The Trouble With Being Sick...

...is that Mom's don't get sick days. Oh, what I would have paid to have a sick day last week. Our entire family had a yucky few days, but we survived what we believe to be food poisioning. The following account might be a little too much info for some of you. I'll try to spare you the really bad details...

It started very early Wednesday morning when Lauren greeted me with puke on my pajamas at 4:30am. She threw up again about an hour later, but since she was eating and still acting otherwise normally, I chalked it up to just an upset tummy. We took Mason to school as usual and she did fine, but shortly after we got home, things really got fun. She couldn't move, nor could I even move her myself without her throwing up. We sat on the couch together for several hours with a bucket and towel at the ready.

She was much better in the evening, even scarfed down some homemade pizza, which I was reluctantly but slowly allowed her to have since she seemed to be almost back to normal. She was obviously starving after emptying her stomach several times and not having eaten anything all day. That was a mistake - all that dinner came right back up. Thankfully, she went to bed pretty easily and slept without incident that night.

The next morning, she was definitely much better, but had a bit of a relapse in the afternoon. She only threw up once but things started shifting to coming out the other end. That is a little easier to deal with though, and I was happy that we had drastically cut down the number of times we had to change our clothes, clean up a mess, and run the washing machine.

That evening, Dave ended up having to work late, and not having anything to eat for dinner, nor the energy to cook after the last couple of messy days with Lauren, I settled on having sandwich meat, cheese, and crackers for dinner. Mason, and I ate this while Lauren just had yogurt which I felt would be better for her stomach. Dave ate some when he got home later that evening.

I got Lauren down to sleep early and by the time I was getting Mason in bed around 7:30, my stomach started feeling very upset. Dave came home around this time and finished up with Mason while I went to lie on the couch. I figured I must have picked up whatever stomach bug Lauren had, and it would be no wonder with all the puke I've had on the the past couple of days. It wasn't long before I was in the bathroom myself.

So I went to bed and slept for maybe two hours before I was up again. And then again. Around 11:30 as I was lying there wishing I could take out my stomach and put in a new one, I heard Mason choking in his room. Great - he's sick now too. I made it just in time to help him to the bathroom.

Dave heard the commotion and came to help and didn't last long before he had to rush off to the other bathroom himself. Great - he's sick now too.

And so it went the rest of the night. Dave stayed with Mason in his full bed and they both were up and down every half hour or so. I stayed in our room, but got up to help as best I could - especially when Dave was in the bathroom. There were a couple of times that all three of us were sick at the same time and I was thankful Mason was able to use his bucket on his own.

As I sat there in bed or on my stool in the bathroom, I realized that it couldn't be a coincidence we were all sick with some bug within hours of each other like this. And not so severely either. We had no other symptoms except the stomach issue. Even Lauren hadn't had any fever or runny nose, or cough, or anything. I figured it must be food poisioning, so I thought back to what we ate. Since for dinner we had the meat, cheese, and crackers it would probably be one of those. We'd eaten the crackers before with no problem, we each had different meats, so that wasn't it, but we all had the same cheese. Then come to think of it, the night before Lauren got sick, she was the only one who had that same cheese. That had to be it.

I hadn't gotten any more sleep when Lauren was up for the first time around 4:30. She was up again around 5:15 so I brought her in the bed with me and put on some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I dozed off and on. She seemed sleepy again after a couple of episodes, and I thankfully got her back to sleep again until around 7:15.

The rest of our Friday was spent with all 4 of us lying around in the living room and watching TV all day. I thankfully managed to stay out of the bathroom, but Dave and Mason were still pretty ill. All three of us were week all day. Poor Lauren, who was almost back to normal except for the messy diapers, didn't have anyone to play with, but I was so thankful she was able to entertain herself for the most part.

Dave and I slowly got better by the end of the day. Mason took a little longer and, like Lauren, switched to having everything come out the other end. But we made it through the weekend. Mason had a little relapse Sunday evening so I was thankful Monday was a school holiday and he's be staying home to continue to recover. Since today all seems well, he went to school and I'm very happy thing seem to be getting back to normal.

I cannot count the number of loads of laundry I've done over the past few days, there are several new stains in our old carpet, and the house still smells a little funky, but at least it's over now. That night was probably the second worst night of my life. (The first being a 2am visit to the ER with what turned out to be a kidney stone while 12 weeks pregnant. Having two natural childbirths wasn't even as bad - but those were both in the daytime anyway.)

