Disney!!!!

We took Skyler on his FIRST Disney trip this weekend. It was Ava's 3rd Birthday and Rich and Kat took her for a Princess Makeover and a Cinderella Castle experience. Ava went to the Bibbidy, Bobiddy Boutique for a princess makeover and it was soooo much fun to watch. She had her hair, nails, and makeup done by her fairy godmother. Kat got her the cutest Sleeping Beauty outfit with matching shoes. So after the whole experience, she was the BEST looking princess around. Here are some pictures of the event :




After the makeover, we went to the Magic Kingdom and let loose. Of course Skyler refused to nap on the way to the park, so he was a little cranky. He has never really been into rides before, but he really enjoyed the ones at Disney. While we waited in line for the carousel he pointed the pony that he wanted to ride, identifying him as, "my pony!" When he finally got on the ride he did not want any help from Mommy or Daddy, this of course made us a little nervous, but he held on beautifully. Then when it was time to get off of the ride .... well I am sure you know what he did. Of course we had to ride it a second time :) Here are some pictures of us on the carousel (as a way to compare and contrast, I included a picture of Skyler on the carousel at Sea World in December to the one at Disney)

Seaworld -

Disney -





We also rode It's a Small World (and it really was, because standing behind us in line was a friend from my old job), Peter Pan, and the Haunted Mansion ... All pictured below (the one of the funny faces was the Haunted Mansion) ...





For the most part the day went great. Although we had several melt downs throughout the day (due to the lack of nap and Skyler's cold), we loved watching Skyler have soooo much fun riding the rides and eating ice cream and popcorn.

After a day full of adventure, we decided to brave the Dumbo line (now only 30 min wait at 9pm). Skyler fell dead asleep in Brendan's arms while waiting. Brendan wanted to wake him up for the ride, but Mommy remembered all the melt downs we had between rides and thought it might be a better idea to let the little guy sleep. I had to bribe a line exit with a ride on thunder mountain ... BTW it was a 1 hour wait! We were lucky the little guy was asleep :) Thanks to Brie for letting us borrow her full recline stroller (ours won't be here until Wednesday)!

After a few last rides, we went to the monorail to go home ... Nothing cold have prepared us for that. The longest line at the park - over an hour to get back to our car! I felt like I was being held hostage. Fortunately Skyler slept through it and all the way back to Tampa. We are excited for our return visit (we got the Florida resident 4 day pass) in the coming months. Next time we will be a little more prepared with the nap and hopefully Skyler will be over his infections by then.

Skyler Slide

Here is the video of the slide that we promised from the fair. The quality is not really good because it was taken on an I-Phone, but it is good enough to see how much fun the slide was. Skyler went down the slide three times ... Such a big boy. He does have a stunned looking face in this video ... Maybe Daddy enjoyed it a little more then Skyler?!

Surprise … Skyler is sick AGAIN!

I know this will come as a surprise to all, but Skyler is sick again. His antibiotics ended for his ear, sinus and eye infection on Friday. We went on a short Vaca for Bren’s birthday on Saturday, hoping everything would run smoothly. We got a call on Sunday morning from Aunt Patty, who was our babysitter, saying he had been kicked out of nursery because he had a runny nose (sounds a lot like his school)! Of course the runny nose was immediately followed by eye boogies. Patty had a grumpy little boy on her hands on Sunday (kind of nice to be on vacation). Of course the plans of dropping him off at school before she had to be at work on Monday morning did not go so smoothly! Thank heavens for Granmommy who came to the rescue. I called the doctor first thing on Monday morning and we headed back to Tampa to take the little guy in. The doctor reports that the ear, eye, and sinus infections are back! He also said this strand of infection is in the less then 5% that is resistant to 10 day rounds of antibiotics.  Leave it to our baby to find a resistant strand on his first time with an ear and sinus infection!!! The doctor prescribed a 20 day round of antibiotics. After finishing this dose, Skyler will have been on antibiotics for almost 47 days straight! Hopefully this does the trick, because if not …. ENT! I hate to have to keep asking, but please keep our little man in your prayers.

