Rolly Poly

Here is Eli's little SeaWorld Jungle Gym that he can lay in on his back and look up at things to play with. He has been using this since he was a week old and has been quite successful at playing in it. Yesterday, however, I laid him down in it and proceeded on to the kitchen to get some cleaning done and when I walked back in to the nursery to check on him FIVE minutes later, this is what I found! Hahaha. He had rolled all the way over in the middle of the floor in the dirty clothes pile. Movement, here we come!

Top o' the Mornin to Ya!

Good morning all! A typical morning at the Harrell House: baby is full form breakfast and is settled in front of Mickey Mouse Club. Dog is full from breakfast and his fast asleep in exactly the one place he does not need to be. Sigh. Oh well, he sure looks comfy.

The Painfully Ordinary

I dislike days like today. It was a day filled with nothing but the ordinary happenings of a little family on a day when nothing special occurred. Brad is still sick. In fact, he is still so sick that he went to the doctor this afternoon. This doctor-nurse practitioner went to a doctor office as a patient. His chest is filled with gunk and he has not been able to kick it out! He is going to have a chest xray maybe tomorrow and then hopefully we will have an answer as to whether he has some monster asthma, or will have the dreaded diagnosis of pneumonia. Yikes.

Brad didn't sleep much last night, therefore I didn't sleep as soundly as I normally do. We had a pretty rad storm around 11pm and then fell asleep sometime after midnight, but then Brad woke up around 2am and couldn't go back to sleep. I am such a sound sleeper, I didn't realize he was awake for quite awhile until I heard the noises from a movie being played on the ipad right net to my head. Poor guy. He just couldn't sleep, couldn't breathe, couldn't get comfy, and so he went on watching videos and movies on the ipad until around 7:30am.

I was exhausted when I woke up, so after feeding Eli and playing with him for 2 hours or so, when I laid him down for his morning nap, I laid myself down for a morning nap! I slept another two whole hours and felt much more rested when I finally got rolling at noon. Noon!!

Gah... i seriously need a life.

The weather was a little cool for being April 20, very windy, gray, and gloomy. I went over to Bellevue to teach a few piano lessons at 2p, and by the time I left to come back home at 5:30, the thunder was rolling again, lightning was electrifying the dark sky, and rain was coming down in torrents!

My most favorite couple in the wide world is always at our house on Wednesday evenings before church and today was no different. Dinner was Chop Suey with rice and potstickers! Yum! Since tonight's rehearsals at church are in preparation for Easter Sunday, and I more than likely will not be there because of Eli's little sickness, I decided not to rehearse tonight. The Prices did not go as well because they won't be there Easter Sunday, and so the three of us - Kevin, Kayla, and I had a marvelous little supper without Brad. :(

Incidentally, Brad is STILL over at church and its 8:35p!

Anyway, so here I am, only about 8 hours since I woke up today, back in my room settling in for the evening. Eli is still taking his evening nap. I should go in there and wake him up - doesn't need to sleep too much longer.

The more I think about it, the more I should really be thankful for days like this when nothing special happens. I woke up, didn't I? I got to play with the sweetest little baby boy ever born, didn't I ? I get to share my life with a wonderful husband, family, and friends. I have a lot to be thankful for.

So maybe today is ordinary because I didn't do much, but its always extraordinary because its a gift from God - filled with people that I love.

Thorns.

I have learned to appreciate everything I do for sweet little Eli. So many people will tell me "Oh! Don't waste any moment with him! He'll be grown before you can turn around!" REALLY?? I suppose thats true..., but there is ONE thing that I could SO live without doing.. and that is changing crib sheets. That daily activity - well, mostly a daily activity, since the little guy seems to be a pee pee factory... could cease at this very moment and I will delightfully NEVER look back for it. But alas, here are a few pictures documenting today's thorn.

DONE! :)

Until tomorrow.....

The Plague

Every time Eli gets sick, does that automatically mean that I will be sick too? Geez, Louise! This is the second round of sickness that he's had, and the second round of nasty cold that I've had. And naturally, it came the week of the Prodigal (Passion Play) Performances at church. Poor little baby - antibiotics, breathing treatments, skin oil.. the works!

Not only did I get a nasty head cold along with him, but Daddy did too! Brad and I have been married almost 6 years and dated 2 years before that, and I think I remember him being sick like this TWO times. He never is sick!! And yet he is worse than I am! I've got TWO sick boys! Atleast Jack isn't hacking and gacking like the rest of us.

Last week during rehearsals at church, I had to sit out for the final dress rehearsal because poor little baby boy was so sick. He's so sweet though - he doesn't let much make him unhappy, he's still all smiles and giggles and is sleeping pretty good to be so congested in his head and chest. I'm so glad. Instead of a night of dress rehearsal, we took a stroll around the community. Thats when I snapped this picture. ;)

LOL !

If you don't know what LOL means... well, then that means you aren't reading this, but.. it means LAUGHING OUT LOUD.

Guess what!!?!? Guess who LOLed? Yup! You guessed it! Baby Elijah LOLed last night!

What had happened was..

Daddy was gone to an out of town dinner meeting waaaayyyy up in Dyersburg, TN and in the meantime at home, Mommy was cleaning up Christmas Decorations and trying her darndest to entertain Little Mr. Harrell. After the videos on the ipad wore out their welcome, we resorted to the lay-the-blanket-on-the-floor-in-the-nursery game with lots of toys to look at and music and lights flashing. You know the drill. He was pretty happy and having a little fun looking and touching everything, then I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to read a little to him. Well, he was SO not interested in hearing me read to him! His fussiness lured Jack (the great dane) back to the nursery and while I had Eli on my left knee bouncing him a little to take his mind off of whatever it was that was making him fuss, Jack came in the room pacing back and forth trying to find a spot to lay down in.

