Back to Normal

Madelyn's pneumonia started clearing up - and wouldn't you know it - Jude starts with the same cough. We immediately took him to the doctor where we learned it wasn't pneumonia - it was asthma. We already had steroids and a breathing machine - so we were set up. We added him to the daily nebulizer schedule, and I'm happy to report that he is doing much better. Here's proof:

My Poor Little Poopsies

It has been a rough month for kids at the Wilson home. Three weeks ago Jude came down with a terrible cold that lasted for two weeks. JUST as it was starting to go away, he slipped off the fireplace and put his tooth through his lip. Ouch.

Just as Jude's cold was clearing up - Madelyn started showing the same symptoms - only worse. After a few doctor visits a chest x-ray was ordered, and it turns out that our little miss Maddie has pneumonia.

This is the shirt that the doctor gave her last night. I know you all are dying to get your hands on one, so here's an insider's tip: you have to vomit ALL over yourself at the doctor's office. Twice.

Here's Maddie with one of the MANY treatments she's on. She hates the Amoxicillin and Prednisone, but thanks to a small fish mask, Madelyn is happy to do her breathing machine - and that's the most important part.

I don't think I can handle any more sickness, so here's to a healthy April.

The Sky is the Limit

My husband comes from a family of "child-throwers" where they toss children up for fun. This was something that my family never practiced growing up (I think it's against our religion) but I am starting to get used to it. We have a pretty low ceiling at our house, so the kids can't go that high - but at grandma and grandpa's house, I'm fairly sure the kids go up a good sixty to seventy feet. The kids all LOVE uncle Rob for that reason. Madelyn took her first BIG throw last night, and had a blast. Thanks for the pictures, Stacey. I wasn't sure if I should put these pictures up because I'm sure that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE is thinking, "Oh MY! How ABUSIVE!" But then I realized this is MY blog, and if some over-protective-cyber-parent feels the need to criticize - then BRING IT ON!!


Unfortunately not all the kids had the same reaction.
Oh, I kid. Coleman loved it too. He must have done six or seven throws, and made the same face every single time.

Socks and Sandals

It's totally back...embrace it.

We Heart St. George

We took a mini-break to St. George last weekend and stayed at Rob's parents' condo. It was a wonderful weekend of swimming, shopping, exploring, and some much needed R&R. And to be honest, we were pretty glad that ALL of our friends had other plans. No, seriously, we don't really even like you guys.
This is how the Wilson family travels in style. I should also add that we wear our sunglasses at night. This was the small cramp in our style. Our front tire went flat somewhere on I-15 between No-where-ville and Nothing-to-see-town. Rob is a flat tire GENIUS, and had us back on the road in less than ten minutes - luckily the next big town, had some tires they could sell us for an arm and a leg. No hard feelings though, the town's slogan is "Best Tasting Water in the United States," which means it's probably a HUGE tourist town - and they're always more expensive.
Madelyn spent a GOOD portion of the trip actually looking for George. There were a few possible spottings, but no confirmed sightings of this "George." She just couldn't figure out why he was not at his house.


Rob's ready to go back and golf at this gorgeous course, so hopefully we'll be headed back soon. Thanks, again, Ross and Tammy!

Two Left Feet

We have a little tradition around our house called, "Two O'Clock Dance Hour." It started when Maddie was a little over a year old, and it basically means that at 2:00 everything in the house stops, the music goes on, and we boogy. It has undergone a few changes in the past year - as it is now at 4:00 to accomodate nap times, and now includes Jude. The music starts, and we all go nuts. Maddie and I do similar dance steps (that she has taught me) and random arm flailings that she calls, "like this," - as in, "No mom - do it like this." I look forward to it all day, because its an entire hour of laughter at our house. Maddie looks forward to it because it helps her get her energy out. Jude looks forward to it because he gets to do his best "Rainman" impression. Boy does this kid know how to rock! You can pause the background music on the left side of the page if you'd like.

JOHNNY!

