The moment you have all been waiting for....A POST!!

It's been over a month since I posted. Sorry to my dedicated readers. I am going to honest, I have been flat out lazy.

So lets start with the big news first. Craig was in a car accident Thursday. I am glad to report that Craig and the other person involved were OK. But the cars not so much. Both were towed and we are waiting to see what the insurance company says about ours. I will meet them at the wrecking yard Monday for the verdict. I am trying very hard hoping that the damage is more cosmetic than anything. After all, we have only made ONE payment on it. Yes - it was a new car. He bought it on 7/11. The area were the accident was is a construction area. I have my theory of what happened and who deserves what blame. But at this point, I will not share details until the investigation is over.

On an up-note....Conor is signed up for his 2nd season of soccer. He is so excited and so are we. My baby is growing up.

We FINALLY had a Sprinkler system installed at the house. When we were building 3 years ago, I got skimpy and decided no sprinkler. Now, I know why we should have just done it in the first place. It is a constant battle with keeping the yard up and now it will be much easier on Craig with having the system.

We had a heck of a thunderstorm come through here early this AM. I haven't seen this much rain in a long time. We had lots of lightening and thunder. A huge grid of city had a power outage this morning, which resulted in a lovely 6AM emergency call from my work. I did have to go on site and work a little bit this AM, but luckily everything came back up as it should without any major issues.

Craig got a new iMac at work. He is very very proud of it. It has a 24" monitor! Isn't is crazy how monitors are bigger than the TV's we had as kids.

Lastly, we just got back in town from a day trip to the 'ol Amarillo. My cousin got married. It was a very nice ceremony, the bride was beautiful, and the cake was amazing!

So, that is all for now. It is LATE and I am TIRED!

I don't have much time to chat...

Hi Everyone,
I don't have much time to chat, so I will just post a few pictures. Afterall, that is why you visit the blog, right??


Making Cookies with Nanny...
Soccer trophy..
Spiderman face painting at the circus.
4th of July Parade!
My little Red Raider!

This post is long overdue...

Ok, so I have had a few requests for an update. Sorry for taking so long.

Gina - I wasn't ignoring you the other day at work. I was away from my desk with your IM popped up and when I got back in there you were signed out. BTW - doesn't look like I was picked for Boise. I kinda thought they would come out and ask for volunteers, but I guess not. I think Beth is going from our group. I was a little disappointed :-(

On to my post.... A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this huge long post about how I was healing and how upset I was with my Dr. For some stupid unknown reason, I clicked to spell check and the whole flippin' blog was gone. I was so discouraged that I slammed the laptop shut and went to bed.

So..not much going on in our lives. I am back to my old self. However, salsa does not taste the same anymore. Also, I used to be a Diet Coke addict, now I can barely stand the stuff. I am still hooked on room temperature tap water, which is not a bad thing.

I recently got on this Mineral Makeup kick. I went shopping on one of my days off at a new cosmetic store in town. I had one of the reps in the store do a makeover with Bare Minerals makeup. I loved it and bought the kit... After using it for 3 weeks my face broke out and my skin turned really oily. So I returned it. Then I set out on the internet to fine another brand. I came across this company based out of Austin, Texas called Everyday Minerals. They are totally internet based. They claim to keep to skin clear and control oil better than "other" brands. Best of all, the offer free samples!!! No kidding, FREE! So i sent off for my free sample kit. I have been using it for 3 weeks now...and LOVE IT! I encourge you ladies to give it a try!
Here is the website: https://www.everydayminerals.com/index.php?&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=32

Conor is enjoying his summer. He moved up to the Pre-School class at daycare. I am freaked out because this is his last year in daycare. He starts school Fall 2009. He is learning a lot and likes to practice letters and numbers on the dry erase board. His favorite things to say at the moment are:

1. "What the...?" Very similar sounding to "What the hell.." but w/o the hell part.


