Sick little boy

Poor Connor has had a rough few days. As you know it all started last Thursday when his allergies spread to his eye. It looks so bad, I am surprised I havent been accused of child abuse because it looks like someone gave him a shiner. As soon as it clears up, it flares up again so we have had to keep the eye drops within reach. Zyrtec is our new best friend, along with Nasohist and some Benadryl. This morning it took me about 30 minutes to medicate Connor before he went to Ms. Betty's. Brad wondered why he was pitching a fit in the floor when he came down this morning. I said, "wouldnt you if you had to take this much medicine just to start the day?" Poor baby! On Saturday afternoon Connor started to run a fever and I gave him Tylenol (yet another medicine) to try and get it down. Unfortunately we didnt realize it wasnt working until 12:30. I called the after hours doc and he told me to try some Motrin. I thought, "Great, we have every other medication under the sun, but no Motrin!" Brad was a trooper and hopped in the car to head to Franklin (our pharmacy was closed). About 40 minutes later he returned with the liquid gold and Connor finally fell asleep so we just left him until about 3:00. I gave him some then and it brought his fever down a little. That night Connor slept in our bed facing the wrong direction and I slept across the bed curled up close to him. Besides having a pain in my neck the next morning, I felt pretty rested considering. Connor was still feeling puny on Sunday and still ran a temp on and off. Sunday night he was burning up again and was up and down all night. I stayed home on Monday and took Connor to the doctor. They took some cultures, something that was not too fun for our little man. They took a long wire with what looked like a small Q-tip on the end and stuck it down his nose until only a little bit of wire was exposed. This was supposed to tell them what kind of bacteria was causing his stuffy nose that he has had for 2 months now. Fortunately it came back fine. Unfortunately we still dont know what to use to help him get rid of it. Zyrtec is good, but not working for the stuffy and runny nose. They also took a blood sample from his toe and nothing was found there. They basically said he had some kind of virus since he was on antibiotics and showing no signs of infection. Today he is feeling better and I worked and he went to Ms.Bettys and had a good day. Tonight he was very clingy and irritable. The most frustrating part right now is that I cant seem to figure out what he wants before he melts and it takes him 2o minutes to calm down again. He went to bed early so I think he is still working on getting well. Please pray that he gets completely well this week before I have to leave him on Saturday morning for 6 days! Ohh, pray for me too!!! I cant even begin to imagine how hard it is going to be, to be away from him that long. It will be good for everyone, though I think. Good for Brad and I to spend some time together, good for Connor to be away from us, and good for the grandparents to get some quality time in with their grandson!

These pictures were taken on Saturday before Connor starting feeling puny. He loves helping Mommy and Daddy on the yard!

How did it come to this?

My kitchen counter looks like a shelf in a pharmacy. Over half of this stuff is for Connor, some for me, and some for Cooper. I feel like every day I am shelling out another $10-$20 on another allergy medication. Cooper is taking 3 things for allergies right now, I am now taking Singular (which I admit is a miracle drug!!!), and Connor- well I wont even begin to tell you everything he takes. All of this made me curious about allergies and why it seems to be such a problem for most people these days. I looked up the top 25 worst cities for allergies and low and behold 2 Tennessee cities rank above 20. Knoxville, TN is ranked the 6th worst, and Nashville is 18. It is funny to me though that my allergies were not as severe in K-town as when I moved to Nashville. Brad is just the opposite though, no problems here but had them in E. TN. Oh well, at least it is only 2 times a year for me (fall and spring). I wish I could say the same for poor Connor.
No, I didnt get punched in the eye. Explanation below...

I am still my same happy self, even if I cant see out of one eye!