(Johnny and my sister Sarah)

Yes, yes, it's time for another birthday in the Kopp family - and today my little brother Johnny turns 23. Wait, really? 23? That's how old Rob was when we got married. That's scary.

Johnny undoubtedly has the biggest laugh of anyone in our family, and it is incredibly contagious.

Johnny is the one that doesn't "match" anyone else in our family. He's the only blonde, which was already odd - but then he grew a beard....and it was red. My mom calls him "The Viking" - along with many other odd nicknames.


About 3/4 of Johnny's vocabulary was learned from The Simpsons and/or Family Guy, making me confused about 1/2 of the time.

Anything you can do, Johnny can do better. He learned it faster, he was humble about it, and now he's making more money at it than you.

Johnny and I used to ditch school together...a lot. We would pretend we were going to school (backpacks and all) go to Denny's for breakfast - and then just go home.

Johnny has had more concussions than anyone else I know - combined.

Johnny is a natural born Rock Star. He plays piano, composes music, and is amazing at bass guitar. Oh yeah - he also has his own little recording studio.

(Johnny's Band's Christmas Card Photo)

Johnny once stole Greg's hat, and told Greg that he could have it back for $10 - which Greg then paid.

I used to let Johnny drive my car - when he was thirteen. He would follow my instructions SO closely that he once tried to get out of the car without taking off his seat belt - because I forgot to tell him to.


(Johnny and his girlfriend, Sierra)

Johnny, we have had some AMAZING times together, and I miss you terribly...come see me! I hope you have a wonderful birthday - I love you.

We are Hilarious

These are the lovely ladies that help keep me sane. We had our dinner and a movie last night...which reminds me, DON'T see "The Other Boleyn Girl." That is unless you are a man hating masochist(aka anyone who enjoys Lifetime Original Movies). We all felt like we had been shot in the stomach when the whole thing was FINALLY over. Anyway, back to girls night. Here are a few top pics from the evening. I hope I chose the pictures that do my friends all the justice they deserve, although I know I'll be getting grief no matter which pictures I put up.

Stefanie and Ashlee having a "genuinely funny" moment.


Kat and I. We really are that funny.

Kat has a shrunken head, but we try not to stare - and usually treat her like an equal.

The other man that Kat secretly came to see. Careful, Ben, he was quite a looker. So much so that Kat couldn't stop taking pictures of him.

Thanks, ladies! I had a great time!

Can you do me a favor??

It'll only take a few seconds... click here and vote for Jessica and Donovan at the bottom of the page. Jessica is a friend of mine from high school, and I would LOVE for her to win this free wedding. You can vote once per day, so keep coming back. THANKS!!!

Happy Birthday Gooter Booter

(Greg and his beautiful wife, Mandy)

Today is my brother Greg's 24th birthday - and I couldn't be more excited to rat him out in blog form. Afterall, Greg, you WERE my nemesis for MANY years. So, here we go.
My brothers Dan, Greg, Johnny and I were all in the kitchen fighting about the fact that I was (once again) responsible for cleaning all of the "misses" next to the toilet - which were obviously not my doing. Dan claimed that he used the basement bathroom, and Johnny claimed that he had great aim and that it HAD to be Greg. All eyes turned to Greg who tried several times to deny Johnny's accusations. He began getting nervous and sputtering out lame excuses until he finally yells, "IT'S NOT ME!!! I SIT!" The room broke into an immediate silence and all mouths dropped. Dan let out a big, "NOOOOOOO!" To which Johnny giggled and said, "Okay - it's my mess." And went upstairs to clean the floor.

While sitting round the dinner table Greg starts talking about how excited he is for summer. "I can't wait until it's warm outside - I'm so ready to wear those, um - what are they called? They're like pants, only shorter. You, know - those short pants? What are those called - short pants?" The rest of the family is sitting in silence HOPING that Greg would, just maybe, think about what he'd said, until Dan busts out with, "You mean, SHORTS?" To which Greg (relieved to have recieved some help) says, "Yeah - shorts. I can't wait to wear shorts."

