Stroller Strides

At the request of Lacey, here's a little more info on Stroller Strides.

It meets everyday, Monday-Friday. In Fort Worth, we meet 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, but I don't know if that's how it is everywhere. We meet MWF at a local park and TTh at one of the malls here in town.

There actually isn't running involved in the one I am a part of, but I also don't know if that is different depending on where you are. There is, however, a lot of fast walking. We walk a total of about 3 miles each day we are at the park. I'm not sure how much it is at the mall. We also stop every so often along the way of the walk and do exercises. The exercises range from lunges, squats, and abs, to strength training with resistance bands working biceps, triceps, shoulders, glutes, hip flexors, thighs, etc. When you sign up, you get two different levels of resistance bands to use. It basically is a full body workout 5 days a week. I love it and definitely work up a good sweat.

Oh, and they involve the kids by getting the moms to sing songs to them during some of the workouts and, of course, it's very kid friendly and understanding if the baby cries or you need to stop and tend to your child. Also, at the end when we stretch, the moms that have a little older kids let them get out of the stroller and run around and play.

I really enjoy running and do planning on getting back into it soon, but I still plan to go to Stroller Strides everyday even when I start running again because it will work more of my body and also give me a strength workout as well. It's also really nice to interact with other moms while getting a workout.

The only sort of downside to it is that it does cost $50/month. But, the way I looked at that, I would likely spend that much to join a gym and I am getting 20 or more workouts a month out of that $50 (5 workouts a week/4 weeks), so it's really not too bad when you look at it that way.

If you have any specific questions about it or I didn't cover something, let me know!

Oops! Skinny Tuesday

I forgot to post yesterday! I remembered and then I forgot again and I just now remembered :)

I had my second weigh-in at Weight Watchers on Thursday and I lost 3 pounds! I'm down to 150.2 and I'll have my third weigh-in tomorrow. Hopefully I will have reached the 140s but
I'm not for sure.

Still not eating many sweets, as I've been trying not to do. It's still really difficult, though!

I've still been going to Stroller Strides everyday - I've only missed once since I started going.

I guess that's about all. How was your week?

The End of The Week

I only have a couple pictures this week because I was a bad picture-taker! I'm trying to get better at it again.

On Thursday, Tim and I made an offer on a house. The seller's counter-offered only by demanding more things of us. They didn't come off their price a single penny and asked us to do a whole lot of other things. The house had some possible slab issues (nothing is wrong now but it is elevated on one part of the house) so we just decided to walk and not counter offer.

Friday, we made an offer on another house. We found out Saturday that they are selling the house because they can't afford it anymore and when their realtor gave them our offer, they told him they wanted to RAISE the price of the house on their counter offer (?!). Their realtor told them they couldn't do that, so they countered with the same price as they are asking and also said they wanted us to pay for everything the seller typically pays for in a contract. So, again, we walked. Boo on all these people acting crazy!

Saturday, my friend, Sarina, from high school came to Fort Worth to visit us for the day. She moved to Dallas from New York a month ago but we hadn't gotten to hang out yet and she hadn't met Toots before. We went to eat at Joe T. Garcias (yum yum!) and hung out for the day, it was really fun. After she left, I went and rented New Moon and Couples Retreat for us to watch. We watched New Moon that night. I haven't read any of the Twilight books (Tim has read them) but I really like the movies. Tim didn't think New Moon was as good as Twilight. We haven't watched Couples Retreat yet but will either tonight or tomorrow because we have to return it on Wednesday.

Sunday, we went to church and then went and looked at houses in Haslet, which is a little further north than Keller. We found a house we liked that is brand new, being sold by the builder, but I'm just not sure if I want to live out there yet or not. I think the neighborhood is really nice and Northwest ISD is a great school district, but the nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away and Tim would have a 40 minute drive to work so we just haven't decided if we want to do that or not.

