what. a. week.

let’s just say that i’m glad this week is coming to an end.  what do you notice in the picture below? yes, that would be a bottle of RID on the end.  know why i have a bottle of RID in my bathtub?  b/c olivia has/had LICE.  OMG.  yes, LICE.  i nearly died.  i discovered this on tuesday evening and have spent tuesday, wednesday and tonight ridding my house of lice.  tuesday night was spent ridding o’s head of them and then her room.  last night was the rest of the house including washing umpteen loads of laundry and vacuuming the entire house.  tonight i’ll finish the laundry and remake the beds.  i did the treatment on her on tuesday so for the next 7-10 days we have to carefully comb her hair after bath with a special comb and then on day 9 we have to do another treatment to make sure we got them ALL.  i was NOT prepared for this.  i called my mom and she didn’t really know what it looked like b/c we never had it.  i have to think she picked it up at daycare and it makes me so mad!  some parent sent their kid to daycare with it either not knowing or not caring to share this info with the center and therefore my child got it.  i had the common decency to call up there wednesday to let them know so they could debug her classrooms and let the other parents know to watch for it.  THAT’S WHAT GOOD PARENTS DO.  i was so embarrassed but o’s sweet teacher assured me there was nothing to be embarrassed about.  it happens and we deal with it.  i was so scared they’d think we’re dirty people or something like that.  i’m over that now.  i know we’re not dirty.  :)  so please pray that o tolerates these 1-2 hour long combings every night for the next several days.  and pray for my patience as i do it and try to control her at the same time.

then wednesday it was determined that the ballast in my kitchen light had gone out and that’s why my new light bulbs didn’t work.  thanks to shawn cramer i can now see again!  he came over, figured out what i needed, went to lowes and bought it and then came back and fixed it.  now that’s a friend right there!!  thanks sheree for loaning me your hubby for a couple of hours!  while he fixed my light i continued the debugging process.  then i decided to do a lice treatment on myself “just in case” and as i was leaning over the tub trying to wash my hair (which by the way i’m way too old to do now) i discovered that my bathtub drain was going way too slow.  seriously.  of all nights.  luckily i had 1/2 a bottle of liquid plumber and that took care of it.  fun times in the hamby household i’m telling you.

tonight’s not so bad.  finishing up the umpteen loads of laundry, remaking the beds, etc.  for dinner i made this:and it was so good!  who knew homemade veggie pizza could be so tasty!  i’ll definitely be making this one over and over and over…

we’ve got a pretty low key july 4th weekend planned.  some swimming with aunt jackie and then temple’s fireworks show.  taking it easy on monday.  but super excited for a long weekend with o.  even if it entails 1-2 hour combings each night… 

hudson is 2

well, he’ll be 2 on thursday but his party was yesterday.  i’ll tell you what…emery is on to something here.  a baby pool, sand table, yard sprinkler and beach balls – my child was entertained for almost 2 solid hours and i rarely had to get out of my chair!  great party em!!  hudson is the most active child i’ve ever met.  he loves everything!  he’d DIVE into the pool not caring who was in his way!  so funny! 

peach fest…part 2

the peach fest activities continued sat morning with the parade.  it was HOT.  we met drew and aubrey and had a grand time catching candy, cups, beads etc.  o enjoyed this one a lot more than the last parade we went to.  she really got into going out in the road to get the candy, etc.  she also had a ball running down the “hill” in front of the axo house!  can’t wait for the next one!

peach fest 2011…part 1

the peach festival started today!  we headed downtown this evening with aunt jenny and watched the pet show, took pics with the saints’ vince lombardi (nfl champs) trophy.  then to dinner at ponchatoula’s and dlove met us.  i meant to enter one of these pics in the baby photo contest but totally forgot and then missed the deadline.  boo.  

tmrw morning is the parade!

happy father’s day

as a single parent i think it’s my duty to celebrate both.  after all, i play both roles.  you may not agree with me and that’s totally ok.  i do keep father’s day much more low key and allow my dad to soak up the glory.  but i’d be lying if i said i didn’t take a day to myself!  :)  with that said o gave me the BEST father’s day gift today!  tonight she said “ruv u”!!!!  i’ve only been working on this for over 2 years now!  i asked her to say it over and over!  i was so excited!  at one point we were both squealing!  she still won’t say it on her own but that is ok with me!  just hearing her say it at all made my year!

on a side note; tonight for dinner my child at a bag of cheetos, 2 pickles, onions and bread pudding.  mother/father of the year here.  but an onion is a vegetable and that’s probably the first veggie she’s eaten in days so i’ll take it!  my dad video’d some of the onion eating b/c after all, who does that?!?!

and notice the pink dance skirt under her dress.  my mom brought over her first danskin pink dance skirt!  when she opened it jenny yelled, “i wanted to buy her her first one!!”.  we can start dance classes next year and we’re super excited about it!  :)

kelly’s kids sale!