2. When he drops something or something doesn't go his way he says "Tarter Sauce". He gets it from Spongebob.


3. He saw the freckle I have on my backside today. He yelled and said "Mommy! What is on your butt"


4. The other night I was waiting for the water to warm up before his bath. I said, why don't you run around for a while and I will call you when it is ready. He started running in circles and when I asked him what he was doing he said "I am running around like you told me to."


5. When he wants something, he says "If you get me a drink, I will give you a lollipop." He must get this from school because we don't say it around the house.


6. We had our first experience with name brand shoes. There is a skechers commercial for Airators shoes. He absolutely had to have them. Luckily we found them on sale with a coupon. In the commercial, the kids are flying and jumping really high. He put the shoes on right after we bought them, turned and looked at me with his puzzled face and said "Hey, I didn't fly". I realize what effect TV has on him.

Kids are hilarious.

So Craig and I are entertaining the thought of building another house. We have been in ours for 3 years and have outgrown it already. When we moved, we knew we wouldn't be here forever. I just didn't realize it would be so soon. Right now we are in the process of getting the house ready to sell. This will literally take us a year. We are going to take our time. We plan to put in a sprinkler and do some nice landscaping the in front. We also have minor repairs to do around the house. I also need to clean out cabinets and closets and get the house ready for staging. So in about a year or more, you will hear more about our new endeavor. We plan to stay in the same district, we are most likely going with the same builder, the area we are looking at is a few blocks down. The house we like is exactly what we want. This time we are going to do it right. After building one we now know the mistakes we made.

Conor went to the circus with my parents and the pictures are at their house. Craig had one picture from his phone. This the fabulous spiderman face paint. We have better pictures. I have Thursday and Friday off so I will post them then.

Hope you enjoyed the update!!!!

God is good...

I am usually a very private person when it comes to religion. I will not defend or explain my reason, I just hold my faith very close and private. Having said that I am here to claim that God is good.

Since having my tonsillectomy, our family went through and uncertain jog. My Dad was admitted to the hospital because he didn't feel well. It was quite scary for a few days. Rewind six years ago, around the same time of year he was admitted to the hospital where, after an unsuccessful attempt at a stent, we were given the news that he would need a triple bypass. Wow - a triple bypass at 57 years old. That is just too young. Given his family history, it was a given that heat problems would be there, but we had no idea it was to that extent.


The cath lab was quite busy and he kept getting bumped back on the schedule. We were upset and stressed and we all wanted to go home because he was feeling fine. God was certainly watching after us this week. They did an angiogram and a 90% blockage and blood clot was discovered in one of his bypassed grafts. The fabulous cardiologist suctioned out the clot and put in a stent and my Dad is good as new.

My friend, Nancy, who is pretty tight with God told me "If He brings you to it, he will bring you through it." If that isn't the honest truth, I don't know what is.

We made it through. Thank God.

P.S - As far as I am concerned, I am doing fine. My ears hurt so bad, but the nurse told me after a tonsillectomy it is expected. I had to call in another refill on my Hydrocodone and the pharmacist made me feel like a drug addict. Yesterday I ate 3 Cajun potato chips and nearly died from the pain. One gross thing I can tell you is that food gets stuck. Yes, it gets freaking stuck in my throat and it surfaces a few minutes/hours later. Totally gross, I know. Other than that, I know I will be able to eat jalapenos and Flaming Cheetos again soon!

I have seen better days...but the end is in sight.

Ok, so day one was too good to be true. I should have known that feeling that good after having parts of your insides removed was too simple.

I have been able to manage the pain well with my drugs. However, I have to really be careful when brushing my teeth. I caught myself trying to scratch my throat with the toothbrush. What was I thinking?!?

One weird symptom I am having right now is total body aches. I feel like I just ran a marathon or climbed 1000 flights of stairs. My legs, neck and stomach are all sore. Makes you wonder when your body does when you are under anesthesia...

Right now it feels like I have a bad case of strep that just won't go away. Other than that, the whole thing wasn't as bad as I have heard. I know the benefits outweigh the downside by far. So if you read all the bad reviews of getting a tonsillectomy, take mine into consideration....it is not that bad if you are optimistic.

