Poor Alex

I appreciate the support Lettie has shown to me during this difficult time of her reduced hearing.  I don't think that everyone has shown the same amount of support during such a difficult time for me.  I thought I would give a few examples to show how hard my life has been.

The night before last, I had to get up with the kids at 3 different times.  Jackson had one crying fit where he needed to be looked at in order to get in under control, and Patrick had a few instances of loud, yet unknown symptoms.

The next night, I setup the baby monitor right next to Lettie's pillow.  I turned it up as loud as it would go.  The monitor doesn't have a squelch control, so the static from the amplified signal made me antsy all night as I waited for a potential baby cry.

I've had to answer the phone in the evenings.  I barely answer the phone at work, and now I have to do it at home too.

I have had to listen to Lettie's sob stories about going grocery shopping and finding out that her wallet was missing while she was in the checkout line.  The ear infections have waged a double front war on her brain.

And lastly, Lettie hasn't been cooking as often because she "can't taste" and also because she "doesn't feel good."  It never ends.

Weekend Getaway

We took a short vacation to Gatlinburg last weekend.  Alex did a great job picking out an awesome chalet that had a gorgeous view and the timing could not have been more perfect.  The leaves were in peak color transition and everything was breathtaking.The boys had lots of fun playing with leaves and going on a couple of short hikes and I think they had the most fun just hanging out with their family.  The got to play with their cousin, Samantha, and hang out with MamaLinda and Pop and Aunt Janie and Uncle Brian.

I was kind of a buzzkill the whole weekend because I've been really sick.  I did manage to make it on 2 short hikes, but I mostly just sat on the deck or in the hot tub looking at the trees.

 Here's a little tip: don't go to the mountains with a sinus infection.  I ended up with 2 ruptured eardrums.  My left eardrum ruptured the first night we were there and the right one followed the next day.  I'm on my second antibiotic now and will have to see an ENT if my hearing doesn't return to normal in the next few days.

I feel pretty crappy still, but the muffled, distorted hearing is the worst of any of my symptoms.  It's really hard to mother when you can't hear.  I can't hear the boys if they wake up at night (and let's face it, Alex isn't very easy to wake up) and I can't hear them getting into mischief if I leave the room.  I know Alex is tired of repeating himself and definitely doesn't want to watch TV with me because I either constantly ask him to recap things or just kind of sit there and don't get any of the jokes.

I also have lots of trouble cooking.  I can't hear, smell or taste, so I can't hear things sizzling or getting to hot if I walk away from the stove and I can't tell if anything is seasoned correctly.  

Poor Alex.

Patrick's election day message

Boys, boys, boys

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, my boys are keeping me busy.

I am still up to my elbows in potty training.  Jackson has been doing really well and only has to wear a diaper at night now.  Lately he's been fascinated with "splashing the water" (peeing standing up), so I spend a lot of my time mopping and cleaning the toilet.  Thankfully, his aim is quickly improving.

Patrick has really started to move and explore this past week.  He's pulling up on everything and trying to climb the stairs.  He has started to talk a lot more and loves to make lots of noise and different sounds.  He also discovered his tongue so he sticks it out all the time and tries to blow raspberries.  

Our new tradition is to have a dance party every afternoon.  4:00 p.m. is definitely a low point of the day for me.  I'm usually exhausted and anxious for the calvary (Alex) to arrive, so I've started to play dance music very loudly and all 3 of us dance to help distract us from our whiny, annoying feelings until Daddy arrives.  Dancing for Jackson involves lots of spinning and jumping and Patrick contributes with a lot of arm flailing.  

I heart them.

Camping

We went camping this weekend.  

A number of people told us we were crazy for doing it, but the weather is nice and we both wanted to go.  We gave it a good shot.

We searched for the right place to camp all week.  DeSoto was our first choice, but it is closed for renovations.  The Bankhead was a 2nd choice since it wasn't so far away.  I couldn't decide where in the Bankhead, then we finally decided to go to Monte Santo for our first try.

Friday was busy since Jackson got his haircut and had a late nap.  That meant we had to wake him up to drive to the campgrounds.  When we finally packed up and drove to Monte Santo, we found that they had no sites available.  We thought about camping on a trail or on the parking lot to protest and ruin everyone else's camping time, but instead we camped in our backyard.

We had fire, hot dogs and lots of drinks for dinner.  Inside the tent we had Jackson's sleeping bag, Patrick's Pack-n-Play, and our air mattress.  We had our lawn chairs, a kiddy potty, and lanterns around the fire for a good time.  My parents, and the neighbors showed up to get some of the camping experience.  Later during the night, Patrick settled down and went to sleep ok but Jackson was not as cooperative.  It was cold but he refused to wear anything more than a diaper.  He also never stopped moving for an hour, and eventually broke our camping spirit.  The lights in the living room looked too tempting.

We went inside at 9:30.  It was a good first try and the backyard was a perfect place to camp.

At midnight, Jackson went to the ER with his typical cold problems.  He's on full medicine again, and hopefully gets better soon.  We were all tired after Friday night (especially Lettie since she went to the hospital without me).

Today I brought water to our future raised garden.  I thought about an aqueduct but settled for a trench with PVC pipe.  It was 88 feet of trench and I swear it was mostly rock.  I had to blast some of it.  Here's a picture of the trench with our campsite in the background.  I used a string to make sure the trench was straight, but it appears that my string had a few crooks in it.

Hi Neighbor

This is the letter that we put in our neighbor's mailbox yesterday:

September 30, 2008

Dear Neighbor,

You may not realize that your dog has been barking most all of the night for the last few weeks. Our bedroom window faces the dog, and most nights the barking keeps us both awake. I’m not sure of the reason for the barking or the solution, but we would appreciate anything you can do to limit the volume of the barking so close to our bedroom.

Thanks

Alex & Lettie

Awesome...

We left out the suggestions that we have been coming up with at 3 a.m. like: cut his chain and let him free, stick a shock collar on his ass or put some peanut butter on the end of a shotgun barrel. (I'm just kidding! Y'all know we love animals!)

poor thing

Nothing Going On Here

Today we built a raised bed for a garden.  We started to get the itch when we were thinking about which Fall plants to pick.  I don't think we've decided on any plants, but we have built an 8' x 16' raised bed out of landscape timbers.  It doesn't have any dirt yet, but that's a minor detail for a garden.  Here's a picture:

We haven't had a chicken update lately.  They must be full grown now, since they are surprisingly large.  Dorothy and Rose are biguns.  All the chickens cluck and Jackson loves it.  I can't hold them anymore since the coop has to many escape routes, but they are friendly on the other side of the hardware cloth.  Here are some chicken pictures:

We had to call off a trip to Birmingham when we were about halfway there this weekend.  We missed Meredith's birthday party, and Jackson was devastated.  We will have to make the trip sometime soon.  Sorry Jerrod & Susan, you didn't get out of talking about how good Alabama is at football.

Jackson had 0 accidents today in his Thomas underwear.