i tagged along with suzanne and her family to natchez yesterday after work for the kelly’s kids sale.  we camped out and that sacrifice got us in the building second out of HUNDREDS of shoppers.  when we got there at 8:15 pm there was only one other group of 3 there.  jackpot!  when clothing a child on a budget these sales come in extremely handy.  here’s how the night played out:

after we dropped our chairs off at the warehouse we took her family (husband matt and children landry grace and jake) to their hotel.  we were back at the warehouse about 9ish and 4 others had gotten in line behind us.  about 10ish another group of 4 arrived.  by about 11:30 we were getting bored so we and the first group of 3 went to walmart where we bought some face wipes, off and magazines.  back at the warehouse a little after midnight and there’s another handful of people there.  abt 2:30 suzanne went to sleep in the car.  we switched about 4 and i slept in the car until about 5:30.  when i got out of the car and saw the line i nearly died.  holy moly!  by that early in the morning the line was very close to wrapping around the building.  apparently most got there in the 4 am hour.  we left abt 5:45 and went to mcdonalds to brush our teeth and get breakfast.  back at the warehouse a little after 6 and time to wait it out in the HEAT.  once that sun came up it was steamy!  they ended up opening the doors at 8:15 instead of 9 due to the heat and the number of people.  and true to our new friends words, we walked in number 4 and 5 right behind the first 3 girls.  AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!  i went to the 2s and suzanne went to the 3/4s.  we grabbed a few of everything and then met up and sorted through it all and got what we wanted.  we were out of there by 10 am.

this was taken about 10ish when we were still giddy with excitement!

having matt and the kids there was a blessing in disguise!  :)  after camping out we didn’t smell so good and were thrilled to have a hotel room to go shower in before the ride home and we were able to snooze a little while matt drove us home!  it was a win/win!  suzanne, i had a blast and can’t wait for the next one!

and to our new friends from mississippi, arkansas & georgia – i had so much fun last night and hopefully we’ll see you at the next one!

o goes on a date with aunt jackie

o got a surprise friday when aunt jackie picked her up early and took her to monroe!  they went to hobby lobby, to the MAC to swim and play and then to jackie’s to play with their dogs.  from what i was told they had a GREAT day!  thanks aunt jackie for spending some quality time with o!

summer pics 2011

thanks goes to crystal garcia for turning my very typical 2 year old, has to have it her way little girl into what appears to be a very happy child in 100 degree heat!  i was so happy with the way these turned out!

potty training 101

i’ve been debating on posting this for a good week and a half b/c the picture content could be misconstrued.  i’ve finally decided that this is my blog and these are my memories so if you don’t like what you see then you can go read someone else’s blog.  :)

i think know we’re in the throws of potty training.  almost 2 weeks ago right before bath o was begging to potty.  (i’ve been dreading this but then realized we have to do it sooner or later so i might as well get it over with.)  so i put her on the potty and LOW AND BEHOLD she actually pottied!  i never thought she’d do that!  then the next night, the same thing.  and the same the next night.  you get my point.  a few nights ago once home from daycare she wanted to potty so i let her and then decided to not waste a diaper to see how it went.  she wanted to sit in my lap and read books so we had a “come to Jesus” about her not wearing a diaper and needing to tell me if she needed to potty.  she agreed.  (i don’t give my child near enough credit when it comes to understanding what i’m telling her.  just fyi.)  well either she’s kin to her mama with a bladder of steal or she peed in her room and i still haven’t found it but there were no accidents!  the other night after bath i was getting her dressed and she kept saying “potty.”  i informed her that she did not have to potty b/c she had just done so 15 minutes ago before bath.  she INSISTED so i relented and – shocker – she went!  so, she can consistently tell me she needs to tee-tee.  but she’s yet to tell me she needs to do the other.  i guess that’s coming?  hopefully.

she even takes her milk with her.  she does NOT get that from her mama.  and she likes to be naked when she goes.  i’m working on that one.

all of this to say – it’s time.  i know she’s ready.  she LOVES going to the potty.  so now i just need a free weekend to do this and it’s looking like that may be mid-july.  unless rett wants to do this and i’m not convinced that’s the best decision i could make so…  crossing my fingers that i’ll have a potty using little girl by the end of july!  (and i realize it’s not going to be as easy as i make it sound.  but the fact that she is consistently going at certain times of the day makes me believe that it won’t be nearly as bad as i had imagined.  just let me think this.)

