You Give Me Fever

Another week and I'm still having issues with Photobucket not resizing my images. *sigh* Wish that I had actual time to look into it but alas, I just keep on truckin' and it's more camera phone pictures. They aren't that bad, right? (don't answer that).


Sick snuggly baby

So, we had a bit of drama a week ago today when I spent the night in the ER with Baby D. He had been running a high fever all week, lethargic and was denying food and drink. Didn't expect that when I took him to his appointment at 8pm that I'd be rolling out of the emergency room at 6am but that's exactly what happened.

Fortunately all is well now. The doctors withdrew blood (low white cell count was their only concern), put in two bags of fluid via IV, took stomach x-rays and there was much crying (from him, not me. Though it's very hard to see your baby in pain, that's for sure). After much poking and prodding, we schlepped home completely exhausted and napped all day.


Rash face

It really does take a few days to recover from that kind of thing (for both of us!). He broke out in a rash over the weekend and I realized that he must have had roseola, same as his older brother around the same age.

But all is well now. He's back to eating everything in sight and has slept through the night all week. Yay!!

My husband has been slightly obsessed with quiche, of all things. We went to a party a few weeks ago and despite weather hovering near 100 degrees, he wanted to bake a quiche. I've never made a quich in my life, but I found this quick and easy recipe online and he said it was delicious.


Mexican style quiche with sweet peppers, ham, cilantro and tomatoes

I baked him one last night on a whim because we had all the ingredients. I don't like eggs so quiche isn't my thing but it did look pretty with the sliced tomatoes and cracked black pepper on top. Danny said it was good too. Too bad the rest of us don't really like quiche because they are pretty easy to make and once you get the hang of the balance of eggs/milk/cheese/extras you can throw whatever combination you want in there. I think I'll have to try one with asparagus next time.

Seriously, does anyone else have big kids that insist on riding in the shopping cart? I told him this was the LAST TIME EVER and we took a picture to capture the moment so that he'll never feel compelled to climb in there again!

So embarrassing, pushing a 4'3" kid around in the cart!



Nothing new on the homebuying front. We are working with a broker on financing so it's going to be another month before we hear more on that issue. But it's not stopping us from looking at what is available online (Zillow and Ziprealty) and I've been Pinteresting furnishings for our future dream home!

Source: potterybarn.com via Julie on Pinterest

Love the mid-century modern style of the chair

Source: room-galleries.myhomeideas.com via Julie on Pinterest

I imagine lots of lovely chats in this gorgeous outdoor space

Not that we'll likely be able to afford to actually newly furnish this place once we get into it, but a gal can dream. That's what Pinterest is for, right?

And at the very least, how great will it be to have some color on the walls?

Source: houzz.com via Jolanthe on Pinterest

What's Going On?

Sorry for being away, the whole Photobucket mess is really getting me down. They seem to have it together a little better. The site is moving faster but I still can't resize my photos so I apologize if pictures are spread across the whole page...annoying. I haven't really taken many pictures with my camera as a result, so this is a mainly all camera phone blog today!

Here is a top 10 of what's been going on.

We had a 40th Anniversary Party for my parents at a local bowling alley. Yeah, not the most conventional place but it's what Mom wanted (their first date was bowling) and we were able to rent out the entire Cosmic Bowling room so we had the space to ourselves in the private room. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time! I tried taking pics with my camera but the flash made everything look terrible, so I don't really have any photos of that. But here is one of them just after they got married!


Groovy outfits, Mom & Dad!

It's been hot as blazes around here.



Lots of swimming, lots of sitting in front of the fan, lots of popsicles.


Baby D and my cousin's little guy, splashing together

It's been too hot to cook, especially when we are on a mission to save money and not run our air conditioner (despite 100+ degree temps). Monday night my husband and son had bowls of cereal and I ate oatmeal. Last week I took the kids for pizza and hot dogs at Costco. Yesterday I had a pork loin cooking in the Crockpot for tacos so that will be our leftovers for dinner tonight.


Costco for dinner

We went to the beach and we never do that. And I mean, never. I know that The Boy has been less than 5 times and we are California natives for goodness sake, we only live 30 minutes from the ocean!



But it's just so....sandy. And touristy. And a bit of a hassle.



But we knew someone who lived in the area and we were able to park at their house and walk to the beach from there. It was fun, but for me, it's still a once-in-a-great-while-sort-of-thing. I'm just not into all that...sand.



Baby D has been getting into everything. I am going to break down and start putting blue painters tape on all the cabinets so he can't open them.


What's for dinner?

Someone backed into our car after church on Sunday. She seemed quite peeved that we requested her insurance information. Hey, just because I don't drive a brand new car doesn't mean that I don't want to get that scrape that took the paint off fixed, right?!



Last Saturday afternoon and he fell asleep on my lap. If it had not been 108 degrees I would have held him longer, sweet baby boy! Instead I took a quick shot of us together and then laid him down in his crib with the fan blowing on his sweaty head!



After dinner Monday night when I took him from his high chair I noticed that he was strikingly warm. His whole body was hot and his forehead was burning up. Temperature of 101. He's never been sick, but maybe for a runny nose at 4 months old so a fever is unusual. He was a bit restless that night, wanting to be snuggled at 1am and again at 3am, but wouldn't drink any water. He seemed to be less warm yesterday but when I got him home, he'd started to get feverish again. Last night was the worst. He was moaning and fussing and up, wanting to be held, every 45 minutes all night long. I have an appointment at urgent care tonight to see what this is all about. Hopefully it's something they can pinpoint and give him an antibiotic because it's miserable seeing a baby so sick. He won't eat or drink anything, which is very unusual.


