• Thank the person who has given you the award.
-Thanks Nancy!
• Copy the logo and place it on your blog. It wasn't on Nancy's page, and I didn't feel like going onto the other blog to look for it right now
• Link to the person who has nominated you for the award. http://npoj.blogspot.com/ That's Nancy's blog, but I don't know how to make it say "Nancy" right there. Its a GREAT read for those of you who aren't alrady familliar with Nancy's writing, she's brilliant and funny!!! Check it out!!
Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
1- I HATE the computer, the camera, the video camera AND my Cell phone. I am not good at any of them. My solution to every problem is: Just get a new one. Start Over. This gets expensive, so I'm usually not in charge of any of those things in our house!
2- I have inherited TERRIBLE telephone ettiquite from my Father. 2 different friends of mine have brought this to my attention in the past month alone (But I have known about it for years). When Dave and I were dating, he'd call me and when we'd get off of the phone he thought he'd done something wrong, or that I was mad at him. I just am not good at transitioning to a closing on the phone, so I usually finish what I have to say and say "Ok gotta go" and hang up...no pleasantries.
3- I cannot make important decisions after 9:30pm. Its ridiculous, ask Dave and my Mom. After 9:30pm, my mind starts to worry and second guess major decisions. Its strange and I have realized that what seems like a priority at that time will be nothing in the morning, EVERY TIME.
4- I love my house. I like my friends homes that are bigger and newer than mine, but I LOVE my house.
5- I worry probably a bit more than I should about everything. I have to try really hard sometimes to keep my mind from wandering to the worst of the "what-ifs"
6- One of my biggest pet-peeves is Moms who buy/do things for their kids because everyone else is. BLAH! Its one thing to be so insecure that you need to try to "keep up with the Jones's" but how about not pushing your children into things that they don't like or that aren't good for them!?! This does NOTHING to improve the lives or futures of children, only makes you look like silly for thinking that motherhood and child-rearing are a competition. GET OVER IT!
...okay off of my soapbox, moving on...
7- I shamelessly brag about my children to anyone who will listen!
SO--- I am "tagging":
Becky Smith
Sommer Clark
Linsey Shelton
Kristina Hoyle
Mary'Beth Shelton
Cathey Hayes
Kim Foster
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Be it ever so humble...
So, yesterday and today were kind of exciting around this house. Maybe not as noteworthy as the 2 days before that (the ones where Jordan turned into a raging maniac and Carter foud his voice. His LOUD voice.) But those 2 days are another topic all-together...
Yesterday Dave announced that he wants to move. He has done all of the work that he is capable of doing himself on this house, and is ready to move on to a bigger and better home. I was not a fan of this idea AT ALL. But, I realized that he was serious, so when he talked about it, I acted interested. I thought the idea would fade away after dinner, when the screaming/crying/tantrums and bathtime routines took over. Leave it to my children to pick the ONE NIGHT I was counting on their antics, to behave. So, later in the evening Dave calls me to the computer to show me a house. "Yeah, okay" I said only half looking. Then I glanced again and saw what he was showing me. A GORGEOUS looking house, on an almost completely FLAT acre and a half of land (all you Calvert County people, insert "GASP!" here). It had a wrap around porch, fenced yard, 2 decks and a swingset. The pictures of the inside were vague, but I knew as well as he did that it was worth looking at, as it checked every box on our previous "dream-home" list. So he called our realtor.
Before I knew it we had a list of 4 houses to look at, and were checking comps and "good-faith" estimates of mortgage payments. He hung up the phone with a smile, and said we were meeting her at 4:00 Friday to look at the houses, then she would be coming over to our house to look around, take pictures, and if we decided so: HANG THE SIGNS. WOW. I was dumbstruck. Dave was giddy.
For those of you who don't already know, the house we live in now is almost completely my fault. I saw it, I loved it. We went the next day and looked at it, and several others, but that very day we put a contract on it. Dave was not in love with this house. He had another in mind, one with a 4 car garage and multiple sheds. But this house was for some reason "the one" for me.
So, I decided, with the help of counseling from a couple of friends, that if Dave could do that for me, I could do the same for him. I could go, look at a house, and if he HAD TO HAVE IT I could live with that. It is only fair, right?
Today was a mess of cleaning and second guessing, and looking at pictures OVER and OVER and Over again. Then 4:00 came and we went to the first house. The one with the porch and whatnot. Almost double the square footage of our house, and double the lot size...and HORRIBLE on the inside! Well, to us anyways. There were just walls EVERYWHERE and no flow to the house at all. It was hard to get passed the dated paint and carpet and the odor. Suddenly the outside didn't make it so appealing.
We saw the other homes, I liked one, Dave hated it, Dave liked another, I hated it. We didn't decide on one but had our realtor over to talk comps anyways, and look at the logistics of buying/selling, and talk about what we were interested in.
She left and Dave talked about how dissapointed he was in the houses we'd seen, except the one he liked (and of course the realtor had sided with him earlier and went on about how nice it really was). But, I felt like Dave just wanted a different house, not that the one in question was really better. So I said "our basement is EXACTLY how we want it, without exception. I don't want to move to another house where we have to change a bunch of things to get it perfect. We have carpet throughout almost our entire house that is less than a year old, I don't want to move somewhere that doesn't. Our shed is wired for electricity, and our yard is landscaped like we want it, I don't want to move somewhere that it isn't!" Then after about 10 minutes of looking around our own house Dave came to the following conclusion:
"I walked around as if this were not my house, and I were interested in buying one. If we would have walked into a house exactly like this one, we would have immediately been in love with it and jumped at the chance to buy it."
Its so nice to know that although this wasn't the home he'd have chosen 5 years ago, its the one he'd choose now.
Sigh. There's no place like home!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Un-Controllable Carter?
2 Disclaimers to this post:
1 - It is going to be long, I know this before even writing, which means its going to be REALLY long. (So, come back and read later if you don't have much time....)
2 - I am NOT writing this looking for sympathy or saying "poor me" because I KNOW that many of you have been through FAR more stressful and scary times than this. This is just me exploring a new-found perspective on some of the past year's events.
Tonight I had Bible study, just like every Monday night. Tonight, however, I did not even LOOK at my study ahead of time. I just kept busy, and didn't do it, no good excuse to offer...just didn't happen. The study was on God's strength and God giving us strength. As we went around the room taking turns reading the passages and answering related questions, I was feeling kind of off in space. Then came my turn, my question, which wasn't centered around a particular passage, just a personal question: "How has God shown you his strength in this past year? Are there any particular events or circumstances where you had to rely on his strength?"
I read the question out loud and suddenly I got that warm, about-to-cry kind of feeling. In a matter of seconds the last 12 months or so swirled about in my head. Did all of that really happen in just the last year?! Am I really over a YEAR out from the beginning of all of this?! And So I began. I began going over what was suddenly in my head. A new perspective on the events of the past year:
I have never had a situation in my life that I could not in some way control. I knew God, trusted God, said "God is in control" but never had a situation that I could not take control of, or feel that I was in control of. Then, on July 11 2008 I was slammed into one. I found out at 20 weeks pregnant that there was a problem with my pregnancy that could potentially pose a long list of problems to my Son. My mind raced and my heart raced and I silently went crazy. I had my Son growing inside of me, I couldn't touch him, could barely feel him, and there was something wrong. I couldn't change what was wrong, I couldn't do anything to fix it, it just was. ALL that I could do to "fix" it was pray. I was SCREAMING inside (and a little on the outside as well). So, we prayed and prayed and prayed (like we should have been doing all along). We lived week to week praying continuously and checking up on Carter at each Ultrasound.
Thankfully although the cord defect was there and not changeable, Carter was fine. We were given a long list of possible outcomes still. All of these FAR less scary than the original list, and still none that we could do anything to prevent at this point, but Pray. I spent 18 weeks of my life in a situation that I could NOT control no matter how hard I tried or how badly I wanted to. Carter was born healthy and had only very minimal effects from the cord defect. This was through no strength of my own, this was not something I had achieved. There was NO credit to be given to me, Dave or even the doctors. All any of us were doing was monitoring a situation.
Carter had 2 growths on his bladder and Kidney we found out 24 hours after his birth. And so the deep breath I had taken after he was born soon turned into internal SCREAMING. This was particularly terrifying for Dave and I, given recent events in my family. The growths were already there, there was nothing I could do to make them go away, I was IMMEDIATELY without control, AGAIN. So back to prayer. This was something we wouldn't even be able to research into more for 6 weeks we were told. The screams got louder. How was I going to live for 6 weeks with a big unknown in my life/in my son's abdomen? I prayed to God for Carter's health, and I began to pray for my own well-being. I knew already that 6 weeks of unknown would mean I would stress every minute of every day for 6 weeks.
We were about to leave the hospital and the doctor came in and said we'd have to stay a little longer because Carter was Jaundice. A common problem, I know, but I was about to my limit as it were with my lack-of-control. We watched and waited, woke him every 2 hours to eat, monitored his diapers. PRAYED. He didn't get better, but he didn't get worse, so we were able to bring him home. We were in the doctor's office every-other day for 3 weeks, just WAITING for the Jaundice to get better. Checking, re-checking. Every single thing the dr's said to do, we did. We were just NOT in control of this either. Finally, it started to improve, and Dave and I took a deep breath, a sigh of relief and Prayed. Thanking God for this one small mile-stone.
Then, a couple of weeks later he stopped keeping food down. Suddenly he was throwing up everything, and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, rolling his eyes around and just not doing well. He was already on a medicine for reflux, but this was something different. At 5:00 in the morning I was on the phone with the doctor. He saw us at 7:00, explained a few different things it could be, and sent us straight to the hospital to investigate. Okay God. Here I am again, not in control. We sorted things out at the hospital, found that an allergy was the likely culprit of the throwing up, etc. After a very sleep deprived and stress filled week things began to straighten out and we breathed another sigh of relief.
Just days later, Jordan got sick. She had Bronchitis and we were told to keep her AWAY from the baby as much as possible. Well, we tried our best, but by the time we had her into the Dr's office, she had already been contagious. I knew immediately this was beyond my control. AGAIN. But boy did I try. Dave took off of work, we kept Carter upstairs and Jordan downstairs. I "Lysol Bombed" every surface, and neither of us touched a child without first washing our hands all the way up to the elbows. I did more laundry and cleaning in those 3 days than I normally did in a WEEK. Carter got sick. So, within the walls of ANOTHER hospital, AGAIN, I was without control. I tried my best, my human nature was fighting with everything. I questioned every test, fought with a few doctors and tried to control the situation. I even told them to let me go home, I was sure he was fine. He was indeed NOT fine. He had RSV, and so now I was not so silently going crazy. The RSV seemd to go on forever. It got worse before it got better.
