Cooper, party of 5

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.”   I Samuel 1:27

As of 1:11 am on March 25, 2010, my baby is officially a year old. We had a pretty low key day since we celebrated a couple days ago.

He’s looking around me at the tv….and this when I shut it off so he’ll look at the camera….

Add paci…and I’m forgiven.

Birthday dinner at Casa…he loves the bright colors…and that Daddy cheats and gives him french fries…

Happy Birthday, little one. We’ve had a frustrating, heartbreaking, wonderful, joyous, full of those heart-melting moments first year of your life. I hope some day you’ll read this and though you won’t understand it fully, you’ll realize how fervently we prayed for a son…and we received a perfect blessing in you.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James  1:17

We celebrated J’s birthday a couple of days early so Nana and Poppy could be here.

Jess is incredibly beautiful, if I do say so myself.

The sons my father never had….

Just one comparison….J on the left and T’s first birthday on the right…

Let me preface the cake pictures by saying I did the best I could. It may not be impossible, but I couldn’t find a way to make a cake without milk, soy, eggs, rice, oat, or wheat. I did find a sorghum flour online, but there wasn’t time for it to ship. I made the usual egg- and milk-free cake with wheat flour. Not a huge issue, I thought. He’ll mostly eat icing anyway…and that’s just crisco, water, and powdered sugar….not realizing that crisco is soybean!!! Again, I was stumped and even attempted to make icing out of corn oil and melted marshmallows.

Don’t try this at home.

Unless you enjoy marshmallow matter all but welded into your pan.

I really really really wanted birthday cake pictures. I needed them. So because I’m a terrible person, I subjected my son to an itch fest so I could have momentos of his birthday. Just for a minute, I rationalized, to snap a few quick pictures and then dose him with antihistimine in the bath.

He loved it. I imagine it tasted great compared to his usual limited diet…bless his heart. It very nearly broke mine to take it away when he started to scratch.

The next morning he woke up with a bright red rash. We called the allergist to tell him we wouldn’t be trying soy milk after all…since he reacted to the soy margarine in the frosting. Dr. Kumar thought that he would have reacted right away, so he was skeptical. My husband then informs me that he had given Little a smallish drink of fresh lemonade with orange garnish. Really, dear? When even you still break out in hives if you have too much citrus? And my dad is sensitive to oranges….what are you thinking, Adam Cooper??!

I can’t stare at him with accusing eyes because I haven’t a leg to stand on. I gave J wheat and soy for picture purposes….which could have very well contributed to the rash.

Sigh.

This morning Dr. Hill put tubes in Little’s ears. We had to be there at 6:00 am. (Bless the heart of Nana who came to stay with T.) Jess did fine in the beginning…no morning bottle…but he started to get cranky about 7:00. Daddy did a some dancing with him while we waited…

He fell asleep just minutes before the nurse and anesthesiologist assistant came for him–they fought who would carry him to the waiting room–Mr. AA won so he took him from me. Little woke up and I was sure he would cry since he was so tired.

Nope.

Big smile to him and the nurse and didn’t look back on his way to the operating room.

I couldn’t help but think how different J and T are…four years ago I was in this same position, only the nurse pried Tommy from my arms and ran with him down the hall…all the while Tommy screaming and reaching for me over her shoulder.

Just a few minutes later…Dr. Hill came to tell us that J did great. He said Little smiled at them through the mask before he went to sleep. “This is such a cool little guy,” he told the nurses…He said they had to really dig out the accummulated fluid to place the tubes and that we made the right decision…J had already been on an antibiotic for a week. At home we discovered the EKG pads were left on….look at that face.

He had a rough time from the anesthesia…finally got comfortable enough to sleep this afternoon. Dr. Hill called to check on him…we told him J was still crying with every burp. Dr. Hill said he would be sore…that he had to use more force than usual. J does not like the antibiotic ear drops. At all. My normally laid-back  baby turns into a screaming thrasher….

