Our life in Oklahoma

A Different Point of View

2011-05-25T13:02:00.001-05:00

We moved here in May of 2006. I don't think we'd been here a week when I came across a TV show about the horrible tornadoes of May 3, 1999 that directly hit the OKC metro. We didn't have the house unpacked yet, so I was sitting in the middle of the floor watching in horror to find out that we had moved to this new strange place in the middle of tornado season.

As time goes by and nothing serious happens, you get accustomed to life and forget the real threat. You get annoyed by crazy weather people and warning maps and TV pre-emptions for stuff going on 4 hours from you.

But then you have a child and you're concerned for their safety. And the crazy weather gets closer , closer and closer to your piece of the world. You start to learn terms like "hook echo" and "weather aware." You see devastation happen in Alabama & Missouri and the huge loss of life and begin to realize that being weather aware is a really good thing. It saves lives.

You count your blessings for getting through another major weather event safely.

Back in the Saddle

2011-05-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

I know it's been too long. And you've missed me incredibly, of course. The last 5 months or so life has been on standstill and a whirlwind all at the same time. But it's time to try and right the ship and get things back to as normal as our lives ever are (for the Smiths, I'm not sure that's a text book kind of normal).

A lot has happened since December. T & I ran our Disney 5K. Caroline got to experience Disney World for the first time and we got to watch her experience it, which was worth every penny. We celebrated our 5th anniversary and T's 40th birthday all in the last 10 days. Caroline is almost 2 and growing like a weed.

There are lots of update and lots of picturs... so stay tuned. Our regularly scheduled programming is set to return.

The other side

2010-12-21T21:52:00.000-06:00

Life is hard. Sometimes it really sucks.

Right now it really sucks. But there are blessings. I just need to remember and focus on those.

I know posting has been erratic and will continue to be so for a while.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. If you are spending it with your family and friends this year, I hope you cherish every moment of it. If you are not able to do that, cherish the moments you do have with them - no holidays needed.

17 Months

2010-11-09T09:15:00.003-06:00

The Doodle is 17 Months old today. I don't have any idea on height and weight. Maybe I should look into that. She is becoming so much more kid like these days. Her favorite things in the world are being outside, dogs/cows/birds, and saying "uh oh". This kiddo LOVES to be outside. She gets that from her Daddy... cause it's certainly not her Momma.

She could walk 10,000 miles in the yard alone, inspecting every blade of grass and bug along the way. While we were in Benton this past month, she made it her personal goal to pick up all the acorns. She managed to get that 6" square area cleaned up.

She still loves shoes and wants them on her feet at all times. When you take her shirt off, she pats her stomach and grins. She also likes to show her belly button. If you're not careful, she may point out yours as well.

She no longer likes her hair pulled back with a pony tail holder. She will pull it out every single time. She will accept a barrette or bow pulling it out of her face to the side, which is a nice change. Her hair is past her shoulders in the back and getting thicker every day. She's also developing a little curly wave in the back.

She loves to slap her knees and clap her hands. She loves books and still enjoys playing in her giant box. We are having a new refrigerator delivered here at work in the next couple of weeks and it might just be Christmas come early in the Smith house for her!

She has finally learned how to drink out of a straw, so now we don't have to carry a sippy cup with us everywhere we go. That's nice! And her asthma is improving. The medicine we started almost a month ago has really made a difference. Her allergies are acting up right now, but so are everyone else's - ours included.

If she had one Christmas wish, it would probably be for B to love on her and show her some attention. I don't see that in the cards. I don't think the dog has had a good track record with little ones with his previous families and he just doesn't want anything to do with her. She'll live... Copper is always interested in being all over her.

She really is good and listens well. She'll protest when she doesn't like something, but she'll still go along with it. I don't expect that to last forever, but it's nice right now. She was able to have lots of visits with the grandparents this past month, which she totally loved. Apparently kids are born knowing how to work the grandparent system.

Check back to this post and I'll probably add more pictures this evening.

Old Friends, Young People

2010-11-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

One of the great things about quick visits home (which we just recently had) is the ability to catch up with old friends in old haunts. One of those old haunts for me is The Chimes. I miss the atmosphere... the long waits for uncomfortable chairs and crappy service but excellent food (and beer).

My name is proudly mounted on the wall on a tiny brass plaque amongst thousands of other names. May 1998, I finished drinking Around The World at The Chimes. I even have the t-shirt to prove it. My mom used to show off my name to her co-workers. Hopefully the thrill of it has worn off by now.

And on our recent trip home, I was able to celebrate my birthday at a place where I'd celebrated many birthdays. Actually, that would be birthdays since I turned 21. But since I don't look a day over 26, then apparently that's just a handful of birthdays and no big deal. Alrighty.. end of post.

I kid... about the post... not about looking 26. I have somehow managed to preserve the fountain of youth... if only I could keep my gray hair covered. But that's another post for another time.

We had a great time on Saturday night. Thanks to our friends for joining us... and for AutoCorrect on my cell phone... otherwise I might have had notes in my phone I could not understand.

Frinks in Nishville, anyone?

