we made it.

Well, we made it safely to the hotel. Woke up early in the morning and Buddy was feeling sick. Not nervous, more like the flu. So we drove to Houston and he had meetings all day. Chris and I entertained ourselves by going to the mall. Chris normally tries to run away from me in the mall if I don't bring the stroller, so I was a little nervous about taking him in a bigger mall in a bigger city and expecting him to walk and hold my hand. He was really good though. We rode up and down the escalators, threw change in the fountains, and looked in several stores we don't have here. Then we found a little playground for kids, and he played there for a long time. Right next to the playground they have a K-B toys. (our K-B closed several years ago) I pretty much let him look at whatever he wanted in there, and he was loving it! They still had the little display up front with the walking little pigs and dogs, just like they did when I was little. He thought those were pretty cool. Finally when I thought I couldn't walk anymore we went to wait for Buddy to finish his meetings, and then we headed to the hotel. It seemed like a long day, and we are all really tired!

all packed.

I think we are finally ready to go! I'm so worried I will forget something important, even though I made my compulsive lists and all. We are leaving really early in the morning, which ought to be fun seeing as how we all hate mornings.

"two half."

Today is Chris's half birthday. I told him this morning that he was 2 1/2. I'm sure he didn't really know what I was talking about, but he has known he's 2...so he thought it was pretty cool. All day long he was telling people, "I'm two half!"

He is still really excited about going to the hotel. I'm not sure if he realizes that we'll be pretty much living in a bedroom for several weeks. He just thinks it's something exciting to do. I haven't even told him about the zoo or anything fun we might do yet. I told him he could help me pack his Lightning McQueen suitcase, and that was enough to convince him! I hope he is not begging to go home after the first few days.

flashback 2007.

Just thought I would share a pic from last January. Look how big my guy has gotten. He still has a bit of a baby look in this one. I remember he wanted to wear 'da's hat' in the car. LOL!

Today I was a cleaning machine. I scrubbed the refrigerator, and threw away nearly everything, because I don't want food sitting there while we are out of town, that's just gross. I cleaned out my closet. You would have had to see how messy it was to really appreciate my hard work. ;) I picked up Chris from my mom's house and I was kinda sad. I won't see my family for at least a couple weeks. I'm used to seeing them all the time.

almost forgot!

EEK! I almost totally forgot to take a picture today. For some reason I happened to look at the clock at 10 till midnight and think, oh #*&@! So no good pic today, just something to keep me going. LOL! I looked at my dresser and grabbed something. Hopefully I won't make a habit of this.

updating the music.

I have been updating my iTunes list. Actually redoing the whole thing. I made my original list at my mom's house so that Jared could help me and so I could use all Jodie's songs. Somewhere in between Jared making Jenni's list, and everyone moving the songs to their laptops, my entire song list was erased. I've been trying to make my new list here- putting in CDs, downloading songs, converting them all, etc. It's really time consuming. I don't want to erase my old list till I have a good one ready. I need more songs! I'm trying to get a good variety of stuff on there. I'm getting pretty tired of messing with it but I'm trying to do it before we leave so that we have something to listen to in the car all that time. How's that for some Friday night excitement?

reading.

Chris has only recently taken an interest in being still long enough to read books. I have tried to read to him a million times, and he looks at the first couple pages then runs off to play basketball or cars or something. I think my parents must have read to me constantly from the time they brought me home from the hospital, because I learned how to read when I was 2 1/2 years old. (No, I was not a nerd.) I loved to read books all the time when I was young, so I pretty much assumed that my kid would love to read as much as I did when I was a kid. So I am happy to say that he has found several books that he totally LOVES and will even read over and over again. His favorites at the moment are the classic Green Eggs and Ham and one I had never seen before called I Stink. I bet everyone all knows about Green Eggs and Ham. It's awesome. But read it to a 2 year old a few times a night for a week, and you will almost understand why moms try to "accidentally" skip pages. It's a lot longer than I remember it. Haha! I Stink is about a garbage truck who drives around the city eating yucky trash all night. Chris thinks it is so funny!

As for an update on the rest of us, we are getting ready to leave for Buddy's training. Yesterday we found out that we may be going to a different city than we originally planned. It's only a couple months but I'm still pretty disappointed. I hope we are not too bored. I'm starting to get nervous about being in a hotel in a place I don't know. Not scared, I just know it is going to be weird. At the same time though I'm not going to be ready to come back because that means I will have to work again. I better enjoy this weekend at home with no job while I can! My time as a stay-at-home mom is going by too fast!

