Wanted:Mommy Advice

So, Zack has been the WORST child ever the past couple weeks. Not on purpose, though. A week ago he had a major fever, runny nose, coughing...you get the picture. The fever finally went away, but everything else is still here. And now his fever is coming back and he is crying all the time! Not little cries, but SCREAMING cries. I. Can't. Handle. It. And we are in Brazil, about a billion miles away from his doctor. Here are my questions:
1) He is five months old. Could all this possibly just be teething? Has anyone else had a child teeth this dramatically?
2) Is it possible he has an ear infection even though he is not reaching for his ears?
3) Any other ideas?? Or anything that could help?

Zack is always so happy it drives me crazy to see him like this. He has a doctors appointment on Friday as soon as we get back to Idaho. I'm not sure what is worse: being the sick one, or having to put up with the sick one. Blah.

We made it to Brazil,

and we are still alive! To start off, I have to say Zack was AMAZING on the plane. He slept nearly the whole ten hours from Atlanta to Brazil, and when we was awake he was flirting with all the Brazilians. I'm going to have to lock him in the closest when he gets older...or you better just lock up your daughters. Anyway, we made it and it has been awesome. After a couple days to catch up on some sleep, we were whisked away to a resort in the mountains. It was beautiful! I mean, like fairytale pretty. It was in this secluded place in the mountains right above this little town. People rode horses around to get places and everything. Also, the weather has been perfect so we got to work on our tan by the pool! The pictures hardly do it justice, but here they are anyway. Next week, the beach house!

creative

So it's five thirty Thursday night, and I REALLY don't want to go to the grocery store. I want to just whip something up here, but I have no idea what. I mean, what can you make with a package of Ritz, olive oil, some tuna, one banana, and noodles? Looks like I'll be having cereal...

On other business, Chrissy tagged me to say some "quirky" things about myself. I'm really pretty unquirky, I mean, I'm almost so boring it's sad. But, I have managed to come up with a few things:

1) When I play Solitaire, the aces have to go in this order: heart, diamond, club, then spade. I have my little reasons why, but they are stupid so I won't go into them.

2) When I eat cereal, I tap out a song with my spoon on the bottom of the bowl. It drives Todd crazy.

3) I HATE wet socks. Even a little damp won't work, they have to be super dry and clean.

4) I LOVE (read these really fast to get the full effect): straws, puppies, annoying jingles, pedicures, sun, shoes, everything pink with sparkles, princesses, babies, hot chocolate, toaster struddles, blond hair, fishnet tights, and big, fluffy towels. I also love other things, but these mostly. :)

5) I'm immune to Advil. I can't take like six advils (and know this is unhealthy, I don't really do it...), and it has virtually no effect on by body. I think I have over used it...

6) I think I'm sick ALL the time. Not just sick, but dying. If I have a headache, I automatically think I have a brain tumor. If my stomach hurts, I have cancer in the ovaries. Weird stuff like that. But, *surprise*, I'm still alive!

Now I tag Michelle Johnson, Rachel Meynders, and Heather Bird to name 6 quirky things about themselves.

gobble, gobble

This Thanksgiving was the best ever! To sum most of it up, my family is now the size of a small circus soooo it's nonstop craziness. Great for me, not so good for the baby trying to take a nap while another one is screaming, the two dogs are trying to kill each other, and the most current football game is turned up full blast. I had fun, though. We ate lots of food (I'm still recovering from all the junk food...), went bowling, saw Twilight, played lazer tag, got pedicures, and went shopping. And I got zero pictures of it all. Awesome, right?

Todd and I also drove down to Bentonville and picked out our future home. I'll post pictures of that.

OH! And Zack finally got blessed. I'll post some pictures of that when I have time.

Two more weeks until Brazil! Actually, in two weeks exactly we will already be there basking in the sun while everyone here is stuck inside. Yay!

BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

I've had really great days before, but nothing compared to today. Yes, the day I married Todd and the birth of my child are still up there, but today was so amazing. Let's just start with this morning:

So, Todd and I decided to sell our ipods on ebay so we can buy iphones. Mine sold last night. The problem was no matter how hard I searched for it, my little green ipod was no where to be seen. We both thought it was gone forever, but then this morning I had the inspiration to go ask the manager of the apartment complex I live in if it was turned it. And it was.:)THEN, Todd heard back from an awesome job in Arkansas working as an accountant for Wal-Mart. HE GOT THE JOB! It pays well and will give him great experience, and it's super close to my family so we are excited.After that awesome news we decided to get our Christmas presents early and buy our iphones. So, I got a new phone and it's so pretty! Todd even bought me a pink cover thingy to go over it.
Then, Zack went to SLEEP in his swing, which he hasn't done in ages, while watching Baby Einstein. It was a miracle.To top all this off, I found the key I lost that lets me get into the lounge/workout area of our complex. I've lost it for about 100 years and I'm stoked I'll get to start working out again without having to go on campus.And, I got a funny picture of Zack. Enjoy.