We had a crawlspace in our old house that doubled as a toy room. While walking by one day my mother noticed an odd smell coming from it. She went in and sifted through toys and old boxes only to find a BUCKET full of urine. She called in Johnny and Greg to see who the heck had made the mess, and Greg fessed up. He said, "I was saving it so I could sell it to Todd (the neighborhood bully) as lemonade."

Okay, Greg - you've had your moments, but you're amazing at so many things. You're a talented photographer, a great bowling buddy, a self taught computer whiz, and most importantly - a great person to be around. I know I'll always be in a good mood when I'm with you - so thanks. I love you to pieces, pal.

Here's a copy of an IM Derek and I had last week...enjoy!

sideprojectrules (2:13:53 PM): by the way, the 28th is around the corner, you should call greg and remind him he has a birthday coming up.

makopp47 (2:15:46 PM): haha - I already made him put an alarm in his Iphone.

sideprojectrules (2:16:49 PM): that's good. i'd hate to have all the fun pass him by because no one called to remind him.

So what did YOU make last night?

There are a few things that my father is notorious for within our family. One of his most popular bloopers is the pairing of any colored (but usually red) flannel shirt with a pair of navy sweatpants. A fashion faux-pas that only the truly confident can pull off. I'm not really sure at what point my dad slipped that on and thought, "Yes, yes. This is PERFECT," but it stuck. It became his softball, yardwork, laundry, Saturday, traveling, camping outfit. Basically, it was either that - or a shirt and tie. The only other person I had known to flaunt a similar dress-code was my Uncle Dave - but his flannel was always replaced with a ribbed, mock-turtleneck of sorts. Within the first few weeks of dating Rob, a tire on my jeep went flat, and Rob came to the rescue. He showed up in, yes, a red flannel and navy blue sweatpants. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to run to him and hug him for the nostalgic moment, or run from him to avoid a very bizarre "am I dating my dad?" situation. Luckily - the outfut has not been revisited, and I think the flannel has since been donated to charity.

Cut to yesterday afternoon: Jude's week of horrid diarrhea comes to a head, and his diaper leaks. I change his pants, and continue making dinner. Everything is fine until Jude walks past, and I realize what I've dressed him in:


I don't know if I was just confused, or something in my subconscience took over, but either way - I'm scared.

This is the kind of dad that Rob is. Every single day. I don't think we could be any luckier. Oh, how I love this man.

Parenting Check

I need some feedback from all the moms out there. Everytime I go to see the pediatrician, he asks if I'm giving my kids flouride...to which I change the subject. He always writes me up a new prescription for it, so now I think I have six or seven sitting in my top drawer. I KNOW that all the dentists out there are big into flouride - because it's good for your teeth. I also know that all the purists out there are opposed because it's shown a lot of other negative effects on the body. In most states the tap water already has flouride in it - so supplements aren't neccesarry...but living in an area where our water is flouride free, I find myself at a bit of a loss.

Cancer runs rampant in my husband's family - so I've spent the past few years minimalizing any extra toxins in my home (cleaners, shampoos, baby products,skin care, etc.). So, now that I consider myself somewhat-green, I don't know how to deal with the flouride issue. I mean, it's not like I'm spiking my kids' drinks with bleach or anything - but is flouride worth it? (Kris, I'm EXPECTING a huge response to this one).

Oh, and lets add a little fuel to the fire: I personally use flouride free toothpaste, and since switching over, have had zero cavities. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Who needs a Valentine...

When you can get a poem like THIS:

My dear Melissa, you are so sweet,
You make my heart go tweet, tweet, tweet

Everyday I see your smile,
I want to go the extra mile

To our two runts, you are the mother,
And compared to you there is no other.

Happy Valentines Day from your holiday Scrooge,
Maybe next year, we’ll try the Olympic Luge. (nothing rhymes with Scrooge)

Anyone else sensing a bankruptcy in Hallmark's future?