McCoy Farm Memorial Day Picnic

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend with a day hike in North Carolina on Saturday, a neighborhood BBQ on Sunday, and the second annual McCoy Farm Memorial Day picnic on Monday.

The picnic lasted from 11am-4pm and was free to the public, with the option to buy food from the Lion's Club and participate in a silent auction. 

We parked at the church across the street and were shuttled in a golf cart part of the way – we had our wagon with us, but the driver graciously let Daniel and I ride while pulling the wagon! The boys got a kick out of that.

At the event, we listened to live music, purchased hamburgers and pizza from the local Lion's Club, and let the boys play various games set up on the lawn. 

I think Jack's favorite things included getting his face painted, having his first taste of cotton candy, and checking out all of the fire engines.

The weather wasn't too hot yet and sitting the shade was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Isaac was a little young to really play, but he had a blast with a couple of balloons that someone gave him.

We had a great time and look forward to more of these annual picnics. Next time we will make sure to meet up with friends, but it was fun as a family event too. 

The little green wagon that Isaac received for his first birthday is really coming in handy this summer!

Late Christmas

One of the benefits of living where we live is that we are a lot closer to Daniel's dad and his wife, Esther. Their house is about 45 minutes from our soon-to-be house. While not next door, by any means, it is close enough we can meet up pretty easily.

Because of our crazy life situation over Christmas (i.e. being homeless), we were not able to meet up with Wesley and Esther during the holidays. Instead we met for dinner during the week shortly after we got moved into our temporary house.

They were sweet and brought Jack's Christmas presents – which he opened in the parking lot. He absolutely loved the remote control airplane (from the Pixar movie "Planes") that they gave him. He calls it his "helicopter" because it has a propeller on the front.

Wesley and Esther often babysit for Esther's grandkids, so when we meet up, Jack has the added benefit of a playmate. On this visit they had Aubrey (age 3) with them.

This past Sunday, we met up with Wesley and Esther after church for lunch at Logan's Steakhouse. It's sweet that Jack is actually recognizing relatives and he called Wesley, "Grandpa" without being prompted.

On the note of seeing people more often, now that we are getting settled on the mountain, I am realizing just how "small of a town" Signal Mountain is. I have run into my friend Courtney at least 3 times recently (outside of the Y or church). It is a nice perk of living in a small geographic area.

Firsts

Some firsts are good. Like your first bath or your first ride on a four wheeler. Other firsts are not so fun. Like getting your first tooth or getting sick for the first time.

Jack is currently experiencing his first bout of sickness. Definitely not fun. For him or me. It doesn't help that I am also sick {and probably passed it along to him}.

Since both of us appear to have colds – clear snot and no fevers. I have been letting Jack ride it out. Yesterday {day 3} his little cough worsened so I called our PED and made an appointment to have him looked at. Her first concern was that RSV is going around and she wanted to have labs run on him to make sure the little rattle in his chest wasn't something worse than the common cold.

We live in a small town. Thankfully we have a PED we really love. However, to get labs run, she had to send us to the hospital. 

The hospital, people!!!

It felt so weird to drive over and "admit" my little one to a hospital. The admissions lady asked me if I would be okay with people calling on Jack while he was there... cue silence...  

"I thought I was just here for labs... he isn't stay here, right???"

Thankfully this question was just routine and she put my fears to rest {for then} and sent me upstairs to a nurses station.

I got to the nurse's station, looked around and asked if this is where I go to get lab work done. It was. The nurse proceeded to put us in a hospital room {granted there was no bed, but it was still weird}.

Then I sat there while she went to get another nurse who could help "hold Jack down." While she was gone I started to get nervous. No one had mentioned what they would be doing to him. In my mind I started thinking about lab work I have had done and it generally involves drawing blood. I was worried for my little boy – especially because even if he did have RSV, unless it got really bad, there would be nothing that we could do for him...

So I held Jack and talked to him while we waited. Finally another nurse came in and had me hold Jack while she ran the test. Thankfully it only involved shooting saline up his nose and sucking it out. He did not like this one little bit, but it probably helped to clear his sinuses out. When they were done I nursed him and then we headed home.

Later that day our PED's office called with the lab results. They were negative. They called again this morning to see how he was doing. He slept well last night, but that cough is still bothering him. I will continue to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get any worse.

Just another small town experience. Hopefully we won't be going to the hospital "for real" any time soon ever.