Only my child...

could get a wedgie in a diaper. Yes, it is quite a talent if you ask me.
On another note, Zack has a new talent which is....sucking his fingers! He likes it more than his pacifier, and it helps him go to sleep at night so I'm game.

happy little family...

So, I finally got it done. True, they are a little late, but oh well.

Yes, Zack got his real baby pictures taken. And we had a family photo shoot. I thought it was fun; the boys thought it was torture. And Carly did an amazing job taking the pictures! If you want to have a look at her website then ask. I'll have to look up her website and post it later. On another note, only two more weeks until Thanksgiving (and Twilight movie coming out)! And then after that only two more weeks until we get to visit the Jackson's in Brazil! That's right...we get to go to Brazil for Christmas (where is summer) and go to the beach. Jealous? You should be.:)

I'm the (wo)man

Ever since Zack was born he has been such a great sleeper...once he fell asleep. For the first couple months I didn't have the heart to let him just cry it out at night, so I let him decide his bedtime which was usually around ten or eleven. To be fair to me, I read you should wait until they are three months to let them cry it out so that's what I decided to do. Then, on his three month birthday, I put him to bed at nine. I figured he sleeps about seven to ten hours at night so this would give me plenty of sleep before I needed to feed him. Then, after he is fed, he usually just falls back to sleep until around 8 a.m. Zack only cried for the first couple days, now he goes right to sleep! It is amazing. I'm just so proud of myself for not pampering him and letting him cry it out! Zack makes me feel like a good mommy, but I know I just have an incredible baby. Look at what time I posted this, and know little Zacky has already been asleep for about thirty minutes (he falls asleep around 8:45).Geesh, being a mommy is soooo easy. This is Zack asleep during one of our naps during the day. Notice how I said "our" naps. Yes, that's my brown sweater next to him...he's my little napping buddy.

haha

I stole this off of Michelle Johnson's blog. It's pretty funny.

*knock knock* Is Tamara there??

Yep. The Strangers is probably the scariest movie I have EVER seen! And I saw it edited. (Being married to Todd has turned me into a wuss.) Anyway, this Halloween was so fun. A whole group of us got together to watch scary movies, eat scary food, and make scary faces at each other. It was a shindig to remember. Here are some pics.scary cupcakesthe Edward and Bella pumpkin. Can you see them?? Look closely.monster eye ballsthe mummies

I am a princess, Todd is a rodeo king, and Zack a puppy. He was pretty partied out.:)

Zack, Zack, and more Zack....

Sorry, but I can't seem to get enough of this kid! He is just so cute. Here are some pictures for those of you who want to see him. There is a picture of him in his new carrier. He LOVES his new carrier. I love the carrier too because now I have two hands to do things around the house.:)

Something, something, something...itus?

Yep, that's the name of the eye virus I'm just getting over. It's real great. It causes redness, watery eyes, can lead to scarring and blindness. No, totally kidding about the blindness thing, but it can cause scarring because it eats the top layer of the cornea off exposing the nerves and making light kill your eyes. BUT, I'm past all the scary stuff (with no scarring), and I'm about to start wearing contacts again for the first time in three weeks!

As if that is not enough, the teeth the dentist "fixed" right before Zack was born are killing me. I would go back and have him fix it, but I think you would have to drug me to go back to that crazy, sadistic, needle loving doctor. It really did hurt worse than child birth. So now I'm waiting until we get real insurance to go to a better dentist...maybe my brother?? Only a couple months. :)

So that is the story of how I'm slowly falling apart and I'm only 22. Great, huh? Maybe next week I'll get worms.

Happy Times

I forgot to post about going to Utah a couple weeks ago. So, here it is:
A couple weeks ago we went to Utah! We stayed with Grandma Horne, which was so fun. She made us breakfast every morning, and we loved staying in her new home. We also got to go to a BYU football game (but I'm not sure who they were playing, so don't ask), and we got to see Todd's cousins. So, Zack got to meet and charm some of Todd's family finally. Here are some pictures to prove it. The first one is of Zack being incredibly happy. After that there is Grandma Horne, then Grandpa Jackson, and then cousins Jeff and Nikki. It was so great to see everyone!

