A long way for a hashbrown...

It was last Wednesday morning. Still suffering the effects of my ear infection (going on 2 weeks at this point), I had an appointment with an ENT doctor at 9:15 that day. I decided to see a more specialized doctor than the local clinic's doctor, to make sure my ear was okay....even though the ENT was across town, 30 minutes away. I had everything timed perfectly. I dropped Jack off at school at 7:45, got back home at 8:00, fed and changed Jason, and then pulled out of the driveway at 8:40 for my 9:15 appointment. I should arrive at the doctor's office around 9:10, giving me 1 hour to spend there before needing to turn around and drive the 30 minutes back to pick Jack up at school at 10:50. My plan was doable, and I was going to succeed!

Flash forward 20 minutes into my drive, and despite the heavy rain, I encountered little traffic on my way there. That's about the time I came to a sudden stop, and spent the next 20 minutes moving about one mile. This is what I saw:

Hopelessly optimistic, I thought I could get through it- that it was just a bottleneck that once I rounded the corner, I'd be okay. I called the doctor's office to let them know I'd be a few minutes late. (I'm so close to their office at this point, only 10 more minutes.) And Jason has been so good for the car ride, which is a major plus, because he typically despises the car. So now I'm stuck in gridlock with no hope of escaping, fading hopes of actually making my doctor's appointment, a baby who is starting to fuss in the backseat, and my older son needs to be picked up from school in an hour. On the phone again with the doctor's office, I tell the receptionist of my dilemna and where I am....please don't cancel I'm thinking, I've already come all this way and need to have my ear looked at, I've sat in this traffic for at least 30 minutes now in addition to driving 20 minutes before even hitting the traffic.....DON'T LET IT BE FOR NOTHING!!!! The receptionist informs me that her husband is in the same traffic jam, and has been for the past hour and a half. It's at this point that I come upon a turn around, and I decide to just go back home. I'm glad I took the turn around when I had the chance, because the receptionist told me I had to reschedule my appointment. Yay.

Luckily, traffic wasn't bad once I turned around. Not so luckily, 50 minutes into our car ride, Jason finally had had enough and began screaming. I think an angel was watching out for me, because Jason only screamed for about 7 minutes before conking out....and he never sleeps in the car. So I enjoyed a quiet ride home after that. Dejected over the whole debacle, I stopped at the McDonald's by my house and got myself a sausage biscuit and hashbrown, so at least I got something for my cursed car ride. It was really good too. Just ironic that I drove 20 minutes in one direction, sat on the highway for about 30 minutes, and then drove 30 minutes back (add an extra 10 mins on for a detour), just to pick up breakfast from the McDonald's a mile from my house. What I wouldn't give for a crystal ball.

The happy news was that I picked Jack up from school on time and as of a couple of days ago, my ear seems to be near normal now.

Roadtrip

The weekend before last, we took a roadtrip to Lubbock, Texas. The reason for our trip was to attend Jon's sister's wedding. Heather was married in the Lubbock temple and it was beautiful! Below are a few photos to document the trip. I have tons more, and am going to put together a slide show soon, once the pictures I ordered from the photographer arrive. It was a great weekend!

In the car on the way there...only about an hour left to go! The boys were very well behaved and even tried to hold hands. This was not posed.

The annoyingly cute couple- Heather and Logan, first picture as newlyweds!

Aunt Heather with the baby Jason

 Heather impressively holding Jack (seriously she's in a wedding gown)

 "I'll go someday..." Jack standing at the temple gate

Jon and the boys at the reception

outside the temple

 this is how the weekend wrapped up....the boys snoozing in the car on the way home

Jason even slept some (I say 'even' since he's immune to sleeping in the car, even if you drive across the state of Texas. That's the curse of a tummy-sleeper)

It was a busy and all too short weekend. We got to spend it with siblings and cousins, eat yummy steak, play games (I won!), and celebrate Heather & Logan's marriage. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Swinging

Above is a video of Jack & Jason swinging together. It's very cute. I like the fact that Jack is swinging in the toddler swing, as he insists on doing everything Jason does. He didn't want the big kid swing. He also wants to wear a bib while eating, be carried around, and fake cries by yelling loudly "WAH!" He looooves when we call him Baby Jack.

Jason is also too cute in the clip- I love his sweet smiles at the end. He's not the most adventurous baby as of yet, but he definitely enjoys the swing.

Still Exhaling....

The night after writing my recent post on my boys being sick, I awoke around 1 a.m. to a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'll spare you the gory details, but 5 hours later I finally fell asleep after spending the night suffering the effects of Jack's stomach virus. Thankfully that was the worst of it, but the rest of the day Wednesday I was basically zero use to anyone and my sweet husband stayed home from work to tend to the boys. Migrating between couch and bed the entire day, I basically slept with sluggish awakenings every so often to nurse Jason. I never knew it could take so much effort to sit up. The happy news is that my bug only lasted 24 hours, and I've felt right as rain since Thursday morning! The oh so annoying news is that later on that Thursday evening, my ear began to fill with pressure as if I were on an airplane or scuba diving. By Friday morning an intense ringing overtook my ear and still persists as I'm typing this update. Knowing this wasn't normal and was not going away, I went to our local Care Now and was diagnosed with an ear infection! Are you kidding me? I'm grateful for the diagnosis, since now I can take antibiotics and get rid of it. But, seriously, I haven't had an ear infection since I was a kid. Do adults really get these?

