Sickness Update

Basically our whole house is sick again. Mike has a sinus infection (but at least it's not Strep) and Lindsay has a double ear infection. We seriously missed the boat on that one. I knew something was up last night as she did not have a good night's rest. However, I did not see a double ear infection coming. So, everyone is on antibiotics and we're all staying in this weekend and resting.

Please see below post for our Happy Birthday Shout Out to my dear sister Teresa!
Lindsay wanted to give her cyber hugs!! :)

Happy Weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Aunt Teresa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT TERESA!I'M SENDING YOU A BIRTHDAY HUG!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU LOTS!
CHRIS, MIKE & LINDSAY

STREP THROAT

I'm not a happy camper. I woke up yesterday morning with a raging sore throat and aches but I went to work anyway. I figure what the heck EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE in my office is sick so I'm going too. By the time I got home last night I was in BAD shape. I could barely pick up the baby. The whole back of me hurt. Neck, shoulders, back, legs...it's weird. I knew I had to go to the doc today. They tested me for flu and strep and the strep test was positive. Now, I just supposedly had strep January 14th. What the heck? The doctor told me the test lit up like a Christmas tree. Ok then! So I'm on a zpack (thankfully!) and a decongestant and told to stay home until Monday. We'll see...if I'm feeling better I may go into work tomorrow. I feel rotten because I was off on Tuesday so that is the whole reason I drug myself in on Wed anyway. I am never going to have any time saved up for vacation in June if I keep getting sick every month. Maybe I should get pregnant again because that was the healthiest I think I ever was! Sheesh.
Anyway, I'm on a high at the moment. Motrin 800 and the aches are gone. I had a good nap this afternoon and woke up just in time to watch the Anna verdict. (woohoo, like I care. What a circus) I'm heading to go pick up Lindsay from daycare in just a minute. I guess I should be happy it's strep because for whatever reason babies don't get it so I am told. The doctor told me to just wash my hands before I do anything with her. Alrighty then...

So if you guys don't see me in cyberspace for a couple of days I'm laying low with some NETFLIX.

A Shopping Success!

Graison & Lindsay Best Friends Forever!

Today was a good day. I was off work. I was hanging with friends and I SHOPPED! The sale was good and the drive out to Gwinnett was virtually painless. We got to the sale around 9:30 and hit the line at 11:05. While standing in line we were able to show off our finds, "weed" thru our buys and make final decisions, check for stains etc. We finished checking out at 1:45p.m. I know that sounds crazy but considering my same friends stood in line for FOUR hours last year I was happy to be out in just under three. There were four of us so we were able to tag team the line and cruise around and look at toys, books etc while we waited. I can tell you that was the biggest consignment sale I've ever seen and man was I shocked out how many VERY PREGNANT mommies were shopping and standing in those lines. I couldn't do it myself. You will not see me at one of those sales past the second trimester!

I managed to score quite a bit of cute summer clothing for Lindsay in 12-18 month sizes and I only spent 116.00. Not quite as much stuff as the FALL sale but we have a lot of good stuff coming our way from Lindsay's BFF Graison! (see photo above)

After we left the sale we stopped at Discover Mills and hit the food court for lunch. It was a really nice change as that is not a mall I get to frequent. We also found out one of our friends shopping with us is expecting baby number FOUR in the Fall. Congratulations Jess! She's starting off the next cycle for us :)

Well, that's my piece for tonight. I'm tired and watching American Idol as I post so it's time to wrap it up. Back to the grind tomorrow. Thanks for the shopping therapy today gals.

FAT TUESDAY

FAT TUESDAY 2007

PARTY IN MY CRIB!
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL...

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!

Last year at 20 weeks pregnant I experienced my first New Orleans Mardi Gras. It was great! I just wanted to pay homage to Fat Tuesday one year later. Lindsay had a blast playing in our beads from last year (I knew I lugged them home for a reason).

Hope everyone has a great FAT TUESDAY! I'm taking the day off work and celebrating with the Gwinnett Consignment sale! SHOP TIL YOU DROP!! Daddy is on baby duty and the girls and I are going shopping for summer clothes for the kids. It will be a long day of bargain hunting and standing in line. A far cry from New Orleans Mardi Gras but a RUSH just the same!

