I guess I kind of took the weekend off from blogging. Thanks to D for providing those fun videos. The first one, from Saturday, was done while I was off at My Family Dinners prepping meals for the next month.

I was more comfortable this time, because I knew what was up, learned from my mistakes (read directions carefully!), and was fine asking questions when I wasn’t sure. Saturday night we had the Best Ever Grilling Burgers and Sunday we had the Chicken Florentine in a puff pastry. It was better than eating at a Maine bed and breakfast. I told Damon I wanted to eat all the chicken-filled puff pastry, it was so good. But that doesn’t really work well with Weight Watchers, so I refrained.

If you are not in the Chattanooga area and wanted to find a meal prep place in your home town, then you can check out the Easy Meal Prep Directory, a URL that Bevelle gave me on Saturday. (Or, if you are really nice, Rebecca might send you some of her freezer meal secrets, when she recovers from her tonsil removal.)

Today, Fuller’s friend Luke came over for a play-date. Alli and I were thinking of what to do and I suggested taking them outside to “play tackle.” So we dressed them both in appropriate gear – shorts, mesh jerseys, and sneakers (sans pads and helmets, though), and setup the backyard for pit drills.

It took them boys awhile to get used to actually tackling each other. But, with Alli and my help, they eventually got the hang of it. Here’s the video:

Well, next week, football season kicks off. I can hardly wait. Lately, I’ve been repeatedly asking Fuller if he wants to go outside and “play tackle.” Usually he says “no”, but today, he said “OK, Daddy.”

Here’s a video of him running a pit drill, or “Oklahoma”, as it’s also known, against the tackling dummy I made for Fuller last year.

Well, as you can see, he’s no Tray Blackmon (and when you consider Tray’s off-field behavior, that’s a good thing), but 16 years from now, he should be ready for prime time (minus the under-age drinking, of course).

Yesterday the Chattanooga temperature topped off at 105. I am scared to go outside due to the melting factor.

Yes we have air conditioning, but we don’t want to run up a huge bill, so we try to take extra measures by pulling down all the shades. And this gives our house the look and feel of a dark, cool cave.

When I worked, I remember how chilly the building would be and the sweater I kept at my desk for days when it was just too cold. Some of my coworkers sat at their office desks with personal heaters or blankets to keep the chill away.

It is different being at home fulltime and the temperature is just one small thing to remind me of that. I prefer the cool darkness of our cave, because it is here that I get to play with Fuller and take care of our house. It is where I belong and feel comfortable. And it reminds me that this was a good choice.

Fuller got sick again… he woke up around 8:30 this morning, which is odd. And when he finally came out of his room he was a tad warm. By 11 he had a temp of 100 and a disgusting runny nose.

Dr. Mom’s diagnosis? Sick baby.

Fuller is a real travelpro… I can really tell you that Fuller travels well, does fine in the car, and isn’t a bother to take on trips.

But when he gets sick… well, we just never know how he is going to be. Are his symptoms the only symptoms? Will he develop other problems? Am I giving him the right medicine for his symptoms?

Fortunately I dosed him with ibuprofen and he started to act better… and then he took a nap. When he woke up his temp was 101 and he was miserable. Again, he got some medicine and he started to act more like himself.

And now we wait for tomorrow… will he still be under the weather?

Tonight D and I spent time grooming the dogs. Lively got shaved, washed, shaved some more, and then her monthly flea treatment. Maple got a bath and her monthly flea treatment. They both received their monthly heartworm preventative, which I am glad to say we have remembered to give them every month since we took them to the vet in May.

Fuller is doing well with his jobs of taking care of the dogs too- he is feeding them everyday with less of our help. It makes me feel good to see him contributing to the family in this way.

I just can’t wait until he is old enough to groom Lively himself.