Never Ending Fever, Swimmin' Pool, and Snakes!!

Well the never-ending fever saga continues. Jonathan continued to feel better through the weekend after Disney on Ice. The following Wednesday was our last day of three times a day antibiotics. By Thursday night, he was running a fever again. So frustrating for everyone and just breaks our hearts to see him not himself. I kept him home on Friday and started the phone calls to all the doctors. Of course, they keep telling me that it is an unrelated virus, but the timing just seems to scream UTI again. And, of course, it all goes down on the weekend I am supposed to go out of town. I never leave, and the time I do, he gets sick! So, lots of drama later, the doctors decide to just watch him. Mark convinces me to go on my trip. As he kept telling me, he is perfectly capable of giving Jonathan Tylenol and Motrin. He ran fever Friday, low grade Saturday, and only right before bed on Sunday. (see end for the continuing saga...)

So off I went for a fun scrapbooking weekend on Petit Jean Mountain. It was just beautiful up there and so much fun to have a break, even if I did worry greatly about my little man. Mark finally told me they were fine and to quit calling so much!! Of course, it did rain the ENTIRE weekend. And being at a church camp, it was soaking wet and muddy and well...fun! Running through the rain in the middle of the night in your pajamas, umbrella, and flashlight. So silly but fun. I did get a lot done though during the weekend. I made a special present for my niece's birthday and made a Mother's Day card for some special ladies in our lives. (Have to post that next week sometime!!) Also did quite a bit in Jonathan's First Year Album Volume 2. Finished Volume 1 at the last scrapbook weekend- can only put 100 pages in each book.

This week is the Art Show and Basket Auction at Jonathan's preschool. I am the PTA President for his preschool and this was my first function as president. I was very nervous, in this economy, that it would not go well. So I was very excited when we ended up with 22 baskets plus the children's art work. Friday was the last day and I cannot wait to see how much we made. Several of the baskets went pretty high, Razorbacks went for $200, Darren McFadden signed shirt for $100, Jermain Taylor hat for $75, huge art supply basket for $180, game basket for $90. Plus, one lady bid $550 on four pieces of the kids art!! So exciting to know we will be prepared for next school year and all of our projects. Plus it is always fun to watch everyone fight over the baskets, just cracks me up! I ended up with a basket of note cards that the children in Jonathan's class made and a Baby toys basket that we are going to give away as a gift. So, all in all, a successful week.

Jonathan's class artwork - handprint sheep

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday. Be careful what you ask for and be specific. Obviously I did not FULLY explain what I wanted. No pictures of the hair as I am not in love with it in any way. Waaayyy too dark, waaayyy too dark. The cut is good, but the color is not really what I was wanting. I don't blame her, she just interpreted what I said in a completely different way than I meant it...unfortunately for me. Oh well, it is just hair and will grow.

Now for a couple of Jonathan stories!! Much more fun than stuff about me!

Thursday afternoon the little boy across the street came over and asked if Jonathan could come out and play. He is six, but plays well with Jonathan as long as none of the other big boys are around. If they are, he sort of forgets about my sweet baby. Unfortunately, Jonathan is starting to realize it and it just breaks my heart. The little boy isn't trying to be mean, it's just that he can actually play more with the bigger kids. Anyway, they started playing and were soon joined by the little boys next door. Eventually they all ended up in their backyard on the trampoline. Mark got in too (supposedly to keep Jonathan safe) and jumped with them. One of the little boys asks Jonathan, "Do you want to go see the dead snake?" So, of course, we all go to the front yard to see the snake. Sure enough, there is a dead snake in the gutter. Looks like the yard guys ran him over with the lawnmower when they cut our neighbor's grass. There was probably 4-5 little boys standing around this snake. They wanted so badly to touch the snake. Of course, I keep telling them NO, we are NOT touching the snake, regardless that he is obviously VERY dead. Mark goes to get a shovel and the boys wait for him. When he goes to pick up the snake with the shovel they got soooo excited. It was one of the funnies things I have seen in a very long time. They were just giddy and giggling and running after Mark as he took the snake over to the woods. Mark throws the snake into the woods and, of course, it got hung up on a tree. They loved that even more and were beside themselves when he had to take a few steps into the woods to knock the snake out of the tree. Then Mr. Eagle Scout proceeded to give a safety lecture on NOT touching snakes, dead or alive, and informing an adult of any snake sightings. He was so serious and it just really made me smile to see him as the grown up. Reminded me of something my Daddy would do and I just see over and over again: 1) what a great Daddy I have and 2) what a great Daddy Mark is and is becoming. For the last two days, Jonathan has been talking non-stop about the snake and the shovel and the woods. He cracks me up!!