On another note, I just want to give a little shout out to my Lindsay who is EIGHT MONTHS OLD on Tuesday as well! I can't believe how fast time has gone. Four more months my little sweetie and you can smash that cake!!

SNOW?

Well for those of you in Fl who are wondering...we got NUTTIN!

I woke up this morning and looked outside and it's sunny, windy and just COLD.
No snow...not even dust. I'm so ready for a winter wonderland day. It's just not gonna happen this year. Of course, you never know, that kind of thing usually does happen freak like in March or April.

Anyway, that's all I have for today. NO SNOW.

I spoke too soon!

Just got this via email....I know several people that read here have small babies.


FDA NewsFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEP07-24February 16, 2007 Media Inquiries: Michael Herndon, 301-827-6242Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA FDA Warns Consumers Not to Use Certain Jars of Earth's Best: "Organic 2 Apple Peach Barley Wholesome Breakfast Baby Food" The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to use certain jars of Earth's Best Organic 2 Apple Peach Barley Wholesome Breakfast baby food because of the risk of contamination with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium which can cause botulism, a life-threatening illness or death. Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled. The affected product was sold in single individual jars and in variety packs (which contains 4 jars of the apple peach barley in the pack along with other varieties). The food is part of the firm's "2nd Vegetables, Fruits and Blends" line intended for babies 6 months and older. The food was distributed through retail stores and sold through the Earth's Best website. If consumers have any of the specified jars in their home, they should not use it and destroy it immediately. No illnesses have been reported to FDA or the manufacturer to date in connection with this problem.The affected baby food is as follows: Earth's Best Organic 2 Apple Peach Barley Wholesome Breakfast (4.5 ounce jars) UPC code:23923-20223Number on the lid:PFGJ14NP Expiration date:EXP 14 SEP 08 A *******Earth's Best Organic 2 Wholesome Breakfast Variety Pack (12 pack) UPC code:23923-20295 Expiration Date :13 SEP 08*******Earth's Best Organic 2 Apple Peach Barley (4.5 ounce jars within 12 pack) UPC Code:23923-20223Experation Date:EXP 14 SEP 08 A Botulism, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning, usually causes illness within 18-36 hours of exposure. Initial indication of illness in infants is decreased frequency or absence of stools. Other signs and symptoms noted are poor feeding, weak suck, lethargy, listlessness, weak cry, decreased body tone, and diminished overall movement. Difficulty with swallowing may be evident as secretions drooling from the mouth. This may be followed by decreased respiratory effort which may lead to respiratory arrest from airway occlusion from unswallowed secretions. Older populations who may be consuming the product as part of a pureed diet might experience symptoms such as blurred vision, dizziness, dry mouth, and progressive weakness from head to legs. Constipation and urinary retention are also common. Caregivers or people observing these problems should seek immediate medical attention for those affected. Hain Celestial Group initiated a recall of the food on February 9th. The recall is ongoing. Production and distribution of the product has been suspended as FDA and the company work to determine the source of the problem. Hain Celestial Group distributed 4,072 cases of the specified individual jars consisting of 24 jars per case and 38,298 variety packs with the specified jars.

Lindsay at Work

Feb 14, 2007 with mommy and her co-workers

As promised here is the best pic we took from that day. Lindsay was quite a disruption of the normal daily events! She was SO good though. She enjoyed being passed amongst all my co-workers and she was totally spoiled. Daddy and Lindsay came up and met me for lunch. We cruised around the hospital and made several quick visits. Afterward they waited for me to get off work (I got to go home early too) and we went home and had Lindsay's first Valentine Celebration. Mommy got red roses from daddy and one pink one from Lindsay. We made a red velvet cake and watched a movie. Don't worry Lindsay, next year you'll get to eat some candy and cake!

Peanut Butter Update

I can't believe how many people have bad jars. Apparently they are now saying forget the codes just get rid of any that you bought since May of 2006. Nice! So how long have these plants been mass producing yuck product!? ICK....I'm am SO grossed out over this.

Yes, Renata I'll be waiting a bit before I eat any peanut butter I suppose. But, I'm going to buy JIF next that is for sure. (well, excluding the reeces peanut butter heart from Valentine's Day that I'm eating as I type...Ha!ha!)
Like I said what's next? I'm telling you if something happens to the chocolate supply the world as we know it will end!