And by the way, I'm reporting our fun little incident to the cheese manufacturer, the store we purchased it from, and the FDA. It really sucks to have something like this happen and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I hope we can prevent it from happening to someone else.

Back in the Land of the Blogging

December is usually a busy month with most people, and it was no exception with this family. With preschool ending, Christmas and vacation to prepare for, families and friends to visit, a regular routine to get back to when it was all said and done, there was not much time for blog updating. Thus the reason it's been several weeks since my last entry. Since so much time has passed, I thought I'd make it all up by hitting a few bullet points with a picture or two...

Mason finished up the first half of the preschool year with his preschool Christmas program. Dave took the morning off to join us as we watched him actually stand up with his class and participate - in stark contrast to his performance last year where he ran back and forth between his spot and the teachers and didn't sing at all. He learned many songs and has been singing them around the house for several weeks.

Because we were heading out of town to see extended family for Christmas, we celebrated our little family Christmas a few days early. We don't really stress Santa Clause around here, but he did bring the kids a blow-up ball-pit a few days early.

A few days before Christmas, we loaded up and headed south. We spent a few days, including Christmas, with my family in north Florida. Mason loved playing with his cousins. Poor Lauren wasn't herself due to what we think was teething or possibly a little cold. We played games, worked puzzles, exchanged gifts, and went to Christmas Eve service at my home church. I also enjoyed getting to see some long-time friends and laugh about old times. Here are the kids with cousins Kellon and Chandler.

A few days later, it was back in the car to head even farther south to visit Dave's family in Orlando. We really enjoyed our stay there... Who can beat wearing shorts in 80 degree weather on New Years Eve? The highlights for me there (in addition to my mother-in-laws delicious meals - and I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog) was a visit with more dear friends (including a childless double date night!) and a meal with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck! (We took the kids to a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary hotel at Disney, but felt that was as much Disney we could do with two little kids.)

Back home again, we prepared to get back to a routine, but it was a new routine for us. Mason started at a new preschool with the new year. We decided to make a switch which worked better for all of us, and after sailing through the first week, I am very happy with our decision. Mason is now attending a very good school 4 days a week (instead of 3) from 9:00-1:00, including lunch. I was a little worried about how he'd cope with a new environment away from the friends he made in his old school (which he talked about constantly), but he seems to really like it. His teachers say he hit the ground running and is doing great. I'm very excited about the rest of the year and the next school year to come.

I hope to get back in the blogging mood and make a few more updates soon, but for now, I think I'll just pace myself a bit. There must be a load of laundry or some dishes to catch up on somewhere around here...

Holiday Greeting

The holidays are a busy time for everyone and it's no exception with our family. I've been able to send out a few Christmas cards to friends and family who live out of town, but I don't think there are enough hours in the day to allow me to send one to everyone as I would like. I hope those of you who read my annual holiday update here (with a few minor edits) instead of on paper will chalk it up as a contribution to "go green" and save trees...

Greetings From Our Family!

Our family has been blessed this year with good health and fortune on both the home and job fronts. Dave has continued to be very busily employed with BASF, and although we’d all like to reduce the amount of time he has to spend on work, we are very happy he continues to have a great job he enjoys. I am still very much involved with our children as a stay-at-home-mom, and our first full year as parents of two little ones has been both a challenge and a delight.

Lauren has gone from a 13lb baby last Christmas to a 22lb, 14-month-old toddler this Christmas. We celebrated her baptism in March and her 1st birthday in October. She began walking at 10 months (and can really move now), has 8 teeth (and loves to eat – especially cheese), and has begun to say a few words (especially “Dada”, but not “Mama” nearly enough). She loves music, books, Mickey Mouse, being outside, and playing with her big brother. It’s so wonderful to see the two of them interact so well together.

In April, Mason turned 3, stopped taking naps, and completed potty training all at the same time. He has really become our little engineer. He loves watching “New Yankee Workshop” on PBS and “How It’s Made” on the Science Channel. He constantly wants to know how things work or where they come from and can spend hours working with tools and building forts out of the sofa cushions. He’s really enjoying going to preschool three days a week and will start going four days with the beginning of the new year. I’m constantly amazed at how much he knows. Vocabulary, reading, math – he’s definitely one smart kid.

