A few things

Hey y'all. I've got a bunch of randomness coming your way.

 Unstuffing his favorite pillow...(making an inner liner for it is on my to-do list)

 Luke is doing much better. Thank. Goodness. Sunday was the most nerve wracking day of my life. The cold he had caught from Madelyn on Thursday or Friday started out just as a bad runny nose, but Friday night he had a croupy sounding cough. Saturday he was doing OK, but not great. (All the running around we had to do that day probably didn't help.) He started wheezing that night but slept in his bed fine. Sunday morning, Mark looked in his ears and one of them was infected, and his wheezing had gotten really bad. Mark said his lungs sounded clear, so his airways must have just been swollen.

He labored to breathe all day long, even after multiple albuterol treatments with his inhaler and oral steroids. NOTHING seemed to be helping. He was breathing so fast and his little body was working so hard to push air out and pull it back in. Even Mark, who is usually as cool as a cucumber, was freaking out. We were so worried. We considered taking him to the ER, but there wasn't much else that could be done for him that we weren't already doing (not to mention we have no insurance and a lack of funds for an ER visit). Luke threw up at least three times, probably from choking on mucus. So we prayed a lot and then prayed some more. He relaxed more when he was asleep, and when he finally went down for the night, he slept really well.

Then yesterday morning, he woke up happy! He was still wheezing a little, but since then his breathing has gotten back to normal. He's still congested, but is on the mend. I'm so grateful. He had RSV when he was three months old too, around New Year's 2010, and that was a nightmare. Ugh!!!! I'm so glad we have modern medicine.

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There's a few exciting things happening online--one of them is a giveaway for a free 30 minute photo session with Sammi Beardall of Feels Like Home Photography, who did our fabulous family pics last year:

 

Anyone in southern Utah or Las Vegas, NV area can enter HERE. Winner will be announced 2:00pm April 17th.

I was perusing msn.com yesterday when I came across this slideshow:

Swoooon!

Diamonds and aquamarines, folks.

If you love tiaras as much as I do (seriously, an obsession since I was little), you must check out the gallery of tiaras (you might need to hit refresh when you get to the page) from the British Crown Jewels and Queen Elizabeth's collection. I would just die to wear something like that. I still remember my breath being taken away by a diamond and turquoise (my two favorite stones) tiara I saw at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. I'm pretty sure it's this one:

I think I'm getting drool on my computer. WOW.

It was a gift from Napoleon to his bride, the Empress Marie-Louise in 1814. It was originally set with emeralds instead of the Persian turquoise. Think how fantastic that would look!

I can't wait to see if Kate Middleton wears a tiara when she marries Prince William on the 29th. Did you know the one Princess Diana wore at her wedding was a family heirloom of hers (the Spencer's), not from the royal collection? My other favorites are the Festoon Diamond Tiara, the Kokoshnik Tiara, the King George VI Victorian Sapphire Tiara and the Wessex Wedding Tiara

Anyway...

I love this picture. It's thinking about getting warm here. It's almost been in the 60's this week!

 I finally put my AVA (Angels and Airwaves) decal on my car. I bought one for Mark's car a few years ago but didn't feel that Ol' Bess was worthy of one. So I waited and waited and finally the day came when I had a shiny new car, just waiting to be decal-ed. And I'm loving driving it, by the way. I've used the heated seats a lot! Nothing like a toasty tushie!!

 I've been trying to decide what to name her. The first name that popped into my mind was Camilla. No idea why--maybe I'm into matronly cow names? Or I've got Britain on my mind? Anyway, Mark's car is known (by him) as the Millennium Falcon because sometimes you have to bang on the dashboard to get things to turn on, a la Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.

I'm annoyed because this morning, someone from Early Intervention was supposed to be coming over to do an evaluation of Luke's speech --it was free so I figured I might as well. I had tried calling them all day yesterday to reschedule because of his illness, but their fax machine was tying up the line. So I stayed up late trying to get the house presentable and rushed around this morning cleaning up, Clorox wiping everything and getting Luke and I dressed. I was finishing getting dressed when they called at 10:00 (the appointed time) to say they couldn't come. So all I was left with was a mostly clean house (the front half) and a giant headache. I'll take the half of a mostly clean house, but dang this headache! Grumble...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is coming out on video this Friday!!! Which means that Part II is only three months away! Woo-Hoo!

Well, that's all I've got for now. I've got to go peel Luke out of his high chair mess and give him his medicine. Toodle-oo.