He has his first year check up in a couple of weeks. I dare the pediatrician to make a comment about the “sudden” surgery!

We love the new allergist.

And not because he reminds me of Dr. Mohan.

We met with him a couple weeks ago and he gave us tons of new information on how to treat Jess. We were operating on old school info from Tommy’s allergist years ago..who was terrible, btw. He said to bathe him daily, twice when he was flared. We had been told to keep him out of the water…but Dr. said to even put bleach in his bath water to cut down the amount of strep on his skin…everybody has levels of strep on their skin, but because Little has open wounds from his eczema, it’s more likely to get infected. He gave us new medicine that even healed the place on his arm that has been there for nearly a year. He gave us samples of Vanicream…over the counter moisturizer…works wonders. Go….run to Walgreens if you have dry, irritated skin. Get the cream, not the lotion…My hands crack and bleed in the winter…and now they look normal. We don’t even have to use the Hylatopic foam anymore–also great, but prescription and very expensive.

Today we did the skin prick allergy testing. J was perfect. He didn’t even cry.

I had forgotten my camera…so my phone camera didn’t get all the detail. The bigger ones you’ll be able to see here. Egg was the worst…closely followed by milk…peanut and dog dander. Soy, wheat, and cat dander are moderate…we may be able to reintroduce those in a year. He does want us to try soy milk first just to see if he can tolerate it. J will have to come off the hypoallergenic formula soon. If his eczema worsens, then we’ll try something else. I’m not sure how I feel about that since soy is the swollen part in the middle of his back. They didn’t test for rice, which was positive on his blood test…it’s rare to be allergic to rice…leave it to my child….fish and shellfish were negative, much to my relief. Nana is allergic to shellfish and I was worried about that one. I’ll feel much better going to the beach and crowded seafood restaurants.

He was fine after…even wanted to hold the nurse when she came back in to measure the places on his back. Dr. Kumar loves how smiley he is…after what could be a traumatic thing for a baby. Adam gave Little some antihistimine to help with the swelling and itching…and then….

He’s still sleeping now…and I imagine he will for a while. He had to come of the Atarax for five days and no nap this morning…so a dose plus a quiet house–T is at school–zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Backyardigans theme song comes on…suddenly the bananas are old news…

Kudos to mama for leaving the unfinished baby food on the high chair.

Thank you.

Good night.

has come and gone. Colorado already seems like so long ago. We had more snow…an afternoon date to see Dear John…..signed T up for baseball….heart testing for me…new allergist for J….lots of goings on.

Little has mastered pulling up, but he stubbornly refuses to let go and walk.

He gets really really really upset when the Saltine that he’s not supposed to have (soy) breaks into a million pieces.

and because I know I have two other children….here’s Big at his second baseball practice…getting some advice from the first base coach….and Lexi and T before church.

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Lexi isn’t here all the time…and Tommy requires Apryl to do the Roger Rabbit in order for him to smile. That’s why there are more postings of Little…not because he’s the favorite or anything ridiculous like that. 🙂

Wednesday: My favorite day

I woke up with a stiff neck from my fall… and a little more sore than the day before…but I’m good. We decide to skip our last day of ski school and just play on the slopes with the boys. Come to find out…we have to be scanned in with an instructor…so we are late and are hurriedly paired with Walt Stephens…who looks very much like Jeff Daniels…we ride with him up the gondola and tell him about ourselves and what we’ve done the past two days. I tell him I don’t turn and he seems confident to change that.

I’m not convinced.

He does explain things on a more basic level. He watched me attempt to turn and then straighten out, gain speed, and skid to a stop…I did master stopping in two days. He wanted me to do an “S” shape…and I lost it after the first turn so it ended up more like a question mark. I held my poles out in front of me and he took the ends…skiing backwards so he could lead me. Dancing, he called it. Because I was so attuned to keeping my skis in a wedge and on edge, I couldn’t straighten out enough to allow him to turn me…so I ended up turning him and I skiied backwards down the hill. He was nervous as a cat until we managed to get turned around again…I told him I wasn’t ready to ski backwards and he said he wasn’t either! He said he’d never done that in twelve years and he didn’t want to do it again any time soon…way to go H…freaking out the instructors….

