FamilyMullen BLOG

Here’s the second part of our beach picture slideshow-rama! Scroll down to see Part 1.

Yeah … as usual it’s been too long since I’ve updated.  But, I’m here now aren’t I?

Below is a slideshow of pictures from the 2008 version of our annual Sunset Beach vacation.  It was a great trip. If you click on the slideshow, it will take you to larger versions of the images.

More pics to come in the next post!

Here’s a slideshow of some of the photos taken during our recent camping trip to Cunningham Falls State Park, in Maryland.  We spent the weekend camping with Jennifer’s brother Scott, and his wife and two boys.  A good time was had by all!

These photos are also available on Flickr.  If you click on the slideshow, you can view them there.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Yes … it appears I’ve forgotten about this little blog. Someone actually reminded me about it the other day, saying they visit every so often to look for updates. Obviously they’ve been disappointed. I’m going to try to do a little better if I can. I manage two blogs of my own and two more for clients, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for personal blogging.

So, while I get my act together, here are a couple of pics for you to enjoy:

Hannah’s ballet class got studio-ish pictures done.
Hannah and friend at Hannah’s 6th birthday party
Jackson got to be a fireman for his preschool spring program
The best we could do for a Mother’s Day picture

You may or may not know, but I’ve become a podcaster. I host two shows now — Fighting Back and Startup BizCast. I was fiddling with my recording equipment last week when two little stars-in-waiting wandered into my office. I decided to turn on the mic and record a little. Here are the results…

Hannah wasn’t the least bit shy on the mic:

Jackson loves his sister:

Are they cute or what?

-Daddy

Jennifer and I are still digging out from this year’s round of birthdays. Hannah’s is in the middle of May. Jackson’s is almost exactly a month later. So … you finish with the first round and then immediately have to start planning for the next! Throw Mother’s Day and Father’s Day into the mix in those two months (and Father’s Day was the same as Jack’s birthday this year) and it makes for a busy time in our house. But … we had a great time and I think the kids did too. Here are some links to a few pictures:

Hannah’s Birthday
She was big into “My Little Pony” this year.
Hannah was so sweet. She let her brother help her open all of her gifts!
Blowing out the candles at her “kid” party with all of her friends.

Jackson’s Birthday
Jack returned the favor, accepting gift opening help.
His favorite gift by far was his new tool bench from Gagi!
Blow out the candles!

…and a good time was had by all!

-Daddy

On Monday, April 30, 2007, the blogosphere will observe a day of silence to remember the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Please join us in observing this day.

http://www.onedayblogsilence.com

No pictures for this update … just a rant. We can’t seem to get or stay healthy around here. Someone in our house has been sick for going on three weeks now! It started with Hannah, who had a low grade fever, and then a cough for a week and a half. While she had her cough, Jackson started running a fever .. which lasted three days. The boy is apparently prone to fevers. According to our ear thermometer, he spiked to 103 degrees at one point. Once those fevers started going away, Hannah got sick AGAIN (or is it that she was still sick .. dunno). This time, she was throwing up every night for three days. One of those nights she was heaving about every half hour. Needless to say, Jackson was the only one who slept that night. By this time, Jackson was developing HIS cough .. and lost his voice. This was quite amusing, I hate to say. Sadly, at the same time this was going on, Jen and I were both sick with a cough and flu symptoms. This was last weekend.

So, this week everyone started feeling better and we thought we were finally through it. Then, on Thursday, Jackson’s fever came back. According to the thermometer, this time it was running around 102 degrees. He had no other symptoms, but the fever at that level is concerning. We kept a close eye on him, and it went away by Saturday.

THEN … we thought we were through. Nope. This afternoon Hannah took a nap. She only naps when she’s not feeling well. She woke up, and sure enough … she said she has a sore throat.

AAAAAGH!

(As always, click the links in the blog post to view pictures of the kids!)

Happy spring, everyone! I figured it was time for an update on what the kids have been up to…

Jackson is about 90% potty trained! Whereas Hannah did it in her usual fits and starts before finally giving in and doing it perfectly, Jackson took the slow and steady approach. From the time we started working with him it probably took three weeks. These days he wears big boy underpants all day except during naptime and bedtime, and he is very good about telling us when he has to go. If he has an accident, it’s a dot smaller than a penny, and he immediately runs into the bathroom to get the rest out. He even stands up when he has to go pee, just like Daddy. We’re all proud of the boy, even Hannah, who likes to tell him so!

We don’t have a lot of exciting pictures to share right now. However, we did go to Maymont (it’s a large park with animals, for you out of towners) recently and had a very nice time. Mommy and Jackson enjoyed looking at the baby goats, and later Daddy and Jackson took a rest on some rocks. Hannah, meanwhile, really liked playing on the rocks. It’s nice that for the most part, brother and sister get along as well or better than could possibly be expected.

More later!

-Daddy

I just had to post this. Last night Jennifer and I were downstairs watching TV, when we heard Jackson over the monitor making upset noises. He wasn’t crying, but he was sounding irritated as if he couldn’t get comfortable.

Now, Jackeroo is not a quiet sleeper. We’ve learned to ignore a lot of his noises because in the past we’ve checked on him only to find he’s fast asleep. Last night, though, they went on for a long time. I finally went up when I heard a very loud breathing sound .. almost as if he’d gotten out of bed and fallen asleep right under the monitor. When I got up there and saw the position he’d worked himself into, I had to immediately call Jen and get the camera. Jackson had gotten himself turned sideways and, because there was noplace better to put his legs, propped his feet up on his bed railing. The loud breathing was him snoring, probably because his feet were up so high. Our digital camera does pretty well in the dark, so I got this picture. All I could see when I walked in was the white bottom of his footies staring at me. I took this pic to show more of the whole story. Jen and I couldn’t help it. We stood in his room and laughed as quietly as we could. Meanwhile, he just snored away with his legs propped way up high. He never did wake up … even when I turned him around the right way.
The poor boy. It’s actually kind of creepy to be photographed while you’re sleeping, and now I’m showing those photos to the world.

-Daddy