Christmas Eve in the ER

Well, on Christmas Eve morning (at 1 am) we got to take our 3rd trip to the ER at Children's with Beau. I think he is the only baby I know that has been there 3 times already in his 18 months of life. (The first time was when he rolled off the couch at 6 weeks old...who knew he could roll that early? The 2nd time was when we realized peanut butter gave him a scary looking rash)

It started on Monday with Beau running a fever off and on. Then on Tuesday he still had a fever off an on. This was how he was almost all day on Monday and Tuesday. He would try to play, and then get so tired.



I called his pediatrician Tuesday afternoon to see if we could come in, but they were full already. So, she redirected us to Children's after hours clinic who would call us that night for an appt. We went there at 6 and it was a great experience. They said Beau had a viral infection and we just had to wait it out. They told us if his fever got to be 104 or higher to go to the ER though. So, at 12:30 am on Chistmas Eve Rodney brought Beau to me in the bed and said that he couldn't get Beau to stop shaking. Our thermometer showed his temp to be 105+, and the medicine we gave him was not helping it go down , so we headed to the ER. Once we got there, they gave Beau more medicine to get his fever under control. We waited several hours so they could rule out spinal meningitis and a few other infectious diseases, and were released at 4:30 am with the doctor telling us the same thing the previous doctor told us...just a viral infection. We were very happy with that diagnosis and went home.

Beau ran a fever all day on Christmas Eve, but thankfully it broke around midnight and he was fever free on Christmas Day. He was able to really enjoy Christmas Day with his family and all the yummy food and gifts that were given to him.

We took a few pictures in the ER with our phone....the favorite toy for Beau was definitely the doctor's stool....

Beau Loves His Daddy!

Recently, Beau has fallen even more in love with his Dad. It is very sweet the bond they have. A friend told me this happened to her son around 18 months, and so I was ready for it when Beau turned 18 months last week. We went to Auburn this past weekend, and Beau is definitely not a fan of long car rides. So, on the way home, Rodney entertained him with Beau's favorite stuffed animal, "lamby". Rodney let lamby drive the car for half an hour or so, and Beau laughed the whole time! If I had done that, Beau would have given me a look like "what's so funny about that momma?"





He also loves to enjoy a special dessert sometimes with his Daddy. This day Rodney came home for lunch and had ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert. Beau enjoyed a cookie with some chocolate sauce. You can see the joy on this child's face because he rarely gets anything like that!





These are how most of our picture are...me holding Beau and smiling, and Beau chewing on something looking not interested that I am holding him...Oh well, I know he loves me too!

Here Comes Santa ...and the tears!

Last Friday, Rodney met Beau and I at the mall for lunch and to see Santa. Beau was all smiles in the Santa line. He loved seeing the kids and babies that were there. He was even all smiles as we got onto Santa's platform. When I handed Beau over to Santa, the meltdown started. It got better when Santa handed Beau the candy cane, but Beau was still gripping the chair. About 3 seconds after the picture was taken, Beau burst into tears again. We grabbed him off Santa and it took him a few minutes to settle down.

Unfortunately, Santa is not the only person Beau cries when he is given to. He cries when Rodney leaves, when I leave, when we drop him off in the nursery, and even sometimes when he is with our families and we leave to go run errands. We are hoping this phase that started 2-3 weeks ago, goes away just as quickly as it came!

Ready for the game!

Rodney got to go to the Auburn Alabama game this year with his Dad. So, Beau and I spent the day together! We went and played with James before the game. James had on his Alabama colors and Beau had on his Auburn colors.

James and Beau playing in James' car. Notice James in his red and Beau in his orange!They were too cute!

Beau is ready for the game in his Auburn shirt and tiger shorts! (He is actually ready for a nap, but will be dressed right even for his nap)

No matter how the game turns out, our family will always love Auburn. Probably because the game is close to Thanskgiving, it makes me miss my grandfather, "Bo", who we named our son after. He had many accomplishments in the sporting world in his life, but they all started with his time playing at Auburn. I found this picture online (we have lots of pictures of my grandparents, but none that are uploaded on our computer)of my grandfather and I thought I would share it on Beau's blog today.

This is the cover of a matchbook that is being sold on ebay. Too funny! I guess someone in my family should buy it!

We hope one day Beau will be great at sports like both his great grandfathers (Rodney's played baseball and mine played football and golf). However, I do not know if I really want to see someone tackle my child. I often joke with Rodney that I would jump out of the stands and tackle them! Maybe Beau will end up being a track star (a great non-contact sport) like his Dad. :o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great time on Thanksgiving. We went and visited 3 different places where we got to see our families. Beau had a great time this year. He loved playing with everyone and eating the good food. He also enjoyed chiming in on our family prayer by saying "amen!". It was so precious. Here are a few pictures of the day:


Enjoying the food at Memie's (Beau calls her Mamie instead of Memie)

Holding hands with his cousin on the hammock

Checking out a deer with Papa

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving Picture

I have been trying to do at least 1 art activity a week with Beau. They are definitely interesting! I usually wait until the weekend to do them so Rodney can be there to help with the mess. This past Friday night, we were making Turkey hand prints for family for Thanksgiving. We painted Beau's palm and thumb brown. Then, we painted his fingers different colors and made a hand print on paper. I had grand dreams to make one for all of the people in our family, but we only got 3 before Beau realized it was more fun to smear his hand print around than to simply make a hand print. Oh well....we are planning on trying this again sometime because I think it is too cute.