He showed me how to start skiing parallel to the slope so I didn’t gain too much speed and wedge out. He told me to dig in my big toe opposite the side I wanted to turn.

Apparently that’s all I needed.

I was turning.

It was great.

I just couldn’t complete the turn without gaining too much speed. That’s a confidence issue.

I didn’t mind falling. I had fallen lots of times. I just didn’t want to take anybody else out with me.

I tried going down the bigger slope and made “garland on a  Christmas tree” the entire way down. I was incredibly proud of myself. The next time I tried to gain a little speed so I could ski up to the chair lift instead of having to duck walk my way uphill to get there. I was slightly too confident and misjudged the distance between the barriers. I smacked into one, lost a ski, and slid under the nylon net that’s supposed to keep you from going that way.

Thumbs up from the chair lift workers.

I rode the lift alone once and enjoyed the view. I stayed up every time I got off the lift today. We had decided just to ski until lunch and then take the rest of the day to rest and shop. I was halfway torn…I was finally doing well and thought with a few more runs after lunch with an instructor more my style..I could really improve. Walt seemed disappointed too…I think us girls were more interesting than the rest of the group. 🙂

We had leftover Luigis…delish…and had our first nap of the trip. We did a little shopping for sovenirs and had a quick bite of Pizza on the Run…embarrassing next to Luigis….and headed up the gondola to do some tubing.

Horrifying.

And the most fun I’ve had in years.

The gist is…you sit in an intertube and the workers push you down the hill with enough force to spin you in circles all the way down. The first shot..Adam and I go down together…you hold the handles of one another’s tube. I told the guy at the top that I was incredibly nervous and I just wanted to go straight. He laughed and yelled “first timer!” loud enough to grab the attention of all the other workers. “What does that mean?!!” He told me not to worry about it as he shoved us down the hill. Ready or not.

I screamed the entire way down.

When I figured out that screaming used up all my oxygen stores and that’s why I was getting lightheaded…I stopped and felt much better. I was ready to go by myself without Adam…aka…my security blanket.

I asked for “smallish spins” and got wicked grins in response. One guy told Adam upfront that if you vomit on the way down, they get rewarded.

We had a pass for an hour. It was just enough. We ride down the gondola…Adam’s first time riding down. He always boarded down the entire way. The others went to eat and we checked out a few more shops. Since we are returning to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow..ie our life…we stop in at Luigis and have dessert.

It’s nearly midnight our time…and we have to get up at 5 ….so we’re going to bed. I can’t wait to see my babies.

Our trip began on Saturday the 30th. Weather in Nashville was horrendous…so we opted to go ahead and stay the night close to the airport since we had to be there early Sunday morning. It was snowing, but once we crossed Monteagle I thought it would be smooth sailing.

Wrong.

Nashville was terrible. The absolute worst driving conditions I’ve ever been in. They had snow plows out on the interstate, but the ice was hidden and you didn’t know it was there until you are on it. It took us almost an hour to go just a few miles. The exits were treacherous. People slid across lanes and we saw a dozen cars off the road. We ended up making it ok…I spent most of those last few miles gripping my seat. Adam’s friend ended up bouncing off a concrete barrier…which he took huge ribbing for since he was NOT in four wheel drive…but in truth it could have been any of us.

We had planned to eat dinner but I was not budging from the safety of INSIDE so we had overpriced hotel food.

Sunday: Nashville had gotten a little more snow, but the shuttle driver expertly manuvered and got us to the airport in plenty of time. Our flight was slightly delayed so maintenance could de-ice the wings before we took off.

Not what I wanted to hear.

