Connor & Savannah

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2011-11-16T22:23:00.001-05:00

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Where has the time gone?

2011-08-04T20:49:00.013-04:00

I sit here with all

kinds of emotions running through my mind and heart. I cannot believe that my little boy will be starting Kindergarten tomorrow. I can remember sitting at the Odom Construction's Christmas party on December 13, 2005, eating steak, chicken, shrimp, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables all the while having contractions; going home for about an hour then heading back out to the hospital. On December 14, 2005 at 1:07 pm Connor came into our lives and hearts. Tomorrow morning I will take my little man and drop him off for his first day of school!

Where did my sweet little baby go?

The toddler who loved to laugh and make you laugh, listen to veggie tales, play with cars and watch Mickey Mouse is no longer there. Now, a boy who still loves to laugh and make others laugh, loves to "rock out" to Phineas and Ferb, along with some rockin' "church" songs (one of his favorite groups is Press Play - think club music with a Christian theme - check out NY2LA by them), and don't forget Rocky Top because he LOVES University of Tennessee football and basketball. His favorite thing to watch right now - and he watches part of one of the episodes every day - is Star Wars (and thankfully he prefers the original). It's either Star Wars or a Tennessee football game from last season that is STILL on the DVR. (although they will be taken off once this season starts). He's watched them so much he can tell you what play is coming up. Right now, I'm thinking he's going to be an announcer, color commentator, play by play guy ... something because, in just about everything he does during the day, if I don't see him do it, he does the replay, in slow motion, and tells me exactly what happened! As I sit here right now, I wish that those days I didn't really pay attention to his "replays," I would have because, I have a feeling I'm going to miss them! I know I'll miss him!

But I know he is ready for Kindergarten. He is so excited about going and I am excited for him to go (I keep telling myself that thinking it will eventually set in!). I just pray that he'll have an awesome teacher who loves him as much as he'll love her. Anybody who knows him knows that he'll love his teacher just because she is teaching him something - he loves to learn!! I pray that he never loses that (although I know it could come at some point in time). :) I pray that he'll make the right friends.

One thing that makes it easier is know that Savannah and I will have a lot of one on one time....she has never had that. I am really looking forward to that. Although I'm not so sure she is, yet anway. Last Friday all three of us went to registration. I realized then that I had not prepared her for Connor to not be around. She kept thinking they were going to seperate classes. I explained to her that we weren't leaving anybody there, that Connor would be going to school there and she would go back to where she was last year. The first thing out of her mouth (in a whiny voice) "I want Connor!" I had done all I could to prepare Connor and get him to be excited about Kindergarten but I had left Savannah out. So that has been my focus this past week. Hopefully after a few days she'll adjust to him not being here.

The day is here so I might as well accept it, grab on and hold on for dear life because we are approaching warp speed. Here's to another milestone!!!!!!!

VACATION

2011-06-30T19:45:00.016-04:00

Since it's been close to a year since I posted last I thought.....maybe I should put something on here. I've been on hiatus because basically - I was pooped and didn't feel like doing it. I worked this past year at the Mother's Day Out program the kids went to. Working those 11 hours threw me off and I never could figure it all out. I enjoyed my time there with my 2 year olds but between my 10 2 years old, losing my 10 hours to myself and dealing with a 3 year old little girl, I basically could have cared less about blogging. But - now.....I'm back! I'm ready to tackle it again. I'm not sure how often at first but hopefully more often than every 10 months......

We just got back from a 10 day vacation in Florida. We started off in St. Pete Beach (by Tampa). We stayed on the beach and had an absolute wonderful time. We had wonderful weather EVERY day there. The sand was great to play in..... the water was great to cool off in. This year we ALL got in the water. Usually it was Danny who would go out; Connor and I would stick our feet in and Savannah would stay way back. I usually don't like getting in because of, what I thought were, irrational fears of sharks, jellyfish and stingrays. But when (1)the sign says "If you don't do the sting ray shuffle you'll be shuffling to first aid," (2) some guy catches 2 baby sharks while standing down the beach from where we were swimming, and (3) there were some white unidentifiable object floating by us in the water that kind of looked like a jellyfish, I realized my fears were not irrational. But I don't want my kids to have my fears so I got in too. I had to carry Savannah past "the bump" (where the waves hit the sand) but then she was good to go. Until she took a few big waves in the face. She still got in but didn't want to stay in as long. We took their floatie thingies ...so they were able to swim by themselves and they both enjoyed it - especially Connor. He couldn't get enough of being in the water. He wanted to head there before doing anything else. He also couldn't get enough of the pool water.

They made new friends at the pool every day. The first day a guy threw a little football with him. The next day Savannah made a friend with and English woman and would not leave her alone. Thankfully she liked kids. We spent a good hour or hour and a half with her and her boyfriend/husband (not sure what he was). She took Connor and Savannah around the pool and played with them. Her name was Lauren and his name was Kerren. I so wish I had gotten a picture but sadly didn't. She kind of looked like Jasmine, from the Disney movie Alladin and I think that may have been why she was enamored with her. Later she told me Lauren got married and was dressed like a princess.

We also met up with some great friends that live in Clearwater...and eat some super good food at Crabby Bill's restaurant.

You can overlook the unsmiling 3 year old in the picture. I'll give you my response to a lot of things...."She's 3!" After supper we took a walk on the beach and watched the sunset and play in the sand and water.

To be cont'd.....

A model in the making

2010-09-22T21:33:00.011-04:00

A friend of mine is probably the most awesomest (is that a word?!?) photographer known to man - well the Knoxville/Nashville area anyway. You can find a link to her page on the upper left corner of my blog page!! I was lucky - and grateful to her - for taking a few shots of Savannah a few weeks ago!!

You can see more in my picture folder. I highly recommend her for anything. Her wedding shots are phenomenal!!

2010-09-19T22:42:00.004-04:00

Connor joined his first organized sports team. We decided to give soccer a try. We signed him up with AYSO. They practice for 30 minutes then play a game for 30 minutes one night a week. This is my kind of practice/game! He was super excited about it. He couldn't wait to make new friends. He was ready to play, that is until we got there. The first night was very chaotic - he doesn't do so well with chaos. But once the craziness settled down and he got with his team he was ok. Here's a picture of him (the #2 in the middle) and the rest of his team - the Lightning Pirates - on their first night of practice.

He decided the first night that #3 - Joe was his buddy. We found out that Joe was also excited about making new friends, so #2 and #3 have become good buddies. These are a couple of pictures of Connor and his buddy, Joe.

A little summer painting

2010-08-24T14:32:00.008-04:00

This morning I was looking online, searching for some crafts to do with 2 year olds for work. I came across a recipe for sidewalk paint. All it called for was corn starch, water & food coloring. I actually had everything so we made some and went out to do a little painting.
They really liked it. It was pretty neat. It looked kind of watery when you started painting but when it dried it was really bright. Savannah didn't want to stop. Then I realized she and Connor had both painted their hands and she had it all over her legs so I then had to go search how to get food coloring off of skin - baking soda and a toothbrush did wonders. They are still a little green but I figured it will eventually wear off.

Connor had just as much fun cleaning up because he got to use his water gun!!

2010-06-12T22:30:00.004-04:00

We have spent quite a lot of time up in Danny's dad's garden. Connor and Savannah love to go up there and play in the dirt and help pick beans. We went up to get some squash, zucchini and cucumbers and Savannah decided to pick up a small squash. She put her fingernail in it and then said, "Look, he's crying." (there was juice coming out of it) She then started carrying it around like a baby, bouncing, rocking, and ssshhhh-ing her "baby." She does love her babies!!

2010-06-05T21:52:00.003-04:00

I feel the need to make a new post since it's been almost 2 months since I've posted and I'm sure you're tired of reading about the dreams. These past couple of months have been very busy and extremely fun!! We have gone to Arizona to see Mom and Dad; we've been to Dollywood a couple of times, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Nascar Speedpark, to play putt putt, a carnival, the park, fishing, swimming and working/playing in the dirt in the garden! I have tons of pictures to upload and stories to share. And probably can't think of half the stories! All this to say....keep checking back and hopefully you'll see a few new stories and a bunch of new pictures!! :)

2010-03-19T21:36:00.004-04:00

I spoke too soon in my last post. Things had been quiet and then last night they both had bad dreams. Up until last night they've had them on different nights. Last night for me was a short one because Danny and I stayed up to watch the UT men's basketball team win. The game didn't start until 10:00 so it wasn't over til around midnight. Connor cried around 12:30. Now, him, I can't figure out. I don't know if he is really having bad dreams or just wakes up and wants someone to tuck him back in. This is why. Every time he has a "bad dream", he apparently wakes up, gets out of bed, goes out of his room, opens the door to the loft, goes back in his room, and then starts crying. I know this because as soon as I hear him cry (which is usually maybe a second after he starts) I turn on our tv to see what he is doing. (We have a camera in each kids' room that runs directly to our tv so we can see them in bed.) Every time I turn on the tv he is sitting in his bed crying. So, I get up and go out to the great room to go up the "tornado" (or spiral - as everybody else calls them) stairs and the door to the loft and his room are already open and he is still sitting on his bed. He can't move fast enough to do all that before I get up there. Last night I began wondering even more if he is really having bad dreams because when I asked him what his dream was about and what scared him his reply was, "It was about the ninjy chop." (See link and you'll understand what a "ninjy chop" is www.youtube.com/watchtv?v=GuigcXvcy1A ). Now, this is something he has watched several times, laughs at it and goes around quoting it so I'm not really sure if he would be scared of it. Also, all I have to do is put him back in bed, tuck him in, give hugs and kisses and then leave.

Savannah had another 2 hour-break-in-sleeping night. Apparently a barrette had gotten into her bed. At some point in time she woke up and could feel it but couldn't see it. She has a nightlight in her crib, a TykeLight Jr, and she couldn't find it. I woke up at 2:40 to her crying, "No, no. I wanna see it. I wanna see it." I couldn't leave her crying like that so I went up there, got her light, picked her up and saw the barrette - it was right by her pillow. She probably laid on it and was sitting on it with her leg when I got her up. I rocked her for about 30 minutes and she was about asleep. So I put her back to bed. She cried for a couple minutes then was quiet. I got online for about 30 minutes to make sure she was down for good. Went to bed and had to check the tv. Of course, she wasn't asleep, just sitting there petting her blanket. So, for the next 30 minutes I laid there watching her. She finally went back to sleep around 4:30. She slept til 9:15 so we just skipped naps today and had a GREAT day painting with friends, going to the park and playing outside today. You could tell every so often she was a little off but we had a good day anyway. Tomorrow it's supposed to be pretty again so we'll probably spend most of the day outside again and hopefully I'll get some pictures!

Who would have thought ladybugs could be so scary!

2010-03-17T21:41:00.002-04:00

Ladybugs.....that is what plagued Savannah's dream last week which kept us up 'til 3:30. Something led her to believe she had ladybugs not only in her bed but all over her room. We get ladybugs in our house and always have so she sees them often. She has even held live ones in her hands. But that night they weren't cute little bugs. They were something that had my little girl frightened in a way I have never seen her in her short 2 year life. It started around 11:00pm. She cried and I tried 3 times to rock her for a few minutes and put her back in bed. She would last about 30 - 45 minutes. By the 4th time I was a little frustrated because at that point I wasn't sure why she was crying. I thought maybe she was just wanting to rock and I sure didn't want to at 2:00 in the morning. The last time I let her cry for 20 minutes and when I went in she was standing up in the back corner of her bed on her toes. She was not just wanting to rock she was scared. It took me about 10 minutes to get out of her what was wrong. Even in the moment one thing was a little funny. I was asking her what was wrong. I told her, "Tell Mommy what's wrong." And she told me, "What's wrong." Once I figured out she thought there were ladybugs in her bed I got her out and went to the rocking chair. It took about 45 minutes to convince her there were no ladybugs. She kept asking, "Whaz dat?" Once it was a shadow, another time a decoration on her wall, and once it was even my shirt. She had her legs drawn up, was facing me and covering her eyes. Finally she said, "No wadybugs?" I said, "No. No ladybugs!" She thought for about 2 seconds and said, "Ok." She then settled down and went off to dreamland around 3:15. At 8:30 (when she woke up) I went to get her and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Wadybugs tickle?" For the past week almost every time we go to bed either for a nap or night time, she asks if there are any wadybugs. And when I get her up just about every time she informs me that wadybugs tickle. I'm just glad my mom got her a the bumblee pillow pet instead of the ladybug one.

It's just the house of bad dreams. Connor has had a few too, but none that make us stay up until 3:00 in the morning. His are a little funny. Once it was about rain and pigs....that's all I could get out of him. Another had a monster that was chasing him, but it was telling him to not be scared because he was nice. And earlier this week it was about the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. That's pretty much all the details I got out of him.

The past few nights have been quiet so hopefully the bad dreams are over.

Finally......we're back!

2010-02-23T23:19:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the 2 month hiatus but I honestly didn't feel like blogging. Not really sure why. But, I'm in the mood once again and thought I had better get on it while I wanted to.

Life around here has been busy with just usual every day stuff with a few fun activities and a few meltdowns here and there.

Connor's big thing right now is writing. He goes to preschool 2 days a week and they have been working with them on their writing skills. They have done 1 letter per week so they are almost finished with the alphabet. They had a valentine party and Connor actually wrote all 14 names on his Phineas and Ferb Valentine cards. We broke it up over a few days because it was a bit of a slow process but he was so happy and had fun doing it. When he gets paper and markers, crayons, pens, whatever he is constantly writing his letters. His favorite thing to do is write things like, "MMKILECNTA" and then asks me, "Mommy, what does that say?" Savannah tries to follow in whatever footsteps Connor has so she gets her paper and crayons and marks many, many straight lines and circles and names the letters she's "writing." She's very into writing and drawing right now too. But like I said, she's into whatever Connor is.

Savannah's new thing is.......lieing....telling fibs....trying to get her brother in trouble. For the past 4 days she has, on more than one occasion, done her fake crying and say, "He hit me." I usually believe Connor because he is pretty honest and will tell me if he's hurt her in some way or taken something from her. So, if he says he hasn't I usually believe him. I also believe my own eyes. Yesterday they were sitting at their picnic table, which is in the kitchen area, and I could see them from where I was standing. Connor was busy writing and she did her crying thing and said he hit her. I've been telling her to stop lieing all the while trying to figure out how to teach a 2 year old what lieing is. (I didn't have to cover that with Connor 'til he was 3 - almost 3 1/2). She informed me, "I not lieing." Today, once again, while they were at the picnic table coloring, she did it again. Connor was very emphatic about not hitting her, and I knew he didn't. She then said, "Connor, stop lieing." I think I'm in trouble!

Birthday party

2009-12-21T22:10:00.009-05:00

This past weekend we, along with Danny's family, celebrated both of the kids' birthdays. Here are a few pictures from the gathering:

We're happy tonight

2009-12-17T21:25:00.002-05:00

This is going to be the shortest blog ever......

Danny and I ARE happy tonight because today we celebrated our 13th anniversary. Thirteen years ago today, Danny picked me up from work to go to lunch. We had talked about eloping. He asked me if I wanted to go to Pigeon Forge. I called the office to make sure they didn't need me that afternoon. They didn't, so up to Pigeon Forge we went. We stopped at an outlet jewelry store on the way to get my wedding band. We went to the Chapel of Love and got married for $150. There was lighter fluid squirted on the candles to make sure they would light, and they did........all the way down the side of the candles. The two ladies in the office watched on TV to be our witnesses. After the 15 minute ceremony we went to Krispy Kreme to get donuts, and I was very upset because they didn't have my favorite....plain glazed. What kind of donut store runs out of plain glazed donuts? That was 13 years and 2 kids ago. I'm looking forward to the next 13 years.....but there will not be 2 more kids!!

Christ was born on Christmas Day

2009-12-14T20:42:00.007-05:00

And Connor was born on December 14, 2005. Where has the time gone?!? Four years ago at 1:07 pm my precious, sweet boy made his entrance into this world.

This cannot be the same little boy, or sorry, little man, that lives in my house now. These past four years have flown by, especially the last 2 years. He's gone from this small, quiet, still bundle of joy to speeding, never still ball of laughter!

