31 Hours Later

Our trip South was eventful, to say the least. It was also the longest trip we've ever had. We pulled out at 8:30 AM on Wednesday. I immediately had to turn around because we left Sadie's food and water bowls on the front porch. Then, before officially heading out of town, we had to stop and get Caleb some rice milk.

Before we got to South of the Border (which is two hours from our house) we had to stop and make some adjustments with Sadie's seating arrangement. She had to ride in the car with me because there was no room anywhere else. It was all I could do to keep her off of the gear shift! And the poor thing is so big, she had a hard time figuring out how to lay down comfortably. Anyway, it was very frustrating for a little while and I knew it was going to be a looooong drive.

At around 11:15 AM the car got a flat tire! There I was, following Chris when the tire blew out and I was stranded on the side of the highway with two kids and a dog in a small car! I called Chris and told him to turn around and come rescue me. He had to drive a few miles before he could turn around. After about 15 minutes he arrived to where I was. Unfortunately, the spare that was in the trunk was a flat that I got a few weeks ago at church. We forgot to get it fixed. But a flat tire is better than no tire, so Chris put the flat on and we rolled off the highway and into the closest gas station. He bought some fix-a-flat stuff that blew up the tire. Thankfully, we had just passed a Walmart a couple miles back so we got back on the highway and drove to the Walmart. 3 hours, one new tire, a patched tire, lunch and $92 later, we were back on the road.

Approximately 15 minutes into the drive, we ran into some traffic. Of course! Then Sadie starts going nuts, trying to climb out my window and drooling all over the car. About 10 seconds after I had the thought that maybe we should have walked Sadie one more time before we left, she squatted in her seat and proceeded to have the most fragrant bowel movement ever, right there in the car. I pulled off the road immediately. Chris came and took her for a walk while I had the honor of scooping out the poop with napkins and baby wipes. Thank the Lord for baby wipes!! Needless to say, my Yankee Candle air freshener was all the way open and the windows were cracked for a couple hours after that.

We made the decision, that since it was going to be dark soon and we were still in South Carolina, that we needed to stop at a hotel for the night. We made it to exit 5 in SC and stopped at a Days Inn for a (hopefully) good night's sleep.

We enjoyed (and I say that lightly) a free continental breakfast the next morning at were back on the road at around10 AM. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, although we still had to stop more often than we wanted to because Sadie is mental. But we finally, FINALLY arrived at Chris' parents house at 3:30 that afternoon. Thirty-one long hours after starting our journey.

You Know You're Moving When...

...diaper changes have to be done on boxes:

Moving day is tomorrow!!! We'll be having a little camp out on our living room floor tonight and first thing in the morning we're heading out! Keep us in your prayers as we travel; for happy children, no problems with the vehicles, little to no traffic, etc. I'll let you know when we're safe in Florida!!!

A Visit To Charlotte

The short version: Chris and I were supposed to attend the Family Life Weekend To Remember marriage conference this weekend, but with the move and all the craziness involved in finding childcare for the whole weekend, we postponed it. But seeing as how we had already purchased a hotel room for Friday night, we decided to take a quick family mini vacation to Charlotte, NC. It was loads of fun. Saturday we decided to go to Discovery Place. It's like an aquarium, a museum, and a playground all in one. We all had fun and thoroughly enjoyed our quick vacation. We decided we need to do it more often!
*For some reason, the slideshow won't slide the way I intended on it doing so you can't see all the captions. I don't have the patience to deal with it now, so sorry for the weird captions.*


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Dinner With Friends

We had the privilege of having dinner with some dear friends this past week. We met the Strum's at Chick-fil-A on Monday night. I did not bring my camera but we had a great time. Laura Anne and Jessie were the only kids in the play area. Laura Anne loved that! Tuesday night the Delgado's had us over. I did have my camera for that. We all had lots of fun. Then Wednesday night we had dinner with the Edmonds'. We are so grateful for all our friends here and we will miss them dearly when we move to Florida.

Teefies!

I actually got all 5 of Caleb's teeth on camera yesterday!

How Quickly Things Can Change!

Where do I begin?? So, originally our plan was to move, like, the week before Caleb's first birthday. That changed this past week. Chris was laid off from his job, which we knew was going to happen, but we thought it wouldn't be until the end of February. He was told at the beginning of the year that his company was going to cut back hours and/or lay off some people, but not until later. So, anyway, we expected this, it's just a little sooner than anticipated.

So when Chris got home from work Tuesday and told me he was laid off, we started discussing our options. We came to the conclusion that it didn't make much sense to get a job here for one month. Two factors are making it possible for us to move now: we have living arrangements in Florida, and we're getting our tax return back this coming week--a good one, thanks to Caleb. :o) So, we are scheduled to head out Wednesday the 25th. Yes, that's a week and a half! As you can imagine, we are busy as can be, trying to get everything packed up and still be able to live here for the next week.