The flight was surprisingly smooth and we landed in Denver safely….but there’s no snow. What?! We left more snow in Nashville?? We took a shuttle to the rental car place and waited to get all that set up. Then another nearly two hour drive to Keystone. It started out fine and then got progressivly worse. The last few miles were uphill, narrow, winding roads covered with snow and ice with NO GUARDRAILS. I looked once over the side of the mountain and tried NOT to look again. Keystone was beautiful and it was snowing…the only real snow we had the entire time.

View from the plane and the view from our gorgeous condo:

Seth and Brittney at dinner…

Sunday night felt like the worst hangover ever…though I hadn’t taken one drink. My head hurt. I was dizzy and nauseated. Apparently that’s due to the altitude. All of us agreed that it was difficult to breathe, but Adam and I were affected more than the rest. He had massive nosebleeds and I just felt rotten.

Monday: Our first day of ski school. Look how excited we look….before we were sore and cold…

We were paired with Instructor Dave…and were given the basics of skiing. At first I couldn’t even stop. I was the one who fell first and the most.

I hated it.

When we broke for lunch a couple hours later…I told Adam so. He launched into to his “I fell 50 times my first time boarding too” but I didn’t want to hear it. He had said if I hated it…I didn’t have to continue…and now he’s going back on that?? I fought back tears because there were so many people we knew….if it had just been strangers I would have broken down.

I was done. I wasn’t going back. I’d ride down the gondola by myself and just wait for everyone else.

We had a ridiculously priced lunch–just one place on top of the mountain so they could charge 9 bucks for a sandwich–and I didn’t bother to hide my irritation. I frowned at Dave sitting across the walkway from me. I frowned at Steph and Brittney who were picking it up much faster than I was. I frowned at the boys who were happy to be boarding. I was being ugly and knew it and didn’t care. This was my vacation and I wasn’t having any fun.

End of lunch. Sigh. I’m going back, aren’t I?

I crashed. I did manage to stop by putting more weight on the back end…and was promptly corrected by Dave. Everything I could do was the wrong way. Yay. Dave said we were going to go down the bigger slope and I said, “Y’all are?” which he found hilarious…he said we were going. All of us. I didn’t think our accents were that noticeable but apparently I was wrong.

My favorite fb status in a long time:

Instructor Dave: “You are over analyzing every move. Just let your weight shift to turn. But lead with your downhill ski. And keep your shoulders parallel to the slope….No! Don’t twist your torso. Hips straight. Drop left shoulder. You’re thinking again! Stop that! Don’t look down. AND WIPE THAT GRIMACE OFF YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!”

I suffered through and the lesson ended at 3. I asked if I got points for not crying. Dave said yes and that I was doing great.

Snort.

Dinner at Wolf Rock. I’m happy it’s over.

Those are my favorite gloves ever, btw.

Tuesday: I’m sore, but not unbearable. My shins are bruised from the ski boots, but otherwise I’m ok. I could still be talked out of todays lesson. I go anyway. We warm up on the practice slope. It gets crowded and then thins out as the two to four year olds improve on the second time down and graduate to the next level.
John from Brazil joins our class. I love him. He’s 55 and speaks English rather well if you can get past the accent. He does great but needs lots of instruction– like me– to avoid creating bad habits. You tend to do what makes you stop/turn/slow easiest, and not necessarily the “correct” way. He spent five minutes trying to ask me what the word for “slope” was…I finally got it when he asked if we would go down the track with colors….We get to the steeper side and the boys watch for a few before we break for lunch. I managed to stay up while Adam watched and I’m incredibly proud of myself.

Lunchtime. We packed a ton of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I feel guilty as I eat one and have to fight the urge to sanitize the peanut allergens off the table) and bottles of water to avoid the lunch expense. John passes and then accepts after he saw the salad prices. Even Dave has one. We notice when we leave that a sign asks for no outside food. Whoops.

