Feeling convicted

Last night, as I lay in bed, I was praying and thanking God for our wonderful Christmas & how blessed we are. I started to thank him for the gift of His Son, Jesus, when I got really convicted about something... never, not once, during our entire Christmas celebration did we even mention Jesus' name. Although I want Jonathan to have the experience of believing in Santa Claus, most importantly I want to make sure that he knows the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Every year we talk about how Christmas has become too commercial, yet we fall into the trap ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I love getting together with family & friends to exchange gifts & enjoy each other's company, I love the decorations, the movies, the music... everything "commercial" about the season. However, I really feel like I need to make more of an effort next year to bring Jesus' birth into the forefront of our celebrations. I'd love to start the tradition of reading the Christmas story from the Bible every year; in fact, because I know I tend to have grand ideas & then forget them, I'm going to put a note on the calendar. I just really felt convicted last night, and felt the need to put it out there.

On a lighter note, we were definitely blessed this year. We had such fun spending time with our families. Chris' family came over the evening of Christmas Eve. I had made chicken and dumplings (yum-o), mostly for Chris' mom, and they were quite good... if I do say so myself. After dinner we moved to the living room to open gifts. Jonathan racked up! Not to mention all of the goodies he got on Christmas day from my family. I'm seriously considering putting some of his toys up in the attic & switching them out come summer. That way they'll be like all new toys. And it will make more room in his playroom. It looks like a toy store in there! My parents came over yesterday & I made chicken and dumlings again. While I love me some chicken and dumplings, I think I'll be okay if we don't have them for a while.

Oh, and I had my weekly weigh in today. I gained .4 pounds... not too shabby considering the holiday & all. I'm really going to be diligent this week so it doesn't catch up to me. I actually didn't do too bad considering. Thankfully I'm not really a dessert person, but I am a bread person. I have to admit I went a little overboard on the rolls both Monday & Tuesday. I mean, when they're sitting right in front of you... what's a girl to do?

Wow, this turned out to be really long. Now it's really late and I need to get to bed. 'Night!

Just a couple...

of pics from Christmas morning. I have plenty more to post, but hopefully these will tide you over.


He loves his little rocking horse!

Merry Christmas...

From our family to yours!

Santa? Yeah, not so much...

First of all, just because it's cute, here's Jonathan's Santa picture from last year. Can you believe how little he was? Where did my little baby go?

I had to go to the mall today to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping, so I thought we'd better get Jonathan's picture taken with Santa while we were there, otherwise we might miss our chance this year. As you can see, he was not at all impressed with sitting on this strange man's lap while Mommy walked a few feet away. He was fine while we just stood next to Santa; he laughed & played with him. But once I sat him on his lap & walked away... this is what happened. Poor kid.



In other news, I went to weigh in today... and lost 5.8 pounds!!! I was so happy. That puts my total weight loss so far at 10.2 pounds. I have my annual *ladies* visit tomorrow and I'll be glad to tell him I'm finally losing weight.

Well, Jonathan's getting bored of being cooped up in the office here with me, so I'd better get going...

Merry Christmas!!!

He looks so mischievous in this picture, doesn't he!?

Wow.... and thank you!

I signed up for a blogger Secret Santa that Jessica put together and today I recieved my gift! Tracy sent me this really cool digital photo album that's on a keychain. How cool is that!? I can't wait to get it set up & put pictures on it. What a great (and high tech) way to carry photos with you. As we all know, I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of Jonathan, so now I can carry some of them with me. Thanks Tracy!!!



Speaking of Jonathan... as I feared, it seems his being sick has screwed up his sleeping again. :o( As I type he's in his room crying, which I hate to let him do. I put him down at 10:45 ish and he slept for about 30-45 minutes & woke up. I changed his diaper, got him back to sleep & laid him back down. Of course he woke up as soon as I did that. I know he's fine, he's had his medicine and some Motrin. I don't know if I can handle it if he starts waking up several times a night again. He woke up last night around 2:00 something & it was 3:00 before I got him back in bed. I'm not sure what to do... any suggestions?

my poor bug

We just got back from the doctor a bit ago; my poor bug has an ear infection and possibly croup. He of course never coughed in front of the doctor, so we're not 100% on the croup, but she gave him a prescription for steroids to be on the safe side. She also gave him some antibiotics so hopefully he'll be feeling better soon.

I must admit, I'm a bit concerned that this will affect his sleeping. He's finally back to sleeping all night (with the exception of the last two), and the last time he got sick it screwed his sleeping all up. Last night he woke up around 2:30 coughing so I turned on the hot shower & sat in the bathroom with the door closed for about 10 minutes or so. I got him back down around 3:15 and he slept until about 8:00. He's napping now. I hate it when he doesn't feel good; I just wish there was more I could do for him.

Bedhead much?

Occasionally when Jonathan sleeps, he sweats. The following pictures are the aftermath of such a nap. His hair just cracks me up!



Well, my "not following the plan" caught up with me this week. I gained 2.8 pounds!!! I wasn't too surprised. I mean, you can't eat just whatever & expect to lose weight. Our meeting yesterday was about recommitting, and I needed that. I'm always amazed at how each week the meeting topic is just what I need to hear. My friend, Jennifer, that I go to the meetings with and I made a challenge for each other for this week; to write down everything we eat. That's been a huge help to me in the past; and I know it will continue to be.

