Our Happy Little World

Let the Year of Giving begin!

2012-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Today was teachers workday for me but JD had the day off so he got to keep Soph and Trey all day. He had a good day. He took them to the park and Wal-Mart and Burger King ( they even brought me burger king for lunch) then back home so Soph could take a nap and JD and Trey could watch the Gators win the Gator bowl. When I got home I made white bean chicken chilli for supper (perfect night for it. It is cold and getting colder! high of 45 tomorrow!) Tonight was family home evening (which I am going to try to do better at this year). Our theme for tonight was Service. This year, as I said in a previous post, we are going to have a year of giving. Every month we will pick a new charity, learn about it, find out how we can help then help in some way. I looked at a (not very comprehensive) lost of organizations in the area and before we even told Trey about the list he said he wanted to help a group that is for animals. So we decided on the Humane Society. Tomorrow me and Trey will call them and tell them about our little project and tell them we would like to donate some dog food and ask what we can do to help. We are also going to ask if we can come by and talk to them and learn about what they do and learn about the animals. Trey is really excited. We talked about what charity is and why they might need help. He is pretty smart. He knew basically what a charity was he just wasn't sure we called it a charity. He also said, before we ever even talked about what the theme was going to be he said he wanted to make a card for someone who needed a card. Well I had just heard today that his teacher had hurt her foot really badly. So I suggested he make her a card. He loved that idea of course because he loves his teacher, Mrs. Brown. Our opening song tonight was "As a Child of God". That is the song for the month in primary. Since I am the music leader for primary I need to learn it as well as Trey so I decided to introduce it to him tonight. We played it a few times and I spoke the words for him. He likes it and I do too. I hope the primary kids like it. It is so much easier to teach a new song if they like it. After we practiced our new song and we picked our charity for the month and made a card for his teacher we had chocolate chip cookies for a treat. I declare it a Good night.

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Maybe not.

2011-12-22T17:49:00.000-08:00

So maybe Trey doesn't have chicken pox. The bumps have not itched him at all today and they don't seem to be progressing. Karen said they will change. They will get blister-like then dry up and scab over. They have not changed at all and even look lighter tonight. This is such a good thing. Although I would like to know what kind of funk my child has. At least it's not chicken pox. I was afraid he wouldnt want to ever eat chicken again. lol

A year of giving.

2011-12-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I was reading a friends blog and she has a theme for each year. This year was a year for adventures then she decided to add giving. I hope she doesn't mind but I am going to steal this idea from her. Not the theme thing but the giving thing. I need to do more service. I need to teach the kids about serving. I do service through my church but not really for the community I live in. Each month me and the kids are gonna pick a different charity or group and provide something or perform a service for that group. It may be as small as donating something or larger like actually performing a service which will require time which seems to always be at a premium for us. So starting in January we will pick our charity for the month and before the end of the month we will decide what we will do. I am excited. I need to teach the kids more about and instill in them a true love for serving others. If they can learn to be humble enough to serve others and if they can lose themselves in serving others and if I can teach them to love giving of themselves I will have left a legacy worth leaving. The best way to teach is to do, so I will do. Charity is the pure love of Christ.

Chicken pox for Christmas.

2011-12-21T17:31:00.001-08:00

So I've been slacking. This always happens. At the time when life is the most fun and there is the most going on when I should be blogging the most because there is more to blog I get so busy and tired that I slack up on blogging. Forgive me. Let's catch up. I am off work. Does this mean vacation for me? NOoooo. This is the time when everything I was saving up to do has to get done. It's count down time. 3 days until Christmas. All the presents are bought, wrapped and under the tree. Lightening has been keep an eye on things around here. He has been on the hat rack, on Santa's little goodie tray, Hiding in the china cabinet, on the kitchen table and on the back door curtain. He is a busy fellow. We are all awaiting Santa's arrival.

Last night Trey spent the night with Nana and Pa. Nana called and asked if I knew of anyone in his class at school that had chicken pox. She said he had some bumps on his shoulder and back that were a little itchy. Today they are more pronounced and there seems to be more of them. For the most part they dont itch but earlier today they were pretty itchy so we dabbed calamine on him and he said he was embarrassed he would look like a girl with pink spots on him. Since then they havent itched at all. He is doing really well. I am actually not 100% sure it's the pox. There arent very many more and they dont seem to be progressing. They arent itching him much either. He has only told me once they itched. I sent Karen pics and she said they certainly looked like them but it was a little curious he had them because he was vaccinated and he should not get them. So if he does indeed have a full blown case I should take him to the Dr. to let them document it and they might even want to do some blood work to see if he is not building up the antibodies to the virus. This could be an issue later in life. So we wait and see. I will need to decide in the next 2 days because the Dr. office will be closed. I guess this is a good time to have them since we are both off school and work. He is the only child in his class to have perfect attendance still. I can hardly believe that. My sickly little baby that was in the hospital and constantly in the Dr's office is a healthy, smart boy who has perfect attendance. I'm proud of him. Soph is young enough that if she does get exposed she should get a mild case if that. JD has had chicken pox so he should be fine. I however, have not. If I have it was so mild we didnt notice it when Jenifer had them. I hope I was exposed because if I get them now I will be in bad shape probably. I am anxious to see hoe he looks tomorrow when he wakes up. Time will tell.

Chinese Bakery

2011-12-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

Every year on a Saturday before Christmas me, Jen, Selena, Momma, Soph, Trey and whatever friend we can rope in get in the kitchen and bake. We make homemade goodies, cookies and old fashioned candies. This year this was the menu.

Fudge, Whatchamacallit cookies, Caramel, apricot squares, divinity, Martha Washington Balls, Sand Tarts, butter creams, marshmallows.

We had a blast.

Ok the caramel was a fail. I somehow burned it beyond recognition before I had even put the butter in. I didn't get around to my marshmallows or divinity.

Little sneak.

The face.Gettin' candy coated.

We train 'em young.It takes a real man.

Breakfast with Santa.

2011-12-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

The kids made these little ornaments as one activity while they waited for their classes turn to see Santa. That is Miguel behind Trey.

Me and Mrs. Brown stopping to cheese for the camera so Trey could be the photographer.

Trey finally got his turn. He told Santa he wanted a blue Transformer that turns into a motorcycle. Check.

After they made their ornament, they went back stage and had a story read to them then went to see Santa and talk to him. Then they went to a table to make bracelets. It has a bell on it with "jewels". Then when they got finished with that they go to go to the table and have a donut and juice. Trey said he wasnt going to eat his because he eats donuts with a fork so he doesnt get his hands sticky. When I told him to pick it up with his napkin he was ok.

Monday.

2011-12-12T17:37:00.000-08:00

Once we got everyone fed, bathed and practiced counting to 100 and by 2's and by 5's we had family home evening tonight and it was fun. We sang "Once There Was a Snowman" and after a drawn out "einie meanie miney moe" Trey decided he should say the opening prayer. Then we had a little lesson on prayer. Trey has recently been cutting prayers short. Like his blessing on the food will consist of "Dear Heavenly Father thank you for a good day and we are glad we had a great day amen." He just says he had a great day 2 or 3 times and thats it. lol So we talked about how we open a prayer and what all a prayer should consist of and that we should thank for blessings before we ask for blessings ( thats just good manners right? lol) We should ask for blessings for others and in prayers that aren't blessings on food we should ask for forgiveness for things we have done wrong that day and help us do better. Ya know the basics. Then we did a fun little project where we made a little foam snowman out of precut parts. (hence us singing "Once there was a snowman" for our opening song. I try to connect the dots when I can). Then we had our snack. Jd had bought Trey his favorite candy bar, 3 Musketeer, and Sophie some M and M's. So we sat and had our snack in front of a nice fire on a cold wet day. Talk about Blessings. I am so thankful for Trey and Sophie. They keep me on the right path and make me a better person.

Trey of the Day (a two-fer)

2011-12-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

Trey and JD are watching monster trucks (yes really) on TV. I heard this conversation:
JD: Trey wanna watch this?
Trey: Oh yea baby!
JD:What is that truck?
Trey: That's superman. Daddy when I grow up I want a monster truck one day.
JD: (Dramatic pause) Son that's better than you telling me you love me.

~And~

Anytime Trey scares you ( he loves to hide and jump out at you all the time now) or he thinks he pulls something over on you he will say, "Oooohhh you just got Treybo-ized!"

Trey had a birth mark on his leg that had gotten a red halo around it recently. I was a little concerned so we went to the Dr today. Turns out it is fine and she thinks it is just an area of dry skin around the mark. She gave us a RX for a cream to put on it 2x a day and he should be just fine.

Lightening strikes Trey's room!

2011-12-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

Trey awoke to a guest in his room. Apparantly some little elf thought maybe they needed to keep a closer eye on the Trey man. Lightening was smack dab beside Trey on his bedside table. Trey is now dying to touch Lightening. He asked if he could touch him. I told him of course not Lightening would lose his magic. Trey replied "Well that wouldnt be so bad then he could stay with us all the time" I told him that he couldn't go to the North Pole to report to Santa how good Trey was being. He didn't seem to mind that. This could get ugly.

I love a parade.

2011-12-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a good day. I was Queen for the day. I was allowed, by Sophie, Trey and JD, to sleep-in. Sophie slept a little longer than usual and JD took Trey to the living room to watch TV when they both woke up and let me sleep in a little. Niiiiice. Then JD watched both of them in the house

Soph eating a chocolate reindeer cake pop for breakfast. Hey there's egg in it right? Good job Dad! lol

so I could clean out my hot mess of a car. It was a very bad mess. Weeks of preholiday driving adds up. I am always going and always busy and I always have at least Sophie with me so I never get to unload everything out of the car when I get home and it all just adds up. I didnt want JD to be in a bad mood (which he always is after he cleans my car so I insisted I would do it) He watched both kids all morning so I could clean my car out really good. It was actually very fun and I actually got to feel like I accomplished something. I even wiped it down and vacuumed the trunk. Even when I clean in the house the kids are there and if I get one room cleaned by the time I get to the next room the previous room is messed up so I never feel like I accomplished anything. I really do like feeling like I did something that day. I got that Saturday. Now I still have a clean car and we all even went to church in it and it is STILL clean. lol. After I got my car all cleaned JD grilled hamburgers and me ans Soph ran tot he dollar store to get some green chilli's and chips ( we love green chilli's on our burgers Mmmmmm) then Soph took a nap and Me and Trey and Meme did Trey's Spongebob Squarepants gingerbread house(pineapple). Remind me to NOT buy that again. What a pain and it is a mess (but Trey loves it soooo? worth it.) Soph woke up and we all got ready and went to Lake City and ate Supper Burger King

and then went to the Christmas parade. The kids loved it. Sophie really did. Lots of music and lights. She was really good and danced the whole time. Jenifer, Dewayne and Lena came and Sat with is to watch the parade. It was a good day. Kids can make everyday a good day when they are happy and in a good mood.

Peeping Tom or Lightening?

2011-12-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

Lightening was found this morning on the towel rack int he bathroom. Yea that's a little creepy to go to the bathroom and look up and see this little guy staring at you, smiling really big. But it's all good. You know he's one of Santa's guys so it's not a problem.

He lights up my life

2011-12-10T11:19:00.000-08:00

Lightening was in the chandelier this morning. That one took a minute to fine but he got it. I thought maybe he was trying to get a good view of everyone up there, kind of a birds eye view.

Lightening hit the TV trays.

2011-12-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

This morning lightening was found on the TV trays which is right next to Trey's table in the living room and right under the light switch that Trey turns on every morning. I told Trey maybe Lightning was trying to keep a close eye on him by setting right by his table. Trey said that her thought Lightening was just getting comfortable around him so he was feeling at home. Whatever works for ya kid.

Lightning in the Christmas Tree.

2011-12-08T17:59:00.001-08:00

Trey found that silly little elf first thing this morning in our Christmas tree. We discussed where we thought Lightning might be. We came to the conclusion that since he is an elf he would probably want to be near Christmas Decorations to help him feel more at home and if he was hiding he may be in something that had lots of red decorations in it. Trey thought the Christmas tree was a good place to start. First he thought that he would probably be down low to the ground so that if he fell it wouldn't hurt. He got on the ground and was trying to snif him out. Then I reminded him he has to fly to the North Pole every night so falling probably wasn't a big concern for him. He was very careful not to touch him.

He was very proud and thrilled that he found him.
Tonight when we got home he went to check on him in the tree and asked if he needed dinner. I told him that the elves ate all they needed when they went to the North Pole at night. I wonder where Lightning will hide tonight.

Lightning

2011-12-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

I'd like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family. His name is Lightning and he is our "Elf on the Shelf". He will help Santa keep an eye on Sophie and Trey until Christmas every year from about Thanksgiving until Christmas. Trey is so excited because they have an elf in his classroom at school. His name is Reporter because he reports to Santa about the boys and girls in the class. His friend came to stay with us. Trey and Soph named him Lightning because of his lightning speed when going to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa (better known to Elves as "The Boss") and return to our home to continue spying on the kids. There are rules that he must follow and the kids must follow. He is not allowed to speak to the kids. The kids are not allowed to touch him. If they do he will lose his magic and that is a curse worse than death to an Elf. So they know they can not touch! They can talk to him and tell him secrets and what they wish for Santa to bring them when they are good (which Santa makes the final decision on) but they are not allowed to touch. On Christmas day they can blow him a kiss and he goes away until next Thanksgiving. Even Elves need a break! Every night he leaves to go tell Santa all the things Trey and Soph did that day, good and bad (not that there is any bad !) then returns to our house and hides in a different spot to keep an eye on the kids. It is their job to find Lightning every morning and let me tell you that little guy I think is very creative on where he will try to hide to keep from being spotted. He is a tricky little guy! Trey suggested his first night here we should put him and his "home" (which is his little box) in front of the fire on a pillow "to keep him warm and cozy". So I will make sure to put him there and we shall see in the morning where he appears to try to spy on the kids!

See doesn't he look happy and comfy? I hope he isn't so comfy he decides to just stay right there and not go see Santa to report on the kids.

Sophie is introducing herself to Lightning. She is making sure not to touch him!

All is Merry and bright.....

2011-12-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

The decorations are up in the Tyre house. The kids are great with them. They do not try to mess with them at all except for the Nativity set and they are still not bad with that. I am going to buy a play nativity set they can pick up and move around because I want them to feel involved and have a personal feeling for the birth of the savior. I want them to be able to move the pieces to look how they want it to. When Trey was Sophie's age he used to love to hold the baby Jesus and kiss him. I want them to be able to do that without hearing "no!" or "be careful". The tree is decorated with all red and gold ornaments, red berries and gold glitter sticks. My topper died this year and I put the angel on top but I'm not thrilled with her. SHe is not really a true topper and she doesn't have lights so it's kind of a dark spot in the tree.

I made the first batch of homemade caramel. It has been a huge hit!

This is the nativity set that Sophie and Trey love.

We made these blocks a few years ago. They are beautiful and some of my fav decorations. They just glow and are so soft and pretty.

All negative.

2011-12-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Which is a positive! Sophie's allergy test all came back negative. So for the major things they tested her for she is allergy free. Yayyyyyy!

Allergies

2011-11-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

At Sophie's 16 mo physical the Dr wanted her to have an allergy test done. We went and had that done today. Thankfully it was only a blood test and not the skin scratch type. It was bad enough holding her down to get the blood drawn but to hold her down to get her back scratched repeatedly? I cant imagine. But she took it like a champ! She sat right there while they put the blue stretchy thing around her arm and while they felt for the vein. She only cried right when it went in and she was finished crying when they put the band aid on. She even gave the nice lady at the lab a high-5 when we left, she wouldn't hug her but she did high-5 her. Everyone there was taken with her by the time we were gone. I am anxious to see if she has allergies. Food allergies in one of my babies are one of my terrors. As picky as the boys are in this house when it comes to eating I cant imagine having to eliminate families of foods. Oh what a nightmare. So here's hoping it is some random food that no one will eat anyway and that is all alone and has no family of foods to have to cut out.

