Slipping Hot Rod a $20

This picture, which has always been hilarious to me, has taken on a new meaning in the past 36 hours. For those of you who have been following my blog, you may have seen it on here already. If you have not, let me explain. Last year when Jordyn was in the 5th grade, I was honored to be a chaperon on the class trip to Springfield. While we were touring the Capital building, Hot Rod pokes his head out of his office. He then proceeded to invite 40+ students and about 10 chaperons into his office. There he signed an autograph for each student and posed for pictures. What happened next still cracks me up...

You see that guy there in the middle, behind Hot Rod? Well, his name is Paul. He's one of the 5th grade teachers at our school and he's always up to no good. (All those other fine looking ladies are teachers at our school and of course the Governor Hot Rod himself smack dab in the middle, seated.) As we were posing for our picture, Paul gets out his billfold, reaches in and pulls out a $20. He then proceeds to thrust it at Hot Rod. Hot Rod is none the wiser! (NOTE: Click on the picture and it will enlarge on your screen...then you will get the whole effect!)

This picture was too good to have stored in my vault. It has certainly taken on a new meaning in the past 36 hours. So thank you, Paul, for providing me hours of rib-splitting laughter!

Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease (Part II)

Camden's got the disease now. Ugh! He wasn't quite as cooperative as Kye was in showing me his mouth, but he was slobbering tonight (something he's outgrown). I chased him around a little with the flashlight saying "open up." That didn't work out too well for me. I gave him a sucker and when he took a lick--there it was--the dreadful blisters on his tongue. I took his temp. Fever of 101.something. He spent the rest of the night with his fingers in his mouth, drooling. No blisters on his feet or hands (yet!) but he was limping around tonight so I'm not sure if that's a sign the feet are next. He must been feeling pretty crummy, because he even let me rock him to sleep tonight without an ounce of trying to wriggle out of my arms (something that I long to do, but he gave up mouths ago!).

Kye's Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease

What a way to start a Monday. Kye had been complaining of a sore throat over the weekend. I peeked in his mouth and it just looked red. He had an ear infection last week and was on antibiotic, so I figured whatever creeped it's way into that throat of his would be killed soon enough. Last night at supper, he showed me a couple little spots on his hand. Still no worries. I told him they looked like a couple of little warts and we'd get them checked next time we went to the doctor. This morning, he was in tears as he tried to eat his breakfast. He could hardly talk or eat. I took another gander at his throat and it was a mess. Blisters, blisters everywhere. Oh and those warts on his hand grew over night. Now they were creeping up his hand. I chalked it up to a reaction to the antibiotic he was taking and off to the doc we went to confirm my suspicion. It did creep into the back of my head that this could be hand, foot, mouth disease...but that sounded icky so I put that thought to rest. Um, yeah...well the doc took one look and confirmed that indeed he does have hand, foot, mouth disease. It's highly contagious, so we hope nobody else in the house gets it. I couldn't refrain from taking a few pictures too!

I wish I could have stuck the camera all the way down his throat. Blisters all over the back of his throat, roof of his mouth and tongue.

Yep, even a few on the top of his feet.

Here's what I diagnosed as a few warts last night. Oops!

Cravings

Listen up, folks! The cravings have definately set in. I can't necessarily say that I'm craving one particular food. How about just food in general? This afternoon in a meeting, a teacher brought a small container of chocolate covered pretzels. They were delicious! I contained myself and only had 2 (even though I wanted to hop across the table and snatch each and every pretzel that went into someone else's mouth). During the rest of the meeting, I planned in my head that I would head out to the Wal Mart after work and pick up a couple bags of chocolate covered pretzels. This was my ONLY motive for tackling Wal Mart today.

I am sad to say that I walked up and down each and every aisle where I thought chocolate covered pretzels were and needless to say, I couldn't find them anywhere! I scoured the shelves high and low. I even peeked behind boxes of cookies and cracker and bags of chips, thinking someone was playing a cruel joke on me. I was not going home empty handed! I had to give up the search when I realized that I only had 15 minutes to check out and make it across town to pick up Kye. I did finally settle on a package of mint Oreos! Yum. I've already eaten a whole row. And did I mention...they were delicious!

1st Trimester--Been There & Glad It's Over

14 weeks down, 26 to go!

Even with 3 prior pregnancies, nobody could have prepared me for the 1st trimester of this pregnancy.

I guess I should start with things that weren't too bad.
*No real morning sickness. Only dry heaved 1 time and nauseous a little here and there!
*I could/and still sort of can squeeze into my "normal" clothes...although now I'm wearing my "fat" clothes I had been saving in case I gained weight after a 25 lb. (thank you Weight Watchers!) weight loss.
*We got to see the baby during 3 separate sonograms.

The real kicker though--the tiredness! I really felt like a walking zombie for the past however many weeks. Now, I did have a few weeks time frame with each prior pregnancy that I went through the tired spell, but not like this one. Most of you who know me know that I love to stay up late...uh, that isn't even in my vocabulary anymore. I'm pretty much in bed between 8:30-9:00 every night, including Fridays and Saturdays...sad, I tell you. I had even been too exhausted to shop...yes, shop! That seemed more like a huge chore to me than a day of fun.

I'm hoping to have turned the corner. I actually went to the grocery store 2 times this weekend and actually cooked dinner 2 times over the weekend (2 tasks which I had little energy to do before). I can chalk up all the fat that has accumulated on my butt the past 3 months to McDonald's, Dairy Queen, and any pizza establishment in Pontiac! Ugh! I stayed up until past 11:00 last night and still don't feel a need to take a nap yet today...yeah! Oh yeah, and I have a shopping trip planned with some girl friends this coming weekend and I'm so relieved that I'll actually feel up to it!

November 5th

Most of you who know me know that I like the seasons in from most to least, in this order: Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall. Yeah, I know...for most of you Fall is your favorite. I think Summer and Winter are my top 2 because they are predictable, for the most part.

Where am I going with this? We were driving home from Gridley tonight and it was dark. Getting dark early now doesn't really bother me much. As I looked across that countryside, I felt like I could see for miles. I kind of forgot that I like that, the openness and all. I know Fall is still here, but winter will be here soon. I hear snow is in the forecast for this weekend...I am thrilled! Bring on the snow days!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub...You Did What in the Tub?!

Within the past couple weeks, Camden has learned 2 new tricks. #1 To open doors (Ugh!) and #2 to get in and out of the bathtub without help (Ugh!). Tonight I was gathering his bath stuff and pajamas while the water ran in the tub. All of a sudden I heard him say "Whoa." I knew this wasn't going to be good. I ran in the bathroom and this is what I found.