Mommy's birthday surprise

Oooo! 3 posts in 2 days! Must be a record!

So Monday was my 3(ahem!) birthday. Honestly this year was the first year I actually had to think about how old I was going to be. So sad.

Anyway.....Monday was my birthday and to celebrate, Johnny let me go out to the Cheesecake Factory w/ some friends (and my mommy) while he stayed home with the kids. It was lots of fun and I got to eat some YUMMY food and delicious cheesecake. This has become a tradition ever since the Factory graced our humble town with its presence.

Johnny had me call him when we left the restaurant, so I knew he had something up his sleeve. I also knew it was 8:30 and my 3 1/2 year old was still awake, so it had to be cute. We pulled in the driveway and a little silhouette flung the curtain open in the living room window, peering out to see if Mommy was really home. We walked in and this is what greeted me:




And the reason I needed to call when we left the restaurant? This:


I had told Johnny I wanted a cookie cake, so he made me one himself! He was so proud and rightfully so! It's really good! Yeah, that's dark chocolate icing. He piped it on himself. What a guy!

Here's me and J.J. w/ the card he gave me:



And here's 2 of my friends who blessed me by coming to dinner with me (Thanks, Lauren and Laura!):



All in all...good birthday! Oh...and then last night I got to eat Olive Garden! Did I mention my hubby is going for the Husband of the Year award? :) I think he's got it in the bag!

What I learned from Little Einsteins this morning

I learned that this exists in Chihuahua, Mexico:

Can anyone hear me?

Is there anybody still left that would even care if I updated my blog? Sheesh...I can't believe the last time I updated was the day before Hadley's birthday (not counting my post that I started in May and never finished that I just posted today). I'm sure anyone who actually reads this has long given up on me and the only way they would even know is if they have Google Reader and it tells them I updated. Oh yeah...and facebook. Can't forget that time sucker!

So here's what has happened since the last time I updated (and most people who care to read this probably already know all this, so this is really just for my own personal diary-esque enjoyment):

• Hadley turned one (obviously). Pics of the bash to follow.

• We went on our annual trip to Colorado. Vacation + kids does NOT = relaxing time. We realized that if we want to relax, we're going to have to schedule 2 vacations: one with the kids and one without! But we still had fun. J.J. went fishing at the lake, I scraped the bottom of Mom's Jeep on some big rocks on a mountain pass (par for the course) and we watched LOTS of hummingbirds swarm our feeder. (Go check out the pics on facebook)
• I camped out at the Floyd Center (my old SNU b-ball camp stomping grounds) to try and get J.J. transferred into Bethany for Pre-K next year. That's right...camped. Literally. With a tent. I probably didn't need to, because once I got there only about 10 more people showed up that night (the night before) and a handful showed up EARLY the next morning, but I had lots of fun! Melissa Scott & Lauren D. came and hung out with me and played Skip-Bo and kept me company. Plus, I made some new friends and reconnected with some friends from high school that I had only talked to on facebook a couple times. Fingers crossed, we were #26 in line for Pre-K, so I think we'll be okay, since they usually take 40 or 50 transfers! (Sorry no pics...Channel 5 news got all the footage anyone would EVER need to see of me in my pj's after 3 hours of sleep in a tent!)
  
• J.J. started back at Sonlight Preschool at our church. His new teachers are wonderful! Mrs. Jina is amazing! We love her (and it doesn't hurt that she's a Poke fan!) and are very excited for what J.J.'s going to learn this year!
• OSU was ranked #7 going into their first game!!!! And we beat Georgia in our home opener, unarguably our biggest season opener ever! And OU lost! To BYU! So we went up to #5! And they dropped out of the top ten!
  
• OSU lost their 2nd game. To Houston. Because we couldn't play defense. At all. Now we're ranked #17. Today we play Rice. Any bets whether we'll pull this one off? We're only supposed to win by 14. Uh-oh. (EDIT: We did win...but not because we played well. 41-24 is NOT a good score against Rice, the worst team in their league)

Here's some pics!

Opening her present from Grami & Grandpa Mike over July 4th weekend

Crummy face after her birthday cupcake at church

Hi, birthday girl!



The other two 'H' girls, Hazel & cousin Halle

Getting ready to sing to the big girl

Dig in, baby girl!

Mmmmm...cake!

J.J. making his placemat at 'Meet the Teacher Day' for Sonlight Preschool

Best buds, J.J. & Will North, just like their mommies


I wanted a picture w/ him and his new teachers, Mrs. Paula and Mrs. Jina. He wasn't so happy the first time....then we took this picture:
I think he's happy now...what do YOU think? :)


What? I can't hear you! I have a banana in my ear! I swear that was not my intent when I took this one!

Walking to the classroom on the first day of school

An old pro at putting the backpack in the basket

Putting his monkey in the tree. It only comes down if he misbehaves.

He's really not trying to make a statement about Mia's conversational topic! There were 2 or 3 kids screaming all at the same time right then!

Bye, Mom!

Nooooooooo!

My baby girl is turning 1. Tomorrow (or depending on when you read this, since I'm typing it at 11:34 pm, today).

I can't take how fast life is flying by! Wasn't I just in the hospital having her? When did we have Christmas??? It seems like a week ago I was sick of people complaining about the cold...now they're all complaining about the heat! Life really is TOO short!

BUT, I don't want my blog entry about my baby turning 1 to be muddled with cranky negativity! I will rejoice in the fact that I have a one-year-old daughter who is healthy and precious and silly and adorable and teeny and WONDERFUL!!!