Jack seems to be recovered from his stomach bug, although every time I think this he proves me wrong by tossing his cookies one more time...so I'm weary of putting it in writing. It's been 36 hours since he's thrown up. Jason's nose- still runny. Jon, miraculously, seems to be fine.

I'm officially ready for this week to be over. Please no more.

Exhale

For the majority of the month of December, my 2 boys were sick with colds and coughing. Jack began the fad, with Jason following suit 3 days later. I then too caught it, which is highly unusual since I usually have mommy immunity from getting such things. Jack recovered fairly quickly, left with only a residual cough. Poor Jason though. He began to get better, only to be hit with a second cold. He was snotty for 3 straight weeks, and contracted a double ear infection over Christmas. My poor baby. After being on antibiotics for a few days, he felt much better and his congestion cleared. Only 4 days after finally recovering from his back-to-back colds, Jason wakes up with yet another runny nose. Ughhhhh. Not again. We are hoping this one clears soon, minus the ear infection. And to top it all, Jack came down with a stomach virus on Sunday, throwing up countless times, in such places as his car seat, bed, and all over the dinner table (while we were eating). The dinner table was actually my favorite place, seeing as I was able to simply wipe it up, instead of taking apart a car seat, scrubbing blankets and sheets at 1:00 a.m., and running multiple loads of laundry. I'm fairly certain that vomit is the most detested of all bodily functions to clean up.

After spending a couple of hours today scouring toys to prevent the spread of Jack's stomach virus to Jason, doing loads of laundry, and trips around town to the doctor, pharmacy, & store, both boys are napping and my house is peaceful and clean. It's amazing what a clean house does to your mood. I already feel much better and prepared to handle my boys' illnesses. (At least until one of them wakes up, haha.)

Choo, Choo!

Over our Christmas holiday, we visited a local man's impressive Christmas light display. His house was incredible- thousands of lights twinkling all around, with its crowning display: a life-size train that rides thru the lights. The guy offers free rides to kids and their parents every night, so we took Jack and he was dazzled by it all. What a great memory!

"Choo, Choo!"

I think we'll return next year.

Our Big Christmas Morning Post

We had a wonderful Christmas in 2011, and enjoyed visiting with family! We spent Christmas morning at my parents' house, along with my two sisters visiting from Virginia. Trying to get Jack super hyped-up for Christmas this year, we checked out library books all about the holiday, explaining about baby Jesus, Santa Claus, Christmas trees/lights...and it worked! He was so excited to see presents everywhere, and kept saying, "presents! open!" Jason loved, loved, loved playing with the bows and bags. (And the adults enjoyed some present opening I'm sure too.)

First Christmas as brothers

my parents, or Mimi and Pappaw as they are now called

one of Jack's first presents opened...a Cars felt book

 ohhh, what fun ribbon to yank!

playing with his new V-tech book from Mimi, a cool find

 my sister Kristi, or as Jack now calls her "Aunt Kristi!"

Aunt Kristi tried to corral the boys in this big box. It didn't take long for Jason to start eating his way out.

Jason is eating 1 of the 3 elephants he got for Christmas...elephants must be a fad for 2011?

40 piece Cars puzzle...Jack is so good with puzzles, and loves the challenge of putting them together- and I love the absorbing focus it takes for him to do so!

video of Jack opening his favorite gift:

remote control monster truck- need I say more?

 video of the blessed truck:

video of Jack getting his first scooter:

Jason with his hot momma and dadda....(fyi, not trying to exclude Jack, we needed a picture of just Jason with his parental units for his bedroom.)

 a fitting end for a fabulous day: Jack collapsed on his daddy after all the excitement.

It was so special to have Jack finally care about a holiday and be revved up for it. Little Jason had some unopened presents the next day, and Jack insisted that he open them; I worried that he'd be upset that they were for Jason, and told him, "no, they're for Jason." Jack opened them anyway, and to my surprise and delight, he walked over to his brother and handed him his gift, saying "for Jason." So sweet.

It was the first year that Jack gave gifts too. I thought him old enough, so we crafted cards, and he really enjoyed painting them. Yes, my little boy is mature enough to use paint. Sigh.
It was great to spend so much time with my family, especially my sisters who I only see a couple of times a year. Prior to the big Christmas morning, we enjoyed eating out (barbecue and Spaghetti Warehouse), seeing the latest Twilight movie (sans the children), riding trains, playing games, shopping, and catching up.