Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Special Day


Well, I am back to catching up again. In August we celebrated my grandfather's (Paw Paw as we call him) 84th birthday. If that wasn't special enough, it was the first time I got to see my new cousin Ryder. He's a cutie for sure. Lucy was enamored with him! The surprise of the night, however, was my sister's engagement announcement!!! I am so excited and happy for her. We can't wait to welcome Danial officially into the family.

My sister just glows with excitement!



Lu is so excited about all that happened on this special day!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Happiness

Happiness is ...

1. spending the day with your two children doing errands (crazy, I know but it worked today!).
2. seeing your son's bare arm for the first time after having a cast on for 4 weeks.
3. feeling the soft skin of your son's hand as he grasps your hand while telling you all about video game strategies while walking into K-Mart.
4. realizing that 5 months ago today your daughter was placed into your arms for the first time in a foreign country over 18,000 miles away.
5. feeling as if your daughter had been placed in your arms so much longer than a mere 5 months ago.
6. seeing your daughter laugh with her daddy after not wanting to have much to do with him for the first few months.
7. seeing your daughter sit in her big brother's lap while he plays video games.
8. seeing your husband when he comes home from work.
9. hearing the excitement in your daughter's voice when she hears her daddy coming in the door.
10. watching your children sleep.
11. watching your children play Guitar Hero in Wal-Mart.


I was overwhelmed with happiness this morning. I am not sure what made it so, but the day just clicked for me. I allowed Z to stay home from school because he had to go this morning to get his cast off. I decided to let him take the rest of the day off also. We had a really good day. We didn't do anything spectacular -- like I mentioned before we just did errands, but it was good! I am posting some pictures of our day!
I will post more catch-ups later.


My son will not take a picture without some sort of goofiness to save his life! That is part of his charm I guess.













Can you believe that parts of this cast used to be white?? Even Lucy wonders if it will ever be clean again.





This is Zachary so excited when he knows for sure that his cast is coming off.











Lucy is watching to make sure that the nurse does not hurt her Ge Ge.








These are two of the most precious (if not THE most) precious children in the world, and I am proud to be their mama!
I love you Lu and Z!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Crazy? Probably.

I really need to have my head examined. No really. I need to have my head examined. You see, a couple of weeks ago I had a few cysts removed from my scalp. Not a big deal except that my hair had stopped growing in that spot. So my hairdresser/friend said it was time. The procedure was not as bad as I had expected, really. The stitches in my head were the pits, though. They itched and pulled and were terribly uncomfortable. This is also the first time that I have ever had stitches that did not relate to an incision in my lower abdomen. I guess the other pain surpassed the stitches, so I did not notice. I digress. Anyway... I was due to have the stitches out today. Whoo! Hooo!! I could not wait. The doctor that I see is in Zachary, LA which for those of you unfamiliar with the area is right outside of Baton Rouge (almost 2 hours away). Normally I love going with my friend to Baton Rouge to shop after the appointment, and I thought that might be what we could do today. She, however, had things to do, so she could not accompany me. That left Lu and I to venture on our own. Well, I don't know B.R. well enough to drive there and shop on my own, so I decided that I would cancel the appt (driving almost 2 hours with a 2 yr old only to have a few stitches removed and drive almost 2 hours back did not sound like my idea of fun!). I told the receptionist that I would have a nurse here in town take out the stitches.

Well, last night the stitches were really bothering me, so I decided to get Brandt to take them out for me. I mean how hard could it be right? I sterilized a pair of scissors and tweezers. I don't want infections, you know! I broached the subject with my dear sweet husband. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Brandt, do you feel like doing a little surgery?" I figured he'd jump at the opportunity. BTW he was watching some animated show when I asked.

B: "What?" I repeated the question. "I thought you were doing that tomorrow." I gave him my rationale for needing it done now. "Can't Janee (my friend) do that for you?"

Me: "She said she would but not until tomorrow, and I want them out now."

