Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 4 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 43 weeks old!!! It has been another funnnnn week?!?  (sentence to be read with much sarcasm)  It started out rough and ended rough!

The sweet, sweet staff from Animalia sent a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers.  They loved Nugget too and grieved along with our family.  I spent Tuesday trying to hold back tears all day long.  Blake and I kept thinking of fun Nugget memories, sharing them and laughing about the good ole days with our pup.  We keep expecting to hear the clicking of his nails on the hardwood.  Or him scratching at the door to go outside.  Hearing him shake, right out side Jane Claire's door during nap time!!!  It annoyed me every time he did it!!  What I would give to be annoyed again...

I was able to get the sweetest and most heartbreaking video ever to share of Jane Claire.  She loves dogs.  She gets the biggest grin and laughs when she sees a dog.  It is the cutest thing ever.  But now we don't have a dog for her to love.  All we have is a statue of a dog.  On a table. And she thinks it is real...

Bless her sweet little heart.  Is that not the most precious and pitiful thing you have ever seen?!?  She will be the reason we get another pup in our house again!!!  Maybe sooner rather than later!  This girl needs a dog!

Tuesday afternoon, we took both kiddos in for their checkups with Dr. P.  Crosby's 4 year appointment and Jane Claire's 9 month appointment.  I had been eager to get them in and see where they were on the growth charts.  I have been working hard to pack a few extra pounds on Jane Claire!  Crosby went first.  He was a little more tentative this visit, scared things would hurt.  I assured him there would be no shots but that didn't help!  At 4 years old, Crosby was 41.5 inches tall and 37 pounds.  That has him in the 80th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight!  He had his first vision test and passed it, although he didn't have much patience for it!  He also passed his hearing test too.  Crosby looked great!

It was Baby Girl's turn next.  She wasn't a big fan of being checked out either!  In the end, Jane Claire weighed 17 pounds and was 27.5 inches long.   That had her around the 15th percentile for weight and the 40th percentile for height.  She moved up a little on the weight end of things so maybe my efforts worked?! At least I know she is getting a few extra ounces of milk every day.  Maybe I will stop sneaking in her room and topping her off at night soon.  Maybe... ;-)

I thought about telling Crosby not to touch anything in the doctor's office.  Just this week, I saw a report in the news saying kids should not play with toys in doctor's offices to help avoid illness.  Of course that was not new information, just a reminder.  However, I failed to say anything out loud to Crosby.  And to keep him occupied while Jane Claire was being seen, I let Crosby play with a toy.  Guess who had a fever when we got back from CBS on Wednesday afternoon?!?  Yep.  Crosby.  Heavens to Betsy.  Not again!!

So what do we do when Crosby is sick?  We make "forks"...

AKA...Forts!  He plays in them when his fever is down.  So does Jane Claire!

You would never even know the child is sick!

Until you see him lying on the couch like this...

Then you know something is definitely wrong with him.  He doesn't spend time on the couch like this unless he is sick!  But when his fever is down, he is all about forks...

Blake got all fancy and even put a door on this one!

Fortunately his fever broke around 3:00 am Saturday morning.  We kept both kiddos home from church on Sunday just to be safe.  For them and other little ones.

So, gere we are.  Already Monday.  Was I horrible with pictures this week or what?!?  I think illness has just about done me in!!  At least I managed to snap a few pictures of Jane Claire at 43 weeks...

She is getting harder to take pictures of these days...

She looks at you like you are crazy...

 and then she makes a made dash for her rabbit!!!  She thinks grabbing her bunny is a fun game!

"What?  I AM sitting and looking at the camera. I just have my bunny by the ears. You didn't say I couldn't do that..."

Silly girl!!!

All done!

Yep.  We are all done around here!  Did I mention that I took these pictures in between bouts of fever???  Did I mention that as I type, I am pretty sure she has another one???  Sigh.  Oh how I pray she wakes up and all is well.  Yep. We are ALL DONE with illness in this house!!!  We shall see soon enough if this one sticks around...

Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 3 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 42 weeks old!!!  This weeks opening picture is a little different.  It is one of our very first baby.  Our sweet Nugget. At 6:30 pm, we said goodbye to the greatest dog we have ever known.  The week was a great, illness free week.  But I will just go ahead and say, this Monday has been a rough one.

Backing up a bit.  Jane Claire found Crosby's keyboard and microphone this week.  She thinks it is pretty awesome...

She gave Crosby quite a look!  "Are you making fun of my singing??"

Of course we weren't!!  We love hearing this sweet girl's voice!!!

Crosby was proud to show off his battle wounds.  You know, Crosby vs the chair...

The gash behind his ear...

At least is is healing up nicely!  And it didn't stop him from playing with all of his new Christmas and birthday toys...

Or his sister!

She loves her Baby Stella and her stroller...

However, she does not like for Stella to have her "bubba" in her mouth!  She pulls it off every time she see it!  To funny...

