Happily Hamby

Valentines Day 2012

2012-02-14T08:22:00.001-06:00

Cupid came to see both me and O this year! He left o this lifesize Minnie mouse. She loves her! She was also super pumped to wear her valentine shirt and for her school party/valentines for her friends!

She said, "Minnie is big like me!!"

A friend passed along the idea for o's class valentines. It was a brilliant idea. But it did take me more than a minute to tie them all together. Thanks to Brittany Napper at Dixie Papiere for the awesome tags! Last night she sat at the table and named all of her classmates and was just so excited to take them each a gift. It was so cute!

I tied a bag of Hershey kisses to a kool aid jammer for "a squeeze and a kiss!!"

My Cupid came yesterday in the form of roses. The boy did real good. :)

So o and I are both happy campers today. Hope u are too!

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KD NCTA

2012-02-13T10:50:00.001-06:00

Kappa Delta national collegiate training academy. That's where I went this past weekend. The entire council and a CAB advisor from every chapter in the nation had to attend the event-it was mandatory. There were over 1600 kd's there. It was the largest gathering of kd's in the sorority's history. I must say that I did learn a lot about the organization that I love so much so I'm glad I went. I was never able to attend a national convention when I was in the chapter so this was my first glimpse into the world of kappa delta outside of Ruston. There were some great speakers and presentations. It did kind of inspire me to be a better leader in everything I do. So I'd say they accomplished their goal. Our chapter's council is a great group of 10 girls that have their heads on straight and I'm excited to see how they take the information learned here and apply it. Saturday's dinner was cocktail attire and it was fun getting dressed up! Haven't done that in a while!

Me, our council and Corre.

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Robert Earl Keen

2012-02-05T22:39:00.001-06:00

We had a pretty large group last night for dinner and a concert. About 17 of us dined before the Robert earl keen concert and a great time was had by all! I'd say this was probably my 4th time to see him and it may have been his best show out of all of them! I'm sad I didn't get a big group shot of all of us.

It was a very light crowd, college kids were scarce and it wasn't to loud! We could still talk to each other! My word I'm old!! My feet were sore this morning but that's a small price to pay for a great concert! Can't wait for the next one!

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Potty training day 1

2012-02-01T19:35:00.001-06:00

Was a HUGE success!! No accidents! We've been toying with training for a while now but I wouldn't commit to it. This morning I woke up and decided today was the day. I sent her to school in panties. And I don't plan to look back! I know we'll have some accidents but so far so good! We even went to church tonight for dinner and she did great there! I was skeptical about actually going somewhere in panties but she showed me!

She was really happy to wear big girl panties to school today! She also showed everyone her panties. Oh well. She'll learn!

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Saturday fun day

2012-02-01T19:10:00.001-06:00

Sat morning o went to Jenny and john's for a couple of hours to play. From all accounts she had a blast! After that we lunched at our fav spot-Johnny's!! After nap we had dinner out and then went to the basketball game. I was so glad she napped for 2 hours bc the game wasn't over until 9:15 and it was pretty exciting!

Twirling in my tutu

2012-01-24T18:15:00.001-06:00

O has a new found love for ballerina skirts. That's what she calls them! We pretty much wear them everyday. This particular day it was close to bath time so sans clothes it was! She'll put it on and get to twirling!

They're blurry bc she won't be still!
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Ag expo 2012

2012-01-21T13:56:00.001-06:00

What a fun morning! During tax season I help Rett out when I can so he can put in the hours required to keep his job. So this morning I picked o up early and we headed to wm to the Ag expo. I've never attended this event but had heard that it was a fabulous way to wear ur kids out! :) We had a BLAST!! We held and petted chicks, petted a cow, saw several sheep, saw pigs and calfs. But her fav by far were the full size chickens!

She wouldn't stand next to this poor calf by herself and I didn't want to get too close so here's our official photo!

Then she got to drive a tractor!

After a quick lunch we got some ice cream and then headed back so she could nap at her daddy's.

Happy Saturday!
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O and her GG and pops

2012-01-18T21:08:00.001-06:00

I loves her gg and pops like its nobody's business. She went to spend the night with them last night after going to see a movie with gg. Mom keeps me updated in photos of their excursions.

Playing in one of her toy boxes down there.

Snack with Minnie.

While with gg and pops she pretty much has 100% freedom. Which may explain the 3 hour nap she took today while there. What's that about???? I can barely get her to sleep for an hour here at home! Oh well. Isn't this what grandparents are for?!?
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OH MY GOSH!

2012-01-17T10:19:00.001-06:00

OMG. I am NOT 32 years old. I’m only 31! I just aged myself in my last post by 10 months. What was I thinking??? I thought mommy brain went away after the kid was born. apparently it just gets worse. for the record… I am only 31 years old!

Girls day and a little story

2012-01-16T19:51:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we had a girls day and it was so much fun. We went to Sunday school and then headed to Monroe.

First stop was to pick up Jackie. She and Brock took forever to answer their door so o stood there screaming Jackie and Brock, I'm here! Come see me!! Finally they answered the door! Then on to lunch with Jackie and Courtney.

After shopping at target for a few necessities we went to see beauty and the beast in 3d. It cost me nearly $30 but was so worth it! At the end o clapped and "princess danced"all the way to the car!

We went to dinner with a friend at dawg house. The juke box was playing some Alice in chains and o entertained a large table of sigma nu's with her mad booty shakin' skillz. They got a good laugh out of her rocking out to that terrible music! She ended her fun filled day with playing in my boots.

Then this morning we had a little situation. I took the trash out before leaving for school/work and she locked me out. Yes. After about 5 min of trying to get her to unlock the door I had to climb through a window. While attempting to fit my 32 year old butt through a window a college kid drove by and asked if I needed help, o laughed at me and told me to get down and I knocked over this candle holder thing that o insisted on cleaning up. It really was funny. I've laughed about it all day. But it better never happen again! And today we reached a new milestone in the nebulizer dept...

She'll now do a treatment outside of my lap. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer her in my lap bc it's about the only snuggling she'll do. But in a time crunch this will have to work.
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Aunt Jackie is 30!

2012-01-14T10:02:00.001-06:00

Jackie turned 30 on Thursday so we had the family bday dinner last night.

Then o took my phone and went to town taking pics. Enjoy the family bday dinner from the perspective of a 2 year old!

And yes, she took every one of those and about 10 more. But I'll spare u!
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Kelly's Kids party!

2012-01-12T17:23:00.001-06:00

Y'all. This years spring line is sooo cute! There are so many things I want to get for Olivia!! And the matching brother/ sister outfits.... Kinda wish O had a brother!! I'm hosting an eparty and this will be the easiest home show u ever attend! Just go to my reps website -
www.kellyskids.com/norapylant - and start shopping! When you check out please enter party number 1485 and then your clothes will be shipped directly to you.

It's online shopping at its finest! If you have any questions just let me know. The party will run through the 25th. And if you'd prefer to look at an actual catalog I have some of those too!

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It's back...

2012-01-11T19:41:00.001-06:00

But thankfully not in full force! The cough appeared the week after Christmas. Finally tired of it, she went to the dr today. Broncholitis. This is caused by the rsv virus; just not as bad. Breathing treatments, steroid and cough meds. I'm so glad that even when she's sick she's happy and that we've reached the age that a cough med can be prescribed!!

The good news? We made it to the 2nd week of the new year before diagnosis! ;)- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

cooking with a viking? sure!

2012-01-09T11:37:00.001-06:00

for Christmas I gave my friend a lesson at the Viking cooking school in baton rouge. so we went this weekend and it was so much fun! the baton rouge location is outdoors (the only Viking school that is) on the pool deck of the Hilton and overlooks the river. it was a FABULOUS January “spring” night! seriously, like 65 degrees; no jacket required! well, b/c I’m a girl and it never even occurred to me that a NFL playoff game could happen on a Saturday night so we were both a little bummed that we would have to miss the saints game. HAVE NO FEAR! there were 4 flat screen tvs set up so we could watch while we cooked and ate! win/win! we were put into groups of 4 and given our menu and all ingredients and basically told to go to town. the chef and sous chef walked around and assisted if we needed them but otherwise we were on our own! I used a knife larger and sharper than I’d ever seen before! and the Viking grill is amazing! wish I had one that nice! we made crab stuffed mushrooms, homemade blue cheese salad dressing, tall stuffed potato's, bacon wrapped filets, grilled asparagus and then the chef made the béarnaise sauce for the steak and the bananas foster. we enjoyed the other couple we were with; they were young and fun to cook with! and it all tasted SOOO good! I was proud of our accomplishment! we sat at one large table as a group to eat and enjoyed the conversations with everyone. one man was a movie producer and his wife was a costume designer there in baton rouge. (did you know that Hollywood has lost 70% of all movie productions to states like Louisiana???) another couple had recently moved to BR from Atlanta and were still getting their feet wet to the Louisiana way of life. the couple we cooked with had both just graduated from law school. I do love listening to other people’s stories! by the end of the night we were STUFFED and happy over the saints win. it was definitely something I’ll do again!

having been born and raised in Louisiana I can’t ever remember going to the capital. so we took a drive by there Sunday morning on our way to lunch. I saw on the news last night that the governor's ball was last night (Sunday) and the inauguration is today so we potentially missed seeing several “famous" Louisianans by just hours!

if you’re looking for a fun, unique gift to give someone this is it!

New years 2012

2012-01-02T09:10:00.001-06:00

We celebrated with my best friends at the Mabry house in Shreveport. It was a 3 hour long dinner that flew by too quickly!

On new years day we loaded up the baby bed and rocking chair and headed to Winnsboro. My house is officially cleared of baby items. So sad!! We stopped at 5 guys for lunch. Ever since eating at one in dc several years ago I've been craving it and wm finally has one! O entertained the entire restaurant with her booty shaking skills. We were laughing so hard. Just recently she has started dancing all the time and it's so funny! I didn't stop her or make her sit down. Sometimes a girl just needs to express herself. :)

I say it all the time but I really am so lucky. I wouldn't want to walk in anyone else's shoes right now, I am perfectly content where o and I are. Here's to another great year of health and happiness. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New years eve!

2011-12-31T13:05:00.001-06:00

O and I celebrated nye last night with sparklers! We had a good talk on how to hold them and she did awesome!The man working the booth kind of laughed when I asked o to pose for a pic. I have no idea why!!!

Tonight I'll be ringing in the new year with my best friends. We're going to the mabry house in Shreveport. I've heard nothing but good things about it and am excited to go!We had a pretty good 2011. Def better than 2010!! :) and I'm expecting our good fortune to continue on into 2012. We are so blessed in so many ways. Praying for continued peace and happiness for us and everyone!!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Staycation

2011-12-29T22:10:00.001-06:00

O's daycare has been closed this week for the holiday so I took 3 days off. We closed at 3 last thurs, were closed Friday and then I didn't go back until today. It was sooo nice! Monday it rained ALL DAY LONG. so we just hung out at home and played with all of our new toys! Tuesday was a beautiful day so we did a little shopping downtown, had lunch with our friends sheree and drew and then spent the afternoon at the park.