B: "Wait until this is over. I have been waiting a week to watch this show."

Me: I happily and patiently wait for the show to end and try not to think about the fact that I have offered my husband a chance to be intimately close to my head with scissors and tweezers. I suppose I really do trust him. The show finally finished and he suggested that we go to the bathroom where the light was better. I sat myself on the toilet and said, "Try not to hurt me or cut too much hair."

B: "You really want me to do this?"

Me: "Yes!"

He begins to work, but is having a hard time with the scissors that I had given him. After a few minutes he gives up and tells me to wait until tomorrow. Well, those of you that know me know that I don't give up too easily. I proceeded to find him another pair of scissors, sterilized them and got him back into the bathroom.

B: "I can't do this. It is harder than it looks."

Me: "How hard can it be. You snip the stitch and pull out the thread -- easy!"

B: "It's not that simple. The stitches are tied on like you tie up a roast."

Me: "What??!! How do you know?"

B: "Because I watch Alton (Brown off of Good Eats -- B's favorite cooking show). "

Me: "You're crazy. It is not."

B: "I'm serious. Your head looks just like a piece of meat that has been tied up."

Me: "Well, how would Alton remove the string from the meat?" At this point I think that he went on to explain how it all worked while I sat there holding my hand out to catch the stitches that he was pulling out of my head and the small clumps of hair that came with them. He finally finished and said.

"Ok, that's all I can do. This is really grossing me out. I think that I left one or two in, but I did what I could."

I really could not feel anymore stitches. It was very tender, but the pulling that I was feeling was relieved. I went to see my friend Janee today who was going to finish what Brandt could not get to, but surprisingly, there was only one little piece of thread that she found. She said that he'd done a really good job and that it did not look like there was too much hair lost in the process.

I guess that all he really needed to do was to relate it to something that he knew about. I really do have a wonderful husband. He is a great teacher, priest, cook, and now nurse. What more could a girl ask for! Thanks, honey-- Love you!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

A Few More Pictures from the Birthday

This picture was taken on Lu's actual birthday. She just looked so sweet napping!




A sweet lady from church sent Lu some balloons on her birthday. This was Lu's first experience with balloons, I think. She played with them for well over 30 minutes. She kept trying to get them to the floor, but they just wouldn't cooperate!
A friend of my mom sent Lu this sweet bear for her birthday. When Lu opened the present, she hugged it tightly and said, "Ooooooooh!"

Friday, November 07, 2008

Lucy's First and Second Birthdays

I was looking back at all of the pictures that I have on this computer (as opposed to our old computer- got a new tower a few months ago and have yet to transfer pictures from that computer to this computer, because I am not sure how to do it and Brandt hasn't had a free weekend in like forever, blah, blah, blah!). Anyway, I think that the first event that I have pics from is Lu's birthday. We celebrated here at home with Na Na and Jessa on her birthday (Aug. 14th), then celebrated with family the following Saturday in McComb. I will insert some of the cutest pictures. Enjoy!
This first picture was taken as we were finishing up supper. Daddy cooked us steak and baked potatoes, and Lu loves a baked potato! Yum!

Here you see Lu looking at the beautiful cake that daddy made for his sweet Lu's birthday! She was very curious about it all.+This is Lu and Z after daddy dabbed pretty green icing on their noses. I think that she liked it actually!Lucy's family birthday was on Saturday. She wasted no time in diving into the icing. She remembered what to do.I think she is looking to see which finger had most of the delicious icing on it.

Getting Started Again!

I am back again after a long absence. So much has happened that it will probably take weeks to blog about it all. I thought about skipping all of it and just starting anew, but you'd miss out on so much. Thus, I will try to begin where I left off. (That is I will begin where the other blog that we had during our trip to China left off. If I come across some things that I did not cover on that blog, I will add it in here!) So the 2 of you that read this, keep me honest and nag - I mean brag on how wonderful this is so that I will keep on a postin'! e