We're going back to look at some more houses in Heritage, the neighborhood we like in Keller, probably tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find something that works and the sellers are willing to work with us as well. I guess that's about all that's been going on. Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Here's what I know you want to see :)

Is this not the cutest outfit ever? He was moving his arms like crazy but his face is just too cute not to post

I don't know, mom....(look at his hands! haha)

A Letter to Toots

Dear Toots,

I can't believe you are almost three months old! I decided I needed to write you a letter so one day when you are all grown up, you can know how mommy felt about you way back when.

You are the light of my life. It's hard for me to understand how much I love you, and I definitely didn't know how much it would be when you were in my belly. Sure, I loved you then and I knew I was going to love you SO much whenever you were born, but I still couldn't have imagined how it would be. As I sit here writing this to you, I am choked up and near tears thinking about you - because I love you so very much. Whenever I am feeding you at night or you are sleeping during the day and I am looking at you, I am overwhelmed by how wonderful you are. I know, you are a small little baby right now, but you are still amazingly wonderful, even at your little age. I look at you and I can't believe God blessed me with you. How did I get this lucky?

It makes me so happy whenever you wake up in the morning and I am changing your diaper and you give me a big, toothless grin! It is too cute and I know your future wife will think it is just as adorable as I do. You "talk" all the time now as well and we have conversations throughout the day about whatever is on your mind - it is so, so fun. Our love just continues to grow every day as you become your own person and we see your personality. You like to give a very dramatic pouty face when you are upset about something but you always manage to match it soon after with a giant open-mouth grin. You like the mornings the best but your baths at night are very close to being your favorite as well. You love, love the light and shadows and like to stare at them, mesmerized. You are also starting to like playing in your little play yard and batting at toys. Oh, and I think you are your favorite person right now. You just grin and talk and talk whenever you see yourself in the mirror. You have also discovered your hands and want to keep them in your mouth nearly all the time. It's also great fun for you to look around everywhere when mommy is exercising at stroller strides and to stare at all the other kids.

I think about all the exciting things that are coming up in your life. You literally have your WHOLE life ahead of you and I can't wait to share it with you. But, at the same time, I don't want to forget you as you are now, in this stage of your life, as a tiny little man. I am beyond lucky to be able to be with you all day, everyday and experience everything just as you do it.

Well, pumpkin, you are waking up from a nap right now so I need to go sweep you out of your crib and play. Always remember how much I love you!

Love,
Mommy

Slice of Me Sunday

1. Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging shortly after I got married, mainly to keep family updated on what was going on with Tim and I and because I always thought it was interesting to read about people's lives, so maybe someone would find it interesting to read about mine.

2. Who's the one blog friend that you would want to meet the most in "real life"?
Honestly, I would like to meet all the ones I don't already know in real life because I think I would get along fabulously with them since I enjoy reading their blogs in the first place.


3. Why are you always concerned with losing that "extra 10 pounds" when chances are you husband/boyfriend/friends tell you that you look just fine the way you are?
Because there is a certain weight that I feel pretty at and, if I'm not at it, I think about how I would look better if I was. Tim tells me not to ever get on the scale and just get to a point where I think I look good without knowing what I weigh. If only it were that easy...

4. What's the one thing you wish guys could understand about you?
I have to agree with Kaitlin on this one. Whenever I say "I have nothing to wear" and Tim looks at me like I'm nuts. Seriously, sometimes there is NOTHING in my closet that I want to wear or think looks good at that time.

5. Tattoos. How many do you have and how many are visible when you wear your "everyday" clothes?
I don't have any tattoos and I don't plan on ever getting one. I can't think of anything that I would want on my body permanently. There just isn't anything that I wouldn't get tired of in a year or less, so I think it's best for me not to have anything to regret.

6. What was the best year of your life and why?
Initially, I thought 2008 because that's when Tim and I got married. But, I think it would have to be 2009 so far. Tim started his job in Fort Worth, I finished law school, graduated, passed the bar, moved to Fort Worth, found out I was pregnant, and did my internship at the DA. It was a year of big and awesome changes, but 2010 could end up being the best since the newest love of my life was born this year :)


7. Name three things you would do if you were a man for one day.
Not care about what I was wearing, burp and fart whenever because no one thinks it's a big deal (even though I think it's totally gross), and watch sports all day.