Something Happy

In light of all the sick baby posts I have been putting up, I thought I would add something fun and happy. Brendan and I hit the road for Orlando this past weekend as another way to celebrate the Brendan’s birthday… I know, real far! We went to our favorite resort, Mystic Dunes, for the weekend. Picture Below :

This was a long over due vacation, that was actually supposed to occur on Valentine’s weekend (which is also our anniversary), but due to all the colds/infections, we decided to postpone. Skyler stayed with Aunt Patty and had an exciting sleepover party! Patty took great care of him and kept him busy so he would not miss us too much. She made sure he had plenty of candy,FUN activities, and they even made it to church on Sunday! When we heard from Patty on Sunday morning, she told us that Skyler was up to his normal jokester self. She said that when she was putting Skyler to bed on Saturday night, he said while pointing to Patty:

“Are you Mommy?” Pause

“Noooooo!”

I’m not sure how it is possible, but he is getting cuter every day. Thinking back on his funny comments certainly makes me forget about all those sleepless nights and intense temper tantrums that have beset him in the last few months.Here is a picture of Skyler blowing bubbles at the park taken by Patty.

Back to the FUN vacation. Brendan and I left Saturday morning after picking up the car from the shop. We went to the Temple and had a great time! It is always so uplifting to be in the Temple and I cannot think of a better way to start a vacation! We had an awesome melting pot dinner (we had the Swiss Alps Big Night Out) … SOOOOO good! The rest of the vacation entailed some shopping (only a little b/c it was Brendan’s birthday after all), relaxing, movie watching, fantasy baseball draft, and arcade games (an Ally favorite).

Picture of us at Melting Pot -

 

We had a great time and we are hopefully rested enough to get through these next 20 days, oh and finals as well!

Alert Dogs?!?!?

We knew that we had one alert dog in the family (Jack Bauer of course), but little did we know that we had really had two. Here is a video of what I am talking about …



Skyler appears to be the more dedicated of the two seeing how Jack wandered off. They were both wrong on this occasion, as no one was really at the door!

Brendan’s Birthday

Happy Birthday Brendan :) Brendan turned 29 this year … how fast life goes by!

For his birthday, Brendan took the day off and we had a day full of fun …

First it started with Mommy dropping Skyler off at school instead of Daddy.

Then Breakfast in bed.

A Racecar experience … the cars went up to 50 mph!!! Of course Brendan won, but only by 1.9 secs :)

A PF Changs lunch … one of our favs!

A Movie with yummy popcorn – The Blind Side – SOOOO Good!

A home made masterpiece dinner by my mom - Brendan’s annual request – Pesto Pasta with Beef (this year it was Shish Kabob) – and Skyler actually ATE it!!!

 

A Cake Batter Ice Cream Cake from ColdStone

Mommy and Skyler wish the best to their favorite Daddy and Husband during year 29 (and so on)!!!!

Another Sick Day!

Skyler woke up in throw up today ... the poor guy! He apparently caught a stomach bug and has been throwing up all day! Brendan is in Jax and I am with sick baby again ... have I ever told anyone how much I HATE vomit (My gag reflex can't handle it). It took me three rounds of throw up to realize that cleaning it off of the wood floors downstairs was easier the cleaning it off of my bedroom carpet. I bleached the toys and the bathtub, I antibacterial scrubbed the toys that could not be bleached, I scrubbed the carpet clean (with oxyclean), and I have done four loads of laundry ... with the promise of more to come. Boy does my house look and smell clean !!! I just keep thinking of how far behind I have gotten in my school work since Skyler's sick spell started in January. Most of all ... poor Skyler is still not feeling better. I called in the reserves and my mom got here with gatorade, saltines, oxiclean for Skyler and McDonald's for us. On top of the anitbiotics Skyler is taking for the eye, ear, and sinus infection, he is now on a crackers and gatorade diet!!! Of course, Brendan and I have already started to feel the bug set in (McDonald's might not have been such a good idea :( Brendan is in Jax taking depos all day (at least I am at home)! Pajama Party Time!!!




