In other news...

My ankle is still petty bad. Not from the spider bite anymore, from walking like a gimp FROM the spider bite. Now the OTHER side of the foot is swollen and I have tendonitis. Wonderful. I saw a doctor last week who told me to stay of it and keep it up. Which, would be REALLY easy if I was 12 and my mom gave me a bell and brought me my lunch. It's not so easy with an 8 month old and stairs. And, an increasingly dirty house. Oh, AND packing f0r and going on camping trips.

So, I'm going to see a physical therapist tomorrow to make sure I'm not doing more damage and maybe get some help with the recovery. If I go another week away from the gym I might go crazy.

I'm not kidding.

------------

I went shopping with a friend yesterday. I told her I needed a cute outfit for Justin's high school reunion. Man, she is a champion shopper, I tried on more clothes in one store than I normally do in a year. And, we didn't even get to half of the places we were planning on (see previous post about sick baby). I got a couple of things for a good deal, but they might not be what I'm wearing to the reunion.

However... I did get this.

Most of you might not know what a big step this is for me. (Whether it's a step in the right or wrong direction has yet to be determined). I don't like purses. I definitely don't LOVE purses, and wouldn't spend large or even medium amounts of money on designer purses, I just don't see the point.

But, I've come to the point of motherhood (that sounds old) where I need a larger purse. The Little Man doesn't always require his diaper bag anymore, but I need something bigger then I have (or EVER had) to bring a few essentials. So... here's my big purse. It's at least 3 times bigger than anything I've ever had. And, I've had to swallow my pride, because I've spent a lot of years mocking all of you big-purse lovers out there.

--------------

I don't do many updates on the Little Man on this blog. I figure if you really care to know, I've got you on his blog (if you're reading this and wish with all of your heart you could get more pictures and updates on the Little Man, please send me your email address). But, he's pretty mobile these days.

I think he's SUPER close to crawling (oh, man, I'm going to have to get some gates and start vacuuming more often). He rolls ALL over the living room, until he runs into something he can't get around. He's doing that rocking thing on his knees and hands, but just lunges forward and falls. His new thing is shaking his head 'no'. Even though he has no idea what 'no' means.

He loves to sit at his toy bucket and pull all of the toys out. And, he's started putting toys in his mouth with no hands -he looks likes a puppy!

30 Great Hours in Jackson

Keeping up with our busy July, this past weekend was spent camping in Jackson Hole (Okay, technically it's between Alpine and Jackson -we didn't even make it to Jackson on this trip).

The Little Man enjoys camping (for the most part).

He get's to eat outside.

Play with his cousin.

Ride the Snake River (for a short -no rapids- ride).

Try to keep warm.

Unfortunately, it was a little too cold for him the first night and he ended up getting sick, which made the second night a little miserable. He wouldn't sleep and I knew he didn't feel well. We drove him around to get him to sleep a couple of times, but it wasn't a long term solution.

We ended up packing up at midnight, and heading home. 4 hours. The first 3 we managed pretty well, but that last hour was pretty rough. We got home at 5 am... and he woke up before 7. It was a rough day.

We had a good time while we were there, thanks Mimi and Papa.

It's a Pirates Life for me

To be honest... I wanted the title of this post to be the 'Arrrr' pirates sound slowly turning into the 'Ooouuu' part of Ouch. But, I couldn't figure out how to spell it.

Allow me to explain.

Following our recent vacation to Idaho with Justin's family we arrived home to this.

I'm sure you'll all noticing the pirate flags (I noticed the clean house -thanks Justin).

We had a couple of friends watch our house while we were gone, and this is what happens when you give your friends your key for a weekend.

Pretty funny -and you had better watch your back!

After we cleaned up the pirate-ness (and ate the dots) I didn't want the pirate theme to end.

So... I've been walking like a peg-legged pirate. All. Week.

Turns out a (not-so) friendly little spider (or other unidentified bug) decided my ankle and foot were too tasty to pass up. So he bit me. Twice.

I thought they were mosquito bites. Even itched them on the way home on Sunday and put calamine lotion on it Sunday evening.

Monday morning? I almost fell when I got out of bed. To look at my foot, it doesn't really look that bad. Two red bug bites and some mild swelling, but I couldn't even walk on it.

