A Monkey's First Halloween!

For Wesleigh's first Halloween, we went to the Courthouse square here in Carlsbad. They had a little event, then all the downtown businesses passed out candy to the trick or treaters!! We had a good time, and of course, everyone thought that Wesleigh was adorable!! After our trick or treating, we went to dinner at Chili's.

The Monkey Family!

Mama's cute Monkey!

So Happy!!

Happy Monkey with Daddy!Gotta love the tail!Such a happy Monkey!Not such a happy Monkey...
Look at all my candy!!! I think I'll take this one...
Happy Mama and Monkey!

Wesleigh really missed his daddy while we were gone. Daddy has been getting a lot of extra lovin' lately!! Squating monkey!Standing up...eventually I may walk.
Our two pumpkins
Pumpkins taste yummy!!

Happy Monkey with Mommy's carved pumpkin!
Crooked ears...from pulling on them...

I've had enough of this already!!
Almost free...

Woohoo....Free, Free at last!!!

Scarlet Fever.....

Poor sweet Wesleigh started running fever late Tuesday afternoon...we are talking 102 and 103. I was able to make a doctor's appointment the next morning with his pediatrician in San Antonio, where we would be traveling through anyway! But, first we had to make it through Tuesday night. The poor boy was miserable. He went to bed ok, doped up on Motrin, but just before midnight he was up and miserable!! I sat and rocked him for a while, I was tired, but thinking about all the driving the next day, I decided to take my mom up on her offer to sit with him for a little while. So, Nana rocked him for about 30-40 minutes, until he decided that Nana is nice, but he wanted his mommy. So, I tried to put him in bed with me, that didn't work, so we rocked some more....He was just so restless. I decided about 3 am to give him a bath. We took a long hot bath in a very warm bathroom...after about 30 minutes of that he started rubbing his eyes. I got him out and dressed, then I rocked him for about 10 minutes and he was out!!! I was able to lay him down around 3:45 AM and I climbed back into bed...hoping and praying that we could both get some rest.
This is when Ethan decided it was time to play! He was bouncing off the walls!! Thank goodness it is still pretty easy to ignore him....it won't be so easy before too long!!
So, after not a lot of sleep we were off to the doctor in San Antonio. Turns out he has Scarlet Fever...which is basically Strep Throat with a rash. He was give Augmentin, an antibiotic which he has to take twice a day for ten days!!!

So...the fact that we had strep throat, which is highly contagious, kind of threw a wrench in our travel plans. We were suppossed to travel it San Angelo to stay with Ma for the night, before we came on to Carlsbad on Thursday. Jim and I didn't think it was a very good idea to expose Ma to Strep Throat, so I had to cancel on her. I know she was very disappointed, but she doesn't need to get Strep!! So, then I was going to travel to Del Rio for the night, but eventually talked myself out of that as well. It is not like I would even get to visit with friends, b/c I can't take my sick baby to visit!! So, I finally decided just to head toward Carlsbad and if we made it all the way, WONDERFUL, but if we needed to stop, Nana said she would help us pay for a hotel room if we needed it. Turned out, we made the 500 mile trip with only 2 stops. Wesleigh was a trooper and slept more than he normally does in the car because he didn't feel good. We pulled into Carlsbad around 7:15 Texas time, which was 6:15 in New Mexico.

Needless to say, I was exhausted. I took a shower, then a nap on the couch while Daddy and Wesleigh caught up. Then, I put Wesleigh down at 8:30 and I was in bed by 8:35. Amazingly we slept until 8:30 the next morning!!

Yay for antibiotics!! They have made my boy feel better!! He is doing so well, and almost back to his normal self!!

Adventures at Nana and Grandpa's House

So, from Monday, October 20th until Wednesday, October 29th we were at Nana and Grandpa's house!! On Wednesday, the 22nd, we had to go to San Antonio for a doctors appointment to check on Mr. Ethan!! He is doing great! Growing, growing, and growing!! Dr. Thompson says everything looks great. Ethan's heartbeat was 140 as usual. He even told me that I could skip the entire month of November, b/c he knew that I was planning on being in New Mexico for the month!! I do however have to endure the LOVELY 1 hour glucose test to test for gestational diabeties!! So, next week, I will have to take care of that here in New Mexico somewhere and fax the results to Dr. Thompson!! I am adorable!

One day while we were hanging out at Nana's house, Baileigh came over to play. She was bored, so Nana took the lid off of her ice chest on wheels, put Wesleigh inside, and they both had a blast in the ice chest wagon!! Baileigh pulled him all around the house and he just laughed and laughed!!

Hi Mommy!
Showoff!

I spent a lot of time taking care of my grandma! She has been having some rough days lately, and it was nic to be able to be there for her. She adores spending time with Wesleigh, and watching him be adventurous! We also got to see Katie, Joey, Abbie, Emma, and Sara-Kate. And of course, we saw, Uncle Brad, Kaye, Baileigh, Dakota, and Cayelee.

