Trendy Tadpole review

The Atari shirt, a trendy shirt that reminds us of our youth and by gone days. Fun and retro, this shirt speaks mostly for the parents, a blast from the past displayed on our youth of the future. A conversation starter to other parents, an ice-breaker, a way to make friends who get your humor, what a fun display of our past! Trendy Tadpole shirts have something for everyone and for every style of humor! Fun, fun, fun, who wouldn't want one? Visit www.trendytadpole.com for more hilarious items of our past for our children to display proudly for us! :-) Thanks Trendy Tadpole for reminding our youth of today that we were cool once too!

Decovin's first real illness!

So D's had a small cold in the past...runny nose, that sort of thing...but yesterday was the real deal amigos!

The day started with him waking up quite a bit later than normal...8:30ish, he's done it in the past but not that often, so I didn't think anything of it...he drinks his bottle of milk and then later he ate a couple of small pancakes...I ask Bob: "Do you think he feels warm to you?" Bob's Reply: "No"...so we put him down for a nap and he sleeps for 4 hours! Again, nothing COMPLETELY unusual as he has done this before also...growth spurt, teething, etc...he wakes up from his nap and I think he feels SUPER warm...I ask Bob: "Do you think he feels warm to you now?" Bob replys: "No"...so I finally remember I have a regular thermometer in his diaper bag (I had attempted a temperature earlier in the day with a pacifier therm. but he wouldn't suck on it)...to my astonishment it read out at 102.6!!! I freaked of course, so we call the after-hours doctor and she calls us back w/in the 20 minute allotted time and says, give him tylenol (which we had already done) and make sure he drinks plenty of fluids and if he gets any other symptoms to call her back. Mind you, when he woke up, he had no desire to eat and just sat there in our arms and didn't move hardly at all! So unlike him...he never sits still longer than a minute! So we decide to put him back down for more sleeping...and he slept for like another 3 hours or so until we hear a cough and then some gagging sounds and Bob runs back there and yells: "Jen, he's throwing up, help!"...so we get him all cleaned up, I wash the sheets, clothes, etc and we call the doc again but it takes her 45 minutes to call us back and we had to call them twice to get them to call us! We were also in close contact with Dr. Mandy throughout the day/evening also...she basically said the same thing as our doc did, so strong work Dr. Mandy! :-) The doctor did finally call us and said that a virus has been going around and that it could last 24 hours or 5 days...and that as long as his temperature did not go above 103 to just keep monitoring him, give him liquids and that was that...oh and I forgot to mention that genius me decided that after he threw up he should probably eat something...so we gave him a saltine cracker to which he threw up in hand w/in 5 minutes of eating it...poor guy!
Well, we thought we were in for a LONG night of puking and whining, but he actually went down at 9pm and didn't get up until 8am...he drank his milk and had a waffle this morning and he actually played with his toys a little bit...I gave him some more tylenol b/c he still felt a little warm but he has been acting a LOT better...so maybe it was just a 24 hour thing for him...thank goodness! I'm just glad it is over for now!

Playdates are fun!

Playdates are not just for the kids!

Abby & Decovin played in the tent!

Decovin & Nathan stuff their faces as fast as they can! :-)

We had a really good time yesterday! I got to Stacy's house around 11:30 and Decovin was in a sea of new toys and just LOVED it...it took Nathan awhile to get warmed up but it wasn't long before everyone was playing and having fun! Aunt Ruthie came bearing herb bread and corn salsa & chips! YUM-O! Then Mandy showed up bearing chocolate and strawberries to dip in! THEN Stacy had made Tiramisu (my fave dessert ever!) and we ate it while we played Diploma Dogs while the boys napped (at the SAME time!!!)...so much fun!

Then we decided to order Imo's pizza for dinner...good call too b/c it was WACKY WEDNESDAY and it was buy one get one free and we ate both xlarge pizzas no problem! SO GOOD! BEST PIZZA EVER EVER EVER! Then we ate our chocolate dipped strawberries and watched American Idol...fun fun! I had to leave around 8 which was sad, but it was SO much fun!

A re-do is a must! I insist! :-)

New videos below...fun fun weekend!

A visitor, some dead scrolls, & parents

So Amanda was my visitor Friday evening. She made it just before the nasty snow fall and we watched Grey's Anatomy together where we gasped and cried simultaneously! We are true Grey's junkies!

Saturday Bob & I headed to KC to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Union Station. Very interesting, very unorganized, & kind of disappointing as they only had 6 real scrolls of the hundreds they found and they were TINY! It was still a once in a lifetime event to see them, but still, they herd you in like cattle and you have to elbow your way around to see or read anything! It was crazy! Anyway...