While my brain tried to comprehend and control the situation, my heart wanted to rest and let God be my strength. My brain would go over and over again what I could have done to prevent any part of the past month and a half's events from happening, blaming myself and trying to figure out a logical way to fix it. My brain went to the thoughts of, "this is not what was supposed to happen. Things are NOT supposed to be this difficult." I spent my days and nights trying to control the uncontrollable. Even on the good days, I allowed myself little joy, remembering there was still our big "unknown" growing on Carter's bladder/kidney and all of the what-ifs of that came flooding in again.
Carter was behind of vaccinations, he was behind on doing the little "mile-marker" things an infant does. It didn't matter how straight my house was, how together I appeared, how well behaved Jordan was, or how many nights a week I put dinner on the table. It didn't matter how many hours I sat and rocked him, how long I nursed him or WHAT I did. I had NO control. Nothing I did helped.
Finally we made it to our appointment at Children's to re-check his "growths" he'd had at birth. The doctor's could not figure out why we were there, there was NOTHING to be seen on his renal ultrasound. NOTHING. And we breathed a sigh of relief, and Thanked God for being in control the entire time.
There have, of course, been other incidences with Carter in the past year. We were at my parents' for 2 weeks because he couldn't seem to breathe in our house during construction. He has the ear infections that just won't quit, and we are still struggling a bit with reflux/digestion. All of this was happening while the world continued to go on around us. Jordan grew and developed and played and laughed, she was a huge source of Joy. Nothing stood still so that I could get back in control. Yet somehow I was not stressed beyond what I could handle.
In the past year I have learned that God lets us think sometimes that we are in control. God lets us think that we are strong, but we aren't. We are nothing but thoughts without his strength. My thoughts accomplished NOTHING. My worry just created more worry. Everything I did to "control" my situation was in vain.
When I look back on the past 12 months, when I look at my mind-set now vs. then, I suddenly see an amazing development in myself. I can see that my Son is okay, and that has nothing to do with anything I've done except Pray. I see that I now have the ability to let go of control of my life. I now am able to look at a situation, breathe, and realize that God has a purpose for this and He will get us through it the way that he intends. God used that stressful time in my life to help me to realize that I am stronger with Him than I EVER could be alone. If I didn't have him to lean on, to pray to, and to cry to most times, I would not have gotten through that season. I think that up until that point in my life, acknowledging that I NEEDED someone, God even, seemed to me like a weakness. God forced me to realize that needing him and allowing him to be in control, gave me strength. I was weak, He made me strong.
1 - It is going to be long, I know this before even writing, which means its going to be REALLY long. (So, come back and read later if you don't have much time....)
2 - I am NOT writing this looking for sympathy or saying "poor me" because I KNOW that many of you have been through FAR more stressful and scary times than this. This is just me exploring a new-found perspective on some of the past year's events.
Tonight I had Bible study, just like every Monday night. Tonight, however, I did not even LOOK at my study ahead of time. I just kept busy, and didn't do it, no good excuse to offer...just didn't happen. The study was on God's strength and God giving us strength. As we went around the room taking turns reading the passages and answering related questions, I was feeling kind of off in space. Then came my turn, my question, which wasn't centered around a particular passage, just a personal question: "How has God shown you his strength in this past year? Are there any particular events or circumstances where you had to rely on his strength?"
I read the question out loud and suddenly I got that warm, about-to-cry kind of feeling. In a matter of seconds the last 12 months or so swirled about in my head. Did all of that really happen in just the last year?! Am I really over a YEAR out from the beginning of all of this?! And So I began. I began going over what was suddenly in my head. A new perspective on the events of the past year:
I have never had a situation in my life that I could not in some way control. I knew God, trusted God, said "God is in control" but never had a situation that I could not take control of, or feel that I was in control of. Then, on July 11 2008 I was slammed into one. I found out at 20 weeks pregnant that there was a problem with my pregnancy that could potentially pose a long list of problems to my Son. My mind raced and my heart raced and I silently went crazy. I had my Son growing inside of me, I couldn't touch him, could barely feel him, and there was something wrong. I couldn't change what was wrong, I couldn't do anything to fix it, it just was. ALL that I could do to "fix" it was pray. I was SCREAMING inside (and a little on the outside as well). So, we prayed and prayed and prayed (like we should have been doing all along). We lived week to week praying continuously and checking up on Carter at each Ultrasound.
Thankfully although the cord defect was there and not changeable, Carter was fine. We were given a long list of possible outcomes still. All of these FAR less scary than the original list, and still none that we could do anything to prevent at this point, but Pray. I spent 18 weeks of my life in a situation that I could NOT control no matter how hard I tried or how badly I wanted to. Carter was born healthy and had only very minimal effects from the cord defect. This was through no strength of my own, this was not something I had achieved. There was NO credit to be given to me, Dave or even the doctors. All any of us were doing was monitoring a situation.
Carter had 2 growths on his bladder and Kidney we found out 24 hours after his birth. And so the deep breath I had taken after he was born soon turned into internal SCREAMING. This was particularly terrifying for Dave and I, given recent events in my family. The growths were already there, there was nothing I could do to make them go away, I was IMMEDIATELY without control, AGAIN. So back to prayer. This was something we wouldn't even be able to research into more for 6 weeks we were told. The screams got louder. How was I going to live for 6 weeks with a big unknown in my life/in my son's abdomen? I prayed to God for Carter's health, and I began to pray for my own well-being. I knew already that 6 weeks of unknown would mean I would stress every minute of every day for 6 weeks.
We were about to leave the hospital and the doctor came in and said we'd have to stay a little longer because Carter was Jaundice. A common problem, I know, but I was about to my limit as it were with my lack-of-control. We watched and waited, woke him every 2 hours to eat, monitored his diapers. PRAYED. He didn't get better, but he didn't get worse, so we were able to bring him home. We were in the doctor's office every-other day for 3 weeks, just WAITING for the Jaundice to get better. Checking, re-checking. Every single thing the dr's said to do, we did. We were just NOT in control of this either. Finally, it started to improve, and Dave and I took a deep breath, a sigh of relief and Prayed. Thanking God for this one small mile-stone.
Then, a couple of weeks later he stopped keeping food down. Suddenly he was throwing up everything, and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, rolling his eyes around and just not doing well. He was already on a medicine for reflux, but this was something different. At 5:00 in the morning I was on the phone with the doctor. He saw us at 7:00, explained a few different things it could be, and sent us straight to the hospital to investigate. Okay God. Here I am again, not in control. We sorted things out at the hospital, found that an allergy was the likely culprit of the throwing up, etc. After a very sleep deprived and stress filled week things began to straighten out and we breathed another sigh of relief.
Just days later, Jordan got sick. She had Bronchitis and we were told to keep her AWAY from the baby as much as possible. Well, we tried our best, but by the time we had her into the Dr's office, she had already been contagious. I knew immediately this was beyond my control. AGAIN. But boy did I try. Dave took off of work, we kept Carter upstairs and Jordan downstairs. I "Lysol Bombed" every surface, and neither of us touched a child without first washing our hands all the way up to the elbows. I did more laundry and cleaning in those 3 days than I normally did in a WEEK. Carter got sick. So, within the walls of ANOTHER hospital, AGAIN, I was without control. I tried my best, my human nature was fighting with everything. I questioned every test, fought with a few doctors and tried to control the situation. I even told them to let me go home, I was sure he was fine. He was indeed NOT fine. He had RSV, and so now I was not so silently going crazy. The RSV seemd to go on forever. It got worse before it got better.
While my brain tried to comprehend and control the situation, my heart wanted to rest and let God be my strength. My brain would go over and over again what I could have done to prevent any part of the past month and a half's events from happening, blaming myself and trying to figure out a logical way to fix it. My brain went to the thoughts of, "this is not what was supposed to happen. Things are NOT supposed to be this difficult." I spent my days and nights trying to control the uncontrollable. Even on the good days, I allowed myself little joy, remembering there was still our big "unknown" growing on Carter's bladder/kidney and all of the what-ifs of that came flooding in again.
Carter was behind of vaccinations, he was behind on doing the little "mile-marker" things an infant does. It didn't matter how straight my house was, how together I appeared, how well behaved Jordan was, or how many nights a week I put dinner on the table. It didn't matter how many hours I sat and rocked him, how long I nursed him or WHAT I did. I had NO control. Nothing I did helped.
Finally we made it to our appointment at Children's to re-check his "growths" he'd had at birth. The doctor's could not figure out why we were there, there was NOTHING to be seen on his renal ultrasound. NOTHING. And we breathed a sigh of relief, and Thanked God for being in control the entire time.
There have, of course, been other incidences with Carter in the past year. We were at my parents' for 2 weeks because he couldn't seem to breathe in our house during construction. He has the ear infections that just won't quit, and we are still struggling a bit with reflux/digestion. All of this was happening while the world continued to go on around us. Jordan grew and developed and played and laughed, she was a huge source of Joy. Nothing stood still so that I could get back in control. Yet somehow I was not stressed beyond what I could handle.
In the past year I have learned that God lets us think sometimes that we are in control. God lets us think that we are strong, but we aren't. We are nothing but thoughts without his strength. My thoughts accomplished NOTHING. My worry just created more worry. Everything I did to "control" my situation was in vain.
When I look back on the past 12 months, when I look at my mind-set now vs. then, I suddenly see an amazing development in myself. I can see that my Son is okay, and that has nothing to do with anything I've done except Pray. I see that I now have the ability to let go of control of my life. I now am able to look at a situation, breathe, and realize that God has a purpose for this and He will get us through it the way that he intends. God used that stressful time in my life to help me to realize that I am stronger with Him than I EVER could be alone. If I didn't have him to lean on, to pray to, and to cry to most times, I would not have gotten through that season. I think that up until that point in my life, acknowledging that I NEEDED someone, God even, seemed to me like a weakness. God forced me to realize that needing him and allowing him to be in control, gave me strength. I was weak, He made me strong.
Monday, July 13, 2009
14 Grandparents
Jordan and Carter...you have many many many living grandparents. Allow me to break this down for you:
Mommy's Parents:
Grandma and Grandad
Mommy's Grandparents:
Great-Grandma and Great Grandpa Osborne
Great-Grandad and Great Grandma Casey Bryan
Great- Grammy and Great Grandpa Peter Henrichsen
Daddy's Parents:
Poppy and NaNa
Grandma "Lucy" and Grandpa
Daddy's Grandparents:
Maw Maw
Great-Grandma Adamo
If you lost count, that's 8 sets for a total of 14 living Grandparents. THAT in itself is a blessing far greater than what many children have! Here is a fun-fact about each:
Grandma and Grandad Bryan have lived in their home since I was 4 years old and before Aunt Jen was born. Your "room" at their house was my bedroom until I was about 10. For as long as I can remember we vacationed at Myrtle Beach, which is something I hope that you can say one day as well :-). The bunk beds that are in your "room" at their house are a new addition since you two came along....and yes, Aunt Jen and I are TOTALLY jealous!
