Twas the night before Thanksgiving...

This week has gone by so slow, but I am so happy it is Wednesday night and Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  I need time with my family so badly and can not wait for the next 4 days!!!!

Stephen and Stephen are asleep and I am up painting my nails and waiting for clothes to dry, so I figured I would blog some pictures I took today.  I wish I had taken these with my big camera, but I was doing good to get them taken in the first place, so cell phone pictures will have to do.  Sometimes it's just about capturing the moment and doesn't always have to be the most perfectly sharp picture.

I hated to send Stephen to school today, but I had to get some work done and knew it was going to be a rough day for me, so I could not have any distractions.  My mom gave him this shirt, so I took his picture as we headed out the door.



I was fixing his hair and brushing it over to the side and as soon as I would do it, he would brush it back in his face.  Little Turkey- haha!!  He thought he was so funny!!!



He is obsessed with this Gap sweatshirt.  Roslyn gave him a super cute batman hoodie that he refuses to wear.  He won't wear anything but this.  Sorry Roslyn, I'll keep working on him!



When we got outside, he stood in this spot and said "cheese", waiting for me to take his picture.  So cute!



He insisted I stand on the bricks of our patio, which are higher than the sidewalk, so I had to bend down.  He mimicked me.



Thankfully, I got off work around 1:30 and got to pick Stephen up early.  As soon as we got home he wanted to just lay on the couch.  Poor guy just doesn't feel good.



Since I kept him home on Tuesday, I worked from our kitchen table and brought our big computer down to work on.  I just decided to leave it down there because I didn't know if I would send Stephen to school Wednesday or not.  He saw some pictures on it and loved looking at them, so I put up a slideshow for him to watch and he loved it!



As Stephen was watching tv this afternoon, I was trying to get some stuff done around the house and he would just randomly come over and ask me to pick him up.  So I would and he would just lay his head on my shoulder.  I wanted to get a bunch of stuff done, but whenever he would do that, I would just stop and go sit with him on the couch for a while.  He would sit in my lap and lay his head on me.  Then he would crawl off of me and go lay on the couch and I would get up and work some more.  He is so sweet.  It's moments like that, that you just want to bottle up and never forget.

As I was downloading these pictures tonight, I came across this one.  Stephen was born on a Thursday night and this was Friday morning.  As much joy as I felt that day, I had no idea just how much joy he would truly bring us.  And each day just gets better and better!!!



I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. We have so much to be thankful for this year and are looking forward to spending time with our families.

Sickies

Stephen and I are sick.  I have been feeling bad for almost 2 weeks and Stephen has had a cough, runny nose, etc. for about a month.  So Monday after I picked him up from school I decided we would both go to an urgent care facility at the front of our neeighborhood just to make sure we don't have something and if we do, so we could get some medicine and start feeling better before the holiday.

So, Stephen has strep and I have bronchitis.  We both got antibiotics and I also got a steroid.  I really hate to give Stephen another antibiotic.  He just took one last month for his pneumonia.  It makes me so sad, mad, etc. that he has been so sick since starting school.   He was never sick before this.  But, a lot of people have told me that his immune system will be solid after this year and he won't get sick nearly as much.  But in the meantime, I've got to figure out something to help him not get anymore bacterial infections, because it is really bad for young children to be on antibiotics so much.

Since he has strep, he couldn't go to school today.  I decided to just keep him home with me and I would also work.  Stephen told me to call in sick, but I hate doing that.  I very, very rarely call in sick.  And being a holiday week, it is really important that I be at work.

Thankfully, he slept in until about 8:30 and then sat at the table with me and ate breakfast while I worked.

After he ate breakfast he colored some at the table and then seemed kind of tired, so I put him on the couch and turned on his favorite show Caliou.  He seriously loves this show and refuses to watch anything else.





He had lunch around 11 and then went down for a nap around 11:30.  He slept until about 2:30.  The afternoon was a little more difficult with him because he had a lot more energy and seemed to be feeling better.  It was pretty exhausting trying to work and occupy him, but I did good.



I let him have his paci today.  Not a battle I wanted to fight.  He looks so cute with his animals surrounding him.  His puppy must be covered with the dot blanket at.all.times.  Also, he can't say puppy or dog so he calls him, ruff ruff.  It is so cute!



The aftermath from trying to occupy him for an hour this afternoon.   It's amazing how fast he can do these puzzles!



We were playing in the gameroom before his bath and he ran into the bathroom and got his tooth brush.