The other great story from this week is about the "swimmin' pool." My MIL had given me a Gymbuck to Gymboree that she had gotten from the outlet mall in V'burg. I also had one from the class that he takes at the Gymboree Play & Music. I would be remiss if I let free clothes slip by, so I bought him a couple of new outfits and t-shirts and matching socks (being a boy, socks are about the best accessory we get). I haven't let him wear any of them as it has been so nasty outside. Finally, on Thursday, I put him in one of the new t-shirts, shorts, and new socks for school. They were working on Mother's Day presents at school and took the kids on the playground to put dirt in the pots with our flowers. Of course, Jonathan thinks playground=play so he takes off with another boy to find some fun. They make a beeline for the sandbox. Of course, it has done nothing but rain for a week. The sandbox was completely FULL of water. They don't worry about that and get in anyway!! I'm coming down the hall at work and see his teacher leading the both of them into the bathroom. Noticing how WET they both are, I ask Jonathan how he got wet. He tells me, with a HUGE smile, "I in swimmin' pool Mommy." So I ask him where the swimming pool is. He just smiles, but his teacher tells me how they were in the sandbox. So, not only are they wet, but they are quite sandy as well. Just cracked me up. They both had to be changed from head to toe and obviously we got a bath that night when we got home. His teacher didn't think it was that funny, but I rather did. Especially since I didn't have to clean him up. And Jonathan was quite proud of himself. No remorse for that one. We did have a discussion, though, about taking our shoes off before getting in the "swimming pool" next time.

Other stories...

• As we are pulling up to the house after work the other day, Jonathan gets my attention and says, "Mommy, our house is pretty." Now how sweet is that. I get emotional of course and tell him "Thank you, I think our house is pretty too!" He smiles at me, turns his head, and says "Get mail now please." We get the mail and he stops and looks at the house again before telling me, "Put lights up there." He wanted the Christmas lights back on the house. Try explaining May vs. December to a 2 year old. But I was just so surprised that he even remembered them being up there.


• After getting in trouble for not listening, he comes into the living room to play. A few minutes later he comes up to me and says, "I sorry Mommy. I be nice now."

He is such a talker. He is talking in complete sentences 90% of the time and is probably 80% understandable. Poor baby does get quite frustrated when you can't understand what he is trying to say. And when you finally do figure it out, he is doing a good impression of the word. He is also becoming quite the artist and loves to color. He has moved from scribble all over the page to vertical and horizontal strokes and circles as well. He loves to draw on his Magna Doodle board and for you to draw for him on it as well. Especially Christmas trees. Don't know if it is because that is when his birthday is or what, but he LOVES him some Christmas trees. Wants you to draw them with a star on top and presents underneath. (smart kid). Of course, I love to color too, so it has been fun to have a new activity that we are both enjoying. Makes for a fun way to pass some time.

The potty training has been going very well. The preschool staff has really jumped on board and it has made all the difference in the world. As long as you take him every hour, he is staying dry for most of the day. Still not consistently pooping on the potty, but it is progressive. He has even started telling us occasionally when he needs to go. That is HUGE for us and really means that things must be going well medically for him to be doing all this. We are so very thankful for all the blessings and healing that God has shown our little boy. Wow. Of course, now that we are going at this, we are becoming well-acquainted with the bathrooms at our most popular destinations. Thank goodness for Elmo and Diego potty covers!!