Jonathan seems to be feeling a bit under the weather. I'm not sure if he's just teething, or if it's something else. I suppose it could be a combination of things. He's been kind of clingy & fussy the last several days and then today he started coughing. Occasionally when he takes a deep breath in it kind of makes a funny noise, so we may be headed to the doctor tomorrow. He also had a temperature of 102 this evening. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. I'm also wondering about an ear infection as he's been messing with his ears a little. Who knows, you never can tell with these little ones.

We were planning to go to an ornament making party tomorrow with the Gwinnett Area Mommies group; but I don't want to risk getting any of the other kids sick. So, unfortunately we're going to miss out on the fun. I've really been enjoying getting to know these ladies & their kids, so I'm bummed we're going to miss it.

We'll I'd better hit the sack. G'night!

busy, busy, busy

We've had a very busy weekend around here; but a great one.

Yesterday we finished putting up Christmas decorations, finally. I don't think I've ever waited so late to get the tree up. Thankfully Jonathan doesn't seem nearly as tempted as I thought he would. *knock on wood* While decorating I went through all of our Christmas stuff and we're sending a bunch of things to Goodwill. It's all stuff that we never put up, or don't like. It was just taking up space. Now I can start collecting more things that I *do* like & *will* use. One thing I still plan to do when we take the tree down is go through our ornaments & purge some of those too. I have a ridiculous amount of gingerbread man ornaments, so I'll definitely be getting rid of some of those. I'd really like to start collecting ornaments that mean something to us; something that represents an event from that year, or that family/friends have given us. That way, as we're decorating the tree, we can have memories for each ornament. Last year I made an ornament with Jonathan's picture, and I plan to do that each year from now on.

Our "Game Night Christmas" was last night with the Clavells & the Thompsons. I made chicken & dumplings; which were quite good if I do say so myself. After dinner & chatting we let the kids open their presents. (I have some pictures to post later.) Jonathan got 4 books; two of which play sounds/music. He thought they were quite fun! After presents the adults actually got to play a game!!! For the last several months since the youngest kids were born it's been increasingly more difficult for us to actually play any games. Our "game nights" usually are just "sit around talking & taking care of the kids" nights. Hopefully now that they're getting a little older & more "self entertained" we can get back to our games. We always have such a great time getting together no matter what. I am so thankful that we have these friends in our lives and that our children will grow up together.

Today was a very productive day:

~ went to church - still liking it pretty well, I think we'll go back again next week. Jonathan cried when we dropped him off at the nursery; he's never done that before. It was so hard to leave him, but we stood outside the door until he stopped crying. It only took a few minutes.
~ had lunch at our favorite restaurant
~ came home to pay bills & make grocery list
~ went grocery shopping & dropped them off at home
~ went to the mall to get a couple of Christmas gifts
~ went to Toys-R-Us to get one of Jonathan's gifts (I think this is the one)
~ went to Lowes to get another gift for Jonathan (I'm sure he'll love it! LOL)
~ stopped by Chris' parents house for a visit - Chris' mom had her first chemo treatment on Friday. Thank God she seems to be feeling pretty well considering.
~ came home

Phew, no wonder I'm so tired! It felt so good to get some things crossed off our list. Now we're done Christmas shopping except for each other. And I have no idea what I'm getting Chris yet. Apparently he's got a couple of things in mind for me... I can't wait to find out.

miracle of miracles

I went to Weight Watchers today and you'll never believe what happened! I lost 3.4 pounds!!! My jaw hit the floor when she told me that. I guess even though I haven't really been following the plan I must be making small changes somewhere. Just goes to show how much progress I could make if I actually *did* it right. So, that makes for a total weight loss so far of 7.2 pounds. Fantastic!

After WW we went to the playgroup at Barnes & Noble; it was so much fun! Jonathan had a great time playing with the other kids, and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with the other moms. I'm so glad that I stepped outside my comfort zone & went to the first playgroup. I know Jonathan will benefit greatly from the interaction with the other kids, and I will also from getting to know these ladies. They're all really great!

As usual, it's late and I need to get to bed. TTFN

Welcome Home, Dad

He's home! Can you believe it? It was just days ago that we were all worried that he was going to have brain damage or something; and now he's home... and back to his old self. I am so thankful for that. Jonathan and I went up to the hospital to see him today. It did my heart major good to see him up and about & acting like himself. Mom & I were trying to explain to him how serious it had been; but I'm not sure he believed us. Until the pulmonary doctor came in to give her *okay* for him to go home, and she told him that he'd been "near death". I think that got his attention. So, thanks again *and again* for all of your prayers. You'll never know how much we appreciate them.

Tomorrow I'm going to Weight Watchers, no matter the outcome. I chickened out last week & didn't weigh in. I've really been succumbing to stress eating over the last couple of weeks, but I'm aware of it now and can make changes. So, tomorrow is another day.

After WW, Jonathan and I are going to a playgroup at Barnes & Noble. I think there's a little play area in the children's section, so it should be fun. Then Friday we're going to a bible study at Letitia's (Pam's sister) house. I know it will be good for me to get together with these ladies and learn about God's Word. That's something that I've been looking for, and I'm thankful that they invited me. For some reason I was hesitant to agree to go, but I'm not sure what my deal is. Sometimes I just have a hard time stepping outside of my little box & trying new things. Not a quality that I'm particularly fond of but, again, something I can change.