I will update again in a day or two. My friends are coming over soon to bring me some shaved ice. YUM!

Have a Happy Friday!

I am tonsil free..

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been about 7 hours since I bid farewell to my tonsils. Those nasty little boogers have caused me a great deal of pain for a number of years and I am so glad it is over. I won't go into all the details, but I will tell you there were two kids, a little boy and a little girl, who were getting their tonsils out too. We all had the same Dr, the girl went first, the little boy (about Conor's age) was 2nd, and I was 3rd. GUESS WHAT! The 29 year-old was shedding tears of fear while the two kids watched cartoons and had a grand 'ol time before surgery.

I decided to list my reasons of being so emo!

1. I watch way too darn much TV. With shows like Grey's Anatomy and channels like Discovery Health Channel, you tend to "see" too much.
2. I made the lovely mistake of watching a tonsillectomy on YouTube.com. Yes, there was one one there. After seeing the inside of a mouth after the procedure, you can image why I have only opened my mouth to eat, drink and talk. No lookie for me.
3. Seeing two kids in line before me with great spirits and no idea what was about to happen made me wish I was 5 and knew no better.
4. I also cried, because I watched the parents of the kids walk off after they were taken in for their procedure. As a fellow parent, I can't even image how that would have felt. After seeing that I have NO idea how my Mom and Sister do the job they do. My sister especially. She is with those kids after the parents leave and THANK GOD for the kind of person she is, without a doubt I would want her in there with my kid!
5. I was terrified of having an "accident" while in the OR. Lets face it people, loosing all control over your body is intimidating and no one in the OR wants to hear "code brown"

When the Dr spoke with Craig and my Parents, he said my tonsils looked bad and it was evident they had suffered many infections. This takes me back about 13 years ago, when I kept having to go to my family Dr over and over again not being able to kick sore throats and Strep. He told me if I came in to see him again, he would have my tonsils taken out. I stopped going to him. It wasn't until I had Conor that I would go to the Dr when I was sick because I didn't want to spread it to him. Soooo all in all, I felt a little crappy after waking up. But after getting my prescriptions which include liquid hydrocodone a.k.a liquid HEAVEN, I am feeling pretty darn good.

Craig's B-Day and Mother's Day

We had a full weekend. Craig's 30th Birthday was Saturday and it was so much fun. The night started a little slow, but it didn't take long before we were laughing the night away. Craig had a chance to be around some of his favorite people he had a great time. The pictures are on the other camera so I will have to post those later.





Mothers' Day was FABULOUS!!!! I got an iPod from Conor and Craig. I had wanted one for a while and was delighted when they gave it to me. It is so cute. My Dad cooked us a outstanding lunch and I think I ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap!!

Conor's last Soccer game is on Saturday. I am so sad it is ending, but certainly looking forward to another season in the fall. He really likes his coach and he gets along well with the kids. There is a little "end-of-season" party for the kids on Saturday evening. They are going to have so much fun.

We finally got rid of our old couch. I posted it for sale on EverythingLubbock.com last night and the first person that called bought it. I can park in the garage again!!

Coming up...My tonsillectomy is scheduled for 5/28. I have a week and a half off work. I am sure I will update again before then, but in case I don't wish me luck.

Update

Soo...I made an appointment with the Dr. today. The rash seemed to go away, but now I have terrible swelling in my hands and feet. I mean bad. I can't hold a pen or open bottles. My feet and ankles are so swollen that it hurts to walk. What the heck happened to me??? I am no petite girl, but swelling hands and feet are so not my deal. Something is really wrong. At the Dr's office, the PA is still standing by the original diagnosis that I had a "sensitivity" to the Antibiotics. Not allergy, but sensitivity. Whatever it is, it is really bad. I got a lovely steroid shot this afternoon and at the moment I really can't tell it has done any good. I don't "do" Dr's but it seems that weird ailments keep popping up on me more often. I guess it comes with age. So say a little prayer for me. Let's hope the swelling goes down by Monday and that I don't accidentally get prescribed Amoxicillin anymore....

