All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

Several weeks ago Miller had a dentist appointment with a new dentist, he wasn't having any problems it was just a cleaning and check up.  His Lala took him to the appointment and about 45 minutes after his appointment time I received a text with this picture.

I think he must have been hoping for a major pay day because he asked them to pull his two front teeth.  He didn't even flinch!  Needless to say, every time he smiles I cannot help but hear, All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!  He sure is a cute toothless kid!

I May Not Post Often, But When I Do I Write Many Post In One Day

That is my way of apologizing for all of the post that are about to be published.  You see a lazy Sunday gives me much motivation, although I am sure David wishes this motivation was directed at the huge piles of laundry...too bad!  And yes it is a lazy Sunday because all the adrenaline was used up watching the LSU game last night.  I will only say this, it was a GREAT game, it would have been the best game ever if the Tigers would have walked away with the win. 

First Day of Daycare!

***POST IS A DAY OLD**** 

Guess who started daycare today?  Yep, Sweet Mess!  Guess who was excited about Steven starting daycare?  Miller!  I find it funny how obsessed he has been with when Steven will be starting school.  Of course, I find it funny about how Miller obsesses in general.  For months he has asked when Steven will be starting school.  Day after day.  Morning after morning!  So it should come as no surprise that our morning started with Miller giving Steven the lowdown on daycare...telling him not to worry, that it was going to be ok and that everyone will be nice to him.  Miller explained to Steven that this was his first school too so he was in the know.  He also kept asking me if Steven was going to be sad and cry.  Oh, he also suggested that we send Cynthia flowers.  I am still not sure if this is because of the good care that Cynthia has given Steven or because she will be sad without him and the flowers will cheer her up.  Either way it was cute and I love the way Miller's mind works.  Always thinking about the "domino" effect....

Any-hoo, we are all excited for Steven but we are all a little apprehensive as well.  I know / We know this will be a good change but with this comes some concern.  It is so strange that with Miller there was no choice and no reason for him not to be in daycare but this is so DIFFERENT!  I will say that he must have had an ok day because he was passed smooth out on the floor when I got home.  However David was a little disappointed that Steven didn't take off running to him when he went to pick him up.  Miller always ran to David, but Miller rarely ran to me so I secretly think it is funny.  I hope that Steven will enjoy it and I hope the cooties stay somewhere else, I do not want to regret the look I gave his pediatrician when she suggested the RSV vaccination again for this year. (yes we will get them if she feels they are necessary but ugh...!)  Also, we have a cardiology appointment this week and we praying for a short, sweet and no big deal visit.  I also hope that maybe they can explain Steven's red sole feet.  We shall see :-)

Cake To Celebrate!

If we celebrate then we celebrate with cake! And there is a sweet little 15 month old that has 9 teeth and all of them are sweet! He loves his cake! Cookies! Yogurt! Graham Crackers! And Ice Cream! (Side note, yes I am aware that this is not the best of foods for him to eat, please don't judge) But to watch him enjoy his sweets is so funny to me, you see he gets his sweet tooth from his momma. David could go weeks and not eat anything sweet, I might can walk past something once and not eat but if I pass it again well, pass me the fork! But in all in seriousness, the 20th was just too important of a day to have it go by without acknowledging so as you can see we had cake ;-)  Happy Life Day!

 

He knows what is coming...

This is serious, no time for pics...

 



I will eat this cake, one lick at a time...

 



This is some good stuff...

 



Yes, when my parent's say "who's cute" I turn

my head to the side and smile!!! 

My mom should be ashamed she taught me that!

 



This young man passed on the cake

but stood around for pics!

 



Also, since Steven is now 15 months it was way past time for a real haircut.  On Saturday morning, we decided to stop by and see if he could get a big boy haircut.  Luckily, Christine had a little opening to tackle his hair.  SO VERY THANKFUL!  It was starting to look like a horses mane!  To our surprise he never cried or fussed.  He was too busy with his first sucker, again sweet tooth!  Anyway, he had two first on Saturday...sucker and haircut!  Of course, I had my camera....

The Heart of Our Adventure....a year ago!

Ok, so the blog has taken a back seat to work, homework and sleep.  Yep, a day in the life of me!  But I cannot let this day, well tomorrow pass without a post. 

