ELMO Live!

Before Grayson was born, I bought tickets to take Jackson to see ELMO Live. I thought it might be something special for him. He had a great time. I would highly recommend this show to anyone with young kids. The show was actually about 1 1/2 hours total, with a 15 min intermission. Jackson was glued to the show the entire time. All of the singing and dancing kept him entertained.

One piece of advice to any of you who might ever go to a show...As with any show like this, there is a ton of overpriced stuff to entice your little ones. We thought we were in the clear once we made it past the lobby of little Elmo dolls that could put you into debt. Little did we know at intermission, two guys holding about 30 Elmo balloons would make their way into the audience. Our thought that we might get Jackson a balloon was short-lived when we heard a father say, "Can you believe this thing was $10?". Michael's response (which he didn't dare share with the poor sucker) was, "And you actually bought one?" We couldn't believe it. A balloon for $10? Needless to say, we left ELMO Live without anything....as did several of the sucker balloon purchasers who were probably crying as they watched $10 of their hard earned money floating up to the ceiling of the Nokia Theater because their precious child let go of the string.

Land of the FREE

While most people are waiting around for President Obama to "make them rich", I'm getting rich off all the free stuff that is out there. Michael has been making fun of me lately for all surveys I sit and take with the promise of getting a free drink or a free desert at my next visit to any specific restaurant. Currently in my wallet I have 2 receipts worth a free Rt 44 at Sonic, one free desert at La Madeline, and a free chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A.

So yesterday I drove to meet my mother-in-law half way between her house and our house to pick Jackson up. On my way back home, I decided I needed a Sonic drink so I stopped to use one of my free Rt 44 coupons to get a free drink (it wasn't Happy Hour time so I was not about to spend almost $2 on a drink). I ordered and let them know about my coupon. Between the time I ordered and the time they brought my drink, I got busy messing with Jackson and Grayson and forgot to pull my coupon out. When he was handing me my drink, I apologized and started to go for my wallet to get the coupon. Well...the very nice man said, "Don't worry about it. Save your coupon for next time. Just take this today." WOW...a FREE Rt 44 without even using my coupon! Yippee!

So I thought my luck was over until this morning. I had to take Jackson by the doctor and wound up with another prescription (drainage is YUCK-O). After the doctor's appointment, I carted Jackson and Grayson both over to Wal-Mart to have his new prescription filled. I was hoping to be in and out fast as I'm still nervous about going in public with both the little ones. After getting everything I could think I needed in Wal-Mart and waiting FOREVER for them to fill the prescription, the pharmacist looked at me and said, "Ma'am we are going to give this prescription to you for free because you've had to wait so long." Wow...a FREE prescription for having to wait at Wal-Mart! Who knew Wal-Mart actually cared about my time or convenience?

So there you go. You can't say there's nothing free these days. Michael, on the other hand, has now become a believer of my search for free things. He was shocked yesterday when I told him my story and even more shocked today. Maybe now he'll start saving the receipts that give you a chance to get something for free.

After all that reading, here are a few pictures of the boys. You deserve to look at something cute after reading all of that.

Jaundice Update

We are officially on the down-hill side of jaundice. After 5 jaundice tests and multiple trips to the doctor, the jaundice is going away! We still have to do "sunlight therapy" to knock the remainder of the jaundice out but it's much better than having to go up to the hospital every morning for a heal prick.



The result of 5 heal pricks. Poor little baby heals.



Grayson enjoying the sun.

Jaundice is NOT our friend.

No pictures today, just an update on Grayson's jaundice. He's been on "jaundice watch" since he was born. Apparently jaundice runs in the family and since Jackson had jaundice Grayson had a high risk of having it to some degree as well. We've been going to the hospital each morning for the past three mornings to get a billirubin level done and each morning the level has gone up. Today it was at 19.3. Apparently, if the number gets to 20, they'll have to admit him to the hospital for light therapy. We go back for another test tomorrow morning and then have an appointment with the doctor so pray that the jaundice clears up. We're praying for any number under 19.3. We'll keep you posted.

Jackson with Grayson

Jackson wasn't quite sure what to think when we first brought him to meet Grayson last night.

This evening when Jackson came back to visit he was much more excited about Grayson. He wants to hold him and help with everything right now. When I was changing a poopy diaper, Michael was holding him and letting him watch. Once he saw the poopy he yelled, "Yuck. Get out poopy!"

Twins??

Michael and I have been talking about how much Grayson looks like Jackson did when he was born. I really can't believe how much our boys look so much a like. Jackson got to meet his little brother last night and was soooo excited. He followed the nurse around everywhere wanting to know what she was doing to his little brother. He is going to be great. I will post the pics of Jackson meeting Grayson as soon as I get them on the computer.


Grayson, February 09.

Jackson, April 06.

Happy Birthday Grayson!

After a long day of labor (not that I could feel anything thanks to the beauty of modern medicine!), Grayson finally arrived at 4:37pm. He was being very stubborn but finally gave up and decided to come into the world. The doctor and nurse thought he'd be here by lunch but Grayson had other plans. Weighing in at 7 lb 5 oz and 19 3/4 in long, he beat out Jackson by 1 oz and 1 1/4 in. He's alert and looks a lot like Jackson, bright eyes and a little strawberry-blond peach fuzz for hair. We'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Baby Grayson Arrival Update

So we have a date. We'll be going in to induce on Friday, Feb 6th at 7:30am. I am not progressing any on my own so the doctor agreed to go ahead and induce me since I am absolutely miserable. I wanted so bad to go into labor on my own and have the "rushing to the hospital" experience but I guess my body just isn't into that plan. I'm a HUGE planner so I guess having a spontaneous delivery is just too much against my nature.

