Birth-iversary Weekend

Me, wearing the baby float as an "Aqua Sombraro"...much to Will's amusement.
Scott and Will laughing at my Aqua Sombraro.

Grandpa Tim, Will, and Scott...Will is wearing his floatie swimsuit that makes him look like Sponge Bob!
With Nana and Grandpa in the baby float. He loves it!
Swimming for the first time with Scott...this is so much fun!

Kendall's triboard and cake. The actual pictures of Kendall did not turn out :(

Well, folks, we have returned from our adventure to Katy. It was a quick and eventful weekend, but very good. It is alwasy good to see family and friends again. We didn't get out of town on Saturday until about 10:00 am (my goal had been 9:00). I thought my brother's party started at 7:00 pm. Not so! It started at 6:00! We pulled up to the house right at 6:30, just in time for the blessing. Wow, what a trip! If I had been right, though, we would have made it early :)

The party was great...good food and great people. As you can see, we had a huge red velvet cake to feast on, plus brisket, beans, potato salad, green salad, chips, cokes of all flavors...it was a nice spread.

Saturday also happened to be my 27th birthday...27 on the 27th. I've been waiting for years for this to happen! Although I spent most of my day in the car, it was a very good day. A few minutes away from my parents house, we stopped on the side of the road to quickly change clothes and Scott gave me my birth-iversary gifts. I was happily surprised with a new pair of James Avery scrolled ichthus earrings (my third pair...I keep losing one!) and an ichthus lariat necklace--a new design from J.A. I was very excited. After the party died down and Will was asleep in his pack n' play, we headed out for coffee at one of the several Starbucks. However, it was too late; they had already closed. So, we had our anniversary date at Waffle House! Yum. It made me think of my late night college study times at Denny's and IHOP.

We made the trip back on Monday and made it home right at 10:00 pm. It was a good trip...long, but that is to be expected. Scott's anniversary gift, a portable DVD player, was put to good use entertaining Will with Baby Einstein and Finding Nemo movies. I definitely think it was money well spent.

Today was my last Tuesday at work! Woo hoo! Tomorrow finals start up in full swing and I dont' have to be there until 9:00 am! We get out at 2:30, too. I am loving this schedule. That said, it is now 11:45 and I must be getting some "beauty rest." We'll see if it works :)

Busy Bees

Okay, so I don't know if anyone is actually reading this anymore, since I haven't gotten many comments lately, but I will continue to post anyway :)

First off, things have been NUTS around here. I feel like we have been going and going non-stop. Poor Will took a four hour nap today because he was so exhausted. We started off the week by getting together on Sunday and Monday nights with our friends, Kathy and Matt (see post below). Tuesday, we attended the Journalism banquet at Big Spring High--one of our best friends, Leland, is the journalism adviser and we like to support him when we can. He has an awesome award-winning newspaper and yearbook, and some of the coolest kids ever. The banquet is always a fun time. Plus, free food (yea for Al's barbecue!).

Last night, while Scott and Will were at church, I went to one of the retirement homes in Big Spring to visit a sweet little lady by the name of Frankie. We had so much fun talking that I totally lost track of time and didn't get home until 8:30! I am one of the "writers/contributors" for our congregation's ladies newsletter and I interviewed Frankie for June's issue. When I got home, I sat down to type up the interview and format the newsletter. Just as I was finishing at 1:00 am, Will woke up quite unhappy and we spent about an hour convincing him that he was okay and could return to his bed to sleep. It was a long night to say the least!

And tonight, Harmony and I met our friend Katie for dinner at Pizza Hut. Katie and her family are moving to San Angelo this weekend and we are so sad! :( But, it is a good move for their family so we are excited for them, too. And, yea!, San Angelo is on the way to Katy from Big Spring, so hopefully we will get to see them from time to time. Katie's son, Cash, is almost exactly one year older than Will, so it's been fun to watch him grow and see what to expect from Will in the next year. I will miss them dearly.

Tomorrow night we have 2 graduation ceremonies to attend--Coahoma High School (I just learned to day that the word "coahoma" is an Indian word for "signal") and Forsan High School (similarly, I learned today that "Forsan" means 4 sands or 4 pay loads of oil. Wow!). They start at 7:00 and 8:00 pm respectively. It will be a busy evening.

