Western Idaho Fair

By Monday Steven was feeling surprisingly well, thankfully his antibiotics were doing their job. Avery had stayed the night with Yvette the night before so Yvette dropped her off at 9 am. I tried to watch The Land Before Time with Avery but didn't make it more than 10 minutes. I remember it being a great movie when I was a kid but now its just awful - they're leaves Little Foot, not friggen 'tree stars'! Avery and I ended up going back to Yvette's house that afternoon for a few items that were left at her house. Since we were already out and about we decided to go to Albertson's to get flowers for my mom, Avery chose a mini rose plant and a card :) I wanted the flowers and card to be an anonymous gift so I left them with the security guard in the lobby of my mom's building and asked him not to call her until I had left. Well a few minutes later I got a phone call from my mom thanking me for the flowers, she recognized my hand writing in the card haha. Quinn ended up bringing my mom a Starbucks after work so it was a good day to be my mom, she deserves to be spoiled :)

Tuesday was a little tough on mommy. Avery had gotten up at 1 am the night before and was really clingy, it took me quite a while to get her back to bed. She was in a foul mood all day, the upstairs neighbors did not help. All summer long the upstairs neighbors have been quiet (I'm assuming because the kids have been gone all summer), well they returned on Tuesday. It sounded like an entire mob of people were all upstairs just jumping up and down over Avery's room while I was trying to put her down for a nap :/ Already cranky Avery + no nap = really bad time for mom. Yvette came over after work for a visit. I was able to get out of the house and take a walk while Yvette was entertaining Avery.

13 weeks

Avery doing chores

Wednesday was much more enjoyable. I managed to go to Starbucks while Avery was napping and drink my frappuchino on our balcony. After a bit of relaxation I cleaned, vacuumed, did the dishes, and two loads of laundry. My mom came over after work to hang out for a little bit before she had to back for a dinner thing. We went to Starbucks and walked around Albertson's to wear Avery out. It was a pretty good day.
Avery finally managed to sleep through the night this week, she's been oddly getting up at 1 am the last few nights. A full night's sleep put me in good mood on Friday. Avery and I ventured to Walmart for baby wipes that afternoon. I drooled over all the cute toddler clothes but had enough restraint to walk out of the store with just the wipes I had originally come for. That evening was even better because I got to go grocery shopping ALONE!!! It was amazing. I walked down every aisle, compared prices, and used coupons. When I got home I put away the groceries, made dinner, and bathed Avery before Steven put her bed.

Kristen's son Conner recently turned 3 years old! Its so strange! I still remember being at the movie theater when Kristen texted me that she was pregnant, hanging out for HOURS after her baby shower had ended just chatting (that was the day she told me that Steven had a huge crush on me, that conversation directly influenced me writing to Steven while he was in basic training). It feels like just yesterday I was visiting Kristen in the hospital and welcoming newborn Conner into the world and pretty much hanging out with her every chance we got from that moment forward. Its insane to think that he is already 3! Avery and I attended Conner's birthday party on Saturday :) The vast majority of guests left before we even did the cake so Conner and Avery got to eat straight frosting off the cake. We stayed until 8 pm, it was just me, Kristen, Jeca, and the kids. I couldn't have asked for a better night.

Eating some pre-party nuggets

Avery and Aunt Kristen

Conner tasting the cake :)

This week we mixed up the usual Sunday dinner and went to the fair with my parents! We saw a ton of animals - Avery mooed at the cows and oinked at the pigs. There was an incubator full of newly hatched chicks that Avery was obsessed with, she continually kissed and hugged the glass haha. At the petting zoo Avery fed the goats and kissed a sheep on the nose - she even rode a pony! We were only there for 3 hours but managed to walk nearly 4 miles. After the fair we all went to Starbucks then grocery shopping. Avery had passed out in the car so I sat with her while Steven and my parents shopped. Avery was so exhausted that we could barely wake her up when we went to my parents' house for dinner. We left my parents' house at 630 pm but decided to go to Steven's dad's house for a while to make sure Avery didn't go to bed too early. Oddly enough Avery had a really hard time falling asleep that night. I think she's been trying to climb out of her crib because she got her foot stuck between the bars twice that night. She ended up waking several times that night :(

Avery feeding the mini pig

and the goats

riding ponies

the chicks she loved so much

Avery Quinn - 19 months

Shingles

This week has been SO friggen long. Monday was a very long, slow day. Insomnia has been kicking my butt lately, I was up until 3 am and, just when I crawled into bed, Avery woke up :/ I could barely drag myself out of the bed the next morning. I made potatoes and bacon for breakfast, Avery ate some potatoes and eggs.