Halloween 2010

2010-11-03T21:36:00.000-05:00

There was no great postcard this year. But the costume was just as fabulous... unfortunately, there's not a great picture of it either. We may have to stage one this year, after the fact. But in the meantime, here are a few pictures of our little monkey.

We originally going to Haunt the Zoo here in Oklahoma City. However, plans changed and we had a quick Trick or Greet (no candy needed) in my old Halloween stomping grounds.

We were the devil because we wouldn't let her run into the street. And if not for the padded headpiece to her costume, she may have really regretted her trantrum in Mr. Alton's driveway. But in the end, we had a good time.

After this... a hiatus

2010-10-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

So after this last post about running, I'll get back to the posts with pictures of the kid. Just bare with me.

After the race, I took a week off. My knee was really stiff and sore. I thought a week off would be helpful. I didn't think about running at all once I got over the race recap. I guess that's good and bad.

Tonight was back to it. In fact, I started Week 5 of my 9 weeks of training. I'm mostly running now. My lungs really were fine. I was quite slow, but my knees and legs were talking to me the whole time. Apparently in my week off, I've forgotten everything I've learned about running.

I haven't had on my running shoes since the race. It felt good to slip them back on. It was a comfortable, predictable thing. My goal for tonight was slow and steady. I had no thoughts or concerns with time. I just wanted to run my training plan while making sure my knee wasn't too bad off.

I'd been working on my form in my previous 4 weeks. I'm trying to develop good habits instead of bad ones that I'd have to unlearn when I was no longer praying I didn't die while running. But tonight, apparently I seemed to have forgotten all about that. I felt like I was running like Phoebe from Friends.

As big a jump in running as I made in Week 4, I make larger leaps in Week 5. On Day 3, I'm going to run for 20 minutes straight. Can anyone say, "OH HOLY CRAP!"? I've been able to do everything the training has called for when it was called for. So I believe that I'll be able to do that... but once again... OH HOLY CRAP!

So that's it for the running posts for a while.... Up next - Caroline, Caroline and more Caroline...

P.S. Happy Birthday to the most beautiful girl in the world, Jolie!!

Hitting Home

2010-10-15T08:40:00.001-05:00

You may have noticed over the course of the last couple of weeks that posts have been more running, less baby. And it's true, the focus for us lately has been training for our Disney 5K. But I also went back to Weight Watchers at the end of May. It's not a diet, really. It's just a new food reality.

Since that time, I've lost 30 pounds. And it's great. And I'm happy. But sometimes it just doesn't hit home how much that is. My clothes are looser... baggy even. Some clothes I can't wear anymore. But I didn't necessarily FEEL different.

Back in July, I bought this great jacket. I found it on super sale. I can't even link to it because it was on such super sale that they apparently don't exist anymore. Just take my word for it - it's a great jacket. But it didn't quite button. It fit through the shoulders but that's about it.

I got it because of the price and the knowledge that come fall when I'd wear it all the time, it would button. So I put it on this morning.... AND IT BUTTONED! And I don't think my 30 lbs had really hit home until then. Woot!

Can't wait until the next 30 is gone!!

The Results

2010-10-11T10:30:00.001-05:00

First, I just want to say thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement as I've embarked on this journey. The calls, emails, interest, and motivation are greatly appreciated. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that T is also running, but is on the sidelines right now with knee troubles. So this is a family effort.

Saturday was kind of crazy, really. We had to leave the house by 7:15 at the latest and we did manage to get out earlier than that. Which turned out to be really good because as we approached downtown, the interstate slowed to a crawl. We did manage to park in short order because I didn't follow the crowd and took a street other than the one everyone else in OKC was taking. See, kids? Being different and not a follower can pay off.

We got out of the car and I pinned my bib number to my shirt - nice and crooked, might I add. T didn't even go, "you're number is practically sideways" (which it was). It was a chilly morning, but not really cold. Caroline was sporting a pink sweater in honor of the event and her new blue jeans that I bought a with absolutely no room for growth. I can't imagine we'll be wearing them very long.... glad they were on sale.

We walked 2 blocks over to the race area. It was starting at the Bricktown Ballpark - home of the Oklahoma City Redhawks Triple A baseball team. I parted ways with T and Caroline at the corner before we got into the crowds. They were headed to IHOP for breakfast while I raced.

I made my way to the race queue. I found the back of the 5K pack.... I wanted to be positioned way in the back as to not get in any one's way. One of my fears had been tripping in the mob or getting caught up in a pace that was way too fast for me. When I was talking about this with Stephanie last week, she said that this race wasn't really one for "serious runners" and much more casual than other races.

Serious runners? Wait.... am I a serious runner? She laughed at me and said that I was. She laughs at me a lot.

So the gun went off and it was probably a good few minutes before I even really moved because people were flooding into the race from outside the tape. They didn't bother lining up in the tape prior to the gun going off. Yes, I understand it would have been too crowded, but maybe they should have allowed more space in the queue. I was wanting to start my time when I got to the start line, but my thumb apparently hit it and I'd been on the clock for a couple of minutes while I was standing there waiting to get moving. I did have a sensor on my shoe that would clock my actual time I crossed both the start and finish lines... but I won't know those official results for a while.

