It is so nice outside--

The sun is shining. It is about 70 right now with a high of about 80 for today as well as the rest of the week and into the weekend. I really wish I could be outside enough it instead stuck inside all day. I am getting off early today though. Mom has to take dad to the airport (which is an hour and half away) so I am taking off early so Colton doesn't have to go with her. I wouldn't want to have to ride in the car for three hours, so I figured he wouldn't either. I plan on taking him to the playground so we can both have some outdoor time. Hopefully I can layout a little this weekend too. The cruise is less than three weeks away and I am WHITE!!! I want to get a little "base" tan before I hit the Caribbean beaches.
There is like a 20% chance of rain on Sunday. I sure it doesn't rain because we are having an Easter egg hunt at church around noon. We go to the 9:00 service, so I will have time to go home and let Colton rest for a little while and feed him lunch a little early so we can be there by noon. Obviously last year he was too young to participate, but this year it should be fun. Not sure how many kids will be there since we really don't have that many kids in church. I guess a lot of the CEOs (Christmas and Easter only) will be there though!! LOL Colton has his dress shirt and his tie all ready. He usually wears a long sleeved button down shirt any way, but I also got him a little tie. I am sure I will have some pictures to share on Monday. Not sure about an Easter basket though. I hadn't planned on him him one, but I may go by Wal-Mart and check some out. He really isn't in to stuffed animals and he doesn't eat candy, so I am not sure what I would put in it. He is still too young for "practical" gifts as well.
On a blog that I follow, http://2setsoftwins-helene.blogspot.com/, she received a rude comment concerning a picture that she posted that went along with a post. Now I realize that everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I don't feel as though her personal family blog was the place for someone to take the opportunity to publicly "trash" her child and question her mothering skills. Her children could read those comments and it is not something that a 5 year old little girl needs to be dealing with. If you feel the overwhelming need to make such comments, email the author and give your opinion and/or advice. Just my two cents!!

Our weekend

Saturday was forcasted to be a great sunny day and Dad needed to go Bunswick to check on his house up there. I thought it would be great to take Colton to the beach in preparation for our cruise in a couple weeks. It takes a little over two hours to get there and when we did, it was pretty windy and overcast, so we went shopping for a little bit and then went to eat before we headed out to St. Simmons. I knew it was going to be way to cool to go into the water, but I thought he would have fun digging in the sand and seeing the waves. Well when we got there, the wind was still pretty bad.


We unloaded the little guy and he took off after the seagulls, straight towards the water. We wrangled him back and he could hardly even stand up the wind was blowing so hard. I would at least 20 to 25 mph winds. He played in the sand, but it kept blowing back on him, of course he didn't care. We were only there for about 30 minutes I guess and he REALLY didn't want to leave.





On Sunday, we went to church and had a pretty quiet day--just a lot of playing outside and working in the yard.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I know it is always much too short for me!!!

Mommy moment

Yesterday was I took the morning off work because I needed to take one of our cars in for an alignment and also so I could go with Mom to MOPS. They were having a clothing swap and I had two plastic bins FULL of clothes, so I said I would go and help her take everything in and get it all sorted out. I had never been to one of the meetings so no one knew who I was. My sister-in-law decided to go as well. It was her first time too.

