Update on Joe

This is Joe yesterday afternoon. If you scroll down you can obviously see that its gotten worse not better. When we woke up I could tell that his right eye was even more swollen and now his left eye had begun to swell. I thought for sure Joe would be ready to go to the doctor but when I asked he said no. I was so angry! What is it with guys and the doctor? Are they just as scared as our kids? I left to jazzercise very annoyed. While at ChuckE Cheese I got a text from Joe saying he was on his way to the health clinic. Alleluia! They gave him a shot and 2 prescriptions and this morning it looks much better. But Kaiden and I both have it, which sucks. It hasn't seemed to bother Kaiden too much until Wed night and this morning. He has a few spots on the back of his neck and shoulders and then in the creases of his arms. I brought him to the doctor and she confirmed it was poison ivy and said to keep using Cortaid. I'm itching like crazy and mine is all on my left breast. Don't ask me how I got it there! The doctor said you can only get is from direct contact with the oils from the plant. Meaning it can't be transferred from person to person, but still not sure how me or Kaiden ended up with it. Joe is still itching a lot but his swelling has gone done tremendously. Hopefully by the weekend I won't be embarrassed to be seen with him in public and we can have a date night! ;)

ChuckE Cheese

Yesterday we had a play date at none other than ChuckE Cheese. The kids had a blast, yes even Kalli. We were there late morning/early afternoon so there was hardly anyone there but our group. Kalli crawled all over the place while Kaiden ran wild with his friends. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed all that ChuckE has to offer: good entertainment, greasy pizza, and skee ball! I've always been a big fan of skee ball and now Kaiden is hooked. He stood on the ramp and threw the balls in and was actually pretty good except when he threw to high and it landed on the net above. We got a lot of tickets so Kaiden got some good cheap, crappy toys that will probably break or be lost by the end of the week. But all the kids had a blast and us mom's enjoyed catching up. Good times!

Kaiden playing skee ball and Kalli enjoying the kiddie area

Kailey, Allison, and Alina

(Anyone of them is a perfect mate for Kaiden!)

Kaiden and his buddy Peyton chillin' with Chuck

HALO 3

This post is dedicated to the man I love, my husband, and the father of my children, Joseph Deschamps. He is such an amazing man. Not only does he have poison ivy all over along with swollen eyes, he's also been sick. But with all of that holding him down he still has the time and energy to go stand in line at GameStop at Midnight Tues morning to get his very own copy of Halo 3. It's so funny how excited he is about this game. You know what I'm talking about Kelli b/c as I type Joe's telling Jeremiah to use his 'rocket launcher'? Anyway I just thought I'd let all of my friends know that history was in the making last night for many game nerds around the nation, maybe around the world-who knows? So many kids and big kids (aka adults) are so pumped up about this game I just have to let out a little chuckle and smile. And don't worry we have about seven 12 packs of Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel so Joe's good to play all night while kicking some alien butt! So for all of you wives out there that won't be seeing their husbands to much for the next couple of weeks b/c of this game I know exactly what your going through and maybe we can start our own support group. Let me know if anyone is interested!

Who is this guy?

So Sunday the left corner of Joe's eye started to swell. The next morning his right eye was starting to swell more than his left. He also has red, itchy, patches on his arms and legs that really itch. Before going to bed his right eye seemed a little worse but he's been talking Benadryl and putting cream on his legs and arms constantly. When he woke up this morning I couldn't believe how bad it was. His eyelid is even starting to swell! After talking w/ his professor at school they come to the conclusion that its poison ivy. Joe was helping a neighbor do yard work on Saturday and they were burning a lot of stumps that had vines on them where ashes from poison ivy could have fallen on him. Joe was also doing most of the weed-eating. He's gotten poison ivy before and it was pretty bad but just on his legs and feet. I can't get over how bad his eyes are! He thinks after weed-eating he took off his goggles and wiped his eyes w/ his shirt which most likely had pieces of the poison ivy. I feel so bad for him b/c he's so uncomfortable and he's still trying to go to work and school. He wears a black visor to try and hide it but I'm not sure how well that's working out for him! And you know how boys are they never want to go to the doctor! I told him earlier today that he really needed to go and he said we'll wait a couple of days and see. Well a few hours later and his eye was already worse so I don't know what it'll look like in a couple of days!

Pulling Up

Kalli has been pulling up to her knees for the last week. She really works hard on trying to get to her feet but doesn't quite have the upper body strength to hold herself steady- remember she's packing a lot of extra weight! I helped her cheat to get this picture of her standing and she was still so excited. She has lots of bruises and bumps b/c of all the falling over she does while trying to pull up. She's pulled up to standing while I'm playing with her on the floor but she struggles everywhere else. The worst is when Miss Kalli decides to pull up on my legs (while I'm standing) and then I can't move or she falls over before I can relocate her. She's also enjoying having Kaiden to pull up on, but hee doesn't like it so much. That's when she gets hurt the most b/c Kalli's on top of him and Kaiden decides he's had enough and takes off! She's going to be a tough girl having him as an older brother! She's growing and changing so much I can't belive it!

