Thanksgiving weekend

So far, it's been a great Thanksgiving break. Technically, this is our second Thanksgiving with Barrett but it feels like our first because he was only 4 days old for Thanksgiving last year and we were still in the hospital. It was nice spending the day, just us 3, at home, on our "first" Thanksgiving, just being thankful for eachother! Thursday night, we went to Ty's grandfather's house in Beech Bluff for dinner. Everything went well. Ty's parents ended up keeping Barrett that night and half of the day Friday. Thursday night, after Ty and I got home, we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. It took me about 5 hours to get everything done so I didn't get in bed until about 2 am Thursday night (Friday morning).

Our Tree:

I picked up Barrett around 1:30 pm Friday afternoon. I was so excited to show him the Christmas tree and decorations! However, he's not cared a single bit about any of it! I guess that's a good thing, since he probably won't be pulling off ornaments, etc. Since I picked him up, he's cried pretty much non-stop. He doesn't want to eat. He doesn't want to sleep. He doesn't want to play. He doesn't want to do nothing, though. He whines constantly. I knew something was wrong because he's normally so happy and content with everything. I've put off taking him to the doctor though because a) I haven't had time and b) I was hoping it would go away on it's on. Friday, I spent the day taking care of Barrett. When you have a sick child, it pretty much consumes ALL of your time. He wants to be held 24/7 and when he feels bad, I always give in and hold him. He'll only be this little once and I'm going to take advantage of it when I can.

When I wasn't caring for B, I was catching up on my to-do list. I finally ordered our Christmas cards, which I've been trying to do for a few weeks now. I cleaned the house a little bit. I went through some cabinets that desperately needed organized. I put a bunch of stuff out that needs to be sold next time we have a Garage Sale. That's on the list for tomorrow: actually putting the garage-sale stuff in the attic! Barrett really put up a fight, going to bed, Friday night. He would fall asleep in our arms but wake up as soon as we laid him down in his crib. He did this 5 times before we had no choice but to let him cry it out for a bit. It was 1 am Friday night (Saturday morning) and there just wasn't another option. I refuse to fall back into the pattern of letting him sleep with us. I made the mistake of doing it when he was around 6 months old and it was an extremely hard pattern to break. He cried for about 20 minutes and finally fell asleep. He slept until 11 am this morning though :/.

I've spent today cooking for my mom's Thanksgiving dinner that we had tonight. I made macaroni & cheese and cinnamon chips & fruit salsa. Both were delicious! We had so much food tonight and it was all wonderful! We finally took B to Convenient Care, after dinner and it turns out, his right ear is infected. But, the doctor said we caught it early so his antibiotic should help it not get much worse. We started Ceftin tonight and he's got to take it twice a day for 10 days. I also gave him some Infant Advil tonight to help the pain and honestly, I think that's why he fell asleep much easier tonight. I've always heard it hurts a baby to lie down, when he/she has an ear infection. I hate it because there's nothing you can really do to help him. Even holding and rocking him, he still cries from the pain. He just doesn't know what he wants. I'm hoping he starts feeling better within a couple of days.

He starts his new class at daycare on Monday, which I'm a little nervous about. He'll have 3 new teachers and will be with other infants/toddlers around 1 year to 2 years old. One of his new teachers was actually his teacher when he was about 6 months old and we really liked her so that's a little bit of relief. I know he'll eventually get used to the change but he got so close to his old teachers and I'm sure we'll have a little difficulty getting used to the new ones. He has his 1 year checkup and shots on Tuesday afternoon. He'll also have some urine test done to check for diabetes, I believe. They tried to do it when he was 9 months old but he wouldn't urinate while we were there. Instead of making us sit around and wait, Dr. Woods said we could just do it at his 12 month visit. Barrett's gotten so tall and thin! I can't believe it! He was just so stocky when he was born, I never imagined him being tall and skinny at a year old! I'm relieved though. When they announced after my C-Section that he was almost 11 pounds, I was scared that he had a lifetime of obesity ahead of him. That's definitely not the case though!

