Happy Valentine's Day!

Nothing says, "I love you" like a house full of vomit. James and Ben send each of you their love, but not their illness. I think we'll save the presents and treats for another day!

First, my apologies to the R.S., Kelly, Annette, Karla, Melody and my inlaws who all sent lovely cards! Yeah! Second, I really did love the emails and ecards and phone calls! Thank you! Third, I'm still old :)

Yesterday we had our ESL Valentine's party. We did everything from talk about the history of VD (that would be Valentine's day, not a social disease!) to writing about the people we love to eating to playing games. It was awesome! Some of the students wanted to contribute, and the highlight were the spring rolls/egg rolls that the Vietnamese bro/sis brought. They were soooo good. I did have to ask them what meat was in them--I needed to prewarn my muslim students about pork stuff. My mom and dad were here for a few days over the weekend and my mom helped me make about a million decorated heart shaped sugar cookies, homemade heart suckers, chocolate dipped strawberries and treat bags. (my dad played with James and tried to spoil him rotten and teach him words like "mine!") The students were so excited and appreciative and all the work was definitely worth it.

The best part of the party (IMO) was when we played, "Honey I love you but I just can't smile". Does anybody remember that game? Anyway, I taught them how to play and ohmygosh it was the funniest thing you have ever seen. Remember, I've got 18-85 year olds and 8 different countries represented. And a Catholic priest. (Who, by the way, was really excited to receive the SpongeBob valentine I gave him! ha ha ha ha ha!) They were trying to be really creative to get each other to smile and laugh-dancing, singing, funny faces, etc. It was way more entertaining than playing with a group of kids.

Like I mentioned above, my mom and dad were here for a few days and left yesterday. We played cards every night after James went to bed, made lots of treats for my class, spoiled James and hung out. The sum total of their touristy moments were buying more vanilla and pecans and visiting walmart. Yeah, we're THAT exciting.

James is sicky again. Not really sure what it is, but I do know that if you eat red fruit snacks and then throw up, it stains the carpet. So far no luck with resolve OR oxyclean. If there are any suggestions out there, I'd be happy to hear them!

What did I ever do without an Ipod?

Ok, so the birthday fairy (um, Ben) brought me an ipod for my birthday on Tuesday! (oh, you missed it? If you are feeling badly, 1800 flowers.com is always open!) Anyway, I feel like I'm a teenager again and that I actually have a cool toy! Seriously, who has time to mess with CDs? The only problem is that I asked for a 4GB one-that should be big enough, right? No way, I'm sad that I can't fit much of my music on it. But its soooo stinkin cool. Ben even bought me different headphones since my ears are stupid and can't use the regular ones! And the most adorable pink case in the world! I love it!

In other birthday news: I'm old.

I got plenty of birthday greetings via email and phone, but is it terrible and selfish for me to say that I'm sad that the only physical, tangible cards I got in the mail were from 1)Southwest airlines 2)My insurance agent 3)My chiropractor and 4) My dentist. Well, I guess they'll keep gettting my business! Yes, I love technology, but cards from loved ones make me giddy!

I had to teach on my birthday so I decided to make and take some cupcakes to my students and talk about birthdays for a bit. Yes, I made them from a box, DanaLee. A lot of the students really loved them, especially the lady from Russia. She asked for the recipe and I told her I would bring 'it' on Friday. So today I took her a box of Betty Crocker Cake mix, told her where she could find more in Walmart and that they were about a buck. She was VERY excited. I'm going to have a valentine's party with them on Tuesday of next week, and I think it will be very fun to show them (and give them) everything from Conversation hearts to heart shaped sugar cookies to Spongebob valentines. I'll report on it next week!

Bad pics are still pics, right?

Despite all my best efforts, this is all we could get out of James. I thought he looked really cute so I tried to get some pics and they are baaaaaad! Mostly due to photograper error!

JUST SOME of my favorite sad songs of ALL TIME. I can't say much about the videos, but I love the songs.

Don Henley, The heart of the matter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FglsDQguWow

Level 42, Leaving me now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jra1nGY8gws

Gianluca Grignani: Mi historia entre tus dedos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrgYlGWj9Qg

Mana: No ha parado de llover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7k7s2gvHbE

Enjoy! And don't be too terribly weepy!

