Katie, Brian, and Colton

Open House

2012-02-04T10:15:00.003-06:00

Colton had open house at school on Thursday. He was so excited to show us his classroom and all his fun projects he'd been working on. His teachers said he is speaking so well and has so many more words, he is very spiritual and loves going to chapel and singing. He is also very compassionate and empathetic and plays well with others. He always wants to be everyones friend and never excludes others. The other kids all have siblings and will say stuff like "you're not my friend today" or whatever, but Colton never does...again, cause where is he going to hear it?? Not at home from a sibling! HA

Teddy Bear Park

2012-02-04T09:21:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday, I had to work, but Brian took Colton to have some pictures made. We used Alyssa Masisano Photography. We have never used this photographer before, but will probably use her again. We still love our B4 Photography though!

These were taken at Teddy Bear Park AKA Lakeside Park in Highland Park. I always love going to Highland Park to check out the mega mansions. The park was lovely and Colton took some nice photos even though he hadn't napped all weekend.

These have not been edited yet, but I think they are just fantastic anyway! Colton used to get pro pictures taken every couple of months, but last year we only had them made once. I'm trying to make getting nice pictures taken more often again.

Percy...the dinosaur

2012-01-30T18:37:00.002-06:00

I picked Colton up from school today and his teacher tells me what they did today-yadda, yadda, yadda, he didn't nap well, yadda, yadda, yadda, and they made dinosaurs today. Afterwards he announced his was named... Percy...as in the train from Thomas.

Christmas at the Farm

2012-01-21T14:42:00.005-06:00

Tell me they don't look like trouble

Grandpa took us on a hayride and then let the great grandkids feed the horses

My cousin Blaze just got home like the day before from Iraq. Nice Christmas present to have him back and for him to meet his son.

div>We always have Christmas with my Grandpa at his farm every year. Each year gets better and better with all these boys!

FPPS Christmas Program

2012-01-21T14:30:00.003-06:00

I love that Colton goes to a Christian school so he can celebrate CHRISTmas and pray and learn about the Lord.
They had their Christmas program on 12/8 and here are a few pictures from that. Of course, it was too cute and he was too funny. He sat next to his 2 BFF's, Hank and Carys. Carys is cute as can be, but she gives those boys a run for their money. Hank is older and turned 4 this month. All we hear about at home is Hank and Carys. They even make the prayers every night.

Christmas Crafts

2012-01-21T14:19:00.003-06:00

I had planned to do a million Christmas crafts, thanks to pinterest. I've pinned about 9 million projects and only completed a handful!

Seems like the only crafts we did were with Colton, which is just fine. He had some homework for preschool that required glitter pens so we made Christmas cards one night. He loved it! We need to make more of an effort to do more arts and crafts with him.

So sweet when he sleeps

2012-01-21T14:01:00.002-06:00

This one is from December 10th. We had been to a Christmas party that night and it was very late when Colton and I rolled back in. He was so tired! He crawled up on the ottoman and fell right back to sleep. He likes to sleep on his "friends" and this night, it was doggy.

Brian spent most weekends hunting and Colton and I stayed pretty busy with parties and play dates.

Go Bills!!

2012-01-21T13:47:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine from elementary school was just a decent football player. I mean, he was good, but he wasn't like "OMG, that guy is gonna play pro football" good. Anywho, Fredrick went to Lamar High School, played well there, went to a Division III school in Iowa, and then ended up on the Buffalo Bills!!! Amazing!! Anyway, we are so proud of Fred, as he now goes by, and we went to a Cowboys and Bills game back on November 13th. We had a great time and we did cheer for Fred and the Bills. They lost and our home team the Cowboys won.
This was my first time to be in the new stadium, AKA Jerry World for a football game (we've taken the tour and been to some other events there). Its nice, but what was even better is we scored sweet ground level tickets and a ride in an Excursion Limo! We had free food and drinks and then walked right outside and 20 feet from the door was our ride. It was a beautiful day so we had hoped that the roof would be open, but it wasn't.

Sept

2011-12-14T08:27:00.003-06:00

Since I haven't blogged in forever, I'm trying to catch up.
We were doing a little yard clean up back in September and here are a few snaps from that.

Colton wanted to wear a cowboy hat and sunglasses like Daddy.

Highlights from T-ball

2011-12-14T08:15:00.003-06:00

Warming up before the game with Daddy

Going going to bat

Coach Brad and the boys after the game

Colton and Cousin Kason

Aunt Tina and Kason

Guess What?!

2011-11-29T13:21:00.004-06:00

I'm going to be an Aunt in June. My sister and her husband are expecting their first baby in June. I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want my BFF to find out just yet, but my mom put it all over her blog and Mo found out anyway. I wasn't planning on telling her until she had her baby in her arms at home in January. She is adopting a little boy that is due in just a few more weeks. My sister told me the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving hasn't been too kind to Mo in the last few years. Three years ago her first IVF failed at Thanksgiving and her SIL announced her pregnancy on Turkey day. She called me from the bathroom crying. The next year on Thanksgiving she was having a miscarriage. This Thanksgiving, if her 5th and final IVF would have worked, she'd be about to drop a baby...like days away from her due date. So I wasn't going to tell her on Thanksgiving that my sister was knocked up.
Yeah, she was annoyed with me, but I think she saw I was trying to protect her feelings and was trying to find a better time. Eh, we've kissed and made up now.
And that's the other secret, my BFF is adopting, has been matched, and is just weeks away from bringing home her own baby.

T-ball

2011-11-06T14:27:00.003-06:00

I'm not going to lie, it's an ass whip. I mean, it's cute, but come on they are 3 years old. They don't have the fundamentals down and sometimes I get so frustrated but have to remind myself, he's only 3.

He's having a great time and Coach Brad has finally got him to leave the bat at the plate after he hits the ball. Colton talks to himself and says "got to drop the bat, AND THEN RUN to first base. Got to listen to Daddy." Daddy helps out on his team so Brian is about to pull his hair out at the end of practice. For some reason Colton does better at the games than practices.

Colton plays on the same team as his cousin so it's been great to see some of our family every week.

Brian was at the deer lease so it was a weekend with just Colton and I. After the game yesterday we stopped off at Ella Bella and then walked down to Chapps Burgers, only to run into my cousin and her family there too! We sat and ate lunch with them and got to catch up some more. I am really enjoying Colton playing t-ball with his cousin.

We only have 1 more game left of the season. I'm hoping next year goes better. We just need to work with him and I'm sure he'll be fine.

I think this winter we're going to put him in indoor soccer. I can't stand soccer, but in January it's too cold to play outside so he may as well play soccer. I think soccer will go much better for Colton.

Construction Party

2011-10-03T07:32:00.006-05:00

Colton had his birthday party a few weeks ago. I know, I'm such a slacker when it comes to blogging lately. I had every detail planned out on paper, but was still working all that crazy overtime. So, after working a 16-17 hr day, I certainly didn't feel like coming home and cleaning and preparing for his party. As always, everything was done at the last minute and I'm only one person, so everything I wanted to do, didn't get done. That being said, it was still a great party and everyone had fun.
It hasn't rained in probably 6 months and of course on Friday night it came down like crazy. You know, a good 12 hour long, solid, steady rain. Of course. The backyard was muddy and flooded from the rain and it was super humid and steamy and looked as if it could rain again at any moment (which it did as soon as the party was over), so I was forced to move the outdoor construction party to the inside. Of course I had cleaned and worked in the yard and not on the inside of my house. And after all the rain, who could tell that I had done anything to the yard?
The inside of our house is still under construction (what's new there?) but no one seemed to mind. I had bought some of that yellow and black "caution tape" at the hardware store to decorate with. I caught a good deal on Shepard's hooks a few months ago and had planned to put those up in the front yard down the walkway to our front door and then hang tissue paper pom poms on them, but that didn't work out since it was looking like it would rain any minute and destroy my pom poms. We had a poster board sign on the bathroom door that said "Port-O-Potty" which got a few laughs. The cake came early that morning but because of the humidity, it started melting and the signs were falling over. Thank God my mom was able to save the cake. It was too big to put in the refrigerator so we left it on the table and turned off the lights in that room to help save it. It was the best cake ever and was such a great deal.

The food was cute, and I had signs to put out on the table, but they never made it out since I was too busy doing everything else. We served chocolate donuts and called them "spare tires", check mix was "nuts 'n bolts", cheese balls were "wrecking balls" and so on. Cute idea, just didn't quite make it. We served delish ham and cheese sliders with a butter poppyseed sauce drizzled over them. They were gone quickly and everyone loved them.

The kids made stepping stones with my dad in the backyard and that was their party gift to take home. My dad bought those clear, plastic, round things that you put under your plant container to catch the water....what the heck is that thing called??? Anyway, he used a quick setting concrete and the kids did their hand and/or foot prints in them and we used a stick to write their name in it and by the time the party was over the stepping stone was dry and ready to take home. Cute idea and it actually worked out really well.

We also had those canvas aprons from Home Depot for the kids to wear. Of course none of the kids wanted to wear them, but all the parents did and the little pockets in the front were perfect to hold their drinks.

The kids played a little outside on the concrete, but mostly played in Colton's toy room and his bedroom.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Colton!

2011-10-01T17:46:00.000-05:00

**I wrote this over a month ago, but never posted the pics till this morning.**

Colton turned 3 yesterday. We had my parents and Brian's mom over last night for some cake, ice cream, and some homemade chicken pizza.

Colton was so excited for his "party" and loved opening his few gifts. He was jumping up and down and giddy.

He wanted a "Toy Story" party, but his birthday party in a few weeks that I planned was going to be a "construction" themed party so we did a small, family, Toy Story party.

I so can't wait for Christmas with him now!

Happy birthday to my sweet baby boy.

t-ball

2011-09-25T03:03:00.002-05:00

Colton is playing fall t-ball this year. He is playing with 3/4 year olds and is on the same team as his cousin. He had his first game this morning and did about as well as a 3 year old with no skill could do. He was so funny, as were all the other kids. A ball would be hit and every kid on the team would run to grab the ball. Of course they can't throw, or catch really well, but it was cute anyway. This picture was taken before the game. I'll have to post some more from my camera after I download them tomorrow.

Colton's 3rd birthday party

2011-09-19T09:36:00.002-05:00

I'll blog and post pictures, but please, someone punch me in the face if I talk about doing another birthday party for this kid.

Hello, Fall??

2011-09-14T08:03:00.002-05:00

Nothing says fall like 107* in mid September. This summer has been crazy. Yesterday was out 70th day of 100+ degree weather. Tomorrow should be nice and it'll drop almost 30* to about 80. I'm so looking forward to that!!! I caught the news this morning when they were talking about the heat. Dallas/Fort Worth broke the national record (set back in 1935 or 36) for the hottest summer ever. Yesterday really didn't feel like 107 and the day before really didn't feel like 104. I must have finally gotten used to this weather.