On another note, I'm so looking forward to Christmas! I just love this time of year. It's busy yet peaceful for me. I'm also excited that my best friend is nearing her due date to have her little boy. I can't wait to meet him! OK, I've said everything I have to say. I might just get in bed by 2 am tonight! What an accomplishment! LOL. Good night everyone! I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was fabulous!

Do I really have a one year old?!

WARNING: This is a long post.
DOUBLE WARNING: Talk of my C-Section is in this entry.

I just can't believe it ... I have a one year old son?! It's starting to slowly sink in but it's just so weird. On November 21st, 2010, at 9:17 a.m., I was given the most amazing 10 pound 14 ounce, 21 inches long blessing I could ever dream of ... my son. I remember the whole thing and this is the story.

We started trying to get pregnant in June 2009. We did everything to a T for 8 months, using all the tests available to try and get pregnant with no results. I finally had Laparoscopy in February 2010 because I had had some lower abdominal pain. They found nothing wrong with my reproductive system but did find 2 Indirect Inguinal Hernias, which were repaired during the same procedure. I was instructed to NOT get pregnant for at least 3 months so that my body would have time to heal. Well, to our surprise, I found out on March 15, 2o10, that I was pregnant. I had been nauseous for a couple of days and decided to test that morning, thinking that it was impossible. I remember staring at that pregnancy test, seeing a line but not seeing a line, at the same time. I went out and bought a few more tests which showed a little better line. I immediately called Ty at work and told him the news. Yeah, I would have loved to have some dramatic story of how I told him but I was just too excited!

After talking to Ty, I called my doctor and made an appointment for the following day. I also called a few close family members and friend because I was too excited to not tell anyone! I went for my appointment the next day and was shocked when I was told, "you must have had an early miscarriage because your pregnancy test is negative". I remember tears coming to my eyes. Luckily, I had brought my 8 (yes, EIGHT) positive home tests with me. That gave Dr. Hammond enough reason to do a blood test. I had to wait 2 extremely anxious days to find out the results. I finally got the phone call! The nurse said I was pregnant but that my HCG (a pregnancy hormone) level was extremely low, coming in at 26. In pregnancy, HCG can get as high as 100,000-200,000, to give you a comparison. Most home pregnancy tests detect anything above 25. The nurse said that their office tests probably detect above 100. So, they had me come back in that afternoon to do another test. In early pregnancy, your HCG should double every 2 or 3 days so we were looking for that result to determine if my pregnancy was viable. I had to wait until the following Monday to get the results. All of this waiting was horrendous! I took a million home tests in that time and I was so glad when the lines started getting darker. I got the phone call Monday saying my HCG was at 75 so that meant everything was looking good!

I was scheduled for an ultrasound for some other problems I was having, when I should have been 9 weeks 2 days pregnant. Once again, I had another scare when the embryo only measured 6 weeks 0 days. The baby did at least have a heartbeat of 118 beats per minutes though. The doctor told me to be "cautiously optimistic". In other words, it doesn't look good but don't completely lose hope. I went for a follow up ultrasound a week later and the baby was measuring a week ahead, so things started looking up :). I got my gender/anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks 2 days and everything looked great! We found out "it" was a boy and decided on the name, Barrett Asa Jones. We just liked the name Barrett and Asa was my mother's mother's father's middle name. I made a list of 20 names for his first name and Barrett was the only one Ty would agree with ;). I thought a lot of my great-grandfather. He was like a second father to me when I was a child.

Anyways, I started measuring ahead around 28 weeks. I took my 1 hour glucose test at that time and passed with flying colors. At 28 weeks, I measured 32 weeks by ultrasound and fundal height. I continued to measure 3-5 weeks ahead until I gave birth. I remember at my 37 week ultrasound, Barrett measured almost 41 weeks, ha ha. Besides measuring large I didn't really have any other complications while I was pregnant. Around 35 weeks, I did start swelling really bad and got slightly high blood pressure. However, I wasn't diagnosed with Preeclampsia before birth because all of my lab work came back fine. At around 38 weeks, my blood pressure got pretty bad so I was scheduled a C Section for November 22, 2010. They also were expecting him to be large so it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and plan on the C Section.