Deck the Halls...

2011-11-27T11:21:00.001-08:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is our tree day (barring JD beng on call and having to work. If he does than we do it the next Saturday.) We go to Waffle House for breakfast and we go pick out our tree. We get an 8 ft. Frazier Fir. The needles are really soft and it smells fabulous. Yes it stays fresh until Christmas we just make sure to water it constantly. Yesterday I couldn't seem to get motivated or in the mood to decorate the tree. We got all the decorations out and I got the lights put on but seemed to stall there. Wayne's dive shop, Amigo's, has an annual party the Sat after Thanksgiving every year. There is food, a band, a bon fire and lots of people. We took the Tyre mobile over to his plae yesterday after I got the lights put on. Sophie loved the music and the hotdogs. Trey loved the hammock just being there. I loved them being entertained. We came back home and had Chilli that we had cooked in the dutch oven on the grill all day. It was really good. After that we did smores in the fire place while we waited for the most pitiful football game of the season, actually quite a few seasons. Fl vs. FSU. Needless to say the gators lost to a very sad seminole football team. Like a friend of mine put it: It was just one big girl fight. But the smores made it somewhat tolerable. I got a few more decorations put on the tree but not completed. Maybe today. Maybe today?

Sophie chillin trucker style at Waffle House before putting a hurtin on a bowl of grits and some of my hash browns.

My tree model doing what he knows his job is to help get the perfect shape tree. He knows what I like and he knows that if I don't say anything when he first picks one up go ahead and put it back, it's not the one.

Trey driving us home on the dirt road after bagging the perfect tree. (Put the phone down CPS already knows)

That's right people, that's Sophie setting on my lap on the dirt road CPS knows about that too.

The perfect shaped tree. It hasn't fallen out yet in this picture but there are no bald spots and it has a great shape. I like a nice full tree. I don't like a tree that's skinnier than me.

On the way home from Amigo's on the Tyre Mobile.

Daddy with Sophie listening to the band at Amigo's.

Trey acting like he is asleep on the hammock.

Sophie chillin on the swing by the fire pit.

The head Amigo at the grill.

Gettin all sugared up on Smores to try to dull the pain of the football game.

Nana had brought us some ginger bread cookies. Since I don't like chocolate much I usually just do marshmallow with graham cracker but I thought these little delicious guys needed a calling in life so I put them to work with a slightly toasty marshmallow. Fabulous!

See? I told you Fabulous. Thank you Trey for being my photographer.

Family love. I know I know it looks like sibling abuse or being held against ones will but I swear it's love (she was laughing like crazy!) And that makes it all worth it.

Black Friday 2011

2011-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving starts mighty early for the women folk around here. We leave at 4am to head to Gainesville for the deals. Well we dont really go crazy for the deals we just like making the memories and getting in the crowd. Yes were crazy like that. We welcomed Selena and Sophie to the group this year. This was her first year going with us and she hung in there like a trooper. I think Soph went last year but she was really excited this year and did really well for a 16 mo getting up at 4 am. Meme and Paul were there as regulars and hung in there as the senior black fridayers. I got a lot of Christmas presents. I got some little stuff for Sophie, didn't get her big present yet, but got Trey's big present. I shall never tell so dont even ask! I love Black Friday. We go out to lunch after most of the goods have been bought. We went to Olive Garden this year (thats a usual for us too) Can I say I am a pro at packing a car. I love the crowds I love watching the people who are super serious and competitive about it (They are a hoot!) I Love getting out doing something different and just getting away. Now for the picture evidence.

Me doing a Black Friday plank on the red balls at Target.

Soph with her breadstick at Olive Garden.

Soph sharing that soggy breadstick with me after she had sucked most of the garlic off. MMmmmmm!

Turkey Day 2011.

2011-11-24T11:58:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving day around here is usually very hurried and hectic for me. When we eat at momma's house I am usually up and down there by 6:30 getting the dressing ready and the Turkey in the oven then I don't stop until people are starting to arrive then I run home with barely enough time to change and get back to get things finished up and on the table. Today for some reason I had a very relaxed day. I was at momma's house with Sophie by 6:30 then home by 8. I had time to do the deviled eggs and sit for a little bit. I helped JD get his Turkey breast on the grill. I got all the clothes ironed and the kids dressed and Soph down for a nap and back to Momma's by 10:30. It was nice. Momma does her usual Roasted 25 lb turkey and JD does a smaller breast in the style of his choice. This year he put it on the grill and put a rub on it. It was fabulous!

It's fall!

JD the slice master getting all the 2 turkeys and ham cut up and plated nicely.

Some folks just hangin out on the deck eating cheese and crackers, having some egg nog enjoying the perfect weather and shooting the sling shot.

'Lil sure Lena shure shot.

Jen and Lena.

Pa and Sophie just checking things out.

Trey showing off his olive finger tips.

We had all the usual. We had roasted turkey, grilled turkey breast and ham. We had candied sweet potatoes, rice and gravy, lima beans, rolls, brocili and cauliflower au gratin, dressing, 2 kinds of cranberries, deviled eggs, stuffed celery, relish tray, coconut cream pie, chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, Jennifer's peanut butter fudge and chocolate fudge, Ambrosia and cranberry ginger ale. All the usuals.

Janet and Wayne just relaxing.

As tradition dictates in our family the baby gets a turkey leg.

Sophie wasn't sure what to do with it at first. I think she thought it was a new pet. She just kept setting there staring at me patting it.

Finally she took a nice big bite or 2 out of it. She loved it!

I think there were 20 people in all. All good friends and family.

After everyone has eaten all the food they can take we all head out to the back field and shoot some clay pidgeons. Everybody that wants to gets to shoot. Even the kids. We teach them young how to respect and behave around guns. Trey knows (as we did when we were kids) that you do notever touch a gun by yourself, you ask, but when you ask you get to look touch and even shoot if time allows. That way there is not air of mystery or being naughty. It's just part of life. Trey enjoys shooting and carrying his gun. He even hit one.

JD with Trey while he puts on his ear gear.

Sophie was with us. She was not scared one bit. When someone would shoot she would say, "Ahhhhhh" with wide eyes and clap. Everyone enjoys getting a round of applause when they shoot, especially when you miss.

My little country girl setting in the Tyre wagon petting Blackie.

Apparantly turkey makes you silly. Nope that's just her daily.

Lena planking on her mom and Sophie thinks it hilarious. Trey is at the back of the trailer pulling the skeet thrower. PULL!

Now to rest up for black Friday! See you at 4am.

Sophie Saga

2011-11-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was Sophie's 16 month physical. She is doing great! I know not much of a news flash lol. Her stats are: weight 28.13 lbs. Her height is 33 1/2 inches and she is 16 months old. She is in the 97th percentile for her weight, which she has been in all along and she is now in the 97th percentile for her height as well. She was in the 95th percentile. Looks like the WNBA might be calling soon. Dr. Randolph was impressed with how many words she can say (up, down, out, mama, dada, brother, papa, meme, nana, cow, eat, ear, velvet and lots others. She can repeat in her own version most of what we say.) She was impressed with the body parts she knows (head, feet, ears, tummy, belly button (thats her favorite), nose and eyes. And she was impressed with how many correct animal sounds she can make (dog, cow, sheep, duck, puppy, cat). She wants us to take her this coming week to have an allergy test done. There isn't one big reason just several reasons over time that have added up to her thinking it might be a good idea. Sophie has had a very runny nose and bad cough for several weeks that nothing seems to be helping. She has irritation around her mouth almost all the time. She has a spot of slight exzema on her tummy. All that combined with the hives she had no terribly long ago make her think it couldn't hurt to have the RASP test done. I'm thinking this will not be fun. But all in all she is doing great. She is a little mountain goat. She loves to climb and loves to ride the 4 wheeler. She is such a daddy's girl. If he goes outside she will run to the door and stand there with her little nose pressed against the glass until he returns or takes her with him. But when she gets clingy it's mom she wants. Dr. Randolph also said her gums are pretty swollen so it looks like she might be getting some of those back teeth in soon. She has been pretty clingy. JD thinks she cries more during the day than Trey did. I think he's delusional. We get her later at night and she is hungry and sleepy. They only do 1 nap at Happy House and that is in the morning. Most babies this age are getting 2 naps. Trey had 2 naps until he was well into his 2's. She misses that afternoon nap that makes her very sleepy when I am trying to cook dinner and then after dinner during homework and clean up time. She is the cutest baby around and has the best personality. She does not, however, take easily to strangers like Trey did at this age. She just stares at them with a blank look on her face. She loves her bruh bruh to death. HE can do NO wrong. He can dump water over her head in the tub and she laughs. I pour water over her and she freaks out like I'm trying to drown her. He can drag her down the hall by 1 leg and she just giggles. She loves him like crazy. She is a happy healthy girl and is a bright spot in my life.

Trey's Hollywood Debut.

2011-11-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Trey had his first Kindergarten play. It was a Thanksgiving play. 2 of the Kindergarten classes teamed up and did it. The costumes were very cute, I was so impressed. It was of course very organized (I wouldn't expect anything else from CCE or Mrs. Brown's class!) Trey was one of 5 Narrators and a Pilgrim. He was also very proud because he was one of the ones chosen to go out ahead of everyone and stand at the door and hand out programs. The play told the familiar story of Thanksgiving. The kids did their parts wonderfully and they were all sooo cute. I was proud of them all.

Trey ans Mrs. Brown.

Trey and his best bud Miguel.

Trey and his biggest fan!

Trey and his Nana. Pa was there too but had to leave right after it was over to get to something at work.

Trey with Meme and Papa.

At the mic. He's a natural.

Trey is one of the 5 up front on the left. He is the one on the left of that group. Those are the 5 narrators and they sat or stood up front the whole time.

Trey doing some of the movements to one of the songs.

There was of course a Mayflower. Trey and another boy "sailed" the ship across the stage. It looked like rough seas but they made it to the promised land.

There was a little boy that sat in the middle of the stage with a turkey outfit on the whole time. He was cute.

Trey saying one of his parts.

Sophie Saga

2011-11-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

So we all know that the "Trey of the Day" is something that Trey has said or done that is cute, funny, noteworthy or interesting. Well Sophie's version of that is the Sophie Saga. I Have a feeling there will start to be more and more of those. Look out for them. Today's Sophie Saga is the fact that this girl loves to dance. JD says she will dance to a door bell. She loves to do the chicken dance. When I start singing that (annoying) little tune she will start flapping her little arms and clapping. I am determined to get this on video but every time I whip that puppy out she wants to hold the camera and stops dancing and starts whining and running for the camera. ALso, when you ask her what a puppy says she say's, "ooffffffffffff" in this little high pitch yapping dog voice. So cute! She obviously got Trey's personality. Thank you Granny Hall for picking out the 2 perfect spirits to be with me.

Trey and Max.

2011-11-03T18:42:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe how well Trey is doing with his reading. He is progressing so fast! He is already past the "I Can Read" book series and onto these little ditties. He does so well. He knows so many of the high frequency words and the ones he doesnt know he is so cute sounding out. He works hard at them and is so serious but enjoys them. I am amazed by him. He loves to sound things out and reads words to me that he see's. Looks like we have to stop spelling things we dont want him to know. Shoot! I knew this day would come but I am so not prepared for it. Now how will we keep anything from him and with Christmas right around the corner! UGH. Really though he is doing so well. I am so proud of how hard he tries and how dedicated he is. Just so you all know I didnt do this. He came to me this way. I am honored to me his Mom and often wonder what God was thinking when he thought I was up to the challenge of being the mother to such a special spirit.

The first bass.

2011-11-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Trey caught his first Bass. Papa takes him fishing to a neighbors pond in the afternoons sometimes when he picks him up from school. Today he caught his first bass. 16 inches! I think he has already beat me. lol He doesnt look so happy but he is having a hard time holding it up. Papa cooked it for him and he ate his catch. What a lucky boy.

All Hallows Eve.

2011-10-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

The goblins were out tonight or at least the princes and queen bee's and the gymnasts (selena went with us). We went to Nana and Pa's to do the first trick or treat and sophie got a cute little toy that she loves and a halloween cup with some candy in it and Trey got some beef jerky and a cup with candy too. Then we hit McDonalds for a quick supper to fuel up for a night of walking. We went to JD's friends house and parked at their house then started on their neighborhood. We had a blast. Trey was perfect and had lots of fun! Everyone was tuckered out on the way home. Trey was still hanging with it though. Success!

Sophie had lost the bee costume and was wearing daddy's light hat.

Sophie lovin that blow pop.

"What? you mean all I have to do is walk around and look cute and people throw candy in this little bucket? Sweet!!"

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

Trey of the Day.

2011-10-30T18:55:00.001-07:00

"Mommy, they tell me I'm gifted."

Life lessons from football Saturday.

2011-10-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

I learned that good friends, good food, and good weather can make even a bad football game a great day. Saturday was Florida vs. Georgia and we had some good friends over to help us cheer for a game we weren't very optimistic about. Turns out we were right. Florida lost, again. Ouch it hurt to say that but there's something to be said for honesty in blogging. But it was actually ok because the Giberti's came over and we all had a good time. We played in the yard with the football, we bounced on the trampoline we rode the 4 wheeler. We just had a great day. Sophie even has a crush on one of the boys and she loves her some Morgan. JD and I enjoyed having some older kids at the house and of course their parents were so much fun to watch the game with. They yell just as loud as us so we dont feel like freaks in our own home. We must do this again because JD was on his best football behavior. He was a good boy even through the loss. Like I said good friends make for a great day even if the football isn't so good. Oh and Austin next time were on the 4 wheeler and I tell you to hang on...I mean it.

Sophie's halloween festival at Happy House.

2011-10-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Kathy at the front desk. Taking a day to pamper herself while at work. I need to do this at my work Mon. Hmmmmm.

The grounds keep Mr. Noel MADE this costume for himself.

Hey young lady dont look at me in the tone of voice.

Just checkin out the loot bag.

Going diggin in the treasure chest with the nicest witch I know.

Yep she's a Tyre and a Kinard. She's great at fishin.

Doin the tunnel crawl like a pro!

Bowling like a champ.

Getting all tatted up. She got a spider web with a cute orange spider. She sat there like such a good girl.

Of course Happy House had a great halloween festival. There was good fun for all the little kids. They are so cute and she is so good it made me a little teary eyed to leave her and go back to work but I am glad I have a job that I can leave and go see her and be with her for these things.

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-10-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

As far as Halloween there are plenty of dress rehearsals before the actual event. This was our first. The Trunk-or-Treat at church. It is always really fun. Trey is a character from the movie Prince of Persia. Funny, none of us have ever seen this movie so I'm not sure what struck his interest bone about this one but something did. Sophie is my little bee, my queen bee if you will. I was a librarian and JD was, well, a fisherman. I know very creative on JD and my part. IT was lots of fun. We had chilli and hotdogs and played carnival type games until dark then went to the trunks for the treat part. All had fun and there was a good turn out.

My Prince and my queen.

All the kids together having a break from running like crazy people to eat a dog.

The men, and Soph, just chillin.

Shhhh, the librarian.

Of course Trey was right in the middle of the sack race.

The Price of Persia.

Sophie figuring out what Halloween is all about. CANDY!

The librarian and the nerd. The perfect combo.

The librarian, the Price and the bee.

One a-MAZE-ing Day.