Oscar Trash

Chris LOVES Sesame Street, probably about as much as he loves Cars. Ever since he started watching, his favorite has been Oscar the Grouch. He calls him "Oscar Trash" though. He has a stuffed Oscar that he likes to sleep with. For his 2nd birthday he had cupcakes that looked like the faces of Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Oscar Trash.
Well a new thing Chris likes to play, is to pretend he is Oscar Trash. He gets in the hamper and tells me "I'm Oscar Trash! Scram!" And then he wants me to be the trash truck, and come pick up the hamper and dump him onto my bed. He thinks it is so funny!

organizing.

Buddy worked this morning because he had a conference call. I kinda felt like a real stay at home mom today...it was definitely better than him working at night even though I know it won't happen too often. This afternoon Chris and I sorted through all the clothes in his dresser and closet, and packed up all the things that were too small. There is lots of room in there now (check out those empty hangers!) but it was still kinda sad that he can't wear some of the stuff anymore. Another bittersweet mommy moment I guess.

wheeee!

We went to the mall today just to look around. When we went to Macy's we had to ride the escalators as usual. Chris LOVES to ride them up and down, up and down, over and over again. He thinks it is so fun to stand up, to let us hold him, to sit down...he wants to do something different each time.

I bet the Macy's employees think we are very strange. Unless of course they have kids...then maybe they get it.

lessons.

Today the only pictures I took were the ones for my photography lesson on shutterbugs. Chris was gone with my mom most of the day so I just cleaned house and did my lesson. This is a vase my mom gave me last year. The assignment was to take pictures of things from different angles. I enjoyed it, and I think they came out okay. I hope I learn a lot from these lessons!

date night.

We had been planning on going to the movies tonight. My mom said she would keep Chris. She called this morning and said that I would have to bring Chris early, Jared's basketball team ended up winning the game at a tournament and were going to play again. So I took Chris to her house around 3:00 and came home. Buddy and I just hung out and watched TV for a while and then decided to go eat. We are both notoriously indecisive about picking somewhere to go, so we played the whole "I don't care, wherever" bit for a while and finally decided on Cheddars. Restaurants here are always crowded, no matter what the parking lot is full and there are people outside. But we've never had to wait more than like 10 minutes when there are just 2 or 3 of us. So we find a place to park and go in. The hostess tells us there is about a 50 minute wait. For 2 people?!? So we go back outside. It's 34 degrees outside and windy. We think maybe we will just walk over to Texas Roadhouse and see if they have a shorter wait. The girl there tells us an hour and a half! We were nice to her of course but we left like WHAT?!? That is just crazy! So we ended up back at Casa Ole...we just ate there, but we got our food and finished it in less time than we would have waited at a table. I had a good strawberry margarita too. After we ate, we went to the movie theater. There was nowhere to park there either. We ended up parking behind the building and walking around. Then we weren't really sure what to see- there were not too many that we actually knew anything about. We decided (with slightly less trouble than the food) on I am Legend. It was pretty good, and I like Will Smith. I wasn't crazy about the ending though. Overall it was a pretty good date night. It's going to be hard to fall asleep without Chris here though. It's only like the third time he's slept away from home.

Friday already?

When you are writing something every day and actually paying attention to what day it is, a week seems to go by really fast! Of course it may have something to do with the fact that I don't have a sucky job to slow things down. Today it was really cold- probably the coldest day we have had all winter-but not quite freezing. It rained off and on all day too. Buddy is off today and tomorrow, which is really strange. He rarely has either one off and I don't think he's had both off in well over a year, other than requesting off for Chris's birthday weekend. We went to eat at Casa Ole tonight and Chris was being rotten. He wanted to get up, and we wouldn't let him. He "dropped" his sprite on the floor, he told us "no"...so he didn't get to go slide at the mall playground afterwards. He got over it when we got home but he was still acting like a terrible two year old most of the evening. We rented a movie and he finally fell asleep. Hopefully in the morning my sweet boy will be back.

baller.

Tonight I finally made it to one of Jared's basketball games. Normally they have them on Monday nights and I can't really make it, so this is the first one I've been to all year. It was a pretty good game. They won by 29 points! Jared was pretty good too, he played all but 2 or 3 minutes. I couldn't get any really good pictures because we were sitting too far away to use my 50 and then it was dark. Oh well. Here is Jared with the ball, about to shoot. We had fun.

semi-emergency.