On Saturday evening, we headed to the Lipscomb's house for a little party...

That is right, folks!!!  Harper Jean is one!!!  I cannot believe my tiny, baby niece is already one year old.  Techincally, she was one year and one day by the time the party started!  How does this stuff happen so fast?  Sigh.  It just means her girl cousin's birthday is just around the corner.  Big, long, sigh...

Anyway, Katie had the house decorated so cute...

Love, love, love this highchair with the banners and balloons...

And would you look at those delish Cupcake Collection cupcakes!?!?  You can't go wrong there for sure!

And there were 12 pictures of Harper's first 12 months!!

And there she is!  The sweet birthday girl with her proud parents...

Of course we had to ruin it by forcing her to wear the hat.  I think this one is pretty stinkin' cute though.. ;-)

Leave it to cousin Crosby to move in with a kiss to make it all better.  Problem is, it likely backfired!!  He has good intentions, love his heart...

There is nothing a little cupcake can't cure!!  The tears dried up after the first taste!

Gee Gee with the grandbabes...

Our crew with the birthday girl!  A tired birthday girl...

Happy 1st Birthday, Harper Jean!  We love you so much and are so thankful to have you in our lives!!

We decided to take a picnic lunch to the park on Sunday after church.  We picked up KFC (haven't done that in ages...) and headed outdoors.  There was a reason.  We wanted to get Nugget outside with the whole family one more time...

Blake came home from work a couple of months ago and let me know that Nugget likely had prostate cancer.  He was still happy and comfortable initially.  But over the course of a few weeks, he started to eat less.  He lost weight.  He spent more time outside, attempting to use the bathroom over and over.  Most recently, he started having accidents indoors.  Nugget doesn't have accidents.  On Saturday, Blake took Crosby to the park to ride bikes and took Nugget along.  Watching our old pal struggle during most of the outing was more than Blake could handle.  He wasn't exactly sure when, but he knew the time was near.

It was a sunny afternoon and Nugget loved nothing more than to stretch out in the grass, soaking up the warmth!  After we all ate, including Nugget :-), the kiddos played for a bit...

Jane Claire got to try out the bucket swings for the first time...

She was a pretty big fan!

They both loved it...

Sunday evening, I headed to Local Taco for girls night out!!!  We were finally able to find a night that EVERYONE could meet for dinner.  One of us was technically out but made a surprise appearance at the last second!  It was thrilling...

It was so very nice to have all of these faces in the same room for a few hours!!!  I am so thankful I get to raise my kiddos with these lovely ladies to support me.  And I am grateful that my kiddos will grow up with these ladies' kiddos!!  Love my sweet friends and their families...

Jane Claire at 42 weeks...

Jane Claire is full of tricks these days.  I caught this one on video this morning...

Shortly after that video was taken, I got the text from Blake telling me to come to the clinic at close.  He  felt it was time.  I knew it was time.  I knew the text or call would be coming in the next day or so.  But when it actually came, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  We were really going to say goodbye to the dog that we have loved for most of our marriage.  The dog that joined our family during vet school.  The dog that helped us settle in to our new home back in Tennessee.  The dog that escaped and wandered the neighborhood, only to return when he was good and ready or when someone called to say he was in their house.  The dog that let life stand still with me as I grieved alone during the days following Finely and Caroline's births.  The dog that we could not wait to introduce to Crosby when we finally brought him home from the hospital.  The dog that went to work with Blake everyday except when he was too lazy to get out of bed and walk to the car.  The dog that Jane Claire was just starting to notice and love.    The best dog in the world.  Our dog...

I spent the whole day trying to fight back tears.  I tried to play with Crosby without letting him see tears rolling down my cheeks....

How do you say goodbye to the most loyal companion you have ever known?  Even if the time seems right.

You rub his soft spots and breath him in one more time.  You kiss his sweet head and thank him for being such an amazing gift in your life.  You put love of him over the hurt your heart feels when you try to imagine life without him in it.  You do what is best for him and walk away knowing you leave behind a piece of your heart.  

It has been a really difficult Monday...

Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 2 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 41 weeks old!!! Based on the picture above, can you guess what kind of a week it has been???

So, last Monday, I made the comment, "My knees are achy like I have a fever but I don't have a fever."  It was strange.  I always have achy joints when I have a fever.  That is how I know I have one.  No thermometer required.  It can be a measly 99.0 and my knees start aching.  But this time, I felt absolutely fine.  Except the annoying achy fever knees.  Whatever.  I just ignored it and kept going.  Maybe I am just getting old and my knees are going to ache.  

