My Bionic Husband

Well, I think I can safely say now that Colin's experience of having his wisdom teeth extracted went exceptionally well.  He had them removed on a Monday at 2:00 and was back to work (on-call non the less) Tuesday morning with minimal pain.  I just can't believe it... it's not suppose to be that easy!
Because we were pretty well homebound anyways, due to Drew's cough, we had no choice but to take it easy.  I did everything the Dr. told me to do as his care-taker.  I had my one timer set to make sure that he was getting ice for a half hour on, and then a half hour off.  I haven't been on such a demanding schedule since bringing Emma home as a newborn!  Then I had another timer going to pain medication, and then I had yet another timer going for Drew (so much going on, I wasn't about to rely on myself to keep up with it all.... I know myself better than that and have no problem admitting it).
Colin laid on the couch Monday evening, but was up and at 'em the next day.  I was so proud of him.  Here we are almost two weeks later, and he's still pain free!  Yay!
I had to snap a couple of pictures of how pitiful he looked.  Of course he hammed it up for the camera, wanting to seem way more pitiful than he was, then he got me laughing so hard we couldn't stop.  Here's the results of our silliness.

My poor, swollen hubby

looking so pitiful in his ice sling...

...and even more pitiful

ok, this is getting ridiculous!

This is where I begin laughing...

... and that just makes things worse.

Mr. Funny

And life is good again.

"Mama, Let's Have Pizza Pie!"

***This one was written Nov. 16... obviously today is a catch up day on publishing***

"Ok" I said.  Right now Drew is still getting anything he wants.  So pizza it was.
It was a fun break from our "trauma drama" and post surgery recovery (Colin had his wisdom teeth taken out Monday... more on that later).
So we got out all of the ingredients and Drew built our pizza.  It is so amazing to watch him now.  He is getting so big and doing so many things on his own.

We are ready to cook, Mama!

First we rolled out the dough.

Then some sauce

Let's put lots of cheese!

And pepperoni too!

The cook kept a close eye on the pizza in the oven.

Drew didn't stop with cooking, he wanted to help with everything

He even fixed the drinks

Then we had family time around the dinner table with pizza and good conversation.

Halloween Traditions

***  This was written Oct. 29.  I just didn't publish it until now.... oops****

Tonight we popped some popcorn and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" tonight.  It's Drew's new favorite.  He absolutely loves it when Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown when he tries to punt it.  He laughs so hard it cracks us up.
Emma just enjoys watching it and laughing whenever her brother laughs.

I love these moments with them.

"I'm Laughing At Clouds So Dark Up Above"... And At Drew

Last weeks Glee was one of my favorites to date (of course I say that every week).

I purchased "Singing in the Rain/Umbrella" on iTunes and we've been listening to it quite a bit this week.  I've been asking Drew if he wants to listen to the rain hip hop song so we can dance.  He's so funny when he dances and I just can't get enough of it.
Well, this morning he says, "play the hippity hop song, Mama!" and so I chuckled and put it on and we danced and danced.
While Emma's rhythm has come quite naturally to her, his has taken some time and practice.  This morning though, I saw some improvement.  It so happened that after we listened to that song, things shuffled over to Dave Matthews (of course) "When the World Ends" which is a much smoother song.  He completely went from his "hippity hop" moves to the backbone slide.
It is so entertaining to watch this!
I can't wait until the Christmas music comes on Friday to see what he does then!

"Cakes and cookies, toys and gifts..."

Although Mary and  I attended the 43rd annual Southern Christmas Show on the last weekend, (tomorrow is the last day... get out there folks!  Don't miss it!) we were able to get right into that Christmas spirit early and get a jump start on my season!

"Sounds of Christmas" is this year's theme for the show and let me tell you, I was certainly listening!
Christmas music danced through the air in the lobby luring us into the magic that is the show.
The show is divided into several sections including an enchanting village of Christmas known as Olde Town, my favorite.  Unique gifts and whimsical decor were plentiful.  Gift ideas were swirling through my head with so much festive splendor at my fingertips.
One of the highlights of the show for Mary and I was meeting the gourd lady, Margaret "Sparky" Sparkman.  Her amazing gourd crafts have graced The Southern Christmas Show for 42 years!  The lady in front of us in line talked to us about how she remembers going to visit the gourd lady at The Southern Christmas with her mom when she was a little girl.  "Sparky" has been featured in many publications such as "Southern Living" and "Our State" and has been on talk shows as popular as the Jay Leno show.

We, of course, bought a Santa gourd (you can't not own one of the gourd lady's adorable gourds) and had our picture taken with her.  It was so exciting and she was such a sweet lady!

Then we strolled down Christmas Tree Lane and I felt a rush of inspiration fill my soul as we were mesmerized by award winning trees, fresh and festive in decor.  With dozens of Fraser Firs from the North Carolina mountains on display, my problem for this year is no longer lack of ideas.  It's quite the opposite, this year I'm thinking I'll need several trees because I can't decide which ideas to use in my own home.
It wasn't long before our noses lead us to some piping hot strudel and other tasty Christmas treats.  We also purchased several packages of the Moravian Cookies that have been hard to find in years past.  Then there was a quick visit with the jolly man himself.  We just wanted to make sure we were still on the right list after stopping by the wine tasting booth.
This year's Christmas show has certainly lived up to its reputation as one of The South's favorite Christmas traditions!

