Ears, tummy, nose... Oh MY!

He seems to have forgotten where his own bed is as he has taken up residence in ours! I believe in the next couple of days Jeremy will permanently move into the spare room.

Looks quite comfy doesn't he??

All joking aside, my Bug has had a rough week. It all started last Friday when he started with the vomiting. Over the next 3 days I would have sworn he'd lost 5 lbs. He was looking pretty puny and clung to me like a shadow! We got one good day in on Tuesday. Jeremy called in sick since Landon shared his horrible stomach bug with him. We picked him up from school and took him to the zoo. He was pulling on his left ear in the car on the way there. It should have been my first sign. We had a great day spending some much needed family time together. Then midnight rolled around and the pain and crying started. Yep, you guessed it. Double ear infection and his tubes are pretty much about to fall out. The right one is barely hanging in the ear canal and has probably already fallen out since yesterday. Praise Jesus for Tylenol with Codeine. He finally slept well last night and gave us a nice 6 hours of bed to ourselves before he and his blanket made it to our room. 

Other than the day at the zoo and the trip to the pediatrician yesterday,  I cannot tell you what fresh air smells like or what the weather has been like this week. I feel like a prisoner in my own home. Or maybe a mother orangutan where all her little orangutan babies hang on her neck when they want to be transferred somewhere. If I have to watch one more Thomas the Train movie, or respond to one more demand for "milk milk!" I am going to DIE! LOL! Tomorrow will be a solid week of sickness. I NEED FRESH AIR!!! :)

This too shall pass! Hope you all have a great weekend. 

Way behind!

I know..I have fallen behind on the blog posts. Life keeps us busy and so does Landon! So briefly let's catch up.

At 2 years old he is:  32lbs (91st%) and 37 1/2inches (94th%). He has a little of my side in him :)

• Potty training is an on going pain in the rear! Everyone keeps telling us to put him in big boy undies and let him feel what it's like to be wet. Yea did that yesterday. He wet 6 pairs of undies in less than 20 minutes and pretty much could have cared less. Thank heavens for hardwood floors!
• The day after he turned 2 he crawled out of his crib for the first time. I had pretty much decided I'd let him sleep in his crib until he was 12 as long as he continued to sleep through the night. He came like a ghost in the night. I put him in his crib, he cried, I went to check email and I turned around and he was there with a HUGE smile on his face. He even had the guts to SHOW us his new trick. He was quite proud of himself... Thus the toddler bed is now here to stay. And apparently so are his feet in my back.
• His father has officially taught him to call me Jenn. Our nightly routine consists of dinner at the table where Landon makes a huge mess and while I clean the kitchen Jeremy jumps in the shower and lugs Bug with him. So when Jeremy is ready for me to come get Landon and dry him off so he can finish his shower he very loudly yells "JENN!!" Took less than a week for Landon to pick it up. Now every night from the shower I'm Jenn and not Momma and they both think it's hilarious! 
• He's speaking in 4 word sentences. He's also yelling in 4 word sentences. Not always what we want to hear and we definitely don't understand it all, but for the most part, he gets his point across. Actions speak louder than words.
• If you noticed the ticker on the right, you'll know that despite all of these fabulous hurdles, we decided it would be fun to do it all over again starting in August. Yes, we are crazy. But VERY excited! He continuously makes us laugh with his silly personality and charm. 

We went to see Robin today and she polished his eye and gave him a final check up. Everything looks good. We go back now every six months for a polish and to make sure it still fits correctly. Okay! I promise to be better about posting!

Eating cereal

Very innocent looking. Don't ya think?

Not so innocent looking here though!

My friend Nicci has adorable twin girls. They're hitting really fun milestones like learning to walk and trying finger foods. Nicci posted a question on her blog about wanting to know when the girls would be able to eat cereal with milk? Here you go Nicci :)

Pee Pee in the Potty!!