Snuggling with big brother

I love this boy and his big eyes. He's the only one in our family with such big brown eyes, they are like M&Ms!



This little guy has my eyes. The Boy and I never really looked alike and I've raised two other children who are not of my own blood, so it's amusing to look at Baby D's face and see myself!

9 1/2 Months

This is Mr. Personality.



He sees his reflection in the mirror and without fail, squeals happily each time. Not sure if it's because he sees himself, because he's sees a happy smiling baby or because if it's because he sees me...probably a combination of all three!

He smiles back at each person who even remotely looks his direction.

He's always quite flirty with everyone from the comfort of our arms and has only recently started having some separation anxiety with strangers (like the death grip on our necks when we try to put him down or crying for a minute when we leave him in the nursery for Sunday school).

This is Mr. Opinionated.


Allowing big brother to hold him, though you can tell he's plotting his escape!

If the tray is on the high chair, he shrieks if there is no food at the ready. And don't attempt to feed him with a utensil, he will block that spoon and knock all contents onto the floor. Food can either be offered directly onto the tray or on an open-palm, not unlike how one would feed a horse!

When his brother and sister are too close for his comfort (or if they are moving him from someplace he shouldn't be) there is definitely some complaining going on in the form of a sharp scream.

This is no longer the "Little Guy".



As per his doctor, who called him a "little guy" for the first six months, she says it appears he was simply a late bloomer and is now in the 80th percentile for height and weight. Mommy's little lump of love is a very heavy 20 lbs 7 oz to carry around now!

This is Mr. Trouble-Maker.



He broke a glass candleholder the other night. It was a sturdy three-wick candle and I would not have expected it to break upon contact of the carpeted floor but it did. My husband spent a good part of the evening combing through the carpet and vacuuming over and over.

He can't seem to keep himself away from the stairs. Despite the fact that he's actually really good at climbing, he doesn't know how to go down the stairs or that he could fall and should not be on the stairs at all!

This is Mr. Snuggle-Bug.


Reading with his big sister

Bottle-time is still snuggle time and after guzzling his 8 oz, he very often falls asleep in our arms. At night he occassionally wakes after sleeping just 30 minutes or so and just wants to be snuggled, rocked and sung to. Christmas songs seem to work the best (in the vein of Silent Night and not Jingle Bells!).

As an aside, I'm having a very hard with my pictures at Photobucket. They are still working on their site and in the meantime, resizing my images is hit or miss and the site keeps freezing up on me. So frustrating!! So I apologize if my photos are giganto...I have attempted to resize at least twenty times, no kidding. If this continues, I'll need to find another place to store my images.

Back to It

I have been holding onto this post for over a week, while Photobucket (where I store my online photos) finished their "scheduled maintainence". However they are still having issues and their site won't resize my photos. Since I'm tired of waiting, I'm going to post anyway, big photos and all, sorry!!

The kids have returned to school. The Girl started two weeks ago, same school, same teacher, new classroom.



She was very excited to wear this new-to-her Gymboree skirt and the matching shoes. I just love the look of knee socks on her skinny legs, too cute!




Pretty French rope braids. Find a tutorial HERE or search online or at Pinterest





And The Boy started at his brand new school this week. Fortunately there is a familiar face on the playground, as my nephew also attends this school and is just a grade younger.



The Boy was excited to wear "free dress" this week as he's always worn a uniform.



I drop the boys off a Grandma & Grandpa's house in the morning and about 15 minutes before school starts, my mom walks the two olders across the street and they walk the rest of the block by themselves.



How very grown-up of them!

And now, for me. On the cusp of turning, *cough*, 39 today, I am finally making a rather grown-up move of my own. My husband and I are getting ready to purchase our first home.

Living in SoCal my entire life, I never thought that I'd be in a position to ever own my own home. But with our combined incomes, we are in a place where we've been able to pay off debt, save a good portion of our income and seriously start considering becoming home owners.

And besides, renting is the pits! So much money every month and without the benefit of it leading anywhere.

On our list of "wants":

A good-sized yard for the kids. I feel so badly that the only place they can play outside at our apartment is on a skinny patch of dirt in the parking lot. The Boy, especially, is outdoorsy and it drives him crazy being indoors, so I look forward to when he has more room to roam.

4 bedrooms (so that each kid can have their own). If the boys were closer in age, I wouldn't mind them sharing, but The Boy's toys are not really baby-friendly and Baby D is still waking quite a bit in the night. Right now The Boy and Girl share a room but they are getting older and that can't continue, of course.

A large kitchen, hopefully with an open floor plan. I currently do not like being distanced from my family, washing dishes or cooking in a kitchen that is away from the action. Especially when Baby D is into everything and I have to watch him every moment!

A garage. So my husband will have a better place to store his fishing poles (instead of in a corner of the living room) and his kayak (instead of taking up the entire length of our patio).

A spare room or office space. So I can have a studio (instead of sharing half of the baby's room with my overflowing craft table, sewing machines and fabric stacked to the ceiling).

A quiet street. I do not want to be on a busy street, I do not want to have to make left-hand turns onto a busy street and I do not want the noise that a busy street offers. I want peace and quiet (I must be getting old...).

Seems like a big wish list but we have seen listings online that are within our budget and meet these criteria. In the meantime, we are just saving, working on paperwork for the loan and watching the listings!