Today he got to choose what we ate and for the most part what we did. We started off eating ice cream for breakfast. We had to make a trip to Walmart because he wanted cake on his birthday, but I didn't have one (I know - nice planning on my part) because his and Savannah's party isn't until Friday night. But of course, he wanted cake on his birthday. What was I thinking! He decided he wanted to wear his jammies all day. So, off to Walmart we went with him wearing his Buzz Lightyear jammies. After that we went and saw Danny at the office since he wouldn't be home tonight. We came back home and played the Wii....Connor's favorite thing to do. After eating chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for supper we went up to the neighbors house to look at all their lights...think Griswolds plus some. They had a blast! It doesn't sound like much but it was a fun day for all!

I am frightened by the load I bear

2009-12-13T22:17:00.002-05:00

This blog is a little different than most. This one will be a little insight to my mind and thinking a lot recently about being a mom....

The title says it all. I've never had a long fuse with my temper but it seems the fuse has gotten shorter since having two kids. This is what I worry about every day...I think and worrying about my actions and how they effect the kids. I look at them and see two of the most precious gifts God could give to anyone and hope and pray that I'm doing right by them. This is something I'm sure all moms worry about and I'm sure I'll worry about it for the next 20 or 30 years too. The load of being a mom is a heavy one but one that I WANT to carry and the words of this song make carrying it just a little easier.....

I am waiting in a silent prayer,
I am frightened by the load I bear,
In a world as cold as stone,
Must I walk this past alone?
Be with me now, be with me now.

I know that I am not alone in this walk. I have a wonderful, loving husband and a great extended family to help. But the most important "helper" to me is Jesus Christ! I know He is there every step of the way, waiting for me to call on Him to help me hold it together......

Breath of heaven, hold me together
Be forever near me, breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven, lighten my darkness
Pour of me your holiness, for you are holy
Breath of heaven

Sometimes I ask myself, "Did God really mean for me to be a mom, because today it doesn't feel like I should be one." Once again, I know I'm not alone in my thinking. I'm learning "mind over matter" in a way. I usually try to focus on positives when something negative, either from the kids or me, takes place. It seems like that exercise has been missing a bit from my mind so I'm trying to remind myself of that with this blog. But once again, this song helps me put my mind in the right place.

Do you wonder, as you watch my face
If a wiser one should have had my place?
But I offer all I am, for the mercy of Your plan
Help me be strong, help me be, help me

As I finish this post, let me tell you....I KNOW I'm supposed to be a mom and I LOVE being a mom and there is no one that could be a better mom to my kids than me. I am at God's mercy for His plan for me and my life along with the lives of all in my family. I know God will help me be strong!!

Go tell it on the mountain....

2009-12-10T22:29:00.002-05:00

That was the song I got a cute video of tonight while at the kids' Christmas program. Here it is:

So, only 3 days into the December Blog Challenge and I missed a day. It was not by choice though. Had a busy day yesterday so late last night I sat down to type it. But the kids didn't want me to apparently. I was dealing with Connor from about 11:15 til 12:55. And from 12:55 to 1:30 with Savannah...but didn't get to bed til 2:00 because Savannah was having a hard time going back to sleep. We went to the doctor today and each got antibiotics for sinus infection and flu shots. Savannah will be visiting an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor later on this month and then possibly an allergist. It's been a rough couple of days so this is my blog for today. Here are a couple of pictures from the program for your enjoyment.

Do you hear what I hear...

2009-12-08T20:47:00.002-05:00

...I heard a lot of crying today. Once again the "not feeling good" bug has hit the Odom household. Poor Savannah has been congested for a month now...with being on 1 allergy medicine for 2 of those weeks and 2 medicines for the other 2 weeks. During this time she's had one sinus infection and I'm hoping she isn't developing another. She goes for her 2 year check up in a few weeks and I think we'll be going to an allergist after that. She has also been cutting all 4 of her 2 year molars at the same time. Connor has not been feeling well the past few days -either a cold or allergy stuff too. So, there was a lot of crying going on today....and mostly from Connor. We'll be treating the symptoms for a couple of days and hopefully avoiding the doctors office. If not, we'll be there Friday sometime.

What a bright time, it's the right time...

2009-12-07T22:52:00.003-05:00

OK, so I have a wonderful, creative cousin who, along with several of her friends (and now me) to the DBC (December Blog Challenge) every year. What you are SUPPOSED to do (hoping I can) is blog every day, but the title of your blog has to be a line from a Christmas song and it's supposed to tie in to your blog. So, here's my first one.....

...or maybe not the right time. I decided, for some crazy reason, to see if Savannah was ready to potty train. She doesn't turn 2 for a couple more weeks (Dec 27th). But for several weeks now she asks to sit on the potty probably about 1 time a day. I take her and usually when she asks, she does use it...except of course when she doesn't want to take a nap....she's already using it for stalling. I realized this morning I was close to being out of diapers (well, the right size...she's in a 3 and I do have some 4s). So, I asked her if she wanted to wear panties instead of a diaper. She was all for it! She did great in the morning, but then came lunch and after. In about an hour and a half she had 4 accidents....with me taking her every 15 minutes. After the 4th accident she asked for a diaper. It was nap time and I put a pull up on her. She was a bit too excited about it. She kept saying, "Diaper? Dora diaper?" and smiling. After her nap we went to the potty...she used it once again. I put on her panties and not 5 minutes later she stood in my bedroom and had another accident. Needless to say, she went back into her diaper and we'll try again at a later date...probably a much later date!

My conversation with Connor tonight at bedtime...

2009-11-25T20:15:00.003-05:00

Me: Can you tell God 3 things you are thankful for?

Connor: I'm thankful for......God! Well,...

God is a great thing to be thankful for.

Well, He's really number 5 because He's 5.

Oh, okay. So, what's number 1?

Daddy!!

And number 2?

You

Number 3?

Lightnin'

Number 4?

You said only 3 and I did 3.

Well, you had 1, 2, 3 and 5 so I think we can do 4 too.

Ok, Um...4 is Savannah!!

Ok, so Lightnin is over Savannah...not surprising since he doesn't push or pull him; squeal at him; or tell him "no" all the time. I guess we should work on the number 1 spot though. :) I love how his mind works, although I'm not really sure why he thinks He's 5!

2009-11-12T23:10:00.005-05:00

This past weekend our whole family was in a wedding. Danny's brother, Billy, got married (to Amy) so Danny was a groomsman, I was a bridesmad, Connor was the ring bearer (although he didn't have a ring on the pillow, so maybe he was the pillow bearer), and Savannah was the flower girl. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids. Hopefully I'll have more once Amy gets hers back.

2009-11-08T22:46:00.004-05:00

We made a quick trip to the pumpkin patch one day after school. They had some fun but didn't get to go on the hay ride. We were there too early for it. But they had a fun anyway.

I went with Connor the next week on his field trip with his class. He had a bit more fun then running through the maze and being with friends, but still didn't get to go on a hay ride because we had too much rain and it was too muddy.

2009-11-08T22:05:00.006-05:00

October 24th the whole family went out to walk in the Susan G. Komen - Race for the Cure. It was a bit chilly out that day. Connor was excited because we got to leave "in the middle of the night." It was 6:45 but it was still dark so he thought that was pretty cool. We had fun walking with Aunt Mel and Uncle David. There were actually quite a few people from the company that signed up to be a part of it.

Connor had fun giving high fives to some of the people that were there to cheer us on. At the finish line they had a bunch of UT athletes there - including the basketball team. Danny and Connor had their picture taken with Tyler Smith - who is the "star" of the team.

2009-11-08T20:38:00.007-05:00

Back on Oct 10th, Danny and I had the joy of taking Connor to his first UT football game. It was a bit cooler than I expected so we got him the hat and Uncle David (or Uncle Punkin to Connor) knows Connor - and how he unlikes loud noises - so well, the night before the game he gave Connor some ear plugs. It's a good thing we had them because Neyland Stadium IS LOUD! It was a fun day!!

He had a lot of fun cheering with Aunt Mel & yelling TOUCHDOWN! It was so much fun he didn't last on the way home.

2009-10-08T21:28:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to share a few quick stories with you....

Savannah is still testing the waters to see who is boss - me or her. But she is learning that I am. She also has a little mean streak in her. In two days she bit Connor and pinched him. Needless to say she got in major trouble. She very quickly apologized to Connor once she got out of time out. And I was proud that Connor accepted it. She is such a girly-girl - which I am trying to teach her to say. I have a basket that sits on her changing table and in it I keep all her bows and barrettes. Every morning when I sit her up she says, "I want bow. I want bow" She likes to pick them out. I do like them to match but there have been a few times I've let her go with whatever she picks out. A friend of mine made a tutu for her little girl several months ago. I decide to try to figure out how to do it. She told me and it sounded easy enough, but I thought I'd search online and try to see what I could find. YouTube had TONS of videos on how to make them. I did the easiest one I could find....used a Goody's brand elastic headband and just tied the tulle onto it. So easy and turned out pretty cute if you ask me. Shoe LOVES to wear it. Every time I put it on her she says, "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle." and she dances around. She LOVES her babies and puppies still. She rocks and puts her babies "night, night" a lot. She copies everything Connor says... including "poopy butt." She's learning all these "potty" words from him, which I know is how it works. You just don't really want your sweet looking almost 2 year old laughing in Target saying (rather loudly) "I had gas, Mommy!" Although it was pretty funny the other day we were in the car. And all the sudden she said, "Shoo, Connor....stinky butt!" Not sure why she said it but we all got a kick out of it.

Connor was a little under the weather this past Tuesday but is feeling much better now. I'm very glad because Danny and I are taking him to his first University of Tennessee football game. He is so excited. He's been counting down for 2 weeks. Today everywhere we went he told everybody, "Two more days and we're going to see Tennessee football." I don't' know if he's more excited about seeing Eric Berry (#14 defensive back who should win the Heisman - sorry for the plus!) or the band. He has told me several times, "Mommy, when we go to the Tennessee football game I want to wear my #14 jersey and takes this (holding up his saxophone) so I can be in the band." We'll see if he takes it or not, but if he wants to take it, it will be with us! We've been working on learning what patience is. He has the habit of telling me what he wants and he will repeat it over and over until he gets it, even if I'm doing something else. So, I've been telling him either he needs to have patience or he needs to be patient. The other day the words came back to haunt me. A week ago it was lunch time and I had a few errands to run. Connor said he wanted McDonalds. I was happy to oblige (they have the best Coke anywhere). But when we got to the drive thru there were (literally) 12 cars in front of us. It was already 12:30 which is about an hour later than usual for lunch since Savannah usually goes down around 1:00 for her nap. I was thinking it was going to take forever to get through. This was the conversation that followed:

Me: Connor, we'll just go to Wendy's, ok?

Connor: Why?

Me: Because there are a lot of cars in front of us and it will take a long time to get through the line.

Connor: Mommy, you have to have a little patient. It'll be ok. We'll get through the line. (All of this said very matter-of-factly and with his hands moving up and down to get his point across)

All I could do was drop my head, smile and say, "Ok, Connor. We'll wait." Of course, because it was McDonald's we were through the drive thru in about 5 minutes. Sometimes he's just too smart!

Pumpkins + a crown + a lock doesn't = a fairy tale!

2009-09-30T21:53:00.003-04:00

OK - so the post about our vacation will have to wait for a bit....I have to explain the title of this one!

So, today was my 34Th birthday. It was birthday like no other - it was a DAY like no other. It started off like any other Wednesday - got the kids up and ready and went to school. (Side note: I am part of a MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group and in charge of "creativity" or craft). My task for today was to find pumpkins for our craft we are doing this Friday at our meeting. I had find pumpkins that were big enough to do our craft but weren't too expensive seeing I had to buy 22. Thankfully my search was short. For all those local - there's a floral stand down 321 that has tons of pumpkins, mums, hay, corn stalks, etc. They were kind of enough to mark some of the pumpkins down and not charge me for all of them.

As soon as I got the 22 pumpkins loaded in the back of my Pilot I headed to Knoxville to get a lovely crown put on one of my teeth (I had cracked my veneer about 2 weeks ago - gritting my teeth while dealing with 2 wonderful children!). Who doesn't want to go get gassed up, shots, a numb lip and a bore gum for their birthday? At least it's all done and taken care of.

After that I went by Danny's office for a few minutes and just had time to run and the kids home for their naps so I could get some stuff done. Got them home. As I was getting Savannah ready to lay down Connor informed me he was going to go to the bathroom. After laying her down I went to go into the bathroom and.....the handle won't turn. Connor had decided to lock the door for some reason. A little aggravated because I felt I didn't have time to deal with him stalling - something he is mastering every day. He has locked his door and unlocked it before. So I (tried to) calmly tell him to unlock to the door. He tries and says it's stuck. So, now I'm trying to figure out if he's trying to turn the handle or the lock. I get a bobby pin and try to unlock it - no luck. Danny tells me to get a nail and try that. I couldn't get it to work. So, I climbed out of the window in the play room, scooted across the roof to the window at the bathroom. Now, I knew he couldn't open the window but at least I would be able to see what he was trying to turn. Much to my surprise when I got to the window he was standing on his step stool, washing his hands, with his underwear around his ankles. He stayed that way until he got out because I had to wipe his bottom. He did think it was pretty cool I was out there. I could see that he was trying to turn it but couldn't quite get it turned past that first little click to get it turned. He would go between being distraught and playing in the water. I crawled back in and went back to trying all the while trying to convince him to try too. But he didn't want "to try together." He just wanted me to. Finally I called my husband's wonderful cousin, Pam. She came and in about 3 minutes had him out. I so should have called her 30 minutes earlier since that's how long I tried to get him out. I do think he learned to not lock any more doors. When I asked him why he locked it he said he wanted to be in the bathroom by himself. When laying down he said, "Next time, I'll just close the door!"

After all that and having the worst headache ever I decided I would take a nap with him. After waking up a little after 3:00 (a good 20 min nap!) I went and checked on Savannah and found she had never gone to sleep. So, she got to skip her nap - which doesn't happen too often.

I'm so thankful I had a "Ladies Night Out" scheduled with my sister-in-law & my soon to be sister-in-law. We had massages, Olive Garden and a little shopping for Savannah for the wedding we'll be in in November - shoes, necklace - and a few necklaces and rings to just wear! The Ladies Night out was worth all I went through. Overall it was a GREAT birthday - one I'll remember for a very long time!

Cross country trip

2009-09-01T21:04:00.003-04:00

For those of you who don't know, the kids and I made a trip across the country - to Arizona and back. I was a bit of a nervous wreck before going seeing how this was my first flying trip with me and just the kids. Honestly, I had nothing to worry about. The flight out was great. Both Connor and Savannah loved flying - neither were scared of any of it. The loved it! I had both of them each a bag packed of activities and toys to play with. They absolutely loved getting pretzels. They thought that was very cool. We had an hour and half layover on the way there and also on the way back. We landed and left out of the same terminal so we had pretty much the whole time for them to walk around. And since we flew into Houston we had time to get Shipley donuts - let's just say YUMMO! Anyway, we had a great trip out. And an even better time out there. The kids did great pretty much the whole time there. Savannah had a rough night the first night but then was good then on. We did so many things that the kids had never done before.

Friday morning we all went to the Desert Museum. Luckily it opened at 7:30 so we were able to go before it got too hot - 104 for the day, but it was still hot! They had a reptile museum (which I liked because it was inside) with all different kinds of snakes, spiders, scorpions and even a turtle they brought out so the kids could see it. Savannah wanted to hold the turtle so bad but couldn't. Connor did get to touch it. They let kids 3 and up touch it. Connor LOVED the reptile house. There were paths to walk down and every so often they had a stamp station. While on the path at one time a snake crossed it in front of us. Connor wanted to go after it and get it. As my sister put it, "That's our Connor - afraid of a gnat but wants to catch a snake!" They had several big steel stamps with the shape of some animals footprint with an ink pad that you could putin a book. Connor could have cared less but I thought it was fun! They also had an Atrium with tons of birds that you could walk through. Both of them loved that too - especially Savannah. Mawmaw was nice enough to get each child a toy - Savannah picked a bear (which is starting to rank up there with puppies) and Connor picked a snake - which you will see in the pictures when I get them up. On a side note: My mom even went in. She doesn't like snakes - she had four older brothers who liked to chase her with them when she was little. When we were little and would go to the zoo she wouldn't go into the reptile house. She must REALLY love her grand kids! That night mom went to a WMU conference and Dad and I took Connor and Savannah to the local high school football game. Connor was very excited to see the band, but was a little disappointed they didn't play Rocky Top. I even tried to prepare him before we went that they didn't know it. He also like sitting right by the band but didn't understand why they wouldn't talk to him.