Toodles...

Ouchie...

I learned today that Antibiotics and the Good 'ol Sun DO NOT MIX. My goodness, they put the warning on the freakin' bottle for a reason. So I had STREP for the 6th time in less than 12 months. Friday morning, I knew something was wrong. Since I am the Strep queen, I can smell it coming from a mile away. I went to the Dr. Friday morning and sure enough, the Strep test came back positive. I have an appointment with an ENT in 3 weeks to discuss a tonsillectomy. Who would have thought, 29 years old and having my tonsils taken out. Anyhow, back to my incident in the sun. Monday is soccer practice and I was ready to get some nice sun, while at practice. I am sitting there and within 10 minutes I started to itch really bad on my legs. I was thinking it was the grass or something. 20 minutes go by and I am hurting....I looked down and I could not believe what I saw. It looked like I had a measles, chicken pox, and some kind of terrible skin disease all at once. Now hours later, it feels like someone is poking me with a thousand little needles...Ugghh..

Conor is doing great in Soccer. I don't believe we have won a game, but it's not about the winning right? Those little guys get out there and try, you can't ask for anything more. I am simply delighted that Conor is even out there without bribery. He actually enjoys it. He listens to his Coach, plays well with the kids. He isn't very outgoing, but that will come with time.

Not much else is going on. Craig is getting closer day by day to the big 3-0. We are planning a little shindig...More to come about that soon.

It's been a minute..

I don't have my camera near me to add pictures, so you will just have to read for now. Craig and I aren't feeling very well right now. Not sure what the deal is. I am already dressed in my PJ's and could fall asleep any minute now. Conor is chugging along in Soccer. He is getting better, but since he is a shortie, he has a hard time keeping up with the bigger kids. He gives his heart and soul when he practices, well except for today. All the kids were kinda blah. I think I would be too if I had practice on Monday. Just for the record, Monday practices were not my idea. The weather is getting nicer, I think this week we will be in the 80's with one day near 90. I am very proud to report that Conor Mac is sleeping in his room 100% now. It was quite the struggle for the longest time. He tucks himself in, goes to sleep on his own, and knows not to get out of bed until the clock says "6". Most mornings, I have to wake him up which is just wonderful!! So since I don't have pictures, I am going to leave you with the top 20 fun facts about Conor...

1. Conor is learning about bugs at school. He loves the work "pupa". He laughs when he says it

2. His diet mostly consists of chicken. He very rarely eats red meat. Hot dogs and corn dogs are still at the top of his list.

3. He is dying to go camping in the back yard with his Daddy. I can't wait to see if he will make it through the night in the backyard

4. Everyday when we leave daycare, all his friends say "Conor can I come to your house". I guess I need to have a spring party and invite his friends over from school.

5. He says excuse me when he burps.

6. He is relatively neat for the most part. Sometimes he throws a fit when he has to pick things up.

7. He has the sweetest face.

8. He loves his puppy and is always concerned about her.

9. He will randomly tell you he loves you and doesn't want anything in return.

10. We went to the cemetery to take flowers to my Papa and Grandma. He said "This isn't their house, this is a garden." When I explained to him they were in Heaven with God, he said next week we will get a spaceship and go see them.

11. He repeats "Mommy" or "Daddy" over and over and over again. But never finishes what he started to say.

12. When he doesn't nap, everybody better move out of the way around 3pm in the afternoon. He is a terror.

15. He loves Power Rangers, The Backyardigans, Spongebob, and Transformers.

16. He likes to help Nanny with the laundry, but he is never interested at home.

17. He regularly asks to spend the night with my parents.

18. The other day it rained and hailed. That was the first time he was scared from the storm.

19. He has 5 freckles on his nose.

20. He has a little pot belly like my Papa did. Right after dinner is when it sticks out really far. Now since he is playing soccer, it is starting to flatten out.

Hello Readers..

Every few months or so, I get curious as to who all reads my blog. I have a ticker that shows how many hits I get and I get them regularly. It is exciting to see that people from all over are interested in my family.