It's a G Rated picture :) AND his hands are in the appropriate place!

One of the really crummy things about not getting to stay home with your kids is that you sometimes miss the biggest events, even if they're really not that big to anyone else but you. Bug went pee pee in the potty tonight and I'm at work! I MISSED IT! He and Jeremy were sitting in the chair watching Lost (who knew my kid would watch that) and he jumped up and said "Daddy, tee tee!" and ran to his little potty. So Jeremy followed him in there and sat him on the toilet and he promptly told Jeremy to "go away!" So daddy peeked at him from around the corner and voila! Pee Pee in the potty! He stood up and clapped and said "YEAAA!" He was apparently quite proud of himself. He was rewarded with Nilla wafers, one of his favorites.

So maybe potty training will be easier than the todder bed fiasco! I thought it would be much easier to sleep in a big boy bed than to "go" on the big boy potty. Who knows? I guess this means he will be getting big boy underwear for his birthday. I'm tired of all this "big boy" talk. I wish he would stay this age forever.

I quit!

Here's the adorable "booty in the air" picture, while he's asleep in his big boy bed.

I have had it with this toddler bed transition mess! After I put him back in the bed 12 times last night I told him "if you don't lay down and go to sleep, I'm going to put you in your baby bed and you won't get to sleep in the big boy bed!"

He jumped up grabbed his pillow and his frog and ran to his crib! He slept all night and I had to wake him up at 8 this morning. Guess he likes his bed as much as mommy likes hers! We'll wait and try again later. 

The perils of Toddlerhood

So our newest task at hand with Landon has been transferring him to a toddler bed. I have dreaded this for quite some time now. For many reasons, but the big reason is because of the horror stories I've heard of couples having their 9 year olds in the bed with them. For those of you who know me well; you know that sleep is very near and dear to my heart. So having a toddler climb out of his bed every ten minutes just to end up in the middle of MY bed in the long run is not something I have been wanting to deal with. Alas, we tried anyway!

Wow how children surprise you. Saturday night was his first day in his "big boy" bed. I laid him down and he was out in 10 minutes and didn't make a peep until around 8 that next morning. FABULOUS! I'm thinking to myself. Ever heard of beginners luck?? Sunday night we fought with him until 10pm. Sleeping in the bed is not the problem for him. When he's out, he's out. It's getting him to leave things alone in his room and fall asleep on his own that's the problem. In the crib I could just lay him down and he would cry for a few minutes and be out. NOW he has to get up and unplug the night light and unplug the monitor and tiptoe down the hall to see if we're watching him.

It is an ongoing battle at this point, but he's getting the hang of it. My ideal time to be in bed each night is by 9-9:30. (I know we're old). Landon's ideal time seems to be somewhere between 10-10:30. We're working on it!

I would include a picture of him but it seems he has lost the card reader that I download my pictures into. HMMM? Adorable bootie in the air photo to come.

Ups and Downs

So I suppose I've fallen behind a bit on that promise I made to keep up with my posting. Life sometimes gets in the way. So typically no news is good news. Things are great. Bug is cruising right along. We are glad to be done with the holidays. Mr. Landon has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. He deserves to celebrate BIG considering the terrible year he had last year. So we rented a moon walk with a WEEEEE! (slide) for his birthday party. He should be super excited about that. I just wish he wasn't growing up so fast.



I used to worry when he was about 18 or so months that he wasn't talking a lot. He mostly grunted at things he wanted. Now the child talks constantly! My mom laughs and says he sounds like the Vietnamese ladies at the nail salons when he talks really fast. You can't understand a single word he says, but he's talkin' anyway. It's really joy to my ears.



We had a great lifegroup discussion last Wed. night. It was all about "not being yolked with unbelievers." (II Corinthians 6:14-18). It got quite deep and in the long run I was humbly proved wrong. Sometimes I feel like we have 2 different sets of friends and it's very hard to mesh them all together and to remain the same person despite whatever group you happen to be with at the time. Trust me; we're learning!



