Jake (and I) survived his first trip away from home. He seemed to have a really great time with Grandpa visiting Great-Grandma in Bremond, TX and then going to Dallas fora couple of days. Although...his tummy issues seemed to follow him. We thought he was all better until mid day Saturday when things seemed to start all over again. Took him to the doctor on Monday and they are running the tests over agin and checking for some more things.
Hopefully we will have some answers by tomorrow. I hate that it takes so long for these test to get the results!!!
But...on a good note, he seems to be doing much better now. We even made it out to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday for a big play date with a friend of his. That was lots of fun for all the kids. THe other mom had a 12 year old daughter with her and that made it great for Claire. I had no worries and was able to just sit and visit and have "mommy time". Hopefully we are over the hump with this tummy trouble and will start to see consistent improvement.
My poor little guy has lost nearly 5 pounds and he wsn't all that big to start with.

Life is busy...

Hi all...ok, so camp was over a little over a week ago. I am just now coming up for air :-)


this last week we went to the Blue Bell ice cream factory and then wen to the Blue Bell Aquatic Center afterwards for swimming and playing. We went and had the kid's pictures taken together, Jake spent a day at a friends house, and we went swimming at the YMCA with some different friends one day. Then...Jake spent the entire weekend SICK.- YUCK.


He is making a slow recovery and should be his normal self again in a few days. He has had some sort of gastrointestinal bacteria. The doctor said it would likely just have to run it's course, but we will have more info in a day or two. Turns out it had most of last week, just didn't really get back until Friday night. It's NOT contagious though- thank goodness- as we were around lots of kids last week.


Jake is taking his first away from home trip without me on Thursday. Andy's dad (Grandpa) is taking him to visit Great Grandma for a day or so and then they are going to Dallas for a couple of days. He is very excited and keeps wanting to start packing!!! I'm just hoping he is all better by then. It will be weird to have him gone for so long, but I know he will enjoy it alot.Well..that is all my news for now. I will try to update more next week.


Here is a new picture to enjoy:

Just an update

Well... I was all excited about this time last night with great plans to tell everyone that all is well with the crib/tent situation and then SHE STRUCK AGAIN. This time it was a HUGE MESS. Apparently Claire's little system is starting to gain a pattern. Her "business" needs seem to be after she has gone to bed and she just isn't calling us at all, or just not yelling loud enough. Although...she makes sure we can hear her when she wants a drink, more music, another blanket, etc....
She is trying hard to be a "big girl" and take care of things herself. Perhaps I should stock her crib with extra pull ups and a box of wipes.
YIKES!!! Needless to say, she had 2 baths last night.

Our Summer Camp program ends this week and we will have another three weeks of casual bliss before I must report back to work for the new school year. I am planning to enjoy as much hanging out in my pj's as we can and definately spend more time at the pool.
Jake is swimming so well, it's hard to believe that this time last year he still needed a floatie thingy.
Claire loves the pool and loves the water, but you won't catch her with her arm floaties and her "Little Mermaid" swim ring. She has to have the whole ensamble to feel safe in the water.
Well...ta ta for now.

Claire's REVENGE!

Alright now REALLY!!!!

Isn't it bad enough that I have to go with out sleep for that past few weeks (and don't even get me started on her first 2 years of life!), but now this...

Here I was, enjoying a nice peacful evening, eating dinner and watching Discovery Health on TV (Andy went out to run some errands).

Jake was in his room relaxing before "lights out" and Claire was...well...let's just say I thought Claire was asleep.

I go into tell Jake to get in bed, turn of TV, yada, yada, yada, when I hear Claire calling out for "Maaahhhmmmyyy"- ahhh here we go....

I go see what she needs, this is what I hear (in a tiny little voice )"I need to go poo poo". So, I'm thinking, no problem, I can deal with that. I unzip the tent and look down to find her with no diaper in a puddle of WETNESS!- I lift her up and send her on to the bathroom. I start to look for the pull-up and the source of the foul smell. Can't find it anywhere. So, I call to her "Claire, where's your pull up?"- "It's in my hand, mommy". Oh, OK... ( let's put it in the hamper...)

Now I have turned on the overhead light, the pillow case has little BROWN handprints on it and the sheet is completely soaked.

I get the pull-up from her and discover the source of the smell. "Here Mommy. I need a new one" she informs me. Thanks honey, I see that.

So, I get her cleaned up, change the sheet, put on a new pillow case, collect the other various soaked and or soiled items from her bed and then we start the goodnight routine over again.

It is now 10:19 PM and so far all is well...

Look and my sleeping ANGELS

Tales from the Crib

OK...we tried to be patient, we tried to do the "be strong...wait it out...she will get it" thing, but after virtually NO sleep on Thursday night due to Claire feeling the need to wake up at 3 and STAY up until 5 no matter how many times I put her back to bed, I caved.

Friday I put her crib back together and decided that a few more months of enjoying the happy go lucky, pleasant to be around, little toddler girl was far more appealing than the newer version that was trying to develop as the BIG Girl was pushing her way through.

But...silly me. I actually thought that because she wasn't climbing out before that this would keep her in the bed now. WRONG!!!! Now is when she has decided to risk life and limb to be free at all costs. After a final night of sleeping with my ears finely tuned and one eye open, I decided to bring out the BIG GUNS and go for this method:



It is called Cozy Crib Tent, but we like to call it "Claire's Princess Tent". It's only been one night, but it was a restful night!. I will keep you posted!

On a another note...I have found the COOLEST toy ever! It may look like something stupid you kid drug out of a cabinet in the kitchen, but is actually a very neat little creation (from Europe, of course) that is meant to spark our children's "imagination", you know... that thing we all used as kids when there wasn't 24 hour kid's TV shows and hand held video game systems in every kid's hands at all times.

Is it a hat, a chair, a stool, a drum...YES, it all of this and so much more. This is the first thing (since Dora anyway) that I have seen Claire get so excited over. We saw these in a little store last week and both of the kids were Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over it, so I had to have it. (I actually ordered on Amazon and got free shipping and paid a bit less than the store was charging).

Check out the site. It is called a BILIBO http://www.bilibo.com/

Well...I guess that's all for now. Wish me a another restful night's sleep :-)