First Bike!!

2011-09-08T08:35:00.000-05:00

Daddy pulled up the other night with a new bike for Colton. He came inside and told Colton to come outside and see his birthday present. I wish I could have got a picture of his face! He was so excited and went running as fast as he could to the bike. He hopped on and started to take off. I told him we needed to get him a helmet before he could ride. He said "I need helmet first?", we said "yes". The next thing we knew he had run inside and grabbed this old Dallas Cowboys helmet that Brian had when he was a kid. Colton put it on, hopped back on the bike, and said "I got helmet now." Guess you can't argue with that. Of course for some reason, when he came back outside he was missing pants and underwear. LOL Good thing we were in the backyard.

Crockpot Chicken & Rice

2011-09-05T12:02:00.004-05:00

I found this recipe the other day and since I've been working a lot (70+ hours a week for the last month) I take my crockpot to work and cook under my desk. I figure I deserve a hot meal and if I'm working to cover someone elses shift, by God, I'm gonna eat well too! I've been cooking for myself and 1-2 people in the lab with me. Brian and Colton are on their own. I'm pretty sure I'm eating better than they are.

ingredients:

2-4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used chicken tenderloins because, well, that's what I grabbed)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (let sit out to soften)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. italian dressing seasoning (the dried kind in the packet)

rice (but I used egg noodles instead)

Toss it in the crockpot for 4-6 hrs.

SO GOOD!!

Where he stops is where he falls

2011-08-31T05:15:00.001-05:00

Colton runs till he just crashes. The other day I was in the shower and he had come in there and was talking to me. The next thing I knew was it was quiet and he was sacked out on the floor.

Then the other night we found him partly under the bed with his books,drink, and blanket. I guess he got out of bed to play and then fell asleep there.

Mother Nature

2011-08-30T05:30:00.001-05:00

Now doubt about it, she's a bitch.
No one can argue that it's hot in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It's ridiculously hot, actually. We are days away from beating the record for most 100 degree days in a year...which stands at 69. I'm so over the summer, it's just not even funny. It's too hot to do anything at this point. It's not like it's "just 100". It's the fact that it's 105+ (with many 107-110 days) every.single.day. Oh, lets not forget about that south wind. My God, I thought I had been tossed into the dryer the other evening when I left work...at 10pm.
I was at a birthday pool party on Saturday and was sweating in the pool. The water was uncomfortably hot, like a spa or hot tube. Colton and I were only in the water for maybe 30 minutes before we ditched it because it was just too hot in the water. Never mind the fact that this was a brand new house (they had just moved in a few days before) and the pool had just been finished so it's not like it had been sitting all summer in the sun. Crazy.
So it's too hot to do anything, include swimming. I'm so ready for fall. I promise I won't complain if we get snow this year... Well, maybe a little.
So take you're hot ass weather and get the hell out of here, Mother Nature.

First Day of School

2011-08-29T18:39:00.003-05:00

Colton went back to school this morning. He was a not happy about going back last week when we were talking to him about it, but this morning it was super excited to see his old friends again. He had a new room and a new teacher, but he managed to still stay accident free. The teacher said that he wouldn't say anything when he went to the potty, just get up go, wash his hands, and come back. She said she figured he'd been potty trained for a while and was most surprised when I told her it was a recent thing. He took a nap and was in a great mood and telling me all about his day when I picked him up this afternoon.
I on the other hand, had a great day of not doing a damn thing. I worked for 2 weeks straight (anywhere from 10-17 hrs a day) so I laid in bed and caught up on my DVR!

We made the national news this morning for a tiny bit of "rain" we had. I say tiny bit, because it didn't sprinkle enough for me to use my windshield wipers. You know, just enough to make it really humid on our way to 106 today.

The school changed up some stuff and now we have to electronically check him in every morning and afternoon and he gets sent home with a folder that lists his daily activities and how he did, eat (which given his fairly recent g-tube removal, I can really appreciate this one) and if he napped. Of course if there were any disciplinary issues it'll be on there too. We have to sign it and return it the next morning. I really didn't think he'd start the folder thing for a few more years. Guess he's just growing up so quickly!

Colton and my dad

2011-08-29T18:26:00.005-05:00

Colton spent last week with my dad. His babysitter went back to school (she teaches at the preschool and they started last Monday) and school doesn't start till Aug 29.

My dad took Colton fishing (where Colton dropped his pants and went potty while my dad was bating their lines. My dad told him to hold it and they would go to the potty. Of course that's when Colton just let losse and there was no turning back at that point)

to the park to play on the new playground

and to Fort Worth to ride the little train. I swear, it's the best train ride for $2!

Of course they both had a great time spending the week together!

Schooling

2011-08-19T12:21:00.001-05:00

In Texas you have to be 5 by Sept 1 to start kindergarten (or something like that. Sept 1 is the deadline for school). Colton's birthday is Aug 28, so he'll just barely have turned 5. He will be the youngest and probably one of the least mature in his class. He is however, very smart, but I'm worried about him fitting in with the other kids.
We've been talking about it and we are going to keep him back since his birthday is right there on the cut off. We'll keep him at his current preschool this year and he'll be in the 3 year old class. We'd like to put him at a private school, and we've looked into Pantego Christian Academy and are pretty sure that's where we'll send him next year. We'll put him in the 3 year old class again and then he'll just move up with his little classmates from there.
That's the plan anyway.

Potty Trained!!

2011-08-18T12:06:00.002-05:00

Success!!
The sitter pretty much had him pee trained in less than 2 weeks. (It was hard trying to train him when he was in preschool because he hated his teacher and wouldn't go for her so it was pretty pointless for us to really start till after school ended.) He started sleeping in underwear at nap time around week 3 and by week 4 was sleeping in underwear at night and staying dry. It took a little longer to get him poop trained, but by July he was pooping in the potty 99% of the time.
He now has not had an accident in since the end of June. I don't count that week in July that he started peeing on the floor when he didn't get his way. Those weren't "accidents" and he clearly was trying to make me mad and try and control a situation when he would purposely look at me and pee in the floor.
Anyway, so long diapers and pull-ups!

Cuteness

2011-08-11T07:56:00.000-05:00

These were taken while we were in the parking lot at the circus. He was in such a good, funny, mood. Love this kid.

Circus

2011-08-10T07:28:00.000-05:00

Colton, Sherri, Leah, and Ike

Colton eating his $11 snow cone. This kid doesn't even like snow cones, but it was peer pressure. Yeah, he had about 2 bites from it and then I was stuck with an icy, sugary mess.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the elephants!!!!

A tired boy. He was asleep before we hit the highway!

One of my girlfriends won some tickets to the circus and since she is such a great friend, she took our little group to the circus. Us girls took our little stinkers last Thursday night to Dallas to check out the circus.
I hadn't been to the circus in years, but the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was awesome!!!
It was super, crazy, expensive, but we all had a great time.
Cotton Candy: $12
Snow cones: $11
Parking: $15-25
Those little light things, $22!!! Just crazy!!!

Hot as H-E-L-L

2011-08-08T06:27:00.000-05:00

Yup, it was 93 degrees in my house the other afternoon. Now how wants to cook in a house that hot?? I'm telling you, it has been so freakin' hot around this joint lately. I'm really starting to hate Texas and would love to move out of this place.
We've been setting records like crazy lately. Our big record will be on Friday 8/12 when we beat the longest streak of 100+ degree days. That will be day 43 off 100+ degree days. And it's not like it's just 100 either. Let me tell you, there is a difference in 100 and 113. Seriously. I think it happens somewhere after 105 that you can really notice. In the last two weeks I don't think we've had a day under 105. Most our days lately have been in the 106-112 range. Ugh, kill me now!!!!! And according to the 10 day forecast today, it's more of the same crap. I think if we got to 90, I'd need to put on a coat. The low at night has been a record also--for the highest low temp...of 86 degrees. ugh, that's the coolest it gets is 86 and that is some time while we're trying to sleep. I say trying, because it's hard when your house is so hot. Oh, don't forget about the rolling blackouts where ERCOT is shutting of power.
Did I mention we have a lawn and landscape business that is suffering because of this weather?! Don't let me forget to mention rain. I not sure I remember what it looks like, and I damn sure know my grass hasn't seen any either.
The lakes and ponds are drying up. The heat and drought are causing the fish to die because of the lack of oxygen too. Nice.
The lake in town, Lake Arlington, actually closed it's boat ramp last week because the lake is so low. It's sad, really.
A football coach died last week and 3 other citizens, one was only 38 years old.
Anyway, it's August, and we could realistically have this weather and 100+ degree temps for another 6 weeks.
I'm over summer and so looking forward to fall.

Hunter

2011-08-07T06:57:00.000-05:00

I have a crazy old Beagle named Hunter. He's always into something and just when I think he's slowing down, he proves me wrong and gets into something else.

I got him as a puppy in 1997 and he's just crazy today as he was the day I got him.

He's so good with Colton and loves him and protects him.

Anyway, I woke up and I have no idea what he was into while I was sleeping, but he had a damn coat hanger around his neck. Good grief. I took it off, but only after I got a picture. Crazy dog.

Pool

2011-08-06T10:49:00.002-05:00

We've been trying to stay cool and keep Colton busy. Last weekend, Brian headed off to the deer lease with the guys to start getting things up there ready for hunting season.

Funny thing... Colton knew the guys were taking the 4 wheelers and were going to get ready to hunt. He thought they were going Easter Egg Hunting though! LOL He said "you go hunt? I got Easter eggs with candy! I go hunting with you too!!" Ummmm, not the same "hunting".

Anyway, Brian left and Colton and I headed to the city pool on Saturday. There is one within a few miles from our house and hardly anyone was there. It's secluded in the middle of an older, well kept, neighborhood. It was $5.50 for the both of us and we packed a lunch, snacks, and drinks and stayed out there for 5 hours! I thought it was a great way to spend a day that was a 109 outside. The pool we went to is specifically for kids 7 and under. It was only 1 1/2 ft deep and had some slides, tunnel, and splash toys. He had a great time and although he played right through his nap, it was nice to go home, clean him up, give him dinner, and put him to bed.

Oops...Direct TV

2011-08-06T10:28:00.001-05:00

We decided to switch from Dish Network to Direct TV because they offered a better HD package. Well...

The poor installer fell through the hallway ceiling.
The can light caught him in the crotch and broke his fall, I guess lucky for him :/

Colton and Brian were in the den and I was loading the dishwasher when we heard this loud noise. As we ran across the hall we saw 2 legs kicking from the ceiling.
He held his crotch and limped the rest of the time he was installing our service...which it took him 6 hours after his fall. LOL

My dad patched up the hole (I mean it ended up being 110/112 the next two days after he fell so I was pretty pissed that my precious A/C was going into the 180* attic.) with a piece of plywood. Directv is sending someone out to fix the hole, hopefully soon.

