About Me

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Welcome to my blog. I'm a Mississippi country girl transplanted to Grapevine, TX. I have been blessed with a great husband, and my kiddos, Aleck and Ella. When I'm not eating bon bons on the couch, I am my kid's room mom, PTA member, Sunday School teacher, taxi driver, amateur photographer and personal chef. When I'm not doing those things, I'm running a small jewelry business, 2nd Amendment Jewelry (www.2ndamendmentjewelry.com), that I started with my twin sister, Glenda. It's a crazy and busy life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas to family and friends!!!! We love and miss those far away and can't wait to see you soon!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Aleck's First Haircut

Before


During





After


Aleck was LONG overdue for a haircut, but I was so reluctant to admit that my little boy is growing up. Bless his heart, he looked like a little orphan before his haircut!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Not Me! Monday



It's Monday, and that means another installment of Not Me! Monday, a brutally honest confession of things that I most definitely did not do over the last week. To find out where Not Me! Monday originated, click on the link above to check out MckMama's blog, a blog I absolutely love.

I am not suffering from insomnia so bad that it makes me smile when Aleck wakes up at 2:00 a.m. and says, "wock" (translation: rock) and we spend the next 10 minutes in the rocking chair before I kiss him on his precious head and put him back to bed. I did not wake up at 1:00 a.m. and stay awake until 4:00 a.m. more than once last week.

I did not almost wet my pants laughing when I checked on Aleck during naptime and he had crawled into the baby swing that he has long ago outgrown and was proceeding to fall asleep. I have no idea how he got in the swing because he couldn't get the tray up so his bottom was sunk down in the seat and his legs were draped over the tray. Absolutely priceless!

Aleck did not walk up to me this week and use my shirt as a tissue to blow a huge booger. Gross! I have no idea where he learned such behavior.

What crazy things did you not do last week?

Sunday, December 14, 2008

First Broken Bone (of many, I'm sure!)


Aleck is fearless. He climbs and jumps off everything. Last Sunday, he was jumping off his toddler bed exclaiming "wheeeeee!" Of course, being the overprotective mother that I am, I made him stop. Have I told you about my strong-willed child? The minute I left the room, he proceeded to climb up and jump off his bead again. I then heard Aleck crying and found him laying on the floor beside his bed. He was holding his foot and wouldn't put weight on his left leg to walk. Off the the ER we went. The only thing that made it worse was the Cowboys game had JUST STARTED. Have I told you that my husband is a huge Cowboys' fan?
The ER put Aleck in a splint and sent us home with a follow-up appointment for Thursday, four days later. Oh yeah, and they said, "don't let him walk on it until he sees the orthopedic surgeon." HELLO!!!! How am I supposed to prevent a 20 month-old from walking on his foot if he so desires? It must have hurt to put weight on his foot, because Aleck never tried to walk. He quickly reverted back to crawling everywhere. I didn't lose it until Aleck crawled into the kitchen with his bowl in his hand asking for "more, please" when he ran out of Cheerios. I broke down in tears to see him so helpless and I realized how fortunate and blessed my family is to have our health.

Being the most wonderful husband in the world, Tom found a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who would see Aleck Monday afternoon. The orthopedic surgeon thinks Aleck has a hairline fracture in his first metatarsal, the bone that connects to your big toe. She said this type of fracture is common, and even called the "bunk bed fracture", because it frequently happens when kids jump off the top bunk. Aleck is in a cast for 10 days and we go back for another x-ray to determine how much longer he has to wear the cast. The cast hasn't slowed him down at all. He made Mrs. Ginger at Mother's Day Out so nervous on Tuesday. When I picked him up, she said, "he has been climbing and jumping off of everything."
That's my boy!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Not Me! Monday



It's Monday, and that means another installment of Not Me! Monday, a brutally honest confession of things that I most definitely did not do over the last week.

Even though I had a terrible cold and runny nose, I did not use my shirt to wipe my nose while Aleck was breastfeeding. That would just be too gross.

Tom and I watched Iron Man the other night, which was an awesome movie. At the beginning of the movie, the main character, Tony Stark, is kidnapped and escapes after being held captive for 3 months. When he gets home, the first thing he wants is a cheeseburger. For the rest of the movie, all I could think of was a cheeseburger, but I did not go to McDonald's at 10:15 p.m. to get a cheeseburger and fries. I also did not have chicken tortilla soup for breakfast the following morning. I am so glad that this pregnancy is not causing some intense food cravings.