The weekend

Usually our Friday night 'date night' consists of one of us going to pick up take out and we all hang out at home until James goes to bed and then we'll play a game or watch a movie or whatever. Once a month or so we'll get a babysitter and go out and that is soooo nice. This Friday night we decided to be brave and take James out with us to dinner. We braced for the worst... but he did sooooo well! We went to Chili's and he was so happy to get crayons and a paper menu. We ordered chips and salsa because that is seriously one of his favorite foods. He sat there and happily dipped his chips and ate tons of salsa while the ladies at the next table just oohed and aahed at his adorable self sitting there in a high chair helping himself to the good stuff.

When our meals came he acted as if this is what we do everyday-he ate his chicken and dipped his fries and kept it up for the longest time. We actually got to enjoy our meals and not have him yelling, "Done! Down! Done! Down!" It was a fun time for all of us and we were so proud of him. (then we got home and he threw some sort of major fit because he wanted to watch Blue's Clues.)

Finally, Saturday night I scheduled a block of 'uninterruped' time to watch the season opener of "LOST" that we had recorded. I am seriously addicted to that show. I know which ones of you out there are adicted right with me and those who are disappointed in me liking such a show. Its totally a love/hate relationship... I can't WAIT til it comes on, and then everytime its over, I look at Ben and yell, "I HATE THIS SHOW". I get sooo frustrated because 'not enough happens' but I am back every week for more! I am also ticked that the writer's strike has made it so there will only be 8 episodes this season. Sigh. I guess that's what I get for being worldly. But seriously, its the ONLY show I watch on TV besides the news and Nick jr.

Today in Sunday School, the teacher was talking about Jerusalem around 600 BC and how wicked everyone was. He said, and I QUOTE "They were comitting adultery, idolatry, obesity" I seriously almost choked on my spit I was trying so hard not to laugh. Man, if they were wicked for 'committing obesity' I am sooooooooo going to outer darkness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here and there

My ESL class is soooo cool! I know I raved about it before, but the combination of people is so diverse that it makes me laugh. Today, almost as if to complete the comedy, I got a new student: a catholic priest from Mexico City. We he introduced himself as a priest (he was wearing street clothes) a couple of ladies in the back crossed themselves. I wonder if we'll have the kind of conversations that happened last semester... :) From the 18 year old Russian girl to the 85 year old Chinese man and everyone in the middle, you gotta watch out for a lot of confusion!

James is doing a lot better, though I really don't feel the urge to take him back to church (meaning nursery) ever again. Would it be wrong if I walked into the nursery with a bottle of "Clorox anywhere spray" and hosed down the toys? I'd probably get kicked out, oooh, or maybe they'd make me the nursery leader and I could disinfect the world and the ward and teach the kids about handwashing hahahahahahah! Note to self and others: the fabulous antibiotic shot does cause all kinds of gastric disturbances. If you don't know what I mean, you don't want to know...

Sad news

I just found out (and confirmed on the kutv website) that President Hinckley died. I know he made it to 97 years old and that he was certainly thrilled to reunite with loved ones, (and celestial beings, for that matter) it is sad nonetheless. He was the president and prophet of the church throughout my formative young adult years :) Someday when I talk about him to my children and grandchildren they'll say, "wow! you were alive when President Hinckley was the prophet! You are old!" :)

I love him and all he did for the church. He was truly a prophet of God and I have a strong testimony of that. You know that temples and 'media' will always stick out when we speak of him and remember him. I know that President Monson will be a wonderful prophet-and I look forward to all that will happen while he is president and prophet.

We're not in Kansas Anymore!

So I taught my new ESL class on this week. It is going to be sooooo awesome! Last semester I only had 2 students who didn't speak spanish, and they both spoke Arabic. So far this semester I have:

* Several from Mexico
* An older woman from Iran
* An 85 year old man from China (HOLY COW!)
* An 18 year old girl from Russia
* A brother and sister (18, 20) from Vietnam
* A 20 something woman from Korea
* A 20 something woman from Ethiopia
* and several who've been in the US for decades and still are struggling to learn English.