She's just so much fun all the time! From her little crinkled up nose-sniffs (a trait inherent in all baby girls, I think) to her shaking her head and smiling because Mommy is silly to her patting Daddy's tummy to say 'please' in sign language instead of her own...I can't get enough! I don't want her to get bigger or older. I want her to stay this way forever! I wouldn't even mind the diapers!

I know, I know...there are so many wonderful things to look forward to in her future. But I just LOVE the stage she's at right now. It's hard to think it will end soon.

On that note, I say:

Happy Birthday, sweet Hadley! You are more precious to me than I could ever express to you in words. You make me smile with just the flicker of your eyebrow, the smack of your toothless gums! I love you so much, my tiny daughter!

SO Far Behind!

Oh my. I just found this post I started a bit ago...in MAY! Ridiculous. So...since I'm about to type a new post, I'll put this one up and then start another one in a bit (translation: once the kids are down for their naps). Enjoy.


How many times have I wanted to sit down and update this blog? TOO MANY! But something always pulls me away: a crying daughter who pooped in her diaper and woke herself up, a son who refuses to poop on the potty so we've now resorted to bribes and taking things away ("Bear Bear" is now in potty "time-out" until the poop goes in the bowl), laundry--oh, so much laundry, facebook Farm Town (pathetic, isn't it?)...the list continues.

One thing that always keeps me from updating is that I think of something I want to blog about but I don't have the pictures uploaded to the hard drive, so I then have to go dig out the camera, find the right memory card, upload the pictures and then wait. And wait...and wait....and wait. The waiting comes from me not uploading pictures enough so I have hundreds that take forever to upload. By the time they are done, I've moved on to something else and totally forget what I was going to blog about in the first place! SHEESH!!

All that said, I'll just start with the things I remember. Like what J.J. just said to me on his third time out of bed from naptime, while sitting on the potty:

Mommy: "Are you trying to poop?"
J.J.: "Yep! I gotta get Bear Bear back!"

TOO cute!!! (FYI, Bear Bear is still in time out)

What else? I'm out of the stupid boot now. Otherwise known as the loveliest way to accent how short and thick my legs are. Seriously, if you ever want to make your legs look as non-long and non-skinny as you can, where an air-cast on one leg while you wear gaucho pants. Beeeee-YOOO-teee-ful! I'm sure Stacey What's-Her-Face on "What Not To Wear" is recommending that to everyone on the show to replace their oversized tie-dye t-shirts and paisley ties.


J.J. and his buddy Luca


Talking to Mr. Bear


Riding the merry-go-round

One day, in April, we were getting ready to go to Nana & Pappy's house for the weekend and this buzzed me and the kids in the living room:



Letting the little guy go

Time with friends

This past weekend (which extended into Monday) was such a blessing! Let's start with Friday:

I helped lead worship at Faith Bible's women's retreat. What refreshment! It has been SO long since I've gotten to do anything musical and throw in that I got to sing with my friend Julie Jo...well...it was WONDERFUL! I miss her (which is ridiculous because we live 20 minutes away from each other!) and I really miss singing (not much chance for that when you're taking care of kiddos every Sunday and Wednesday).

Later that night, my friend Lauren came over to hang out. I honestly don't even remember what we did...I think we caught up on Chuck episodes and watched other random stuff. It doesn't matter. Any time Lauren comes over it's fun!

Saturday, I got to sing some more with Julie at Faith. Then I hightailed it home so we could get the young-uns ready to go to the Medieval Fair in Norman! Yes, folks...we partook in the nerdiest fair in the land. Because that's who we are and that's what we do! :) I made the comment about how the state fair brings out all the 'carnies' and 'w.t.' people from the woodwork. Well, the Medieval Fair brings out all the 'D&D' and sci-fi lovers from the woodwork.

AND it's an excuse to wear a costume! "But Heather", you say, "I don't have any medieval-type costumes!" Doesn't matter! Do you have fairy wings? Strap 'em on! Tights? Pull those puppies up to your navel and wear some wrestling shoes over them. Girls, put on a bikini top and some billowy pants. You've just achieved "gypsy" status! Men, throw on the aforementioned tights and wrestling shoes and a burlap sack over the top and you've got yourself a bona fide peasant/knave/ye olde costume! Priceless! Seriously, anything mythological counts at this place, whether it's from the days of yore, yesteryear, the colonial period, ancient Greece...whatever! Put it on and you fit right in!

Seriously, though, it was a good time...Johnny even bought a sword! He has wanted his very own s-word ("I can read, Trebek!") for so long now that I think I may have been more excited that he got one than he was! We got J.J. (who stayed at Grami's house while we braved the wind, blowing grass, elves, heat and sun) his own wooden sword and shield. But Johnny says he needs one too...because right now all J.J. can do with his sword is get into trouble swinging it around at objects in the house. "He really needs someone else to have one too so they can swordfight," Johnny commented. Mmmhmmm...just what I need in the house.

After yon fair, we went back to get J.J. and Johnny dropped me off in Edmond at Pei Wei to eat din din with Julie Jo (woo hoo...3 times in two days!), RacheyB and Jen Reeves. I love hanging out with those girls...it's always so much fun (even if we didn't take our annual "fake laughing" pics).

