Updates Before Updates

Last week we were vacationing in Maine and New Hampshire with my family so there is TONS to update everyone on and pictures to posts. I am still waiting for everyones pictures so I can decide which are the best, but while you all wait with baited breath, I will update you on what happened before we left.

On Monday July 6th we were busy working on house projects and errands. I decided to make cookies that afternoon and when Pepper started crying I decided to try once again to get her to take a bottle. I tried a different bottle and some formula (you get tons free from the hospital and I was too lazy to pump). Cody was finally successful in giving it to her and I thought, "Yipee! We can finally go on a date and see a movie!" She still seemed fussy after the bottle so I nursed her...I don't know how much she normally eats so my plan was to keep feeding till she was quiet and fell asleep. She finally did do just that and slept for an hour or so. When she woke up she seemed a bit upset so I started burping her and then it all began. Pepper became like the girl from the Exorcist and threw up an insane amount of liquid. I thought that was weird but we were in the middle of getting Morgan ready for bed so I just cleaned up and passed her to Cody. Five minutes later she exploded with liquid again. Then the fun part started. Since she had expelled all the liquid she started gagging up stomach juices. At first they were clear but then turned bright yellow. She was struggling and choking and her whole face was turning red. I decided then it was time to call the doctor's answering service to get some advice. They told me to take her to the ER because they were worried about dehydration. We rushed around getting Morgan into bed and calling everyone we know to get a baby sitter. Unfortunately it was Monday night and thus FHE but we finally found someone who answered their phone and off we were. By the time we got there poor little Pepper had thrown up numerable times and was like a lifeless little ragdoll. Luckily our hospital has a pediatric er so we were rushed right in and a pediatrician saw her. They had her take a stomach x-ray and basically kept her around to watch her. Finally they told me to nurse her to see if she could keep something down and perk up a bit. She managed to eat a bit, then threw it up but this time it was more like spitting up. After that she started holding her head up and smiling again. We waited a little bit longer then tried again. This time she kept most of it down and then fell peacefully asleep.

The doctor sent us home with the instructions to wake her every couple hours in the night to feed her (our little champion sleeper usually sleeps from 9 to 5 or 6 am). She did throw up a few more times over the next day or so but nothing like before. The doctor said that they couldn't say if she was allergic to formula or not but that I shouldn't give her anymore for awhile..."Ya Think!" I'm never doing that again. Hopefully she will still take a bottle but I will have to not be lazy and pump for her.

So needless to say that was a crazy way to start our week but we bounced back after that. That Friday the 10th we started dogsitting for Cody's carpool buddy. The little dogs name is Eddie and he and Morgan became fast friends. Morgan loved walking him and chasing him about the apartment. It was fun having him but very tiring. It was like having two toddlers and one that does not listen very well. Luckily Eddie slept at his own house so we still had a peaceful naptime and bedtime.

Here's a cute video of Morgan and Eddie:

Here are some videos of Morgan playing and singing on his piano. We didn't put batteries in the piano for noise reasons and Morgan doesn't seem to miss them. Of course he makes up for the lack of noise by always singing at full volume but I wouldn't stop him for the world. I love my little music man!

On Tuesday the 14th we flew bright and early to Portland, Maine. I will post all about that soon but let me just say I was very impressed by my little travelers. Pepper nursed and slept most of the time and Morgan was a little trooper. Despite how good they were I was still very grateful to have Cody with me on my first trip with two children!

The Fourth with Family

So much to catch up on. Getting back from a vacation, no matter how small, always seems to throw off the schedule. But here's what you've missed.Last Thursday July 2nd, Smuckers had an employee appreciation lunch at their headquarters in Orrville. Family was invited so Morgan, Pepper and I headed over after Morgan's Little Gym class and had a very yummy lunch with Daddy. Morgan discovered soda this Memorial Day and now he's a bit of a fan...when he can get it!
He also never turns down a hamburger or a "happy cupcake". The kid knows what he likes!

