I've been thinking about this. Some people may not want to post photos here on Minti, or any other websites for that matter for fear of psychos hunting them down. Ever had this thought?  I have, though I'm not too afraid.

I don't share my exact location, and I don't give out last names. I really don't even give out birth dates - I usually lie, unless it's a site I trust.  I also lie about my address too. I've moved so many times that I know tons of valid zip codes and street names. 

With photos, I'm usually OK with it - not worried at all.

Anyone very very afraid? not worried at all? cautious?

This is Matthew at 3 months old lounging on the dogs. Koby doesn't mind, but Salem (the black one) looks like he wants to bolt at any moment.

I uploaded a video of Matthew doing his dance on you tube. Click on the picture below to view it.

It's lunch time, but I just had to go ahead and post this before walking away from the computer.  There was another hitting incident that got Matthew to the time-out corner. It's quite funny how he goes there willingly and stays put for the minute I let him stay there. I make him actually stay less than a minute. I look at the clock on the stove and once the new minute comes, time out is over. I really should use an actual timer that dings.

On a happier note. Here he is starting a new fashion trend. By the way, he is feeling much much better today.

Both are right feet by the way.

Lately, Matthew has been hitting us, the dogs, and whatever else he fancies. I think it's because he likes playing with balls and when he does, we encourage him to throw, bounce and roll them. Yesterday, he picked up his plastic bat and chased Salem (one of my dogs) around and hit him. Matthew still doesn't have full coordination with the bat, so he didn't hit Salem hard at all (thank goodness!). Mind you, he doesn't do it out of anger or spite. He just thinks it's fun, probably because we have reinforced it by a smile or by laughing a few times.   Anyway when I saw this, I took his arm and walked him to a corner facing the refrigerator. Instantly he started grabbing at the magnets - bad idea! So I lead him to another corner. I stood about 5 feet away from him and watched the kitchen clock. After about less than a minute, I lead him away and told him he shouldn't hit the dogs. He smiled at me so I hugged him and all was well. It was pretty successful for a first time out, if I say so myself.

This morning, Matthew and I dropped Koby off to the vet for her teeth cleaning and for her 1 very lose tooth to be pulled. When the woman took Koby from us, Matthew cried. It was so sweet and cute. I had to keep telling him that we will pick Koby up later today.

This morning Matthew's cough sounds wetter so it sounds like he's finally going to be able to get mucus out. He was also much much active and was chasing the dogs around. I called my husband and work and told him Matthew is feeling good. About 2pm, Matthew was sleepy but wasn't able to nap. Then I saw him stick a finger to his ear.  By 3pm, I called the pediatrician and got an appointment. Sure enough, Matthew has ear infection now on both ears. Poor little thing. First Croup, then ear infection. He is now feeling very very tired and hate medicine. He sees me approaching with medicine and he starts crying. The doctor prescrived antibiotic and a numbing drop for his ears.

We've been lucky so far, in that Matthew's first ear infection came at 18 months. This is the sickest he's ever been. He normally shakes off a common cold in 2 days, but not this one. Hopefully he starts to feel better very soon.

Matthew is suffering from Croup. The coughing trully trully sounds like a seal. It's been tough my husband and I and very very tough on Matthew. He's been lethargic (though he gets bursts of energy here and there) and the lack of sleep is not helping things any. Croup seems to be worse at night. Matthew also hates medicine now and it upsets him when he sees me with a medicine dropper - this of course brings on the coughing.

But things are looking up. He's so tired and still have energy, but I can hear from his coughing that we just passed the worst part. He hasn't been eating anything at all this past few days, but today he wanted a bite of whatever Daddy was eating. Very good sign!

I wrote an advice if you want know more about Croup.

Thank you all for the well wishes and all the suggestions!!! I definitely felt the love.

Matthew is sick. He has been coughing since yesterday. He wasn't able to sleep well last night because of the mucus so he was extremely tired the whole day today. Also he is now hoarse and have a lot of phlegm. Every time he breathes, I can hear the mucus. He also has a little temperature, but not bad.  He was sick the first 2 days while in Florida, but on the 3rd day he was back to his oldself, so the hubby and I thought he was better. But this cough I think is the from the same bug, whatever it is. I gave him a cough and nasal congestant meds, as well as tylenol before he went to bed. I also have a humidifier going. Hopefully he gets better soon.  This is actually the first time he's had a terrible cough.