Well, I'm super tired, so I'm off to bed. 'Night!

more good news

My dad appears to be getting better. Mom said he's groggy from the medicine, but his mental state is much better! Thank you, God! Yesterday afternoon Haley & I went in the room to visit him; at first he was still pretty disoriented. We stepped out for a minute while they put a tube down his throat for some medicine. When we went back in, I asked him if he knew my name and he said "Mistrola" which is a nickname he's called me for as long as I can remember. Then we asked who Haley was and he said "Nerd"; their nickname for each other. It was such a relief to realize that he knew who we were. After a couple of minutes he asked where Mom was & wanted me to go get her. Shortly after that he was given some medicine to rest so we all left. Mom & Haley called me later & said that he was doing even better still. The whole time he'd been in the hospital we'd been looking for the phone number of a good friend of his, but we couldn't find it anywhere. They asked him if he remembered Terry and he said, "Sure"; then they asked him if he knew his phone number & he rattled it off. So, I was able to call him last night & let him know what's going on. He went by & visited Dad today & it sounds like that really helped & encouraged Dad.

I'm so thankful that he seems to be getting better, and that his mind is coming back to normal. I can't imagine what life would be like without my dad, even if he was here physically but not mentally. Thankfully it seems I won't have to find out for a long time.

Thank you again to all of you who've been praying for us; I can't beging to tell you how much it means to me.

i did it!!!

I managed to post every day in November. I know there were a couple of days where I didn't say anything of interest, but for the most part I think I did pretty good. We'll see if I can keep up the streak. I kind of like posting something every day.

We finally got some good news today, and boy did we need it. Chris' mom's bone marrow test came back clean! Thank you, God. She'll start her treatments next Friday, and have one every three weeks. With a scan to check progress after two rounds. So, now we just need to pray that the treatments are effective...

As for my dad, the CT scan came back clear, so he hasn't had a stroke or anything like that. He's still really confused and he gets really agitated when his morphine wears off, so for right now they're keeping him pretty doped up. Unfortunately they're having to keep him restrained because he's still trying to pull out the oxygen tube in his nose. I guess his oxygen levels are still really low, and his carbon dioxide levels are high, which makes for a bad combination. The doctor said today that it would probably be late next week before he really starts coming out of this *weirdness* he's in. My uncle asked today if he'd be like his old self when he comes out of it, and the doctor seems to think he will. So, that's good news. That's one thing I've been kind of scared about; that he wouldn't be *Dad* when he got out.

Well, thanks again for all of your prayers. We're at Mom & Dad's tonight & will go to the hospital tomorrow to visit him. I'll keep y'all posted on his progress.

a little something different

I'm going to post these pictures the *old fashioned* way...

Goodness the pics are big, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our family; and if I may ask, please continue to do so.

Tomorrow morning Chris' mom has her appointment to find out the results from her bone marrow test, we're praying that the cancer is not in her marrow. If it is, I think they have to completely change the kind of treatments she'll have and they'll be worse.

As for my dad, I don't really even know what to say about him. I went up there today. He just really isn't himself and it's kind of freaking me out a little. He's still very disoriented and agitated. They've had to keep him restrained quite a bit because he keeps trying to pull the breathing machine out of his nose. He's breathing on his own now, but they still have a tube going down his nose to make sure he's getting enough oxygen. When Mom was asking him questions today he was giving really weird answers; when she asked where he was he said *California*, but he says he lives in Missouri. (He was born & raised in Missouri and we lived in CA quite a bit when I was growing up.) We had gone down to the cafeteria for lunch & when we came back up the nurse said he'd been really agitated while we were gone & she wasn't sure if we should go in. She said she'd let us in for about 5 minutes to see if we could calm him down, but if we couldn't we'd have to leave. Unfortunately he didn't calm down so we left. We decided to just to back to their place since it wouldn't do any good to wait around there. After a couple of hours they called & said the doctor had been in and ordered a CT Scan on his head. I think even the doctors are worried about his confusion & agitation. At first they were thinking it was the meds they were giving him, but now they're checking things out. Mom, Haley, Uncle David & I got to talking about it and are wondering if when his blood oxygen levels were so low on Tuesday maybe his brain was deprived of oxygen for too long. I don't really want to think about what that could mean. It appears that he's healing very well physically, but mentally things aren't going too great right now. I know this is really hard on my mom, I can't imagine what she's going through.

Anyway, if you could still be praying for our family I would really appreciate it.

okay

I don't know what the deal is with the pictures. I'll have to work on it when I get home this evening.

trying again

For some reason the pictures aren't appearing in yesterday's post; so I'm trying again. Let me know if they work.

I put all my kids in one basket

Granted, there's only one, but you get the idea. Jonathan had been in his playroom playing quietly for a while so I thought I'd go check & see how he was doing. This is what I found:



I guess the basket of toys just seemed like the most logical place to be at the time. I was cracking up and of course had to snap a few pictures. It seems to be his new favorite play area as he got in there at least three more times after this. What a goof!

Tomorrow I'm going to drop Jonathan at Kevin & Pam's house and head up to visit my dad in the hospital. He's doing pretty well, they had him on the ventilator most of the day... until he pulled the tube out! Now they have him on some other sort of breathing machine with a mask and sadly have his hands restrained. ;o( But, I think they still have him pretty sedated so I'm not sure he knows what's going on. My uncle David (dad's twin brother) drove down from Virginia today and will be staying a few days. Even though the circumstances aren't great, it will be nice to see him. I don't remember the last time we were all together. He & my aunt Debbie have two sons, Chris (who's 5 days younger than me) and Eric; who I think is 29. Is that right? They're also raising their two grandkids, Chloe and Isaiah. I know it has to have been at least 7+ years since we've all seen each other because I've never met Isaiah and he'll be 7 in January. Uncle David is retiring in May, so hopefully they'll all be able to come down this summer.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments and prayers; they are greatly appreciated.

overwhelmed

That would be how I felt for at least a portion of today. Have you ever heard the phrase, "when it rains, it pours"? Well, it certainly seems to apply at the moment.