2011-10-16T11:51:00.001-07:00

Saturday we went to a place called Coon Hollo in Micanopy. We went for the corn maze but stayed for all the Fall fun they had. It was a really fun day. The weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sjy but a nice breeze and not too hot. There was so much for everybody to do that we could all enjoy and we stayed for hours. There was, of course, the corn maze. There was a wagon ride through the cow fields (go figure we got the nut job driver that was trying to kill us), hay stacks to climb, little kiddie train rides pulled by a tractor, food, drinks, tire swings, pedal cars, "buckin bronco" rides, cows to feed, goats that had a rockin' tree house, mini golf, baby horses to pet, dress up picture booth, just lots of good ole' fashioned fun. It was really affordable and one of the best things is once you paid admission everything else inside was included (except food which was very very reasonable). There are lots of pictures because Trey and Sophie are so darn cute and I finally found a(old) camera I can use so I am back to the picture overloads! Enjoy!

Trey doesn't take regular pictures. We told Trey we were going to coon hollo. He said, "What? OMG we are going to cook Hollaaa? Cool."

This is the crazy wagon driver that was trying to kill us. He told us at the beginning of the ride, "This is not a carride. This is a wagon ride on a real cow farm. It will be bumpy. Put your cell phones deep in your pockets, wrap your cameras around your necks and hold the kids It's gonna get bumpy." He wasn't kidding. At one point they stop and let the cows come to you and he asked if anyone wanted to feed a a cow. Of course Trey was the first to pop up.

This is the other wagon. It is much bigger than ours. They had the calm ride through the pasture. We had the nut job driver on a suicide mission whose goal in life was to scare us to death and try to tip the wagon over.

The beautiful tree with the tire swing and the field with the pedal cars.

Sophie having a family hug.

Sophie on the little dance floor. She will dance to anything that even resembles a beat. Yep she's mine. She may not look like me but I'm in there.

That's how I roll!! Oh yea this is one for CPS.

I'm not even sure there was music. She doesn't care. It's somewhere in her head.

Lost in the corn field

Still lost in the corn field.

Planking on the tractor tire.

The crew.

Woman drivers.

Men drivers. Even worse.

Put put golf, country style.

These were really fun. JD swears he's making one to pull behind the ATV.

We were really moving and Sophie was loving it! Trey was hiding from JD.

Daddy's girl, definately!

More put put.

8 Seconds!

8 more seconds.

That's a goat in a tree. He has a tree house that's really cool. I'm jealous.

He made it to the top!

Working on going to the top.

Rollin, rollin, rollin!

The food and drink area.

It was all in all a great day. Everybody was in a good mood and we tired Sophie out. She was asleep before we could get out of the parking lot. I am feeling this might be a tradition.

My Sophie my heart!

2011-10-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sophie is walking everywhere practically running. She loves to dance and will start bouncing and bopping if you even do anything that sounds remotely like a rhythm. She is completely off a bottle. She is doing great with her sippy cups and loves her milk. She has broken herself of a paci, even at night she doent want one. At daycare they were suprised she just stopped wanting it, even at nap time she stopped taking it when they'd try to give it to her. They couldnt believe it was so easy. Thats my girl! I could not be more proud of her. I am such a blessed woman to have such fabulous children given to me by God. GG you sure picked out the best 2 I ever could have asked for.

I am so proud!

2011-10-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of my Treybo! I never imagined his reading would progress so quickly. He has just taken off with reading. He is now on the "I Can Read Book 4!" He's on number 4! I am so proud. He is so smart and such a great kid. I couldnt be more in love! He told me today "mommy there was a girl that asked me today if I would be her boyfriend" To this my heart stopped. I asked him what he said. "Well I told her no cause remember only you get my kisses. But I will tell her I'll change my mind if you wont be mad." I asked him if he liked her. He said yes with a little excitement in his eyes. He told me she had blonde hair and freckles just like him he said. He said he thinks she's pretty. I told him if he was going to be her boyfriend he needed to know how to treat a girl. I asked him if he knew how to treat a girl. He said he sure did! "You are nice to her and you treat her with respect and if she is bossy you dont tell on her you just say thats ok when she apologizes." My hearts is a little sad and a little happy. I am glad for him a pretty little girl thinks he is nice but this is just the beginning of the pretty little girls I am afraid. He is so handsome and so nice and funny and smart what pretty little girl wont fall head over heels for him? I wish her luck cause my eyes are on her.

No camera.

2011-09-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

I am having trouble updating because my camera is broken. I know I know I can blog without pictures but really it's not the same. I love adding pics of my beautiful children and without the pics the words seem boring.

The first day.

2011-08-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

Trey has been to kindy a full week. He is doing fabulously. His teacher, Mrs. Brown, is made for him I think. He is doing really well and was perfect the first day. JD dropped him off and I was doing just fine tooling down the road with Sophie singing to the radio when JD called. I answered it and he couldn't talk to me. I asked if Trey was ok and when he said yes I told him to collect himself and call me back. In a few minutes he did and this was the first thing he told me. "You have to drop Sophie off at her first day, I cant do it." Deal. When we hung up I cried like a fool. I cried at the pride I had for my sweet son, whom I almost killed on numerous occasions between the ages of birth to 3, walking into kindergarten like an adult with no fear. I cried at the love I had for my husband having so much love for his son he couldn't hold back the tears. I cried for all the times I have been upset with Trey and forgot that time flies too fast. I cried for day when he will leave me and go off into the world as a man for real. I cried for the adult things he will encounter all too soon and prayed that I have taught him when he needs to know and given him the tools, emotional, mental and spiritual that he will need to combat those evils. I laughed too. I laughed at the thought of what I will do when he gets married if I am acting like that now just wait. I laughed at the times we will have and the thought of Trey and Sophie in high school. I laughed at the love I have for my family and I thanked God for them and for the chance he gave me when Trey was 6 months old to stay here on earth and be here for this day. I sucked it up a little and took Sophie into daycare. She cried when I dropped her off. The first time she has ever cried when I dropped her off and it had to be this morning. They took her from me kicking and screaming and I left also kicking and screaming. I was sobbing. The fabulous women understood and I got a great hug from 2 of the women that were Sophie's teacher in the baby room. They are great and they are mommies so they get it. Now to just get to work. It was then I remembered I HAD to redo my makeup. I touched up my makeup and was recovered pretty well when I walked into work and Mr. Adams the asst. principle said, "are you ok?" (guess I didn't do the best job on my makeup) He said later he knew immediatly he shouldn't have asked and knew what was up. I started again. Niiiiice. I did end up making it through. It helped that it was so busy being the first day there too. Everyone at work was very patient and nice to me and I appreciate that. Thursday was his first full day and the first day he came to me in the afternoon with Mrs. Denmark. I was nervous since he had only met her once and had never been dropped off at my school but of course he did perfect. Everyone wanted to talk to him. He was like a rock star. He should get used to it. I just took his hand and his book bag and lunch box and walked him into the office beaming with pride. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I am life that with him for some reason. Can't imagine why.

Happy Birthday (finally) Sophie!

2011-08-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

The smash cake

We finally had Sophie's birthday party. It was great. Unfortunately we missed a few friends because they had taken off of work for the original party day so then they couldn't take off work for the makeup party. So we missed all of them but had a great time with the family and friends that could be there. We had a cowgirl princess party so of course we had a barbeque. JD did barbeque pork. It was fabulous. We had buns for sandwiches and daddy made his potato salad. I made baked beans and mac and cheese and we had pretzel sticks and pickles. Then we had cake pops and cupcakes for dessert. Of course Sophie had her smash cake which she finally got into and had a blast. It was so fun watching Sophie and M play together. They did really well and both girls seemed to have so much fun. I cant believe how big Sophie is getting. She can point to what she wants. She is taking 2 steps at a time occasionally. She loves to climb! Yay. (sarcastic) She flirts with her daddy when he wink at her. SHe thinks her big brother hung the moon. He can drag her down the hall by one leg and she just squeels! He has done this. She is the queen on "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and she loves to get applause when she is done and if you dont give her a long enough applause she will continue it for you. She is on milk completely and totally off the bottle. No more bot bot. Not even at night. It was easy peasy to get rid of. At night she gets a little milk from her sippy and then I carry her to her room and lay her in her crib and she pulls her blankie up and falls asleep silently sucking her paci which she only wants when she is sleepy. Daily we comment on how easy she is and how we cont believe how easy these little things are like sleeping. She is such a beautiful girl and has so much personality (like her big brother). I am a lucky woman to have her as my daughter.

Emotionally on the edge of the cliff.

2011-08-17T16:04:00.001-07:00

Sophie is doing really well transitioning to the 1 yr old room. She has been going out to the play ground so we needed to wear shoes now. SHe had her first nap time in the toddler room, On a cot. Thats right not a crib but a cot. SHe did pretty good. They had to make her stay on it at first but once she fell asleep she was fine. She even stayed on it after she woke up. SHe can walk pretty good now holding onto one finger. They said when they come to get her to go to the toddler room she waves goodbye and walks out with them. IT is so cute. She has a fabulous personality. Trey is not relaly aware yet that Kindy is so close. I thinks when its like sat or sun night it will hit him, and me.

Moooooo !

2011-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Sophie had her first taste of milk last night. So far so good. She seemed to like it and take to it well. Today will be her first day on it all day. Yesterday I only gave it to her after she got home from daycare. She slept good all night and didn't wake up once. We are sticking to the bottle for a bit though since she is transitioning to the new room next week that weay she doesn't have 2 big transitions, both at daycare and home, going on at the same time. I am curious as to whether or not the Dr will put her on skim milk at her check up. I know at this time the fat in the milk is used by her body to make things other than fat, like brain cells (those are important!) But she does seem to have her fair share of ummmm chub.

Back to the grind.

2011-08-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

If working full-time is the grind and I have been working part-time is that a nibble? It's back to work for me. That feels weird to say since I have been working. I was able to work part-time at Happy House for the summer for just enough to not go in the hole keeping Sophie there. I really enjoyed it. I liked being able to see the inside workings of where my child is. I love Happy House even more now. They are meticulous about cleanliness and rules. I enjoy that. I was happy to be able to do what I could there because someone has done everything I did for my child or will do it. I hope they did it to the best of their ability so I did it to mine. They offered me a job as a teacher probably in the 3 yr old room. I was tempted for a moment because I did enjoy myself and the idea of being a teacher which is what I have always wanted to be was intriging and tempting but I love my job at the middle school. I love the people and I love what I do. I had to stay. I enjoy it. The kids dont start back until the 22nd but we are here getting things ready to start the year again.

I was informed yesterday that Sophie will be transitioning to the 1 yr old rooms on the 15th. She will go each day for a few hours and slowly build up until Friday the 19th when she wil be in there all day. How bittersweet! I love the room she has been in. The teachers love her and she loves the teachers. They are so sweet and caring and kind without spoiling, perfect combo. She has been in there since she started so that is all she or I have known for her. I know she will do great in the next rooms too but still with Trey starting Kindy the next week and her transitioning I will be an emotional wreck! World get ready.

We've got a climber - and a walker.

2011-08-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

Sophie's teacher told me she took 3 steps today. Yay. But I missed it. That's part of being a working mom. I know it's not thaaaat important to see the first but I guess society make it feel important. So I feel a little slighted. She hasnt done it again though so I am thinking maybe it wasnt a true "walk" but more of a "woops I tripped" thing. They said she was on her toes and that is how Trey walked for the longest time. They are so alike but so different.

Happy BIrthday to me!

2011-08-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a fabulous day. We had a girls lunch. Jen (the other bday girl), Selena, Sophie and myself went to Gainesville and started out the day with a delicious soft pretzel then we shopped at the mall. We went to Michael's craft store. I swear I could spend a million dollars in there in one day. Then we had lunch at The Olive Garden. It was delicious and Sophie ate so good. She ate beans (from my soup), small shell noodles from my soup, goldfish crackers (seafood), some of my alfredo, spaghetti and meat sauce (Some of meme's), garlic bread and tirimisu. Hey it was partially a celebration for her birthday too since we had to cancel her party because she got hand foot and mouth disease (a very light case but still had it). Then we came home and I got 2 very pretty bracelets from Trey and JD took us all (me, Sophie and Trey) out to dinner at Red Lobster in Lake City. 2 of my fav restaurants in one day. Whew good stuff. Then we got some supplies for hurricane season (flashlights, batteries etc). Then we got ice cream from TCBY. I had a sorbet fizz and the boys had ice cream. It was just about the perfect day. GOod food and great family. Doesnt get better.

The zip line, a metaphor for life.

2011-07-30T15:23:00.001-07:00

Today we went to a place called Bob's. It's a water park off the Suwannee river. It has 2 huge slides, a zip line, rope swings, jump towers, floating docks, a log roll, karaoke... it is a really fun place. But apparently the zip line is where we learn about life. Trey did the zip line all by himself. Not such a big deal eh? Well it was 40 feet in the air. Trey told me he wanted to do it. I thought, "Yea he will change his mind." So I thought I would play along and be the good guy as long as he wanted so I didn't seem like the meanie and let not doing it be his idea. Yea, fail. I figured he will stop me at any second. I climbed the ladder with him. Still going. He walked to the head of the line. still going. He tells me it's going to be fun going with me, uh wait what? Nope. I am scared of heights and was getting light headed climbing the stairs. I informed him that was a no go. I was not going. I didn't tell him I was scared but I told him I didn't want to go and I was not going. Then I asked him if he still wanted to go without me and he said, "well no have it your way." Then turned to look down the line and turned back to me and said "I wanna go bad" jumping up and down. Still believing he would back out at the last minute I said "ok". I Made him stand there with me (light headed and all) and watch a few people closely while I told him things to do and reminded him of things that would happen. I didn't want him to get scared mid flight and let go because he was startled. We watched an adult and a kid, not as young as him but a kid. I showed him how they linked their ankles and showed him how some people scrape a few leaves on a branch and some get sprayed with water. I pointed out how it hits pretty solidly at the end and makes a loud noise and swings you out then back a ways so he would get startled or think the "ride" was over and let go still quite a few feet above the ground. The whole time I am showing him things I am thinking, "is he really going to do this and am I really going to let him?" If he lets go at the top he could very easily die, if he lets go toward the bottom we will be on the way to the hospital. JD would not let him do this if he were here and might divorce me when he finds out. Yet louder than all those thoughts was the idea screaming in my head that he really wanted to do this and was very confident of his ability. He was so excited. He had previously tried things much safer and backed out at the last minute, like the water slide. This was screaming in my head. I couldn't teach him he couldn't do this. I couldn't teach him to let his fear win. I couldn't teach him to be afraid to do something that someone else hadn't done or couldn't do. I had to let him do this. I was terrified. The lady behind me could sense this and helped me put him on the little foam wrapped piece of PVC pipe as i told him to link his ankles and hold his hands tight around the rope. Once more I asked him, "Are you sure you want to do this? Are you ready?" Still I expected him to back out. He looked up at me with the hugest smile on his face on screamed, "I'm ready!!" I told him, "Dont you let go until I tell you to do you understand me?" He shook his head furiously because with his excitement that is all he could do. So I Let go. Imediatly my hands flew to my mouth and I thought, "what have I done?" I watched him slide easily down the line. No screaming (except maybe mine lol) tears sprang to my eyes with a rush of fear and pride and I watched him hit the end. At this point he did get a little startled and he released his anaconda-like grip a little. I could see the release all the way from where I was and I screamed, literally out loud. The stranger next to me grabbed my arm. Then we saw him regain his composure and saw his muscles tighten and his hands grip the line again. He began to swing. I laughed knowing if he let go here he would have the breath knocked out of him but would probably be ok. I finally took a deep breath and the lady still holding my arm said, "remember you told him not to let go until you tell him to so you better go tell him to let go." The life finally jolted back in me and I ran down the ladder (ok I didnt run I cautiously went down rung by rung but I was trying to go fast) I ran to him and I think by now someone had helped him off because it was still too far to jump really. He ran to me pulling the pull rope with all his might with a smile so proud it was like a movie. People on the top landing were clapping and whooping. I started to grab him up and swing around telling him how proud I was and how much I loved him just like in the movies but he let go of the rope when I got to him and started running for the ladder to go again leaving me to pull the swing back to the next person. No time to wait, the line was getting long now with all of the attention on the zip line. I went up with him again and was almost as terrified this time because I didnt want him to be too comfortable and play around or think he was Captain America and try to fly off. I was thrilled he was ready to move on to something else because not only was my heart not able to take much more but my legs were really getting tired of following him up the ladder then slowly slugging back down. I may have been out of my mind to let him but I couldn't tell him to fail and crush him. I know Trey is extraordinary and I had faith in his abilities and his maturity. I am happy for the lesson we both got today. My whole life has been to hold him and keep him safe and this time I let him go. I taught him as well as I could standing on that landing 35 feet above the ground but I let him go and he was on his own. Yes people I actually cried when I pushed him. I thought, "what have I done?" I was scared for him, proud of him, scared for me proud of me and in disbelief that I had let him do it. I let him go and he did great.