We bought some new furniture a few weeks ago and had it stained to match Jonathan's bedroom furniture. Mark borrowed Cliff and his trailer and they went to pick it up today. I am so excited and can't wait to see it in place. We got a bookcase for Jonathan's room to hold his books and, hopefully, some toys. He loves to read and we just have not had a great place to put his books. We found a really pretty bookcase that is wide and short, so he will be able to reach his books and toys and won't be tempted to climb all over it!! We also got a toy chest that we are going to put in the dining room/music room/new play room. We have his train/car table in there and are trying to transition some of his toys out of the living room to that room. So we got this toy chest to hold the toys. It is actually a hope chest, but it is going to be a toy chest at our house. And it matches his furniture, so if we ever move to a bigger house, we will probably put it in his room then. Mark found a special toy box lid support that will prevent the lid from slamming down on his fingers. He is working on that now, so hopefully it will work and we will be able to load it up this evening.

And the fever saga... We got up this morning and decided to just have a lazy Saturday. We don't get too many of them and we are all excited to just hang out around the house. Jonathan was sitting with me watching TV and felt a little warm. I took his temperature while he was eating lunch and it was 99-100 degrees depending on which ear you take it in. So that worries me that the UTI is coming back OR that he has one of the numerous fever viruses running rampant around here. Neither is good and I hope it doesn't go up any higher. Poor sweet baby tells me, "I feel better" when I asked him if he was feeling bad or hurting anywhere. We would appreciate your prayers that he will not get sick and that this will just pass on by. We are teaching his Sunday School class tomorrow at church so I am really hoping that he does not get any sicker and can't go to church. I don't think I want to keep 10 two year olds by myself!

My computer (Vista) has major problems and Mark is having to redo the entire thing. So I haven't downloaded the pictures off of our cameras. Hopefully he will have it fixed this weekend. He is going to Atlanta all of next week for work. He also gets to see our niece Lucy so I am jealous about that! Then we are going to OKC for the weekend and doctor's appointment on Monday the 18th. Please pray that they have good things to say and are pleased with Jonathan's progress. We know that God is healing him, and we have faith in His continued healing, but these appointments are always hard and scary and stressful.

Love to you all, and thanks for reading another one of my LENGTHY posts!

Happy Easter...Finally!

Easter 2009

Oh my!! I have been meaning to write a post for several weeks now and just haven't been able to make time to get it done. Things have just been busy and crazy and all over the place! So, Tyanne, you are not the last to post about Easter, I am!!

We had a wonderful Easter week. The week started with fun pictures with Heather. She has posted several on her Blog and several more on her website. Password is Thomas1 if you want to check them out.

Jonathan had an Easter Egg Hunt at Preschool on Wednesday. Last year he had to be shown the eggs before he would even think about picking them up. This year, he was a man on a mission! It was so fun to watch him. The only thing was, he wanted to HOLD all the egg. Was a little afraid they would disappear if he actually put them in the basket. And did not want to hold the basket either, much better for Mommy to have that job! Of course, I didn't mind, it was too much fun following him around trying to convince him to put the eggs into the basket.
Paw Paw came to visit on Monday and Tuesday. Jonathan was so glad to see him. They had fun hiding Easter eggs in the yard. Jonathan wanted to hunt them, then he 'hid' them again for Paw Paw to find. So funny!

Hunting eggs at school...not putting any of them into the basket!

Paw Paw came to visit Wednesday through Friday. Jonathan was so glad to see him. They had fun hiding Easter eggs in the yard. Jonathan wanted to hunt them, then he 'hid' them again for Paw Paw to find. So funny!

Paw Paw holding the basket.