Around 11 pm, November 20, 2010, I started having contractions but wasn't sure that's what was going on. They hurt but they weren't horrible nor were they less than 10 minutes apart. I told Ty that I felt weird but he convinced me to try and rest it off since I was scheduled for a C Section in about 36 hours. He of course, went to bed. I of course, did not LOL. I stayed up all night, sitting on the couch, pacing the floor, changing positions...pretty much trying anything that might help the pain go away. The contractions got more frequent, coming at least every 4 minutes but weren't intolerable yet. Around 3 am, they were at the point where I couldn't speak during them anymore. I finally woke Ty up around 6 am and told him we had to go to the hospital. I was only dilated half a centimeter and 50% effaced when we got there at 7 am. Thank goodness things moved along really fast. Dr. Ball was on call and did my C Section. I was cut open at 9:08 am and Barrett was born at 9:17 am. Very fast, to say the least! I'm just grateful he didn't make me wait all day to get it done.

We got there, I was checked in quick, I changed clothes and it all went extremely fast after that. I remember having to drink the acid reducing medicine then waiting about an hour. During that time, Ty called family and friends to let them know to come to the hospital. I wasn't sure I was going to stay at the hospital when we went so we called no one. I hated to wake everyone up at 7 am on a Sunday morning for nothing. That hour was probably the most stressful. You just have what seems like a ton of time to start worrying about the "what ifs". After that hour passed, I went back and got my spinal. I hated not being able to have Ty with me at that time. I was scared, to say the least. I had wonderful nurses in there with me though and I'm so thankful for them. I laid down, started getting numb within minutes, and I finally saw Ty come in. Me and Ty were speechless. I think he was just as nervous as I was. When I finally heard Barrett cry, I was so relieved. After he was born, Ty went to see him and I felt so alone. The nurse was there beside me but it's nice to be with someone you actually know, especially in such a nerve-wracking time.

Finally, Ty brought B to see me and I was instantly in love. I was able to quickly touch him and give him a kiss and he was taken away. It was around 9:45 am and they had me sewed up and took me to my room to recover, which is when I was started on my morphine pump. I was so eager to see my baby but I was told that he was breathing a little fast, so they needed to keep him in the nursery a little longer. They continued to tell me the same story every hour, for three hours. I was really worried something was wrong with him. Finally, they brought him in and said he was still breathing fast but they would go ahead and let me have him. He was just perfect! Such a stocky cute baby boy.

I was actually looking at our pictures from that time, recently, and saw a picture of him right after he was born. They had a tube down his throat with brown stuff in it. I asked his pediatrician about it and come to find out, he had swallowed meconium (practically poop) before he was born. I was never told that. I'm kind of glad to know that now though because a side effect of swallowing meconium is rapid breathing. Some serious issues can come about from swallowing meconium but thankfully, my little man hasn't suffered any other problems.

I was released from the hospital 3 days after he was born, with slightly high blood pressure. The night after returning home, I felt very light-headed, nauseous, and just not "right". I checked my blood pressure and it was 180/120. I returned to the hospital and they admitted me for another 3 days. The first 36 hours were spent on Magnesium which was not fun at all. It makes you feel like you have the flu times 10. I was finally released after 3 days, with still slightly high blood pressure, around 140/90. I was put on medication which helped within a week.

I got severe Postpartum Depression around 3 weeks postpartum. Thankfully, my parents, Ty's parents, and my sister were able to swap up keeping Barrett for quite a few nights just to let me get situated. I tried a couple of different antidepressants before getting on the right one and finally got better after about 2 months postpartum.

