Catching up.....

I know, I know. Once again, we have to play catch up on here, but things just always seem to get kind of crazy around our place. Let me start from back when......This picture below was taken right before Halloween and at that time, my little man was once again struggling with a snotty nose and sinus mess. You can't tell it by the smile on his face though, huh??


So Halloween finally gets here and we're still battling the snotty nose. Nothing seems to work!! Anyway, he had a big time doing the whole trick-or-treating thing. The costume was a little warm (I hadn't anticipated it being 70 degrees outside), but he did really well. I was afraid he migh be scared of some of the other costumes, but he did fine. He just wouldn't smile for his Mommy when she was trying to take his picture!

This was after trick-or-treating and as you can tell, he was thoroughly enjoying some of his treats!!

So in the meantime, we are STILL battling this runny nose business and it's getting to the point where he's coughing and beginning to tug at his ears, so off we go to the doctor and sure enough, we have an ear infection. We're on meds for this now so hopefully soon, I'll have a healthy little guy again!! Also, the weekend before last we had a nice surprise. Grandma came down for the weekend and we had a ball. We really didn't do anything big, just hung around the house and visited. I'll post those pictures soon. Glad you got to come Grandma and hope you will visit again soon!!!

Also, there has been a nasty stomach virus going around here and they've even had to close the schools to try and get people well. Isaac's sitter Michelle and all the other kids there except one have had this yucky bug. I thought we were going to miss it, but last night, it hit me and let me tell you, it's bad stuff!! So far, Isaac and Darren are both still good so please keep your fingers crossed and say an extra prayers that my guys won't get this thing!!!

OK, so I'm trying to do better. It hasn't been nearly as long since my last posting, but once again, things have been kind of crazy around our house lately. First, we went to middle TN this past weekend to visit with PaPa Murf and MaMa Hope. As always, we had a good visit. I took a ton (and I do mean a TON) of photos this trip, but of course I can't post them all so I tried to pick some of the best. This first one here is just Isaac playing with some blocks and as you can tell by his expression, he's having a pretty good time!!



He also discovered the new coffee table at their house and loved how he could crawl under and fit just perfectly. I know you can't see it, but the top is a football and it's a really cool table. Should have taken a photo, but I didn't. Oh well, maybe next time....

This is one of Isaac's favorite things to do. Anytime we're at home and he hears Darren's tractor running outside, he runs to the door saying "DaDa" because he wants to go out and ride. PaPa Murf's tractor was no different. He absolutely loves being on it and of course he cried when it was time to get off...

On Saturday afternoon, our nephew Jakob had his 3rd birthday party. It was pretty chilly outside, but we had a good time. Jakob decided to take Isaac for a ride on his little John Deer and he had a ball. They just kept going around and around the house and was just the cutest thing!!

Here's where the fun starts. On Sunday, I decided to try and have Isaac's pictures made at Portrait Innovations in M'boro while we were in town. We got ready and went and had to wait awhile. All this time, Isaac was happy and playing around with no problems. Then as soon as it was our turn and we got back there, he started crying up a storm. I tried and tried to calm him down because I really wanted to do these pictures. The more I tried to calm him, the more he cried. Finally, I just gave up. I apologized to the folks there and said maybe we'll have better luck next time we're in town. Meanwhile, I started noticing these red bumps on Isaac's legs and wondered what it could be, but it didn't look too bad so I didn't think much about it. Well, as the day went on, the spots got bigger and redder. In this picture, it had just started so it didn't look too bad just yet......

Well, as the day went on, the spots just got worse and worse. It looked like he was having an allergic reaction, but we had no idea why. So, we decided to stop and get him some Benadryl on our way back to Savannah. He was asleep by this point, but I was able to get a dose in him and he slept most of the way home. Darren and I both watched him like a hawk the whole way back just to make sure he was breathing. By the time we got to Savannah, he looked even worse and you couldn't tell the Benadryl had done a thing for him. As you can tell below, he was feeling pretty good so we didn't worry too much, gave him another dose of Benadryl, and put him to bed. .....