On Thursday, Uncle Harry's Country Critters Petting Zoo came to Preschool. This guy is so nice and so easy-going with the kids. They love when he comes. Jonathan got to pet the bunny rabbit and gave the pony tons of hugs. He talked about it for days. We saw Uncle Harry the next week at Larry's Pizza. Jonathan didn't quite know what to think about seeing him out of context, but when Uncle Harry told him he was going to come back to school in the fall, Jonathan was VERY excited!

Petting the bunny with Uncle Harry

Saturday morning was the church Easter Egg Hunt. Jonathan had moved up an age division this year and was in the 2 to 5 year old group. Poor baby just didn't have much of a chance. The five year olds mowed the yard. They were a force that the two year olds couldn't keep up with. Fortunately, Jonathan was not too worried about how many eggs he got. He was MUCH more concerned about what was IN the eggs. And by that, I mean the ones with the candy, not the ones with the Bible verses or stickers in them. Luckily the 'mowers' passed over a few on the back side of the trees, so we did manage to get some. After, he had a good time on the playground with all the kids from church. And, for the first time, he actually sat with the Easter Bunny...well, he sat in my lap and I sat with the Easter Bunny. Close enough, first time to go near someone dressed up so that was fun. My parents came in for the weekend and went with us to the Easter Egg Hunt. I think they had fun too.

An actual picture with the Easter Bunny!!

We hunted eggs at home Saturday afternoon. By the time we put all his eggs together from the various hunts, he had plenty and had a great time hiding them all over the yard. We hid them all several times and he just thought it was so much fun. When we came inside, he dumped the bucket all over the floor and just played with them there. And we still have eggs everywhere. Of course, I always loved hiding Easter eggs when I was little so we will just keep them out a while longer to play with.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny came and brought Jonathan a basket of fun. He had some eggs with Little People Easter people in them and a Thomas the Train Easter train. He thought that they were lots of fun and insisted on taking Thomas to church with him. My parents and Mark's parents also got him several things for Easter. This child is not hurting for love or expressions of love, that's for sure!! We went to church and Jonathan had a great time talking about the 'stone roll away'. We have been trying hard to teach him about the TRUE meaning of Easter. It is a hard thing to teach a two year old, but he is getting a little of it I hope. Mark and I filled in for some friends and taught 4-year old Sunday School on Easter. So we were very blessed to have a small opportunity to help some other children learn about Easter. We also had to Escort new people around the building before the service, so were quite busy! Brother Gary preached a great message that morning that was just very uplifting and very confirming of God's power and glory and ultimate love for us. We ate at home for Easter lunch and had a great time just being together as a family. I was just so very thankful for our many blessings.

MaMa Deb & Grandad with Jonathan

The next weekend we packed up the car and headed South. We went to the Seal Family Reunion. They are Mark's Grandmother's Family. She passed away shortly after Jonathan was born and before he was able to meet her. So it was nice to see her family and meet lots of family that we had never met before. Jonathan completely charmed everyone there. We were in Luling, which is right outside of New Orleans. Some true Cajuns came in and cooked some wonderful food. We had Corn and Crawfish Bisque, Jambalaya, and Chicken & Sausage Gumbo. It was great!! We then left there Saturday night and had dinner at Middendorf's on the way back to Vicksburg.