Tuesday night when I put o to bed I asked her if she wanted to sing. She said, and I quote, "no sing mama. Shut the door." I guess she was tired!!Wednesday we spent running a few errands and taking down Christmas. When she got up from her nap she was so confused! Kept asking where the star was from the top of the tree. Poor thing. I went back to work today but I have a little treat for myself tmrw. Seasons couldn't fit me in while I was off so I'm going for a mini microdermabrasion right after work! I'm pumped!! I can't wait for my next free weekend so I can use my gift card to there that I got for Christmas!!It was a fab long weekend and I so enjoyed so much one on one time with my little girl. She's growing up so fast and learning so quickly. Makes my heart smile and cry at the same time. She's two so some days are trying but I wish I could bottle her up and keep her this age forever. It really is so much fun!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas eve from the real camera

2011-12-28T18:20:00.001-06:00

i’ve gotten so bad at using my good camera since i got my iphone. let’s just be honest; the phone is WAY easier to haul around than the big one! as noted in the last post; we opened presents; ate and enjoyed family and friends on Christmas eve. i had planned on being back in ruston by 4 so we could go to the kid’s service at church but we didn’t make it. we’ll try harder next year!

just look at the smile on o’s face in the next 3 pics. i couldn’t pick just one!

you can’t really see this in the pics but it was so cute. jagger is the 9 year old son of Guy and Sonya. Guy grew up with my mom and aunt and uncle. i don’t know how long they’ve been coming to christmas eve but i really cant remember a year they weren’t there. one year he and sonya’s kids ended up in the “grandchild” picture with my mamaw. so anyway, olivia took to jagger and they must have played football for a good 20 minutes or so. he’d throw it to her and she’d throw it back. if he fell, she fell. if he moved, she moved. it was so cute!

and who says you can’t ride four wheelers in a dress?!? she rocked it!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T19:36:00.001-06:00

So many pics. So little time. We had a fab Christmas and hope u did too! Christmas eve-eve we went to the boro and pretended like it was the real eve. We had our traditional gumbo and opened 1 present. O opened more than one bc my mom has a tendency to get confused and forgets what she's handing out!!

So sad she couldn't open her big present.

That she carried all by herself to the sun room!

Christmas eve morning we pretended it was Christmas morning at mom and dad's!

Then on to Christmas lunch but it's still only Christmas eve! We had left over gumbo, fried deer, grilled deer tenderloin, rice, gravy and a host of other fattening but oh so good sides.

Then back to Ruston to get ready for Santa!

Christmas morning was so fun!!

Playing in her new princess castle!

This concludes Christmas from iPhone. Next up, Christmas eve from the real camera. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Catch up!

2011-12-22T19:08:00.001-06:00

Tuesday was o's class Christmas party at school. It was raining and I knew they wouldn't be going outside to play so I let her wear a good dress!

Wednesday was a big day! O got to give her teachers their presents. We love mrs Christie and miss heather!

She gave them a whisk filled with Hershey kisses and a note that said "We "whisk" you a merry "kiss"mas!!" Thanks for the idea pinterest (and emery!) She was dressed up this day for 2 reasons. Jackie picked her up early from school for the lady techster game and then she got to watch the dawgs in the poinsettia bowl with her daddy!

We had a party at Jenny's with good friends and good food! Some of the girls at the party!

Now I'm officially off work until next Thursday!! Whoo hoo!! O and I are going to enjoy Christmas with family and special friends! Hope u have a very merry day yourselves!!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Much better day!

2011-12-18T20:41:00.001-06:00

After 12.5 hrs of sleep o woke up in a much better mood this morning! Then she took a 2.5 hr nap. I am still in shock. This new bed was a fab idea!!

With us both well rested we had a great day!!

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Weekend highs and lows

2011-12-17T19:35:00.001-06:00

Let's start with the highs. O had a present waiting for her on fri night when we got home from school. Thanks Billingsley's!

Then I showed her new room to her and we played and played. I have 3 precious videos that won't upload so just trust me! Then we picked up pizza and had a picnic on the floor. We watched Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty and Rudolph. Fun!!

O had to sleep with me last night bc I didn't have sheets for her new bed yet. Let's just say that I've had better nights sleep. It was awful!! Neither of us slept. So this morning we headed to Monroe for sheets, pics with Santa and a to do list a mile long. We only accomplished the first two items listed. Sometimes the to do list must wait as to not subject the general public to an irrational 2 year old.

Quick ride on the carousel.

Once home I washed her new sheets and got her room ready.

And she's snug as a bug in a rug as I type this. She did get out once but I think it's bc she was so tired. The poor girl didn't know her own name tonight!!

Night night!!

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o’s bedding is for sale

2011-12-14T17:41:00.001-06:00

it’s time. and i’m extremely emotional about it. o’s moving to a big bed this weekend. her bedding and accessories are for sale.

the set includes bumper, skirt, blanket, 2 pink polka dot sheets and all the white sheets i have (2 or 3 – none were ever used, just washed and put away), diaper stacker, clothes hamper and rocking chair cushion (chair NOT included). asking $100 for it all. for the right price i’ll also sell the mattress and changing table pad thing. anyone interested?

Climb on in.

2011-12-11T20:50:00.001-06:00

YouTube Video

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Photo ornament 2011

2011-12-10T16:39:00.001-06:00

This years was so easy!! Thinks pinterest. Just print a wallet size photo, roll it up, push it though the top of a 4 inch clear ornament, use tweezers to position the pic, add snow and voila!!

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Christmas parade 2011

2011-12-08T19:17:00.001-06:00

Was tonight. It wasn't nearly as cold as I thought it would be. If u had asked me yesterday I would have said it was going to be miserable. But amazingly it wasn't! Poor O only had one glove but it worked out fine! We met the cramer's at our usual spot and it really is so fun watching those two. I hope they grow up to be good friends!

Catching a necklace.

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Boredom at its finest

2011-12-07T21:31:00.001-06:00

Jenny got a new wand thingy to curl ur hair with. From all accounts this is the new hot item in hair curling devices. It's basically a curling iron barrel without the clamp part. So... We practiced with it tonight!

I LOVE when people play with my hair. That alone may be my love language so this was right up my ally.

It's WAY curly right after. U gotta work it out some. Just FYI.

When she was finished I wasn't ready for her to quit so I talked her into French braiding my hair.

And that my friends is sisterly love. Maybe she'll play with my hair more often now that she has a new toy!

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This past Sunday!

2011-12-07T10:43:00.001-06:00

We got up and made it to church. Lesson learned... If its misting when u leave with a 90% chance of rain it's probably going to be pouring when u get out of church. TAKE AN UMBRELLA WITH U!! We were two soaked girls when we got home!

Sunday night was o's very first school play. I was so pumped for this. Her class did rocking around the Christmas tree. We took her rocking chair for the performance. Her entire class sat there looking ticked off at the world! It was really funny!!

I didn't want to be "that" mom that walked to the front just to get a pic. Next year I will be. That's apparently a widely accepted practice at school plays!

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christmas photo shoot

2011-12-03T19:50:00.001-06:00

last year i made photo ornaments for the fam. see them here. i really liked them and enjoyed making them so i’ve decided to make this a yearly thing. and i kind of get giddy when i think about 20 years from now having a photo ornament of o for every year of her life. :) so today we headed downtown to attempt a photo shoot. i’m proud to say that i used my camera on manual the ENTIRE time! i don’t think i’ve ever done that. here are a few…

Hmmm.

2011-11-30T21:12:00.001-06:00

This morning before work. Clearly I need to ALWAYS put lipstick on before leaving the house. And o doesn't love to be photographed apparently. But oh we'll! I hardly ever get a pic with my baby girl so I'll take what I can get!

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Funny

2011-11-30T11:02:00.001-06:00

Last night I went to dinner with a friend and when we left I saw santa's sleigh in railroad park. Of course I needed a pic. After doing it we were walking back to the car and saw couple sitting in their car. I realized they were probably laughing at me!! Oh well! It is fun to do crazy things every once in a while! (not that this was very crazy but u know what I mean!)

A funny thing o said yesterday.... she was playing with an electrical socket so I swatted her hand and told her no. She looked at me and said, stop hitting me mama!

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Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations & WAC champs!!

2011-11-26T20:31:00.001-06:00

Sit back and relax. This is going to be a long one with lots of pics! We left Wednesday abt 3:30 and headed to Winnsboro. Olivia was so funny all night long and had me, mom and dad all rolling laughing. Some things she says are just too funny. Mom told dad that we weren't that funny and he replied that we prbly were but they were just too tired to notice! Thurs morning we had our traditional big breakfast with Jenny and John and then dinner with the rest of the fam.

Her first "mimosa".

Thursday night mom and the 3 J's spent some quality time together and went to Vicksburg for some black Friday shopping. Then some sister time with Jenny and Jackie. We shopped all night long. I got in bed at 6:15 am Friday morning!

Friday afternoon (after a much needed 6 hrs sleep) I, with Jenny's help, got all of my christmas decor up.

It's not totally Christmas but I love it anyway.

O's tree. I'm going to add one ornament a year until she tells me to stop.

And today... Tech won the WAC championship!! It rained the ENTIRE day but that didn't stop us from having a grand time! Congrats to the bulldawgs on a great season! Sure wish Santa would bring me a trip to San Diego!!

YouTube Video

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Proud to be a bulldawg

2011-11-23T13:39:00.001-06:00

After the very impressive comeback win last Saturday I declared this week "proud to be a bulldawg week" at the Hamby household. Olivia sported tech gear this week to daycare and we attended the lady techster game last night. If her reaction to champ is any indication of what Santa is gonna be like I'm gonna need backup! Oh!! At the game last night she was yelling something to the effect of "go dawgs" and then she looked at me and said "I too loud mama." I assured her it was fine to yell at sporting events and the she was happy! It was so funny! I'm not sure who tells her she's too loud but I assure u I have one of the most soft spoken kids. EVER!

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give thanks

2011-11-17T17:58:00.001-06:00

once again, i did a thanksgiving card this year in place of a traditional Christmas card. (if you haven’t gotten yours yet i’m sorry for the spoiler!) this was last year’s. this year i found an awesome quote to use but sadly i couldn’t get my 2 year old to cooperate for an accompanying photo so i’m saving it for next year! :)

front:

back:

thanks napper designs for doing an awesome job!!

Haircut # 2 (3 technically but who's counting?)

2011-11-16T20:35:00.001-06:00

O had a hair appt for sat but when Adrianne called saying she'd squeeze her in this afternoon I jumped on it. It was time. Her hair is fine like mine which equals stringy. We cut abt 2 inches and I'm afraid we said goodbye to the curls forever. It appears it will always be wavy but I think the curl is gone. So sad.

Picking out her sucker.

Not so sure abt this!

Finishing touches.

Thanks Adrianne for always doing a great job!!

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Beach trip

2011-11-15T21:25:00.001-06:00

What a relaxing long weekend. We left on Thursday at noon and got home Sunday night around 8:30. We ate, napped, shopped, ate, walked the beach, played mini golf, ate, napped, played skeet ball, and ate some more! The beach in november is amazing! It was so good to get away and to think about nothing! These trips are few and far between for me so I take full advantage when I can. :) On our way home we detoured through baton rouge and had lunch/watched the end of the saints game with Lauren and JW. It was so good seeing them and catching up! I'd sum it up as a successful trip.

Not very busy in November!