He woke up in the night and it was time for another dose, then he just went right back to sleep. When he got up that morning, he looked awful. He was swollen all over and covered in splotches. His face was swollen, his hands and feet were swollen. He didn't even look like the same child!!! I , of course, panicked and Darren and his mom hit the road to Jackson to his doctor. She checked him out from head to toe and said everything was ok, he was just having a reaction to something. Finding out what that something was, would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She said just continue with Benadryl and she increased his dose to 1 teaspoon (we were giving him 1/4 teaspoon). This seemed to work the first day, but when it came time that the medicine started wearing off, the splotches would come back, as you can see below.....

So, we have just continued the Benadryl and yesterday was much better. He was a little splotchy yesterday morning, but much better by the afternoon. Last night, the splotches were gone, but I gave him Benadryl before bed just in case and decided to see what he looked like today. Well........Isaac slept all night long and there were no splotches this morning. Yay!!!! Hopefully, my baby is finally well and will stay that way for a little while......

Hello all! I truly haven't forgotten about this thing, but it has been kind of wild in our world. All 3 of us have had this sinus/head cold mess for at least a week now and it's about to get the best of us. Isaac had been sleeping so good until all this hit. Then, he would sleep til around 2:00 or 2:30 in the a.m. and I just didn't have the heart to make him cry it out when he was coughing and didn't feel good.......SO ( go ahead, just call me SUCKER!!) I would end up putting him in the bed with us which let him sleep better, but not Darren or me. Now that he's finally getting over most of this, he's doing much better at night. He's been waking up around midnight or so, but I can get him back to sleep without picking up AND without any tears (yes, i'm pretty proud of myself) and he'll sleep until around 7:00. I'm still pretty stuffy myself and Darren is still coughing, but all in all, we're much better than we were.
As for updates, Isaac is just changing so much and it seems he learns something new every day. He's picking up a lot more words and it still just a little ham, as you can tell by the photos below. This weekend, we are heading to Readyville (just outside the Boro) to spend the weekend with Papa Murf and MaMa Hope. We also have our nephew Jakob's birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon so Isaac should have a big time with that! We hope to take lots of photos and will be sure to share them when we get back home.


Isaac is getting at a stage now where he really doesn't like to be fed anymore, he thinks he can do it all himself and he actually does pretty good sometimes. He usually just eats whatever we happen to be eating for dinner, but I still have several jars of baby food that I'm trying to use. I hate to just throw them out! As you can though, he got a little carried away though one night with some bananas and just had the best time playing around with his food. I wish I'd had the video camera though because as he was playing, he was singing too. It was just too cute!!

These were just some cute ones I took while we were at MiMi and PawPaw's house one afternoon. He absolutely LOVES to be outside so he always has a blast. As you can tell from the 2nd photo, he's quite the little climber and his new fascination is light switches so that's what he was doing on the chair.

These last 2 are some of my very favorites. My Dad does a tv show about high school football on Thursday nights at 8:00 on News channel 50+. We were watching it last week and Isaac was just waving at his PaPa Murf and couldn't understand why he wasn't waving back so Darren called in on the show and was able to talk to him on the air and he made sure to wave and say hi to Isaac!! Also, for some reason, Isaac has taken a sudden interest in hats and wants to wear one all the time. That same night after I put his pj's on, he found this fleece hat and just had to wear it. I thought it was just the cutest thing!! He sometimes won't look at me when I'm trying to take his picture so I had to trick him and was able to get these shots. I just love how big his eyes look and of course, you know I think he's just the cutest little fella!! Hope you all enjoy and look forward to posting more pics after the weekend.....

Catch up.......again

First, I want to say Happy Anniversary to us!! We celebrated year #4 on September 25. We've changed a lot and our lives have definitely changed since that day and I wouldn't trade these years for the world. I love my husband, our child, and our lives together and look forward to many more to come....

Well, we're still here. Seems like the month of September has been a rough one at the Howard house. Between the hand, foot, and mouth mess with Isaac and then the croup, things are just now finally trying to get back to normal. Isaac and I are spending the weekend in Carthage with my Mom and visiting with my grandmother. It's definitely nice to come home!! Here are just a couple of fairly new photos. This one is Isaac wearing BOTH of his new hats. He's all of sudden really gotten into hats and loves to wear them now.

Some of you may have already seen this photo, but one morning after a pretty rough night, I went in to get Isaac up for the day and all I saw were his 2 little feet sticking out of the crib. I thought it was just precious!!