On Friday morning we packed up the mini van and headed to Cody's brother Khan's house in Kentucky just across the river from Cincinnatti. It took us about 4 hrs and it was not the best trip. Pepper has decided she hates her car seat and hardly ever falls asleep in the car so she pretty much screamed the whole time unless I was holding her hand and her binky in her mouth. Then half way there Morgan choked on a cheese stick and threw up all over himself. Not pretty. Then to top it all off Pepper blew out just before we got there. Yep, pretty much the worst trip but luckily we were headed to family who had all the facilities neccessary for us to clean up and get back to normal.

That evening after much needed naps, we had a very nice bar-b-que with Khan's neighbors. They live in the perfect little suburban dream, nice house, big yard, wonderful neighbors, a garden, lots of trees...just what Cody and I will be looking for here in Akron. Khan and his neighbors pooled their money together and bought over $500 worth of fireworks. I'm talking serious fireworks! We had a pretty legit show once it got dark and before that the kids entertained themselves with endless sparklers and other assorted goodies.

Here's Theron showing off his sparkler skills.

We had a great time sitting and watching the fireworks on a nice comfy swing on their back porch. Morgan LOVED them and has not stopped talking about them since that day. Thanks Khan for the great show!

Morgan playing in the backyard with William while Khan and I chat in the background.

Only little people would want to play in water that cold!

One firecracker they had exploded little parachutes everywhere. The kids had a blast chasing them down. Morgan likes to tell me about this particular firework at least once a day. You can already see the low smoke cloud forming.

Cody instilling his love of fireworks to his son.

After a lovely 3rd, we woke up on the 4th and went to the Children's Museum. It was an amazing place filled with an endless supply of fun. Here Morgan is playing with a suction tube and balls.

They had a toddler/baby area that was gated off. The little guys could go everywhere but the big kids couldn't come in here.

Morgan and William are starting to look like twins. It took me a sec to figure out this wasn't Morgan. They had such a great time playing together the whole weekend. I'm so grateful we finally live close to family!

The water area was one of my favorites. They provide little raincoats, which Morgan of course refused to wear and therefore was soaked by the time we left. Oh well, all in the name of fun!

This is the main terminal of the original Cincinnatti train station. They have turned the entire complex into a huge museum station. The Children's Museum, Natural History Museum and others are located here. The whole place is decorated in Art Deco style. I felt like I was in a Hercule Poirot movie.

I've noticed that already we have taken way fewer pictures of Pepper than we did of Morgan at this age. We still take a ton of pictures of Morgan and then a pity picture of Pepper, as if to say "Oh yeah you were here too. This was your first 4th of July and first museum hope you will enjoy this one picture commemorating it!"

Luckily we did all our celebrating on the 3rd because once we left the museum it poured the rest of the day on Saturday. Here are the boys enjoying a restful Independance Day.

And the bigger boys showing off their bar-b-que rib skills.

And Cody managed to get Pepper to fall asleep in his arms...he was pretty excited about that as well. She only seems to hate him some of the time now!

Because of the horrible trip there I told Cody I was driving home on Sunday. Well wouldn't you know Pepper slept almost the entire way and Morgan had an uneventful trip. It just isn't fair for us moms! Altogether it was a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to go back and visit again! Especially Morgan who asks to go to William's house at least once a day as well. I can't say enough how grateful we are to be living so close to Khan and his wonderful family. Don't worry guys we'll be back to take over your basement very soon!

Here are some photos from Cameron, Nikki and John Henry's brief visit with us.

The Nikki, our family photographer, took a nice partial family photo for us. Morgan was in nursery. That kid is serious about his nursery time!

Week of Mesha and a Weekend of Guests

Last week we had the wonderful pleasure of my best good friend Mesha's company all week. Mesha and I have been best friends since kindergarten in New Jersey. Both of our fathers were in the ARMY and despite moving around we have never lost touch. We visited each other whenever we could growing up and were roommates at Ricks College. After I finished my BA from UCF, I moved out to Payson, UT to live with Mesha, her sister Chamaine and our other NJ friend Sharon. It was so fun to be together again, seriously we never get sick of each other! And I also have her to thank for setting me up with Cody on a blind date!

We loved having her visit and can't wait to see her and her family again!Mesha loves animals so we decided to go to the Akron Zoo on Friday.
Morgan loved having a zoo buddy.
He also loves having other fun people about the house so he is missing her as well.