Sooo...leave me a comment and tell me who you are. You don't have to get in depth, just a line or two about you and what you like about my blog. Don't worry, I am not crazy, if I didn't want people to know about my family I wouldn't have a blog! :-)

Simply click on the link to the lower right near the word "audience" below that says "comments" and drop me a line.

I look forward to learning more about my audience!

Soccer and Upgrades!

I don't know what is more exciting...the fact that Conor had his first Soccer game and did great or that Daddy got his new TV.

So Friday I had the day off...I started cleaning house around 830am and didn't stop until 12pm. Whew! I am not talking about everyday cleaning, I mean baseboards, window sills and ceiling fan cleaning. I didn't realize how dusty our house was, of course when you live near open fields, what do you expect.

Saturday, we were up bright and early for Conor's soccer game. I wasn't sure how it was going to go since he would be around kids he didn't know. Not sure why I was worried, because that kid got out there and kicked some booty. Of course we do need to work on a few things, like being more aggressive with the ball and kicking in the general direction of the goal, but other than that he did great. He started the game and played two quarters. I don't know what the score was, but I don't think we won. We did have the best jerseys though!! The other team seemed so much bigger than our boys. I am glad my Mom went with us, she was so delighted to be there. Enjoy some pictures..

Next big news....Daddy got his new TV! It is amazing how you tend to fall across a great deal when "just looking". We saved $700 because it had a scratch on it. Yes you heard me right, $700. The new TV is the same size as the old one, but better. Picture and Color are great. As much as I hate to admit it (cause I didn't really think it made that much of a difference), but you can tell the difference with an LCD HDTV. We spent nearly 4 hours getting it set up. Here is a picture of Daddy's new baby.

Soccer is a Success!

Enjoy the pictures from Easter and Soccer...
Conor's first Soccer game is on Saturday, more pictures to come. He is really enjoying it so far!We had eggs for everyone...Conor, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny, Papa, Cookie, Pa, Guy, Rickey, Ashley, Beanie, Hay, and Ashlyn. He is the little guy in green.

We have new furniture!!

We have been looking for furniture for about a year now. We just haven't come across anything we liked well enough. We had never gone to Haverty's because I just assumed to was too expensive. Craig and I found exactly what we were looking for and it costs less than the other places we shopped at....

Here is what we got.... the pictures aren't that great, but it gives you an idea. The set is in a dark burgandy leather. We got a sofa that has two recliners, a snuggler (chair and a half) that reclines, and a rocker recliner (sorry, couldn't find a picture of that). Last but not least, we got a way cool rug!!! Once we get everything where we want it, I will take a picture and post it up! No more plaid couch!!

Well....

I am sure you guys are anxiously awaiting soccer news....

We learned two things yesterday evening.
1) Conor isn't much for unfamiliar situations.
2) He is definitely my Son.

So lets just say our first Soccer meeting could have gone better. The parents and Coach are great. The kids are great too. Conor was excited. Right up until it was time for him to practice with the other kids. He clung to me like a dryer sheet and I missed most of the parent meeting. What I did manage to hear is that practices will be on Mondays at 5:30, first game is 3/29, and the uniforms are either black and red or black and white. Oh yeah, and his jersey # is 1.

Craig and I really believe that once he gets used to this he will love it. I could tell that he wanted to go play with the team, he was just so shy. When we asked him in the car why he didn't play, he said he was scared. When we asked why he was scared he said "because they didn't know my name and I didn't know their names".

So....more updates to come as the story progresses :-)

Soccer News...

Conor's soccer coach called tonight. He is on a team called "The Cobra's". We have our first meeting on Thursday so a schedule is soon to follow.

Conor is very excited. However, he didn't seem too thrilled when we told him the name of his team.

