Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Week 20 Silhouettes


Week 20 Silhouettes

We haven't had much sun the past week or so due to severe thunderstorms and rain. However, about a month ago my husband and son and I woke up early to see a sunrise on Jacksonville Beach and then drove to Clearwater, Florida to see a sunset over the ocean --- all in the same day...it has been one of those lifelong dreams of mine to do that. Anyways...while on the beach early in the morning waiting for the sun to come up I was taking pictures of my son, and being that I am no pro I was disappointed because you can't see him - just a silhouette. My disappointment turned to joy as I read about this weeks entry - they were perfect pictures just for this! The hard part became choosing one....this is the one I chose:




I think everybody ought to try their hand at this weeks category...so head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ and good luck with choosing a picture to enter!



Life has been a bit crazy lately.

Getting boy back to himself has been a bit more difficult than the last time we ended up in the emergency room. Allergy issues are no fun...but seeing as it has been raining for the past week and more rain is in the forecast, it has washed all the pollen away!

I know he is definately back to himself now, he has been eating none stop, oh and now he has taken to drawing on the walls....of course I didn't realize he had picked up this little habit. Seems whenever he can get something to write with he writes every where or "color" as he says. The couch, the piano bench, and now the walls...YIKES!

I found a little niche in Orange Park that I love...it is called the Paxon Discount Christian Book Store. I love this place because there are so many different little "goodies." Great stuff for gifts...and a ton of books...they are having a "we're not going out of business" book sale. The books are between .49 - 2.99 ...and when you look at the original prices it is like 'wow'...I love books...we went last weekend and the weekend before. The first time we went I found a bible study series - a little book (each contain 12 lessons) on each book of the bible. I am looking forward to embarking on that journey with my siblings over the summer. I also got some gift books for grandparents and parents and some pens and bracelets...odd little stuff....The second time I went they were having a buy one get one free sale...I got a few books by Dr.Dobson - I love reading his stuff...and also got a book on Literary Analysis and American Literature...I am a literature hound and love diving into a good study on literature. I think they are actually meant to be used as part of a homeschool curriculm....The only down fall to this place is that it is about a 25-30 minute drive from where we live...but hey the money I save on books is definately worth it, even if we have to spend a little more in gas!

I am in the process of trying to catch up the scrapbook. The pictures started piling up quickly and before I knew it I had hundreds of pictures just asking to be placed....I'll be happy once I get that caught up.

I think that is about it for now...

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Special I ♥ Faces Blurb Book Contest


I took the following photo on Easter day. It was one of those pictures that you don't plan on taking but it just kind of happens. I took quite a few and then when we went back later and looked at them all this one stood out as one of my favorites. A little bit of sweet boy mixed with a lot of mischief...a true reflection of his personality!

Amateurs Entry:


I am submitting this photo into the http://www.iheartfaces.com/ Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ and check out the other entries...and while you are there go ahead and enter one of your own!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Finally Seth is back to himself!

It is with much relief that I write this blog today.
After a week and a half of high fevers, uncontrollable coughing, trouble breathing, ER visits and doctor visits, antibiotics, breathing treatments and oral steroids... our little one is finally getting back to his normal self. He seems a bit tired from it all.

The conclussion of it all is what I had mentioned from the very start of it - allergies! But I'm just a mom and I don't know what I'm talking about!

Anyhow I figured out he was getting back to himself when I found that the marker I had given him to color with while I was picking up some stuff ended up everywhere but on the paper....the piano bench, the couch, himself....I got him cleaned up from that and then he decided to be a music conductor and that his podium would be the kitchen table....I had music playing while he was playing and I was cleaning, all of the sudden he got really quiet and when I walked into the kitchen there he is standing on the table and moving his arms as if he was conducting music....I got him down from there which turned into a massive temper tantrum, did I mention I will be VERY happy when the steroids are out of his system and he isn't so edgy?! I decided that maybe he should start helping me clean so he didn't get any other ideas...so we made the bed. I had just washed the sheets and blankets and comforter and figured he could help me make the bed. What should have taken 5-10 minutes turned into a thirty minute ordeal...I got the fitted sheet on the bed and then Seth decided that it would be fun to walk back and forth on the bed...everytime I would go to reach for him the little booger would run to the other side of the bed or the head of the bed or the foot of the bed....so I did the best I could to get the bed made and then he just thought it was grand to walk back and forth on the bed and get mommy to chase after him. It was a rather eventful morning.

