Happy Birthday Jackson!

Wow - 3 years went by in the blink of an eye.  It seems like just yesterday when then placed you on my stomach and you promptly pooped on me.  Ahhh....the memories :-)

We celebrated with the family today - everyone came to celebrate Jackson's 3rd birthday.  It was great to see everyone and the kids all had a blast playing together.  The food from Pazzo's was excellent, as always - we couldn't have asked for a nicer day.  Unfortunately, Poppa Marques was feeling under the weather, but was still able to come celebrate.

Jackson got all kinds of great new toys to play with and some really cute outfits (for me to play with LOL).

Bryan was nice enough to walk around in the basement with us, giving us some ideas/suggestions/opinions on some of the things we are looking to do down there, which was nice.  Made us think of a few things that we hadn't considered which is always a good thing - gets the imagination going.

One of the cutest things that happened all day was that Lexi fed Tyler.  Well...sort of.  Tyler had finished his dinner and had gotten out of the booster chair.  We put Lexi in and was feeding her some ham and orange melon.  Tyler pulled himself up and was standing next to the booster chair looking up at Lexi and she started feeding him melon!  She would grab a piece and put it in Tyler's open mouth.  It was absolutely hysterical and went on for a little while.  Now that is what I call sharing :-)

Swine Flu sucks

I picked Nicolas up from school right after lunch on Friday the 20th since he was coughing like crazy and the teacher called to see what we wanted to do.  Luckily, both Luis and I had taken the day off of work to do some things for the basement, so it wasn't a problem.  Nicolas started running a fever Friday night and had a fever all the way through last night.  Coughing, tired, and miserable for the past week.  Eating ok, but that is about it.  Taking 2-3 hour naps every day which is completely unheard of.  And stayed home all week from school this week.  Based on his symptoms (fever, coughing, tiredness, sore legs and 1 random puking episode), I have concluded that it was the swine flu (as opposed to the regular flu).  Hopefully no one else in the house will catch it.

Jackson and I have been sick since Sunday, but hopefully just with regular colds as there doesn't seem to be a persistent fever for either of us.

Holy crap, molars!

Lexi had her first visit to the dentist this morning.  They did a general mouth check, just to make sure everything looks ok and to get Lexi used to going to the dentist.  All looked good and the dentist pointed out that Lexi has one of her top molars already and the other one was starting to push through as well.  Hmmm.  Maybe that is why she has been a bit cranky lately and not wanting to sleep...

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Lexi has been running a fever since Saturday. And not just some run of the mill slight temp kind of fever, but the kind of fever that requires a dose of both Tylenol AND Motrin to keep it down in a reasonable range.

I was convinced that she had another ear infection, and Jen was nice enough to let me stop by her house Sunday morning so that she could check. The good news was that Lexi's ears weren't infected (although one did have fluid in it). The bad news is that I had no idea what was causing the fever.

Monday she stayed home from daycare. I thought she seemed a little better yesterday, although still feverish. Was feverish again this morning, so home she stayed. Then as I took her out of the bath tonight and was drying her off...lo and behold...a rash. So it looks like she has Roseola. The good news is now that the rash has appeared, the fever should be gone. I did give her some Motrin right before bed just in case, so we'll see how she does and how she is feeling tomorrow.

Cake the turtle

Jackson woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Whiny and crying for a decent part of the morning. Didn't want to eat breakfast, didn't want to get dressed, etc. After much asking, telling and threatening he finally got dressed, just in time to head out to the birthday party he was supposed to be attending. Except that all of a sudden he decided he didn't want me to bring him - he wanted Daddy to bring him. Which normally would be fine, except that last week when Luis brought the boys to a birthday party Jackson decided that I would bring him to this birthday party. And we'd been talking about it all week, and I literally had my keys in hand. It was either go with mommy or not go at all. To write it out here sounds harsh, but from my perspective I didn't want him thinking/learning that he is in charge - that just because he wants (or doesn't want) something means that is how it is going to be. After much to-do, we were off, with much crying from the backseat. About halfway to the party he stopped crying and apparently decided to make the most of it.

The party was at a small children's museum and although it took a little while for him to stop clinging to me and really enjoy the party, he did have a good time. They had a woman talk to the kids about animals they would see in their backyards, and passed around a bird's nest, beaver chew and woodpecker hole to feel/see. She also had a pair of box turtles that all the kids were able to pet (except for Jackson who refused to touch them). Then the kids did a craft of making and decorating their own turtle, which Jackson promptly named "Cake". Then pizza (which Jackson actually ate a few bites of) and cake. Then we had time to wander around the rest of the museum for a little while before it opened to the public. Jackson had a great time in the "boat" room pretending to drive the fishing boat and catch fish. He also loved watching the electric train make the loop from the hallway into the boat room and back out. When we were leaving he said his favorite part was the cake. Too funny. That's definitely my kid!

After a short nap and a bit of time running around outside, Lou suggested that we go out to eat. Being a sucker for punishment I agreed and quickly packed up a bag of food and we headed out.

Not 5 minutes after sitting down, the boys managed to dump out Lou's full glass of water all over the table, menus, and Lexi. Then they filled up on dinner rolls so that when the food actually came, they didn't want to eat it. Jackson had all of 1 bite of his hot dog and I think Nicolas had 2-3 pieces of chicken. They both ate a number of french fries, as well as the mini pumpkin muffins I had grabbed on the way out of the house. Lexi ate most of her jarred food, some Cheerios and some of Nicolas' chicken (maybe even more than he did). Then Nicolas decided he had to poop and Lou was in the bathroom for a long time with him, which I tried to keep Lexi and Jackson entertained. Luis finally came out and suggested that I pack them in the car while Nicolas finished up.

Shortly after getting home we headed to bed where Jackson proceeded to demand to sleep in our bed. Luis had to manhandle him back into the boys' room and lean against the door to keep it closed while Jackson threw a screaming/crying fit trying to get back into our room. Once he finally calmed down he got in bed (with Luis) and they both fell asleep until almost 10 when Luis came back into our room to sleep.

Isn't it a little early for the wonderful "3" behavior to start? And to think we have a whole year of this ahead of us. And another year once Lexi hits this fabulous age...