Wesleigh gets very spoiled to his Nana when we are around there!! She is absolutely not able to walk past him without getting into BIG trouble if she doesn't pick him up!! He also likes crawling all over his grandpa and stealing all the goodies he keeps in his shirt pockets!! My mom is a lot of help when I am there, it is so nice to have it!! I actually get to go places by myself!! Yep, I said by myself!! It is an amazing concept, b/c normally, I have an adorable blonde haired, appendiage that goes EVERYWHERE I go. But, when I am at my moms, I go to the store alone, I even get to go to the bathroom alone....well, I guess what that really means is that I get to shut the bathroom door. That doesn't mean that Wesleigh doesn't sit outside the bathroom door and cry or beat on the door until I finally come out!! But....I guess shutting the bathroom door is a luxary I normally don't have, so I will take it!!

On Tuesday before I left the next day, I took Wesleigh on an early Trick or Treating adventure to see both sets of my grandparents. They were pleased to see the little monkey!!

Our Road Trip

Well, on Tuesday, October 14th Wesleigh and I loaded up and set off on a road trip across Texas!! Yay for Texas. I am such a Texan....don't take this Texan out of Texas!! I love it and that is where I belong!!!

Day One

We traveled from Carlsbad to Lamesa, Texas. Just in case you have never heard of Lamesa, it is a small town in the middle of no where West Texas. But, it is home to a dear friend from graduate school. Ky and her husband Lee live there, where they grew up and they love it!! They had a ball meeting and playing with Wesleigh. They are eagerly awaiting God's perfect timing to grow their family, so in the meantime they really enjoyed loving on my sweet little boy!! It was so great to spend some time with them. They were very gracious to us while we were there, I only wish we could have stayed a little longer!! I do believe that Wesleigh may have showed them just how NOT childproof their house is, and that when God does send that precious baby their way, that they have a LOT of changes to make in the house!!! He was into EVERYTHING!!! That's my boy!!

Day Two

Well, this was to be our longest day in the car throughout the whole trip. We were traveling from Lamesa to Plano. It took us right at 6 hours. 6 hours of driving through West Texas....which translates into a lot of NOTHING except for small towns and many wind generators. Wesleigh was a total trooper! He was amazing in the car. He doesn't sleep for very long at a time in the car, so he mostly played with his toys. I stock the passenger seat with many many toys and when he gets tired of one and chunks it between the car seat and the door, then I pass him a new one. He also ate MANY crackers, lets just say that turning around backwards and handing your child stuff in the backseat is an aquired art....all you mommies out there know what I am talking about!! So, between short naps, crackers, juice, and milk, the miles passed and eventually started getting closer and closer to civilization!! About 30 minutes before we got to our final destination my boy had a TOTAL meltdown, so I busted out the VBS song CD from this summer's Power Lab VBS and cranked the radio up VERY LOUD and he loved it!! It kept him calm until we got there. We were going to visit my friend's Garrick and Michelle and their two kids, Jackson and Caroline. Garrick and Michelle came to FBC Beeville, my senior year in high school. I was working at the church for a few hours a day, so we got to be friends and it is a friendship that has hung on over the years!! When I was in college I went to visit them a lot, at the time they were in East Texas, but a few moves later, now they are in Plano, until God sends them somewhere else. So, we stayed with them from Wednesday until after lunch on Sunday. We shopped too much!! Gotta love those outlet malls, we ate out a lot...so many choices to choose from, we waited 3 hours to eat at Uncle Julios!! We used to drive 3 hours to eat at Uncle Julios, so I guess there is really no difference!! We just had a really good time catching up and they got to meet Wesleigh. Their little girl Caroline, was pretty much fully potty trained when Wesleigh and I arrived, however when we left it was a different story. Her response to having a baby in the house was to regress!! I'm so sorry!!! Hopefully she is all back to her normal big girl business now!! :-) Thank you all so much for your hospitality and letting us hang out with your wonderful family!!

Day Six

So, on Sunday we loaded back up in the car and headed south. Our destination was Belton! We were headed to stay with my adopted family from college, Mike and J'Net!! They too had never met Wesleigh, so it was great to introduce them to him. Their home was VERY different than it used to be. Before when I hung out with them, it was grand central station with their 4 kids in and out! But, as kids seem to do, they've grown up!! Their oldest daughter is in Nashville attending school and anxiously planning her wedding for January. Their oldest son is in the Air Force and loving it!! Their youngest daughter is currently tryin to find herself in this crazy world. And, the baby of the family is a sophomore in high school. So, needless to say, their house was MUCH quieter than it used to be!! It was great to visit with them and give them an opportunity to love on my sweet boy!! Wesleigh was totally obsessed with the dog bed, and he was very pleased with himself when J'Net and I both turned our backs long enough for him to finally get his hands on the massive bowl of candy corns in the middle of the coffee table!! Little stinker!!