Both of us. Me trying to smile like everything is ok.

He is setting on the PVC pipe with his legs wrapped around the rope.

Cant figure out why this picture of tree's? Well Trey is up there. See the little dot toward the middle left? Yep that's my son.

I Can't believe I was so high up much less him. That's high daggumit.

...like a hole in the head.

2011-07-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well Sophie got a hole in her head. Actually 2 of them. That's right we got Sophie's ear's pierced today for her birthday! She was a trooper. Not sure who took it better me or her. We picked the little peridot flowers. Actually those were JD's pick and they are perfect. They suit her perfectly. They look so feminine on her, they are adorable. She hardly cried at all. The only reason she cried for even the 30 seconds she cried for was we got them to use the piercing earrings and sometimes the little plastic on the "gun" doesn't eject right away so the little plastic thing stayed on the ear ring a second and she had to take it off by hand which means I had to hold her down and restrain her longer and that was what she really hated not the hole in her ear but the part about being held against her will. I am totally glad we did it though. They are georgeous and it's done now. After we got home JD was watching her play on the floor and he said that it was weird seeing that little shimmer in her ear.

BEFORE:

DURING:

She is not thrilled about being held down and a little unsure of what was going on.

Ready...

aim...

fire!

I was trying to make sure I held her very tight and firm and kept my arm out of the lady's way so she could have all the room she needed while steeling myself for the countdown. My job is never easy. lol

you can see the little yellow plastic holder in this picture and the terror on my face. lol

AFTER:

You can see the little tear trail here and the cute little flower.

A little sparkle in the ear.

Afterward we went to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Then to Mecca better known as florida field where the Gators play and hopefully win. It was blazing hot. It stayed at 104* all day. Then back to the mall for dinner.

We had Sophie in the Stadium when she was a week old to help with her jaundice. So we of course had a picture taken then. Since it is so close to her birthday we had to have another today. So you can see the difference a year makes. It is hard to believe that skinny little frail looking thing is my big, happy, bouncy, little girl that is so full of personality and life and loves to dance.

August 13, 2010

July 21, 2011

Super Skate.

2011-07-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

I took Trey skating for the first time. It was ummm fun. I haven't been skating in a long time needless to say. He did pretty good for his first time and I thin he enjoyed it. He was skating along the side and holding my had with one hand and the rail with the other when all of a sudden he says "Mommy you can go ahead." I told him I didnt want to I came to skate with him. He said, "No mommy go on ahead and skate fast. I will be ok. I will. You skate fast and go around I will keep going slow I will be ok." I swear I teared up. I think he had fun but its hard to tell with him. If he thinks he cant succeed or be the best or see's someone being better he will give up. Well of course all the other kids were flying past him so he said he wanted to go home. Well that was ok with me the skates were killing me. We got the skates off and went to get a snow cone and then got Selena and came home. If nothing else I introduced him to skating for the first time. Good news, I dont think I Have to worry about him being a skater boy. Oh and so you know He dressed himself that morning. *sigh.

Sophie Stood!

2011-07-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday Selena's gym has an open gym hour. Anyone can go, kids and all, and play on any of the equipment. So of course my gymnastics addicted "child" had to be there. Since we have extended the sleep over indefinately she is still here, much to Trey's enjoyment. So we all loaded up and went. Trey had a blast on the uneven bars and the trampoline as long as the building and the balance beams... He loved it. Sophie slept most of the time but when she woke up she loved it. Lots of open space to crawl and a mirror the length of the building. The floor has a little spring to it. She was standing holding my hands and I noticed she has pretty good balance and so I let go. She stood there for probably 10 seconds then dropped to her booty. I guess you could say that is the first time she has stood on her own. Selena says the gym is a place of wonder.

A cousin sleepover.

2011-07-14T08:13:00.001-07:00

Summer sleepover. Selena slept over last night and We had Hobo dinners and homemade cookies and cream milk shakes. It doesn't get any better.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin on the river!

2011-07-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was what I would call a perfect day. We got something accomplished and we had some fun all in the same day. Who-da-thunk!Me and JD canned 17 jars of tomatoes all by ourselves. That is the first time I have ever canned by myself. Al 17 turned out perfect. Trey watched a movie and Sophie slept the entire 3 hours. What a miracle. After we work we must play right? So we got out on the boat. Trey of course loved it. He always loves being on the water. Sophie absolutely loved it too. She didnt even fall asleep until right at the end. She didn't care that the water was cold and was fearless of the water. Trey jumped off the boat and ran on the shore. Me and Sophie sat in a lawn chair in the water and JD put a big umbrella over us. It was so nice. We came home and had grilled sausages for dinner. Perfect ending to the perfect day.

4th of July

2011-07-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

Once again 4th of July has come and gone and it is still my fav holiday. We had a great day. We went to Jen's and swam and had delicious fried chicken that Dewayne fried for us. We had fried shark too. I had never tried shark but I liked it and was suprised that Trey liked it too. We had mac and cheese, peas, corn, cheesy potato casserole, chips, chocolate cake, and cupcakes. It was a feast and it was all fabulous. We swam some more and talked some more. Trey figured out the back stroke.

Then we came home and rested a bit. After everyone was thoroughly rested we went to Ft White to get a pizza then to Branford. The fireworks in Branford are better than Lake City because it is not nearly as crowded and now we can park in the church parking lot and let the kids run and play on the lawn there. They have people at the entrance telling everyone that drives in they are welcome to park there to watch the fireworks but there is no drinking or smoking. That made it really nice to not have to worry about people speeding by while the kids are playing in the grass and no foul language. We staked out a great spot and met Beth Noll there. We ate pizza on the tale gate, let the kids run and play together Sophie did not enjoy the feel of grass on her legs.

and waited for the dark so the fireworks could begin. Sophie was a super sport. Just like Trey she is my little social butterfly. My kids love any event and are super good. Sophie stayed up to see the fireworks. They were great. We sat on the grass and watched the sparks fly. It was once again fabulous. I love the fourth of July.

And now for a ridiculous amount of cute kids pics.

Thursday= my day with Trey.

2011-07-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I am working part-time at Happy House. Yea it feels weird to work there and have Sophie nearby and not have Trey there. I love working there but I hate being with other kids and playing with them and serving them lunch knowing Trey isn't there with me to do it for him but he is having a great time with the Meme's, Papa's, Nana's and Pa's. But Thursday I didn't work so it was my day with Trey. JD took Sophie to daycare or baby school as Trey calls it and we had a great day. We cleaned a little. He watched his new movie obsession, "Daddy Day Care". Then we swam in the pool, had a picnic in the back yard. He had a lunchable and blueberries and when we finished we both had popsicles and we just talked. We talked about going to school and what he might take to lunch and if I could give him a treat in his lunch. We just sat and ate in the warm weather in our bathing suits and didn't rush and didn't deal with anything else and he wasn't going 9000 mph as usual and we just talked, like 2 adults. He will be a good friend of mine all my life. Then we went to Meme's and I did her medicine. Since we didn't hurry any during lunch or in the pool or popsicle time we didn't really leave as soon as we should and I had to get to the court house to pay our taxes by 5 and yep you guessed it we didn't make it to CCE to register him for kindergarten. I swear I don't plan these things I just don't seem to be able to get him registered. However, I did get my letter written so I am good to go I just need to get there. Should be easy. sigh.

Dear Mrs. Boone,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you a little about Trey. I am so happy he is able to go to CCE. I am excited for him and all he will do and learn this year and in the years to come. I have had a really hard time knowing exactly what to tell you about Trey. I think he is fabulous and whatever teacher gets him will have a great and fun year. Trey lives at home with me, his father and his sister Sophie, who is 10 months old. He is surrounded by family and has a great support system. He has both sets of grand parents very nearby as well as an aunt and cousin. Due to this fact he communicates appropriately and very well with adults. He is very respectful and has good manners in all situations. We attend church every Sunday and he goes to preschool at Happy House. I believe these things have helped him learn how to act appropriately in classroom type settings. He can set for good periods of time and pay attention to an activity or lesson.

I believe Trey is smart for his age. He knows all colors and shapes. He can rhyme and will tell you when things rhyme. He finds patterns in everyday life and loves to tell you about the patterns he finds. He can count to 50 and can add although he doesn’t realize he can add. For example: if you ask him to hand you 5 blueberries he will. Then if you ask him to hand you 5 more blueberries he will, then say, “Hey mommy I gave you 10 blueberries!” He knows all his letters and knows all letter sounds except for maybe confusing 2 or 3 of them on occasion. He knows several sight words such as, the, and, he, she, it and stop. He can recognize his name and can write his name as well. He knows his phone number and the state and city he lives in. Trey has fabulous critical thinking skills. One example I was told from his Preschool: A teacher had fed his little sister that morning then had come to his room that afternoon. She told him she had fed his little sister breakfast. He asked her what she had fed Sophie. She told him she had fed her applesauce and cereal (meaning rice cereal she was 8 months old) he became worried and told her she had done it wrong that Sophie was not allowed to eat cereal yet, she was too young and she would choke on it if she fed her fruit loops. She assured him it was different cereal and was fine. He was still not convinced until she explained what baby cereal is to him and how it is fixed with the applesauce to thicken the applesauce. The he said he remembered how I did that to Sophie’s food at home and he laughed and said he thought she had fed Sophie fruit loops. Then he also made sure the applesauce was in small pieces and mushy too. The teacher felt this showed a great deal of concern and empathy and critical thinking skills.

Trey is very creative and has an incredible imagination. He loves to make up stories and situations and can give all kinds of details and facts in the stories to make them sound extremely realistic and believable. He has fabulous verbal skills and uses them frequently. He is a talker and is not the least bit shy, although he might tell you different. Sometimes he does have to be reminded to let others have their turn talking. He enjoys helping and being the center of attention. He needs a teacher that will allow him to be creative and use his creativity but will also be able help him learn how to use his creativity at appropriate times. He likes rules and is a good rule follower, however, he likes to find things out for himself and rarely will take things at face value. Trey has excellent gross and fine motor skills. He is very active and is all boy. Trey responds very well to positive reinforcement and you can get him to do what you ask with kindness and respect but will shut down if one tries to “strong arm” him or push him into doing things. He is sensitive to others feelings and can pick up on others emotions quite well.

I know this was a little longer than you may have wanted but I cannot say enough about Trey. I am constantly entertained and amazed by him. Anyone who has ever come into contact with Trey has numerous stories and lots of love for him. I will end this with one example of just how precocious Trey is. I was reading this out loud to try to make sure I had covered everything I want to tell you. Trey was in the other room watching a movie. When I finished he stood up from the movie and said, “Mommy put in there that I am very talented with making music see.” Then played me a song taping with a drumstick on a jar he had put a caterpillar in. He told me to be sure that I put the song in too. I am not sure how to spell the sound of a drumstick tapping on a jar with a caterpillar in it but I am sure you know the sound.

Trey is the joy of my life and I am happy he will be able to bring a little of that joy to you and your school. I am also excited about all that CCE will be able to teach him. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you about Trey and I look forward to being as involved as possible with CCE.

Thank you,

Kate Tyre

Today we will register for Kindergarten

2011-06-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why I haven't done it yet. I don't know if it is a subconscious thing (yea I think too much) or if life just gets in the way of living life or what but I haven't done it yet. I did want Trey to be with me when I went to the school to do it and I need to write a letter to Mrs. Boone to tell her a little about Trey so she can put him in the best room and I don't really know how to write a letter about the most fabulous child I know. How do you put that into words without sounding like a crazed helicopter mom that is totally unrealistic? I have a hard task.

Pool time!

2011-06-30T05:30:00.001-07:00

This is our back yard. We have a pool. WOOOOO!

Trey was so excited it was like Christmas morning. Maybe better! lol. We promised him the maiden jump.

Sophie is quite amped herself. lol. Kidding really. Not really sure why she looks like this because she loved it! It was quite cold right at first but she didn't mind one bit.

Sophie loves the pool and Trey would live in it if it were up to him. Sophie gets nice and relaxed and lets her little cheeks rest on the eyeballs of the whale and will fall asleep.

Just maybe when summer break is over I will go back to work this year with a bit of a tan. Yea we can always wish.

Mommy Trey Day

2011-06-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. Hey, any day that is called a Mommy Trey Day has to be good right? I took Sophie to Daycare and we had a Mommy Trey day. We shopped for Fathers Day gifts then we went to McDonald's for lunch. Who could resist when they are "giving away" pokemon toys right? Then we went to the Library and got Trey's first library card. He even signed for it and signed the back of the card. The librarian that helped us was so nice to him (and me have I mentioned I am terrified of libraries, sorry Beth but its true. Had a horrible, mean librarian at school when I was in elementary school. Dewey Decimal Nazi! *Shiver*) So he signed up for the card. She gave him a little thing to hang around his neck to keep it in and a bag with a reading calendar and off he went into the wild blue yonder. He was on a search for pirate books. Well since I an terrified of libraries and never learned my Dewey Decimal System properly out of fear he had to ask the really nice librarian for help. Yes I make him do all these things by himself so he will know how to communicate with adults. I find it astonishing how many teenagers cant communicate and dont want my children to be like that. He asked her where the pirate books are and she took him to show him and when he passed me he says "Mommy looks like my cuteness worked" Guess he thought she would refuse to help him if he hadn't used his cuteness. So she got him 3 pirate books and we sat and read them. Then he picked 2 of his favs to check out. He picked them and took them to the counter and handed his card. He was very proud and loves the library and books and reading. I love that he does. My only thought is- why is reading pushed so much more than math? Can you tell that I dont want my children to have my fears and failures so I try to concentrate extra hard on the things that hold me back on them so they wont have those to hold them back. I know they will have there own fears and failures but at least I can make sure history doesn't repeat itself but they create their own history. Anyway, right now Trey is having a sleep over at Nana and Pa's. He declared this day "Awesome" when I dropped him off for his sleepover and what he knows will be a day of "picking" at the flea market tomorrow. So tonight will be very boring. Weird hu? We always find it a little boring when Trey is away. Cant help but miss the life of the party when he is gone.

Hot Time Summer in the Country

2011-06-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and man is it hot. It is not even the official first day of summer yet and it has already hit 103'. That's hot. Trey is out of daycare because we didn't need to save his spot for next year but Sophie has to stay in to save her spot. So I am working at the daycare part-time to make a little money so we aren't too broke this summer and can have a little fun. Today I dont have to work so I am taking Sophie to daycare and me and Trey and going to the library and run some errands.