As many obstacles as I had after the birth of Barrett, I am so extremely thankful for him. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be having any more children because of the reasons stated above but I'm so glad I have Barrett. He's been a good baby from day 1. He's always ate well, slept good, and just been truly happy. Right now, he's crawling, pulling up, walking with his Dinosaur walker, and trying to stand on his own. He's still on formula and baby food, eating a few solids and some table food. He really likes potatoes as far as table food goes. He sleeps around 11 hours a night. He really loves his momma and daddy lately. He's as sweet and loving as he's ever been. I was told by his daycare teacher today, that he hugs and kisses the babies when they cry at daycare. That makes me so proud! He's moving to the next class at daycare on Monday, which I'm kind of bittersweet about. His class now has a lot of newborns in it so I feel like with him being a year old and almost walking, he may not be getting the attention/teaching like he needs. Not to mention, there's only about 2 other babies his age in there. Newborns just take a lot more time feeding, diapering, and comforting than a one year old does. So, that's the good thing about him moving up. However, he has 3 teachers right now that I absolutely LOVE. I can tell they adore Barrett and I know that he loves them. I haven't met his new teacher but I hope to before Monday. I'm hoping she will be just as good as his current ones but I don't know how they can be out-done;). His next class will be something like, 1 to 2 year olds. They don't really do classes solely based on age. They base it more on development but still like to put age into consideration.

I'm so sorry for the extremely long post! I should have updated sometime between Halloween and now but oh well! It's been an extremely busy time for me. Between hostessing my best friend's baby shower, organizing Barrett's 1st Birthday Party, and other family members and friends birthdays and events, I just haven't had the time to do anything else. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and rest of the week!

Busy Bee...

So, as my title says, I feel like a busy bee lately. I had a really good relaxing weekend though. Friday night, I went to eat with 2 of my girls. One has a son that's a year old and the other is due in January with a little boy. Barrett joined us as well. We had a really good time together. Saturday night, Ty's parents kept B overnight and we went with a couple that we're friends with to a Halloween party and had a good time. Today, I ran some errands, cleaned house and then tonight, we went to eat with my parents. I'm excited about taking B trick-or-treating tomorrow for the first time. I can't decide between his Hulk costume or his monster costume. Obviously, he can't eat candy yet but I'm sure we won't have a hard time getting rid of it LOL.

This upcoming weekend will be really busy. Friday night, we're going to dinner for our cousin's birthday. Saturday is my nephew's birthday party in Paris. Sunday is my best friend's baby shower at my house. Not to mention, this week I have quite a few appointments and other small things I need to do. My birthday is November 9th and I'll be 28. It seems really weird to say that. Barrett is getting dedicated at church on November 13 and I'm so excited! I didn't know about the last baby dedication they had until the day of so I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this one. November 19th is Barrett's first birthday party, which will consume and already has consumed a ton of my time but I don't mind a bit! November 21st is his real birthday so I'm sure we'll do something small that day as well. Then of course, Thanksgiving is November 24th which is busy for everyone. I have quite a few sides of family to celebrate with so we may have to condense what we can this year. It's hard to get a 1 year old to travel a bunch and cooperate. I haven't done a bit of Christmas shopping so I really need to get on that sometime soon. Right now, it's kind of last on my to-do list.

Anyways, I felt like I needed to update so there ya go. Barrett's now pulling up like a pro and starting to take some steps with the assistance of one of us or a piece of furniture. He knows how to brush his hair and turn on all of his toys, using them the way they were intended to be used. He just learns so fast and it's unbelievable. I am so very proud of him and love him more than anything in the world. I hope everyone has a good week!

A rough few weeks...

My family has been sick non-stop lately and it's getting old, to say the least. Ty started with a bad cold around a month ago. Then, B got it along with double ear infections. Then, I got the cold. It lasted around 2 weeks for each of us. I was stuck with a killer headache for about a week after the cold junk went away. The headache finally went away Tuesday. Wednesday, Barrett started acting kind of groggy and was really fussy. I got sick once Wednesday night. Thursday, daycare called and said he wasn't acting like himself and had a low-grade fever, so I went and picked him up and took him to the doctor. I was worried maybe he still had an ear infection but they said his ears looked good. Unfortunately, his daycare class has had a stomach bug going around. He ended up vomiting that whole day. He looked pitiful and it was probably the worst I'd ever seen him :(. He's had diarrhea ever since, multiple times a day. Friday night, it went through his pajamas and all over the living room carpet. Saturday morning, we woke up to it all over his crib. I stayed nauseous Wednesday through Friday and it hit me full-force Saturday so I've been worthless the whole weekend. To top everything off, Ty came down with it tonight. It's the hardest thing to take care of your child when you feel like death and now I have to take care of my husband too. Luckily, I got a little break last night. My mom and stepdad kept B so I could have a break. I literally didn't get up off the couch from 7 pm Saturday until today at 3 pm. I'm just hoping everyone gets over this virus soon.