Adam is worn out. Snowboarding is much harder on your body than skiing. So he comes back with us after lunch and takes a few pictures…action shots and us with Instructor Dave. I go down the next slope first…come out of my wedge for the first time and fly down the hill. I manage to slow and somewhat turn before you head down the black diamond (whose idea was it to put the bunny slope next to a black one??) and get on the lift. Adam follows me and we ride up the lift together. Awww.

He’s ready to go back to the big boy slopes so I tell him I’ll meet him in the room later. On the top I tell Dave I came out of the wedge and he said that was great; he wanted me to do that again. So here I go. Another class of first dayers was heading down and practicing turns. Very slowly. I shoot down and yell “watch out” to the girl who is turning directly in my path. She looks horror stricken and tries to get out of the way. Turning is not my strong suit, and the slope is pretty narrow. If she doesn’t get out of the way, I’m going to smack into her and we’re both going to be hurt badly. She scoots out of the way and I fly by her, but my balance is lost and I hit a rough spot. My skis go up and I crack my head on the ice and land flat on my back…if you have ever skiied you will know it’s near impossible to land on your back with four feet long skis attached to you.

But I managed to.

And it hurt.

I had fallen the day before. But never at this speed. Dave had been watching me from the top and zoomed in to help me. I knew it must have been bad, and he thought I was really injured for him to intervene. Yesterday he didn’t help at all so we could learn how to disengage our skis and get up by ourselves. …so I know for him to show up it must have looked bad. He rounded up my tobaggan and my poles while I just looked dazed for a few. I got up and my head hurt. I would have cried if he hadn’t been standing there and my tears wouldn’t have frozen on my cheeks.

All the excitement and confidence I gained on that one perfect ride down, vanished.

Because I’m a big girl I go down a couple more times, but I feel rotten and I tell Dave so. He says it’s only two and I have at least an hour left. I tell the girls I’m going to take some pictures before we ride the gondola down and I’m calling it a day. Dave takes Britt down the next level slope while Steph and I wait. I snap a few pics and am appropriately sympathetic when Britt comes back with snow on her hat—never a good sign, and wait while she takes pics.

The girls with Dave….Steph and I trying not to be offended that he clearly prefers Brittney!

The boys…Tommy, Adam, Seth, and Bob

It is undeniably beautiful.

We come down and have dinner at the best Italian restaurant ever. Luigi’s Pasta House. It was incredible.

He loves me.

And if you’ve never been in a hot tub surrounded by snow….well, pass. It’s the coldest you’ve ever been in your life on the dash back to the door!

I took the boys for their check ups yesterday. It was doomed for disaster from the beginning.

They both had colds…Little’s is waning but he still had low grade fever which I attributed to teething. Tommy fell asleep on the couch before 9:00 am. First indication. He never does that.

Little didn’t sleep well last night and was in hysterics by 9:00. I tried unsuccessfully to get him to sleep. Plan B: Pacify him long enough so I can finish getting ready and get all things prepared so I could help T get dressed and out the door by 10:15.

Oh yeah, the Explorer had about .05 in the gas tank.

Better make that 10:00.

I did the best I could to make us all presentable. J is so tired…he’s just beside himself. I wake T up and he promptly throws up in my bedroom floor. Indicator 2.

I weigh my options. What are the chances we’ll have to wait long enough in the waiting room that we’ll infect everybody else? I already had appointments for both of them with the same doctor. Figuring the doctor had a strong immune system already, and a quick confirmation from my mother that I was not indeed a horrible person and to return the stink eye I might receive in the waiting room, I packed them in the car and went on my way.

Stopped for gas. Went inside and asked for a plastic bag.

Good move. T needed it halfway down Hughes Road. I stopped again at Kroger and didn’t bother to ask. I yanked a bag from a closed check out lane and went back out before the “IN” doors could close and I wouldn’t have to walk halfway around to go “OUT” designated doors. Look at me…on top of en route vomiting and still no tears.