To top off the great day we are having, I had to get one of the cars towed to the shop because it won't start. Thank heavens it's still under warranty. Skyler watched as the car was put on the tow bed and started crying and screaming ... "my car, my car!" I thought he would like the tow truck, seeing how he is a boy and all, but I guess not!!!!

We have settled down now and Skyler is taking a nap. Hopefully we will all be feeling better by Thursday so we can celebrate Brendan's birthday in style.

Skyler Calamari

Skyler Calamari
Originally uploaded by allygatorgirl

Tonight we went with Adam, Brie and Kayden to Carrabbas. Brie and I prepared the boys for a quiet dinner out with I-Pod touches, coloring menus, and bread. Little did I know that Adam and Brie's appetizer of Calamari would be the big hit with Skyler. He even ate the little squid shaped pieces. It was hilarious to watch him chew and chew and chew the pieces of calamari down. I even caught a video of it!!! (of course as soon as the camera stopped rolling, a big "CHEESE" came out of his mouth! You will just have to imagine it). I think I see a little Mitchell blood coming out in him.

Sick AGAIN!

So after 10 days of amox, 5 days of an oral steroid, a round of eye drop antibiotics, and albuteral for two days .... Skyler is sick again!

All medicines was finished on Friday. By Saturday evening, he was holding his ears and crying (hard to determine what was causing this pain at that point because Kayden and Skyler engaged in some WWF the very same evening).

On Sunday evening we noticed Skyler's eyes gooping over again. He also started holding his ears and crying about them. The ear rubbing while crying out "my ears" (you know, in that funny little forget the "a" sound way a toddler does) is a first for him ... It was nice to see that he can finally verbalize his discomfort, but it broke my heart to see him in pain!

After an entire evening of crying Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said ... We still have an ear, eye and sinus infection! We are now on a stronger antibiotic, as the last one was only supressing the infections (per the Dr.). This antibiotic is supposed to tear up the little guys digestive track, so the doctor also put him on a probiotic (Brie was giving me this advice long ago). He told us to put it in anything he eats of drinks, we told him good luck convincing him to eat or drink! We ended up putting it in ice cream tonight (this sick thing is really paying off for him).

Tonight is proving to be another restless sleep evening ... hopefully those antibiotics will start relieving his pain tomorrow. Mommy and Daddy are very tired ... Is this what it is like to have a newborn who doesn't sleep through the night (Skyler always gave us abt 8 hours)?

BTW ... we love our Doctor ! He is always great about recognizing what is wrong and putting our concerns at ease. What a blessing to have an awesome medical team available to take care of our son!

More and More Like his Father Every Day

On Wednesday morning, we noticed that Skyler's eye infection was back!!!! We immediately took him to the doctor to get the scoop on his poor eyes. We were not expecting this ... He had an ear infection and sinus infection, along with the eye infection. The doctor told us that the eye infection was a result of the ear and sinus infection that he has probably been battling for a few weeks (all that night waking was for a reason)! He put the poor little baby on antibiotics. He also told us that he is not contagious and that the last eye infection that he had was not contagious either! Oh well, I guess I was fooling myself with the idea that we did really great hand washing.

On Thursday night (when Brendan and I were supposed to be watching Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice), Skyler's cough got worse. It was every 10-15 seconds, but not very flemmy. We tried a bath, vick's baby rub, a blessing, TLC in Mommy and Daddy's bed .... nothing worked. After about 2 hours the Doctor was called into the situation ... Result ... take him to urgent care. Now for any of you that don't know Skyler very well ... He has never been a really sick kid and we have never had to take him to the doctor at night! I was very nervous for the little guy. The Doctor at the urgent care said that he heard some wheezing in the cough and put him on a nebulizer treatment of albuteral ... WHAT ... Like I said, more and more like his father every day!!!! Here is a picture of us attempting to keep him still for the treatment ... (we were glad he was tired)



BTW ... no one told me that albuteral would make him so hyper until after the treatment ... like when he was running around like a crazy man! Here is a picture of him rocking himself very fast (especially for 11:30 at night) ...



We left urgent care with a prescription for albuteral to be given to Skyler every 4-6 hours for the next three days. But, after only three hours, he was requiring the treatment again! Hopefully this will clear up fast ....