Many of my students are PROFESSIONALS (nurses, teachers, engineers) in their home countries but have come with spouses for phd programs, or to live with their grown children, etc.

I am so glad about all of this because they HAVE TO SPEAK ENGLISH TO EACH OTHER TO COMMUNICATE! I'm going to have to keep an eye on it though, because after 2 class periods birds of a feather (spanish speakers) are flocking together. I always remind them that how much English they learn is really up to them. I only see them 8 hours a week, so what they do on their own time is a huge factor.

On a similarly related note, you really don't need to speak English to live in Las Cruces, or New Mexico for that matter. Spanish is an official language of the state, and I'm not exagerrating when I say that no matter where you go, from walmart, to the drs' office to the court, someone will be there to speak spanish to you. It is good for ' the masses' but not so good for many other reasons. A good handful of my students are hear learning English because they have a degree from a university in Mexico, but they can't get a good job IN MEXICO because they don't speak English. Now there's some irony for you.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this semester and all the tales it will bring :)

Sick Sick Sick

Hopefully this post will be somewhat therapeutic for me since it will most likely sound like ranting, raving, and whining for everybody else. Its all about the sick James

James got a runny nose on Tuesday and it was no big deal. Runny nose and a little cough and fever on Wednesday, no big deal. More of the same on Thursday with a bit of fever and most of Friday. However, Friday afternoon after his nap he was pretty much inconsolable, which is soooo not like our mellow boy. We hemmed and hawed for a bit and then headed off to find an open urgent care clinic, since it was about closing time for regular Drs. We walked in and then right out of 2 because the lines were so long. We eventually ended up waiting for our ''preferred one" to open up. We waited it out at Wendy's where James decided that eating chicken nuggets and french fries wouldn't be soooo terrible :)

You want to know what the worst thing is about Urgent Care Clinics? PEOPLE WHO GO THERE ARE SICK!!!!! I spent the hour that we were waiting to be seen OBSESSING about how many MORE GERMS James was picking up by playing with the toys and being near other children. I seriously used hand sanitizer on that kid 3 times while we were waiting. We took him in because we suspected an ear/throat infection despite our valiant attempts at giving him children's echinacea in all his beverages. When we was seen, he was a perfect angel letting the two aides/nurses take his temp, oxygen saturation, height, weight, etc. (He is 44 lbs, 39 inches. yep, 21 months and 3 feet, 3 inches!) His oxygen saturation was low and the dr. wanted to give him a breathing treatment.

They brought in a little medicing cup full of some steroid and we just looked at them and said, "good luck" and gave a brief explanation of all our woes in giving James medicine. (I had already been thrown up on twice this week trying to give him some cough med.) They were nice, but they said they were going to 'teach us a good way to give him medicine'. Oh, PLEASE TEACH US! (bit o' sarcasm there). They laid him on his back, held his arms, squirted the medicine in the inside of his cheek and then blew on his face, "so he'd have to swallow". Well, that worked for a few seconds, and then he puked his Wendy's chicken and fries all over the exam table. (Confession: yep, I did feel vindicated and I did not feel badly that they had to clean up his puke.)

After that we gave him the breathing treatment and he was doing better and they prescribed him Albuterol and Pulmicort for us to give him breathing treatments at home with a nebulizer, zyrtec, (Which is actually over the counter now and sooooo much cheaper, hallelujah!) and an antibiotic. We tried to tell them that we wouldn't have much luck giving him the antibiotic but they expressed their 'full confidence' in us and sent us on our 'merry' way.

Aside: THANK HEAVENS FOR CHILDREN'S MEDICAID!!!!! I am NOT ASHAMED to use this program. I have worked many years and have been a decent part of society. Medicaid covers EVERYTHING!! His meds alone came out to over $300 not to mention the drs visit and previous hospital stays. YEAH FOR THIS PROGRAM!