I absolutely HATE being lazy though. We were in desperate need of some groceries so I had to go to Walmart today. Laundry and dishes also had to be done. Then of course, sheets needed washed and so forth to try and get rid of the sickness in our house. It was a horrible decision to do all of this stuff though because now I feel bad again. It's the weirdest thing. I know so many people that have caught this virus and I'm beginning to think it's a terrorist act LOL. I'm thinking all 3 of us are going to have to stay home tomorrow but we'll wait and see in the morning.

On a positive note, I can't believe that B is only 1 month away from being a year old! I've been so busy getting ready for his birthday party. I'm probably going overboard but he's only turning 1 once! I've had a few people say, "he won't remember anything so why are you doing so much"...it's annoying! I shouldn't have to justify what I do with MY child. Anyways, here are the details...it's going to be at Fun Zone in Three Way. For those of you that don't know about Fun Zone, it's a children's play-place with inflatable jumpers. Yes, I understand that the average 1 year old won't be able to do much in a jumper but most of the children invited are going to be above the age of 2. Any child under 2 can have a parent take them on the jumpers. They allow you 2 hours for parties. 80 minutes of playtime then 40 minutes in the cake room. I've got all kinds of cute stuff that I've ordered to decorate. I've invited 95 people :/ but I don't expect even half of them to show up. I'm getting Shirley's to make his cupcakes and ice them. I'm planning on making his animal cupcake toppers out of fondant. The party theme is circus/zoo animals. I hope it turns out cute and entertaining. He'll atleast be able to look back at pictures...LOL.

It seems like Barrett learns something new every day now. He blows kisses, waves/says hello and bye. He's crawling like a champ and can pull himself up now. He knows close family/friends' names. He loves kissing and patting Lilly. He's so good with her. He knows how to lovingly pat her instead of hit her or pull her hair. When I turn Mickey Mouse on, his little face just lights up. Luckily, he's going through a really good sleeping stage. He sleeps about 10 hours a night. We started the cry-it-out method a few months ago and it's the best thing ever! Yes, it breaks my heart when he has rough nights where he cries by himself in his crib but it's great for all of us. He wakes up happy because he gets enough sleep. He's still eating mostly baby food. I've tried cut up peaches and other fruits/veggies but he's still gagging and won't eat them. We'll try them again soon. He's not even one yet so there's no rush. He will try to take some steps when we hold his hands as he's standing. He just doesn't have the pattern down quite yet, as to HOW to walk. I'm definitely not rushing that though. Him crawling is more than enough for me to keep up with! He even has a girlfriend at school LOL. They're so cute! Her name is Reese and she's a little doll. They're beside eachother almost everytime I pick him up in the afternoons. The teachers all tell me that if one of them is upset, the other will come over and hug them. There's some kind of bond there ;). I'm sure it's because they're both there the latest together every day, usually just the two of them.

Anyways, I'm all talked out and worn out. I hope ya'll have a great week!

I never knew I could love someone sooo much!

Barrett has been such a doll-baby lately, even though he's been sick AND teething. He is just the sweetest little thing. I've never been so excited to get off work before! I always have something to look forward to (going to pick him up from daycare). It's so sad that he's grown up so fast but at the same time, I'm very thankful to be in the "fun" stage for now. We definitely still have our rough times but it all pays off when I see him learn new things and grow.