This weekend we are going to my brother's "I'm-done-with-high-school!" party in Katy. We're driving. Eight hours one way. We'll leave Saturday and return Monday. I love you, Kendall :)

And, of course, next week is the last week of school, so things at work have been quite busy. We are trying to get everything done and in order for next year. Aaa!

So, enough rambling, I suppose. Hopefully I will come up with something interesting to post sometime soon. Until then, I leave you with this movie quote. Whoever guesses correctly gets the virtual gold star! :)

"I shan't tell my ant, I mean aunt, about the ants; nor the debutantes--shall I?"

Visit with Friends

Last night we got to see our friend Kathy, her husband Matt, and son Patrick. Kathy and I have reconnected through blogging. A link to her blog is listed under "blogs I read" to the left. Matt is from Big Spring and his brother got married here this weekend. His family let us steal some of their time with Kathy, Matt and Patrick so we could see them too. Harmony and Raylee also came to visit. Here is one of the better pictures I got. With three babies, it was quite hard to get a picture of them that turned out decent. You can see that a lot is going on. Will has discovered that our coffee table has drawers while Matt is busy entertaining Patrick. Unbeknownst to Matt, he was also quite good at entertaining Raylee, who is holding Will's softie! It was a fun evening and we hope to get to see the Holts again while they are in town.

Mother's Day Pics

My beautiful Mother's Day corsage

Grandmother (Terri), Mother (me), and Son (Will)

Party Recap & More

Okay, now there is something wrong with my computer. I haven't been on it at all since I posted Will's birthday stuff last week. I don't know what the problem is; it just keeps shutting itself off. At work, I've been pretty busy, so I haven't had much time to blog. But, I didn't want you all to think I'd fallen off the face of the earth, so here I am.

So much has happened in the last week!! I am almost fully recovered from my illness; I'm still coughing a little. Will is still coughing, too. Hopefully we will both be completely back to normal soon.

Ah, where to begin? Will's birthday party was on Saturday at 3:00. I got up about 9:00 and to finish cleaning my house before my parents arrived. Everything was going quite swimmingly! I got ready at noon in time to pick up the balloons at 1:00 from the flower shop where I used to work. Unfortunately, this weekend also happened to be prom and Mother's Day...very busy times for a flower shop. So, my balloons weren't quite ready. That was fine. I decided to grab a quick bite at Sonic before heading up to the church to decorate the cake and fellowship hall (where we had the party). While I was waiting my turn to get back on to the street from the Sonic parking lot, I started having a coughing attack. You know, one of those where your eyes are streaming and you can barely breathe. Those always seem to happen to me during communion. Anyway, that was the worst part of the day. I stressed out a little about decorating the cake, but really, it was great. Will seemed to have a great time and that is all that matters! Lots of people who love him were able to make it to the party and he got some really nice presents. I will post pictures as soon as I can figure out my computer's problem or get to Scott's office. Whichever comes first! He didn't seem to keen on the cake and ice cream. I thought he would love them, but he had a very funny look on his face when we gave it to him. I think he would have really liked the ice cream if it wasn't so darn cold :)

After the party, we started watching LOST. It is my dad's favorite show and he got the whole first season on DVD for Christmas. He brought it for us to borrow and we ended up watching half of the season before my parents even left on Monday morning. That show is so awesome. We have since finished watching all of the episodes. I have soooo many questions! And I am so sad that I will have to wait until December to find out what happens in season 2. Maybe it won't be that long.

Sunday was of course, Mother's Day. It was a wonderful first Mother's Day! I was able to spend it with Scott, Will, and my parents. Perfect! My parents gave me a beautiful corsage to wear to church and a custom-made bath towel. Scott and Will gave me two shirts from Old Navy, a new TV antenna (so I can pick up stations in my living room now!!), and a gift certificate for a massage!! I am so blessed! I cannot wait to use that massage. Now the problem is finding a time when I can go and get it done. It seems like we are booked from now until eternity. It was a wonderful day.

