14 Months Old

At almost 14 months old, Southern is quite a handful.

He not only walks, he runs. He loves to play in the backyard and will get out every ball, frisbee, golf club, etc. he owns each day. We try to spend time outside daily. We keep a big deck box on our back porch full of his outdoor toys, and he loves to rummage through it. There is also a box of rocks that he plays with out there. He likes to collect leaves, pick tomatoes off of our tomato plant, and point out birds and planes flying overhead.

As for his eating habits, he wants to try everything. He is a veggie lover. He can scarf down peas, green beans, and lima beans faster than you can serve them to him. He likes bananas and can eat a whole one on his own. He is also a lover of pasta and bread (who isn't?) and can go to town munching on popcorn in front of a good movie. He does not care for oranges just yet. He also doesn't like eggs (unless they are cooked with sausage) or potatoes much.

He loves to give hugs and kisses. He likes to be chased around the house. He loves to go through the kitchen cabinets, and he loves bath night. His favorite toys are his 4-wheeler, dinosaurs, blocks, and stuffed animals. He still never tires of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See. He is now able to climb up on the couch in our movie room by himself. And he loves to throw.

He has been sleeping through the night, and for the most part, getting 9-11 hours of sleep each night. He does fight me at nap time some days, but as long as he's sleeping at night, I'm happy!

My 2nd Mother's Day

I spent my second Mother's Day with the two most important people in the world to me - my husband and my son. Dustin and Southern treated me to an afternoon of fun at the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio. I loved it. We slept in that Sunday, and then loaded up the car with water and snacks and hit the road. We had lunch at my favorite Chinese place here in New Braunfels. Southern loves their sweet and sour chicken just as much as I do :) After eating, we headed on down I-35.

The gardens were beautiful!
I defiantly would love to go back sometime. Dustin, Southern, and I spent hours strolling around looking at all the pretty flowers and plants. They had a lot of native Texas stuff, and we learned so much!Southern was in his stroller for the most part (we let him crawl around at the end for awhile before getting back in the car) but we made sure he was able to get up close and personal with the plant life.The weather was perfect for the majority of our trip. It was slightly breezy and cloudy, but the sun did make an appearance for a little while. Southern and I donned our sun hats during that part.My favorite stretch of the place was the "East Texas Piney Woods" section. We stayed there longer than any other part. I could have stayed there all day! It was amazing to think that we were still in downtown San Antonio...It was situated around a lake. The views were incredible.And of course Southern got to hang out with some ducks. All in all, it was a perfect afternoon. What a great Mother's Day!

And not only did I have a fun Mother's Day celebration that day, we were blessed in having one the previous day as well! :)

My mom and Josh spent the night with us Friday, and Saturday afternoon we drove over to Gruene for a tea party!

The guys made fun of us for a little while but the food was excellent, and you were able to have iced tea if you wished, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been for them. We were served three courses and had our pick of any tea, cold or hot. Dustin and my mom got iced blueberry tea, I got a pot of decaf raspberry vanilla hot tea, and Josh had plain ol' iced tea. We started off with a plate of sandwiches - chicken salad, tuna salad, cucumber slices with cheese spread, and shrimp with melted provolone along with fresh fruit. Our second course consisted of apricot and walnut scones with three delicacies - raspberry preserves, whipped cream, and lemon curd. Our last course was the deserts course - a chocolate covered strawberry, a lemony-cheesecake-type of pie, and a shortbread cookie. It was all so delicious and definitely an experience to remember.

Another Beach Trip

Dustin, Southern, and I enjoyed another trip to Port A this past weekend. Traveling can get a bit crazy when you add a one-year-old to the mix. I had wanted to leave as soon as Dustin got home from work so I had all of our stuff packed and ready to go. But when Dustin got home from work, he wanted to relax for a little while, change clothes and shower, and then finish packing the rest of his "essentials" - fishing gear, artificial bait, fishing poles, etc. Southern had yet to have a nap for the day since I figured he would just sleep on the way there. And we were getting started later than I had wanted. Needless to say, Southern and I were both a little cranky by that time. To top it all off, somehow during those last few minutes at the house, Southern managed to take off one of his flip flops and hide it somewhere. I searched everywhere while the guys waited in the car but couldn't find it (we still have yet to see it!) so we just headed off without it.

