Strep Again. FML

I went to the doctor yesterday because I was feeling miserable on both Sunday and Monday, then felt worse on Tuesday. My throat was raw, I was gagging on my tonsils, I couldn't swallow, I had a wicked headache, my neck and ears were hurting, and I couldn't bend over without the ear/neck/head pain getting worse. The last time that happened, I had a postitive strep culture so I decided I would go ahead and get it checked out. Turns out, I do have strep throat (well, enough bacteria to get a positive rapid strep test). The doctor gave me a choice between pills and a penicillin shot and, since I was having a lot of trouble swallowing, I opted for the shot. It HURT. It wasn't a nice arm shot, it was a butt shot. Well, upper hip to be exact. But my butt still hurts from it. And so does my left leg.

I'm feeling much better today though. My throat and ears still hurt crazy bad but the headache has lessened. So far, it looks like Cael hasn't gotten it, which is great. Strep sucks, in case you didn't know. But I'm sure you do.

Well, I'm in for one more day for hanging out at home, doing laundry and other homely duties. I'm still not sure if I'll do my homework though... I don't quite have the drive to do that yet...

Weekend Post Again

This week was NUTS. Surprise, surprise lol


This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week so every day was something new at school! On Monday, we had a lunch provided for us by the school board. Tuesday, we got a card for a paid day off. Wednesday, we were told about a dinner planned for next Wednesday for all the teachers and their guests. Thursday (the best day), we got a ten minute massage from Euphoria Salon and Day Spa (http://www.euphoria-warrensburg.com/) and I totally recommend going their. It was ten minutes of pure heaven :D Friday, Liz got a bunch of items (gift cards, candles, lotions, a purse, flip flops, etc.) and every teacher's name got drawn so they could pick what they wanted off the cart. By the time my name got drawn, the super cute purse was still there but I knew that if I would've taken it Brad would've given me crap about having another bag at home lol I ended up taking a gift card for Papa John's. I love that the school is so giving and treat their employees wonderfully :) I'm so happy to work for ECOC!

Cael has been sleeping through the night every night. It's seriously blowing my mind, especially because on Thursday, he napped from 1:15 to 4:25 and still slept well that night. Last night he slept from 11 pm to 11 am. I think he must be going through a growth spurt or something!

Cael and his second cousin Marc were playing today and it was so adorable how they interacted with each other!

We stayed pretty late at Russ and Judy's tonight. Cael was so sleepy that he tried to cuddle up with Rex (Brad's cat) and surprisingly Rex was okay with it...until Cael started to pull at his face lol I caught a picture before the attack happened

Eventful Days

The weekend was crazy awesome!

Saturday

My mom, dad, sister, and grandma all came to visit! We went to Heroes for lunch and hung out at the apartment while Cael played like crazy. He has been walking so much and he loves it! My mom and grandma headed over to my great aunt's house (in Lee's Summit) and my dad and Natalie stuck around for a little longer. My dad fixed my dryer! The vent flap wasn't closing properly so a sparrow family got in there and built a nest. Then a starling took over so every morning, we would hear them fight, starting at 4 am. I was not happy. When my dad took the hose and everything out of the wall, we found that the nest was actually inside the dryer. That explained why there was a burning smell every time I turned the dryer on lol but we got it all out and my dad put a new vent in the wall (after cutting out part of the drywall to make it fit... the building had settled since the first vent was put in). Now I can use the dryer and hear the birds smack into the vent :)

My dad and Natalie left after a while and Cael and I went to Wal Mart and Parkers to get the grocery shopping done. The whole way to and from the store, he kept saying "guh-guh" and I could only assume it was for "Grandma" or "Grandpa" lol When we got to Parkers, I let Cael hold on to my grocery list, so he pointed to it and said, very forcefully, "Da da da guh guh guh dis" telling me what to get next. It was hilarious! He was yelling the whole way through the store and had all the cashiers and customers laughing.

