In a funk.

I've been in a major blog funk for lets see.....the last 3 months! Just something about it isn't working for me anymore. It started b/c my SIL is here at my office with me every day. At work is the only time I can even get on blogger to post. Which is nearly impossible now with an audience.

I've been getting questions on how she is doing, and while respecting her privacy, I can tell you that she's still at a stand still as far as what's is going on. Upcoming events for her include: braces to fix her bite, therapy (physical & emotional) meeting with disability programs for her education & mostly her upcoming surgery in August to correct her eyes and part of her brain. It's a giant surgery and by far the most risky. She also was informed she will not be playing softball, meaning she withdrew from college officially on Friday. It's still an emotional time for everyone, but we continue to pray for her healing.

I also have been entirely too busy to edit and then post pics on here. It takes way too long to post them to blogger.

I got to meet TWO amazing blog friends of mine yesterday!! My friend Tiffany & I went to our blog friend Ashlee's baby shower where we also got to "meet" Shelly! It actually felt like I knew them already, so it was pretty natural. Their little girls are ADORABLE! I'm so glad we got to attend her shower & I look forward to getting together with them more.

It was a busy weekend, and I wish I had time to post all the pics. My entire family came in to town to celebrate a milestone for someone very close to us. Also,Gavin & his baby cousin Connor got to play at the splash park/playground for the first time together. It won't be the last time for sure! My brother from another mother, Shelby even came down. We all grew up together, so it was great to go down memory lane. We had lots of family time all weekend that we don't ever do enough. Unfortunately, Gavin was under the weather and quite the handful so I was extra busy with him.

Big news we found out over the weekend.....My sister (Connor's mommy, Lacy) announced her pregnancy to everyone! They decided to start trying again, and we are all excited. Hoping for a girl this go around. There's nothing but boy grand babies, and my mom needs her fix now! Lacy is due in the beginning of February.
And no...we aren't trying in case anyone wants to know. I'm good for now! lol.
Lacy & her family haven't moved up to Waco yet, but hopefully in the upcoming few months before she gets too big to help moving. BTW, I have to brag about my nephew. Connor is 21 months and speaking in full sentences! I wouldn't know for sure, but I think he's a genius! i was shocked to hear him talk and repeat everything his mommy said!

I've had my hands super full with work lately. We've got crews all over the place & it's my job to keep up with every.single.person. whew! Derek is working in Oklahoma, but traveling to Arkansas every week as well. Then he'll be supervising a whole part of the company in Amarillo (so far from here). I'm not looking forward to that. It's been pretty darn hard holding up the home front without him home lately. He's been coming home on Sat nights pretty late and leaving Sunday, but it's just not enough. I'm looking forward to our July 4th weekend b/c he'll be off for a few days.

We're having our kitchen done starting Wednesday!!! Finally. It isn't anything fancy, but it's better than what we have in our 70's kitchen. ugh! it's awful! But, I think I will like it and it will help us sell in the long run.

Speaking of selling. I've really put a complete halt on talking about houses for now. All we can do for now is save our money. We have a pretty good down payment, but we have to have $ to run electricity, water, sewage, etc all out to our home site until we can build and that costs a ton out in the country. I think the updated kitchen will hold me over until then though ;)

Oh yea, I can't remember if I posted about my little car accident or not. I'm still in a rental and waiting to get back in my car. I see it at the body shop on the way to work, and it makes me sad to see the whole front of it gone :( But, it will be like driving a new car when I get it back!

And I can't do a post without talking all about my baby boy!! He is becoming quite the little ham!
Favorite obsessions include his crocs(shoes) and socks. If he sees either, he comes to me, sits in my lap and puts up his foot with whatever he wants me to put on it. Just over the last week, he's become attached to a stuffed lamb of all things. I'm sure his daddy will like seeing his son walking around with a sweet, pretty, music playing lamb everywhere. lol. It's really cute though.
I've been working with his words and right now he mostly says Light, MaMa, Uh-Oh, Dada, Dee-Dee, Papa(which he doesn't even have a papa) He's trying to say Pop. lol. And I taught him excuse me just this weekend. It's more like-"coozme." It's adorable! Oh and over the last two weeks, he's grown out of his 12 month clothes and now wearing 18 months. Which could also be a reason for the crankiness along with his new teeth coming in.
He's growing up entirely too fast and doesn't want my cuddles much any more :( I wish he would stay this age forever!

