Busy Busy Week!

WOW, what a week! If we haven't been going to parties, we've been working on our house. John has been off since last Friday and we have had something to do just about everyday! Mitchell had a few firsts this week. He fingerpainted for the first time. I had been waiting, because I was afraid he would think it was something to eat. He tried putting it in his mouth a couple times, but we caught him before he did it! He made some beautiful masterpieces. John and I both drew a Christmas scene, then we let him decorate them.
He also got his first black eye. He was walking through the hall carrying my Crocs (he loves chewing on them for some reason, gross I know) but he tripped and hit his eye on the coffee table. I never really got a good picture of it, but you can sort of see it in the pics!
He also got to go to "Pump It Up" We went Tuesday with cousin Nolen, Trevor, Aunt Jamie, Grams, & Pops! He absolutely had a blast. I think it'll start being a weekly trip, especially since it's free until he's 2 yrs. old. John, Jamie, & I had just as much fun as the kiddos I believe. HAHA They had a pretty big slide in one of the rooms and as I am walking in i see Mitchell come flying down. I guess his daddy is teaching him to be brave early on!
We also had a Christmas party at Grams and Pops & The Sanford side of the family party.
We got a lot done on the house this past week too. We got the old washer/dryer moved out of the house, the new ones in their new home, & the fridge moved to its new place. So it's all coming together. Next we hope to get our kitchen table back in the new part of the kitchen and it will be just about complete! Enjoy lots of pics!


After the masterpiece!

Here it is. Mitchell is showing you what he used.

We went with red/green on the picture I drew and multi-colored for Johns.

This was the best picture we got of the cousins. They are just too busy. (Michael, Mitchell, & Maddie)

Maddie says, "What's yours is mine, right?"

You can sort of see the black eye in this picture! This is one of my fav. pics of Mitchell in a while. He just doesn't sit still long enough to look at the camera and smile at the same time anymore!

Drew, my cousin Darryl's little boy!

Opening the truck from Aunt Marty. He loved the truck and the bath toy Aunt Sissy got him. Bath time is his fav. time of the day, i do believe!

He loves his 2nd cousin David.

The whole Sanford side of the family! Grandkids & Great-grandkids

This hat cracks me up!

We want to give a special thanks to Papaw and Grandma for hiring this master musician for the Christmas party. He played some lovely music!

Climbing to the top. It was pretty tough (it was slick)

YEAH, I made it...no time to waste, i need to get back down.

Weeeeeeeee. You would think we were on a roller coaster ride from the looks on our faces. It was a pretty fast slide though!

The big slide that little Mitchell went down all by himself (several times) LOL

Cousin Nolen at the end of the slide!

The Grinch!

We all went to the Grinch on ice at Opryland Monday night. Mitchell was fine through the first half of it, but from then on we were in fast mode. Didn't really get to see much of the last half,but the first half was pretty amazing! I just wonder how much time is spent in all of that. And an even more burning question is, How cold is it in there? And how do they keep it so cold? I mean it was absolutely freezing. So it looks like Mitchell may not like the snow too much, but I really think it was close to 15 degrees in there! Daddy eskimo and baby eskimo!

A family of eskimo's

YUMMY!

Yesterday it sure didn't feel like December 11th. I was driving home thinking it woud be a nice day for a convertible! Nolen spent the night w/Grandma and Papaw yesterday, so he and Mitchell got to play outside. Nolen was throwing leaves up in the air, Mitchell didn't quite get the concept, but he liked it when I threw them up!

I think Nolen is saying, would you PLEASE get this 30 lbs. baby off of me! I love this picture!

A couple more pics!

Here are a couple more pictures of Mitchell from my camera and also pics from last night to show how much better he looks!
Being sweet with daddy and doing what they do best...watching tv!

This is what Mitchell looked like when we woke up Sunday morning and the reason we decided to go to the ER!

Back shot!

This is was what I looked like on Saturday! It was on my stomach, arms, legs, back, and face! I guess mine didn't run together because I have a little more skin than Mitchell HAHA

Arm!

Here's the little man from last night. He has been really wound up the past couple days. I don't know if it has something to do with the viral infection or not, but he did not want to go to sleep last night. He just wanted to keep playing!

Weeeee!

Talking to Santa's Helpers. He's still not too sure about Santa, so he's hoping they'll relay the message to the big jolly man!

Cutie-pa-tutie!

All better!