Sunday

I went with the Vater ladies (my grandma's sisters and their female children and grandchildren) to the New Theatre in Overland Park. Apparently this is something they do every year, around this time. I had no idea until my mom said my grandma was wondering if I wanted to go. It was really cool! The theater is a dinner theater so we had an amazing buffet lunch before the show started. I had marinated chicken in white wine sauce, sauteed and steamed veggies, polenta, and garlic mashed potatoes. It was amazing!

The show we saw was "The Odd Couple" starring George Wendt and Tim Kazurinsky and it was pretty funny. At intermission, the restaurant serves dessert so my mom and I shared a tasty creme brulee. I'm glad we did share it because the dishes was pretty big for something so sweet and rich.

When I got back, Cael was so excited to see me :)

-------------------------------------------------

Cael has been having a terrible time with his eczema, especially on his ankle. At 2 am Monday morning, he woke up screaming and scratching, so I put his lotions and creams on the site and we laid on the futon so I could hold his legs to keep him from scratching. At 5 am he tossed and turned enough to fall off the futon. It was a rough morning, but he slept good last night :) All the way from 8 pm to 10 am. Not even joking. I was so happy, especially because last night I started to get sick with something that's been going around the 2's room at daycare (nausea, stomach pain, the runs, etc.) I'm feeling better now but I still have that crampy pain in my abdomen... Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow morning though.

Vote for Cael!

Cael 1: "Vote for your favorite kids in the Parents Cover Contest! One Reader's Choice Winner will be a finalist at the Professional Cover Shoot! Enter your own child today at http://www.parents.com/enternow !" If Cael wins this, we're going to put this money into his college fund!

My Kid Is A Genius :)

Yesterday, a Parents As Teachers advocate came to the daycare to do free development screenings for the kids under the age of 3. She started in Cael's class. At the end of the day, she came into my room to ask me some more questions about what he does at home, if there's been any problems, etc. and she tells me that, out of all the other babies that were around his age, he scored the highest in all of the categories tested! He missed out on a few points in the Personal/Social section because he didn't roll the ball with the observer (guess he didn't feel like sharing that one lol). She said his fine motor skills are "amazing" because he can stack 3 or more blocks on top of each other, which isn't really expected at 13 months. She also said he shared a lot of the toys with her and told her many of the words he knows. He also showed her how he can flip the light switch off, which he does all the time at home. She said he's extremely smart! :) You have no idea how proud I am of Cael!

Last night, after dinner, Cael and I went for a walk outside. I picked a dandelion and was telling Cael "flower" and stroking it on my face and then his face, saying "pretty." He grabbed it from me and started to rub it on my face and say "pretty" lol Then we took it back inside so Brad could see and he did the same thing to Brad! It was so cute! He was just clutching the little dandelion like it was the most important thing in the world and wouldn't let it go :)

He's been sleeping through the night (pretty much) for the past few days. Last night he went to bed at 8 and woke up at 4 this morning :) That's REALLY good for him!

This morning I was trying to get him ready for school. I tried to take off his Elmo pajamas (which he loves) and he threw a HUGE fit. I decided we didn't really need to fight over this so I changed his diaper and put his socks and Elmo jacket on. When I went out into the living room to get my jacket and shoes on, he found his Elmo slippers and wouldn't let go of them, so I put them on his feet lol This is the whole ensemble

He was sooooooo happy lol When we got to school, he pointed up at the tree outside his classroom and said "tree"! That's the first time I've heard him say that! Now he has a whole bunch of words to say! This is his word list right now:

• Tree
• Light
• Kitty cat
• Mama
• Dada
• No no
• More
• Mo-mo (Elmo)
• Tickle-tickle (he says this when we see grass, since usually when we play in the grass, I tickle his face with a piece and say "tickle-tickle" lol)
• Bye bye
• On
• Off
• Dat (that)
• Duck
• Dog

He can also sign "cup" (which he uses for cup, truck, and up). He waves bye bye when he hears or sees a train or when someone says "train." He's so dang smart! It makes me so happy!

He also loves making messes when he eats. With this video, I turned around for literally two minutes to talk to Brad and send a text of the tent we had set up for Cael and when I came back, this is what I found lol

I'm so proud of my big boy! To think he's already grown up this fast!