Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! Our celebration started a couple of days ago when the boys received their cards from Mimi:

They were very excited and Tyler even knew who was on the cards "Elmo!!!" I tried to capture it on video....

Guess I should have turned the TV off first.... :)

Today was the normal Saturday of late - Mitch had class, so the boys and I hung out together. Here are a couple shots of my funny Valentines:

I think it may be getting time for Evan to get a haircut - he's getting pretty shaggy!!

Then Daddy came home and look what happened! Suddenly there were presents for Mommy!!

Some beautiful aromatic roses, and a lovely necklace (can you see the box between Evan's legs?). I tried to take a picture of the necklace, but I couldn't get the camera to focus so close up and it wasn't coming out. Someday I will read the manual and learn how to properly use our camera... Anyway, it is a lovely heart shaped necklace with diamond accents.

And then the mail was passed out and the boys enjoyed their card from Grammy and Grandad.

Yay. A fun day with lots of love going around (I'm purposely forgetting the many fights I had to break up between the boys today...). I remember a time when I hated Valentine's Day. And now??

Not so much.

Beware the NOROVIRUS!!!

As suspected, Mitch was stricken with the virus on Sunday evening. And Tyler was struck AGAIN!! So, as daddy had the night before, I took over full-time duty and had a slumber party in the living room with the boys while Mitch convalesced upstairs. By Monday morning, Mitch was fine. Tyler took a little longer to recover, but we think he's all better now! We all stayed home on Tuesday too, just to be safe. I truly lost count of how many loads of laundry I did over the five days at home!

But before all that Sunday sickness, Mitch and Tyler enjoyed some time at the playground - and the school grounds adjacent to the playground! Here are some little videos that Mitch took with is Blackberry.

Check him out on the big kid swing! He holds on really well!

The warm weather continues here, I think it reached nearly 70 degrees today. But it is going to be cold again by week's end.

Oh, and I celebrated my birthday yesterday (Mitch grilled some yummy filet mignon!!). I'm still in my 30's, and may choose to remain here for all eternity.... :)

Quarantine

I thought the Norovirus only existed on cruise ships, terrorizing those on the high seas. Well apparently it has made it's way to dry land and is wreaking havoc all over Fairfax County this season - in particular, this weekend, at our house!

Evan was first. It started Thursday night. Let's just say that between 9:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., the little guy had had 2 baths and gone through 4 sets of pajamas! Always fun to be doing laundry in the middle of the night too.... After dropping Tyler at daycare and Mitch at the metro, I took him to the walk-in clinic at the pediatrician (I believe we are in double digits now on visits to the pediatrician in 2009!). Dr. Hogan told me it was the Norovirus and to batten down the hatches - it was only a matter of time before it made it's way through all of us....

Evan seemed to be doing much better during the day Friday, and he and I just hung out and played, and took naps. Here are some pics - but for the little red cheeks, you would never know he was sick!


Such a little trooper!!

We had plans for Saturday - Mitch had class, so Tyler was going to spend the day with Grandad and I was going to take Evan to Cameron's first birthday party - but sadly, we had to cancel. Evan was symptom free, but still contagious, and there was no telling when it would strike the rest of us....

As Tyler was entering the third hour of his nap on Saturday, I began to get suspicious. He rarely sleeps like that. When he finally awoke, it was not pretty. Into the tub, sheets and clothes in the wash, etc. Shortly after that I started to feel a little quezy myself....

I emailed Mitch and he left class early. Good thing too - by 3:00 I was pretty much out of commission. So Tyler and I suffered for the rest of the day and Mitch was on full-time Daddy/Husband duty.

Luckily, this thing only lasts about 12 hours, so I was fine by this morning, as was Tyler. Now it's just a waiting game. When will it strike Mitchell?? Today is a beautiful day, sunny and quite warm, so he and Tyler are currently at the playground because Tyler had a lot of energy to burn off (as he usually does!). Let's go, Daddy!!

I keep asking Mitch - "how you feeling?" So far he's "fine". It's not that I want him to be sick, I just know it's inevitable and for his sake I want him to be able to get it over with!!

According to the CDC, we're contagious until 3 days after recovery, so I'll probably have to keep Tyler home from daycare tomorrow and myself home from work. I wouldn't wish this on anyone and don't want to be responsible for passing it on!! I suspect Mitchell will be staying home too.....

Super Sunday

Yes, yes, today is Super Bowl Sunday. Hurrah, hurrah. But, something far more exciting happened today! Evan got his first pair of shoes! He's walking pretty well now (though still crawling when he needs to get somewhere fast!), so we thought it was time. So we headed off to Stride Rite this afternoon. Here are some pics of the big event:

Time to measure the tootsies!!

He's a 4 1/2!!
Let's go pick out the ones we want...

and put them on!
Make sure they fit right!

And maybe take a few steps.....

Or maybe not!

Another amazing thing about today is that it was 60 degrees!! So after shoe shopping, we stopped by the playground.

Evan liked the slide.

And the swing.

Tyler was more interested in exploring the grounds by the school...