Will also had his one year check up and shots on Monday. Five shots! Poor guy. He did really well, though. He was fine up until about 7:00pm that night and then it was obvious that he wanted to go to sleep. He ended up sleeping until about 5:00 am and Scott gave him some milk and changed him at that point before putting him back to bed. He did not wake up again until Scott WOKE him up at 1:00 pm on Tuesday afternoon!!!! Shots just wipe him out. He's been fine since then, though. He is such a good kid.

Yesterday, Will's new car seat came by UPS. How exciting! No more infant carrier. He is waayy to heavy for that thing! He can actually stay in it for one more pound, but seriously, I'm surprised my arm hasn't broken off from carrying him around. He still has to face backward for a while, but that's okay. This car seat will hold him up to 80 pounds. I think I weighed 80 pounds when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. Ha! Anyway, I was excited to see it sitting on my front porch when I got home (cleverly hidden with my doormat by the UPS man, by the way).

Pictures to come!

My Birthday Boy

Today my baby turns one! I have been so blessed to be called his mother. He is my joy and my light. I reminisced about his actulal birth here.

Unfortunately, today both Will and I are sick! We spent his "birthday minute" in the doctor's office. But, it looks like it's just bad allergies--no infection this time! That is not the case for me. On Monday I was feeling dizzy and went to the doctor. It turns out that I have double ear infections! Today, my head feels like it weighs about 50 lbs and my throat is raw, but since it is Will's birthday, I wanted to share some pictures. I made blueberry muffins for his birthday breakfast. Here he is about to blow out the candle:

Happy Will's Birthday to everyone! I hope your day is as blessed as mine. Even though I feel crummy, this marks the anniversary of one of the best days of my entire life. To all those who aren't yet parents, I wish you the joy you will experience each time your child smiles, laughs, needs a hug...every moment is blessed and cherished.

The Last Few Days

No, nothing is wrong with my computer! We've just had lots going on this last week. Scott had two major papers due Sunday night, so he dominated the computer most of last week and over the weekend (which was fine with me :)).

Let's see...what has been happening in our lives? This past weekend was also "Senior Sunday" at our church. This group of seniors was a little extra special to us because they are the first group we have seen all the way through high school. When we first got here, they were just 8th graders! They have grown so much and we will miss them dearly. So, needless to say, it was quite a crazy weekend for my dear husband. Senior Sunday and two major papers due. Yea, we are so glad it's all over :)

I also got my hair cut last week. Yes it is even shorter! If I get a good picture of myself, I will post it. I like it a lot...very low maintenance, which is always good for me!

Monday, our school district had a holiday. It was actually an un-used bad weather day, but I'll take whatever I can get. We made a little trip to Abilene because Scott had to return the 30 books he had borrowed from the library in order to write those papers. We got to visit with our friends Ty and Beth which was lots of fun. Beth is a photographer and she took some really cute pictures of Will for his 1st birthday. Hopefully I will be able to post a couple of those, too.

Yesterday, I became ill. I had to come home from work because I was feeling so bad. As I was laying in my bed watching The People's Court, I became very reminiscent of my bedrest days when I would watch that program every day. In fact, one year ago yesterday, I was probably doing the very same thing. That show just kills me. Lessons learned from The People's Court: A) Get everything in writing. B) Don't be stupid.

Today, thankfully, I am feeling much better and was able to return to work. It is a good thing, too, because I only have about 2 days left of sick leave! That is really all the news I have to report for now. Love to all~

Quick Update

For a quick update about Will's ENT appointment and to see some cutericious pictures from our weekend picnic, click on over to Prather Place.

It is late, and I am tired, so I will leave it at that for now. I hope everyone has had a most wonderful and blessed Monday!

Branson

No, not the city...the new baby boy! Branson Matthew Tungate was born today at 10:21 am; his proud parents are Carrie and Adam and big sister is Ally. How exciting. I can't wait to meet the little guy. It's always exciting when a new baby arrives in the world.

As for Prather family news...there isn't much to report. I am looking forward to sleeping as late as possible tomorrow before tackling my house with various assundry cleaning chores. Sounds great, huh? It is possible that one of Scott's high school friends and his finacee are coming through town on Sunday, so I'm sure he is excited about catching up.