That brings us to Tuesday, where we normally start things off.  Same thing. I had achy knees Tuesday morning.  So bizarre, I thought.  I felt absolutely fine, minus my silly knees.  Once again, I ignored it and kept going.  It must be age.  Who has time for sore knees when you have a birthday boy to celebrate?  Again!?!?  Yep!  This time at school.  I was going to make cupcakes to take to his class.  Then I decided that might be overachieving a bit. So I went to Publix and bought a dozen and half.  Since Blake was off, we all headed to school with plans to feed kiddos lots of sugary, Publix yumminess... (pardon the iphone photos and the length of Crosby's hair)

He had to wear his Toy Story "4"shirt.  And that hair.  Good grief, why didn't I notice it needed to be fluffed?!?  We have major static, wild hair or static stuck to your hair genes.  Clearly the later was the problem this day!!  And the length.  Poor thing.  Despite his bad hair moment, Crosby was thrilled to have us bring cupcakes to his class.  You may not be able to tell in this picture, but he was!

Addy LOVED her cupcake!!

Thank goodness for Mrs. Fisher.  We didn't bring candles but she had a stash.  And matches!  fabulous...

He blew that flame out like an ole pro! ;-)

The kiddos loved their cupcakes but they also loved having Jane Claire visit.  Everybody loves a baby! Who couldn't love that precious face?!?

So cute to see her fans...

I just had to take a picture of Crosby's cupcake.  Clearly he is NOT my child!!!  I would absolutely never leave a cupcake with one bite taken out of it sitting on a plate.  And walk away from it. With no plans to return. EVER. Even if it tasted like cardboard, I would eat it.  I cannot say no to sweets!!  Apparently Crosby has no problems...  

And it had nothing to do with the fact that they were from Publix!  The cream cheese icing was quite delish.  The child just doesn't love sweets as much as his mother does.  What can I say?  I have done something wrong!! ;-)

After the party, we headed back home.  I started to notice increased aching in the knees.  And everywhere else.  Then I started to feel feverish for sure.  Maybe it wasn't age after all!!  We got the kiddos to bed and I got myself in bed pretty early.  But I woke up on Wednesday feeling worse.  Blake went into work a little late but I was on my own and feeling pretty rotten.  I am pretty sure Crosby watched TV all day long.  It took all the energy I had to make sure everyone was fed and dressed.  Playing was not an option.  When Blake got home, I headed down to the Little Clinic, knowing it was likely the onset of a sinus infection.  Came out with a positive Flu Type A test!!! Ahhhh!!  And to think we had JUST been passing out cupcakes to a classroom full of kiddos!!!  Ahhhhh!!! Wouldn't you know, by the time I got home, Crosby's fever started up.  Thursday morning, Jane Claire had fever...

Oh dear!!!  Thank goodness Blake was able to rearrange his schedule and take kiddos to the doctor, fill prescriptions, administer medication and feed us!!  Amazingly, he never got it!  I don't know if we just had a mild case or if Tamiflu is the best medicine ever, but we were all fever free by Saturday.  I was good by Friday morning.  I had a little bit of congestion left over but that wasn't even bad.  Thankfully we had no GI issues, just fever and some minor respiratory issues.  The kids didn't even have the later.  All in all, we were lucky.  It could have been MUCH worse!!!

On another note... you may recall my saying this sweet, little, angel baby, Jane Claire, has a sassy side. Here is the proof...

Oh my goodness!!!  What do you do with that???  We are at a loss that is for sure!  I try not to laugh and just ignore her but it sure is hard.

Meanwhile, Crosby wanted to share his super sweet side by performing a song using his new microphone.  I kind of like his version best!! ;-)

As if Crosby hadn't had a bad enough week, he took a pretty serious tumble down the garage steps on Sunday morning.  (We decided to keep the kiddos home from church just in case we still had a few flu germs floating around! You're welcome, friends... ;-) )  He was attempting to open the garage door so we could run a quick errand.  Once he hit the button, I think he forgot there was one more step!  He fell  super hard, face first, into a chair that was sitting at the bottom of the steps.  It was the hardest thud I have ever heard.  I snatched him up and immediately ran back inside, yelling for Blake.  I just knew blood would be everywhere.  Once he (and I) was a little composed, we were able to assess the situation.  Just a small gash and a goose egg behind his ear and a pretty big bruise on his right cheek... 

It could have been so much worse.  I am kind of amazed it wasn't!  I can still hear the sound of his face hitting the chair...  Break my heart.  And just for the record, I am of no use in emergency situations.  I just panic and lose control.  I may know CPR but you can bet I would have no clue what to do if I actually needed to use it!!  Let's pray I don't...

I was able to get a precious video of Jane Claire waving at herself in the mirror.  For months, I have been stopping at the mirror every morning and asking, "Where's the baby?!?"  Jane Claire gets the biggest grin on her face as soon as she hears me say it.  She looks at herself in the mirror and give the sweetest smiles.  Now she has learned a new trick!!  She can wave at the sweet baby she sees staring back at her...

Too cute!!!

Due to illness, this week is really lacking pictures.  Of course I am kicking myself now.  There just wasn't much to take pictures of around these parts.  We were a mess!  Maybe next week will be better.  Let's hope so! At least we managed to snap this...

Jane Claire at 41 weeks!!!