And for all of you who lasted this entire post without seeing any pictures.....you are awesome! If you really want to see some pics of my adorable son, check em out on fb :)

I hope this post will hold you over until the next time I have more than 5 minutes to get on here.
XOXO.

My son is......

...absolutely, 100% obsessed with his crocs. I bought them at Walmart a size too big b/c I didn't want to pass up the chance in getting him some. They were hard to find last summer. And I tried them on him a couple weeks ago. Every since then, he literally brings them to me, sits down in my lap and grunts until I put them on. And when I take them off, he cries. He even takes his naps with them on at daycare. This is one of the quirkiest things I've seen with a 1 yr old and it cracks me up!!

Here he is playing with just them and a diaper on.

...An EXCELLENT helper in the kitchen.

He loads (and unloads) the dishes for me all the time!

... Such a daddy's boy. They take the best naps together. As soon as Derek gets home, he forgets all about his Momma and clings to Derek. It's bittersweet.

...Is so silly. He doesn't play with hardly any of his toys. Mostly bowls, balls, and coasters.

...a pretty messy eater. I'm just lucky he eats so well. Most of the time.

...he is alll boy! LOVES to get completely dirty by playing in the dog water, dog pool and all the rocks and mud in eyesight!But I don't mind:)

My son is my world! I know some people that all they can think about is their personal plans and who gets to keep their kids while they go out. I on the other hand only think a bout my time spent with him. Gavin is in daycare all day. I only spend time with him before and after daycare, which consists of us getting ready or eating and only playing a short while before bed. So the weekends are all his!

It really is true, that when you have to wait for such a blessing such as a child of your own, that you truly cherish it so much more!

I can't imagine my life without him. I've been getting so many compliments lately about how good and well behaved he is too, which makes me smile from ear to ear.

Lately, all Gavin has been saying is Uh-Oh, LighT (with a strong T) and Momma!!! We're working on Dog again since he doesn't say that as much, as well as Dada which he only says now on occasion.

We play this talking game where he makes a funny wu-wu-wu sound and i do it back. And then he gets more high pitched. It's like he's trying to see who can go highest. He cracks me up!

OK, I could seriously spend all day on here talking about him, so I'll stop for now.

Maybe I'll have some time to blog again soon!

Pool time

Last weekend, we broke out Gavin's pool since he enjoyed the river so much. I was the one that was supposed to get in the water with him, but he managed to sucker Derek in instead. Ha! We were surprised how much he didn't enjoy it though. We'll try it again maybe this weekend or next. Until then, Gavin is having a BLAST walking through the dog's pool and playing the the dog's water instead!

Uh Oh!

Guess who found the toilet paper?

I had a hilarious video of him in the bathroom unraveling it, but it is taking entirely too long to upload.

My lil' stinker!

River Rats

This post is LONG overdue, but I have had a really hard time getting these pics to upload to blogger. Is anyone else having problems with their blogger b/c I am thisclose to not blogging anymore b/c of it.

Anyway.....on Memorial Day weekend, Derek, his family, Gavin and myself all went down to the river on the new property his parents' bought. We had only been down there once before and it was not warm enough to get in the water.

This was last minute for us, so excuse the redneck swimsuits :) This is where we will be building our house next to, and we were so sooo happy that Gavin took to the water so well. We had no idea he would like it so much, but you couldn't keep the kid still. He wanted to go go go. We didn't have a life jacket for him, so we didn't get in anything deep, but he had a blast. I think this will become a regular thing to do this summer.

Splashing around with Daddy

Derek's aunt Brandi, his sister Alissa, and myself hanging out on the rocks.

Family shot, without Derek. He was too busy to pose for a pic.
Notice Gavin sliding down my leg to get back in the water!

