Bummer

Everyone in the entire world has their assignment and we don't.

My new fake TAG watch barely got wet and the whole face fogged up.

It made me more upset I lost my BVLGARI watch in Thailand that necessitated the TAG.

Today was laundry day. In the rain.

Brad had a bad day so screaming and whining are ringing in ours ears.

And we still don't have our assignment.

BUT, it's nothing a little Haagen Dazs and Grey's Anatomy can't fix. Goodnight.

Blue Skies Lookin At Me

Do you want to know what we did today? We went outside without jackets on. We didn't freeze. It was comfortable! It was As Good As It Gets. I'm officially declaring it - SPRING!!! Yippie Skippy Do! Tomorrow we're picking Cole up from school and heading to Everland. Something else worth noting, I made the perfect homemade pizza tonight. I mean it was GREAT. Sorry you missed it Keith.

You heard me, picking Cole up from school because he's cleared to go back! Their last Dr. appointment went well. Officially they had a staph infection a strand that started with a B and was 115 letters long. I honestly tried to remember it, but like the old "telephone" game I played by myself in my head it turned into bactroban. Which is also the name of the ointment they are on. Damn ;-)

They both had Cellulitis. Fun nasty stuff. I could do without it and thank Heavens it happened at the end of the trip. Things can go South quickly without antibiotics. The good news is that they did get treatment quickly and it was contained to their skin. I'm still on the lookout for other symptoms, but they should start scabbing over later this week. They could have picked it up anywhere so it's not just a Thailand thing. That means I still am in love with those thousands of little islands with the softest powder beaches. I can start telling you all the fun times and cool things we got to do. I can vividly recall jumping from rocking boat to rocking boat, the only way to access the resorts we stayed at! Ahh, Thailand. Thank you for the memories and the fake watch and sunglasses. Kob Koon Kaa!

Survivor Update

Ok, for the moment the boys are just fine. Their blistering skin is on hold and they are bouncing off the walls and furniture in their typical fashion. Their every need is met and we go for another check up in the morning. NOW....

Did you watch Survivor: Heros vs Villains? I'm hooked. Please let Boston Rob Align with Russell. Talk about a power team. I'm sure Russell has something different up his sleeve. I'm sadly disappointed in James's behavior, and what's up with Jeff Probst calling me out for naming my son Colby! Coach and Jerri - vomica.

Now, to prove my attention isn't SEVERELY misaligned, here's a picture of Cole's knee today. I just wish I knew how to rotate the picture before I save it... so just turn your head and compare. Since we're comparing boo boo's, I have a hangnail that hurts and I risk my open wound to treat my children's contagious funkiness. There, I feel better.

Overloaded

Usually when you return from a vacation you feel relaxed and reset, ready to return to reality. I've been robbed! Do you like how this baby blog has turned into me? I feel a bit like Scarlet, but that's a whole other post.

We landed in Seoul, boarded a bus, and rushed home. Thew our bags down and ran immediately to the emergency room. Cole's blisters were growing in front of our eyes literally every hour they were bigger and bigger. The Dr. marked the boarders with a sharpie and told us to come back in 24 hours if they started to grow. We were back in 4 hours and this time Brad had a lesion too.

Here's what Cole's knee looked like after the first Dr. marked them:




At this point they have each had 5 doses of antibiotics. The blisters have stopped growing in size, but more spots/lesion sites have popped up on both boys. Sore count: Cole has 3 on his left knee, 3 on his right leg, and one on his ear. Brad has two on his legs and one on his ear. They don't look nearly as bad as the originals on Cole's knee, but nevertheless, WHY are they still getting them? We are in a wait and see hold to give the medicines a chance. Cole's ear still looks pretty nasty. There was a moment where I was ready to jump on a plane to the States (ok, honestly I was thinking Hawaii ONLY because it was closer!) The boys were acting fine, you would never know their skin was blistering and falling off!

Keith is feeling better. I blame his stomach issues on his diet. My husband ordered pad thai EVERY meal for 8 days straight. As Brad would say "his tummy hated him". Let that lesson be learned, the digestive system can only safely handle 7 consecutive days of pad thai. From the pictures it appears I drank my calories for 9 days straight and I feel great.

Thank you for the prayers. I'm holding my review of Thailand off till the boys are better and healed. Depending on how long we deal with funky skin blisters I might waiver in my love for the stunning, breathtaking, God made tropical islands and beaches.

Departing Gift

I was so worried about Keith being sick on the way home (which he wasn't - thank goodness!) that I was totally unprepared to worry about flesh eating skin infections the boys were carrying around!

Yep, Thailand sent us off with some crazy staph infection. Immediately after landing we went straight to the Emergency Room. Three trips to the ER in 16 hours and I **think** we are on the road to recovery. Details and memories to follow.

ps - if you spend 8 hours in the Bangkok Airport between the hours of 7pm and 3am can you officially say you've had "one night in Bangkok"?