Although traveling with two kids has proven to be quite an undertaking, we’ve made a few trips this year. We joined my family at a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN early this year, made a couple more trips to visit both Dave’s and my parents in Florida, and met my parents in North Myrtle Beach twice. We also made a couple weekend vacations as a family of four to Raleigh and Lake Lure, NC. For the first time, we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, but will join all of our family for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

We’ve certainly had a wonderful year, and we hope your home has been as blessed as ours. We wish you a joyous holiday season and a happy new year.

With Love,
Karen, David, Mason, and Lauren

Over the River and Through the Woods

This past weekend we took a long weekend vacation to Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, and Bat Cave, NC. It was the first vacation we took as a family of four while not visiting extended family.

After doing a little research online, we found a cozy little cabin in Lake Lure at a bed and breakfast called Grafton Lodge. It was about the size of a single wide trailer, but it had two bedrooms and a little kitchen. A very nice place.When we got to town, we stopped at the only gas station we could find. I didn't know these pumps still existed, so I had to take a picture...

The main reason we chose this area was because the Old Cider Mill in Bat Cave. Mason has recently been really into watching a show we recorded off the Food Network that shows how fresh apple cider is made. He's borderline obsessed with it and has asked to watch it daily for the past couple of months now. So we figured it would be a good learning experience for him to see a real cider mill in action.

We stopped here first, but they weren't pressing that day. They told us to come back the next day, so while Lauren was napping, Dave took Mason to watch. You can see the apples lined up to go up the little apple escalator to the grinder, and the 'mash' falling down the chute to the press below. The fresh cider was so delicious, we bought 1.5 gallons of it over the course of the weekend. Dave said Mason was riveted by the whole thing.

Later that afternoon, it was raining, so we headed over to the kids museum called Kid Senses in Rutherfordton about 20 miles away. I wasn't sure what to expect for a little museum in a small town, but it greatly exceeded expectations. I highly recommend you go for a visit with your little ones if you're ever in the area. Here's Mason inside a bubble.

And inside a kaleidoscope of mirrors...

Lauren enjoyed the bananas (her favorite fruit) at the grocery store...

On Sunday before we headed home, the weather cleared a bit, and we went to Chimney Rock Park to enjoy the gorgeous views and beautiful autumn leaves.

This is in the tunnel heading to the elevator that will take us to the top of Chimney Rock. Lauren and Mason enjoyed hearing their echos in there.

On the walkway heading to the top of the rock...

Our family on top of the rock...

Chimney Rock, elevation 2200 ft. I wish I could show in better detail how beautiful the views are here. The leaves were so pretty. We hit it right at the peak time for the changing colors.
After heading down off the rock, we rented a backpack for Lauren and headed out for a little hike to see the Hickory Nut Falls, also in Chimney Rock park. I wasn't sure if Lauren would be up for this, but she did great. It wasn't long after we started walking that she fell asleep.
The path to the falls was so beautiful. It was about a 1.5mile round trip, and I wasn't sure if Mason would make it, especially after walking around on the top of Chimney Rock, but he did great. He got a little tired and whiny at times, but he made it better than I expected.
The bottom of Hickory Nut Falls. Scenes from the movie Last of the Mochicans were filmed here. The picture doesn't do it justice.

By the time we got back to the car after our hike, everyone was tired and hungry. We stopped for some pizza for lunch and headed home. Lauren slept the whole two hour trip.

It was a great little vacation despite the rainy weather we had most of the time, and not getting enough sleep due to Lauren's nighttime antics and the dreaded time change. We've learned it's pretty hard to take two little kids, especially with one that still naps, on a vacation, but even though it's tough, it's worth it to me to expose them to new things and to get away to spend some family time together. I'll be looking forward to visiting this area again sometime.

Beach Vacation

It's been a couple of weeks, but I finally got a slideshow together of our recent trip to North Myrtle Beach. Thanks to Grandmama and Pooh Pa for always letting us come crash at the condo with them twice a year! We always have a great time.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Piece of Cake

This past weekend, our church put on our annual Yard Sale and Barbecue. As usual, Dave and I signed up to help with the activities, splitting our shifts so one of us could be with the kids. My shift was 10:45am to 1:00. I picked that particular time because I figured it would be between Lauren's two naps.

This was the first time I left both kids (while they were awake) with Dave for that long. Yes it was only two hours. And yes, I don't get out much. Mason is almost three and a half, and the longest I've ever left him by far was when I was in the hospital giving birth to Lauren. And I don't really call that a vacation. (But I did bring home a nice souvenir. :-)

Lauren's been in a transition stage from one nap to two lately, so I wasn't sure what time she'd want to go to sleep. I was a little nervous when she didn't take a morning nap. I figured she'd want to go to sleep before I got home, and since she nurses right before she naps, Daddy wasn't going to cut it.