We went to drop the kids off in the nursery. As you might recall, Colton has been having his biting issues, which seem to be getting a little better. He did bite some kid named Jonathan at a previous MOPS meeting. Well they give you pagers in case your little one needs you or if the ladies need to get you. Colton has been going to MOPS since October of last year I think (can't really remember when he started) and we have never needed a pager. Well this RUDE woman, who is the only paid person and only in charge of taking the kids in to the nursery area, is giving Ali a pager since it is Landen's first time being left with someone other than her mom. She goes to hand Mom one for Colton and Mom says "Oh we don't need a pager. He is fine being left." And the lady says "Yes you do, since we have so much trouble with him biting" in a very pissy and rude tone. There are other moms around at the time and remember she does not know who I am. She kept going on about his biting )I can't recall all of her exact words) and when Mom said that they needed to watch Landen as well (he is a biter too so I blame my husband's side of the family for this one!!), the lady went off again on Colton and how bad he was. Now I know he is by far not a perfect child and he has issues, BUT COME ON. Well about that time, I had enough and said " DO YOU WANT ME TO GO GET HIM?" She looked quite shocked and a little embarrassed and said simply "No." I thought that she was extremely rude. One--there is a tactful way to say things and she had NONE. Two--there were other people around and she doesn't need to be "trashing" my kid in front of everyone. I quickly walked out and went to the car to get the containers. My mom and Ali came out to help and my mom said "I thought you were going to hit her!!" Granted I would never do that, but I did get that hot face and blood boiling feeling. Ali even agreed that she was was rude.

When we got into the meeting, Mom was telling the lady who runs MOPS about it and Ms. Scott apologized and said that the woman didn't interact with the kids, she only was there for "in-take." She said that she would talk to her. It still makes me mad just thinking about it!! I don't think I overreacted did I? Seems everyone knows that rule that you don't insult someone's kid on front of them. When I went to pick him up, she didn't say a word to me. He had a bump and abrasion on his head that I have no idea how he got and she didn't tell me either. He probably ran into something outside I guess. It didn't seem to be bothering him.

So what are your thoughts on the situation?

Traumatic day

When Colton was in for his 15 month appointment, they gave me his lab paperwork to go have his iron and lead test done. I didn't feel like taking him to the hospital and having to wait who knows how long, so I put it off until Saturday when I figured there would be less people there waiting. So bright and early, we showed up and got taken right back. I had heard that it was a toe prick and three drops of blood in the capillary tubes and you were done. NOT AT THIS LAB. The girl first got out the tourniquet to raise up his veins. Of course that started the waterworks. I had to hold him still while she about squeezed his little arm off. Then pulls out the needle to insert in his tiny vein. I give blood about every three months, so the sight of needles doesn't bother me, but being inserted into my little man is a different story. To her credit, she was very good with him and got it in the vein on the first stick. More screaming ensued. She filled up the first tube (looked like a lot of blood to me and I am not quite sure why she needed so much) but when she was trying transfer the needle tubing to fill up the second tube, he squirmed and the needle moved so no more blood from that side. So now we have to repeat the process on the other side. Just the sight of the tourniquet now freaked him out (can't say I blame the little guy) and more crying starts. Again needle in vein and blood starts flowing. He has about had it by the time the blood tube is filled. I had given him his binky, but even that wasn't helping. When she got done he was sporting two cotton balls and tape and was not in the best mood!! Luckily I had put a short sleeved shirt and a long sleeved shirt on him that morning so I could cover up the boo-boos and he couldn't see them.
We went to the Azalea Festival and then we were going to try and go to the park, but he conked out in the stroller by noon. Thankfully I had fed him lunch early. After his nap we went to the barn and then we took him to the playground. It is a really nice playground with soft sand and plenty of swings and slides. He played with some kids there (well he actually kept "hugging" them and trying to attack) and was pretty worn out by the time we left.
When it was time for his bath, I took off his cotton and tape and he had two big ole bruises on his arms. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't really come out. I felt bad for him and kissed his little arms before he went to bed. Since it was still a little cool in the morning, he wore a long sleeved shirt to church so his bruises were covered up at least.
Anyone else have this type of test done for their lead and iron test? Some people I have talked to said all their kids got was just a toe prick.

Aloha Friday

Aloha Friday is the day to take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. I thought I would start this and see how it goes:

Since having your kids, what has been your biggest splurge item?

For me it would probably be his car seat. I got matching Recaro seats, one for my car and one for my mom's car.

Leave me a comment and let me know yours!!!

