boo boo bees

I just have to say that Jack's current breakfast is usually an english muffin with butter and fresh blueberries.
Now Jack can talk pretty darn good. Most folks understand everything he is saying, but for some reason english muffin comes out as: ling lish fun fun and
blueberries comes out as boo boo bies.

Like all words that he has had a challenge with in the past I know he will correct this soon, but I do not ever want to forget how it tickles me to hear him say those words....SO ADORABLE!

Easy as ABC

OK- I decided to quit moping around.
A couple of days off from work usually helps remedy most any ailment! Pity Parties included.

When Jack was sick, he was saying his ABC's over and over again! He can say them all the way through just as easy as pie. Getting the whole thing recorded is the hard part!

We had a great Labor Day weekend! Hope yours was great, too!

When Your Best Does Not Feel Good Enough

Do you ever just feel a little down? I am not looking for a pity party or anything, but I just cannot seem to get my spirits up lately. Everytime I feel like I am on the upward swing, something seems to come at me and knock me down. The spiral just keeps heading down, down, down....

I can't get Jack up early enough in the morning to get out the door in time (yes I know, I should be happy that he is not getting up at 4:30 anymore)

Once we get out the door and get to Mrs. Kim's I have a major mess of Pop Tart to clean up since that is the lovely breakfast that I have time to give him so that he can whoof it down in the car.

Once we arrive at Mrs. Kim's ,the clinging starts...the begging for mommy to play, the legs wrapped around me, the not putting his feet down when I try to sit him on the floor.

THEN, when Mrs Kim lures him away, he hears the screeen door and runs back to me crying and my hearts RIPS IN HALF as I turn my back on him and close the door.

After a few minutes in the car, my frustrations turn from guilty momma to road rage as I realize I am YET AGAIN going to be late for work.

Once I arrive at work, I am greeted by some emails about how things are not looking as good as expected once they install and how our design center hours simply are not accomodating enough.

The day goes on like that with a few ridiculously nice people sprinkled in (we really do have some FABULOUS clients:) Pick a few colors for some exteriors, do some quotes for blinds and shutters, put together some selections for some market homes and before I know it, it is almost 5 o'clock.

A quick call to the hubs confirms what I knew before I even picked up the phone...he has to work late, can I go pick up Jack?

Gladly.

So, off to Kim's I go- as fast as I can because I will not make her 5:30 deadline if I am not flying!

I arrive to a very content, sweaty, sweet little boy who would REALLY rather not leave the excitement of Mrs Kim's backyard. So, on the opposite note from the morning, I am begging him to come HOME with mommy (sometimes bribing him with french fries for dinner).

Once we arrive home about 6:15 I begin plotting something for dinner. Bath time is at 7pm if we want to catch Caillou so I have to act fast. This usually leads to something thrown together that I feel just about as guilty about as a Pop Tart, but hey, at least he is not starving, right?

Once dinner is eaten and kitchen is semi- cleaned, it is off to the tub for Jack. He is pretty good about playing in the tub with the exeption of not wanting to lean back to get his hair rinsed lately. Then, if you are paying attention, you have probably already guessed it, Jack does not WANT to get OUT of the tub, so I have to drag him dripping to his room as he kicks and cries while trying to dry him off.

This is usually about the time Dan arrives home.

Diapered lotioned and jammy-ied up, Jack's current routine is getting into Mommy and Daddy's bed and watching Caillou.

Once Caillou is over, he says "night night" and I put him in bed. He is pretty good to go straight to sleep.

Usually I try to put a load of laundry in the washer at this point, but only when I am feeling really energetic because quite frankly, at this point, I am pooped and I don't plan to wait to get it in the dryer!

This is where my 8:30 or 9 o'clock bedtime comes in and I will not even try to deny it!

This is a typical day...sometimes Jack's bed is wet when he gets up, or jack poops in the tub at bath time, or one of the dogs dislocates his shoulder...you just never know what might come up to throw our well oiled machine off course....

wait a minute...I am talking about all this as if it is a BAD thing...but hey

We woke up

We had a pop tart in the pantry and milk in the fridge

We had a car to drive to Mrs. Kim's

We HAVE MRS. KIM who is the best caretaker EVER!

I have a job

Dan gets paid by the hour right now so long hours...I TRY NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT!

We have a wonderful house that we call home

We have food in our pantry that I can throw together for dinner

We share a few quiet minutes together as a family even if it is watching Caillou

I have a warm clean bed to sleep in

If I am REALLY lucky, we will all wake up and do it all over again!

OK-I think I just got the attitude adjustment that I needed:)

if you are still reading- thanks for sticking that one out with me- painful, I KNOW!

On the mend plus a medical MIRACLE DIAPER OINTMENT!

