Andrew’s illustrious T-ball/baseball career started on Saturday morning with the opening parade and his first ever practice. To summarize, I think the ‘T’ in t-ball stood for the following at one point or another on Saturday:
By the end, you couldn’t wipe the smile nor get the uniform off of him!
A unicorn is a mythical creature…. and so is 6 kids under 5 (who haven’t been sedated) sitting peacefully watching a movie on a Friday night.
But alas- here it is! The unicorn of parenting with friends!
This meme says so much….Little did I know that on the eve of our trip to Florida for some sun and R&R, it was also the beginning of major Hand, Foot & Mouth outbreak….
The Friday before our trip Teddy came home with a fever. I thought nothing of it because toddlers get weird 24 hour fevers all the time. And by morning he was fine. We had Saturday to recover before our flight to Florida on Sunday morning. At our 5am wake up call, Teddy was all clear. But by the time we were on the plane (my first solo flight with the boys BTW), he was in full rash breakout mode; hands, feet, bum, legs. And that’s how we started our week with Papa and Coco…..
I think I read every mommy blog and homeopathic treatment article for Coxsackie Virus (aka Hand, Foot & Mouth) that exists which explains why poor Tedders was slathered in Coconut oil, chugged elderberry syrup hourly and bathed in Epson salts like it was his job. And poor Papa and Coco had to deal with Mommy’s crazy. At it’s worst:
We were spared and it never spread to his face or mouth- just every where else. And since he was in good spirits and no longer contagious (just gross looking), we tried not to let it stop us from enjoying our time in the Sunshine state.
We rode bikes… A LOT! My parents neighborhood was perfect for Andrew and he loved it! One morning we went on a 5-mile ride and Andrew only stopped twice for about 30 seconds each. Go Andrew!
The boys went on scavenger hunts to find the gold the leprechaun had left on St. Patrick’s day:
And they went swimming everyday…even the day it rained. Doesn’t Coco look thrilled?!
By midweek Teddy’s spots had started to fade and he was clearly on the up swing so we decided to keep our plans for Disney World. Daddy was even on his way to meet us there from Chicago, so why not?! But somewhere between Bonita Springs and Disney World, Andrew started to go down hill.
The virus was really fickle with Andrew. Some moments he’d be perfectly fine and then others, he’d be falling asleep. And knowing the timing of how it all works (contagious period, fever & rash), we decided to proceed as planned. Plus I feared what he’d be like if I told him he had to miss Toy Story Land.
It wasn’t always pretty but we did it! Andrew and I started our first day at Disney at the new Toy Story Land with the slinky roller coaster. I thought this was a no brainer. He loves Toy Story and really liked roller coasters last time. Here we are killing time in line and teaching him thumb wrestling:
There are no mid-ride photos on this rollercoaster but based on his reaction I’m pretty sure this is what we looked like:
My bad. Lesson learned…. sort of.
Next up:
The boys were super pumped to return home to their Lightning McQueen hotel; a dream for my little boys!
Day 2: The Magic Kingdom!
And we’re spent. I think this picture sums it up after a week of battling illnesses and then tackling the happiest place on Earth.
In between the rashes, fevers, coconut oil, elderberry shots, melt downs (mommy included), and crowded theme parks, we had fun!
Thanks Papa and Coco for the help, hospitality and memories! We’ll be sure to get a doctor’s note before our next trip!
The last 8 weeks has been musical bedrooms and a game of dominoes in the upstairs of our house. The move to get Teddy out of the crib spurred:
Said differently, you know lots of things are changing when the UPS delivery man comments on the number of packages you’ve recieved recently…
But I’m happy to say that we’re 99% done and the boys are happily settled into their new rooms… and Teddy into a big (BIG!) boy bed no less. The guest room went from:
To Andrew’s new room:
A few updates to Teddy’s new room to make it HTP appropriate:
And the nursery is now ready for more ‘mature audiences.’
Just a few final touches and we’re done! Thanks to all those who helped with the stream of transformation projects. And special shout out to Andy for patiently and lovingly managing me (and my OCD) through this process. Though I’m pretty sure the most terrifying thing I can say to him now is, ‘So I have an idea….’
Here are the official school pictures:
Andy celebrated the big 3-6 on Wednesday! The boys helped celebrate him by baking brownies (read- eating a lot of brownie batter), playing with the balloons we bought him, opening the presents for him, and blowing out the candles. If I didn’t know any different, you’d think it was their birthday!
We can officially report that Teddys is in the 50th percentile for height at 34.5 inches and the 50th percentile for weight at 28.1 lbs. If you believe in the idea that you can predict how tall a person will be by doubling their height at two, Teddy will be about 5′ 8”. I’ll let you guess how that went over at home….
If we’re measuring by personality, he’s off the charts! Perhaps his personality will make up for whatever he may or may not lack in physical height! For example, he yelled ‘Not Nice!’ and scolded the nurse after she gave him his shot.
