Updates..

Life is much better in our house! After taking Mason to see Dr. Cope (his normal doctor) on Monday, everything checked out. The blood work revealed that he had a virus (Dr. Cope's original diagnosis) so no more antibiotics were needed. The cough has eased up and he seems to be doing pretty well. I'm working with him on taking naps--he sleeps GREAT at night (goes to bed around 8 and sleeps to around 6) but naps are another story. I think once he loses some of the jerky reflexes that babies are born with, it will be easier for him to rest. And he may end up being one of those kids who has to cry/whimper himself to sleep!

All that said, Mason did take a nice 2 hour nap on Tuesday while Levi was at school. This gave me time to talk to my friend Christine (who lives in PA and is also a stay-at-home mom) and finish Mason's name for his room (he was sleeping in his carseat in the living room). Here it is!
And here is a picture of what happens when I think Levi is playing quietly by himself while I'm trying to get Mason to take a nap...the other day he took all of the toys he could carry from the living room and put them in the kitchen. He was pretty proud of himself--when I walked in the living room, he threw up his hand and said "Hey Mama!" I had to laugh! This is starting to be a pattern...loading up his crib with toys, moving these toys from the living room, emptying our outside closet and throwing all of Carey's pool toys in her pool. I guess this is normal for a two year-old!

Mason turns 2, too!

Mason had an eventful 2 month birthday, thanks to a cold that he has been battling for a few weeks now. For about 3 weeks, he has had a nasty cough but after 2 trips to see his pediatrician, we were assured that it was a cold and would go away. Friday night, however, he woke up at 10 p.m. and felt hot to me. I took his temperature and discovered that he had a fever of 101. 4 (a fever for infants is considered anything above 100.4). Ashley was out working (on a property's mainline irrigation break) and didn't get home until 10:30. When he did I called our pediatrician and he said because of Mason's age, he had to be taken to the ER. So off went Mason and Ashley, while I stayed home with a sleeping Levi. They returned home at 3 a.m. without a whole lot of information--and poor Mason had both hands bandaged up after having blood drawn.

Following the ER's orders, I took Mason to the weekend clinic for our pediatrician's office. When Dr. Todd examined Mason, he found that Mason had an ear infection. So poor Mason, he had to endure another needle to receive a rocephin (antibiotic) shot.

Here he is at the doctors office. Surprisingly, he took the experience pretty well--it helps that he was in a good mood going in!
And throughout the day he was fine. Here he is enjoying the smiling star on his floor mat. He LOVES this, just like Levi did!
And here he is after a bath (another favorite activity).
We went back to the doctor today and they drew more blood because apparently the sample taken in the ER showed some sort of bacteria growing it. To make sure it wasn't something serious, this second blood sample will be tested. It was NOT fun watching Mason have his hand stuck for the blood draw. And it was NOT fun when he had to have another rocephin shot. The good thing is he seems fine--happy this afternoon, eating and sleeping fine. We will have another follow-up doctor's visit tomorrow. More later!

This experience makes me so thankful for the health of my children. I know of others who aren't blessed with this and my heart really does go out to them.

A week with Lindsay

My 13 year-old cousin, Lindsay, came to stay with us this week to help out with the boys. We had a great time! Although Lindsay says she feels more comfortable with toddlers and older kids, she did fantastic with Mason, too. He loved when she flirted with him and tickled his toes especially! Having Lindsay here reminded me of what it was like to be 13 (18 years ago)--she kept me laughing and caught me up on some teen stuff like Teen Nick's True Jackson show :o)
Levi and Mason watching tv with Lindsay.
Mason loves these ribbons. He stretches them and kicks and grins while holding them. Too cute!
I forgot to include these pictures in the previous blog post...pictures from Levi's actual birthday-- June 15. If he had looked up in the shot, it would have been perfect. But it's sweet all the same!
Happy about reading.
Carey, Kleck and kids gave Levi this inflatable Curious George chair for his birthday. It's replaced his beanbag as the place to sit and watch CG!
On Wednesday Lindsay and I took the boys to the zoo. Levi got to ride the carousel. He started out on the elephant but switched to the baboon. You can see a little bit of an attitude seeping out. He pitched a minor fit when he had to get off the carousel and then again when we left the zoo. Ah, the twos!