So, Sunday was busy too (as usual). Church was its usual crazy self. Nothing extroardinarily taxing. That afternoon I got to go to a bridal shower for one of the girls who grew up in our youth group. So fun! Hanging out with precious girls from our church and just being silly. Love it! And then after evening church, Lauren came over again. See? Fun times with friends!

And then to top it all off, last night I got to go eat dinner with fun girls from the 20something class! Dinner at Friday's (pecan-crusted chicken salad? Yes, please!) and then a most ridiculous game of "Loaded Questions" at Lauren's house! SO FUN!

I'd like to thank my husband for making this past weekend possible! He was such a trooper, watching the mini-Hugheses while I went out and played! Thanks, honey! You're amazing! You've more than earned your weekend away! :) Love you!

A bit of a change...

EDIT: Okay...so I found one that I really, really like...and here it is! I know I gave nobody a chance to give me input, but now you can just tell me how cute it is! :)

I'm trying out some new formats...and I've not yet settled on one that satisfies me. I realized that I did need a title change (thanks, Rach!), since I haven't quoted a movie in a post in about a year...I don't think, anyway. Maybe I have. Do TV shows count? Who knows...or really even cares.

SO, I'm going for a new look...a bit more polished...but I'm having trouble finding one that fits my personality or that I even think looks good. Any advice? I've tried a couple sites for layout ideas or codes, but so far I'm not impressed. Help! Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks, friends!

I'll take "Clutziest Moms Ever" for $400, Alex

I've never claimed to be graceful. As Elaine said one time in Seinfeld, "Listen, I don't have grace, I don't want grace, I don't even SAY grace!" (Okay, that part doesn't apply, but you get the point). When I was little my mom used to call me "Grace" any time I did something incredibly clutzy, which was pretty often, looking back. I even picked "Engracia" for my obligatory Spanish name in high school Spanish class.

You want some examples of my lack of grace? One day after preschool I was at my friend Andy's house and we were playing tag. Their house was one of those where you walk in the front door, the living/dining room was on your left, which had a door into the kitchen, which had a door into the family room, which was at the end of the entry way...thus forming a great circle for running. I got a little too excited and misjudged the door from the entryway to the family room and ran full speed into the wall, head first. Hello giant goose egg on my forehead.

A few years later, I was in the tree in our backyard, slipped and fell out...about 10 feet up...landing directly on my back on the ground below. No damage, just had the wind knocked out of me...and one petrified dad who saw the whole thing while he was mowing.

More? I broke my hand in 4th grade playing tag w/ my friend Jenny Robinson. We were using a bar for home base (the grabbing onto kind, not the belly up to kind!) and I reached out, going full speed, and bent my middle finger on my left hand all the way back. I heard it (and felt it, obviously) pop, but didn't realize it was broken until the next day when I looked down and saw a giant lump on the back of my hand. My mom made the orthopedist fashion my cast so I could still play the violin. Sick, I tell ya.

Go on? I was playing tag w/ Jenny again in 7th grade (why did I continue to play this game? I obviously was not cut out to play it without safety gear!). I was trying to get away from her by going inside the restaurant we were eating at and the entryway bricks were about 1/2 inch higher than the cement outside, which made me trip. I went headlong into a gumball machine, slicing my forehead open. I came away from that with 7 stitches in my right eyebrow.

Fast forward a few (okay...14) years to adulthood. You'd think maybe growing up had maybe let me become a little more graceful, but no. When Johnny and I were still living in Stillwater, I was working for a lawyer as his legal secretary. One day I was headed home for lunch and rather than strolling down the admittedly steep stairs that led outside, I decided I would take a flying leap from about the 6th step up. No, this was not on purpose. My foot got caught on the metal edging on one of the steps and I fell, face first, towards the door at the bottom of the staircase. My hands somehow managed to hit the pushbar that opens the door and I landed on my chin on the concrete landing outside. Not only did I need 7 stitches in my chin, but I also bent the fingernails back on both middle fingers (when I hit the door) and cracked (well...the dr. said it wasn't, but it sure felt like it!) my kneecap on the edge of one of the steps. I didn't know what to focus on because everything hurt equally!

After we moved to OKC, I was mountain biking w/ my friend Rachel and her hubby Nick and hit a rocky part of the track we were riding. I ended up doing a flip over my handlebars and whacked my right hand hard enough on one of the rocks to warrant a trip to the emergency room. I admit the Meyers got to hear some choice words that afternoon. No broken bone, but I sure did cringe every time I shook someone's hand for the next YEAR after that!

Which leads me to my most recent ER visit. Okay...so technically it was the after hours clinic, but it did involve another X-ray! Saturday one of J.J.'s friends from church had a birthday party at "Pump It Up", a local party venue that has lots and lots of inflatables: moon bounces, obstacle courses, slides, etc. This being the first time J.J. had ever been in one of those, he was a little timid and Mommy had to join in the fun to raise his courage. We went down the really big slide quite a few times and the obstacle course once together. Then he decided to tackle the obstacle course by himself. I watched him go over the first two hills and through the little mesh-covered tunnel that led to "Mt. Everest" at the back of the course...a really tall (for a 3 year-old!) slanted wall with blocks and handles to climb up, with a slide at the top that brings you back to the entrance. When we had gone through it together, he got scared and needed help from Mommy to get up. This time he handled it like a pro--a regular Tenzing Norgay on the original Everest! (He's one of the original sherpas...read Into Thin Air and you'll learn all about him.)