This is my son a few days ago at Disney on the way up (via escalator) to see the Living Seas aquarium. Matthew just loves it when I'm right behind him & his dad, his dad egging him on that mommy will get him!

I didn't want to use our park hopper tickets on the day we arrived at Disney so we were limited in the places we could go to, so we went to Downtown Disney. We spetnt a couple of hours there until a room is available for us at the resort. There were plenty to see and plenty of places to take pictures. We saw Lego Land where there were larger than life Lego dinosaur, robot, person walking several dogs, a dragon. There statues of Buzz lightyear, Mickey and Minnie, pirates of carribean stuff, winnie the pooh and a whole lot of other things.

The best part was when we went to the World of Disney store. There was Stitch right above the doorway and he spits water in 3 different directions. Since Matthew love water, I showed him spitting Stitch. He thought it was the funniest thing and giggled his head off when he almost got wet a couple of times. He giggled and run around and provided entertainment to a few people around the are. It was a great day.

Here are some Downtown Disney pictures.

  

 

 

Home at last. The last 6 days was great, but I'm happy to be back home. So much to say, but so little energy. Let me just first say that were not able to use Matthew's carseat on the plane. When we checked in, we asked the woman in the counter if the carseat will fit and she said no. The plane was a very tiny plane. So my husband had to turn around and walk back to the parking lot to leave the carseat. We woke up at 4am bright and early for our 7am departure. Of course Matthew was wide awake. He gave us trouble at the airport. He wanted to run around into places he shouldn't be in. The flight is only 2 hours so it wasn't that bad. I had plenty of toys for Matthew, but the one thing that got him quiet was the mini lollipops I gave him for the ascent and descent. Ten minutes before touching down at Orlando, Florida, he fell asleep.

The flight back home today was a different story. Matthew wanted to switch between me and his daddy and screamed and cried when we wouldn't let him do what he wanted. It was highly stressful.

The 6 days in Orlando was enjoyable though, but it was way too humid. We got to see a lot (mostly things for toddlers) and enjoyed seeing Matthew take in everything. He loved some of the disney characters he saw, and didn't like the others. We didn't get to ride roller coasters, but it was quite alright. Our Disney World vacation was trully magical because Matthew did a lot of new things while we were there. He started trully conversing and even started stringing 2 words together to make sentences (not so clear though). He also trully exhibited his independence, especially during meal times.

Now it's time to get back to normal routine.

The family is still in Disney World and we are having a great time, though it's way tooooooo humid! I have tons of pictures, but I thought I'd share this one for now. I am in the resort right now sneaking in an online time - it's not free!  We will be back home on Tuesday evening and will try to get back to normal then.

This is one of the few pictures where we are all together. You know how that goes. The background is Cinderella's castle. Oh, I'd like to be a princess for a day.

It's been 2 days now that the dogs have been at the in-laws and I miss them terribly, and so does Matthew. I asked Matthew where the dogs were and he looked around the house. When he couldn't find them, he climbed up the couch near the window and looked in the backyard. When he didn't find them there, he said "all go", which means "all gone".

Another thing is that the crumbs and other food mess under the table that Matthew makes after eating don't disappear anymore. I actually have to sweep after Matthew eats, go figure.

Two more days before our vacation. I've started packing and figured that we can't get away with 1 big luggage and 1 small one. We need 2 big ones. Now it seems like we're going away for a couple of months!

On a sad note, it's 9/11. I think of all the people that died 5 years ago. I remember the day so clearly. The hubby and I were living half an hour away from the Pentagon at the time. I was on the way to school at 9am when I heard on the radio that a plane crashed into the building. I remember thinking that it must be small plane, surely big commercial planes don't just crash into buildings. By the time I got to school, people were whispering around, hovering around pay phones when clearly they had a cell phone in their hands. When the class started, the professor explained what had happened and everyone were in shock. I tried to call my husband and at work but I couldn't get through. Somehow the fact that I couldn't reach my husband got me in a panic. I think reaching a love one in such a situation makes things all the more desperate, even though I knew that there was no way he could have been personally affected.