Saturday morning Mom had to go back to the conference so Dad and I took Connor and Savannah to the Air and Space Museum. The had a ton of airplanes outside you could walk around and look at but they also had hangers that had planes and stuff in them. We stayed in the first hanger (mainly because it was so hot there) and looked at the planes and helicopters in there. They also had a room for kids to play in. They had a mock air traffic controller room, a small wooden airplane they could sit in, a couple of airplanes including a cock pit that they could get in and push all the buttons. Savannah kept saying, "butts, butts, butts" - that's what she calls buttons. As we were leaving Connor found a cool fighter jet and Savannah got.....a bear. That night Dad and I went to the Tucson Toros baseball game. It was a lot of fun to hang out. It was also a little hot. When we got there at 6:30 or so it was 97; when we left at 8:45 it was 92.

Sunday Dad, Connor and I went to church - Mom kept Savannah home to get a decent nap and somewhat close to Eastern time. Then we just hung out at the house the rest of the day. The kids had a great time just playing at the house.

We came home Monday. Once again the kids did great on the trip. Savannah actually slept off and on the whole trip from Tucson to Houston. Connor colored and practiced his letter writing and then slept the last hour. The plane from Houston to Knoxville was only about 1/2 full so Connor was able to sit across the aisle from me and Savannah got her own seat. (Did I mention that every leg of the trip was on a somewhat small plane - 57 seats total). Connor thought that was pretty cool. Savannah actually fell asleep again as the plane took off. I took that wonderful stuffed snake Connor got at the Desert Museum, put it behind her neck, gave her her blankets and she was out for an hour. Connor had fun with stickers and his cars. Then the 'fasten seat belt' sign went off and he had fun being out of his seat. The flight attendant on the plane was great! Connor loves to talk to people and she talked back. He really liked that. She got some wings for the kids and as we were getting off the plane she had the pilot let Connor up in the cockpit. He got to sit in the co-pilot's chair and push a button to make the plane talk. Savannah just stood there because there was a man.

There were both glad to get home and see Daddy, and Lightnin. We are all glad to be home and so happy to have had a great trip. Now, just a few weeks and we head to Orlando. Oh boy!!

Dentist time for Connor

2009-08-04T22:37:00.002-04:00

So, I took Connor to the dentist today for the first time. It was quite the experience. For those of you who don't know Connor he is not one to try new things very often. He has always been a cautious kid and unsure of new stuff. So, I had a feeling it wouldn't be easy but was hoping it would be because he is a pretty easy kid. I packed one of his "Ed's" (an elephant he sleeps with - but actually has 3 of them he sleeps with) just in case we needed it. He was fine sitting in the big chair and putting the bib on. But once she started lowering the chair for him to lay down it all went down hill from there. He didn't want to lay down. I tried to help him with my hand. Then I pulled Ed out and gave to him. Then tried laying him down again. He would have no part of it. We tried that way for probably 5 minutes - but it totally seemed like 20! So, the dental hygienist and I decided we would try with him in my lap. He so wanted in my lap but had no idea what was in store. So, for the next 5 or so minutes I tried to calm him down and make him lay down. I told him we were doing it even if he cried the whole time. I so just wanted to scoop him up and run out the door as fast as I could. It always breaks my heart when he cries. But I knew if I did that we would never actually get his teeth cleaned. So, I laid back in the chair and pulled him down with me. At one point I had my legs wrapped around his legs, one arm holding his arms down and one hand holding his head back. It took all of maybe 10 minutes to get his teeth cleaned. Once we were done he was spent. I thought he was going to fall asleep on me while waiting for the dentist to come in. He didn't. I told him the dentist was going to come in and look at his teeth. He wanted to know if he was going to brush them again. I assured him he wasn't and he was OK. So, when the dentist did look at him he was fine. He got a sticker and new toothbrush which made him happy. But what really brought him back to the Connor I know was the treasure chest full of toys. He got to pick one out. Of course, he got a car but was very excited to see what all was in there. As I was checking out he said to me, "Maybe when I get a little bit bigger I can lay down by myself!" I said, "I think you could. You know, maybe when you turn 4 you can sit by yourself." (He turns 4 in Dec and won't go back until Feb.) He stopped and thought for a second (here comes the Connor we all know and love) and said, "Um.......maybe when I'm 55!"

Growing up

2009-07-21T21:39:00.002-04:00

Both of my babies are growing up.

Connor has always been smart and he hasn't slowed down on his learning and understanding. He is very interested in learning how to read, write and tell time. He knows all the sounds of the all the letters. He's learned to say the sounds of the letters in the words for the most part but hasn't figured out how to sound them out fast to hear what the word is. He does have close to 30 "sight" words that he can read. He's very good at tracing letters and is still working on writing them without tracing. He's pretty good at his name. As far as telling time - he drives me crazy with it sometimes - in a good way. He constantly wants to know what time we're leaving or going to bed. I'll tell him whatever time it is we are doing whatever we are doing. He'll then ask what time it is right then. I will tell him. Then comes, "What comes after that?" He will ask that question until I make him stop! He also wants to know what numbers make whatever time it is. I'm hoping he'll learn that in school this fall because I really don't know how to teach him that!

Savannah is at the age where they learn so much so fast. She has so many words - it's amazing to me. She's forming sentences - of course most of those start with "I want...." Last night we were fixing supper. She said, "I eat! I eat!" I told her, "We'll eat in a few minutes. Mommy's fixing supper." She said, "I want suppa." She tries to sing so many songs. She gets every 4 or 5 words right. She even loves singing regular songs. There's a song we sing at church called, "Say So." It's upbeat - she and Connor both love it. The chorus is, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, say so, say so." She gets the Say so in every time. She's even learned the beginning. When it comes on she starts saying "Say so. Say so." She's also gotten so big that she's recognizing before she goes to the bathroom. For the last couple of weeks she would say before she would go to the bathroom. I would ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She's always said no. Today as I was changing her diaper she said it and I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She said yes so in we went. I sat her on the big potty for a change. I wish I could have captured the look on her face but didn't have a camera - or my phone - close by. She loved it. Within a few minutes she had gone #1. We waited a few more minutes and she went #2. She totally blew my mind. I had not even pushed it. I don't have any panties, so I'll be going out tomorrow to get some. We tried 3 times after her, once right before she went to bed. the first 2 times nothing & had gone a little in her diaper. But right before bed she did go again. Yay! I don't know if this is really going to happen but I'm willing to try it for a little bit to see. If it doesn't, it doesn't'. No worries!

They are also growing up in the way of fighting and bickering . It feels like for the past week and a half all I ever say is "Connor, leave her alone." "Savannah, stop whining/yelling." "Connor, she can play with it the way she wants to." "Savannah, it's Connor's turn. You'll have a turn in a minute." "Lightnin, stop/get back/get out of the trash." Savannah throws fits A LOT and I am trying to just walk away and ignore her. I'm at a bit of a loss. During all this Connor is having some jealousy issues I think. I will get onto Savannah for doing something and right after I get onto her he does whatever it was she did. He's been whining and pouting A LOT. He's starting to not listen as well as used to - which I know is to be expected. But when you've had as close to a perfect kid as you can for almost 3 1/2 years it can kind of throw you for a loop. He's been crying a lot more when he doesn't get what he wants. I feel bad for him because he's so sweet but don't think it's ok for him to cry over everything. So, anybody who has any advice - my ears are wide open!!

Playing catch up

2009-07-17T23:45:00.006-04:00

I am so far behind on my blogging....

First off - at the beginning of June Danny and I took a trip out west - to LA and Las Vegas. I tell you this mainly to tell you this story...

We went and ate at Ivy by the Shore - known for some celebrities to make appearances. We were sitting there and this guy sat came in and sat down not too far from us. Turned out it was Billy Crystal - he's the one in the red hat. I debated with myself - although I did try to get Danny in on the debate but he wasn't much help - on whether I should go up to him or not. I mean - he's eating supper and so I didn't want to interrupt him, but he's a celebrity and should kind of expect it. So, when we finished they were just about finished and I decided I was going to go up to him. I thought if I didn't I would probably regret it since he's he first movie star I've even been close to. So, I went up, squatted down next to the table and started apologizing. I told him I was from Tennessee and he was the first celebrity I had seen. He asked, "Do you not have any there?" I told him we had Dolly Parton, but I had never seen her. I did ask for a picture, but he didn't want to do it in the restaurant. So, I asked for an autograph and he was more than happy to oblige. I told him I always had paper in my bag because I have a 3-year-old who likes to write. So, he asked my name and my 3-year-old's name. The autograph said, "To Valerie and Connor, My best, your first. Billy Crystal" I was very excited and felt a little bit like a dork but I knew that I would always wonder what would have happened. We also went to a taping of Chelsea Lately - on E! at 11:00 pm every night. It was cool to go to a show taping period but we love her - she pretty much makes fun of people in the tabloids. We had a good time in Las Vegas too!

We took a quick trip down to Panama City with the kids. Well, driving that far with 2 kids really isn't as quick as it used to be. We had a blast! The kids loved the beach. Connor loved everything about it - the sand, the water, the toys. Savannah loved the sand and toys; she wasn't too sure about the water when she was standing or sitting. I think the sand washing away from underneath her freaked her out a bit because if I was sitting in the water and she was on my lap she enjoyed it. We rented a pontoon boat one day and went out to Shell Island. Connor had a lot of fun looking for shells. There was also a school of fish that hung around where we were the whole time. When we ate lunch on the boat we threw some food over for the fish. The kids LOVED watching the fish go after the food. We couldn't have asked for better weather! I of course had to take the kids down to the sand with jeans and white shirts on and take their pictures. I do have to say that some of them turned out very cute - of course that's because of the cute kids in them!

I'll stop now with the updates so this blog won't be too long. I'll catch you up more later.

2009-06-25T20:36:00.003-04:00

So, I found out tonight that incident #3 that took place Tuesday night - Connor stung by a wasp - was a traumatizing incident. We went swimming at his Aunt Mel's house. Everything was fine and dandy until a wasp flew close to the pool. He saw it and started watching it. It flew closer to him and he started screaming. Aunt Mel, being the smart person she is, showed Connor how to splash it and it would go away. The next time one flew close he got scared, but didn't scream, and Aunt Mel came to the rescue again. But then, a bug landed on him - not a wasp, but just a bug and he screamed. Then later, after he was dressed and I was getting things together a gnat landed on him and he screamed. He says, "I don't like bugs." I don't know what to do with him. I feel very bad for him because he's such a sweet boy, I hate to see him so scared of something. I know he'll work through it eventually, but it breaks my heart to see him that scared.

Speaking of sweet, there is some good news. I picked him up from school today and one of his teachers told me, "Oh, he gave the sweetest answer today. We were asking all the kids what they do when they get scared during a storm. Connor's answer was 'Trust in God!'" I felt my heart swell!! It seems I'm doing something right with him - what it is I don't know but I'm so glad he's understanding it at such a young age. Maybe I can tell him to trust in God when a wasp comes around and he'll be OK.

UPDATE

I just put Connor to bed and we had a little talk about if we can trust in God when we get scared during storms then we can trust in God when we get scared of anything else - even wasps. This is how our conversation went:

Me: When you get scared of anything, even a wasp flying close to you just yell "Dear God, please help me!" and He'll hear you.
Connor: And God will come get it?
Well, you wouldn't necessarily see Him but he would hear you and you could trust in him.
(me trying to change to subject) You know what we get to do when we go to the beach? (which we are leaving for tomorrow)
What?
Look for shells!!
I want God and Jesus to go to the beach with us!!! I want them to look for shells with me!!! (all said very excitedly)
God and Jesus go with us everywhere we go.
I want them to come to my house and play.
What do you play with them?
God's gonna play your game!! (that would be my nintendo ds)
OK and what do you want to play with Jesus?
He's gonna play with my toys. Remember that car you can pull back and then it goes all by itself? Jesus is gonna play with that one.
So, you're gonna share all your toys with them?
Ye-es! (said emphatically with 2 syllables instead of 1) because it's nice to share.

So, there is my sweet little boy!! I so wish you could have actually heard this to hear his tone of voice when he talked. He was just so excited about God and Jesus going with us to the beach and playing with him. I don't know how many times I just had to hug him and give him a kiss during that whole convesation because he's sooooo sweet!!

2009-06-23T22:06:00.002-04:00

Ok - so I've fallen a bit behind again with blogging. I really don't like that I'm slacking because there are so many times something will happen or be said I think I need to blog about that. Then I don't blog and now all those funny, cute little stories are gone from my head. So, I'll try to do better in the future - just don't hold your breath!

Savannah is getting smarter and smarter every day it seems like. She has learned a few of her body parts just within a couple of weeks...she knows where her hose, ears, head, hair, belly, h hands, feet and toes are. She understands so much too. She's been whining and crying for me to get her a lot the past few weeks. I've been telling her she has to calm down before I will get her and she does. I think her whininess is because she may be teething her 2 year molars. My guess is that because she's had a little fever off and on; she's putting a lot of things in her mouth and chewing on them; she's been putting her fingers and her blanket in her ears a lot. I've tried to feel for teeth but haven't felt anything yet.

She is all girl...she loves shoes and babies and purses. She'll put her purse on her arm and say (or should I say yell), "Bye!" and head for the door. Any time she sees shoes - no matter whose they are - she starts saying, "Shoes, shoes" and puts them on. She loves to push her babies around in the little stroller I got for her and to put them "Night, night" in the little crib. But more than all that she loves playing with Connor!!

Connor has had an interesting few days. We had a fun day swimming all afternoon and evening Saturday at my sister-in-law's house. We got home that evening and while I put Savannah to bed Danny and Connor stayed outside. When I went out to get Connor and take him to bed incident #1 happened: Danny was pushing him on his swing. He just started swinging on the "big boy" swing about a month ago. He loves it and wanted Danny to push him higher and higher. Danny did as asked. At the top of his swing Connor decided to watch a firefly and leaned back and let go. He flipped over and landed on his neck and shoulders. Needless to say he cried. He got a little scrape on his finger so we got a Transformers band aid and that helped. I kept him up for a while to make sure he didn't a concussion - which he didn't. He was fine. I believe it was Sunday night for incident #2. He was outside with Danny riding his tricycle around our circle drive. There's a little hill and he stopped pedaling, took his feet of the pedals and rolled backwards - which was fun until he went off the driveway into the grass. Danny said he got up and said, "I'm ok." then started crying. But once, again, everything was fine. Tonight was incident #3. We were outside playing on his "park." He had been swinging (yay - I was afraid he wouldn't swing after falling off of it - but he got right back up there). He got off and climbed up the ladder to go down the slide. He slid down and then let out a blood curdling scream. I ran over and there was a wasp nest on the slide and one of them had landed on Connor and stung him. My only guess is it was on the underside of the slide and he knocked it loose when he slid down. We came in and got another transformer band aid with neosporin +pain relief and went for a mule ride (no - not the four legged kind but the one with four wheels). He didn't want to do anything - go for a ride, work in the garden, take a bubble ride except watch Funny Videos (our nightly ritual before going to bed). Of course, they weren't on because baseball was but a moon pie and sitting with Daddy did the trick.

Hopefully that will be that last incident for awhile. If not, I'll let you know!

Still here

2009-05-30T21:15:00.005-04:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've been to blog world. Life has just been busy - a good busy - and I just haven't taken the time to do it. I've put quite a few pictures on the web album. Here's a little update....

We've spent many days at the park and a day at the zoo - even with a little rain.

I actually remembered that Home Depot has free workshops for kids the first Saturday of every month. So, we took Connor over there and they made wheelbarrows and got a flower to put in there for Mother's Day. They got aprons they get to keep and a pin that shows which project they did. Every time they do a project they get one and put it on their apron. He thought it was cool and had a lot of fun working with Daddy. Only, now, when we go to Home Depot, he thinks he'll get to build something.