Sunday my parents call me out of the blue and say, hey, do you care if we drop by? NO! I was really pleasantly surprised...it was nice to not be the one driving to see someone! Mom & I played scrabble, dad napped (he had worked a 24+hour shift the day prior) and then we all went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant in town...it was yummy and we had a good time.

We said our goodbyes and Bob & I went to Hastings to rent some movies and we watched two of them last night (Nacho Libre, The Night Listener, The Departed, & one other, I can't remember the name of)...Oh & Mandy...the "sure" from Nacho Libre would not have been nearly as funny if your friends hadn't made it such a big deal...but it was still worth a rewind to see him say it again! hahaha! "Sure"

Changes...

Well, I knew I had a sweet deal with how much Decovin liked taking naps in the past...but I can see that road dwindling away in the sunsets! He is now fighting sleep at all cost lately and only takes one good nap a day these dasy (used to be around 3 a day)...so my spare time is now limited...oh well, I knew the ship would sail one day...**sigh**

We had a fun weekend...Friday afternoon, Amanda stopped by and spent the night and then Saturday morning, after Amanda left, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law (Tabitha & Ryan) showed up for babysitting duty while Bob & I went to KC to meet up with Kim & Crystal and their significant others for our "focused fun night"...we titled it that way b/c the last time we got to see each other was at D's bday party and we couldn't focus on just each other...too much going on...so anyway...we went out to dinner at UNO Chicago Pizzaria and then bowling at Incredi-bowl in Stanley! It was SOOO much fun! They had black lights and music videos playing of music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and today! LOL! It was wicked fun! We are going to try to do that more often!

Anyway, then yesterday was bum day...I didn't even get out of my PJ's!!! It was kind of embarassing, but at least there were no strangers or neighbors knocking on our door...lol!

Today, I have been burning The Backyardigans on DVD for Decovin...and I plan on burning some old movies too...fun, fun! Trying to clean out our DVR...well, I should probably get back to monitoring when I need to stop the recorder....

Peace & Chicken Grease!

Per Clog Nana's request...

SKUNK ROCK RULES MOM!!!

My new Hair Do

Click ME!

Check out Dancing Decovin on YouTube!

WE DID IT!

We must be nuts! It was SOOOOOO cold! But, we did it! I think my legs are still numb!! It was totally fun though! Bob & I agree that we would both do it again, if it was held in July! haha! Just kidding!

Saturday was also the day I had to help host a baby shower for Bob's cousin so I had to leave right after I plunged and hurry over there! Then when I got done with that, I went to pick up Mandy at Melodie's apartment and then we went out to eat at American Bandstand...it was YUMMY! We all shared the Oooey Gooey chocolate Oreo Orgy! I have proof!

Melodie & Mandy Looking pretty! I sat alone on the other side! :-) We had lots of laughs...see Melodie's blog for more on that! haha!

A joke as told by an 8 year old piano prodigy, Marc Yu (paraphrased by Jen Plummer-ha!)

As you know, the Great Ghandi walked barefoot a lot of the time. He also had a poor diet as he did not eat very much which made him really weak. Due to this poor diet he also suffered from severe bad breath...This made him a Super Calloused Fragile Mystic Hexed By Halitosis

Too funny, not to share...enjoy!

Scrapbook Queen!

You can easily replace the words "Dancing Queen" with the above title! B/C that is what I felt like yesterday! Mandy, Christy & I went to a "scrap-athon"! It was so much FUN! It started at 10am and ended at 11pm! We were there pretty much that whole time! IT WAS AWESOME! I got 10 pages done! Did I mention that it was fun?! Anyway, once Mandy figures out her new schedule, we are going to TRY to do it again next month! SO MUCH FUN! Oh and I also got my name drawn for one of their "give-aways"!

Mandy, did you notice my air ""? :-)

Happy Birthday!

Well, D finally made it to his very first Birthday parties! Saturday was celebrated with my side of the family and with cousin Katrina who turned 3! It was a sight to be seen, let me tell you. Chocolate cake was EVERYWHERE! I just hope that Bob cleaned out Jeff & Marianne's bathtub good enough! LOL! The second party was celebrated with Bob's side of the family and he got a rainbow cake...it was finger lickin' good apparently! I'm sure you have all seen my Kodak Gallery pictures...if not, let me know and I will re-send them to you! :-)

Mandy is coming over tonight for a sleep-over...YES! She has tomorrow off and since she missed the bday party she is coming over tonight to see Decovin and wish him a late Happy B-day! It will be loads of fun! I still need to finish vacuuming but other than that, I think we are ready for her! Oh and I might need to run to the grocery store for last minute food items, etc.