Avery eating her breakfast

That afternoon I was slightly more productive - I faxed off a request to our medical records. When we were leaving Korea the medical center said we could only be given an electronic copy of our records, I filled out the proper paper work for us but naturally the records were never sent. Pagi is still in Korea and was nice enough to call the medical center for me, they told her the records were retired to Ft Sam Houston.... After I faxed off the medical records request I put in a request to have the maintenance guy come fix our dishwasher, the dang thing hasn't been able to drain since Friday. I had to wash dishes by HAND all weekend, I'm not sure how I survived lol.

Watching the fish while my fax goes through

Cuddling 'Meow-Meow'

On Tuesday I baby sat Kristen's boys, she dropped them off at 10:30 am. Avery went down for her nap at 11 am and Cassius fell asleep in my arms shortly after. Conner was great, he played quietly by himself while the others napped. Cassius slept for a little over an hour while Avery slept over 4 hours, I checked on her several times to make sure she was still breathing. When she finally woke up I made the kids some lunch but they weren't interested, instead they shared a bowl for fruit.

The second half of the day was less awesome. Avery was really hyper after her nap, Cassius cried every time I put him down, and Conner was a little grumpy from no nap. I had my mom come over after work to help me with the kids. My mom was showing the kids letter and number flash cards, Avery said "8, 9, 10!", when I took the card she was holding it had '8, 9, 10' on it! I probably wouldn't have believed it if my mom wasn't there too.

My mom singing the Ittsy Bittsy Spider

When Kristen arrived to get the boys we ended up all leaving at the same time. My mom, Steven, and Avery went to my mom's house for dinner while I went to get coffee, put gas in the car, and just enjoy an empty house for a few hours. It was really nice to just sit and decompress.

Steven's second monitor finally came - his new work set up

Week 12

On Wednesday I watched Cooper as usual, this week was slightly better than last week. Cooper actually spoke to me and ate part of an apple that I cut up for the kids. Avery took another 4 hour nap while Cooper napped on living room floor until Mitch got off work. Mitch brought me my usual payment of coffee and told us that the baristas asked him if he was Steven Lyon because he was ordering my specific drink lol.

Cooper passed out on the floor

I had a busy day on Thursday. My mom was kind enough to pick up Avery and I after work and give us a ride to Meridian, we had a play date scheduled with Kristen :) The play date wasn't very long and to be honest it was mainly for us mommas, it was so good to just sit and talk with my best friend.

Avery and Aunt Kristen

Steven picked us up after work and the three of us went to JPs to have dinner with his grandparents. I absolutely HATE going to restaurants with Avery, she used to be very well behaved while we ate but now she's like a rabid animal. Avery made a huge embarrassing mess of corn bread and water melon :/ Steven asked the staff if we could borrow their cordless vacuum but they insisted on cleaning it up for us. After dinner we went to Steven's grandparents' house to relax. Steven nonchalantly mentioned the rash on the left side of his abdomen and ended up showing his grandma. The rash showed up almost immediately after Steven went to the gym on Tuesday morning so he assumed it was heat rash or normal irritation. His grandmother pointed out that Steven's rash looked like Shingles, which his grandpa has had twice.

Avery feeding her great grandpa's fish

That evening I nervously researched Shingles as much as humanly possible. The rash was identical to the ones I saw online but Steven wasn't experiencing any other symptoms such as pain or sensitivity to touch.
The next morning I called Avery's pediatrician, our family doctor, and the VA medical center looking for help. The VA guy was a complete ASS, I wanted to punch his stupid face in. Steven had already submitted the required documentation to be covered by the VA but the guy said it would be weeks to verify. How hard is it to look at his DD-214 and/or military ID and go "yup this guy was in the Army for over 24 months" ?! The VA guy was so rude about it to. My doctor and Avery's doctor both said they would call me back because neither were too knowledgeable about Shingles.

My mom picked up Avery and I after work for family dinner, Steven met us there when he got off work. Avery was having a slumber party at my parents' house so we could have a double date night with Quinn and Ashley. The moment we got to Dave & Busters both my doctor and Avery's doctor tried calling and I ended up playing phone tag with both of them for a while. Both doctors agreed that Avery was exposed to Steven's Shingles because she was in our bed several days while he had the rash. Avery has only had one of the two part chicken pox vaccine, she can't get her second one until age 3. Since she was exposed to Shingles she may develop the chicken pox, neither doctor could say how much protection the vaccine would offer since she hasn't completely the series. Yikes! Fingers crossed she doesn't get the chicken pox. Both doctors did agree that Steven should see a doctor because without medication his Shingles would be a long drawn out process.