The plan was to get up Sunday and go fishing on Paw Paw's lake before we came home. Of course, if you know us, then you know that our "plans" rarely come to pass as we thought they would. Jonathan woke up Sunday and almost immediately got sick. He was complaining of his back hurting and did not want to go to the bathroom and then started throwing up. I knew he probably had an UTI so I got on the phone with OKC trying to get a resident to answer the phone on a Sunday morning. As you can imagine, he was ooohhh soooo helpful (sarcasm) and would not call anything in. We started him on Tylenol and Motrin, packed the car, and headed home. He finally fell asleep and we booked it back to LR and a decent doctor. I called ahead to the After Hours Clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital and they were able to see him. He did have an UTI and they got him started on an antibiotic. They were so nice and so helpful and got us in and out in about an hour. Fastest that has ever gone, that's for sure! We hightailed it to Kroger and got there with five minutes to spare before they closed. That night he started running a fever and kept running one continuously for three days and sporadically til Friday. Needless to say, it was a completely exhausting week and he just did not feel well at all. They had to switch his antibiotic on Wednesday after the culture came back. Of course he would be drug resistant to the first one. Mark was wonderful and kept him at home Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. We sent him to school Wednesday and Thursday thinking he was ok, but he just was so worn out that we kept him home again on Friday. Please say a prayer for our sweet baby that he will feel 100% better soon and that this medicine will do it's job and that this will not be a setback for him medically. We have come so far and this has just been hard. Everyone agrees that this happened because he is starting to try and potty train and that we just did not give him enough opportunities to stop and potty on the way down and back to Louisiana. Never been a problem before, he just would go in his diaper, but now he wants to go in the potty. Mark and I felt so very bad that he got sick, but who would have thought? He is feeling better, but still just really tired, as are we all.

Friday night was our true happy spot of the week. Mark had bought tickets several months ago for us to see Disney on Ice. I am so glad he did too, because we definitely needed something fun to do as a family. After the last month, we were all just a little down. We were on the second row from the stage and the show was just great. Mark and I enjoyed it as much as Jonathan did. Mickey and friends introduced each segment and Jonathan was just beside himself to see them. I would not have been surprised if he had gotten on the ice to get to them!! They then did an ice skating thing to a couple of Disney movies: Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, Little Mermaid, and Peter Pan. They were all amazing but we liked Lilo and Stitch and Peter Pan the best. Jonathan loved the aligator coming to get Captain Hook. He thought that was hilarious. Of course, even here, we had to have a little drama. Mark took Jonathan up to the bathroom at intermission (as you can imagine we are a little potty happy at our house). I could see Mark carrying him back down the stairs holding his shoe. I'm thinking, "Oh no, he peed on his shoe." Mark gets to me and says, "I can't find his other shoe." And the sad thing is, I had thought before we left the house, No crocs, he'll lose one, so he had on his tennis shoes. Now how they lost a tennis shoe, I have no idea. So Jonathan sat through the second half of the show with only one shoe on. Luckily someone turned the shoe in to the Lost and Found and we were able to get it after the show. Jonathan got a new spinny light toy, I got a picture of him with a plastic lifesize Mickey and Minney, and Mark got Jonathan's shoe back! So everyone left happy which was nice. We took it easy the rest of the weekend to let Jonathan's body have time to heal.

Jonathan with his light up spinny toy wearing Mickey Mouse of course (and two shoes!)


Back to school and work today. Busy as always. Mark presented at the student meeting for IEEE tonight at Lousiana Tech. Weird to be old enough that someone wants you to come back to your college and talk to the students. But also very nice that someone thinks that highly of him and his work.

So there you have the ups and downs of the last month. As always a little excitement (wanted or otherwise) here at the Thomas house. Thanks for reading, I know that I get too wordy. That's what happens when Mark goes out of town and I'm left to my own devices!!

ADDED EASTER PICS. STILL HAVE NOT DOWNLOADED PICS FROM REUNION WEEKEND. HOPE TO HAVE A NEW POST (AND PICS) SOMETIME THIS WEEK.

Easter Picture

We took pictures with Heather Owens last Wednesday. She posted a preview picture on her blog site. It turned out too cute. Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. Heather always does a great job. We know Heather from church. She also took Jonathan's two year old pics which turned out great as well. I'll post again when she gets the rest of the previews up on her website.

Check out her blog site: http://www.heatherowensphotography.blogspot.com/ and her website: http://www.heatherowensphotography.com/

Our Little Easter Bunny

I See Animals Mommy!

Jonathan's class had a field trip to the Little Rock Zoo this week. It was supposed to be on Tuesday, but the weather had other ideas. Mark was planning to go with us on Tuesday, but he had to go to New Orleans on Wednesday and did not get to go the zoo.