Well the little leopard boy is much better today. He woke up this morning and looked so much better even from last night. I would say his skin is about 90% back to its normal look. The doctor said it would take a week to clear up on its own, i'm thankful it was faster than that.
Just a little story from today. I was changing his sheets in his room and he was in the living room. I heard him crinkling some type of paper. I had just got done cleaning the house, so i couldn't think of what it could be. I stood there thinking to myself, i really need to go see what he's got, but what do I do...i keep on putting his sheet on. When i got in there, he had opened a Hamburger Helper box and had the uncooked pasta, eating it. HAHA Looks like he's gonna like uncooked things, just like his momma and Papaw! Have a great day!

Doctor's Visit

Well we just got back from seeing Mitchell's pediatrician and he diagnosed the rash/hives as early erythema multiforme. A lot of words, I know, but its just basically a skin reaction caused from infection or medication. In our case it could have been either, because i had a fever blister come up and broke out earlier in the week, but Mitchell was also on amoxicillin. So it's a mystery. Dr. Mehrotra was leaning more towards the viral part, he said that he's not necessarily allergic to amoxicillin. So I guess we won't figure it out until he needs amoxicillin again, which I hope is never! He said it should clear up on its own in about a week. Mine is totally gone, but I was able to get a steroid shot too, so I'm sure that helped some. So hopefully we can go out in public in a week or so! LOL Hope everyone has a great day! One more thing...even though Mitchell looks like he feels really bad, he has been himself for the most part! That we are thankful for!

Mitchell with the hives

Well we spent another week at the doctor/hospital. This time it started on Thursday afternoon with me. Mom & I had been out shopping all day and when I got home I noticed some whelps on the back of my legs and side of my hips. I really didn't think anything about it. We ate at mom's that night, then when we got back home i had started breaking out everywhere else. So Friday morning I went to the doctor. He couldn't say for sure what caused it. Said it could have been something I ate or came into contact with. So he gave me a steroid shot and sent me home with some medicine (similar to Benadryl) Yesterday afternoon i noticed some of the first places that came up had gotten better, but it was spreading to other places.
We noticed a few spots on the back of Mitchell's neck yesterday morning and he got a few more as the night went on. Well we woke up this morning to Mitchell looking like this. We were planning on taking him to the same doctor that I had gone too anyways, but when his eyes were so swollen and he was so red, we decided a trip to the ER might be better.
The ER doctor seems to think that its an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillin that he had been taking for his ear infection. Although he did say that he couldn't say 100% that was what caused it. Mitchell also had a viral infection last week along with his ear infection, so i'm sort of leaning towards a viral infection of some sort, but I'm not a doctor either! Earlier this week before I broke out I noticed a fever blister coming up, so thats why I'm thinking its something viral. Mitchell hasn't ran a temperature with this, but mom said that she never knew when I was sick when i was a baby, because I didn't have fevers often. So I don't know. It's a mystery. You may see us on the TLC show Mystery Diagnosis soon! LOL My hives/spots/reaction, whatever you want to call it, has gotten a lot better, so hopefully Mitchell's will get better in a couple days too. Mine was very itchy, but it hasn't seemed to bother Mitchell at all. He was his same ol self while we were in the hospital room (seeing what all he could get in to) We'll go to his normal pediatrician tomorrow, so maybe he can tell us a little more.
(Click on the pics and you should be able to make then bigger. These were taken from my moms camera.) The spots were everywhere!

Back side!

Back side as he's crawling up the hospital bed!

His little eyes were pretty swollen!

Thanksgiving

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, didnt eat too much, and got a lot of shopping done. We went to my grandmothers Wednesday night for dinner, John's parents on Thanksgiving Day for breakfast, and then my Aunt Sissy's Thanksgiving nigiht for dinner. So we had a lot of good eating and fun.
Mitchell wasn't himself all last week though, he started with a fever Tuesday night, but was never really tugging at his ear, so I thought it was just a bug, well he still wasn't himself by Friday, so we took him to the doctor Friday morning and he had a viral and an ear infection. He was really good though to have both of those. He just got a little fussy around supper time two nights and was more clingy towards John and I. But he's getting better!
I went out Friday arouund 10:30 in the morning and did some shopping. It was great. I didn't have to stand in long lines, people weren't fighting, AND the sales were still going on for the things that I wanted. We also went to Opry Mills yesterday and did some shopping, so I would say I'm about 80% done, which is great for me. HAHA
Yesterday we had some visitors to our front yard. I counted about 86 turkeys at one point and they were all moving around, so there may have been more than that. I think John is throwing food out there for them, trying to start a safe haven for them. HAHA
Our front yard! The picture doesnt do it justice. I couldn't get them all in one picture because they were so spread out.

Maddie all dressed up in her knickers!

Cousin Maddie and Mitchell. They could have been twins.

Carrying around some dirty laundry. Look very closely inside the basket.

What can I say, they both love looking at theirselves! HAHA

My girl cousins on my dad's side. The (blood) sisters I never had! Chelsea, Jessica, and Maggie! I love you girls!

