What's Been going on.....

We've had a full couple of weeks! The week leading up to Father's Day was supposed to be pretty calm, but Tyler threw us for a loop. He spiked a fever on Monday night - almost 103! He was better Tuesday, but his fever was back Tuesday night. That meant a trip to the pediatrician on Wednesday and the verdict was a virus of some kind. Thankfully the fever stayed gone!
We also got to spend some time with our new neighbors. Jennifer and her kids came over to play and Emma had so much fun. The youngest member of the new neighborhood family is a little girl Emma's age, so we are looking forward to getting to know them better.
Father's Day weekend was a lot of fun. We went to our nephew's (Jack) last regular season baseball game on Friday night, had an impromptu BBQ with neighbors on Saturday, and celebrated Father's Day and our BIL's birthday on Sunday. Dave was VERY excited about his Father's Day gifts... He got several gift cards to put toward getting his Apple iPad.
Last week was another one that was a lot more exciting than it was supposed to be. Tuesday evening found me mowing the lawn and then folding laundry after getting cleaned up. I had the TV on and heard that we had a tornado warning - Dave didn't hear that because he and the kids were watching a movie. We got the kids and camped out in the laundry room because the weather guy mentioned that potential tornadoes were "rained wrapped" and would be hard to see. We got settled and then the storm came through with lots of wind and knocked out our power. Thanks to Dave's Red Cross radio, we had a flashlight and were able to tell what was going on. After a restless night, we woke up to no power. The kids and I spent the day with Dave's parents and that was a life saver! Thankfully, the power came back Wednesday evening. Cable and Internet came back late Thursday afternoon, but it was Friday morning before the phones were back.
On Saturday morning, I tried a hot yoga class at a new studio here in town. It was difficult and there were poses that I couldn't do, but it was fun and I'll be going back. Saturday evening was our turn to host our church dinner group. Emma and Tyler worked very hard to entertain everyone. Sunday was family adventure day and we took a train ride into the city to explore. Emma was a trooper and walked A LOT!
So far, this week has been exciting too. We had a mini family adventure last night after dinner. We went into the village and stumbled on the weekly free concert that we had forgotten about. We enjoyed the music while Emma played at the park. We moseyed over to our local ice cream shop and then tried to take a walk afterwards. It was a great day!

Productivity

It wasn't all that long ago that I measured productivity by how much got accomplished. Deadlines met, items ticked off the "to do" list, etc were all part of the productivity measuring stick. 3 1/2 years and 2 kids later the way I measure a day's productivity have changed a lot. Last Thursday is a perfect example... I did get a few "chores" done, mainly the things that have to happen for a family to function, but not near what I intended to do. Even though the things on my mental "to do" list didn't get done, I still consider it a productive day because my kids and I had fun. Instead of vacuuming and dusting (or whatever it was I had planned for the day) I spent my time coloring and playing Chutes & Ladders with Emma. We read at least 5 or 6 books and snuggled while watching a movie. My job as Mommy may not have the financial rewards that my previous career had, but I'm still "productive" and loving every minute of it.

Growing Boy and other updates

Tyler had his 5 month check up last week and he is a growing boy! He weighed in at 18 pounds 6 ounces and was 27 1/2 inches long. He got an overall thumbs up for his development. YIPEE for Tyler!

Emma has been loving her new swing set and we've been having a lot of fun outside playing.

Other exciting news.... Dave got his bonus and we celebrated by paying off the home equity loan for all of the home improvements we did after moving in.

Is Baby Oragel safe?

Last week, I made an off hand comment on Facebook about Tyler teething and needing to get oragel to help him trough it. A friend of mine who owns a day care in San Antonio sent me a message saying that she had been told by the state that it's unsafe and can reduce the oxygen levels in a baby's brain. A simple Google search later and sure enough, there is a FDA warning about not using Baby Oragel and similar products without a doctor's guidance. I called our pediatrician to get their take on situation.
They told me that they stopped recommending Oragel and similar products over a year ago because they have read reports that too much at one time can reduce a child's gag reflex. Our doctor didn't know about the latest FDA warning. I hadn't seen anything about it until I went looking. Since being told about the FDA warning, I have seen the information on multiple websites, but none of them are sites I would look at on a regular basis.
It boggles my mind that the FDA can issue a serious warning about a product and that information is not shared with the general public in a way that parents can make informed decisions about the care for their children. The product is also on the store shelves without any kind of warning that the product may be dangerous. How is it okay for the FDA or any other agency to issue warnings that a product may not be safe, but it is still being sold on a regular basis? For anyone who wants to read the FDA warning, here is the link:

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm250029.htm

Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day. After a weekend of crummy weather, Summer finally decided to show up on Monday. It was a great cookout at Dave's parent's and Emma had so much fun playing with her big cousins - especially running through the sprinkler. Tyler had a blast showing everyone how he can laugh and giggle.

Now, I have to get on my soapbox for a minute. On Sunday, I braved the crummy weather to run a few errands and was very disappointed by the number of stores I saw that had signs saying they were going to be open on Memorial day. What is going on? Memorial day is a federal holiday and a National day of Remembrance. When did that turn into a big day to go shopping? Is there really anything so important that it can't wait a day or be planned ahead for? I really wish people would remember what the day is about and send a message to retailers by not shopping on our national holidays.