Aleck does not enjoy diaper changes, but I did not bribe him by showing him my blackberry cell phone and tell him he can play with my phone if he will be still for a diaper change. I am the adult, and I would never reduce myself to bribery to get my child to do what I want him to do.

I did not absentmindedly call Aleck by the name of my deceased cat, Jake. Jake has been gone for almost 3 years. How weird would that be?

What weird and crazy things did you not do this week?

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Shoes!!! Shoes!!!

Aleck has this new obsession with shoes. He wants to wear shoes ALL THE TIME. He walks around saying, "shoes, shoes!" He has a favorite pair, and he fights when I want him to wear a different pair. He typically likes taking a bath, but since he has to take his shoes off, he has little interest in playing in the bath. He even wore shoes during his nap today.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Tales from the Toddler Bed

Since we converted Aleck's crib to a toddler bed, he has never slept better. He consistently sleeps through the night and even takes naps without any problems. When he is really tired, he will crawl in the bed and say, "night, night". When Aleck was sleeping in the crib, he would wake up in the morning crying, wanting to get out of bed. Now, he will sing and talk to himself for 15-30 minutes before he opens his door and starts calling for "momma". His room is baby proofed and we put a baby gate up at night to keep him in his room until we go get him in the morning. I certainly didn't expect Aleck to do so well in a toddler bed, but he seems to enjoy having a little control over when he gets in or out of bed.

He likes it! He likes it!

I had originally planned on breastfeeding Aleck until he turned two, but as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I decided it was time to start the weaning process. We dropped the midday feeding a couple of weeks ago, so now he only nurses first thing in the morning and before he goes to bed. Weaning has been a challenge because it absolutely breaks my heart for him to cry and ask to nurse, but I have been very consistent with him so the weaning process seems to be getting easier. I have been concerned because Aleck has absolutely refused to drink cow's milk, despite offering him milk with every meal. He would make a horrible face every time he took a drink from his cup. Yesterday, Aleck started drinking cow's milk. I guess he realized that Mommy means business about this weaning thing and if he wants milk, he is going to have to explore alternatives to Mommy's milk.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Trip to the Zoo






We took a trip to the zoo earlier in the month and Aleck absolutely loved the carousel.


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Brooke and Presley's 2nd Birthday Party









These pictures are from Brooke and Presley's 2nd Birthday party at Little Gym. The kids had a blast! Aleck loved hanging from the bars and walking on the balance beam. Thanks for an awesome day, Brooke and Presley. Happy Birthday!!!





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Training for the high dive

Aleck took a nosedive out of his crib this afternoon. He was playing in his crib while I was organizing his winter clothes. I looked up just in time to see him flip forward over the rail and land on his head. It scared the daylights out of me, but Aleck only cried for a few seconds and was fine. Tom converted his crib to a toddler bed tonight and it was surprisingly easy to get AJ to go to bed. I put him in bed and AJ immediately crawled out. I left him in the floor in his room having a minor meltdown. When I left the room, AJ stopped crying started playing. A few minutes later, Tom went in his room and told him “night, night” and he jumped in bed and went to sleep. AJ can open his door, so I have a baby gate up to keep him in his room at night. I pray we sleep tonight!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Not Me! Monday

I am only 5 weeks pregnant so I do not crawl out of the bed in the morning counting the hours until Aleck takes a nap so I can get a nap myself. It is just too early for me to feel so tired.

I did not drive to the playground and change my mind and go home without getting out of the car because I honestly did not have the energy to chase Aleck all over the place. I am a terrific mom and would never do such a thing.

I am such a bike safety person, so I definitely did not put Aleck in the bike trailer and take off to the park without fastening his seat belt.

What is it about pregnancy that instantly makes your IQ drop 50 points anyway? Seriously, I can not tell you how many just plain stupid things I have said or done in the last week.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Manner lessons from a 19 month old

We have taught Aleck some sign language including "please" and "thank you". When he asked for something, I will ask "what's the magic word?" He will respond, "tease" and rub his belly, which is his sign for "please". A few days ago, Tom was feeding Aleck supper and Aleck gave Tom a bite of his food. Tom asked for more and Aleck responded, "tease?" and rubbed his belly as though he was teaching his Daddy how to politely ask for more. Absolutely hilarious!!!


Monday, November 3, 2008

Not Me! Monday

Even though I was away from my computer last Thursday, I was able to wait until I got home to see how Stellan was doing. I did not call several friends until I found one at home who could check out MckMama's blog and give me a current report. Nope, not me.