But when I got home, Dave proceeded to tell me how easy it was to hang with the kids and this stay-at-home-mom job was a "piece of cake". He took them to the grocery store and had a grand old time. Then they both ate and played nicely after they got home. "Did you do any cleaning?" I asked. Dave was proud he could say "I unloaded the dishwasher!"

Wow.

Sure it was only a couple of hours, and I know he was sort of kidding with me and he does appreciate what I do at home, but maybe one day I should just not do anything to show him what it takes to do this stay-at-home-mom job. The kids wouldn't starve... Mason would pillage the pantry to find the animal crackers and feed Lauren the plain Chereeos (the sweetened ones, he would save for himself.) Mason would go back and forth between watching TV and playing on the computer while Lauren pulled every book off the shelves and ate toilet paper. Meanwhile, the dishes would pile up in the kitchen and the laundry would pile up in the rooms (because no one put it in the laundry basket).

Granted, I'm not a great housekeeper, but I do like things to be somewhat organized and tidy. I might not have floors clean enough to eat off of (despite what Lauren thinks) but I like to give that impression.

And what's up with the kids being on their best behavior for Daddy? I'm constantly having to keep Mason from smothering Lauren with the sofa pillows or knocking her over like a bowling pin when she attempts to stand up on her own. And Lauren gets so fussy when she's nearing a nap, I can't keep her occupied with anything else. It's not fair that Daddy is such a novelty that he's like a big, new toy to play with, and the kids act like angels with him.

I think would be interesting to switch places with Dave for a little while. I'd like to get out of the house for more than two hours, even if it was to go to work. And I'd really like Dave to try being a stay-at-home-dad for more than two hours.

I'm sure after a few days, both of us would want to switch back.

A Raleigh Fun Time

This past weekend we went up for a quick visit to Raleigh. We've lived in North Carolina for almost 5 years now and figured it was about time we check it out. We left Saturday morning around 9:00 after stopping by the Harris Teeter (grocery store for you out-of-staters) for some breakfast muffins and a DVD to watch on the computer after the kids went to bed. We had a few nursing and potty stops along the way, but we made it up there around 12:00.

Our first stop was the capital building uptown. Dave was somewhat disappointed by the size, but I'm sure he was comparing it to the last capital building we saw in Austin, TX. (Think our nation's capital but bigger.)

After our little walking tour, we headed over to the Marbles Kids Museum for lunch and the exhibits. This turned out to be well worth the trip alone. It was a fantastic place for Mason, and he had a blast. I highly recommend our Charlotte friends to make the drive with their little ones if they haven't yet seen it. There are lots of interactive exhibits and things to climb on and water to play in specifically geared towards the toddler set.

Mason loved the little post office\ package delivery section the best. I think he could have moved those packages down the rolling bars for hours:
He also enjoyed walling himself in with giant lego blocks:

And playing in the "peas and carrots" ball pit:

Lauren wasn't too impressed and she fell asleep:

After the museum, we headed to the hotel which Mason had been looking forward to all week. (He's been playing "hotel" ever since the last time we stayed in one.) We all enjoyed the pool for a little while and then got the kids to bed pretty early.

We got a room with a separate bedroom area so we were able to put Mason to bed and not disturb him while we watched the movie we rented on our laptop (while Lauren slept in her pack-n-play in the kitchen.

The next day we went back uptown to see the NC Museum of Natural Sciences which was right across from the capital. It was well worth the price of admission - it was free. The exhibits were much better than I anticipated for a free museum. There's even a full dinosaur skeleton on display. Mason was mostly interested in riding the elevator to go between floors though.

After the museum, we took our first stab at Geocaching. If you're not familiar, it's a type of world-wide hide and seek game where you use your GPS and some latitude\longitude coordinates to find an object hidden by some other geocacher. I looked up a coordinate and knew there was one right outside the capital, but I'm either not very good with my GPS or the hidden object was not there anymore. It was supposed to be a relatively easy find, so I'm going to have to try this again somewhere else. (There's supposedly one hidden very near my house, so that will be my next try.)

We headed home around 3:00 and were all warn out from our quick trip by the time we got home. All in all, it was a fun way to celebrate Father's Day weekend.