Anyway, let me try to be more succint: Breathing treatments at home, no problem. Zyrtec hidden in grape juice, no problem. Azithromyicin or however the heck you spell it, BIG PROBLEM. We tried giving it to him in really sugary applesauce, would not eat it. Tried the oatmeal. Refused. Went and bought a slush from sonic, took one sip and would not anymore. Tried the grape juice. Would not take more than one drink. At this point we are sooo frustrated and Ben and I are not at our best either as parents or partners. When I googled "antibiotic suppository" I found a really snotty Dr's article about how parent's need to teach their children HOW to take medicine. Sigh. When James woke up he was once again inconsoable and clawing at his ear and face. We had to do something so we took him back to the Urgent Care clinic.

When we were seen, Ben and I both had diarrhea of the mouth trying to explain how sick he was and how now we were OUT OF ANTIBIOTIC and James had not taken any. She looked at us and said, "How about the shot? Do you just want me to give him the antibiotic shot?"

I really almost kissed her.

Heck yeah, we'll take the shot! I'm not one of those moms who feels bad when their kid gets a shot. I know that it is for their good and I know that it will stop hurting as soon as they get a sticker or a sucker. James got the shot and he was pretty ticked off, but we got him calmed down. Oh and by the way, he had now developed a raging double ear infection. We waited for a few minutes to make sure he would not have a reaction and then we left so relieved. I know there is a bit of controversy about the antibiotic shot, but seriously, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO????

Anyway, we went and walked around wal*mart for a bit, 'cause it makes james happy and we were even going to get him a Blue's clue's dvd, but they only had the one we already had. He is happier tonight, definitely calmer and so are the parents.

And Karla, I AM RIGHT THERE WITH YOU: James=the only child. How in the heck other mamas have more than one child is BEYOND ME.

I know that I am not blogging for the masses here, but recently I am feeling weird about the wide range of people who stop by and read my blog. My parents, my in laws, (hopefully the rest of our family too), college roommates and friends from that 'era', church friends, a handful of friends from way-back-when, a few Internet friends, people who come over from other friends' blogs, boys, girls, women, men, etc. I mean really, who can I rant and rave about if all the people I interact with are reading my comments :) What if you are sitting there reading my blog and think that I write about weird stuff.

Oh well, its not like I'm posting about feminine hygiene products.

My ESL class does start again tomorrow, so you know there will be some good stories coming from that!

On a James note: Yesterday was Sunday, so off we went to church. We got James out of his car seat and walked him to the sidewalk at the way BACK of the church. He ran up the sidewalk and straight into the church and continued running down the hall. We were following him from a distance as he kept on keeping on dodging people here and there. We were a few minutes late, but the chapel doors were still open and james ran right in and continued running up the aisle. He did not STOP running til he reached the Bishop. ON the stand, at the podium. Ben went up to retrieve him and the moment he picked him up, he demonstrated his toddlerness for the congregation. Let's just say he wasn't using his 'inside voice'. It was funny, mostly 'cause I wasn't the one carrying him!

A fabulous, amazing, wonderful thing: My friend Karla and her Husband Dave are in Vietnam RIGHT NOW! They are there to bring home their beautiful, charming son Spencer. Their adoption story and pics are chronicled here. And BTW, it was Karla who taught me how to do a hyperlink in my blog :)

I hope all is well in everyone's world.

Does anyone else have stupid ears?

I have stupid ears. I try and I try to put ear bud headphones in my ears and it doesn't work. I feel like I am a blond joke. I try to wedge them into my ears and as soon as I move my head one milimeter (ha, I was going to say mililiter) they fall out of my ears. Seriously, am I defective? How am I supposed to overtake Ben's Ipod if I can't use the headphones?

Making the cut

Well, according to our agreement, it was time to cut James' hair. Since all the men in the family said he was looking like a girl, I told Ben I'd allow a haircut after all the holidays. My baby lost all his curls, waah! He did really well for the cut, as long as I was nearby providing fruit snacks!




I love this picture of James and Ben getting haircuts together!


Here are some 'after' photos. I'm not crazy about the cut, but the hairstylist did everything with scissors. She didn't want to scare him with clippers.

What a little boy! If you really want to compare the before, check out the Christmas morning pics below.

Bathtub Crayons

Why did I go and ask for Bathtub crayons? Why? I don't wish to deny James happiness, however, he was already way too fond of drawing and taking baths. Combine the two and he's in toddler heaven. If he had his way he'd be having a "baf" and getting to "dwaw" all day every day!