Right now, he's standing while he holds onto things. He can't pull himself up just yet though. We have already lowered his crib just in case he decides to do so randomly. He's been scooting around for a month or so now. He actually crawled forward a couple of times today, which is a first! He LOVES his jumperoo still. He enjoys sitting in the floor, pulling every toy out of his toy box. He likes his walker too, but still only able to go backwards in it. He says da-da (daddy), ba-ba (bottle), bye-bye, hey, and a few more things. He can say ma-ma but he only says it when he's crying ;). I feel like he's tried to say "Lilly" (our dog's name) a few times. I'll tell him, "say 'Lilly'" and he'll say "Izzy". It's pretty cute, regardless. He's still only eating level 2 baby foods, infant cereal, and formula. He generally eats 4 servings of baby food, 1 serving of infant cereal, and 25 ounces of formula a day. Sometimes, he'll eat some Puffs, Mum-Mums, and juice as a snack. Every once in a while, we feed him whatever we're eating if it's able to be mashed up really well. He has 1 tooth that we know of. It's his bottom front left tooth. He was sooo sick the week before it came through (2 weeks ago), bless his heart.

His room looks a little more like a big-boy's room now. We took down the changing table parts a few months back, just because when we change his diaper, we do it in the living room. We just keep a diaper caddy in there with diapers, wipes, butt paste, and diaper bags in it. It's so much more convenient for us! Since taking the changing table parts off, he has an actual dresser with his TV, piggy bank, toys, and DVDs on top of it. We still don't use his bumper pads in his crib because I'm just too scared of SIDS. They're adorable and yes, his crib would look so much cuter with them but it's not worth the risk for me. I figure shortly after his 1st birthday, we'll start using them since that's when the risk of SIDS goes down significantly. Really, the only reason why you need them anyways is to prevent the baby from getting a limb stuck in between the rails or to prevent them from bumping their head. I would much rather the latter happen than him smother to death. Even though some parents may not agree, it's ultimately up to Ty and myself.

We've woken up to him whining at night lately and found him sitting up in his crib. He's learned how to roll over to his tummy and sit right on up...it's so cute, yet bothersome at the same time because I have to go in there and lie him back down each time. This is the first time I've used a video monitor in his room. I used one when he was born but I found myself staring at it too much so I sold it. I've done fine with the basic sound-only monitor until we discovered him sitting up in the middle of the night. This way, I can look and if he's sitting up, go in and lay him back down. If he's still lying down when I look at the monitor, I leave him alone and let him cry until he goes to sleep or until I break down and go get him, LOL. I'll just check it every few minutes to make sure he's stayed lying down. He usually doesn't go to bed until 11 pm every night and wakes up between 6 and 8 am. He naps around 4 hours total every day, with no exact schedule. It's pretty much impossible for him to be on a to-the-minute schedule. It doesn't work for him or us. It just seems like we have too much going on to commit to it. For example, I don't want to have to stay home from going to dinner, just because he needs to nap. He can nap wherever we go and half of the time, he ends up staying awake, playing. He usually does things within the hour every day but we're never dead-on as far as the time goes. He's determined to stay up late...we've tried EVERYTHING, literally. I guess it's because we stay up late too, which is fine.

He's wearing 18-24 month clothes right now and size 4 in diapers. He likes to give kisses and hugs. He thinks it's funny to feed us and give us his pacifier, which we think is funny too. He really laughs when Ty takes his hands and makes him fake-punch things. It's great thing to teach him, I know, haha. We took him to North Park last week and he LOVED the swings. We'll be going more often now that it's cooled off a bit. I hate they don't have more than 1 baby swing though. We have a tiny park in our neighborhood and we're planning on going down there one day this week to see what they have. I'm sure it's not much.

Barrett will be 10 months old on Wednesday and 1 year old on November 21st! It's crazy to think about. I'm busy planning his birthday party right now. I've got his invitations and have most of the envelopes addressed. I've put together his party favor boxes. I have a few small touches to the invitations and the boxes before I'm done with them. I still also have to order some cakes. I've contacted Dumplin's and am just waiting on them to call me back. I figure I'm going to do 2 cupcake cakes and a smash cake. If they don't get back with me by tomorrow, I'm going to call the lady that did our wedding cake and has done some other small cakes for me in the past 4 years and see if she can do them.

Anyways, I think I've written more than you care to read, haha. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Happy early birthday to my first-born nephew, Walker. He'll be 12 years old on October 1st! We love you, Walk!

Thank goodness THAT'S over!