Other than that, things are just peachy!

Welcome 2009

So New Years has come and gone. Much to our delight! We went out to a nice dinner and then to a VERY ritzy country club to hear our praise team play amazing cover songs. SO MUCH FUN! We were so under dressed and out of our element with the crowd but we were there with friends who love us and celebrated with us at midnight as we said adios~ to 2008. It was great. 

So I thought I'd make a list of what I was thankful for this past year despite all we went through.

My top 10...

1- I have a God that has forgiven me for the angry things I felt toward Him at the beginning of the year. Grace is truly the most amazing gift ever. 

2- I have the GREATEST most supportive family ever! I know now that I can call them at 3 in the morning and not have to worry about anything. And although my husband is amazing I'm also talking about my parents, in-laws, aunts, uncles and cousins. Seriously, my family is great!!

3- I have friends that still call to check on us... even though I almost never call them back. There was a time when I didn't want to talk to any one of them about ANYTHING. I was just too self absorbed. Yet they love me anyway... go figure!

4- I have the busiest, happiest, strongest son God could have ever blessed me with. I can't believe I can keep up with him (at times I can't). I truly cannot wait to see what God has in store for my super hero in the future.

5- The economy sucks! The market is terrible! Unemployment is skyrocketing and I have a job that I don't have to ever worry about losing. And I get to do what I love every time I'm there. 

6- I am incredibly glad that my stubbornness did not block what God was trying to do in our lives. My stubbornness blocks a lot of things sometimes :) But out of that we got plugged back in and found our fabulous church family again. Man we love you guys!

7- This may sound silly, but I am very thankful for Texas Children's and the fact that we live so close to one of the greatest children's hospitals in the country. We spent a lot of time there this year and they took great care of us and our baby. Even if I didn't work there, we'll know our way winding through those hallways for a long time. 

8-My husband is the greatest guy in the world. He has supported me through rock bottom and has been there to help me pick up the pieces. If I didn't have anyone else in this world, I'd be okay as long as I had him. Anyone who doesn't believe in a soul mate doesn't have a spouse like Jeremy.

9- I know I already mentioned my family, but my parents are super stars. They spent countless hours with us at the hospital from the time Landon was transported by ambulance to the ER, through surgery after surgery, post-op visits, and COUNTLESS  hours of babysitting so we could keep our sanity. I don't know how people make it with no family close by. We would drown! I love them more than they'll ever know. 

10- I have HOPE for a better year!

"...But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strenth. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint!" Isaiah 40:31

It is our hope that your 2009 is going to be as fantastic as ours is. We love you all. Thanks for your support and love~

Christmas Pics!

books-r-fun!!

He LOVES his tractor!

His stocking at MiMi and Poppy's house. A little big don't ya think??

My Nanna and her new Bling from all of us!

He's learned how to "dig in"

Christmas

Christmas was fantastic! Landon was so much fun this year and very quickly got the hang of opening presents. It can be very time consuming though because he wants to play with each toy he unwrapped. His Uncle Seth got him a drum set. Uncle Seth is in trouble for a VERY long time :) Landon actually loves it and is pretty cute when he goes to town. (pictures coming soon.) The playroom where the tree is was a huge disaster area. Toys and trash everywhere! We are blessed to have had a great time with both families and many wonderful gifts. Jerm and I cooked Christmas Day for his family, and I am proud to report no one has been reported missing :)

New Years is very fast approaching. I have been saying for a while that I can't wait for New Years to be here; to celebrate the end of a horrible year and to start fresh in 09'. I start to reminisce about all that we've been through this year and I make myself turn my mind off. I just can't do it right now.