Bath Time

2011-08-05T01:34:00.000-05:00

Feeding Ducks

2011-08-04T06:41:00.000-05:00

There is a park with a little pond right around by our house so we took Colton to feed the ducks the other night. We tried to wait till it cooled down, but yeah, that never happened.
The ducks were more than thrilled to see us. As soon as we got out of the truck they came waddling and quacking up to us. Colton was a little unsure of them since they were so loud so we put him on the picnic table to feed them.

Just Like Daddy

2011-08-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

Colton wants to be "just like Daddy". Every time Brian goes to mow, do yard work, or whatever, Colton follows behind him and says "I do_____ just like Daddy".
I couldn't get a picture in time, but Brian was trimming the hedges and Colton had his little plastic John Deere hedge trimmers going right behind him.
When Brian mows, Colton gets his little bubble blowing lawn mower and follows Brian around the yard mowing too.

First Day with Linda

2011-08-02T07:20:00.000-05:00

This was taken back in June on his first day with the babysitter for the summer. One of the teachers at the preschool was watching kids this summer. Colton loved her so that's where he's been going.

They study a letter each week, do art work, he takes a 2 hour nap, eats a hot lunch, and plays with his friends. It's almost like he's still going to school.
Preschool starts back up the day after his birthday and I know he is excited about going back to school and seeing his other friends.

Nudist

2011-08-01T12:57:00.003-05:00

Every night when we go to check on Colton, he is sound asleep under the covers...with no pants on. Apparently he likes to sleep in the nude. LOL

Behavior Problems

2011-07-18T13:58:00.000-05:00

We never had any problems out of Colton until now. No "terrible twos" or anything like that. Lately he's been a real little shit though.
He was pretty much potty trained and in underwear at bedtime and naps with no accidents. Then all of a sudden (July 5) he started peeing on the floor. He only does it when he doesn't get his way. He wants to do something, I tell him no, he gets mad and pees on the floor. He does it in timeout or just standing in front of me.
He doesn't listen. I tell him no, come here, or to share his toys with his friends, whatever, and he just acts like he doesn't hear me. I told him yesterday we needed to clean up his toys and he said no and then wouldn't. The only way I can get him to pick up his toys is to physically make him pick up his toys. I'll stand behind him and grab his hands with mine and bend over with him, making him pick up and put away his toys.
He goes to timeout or he gets a spanking- doesn't phase him at all.
When we're out at the store (Target, Kroger, TJ Maxx) he thinks he needs a toy and when he doesn't get one, he slaps me in the face, screams, kicks, and it's an all out temper tantrum.
I really hate going anywhere with him because he is so awful.
I tried telling him today while we were at the store getting socks that he was not getting toys. We came for socks, we're leaving with socks and maybe a belt for Daddy. He started screaming and yelling that he wanted toys and and we had to leave without getting what we needed. So now, I'll have to leave him with my mother-in-law who feeds into his bullshit and go back and get the damn socks later this afternoon.
I've talked to my mother in law and told her to stop buying him so much shit, don't give him m&ms and when he can start acting better then he can start getting special treats again. He bitches and moans, and she gives in to him and the cycle contiunes. She doesn't want to listen to him whine so she gives him whatever he wants. Now he knows this so he just hollars and screams around us thinking he's going to get his way. I don't really have any other babysitter so we just try to take him everywhere with us but his behavior is so terrible we can't even go anywhere. Usually one person stays at home while the other one does errands. I hate that I've got the kid that can't go out in public becasue he's so awful.
I thought maybe it was an attention thing so I had planned several things for us to do. We went to NRH20 water park the other day and he was great. It was time to go (we'd been there for over 5 hours and we were both burnt to a crisp) and again, he didn't want to go, so I had to drag him kicking, screaming, and hitting me in the face.
I'm at a loss on what to do.
Oh, he doesn't do this at the babysitters house. He puts away his toys, takes naps, pees in the potty, and is good there.
I have tried timeout, spanking, talking to him, putting toys in timeout, ignoring him, giving him more attention, using a stern voice. None of these things have worked.
Any advice?

Play Date

2011-07-17T13:30:00.002-05:00

Two of my friends came over with their kids. One is a 4 month old boy that my friend fosters and then my other friend has a son who is 2 weeks older than Colton.
Baby P played in Colton's old jumper while Colton and Rylan played cars, wrestled, and played in Colton's playroom.
I left the light on in Colton's bathroom so the boys could go when then needed on their own. At one point Colton was teaching Rylan how to stand up and pee.
They were so good and they never faught or anything. They had a great time.
We had an even better time eating and catching up. I smoked some chicken and made some dips and snacks.

Parade Time

2011-07-05T20:29:00.001-05:00

We headed out to the Arlington Parade on Monday morning. My family and Brian's mom came too. My mom got there early to steak out a spot. We bought a canopy the day before so we had tons of shade. I made some monkey bread and a fruit salad and dip. Colton was good for the parade and enjoyed watching all the people and floats.

I don't care how hot it is (and it's hot) I would not let anyone squirt water on me that was coming from a poison spray bottle.

My high school and the Arlington High mascot "Lil Arlie"

These breat cancer ladies got lots of cheers. No Walker Left Behind

The local hamburger joint and the owner "Al"

Colton and Shammy

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T19:58:00.003-05:00

We started on Sunday night by going to downtown Arlington where they had the Light Up Arlington Celebration and Concert.

I let Colton take a late and long nap till about 630pm and then we headed off to meet my parents at the celebration. They had bounce houses, a petting zoo, tons of local food vendors, and about 9 million other people. It was well over 100 so it was plenty hot with all the 9 million other people, but I digress.
Anyway, Colton was great and sat in everyones lap while we listened to the concert. He wanted to put on my sunglasses once they started shooting off the fireworks because they were so bright.

Better yet, he was in underwear, only made 1 bathroom stop, and never had an accident the whole day!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-26T07:53:00.002-05:00

Yeah so this post is a few weeks late.
Happy Father's Day, Brian! We love you so much and you're such a great daddy. You work so hard for us!

This is our Father's Day project from his first Father's Day. I'll get around to taking a picture of our project from this year, so for now, enjoy the 2009 project!

Update on Bumps

2011-06-24T17:32:00.002-05:00

This is the first time Colton broke out in "bumps". They actually were whelps with blisters.

The first time Colton had a skin problem he was about 3 days old. He broke out in blisters while we where sponging him off. I have pictures of it, but not on this computer. I'll have to scan them in I guess.
Since then, he breaks out at random points for no reason. We haven't changed detergent, he hasn't been in the grass after we fertilize, nothing like that. All his allergy tests come back negative, no one knows.
I called the allergist back this morning and told them what was going on. We went in this afternoon and he checked him out and said these bumps are not hives and he has no idea what they are.
We went to him 2 times in 3 days and he has already refered us out to someone else. Again he said something is going on for sure, but these aren't hives. I showed him pictures of other breakouts and he said only one of them looked like "hives" but the fact that those stayed for about 2 weeks, they weren't "hives".
He questioned if it may have been from a virus, but then again, his first breakout was at 3 days, so that's no likely either.
He said the pedi dermatologist would likly have to do skin biopsies. They were closed when I called, of course. Hopefully we can get in quickly while he is still broken out.
Here's to hoping the pedi dermatologist will have some answers.

What is this rash/bumps?

2011-06-23T21:32:00.006-05:00

After going to the allergist yesterday and him saying that Colton does NOT have any food allergies and that there is something going on with him, but he's not sure. He even saw a rash Colton has had since last Friday on his back that was on its way out.
But just like always, one rash goes and other one comes. This is what we woke up today....
What the hell is going on with him?

The ones on his shoulder actually have blisters on them. The ones on his neck are even different then the ones on his face and arms. The ones on his arms are the biggest. They are also in his ears and on his hands. Some are in clusters and then others are few and far between.
Close up of the ones on his shoulder with the blisters on them.

Potty Training

2011-06-20T18:14:00.002-05:00

Could it be?! Colton seems to be pretty much potty trained for peeing. If he has to poop, there is about a 20% chance he'll go in the potty. Yeah, so I guess he's not potty trained, but we're getting there. He's been with the babysitter for one full week and she has got him peeing in the potty on his own 99% of the time. He sleeps in underwear, wakes up dry, and will go to the potty first thing when he wakes up to go. We just can't get him to poop in there. He even wore underwear on a 2 hour trip to visit my grandparents this weekend too, with no accidents! Yay Colton!
Oh course as I typed this, he walked in and pulled his underwear off and pissed right in the floor. Anyway, obviously not potty trained, but we're getting there. I had said that I wanted him trained by the time he was 3. He'll be 3 the end of August so we've still got some time, I guess.

2 Years Ago

2011-06-10T14:01:00.000-05:00

Colton should have had surgery, but was too sick to do so. He had multiple bacterial infections and pneumonia. His life changing surgery was put off till July 15, 2009.
He has come such a long way.

My New Obsession

2011-06-01T20:37:00.002-05:00

My latest obsession is Tip Junkie! Yesterday I found this awesome DIY fabric headboard. Our bed is just falling apart, but the rest of the bedroom furniture is in great shape and looks so much better after I changed out the hardware.
Here are some more great ideas for a DIY headboard.
http://www.tipjunkie.com/how-to-make-a-headboard/
I posted her link on FB with the headboard I was thinking about doing and so many of my friends wanted to do it too. I'm seriously thinking about getting my girlfriends together for a little DIY headboard making party!
I'm totally loving TipJunkie now!

Bunny Pics with B4

2011-05-31T17:31:00.000-05:00

Better late than never...
I have been so behind on blogging, but here is a post from Easter.

We took Colton to have some pictures with our photographer, Brandi.
I wish I would have dressed Colton a little cuter, but too late now.

She snapped some great pictures and then we jetted off to Hico for our family Easter egg hunt.

Colton was still a little unsure of the bunny. He threw an apple slice at the rabbits head and said "here go, bunny", in a very angry and unsure voice. LOL

RIP, Jason

2011-05-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

We had a friend who suffered with Melanoma and lost his almost 2 year battle May 21. He left behind the most awesome family and two young, sweet boys.
We went the his viewing and it was just awful to see the way the cancer had eaten his body. So sad that someone can loose so much weight in such a short time, all from an awful disease. We prayed for him daily. In the beginning for God to heal his body, and then in the end for peace and comfort as he transitioned from his earthly life and into his eternal life.

Jason had been in a band, Supercell, and had a pretty big fan base. They put together several trust funds. One for his final expenses and another for this 2 young sons. They've also put together a benefit concert in July.
Jason was the older brother of one of my BFF's growing up. Her family is like a part of ours. It's tough watching the people you care about lose their son and brother. His whore of a wife lives on my street. She was cheating on him while he had cancer and has wasted no time in pretty much moving her boyfriend in. What a tramp.
Anyway, RIP Jason.