8. What's your alcoholic drink of choice that usually raises a few eyebrows?
I don't think I have one that raises a few eyebrows. I'm pretty plain when it comes to that!

The ABCs of Me

I got this from Sara's blog and thought it was fun.

A - Age: 24
B - Bed size: King
C - Chore you hate: Vaccuuming but only because I hate my vaccuum.
D - Dog's name: Tucker
E - Essential start your day item: Orange juice, something for breakfast - doesn't matter what but I have to eat
F - Favorite color: Blue
G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: Silver or Platinum
H - Height: 5'8"
I - Instruments you play: None :( I have played piano and guitar
J - Jewelry you wear everyday: Wedding rings (except for the next couple weeks because they are getting resized), watch, Aggie ring
K - Kids: One, Toots, age 11 weeks
L - Living arrangements: Apartment with Tim, Toots, and Tucker. Soon to be a house!!
M - Mom's name: Lisa
N - Nicknames: LaLa, Tulip
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: When I had jaw surgery in 2003, bad infection starting in my mouth in 1994, when I had Toots (I don't know if that meant my birth or when I gave birth)
P - Pet Peeve: Incorrect spelling, bad grammar, when Tim picks at his lip, bad drivers, the list goes on...
Q - Quote: "So this is my life, and I want you to know I'm both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be." - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (I know that's kind of a depressing quote but I just think it's beautiful)
R - Right handed or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Two step sisters, a half brother and two half sisters
T - Time you wake up: Whenever my little alarm clock wakes up ;) Usually 7 or 7:30 we start the morning routine.
U - Underwear: Yes....
V - Vegetable you dislike: Spinach
W - Ways you run late: Trying to find something to wear, traffic, misjudging how long it will take me to get somewhere
X - X-rays you've had: Mouth (lots and lots and lots), knee, foot
Y - Yummy food you make: I hope there is more than one but I'll say red velvet cake
Z - Zoo favorite: Giraffe or elephants

Skinny Tuesday

*A new weekly post is right below this post*


I had my first weigh-in in Weight Watchers this week. I only lost a pound, down to 153.2 (I think I might've told y'all the wrong starting weight) but I weighed yesterday and was down two more pounds so I think I might have been on the verge of losing more when I weighed in.

I went to Stroller Strides every day last week and I'm still loving it. I didn't do bad on sweets last week but didn't eat real great because of all our guests and going out to eat.

Hope y'all had a great week. See you next Tuesday!

Hiatus

So sorry I didn't post at all last week! It seemed like time just slipped away from me. Saturday, my dad, stepmom, and brother and sisters kept Toots so Tim and I could go out with friends. We went to dinner at Taverna and went to Scat Jazz Lounge downtown. We had a great time but, unfortunately, Toots cried the whole time for them :( I felt so bad they had to deal with that the whole time we were gone! Tim's brother, his wife, and their two little girls came in town on Sunday and spent until Wednesday so we hung out with them quite a bit. It was the first time Toots got to meet his aunt and cousins :) We had a lot of fun with them. My mom and stepdad came in town on Wednesday night and stayed until this Sunday.

We started looking at houses this weekened. Our lease is up June 1st at our apartment and we are tired of living in apartments and ready to buy a house. Toots is getting baptized on May 23 so we would ideally like to already be in a house by then so we can have everyone over afterwards, but we'll see. We found one we really liked but the market analysis showed the other houses in the neighborhood were selling for MUCH less so we decided that wouldn't be a good buy. Hopefully we will find something perfect before too long.