My life in 2 weeks

Talk about a major Blog Funk! Every time I got on the computer at work to blog(b/c getting on at home is impossible w/a kiddo) I had someone come into my office to visit, or just bother me by sitting there watching me work. Ha! So, unfortunately, no blogging for me lately! I'll try to sum up what's been going on with bullets :)

• I've been buying and ordering and planning all the things I needed to update our kitchen at our home. It's always been the most needed, yet postponed project in my home. But, now that we know for sure we are selling, we decided to go a little cheaper and go ahead and redo it now. I got all new appliances, counter tops, backsplash & hardware and can't wait for it all to be complete. All I'm waiting on is the counter tops to be put in and then everything else can go in. I really wanted new cabinets, but since we're moving, it's an unnecessary expense.


• I've also been doing tons of research on home builders, floor plans, architects & all the other things needed in order to build a home. I have a floor plan I came up with but need a professional to touch it up. It's sooo exciting, but scary all at once. There is a zillion things to think about and when you are building on a complete empty piece of land without sewer, water, electricity, etc...it's also WAY expensive to even get started. So, with that said, we're slowing down a little and focusing on getting as much for a down payment as possible. In the meantime, I can still shop and research to make sure I know exactly what I want in a home when the time comes. We're shooting for a year.


• The hubs sold one of his boats and to my surprise wants to sell his other one :( As much as we LOVE going out on his boat, we just never get to any more. There's not enough time. If he wants to go fishing, he goes with his dad in the river on his parent's land. This saddens me a lot to get rid of his boat. And he JUST paid it off! But, our priorities have switched and it will go as part of our down payment we are saving for.


• I've been treated for gastroparesis since I was 18. After the last few months of having complications, I went back to my gastroenterologists and he came to the conclusion that I've been misdiagnosed. My luck! After blood tests and 2 different meds, still no for sure diagnoses. Next is a stomach biopsy & endoscopy. I don't care what's wrong with me as long as it's fixed. Imagine being sick to your stomach every single time you eat. It's hell!


• Work is insane. The damage from all the tornadoes are unspeakable and our company has cleanup crews working on it, making my job extra busy. I've had closeup pics & videos and stories being shown to me and it never fails to bring me to tears and leave me speechless. The weather is going nuts. I can't imagine what hurricane season will leave us with! Although good for business, it's never a happy occasion to have to go clean up from such disasters.

That's everything that's been going on in my world. I've got a couple posts with pictures to work on, so hopefully I can get them done today. That is, if nobody comes to "hang out" in my office!

M.I.A.

I've been so MIA lately from blogging and reading blogs. I apologize. I'm just so super busy right now. We are in the beginning stages of house planning, Derek has been home off and on due to weather in OK, Gavin's always a handful,I've been having to go to the Dr. a few times(will explain later) & work is busy. So sorry. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have some down time and can get on here and actually post some updates & pics and talk about my favorite little person in the world!

Hope everyone's been having a good week!
XOXO

Re-Do Weekend & Zoo Round 2

This Mommy had the best "Re-Do" Mother's Day weekend ever! Derek surprised me by coming home earlier than planned on Thursday night. So, he kept Gavin all day Friday while I went to work. I went home Friday, & my awesome hubby had cleaned the house, gotten me flowers and was cooking steak on the grill. And my card was so funny. Since it was past mother's day, it was a thank you card with a baby on it. I still loved it.

We got up Saturday, had a nice breakfast & decided to make a trip to the flea market. I really wanted some flowers for my front porch & they are always so cheap there. Afterwards, we stopped by Walmart to get Derek's contacts & Gavin's pool. Then napped for like 2 1/2 hrs! And then lucky me, Daddy took Gavin to see his mom and Granny while I got to go get a pedi & go shopping!! I hit jackpot at Old Navy & then headed over to Best Buy and got a new Blue Ray player. Did you know they don't really make DVD players much anymore? Anyways, ours broke so we needed something. While waiting to pick up our Olive Garden (yum) I went and finally got some more much needed jeans at the mall too!
Afterwards, we just enjoyed our evening and watched movies together.

Sunday, we went and had breakfast & then after nap time, decided last minute to go to the zoo since last time was cut so short. (Thanks for the idea Tiff! I saw it on your fb) There were SOOO many people there, but we really enjoyed taking our time and enjoying the most beautiful weather ever! Then we went home and played until Derek had to leave to go back to Oklahoma.