Trey of the day.

2011-06-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Momma had to go to the Dr and they are keeping Trey this summer (Sophie has to stay in daycare because they cant hold her spot over the summer for next year when I start back to work) so he came to be at my work with me for a couple hours so he wouldnt have to set at the Dr's office. He was looking through a lost and found drawer I have which contain many pair of glasses. He found a particularly studious looking pair put them on and said to me,
"Ma'am I am the Principle and I need to see you in my office."

"Oh yes sir", I replied turning my chair looking nervous and repentant at the same time.

Giving his blue lollipop a lick he pulled his glasses down onto the bridge of his nose, gave me a seering look and said, "Ma'am I have video cameras here and they have caught you trying to kill someone."

Shocked I replied "No sir that is bad and I would not do that."

"Well they saw you."

"Well maybe it was someone who looked like me."

After another long lick of the blue treat he told me, "they saw your curly hair, Your teeth, your earrings, necklace and eyes. It was you. Now you can just set there and think about what you have done."

Look out Mrs Judkins you can be replaced by a 5 year old.

Sophie's 10 month check up

2011-06-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Sophie had her 10 month check up. She is peeerfect of course! lol. She weighs 24.5 lbs. and is hitting all her benchmarks right on time. She is in the 90% for height and the 97% for weight and the 90% for head circumffrance. Perfectly proportioned. The Dr gave us the go ahead on table foods Sophie took that as her thumbs up. Last night she had 1/2 a can of green beans and probably about 1/4 of a sweet potato. I'm not certain on that because I had already cut it up in cubes and steamed it and had it frozen so I am guessing about 1/4 of a potato. She is a joy and really enjoyed wrestling with JD and Trey last night. She is a fast crawler and is pulling up on everything now, the coffee table, couch, tub... everything. She is waving hello and goodbye and is really trying to say bye bye. She will stare at your mouth saying it and you can see her lips go together for it but hasnt quite gotten there yet! She's working on it. Trey is so protective of her and She just adores Trey and JD. When JD walks into a room she all but jumps out of my arms for him. I am a lucky lucky girl.

Trey's last day of Pre-K!

2011-06-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

What a bitter sweet day. I was thinking how I could empathize with a mother butterfly. My dearest posession had been safely in my care far his young life then i wrapped him safely in the warm, loving, safe cacoon of Hapy House now he was emerging from that cacoon to become a butterfly. He was soon going off, after struggeling to get himself out of that cacoon, with outstretched wings and a hopeful albiet nervous heart to fly into the world. He was no longer going to be safe in his cacoon or what I called our safe place - Happy House. He is going to "the real world" Kindergarten. He will be at the best school in the county with the best teachers but still it is the real world with 5th graders and real work that will be tested and have to meet certain standards. He will be tested both educationally and emotionally and spiritually. I know in my heart he will do more than fine on all levels but still it hurts my heart to know he will feel pain or be teased or not meet his AR goal or not be the best at something. Yes I know this is all good for him but still it hurts and makes me more than a little nervous. So to Happy House I say thank you. Thank you for being his safe, warm, loving cacoon. To Columbia City I say, I hope your ready There is nobody in the world like Trey Tyre. You are on elucky school and who ever his teacher is you are on lucky teacher. He will teach you much and bring joy to your days.

Pull ups.

2011-05-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

No not the diaper kind. Sophie is crawling and scooting everywhere! It is so cute and she is so proud! She is already trying to pull up. She can pull up to her knees and she is trying to pull up to her feet. She get son her knees then tries so hard to get her little foot under her. It's not easy to get all that cute chub off the ground though.

She had pink eye that never really went away so we are still dealing with that. She also had an ear infection but was so good I had no clue until we went in for the pink eye. We are dealing with that trying to get that gone for good. Trey had Strep throat and an ear infection. He was a very sick boy Saturday. 102 fever throwing up. He had to be out of school 2 days this week while he was on the antibiotic. He had fun at Meme's and Papa's. Sick people fun, ya know. He is sleeping over at their house tonight. He has said he is going to sleep in the tent outside. Yes a real outside camping trip in a tent (in the yard). However, in the past he has said he would not camp outside because he was scared. So we are a little pesimistic about himactually following through with this plan. We shall see.

Growing Pains

2011-05-14T06:55:00.001-07:00

Trey had his kindergarten physical and immunizations yesterday. He did so well I was so very proud of him. He was truly a big boy and answered all the Dr's questions and did everything she needed. We thought he was going to have to have 5 shots but when we got there we got a wonderful surprise when they told us we had already gotten the others and he only needed a finger stick and 1 shot! He was very happy and trust me so were me and JD. After the Dr we went and fed the ducks. He found some baby duck that were so cute. After that we took him to "The Cowboy Restaurant" which is known to the rest of the world as Texas Roadhouse. That is one of his favs. This morning he says his leg hurts really bad and he doesnt feel good. He says he hurts all over. He has a fever of about 101. I am assuming just a little reaction to the shot. I hope that's all.

I got a call from Happy house yesterday just before I got off work and they told me she had some discharge again in her eye and they thought pink eye again or still. It was cleaned out by the time I got there but I could see it was red in the white part. The Dr. gave me a Rx but said to just hold onto it in case it was allergies. If they were matted this morning when she woke up I could fill it and start on it. Well this morning her eyes are definately red in the white and a little pink outside but no discharge whatsoever so I am guessing allergies for that but we will have to wait and see if we get any discharge.

Yesterday before the Dr. Trey skipped school (yes he's starting his life of crime early) and had a Daddy Trey day. JD took him fishing and they say 7 manatee's and Trey caught 2 fish. THey had a great day leading up to the big physical where he walked in a boy and came out... a bigger boy.

We have a crawler!

2011-05-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sophie is a mover and a shaker! She is crawling everywhere. Yes the real live hand and knee action. She alternates between crawling and putting her hands out in front of her and then pulling/wriggling her butt up to her hands, kinda inch worm style. Trey is such a great helper now that she is crawling. He will watch her while he's watching TV and if he see's her going toward something she souldnt get into her will start saying "Sophie alert!, Sophie alert!..." to let me know I need to come get her. The first time he did it she was about to touch an outlet. He started saying that then went over to her and told her know that if she touched that it would sting her hands. I didnt even know he knew she shouldn't touch that. He is gooood!

I was alive on this day. The day Osama Bin Laden was killed.

2011-05-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

I was alive on September 11, 2001. I remember where I was, what I did and how I felt. I remember where my thoughts turned. I remember the tears I shed as the nightmare unfolded. I am alive today. In many years I will be able to tell you how I felt, what I was doing and how I wanted to glue to the TV. I shed tears as I watched young men at the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy cheer and sing the National Anthem. One thing I never thought is that these events would make me fear for my children future when I see what evil men can do and have a rush of happiness and hope when I see what brave men can do. I pray for them and for their children that the good, brave men will always be allowed to stand strong and that justice will prevail. I am sad for those people who may have lost a loved one but it is a law of eternities that justice must prevail.

Day of Service 2011

2011-04-30T17:13:00.001-07:00

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter. Sophie's 1st. They all looked beautiful and very handsome. Sat we dyed eggs and decorated cookies. Sunday we went to church, had a great lunch and and egg hunt. It was so much fun to be with family and see the kids have fun and look wonderful. A Wonderful day!

My baby is 5!

2011-04-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Trey's bday

Spring Break! Not so springy.

2011-03-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

We are on Spring break this week. No big plans here just some relaxing. The weather has been awful which ruined some plans but we made the best of it. Monday I cleaned some. Tuesday I took Sophie and Meme to see Aunt Mickie in Jacksonville. We had fun. Aunt Mickie is doing well for being in her 90's and I am so glad she got to see Sophie (her Lola) again. Yesterday we had planned on taking the boat to Rainbow River and just having a relaxing day of swimming and boating but Ma Nature had other plans. So we nixed that and went to Tampa to The Florida Aquarium. Trey had a blast and Sophie was good as gold once again. Then we left there and went to Orlando (Trey's fav. place in the world lol) to Bass Pro Shop. The day was a huge success. Trey thoroughly enjoyed himself. The kiddos were perfect the trip was great and everything was really fun and nice. The Aquarium is very nice. Not ridiculously huge but big enough to occupy a 4 yo for a few hours. We stopped at Target on the way home to get a present for someone and some diapers and formula and I got the invitations for Trey's 5th b-day party. It is going to imitate life. Its a circus theme lol. I think the invitations should just say, "welcome to my life the 3 ring circus!" When we got home I walked in the house and felt something on my neck. I figured it was a moth so I reached up to pick it off and as soon as I felt it I then felt a severe stinging pain in my finger so I flung whatever it was and heard it hit a plastic bag I had just set on the table. My finger was on fire but I could see a sting mark or bite. I screamed for JD and he came over and found a scorpion about an inch long. Let me tell you a scorpion can hurt like a mutha for only being an inch long. I took some Benedryl. My finger is swollen but it no longer hurts today. All in all, yes that includes getting stung by a scorpion was a huge success! Today I am at home just relaxing in bad weather waiting to go to the dentist UGH! My worst phobia. I am going to look at my new sewing machine JD got me for Christmas that I havent had a chance to look at and hopefully get it set up to be able to work on it some.

I need to tattoo my password on my arm.

2011-03-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

So every now and then blogger will not allow me to log in. I hate it. I dont think I forget my password because it is the same for almost everything with a very slight variable but for some reason this happens but I am here now! So lets update.

Sophie just had her 7 month checkup. She weighed 21 lbs and 15 oz. Yes she is my big, healthy, girl. She sleeps 9 1/2 hours every night of her life! I love it! Thank you Heavenly Father. SHe is eating solid foods now and loves them all. Well she loves everything accept what I make at home. She is rolling over and scooting backwards. She is holding her own bottle. She is an adorable joy to our lives.

Trey is almost 5 and is truly growing into such a smart, happy, creative child. I am so proud of him and who he is becoming. He has lots of friends in school (daycare) and will start Kindy next year but I cant talk about that yet (snif). He is already nervous about going to the big boy school. I am nervous about him leaving Happy House. That has been our comfort zone for 3 years now. Trey is a great bog brother and has never shown jealousy of any sort. He loves to help me with Sophie.

I am loveing my job at LCMS and JD is doing well at Guerry F.H. his schedule is the best yet! We are doing great and I hope blogger will not lock me out more so I can keep updating and I will add pics soon.

Bad girl

2011-02-02T11:55:00.001-08:00

I am a bad blogger girl. I know. When life gets busy I don't blog. That is when I should blog the most because life is exciting. O well. I will try to do better. Trey is a big boy and learns so quickly and is so sensitive to feelings and thoughts. It is amazing how intuitive a 4 year old can be. He is amazing and his imagination is going to earn him a million dollars one day (which he will happily share with his mommy hehe). Sophie is growing like a weed, a big fat, happy weed. She is 21 lbs and will only be 6 months on the 9th of February. She wears 12 month clothes that she is quickly growing out of but she is happy. She is the happiest baby I have ever seen. She sleeps at least 9 hours consistantly and has been known to sleep for a full 12 hours when allowed. She is eating solids and loves her blueberries and apples and peas and sweet potato. She is so easy to make smile. all JD has to do is wink at her and she just turns her head like she is sooo shy and smiiiiles.

We are all doing great. I promise to blog more.

Happy 1/4 year bday Sophie!

2010-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Sophie has been part of our family now for 3 months. I can hardly believe its only been 3 months! She just fits so prefecty and it just seems like its been years! lol. As of last Tuesday she weighed 15.5 lbs. She's my little chubbers and she is georgeous and smiles so easily. Her whole body smiles when she smiles. Her shoulders shrug up and her hands come up and she just smiles with her whole body. She is trying like crazy to talk to us. She is babbeling and loves it when JD says "Daddy's gonna get your toes." Trey loves it when she smiles at him. Every night we fall asleep together in the recliner, her on her tummy on my chest. That is heaven! That is the best sleeping in the world. The only trouble we have had with her at all is with her spitting up. She spit up horribly after ever feeding. I mean literaly numerous handfuls at every feeding. First we tried zantac which did nothing. Then we tried prevacid which we noticed no difference in alone. Then the Dr put her on a lactose free formula called Nutramigen (it is expensive but whatever works) that didnt seem to be doing anything. Then last weekend I was feeding her and she had fallen asleep so I didnt pick her up to burp her and I was just looking at her and all of a sudden I realized she hadnt spit up yet. So I thought ya know I'll just set here and not burp her and if she spits up because I didnt burp her o well she would spit up anyway. Well she never spit up. The next time I fed her I didnt burp her. The next time I fed her I did burp her and she immediatly spit up a handful. I thought ya know maybe I am onto something here. So I didnt burp her anymore. Not only did she eat less (the normal amount as opposed to almost 2x the normal average) but she seemed more content and slept great (even though she is already a gret sleeper) I told daycare Monday not to burp her after every 2 ounces anymore not to burp her at all and to try to stop her after about 4 ounces but is she was still hungry to let her have more. Well she misunderstood me and thought I meant to burp her after 4 ounces. Sure enough she spit up bad. Later at her next feeding a different lady fed her and didnt burp her at all after a whole 6 ounces. Guess what. No spit up! Woot! So yesterday she ate at 3:00(didnt spit up) at daycare then didnt eat again until 11:00pm. (didnt spit up) Then slept until I woke her at 5:30 this morning. She at 6 more oz and didnt spit up then either. So I think we are on a roll.

Long overdue update.

2010-11-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Where shall I begin? Sophie is the best, happiest, most easy going baby ever. She was 13 lbs 8 oz at her 2 month check up. That means she was gaining 1 lb a week. More than she should. What can I say she enjoys her sleep and her food. The Dr wanted me to put her on a "diet". I did not. He wanted me to give her no more than 5 oz of formula then give an ounce of pedialyte. She is not ridiculously overweight so I didnt do the diet. When she starts crawling if she doesnt slim down some I will consider something but a diet for a 2 mo? Nope. She is in the 97% for height and weight so she is proportional. The issue I am having with her is not eating (obviously) not sleeping (she sleeps 6 hour stretches) and crying (never cries) but her spitting up. She spits up handfulls! Literally. I dont even use a burp cloth anymore I use a receiving blanket. The poor little thing's clothes stay wet even with a bib on. She was put on Nexium then prevacid both are diong nothing. Now she has been changed to a different formula. It is a non cows milk based formula with the thinking maybe she is lactose intolerant or has an issue with cows milk or milk based proteins. I have a sneaky suspicion it will not help. I am trying to be positive though. About 2 times a week she will cry in the evening about dinner time and be in obvious discomfort. I think her stomach. Nothing will soothe her. No pacifier, no bottle, no rocking or singing...Once I put her in the bath tub and just laid her there and poured warm water over her for about 30 mins. This helped and she was ok while she was in there but then when I took her out she cried again. Then another 2 times (and I know this makes me sound like a total wacko but hey I used my mothers instinct and it helped me but I may sound nutty) I had tried everything I could and the only other thing I could think of to soothe a baby was nursing. Mind you I havent tried to nurse her in over a month. So needless to say there was nothing there for her but I tried it anyway and I dont know if it was the skin to skin or the act of sucking or the combo but it worked. It broke my heart to know she wanted to nurse so badly that she would suck getting nothing from it and I couldnt give her what she needed. But at least I could soothe her right? So now we are in the middle of trying to figure out why she spits up so much and hoping to figure it out so we can fix it. She is such a good baby I hate for her to be in pain and not be able to help.