He put on his chef hat and it covered his eyes and he thought it was so funny!







When I came down stairs from putting Stephen to bed it was 7:45 and I thought to myself, "oh my gosh, I haven't stopped for 12 hours.".  I started working at 7:45 this morning while Stephen was still asleep and if I wasn't working, I was taking care of him.  Stephen went to see his Dad after work, so he wasn't home. I literally did not stop all day long.  Our house is a mess, there is laundry that needs to be done so we have clothes to wear tomorrow, I never showered today, BUT my heart is SO full of joy!  Pure joy!  Stephen was so sweet today saying "please Mama", "thank you Mama", "yesh Mama".  He says yes, "yesh" and it is the most adorable thing you've ever heard. He is adorable and just makes my heart burst with happiness and pride.

Today was not easy, but being with my baby all day was so wonderful!  Now, I couldn't do this on a regular basis that is for sure, but one day was good.  It made me really want to be a stay at home mom.   I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, but now is not the right time.  Maybe one day.

Another thing I have been thinking about lately.  Stephen has been wanting me to carry him a lot lately.  When we go into school in the mornings he insists I carry him, going up or down the stairs, coming inside from the car, etc.  He used to want to walk, especially down the stairs.  He would even make me go all the way to the landing of the stairs before he would come down, he didn't even want me to walk next to him.  Today, I was trying to carry a bunch of stuff upstairs so I told him he had to walk, but he was upset.  I walked upstairs and he stayed at the bottom and was yelling/ crying for me.  So of course I set my stuff down and went back down to get him.  I was kind of annoyed, but then I started thinking about how short this time really is.  One day he isn't going to want to be carried anymore.  You don't see any 13 year olds being carried into school by their moms.  And I've been thinking that if I get pregnant soon, I may not be able to carry him much and with a baby it will be even harder.

So, I am just going to enjoy every single time he reaches his hands up and asks me to carry him.

As I was blogging this, he kept waking up coughing, so I went up to give him a sip of water and some medicine.  He sat with me and I rocked him.  He is so sweet when I rock him after he has been asleep.  His body just goes limp in my arms and he lays his head on my shoulder.  I always hate for him to be sick and not sleep well, but I love the extra cuddles and didn't want to put him back to bed.

Our Weekend

Ok y'all, get ready for some awesome weekend pictures!!

Ha! Just kidding!

We had a pretty low key weekend. It got super cold and neither Stephen and I were feeling great, so we spent most of our weekend at home.

Saturday, Stephen had to work. We were supposed to go to a birthday party for our friends son, but they canceled it since he was sick. It seems like everyone is sick right now and the party was at Chuck E Cheese (hello germs!), so I wasn't too sad about not going to the party, but I was looking forward to getting out of the house and seeing our friends. We did run to Target in the morning and then later that afternoon, we left to go meet Stephen at the hospital so Stephen could see Steve and Steve could see him.

Here is what he was wearing. We got those mittens at Target and he loves them!  And how cute is he in that beanie?  Whoop!  My mom bought him those boots and he loves them!  He tells me over and over that Yaya bought him those boots.



We have been showing him pictures of Steve so that when he did get to see him he hopefully wouldn't be scared. But as soon as we walked in the room, he screamed and had a death grip on Stephen, who was holding him. We alternated holding him and he would not let go of us. He eventually warmed up though and let Papaw touch his back and then he gave Papaw a high five when we were leaving.  I know Steve loved getting to see Stephen and Stephen has talked non stop about Papaw.

Steve is doing so much better! He is talking and moving more and more. Such a miracle and we are SO thankful.

Sunday morning we did FaceTime with my parents. Stephen played them a song on his guitar.



Stephen went to the Texans game on Sunday. Stephen and I went to the grocery store that morning and then just hung out at home all day. That afternoon, we got ready and went to the hospital to see Steve again. He is going to be moved to a rehab facility this week and it will probably be in Clear Lake, so it will be harder for us to visit him.

Stephen wore his Texans jersey to the game, so I put Stephen's jersey on him before we left. He has a Texans warm up suit that is so cute with his jersey, but he refused to wear the jacket. I tried my absolute best to convince him that it matched and looked cool, but he is obsessed with this orange Gap hoodie and would only wear it.  He also ran back to grab that toy before we left, which was so funny because he never does that.



So, just a low key weekend. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving this week and spending time with our families and hopefully getting to spend more time with Stephen.