More info to come soon!!!
Happy Soccer Season

I have BBS - Blogger Blah Syndrome

I don't know why I haven't been in the mood lately to blog. It's not like we have been all that busy, just the normal work and home stuff. We went through quiet a cold spell a few weeks ago and we just barely started to thaw out, when all of a sudden a blizzard hits on Monday. Crazy as it sounds, I am not kidding. The 'ol LBK is notorious for its off the wall weather and Monday was yet another example...let me give you a breakdown ...

• 12pm Sunday - the sun is out, it is around 75 degrees. Simply gorgeous weather.
• 6pm Sunday - cold front hits and temps drop to 45 degrees. The wind is horrible.
• 3am Monday - I wake to the sound of a creaking house. The wind is blowing so hard it is scary.
• 8am Monday - SNOW! huge snowflakes are flying horizontal.
• 1pm Monday - The sun is out and nearly all traces of our "blizzard" are gone!

I have been a lazy housekeeper. I literally have a pile of towels/sheets that have been sitting there for 3 weeks. Everything else is getting washed, I am too stinkin' lazy to do that load for some reason.

Conor is just as cute as can be. He talks like such a big person. Apparently, at school there was some discussion about good words and bad words. I picked Conor up the other day and he proceeded to tell me about one of his little friends saying a bad word at lunch. I asked (as anyone would) what did he say. Conor said "I can't tell you, because if I did I would have to go to time out". Craig and I couldn't help but laugh.

I decided to list some of his funny words/actions

• "last-morrow" This is his way of saying "yesterday" or "the other day"
• he has officially stopped calling my sister "lashy", he now calls her Ashlea
• He has been learning Spanish at school. He has a sheet from school with pictures on it and practices his Spanish. He is so smart
• He now references actions like "When I was a little boy.." for example - "I liked that movie when I was a little boy"
• He loves the song "Party like a Rock Star" by Shop Boyz and "Low" by Flo Rida. He request that I sing it to him in the car.
• He is becoming modest - He absolutely will not let his Daddy see him naked.
• When he asks for an apple, he requests that it be "naked" as in w/o the skin
• He loves to dip Cheetos in ketchup
• He dips apples slices in barbecue sauce
• He is already talking about he wants for Christmas and his Birthday
• He likes to pick toys out of his toy box and give them to you as "gifts"
• When he doesn't want to do something or go somewhere he throws himself on the floor and says "his legs hurt"
• In the car, no matter where we are going, he asks "Are we there yet?"
• On the way to my parents house, I was going to stop by another place first, when we passed the street we would normally turn on he yelled "Mommy, you missed the street to Nanny's house!!"
• When leaving the house if the car begins to back up without him buckled, he will tell whoever is driving to "STOP! I am not buckled yet!"
• He can sometimes be picky when it comes to clothes. I generally try to match him but sometimes he will argue with me that his clothes don't match.
• He likes to brush his teeth like 4 times a day, especially after he eats Cheetos.
• He is not much of a nose picker, but when he does pick he flips out when he has a booger on his finger
• He is NOT a morning person and he has to follow a very specific routine of: strawberry gotart pop tart, milk, and power ranger movie. If any of these are forgotten, our day does not start off well.
• He is very caring and thoughtful. When Craig had broke his ankle, Conor would ask "How is your foot doing?". When my Dad was sick last week, he would call and ask "How are you feeling, Papa?"

So we are gearing up for Spring....Soccer, yard work, going to the park, getting some sun! We are ready. The Soccer coach is going to call us next week some time so we will very soon know practices and game. I have pictures, but will post them later this weekend.

I am off the next two days...not sure what I am going to do yet but I will be enjoying the time nonetheless!!!

Check back soon for more updates!

I just got told...

Kids say the darnedest things....

Conor asked me over and over to cover him up on the couch. So I did. She then said he wanted to sit with his Daddy. Then he complained again of being cold. I replied to him "If you had stayed on the couch you wouldn't be cold." He then said to me "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." He said it in the most grown up voice I have heard from him every. It was so funny, yet rude in a cute kid way.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

I don't know what it is, but I tend to laugh more at Super Bowl commercials than I do at any other time of the year. They just seem funnier don't you think. The game isn't quite over yet, but once I have seen all the commercials, I will post my favorite one.