Savannah's a little chatter box. She is learning new words rather quickly. If you get her to try to say something, she gets most of the sounds pretty close but almost always gets the right number of syllables. If she hears someone say sorry, she'll say "sawwy." I'm glad she's learning it early because I have a feeling she'll be saying it a lot to Connor as she gets older. Three of her newest words (thanks to her big brother) are pee, poo, and booga - or booger to most. Connor loves to ask her, "Hey, Savannah, can you say booger?" And she smiles and says, "booga." She is also "fake burping" as I call it. Connor does this (thankfully not as much as he used to). He'll take a drink then make a "burp" sound and say "excuse me." Savannah has learned the first part but not the second part yet. Gotta love your little girl going around saying pee, poo, booga and burping - just what every mother hopes for!

I realized the other day that once you have kids your vocabulary changes. Not the obvious stuff - that you start talking about veggie tales and backyardigans and dora and diego. But I find myself no long saying spaghetti, but sketti, there are no mosquitos or mosquito bites, but skito bites; police are po po - still even after Connor speaks so well he still calls them po po. I guess there will be a few more years of this - until Savannah gets all her words down too.

2009-04-28T20:46:00.002-04:00

So, I know I just posted earlier today but there are a couple of stories that I have in my mind that I want to tell before I forget them.

First, Connor....he's such big boy now. We went for his haircut today and we took Savannah with us so he couldn't sit in my lap. He could have cared less!! He got up there with his 2 suckers and just smiled and talked to Angie like he'd been doing it forever - not just once before. Ever since his last haircut he informs anybody that calls him "Baby" he's not a baby - you can call him Connor or Sweetheart. Well, his preschool teacher called him that last week. He told her he wasn't a baby. She explained to him that it was just a term of endearment like her calling him Sweetie. He stopped and thought a second and then said, "Well, I am sweet." And that he is!!

We've had to discuss good attitude vs. bad attitude. He now understands the difference. Apparently if he starts having a bad attitude I tell him he needs to "drop the bad attitude." The other day I asked him, "Are you having a bad attitude?" And his reply was, "No, Mommy, I dropped it." It took everything in me to not laugh and just say, "Good."

He has been arguing for a few weeks now. Not yelling arguing just not doing what I want him to do or not wanting to wait for something. I'm trying a new approach I learned the other night referred to as "Speak and spin" - tell him I love him too much to argue and walk away. I haven't had to do it yet, although I thought I might have to tonight when putting him to bed. I lay down with him for 3 songs on his "night, night cd." He told me he wanted me to lay for 4, and I told him 3. He said, "no, 4." I told him, "3 and if you say 4 again I will go downstairs right now." So what was his reply...."No, 5." It was really hard to not laugh! I told him 3 and if he said any number other than 3 I was going downstairs. He said, OK.

Now, Savannah....She is talking more and more. Of course, her words aren't exactly clear but I know what she is saying and other people can usually get what she says too, especially Grammy, or as Savannah calls her "Mammy." She now says "Ah see ....." meaning she sees. Today, while we were at the doctor's office getting Connor's ears re-checked from his ear infection (all clear) she said, "Ah see feesh" which means "I see fish." She loves to ask "Whas dat?" - "What's that?" she says "Hush" a lot because I tell Lightnin' to hush all the time. Tonight she also say, "Da-daddy" for Granddaddy."

I started time out in my lap with her today because she's been a brat for the past few days - mainly annoying Connor then pitching a fit when she doesn't get what she wants. So, we'll see how this goes.

The funniest thing though is we found out last night that she is scared of Danny's feet. We found this out because - he was laying on the bed and stuck one foot up in the air for me to rub. I started doing it and Savannah came into the bedroom and saw what I was doing and started saying, "no, no, no" and whining and backing up. I'd put Danny's foot down and she's stop. I picked it up and started rubbing it again and she did the same thing - about to cry. I sat down on the floor and she came over to me. I grabbed Danny's foot and put it close to her and she tried to get away from it while saying, "nooooo." I'm not sure where this is coming from but it was hilarious!!

10 Day Road Trip

2009-04-28T14:15:00.023-04:00

So, I'm finally taking the time to write about our wonderful trip. Ok, so after the first 3 hours I wasn't so sure how great the trip was going to be. About 1 1/2 hours into the trip I had to stop to change Savannah's diaper. About an hour later Connor informs me he has to "pee and poo." So, we pulled over to the first gas station and Connor did what he said he had to do - for about 20 minutes - and yes, he was actually doing his business for the 20 minutes. When we got finished I got Connor some candy because he did good and actually sat on the toilet and I didn't have to drag his potty chair out. About 10 minutes after we got back in the car I had to whip the car from the left lane all the way over the right shoulder, get unbuckled, grab a bag and hold it up for Connor to throw up in. Once he was finished I asked him what happened. He informed me he had too much candy in his mouth and got choked. I told him, "That's why Mommy tells you not to put too much food in your mouth." His reply was, "Oh, ok." But once all that was over it was pretty much smooth sailing from then on. We drove for about 7 hours the first day and stopped in Hattiesburg, MS. We got up Monday and drove about 5 hours into good old Ragley, LA. We had a lot of fun the whole time we were there. My awesome cousin, Kyle, went and got 70 lbs of crawfish and we had a crawfish boil that night with yummy sausage, corn & potatoes. It was funny to see Connor around the new things. He had never seen live crawfish. All of his cousins had seen them and are used to them so they all stood close to the tub but Connor never really got very close.

Connor had a blast with Paw Paw. He got to ride on his tractor several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. He also got to go look at Paw Paw's garden but first had to help with the gate and then close it when they came back. He was honestly very excited to see Paw Paw from the day we left. When we headed out on our trip he asked over, and over, and over, and over... "We're going to see Paw Paw now?" After about 20 times I finally asked him why he kept asking me the same question over and over and he informed me, "I just want to talk to somebody."

Connor and Savannah both fell in love with Kyle's dog, Tucker. He was the sweetest dog. Connor thought we should take him home with us. Of course, Savannah loves "puppies" and had a ball the whole time we were there because between all the family that was around there were 7 dogs around she got to see. But she really loved Tucker. She called all the dogs either "puppy" or "Lighty" but by the end of our trip she was calling Tucker "Cuh Cuh." I can still ask her where Tucker is and she'll look around and start saying "Cuh Cuh."

I think everybody in the family tried their hardest to turn my kids into a cowboy and cowgirl - especially Connor. They both liked playing with the cowboy hats. But Connor really got into it. There was a PVC pipe calf to practice roping on and Connor had a blast with it! He like to ride it and he tried his hardest to twirl the rope and lasso the "calf." We went Wednesday night for my nephews, Josh and Jake, ride bulls at a local rodeo. They did awesome! Jake did end up with a hairline fracture in his arm - they found after they got home. But they had fun and Connor had fun watching them.

Savannah had a great time because she got to be outside which she absolutely loves!! Once she started talking, she learned how to say outside very quick! She got to just walk all around and see flowers and pine cones and puppies! She was in heaven!! Dene was great with her and would take her out and just let her walk and walk all over the place - which she couldn't get enough of.

We also got to see my great Aunt Ruby who is 93 (I think) and still living by herself. It was great seeing her and I'm so glad she got to see my kids. Mom and Dad got in late Thursday night so we were able to see them for a little bit Friday morning before heading to Houston. We got to Houston just in time for all the rain to hit and be apart of flooding on Saturday. It rained 6" in 1 hour where we were. I got to see my Aunt Terri and part of her family who lives in Missouri - who I had not seen in a few years. Connor had a great time playing with her! Sorry for the lack of pictures from Texas - I think the kids were tired of me taking their picture and I was kind of tired of trying to get them to take pictures. We did have a lot of fun there.

We then headed to Dallas Sunday night to see some great friends of mine - Kay and Kim. I was great friends with them in 8th and 9th grade and we still keep in touch. I hadn't seen them in 8 years so it was great to get to see them and to share seeing each other kids!

We then started our trip home Monday and got home Tuesday afternoon. The kids actually did pretty good sleeping in the car on the way home - on the way down, not so much. But they were completely exhausted on the way home. And they were very happy to get home. On our way home Savannah kept singing, "Daddy, daddy, daddy" over and over again. I took it as she was ready to see Daddy. And Connor just told me he was ready to get home. Yesterday he even told me, "I'm so glad we're back home." It was a great trip and I am really glad we took it. There will be a bunch of pictures put on my web album tonight. So, keep an eye out on them.

2009-04-24T08:22:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note that hopefully a blog will be coming soon about our trip. My laptop cord is no longer working so I've got to replace that this weekend and then probably a long blog to follow!!

I'll say this - it was a great trip and I have great pictures to share!!

Check back at the beginning of the week for more details! :-)

2009-04-02T21:19:00.002-04:00

For those of you who know Connor - you know he is a sweet boy. But these past few days he has become the sweetest little boy you will ever meet!! Once he learned manners - Thank you, please - he has used them very well. He uses Thank You all the time when given something or if you do something for him. The last few days though he'll just say it out of the blue. We went to play outside today and as Danny was walking by Connor said, "Thank you for getting me my new tractor, Daddy!" (A couple weeks ago we got him a new battery powered ride on John Deere tractor with wagon.) A little while later I was planting a few flowers a friend had given me and Connor was out there to "help." His job was to water them after they were planted. There was water in a pan I had sitting out there. He said, "There's water in the bowl, Mommy, from the rain. We can water the flowers with the water. Thank you rain!!" It just melted my heart!! He really is one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet!

Savannah is really into her walking! For the past several days she doesn't really play - she just walks around. She LOVES it! She can already bend over and pick things up. And if she falls - if she wants to - she can stand up by herself without having to grab hold of something. She still loves the ABC's and numbers. She knows that A is the first letter and can say it. She's also learning to count. I count to her sometimes when changing her diaper because she doesn't like having her diaper changed but she likes for me to count. So now I'll say "one" and she'll say "two"; I'll say "three" and she'll sometimes make a sound that sounds like four; I'll say "five" and half the time she'll say "sick" really quick; I'll say "seven" and she always says "a" and that's where she stops. But she says "2 and 8" very,very consistently.

We leave in a little over a week for our road trip down south. I'm starting to get a little anxious about it, but not enough to back out of it - yet anyway. I'm actually looking forward to it a little. I just know it's going to be an interesting trip!!!

2009-03-26T10:14:00.007-04:00

So, both kids have antibiotics and are once again on the mend. Both are doing much better.

Savannah has decided to walk this week. She's still crawling some but when she stands up she walks for awhile before she falls down. Tuesday morning the she and Connor were upstairs playing when I heard Connor yell, "Good girl, Savannah!!!" He then came to the gate at the top of the stairs and said, "Mommy, Savannah's walking all by herse-elf" (he has picked up adding one extra syllable to words from somewhere, which isn't totally uncommon since we live in Tennessee - but Danny and I don't talk like that - too often anyway). He was so proud of her!! She figured out this morning that she could walk backwards while holding on to my finger. She thought that was fun! Last night in the bathtub she stood up and let go and just stood there for the first time. She then clapped for herself!! She's now getting on and off of her ride on toys all by herself too. She's turned into a little jabberer (is that a word?) too. She is either talking or singing a lot of the time. Her favorite song right now is Row, Row, Row Your Boat. She has decided she doesn't like getting her diapers changed so I sing to help her be still. The other day I think I sang that song 20 times. I would sing it, then stop and she would sing, "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa" until I started singing again. She would then smile. Her new favorite word to say is "wook" or look. While riding in the car she is constantly pointing and saying "wook." I think it's because Connor and I will play games while driving and look for certain things - like trucks -and count them and I guess "look" is the first word out of our mouths. She also tries to say "where'd he go?" - I think anyway. She and Connor will climb the stairs. And of course Connor is faster than she is. Once he's out of sight I'll ask her, "Where'd he go?" and she gets the "d" sound and the "go" with the same infliction I do. Its pretty cute I think. Today she learned how to put the lid on a water bottle. Thankfully she can't get it off yet. She puts it on and then wants me to take it off. We did this for about 30 minutes this morning. She is starting to throw tantrums. If she doesn't get what she wants and is in a mood she will whine, roll onto her belly and kick her feet or do this things where it looks like she's trying to crawl but she doesn't move. It looks kind of funny. She's about over her teething finally since it's been going on since before Christmas. That's a good thing because she's is a much sweeter little girl! She has really turned into a sweet, loving little girl, even though she's throwing tantrums now.

Connor is just Connor - funny as always and being a 3 year old, which he will inform you if you ask him how he is. I guess he hears, "How old are you" instead of "How are you" because he always answers, "I'm free." Some days he spends more time than usual in time out, like today, but is still my loving little boy. He's a smart little boy too. He looks at books when he wakes up in the morning. If he sleeps at nap time I put a chair with his cds and cars in there after he falls asleep so he can play with them. He uses his chair to turn the light on. He has now figured out that he can take a book, run it up along the wall and turn on the lights in his room. He and Lightnin' are becoming very good buddies!! I haven't been able to capture it on camera yet, but when Lightnin' is laying on the floor chewing on one of his bones sometimes Connor will go over and sit on him. Lightnin' usually lets him sit there for about a minute and then the playing begins. He has become obsessed with going to see Mickey Mouse aga-ain. He has told me for 6 days in a row he wants to go back and see him. Tonight when I was laying him down and said, "Hey, I have great idea. Maybe next week after a lot of naps we can go and see Mickey!" I'm not so sure I can handle hearing this every day for the next 6 months since we aren't actually planning on going until the end of September.

We are planning on going to Louisiana and Texas next month. So, maybe that will take his mind off of Mickey for a little while. The upcoming trip will be interesting. I will be traveling by myself with both kids in the car. We are heading to Louisiana to see my grandfather and then to a few different places in Texas to visit family and friends. I have a feeling it will be a long, but good trip. Don't worry I'll let you all know how it goes!! But there will be more blogs before the trip - hopefully anyway.

2009-03-19T22:20:00.002-04:00

Well, we once again have sickness in our household. I took the kids to the doctor this evening. Savannah's on antibiotics to, hopefully, keep an ear infection away. We know Connor has a virus thanks to a little finger prick that did not go so well. At least he got McDonald's chicken, french fries and sweet tea afterwards!

Up until the past week things have been good. I know I keep saying it that Savannah's getting closer to walking - but she really is!! She'll actually take 5 or 6 steps by herself and the other day even went 10 - 15 feet. I know one of the days she's just going to take off. I'm not sure if that will be a blessing though. I'm pretty sure she'll be happier though - so that will be nice, but I also know she might be into more things, but she and Connor will have a bigger time playing together. All I know is she is getting heavy! She's not quite 20 lbs yet - almost. I'm getting some pretty strong arms though. She LOVES to say "Poppa" & "puppy" - oh and "shooey." She'll say "poppa, poppa, poppa, poppa, puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy." And the shooey is just said over and over again. And all three of these words are very clear. She has actually started saying"shooey" about 1/2 the time after she goes poop. She loves the ABC's and tries her hardest to sing them. She also tries really hard to count. She can say 2 but pretty much "two, two, two" is what comes out of her mouth.

Connor got his hair cut the other day and actually sat in the chair on the booster seat all by himself for the first time. And he didn't cry. He's gotten used to the lady that cuts his hair. He wasn't too sure about it but she was great - she kept bragging on him and how well he was doing. By the end he had a big grin on his face (see the web album - I'm being lazy and not putting the picture on this time. :-) Sorry) I had told him if he did good and didn't cry we would go get Pinocchio. So, we had to make a trip to Target and get it. Danny and I along with Danny's dad - Granddaddy - took Connor to the last home UT men's basketball game. He did much better this time and actually had fun. He was singing Rocky Top by the end. He was very excited to see Smokey. He even wanted to go give him a high five. (Sorry for the blurry pictures but it's all Danny's fault. He told me I couldn't use my flash but I saw other people using theirs so I finally used mine.) I can't wait 'til next year now. I think he will really like them. He's even learned what Bruce Pearl (the head coach) looks like. He saw him on tv the other night and he got all excited and said, "Look Mommy, it's Tennessee basketball." He's getting pretty good and writing his name. We haven't really worked on all letters, just his name. There's a picture on the Web album of what he wrote on his chalkboard. We went to the park Wednesday and had a great time. We went a little before lunch and played then ate at the park. They both had a good time!

He is all the time saying funny things. When I put him to bed we have this routine where after I read him his books, I'll lay down with him for 3 songs on his "night, night cd." After I get up I have to go back & give him a hug and kiss. The other night he was more awake than usual. He had to give me a kiss too. At the end of the he informed me, "I'm a goooood kisser!" Of course I had to agree with him! And tonight before he went to bed he and Danny and I were in the kitchen. Him and Danny were playing one of the words games. As Connor was getting off the bar stool, Danny playfully smacked him on his bottom. I think that was the first time he had ever done that. The look on Connor's face was shock and he told Danny, "You can't spank me only Mommy can." He was very serious about it too!

