Happy Halloween!

It's been a big Halloween week for us. Philip's school had a costume parade on Monday but Philip wasn't really into it at 15 months old. Still, he tried to put on a good face and like good parents, we had both video and camera ready to capture his weak attempt at a smile. On Tuesday we had the Birmingham-Southern College "Halloween on the Hilltop" festival. Little Philip loved it! We also got to capture some great sunset photos of our little construction worker.

Our new toy

We bought a new camera today! Big Philip and I agreed this WAS our Christmas. Unlike last time when we went for the best bargain for what we thought was high quality, we went for a more professional opinion at Wolf Camera (since cameras are what they do, rather than TVs, DVDs, stereos, computers, and cameras, and...). We looked at the more compact "pocket" cameras just like what we had before and then compared them to the bigger cameras that offered a much faster zoom, focus, and capture. We opted for the bigger camera and also bought the extended 3 year warranty. We aren't normally extended warranty people but it includes a yearly free cleaning and checkup which on this kind of camera, is worth it. And, if this one breaks like the last one did, the entire repair is free and covered. So roll your eyes if you want, we would have too prior to this camera fiasco. We feel good about our purchase and now are focused on learning how the heck to use all the features. If anyone is really big into camera knowledge, let us know if we made the right choice and also tell us some cool things we need to know our new Sony Cybershot DSC-H2. If you click on the name of the camera you will see a website I found that tells me what all the features are. That's great but we still don't know what all that means. We are ready to capture those Halloween smiles this year. Maybe Little Philip will smile unlike last year.

No Camera, Sad!

You know how you try really, really hard to live by what Dave Ramsey preaches about financial responsibility and good stewardship with the money God blesses you with? Philip and I tried to do that almost two years ago. I was pregnant and we wanted to get a really, really good camera to capture all those wonderful moments with our little one to be. We also bought a camcorder. Both we bought from Best Buy and both were "returned or refurbished" cameras, but the really good kind. We spent for the digital camera and camcorder about what we would have spent for the cheaper models but got the top of the line models. The salesman told us that we were coming in just after Christmas and that lots of people bring back cameras having just "bought" them to use for the holidays and then unethically return them saying "it's not what I had in mind." So, we thought we'd buy those two and take a chance. Now, our digital camera died and it doesn't have any more warranty on it. We tried to get it repaired but the camera shop says it would cost about $200, about what we paid for the camera in the first place. So, right now we are missing all those wonderful photo opportunities we have tortured everyone with on this blog and in person if you've had the misfortune of running into one of us who quickly says "have you seen the latest pictures???" We are saving up for a new camera and this time, we are buying the extended warranty. Sorry, Dave Ramsey , but this time we think it's worth it. So, no photos until we get a new camera. Or, we figure out how to take the really fuzzy ones off our cell phones.

Chuckle for Monday

The Plague Visits the Mosses

Timeline:
Thursday, 2:30 p.m. - Little Philip gets sent home from Trinity Child Development Center with 102.5 fever. Daddy picks him up and says he's not feeling so hot himself. Miss Nita tells Daddy that another child was sent home earlier that day with a high fever as well. "Aunt B" (Besty Mathews) comes over to watch Grey's Anatomy with us and we manage to keep it together, becuase we LOVE Grey's Anatomy and visits from Aunt B. Late in the evening Mommy gets sick but only once. Daddy stays sick all night.

Friday, 12:30 a.m. - Little Philip wakes up screaming, with 104.5 fever and spitting up. Mommy and Daddy give him Motrin and wait 20 minutes to see if the fever goes down before calling the doctor. The fever starts dropping and Little Philip falls peacefully asleep again. Daddy still sick.

Friday, 7:30 a.m. - Little Philip wakes up with 102 fever and gets more Motrin. Daddy wakes up and gets sick too. Mommy heads to work to coordinate a webinar she wishes she didn't have planned but has to at least get started. 11:30 a.m. Daddy calls and says Little Philip is spitting up again. Mommy comes home. We call Vestavia Pediatrics and the nurse says to start alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours. Fever comes down. Mommy starts bleaching the house.

Friday 2:00 p.m. - Little Philip is happy is a clam, playing with his alphabet books, chasing the cats, loving on the dog, pleased as punch to have both Mommy and Daddy to play with all day. Mommy stops giving him medicine around 8:00 p.m., thinking maybe the fever is over. Laundry is done, bleaching continues.

Saturday 12:30 a.m. - Little Philip wakes up again with a very high fever. Mommy feels guilty for having stopped giving the medicine and quickly resumes the every 3 hours regimen. 7:30 a.m., Little Philip wakes up with only 99 degree fever which is considered normal in a 15 month old. Success! Saturday evening - Little Philip's fever picks up again around 101.5.

Sunday - Mommy stays home from church with Little Philip who seems like he could go but doesn't want to infect the entire congregation. Daddy gets sick again in the afternoon after thinking maybe he's well enough to have that beef stroganoff Mommy made on Thursday. Mommy eats it too because she sure hasn't had time to make anything else since Thursday. Mommy crosses her fingers she doesn't catch all the germs she is surrounded with by her two boys. In the evening, Mommy goes to NCG (neighborhood community group) church fellowship gathering just to get away from all the germs. She asks for prayers to get through "the plague."

Plan for Monday morning - straight to the pediatrician's office.

Second Trip to the Zoo

Miss Sarah asked to take Little Philip to the zoo on Tuesday. She promised not to go into labor so we said yes. Tuesdays were the days that Little Philip had play group with Parker Pruitt, Sydney Raines Davis and her brother,Wilson. So as a reunion, they all went to the zoo together! I was told by Aimee Davis that while Parker and Sydney Raines were most interested in all the animals (the big kids), Wilson and Philip tended to focus on random things like doors, glass, mirrors, etc. The goats did finally grab their attention though. They ended with a cool dip in the water play area. Apparently, there are spurts of water that pop up all over the place. Little Philip accidentally walked underneath one just as it came up. He wasn't too happy but recovered quickly.