Over the next two days if I had the Little Man with me, I scooted down the stairs on my butt. Pretty pathetic. I took advantage of Justin being home during the day and he would go and get him and take him back up some of the time. I saw a doctor, but because I had no idea what bit me, and didn't show any signs of infection, there wasn't much they could do.

Starting on Wednesday it started to get a little better. I can't take much of anything. Benadryl puts me into a short-lived coma (tried that on Monday) but doesn't do much for the swelling. I haven't taken much for the pain -kind of hard to with an 8 month old.

So, I'm icing it (yes, Kathy, some people actually ice their injuries) and putting it up when I can. Our clean house is usually a wreck because I can't stand long enough to do anything (picture me making dinner with my leg up on the counter -turns out I'm pretty flexible).

Every morning it does feel a little better better, but at this rate, it's going to take another week to be at 100%. I don't think our house can take it much longer!

(My obligatory picture of the Little Man)

All together now... Aaaahhhhh

http://blog.magnifiquephotography.com/

Gretta and Fred

*Disclaimer -this is the 2nd vacation in the same number of weeks. But, Justin's in charge of the first one.

Meet the new camper:

We spent 2 nights up in Idaho at Givens Hot Springs for a family reunion on Justin's side. We had a lot of fun and The Little Man did great. I'm sure he didn't like the LONG ride up and back, but he loves being outside, so the camping part was great. He slept well (in our new tent) and took good naps. We enjoyed spending time with Denise's family and I think just about everyone enjoyed spending time with him -especially Grandpa Scott, Grandma Denise and Aunt April.

He had his first swim while we were there, and he loved it. It was really nice because the water was so warm, it was just like a big bath. With a lot of kids to watch.

We also enjoyed our two new friends. Gretta the Garmen and Fred the Fly. We changed Gretta's voice on the way up to a British lady and she got us around just great!

And Fred? Well, Fred met his early death on the first part of our trip when I smushed him against the window. Everytime we stopped we forgot to get him off of the window, so he made the entire trip home with us. In fact, I bet he's still there.

Heffalumps and woozles

Okay, to be honest, there were no woozles. But, my dreams were full of elephants last night.

To be more specific, baby blue stuffed animal elephants with a music box inside them.

Kind of like this one.



Actually, EXACTLY like this one. We have one. We had two, but we accidentally (subconsiously) left one on the airplane on Sunday. Oops.

My son has decided he likes these elephants (thanks Mimi and Kathy). They've been great. In the last 4 or 6 weeks it has got him to sleep and comforted when he's out of his 'norm'. Or, even in his norm, really.

The problem? (Other than now we're down one elephant). It STINKS! The little man shoves (and I mean shoves) either the trunk or one of the ears in his mouth to fall asleep. I was washing them by hand (it has a music box so it says you can't wash them in the machine). But in the last 2 or 3 weeks, that hasn't been helping the smell. My guess is that when his mouth is full of milk at night, and then he sucks on it the milk gets all over. And the stink. I actually risked all to stick them in the machine (it survived) but the stink is back within half a day.

His cousin has a pink one of these that she affectionately refers to as "Elly". Justin and I have started calling the Little Man's 'Smelly'. It's really that bad.

So, what's a mom to do? Buy another one (or three). Here lies the second problem. After a bit of research, said elephant was made by Carters, exclusively for Target, the Just One Year brand. And guess what? They've discontinued our little elephants.

Oh, I've found a few on Ebay. The cheapest one is $24 (going up to $50 -seriously?). If I thought I could get away with one, I might consider buying it. But, I need at least 2. And I just can't spend fifty bucks for a couple of stuffed animals.

I've found one that is similar (I think) by the Russ brand, and they're pretty cheap. So, I'm just hoping that he's still young enough to not be completely attached to this particular elephant and we can do a switch-a-roo without the Little Man noticing too much.

I hope this one works (I bought 3) or else I think I'll be destined to continue to dream about little blue elephants.

For now

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook or received a personal email... check this link out:
http://terracooper.myshowit.com/hyrum/index.html

I'll post pictures on the blog when I get them.