Vacation

We are are vacation in South Jersey! The flight here was uneventful and David did GREAT! We were able to use our Delta points and get a great deal on First Class seats so it wasn't crowded and we didn't have a stranger sitting with us being bother with David. David sat on Anthony's lap most the time and was having fun looking out the window a lot. He played with some toys and before you knew it we were in Memphis. We had a 1 1/2 hour lay over before our flight to PA so we got something to eat and walked around. David fell asleep before we got on the plane and slept the whole flight to PA and woke up when we were waiting for our luggage.

We stayed the first night at Michele's (Anthony's sister) in Linwood and then headed over to his parents house for a BBQ. We planned to go to the beach before the BBQ but it didn't work out. Michele, Gabby, Jack, David and I walked down the street to the Bay and took some great pictures. The food at the BBQ was GREAT! David had watermelon for the first time and he loved it! He got so messy from it that I ended up putting him in the pool. We then drove over to June's (Michele's mother-in-law) which is where we are staying. She lives in a HUGE house less than a block away from the beach in Brigantine (just north of Atlantic City). They call Brigantine "The Island" and it has some of the most beautiful houses on the shore.

Yesterday we wanted to go to the beach, but the weather didn't allow it; it thunder stormed ALL day! We went to the mall, a real mall not like the small ones in LR, in Mays Landing. The storm was so bad that the electricity went off in the mall two times and it was coming down so hard that we had to stay in the mall for an extra 30 mins until it calmed down. Nikki and Jack spent the day with us and wanted to spend the night at Junes, so we went grocery shopping and got steaks to BBQ since the rain looked like it was going to stop. After dinner we walked down the street to get ice cream. This place was PACKED! Apparently it's the best place to get ice cream on the Island and I see why - it was great! I ended up getting soft serve vanilla ice cream that was dipped in Oreo's, YUM YUM! I shared with David and as you can see, he loved it too!

The weather is supposed to cooperate today and be sunny and 93, so we are going to plan for the beach today and I think hit Ocean City tonight with Nana & Poppy. Ocean City is just south of Atlantic City and has a boardwalk with rides that David can go on. I'll keep you posted!

Whew! This has been a week...

Saturday we took David to the water park and of course he had a blast! We then took him for his 2nd hair cut! The kids hair grows fast! We take him to a place in Benton, which is about 20-30 mins away, but it's worth it. He gets to sit on a carousel horse while getting his hair cut and the girl that cuts it is very good with kids. He just sits and watches her in the mirror, doesn't fuss at all. The attached picture is from his 1st hair cut just to show you.

David has developed a fake "cry". It cracks us up, I took a video of it but it's too big to post, so I'll have to take a shorter one or figure out how to edit the one I have. He is the master of pouting and is very good at throwing temper tantrums already! He'll throw himself on the floor, in a sitting position, and put his head down to where it's almost touching the floor and cries. It's so pathetic it's cute.

Anthony got stung twice by a wasp while mowing the backyard. He said there were a couple of him and they just attacked him as he was weed whacking some bushes. He also stepped in a huge ant hill and got bit several times on his ankle.....it wasn't a good week for him.

I had 3 migraines this week! I was really hoping that after having David I wouldn't get them anymore like my friend Michelle B., but no such luck...I think they came back with a vengeance to make up for all time I was pregnant and didn't get them. That's probably why I enjoyed being pregnant, I never had a migraine nor was sick.

David had his first visit to the dentist this morning....I know some of you are thinking "Already?", but he was missing some enamel from one of his front teeth..it just never formed correctly. It made it look like he had food stuck to his teeth all the time and it drove me NUTS! He never complained or fussed that it hurt with hot or cold food, but our doctor said we should take him in and have it checked.

David was a STAR patient! He laid in the chair and let the dentist look and scrape his tooth and then let the dentist actually put a filling on it. He only started to fuss because he was laying down for too long and because we were holding his arms down so he wouldn't stick his fingers in his mouth. The filling is the same color as his teeth so you cannot even see it; said it would last until he was about 7 but would need to have it checked every once in a while. The tooth already looked like it was getting a cavity. Dentist said when a cavity starts to form, the tooth gets soft and his tooth was a little soft. After it was all over, David got to pick a toy from the closet and he took a small pony and of course some stickers to wear on his shirt.

We are finishing packing up tonight for our vacation that starts tomorrow at promptly 2pm!!!!! We are going to NJ to visit Anthony's family, going to the beach, the boardwalk and the Zoo with Silvia (one of Anthony's dear friend for a long time). We'll be gone for 7 whole days!!!!! Anthony is taking his computer, go figure, so I'll be able to update you while on vacation when we sit down to relax at night.