We made the first delivery last night to my Mom and Dad. This is what their Thanksgiving picture looked like:

Playing Outside

Beau loves to play outside! I think he would stay outside all day if he could. Friday he was "helping" Rodney rake leaves in the yard. Beau took a break from all the work and decided to play on his slide. We got the slide at Kid's Market for around $5 or less and it has been put to great use so far.

17 Months Old

Wow...it is hard to believe Beau turned 17 months old on Sunday. He is growing up so fast, it makes me sad! He also has 16 teeth. Wow! Only 4 more to go!! Beau loves to talk, most of it sounds like "drdle doo gbggara", but he can say some words. He loves to watch Clifford the Big Red Dog cartoon. He actually just loves to watch the intro with the theme song. We have to play it over and over and over and then we say that Clifford has to go "night night". Then, Beau will say "ni ni cl" (of course, night night clifford is what he is saying:o)) He also loves to play and climb on everything. He is getting better about playing by himself, which is nice so I can fold laundry, make lunch, etc. while he is playing. Here are a few of Beau's current favorite things:


The first 2 pictures are of Beau with books. He loves to look at the pictures and have people read to them. He likes to sit in chairs or in peoples laps to have reading time.
Reading with Aunt Betty.
"Reading" (looking at the book) in his chair...he is posing for the picture, but he was reading when I went to get the camera.



Beau also loves to be outside. He goes to the front door or side door in our house often and says "doe" for door because he wants to go outside and play. These 2 pictures were taken at his friend, Austin's, 2nd birthday party at the park. Beau is playing with Austin's new toys.



Beau loves to "color" and "draw"....he really likes to try to eat the crayons, paint, markers, etc.


The last favorite thing for right now are his Elmo slippers....As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he will get these off his bookshelf and point for us to put them on his feet.

Lesson Learned

This morning I took Beau with me to vote at our voting place by the park. Normally, Rodney would go with us or watch Beau, but he was on his way to Tuscaloosa for work. We get to the polling place at 8. Beau was in his stroller, with his stuffed animal, and a snack. He loved every minute of the 45 minutes it took us to get through the line and vote! He loved watching all the people and kids. However, while we were standing in line, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a families with children line for families to be in and out a little quicker. Anyway, we voted and I put Beau in his carseat in the car and he was starting to get fussy. I gave him my keys to the car (which we do often) so he could entertain himself with them while I put the stroller up, etc. because we needed to hit the road to go to the chiropracter. So, I left a door to the car open for safety, so Beau would not be hot and so he could not lock himself in the car with the clicker. About the time I closed the trunk, the wind slammed the other door shut, and then I heard "Beep." Oh my Lord, my child just locked himself in the car!!! is what I was thinking. I ran to every door trying to open it and they were all locked. I called Rodney, but he was in a meeting and could do nothing from Tuscaloosa. So, after trying to tell Beau what button to push to unlock the car with no success, I called 911.

The police were there within 10 minutes, and just as they pulled up, Beau figured out what button unlucked the car and hit it. I threw open the door and grabbed the clicker. The policemen had a good laugh at the timing of thier arrival and how we did not need their assistance. I was relieved that Beau was fine...he was actually fine the whole time. His favorite button to push on the clicker was the red one, which made the alarm go off.....over and over and over. Imagine that going off, a mom banging on the window telling her 16 month old what button to push to unluck the car, and the masses of voters pulling in and out of the parking lot watching this. Several of the onlookers offered to wait with me until the police showed up, but I politely told them I would be okay, as I wiped the tears away that were rolling down my face. Oh well, lesson learned......Beau can not hold the clicker while he is alone in the car! What a morning!

Pumpkin Painting

After we picked the pumpkin out last Sunday, we painted it Monday night. I used finger paint that we already had. Beau had a great time!! After he painted, he went straight to the bath tub.

Pumpkin before painting










After the bath, we shared some popcorn as a snack.





Beau and I were getting ready to go to play group Friday morning. It had been raining earlier, so I told Beau he could play on the porch, not on the grass, while I got all of his things together for play group. I heard Beau laughing and looked up and saw him covered in blue paint....looks like the finger paint was washable and washed off the pumpkin in the rain. Oh well, we will try again next year, but with non-washable paint. :o)





Nothing to do with pumpkins, but cute....

Pumpkin Patch

We took Beau to the Pumpkin Patch in Hayden on Sunday with the Allen's, Goodson's, and Nix's. Beau had such a good time checking out all the people and pumpkins. His most favorite thing to do, I think, was to sit on the pumpkins. We picked out a pumpkin and I plan on getting Beau to "paint" it tonight and we will put in on the front porch.




Checking out pumpkins
Beau and James picking out pumpkins

Sitting on a pumpkin
Sitting
Sitting....
Still Sitting....
Checking out animals at petting zoo