T seems better the rest of the way so I relax slightly. J is already asleep. I try to keep him asleep on my shoulder as we go in. No go. We wait briefly and then are ushered to a room. The nurse tells me they do a hearing screen, vision screen, urine test, and finger prick at the five year visit.

Great.

I step out with J so T can hear better for the hearing test. The nurse didn’t tell me, but Dr. Johnson said he failed. He has fluid on the ear he had surgery on in November, and he feels rotten, so I’m not concerned. Dr. J said solemnly that it will go on his record–I’m reminded of the principal in high school–and we should follow up with an ENT.

He already has an ENT. You know, the one that did the surgery?

Dr. J seems as flustered as I am today. He didn’t recall T’s food allergies or eczema…or ear issues he’s had since he was 16 months old….Tommy felt terrible and didn’t laugh at any of the doctor’s attempts to amuse him with mixed up Transformer names. Tommy had gone to pieces just a few minutes into the vision test…I think mostly because he could see so far down the line that the nurse thought he was cheating…which hurt his feelings…and we didn’t get to the other eye. Meanwhile, I’m holding 75lb, sleepy, struggling Little with my left arm that is threatening to collapse any moment. The mother’s guilt that I can’t hold Tommy too…

Finally the nurse/doctor see that I’m having a rough time with two kids that don’t feel well, and the nurse said I could bring Tommy back for the other tests on a day he feels better. I appreciated this more than they could possibly know.

Tommy is excused and plopped face down on the chair. He’s incredibly pale. Dr. J eyed him again and said if his belly continued to hurt, I should take him to the ER for x-rays. Might be his appendix.

Awesome. Thanks for that.

Now it’s J’s turn…and he enjoys the attention. The normal check up routine for infants is ignored. He didn’t have me undress him…he didn’t ask how much formula he was taking…he didn’t ask about his diet…though he did ask about the results of the allergy testing and seemed appropriately horrified at the outcome. He said his issue is what milk he will drink at one year…typically children who are allergic to soy AND milk drink rice milk…but since he’s allergic to rice, too…he didn’t have any ideas. He suggested we go to an actual allergist and not an ENT with allergy background. I said I would be happy to do that…but insurance had already paid for the allergy panel in October. I wasn’t sure if/when it would be covered again. The total cost is nearly $900.00. Dr. J backpedaled slightly and said he understood…if we were happy with ENT/allergist then that was up to me.

Why thank you for allowing me to be in charge of my child. I only went to Dr. Hill because you said J was TOO YOUNG for treatment.

Thank you to my mother who taught me, “If you can’t say anything nice; say nothing at all” and smile brightly instead. I hoped I pulled it off and it didn’t look like a scowl. Thank you to my father whose genes make that incredibly difficult.

Jess is  getting all four top teeth at once. He had drainage coming from one ear that I didn’t notice until I had to hold him securely while Dr. J looked in his ear. Ruptured ear drum. His fifth ear infection in 10 months. Tubes are a possibility. I won’t have him suffer as long as Tommy did. Since this is just his third on file at the pediatrician…I expect them to be difficult. Luckily the ENT that treated him for the other two…the ENTslashallergy doctor that Dr. J sniffed at…is very agreeable and wouldn’t deny that J’s ears are at risk.

Jess: 24lbs 4oz; 30 1/4 inches long.

T: 45 lbs; 45 1/4 tall.

If their current growth rate holds steady…both the boys will be tall. T is predicted to be 6’1…6’2.

It’s too early to tell for certain…but J could be taller than that. He’s already taller than Tommy was at his one year appointment…and he’s got a couple months to go. 6’4 is not outside the realm of possibility.

I love that! I’m sure I will find it hugely annoying when they are in trouble….but I think looking up at my sons will be pretty amazing.