Half a World Away

We are spending our last night in Thailand. I hope everyone is ready to ignore my boring blog posts for the next month while I try to recall all the details of this trip. Let me just say, I love my children. Then I will say, a vacation is more like extra work when traveling with them. THIS was the trip to bring grandparents on ;-)

Now I must get back to nursing my husband. It seems he's got the Traveler's Bug. I got online to look up his symptoms and here I am on the blog. I'm trying to distract my over the top head that it's not dysentery or cholera. He'll be fine in a few days, I'm sure.

We'll be back in Korea soon and I hope he doesn't visit every toilet between here and there. Poor guy.

Signing off to order some room service. I'm too chicken to go out to eat alone with the boys. I value them and my organs.

My Heart Holder

Since we’ll be lounging on the beaches of Thailand on Valentine’s day, I thought I would post this early. Boys, let me tell you a little story of how I met your father. Keep in mind, this was WAY back in the 90’s and we were in High School. It’s filled with all the cheesiness that for some reason I can remember every detail of….. can’t find my keys, but you better believe I know the ridiculousness that makes up the non essensial details of our love story.

I was really close friends with Amy and Emily Chiles. Amy was a year older than me and Emily was a year younger than me. It turns out Emily started going to a new church group – and I mean it was new and tiny – Denton Bible. (look it up, it’s now a mega-church) Anyway, One day Emily says “Jennifer, you have got to meet this guy that goes to Denton Bible. His name is Keith McDaniel and he is C U T E ! Being slightly boy crazy I was hooked. Months later it was a Friday or Saturday night and I was going out with Amy. We made a pit stop by her house to get re-ready and as I walked past Emily’s room, I notice she had friends over. As it turns out, she invited Dan Shipman and Keith to come hang out with her and Meredith Shuck. Boys, you should keep these names in mind because almost everyone involved still lives in the Flower Mound area. If we ever live there in the future you could be friends with THEIR children. And I will have more input than you’ll ever want when it comes to whom you date ;-)

I quickly walk past her room and get an eye glimpse of your dad. She was right, he was CUTE, BUT he was also starting to date Meredith. This might have been over the summer because when school started back up guess who started going to Marcus???? Keith. His Dad (Grandpa Slothbear) moved and he was able to switch schools. I would see him around and we had lunch together. We never sat near each other – he with his friends and me with mine, but I would always delay getting up and throwing my trash away when the bell rang so I could walk near him. He also did the same to be near me. I noticed. Everyone together…. AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Fast forward almost the entire school year! May 21, 1993 and I’m in 4^th period Study Hall with Michael Dougan. We’re sitting around chatting and the question comes up “if you could go out with anyone in the entire school, who would you go out with?” My answer was Keith McDaniel. To my surprise Michael says “HOLD ON!” He gets up and leaves the room. Turns out he went to the class next door and finds your dad. Michael comes back and says, Keith will pick you up from work when you get off tonight and you’re going on a date. Umm, what just happened? I kinda didn’t care because I was very excited.

I worked at the Vista Ridge Mall in a candy store (Tropik Sun Fruit & Nut) and frantically had Melissa bring me up her best outfit to borrow. I think it was cream Bongo pants from The Wet Seal and a cream flowery silk tank top with brown flats and brown belt. Ask your father if he remembers what I was wearing… he won’t. That's ok, it might also have to do with the fact that I had a clothes journal. I wrote down what I wore every single day so I wouldn't repeat an outfit more than once every 2 weeks. Can you imagine the horror!? (ps - thank you for being boys) So she brings the clothes up to me and I close up the store possibly a little early to make sure I’m ready at 9:00pm. Guess who walks down the stairs… Keith AND Matt Garrison. Let me pause right there and remind myself that the writing was on the wall. This guy brought his BFF on our first date. I don’t even know if you can classify it as a date (again… writing on the wall) because we went back to his house where a party was already in full swing. See, Grandpa Greg worked and your dad’s friends always went over there to hang out. Yes, our date consisted of not spending ANY money. Man, so many bells are going off now that I’m recalling all these details.

At this small gathering/party is a girl I was fighting with, AJ Thompson. If you want to know the details of our tiff, I can still rattle off that story word for word. All the “he said” and “she said”… why? I have important things to remember, but this is locked away in my mental file cabinet. So AJ is there and I tell your dad that I don’t like her and can we go somewhere else? Sure we can! Do you know where we went? Uncle Brian’s Farm. And by “we”, the entire house AND MORE showed up at the farm down by the river. Since it was already kind of late and Papa and GeGe were the MEANEST with my 10:30pm curfew, I had to be home shortly afterwards.

We were standing in the back of Grant Kelly’s truck when your Daddy gave me our first kiss. From that moment on, it wasn’t “maybe we’ll see each other again”, it was as natural as “what are we doing tomorrow… for as long as we both shall live?” There was not any awkwardness or guessing, we knew that we liked to be together and were almost inseparable for the rest of the week (and years to follow). On May 26, 1993 your Dad asked me to “go” with him. Thirteen years later on that exact date your brother was born. BUT FIRST you have to have a wedding. I’ve got 8 ½ years of stories between first date and that!!

There’s so much more because young love in High School comes with DRAMA. But true love conquers all! Happy Valentine’s Day Keith. I love you so so much. Thank you for almost 17 years of memories. We’ve officially been together longer than we ever were apart!