So...what's everyone giving up for Lent???? HA! ONE GUESS.... (I know, I'm terrible but that sure makes it easy now doesn't it?)

My boy Peter let me down...

Ok...we've all heard about the Peanut Butter recall by now. Can I just say that we had not 1 but 4 offending jars in our house. Seriously! So how about two weeks ago when I thought I had a touch of the stomach flu again? I really think it was the darn peanut butter. I eat it just about every day. I was seriously on a peanut butter on whole wheat bagel kick right when I got sick. Guess what I ate for that whole week I wasn't feeling good? Toast, bread, peanut butter! Oh it grosses me out to think about it.

I've always been a Peter Pan girl but I'm thinking now I'm gonna have to make the switch to JIF. (I'm a choosy mom...so whatever) I know it can happen anywhere and it's all about the processing but Peter, I just don't think I can trust you anymore.

Check your jars people...the code is on the top of the lid and if it starts with 2111 take it back to the store for a refund or exchange.
You know when it was spinach I couldn't care less....green onions, whateveh...but PEANUT BUTTER????? Don't mess with my PB & J's people!!! What's next....chocolate???? UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my rant for today. I'll post more pics from V-day this weekend. Mike and Lindsay came to visit mommy at work and brought lunch! It was the best!

TGIF!

MY FUNNY VALENTINE

I was a hit at daycare in this outfit...thanks auntie Missy!
Be My Valentine! What do you mean this box of candy is for my teacher?
What a cutie!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!

Ellijay Part 2

Uncle Steve will give me ice cream! Look at the size of that bite! YUMMMM!!! Give me some of that!
I know who's gonna win this fight!

Lindsay has gotten to the point that she KNOWS what the good stuff is when we're eating it. She was not about to be left out of apple pie and vanilla ice cream. Since she was already introduced to a small amount of vanilla at Christmas (thanks Uncle Ray), we figured Uncle Steve could share a little of his just this once. Ha!ha! Apparently, we're having a growth spurt because all this fuss was after Lindsay had already had Ham, green beans and her own fruit dessert! Little Piggy! Little Piggy! A good time was had by all and Lindsay went wee, wee, wee all the way home!

Ellijay Visit Part 1

Grandpa Dubois plays with Lindsay We went for a walk along the river and found "pot man". He needed a friend to sit beside him.
Lindsay with Donna & Aaron
"Girl's just wanna have fun"
Our happy little family!

We went to Ellijay to visit Aunt Patti and Uncle Steve on Sunday. We had a good walk along the river and enjoyed the warmer weather. Lindsay has so much fun when she goes to the mountains. She never wants for any attention or anyone to hold her when we all get together.

Teresa- Donna says the picture of her and Aaron is for you. So you can finally see what Aaron looks like! These pictures were taken before we stuffed ourselves at dinner. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Take a Chill Pill

This absolutely cracks me up! I snagged this off another blog. I can not take the credit. But I did have to share. My husband says some days I need two of these. HA! We had a great day today visiting with family and I took lots of good pics. I'll post the trip to Ellijay tomorrow when I have more time. For now since tomorrow is MONDAY (bleck) I thought I'd leave everyone with a chill pill for emergency use!

Up late and feeling nostalgic...

Lindsay and mommy home at last!
One of my fave first shots of Lindsay at two weeks old. What a pose!
Lindsay in her rocker at two months. Notice her and snoopy sort of have the same pose going on. We take a monthly shot of her in the rocker to watch her growth. I will have to post a seven month shot soon. I'm waiting for a Valentine's Day to take it in her holiday outfit.

Tonight was a weird night. I'm all out of sorts. Lindsay to took a nap at 5:30 and daddy and I decided to join her. Finally, I woke up to her babbling/whining and I heard Mike on the phone. I was wondering why Lindsay was up before me already. It wasn't morning it was 10:30 p.m. Mike let me sleep and we all slept right through dinner. Anyway, once we got the baby back to bed we had cereal and I've been surfing the web. Mike went to bed two hours ago and here I sit. I'm going to pay for this tomorrow in church. Got to thinking that I should post some early pics of Lindsay so some of my new blogger pals could see how much she's changed. Now I'm just all nostalgic. I better head off to bed though. We have a long day tomorrow. We're going to visit Aunt Patti and Uncle Steve after church. Guess I'll be napping in the car on the way!