Ranger Game- MNO

2011-05-15T08:25:00.003-05:00

We had Mom's Night Out last weekend and went to the Ranger game. They played the Yankees and of course got their tail handed to them. Part of our group had gone to Silver Fox and was trashed before the game started, but we all had a great time. I sat in the middle of two great friends who happen to be huge Yankee fans. It made for a long night!

We ended up running into some an old boyfriend of mine and one of our mutual friends from college.

Big Boy Room, day 2

2011-05-04T07:29:00.001-05:00

These were taken on my moms phone the day after we moved Colton's room. I changed his rooms and he came home from school with a room, bed, bedding, and decor. He LOVES it!! He was so excited and we haven't really had any issues with his new room/bed. That night he slept over 12 hours and the day these pictures were taken he took a 3 hour nap!

I love that he feel asleep while reading a book.

Decorating Eggs With Leah

2011-05-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

We went the Friday before Easter to a friends house for a little egg decorating. Colton and Leah had fun, but by the time we were leaving, they both were so exhausted. Colton feel asleep on the way home, and I bet Leah was in bed right after we left.

The eggs were put in a whisk and it really cut down on the potential mess!

How cute are these two?!

A blue egg with no mess! YAY!

Tired Boy

2011-05-01T07:32:00.000-05:00

Colton fell asleep on the way home from school the other day. He was a tired little guy. I had him unbuckled from his carseat and he hadn't even made a peep. I ended up getting him in the house and just as soon as I laid him on the bed he woke up. Of course...

Big Boy Room

2011-04-30T09:57:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago on my day off, I decided to switch Colton's room. His nursery was in a smaller room that had a jack and jill bathroom, and that bathroom connected to the bigger room which we use as a guest room. We don't have any guests so its a waste of a room. It actually is a junky old storage room. Boxes of baby clothes and other baby items, winter clothes and my skinny clothes fill up the closet. Basically, anything we don't have room for, goes in there with the door shut.
I got in there late after work and started going through boxes and cleaning and organizing everything in there. I finally had it mostly cleaned out that night and the next day I took Colton to school and came home and started to disassemble his crib/toddler bed. I'm so loving the fact that we got a crib that converted to a toddler bed and then into a full size bed! When we bought the crib we went ahead and bought the bed rails and everything needed to convert to a toddler and full size bed at that time, and I'm thankful we did. Otherwise, he'd probably still be in a crib.
I had figured that since I had on a dime decided to stitch rooms and everything that Colton might have some issues with it. Thankfully he did not!
We still, even several weeks later, have some things that need to be done in his room, but for the most part his new room is complete.
My mom picked him up from school that day and told him I had a surprise for him. When he saw his new room he just loved it! He slept over 12 hours that night and continues to sleep about that now and takes great naps in there too. I think we should have done this months ago!
He has a little, green tractor light that is on his nightstand and we leave it on at night. He never gets out of bed and sleeps so well. I'm amazed.
The first few nights we would move the nightstand away from the bed and put pillows around him, but he never moves so we don't move anything at this point.

I'd still like to scrap the popcorn off the ceiling, but since I just got everything moved into the room, well, I don't see me taking it all out to scrap popcorn. We still need to get a new ceiling fan. This one is OLD, OLD, OLD, and doesn't really produce air, nor does it have a light kit.
Crown molding still needs to go up, so that's why the paint doesn't go to the ceiling. I'm a sloppy painter so I just stop shy of the ceiling and toss crown molding up!
This sweet lighted clock was Brian's. He has had it forever! When we bought our first house I made him put the clock in the garage, but now it fits Colton's room so well that we decided to bring it back in. It's old, heavy, and loud. It has a motor in it, so it doesn't "tick", it's more like a Rolex were the second hand just glides. Brian is a big antiquer so I'm guessing this is too...

The bed finally put together and made. My awesome mom bought this bedding at Pottery Barn Kids last year. I love how PBK embroiders your kids name on everything.

An don't worry about the cords hanging from the blinds. They are basically wrapped around the top of them and I can't even reach them anymore. We have plantation shutters in the front part of the house and I'd like to be able to put them in his room too so we don't have to worry about cords and stuff. Plus, they look so nice.

I picked up this tractor light at Hobby Lobby one day on their clearance isle for less than $10! Colton loves tractors, cars, and trucks, so I knew we had to have this for his room! We keep some small books and his bible that my Uncle David and Claudia bought him on his nightstand for us to read every night.

The nightstand and this dresser and mirror are antiques from Brian's great aunt. We decided to leave them in here since they match his bed so well. His dresser and hutch are in his old room which is now going to be his playroom.

We have a car picture frame and then a metal truck that I picked up at Hobby Lobby as well on the dresser. My aunt lives in Alaska and sent Colton this AWESOME handmade wood puzzle. I

Red Ryder BB gun made into a lamp, an antique school desk, and an antique Coke box. On the wall are two framed Time Magazines with drag racing on the cover. They are old as well. On the school desk he has his bear "Max" which was my grandma's bear that we found in her hospice room and on top of the desk is a puzzle.

Putting the bed together was a beat down!! Ugh, I've never seen so many screws...

His nursery...Before...pictures of our new playroom will be posted soon. The playroom isn't finished yet.

Me and Colton

2011-04-30T09:43:00.004-05:00

This was taken Easter morning just before we left for church. Of course he wouldn't look up at Brian because he was too busy checking out his Easter basket! Oh well...

Happy Easter

2011-04-29T07:02:00.006-05:00

We had a fantastic Easter! We got up early and went to the early service at church. Brian's mom came with us and then joined us for Sunday School too. We meet up with my parents and Jordan and Kristie at my house for lunch and an egg hunt.

I got some confetti eggs this year and Colton was really digging those. He loved cracking them over anyone's head, including his own.

My mom made this cute rice crispy treat bunny. YUMMY!

Telling Daddy he wanted to crack the head over his head

Colton showing "Shammy" his eggs

Getting ready to break an egg over his head

Now it's my dads turn to get hit with the egg...see, it just goes on and on : )

Catching Up

2011-04-29T06:49:00.002-05:00

Our new laptop came yesterday. YAY! I got it set up, mostly, so I hope to start blogging again regulary this weekend.
We've been super busy lately. The lawn business is picking up nicely, however, things in our life always seem to go to crap, so I'm waiting for a disaster to follow with our business. So far, so good though. Brian has been busy working long hours at work and then maintaining our business on the weekends. He picked up 2 new yards in the last 2 days. We've got a couple of landscape jobs coming up and then it should calm down for the rest of the summer with mostly mowing.
Our renavations on our house is pretty much at a standstill. No time for that, so I'm hoping that on one of my days off, my dad and I can sheetrock the rest of the greatroom.
Other than that, things are pretty much the same.

Computer Issues

2011-04-28T08:02:00.002-05:00

So my computer crashed, I ordered a new one from Dell--not knowing that they actually "make" your computer when you order it, then was told it would be 3 weeks to get it (which would have been sometime in early April I think, then got an email a few days before I thought it would be delivered saying that because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan it would be more like May 18th before I would get. Well, looks like it actually shipped yesterday and I should be getting it any day now!! Yay!!
I'll start blogging more again once I get it all set up. As of now, I don't have a way to upload pics or blog--except from my phone or on the weekends at work.

Prayers

2011-04-19T06:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday a good family friend passed away. She was 34, married, and had two young kids.
Last week she went to the hospital and had started coughing up blood. Within hours of being there her body started to fail. She was put in a medically induced coma and several hours later they did emergency surgery in the middle of the night and removed her lung. She ended up getting a fungus in her blood system and it attacked her body, starting with her lung and then attacking everywhere else and ending with her brain and heart.
Right as they were going to remove her from the vent after several brain scans with no activity, she passed away with her family surrounding her. I guess it truly was her time.

We have another good family friend who has been battling end stage melanoma since Dec 09. He's been a fighter and I've never seen a stronger person that has so much fight, but then again, if I had two babies (the youngest is 3) then I think I would give it all I've got too.
I would guess he is in the last few weeks or days of his life. He was moved to ICU yesterday and is on a continuous pain drip of morphine and pretty much not aware of much. He's been in the hospital for several weeks now, and the cancer continues to spread and is now in his bones. It's amazing how quickly melanoma spreads, I've been completely stunned. It seems that every few weeks the cancer spreads to somewhere new.
Anyway, please keep these two families in your prayers.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-16T10:36:00.004-05:00

We headed to the farm last weekend for an Easter Egg hunt with our family at my Grandpas. It was so great to see everyone and watch all the boys play together. And amazingly, there were no fights!! Usually when you get that many kids together that are the same age, there is going to be some fighting...usually over sharing. The past two Christmas' we've had a few issues over toys and sharing. Funny thing is they all get the same tractor or whatever gift, but they all think they need 8 tractors, not 1. LOL

Kason, the baseball rockstar

Aiden and Colton playing with bubbles. Oddly enough Colton didn't play much with his cousin (Aiden's brother) who shares the same birthday as Colton. Aiden has the same birth date, just a year ahead though.
Emma
Colton reading his new Cars book
Easter Egg Hunting!
The boys climbing on my grandpa's rock waterfall
My cousin, Michelle, telling the kids the rules of the hunt...
Enjoying a nice lolipop

Haircut

2011-04-05T11:19:00.004-05:00

I got my hair cut off a few weeks ago. Well, it was the day we took Colton to the Thomas the Train, so whenever that was... I got a lot taken off and changed the color from dark brown to a blonde/brown with highlights and lowlights. My girl at the salon worked on my hair for 3 1/2 hours. She said she was nervous because I've never cut it, well besides a trim. I've got tons of compliments and I'm loving it! I was going for less of the old, fat, hag look. Plus, with the highlights, it helps hide the grey.

Before: super long, dark, and out of control!!

After: short, much shorter in the back, thinned out, and lighter!

Bad Luck??

2011-04-05T08:06:00.003-05:00

Maybe if all this wasn't so close together it wouldn't seem so bad.

February
-2 year old LG dishwasher stops working for about 10 days. Then one day it started washing dishes again. Who knows. Thankful it is working again.
- the truck needed $3200 worth of work done to it. Now it no longer randomly dies while I drive it. That's a plus.
- Colton has surgery. Which our part after insurance was $3300. Time to plant that money tree.