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Osborne: Have had a TON of plants/flowers for as long as I can remember. Although I have a black thumb, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa do not, and I hope that you inherit a green thumb from them. They took Aunt Jen and I on some of the neatest trips...Field Of Dreams, Plays in New York, and even Mall of America.
Great-Grandad and Great Grandma Casey: Live in Delaware now, but they used to live closer. Great-Grandad had the COOLEST swing in his backyard that i have ever come across in my life. It swung out so high over the trees I'd lose my breath EVERY TIME I was one it.
Great-Grammy and Great Grandpa Peter: Have lived in the house that they are in for as long as I can remember. We try to get to their house every year for St. Patricks Day. Grammy invented Tunafish and Noodles...a staple meal in our house already.
Poppy and NaNa: They love the beach too....Myrtle Beach, just like your Grandma and Grandad. They have 2 cats that Jordan LOVES to torture, Jake and Elwood. And a crazy dog named Mickey who I'm pretty sure thinks he's a person. Poppy and NaNa have lived in Gastonia forever. They know everyone there and hence everyone there knows who you guys are too.
Grandma "Lucy" and Grandpa: Really like to garden and remodel their home. Grandma Lucy seems to have a green thumb as well, so there's a double shot that you may get one. When Daddy was growing up he and Grandma had lots of long talks about politics and religion.
MawMaw: Worked on a railroad for a long time, and worked with kids alot too. EVERYONE knows her as MawMaw. Everyone who knew her when they were a kid calls her that, but she really is YOUR MawMaw, so that's pretty special.
Great-Grandma Adamo: Is very knowledgeable and helped Daddy get interested in science and Math when he was younger. She grew up in New York and was an only child. Daddy and Uncle Mac and Grandma Lucy used to live with her.
That's the run-down....I'm sure you'll make your own memories about each one, but this is a start. You both were born with so many people who loved you even before they met you, this is only the start of a VERY long list of those people!!
Mommy's Parents:
Grandma and Grandad
Mommy's Grandparents:
Great-Grandma and Great Grandpa Osborne
Great-Grandad and Great Grandma Casey Bryan
Great- Grammy and Great Grandpa Peter Henrichsen
Daddy's Parents:
Poppy and NaNa
Grandma "Lucy" and Grandpa
Daddy's Grandparents:
Maw Maw
Great-Grandma Adamo
If you lost count, that's 8 sets for a total of 14 living Grandparents. THAT in itself is a blessing far greater than what many children have! Here is a fun-fact about each:
Grandma and Grandad Bryan have lived in their home since I was 4 years old and before Aunt Jen was born. Your "room" at their house was my bedroom until I was about 10. For as long as I can remember we vacationed at Myrtle Beach, which is something I hope that you can say one day as well :-). The bunk beds that are in your "room" at their house are a new addition since you two came along....and yes, Aunt Jen and I are TOTALLY jealous!
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Osborne: Have had a TON of plants/flowers for as long as I can remember. Although I have a black thumb, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa do not, and I hope that you inherit a green thumb from them. They took Aunt Jen and I on some of the neatest trips...Field Of Dreams, Plays in New York, and even Mall of America.
Great-Grandad and Great Grandma Casey: Live in Delaware now, but they used to live closer. Great-Grandad had the COOLEST swing in his backyard that i have ever come across in my life. It swung out so high over the trees I'd lose my breath EVERY TIME I was one it.
Great-Grammy and Great Grandpa Peter: Have lived in the house that they are in for as long as I can remember. We try to get to their house every year for St. Patricks Day. Grammy invented Tunafish and Noodles...a staple meal in our house already.
Poppy and NaNa: They love the beach too....Myrtle Beach, just like your Grandma and Grandad. They have 2 cats that Jordan LOVES to torture, Jake and Elwood. And a crazy dog named Mickey who I'm pretty sure thinks he's a person. Poppy and NaNa have lived in Gastonia forever. They know everyone there and hence everyone there knows who you guys are too.
Grandma "Lucy" and Grandpa: Really like to garden and remodel their home. Grandma Lucy seems to have a green thumb as well, so there's a double shot that you may get one. When Daddy was growing up he and Grandma had lots of long talks about politics and religion.
MawMaw: Worked on a railroad for a long time, and worked with kids alot too. EVERYONE knows her as MawMaw. Everyone who knew her when they were a kid calls her that, but she really is YOUR MawMaw, so that's pretty special.
Great-Grandma Adamo: Is very knowledgeable and helped Daddy get interested in science and Math when he was younger. She grew up in New York and was an only child. Daddy and Uncle Mac and Grandma Lucy used to live with her.
That's the run-down....I'm sure you'll make your own memories about each one, but this is a start. You both were born with so many people who loved you even before they met you, this is only the start of a VERY long list of those people!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Merry Christmas!
So, I have been feeling a little guilty lately about Carter having so few "big" toys. With Jordan, every couple of months we'd buy her some great NEW toy to play with...something that she had just gotten big enough to play with, or something that just looked really fun and she "needed." If I were being entirely honest, I'd have to admit that I STILL do this for her.
Poor Carter...I can count on one hand the number of big toys we've bought him. I was having a weepy day yesterday and this came up. So my GENIUS husband went into the attic and pulled down ALL of Jordan's old toys. DUH! I have no idea why I didn't think of this. Now our downstairs looks like toys r us and Carter is just circling the room going from one new and exciting toy to the next. I still was feeling guilty, but then Dave reminded me "He has no concept of new from the store vs. new to him. These are just the same as if we'd bought them FOR him." (which I suppose we kind of did, we took IMMACULATE care of Jordan's toys, with the intention of handing them down "one day.")
And really, this is even better, because with Jordan she got them all one at a time, for Carter, this is like CHRISTMAS!!! He got 4 really big toys (Fisher Price talking chair thing, Fisher Price piano pull up toy, Push walker thingy, Barn toy) and TONS of small ones (too many to list). He was busy until 8:00 last night and Carter is a strict little 7:30 bedtime baby! He has been busy all morning. The only downfall is his size. Since he is so large, the toys that he should be pulling up to, he just pulls up to his knees and he can reach everything on them :-( Oh well, I'm sure he'll get it eventually. Its also like Christmas for Jordan, because APPARENTLY when Dave packed up the basement into storage and the attic, he put up ALOT of her toys that were downstairs. Jordan has enough toys that she and I didn't really even notice (yikes!) Also, she tends to get in a toy rut, and play with the same things for a few weeks. This was GREAT for her. ALL of her Little People toys were up there, which she was VERY excited about (And has no memory of playing with before) along with many other "hidden treasures."
Its also Christmas for my friend Jenny's daughter, Lilly, who will be getting all of the girlie toys that we saved. (and there are QUITE alot of them). We have absolutely no need for them, and Lilly and her Mommy will be down in August visiting family, and will be getting a large sack of toys...HOHOHO!
So, Merry Christmas to you, from Jordan and Carter (and Santa Hayes)!
Poor Carter...I can count on one hand the number of big toys we've bought him. I was having a weepy day yesterday and this came up. So my GENIUS husband went into the attic and pulled down ALL of Jordan's old toys. DUH! I have no idea why I didn't think of this. Now our downstairs looks like toys r us and Carter is just circling the room going from one new and exciting toy to the next. I still was feeling guilty, but then Dave reminded me "He has no concept of new from the store vs. new to him. These are just the same as if we'd bought them FOR him." (which I suppose we kind of did, we took IMMACULATE care of Jordan's toys, with the intention of handing them down "one day.")
And really, this is even better, because with Jordan she got them all one at a time, for Carter, this is like CHRISTMAS!!! He got 4 really big toys (Fisher Price talking chair thing, Fisher Price piano pull up toy, Push walker thingy, Barn toy) and TONS of small ones (too many to list). He was busy until 8:00 last night and Carter is a strict little 7:30 bedtime baby! He has been busy all morning. The only downfall is his size. Since he is so large, the toys that he should be pulling up to, he just pulls up to his knees and he can reach everything on them :-( Oh well, I'm sure he'll get it eventually. Its also like Christmas for Jordan, because APPARENTLY when Dave packed up the basement into storage and the attic, he put up ALOT of her toys that were downstairs. Jordan has enough toys that she and I didn't really even notice (yikes!) Also, she tends to get in a toy rut, and play with the same things for a few weeks. This was GREAT for her. ALL of her Little People toys were up there, which she was VERY excited about (And has no memory of playing with before) along with many other "hidden treasures."
Its also Christmas for my friend Jenny's daughter, Lilly, who will be getting all of the girlie toys that we saved. (and there are QUITE alot of them). We have absolutely no need for them, and Lilly and her Mommy will be down in August visiting family, and will be getting a large sack of toys...HOHOHO!
So, Merry Christmas to you, from Jordan and Carter (and Santa Hayes)!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
10 day Catch-up!
What a whirlwind it has been around here (and elsewhere) in the past 10 days or so!! First, let me just say our basement is AMAZING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and have no idea ho we were living in such close quarters before!!!! Dave finished the basement last Friday, just as my Uncle Johnny was arriving to put the carpet down.
Jordan and Carter and I spent Friday (the 19th of June) running around like mad-people trying to prepare for Dave's party! We hit Nick's, The post office, and various other party-preparing places. Poor Jordan said to me at least 20 times "I want to go home. I want to play. I don't want to run earrings (she means errands, but always pronounces it this way)" SOOOOO my Mommy guilt kicked into full force, and next thing you know we were at CHUCK-E-CHEESE!
Apparently this was also on the agenda of EVERY DAYCARE CENTER in Charles County. So, after 2 hours of pizza, root beer, and games/rides, we left with smiles and full bellies and headed to conquor the rest of our errands. (Which were all places I could run into with the car running, picking up tables, borrowing things from my parents house, etc. and Jordan and Carter slept the ENTIRE 3 hours from when we left Chuck-E-Cheese to when we got home.)
When we got home the carpet was done (pause for a heavenly sounding: haaaaaaah) and it looked MAGNIFICENT!!! Jordan immediately started moving in to her "new room." One puzzle at a time, until our floor was quickly covered in hundereds of puzzle pieces and lots of work to do for later. We then realized that Jordan really thought that this was her new room. We tried explaining that we were getting ready to put a couch and tv down there so that we could all use it. Boy was she excited that she'd have a couch and TV for when her friends visit, HER ROOM. Anyways, eventually she got the idea, but it was a hairy hour or two.