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Please help support st Jude

2011-11-10T21:40:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all. I'm blogging from the beach real quick to ask for ur help. My sisters are running in the st Jude 1/2 marathon in dec and could use ur support. Please consider making a small donation to their cause. (I think Jenny needs it worse than Jackie!!) if u feel like this is something u can do please go to Jenny's Facebook page (Jenny Juneau) for a link to her st Jude page. This would mean so much to her and the precious kids at st Jude!! Thank you so much!!

A full post abt this trip will be forthcoming!! :)

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Legacy park and Halloween in the tonk

2011-11-01T20:41:00.001-05:00

Tuesday's have become mom's day with o. She picks her up early from school, they have lunch, nap and then play all afternoon. O has really started to look forward to these days. Today they went to chili's and o has her first corn on the con. Then to legacy park. I haven't been there yet but from all accounts it is a top notch park!

Tonight mom went with us to Halloween in the tonk. Rett met us there and o had a blast dragging him and gg around that room! Hillary and Reynolds also met us there! And she finally got some candy!

Bean bag toss. This guy was so patient with her.

Candy walk at the KD booth.

Face painting by the "black modeling troupe". Once home O stood in the mirror and repeated pretty rainbow on my cheek. So precious!

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Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:58:00.001-05:00

I think O had a great Halloween! This morning the fairy ghost came to see her!

Today was also her very first time to wear jeans. Just thought I'd note that for future reference.

Then she had her party at school. They had to give her a random tshirt bc she messed up her cute halloween shirt. Clearly she was thrilled to be there.

Tonight we went to Temple's fall festival. I wasn't prepared. Next year we'll just go trick or treating. All O wanted was some candy so we ran to the dollar store and hooked her up! :) before going to Temple we ran by jenny and john's. They didn't have candy so she got an orange. She looked at it and said, "what's that?" Ha!! Then on to dinner at old Mexico, our fav!!

On the way home we smelled the overwhelming smell of orange. Looked back and O had bitten into that thing and was going to town on it!! Said it was great!! Haha!!

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Behind.

2011-10-30T21:36:00.001-05:00

I'm behind on blogging. Let's just jump right in. I was in new orleans for 3 days last week for work. We had to go on a bus tour of the city which I was dreading but ended up enjoying it. Otherwise things were pretty tame. :)
before I left wed morning I took o to breakfast. She chose the chocolate donut with sprinkles!

I do love NOLA.

Got back Friday and then sat was a tech home game.

Today was Trinity's fall festival. Olivia jumped, went on a hay ride, painted a pumpkin, ate an entire bag of popcorn and rode in a hot air balloon! She still won't ride a pony or horse but maybe one day.

Can't wait for Halloween tmrw! I made witch hat cookies for her class party. I'm not sending her in her costume bc I don't want it to get dirty before trick-or-treating! But she has a cute shirt to wear!

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Our weekend in pics

2011-10-24T09:54:00.001-05:00

Friday night o and I had some friends over to grill and hang out. No pics taken but a good time was had!
Saturday gg came over and we visited yet another pumpkin patch.

Then o went home with gg to spend the night so I could celebrate sheree's 30th! We had a great time at palette party here in Ruston and then at portico afterwards! I really liked my painting until I added the O. It's off centered but it's for the playroom so who cares!

This was suppose to be a Christmas gift but gg and pops aren't very good at hiding things. Oops!!

Sunday was the KD pumpkin party at the lodge and o was all over that!

She now knows what glitter is oh boy!!
Another busy but fun weekend!!

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pumpkin patch 2011

2011-10-17T21:16:00.001-05:00

crystal garcia (www.crystalgarcia.com) outdid herself once again! she continues to amaze me with her talent and passion for photographing kids. it takes patience and we all know i don’t have that!

and for grins and giggles:

2009: (anyone remember the mullet in the front? how could we forget it? o rocked that look! but then again she could rock a real mullet and make it cute. :)

and 2010:

Concert, Bday parties, Bash

2011-10-16T20:06:00.001-05:00

What a weekend! Friday night we went to Corey smith at rabbs and it was so much fun!! I do love a good deck concert there. Brings back so many fun memories from college but I love even more making new memories with new friends.

Sat morning was jack clark's 2nd bday party and o had fun seeing a lot of her friends.

Sat night we celebrated lindsey's 30th at portico. I can't get my jacked fb pics to upload on here so ull have to trust me that a good time was had!

And today was the big cure cmd bash for our friend kaden! Jeff and Nicola worked so hard on this event and it paid off! O never would ride the pony after talking about it for an hour but maybe another time!

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Sunday fish fry

2011-10-11T18:30:00.001-05:00

We joined some friends Sunday evening for a fish fry out in stow creek. Let me just say that I am so jealous that we don't live in that neighborhood! O has never had that many girls to play with at once! She was in heaven and FILTHY when we left there! I told her we were going to a party and she started asking for cake and presents. So I explained it was an adult party. The whole way out there she sang happy birthday to the adult party! It was so funny!

And tonight she saw my tattoo and said, "butterfly on mama's booty." (it's on my extreme lower back.) How am I going to explain this when she's older??? Oh to take back some things I did in my younger days!!

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Week in review

2011-10-09T13:55:00.001-05:00

We had a very uneventful week. But a few reasons to dress up which is always fun!

Today before church. O loves those pumpkins!

Saturday we went to Monroe for some retail therapy with Jackie. She finally went to sleep on the way home so we sat in the car and listened to the tech game until she woke up!

Wed was pic day at school. This was o's first official school picture. And I wish I could post the proof! It's so funny!!!

Tues she had pumpkin patch pics with Crystal Garcia and we are on pins and needles wtg to get them back!!

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more football

2011-10-03T21:37:00.001-05:00

Well i don't have much to say after the debacle on the field this past weekend. Olivia had a blast and couldn't have behaved better. She was an angel! I got her a pompom and she was good to go!

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Meet and greet with Edwin Edwards

2011-09-26T12:50:00.001-05:00

This is so totally random but o and I went to w'boro yesterday for a book signing with Edwin Edwards. You know.... The convicted felon ex gov of Louisiana. We had lunch with gg and pops then played for a while before going up there. O never napped so it was a LONG day but we survived. We had to wash her dress after lunch which is why she's half naked in some pics but she didn't care!

At the event at the old post office museum.

Cheering with her new pompoms!

Coloring and having a snack.

It was a fun day!!
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This week

2011-09-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

I still don't know how to get pics from this phone to my computer so I'm having to blog from my phone and I'm not a huge fan of this keyboard so please forgive any mistakes! I had the rare pleasure of eating lunch with o this week at log cabin with my mom. Fun times! On Thursday I showed some support for ovarian cancer and had my toes painted teal. Today was spent gearing up for the game and then watching the game. Another very tough loss to ms state. O had a blast playing with Carter and Ella Claire love. Thanks dlove and Missy for coming over to hang with us! A while back I won a Facebook contest from barnes portraiture and was THRILLED!! we got a free sitting and a 16 x 20! Well we got the pic this week and had it framed and it is absolutely amazing! Guy Barnes is sooo good so good at what he does!! I want so badly to post a pic of the finished product but I don't want to break any copyright rules so we'll see. But trust me when I say it is to die for! I have no idea how to arrange pics when posting like this so it's gonna be a surprise to all of us on the formatting of this post! Hope u all have a great weekend!

Being a tech fan is hard!

2011-09-18T21:49:00.001-05:00

Another close game we should have won. But we had fun tailgating! I can't wait fir o's first game in a few weeks. She's been asking for champ for a few weeks now but I have a feeling once she actually sees him it will be a different story! Thanks Jenny and John; y'all outdid yourselves again!

And I just did this post from my phone trying it out. Hope it works!

football and rush

2011-09-13T20:32:00.001-05:00

we survived this busy but fun weekend! friday night olivia and i hung out at home to relax before our separate but equally fun weekends.

olivia went to winnsboro sat morning to spend a couple of nights. she got presents, played in the water hose, played with the dogs, slept in the bed with gg (which she still talks about) and all around got her way and every whim she wanted. but what are gg and pops for i guess! they went to eat lunch in monroe sat and o met a boyfriend. mom said she giggled with him and imitated his every move. said she’s never seen her act the way she acted with this little boy. they flirted for almost 2 solid hours! her favorite past time at gg and pop’s is crawling through the doggy door. it appears she may have finally outgrown this. next time we go she may be too big to get through it!

while o was living it up in the ‘boro i was tailgating; going to the tech game and working kd’s bid night. jenny and john did a great job on the tailgate and a good time was had by all. the game was a little close for comfort but a “w” was gained so all’s well that end’s well. we did bid night at the pavilion again. it is so nice to have it there – it’s plenty big enough, has a “kitchen” with a serving line, etc. we’re thankful corre lets us have it there every year! i didn’t even take my camera with me this year so i jacked this one pic of jackie, corre and me from fb. next time you go to mcdonald’s don’t be surprised to see me handing out napkins. i may have found my calling! their theme was “new kd’s on the block” with all out eighties. it was pretty cute.

i was SUPER happy to get o back on monday! i missed that little girl! we’re gearing up for another game weekend and possibly a trip to see the lion kin in 3d! you have NO IDEA how pumped i am for that! the lion king is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. once i see it i’ll take olivia back to see it! :)

football season is upon us

2011-09-09T20:56:00.001-05:00

i’ve been slacking in the blogging dept. i’ve been called out by more than one person. i’m sorry! honestly, we haven’t been doing a whole lot b/c it’s been SOOO hot. but now that cooler weather has hit i’m planning many more fun outings!

last weekend i met some friends at the dawghouse to watch the tech game on tv. we got there at 6 for a 9pm kickoff and they let us stay until almost 1 when the game was over. needless to say i was tired!

tmrw is the first home game and i’m giddy like a kid in a candy store. after running several errands in monroe tmrw morning i’ll be heading to the hill to tailgate! olivia’s spending the weekend in winnsboro b/c i have a big day sunday dealing with kd and bid night so she’s missing the first game. but don’t worry; she wore her cheerleader suit today and will wear it again tmrw and will not miss another home game! and gg bought her a set of pompoms so i’m expecting lots of cheering in the ‘boro this weekend!

go dawgs!!

the wonderful wizard of oz

2011-09-03T13:23:00.001-05:00

mock rush was this morning. olivia usually really enjoys this. well, to be honest her first time she was only about 3 months old and last year she was still too young to care about anything! when i dressed her this morning in her wizard of oz dress we talked about each character and how they would be there. she was so excited to take a picture with the lion and scarecrow! but…plans change! she didn’t want to have anything to do with them! she did end up letting brooke hold her. brooke is one of our favorite sitters and it will be a very sad day when she graduates next fall! at least i have her for 1 more year!

working with these girls as their standards advisor is really a rewarding experience. kd gave me so much and this is my way of giving back to kd. corre stegall said this morning that she could never pay back kd for all it’s done for her so she just pays it forward. well said!

know what mock rush means??? FOOTBALL has started! we’ll be pulling for the dawgs tonight at the dawghouse! 5 hours and counting… CANNOT WAIT!!

best surprise ever

2011-08-31T21:03:00.001-05:00

after lunch today i was sitting in my cube and had posted something on fb about getting my bangs trimmed. trivial. i know. my college roommate/sorority big sis (who now lives in NY) commented asking where i worked. i thought it was an odd question but told her the place where i was in college, senior year (yes, i’m STILL there.) she then asked the name of it. again, i thought, this is so random. but i told her. about 3 minutes later she and her mom popped their heads in my cube and i think i screamed like a little girl! and i also teared up b/c i’m an emotional person and happiness makes me cry!