BounceU

This morning I took Jackson over to the new BounceU in Carrollton to play. They have a ton of great bounce activities that are just perfect for Jackson. He was fearless...after he made me go through the obstacle course with him. (I know the mental picture of me 39 weeks pregnant going through a blow up obstacle course is causing you to get a good laugh! It made the BounceU worker laugh pretty hard too.) One of Jackson's favorite activities was the T-Ball. A stream of air blows a small ball up in the air and then Jackson could hit the ball into a net. He loved it...and we found out that he hits left handed. (Since he was a baby, he's done everything with both hands but favoring the left. We've been wondering if he'll be right or left handed. Maybe this is a clue.)

Nature Preserve

Yesterday was such a pretty day we decided to go over to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve for the morning. It was nice to finally get out of the house after being cooped up because of all the cold weather this week.



We spotted a woodpecker. He blended in with the tree so well we had a hard time seeing him.



There is a huge lookout area that you can climb up to look over the city. Michael and Jackson climbed up while I took pictures from below.



It made me nervous to see Jackson standing up so close to the edge.




This was a sign we saw. I thought it was a little ironic. Just made me laugh since the trail was closed for vegetation preservation yet there was nothing but dead tree limbs all around. Hummm.




Jackson has a fascination with sticks (like every little boy does). His sticks kept getting bigger and bigger. He was pretty proud of this big stick he found. He actually carried it a long way before finally getting tired and setting it aside to find later.

Aside from the nature trails, there's a really great park. Jackson really enjoys swinging on the big red swing.

Michael snapped a picture of me resting. You can see just how big Grayson is getting. I hardly have room to breathe.

Jackson behind bars.

What every mom must blog for their child.....

I know many of you aren't interested but it is something I feel like I must blog or else I will lose my "Good Mother" card. Jackson asks me to sing the ABC song almost every night before he goes to bed. Generally he'll sing most of it but will get distracted part of the way through and not finish the song. I haven't ever been able to capture anything on camera. This morning he was running around the living room singing and he went all the way through the alphabet. I had the camera ready and was able to capture it so I figured I must post it.

One COLD Day

Just a cute picture of Jackson bundled up to go outside. It was COLD today. Not to worry...Dallas weather will have us back in the 60's tomorrow!

I Do Love to Fondue!

Our 6th Anniversary is tomorrow but since we'll be tied up at church all day, we decided to celebrate last night. I've always wanted to go to The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant in Addison) so we decided to go there to celebrate this year. Since I'm too close to my due date to travel (we normally go to a different state each anniversary), we decided to stay here at home and then we'll take a trip later this Spring.

We had a great time at dinner. We started with cheese fondue, had a salad, then our main dish fondue (lobster, shrimp, salmon, steak, chicken, pork, and vegetables), and finished it off with banana's foster fondue (that's the flaming pot above). We ate and ate and ate. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it to those of you who want a night out at a place you would NEVER find a toddler at. How nice it was to enjoy an evening out without even hearing a toddler in the room.

Jackson's Dinosaur Mask

Jackson had a cough and we noticed some wheezing the other night so I took him to the doctor just to get things checked out. Turns out his blood oxygen levels were low and the doctor heard a lot of junk in his lungs. By the time we left the doctor, we were heading to another place for a chest x-ray and had a prescription for a nebulizer and treatments. Three hours later we were home. Trying to find a nebulizer took 2 hours of getting me and Jackson in and out of the stores only to hear someone at the pharmacy counter say, "I can order you one." Order one? My child needs this TONIGHT! By the time I found one a few Wal-Marts, Targets, and Walgreens later, the poor guy behind the pharmacy counter had to stand there while I cried uncontrollably when he told me my insurance wasn't going through. Poor guy didn't know that you don't say something like that to a woman just a couple of weeks away from giving birth after she's worked a full day and lugged a sick child all around the city for a few hours. I was exhausted and my hormones got the better of me. After tears started flowing, he quickly got back on the phone and straightened things out with the insurance. An hour later...and many dollars later, we were on our way home. Luckily the dinosaur mask is working and Jackson is sounding a lot better. It was worth the trouble...it always is.

Michael's Pictures

Michael and some of his friends took their cameras to downtown Dallas last night to take pictures of all the buildings. He came back with a lot of pictures, I thought these were the best.

New Play Room

We finally caved and turned our Dining Room into a Play Room. We figured since we've only sat in that room twice (once being two days ago) since we moved in, it would not hurt us to change the purpose of the room. Jackson has already been enjoying it. We were able to pull all the toys from behind the couch and actually organize them. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it organized.


The last picture is Jackson playing with a tool set his Uncle Ken & Aunt Steph gave him for Christmas. Lately he's been really into tools. He received several tools for Christmas and has loved all of them. He's always building and fixing things. Hopefully he'll be a handy husband one day.

New Year's Day

Michael's family came to our house on New Year's Day. Luckily the weather was warm and the kids were able to enjoy the swing set outside. I think the daddies enjoyed the swing set too.

Of course, after playing outside, both boys needed a bath. Nana gave Jackson some bath colors for Christmas so they tried to make the water red. It turned out more pink. What's better than two little boys in a pink bath?