Anyway, maybe things are starting to get back to normal around our house now, although I do see at least 2 teeth that are about to pop through. Hopefully, that won't be too terribly bad though!!

photos....

Here are the photos that i promised........This first one is Isaac just having a good time before bath one night.....

This is Nathan's birthday party that we went to last Saturday. At first, Isaac wasn't too sure about the jumping inflatable, but as you can see, he later warmed up to it just fine....

Isaac and Daddy before church last Sunday in their matching outfits.......

Isaac once again enjoying one of his favorite things......a popsicle.........

Have a good weekend and we'll be back soon with another update.........

excuses, excuses....

Well, once again, I have fallen behind on things. Sorry! This is my second week at my new job and things are going pretty good so far. Still trying to get in a routine and learn new people, but I have no complaints. Darren's brother and his family came in last weekend so Isaac had a big time playing with Jakob. He still doesn't quite know what to think of baby Ethan. He just points at him and says "baby". Isaac also got to go to a birthday part on Saturday. Our sitter's little boy turned 4 and they had a little party. Isaac had a big time there and I took pictures. My camera battery is charging at the moment, but I will get them posted soon. Also, Isaac hasn't quite been himself for at least a couple of weeks now. I just thought he was teething and I think that's part of it. Part of it is also allergies. Poor little fella's nose has just been pouring lately, but that's getting better too. Sunday evening, he spiked a fever and once again, I just thought it was his teeth. Then, Monday evening, all these spots started appearing, mostly in the diaper area and a few around his mouth. I thought it might have been a reaction to a new bubble bath I had used with him. We got up Tuesday and he looked about the same, but Ms. Michelle (our sitter) called and said he was really fussy and snotty. We thought he might feel better after a nap, but he seemed to feel worse so my mother-in-law went and picked him up early. By this time, the spots are more defined and there are more of them. Luckily, he was scheduled for a well-child exam and shots at the doctor on Wednesday. After checking him over, she said he had a classic, text book case of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Yuck!! The thing is, now that his fever is gone, he's no longer contagious and there's nothing that will help now except for time. Poor little guy looks pitiful though!!! He has spots on his face, his little booty, his hands, and his feet. They look bad, but the doctor said they aren't painful at least. His ears looked great (woo hoo!!) He also weighed 24 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches tall. I can't believe my little guy is 15 months old now. Everyone always told me how fast time would go, but I never dreamed it would fly by like this. I promise to have pictures uploaded soon. Hope all is well with everyone and I will be back again soon.....

Labor Day Weekend....

Ok, so I have some backtracking to do once again before I am totally caught up (at least for now). Anyway, last week, Isaac's little booty all of a sudden broke out and I don't just mean a little red. He was totally COOKED and I felt so bad for him. The first night, I thought I would fix him one of those Aveeno baths and just let him soak for awhile thinking that would make him feel better. WRONG!!! I fixed the bath and put him in and he started to squat and sit, but the second his bottom touched the water, he screamed bloody murder so no luck there. After trying desitin, butt paste, balmex, and caldescene powder with no improvement, I decided to call the doctor. They called me in a couple of different things to use and thankfully, within a couple of days, he was back to normal. After doing a lot of research, I really think it's just teeth. The next ones to come in are the stomach teeth. I've looked in his mouth and can't see anything yet, but he is chewing on everything like crazy so hopefully those little stinkers will come in soon and we will get some relief! When his bottom was so bad, we decided to let him run around in nothing but a bath robe one night and these are some of those photos. I know the robe is small (it's a size 0-9 months) but it was better than nothing at all!!!

These shots were taken the other night while we were playing on the deck. Darren was mowing the yard and Isaac was just dying to try and get to him. As you can see, we have quite the little climber on our hands!!

These next ones were taken last night before we headed home from MiMi and PawPaw's house. It was way past Isaac's bedtime, but for some reason, he was totally wound up and wild as ever!! He would just run and scream and yell, and I think he was just trying to see how loud he could get. Needless to say, it was pretty good entertainment!!

Anyway, I guess that's about all for now. I start my new job tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about it, but nervous at the same time. Say a little prayer for me as I start this new chapter and I will definitely let you all know how my first day goes!!