mda walk and o's first rodeo!

sit back folks. this is going to be a long one...

this morning we work up BRIGHT AND EARLY for the muscular distrophy assoc "muscle walk" in monroe. my friend nicola's little boy was diagnosed with congenital muscular distrophy when he was an infant. i'm not going to pretend that i know much about this disorder, b/c i don't. but to give you a hint of how rare it is; his particular form of MD wasn't listed on the "list" on our team registration form this morning. if the md assoc doesn't have it listed then i have to assume it's really rare. so, we raised money and walked for him this morning! it was a lot of fun! the theme of the walk was "mardi gras" and nicola's husband (kaden's dad) is a t-shirt designer by trade so he did an awesome job on our team shirts (team kaden won the t-shirt contest!)

olivia and kaden

nicola and kaden in his "float"

o is terrified of the chick-fil-a cow and the sonic hotdog. this was confirmed today. they were TOO CLOSE while trying to take a pics with miss louisiana. i was trying to wave them away and they would not take my hint. oh well. if we never meet another miss la at least we have this picture with a REAL princess! :)

on our way back into ruston my mom called and said they were headed to ruston b/c my cousin was in town for the rodeo and they were going to have lunch and watch him rope. of course we joined them! let me tell you about mikey. he's probably the funniest person i know. he LOVES to have a good time and lives life to the fullest. he is FULL cowboy. his whole persona (is that the right word?) is cowboy. he's carefree; go-with-the-flow; somewhat hippy-ish. he may or may not particpate in some extra-curricular activities that could be frowned upon but that are totally acceptable in his world. ;) i think he's probably always been our favorite cousin. you know, the "cool" cousin that always gets out of family functions b/c he's off doing some cool cowboy thing... that's him. he was participating in the slack today. rodeo lesson time: the "real" rodeo night can only accomodate so many participants per event. obviously there are time contraints. but there are way more cowboys that want to ride in the event so they fill the "real" rodeo spots and then everyone else goes to the slack. the slack takes place before the rodeo. you have 1 shot. do or die. however, you can win the entire rodeo if you do well enough. the real rodeo winner is decided from the rodeo participants AND the slack participants. so, the way it was described to me; a lot of guys prefer to do the slack. they can potentially win 2 rodeos in one day. do the slack and win and then when the slack is over go do the "real" rodeo in another city. to sum this up - a slack is not like a beauty pageant preliminary. (i had to verify this with mikey's dad who is also a cowboy. he knows nothing about beauty pageants but got my drift...) sounds like a win/win to me! mikey does team roping. one guy ropes the calf's head and the other gets the feet. mikey and his partner got the head but missed the feet. i was trying to take pics so didn't see first hand who missed but i think it was mikey. oh well, you can't win them all! afterwards we hung around and o got to pet his horse! we wanted her to ride so badly but she wasn't having it. one day...

there was this guy on a horse at the rail where we were sitting that stayed there the whole time. i guess he was there in case a horse or calf got out of hand??? kind of like a clown i guess!! anyway, o loved his horse and he was nice enough to put up with her petting, screaming and running!

chatting with us during warm-ups

in action. maybe my mad photo skills threw him off... ha!

if o's foot slipped on this rail once it slipped 100 times. i was pretty nervous. mikey's dad assured me that she wouldn't be the first kid to fall through and all the people in the ring would get her. gee...that made me feel so much better! i wasn't worried about the actual fall; heck she'd land on dirt. i was more concerned with her head hitting the hard ground before she went through the rails. but nice try big mike. i'll give you credit for trying!

and she was in love! i promised her that her uncle john would get her a pony one day. time to become the favorite uncle, john juneau!! :)

i think we'll start going to these slack competitions when the rodeo is in town. at least for the forseeable future, the rodeo is too late at night for olivia. but these start at like 10-11 in the morning and go till about 1ish. and they are FREE to watch. you just gotta go park back there with the participants and their horses/trailers and walk on in! good, fun family entertainment! and i guess if you know the right ones your kids can play with their horses afterwards!

EDIT: i was told today that mikey and his partner actually tied thier calf from both ends (head and feet) with a time of 6.2 seconds! which apparently put them in the lead from the slack. so i guess depending on how the night went they could have won or at least placed (do you place in a rodeo?)! so, i'm sorry for not paying better attention! and congrats! (if you're reading this.)

new doll bed!

i've been waiting on the arrival of this doll bed since before christmas. my mamamack, olivia's great grandmother, got it for her for christmas/birthday and then she and my aunt linda made the mattress, mattress cover, pillow and blanket. my dad went to visit them this weekend and was able to bring it home to olivia. it's precious! while o ate dinner i got it out and put it in the living room so she could play with it tonight.