I haven't mentioned this on here yet, mostly because I'm not entirely sure how to put what all I'm feeling into words. A few weeks ago, Chris' mom went to the doctor for some major pain she was feeling in her back. After many tests, scans, etc., it was determined that she has cancer, again. Those of you who know us in "real life" know that Chris' mom is a breast cancer survivor of 7 years. There are still some unanswered questions, but what we do know is that she has Non-Hodgkin's B-cell Lymphoma. Today she had a test run to see if the cancer is in her bone marrow; we'll have the results back on Friday. The plan as of right now is for her to do two rounds of chemo, then have a scan to see if it's effective and have two more treatments and so on. She also had a mammogram today, and it appears that the spot that they found there is not in her lymph node, it's in her breast. Chris thinks the doctor will go over that on Friday too.

I have so many thoughts running through my head at all times. I try very hard to stay positive, but I have to be honest and admit that occasionally negative thoughts creep in. At those times I just stop thinking & start praying. Chris' mom is probably the strongest woman I have ever met. I am so blessed to have her as a mother-in-law. She loves Jonathan more that you could possibly imagine; he is her joy. I know that he'll be able to bring her little chunks of happiness throughout these difficult next few months.

So, not only do I have this to think about.... this morning Haley calls to tell me that they've taken my dad to the ER. He'd been up most of the night with spasms in his back & abdomen and was having trouble breathing. I guess at about 4:30am he decided to take a shower to see if the steam would help him breath. Mom had to help him out of the shower & get him dressed; he couldn't do it himself. Mom called 911 and the ambulance took him to the hospital; they arrived at about 6:00am. They did a CT scan and it appeared that is colon was enlarged or swollen, so they admitted him to keep an eye on it. Chris was home as he'd gone to the doctor with his mom this morning and was going with her again in the afternoon. He decided to take Jonathan with him so I could go to the hospital. While I was on my way there (it's about an hour from us) Haley calls & says they're moving Dad to ICU and they're going to have to do surgery, and possibly remove part of his colon. I kind of broke down at that point. Chris wanted me to turn around & get him so he could go with me; so I did that. Once we were on our way again, Haley called & said they'd decided to skip ICU & rush him to surgery. They thought he might be septic; it was pretty serious. I broke down again. I had calmed down by the time we got to the hospital and was just trying not to think negative thoughts. They had just taken him back when we got there and the surgery took a couple of hours. The doctor called Mom and it turns out he had a perforated ulcer.... which is WAY better than what they thought they were going to find in there. So, that's good news. Right now they have him in ICU on a respirator to make sure that he's getting enough oxygen. I guess that was a pretty major factor earlier in the day. Mom said it got really scary there for a bit with all of the doctors running around & checking levels. I guess Dad was shaking so bad from the pain that the bed was actually shaking. Part of me wishes I could've been there, but at the same time I'm glad I didn't see him like that. It was really weird when I went in to see him afterwards; he was totally out & the machine was breathing for him. I didn't like that at all. They're hoping to have him off the machine tomorrow and I guess they'll move him down to a regular room at some point. He'll be in the hospital for about 4-5 days. From what the doctors say, he should be fine.

If you're a praying person, would you please do so for our families. We have a lot going on right now; and we could use the prayers.

today

Today was a bit more productive than yesterday. I was able to get the kitchen cleaned up and some laundry done. Jonathan slept until almost 10:30 this morning and then took a good nap this afternoon so that helped alot.

Chris moved the furniture out of the office (thanks, babe!). I'm so glad to have that out of the way. My mom is taking several pieces of furniture to her house, but until then our garage is rather full.

I have such a headache; I get a really bad one like this once a month. I think it's the birth control pill that I'm on. I never used to get headaches like this before. They are brutal and nothing touches them; I just have to deal with it for a couple of days. I have my annual visit next month, so I'm hoping to talk with my doctor about switching to a different pill. Maybe one with less hormones or something.

I did a little more work on the Christmas cards this evening; I'm hoping to get them done in the next couple of days. I'd like to get them mailed out no later than early next week. Speaking of which, I need to get some holiday stamps. Does anyone know how much postage is needed for a 6x9 envelope? I have some pictures that I need to mail also but I don't know what the rate is for an envelope that size.

'Night all...

we did

pretty close to nothing today.

We did get up and go to church, that's always a good thing. I really hope we find somewhere soon that we both like and want to give a try long term. The past two times we've visited The Bridge Church Atlanta. I think we're going to give it a try again next week. I'm so ready to find a church home where we can get involved as a family and grow spiritually together.

After church we went to our favorite Sunday lunch place, the Japanese restaurant. It was so good, as usual. Next we went grocery shopping. The plan for the rest of the day was to take a nap (check) and move the old bedroom furniture out of the office (not checked). We have got to get that taken care of this week; I'm so tired of walking around it and the office is a wreck. Not to mention that I don't want to start the project of putting up the Christmas decorations until we finish that. It will never get done otherwise.

Oh well, off to bed...

we're almost done...

