Nerd Alert

...or you-are-what-you-put-in-your-ears!

We spent out Family Home Evening this week in the ER with Clark digging Nerds out of his ears. Let's just say he will NEVER put anything in his ears again! or at least he better not...

Random Sampler

A friend just posted a Random Sampler on her blog and I liked it so much that I decided to do the same over here. It's like 4 posts in 1!!

Happy Knucklehead's Day

OK. I know I'm a week and a day late for wishing fathers everywhere a Happy Knucklehead's Day, but it is sincere nonetheless. I would normally wish all those fathers a Happy Father's Day, but as we sat in church and Jason starts moving the sacrament tray around so that Clark can't take a piece of bread I thought to myself Knucklehead's Day seemed more appropriate.

I am so grateful for Jason and what a great father he is to these two boys. They absolutely adore him and I do too. I'm also grateful to all of the other fathers in my life...dad, dad #2 Cam, and Jason's grandpas. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Your Should Have Seen the Other Guy...


Maybe it goes along with Knucklehead's Day or maybe it doesn't. Last Saturday I left Jason at home with the boys and went shopping with my mom. We weren't gone long, but when I came back, Kent was very upset and kept scratching at his forehead. I pulled him out of the sandbox and put some bug spray on him so that we could go back outside. I knew he had a few mosquito bites, but I never would have imagined this...

When he woke up on Monday and his eye was worse than Sunday I decided to call the doctor. They gave me a safe Benadryl dose and his eye started clearing up. By Tuesday he was almost normal. Poor guy.

Family Reunion

Yesterday we had a little family reunion with some of Jason's extended family. It was a great time. I don't have the full family picture, but I have some snapshots of the boys. Neither of them liked the water. I think it was too cold for Kent and Clark didn't like that he couldn't touch the bottom. 

Clark swimming his way to the camera.

Kent relaxing on the grass.

My Son the Red Hulk

Just in case you were wondering...it only takes 2 minutes for a complete transformation. Shame on me for having to use the bathroom.

Easter 2011

A few days before Easter, I decided that maybe this year would be a good year for us to start dyeing Easter eggs. I think Clark was ready, but I wasn't. I mean...who knew...I have a Master's degree and had to look up how to boil eggs, seriously?! Yes. Once we had that figured out, the rest was easy. Messy, but easy.

 Kent joining in the non-dyeing fun.

 Maybe the splatter Easter eggs were a bad choice...I don't know.

Grandma and Grandpa picked up these cool glasses for Clark along with some mail order praying mantis eggs. Clark absolutely LOVES these glasses. We call him SuperMantis! Note to self: do not bring these glasses to church again.

Opening Easter eggs was the best part of the day. Really...the rest of the stuff was pushed aside if there was a little egg with a treasure inside.

Kent got a basket too, but he didn't care one whit about it. Clark ended up taking all his toys out of his basket too.

 We do two Easter egg hunts too. One with Grandma and Grandpa and family...

And one with Gigi and Boompa and family...
The bucket heads waiting for us to hide the eggs.

 Kent says, "Look mom...I found two. That was easy!"

Don't you love this lamb-y cake? It's tradition for us to have one every year with my family. Apparently they aren't popular all over the country. Have you ever seen one? or eaten one?

The Easter holiday ended with a bang...or a bruise, maybe. Clark got his first black eye. He fell down on the stairs at Dave and Kelli's house.

 A few band-aids and he's all better. Band-aids are amazing. Honestly.

That night he stayed overnight by Dave and Kelli's. He had such a fun time. He didn't want to come home at all. Josh, on the other hand, was definitely ready to be rid of him by the next day!!

Where have I been?

It all started back in September... I'm now 15 weeks, due June 6.
Then there was Spoon River in October...

Picking out gourds...

On the way home...

A day at the zoo with Ali and James - Clark's playgroup buddies!

He's got a bit of a crush on Ali. Always has. This was her first advance toward him - she held out her hand for him to hold. He was beside himself.

At the pumpkin patch - Clark picked out a 37 lb. pumpkin. I thought the 8 lb pumpkins looked good, but he tends to think like his dad.

Jason got to pick out the costume this year for Clark. Of course he chose He-Man. Doesn't he realize what a mess it is to sew faux fur - of course not. I have to admit that Clark was one cute He-Man though!

He loved the whole experience of trick or treating too! Who wouldn't?

I love this picture of James, Ali and Clark at McDonald's!

Clark playing in the leaves - he doesn't like them. I couldn't get him to smile for the life of me. So we'll pretend this action shot is actually him having a great time.

The New Zoo aka: Lincoln Park Zoo. Clark loves to talk about the bear sleeping in the log and the chimpanzees. You know, the old zoo doesn't have those things.