March
-My grandma gets worse
-She dies, we plan her funeral.
-Our house is broken into the day we bury my grandma. We decide not to claim it on insurance because it just wasn't worth it. Our deductible is 1% of the value of our house. We have a nice house and they took the value of our deductible so it just makes sense to slowly start replacing things, then to be out a deductible and still have nothing.
-We fix the gate motor that blew up 2 years ago to keep our backyard safer from future robbery attempts. $500+ for the motor and battery, but our backyard is secured.
-Washing machine stops working (It was only 5 or so years old. Thanks a lot Kenmore.) That sucks. We use the washer on a daily basis with a little potty training boy running around.
-Our A/C doesn't work, has a leak, but yet no one can find it. It turns out to be an awesomely warm day when we hit temps in the 90s. I bet this summer is going to be real nice. Note sarcasm.
-The economy seems to be getting worse, not better, and our lawn and landscape business is really suffering already so early in the year. We have few yards left thanks to our customers being laid off and such.

April
- On April fools the truck loses brake and power steering. Nice. Way to start the month off.
-I miss work, because once again, I have no ride to work. What am I, 12?
-My first paycheck of April always has our yearly raise on it. Wait, what raise?? That's right, we didn't get one.
-Still can't find the A/C leak and temps will be back in the 90s this week. Seriously, how hard could it be to find?? It dumps a whole thing of Freon out every week!! We are trying to patch this system up because a new one is $6-8,000 and we just won't be able to do it this year.

Then I opened up my electric bill...wait for it...$441.29! Really?? We don't run the heat or the A/C (Obviously, since it doesn't work) so why is it so high?? We don't go around leaving lights on all damn day either. UGH!!!

Wonder when our luck will change. Seems like whenever things start going well and looking up we get slammed back down again. I'm so tired of this.

FPPS Fundraiser

2011-04-05T05:30:00.000-05:00

Colton's preschool had their annual fundraiser this weekend. We couldn't find a sitter because, well--all of our babysitters were at the fundraiser! We bought a table, had front row seating and enjoyed ourselves. Colton was great until about 8pm when he wanted to lay on the floor and then wonder around, so that was our cue to leave before he started to put on his own show. On his behalf, he normally goes to be between 730-8, so I'll give it to him and he was really good. He was the only child there and we got compliments all evening on how well behaved he was. We love Colton's preschool and supported them by bidding on several items in their large silent auction. We won some baseball tickets and something else...not sure since Brian was doing the bidding. After we left they had an Ipad giveaway and then did a live action for the classroom art projects. My mom bid and won Colton's classroom art project and then gave it to me. I think we're going to display it in his playroom. I absolutely love it!!! It's a dove and the children used their thumbprint to design the dove. At the bottom is a key with each color and the child's name so you know which thumbprint is your child's. It came with a nice mat and frame. Anyway, it's cute. My sister sent me a text and said mom just bought some ugly dove picture. LOL, she didn't know it was a classroom art project and then took back her comments after she found out.

Opening Weekend!!!

2011-04-04T09:23:00.004-05:00

It's that time of the year again! My parents were able to score some tickets to the game and invited us to go with them. Colton can get in free, but I'd like to sit and watch the game, not chase him around a stadium with 50,000 people in it. Everyone always asks if we take, so no, he stays with Shammy (Brian's mom).
We had a great time, it was windy as all get out and we were so high up, that I couldn't see the ball. We actually were on the very last row on the third level at the stadium, but on the 3rd base line. We had a ton of room because, well, no one was behind us so we could stretch. And a family of 8 had the seats in front of us, but they had young kids and luckily (see this is why Colton doesn't come) they only stayed for a few innings before having to leave.
It was sold out and of course the Rangers won. With a 30+MPH south wind, we were amazed that the Rangers hit 5 (I think, like I said, I couldn't see a thing) homeruns!!! Up where we were the wind felt more like 90MPH, but we certainly didn't have to worry about getting to hot.
We're looking forward to another great season and although the seats yesterday were not "ideal seeting" we all had a great time and can't wait to go back again.

Thomas the Train

2011-04-04T09:11:00.006-05:00

Thomas was in Grapevine last weekend (3/26) so I went ahead and spent the money to take Colton out for a family day. I packed snacks and had planned to stay for a few hours. We had tickets for the first train ride in the morning at 9am. We got there early, picked up our tickets and checked out all the fun things to do after our ride. I spent $80 on these dang tickets and I really wanted to get my moneys worth. He was a perfect angel on the 1/2 mile plus walk to get to the Thomas area and while we got our tickets and everything. He even stopped us to tell us he needed to go potty. I should have know it was all too good to be true. He was prefect on the train and just smiled and loved every minute of it. Once we got off is when it went downhill! They had a tent with a ton of train tables and train sets set up. He loved it, but was derailing the trains while other children tried to play. Of course most of the other toddlers were doing the same as well, so I didn't feel too bad that my child was crazy. We stayed in there for a while and when I told him it was time to let some of the other little kids play and we needed to move on to something else, that's when all hell broke loose. He was screaming, kicking shoes off, and I even think the devil invaded his body for a short time too. I pulled him aside and told him if he couldn't pull it together then we would leave. He didn't seem to care and I didn't want to back down and let him think he needs to act like a little shit in public to get his way, so we left. I was pissed that I didn't get my $80 worth. This also wasn't the first incident, we had one at the bounce house right before the train tent, just the train tent was the worst one. I think I made my point, but I'm sure he's long forgotten about it. I hear the terrible two's really aren't that terrible, and that they are gearing you up for 3. The closer we get to 3 the more I want to get my tubes tied.
Our "family picture" looks awful. I did get my hair cut that afternoon and it looks much better than the frizzy mess you see. Of course my fat face does no favors either.
Before the train pulled out Colton played with my moms iphone. Thank God for that thing!

Computer Crashed

2011-04-01T06:27:00.003-05:00

My computer crashed again for the millionth time. I'm finally getting a new one, but it won't be here till 4/18. My blog posts are few and far between because of this too. I haven't been able to download pictures and it's just a huge pain in the ass trying to blog from my phone.

Adoption

2011-04-01T05:56:00.003-05:00

So it turns out that the 5th time is not a charm. My BFF has already sent her first ginormous payment for adoption and is filling out all the paperwork. I'm currently filling out my reference information questionnaire.
So, if you know someone who is pregnant and thinking about adoption, think of my BFF and her husband. They have a ton of love to give and can't wait till the day they bring home their baby.

5th times a charm, right?

2011-03-18T07:55:00.003-05:00

Prayers for my BFF Mo who had her 5th IVF last week. They transferred 3 beautiful embryos. Pray that she is pregnant and carries 1-3 babies to term.

RIP Mama Max

2011-03-18T06:32:00.002-05:00

Mama Max finally passed, and peacefully this time (I saw this time, because she had passed, or so we thought, the night before but revived herself after going over 2 minutes with no heartbeat, respirations, or anything. Turns out, we had a lot of close calls), at 330 on Monday morning 3/7. She was laid to rest at 330pm on 3/11. Odd thing with the 330 time frame...
Every night she suffered and laid somewhere between heaven and earth it seemed, several other family members had dreams or woke up abruptly at 330am. I work up at 330am on early Saturday morning. I had this crazy dream, no sound, and no people in it. Just an ocean at night with a big, bad storm. The waves were so high and my whole body had a strange feeling. I felt like there was pain and suffering and just a lot of...suffering is the only word I can come up with. Then all of a sudden in this dream, a big wave came and crashed down and the waters went smooth. The rain and storm passed and the sea was calm again. I felt like there was peace in my body. I immediately woke up and called my mom think Mama Max must have just died and that's why I had this crazy dream. She didn't, and she was fine.
The night before a cousins wife had woken up at around 300-330 and sent a FB message to the family asking how Mama Max was since she had just woke up thinking about her. And then for the next few nights other family members said the same thing about either dreaming or waking up at around 330 with her on their mind.
And on Monday morning Colton woke up crying at 315am and Brian and I went in and rocked and put him back in bed. I grabbed my phone and sent my mom a text at 320 asking how she was doing and at 330 she passed peacefully with a hospice nurse and my parents with her.
It was hard to leave her side, because even though she hadn't know me in almost 2 years, she squeezed my hand after being non-responsive for the last week of her life. And I know she knew who I was. She knew my mom too. She started to have a seizure and my mom talked to her and was able to calm her back down.
On Sunday morning from 8-11am it was a minute to minute deal. I called my aunt and cousin in and we ended up basically crawling in bed with Mama Max and singing to her. Her temp was down to 95 and she had no bp and a faint, ill regular pulse. The hospice nurse said it would be any minute and that we were very close. Then, she started getting better! LOL We talked to her again about everyone was ready and people were waiting for her somewhere else for their eternal party. There are babies and her son up there who were waiting for her. And then it just got funny. I mean, we hadn't slept in days and we were in bed eating chocolate donuts and singing to her. We cried and sang "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me and then when she started to get better we sang Ronnie Milsap's Any day now from my cousin Mandy’s ipod...
The hospice nurse kicked us out and said we were over stimulating her. My parents stayed and my grandpa (they been divorced since my mom was about 20) came and talked to her. I think she must have been waiting on him, because after that she was gone.
It's amazing how the earthly body and the spirit/soul work. I mean, for her to have no clue what the hell is going on for the last few years and then all of a sudden at the end of her earthly life, know what is going on...it's amazing.
She had a beautiful service and kids that she taught 30 years ago even came by to say what an impact she had on their lives. She was a fabulous teacher and continues to teach us daily.
Our church family and the high school where my mom works at really came through on food. Sweet baby Jesus. We ate and ate and ate. When the family car dropped us off at my house, our family was already waiting for us and the house was packed full of food. We had food in the formal living, dining, kitchen, and the breakfast area. Wow, did we have some food. I really wish people would have put who all the casseroles were from, because we ate some amazing things and I'd love to have the recipes. Oh well.
I feel so much better knowing that she is no longer in pain, but in peace, and that she no longer is suffering. I'm happy that she is with the rest of our big family who is no longer with us.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Mama Max

2011-03-05T11:48:00.002-06:00

My grandmother is in hospice in the last days or hopefully hours of her life. She has struggled for years and I want her to stop suffering and be out of pain.
She has a huge party waiting for in Heaven and for some reason she is jacking around down here with us. I know her son, my Uncle Danny can't wait to see her again. Her parent's, my great-grandparents, passed just a few years ago and they are waiting with my cousins stillborn baby, Matthew. She can hold Matthew and kiss him the way Mandy would now. She can be with more extended family and some of her friends. I know the party there is better than what is going on here.
I've been sitting in the nursing home room with a hospice nurse and my mother since Thursday. My mom hasn't left her side until today when she has started taking little breaks from her room in case Mama Max wants to die by herself, which is very likely. We've all given her permission and said our byes and told her to open her eyes in Heaven and run to her family and don't worry about us here. We'll see her soon. But for some reason, she won't go. She is suffering and struggling and hanging on. I'm sure it's harder on us than it is on her though.
Yesterday I washed her face, put on moisturizer and some makeup. I was putting mascara on her when her eyes started to open. I ended up almost climbing the wall, scared shitless. I rubbed baby lotion on her arms and hands and now she smells like Colton.
She hasn't had anything to eat or drink since last weekend (Friday-Saturday) and she's been unresponsive since her seizure last Saturday as well. She has drifted further away. Her vitals are hard to get at times. She has no pulse on her extremities and only a faint heartbeat can be heard when listening to her chest. Her temp goes up and down and the purple in her arms, feet, knees, and face seem to come and go as well. She has lots of apnea spells. Some last 10-15 seconds, others last 20-30+ seconds. One of those sent me running to the nurses station in a panic yesterday. I thought she had died. Turns out, she started breathing again as soon as I lost it.
So please, pray for her to leave us soon and for the suffering to stop. Pray for peace and comfort for my family.