Christmas shopping. We were at the mall for what seemed like forever, but we got a lot accomplished. I was expecting it to be more crazy; I mean, it was definitely crowded, but not nearly as much as I thought it would be. We're finished buying for:

Haley
my dad
Chris' dad
Bevvy
Destiny
Ethan
Victoria
Regan
Elizabeth

I still have to buy for:

My mom
Chris' mom
Chris' grandmother
Rebecca

I have no idea what to get Chris' grandmother; she doesn't really have any hobbies like reading, so I'm at a complete loss. It's so hard to buy for someone who seems to have everything.

a step in the right direction

Yesterday was a big day around here.... Jonathan took his first steps!!! Can you believe it? My little man is growing up so fast. My dad was determined to teach Jonathan to walk while they were here for the holiday. He said he taught my sister & me, so he was going to teach his grandson too. He'd been doing a little standing on his own already; so all he really needed was some prompting. It didn't take much. Before the day was through he was taking several steps at a time, all by himself! We did get it on video, but the file is too big to upload to YouTube. I'll have to get a little clip with the other camera and post that one.

Our Thanksgiving was great. Pretty low key, actually, which was nice. I was telling Mom today that I forget every year how much I love dressing & gravy until Thanksgiving rolls around. I could probably eat the whole pan of dressing. (I know I haven't emailed those who wanted the recipe yet, I promise I'll do that.)

Today Mom & I worked on making our Christmas cards while Dad watched Jonathan. Unfortunately Chris had to work, so he wasn't able to be with us. Neither one of us were able to finish the cards, but I think we made some good progress. I'm going to try and finish mine this weekend. Although, I really want to get the Christmas decorations up, so the cards may have to wait a bit. We'll see. Part of me is hesitant to put up the decorations because I know I'm going to spend the next month telling Jonathan not to touch the tree & ornaments. Oh well, he's got to learn sometime.

I think we're going to venture out tomorrow to do some Christmas shopping. I have a pretty good idea of a few things we need to get, and I think we can get them all at one mall, so that's good. I know the crowds will probably be crazy, but isn't that part of this time of year?

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to spend the day with people you love.

yay, yipee, yahoo!

I lost 3.8 pounds this week! It feels so good to see the scale finally going down again.

wish me luck

Tomorrow morning I go to Weight Watchers for my weekly weigh in. I'm not sure how I'm going to do. You're supposed to eat no less than your points for the day, and there were a few days when I wasn't feeling well that I know I didn't make it. Hopefully that won't affect things too much. Regardless of how I do tomorrow I'm keeping on track.

I'm off to bed so I can get up & go in the morning.... I'll try and post when I get home with the results. *think down, think down*

sickly household

So, not only did Chris and I have some sort of stomach bug last week, we've both managed to get some sort of cold now too. I'm all congested & sneezy and Chris' throat hurts and he can barely talk. Thankfully Jonathan seems to be spared of most of this, he does have a bit of a runny nose, but nothing too major. Hopefully we'll get to feeling better soon.

Last night's Thanksgiving dinner and choir concert was great. There were so many people there that we haven't seen in ages. I felt so old seeing all of the kids all *grown up*. I feel like I'm still the same age as I've always been, but when you see how they've changed it just gets thrown in your face how much time has gone by. Sitting there listening to the choir was like being in a time warp; it was like we went back 10+ years. I loved it. The two churches that got together for the event used to be one church, the one that I went to in high school & beyond, until Chris and I got together. The church split a week after our wedding and there were a lot of hurt feelings and the like. It seemed like last night a lot of that was finally put to rest and some healing took place. It was very emotional for a lot of people. I'm so glad that they came together like that.

Jonathan of course was a huge hit. He's such a ham when there are people to pay attention to him so he was living it up. He loved the choir concert. He's always liked music so this was right up his alley. In between songs he'd clap & say "yay" (a little too loudly for my taste, but everyone thought it was cute) and a couple of times he'd sign & say "more". He was too cute.

I'd better get to bed; I need to try and actually do something tomorrow rather than just sit around.

drive-by post

Again, I'm super tired so this will be short. We had a really nice day today visiting Mom & Dad's church & going to the get together this evening. I'll post more about it tomorrow.

Today was a good day. My friend Leigh Bailey came by the house this afternoon and brought Jonathan a birthday present. It was a cute outfit from The Children's Place. Thank you Leigh, if you're reading this. It had been a while since I'd seen her so I'm glad she came by. We used to work together at Hitachi.

This afternoon we had a get together at Chris' aunt & uncle's house. It was good to see everyone, several of them we hadn't seen in a long time. They pulled out some toys that they have for their great-grandkids and Jonathan absolutely flipped over this one. I think it's 100% guaranteed he'll be getting one of those for Christmas. I'm not sure I've ever seen him get so excited about a toy before.

After we left there we came up to my parent's house and that's where we are now. We're going to church with them in the morning and then to a Thanksgiving/Christmas event at the church tomorrow evening. There are going to be so many people there that we haven't seen in ages so I'm really looking forward to it. I wish I'd brought our camera. ;o( Maybe I can remind Mom to bring theirs.

Well, I'd better get to bed. *See* you tomorrow.

tired

I'm pretty tired, so this will probably be short and sweet. Not long after I posted last night Chris got sick too. I felt kind of bad that I had taken NyQuil for fear that if Jonathan got up in the night Chris would have to take care of him. But, he's been doing so well sleeping through the night again that I thought we'd be okay. I was wrong. For some reason he picked last night to wake up around 2:00 and not want to go back into his bed. Finally I wound up just sleeping on the couch with him until around 7:00. I put him back to bed, but he woke back up. Chris got up with him that time and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. I'm not sure what his deal was, but I hope he does better tonight. He's got a runny nose and has been sneezing, so maybe he's not feeling well. Chris and I have both been feeling better today, I guess we just had some sort of stomach bug, but I'm glad it's over, whatever it was.