A Swedish Meatball, Cat Cookie, and Iced Coffee Day

It's been pretty hard to make church on Sunday lately. Not because we don't want to go, but because our daughter usually naps at the same time as the service. So this morning when it became apparent she wasn't going to wake up in time, we started thinking of alternative plans. We finally settled on a shopping trip to a couple of new Charlotte stores we haven't ventured to yet: IKEA and Trader Joes.

When we lived near Houston, we went to IKEA a couple of times. The gigantic home furnishing store apparently wasn't big enough for the likes of Texas (where everything really is bigger), so they were in the midst of building an even bigger one next door. Nevertheless, it's was one of the biggest home furnishing stores I've ever been in. We marveled at the winding maze of rooms, all with ultra modern furnishings we liked, but never figured out how to incorporate into our fairly conservative home. So although we enjoyed shopping there, we never bought a thing. Even so, it's a fun place to go, so we checked it out the new store in Charlotte today.

Let me tell you, if you've never been, you have to go just to see it. It's fantastic. We had a great time just looking at all the cool things. I think Mason even had a great time. Especially in the kids rooms. This time, we actually bought a couple of things: a new kids' table with chairs for our kitchen and some light bulbs. (Dave was tempted by the pickled herring he found in the grocery section, but decided it might get too hot in the car.)

About halfway though the maze of rooms, just when you get ready for a little break and a snack, you come up on: the IKEA restaurant! It's a self service cafe with some really great food. We shared a plate of the famous IKEA Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and ligonberry sauce, and a slice of almond cake. Delish!

After IKEA, we headed over to Trader Joes. Although we've always heard good things about it, we've never been. There's never been one close to where we lived. I love to shop for all natural\organic things and there were lots of good things for reasonable prices. As a treat for Mason, we bought some Cat Cookies which we tried in the car. Turns out they are really good, and I wish we had bought some more.

And what goes good with afternoon cookies? Coffee! So we headed across the parking lot and got some iced coffee from Starbucks. We enjoyed our little snack all the way home.

And when we got home, I think Dave was a little hopped up on caffeine, because he finished the next step on the porch project we've been working on for awhile now: staining all the wood beams so they'll be ready for rescreening.

Hopefully, God will forgive our napping daughter for making us miss church this morning. Especially since we were able to spend such quality family time today.

Tour de Grandparents

For the last week and a half, we've been making the tour of the grandparents - both sets of which live in Florida. On Wednesday, we picked up Mason on his last day of school with the car loaded, and headed down I77 to Orlando to see Dave's family first. We knew the trip would take about 10 hours, so the thought was we'd leave just in time for Lauren's afternoon nap, then the kids would both go to sleep for the last couple of hours which is always the hardest. Our plan worked pretty well except for all the rain we got on the way. That made it a little hard with a son who won't go to public restrooms and insists on peeing in the grass (see a previous post about our trip to Myrtle Beach) but we made it with relatively few issues.

We visited with Baba, Grandpa, and Uncle Matthew in Orlando until Tuesday. We also got to visit with some very dear friends while we were there, but with all the rain we had, we didn't get to do much else. At least we were able to enjoy most of Memorial Day outside by the pool at Amy and Ryan's house.

Mason enjoying yummy cake poolside...

Tuesday morning, Dave flew from Orlando to New Jersey for work, so I loaded up the kids and headed north to Perry where my parents live. It was my first time travelling for any length of time with both kids, and I had only done it once with Mason before Lauren was born. The three hour trip took about five hours, but it was relatively smooth. We had a good time visiting with Grandmama and PoohPa. We even got to see Aunt Amy and cousins Kellon and Chandler, plus good friends Aunt Marge and Uncle Don while we were there.

Mason and cousin Kellon on the computer...

Cousin Chandler and Lauren...

Friday morning I loaded up the kids again and headed to Jacksonville where we were to pick up Dave who was flying back from New Jersey. I have a pretty good husband because his flight actually connected in Charlotte on the way. He was just flying down to be with me on the longest part of the drive home. His flight was delayed out of Newark as usual, but he made it to our hotel at 10:30pm. In the meantime, I visited with a good friend from high school who I haven't seen in 14 years. Saturday we made the long trip home, and I think all of us were ready to get out of the car by the time we hit South Carolina.

He must be worn out to fall asleep in the middle of a movie...