Thing 1, Thing 2 Baby Shower

2011-03-05T10:03:00.008-06:00

Last Saturday one of my BFF's, Tammy and I threw a baby shower for her sister, Christy. Christy is 30 weeks pregnant with twins.

While I'm super excited for Christy, I also struggle with my BFF, Monica. Monica did her IVF the same day Christy did, and well, Christy is having twins and Monica started stimming on her 5th IVF the day we did this shower. My heart is torn.

I don't want to take away from Christy's joy and excitement either though.
We had a great time and I think everything went really well! We worked hard and only had 2 weeks to pull off this fantastic shower!
Needless to say, Colton will be having a Dr Suess 3rd birthday party this year. LOL

Of course, our house was still under construction and Colton had surgery just days before this shower so it was a struggle getting everything ready, but I think we really pulled it off.

We had the help of both of our awesome moms, who are funny enough, named the same. Kathy Sue. Yup, can't believe there are 2 Kathy Sues!

Candy table

We had a kids table set up with lots of colors and a Cat In The Hat activity book

All the guests had a chance to act silly and take a picture inside the picture frame. We will take the pictures and make a guest book for Christy with all her friends and family.

Diaper cakes along with the games

The cupcakes were supposed to have blue cotton candy "hair", but who would've thought that February would bring weather in the 80's and humidity that was 95%????? So that weather was just not conducive for our "hair". My mom made blue icing and made little peaks to look like hair.

Me and Tammy at the end of the night. EXHAUSTED!!!

Christy, Tammy's sister and her twins--Thing 1 and Thing 2

We made these veggie cups (I can't remember where we got the idea and recipe from)

Cake was from a co-worker, Jeanne Bills--Pie Hole Pasteries

Red Jell0 with Cool Whip and blueberries made yummy fruit treats for everyone.

The green eggs were a huge hit and were gone super fast!

The Cat welcomed everyone at the door

Guests signed a signing mat on a table with the Cat In The Hat book.

I found these fish at Michael's and used ribbon to hang them from our support beam that hasn't been sheetrocked. Luckily, our guests didn't mind that we are still under construction.

Ham & Cheese Sliders
24 Kings Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise

Poppy seed sauce
1 T poppyseeds
1 1/2 T yellow mustard
1 stick butter, melted
1 T minced onion
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Spread mayonnaise onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes. Serve warm.

Bills, Bills, Bills

2011-02-23T19:10:00.002-06:00

Isn't that a Destiny's Child song??
Anywhooo-
We met with the surgeon on Wednesday and he said surgery was needed to repair the hole and all that. Friday, what comes in my mail??? Oh yeah, a freakin' bill for an estimate of Colton's surgery. It was over $7000, leaving my part $1600--which on the bill it said for my convenience to pay it by noon on Tuesday. Really? that's for my own convenience???
We get to the surgery admissions desk this morning and the money I paid yesterday was only for my surgeons fees. Not to be confused with the bill I'll be receiving from the hospital and from the anesthesiologist. But again, for my convenience, I can roll it into 1 bill and make payments--which actually, was the only thing convenient.
Oh, and she said my estimated bill is over $16,000... For a DAY SURGERY???? WTF?
I finally got surgery 1 and 3 paid for, but I'm still paying for surgery #2. *sigh*

I'll be anxiously awaiting the next hospital bills...

Surgery #4

2011-02-23T18:45:00.006-06:00

I have had a few almost breakdowns the last few days, mostly while I'm in the car driving on a long stretch of highway.

It sucks. I thought we were done with this. It makes me mad and I feel defeated which is why I haven't posted in the last few days.

Surgery went well and as expected, there were some surprises.
Colton has always done well with everything leading up to surgery, but is a complete bear afterward. Today was different. He knew something was up. He kept saying "I go home, now?" I'd tell him "soon" and he would say "no, now." So that was a little tough since he knew and was pretty anxious. I think he still remembers some things and he gets very anxious at some parts of the children's hospital. And speaking of that, the hospital and staff were rock stars as always.

Our minister, who is also a close family friend, surprised us and was waiting for us in the surgery check-in area. He spent some time with us, said a quick prayer with our surgeon and anesthesiologist, and then it was game time.

The surgery took a little over an hour and was a bigger surgery than I first expected. He had trouble in recovery and it took a while for him to be stable enough for us to come back. He was in and out and it took us along with our nurse a while to get him awake. He refused to eat or drink and we stayed half the afternoon trying to coax him into drinking a sip of water so we could go home. He was and is in a lot of pain. We're still trying to get it under control. I suspect tonight may be a long night. My mom came by to drop Colton off a bunch of his favorites since he won't eat or drink. She managed to get him to eat a few cherry tomatoes and a cup of milk though before he slipped back off.

The surprises:
The unidentifiable rash he has had for several months...the anesthesiologist was a pedi before and he took a look at it in the OR and said "uh, this kid has ringworm." Really??? of course he does!!
However, our pedi has looked at it and she can't figure out what it is and was going to send us to a dermatologist because we can't get rid of it. If it is ringworm, it doesn't look like any kind I've ever seen. The surgeon also said, if it is ringworm, it's not your typical ringworm. Of course it wouldn't be though. I do, however, think that it is something fungal...just probably not ringworm, but then again, I only have a degree in Google so I could be wrong on that one!
The stomach was wide open and was acting like a vacuum and that's why the skin was all puckered and sunken in around his g-tube area. Again, he said this is NOT typical, but does happen. He stitched the stomach up and worked his way out and then used a skin glue (I'm guessing something like derma bond) to seal the incision.
It's now a long incision and not a huge hole. It will heal and shrink up very nicely and not be noticeable in a few years.
He also removed a fair amount of scar tissue as well.
And he said, overall, Colton has fallen in his 1% for just about everything he has ever done to him.

After surgery, Dr Thomas took us back to the consult room where he went over the details and all that and then we just talked bullshit for awhile while Colton was in the 1 on 1 recovery with the nurse. Another reason I love his surgeon.

Colton is laying in bed with Brian, asleep, and I'm praying he can get some peaceful rest tonight. He'll be home from school tomorrow and we'll see about sending him on Friday. No playing and roughing around for another week, as Dr Thomas said, he did have major abdominal surgery.

Oh, and Colton was pretty pissed off at us once he realized what was going on. Even after surgery he still had that go to hell look.

Sleeping on the couch...

Sleeping on our bed...

Laying in our bed and watching TV with his "friends". He was back out in about 30 seconds though.

The monkey (Ki-Ki) went back with him for surgery so he had a ID bracelet too.

Nap Time

2011-02-19T09:46:00.000-06:00

This is from last weekend at nap time...

We put him down in his bed, came back in to check on him and he was asleep in the floor, sleeping on the monkey, covered up with his blanket, and a book next to him. I guess he got out of bed and then fell asleep while he was playing.

Ted Bear

2011-02-18T09:42:00.002-06:00

I think Colton is going to be an animal lover. He loves his "friends" as he calls them. He won't sleep on his pillow, only the monkey (Ki-Ki) or Ted Bear. Lately when I check on him he's been sleeping on Ted Bear though and Ki-Ki has been put at the end of the bed. Usually, when I check on him I'll remove most of the stuff he puts in his bed at bedtime.

Surgery #4 Scheduled

2011-02-16T11:44:00.002-06:00

Just got back from the surgeon's office. He has surgery scheduled for (2/23/11) Wednesday morning at Cook Children's hospital. Of course, it's early in the year and we haven't met our deductible yet. Of course.
What will they do?
He has a large amount of scar tissue and it sticks out from his abdomen so that will be removed.
Where the g-tube was looks like a bullet hole, that never closed up. They will make an incision across it and go in and stitch his stomach up and work their way back out. The new scar will be long, but should heal up and look less noticeable then the bullet wound he currently has. And really, he has plenty of scars on his abdomen at this point, so I guess it doesn't matter. Just hate for him to be older and some mean-ass little shithead make fun of him or something.
As it is now, he eats and some of what he eats, just falls out on the floor in a liquid mess. Other times, it's just stomach acid or a little fluid and blood that stain his shirt and irritate his skin. His tube has been gone for several months now and this should have been healed within 3 weeks. The skin will scab over and then he'll get bloated or we'll hold him or something and the scab comes off and we're back at square 1.

Quick little surgery compared to some of the others and we'll be home by lunch. Maybe.
Even though it's nothing major, please keep Colton in your prayers as its still surgery and being put under. He never does well with the anesthesia and is an awful bear when he's coming out. That's usually the worst.

Again with the Batting Helmet

2011-02-16T07:30:00.000-06:00

The Rangers started Spring Training this week so I guess it was fitting for Colton to wear his batting helmet.
He wears this thing everywhere. To Tom Thumb, the pedi's office, a birthday party, everywhere.
Here we are on our way to a birthday party. I know people look at us and think wtf is he wearing??

oh yeah, and his John Deere Weedeater goes along to even more places. It went to Academy and Home Depot last week too.
This kid cracks me up sometimes!

What a day

2011-02-15T18:48:00.002-06:00

It's usually not surprising when things go wrong at our house. Two weeks ago the dishwasher broke. The 2 year old LG dishwasher. That was nice. It randomly started working on Sunday, so I did praise God for that. At the same time 2 weeks ago, the truck died. It just randomly leaves you stranded in the middle of the road. No warning, no nothing. Just dies. Fantastic. It's done it to me 4 times and Brian once.
We take it to our trusty mechanic and he can't find anything wrong, but agrees something isn't right. Brian goes out to jack with the truck that weekend when we take it home from the shop and it won't start. Why, you ask?? Because the starter has gone out. Completely laughable now, because the truck may or may not get you to your destination before, but now it won't even start. I did laugh when that happened. $250 for a new starter and problem fixed. Oh but wait, now when you turn the steering wheel it makes some noise... fantastic, now the power steering pump on my 1 ton truck is going out too. Funny again.
Take the truck to the Ford dealership, shell out an ass-load of money to get it fixed (and by ass-load I mean the first quote we got was $3200-3500, oh and it also needs new tires-6 of them. and that'll be about $1200). They say the aftermarket chip that was put in malfunctioned and fried the computer. Ok, that's believable. Problem fixed?? Um hell to the no. Pick it up and it drives super slow and slugglish without the chip, but that's the way it would without the chip and having the settings set back to factory settings. I get 1 mile from the house and this thing dies...in the middle of a major intersection. I'm in the left lane, of course. I cut some woman off as I'm coasting at 5mph and run up on the curb into a KFC parking lot. What a great place to land since I just started a diet, I mean lifestyle change, and I'm freakin' hungry. I hit the curb because this truck is super heavy and hard to steer with no power. And don't forget about braking, that apparently is equally hard, as I realized when I ran into another curb.
I was so pissed that I had just spent so much money and broke down in the middle of this huge intersection, almost was killed (well maybe not killed, but almost wrecked) so I broke down and cried.
The Ford dealership was called and they immediately sent out a wrecker to come take the truck back to the dealership.
I pray that it fell off the wrecker in the middle of the highway, ruined someone else's day and then was totaled so I won't have to deal with it.
This truck is a family member and it totally let me down. All faith and trust have been lost in the trusty red truck.

