Monday Morning Drama...

Well this was probably among the more memorable Monday mornings ever.  I am washing a few cups out in the kitchen early this morning before everyone was off, and then I hear "Jackson's locked in the bathroom."   I wonder how that happened?  Surely his big sister did not do that. 

Alas, she did.  And since these doors have no keys, that meant trying to pick the lock.  Tried that one time before but never got anywhere.  I suppose I can cross master thief off of my possible career-list.  So next it was removing the doorknob, which I did.  Still nothing.  I pushed and pryed and pulled every possible part of the lock that I could see, but nothing.

Meanwhile Jackson is screaming and crying, naturally, this entire time.  I had reached the point where I was pretty much ready to just kick down the door.  But that would not work because he was sitting right in front of the door on the other side.  I told him to move back to the bathtub...as if he was going to understand that while freaking out.  :)

So Melissa called a locksmith, who said he could be out in "about an hour or hour and a half".  Yea...that's not going to work buddy.  So next up was the fire department.  Fortunately for us they are just around the corner, and no more than 3-4 minutes after hanging up, the fire engine pulled up out front.  Four firemen (one firewoman actually), came in with a tool kit...that never got opened.  I still want to know what was in there.  I am picturing some cool gadget that was going to destroy our bathroom door.  But no, all he used was a screwdriver.  The exact same kind of screwdriver I was using.  And doing the exact same thing I was doing.  But for him it worked.  Nice.  Apparently I was not on the right spot when I was pushing the lock, because for me it wasn't doing a thing.

So in less than a minute after walking in, it was all over.  The entire ordeal from start to finish probably took around 15-20 minutes, but it felt like hours.  And naturally, Riley got to take a tour of the fire engine.  So that was almost like a reward.  But just to ensure this never happens again, the bathroom doorknob has now been reversed so that it locks on the outside.  The good news about that is that we can now lock anyone in the bathroom if we need to.  So that has to count for something.

 (One of our sunflowers from the birdseed we put out)

(This is Riley's first ever painting of her own toenails.)

Adenoids, Pot Roast, and Fireworks...

This week saw several firsts for us.  The most important "first" was Jackson's surgery today.  He has been sick for the better part of the past six months.  His nose has just been a mess.  And after each round of antibiotics it would come right back.  In fact the most recent trip to the doctor for his 18 month well-check, the Dr. Kaplan said his nose was "perfect".  The very next day...back to the green drainage.  So our next step was to have his adenoids removed, which we did early this morning.

Of course on the morning when we needed to be up early (he needed to be there at 6:50am) we had to wake up Riley.  Normally she comes strolling into our room somewhere around 6:00 or so, give or take a few minutes.  But after a long day in the sun for the 4th, she was spent.  So after waking her up and fixing her hair (I can do a ponytail if there are no tangles to deal with), it was off to the surgicare center for Jackson and mommy.   I dropped Riley off at school and then joined them just after they had taken him back.

It was a fairly quick procedure.  They put him under, and then went up through his nose with a laser and very small camera.  No more adenoids.  And let's hope no more...or at least not nearly as many...yucky green drainages.  After about 30 minutes or so they came to takes us back to where he was recovering.  He was out, but woke up just long enough to scream and cry for a few...but then he was back out.  We sat there for 45 minutes or so while Don (our very friendly RN) watched his vital signs and oxygen saturation levels.  

Once he felt comfortable that all as well, he gave us the option to stay or go, but we opted to stay for just a few more minutes just for peace of mind and have them do one more check on the vitals.  Not long thereafter, someone was rolled in next to us and started vomiting from their surgery.  Nice.  So at that point...yeah, time to go.  We did one more check and the oxygen was still at 97% so we were good to go.

He slept the entire way home and once he was home he proceeded to sleep some more...and more...and more.  He basically slept the entire day.  I went to pick up Riley from school and it was only when we returned home around 5:00pm or so did we pull up to see the two of them out front.  From that point on he was running around playing like he always does.  We were afraid that he may not want to go to bed at his normal time (7:00pm) and be up half the night, but after dinner he started showing signs of drowsiness.  So after a quick bath, and quite a struggle over taking a teaspoon of Motrin, he was off to bed and so far so good.