Dedication.

2010-09-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

We finished week 2 day 2 last night. Yes when I say night I aint kidding. We left the house at 8:45 at night. IT was pitch dark accept for the moon. We ran with flash lights. I enjoyed running at night. The weather has cooled off so it was nice and cool out too. I kept up with JD. He said he could have pushed it faster but he certainly want slowing down to stay with me this time. I wasnt having to shuffle my feet I was really jogging not just a glorified fast walk. I could even talk some while I jogged. I am proud we pushed it and did it even though it was late. Momma and Daddy couldnt come down until late so thats why we had to start so late.

Week 2 Day 1

2010-09-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

Week 2 Day 1 is under my belt. JD ran with me last night and we did well. I am very suprised at how well my body is adjusting to this. I am not sore in the least. It was harder doing the extra 30 seconds of the jog but we did it.

Goals and mid -year resolutions.

2010-09-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

When I have my babies I try to start out in a positive frame of mind and have all these goals in my mind. Mainly breastfeeding. Trey would not. Would. Not. It hit me hard, being a first time Mom. It contributed to some Post Partum Depression. So when I had Sophie I had the same goal, to breastfeed her too. I knew it may not be possible but I was going to, once again, give it my best effort. Knowing that it is best for baby and actually beneficial to mom too and that this would be my last shot to breastfeed my baby I was hoping very much to be successful this time. Well needless to say I was not. She would nurse for an hour and still be starving. I could even pump more after she was done but I could never pump much. So I was not successful this time. It hit me not as hard as I was prepared this time that it may not work but I was let down and feel/felt defeated. I knew I needed to do something to make myself feel successful at something. Not something normal but something I knew I shouldnt be able to do. I am a member of a bulletin board online that has a group of women participating in a program called Couch to 5K. It basically means that it can prepare anyone even a couch potato to run a 5K supposedly in 9 weeks. It is 3 days a week for 30 minutes.Now a 5K is 3 miles so that probably doesnt sound terrible amazing to anyone but anytime I hear someone say they are a runner I say "I dont run unless something is chasing me" So this is a big deal to me. I just dont run. I have bad lungs and I get shin splint when I do any excersize and well I just dont stick to any program much less running. I have always hated it and thought it was so terribly dumb. But seeing those women, who are just like me, accomplish that program and knowing that I shouldnt be able to do this I decided this would be my goal that I could conquer. I will beat this. So I am doing the couch to 5K program. JD said he would do it with me. The first day I started (week1 day1) I thought I would die. Literally. I hurt immediatly after. I couldnt breathe or walk. I sat down when I got home and could not get up. Trey said "Mommy did you fall and get a boo boo?" lol I was miserable. I was also very down thinking that I would never be able to accomplish this goal. I was feeling defeated. That day was an alternating program of jogging and walking. Toward the end I had to walk some during 2 of the jogging sessions. The second night I did better but the shin splints were a bit painful at first. I lagged way behind JD. He would get so far out ahead of my during the jogging portions then walk back to me on the walk portions so he was going twice as far as me. He is a brick house. The last night of week 1 JD had forgotten and already showered and there was a football game on so I did it alone. I did really well. I set my own pace and did not have to walk during the jog portions at all. I even ran a little over time. (A few seconds but hey small victories.) When I got home I felt good. I could breathe ( I was winded of course but I could talk and breathe.) I felt great. I actually feel like I can accomplish this. I. Can. Do. This. At first I was saying I didnt even have to compete in an official 5K race I just wanted to know for myself I could but now I want to compete. No I am not thinking I will place or even do well but I want it to be the culmination of my goal to mark my success in public. I now also have a new goal. I want to compete in a triathalon. This is definately a long term goal (that I am not sure I will ever accomplish because I dont even know if there is one locally ver) but a goal none the less. I actually think doing the 3 things, swimming, running and biking will suit my attention span and mentality well. Onto the goal at hand. Tonight I do week 2 day 1 of Couch to 5K.

Week	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
1	WEEK1 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	WEEK1 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	WEEK1 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
2	WEEK2 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	WEEK2 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	WEEK2 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
3	WEEK3 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	WEEK3 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	WEEK3 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
4	WEEK4 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	WEEK4 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	WEEK4 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5	WEEK5 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	WEEK5 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)	WEEK5 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.
6	WEEK6 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	WEEK6 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)	WEEK6 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking.
7	WEEK7 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	WEEK7 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	WEEK7 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
8	WEEK8 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	WEEK8 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	WEEK8 DAY3 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
9	WEEK9 DAY1 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	WEEK9 DAY2 Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	WEEK9 DAY3 The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).

the "Trey of the day".

2010-09-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

JD was changing daddy's headlight on his car and Trey said "I know whats wrong with Papa's light" oh yea I say what is it ? "The filament is broken in the bulb." WHAT?? How does he know these things?

Trey's 1st trip to the dentist, well sort of.

2010-09-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

I dont know if you recall or if I blogged about it but we tried to take Trey to the dentist once before and it ended ummm, badly. He screamed so much he trew up in the poor dentists hands. Yea, I was so upset. She couldnt do anything. So she gave me some tips and a few weeks ago he asked to go to the dentist. So I made the appt. I was praying it would go better but trying not to get my hopes up. I so wanted Trey to not have the same fear of the dentist I do but I knew if the same thing was repeated on this trip he would have to go to a pediatric dentist who does not allow the parents to go back and puts them in a (for lack of a better term) straight jacket and will gas them if needed. I did not want this for him. This morning the day arrived for the appt and I was anxious to say the least. His appt was at 10 am and I kept him out of school to make things easier. We went to the dentist and he was in a good mood. Right before they called him back I asked him (out of the blue) "Trey do you want me to go back with you or stay out here and wait for you?" He said "Mommy do you want to stay out here?" I told him I wanted to do whatever he wanted me to do that would make him feel good" He said "Mommy you can wait here" . I just knew when they called him back he would want me but nope. He popped right up and walked back. I sat there waiting to hear the screams or have the dentist come out telling me he needed to go to the Ped dentist but the only thing I got was the dentist coming out with her mouth telling me it was like night and day. He was setting there getting his xrays done happily and the only problem they were having was him talking to them telling them some story while they were trying to get the xrays done. After a few minutes they came and asked me if I wanted to sneak back and see him in the chair. I went back and he was laid back just chillin talking to the hygenist deciding on the bubblegum flavor or mint flavor of cleaner. He decided on mintcasue it smelled better than than the bubblegum. He did great. I am so relieved. He is a member of the no cavity club. His teeth look great she said he just nees to start using the floss pick. No prob. He has already flossed (sort of) when we were playing dentist with his dentist kit they gave him (gloves, a mask, floss, tooth brush, paste and his xrays. I am so proud of him and everyone there was thrilled and was totally won over by him by the time we left. Once again I heard the same thing I hae heard since he was able to start talking. "YOu can have a conversation with him like an adult" I seriously hear this all the time. So hopefullyhe will have a good relationship with a dentist all his life. THank you Dr Lori and Rhonda from Oak Hill you guys were great.

Happy 1 month birthday Sophie

2010-09-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent kept you updated but well I've been a bit busy. When we went to her 1st check up following our departure from the hospital she had lost down to 6lbs. Which was fine. By her one week check up she was back up to her birth weight of 6 lbs 7 oz. That is exactly what they wanted for one week. Today we went to her 1 month check up and she weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. She has gained 3 lbs and 3 inches in a month. Perfect, right on track. She is doing so good. Her ped. thinks she has a bit of acid reflux but thinks it can be managed with a few things like just setting her up to feed her and laying her on an incline after she eats and when she sleeps and giving her a tiny bit of rice cereal in her bottle. It will help to thicken the formula in her tummy and will help satisfy her better since she was getting insatiable with her food lately. I love a Dr with some common sense. Trey's ped. freaked me out and went crazy on me when I asked about rice cereal in the bottle and he was like 4 months old at that point. I took her to Wal-Mart today, as an after thought, to do a quick little photo shoot for her 1 month birthday. I dont have the pics yet but here are the copies.

Welcome Lola Sophia!

2010-08-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

So on August 9, 2010 (yes for those who are quick that makes her birthday 8/9/10 hehe) Sophia came in to our lives. She came easily and sweet. She is perfect and beautiful and easy going and as sweet as can be. Here's the story. I went to work for my first day back from summer break and could only stay for half a day because I had a previous appt at the Dr's office at 1:00 for my weekly Non Stress Test (NST) due to the single artery in her ambilical cord. I felt great and normal all day. When I got hooked up her heart was racing wildly. Her heart rate stayed in the 190 range getting into the high 180's it even got to the low 200's. He had me turn over on each side to see if that would help but nothing did. He checked my temp it was fine (me being sick could be a reason for her heart rate to be so high). So he couldnt figure out why her heart rate was so very high. He said he was going to send me back to the 3rd floor (labor and delivery) to have me on the monitor and see if it would go down any. He said if it did not then he would probably induce me. He wasnt terribly worried for her but her heart rate was not good and at 37 weeks (2 days away from 38) he felt she might just be ready to come out and do a little better out than in especially with the 1 artery. I went down to 3rd floor and got on the monitor. I was there a little bit and her heart rate stayed high. It dropped to 70 once and 2 nurses came running in and literally threw me on my side. As soon as they did that it went back up and was fine. The on call Dr came in and said they had watched me and she had conferred with my Dr and they were indeed going to induce me. If the heart rate dropped that low again I would be rushed into surgery for an emergancy C section. If it stayed how it was I would just be induced and allowed to progress at my own speed. I called JD and told him about the plan. He was in Macclenny at work but told them he needed to go I was going to be induced, we were having a baby! He left and headed to us. The nurses were great especially when they realized my hubby wasnt there yet. They said there was plenty of time not to rush but just come steady along. I was then taken to a room. JD was getting very nervous he may not make it in time. They nurse said not to worry they hadnt even gotten the orders yet for meds or anything and when they did they would have to give me the pitocin and that would take 2 hours to take effect due to the fact they cant raise the amt fast. Well just after she told him that she walks in with the pitocin and siad well we got the order and the pit. but not to worry it will still take time. Soon after I was given the pit. i did start to feel some tightening and some contractions. I told the nurse and she was suprised but even once "forgot" to raise the pit levels to give JD time to get there. He did arrive. He arrived at 5:00 and I had already been given the pit. I was feeling good! 2 thumbs up!

At about 5:30 I was having some pains in my side that were actually worse than the contractions. IT was like a stitch in my left side that was really bad. That was probably my worse pain. At about 5:30 I got 1/2 a dose of statol to take the edge off of getting the epidural I knew I would be getting soon. I was trying to rest a little after the statol for what I thought may possibly be a long night.

The Dr came back in and checked me and apparantly I was now at a 5. She told me getting to a five was the longest part most of the time. After that things usually went quicker. She asked me if I wanted the epidural now. I was wavering because I wasnt really in enough pain other than the stitch in my side to warrant an epi but when she told me that getting to a 5 was the longest part and I was a 5 and that it would be past the point of not return when I reached a 9 I decided to go ahead and get it. I did not want to be at the point where I reeeeally wanted it but was too far to get it. SO I went ahead and got it. Figured it couldn't hurt. I got the epi around 7:00. I slept through getting it with Trey so I didnt really know what to expect. I have to say it wasnt what I expected. I have heard it is the most painful thing ever. Well to me it really wasnt. It was a very weird feeling as I could feel everything. I could feel the needle (tube whatever it is) going into my back and I could feel when they moved it and pushed it further. They kept asking where I felt it etc. It was tiring to get it and I got a little light headed at one point. I think because I had my head down on a pillow on the tray table and my hair was all over my face and I was just breathing in how air for so long. when they were done I was tired and a little creeped out about how I could feel a tube being pushed into my back. But was feeling good.

I progressed fine and in no pain after that. Jenifer and Selena arrived at some point after that, not exactly sure what time but thankfully they got there. I had promised Selena she could be in there if she wanted but she wasnt sure. Jen was trying to prepare her for what she might encounter in the room and I think she got a little scared but when she saw how good and happy and pain free I was doing she decided to stay. Her and Jen sat on a couch over on one wall that was they could be in there and be a part of it all but didnt have to actually SEE it all. lol. Momma and Daddy had been there since the beginning. They were with me while JD was getting there. At about 7:45 the Dr broke my water. It was time to get moving.

We had called Trey a few times to say good night and we love him. This was the first night I had spent away from him so I had a lot of emotions going on. Nana and Pa were able to be at our house with him so he could at least be in his own room and bed. That was a relief. At 9:15 the Dr. came in and checked me again because I told her it seemed like I could feel some pressure. Sure enough I was ready to go. I was at a 10 and fully effaced. It was push time. It took her a few minutes to get in there and be ready because there were 3 other women in labor at the same time. Busy night. lol. She had a midwife with her that she had already asked me if I minded actually catching the baby. She said she would be right there but the midwife needed so many births to get her certificate. I told her I did not mind at all. So they both got in there and we got everything set up. Momma held a leg and JD got a leg. Beth Noll got there right about this time and took a seat with Jen and Selena on the couch. They told me to push when I felt a contraction. I laughed and told them I couldnt feel anything so they would have to tell me when to push. I could however feel some pressure or tightening when it came time to push so I told them when I was ready and we did this 3 times on a 10 count. For some reason I guess I was setting up more with Sophie because I could see when her head came out. I started to push again and the Dr told me to push really easily and naturally and pop! Out came my beautiful crying Sophie. Her cry was so dainty and sweet even. JD cut her cord just like with Trey and he was hooked from that second. He did the first diaper and helped the nurse with the first bath. She was born at 9:34. She was 19 inches long & weighed 6 lbs 7 oz her birthday is 8/9/10. Yep she was 6,7 on 8/9/10. I guess she knew her momma was not good with number so she'd give me a hand. I did notice almost immediatly that she was tongue tied. I was looking for it since Trey had been as well.The rest is a lovely blur.

My pretty girl all cleaned up.

Daddy helping with the first bath.

The next day getting her hearing test done on my lap. She passed with flying colors.

Tada!! Introducing Sophie to the worlds greatest big brother!

love at first sight.

Coming home. Go girly gators!

The birth was perfect. I couldnt have planned it any better if I could have written down how I wanted it to go. Everything was virtually painless and sweet and easy. I was only a little nervous right in the beginning about her heart rate being so high. That stress soon got better and was nonexistant as soon as JD arrived. Our family is complete. We are thrilled with her and Trey. Trey is doing great. He is handling a lot of stress right now for a little 4 yr old mind but doing great. He is so tender with her and wants to know where she is first thing when he walks in the door. When he comes in he says "Guess who's here?" and I say "who?" he puffs his chest out and says "The big brother!" He is so proud of her.