I particularly like the service tag that is still hanging from the mirror when the wrecker came to get it

The Ear Infection That Won't Go Away

2011-02-15T11:31:00.002-06:00

We have 3 days, I think, left on the 2nd round of antibiotics and I'm pretty sure his ear is worse. I tried to clean out his ears Sunday and he screamed, looked at me with a pissed off face, and the covered his ears with his hands and hopped of the counter and went to the living room. Yesterday, his teacher said during nap time he sat straight up and started crying and holding his ears. She rocked him and he went back to sleep, but like she said, that's not Colton. So, pretty he still has infected ear(s).
He usually stays on a high dose antibiotic for 21 days with every infection because of this problem. The first round was 21 days and this one was a normal dose at 10 days.
Our ear check appt isn't until 2/24 so I'm going to see if the pedi wants to see him sooner.
And, we see the surgeon tomorrow since Colton's g-tube hole hasn't healed up yet. It just seems to scab over and then open up and leak everywhere when he gets bloated.
Good grief...

5th Times a Charm??

2011-02-14T20:02:00.002-06:00

My BFF, Monica, started her 5th round of IVF this weekend. This will be her last round before they pursue adoption. Please say a prayer for them.
I finally convinced her to blog, so feel free to stop by and give her some support.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T20:00:00.003-06:00

5 years ago Brian asked me to marry him. This year we will celebrate 11 years together and 5 years of marriage.
Brian is a true romantic and I love him. Happy Valentine's to my Love.

Fat Class...again

2011-02-13T14:31:00.002-06:00

Well...I joined Weight Watchers at work this week. They pay for most of it and I've got to take a lunch, so I may as well take my fat ass down there once a week and participate. I've joined several times with friends, but the friends I've joined with are the same ones that will go out to lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant without thinking twice.
I joined by myself and on my own. So far, it's working. I think I need to surround myself with healthier people. I love my friends to pieces but I'm so unhealthy and hanging out and drinking and eating with them is doing me no favors.
Brian even mentioned today that he needs to lose weight. HA! Whatever-
But I'm thinking about seeing if he wants to "count points" with me and we can eat healthy together, workout, and be active together as well. After church Brian and Colton stopped off at McDonalds and then we called in a Guiltless Grilled Chicken (13 points) at Chili's for me and then headed home. Such a pain in the ass. We're going to the store when Colton gets up to stock up on healthier things in the house.
It really is a "life style" change, and I do love to eat well and drink, but I hate looking the way I look. I see the rest of my family and they are unhealthy as well. I don't want to be like that. I want to be active and healthy.
I start back up with boot camp soon. It's paid for, but it's too damn cold for this Texan to venture out at 530am! Two girls at work and I all have the same opinion (it's too cold!!) and we have a target start date of March 1. Usually the weather is really cold in January and February, so hopefully we'll be good to go March 1 and get us some good work outs in before Hell sets in this July.
I found a great app on my phone that is set up just like Weight Watchers with the points, food diary and all that. I downloaded it Friday and now WW is SO much easier to follow with it on my phone! Technology is awesome these days!!
We'll see...

My Tax Dollars at Work

2011-02-09T05:57:00.000-06:00

The Ballpark In Arlington.

Brian and I have been to many games out there and look forward to going again on Opening Day!

I do hate how they plastered Super Bowl stuff all over the stadium. I mean, the Rangers did go to the World Series. Could we have put something like that up?? *sigh*

This made me cringe. It was hung over the home plate entrance.

I really thought this picture turned out nicely. Especially since we were driving down the road when I took it. *I also may have blinded Brian when I took this too* ; )

Batter Up??

2011-02-08T05:43:00.000-06:00

Lately this silly kid has been wearing a batting helmet everywhere! Around the house, to the dr, you know, where ever.
The drs office staff thought he was cute with it on but we had to almost bribe him to take it off when it came time to weigh him.
He won't be 3 till the end of August so I'm thinking that we won't be able to get him into any kind of t-ball till next year at the earliest. Too bad, this kid loves baseball.

2nd Round of Antibiotics, Same Ear Infection

2011-02-07T13:28:00.002-06:00

Took the stinker back to the dr--Which by the way, I had to get my dad to take us. As if the truck dying in the middle of traffic isn't bad enough, we took it to our trusty mechenic and he has NO clue and can't find anything wrong. Although this is the 3rd time it's happened and there is a problem, but no one can find it. Brian goes out there this weekend to mess with it, and the starter has gone out on it! Perfect! We're currently car shopping.
So, dad takes us to the pedi this morning...
2 more creams- she said 1 is about $200 and the other insurance will cover and it's $50.
1 more antibiotic--his right ear looks worse, the left looks better.
He still has diarrhea and since that wasn't bad enough (6+ days later) now he has blood in there too.
He has an acid burn on his "diaper area" from the massive amounts of diarrhea and now he has a yeast infection. This next batch of antibiotics are sure to only make matters worse.
His nostrils are so swollen that they are almost closed. Huh? Well, that actually explains the grunting when he breaths.
However, the good news is his lungs have cleared up!!! YAY!!
We go back 2/24 for another check on things. Maybe one day he'll be caught up on shots too. I think he's still missing 18 and 24 months injections.
looking forward to this summer when its a million degrees outside, but my kiddo will be healthy.
Oh, and she agreed, he'll probably need surgery to stitch up his g-tube hole. It keeps splitting open. I've got another call into his surgeon also.
And as you can imagine with the diarrhea, potty training is pretty much out the window right now.

Weekend in Review

2011-02-07T13:08:00.003-06:00

Since the Super Bowl was practically in our backyard, I made Brian drive us over there on Saturday night to check it out. We had tickets to one of the Super Bowl concerts that was going on, but because of our freak storm, it was canceled. We still dropped Colton off at my parents house to give everyone a break! LOL
We went and ate at Babes Chicken House and then checked out the stadium...aka Jerry World. It was quite a seen. My parents live really close (like 2-3 minutes) to the stadium and the air noise was so annoying to me. Helicopters and airplane circled the stadium the whole time we were there.
So back to the stadium... It took us about an hour to go 1/2 mile. Basically, everyone in Arlington was driving by the stadium and taking pictures. Brian kept yelling at me to stop taking pictures, but it's a once and a lifetime thing!! We're never going to go to a Super Bowl, so the best we can get is having it in our town. So shut it, old man, I'm taking some pictures! :)
We finished off our kid free night by going grocery shopping at 9pm and then going to bed and skipping church and sleeping in instead.
We had a small Super Bowl "party" at our house. Just family, but it was fun. Tons of food as always and a great time!
The snow is just about gone and it has turned out to be a nice day so far. Tomorrow should be beautiful as well, and then on Wednesday looks like the shit will hit the fan and it'll be another snow/ice filled day.

All of our trash. Tuesday, they didn't come because it was too icy, Friday it snowed. Can I get my trash picked up please?!?!?

Snow Day, Day 4

2011-02-05T12:56:00.000-06:00

I can't breath, I feel the walls caving in. Must.Get.Out!!!
We put the Jeep in 4 wheel drive and left the house today. We went to see a movie while my parents watched Colton. It was glorious!

I keep having to ask myself, self, don't you live in Texas???

Anyway, here is what the weatherman said we would get last night...
..."a light dusting here and if there is ANY accumulation, it'll be south." And he was talking about Houston, south, not Dallas/Fort Worth.
Would you believe we woke up and it was snowing!! We ended up with about 6 inches. I guess Canada would consider it a "light dusting".

Colton is still sick. We've gone through every cream and I've actually debated on taking him to the minor emergency care clinic, but then again, what are they going to do that we aren't.
Guess we'll wait till Monday and go to the pedi again.

Snow Day, Day 3

2011-02-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to lose my mind trapped in this house!! Even Colton has an evil smile today. I think we both need fresh air, but it's too cold to go outside. HELP!!

Ok, I gave Colton a bath this morning (and looking back at these pictures, our bathroom will be getting the next makeover...ugh, so ugly!!) and tried to let him stay in for as long as possible. After 3 days of being trapped in our house, we've about run out of stuff to do.
We baked a pie today and made mac n' cheese (his favorite) for lunch.
We are also running out of food and today we burned the last of the firewood...which was a boat load of wood by the way.
My dad came over and we dropped off our truck at our good friends shop for them to take a look at. *Praying they figure out what is wrong with it and that its cheap to fix*
Colton was actually napping today and my dad had me wake him up so we could go drop off the truck. Obviously, he was still tired after I woke him up...

Daddy came home and we made breakfast for dinner and then Colton and Daddy played the rest of the night. I'm pretty sure Colton is getting tired of looking at me for the past 3 days, so it was good that he and Brian got some good ol' play time in today.

Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo

2011-02-03T15:45:00.002-06:00

We took Colton to the stock show a few weeks ago. His cousin, Kayla, shows a few cows for the high school and we went to show our support for her.
It was super cold that day so we bundled Colton up, packed snacks, and that we were good to go. We got there and...Colton said the cows were "scary" and he screamed the whole time we were in the arena. Well, that was a big fat bust.
I have no idea why he thought the stupid cows were scary??? My Grandpa has a ranch with cows and other animals and we see him pretty often. Colton always loves the animals down there. In fact, he's usually a little too mean to the horses and we have to get on to him about that. And Brian's uncle has a ranch as well with cows and all kinds of crap too, so it's not like the stinker hasn't seen a dang cow before. Who knows. Of course her show started at 1pm which was also nap time so that may have had something to do with it.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our trip. Obviously, the only thing he was interested in was the tractors. He has a serious obsession with tractors!

Snow Day, Day 2

2011-02-02T01:47:00.000-06:00

Still at home but today Brian had to go in to work today. Colton was super sad that Daddy couldn't stay and play with us.
We ran up and down the hall and in our big, new den and played and played. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Colton to take a nap. No nap again for the little stinker. He did lay in his room for about an hour and sing and read in his bed.