Saturday went great, good friends and family, good food, lots of "oohs" and "aahs" over the basement (which from this point forward will be called the living room.) Jordan played with her little friends who came, and of course her Aunt Eileen and her Uncle Mac and Uncle Paul.
On to Sunday, Father's Day. Oops. That one went without notice, but Dave was so busy it would've been impossible to plan something. Jordan and I made a big breakfast of Pancakes, bacon and eggs, and Uncle Mac walked in just as we were finishing up. Then Dave and Mac headed out to the Storage unit to empty it out.
The rest of the week (Monday-Weds.) is a blur of furniture rearranging, on all 3 floors, playdates and packing.
Then, Thursday Morning bright and early (no, really, bright and early. 4:00am) we were up and all piled into Mac's truck to head to NC. Mac really loves his niece and nephew. I know this because he volunteered his pristine white truck for the trip...even I cringe at loading our vehicles for that drive...its never pretty. We made it down th NC by early afternoon, no harm to the truck. Jordan and Carter WOWED Poppy and Nana with their new tricks (you know, songs, blowing raspberries, Carter's size alone is amazing, LOL!) And of course there were presents! Jordan got a Barbie and a My Little Pony (which was actually pretty huge) and some coloring books with a special marker. She also got some beautiful dresses! She was immediately busy with her prizes. They always know EXACTLY what to get her :-) Carter got some ADORABLE clothes and some toys that have tiny wheels and roll across the floor...he was in love!
A few hours later, Pop and Kay (Cathey's (aka Nana's) Father and his wife) arrived for a cookout. Jordan INSISTED upon going along to pick up MawMaw (Dave's grandmother, David Sr's mother) She had actually been reminding us for days "Now 'member, I get to go pick up MawMaw with you guys." Then Aunt Penny arrived (Dave's aunt, David Sr's sister) along with her son Trey, and grandkids: Owen and Emma. It was ADORABLE to see how they got along immediately. They ran for at least 95% of the time they were all there (stopping only for a few minutes to eat a bit) Jordan had a BLAST with her cousins. Later Melissa (Penny's daughter, mom to O and E) arrived with her boyfriend. It was a great little cookout.
The next daywe went to IKEA in the morning. This is a favorite in our little family. Jordan gets just as excited as Dave and I. She loves furniture so much. Its strange, I know. It was Poppy and Nana's first time at IKEA, and we're hoping to have started an addiction, much like the one Dave and I have for the place!!
Later that night Dave's Uncle Harry arrived with his wife, 2 step sons and daughter Wendy. I hadn't yet met Wendy, and Dave and Mac hadn't seen her for 10 years or so. We had alot of fun with them. We went to a "Fish Camp." Jordan loved it and ate the fried fish like it was candy. Then on the way out Daddy let her buy 5 pieces of candy. He's so wrapped. We continued on to a mini-festival type deal in downtown Gastonia. Lots of music and dancing, which both Jordan and Carter LOVED. Jordan got a tattoo on her arm of Tinkerbell. This was her second choice, Daddy told her no to her first one, a playboy bunny. Yikes! At aroune 8:30 the meltdowns began with both children, so we had to call it a night kind of early.
The next day the boys had some guy time, and Jordan, Carter (who is not quite big enough for guy time yet...poor thing) Mommy and NaNa went shopping :-) Another favorite past-time of ours! Jordan had made it clear the day before though, that she WAS going to "Blacks" for lunch. So the guys came and picked her up.
Blacks Barbecue is a very small barbecue place (for those of you in SOMD, it makes me think of Twin-Kiss) They specialize in this GOD-AWEFUL mixture of cole-slaw and barbecue sauce or something that makes the slaw pink. (sorry, I know someone is going to get mad at that comment). Jordan actually likes it, almost as much as her Daddy, Poppy and Uncle Mac, so she wasn't going to allow us to leave her out of that! That evening everyone was over again (minus Owen and Emma) Jordan had lots of fun. I think the highlight of her night though, as she is still talking about it, is when she tried to get Dave's cousin Trey (who is in his early 30's) to do a tumble. He told her he could do it while holding his beer. So, she ran inside, got her cup of juice and showed him that while he talked about doing a tumble while holding his drink, she could in fact do the tumbe while holding hers!
We packed up and left just as early Sunday morning to head home, as we had Thursday morning to head down there. The car ride home was slightly less enjoyable, but still the truck survived. Since then, this week has again been a blur of un-packing, re-decorating, and playdates but we're doing well.
Today Grandma "Lucy" is coming over to visit for a little while (this is Dave's mom and we have NO CLUE why Jordan calls her that). Then we are having a pj and movie party with the Springle Family (minus Daddy Springle who has to work), so I WILL be on here and blogging about all of that tomorrow.
Sorry its so much to read, and I'm sure some GREAT stories are missing, but I wanted to catch everyone up quickly so that I could resume my blogging.
Jordan and Carter and I spent Friday (the 19th of June) running around like mad-people trying to prepare for Dave's party! We hit Nick's, The post office, and various other party-preparing places. Poor Jordan said to me at least 20 times "I want to go home. I want to play. I don't want to run earrings (she means errands, but always pronounces it this way)" SOOOOO my Mommy guilt kicked into full force, and next thing you know we were at CHUCK-E-CHEESE!
Apparently this was also on the agenda of EVERY DAYCARE CENTER in Charles County. So, after 2 hours of pizza, root beer, and games/rides, we left with smiles and full bellies and headed to conquor the rest of our errands. (Which were all places I could run into with the car running, picking up tables, borrowing things from my parents house, etc. and Jordan and Carter slept the ENTIRE 3 hours from when we left Chuck-E-Cheese to when we got home.)
When we got home the carpet was done (pause for a heavenly sounding: haaaaaaah) and it looked MAGNIFICENT!!! Jordan immediately started moving in to her "new room." One puzzle at a time, until our floor was quickly covered in hundereds of puzzle pieces and lots of work to do for later. We then realized that Jordan really thought that this was her new room. We tried explaining that we were getting ready to put a couch and tv down there so that we could all use it. Boy was she excited that she'd have a couch and TV for when her friends visit, HER ROOM. Anyways, eventually she got the idea, but it was a hairy hour or two.
Saturday went great, good friends and family, good food, lots of "oohs" and "aahs" over the basement (which from this point forward will be called the living room.) Jordan played with her little friends who came, and of course her Aunt Eileen and her Uncle Mac and Uncle Paul.
On to Sunday, Father's Day. Oops. That one went without notice, but Dave was so busy it would've been impossible to plan something. Jordan and I made a big breakfast of Pancakes, bacon and eggs, and Uncle Mac walked in just as we were finishing up. Then Dave and Mac headed out to the Storage unit to empty it out.
The rest of the week (Monday-Weds.) is a blur of furniture rearranging, on all 3 floors, playdates and packing.
Then, Thursday Morning bright and early (no, really, bright and early. 4:00am) we were up and all piled into Mac's truck to head to NC. Mac really loves his niece and nephew. I know this because he volunteered his pristine white truck for the trip...even I cringe at loading our vehicles for that drive...its never pretty. We made it down th NC by early afternoon, no harm to the truck. Jordan and Carter WOWED Poppy and Nana with their new tricks (you know, songs, blowing raspberries, Carter's size alone is amazing, LOL!) And of course there were presents! Jordan got a Barbie and a My Little Pony (which was actually pretty huge) and some coloring books with a special marker. She also got some beautiful dresses! She was immediately busy with her prizes. They always know EXACTLY what to get her :-) Carter got some ADORABLE clothes and some toys that have tiny wheels and roll across the floor...he was in love!
A few hours later, Pop and Kay (Cathey's (aka Nana's) Father and his wife) arrived for a cookout. Jordan INSISTED upon going along to pick up MawMaw (Dave's grandmother, David Sr's mother) She had actually been reminding us for days "Now 'member, I get to go pick up MawMaw with you guys." Then Aunt Penny arrived (Dave's aunt, David Sr's sister) along with her son Trey, and grandkids: Owen and Emma. It was ADORABLE to see how they got along immediately. They ran for at least 95% of the time they were all there (stopping only for a few minutes to eat a bit) Jordan had a BLAST with her cousins. Later Melissa (Penny's daughter, mom to O and E) arrived with her boyfriend. It was a great little cookout.
The next daywe went to IKEA in the morning. This is a favorite in our little family. Jordan gets just as excited as Dave and I. She loves furniture so much. Its strange, I know. It was Poppy and Nana's first time at IKEA, and we're hoping to have started an addiction, much like the one Dave and I have for the place!!
Later that night Dave's Uncle Harry arrived with his wife, 2 step sons and daughter Wendy. I hadn't yet met Wendy, and Dave and Mac hadn't seen her for 10 years or so. We had alot of fun with them. We went to a "Fish Camp." Jordan loved it and ate the fried fish like it was candy. Then on the way out Daddy let her buy 5 pieces of candy. He's so wrapped. We continued on to a mini-festival type deal in downtown Gastonia. Lots of music and dancing, which both Jordan and Carter LOVED. Jordan got a tattoo on her arm of Tinkerbell. This was her second choice, Daddy told her no to her first one, a playboy bunny. Yikes! At aroune 8:30 the meltdowns began with both children, so we had to call it a night kind of early.
The next day the boys had some guy time, and Jordan, Carter (who is not quite big enough for guy time yet...poor thing) Mommy and NaNa went shopping :-) Another favorite past-time of ours! Jordan had made it clear the day before though, that she WAS going to "Blacks" for lunch. So the guys came and picked her up.
Blacks Barbecue is a very small barbecue place (for those of you in SOMD, it makes me think of Twin-Kiss) They specialize in this GOD-AWEFUL mixture of cole-slaw and barbecue sauce or something that makes the slaw pink. (sorry, I know someone is going to get mad at that comment). Jordan actually likes it, almost as much as her Daddy, Poppy and Uncle Mac, so she wasn't going to allow us to leave her out of that! That evening everyone was over again (minus Owen and Emma) Jordan had lots of fun. I think the highlight of her night though, as she is still talking about it, is when she tried to get Dave's cousin Trey (who is in his early 30's) to do a tumble. He told her he could do it while holding his beer. So, she ran inside, got her cup of juice and showed him that while he talked about doing a tumble while holding his drink, she could in fact do the tumbe while holding hers!
We packed up and left just as early Sunday morning to head home, as we had Thursday morning to head down there. The car ride home was slightly less enjoyable, but still the truck survived. Since then, this week has again been a blur of un-packing, re-decorating, and playdates but we're doing well.