I never posted about our nightmare of a week last week. I needed some distance from it for some perspective!
Warning, this is not for the weak of stomach....
Jack woke up at 3am on Sunday( Monday) morning two weeks ago throwing up. POOR. GUY. It is so hard for the little ones. I missed 3 days of work before we finally called in the reinforcements. Once I finally took him to the doctor on Wednesday morning, we discovered that in addition to the vommiting and diarrhea, my little man also had an ear infection. I already knew about Tylenol and Amoxicillan, but now I was about to learn about Zofran (to help stop vommiting) and Cessinex (to help stop diarrhea).Well, needless to say, we were all a little ragged by the time Dan's mom and dad arrived into town. Then Dan's Dad got sick, then Dan, then Dan's Mom. We had a hell of a time at the Marsh house. We all fell prey to the yuck monster! Oh well, we are on the mend now, finally! The adults pretty much had it easy with a 24 hour turnaround, but the little man just COULD NOT let the diarrhea go! It held on for at least 7 days.
You know what that means for the diapers! You got it RASH! I mean, BRUTAL RASH! Little guy was not OKAAY. I was so worried and it was getting worse by the day. Mrs. Kim shared a recipe that she said came from one of her parents from the past. It is the Egelstons Children's Hospital Rash Ointment recipe and it is a miracle- one application and Jack was cured!

It is equal parts of:

Neopsorin Ointment
Mineral Oil
Cornstarch Baby Powder (which makes it smell SOOO good)
and
Balmex

Store it in the fridge!

Please make a note of it. While I hope that you NEVER need it, if you ever do, you will thank me and Mrs. Kim!
Well, it was hard getting back into the swing of things. I think Jack liked hanging around the house in his PJ's watching Caillou!

Welcome to the Jungle Auburn Mural

A simple pencil sketch- that is how they all begin. This will go at the base of the stairs in the Pollock's new basement. They are still in the process of finishing it. I am on standby to put this baby in place as soon as the drywall goes up.
It is a huge collage of everything Auburn. It is hard to tell from this sketch, but this is the left side and is the tree at Toomer's corner. It will be all decked out in toilet paper and Aubie will be added in one of signature poses stretched out on his side in front of the monument. Brad and Tiffany (the clients) spent the New Years Eve of 2000 celebrating at this very spot, so we will commemerate that by showing a "carving" of Y2K on the tree.


This is the middle section of the mural and the center of it all...Jordan-Hare Stadium. It will have a few cool things incorporated into it like the scoreboard will have the score of the Auburn vs. Georgia game from 1892, a banner in the stands that says "punt bama punt", and something honoring the 1957 National Champions.

An Auburn Mural would not be complete without the good old War Eagle! That will be on the right side of the mural alongside Toomer Drugs, one of the most recognizable Auburn icons. I am trying to figure out a way to get a car in that part of the mural that has a bumper sticker that says "honk if you sacked brodie". Samford Hall clock tower can be seen above Toomer's with the clock showing what time? 5 o'clock, of course!

I have to tweak the plans a bit, but this is the general layout. I also have to consider the actaul space which I have not been able to do because it is not complete...stay tuned- hopefully there will be some pretty cool pictures of the finished product just in time for football season!

What We've Been Up To

Well, to say what we've been up to would actually probably bore you tears...
The most exciting thing besides rushing to work, rushing home, rushing to bathe, rushing to bed, doing it all over again is that we got Jack two new pairs of shoes at the buy one get one half off at Stride Rite. Daddy picked out his new tennis shoes (on line of course...what? you think we actually have the ability to get all three of us together at one time- HA! fat chance:) Jack and I went to actually BUY them and he was SUCH a good boy. We ran several other errands while at the mall and had a generally good afternoon of "shomping". He was SOO good, mommy even took him for a spin in the mall choo choo.




In other recent happenings, we got to spend some good quality time with grandma last weekend. We caught her in GREAT spirits and visted for quite a while. She pushed Jack around the home in her "cart". They actually even did some exercises together! He had a great time and I believe that Grandma did too!



I took this photo with a timer...not bad!

We also saw Nana last weekend. These pictures are from about a month earlier, I just have not posted any yet. Jack and Grace had a great time rolling around in Nana's bed!

Wish we had more time to visit. There is never enough time of course!

Next year, I get three weeks of vacation. Maybe then I can spend some time in Alabama visiting.

Until then....whew, back to the grind!

CREATIVITY AT IT'S BEST

Do you ever see something and think- wow, why didn't I think of that? I do that a lot.
This was my latest...
Such a simple thing that is so cool on so many different levels.
Not only does she have a creative outlet to share, but this is a wonderful way to record pictures of her sweet baby girl!
LOVE IT!