Monday, February 27, 2012

February and a misinformed groundhog...

I don't know what February's weather has been like where you are but here in East Tennessee it has either been rainy and gray or bright, sunny and unseasonably warm. On the wet days I morph into a sad and mopey girl because pretty much all of my pants need to be hemmed and too long pants+ rainy weather equals wicking and wet feet/ankles. Yuck. I also don't take any pictures on rainy days.

Last week, though, we had TONS of sunny weather. Tuesday morning started off on a little bit of a gloomy foot but by the time Declan got out of preschool it was gorgeous! We rushed home and had a little lunch then loaded back up and looked for a park to play in that wasn't crowded with big kids. I got tons of great pics.



Look at those lashes!

Getting pics of this kid is getting harder and harder! 

Fun fact about Aengus: Loves to swing!

Climbing champion...

The only pic I've ever taken where he looks like his Mama.  

A slide! 

Ears all a'glow!

Another backside shot!

"Heck yeah, we're here to rock!"

He looks like a wrangler model here. YeeHaw!

On Wednesday, we were in Knoxville for a minor surgery that Aengus needed. It was also rainy and cold. Boo! Hiss! BOO HISS!

On Thursday, back in Johnson City, it was another gorgeous day. So gorgeous that we ate our lunch outside...





Please note the tooth placement up-top. Team Edward, I'm afraid. 


We played our little hearts out...






 got incredibly filthy, went inside for a quick bath...




Put on dry clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon napping, basking in the warm weather on the back deck while wearing sporty pipe cleaner spectacles...


And painting rocks...


And hoping that the fat rodent meteorologist was wrong because ...



Escaping the house never felt soooooooo good!



Have a great week!



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Of puny babies and jealous big brothers...


(This is not a "Sick Aengus" pic. A pic of that would get this blog shut down for "too much pitiful on the internets")

Aengus was pretty sick over the weekend. He was diagnosed on Friday with a case of pneumonia. This entailed 3 shots of rocephin, 2 lab draws and currently he's on oral antibiotics. I would have taken pictures of him but he insisted that no one touch, look at or speak of his boo-boos and that includes non-flash photography. Frankly, he's a bit of a diva when he's sick. Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep for us.  He's much better now but Declan... oh, that Declan. 



He's not the jealous kind, see, but when one is forced to sit through a 2 hour doctor's office visit that does not actually revolve around one's own self, despite the dare devil acrobatics and pull-ups on the very high exam table, only to have one's own sick and needy baby brother hog one's mama for 2 days straight... well, that makes ONE ACT OUT, ok? So, while Daddy took Aengus to the pediatrician on Saturday for a re-check, Mama took Declan on a special play date to see if we could maybe fight back at that old green-eyed monster eating at my blue-green-eyed boy. 


We started the Mama/Declan-doodle-mama's-noodle Date off at Panera where Mama had a bagel and half sweet/half unsweet iced tea and Declan had some milk and the world's crumbiest heart-shaped cookie. He wolfed that puppy down like his life depended on it. 


(Cro-magnon table manners aside, still the cutest cookie steam-shovel ever!)


Then we headed on over to the Hands-On Children's Museum where we played so hard that that place didn't even know what hit 'em. Declan got to do a little climbing:



A little kayaking...




Flew a little plane...

Drove a tractor...


And manned the helm of a riverboat through a school of amazonian barracudas
 (or, at least a cousin of the barracuda) 



We also saw a snake get fed (We didn't stay to watch her chow down, though. Maybe next time.).

Then we went to Pal's and picked up some french fries for a snack. 

On Monday, our pediatrician called to check on Aengus' progress. He then informed me that I could have saved my $8 admission to the Hands-On Children's Museum and have Declan lick a few door knobs around town for free if putting his immune system to the test in the middle of winter was what I was after(I'm paraphrasing here, ok?). Crap.

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon: Declan falls asleep at 4:30 pm. No big surprise since he often refuses to nap all day long until right around 4. But typically, by 5 pm Declan is up and at 'em. 5 rolls around. Then 6. Ben feeds Aengus and I put Declan's dinner in the oven. Still, Declan slept. He slept until 7:45 the next morning (or this morning, as I write this)... He woke up ready for action but his nose was very stuffy/runny. He also took a morning nap(VERY unusual).  He still played hard, climbed everything in sight, excavated the back yard sandbox for an hour and a half, finger painted, had 2 baths and went to bed clutching a sippy cup of ice water. While Aengus does sick like Beyonce does child-birth (this link's for you, Dad), Declan does sick like a pioneer woman squatting in the middle of a row of green beans to give birth only to dust off and keep on harvesting. 

That's all the news that's fit to print around these parts! Happy Groundhog day, friends!

***Re-edited this post on 2/3/2012 @ 9:18 am. Was unable to do so last night as the littlest England was refusing to be put down. Good times...Actually, it's kind of great times. ; )