I have to tell you a story about last night. We played outside for the afternoon and came in around dinner time. Brad and I noticed that Connors eye was starting to swell and we weren't sure why. My guess is that he got into something in our yard and rubbed it in he eye. I had to be at church at 6:30, so I fed Connor dinner and had to jet. I felt so guilty leaving but Brad insisted that he had it under control. Brad called the doctor after I left and said he would keep me posted. I hated to leave, but had been looking forward to this event for a while. Just as I pulled out of the driveway, Brad calls me to tell me that his phone is going dead and the only charger he has for it is in the car I am driving. I had to leave my car their so he would have a car seat. I thought, "this is just great!". One more thing for me to worry about. While at church, Brad texted me that his eye was getting worse, and that the doctor wouldnt call him back. I called him and tried to get more information and he couldnt talk because his phone was dying and he needed to conserve all of its energy for the doctor's phone call. Brad promised that he would let me know if I needed to come home, even if he had to use a neighbors phone. I never got another call so I felt like things were under control. When I got home Connor was in bed. His eye was still very swollen, but Brad said that he fell asleep on his shoulder twice and couldnt keep his eyes open another minute. Get this, the doctor STILL hadnt called back! I was pretty angry at this point. I called them myself and got a call right back. I am not sure if it is because I stressed that it was the third time we were calling without a response, or if the doctor never got the message properly. Anyway, when I finally talked to her she said not to worry to much if it wasnt bothering him. She recommended getting some allergy eye drops and starting him on Clariten everyday for his allergies. She also said that it was definitely time to get checked by an allergist. I am going to make that call this week and get an appointment scheduled and hopefully we will have some answers as to what he is allergic to. It is such a guessing game right now. This all happened last night. The pictures above are from this morning after I gave him the Benadryl (it was almost swollen shut when he woke up). Today his eye improved and then swelled up again this afternoon and also spread to the other eye. It makes me so sad to look at him, he just doesn't look like his same ole' self. I am so glad that it isnt bothering him though, that would break my heart for sure!

Connor loves the vacuum and the broom. He used to just watch me, now he wants to do it all by himself. Today when I was sweeping the kitchen, Connor was right under my feet. I wasnt getting much dirt swept successfully so I thought I would give him his own cleaning utensil. I remembered that my mop had an adjustable handle so it was just his size. He played for an hour cleaning the floors, even the carpet got mopped! Ha!

Mommy's Little Helper

Let the landscaping begin!

This is a flowering crabapple tree that has dark pink blooms and does not bear fruit (we hope!)


We are eventually going to make a flower bed around this "Saucer Magnolia" or "tulip tree" as some people refer to it. It gets large beautiful tulip looking flowers on it in the spring and looks more like a bush than a tree.

We decided to kick off the new planting season with a couple of trees. We found a nursery close by that has great prices on some very nice trees. We have a landscaping plan in mind, but decided to start off slow by planting some of the smaller trees we wanted. On Friday we bought them, immediately came home and Brad started digging. The ground was wet from the rain and it made it much easier. It was hilarious, Brad had only been digging for a couple of minutes and he was surrounded by 5 kids standing all around him. If only I had had my camera! They were very curious about what was going on. Pretty much any time we make an appearance outside the kids follow. They LOVE "baby Connor" as they say. Even the older boys love on him, it is so sweet. With mostly girls and a few boys including Connor, it got interesting when Brad found a worm in the hole he was digging. He gave it to Hank (the oldest boy) who then chased every girl (screaming at the top of their lungs) around our yard until he threw it on them. It took Brad a little longer than it would have, but he finally got the hold dug and we planted our first tree. We cant wait to watch them grow and bloom year after year. It is going to take a while to get our yard the way we want it, but that is half the fun- Doing a little at a time and stepping back to see the progress. I cant wait to plant flowers, but it is still too early as evident from the cold snap this weekend. Hopefully it will get warm again soon! As for now, we are hoping for more rain for our baby trees.

New luggage and precious cargo

Since Brad and I are going on a trip later this month and we only own 1 suitcase, we thought it was time to purchase some more luggage. We found a great deal online and it came in the mail shortly after. Connor thought it was a great size for him to fit inside! He thinks he might be able to sneak in make an appearance when we get to our destination. If only he knew that I wish he could! I am going to miss him dearly, but it will be good for Brad and I to get away for a little while. Connor will be in good hands at home with both sets of grandparents. Brad is just praying he wont have to pay for me to get an earlier flight home!

Now thats what I call a great breakfast!

After having pizza the night before, Brad and I left the leftovers in the boxes on the coffee table. When I came down the next morning, before I could get Connors breakfast made he found the breadsticks and decided that was going to work just as well for him. It is almost half as big as he is! Mmm...mmm, nothing like stale bread in the morning!