Stanley is doing much better, is eating and gaining his weight back. I'm really surprise because he was so sick just a few weeks ago and I would have put money on it that he wouldn't make it through the summer. I'm glad he proved me wrong, but he's back to whinning, barking and hanging all over David's high chair when we are feeding him. LOL David and Doc are becoming best friends...Doc lets him hang on him, step on him, hit him and he does absolutely nothing. He even plays chase with David - David wil walk up to Doc and turn around and walk away fast laughing and Doc will run REALLLLY slow after David. I took this picture just the other day, Doc was laying in the door way and David walked over and just laid next to him...it was precious.

One last thing, sorry I know this is long but I'm playing catch up!

Our son likes to wear bracelets! Anything round with a hole in it goes on his wrists and he'll walk around proudly showing it off.....here he is in the bath tub with 2 little life preservers as bracelets. He wore them the whole time he was in the tub.

It's been a couple of days since my last post. We have been busy...what's up with that? Anthony has been busy working on a project for work and has brought work home that last few nights. He's trying to get some stuff done before we go on vacation at the end of next week because right when we get back, he has to turn around and go to NC for a week. I've been trying to get some things on eBay; last time I sold stuff on there I did really well, but I think the times are a changing - not too many bites this time. Putting some David's stuff up, some still have tags on them!

Tonight I need to bake some cookies for 2 different pot lucks at work. Two girls are leaving our department and moving on, why they couldn't combine their pot lucks, who knows. They are on different teams and I guess just each team wanted to do their own thing.

I picked David up from Day Care today and was talking to one of his teachers, Ms. Tracy, and she told me he had bitten 2 different kids on Monday. Since this was the first time I'd seen her, it was the first I heard of it and the director I guess was supposed to call me but didn't. Usually when we pick him up at night his class has a "floater" teacher. Anyway, he BIT two kids - one on the back of his left hand and the other on her left shoulder. Ms. Tracy said that he was playing with something and they took it away from him. I guess he bit the first one and when the teacher was looking at that bite he bit the other! Didn't break the sign, thank goodness, but still. He went through a stage of biting me and Anthony right when he turned a year old but we really haven't had a problem with it. He has about 4 teeth coming in and I wonder if that's why he's biting, other than being pissed off that the other kids took "his" toy! The director told Ms. Tracy that she wanted us to give David a binky to stop him from biting, but David hasn't had a binky in about 3 weeks so Ms. Tracy said she would just watch him closely instead of giving him a binky and setting him back. He hasn't bitten anyone since!!

Don't you just love the snot!!! I can't wait until all his teeth come in and he's not drooling or has a snotty nose all the time. I could see 2 more teeth coming in, so that makes 13! By the way ... Happy 14 months today David - We love you.

It's raining here in Arkansas, but what is new? The mosquito's are really bad this year but I'm already seeing fireflies so hopefully they will come out early and eat them all up. Did I tell you that Doc killed another baby bunny the other day in the backyard? They burrow somewhere in the very back but he finds them somehow, that makes 3 or 4 kills of bunnies, not to mention the snakes he gets. He finds all the turtles that come in the backyard too. We had a pretty good sized one a couple months back, a Red Eared turtle; we put it in a tub, put a little water in it and let David watch it for a little bit. Don't worry we didn't let hm touch it, we know they have germs.

OK, I better finish getting myself and David ready for church. We really need to go today, it's been about 3 weeks since we've gone. I wanted to take David to the pool at the Community Center this afternoon but it doesn't look like I'll be able to, so I'll try and get some more crafts or something done today.

Today is the 10 year Anniversary of my Mom's passing. It just doesn't seem like it's been 10 years, I remember exactly what I was doing when I got the call from Veta that she had had a heart attack and was in the hospital - it seems like it was just yesterday. I really wish she could meet David but I know she is watching over him. I Love and Miss you Mom like no body's business.

This morning I went and had a manicure and pedicure at a Day Spa from a gift certificate that Anthony and David had given me for Mother's Day. It was really nice be pampered and taken care of and if I could afford their prices I'd go back once a month! I also have a gift certificate for the same place for a Hot Lava Rock Massage and ironically I get that on my mom's birthday, August 9th - the weekend after we get back from vacation, so I'm sure I'll really need it. While I was being pampered, Anthony took David to Home Depot to get some filters for the A/C. Anthony thinks the reason he hasn't been able to get over his cold is because the filters need to be changed, maybe that might help my allergies as well! My back is still itching like crazy, but there is no rash; I think it's just from the allergy shots but in any case it's about to drive me nuts.