I was shocked when my little not-yet-3-month-old babe just chuckled his little heart out looking at the dog! The dog! Hahahahaha... Love it!

Can't wait to hear that little laugh again!

Merry Christmas! And Welcome to Our Light Show!

Whew wee - were the holidays a busy time or WHAT? Let me just catch you all up on everything since November 15. On November 16, my sweet Bradley turned thirty years old. Oh yeah... middle age is coming on fast - we ain't seventeen anymore - although that was a fun year and in my heart I'll always be seventeen or twenty... haha. Anyway.. that reality hit, and so now we really are on the road to being grown ups. I guess.

I went back to work at FUMC - my church job where I was Director of Music. After two weeks of being back, I turned in my six week notice that I would be leaving for good. (Big frowny face.) Even after only doing it for 2 weeks, I could see it a whole lot more clearly that that job and driving and hauling my sweet tiny babe in swaddling clothes back and forth just was not going to work. I didn't like relying on my mother to keep him, although I think if it were up to her, I could just GIVE him over to her and she would happily spoil him for the rest of his days. Hahaha. Grammys.

But I didn't want to just walk out on them right before the start of Advent and Christmas. Oi. We got through the Christmas Cantata and all the other things that were going on and it turned out to be quite a success I might add. A bit of advice for all you other church music folks: don't do two cantata performances in one day, especially on a Sunday because you have all the regular Sunday morning grind, then rehearsals starting two hours later, and after the FIRST performance you're ready to roll over and take a snooze. I thought I was going to die that day. And then I went home and slept straight for about 26 hours. :) (Disclaimer: yes, definitely DO 2 performances or 6 or 8 or whatever you have in you, but just don't do them in the same day.)

Okay, where does that put us? Elijah happens to be doing quite well. That little piggy is eating and giggling and playing and sleeping his way through life. Can't wait until he's Dancing Through Life. Haha.. I love Wicked. Anyway.. Christmas was tough on the little feller. He was passed around like the little hot potato he really is, but that wore him out! On top of that, he got his first round of vaccinations the day before Christmas Eve. He seemed to do fine with that, we pumped his little booty full of Tylenol all during Christmas just to help him relax a little if he happened to be a little sore.

And now... for the traumatic happening during Christmas....

You know, (big sigh), there is always some sort of drama going on during the holidays. I think its because everyone has a crazy family and when multiple crazy people get together, then its almost like as crazy as a loom. (Loooommmmm.....orrr.... dump truck??) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. okay, only about 4 people get that one. But here's what had happened:

Picture this: freezing cold Thursday night, December 23. About 6:00pm. Dark outside. Wind blowing. (A little background for the story: everyone knows we happen to have a very large Great Dane - he's not THAT big, like Big George the Great Dane, but Jack is unusually tall for the Great Danes he goes to school with.. haha. The daycare had lost his leash, and on top of that my husband had misplaced his gentle leader - which is a contraption that we affectionately call his "G-String" because its a collar that wraps around the back of his big boy ears and goes on his nose, like a horse thing - maybe a bridle? Anyway, the gentle leader helps you control the large dogs, because they won't pull AT ALL when their control is from their nose. *would you pull on something that was going to yank on your nose? nope. not us either*) Okay. so back to the main story:

I was taking Jack out on his normal evening outing to take care of business. This young man is walking by with a small dog, maybe of the Shih-tzu Breed or something of the like. Now, you know, Jack loves little dogs, in fact, he really thinks he's a Shih-tzu since he was raised around one. He loves their quick movements and especially their bark - they just get his motor running if you know what I mean. lol. So, I forgot to mention that I had him on some kinda thread leash cheapest of the cheap thing that the daycare gave us since they lost his heavy rope lead. Oi. Let's wrap this up, Rach -

Jack is pooping. Just as he finishes, the little dog is walking right by out on the street. The little dog yelps. Jack lunges, and I try, oh gosh did I try, I TRIED to hold him, but when 150 pounds of dog decide to run, and you don't have something trustworthy to hold him with, guess what? He runs. The poor guy - I had never actually seen before walking his dog, although I know his face from living in our community, but I really don't think he had ever seen our big Jack before. Jack scared the living daylights out of him because he was running, full speed ahead, towards him and his little dog.

One can only imagine what insued in the following moments. Screams from a man, screams from a little dog, and a very loud and joyous BARK from Jack filled the cold night air at 1792 Appling Oaks Circle. I went on about my business taking Jack's business in the house for flushing, and then something completely startled me! It was the man! He was yelling at me! At ME! Oh my, and what he was yelling at me was not a melodious "Merry Christmas!" Oh no, it was not. It was more like something you'd hear from a crazy and gory rated NC17 movie down at the discount movie theater on summer ave. I was in shock! My shock was in shock! No one talks to me that way!! Especially on Christmas Eve Eve! The nerve.

Well, the scourging ended and he merrily pranced his way down the street after my large and wooly husband stood in the front door and looked all mean at him. Ha! Serves hi right! The big and almighty Dr. Harrell scared the mean man away!!

Speaking of scared, that whole thing SCARRED my whole Christmas weekend!! But, in hindsight, I suppose, if I were an unassuming individual walking my cute little puppy on Christmas Eve Eve and enjoying all the Christmas Lights (especially ours!) and then suddenly a GINORMOUS dog came bounding across a yard at me... AND the owner did not seem to do much about it, I suppose I'd scream obscenities too. I knew Jack wasn't going to hurt them. But THEY didn't know that. I should've thought about that. That would've been neighborly.

But then.. I haven't really been known for being neighborly.. OR thoughtful at all for that matter...