(i just fished up all these old pics from a box and laid them on my table and took pics of them. please forgive the quality.)

i first met brandi when i pledged kd in the fall of 1999. she was a year ahead of me and we became friends. she ended up being my big sis. over the next 2 years we became the best of friends. she lived with carrie cage at the time (just down the hall from me in dudley dorm!) and the 3 of us were always together. one memorable trip… we decided to all get tattoos. i went first. i bared my butt to leroy the skank at ink slingers in monroe and i now have a nice butterfly on my lower back. after seeing that carrie backed out and went for a belly button piercing. she nearly passed out and brandi left there completely clean! ha! if either are reading this they’ll remember what happened on the way home. i’m not sure which of their boyfriends heard our entire convo but i’m sure they had a great time making fun of me!! i remember calling her when the twin towers were hit on 9/11 to see if she’d heard. she came home and we sat on the couch and watched it all unfold. i called her in the middle of the night when rett’s mom passed away b/c i knew she wouldn’t mind (and she came home and slept in the apt that night so i wouldn’t be by myself). we ate more chips and dip in that apt than i care to think about and i know it’s b/c of her that i’m addicted to chips and dip! we did lots of “drive-bys” of cute boy’s houses. we danced our butts off at rabbs. we did ridiculous diets (like cigarettes and pickels! don’t ask.) she painted the majority of my party cups and never complained about it! we gossiped, we laughed and we cried. the memories are just too many to list.

before “bikers and babes” which i believe was fall party. this was our apt so it had to have been my junior year.

my jr year/her sr year we decided to be roommates in an apt on barnett springs. that place is so sketch now but back then it was home! we probably lived together for about a year and a half. we didn’t leave that apt on the best of terms but we both grew up and reconnected shortly after college. she and her mom have always held a special place in my heart! her parents always treated me like i was one of their own. the last time i saw her was at her wedding to matt in hot springs just over 6 years ago. and she hasn’t changed a bit!

it was SOOO GREAT seeing them today and i am just on cloud 9. brandi had flown in today and her mom had picked her up in monroe. they came to ruston b/c her mom wanted to show her everything that had changed. and they took time to come see me. i know you’ll read this brandi so thank you! it made my day/month/year!

now, if you’ll send me that pic we took today i’ll edit this post to add it! :)

first spaghetti

2011-08-30T08:52:00.000-05:00

at least i think this was. so i documented it last night. thanks gg for the homemade sauce and meatballs!

kade is 3!

2011-08-29T20:51:00.001-05:00

saturday we went to celebrate kade luker’s third bday. he’s all about some batman. that was new for this girl mama! once olivia warmed up she had a blast riding his battery operated john deere and jumping in the jumpy.

pigskins and pearls 2011

2011-08-25T20:51:00.001-05:00

this has quickly become one of my favorite events of the year and it’s only on year 2! you can read about last year here.

this year we signed up early (like 4 months ago) b/c i was for sure that the earlier you signed up the better table you got. i was sorely mistaken. clearly my name doesn’t have much pull. :) but that’s ok. it was still a great time! this year’s highlight for me was the running back coach, pierre ???. he was really funny!

#89 was back which also made my day. except he let his hair grow out and that just wasn’t doing it for me. he’s a baby but what a cute baby he is! :)

it’s no secret how much i love louisiana tech university and tech football. the 2 will always hold a special place in my heart. it makes me happy to attend events like this and in return a great organization is helped. i’ve done several volunteer hours at the boys and girls club so i’ve seen first hand their needs. the money raised from this event directly benefits the local b&g club and that makes me smile. i’ve always said (well, i’ve said it for a few years now) that my dream job is to be a volunteer. i really love using my time to help others. i don’t have many talents but my time i can for sure give! if ever given the opportunity to not work (guess i’ll need to win the lottery or how old does a kid have to be work? :) ) i would most definitely spend my time volunteering for organizations like this one.

pop’s bday!

2011-08-20T08:32:00.001-05:00

yesterday pops turned 59 (i think; regadless, i’m close.)!! i don’t know what we’d do if jackie wasn’t always so on top of things! she always comes to the rescue with a fab party for all of the fam! thanks jackie! and happy bday pop!

tech fan fest

2011-08-14T20:56:00.001-05:00

after church and a quick lunch today we headed to the tac for fan fest. i’ll be honest. we weren’t there to meet the players. (even though we had to walk in with them b/c we were late!) that’s just not our thing. we go for the fun girly things; jumping, cheerleaders, dancers, champ, tech xx. you get the point. well… maybe o wasn’t quite ready for all that this year. she still hates champ, wasn’t interested in the cheerleaders or dancers, wanted to jump but was scared of all the big kids and was barely interested in tech xx (and considering her love of all animals i was shocked.) after she finally got off my hip she walked around for a little while and then i finally called it quits. and she cried the whole way out wanting to jump. it will be better next year!

this shirt she’s wearing…that was a dress last year. my baby is growing up! and for all those wondering (b/c i know that you are SOOO interested in our lives! ha!) potty training was a complete bust. but it’s ok. we’ll just wait a while and try again later. but this pic was cute of her in her minnie mouse panties that she picked out.

happy place and hill’s 29th

2011-08-11T20:49:00.001-05:00

i haven’t blogged in over a week. i don’t have a lot going on but i am finally finding my happy place in this world and it feels good. over the past several months i’ve become content with who i am, what i have and where i’m going. and honestly, i like it like this! it’s really freeing just to let it all go and trust God.

today is hillary’s 29th bday! happy bday hill! we celebrated last night at portico and then today at raw for lunch. i’m blessed beyond measure with the best of friends. i’m going to start potty training olivia on saturday. we’re doing this like i’ve done every thing else with her…cold turkey! we’re going to walmart tmrw after work so she can pick out her big girl panties and so that i can stock up on carpet cleaner. :) i’m not sure if she’s totally ready for this but we’re gonna give it a try. and if by noon on saturday i’ve had enough and i give up i’m not going to beat myself up about it. we’ll just wait a month and try again. so there. i’ve put it out there so there is no turning back now! wish me luck!

3 cute stories i don’t want to forget

2011-08-02T21:14:00.001-05:00

these are just some random things o has said over the past week that i don’t want to forget.

yesterday while i was at work my mom dropped off some cookies for olivia. she always wraps them like a present. we got home and i told o that gg had left something for her and pointed to the table. o got really excited and said, “present, present! open, open it mama!” i got it down and helped her open it and then heard, “cookies mama! cookies mama! i want to eat them mama!”

every morning i grab a bottle of water before walking out of the door. i also let o put her milk in the fridge so she can have it after school. the other morning i told her it was time to go and she says, “milk fridge mama. milk fridge.” so i open it for her and she puts it on the bottom shelf. then i hear, “watey mama, watey.” (she calls water “watey”.) i said, “no olivia you just had milk.” then she insists. so i open the door (b/c i have to get my water anyway) and she gets excited, opens the drawer, pulls out a bottle and says, “here mama, watey. here mama.” she’d gotten my water for me! so sweet!

and she has FINALLY started trying to say her own name. she’ll say “weva” and the occasional “oweva” but it’s hard to get her to do it. and it’s the sweetest word i’ve ever heard her say.

for so long i was so worried about her speech. she didn’t really start talking until well after her 1st bday and when her friends were talking in sentences she was still sticking with 1 to 2 word phrases. i have decided that she just doesn’t want to mess up the pronunciation of a word so she just doesn’t say it until it’s right. she is pretty much talking in sentences and i can understand about 95% of it. that’s crazy to me! she’s still my baby! she still won’t talk much in front of others (strangers to her) and i don’t totally understand that but she’s doing it at home and that’s what counts. we’re also finally counting to 10 (leaving out 4 but whatever, she’s got the concept) and trying to say the abc’s. i can tell she wants to say them with me and she does get a few of the letters but she’s not totally ready to commit to the whole thing so she kind of hums along with me. our colors aren’t going so good. EVERYTHING is red. and when i say “no, this is green.” she’ll repeat green and then when i come back to it she says red again. i just don’t get it! i’ve been working on colors forever! but she is only 2 so i’m not ready to have her tested for color blindness. the way i figure it; as long as she knows them by pre-k then i’m happy. :) we’ll just keep working!

courtney and ben got married!

2011-07-31T20:57:00.001-05:00

who doesn’t love a good wedding?!? i would go to a wedding every weekend if i could. i love them! they just make people happy. (or they should!)

i spent this weekend in monroe with one of my dearest friends…courtney got married! it was so fun! i’ve known courtney forever. seriously, i don’t remember not being friends with her. we started friday night with the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner. after that i ended up at enoch’s with a friend and that was a blast. i’m reminded on nights like that, that i’m 30 years old! drums are a lot louder than i remember from college. ha!

saturday started early! i got to her hotel room before she did! ha! we had a fabulous day just hanging out with all the bridesmaids. sometimes a girl just needs a totally girly day playing with hair and getting dressed up. i really do love that; it’s so much fun! we laughed and cried and gossiped. and laughed and cried some more. the wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun. courtney, thank you for asking me to be a part of your day. i was honored to stand next to you and wish you nothing but happiness. you deserve it!

after the reception we ran down to shelley’s birthday party at coda. we missed the actual party but did get to see a few people. happy birthday shelley!

the bronch

2011-07-28T20:53:00.001-05:00

it happened. i’m glad it’s finally all over. our morning started at 4:30. rett got here to pick us up about 5:15 and we were on the road by 5:25. mom beat us to the hospital by 15 minutes and i may never live that one down. :) after getting checked in we headed to the 2nd floor, ASU. one up there we got o in her gown and let her open her “prize” from me.