Christmas morning

James opening stocking presents
Opening his racetrack
I think next year we'll ask Santa to assemble things before he brings them!
Heart warming enthusiam and true excitement :)

Gingerread cookies for Santa!

So I don't know where all the strange expressions came from. We were having a good time, I swear! James keeps looking at the camera like, "you talkin to me?" I really dont' know what's going on with me or Ben, and Grandma looks happy. James kept trying all the different kinds of candy and then spitting them into my hand. I don't blame him, spice drops are Yucky! We did have an 'America's Funniest Videos' moment when James sneezed on the cookies right in front of him. We just left those for Santa!

James and James reunited!

This is my Granpa!

Blowing some kisses

It looks like he's holding Grandpa down.
Ok, so maybe he does need a haircut. But who can resist him?

How do you put gloves on a toddler?

This is a serious question for those of you who don't live in the oh-so-sunny warm desert. It was COLD in Kansas for the Holidays and snowed few times. We wanted to take james outside to "play in the snow". Ha. It took us a good 20 minutes of wrangling thermals, pants, shirt, sweater, coat, hat, socks, shoes, and then gloves on the child. We stayed outside probably 15 minutes. I swear I'll never live in a cold place while having children who can't dress themselves. At least he's in diapers and didn't have to go pee after that whole production. Sigh.

Tagged

Since Ann tagged me over a month ago... I figured it was time to fess up. Here are 6 things that most people don't know about me.

1) I don't know how to do a hyperlink. It would have been cool to hyperlink Ann's name to lead all of you to her blog, but alas, don't know how. If someone would be kind enough to instruct me...

2) I actually love to eat Ramen noodles. I can afford to spend more than 20 cents on a meal, but sometimes, I just have to have the noodles.

3) I actually write letters/emails/make phone calls to companies to complain or comment on their products. I DON'T MAKE STUFF UP to get free products, I just tell them what I think or what happened, and they thank me and often send me great stuff :) One time I complained about a piece of plastic that I found in my Walmart brand wheat thins and they Fed-exed me a huge box of 20 different kinds of crackers and cookies. I donated them to the nursery... Anyway, Ben absolutely HATES that I do it--even when he is not involved in any way.

4) I have Restless Leg Syndrome. Its for real. I hate it, but its not bad enough that I need medicine. If I do a ton of leg-lifts, the symptoms usually go away.

5) I have a really hard time paying attention in church-mostly sacrament meeting. It has nothing to do with James. I have a hard time staying focused in meetings where I am not expected to be an active participant. My highest compliment to a particularly great speaker is, "I paid attention to the whole thing!" :)

6) I sleep with earplugs in and the sheet over my head. Ever since James was born, I've become a poor sleeper and hyper sensitive to everything when I'm trying to sleep. I get my best sleep after 5am. I also still love to sleep in, even though I'm a real adult. If I had my way, I'd sleep til 9am everyday.

Instead of me tagging 6 people, why don't you consider yourself tagged if you read all of this! That's right, I mean you!

What would you do if...

you got a wedding invitation that said, "Bride and Groom are registered at Wells Fargo"? Or maybe I should ask, What would you give? Yeah, I got one of those last week...

The twelve days of Christmas

My darling husband is doing the 12 days of Christmas for me. He said he tried to get each present to ryhme or go with the regular song. So on day three I got 3 bic pens and today I got 5 onion rings (and a Sonic gift card). He's a funny man. (Day one was "a book about a tree"= A Tree grows in Brooklyn, which I've been wanting to read; Day 2 was "2 games of scrabble, both English and Spanish(we get pretty competitive when we play any word games); and day 4 he put some of our stuffed animal birds around my cell phone for me to find. Ha!) I'll update if he gets any weirder.

Dear Joni and Sheryl,

Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of PF Changs. I love it, and you.

My recommendation:

Do NOT go see "I Am Legend". The end.

Some of the cousins looking at all the "Black Friday" ads

James attacking Chelsea.

Nieces and Nephews at Thanksgiving

Chyna entertaining us with the guitar and Chelsea entertaining us with her charms.