Toots will be 11 weeks old on Wednesday! I think he weighs about 14 pounds now, but I have to weigh him with me today. He's sleeping so I can't do it now. I measured him yesterday and he was 25 3/4 inches long - that's two inches in three weeks! He's a BIG boy :) For two nights in the past week, he has slept SEVEN hours straight! We are super excited about that and hope it continues. It was a little scary to wake up after seven hours the first night and realize he hadn't woken up, but it was pure heaven when he did it last night. Also, while my mom was here, she stayed here one night with Toots and let Tim and I go stay at their hotel and get a full night of uninterrupted sleep. It was great. He has a cold right now, which is no fun and I think wakes him up in the mornings because he is stopped up. It's also hard to get him to breastfeed in the morning because he can't breathe well, but he gets SO upset whenever I suction out his nose, that it keeps it stopped up. I even got a NoseFrida (google it) to use instead of the bulb syringe, but he doesn't like it any better.

I've got lots of pictures to share since I didn't post last week. You'll notice some of them are a little blurry. It's quite difficult for me to get good pictures of him since he moves so much and I am trying to take them very quickly!


Snuggling in his warm towel after his bath

Smiling at mommy

First St. Patrick's Day :)

Onesie on St. Patrick's Day - who wouldn't think he's charming?!

Lots of bubbles in the tub, mommy couldn't resist making me look ridiculous by putting bubbles on my head.

I know he's not looking in this one, but I thought it was cute how he's sitting up against the Bobby.

Playing in his new play mat/area. Kind of blurry but very sweet :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I won't go so long without posting again :)

Skinny Tuesday

My Skinny Tuesdays are going to be a little messed up because my weigh-in day for Weight Watchers is on Thursdays, so I will update with my weight from the previous week for each Tuesday. This Tuesday, I'll just tell y'all my starting weight.

I went at 6:00 at night so I had eaten the whole day and hadn't held back since it would be my last time not to count points. I weighed 153.6 and my goal weight (from when I made lifetime a couple years ago) was 132.

This week, I did better than normal because of counting points. The only thing that has messed me up some is dinners because we have gone out with friends and had family in town, so it's been hard for me to stay on plan at night. Also, because I am breastfeeding I get 34 points a day, which is a lot. I probably won't lose weight as quickly as I have on it in the past because of that, but I'm still glad to have a motivator.

I'm having to really watch my liquid intake and make sure I drink enough water because I already noticed a drop in my milk supply two days after starting the plan. Hopefully I will get it under control.

Still doing well not eating sweets, which is a good thing. Also, I joined this group called Stroller Strides that meets every morning, Monday through Friday, for a workout. I've gone Friday, Monday, and today. That will definitely help me with working out - I love having somewhere to be for working out because it forces me to go.

Slowly but surely I'm making my way along :)

Weekly post will have to come tomorrow because I'm making cookies for a playgroup tonight and I need to wash my hair and get Brendan to bed, so I don't really have the time to write another post. See y'all tomorrow!

Soon!

Sorry I haven't posted my weekly post or Skinny Tuesday! I will try my best to get both of those done this evening.

Skinny Tuesday (A Day Late)

Sorry I'm a day late, I got sidetracked yesterday!

I only lost .2 this week, putting me at 152.2. The only day I ate sweets was Saturday, but I ate a lot of them. I ate so many sweets I felt sick and I think it made Toots fussy as well. I also didn't do very well on working out. I did the Wii workout a couple more days after Tuesday and did crunches and took the baby for a walk too but I didn't do anything Friday-Sunday.

I decided I'm going to re-join Weight Watchers next week. I did it before Tim and I got engaged and lost 25 pounds. It's a big motivator for me to have someone else see me weigh in. Also, Tim came up with the idea for him to take Toots when he gets home and let me workout and then I'll take him and Tim can workout. That way, we are both able to workout each night. We haven't been doing that because we watch our TV shows everynight but he said we should just DVR them and watch them later, which I think is a good idea.

Overall, not a very good week but I have a plan to get things going, so I'm happy about that. How was your week?

Two Months!