It seems like every time I go to our zoo, I find another animal that I hadn't seen before. This time it was the Galapagos tortoises.
Lindsay and Levi tested the Mudpie maker from Grandma and Da.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Levi!

It's hard to believe that two years ago we were starting out as new parents with Levi. The time has flown, especially this past year. It feels like just last month that we were celebrating Levi's 1 yr old birthday with a John Deere Tractor party. This year Levi had a Curious George party, because if you have been reading this blog at all (or better yet, hung out with us in person), you know that Levi LOVES George! Ashley's mom Debbie painted Levi a really fantastic shirt with CG on it--I really wish I had taken a picture of her with Levi in his shirt...will have to do that next time he wears it. When I woke him up from his nap, I put on his birthday outfit and Levi got SO excited!
Levi with Papa Charles. Notice the picture in the background..that's Levi at 6 months old.
I had a lot of fun decorating...made a monkey tree out of these monkeys and banana stickers I got in the Target dollar bin.
Papa helped me with other decor...it was his idea to hang streamers like this and tack balloons up everywhere. We also winded streamers around our mailbox, tree, and front porch handrails. I drew Levi his birthday sign---this is something Mama did for Joshua and I almost every year and I want to continue the tradition with my boys.
Tamra Smith of A Slice of the South made Levi his cake. YUM!
Thanks to Aunt Carey, Levi has been practicing blowing out candles (one day she read the Curious George story about the birthday surprise to Levi and Mallory and they sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles). Levi loved blowing out the candles so much that I lit them again to blow out.
Unfortunately Levi learned the hard way that you don't touch the candles with your fingers. Poor little guy scorched his pointer finger and cried!
Mama with Carey and Mason.
The cousins enjoying cake.
Levi was excited about opening presents. This is a Making Mudpies Table from Da and Grandma. It's really cool!
Probably one of his favorite presents was the excavator Ashley got him. Something about this picture seems to capture what Levi may look like as an adult. We'll see in a few years!
It was a perfect birthday celebration with just the family--how lucky Levi is to have so many people who love him so much. A special thanks to all my friends who called or texted to wish Levi a happy birthday, too!

The morning after the party I went outside to feed Max and noticed two frogs swimming in Levi's pool. Guess they were getting in their early morning swim before the water started to boil (it's been a HOT week here).

New (to us) playground!

My friend and former boss, Melissa, wins the prize for giving Levi the best birthday presents. This is because she generously hands-me-down her son Paul's toys, most notably, the blue police car. This Saturday, Levi got his second installment from Melissa (and Paul and John)-- a playset for our backyard! This will be replacing the $10 slide/swing set I got at a yardsale last summer. We're so thankful to the Kupfers for sharing this with us! Here is Levi supervising the installation.
And checking out a worm that was found on site.
The first slide down, assisted by Papa Charles.
And what better way to end the experience than to pretend like you're driving the lawnmower?
Mama brought Mason out to enjoy the festivities...he rested.
Thought you might enjoy a close-up of him--how sweet! He napped so well on Saturday...but Sunday was a different story entirely (no naps really). Thank goodness today (Monday) is an improvement and he's resting well again. Oh and really I can't complain because he has slept through the night for the past 3! (starting around 7 p.m. and sleeping to 5 or 6!).

Mason's First Swim

On Friday we beat the heat by going to Carey and Kleck's for a swim. It was Mason's first time in the water. Definitely reminded me of two years ago when Levi went swimming for the first time: http://annamcleod.blogspot.com/2008/08/levis-first-swim.html
I love this picture! Mallory and Levi are really starting to interact more now and this picture really portrays that!
This is one of Levi's new looks.
Yay for the McLeod family...all in the water!
We took a picture of Ashley and Levi like this so it was only fitting that we had Ashley and Mason.
After we got out of the pool, Levi found the tractor..and somehow convinced Mallory to push him??!
What a fun summer it's starting off to be!