Jonathan in the Bird Sanctuary

So, I got to go with Jonathan to the zoo. We had so much fun. We have not taken him to the Little Rock Zoo before. Now it is not to the caliber of the OKC or NOLA zoo, but it was still fun. Jonathan loved seeing all the animals. I think his favorites were the gorillas, the lions, and the giraffes. He was hoping to see the bears, but they were mostly inside. We did see a grizzly, but he was so far away, I'm not sure Jonathan really saw him. All of his friends had so much fun running around and playing together. They had a picnic lunch afterwards across the street. Jonathan was very excited to have a juice box and Lunchable.

Jonathan and Mommy

Jonathan was so hyped from the zoo that he did not take a nap after they got back to school. We ran home after school and picked up his Easter clothes, then ran back downtown to take pictures in the park. Poor baby fell asleep halfway there and got a fifteen minute nap before I woke him up to change his clothes. I was afraid I was about to waste everyone's time, but as soon as he saw Heather he perked right up. Such a ham! She is so great with him and he did really well. She had her girls with her and they were great assistants. They had him smiling and loving taking his picture. She had him sit in a chair, stand in the grass, sit on the bridge, and stand in the water. He kept saying, "the water's cold Mommy!" He was right, it was, but he looked so precious standing there! I cannot wait to see how they turn out. Heather did a great job on his 2 year old pics. She has a few of his pictures posted on her website: http://heatherowensphotography.com/ She took these pics at Allsopp Park. It was absolutely beautiful there. We had not been out there before but I think we will go back. It was just a beautiful area and just a ton of families enjoying the beautiful day.

Today was his friend, Addy Rose's, 4th birthday party. She is older than him, but they always have fun playing together. Her Mom, Stacey, is a great lady who is oh so creative. She painted quite a few of the things in Jonathan's room. And she, Mike, and Addy have always prayed for Jonathan from when he was very little. So, Jonathan was very excited to go to her party. Of course, he still doesn't quite understand that he is not supposed to be the center of attention as well. He wanted to sit next to her at all times. So sweet. The party was at Gymboree, which is one of his favorite places anyway, so he had an absolute blast. His teacher, Ms. Carrie, was there leading the party, which made it even better. He found the little boat that you can pull around with a rope. The little 2 year old worked so hard to pull around one or two four year olds. It was hilarious! He worked hard!!

Pulling the Boat AND the Kids

Jonathan and the Birthday Girl

We are teaching Sunday School in the morning (filling in for the Hartons and the Rauls). We are looking forward to that. Mark and I both just love being with the children. We are very blessed to be in a church that nurtures our little ones so deeply and just fills them up with the Holy Spirit and love of Jesus. It is truly an amazing thing to watch.

Well, I need to go read up on the lesson for tomorrow. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.
Love to everyone! We miss you all.

Sweet Boy with Mommy's Tulips.

He is wearing his new 'Jonathan' shirt.

A Few Bible Verses

This verse was my Verse of the Day email a few days back. I just couldn't read and delete it. It has just been on my heart. At first I just didn't get it at all. I've read a few versions now and I guess the Lord is letting it sink into my heart. Just wanted to share with everyone.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

A few other versions off of BibleGateway.com....
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. (New Living Translation)
12Not getting what you want can make you feel sick, but a wish that comes true is a life-giving tree. (Contemporary English Version)

A few more...
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 7:4 Calm Down and Be Quiet. Do not be afraid. I am in control.

And the song that I keep singing, "I Will Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns.
Here is the chorus for any who don't know this storm.
"And I'll praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands for You are who You are no matter where I am and every tear I've cried You hold in your hand You never left my side and though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm"

It has just been one of those kind of weeks. But I know God is in control of each and every situation. I will pray for His continued love and guidance to keep me on the path He has laid out for my life. Thank you for praying with me.