It's amazing where God can find us!

2009-03-08T21:37:00.008-04:00

OK, so usually this blog is mainly about the kids. But I felt I wanted to share some about Danny's and my camping trip this past Friday night. So, I'll apologize now for the length of the blog, because there will be a lot to talk about. So, here it goes....

We headed out Friday afternoon heading to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to go tent camping - the first time for me. I was very excited!! Our plan was to stay at Elkmont because we could stay right on the river. There website said they were open year round so that's where we were going to go. Once we got there, we found out they are not open all year. So, plan B - go to Cade's Cove campsite. We get there and they are open - somewhat. The ranger station isn't open but you can pay in an envelope. So, we grab a map and try to figure out which campsite is on the creek because A was open, but B was closed. Once Danny talked about staying on the river - I had decided that's what we were going to do no matter what! Here we are - both looking at the map and trying to figure out where we are and where we need to go. Now, I feel both Danny and I are smart people - especially Danny. But after driving in circles or turning around in the parking lot no less than 5 times we finally figured out that the creek campsite was closed. We decided to try to call a place since we were wasting precious daylight. Now, we were in the mountains so there was no cell phone coverage. We scrounged around and found $.50 to use the pay phone (side note: I thought we would only need $.35). Called Lazy Daze and yes, they were open and yes they had river front campsites available for the night. Yes!!

I really thank God for allowing us to run into those "issues." We found the perfect place - a place I needed to be. We had perfect weather - in the 60s. It was a nice sunny afternoon. We got everything set up and had a little time. We were waiting for the firewood to burn so we could have some coals for Danny to cook on. Danny went down to fish and I decided to walk along the river and try to work on my photography skills. What a walk God led me on. First I just stopped and stood there and listened to......quiet.....all I could hear was the river. It was completely awesome!! I walked on down the river and there was a big rock sticking up out of the water.

I stopped to take a picture and thought - that's how I feel a lot of the time - like I'm treading water, not going anywhere, and barely keeping my head above the water. I was reminded Friday morning at MOPS that a lot of that comes from me being unorganized. I don't have a schedule with the kids other than meal times and nap times. I don't plan other things or cleaning or down time. Toddlers and preschoolers like schedules and boundaries. I had forgotten that. But, back to my walk....

I walked a little farther there was a root from a big tree coming out of and running across the top of the ground. It looked like a snake to me which reminded me of Satan and how he tries to worm his way into our lives...which is part of my problem right now. I feel I have allowed Satan to get into my head and I don't focus enough on what Christ did for me....for all of us......

died on the cross(which I saw in two trees on the ground) to save me (us) from our sins

The trees were directly across the river from our campsite. So, I was often reminded of it! I loved that I could sit at our campsite and look across the river and see it! I also saw on my walk three quartz rocks together on a another rock......

which reminded me once again of Jesus on the cross, His sacrifice for me, and the defeating of the "snake" - Satan!

As I turned around and headed back up the river I saw the path I had just come down. What struck me was most of it was in the shadows - not very dark shadows but something just a little different -but at the very end was a tree with the bright sunlight shining on it. I felt like it was calling me back - just as I felt God was doing to me on this trip. Not that I had gotten so far away from Him that I was doing bad things or didn't believe in Him. I just haven't focused enough on Him and Him guiding me in ALL of my life - including what to do with my kids everyday. It seems so small but when you are as tightly wound as I am - you need all the help you can get with guidance!! So, I came home very renewed from this trip. When we left to go camping I was totally not looking for that but very thankful for it!

As Connor would say, "All better!"

2009-02-18T10:25:00.002-05:00

The house is all better - finally - after about a month of all kinds of stuff. Now, if all of Savannah's teeth would come in it would be great! She has been teething constantly since before Christmas. She has a full mouth of teeth - all of her top teeth and I think she lacks two of the bottom of having everything in but her 2 year molars.

I'm beginning to understand the concern a friend of mine had about her daughter not walking until she was 16 months old. Savannah still isn't walking - but she's just about 14 months old. It's hard not to have expectations for her when Connor walked at 11 1/2 months. She will walk all over the place if she's holding on to something. I guess she just doesn't have the confidence yet. I know she will walk when she's ready but I'm kind of ready for her to. She's getting heavy!! :-) She's learning a lot right now. She now knows a cow says "moo." When she's ready to go to bed she'll say "nigh, nigh" and start waving. She has learned to say "Please" in sign language and says "peas" while signing it. She usually does it when it comes to food - when she wants more and starts pointing to it. I'll ask her if she can say "More please" and she'll say and sign "peas." She has also learned to say "Shooey." Whenever I change and poopy diaper I'll say "shooey" and wave my hand in front of my nose. She now says it so clearly. She'll say "shooey" and wave her arm around. She LOVES books. When I get her and put her in my lap and grab books she can't stop smiling and starts bouncing. If she sees a book on the floor she'll crawl over to it and bring it to me and say "buh, buh" and want me to read it to her. She's not entirely happy just looking at them by herself. She would much rather be read to.

Connor is still like a little sponge soaking things up. He has learned how to count to five in Spanish. They are teaching them that at his school. They are also learning a little sign language like the alphabet. So he often asks me how to do a certain letter and I'll show him. He really wants to learn how to read and write. He has a few words he recognizes when he sees them. He does fairly good with his name about 1/2 the time. His "C" is usually backwards, he can make the "o"s you just never know what's going to show up for the "n"s. So, I am going to try to figure out how to help him learn how to read and write. I want to teach him all the things he wants to learn while he wants to learn them. I'd hate to miss this opportunity to teach him and then he decide he doesn't want to learn it. I just have no idea what I'm doing!! I'm sure it will be fun though! He's looking forward to doing schoolwork at home with Mommy.

On the mend.....hopefully

2009-02-03T18:29:00.002-05:00

OK, so these past couple of weeks have been a little trying. With just about everybody in the household not feeling well - with Savannah being.....I can't even think of how to describe her other than I say "Oh my word, Savannah, CHILL!" a lot - I'm glad I think most of us are on the mend. Connor is getting over his cold thanks to his antibiotics. It's still hanging around but he is getting better. I am getting better with a little lingering stuff but hopefully it will be over soon. Savannah is another story. We went back to the doctor today because I just knew she had at least one ear infection with the way she was acting. But, no, not a one. She's had something going on for 2 1/2 weeks now. So, thankfully they gave me an antibiotic to see if it would help her get rid of whatever she has. If it doesn't or she gets better and her attitude doesn't improve I'm in BIG trouble!! She's so different than what Connor was. Connor was and is an unusually well behaved kid. I'll just say I have to have a lot more patience with Savannah (which I don't usually have much of) than what I did with Connor. No kid can compare to him. Not that I don't love Savannah just as much as I do Connor. Just once you have a kid like Connor - you're ruined for whatever comes next! :-)

On a lighter note Connor had his 3 year check up today. Thankfully no shots today - just checking to make sure he's where he should be on things. His vision was 20/20 and he heard everything he was supposed to hear. He even peed in the cup for them to test and all came back normal. He was 34 3/4" tall - in the 2nd percentile and weighed 27 lbs - in the 5th percentile. Him being in the 5th percentile is the highest percent he has been in since June 2006 - when he was 6 months old. We're making progress!! :-) He actually loves going to the doctor. Whenever I take Savannah in for whatever reason and he goes with me Savannah's doctor has to check him out too - the whole thing - heart, ears, nose, throat, eyes, knees. But thankfully Savannah's doctor doesn't mind doing it and actually seems to enjoy a kid that likes to be there. It's funny because he's on the bottom end of the spectrum for physicality (is that a word?) but mentally he is far and beyond. In the questions they asked at the beginning they asked, "Can he count to 3?" I thought - he's done that for 1 1/2 years. He can count to 20. He knows all his colors and shapes. He even knows the difference between a circle and oval and also a square and rectangle. He's starting to read a little bit - just from memorization. He read the word "stop" while the doctor was in there. He was impressed. I really need to take time with him and work on some things but now I'm not really sure what to do with him. He goes to preschool twice a week and gets a lot of stuff there but I feel like I should be doing more with him and Savannah for that matter. I don't work with her on things like I did Connor.

Savannah is continuing to try to talk. She has said "uh oh" for a while but I now think she is adding a "dang it" on the end. It comes out, "uh oh, dango." Connor says dang it a lot - trying to get him to say that instead of crap. :-) She also says "dane do" for thank you. We're working on sign language - I've lagged with her compared to Connor - but she'll say "all done" and just started trying to say "please" today. She's getting closer to walking. It's more just a confidence thing than anything. She'll walk all over the place while holding on to something with both hands and does very well holding on to just one finger. She just needs to gain a little confidence and she'll be gone.

Connor's new phrase he says is "You kidding me!" Apparently I say "You've got to be kidding me" a lot. I never realized how much I say it. I guess I actually never realize how much I say a lot of things until I hear them come out of Connor's mouth. :-)

UGH!!!

2009-01-28T09:25:00.002-05:00

Sickness has taken over our household....Savannah has had a virus since last week. I took her to the doctor last Friday after a week of EXTREME irritability. They did a blood count and confirmed the virus. Connor started coughing Friday night and on Monday it turned into a full on cold, which now Savannah and I are getting I think. She started up with a runny nose yesterday and me - a sore throat. Today - her nose & Connor's nose are disgusting and I'm getting the runny nose. Savannah threw up last night and then had a "watery diaper." I'll let them go until Friday and probably make another trip to the doctor. They actually told me to bring Savannah back if she wasn't better by today but I have a feeling I may be taking Connor so I'll just wait and do them both at one time. It's no often that the kids are sick especially at the same time. It's just getting hard now to keep them away from each other when they are sick. Sorry to complain and run on. Our household just needs some prayers right now - for all!!

I'm on a roll!!!

2009-01-22T17:45:00.004-05:00

So far - 3 days now - I'm doing much better at blogging. Basically because the kids are giving me things to blog about. I'm afraid if I don't blog about them I'll forget them. This is also going to help me when it comes to my scrapbooking because I'll have written record of it.

Connor first - He has figured out he has his own mind and own will. So, I'm sad to say I've had to start spanking him. Time out didn't really seem to work any more and he was becoming more and more stubborn and wanted to do what I wanted him to do in his time not mine. But his time could take him 30 minutes when it should only take 3. I absolutely hate spanking him but the phase we are in right now requires it. He gets it a lot for "not listening." So, yesterday he was wanting my attention but I was dealing with a very fussy, 6-tooth cutting little Savannah. Next thing I know I feel two soft smacks on my back. I asked him what he just did - because we have hitting but we also have "love taps." He informed me he was spanking me because I wasn't listening to him.

Ok - for those of you who saw this post and it only contained what is above - that's because of Connor. While I was at praise team practice he decided to help Mommy and posted it. So, here's the rest of the blog...

Savannah is learning new things every day. Yesterday she learned how to give 5 and a high 5. But what I love the most is her new dinosaur "stuff." She used to be afraid of Connor's toy dinosaurs. She now loves to play with them and she learned yesterday they roar and stomp. Connor always says "stomp, stomp, stomp." So, Savannah goes "thom, thom, thom" and if only you could hear her roar. For those that are around her and have heard her "growl" noise, that's what she does.

Just a couple of stories to brighten you day.....or evening. :-)

Rare snow in Tennessee

2009-01-20T21:51:00.005-05:00

A lot of people think that Tennessee gets a lot of snow. I guess certain parts do - like the mountains but we don't get a lot. And when we do get it, it usually doesn't stick. Anyway. Yesterday it snowed here and it actually stuck. We ended up with 2". I took the kids out as it was getting dark since I had been gone all day. I had to get Savannah's picture and let Connor play in it just in case it was gone by today. Well, it wasn't and it actually snowed a little more today. I took Savannah out for a few minutes and then took her to my mother-in-law's house so Connor and I could just play. Connor had a blast!!! It was actually the first time he got to play in it. He has seen it and about a month ago had me move his chair by the front door so he could watch it snow while he ate. But to play in it was a new experience!! It's amazing to me how his mind works and what he thinks of. He wanted to build a snowman so I was trying to do the best I could - it was very powdery - and started making a pile of snow. Connor was watching and helping a little. All of the sudden he said, "Hey, Mommy - it looks like a volcano!!" I looked and it did. So I asked him if he wanted to build a volcano instead of a snowman. He said a very emphatic "YES!!" So, we added a little more snow. We went and got taco sauce and some strawberries and here you have our volcano:

He then wanted to build a snowman. So we did the same thing - mounded up snow. We put blueberries for eyes, a carrot for the nose and a strawberry for the mouth. We then had to add the UT scarf - which covers the mouth. It doesn't' exactly look like a snowman but rather a duck. Connor didn't seem to notice so I didn't say anything.

Last but not least we had to make snowballs. Like I said before the snow was very powdery so it wasn't too easy but we were still able to do it. He thought that was great - for Mommy to make the snowballs and then he got to throw them. He's all boy and loves to throw any kids of ball so a new kind of ball was a lot of fun. It was an all around great day!

I know...where have I been?!?!?

2009-01-19T21:00:00.002-05:00

Ok - so it's been quite some time since I've written. Not to make excuses but the holiday season was very busy for us. We had Thanksgiving at our house, then there was Christmas shopping to do, then 2 birthday parties, 3 Christmas', all of my family here for a week and then a very quick, sad trip to Houston for the extremely unexpected funeral of an uncle. Although we were there for a sad reason it was good seeing family.

I'll try to give you a brief update:

Savannah is learning more and more every day! She is trying to talk. She of course has said momma and dada for a while but she now calls us Mommy and Daddy. One of her favorite games to play is she says, "mommy" and I'll say "Savannah." She likes to do it several times. When we are in our loft (that over looks our great room) and Danny is down on the couch she says, or I should say, yells, "Daddy...." and then starts her mumbo jumbo talk. She hasn't learned to do much talking quietly yet. She seems to yell whenever she's talking, no matter if you're right next to her or far away or if she's talking on one of her many phones. She can say Lightnin' and says that when she see any dog, other than my mother-in-laws dog. She tries to say his name which is Mikey. She can say puppy and knows that the puppy says, "oof, oof" and she can say baby. She knows what a baby is. Any time she gets one of her babies or stuffed animals if you ask her if she loves it she'll hug and rock from side to side and say, '"ohhhh." She has recently learned the word no, and she definitely knows what it means. As she sits in her high chair and drops food off onto the floor, she says, "no." Yesterday Connor had one of her dolls. When she saw him with it she started whining and crawling as fast as she could toward him saying, "noooo, nooooo." Apparently she wasn't happy that he had one of her toys!! She still isn't too interested in walking. She will walk all over that place if she's holding on to something but once she lets go or if you let go of her she just sits down. She has learned to crawl on things - like Connor's Elmo couch and boxes and still tries the stairs.

Connor was moved up to the 3 year old class at preschool. He's gone 2 days and didn't cry either day!! He gets to go to a music class now, which is great for him! He LOVES music. He's got good rhythm and loves to listen to music. After he goes to sleep for his nap I sneak back in and put his basket of cds in his room. I can't leave them in there otherwise he would not take a nap. When he wakes up he turns his light on (by standing on the chair I put in there with his cds) and listens to all his cds. He loves to listen to the music we sing at church and he also loves TSO - Trans Siberian Orchestra - because they have a lot of guitar and drums he can hear and "play." He goes around singing all day long and makes up his own songs too. He always has "a great idea" of some sort whether it's playing my Nintendo DS, or finger painting, or using my stamps and ink pads to make pictures. He loves helping with Lightnin - his favorite thing to do is help feed him. He gets very upset if I don't let him put his food in the bowl. He's starting to assert his opinion a little bit more and seems to get a little talking to a little more often, but is still a loving, sweet, very well behaved 3 year old!! Saturday evening Danny and I were going out. When he went to sleep for his nap I was still in sweats and a t-shirt. When I went into his room after he woke up he said, "Wow Mommy. That's a pretty shirt!" I couldn't help but hug him and squeeze him! He loves to make Savannah laugh and she loves to laugh at him. They are a lot of fun together!

That's all for now. I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with it now that everything is settling back down. I'll also try to put new pictures up within the next few days...I'm not promising anything though.

