One of "those" days

Ever have one of those photo sessions where nothing goes right? Well, I tried to take a pic of the boys in the cute matching pjs that Grandma Ronda made them. Emerson cried, Hayden argued, neither one of them would sit still and I got frustrated. This is the best I got:

Hayden's picking at his nose, Emerson's hair is sweaty from crying so much, and you can't even see their pajamas. Ugh! Maybe next time.

Anyway, I did get this silly pic of Hayden:

Hee hee...

Emerson's new thing is to quickly blow through his lips (like he is blowing out a candle). He thinks that it is so funny (and it is!). I just happened to catch him in the middle of doing it. Cute, huh? 

Well, what do we have here?

I will give you a hint-no, it's not a zit. That, my friends, is a bump associated with varicella (otherwise known as chicken pox). Now I know that you all are wondering who in the household has this lovely mark of distinction? Um, that would be me. I never had chicken pox as a child nor did I get the vaccine. I have been in contact with the nasty disease 3 times in my life and managed to never get it. Just a year or two ago, my cousin Rachel got it and I touched her bumps trying to figure out what they were. She had already had the pox, so we figured that wasn't it. After going to her doctor, she found out she was going through a second bout with it. Ugh! I was pregnant with Emerson at the time and getting that disease could have killed me and caused my baby to be born serious problems.

Anyway, I had tried to get the vaccine after having Hayden. When I got pregnant in Atlanta, they run lots of routine blood tests. Mine showed that I was not immune to varicella, so I was supposed to get the immunization right after I had him and was done nursing. I managed to move to NC just before he was born, so my new OB did all the bloodwork on me again. They said that I was immune to it. I was pretty confused. I was still worried that I wasn't immune, so I called around to see if I could get the vaccine anywhere. It turned out that only pediatricians and the health dept. had it. Doctors that deal with adults usually don't carry it because most adults had it when they were kids or had already had the chicken pox. After calling the health dept. and finding out what a pain in the butt it would be to get, I decided to just go with what my last bloodwork results were and quit trying to get the shot.

Fast forward to now-When I went to Denver to do all the preliminary testing for the surrogacy back in May, they told me that I was not immune. I had to go get the shot. This just baffled me. I searched around on the CDC website and it turns out that different labs do different versions of the test for varicella immunity. Some tests are more sensitive than others. So, I went into our nasty health dept. (and I do mean gross!) and got the first round of the vaccine back on May 30th. Some people are lucky enough to have no reactions to it and others (like me) actually get a few souvenirs, lol. I have a grand total of 3, so I really have nothing to complain about. Hey, at least I am now immune ;)

Grandma J and the kids

Last week, we had the pleasure of having Grandma Jacobsen (Clayton's mom) stay with us. The kids absolutely adore her! They miss her everytime she leaves, but the good news is that she always makes her way back ;) 

The grate

Our kids love to play in the dirt pit that is bordering our backyard. There is a grate there that E is fascinated by. He throws a little fistful of dirt in there and then tries to see it hit the bottom. He is so cute, lol. 

Finally a walker

Emerson has been walking consistently for 3 weeks now. His physical therapist is now going to be seeing him only twice a month rather than twice a week. Yay! If after 3 months he is still walking on the insides of his feet, we will be referred over to a foot doctor to get some inserts for his shoes. That's not so bad. I am soooo glad that he is finally walking :) 

Another new layout

Man, I am so psyched about the July kit that I just got in the mail from C&H! I LOVE this kit!!! I just did this quick layout tonight:

Another quick layout...

Here's another quick layout I did with the June C&H kit. Emerson was enjoying his first romp in the jumper. He was so happy!

Hee hee...

Emerson was so tired this afternoon, he actually put himself to bed. Hayden would be mad if he knew that little bro was sleeping in his bed, but I just couldn't bring myself to put him in the crib. I moved him so that his legs were all the way on the bed and covered him up. I wonder what he will think when he wakes up??? 

New layouts

These were done using the June kit from C&H Scrapbooks. They are simple, but I love them :)

My apologies

I am so sorry that I haven't been updating my blog. Life has been crazy lately. Here's some updates:

Surrogacy Stuff
Clayton and I flew out to Denver on 5/23 (Tues.) and came back on 5/25 (Thurs.). We weren't even there for 24 hours if you don't count the time we spent waiting at the airport. It was insane. We spent all day Wednesday at the clinic (CCRM). It was really cool to be in the #1 clinic in America for infertility. They made us take drug tests, blood tests, and have a psychological evaluation. I also had to do a routine exam, internal ultrasound, the MMPI (a 500+ question personality test), and a hysteroscopy. We left at 11:55pm that night and got home at 8am the next day.

I found out that everything checked out okay this week with the exception of not being immune to Varicella (chicken pox). I have been exposed to them on 3 occasions, but have never gotten them. Yesterday, I got the shot from the nasty health department. No one else had it in stock because it is a vaccine that needs special storage and it expires quickly; therefore, not many doctors have it on hand (except maybe pediatricians).

Around the 13th of this month, we will do a mock cycle to see how my body reacts to the drugs. Hopefully, that will all go well and we will be able to move on to the real cycle :)

Emerson
He has been going to physical therapy for the past month and I am happy to report that he is walking. By walking, I mean that he is choosing to walk rather than crawl so he is finally up off his knees. Thank the Lord! His therapy will continue for several more months to make sure that he quits walking on the inside of his left foot. All in all, he is doing really well.

Grocery Gaming
You guys that haven't tried this, really should. I can't believe that people still think that you can save more at Wal-Mart and by buying generics. That is what they want you to think. I have been gaming religiously since September 2005 and I have saved a ton of money. Last week, I spent $50 and saved $94. That is $144 worth of groceries for only $50. So far for 2006, I have spent a total of $971 on $2407 worth of groceries!!! That is a savings of $1436 and my percentage is 60%. I have a program that figures all of that out for me. Anyway, I don't buy generics nor do I shop at Wal-Mart. I shop at Harris Teeter and I buy all name brand products. HT is one of the more expensive stores, but that means that they have the best sales. When you use coupons on top of the sales, you really save big. To try the grocery game, click on my link listed on the right and feel free to use me as a referral ;)

Special Visitor
Grandma Christie (Clayton's mom) will be visiting us next week. We are excited to see her again and the kiddos are anxious to be spoiled rotten for a few days. It will be a fun week.

What was once lost is now found
I found my Digi Rebel charger so I should be posting photos again soon. Yay!