Something I just remembered and wanted to record for my memories.  I like to take his picture on the brick entryway when we are leaving, but lately he has been refusing to stand there and wants to stand on the sidewalk and for me to stand on the brick to take his picture.  Sunday, when we were leaving, it was so cold and I was trying to rush to the car and he was just frozen in this spot.  I kept telling him to come on, etc. and finally I said, do you want me to take your picture?  And he said yes.  So I did and then he was ready to go.  So funny!

Sunday

The weekends have been hard for me lately.  Stephen has been spending a lot of time at the hospital on the weekends and I have been missing him so much!  Sunday, he was going to stay home with us for the majority of the day and I was so excited!  I woke up feeling pretty sick, so Stephen took Stephen to get donuts for breakfast and I took a bunch of medicine and a hot bath.  I was feeling a little better by the time they got home and we were all playing in the living room when Stephen's mom called.

His grandma was back in the hospital and not doing well at all.  She has been sick since the beginning of October and we had planned to take a weekend trip to see her when we got back from Destin, but then Steve got sick so we didn't get to go.  Since things with Steve were touch and go and things changed so quickly with him, Stephen didn't want to leave and be so far away if something happened to his dad.  But, now that Steve is doing much better, Stephen decided he should go see his grandma.  He called Marci and asked her to go with him and he let our house around 10:30 am.

I knew he needed to go see his grandma and I am so happy Steve is doing better so he felt comfortable leaving town, but I was just so sad to see him go.  I wished we could have gone with him, but they were coming home Monday and I couldn't miss another day of work.

But you know what the great thing about having kids is?  Even though they are a ton of work and at the end of the day I am exhausted, they bring you so much joy!!  Our Sunday ended up being a great day because I got to spend it with my little boy who brings me so much happiness!!!

After Stephen left, we did some coloring.  Stephen learned that he could stack his markers and thought that was so cool!











We ate lunch (you can see Stephen still has a little on his mouth) and then went into the living room to play some more.   Stephen was covering up his puppy with his little blankie and would then pat him on the back.  It was so cute and sweet!













Stephen took a nap and then we went to the park when he woke up.  Our weather has been crazy lately.  Earlier this week, one night the low was 38 degrees and we had to turn our heater on.  Sunday is was 80 degrees and we were in shorts!

He was cleaning up all of the leaves on this landing and handing them to me one by one.





He did so good at the park and doesn't make me as nervous.  This particular park I used to have to follow him around the entire thing (as in down the tubes, etc.) because there are just too many places where he could get hurt.  But today, he did so good and I could just stand and watch him.  He could also climb up this slide which he always wants to do, but has never been able to.



We left the park and went grocery shopping and then came home and played outside.  He loves his scooter and is really good at it.



When I was looking at that picture it hit me just how big he really is.  It seems like just yesterday he was this tiny baby.





And that was our Sunday.  Stephen had a good visit with his grandma and as much as we missed him, I am so glad he went to see her.  They are not really sure what all is going on with her, but hopefully they will get some answers soon.  She is in a lot of pain and having a really hard time so if you wouldn't mind praying for her, I would greatly appreciate it.

Catching Up

Well, well, well, I'm behind on my blog.  I do have a good excuse this time though.  It's the roller coaster that our life has been the last 5 weeks.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago.  We were going to the hospital to see Stephen one night and he fell asleep on the way.



We got really bad news about Steve one Tuesday night, so my mom picked Stephen up from school that Thursday so I could go spend some time at the hospital with Stephen.  He was so excited to see her!  She text me this picture after she picked him up.



Since the time change Stephen has been waking up around 6:30 every morning, ugh!  He slept until almost 10 at my parents house!!!  What!?!  I'm so glad he sleeps so well at their house!

Doesn't he look so cute?  And big!



After the bad news Tuesday night, things started turning for the better on Friday.  I'm going to write a whole post about this ordeal, but it was truly a miracle!  God is so good and answered our prayers.



My parents brought Stephen home on Saturday and we went to his school's fall festival.  Each room had a game or two.



He loved the jump house, but only stayed in for a minute or two.







He missed at first, so then he just walked up and put it in the hole.



He really wanted a face tattoo.





Once she put the sponge on his face, he did not want to do it anymore.



After we did all the games, we did the hayride, which Stephen loved!



He loved holding his tickets.



Stephen had his arm resting on the side of the trailer and Stephen saw it and put his up there too.  So cute!





Reading books with Daddy before bed.





My mo bought Stephen these boots and he love them!



I have a little more to update, but it will have to wait.