Anyway...he scaled that wall in no time and got up to the top and, as I was watching through the mesh wall at the back, I had to run to get to the front to watch him come down the slide. I didn't want him to be scared by me not being there to catch him. Unfortunately, I didn't make it. I was too busy kicking one of the metal anchors that hold the inflatable on the ground! You know how that goes...you're walking (or in my case, running) and you misjudge the spacing next to a large obect like the couch or a table leg and you inevitably kick it with your pinky toe. It hurts like the dickens, you mutter a few not-so-nice words under your breath (or scream them if no kids are around), walk around on your heel for a bit, breathing in and out like you just ran a marathon (because somehow, extra oxygen makes it stop hurting faster) and you're fine.

But not this time. Oh no. I hit that thing full-force! The pain made my head go all swirly. But I would not be kept from my important business of seeing my kid go down the slide. Except he was already down and headed back in for another go-round. Noting that he was fine, I took time to look down at my poor little piggy that cried 'wee wee wee' and was shocked to see that it wasn't bleeding! I thought for sure the pain was indicative of my toenail being forcefully removed from my person. But there was something a little awry...my toenail was still there, but it was no longer facing up like the rest of the toes. No, this soldier had fallen out of formation. My poor little piggy was now rotated 90 degrees so that the toenail was facing out from my foot.

Mmmhmm. That's me, the clutziest mom on earth. I go to a birthday party for a 3 year-old and come decide to have my own little 'fun'. My first thought was that it was dislocated. So I hobbled over to a bench where my friend Nancy was sitting and asked her if she knew how to relocate a toe. I showed her my toe and asked her what I should do. She said, "Pop it back in." WHAT?!?!? Do I look like a doctor? Or a person with the pain tolerance to do that to myself? But I thought, well...that's probably what it needs and it was still numb from the original shock, so if I was going to do it, now was the time. So I steeled myself and grabbed my poor little pig. I pulled it out and tried to move it. It didn't budge! Not even a millimeter!

By this time, a little crowd of moms was forming (okay...2 more moms), and I was getting a little embarassed by the fact that I'm that clutzy, so I tried to just kind of play it off. But the shock and numbness was quickly wearing off and fear, panic and PAIN was setting in. I thought one more time about trying to move my toe back into place and then called Johnny, who was at home with Hadley. I told him what had happened and asked if I should try to move it and his intelligence broke through my fog of humiliation and searing agony. He said, "If it's broken, you don't want to mess with it." Good call, honey.

So, we decided to let J.J. stay at the party (no sense in making him suffer for his mom's ridiculous lack of poise....and balance!) and he rode home w/ our friend Melissa. We headed to the after hours doctor by our house and got an x-ray and a jolt: he said it was broken (all the way through...not just fractured) and would probably require SURGERY to fix it! WHAT?!?!?!?!? Dr. Mumbles (the man was barely audible!), could you repeat that??? I said, "Are you kidding me???" When the dr. left, I looked at Johnny who burst into laughter. Meanwhile, I burst into tears....not from pain, but from utter humiliation! How could I do something so serious by stubbing my toe?!?!?!

The rest of the weekend was spent with me on the couch or in bed with my foot propped up, toes taped to each other and bluish-black skin below them. Got lots of crocheting done w/ my mom and my lovely friend Lauren. Then yesterday I went and saw the incomparable Dr. S, a lovely female podiatrist, who gave me the best news...NO SURGERY REQUIRED! WHEW! She gave me a shot, moved my toe about 2 millimeters back into place and sent me home in a walking air cast. Yes...I'm in a boot. It's the height of fashion, I tell you. And not at all uncomfortable! Ummmm....yeah....that's a big lie. I have to wear a long sock with it and inflate it with a little blue squeezy bulb thingy. One part of my foot is in constant discomfort, whether it's my actual toe that's broken or another part that just feels like a too-tight shoe is rubbing on it all the time. But hey...I could be on crutches or need surgery. So I guess I shouldn't complain. And that percoset she gave me....WOO!!! Good stuff, Mainard! (If this seems a bit weird and WAY too wordy...it's because I took one about an hour ago and my head is a bit spinny and fuzzy!)

And I can still drive. So that's good...nobody has to shuttle me around for 4 or 5 weeks, which is how long I get to wear this lovely device. At least I get to take it off to sleep, shower and drive. Maybe I'll just sleep 10 hours a day, drive around for 4 hours and take REALLY long showers! That will minimize the amount of time I have to wear it, right? :) I know...it's to help me heal.

Well...that ended up being a MUCH longer post than I expected. If you made it all the way through, BRAVO to you! Hope you all are having more luck with your balance than I am! Good night!

What we've been doing

Since I never posted anything about my precious 3 year-old's birthday, I'll do it now!

We had originally planned on having his birthday party on the 24th at church. Invitations were sent, emails sent, church rooms reserved, decorations and juice boxes bought, etc. Then he decided he needed to get sick. With a sinus infection. Oh...and pink eye!

So we had to postpone...and we would have postponed for the next weekend, but Johnny's mom's wedding was planned for that weekend, so...no dice. We had to shoot for the FOLLOWING week...February 4th.

On his actual birthday (Sunday), he was feeling well enough to go out to eat w/ Grandma to celebrate Daddy's birthday at Texas Roadhouse, so we did get to do that. So his birthday didn't go completely unnoticed. Here's a few pics of that day:


Waiting for a table at TR


Grandma brought one of my old toys for him to have!


