It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post, but I have good reasons.  I had surgery for my umbilical hernia on the 4th.  They said it was a bit bigger than they originally thought, so they had to use some mesh as well as stitches.  I never realized how sensitive the belly button area is.  But, having surgery there, I can tell you, it is.  I can still feel some of the stitches poking through, and that's a little annoying, but overall, recovery wasn't too bad.  Jeff had 9 days off, and that was a big help since I couldn't lift Collin. I don't know what I would have done otherwise.

We still managed to fit in some fun things while I was mending.  We headed blueberry picking again.  Jeff's sunglasses broke, so he had to borrow Jackson's Lightning McQueen ones until he bought a new pair because little boy glasses are better than no glasses, right?!?!  They actually didn't fit him too bad, though!

 We like to sing, "Blueberries: Nature's Miracle"while picking blueberries. (Or anytime for that metter.)  It's kind of an inside joke, but we always sing it when we go. We're weird.  :) That's what Jackson was singing in this picture.

 

 Checking out the chickens.

Jackson actually asked to take his picture by this sign this time. Last time he wanted NOTHING to do with it. He wasn't quite tall enough, though, so you can see his little hand by his face since he was trying to pull himself up to look out the hole.

This little guy crawls around EVERYWHERE!!!!  He maneuvers through chairs and around the ottoman.  He's started pulling himself up on his knees, too.  He's getting too big!

We made a trip to Sea World. Jackson loves when these fish "kiss" his hand, so we have to touch them every visit. 

Elmo had so much energy this day.  When he saw Jackson, he started jumping up and down. Jackson copied him, and it was adorable!

Jackson is really into the pressed penny machines.  Here he is, posing with his new pressed penny of Cookie Monster.  

I think the highlight of this visit was trying on fun hats.  

  Collin touched grass for the first time and loved it!

We had to go to Costco, and since we had to wake Jackson up when we got there, he was a bit cranky at first.  So, we told him he could sit in the cart with Collin.  He's definitely too big to do this, but I thought they looked cute beside each other!  Brothers!!!

In other news, I had a sinus infection which was not fun to deal with.  I had so much pressure in my head, I thought it was going to explode.  I couldn't bend over because I was so dizzy, I had to be careful not to stand up too quickly for fear of blacking out, and I was so extremely congested.  I didn't see a doctor at first, and then it started going away for the most part.  But, then, it came back full force, so I went and got some antibiotics.  Life has been good ever since!

Speaking of doctors...to make a long story short, Collin threw up about 15 times on Saturday.  One of those times, I was holding him, and it went ALL OVER ME!  Once I wiped it off, it seriously looked like I peed my pants from the front and back!  That night, when he was still throwing up, I called the advice nurse, and she suggested I take him to the ER.  I got there about midnight and didn't leave until 9AM the next morning.  (Jeff stayed home with Jackson.) 

They gave Collin an IV, which he hated.  They tried in each arm with no success before finally getting it in his foot.  Then, he had to be poked so they could take blood for some testing.  Every time he finally fell asleep, they came back in for something else.  We were both miserable.  During those LONG hours, they took an X-ray, too.  They said his white blood count was high, and he had some stuff going on in his belly so they wanted to transfer us by ambulance to the children's hospital.  This got me all worked up and thinking the worst.  I was super emotional!  And, it didn't help that I had been up for over 24 hours at this point.  Once I told Jeff this, he got Jackson and headed for the hospital right away.

Not long after informing us about the need to be transferred, though, the doctor came in and randomly changed his mind about sending him to the children's hospital.  It was so weird, and we kept questioning why the sudden change.  He said Collin was "looking better", but considering that he had woken Collin up to check on him the first time and this time Collin was wide awake, of course he looked better.  I'm sure that doctor doesn't look his best after being woken up either.  

So, we went home, not quite getting an answer as to what was wrong other than dehydration.  I went straight to bed for 6 hours.  (Happy Father's Day, Jeff!  HA!  What a day!!!) We gave Collin Pedialyte and a little formula that day.  Sunday night, he threw up once.  But, it turns out, Jeff and I both got sick that night, too.  We were vomiting and had diarrhea.  NOT FUN!  But, at least we knew that that's probably what was wrong with Collin.  Monday, we increased his formula a little bit while decreasing the Pedialyte.  He threw up once Monday night.  Tuesday, he just laid on me almost all day.  If I wasn't holding him, he was fussy.  I felt so bad for him!  But, thankfully, today, he woke up super happy.  He's almost like his old self.  What a relief!  (Oh, and after Jeff and I both laid on the couch all day Monday, we are, for the most part, all better.  Jeff's still feeling it a bit today. Poor Jackson had to entertain himself all day while we just slept.  Thank goodness for movies.  They helped keep him entertained.)

So, with surgery, sinus infections, hospital visits, and vomiting, I'd say I have a good excuse for the lack of blogging.  :)  I hope you have all been healthy and well!