I have to find entertainment somewhere.....

I am currently sitting in the waiting room of the Lab Diagnostics center at the Opelika Medical Arts Center waiting to have my blood taken again. I failed my initial glucose screening, so I have had to return to take a three hour glucose test which is much worse than the first one. I had to fast starting after dinner last night - which basically means I haven't had my first OR second breakfasts, and I'm about to gnaw my own arm off. Luckily, they allowed me to take my anti-nausea meds, and I don't think I'm in danger of getting sick. Some people get sick after drinking the glucose beverage they give you, and if you do then the entire test is null and void - come back another day. So far, knock on wood, it looks like I'm going to make it through this first time. And hopefully, I'm here for nothing and my test will come back normal.

In addition to having wi-fi in here, which is helping me survivie the wait, the television is on Fox news. I don't know why they would pick something as specific as Fox news for a public waiting room, but based on the age range of the people around me, that might be why (lots of older folks who love the conservative right - sorry Mom and Dad, but you know you like Fox news, too.). Right now, they are having a heated debate about the new Britney Spears song called If You Seek Amy. It basically means something terribly dirty that some of us had to figure out for ourselves, and if you can't - just say it really slowly or really quickly. It spells something dirty. The people in this waiting room are gaping at the television with their mouths hanging wide open. And it's up for debate as to what is shocking them - is it the content of the song? Can they even understand what the commentators are trying to say about it? Or is it just the general appearance of Britney Spears on the tv screen, wearing a ridiculous outfit with a top hat and humping everything in sight? Or are they shocked at how horrible her music is, because they are intermittently playing her songs as they go through this argument? Either way, I think Brit-Brit exposure is severely detrimental to our senior community. They just cannot fathom it. The blood pressure in this room is rising, and the medical personnel needs to be aware of that. Personally, I am thoroughly enjoying this entire show. Ugh - they've moved on to the peanut butter scare. Yawn......

Teacher Mamas

Last year I had the great privilege of working with three wonderful ladies on our own little language arts team. All four of us worked with all of the other teams in the 6th grade, and we all taught language arts. It was idyllic for us - we planned together, we taught the same things, we were totally in sync with our work. The other teams didn't like it so much, but we loved it - mostly because we all love each other so much. Well, Brooke has left us for Birmingham to be closer to family and home, but Jenny and Shealy and I are still at Drake just plugging along even though we have been separated on to different teams. And miraculously, all four of us became pregnant in the last year. Brooke delivered her sweet Will last week, Jenny is about 7 weeks away from having baby Ryan Lily, Shealy is 10 weeks away expecting Kathleen "Kate" Elizabeth, and I am 12 weeks away from little miss Nealy. We do miss Brooke dearly, but we are thrilled to keep in close contact with her through email and blogs. And all three of us who are still at DMS showed up, big bellies and all, for the school dance last night. I think you can tell we were having fun throwing our big ole selves around the dance floor.

New Truck

Well, Joe has loved and loved his little Toyota truck, but it was time to bid it farewell. Our little family is growing, and he needed a new car that would fit two car seats. He really enjoyed having Jacks up, close, and personal in the two-seater, and they had a lot of fun together, but growth happens. Joe was so lucky to sell the red truck earlier this week to a cheerful and willing buyer, and the sale enabled us to be able to get a new truck. It isn't that we're all that partial to trucks, but you find that once you've had a truck for a while, you can't really imagine living without one. You think that you can always borrow one from a friend if you need to, but people are not always as generous in reality as they are in theory. Sad, but true. :)

So, after months and months of research and searching, Joe came upon this lovely 2002 Dodge truck for sale at the right price (after plenty of negotiating) just down the road in Lagrange. I don't want to say where we got it, because we didn't have the greatest experience. Needless to say, no matter how prepared you are, no matter how much work and research you've done, and no matter how nice and lovely you think your salesman is, no car dealer will ever make this process easy. It is very hard to understand how they are all so happy and cheerful all the time when they make a living at making people's lives absolutely miserable. What really blows me away is that car dealers are somewhat desperate to sell cars at this point in time, but still, nothing can be easy. They just manage to take all the joy out of buying a car. So, while we should be thrilled and excited about our new car purchase, we are still getting over the manipulation and low-blow tactics that were inflicted upon us. No 7 month pregnant woman should EVER be made to sit around a car dealership for three plus hours -that should be a rule.