Daddy's present from Grandma...yes, it says, "Totally Useless History of the World"...that's just the stuff Johnny likes...I don't know.


Gator Golf!!! From Mommy & Daddy


Grami brought some presents and a cake!

SO...then the ice storm of 2009 came...and postponed Grami's wedding for 3 weeks because the entire city of Eureka Springs, AR was shut down, basically! So we got to enjoy a Minnie Mouse party for Cousin Hannah and a High School Musical party for Cousin Madison on that Saturday (the 31st). Nothing like an entire day of birthday festivities, topped off with the WORST dining-out experience EVER! Seriously! We wanted to eat w/ Nana & Pappy that night at Red Lobster but they said it was an hour-and-a-half wait! How is it possible to wait longer than it takes people to eat??? So then we went to Chili's where we were told it was a 15 minute wait...that turned into an hour! Not so fun!

Anyway, the actual birthday extravaganza ended up being the next weekend (Feb. 4th) and it was so much fun! It was a Cars theme...because that's what 3 year-old boys like! "Lighting Queen", as J.J. calls him. We had the movie playing, had a giant Cars tent set up in the room and then had a birthday Grand Prix!!! Instead of describing what that is, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:


J.J. gets help opening a gift from his buddy Sawyer



Hadley's future boyfriend, Ian...who outweighs her by 3 pounds, despite being 5 months younger! Don't you love that they're holding hands?? Not staged...he grabbed it!


The big present from Mommy & Daddy...every kid needs a Big Wheel!


Getting ready to race in the Grand Prix!! (P.S. J.J. wouldn't race...he was too scared by all the cheering. He "chose not to run!")



And they're off!!



Sam North is the champion!!

It was so much fun! Everyone had a great time (even though J.J. was scared). He kept talking about it all day long.

Randomness on a Friday

Howdy, howdy, howdy.

So, as a way to procrastinate doing laundry (I know, what else is new???), I thought I'd update the ol' blog with some random bits of info. this chilly Friday (hello...it was 80 yesterday!). So here we go:

1. I get to go to Cuppies and Joe tonight with Gina!!!! I cannot wait to experience the deliciousness that is the Peanut Butter Solution cupcake! Ahhh, girl time!

2. There's no school today because the local school district our preschool goes by is out for parent-teacher conferences. No school = boy at home all day...I think we may go to the mall or the local science museum.

3. My sister-in-law (if you haven't already heard) was followed at our local Wal-mart last Wednesday. She saw a guy on every aisle she was on and then tricked him by pretending she was going down the next aisle but backed up to see him tailing her! Wal-mart was at first doing nothing...every manager that we (me, my sister-in-law, our friend's husband, ladies from my church, the local news channel that did a story on her that you can see here) talked to denied every hearing about it. Now others have come forward and I've heard they've got security guards at every door and the managers are stationed at the front of the store with headsets. I wouldn't know...I'm not giving them my money until they get the situation resolved.

4. I played a really fun game online a bit ago. You try to name as many colors as you can in 5 minutes.

40

5. Johnny's mom got remarried last weekend in Eureka Springs. So now, my kids have Grandpa Mike to spoil them. The only problem? They're moving to Purcell! That's a bit far to babysit at a moment's notice! But she gets to retire at the end of the school year after almost 30 years of teaching. So she will be LOTS happier...we're thrilled for Grami!

6. American Idol...I HATE the new format! I don't know why. Maybe I'll come to appreciate the fact that people have to actually be choosy about who they vote for so they don't vote for ridiculous people like Tatiana Del Toro ("of the bull") or Nick/Norman. But so far, a lot of really talented people who just picked the wrong song are falling through the cracks. There is one saving grace: the judges get to bring back three 'wild cards' back after the first 9 are voted in by America. So maybe some of the girls still have a chance. Because so far, they haven't done so hot! Tis definitely a boy year. Whatever. I'm still mad they didn't put Danny's friend Jamar through and they put Nick/Norman through to the top 36. ASSININE!

7. LOST!!!! I haven't watched this weeks episode yet, but it is SOOOO good this season! Very intriguing! I want to watch 4 hours in a row every week! Plus, we've started up our Lost Watch Party that died out when all of our cowatchers graduated and went off to college. Now we have newbies that won't be going anywhere anytime soon because they work here. Saaaa-WEET!

8. J.J. went in to get his ears rechecked from having an infection 3 weeks ago (the only reason we knew he had one was from his 3-year check-up...he never complains!) and it's not AS bad, but it's still infected and is now in both ears. SUPER!

9. I had a Pampered Chef party at my house on Monday. We had some DELISH pasta w/ sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil....yummy!! Not that I will EVER make that in my life, because the tomatoes alone were $5 for a tiny jar, but at least it was tasty! Now I get free kitchen stuff. Good times.

10. I HATE making up the schedule every quarter for the early childhood department. Every 3 months, I get slapped in the face with the fact that people keep dropping off like flies, making my job that much harder. Every Sunday, I have at least 32 spots to fill. So many people have either decided they just don't want to serve anymore or are too tired from all the other things they do at church that I have anywhere from 1 to 3 time-slots unfilled every Sunday that I have to fill with paid workers. And I don't have enough of them, either! There are now people volunteering to serve twice a month to fill spots that should be filled by people who aren't serving at all. I just wish people would quit complaining and step up. It's once a month. Quit whining. [I would be worried about people getting upset about this post, but A) not enough people from church read this and B) I am so tired of dealing with it that I don't care whose feelings I hurt. If your feelings are hurt, it's probably your conscience being pricked to come serve!]