A New Look

At Christmas Darby gave me a "welcome" applique for my wall in our new house. It came from Uppercase Living, which Darby sells now. I love it and still havent put it up yet because of the location where I want it still hasnt been painted yet. I am hoping to get to that soon! I got a catalog and I am now totally addicted. I have found so many cute things that I would like to do, things for Connors big boy room that he will have one day soon, etc. I ended up ordering the monogram for our stairway wall and thought it was perfect for the large spot on the wall that I was unsure what to do with. I plan on adding family pictures on both sides of it eventually, but for now we are enjoying having something on the wall. We painted this area this winter so I was able to apply this one! It is so easy to apply and you can put it on lots of different surfaces. You might have seen the picture of the one I made for Hillary and Brett, that was put on the canvas. This is great if you want to be able to move it around the house. If you are interested in seeing a catalog or ordering, you can contact Darby or check out their website.

The new belt!

So here are the pictures I promised... It feels good to get rid of the red and wear black! I am a probationary 1st degree and will graduate to the decided 1st degree at my next testing in 4 months, assuming I pass.

Fun Spring Days!

Connor and Maddie

The weather has been just great the past few days! Unfortunately, Connor and I have both been battling sinusitis, but a trip to the doctor yesterday did wonders! I am now taking Singulair and am feeling so much better already. The doctor called in some more antibiotics for Connor too, so hopefully it will kick it this time. Our next door neighbors have two girls and they LOVE Connor! Yesterday there was a knock at the door asking if Connor could come out and play. It was so cute! Today we went out this afternoon because Connor was getting stir crazy and so was I. Maddie from next door spotted him and came running over. Next thing I knew I had 5 kids playing basketball in my driveway. I LOVE this neighborhood, there are kids everywhere and everyone plays with everyone elses stuff. Everyone is so laid back and friendly. The girls wanted to go jump on the trampoline and asked if Connor could go. Brad took him over on Sunday and he supposedly loved it. He wasnt too sure about it this time. He did OK, but wasnt too sure about it so I got on. Oh my gosh, I havent been on a trampoline since I was a teenager. It brought back many memories. There is so much protective stuff on them now. How did we keep from killing ourselves when we were younger? I am pretty sure that me and my brother flipped off multiple times without getting hurt. Please pray for the other 2 boys that are in the picture. They live down the street and just lost their mother in January to cervical cancer. Isaac the youngest is 2 and loves to play with Connor. They are such sweet kids.

The above two pictures were taken earlier today when I found Connor in the pantry chowing down on Cheez-its. I must not have closed the door and he somehow got the box off of of the second shelf and was eating away. I quickly found the Benadryl, but nothing happened! Later today Connor enjoyed some Goldfish and didnt break out! I am going to try real cheese for dinner and if that works, maybe some milk. Maybe my prayers have been answered!!!

Birthday party at the park

Mom, dont you see I dont have time for pictures!




The birthday boy! (Nico) Ms. Betty organizing the kids for musical chairs.Connor and Nico were too busy playing with their automobiles!Connor and Ms. Betty

Connor went to Nico's 2nd birthday party at the park and had such a good time! The weather was perfect, he really could have been in shorts it was so warm. Nico is Ms. Betty's (Connors caregiver when I work) third child, so him and Connor have become pretty good buddies since they spend 3 days out of every week together. Connor LOVES the park and I pretty much chased him everywhere. He was so worn out when we got home. Happy Birthday Nico!

Hillary's Shower

Me and Hillary

Me, Hillary, and Aunt Linda

Lydia (Hillary's Mom), Hillary, and my Mom

The favors (teapot cookie with assorted teas)
Arent these pretty? Mom made them, I think they should sell them online!Gift table
Guest Book The yummy food!

Target gift cards are always a good thing!A vase that matches Hillary's dishesI love this picture! Isnt Hillary so cute!Mom thought it was only appropriate for Hillary to get a teapot at her tea shower! This was my gift to Hillary. I love Uppercase Living! I think I am addicted now...

It is hard to believe that the wedding is less than 2 months away! Hillary and Brett are both getting very excited! Hillary's plate is pretty full with school, work, and trying to finish the final preparations for the wedding! I think that it is all starting to sink in that she will soon be Mrs. Neal! The shower was great! The tea room was the perfect place for a bridal shower. The gift giving is just getting started, there are three more showers to go. I think Brett and Hillary are going to be pretty much set, once it is all over with!