Yet in the midst of it all I am actually HAPPY that he was getting into trouble....for it is a sure sign that he is getting back to himself again....and just in time for the weekend! Thank God!


Monday, May 11, 2009


Week 18 Laughter

KIDS ENTRY: This picture is of my little boy while we were outside playing. I wish I would have gotten his entire face in the picture but I like the effect of having his eyes and the lower half of his face...adds emphasis to his laughter!





ADULTS ENTRY: This picture is of my mom and my little boy. He was giving grandma 'baby kisses'...and grandma loves her baby kisses!



They say laughter is the best medicine....so mosey on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ and you're sure to get a good heart warming chuckle! While you're there enter a pictures that captures "laughter"!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Sick babies are no fun....

It has been a long day, and the day isn't even over yet.

Seth woke up around 4 a.m crying, I nursed him and put him back to sleep. As I layed him down he put his hand on the side of my face and it was burning up. Felt like his hand was on fire. This jarred me out of my semi-asleep state and forced me to find the thermoscan. Just my luck the termoscan didn't want to work for me. It was saying his temp was only 92.4 and I knew that was impossible. So I searched to find the regular thermometer....by this time I was completly awake. The regular thermometer said he was 99.8...so now I had two varying degrees and I still felt like neither one was acurate.

I got him calmed down and back to sleep and noticed that his breathing was a bit labored. I've seen worse from him but this was all starting to look familiar. I gave him tylenol, and had no luck breaking the fever. I called the doctor at 9...took him in at 10:45...and the conclussion of it all - he has the onset of an upper respiratory infection...and since they weren't able to get a good strep test done (what toddler fancies having a giant q-tip crammed down their throat?) they have him on antibiotic to ward off any ear or throat infections which might follow suit....oh and a check up in a week!

So this makes the third time he has had upper respiratory issues....he has to have a breathing treatment four times a day for the next week and needs the antibiotics and lots of fluids....

Thank God I'm still nursing him. Everytime I think it is time to wean him he gets sick and if it wasn't for nursing him he would be dehydrated and in the hospital...especially with this breathing/uper respiratory stuff - it seems to hit him so hard. So I'm beginning to wonder if this is just God telling me to hold off on the weaning....

I am just grateful that he is resting now! It has been a long morning.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Week 17 Hats

Week 17 - Hats


Kids category - my sons first Christmas...




Adults Category - my husband....I kind of called his name and when he looked I clicked!!! Candid shots are great!


Everybody should enter this contest...http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

Sunday, May 3, 2009

White Marked Tussock Moth

About three weeks ago we went over to my grandparents house just to stop by for a visit.  My grandma had been to a yard sale earlier in the week and found this cool little bug habitat for children.  It was clear on three of the four sides and had a neat little magnifying glass that  you could look at anything in the cage.  While we were there we just happened to find a caterpillar and thought we would put it in the bug habitat.  This is what it looked like:

WhiteMarkedTussockMothCaterpillar[1]

We watched it munch through a ton of leaves.  Then we watched it climb to the top of the cage and cocoon. It was pretty cool to see since it was an acrylic cage we could see straight into the cocoon. Two weeks and it was emerging…but not as a butterfly which is what we were expecting…instead it looked like a moth with no wings.  We watched it and had great intentions on looking up what it was but was also quite busy.  About three days after it emerged, it died…we found this kind of strange and then when we looked closer we found a bunch of, what looked like, little white non pareil sprinkles all over the cocoon and some that had fallen.  Our moth that never had wings was dead! 

