Noah vs. Hallmark

Doesn't this Christmas Countdown magnet set look so cute? That's what mom and I thought when we (she) purchased it for Hope a few weeks ago. She loved counting down the days till Disney World, so I knew she would love this too. While she was at school Thursday, I finally got it out and put it on the fridge. I put it up high on the freezer (we have the good ol freezer on top, fridge on bottom appliance) so that Noah couldn't reach it and eat the cookie magnets. Get one last look at the cute 11 inch by 8 inch heavy, sharp metal pan, because the cuteness is about to end...


I put the magnet set up around 3:30 that afternoon. At around 5:30 (only 2 HOURS later) I was cooking dinner (shocking, I know... focus people, focus) and Noah was following me around. As I was pulling things out of the fridge, Noah was pulling things out of the fridge as well. All the sudden, the baking pan from the magnet set fell and hit my poor sweet baby on the head. Blood was everywhere. It was so scary. John was out of town, and I couldn't decide if he needed to go to the Emergency room or not. The wound was deep, but only about a 1/2 inch long. I put pressure on my screaming baby's head while I called my parents to come over and give me a second opinion on the ER or not ER decision. By the time they came over, the bleeding had almost stopped, although he was still very very upset. He was flipping out when I tried to take pictures, so this is the best I got.

So, then I start trying to figure out what happened. Why did it fall? I look at the freezer and the magnets that were attached to the back of the pan were still on the freezer, while the pan was on the floor. The adhesive just completely came off. Now this is where the mommy gets mad. Furious actually. As I mom, I do everything I can to protect my children. However, I cannot protect them from failed adhesive. I did everything right. I put it up high so that he wouldn't choke on the little cookie magnets. And then there are the awful thoughts of what would have happened if he had looked up when it fell. It could have been his eye. No, it wasn't, but it could have been. The pan is so sharp, it just sliced right through his little head. So, fuming mommy wrote an email to Hallmark. Then furious mommy woke up and called Hallmark. I was on hold for TWENTY minutes before a representative answered my phone call. As I am telling her my story, her first question was "Now, why did you hang it on the fridge?" BECAUSE IT IS A MAGNET! She did become much nicer, but kept putting me on hold, we got disconnected, she had to ask so and so... It was the longest conversation in the history of the world. In the end, she did say she was very sorry. And I know, she probably really is. But, I am just so mad! It is a heavy pan. Those magnets were clearly not strong enough to hold it up. Anyway, this story is to be continued...I have to send back the product along with the story and pictures of the poor baby's head. It is nasty and bruised now, so I am going to try to get another pic of it tomorrow.

All this to say, please don't buy the cute cookie Christmas countdown magnet set from Hallmark. Thank you.

Croup. Crap.

Noah has Croup. It has not been fun. Hope had it when she was a baby, so I recognized the barking cough during the night. He just wasn't getting any better, so I took him in today, where it was confirmed. He has the croup. Crap. Every little thing, he gets it. I can't say this enough, but I am ALWAYS so thankful that it is just little things. And one of these days, he will have a rock solid immune system. He will have perfect attendance in Elementary School, right? Except when I take him out to go to Disney World. He started steroid treatments today, and I honestly don't know if this is because of the steroids or not, but the boy has the munchies. He would cry, grab my hand, pull me to the refrigerator, grab some cheese and eat it. Then, cry, grab my hand, fridge, grapes. Then, cry, hand, counter, cereal bar. It was crazy. He is a great eater anyway, but this was ridiculous. At dinner he would cry, and I would ask him if he was all done. His usual response to this is "Cheese?" And I usually give him a slice of cheese before I get him down. Tonight, however, he learned a new request. "Dip!" He wanted ketchup. He dipped everything in ketchup. even pineapples. eww. Hopefully now that he is being treated, he will get over it quickly. Mommy needs some sleep. For real.

Sick (but funny) Baby

Noah is sick. He does seem to catch every thing that goes around. He is going to have one heck of an immune system one day. While he was pretty puny most of the day, he was still so funny too. He said his first sort of sentence today. He said, "No Mama!" Aww, how sweet. Then tonight, he successfully delayed his bedtime. I told him several times that it was time to go find his Elmo and his passy. He usually doesn't fight it much, but tonight, he just looked at me, went to his room, grabbed his "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book, came back to the living room, sat in his little chair, opened the book, and starts humming/ singing the words. I kept saying "let's go.." He would look right at me, then look right back at his book and keep "reading." So stinkin cute, even if he was challenging me. I am hoping tomorrow is a better day. With less yucky diapers. Less snot too would be nice, but definitely less yucky diapers.

30(ish) Days of Thanks 23

Today I am thankful for a day to feel like myself again. I kept Hope out of school, took her to eat lunch with sweet Clara, went to the mall with Julia and Mimi, bought John's birthday present, talked to Santa. I never felt rushed, stressed, tired... it was just a good day. Tonight Hope had our neighbor Ella over to play, we ate dinner, read books, and I just finished watching the Jon and K8 finale. All in all, just a good good day.