Birthday Party #1

2008-12-14T14:11:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted - surprise, surprise! There's too much to write about right now other than the most import thing....Connor turned 3 today. It's hard to believe 3 years ago yesterday I left the company Christmas party and little early because I was in labor. The big milestone for Connor was first thing we did this morning was throw away his paci. I had planned on taking it away at 2 but with Savannah coming I didn't want him to have to deal with that along with a new baby sister. So, I gave in and let him have it. So, for the past few weeks I've been preparing him and telling him when he turned 3 we were throwing it away and it would be gone. He threw it away himself but of course at nap time asked for it, but didn't get it. It really wasn't too big a deal because he had chewed a hole in it and hadn't really been using it.

Anyway, we had a birthday day party for him and Savannah yesterday. (Danny's parents usually leave the day after Christmas going to Alabama to visit family so I combined their birthday parties since I can right now.) Savannah actually kept her crown on a lot longer than I thought she would. And of course didn't open many presents but did play with them. Connor opened most of his I think but of course wanted to play with whatever he opened. We kept having to direct him back to his presents to open them. But, he did everything he got. After we opened presents we did cake and ice cream. I didn't light Savannah's cake but Danny did Connors. The funny thing is he would go near the cake with the candles lit. I bet everybody tried for about 5 minutes to get hi to go blow the candles out but he wouldn't. And when I tried to carry him close to them he was about to cry. At one point everybody even turned their backs thinking maybe that would be better. It didn't matter. I ended up blowing them out. As soon as the candles were blown out he went straight to the cake. The only think I can figure is he was a little scared of the flames. Danny burns boxes outside quite often. Connor gets to go out when he does but is always told to stay away from the fire because it could hurt him. So, I'm guessing he associated the fire from outside with the candles and actually listened to what he was told and didn't go near it. :-) Savannah really enjoyed her cake. But when she was finished, she was over it and ready to get out of her high chair. She didn't enjoy the quick bath in the kitchen sink either. It was a busy and fun filled afternoon. Just think - we have 3 more Christmas' (1 with Danny's family, our personal one and then with my family since they aren't coming 'til Christmas evening) and 1 more birthday party to go (with my family after Christmas). Talk about overwhelming - but a very good overwhelming!!

What really goes through an almost 3 year old's mind????

2008-12-01T19:47:00.006-05:00

OK, so I'm actually trying to do dishes tonight before putting Connor to bed and Danny walks into the kitchen. I asked him if Connor still had his cup of peanut butter (he was dipping graham crackers into it). Danny smiled, or should I say smirked, and said, 'Yes, whatever isn't on his cheek." Of course, I said, "What?" And this is the scene that I walked in on.....

I don't know if you can tell it in the picture but he wasn't putting it on lightly. I was dipping his whole hand and rubbing his whole cheek with peanut butter. I asked him what made him want to put peanut butter all over his face and his reply was, "Soap." I asked him if he was washing his face with soap and he said ,YES. He has a great imagination...too good sometimes. I've been trying to explain the difference between pretend and lying. So far I haven't quite gotten through to him yet. Anyway, I guess because he had just taken a bath it somehow led to peanut butter smeared on his face and then into his mouth. I don't know...all I know is my little boy's face smelled fresh and clean for all of 30 minutes before it started smelling like peanut butter.

Thanksgiving weekend

2008-11-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

So, it's been a little while since I've been on here. It got a little crazy around here with holidays coming up and trying to get our house CLEAN - not just clean - for the family to come over here for Thanksgiving. But it was all worth the weekend we've had!

The fun and funny stuff started (well, as far back as I can remember) was Wednesday. I was meeting a friend for lunch and thought we'd go a little early and go to Big Lots. I hadn't been there in a while and thought I'd go see what they had. We were looking at toys when Connor said, "Hey, Mommy. I hear something." I asked him what he heard and he said, "Music." So, I showed him where the speaker was on the ceiling. We went on looking at toys and were going to look at the Christmas tress and village houses since both kids love them. They started talking over the loud speaker. Connor stopped in his tracks, looked up at the speaker and said, "I would like some chicken and french fries. (pause) Uh huh. (pause) No, that's all. Thank you." And then continued on his merry way. The lesson for me was - we much go through the drive thru for chicken and french fries just a little too often. :-)

Thursday was spent just hanging around the house (we didn't do the whole family Thanksgiving meal until today) and fixing our own Thanksgiving meal which consisted of turkey legs boiled in sprite, sugar, Tabasco sauce, red pepper flakes and few other things then grilled with honey on them. I'm sorry to say I actually didn't get to eat one because of feeding one child and trying to get the other to eat but Danny said they were very good. In the afternoon we went out and played in the leaves. Danny made a HUGE pile of leaves (the pile wasn't even half of what was in our yard!). Connor had never played in the leaves before. He was a little unsure at first but when Danny showed him how to jump in them he was all about it. He loves jumping on, at, off anything. That evening I got to "spend" Thanksgiving with just about all of my family in Houston. My parents were down there for the holidays so my dad and I used Skype to talk at the family get together. So I (and Connor off and on) spent an hour on the computer talking to all. It was great and a lot of fun!

Friday the kids and I went out with their Aunt Mel to hit the black Friday shopping. Connor was great and had fun. So far, Savannah isn't a big fan of shopping. I think she gets bored sitting in the back seat of the stroller and can't see very well. So, next time out I may try the kids switching places and see how that works. But we had fun anyway! I got 2 Christmas presents and everything else was just for me! That was the best part! :-) We of course had to start decorating for Christmas - always the day after Thanksgiving. Connor got to decorate his own little tree. He also got to watch the first part of Polar Express and really liked it. I wasn't sure if he would or not, but I should have known he would since he loves trains. So, we had to go out and get it today so he could see the end of it.

Today all of Danny's family came over to eat lunch. It was a great time - and there was a lot of good food. Savannah napped shortly after eating but Connor had a big time with his older cousins - Nathan, Amber & Ryan. He's funny. He doesn't always realize he isn't there size and just talks to them like he is their age. At one point I heard him say, "Hey, I have an idea." I never did hear the idea but it tickles me when he talks like a grown person. One of Connor's favorite things to do with Danny is Connor runs around the couches. As he comes around the front Danny takes one of out big couch pillows, throws it at him and knocks him down. Connor grabs the pillow and takes it back to Danny and tells him to do it again. All the kids got in on the action today and Connor thought that was great! After everybody had left we hung around the house a little and then ran out to get last few things needed for decorating. That's finished now and it's time to REALLY start buying Christmas presents!!

A couple of side notes.....

Savannah is doing her best to talk, although most times it comes out just squealing. I will be sooooo glad when she can use her words. But the words she can say are: uh oh, Lighten, Momma, Dada and baby. She just added baby this past week. And Connor's new favorite phrase to say, "Oh my crap." Some people think it's funny to hear a 3 year old say that, but Mommy doesn't always - but sometimes I do!

(I've added pictures from our weekend in the November photo album.)

What goes up must come down

2008-11-17T20:54:00.002-05:00

So, Savannah seems to be a little behind Connor when it comes to some things....Connor rolled over at 3 months - Savannah at 4; Connor crawled at 6 months - Savannah at 8; Connor was walking at 11 months - Savannah's not 11 months but almost and just started cruising; Connor fell down the stairs at 6 months - Savannah at 10 1/2.

Connor's story - I had gone into the laundry room and he was following behind. We had not got the gate up at the top of the stairs yet but was using my pac n play (folded up) to block the stairs. I didn't realize that the pac n play had been scooted over a bit and being the curious person he is he decided to go investigate. I heard a few thumps - thinking Connor had thrown one of Danny's shoes down the stairs only to be shocked when I heard wailing!! I rad out there and he was 1/2 way down the stairs (hardwood). I ran as fat as I could to get to him. After the fact it was kind of funny. He was sitting on the stair - reclined back - and it looked like he was just hanging out. No harm though - just a tiny bloody nose.

Savannah's story - Danny was in the kitchen and I was on the other side of the counter cleaning. He asked, "How many stairs can Savannah go up?" I started walking over there because she had never climbed stairs before. I was about to her when I see her sitting on the second step from the bottom. She turned and saw Danny and smiled and decided to try to crawl to him. She thought she'd hit floor but instead found air. I was not quite fast enough. She landed on her forehead and tumbled over. She of course let out a big cry but within probably 3 minutes she was over it. I knew it had just scared her. Within 5 minutes she was back down on the floor playing with Connor.

She may be a little behind Connor in some things but she DID learn how to crawl up stairs before he did. :-)

God's lesson continues....and fun at the park!

2008-11-12T20:31:00.003-05:00

So, after I posted my blog yesterday believe it or not my lessons on cleaning, or really patience, continued. I ended up using my little green machine two more times...one on Orange Fanta that got spilled on the carpet. The second was on the "poo water" that spilled out of the hose of the green machine while I was carrying it to clean the fanta. :-) And yes, last night my kids went to bed clean. :-) Today....it was Grapette that got spilled on the carpet. It's fine though - I didn't get upset...just cleaned it up.

This afternoon after both kids just slept 1 1/2 hours I decided to go to take them to the park. It was about 60 degrees and I thought I had better take advantage before it gets too cold. Luckily there weren't a whole lot of kids there. I decided to take the wagon in case Connor decided he wanted to go on a walk. But, we ended up not going on a walk because he found a couple of little boys to play with. He can always find someone to play with at the park. He doesn't care how big they are. He doesn't always realize that he's only 2....he thinks he's just as big as whatever kids is around. He plays with older boys - middle school age - at church every Sunday. He found these two little boys that looked to be around 6 & 7. They apparently were playing "Scooby Doo" which I thought was so neat because you don't see many kids pretending to be Scooby any more. One of them was Scooby - and no he didn't crawl around on all fours - and the other was Shaggy. They made Connor the monster that was chasing them. It was cute because Connor didn't have a clue what was going on. He just thought it was great that he was getting to run around chasing these other boys. He had an absolute blast. Savannah loved swinging. I guess she did that for about 20 minutes. She also went down the slide with a little help from Mommy and thoroughly enjoyed that. Her favorite thing though was sitting in the mulch trying to eat the mulch and leaves that fell. She wasn't sure about crawling around on it at first but soon got used to it and was throwing all the mulch out of her way. She tried really hard a couple times to follow Connor and his "friends" but just couldn't keep up. As we were going back to the park there were a lot of leaves in one area. Connor asked me to put them on him so I did. I then had him throw them out of the wagon and he loved it! The pictures turned out cute - in my opinion, anyway. It was a great one and a half hours spent at the park.

God's Lesson

2008-11-11T14:50:00.005-05:00

If you are on facebook you would have seen that my status at one point was "Valerie is wondering what lesson God is trying to teach her with the way these past few days have gone!!!" I've finally figured out God's lesson for me.....it's all about cleaning!! I know I'm not the greatest cleaner but I really didn't think God would have to teach me about that. Let me share with you some events of the past two days.....

Savannah had some congestion and some "watery stool" over the weekend so she's been a bit fussy. Put on top of that a big brother who wants to wake up before the sun comes up and insists on waking up Mommy who now has not had enough sleep...let's just say I knew yesterday was going to be a trying day! Yesterday morning was filled with fussiness from everybody - not a lot of fun. My mom calls and I'm filling in her on the day so far. Connor keeps saying, "Hey Mommy" and Savannah's fussing in her high chair because she has run out of food because I'm trying to CLEAN the kitchen. Being the wonderful and caring and loving Christian mother that she is she asks if I want her to pray with me before she hangs up. I of course say YES! I'm feeling better as she's praying then......

Connor comes out of the bathroom with lotion from fingertips to elbows on both arms. He was wanting to be a very good, clean boy and wash his hands (which always consists of washing up to his elbows for some reason). I told him he had to wait for Mommy but seeing how he's getting big he decided to do it himself....but didn't get soap but lotion. He can't reach the faucet to turn it on so he just kept getting more and more lotion. I'm laughing as Mom finishes her wonderful prayer for me. I think she's prayed for patience for me and I really don't ever pray for that because to learn patience you have to deal with things to become patient. I inform Mom what happened, and as we're laughing about that and I'm CLEANING Connor's arms and hands Lightnin' proceeds to pee on Danny's pull over he wears every day. Once again, CLEANING has to take place. At least I laugh about it - only because it was Danny's and not mine. :-) I'm trying to CLEAN Connor and Lightnin' mess while still trying to CLEAN the kitchen and do laundry which of course is CLEANING clothes. I put Connor and Savannah down for a nap and finally get to eat lunch at 1:15. Connor doesn't sleep - Savannah sleeps for an hour. So, once again I've got fussy kids and still not a clean kitchen, but some clean clothes. Let's just say last night the kids went to bed early ..... and without being CLEANED!

Today...Connor was up at 5:00. But today, I took him back up to his room and told him he had to go back to sleep because I was locking him in and it was going to be a long time before I came back to get him. Thankfully he did go back to sleep. But Savannah was waking off and on from 5:00. I didn't get a lot of sleep between 5:00 & 7:15 but I did get some!! She of course has been a monster all day! We went to Kroger this morning and before I can even get her in the buggy she's whining and carrying on. I forgot her paci so our first stop was the baby aisle and broke into a package of pacies (paid for later of course!). While I'm at the deli she's fussing so the lady behind the counter was very nice and got her and Connor both sugar cookies.....that were orange and of course I had Savannah in white. Needless to say I'll be CLEANING her white jacket. But that had to wait because our cute little puppy left me a lot to CLEAN! We got back from the store and I took Lightnin' out for about 10 minutes. He does #1 but not #2 - not unusual. But we come back inside and I'm CLEANING Savannah's bottom and what does he do....#2. Not only does he do it but either he or Connor stepped in it and proceeded to walk all over the place. Now I there are little spots of poop all over my great room and bedroom. So I have just spent an hour CLEANING poop with God's greatest creation for anyone with kids or pets - the Bissell little Green Machine.

So, does anybody else see how I'm thinking God is wanting me to learn about cleaning ..... or is all this cleaning my lessons on patience? :-)

Growing up

2008-11-10T20:48:00.005-05:00

Let's see...where do I start. Savannah is growing up so fast right before my eyes. She started pulling up on everything this week - even on the hardwood floor. She is always very proud of herself. She has also starting "walking on her knees" across the hardwood floor while pushing and holding on to something. I know she's just dying to walk. When she and Connor are playing together and he takes off running, she crawls as fast as she can (with her tiny bottom wiggling behind). It's really one of the cutest things I've ever seen! She does it with such determination too - she lowers her head and is gone before you know it. She has said her first word other than "mama" and "dada." Believe it or not she tries to say "Lightnin'" (our dog's name). She gets pretty close. It comes out "yigh yen." You can tell she's trying to say his name. It's so cute. She uses the same tones that I do when I ask her to say it. She's into squealing again. She used to do it, but had stopped and I thanked God for that! These past couple of weeks she's started it up again. She squeals when she's mad, when she's excited, or just because she wants to. It's cute sometimes but most of the time it's just annoying. Connor doesn't like it either. He's heard me say "No, ma'am" a lot so when she does it he tells her that. She's getting 2 more teeth in on the bottom so that makes a total of 6 teeth so far. And she uses all of them when it comes to eating her favorite foods....peas, broccoli, chicken, pancakes, asparagus, potatoes, carrots, eggs, graham crackers....and any other food that you can think of. She loves eating and enjoys all foods!!! Now, if only I could get Connor to eat like that!! She also has signed her first sign language words - "
All done." It's not exactly the way you're supposed to do it - but I know she's saying it. You are supposed to hold your hands out in front of you palms up then turn your hands over so the backside is up. She pretty much just waves, but every time I say "All done" she does that, whether I say it when changing her diaper or eating - whatever she does it. It's cute!