One more thing to add - this is a TRUCK! Joe has even found himself in some new, secret truck-club where other truck drivers wave to him and regard him as one of their own. This thing is full sized and LOUD. The previous owner added some duel such-n-such that makes it really go vroom, vroom! So, when we come over with the new truck, you'll hear us pulling up the driveway. Let us know if you need help hauling something - we promise to be good truck friends!

100th Post!!!

Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post. This new year is off and running, and I have barely had a chance to breathe. School is working our booties off, and we have all been stricken with some sort of crud since new years. Jacks was diagnosed with the croup earlier this week, and he was given antibiotics and a round of prednisone to treat it. I will definitely think twice before I willingly give my child steroids again - he was completely crazy. We had a bi-polar child for a couple of days. He was rip roaring mad one minute and high as a kite the next. I could have handled a few difficult nights if it was just coughing and cuddling, but it was screaming and writhing and wailing and hollering. Not fun. Needless to say, we are most relieved that he seems to be back to his normal self as of this morning, and we still have a few days until we have to return to work. (thank you MLK!!!)
As for baby news, there is nothing all that exciting to report. Nealy's crib bedding arrived, and I found some perfect fabric for her rocking chair. But, the room still needs to be cleaned out before I can put any of it together. I'm getting very anxious to get a lot of it done, but my abilities to actually move furniture and such is extremely limited these days. I'm so hoping it will be done before little Nealy decides to join us. She is regularly kicking and jumping to let us all know she's in there and doing well. Jacks is still not so into talking about her, but he is aware of where the baby is (he'll pat my tummy and "regard" her), and he knows he is going to have a sister named Nealy. As for being happy about it, I'm pretty sure he's not. At all.
For my hundredth post, I should be talking about our super wonderful major purchase of a new (to us) Dodge truck, but we need to take some pictures and such. So, I'll save that for a couple of more days. For now, you get to enjoy pictures of Jacks and his new big boy hair cut!! Of all of the hair cuts that Jacks has had in his life, we have been very careful to preserve his baby curls. I have had a lot of difficulty parting with them. So, as a result, he has always had a pretty shaggy hair cut that most people are especially fond of. But, today, the lady who cut his hair was pretty ruthless. I told her to please try to keep some of the curls, but she was clearly working as fast as she could (she has apparently worked with toddlers before). She did a lovely job, but all of a sudden, my precious little baby looks like a grown up boy! (excuse his mouth full of food): He is smiling this big because Joe thought it would be a good idea to give him a few tablespoons of cream soda. Jacks absolutely loved it, and he drank from his little shot glass with his pinky pointing out like a perfect gentleman at tea time.
That is pretty much all for now. I hope everyone is staying warm on this frigid cold weekend. If it's going to be this cold, we could at least get a little snow! As it is, it's just too dismal and dreary to consider going outside. Yuck!

Christmas in Pensacola slide show

We got so many good pictures from our trip that it is hard to narrow it down to just a few for a slide show. Joe is an amazing photographer. Sorry for the length of this slide show with so many pictures of my child. He is just way too photogenic, what can I say? So, to Mom and Dad, the only people who will likely watch this entire slide show, please enjoy!
Happy New Year to all! Love -K

Christmas in Pensacola

It has been a banner year - in that we have been able to get the entire family together for the holidays for the second time this year. And this time, my niece Emily was able to be with us, too! I'll be posting a slide show much later - we got LOTS of great pictures of all the kids at the bay - but for now, here is our entire family, no exceptions!

That's my brother Bob with his daughter Emily on the left end, then me with Joe, Chet and Queenie are in the middle with their dog Abby in front and Jacks holding Queenie's hand, and sister Carrie is at the right end with her husband John and their two daughters Jean Lousie and Laura. Of course, Nealy is here, too, she's just not out yet. That there is everyone, folks!!

We had a nice, long, leisurely trip. I got to see some old friends, Jacks got to play with his cousins, and we all got to enjoy lots of my mother's cooking (YUM)! Joe and I even got to go on a triple date one night to the Fish House, with two of my high school girl friends and their husbands. Dinner was delicious, and we all stayed up way too late talking. This is the second year Leah, Holly and I have made it a point to get together at the holidays, so it looks like it's becoming a tradition. However, from the amount of talking and catching up we had to do, we really should do it more often. The bar was ready to kick us out by the time we left, and we could have stayed much longer I'm sure! That's Brian and Holly on the left end, Leah with her Brian in the middle, then me with Joe on the end. This picture makes me feel incredibly large and maternal. The scarves are clearly hiding NOTHING!

