A little birthday luv

Happy Birthday Mimi-We love you!

And I thought I was busy...

Edit 6/27 I got in trouble for stealing such a great story. Jodi was debating if it was appropriate to write someone else's story on her blog. Then she looked at mine and saw that I stole someone's story about someone else's story. Guess you just need to blog faster-sorry!

Yesterday we hung out at the pool with friends Mike, Jodi, & Abe. Jodi told me about a lady she had met at the pool a few days ago. She has four kids and said her two and a half year old kept her running. One day she was taking them to the pool; She put the two younger kids in the car, into their carseats and buckled them in. She then went to put water in the dog's bowl. When she returned to the garage, the two and a half year old had disappeared. After looking around she found him-He had unbuckled his car seat, climbed out the sunroof and up onto the open garage door. He was apparently giggling with glee that Mommy couldn't find him. Can you imagine?

Here is a video of Tobin and Joshua. Joshua pretty much has two ways of interaction: crazy sweet. Sweet is he goes up to him and lays his head on him and sucks his thumb. This is the crazy version:




Fortunately Tobin usually smiles at his brother's antics. The other day Joshua sat completely on top of Tobin in his car seat. I told Joshua he had to go to time out for sitting on his baby brother, but he kept pointing at Tobin, saying, "He's smiling, he's smiling." Which he was! Don't tell me the ganging up on mommy is already starting!

Pumping Money into the Medical Field

Well, we felt like a good way to get the economy back on track was to pump some money into the medical field. We of course had all the birth related expenses. Then as you know, a week after Tobin was born Kurt and I both went to the ER with dehydration from the stomach bug. When it rains it pours.

Shortly before vacation to Virginia Joshua got a stomach bug. Previously when he has been sick he still has some life in him. This time he literally laid around for two days. He didn't seem dehydrated and after talking with the nurse we didn't take him in to the the Doctor. The whole time I was caring for him I had cold symptoms and a sore throat. He got better around Thursday evening/Friday morning. I finally got in to see the doctor for my sore throat at 4 PM Friday. About half and hour later my strep test was positive and I was rushing home to get Joshua to get him tested before they closed at 5. (We were leaving for Virginia the next day.) Sure enough he had strep as well. Off to the pharmacy we went. The following Monday the lovely feeling of pink eye in both eyes greeted me while waking up. Did you know that small little vials of eye antibiotics comes with a very big price tag? Then the next day Joshua fell and hit his mouth on a brick wall, knocking his tooth up into his gum. Wednesday it was off to the dentist to get it checked out. We actually managed to get mostly healthy for our remaining time in Abingdon. However, the following week my sore throat came back. Friday Joshua started complaining about his mouth hurting for the first time. I was worried it was getting infected so back to the dentist we went. Fortunately it all looked good, but the dentist wanted to but him on antibiotics just in case. The next morning I made it back into the doctors office to find out I had strep again (or still?) Round two of antibiotics for us both. At this point, the pharmacist knows us by name.
Here's a shot of our medicine cabinet. Just kidding, we're not that bad (yet)

Last summer I started having episodes of very bad vertigo. About once every two months I get his with very bad dizziness and have to lay down very still with my eyes closed to keep from loosing my latest meal. The last episode was worst than any of the previous, so I finally hauled myself in to see and Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. After a morning at his office, he recommended a bunch of tests to rule out big things like tumors, MS, aneurysm, etc. I'm 99% sure I don't have any of those things. But, it seems foolish not to get tested just in case. So today was six hours of testing. First an allergy test. 80 needles into my arms. And I get to do it again next week.
Then on for two and a half hours of audioneurological testing where they intentionally make you dizzy. Oh, and you're not allowed to eat for four hours before because they don't want your breakfast in the floor. Then onto a CT scan and an MRI. At first the idea of a "day off" was appealing to me, but laundry and screaming children would have been more pleasant.

So, President Bush, thank you for the economic stimulus check. We did our part for the medical community. Can we have some more money to buy a new TV?

Back to Virginia: Abingdon

We had a great time in Abingdon. The first few days we mostly relaxed trying to get better for illness (more on that later). The weather was great and it's always fun to hang out at Mimi and Papa's.

Bouncy House Fun-Mimi borrowed a bounce house from a friend-woo-hoo.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you."

Uncle Erik!

Stink!

They are having some work done on their house so one day Joshua sat on the patio and watched them continually for about an hour. He's probably never sat still that long before. Occasionally he sang "Bob the Builder." Notice the bike helmet. He insisted on having a helmet on for much of the; time he spent outdoors.

Mimi + Papa= Ice Cream!

Daddy making Tobin laugh.

I've always enjoyed time in Abingdon, but this time was especially true. It's so fun to run into people you know everywhere you go. Well, as long as you've taken a shower and put on makeup :)

Back to Virginia: Richmond

We took the opportunity to take a break from the Texas heat to head back to Virginia two weeks ago. Actually, Kurt's company had some work to do it Richmond so we decided to make full use of the free ticket. The first weekend we spent in Richmond at "Uncle Jesse's" Apparently Joshua can't say Jeffrey so my brother was Jesse all week. It's always so refreshing to be back home. Everything was so green and despite everyone's complaining about how hot it was, we enjoyed the cooler air. The boys hanging out at the bachelor pad. Jeff was a great host and sacrificed his new temper-pedic bed for us. I doubt Martha would go that far.

We hung out with my college roommate's family one night. It so fun to be able to watch our kids play together. Thankfully for us, Joshua didn't connect the Popsicle to the truck that plays music so we're off the hook for a little longer. The little guys, Liam & Tobin

Nothing like walking on a big tongue. We went to the Richmond Children's museum and Joshua had a blast. This was an exhibit on how food moves thorough your mouth and gets digested. It was complete with a rather loud belching noise. Looks like it could use my new Colgate 360 toothbrush.

After a few days in the city, we left Kurt to stay and make some money while we headed down to my hometown of Abingdon, via West Virginia to see my grandmother and family. Joshua got a little adventerous at a rest stop and managed to fall and hit his mouth. He was a bit upset but fell asleep once back in the car. Later his mouth started bleeding again and he was real low key for the first part of our visit at McDonald's. That night, we realized he had a tooth missing! I felt like a bit of a neglectful mom for not noticing earlier (well, for that and the fact that I forgot to change his diaper from about 10:30 AM until 6:30 PM-oops!)How do you spell trouble? This is Joshua's cousin that was born within a week of him. Here's a shot of them at three months-it was a lot easier to get both of them in one picture back then!

More about of trip later.