well, we were walking, and Jackson, without any prompting, started waving at these women. He's usually really shy around strangers, so I was pretty surprised he was initiating a greeting. The two women stopped and waved back at Jackson, exclaiming how cute he was and asking him what his name was.

We continued on our way. Then Jackson waved at the next lady he saw! She smiled at him and waved back. Jackson broke out into his dimpled grin. He never realized what kind of power he had until now! He continued waving at the ladies that passed having the time of his life. I think he has a thing for older women.

We then went to the Disney store. Jackson figured out that if you wave a princess wand in front of the mirror in the castle, it comes to life and you can watch Disney princess clips. He kept doing it over and over. This little girl came over and was trying to figure out how to do it too. Jackson was pretty confused as to why this girl was waving her hands in front of the mirror like a maniac. Jackson was trying to help her with his wand, but she turned and shoved him out of the way. She pushed him so hard he fell on the ground.

That's when my mama bear came out.

Her parents were no where to be seen. I couldn't really do much in this situation since she wasn't my child, so I grabbed Jackson's hand and said in a loud voice, "C'mon Jackson. Let's go to the nice side of the Disney store where there's not mean girls that push you."

I'm not really sure where that came from. I'm not normally a confrontational person, especially with little kids. I guess it's a mother's instinct when someone is bullying your child. Ryan got a kick out of it I think. We walked away and I muttered under my breath to Ryan, "Good luck trying to figure that mirror out."

Poor Jackson had no idea what was going on.

Later on, we went back to the castle and Jackson had a bunch of fun. The mean girl was gone, and he had four nice girls to keep him company.

It's funny, he's scared of girls his own age, but he loves the ones that are older than him. Whenever he plays at a playground, he always finds these girls that love him and coddle him.

Proof:

This was a random girl in Savannah that came up to Jackson and said, "I love babies!" then led him away. So funny.

I guess I need to watch out, Jackson's already a chick magnet!

19 Months

I was going to do an 18 months blog post for Jackson, but somehow time has escaped me. As of today, Jackson is 19 months old.

 

Sometimes during the day, I'll look at Jackson and realize that this kid isn't a baby anymore! It weirds me out a little.

Interesting facts about 19 months old Jackson

 

--Loves music. He is a great dancer! His favorite song right now is the ABC's. He will even stop mid-cry to sing along when he hears it.

--Can say all sorts of words now "Hi, Bye (they both sound the same--"ay!" and then he'll wave), Mama, Dada, kitty, Hi Kitty, Here Kitty Kitty (hey kee kee and waves for the cat to come towards him), shoes (soos), go, uh oh, this, no (na!), thank you, hello, etc. The other day, Ryan jumped in front of the car window to scare Jackson, and instead of being scared, Jackson smiled and said, "Hi Da-ee!" (Hi Daddy!) It was pretty cute.

--Loves to go places! I'll take him to the pet store, Barnes and Noble, the Disney store, the park, and Target to run around the toy aisle. He loves to be out and about and begs to go places.

Cute kitten at the pet store = Jackson heaven 

First time on a Merry Go Round
Part I

Part II

 

 



--Favorite foods are mac n cheese, smoothies, spaghettios, and fruit. He can pretty much eat anything we eat now. For awhile he didn't like eating from his high chair. He wanted to be a big kid and sit in a real chair. Unfortunetly our chairs are really high, so we compromised and instead of putting the tray on his high chair, we put him directly in front of the table. He is a lot happier now. He likes to feed himself and even tries to feed us. A lot of the food ends up on the floor. Thank you splat mat for easy clean ups!

--Loves to play with stickers! He also likes to color.

--Is attached to his tiger and green blankie.

Regretting his decision of throwing Tiger behind the fireplace screen

--Still drinks from a bottle. He drinks whole milk Lactaid.

--Loves it when we clap for him. Sometimes he'll clap for himself and then look at us like, "Why aren't you clapping?" Also, if he hears people clapping on the tv, he will usually clap along.

--Can point to his eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, ears, hands, belly, and feet.

--Wears 3T tops and 2T bottoms. Size 5 diapers. 12 teeth. His teeth grow so slow, and he takes teething pretty hard.

Thanks for taking out the trash, Jackson!

--Used to bang his head on the ground when he was throwing a fit until he gave himself a bloody nose. He learned his lesson and now hits the ground with his hand instead.

Jackson loves to play with this little train.




18 month checkup stats:

Height: 35 inches (greater than 99th percentile)
Weight: 30 lb 5 oz (97-99th percentile)
Head circumference: 50 cm (97th percentile)

 

Ryan won this at the claw game. He was so proud of himself!! Jackson clapped for him.

Nursery

Well, Jackson has reached the magical age of 18 months. That means he gets to go to nursery at our church!

Let's just say that this picture pretty much sums up how his nursery experience went.

 

See, I thought it would be cute to take a picture of him with that sign. Unfortunetly, his picture taking cooperation has dimished somewhat since his monthly block pictures.

 

He would not hold the sign.

 

When I turned it into a necklace, he wanted nothing to do with it. Figures.

 

 

Finally, Ryan picked him up, and we managed to snap this shot.

 

 

Better than nothing, right?

 

 

 He then decided that the kitty needed the sign more than him.

 

 

What a nice guy. 

Nursery is great, right? It has lots of toys, snacks, and songs. What's there not to like? Well, it is a downer if you are afraid of the other kids.

 

Ryan dropped Jackson off at nursery because I had to teach. I told Ryan to stay with him the first week because I knew he would be scared, but the nursery leader kept hinting that Ryan should leave. Ryan did tell me a couple stories that happened before he left.

 

1. They fed Jackson goldfish and raisins. Jackson is pretty shy, so he didn't eat much. However, later that day, I pulled out our own bag of goldfish he had never eaten before. He stuffed his mouth full, said, "Mmmmm!!", and started clapping. He shoved more and more goldfish into his mouth before he even chewed the ones he had. I think he really wanted to eat more goldfish at nursery, but was too shy.

 

2. He doesn't care if kids steal his food or crayons.

 

3. During the lesson, the leader had a coloring book page of Jesus. She kept saying, "Jesus" and pointing at the paper. Jackson has always learned that "Jesus" is the man in the painting on our living room wall. He was really confused and kept looking around the walls of the room. He then would look back at the lady like she was crazy.

 

She then said, "Jackson, say Jesus." He glared at her. Everyday this week, Jackson has come up to me, points to the picture on the wall, and says "Jesus" just to prove a point. I always say, "That's right, Jackson. That's Jesus!" and he smiles.

 

4. When we went to pick up Jackson, he was sitting on the nursery leader's lap. When he saw us he started crying and panicking. Poor guy. The nursery leader said he was fine as long as she was holding him. There are scary nursery kids in there. (Not really, Jackson is the biggest one there. We have a Junior nursery and Senior nursery). Since nursery, Jackson has been really insecure and extra cuddly. He even held my hand the entire drive home from church. Unfortunetly, he was really mad at Ryan for leaving him and held a grudge for a little while. He's all better now.

 

All in all, it went pretty much how I expected. Hopefully next Sunday will be better!!!