What a busy weekend

We actually got alot accomplished this weekend.  We put together a new cabinet Friday night that will help clear all our office stuff out of the nursery.  That is a huge step toward getting things ready for the new baby.

On Saturday we got a load of pinestraw and over 2 days we did most of the beds in our yard.  Its amazing what a difference a little pinestraw can make.  We also had visitors!  Uncle Jeff and Jonah came to see Brett and go to a UGA basketball game.  Doug joined them for the game Saturday night and then they went to church with us this morning as well.

This evening we did something really exciting though.  We took the bed out of Mac's room and put in his new big bed.  It's the queen size bed from our guest room and then the guest room will get the crib and be the new nursery.  He has been really excited about getting a big bed.  The first night that we mentioned it he was ready to move it into his room right then.  He helped pick out new bedding with cool cars and trucks on it and a stool that he can use to help climb up.

He was very excited until it was time to go to bed and then he got a little nervous.  He loved that mommy and daddy could get on the bed with him to read his nightly Bible story and say his prayers.  Once we started to leave him he protested a bit.  He did relax enough to lay down and hopefully he is asleep now.  He has been quiet for awhile, but I'm not ready to risk going in there yet.  -------Scratch that, Doug just checked and he is asleep.  Hopefully that means in the morning we will have returned to the excited about the new bed stage.

And now a picture...

How fun is a baby girl?

We received a surprise gift in the mail yesterday. And what a surprise it was!!





I think this is a product of having an aunt who has a shoe obsession and no little girls. Thanks Aunt Carolyn!

Birthday Party

Mac's good friend Jones recently had an awesome birthday party - at the zoo!
Mac's party last year was at the zoo, but that was basically just a picnic where we walked through the zoo.

Jones' party was in the zoo and included several animals brought out for display and touching.
The whole presentation was about how larger animals eat the smaller ones.  The guide used an example that if he were a dinosaur that ate birthday party children, they would all be cupcakes.
Was Mac afraid of being eaten? No, his response was simply "I want a cupcake!"

Even if he did miss the point a little, it was cool to see these animals and get a guided tour of the zoo.  We certainly learned a lot and had fun.

Meat Week

I recently learned of a holiday that we should all celebrate - Meat Week.
You can learn more about it here.

Basically, it is a week long celebration of meat, primarily barbecue.
The group meets at various restaurants each day of the week to enjoy some good food and friendship.

I felt it was my duty as a dad to take Mac to at least one of the events.  It just so happened that we have friends who recently opened a BBQ place nearby in Statham and they would be hosting Meat Week on Friday night.
So, we braved the rain and headed out to Big Al's Pit BBQ.

Mac loved it!  He also took great joy in telling Big Al "Happy Meat Week!"
He and Samantha had sandwiches while I opted for the rib plate.
I thought it would make a good picture if I got Mac to pose with one of the ribs off my plate.
It would have been a much better picture if we brought a real camera instead of just my phone.
The really bad/funny thing is that I gave him a rib with about half the meat still on it. I thought he might taste it and not have a lot of interest.
How wrong I was!  When the rib got back to me, it was clean!  Mac had gotten every last bit of meat off the bone and then continued to eat his.  We've already been back with some family and will make several more trips to enjoy good BBQ.

A scary moment

Sunday night about midnight Mac woke up.  He does that occasionally.  He will wake up for whatever reason and come and get one of us.  We go back to his room, tuck him back into bed, and that's that.  Sunday night he must have had a bad dream because he was pretty upset.  He was crying hard and shivering uncontrollably.  Doug got to him first and was taking him back to bed.  After a few minutes Doug came to get me.  He said Mac was breathing strangely and he wanted me to listen to him.
Mac was making a strange wheezing noise like he couldn't catch his breath.  My first thought was that he had gotten something stuck in his throat.  He could talk okay and told us that he had not put any toys in his mouth.  He kept trying to cough, but he couldn't cough normally.  He just made this strange barking noise.  Doug and I were getting worried and just decided to take him to the ER.
We bundled him up and jumped in the car.  We were both praying the whole time.  Its scary not knowing what is wrong with your child or how to help him.  By the time we got halfway to the hospital he had warmed up and stopped shivering.  His breathing had calmed and he had started talking and telling us stories.
We got to the hospital and they were great (they also weren't really busy at the time).  They got us back quickly and we saw a doctor in only a few minutes.  It turns out Mac has croup.  It wasn't our imagination that he got better on the way there.  Apparently an attack of croup can improve when you go out into the cold air.

Yesterday Mac and I hung out at home just to make sure he was okay.  We made a trip to Walmart to pick up his medicine and ran into a friend of ours there.  I was telling her about our ER visit and she said that the same thing happened to them.  It made me feel a little less like we had overreacted. Of course in the moment there was no question.  Mac couldn't breathe so we had to do something.  I guess that is what parenting is all about, figuring it out as you go.