Busy, Busy, Busy

That's the best way to describe our lives these days. And it's not that we go somewhere everyday, it's just that Jack is always on the go. Running, dancing, talking, exploring, getting into things he shouldn't. If he didn't crash every afternoon from 1:00 until 4:00, I would probably be in the looney bin.

This month, we experienced another first! Our first trip to the emergency room. One morning we were getting ready to go into town and Jack found a Q-Tip in the bathroom cabinet and jammed it in his ear. He screamed an awful scream, one I had not heard before and I knew it was bad. So I ran to the firstt aid cabinet and got my ear scope (yes, I have an ear scope) and looked in his ear. All I could see was a gush of blood from his inner ear. So, I grabbed Jack and off to town we went in search of medical treatment. By the time I got him in the car he had settled down and was laughing at me for acting so crazy. We first went to a doctor here in town that I have used for years. We were turned away by his receptionist and nurse. The receptionist was upset because Jack was going to be a new patient and she would have to put a chart together for him. And in her own words, "Do you know how long that will take me?". And the nurse, I guess, wanted to help her out and told us this doctor was not qualified to look into a child's ear and tell if the ear drum had been busted or was still intact. And while all of this was going on we could all see the blood dripping out of Jack's ear. But still, they denied my bleeding two year old medical treatment and we went on our way. And by the way, we have excellent medical insurance. We then headed to GLMC emergency room. By the time we got there I was a wreck. Partly because I was worried about Jack, although he was acting fine, and partly because of the run in I had just had at the doctor's office. I guess the nice, young EMT could see I was about at the end of my rope, so he came around to help me with Jack. And I will stop right here and tell you, if you have to use GLMC ER, try to go in the morning. Never have we been treated so nice by the staff. And for those of you who have had to go late in the day or at night, you know that's saying a lot. We had to wait about 20 minutes before we saw a doctor (yes, I said 20 minutes!) The EMT had looked in Jack's ear and the bleeding had stopped and he said his ear drum looked good. So the EMT could tell the ear drum was intact, but the first doctor would not have been able to? The ER doctor came in, said all looked good and we could go home. He took a whole 23 seconds to meet with us!! We left and I came home and immediately called Dr. Ellison's office (Jack's Pediatrician in Madison). I talked to his nurse for a long time and she made me feel so much better. But we decided that my mom and I should take Jack to Madison and have him look at the ear (if nothing else, just to make me feel at ease). John agreed. It would just make us feel better. So, a couple of days later, that's what we did and he got a clean bill of health! No damage to the ear or ear drum. Thankfully we have survived another first!

Jack had a great time visiting with everyone

and playing at the ER. Later on

that day, he crashed. I called John on our way into town

to tell him what had happened. He was working in Tchula

that morning, so by the time he got back to his office

and was able to get to Grenada, we were already home.

But we were still glad to see him.

If you think he looks frazzled in this

picture, you should have seen me!

I love this picture, because it reminds me of this...

When Jack was a new born, John would come home from work,

eat dinner, then sit and hold Jack for hours. Seeing

these two pictures really shows me how fast time is

passing by. I wish it would slow down a little bit.

This is our new way of posing for pictures.

I don't know if you can tell, but he's saying,

"CHEEEEEESE".

It was time once again to host playgroup at out house!!
I was so excited, because I think I've told you before,
that I love having people over. And I love feeding people.
The week of, John and I scrubbed the house to make
sure it was clean. John did most of the work for me.
The night before, as he was mopping our bathroom
and I was sitting in the bed reading a magazine,
he turned to me and said, "I know you love to throw
parties, but it sure is a lot of work for me."

For refreshments, we had Toy Story cheese crackers,
honey Teddy Grahams, pretzels, and grapes.


For the sweet tooth that we all have, we had
Jelly Bellies and M&Ms. YUUUMMMM

Jack LOVES grapes!
Or as he calls them, "Gapes".

Jack is still obsessed with hats.

Here he is trying on Elizabeth's baby

bottle top. Although it's a little small, I have to

give him an A+ for imagination.

Case and Bradley

I don't know where these two thought they were going,

but they were going to have a fun time getting there.

Bradley playing some

"Rock 'n Roll".

He loves the drums and is going to be a good

musician one day. We all got tickled when he

was talking about playing rock 'n roll, because his dad

is currently in seminary studying to

become a church minister of music.

Case brought a baseball hard hat with him

and Jack ended up wearing it the entire time.

It was so nice of Case to share. (Case is really great

at sharing.) And, as I have said before, Jack is

obsessed with hats. All hats!! We wear them and talk about

them all day, everyday.

Sweet, sweet baby Keeton.
Keeton turned 1 this weekend.

Happy Birthday!

By the time all was said and done, Bradley had

the drum sticks, Case and Jack had my wooden

spoons and everything was a drum. It got loud

(really loud), but they were

having a ball, so we just rolled with it.
After all, it's rock 'n roll!

Jack took several breaks to go around to

every one's plates and eat their leftovers.

This weekend, we enjoyed a picnic outside

in the sun. I knew rain was coming in Monday,

so we tried to get Jack outside as much as we could.

He loves being outside. We can't wait until

everyday is sunny and dry.

Thinking about what he wanted to do after his picnic.
He decided to play a little t-ball. I was raking leaves,

John was helping Jack, so we didn't get any pictures.

I walked into the den yesterday and saw

Jack looking like this and he

looked so sad. I asked him if anything was

wrong and he told me he was thinking.

He's been thinking a lot lately.

I wish I knew what went on inside that sweet,

smart head of his.