More of the bad and the ugly

I totally thought Bennett was on the mend. He hadn't thrown up since Saturday morning. He took two naps on Sunday, the second was 4 hours long! But after his nap he started pulling on his ear and he told me, "ear broken". So sure enough, the diagnosis at the doctor's today was a double ear infection- which I was expecting to hear. So we got home, I carried him inside (he'd fallen asleep) and it was noon so I asked him when he was half awake if he wanted to eat lunch and he said, "no, take nap". So I just put him right back to bed. Well, a couple hours later he threw up. Good grief. Jon gave him his antibiotic, I gave him some Saltines and a few sips of Sprite and not much later, he threw up again. So we're definitely not much better today. I really hope this throwing up is done with soon so he can keep his antibiotic down.

The good, the bad and the ugly

I've finally started feeling those teeny weeny baby taps that only a mom can know exactly what I'm talking about. They start so faintly, it feels like exactly what it is: a little miniature baby kicking and jabbing in short spurts, with about the strength of a minnow.
The bad and the ugly happened with our other baby-- the much bigger one. He got the flu yesterday and threw up his entire dinner between the Colyer's house in Ankeny and our house. Thank goodness I was just driving to Johnston and not all the way back to Waukee! I was by myself and pulled over to find a massive amount of the nasty stuff sitting on his chest. It was disgusting. Thankfully, by the time I checked out the damage later, after I had cleaned him up and put him to bed, it was almost all on him and not much on the car seat. He threw up a couple times last night and again this morning. He didn't wake up until 11am and spent the next 4 hours cashed out on our bed watching The Wonder Pets and is now napping in his crib. He's very lethargic. I guess on the bright side, once the throw-up is all cleaned up, my job as a parent remains very easy. Just lots of love and snuggling. Although, I guess anyone deserves a break after cleaning up your child's vomit a few times!

The newest member of our mudroom

After 2 weeks in our house, our dryer finally arrived. The dirty clothes were really piling up and Bennett was literally down to one pair of pants that didn't really go with any of the remaining shirts. Now, you might be thinking, "couldn't you have just washed stuff and hung it to dry?" But that seemed like too much work. Maybe another week would have made me desperate enough for that! So Jon got it hooked up right away and I was so excited to start laundry! Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not one of those people who finds joy in cleaning, but who wouldn't be excited to do the first load in these beauties?! Jon found some amazing deal online somewhere and I was thrilled. I've admired these front-loaders at other peoples houses but never thought much about owning any. Not to mention, Jon has done our laundry since the day we were married, all I do is Bennett's (and all future children's :) so I probably had very little say in anything laundry related anyway! Needless to say, they're brilliant and since Bennett loves climbing in the dryer (which he did immediately upon installation), he was excited for the new features too-- a light inside and a window!

P.S. Mom- feel free to bring laundry over any time you want. You can pretend you're in college again, coming home on the weekends :)

Thank goodness its Wednesday

Holy Moly. I thought we were coming out of the "adjusting to the new house and being extra whiny" because Monday and Tuesday were pretty good days with Bennett. But he must have woken up on the wrong side of the crib this morning because he was a complete wreck. He was crying and whining about everything and then started bawling his eyes out over I can't remember what. I was ready to cry myself and it was only about 10 or 10:30 (and he didn't wake up til 9! That was a rough hour). I was so thankful it was a Wednesday because Bennett and Piper spend every Wednesday at my mom's house all day. And I really did figure he'd be much happier once he got over there. (Hopefully he was...I didn't get a call of desperation from my mom yet!) Usually I volunteer at AFC on Wednesdays but this house still needs desperate attention so that wasn't an option today. We've gotten a lot more done and I actually started unpacking some of the decorative stuff which was fun and immediately makes this house feel more homey. Anyway, back to work!

Cardboard city

The only good part about boxes: Bennett uses them as his personal playground.




I realized its been almost a week since "Moving-Part 1". That's a little depressing since our house is still in complete shambles. We're definitely living amidst a mess (and a completely non-Bennett proof one at that. I've told him, "no, that's not for you" about a thousand times. This is so unfair for him). My only excuse is that Jon left before the crack of dawn Thursday morning with some of his friends to watch NCAA games in Kansas City and won't be back til late tonight. And the days leading up to that, he was still making trips back and forth to our old house to clear all the remaining crippity out of there, so up til now, I've been on my own as far as the unpacking/organizing goes.

