Holy Spotty Baby Batman!!!! Jessaleigh just keeps getting more spots! I actually took pictures this morning to document them, because I couldn’t keep track. Last night was absolutely horrible! I got two hour long periods of sleep and maybe three half hours shots as well. Jessaleigh was very uncomfortable and really hated having mittens on her hands. Thankfully my mom came over to help out so that I could nap when Jessaleigh was napping – THANK YOU!

In breaking news – Chanler has 2, yes that’s right 2, chicken pox! He has a huge one on his back (which we were joking should count for at least 5) and one tiny one on his neck. Not sure if he just caught a light case or if this is just the beginning.

Well it is certain, Jessaleigh caught the chicken pox; it is still unclear if Chanler caught them too, or if he will have to wait and get them from his sister. Jessaleigh is pretty well covered in spots – back, neck, scalp, face, and my least favorites, inside her ear and under the diaper! The ones on her neck and ear seem to be bothering her the most, but fortunately my Mother-In-Law (Payce) left me some MSM lotion. I don’t really know why it works, but it seems to help her feel better.

ETA: Chanler is significantly annoyed that he has no spots and his sister does. I think he has been looking forward to getting the chicken pox so that we can have friends (who want to catch them) over and he can be the “lollipop taster.” That is what we called the boy who we caught the pox from, because he got to taste everyone’s lollipop before they got it.

Here’s hoping for a good night, but not expecting one!

We exposed our kids to Chicken Pox 11 days ago. We did it intentionally after weighing the risks and benefits of the vaccine vs catching the disease. It is an interesting place to be as a mom – TRYING to get your kids sick…

So, for the last few days we have been waiting; waiting to see IF they caught it. This evening Jessaleigh got about 3 spots mostly on her neck. It is enough to say – yes, Jessaleigh is getting the chicken pox. I am, at the same time, happy that it worked, and sorry that my baby has to deal with it. If I could do it for her I would in an instant.

For now at least she seems to not be bothered by them.

What do you call your children? Do you call them there given names all the time, a shortened nick name or a silly pet name??? I am curious!

I was having a conversation about this with some my mom friends a few weeks ago comparing pet names for our kids. Some seem like they could stay with a kid for their whole life and some just “wouldn’t be kind to keep.” Another friend of my commented that children seem to “earn” their pet names – an interesting idea.

So what do you call your kids?

We have a variety of pet names for each of our children including:

Chanler: Dude, Big Brother, Mr. Man, Bud, Little Man, Doodle Bug, & Trouble

Jessaleigh: Baby, Sister, Little Miss, Miss-chif, Baby bee, & Yau-de-leigh

I am starting to find that life as a Christian mom seems harder than it would be if I were not. I don’t mean the mommy part , that is always hard, but try explaining crucifixion, resurrection, grace, prophecy, ritual sacrifice, salvation etc. to a three year old!!!!! Most of what I say comes back out of Chanler sounding blasphemous (except I don’t think he really GETS it yet) or at the very least very modified.

On the other hand I DO think it is important to be teaching him about Jesus now. I just makes for some very interesting conversations!

The bad thing about falling asleep with your kids during nap time is that you can’t sleep at night! Grrrrr.

So there are two things keeping us from replacing our car seats 1) we haven’t gotten the insurance money and 2) we need to measure the bench seat to see if the seat we want to get for Chanler will fit.

A funny note: While we were checking out the new car seat for Jessaleigh (we are going for a high max weight convertible as opposed to the bucket seat we currently have) I saw this one and was almost compelled to buy it just because of the name. If only the name wasn’t on a seat I don’t want and in incredibly ugly PINK

Older parents will always say to you “enjoy this time.” and I get it. Babies grow up so fast (I can attest from experience.) It is strange though, I am trying to enjoy this current “baby stage,” but at the same time I feel like I have tunnel vision and I can see my life “fast forwarded.” With my first I wanted him to do everything (milestones) on time or early to prove that he was OK (or better than OK.) With Jessaleigh, I sometimes feel like I am measuring her against when her brother did things. I know rationally that you cannot measure kids against each other (and really shouldn’t even), but it is hard from me to not say “when did Chanler do X???” I want to enjoy this baby stage, but at the same time I am looking forward to the next stage too. Sometimes I feel like I can almost look down the tunnel that is my life and see what is to be. Children grown, etc. and then I come racing back to now with an infant and toddler. It is almost surreal.