Decovin must be going through a growth spurt b/c he is currently going on 3 1/2 hours of napping...I am waiting on him to wake up so I can finish the vacuuming...lol! He got a LOT of clothes for his birthday, which is good! I washed them all up and I packed away all the ones that don't fit him any longer...always sad to fill up a tub of those! Currently we have 3 tubs full of baby clothes! Hopefully, if we have another kid, we will have another boy...otherwise...what will we do with all those clothes?! LOL!

Well, I guess I will hop in the shower since Decovin is still asleep. Love you all! Leave me a comment! :-) I love those!

OUCH!

Poor Decovin. Yesterday was his one year well-baby visit...and although he is well, they still had to immunize him and take his blood...

We started at his doctor's office and we were running a bit late due to the mile and a half back up to get onto base! But evidentally all the medical staff was in line with us so we weren't as late as we originally thought. So anyway, we get there and the nurse starts typing in the computer and was about to ask us the "milestone" questions, when, crash, the computer's went down! So we had to wait for those to come back up, but in the meantime, she weighed him and measured him. He is now at 22.05lbs, 29 1/2 inches tall & an 18 1/2 inch noggin! So, after a little panic attack from the nurse about the computers, she runs around like a chicken with her head cut off and finally comes back in the room and the computers are working again...she starts asking us the "milestone" questions, like: Is he walking? Yes. Standing up without help? Yes. Saying 1-3 words? No...No? Ok, we will let the doctor know. GREAT! I panic a little...

The doctor comes in and she says, well we will have you back in at 15 mos. to check on his vocabulary...if he still isn't saying any words, then we will have to get his speech evaluated...BLASPHEMY! I have a Speech Therapist as a sister and my son can't talk?! Great! So then I remember...Hey, he can sign 2 words...does that count? She says, YES!, since he is trying to communicate and to not worry and to come back for the regular 18 mos well baby check up. So, now I am repeating words like crazy to the poor boy and I am hoping he will "say" one soon. She told us to teach him "mom" & "dad" in sign...so I got out the ol' sign language book last night and started showing him "mom" & "dad" over and over again...the other word I am working on with him is "Up"...he always grunts and whines until we pick him up...I don't want a grunter...so I am really enunciating my words with him and showing him my lips and tongue so he knows how to do it himself...this morning it looked like he was trying to mimick my mouth movements on the word "up" but it kept sounding like "ub"...so cross your fingers for us!

So then we move onto to get his blood drawn to test for anemia...common at one year well baby visit...but I did not realize that now that they are at this age, they get stuck just like you and me, in the arm in a vein, no holds bar! They had Bob hold him in such a way that he couldn't move or jerk out of position, but Decovin didn't even move! He just barely made a wince face when they swabbed him with the alcohol and then that was it! He was such a brave little guy! Then it was off to Immunizations...where they proceeded to give him 5 different shots! Yeah, this one did not go as well, he screamed at the top of his lungs for a minute or two and then once he was bandaged and dressed, he was fine! And, really really tired...but we can't leave yet, no, no...I still had my doctor's appointment waiting for me!

So, I get in and tell this new fabulous (and I might add...kinda cute!) doctor that Zurtec (sp?) is not working, I've been having severe sinus headaches and drainage and sneezing and itchy watery eyes, and blowing my nose every five minutes, and I can't breathe at night, etc...so he decides to put me on 3 different meds...#1. Flonase (AWESOME STUFF!), #2. Saline Nasal Spray, for the inbetweens, & #3. Allegra. So I start the regimine yesterday and I can I just say that I breathed through my nose for the very first time while sleeping since September!!! I was TOTALLY stoked! So much so that when I woke up at 3am to pee, I woke up Bob to tell him! He was like: "great" in a very drone voice...lol! I was excited! It is so nice to be able to breathe again! WHOO HOO! 3 cheers for Doc Gimel! :-)

So that was our exciting day...how was all of yours?

Decovin LOVES his food! He was laughing hysterically for every bite...it was really funny and cute! Oh and he kept giving daddy kisses...I think b/c he let him play with one of the remotes...bad daddy! But he got all kinds of lovin' b/c of it! Lucky! Too cute not to share...

So Decovin is one!

And yesterday he had a small bout of the squirts...poor guy...what a way to bring in the first birthday...he seems to be better today though...it at least has some consistency. Not sure what he ate that caused it b/c we didn't give him anything out of the ordinary...Bob mixed in some apple juice with his cereal but hardly any he said, but Decovin doesn't drink juice so I guess that could have caused it??? Anyway, he seems better now...

I, on the other hand, am not doing ok. I have been battling with sinus headaches and sinus pressure in general since September. I can't breathe out of my nose at night and I wake up sneezing and blowing my nose! It is getting really annoying! So I have a doc appt tomorrow, right after Decovin's...so it will be a Doctor visit day tomorrow...

