245 What have we been up to?

I have been seeing A LOT more of the park behind our house. I am trying to walk/jog on a daily basis to get back into some resemblance of being in shape. Some days I can get out there by myself, but mostly I end up with the jogging stroller and an extra 30 pounds to push. Connor is NOT a fan of the jogging stroller. He gets antsy by the end of the first lap. The only time he is content is when I am actually jogging... so, not often :) I am getting better, and I can actually jog a whole lap without falling over. BARELY! I am also hitting the exercise bike as much as I can. I am determined to get rid of as much of the extra weight as I possibly can. I will never be the size I was in high school (can't believe I thought I was fat then) but I can be much healthier than I am right now. Katie joins me in the park sometimes. She starts off with her skates on usually, and then ten minutes later she is done skating and she is ready to play on the playground. She is getting SO good at the monkey bars!! She has come a long way since she broke her arm last year! And she can do cartwheels! We are very proud! Poor little Connor man got a bug bite on his forehead Wednesday night, but I thought it was just a mosquito and not a big deal. The next morning it still just looked like a normal bite.

Then I put Connor down for a nap. He woke up about 3pm and the bite had swollen to golfball sized proportions! It freaked me out! I called his pediatrician, and they had already left for the day ... AT 3:30!!! So we went to the family med place around the corner. We finally got back to see the doc, and the swelling looked like it might be going down. We were just worried about it being a spider bite, but they said if it had been a brown recluse then after 18 hours it would have already been necrotic. WHEW! So, a hundred bucks later we were told to just keep an eye on it. It was good to have our minds put at ease ... but we could have really used that $100!! This pic is from when we got back from the doctor. We decided that treating it with chocolate should do the trick. It seems to have worked. Poor little forehead.It is about time for my little tree to burst into bloom again. It should be absolutely COVERED in pink blossoms very soon.I promised Katie that I would take her to see "17 Again" as a Mommy-Daughter date. Well, we have been foiled at every turn. The theatre here only showed it at 12:30 and she did not get home from Mia's until 1. So we missed that day. The next day they stopped showing it at all! And then the only place that has it is 30 minutes away and it started too late for us to make it back for Chip to go to work. To make up for it I took Katie to the zoo with her friend Mia. She wasn't too keen on the trade-off until I promised that they could play on the playground. I usually try to stay away from it. I hate driving to the zoo for her to play on a playground!! The girls were pretty good though. We hit most of the zoo, although we did skip the farm area and the herpetarium. They even consented to a few poses and smiles. Connor was in his stroller, of course. I know that if I take him out for even a minute then he will throw a fit about going back in, so he just has to stay in it the whole time. My Magpie checking out the Red-billed Blue Magpie!Katie is always excited about the longest fry.I had to prop the camera up for one group shot.And of course I made Katie make a wish on Buddha's belly.Katie actually insisted that we go to take a picture in this spot!! And, of course, the zoo trip ended with a dip in the Nile. Not as much of a dip as the kids in the background who were SWIMMING in it, but enough to get their feet wet. I did get Connor out for a minute to dip his feet. He managed to get VERY wet, of course.Also another picture they insisted on. They just had to climb up on the animal statues at the front of the zoo.

We had a pretty nice little visit to the Memphis Zoo. We love going, and I know we will be back very soon!

Other than that we have had a busy time shuffling kids around. Katie and Mia just rocket back and forth between out two houses. Katie has even spent the night twice int he past week. Thank you Tenbye for giving me a few moments of sanity!!! It is weird not having her at home, but she is only 6 houses away! I can get over that.