Backyard Picnic Fun

Yesterday a few of our friends came over for an evening of hotdogs, brats, and kiddies in the pool. What fun! Levi plays in his pool almost every night so it was fun for us to share this experience with our friends and their children.
In case you're wondering, yes, that's a formula container and a water bottle and an empty strawberry basket in the pool. I got them out of our recycling bin and they make great water toys!
Dottie took this picture of me to document how I spend a lot of my time lately.
The Stokes. Helen is four months old. Katie just got her haircut and it looks great!
Levi and the Weigel girls, munching on hotdogs, chips, and pasta salad.
The Weigel Family.
Dottie and I with Mason and Maggie. Dottie just became Dr. Weigel a few weeks ago (she received her PhD in Educational Leadership--the program I started at USC but am on hiatus from).
I feel so blessed to have such a good group of friends here. I miss friends who live elsewhere but do feel thankful to have folks in SC who I love and can see us growing old together.

Perfect Pork

Pork isn't one of my favorite meats but I try to use it every other week or so to change things up from the usual chicken, beef, fish rotation. And this was a perfect summer meal! From Better Homes and Gardens. Absolutely delicious if you love the crispness of fennel and apples plus the tangy-ness of orange.
Check out the recipe here: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pork/pork-chops-with-fennel-salad/

"Looks like someone isn't doing their job here"

Yesterday was a challenging day. One of the things I have struggled with the most parenting two children is Mason not wanting to be laid down for a morning nap (he much prefers to be held). While this would have been fine when I just had Levi, it's not so easy to manage an infant who starts to cry because he's tired and then a toddler who starts to whine because his brother is crying and getting attention for that. That was the situation yesterday morning when my friend Elizabeth arrived for a visit. I had already told her that my morning was a little crazy and what I really needed was help at the grocery store (another challenge with two! If Levi rides in the seat part of the cart and Mason is in his infant seat in the basket...no room for food!).

So off we went to Publix, Mason crying and Levi unsure why Elizabeth was with us. We get to the grocery store, get the boys in the buggy (Elizabeth was going to push them while I used buggy #2 for food), and Mason starts to whimper/cry. We decide to head back to the car to put Mason in the front carrier, where he is always happy.

Right at this moment, an older man (probably in his 80s) says something to the effect of "looks like you have your hands full". I respond in that mother-stranger banter "Yep, want to buy one?" Instead of the man going on his merry way, he said (with a smile), "It looks like someone isn't doing their job here." Haha. Funny. Not the day I want to hear this but I humor him and smile. He proceeds to tell me about a Charlie Brown cartoon where Lucy says this. I looked up the dialogue this morning-

Lucy: Why do you think we're put here on earth Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: To make others happy.
Lucy: I don't think I'M making anyone very happy. Of course nobody's making ME very happy either. SOMEBODY'S NOT DOING HIS JOB!

Although it probably wasn't the best thing to tell a mom with two young kids who obviously weren't at their happiest, it does hit home. As a mama, I spend most of my day trying to keep my boys happy while holding onto my sanity. Some days are great, others are really hard and I wonder if I'm doing a good job. I know it will continue to get easier but these first months are hard at times (some people say they forget the pains of birth--I remembered that but forgot how exhausting it can be to have an infant at home!).

The day continued to be crazy. One thing I have been proud of is keeping Levi on his afternoon nap schedule. Yesterday that went out the window, too. After reading two books, I put him in his crib and he seemed peaceful enough. However, a hour later he was still in his crib playing. He wasn't crying so I left him in there. But once another half hour passed, I gave up on him taking a nap and went in to get him. Here Levi is, bright eyed and bushy tailed! Notice all the things he has in his crib. I'm not even sure how they all got there (probably part of the reason he didn't nap).