Baby Jaguars. The last time Mesha took a Mexican cruise she got to hold a baby Jaguar. I'm pretty sure that is her idea of heaven!

Can you find the Snow Leopard?

Morgan's in the yellow train car with all the other short haired blond boys that look just like him.

Who knew fish could be this captivating?!

Our apartment complex pool finally opened up and we took advantage of it on Friday afternoon. These young girls asked Mesha how old she was...I think they were expecting her to say something a little closer to their age. Too funny!

Pepper enjoying the pool. She fell asleep a few moments later.

Late Friday night our good friend Sharon and her hubby Ben drove up from the Cinncinatti area to play with us on Saturday. We decided to go up to a state park between us and Cleveland for a picnic and a hike. It was a beautiful day and fantastic company. Can't ask for more than that!

Pepper airing out in the great outdoors.

Morgan takes off to explore the woods with his stroller. It actually off-roaded pretty good!

A really cool nature center in the middle of the woods. It was really old and had a very chatty pregnant woman inside. Good times.

Sharon and Ben left Saturday early evening. About an hour later our dear friends Cameron, Nikki and their little man John Henry stopped over for the night on their way from NYC to Michigan. We had a very yummy dinner together courtesy of Cody and they came to church with us before heading on their way. They took some pics that I will post as soon as I get them. We all had a great time catching up, including Mesha since we were all friends together at Ricks.

When I was cleaning up on Monday I discovered this lovely note. Thanks guys for visiting us and bringing a little of the city to us here in Ohio. We miss you guys!

It was a busy but fun weekend. We just love having visitors...hint hint to all our friends!

Here are some random shots from our week.

Pepper supporting her brother the rockstar!

I just love the way her toes peek out of her blanket in the swing. I probably spend too much time obsessing over her cute toes!

And here's a video of Pepper becoming more aware of her toys and arms and legs. I'm sure only her grandmothers will find this interesting but if you have a couple minutes to kill and like to look at cute babies enjoy:

Well, that's our life last week. We are looking forward to visiting Cody's brother for the long weekend.

Stay tuned, more to come!

Smuckers Family Day at Cedar Point

On Saturday the 20th the Smuckers company hosted a family day for the employees at Cedar Point amusemant park. We had never been there before so we were pretty excited to see all the big roller coasters. Unfortunately with two small children we were not able to ride any of the grown up rides but we still had a great time taking Morgan to all the kiddie rides. Smuckers hosted a dinner and raffle. We didn't win anything but we got a free day at Cedar Point and free dinner so I guess we still won! Morgan was in heaven with all the rides made just for him. He still gets so excited to see the pictures and talks about all the cars and train rides.
He never quite managed to pull the bar back so he could go up in the air but he enjoyed the helicopter ride.

I barely fit into the truck and we only went around once so I wondered if it was really worth it. Morgan's delight told me differently.

Such a serious driver.

Morgan is very into tigers right now. At the end of the day when Morgan was having a tough time saying good-bye to the train I bought a toy tiger that was on clearance for a couple bucks. Cody gave me the evil eye for buying a non essential but we got out of the park with no tears and had a pleasant ride home. I would say it was well worth it!

Me about to get sick on a balloon ride. I was surprised at how fast some of these kid rides went. Here's a sideways video for you courtesy of Cody:

Not quite Cody's size.

At the end of the day we took the train around the park. We parked our stroller, which meant we had to ride the train all the way to the back of the park where we left it and walk out through the whole thing. Not the best planning move on our part but we got a nice tour of the whole park. We can't wait to go again...maybe without kids!

This is how Pepper saw the park. She was one sweaty little girl but this is how she sleeps with the blanket up around her face. Whatever works right?!

This is Morgan having a hard time tearing himself away from the train. He never threw a tantrum, I think he was too tired, he just stood there until it finally went away. And then he got his tiger and life was good. We are so grateful to be part of the Smuckers "family" now. Any job would have been a blessing in our situation but we really hit the jackpot with this one!

I have lots to blog about since this day but my camera and computer are not on speaking terms at the moment. So there's lots more to come from our weekend with Mesha and our weekend of guests.