Monkey in the Middle (Taken with instagram)

Have you ever fallen down…with your baby?

How about in public? I have.  Mother of the year over here! J and I went to lunch with our friends Ali & Zoe today at Potbelly. If you’ve never been,  not only are you missing out, but they also have live musicians. Today there was a guitarist. Kids love the music, so we sat right by where he was playing.  When we were finished, I got up, holding Jackson, to throw away our trash.  Well…my shoe had a buckle, which caught the buckle of the guitar case, and WHAM! BOTH Jackson & I hit the dirt. He screamed and cried, and though I am 95% sure my hand was protecting most of his head, and 100% sure that I took the worst of the fall, I felt so terribly awful. Not to mention humiliated. I was in public. In a busy restaurant. In front of a TON of people. And I fell with my baby. Ugh. It was horrid. He was fine after a few minutes, but definitely had a good cry, and ended up with a small goose-egg on his head :(. I called the pediatrician, and they let me know that unless he was vomiting or acting dizzy, that he was fine. Thank GOD. I monitored him all day long and luckily there is no more bump, no bruise, and he is acting completely normal.

I don’t think I have ever been more embarrassed and felt worse about anything in my entire life, not to mention terrified. I wanted to cry, and could NOT believe that I fell with him. It was horrible, and matched my entire day. That was just the icing on the cake. I want to cry re-living the terribleness of it all.

On a sidenote – it was totally the restaurant’s fault, and they knew it.  They immediately moved the guitar case and kept apologizing for it being in the middle of the floor, and filled out an incident report to send to corporate in case anything “happened”. Who leaves a guitar case in the middle of a crowded restaurant floor? More importantly, what kind of idiot carries her baby with her to throw the trash away and trips over it…ugh.

Long Weekend!

I love a good, long weekend.  There is nothing better (thank you to those who serve, have served, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice – you definitely deserve to be celebrated and honored). This year Memorial Day was the best. ever. A dear friend of mine, like a sister to me really, stood before family and friends and promised all of her life and love to a very good man. 

Allie chose to have the wedding at her parents house, and it turned out whimsical, and rustic, and breathtakingly beautiful with mason jar lanterns illuminating the trees to create the only forest I would ever agree to live in. I kept expecting elves and fairies, and unicorns to pop out to greet us. The whole event was themed with family and love, having photos of all parents & grandparents on their wedding days displayed on the trees, as well as two tiny framed photos adorning her bouquet with photos of her late father and grandfather. (Yeah, I cried instantly when I saw that detail).

Allie & Mike wrote their own vows, which, of course, had me in tears. Something about never knowing a part of her was missing until she met him, and always knowing, somewhere, that he would be standing there with her today, and that she would follow him all over the world to chase his dreams, along with his promise to always put her first, even if (Virginia) Tech is playing on Saturday, just hit me right in the softie.

This last one is my favorite. So so sweet. I am oozing happiness for the bride & groom!

After all of the wedded bliss, we spent Sunday with our family.  We went to the annual BBQ at my Grandmother’s house, as well as a pool party at my dad’s! Here is some photographic evidence of all of the fun:

Muffin.

This is Jackson begging me for a little sister ;). He should really be begging his daddy.

Baby is LOVING that pool/sprinkler/awesome thing.

Swimming with his Aunt Katie

I hope you all had a long, fabulous weekend as well!

Practicing driving his new boat! (Taken with instagram)

My shorts match my wagon! (Taken with instagram)

He is channeling Dennis the Menace today (Taken with instagram)

Jackson’s Favorite Places

Jackson has got to be at the most fun age.  It seems like I say that no matter what age he is, but really, all of his stages have been wonderful, fun, and full of more love than words can describe.  One of his favorite places in this particular stage is undoubtedly the bath.  He is loving the freedom of being out of his bath seat, and has the best time exploring with his toys, trying to pull the faucet cover off, and trying to drink his bath water out of a cup.  At his last two baths, he has also discovered the drain cover. The one below the faucet, but not in the floor. He has recognized that it is reflective, and he places his face as close by as possible and says “hi! hiiii. HI!!!” over and over.  I can’t contain myself when this kind of cute comes out of my child.

He is so eager to get clean!

Jackson wants to send a special thank you to Miss Zoe for the shark toys. He loves them very much!

Someone tried to stick his face in the water. Careful, baby!

When he has had enough of the bath, he is also eager to get out of the tub. No worries – I am always there to keep things safe!

pruny feets.

Fighting nap by yelling “cookie!!” and then sucking on his toes. I love him. (Taken with instagram)

The camera LOVES me!!! (Taken with instagram)

its been messy…

For far too long, I have been battling the yuckiest of messes…in my son’s diapers.  It all started about…8 weeks ago (EIGHT WEEKS!).  He came down with pink eye, and a double ear infection, and was put on antibiotics.  We all know what antibiotics do to a digestive system – I will spare you the graphics.  Anyhow, the first round of amoxicillin didn’t work, so he was placed on cefdinir – a stronger antibiotic. The whole ordeal lasting about 15 days.  Then, he immediately turned one and began the transition to whole milk.  The ‘rhea, as I endearingly refer to it, didn’t clear up.  After trying everything(BRATY diet, probiotics, the list goes on), we called the pediatrician and they suggested taking him off of whole milk and put him on toddler formula. So we tried that, and he kept up with the ‘rhea, and added in some vomit.  We then made an appointment and took him to the doc. They suggested taking him back off of the formula and adding in the milk again, as it had been going on longer and probably wasnt a lactose intolerance or milk protien allergy.  The doctor seemed to think that it was probably just an after-effect of the antibiotics (because there were so many), and ordered a stool sample just to be sure that there wasn’t an infection or parasite problem going on.  So we did that, which, by the way, forced me to suit up (in gloves), and get 5 1 TABLESPOON samples of his ‘stuff’ and put it into five different tubes with preservatives, etc. GROSS.  I turned it in and heard nothing for ten days. That brings us to yesterday.  The WORST of the ‘rheas. Before, they were just loose. Loose but manageable.  Yesterday it was complete liquid.  It exploded (literally) out of his diaper and was dripping on the floor (gross, i know. Sorry for the graphic description). I called the doctor for the results of the stool sample, which were, of course, NORMAL. Today we had 4 more of these diapers before 1 PM. I am at my wits end.

I have been giving him probiotics EVERY DAY for more than 2 weeks. He eats a well-balanced diet. He is acting completely normal, eating normal, sleeping normal,is running NO fever, is very hydrated, and not at all sick.  He doesn’t have any real health problems (thank GOD), and so I am left trying to figure out A) what is causing this and B) what the #$&* I can do to just STOP it already. Sure, I hate cleaning up the messes and changing the nasty diapers, but whats more, is that he has now developed a pretty serious diaper rash that covers his entire ‘area.’ I know it can’t be pleasant for him, and i just feel so bad.  Anyone have any tips/similar experiences that might help me regain my sanity? HELP!