Saddened by this it forced me to look up what kind of caterpillar we had been watching.  Then I found out it was a moth not a butterfly.  And believe it or not, the female White Marked Tussock Moth lives just to reproduce and then dies.  They spend the first four to six weeks of their life munch on trees, about two weeks in the transformation process and then they emerge either as a male or a female….the females have no wings, they lay the eggs and then die.  That is totally amazing to me.  Can you imagine living long enough to give birth and then dying?  They say that because they reproduce so rapidly that you could see as many three generations in one year and that if you get too many generations together they literally have the ability to eat all the leaves off a tree.  It is amazing what you find just looking around your own environment.  It will be interesting to see if the eggs hatch and we get to watch the process all over again!

 

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Grateful tonight....

I have been in some what of a reflective mood.

Today was an amazing day. With it being my birthday weekend, my parents and siblings watched our little boy so that my husband and I could enjoy a day out. We went to the World of Nations celebration downtown. It was a warm day but we got good parking and enjoyed walking around and seeing what all the different countries had to offer. But most importantly we enjoyed just being together without having to carry a cranky two year old or try to restrain him from running where he wanted to go. So often it is about the little one...every now and then it is nice to make it about us, probably just as important as it is pleasant to connect as a couple. We got our name written in Chinese, had our 'passport' stamped at every country we visited, ate pineapple on a stick, found some unique bird calling whistles, ate chicken on a stick, experienced fresh sugar cane. We really enjoyed our time together...outdoors...in the warm sun...

While feeling completely relaxed I was thinking about the past few weeks. With my father-in-law having had neck surgery and the stressful time waiting for him to get out of the intensive care unit...the experience could very well be life saving. My in-laws are drinkers...everyday like clock work....when my father-in-law was going in for surgery he was told not to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. While they both want to drink, the have practiced great restraint - granted the medication they are on wouldn't lend well to alcohol....either way it has been 10 days since they had a drink. I guess there is a bit of silver lining even in the darkest of skies.

This week Seth decided to start drinking milk. He is still nursing too....hard to believe that he will be two in June and is still nursing. When I offered cows milk to him before he didn't want any part of it. Now he drinks it with every meal...usually between 4-6 ounces and with snack he drinks his juice. It's the little milestones that are great.

Speaking of little milestones...he used his potty chair for the first time tonight! I never thought that would be cause for excitement...lol...motherhood changes you! Every night before his bath, I undress him and have been telling him, "OK lets go pee pee in the froggy, (he has that cute frog potty chair by fisher price)" He usually sits down on it, looks around, says 'pssss'...and then jumps up to go running off. He gets his bath, gets dressed and goes to bed. Tonight he kept saying, "potty! potty!" so we took off his clothes, sat him on the potty chair he did the same thing only this time he went to run off then came back sat down and actually went potty on the potty chair. We were very happy. I never thought I would be celebrating something so simple as going potty on the potty chair.

It is truly amazing how life and the events we experience change us. It is also pretty incredible how little milestones can be pretty big. When I was in high school I didn't even want children...now I celebrate because our little one is going potty on his own potty chair. I never thought drinking milk would be a big deal...but yet when he started drinking milk it was exciting. I never thought anything would stop my in-laws from drinking, and now as we are going on day number eleven, I see how they are less edgy and more pleasant to be around. And of course I have been reminded how even after four years and the ups and downs of marriage...the simple pleasure of holding my husbands hand is still exciting...I still get butterflies in my stomach when he looks at me 'that special way'....I have been reminded that it is important to spend time with just him....keeps us both on the same page!

So now as it nears midnight, err has passed midnight by almost ten minutes...the long and the short of it is --- LIFE IS GOOD!.....Thank God!

Good night and God Bless....
Rach