Anyway, I will tell you all about our weekend. Saturday Conor and his friend Ashlyn went to the Dental Fair at the Science Spectrum. Conor hasn't been to a Dentist yet, and we figured this would be a fun way to introduce him to the concept. We started the day off by meeting our friends for lunch. Conor and Ashlyn are so cute together. They get along so well and I love to watch him interact with someone his age. After lunch we headed over to the Dental Fair. We made it just in time for free screenings. Conor was fine as we waited in line, but when we got in the room and he watched other kids have thier teeth checked, he wasn't too keen on the idea. It really helped having Ashlyn there because she was excited about getting her teeth checked. It was thier turn and they sat next to one another. The lady checked in his mouth with a flashlight and gave him a clean bill of health. In fact, she acted almost surprised at how well his teeth looked. Whew!!!! I feel much better :-).

Moving on :-) Conor was very, very proud to wear this Patriots sweatshirt today. He went all over town in it. This is a special Christmas gift from my cousin Guy who brought it all the way from Boston. Thanks Guy!!!!!

We are watching the Super Bowl right now. I took a quick peek at the TV and saw the Patriots get a first down. I clapped loud and Craig asked what happened. I said "One of the little blue guys ran across the yellow line." Ok how nerdy does that sound. I know enough about football to understand what goes on. But that was just about the most nerdy thing I have said since, "the little yellow light is on in the car". Anyway, he got a kick out of it and said I needed to post it.

And lastly...Craig broke his ankle. A few weeks ago, I met him at work to have lunch. As he was walking me downstairs to my car, he rolled his ankle. He brushed it off and didn't think much of it. Last week, he mentioned it felt sore and a couple days later it was swollen. The Dr. took X-Rays and sure enough, broken ankle. He has to wear a boot for 10 days, then back to the Dr. to check on healing.

I just developed a headache, so I must sign off for now. Thanks for reading and have a great week! :-)

4 Year Old Check up and SHOTS :-(

I forgot to mention in my previous blog that I took Conor for his 4 Year Old well check and immunizations. That was the worst 1.5 hours of mine and his day. The appointment was at 3pm and my Mom agreed to go with me. Last year I devised a plan that worked pretty well. I play the "bad guy" with the nurse and hold him down for the shots, then afterwards he runs to my Mom who plays the "good guy". All I have to say is, I am glad he doesn't have to have immunizations for a while cause that sucked bad. He screamed so loud and fought so hard. It was gut wrenching. After the nurse was done he said "I don't like her, she hurt me." *tear* He didn't run fever, or get achy so that is good news. He did get a bruise on his arm at one of the injection sites. Luckily, it is on the back of his arm so he can't see it.

So literally, on a lighter note, Conor weighs a whopping 31.5 pounds and is 38" tall. He is in the 25th percentile in weight and 10th in height. The Dr. mentioned we need to watch his growth since he is measuring a little on the short side. Being the obsessive compulsive person that I am I started researching growth percentiles on the Internet. "They" say that children who fall at the 25th percentile and below in height or weight are associated with "failure to thrive". Sounds scary, huh? To me, failure to thrive sounds terminal or something. Needless to say we are giving him regular vitamins, making sure he is eating a good variety of food, and also forcing down the 'ol moo juice. I really want my son to be a tall grown man. He needs to be strong to take care of me when I am old :-).

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you all his stats as of his most recent Dr. Appt.

Having a 4 year-old is FUN!!

A few things have transpired since my last post. Conor is now a BIG BOY and sleeping in his own bed and own room! This is a revelation for us all. I know we probably didn't follow all the "rules" when it came to sleeping arrangements in our house. It all started 3.5 years ago when Conor got his first ear infection. The only way he would sleep was if he was snuggled right up to me. He never slept in his room again. The kid learned how to make himself throw up. The only way he would calm down was to put him in our room. So a few months back we decided it was time to "cut the cord" so to speak. We ventured out on the quest to find the perfect big boy bed. We went everywhere! Nothing seemed to be what we had in mind. I resorted to the internet and found the perfect bed from Step2. It shipped right to the front door and took about an hour to put together. The bed is about 3 ft off the floor. It has great storage underneath it and best of all, HE LOVES IT!




