Are You Still Here?

I am....I've just been busy enjoying the beginning of our summer! Let me start off saying -- we had A GREAT TIME this Sunday at my (step)mother-in-law's house! (Sounds weird, huh?) Oh well, I'm weird and you guys have probably already figured that out....

We left our house around 10:30 (which is later than I had planned, but that is nothing new for me). Once on the road things were going well, That Other Kid was watching a movie, till we got about half way there, when he proceeded to lose his breakfast ALL OVER HIMSELF, including his clothes. I forgot -- my kids get car sick, just like I used to do! He did this several more times, with several close calls. After several delays to clean up vomit and change clothes, which for some strange reason we had a pair of shorts and a couple of sweatshirts in the car. We stopped at Walmart in the town where grandma lives and got a couple of acceptable "summer clothes". He vomited one more time -- in her yard! Then he was fine the rest of the day...go figure! He even ate a bagel right before we left and had no problems keeping it down!

We met lots of relatives and had a nice visit with everyone. That Other Kid got to go FISHING!!! for the first time and he caught his first FISH....he was sooooo HAPPY you could hear him screaming all the way up at the house! I didn't think to bring the camera down to the lake, of course....but I did get a picture with my phone. I just have to figure out how to put it on the computer!!!

The rest of the day was uneventful....and we came home with NO more vomiting, yeah!! And an hour nap!!! but of course that meant he wouldn't go to sleep till 11:30 p.m.!!

Monday, we just laid around and watched tv, did laundry, and all those fun things!! I did fix burgers and hot dogs on the grill...so that was nice. I need to do that more....they tasted really good.

Yesterday was a BIG day for me....it was Allergy Testing Day and CT Scan Day! After that I got my hair done....before my hairdresser leaves for a month to take care of her momma...say a prayer for her.
Her momma had a stroke a few years ago and is not doing well. It will be a LONG month for her and she's gonna need all the prayers she can get to stay strong enough to care for her 24/7 for a month.

Anywhoooo, allergy testing confirmed I have A LOT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ALLERGIES....Burmuda grass (in my front yard), OAK (in my back yard), Ragweed, Marshelder, Pigweed, Lambs Quarter -- all weeds, which I'm sure all reside in my yard! Dustmites -- no wonder I hate to dust, huh?, and the saddest DOGS. Fortunately, they are going to concoct a medicine for me to take every day so that I don't feel like I'm going to die in my own house/yard! This should help with my allergy problems so I'll feel better...

I will find out the results of the CT Scan next Tuesday when I see the ENT again. I am hoping for some definitive answers then. I have a feeling those answers will mean surgery, but I am prepared to go through surgery to finally feel well enough to function like a normal person again. Right now I struggle with breathing through my nose so bad I snore at night and can hardly breathe well enough to do the most basic of outdoor activities, like walking a mile -- from Sonic to my house! I did it this afternoon and was so exhausted and winded when I got home all I could do is SIT!!

I want to get moving again, so I can shed this excess weight. But I know that is a process...and I'm moving in the right direction!

I heard from my dad last night and he is doing well with his radiation and chemo treatments. He has the rest of this week and next, then he will see the doctor, who will determine when his surgery will be. Please pray for his continued strength. He is doing so well, he is walking 2 miles a day and feels good!! I'm soooo thankful that God the Father is taking care of my father!

Well that's it for now....hope all is well with you!

Memorial Day Weekend

Today has been a typical HOT, Texas afternoon, but I didn't have the luxery of sitting around in my nice comfy air conditioning...

About 3 weeks ago, before the heat set in here in Texas, That Other Kid found 2 bags of water balloon that I had left over from a previous year's birthday party for That Kid. He asked about them, so I told them they were water balloons for HOT days! He could hardly wait for a hot day...Today was the day! He found them again and BEGGED to play water balloon fight with me. Where is That Kid when you need him??

Ok, I agreed to fill up 1 bag of the balloons with water and we would have a balloon fight. I told him to go put his swimsuit on and we would go outside and play with them. It took all of 5 minutes to explode all 30 of these balloons and I made sure he didn't really get too wet...I wasn't sure how he would react to be pounded with water. After this was done, he wanted to do the OTHER bag. I refused, and made him mad!