Tomorrow I have big plans for decorating for Christmas, plus my weekly lunch with Shauna and Deni. Wahoo! I do have to work on Wednesday, but I am trying not to think about it. I think I can handle working ONE day this week, right?

Insert random story here: we were at the mall today when Hope said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" This statement in itself made me laugh, but then I asked what was she thinking. She said, "it's time to decorate our house for Christmas." She said it so put out, like it was going to be some huge chore for her!

I am still working on my Disney World pictures. My computer is acting very tired lately, so I have only been able to upload a few at a time to Flickr. But, I did pull this one off Flicker just now...

To me, Tinkerbell was one of the best characters we saw in the park. She was very much, ummm, Tinkerbell. She talked really fast, was a little bit snotty, she was everything I would expect Tink to be. Hope looved her. Tinkerbell recognized Hope as a "tinker" right away because of the "daisy top hair" (just like hers) Hope couldn't wait to get the words out of her mouth that she was Tinkerbell for Halloween. She wanted to do the Tink pose that Julia taught her. She was a bit shy, so this is not the full out pose, but I was proud she did it at all!

This is an oddish story. This guy obviously wanted to be in my pictures. Between my big camera and my camera phone, he is in no less than 20 pictures. And, get this, this is during the parade. Shouldn't he just walk past us? I remember thinking, "move on, dude." But, he was obviously enjoying the spotlight! He was seriously blocking my view of every float and character that was coming. I even have some nice (not) butt shots.

So, if you want to see some Disney pics while I am still working on getting them, you can click on the flickr box on the right hand side of the page. Check back because I am trying to do some every night!

30 Days of Thanks 18

Today I am thankful to be near my family. I don't take this for granted. I have lived several hours from them, and it was really hard. I am also very aware of the probability that this is not permanent. John's company could move us at any point in time. So, while we are here, I will enjoy and be thankful for every impromptu dinner together, every lunch with my mom, every family birthday party, every shopping trip out with my nieces and sister, and every chance Hope gets to go to my parents' house to spend the night (and watch Dancing With The Stars!) Because while I know that the love will stretch over the miles, it is just so nice to see them so very often.

Thank You God for Hope Louise

Today and everyday, I am thankful for Hope Louise. 5 years ago was the most special day. I thanked God for her that night, and every night since. How anyone can hold their newborn baby and not believe in God is something I will never understand. She was just so perfect. The answer to our prayers. The fulfilment of God's promise to us. I am not sure if I have ever told the story of how we named her or not. We named her after Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord...plans to give you a future and a hope." I took the verse to heart as God's own promise to us that we would have a baby, despite doctors saying it might not ever happen. God has indeed given us a future with Hope.

Today, Hope has grown into a fun, sweet, intelligent girl, with plenty of sass to spread around. She can push my buttons, but man, she can make me smile. I love her with all that I am, and I am so proud that she is mine. Happy Birthday Lulu!!!

One of My Favorite Pictures Ever

11 10 09_Disney World_4681, originally uploaded by dyer622.

Walk to Cinderella's Castle Breakfast

11 10 09_Disney World_4659, originally uploaded by dyer622.

Thanks 16

Today I am thankful for my friends Deni and Shauna. Our weekly lunches are something I look forward to every week. It has been really hard to not see these girls everyday since leaving the church. They are just friends that I can be real with. We laughed so hard at lunch today and it just felt good! I won't tell you about all the stories revealed today, but if you know my friend Deni, please ask her where the Twelve of Twelve store is. :-) Love you girls!

Do you know that my baby girl is going to be 5 tomorrow? I just don't understand where the time has gone. Want to know what was going on 5 years ago tonight? Craziness. I had been on bed rest, gone to the doctor where my blood pressure was through the roof. I was 37ish weeks pregnant. Dr. Wyatt came in the room and said, "Let's have a baby tomorrow." Dis.Be.Lief. I was so ready, and sooo not ready. We had moved into a new house just 2 weeks earlier. The nursery was not finished. John and I went home and packed my bags, and through my panicky tears, John, my mom and my sister and I finished the nursery.

30 Days of Thanks- Day 15

We are back from our Disney Trip! It was so much fun. Really, I just can't even tell you how great it was. I am working on a big post to wrap up days 8-14 in my 30 days of Thanks blogs. Not tonight though! 8 days of Disney fun = 1 tired Mommy!

Today I am thankful for my sweet sister, my mom and my awesome niece, Julia cleaning my entire house while we were gone! Isn't that crazy? Last weekend was bonkers with packing, and my house was just absolutely destroyed. I was dreading walking back into the disaster zone, but instead, my house was clean! My sister has always been known for doing surprise clean ups, and there is just nothing better in the whole world! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It just made me feel so good!


More on the Disney trip soon! I loaded all my iphone pics onto facebook, but no real pictures are up yet. I am working on it!