Today Grandma "Lucy" is coming over to visit for a little while (this is Dave's mom and we have NO CLUE why Jordan calls her that). Then we are having a pj and movie party with the Springle Family (minus Daddy Springle who has to work), so I WILL be on here and blogging about all of that tomorrow.
Sorry its so much to read, and I'm sure some GREAT stories are missing, but I wanted to catch everyone up quickly so that I could resume my blogging.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Beautifully Busy!
What a busy day we had yesterday! It was Dave's 30th birthday, and although we are actually having a party for him Saturday, the actual day couldn't go without notice...Jordan was so excited she could hardly stand it.
First, I had a dr's appt., so Jordan stayed at her friend Emmy's house for the morning. This was a really special treat, and she was so excited to "go play with Emmy all by myself. Mommy, you just drive me there please." After the appointment, Carter and I returned for Jordan, lunch in tow, and played for about another hour at Kerry and Emmy's house (oops...and Rawlon's house too!) Then it was home for naptime. No nap in site for me though yesterday, my 2-4 time slot was filled with:
Baking a chocolate cake
Staining the wood for our bookcase
Frosting the cake
Helping a friend with wedding invitations (licking envelopes, etc.)
Then when the kiddies woke up it was time to decorate the frosted cake, put on the candles and start making dinner.
I'm telling you what, I woke up yesterday, blinked and it was bedtime!! Jordan was amazingly well behaved and Carter was his happy self all day long. And today? More of the same! I have to run to Lowes, BJ's and the grocery store, then my neighbor is helping me to make a large cushion for downstairs (scary...I have NO sewing abilities...) then more with the envelope licking. Tomorrow is just as busy, but Friday is going to be great! We will all be home, and getting carpet put in our basement. The final step before we move our furniture all around and begin using our new-old space!
First, I had a dr's appt., so Jordan stayed at her friend Emmy's house for the morning. This was a really special treat, and she was so excited to "go play with Emmy all by myself. Mommy, you just drive me there please." After the appointment, Carter and I returned for Jordan, lunch in tow, and played for about another hour at Kerry and Emmy's house (oops...and Rawlon's house too!) Then it was home for naptime. No nap in site for me though yesterday, my 2-4 time slot was filled with:
Baking a chocolate cake
Staining the wood for our bookcase
Frosting the cake
Helping a friend with wedding invitations (licking envelopes, etc.)
Then when the kiddies woke up it was time to decorate the frosted cake, put on the candles and start making dinner.
I'm telling you what, I woke up yesterday, blinked and it was bedtime!! Jordan was amazingly well behaved and Carter was his happy self all day long. And today? More of the same! I have to run to Lowes, BJ's and the grocery store, then my neighbor is helping me to make a large cushion for downstairs (scary...I have NO sewing abilities...) then more with the envelope licking. Tomorrow is just as busy, but Friday is going to be great! We will all be home, and getting carpet put in our basement. The final step before we move our furniture all around and begin using our new-old space!
Monday, June 15, 2009
I am ABSOLUTELY Happy! I have been absolutely happy for a LONG time, I can't think of a time when I've been "un-happy" as a wife or mother. I can think of many stressful days, and many periods of time where I was less than perky for various reasons, but I've ALWAYS been happy.
So, on that note, it has come to my attention that some of my ramblings and rants in the past month (on my blog, facebook and otherwise) have been mis-construed as unhappiness and complaining. This is not the case, and I'm sorry if that's the "image" that I've portrayed. It has been a crazy and stressful month to say the least, but let me remind everyone that I am indeed a very sane and grounded person and I do realize that things could be MUCH MORE stressful and crazy. Circumstances could be much worse. I am very happy and blessed with the life I have and have never felt otherwise. Even in the midst of the most stressful of days, I've always had in the back of my mind (and often in the front) that I am "blessed to be stressed."
I'm sorry for sharing my frustrations in a way that made it seem like I was anything less than happy with my life and my family. That is not now and never has been the case.
So, just so everyone knows, my basement is almost done, my children are healthy, and my Husband and I are as happy as ever!! Does it get any better!?!
So, on that note, it has come to my attention that some of my ramblings and rants in the past month (on my blog, facebook and otherwise) have been mis-construed as unhappiness and complaining. This is not the case, and I'm sorry if that's the "image" that I've portrayed. It has been a crazy and stressful month to say the least, but let me remind everyone that I am indeed a very sane and grounded person and I do realize that things could be MUCH MORE stressful and crazy. Circumstances could be much worse. I am very happy and blessed with the life I have and have never felt otherwise. Even in the midst of the most stressful of days, I've always had in the back of my mind (and often in the front) that I am "blessed to be stressed."
I'm sorry for sharing my frustrations in a way that made it seem like I was anything less than happy with my life and my family. That is not now and never has been the case.
So, just so everyone knows, my basement is almost done, my children are healthy, and my Husband and I are as happy as ever!! Does it get any better!?!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Jordan is a leader. This we've known for quite some time. The PROBLEM with this isn't the fact that she doesn't easily pick up bad habits at school/Sunday school. Its not that she often is bossy to other children (well, this could be a problem in the future, but so far she is still polite while being bossy.) The PROBLEM is that she is trying to be the leader of our Family. I really really like how my friend Liz explains the "order" of things to her daughter: "You are sometimes the boss of your sister, you are sometimes the boss of daddy, but Mommy is ALWAYS the boss of the WHOLE WORLD."
Tonight, Jordan tried to assert her "power" on Dave and I at dinner. Before I start let me say this: I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW that the dr's say "Don't let mealtimes be a battle." I KNOW that if she's really hungry she'll eat, and I know that she is definately not wasting away.
Jordan was hungry. Hungry enough to ask for a snack at least a million times while I was fixing supper. I made Hamburger Helper, which is definately a winner with her, she usually LOVES it. Then the neighbor came to the door, and Jordan decided she wasn't hungry she wanted to play. Nope, sorry, we will play after dinner.
Things calm down about 2 minutes later and when we sit at the table, Jordan takes 2 bites and says "I'm going to play with Connor now." She knows she has to finish dinner. We remind her of this probably 5 times before making threats.
Me: Jordan, if you can't stay in your chair and finish your dinner, you will have to get strapped into Carter's chair.
Jordan: Okay! I will like that!
Me: If I have to put you into Carter's chair, you're going to get a spanking.
Jordan: Okay, a spanking then I get into Carter's chair.
Dave: NO! You don't get a spanking and you can't sit in Carter's chair. Eat your dinner or go to bed.
Jordan: No, I'll go outside and play with Carter instead.
Dave: After you eat all of your dinner.
Jordan: No thank you.
Dave: Jordan, you sit here and eat your dinner or we are going to have to get rid of your brand new kitchen set. You don't want that do you?
Jordan: Oh no! I'll eat.
<4>
Dave: Okay, that's it! Kitchen set is leaving.
Jordan: DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!
Me: (thinking: oh thank Goodness, it worked she's going to eat!)
Jordan: Don't forget this! (extends her hand to reveal a piece of the kitchen set he forgot.)
Anyways, she did eat eventually, but it wasn't easy and it wasn't fun.
Tonight, Jordan tried to assert her "power" on Dave and I at dinner. Before I start let me say this: I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW that the dr's say "Don't let mealtimes be a battle." I KNOW that if she's really hungry she'll eat, and I know that she is definately not wasting away.
Jordan was hungry. Hungry enough to ask for a snack at least a million times while I was fixing supper. I made Hamburger Helper, which is definately a winner with her, she usually LOVES it. Then the neighbor came to the door, and Jordan decided she wasn't hungry she wanted to play. Nope, sorry, we will play after dinner.
Things calm down about 2 minutes later and when we sit at the table, Jordan takes 2 bites and says "I'm going to play with Connor now." She knows she has to finish dinner. We remind her of this probably 5 times before making threats.
Me: Jordan, if you can't stay in your chair and finish your dinner, you will have to get strapped into Carter's chair.
Jordan: Okay! I will like that!
Me: If I have to put you into Carter's chair, you're going to get a spanking.
Jordan: Okay, a spanking then I get into Carter's chair.
Dave: NO! You don't get a spanking and you can't sit in Carter's chair. Eat your dinner or go to bed.
Jordan: No, I'll go outside and play with Carter instead.
Dave: After you eat all of your dinner.
Jordan: No thank you.
Dave: Jordan, you sit here and eat your dinner or we are going to have to get rid of your brand new kitchen set. You don't want that do you?
Jordan: Oh no! I'll eat.
<4>
Dave: Okay, that's it! Kitchen set is leaving.
Jordan: DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!
Me: (thinking: oh thank Goodness, it worked she's going to eat!)
Jordan: Don't forget this! (extends her hand to reveal a piece of the kitchen set he forgot.)
Anyways, she did eat eventually, but it wasn't easy and it wasn't fun.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
High Chair incident, and a mindless rant....
My son really really likes his pediatrician. That's the only logical conclusion I can come to at this point. What a beautiful morning we'd had. Carter took his a.m. nap like a champ, giving Jordan and I time to color, and play doll house. When he woke up, he was hungry. Starving even. So into the booster chair he goes (ie - high chair that straps to the top of a Kitchen chair. Big space saver, and is made for babies ages 3 months and up). He is then "Buckled up for safety" as Jordan likes to say. Happy sounds fill the room as Carter anticipates the upcoming meal. Then BANG! And I mean BANG! I turn around no more than 2 seconds after buckling him in and he has flipped the entire thing, booster chair, kitchen chair and himself, over. Face first. Onto the wood floor. I.FREAKED.OUT. I quickly braced myself for the injuries I was about to see when I lifted him up, and then it was "go-time." After a few seconds of wrestling with chair/seat/buckle, I freed my poor son from this death-trap. He was SCREEEEEAAAAAAAMING. Quickly we went to the couch where I stripped him down and inspected for injuries. As soon as I got his diaper off, he began laughing. Stinker. So he's now completely calm and I am shaking like a leaf, on the verge of tears, kicking the stupid chair with my free foot. I quickly calm Jordan down, who is also visibly shaken by all of this.
Next, I do the responsible thing. I call the Doctor. BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I am so sick of calling that stinking pediatricians office. SICK.OF.IT. Up until this point it has been beyond my control, today, its my fault and I know it....so, I decide to give as little personal information as possible when I call:
ME: "Hi, my son flipped his high chair over and landed on his face and head. He seems fine, I'm just wondering if I need to bring him in since it was such a high fall?"
NURSE: "How old is he?"
ME: "7 months."
"NURSE: "Does he have any bruising?"
