We're Baaaaaack!

After Palmer's hospital stay in August, we hoped we'd never visit again.  Much less four months later.  At least this time we had a diagnosis from the go and although he was poked no less than 10 total times for an i.v. ,  he was subjected to less as far as crazy tests go.

Palmer is totally wore out from a very long time trying and poking around for veins.  He was purely exhausted at this point.

Outside his tent getting a breathing treatment.

A sweet group of girls from Houston River Baptist Church visited patients at the hospital and gave out Christmas presents.  P got a handmade blanket, stuffed puppy and coloring books and crayons.  The group couldn't come in his room so he waved from the room.  Such a special treat at this time of year from a great group!

I've been trying to type this for at least an hour.  I keep being distracted by a few little boys.  Palmer is relentless in his climbing and pulling on the laptop.  He's adamant he knows how to type.  He wants me to tell you something:

Thank you very much for your concern and prayers.  God is good!  I also have the best grandparents a little boy could ask for.  My Nana and G were always there to console and hold me and love on me.  My Joe and Paw Paw (Paw Paw brought the most delicious home made boudin balls, well at least I heard the were delicious) are pretty great too!  I am blessed!

Oh, I forgot to add,  P's pediatrician told us he was voted the cutest baby of the year at the hospital!  Good thing we made two appearances this year to up our ante!  (Surely they don't tell EVERYone that?)

Christmas Vacation

My Christmas vacation began yesterday!  Wahoo!  Our vacation will consist of a five star "hotel" and complimentary meals!  Wow!  Sounds fancy, I know right.

Don't get too jealous.  Let me back up.  I picked up boys from school yesterday.  Gram had a party at school and collected a bunch of loot.  I was looking forward to getting home and going through it with him.  Then we got to Palmer.  He sounded awful.  I knew something was wrong.  We went straight to the hospital.  A chest xray and other tests reveal RSV and Pneumonia!  Shortly after 10:30 we were shown to our vacation accommodations.  So top of the line.

This morning Erik goes to drop off Gram at school.  He swings by the infant room to tell them about Palmer and the care taker gives him a letter before he can tell her about Palmer.  The letter says, "We would like to inform you that a child tested positive for RSV in the infant room and your child may have been exposed it."

"Uh, Yea" Erik says to Palmer's day care worker.  "Palmer's in the hospital with RSV and pneumonia."

Hopefully our stay away from home will be a quick one!

Won't be wishing a COLORFUL Christmas for a while...

I wanted to make Gram's daycare mates a little something for Christmas.  This sounds about as ridiculous   as having a program for two year olds.  I decided on crayons.  I found two silicone molds at the dollar tree.  My first attempt did not end well.  I put crayon pieces in the mold, then tried melting the crayons in the oven.  The crayons weren't the only things to melt.  It wasn't long before my house started smelling funny.  Oops!  I then began melting the crayons in a pyrex measuring cup then poured that into the molds.  Success!  This method took some time.  I think I began this back in November.  After I made three crayons for each friend, I began to fizzle on the crayon making.  The "gift" looked a little pathetic, so I made a little coloring book.  Really little.  About 4 x 3 inches and a whopping four pages.  Mary and Baby Jesus front and center on the first page.  At least the gift looks cute and it only cost $5.   I hope they actually use it!

I 

Get you some of this...

If you find this in a store near you, buy it.  Lots of it.  Follow along and you'll see why.

Next, get the kiddos out of the kitchen, it's about to get crazy.  (I  called my parents, really they called me, thanks y'all!)

This helps.  Not necessary, but helps.

Bake a graham (gram? Ha, just kidding folks) cracker crust.

Pour brownie batter over crust.

Dollop above pictured roasted marshamallow creme on top.

MMMMM... Finished results.  They're yummy!

Now on to gifts.  Visit Darby for a delicious cinnamon honey butter recipe.  Buy 4 oz glass jars.  I bought the 8 oz, because I couldn't find the 4 oz.  I wanted to fill them with a piping bag, so the jars would look neat and not messy.

This is what resulted in my neatness attempt!  Ha!

Tie with spreader.

Love this!

Lastly, get you one of these.  A toddler that loves to clean.  Let her clean your now messy kitchen!

Settle down kids, it's just Santa Clause

As you can see, they could barely contain their enthusiasm!

In other news, this is my 101st blog post!  I totally missed the 100th!  HA!

Breaking Rules

Erik broke a rule, big time!  It's just my rule.  In fact, I probably never shared it with him, I just figured he should have KNOWN it.  Gah, shouldn't he be able to read my mind by now?  The crime he committed?  It's a two parter.  He posted our Christmas Card photos on facebook.  THEN.... THEN, he posted the actual card he designed with the final photo!  Travesty, I know!  I guess he was really proud of the pictures.  They did come out really cute.  Our friend Jason was the talented photographer.

Now, I'm a rule follower, so I'm just going to share the silly "out-takes".  I'd never commit such a sin as showing you the final photo, it will soon be arriving in mailboxes!

Faces

Palmer.  Palmer Bear.  P Diddy.  Breeze.  PJ.  Palmer Boo Boo.  For every name we have for our youngest, he has a face to match.  He's too funny.

This is new.  The "stinkface".  

Coy little face.

Sometimes I catch him at just the right angle and expression and I can't help but call it the "Michael Paul" face.  He's usually doing something he shouldn't.  Isn't that so Michael?

Palmer = Happy Face.  Gram=working hard face.

The face here that is interesting is Gram's.  I don't very often see it from this angle.  It caught me a bit off guard.  He looks like such a baby here, when in reality he's starting to really look like a big boy.  Hmph, I guess they do that.

Stop it right now, boys!  Y'all stop growing right this instance!

Just a cute face.

On a different note, but still pertaining to growing and things getting bigger.  Are Hummers not already huge?  Gigantic?  Obviously, this person didn't think so.  I had to take a picture next to it.