Then he remembered our gym has a swimming pool! Let's go swimming at the gym! I wasn't too sure about it, as it really hasn't been that hot yet. I like my swimming pools to be pretty warm before I swim, not to mention I wish I was at least 50 pounds skinnier. He continued to negotiate/beg and I gave in. We went and had a GREAT time! The water wasn't too cool and he actually let me take him into the water deep enough to get my whole body wet, not just his!

We had a great afternoon of memory making activities, and I want to try to have as many of these as possible, since I know soon he'll be all grown up and wanting to hang out at the gym/pool with girls, not mommy, like That Kid!

Tomorrow That Other Kid and I will go see DH's step mom and hang out with her and some of her family....more memories in the making!

Hope your weekend is full of memory making activities!

Growing Up Is Hard on Momma

Two months tomorrow my "baby" will be an adult! I don't know how to deal with this reality. I still want my baby who sat on my lap at naptime and bedtime and listened to me read Dr. Suess' Cat In the Hat or other silly rhyming books. He would laugh when I tickled him and he would make me laugh so hard I cryed.

Last night I laid in my bed waiting for the midnight curfew I had given him to arrive, then ran for my cell phone to answer it just a little before midnight. He was lost in a part of town he wasn't familiar with, but his friend guided him to get him where he could find the highway. He was calling to say he would be home soon. About 20 minutes later I heard the garage door open and waited for him to come in the house....and I waited....and waited....and waited. About 20 minutes later I went to see what was going on! He was on the cell phone!!! He finally came in about 1 a.m. and it really hit me, he's growing up. Soon he'll be a "grown up" in my little kids body....although he hasn't had the body of a little boy in a LONG TIME. As I told him yesterday, he'll always be my little boy...even after he is 18 -- 2 months, 1 day, and 6 hours and 15 minutes from now!!

What's a momma to do?? I need my little boy to stay my little boy a little longer!!

Steven Curtis Chapman

Please pray for him and his family this week as they are experiencing the worse kind of grief imaginable, the death of their youngest child. For more details go here.

My Boys

Wordless Wednesdays are great! To see other great Wordless Wednesday entries check it out at 5 Minutes For Mom!

The Wii is an investment in brotherly love! and I'm all for that...with a 13 1/2 year gap, ya gotta be creative!

Tiny Talk Back Track

Tiny Talk Tuesday celebrates our children and their view of the world. They continually make us laugh and by recording their Tiny Talk we can focus on one of the many JOYS of parenting!

If your kiddos made you laugh this week (don't they always), then feel free to share the humor!

Check out more Tiny Talks with Mary

My Tiny Talks this week will concentrate on the amusing things that my now 17, almost 18 year old said when he was just a little tyke! Now keep in mind that he said these things "eons" ago....and he may or may not have any recollection of them and would probably be embarrassed to know they are out there for the world to see, but ya know, I want them to be recorded someway and to record them in his baby book seems a little ridiculous, don'tcha think?

So let the remembering begin!

As a baby he would stand in his crib and call out "FOOD" in the most whiny, pathetic sounding cry he could come up with in the middle of the night. If someone had heard him they would think he was starving to death. I would come into his room and he would eat a small bowl of cheerios and all would be well again.

He would give us kisses as a baby and every time he would say "Wa, wa, wa" with every smack! From that time on a kiss has always been a "wa". Now I ask him if I can give him a "wa" and he runs!

He was a big fan of Legos Kits from the age of 3...and of course we had to put these together for him. He would hold the "constructions" for the kits and find the pieces for us!

He's just as cute now as he was 16 years ago, but he doesn't say such cute things anymore! I still love him just as much, though!

The most recent thing he said was just last year or so....so I'm not sure it qualifies as a "Tiny Talk" but he is still a kid, soooo...DH and I were talking about That Kid and we said "well we must have done ok, he's turning out pretty good." He turned to us and said, "You call this OK???" It cracked us up!!!

Kids say the darnedest things, huh???

Dealing With Ants

We live in Texas where the ants are just as big as the state! and they BITE, expecially little boys who stand on their homes! Yessir, they do and then the little boys scratch the bites, then they become infected and cause the whole entire foot to swell up causing mom to visit the local Pediatric Urgent Care Facility with said little boy, not once but twice in the same weekend!

What have you been doing this weekend???