The Longest Post Ever

What a week we've had here! So much has happened since my last post! Here's the rundown along with some pics ... (WARNING: it's long!)



Tuesday, July 1

Tanner had an appointment for his 1 year pictures. As soon as we walked in the door to the studio, he started crying. Right away, I thought this was wierd because there were several kids playing with the lego table in the waiting room and usually this would make Tanner VERY excited! When he finally stopped fussing, I scooted him over to the table, where he was trying to play nicely with everyone. Another, older, little girl was determined not to share any of the legos with Tanner, and as soon as he would pick one up, she would take it away. At one point, she grabbed Tanner's hand and squeezed really hard and yelled at him. I immediately snatched him up and walked away -- he was SO upset! Anyways, they finally call us back for our appointment and Tanner immediately starts crying again. After 5 minutes with no change, I told the photographer that I would just reschedule. I was so mad as I walked back to my car. All the way home (45 min), I thought about how bratty Tanner acted and was frustrated that he couldn't be his usual cheerful self for 20 minutes so we couild get a few pictures. GEEZ!

You can go ahead and give me the award for Worst Mom of the Year now.

When we got home, I took him into his playroom and tried to play around with him a little bit. After a few minutes, he crawled into my lap and layed his head against my chest and I noticed that he was burning up! My poor sweet boy had a fever all day and all night and then again in the morning. How did I miss this?!! Surely, a good mommy would have seen this coming! Still, though, I can't seem to snap out of bad mommy mode. He doesn't have a rash. Hasn't vomited. No diarrhea. I assume he is getting a tooth.



Wednesday, July 2

My sister came to visit. We shopped. Despite the photos you are about to see, Tanner was cranky again for most of the day.






Thursday, July 3

I took Tanner to the doctor for his 1-year "well"-baby checkup. The appointment started out fine, but after they weighed and measured him, he proceeded to cry nonstop for the rest of the appointment. Nothing I did seemed to soothe him -- I didn't know what to do! I was literally yelling back and forth with the doctor over Tanner's cries. The doctor asked me how he had been feeling lately. I told her about the fever. She said that a virus involving a fever had been going around lately. She checked inside his mouth and found several sores. It turns out he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Virus. Poor Poor Thing. And his mommy thought he was just being a brat ...

Later that evening, I packed up the car and left to pick up Jon in the city on our way home to Michigan. What a nightmare! I definitely wasn't aware that this was their night for fireworks. The traffic was TERRIBLE and our usual 2.5 hour trip took 5.5 hours! We didn't pull into my parents' driveway until 2:30am!



Friday, July 4th

Today we celebrated Tanner's one-year birthday with our family! Tanner was a little bit cranky again, but I think it went pretty well. He loved his cake and couldn't get the chocolate into his mouth fast enough. We had a great time with our family! Aunt Lauren and Uncle Daniel came in from Georgia. Uncle Pat came in from North Carolina. Aunt Kat and all of the grandparents were there, too. Earlier in the day, all of us "kids" were able to go tubing on my dad's boat. It was such a special time with my sisters and their husbands! I even stepped out of mommy mode for a few minutes and tubed -- after pleading with my dad to take it easy on me!!

Saturday, July 5th

We started the day doing what the Shirley family does best ... sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking. I love those kind of mornings. In the afternoon, we went cherry picking at a U-Pick farm down the street. We got TONS of sweet cherries. We were going to let Tanner help us pick, but he insisted on putting the cherries directly into his mouth as soon as he picked them, which was messy business. We also picked some tart cherries and I made my first cherry pie with them today (7/9)! It was so yummy!


Later that evening, our extended family came over for a cookout. Tanner still wasn't feeling good, and was a bear the whole time. Poor guy.







Sunday, July 6th

Early morning fishing on my dad's boat.

Tears as we bid farewell to our dear Aunt Lauren, Uncle Daniel, and Uncle Pat.

More sadness as Tanner and I said goodbye to daddy for the week -- he was headed back home to work, and Tanner and I were staying in Michigan for the week.



Monday, July 7th

Tanner doesn't sleep well when we're here. I don't know if it's because it's a strange crib, or because we sleep in the same room, or what. He usually spends the first few hours in his crib. By 11:30, he is in bed with us, and he still manages to wake up at least 3 more times during the night. Needless to say, I'm TIRED!!! Tanner isn't, though! He decides 5:45 is a good time to start the day, so we head into the kitchen where I start some coffee and do a few dishes. While I'm working, TANNER STARTS WALKING!!!!!

HOLY COW!!! He turns one and thinks he's big enough to walk! I watched him take about 5 steps from the refrigerator to the cabinet where my mom keeps her tupperware. When he was done, he looked at me with this HUGE grin on his face like, "Mom! Can you believe I just did that?!!" Later on, he walked all the way across the kitchen, and he has been taking more steps ever since. He laughs the entire time he is walking -- it's hilarious. Poor Jon is missing all of this, but at least Tanner has 4 other people here cheering him on!



Tuesday, July 8th

Nothing happened today. It rained. We ran a few errands.



Wednesday, July 9th

Tanner's first trip to the beach! My car was packed to the gills with stuff we would "need" for this outing -- a beach chair, a beach blanket, beach towels, some magazines (what was I thinking?), a floaty toy, sand toys, snacks, a change of clothes, another bag of miscellaneous stuff we might need. I wasn't sure what to expect and I wanted to be fully prepared! It turns out, all I really needed were a few towels. He LOVED the sand. By the time we left every inch of him was covered! He just loved rolling around in it and crawling all over the beach. He played with his toys for about 10 minutes, but insisted on exploring for the rest of the time. He was also fascinated with the water. After an hour and a half, I was exhausted from watching him and chasing him around everywhere and we had to leave.






I have to admit, I was a little jealous of my sister, Katherine, who stayed a few more hours and enjoyed the perfect summer weather while she read a book. Those were the days ... ;)



Okay, if you've made it this far, you are truly a loyal reader! I hope you've had a good week! Hopefully I'll be able to post again sooner rather than later -- today is a trip to the zoo! Can't wait!

Blessings!