Today was also Aiden's 1st Birthday, so we went to his party at 2pm. We were running late though because we couldn't get David to take a nap. Mr. Cranky Pants just wanted to play and fuss. Aiden is Brooke and Mark's son, Brooke is the daughter of my boss Becky. It was really hot and humid out today, so it's a good thing I've been wearing my hair curly lately. I've mainly been wearing it curly because I've been too lazy to blow it dry and flat iron it in the mornings and besides, it's been so humid lately that most the time you can't I've don't anything with my hair. I haven't worn my hair curly in a VERY long time, I have to get used to it again, it's a different look for me - guess if I wear it this way again, I'll have to grown my hair long again.

Before the birthday party we tried to get David to take nap but he would have not parts of it. I even tried laying down with him in the bed; I almost fell asleep but he just wanted to play. I pulled out his big boy crayons and paper and let him play. In the video, he has a balloon tied to his wrist (we bought it for Aiden and David just didn't want to let it go).

It's after midnight and David is back to sleep, finally. After the party we went up to the mall to return some pants I had bought, needed a size smaller :). We also wanted to see if we could find a belt for David because of of his shorts/pants are still a little big and he needs a belt to hold them up LOL. Found a nice one at Baby Gap, wasn't a bad price either. David slept until about 9pm and woke up hungry, so I feed him but he pretty much fell asleep in the middle of eating. He slept for about another hour and woke up crying and it took about 1 1/2 to get him to fall back asleep. Hopefully he'll sleep through the night now as he did drink a cup of milk.

I almost forgot, I talked to my sister-in-law the other day, Alana, and looks like my nephew Bob (I like to still call him Bobby) will be getting married sometime in the beginning of 2009! Looking forward to making another trip down to FL for the wedding! Congratulations Bobby!

Anthony took David to the Dr. today, he's been coughing the last few days and has a nose that has been running like a faucet. While there, they measured and weighed him....he's 31" and 22.5 pounds. He's getting taller!!!!!! He has only gained about a pound since his 9 month check up despite the fact he a good eater - I'm sure it's because I don't think he has sat down for more than 5 mins since he started walking. He does have a cold, which they can't do anything about, but I think we are really grateful that he doesn't have an ear infection. Anthony said the Dr. took a really good look in both ears, especially since they said if he got another infection before September he would need to get tubes. The last infection was a doozy - was in both ears for almost 2 months and after taking Amoxicillin and one medicine that I can't remember the name of (did absolutely nothing for him) he had to get 3 Rocephin shots in his legs. If you don't know anything about Rocephin, it's a shot they give in the leg AND the doctors tell you up front that it's very painful. One shot is as strong as 10 days of oral medication. David had to get 3 shots in 4 days!! When David gets his Well Care check ups and has to get shots, he's a trooper; he cries for a few seconds and then goes on about his business. When he got his first Rocephin shot, he cried so hard and for so long that I cried with him, it was horrible. The other 2 shots weren't as bad, but he still cried and for the first time acted afraid of getting shots. Thank God that when he went in for his yearly shots he had forgotten and did great.
Today was a very busy day at work, it seems like after I got there it was time to go home! I love those days except for when I feel like I accomplished nothing! Chad, the Alltel spokesperson, was at Alltel today helping to promote our new My Circle packages. Don't ask me to tell you about them, because I have no idea. Anthony pays the phone bill, I don't sell the packages so I don't really pay attention - I know it's bad but I do so much at work I don't have time to read all about it on our Intranet website. We put our name in for a drawing to have lunch with Chad, but I guess we didn't win because we haven't heard anything and I think it was supposed to be today LOL. They also launched a contest to get in drawing for a $1,500 vacation package - I jumped right on that. I already have 2 entries and will work on getting more since we have until August 1st or somewhere around there. I didn't get my picture taken with Chad this time; he hasn't changed much since the last 3 visits and I have pictures from those. He even signed a photo for me, so when he becomes really famous I'll have something worth money LOL.
I was thinking of organizing my scrapbook stuff this weekend and actually starting on a book or finishing up an old one. I'm about 14 months behind on David's book, so I need to start some day and I'd really like to finish up the one I started on my mom. This Saturday it will have been 10 years since she passed, I can't believe it's been that long. I still want to pick up the phone and call her to ask a question about something. I miss her very much, but I talk to her a lot every day and I know she is one of David's Guardian Angels (along with David, his name sake). My sisters Veta and Grace are driving up to Grand Junction this weekend to go see Grandma Randall. Veta said that the last time she talked to her that she was forgetting things, so they wanted to go see her. I couldn't get any time off and I can't afford a ticket to fly into Grand Junction. I would love to be able to see my mom's grave site again and one day, when David is older, I will take him with me.
Okay, sorry about that! I'll talk to you all later!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend! I could have used one more day but we go on vacation in 2 weeks so I guess I can wait. Yesterday Anthony and I decided to go through all of David's old clothes, dresser, closet and pack up what he no longer could wear. We sorted it by size and then I folded it neatly and put in tubs for the attic. Some of the stuff still had tags on them!!! I've listed a few items on eBay and then some I'll sell at Duck Duck Goose in October/April. It's a large consignment show they have twice a year at the Fairgrounds. Some of the stuff I have, I've bought from Duck Duck Goose! People usually just sell name brand items and they have to be in good to almost new condition. They also sell toys, bedding, furniture - anything baby/kids they have.