Last week was one of the worst weeks for Barrett since he was about a month old. Firstly, it's been hard on him, having to get back into the daycare routine and not being with us 24/7 like he was while we were on vacation 2 weeks ago. Secondly, last Monday, we started letting him "cry it out" after we put him in his crib at night. We rock him to sleep every night. He would be knocked out but as soon as he was laid in his crib, he'd cry. The first night, he cried for about an hour before he fell asleep. However, since that first night, he's done MUCH better, only crying for about 15 minutes IF he cries at all. He's also waking up 1 or 2 times at night, which I know isn't really that bad but I'm just not used to it. For the first 6 months of his life, he slept in his crib for at least 8 hours straight, every night, hardly ever waking up in the middle of the night (of course except for the first month or so). At 6 months, we made the mistake of putting him in our bed when he'd wake up at 4 am or so, and it became habit. If I could go back in time, I would have never put him in the bed with us that first time. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing for all children to sleep with their parents. I'm just saying that it wasn't healthy for our family. I know Barrett loved it but he had gotten so attached to us that we couldn't hardly set him down without him crying for us to hold him. Also, we have a queen bed and it was getting to be a tight squeeze for all 3 of us. Now that we have our bed back to ourselves, I'm loving it! It's nice to be able to cuddle with my husband again!

Saying Barrett was fussy 24/7 last week is a huge understatement. We went to the doctor Monday for his 9 month checkup, which went well. He was fine at the time but as soon as we got home (go figure) he started coughing bad. We went back to the doctor Tuesday and Dr. Woods thought B had Croup again, so he took Prednisone for 3 days. I could tell he felt horrible from the Prednisone AND whatever sickness he had. When I picked him up from daycare Friday, the worker told me he'd had a REALLY bad diaper and it had gotten all over his clothes so I started getting concerned. I got home and checked his temperature and sure enough, he had a low-grade fever. Something made me think to check his gums and his bottom right front tooth had come through! I was relieved but felt bad at the same time. If I had known he was teething all week, I would have postponed the "crying it out". Bless his heart, now I know why he cried so much :(. I had no idea that teething would make him so sick. He was coughing, had diarrhea, runny nose, sleepy but not sleepy, ill, starving one second and not the next...you name it. I'm just glad that it came through because since Friday, he's been such a pleasant baby! He stayed with Ty's parents Friday night so Ty and I could go out with a couple of our friends. It was nice to have a baby-free night after the horrendous week we all had.

I'm relieved that every thing's back to normal. We were in Florida for a week. The day after we got back, Ty went to Bristol with some friends for a Nascar race, leaving Barrett and I at home. I loved getting time with Barrett by myself but it was a little exhausting! We got some quality mommy-son time. Ty was in Bristol from Friday to Sunday. Then, Barrett went back to daycare that Monday and Ty and I went back to work. I was expecting to be overwhelmed with paperwork, piled up from vacation but it wasn't bad at all! It was definitely enough to keep me busy all week, but heck, you can only do what you can do...no reason to get stressed.

I found out when I got back from vacation that my grandmother has been diagnosed with colon cancer. However, the doctor believes he removed all of the cancer and none was in her lymph nodes, which is a good sign. We went to visit her last weekend and I couldn't believe how well she was getting around! It had been at least a week since her surgery but the incision she had was really long and looked like it hurt. Her spirits seemed to be great though! The next step is to just see an oncologist and make sure she keeps herself updated with tests and all.

Ty's grandfather got married this past Thursday, so congrats to him and his new wife. Also, my sister, Christie's, birthday is tomorrow so happy birthday, Chris! Happy belated birthday to my father, whose birthday was September 1st. I'm so glad we have tomorrow off work! Everyone have a good Labor Day!

There's no place like home!

So, Ty, B, and myself got back from vacation tonight, around 7 and I could not be happier! We went to Destin, FL, as me and Ty have done every year for the past 4 years. I also went to Destin with my family every year when I was little so needless to say, I'm very comfortable/familiar with the place. Last and this year, we stayed at Miramar Beach which is technically in Destin but it's about 5 minutes further, therefore, less hectic. We've never gone this late in the summer though. I must say, it was so nice not having hour+ waits at restaurants and there was no traffic at all. We stayed in a town home which worked out great last year because your backyard IS the beach and you have a ton more beach space than you do with a condo. However, we stayed at a town home next door to the one we stayed at last year, which we were pleased with, but just wanted to try something different. We left Wednesday night last week and stayed at a cheaper hotel that night, just to catch some sleep. We didn't get there until about 5 am so we slept until 12 pm then checked out. We caught some lunch at Dewey Destin, which I've heard is fantastic but neither one of us were impressed. After lunch, we headed to the town home, which has a check-in time of 4 pm but luckily, our code worked at 2 pm and we gained access.