ME: "Just a little above his eye, but no blood or anything and he's not even crying anymore."
NURSE: "Is he moving his eyes well and acting normal."
ME: "Yep. I think he's fine, I just thought I should call in case it was something you guys thought needed to be checked."
NURSE: "Okay, what's his name?"
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhh
ME:"Carter Hayes."
NURSE: "Okay, hold on a minute Kim."
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh They know my name as soon as I say my Son's name. GREAT. GREAT. GREAT. GREAT. I am figuring that at this point they are snickering and laughing at me, the hypochondriac mother of the 7 month old who has been in their office no less than half a dozen times in the last month.
I do KNOW that I am not "that kind of mom" who has her child at the dr's for every little thing. It just so happens that I have a kid with legitimate health concerns pretty frequently. I also KNOW that the dr's and nurses there know this, as every time we have been there there has been something significant going on with Carter (health-wise). But I am TOTALLY self conscious right now about being viewed as a paranoid Mother. (So, I guess I'm paranoid about being paranoid!?!?)
I think I'm totally self conscious right now period. I suddenly find myself worrying about what people think of me more and more. I worry how people percieve my mothering-skills, my ability to be a good wife, my housekeeping, organizational skills. The list goes on.
Anyways, the day got better, and was filled with smiles and laughs....and tomorrow will be better. And Thank GOD Carter is okay, because that could have been bad.
Goodnight!
Still Home
mmmmm...home, and cozy having an AMAZING cup of coffee this morning :-) Jordan is blowing bubbles in the house (because it is raining outside). Carter is playing in his excer saucer and it is a GREAT morning so far!
Last night was good too. We had spaghetti for dinner. I decided its time for Carter to eat food that's a little more solid than pureed baby food, so I put some spaghetti in the blender along with some Gerber squash. Don't do that. Spaghetti doesn't chop, or whatever, well in the blender. So I dumped it out, and used the hand chopper thingy. Carter LOOOOOVED it!
Dave put the toilet in downstairs last night, so we had a pretty big box sitting around. I remembered my friend Nancy's blog about how much her son loved their lawn mower box, so I got a knife and quickly concocted said toilet box into a playhouse. That was HOURS of entertainment. Jordan played peek-a-boo with Carter for a while before finally deciding the box was "Chic-Fil-A." She tried to get Dave and I to sit inside saying "We have tables and a slide and EVERYTHING!" But that clearly wasn't going to work (we're talking toilet box here, not refrigerator box.) so she came around and took our orders and prepared them inside the restaurant. Carter loved the box so much, he decided to crawl a little towards it. But then got frustrated because he wasn't going fast enough apparently, and began rolling to it. Then he though it was hilarious to kick the door shut every time Jordan tried to open it. Not too funny for Jordan. Not too funny at all for Jordan, as the windows in "Chick Fil A" were not large enough to exit through...
Then, just before bedtime Jordan was the first to use the toilet downstairs. How exciting, haha! She said "Daddy this is a nice toilet. I really like it down here. I'm just going to sit here for a while and check this place out. What a pretty basement. Maybe I'll poop while I'm sitting here....nope. I don't need to go." (Her exact words to Dave.) Then she decided before bed we needed to sing happy birthday to her, because she is now 31.
Have a good day everyone! Stay dry, its supposed to be horrible out there today!
Last night was good too. We had spaghetti for dinner. I decided its time for Carter to eat food that's a little more solid than pureed baby food, so I put some spaghetti in the blender along with some Gerber squash. Don't do that. Spaghetti doesn't chop, or whatever, well in the blender. So I dumped it out, and used the hand chopper thingy. Carter LOOOOOVED it!
Dave put the toilet in downstairs last night, so we had a pretty big box sitting around. I remembered my friend Nancy's blog about how much her son loved their lawn mower box, so I got a knife and quickly concocted said toilet box into a playhouse. That was HOURS of entertainment. Jordan played peek-a-boo with Carter for a while before finally deciding the box was "Chic-Fil-A." She tried to get Dave and I to sit inside saying "We have tables and a slide and EVERYTHING!" But that clearly wasn't going to work (we're talking toilet box here, not refrigerator box.) so she came around and took our orders and prepared them inside the restaurant. Carter loved the box so much, he decided to crawl a little towards it. But then got frustrated because he wasn't going fast enough apparently, and began rolling to it. Then he though it was hilarious to kick the door shut every time Jordan tried to open it. Not too funny for Jordan. Not too funny at all for Jordan, as the windows in "Chick Fil A" were not large enough to exit through...
Then, just before bedtime Jordan was the first to use the toilet downstairs. How exciting, haha! She said "Daddy this is a nice toilet. I really like it down here. I'm just going to sit here for a while and check this place out. What a pretty basement. Maybe I'll poop while I'm sitting here....nope. I don't need to go." (Her exact words to Dave.) Then she decided before bed we needed to sing happy birthday to her, because she is now 31.
Have a good day everyone! Stay dry, its supposed to be horrible out there today!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Home
We are HOME!!!! We came home late Saturday night (after church/Ledo's). It was great to be home...even with the huge mess that awaited us here... The basement is coming along MARVELOUSLY and should be done in 2 weeks or less!!!!!!!!!!!! Carter seems to be feeling great. We had a little scare on Saturday/Sunday and I was thinking he was starting to have some trouble again, but then another new tooth popped through.
Jordan is now into playing very imaginatively. She spent most of yesterday evening playing with her baby doll, "Amy." Apparently it was Amy's birthday. Jordan threw her a slumber party, complete with a pretend cake and presents. We were not allowed to walk on the rug, because that was Amy's room. Then, Jordan put her ball into her dress and decided she was having a baby. What a busy day :-)
The "normal-ness" of being at home is WONDERFUL. I have no desire to leave my house today, and probably won't tomorrow either. This is a good thing, as leaving the house generally means spending money, so it should be a rather inexpensive week (umm...minus all of the money going into the basement and Dave's birthday party...) It was just amazing to wake up this morning and be at home and do our normal at home stuff. AGAIN, it was great being at my parent's for the 2 weeks or so, but really, there's no place like home!!
I'm going to try to load up a few pictures on here now....we'll see how it goes.
Jordan is now into playing very imaginatively. She spent most of yesterday evening playing with her baby doll, "Amy." Apparently it was Amy's birthday. Jordan threw her a slumber party, complete with a pretend cake and presents. We were not allowed to walk on the rug, because that was Amy's room. Then, Jordan put her ball into her dress and decided she was having a baby. What a busy day :-)
The "normal-ness" of being at home is WONDERFUL. I have no desire to leave my house today, and probably won't tomorrow either. This is a good thing, as leaving the house generally means spending money, so it should be a rather inexpensive week (umm...minus all of the money going into the basement and Dave's birthday party...) It was just amazing to wake up this morning and be at home and do our normal at home stuff. AGAIN, it was great being at my parent's for the 2 weeks or so, but really, there's no place like home!!
I'm going to try to load up a few pictures on here now....we'll see how it goes.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
aaah Extra Sleep
The kids had an AMAZING day today! We needed to leave my parents' house by 8:30, so I woke up at 7:00 to watch a few minutes of news, have a shower, and then get the kids ready. I apparently fell asleep watching the news because next thing I know it was 8:30 and Carter was just waking up! That NEVER happens!!! So, I immediately knew there wasn't even any point in attempting to make it to gymnastics. No huge loss, the extra sleep is definately worth it! Jordan didn't wake up until 9:00. Again, NEVER happens!
We had a fun-filled day of shopping (sarcasm...) Jordan and Carter picked out the theme for their new bathroom downstairs. Jordan liked princesses, and I voted for Jungle animals on Carter's behalf. Its very cute, and I know Carter loves it because he spit up on the hand-towel before I even had a chance to pay for it. This is how Carter shows his affection, just ask my mother.
We saw Dave for a little while this afternoon, so that was nice. And then I went back to my parents' house for dinner and whatnot. Everything went very well, so either Carter is really getting all better and Jordan is learning to listen better; or I'm getting used to being away...
We had a fun-filled day of shopping (sarcasm...) Jordan and Carter picked out the theme for their new bathroom downstairs. Jordan liked princesses, and I voted for Jungle animals on Carter's behalf. Its very cute, and I know Carter loves it because he spit up on the hand-towel before I even had a chance to pay for it. This is how Carter shows his affection, just ask my mother.
We saw Dave for a little while this afternoon, so that was nice. And then I went back to my parents' house for dinner and whatnot. Everything went very well, so either Carter is really getting all better and Jordan is learning to listen better; or I'm getting used to being away...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
"and even both fell asleep on their own in the same room together!!! "
I apologize for that sentence fragment, found in yesterday's blog. Could it have BEEN more confusing and gramatically incorrect?!?! I can't even make sense of it...so, sorry!
Today's going much better than last night did And I should also take this time to say that we really ARE having a good time staying at my parent's house. If we have to be away for this long, this is definately the place to be. I know I have complained alot, but put it into perspective...I am sad for my children that they have not been home in so long. Their schedules are a mess, and we are spending a GREAT deal of time in my car driving to and from Calvert or St. Mary's counties...in an attempt to still make it to everything we had planned in the past week. On the positive note, I have only done a very very minimal amount of dishes in the last week, and have only cooked dinner once...that to me spells VACATION. Also, there is someone else here to help "entertain" Jordan and Carter at least 75% of the time. Wanting to go home is not a sense of dis-satisfaction at where we are, its just missing our own walls, and Dave.
I apologize for that sentence fragment, found in yesterday's blog. Could it have BEEN more confusing and gramatically incorrect?!?! I can't even make sense of it...so, sorry!
Today's going much better than last night did
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
4 days.
We had a sleep over at our friends, the Council's, house last night. They have a daughter Jordan's age, and a son who just turned one, whom Carter LOVES to watch play! The girls played so well together, and even both fell asleep on their own in the same room together!!! I stayed up way too late chatting with my friend, and was absolutely EXHAUSTED this morning.
We swam today, and Jordan decided to suddenly be afraid to get her face wet, and afraid to jump in without me holding her (so that I could stop her before her face got wet). My solution? I just tossed her in...which she HATED. (I didn't do this right away, the first scabillion times I did just what she was comfortable with, in hopes of working up to her really jumping in.) Oh well, she had fun anyways, and I was only mildly frustrated with her at that point. Then, she took an AMAZING 2 1/2 hour nap...THAT NEVER HAPPENS AT MY HOUSE. EVER. So of course tonight should have been amazingly wonderful...should.have.been.