Dr. J said we were finished and he went to look for samples of a new foam that helped J’s skin tremendously. I couldn’t recall the name…just that it started with “H.” He didn’t put it in his notes. I had to call him when I got home to get the prescription. We almost left without anything for J’s ears. Dr. J looked sheepish and I tried not to look smug.

I did manage to tow them both outside before Tommy threw up in the parking lot. In the car, Little was asleep in seconds.

I stop quickly at DG and get Sprite and Saltines….yes, Apryl…I left them in the car…you aren’t surprised….I make the couch into a bed for Big–it’s leather and much more vomit-proof–and transfer Little to my bed where he sleeps for three hours. Exhausted.

T feels better within a half hour and asks for a sandwich. Fruit, but we’re out. Then some Cookie Crunch cereal. Then Frosted Flakes. He’s on the mend.

The next morning–today– he’s crying and holding his ear…the opposite ear from the one with fluid on it. I’m waiting for the doctor’s office to open. After Adam reads this, I’m sure he will volunteer to take him. 🙂

P.S. We leave for Colorado in less than two days. Is this going to happen with two sick babies???

I had a cardiologist appointment at the crack of dawn Friday morning…I forgot to factor in Eastern time….so we just piled up and spent the night in Chattanooga…complete with government discount…yay TVA….and indoor pool. I was hugely scolded at the doc so I’ll save you those details and get on with pics….When I was finished Friday morning we went to the Creative Discovery Museum which put Early Works here in Huntsville to shame….Little was doused by some small child at the water exhibit…and loved it….Tommy posing with statue outside.

Excavating dino bones…

Little took a break for lunch…his feet and hands were going like crazy….

This was the one of the neatest things there…outside they had a metal circle that dipped into soap…then you could pull it up around yourself…and be inside the bubble.

It’s our weekend with Lexi so the boys and I visited with Nana while Adam drove to Scottsboro to pick  her up. We drove all the way back to Chattanooga. Long driving day! Swimming…Little’s first time and he kicked and splashed and loved every minute…T really enjoyed the water this go round…he’s particularly shy with it…after a day to warm up he was much more confident. Lexi did jumps and flips and attempted  handstands. 🙂

Saturday morning: check out and we headed to the Aquarium. Apparently the fish thought J was some sort of treat because they flocked to the glass where he sat.

We spent the most time at the Butterfly exhibit…They floated everywhere. Daddy showing the big kids how to hold them gently.

Trying to sneak up on one….

Success! Big figured out if he was still, they would come to him. I asked him how he caught one and he replied, “It just landed on me!!” So excited! This is probably my favorite picture…

The exhibit had huge fans blowing inside the doors to keep the butterflies from going out when visitors came in…Daddy parked Little there underneath the breeze and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Shark cage…Lexi couldn’t figure out how a shark (background pic) could bend the bars…I tried repeatedly to explain it to her until I figured out she thought the picture was a real shark. ha!

We had to make a return trip to see the butterflies before we left. T got better at capturing.

A volunteer showed him how to place them back on the plants instead of flicking them off.

This is for Nana…I knew she would want to know what they used for bait…

The employees take your photo when you come in…and then ask an inflated price for your keepsake before you go…of course I bought it…the only group shot we have of the entire weekend. My husband says I’m a marketing scheme’s dream come true. I am. I can’t help it. I’m addicted to infomercials and have various things packed away that have never seen the light of day….but that’s another post.

I look like such a tourist.

The boys were nearing breakdowns–no doubt the result of not much sleeping the past couple nights. We stopped in Mellow Mushroom next door for a bite before we headed home. Our first experience there…the service was lacking but the food was delicious! Tommy can now tolerate small amounts of milk…I can’t tell you what it means to us just for him to be able to have slice of pizza.

Lexi loved it too…we ate the entire pie.

Little was distraught and had no patience for tiny pieces of dehydrated apple. Against our better judgment…but decided we’d deal with the flare-up later so we could have the rest of our meal in peace….have some crust, son. We thought that might be the least allergenic part.