Here is a picture of Conor and his friend Ashlyn. They were painting Spiderman piggy banks.



Last and certainly not least, Conor has officially been signed up for Soccer through the Lubbock Soccer Association. I am so delighted that he shows interest in it. I am completely honest in saying that I have been looking forward to soccer since we found we were having a boy. I am officially a soccer Mom. Well, almost, the season starts in March. We will definately keep you guys posted on practices, games and most of all pictures.



PS - NEWS FLASH the Expedition gets the same gas mileage as the minivan did! I was fooled into thinking this whole time that the minivan was getting better mileage!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wow! So much has happened in the last few months...

Conor had a program at school. He sang all the words to "Santa Claus us coming to town" and "Jingle Bells" and even wore the Santa hat like all the other kids in his class. However, he refused to wear the cute Christmas shirt we had bought him...

He is the tiny little guy on the far left ....

After the program, Conor had a chance to chat with Santa Claus. For days he had been practicing what he was going to say over and over and over...
Conor had a Christmas Party at daycare. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go, but my Dad went and took pictures....
We had a cake on Conor's official Birthday. Papa did a great job on picking out a fabulous looking cake for our Big Man.
Can you believe that he is 4?? These dinosaurs are so neat. They roar and walk...
Conor has a serious fascination with his Red Power Ranger outfit from the Disney Store. He wears it a lot... in fact he is wearing it now..
I don't know what other people's Christmas trees look like, but this is how it looks at my parents house...
Conor anxiously waits for Daddy to start passing out the presents...


Conor got two new pairs of shoes for Christmas. He was really excited about them when we told him they were Optimus Prime and Bumblebee shoes...
Guy looks pleased with his Christmas gifts!
Cousins... The Fam before Guy left to go back to Boston.
Last but definitely not least, Craig and I bought a new car yesterday. Most of you know, we made the sad choice of purchasing a minivan 2.5 years ago. I thought I was making a good decision for gas by trading in my '03 Expedition for this van. Well, it turned out to make sense. I bitched about it quite a bit because it was so uncool. As time goes on, I learn to like the van and a couple of months ago, I had made the decision that I was going to drive the van until it fell apart. Well..... I didn't realize it was going to fall apart two months later. Let me list all the tings that were going to crap on it.....

1. From the 2nd month I had bought it struggled to start. I took it to the Chevy dealer on 5 separate occasions, but they could never "replicate" the problem. A few harsh words, and a couple of calls to GM, nothing was resolved.


2. I opened the glove box one day last year and it would never close shut. I took it in to the dealer and had it fixed under warranty. A few months later I opened it again, and it wouldn't close. The warranty had run out and I wasn't about to pay to have it fixed to I "fixed" it myself.


3. The motor went out on the passenger side window, had it replaced under warranty. A few months later the driver side window started acting up. Had it replaced too. Go figure a few months later the window would barely roll up or down.. (are you seeing a pattern here???)


4. The paint starting peeling on the roof... WTF?? Come on people, it is a 2005,


5. Last and worst of all, the transmission started slipping.

My advice to you don't buy a van that starts with a "V" and ends with "enture".

So Craig and I sat down and discussed all the issues...Do we keep it and hope we can get another couple of years out of it? Do we get it fixed and spend upwards of $1500 or more? Or do we trade it in, and hope to God the next person who buys it gets an extended warranty?

We chose the latter of the three. We are the proud new owners of an '06 Expedition. More importantly we have a 48 month/48,000 mile warranty on it. So if anything (knock on wood) goes wrong with it we are covered. So this is my third Expedition...I don't know why I ever tried to drive something else! I love these things..

So...it has been a fabulous 2007 and I am ready to devour my bowl of ritual black eyed peas. My entire family had a great year. We hope that 2008 has many more great things to come.

Cheers!