Jacks proved to us that day care is the best choice for him for his daily routine, because as of Tuesday, he had been out of school for a solid week. And it became apparent that the routine of school is a necessity for young Jacks. Our plan was always to head home on Tuesday, but even if we had planned to stay longer, Jacks would have made sure we headed north that day. He woke up acting like a fool, exhibiting signs of major cabin fever. When he noticed we were loading up the car, his behavior made a lot of sense when he grabbed my hand, headed for the door, and declared, "Let's go, mommy, home, NOW!" Jacks has clearly had his fill of crazy holiday schedules and traveling. Since day care is open today for the last day this week (they are taking New Years Day and the day after off), you know where he is right now. I hope he had an enjoyable day back, because it's going to have to last him until Monday.

While he had lots of fun at Chet and Queenie's house.......


but there's no place like home. :) And we are all very happy to be back home today.

Happy New Year to everyone. 2009 is going to be a big one, since our little girl will be making her appearance with us come spring. Love to all - K

Christmas morning!!

Well, we have had a wonderful day so far, and we still have a great turkey dinner to enjoy tonight. Last night, my friend Bev had us over to her annual holiday dinner. She does it up real big with lots of ham and casseroles and treats. All of her kids and family are in town, and several of her youngest son's friends come over to enjoy the feast. Jacks was very well behaved for most of the night, only slightly losing his cool when it got well past bed time. He wouldn't eat dinner, but he enjoyed the following items: seasoned oyster crackers and spinach dip, sprite, watergate salad, the whipped cream off of tiny pumpkin pies, and most of a Sister Schubert yeast roll. So, we shouldn't have been surprised when we were beckoned to his room well after midnight to a sick baby. He didn't seem upset about it, and he wasn't even crying; he was calling for Joe very calmly. But, he had managed to make a pretty big mess of himself, and he had to change out of his special Christmas pajamas and give up his precious blanket for a little while while we did a load of wash.

Luckily, Joe and I were still awake since it was our first Christmas Eve where we had to play Santa's elves! Joe put together a Big Wheels and a Radio Flyer tricycle (the trike is from his grandparents, and Joe thinks all kids also need a Big Wheels). I helped a little by applying all the decals to the Big Wheels, as well as wrapping all the little gifts and stocking stuffers. Jacks must have known we were mostly done when he started to let us know of his predicament.
We are very sure it was overdoing the junk food that caused the mishap, because we have a happy and healthy toddler today who has thoroughly enjoyed his Christmas.

He bounded out of our bed this morning, and he happily discovered his new vehicles, and he proceeded to rip open his other little gifts. Surprisingly, his most favorite of his toys is a Mr. Potato Head set that he actually received for his birthday, but we saved for Christmas (thanks Sharry and Brandt!). He has been very busy all day taking off all of his body parts and replacing them each one by one. Has anyone played with a Mr. Potato Head lately? There are LOTS of bits and pieces - it is quite impressive! Mustaches of all types, a corsage, earrings, different types of arms, the list goes on. The fun is never ending. Jacks also got some books, a little remote control train, some matchbox cars, a new tee shirt, an Elmo sleeping bag, and a karaoke microphone. It has been a VERY big day. I would not be surprised if he tried to carry his Big Wheels to bed with him tonight.

After a long nap, a much needed bath, and a lunch of fruit and grilled cheese, we have been enjoying the remainder of the afternoon quietly puttering around the house and working on dinner. Jacks helped me stir the corn casserole and the pumpkin bread batter. He will prove to be quite helpful in the kitchen before much longer.

I do apologize for the rambling nature of this post - our day has been nice and slow, just like Christmas morning should be, so all that I have to report is pretty boring. We couldn't be happier. Now, I still have a full evening of wrapping and packing ahead of me to prepare for our big trip home to Pensacola tomorrow. We will have everyone there for a long weekend, and we cannot wait. Much love to all of you. I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours has been, and I hope it continues to be as much fun throughout the weekend into New Years next week. Happy Holidays to all - K

Here is Joe busily putting together the tricycle:

All of Jacks's new loot.


Jacks is pleased as punch with his new ride!


Check out my new flower brooches from Ivey Handcrafted (thanks, Tobi! They are beautiful!)