I do not talk to my friends like I know MckMama personally and we are close friends. That would just be creepy.

Aleck wore his kilt and was a Scottish drummer for Halloween. Even though Aleck refused to wear his drum and insisted on pushing a pink baby doll stroller, I did not give in and let him run through the neighborhood pushing that pink stroller. I also did not ignore three different women who said, "Oh, what a cute little girl" and pretend that I didn't hear them.



Sunday, November 2, 2008

Costume Parade at Mother's Day Out



Aleck was dressed as Tony Romo, the Cowboys' starting quarterback, for the costume parade at Mother's Day Out. I couldn't find a football helmet to fit Aleck, so I had to glue stars on a baseball helmet. Of course, with Tom being such a huge Cowboys fan, Aleck already had the Tony Romo jersey and Cowboys wind suit.

While I was videotaping the parade, Aleck spotted me and started crying. I had to join the parade procession when he fell down on the sidewalk screaming. Having Mommy walk with him calmed Aleck down, at least until time for a group photo.

I'm Back!

Sorry I haven't posted in ages. I had an insanely busy October and just needed to take a break. In my next few posts, I will catch you up to speed on the last month.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Aleck Update 2:30 a.m.

After 8 days of intermittent fever, we made our second visit to the pediatrician. Aleck has an ear infection and bronchitis. He started zithromax today and for the first time in 8 days, he is not running a fever at 2:30 a.m. How do I know this? Because I have been up around that time for the the last eight days. Praise God, I think AJ is finally on the road to recovery.

Now, if I could just go back to sleep.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

In trouble with the law at 18 months

I was in AJ's room tonight rocking him before bedtime and I heard a knock at the front door. I heard mumbling, followed by Tom coming into AJ's room and saying, "You and AJ need to come out in the living room a minute to see the the police officer". Excuse me, "What?!!!"

Of course, with the chasing AJ around getting him ready for bed, I had forgotten that 20 minutes earlier AJ had picked up Tom's key chain and pushed the panic button on the alarm system. I expected a call from Hawke Security, but I certainly did not expect two officers to show up at our door. Sorry, Hurst taxpayers.

The funny thing is that Tom didn't even know how to activate the panic button on the key chain. Leave it to a toddler to just start pushing buttons.

Prayer Request

Please lift Aleck up in your prayers. He has been sick since last Friday. We saw his pediatrician and he diagnosed AJ with hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a virus that causes fever, diarrhea, vomiting, blisters on the mouth, hands and feet. Aleck has been running a fever, off and on, for 7 days. Please pray for healing.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Happy 21st Birthday Eryn!









We celebrated Eryn's 21st birthday tonight. I can't believe we have a 21 year-old daughter. It just seems like yesterday that I was celebrating my 21st birthday. Boy, time flies.

We had ice cream pie for desert. Yummy!!! Unfortunately, AJ went to bed early so he didn't get to help Eryn blow out her candles.

Eryn, you are the best daughter in the whole wide world. We are so proud of you and we love you very much!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Smugmug Photo Gallery

I will be uploading pictures to Smugmug photo gallery. If you want to see more pictures, just click on the link on the top left corner of my blog. As time permits, I will be adding more pictures. The great thing about Smugmug is that it allows family and friends to copy pictures from the website, so you can download any picture that you want to your own computer in high resolution. My Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 software exports to Smugmug, and this will make it much easier to keep my photos uploaded. Hope you enjoy.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Where animals go when Noah's Arc is overcrowded

I frequently find toys in cabinets and drawers. It makes me smile to know that Aleck has "hidden" something. Of course, this time, it was obvious that Aleck had been there by the pots and pans scattered all over the kitchen floor. I guess he thought the arc was a little cramped and the piggy needed some breathing room.





Monday, September 22, 2008

"Not Me!" Monday

So, I am totally hooked on MckMama's blog. You can check it out at the link below. MckMama has started this "Not me! Monday" blog carnival, and this is the first edition of a brutally honest post.


I did not bake my husband a birthday cake and then eat the entire thing almost single-handedly because he went out of town for 4 days.

Even though I was under the weather yesterday, I did not sleep until 10:00 a.m., go back to bed again from 11:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., and then take an afternoon nap from 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m., and then go back to bed at 10:00 p.m.

I did not sleep through breakfast and lunch, and have a large chocolate McDonald's milkshake for supper. Since I am fanatical about feeding AJ healthy food, I did not let Eryn give him McDonald's french fries and chocolate shake, which, by the way, AJ did not absolutely love.