Hello, everyone! Toots turned 2 months old this weekend! We had his doctor's appointment today. He weighed 12 pounds 15 ounces (80th percentile), was 23 3/4 inches long (60th percentile), and his head was 15 1/2 inches (I can't remember what this was). The doctor said his head growth slowed down, which tells him he is probably about to have a growth spurt. I'm not sure how that indicates that, but that's what he said.

He rolled over for the first time the other day! I have it on video but he's naked in the video (trying to air out his diaper rash!) so I have to figure out how to edit it before I can post it. He rolled from his tummy to his back both to the left and the right. He's also "talking" a lot lately, smiling, grasping things, he can push up his chest and head when on his tummy and he has great head control. He can also follow things back and forth that you put in front of his face. He still loves the light and also loves shadows. He DOES NOT love sleeping, however :( Hopefully that will get better soon. The doctor said he should be sleeping more but if he's not sleeping a lot more by 4 months, we will start letting him cry some in his crib. He's plenty big enough to not need to eat during the night, but as of right now he still wants to.

This weekend, we went to Tim's boss' house for dinner on Saturday. Toots was very good. Saturday morning, I got a pedicure and a massage. It was literally the best massage I've ever had. It felt great! We intended to go to church on Sunday but, of course, Toots had a bad night and we didn't get much sleep. I swear, he always has bad nights on Saturdays when we want to go to church on Sunday! We ended up just going to the grocery store and hanging out at home. He didn't want to sleep at all yesterday but ended up sleeping pretty good at night. Today, he had to get lots of shots at the doctor, so he's not very happy :(

I'm going to go to the DA's office on Wednesday to visit and show everyone Toots for the first time. Other than that, we don't have many plans this week.

Here are some pictures...

I'm two months old! (I love this picture because I think he looks really small haha)


This is from when he was in the hospital. I just think he looks so precious.


This is his favorite pouty face. Anytime he's about to get upset he makes this face. You can't tell it as much in this picture, but that lower lip is stuck out realllllly far!


And last, but DEFINITELY not least...I finally got a big smile on camera!! Yay!! Luckily, I had my phone nearby because when I got the camera and tried to get him to do it again he wouldn't.


Hope everyone had a good weekend! See you tomorrow for Skinny Tuesday!

Slice of Me Sunday

1. Are you more of a talker or a listener?
I definitely like to talk, but I think I'm a really good listener as well (at least, I try to be!).

2. Bra. Underwire or wireless?
Usually underwire, always. But, since I'm breastfeeding, I have to go wireless. Apparently, it's not good for production or something to have underwire. I have to say, I miss it.

3. I wish I was...?
Enjoying a drink on the beach in Mexico!

4. The Academy Awards are on tonight...will you watch?
I'm watching it right now, but I haven't been paying much attention to it. I like to see what people wear, but I'm not really interested in who/what wins.

5. Do you put your deodorant on before or after you get dressed?
Before unless I'm doing a touch up during the day ;)

6. Would you rather do the dishes or clean the toilets?
Clean the toilets because I think it's an easier job. I don't reallly mind doing either but I'm lucky enough to have a husband that usually does the dishes since I cook dinner.

7. How much did you weight at birth?
7 pounds, 13 ounces. Bigger than Tim, bigger than Toots!

8. If you could only buy one thing for the Spring/Summer season...what would it be?
A comfortable, cute dress that I could wear to dinner but also just throw on to go run errands.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Professional Pictures

Here are some of the professional pictures we got taken of Toots! These are just a small number of them, so I might include others in future posts, but you get the idea and can see the adorableness :)

An Explanation

You will notice on my recent posts and, if you decided to look allll the way back through, on all my past posts mentioning the baby, I have changed his name to a nickname. You will also notice this change on my header. I realize that those of you that have been reading for awhile will know what his name is and a nickname won't change that for you, but, as I mentioned before, I'm trying to implement some safety measures on the blog.