The jury is still out on whether these are the first signs of asthma. The Doctor said that they do not like to diagnose things like that so soon. He said that they call this Reactive Airway Disease. I think we will wait to hear what his normal ped has to say about the situation. Please keep Skyler in your prayers.

Socks

Today was the first time I have thought of my son as a comedian. He is usually straight forward when asking for something. He is definitely straight forward when demanding something. But today he decided to be a little jokester …

When I was getting him dressed for school, he was wiggling around like normal. He didn’t sit still until I began to put his socks on. When I was putting on his socks he started to say something indiscernible while touching his first socked foot. Finally when I had put the last sock on, I realized what he had been saying …

Skyler – Is the sock hot?

Ally – What?

Skyler – Is the sock hot?

Ally – What are you saying?

Skyler – Nooo ….  it’s not hot! (huge grin)

I don’t know where he came up with it, but he was overjoyed to have been so funny!

I love toddlers :)

The Fair

So, I am not sure how this happened (AGAIN), but we got to the fair this year without a camera. Between Kat, my mother and myself …. no camera to be had. All pictures posted are from our picture phones! Rich took a great video of Skyler and Brendan going down the giant slide, so as soon as I can secure it, it will be posted. We had such a good time!

In attendance : Skyler, Brendan, Patty, Kat, Granmommy, Grandaddy, David, Rich, Ava, and Me.

Food consumption : Cheese sticks, london broil, gyro, corndog, steak on a stick, fried twinkie, funnel cake, BBQ, caramel apple, fiskes fries, fried peanut butter cup, ice cream, and last but not least … chocolate covered bacon. We drew the line at the krispie kream donut hamburger (where the donuts are the bread). BTW … Skyler devoured a whole cup full of Fiske fries … we really are good parents :|

  

Rides – Giant Slide

Attractions – Pony Ride, petting zoo, cracker country, expo hall, and Brendan’s annual cooking show.

Purchases – Jacob’s ladder toy, Choo Choo train piggy bank (Skyler would not put it down), and a new purse for me :)

Skyler … who doesn’t sleep anywhere but his room and at preschool … fell asleep on Rich’s shoulders as they were walking through the expo hall while the girls went to work shopping!

MORE PICTURES ...
Mommy and Skyler -

Mommy, Daddy, Skyler and Uncle D -

Granmommy and Granddaddy -

John Mayer

For my birthday this year, Brendan secured us tickets to the John Mayer concert 2/5/10! To start the night we went to Gallagher’s Steak House in Channelside. We had ribeye and some yummy extras. Then it was too the concert (which is only a short walk from Channelside). It was awesome. The guest singer was Michael Franti and Spearhead … one of my faves as well! Michael Franti came into the crowd and was only a few feet from me. That is him with the big sock like thing on his head (I know it is is a bit blurry - I forgot my camera, so these are all from my phone) dancing through the audience …

We were super close and John Mayer was signing super great!

After a stellar performance for over 3 hours (who knew concerts lasted so long) the crowd cheered him on for an encore performance.

After the concert we walked back to Channelside for some Coldstone icecream … YUMMY!

By the time we got home it was after 12am – a long night for a concert that started at 8pm! I wish I could say it was a relaxing rest of the weekend, but fair on Saturday and Superbowl on Sunday!

New Posts

I have finally updated some of the blog ... make sure to go through all of the old posts b/c the first one I updated today was from October 2008! Man was I behind!!!!!!! Hopefully I will stay more up to date ...

Am I loved or What??

I started school this January and most of it is online, with the occasional class on Saturday. Last Saturday I was totally bummed because my class went from 11 am – 5 pm, with only a 30 minute lunch break. The school is 30 minutes away, so I felt like I was going to miss the whole day with Brendan and Skyler …. BUT …

Brendan came to school with Skyler for my lunch break with WingStop (my fav)! On the way he and Skyler detailed the Homda and on the way home he detailed the VW!  When I left class I had to do a big project that was due by midnight … I was a little stressed with formatting and APA writing style (I’m not sure I really missed school after all), so Bren helped pull up some citation assistance for me!  When I got in the car after the project was done, I found a poster/love note waiting for me!!!! I’ll let you decide if he loves me!!!