she was really adament about leaving the mattress out. not sure why... we'll have to work on that one. i tried explaining that her dolls got cold at night and would probably prefer to be in their warm bed but i think that was kind of over her head! :)

she first put raggedy ann (also a christmas gift made by aunt linda) in the bed and covered her up and said "night, night". so she definately gets the concept of the doll bed.

then "nanay" (natalie) went night night. don't worry; natalie didn't suffocate under that blanket!

tonight the bed is empty in her room; i guess she thought her dolls could go another night without a bed! thank you mamamack and aunt linda for such a great gift that i'm sure will be passed down for a really long time!

kool kids and playdate

last week/this weekend was the semi-annual kool kids consignment sale. i've shopped at this sale since i knew that i was having a girl but this was the first time i actually consigned in the sale. i sold a good bit before the sale so was really hoping to make just a little on what i had left. i went today to pick up my stuff that didn't sale and was kind of disappointed i had a good bit left. some items that i was sure would sale quickly were left over. but that's ok! i still sold a good bit and made some money (half of which i spent at the sale!)

i got several 2 and 3 size summer outfits/dresses and the cutest little doll chair! i'm pretty much set on summer clothes now and never set foot in an actual store! i love online shopping, trunk shows and friends with girls about a year older than o!!

tonight hill and emery came over for pizza and a playdate. the boys were in the "playroom" when we heard a crash... they thought putting the stroller in the tent was a great idea so that's what they did! all while o demolished her piece of pizza. after eating us girls sat and chatted while the kiddos played. they shut the door to o's room which is fine with me but when we finally went to get them out OH MY! 3 almost 2 year olds can do some damage! but they had fun and that's what counts!

a very fun last few days!

last night we had a great girls night! me, sheree, hillary, emery and maryann headed to monroe for crawfish at cormier's! they were DELISH!! small and expensive but DELISH! this morning rett brought o over about 8:30 and we got dressed, went to kool kids for the 1/2 off shopping day, went to the children's shoppe for new bows (we moved up a size!!), headed to sundown for lunch and then to monroe for the pet mardi gras parade!

oh my gosh! this parade was so awesome! get ready for picture overload! o was in heaven. she LOVES "puppies" and they were everywhere. she just laughed and smiled and ran around. i didn't take the stroller and the hike from where we parked to the parade and back sucked but it was worth it! i'm so glad she got to run up to the parade and get up close with the dogs. at one point i lost her for a second and then found her IN THE PARADE with a lady and her dog! OH MY! pure joy was written all over her face! jacke and sheree, shawn & drew met us and then we ran into betsey and stella grace and joni, randa and brintley. if you're reading this and live in northeast LA, take your kids to this parade next year!

21 months!

it's 8:16 pm and i just realized that o is 21 months old today. and i have no pics to document this occassion. in my defense i didn't get home until 7 and she had already had her bath and was ready for bed so...

o has been really chatty this past week. she finally mastered "bye" (like when to use it) and will do it on command except she usually follows it up with "daddy" so it's "bye daddy" to almost everyone.

she mastered the "s" sound so her new favorite words are "socks" and "shoes".

she has her first crush. max pyles. it's so cute! on sunday after church i asked her who she played with in sunday school. "max". monday on they way to and home from mrs. debbies i asked various questions whose answers were people's names and she would only respond "max". today, same thing. when i dropped her off this morning lyndsey was there dropping max off so i told her about the crush. too sweet! i'll follow this whole crush thing up with my parents dog is named max and when we were entering w'boro on saturday she kept saying "max" so i assumed she was talking about the dog. who knows; maybe she's confused. but the crush story is a whole lot better!

at the dr one week ago today she weighed 28 pounds. she's gained a few since last month!

she's still a good eater except when she's sick. she's awsome at taking meds and loves her vitamin. she does not love her breathing treatments.

she would play outside all day long if i'd let her. she'll even stay out there by herself which says a lot considering she won't play by herself inside. i know she can't work the gate (i test her every week or so to still confirm this) so i can leave her outside in the backyard for brief periods of time (i leave the back door open before you judge me) and she's just fine without me.

she's kind of becoming bossy. like she'll push me to where she wants me to be. or she'll only wear a certain pair of shoes (one day she went to daycare in pink pants and red shoes). i know...i'm the parent. but some battles just aren't worth it! so her personality is really starting to show and i'm super pumped about that!

overall she's a happy, healthy little girl and i'm so blessed to be her mother. when the days get hard i have to remind myself that she's only little once and i'm too old to throw a fit with her! ha! she really does have me wrapped around her finger and i'm not too ashamed to admit that!

happy 21 month bday o!! mama loves you!

cupid came!

cupid came to see olivia! cupid didn't have her act completely together and therefore didn't come until after work, but she came and that's what counts! :)

she brought olivia sophia the bendy ballerina. she's really cute and o liked her a lot!

they played together inside...

and then read a card together...

and then went outside to play...

and for a drive...