all of this to say – if your child tells you she/he needs to potty LET THEM GO!  don’t pull a jessie and tell them they don’t need to go.  i mean, they obviously know better than you if they need to go!  there’s your potty training 101.  you can pay me later.  :)

the highs and lows of the dreaded DIET

i’ll be honest.  olivia is 2 now and about a month ago i still weighed what i weighed after coming home from the hospital (once all of my “retained fluid” was gone.)  i’ve not felt good AT ALL about how i look and finally made the decision to do something about it.  after all, i’ll be OFFICIALLY single on monday and that means it’s time to seriously put myself out there and to find “the (right) one”.  with all of that said i did what no one wants to do and i had my “last meal” a few weeks ago.  other than a few slip-ups i’ve done REALLY well.  i have a meal plan that i follow and it’s not bad at all!  i’m really liking the recipes and think i’ll continue to eat them after this is all said and done.  do i miss the johnny’s sweep the kitchen?  OF COURSE I DO!  but do you know what’s better than johnny’s sweep the kitchen…the fact that i got into a size smaller pants last night with NO pulling, tugging or praying!  WOOO HOOO!!  this diet thing does work and was proved last night when i put on the before mentioned smaller size pants.  that, my friends, is incentive!  i celebrated with lettuce wraps and the healthy roll at raw.  (in the past i’d celebrate with chips and salsa [my ALL TIME FAVORITE FOOD] and follow it up with beer/wine/liquor.)  and i didn’t feel deprived!  my true test will come when i have to actually venture out to my fav restaurants and order something that i’ve never ordered before while “forgetting” that my fav items are still on the menu.  but i can do it b/c i know an even smaller size pants is coming!

now just think what would happen if i’d actually work out.  baby steps.  :)

seeing specialists aka playing the waiting game

this day couldn’t have gotten any longer.  but the end result was pleasant so i’m not complaining!  first, my child has decided that sleeping in isn’t on her list of priorities anymore.  so, on this rare tuesday where sleeping in was allowed we were up bright and early at 6:30.  ugh! 

we were on the road to monroe by 8:15.  ran a few errands and then to our first appt, the dermatologist.  i just love dr. altic.  he’s pretty nice to look at.  :)  i’ve been seeing him for as long as i can remember and regardless of how nice he looks that man will make you wait forever!  it took him all of 2.5 seconds to look at o’s mole, state it’s NOT cancer and that it will need to come off when she’s 11.  (apparently cancer of this sort becomes a concern at age 12.  who knew.)  so a $50 copay for a 30 second visit.  but $50 is a small price to pay for good news!

after lunch and a carousel ride from hell mom and i took a scenic drive to bastrop so o could nap and then to the pulmonologist.  i was there at 1:20 for our 1:30 appt.  we left at 4.  we saw the pulmonologist for about 10 minutes.  i’m not lying.  he feels that her breathing issues are nothing more than normal wintertime viruses but he wanted to schedule a bronchoscope to make sure her lungs are on the correct side.  apparently with dextracardia your lungs can also swap sides.  again, who knew.  so on july 28 we have to be at st. francis at 6 am (yep, you read that right) for the procedure to start at 7.  it will be done under conscious sedation so i’m not all that concerned about it.  they’ll run a camera down her throat into her lungs and check everything out.  it’s an outpatient procedure.  this visit did not cost me a $50 copay but i’m sure the hospital bill will more than make up for this “free” visit!  ha!

all in all we had great visits today.  no news is always good news!

busy, busy, fun, fun

on friday emery turned the big 3-0!!  i had a blast planning her surprise party with her husband, eric.  we started with “painting with a twist” at my house.  my friend melissa kiper came over from monroe to do this for us.  i was super happy with the choice to keep it simple with a “funky cross”.  everyone got to customize it to their home colors, tastes, etc and i think everyone went home happy!  when we finished painting we headed to shreveport for dinner at superior where eric and everyone’s hubbys/dates met us.  this was the 2nd surprise b/c emery thought eric was taking her out on sat night!  a fun time was had by all!

after a late night i got up bright and early for courtney’s winnsboro shower.  malia rode in with me and after picking up olivia at my parents we headed to the shower.  courtney looked great and got lots of nice gifts!  her wedding is getting close!!

then back to ruston for a birthday party for sweet emory napper.  it was at party galaxy which i’m thinking is a prime loc for o’s next party.  i didn’t take any pics and tried to jack some off fb but couldn’t for some reason.  maybe another day…

we sent to church this morning and then to lunch with dev, daryl, josh and wes.  we love old mexico!  :)  after nap we went out to rcc for some swim time with aunt jenny.

and tonight…wait for it…olivia tee-teed on the potty not once but TWICE!  we may be really close to officially potty training!

first “masterpiece”

yesterday olivia brought home her very first piece of artwork.  i was so excited.  i’ve been waiting on this day for a long time!  since i didn’t get a picture of her on her real first day i got this one wednesday morning before leaving.

look closely for the red line towards the bottom left.  the green “marks” are more prominent.  it’s abstract!  i guess you have to be an artist to “get it.”  :)