MY DADDY!!

Lindsay says to Midnight the cat..."MY DADDY" (Midnight stakes claim on daddy's lap whenever she can. Max looking sheepish on his bed. He does NOT turn out well in pics.
Had to take Freckles outside as she was freaking out about the camera...here she is running away from me. The dog is senile!
Well, here it is. I promised to get some pet pictures up on the blog and here they are. The dog that won't pose NO WAY, NO HOW....the dog who LIVES for attention but can't show up decent in a photo and the cat who is well...the cat. She is the boss. The title MY DADDY fits for her AND Lindsay.

So today we had a "bad mommy" moment. I took Linds to the hair salon with me and had her in her stroller while I was getting my color done (aka..covering the gray). When it was time for a shampoo we wheeled over to the sinks and I had not strapped her back in her stroller. She was sitting playing just fine when all of a sudden (when I wasn't looking) she slid out the bottom and hit the floor. Now she is A-OK, not a scratch on her or a bump on her head...she only cried because she scared herself. As soon as I picked her up she was smiling, no tears and only I was the one hanging by a thread. Afterward the shampoo girl was nice enough to take my shirt and put it in the dryer as I was soaked. I strapped Lindsay back in and swore that I would never be so stupid again. Thankfully I'm reading the GIRLFRIEND'S GUIDE TO TODDLERS and I know that I am not a bad mommy for this. I got what you would call a "Freebie" from God. That could have been a lot worse, ie...TILE FLOOR. Anyway, I held it together until I called Mike from the car and then I cried. That is the first "fall down, go boom" that was preventable and mommy screwed up. So that was my exciting day. That and chasing Freckles with the camera like a lunatic trying to get a decent picture.

TGIF!

Too busy and tired to post last night. Not a lot of good Blog material either. I'm thrilled it's Friday and ready for the weekend. I would like to say that I have a milestone moment to share today...I'm wearing PRE-PREGNANCY dress pants for the first time today!! I'm very happy about this because it took me quite some time to get my head back in gear to eat right and exercise. Everyone says that it takes a good 9 months to a year to feel "normal" again so maybe I'm doing ok and just being hard on myself. I re-joined weight watchers Jan 2 and I'm doing great. I've lost every week so far and I feel like I am back in control of my habits.

I still have a few pounds of baby weight to go but I've been trying on this same pair of pants every few weeks or so and I'm finally comfortable enough in them to wear them to work!
(We won't talk about pre-pregnancy jeans yet but it will happen). I ran for the first time yesterday in ages and it felt great! My short term goals are to be back in the majority of my closet by spring so I have some clothes to wear and to hit my 10% at weight watchers by the end of April! I'm well on my way and if I can get the running thing going it will really help that happen faster. I'm signed up for 6 race/walks in April and May so I am trying to build my endurance up now so those don't kill me.

It's a never ending battle but I definitely did not want to get pregnant again without getting all the Lindsay weight off (and then some). We have short term goals involved with that too so I don't have a lot of time to play around. (2008 baby maybe?)

On a side note, Lindsay is doing great so far. No signs of Roseola. She was in a GREAT mood yesterday and it seems that the teeth are giving her a break now too. Maybe we'll be in a good place for a few weeks til the top teeth start coming in.

Happy Weekend everyone and I'm looking to get some critter pictures up this weekend!

Playing at the Park

Lindsay has a blast on the slides at the park.
Today was such a beautiful day instead of going to the gym after work I picked up Lindsay and Daddy and went to the park. Lindsay fits nicely in the jogging stroller now. We did two miles at the track and then put in some time at the playground. The slide Lindsay was on was the perfect size for her and doesn't it look like she's really sliding?! Notice that she has mastered the ROCK WALL too!! :)

Actually I'm pretty sure my girl is going to be a rollercoaster freak like her mom. We put her on a taller slide and laid her down and sent her (Mike of course was at the bottom to catch) and she absolutely LOVED it! With her coat on and her hood up she slid perfectly. We only did it twice as daddy said that was "more than enough"! Ha! Like I said, she loved it!

I found out this morning that a child in Lindsay's class has roseola. So we're waiting to see if that is going to affect us in the coming days. Apparently they are contagious before they even present illness so what ever got spread around is already done. Please say some prayers that we do not have to deal with anything like that right now. So far Linds is just fine!
I must cut it short tonight as LOST is coming on and it is not a show that you can half watch and stay caught up! Yes, we're addicted!