I hope you all had a very merry and blessed Christmas. I know we did. Pictures coming soon. As soon as I replace our mouse. Landon somehow managed to snap the wires right in half. I don't call him "baby moose" for nothin' :)

A Near Miss @ the Hall's

If you're in the medical field... you know what a near miss is. For those of you who aren't... let me explain. It's like an almost DISASTER occuring. Something really bad that could potentially put someone's life in danger. Like overdosing them on meds, or administering the wrong type of blood. It's a big deal for it to...almost happen. 

A couple of days ago, Landon's glasses went missing. We finally ordered him a new pair about 2 weeks ago. Apparently the bigger the size, the more cash you shell out for them. The first pair we got in April after he had his accident was $150. These were $200. So imagine the desperation to find them after they went missing after only 2 weeks! We looked in all of his favorite hiding places. The drawers and cabinets, toy box, behind the tree, under beds & tables. We searched in the dishwasher, in the tub, through dirty and clean unfolded laundry. Jeremy even dug through a bag of trash that was due to go out the next morning. I moved furniture in the living room around in sheer desperation. "Please Lord I cannot afford ANOTHER pair of $200 dollar safety glasses!" Just when we were going to give up Jeremy pulled out the couch one more time and found them. They were stuck between the couch and the curtains. "Praise Jesus!"

This whole time we were searching for his glasses, Landon was jumping on the couch cushions we had torn off. He thought they were his own personal mini trampoline. Every time we asked him "Landon WHERE are your glasses?" all we got was "hmmmmmmm..." Thanks for the help son!

So all in all the near miss was avoided. Gosh I would have hated to put his life in danger if he actually would have lost them :)

A tree divided

Notice the "evidence" at his feet!

Does this tree look funny to you?  A little uneven maybe? Before we had a toddler, our tree was always pretty and fancy. A big bow on top with pretty snowflake ornaments. Most of them glass and glittery. It's not that I'm opposed to homey trees. I can't wait for Landon to bring home adorable trash bag wreaths and clothes pin reindeers to hang on our tree. We already have a couple of memorable ornaments. But in the meantime, this is what our tree looks like. All those pretty fancy ornaments clustered at the very top. He's already broken 5 glass balls! And he's obsessed with my Starbucks ornament which happens to be one of my favorites! Yesterday I found it in the toy box with his blocks! 

Our tree did not start out this way when we put it up. If you notice in the picture to the right, we did this by trial and error. After ornament #3 was demolished we started moving them up. After #5 came crashing down, I moved them ALL!

The surprising thing... he doesn't touch the presents. He doesn't even notice they're there. What's a gal to do? 

Snow in the deep south!

The outside of my parent's house during the "blizzard"

Our little Ham!

Bug meeting a real Frosty for the first time!

I know it has been a while since we posted. We are just enjoying the holiday season and counting our blessings. The snow this past Wed. was fantastic. We got out of our church group Wed. night and there was snow covering our cars. Our friends who moved here from Chicago to escape the snow were none too pleased! The rest of us were as goofy as our kids were. It was fantastic. Bug thoroughly enjoyed it. His daddy taught him how to throw snowballs at Mommy. Thank goodness none of them actually hit me.

His eye is fantastic. When he leaves it alone. We discovered the weekend after he got it that he was rotating it by himself. That is ultimately why it looked so thick and bulky and made his eye kind of bug out. We are in the process of teaching him to "fix your eye." Sometimes he turns it back around the right way and sometimes he just messes it up even more. We just attach the suction cup to it and rotate it around for him.  He's very much into telling everyone that he's two. Even though his birthday isn't until February. Why do kids always want to be older than they are?  

Things are fantastic with us. We hope they are well for you too! Promise to stay on top of the posting! Happy Holidays!

So Thankful!

Check me out!

My baby with his new eye!!

We went and had pictures with Santa on Monday. While we were in line, there was a very well mannered little boy in front of us. He was probably about 8 years old. When he noticed Landon didn't have an eye, he did his very best not to stare and point. Poor thing, he did not do a very good job. He very nonchalantly nudged his mother to point Landon out. I could tell she got embarassed and whispered something in his ear. Probably something about not staring. He couldn't help it. My saving grace in all of this is that Landon never knew any different. As a mom, it's hard to have your baby not look like all the other kids. Well, now he does!

