Since I actually have a day off, I'll take a few moments to "blog." Mark just upgraded to his new "big boy bed." So far, so good. All this means is since we got the crib from IKEA that can change into a toddler bed, we took off the rails so he can crawl in and out of his bed easily. He's been able to climb out of the crib for a while, but didn't show a tremondous interest in escaping, so we didn't worry about changing it to a bed. But when we were at Toys 'R Us and they let us have their "Handy Manny" toddler bedding set for $8.00, we took it. They had actually sold out of the sheets already, but we convinced them to give us the display sheets. So after carefully washing the sheets, Mark's been sleeping in his "new" bed! He looks so cute and he seems proud of it. It did take some extra convincing to take a nap today, and an extra cup of milk, but he finally went down for his nap.

I've been dusting and vacuuming, and wanted a break, so that's why I'm here. But Mark and I went to Craig's work today to have lunch with him and Mark sang "The Eyes of Texas" perfectly for him! He also loves "Duh duh duh" which is the Texas fight song without the words. It's so cute to hear him sing it because he really tries to hit the right notes. He definitely has some musical tone. I think he's got music in his blood.

And we love putting Mark to work by emptying the dishwasher. He did break a dish the other day. :-( But, it's still nice to have him reach down and grab the non-sharp items from the dishwasher and hand them to you. It really helps relieve stress on your back from leaning over. I just make sure to take the knives out of the dishwasher first because otherwise I have a panic attack when he reaches for the knife.

Well, I'd better get back to cleaning the house and folding clothes. Otherwise, I'll have no time to catch up on my household chores when I go back to work. :-)

The Hospital Week

This week has been quite eventful. At 5am Wednesday morning, Craig woke up with an extreme headache. By 6am, I was driving us to the ER with little Mark. At 9am, I dropped Mark off at Daycare because his patience in the ER room was waning. By 11am, the doctor informed us they would admit Craig to the hospital. We made it to his hospital room around 3 or 4pm and Craig is quite drugged up at this moment. The few times he would talk, he thought it was the next day. At 5:30pm I picked Mark up from day care and when I hugged him, he felt very warm. We took his temperature before I left, and it was 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Since 2 kids at the day care had already gotten strep throat, my instincts told me Mark had it too. So, since the doctor's office was already closed and I was already at the hospital, I took Mark to the ER about 6:00pm on Wednesday. They didn't even test him for strep and gave us a prescription for penicillin. Craig's mom and I went to Wal-mart, got his medicine and came back to the hospital. Craig was mostly out of it still, but Craig's mom wanted me to go home and sleep in our bed. Craig's face looked betrayed when she suggested it, and I knew I couldn't leave him. So Craig's Mom stayed with sick little Mark at our house, while I slept in a fold-out chair/bed next to Craig's bed.

I kept Mark with me all day Thursday in the hospital room. Thankfully he was pretty entertained by his 4 hot wheels cars I had stuck in his diaper bag. I desperately tried to get him to take a nap, but it wasn't until they finally released Craig at 4:30pm that Mark fell asleep in the car. He was worried about Craig, and I don't think he wanted to sleep until he knew Daddy was better.

I stayed home Friday with both of them as well. As the family nurse, I think both are now on the road to recovery and with a few more prayers, hopefully we won't have so much trauma for a LONG time.

Now today, Saturday, Craig's Mom is getting ready to get married to Bill Moon. She's called several times this morning to see if we're coming. I think we are. It depends on how Craig's feeling because I don't want him to push himself too much too soon.

So, this blog is more about my life than Mark's cute little things. I will say one thing that amazes me that Mark did last night though. For Christmas he got this little chalkboard and I was drawing different things and I told me everything that I drew: eyeglasses (he called them "glasses"), shoes ("boots"), a glass filled with liquid (he called it "milk"), shirt, pants (he said "jamas" for pajamas), a dog, and when I drew a hand, he said "gloves!"

I need to go, but maybe I'll remember to add to this blog in the near future...

Starting a blog

What's in a name? What's in a blog? A blog is spot for your thoughts, they say. So may my thoughts be thoughtful enough to enlighten your day.

I don't intend to rhyme with each blog. And I don't know who else will actually read this, but I had someone tell me once that a blog was awesome for a mom with a little baby because I can just blog what my kid does and it's kind of like the kid's baby journal. So when Mark is graduating from college with a PhD, I can say, "I remember when you learned to read the word poop before you were 2 1/2," and actually have the blog to prove it. Because my word (spoken or written) is as good as gold, and I would never lie. Especially when it comes to bragging about Mark. He's absolutely adorable in every way, and because pictures speak louder than words, I'll try to post pictures too. And of course videos prove that what I saw is true as well.

So on to the most recent amazing achievements of Mark, who turns exactly 28 months old on December 28th, 2008, is writing. And when I say writing, I mean actually writing letters. Yesterday, I was amazed when he drew what looked like to be a backwards nine, and he said, "A G!" And after turning my head upside down, I realized the "nine" wasn't closed in all the way, and there was an almost perfectly shaped upside-down G. I have also found the letter "H" written rather often, even in our nice coffee table book. He has also clearly written the letter A, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, L, M, N, O (that's one of his favorites), P, Q, S, T, U, V, W, and Y. So if I can just get him to do an R, then he'll be able to write all the letters in his name. Those are all the letters I can clearly remember seeing him draw without any help from an adult.

What amazes me is how he can transpose letters in his head. Like the other day he point to an N and said "Z!" At first I was going to correct him, until I realized his head was turned to the right, and when I turned my head as well, I realized, he was exactly right. The N was a Z. And when he turned his head straight he identified it as an N. So he definitely knows his letters and it amazes me how he can see them everywhere. His spaghetti was "J" the other day, and he moved to sticks to make a T, V, L and I. He found a branch at his daycare and proudly showed his daycare lady how it was a "Y."

What can I say? My boy is a genius. Except he now says "Barbara, look!" every time he wants to show you something. Barbara is his day care lady. So besides having to correct him and tell him that no, I'm Mama, he's perfectly brilliant. :-)

You know, I really could keep rambling about all the amazing things Mark does every day. He's the twinkle in my eye. He's getting over a bad cold right now, but he still lights up and shouts, "Christmas!" every time he sees Christmas lights on a house. He was scared to sit on Santa's lap, but what 2 year old boy isn't? I think he's excited for Christmas though. He's loved opening the presents so far he's gotten from day care... :-)

So with that thought I'll end my first blog entry. May it not be my last.