Making corn bread

We tried to enjoy our date night but the whole Shingles/Chicken pox thing was putting a damper on the evening. We were only at D&B for two hours before Steven started feeling really bad - out of nowhere he got a massive head ache, abdominal, and back pain. We ended up looking for an urgent care that was open at 8:30 pm on a Friday night. The only one that was still open was in Eagle, Steven wasn't feeling well enough to drive so he was in charge of navigation. Stupid Google Maps ended up taking us to a completely different location nowhere near the urgent care, we had to back track quite a bit :/ Steven was seen right away when we got there, the doctor confirmed it was Shingles, she prescribed pain pills and antibiotics. We were really lucky that the only pharmacy still open was right across the street. We were unlucky in the fact that Steven has no insurance so the urgent care visit, pain pills, and antibiotics were all out of pocket - the pills alone were over $200 :( so we are officially poor for the time being.

Steven and I enjoying our night before the pain set in

I asked the doctor if I needed to keep Avery away from Steven but the doctor said that Steven has been contagious since Monday which is friggen awesome. Avery has been in our bed every morning this week and Steven sleeps shirtless :/ The doctor said there is no point in keeping them separated because at this point she's been exposed to his Shingles for nearly a week. Steven and I had to call Mitch and Kristen because their kids were at our house this week and therefore also exposed. We had no clue Steven had Shingles but that doesn't make me feel any less awful about putting their children at risk of chicken pox :/

The weekend was a very difficult one. I picked up Avery on Saturday afternoon and the three of us spent the day watching the first season of Breaking Bad and having a Harry Potter marathon. Steven was in a LOT of pain which was tough to watch. I stayed up crying most of that night because Steven was whimpering in his sleep. Any time I actually fell asleep I had a nightmare that Steven had a really high fever so I kept waking up to feel his forehead, it was a rough night.

Sunday was no better, Avery woke up really early. I wanted Steven to sleep as long as possible so we did quiet activities until 10 am when Avery asked for a nap. I went back to bed after she went down and thankfully we slept until 1 pm. When I woke up I realized Steven was gone and freaked out. He came home a few minutes later, he had managed to go to the store for food, but admitted that it was a huge mistake. It turns out diet plays a big role in Shingles pain - anything fatty or sugary increases the pain experienced. Steven got some healthy snacks to munch on to try and reduce his pain level.

That day Avery was being way too rambunctious for us. Steven had a horrible migraine, I was exhausted, and she had cabin fever - it was not a good mix. Yvette came by and picked up Avery for a sleep over. Yvette has a little two-seater truck so she took our Durango for the night. Avery and Yvette went to Steven's grandparents' house for dinner them back to her house for the evening.

Steven and I spent our evening on the couch. Steven's migraine was only getting worse and we discussed going to the ER. I had Steven lay down on the couch, kept the room quiet and dark, and put an ice pack on his head to try and relieve the pain. I sat on the other couch watching his every move and feeling completely helpless. The doctor informed us that most people who receive antibiotics within 48 hours of a Shingles outbreak will experience pain for 3-5 weeks. Steven didn't get antibiotics for a week so the doctor said it could be months before his pain completely disappears. I'm not sure I can watch him suffer for that long :/

My poor husband

Avery Quinn - 19 months

Molars :/

This week started out pretty good. On Monday Kristen and Matt dropped off their boys so they could go to an appointment. Avery had just woken up from a nap when they arrived so she was a little standoffish. The kids had a good time playing in Avery's room, its funny how she won't touch a toy for months but as soon as Conner plays with it its interesting again. Conner said he wanted to go outside and Avery was getting bored so I took the kids to the park. Conner is almost 3 (which is REALLY hard for me to believe/accept), Avery is a year and a half, and Cassius is 9 months so it was interesting getting to the park by myself. I had Steven help me bring the kids downstairs to avoid any injuries. I wore Cassius on my chest, Avery sat in the stroller, and Conner walked next to me to the park. Thankfully our park is gated so I didn't have to worry about anyone wandering off. Avery and Conner ran around the park like they've never been outside before, Cassius was being a little angel and snuggling :) As we were walking home Matt and Kristen pulled up, it was perfect timing. Cassius had fallen asleep on the walk home so instead of giving him back to his parents I got my baby snuggles in, the two older kids had a snack.

I wish Avery was still this small

After Kristen and her family left I got a Skype call from my friend Kelly. We talked for about an hour, it was nice. When Steven got off work we ran some errands, we got gas, went to Walmart, and then grocery shopping at Winco. We did surprisingly well at Winco, about $18 under budget! Needless to say I was pretty tired by the end of the day.