Back to the grind

The weekend was great. We got out and did some good bike riding and went to the park. Sunday went good. I set the alarm for 7:00 to make sure we would be up and ready for church at 9:00. It was hard getting up knowing that only yesterday, it was 6:00. Got up, ate breakfast, got dressed and when he got home, we played some outside and we ate lunch at noon. I figured his afternoon nap might be a little tricky since his little body still thought it was 12:00 and not his usual nap time of 1:00. He went right down and slept until 2:30. That night I put some heavy brown paper up on his window to try and filter out the light since I knew it would still be light out at 7:00 when he was getting ready for bed. Again he went down like a champ and I had to wake him up on Monday to get him ready. I love it when he is still asleep and I get to wake him up. He looks to peacefully and angelic when he is sleeping. I know that is the line a lot of parents use for their kids because once he is up---lookout!!
My good friend is pregnant again, which is great and I am very happy for her. She got pregnant in 2007, but the baby, who they named Grace, had Turner's Syndrome and some fluid around her heart as well. She carried her until she was 24 weeks I believe and the baby died in utero. She still had to deliver her and they had a funeral for her as well. That casket was the small casket I have ever seen. That was in June. By mid-September they were ready to try again and she got pregnant again, but the baby didn't develop past six weeks and she had to have a D&C. Once again the waited a few months to heal both physically and emotionally and she got pregnant early January. This time everything went well and little Addison was born three weeks early the end of September so she is 2 months and 1 week older than Colton. We joke and say they will grow up and marry each other since they have been friends since before they were even born!! As of today, she is 8 weeks along and everything looks good for her and her little "guppy" (her last name is Bass so we had nicknamed her baby guppy last time). I must say I felt a little twinge of jealousy--for about 2 seconds--since I decided that we are members of the "one and done" club. Colton is great and I wouldn't trade him for the world, but I just can't imagine having another one. Financially, yeah we could probably swing it if we tightened WAY DOWN on our needless spending. Also the kids would have to share a room, which would be no big deal I guess. Just a little adjustment on everyone's part. But why? We are happy that we got our little man on the first try. Had he been a girl, maybe, but probably not. Let's face, neither one of us is getting any younger and neither is our "babysitter" (sorry Mom but you know it is true!!!) I certainly couldn't quit work and I really just don't like the idea of having to put them in daycare (nothing against those who do. There are certainly great day cares and great people that work there. For me personally, I didn't want to go that route and THANKFULLY my parents MOVED to the same town as me so that she could keep Colton--regret that decision yet Mom???) Hopefully he won't miss out on anything by not having any siblings. That thought has definitely crossed my mind. And I don't want him to grow up overindulged either. I must say he is spoiled. He wears nice clothes and has WAY TOO MANY toys. Of course he is still too young to realize that and would probably be just as happy with a cardboard box and wearing a diaper!! LOL

Same ole same ole

Not too much happening. It was such a nice week weather wise and now that the weekend is almost here it is rainy and windy and cool. They said it was going to clear up for Saturday and Sunday though. I sure hope so. After being inside all week at work, I like to be outside as much as possible on the weekends. Colton loves being outside as well so it all works out.

When you tell Colton things now, he takes them literally sometimes. Mom said she told him it was time to go lay down in his room (for his morning "quiet time" or nap--whichever) and she said he literally ran into his room and laid down on the floor. She said she couldn't help but laugh at him. He has decided that he HAS to have his toothbrush while sitting on the potty. This is fine except that he likes to try and brush "himself" with the toothbrush and then giggle. He also poots and laughs. Anytime he poots or burps now, he has to giggle. Even when Steve burps or poots, he giggles. He goes pee on the potty every morning and yesterday he pooped. Not really on purpose though. He was standing by his slide and was "grunting and straining" and I said do you have to potty and he ran to the bathroom to get on the potty. Luckily, it was during lunch so at Mom's house she just has the potty seat that goes right on the big toilet. I sat him on there and it just kinda "fell" off of him. No clean-up though, just flushed it right down!! LOL

I don't know how the switch to daylights savings time is going to go on Saturday night. Obviously he will be screwed up for a couple days. Having to get him to go to bed at 7:30 (which was 6:30 the previously) while it is still light out might be a problem. Normally he is great about going right to bed and going to sleep. I put him down between 7:20-7:30 and I don't hear a peep out of him until 6:30 or so the next morning. He has been waking up earlier these last couple weeks though. Now he wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 where he used to sleep until at least 7:00. I leave him in there for awhile to play in his crib. Sometimes I guess he will doze back off for a half an hour or so. Sometimes he starts to cry and holler "my mama" so I go and get him up.