11. Spring Break is officially Potty Training Week in the Hughes house. Please pray for me! I am not known for my patience and I have a feeling it's going to be a very. long. week. For all of us.

Okay...that's enough procrastinating. I gotta go do something productive. Sorry if this seemed to be a negative post. That's just what's on my mind these days. Love love!

Organizing 101

I bet from the title, you're expecting a lesson in organizing, right? Well, since most of you who read my blog actually know me and know how I SUCK at organizing, it's probably more appropriate to just admit that I NEED some sort of lesson! Anybody wanna come over and learn me somethin'? I'm swimming in piles of laundry and random baby stuff and scrapbooking stuff and TOYS!!!!

I know, I know...there's a simple solution to the piles of laundry: FOLD IT AND PUT IT AWAY!!! But now it's just one more thing that overwhelms me and makes me tired just looking at it. I realize that my laziness has a LOT to do with the problem, but I can't seem to shake it. Selfish, selfish, selfish me.

Well, I'd write more, but I'm actually going to go to bed at a normal hour so maybe I won't be exhausted tomorrow and maybe, just maybe I can get one pile taken care of.

Ahhhh....motherhood.

Well, it's 15 degrees here...brrrrr! But I love it! I would much rather it be cold than hot. When it's hot, you can't snuggle up next to crackling fire w/ your kiddos and stay in your jammies all day watching Noggin because school was canceled due to an inch of ice on everything. They just don't cancel school for too much hot. Unless you're in the city school district. Oh snap!

Now, when I say I love not being able to leave the house is great, it is...unless you've been stuck inside for 5 out of the last 6 days. My fears of J.J. having whooping cough were assuaged by a quick trip to the emergency care doctor last Sunday. Nope...he just had a cough due to his allergies, said Mr. Overpriced On-call Doctor. And his overly goopy-but-not-quite-pink eyes were caused by the same. So that's why we took him to school on Wednesday. Then it hit us. All of us.

The sickness. The coughing, aches, chills, headache, sore throat, sniffling, sneezing yuckiness that has been hitting EVERYONE around here. First, I called in sick to Bible study Wednesday night. I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat that morning and unfortunately it got progressively worse as the day progressed (despite my best attempts to fix it with Jason's Deli soup and salad bar--thanks for the invite, Julie N.!). By the time 5:00 rolled around, I was shivering under a blanket on the couch with aching joints and a pounding headache. And still had 2 kids to take care of. Ahhhh....motherhood. I tried to enlist the help of both my mom who was stuck at work and my mother-in-law who was on her way to Norman to visit her fiance, so J.J. was forced to watch show after show until Daddy could make it home with McDonalds and an extra pair of hands.

Oh...I forgot to mention that Johnny had been feeling rotten for the last 3 days...so I officially blamed my getting sick on him. Except, his rationale was that I felt worse, so I got him sick. I don't know...men have weird ideas sometimes.

Anyway, J.J.'s eyes got progressively worse as the evening went on and his cough wasn't getting any better either. So the next morning (Johnny stayed home to take care of the boy so I could try to get better) I called and got him an appointment with our favorite Dr. H. When I woke up to them coming home at 11:30, I was informed that not only did J.J. have PINK EYE but also a sinus infection. GREAAAAAT! Sorry, everyone at school! I exposed your kid to pink eye!

So the next three days consisted of me laying in our bed, taking my beloved Z-pack (I had some kind of infection...the P.A. I saw didn't really tell me what it was) and letting Hadley crawl all over the bed. Meanwhile Johnny (whose sinuses were so clogged the dr. couldn't even see if it was infected...she just knew and therefore prescribed our friend Mr. Z) and J.J. (suffering 4 times a day through Daddy forcing eye drops and then 2 times a day ingesting yukky antibiotic) relegated themselves to the living room, leaving the door to our room open so they could talk to us, but keeping the baby gate up in the doorway so J.J. couldn't come infect the baby with his eye funk. Oh let me not forget that on Saturday morning, J.J. barfed all over the kitchen. We're chalking it up to too much swallowed mucus. At least I didn't have to clean it up...what a saint of a hubby I have! All in all it was a great weekend. Ahhh...motherhood.

Except for one tiny little detail I neglected to mention: Sunday was J.J.'s 3rd and Johnny's 29th birthday. And Saturday was supposed to have been J.J.'s Cars party at our church. Needless to say, the festivites were postponed until NEXT Saturday (as Johnny's mom is getting married this Saturday). But I guess it turned out okay...it gives me more time to get stuff ready for the party. I just felt awful because the poor little guy (and the big guy, for that matter) didn't really get a big fuss thrown about their special day. Which I really hate. Don't get me wrong, we did give him a couple presents on his actual birthday, and we got to venture out to eat at Texas Roadhouse for lunch on Sunday, but it just wasn't the same without the party.

And now we're still stuck in the house because Jack Frost is nipping at everyone's noses...and glazing the streets. Like I said, it's great to stay in jammies all day long, but I have to admit the stir-craziness is rising up in me.

But you know what? I have everything I need here in my house...food, warmth, running water, electricity (Lord willing!), my adorable kids, and plenty of stuff to do. And it's not like I'm really itching to get out on the road with the rest of the morons who don't know how to drive on ice...even though that's all we usually get here--you'd think we'd be pros by now! But I'm not relishing the thought of packing both my children into Phyllis (our van's name, christened on a trip to Buffalo for Christmas), tempting some nitwit who thinks they can stop on a dime on an inch of ice to plow into us. So for now, I'll stay all bundled up by the fire, with a nice cup of coffee and read J.J. a story while Hadley blows raspberries, just so she can hear the sound.