On Tuesday, Steven and I had an appointment to go view a house to rent. My mom came over after work to pick up Avery so we could see the house free of distractions. We ended up being a few minutes late to see the house because there was an accident on the off ramp we needed to take. We were the first couple to make an appointment to see the home but by the time we had gotten to the house six other families had already been there that day. I wasn't surprised considering the size of the house and the low rent.

Steven's friend, Mitch, recently asked us to watch his son on Wednesdays until he leaves for basic training (he joined the guard). This week was my first time watching Cooper who is 3 1/2. Mitch dropped Cooper off at 6 am but thankfully Steven got up to watch him until I woke up. It turns out that Cooper doesn't really like me, he wanted to spend the entire day with Steven. Avery didn't really nap that day and Cooper fell asleep on the living room floor. When Mitch came to get Cooper around 3 pm he showed up with a Venti Caramel Frappuchino - it was just what I needed!

After Mitch and Cooper left Avery asked to go down for a nap - she cut her third molar and the pain has been disrupting her sleep. My mom came over shortly after Avery went to sleep, I went with my mom to Costco so she could get gas. Steven woke Avery up at 5 pm so that we could go to Walmart. He surprised me with a tablet that he had ordered the previous week and had been shipped to the store :) We decided to return it because we already have two lap tops, two smart phones, and a desk top - it was a very thoughtful gift but I fear it would've just collected dust. That evening Avery had a really tough time going to bed because of her new molar, she required some extra snuggling and Tylenol.

Week 11

On Thursday morning Avery woke me up with 10 consecutive kisses and told me I was pretty :) She had slept in until 10 am which was so nice! We went to lunch with my mom that afternoon, its been a long time since we were actually able to have a lunch date. That night it was really hard to get Avery to bed, she didn't nap that day and was overtired :( It took over 2 hours and 3 attempts to get her to sleep, she woke up 3 hours later screaming for mommy. Avery stayed awake until 5:30 am!! I put her back to bed but couldn't fall asleep myself, I wasn't able to fall asleep until 8 am when Steven got up for work. Avery woke me up an hour and a half later......

Running on absolutely no sleep I texted my mom, she was working a half day so she could do some volunteer work. I had already planned to stop by my mom's house to pick up a few boxes of baby clothes so I asked if my mom would pick Avery up after work. My mom took her shortly after noon and I was finally able to get ready and get on the road. When I got to my mom's house we ate lunch before my mom had to leave for volunteering. I took Avery over to Kristen's house for a play date, the kids had fun but all 3 were sleepy and a tad cranky. It was so good to hang out with Kristen, something has come up the last few times she's invited me over, I had been really bummed about not being to hang out. Kristen too the boxes of baby clothes for me to give to our friend Jeca.

That evening I went to Chili's to get us dinner. I ended up waiting over 40 minutes to get our food even though I had called ahead for pick-up. It was a Friday night so the place was packed, I asked about my order several times but apparently no one actually checked on my order. When I finally got my food the manager gave me a 50% discount. I was STARVING by the time I got home and nearly died when Avery knocked my plate of food on the ground. Steven traded me good food for my carpet food, he is amazing.

Saturday started very, Avery started screaming bloody murder at 5 am, that damn molar! Avery and I hung out in the living room so Steven could sleep, at 8 am I put her back to bed and went to bed myself - we all slept in until noon. I made breakfast while Steven ran out to get me coffee, after we ate we went to a few stores. Our first stop was Best Buy so that Steven could return a graphics card (he bought it to run 2 monitors on his work computer but the graphics card requires a larger power source), we went to Carter's and got Avery a few items off the clearance rack, and we went to Cabela's to browse.

Avery's new clothes

Sunday morning/afternoon was a little rough. Avery had the WORST attitude - she was screaming at us, kicking, hitting, scratching, and choking us. I've never seen her act like that, it was pretty disturbing. We went to my parents' house for dinner but Avery's attitude didn't really seem to improve. Steven and my dad took Taz to the river while I stayed behind to help my mom make dinner.

After dinner I took my dad's new beach cruiser out for a spin, now I really want a bike but we live in such a shitty area. My parents sent us home with a care package of: soup, veggies, corn on the cob, soda, garlic, pasta sauce, and marinades! Steven was carrying all of our good in plastic grocery bags, the bags broke on the way up the stairs and our stuff went everywhere haha.

Avery Quinn - 18 months

wearing Mimi's shoes and Uncle Quinn's shirt

A randomly late post

This post is ridiculously late. I've had no motivation for anything lately, its just been one of those weeks.