He was running all over the place and just having a blast. He did get a little wet and a little muddy, but oh well! He was having fun, getting fresh air, and burning off a lot of energy, so who cares!

Evan wanted to try out his new shoes on terra firma as well...

I think it will take a little while for him to get used to them, but that's ok. So far they aren't upsetting him, so we're ahead of the game!

FINALLY!!!

So, we've had all this talk of snow, but so far this year, not a single flake. I know all my family and friends up north have been absolutely clobbered with snow this year and probably wonder why I'm so anxious to get some. Well, when you rarely ever get it, it's much more romantic. Plus, Mitch and I are dying to get the kids out in a sled! I bought snow suits for them and everything. But, I haven't taken the tags off yet just in case! I have until February 20th to return them and get my money back...

We were expecting some snow overnight, so imagine my disappointment when this is what I saw this morning:

Barely a dusting on the car! But when we left the house, it had started to come down a little harder. And then it was pretty steady throughout the day. So when we got home, we had a good few inches on the ground.

Here is Tyler enjoying his first foray into the white stuff...

He thought it was pretty tasty! (Don't worry, it was white!) This was right when we got home, so it was dark and we were all in our regular clothes, so we weren't able to stay out too long. But it was fun just the same! Here is a little video - but it's pretty dark:

In other developments.... Here are some funny/cute faces from Evan:

This one is my favorite:

Hmmm.... it seems there was something else.... What was it that I wanted to post???

Oh, right! Check THIS out:

EVAN IS WALKING!!!! It seemed to happen overnight. Hooray for my littlest man!!!

Ok, I'm really sorry I haven't posted for so long. I could make all kinds of excuses about being so busy and so tired and so... whatever. All of that would be true of course, but I think the real reason I haven't blogged lately is because of my current addiction to FaceBook...it's taking up all my free time ("free time" that I don't even really have)! The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?!?!?!?

Anyway, I promise to better and get my act together! In the meantime, here are some pretty funny videos of Tyler doing his version of couch-jumping yesterday, sans pants.

Tom Cruise has got nothin' on this kid! I couldn't even venture a guess as to what he was so excited about, but it was certainly entertaining!

A Sick New Year

It's baaaaaaaaaaack!! The Nebulizer...............

Happy New Year everyone! Unfortunately, we've had nothing but sickness here since the new year began. Tyler, Evan, me. Mitch even spent a few days flirting with a cough and cold. I spent New Year's Eve on the couch. Woo-hoo!! Not that we would have gone anywhere anyway, but still. Asleep by 10:00 p.m. Pretty pathetic. Oh, and let's top it all off with me throwing my back out on Sunday morning.

Both boys are currently having to use the Nebulizer - or have it used on them, I should say. Poor little Tyler has been really sick. Started out with an ear infection, and ended up as respiratory distress. I took him back to the pediatrician yesterday morning because he wasn't kicking the high fever even after four days on antibiotics. Turned out his "oxygen saturation" was only in the 80th percentile. They weren't able to get it up and maintain it in the doctor's office, so we ended up in the emergency room at Fairfax Hospital.

What a good little patient he was!! He was checked by so many different people and he was the picture of calm the whole time. He even laid still for chest x-rays!! Everyone commented on what a good boy he was. I'm happy to report that they were able to get his oxygen up and maintained at a level that made them comfortable sending us home rather than admitting him. And because of that positive result, I don't feel guily sharing these ridiculously adorable pictures:

Who would have guessed that they made hospital gowns that small???

We went this afternoon for a follow-up with the pediatrician, and Tyler's oxygen saturation is back up to 98% and the doctor told us that he is home free. His fever has also stayed at bay today, and he was back to his old self - running around, throwing things, beating up his brother, sitting on the cat, etc.! He's still coughing of course, but he's definitely on the mend. We'll finish out the antibiotic and use the nebulizer and he should be all set in a week's time.

I took Evan back to the pediatrician this morning because he had developed a bad cough also. The good news is that his ears are clear. The bad news is there was a little chest noise. So, back on the nebulizer for him too. He still hates it.

So since December 18th (when Evan had his 1 year well-check), I've been to the pediatrician I think about 7 times (I've honestly lost track!). Let's hope that's it for a while!!

Besides the sickness, we had a wonderful time over the holidays. I had a great, much needed, two weeks off from work. My mom was here the whole time and we had a great visit. The boys had so much fun with her, and I know she was thrilled to spend so much time with them. And Tyler had mastered her moniker and was saying "Mimi! Mimi!" all the time. No need to say how much she loved that!! I was also so grateful for her help when I was sick - and even when I wasn't! It's nice to have an extra pair of arms to pass off to once in a while.

And just for fun, here are a couple of cute Evan pictures.

Enjoying his chair!

And wearing the cutest little red leather shoes that my dear friend, and fellow blogger, Julie sent from France. Speaking of Julie, many congrats to her on her second pregnancy!! She'll soon have two sweet little girls to match up to my two sweet little boys! :)

So Happy New Year to all - may it indeed be a happy - and HEALTHY - one for us all!!