Other than that, our big news is that Will is seeing the ENT on Monday. Sounds kind of weird to be excited about an ear doctor, but nevertheless, I am. I am just ready to figure out how to keep my boy well.

Have a great weekend, everyone :)

The Trip, Amber, and the Car

I am so exhausted! We went to San Antonio for Easter this weekend and had a good time relaxing and seeing the family. I saw my cousin Amber and her son Cade whom I haven't seen since November of 2004, so it was good to spend a little time with them (not enough!).

Amber was my best friend growing up. It was so cool going to Grandma's house because Amber lived right down the dirt road. When I would stay at my grandparents' house for a week at a time in the summer, you could bet that at least one or two of those nights would be spent and Amber's house. We would stay up late watching Dirty Dancing and Grease (shh, don't tell!). We had the best fun. She also had a pool in her backyard--a real, in-ground pool. What better to cool you off on a hot San Antonio day than a little dip? I don't get to see Amber near enough, even though she and her husband built a house down that same dirt road; we don't get to go down as often as we like and busy lives get the best of us. We'll need to make sure and get together for some good catching up the next time we're there.

My parents brought us a new car. Well, new to us. It's a small SUV (4Runner), so it will be nice to have some more space again. I had forgotten how nice it was to have a pick-up to haul stuff around in. We did have a couple of problems with it over the weekend, though, so my brother and Scott spent a lot of time working on it outside. First, the A/C went out on Kendall when he was driving it up to San Antonio. They figured out fairly quickly that it was a fan belt and got it fixed. Then, we were playing around with stuff (like you do when you get a new car) and got the rear passenger side window stuck in the down position. They worked on it a while and decided to get a new window motor. As it turns out, if you do not shut a car door all the way and leave it that way for several hours, it runs the battery down. They found out the window motor was not the problem, but a new battery would have to be purchased. So, it was not a spectacular weekend on that front, but I think they still had fun being guys and working on the car. Kendall is going to Texas State Technical College next year to be an auto mechanic, so I know he had fun :)

Anyway, we made it home safely after a delicious meal at The Cracker Barrel in Kerrville, several stops, and lots of deer between Ozona and Garden City. Woo hoo! My bed never called my name so loudly as it did last night. It is calling to me yet again...what? I need to crawl in and get comfy and not wake up til noon tomorrow?? I wish, oh, how I wish life were that easy!

New Me?

Okay, folks, it's a record! For two nights in a row, I have cooked a real, home-cooked meal. I'm not talking Hamburger, Chicken, or Tuna Helper, either. Real recipes that require real ingredients. Wow...it truly is amazing. And dare I say it? I actually enjoyed myself. I enjoyed putting everything together correctly and then tasting the scrumptious meal I had produced.

Last night was also special because I installed the child-safety locks on the cabinet doors in the kitchen BY MYSELF (okay, Scott did help me on the first one, but other than that, it was all me, baby!). Incredible. It was a breakthrough evening. I have included a picture of me, the drill-wielding mama, with this post. Watch out, your kitchen may be next.

Soaked

My mother has told me I need to update, so here I am. I decided to give everyone a break from me for a few days because of my incredibly long previous post, but here I am, back to haunt you. For new and exciting Will news, click here. I have just updated that blog as well.

On Sunday night, our youth group had a devo at a member's home. Sunday was a warm, sunny day--perfect for outdoor games where you get all wet and disgusting, right? That was what we thought. We told the kids to wear/bring clothes that could get wet, stained and nasty. Most of them chose to abide by this warning. Some, however, did not.

The host family had prepared "Survivor" type relay games. The first was a puzzle, then digging through jello with their feet to find marbles...then the water balloons came out. At first, they played the actual game with the balloons. Then, all of their carnal instinct kicked in. They went pyscho on each other. The garden hose was brought into play. Everything so far had taken place in the front yard...did I mention that this particular family has a pool in their backyard?