I've always thought nicknames were kind of silly and I have a hard time thinking of ones I think are good, but it was really important to Tim that we change to a nickname for the baby, so that's what I did. From now on, he will be called "Toots" or, sometimes "TT." This nickname is for obvious reasons - because he's so gassy all the time ;)

Also, you will notice starting with my next post with professional pictures, that I have added a watermark to all future pictures. As of right now, the past pictures are watermark-less because I haven't had the time to go back through and change them. Perhaps I will do that, perhaps not. If someone has already stolen them, their kid just won't get any older because all the future ones of Toots will be watermarked. I'm also trying to fix it with Flickr that if you click on the picture, it says it is private instead of taking you to my Flickr page with the picture. In addition, I'm trying to disable the ability to right-click to save things off my blog. I thought I did both these things right but they aren't working - could someone PLEASE help me with this?! If I happen to post a picture on here or something else that you really want, please e-mail me (throneofthornes@gmail.com) and ask me for it and I'll be happy to send it to you. Also, if you have any questions in the future that you don't want to put on the Comments section of a post, you can use that e-mail to ask me anything you want.

Hope you think it's cute and not too silly/corny/weird that I am doing this. Thanks, again, for all of you that take the time to read and share in our life with us - I have a lot of fun telling you about it!

Just Call Me Mrs. Fix It

I actually posted this on Facebook as my first big mom-fail, but some people commented and said that it wasn't actually a fail :) I was reminded by my friend, Michelle, that I needed to blog about it to keep a record of it.

Yesterday, I was running errands with Brendan and our last stop was at the Ford dealership to get my oil changed. They take FOREVER to change your oil - I'm always there at least an hour. Well, during this time, Toots got a dirty diaper and he started freaking out to have it changed (he has bad diaper rash from the antibiotics causing diarrhea so he's especially sensitive right now). I grab the diaper bag and bring him in the bathroom to change him, where I realize I have NO diapers in the diaper bag! He's not going to start crying....what to do? I had a burp cloth in the diaper bag, so I cleaned him up with wipes, wrapped the burp cloth around him like a diaper and put his pants back on to hold it in place since I didn't have any pins or anything. Homemade diaper!

It managed to make it until we got home and he even pooped a little in it and it didn't go onto his pants! Oh, and I promptly stuck six diapers in the bag when we got home.

I'll post some of our professional pictures we got later on or tomorrow!

Skinny Tuesday

Much better things to report for this Skinny Tuesday.

This week, I started exercising. Today is only my third day since we were in San Antonio longer than expected because of the hospital fiasco. But, I started this Active workout by EA Sports on my Wii Fit and that's what I've done the past two days. I'm actually pretty sore in my legs! Today is a "rest" day on the 30 day challenge I'm doing on it, so I'm going to take a walk with Brendan and start doing crunches. I think I also made better choices this week in regard to what I ate and I didn't eat any sweets except on Sunday I ate some frozen yogurt from Jason's Deli and 2 Reese's eggs.

My struggles this week are still with sweets. Though I'm not eating them, I crave them constantly! I also have a hard time making good choices when we go out to eat. I always find something that sounds sooo good and, of course, it isn't healthy at all.

As for my weight, this morning I weighed 152.6! Yay for losing that weight I gained last week and still getting almost a pound below what I was the week before. Hopefully starting working out will also help me reach my goal.

How was your week? Hope it was great!

The Week From Hell

That's the only way to describe this past week. Sorry in advance that this will be long.

As y'all know, I was in Boerne starting Sunday to help my mom and stepdad with my neice, Rosabelle. Monday, Toots started being really fussy and it was hard to get him to eat but I just thought it was his normal gas or a growth spurt or something.

Tuesday, he was super fussy and after 9 AM, I couldn't get him to eat at all. He was screaming all day, which made me have to continuously hold him which meant I couldn't hold or play with Rosabelle, which, in turn, made her start crying and screaming. I'm usually able to keep things under control but I totally broke down and called my mom crying. I also called the pediatrician here in Fort Worth about him not eating at all (it was 1 PM at this point). The nurse that called me back told me I needed to take him somewhere because it wasn't okay that he wasn't eating. My mom called her doctor and I called a pediatrician in Boerne and they said to take him to the ER in Boerne. We took him there and they took a blood and urine sample. It was SO sad to see them put an IV needle in his arm and do a catheter on him and he was just screaming and screaming. :( Also, he ate a tiny bit while we were there but then he threw it all up. They came back and told me the blood and urine had come back normal but they were keeping a sample of both to do a culture on and see if any bacteria grew over the next 24-48 hours. They thought he probably just had some sort of viral infection/cold. We went home and he seemed to get a little better and I was able to get him to eat.