We managed to make the worst, and I mean they are awful, cookies today. Ugh! I ended up tossing them in the trash.
Oh, and our 2 1/2 year old LG dishwasher broke. Really, LG?? You suck! Make a product that works a little longer!!!!
(and speaking of things that are broke... so is our truck. Praying it's not too expensive to fix and that they can figure out what is wrong with it. It just cuts out and dies while driving sometimes. Crazy and unsafe!)

When Brian got home we headed out for some roast over at Shammys house. Good thing Brian's mom only lives a few streets up. She makes a bad ass roast too!
Colton fell asleep on the way home. He was still asleep when Brian took him out of the Jeep and carried him to the couch!

Snow Day & Still Sick

2011-02-01T13:33:00.004-06:00

Snow Day today!! I was already off till Thursday, but Brian's work was closed as was Colton's school. So, we're all spending the day together.
We went outside, but only for a couple of minutes to let Colton play. He LOVED it, unlike last year when he cried the whole time.
After Colton's nap we've got to pick up more prescriptions for the pharmacy. Poor guy can't buy a break. He went to the pedi last week and had 2 ear infections and was "well on his way to another case of pneumonia." She put him on a high dose antibiotic for 3 weeks again and we go back 2/17/11 for her to check his ears.
He usually does have a little diarrhea with these strong antibiotics, but he's been like this since last week. Today we ended up putting him back in diapers because it wasn't even lunch time and he had 6-7 dirty diapers. His poor butt is red, blistered, bleeding, and just so irritated and inflamed. I ended up giving him some Motrin for the pain. He doesn't really "walk", it's more of a straddle/waddle right now.
Anyway, this has happened several times before and the pedi said it was probably another acid burn. She's calling in 2 more creams and hopefully that will help.

House Progress

2011-01-30T13:58:00.000-06:00

We're making way with our great room renovation. Brian put in can lights in the former formal dining and living areas this weekend. I scrapped off the rest of the popcorn texture while my parents kept Colton. We didn't want him to be around all the dust and everything so at nap time we took him to my parents and then picked him up at dinner time. He normally takes about a 4 hour nap on the weekends so it worked out pretty well.
We still need to Sheetrock the beam, finish out our column, texture, paint, patch the floor where the wall was...so yeah, we're not really anywhere near being done. However, the hard part I think is behind us. Hopefully this weekend we can knock out another chunk on our list. We are doing pretty well for this to be a weekend project. From Saturday morning to Sunday night, we're on top of it and staying busy.
Colton is LOVING all the extra room he has to run and play.

Great Room Project, Phase 1

2011-01-26T08:29:00.006-06:00

Taking down a load bearing wall wasn't really hard at all. Really it wasn't. It was pretty easy, although messy and labor intensive. However, it was stressful. Seriously, just knowing that the structural integrity of our house is in our hands. We (like paranoid freaks) went up and down the hallway for about an hour before we went to bed looking for cracks, sags, or anything that would make us concerned. We did find one crack...but it's because the hammer hit that part of the wall by mistake. LOL, so nothing to really be worried about.

Would we take down another load bearing wall? Yeah, but probably not a 20ft one.
I am proud of us though.

Taking down the paneling

a mess

more Sheetrock on the floor

My brother with his Grinch shirt on even came to help out

Temp wall and old load bearing wall in front of it.

My brother taking down the former load bearing wall

Dad and Brian holding the new header/support

Putting the header up

Moved the thermostat to the hallway with hopes that it'll be more accurate than it was being next to the fireplace.

And it's up!!

So much more open and spacious.

Brian looks so far away now when he's shooting me the bird.

Great Room Renovation, Phase 1, Part 1

2011-01-19T19:47:00.005-06:00

Our renovation started today. Huh?, you might ask. I thought you guys were still drawing plans and didn't have a complete estimate for the project?? Yup, you'd be right if you thought that. Obviously, I can't tell Brian that. I mean, I did, but then he kicked down the half wall, so there was no talking any kind of sense into him then.
The first part actually came rather easy. Which isn't a shock, since that wall was always a little wobbly.

This thing was pretty much a junk collector anyway though. Phone, mail, candles, keys, whatever, all collected here.

The sheetrock came off in one big, unbroken piece, which was nice and made for less of a mess. We saved the sheetrock and will actually be able to use it to patch a few holes we have. (like in Colton's bathroom--when I fell through the wall painting, LOL)

This piece came off in about 3 big pieces, but still not bad.

And within 5 minutes, this is what was left. Not much of a mess, and no half wall. It already looks bigger and better.

Then he attacked the top part of the wall. As he knocked on it he did say "huh, feels pretty solid." But he didn't check it out too much when he was in the attic last night scoping out the other walls.

Turns it out it really was "solid" just as suspected. After Brian discovered this, he thought now ought to be a good time to go to the attic and "investigate". Apparenlty this goes to the porch and is a support out there. No big deal. This will just be a little more work, but not too bad.

We will add the extra support in the attic to the porch and reinforce it. Then we'll be safe to take down this support beam and have an open ceiling. No big deal, just funny that every single thing we've wanted to remove is load bearing of some sort.
And, I guess we should never expect our porch to sag or cave in. The damn thing has 4 support columns in the front on the porch.

My job was taking off the crown molding (which we will reuse in the great room)

and all the picture frame molding (which will go in the fireplace tomorrow)

Brian showing me how to do it

So we did this on the spur of the moment, no planning *not by my choice* and with a toddler and 2 dogs running around. Fun times.

Brian plans to take care of our "surprise" beam this weekend. Hopefully, Colton will be at his grandparents house.

Colton + Hunter= BFF

2011-01-19T05:51:00.000-06:00

Colton is always terrorizing Hunter, my Beagle. Hunter does so well with Colton and they really do love each other. It's sweet to seem them play and for Colton to love on Hunter.
The other day, Colton was just flat out terrorizing Hunter. And I'm sure Hunter had it coming. Anyway, I had bought Hunter another bed, this one for the den, and Colton was trying to make him go to bed.

And it's obvious who won too.

A Little Morning Reading

2011-01-18T05:40:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I heard Colton in his room saying "chapel", "Bible", "Jesus". It was Saturday morning and he will usually play in his room or reed until he's ready to come out. He was so loud and laughing too so I decided to pop in and see what he was up to and this is what I found...
He was reading his Bible that his Aunt Claudia and Uncle David gave him last year at Christmas. He loves to read and he loves the Lord.

and apparently he'd also taken his pants off too. LOL

I shall file this photo under...future blackmail

2011-01-17T20:20:00.004-06:00

I have a feeling a whole lot of pictures during our potty training experience will go under "blackmail material".
Today Colton was helping me "cook" AKA-- bake a cake.
Thank God I didn't pack those Baby Legs away just yet!
BTW, he had just dumped applesauce all down the front of his shirt so that was taken off a few minutes prior. I wasn't going to let him dirty up another shirt when I knew he'd want to lick the beaters either.

You can also see his g-tube hole is healing up rather nicely as well. You can't see any of the other scars from his prior surgeries from the picture either. There is some funky rash that he's had on his upper chest that you can see. I need to call the pedi tomorrow about it. He's had it for a while now.

New Underoos

2011-01-17T09:31:00.003-06:00

Colton is out of school till Wednesday so I pulled out his underwear and let him pick out which one he wanted to wear. Of course he wanted to wear all his Yo Gabba Gabba underwear...at the same time. He ended up choosing Brobee, the whiny little green monster.
He's currently laying on my bed watching Yo Gabba Gabba in his new Yo Gabba Gabba underoos.
Hoping today goes well since we WILL be at home all day.

Amazing

2011-01-16T20:46:00.002-06:00

It really is amazing that Colton can pick the one word out of a sentence that doesn't sound awful when we used it, but than he just says that one word and we look like awful parents.
Ex 1. The way they do things here is really kind of stupid.
Of course Colton picks "stupid" to repeat over and over and over and over and over again. Fantastic!
Ex 2.
I was taking Colton to the bathroom and we just barely missed it when he pooped on the floor. I said "dang it" under my breath, but of course he runs around saying it, but unfortunately, it sounds awfully close to "damn it". Even better.

I'm praying he doesn't bust out and yell damn it and church and then call his teacher stupid or something. Ugh...

New Smoker

2011-01-14T00:50:00.000-06:00

I got Brian a new MasterBuilt Smoker for Christmas. It's pretty awesome if I do say so. But I'm a pretty awesome wife, LOL, so it just goes that I would give an awesome gift.
We bought a ham after church Sunday (in the snow) and then went home to "doctor it up" and toss it in the smoker. Luckily, it came with a handy, dandy remote so we were able to monitor the temp and time from the comfort of our house.
Here's how our first meal in the smoker came out! Y-U-M!!

We're used the leftover ham and bone to make a delicious pot of beans and cornbread. Y-U-M again!

Potty Training

2011-01-13T18:05:00.002-06:00

Honestly, I went in with ZERO expectation (just like I do with everything else) and have therefore been pleasantly surprised with the results. **Knock on wood** it hasn't been too difficult yet...I expect us to hit a big wall at any moment though.

We have only been working with this potty training business for about a week. He tells us when he needs to go, if I ask him if he needs to go--most of the time he says "no" and then is still dry the next time I ask him. So pretty much I just wait for him to tell me he needs to go. Hmmm, must be doing something right.
I picked him up from school today and he had NO ACCIDENTS!! and was running down the hall with Ms Kia to go to the potty.

He had shown interest last summer before he turned 2, but with his g-tube...well, it was a problem. Remember how he liked to pull it out just for the hell of it? We couldn't take his pants off without him trying to rip the damn thing out. Plus, the preschool had the same problem as we did and they said they weren't even going to work on any kind of potty training till the g-tube was gone.

His button was removed on 12-1-2010 and he only had 2 weeks till school was out for Christmas, and then with all the running around with the holidays--we just decided to not even bother trying and start after the first of the year when school started back up. That brings us to now...and...so far, so good!

Like I said, I'm no dummy and I know this could change at any moment and I'm waiting for the wall to slap us in the face and for him to regress and all that. But so far, for this week, things have been going great!

And here's a conversation we had the other night...
Colton: I go tee-tee in bathtub.
Me: um, no. Why would you go in there? That's nasty. Go tee-tee in the potty.
Colton: no, I go tee-tee in bathtub.
Me: no.
Colton: ok, ummmm, I go tee-tee in potty...but for M&M's!
Me: whatever, I'm tired of arguing with you. You're not peeing in the bathtub though.

So he held it till I agreed to give him M&M's if he pee'd in the potty. He only got 1 M&M for what it's worth.
I can't believe he wanted to negotiate for an M&M.

Any tips, advice, comments??