and then sophia the bendy ballerina fell out (cozy coupes don't come with seat belts)...

so they went to slide...

sophia the bendy ballerina had a great first day at the hamby household!

weekend recap

we made it to natchez sat morning and i'm glad we did! i made the final decision when my alarm went off at 6:30AM (way earlier than i get up during the week!) and knew that if i didn't go i'd regret it. so i loaded o up, gave her a baggie full of stale fruit loops (i'm not joking) and we were on the road at 7:45 (i hit snooze until 7). we picked up julie in ferriday and were at the warehouse by 10. it had definately been picked over; no full racks left at all. so i just started walking around asking people for their discarded items. i have no shame... i got 10 (11 after suzanne went back and got me the striped leggings! can't thank her enough!) items and am very happy with it. mostly 3/4 size things b/c apparently 2s were VERY hard to come by. i think next year i'll go down the night before. i may or may not camp out but i'll be there when they open!

and yes, that's a swimsuit cover up with "olivia" already monogrammed on it! emery called me while i was in ferriday wtg on julie and said it had fallen in her lap and did i want it. she really didn't even need to ask! i'll have to get shirts made for 2 pairs of pants i got but that won't be hard. and that brown flower thing above the green polka dot gown... i'm not sure if it's a shirt or a dress (it'd be pretty short for a dress) but i liked it so i got it. now just gotta figure out how to wear it! this is what a $9.99 sale does to me! haha!

today was BUSY! i'm WORN OUT! after o decided she needed to wake up at 6:45 (way earlier than usual) we made it to ss and church and when i got o out of the nursery she was a WILD woman. i don't know what they gave her in there but she came RUNNING out and ran in circles in the hallway; barreled down the stairs and was laughing the whole time! i knew then we were good for lunch out! old mexico didn't disappoint! i got o down by 1 for her nap and got busy working on finishing up my kool kids tagging and got the car loaded with all that stuff. by now it's 1:50 and o is awake. we finished up a few things at the house, went to kool kids drop off, got a sonic drink, ran by suzanne's to pick up the before mentioned leggings, came home and cleaned the kitchen, went to another friend's to "shop" before she took her stuff to kool kids, went grocery shopping, came home and ate dinner and then went back to the church so i could help with a few things for our sunday school class. i'm tired just thinking about it all! when i dropped o off tonight in the nursery i told the woman about my wild child after church and she confessed to giving her gummies. note to self...no more gummies! but it was funny! once i got o in bed (at almost 8) i ate dinner and did her valentine's for daycare. these will not win me mother of the year but at least she's not showing up empty handed!

and now i'm BEAT and going to bed. sure wish i had another day off to get some good sleep!

fun friday...kind of

when i got home from work yesterday o was breathing heavy. she wasn't in distress and it wasn't labored. just heavy. rett doubled up on the breathing treatments last night and this morning was pretty much the same. i told the sitter i had today to watch her and call me if she noticed any changes for the worse. i called jenny this morning and she ran by my house at lunch to listen to o's breathing. she first called and said everything was fine; lungs were clear. then she called back and said that o had started the heavy breathing again so she listened again and that her left lung was "coarser" than her right but that she was almost positive it cleared when she coughed. so, i called the dr and talkd to the nurse who agreed that if it cleared when she coughed then it was probably just congestion. i confirmed i could give zyrtec on top of everything else she's on and also confirmed that she's no longer contagious b/c she's been fever free for over 24 hours. so... i get home after work today and she has this deep, dry cough. jenny says it's ok. i hope so!

ok, on to the fun stuff! o loves these veggie chips. i bought them for myself but didn't like them. good thing she does! after work today she was acting hungry well before dinner time so i was going to give her a snack. and then i thought, what the hell, it's friday. if she wants to indulge in way to many chips then so be it. at least they're made out of veggies! she looks 16 here, hanging out eating a bag of chips!

then after dinner i thought she needed dessert for eating so well! (she hasn't eaten much all week; i guess from being sick.) chocolate/vanilla pudding combo, anyone? i started feeding it to her and then, again, thought what the hell. it's friday. i think she enjoyed it!

and for documentation purposes...my child proofed cabinets are no longer child proof. how does she figure this stuff out?

we're getting up BRIGHT AND EARLY tomorrow morning and heading to natchez for the kelly's kids sale! i'm super excited about this. i've brainstormed for 2 days now about how to go about this with a child in tow and i'm just going to suck it up and take a stroller. we're meeting my long lost friend julie doyle (ramsey now but will always be doyle to me) in vidalia and then going the rest of the way together. I CAN'T WAIT!! hope we find some good stuff! of course, this all hinges on how olivia looks/sounds/acts in the morning.

monkey

just wanted to post this pic real quick before i get started cleaning the house for the sitters tmrw.

why isn't she always so eager to get in bed???

