Stew says he loves you when...

he chomps all over your shoulder till it's purple with bruises.

he snuggles into your chest and buries as deep as he can.

he belly giggles at a simple smile.

he looks at you with those scrumptious eyes and you just know it.

(and my most favorite of all) he gently squeezes your neck or arm in his sweet, pugy little fingers. A little love squeeze I like to call it!

Hand, Foot, Mouth...what?!

On our way home from Mexico, Paul and I were mega struggling. I'm sure that we looked like death walking around the airports, waiting for our flights. We were both having serious chills to the point of our whole bodies shaking uncontrollably. We were probably the only ones with jackets and long-sleeves in the entire Phoenix airport. And we had bad body aches and sore throats. Plus Stewart was still sad as ever and fighting with all his little might to avoid napping. We were all so happy to finally be home sweet home. The next day was Mother's Day but Paul and I agreed to take a rain check on our little celebration since we were both so sick. Thank goodness Grandma Heslop came to take Lily for the day so that all of us sickies could rest as much as possible.

That night we decided to take Stew to the insta-care because I was sure that he had an ear infection. But when we went in and got him all checked out, no ear-infection. The poor little guy did have Strep Throat though. The doctor could clearly see that Paul and I weren't in great shape and we all assumed that we had whatever Stew had. So he prescribed antibiotics all around. We thought it would be down hill from there and we'd all be back in no time. 

BUTTT... that morning when I woke up, I felt like a spider had gone to town on the palms of both of my hands. Weird! and disturbing! My throat was also get worse and I didn't feel like the antibiotics had done squat. Throughout the day my hands got itchier and more spots were popping up on my palms. I remembered something that the insta-care Dr. and Jeff both barely mentioned when they say the rash on Stew's feet and legs. They had each said something to the effect, "Oh, I hope it's not Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease.." I kept wondering if that was what I had!

The next morning, I had spots all over my the soles of my FEET! Oh no. I was so itchy and buggy. I felt like I waking on rocks and anything I did with my hands just irritated them that much more. I did my own little googling research on the bizarro disease and it says that it is a virus and there is no meds for it, just pain killers to help. It also is not common in adults, just kids under 10... of coarse. Each day my throat was getting worse and by day three I could see spots all over it too. On my tongue and really bad ones at the back of my throat and I'm sure all up and down my esophagus. It felt like acid even when I drank water! Luckily, from my good friend Abbey, she let me in on a tidbit of good news called 'Magic Mouthwash' (I know, it sounds about as made up as this disease I had). I called my friends over at Rock Hotel and they got me some. All you do is swish and swallow and it numbed everything. Kind of felt like my throat was closing off but at least I could eat some food before it wore off each time. 

So "in my experience" (funny joke between Paul and I, because we actually have no experience in this, but I think that I do), I think that poor Stew Stew had Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease and Strep. Which he then gave me Hand, Foot, Mouth and Paul got Strep. What a sweet little guy, dividing up his sickies to his parents. Luckily, and shockingly, Lily never got sick through any of this. But that's just because it wasn't Croup!!

Mexico

... it was quite the roller-coaster. Our big Heslop vacation this year was to the beautiful Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. We stayed at the gorgeous Grand Mayan which is where we were four years ago on another Heslop vacation. I thought this would be a good opportunity to take the kids on a vacation since we had already done the same trip previously. I knew what was there and what to expect. We would spend the majority of our time at the resort playing in the many pools and basking in the sun at the beach. I thought it would be great because I could just hop up to the room and let Stew have a nap and then we would join the others after he rested for more fun in the sun. But of course, things don't always go as planned!

Last Friday night, the night before our early morning flight, we were eating a quick dinner at Heslop's and out of absolutely nowhere, Stewart threw up everywhere. I was shocked, I didn't know what to think. He had zero reaction to it. He wasn't sad or upset, and it was the first time he had ever thrown up. I was hoping with everything that I had inside me that it was just something weird he ate and that he was not sick. We had weeks of being all being healthy and we just needed one more for our Mexican adventure. So that night we lined Stew's floor with blankets incase he was up all night to minimize the clean-up. But "YAY" he never woke up in the night. I thought we were in the clear. So we packed all up and headed to the airport. I sat in the back with the kids and fed Stewart a little of my yogurt on the way. I was talking to Lily and getting her psyched about finally being able to go inside the airport (which may have been a highlight of her vacation) when I looked back and saw Stewart had thrown up a little in his car-seat. OH-NO! It was a very stressful flight for Paul, watching Stew's every move to make sure he didn't vomit all over the plane. We had a lay-over in Phoenix and so far so good. But then on the way to Mexico, he was eating something and started gagging. Ready for action, Paul was able to catch two separate throw ups with very minimal mess on anything.

We finally made it to Mexico! We were all in good spirits, except for some anxiety Paul apparently was having the entire flight. But things were looking up. Stewart was acting relatively normal, just a bit tired which I expected since we woke him up a couple hours earlier than his average day. That night after we go settled in our rooms, we went down to this yummy Italian restaurant at the resort. While waiting for our food I started feeding Stew his dinner. Paul noticed that Stewart had blown completely out of his diaper... like, I don't want to go into details, but it was the worst...EVER! I am sooo glad that there were no other diners around us because it for sure made me lose my appetite. After going back and forth (to bath and clean him up) and back (he was just not having it, me and him were calling it a night) and forth (Paul gave me the towel key instead of the room key), I was absolutely exhausted and done. I put Stewart to bed and just vegged the rest of the night. Everyone slept through the night but when I brought Stew in bed with us in the morning to give him his bottle, about half-way through, guess what? He threw up everywhere, poor little guy. So we sent everyone off to church while we just laid low and let Stew rest.