The pool had not been cleaned since last summer, so over the winter it had developed a swampy, murky color. It was so green that you couldn't see through the water at all. Needless to say, it was nasty water. Of course, since a pool was nearby, and more so because it was so dirty (I think), the kids decided it was necessary to jump in, whether forcibly or voluntarily. So, every kid (but one--I think they will later seek revenge against him) was completely soaked to the skin. Remember I said that Sunday was supposed to be warm and sunny? Well, the wind had picked up a bit and it was a bit cooler than we expected it to be. I was completely dry and was chilly (not saying much for me, I know) so I couldn't imagine being soaked trough.

Fortuanately, the family also has an outdoor fire pit, so they were able to spend the rest of the devo huddled around the fire since they were too wet and gross to come inside and eat. We also brought them old blankets, hot cocoa, and coffee to keep warm. It was quite a scene. Thankfully Will and I got inside the house before it got too crazy!

So, remember, if you are told to bring old clothes to an event of some sort, heed the warning. You never know if you'll get dumped in nasty pool water!

If it were last year...

April 8th will forever be a date that sticks out in my mind. If it were last year, today would be my last day at work for the rest of the year. I thought I would share what I wrote in my journal on the 19th of last April. (The picture to the left was taken on April 4, 2005.)

"On Friday, April 8th, I had some really bad back pain. I'd had the same pain on Wednesday and Thursday, but by Friday I was getting concerned. I got to work and immediately started calling [my OB/GYN] Dr. Byerly's office. I didn't get through until after 9:00 AM. Of course, I already knew that Friday is his surgery day. I asked to speak to his nurse, Mitzi. She wasn't in yet and had a full day of patients ahead of her. I asked them to please have her call me. About 20-30 minutes went by and I decided I needed to just go in to see her, so I called back. They didn't know when I'd be able to get in and were going to call me back with a time. More time went by and I couldn't think of anything else but the pain. Finally I decided to call [my general practioner] Kim's office and see if they couldn't see me right away. They told me to come down as soon as I could. I called Byerly's office back and told them nevermind, I was going to see Kim. The receptionist told me that she had just talked to Mitzi and she had said to go to L&D and have them put me on the monitors. I asked if I should do that or go see Kim first. They said to go to Kim and see what she said. So, I went.

Of course, now I'm a bit freaked out because of the mention of the fetal monitor. On the way, I started to cry. I got there and as I'm telling the nurse about the pain, the tears start up again. I told them I was scared. They decide to go ahead and send me to L&D to be hooked up to the monitor. I got there, changed into the hospital gown (by now it's around 10:45, maybe 11:00). Kim called Scott for me to tell him what's going on. They hooked me up right away to the fetal monitor and also a pulse/blood oxygenation reader. Now, I'm really starting to panic. They check to see if I am dialated and she says it's about 1 1/2. They want to keep me on the monitor for at least an hour. Scott finally arrives and we sit and wait--me being in excruciating pain. The nurse is thinking that I am having contractions, even though I haven't noticed any. She checks my dialation again at 12:00 and she thinks I am up to a 2. They want to keep me on the monitor for another hour. I haven't eaten anything since 8:00 that morning and all I'd had was a piece of dry wheat toast and a granola bar. Dr. Byerly came in and said I'd probably be going to Odessa or Lubbock because I was having contractions and was dialated. They soon decided that was indeed the plan and began to hook me up to an IV and a catheter. That was quite painful. I was to ride to Odessa in an ambulance and Scott was going to follow. Scott went to get himself something to eat and pack a bag. They also gave me a shot of steriods for the baby's lungs in case he was going to be delivered because his lungs still had some developing to do. The reason they were sending me to Odessa Regional was because they have a neo-natal intensive care unit there and the high risk OB/GYN consults there as well.

Since I was only 33 weeks and 5 days along, it would still be considered a pre-term birth and [Scenic Mountain Med. Center] wouldn't be able to care for the baby as ORH would. When Scott got back, he realized he'd forgotten few things. I knew that the ambulance guys would get there soon after he left and they did. They transferred me to the gurney and down we went to the ambulance. The guys got me in the ambulance and situated and I told them I was concerned because my husband hadn't gotten back yet. One of the guys lent me his cell phone and right after I dialed the number, Scott poked his head around the door. We were off! I actually got sort of "comfortable" in the ambulance and dozed off a bit.