To cap off our vacation, we hit the Carowinds waterpark on Sunday. Mason had such a good time in the splash area, swimming in the wave pool, and going down the kids' slide. I think Lauren didn't really know how to feel about such a big bathtub. She did enjoy napping in the stroller though.

Mason and Daddy enjoying the waterslide at Carowinds...

Both kids were certainly warn out after such a busy several days an slept very well last night. It was wonderful to get to visit so many of our friends and family on our trip, but it is very nice to sleep in our own beds again and get back to our regular routine.

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day as a mother of two. And this year, the kids gave me the most wonderful present: a decent night's sleep. I think they got together sometime yesterday and made a pact to both sleep all night long last night. The sleep training we've been doing with Lauren the past few nights seems to be working, and I couldn't be happier. I just hope their little pact continues more than one night.

We didn't do anything especially out of the ordinary today. Dave made a family favorite for breakfast: french toast. Then we went to church and came home to enjoy the beautiful weather. We played in the backyard for a long time and later enjoyed a stroll around the nearby goose pond. The kids were worn out from all the sunshine and were both in bed by 7:30 (another present).

Despite the hardships that come with motherhood, I love my two babies and couldn't ask for anything more. God sure has blessed me with a wonderful family.

Beach Vacation

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent a few days down in North Myrtle Beach last week. We left Wednesday after Mason got out of school and came back Sunday morning. My parents are there every spring and fall for a week each time, and they always get a large condo with plenty of room for all of us.

The drive down was somewhat of a harrowing experience. I've quickly learned traveling with two small kids is not for the faint of heart. Mason was recently potty trained and this was the first trip we've made sans pull-ups. I was a little nervous because he still has a fear of public restrooms. About halfway down, I new he had to go, but he kept saying no when I tried getting him to the bathroom.

At one point, we had to pullover in a church parking lot to calm the screaming baby. It turned out she pooped and had a blowout. We took the opportunity to try to get Mason to pee in the grass, but still no luck. As soon as he got back in the car, he was doing the pee-pee dance in his seat, so I knew he was in dire straits. We stopped at one of those Myrtle Beach welcome centers and we both tried for several minutes to get him in the bathroom. I even bough some M&Ms from the vending machine for bribery... still no luck. Finally I took him kicking and screaming into the largest stall, pulled down his pants and waited. When he just couldn't hold it anymore, it happened. He peed all over himself, all over the floor, and worst of all, all over me.

You know the trip is pretty rough when three out of four people in the car needs a change of clothes before you get to the destination.

Once we got close to the beach, we started seeing the smoke from the wildfires that were all over the news last week. At first we thought it wasn't too big a deal, but when we woke up smelling BBQ in the middle of the night and couldn't even see the ocean from right across the street due to all the smoke in the air, we knew it must be bad. The fires were across the waterway and not in our immediate area, but we saw the smoke all weekend. Ash and burnt debris washed up on the beach shore for several days and the smell was in the air the whole time. It was such a blessing that only homes and property were lost, not any lives.

Since that day was my birthday, Mom and Dad had pizza and birthday cake waiting for us when we got to the condo. Mason and I blew out the candles together since his birthday was on the 6th.

Mom and Dad were busy doing their Shag Club thing, so we were on our own most of the time. Each day we spent doing the same thing... outlet shopping in the morning, beach in the afternoon. On the second night there, we put Lauren to bed and my Mom and Dad handled Mason's bedtime for us while Dave and I went out for a birthday dinner. We didn't go anywhere too special... just Olive Garden, but it was a wonderful meal. We split a dinner so we would have room for wine, dessert, and coffee (which we usually don't get). We haven't had a date night since before Lauren was born and even then, it was a rare treat.

Mason loved playing at the beach this year. He had fun building sand castles, chasing after birds, but most of all, playing in the waves. I thought the water was pretty cold, but he didn't seem to mind. Last year he was rather scared of the waves, but not this year. Lauren loved playing in the sand too. At one point I accidentally let her fall face-first into the sand and she ended up swallowing some (as evidenced by her poop the next day) but she seemed no worse for the wear. Just like Mason before her, she seemed to really like nursing and sleeping out by the water.

The trip back home Sunday morning started off pretty good. Lauren slept and Mason sat nicely watching his DVD. I knew the potty issue would come up again and it did. We stopped at a rest area, but we couldn't get Mason to go in of course. He really needed to go, so I suggested we just pull his pants down outside in the grass and wait. He did go, and I think it was a little less tramautic this time. We drove for little while longer and then he asked to go pee in the grass again. So we pulled off the road and this time, he did it with no problems at all. I think he liked "watering the flowers". We're definitely going to remember that trick on our next trip.