David woke up in GREAT mood today, giving out hugs and kisses all morning! I attached some photos of him before we took him to day care, and as you can see it's a good thing he has a diaper on or he would be showing us his plumbers crack! LOL He's getting around great now and talking more. This morning during bath time he pointed and said DUCK. And the other day at Wild River Country (WRC), he was sitting with me on the chair and kids in the pool area were screaming and he whipped his head around and starting screaming back at them. Who knows what he was saying but I'm sure he was telling them to calm down and not to splash him next time he gets in water.

Stanley seems to be feeling better today as well, he actually barked at Anthony when he was feeding them. He isn't gaining any weight back, still way too skinny, but he seemed to be in a good mood which was very nice. He's been sick since around Feb. and will go a week without eating and then eat a few days and then not eat. The first time we took him in the doctor thought he had liver cancer but then said he thought he had been poisioned, but I think the first diagonsis was correct. I'll be surprised if he makes to the end of the year.

We had a change of plans yesterday, after giving David a bath Michelle P. called and David and I met the Paton's at Wild River Country. It's a water park that's just about 5 mins up the road from our house. We bought season passes at the end of last year thinking we would take David this summer and we pretty much have almost every weekend; he loves the water and being outside.
It was a little overcast today but nice, I don't think it was over 85 and it wasn't crowded at all at the water park. When we first got there Steve watched David and Michelle, Samantha and I went headed over to the slides! Samantha loves going down the slides and she is fun to watch (she is just 4 years old and as tiny as can be). Then we headed over to pick up David, who was by now playing in the water with Uncle Steve, and we took him over to the "baby" slide. It's a short slide for kids under 60" that parents can go down with the kids in a double inter-tube. I had put one of the life jackets on him you get from the park and went down and he fussed (he cannot stand them as they ride up on him and practically cover his face). So the 2nd time I took it off (he's already had some swim lessons) and we went down and he was laughing! But the 3rd time he had had enough and didn't like it anymore, so we just went and played in the water until it started to rain on us and we left. All in all it was fun.
Anthony still has his head cold so he stayed home and rested, did some house work. Then he cooked a nice steak dinner - it was very yummy!
It's 230 am and I cannot sleep again! I go through bursts of insomnia and will have 2-3 days where I just cannot sleep at night. It sucks but at least I'm not tired during the day, I still have the same amount of energy as if I had slept. I'm also breaking out in welts from my allergies so I need to go and get more medicine when the Walgreen's opens up today. It's funny how I lived in AZ for so long and didn't really have much of an allergy problem there and in the past year they have gone crazy here. I'll wake up with huge welts on my legs or my face will be all swollen like I had gotten into a fight the night before. So bad some times that I cannot go to work!! Once I woke up and it looked like I had had a bad collagen injection in my lips - that was actually funny. It took about 4 hours for that to go down after taking some meds the doctor gave me.
I can hear David coughing so I'm going to go check on him.......