Is there such a thing as a book addict?

Because if there is, I'm one. It started last semester when I took this Children's Literacy class and I had to read 60 teen/children's books. So, I was reading constantly throughout the semester on top of all my homework. Since this class (which ended in July), I have read all the Harry Potter books, some random, terribly cheesy LDS books (you know, the ones where they find the perfect RM), I've reread the Twilight series, and two books of the Uglies series (which were "totally bubbly"). I have also just finished the third Eragon book, Brisingr. It was so good! Now I can't wait until the last one.

But now I'm in a slump and don't know where to go from here. I feel empty when I'm without my fictional friends, and I'm about to start Harry Potter again. So please, help me not get sucked back into that world and help me find a new adventure! (Really, when I read Harry Potter I would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic trying to remember what spell to cast for protection. It was sad.) What books do you LOVE? I mean, can't live without and is at least in your top five favorites and then I'll read them. There are so many great books out there, I just need a little direction. Tack fer hjalpen!

Traitor

After dressing Zack today in his OU outfit, this is what I found:


Looks like I have some brainwashing to do...

my little model

Thank you Grandma Sweeney for the new clothes! I discovered I like the more preppy look for Zack. Here is an example:

And I did start the baby blog, but I hardly have time to upload pictures to this blog let alone another whole blog. So, that will be started next semester. Only one more semester until Todd and I are done with school! So exciting!

despoiling our child

This weekend we went to Utah, and Zacky was even more spoiled than usual! With great-grandparents and cousins he was rocked to sleep for every nap and every night. Not to mention he was never left unattended for more then two seconds (does that even count?). Now that we are home, he's completely confused as to why Todd and I are not huddled around him watching his every move. And he has learned the power for tantrums. Already. Chrissy always talked of "despoiling" her kids after trips to my parents house, and now I'm understanding what she meant. And I'm sorry, Chrissy. So sorry.

What do ya think?

My mom called the other day and said Zack looks "just like you!" I don't believe it. Look for yourself. Maybe it's the double chin that sets us apart? Gosh, I love this child!

Good news! Todd gets to go on an expedition to Arkansas! That means he is one step closer to hopefully getting the internship there. Keep your fingers crossed!

New Blog and other news...

I have decided to start a new blog that is dedicated to Zack for the grandparents. I'll post as many pictures as I can on it, and post any new developments. That way my blog does not become, as my brother Matt would lovingly call, a "baby blog." Todd and I really do have a life outside Zack (not much of one, but still...) that I can write about, and I'll still post some things about Zack on here but not as much. And I'll put a password on the Zack blog so if you want in, just let me know. :)

In other news, Todd and I are thinking about doing an internship down in good ol' Arkansas. I know. Not exactly what we had in mind at first, but it actually sounds pretty good. My brother and his family would live about an hour away, my parents about four hours, and I'm not sure how far my other brother is, but I'll drive it anyway. I wouldn't mind spending two or so years down there, but I would like to be somewhere like Utah in the end. I just love Utah. And it would be nice to live by the Jackson's when they come home.

School is going great! It is so nice to have our friends back. We are the only ones with a baby in our little group of friends, so it's fair to say Zack is the community baby. My aerobic classes are going fine and I've pretty much lost all the baby weight. I just found that out yesterday so Todd and I went to eat at Big Juds and I topped the whole night off with icecream. Let's just say I have limited self control.

So since I haven't set up Zack's blog yet, I'll post a couple pictures. He is just so adorable I feel selfish keeping him all to myself. (Yes, I'm one of THOSE moms whose children can't do anything wrong...so sue me.) The first one Zack looks super chubby, but is shows off his cute smile so I had to post it. Then there is one of his first girlfriend, Michelle. :)

My Child is Bipolar

And today I got proof. I was lucky enough to have the camera out when he had an exorcist moment (sorry some of the pictures are blurry...I forgot to stop rocking him while taking it. Also, Todd and I are currently looking for a better camera that won't mess up once-in-a-life-time pictures...) Here it is:Here is Zack sitting with me enjoying life...He even attempts to bless me with one of his famous gummy smiles...and then...

I think I was laughing when I took this picture, which made him more mad and so he...

Yep. Then less then one second later here is what he looked like:We are in for a long ride...but at least he's cute, right?