Tickle Time

If only I could bottle up the infectious laugh that goes along with these tickle sessions.
Everett has actually become quite a good "tickler" himself. He likes to tickle Daddy, Mommy, and even Kelsey and Cujo! I worry that one of these days Cujo will tickle him back ... and since he still has his claws, that might not be so fun ... so I try to deter him from tickling the cat and mostly encourage him to tickle Daddy. If you say "Everett, go tickle Daddy" ... he does ... and even says "tickle, tickle" while he does it!

Playing with Baba

Everett's teachers told me he really liked playing with a particular toy at school, so I went to Target and bought him one. I'm not sure what it's called, but it comes with 4 balls which you put in top openings and they roll down and out the bottom after passing through a little maze. It actually comes with a hammer to pound the balls through the openings, but he normally just pounds them with his hand. He LOVES this toy! And being the inquisitive little future engineer that he is, he likes to see what happens if you put other items besides the balls into this maze. I've retrieved plastic toy figurines, a small brush, a toothbrush, and pieces of paper so far. I'm waiting for the day to come when he lodges something in there so well that I can't get it out.
Here he is showing Baba is new toy.

Yay! Nice Weather

Everett has been enjoying the nice weather. He loves getting outside and running up and down the sidewalks. He ran all the way to the park with his Dad last week. He was pooped by the time he got there and didn't mind a bit riding on his dad's shoulders back home.

Who's the Boss?

You can see who runs this house .... I caught Everett and Gigi watching Mickey Mouse Club together. You'd think he would have let her have the large, comfortable recliner rather than his child-size chair.

First ER visit

We had a little excitement on Sunday night ... Everett's first trip to the ER. He had been running a slight fever over the weekend but it seemed to be responding to Tylenol so we weren't too concerned ... plus he was being his normal happy self and didn't seem to be feeling too badly. He went to bed happy and then woke up at 9pm crying. When we went to check on him, he was burning up. We gave him some Motrin and took his temperature ... the thermometer read 104! Oh my! We hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. Luckily we were seen almost immediately. When they took his temperature there it was up to 105.1 Our poor little guy looked miserable and like he had a sunburn all over his body. They gave him some Tylenol, took his blood, did a chest x-ray and gave him IV antibiotics. The test results came back fine, his ears looked great although the doc said his throat was a little sore but was likely just a a viral infection ... apparently they had seen a LOT of those recently. Within an hour, E was looking pretty happy, although very bored and anxious to go home. By the time we arrived home (only about 2 hours from when he woke up crying) he was laughing and being quite silly ... putting on a very entertaining show for us. Was this the same kid we rushed to the ER crying a short while ago??? Amazing how resilient little kids are! Everett had a follow up appointment with his pediatrician Tuesday morning. His ears were still fine and there was no sign of a sore throat. He said he looked terrific but to go ahead and finish out the antibiotics just to be safe. So that was our first ER experience. Not too dramatic and I'm OK with that. I prefer to read about the ER horror stories than be the author with my child as the main character! At least we got a "fire drill" and saw how quickly we could get ourselves dressed and out the door and we learned a few things ... 1. Don't forget a pacifier! 2) Bring something to entertain your child with at the ER - our portable DVD player would have been a lifesaver 3) The drive to the hospital looks different at night ... David took 2 wrong turns (when taking our preferred "short cut" coming in from the behind the normal entrance). Not big mistakes, just turned into a couple parking lots instead of the driveways he intended. He said "this looks different at night" ... NOTE TO SELF: Don't got into labor when it's dark out ... I may end up delivering in the nursing home parking lot next door to the hospital!!!

House update - We've made a lot of progress at our new house this week. The painters finished up most of the inside and the walls and our newly textured ceilings look great ... although there is a thick film of dust over every inch of the house (do NOT attempt to scrape popcorn ceilings and re-texture them in an occupied house - WHAT A MESS IT MAKES!) The plumbers started digging a BIG hole where our new 1/2 bath will hopefully be located very soon. The floors were prepared for our wood floors to be laid today in the entry, hall and dining room. There's still a lot left, but we're getting there ... slowly but surely. As of today, I'm still hopeful for a March move-in date.

We are enjoying the warmer weather this week. Everett really likes his new yard at our new house. When we are there, Everett has a great time playing in his new "house" that Baba and Gigi got him for Christmas. Here's a couple pictures from yesterday.

Korbel - Best Dog Ever

I'm very sad to report that Korbel went to doggy heaven on Tuesday. I have already missed her terribly. She was my first "baby", the best dog ever, and we had been through a lot together. She's been a part of my entire adult life and it's still hard to believe she's gone. It's been a couple years since she's been able to chase and catch a frisbee ... she sure LOVED her frisbees! I hope she has plenty of them to chase now. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her from the past few years and a few from when she was just a little puppy. She was such a beautiful, sweet and loyal dog. There will never be another like her.

Night Out

Last Saturday we had a wonderful belated Valentine's dinner at Al Biernat's with Ben & Tracy. The food, service, atmosphere, and company were all excellent! We definitely gave it two thumbs up! We'll have to go back when I'm not pregnant and can enjoy the wine and the rare ahi tuna steak! Maybe in October for my birthday. :)