Tomorrow we're going to Chris' aunt & uncle's house for a Thanksgiving get together. Chris' cousins haven't ever met Jonathan, so it will be good to see them. Afterwards we're heading to my parents house to spend the night. They're church is having a Thanksgiving dinner/Christmas party Sunday evening that we're going to. The church that we went to when I was in high school is also involved, so it will be really good to see people we haven't seen in a long time.

Well, I spoke too soon; I hear Jonathan crying so I'd better go check on him.

NyQuil... take me away

I've been sick today and I just took NyQuil... so sadly, this is all you get today. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

The whole world's a zoo

I just realized I never posted any pictures from the zoo, and since I don't really have anything to talk about today, now seems as good a time as any. Sadly, I wan't able to get any pictures that had Jonathan and animals in them, but I figure y'all don't really care about seeing the animals. Do you? Let me know and I can post some for you.





We pretty much did nothing all day. I had a massive headache pretty much all day & just wasn't feeling 100%. I probably should've eaten more throughout the day, as I think part of the problem was I was hungry. But learning to eat properly again is going to take some time. I need to learn how to spread my points out during the day better. I still stayed within my points though, so we're moving in the right direction. The weekends are what worries me, but I'll just plan to save my *35* weekly points allowance for the weekend so I can have a little more leeway.

Can you believe next week is Thanksgiving? Chris' parents & grandmother and Bevvy are going to be out of town, so my parents and Haley are coming here for the meal. We're going to try and keep it pretty low key considering they'll only be 5 of us, well 5 1/2 if you count Jonathan. ;o) I think we're having all of the usual fixin's, just in smaller quantities; turkey, ham, dressing, green beans, dinner rolls and some sort of dessert. Speaking of dessert, at my WW meeting Monday evening we were talking about Thanksgiving. She had a list posted of the most common foods at Thanksgiving meals. She then had us write down what we thought we'd eat. Next she revealed what the serving size and points value was for each item. For example, 4 oz. of turkey is 4 points, and 4 oz. of ham is 6 points. One of the items that she had listed was sweet potato casserole (or is it souffle? Whichever is the dessert); it was from Paula Deen's recipe. Do you want to take a guess at how many points is in one serving of her dish, which I think is about 1/2 cup? Drumroll please..... *21 points*! That's insanity if you consider that someone like me only gets *29* points for a whole day. Can you imagine? Thankfully, I've never liked that dish, so it won't be tempting me any.

I'm hoping to get the Christmas decorations up soon, maybe this weekend. Usually I wait until Thanksgiving weekend, but with everyone coming here I'd like it to be all pretty. Hmmmm, what are the odds that my family will help us decorate after we eat? We could have a tree trimming party. If I'm not mistaken I tried that last year & no one was interested. C'mon guys, what do you say?

I so smart

I'm going to be in BIG trouble

if I don't post pictures of the new bedroom tonight. So here goes. Granted, there are no accessories in the room, but I still think it looks pretty good.

The view from the bedroom door.

I just want to point out our floor isn't that dirty, it's just the way it's rubbed from walking on it.

The dresser is huge, it's like two chests put together. And it's really tall too!

A close-up of the bedding.

So, what do you think?

As I stated yesterday, I started Weight Watchers again today, and I did really well. It's a really easy program to follow, and I know I can stick with it this time. I'm a little confused about a discrepancy in how many Points I can have in a day though. When I put my information in online it told me I had *28* points/day; however, when I fill out the survey in the little book it says *29* points/day. I know one point isn't that big of a deal, but considering you're not supposed to eat below your points value for the day, I need to know if it's *29* so I can make sure to get in that one extra point. And, hey, one more point could mean alot... a WW fudgesicle is only *1* point, so is a serving of fat free Pringles; it's not much, but it's something. And sometimes that's all you need. Maybe I'll go on the message boards & ask what I should do there, otherwise I'll just wait until my meeting next week & ask the leader.

Okay, off to bed. *See* you tomorrow.

tomorrow is day one

of a new lifestyle. I went this evening and joined Weight Watchers, again. I've been feeling for some time now that I really need to make an effort where my weight is concerned. Not only for how I look, but also for my long term health. I know Weight Watchers works for me, I've done it in the past. I think it was in 2001 I lost about 40 pounds. Unfortunately I got comfortable & went off the plan. Needless to say, those 40 pounds came back and brought way too many of their friends with them. I'm feeling confident that I can implement this back into my life and be successful at it. I need the structure of a program, but also the flexibility to each pretty much anything I want. Within reason of course. That's why I like Weight Watchers, I can still eat the same things I do now, I just have to pay attention to the serving sizes. That's what really gets most of us in trouble anyway. So, wish me luck on my journey to a healthier life.

When Chris went in to get Jonathan up this morning he discovered that he'd gotten sick at some point. ;o( We're not sure when it happened. He woke up around 2:00a, but never really cried. I heard him in there *talking* some, and he cried out a little, but nothing unusual. He's never actually vomited before, and I feel so bad that I wasn't there to comfort him when it happened. I hate throwing up, so I know it must have been scary for him. I'm just really trying not to think about it. He was fine all day, playing & being his normal self, so I don't know if his food just didn't set well or what, but it seemed to be a one time thing.

Tomorrow I'm going in for a much needed haircut & highlight. I called & asked Chris' grandmother to watch Jonathan for me, but she'd already made plans. I guess I'll have to take him with me, I hope he does okay. He did last time, but he was only 8 months old. He's considerably more vocal & mobile now, so we'll see how it goes.

just running around

Unfortunately we didn't get up for church. ;o( Which may have been a good thing. Apparently Jonathan needed some sleep; he didn't get up until almost 10:00! I knew he was tired last night, but that's kind of unusual.