Danny and I took Connor to his first University of Tennessee basketball (exhibition) game this past Friday night. It's officially his 2nd - when he was 2 months old we went with a bunch of people from church - but that doesn't really count. He wasn't too sure of it at first. We got there about 30 minutes early to watch warm ups and stuff. Our seats are a little close to the band - a few sections away. He was excited when he first saw them because he LOVES music. He's learning the different instruments. When they were getting ready to start he covered his ears (see pictures) because he was afraid they were going to be loud. He doesn't like noises unless he's controlling it. He got used to it pretty quick. Then the game started. He was good until everybody cheered - he would then cover his ears again. The game didn't start 'til 7:30 so we didn't stay too long. But, by the time we were leaving he was having a good time. He got to eat some popcorn and had M & Ms and a sprite. I hated to leave, but if he's up too late he can be really crabby the next day. As we were walking out I asked him if he would like to go to another game and his reply was, "Yes, that was cool." Sometimes we forget that he's only 2 - almost 3 - because he just seems to know so much and is very aware of things. He surprised me on the way home when he asked, "Why is the road so bumpy?" We had just gone over a bridge and it was a little bumpy. Maybe I should expect questions like that from him, but I don't. He's in a very curious stage right now. I swear he asks at least 100 questions a day. He is all the time asking me why I say things...mainly doing with Savannah and Lightnin'. He asks, "Why'd you say no, Vannah (or Lighten)?" or "Why'd you say good boy Lighten?" I of course say no to Lightnin' or Savannah a lot during the day so I hear those questions a lot during the day!!! I love that he is curious but sometimes I get tired of answering the same things over and over and over and over and over and over again! :-) He loves going to school. Sometimes when I drop him off he still wants me to hold him but his teachers are very good at distracting him so I can leave. When I go get him he is so happy. His teachers love him! When he is gone they always let him and me know that they missed him. He has a little friend at school, that is a girl, named Dee Dee. I just found this out last week. They are buddies at school. He missed last Wednesday because of some congestion. On Thursday when I went to pick him up his teacher was telling me that the two of them hung around each other all day and just kept talking and touching, like hugging, each other all morning. I got to see them do it. She kept wanting to hug him and he would touch her hair. It was cute, but also made me a little sad....because he's growing up. He's also growing up into an older boy by not ever wanting to wear pants!! I was looking back at some pictures and it seems that a lot of the pictures of him consist of him wearing no pants. I started thinking that some people may wonder about that. There is a good explanation...other than being male. He doesn't have any pants that really fit him well. He will be 3 in about a month and he's in between 18 month and 24 month size pants. 18 month pants are too short and still big in the waste on him. I have found some 24 month that have the adjustable waist but they are still big on him. When he's not wearing shoes his pants constantly fall down and get under his feet. He gets tired of pulling them up so he pulls them off. :-) See.....growing up like most men and doesn't want to wear any pants! :-) Both my wonderful, adorable are growing up so fast!!!

Not a completely happy Halloween

2008-11-02T20:36:00.008-05:00

So, this is how I imagined Halloween......

We'd dress up our Spider along with Little Miss Muffet. Mom had found a cute spider costume (which is what Connor said he wanted to be every time we asked him) and she made Savannah's Little Miss Muffet dress. We'd go see family; go to trunk-or-treat for Connor so he could have a new experience of getting a lot of candy, inflatables, food, etc, etc. We'd come home and put the kids to bed and smile the rest of the evening because Connor had such a good time. Let's just say....that's not what happened!

We started off good. The kids cooperated with getting dressed. We went to see Grammy's so she could see them and of course so they could get their goody bags. As we were leaving our pastor's wife and good friend of mine, Laura, stopped by so her youngest son could trick-or-treat and also to give Connor his goody bag. Caleb was nice enough to not wear his mask where Connor would see him because it was one of those one's where you can squeeze the heart and blood runs throughout the face. Danny went over to see the mask and Connor followed and saw it. Not good, but not bad. We then went to Danny's sister's house -Aunt Mel. We waited there for Danny's brother and his 3 kids to stop by. While we were waiting, Uncle Dave - being the good uncle that he is - asked Connor if he wanted to help him give out candy. Connor was very excited about helping! The very first person that came to the door was a girl with the "Scream" mask (from the movie Scream) and dressed in all black. Connor went running to the door - stopped half way there and ran back. He was about to cry and said, "I didn't like that." He was ready to go bye bye after that. But we waited for the rest of the family. Then, they got there and the youngest was dressed up in something scary. Poor Connor didn't know what to think. We explained to him that they were dressed up like he was and were just kids. He got the concept because when we went back to Grammy's so Granddaddy could see them he asked, "Are there any scary kids in there?" Needless to say we didn't go trunk-or-treat because I was afraid there would be a lot of scary outfits there. We just went home. Once we were home all was good though. He did have fun helping Daddy carve the pumpkin and he was very glad about the candy. He loves candy!! So, it wasn't exactly a Happy Halloween - but at least there was no crying - just almost!

New member of the family....

2008-10-28T14:11:00.009-04:00

One week ago today we added an addition to our family....a 12 week old boxer puppy. Connor happily named him after one of his favorite characters right now....Lightnin' McQueen, although we only call him Lightnin'. He is a very cute puppy and is very good with the kids. Savannah wasn't too sure of him at first because he thinks she's another puppy and wants to play with her. He hasn't jumped on her yet, just rubs up against her and may put a paw on her. She is already used to it. She doesn't cry any more, just blinks her eyes really fast. Connor loves for Lightnin' to chase him, although Lightnin' hasn't totally caught on to that yet. We're obviously still in the house training stage, which goes good as long as I'm paying attention to him. We are crate training him so he goes in his cage, as Connor calls it, for a good part of the day so that makes it easier.

Savannah obviously isn't talking yet since she's just 10 months but she comes awfully close to saying Lightnin'. You can almost tell she's trying to say it. She also tries to say "Uh oh." She makes a sounds between "ah" and "uh." The other day I was holding her and trying to get her to say it for Danny's mom and dad. When I asked her if she could say uh oh, she looked down at the floor to see what had fallen. :-) At least I know she's understanding some things. She is also waving - same wave for hello and goodbye....and all done. I taught Connor a little sign language when he was little so I'm trying with her. So, sometimes it's hard to tell if she's just waving or if she means she's all done. Most of the time I think she's just playing because she usually doesn't quit eating until I stop putting food on her tray. She loves her food - everywhere....

We made it home

2008-10-17T08:23:00.004-04:00

Well, we made it home Wednesday night at 10:00 pm. It only took us 11 1/2 hours to get home but Danny and I were both ready to just be home and the kids in their beds. They did good at the house in Orlando but we both knew if we stopped at a hotel nobody would sleep good. Savannah did a bit better on the way back. She was fussy for about 4 hours off and on then settled in and was the best the last 2 hours ...... she slept!! :-) I also turned Savannah's car seat around hoping being able to see the DVD player would help. It didn't but she did like looking out the window. Connor did great. He had gotten up at 7:00 that morning and didn't sleep in the car until 9:30 that night. There was probably about 15 minutes of pouting, whining stuff but that was it. He's been a great traveller since he was 1 so maybe Savannah will do better as she gets older.

We had a really good time while down there. It was great spending time with my sister and her family. Connor loves his cousins and just about cried when they had to leave Monday morning. The adults had a lot of fun at Halloween Horror Nights. Gabi and I always say we're going to walk through the haunted houses standing straight up (not hunched over) and not looking scared. It lasts until the door and then there we are, huddled together, arms hooked together just about crawling across the floor. We are such easy targets!! Of course, Danny and Rick enjoy it tremendously! It's so much fun!!

Saturday we just hung around the house. Connor and Savannah loved "playing" pool. I think Connor would play for hours on the pool table if we had let him, only I didn't want to stand out there for hours.

I think the best day was Sunday because we all went Sea World. Connor LOVES sharks for some reason. In the evenings a lot he'll sit with Danny before he goes to bed and Danny draws pictures for him. He always wants him to draw a shark, stingray and a "diba scuber" (scuba diver). So he loves anything with fish. We went to the Shamu show and he loved it along with Savannah. I wasn't sure if she would notice it or not but she watched the whole thing. She loved the music. She would "sing" and wave her hands around or sway back and forth. Connor actually touched a stingray. I didn't think he would because he's usually afraid of everything but he did! Connor also loved the underwater viewing area of the dolphins. When they would swim by he would wave at them. Too cute!

Monday we went to this park that has 3 different play grounds, a petting zoo, a big lake to fish in, volleyball courts, a swimming pool (open in the summers) and a lot of other stuff. We ate a picnic lunch there then Connor and Danny went fishing. We "played" on the playgrounds - a little. This is where Connor being scared comes in, which I don't totally understand. He loves to go the playgrounds but usually just wants to climb up and down the stuff. He's afraid to go down slides, which he's been doing by himself since this summer, but now he's afraid to do it. I don't know what happened but he won't do it by himself. He'll do it with me or Danny. I try not to push him, but I know he can do it.

Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom and saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Connor was excited until we got close. At least he didn't cry; he just wouldn't smile for the pictures. Savannah was excited from far away and not so excited up close. She came close to crying once but didn't. Connor loves the ride "It's a Small World" so Danny took him on that and we rode the train around the park. That's about all we did with them. We then went back to the house and had a babysitter come again so Danny and I could go back and do the rides we wanted to do. We had a good time.

Then, Wednesday morning we got up and headed home. So, here we are .... home again. Connor still insists on getting up somewhat early - it's been 7:00 the past 2 mornings but Savannah is still sleeping as I write this. She slept 'til 9:15 and took a 3 hour nap yesterday. She is a good sleeper!!! :-)

I've posted some pictures from our trip you should check out.

I'll just say...

It was a great vacation but it's great to be home!!

We're here!!!

2008-10-10T15:58:00.002-04:00

We made it to Orlando Wednesday afternoon. The traveling was......ok. Connor has always been a great traveller and that hasn't changed. Savannah on the other hand....what can I say...she's dramatic and it came out even more while driving. She did ok, but was fussy and whiny a lot. The only mishap with Connor was when we stopped to go to the bathroom. The toilets at the rest area had automatic flushers. Connor got VERY scared when it flushed while he was sitting on it. :-) I tried to put him back on it and I had seriously never heard him cry like that. Thank goodness I put a potty chair in the car because he wouldn't go in any bathroom stalls after that, even when I told him Mommy had to flush them, he was still afraid. I guess automatic flushers are a mother's worst potty training nightmare!!! :-)

We actually left Tuesday and drove to my sister's and spent the night with her and her family. Connor had a GREAT time playing football with my nephews, Josh and Jake, outside. He loved it. Wednesday we stopped at Jacksonville Beach to let Connor play. He's been wanting to go to the beach for awhile now. He had a good time...once he got used to the water. Savannah liked it too...she just wanted to eat sand and wasn't very happy when Mommy wouldn't let her.

We just hung around the house yesterday. Gabi, Rick, Josh, Jake and Marissa arrived last night. We all went to Islands of Adventure this morning. It was pretty hot. Connor was a little overwhelmed by it all, even though we've been taking him pretty much his whole life. We decided to eat lunch and then leave. But once we ate Connor didn't want to go bye bye. He said, "I have energy now. I don't want to go bye bye." Needless to say, we went bye bye. He and Savannah are both down for a nap right now. Had to get a little sleep in since he was up at 5:50 this morning and he'll probably be up late tonight. We have a babysitter coming tonight (we use this great babysitting service in Orlando. We've used them 3 or 4 times before.) so the adults can go back to Universal Studios to go to Halloween Horror Nights - haunted houses and scary areas where people jump out at you to scare you. We've gone several years now. It's a lot of fun but absolutely no place for little ones - even though I know tonight I'll see crazy people there with small children - we see them every year.

Anyway, we'll be doing more Universal tomorrow possibly and definitely Sea World Sunday. Then sometime next week we'll go to Disney so Connor can see Mickey Mouse since he's been asking for 4 weeks now when we're going to see him. :-) He does love Mickey Mouse!! I'll let you know how the rest of the trip goes.

Maybe real success has been achieved!!

2008-09-27T20:46:00.002-04:00

We have had success again with the potty. I figured out I wasn't making him sit long enough on the potty to do anything. Who knew it could take 15 to 20 minutes for him to get poop out. Thursday morning Connor said his tummy was hurting. I knew he had to go to the bathroom because it had been 4 days. So, I made him sit on the potty until he at least tried to go. 20 minutes later there was a pile big enough to stop up my toilet!! Then today he said a couple of times his tummy hurt and I made him sit and set the timer for 20 minutes. If he hadn't done anything within that time he was allowed to get up. We looked played with cars, wrote in his notebook, looked at 2 new pooping books. Finally this evening he told me he had to go poop. I took him in there and gave him his books and went to finish feeding Savannah. Within 5 minutes I heard, "I did it Mommy! Yeah Connor!" Sure enough it was there. So, maybe we're on a roll!!

He is very smart for his age. I think that but I've had several people, including a psychologist, tell me that. It's the "Odom brain" as I call it. All the Odom's are smart...Danny's sister and brother were both valedictorians of their classes...Danny probably could have been. I'm always telling him to "dumb it down" for me. :-) I know Connor's smart, but last night he blew my mind! He knows he's 2 and knows how to show 2 on his fingers. We are starting to try to teach him that on his next birthday he'll be 3. He can already do 3 (actually all the way through 5) on his hands. He was sitting in Danny's lap and Danny said if you take 2 (showed 2 fingers on 1 hand) and 1 (showed 1 finger on the other hand) how many to do you have? Connor had to count but he got it right. So, Danny started doing different combinations of numbers on each hand. Connor started catching on pretty quick. The next thing I know, Connor said, "3 and 3 makes 6" with no hesitation to count. I don't know if he had already thought about it and had it figured out or what. As soon as he did that Danny and i looked at each other and my thought was, "What the heck?" After that you could tell by the look on his face he was answering wrong on purpose. He's learning about teasing. Friday night the kids and I had gone up to Danny's parents so Connor could go see Grammy and Granddaddy. I was feeding Savannah at the table and Connor came to get a little food. Grammy and Granddaddy came over to sit with us and Granddaddy was teasing Connor about little things. Connor was really sure what to think. After he got done he got down and was standing there. There was a bottle of water on the table. Granddaddy asked if it was his. Connor told him it was. He watched him and as soon as he put it to his mouth to take a drink Connor said, "No, it's mine." and grinned. He was teasing Granddaddy. It was really cute to see him do that.

It's hard to believe that Savannah is 9 months old today. As I've said before she is crawling everywhere. But what's really funny is when she wants to change directions, if it's off to the side she'll crawl, but if she wants to make and 90 or 180 or even and 360 degree turn, she drops to her belly and uses her arms to turn herself. She is actually very fast that way. She has learned how to sit on her knees. It took her a couple of days, but I think she's figured out how to get back to the sitting position. Today while she was in her bed supposed to be going to sleep I checked on her (via my TV - we have a camera in each kids room that goes directly to our TV - very nice in the middle of the night!!) she was sitting on her knees playing with the mirror I have in her bed. A few minutes later I heard her talking so went to look at her again. That time she was sitting on her bottom, but her legs were through the rail and hanging down. It was cute - it looked like she was just hanging out, but she didn't like it too much. I had to go get her unstuck. :-) She is starting to go after Connor now when she is crawling around. Connor hasn't figured out yet that she isn't as fast as he is. Once she can't see him I guess she forgets about him and goes to something else.

We will be heading down to Orlando in a couple of weeks. We go down every year in October for Halloween Horror Nights @ Universal Studios. For the past few years Mom, Dad, Rick, Gabi & the kids have come down too. Rick, Gabi and the kids will be there, but I'm sad to say that Mom and Dad will not be able to make it. With them just moving to Arizona 2 months ago they are not able to go. There goes the built in baby sitter. :-) [just kidding Mom :-)] I'm a little anxious to see how the trip down goes with Connor and the potty. He won't sit on a big potty without his set sitting on top of it, so I guess I'll take that with us and take it in wherever we go. :-) We've made the trip before this year so it won't be new for Savannah and Connor has made it several times already. He's great on trips. The last time, Savannah did great on the way down, but not so great on the way home. She was just 5 months old though. It's usually a 10 hour car ride...we'll see how long it really takes. :-)

2 steps forward, 1 step back

2008-09-22T19:52:00.000-04:00

I'm sad to say the "success" was short lived. Connor has decided he doesn't want to do that any more. He will still do the "first thing" in the potty but that's it. I'm not exactly sure how to "make" somebody go to the bathroom. I know that's the hardest part of potty training but it doesn't make it any easier trying to figure out what to do. He needs to go because he gets "backed up" way too easily. I've tried telling him we'll put a diaper on just so he can do that but he doesn't want to do that either. He's always had issues with that so I guess it's just harder for him to deal with. So, who know how long it will take for him to do it. I just know I can't give up.