Aaron playing his guitar

My little neice Chelsea all grown up. SHE IS A SENIOR in High School! I was just feeding her a bottle when I was in high school! YIKES!

Kayce giving her seal of approval to the potatoes and rolls!

I just LOVE me!

Well, Whitney Houston said learning to love yourself was the greatest love of all. We've not been successful yet in helping James understand that he's the baby in the mirror.

Ducks a plenty!

James feeding the ducks in Lake Jackson on the day before Thanksgiving. Yep, in shorts and and sandals. We are glad that both parties got along well. You never know what a toddler could do to a duck... and vice versa.

Made this ducky cake for a baby shower. James LOVE 'gucks'. :)

Sunday Best

We bought this on clearance last year after Christmas (yeah, shocker for all of you who know me!) I'm just glad we guessed the right size for Holiday season this year!

More photos!

Here are more of my favorites from the studio pics. I'll post some from Thanksgiving week later!

Christmas pics a little early...

We had these pics taken a couple of days ago and I think they turned out adorable!

Allright you naughty people, If you're going to gawk at my beautiful son, you better leave a comment! :p

Any suggestions out there?

Well, James is a pretty easy going, lovable kind of toddler. Most of the time it is a pleasure to be around him. However, he has had more than his fair share of sickness. He's been hospitalized twice for croup/bronchial issues and last winter season he had 6 ear infections (some double and some single). So the problem....

He's had to take soooo much medicine in his short little lifetime and now it is almost impossible to give him anything unless the flavor is so mild that we can hide it in milk/applesauce/etc. Most recently, a cold worked its way through our household and james ended up with his first ear infection of the season. The Dr. and pharmacist said the medicine would be less effective if we put it in food. Hm, ok. We gave it to james and he immediately vomited his whole dinner on me and himself. Then we made some really, really chocolate milk and put the medicine in. We thought he'd love the chocolate milk-he's never had it before. He took one drink and spit it out on the floor. Ben tasted it and pretty much gagged too. He refused the applesauce that we put it in. (By the way, he isn't watching us when we drug up his foods.) We called the Dr. and asked for her advice, again, and since his symptoms were actually pretty ok, she said to wait on the antibiotic. We are giving him echinacea in his milk and putting homeopathic drops in his ears at night.

Oh, how I wish they made antibiotic suppositories! Or maybe patches like those made with nicotine. Something. I seriously don't know how to get medicine in him. Its not like I can prevent him from vomiting. Anyway, does anyone have any ideas on how to get the medicine in? I'm desperate for some suggestions....!

Vicodin+Benedryl=Funny Carolyn

So, instead of boring you with what a dreadful week we had, I'll just tell you that I'm a hoot when I take Vicodin and Benedryl at the same time. (benedryl for my cold and vicodin for a random foot issue that I may or may not talk about later...) Anyway, I got into bed and rolled over and told Ben in my best smarmy voice, "I like you". He laughed and said something that I can't remember but it rhymed with "i like you". I told him that he had just rhymed and proceeded to laugh for a couple of minutes. I abruptly stopped laughing and asked him what was so funny. Then I fell asleep. Funny me. Oh yeah, earlier I tried to call Kara for her birthday and when I got her voicemail, I ended up saying all these random things about Bonnie's new baby. Loopy.

Yeah, so about the foot issue, I don't need to go into great detail, except to say that this random Dr. that I saw about the pain is DRUG HAPPY. While I was in his office, he gave me a shot of Tordal and then wrote the prescription for the Vicodin. He wanted me to follow up with him in three days to see how the pain was. Ok, so Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon is 72 hours, right? HE PRESCRIBED ME 90 VICODIN WITH 1 REFILL!!!! Good heavens! Does he think I'm running a side business down in Juarez? I mean, we could use the money, but REALLY.

On another wacky side note, I really love Albertson's. It's James' favorite store, too. All the employees there know his name and they all have to come and talk to him and tell him how adorable he is. I've been collecting those little stamps there for a while and let me tell you, I was really excited this week to get my fabulous new roasting pan. I'm not even kidding, it's pretty goofy what will excite me.