(rant – barbie is NOT the barbie that we knew. i picked the most clothed one i could find and she is STILL skanking it up. hootchie mama dress; platform shoes. the whole 9 yards. if you’ve not experienced this please go to walmart and buy a barbie. then you’ll know what i’m talking about!)

then it was time for vitals. she passed with flying colors.

then time to meet the anesthesiologist. it’s here we learned this was NOT being done under conscious sedation. they were putting her under. i was caught off guard by this. just wish i’d have been prepared.

she then got 2 cc’s of versi-something. this was suppose to make her “drunk”. well, she’s kind to her aunt jenny…i’m not sure she felt the least bit drunk. she totally kept her cool and never let on that she may have been seeing 2 of each of us. at one point i joked that she would be an expensive date MUCH later in life. then it was time for them to take her back. the sweet nurses came in and asked her if she wanted to “drive the barbie car” (crib) and they brought her “seat warmers” (warm blanket). she got in that crib, sat on the blanket and off they went. she NEVER whimpered. about 20 minutes later dr. pepiak came out and told us she was fine. they discovered that she has some “narrowing” of the left lung b/c of the way her heart is positioned but that this is not a serious issue. she will wheeze for the rest of her life when she gets sick. i can handle that. then about 10-15 minutes later they brought her back from recovery. she was kinda groggy and wrapped in that warm blanket. when they wheeled her in the FIRST word out of her mouth was “pops”. guess i know where i stand! he was proud! we got her up, she drank a little juice, we got her dressed and we were out of there!

then on to breakfast at lea’s. o was still pretty groggy but considering that they told us she may not eat all day (sore throat from the procedure) she did pretty well!

once home she was her normal self. she’s loving these boots a sweet friend gave us! she played with her new barbie (i’ve named this barbie skank but i’m thinking i need to change that so she doesn’t take her to church one day and show her off as “skank”. that’d be odd…) mom kept her this afternoon and i went to work. she did take a solid 2 hour nap but other than that she is back to normal. glad to know that anesthesia doesn’t bother her too bad!

and i’m thrilled that all of this dextracardia stuff is finished! we’ve met with all of the specialists and done all the tests. we couldn’t have scripted this any better. she has a heart condition that is basically a technicality. we will see the cardiologist once a year from here on out just for safety’s sake. the pulmonologist told us we were done with him unless something crazy happened and i don’t see that happening but i’m glad we now have her established as his patient just in case. we can now resume our lives with our healthy little girl. no more worrying! thanks for the prayers. they were felt! especially when they dropped the bomb about full blown anesthesia!

oh, and i have pictures of her lungs. when she’s 14 i’m going to show them to her and explain that she doesn’t have a “full” left lung so smoking and drugs would do worse things to her than a person with normal lungs. hopefully this works and she’ll never smoke!

prep work

2011-07-27T20:41:00.001-05:00

tmrw is the big day. o’s bronchoscope. my alarm is set for 4:30 am and i have a friend that is hopefully going to remember to call me to MAKE SURE i’m up. we have to be at st. francis at 6 am so we’re planning to pull out of here at 5:20 am. i’m not looking forward to it.

i’ve spent the evening ironing our clothes; getting o’s breakfast together to take with us so as soon as she can eat i’ll have it ready. i’ve got her “prize” wrapped and ready. she’ll be receiving her very first barbie doll right before the iv goes in to hopefully take her mind off the needle.

i’ve got the necessary paperwork together. what am i forgetting? guess we’ll figure it out once we’re there and i don’t have what they ask for! ha!

when we were saying our prayers tonight i asked Jesus to keep her safe during the procedure tmrw. this was the first time i’ve mentioned it in front of her. she didn’t miss a beat so either she’s oblivious to our prayers every night or she doesn’t know what a “procedure” is so she just chose to ignore it! :)

i know she’ll be fine and i’m pretty positive they won’t find anything glaringly wrong. i just have a peace about this and i think it’s just a precautionary measure. so, prayers tmrw morning are much appreciated! thanks!

strep

2011-07-24T09:44:00.001-05:00

oh my. i was knocked on my butt tuesday and didn’t leave my house until saturday except to go to the dr on wednesday. i don’t ever want this again. and i sure don’t want olivia to get it; it was painful! let’s recap (not that you care but b/c i want to remember it in case it happens again.)

monday – had a weird headache and thought that was weird b/c i never get headaches. took ibuprofen all day long.

tuessday – woke with sore throat and extremely sore torso. like my ribs hurt. all morning at work i had chills and the pain extended up to my neck and down to my legs. took temp at lunch (99.9 – i don’t consider that a fever. it’s a temp; no big deal.) took some ibuprofen, went back to work and started feeling better. went to bed early (like 9 pm) b/c i was so tired i couldn’t keep my eyes open.

wednesday – woke with the same symptoms as before but with 102.3 fever. it got up to 102.7 that day. stayed on the couch all day except to go to dr. strep test confirms. got a shot.

thursday – temp got up to 101.9 this day. laid on couch all day.

friday – temp got up to 100.9 this day. did nothing except a trip to sonic for a slush. it was good!

saturday – finally woke up with some energy, the desire to shower (i showered the other days, don’t worry, i just didn’t have the desire to do it!) and the need to get out of this house! i think i’m on the mend! later in the afternoon temp was 99.9 but i don’t consider that anything.

today – i think i’m over it. finally. the dr told me i’d start to feel better friday afternoon and by monday i’d be a new person. well, i felt SLIGHTLY better on friday but not much. however, saturday was a different story. so he wasn’t too far off!

sadly, i had to miss the family trip to houston to visit my grandmother for her 90th birthday. i hate that. but i would have hated it more to go and then her get sick so i stayed back. if you’re reading this mamamack, happy birthday! hope it is a great one!

olivia had to be banished from the house for fear that she would also get it. so basically i was quarantined for 3 days. i’d like to thank jackie for offering to bring me lunch on thursday and jenny for actually bringing my lunch that day! and my dad for going to the grocery store for me on friday b/c i ran out of water and was on my last roll of toilet paper! and my mom for faithfully calling and texting all week to see how i was doing.

i’m well now! and i’m ready to get back to the real world!

future gymnast?

2011-07-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

i want her to be a dancer or soccer player but of course i’ll support anything she wants to do! i just hope it doesn’t involve lots of summer outdoor time! ha! i don’t know how “ballpark moms” do it!

please forgive the bad taping. i don’t have an iphone so i was using my mom’s and i’m not really good at that! guess i need more practice!

sunday fun day

2011-07-17T21:15:00.000-05:00

mom brought olivia back about lunch time today so we went to lunch at log cabin with her and jenny. o did so good! she can be so good in public when she wants to be! ha! afterwards she got some dessert at home to try out her new booster seat. that’s right; no more highchair. i’m kind of sad about that. had i known i was going to do it this weekend i would have documented her last meal in the highchair. but it was a spur-of-the-moment decision so here we are. i like it. one, it cleared up some space in my “dining room” and two, i think this is going to force me to sit at the table to eat with her. we’ve gotten into a bad habit of eating in the living room (her on the floor and me in the chair) while watching tv. i don’t want this to be her normal growing up so i’m vowing to break it now. i remember sitting down at the table every night growing up and having to discuss our day. right now o doesn’t talk to me about her day but one day she will! and then… we went to her first movie! it couldn’t have gone better! when i saw that winnie the pooh was showing in theatres i knew this would be her first movie. she really enjoyed the movie and at the end was asking me for honey! at least she got something out of it! i had to remind her a few times to whisper but honestly, it’s a kids movie. what do people expect?!?

maybe i just wasn’t the biggest pooh fan growing up or maybe i just forgot but i don’t remember eyore being so depressed. was he always the most depressing donkey ever? they make meds for that now! ha!

avie is 3!

2011-07-17T18:45:00.001-05:00

saturday was avie’s 3rd bday party in monroe. but first o had to get a haircut. she didn’t love it like i do. maybe one day. she did, however, love the sucker adrianne gave her to ~~bribe~~ keep her occupied! then we met val and amelia to head to the party. they had a blast! then we met my parents for lunch so o could go home with them as i was celebrating a friend’s bday later that night. it was a fun saturday!

it’s not always roses around here.

2011-07-14T21:20:00.001-05:00

this week is evidence. monday evening started kinda rocky and tonight ended in hours worth of tears. i’m not sure what’s going on with her but nothing is making her happy this week. tonight was full on drama. once i got her calmed down (2 hours after it all started) we talked about why she was acting like this. i hope i explained well enough that it’s not nice to act out and that if something is bothering her she needs to try her best to tell me. she agreed. :) we’ll see how that goes. i’ve emailed her teacher to see if she’s not been napping or if something is going on at daycare. otherwise i’m out of options. unless maybe she’s having a growth spurt or something that i don’t know about. do growth spurts make you cranky? regardless, something’s gotta give! it’s wearing me out. could her 2 year molars be coming in? but she’s fine in the mornings. it’s just evenings. idk…

this was tuesday when gg came to town. minnie mouse now goes to dinner with us. :)

tonight i tried a new activity since her current toys aren’t that entertaining anymore (apparently.) i saw this on kelly’s korner and her daughter loved it. o liked it for about 5 minutes. i started her with 2 plastic bowls. she ended with those 2 bowls, a pot, a colander and a measuring cup. again, my childproof cabinets aren’t very childproof. also, the past few weeks she’s not wanted to go to the nursery at church. she did LOVE that place. what is up with my child? hopefully she’ll be back to her normal, happy self soon. this has got to be just a phase that shall pass. i hope! pray for us!

wade’s 50th

2011-07-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

this past saturday we headed to w’boro to celebrate my cousin wade’s 50th bday. my parents along with a host of other people hosted it at the old post office museum in w’boro. this really is a neat place and i’m so glad w’boro has it now. i’ll let the pics do the talking with little commentary. o had a great time and i’m glad some family that we rarely see got to see her.

wade’s gift from the hosts. o with aunt nell (wade’s mom)the fish from the catfish festival helping gg open a gifti guess you’re never too young to learn to drink from a wine glasswyn putting lipstick on o. she’s also the one that taught her to drink from a wine glass. she was our “cool” older cousin growing up. rumor has it she took the 3 of us everywhere with her including her high school games where she cheered. obviously we were too young to remember this. i do remember slumber parties at her various apartments and i vividly remember a convo we had with her when we were in high school that my parents might die over! :)o loves doing “uncle ben” with wade! aunt nell, wade, wyn

there were lots of people there but i failed to document more. i just stuck with the fam! we pulled out of the parking lot at 8:52 pm headed back to ruston and olivia finally fell asleep at 10:20 pm when i was passing trinity to exit in ruston. she talked the whole way home! but i’ll take that any day over crying! ha!

memories

2011-07-06T20:28:00.001-05:00

just for documentation purposes…

monday night after bath i had o on her changing table doing our after bath routine and she looked at me and said “mama kiss” and grabbed my face and kissed me, then “mama ruv you” and then “mama hug” and hugged me. i’ll never forget it. i was so excited!

last night o was up a good bit past bedtime watching elmo. (backstory – i ALWAYS lay o on her back when i put her in bed and she stays that way and talks to me for a minute.) i put her in bed and she immediately rolled over onto her stomach and then flipped wig b/c she couldn’t find mimi (a pink lovey she sleeps with). so i gave her mimi and she flipped wig again screaming (in a scared way) “natalie and baby in bed?”. (we go through this EVERY night – she always asks if they’re in bed also and i assure her they are (they are her baby dolls.)) it was almost like a “i’m tired and so ready for bed but i’m their mother so i have to check on them first” kind of way. normally we go through this at least 4 times every night; last night she accepted my answer the first time and was OUT! i realized that she treats her baby dolls like i treat her. i sure hope i’m setting a good example!

happy july 4th!