Today, we ALMOST went to the emergency room- twice. I went to bed late last night as usual. At about 4am, I woke up. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and got back in bed. After I laid down I started coughing...and immediately started having another one of my heart episodes. I have 2 related congenital heart defects: Wolff-Parkinson-White and Epstein's Anomaly, and I get sudden episodes of tachycardia. I had these episodes every couple of months from the time I was 12 till my procedure in 1999. After that, things seemed to improve because I was only having them every couple of years. Now though, I'm afraid it is getting worse because I just had one two months ago, and they seem to be harder on me than they used to be. (or maybe, I'm in worse shape) I could not decide whether to go to the emergency room or not, so I tried not to and prayed it would quit. Finally about 6:25am it stopped on its own. I went back to sleep, and luckily Buddy let me sleep really late till about 1:30. Now my heart is just tired. It hurts a little to take a deep breath, and the veins in my arms and neck feel weak. I will be looking for a new cardiologist very soon. My old one was a pediatric cardiologist in Houston, and he isn't even there anymore.

So, fast forward to this afternoon. Chris and I were hanging out, and he was running through the living room when he tripped over his own feet. He fell on his face, and bit his tongue-HARD. He started screaming, and I scooped him up. He had been drinking red gatorade earlier, and when he opened his mouth the whole thing was red- I couldn't tell where it was bleeding from. Blood was pouring everywhere, and he was hysterical. Then I started freaking out. The hospital is literally a couple blocks away but for a split second I worried how I would get there, I didn't want to stop holding him to put him in the car seat. By the time I was able to stop the bleeding and calm him down, we both looked like we stepped out of a horror movie. Who knew a little tongue could bleed so much? The cut looks kinda deep, but it stopped bleeding more quickly than I expected once I found where it was coming from. He seemed okay for the rest of the evening, but I'll keep checking on it and call the doctor in the morning if I have to.

my sweet boy

Today I decided to go to the gym. Normally I go at 4 when I drop Buddy off. He went in at 3 today and I didn't realize the gym kids' club was closed till 4. I knew if we went home I would lose my motivation for working out, so we went to the park for an hour. This is the first time we have been to this park, and it was pretty cool because there was lots of open space for Chris to just run around. He kept picking up sticks and throwing them.

typical day.

Today we didn't do anything too exciting. Buddy had to work tonight, so Chris and I just hung out. I went to a weight watchers meeting and took him with me. He was actually really well-behaved there, especially considering we spent almost the whole meeting standing in line. At one point he sneezed and then made a funny noise...which made him want to make pig noises. He doesn't do like a lot of kids and say "oink," he actually snorts! So he snorted in the meeting and I said, "stop, that's not funny." Then he snorted again and said "I'm funny! I'm a pig!" At least the people around me thought it was funny. Then he fell asleep right after we ate, pretty late for a nap but he had slept late this morning and didn't have a regular nap so I didn't mind. Of course I sat around doing nothing instead of being productive, so when he got up I still needed to do laundry. Chris likes to be my helper so I put him on the washing machine to watch me turn the dials. He liked sitting up there and wanted his cars to come too. Chores take a bit longer when you have a helper, but they are more fun!

baby bear.

When I was pregnant with Chris, we bought this little bear. A little while later we took our tour of the hospital. They told us that when people came to see the baby in the nursery window, they no longer put signs that said "Baby Boy Allison" or whatever, so we should bring a little stuffed animal or something to put in the corner of his little bed. Of course, he was in my room most of the time, so I doubt that anyone really used this to tell which baby they were looking at. But it was there, so this was his very first bear. It sits on top of his dresser now. Every time I see it I remember my sweet little baby boy.

happy birthday Jared!

My baby brother is 14 years old today. I was 10 when he was born, and it certainly doesn't seem that long ago. I remember when I turned 14 too; he was just a little bit older than Chris is now. Time flies. For birthdays, my family usually goes out to eat somewhere and the birthday person gets to pick. Jared decided tonight that we would go to Outback Steakhouse. Believe it or not, that is one of about two places in this town that I haven't been. (the other being Texas Roadhouse) I actually wasn't that impressed with their menu, there was not much that I really wanted so I got a chicken fried steak. It was pretty good. Chris got kid's chicken tenders, took about 5 bites of that and filled up with fries and ketchup. Weirdo. It was fun and somewhat crazy as usual, because there were 9 of us there. (Buddy was working, so he couldn't come.) I tried to take some pictures of everyone while we were eating and discovered that Outback Steakhouse has the very worst lighting ever. So I wasn't able to take any pictures of the birthday boy till we got back in the parking lot. Then he totally refused to be serious for any of them. What a dork! Everyone was going back to my mom's house to watch Jared open his presents, but we didn't go. It was already getting late and I didn't want to drive all the way out there. Chris was mad because he wanted to ride in my dad's truck.

manipulation.