Wednesday, I thought he was back to normal and fine and I went and had lunch with my mom and ran some errands and then my mom and I headed to the airport. While we were driving, I had a call from an Unknown Number on my phone but I didn't answer and I didn't get to check the message they left until after we were in the airport. We had just checked my bags and gotten my ticket and were about to sit down at Starbucks for awhile before I needed to go to my terminal so I checked my message. It was the doctor from the Boerne ER telling me it was very important that she talk to me. I called back and she told me the blood culture they had done grew bacteria and Toots had some sort of bacterial infection and needed to be admitted to the hospital. I told her I was already at the airport and asked her what I needed to do. She told me I needed to leave the airport and take him immediately to Methodist Children's hospital in San Antonio and that they were already expecting me. Of course, I started freaking out and so did my mom and we ran to get my bags back from Southwest and leave for the hospital. We spent the next forever number of hours at the hospital ER getting him evaluated. They had to do a spinal tap on him :'( I left the room for that, at the doctor's suggestion. They also had to take a lot of blood. The whole thing was just totally mentally and emotionally exhausting and Toots was just so sad the whole time and he seemed so small and fragile and of course we had no idea what was going on. They admitted us to the hospital and we got in our room about midnight.

Tim had left Fort Worth as soon as I called him when we were leaving the airport and made it to the hospital about 10:30 or 11:00 that night. They started giving Toots antibiotics while we were still in the emergency room and continued when we got to our room.

Thursday, we waiting for the doctor the ENTIRE day and she finally showed up at 11:30 PM to basically tell us that they were still waiting for the bacteria in the culture to grow so they could know what specific bacteria it was. The only good news we got was that the spinal came back fine. The nurse had originally thought it came back showing an infection but it was just because, when they did the spinal, they got a lot of blood in it and the second and third vials didn't have any problems. So we had to wait around until Friday still not knowing if we were going to be able to go home or have to stay at the hospital for several more days. Poor Toots had monitors all over him and an IV in his hand. It was heartbreaking.

Friday morning, the nurse figured out Toots had pulled out his IV and he had to get another one :( The poor thing had just been sleeping all the time and seemed totally exhausted. We waited around again and the doctor came by at 4:00 on Friday afternoon to tell us that the bacteria showed up as Strep (some really long name along with that), which is a cousin of strep throat, but the subsequent cultures they had done at the hospital were showing up clean. So, she decided to send us home with seven days worth of antibiotics instead of making us stay in the hospital. We spent the night in Boerne and came back to Fort Worth on Saturday. Longest most awful week EVER.

Luckily, thank God, Toots is okay and seems to feel totally fine. The antibiotics made him have some diarrhea but it seems to be getting better now. I hope we NEVER have to go through that again with him or any subsequent children we have. Needless to say, we have been totally exhausted.

On a happier note, we got a preview of our pictures we got taken back. I should be getting the CD of all the images sometime in the next few days. I'm posting both of the picture groups here. Please ignore the one of us kissing him on the cheeks. I mean, could I look any more horrible?! First of all, my nose looks like a witch and, second, it was taken on the side with my jaw surgery scar, which looks terrible as well. I didn't think she would choose that picture because he was freaking out while we were taking them so I didn't think any of them would turn out normal. Gag. I love the rest of them, though. They are showing up kind of small on here, but I think you can still see them well.

Here's hoping this is a MUCH better week - which I think it will be! Hope y'all had better weeks and weekends than me. See you tomorrow for Skinny Tuesday!