In other news, we took Caleb to see the dermatologist again this week for a follow-up appointment. While we were there, they weighed him. He weighs 17 pounds, 6 ounces--that's exactly one pound less than last week and a total of 2 pounds less from what he weighed in December. Needless to say, that's worries me a little. The doctor we saw recommended that we take him to his pediatrician to figure it out. Thankfully, we were able to schedule an appointment for two hours later. After taking a blood test, they discovered that Caleb has anemia. Like we needed another ailment, right? :o) This one is easy to fix, though. He is on an iron supplement now and he'll go for a check up right before we leave town, so they can test his blood again.

Last Monday, we took the kids to the park to feed the ducks and geese. This time, some seagulls joined us. We got some neat shots of them and we all had fun. After that, we went home and had a picnic dinner on the living room floor. It was super fun, and Laura Anne was in a silly mood. She tackled me after we were done eating and we had a tickle fight. It was so fun.

Here are some pictures from the park.

Another Baby!

Not for us, but for my brother and his wife! They welcomed their baby girl, Anna Celia, into the world today a little after 5 PM. She weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long, I believe. Now Peter and Isaac have a new little sister to love! I can't wait to get my hands on her! Praise God for this wonderful blessing!

I Figured It Out

Here's the picture I took with my phone when we were at the hospital last week.

Caleb was taking a much needed nap and Laura Anne was laying next to him, watching Nick Jr. on the TV.

Aw! I just noticed she's holding his hand! She is so sweet to him!

Not Me! Monday

It's that time again folks! Time to confess all the things you did not do recently! I am not feeling guilty for not feeling guilty about taking my son to the ER last week for the sole purpose of getting the right doctor to come to us. After all, I was only listening to the advice of our pediatrician. And my son did get to see the doctor we've been waiting to see for a long time. So it's all good. No guilt here! Not me! I am not remembering the day my husband had emergency surgery to remove part of his small intestine because it happened 3 years ago today! I have not been less than excited about giving my son a bath these days because of a recent horrible bath experience. Nope. Bathtime in our house is always, always an enjoyable experience. I do not have more fun playing on my daughter's Webkinz website more than she does. I mean, I don't have any free time to sit and play those childish games. Not me! And finally, I was definitely not allowing my 10 month old son suck on a candy cane while writing this post. I am a responsible mother and would never do such a thing. What have you not been up to?

Miracle Cream

After just two uses of the very expensive prescription miracle cream called Fluticasone, Caleb's skin looks sooooo good! Especially on his elbows, there's no redness! I'm so happy! I must say, it's worth every penny.

Our sleeping angel

Here We Go Again

Early this week Caleb developed yet another rash on his face. This one was around and behind his right ear. Even though it looked similar to the rash he had that landed us in the hospital in December, I knew that it wasn't the same thing because the doctor's told us he wouldn't get it again.

So Wednesday we took him to the pediatrician. He told us it could be the herpes again, but he wasn't sure. He said he was going to make some phone calls and get us in to see the pediatric dermatologist at Duke before the end of the week. If we didn't hear from him by Thursday, there was the option of taking him to the emergency room to make the dermatologists come to us. See, we have been trying for over a month to make an appointment over there, but for one reason or another, it wasn't happening.

Thursday morning came, no phone call. We spoke with a nurse at the pediatrician's office (one who we've been consulting with all week so she knows our situation) and she told us to go ahead and go to the ER. So we did. At first, the doctors didn't seem too thrilled that we were "cheating the system", but honestly, I didn't care. My baby needed to be seen by the right doctor.

After about 45 minutes, a doctor came in and said "you have an appointment right now over at the dermatology clinic". I found out later that the director of pediatric dermatology had a meeting to go to and after that, he was going out of town for two weeks. We had to hurry over there so he would have time to meet with us. A nurse walked with us over to the clinic (on the same campus as the hospital, but a long walk!). While we were checking in at the counter, another nurse met us there and took us back to an exam room. We talked for a few minutes and her exact words were, "you're in the right place now" referring to getting Caleb the skin care he needs. Hooray! After just a few minutes, the doctor came in and all of us sat down and talked. They came to the conclusion that Caleb has strep on his skin (I believe it means the strep infected his skin where his eczema is). The best thing they did for us was write a detailed list of what medications and creams or lotions to give and when. Both the doctor and the nurse said that Caleb may be a different kid next week! Fingers crossed!

I am so thankful to God that we are finally seeing the people that can help our baby boy. And what a miracle that we just barely made it in time to see the director of pediatric dermatology! Wow. After several long months battling the eczema and now dealing with the nasty, evil rash he keeps getting, we are where we are supposed to be and Caleb is getting treated. We look forward to the coming weeks in hopes that Caleb starts feeling better and we can keep his eczema under control. We most likely will still take him to see the allergist at Duke so he can be tested again. That will probably happen in April.

I did not bring my camera with me to the hospital but I took a picture of Caleb and Laura Anne in the hospital bed with my cell phone. Only problem is, for some reason when I try to send the picture to my email so I can post it here, the message doesn't go through. I'm hoping to figure out that problem today.