 

We left yesterday at 7:30 pm for the 4 hr drive to the in-laws to drop off our 2 dogs. The in-laws will look after them for 2 weeks while we are vacationing. Very gracious of them to do so and save us a couple of hundred dollars. Matthew's normal bedtime is 7:30 so we're thinking that we'll be asleep the whole drive. We were sadly mistaken. He didn't sleep until 2 hours into the drive and got very cranky. I was driving so he wasn't happy that he couldn't have me beside him. He screamed and pushed his daddy's hand away so we had to pull over and switch places. After I sat with him, he calmed down and finally slept after half an hour. He then woke up 20 minutes before we arrived at nana's and papaw's. So when we got there at 11:30pm, Matthew was recharged and refreshed. He was so wound up and excited about the place that he didn't sleep until 2:30am.  But he did sleep in until 9am though - a small consolation, as he usually wakes up at 6:30.

The whole day was full excitement for him. There were lots to see, lots of people to meet, lots of toys to play with.  We left at 7:30pm for the trip home, but thankfully this time Matthew was much easier. I guess he was just too exhausted from last night and the happenings of the day to make too much of a fuss. He slept without crying an hour into the drive. When we got home, I was able to put him to bed where he continued on sleeping.

Now the hubby and and I must catch up on sleep so that we can start packing for the Disney world trip this Thursday. Hopefully Matthew will have mercy on us and sleep in past 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Off to bed. I just wanted to blog a bit, don't know why as exhausted as I am. I think I'm running of fumes.

Don't you just hate it when unexpected expenses seem to pile up one top of another? My husband got all new tires for the car which came up to be about $500, then we had to take the van for maintenance repairs, and now I have to take Koby to get her teeth cleaned. September is going to be one expensive month, good thing the Florida trip is all paid for!

On another note, my husband bought some lottery tickets the other day. He's one of those funny people who doesn't buy tickets if the prize is below $1M. Soooo funny!  

OK, I really must get off the computer and pack for tomorrow night's trip to the in-laws (4 hr drive).

This is the first time my son has ever made such a sour face! He was playing on the floor barefoot, as he always does, but this day he stopped and sat down. Then I saw him inspect the sole of his foot. He brushed it off and then looked at his hand. This is when he made this face. I missed a whole lot of shots, but at least I got one.

Alright, son. I can take a hint.  The floor will be cleaned! A couple of days is all I can promise, as the dogs bring in sand and what-nots. If I were to sweep and mop everyday, we wouldn't have time to wrestle adequately.

I decided to call Delta today to make sure that my son will be able to use his carseat on the plane. There really is no use taking it with us if he can't even use it. While on the phone, I decided to check that the seats I chose (I booked through Expedia so I picked the seats myself) were good and not exit rows, etc. As the lady was talking, I noticed some discrepancies. It turned out that the flight changed and we were rebooked. Imagine my surprise! Instead of the flight at 12noon and direct, it was now at 4 pm and has 1 stop over.

Had I found out about this right at the airport, it would have bene really really stressful. Delta said that they notify passengers via phone when there's a change, but since I booked my tickets through Expedia, they don't have some of my information.  After a long phone call, the flight is now at 7am, still a directly flight though, thank goodness! The bad thing is that we don't have assigned seating yet, until we check in at the airport. So there's a possibility that my husband may be seated somewhere else in the plane - they guarantee that they will be able to seat a parent with the child. Thanks for small miracles I guess. 

In any case, we will make do. I'm just extremely glad that because of my need to eliminate surprises that I found this out now instead of the day of the travel.

I just had a 3 hour power outage because of a storm that came all the way down from Florida. Did you miss me? did ya? did ya? Of course not. I was logged on Minti when the power went out and when I logged back on after the power came back, I found that I'm still "currenly online".  

The rain has been pouring since last night so my backyard is now a mini pool so the dogs have fun when I let them out. What's not fun is watching the trees sway back and forth in the back. I have lots of trees and 2 ginormous ones very close to my house. Windy days make me nervous!