At last, we were on the road! Dustin and Southern napped for a bit while I drove. We had decided to stop to eat supper whenever Southern woke up and started fussing. That put us in Skidmore, TX. Now we knew every town between here and the coast has a Dairy Queen so we figured we'd just stop at one of those. But across the street from the DQ in Skidmore was an old wooden building with a sign for All You Can Eat Catfish on Friday nights. Yum! The Chisolm Trail Cafe was great. We got a trip to the salad bar, soup, a side of potatoes, and all the catfish we could handle. Dustin, Southern, and I were in heaven. We were stuffed when we finally left there. After a little playing around in the gravel parking lot, we got back in the car and continued our drive. We made it to Port A around 10:30 or 11pm. Our late arrival threw off Southern's sleeping schedule (we are still trying to get back) but at least we had made it.

The next day Dustin and Parker had good intentions of working on homework. (They both have finals this week.) Parker got in some good studying time, but Dustin was finding it very hard to concentrate. He finally abandoned the idea of working on vacation and we all loaded up in the car for a visit to the birding center. Dustin and Parker had fun identifying birds with their binoculars while Carly and I took turns carrying Southern around. We saw many birds and even a croc! We then drove around looking at houses and along the beach while Southern napped in the car. We played hearts when we got back to the house. Then we got changed and packed up for the beach. Dustin and Carly rode the waves in a huge double tube while Parker, Southern, and I played in the sand. All that beach fun worked up our appetites so we then headed to a restaurant for supper.

The car windows had all fogged up from the salty air and humidity, and it was very hard to see when Parker drove us into town. We stopped at Moby Dick's and all piled out of the car. We were told there was a 30-min wait but Southern was very hungry and getting cranky so we couldn't wait that long. I decided we should just find another place within walking distance as Southern fights being strapped into his car seat when he gets in one of those moods. So we walked a block down, crossed an intersection, and walked through a parking lot to get to another restaurant. Along the way, we heard a strange guy yelling as he drove by. We didn't pay much attention since a lot of the beach people are strange and just kept walking. When we got to The Seafood and Spaghetti Works, we met up with Parker and learned that he had been the one driving by and yelling! haha. The windows were still so fogged up and he had to drive with his head sticking out of the driver's side window!! We had a surprisingly good supper. The place looked a little questionable inside but the food was wonderful and we got to help ourselves to the soup and salad bar. We hit the pool upon our return and played another game that night.

The next day was spent packing up and cleaning the place. We ate, played another round of cards, and then loaded up the car. We walked around the marina one last time and took a few pictures before getting in the car. We made our way back home through Yoakum and did our usual visits. Our stop at Poppy and DeDe's was quick as she had a fever so we just stayed in the driveway and said hi to Poppy. Then we stopped at Dustin's granny's for a bit. We ate supper with my dad then visited my Hahn grandparents for a little while. Our last stop of the night was at Dustin's uncle's house in Gonzales. Aunt Cain has been taking chemo for the past couple of months and has been too weak to really get out and do anything so we wanted to stop by so she could see Southern. We hung out there for a little while and talked while watching Southern play. One of their cats had just had a litter less than a week old so we got to see the baby kitties. They were so cute and Southern was very gentle with them. We left there at almost 10pm and finally were headed home. Whew! It was a fun but exhausting trip.

At the Park

We've been having such beautiful weather lately. And what better way to celebrate than a trip to the park?Southern and I went to Landa Park yesterday to play. We met up with my friend and her son. Here are Aidan and Southern driving the firetruck.Southern also met a new friend at the park. A little Mexican girl was sweet on him :) Her daddy was talking to her in Spanish, and I could only make out 'hola' and 'baby' but apparently she wanted to talk to Southern and he was encouraging her to do so. She and Southern held hands as they drove. And they would periodically look at each other and grin. So cute!