Once we were all up & ready we went to our favorite place for lunch; Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse. So, so good. Their lunch prices are comprable to any other restaurant and we both get at least two meals out of it.

After lunch we went to Archiver's to pick up a few things that I *needed*. Christmas is coming up, you know, so I have a couple of ideas for gifts I'd like to make floating around in my head. Next we went to DSW Shoe Warehouse. I'm on the hunt for some casual shoes and I'm not having much luck. One day I'll find some that I like, that also fit. After that we ran in to Toys R Us to exchange an outfit that Jonathan got for his birthday. I'm not sure what I was thinking, it was a madhouse in there.

Later, after we came home & watched The Hitcher (it was just okay), we dropped Jonathan at Chris' parents & went grocery shopping.

Basically, what I'm saying is, we just ran around all day. Tomorrow Chris is off work for Veteran's Day and I plan on cleaning the house & getting it back to rights. I can't stand it when it's in such disarray.

Tune in tomorrow...

a whole new room

If you had any idea what our bedroom looked like just a few short days ago, you wouldn't even recognize it now. It looks so good with the new paint & furniture. I wasn't able to get a picture today as we had company all day. Maybe tomorrow.

The time frame for our furniture delivery was 8a-12p, but they showed up at 7:30a! Have you ever heard of the delivery people being early? I sure haven't. Thankfully I had just gotten up from our *camping expedition* in the living room. I was waiting to get into the restroom & thought I heard a truck outside. Lo & behold, there they were. I went running to get Chris because I wasn't really presentable. It only took them about an hour to bring everything in and get it all set up.

Chris & Kevin went golfing this morning. Michael was supposed to join them too, but poor miss Elizabeth (or LizzieBeth as I like to call her) has been sick the last few days & they had to take her back to the doctor. Pam & the kids were here and she also had Victoria and Regan with her. It was a pretty busy day to say the least. I think Jonathan really enjoyed having some playmates though. Unfortunately he doesn't sleep very well in his crib when there's company over, so he didn't really nap very well. He was a very tired boy when it was time for bed.

Speaking of tired, that's me. I'm going to get to bed so we can get up for church in the morning.

a little displaced

feeling a little displaced tonight. Since the furniture is being delivered tomorrow (sometime between 8a-12p) we moved our mattress/box spring into the living room for the night. Our house is in complete disarray at the moment, but I know it will all be worth it in the end. The bedroom is completely painted, (thanks Chris & Kevin) and looks great. Maybe I'll take some pics in the morning & post them tomorrow.

An oldie but a goodie. Here is a picture from Jonathan from one year ago today. This was his one month photo; can you believe how much he's changed!? I got a little teary looking at the old pictures, I miss my baby being so little. But the age he's at now is great! He's got such a great personality and is so much fun to be around. He keeps us laughing; that's for sure.

Well, I guess I'll go *camp out* with Chris in the living room. G'night.

again

just under the wire. This is what happens when Jonathan doesn't go to bed until 11:45. Yes, I know that's entirely too late for a nearly 13 month old (just for you Haley) to go to bed. We're back to sleeping through the night though so I'll pick my battles for now. I do have plans to try easing him down to a more reasonable bedtime. I don't even know how to begin the process, but I need to begin figuring it out, and quick.

I wish I had taken a picture of our bedroom earlier today. Messy though it was. The furniture has all been moved out and the trim has been taped. All in preparation for painting tomorrow night. Chris came home from work & pretty much worked in there until he went to bed. He did stop for dinner though, so that's good. I had taken down all of the pictures, so he just had to take down the window treatments & move the furniture. My job was to stay in the living room with Jonathan and keep him out of the way. That will probably be my job tomorrow evening too.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving potluck playgroup got cancelled. ;o( Now I have three loaves of cornbread that I'm not sure what to do with. I made them yesterday evening so I would be able to just put the dressing together today; it takes 3 hours to cook. I guess we'll just be having cornbread with dinner for a few days.

Well, off to bed.

just barely

making it in before midnight. But, hey, it's still Nov. 7th so I'm good.

Again, a pretty low key day today. Jonathan and I made a trip to Kroger. I'm making dressing for the Thanksgiving potluck on Friday and I pretty much needed all of the ingredients. I got the recipe for cornbread dressing from my mom's best friend, Pam, and it is so good. If you're interested, send me a comment and I'll post it.

Chris got home relatively early tonight so we went to Home Depot to get the paint & supplies for our bedroom. The bedding arrived today, and it's gorgeous! I posted a picture of it last month, but here it is again:

I got the deal of the century on this bedding. It was originally priced at $225, but I got it on sale for $89.99!!! Isn't that amazing! We're going to work on getting the room ready to paint & we'll try to have it done by Saturday. That's when our furniture is being delivered. Here's the bedroom set we bought:

I can't wait until it's all painted & put together. I still need to work on accessories, but we'll cross that bridge later.

Well, it's time for me to go to bed. Tune in tomorrow!

Today was a really good day. Jonathan and I headed out this morning around 9:45 to a Coffee & Cookies playgroup. For some reason I had thought it started at 10:30, but when I went online to check for directions I realized it started at 9:30! Thankfully it was just kind of come & go as you please so it wasn't any big deal. I guess I'll have to pay more attention in the future. We had a great time, Jonathan played & played and I enjoyed talking with the other moms. We have another get together on Friday; a Thanksgiving potluck. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.

