Morning Walks

After we came home from Palestine a few weeks ago and being outside all the time, Stephen still wanted to be outside all  of the time.  It's just too hot at our house to be outside all the time and we don't have a pool or fancy ride on toys to keep us cool.  So, I started taking him outside in the mornings while it was still cool enough and let him walk around before Blessing and Hayden got to our house.  He loves this!!!

Sippy Cup

Hand, mouth and foot..oh my!!

On Sunday I noticed a blister on Stephen's foot.  I thought it may be from his shoes because he has gotten one before from them.  As the day went on I started noticing more and more and by the end of the day I realized they were only on his hands and feet.  I had heard of hand, mouth and foot, but didn't really know what it was.  I quickly googled it and looked at the images and it was exactly what Stephen had.  Plus the symptoms included a fever, which he had last week, decreased appetite, and irritability.  Last week he was very irritable and had a hard time eating, but I was attributing it all to the FOUR new teeth he is getting in the back of his mouth.  Can you believe he is getting FOUR more huge teeth!?!

Anyways, it was late Sunday night when I realized all of this and after calling our doctor and speaking with a nurse, she said there is no treatment for it, you can just treat the blisters and wait for them to go away.  However, it is highly contagious so we needed to keep Hayden away so he wouldn't get it.

My mom was so sweet to help us and keep Stephen.  I met her Monday morning to drop him off.  I worked all day Monday and then cleaned like a maniac all night!  I felt like our whole house was contaminated!  I cleaned toys, the kitchen, mopped the floors, washed sheets, clothes and blankets.  Yuck!!  I was exhausted Monday night, but it was nice to have everything clean!!


Meanwhile, Stephen was having a great time at my parents house!  My mom and dad sent these pictures:







We decided Hayden shouldn't come back on Tuesday, so my mom offered to keep Stephen again on Tuesday.  This was such a relief and we were so thankful for her and my dad's help!!

By Tuesday afternoon, I was missing my boy so much and couldn't wait for him to be home.  Even if he was throwing balls all over the entryway and dining room, running his car into our walls, dumping all the toys out of the basket and playing the piano, guitar and rocker all at the same time.  I definitely realized that he is what makes this house, our home!!

After he got home, we ate dinner and got a bath and then played and it wasn't long before our clean, tidy house had toys all over it again.  But it felt whole again!  I can't even imagine life without this boy, he brings life to us!!



Daddy was also thrilled to see Stephen!!



He doesn't love us kissing him, but we do it anyways!!



It was a crazy few days, but we are happy that our baby is back and healthy!  Hayden never got hand, mouth and foot disease, so that is great!

Having this happen makes me so grateful that Stephen is not at daycare.   This is the only time he has been sick in almost 13 months where he needed to be separated from other kids.  The only other times he has been "sick" were just two small colds.  I am so glad he has not had a lot of illness!!

And I am so grateful for our supportive families!!  My mom really helped us out so we didn't have to take off work and I am so grateful for her!  She had things going on that she canceled to take care of Stephen!  Thank you so much Mom!!!

Date night!

*This post refers to Saturday, August 25th.  Sorry I'm so far behind!!*

Saturday night, Annette and Jim came over to keep Stephen so we could go out.   We had a low key evening planned with dinner and a little shopping in mind.

We seriously take the worst self portraits ever, but it wouldn't be a blog post without a picture, right?



We went to dinner at Houston's and it was great as always!!

Then we headed over to Highland Village to walk around some.  I wanted to browse Pottery Barn, the new Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, Anthropologie and of course Pottery Barn Kids.  And can you believe with all of those wonderful stores, I didn't buy anything!?!  Crazy!

We had a really great night together!  Thank you Annette and Jim for babysitting for us!!

Grocery store, wagon ride, and Papaw Steve

Another busy week here!!

Stephen and I went to the grocery store Monday after I got off work.  I let him hold the paper plates and he was so thrilled!







He loves his stacking cups in his bath.  He is always holding them in his mouth like this.



He threw his ball too far back on the couch and couldn't reach it.  He is devising a plan to get up there.







The late afternoons haven't been too hot lately so we have been taking a few walks in his new wagon he got for his birthday.  He loves it!



He started waving at me.





Our power went out during both of his naps and it cut his sound machine off, which woke him up.  So, he napped for a total of 45 minutes instead of 4 hours!!  He was so tired, so we took a little car ride and it wasn't long until he was fast asleep.





Papaw Steve came to visit us one night!  Stephen has a lot of fun with him!







He kept taking all the balls over and throwing them onto the hardwood floor.







Then we went outside and played on the trampoline, swing and playset and then took a walk in the wagon.



We all went to dinner after Stephen got hime from work.  Later that night, my parents came over to bring us some stuff.  It was a late night, but we enjoyed our time with Steve and it was nice to see my parents for a little while.

That about wraps up our week!  We are looking forward to the weekend!

Moments to remember

I haven't held my sleeping baby in a long time, since he gave up his cat nap in the afternoons.  Which reminds me I have a whole post I want to do on that.  I am so glad we have a baby who can put himself to sleep, but there are times when I miss holding my sleeping baby.

Tonight, I went to put Stephen to bed and while I was rocking him and singing to him he was so still and just looked up at me.  It was so sweet.  As we rocked some more, he fell asleep on my chest.  My cheek was resting on his forehead and I could smell his freshly washed hair, a slight scent of lavender from his shampoo.  When I looked down I could see his beautiful, long eyelashes, hear him taking each sweet breath and felt the weight of his body on mine.  I could feel tears welling up in my eyes and then felt one slowly trickle down my face.  Tears of joy!  I was so grateful to be holding my sleeping baby.  I just savored the moment and looked around his room.  An overwhelming feeling of gratitude came over me.  We are so blessed to have this baby boy!

I wanted to hold him all night, but knew he needed to get into his crib before he woke up.  I was worried he would wake when I moved, but as I carried him over to his crib and laid him down he stayed asleep.

Such a sweet night that I always want to remember.

It's the weekend!

The weekend is here and I couldn't be happier!  Unfortunately, Stephen had to work Saturday.  We miss him so much when he is at work!

We stayed in our pajamas all morning.  We are transitioning Stephen off his bottles, so instead of bottles during the day, he gets sippy cup of milk.  He still gets a bottle in the morning and at night.  He has done so well with his sippy cup.







He has a new hiding spot by the couch.







I guess he decided he needed to hide a little better.





That afternoon we went shopping a little.  We went to this store over by the galleria and they had a little play area that Stephen loved!  He loved this little table.  He would go and get a book and then sit down and flip through it and then get up, push the chair in, and get a new book.  It was so cute!



He also loved this kitchen.





Saturday night we met Daddy for dinner and then did a little more shopping with him.

I didn't take any pictures on Sunday.  These are both from Stephen's cell phone.  We just had a relaxing day at home.  Daddy did take Stephen to Lowe's.



That night after his bath he went to play and sat on the piano.  Stephen thought it was hilarious!  Thankfully he didn't pee on it and yes, we did clean it thoroughly!



We had a great weekend!