2011-07-04T21:04:00.001-05:00

o and i have had a great long weekend! we got up saturday and headed to monroe to spend the day with jackie and her in-laws. we swam for a few hours at their house and then o played with brintley for several more hours. lots of little girl fun was had by all! they were allowed to jump on the bed. i’m pretty sure o thought i was the devil when we got home and i wouldn’t let her jump on my bed. :) to bad i didn’t take a single photo of them together. thanks bud and joni for having us over! if you’re reading this we’ll definitely come back before the summer is over!

after church on sunday i decided to have a low key afternoon INSIDE b/c, let’s be honest, it’s too hot to do anything else! we colored, read books, played dress-up, etc. o reinforced my thought that she may be left handed. she used her left hand for EVERYTHING! a friend told me today that lefties are usually artistic so maybe she’ll be famous for her artwork one day!

we then met shelley and avie for dinner at old mexico. then to trinity to kill time before temple’s fireworks show. this was shelley’s idea to let them play on the playground before the show started. brilliant! i live about 45 seconds from trinity (the church where we are members) and it has never occurred to me to use their playground! it’s close by, it’s free, it’s fenced in and most importantly o loves it! we will definitely start spending some evenings up there! then we made our way to the front where a pretty large crowd had gathered to wait on the show. i absolutely love that temple does this for ruston. it’s a great show. the lawn in front of trinity was full of families and kids were running everywhere. this was the first time that olivia has played WITH another child. she LOVED avie and would mimic her every move. it was so fun to watch! i’m not sure why this started last night… maybe b/c my friends either have boys or girls the same age as o and they are just too young to know how to play together. i’m not sure. avie is almost a year older than o and maybe o “sensed” she was with an “older” girl who “knew more”. whatever it was, it was precious! they played chase. they turned flips in the grass. they laughed together. so much fun! i didn’t get o into bed until 9:45; that’s a record! today we headed over to nicola and jeff’s for a bbq and to hang out. o was so sweet with kaden. she shared with him and helped him play in his new kitchen. i was so glad b/c “sometimes” she doesn’t like to share or play nice! we are very much in the “mine” state of mind these days… i guess i’d say that we made major strides in playing WITH other kids instead of playing AROUND other kids this weekend and it was so fun to watch. thanks for having us over! it was fun! yes, she wore the same outfit 2 days in a row. we needed to get good wear out of our holiday outfit and i promise i washed it!

what. a. week.

2011-06-30T20:27:00.001-05:00

let’s just say that i’m glad this week is coming to an end. what do you notice in the picture below? yes, that would be a bottle of RID on the end. know why i have a bottle of RID in my bathtub? b/c olivia has/had LICE. OMG. yes, LICE. i nearly died. i discovered this on tuesday evening and have spent tuesday, wednesday and tonight ridding my house of lice. tuesday night was spent ridding o’s head of them and then her room. last night was the rest of the house including washing umpteen loads of laundry and vacuuming the entire house. tonight i’ll finish the laundry and remake the beds. i did the treatment on her on tuesday so for the next 7-10 days we have to carefully comb her hair after bath with a special comb and then on day 9 we have to do another treatment to make sure we got them ALL. i was NOT prepared for this. i called my mom and she didn’t really know what it looked like b/c we never had it. i have to think she picked it up at daycare and it makes me so mad! some parent sent their kid to daycare with it either not knowing or not caring to share this info with the center and therefore my child got it. i had the common decency to call up there wednesday to let them know so they could debug her classrooms and let the other parents know to watch for it. THAT’S WHAT GOOD PARENTS DO. i was so embarrassed but o’s sweet teacher assured me there was nothing to be embarrassed about. it happens and we deal with it. i was so scared they’d think we’re dirty people or something like that. i’m over that now. i know we’re not dirty. :) so please pray that o tolerates these 1-2 hour long combings every night for the next several days. and pray for my patience as i do it and try to control her at the same time.

then wednesday it was determined that the ballast in my kitchen light had gone out and that’s why my new light bulbs didn’t work. thanks to shawn cramer i can now see again! he came over, figured out what i needed, went to lowes and bought it and then came back and fixed it. now that’s a friend right there!! thanks sheree for loaning me your hubby for a couple of hours! while he fixed my light i continued the debugging process. then i decided to do a lice treatment on myself “just in case” and as i was leaning over the tub trying to wash my hair (which by the way i’m way too old to do now) i discovered that my bathtub drain was going way too slow. seriously. of all nights. luckily i had 1/2 a bottle of liquid plumber and that took care of it. fun times in the hamby household i’m telling you.

tonight’s not so bad. finishing up the umpteen loads of laundry, remaking the beds, etc. for dinner i made this:and it was so good! who knew homemade veggie pizza could be so tasty! i’ll definitely be making this one over and over and over…

we’ve got a pretty low key july 4th weekend planned. some swimming with aunt jackie and then temple’s fireworks show. taking it easy on monday. but super excited for a long weekend with o. even if it entails 1-2 hour combings each night…

hudson is 2

2011-06-26T21:33:00.001-05:00

well, he’ll be 2 on thursday but his party was yesterday. i’ll tell you what…emery is on to something here. a baby pool, sand table, yard sprinkler and beach balls – my child was entertained for almost 2 solid hours and i rarely had to get out of my chair! great party em!! hudson is the most active child i’ve ever met. he loves everything! he’d DIVE into the pool not caring who was in his way! so funny!

peach fest…part 2

2011-06-26T12:54:00.001-05:00

the peach fest activities continued sat morning with the parade. it was HOT. we met drew and aubrey and had a grand time catching candy, cups, beads etc. o enjoyed this one a lot more than the last parade we went to. she really got into going out in the road to get the candy, etc. she also had a ball running down the “hill” in front of the axo house! can’t wait for the next one!

peach fest 2011…part 1

2011-06-24T21:19:00.001-05:00

the peach festival started today! we headed downtown this evening with aunt jenny and watched the pet show, took pics with the saints’ vince lombardi (nfl champs) trophy. then to dinner at ponchatoula’s and dlove met us. i meant to enter one of these pics in the baby photo contest but totally forgot and then missed the deadline. boo.

tmrw morning is the parade!

happy father’s day

2011-06-19T21:33:00.001-05:00

as a single parent i think it’s my duty to celebrate both. after all, i play both roles. you may not agree with me and that’s totally ok. i do keep father’s day much more low key and allow my dad to soak up the glory. but i’d be lying if i said i didn’t take a day to myself! :) with that said o gave me the BEST father’s day gift today! tonight she said “ruv u”!!!! i’ve only been working on this for over 2 years now! i asked her to say it over and over! i was so excited! at one point we were both squealing! she still won’t say it on her own but that is ok with me! just hearing her say it at all made my year!

on a side note; tonight for dinner my child at a bag of cheetos, 2 pickles, onions and bread pudding. mother/father of the year here. but an onion is a vegetable and that’s probably the first veggie she’s eaten in days so i’ll take it! my dad video’d some of the onion eating b/c after all, who does that?!?!

and notice the pink dance skirt under her dress. my mom brought over her first danskin pink dance skirt! when she opened it jenny yelled, “i wanted to buy her her first one!!”. we can start dance classes next year and we’re super excited about it! :)

kelly’s kids sale!

2011-06-19T00:38:00.000-05:00

i tagged along with suzanne and her family to natchez yesterday after work for the kelly’s kids sale. we camped out and that sacrifice got us in the building second out of HUNDREDS of shoppers. when we got there at 8:15 pm there was only one other group of 3 there. jackpot! when clothing a child on a budget these sales come in extremely handy. here’s how the night played out:

after we dropped our chairs off at the warehouse we took her family (husband matt and children landry grace and jake) to their hotel. we were back at the warehouse about 9ish and 4 others had gotten in line behind us. about 10ish another group of 4 arrived. by about 11:30 we were getting bored so we and the first group of 3 went to walmart where we bought some face wipes, off and magazines. back at the warehouse a little after midnight and there’s another handful of people there. abt 2:30 suzanne went to sleep in the car. we switched about 4 and i slept in the car until about 5:30. when i got out of the car and saw the line i nearly died. holy moly! by that early in the morning the line was very close to wrapping around the building. apparently most got there in the 4 am hour. we left abt 5:45 and went to mcdonalds to brush our teeth and get breakfast. back at the warehouse a little after 6 and time to wait it out in the HEAT. once that sun came up it was steamy! they ended up opening the doors at 8:15 instead of 9 due to the heat and the number of people. and true to our new friends words, we walked in number 4 and 5 right behind the first 3 girls. AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! i went to the 2s and suzanne went to the 3/4s. we grabbed a few of everything and then met up and sorted through it all and got what we wanted. we were out of there by 10 am.

this was taken about 10ish when we were still giddy with excitement!

having matt and the kids there was a blessing in disguise! :) after camping out we didn’t smell so good and were thrilled to have a hotel room to go shower in before the ride home and we were able to snooze a little while matt drove us home! it was a win/win! suzanne, i had a blast and can’t wait for the next one!

and to our new friends from mississippi, arkansas & georgia – i had so much fun last night and hopefully we’ll see you at the next one!

o goes on a date with aunt jackie

2011-06-18T17:18:00.000-05:00

o got a surprise friday when aunt jackie picked her up early and took her to monroe! they went to hobby lobby, to the MAC to swim and play and then to jackie’s to play with their dogs. from what i was told they had a GREAT day! thanks aunt jackie for spending some quality time with o!

summer pics 2011

2011-06-18T15:10:00.001-05:00

thanks goes to crystal garcia for turning my very typical 2 year old, has to have it her way little girl into what appears to be a very happy child in 100 degree heat! i was so happy with the way these turned out!

potty training 101

2011-06-16T21:02:00.001-05:00

i’ve been debating on posting this for a good week and a half b/c the picture content could be misconstrued. i’ve finally decided that this is my blog and these are my memories so if you don’t like what you see then you can go read someone else’s blog. :)

i ~~think~~ know we’re in the throws of potty training. almost 2 weeks ago right before bath o was begging to potty. (i’ve been dreading this but then realized we have to do it sooner or later so i might as well get it over with.) so i put her on the potty and LOW AND BEHOLD she actually pottied! i never thought she’d do that! then the next night, the same thing. and the same the next night. you get my point. a few nights ago once home from daycare she wanted to potty so i let her and then decided to not waste a diaper to see how it went. she wanted to sit in my lap and read books so we had a “come to Jesus” about her not wearing a diaper and needing to tell me if she needed to potty. she agreed. (i don’t give my child near enough credit when it comes to understanding what i’m telling her. just fyi.) well either she’s kin to her mama with a bladder of steal or she peed in her room and i still haven’t found it but there were no accidents! the other night after bath i was getting her dressed and she kept saying “potty.” i informed her that she did not have to potty b/c she had just done so 15 minutes ago before bath. she INSISTED so i relented and – shocker – she went! so, she can consistently tell me she needs to tee-tee. but she’s yet to tell me she needs to do the other. i guess that’s coming? hopefully.

she even takes her milk with her. she does NOT get that from her mama. and she likes to be naked when she goes. i’m working on that one.

all of this to say – it’s time. i know she’s ready. she LOVES going to the potty. so now i just need a free weekend to do this and it’s looking like that may be mid-july. unless rett wants to do this and i’m not convinced that’s the best decision i could make so… crossing my fingers that i’ll have a potty using little girl by the end of july! (and i realize it’s not going to be as easy as i make it sound. but the fact that she is consistently going at certain times of the day makes me believe that it won’t be nearly as bad as i had imagined. just let me think this.)