Our driveway is a thick sheet of ice and when Bob left for work this morning, he slid down sideways...fun...NOT! So he is going to try to put some salt on it to help it...but we can't use our stairs at all as they are literally and completely covered in ice. You can't even see the stairs...LITERALLY...I took pictures to prove it...and Bob tried hitting it with a hammer and it only made very small dents...what are we trying to live like the Eskimos? What the h***?

Anyway...so far this has been a boring day for Decovin's bday...we MAY try to take him out to dinner...Maybe, depending on how I feel, etc...well, off for now...

Decovin was on TV!

I sent in his picture for the Fox 4 News channel that does a "First Birthday's" segment where they just show their pictures and names...really cute...anyway, I sent his pic up on Tuesday and it was on this morning at 7:45ish...I taped it of course! His first TV appearance...ahhhhh!

On another note! Thanks so much for those of you who donated...we are now only $35 away from our $150 goal...so if you feel up to it, even if it is $5 dollars...look to your right and click on the link! Love you all! ;-)

Polar Plunge!!!

Yes, Bob, Christy, I are participating in the Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics on February 3...we are really jumping into a freezing cold lake to help those kids out! So please, please, please donate! You can do it online at: http://www.firstgiving.com/jenplummer

Bob & I have to collect $150 total...we only have $25 so far...please help us! If you do not wish to donate online, you can still donate cash or check...There is a tax break so please help us out!

Love you all!

It's happening so fast!!!

My little boy is growing up TOO fast! **sniff, sniff** Just in the past couple of weeks he has done so many new things:

He can now sign "more" during meal time & "all done"
He can stand up without the aid of any furniture in the middle of the room! (got it on camera)
He can blow kisses.
He can shake his head "yes" & "no", although he still doesn't really know what either means I think...grrrr! LOL!
And he will give you a hug and make an "ahhhh" sound when he does it...SO CUTE! (this one is not always on demand though)

I just can't believe how quick it is all happening! I hope to see all of you at the B-day parties...whether it is on Saturday the 20th for Katrina & D's Bday or on the 21st for D's bday with the Plummer's! Hope to see you all! Love ya!

Oh and strong work on the upping of comments & blogs updated! :-)

Oh & Stacy, I forgot to say "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!" for all the shoes you sent for D...they fit him and they are super cute too! Thanks again, I can't believe I forgot to say that when I called you earlier today! DUH...I'm a blonde at the roots! :-) Love you!

Scrapbooking

So I finally dragged all my stuff out last night to start scrapbooking again. I forgot how much I really like doing it. I am working on 3 different ones currently. One is from our trip home from San Diego almost two years ago and the other I started last night was Decovin's first year! I only got one page done b/c I didn't start until 8:30 and that was when I started dragging things out...so I actually didn't start scrapbooking until closer to 9 or a little after. I am also working on filling in the scrapbook that Judy made for Decovin. Needless-to-say, I am multi-tasking and that can be hard and stressful also...only b/c I make it that way...Can we say ADD? LOL! Anway, if you are ever bored or in the area and want to scrapbook come on over! :-) I love company!

How come?

Nobody posts hardly anymore? And how come when someone does post, hardly any comments are left? This used to be fun people! What happened? We are starting to fizzle! Step it up! :-) Love you all! Now leave me a comment damn it! LOL! :-)

Well, get used to writing 2007

I always hate the first month or so of the new year b/c I never can remember to write the year right. Anyway, Happy New Year!

We rung in the New Year by me watching Christy & Bob play Play Station 2 racing video game and I fell asleep at 11:30...woke up at 4 after and said: "Happy New Year, I'm going to bed!" Haha! Anyway, so far the New Year feels like any other. Decovin will be one this month...hard to believe! We are planning two b-day parties...one for the Plummer side and one for the Long side. The one on the Long side will be a combined party with his cousin Katrina who was born on the 18th...:-) Should be fun, she will be having a Princess theme and I am not sure what to do yet for Decovin. On the Plummer side he is getting "The Backyardigans" theme. Really cute show on Noggin for those of you sans kids under 4...lol! Anyway, I am in the process of planning that one and getting invites out, etc...lots to do in a short amount of time.

I took down the ornaments from the Christmas tree yesterday and all other decorations. It is always sad to see the Christmas season pass. It is my favorite time of year...oh well. Bob took the tree down and vaccuumed and everything...it was nice to have our dining room back without a baracade blocking it off! Maybe next year Decovin will know the meaning of "no" and not touch and/or eat the ornaments, etc.

Well, enough for now. Don't forget to hang up your new calendars! I have 3 new ones and I have hung 2 of them already! I love new calendars! Adios for now amigos!