As you can see his eye looks FANTASTIC! He was such a good boy yesterday while we were at Robin's office, and it was a very long day. She matched the color perfectly. The only minor adjustment we need to make is to "slim" the eye up a little on the bottom so it doesn't push his bottom lid out. Right now his new eye makes him look a little "bug eyed" (No pun intended :) But you have to look very hard to tell. 

He kept pointing to his eye yesterday and saying "eyes!" Yes baby you have 2 eyes now! So many things had to go just perfect for us to get into Robin's office yesterday and I truly believe God worked wonders for it to happen. For that I am eternally greatful to Him! I don't really get a Thanksgiving this year because I'm working tonight through Friday night. But I have so much to be thankful for. My baby was my hero yesterday. He was so brave and tough.  

If any of you thought I posted a lot of pictures before, just wait. Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. !

"He will yet fill your mouths will laughter and your lips with shouts of joy!"

Job 8:21

All I want for Christmas....

I know it has been a while since I've posted. We've been hopin! Landon had an eye appointment last week and Dr. Yen gave us the green light to meet with the occularist to get his eye made. The problem is "everyone wants an eye for Christmas!" That's what Robin (the occularist) told me. I replied " Yea, us too!" So we will be patiently (NOT) waiting by the phone on Tuesday to see if someone cancels. If not, we can't get an appointment until Dec. 23rd. I am diligently praying for God to fit us in on Tuesday. Not that I want someone else not to get their eye, but I really want Bug to get his. If we don't get in on Tuesday you're all getting Christmas pictures anyway! So don't worry. 

On another note, if anyone has a cure for "the terrible two's" please feel free to leave a comment. We've tried spanking, time out, getting on his level, please, NO NO!, and everything else under the sun. It doesn't seem to work too well. I'm open to anything. 

We hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. Our prayers go out to you and yours. I'll be working and the boys will be traveling to Madisonville. We have so much to be thankful for this year. God is great! We love you guys!

The Pirate, the lion, and the pink monster!

Better late than never right! Halloween pictures for you to enjoy. Notice the "cush" ride the kids got. I think we had to WALK if I remember correctly. Isn't he the cutest one eyed pirate you ever saw? :)

A first time for everything....almost!

We got our first phone call from Landon's mother's day out program on Thursday. It went something like this....

Teacher: Mr. Hall, we have a little problem at school.

Jeremy:  What happened?

Teacher:  Landon took his eye out and handed it to me.

Jeremy: He did????

Teacher: Yes, what do I do with it?

Jeremy: Uhhhhh, just leave it out and we'll put it back in when he gets home.

Teacher:  Leave it out?

Jeremy: Yes.

Teacher: Okay.... Can he play on the playground?

Jeremy:  Yes, he can play on the playground!

I have a feeling this is one of MANY calls we will be getting throughout Landon's school  years. Until he wants a girlfriend that is. So although he didn't actually take his eye out, he took out the tissue expander that is supposed to stay in there in order to "prep" the tissue for his prosthetic. We tried like heck to get it back in and we all experienced de ja vu! (think scleral shell trauma). I talked to the doctor's office today and they said just leave it out. Any time he had with it is better than no time at all and it shouldn't affect the time in which he gets his prosthetic. 

I think it was bothering him anyway. He constantly had his fingers in his socket. I was constantly telling him "get your finger out of your socket!" He replied with a look of total annoyance! "duh mom, it itches!!"

Have a blessed weekend! We love yall.

"The joy of the Lord is my strength!"