Post Trauma Fun

Ok, so our lucky streak is over.  We have now been introduced to the awful world of bringing your child to the ER.  Before I tell you what happened, I want you to know that all is well and we had a happy ending (thank goodness!!!)
I'm making light of it simply because I can't deal with it seriously yet.  It was quite scary and quite serious.
So I'm going to give you the abridged version, because I'm not quite ready to relive it enough to pound it out on the keyboard.
Basically it boils down to finding my son blue and unable to breathe, Colin calling 911, our boy finding his strength and great instincts and relaxing enough to open his airways again.  When the first responders arrived at our house his oxygen levels were recorded as unbelievably low.  They rebounded quickly though.  We went to the ER and they took great care of us after diagnosing croups secondary to laryngotracheobronchitis which caused a spasm that made his airways close up on him.  This was on Friday after having the flu vaccination spray (the live virus) on Tuesday.
Here's where the fun begins.  First, I have to comment on how I think it's incredible how quickly children bounce back from trauma.  Within 15 minutes of being at the ER, Drew was having a blast.  He loved the breathing treatment, "I got to breath steam, Mama!" and the popsicles that "Nessa", nurse Vanessa, brought him.

He was a champ at taking a nasty tasting steriod with an OJ chaser.  Here's where I have to be inappropriate and say that it was like watching a man drinking a shot.  Imagine that scene, that's how Drew did it.  He might as well have pounded on his chest afterwards.  I thought "uh oh, that can't be good for his future."
Anyways, back to him having fun.  He thought it was so cool to have the light on "the little piggy that stayed home."

He loved that "Aunt Mary" was there to take care of his little sister while we tended to him.  He was totally ok with her leaving with Emma so Emma could go home and get some sleep.  He had so much fun playing with all of his Thomas trains in his bed, but he was frustrated that he couldn't get up and walk around.
Daddy took a bit of a cat nap since we had to wait around in the ER for Drew's breathing treatment to wear off.  We were there until 5 am and Drew never even got sleepy.  It was quite a long night.

Then our friend Chuck showed up.... yep, at 3 AM Chuck came to visit Drew.  Chuck works in the ER so it was nice to have someone there who knew exactly what was going on.  Chuck wasn't working that night so it was really sweet of him to visit.  Now that some time has passed and I've learned a little more about what happened, Chuck must have known what a close call we had with Drew.  He knew by seeing us that night that it had not sunk in yet and we did not realize just what had happened.  I still don't think it has sunk in all the way.  In a way, I suppose I hope it never does.
Now we are home and Drew is enjoying all of the attention that he's been getting.  We've decided that he totally rules the roost for a little while.  The boy is getting anything and everything he wants.
Yesterday Emma and I went through the grocery aisles just picking up anything that we thought he might enjoy.  Colin went through all of the toy aisles picking out anything and everything Drew could ever want.  Colin is quite cute about the whole thing now.  He can't be away from Drew, including just being in another room, for more than about 10 minutes.  I don't what he's going to do about work come Monday morning.... haha
I've been doing what I do, heal through food.  This morning Drew woke up to a huge breakfast of pancakes and fruit and yogurt and much more.  For lunch he had panko crusted chicken nuggets with seasoned potato wedges and corn on the cob with sweet tea.  Tonight we're doing homemade pizza.
We've also been doing whatever he wants to do (that doesn't involve running around and getting hot and sweaty).  We've made forts in the living room, a model of a triceretops out of a diaper box and a wet wipes box and played lots of games on the computer and read tons of book (actually just a couple of books tons of times).

Please excuse the counter tops.  Because I'm only focused on him right now, I just go from one kiddie activity to another so I've taken little time to clean up after all of it.  Cleaning can wait!  It'll be there when I'm ready for it. (:

We've also watched lots of movies and football, his favorites.  Just a minute ago we asked him if he'd like to lay on the couch and watch some football for quiet time and he looks at me and demands popcorn  sweetly says, "yes, and I'd quite like some popcorn." (Karen, it was as though Dad were here.  He said it just like "the pie statement"  You know what I'm talking about..haha)
Do you think he's got this whole thing figured out?  Yeah, I think so too.
But that's ok.  Anything for King Drewby for now.  We'll work out all of these spoiled kinks later.
He's living it up and really, why not?  Wouldn't  you!?!
Emma is even happily reaping the benefits.

What a mess!!!

Emma loving the pudding that she picked out at the grocery for Drew.  

The Year Of The Monsters

Halloween was so much fun this year!  We had a great time with great friends.
Our little Halloween parties are getting bigger and bigger every year.
This year we added a hay ride to our party.  Yep, that's right, a hay ride!  Right here in our neighborhood.
Darian and Crystal brought over a UTV SxS and a trailer and we loaded it up with hay and took the kids (and adults) out for a ride through the streets of the neighborhood.
It was so much fun!
The kids had a great time.  Emma was Cookie Monster and Drew was a Monster Truck.  We knew what we were going to be well in advance this year, so I made Emma's costume while Drew's was store bought (with love) (:
I also had a bit of a home made theme for food this year.  While we still did our traditional pizza, I added some requests to the table.  We had homemade chicken salad, homemade pimiento cheese, and of course muffelettas, and homemade desserts like candy corn and carmel popcorn balls and candied apples.  It was a bit of a hodge podge of food, but that's what the people asked for, so that's what they got.
I was busy the days leading up to the party, but it was all well worth it and turned out beautifully.
(Thank you, Mary for taking all of the pictures!!!)

Sweet Emma holding on to her "Boo Cookie"

Fluffy Cookie Monster tutu

Sadie as "Pickles the Frog" and Drew as a Monster Truck

The kids were having so much fun at the party

The kids ready for their hay ride! (Emma: not quite ready...haha poor thing)

On hay ride, round 1

We hand out candy from our driveways every year, so this is our camp all set up and ready for trick or treaters to come

Sadie and Melinda

Me and the kids

Sadie and Drew holding hands while trick or treating

Sadie and Drew

Sadie said she was too tired to carry her pumpkin full of candy