As of 10:15 pm this evening my daughter has POOPED her pants 3 times. Typical for a 2 1/2 year old you may think, but you are wrong. My daughter has been COMPLETELY potty trained for almost an entire year. I could count on ONE HAND the number of times this has happened in the past year, and I GUARANTEE the rest of the times were all sometime last summer/early fall. WHAT is going on!? I have been literally with her 24/7 in the past week...except for about 3 hours Sunday night, when she was with my Mom, so that's nothing unusual at all.
I swear, every day we are not at home, she re-gresses (is that a word?) another month.
On a GREAT note, for the first time in Carter's ENTIRE life, I heard this from a doctor "He looks and sounds perfect, no need to follow up." PRAISE GOD! In the past even when we thought we were going for a well visit, something has come up (hence we are at my parents house...) Carter is breathing like a champ, has perfectly clear ears, nose and eyes, no fever, and no more excessive spit up than he usually does!!!! So, we are stopping one of his inhalers, and slowly weaning the other. And although the doctor said, perhaps another week away from home just to literally "let the dust settle." I have decided that this cannot be done. We will give it until Saturday. My poor daughter just cannot understand why we aren't going home, why she isn't seeing Daddy very much, etc. It breaks my heart for her and she has definately sacrificed in the last week, so although Carter is only 6 months, he's going to have to sacrifice some too.
4 days. I am going home Saturday. Saturday, beautiful Saturday! I will still be by myself, because Dave is working on a project for the church all day Saturday, but I will be in MY HOME.
In the meantime, I am coming un-done quickly, Jordan is coming un-done quickly, and Carter, well, he's healthy. And that makes it worth it for 4 more days!
We swam today, and Jordan decided to suddenly be afraid to get her face wet, and afraid to jump in without me holding her (so that I could stop her before her face got wet). My solution? I just tossed her in...which she HATED. (I didn't do this right away, the first scabillion times I did just what she was comfortable with, in hopes of working up to her really jumping in.) Oh well, she had fun anyways, and I was only mildly frustrated with her at that point. Then, she took an AMAZING 2 1/2 hour nap...THAT NEVER HAPPENS AT MY HOUSE. EVER. So of course tonight should have been amazingly wonderful...should.have.been.
As of 10:15 pm this evening my daughter has POOPED her pants 3 times. Typical for a 2 1/2 year old you may think, but you are wrong. My daughter has been COMPLETELY potty trained for almost an entire year. I could count on ONE HAND the number of times this has happened in the past year, and I GUARANTEE the rest of the times were all sometime last summer/early fall. WHAT is going on!? I have been literally with her 24/7 in the past week...except for about 3 hours Sunday night, when she was with my Mom, so that's nothing unusual at all.
I swear, every day we are not at home, she re-gresses (is that a word?) another month.
On a GREAT note, for the first time in Carter's ENTIRE life, I heard this from a doctor "He looks and sounds perfect, no need to follow up." PRAISE GOD! In the past even when we thought we were going for a well visit, something has come up (hence we are at my parents house...) Carter is breathing like a champ, has perfectly clear ears, nose and eyes, no fever, and no more excessive spit up than he usually does!!!! So, we are stopping one of his inhalers, and slowly weaning the other. And although the doctor said, perhaps another week away from home just to literally "let the dust settle." I have decided that this cannot be done. We will give it until Saturday. My poor daughter just cannot understand why we aren't going home, why she isn't seeing Daddy very much, etc. It breaks my heart for her and she has definately sacrificed in the last week, so although Carter is only 6 months, he's going to have to sacrifice some too.
4 days. I am going home Saturday. Saturday, beautiful Saturday! I will still be by myself, because Dave is working on a project for the church all day Saturday, but I will be in MY HOME.
In the meantime, I am coming un-done quickly, Jordan is coming un-done quickly, and Carter, well, he's healthy. And that makes it worth it for 4 more days!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
I miss my bed. I doubt that my children miss their beds, Jordan is sleeping comfortably in her bunk-bed here at my parents' house. Carter is in his pack-n-play, complete with a mini-matress and everything.
Anyway, we had a blast at the farm today. Jordan picked about 4 pounds of strawberries!!! Carter LOVED the animals (Jordan did as well of course, but this isn't anything new). He patted the horse's nose and was squeeling at all of the animals. So cute! Afterwards we went to lunch at Wendy's (fancy, I know!) Then back to my parents' for nap time.
Apparently this morning while I was getting us all ready to go to the farm, my Mom mentioned to Jordan that she was going out to the store and asked Jordan if she needed anything. If you EVER ask Jordan if she needs anything from the store, she will always have a different answer. So, my mom comes home while Jordan and Carter are sleeping, and unloads a basketball hoop from her vehicle. Apparently that is what Jordan needed today...interesting... But she did have alot of fun playing with it before Church tonight!
Dave got suckered into taking her on the playground before church, and they had alot of fun of course. We went to Ledo's for pizza after church, just as we do every Saturday night. We get there around 8:00, and they close at 10:00. So, after we eat Jordan "helps" the waitresses clean up the restaraunt. She got a $1.00 tip today. Jordan LOVES this part of going to Ledo's. We can almost ALWAYS get her to eat all of her dinner there, because she knows that she gets to clean up afterwards.
Tomorrow is a birthday party and swimming....And maybe I'll actually get some pictures up, I forgot to ask Dave to bring up the adapter. This living in 2 seperate places is really tricky!!!
Anyway, we had a blast at the farm today. Jordan picked about 4 pounds of strawberries!!! Carter LOVED the animals (Jordan did as well of course, but this isn't anything new). He patted the horse's nose and was squeeling at all of the animals. So cute! Afterwards we went to lunch at Wendy's (fancy, I know!) Then back to my parents' for nap time.
Apparently this morning while I was getting us all ready to go to the farm, my Mom mentioned to Jordan that she was going out to the store and asked Jordan if she needed anything. If you EVER ask Jordan if she needs anything from the store, she will always have a different answer. So, my mom comes home while Jordan and Carter are sleeping, and unloads a basketball hoop from her vehicle. Apparently that is what Jordan needed today...interesting... But she did have alot of fun playing with it before Church tonight!
Dave got suckered into taking her on the playground before church, and they had alot of fun of course. We went to Ledo's for pizza after church, just as we do every Saturday night. We get there around 8:00, and they close at 10:00. So, after we eat Jordan "helps" the waitresses clean up the restaraunt. She got a $1.00 tip today. Jordan LOVES this part of going to Ledo's. We can almost ALWAYS get her to eat all of her dinner there, because she knows that she gets to clean up afterwards.
Tomorrow is a birthday party and swimming....And maybe I'll actually get some pictures up, I forgot to ask Dave to bring up the adapter. This living in 2 seperate places is really tricky!!!
Friday, May 29, 2009
last day of school
So today was it...Jordan's last day of her first year of school. It was only the 2 year old program, so I don't think it really counts, but I did get all choked up anyways. Next year, there will be children younger than her at the school...she won't be the baby there anymore (And she definately was the baby, they squeezed her in, even though she was just past the birthday cut-off.) She had a good day at school, and drew a GREAT picture. She actually drew something instead of just scribbles. She said it was her at the park, swinging on the swings...I kind of see it.
Carter is saying "Hi" to anyone and everyone today, and attempting to wave. Cute!!! He's getting closer and closer to crawling, still. It'll be any day now.
I took a TON of pictures of them today, but unfortunately my adapter for the memory card is at home. I'll get Dave to bring it up tomorrow, and then we'll have double-tons of pictures to post. We're going to play on the slip 'n slide tomorrow, then go pick strawberries. Nothing any more significant than any of that to report....
Carter is saying "Hi" to anyone and everyone today, and attempting to wave. Cute!!! He's getting closer and closer to crawling, still. It'll be any day now.
I took a TON of pictures of them today, but unfortunately my adapter for the memory card is at home. I'll get Dave to bring it up tomorrow, and then we'll have double-tons of pictures to post. We're going to play on the slip 'n slide tomorrow, then go pick strawberries. Nothing any more significant than any of that to report....
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Busy Day!
Today was incredibly busy!! Jordan had Gymnastics at 9:30, which means we had to leave here at 8:30 to be there on time (this does not mean we WERE on time, but would have been had we left at 8:30.) Jordan is working on mastering her "toe touch" jump. IT.IS.HILLARIOUS. Coach M. Holds Jordan's hips, lifts her as she jumps up and holds her up long enough to get her legs out, back down again, and land. Then Jordan tries...she jumps up, puts her legs out perfectly and leans to touch her toes and then SLAM, she lands on her butt on the ground!!!! (its okay to laugh at this, the floor is VERY VERY padded and springy).
Next, onto our weekly early-lunch at Chick Fil A. Great, as always. Then there's the weekly pointless trip to Target, where I search the dollar aisle for things I don't need but have to have because they're only a $1.00. I cleaned up in there today, coloring book, bubbles, flip flops, hand sanitizer, wipies, travel size tylenol.
Drove home to pick up the double stroller, and on the way both kids fell asleep. Since Carter can't actually go INTO our house (poor guy) Dave came and sat outside with them and I took a much-needed quick shower. Then we were off to the Marine Museum. What a blast! We've been there many times, but for some reason this time Jordan was REALLY into everything. I refuse, however, to be one of those Moms who FORCES my child to learn something at the museum, by stopping at EVERY SINGLE exhibit and reading the little caption. We just read the ones she had questions about and "ooh'd and aah'd" over the rest. My friend who came with us IS one of those Moms...so that slowed us down substantially. I asked Jordan later what her favorite part of the museum was and she said "I can't pick just one favorite, I had lots and lots of favorites." YAY!!! THAT is a successful trip!
Then we went to Ritas, and since this blog is not supposed to really be about me, but about my Children; I will spare the details of the drama that happened there. Just know, it wasn't my fault, my car is fine, and I'm SURE it was a learning experience for the 16 year old girl...
We went home to pick Dave up so we could go have dinner as a family and the contractor was still there. We hung out in the backyard for an hour or so waiting. Jordan lost my car keys out there, so that was a fun "treasure hunt" activity. We found them, in Dave's pocket...I don't have a clue how he got them. Finally we made it to Mexico Restaraunt and had a great dinner. Busy but great day!! Tomorrow Jordan has her last day of her first year of school :-( That went by entirely too quickly. I hope every year doesn't go by so fast...I'm choking up just thinking about that.
...Carter is soooo close to crawling....so, maybe an update about that soon!
'Night!
Next, onto our weekly early-lunch at Chick Fil A. Great, as always. Then there's the weekly pointless trip to Target, where I search the dollar aisle for things I don't need but have to have because they're only a $1.00. I cleaned up in there today, coloring book, bubbles, flip flops, hand sanitizer, wipies, travel size tylenol.