~ Nehemiah 8:10

Briefly

We have been very busy lately. I've been working extra and Jeremy and I never seem to be on the same schedule lately. It stinks! He leaves for Vegas tomorrow evening. I have only seen him VERY briefly the last week or so. Our house is torn apart. They are coming to lay the laminate in the morning. I HATE having my house torn apart! Other than that things are peachy. Buggy has been in such a good mood lately. Very rambunctious and entertaining. I think he wants to live at the park... on the WEEEEE (aka: slide).

Halloween was so much fun. We pushed him and Miller around the block in the wagon. They munched on cookies for entertainment. Didn't care one bit about getting the candy as long as they had oreos! So needless to say walking around in the dark, (our streets were not very well lit) when we returned to the house they were both covered in chocolate oreos. SO cute. I'll post some pics when I get them off of my dad's camera.

Other than that we are staying busy and waiting for the cool weather to come. More updates soon and pics too!

sacrifice

These are the pictures of Bug in the water spouts at the zoo. He loved it and had tons of fun as you can see. He's been so super grumpy and clingy this past week. He hates it when I work extra and I have this past week and will this week also. Christmas is coming up and when he gets a little bigger and realizes this, he'll be thrilled I'm working extra :)

My cousin's reception was last night. I got all dressed up and frilly and headed that way. Five minutes into the drive there, Landon fell asleep in the car. He hadn't had a nap all day. I was at the reception for an hour! I have learned as a mother, you have to pick your battles. Fighting a grumpy, tired toddler in front of 50 people was not one I wanted to fight. We were at home and in bed by 9:30. Before I had Landon I would have been there until they kicked me out. The margaritas were fantastic and there were a lot of people there I wanted to visit with that I hadn't seen in a while. Hence the title of this post.... sacrifice. I knew my baby needed to come home and go to bed. So I said bye to everyone "it was nice seeing ya (for 5 minutes!)" I have a child that lives and dies by his schedule and Lord help us if we veer off track. I know... those of you who know me well know that I need my sleep too! I have only myself to blame :) He's worth every ounce of fight he puts up!

His stitch popped open Sat. It's a little creepy looking for those who aren't used to seeing yucky medical stuff. The conformer they attached his muscles to really fills out his socket. It doesn't look near as empty as it did before they removed his eye, which sounds really strange. I can't wait until he gets his prosthetic!

Have a great week!

All better!

Bug's post op visit went well. Jeremy informed Dr. Yen of our very distressfull evening the day of surgery and he was surprised. He said he didn't expect that Landon would be in that much pain and he apologized. He understood each child is different he said, but that he shouldn't have had that much pain. Well I wish I could have had him lug my baby's 30 pound self around for 12 hours with no break while he screamed and thrashed in his arms! Actually he was very nice about it, but I still think they should admit children that can't verbalize how much pain they're in. At least for one night!

His patch didn't quite make it the full 4 days. He drenched it in the bath tub on Saturday night. Me being the germaphobic nurse/mom that I am, decided to take it off so the nasty "bug" bath water wouldn't get it infected. The swelling was pretty significant the next morning but that was to be expected. The whole idea of the patch was to decrease the swelling. Dr. Yen was fine with it and we are moving right along. We go back in 3-4 weeks to see him and he'll say whether or not we're ready to go see Robin the occularist again!

Other than that, we finally got a break from the hot weather and humdity! It feels like fall. Supposed to be in the 40's in the morning when I get off and I am super excited.

We took Bug and his cousin Hayden to the zoo on Wed. They were adorable together! They rode in the wagon we borrowed from Miller and held hands. They loved all the animals and then at the very end we discovered there was a little water park where the water squirted up from the ground at all different spots. They were DRENCHED from head to toe! Landon had more fun at that zoo trip than he's ever had before. We called it a day after that and he crashed in the car.

We are doing well. Just hanging out and spending time together. I love my family to death. There is nothing else I would rather do or anywhere else I'd rather be than with my two boys! Thanks for keeping up with us. Zoo pictures to follow!!