He also going through this weird, clingy phase (hoping anyway). He may be jealous if Savannah because she definitely takes a lot of attention - being that she's always into things and she's VERY clingy. Even if he is jealous of her, he doesn't take it out on her. He still loves her and loves on her and cheers her on with her accomplishments. It's very sweet!!

Even with all the frustration the past couple of days he still makes me laugh a lot during the day. This evening was a great example. He didn't take a nap today for some reason. Maybe because he knew that when he got up from his nap we were going to play outside. He was in his room for an hour and 45 minutes and nothing. Thankfully Savannah slept almost 3 hours. Because he didn't nap I told him we weren't going out until after supper. He ate supper - very fast. :-) As I was cleaning him up he asked, "We going outside now?" I told him yes. He said, "Good, I have energy!" I have no idea where that came from, but it got a chuckle out of me. While we were outside he was playing golf with Daddy. Danny hit a ball. I asked Connor if he could hit it like Daddy. Connor's reply was, '"Of course!" It's funny because just this past Saturday I was talking to a friend about how to instill confidence in children so as they get into Middle School they still have that confidence. I'd say Connor is on the right track right now. :-)

Savannah is into everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. I am constantly pulling things out of her mouth and have no idea where they came from. I vacuum in our great room everyday and she still finds things. She spots things from across the room that even I can't see! She's a bundle of joy. She loves her brother, that's for sure!! She had a big time tonight "playing" outside. Connor rode his 4 wheeler around the circle drive while I pulled Savannah and she just smiled at him the whole time. She loves to be outside as much as Connor does I think. She absolutely loves riding in the wagon. I walked up to the top of our driveway pulling her in the wagon to get the mail this evening. She sat there looking around, trying to get grass from the bottom of the wagon, and every once in a while would make an "uuhhhh" sound - because we were on gravel. Then she'd smile. She's starting to learn and pick up on more things. I'll say "bye bye" and most of the time she will wave one of her hands. The other times she just looks at me and smiles. She got into a sitting position from her belly by herself for the first time today while in her crib. Of course when I bring her downstairs when she's on her belly and gets tired of crawling she just lays there whining. :-)

That's about all that's gone on this week. I'm sure I'll have more Connor stories to share over the next few days!

Success is a great thing!!

2008-09-15T15:15:00.001-04:00

Ok - so a week ago today I started the whole potty training thing with Connor. I was really dreading doing the whole process...I've put it off and put it off and put it off for months. He's always done the major "transitions" so easily...was off a bottle @ 11 months, never had a problem with going to a toddler bed or a big boy bed (twin mattress) I just knew that potty training was going to be a headache. I'm glad to report that my fears were not needed. He caught on to doing #1 very quickly. He had accidents last Monday, one at school on Wednesday and a slight one Thursday, but stopped it and finished on the potty. Other than that there have been no accidents....so far. I know, it's only been a week. He is too smart for his own good though! By the 4th day he had figured out to go a little, hold it, get his jelly beans, then have to go again, hold it, get his jelly beans, etc. He did this 3 times in a row. I finally told him he had to have go big or he wouldn't get them. He's not pulled that trick since then. After that incident I have also cut back on the number of jelly beans he gets every couple of days. He's now down to 3 per time and tomorrow it will be 2. Although, I don't think it will be a big deal. I think the excitement of getting jelly beans is starting to grow old. Today, a couple of times he didn't even eat them. Now, #2 is a whole different story. I know that that is usually harder for kids to do. I just didn't realized what I'd have to go through to get him to do it. He's had constipation problems his whole life and has to have Miralax every day. Apparently he can hold it really long time. So, by Friday when he hadn't gone in 5 days, 2 additional actions had to take place. He finally went Friday evening and we flushed it so he could see it go down the toilet - I've heard that some kids are afraid of where it goes so I tried that. We had a couple accidents on Saturday but I really didn't care - he was pooping! Then today, all the sudden he decided to do it. We've had success today all around. He was very proud of himself - not to mention me too! How about that - only a week to get both "things" in the potty. We'll see if it will continue!!

Savannah is crawling everywhere and making me baby proof my house. She is so different from Connor! I never had to baby proof my house with Connor. He never got into anything he wasn't supposed to. If he did I could tell him no and he listened....still does for the most part. Savannah wants whatever she's not supposed to have!! The other day Connor was playing with his cars. I pulled out some of his cars with big plastic wheels that Savannah could play with and gave those to her along with some of her toys. She was good for about 5 minutes until she saw Connor with his hotwheels. She started crawling toward them. As for the things that were in her way, they got shoved away or tossed aside. Anything that I put in front of her thinking it would deter her...did not! I moved her and she started crying. Connor would have just found something else to play with. Right now, her favorite thing to go after are cords that are plugged into outlets. Anything I miss picking up or vacuuming she finds and it goes to her mouth. She loves to crawl over to the couches and look under them to see what she can find. When Connor was her age if a baby or child was crying he would looked concerned. Savannah - she smiles or laughs. :-) She's a lot louder too. I wish you could hear what I hear right now. :-) All those differences and I love them both more than I thought I'd be able too!!! They are both at a fun age right now. I've been so blessed with the two of them - two beautiful, happy, loving kids!!

Sometimes you learn how smart your kid is in the funniest way

2008-09-09T21:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, so since I posted last a few milestones have taken place.....

I had said that Savannah was really trying to crawl and then 3 days later she pretty much started crawling. Granted, it's not very fast. Actually she's pretty slow but it's cute to watch. She's sees something she wants and you can almost see her mind working, trying to figure out she's going to get to it. She no longer crawls one step but actually made it about 5 feet today before plopping down. She has a one track mind too. This morning we were all upstairs in the loft playing. Connor has his cars all over the place up there with a road rug and his little people airport and little people garage. He has quite a few hot wheels but also has some plastic ones which Savannah can play with. I set her up quite a bit away from Connor and gave her 5 of her toys and 5 of Connor's cars that she can play with. She sat for a few minutes and played. She then spotted Connor and started heading toward him. I put her toys and the cars in from of her. The literally either pushed or threw them out of her way to be able to get to Connor and his toys. It was quite funny to watch.

I started potty training with Connor yesterday. I wasn't sure I would have the patience to do it right now with Savannah having a cold and me getting her cold or having allergy stuff going on. But I had decided to start because I knew I would just keep making excuses. I put Connor in his big boy "under-roos" as we call them and we started the day. By lunchtime and 4 "accidents" later I was really starting to question my decision to do it right now. I had called a fri(end of mine, who I call for everything I question, 2 times. The first time was to ask what to do because he started crying before we even started walking to the bathroom and then another time because I wasn't sure how long to make him sit on it if he didn't do anything. (For those of you wondering - it's no longer than 30 minutes.) So, after lunch we put on his "night, night under-roos" (pull-ups) and went down for a nap. He didn't do anything during his nap and went and sat on the potty and went pee pee -YAY!! We cheered and clapped and then he got his 5 jelly beans (he'll get 10 jelly beans when he poops). No more accidents during the day. He also held it all night. This morning when I went in to get him we went straight to the bathroom. He told me on the way, "I almost went pee pee in my bed." He sat down and did his deed. He did it 2 more times this morning. After his nap he did go in his pull up which I think was my fault because I didn't get him soon enough. But he didn't do anything this afternoon or evening - which makes me a little concerned because I know that he knows how to hold it. One time this morning when we were playing in the loft he asked, "I go pee pee in the loft?" I told him, "No, if you need to go pee pee you need to go sit on the potty. Do you need to go?" He shook his head no. I then told him that we would go in there when the timer went off. So, 5 mintues later we went and he went. So, we'll have to see how the "holding thing" goes. He goes to school tomorrow. I asked him tonight if he was going to use the potty at school. He said, "Ummmm, no." So, I'm not so sure how that will go.

Now, to cover the title of this blog: While Connor was sitting on the potty one time yesterday, I brought some toys in thinking if he wouldn't think about what he was supposed to be trying to do. We were pretending to be doctors. He was checking my ears, nose, eyes, & heart first. As he got to the heart he said, "I'll listen right here. Now, take a deep breath." I'm not sure where he got to take a deep breath because they don't ask him to do that at the doctor's office yet. I just thought, Holy cow! I know he's smart, but he keeps on amazing me with things that I never would have thought he knew. His brain is retaining so much information right now. Of course, maybe all kids are like that - I don't know since I've never been around any like I have Connor, obviously. It just blows my mind sometimes.

Those are the latest milestones we've reached. Hopefully things will continue to go somewhat smoothly!

Maryville...home, sweet, home

2008-09-03T22:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I survived the trip, but unfortunately the VOLS didn't....we lost in OT 27, 24. Other than that, we had a great trip. We had fun with the family. We went on a bus tour of Hollywood and got to see some celebrity homes. Went down to Malibu to eat and then went to the Santa Monica pier. That was a lot of fun. Sunday Danny and I had a day just the two of us. We drove to Santa Barbara - about 2 hours away. We had a day of leisure...stopped when we wanted to, not because we had to change a diaper. On the way we got to see some dolphins about 25 yards off the beach and some people surfing. Up in Santa Barbara they had an arts and craft show where everything was handmade...very neat. The weather was nice too. It was just a lot of fun....'til we went to the game anyway. We got home Tuesday after a very long day. We were supposed to fly through Houston but had our flights changed Sunday because we were afraid of the hurricane. So, we flew to Newark, NJ instead....literally from one coast to the other...it was a 5 1/2 hour flight. We had just enough time to go grab a sandwich to eat on the plane. We rushed on the plane and then sat there for 1 1/2 hours waiting to take off. The pilot knew we were going to be a long time so he let us have our phones on which led us to learn that apparently on Aug 28th the EPA started a new regulation at JFK and Newark Airports....they now limit the number of flights taking off during an hour. I'm not sure how many can now leave during one hour. All I know is it was a long time on a small plane. We made it home Tuesday night around 11 after getting up at 6 am in California - which was really only 9 am here.

I got the kids Wednesday and was very glad to see them!!!!! They both were very happy to see Mommy and Daddy! They both did very good while I was gone. No problems from either of them. Savannah developed a little cold but other than that everything went very well.

Now on to new and wonderful things about the kids:

Savannah is now really starting to try to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees, will crawl one step and then plop down. She will do this until she gets to whatever it is she wants to get to. Gone are the days of her playing on a blanket and hello to having to vacuum every day!! :-) Of course, her favorite things to go after are Connor's toys. I have been working with him on sharing. And so far if she gets something of his, he'll say he wants it. But I tell him that he wasn't playing with so she can for a few minutes. Then, he'll say, "Yay, Vannah, she got the toy all by herself." So far, so good on the sharing. She is off baby food and loving any real food that I give her. Last night she ate baked chicken, corn & asparagus. She LOVES to watch Connor play and to play with him. One of their favorite things to do is for Connor to push her around in her walker. Once I figure out how to put videos on here, I'll post one!

Connor still doesn't like me to leave him at preschool but he's fine after about a minute of crying. I think there are a few kids that he doesn't know how to deal with. Like the little girl that doesn't "use her words" but her vocal chords by squealing about things. He's not real big on squealing and/or loud noises. Wednesday night and yesterday morning he told me he wanted to go to school but he "didn't yike dose kids." I don't know what that's about but he knew that he didn't like them. I asked him why he didn't like them and he said, "I don't know." He has seems to have made a couple of friends. He always talks about the same 3 kids.

He's turning into a little man! While I was gone he stayed with some friends. Sunday, after church, they had gone out to eat. There was an older couple complimenting her on how well behaved the kids were and they played with Connor and Savannah. As Rachel and the kids were getting ready to leave, Connor walked up to the man and asked him, "What's your name?" The man told him. Rachel told Connor to tell him, "It's nice to meet you." So, Connor stuck out his hand so the man could shake his hand and said, "Nice to meet you." It's amazing what kids pick up without you realizing it.

I guess that's all for now. I know there was more I wanted to say but this is already a long post so I'll save those stories for another day.

Hollywood....here we come

2008-08-28T22:49:00.000-04:00

Ok - I had to choose the orange color for UT. We leave tomorrow for California to go to the UT vs UCLA game Monday night. It's going to be a fun trip. Saturday morning I'm going with my sister-in-law and a friend to get a massage. We'll also be taking a Hollywood Tour and at some point Danny and I are going to the Santa Monica Pier and also drive up the coastal highway. Monday night is the game and then we come home Tuesday. I'm real excited about going because it wil be a nice trip - doing things we've never done and we'll also be without kids. But, I'm starting to stress about leaving the kids - only because I've never left either one of them this long. It will basically be for 5 1/2 days. I'm telling myself that Savannah won't realized I'm gone - hoping it's true. I do'nt know though because a friend of mine left her daughter a few weeks ago and her daughter is a month older than Savannah. When she got back it was like her daugther was mad at her - didn't want to go to her, wouldn't look at her or play with her for a whole day. Of course, she was gone for 10 days. Savannah has become a Mommy's girl the past few weeks - whining when I leave the room or even just start walking away. So, we'll see how she fairs.

Connor is starting to get the concept of time so he's who I really worry about. He knows what tomorrow means and is starting to get a few days. I haven't told him that we won't be getting him for a few days. I hoping that not knowing will make it easier on him. We'll see. He's adjusted pretty well to preschool. He had been crying when I left him, but today he didn't....of course, I did sneak out so he didn't see me leave. :-) When he did cry it was usually just for a few minutes. He's always very happy when I pick him up. I just hope this trip doesn't set him back at preschool. He is loving school once he gets over me leaving. today, when we got home I told him after his nap Daddy would be home. He then said, "And then we go to school."

Pray for me this weekend that I don't stress too much about leaving the kids and that I can have fun. Oh, and pray that UT wins!! GO VOLS!!!!!! :-)

I have no idea what I'm doing!!!!

2008-08-24T22:49:00.000-04:00

Ok - so this seems to be "the thing" to do now days. I'm not very computer savvy but so far this whole blog thing seems fairly easy. I hope this works out well to keep everybody updated on what's going on in our lives. I'm not very good at writing - I am not a master of words or wit like Danny - so you'll have to bare with me.

Let's see.....

Connor is now 2 1/2 and 2 weeks ago started going to preschool 2 days a week. He hasn't like Mommy leaving but has had fun after I leave. Danny and I were laughing because one of the first things they teach them is to be quiet in a nice way by teaching them, "Zip it, lock it, put it in my pocket." Connor loves to say it but really isn't quiet after saying it because he's too busy giggling. He is amazing me every day with his vocabulary. He uses words that I didn't even know he knew. For example, today he told Danny and I we were all trapped in our storage closet (Connor had closed the door while we were all in there). I never use that word with him and neither does Danny, we always say "stuck." So, I have no idea where he heard it but he used it correctly.

We are somewhat close to potty training. We haven't actually started yet. I wanted to let him get adjusted to preschool before we start. Besides, Danny and I are leaving this Friday for Los Angeles for a few days. We, along with his family, are going out there to go to THE UT (for all you Texans - that's TENNESSEE) and UCLA game. I didn't want to start and then have to stop or disrupt our progress. I'll let you all know how that goes when we get to it.

Connor loves Savannah competely and loves that he can make her smile and laugh. She totally loves him. When she sees him come into the room she gives this huge smile, which in turn makes Connor have a huge smile, along with me!

Savannah will be 8 months old on the 27th. Time has flown!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. It seems like just last week I was crying my eyes out trying to figure out how to make her burp so she would stop crying. I remember saying to my pastor's wife,"I'll be so glad when she can burp by herself." She said back, "Yeah, that's every mother's dream - to hear her daughter burp." Well, I can now say that Savannah is burping well on her own and we don't have and more gas issues (with her anway)!! That may be TMI ;-)

She is sitting up all by herself now and loves to feed herself finger foods. She likes doing it so much it's hard to get her to eat any baby food. By the time Connor was 9 months old he was off baby food because of the same reason. It looks like Savannah is heading that way. She has 3 teeth all the way through her gums and waiting on one more to come through. I've been able to see the tooth for about 2 weeks but it's taking its time breaking through.

She is not crawling yet, but is starting to get up on her hands and knees and rocking a little. So, it shouldn't be too long before she starts. I kind of like having one child that can't go anywhere she wants to right now. I know once she starts moving things are going to change!!!!

To be honest, I am having the time of my life right now. The kids are a lot of fun and I can't imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing. I'll try to post, as Mom calls them, "Connor stories" as often as I can. There are quite a few...some I don't want to mention (just think 'little boy and gas issues')! :-) One of these days I'll share them.....