4th of July

Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th! Some friends (Quinn & Michelle) came into town so we spent some time with them, then we all headed over to Tim & Polly's for some fireworks (with a detour to Hooters for lunch....yes Anthony was pointing out all the girls for David). I still can't get used to the fact that we can shoot off fireworks here, in Arizona it was a big no no. Even though people shot of firecrackers in AZ, it's nothing like the stuff here; I couldn't believe all the fireworks they had bought, BOXES and BOXES!! It had been years since I've shot off fireworks so being the girl that I am, I was a little scared at first.
David seemed to enjoy the fireworks, until one of the other older kids was messing around and one of the fireworks took off towards Anthony and David. No one was hurt, but it scared David and the rest of the night anytime a firework looked like it was heading in the direction of David (none did, just in the sky) he would freak so I had to take him inside the house. Later we went back out and he seemed to be fine, probably just a little over exposed to all the noise, etc.
David is cutting 2 more teeth, at least that all I can see right now. One of his k9's are coming in and another molar on the bottom, this will make 11 teeth for him. He's drooling like a monster!!! I don't think I mentioned before that we have pretty much taken his binky away from him. This week he has only needed it once and that was yesterday. Anthony was trying to put him down for a nap and he just wouldn't relax so he gave in and gave him a binky. Day care has been great in helping us, they don't give him one during the day even though some times he fusses when he sees the other kids still have theirs. Ms Tracy will just simply tell him, "you don't need it, your a big boy" and he'll walk away and find something else to play with. He is such an easy going kid - I love him !!!!
Today I'm going to take him shopping with me, I want to see if I can find him some water shoes for when we are in NJ. I don't want him to burn his tiny feet in the sand at the beach. I'm hoping if I just get a size larger they will still fit as I'm sure they don't make them in wide LOL. I really need to find me some clothes as well, since I've been loosing weight, all my clothes are really baggy on me. We also need to get a birthday present as one of David's friends turns a year old on Saturday.
I better start getting ready and getting the handsome young man ready!

Shoe Shopping

After work today we went shoe shopping for David. Poor little guy has FAT feet and for some reason it's really hard to find toddler shoes that come in wide around here. I had found a store in NLR but then they decided to stop selling kids shoes and just sell dancing shoes - go figure! Didn't realize there was such a demand for dancing shoes in Little Rock! We better see some contestants on "So You Think You Can Dance" next year wearing those shoes!!! I found this new store while I was waiting to get my allergy shot this morning. I picked up a Kids Directory magazine and there was an ad for a kids shoe store in LR, I called and they said they carried wide shoes so off we went.....Oh Lordy! Couldn't someone have warned us that kids shoes were so expensive and that they were so cute that you can't buy just one?! We also thought he was still wearing a size 3 to 3 1/2 but this guy measured his little feet and put him in a 4 1/2 sandal!! He said that the tennis shoes he has in 3 1/2 were fine as they still fine, which is good because we just bought those as well.

This morning he was walking around with his Leap Frog, tripped and fell right into the end of the table; now he has a big bruise on the right side of his face, which kind of match the sctatches on the left side he got the other day at Day Care....he is ALL boy!

PS I guess no one knew that the last "picture" on yestedays post is actually a VIDEO so watch it, it's David going down his slide.
Anthony said he will post later - Gotta go and put my Avon order together!

I will try to be on top of this now that I think I have this figured out! We'll see how it goes....

David is WALKING!!! Yes, he is everywhere and is loving his new found freedom; he walks around with the biggest smile on his face. He's discovered he can walk up to the dogs and see them eye to eye (except Stanley of course). He has also discovered that Doc likes to give "wet" kisses and will play with him, so he tries to get Doc to chase him. David will walk up to Doc and try to walk away fast thinking he will chase after him - it's cute to watch him interact with the dogs.

I'm sure you have all heard that Verizon has or is in the process of buying Alltel. We are still trying to figure out what that all means, as far as our jobs go, but most likely Anthony will be out of one. Mine, right now, looks like it will still be there but.........

Scott Ford, CEO of Alltel, says it shouldn't been until at least Dec/Jan before the whole deal is signed and completed but a lot of employees that do not have a "customer facing" job are already looking for new employment. Rumor has it that 700+ employees will be laid off, which is scary since Alltel is one of the Top employers in LR. Good news is that HP just announced they are opening a plant in Conway, about a 15-20 min drive from our house via freeway, mid next year that will employ 1200+ We will keep you posted as to what we are planning. A lot of our friends, both husband/wife, or just one of the spouses work at Alltel and will be out of a job. Last I heard 41 houses in West Little Rock (Chanel area) where the "rich" folk went on the market on the same day!!

Anyway, we are doing great! We are going to NJ at the end of July for week and are really looking forward to visiting Anthony's family - only his mom, dad and sister Michele have met David.

Sorry this video is sideways and a little shaky!