i have a few ocd tendencies but sadly they don't carry over into how i keep my house (as evidenced by the pics above). now, it's always CLEAN, it just may not be straight. since o isn't going to daycare this week (a trip to dr today confirmed she needed to stay home all week) i have sitters coming tomorrow and friday. and i can't let almost complete strangers see how we really live so a little straightening must be done tonight! :) only my true friends see my house in all its glory so if you've seen it not at its finest then consider yourself a GOOD friend!

my mom texted (i don't think this is a word but everyone else uses it so i guess i will too) me at 6 am this morning that o was not having a good morning. gee, how can you tell that early? but b/c i like my sleep and don't have to be at work until 8 i didn't get the text until 7:40. i called mom and for our entire 8 minute conversation i could hear o screaming in the background. not good. apparently she hadn't slept good and was coughing more, wheezing and overall just not in a good mood. (in her defense, who would be after being up since 6am? i'm sorry to all of you that have early risers. i, however, do not and i'd like to keep it that way!) oh, and she had 102.3 fever. so back to the dr we go today. flu test was, again, negative. typically a fever doesn't spike with rsv but it can so we got an antibiotic to curb whatever it is causing the fever (in case it's not the rsv). good news is that her ears, lungs and blood work are all great! i'm thinking we'll be over this by the end of the week but i'm not getting my hopes up. afterall, i thought she'd be back at daycare tomorrow.

now to get ready for my "front" tmrw... :)

olivia vs rsv - round 4

last night olivia had so much fun at the super bowl party we attended. this morning she woke up with almost 102 fever and a slight semi-nasty cough. no big deal, right? under any other circumstances i wouldn't have even thought about calling the dr. i'm one to wait it out. can't help it; it's the way i do things. however, given her history a cough scares me so i went ahead and got an appt for 11am this morning. we got called back about 11:40 and she had no fever or cough. shocker. saw dr about 12 and as he listened to her breathing made the comment that she was wheezing. WHAT?!?! i didn't hear any wheezing. he did a flu and rsv swab and said it was probably the flu. he's seeing it 10-1 vs rsv these days. a few minutes later it was confirmed she has relapsed with rsv. i was so mad! he didn't even have to tell me what to do. we got the scrip for the steriod and i immediately called in her refill of xopanex. i asked about the shot for next year and he said there was no way insurance would approve it. it's a set of 6 injections at $1,800 a pop. gee, is it made of diamonds and gold? the good news is we seem to have caught it early. she's playing, laughing, no outward signs of trouble, etc. my mom took her to winnsboro this afternoon so i could continue to work. it SUCKS shipping your sick (albiet still happy) child away so you can go to work. SUCKS. i almost cried as they drove away and i drove to work this afternoon. unfortunately i'm the only one in this household who brings home a paycheck so missing too much isn't an option. guess i'll just suck it up. :) pitty party for 1 please. the good news is she appears to be having a great time at gg and pops house. she escaped out the doggy door earlier but was sure to take her scarf with her! guess she knew it was cold out! we'd appreciate the prayers so she can hopefully come home on wednesday and return to daycare on thursday!

2 biggest games of the year (if you're a rustonite!)

it's only february so as far as "years" go these are the biggest ones so far!

on saturday the lady techsters hosted "fair"well fresno state. it was so much fun! this was a HUGE game in terms of WAC standings, etc... it was the "pack the TAC" event and it was a success! they had a mini fair outside (think ferris wheel, swings, big slides, etc..), a kids zone with jumpys, etc and a petting zoo inside! rett brought olivia so she could enjoy the festivities and get some time with my dad. boy did she have fun! she wouldn't pet the animals but in her defense they weren't very "petable". they had a snake, baby aligator, bird and this ferrett thing that was pretty ugly. what kind of petting zoo is that? i'm sure the older kids loved it but olivia would prefer the softer animals! we got there about 5 (for a 7 pm game) and she played and ran around...and had her first taste of cotton candy! i'm not sure she loved it like her mama does but that's ok; it's bad for you! rett took her home and then me, jackie and dad stayed for the game. and it was an awesome game! we won in overtime! the TAC was packed and it was so much fun!

tonight some friends invited us over for a super bowl party so we went down the road to amanda and todd's for a little while. (we're pulling for green bay b/c former tech star tramon williams plays for them and is really good!) o had a blast keeping up with the big kids and let me know that a trampoline is most likely in our future! she begged to get in but i've played this game before and knew she'd want right out so i resisted as long as i could. finally she broke me. and she jumped for a long time with georgia and hudson! well, she can't jump yet but she bounced! sadly i didn't take any photos and there were some good opportunities available. maybe next year! we may have to go to todd and amanda's more often; they have way cooler toys than we do!

pops!

pops surprised us sunday with a quick visit. o is always slow to warm up to him for some reason but after a few minutes she was climbing all over him! thanks for stopping by, pops!