I did not multitask by folding laundry while sitting indian style on the floor to allow AJ to nurse.

I did not talk about MckMama's blog so much last week that my husband did not ask, "How's Big Mac's finger doing? Did he have to have stitches?"

I did not give AJ sour milk and not realize it until I used the milk in his sippy cup that he did not drink for cream in my coffee.

I did not let AJ nurse while I was going potty just to keep him from rummaging through all the bathroom drawers.

I did not tear up when AJ opened the bathroom drawer looking for Eryn's toothbrush, only to realize that the drawer was empty because she moved out this weekend to live with a college roommate.

Nope, I definitely did not do any of these things last week.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

New Beginnings

Eryn, my 20 year-old stepdaughter, moved in with a college roommate today. I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming, and so blessed to say that Eryn is one of my best friends. I am SO going to miss having Eryn in the house. I love you, Sweetie.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Making Mud Pies

AJ and I met Dede, Presley and Brooke at the park today. The weather was beautiful and we planned on eating lunch at the pavilion. The park has a huge field nearby and we were letting the kids run a little ahead of us while we took pictures. Dede and I were talking while the kids were sitting in the grass playing, or at least we thought they were sitting in the grass. I should have known that something was up for AJ to sit anywhere. Those that have seen him lately know that he runs 90 miles an hour from sunup to sundown. Anyway, when Dede and I walked up to where the kids were sitting, we realized why they were so content to sit in the grass. They were actually sitting in a mud puddle. We let them play long enough to snap some cute pictures, and then stripped them and did our best to clean them off in the water fountain.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Tom's Birthday










Today is Tom's birthday. He had to leave for a business trip this morning, so we celebrated last night. I made one of his favorite meals, chicken and dumplings, and we had birthday cake. Eryn and AJ helped blow out the candles.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Strong-willed Child

Who teaches a toddler to go limp and wiggle when you are trying to pick them up to carry them from point A to point B, but they would rather stay at point A? Just wondering. As far as I know, AJ has never witnessed this display, but he has mastered this performance perfectly.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Wordless Wednesday





* Note from Eryn: Even though it IS Wordless Wednesday, I just wanted ya'll to know that I was not at all upset about sharing my breakfast with Aleck. I had only just woken up and I'm not exactly a morning person. But Aleck is WAY too cute to resist, isn't he?!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Mother's Day Out



AJ started Mother's Day Out today. Tom stayed home from work today to be with me. I thought I would cry and be sad, but I really was OK. I'm sure having Tom with me made leaving AJ much easier. Tom, on the other hand, didn't do as well as I did. Tom was so nervous this morning that when we got to the church, Tom realized that he didn't have any shoes on. He had planned on wearing his flip flops and I guess he thought he had already put them in the car. He had to turn around and run home. It was hilarious!



We had an orientation after we left AJ in his room. At one point, I looked at Tom and he had tears in his eyes. He said the sweetest thing. He said, "It gives me comfort to know that AJ is with you every day and I know he is taken care of, so this is a big deal for me." AJ's room has a one-way mirror so we could peek in on him before we left the church. He was doing fine, just whining intermittently. My friend Sami's daughter, Charli, is in Aleck class and that should make AJ's transition easier.


Tom and I had a wonderful day together. We drove out to Grapevine Lake to check out the marina. Tom wants to buy a sailboat. We had lunch at this adorable bakery in Grapevine. I don't think Tom and I have been to lunch alone since AJ was born, 17 months ago. It was wonderful!!! I even had time to squeeze in a nap.

When we picked AJ up, he started crying when he saw us. His teachers, Mrs. Kay and Mrs. Ginger, said he cried off and on during the day but overall he did good. He actually took a 1 hour 15 minute nap, which surprised me. Normally, AJ naps 2-3 hours, but I wasn't sure he would nap at all today. AJ is accustomed to sleeping in his crib, in a dark room, in silence. He must have been exhausted! As you can see in one of the pictures, they have several cribs built into the wall, which is where he slept. He was in such a good mood when we got home and he played by himself most of the remainder of the afternoon. After just spending 5 hours around different toddlers, AJ was making different vocalizations that he had never made. It is amazing how fast toddlers pick things up. He wasn't fussy, but I still put him to bed at 7:00, an hour earlier than normal since his nap was shorter than normal. He went to sleep without even a peep.

In the future, I plan to work during Mother's Day Out so I don't have to see patients in the afternoon after Tom gets home from work. It will be so awesome that the only thing I have to do in the afternoon is think about what is for supper. Yay Mother's Day Out!!!!