The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Ear update

As I told you on Monday, Maxwell has a double ear infection and started on Amoxicillin Friday.  I was really hopeful that he’d be back to his old self by Sunday but, no such luck.  When he was still pretty pitiful on Monday morning I took him back to the doctor and she confirmed that the infection in his right ear was not getting better and his left ear was even getting worse.  No good.  So, she gave him a prescription for a stronger antibiotic, Augmentin.  After even just two doses he already seems to be doing better.  Thank goodness, he’s just been so miserable.  I think it hurts me almost as much as it hurts him!

I took these pictures Monday morning before I decided to take him back to the doctor.  You can just see in his eyes that he doesn’t feel good…

These ear infections have been like a horror movie…that’s why I decided to dress him in his Freddy Kruger shirt.  ha!  I bought this shirt at Old Navy and had no idea that Freddy Kruger always wore a red and brown stripe shirt until Robert told me when I got home. Guess it could be a makeshift Halloween costume if we need it!

Hopefully this horror movie will be over soon and he’ll be back to his smiley, giggly self!

In case you’re wondering (although I’m sure you’re not), the birthday pictures from yesterday were actually taken earlier last week before he got so sick…that’s why I got a few good smiles out of him! but, if you look at them again, you can see that he’s got redness under his eyes and looks a little tired..the infection was coming! 

Robert’s Birthday!!

Today is a very special day.  It’s Robert’s birthday!!!  Happy, happy birthday to the best husband and dad we could ask for.

Hey Maxwell, should we take some special pictures for Dad’s birthday?

Sure momma! I’ll give him a good smile…

Wait a second, I know what will be even better. Let me get festive…

That’s better.  Is it straight on my head? Gotta look good for Dad’s birthday pictures!

Yes, Maxwell.  It’s straight and looks great!  Now, should we sing Happy Birthday to Dad?

Oh yes!  You sing and I’ll clap along…

Happy Birthday to you!

Oh goodness Momma. You’re not a very good singer, are you?!

Happy Birthday to you!

Oh my…you might need to stop singing Momma.

Happy Birthday dear Daaaaad!

I mean it Momma.  Stop singing right now or I’m gonna karate chop you.

Happy Birthday to you!

Phew, I’m glad that’s over. Now I’m gonna give Dad one more big Happy Birthday smile!

Happy Birthday Dad! I sure do love you and am so glad I look just like you!

I love you too, Robert…and am so glad that we have a mini-you.  Here’s to the best birthday ever!!

Double Trouble

Happy Monday everyone.  As I mentioned on Friday, Maxwell wasn’t feeling so hot last week.  I was really hoping he would wake up Friday feeling better, but he didn’t. He was worse on Friday actually…just a generally miserable little guy.  I took him up the doctor and we got the dreaded diagnosis – double ear infection.  Ouch.  The doc said the right one was definitely very infected and the left one was just starting with lots of fluid built up.  We were sent home with an Amoxicillin prescription, ear numbing drops and advice to give him Advil every 3 hours. By that night, after 2 rounds of Advil, he was already doing much better.  While he’s still pretty pitiful…mainly because of the insane amount of snot coming out of his nose (really, it’s insane. I’ve never seen so much snot)…he’s on his way to recovery. I’d like to thank his nursery school class for so generously sharing their germs to build up Maxwell’s immune system. 🙂

Robert and I were supposed to go to a wedding down in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.  Once we got the dreaded diagnosis, we debated about not going but, after seeing that he was feeling better Saturday morning, decided to go on and make the trip.  He was left in the very capable hands of Susan so I had no worries at all.

Here’s Maxwell Saturday morning before we left…dressed to cheer on the Tide!

I’ve only been down to Tuscaloosa once and it was for an AL game. There was no game in town this past weekend so it was a good chance to explore a bit and check out some of the devastating tornado damage. So sad.

We did take time to stop into the Bear Bryant museum…

and now I can say I’ve done that. Yep, that’s about all I can say.  🙂  In all honesty, it was interesting…and I’m glad they only charge $2 to go in!

We then got all dolled up to go to the wedding of one of my Vanderbilt friends, Kate. The ceremony and reception were at her home and everything was just spectacular.

Please notice Robert’s awesomely tied bow-tie that I tied for him (with a little help from YouTube)!