Hope everyone has a great weekend----

Update on Layla Grace

As many of you know I have been following Layla Grace's story and battle with neuroblastoma. I am sad to report that she lost that brave fight this morning while being held by my her loving mommy and daddy. Please say a prayer tonight for their family. She has two older sisters that are probably really struggling with this. Her 3 year old sister Claire and her 9 year old sister Jenna needs our prayers. While I am sure this is hard on her family, she is finally at peace and in no more pain. Hug your little ones tighter tonight and thank God for giving us happy healthy babies and the opportunity to watch them grow.

15 month check-up

The weekend was nice here. It was pretty cold in the mornings, but it warmed up to almost 70 or a little higher each day. We went to the barn and we played outside as much as possible. I really like my bike cart so of course we went bike riding both days. We ride to the playground, which is about a mile away. They have baby swings, a merry-go-round and of course slides--which are Colton's favorite. He has learned to climb up the steps and walk over to the slide. We just have to remind him to sit down!! Most of the time remembers and doesn't walk right off the platform. He is so funny going down the big slides though. He has NO FEAR and will just slide right down the tallest slide there.

I meant to take his picture after church Sunday. I had him dressed so cute if I say so myself. I love buying him clothes and dressing him. He had on a red plaid Chaps button down shirt, black cords, his little braided brown belt and his black dress shoes. He looked pretty sharp!! He looked like a little man. The nursery lady said he dresses the cutest of any little boy she has ever seen! :O) He will have to stay in nursery I think from now on throughout the entire service. He was just too "vocal" on Sunday. He wasn't crying, he was just babbling. I usually go get him right before communion and Father Don blesses him, but I think he will have to skip that for a few months until he can understand what "you have to be quiet" means. Everyone loves seeing him and it doesn't bother anyone that he talks, but I think it might be best.

Today was Colton 15 month check-up. He weighed 23 pounds, which means he gained a pound and a half since his 12 month check-up, and he is 31.5 inches tall, so he grew an inch and a half in three months. He is getting 4 more teeth. I knew that he was getting his "canine" teeth, but when Colleen came in and was examining him she said "his gums are swollen so he is teething." I said "yeah his incisors" and she she said "well those and his bottom molars are coming in on both sides and his gums are really swollen back there." I never even noticed that. Of course I try and keep my fingers far from his mouth these days!! LOL They haven't caused too much trouble. Luckily (knock on wood) his teeth don't seem to bother him too much. He might get a little of a runny nose, but I haven't noticed too much fussiness or sleeplessness. It was a good appointment. She gave the lab order for his lead and iron test, but I had to get back to work so that will have to wait until I can spend 2 hours or so at the hospital waiting :O(

Kinda sad

It is kinda sad for me think about Colton growing up without really knowing his extended family. Obviously, he knows my mom and dad since they watch him Monday-Friday. But he really doesn't know any of aunts or uncle or cousins. I hear people talking about their families getting together and doing things, or family members coming to visit. Granted my sister and nieces live in NY and with both of them in school and ballet and whatnot, it is hard for them to come down and I haven't been up there either--which is my fault. I just always felt like I missed out on a lot because I don't know my extended family either. I don't know my cousins very well. One of them, I have maybe seen three or four times in 33 years. Your family is the ones that rally around you in hard times or when you need support, and I just feel that Colton is missing out on all that. Maybe I am wrong--