Monday started out great! Steven Skyped our friend Aggie, he was a really good friend to us while we were in Korea and is currently deployed. (enter photo of us at thanksgiving or something) The Skype session made me really miss the "good old days" when I was still pregnant with Avery and almost every Saturday we would all go to Osan's PX and Chili's. Aggie is a great guy, I'm hoping Steven will go visit him when he returns from deployment.

Steven, Aggie, and I - Thanksgiving 2011

My mom came over after she got off work that day. I installed the new car seat in her car and thankfully it didn't give me much trouble this time around. Yvette came over a few hours later to see Avery. Avery was so happy that she got to see both of her grandmas in one day. Yvette, Avery, and I went swimming, we got to try out Avery's floaty bathing suit thing. It doesn't completely keep her afloat but it works pretty well.

Avery was acting really grown up on Tuesday, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Since Steven was at school that night we decided to eat dinner on the living room floor. When Avery spilled a bit of food on the ground she immediately got up, went into the kitchen, grabbed a clean dish towel from the drawer, and cleaned up her mess. After the mess was clean she put the dish towel back into the drawer because earlier that day I was making a big deal about putting things away when we're done with them - I pulled it out and put it in the washer when she wasn't looking.

3 months old

18 months old

By 6:30 pm Avery was ready for bed, I had to drag out her bed time routine for an hour and a half. To kill time we ready every book Avery owns, kissed all of her stuffed animals, practiced alphabet flash cards, and when I realized that wouldn't be enough, we ran laps around the house - even after all that Avery still passed out before 8 pm.

On Wednesday I was feeling oddly energetic. Avery and I started out the day with a 2 mile walk! It was nearly 100 degrees out but very overcast which made the walk tolerable. I decided to skip my workout class that evening because 1. I was worn out from the walk lol and 2. Steven took Avery with him to take his mom to the airport. I couldn't pass up an empty house so I used my alone time to clean :) Avery ended up smashing cereal into the carpet 5 seconds after walking into the door, but thankfully Steven vacuumed it up for me.

On our walk

I attempted another long walk on Thursday morning but it was too hot. It wasn't overcast like the previous day and I worried that Avery would get sunburned. We called it quits after only a mile and instead went to the store. While at Albertson's seven different people told me how cute Avery was. Avery was smiling, waving, and blowing kisses at everyone - I'm going to have my hands full with this one.

Steven had his last night of class that evening. His instructor said that the class would only be a half day and he said that showing up to class would be well worth it to the students. Well Steven didn't get a half day at all, he was there the normal 2 hours and 45 minutes...also the 'well worth it' was making a little fort out of dried spaghetti and marsh mellows - Steven is very glad to be done with that class.

Week 10

On Friday I had to return one of Steven's school books to the Nampa campus. After returning the book I took Avery over to my parents' house because she was having a sleep over with Mimi :D The Avery/Mimi sleep over worked out pretty well because Steven had a final to take online that evening. It was actually a really fun way to spend the evening, we ordered a pizza and did research for his essay questions, it was a good 'team building' exercise. Our team work paid off because he finished his final with plenty of time to spare, we used that extra time to go see a movie at the dollar theater.

Steven and I were supposed to meet Quinn and Ashley at the Boise Music Festival on Saturday morning but we both woke up feeling awful. We decided to skip the BMF and called Quinn to let him know before we went back to sleep. The day before Steven and I had eaten so terribly! We haven't gone shopping in over 2 weeks so we've been surviving off the crappy stuff in the cabinet that no one really wants to eat lol.

We went to my parents' house that afternoon when we felt a little better. Avery helped my mom pick green beans from her garden, we then sauteed them in onions and garlic (also from the garden), and had them as a pre-dinner snack. My dad made amazing enchiladas for dinner and I ate way too much! I took Taz for a long walk to work it off :) That evening Steven and I stayed up late - he played video games and I worked on a project for a friend.

Sunday was amazing, Steven let me sleep in until 11 am! He took Avery to his dad's house in the morning and after that they went to GameStop to pre-order the PS4 - he is finally making the transition. When I got up we switched places, Steven took a nap while I entertained Avery :)

That afternoon Kristen asked if I would watch the boys on Monday while she went to see the doctor. I can't wait for Monday, I'm so excited to get the boys and Avery needs a play date. Speaking of Avery, this week she got 2 new molars! She now has two on the bottom and one on the top! Also, she's been saying "bless you" to anyone that sneezes, its the cutest thing.

Avery Quinn - 18 months