all of this to say – if your child tells you she/he needs to potty LET THEM GO! don’t pull a jessie and tell them they don’t need to go. i mean, they obviously know better than you if they need to go! there’s your potty training 101. you can pay me later. :)

the highs and lows of the dreaded DIET

2011-06-11T13:27:00.001-05:00

i’ll be honest. olivia is 2 now and about a month ago i still weighed what i weighed after coming home from the hospital (once all of my “retained fluid” was gone.) i’ve not felt good AT ALL about how i look and finally made the decision to do something about it. after all, i’ll be OFFICIALLY single on monday and that means it’s time to seriously put myself out there and to find “the (right) one”. with all of that said i did what no one wants to do and i had my “last meal” a few weeks ago. other than a few slip-ups i’ve done REALLY well. i have a meal plan that i follow and it’s not bad at all! i’m really liking the recipes and think i’ll continue to eat them after this is all said and done. do i miss the johnny’s sweep the kitchen? OF COURSE I DO! but do you know what’s better than johnny’s sweep the kitchen…the fact that i got into a size smaller pants last night with NO pulling, tugging or praying! WOOO HOOO!! this diet thing does work and was proved last night when i put on the before mentioned smaller size pants. that, my friends, is incentive! i celebrated with lettuce wraps and the healthy roll at raw. (in the past i’d celebrate with chips and salsa [my ALL TIME FAVORITE FOOD] and follow it up with beer/wine/liquor.) and i didn’t feel deprived! my true test will come when i have to actually venture out to my fav restaurants and order something that i’ve never ordered before while “forgetting” that my fav items are still on the menu. but i can do it b/c i know an even smaller size pants is coming!

now just think what would happen if i’d actually work out. baby steps. :)

seeing specialists aka playing the waiting game

2011-06-07T21:50:00.001-05:00

this day couldn’t have gotten any longer. but the end result was pleasant so i’m not complaining! first, my child has decided that sleeping in isn’t on her list of priorities anymore. so, on this rare tuesday where sleeping in was allowed we were up bright and early at 6:30. ugh!

we were on the road to monroe by 8:15. ran a few errands and then to our first appt, the dermatologist. i just love dr. altic. he’s pretty nice to look at. :) i’ve been seeing him for as long as i can remember and regardless of how nice he looks that man will make you wait forever! it took him all of 2.5 seconds to look at o’s mole, state it’s NOT cancer and that it will need to come off when she’s 11. (apparently cancer of this sort becomes a concern at age 12. who knew.) so a $50 copay for a 30 second visit. but $50 is a small price to pay for good news!

after lunch and a carousel ride from hell mom and i took a scenic drive to bastrop so o could nap and then to the pulmonologist. i was there at 1:20 for our 1:30 appt. we left at 4. we saw the pulmonologist for about 10 minutes. i’m not lying. he feels that her breathing issues are nothing more than normal wintertime viruses but he wanted to schedule a bronchoscope to make sure her lungs are on the correct side. apparently with dextracardia your lungs can also swap sides. again, who knew. so on july 28 we have to be at st. francis at 6 am (yep, you read that right) for the procedure to start at 7. it will be done under conscious sedation so i’m not all that concerned about it. they’ll run a camera down her throat into her lungs and check everything out. it’s an outpatient procedure. this visit did not cost me a $50 copay but i’m sure the hospital bill will more than make up for this “free” visit! ha!

all in all we had great visits today. no news is always good news!

busy, busy, fun, fun

2011-06-05T20:37:00.001-05:00

on friday emery turned the big 3-0!! i had a blast planning her surprise party with her husband, eric. we started with “painting with a twist” at my house. my friend melissa kiper came over from monroe to do this for us. i was super happy with the choice to keep it simple with a “funky cross”. everyone got to customize it to their home colors, tastes, etc and i think everyone went home happy! when we finished painting we headed to shreveport for dinner at superior where eric and everyone’s hubbys/dates met us. this was the 2nd surprise b/c emery thought eric was taking her out on sat night! a fun time was had by all!

after a late night i got up bright and early for courtney’s winnsboro shower. malia rode in with me and after picking up olivia at my parents we headed to the shower. courtney looked great and got lots of nice gifts! her wedding is getting close!!

then back to ruston for a birthday party for sweet emory napper. it was at party galaxy which i’m thinking is a prime loc for o’s next party. i didn’t take any pics and tried to jack some off fb but couldn’t for some reason. maybe another day…

we sent to church this morning and then to lunch with dev, daryl, josh and wes. we love old mexico! :) after nap we went out to rcc for some swim time with aunt jenny.

and tonight…wait for it…olivia tee-teed on the potty not once but TWICE! we may be really close to officially potty training!

first “masterpiece”

2011-06-02T21:21:00.001-05:00

yesterday olivia brought home her very first piece of artwork. i was so excited. i’ve been waiting on this day for a long time! since i didn’t get a picture of her on her real first day i got this one wednesday morning before leaving.

look closely for the red line towards the bottom left. the green “marks” are more prominent. it’s abstract! i guess you have to be an artist to “get it.” :)

first day of “school”

2011-05-31T20:53:00.001-05:00

today was the day. olivia started emmanuel. drop off didn’t go so well but i know it’s going to take a few days for her to get used to her new surroundings. the good news is that when i got there to pick her up she was happy and playing; albeit alone, but still playing. once she makes friends i’m sure she’ll be happy there.

here’s o with mrs. debbie on her last day there; last week. we’ve LOVED mrs. debbie and will really miss her. she’s great with kids and i’d recommend her to anyone looking for a sitter for a toddler. but, it was time to get some “learning” going on so we made the tough decision to move her. i know o was learning things at mrs. debbies (example – she knows the word “boobies” and both rett and i deny teaching it to her so she had to pick it up there… :) ) but picking it up from other kids and having a certified teacher are 2 different things. with all that said, i already miss mrs. debbie! we’d chat in the mornings and evenings and i consider her a friend. i’ll still use her as my backup plan for emergency days when emmanuel closes; it’s gonna happen with lincoln parish’s record for closing b/c of a FORECAST of snow… emphasis on FORECAST. i have never in my life witnessed more school closings than i have since moving to ruston. i digress…

i tried so hard to get a pic of o this morning on her first official day of “school” (i call it school b/c they do have a short lesson every morning) but the meltdown that occurred made it hard for me to get my camera ready so i’ll keep trying this week until we get one!

happy memorial day!

2011-05-30T21:53:00.001-05:00

we invited drew and aubree over to help us celebrate memorial day! it's sad that we all live within 2 blocks of each other and never get the girls together. these 3 are in kindermusik together in a class all their own so they've become big buddies. we started off in the backyard but b/c i have NO shade and it was HOT we didn't last too long and moved this party inside!

props to shawn and jason for manning the grill. i PROMISE next time i'll make sure i have gas! :)

new and improved playroom!

2011-05-25T20:38:00.001-05:00

my dream finally became a reality tonight! 6 years ago when we first looked at this house i told rett “that” room (referring to the enclosed garage) would make a great playroom. “that” room has been many things in 6 years. it first served as a junk room that we could shut the door to. then rett’s office when we found out i was pregnant. then another junk room consisting of lots of wasted space. 6 years later i have that playroom! now i have a coffee table, end table and other random furniture to get to my parents house but that will come! i’m just so excited i no longer have toys in my living room!

the view looking in from the dining room – the wagon will be finding it’s permanent home outside; i’m tired of taking it out and bringing it back in. i’ve decided it CAN get rained on!the view from the laundry room. i don’t think that tv works but that’s ok since o doesn’t really like tv anyway!that lamp is going with the rest of the random furniture but until i can load it all up and take it down there it has to stay.

2 year check-up and first swim of the season

2011-05-24T20:24:00.001-05:00

another busy day! and it was fun! i really do love taking o places; except walmart. we left bright and early this morning headed to dr. khanfar. stats: *29.5 lbs (82%), *35.8 inches (91%), *19 inch head cir. (71%).

he joked that she's the size of an average 3 year old! who knew?!? when she was born on through her first year she was always in the 25-30%. she's done a lot of growing! hoss. dr. khanfar is really so sweet. when we were getting measured by the nurse he walked by and looked at o and said, "some girls are just beautiful and you're one of them!" now, he probably says this to all of his patients but i was grinning from ear to ear! he gave us a referral to dr. altic to get a mole checked out. she was born with a pretty big mole at the top of her booty but recently it's either gotten different or darker. i can't tell b/c i rarely look at it but i've noticed it lately and it bothers me so he agreed it was time to look at it. i'll have to make that appt soon.

after the dr we went to target and got a new toy organizer shelf thing. we also got o some new tennis shoes b/c she starts emmanuel next week and has to wear shoes and socks. gag me. i’m really upset about this. one, it’s hot outside. two, she’s going to look ridiculous in socks and tennis shoes with a summer dress on. but as long as everyone else looks just as ridiculous then i guess i can live with it!

then to sams, hobby lobby, chick-fil-a. i found no-show socks at sams! that makes this tennis shoe issue a little better. we had a nice lunch at chick-fil-a and i let her play for a little bit. she refused to nap so we went swimming – hey, what are vacays for?!? she looks so cute in her pool gear!

i’m SO glad that people suggested to emery the puddle jumper. i saw several kids wearing them last year but didn’t know what they were called. i picked one up today before going swimming and it saved o’s life! after about 30 seconds in the pool she was jumping off the side to me. (i was pretty shocked that she’d do this.) we went back and forth from the kiddie pool to the big pool. on one of our trips from the kiddie to the big she got ahead of me and ran straight into the big pool. i was only half paying attention until i heard a splash, looked up and there was o bobbing in the pool. i’ve never run so fast and jumped so hard into the shallow end! the puddle jumper did it’s job!!! thank God!

now sadly i go back to work tmrw after lunch. fun is over. but looking forward to a long, holiday weekend!

first zoo visit!

2011-05-23T21:17:00.001-05:00

i’m off work a few days this week and having a blast hanging out with o! so this is what it’s like to spend a lot of time with your child! i knew we’d need some activities for these few days so i planned a day trip to tyler, tx to visit the caldwell zoo. i’d heard really great things about it and it was very clean and nice. but it was really small. REALLY SMALL. and i never saw a monkey! what zoo doesn’t have a monkey? it doesn’t matter though b/c o had a ball and that’s why we went! too bad my garmin blows and we went 20 miles PAST tyler before realizing something was off so we had to backtrack 20 miles. but we finally found it! we had lunch at the zoo b/c our detour kinda threw off our timing. that was neat (yes, i just used the word “neat”) b/c the tables overlooked the giraffes and elephants. thank you jackie for going with us!

documenting her first trip to tx! there was a petting zoo with goats!

fun filled saturday

2011-05-22T11:12:00.001-05:00

whew! what a day! we started with an awesome birthday party for sweet drew. it was a papa simpson’s farm and this was our first time there. we’ll DEFINITELY go back! olivia was in heaven! we held baby chicks, goats and sheep. we fed baby cows, milked a cow, fed goats, chasaed goats, looked at pigs & donkeys, fed chickens, rode a horse and attempted a train ride which o was not a fan of. other than that little hiccup she was a PRO with the animals. i told somone i just need to find a farmer and we’ll be hooked up! ha! i asked mrs. papa simpson if we could come out every saturday and feed her animals! after the party i ran home, changed clothes, left o here with gg and headed to monroe for courtney’s shower that the bridesmaids hosted. we had it at vieux carre and it turned out really well! there was a good turnout and she got lots of nice gifts! and the food was awesome! then straight back to ruston to pick up o and gg and off to brad anders’ graduation party/mrs. sherry’s bday party! we had a lot of fun but the most fun was had by o. the party was at rachel and dusty’s and they have 2 labs that o fell in love with. she played with them for most of the party. throwing their toys, retrieving them, feeding them ice, petting them. i must say that dusty was great with her; maybe that’s a sign… we got some good time in with sarah, scott and david scott as well. sadly no pics were taken at this party.

sandbox fun!