I think both kids had a great time. Dave and I did too. Thanks to Mama and Daddy for having us join them. We'll meet you down there again in September!

Back to... Normal?

It's been a helluva week. I wrote before that my boys were sick... well I guess they weren't content to keep it to themselves. A day after my last post, I picked up the germs. I'm pretty sure we all had the flu. I was exactly one day behind Dave so I was able to gage my progress based on how he was feeling. Let me tell you it's no fun taking care of two sick boys and a non-sleeping, nursing girl all while you're running a fever and generally feeling like $*#@. Thank God Lauren didn't get sick too. (One of the many benefits of breastfeeding!) Thankfully, by Saturday night were were all feeling much better.

Even though Lauren skipped out on the flu bug, she's still not 100% lately. I'm pretty sure her issues are all teething related. I've been waiting for those pesky bottom middle teeth to pop through, and I'll be singing praises when they finally do. My normally happy baby has been very irritable lately. The worst part is her sleeping has been much affected. She's been up a lot in the middle of the night. So therefore, Mommy's been up a lot in the middle of the night. The other night I just couldn't take it anymore so I left her lying in her bed just to go have a little breakdown. She's been a little better the last couple of nights though, so maybe those suckers are going to pop through the gums soon.

And things haven't been much easier with Mason either. After he started feeling better, he began to have some pooping on the potty aversions and is taking fewer and fewer naps. So I've been having to do extra laundry and cleanup and getting less downtime right as I was literally sick and tired.

Thankfully, it's Grandmamma and PoohPa to the rescue! My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow through Monday, so maybe I can actually get a nap in sometime this week.

Sick Boys

I guess there's always some sort of illness going around, but somehow we usually manage to avoid it. We've only taken Mason to the doctor three times in his life (once for a reaction to food, once for high fever, and once for a persistent cough) but we've never had to get any sort of prescription. He's never taken any medicine except an occasional dose of cough syrup (which I'm convinced doesn't work) or Motrin.

Not this time though. Poor Mason has been sick all weekend with a fever, runny nose, and an earache. Even though he slept much better last night and seems normal today (except for not having an appetite), I kept him home from school this morning. I guess if you've gotta be sick, he picked a pretty good weekend. With the weather as miserable as it was, we weren't going to be doing much outside of the house anyway.

Unfortunately, it looks like Dave's coming down with something now. He has a slight fever and a cough. I tried to keep him home from work today too, but he went in anyway. He said he would just close the door to his office. I told him to put a Keep Out sign on the door. I hate that he's so busy at work that he feels like he can't even take a sick day.

What a Difference a Week Makes

It's hard to believe that just six days ago, we had a pretty big snow fall (well pretty big for Charlotte anyway) which dumped about 4 inches in our yard, and today it was in the upper 70s and beautiful outside!

We had to take advantage of the georgous weather and we wanted to see something new, so we loaded up and headed out to the Martha Rivers park in Gastonia. If you've never been, it has a fantastic playground. Mason had a great time wandering around the castle-themed forts. Then we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade. Here are a few pics of us on our picnic blanket:

Christmas in January

Last week we went on a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit family for a delayed Christmas get-together. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews joined us in a cabin for 4 days. We had a great time just hanging out together as we very rarely are all together at once. One morning while we were there, we took Mason and Lauren on the gondola ride in Gatlinburg to the ski area at the top of the mountain. We had no intentions of skiing, but the ride was nice and Mason got to see some "snow" (machine made). We also went outlet shopping one afternoon, but the rest of the time, we hung out in our very nice 5-bedroom cabin. We had fun playing lots of games and the Wii my brother brought. And since it's hard to take 4 kids out to dinner, we made all of our meals in the kitchen.

Here's a pic of Mason and his cousins, Chandler and Kellon.

2008 - A Year in Review

Inspired by my friend Mary and her blog, I thought I'd take a look back the notable events of the past year...

We were blessed with a pregnancy on our first try

Our good friends and neighbors moved away (miss you Jen!)