A year ago this evening we were sitting in a room on the 15th floor of TCH waiting for the morning to come and the longest day of our life begin.  Dramatic, huh?  But for parent's of an almost 3 month old baby boy, it was a very dramatic day.  Tomorrow is kinda like a mini-birthday in my eyes for Steven.  September 20th is the day that his heart was healed and his life began so maybe I should call it his "Life Day."  I am one of those with an annoying memory, I remember everything...it is a blessing and a curse.  But I look back on a year ago and I think, when did I pay bills?  when did I get school shopping done for Miller?  when did we grocery shop?  who did the laundry?  From the time Steven was born until the surgery our lives were focused on the amount of ounces he gained, or how few he gained.  how long did it take to finish a bottle, did he finish the bottle?  what day was the next doctors appointment?  how did his blood work look?  Our alarms were going off at all hours of the day and night for medicine.  It was such a strange time.  I remember so much but yet if I have had a memory lapse it was certainly in those first 3 months of his life.  But in the end, we all recovered...even my memory!  Today our hands and hearts are full of joy!  Today we have friends from a community that I never gave much thought to...the heart community.  This week I was reminded that not all heart babies recover. My heart hurts for a family that knows first hand the other outcome for some CHD babies.  We have always known that Steven's surgery was a one and done and we feel extremely blessed!!! 

So just to recap....a year ago

 

 

 A couple of weeks ago...

 

 

What a difference a year makes!!!!

 

 

 

Side note:  Sports wrap....yes the Saints are stinking it up, I know!  Texans are looking strong!  Cowboys were "BACK" after week one and Cowgirls were "BACK" in week two!  LSU is on a roll but I cannot wait for a real game for them!  McNeese is charging ahead!  Oh, and USC lost to Stanford again!!!!

 

Side side note:  The memory is back so for all of my friends that know me, yes I can still direct you to any location if I have been there once...even if it was many years ago.  Yes, I can still recall what I was wearing on the Thursday before Good Friday in 2007 and Tressa I remember your outfit too.  If any one needs to know, just ask :-)

 



Birthday Lunch With Her Whole Bunch

So my dad decided to plan a little surprise for my mom for her birthday last weekend.  Props to Dad for arranging this.  Her birthday was on Sunday so we all met for lunch and she was pretty darn surprised and beyond excited.  We were missing the two oldest grandson's, Jake who also became a teenager last week SNIFF SNIFF and Miller were both MIA and although we missed them we still had a great time.  This was the first time since Christmas that we have all been together.  Which is a shame considering we are all within 3 hours of each other.  SHAME ON US!  Anyway, it was a wonderful day and hopefully we will not wait until her next birthday to get together again. 

Of course I had my camera so here are some pics of the day....

Pretty sure Steven had a little dessert from everyone!



Family photo in the middle of Rao's :-)

Beautiful 5th Grader!

Umm...someone was not paying attention :-)

Get back over here, runaway boy!

There are some creepy men behind you, Shana!

Say Cheese!



First Day of First Grade

Well he survived and he likes his teacher!  What a wonderful way to start the year.  I am sure it will be all down hill from here but a much better start than last year.  He said that his teacher was nice and young.  David and I agree to both, she looks like she is 18 and was very sweet on Friday for the meet and greet.  He did say that he was nervous in the beginning, he was worried about not doing well if he had a test today :-).  The one thing that I like, no nap so at 8:30 he was snoring away.  I get the feeling that this is going to be a good year!  Here is his first day photo...my handsome big boy!

Getting Our Crab On --- Old Post Finally Finishing

If you throw a line they will eat and so will we!  This past Several weekends ago we had a little crabbing trip planned with Jeff and Erin and we hit the jackpot!  And the hubby finally caught a fish, yes he has caught fish before but not one in that boat so he was pretty pumped about that.  Jeff caught one too but the missing tail made it too small to keep, ha!  Let me just say that we should keep to catching the crabs then fishing because we would not eat if we had to count on our fishing skills.  Here a few pics from the day, don't be jealous of our loot :-)

Determined To Finish A Post

I have probably 3, 4 maybe even 5 post that are drafts because I cannot find the time am too lazy to finish them.  Maybe one day or maybe never :-)

But here is a little recap of recent events:

