Bluebell Creamery: Touring the Ice Cream Factory!!!

On Friday, Chris took the day off so that we could go to the Bluebell Creamery in Brenham, Texas.  We had wanted to go there for a while now, but had not yet been because it is only open during the weekdays.  So, now that Chris' parents are here visiting, we felt like it was a good time to go.

We headed to Brenham with the Tahoe fully occupied.  Grandad and Nathan sat way in the back row, while Grandma and Benjamin sat in the middle.  Chris and I sat up front of course!

On our first attempt to take the tour, Benjamin woke up.  So, we exited quickly and took him outside to feed him a bottle of expressed milk.  Then, we had to wait for the next tour to began. 

Once underway, Nathan enjoyed seeing how the Bluebell ice cream is made.  I think that us adults enjoyed seeing it too!  Benjamin sat happily in his stroller using his pacifier and gazing around.

In the end, we each sampled a different flavor of ice cream.  Chris went with the Dutch Chocolate, and I tried something new to me, Birthday Cake.  The birthday cake flavor was a keeper for me and for Nathan too.  Halfway through Nathan's ice cream, he decided that he wanted Mommy's instead, and he finished mine off for me!

Dinner With Chuck E Cheese

Nathan is quickly approaching 3 years!  We would like for him to be fully potty trained.  He was doing so well in June.  Every time he and I went out on a daily outing, he always was wearing underwear instead of pull-ups.  Nathan was excited about using the potty - no matter where we went.  His pee pee accidents were few and far between, and he was only wearing training pants at night. 

Until July 15th came along!  Then mommy became a little busier with baby Ben.  Daddy and the grandparents let Nathan get away with wearing pull-ups quite a bit.  The potty training was going in reverse! 

Then, Daddy went back to work.  I began where we started before, with Nathan waling around the house bare-bottomed or with loose-fitting shorts on.  He has had many more accidents than he ever did before Ben came along, but the important thing is that he is back on track!  Hopefully, the start of Mothers Day Out in September will help to encourage Nathan even more.

Last week, I put into place a sticker chart reward system.  I explained to Nathan how he would earn a sticker each time he made pee pee in the potty and that with ten stickers he would get to go to Chuck E Cheese's.  I am still not convinced though that a 2 1/2 year old can understand this concept, but we did it anyway. 

Nathan needed a night out with his parents without baby brother.  He earned his ten stickers, and we headed to Chuck E Cheese's on Thursday.  We ate pizza, drank wepsi (pepsi), and rode the little rides, and played the games!  Meanwhile, Benjamin spent a lovely evening with Gigi and Papaw.

A Morning of Fun For Nathan

On Tuesday, Chris was able to stay home with us from work.  To take advantage of this, I suggested that we take Nathan somewhere really fun.  Chris was working from home, so we could not be away for too long. 

We decided to go to Bouncin Bears, which was only 5 minutes away from the house.  Bouncin Bears is a big room filled with inflatables.  It costs about $5.00 per child.  So, it was a close, inexpensive, and fun thing to do for an hour or so. 

Nathan absolutely had a blast there!  Unlike the last couple of times we have been to these sort of places in the past 2 years, he was not at all afraid of the noise.  He jumped on the jumpy parts and slid down all of the slides! 

To top it all off, we took Nathan to Chick Fil A afterwards so he could have some fries and chocolate milk.  I'd say this was the perfect time for Nathan!  It felt great to see Nathan have a good time!

The Family Sickhouse

Towards the end of last week, I noticed a tickle in my throat.  "Uh oh!" I said to myself, as I suspected that Nathan had come down with a cold a couple of days before.  I knew at this point that I too had picked up the nasty virus.  Thoughts ran through my head like, "Ben is going to get his first cold!"  and  "How are we going to get through a newborn AND a sick household?" 

I was totally frightened Thursday when I woke up with a scratchy throat and a headache.  I asked Chris to stay home on Friday to help me out, thinking that I would be sicker that day.  Luckily though, I still just had a scratchy throat and a headache.  I thought to myself, "This thing is so mild. . .no problema!" 

Saturday and Sunday were mild days for me too.  Nathan seemed to be coughing more and much to his delight, we began giving him medicine (Nathan loves medicine and thinks it tastes like candy)!  By Sunday, Ben started showing signs of having contracted this bug.  He was sneezing little, tiny baby sneezes and had a runny nose.  Chris began suctioning his nose and taking him into the steam room.

Today, we checked for fever early in the morning to see if Ben needed to go to the pediatrician again.  So far, he has been quite fever-free.  Truth be told, Ben has been very high-maintenance today.  He is wanting to nurse every 2 hours or so.  He seems to be having trouble calming down to go to sleep without nursing.  So, I am doing my best to appease his needs.

I am sicker than ever before today.  I have had to take cough medicine and tylenol to soothe my cough and headache.  Maybe that's why Ben cannot get to sleep well in my arms alone.  I hope and pray that we will all be better sooner than later.  I also pray that Ben will remain fever and infection-free this week and that this will truly be a mild cold for Benjamin's first!