Move over Daisy...I'm comin' in!

Finally....the dog moved, and I have it all to myself!!!

Day Seven
Wesleigh and I were once again headed south, but not before we stopped on campus at UMHB. Wow, how that place has changed! Hundreds of Thousands of dollars has gone into many many many new buildings since I was there!! It is a completely different place. I was able to track down Dr. L, who meant the world to me while I was there. We were able to visit for a few minutes. He said that the look of the campus isn't the only thing that has changed, unfortunately!! It was great to drive through campus and see him, then Wesleigh and I were in the car, destination Nana and Grandpa's house!!! We made a little pit stop in San Marcus and did a little Christmas shopping at the outlet malls there!! Then, we finally arrived at Nana and Grandpa's house! They wouldn't be home until the next day, but we were just glad to be to one of our homes away from home!!!

So. that was our road trip....between Carlsbad and Beeville our road trip covered just over 900 miles and Wesleigh was a total trooper! Oh and get this...when we left Carlsbad, the cheapest gas was $3.29....as we went along it got a little cheaper. In Plano I was happy to find it for $2.61....in Belton it was $2.45.....then in Beeville it was cheapest of all, and it was $1.89!!! Woohoo...NEVER thought we would see the ones again!! Now, I am back in Carlsbad and it is $2.80!! How rediculous!!

The return trip from this adventure was an adventure of it's own....

Pumpkin Patch

The Family!
Posing...

I am adorable!!
So cute...

Before Wesleigh and left on our road trip, we all went to the Pumpkin Patch at a local church. It took a while for Jim and I to agree on the "Perfect Pumpkin"!! So, we got a big one and Wesleigh picked out his very own "Wesleigh sized" pumpkin!!

It is so hard to decide...

Decisions...decisions...

He had a blast crawling through the pumpkins. I set him down in the middle of them so that I could take some pictures....then the just took off, crawling through the pumpkins. He would crawl down the path, then if there was no more path he would just climb over the pumpkins and keep on going. The older people that were running the pumpkin patch got such a kick out of watching him. One of the old men called him a bulldozer, b/c he just put his head down and nothing was stopping him!! That's my Wesleigh!!

Bull Dozer

Daddy thought this picture board was WAY too girly, but mommy thought it was cute!!

Hmmm.....what's over there???

What a cute scarecrow!!

Sick Baby...

I promise I will update soon! I have at least 3 posts that I need to make, but right now I am working on getting my little boy well.

He has scarlet fever/strep throat...we have been on antibiotics for almost 24 hours and have seen much improvement...

So, hang in there with me, and hopefully today or tomorrow I will update on the pumpkin patch, our road trip across Texas and a week with Nana and Grandpa. Oh yes, and lets not forget our lovely road trip from San Antonio to Carlsbad in one day...

Stay tuned...

He found the bowl.........

The toilet bowl that is!!

Yep, we are in Dallas visiting friends and I was making his bath water last night and I turned around and he was just splashing away in the toilet water!! He was as happy as could be until I ruined all the fun!!

Very nasty, but little boys are just gross!!

I still have pumpkin patch pictures, but I probably won't get to download them until next week!!

We went to the Zoo!! Best darn Zoo Wesleigh's ever seen....

It was a zoo...but not much of one, but he thought it was great because he has nothing to compare it with!!

This picture is blurry, but too cute to not share!!

Well, we have had a couple of busy days!! Last night we went to Carlsbad Caverns to watch the bats fly out of the cave. Some people would think that wasn't very interesting, but we thought it was awesome. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would be the first among us to crap in my pants if a bat got anywhere near me, but watching millions and millions of bats fly out of a cave at sunset is incredible. They just kept coming and coming. They flew out of that cave by the thousands for a good 30 minutes. With all the talk of bats, Wesleigh started saying BAT BAT!! It is so cute. It is his new favorite word!!

Then, today we took him to the Carlsbad Zoo. It is a very small zoo, they have a lot more plantlife than animals. They had a bear named Maggie, bobcats, bison, elk, owls and birds of all kinds, snakes, wolves, and a few others that have slipped my mind for the moment, but believe me, the list isn't very long!! :-)

Look at that Rattlesnake!!
Don't worry, we did take the opportunity to have a teaching moment...never get this close to a rattlesnake EVER again!!
Looking at Maggie the Bear...who could eat Maggie the dog with one bite!!

We had some fun taking animal pictures with our camera, and some of our precious little boy!! He still loves the bat bats!! We actually found him a little stuffed bat in the gift shop!! He loves it!

Later today we are going to go to the Pumpkin Patch and take some pictures, so be on the look out for those!!