F3

Yesterday was a WONDERFUL day for us!!! Kennedy was back to herself for the most part - and just happy to be up and playing! We did puzzles, colored, took a walk, and cleaned the house up. I had plans to go shopping for Kids' Ministry Stuff that night - so I wanted to be sure to give Kennedy and Jaxen their baths before Jon got home so he wasn't stuck doing it. I did Kennedy first. I usually let Jaxen sit on the bathroom floor and Kennedy will interact with him while I put laundry away or make beds. Well - next thing I know, Kennedy is crying..."MOMMY ALL DONE"..."ALL DONE MOMMY!" Confused (because she LOVES the bath), I ran in there...and saw why. We had a little bit of what I like to call "F3". Final Faeces Farewell. Yes...Kennedy had pooped in the tub. Now I'm sure most of you can relate at some time or another - one of your children' probably did this...however...Please keep in mind that Kennedy had been sick. I will stop there and say it was a mess. :) Poor thing was humiliated.

As I was cleaning up and hosing her down...a distant memory popped in my head. I had obviously pushed this FAR back - b/c I haven't thought about it in years. But I have a feeling my Aunt Linda (whose reading this) will remember VERY clearly when her favorite niece (Ok favorite one in NC)...may have had an accident in their pool!!! (A large horse tank we used to swim in) HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I think I will push that memory right back where it came from!! :)

Day 4

Well - we are officially on DAY 4 of The stomach flu. I seriously don't understand this whole illness...or the point of it. It might actually be my VERY first question to God when I get to Heaven! Kennedy had a spurt of energy yesterday (Sunday) morning...but quickly returned to her lethargic state. She has been sitting and laying ALL day (Sunday and Monday). Sunday night we tried to get her out for some fresh air...we took her to Toys R Us. Who wouldn't be excited? She tried to enjoy - but after about 20 minutes - had to be carried b/c she was too weak...
Today she has eaten the following:
- 2 tortilla chips (with a tiny bit of Guacamole on them)
- 2 noodles
- 1 bite of Fruit Loops.

Then the diarrhea set in. NICE right? Come on!!!!

Poor Baby

This is about the extent of our weekend...since Thursday....
NO FUN! Kennedy has been switching from my lap to Jon's - and back
100 times. Poor baby still has a fever and no appetite. Jon and I are holding on for dear life and begging God to spare us from getting this...please join us!
Poor Jaxen has been on the floor playing by himself the majority of the time.
Good thing he's such a trooper!

Top Ten List....things to report

1) Jaxen has 2 teeth on the bottom and is working on his 3rd
2) Jaxen is crawling now...he will definitely army crawl - but he also does some scoots on his knees
3) Kennedy has the stomach flu - and is miserable...which makes me miserable! :(
4) Kennedy cheers whenever we pull into her "school" parking lot.
5) Jon is an amazing husband...he helped clean up the debris from #3...
6) This is not how we wanted to spend our weekend! ha-ha!
7) I am LOVING my new job!!!
8) I get the best of both worlds (in my opinion) by working 15 hours a week and being home the rest of the time
9) We miss our families and friends (which includes you!)
10) I heart North Carolina

Valentines Day

So - I've been really bad at blogging. I seem to go in spurts! Life has been a little bit of an adjustment. I started my new job and seem to be running from place to place for meetings and dropping off kids...Dr's appointments and play dates! It's been a GREAT couple of weeks!!

I may have to go back and write some more about this - but for tonight- I will just do Valentines Day. :)

We woke up this morning and opened our Valentines. Momom and Papap sent presents for Kennedy and Jaxen - so they opened those and money from Aunt Lisa....then Valentines from us. It was fun. When I told Kennedy she had presents to open - she looked in our living room where our Christmas Tree used to be...and said - "Pesents go Bye bye"...I thought it was funny that she associated the two together.

We spent the entire day in our PJ's - ate pink cupcakes for breakfast and then all took a nap together this afternoon. When we woke up - Jon and I went out for dinner. We found the GREATEST little Mexican restaurant! It's a new favorite!!
We came home in time to put the kids to bed. It was a great day.

Life Lessons

Last week, Jon had a business trip in NYC...so the kids and I took out for Charleston, WV. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive, which isn't bad. :) I had plans to meet with my friend Laura, who is the Family Ministry Director at our old church, River Ridge. She graciously invited me to come and sit at her feet as she showered me with knowledge of what is now my new job at Crosspoint! The trip was a little insane...have to say. First of all...I decided to take off after Kennedy's preschool...which ends at 1. Logically, I was thinking that it would be a perfect time since she usually naps at 1 anyway. I thought for sure I would have a good 2 hours of silence as her and Jax slept.