Now for the other firsts this week, and this time on a little bit happier notes than adenoid removal.  Earlier this week we had pot roast for dinner.  Normally Riley is somewhat of a vegetarian.   Not really of course, but she just generally does not eat a lot of meat.  An occasional few bites of chicken, but that's about it.  So we were very surprised when she not only ate pot roast, but loved it.  That may not seem like a big deal to some, but considering how picky she still is, that was a pretty big deal in this house.

Most of the fireworks in our area were on the 3rd instead of 4th, so on Tuesday we decided to keep her up late to let her see them..from afar.   When the idea first came up she did not want to see them at all.  I decided to pull up a few fireworks displays on youtube to let her see what they were really like, and after that she was more into the idea.  But we still were not sure how she would react up close to them.  Fortunately we live within sight of a pretty good fireworks display, so after Jackson went down for bed, the three of us sat out back and watched.  She loved them.  She liked naming the colors of each one, at some points saying "Greeeeeeeeeen! I missed you green!"  When it was time to go in, she wanted to stay out and watch more, but the show was pretty much over at that point.  But all in all that was a pretty big win, and I think next year we may venture closer for a better view.

Trike and Bike...

Today was a momentous day with Riley moving from three wheels to two (sort of).   Her trike that it took her forever to start riding has now been bypassed for a new pink and white bike.  A Pinkalicious bike to be exact.  She did very well for the first spin around the block.  She has not quite figured out that every time she pushes her feet back it applies the brakes, but overall she's got the hang of it pretty well for a beginner.  We took a big loop around the neighborhood and she pedaled pretty much the entire way.  That's quite a work out for those little legs.

Jackson had to be pretty pleased too, as he now has his own trike as well.  So no more riding big sister's pink one.  He really likes it so far, for now being pushed around by the steering bar on the back since he can't pedal it himself quite yet.  It won't be long though.  Now it's time for us to get a couple of bikes so that the four of us can terrorize the neighborhood.

Jackson also went for his 18-month checkup this past Monday.  He checked in at 33 1/2 inches long and 28 lbs.   He has hovered around the 28 lb mark for a while now.  He has also battled a nasty sinus issue for months now, with antibiotics only partially helping, and once stopped the symptoms come right back.  So after a referral to an ENT, the recommendation is to have his adnoids removed, which we plan to do soon.  

Catching up...

 

(If any one picture sums up a day in our house...this is the one)

Well it has been a while now so I figured it was time for a new post.  I still don't see how those with two or more kids have time to keep a regular blog.  My hat is off to anyone who manages that.  By the time we are done in the evenings, the last thing on either of our minds is sitting down to write a blog post.  But then after months go by we realize it has been too long since the last one and now we'll have a lot of ground to cover.

Jackson's teeth have been the story for a while now.   It took Riley forever just to get one or two teeth, right around her first birthday.  With him, he got his front four earlier than she did...but then he stopped.  That is until about a month ago.  Since then it has been teething hell, with teeth coming in all over the place, and in groups.  The good news is that at this pace we will be done with the teething soon.  Eight more to go.

He has picked up a few more words as well.  The ones we have counted most frequently are:  dada, mama, light, that (while pointing to anything and yelling "THAT!!!!!!"), uh-oh, uh-uh (for no), dog, and he gives sign language for "more" and "please".   One of his favorite things is to wrestle around in the floor, and we do quite a lot of that.  He is like a little tank.  It amazes me how tough he is for such a (big) little guy.  He also is quite fond of mommy...hanging on to her with a death-grip most of the time, and screaming like a madman if she puts him down even for a minute.