        

P.S. No one tell Brendan this is up or he might make me take it down!

Eye Infection !!!

So I went to pick Skyler up from school on Thursday and found him with both eyes completely glued shut … uck! The doctor called in a prescription for some antibiotics and when we went to get them, there were two. Of course on call could not assist with why we got two antibiotics, so we had to wait to start treatment. Finally, on Friday morning we heard word that the pharmacy messed up with the two antibiotics and to just give him one. Here is a picture of his eyes on Friday morning …

By his face you can tell what kind of day we had … Of course all bad things (like days off from school for Skyler) come the day before I have a huge assignment due for my school!

So, Friday we started treatment and a lot of linen washing. By  Saturday morning (as Dr. Don predicted), his eyes were no longer goopy.

I think that everyone who had contact with Skyler was itching and scratching their eyes for days, suspecting the cooties may have passed to them. Fortunately, no one caught them. High Five for good hand washing skills everyone!!!

P.S. 1 eye drop per eye x 2/day
1 M&M per eye drop
7 days of eye drops
_________________________________________
= 28 M&M's and one VERY happy Baby!

P.P.S. Don't tell the doctor!

Gasparilla 2010

Skyler’s school had a Gasparilla parade this year and it was soooo cute. I snagged some cute pictures of the kids walking in the parade, but I stayed on the outside of the fence so I wouldn’t upset Skyler.

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The real Children’s Parade was awesome this year!  I had class in the morning, but was able to make it back just in time for the parade (I think I had all the fun without the work b/c it was Brendan’s job to make sure the baby had a nap)! Brendan and Skyler met me at my mom’s house (which is just a short walk to Bayshore) just as the parade began. Patty and Brie, Adam and Kayden also met us there. We put the boys in the Phil N Teds and walked to Kara’s house for the celebration. Patty shared some of her special beads from last year with the boys so they were dressed for the occasion! When we got to the parade, Patty and I went looking for food for the boys while Brie, Adam and Brendan scored some extra beads from the pirates. I got Skyler a footlong corndog (this is Skyler’s favorite food) . His eyes got huge when he saw the size of it! He wasn’t sure how to hold it and had to use my head to prop it up. We had so many beads by the end that our necks felt like they were going to fall off!!!!! Skyler even saw his pre-school director in the parade and she gave him a very special necklace!!! All the kids around him were very jealous! (Have I ever mentioned how spoiled our child is?) As you can tell from some of the pictures, it threatened rain all day, but for the most part it stayed dry. Kayden got a little tired and had to head back to Kara’s a little early, but we had promised Lindsay that we would watch her float come by … of course it was the last one! Lindsay’s mom and sister, Lauren and Anne Marie, met us at the parade right before her float when by. Lindsay and John looked great! After the parade we had some snacks at Kara’s and then headed home. What a DAY! I am sure the boys were exhausted, because I know we were!!!!!

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Christmas 2009

This week has presented with lots of challenges, but none the less, we are grateful to be enjoying the season. We can't help but feel the Spirit of Christ, even through all of these challenges :) Hopefully you can laugh with us as we describe the most interesting last three days.

-On the 23rd, Skyler lost his FAVORITE dog blanket in the mall. That night there was lots of crying as we tried to get him to sleep. I searched the house, car, mall and my mother's home for hours until I finally called it quits around 1am.

- On the 24th, Skyler greeted us at his bedroom door .... This was a HUGE surprise as he has never climed out of his crib before!!! Time for a toddler bed we decided .... we tried to put it off for as long as possible, even though our pediatrician has been recommending it for the last year. Apparently his dog blanket was the calming influence (like the good angel on his shoulder), keeping him in line while we weren't there to tell him no!

- After lots of fervent prayer and requests for a Christmas miracle, we started our Christmas Eve morning searching for Skyler's dog blanket for hours ... NO LUCK. We then bought other blankets to try and replace doggie, but no luck. Bren jokes that Skyler appears to be getting along fine, but his mommy is torn up. (a note - can you get PTSD from your son loosing his favorite blanket?) It is so sad to see him ask for and reach for something that you cannot give to him!!!!!