Everybody likes to get what they want. Kids, specifically two year olds, want their way NOW. Chris is sick today, and he wouldn't eat anything earlier. After he took some benadryl, he crashed out on the couch for a while. When he woke up he felt a little bit better and started to watch Learning About Letters. I asked him if he wanted to eat and he told me "I need a burger and fries." Well, nice Mommy that I am, I decided that would be okay. After all, better to get him to eat a cheeseburger and fries than nothing at all right? So I told him we would go after the movie was over, and I resumed folding clothes. Now, it's only a 30 minute movie and had maybe 10 minutes to go, but apparently he didn't want to wait that long. So he took the DVD out and brought it to me, and said "Letters are over, Mommy. Let's go." HAHA! So I left the clothes where they were and we drove towards McDonald's which is about 2 minutes away. But noooo, he wanted "a different one, I need a burger hat! Pleeeeeeeease!" Well I like Burger King better anyway, so I didn't have a problem with that. By the time we got home Chris was ready to play and ride his tricycle. I guess that burger made him feel better!

Art Time!

Today I thought we would try and do some art stuff. Chris wasn't feeling very well, so I didn't think we should go anywhere. So I took out some colored pencils and some paint, but Chris was not so interested in painting. He did color a picture though. He wanted to use a handful of the pencils at one time instead of just one. He saw me taking pictures and asked me "you take a picture my picture?" and I said "yes, I want pictures of you with your pencils." So...this is the silly face I got! Nice!

Big Hug.

I bet every mommy loves to see her husband and her baby together. I know I do- I love watching them play and laugh together. They love to wrestle and jump on the bed, and have big pillow fights and race the cars around. But it's rare to catch a big sweet hug like this, unless Chris is totally sleepy or really upset. This time though, he just loves his Daddy. They looked so sweet I just had to grab the camera.

I'm still slow at finding the right settings, and I didn't want them to look at me and mess up the moment, so I had to take it in auto...which explains the flash-shadows behind my husband's head. I don't know if it can be photoshopped out but maybe I'll learn that one day.

I want it!

What is it about kids and these little machines? Every time he sees one of these, he WANTS one...a sticker, a bouncy ball, whatever. This particular one is at the mall, and I couldn't even tell you how many of these little balls I have bought recently. He doesn't understand though, that you can't pick which one you want. This time he got yellow, but he wanted green. Sorry honey, but I'm not going to keep buying bouncy balls till you get a green one.

My Little Shutterbug

Chris got a new camera for Christmas, and he loves it. It didn't take him long at all to figure out how to take pictures with it, and turn it off and on. Every once in a while he will see me taking pictures and want to take some too. Earlier I decided to put the pictures from his camera on the computer. He had some that I thought were pretty good for a just-learning 2 year old! Then tonight we took pictures of each other. In one of the pictures he looks like he is trying to fix his settings. Maybe he's copying me? Some of the pictures he has taken:

silence.

Not a lot to say about this one. It was my first Sunday off, and my mom decided she would take Chris to her house anyway. I had the house to myself, so I went to work. Cleaned and reorganized Chris's whole room. Sorted toys and clothes. Cleaned closets. I worked harder than I ever would have at work. Then, I just took a picture of Jodie's room for my picture of the day.

feeding the ducks.

It was a beautiful (but windy) day, so we went to Central Park. We played on the playground of course, but then we went and fed the ducks. Chris loved to watch them. He was not scared AT ALL of the water though, and I was afraid he was going to just jump in! The ducks were HUGE...I wish I had gotten a picture with Chris next to one of them because the biggest ones were nearly his size!

TGIF.

Actually, I could really care less what day it is since I'm not working. But like most Fridays, Buddy is working late and Chris and I are just bored at home. Jenni and Jodie were bored too, so they decided to come over for a while. Jodie brought her laptop and was looking at some stuff on there when Chris decided she must need a "helper". Lately that is his favorite thing, to be someone's helper or to ask someone to be his helper.


Anyway, I was trying to finish my book and talking to Jodie about the 365 (366) project. So we took our other two pictures of the day. The cool thing about Jodie is, she will cooperate with whatever pictures I want to take of her, unlike my own darling child who likes to run away from the camera or make scary faces. Except I seem to run out of ideas when she is around.

playing in the cold.

We went to the park to play today, even though it was really cold. (Really cold for Texas, meaning like 40 degrees) Chris went down all the big slides, and made Buddy and me go down them too. Then he raced Doc Hudson and Lightning McQueen down the big slides too. It still didn't answer the question though: who's faster? Buddy and Chris do not agree on this one, and nobody seems to know for sure. Anyway, we had a good time.