Two Peas in a Pod

Kalli is at the perfect age for her and Kaiden to finally start playing together. She absolutely adores Kaiden and well let's just say she's starting to grow on him. As long as Kalli isn't crawling on top of him or eating one of his favorite toys he doesn't seem to mind having her around. Some of their favorite things to do together is take a bath. They both get so excited and just splash and splash. Its quite the mess I have to clean up but its so cute to see them play so well together. Kaiden really enjoys helping me rinse Kalli off by dumping a cup of water on her. At one point they were laying down on their bellies next to each other and Joe noticed that Kalli's butt is bigger than Kaiden's! I couldn't believe it at first but my second thought was I shouldn't be surprised at all b/c she's such a chunk. I took a picture, against Joe's will. As much as I want to post it I'm going to keep my marriage in tact and just keep it for my own amusement.
Here's a few more pictures of the two of them playing together in a box (that my Twilight books got sent in Yay!) I was pleasantly surprised that Kaiden enjoyed having Kalli in the box with him. After I took her out he asked me to put her back in. The box in the background is another favorite toy right now that my new stroller came in. I love it! So thank you Annie for the tip on which one to get. Its a Caboose Stand-On Tandem Stroller with a step or a seat behind the front seat for Kaiden to sit/stand on. It was a little pricey but I feel I've already gotten my money's worth out of it with a successful trip to the mall, with both kids by myself! Its also easy to maneuver, fit through doorways and aisles and I can fold it up easily and fit it into my trunk. Plus Kaiden thinks he's so cool climbing in and out of the back and being able to stand up if he wants too.

A Week of Firsts

Kalli had a week of many firsts. For some reason we didn't think to get her excer-saucer out until now. So we put it together on Monday and she enjoyed playing, bouncing, and chewing with all of her new toys. Kaiden was also very excited for the exer-saucer to come out. He also playing with all the gadgets and is constantly asking if he can get in. One of the fall backs of being a big boy, so he keeps busy and entertains Kalli by teaching her how to play with everything. On Thursday Kalli did two firsts. She started crawling/scooting and she had her first tractor ride. Kalli scooted forward once Saturday night but since then she's mainly been in reverse. But now she's finally mastered it. She's not doing the typical crawl (on hands and knees) yet but she's getting where she needs or wants to go! Its more of an army crawl and I'm quickly finding out how my house isn't as baby friendly as I had thought. Her favorite thing to get into so far is our shoes-which are usually dirty. She loves chewing on Kaiden's shoes so I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep them out by the door anymore. Kalli also loves my picture frames, she takes them off the bottom shelf of the entertainment center and tries to eat them. But in reality she tries to eat anything she can get her hands on... so typical.

Later on Thursday I took Kalli outback, while my dad was mowing the field with the tractor, and she took a little ride. She's much older than Kaiden when he had his first ride. Kaiden was only 3 months old so she's a few months behind but still enjoyed it. I think it took so long for her to ride b/c usually when Papa is mowing Kaiden is the one to always jump on. But he had fallen asleep previously in the car and was still sleeping in his room. I wasn't sure how Kalli would react to the loud noise but she was just-a-smiling and kicking -and so was Papa! He always loves riding the kids on the tractor or the 3 wheeler, I'm never quite sure who enjoys it more. After just sitting there a few minutes Papa started to move and she was a little unsure at first but still enjoyed it and didn't cry once. She's getting to be such a big girl. I can't believe she's already crawling around now! And she's picked up a new sound, bah bah bah. Its so cute sounding. Kaiden has started to enjoy talking jibberish with Kalli, I'll have to get a video of that later.

Here's Kalli's army crawl. Sorry the camera is so unsteady.

Kalli riding on the tractor with Papa. Again the camera is unsteady b/c I was walking trying to video tape, hopefully you don't get sick watching it...its not really that bad, just a little shaky.

Frog Roll

While my sister Autumn was in town she taught Kaiden how to do a somersault. Every now and again he starts practicing and he's really starting to get good at it. Its a little tough to do it at our house becuase of the wood floors, the carpet at my parents' really makes a difference for landing. But none-the-less Kaiden was practicing today and was doing really good, so I got the camera out. He's not wearing pants b/c well didn't you read my previous post! He just didn't want his shorts on anymore so he took them off, which is fine by me as long as the diaper stays on!
My favorite part is right before he starts to roll he stops to tell "Its not gonna hurt." Which is his way of reassuring himself before he continues. I also like the part after the roll when he says, "That was a good one".

Rain Coat & Boots

Shortly after Kaiden got his cast off I bought him some new rain boots. It had rained everyday for 2 weeks before he got his cast off and then stopped so he wasn't able to use them right away. It has rained many times since then but Saturday was the first time we went out and played in the rain. Kaiden was so excited to put on his boots and his new rain coat (I had gotten the coat a while back but it just hadn't been used yet). He loved jumping in all the puddles and as you can tell it had rained quite a bit, so most of our yard was under water. I had some old rubber boots on and Kaiden wouldn't let me just sit on the porch and watch him. I had to be jumping in the puddles too! We walked all around the yard kicking and splashing. Since I didn't have a rain coat I was carrying a big umbrella around. I'm sure I had to look pretty amusing to passing cars, hence why I didn't take a picture. It was a good time and I definitely got my moneys worth out of his new boots and coat even if he were to only wear it once. He was just so happy and grinning from ear to ear. And he was thrilled that after playing in the water outside he got to go inside and play in more water for his bubble bath! What a lucky kid wouldn't ya say?