When we arrived at ORH, we went up to the L&D floor. They got me into a room and immediately did an ultrasound to check and see how the baby was doing. He looked just fine. The high-risk OB/GYN came in and said he didn't think I would deliver the baby anytime soon (they had checked my dialation again and said it was a 2 and 80% effaced). He thought I was having a kidney infection. They put me on antibiotics, fluids, and magnesium to slow down labor progression. His prediction was that I'd get out on Monday at the earliest--if everything went well. He also told me that from this moment on it was bedrest until the baby was born. He wanted me to stay pretty much horizontal 24/7. On Saturday night, Scott planned to go back to Big Spring so he could teach class on Sunday morning and pick Mom up at the airport in Midland on his way back (she was coming for my shower that was supposed to take place on April 10th). Harmony volunteered to stay Sat. night at the hospital with me. Kara and Carrie (who had also come down for my shower) visited me on Sat. night.

Based on the urine analysis they did on Saturday, they decided to do a renal (kidney) ultrasound on Sunday to see if kidney stones were visible; the UA had come back high in RBC's and WBC's. They also wanted to do another UA on Sun. morning. Around 2 pm, Mom and Scott arrived. Very soon after, the ultrasound tech came to look at my kidneys. He didn't see any visible stones. He also looked at the baby again and said he looked okay. When the doctor came in later, he said that even though the ultrasound didn't show any stones, he still thought that's what it had to be. He also began to wean me off of the magnesium and started me on an oral-based anti-labor drug (terbutaline). They upped my fluids to try and flush the stone out. He also said that I could be detatched from the catheter (yea--that thing was awful!!) and take a shower. He said that I would probably change rooms the next day, but for sure wouldn't go home until Tuesday.

On Monday, the doctor came back to do a bio-physical profile of the baby. While they still had the ultrasound machine on, he looked at my kidneys again to see if any stones were visible. Still, no stones could be seen and I hadn't passed any. He decided that I could go off all the IV medication and be transferred to a post-partum room [I had been in an L&D room this whole time]. I moved rooms pretty quickly. He wanted to keep me on terbutaline, but he did take me off of the antibiotics too. He wanted to do another glucose test to see about gestational diabetes because the level of my amniotic fluid was higher than normal.

Tuesday morning came early, they woke me up at 7:00 to draw blood and give me the nasty orange drink. The doctor came in around lunchtime and said I was free to go home but had to stay on the terbutaline. He also said that my glucose test came back 161 (normal is between 80 and 120) so I had to get the 3 hour test done the next day at Byerly's office. We got all packed up and got home around 3:00. I went to the doctor's office at 7:45 on Wednesday morning to begin the 3 hour glucose test. They drew my blood a total of 4 times--at 8, 9, 10 and 11:00. The waiting in between was the bad part. My results didn't come back until Thursday--hallelujah--we found out that I wasn't diabetic.

It was quite a long ordeal, and I'm just glad it's over and my little one is still safe and snug inside momma's belly for now."

I know this post was long; but it has been something that has been heavy on my mind lately. It doesn't seem that one year could have already passed since this ordeal took place. And yet, so much has happened. Will was born safely and without any complications. We have experienced so many blessings being his parents. He has grown into a very curious little boy! It has been a great year.

Finish the Sentence

I got this fun email today and thought I'd share!

1. My ex: is now happily married, as am I.

2. Maybe I should: do my work instead of writing on my blog!

3. I love: my family, friends, Diet Coke, Ben and Jerry's Half Baked ice cream, and rainy days.

4. I don't understand: how anyone could abuse their child. (April is National Child Abuse Month)

5. I lose: my keys and on occasion, my dogs.

6. People say I'm: shy. (??)

7. Love is: a many splendored thing.

8. Somewhere, someone is: giving birth.

9. I will always: believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and died for my sins.

10. Forever is: a long time.

11. I never want to: go through life without my faith in God.

12. I think the current President is: a man trying his best to govern and protect our country.

13. When I wake up in the morning: I want to go back to sleep.

14. My past was: filled with both mistakes and successes.

15. I get annoyed when: people don't use proper spelling, capitalization, grammar, punctuation, etc. in emails, blogs, and the like. (Ex: hey what up...idk im just chillin bc im bored. u wanna do somethin? well ill see u l8r...)