It was so fun to see a bunch of friends that I hadn’t seen in quite a while, like Adrienne and her husband, Josh.

Kate looked beautiful and her dress was gorgeous…

Too bad you can’t see her dress in that picture. I need to give Robert a less on taking pictures of the bride!

We had a blast and danced the night away…

but couldn’t wait to get home to this guy the next morning!

I’m hoping we’ll get our little buddy back to normal this week.  Being sick is the pits!

A little more Aspen

On Wednesday I showed you this shot of my mom and I on the Rio Grande Trail…

It should look familiar to you because I had shown you this shot about a year ago…

I think they’re in almost the exact same spot! I’m thinking I need to go back to Aspen every September from now on to take another picture…watcha think Robert?!  🙂

I almost came home with these boots for Maxwell…

Baby cowboy boots

but then I remembered that we live in Birmingham, not Aspen, and I decided against it.  They sure were cute though!

I also thought this was such a cute leather jacket…

kiddie leather jacket

until I realized it is for kids.  Yep, this is a children’s boutique and I don’t even want to know how much the jacket cost.  Over the top!  They also had this cute little cocktail dress…

and this fabulous frock…

Perfect for those kindergarten charity balls, don’t you think?

Gotta love it!

Hope you all have a great weekend.  We’re ready for it as it’s been a rough 24 hours around here.  Maxwell picked up some sort of bug at school – he’s been fever-y and was even pukey on Wednesday night.  Lovely.  Hopefully he’ll be feeling much better and we’ll get to do some fun things, like mowing the hard wood floors…

and cheering the Tide on to a victory over the Gators!

See you Monday!

Aspen! Part 2

First, Happy Birthday to my fantastic sister-in-law, Jenny, today!!  Hope it’s a GREAT one!

Continuing on with the Aspen adventures…

We got up on Saturday and, feeling adventurous, decided to go on a little hike before our spa appointments at the St. Regis. Our helpful concierge told us about an easy hike right up the mountain that was only about 3/4 of a mile.  Perfect!  We headed out and, although it was a little uphill, had fun. We were quite proud when we reached what we thought was the summit of the trail…

The views were fantastic!

At this point we were apparently supposed to walk down the dirt road to the bottom of the mountain…something our helpful concierge didn’t tell us make clear. So, we just kept walking on the trail across the mountain…

until it became clear that we had missed a turn.

After a few good laughs, we finally found a path that snaked us down to the bottom of the mountain.  When we exited the path, imagine our surprise when we saw there was a whole finish line set up just for us!

ha!  It was a half marathon and the path literally dumped us out right at the finish line. I think the winning runner was just a few miles back…glad we didn’t get in his way!

After our (longer than expected) hike we had a great morning at the spa. We then rode the gondola up to the top of Aspen Mountain.

That afternoon, we went over to Aspen Highlands and took the bus up to Maroon Bells.  It was honestly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen…with the water, the mountains, the trees.  Just stunning.

There was even a wedding up there that day and the bridal party was quite entertaining.  They were leaving at the same time as us and couldn’t find their car, so they tried to get on the bus and it was comical. I think they had all had a few pre-ceremony cocktails!

We then headed back to Aspen, got another cookie from Paradise Bakery and sat on a bench doing the best people-watching…and getting updates on the AL/AR game from Robert!  Roll Tide!  We were supposed to go to another fancy dinner that night but we decided to ditch those plans and eat at Ajax Tavern with a great view of Aspen Mountain.  This was my dinner…

and it was definitely the right decision!  We were tired and called it a night after dinner knowing we had to get up bright and early to catch our flight home.  While we were sad to leave (especially when we both stepped off the plane at home to hot, humid weather!), we were SO HAPPY to have had such a great time!!

Meanwhile, back at home, Robert took care of things all weekend.  He even handled Maxwell getting stung by a yellowjacket!  Oh no!  I got a call on the top of Aspen Mountain from Robert and I could hear Maxwell SCREAMING in the background.  He had actually stepped on a yellowjacket and got stung on the bottom of his foot.  Ouch!  Robert calmed him down and, after a little love from Elmo and Mr. Moo, Maxwell was doing much better…

I couldn’t wait to get home Sunday to see this little guy waiting for me!

Overall it was such a fun trip and I’m so glad we got to go.  Happy Birthday GJ!  Where are we going for 61??!!  🙂