You might think it's funny but it's SNOT...

Ok...I know you're laughing and maybe I'm being really bad to post these not so flattering pics of my girl on the blog but I have to say this teething business is CRAZY! I've never seen so much "SNOT" come out of one kid in my life! It wakes her up in the middle of the night, no wakes US up in the middle of the night. The poor baby can barely drink a bottle and the crusty's at the end of the day are like prying dried cement off her poor little face! Not that you can really tell by this bottom pic but her bottom two teeth are there. They are nubs but they're there in all their glory! These pics were just taken last night and I tell you that is NOT all the blog material I have. I would go into detail about the MOTHER OF ALL BLOWOUTS but it's not for the weak hearted. I will just say that mommy learned that " THE FACE" is NOT funny and when we make "THE FACE" it means pick me up out of the high chair and take me to change my diaper now!!! Apparently diarrhea has NO WHERE to go but UP when your behind is strapped into a high chair. ENOUGH SAID! Thank goodness Daddy is a good sport and was home because that was a two person clean up job. Whew! The top picture is of our little sleeping angel which is something else that teething does...she's sleeping like all kinds of weird long stretches! Sometimes 13-14 hours a stretch. How many times can mommy get up and check breathing in 13 hours...let me tell you! You'd think I would be well rested as well hmmmm?????
In other news we've booked our first BEACH trip with the baby for June! Looks like we're trying out Myrtle Beach this year for a switch up from the good ole' Sunshine State. Very excited and counting the days til VACATION!!! Cause let me tell you...maternity leave is NOT and should NOT count as vacation...even if your baby is born in the summer. It's JUST SNOT! LOL! (ok...bad pun) but that's all for tonight folks!

Requests

Ok...so I'm taking requests now. I have been asked for "bath time" photos so here is one of my fave's. This is the first time in the big kid tub. Previously we were taking baths with mommy and those pics are NOT going on the BLOG! I'm still looking for some decent PET pics with Freckles, Max and Midnight. The problem with them is Max and Midnight are both BLACK AS NIGHT and do not show up well on the camera at all. Then you have Freckles who thinks the camera is the DEVIL and runs from the flash to hide her head under a bed somewhere. We'll work on it. For now, enjoy the bubbles! Lindsay will thank me for this picture when she is 16!

Getting some exercise

It's been very cold here so my last walk with Lindsay in the jogging stoller we had to bundle her up tight. This is the first time she got to try out her RON JON sunglasses from Aunt Teresa. The minute Mike put them on her face she fell asleep! We walked three miles around the subdivision and she slept the whole way. However, she was styling with shades and her cell phone!

SICKNESS!

Well it seems that I've had every sickness known to man since October and then I'm cycling back through them a second time. Friday morning woke up with a stomach bug. It appears to be a 24 hour thing because I feel tons better today. Slept away the evening and night once I got some phenegran in me (thanks Karen) and today I actually was able to eat an omelet for breakfast. I wonder if other "new mom's" have noticed that they get every cold, flu, sickness out there the first year. I can't help but wonder if my resistance isn't built back up or if I'm picking up stuff from Lindsay's daycare. I'm starting back on the prenatal vitamins so maybe they'll help a bit. Trying to get better, lose the rest of the baby weight and start pushing the folic acid so we can go for baby number two in 2008! Thanks to everyone that has been checking out the blog and leaving comments! It's time to go give Lindsay a bath. The second tooth is breaking through!! YAY!

More fun pictures

Last Sunday we went to visit our friends Noel and Christy and their three kids....we had such a good visit. They had quite the set up in the play room and Lindsay dove right into their BALL PIT. Doesn't she look like she's having a blast?

Testing our new camera software!

Here is another recent picture of Lindsay. This was taken on 1/2/07. Aunt Kimmie...notice the outfit??? Mike's computer guy came through today and I now have a new much faster home computer. We just installed all the camera software so we should be able to post more pictures in the coming days. It's late and this is it for tonight. ENJOY!

P.S. BIG NEWS TODAY! Lindsay has a tooth breaking through!!! That explains quite a lot about those sleep patterns this week! As soon as it is visible we'll have pics posted! Goodnight!