Dear Trey,

2010-08-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

My Dearest Trey~
As the summer draws to an end and I go back to work, you go back to daycare and we anxiously await the arrival of your new baby sister any day now. I want to tell you how much I love you. It has been a jam packed summer. I have tried to keep you entertained and keep you active all summer. It hasnt been easy because you are more full of energy than 10 wild horses and smarter than all of congress put together but I have tried and I have enjoyed every minute of it. This summer you have played your first organized sport on the Krystals Scramblers soccer team. It wasnt always the most fun for you, me or your daddy but we did it and I think it was good for us all. You learned to swim. This was important to me for your safety if not for fun. It was hell the first week but we stuck to it and not only did you learn to swim you became the best swimmer in the class even above those who had taken classes before. Now you are addicted to swimming. You love it and are really very good at it. You conquered your fears and you were so brave. I am proud of you. We swam almost every day. We played on the slip-N-Slide. We made bird feeders, cookies, banana bread and canned tomatoes. We went to the beach and almost fried in 117 degree heat but we got to fly your kite. We went to the Florida Museum of Natural History and to the Santa Fe teaching zoo where you got poked in the eye with a deer antler. Like a trooper you were fine as long as you got to go see the snakes. We went on the boat with Daddy and we swam in the river with Daddy. We went to Orlando and went to Down Town Disney with me 8 months pregnant. It was a joy to go on vacation with you and Daddy just the 3 of us for one last time. Next time we go on vacation it will be with your little sister. I wanted to make this summer fun for you while it was just us. I hope you enjoyed every minute of it like I did. We snuggled in the bed in the mornings as often as possible when Daddy left for work. You promised you will still be my snuggle bunny even when you are 35. I have witnesses. I came to know you better as the special spirit you are not as the baby you were and I watched you grow up in one summer. I fell in love all over again. What a beautiful, heartbreaking experience for me. You helped me prepare for the arrival of your baby sister which I am so proud to tell everyone that you already love and cant wait to meet and are already protective over. I hope this summer you were not too bored or missed your buddies from daycare too much because I treasure every moment I had with you over the last 3 months. Thank you for being my son, blessing my life and your fathers life in ways I cant put into words and for being so wonderful. I look forward to watching you grow with Sophie, love her and teach her over the rest of your life and mine.

Love Eternally and powerfully,
Your Mommy

Take 2.

2010-08-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last night was night number 2 spent with the ladies at the womens center in Gville. We thought we needed to go when the contractions were 2 mins apart and very, very like stop in your tracks no talking, painful. I got there and they took me to triage and put the monitors on me and checked and I was still the same dilated at 2 I was when I left there Tuesday. So they left me on the monitor a bit longer and checked again after about on hour. After an hour of contractions that were registering around the 50's she came in and checked me and the same ole dilated to a 2, nothing more. She said I had 2 options They could give me the Phenergren and Morphine again BUT they didnt have a room so I'd have to stay in the triage room where it is basically a cot and 12 small hard chair for JD or they could give me Ambien and send me home hoping that got the pain and would allow me to sleep. I told her I was not planning on camping out there for fun unless I was having a baby so hit me with the Ambien and send me home. I think she was busy and didnt want me to come back in pain so she hit me with 10 MG of Ambien. Now that may not sound like a lot but I know big grown men who take 5 MG and are nighty nighty all night long. So 10mg sent me away. I was walking out of the hospital like I Walked. I was having to stop and lean on the wall or JD, doubled over to breath through a contraction. I was totally out of it about 5 mins after I got into the car. By the time I got home I couldnt even hardly walk. I dont remember anything but JD said I almost fell 2 times in the yard trying to get into the house then I almost fell again in the bathroom. I was absolutely out of it. I woke up a little groggy at about 9 am. Fri. I was really low and disappointed this morning that i had endured all that pain for all those hours for absolutely nothing! I was supposed to have a massage appt this morning and missed that, slept through that. It is such a disappointment to feel like she is ready to come out but my body wont do what it needs to do to let her out, especially when I want her so bad. Also I hate going to L&D to be sent home. I know people think I am faking how bad the pain is to keep going hoping they will induce but I am not. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and even with contractions at a 50 I am taking it pretty good. No screaming or really moaning then when its done I'm back to laughing, talking etc. It is just really upsetting to have to keep going back and be in so much pain all for nothing. I dont want her here before she is ready but I also dont want to be in such bad pain unless I am going to be bringing her home.

JD and Trey were supposed to have a Daddy and Trey day today but because I was so low they "allowed" me to tag along. I needed my mind off stuff. So we went to the land fil (thi apparantly is a huge deal for boys. Ya know big hills, huge trucks, monster backhoe's...boys playground. So we did that and then went to the falls then to wal mart and then JD got the new Madden 2010 game. Ya know that just proves I can be cheered up by going to the landfill as long as I am with my boys and they are happy. THat did wonders for my mood to see them together and enjoying themselves.

We woke trey up before we left to tell him to be sure and go to Nana and Pa's room if he needed anything that we were gonna go see if it was time for Sophie to come home. We didnt want him to come into our room and us not be there and scare the little guy. He rolls over and says "ok but can I go back to sleep now?" lol he must've known something we didnt. He was unconcerned. lol

The close call.

2010-08-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went to the Dr for my weekly NST (Non-Stress Test). The plan was to take momma with me to watch Trey since all I have to do is set in a chair and watch TV. I figured he could watch cartoons. Well When we arrived they put me on the monitor and I almost immediatly started having more regular than normal Braxton Hicks Contractions and a little stronger thatn normal but didnt really even think anything about them. The Dr came in and noticed Sohpie's heartbeat was dropping a little. This is what he is monitoring on the NST so this concerned him a bit. This can be a sign of a small or thin ambilical cord and since she has only the one artery in her cord that could be an issue. He decided he needed to send me down to L&D 3rd floor. We all went off to the 3rd floor, Me, Trey and Momma. We get there and they are slow so they are going to allow me to let momma and Trey come into the triage room with me. THe moment we walk in I hear a strange noise coming from what I thought was the wall. I was looking in the direction and heard more of it and then realized it was coming from the light on the ceiling. Then I saw sparks fall from the light. Well the light is directly above the bed so I went immediatly and told the nurse what I had seen. She came back in with me and when she did you could smell something burning pretty heavily. So she told us they were slow so she would put us in a regular L&D room as long as she could. This was a huge blessing because we had a whole room with a TV and lots of space and a couch, table etc. So that was nice. I kept thinking I would go on home after a little monitoring because her heart rate dropping seemed to be an isolated event and because I told them about the contractions being stronger and feeling different then the usual braxton hicks so they checked my cervix and was not dialated at all. Well while I was in there those contractions I mentioned also got stronger and more often. They got stronger to the point that I could not talk through them and they were occuring every 2-3 mins. They were pretty strong. At about 4:00 The Dr on call came in and actually saw the amount of pain I was in and decided she should check me again. She checked me and I was now at a 2. So the contractions were real and not braxton hicks. I was staying. I called JD and told him I was going nowhere. I needed someone to get Trey and Momma. So JD got off work soon after and had his parents drive him over so we would only have one vehicle and they could bring Trey and Momma home. JD went by the house and got the bag and the diaper bag. Needless to say the nurses and myself thought we would be bringing home a Sophie. They gave me some meds to help with the pain and make me comfortable for what was looking like might be a long night. They did this via IV because they thought I would be there for a while. THe IV was very painful. Well the meds stopped the contractions, pretty quickly. By this time the Tyre's had gotten there with JD and had taken momma and Trey home. JD and I slept ( i use that term loosely lol) in the hospital. This morning there had been no more contractions so we came home about 8:30. I have had a few more of the contractions that are a little more painful ( nothing like yesterdays, those were rough) but nothing really. So we all thought we might be welcoming Sophie home today or tomorrow but it seems like we wont. JD thinks she will share Jen and my bday but I am not so sure. I am now dialated to a 2 but that really means nothing. I could be at a 2 for a while. Trey was good as gold for being stuck in a hospital room all day. He took a great nap on the couch. JD and I are tired (JD went to work and I went grocery shopping to stock up on some things as I feel like I might not be shopping for a while and I wanted some easy to cook food and to have plenty of things the boys like in the house.

I also found out that I have to go back to work on the 9th and Trey will be able to go back to Happy House on the 9th as well so that is a huge relief. Everything will work out just how it should.

No Sophie so far, but a close call.

2010-08-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am sooo ready for Sophie to be born. However I think no matter what all I do with Trey I will still feel like I haven't done enough for him or with him this summer before I bring Sophie to be with us. I know giving him a sister is a wonderful thing so how do I get past feeling like I have done him a disservice by taking away his only child status? I know it is for his good and he will love her ( he already does) it is just hard on me knowing we have given him all our love and attention and all of our everything for 4 years now he will have to share us. Like I said I know it is good and all positive I guess it is just the pregnancy hormones making me emotional and sad for him. Silly I know. I just love him so much I never want him to feel slighted or less or like we needed more in our lives. In the same thought I cant wait to get her here and Trey cant either. HE is so excited. He plays baby with everything.

I've been a bad blogger girl.

2010-07-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

I know I have missed lots but I've been busy. I tell ya what I will just post a bunch of pics instead of doing a daily thing k? K.

We went to the beach just past St Augustine on the 9th. It was so hot we couldnt stay long. It was like walking on the face of the sun. See that it says 117 degrees. Yea warm. We had fun though even with my pregnant lol. It was just me, JD, Trey and Selena.

We had our annual 4th of July party at Jen's house. And as usual it was great accept that JD had to work. We had great ribs, great weather, fun swimming....Janet was there with her grandkids and all the kids had fun in the pool. After we went home and had a little nap we went to Branford for fireworks. That was fun too. It looked like it might rain but never did.

We made this shirt. Trey designed it and did it all. I think it turned out great!

Trey doing "surfs up" in the pool.

Water must be cool. lol

We got homemade pretzels made. It took a few tries but once we got it down they were pretty good.

We went out on the boat. We had breakfast on the boat, nice and cool, early, then fished some and pulled up into a little spring that noone was in yet and swam. It was cold but niiice and refreshing. Trey had a blast and when he has fun we have fun.

Trey and I decided to go on a 4 wheeler ride and look for horses to feed some carrots to. Well we found one and some goats and cows. He was only interested in the horse though. He was waaaay less scared of the horse than I was. I was thrown off of one and drug as a child so I am very skiddish of them now. The have such power and they are animals and you never know about an animal. Also I like to be in control and with an animal that large and powerful you cant be. So I was nervous but he was just fine.

A win and a loss.

2010-07-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

Why a win and a loss? Well a win because after I worked with him with Selena yesterday (Thurs) he did much better in his soccer game! He stayed with the ball he got a LOT more kicks in and did better. A loss because this is the first game they have lost. It poured the whole game. We were all out there with umbrellas and the kids were drenched but I think it is better than 99* heat. The kids seemed to enjoy it better too. My voice is hoarse because I was out there yelling things I had taught him trying to make him hear me from under the umbrella and over the sound of the rain. Heaven help me if he ever does play football or a sport when he is older. I will never have a voice again. lol. It is still all fun for me though. He had more fun because he could participate better and understand the game a little better.

We also made soft pretzels yesterday. They were yummy as long as they were loaded with salt. Trey made a few but Selena had more fun doing that. Trey did great at swimming lessons yesterday and today is his last day at that. In a way I am relieved in another way I dont know what we will do all morning. lol Today being the last they will have "fun day" where they dont have a structured lesson they get to do whatever they want in the pool and Meme and Selena are going to watch then I think I'm getting a haircut so we can burn some time then we are going to take Trey to "the restaurant with the black dip dip" loosely translated to Fu King. He loves soy sauce (the black dip dip is soy sauce) so for him doing soooo good and being brave when he was scared we are treating him to Fu King. Poor JD has to work late today and will work all day tomorrow on the 3rd of July. We are celebrating the 4th of July tomorrow since it falls on Sun this year. We are having our annual party at Jen's then we will go to Branford for the fireworks. JD wont be there for any of it accept maybe the fireworks at night. I want to make a t-shirt with Trey today for tomorrow. We can stamp some red and blue stars on a whilte tshirt he has and he ca wear it to the fireworks. Hopefully he will enjoy doing that today and it will turn out cute.

Soccer just aint his thang.

2010-06-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

We had a soccer game last night. Yea. Not so good. He doesnt really like soccer. I think it is because he doesnt really understand it. There were only 2 practices before the games started so he doesnt get it. PLus he is so good at most everything else that he gets upset if he doesnt kick it every play or everytime it comes near him but he's not agressive enough (didnt think I'd say that but it's true) He is a stickler for rules. I told him to just push through the other kids and get to the ball and he said "NO that is bad we dont push people" I tried to describe to him how that is what you do in soccer, it's a competition you need to get to the ball because nobody is going to just give it to you. He thinks fun is nice and we tell him to have fun so he thinks he should still be all nicey nice. When swim classes are over (at the end of this week) I plan on getting him out in the field in the morning (before it gets too hot) and teaching him. I was the Middle School asst. coach for the girls team a few years back. The team sucked but the only game we won was when I was allowed to coach on my own (the coach was out of town) so we shall see what I can do. He seems disinterested but maybe if he knows more about it and feels mroe confident (like swimming) he will be more interested. JD is a perfectionist and just doenst get the mindset of a 4 year old. He gets upset that Trey runs over to us on the sidelines between play. He gets upset when Trey gets upset on the field. I want to set at the opposite end of the field so I can enjoy the cute kids being kids. Summer is hard. lol.

Busy having fun.

2010-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

It's good when you are busy, having fun that is. Last Thursday we finished the day going to Trey's soccer game. It was so hot I felt like I was wrapped in ceran wrap. Truly. Awful. He did better though. His team won! 5-2. The only problem was 2 of his best buds were on the opposing team. Drew and Davion. So it was one big reunion and unfortunately they wanted to play with each other the whole time. The whistle would blow and they wold run to each other and play. lol. He is doing better though. He is swimming like a fish. He is now the best swimmer in his class. We learned a little secret with him. There was one boy in his swim class that had taken swim lessons all last summer so he was a great swimmer. Well we told Trey to watch him. When it was this little boy's turn watch him and see what he did and copy it. Try to do what ihe was doing. I noticed him intently watching him on his turn. NOw he is a better swimmer than this other little boy. Sooo we are trying this with soccer. We told him to watch the coaches son and is probably older than the rest since he is like way taller than all the other kids and he is really good he usually runs that ball on the field. So maybe it will work here too. I think he does learn well by watching the example of a peer and I KNOW he is very competitive (like Selena) so I think he doesnt like being told to watch someone else to get better.

Saturday JD was off work so we all went to swim class then went to the movies to see "Karate Kid" I think once we get Sophie here and settled in we will try karate classes. He liked it a lot but there was more action in the original Karate Kid movie plus considering it was the first nonanimated movie he had seen in the theatre and he was tired he did great. Saturday we got up early (well early for most other folks but not for us with our little alarm clock, Trey) We all went fishing. It was great. We got breakfast at Pardees (which the world knows as hardees) and ate as we rode in the boat. It was great. Peaceful, quiet etc. Perfect. Then we started fishing. We let Trey of course reel in all the fish we caught which was only 3 fish this time but 2 of the red bellies were a pretty good size. Then we pulled up into turtle springs and swam. Trey loved it. He said he didnt want to swim in the river cause a shark or an angry fish might get him?? but he sailed right off the back of the boat and loved it. Then when we got home and got cleaned up Trey went to Papa's so he could go swimming in Selena's pool and JD and I went on a date to register for Sophie stuff at Babies R Us in Jacksoville. We had a blast registering for things and looking at things. Then we went to eat at Olive Garden. I was soooo full. The weekend was wonderful.

Monday was great with swimming lessons in the morning then Trey stayed with Meme and Papa while I went to the Dr to check on Sophie. She is doing great and so am I. Techincally 8 more weeks to go. I am 32 weeks tomorrow. Yay!!!

Mid-day update and VICTORY DANCE!