Of course, we had to check out everything as soon as we walked in. There were LOTS of stairs, which I knew about but just didn't think it through I guess. When you walk in, there are 2 bedrooms but then you have to go up one set of stairs to get to the living/dining rooms and kitchen and then ANOTHER set of stairs to get to the master bedroom and one more bedroom. We've definitely gotten a workout this week! BUT...what the ad did not mention was the infamous spiral stairs. In order to get on the beach, you have to go down some tight spiral stairs, which could be accessed from any level but they were really tight and basically in a closet-like area. To add to it, I'm claustrophobic. I immediately cried and starting looking for a different way to get on the beach. At that point, I was willing to walk to the end of the town homes and walk around to the beach. After about an hour, I actually walked down the stairs and it wasn't bad at all. I know it sounds silly but my anxiety level is horrendous with alot of things. There were A LOT of things that weren't mentioned in the ad. The condo itself is rundown, old, and dirty. It was decorated really nice though. Atleast the furniture was new and clean. I won't even go into all of the other problems we had...that will be shared with the owner of the condo in the next 24 hours, unfortunately.

We also didn't realize how much work it would be with Barrett. He was such a wonderful baby, enjoyed the beach, and had a blast, but he IS STILL a 9 month old...meaning, he pitched fits, required frequent naps, diaper changes, feedings, making sure he had enough fluids, applying sunblock, keeping sand out of his mouth, keeping him entertained...you name it. I hate to even say it but it was more work than it was relaxing. I'm sure some people are fine with all of the work but Ty and I were not blessed with patience. Overall, it was worth it but we'll probably be doing something different next year, like just taking a week off work and staying home together :). I also hate to say it, but we weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow...obviously, we left a day early but we are all 3 so glad to be home! All of our luggage, etc. is put up. I only have 2 loads of laundry running, since I washed everything in Destin. Barrett got his bath at 9 tonight, ate his cereal, had a bottle, and hit the sack. There's just nothing like home!

One other thing to mention...last year I was pregnant when we went to FL so I couldn't go to the water park, which I LOVE doing. So, this year, I was so pumped about going and the fact that I could take B to the kiddie park was exciting. We all got ready and left. We drove into the parking lot and discovered NO cars or people! They had closed for the season 2 days prior :( We were so sad. Oh well...maybe next time! We ate dinner at different places every night. Last night, we went to Bubba Gump's and then stopped by The Track, which has rides, go-carts, putt-putt, and that kind of stuff. Barrett rode some rides with Ty and even rode the swings by himself :*). He has gotten so attached to Ty this week. It's so sweet! I hate to see B go back to daycare and Ty and I go back to work but it has to happen. I think we're going to take B to daycare tomorrow so that me and Ty can have a day to ourselves. We have a few things to do this weekend and probably won't see each other much so we need it!

In other news, Barrett turned 9 months old on the 21st. He's finally started bearing weight on his legs and trying to crawl. He loves getting in his walker now and still just goes backwards. He babbles really loud and says all kinds of things. I just can't believe that I'm so lucky to have such a happy, pleasant baby! We drove 7.5 hours today and only had to stop for 30 minutes to let him stretch, eat, and get a clean diaper. He didn't even fuss the rest of the time! I'm beyond blessed! Anyways, I've typed more than enough and probably need to catch up on some rest! Good night and good week all!

Oh yeah, and congratulations to our friends Liz and Kevan, on the birth of their little girl, Addi! Happy late birthday to my mom, Lori! AND happy early birthday to my sisters, Melissa and Christie, my dad, Jodie, and Ty's uncle, Brad. It's going to be a busy week!