16. Parties are for: celebrating!

17. My dog is: OCD.

18. My cat is: dead.

19. Kisses are the best when: they are given sincerely.

20. Tomorrow: is Friday!!

21. I really want: a large Diet Coke from Sonic (easy ice). A breakfast burrito would be good too.

22. I have low tolerance for: people who just want to whine and complain all the time.

23. In public: I try to blend in and not look stupid.

24. Today: I am getting the first disc of season 2 of Smallville in the mail from Netflix!

25. My last dream was about: Clark Kent??? I have no idea.

26. I suck at: doing two things at once (ie: driving and talking).

27. I'm going to: get busy doing my work now!

It's Official

In case you don't read my other blog, I'll say it again here: I have officially resigned from my job for next year! I am going to be staying home with Will and I am so excited. I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and now I'm getting the chance. I have a little less than two months until school is out "for-ever!" Woo hoo!

Also, can I just say how much I loathe the time changes? I like the summer one because we have longer daylight hours, but I really don't like switching the clock forward. It always takes me weeks to get used to the new time. Almost every morning this week I have woken up late, and I wake up late anyway, so now I'm waking up really late. Hopefully my body will adjust soon! Poor Will's clock is totally messed up, too. Oh well, we'll survive.

Crazy Day

Actually, I should say "crazy days"...I am totally worn out! This weekend I hostessed a shower in Lubbock (2 hours away from my house) for my friend Carrie.

The craziness started yesterday when both my friend Kara and I were late getting to Lubbock. We were supposed to meet there and get the hostess gift together (we gave the mom-to-be a big basket full of baby necessities) and then meet Carrie for dinner. One of the items we needed was the actual basket in which to put all the goodies. We didn't get done shopping for the goodies until almost 8:00 pm and we needed to get the basket from Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby closes at 8:00 pm and isn't open on Sundays! So I drove like a mad woman (not much different than how I normally drive) over to Hobby Lobby to get the basket. I ran up to the door and the little old man manager said, "Sorry, m'am, we're closed." I put on my most pitiful looking face and said, "Please, please, please, let me in there! I just need to get one thing!" He looked like he felt bad for me, so I milked it a little more. I pooched out my lower lip. "What do you need?" he said. "A big basket," I replied. "How long will it take you?" he asked. "5 minutes! 5 minutes, I promise!" He let me in! I ran to get a basket. They did not have the type of basket I was looking for. So I grabbed the closest thing to what I wanted and proceeded to stand in the checkout line for about 10 minutes. I think they train their cashiers to be slow.

So, I met the girls at Chili's for dinner. By the time we got seated it was about 8:25. We finally got our drinks at 8:35 and we sat there for about 10 or 15 more minutes without a server coming by to get our order. Mind you, we had a 8 month pregnant woman and two very tired little children with us. Finally the server came by and said we had "fallen through the cracks" and apologized about a hundred times while taking our order. The manager came by and told us that we would get half-off on our ticket and our appetizer for free! Woo hoo! Our bill was about $12.00. Sweet action.

Now for the real craziness. Last night, Kara and I both set the alarms on our phones to go off at 7:00/7:30, thinking the time would switch over during the night. Neither of our phones switched with the time change! So we woke up an hour later than we meant to. We still had to get ourselves ready, her kids ready, pack up our stuff, and check out of the hotel. We were trying to get to church which started at 9:30.

We got to the church building at about 9:50; late, yes, but still there. On the outside of the building, it has three start times for worship: 8:15, 10:45, and 11:30. Not 9:30. The phone book we had checked twice the night before had it wrong! Grr! So we decided to go to McDonalds to get some breakfast before the 10:45 service. On the way to McDonalds, Kara's daughter threw up the juice she'd had earlier that morning. So, while Kara took her daughter to Walmart to get her some new clothes, her son and I went to McDonalds to eat breakfast.

Pretty much our whole day went like this...crazy!! I could tell you lots more, but I'll stop here. I'm just glad the shower went over well...Carrie got lots of great clothes and other items. We had a good time with her and some other friends from college. This was also my first night without Will since he has been born, so it was sort of a milestone for us. He had a good time with his dad, so it all worked out really well. Yea!