- We then put together the bed rail for the new BIG BOY BED .... what a joke those things are ... the first one we got was so difficult to put together we had to take it back and the second one did not fit. Of course that was the night that all the stores closed at 7pm!!!! That night we put Skyler to bed in an empty room, in his converted crib, without a bed rail. Well that was a mistake! It took at least half an hour for him to fall asleep ... at the door! The little guy kept rolling out of the bed onto the blankets and pillows on the floor. We finally set up the pack n play to keep him somewhat contained, praying that he could not climb out of that too! Fortunately, he stayed in that and fell back asleep after another half an hour! We have now decided to postpone the transition until after the stores re-open on the 26th.

- Christmas Eve also included the building of many toys! No one told us that Santa does not bring the toys already built!!!! A late night for mom and dad :) Here are the finished results :







- Christmas morning - the weather was warm, rainy and extremely HUMID! We woke up, finished the toy building, and went to get Skyler. We did a recreation of the nativity. This was a wonderful activity and too funny to watch Skyler put the shepherd to sleep in the manger!





Then we opened Christmas presents. Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher brought Skyler this amazing train table that started off like this when Skyler saw it -



And ended up like this by the end of the night :



My favorite line was when Brendan told Skyler that when he yanked and pulled on the pieces that it was like an earthquake for the people living in the little town! Skyler did not seem to be moved by that speach and really set the earthquake in motion.

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's home for dinner. What a great influence Aunt and Uncles are ... Lots of candy and even a mud pit party :





Then it was dinner time ... This is how we do dinner at the Fletcher house ... We start off with a good showing of all the food groups (or at least most) -



And then end up with something like a Corn Dog if we are lucky -



Night time for Skyler on the way home from all the fun and relaxing time for Mom and Dad while we wait for his birthday to hit in a few hours !!! What were we thinking with a December baby?

Now we are waiting for the Fletcher family to join us for some more Christmas and Birthday fun all the way from Arizona !!!!

So glad to have friends and family like you .... Enjoy the holidays :)

Gaylord Palms - ICE

We took Skyler to the Gaylord Palms ICE exhibit in Orlando this year. It was AWESOME! For anyone that does not know, it is an exhibit that the Gaylord Palms hotel puts on every year. It is all Ice and very cold! The exhibit is huge (two million pounds of hand carved ice) and kept at 9 degrees. The exhibit starts in November and goes into January. A little cold … but still very neat. We had Skyler bundled in his footed pajamas, sweats, turtleneck, ski bib, ski jacket, snow boots, and the down jacket they provide! Of course, I forgot the mittens at home, but the jacket was sooo big it seemed to work out just fine! Brendan, Patty, Skyler and I took a midnight drive to Orlando so we could be there early for all the fun. Rich and Kat met us in Orlando … but of course we were late! So they waited inside the freezing exhibit so we could make our way through the line. Skyler loved the ice slides and made sure we took him down it several times (I don’t think he was affected by the cold, definitely not as much as we were). I liked the nativity ice sculpture that was on display at the end … there is a picture below. I lost my memory cards (3 of them) with all those pictures and videos I have been meaning to post … but a nice person turned them in before I had even realized they were lost. After playing in the ICE for a few minutes, we enjoyed hot chocolate and listened to Christmas Carols in the lobby of the HUGE hotel! Brendan took off for the Gators game and the rest of us enjoyed lunch in the seafood themed section of the hotel.  What a great day!!! I only snagged a few pictures b/c of course … my battery died while we were in the exhibit.

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Dog Park Day

We love having relaxing days at the Fletcher house. Skyler and Brendan show us how it is done in these picks …

After a relaxing morning at home, we like to go to the dog park and let Jack run! This morning, Patty came with us! We had so much fun chasing Jack around the dog beach and playing in the sand. It was very cold, especially with the breeze from the water. This is one of our favorite little parks to go to, because it has a playground at it too!

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