As for Riley, she seems to grow up a little bit more with each passing day.  The things that come out of her mouth never cease to amaze and amuse us.  Recently her favorite song has been "Ghostbusters".  Yes.   The theme song from the movie.  Months ago that movie was on and we just barely caught the end of it, but just enough to catch the song.  She loved it.  After I got my ipod (one of the last on earth to do so I think), I finally downloaded it for her.  It always cracks me up when she sings the "I ain't 'fraid of no ghost" line...and then sings louder toward the end when prompted to do so.

Among the favorite things to do for both of them is to chase each other around the house and wrestle around.  I am not sure if I enjoy getting involved more or just sitting back and watching and listening.  The non-stop laughs are quality entertainment, better than anything on TV.   It won't be long before Jackson is able to hold is own, but for now she obviously still gets the upper hand.  When not wrestling one another, the next best thing is jumping off the couch.  Riley has been a pro at this for a while now, but just today Jackson followed her lead (as usual) and took the plunge.  Obviously he's a fan.

A few weeks ago we decided to venture out solo.   As in solo without the kids.  We had never done that before.  Heck we have never even had a babysitter so that we could go out to dinner.  So we headed down to Nana and Granddaddy's house on Thursday and spent the night there.  Friday morning we drove down to San Antonio without the kids.  It was surreal to say the least.  I have spent nights away before due to traveling with work or for the football road trips with Ralph, but Melissa never had.  Of course the waterworks started before we were even out of the driveway, but they did not last long.  We had a great time, but we talked and thought about them a lot of course.  We stayed right on the River Walk, and even though our balcony did not provide the most romantic of views (hello huge water tower) it was still nice to be right in the heart of everything.  Though next time we will stay at La Mansion for sure.  One of the culinary highlights was the stuffed avacado from the Iron Cactus.  A huge avacado stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese, rolled into a ball, battered, and then fried.  Unbelievably good.  I can still taste it.  On a side note, I took a tour of the Alamo while Melissa caught up on some much-needed sleep. 

As for the kids, they handled the time away remarkably well, and much better than we had ever thought that they would.  Nana and Granddaddy no doubt had their hands full, but it still went off well enough to let us know the kids could get by for a couple of days without us.  Unfortunately the reunion on Sunday morning was followed by the second-worst trip back...ever.  The worst still would have to be the December trip back when Riley was just over a month old.  Never have we both been at the end of our ropes as we were that night, almost willing to get a hotel just an hour or so shy of Dallas.  It was almost as bad as that, but I don't think I could say it was worse.  Riley was a mess, screaming and fussing about every little thing.  Jackson had very little sleep on the ride back, so that didn't help.  So our relaxing weekend came to a grinding halt very quiclkly! 

(One of my favorites.  Despite how it looks, no one was hit!)

This past weekend we had a visit from Nana and Papa from South Carolina.  Unfortunately due to some medical issues our visits had a greater span in between than usual, with the last coming on our trip there in November for Thanksgiving.  It was nice to have them out for several days to catch up on missed time.  The most surprising part of the trip was how easily Jackson went to my dad.  He really doesn't go to anyone very easily (even me sometimes), but he went to him fairly quickly, which I think had to make Papa feel like a million dollars and then some. 

(We have got to get this boy his own bike soon)

After being away for a few days in Chicago, I came back late Friday evening to a huge smile and hug from Riley and a big hug and kiss from Melissa.  As much as it stinks being away, it is almost worth it to get that on the return trip home.  It should be twice as good then when I have to go away for a week in August.  Among my highlights on this trip to Chicago was the chance to have pizza from Lou Malnatti's.  Every bit as good as I had heard it was. 

Finally, yesterday we had the end-of-season Blastball ceremony.  Not to be cliche', but Blastball was a blast.  Overall I'd say Riley picked up the idea pretty quickly.  She has a fairly solid swing for her age (and she bats lefty like Dad).  I am looking forward to seeing if she develops an interest in baseball/softball when she gets older.  But back to the ceremony.  She received her first-ever trophy and was quite proud of and happy about that.  Needless to say we were quite proud and happy as well.