• Blood work has been completed for Steven and we are waiting for the results.  Having to have him poked is not much fun but props to the girl at the lab because short of a little cry he handled it great. 
• Miller will start school on Monday, so much for summer being June, July and August. 
• School supply list are OBSCENE!  Thank goodness children are few and far between at our house.  Cannot imagine if we had 3 in school the budget would be sucked dry with pencils, ear buds, and paper towels. 
• Miller will be heading out on a little vacay on Thursday with his dad and family.  We will be picking him up Monday after school.  For me, this reads -  Tomorrow will be the last time I see Miller until he is a First Grader!  For you, this likely reads - Miller is going on vacation and returning the day before the school year starts?  Yes, I do have that thought too but it is what it is.
• David and I had a date night this past Friday.  It included dinner and hanging out until 4 am and I have the blisters on my feet as proof!  Yes, I am super proud of this.  Yes, I know how sad that sounds. 
• This weekend we will get another adult only evening so that Gary Allan can sing to me.  Sorry if anyone else thinks he is singing to them but you are wrong :-)  Haha
• The Olympics are physically draining to me.  I hold my breath, I shout out loud, I clap and smile just like I am on the podium.  It is rough but I am here to support our athletes!!!! 
• Finally, the official countdown to college football:  23 days!!!  Oh and does anyone know who is ranked #1????  Geaux Tigers!

Random Thought Thursday!

Just my random thoughts for today:

I am so ready for some football, SEC and NFL!  I guess I should say college football but really is there any other team worth watching that is not in the SEC? :-)

I am beyond excited for the Olympics to start, I love it, even the badminton!  Funny that I love all sports but the most un-atheltic person in the world.  Is un-athletic a word???  :-)

If it were not for a crock pot and ideas from Pinterest my family would not eat.  My husband has taken a vacation from the kitchen and I am not sure how I feel about that or who gave him permission for the vacay!  But I do love the crock pot...it creates a surprise for dinner.  Kinda like that box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get!

I always have a fear of cracking my windows on my car in the heat, doesn't it just invite an afternoon thunderstorm?

I am pleased to admit that I have actually done the Shred video for 8 of the last 9 days.  And I can still walk...miracles do happen :-)

Hope everyone had a great Thursday and if not, well tomorrow is Friday so it can only get better!

Always Something But Praying It Is Nothing

I haven't written about Steven's bp in awhile so I thought I would give a quick update.  We were increasing his dose there for awhile to get the bp regulated and I think we have found the right dose.  Of course, last week we paid a visit to Texas Children's for an appointment with Dr. Riley.  Because he is doing so good we are going to change one of his medications to a new one.  We are pretty pumped, this is another 12 hour medication which means bye bye to every 8 hours!  Woohoo!  He will still be on two different kinds of medication to maintain his blood pressure but they will both be given in the morning and evening.  This makes us very happy.  We are also looking into daycare.  Not sure how he will handle that change and I am not sure how grandma will handle it either.  We are so thankful that she has been able to keep him for this first year, it has kept him away from the cooties and it has allowed us such peace knowing she is the one giving him the medication during the day.  We are not sure when he will start daycare.  I was surprised (shouldn't be) that there is a wait list for the one we wanted, if anyone can pull strings at MFB Daycare please do, we haven't really talked about other ones.  That will be a conversation perfect for tonight. 

But of course just when things start to go smoothly with his health, I received a call from Dr. R's nurse and it seems that his lab results showed his liver enzymes to be high.  There is a huge possibility this is a false reading and so that is what I am believing.  Steven is already scheduled for some more lab work this week, to make sure the new medication is going well, so in a two weeks we will have more lab work to retest and see how the liver enzymes at that time.  Again I am sure it is nothing but I am still mom and I still worry a little.

Oh and one other thing, I can finally say that he is walking.  He has been walking for awhile but he was still much faster at crawling so it always won out.  He is all about the speed but this weekend he decided slow was ok if he was standing tall.  Right at 13 months old, just like his big brother!