Drove home to pick up the double stroller, and on the way both kids fell asleep. Since Carter can't actually go INTO our house (poor guy) Dave came and sat outside with them and I took a much-needed quick shower. Then we were off to the Marine Museum. What a blast! We've been there many times, but for some reason this time Jordan was REALLY into everything. I refuse, however, to be one of those Moms who FORCES my child to learn something at the museum, by stopping at EVERY SINGLE exhibit and reading the little caption. We just read the ones she had questions about and "ooh'd and aah'd" over the rest. My friend who came with us IS one of those Moms...so that slowed us down substantially. I asked Jordan later what her favorite part of the museum was and she said "I can't pick just one favorite, I had lots and lots of favorites." YAY!!! THAT is a successful trip!
Then we went to Ritas, and since this blog is not supposed to really be about me, but about my Children; I will spare the details of the drama that happened there. Just know, it wasn't my fault, my car is fine, and I'm SURE it was a learning experience for the 16 year old girl...
We went home to pick Dave up so we could go have dinner as a family and the contractor was still there. We hung out in the backyard for an hour or so waiting. Jordan lost my car keys out there, so that was a fun "treasure hunt" activity. We found them, in Dave's pocket...I don't have a clue how he got them. Finally we made it to Mexico Restaraunt and had a great dinner. Busy but great day!! Tomorrow Jordan has her last day of her first year of school :-( That went by entirely too quickly. I hope every year doesn't go by so fast...I'm choking up just thinking about that.
...Carter is soooo close to crawling....so, maybe an update about that soon!
'Night!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Whining (um me, not Jordan)
Let me paint you a picture:
Doctor's waiting room, 3:15pm on a Tuesday. 1 free chair, and me with a toddler, an infant (who looks like a toddler) in his carrier and a diaper bag the size of Texas. Other toddler running around the room is CLEARLY there because he has ringworm on his face. Little boy who looks to be about 5 has croup.bad. Boy beside us' mother says "Just don't let him breathe on your kids." Little girl coloring has run to the bathroom with her mother at least 3 times in the first 20 minutes that we're there. Jordan ran up and hugged ringworm boy. Jordan remained on my lap the entire wait after this.
Carter has a new ear infection, on top of the one that he still has from last week. This managed to happen while he has been on antibiotics (not Ammoxicillan, he was on that a couple weeks prior for something else). SO, he needed a shot of antibiotics. Doctor checks his lungs, and checks and checks and checks for a long time (in my experience with Carter, the longer she checks, the worse it is). He's wheezing pretty good she says. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH. I was realy really hoping that we'd be ready to wean him off of his inhalers, or at least one of them, but NOPE. We have to up the inhalers. Then the basement renovations come up in conversation and she says that very well could be a trigger causing his lungs to get inflamed. Drywall Dust. GREAT. GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT. So, per the dr's suggestion we have vacated the house and will remain out for a week. If he gets better, than we know that is more than likely causing the problem. For now though, we're assuming its some mild Asthma caused by scarring on his lungs from the RSV. (He is such a trooper...)
Okay, onto the shot. Before the shot the nurse came in to "talk" to me because she wanted me to really understand that this is a very painful shot (as opposed to the ones that feel good???) and he would scream for probably at least a solid 1/2 hour afterwards but that's normal. She gave him the shot - he screamed - then he stopped. She looked at me and said "I can't even imagine the pain this little guy must be in from his ears. I have NEVER had a baby not cry after the shot." GREAT. GREAT GREAT GREAT. My poor child who HAS been screaming bloody murder several times a day for the last week, was in a substantial amount of pain, and THAT'S NOT EVEN WHY I BROUGHT HIM TO THE DOCTOR. (There went Mommy of the year. AGAIN.) During all of this, Jordan is talking and talking and talking and talking. And DEMANDING that Carter is NOT getting a shot because "I said No! I telled you NO SHOTS TODAY!" So, I'm trying to listen to the dr/nurse over my 2 year old, and prepare her because if he's going to scream for 3o minutes than you'd better believe she will too. Chair flips over, Jordan screams, I flip out (because its only about the millionth time in 20 minutes I've told her that we don't stnad on chairs). We had to stick around the first floor of the dr's building for 1/2 hour to make sure there's no reaction to the Shot, and Thank God there wasn't.
That's all, that was my afternoon yesterday. re-reading it, I may have just been way too hi-strung yesterday and that's why it effected me the way it did...so here I sit, pale and not at home :-(
Doctor's waiting room, 3:15pm on a Tuesday. 1 free chair, and me with a toddler, an infant (who looks like a toddler) in his carrier and a diaper bag the size of Texas. Other toddler running around the room is CLEARLY there because he has ringworm on his face. Little boy who looks to be about 5 has croup.bad. Boy beside us' mother says "Just don't let him breathe on your kids." Little girl coloring has run to the bathroom with her mother at least 3 times in the first 20 minutes that we're there. Jordan ran up and hugged ringworm boy. Jordan remained on my lap the entire wait after this.
Carter has a new ear infection, on top of the one that he still has from last week. This managed to happen while he has been on antibiotics (not Ammoxicillan, he was on that a couple weeks prior for something else). SO, he needed a shot of antibiotics. Doctor checks his lungs, and checks and checks and checks for a long time (in my experience with Carter, the longer she checks, the worse it is). He's wheezing pretty good she says. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH. I was realy really hoping that we'd be ready to wean him off of his inhalers, or at least one of them, but NOPE. We have to up the inhalers. Then the basement renovations come up in conversation and she says that very well could be a trigger causing his lungs to get inflamed. Drywall Dust. GREAT. GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT. So, per the dr's suggestion we have vacated the house and will remain out for a week. If he gets better, than we know that is more than likely causing the problem. For now though, we're assuming its some mild Asthma caused by scarring on his lungs from the RSV. (He is such a trooper...)
Okay, onto the shot. Before the shot the nurse came in to "talk" to me because she wanted me to really understand that this is a very painful shot (as opposed to the ones that feel good???) and he would scream for probably at least a solid 1/2 hour afterwards but that's normal. She gave him the shot - he screamed - then he stopped. She looked at me and said "I can't even imagine the pain this little guy must be in from his ears. I have NEVER had a baby not cry after the shot." GREAT. GREAT GREAT GREAT. My poor child who HAS been screaming bloody murder several times a day for the last week, was in a substantial amount of pain, and THAT'S NOT EVEN WHY I BROUGHT HIM TO THE DOCTOR. (There went Mommy of the year. AGAIN.) During all of this, Jordan is talking and talking and talking and talking. And DEMANDING that Carter is NOT getting a shot because "I said No! I telled you NO SHOTS TODAY!" So, I'm trying to listen to the dr/nurse over my 2 year old, and prepare her because if he's going to scream for 3o minutes than you'd better believe she will too. Chair flips over, Jordan screams, I flip out (because its only about the millionth time in 20 minutes I've told her that we don't stnad on chairs). We had to stick around the first floor of the dr's building for 1/2 hour to make sure there's no reaction to the Shot, and Thank God there wasn't.
That's all, that was my afternoon yesterday. re-reading it, I may have just been way too hi-strung yesterday and that's why it effected me the way it did...so here I sit, pale and not at home :-(
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Good Day gone Bad :-(
The kids slept in today!!! But Dave called the house at 7, and my mom called at 7:30. Whatever, its still a good start to the day if I wake up BEFORE Jordan and Carter. I really don't know why, but for some reason if I have just a head start on them, enough to pee, and start the pot of coffee brewing before they wake up, it really sets my mood right for the day. (UM, Don't bother trying to edit that sentence, Grammar People...) Anyways, morning started well. Everyone was happy and ready for a great day!!! Then that ALL changed rather quickly this afternoon. Maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get my spray tan, taco soup, or margarita. Maybe I'm just moody today, so I let little stuff ruin my great start to the day. Maybe my kids drove me crazy by lunchtime? Maybe I found out that I, yet again, will not be getting Mother of the Year? Maybe as I was explaining to my daughter why we don't ride Carter's pool raft off of furniture or stairs, maybe there was a hint of selfishness in me thinking "REALLY? REALLY I'm spending my day arguing with a toddler???"
As I sit tonight blogging, at my parent's house - where we will reside for a week - I smile though, because tomorrow starts fresh. Tomorrow WILL start with hugs, kisses, tickle fights, and more. Today, I learned:
As I sit tonight blogging, at my parent's house - where we will reside for a week - I smile though, because tomorrow starts fresh. Tomorrow WILL start with hugs, kisses, tickle fights, and more. Today, I learned:
- Princesses don't pick their noses, but pirates do, so its okay (!!!!!!)
- Carter likes it when Jordan flips his carseat upside down
- Carter cracks up when I scream and quickly put his carseat rightside up
- Jordan can figure out no less than 5 ways to flip a chair over in the Dr's office
- We have to run after we flush the potty or it'll suck us right down in there to live in poop (????)
- My son has a very high pain tolerance :-( Wish I'd have known this a week ago, I'd have had him into the dr's sooner
I'm rambling because its late, and it really and truly has been one of those days that I will have to process until sometime tomorrow, and then attempt to document it. Good night!
Monday, May 25, 2009
2 Children
Dave and I have 2 kids. Just 2. 2 is ENOUGH. Jordan is 2, will be 3 in September. Carter is 6 months, his birthday is in November. My husband and I feel NO NEED to have more children. I don't harbor ANY guilt about "children I'll never meet," as I've heard some put it. 2 is ENOUGH.
Here are MY reasons that I don't need/want anymore children (in no particular order):
Here are MY reasons that I don't need/want anymore children (in no particular order):
- Pregnancy SUCKS. S.U.C.K.S!
- Labor/Delivery SUCKS
- Recovery SUCKS
- I am a much nicer person when I get 6 hours of sleep...in a row.
- My car nicely fits 2 car seats
- My house nicely fits 2 children
- Our income nicely fits 2 children
- I like my house clean...(not that it IS clean, but I do like it that way)
- I like my husband, and want to continue to be able to spend some time with him 1 on 1
- My kids are healthy (relatively speaking, and I pray that this does not change!) I'm terrified that the more I have, the more likely something will be wrong
- I have my babies ONE AT A TIME, I don't have a litter, and if God wanted me to have more children, perhaps he'd have snuck a few more in the womb in each pregnancy. He didnt. God and I are clearly on the same page on this issue.
We live in a small(ish) town, and have a small(ish) house. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a little fenced in yard. I really don't think I could ask for more! That's it for today, BUT, I have decided to blog daily starting tomorrow...its the only hope my kids have for documentation of their childhood (since I'm still working to complete my wedding album...their baby albums don't stand a CHANCE!)
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