Besides all that boring stuff, we had a few fun happenings in our extended families this week. Jon's youngest brother, Aaron, proposed to his girlfriend Bria on Wednesday. Bria has already become a part of the family and we were thrilled for their engagement. I was honored enough to get to go wedding dress shopping with Bria on Thursday. Bennett was going to be at Judie's all day anyway for me to get stuff done at the house but there was no way I was passing up the chance to take my future sister-in-law wedding dress shopping. I have the rest of my life to get settled in this house but this was a once-in-a-lifetime event! We had tons of fun. Now hopefully I can find a maternity bridesmaids dress to wear when I'm 9 mos. pregnant...yikes.
Also, my sister Bethany found out she's having another girl. I absolutely love when people are able to find out the sex of the baby. It makes it all so much more real and its fun to start imagining what this little girl will look like. Jon and I have our ultrasound on April 16th. I can't wait.
Ok, I need to utilize the next two hours of Bennett's naptime and get some more stuff done!

Part 1

Moving-Part 1 was accomplished yesterday. Jon got a Uhaul and we had a few people help in loading and unloading the contents of our home. Wow, is it ever strange moving into a smaller house. At least half the stuff that came out of the truck remains in limbo in the garage (although, some of it will go down to the basement next week after the carpet's installed). And all the furniture and rugs inside just look huge! So there will have to be a lot of rearranging and finagling to get everything into its proper place. I was at the point yesterday afternoon where I was just so overwhelmed and exhausted, I didn't see how it was all going to get done, but thankfully, after last night, everything's at the new house except our beds, the contents of our closets and bathroom, some food in the fridge and pantry and Bennett's toys (the bare necessities of surviving in this house for another couple of days!). I'm not sure what Bennett's going to do without watching "The Wonder Pets" for two days. He's so obsessed with that show but thank the Lord we're blessed with beautiful weather right now so that shouldn't be a problem! We're scheduled to move everything else and be sleeping in our new house Monday night. I'm not looking forward to tackling all those boxes but I definitely prefer the unpacking to the packing. Hopefully Bennett can spend a little more time at Nana and Poppy's (Jon's parents-- mine are in Florida for the week!) so I can get a good dent made in the mountain of cardboard.
This will be our fourth home in our 6 1/2 years of marriage. Hopefully we don't continue with that trend. Although there's absolutely no better solution for getting rid of the junk in your house!

Packing update

Just a recent pic of Bennett playing drums at a friends house. He's crazy about musical instruments and microphones now.

I've spent 2 days packing so far and I feel like I've gotten a good amount done. Bennett went to my friend Traci's on Tuesday, my mom's today and will go to Judie's Friday and Saturday. Thank the Lord for great friends and family who willingly jump in to help! This would be so much more overwhelming without the extra help. We'll start moving stuff over Saturday and Sunday and Jon thinks we'll be able to start sleeping there on Monday night. Then we'll have til the 24th to get the last of everything out of the house. I'm so excited to get over there and start setting up house again. I love change. As much as we've loved living here for the past 4 years, and there are plenty of things I'll miss about it, there's so much that excites me about the Johnston house. I packed up Bennett's whole room today and didn't even feel sad at all! I'm just looking forward to the future in our new house. I'll definitely post pics as we get things set up!

caught in a trap

So today I left my world of boxes to head to Menards for some bubble wrap. I drove under the Jordan Creek Pkwy bridge and saw tons of flashing lights up ahead. I thought there was an accident or something so when a cop pulled up behind me, I thought he was trying to get up to the accident site. After trying to get out of his way I realized he was pulling me over. Turns out I was one of many caught in their speed trap. Thankfully they only clocked me at 76 in a 65 and the cop was young and acted very nice. So when he came back to the car after taking my information, I was thankful he only gave me a verbal warning. But he also said, "I really appreciate that you pulled so far over and gave me plenty of room so I wasn't standing out in the road. That kinda helped you not get a citation." Wow! I was shocked he told me that and boy was I glad I pulled all the way into the grass!

My Induction

Well, I've officially been initiated into the "Moms-of-boys" club. Today we were, of course, outside, enjoying the unbelievably gorgeous weather. Our playgroup took the long walk around our neighborhood and then stopped at the playground. This is really an exciting time for me since its the first time Bennett's been able to be outside, exploring, and being the independent boy he is. Last summer he couldn't walk so every time we were outside, I was very close by, making sure he didn't swallow every last rock, pinecone and bug (notice I said, swallow, as all of those items went into his mouth constantly). So at the playground, Bennett, of course is wandering everywhere, touching the pine trees, picking up sticks, etc., etc. All of a sudden I turn to look at him and he's standing under a tree ankle deep in a mud puddle. I couldn't believe it. And of course I wasn't prepared with any sort of wipe or kleenex so we scraped the inch-thick mud off as best we could and off he went, to explore some more. It was pretty hilarious but man, oh man, I know that's the first of many muddy days! I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to not wanting to get messy and dirty so I had to just completely let go and realize this is the way he's made and I better get used to it fast!