Why, Why, Why?

I just don't get it...I have a three year old boy, right?  We have been to the inflatables place NUMEROUS times.  My kid refuses to get in/on any of the inflatables!  He will literally spend the ENTIRE time running in circles around the place.  Each time we go, I offer to go in with him or carry him up the stairs to the slide.  He either refuses OR (if he agrees to go) clings to me as though he fears for his life and tears quickly appear.  

Today was no exception.  We hadn't been to Jumping Party in over six months, so I figured that maybe things would be different this time.  We had a birthday party to attend, where he would be familiar with at least three of the other children (who did, by the way, climb all over every single inflatable in the place).  I thought seeing his friends romp all over everything might provide some motivation.  Nope.  He was a happy-go-lucky kiddo as long as you didn't try to push him to get on/in anything.  Once again, Caleb spent over an hour running around the place.  

We won't be having a birthday party there anytime soon.  Maybe when he's thirteen he'll finally decide that inflatables are fun...but then it may be too late to enjoy them without ridicule.

Growing Like a Weed

My little stinker has really grown in the last year!  We finally (a month after his 3rd birthday) had his 3 year check up with the doctor this morning.  After taking his weight, height, temperature and blood pressure, we were given his percentiles.  The percentile just gives us an idea of where he stands compared to other children his age.  In all of his past visits, his weight and height have been around the 10-20th percentiles.  Today, we found out that he is in the 45th percentile for his weight and 40th percentile for his height.  

Here's our little man today, proudly sporting his "Big Brother" shirt from Granana.

Snail Mail Has Its Downside

Dog gone snail mail!  

I am almost always great about writing the checks for our bills as soon as I receive them and mailing them off within a few days.  Apparently I neglected to send off a credit card bill until only 5 days before it was due.  I put my faith in the speed of snail mail and it came back to bite me!  

It took 8 days for that bill to post, which made us 3 days late!  We have NEVER been late on ANY payment, EVER!  Our lovely late fee?  $35, with an atrocious 303% interest rate on that fee.  Of course, that meant that when they determined this month's bill 3 days later, they added the accumulated interest on top of the $35.  

We did call to try to get the fees waived considering our past credit history with this particular company over the past 5 years.  They did concede and offer to reduce our late fee to $17.50, but I still feel wronged.  

It annoys me that I could mail off a bill 5 days before the due date and still incur late fees OR I could send a payment online with 1 day to spare and be just fine. I'll be mailing my next bill with at least 10 days to spare!

Yeah, Right

After Caleb finished his lunch, he headed outside to play.  I said, "Have fun playing!"  He replied, "Have fun washing your dishes, Mommy."

Ugly Days

Ugly tummy troubles, ugly hair, nonexistent makeup...this has been my life for the last three days.  I vow to do more tomorrow since I spent all day yesterday and today lying on the sofa bed.  

It began with my last post...Caleb endured some sort of stomach virus.  By Saturday I had a nasty case of the same.  I couldn't keep a thing down.  Not lunch, not crackers, not sprite, not even water.  By 2 am, I woke Jadie to ask him to take me to the ER because I was afraid of becoming dehydrated.  He called his mom, who graciously came over so we wouldn't have to take Caleb along to the ER.  We waited in the ER from 2:45 am until 6:45 am.  Apparently my "problem" put me at the bottom of the priority list and empty beds were constantly being filled by people being brought in by ambulance.  

When I was finally taken to a room, the nurses had a difficult time drawing my blood to run the lab tests they needed.  As I already knew, I have tiny veins which are hard to find with a needle.  When you are dehydrated, your veins shrink, making my problem more intense.  They thought they'd take 5 vials of blood.  They were only able to get one.  

The nurse gave me nausea meds through an IV and then 2 liters of fluids to re-hydrate me.  Since returning home, I just haven't felt right.   I need to get things back to normal!!!

Yucky, You Might Want To Censor For Yourself

I know how everyone likes to read about the sicknesses that make their way into our household.  I include them because they are an indicator of what we'll be doing to the next few days.  Recuperation!   I'll keep this one simple and just say that Caleb threw up five times between 6pm and 9pm, then twice more after going to bed.  There's lots of laundry to be done and a steam cleaner to wash out.  Yucky!

All About Giraffes

So here's the story on the giraffe madness we experienced during Caleb's birthday party this year...

Back in September or October, while I was browsing with Caleb at Tuesday Morning, I saw the cutest little giraffe party invitations.  I thought they would be perfect if I could convince Caleb to go with a safari theme for his birthday party.

Little did I know that three months of recalling his giraffe invitations would turn his whole party into a much narrower theme: Giraffes.  Granana and I did our best.

Here are Nicole and her son Aaron assembling a giraffe puppet. 

Caleb showing off his finished product.

Caleb putting together Oren's giraffe puppet.  Oren didn't really want to help, but he was

 excited to watch the process.

After the puppets, the kids made giraffe printed "binoculars" and hunted for giraffes in the backyard.

Caleb finally found one!

I was pretty proud of my giraffe cake.  I used

 the Wilton Animal Crackers cake pan and the cake decorating techniques that Shannon taught us at a MOPS meeting last year.  

This was perfect timing to catch Caleb's little puffed out cheeks!

Our Guests:

My mom, Linda and my sister, Kristin

Jadie's Grandma

Chris and Junior

Jadie's sister, Vanessa and Jadie's mom, Debbie

DJ, Lillie, Nicole, and Aaron

Jadie

(with our "pin the tail on the giraffe" in the background)

Jadie's dad, Jadie Sr. and Fran

Melanie looking adorable!