Classic "take the picture yourself photo". We finally got it right after 3 tries! LOL

Cousin Jessica saying, would you PLEASE hurry up and take the picture, this guy weighs as much as I do!

Like Father, Like Son, and Grandson. This is my dad, Pappy, and Craig hanging out on the couch at my aunts on Thanksgiving!

My nephew, Trevor, the cutest little cowboy I've ever seen!

These turkeys are smart. They all came out after Thanksgiving!

Our albino turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone eats a lot of turkey and watches out for all of the crazy people Friday if you are out shopping! I'm not a big shopper, so unless there is a sale that I can't pass up, I'm pretty sure I'll be in bed at 4AM when people are at Kohl's waiting to get in. My mother-in-law said that they went to Wal-Mart last year later on in the day and the place was deader than they had ever seen it and all of the sales were still going on, so I'm thinking lunch or after will be a good time for me to head out. When everyone is in bed asleep, since they woke up at 3AM. HAHA

With it being Thanksgiving, I just thought I would share a few things that I am thankful for.

1.) Jesus Christ, for dying on the cross for us all, so they we may be forgiven of our sins and have an enternal life in heaven!
2.) My family: An awesome husband who is very caring, giving, and a very loving father. A healthy son. Although he keeps me and everyone else on our toes, I wouldn't change anything about him. My parents. For always being there for us, supporting us, and especially for feeding us every Thursday night HAHA. My grandparents. Same things as above. My brother/his family. Craig has helped us so much with our addition at our house and we can't thank him enough. Thanks for letting us borrow your husband, Jamie! My in-laws. Mike/Terry are always willing to keep Mitchell whenever we need them. Mike has also helped us tremendously with the addition. I just always remind John to watch what his dad does carefully so he can learn. I don't think there has ever been anything that Mike couldn't build or figure out. Thanks to you too Terry for letting us borrow your husband. ;0) Susie, who is always willing to come keep Mitchell. Even if she is at the house until 10:30 at night...thanks! I am thankful for my brother and sister-in-laws too. And all of my nephews and niece. And can't forget all of my aunts/uncles, cousins. I love you all! (Hope I didn't leave anyone out)
3.) My mom for keeping Mitchell. I am SO thankful that I am able to work at my mom's while Mitchell is right upstairs keeping my mom busy. I am so fortunate to have this and i am ever so thankful for my mom keeping him. I guess we'll have to space the second kid out so that Mitchell is in Kindergarten LOL
4.) Grandmother and Pawpaw. John and I don't know what we would have done had grandmother and Pawpaw not helped us with the construction going on at our house the past 6 months. I like to call grandmother my supervisor, because she knows how to get things done and she does them right. Usually correcting Pawpaw after he has done something! HAHA My wish is to be as healthy as they are when I am that age, so that John and I can help our grandkids out like they help all of us grandkids!
5.) My health and my family's health.
6.) For the new space at our house. Although we don't have heat in our new addition yet, we have been really enjoying it.

There are so many other things that I am thankful for, but I would be typing for days and I don't want to bore you too much! HAHA HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Happy Birthday John!

Mitchell and I just wanted to tell his daddy Happy Birthday too! We wanted both birthday boys to have their own blogs! He's the big 2-7 now! Getting closer and closer to 30! Mitchell woke up at 6:30 so he didn't get to tell him Happy Birthday this morning, so we thought this would be a good way to tell him. John wants to go to CiCi's pizza for his birthday HAHA So we'll be making a trip there tonight! Just thought I would share a few pics of John growing up through now! Enjoy! I tried leaving the embarrassing pics out!
John with his late-mom, Dianne! THAT'S where Mitchell gets his chunkiness from!

With his daddy's high school jersey on.

He definetly got her smile!

John, his dad, and brother (Clay)

I would guess this is his 5th grade picture, maybe 4th!

John with his good friend, Mr. Jack. He passed away a couple months ago! He lived right across from John in Hartsville and was like another grandfather to him. This picture was taken when John and I first started dating and Mr. Jack was turning 84, so John gave him his high school jersey!

Terry, John, and Mike! Terry is John's step-mom. Her and Mike got married after all of the kids had graduated from high school!

Just had to put a picture on here of us from like 6 years ago. I'm sure we'll never be this skinny again, but its nice to hope! HAHA

Engagement picture....awwwwww!

The new edition to the Carey family. Mitchell at 4 1/2 months old.

Daddy and Mitchell. I love this picture!

Family picture from the beach this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY John!

Thank you for being such a good husband & dad! We couldn't ask for anything more! Have a great day at school, we are looking forward to pizza tonight!