To make a really long story short, every time I thought Stewart was getting better, he threw up at a restaurant or woke up crazy early and screamed the whole time. It was super bizarre but every single day he woke up one hour earlier than the day before, almost exactly! The first day it was at 8, the next was 7ish, the next 6ish, the next 5ish, the next 4ish, and oh yes, the last day he woke up at 3'oclock in the morning and screamed almost until 7. It was so unlike him to even wake up in the night so I was at a complete loss as to what to do. By the last two mornings I took him on stroller rides around the resort just to calm him down. I will say that mid-week when he woke up at 5, he fell back asleep an hour later in my arms. It was really precious and the highlight of my week. He hasn't done that since he was a newborn so it was a little tender mercy to experience that again.

We did have some good times playing at the beach, lounging in the lazy river, and playing in the pools. Paul was able to get some good frisbee tossing in along with beach volleyball, parasailing, and a canopy vip-line adventure with the family.

 

It was definitely a trip we won't be forgetting!

A Glimpse of the Months to Come!

Paul and I had this grand idea of having a little neighbor party this week to really soak up the much awaited nice weather. We figured we would barbeque, play volleyball and let all the little ones run around till they dropped. So without much thought, one night when most of the neighbors were mingling at the Torres yard (which may be a regular occurrence this summer), we told everyone our plan. Then, the day come of our little shindig, I realized we don't have a grill, our backyard is not company-worthy with no patio, no chairs, and no shade... So, off to Heather's I went to nonchalantly ask if we could all crash at her place since she has a grill, perfect shading, and an amazing yard for the little ones to play in. Heather is my new "neighbor BFF", she is the sweetest thing! She is so nice to let me plan a party and make her be the host. So by the end of the night, we all just hung out at the Torres's except for our volleyball match at our place. 

We are so grateful to live in an area that has so many amazing people and a place where our kids can run and play outside and be surrounded by little friends. I am so looking forward to this summer and all of the friendships and memories we will create. 

Easter

Our Easter saturday was stuffed full of hunts, eggs, friends, family, sugar highs, and fun! We started off at the neighborhood Easter egg hunt at the park. There were thousands of eggs! Lily was set after she found about three, I had to convince her to pick up a couple more that she just happened to walk by. Silly girl!!

Then we headed straight to Jeff & Keri's for hot cocoa, snickerdoodle bread (yumm-o), and some more hunting.

We ended the fun-filled day with the traditional egg hunting, hot-dog roasting, frisbee throwing afternoon at great-Grandma Heslop's. The kids were all tuckered out after the long day outside running around.

Easter Sunday was a day to reflect on Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for all of us. What a gift and a blessing it is to know that I don't have to be perfect but that I can still live with Heavenly Father, Jesus, and my family. Christ suffered and atoned for my sins so that I can repent. Another comfort to know is that He felt all of my pain as well. I try to remember that in the times that I feel so alone, because I am never alone.

That night was the viewing for sweet Grandma Eames. It was a great experience as I tried my best to explain the wonderful plan of salvation to my baby girl. Lily was so sweet as I know she was trying to understand death and our savior and the amazing thing that Jesus did for us. He died for us so that we can live with him and our Heavenly Father again when we die. What a sweet blessing to be able to live in heaven with those we love. Lily kept asking why Grandma Eames was sleeping. She wanted to view the casket multiple time to see if she was awake yet. I explained that Grandma's body was here but that her spirit was in heaven with her family and with Jesus.

Lily has the sweetest spirit and this experience made me so grateful to be her mother. It is so amazing to see her little mind and heart grow. I look forward to sharing my testimony with her and teaching her many more gospel principles.

Spider

For a few weeks now Lily has been calling Stewart "spider". At first, i wasn't loving it cause who wants their sweet little baby being called something creepy and yuck! I tried to get her to stop cause I had no idea where it was coming from. But then I watched her one day, she was saying it as he was chasing her around in the kitchen. He was doing his little bear (or spider) crawl on his hands and feet. So since then Stew has become out little "spider"...


They love playing and chasing in the kitchen together. Lily finally has someone who will chase her anytime she wants. I can tell they are going to be great little buddies for life!

A windy/satisfying Saturday

This Saturday Paul and I took Lily over to the park by our house to fly Lily's kite she got for her birthday. It was crazy windy but we thought we would give it a try. The only other time I have flown a kite is when little McKenzie was about 2 years old. So I'm not much of a pro when it comes to kite-flying. Paul ran all over that park! He didn't get too much height on that kite but it didn't matter because it was soo fun to play as a family and spend that time together. We have been pretty family-time deprived lately while Paul has been away on work trips so much. But this fun at the park helped make up for all that lost time with Daddy.

One of my favorite times all year is General Conference. It was so enjoyable to just sit home with my family and listen to inspiring, uplifting words from our prophets. I noticed a lot of topics were based on parenting and especially mothers. Maybe that is because those are the things that I NEED to hear which is why I noticed this re-occurring theme :) Elder Cook said that the one of the most important things we can do for our children is to pray with them. Lily surprises me almost every single day by how smart she is and the small things that she picks up on. I know that I am the most influential person it her life because we are with each other ALL day EVERY day! Makes me realize the importance of my words and actions. Something I will work on...