I know it sounds like a pretty normal weekend for some of you, but for us it's rare to be able to do all those things together in one weekend. I'm so thankful for my amazing husband and handsome little son! I loved my Mother's Day!

My twinkies

Enjoying some down time w/my big boy


Ready to go to the zoo!

Outside the tee-pee

Rhino's sleeping

Great pic of the elephant

Gavin chasing his shadow! LOL!!

I wasn't really in the mood to take many pics of everything until the zoo. Sorry!

Discipline

It's official. My son has to start being disciplined.

Before I became a parent, it was so easy for me to throw out the "my kids will not do this, and will not do that. And my kids will learn how to behave, etc."

So much easier said than done. So, you know how I've been complaining of sleepless nights and Gavin being sick? Well that WAS the case at first. Then it just got out of control the last week. I was sleeping on a pallet in his room with him every night just to get him to stop crying. And it was pretty obvious he was just crying for me. I'm all about crying it out and have done it in the past. I know it works. But the older he gets, the worse the cries are & they are SO MUCH WORSE!

Anyways, I waited for Derek to get home to start the "crying it out" again. He cried every night this weekend except last night. HALLELUJAH!!

Along with the awful nights of him crying and being super duper clingy to me everywhere I walked, Gavin has been just a hot mess at all times. So fussy. I seriously was at my whits end with my once-happy kid.

So, I've been reading a lot, talking with his doctor and getting advice from friends & finally went to my big sister for her advice. She said "it's time you show him who's boss and start disciplining him."

NOOOOOooooo!!! He's so young! Surely it can't be time. He doesn't know better!

Well, we started having to give him a strong NO & telling him it's not ok to act that way and what do ya know? It works! Luckily, we haven't had to do time-outs yet. But I'm not looking forward to that b/c I know my kid will just get up and play wherever he is.

The funniest thing about disciplining him, is that he stops what he's doing, sticks out his bottom lip, says a little "humf" and walks off & pouts quietly. It is the.cutest.thing.ever!

I can't believe I'm already having to do this with my ONE year old! Who know I'd be such a pushover.

This parenting thing is hard sometimes :)

Second Chance

My Mother's Day weekend was a little unexpected. This is a downer post, so don't read if you don't want to hear about my woah is me story.....

Derek has been gone for 2 weeks & we were SO looking forward to spending the weekend together. I had a week from hell with Gavin and his lack of sleeping and just crankiness by myself. Mommy needed a break BAD!
Well, long story short, daddy had to stay in OK and work and can't come home till this weekend. Totally ruined my weekend. I even had the yard done to surprise him, so he wouldn't have to do it when he got home.

And to kick me while I was down, my FIL(boss) asked me to come to work yesterday to get all his stuff ready for him to head to Alabama to work on tornado cleanup. I cried.

Then, Gavin & I ended up going to my parent's house, which was not in the plan b/c my mom and I decided this weekend was a free weekend without plans and dinners and guests. She's been busy and we both decided not to make a big deal out of it. Anyways, I spent the majority of the afternoon there & what started small turned in to my mom cooking dinner for 6 people and us getting home at 9 last night.

So I've declared this weekend "Re-Do Day." Seriously, Derek and I are celebrating Mother's Day this weekend. I'm sending my mom flowers this weekend. And I haven't actually talked to anyone who had a great Mother's Day b/c many hubbies suck at gift giving. So this weekend will be a second chance. We're doing it, so I thought I'd get the word out so I'm not the only one celebrating a week late. Good idea huh?

I just hope Gavin snaps out of his mood and lets us enjoy our weekend.

Let me just say though that this is just what happens sometimes in a regular Mother's world. Kids don't always stay happy and Mom's don't have great days every day. BUT, I really wouldn't change it for the world b/c I am SOOO belssed and lucky to be called a Mom. Even with everything Gavin & I have been through the last couple weeks, I'm just honored to be able to spend that time with him and to get big hugs and kisses from my little man even when he's being a stinker! Being a Mommy is the best feeling in the world!