After playgroup we stopped by the mall to pick up some jeans & khakis for Chris. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but he's lost 35 pounds and is looking great! Needless to say he needed some new pants; his others were getting quite baggy. I'm going to have to go back & exchange the khakis though; skinny minny needs a 34 waist in those. Way to go honey!

Well, I leave you with this picture... for no other reason than I think Jonathan's expression is hysterical! We were cleaning him off after his birthday cake and he was not impressed.


Off to bed. *See* you tomorrow!

low key day

Today was a very low key day. Jonathan & I just hung around the house & pretty much did nothing all day. I think I might be getting a cold, so I wasn't feeling 100%; hopefully it was nothing.

Tomorrow morning we're going to another playgroup with the local mommies club, so maybe I'll have more to talk about in tomorrows post. We can only hope.

every year

when daylight savings time ends it takes me forever to get used to it. I ran out to get some dinner tonight at 7:00 and it felt like it was at least 9:00 because it was so dark outside. I know that come spring when we turn the clocks forward again it will seem weird all over, but I think I like it better then. Although I don't like *losing* an hour of sleep. That's never good.

We managed to get up in time to go to church this morning; and I'm so glad we did. I'm so ready for us to find a church home that we can get involved in as a family and that we can all grow in. Today we visited The Bridge Church. It was in an office park, but you would never know it once you entered the building. We were so impressed with how they had it set up. It was huge, and so nicely decorated. Everyone that we met was very friendly, and we both enjoyed the message. Even though Jonathan is going through a separation anxiety phase, he could care less about us when we drop him off in the nursery. He reached for the lady like he'd known her forever. When we picked him up she talked about what a delight he was & how excited he was when they pulled out a box of toys. It feels so good to hear others talk about what a great kid we have. I think we've decided to visit this church again next week so be praying that God will show us clearly one way or the other.

Well, I'm ready to hit the sack, but I thought I'd leave you with a picture from the pumkin patch a couple of weeks ago. I tried posting some pictures before but for some reason Blogger ate them or something. Oh well... tune it tomorrow!

it's a date

Today was mine & Chris' date day. After tossing some ideas around, we decided to go "putt-putt" golfing; something different, not the movies like we always do. We headed to Discover Mills as they have an indoor mini-golf area. Or so we thought. First we went to Jillian's to play some video games; Chris won best 2/3. As usual I kicked his butt on the fighting game, but he whooped me pretty good on the sniper & Jurasic Park games. Oh well.

After Jillian's we walked around the mall looking for the mini-golf place. We stopped in the food court for some Panda Express as it was in the middle, and continued on our way. But to no avail. Apparently the mini-golf place is no longer there. Bummer.

So what did we do instead? Go to the movies of course! We decided to see Saw IV since it was starting in about 20 minutes. Overall it was pretty good; very gory. I don't really find movies like that scary, but it was entertaining. I definitely jumped a couple of times. I think I liked it better than the previous ones.

Well, I'd better get to bed. I'm determined that we're going to church tomorrow. It's been a couple of weeks & we're never going to find a church if we don't go. *See* you tomorrow.

just as I suspected

I don't have anything exciting to talk about today. But, hey, I'm committed to this post a day thing.

Tomorrow Chris and I are going on a "date". It's been quite awhile since we've done anything just the two of us, and we need it. I think we'll probably try to catch a movie or something. Although, movies are crazy expensive, so maybe we'll come up with something else. I was just looking online to see what's playing and was surprised to see how much tickets are. The site says that the best ticket prices are before noon, so I thought I'd check that out.... $6.00!!! That's what a night time movie used to cost. My gravy. Next is between like 12:00 and 5:00... $8.00!!! Evening movies are $10.00 now! I can't imagine how much boys have to pay to take a girl out on a date these days. Just the movie is $20, not to mention snacks; or if you also go out to dinner! Craziness.

Well, that's it for today. Tune in next time...

NaBloPoMo

Apparently November is National Blog Posting Month a.k.a. NaBloPoMo. Several people whose blogs I read (Nicole, Denise, Julia) are participating; so I thought I would too. Basically it's just a challenge to post something, anything, every day in November. I probably won't have anything too exciting to say most days, but I'll give it a whirl.

Today Jonathan and I went to a playgroup at the Mall of Georgia. This is the second one we've been to for Atlanta Area Mommies; a local message board that I'm a member of. There have been too many weeks where we haven't gotten out of the house; and that's not good for either of us. So, I stepped outside my comfort zone & went to a playgroup a couple of weeks ago. I'm not an outgoing person, especially around people I don't know, so it was really hard for me to take that first step. But I'm really glad I did. All of the ladies that I've met so far have been really nice, and Jonathan has a good time playing with the kids. I'm hoping that I can get more involved. They're having a Thanksgiving potluck next week and I'm planning to go to that. I know the more I go the more comfortable I'll feel.

Well, I have a horrible headache that nothing's helping, so I think I'll head to bed. Until tomorrow...

Trick or Treat

Tonight was Jonathan's first experience trick-or-treating. He wasn't too happy when I drew on his face & put the costume on; but once we got outside & walked around he was fine. Isn't he just the cutest lion ever!



We also went to the zoo today, so I'll post some pictures from that later.

12 month portraits

We took Jonathan last weekend to get his 12 month portraits done, and here are just a few. We've been taking him to Portrait Innovations and they do such a great job. It's so hard to choose which ones to buy; which usually means we buy way too many.




Yeah, I know my arm is in the frame on this one, but they put a border around it when they printed it so it wouldn't show. I think this one is my favorite.


I still have to post about his birthday weekend. Maybe I can do that later today... stay tuned.