Piano

Southern has aquired a "new" play toy... Yup, that's me some 20 years ago playing the piano my son now enjoys.

Good-bye Old House

Dustin and I said good-bye to an old friend this weekend - the house I lived in during my high school years. It is now sold. But it sure did go through a lot with us. We were in this den the first time Dustin asked me to marry him. I was just a couple months away from turning 15, and needless to say, it shocked me. But then he followed up the question with "you know, one day when we're old enough." haha! The den also was the place where I can remember us watching movies and Spurs basketball. It also saw many afternoons of working on homework (and goofing around)...

Dustin and I working on Spanish II, May 2000.

The house was with us through first and last days of school...

Dustin and I on his last first day of high school, Aug 2000.

It saw us through 4 years of proms together...

Prom 2001.

Good-bye to the places that created many fond memories from the kitchen where Dustin and I ate many suppers and after school snacks together (and Dustin got to experience his first Hot Pocket at the age of 17) to the hot tub that never could get hot...

Dustin shivering in July of 2000.

And good-bye to the bathroom that saw Dustin's first (and only!) cross dressing experience when I bet him he couldn't fit into one of my shirts. As you can see, it was a tad snug, but he did it...

New Year's Eve, 1999.

While saying good-bye to the house this weekend, Dustin found the spot in the shower where he wrote "I love you" and the date to me a decade ago. It's still there!

Going along with the Then and Now theme, here are Dustin and I back in May of 2001...

And here we are in front of the same tree just this past weekend...

Now we're by a tree in the front yard, April 2000...

And 10 years later, that same tree. Dustin and I are a decade older, now married, and with our son! Good-bye Old House!

Contagious Viral Rash

It all started this past Sunday afternoon. We were in Yoakum doing our usual running-around-like-chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off thing visiting family when I noticed that the side of Southern's face had little red bumps on it. It was after our second stop of the day. No big deal, I thought. This has happened before. When he was much younger, his skin became agitated after rubbing on someone's perfume or make-up one day when he was being passed around family members. I just thought it was a reaction to someone's make-up that day and once we got home and gave him his bath, he'd be fine.

After our third stop of the day, I noticed that Southern's forehead seemed to be unusually warm. Did he have a fever? We made one last stop and then headed for home. On the ride back, I got to thinking and remembered his doctor telling me that a small percentage of kids have a reaction to the chicken pox shot he got at his 12 month check-up. And I remembered him saying that one of the reactions could be a slight fever and that if it occurred, it would be about 10 days after the shot was administered. It was 11 days since he had the shot, so I thought that must be the cause. Later that night as I was undressing him for his bath, I noticed that the little red bumps weren't only on his face but also a few scattered on the rest of his body. Hmm... maybe the shot also caused this?

The next day his fever was gone but his spots were worse. They were all over now. So I called the doctor's office to see if this was a normal reaction. I was told that perhaps he had gotten the chicken pox from the vaccine and to bring him in as soon as possible. Once at the doctor's office though, the doctor could tell that it wasn't chicken pox. The bumps looked different and spread in a different pattern. And fever occurs during the onset of any viral rash.

So Southern was diagnosed with an unknown contagious viral rash. We don't know how he got it. The doctor said perhaps by meeting someone new who he caught it from. He met no new humans that day but did come into contact with a newborn goat and touched it's bottle nipple. That or eating something new are the only two things I can think of to figure out where he could have caught this rash. He sucked on a pickle and tried a tiny bite of a mushroom that day which were the only foods that were out of the ordinary for him. I'm not sure if any of these could have caused it or not, but we definately need to whip out that bottle of antibacterial gel more often with Southern. Poor guy!

He's doing much better now. We're giving him oatmeal baths every night and applying Baby Aveeno lotion during the day. His bumps are not as red and not as itchy for him. With each passing day, he is looking and feeling better.