Caught Red Footed

A few nights ago, we found Spencer wandering around the apartment with a 4-foot strip of toilet paper stuck to his foot. Guess what he had been doing in the bathroom? He thinks it's great fun to unroll our toilet paper so we usually just take it off the dispenser and put it some place out of reach. Unfortunately, his tail broke off before I could grab the camera, but here's a picture of the remnants. His little feet get so sweaty that they always have all kinds of gross junk stuck to them. (Don't ask me about Alan's expression. I have no clue what he was doing. He! He!)

Random Fun

Where's Spencer?








Peek-a-boo!





This one's for Michelle. Spencer likes to play with salad dressing bottles too!






Here's my hot husband after his half-marathon a couple weeks ago. The course was hard, but he did great and those smoothies tasted really good. :) Wish I could have run it too.

Here He Comes!

I'm tired of blogging about all of our illnesses, so here's some good news. Spencer has been working on walking for awhile now and he finally got the last bit of confidence he needed last weekend. He has improved a lot the past few days, but he has several bumps on his head as evidence that he's a beginning walker! I can't stand him by the couch with some toys and expect him to stay there anymore. My freedom and semi-clean house are slowly, but surely disappearing. :) I'm afraid that my baby is turning into a little boy. It's kind of a bitter-sweet feeling. I love each new stage, but miss the ones he's left behind.

Now it's time to finally buy that kid some shoes. I'm having a hard time finding some that would be good for a beginning walker because Spencer's feet are rather large. Most of the shoes his size are made for kids who have been walking for awhile. Any shoe advice anyone? Did you shell out the cash for Stride Rite or settle for el cheapos because little kids grow out of them so fast?

Strike Three

We finally made it to St. Johns, but the trip didn't turn out quite as I hoped it would. It started out great - lots of relaxing, hanging out with my sisters and eating snow cones (my family owns a snow cone business). Spencer and Porter, my 6-month-old nephew, both had a hard time sleeping through the night and woke each other up a few times. It was a lot of fun to see them together though. I hope they'll be good buddies when they get a little older.

Here's Spencer showing Porter how to play with a string of beads.



Spencer looks likes such a big boy compared to Porter.



I love my parent's green yard and flowers in the summer.



Spencer's first time "swimming." He loves baths, but didn't care for this too much. He only lasted about 5 minutes.



The monsoon season started early this year, so I didn't get a whole lot of sun. The monsoons create beautiful cloud formations and sunsets though. That's one thing I really miss about AZ.



Everything was great until the day before we were supposed to come home. First Spencer woke up with a fever and then I tripped while I was out running. I scraped up my hands pretty good and got a deep cut in my knee. My Mom took me to one of the little clinics in town and I wound up with three stitches in my knee! Not good when you're supposed to run a half-marathon in 10 days. That wasn't the worst of it though. After I got home with my stitches, Spencer got more and more sick. The stomach flu had gone around the family earlier in the week, so we were pretty sure that's what it was. He cried almost constantly so we all took turns holding him and trying to comfort him.

After two sleepless nights, two doctor's appointments and a cancelled flight, my Dad and I took him to the emergency room. We didn't have to wait in the waiting room at all, but we were still there for about 3 hours. Spencer was sick to his stomach and had a fever, diahreah, a sore throat, an ear infection and a rash over his entire body. The doctor at the ER told us that he probably started out with the stomach flu, but it affected his whole body because he's so small and hasn't developed many immunities yet. They ran 5 painful tests on my little baby. It was so hard to watch and to have to hold him still while the nurses stuck needles in him and catheterized him. When Spencer wasn't screaming, he was asleep on my shoulder from exhaustion and trama. My Dad and I took turns holding him, but my arms were still sore when we were finally finished. For treatment, they gave Spencer a powerful shot of antibiotic in each thigh and sent us home with another antibiotic. The shots made his legs really sore so then it was painful for him to be held too.

Even with all of that, it took three days before Spencer started feeling better. His sore throat held on the longest. Those days were physically and emotionally exhausting. Spencer was still crying a lot and sleeping very little. I don't know what I would have done if my parents hadn't been there to help me. There is no way I would have had the energy to take care of him if I was at home by myself. My Mom drove him around town in the middle of the night until he fell asleep and then let him sleep on her shoulder for a couple of hours so I could get some sleep. My Dad took the day off work with be in the ER with me and gave Spencer a blessing. I'm so grateful to have a Dad and a husband who hold the priesthood and have the power to bless the sick. Thank you Mom and Dad for putting your lives on hold and doing everything you could to help me. Thank you for the wonderful meals and the two birthdays. Despite what you might think, I will still come back to SJ! I love you more than I can say!

Alan wasn't planning on coming down, but he came to help the day after the ER. My Mom and I were so relieved when he took over the night shift. Thank you Alan for your sacrifices in taking off work and coming all the way to SJ. Spencer needed his Daddy. And, thanks for Alan's brother and nephew, Geoff and Evan, for driving Alan the 4 hours from the airport to my parent's house!

Spencer was a little scared of my Dad at first, but he warmed up to him after our time in the ER together.



This picture doesn't show it, but Spencer really liked his Grandma LeFevre. She probably held him almost as much as I did for a few days.



Spencer finally started feeling a lot better on my birthday and that was the best present of all. I wasn't planning to spend my birthday at home, but it was great! I hadn't been home for my birthday since I was 19. Alan watched Spencer a lot during the day so I could relax and my parents watched him while Alan and I went out to dinner that night. I miss my family a ton when I'm in Oregon so it made my birthday extra special to spend it with them.

Michelle is almost 14 and is almost as tall as me. It looks like I might be the shortest one in the family. :)



After two canceled flights and a lot of hassling with airlines, we finally made it home almost a week later than planned. I'm feeling a little sad and lonely, but Spencer seems really happy to be back to his regular stomping ground. He's sleeping through the night again (hallelujah!) and has been super giggly since we got home. My knee is still too sore to run my half-marathon tomorrow and I'm pretty bummed about it. Hopefully I'll be able to find another one to run around here when my knee is healed. Right now I'm just so thankful that Spencer is feeling better and doesn't have any lasting effects from being so sick. It was pretty scary for a little while.