2010-06-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

WHOOT! Well we are done with swimming lessons for today and can I say they went GREAT!!! I will be completely honest I was expecting the absolute worst. BUT - It was wonderful. He did everything we talked about and everything we practiced last night in Selena's pool (for hours lol) He struggled, he swam, he choked, he did it all BUT he didnt cry! He didnt once beg to leave he was right in there doing everything else with everyone else. I was so relieved and proud I actually cried. (Darn those hormones lol) The teacher even did this one thing where they swam out to her and she had a little ring that sank and she would hold them and puch their whole body under the water so much so that they went to the bottom to try and get the ring. Well I dont know if he got the ring but I dont give a darn becasue he was under water long enough to go to the bottom. When he came up he came up sputtering and spitting but smiling. Not a tear not a whimper. Then they put lifejackets on and swam all the way to the other end of the pool then they played ring around the roses (with the life jackets on) putting their faces in the water. Then they took the lifejackets off and jumped into the water in the super deep lap swimming end. He was having so much fun. When he came up to me when it was over he wanted to show me how he had jumped in by himself (like you couldhave peeled my eyes off him I had seen every breath and stroke that little man had taken lol) but the teacher let him jump in to her. He was so proud. He told the teacher all about practicing last night. I think working with me gave him confidence and made him realize it is fun. Soooo one thing I was dreading down only oe to go. The soccer game tonight. (insert dramatic music here) Yes I'm considering setting at the opposite end of the field from JD. lol. Hey you do what you gotta do to keep a marriage together right? lol. I'll update after the (dreaded, for me only) game.

Trey is the one on the right side of the teacher. If you cant see that face I suggest you click and enlarge that is the face of pride!

After just swimming to about where the boy in the background is.

Face in the water just a kickin!!

Thats him no floaties, full of confidence and having fun. Jumping in by himself.

That blob is my son all theway under water? Do you hear that? NO? cause my heart had stopped. Not because I was scared for him I knew he'd be fine. I was awaiting the coming up and screaming part. It didnt happen.

These trying times. Hehe.

2010-06-24T04:46:00.000-07:00

I need to update. I haven't told my stories in a couple days. Let me catch you up.

Tuesday - Tuesday was Busy! I actually made 3 trips to town. UGH! But no way around it. Started out great. Swim lessons were the same. Fine in the beginning, crying wanting to go home by halfway through. Whatever, we made it and it wasnt AS BAD. Bad enough but not as bad. Then we came home had asome lunch and went to Selena's pool to practice what we learned at swim lessons that day. He did great. Started out with his floaties on then when he realized (due to some slyness on my part by letting the air out of his floaties shhhh dont tell!) that floaties dont work when a big boy learns to swim so well. So, floaties off! he did like to use one of selena's float tubes. I took him to Meme and Papa's for my second trip to town. I had been subpoenaed for an incident that happened at school one day waaaay back in May. I had never done anything like that before so I was a bit anxious. I hated it. It was basically both sides trying to make us (by us I mean those who were being questioned) look like we were trying to lie for the other side when in reality the fact was it happened over a month ago and it was such an insignifigant issue to me and I has such a miniscule part in it that I truly havent given it a second thought. I dont remember what I had for lunch yesterday much less what happened IN DETAIL over a month ago in someones elses life. Geesh! What a joke... ANYWAY! That was fun *total eyeroll* Then I headed home to get ready for my 3rd trip to town. Trey had his first soccer game. Summer "fun" and pregnancy hormones dont mix! You will see why. Trey was asleep when I got home so he had finally taken a nap. Wasnt a very long one. Especially considering he had swam 2 times that day and played with papa. Do I got him ready for his soccer game and got everyone else ready. Meme and Papa rode with us. We get there and it is pouring down rain. Sunny but raining. Meaning that its not going to cool it down but when it stops it will be like a sauna. It was. The game started late and Trey had to use the bathroom right as it was starting. So he had to set out the 1st quarter. He was fine with that. His father on the other hand? Not so much. See this is where the pragnancy hormones being bad comes into play here. JD expects Trey to excell at everything immediatly. He thought Trey was going to go out there and bend it like Beckham. What did Trey do? He was a 4 yr old in his first ever team sport game. He stared into space some, he chewed his nails (nervous I'm sure), he talked to the other kids some, he ran lots, he wanted to come over to us and talk to us especially when he got a chance to kick the ball, he wanted us to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, he wanted the little handheld fan we had (it was only 97 * so I really cant imagine why he was hot. Ya know a 4 year old. This did not please his father. JD was very much a ball of nerves. Also Trey is the 2nd youngest on the team. Can I add in there that I am very much the oppostie of JD. I want him to have fun. If he is 14 and staring off into space on the field and wanting to play with the little fan then we have issues but right now if he doesnt have fun he wont care to play or learn or do any better. So problems ensued. Can I add though that with all the little 4 year old things Trey did He almost scored 2 times on his own?! Both times he kicked the ball and was so close to it being in we were already screaming and clapping for him! Then as it was literally IN THE NET it either bounced out or was kicked out at the last second, I mean it was in the net! Oh I could have died!! lol. He was still so happy! I was too. He played the whole game once he got in there. He siad he had fun and to me that is what matters right now. I think we have since gotten our Mommy, Daddy sports differences worked out (we will see tonight lol sigh). Then Meme, Papa, Me, JD and Trey went to Krystals. Appropriate we thought since his team sponsor is Krystals. The day ended with everyone alive. Bruised, beaten but alive.

A little post game victory pose. He really did have fun! These were just made for ESPN!

This is one of the shots of Trey doing what almost gave JD a heart attack. Trey is right in the middle of the shot. Notice the team is in a huddle and Trey is over to the side just kinda staring at another game.

Just warming up.

A little midgame action shot. Trey is #7 toward the left side in front of the adult with the red short on on the left.

Trey warming up with JD before the game.

I forgot to mention the score was 3-3. TIE! Perfect hu? See how much winning means to me at this age? I just remembered to even mention the score. lol. We all know I am as competitive as anyone (or more so) but I just feel at this age he needs to be taught to ENJOY it.

Wednesday - The day started out rough. JD met us at swim lessons to watch. Trey was great for the 1st half then it went severly down hill. It was so bad that JD and I both had to elave him there screaming and kicking but we left. We stood outside the area behind a tree. Yea I wsa behind a tree. No way was I relaly leaving but he had to think we were gone so he couldnt run to us and hold onto us. With us gone he did everything he needed to. Screamind and crying but did it. Then when we went to get into the car I had locked my keys into the car. Yep not really great for pregnancy hormones that were already flaring. JD came and had a man he knows who owns a tow company get us in. Then we went to Meme and papa's and canned tomatoes. It was a lot of work and we didnt get very much but I am glad I know how and I want to learn to can more. The actual canning wasnt bad but the preparing the tomatoes was rough. Last night I took Trey to Selena's pool and practiced again. This time with not floaties and only the float tube to rest on. He did awesome!!! He was actually swimming! NOT CRYING! He had run practicing. I am hoping and praying he can translate that to swim lessons today (thursday) at the pool. Although I'm not sure because I dont think he really trusts his teacher after she pulled him in. But we are off to swim lessons now so we shall see! We also have a soccer game tonight so it may be another rough day for mommy and her mommy (pregnant) emotions and mommy hormones. stay tuned!

Not to mention...

2010-06-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

Please dont think that I am not excited about our Sophie coming to be with us. I know I really havent said much about her or written anything about my progress but it has truly been uneventful. I have felt great, actually better that before I got pregnant. I am just now starting to "feel" pregnant. At this point I am 31 weeks tomorrow. So that means I have only 9 weeks left to go!! That is at the most. Trey was 2 weeks early so she has a big chance of following or at least being early too. I have also been having those darn braxton hicks contractions forever and I am now going to the chiropractor (I mention the Braxton Hicks and the chiro because those are factors that are merely getting my body prepared to do its natural job and of course the more ready your body is the more prepared it will be to go when baby is truly ready) so all of those factors combined means odds are she will be here early too (not bad early just probably before the official due date. So I am guessing that I have anywhere from 7-9 weeks left. Ahhhh! that is a scary thought. We have so much to do! We just ordered the crib so it should be here anyday.

This is the set we got. It has the changing table and a dresser and 4 in 1 transition crib. It's an espresso color (which to me means dark brown to go with the chocolate colors we will have in the room).

This is the bedding set I think I have decided on. I am even doing a (smaller) chandalier like the one in the picture. Of course the walls wont be pink )this picture has a little too much pink even for me lol but the bedding is what I like not the room design.

Trey likes it too. He wants to get her a teddy bear because he says babies like teddy bears so we have to find her a teddy bear from Trey. I am going to have him pick out a special welcome gift to give to her at the hospital when they meet (maybe it will be a teddy bear but I'll let him pick) and I am also going to have a special gift for her to give to him.

I wanted to make this post because I realized I really hadnt said much at all about Sohpie but not for lack of happiness or excitement but merely for ease of pregnancy. lol. Ya know what they say they squeeky wheel gets the grease and so far no greease needed. Lets hope she stays that way.

Well 50-50 aint bad, I guess.

2010-06-21T14:50:00.001-07:00

What a way to start the summer. We kicked off the first day of summer with our first swim lesson. It started out GREAT!! Tons better then I expected. He is not by any means scared of the water so they started him off on level 2. But there are certian things he doesnt like to do. 1 is get his face wet (weird hu?) and 2 is lie on his back. He wont even do that in the bath tub with 1/4 inch of water under him. Well the other kids in his class I think had all started out on level 1 classes so they kinda knew the routine etc. Not Trey. But she told them to get in and put their face in the water. Well I thought "Oh no here we go" and resisted well my urge to go talk to the teacher and tell him he couldnt swim at all (yes he is my baby and I have pregnancy hormones kickin in ). She wanted them to just slide in the water and hold onto the edge and put their faces under water. Well he did it like a champ and loved it. He was so proud. He was having a blast. Then she wanted them to slide (push) off the wall and she would help them come to the surface then they would hold on to a buoy and kick. He did that too. I was suprised. Then she wanted them to hold their hands up in a dive position and push off face first (Superman glide) to make the be horizontal so they could kick. Well he held his hands up then would just slide straight down. After he did this about 2 times she reaches up and grabs his hands and snatched him in the water totally scaring him to death. He starts crying and choking. When he got back to the wall he was almost hysterical. I still did not go over to him thinking she would take a second to calm him down. Nope. The next time she came to him it was time to float on his back. Well by this time he was terrified and was fighting tooth and nail. He almost ran from the pool. I had to keep him from leaving. The teacher never really took a moment to calm him down. She was very cut and dried and all business. As a matter of fact at one point before all this started he had to go to the bathroom and I went over to him and told him to tell his teacher (I like for him to learn to talk for himself) and he said very politely but definatley loud enough for him to hear "Ma'am, Ma'am.." literally like 10 times. She never even made eye contact with him or me. Sooooo. Not thrilled at the first lessons. I'm hoping he will go back tomorrow and be able to have some fun and not be terriffied still from today. We have told him how brave he was and how proud we are. I hope she concerns herself tomorrow more with the kids (yes even the ones she doesnt know the parents of to chat with) and less with being chatty with parents who are her friends. Here's hoping he will begin to enjoy swim lessons.

In the very beginning with 2 of the other boys. He was having so much fun.

If you can click on this and enlarge the picture you will see the huge proud smile on his face.

She was telling him he had to lay on his back before he could leave.

He did lay on his back very reluctantly and then she put her hand on his throat to keep his face straight up and not looking down. Putting your hand on a 4 year olds throat while they are already in panic mode is not a good idea. At this point (ok before this) he had shut down and when someone panic's you dont teach them anything. They arent learning anything untill you calm them somewhat.

Thanks Pixar! Thanks a lot.

2010-06-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Another "to do" marked off the list. We went and saw Toy Story 3 today. It was a great movie. I laughed, I cried and I sobbed. I did some ugly cry at the end of the movie, then Trey reached over at me and held my hand like that would make me cry less nope it made it worse. lol. Then we had lunch at McDonalds where we got drenched running to the car and went to Wal-Mart and bought a talking Buzz Lightyear. Which he loves! Now we are preparing to grill some chicken and some potatoes and onions from the Our Best Bites girls. Should be yummy. We're hoping and praying JD wont have to work tomorrow on Father's Day.

Friday's festivities!

2010-06-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday and we crossed off 2 more things on our Summer Fun To Do list. We made our bird feeders from kits that Nana bought for Trey and Selena. Haley (Selena's friend) was here too and helped. They colored then and then it was up to me to figure out how to fold them so they were right. Talk about oragami! lol. I got it though! Arent they cute? I think so. Hopefully the birds think so too. Trey cant wait to see if a bird will eat from it. I really hope he can see one. Nana and Meme were both here to help or watch the melee, umm I mean construction zone as it were lol.

This one is Selena and Haley's

This one is Trey's.

After lunch and nap time Selena and Haley had decided nap time was not for them so they had gone home. We decided that we needed donuts. Soooo donuts were born. We fried the biscuit dough and dipped it in vanilla glaze. MMMMMmmmm. Ok, so they weren't Krispy Kreme but in a pinch they'll do. Hey it's fried dough and sugar in a semi-liquid form what can be bad? Trey had the very important responsibility of poking the hole in the biscuit. He enjoyed this and took it very seriously. Ok not seriously as he kept saying he wanted to make them silly but did great at it. He even helped me drop them in the oil (yessss people I was very careful). Can you tell some of the holes are missing? Looking at them I think they need more glaze. Gotta go.

Naked on a couch watching cartoons.

2010-06-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to town to sign Trey up for swim lessons. He will start Monday. They are every day at 9 am for 2 weeks. Ever since Trey's close call last 4th of July in the pool we knew we had to get him in but this is the first chance we have had. I know he will have a blast and hopefully pick up quickly. While I did that Trey wanted to stay with Papa. Here is what he did. First him and Papa wrestled for about 30 mins. (Dont ask me how an 80 yr old man has the energy to keep up with a 4 yr old wrestling and I mean hard wrestling on the floor. lol) Then they drew with sidewalk chalk under the carport. THen they washed the car and of course Trey got wet (cant imagine how lol) but you cant watch cartoons wet so Trey had to strip down naked so Papa could dry his clothes. You cant watch cartoons wet but apparantly the naked is the proper attire for cartoon watching. Oh and when I got home (yes Trey was now dressed) he came running out to the car saying "guess what I've got Mommy, APPLES ON A STICK!!". THis my dear friends is nothing more than peeled sliced apples stuck on tooth picks. But it is the coolest ever. I think the fact that Papa did it helps.

Summer Fun To Do list.

2010-06-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

I dont want Trey to be bored this summer so I have tried to think of lots of fun things to do. Now I have so many things I want to do with Trey and Selena I need to put them somewhere so I can remember what all I wanted to do soooo I will put them here. I am also going to cross off each one as we do it and put the date. Some are ongoing. Yea, I'm organized (hehe yea right)

~Make edible crayons
~Can tomatoes( 6/23/10)
~Make and can salsa
~Make bird feeder(6/18/10)
~Swim lessons(6/21/10 - )
~Soccer Games (6/22/10 - )
~Library programs (6/16/10),
~Jacksonville Zoo (Sante Fe teaching Zoo will have to do for now 7/30/10)
~Make Banana bread
~Go to the Fl Museum of Natural History (7/18/10)
~Teach Trey his phone # and address
~Make fried donuts(6//18/10)
~Make butter
~pick blueberries (6/14/10),
~Make bread
~Slip-N-Slide, wet swing set(6/14/10),
~Make ziploc ice cream
~Make tie blanket for Sophie, teaching Trey to tie knots(hopefully 1st step to tying shoes) (7/30/10 I did this alone, Trey wasnt the least bit interested in helping)
~Go fishing
~Make homemade pretzels (7/1/10)
~Snow cones
~Make cookies
~Make gummy bears
~Go on family vacay to Nickelodeon resort or beach(7/22/10) beach (7/9/10)
~Make sure Trey knows #'s 1-10
~Brush up on Letters A-Z
~Brush up on writing Trey's name
~Finger Paint
~Backyard camping trip
~Free movies on Tues and Wed
~See Karate Kid with JD and Trey
~See Toy Story 3(6/19/10)
~Give Trey a little sister hehe!