A Good Weekend

I had a good weekend. On Saturday, I started my day by attending a baby shower up at the church building. It was fun; I got to chat with friends and look at all the super-cute baby items that the guest-of-honor received. She really raked it in! I brought Will with me and he had fun crawling around on the floor. I needed to go to Midland to pick up some supplies for another shower next weekend and I had planned on taking Will with me. By the time the shower was over, though, he was completely exhausted. So my dear husband agreed to stay home with him while he slept and I went to Midland by myself.

I had the best time! I got to spend an hour in Target looking at whatever I wanted! I successfully spent an obscene amount of money there (just kidding...or am I?). I went to Rosa's and ate lunch alone while reading People magazine. I headed to Hobby Lobby and acquired cake decorating stuff for Will's birthday party [sob!] and checked out their prices on party supplies. I proceeded to the party supply store and (again) spent an obscene amount of money on supplies for Carrie's shower and Will's party. I had one more stop to make before I headed back home. Dustee's--the accessory and purse emporium. Oh how I love that store! I could have spent big money there, too, but refrained for fear for my life (ha!). I did get some cute earrings and necklaces, though (that's right, I did NOT buy a purse!).

When I got home, I discovered that Will had slept almost the whole time that I was gone. So all went well! Sunday was good, too. We had potluck after morning services and a devo after evening services. Lots of yummy food is always good! We also got the last disc of Smallville season one this weekend and finished it. The last episode was quite a cliffhanger. However, since we're already almost finished with season four, we basically know what's going to happen anyway. It's still fun to watch though!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, too. Have a blessed day~

MySpace

Well, in an effort to stay current and relate to our youth group kids, I've relented and signed up on MySpace. Let me say now that I'm not a huge fan of MySpace because I think it is too hyped up and hard to read because people add way too much stuff to their pages. I much prefer blogs like this one that seem a lot more personal. Having said that...whoa! I was on MySpace last night for (yes, I'm admitting this) hours finding all sorts of people! I found lots of high school classmates and relatives, school kids, youth group kids, college classmates...it was just WEIRD! Getting just a tiny glimpse of what some of my old high school "friends" are up to now was sometimes encouraging, but mostly discouraging. It made me very thankful for the life I have with my husband and son. It may seem boring and humble to my old classmates, but I couldn't be happier with it! I am so blessed to have the people in my life that I do--people who love me and encourage me daily!

So, if you want to check me out on MySpace, be my guest!

My Boys

I thought I'd post some pictures of my boys--Will, Frank, and Cracker. I've mentioned my dogs, but never posted picture of them, so here they are in all their canine glory :) Frank is on the left, Cracker is on the right. They are pictured here in their favorite place, our bed. Speaking of the dogs in my bed, we have been finding ticks on them lately. Scott asked me to pick up some flea and tick shampoo when I went to the store last night. I went to the dog aisle and there were lots of different shampoos to choose from. Hiding behind one of those cheap impulse items they hang on the shelf was Sargeant's Gold Flea and Tick Shampoo. It was $4.68, but I figured if it had "gold" in the title, it must be pretty good. So that's what I bought. Hopefully it will live up to it's name. If nothing else, our dogs are very shiny and smell really good (for once--ha!).

Erin Go Bragh

"Ireland Forever!" Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I know I haven't posted in quite awhile; I've been pretty busy at work and at home with my sick child. If you didn't know, Will has pneumonia (not bad enough to be in the hospital, thank goodness!). He has been sleeping A LOT (which is good) so one of us has had to be at home with him at all times. I missed work on Wednesday to stay home with him and give Scott a chance to get into his office and prepare for class on Wednesday night. He's been a stay-at-home dad most of the week, and a very good one at that!

What a week...it's been so hard to get back into the swing of things after spring break. I don't know how I'm going to survive work for the next two months. Somehow, I will find the strength, I'm sure! :)

I don't really have anything new to report so I'll make this a short post. I hope everyone has a great weekend and a good St. Paddy's. Shake your shamrocks!