A Little Virus and A Little Trip

Nothing like planning a little getaway and catching a nasty, evil, horrible virus before you leave.  Yep, that is how we roll!  First family getaway that was not to include a trip to Texas Children's Hospital and Steven catches his first virus.  Starting at 3 am the Tuesday before July 4th the little dude was SICK.  Of course because when we do it, we do it right, his pediatrician was on vacation and had to see a different doctor.  Famous last words, "it will just have to run it's course.  He should be all better in a couple of days."  So I am thinking we are safe to leave on Saturday, it being more than a "couple" of days away.  I wake up around 5:45 Thursday morning just as SICK.  Now of course for me, I seem to deal with it pretty well but he was still SICK.  Friday rolls around and he seems even more lethargic than ever.  So back to a different doctor and well he said the same famous words.  But not only were we leaving for a couple of days, we were also having Miller's birthday celebration on Saturday afternoon.  Somehow and I am not really sure how, we pulled it all off.  Birthday party and got on the road Saturday afternoon to go to Kemah for a couple of days and to Galveston.  Steven and I hung out the first night in the hotel room since he was still feeling rather bad and after a hunt for something to give his body the bacteria it needed to keep things in on Sunday he began to feel better.  The only other downer of our trip was the weather.  It RAINED everyday...which was ok because it kept other people away but I felt like I needed to get a spray tan on our way home.  It just didn't seem right to not get a little sunburn while outside for 3 days straight.  Of course it didn't seem right to get rained on for 3 days straight either.  But overall the trip was a success and believe it or not, we didn't melt!  Haha  On our way back home, I got to take a trip down memory lane via Crystal Beach.  I haven't been there since before Ike and maybe not since before Rita so it was kinda sad to see it with such fewer cabins.  (SIDE NOTE:  funny that I call the hurricanes by their names only without the Hurricane in front)  But as we passed the water slide that holds all kind of memories we decided on a
u-turn and Miller and David took to the slide for an hour.  Now we had a wonderful trip but that hour just might have been the best!



7 Years Old...No Way!

My Sunshine has grown from this...

To this!

I am still having a hard time with Miller turning 7.  He is such a fun boy to be a parent to.  Without a doubt he can press my buttons but he finds the laugh button the most.  The things that come out of his mouth just crack us up.  He still has a love/obsession of trucks, boats and trailers.  I am concerned that he might not grow out of it but simply grow more into it.  There is much talk of is that truck bigger than our's or is that boat bigger?  Boys and their toys!

Miller will be starting 1st grade in the middle of August and we are praying he has a fun year.  I know that school is not supposed to be "fun" but it should be a little bit enjoyable.  The countdown has started and I hope that some excitement will build with it. 

Miller is a ball full of energy that must be entertained 24/7.  He loves hanging out with his "best buddies" on our street, which is a lot of fun for us as parent's too.  A house full of kids running in and out and next door and across the street and back again.  It reminds me of my childhood.  He is growing a lot as a big brother too.  Let's face it 6 years apart creates a lack of interest, but he is coming around.  Occasionally I will even find Miller playing with Steven.  He still cannot understand why Steven cries but I think that has more to do with his hope that there would simply be no crying.  He detest the sound of a baby crying.  He will shove a pacifier in Steven's mouth before you can blink :-)

Honestly I could go on and on about Miller.  But as much fun as he is today and how sad I am that he is growing too fast too soon, I really cannot wait to see what the future holds for him.  He is my heart and he makes me so very proud to be his mom.  It will only get better!

Playing Catch Up!

There will be several post today.  Hopefully I will get everything in that I want to remember.  We have been pretty busy these last couple of weeks and we still have several busy weeks ahead of us and then the dreaded school year will be starting.  Miller is already on his countdown, this has been a question every couple of days, "How many more weeks before school starts?" It gives me giggles because every Sunday evening, David will look at me and say "I can't believe that it is 5 o'clock on Sunday?"  I think we really need to be reprogrammed, we are too busy focusing on the countdown than enjoying the time off we have. 

How many days until the weekend???  haha :-)  Happy Thursday everyone!

Another weekend = Another Birthday

So this weekend we had another birthday party in the family but this time it was for Grandma Rita.  David's grandma turned 90 last week and we celebrated her birthday on Saturday with an open house.  It was a huge success with a great turn out.  I however took very few pictures and I didn't have my camera out for the family photos.  Hopefully someone will send me one.  But I did get some pics of some of the kiddos.

This weekend will be Miller's birthday celebration as my boat loving, Dr. Pepper drinking and gumbo eating boy will turn 7 on Sunday.  Wow, it is hard for me to believe.  Where has the time gone?  So the next post will be all about Miller. 

Have a safe and happy July 4th everyone!

Here are a some of the pics that I did take on Saturday...

I trimmed the front of Steven's hair, can you tell?

 Speaking of hair, I have hair envy for this little girl's hair...love her curls!

 Steven and Meagan hanging out, everyone beware Meagan will be 16 next month!  Yep, legal on the roads!  :-)

 Getting some time in with little man, Brandt!

 Lauren having a seat on a pelican...luckily no sea gulls around :-)