Ahhhh....motherhood.

Why do I read stuff on the internet?

Seriously...I don't know why I look to the internet to answer my questions, especially if the answers I seek are regarding my kids' health. All it does is freak me out...EVERY TIME! I innocently google a symptom or a suspected ailment and it brings up something more serious and my mind instantly rushes to the worst case scenario. Just like tonight.

A little background info first:

J.J. has allergies. Cat (pretty severe), dog (mild), peanut (somewhere in between), dust mites (who doesn't, seriously?). He takes Zyrtec (generic) every night. So...given the last allergen, when he has a cold, we can't use the humidifier, because dust mites somehow find humidity a fun-fest in which to breed. Which means that I can't use the time-tested cough reducer of a nice blast of cool steam in the room (Side note...how on earth does cool steam exist, anyway? By pure physics, steam only exists when water boils--BOILS! So how does one achieve cool mist? It's a mystery! Okay...on with my blogging).

This brings us to my current situation. J.J. has had a pretty yukky cough for a while now. It's pretty wet (not a dry, hacky cough) and sometimes he takes in this deep breath and it sounds like a honking goose. But that only happens once every one or two days. Usually it's just a cough. And those only happen 4 or 5 times a day. It's not all the time.

I've asked the nurse at our doctor's office if there's anything I can give him, but due to all the new restrictions on pediatric cold medicine, there's not. So...we've just kinda let it run its course, hoping it would go away. Well, it hasn't. It's still there. I probably should have taken him to our pediatrician, but I didn't, simply because I didn't want to take him and them tell me it's just a cough. And I maybe should have taken him back to the allergist, but a little part of me is afraid to hear the word asthma come out of her mouth. I don't want J.J. to have a strike against him before he gets to the cruel world of school where they make fun of you if your hair does or doesn't stand up in the right place.

Enter my crazed websearch tonight. I was harmlessly reading some blogs on my Google Reader and I came across a way to look up local blogs. So I found some blogs from people that live around here and one woman was writing about her son and how he just got diagnosed with pneumonia! It kind of scared me a little bit, because some of his symptoms sounded a bit like what J.J. has been dealing with. So I googled the words "cough 3 year old" and it brought up a whole list of people's questions on message boards, with a couple actual websites regarding coughs. So I start reading. As J.J. would say, "Dis not a great idea, Mommy."

They started out pretty harmless...people asking what to do to help their child's coughing, followed by all sorts of advice from random medical website surfers (moms, well-meaning aunts, wanna-be doctors...you know the likes). Then one caught my eye. It gave a list of a lot of pretty typical coughs...what they sound like, the symptoms that come with them. A couple were pretty close to what J.J.'s sounds like, but none of them really hit it square on the head.

Then came the dreaded "Call your doctor if..." list. It started out pretty encouraging...it says that most childhood coughs are nothing to be worried about. But then it lists the scary symptoms. Things like "Has trouble breathing or works hard to breathe" or "has a blue or dusky color to the lips, face or tongue". Okay...so far, so good. We're still breathing...color still towards the red side of the ROY G. BIV scale. Then came the one that caught my attention: "Makes a 'whooping' sound when breathing in after coughing". Uh-oh.

My pulse immediately started to get faster...a wave of fear swept over me. Is that the sound J.J.'s making when he breathes in? Is it a whoop? Or more of a honk? What exactly does a 'whoop' sound like, anyway? I mean, I know there's a whooping crane, and I assume that's what a whoop is supposed to sound like, but having never actually met a whooping crane and asked it to talk, I don't know what the sound is.

So then I indulge my stupid irrational fear even more. I google "whooping cough sound" and guess what? It's searched for often enough that I didn't even have to finish typing it. Google kindly popped the drop-down menu for me and there it was, all ready for me to click on and scare myself. Which of course I did. I clicked on the first link and waited for the sound. And the sound it made sounded exactly like J.J.'s little breath that he takes in. Now my mind is flipping out even more.

So I go to another link and listen. Yep, same sound, different kid. My heart races. Does J.J. have whooping cough???? Have I been exposing countless kids and adults, including my own precious infant daughter (who by the way just got her 6-month round of dTap today, so isn't fully immunized towards pertussis--whooping cough--yet), to a very serious illness? J.J. has been in contact with dozens of people since his coughing started. Hundreds if you count the people we share air with when we go to Walmart and the likes!

I go to more sites. I go to www.pertussis.com. It fills my head with all this information about how hundreds of innocent little kids and babies die every year from pertussis. I read statistics and scary stories. I hear PSAs about it, complete with moms who have lost their babies due to pertussis. My mind has completely run away from me at this point. I even stop to pray for J.J. and Hadley, begging God not to let J.J. have whooping cough and for Hadley not to get it if he does. I'm almost in tears at this point.

Then something in the back of my mind tells me, "Heather, go back and look at the list of symptoms that go along with whooping cough." So I do. I go back to one of the many websites I've just poured over and find the symptoms. Here's what one website says:

"The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of a common cold:

• runny nose
• sneezing
• mild cough
• low-grade fever

After about 1 to 2 weeks, the dry, irritating cough evolves into coughing spells. During a coughing spell, which can last for more than a minute, the child may turn red or purple. At the end of a spell, the child may make a characteristic whooping sound when breathing in or may vomit."