2011-05-17T21:49:00.001-05:00

gg and pops gave o a sandbox for her bday. let the record show that i asked them to give her a sandbox but i was going to fill it with balls. like a big, outdoor ball pit. gg thought that was a terrible idea and that all kids need a sandbox so sand it is! and who know those little bags of sand weigh so much??? it was tough filling that thing which is why i stopped after one bag. i figure at the rate that she was throwing out the sand if i only put one bag at a time in it it might last through july! you know how i know that she loves her new sandbox…when it was time to come inside i put the lid on the turtle and she belly-flopped on top of it like it was life or death and wailed. like a gut wrenching cry. she was unhappy! so, the sand was a good idea. but the first time i find cat poop in it i’m calling gg to come clean it out! and did you notice that PONYTAIL??? we won’t be rocking that in public anytime soon; the front is still way to big (b/c it grows forward when you pull it back it just “poofs” up) but it is noteworthy that we now have the length for that!

happy birthday sweet olivia!

2011-05-16T19:57:00.001-05:00

yesterday was the day! you are 2! i sang “happy birthday” to you yesterday morning as you stood in your crib and looked at me like i was stupid. but then the light must have gone off in your pretty little head b/c you started smiling and giggling! made my effort worthwhile!

after church we had your bday lunch at old mexico. you still LOVE cheese so any place that serves a cheese enchilada is tops in your book. you also LOVE chips and salsa. any salsa. i caught you drinking yours today! you get that from your mama. :) after lunch we headed to winnsboro to hitch a ride with gg and pops to natchez, ms. the ms river is in the process of flooding everything in it’s path and it’s definitely the highest i’ve ever seen it. we walked up and down the river and then went “under the hill.” who knew that natchez was such a happening place?!? i think i’ll go back one day soon with some friends! :) the waitress figured out it was your bday and brought you a piece of chocolate pecan pie with 2 cherries on top. you were in heaven! you get your sweet tooth from your daddy.

happy birthday sweet girl! i love you more than you know and i can’t wait for many more birthday memories!

and this concludes my series of picture overload posts. i promise! but this WLW is spectacular and uploads pics so fast! i just couldn’t help it on these! :)

olivia’s 2nd birthday party!

2011-05-14T20:49:00.001-05:00

today was great! it started off pretty chilly but ended up being just warm enough to enjoy being outside! we had o’s party at trinity and that’s probably the best decision i’ve made all year! natalie did a great job on the invitations! before the party o got to play with her new kitchen! this thing was a BIG hit! she and gg played before the party and then o played with it from the time we got home until she went to bed! we ended up moving the party from the gym to the playground b/c the gym was suppose to be under renovation. turns out the contractors couldn’t start yet but i decided to keep it on the playground. despite the chilly temps i think it worked out better! we had this sign directing our guests away from the gym and to the playground. and then the back was our good-bye to our guests. i’m not sure anyone saw these but i tried! o got some good playtime in before her friends arrived! and then the party started. even the cat in the hat came!

after playing for a while we moved into the wharf (youth area) for cake and presents!

donna at sweet treats baking did the cookies and then we also had goldfish (to represent the fish in the book.) i know olivia had a BLAST and i hope her friends did to! i also need to thank my aunt linda for making o’s dress! i just love it! :)

mothers day 2011

2011-05-08T21:12:00.003-05:00

we've had a really great day! o woke up with a deep, loud breathing. not really a "wheeze". or a wheeze that i'm used to hearing. but she wasn't coughing, no fever, acted normal. so, i did a breathing treatment and we got dressed for church. after church we went to el torro for lunch and then o took a QUICK nap (i'm so sad that she's been trying to give up this nap for quite some time.) after nap (she woke up breathing normal so i guess it was just a fluke??) we headed to monroe for dinner with my fam and brock's fam. jackie and brock did a great job and the food was delish! i'm so sad i didn't take more pics!

o got to "open" her birthday present from her aunts and uncles a week early b/c jackie needed to use it today! it's a great picnic table that the top just pops off and it's a sand/water table underneath! olivia and brintley had a great time eating and playing at that table tonight.

i was blessed to receive a few gift cards today but the biggest blessing ever given to me is olivia. God knew what he was doing and where my life was headed when he gave me her. not only was she the easiest baby ever; she is the sweetest little girl. i'm not a sappy person so i won't go on and on about this. but let it be known that i've never been more proud than the day she was born (even though in my pain med induced fog i couldn't express that - i definitely thought it!)

and to my own mother - thank you for being a great example for me. i hope and pray that olivia never gives me the grief i gave you! i'm so sorry! now i know... :-)

weekend whatnot

2011-05-08T20:49:00.004-05:00

i had planned to pick o up on friday and go to the grocery store for a few items, come home, cook and then go to eskimoes for a friday night treat. when i got to mrs. debbie's o was FILTHY. like so dirty i was way to embarrassed to take her anywhere so we had a low key night at home! i made her a bean and cheese quesadilla for a late cinco de mayo celebration and then let her open 2 bday presents early.

bday present from georgia dugdale. lots of fun new toys!

the doctor set is her fav. we've "listened" to our heartbeat A LOT since

friday night! ha!

a new quilt from aunt linda. we LOVE it!

saturday was even more low key! o decided that a nap was no fun so after almost 2 hours of her talking to herself in her crib i decided it wasn't worth it! i attended a fish fry for my friend courtney and her fiance, ben. they're getting married in july and i'm honored to be a bridesmaid!

poor brooke said that o had a pretty tough night b/c she was so tired but that she went down easily! and wouldn't you know...the very first time she chokes on anything it's with a sitter. seriously... o has never choked on anything; that i'm aware of. i'm not sure i'd know what to do. so glad brooke was here and obviously knew what to do!

last echo and brew ha ha

2011-05-08T20:43:00.003-05:00

this past thursday olivia had her last echo. they wanted to check her coronary arteries b/c they didn't get a good look at the last echo. from all accounts all was good. dr. king came in and made a few comments but didn't really tell us much so i assume that's good? i have to call them in 2 weeks for the results.

thursday night was the dixie's brew haha. it was so much fun! we had a group of 10 that went! i can't wait for future events that cater to the "younger" ruston crowd! the second city comedy group was the entertainment and although i feel like they toned it down for ruston they were still REALLY funny! the food and drinks before hand were very good too! it was a very fun cinco de mayo!

kindermusik update

2011-05-03T20:53:00.004-05:00

we're still loving kindermusik. we recently moved to monday nights with only "dew" (drew cramer) and aubrey. drew is quickly becoming olivia's best friend. every day she asks about pops, then gg, then caillou and then drew. EVERYDAY. i'm so glad we got a smaller class. the tuesday night class was pretty big and could get kinda crazy and i know that olivia is getting more out of the smaller class. these 3 girls are SO cute together! last week drew and olivia held hands at the end of class for our closing song and this week olivia held aubrey's hand. sweet! they giggle and play and imitate each other. aubrey is pushing 2 1/2 so i'm hoping some of her "wisdom" rubs off on o! ha! i've noticed that olivia talks a lot more in the smaller class and she participates more. i really think she'd get overwhelmed in the bigger class and kind of check-out. anyway... all of that to say that we're still loving it and just yesterday i signed her up for the summer class! can't wait!

we have to say hello and goodbye to the nomes every week!

story time

bubbles!

more history making news.

2011-05-01T22:14:00.005-05:00

since i'm awake waiting on obama to confirm this... osama bin laden has been killed. i'm blogging this simply to document it for olivia. afterall, this is her baby book. surely one day she'll thank me for it. :)

i remember 9-11-01 like it was yesterday. you know how our parents remember in detail the day jfk was shot... this is our generation's "day to remember." i was in my apartment getting ready for class. brandi jerry hall and i lived on barnett springs. as the today show broke the coverage we saw the 2nd plane fly into the 2nd building LIVE. i'll never forget it. i forced myself to finish getting dressed and go to class but every break i got i found a tv to watch the coverage. brandi and i watched this for days. everyone did.

and as we approach the 10 year anniversiary of this horrible day we get the news that the mastermind behind it all is dead. is it ok to be "happy" about someone dieing? i kinda feel bad for his family but on the otherhand i'm thrilled that we no longer have to deal with this man. does this mean that i'll no longer have to have a body scan at airports?
on a personal note... now bring our troops home!

the royal wedding

2011-04-29T17:25:00.003-05:00

i'm watching it right now b/c i didn't want to get up in the middle of the night. i SOOO wish olivia was old enough to understand this. i mean...a new PRINCESS is "born" today! you can deny it all you want but every little girl goes through a phase where they want to be a princess. it may not last long but it's there. every girl FEELS like a princess on their wedding day (or they should) but only 1 in a million get to really be a princess! it's a modern day, real life fairytale! on a fashion note - what the hell is on this girls head? these are prince william's cousins. royal or not...this is bad. kate was classic. i like that she kept it simple. i'm a simple girl too! hey! maybe harry wants a simple girl... one can dream!

cheerio! i'm off to finish this wedding!

big movies and lots of wires

2011-04-27T19:09:00.003-05:00

yesterday we attempted pigtails in public for the first time. from all accounts they may have lasted 4 minutes. we'll keep trying! this may have been the first time in well over a year that she didn't wear a bow to daycare. she's growing up! :)

after kindermusik last night we went up to the joe for a movie on the jumbotron! this is such a neat experience! thank you union board for putting this on. we'll definitely attend more of these! and they offered free grilled cheese samis, popcorn and gatorade and water! but we didn't partake b/c you couldn't take the food on the field and that's where i wanted to sit!she was totally into the movie! (don't tell UB that i let her snack on the field!)
today was our followup with the cardiologist. it was a great appt! they hooked about 10 or 12 wires up to her for a few minutes and printed a graph of what looked like her heart beat (think the printout when you're in labor...that's what it looked like.) she handled that like a champ. then we saw brenda the NP and then dr. king. he confirmed that her ultrasound looked good. he went over her murmers and leaky valves and the hole in her heart. we go back next week for one more echo just to "cross our t's and dot our i's." at the last echo o got a little ancy so he quit before he could really check one artery and today was another afternoon appt which meant no nap... so we'll go next week in the morning when she's not quite as "tired". :) if she still won't cooporate then well do an MRA for which she'll have to be sedated but he doesn't expect us to get to that point. we'll see the pulmonologist in june (in monroe so no driving to alec!!) and assuming his findings are good we won't go back to the cardiologist for another year! PRAISE! he assured us that she's totally healthy, has no heart disease and can be treated as a normal toddler! if we never mention this to anyone (other than disclosing it on mandatory forms - daycare, school, church trips, etc...) they will never know she's "sick". and we certainly don't want her to feel "different" from other kids so except for when it's necessary it won't be mentioned again! obviously when she's old enough to understand we'll tell her that her heart is on the wrong side but as far as we're concerned it's just a technicality. NO BIG DEAL!

i got her an icee before i picked her up from daycare for the ride over. score one for mom!the point of this pic was to get all of the wires. next time i'll give better instructions...