I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and began medication for the duration of my pregnancy

Mason stopped nursing completely

Mason turned 2

I turned 31

I got a kidney stone while on a trip to North Myrtle Beach

We took Mason on his first visit to Disney World

Dave and I celebrated 6 years of marriage

I took my first trip with Mason without Dave (family reunion in Atlanta)

Mason moved to a new room and out of the crib into a full size bed

I began this blog

Mason began preschool

We did some much needed landscaping around the house and installed a new swingset in the backyard

Our beautiful daughter was born

Lauren started smiling

We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home for the first time

I went to sleep at 11:00 on new years eve, only to be awakened just before midnight to ring in the new year with my nursing daughter


What a wonderful year it was. We started the year as a family of three and finished as a family of four. We've truely been blessed. I'm not much for resolutions, but this year I want to try to remember to be more thankful for all that I have. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

To all our family and friends, near and far...

We send our wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year!

Christmas Pictures

Here are a few images of the Roszak family Christmas so far. Last week, Mason participated in his preschool's Christmas program. His two-year-old class joined the three and four-year-olds in a couple of songs. He didn't sing much, but he did stand where he was supposed to the whole time which was more than I was expecting. He does sing at home, so I'm sure he was just a little shy in front of everyone. I thought the kids looked cute in the Santa handprint shirts they made at school.

Here's Mason in his snowman pajamas the day we put up our little Christmas tree. He loves sitting in that chair to "watch the Christmas tree".


Lauren loves the tree's lights.

A Star is Born

Last night our 9-week-old little girl was the star of our church's annual Live Nativity. She of course played none other than Baby Jesus. Each year, the newest baby in the congregation usually gets the honor of playing Baby Jesus, and by default, her parents play Mary and Joseph. So of course Dave and I joined in to complete the Holy Family. Dave even grew out his beard so he would look more authentic. But having the youngest baby in the church wasn't our only qualification - we also have experience. Two years ago, Mason, who was then about 8 months old, was Baby Jesus, so Dave and I were reprising our roles. (However, this time, we didn't have any lines to memorize.)

To prepare Lauren for her role, I nursed her has much as she would allow so she wouldn't be hungry during her big moment. I also made sure to change her just before we went on because she hates a wet diaper. And because we were going to be outside, I wrapped her up in a beige baby blanket, er... swaddling clothes, so she would be warm. After Dave and I were dressed in our costumes, we were all set. She fell asleep as we started walking outside, so I was thinking she was going to be the best, most beautiful Baby Jesus ever.

Sitting down on the bale of hay beside the manger, with Joseph beside me, the angel behind me, the three wise men and the shepherd and donkey looking on, I thought we must have looked like a pretty good picture of the nativity. The congregation started singing Away in a Manger, and just then, she started crying. I stood up with her to try to calm her down, but it wasn't working. I whispered, "Lauren, didn't you hear what they just sang? 'The little Lord Jesus, NO CRYING He makes'!" But she wouldn't stop. She continued crying through the scripture reading and through the singing of Silent Night. It wasn't until we were walking back into the church that she stopped crying and went back to sleep.

Who would have thought a 9-week-old could get stage fright?

Thanksgiving 2008

Since Dave and I started dating in college 11 years ago, I have enjoyed Thanksgiving at his family's house in Orlando every year. But this year, it was a little too hard to travel with a toddler and a newborn, and Dave's family was able to come here, so our annual gathering was held at our house for the first time ever. His Mom and Dad got to meet their new granddaughter for the first time, and his brother and sister got to meet their new niece.

Over the past week we've enjoyed a nice morning walk on a trail at the McDowell Nature Preserve, had fun with Mason on the new backyard swing set, played some games (Apples to Apples is the current family favorite), but mostly we did a lot of eating.

Thanksgiving at the in-laws always includes the typical Thanksgiving fare so I knew I needed to do that here, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to cooking all of that. I've never in my life made a turkey, and I don't remember my mom ever making one (we usually had an atypical Thanksgiving meal or was travelling somewhere). I've certainly never made dressing or cranberry sauce. Thank goodness my dear mother-in-law helped me take care of everything. She took care of the main stuff while I made sides and dessert. We broke out the good china and had a nice meal in the dining room which I timed just right so that both kids were in bed asleep when the eating commenced. When everything was ready, it looked like this.

All in all it was great week spent with family. And this year, it's family I'm truly thankful for. I have two beautiful and healthy children; a loving and hard-working husband; plus wonderful parents, brother, nephews, in-laws, and a host of extended family. There are so many out there less fortunate than me, and I thank God for all the blessings in my life.