Okay...my heart calms down a bit. J.J. never had the runny nose or low-grade fever. He doesn't turn red or purple and he doesn't cough so hard that he gags himself. He does a couple coughs, makes a weird sound like a goose, coughs one or two more times and then he's fine. Yes, the sound he makes does sound very similar to the soundbytes I heard, but his coughing doesn't at all. Those poor kids sound like they might pass out in the middle of the coughing, they're coughing so hard. And there's always a gaggy sound at the end. J.J. doesn't do that at all.

So I calm down enough to go put Hadley to bed (she'd fallen asleep on my lap after her nightly bowl of rice cereal) and I go check on J.J. He's been asleep for almost 4 hours at this point, so I know I won't wake him up. I creep over to his bed, lean in and kiss him on the forehead. And of course, crazy, irrational nut that I am has to actually stick my ear on his back and see if I can hear anything out of the ordinary in his breathing. And I'm ashamed to admit that I actually contemplated getting his toy stethiscope out of his Fisher-Price doctor kit to try and get a better listen. Wow. There's something seriously wrong with me.

I've calmed down a bit now. But my mind has moved on to other things to be bothered about. Like the fact that I know J.J. is allergic to dust mites and yet I still don't vacuum his room every week or (and this will sound insane) vacuum his mattress (hey...it's actually something you should do between sheet changings. It said so on a website...has to be true, right? Seriously, though, his allergy doctor did mention it).

So now I'm running through all the things that I don't do to keep the house clean enough for my son to live in it without his allergies being exacerbated and possibly making him continue to cough. I don't vacuum enough, I don't change his sheets often enough, I don't wash his pillow in super hot water, I don't (get this) freeze his stuffed animals for 6 hours to kill the dust mites living in them, I don't dust the house, let alone his room, often enough. I'm basically having a pretty low mom-esteem moment right now.

And I realize that it's almost 1 am (WHY AM I STILL UP?!?!?!?) and that I'm probably a bit irrational, and definitely can't do anything about it at this late hour...but I also know myself and I won't do anything about it tomorrow. Because somehow, somewhere in my head Saturdays are not for working in the house. Even if it needs it. Even if I didn't do my job during the week well enough to keep from having the need to work on the house on Saturday. Doesn't matter. Saturdays are NOT work days.

Hopefully I'll reread this tomorrow (okay...later this morning) and it will inspire me to actually get something done tomorrow. Maybe. Maybe I should just go to bed. Yeah...that sounds like a wise plan.

"Micah's Plan"

There is a special project going on for the 1st graders at Micah’s school. On the 100th day of school they have the “hundred day” parade and the first graders get to march around the school showing off their “100 piece” project. Each first grader’s assignment is to find, make, gather, put together, etc 100 of the same items. It can be candy, pictures, pencils, drawings, anything. You are supposed to work on it as a family and make a poster board or put it in a wagon or a bucket or something to show your 100 items.
Micah and I talked about it and he thought it was silly to buy 100 pencils or pieces of candy and he wanted to do something that would make a difference. (we always talk about making a difference). He said that he wishes that SOMEHOW he could help 100 people. I told him that was a lot of people and I think he should narrow it down to 1 person. So, he reminded me of the “man in the van”. There is a homeless man who lives in downtown Waco in an old van. We used to bring him dinner a lot and Micah always talks about him and prays for him. I often use him as an example to remind Micah of how blessed we are. Once I remember Micah asked if we could go by and get some dinner. He ordered a kids meal and after he got it, he took the toy out and said that he actually wasn’t hungry but that he wanted to give his food to the “man in the van”. We actually don’t know his name. Matt just always called him “sir”. So, we brought “sir” Micah’s kids meal. He was so appreciative and Micah was all smiles the rest of the day.
So here is Micah’s idea. And yes…this is HIS idea. He says he wants to ask 100 people to mail him $1.00. He wants 100 envelopes and will display them on his poster board. I asked him what he wanted to do with the $100 and he told me that he wanted to buy two things for the man in the van. A coat, and a Bible. Micah’s idea. Not mine.
Micah also asked me to put the request on caring bridge because he didn’t think he would have the time to call 100 people to ask for a letter.
If you have time, and $1.00 and money for a stamp, would you please helm my son with his 100 days of school project. His project is to get 100 people to send him $1.00 so he can buy a coat and a Bible for a man with no home.
Please hurry. The 100 day of school parade is on January 30th. This morning he said this exact thing "Mom, what if the people who read my request, gave it to their friends....who gave it to their friends...who gave it to their friends, and we actually COULD help 100 people."
I told Micah that we would just have to see what happens. If you will forward this request and label it "Micah's plan" to anyone and everyone you know....it would be awesome. Later today I will put a picture on our other blog site of Micah beside the mailbox with this same letter.
Thank you so much! Hurry! It ends in 2 weeks! I just KNOW that Micah will be able to make a difference!!
Expecting miracles,
Marianne


****My friend Julie posted this on her blog. The little guy is a relative of one of her Sunday School classmates. I know that sounds like "friend of a friend of a friend who knows some kid", but it's totally real. Julie gave me the address, so if anybody wants to help out, let me know! Facebook friends, blogger friends...whoever! Wouldn't it be great if we really could help out 100 people by helping this little man?