Lesson #1: Never trust in Logic with a 2 year old. She cried and screamed for 2 hours...straight. She wanted to go home to her bed and go night night. She wanted Daddy. She wanted me to "Hold You". She wanted Juice and snacks - and threw everything down - and wanted it again. NO FUN!!! I was just about to run off the road to relieve myself of the anxiety of shrills coming from the back seat - when I remembered I had some M&M's in my purse!!!

Lesson #2: Bribery is sometimes your only option for survival. After the 2 hour mark, with Kennedy dripping milk chocolate from her mouth...I learned

Lesson #3: M&M's not ONLY melt in your mouth..but ALSO in your hands. :) I debated stopping - but the thought of pulling 2 kids out - unpacking the double stroller and taking turns on the nasty bathroom changing table...I decided against it. Both of my kids are in diapers at this point...

Lesson #4: NO STOPPING...diapers can hold an EXCESSIVE amount of liquid when put to the test! By the way...I have one child in Pampers and one in Huggies...both stood up to the test. By about 3 1/2 hours into the trip - I was starting to see signs for Charleston. We had rolled through Beckley - and were less than 60 miles away from the promised land. About that time - Jaxen starts crying. There is no way I'm stopping at this point. Now - all of you judging types may want to skip the next few lines. I knew Jax needed a bottle - but there was no way I was pulling over to get warm water. Jaxen is pretty laid back...so I decided that he would be ok with the following...

Lesson #5: Leftover Diet Dr. Pepper melted Ice and leftover Apple juice mixed with formula - make for a convenient bottle in desperate times.
After finally arriving in Charleston - I was set to meet my friend Ivy for dinner. We went to our usual spot - Rio - best Mexican restaurant hands down. Let me just say that my kids are now - 4 1/2 hours in the car - no stops - no diaper changes - no nap for Kennedy - and here we are arriving at a restaurant. Anyone else smell trouble?
It has started to sprinkle - so I was rushing to get my kids in the door. I didn't take the stroller b/c I knew there wouldn't be a place to park it.

Lesson #6: Do NOT attempt to take a 2 year old and an 8 month old into any public place by yourself without your double stroller. We sat down in our booth - I changed both of their diapers - and we ordered our food. About that time - the giddiness set in. Kennedy was ROTTEN. She was completely OUT OF CONTROL. She and another little girl behind us in the booth were playing and screaming and laughing SOO loud. I tried to get her to sit down - but I really needed the other mom to call her daughter down as well. The little girl started hitting Kennedy...playfully...so Kennedy started hitting back...playfully...meanwhile - I'm trying to feed my starving baby with one hand and wrestle my daughter with the other...forget eating my food. It was completely out of control. I could honestly take 2 more paragraphs to tell you how bad each little situation was - but lets just end the madness by saying I had to eventually take Jaxen out of the restaurant and buckle him in the car....then go BACK into the restaurant where my 2 year old was underneath the booth hiding while they were trying to seat another customer. I had to take her over my shoulder and carry her out kicking and screaming. Once into the car - they both started wailing. It was awful. I was bawling too.

Lesson #7: If you can't "beat 'em...Join 'em". I called my friend Tina and she insisted that we come over immediately. I walked into her house and TJ took Kennedy and Tina grabbed Jaxen. I couldn't have been happier to see them. We all had a pretty sleepless night...complete with Kennedy falling out of bed 2 times...and Jaxen snoring like a crazy old man....but it was as close to being home as we could have gotten!!! ;)
The next day was GREAT!!!! Laura had arranged the entire day with babysitters and lunch plans - and everything. It was a nice time to catch up on life and learn about Children's ministry! I left with TONS of information swimming around in my head....tons of ideas that I can't wait to implement...and visions for a bright future at Crosspoint. It was also so fun to see our kids playing together. Laura took some great shots....



Lesson #8: Seeing friends makes even the worst of situations seem ok!

Random thoughts and pictures

Kennedy loves to help me clean...in fact - she will BAWL her eyes out if I DON'T let her! I say..."Start 'em young!"

Today was my first meeting for my new job. Kennedy and Jaxen had to go to preschool today. Kennedy was SOOO excited to go to "Kool"...She had a new DORA back pack and was sooo excited! I told Jon that she didn't even know what "Kool" was...they could be cutting off her right limb and she wouldn't know - she was just excited!! She was so excited, in fact, that we had to leave 25 minutes early and just drive around!!
She had a great day. Drop off was a little traumatic - and I forgot her lunch...poor thing. They made her a grilled cheese and gave her some pretzels and fruit! She was a happy camper!! She looked sooo grown up!



One more funny thing that happened today is that the elastic in Kennedy's BRAND NEW pants came out. She REFUSED to let me change her pants b/c she loves them. (They have tiny flowers on them) So - this is how she ran around from about 4pm - 7:30pm...

SUPERBOWL

We had a great night with great friends! We had a Crosspoint Band/Neighborhood party! It was great fun!! We had 23 people here...and a great time of food and football! The best part for me was the special "Office" episode at the end of the game!!! :)