Ali and James have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium and took us for a fun day! Clark loved dressing up in the penguin costume, climbing up the penguin rocks, and sliding down the icy slopes!

Merry Christmas Chicago style! Kristkindlmarket - yummy potato pancakes!

Lunch at the Walnut Room at Macy's on State St. (it will always be Marshall Field's though). Here's Josh getting a wish granted by the Snow Princess.

Dinner at Lawry's with the carolers - Dave even gave an impromptu performance singing part of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

And there are no pictures for the main reason I've been MIA. Jason would kill me if I took any pictures of him in the hospital. It all started 11.10. Jason started feeling really sick on the way home from Michigan. We thought it was the flu, so he rested for the weekend. Monday came and he still felt horrible, so I took him to Immediate Care. They sent him home telling him he had the stomach flu. Tuesday morning he woke up at 2 AM and said we had to go to the hospital. We went to the ER, and after 9 hours of tests and waiting, a possible gall bladder surgery, and more waiting, he was sent home with some antibiotics to treat pneumonia. He wasn't getting any better, so on Friday, we decided he needed to see the doctor again. The doctor sent him for a chest x-ray. The x-ray came back worse than the one he had on Tuesday, so they admitted him to the hospital. By the next day, the pulmonologist decided to move him to the ICU. He stayed there for a couple of days - not improving. Finally, on Monday, they decided that surgery would be necessary to get rid of the infection around his lung. Fluid had developed inbetween his lung and the lining of the lung. This fluid then turned to gel. During the surgery, they would spread his ribs and scoop out all the gel from around his lung and give his lung a nice wash. Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday...all went well, and the pneumonia started improving almost instantly. He was in pain from the surgery, but breathing was not quite as labored. He spent Thanksgiving in the hospital and ate Cheerios for dinner. His mom brought him some Thanksgiving dinner, but he just didn't have much of an appetite. Friday night he was sent home to recover for the next 6-8 weeks. He's been home 2 weeks now and is doing much better. He's up and walking around and managing his pain pretty well. I'm kind of excited that we'll all be home for the holidays together. Surely this will be a holiday season we'll never forget (and never want to repeat)!!
The best part of all of this was the outpouring of love that I felt from family and friends all over the world. I was lifted up by all of the well wishes and prayers that were said on behalf of Jason and our family. All of the emails, facebook messages, blog comments, phone calls and visits comforted and strengthened me. Thank you so much!!

Our Weekend

On Saturday Jason was making a fish tank stand for Clark. (He's getting a fish tank for Christmas - but that should be another post...) We had priced out some cabinets earlier that day, and they were going to be around $1000, so we decided that Jason would make his own. Turns out we should have paid the grand.

The nail (from the framing nailer) went through his index fingernail and pulled it off and chipped the bone. Then it took up residence in his pinkie where it stayed for a good little while as we drove to the ER. No bashing me for taking pictures...we are in the car and at a stoplight, so we were hurrying.

What did you do this weekend?

A Whole Month

This post is dedicated to my mom. Why? Not because she did anything great, but because she won't stop pestering me about how long it has been since I posted on the blog. Really, she sees all the pictures anyway...what is the difference if it is on the blog or not? Then she starts talking about all of the things that my friends are doing because they post on the blog. "Oh, you should see the new video of Clark Y." "Did you see Tara's new place in Australia?" "Melissa made a Chinese dragon, wasn't that neat?" "Steph is having a girl!"

So...Here's to you mom!

We visited Boompa's work. Clark wasn't as interested in the crane as Josh was. He likes pens and things that are in pockets.
Clark got his first haircut this month. Gigi did as fantastic job even with all of Clark's moving around.
Clark - all squeaky clean!
Clark also had his first experience with "real"food this month. He doesn't like it as much as I thought he would (given his ravenous appetite up until now!) So far his favorite food is a banana. Surprise, surprise!

Clark also went to the Shedd Aquarium this month. He was in awe the entire time. Mouth open, eyes wide. This snapping turtle was just waiting for someone like Clark to come by. Clark put his little hands on the glass and the turtle opened wide! Must have thought those little chubby fingers looked like worms.

Other highlights (not pictured)

Jason had surgery on his back and is doing well. Steph's wedding shower went off without a hitch and I now crave yogurt parfaits. We had a lovely Chinese New Year party, but not a photo to prove it. It's hard to be host and photographer. I also have a new (and very addictive) hobby: digital scrapbooking.

Pomp & Circumstance

Finally I had my last graduation day! I am so glad that it is all over. It definitely feels good. I still don't get why the graduation regalia has to look so incredibly stupid. Maybe it is to keep you humble...

Other good news...my dad's lung surgery went well (this is the day after he got out of the hospital) and the tumor was benign! Hooray!