Anyway, as I started I was just walking. I was approaching this day as just the final training run of week 4 for me. A typical training run is 2 miles for me right now. For the last 1.1 miles, I figured I'd just do what I could... walk or run... slow or slower.... It should really be called Obstacle Course for the Cure. Runners were jumping up on the sidewalk going around the walkers in the middle that were walking 5 and 6 across in their groups. Even though I was moving faster than the walkers (once I started running), I wasn't jumping up on the sidewalk and then down again. I'm not known for my gracefulness and the last thing I needed was wiping out 2 minutes into the race.

I guess it should also be mentioned that after 4 week of running, my leg muscles were starting to let me know they weren't my biggest fans at the moment. With my leg muscles all stiff, they were causing my knee to hurt.... a lot. I think a lot of it was mental, but some actual pain too (since it's still hurting today). I know I'm not injured though. So I'm scheduling a massage today.... maybe if I hadn't have put it off so long, I wouldn't be in the pain I'm in now.

Anyway, so things were moving along fine. I'm doing my regular training run. Then I get swept up in some crowd and am doing this crazy fast pace for me. I don't even realize I'm doing it until I can't breathe and I haven't even been running that long. I won't know how fast I'm running until long after the race is over. But at the moment, all I know is that I'm wishing for it to be over and I'm not even half way through.

It was great to see all the kids running with their parents. It was great to see the community support of the racers. It was a beautiful weather day. And all I can think about is putting one foot in front of the other. My knee isn't really hurting too much when I run, but it is hurting when I walk. And I'm walking now because I'd been running so fast.

Luckily, a lot of the second half of the race was downhill. Yes, that meant that a lot of the first half of it was uphill. So after taking a few minutes to regroup my head (trust me, I needed more than minutes), I started running again. And I said to myself, "just run to that stoplight." I got to the stoplight and was ok... so I kept running. And I got to the 4K completed mark and realized it was almost over and I wasn't about to die. I had promised T I'd send him a text to let him know when I was coming. So I sent him a quick one and then started on the last uphill climb.

When I got to the top of the uphill climb, there were people cheering us. A softball team had made an arch with their arms and wanted people to run through it.... of course, I obliged. I got some high fives and a final cup of water... and yes, I'm running this whole time. I know, I was surprised I made it through the team arch and didn't trip or fall over too.

And when I got to the base of the bridge and saw the finish line... I also saw my cheering section. T was taking pictures and Caroline was waving... not at me... just at everyone in general. It put a huge smile on my face... I waved back and kicked it in gear to finish.

After I finished, I made my way back to them. T was pushing Caroline up the block in the stroller and she was waving at people like this was her own personal parade. It was so cute it made me laugh out loud. I got a big hug.... and then a water and a banana and we headed to the car.

My finishing time was about 50 minutes. It's not quite fast enough to avoid the giant Mickey hand in January, but also not too bad for my first race. It gives me a place to start to compare future races.

I wasn't even close to the last finisher, so that was pretty cool. I also completed the 3.1 miles faster than I walked 2 miles back in April for the Redbud Classic.... so that's definite improvement. And considering I'm only 4 weeks into 9 weeks of training, I think I did pretty well.

Next up - The Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.

It's time

2010-10-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Race Day is upon us.... well, by this time tomorrow morning, I'll be done. Hopefully long finished, since the race starts at 8! I had a good run last night and a personal best time for 2 miles. I'm under my pace I need to maintain for the Disney race to avoid the dreaded giant Mickey hand that will sweep my slow behind off the course. Now, can I maintain that for another 1.1 miles?

Tomorrow I'm going to start the race as the final training day of my 4th week. Once that workout is done, I'm going to run as much as I can, and we'll see where that puts me. Tomorrow is just a litmus tests of sorts. Caroline and T will be enjoying breakfast at IHOP while I race, but I can't wait to see their faces at the finish line!

If you are interested in making a donation to Komen Race for the Cure, you can do so HERE. I appreciate those who have donated so far.

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow evening.... I even hope to have a couple pictures.

Racing for the Cure

2010-10-03T21:01:00.000-05:00

I'm registered for my first race.... T is sporting a bum knee, so it's going to be just me. I'm ok doing it by myself. In fact, I'm looking forward to seeing my cheering squad at the finish line. But in the meantime, I've got some fundraising to do.

As you know, Race for the Cure is also about fundraising for the fight against breast cancer. If you'd like to make a donation, you can do so at my personal link HERE. I appreciate everyone's support and encouragement as I continue on this journey.

I'll have race pictures and updates next weekend.

The Game Plan

2010-09-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I've done it. I've finished 2 weeks of my 5K training plan. It's a 9 week program, which still leaves me quite a while after I'm done with the training program before our Disney 5K in January.

Stephanie and I were talking this week about "racing season." It's a totally new concept to me, but apparently once the weather cools off, you can run a race just about every weekend if you want to. We made plans for our upcoming races.

T, Caroline and I will be participating in our first 5K on Saturday, October 9th. Yep... that's in 2 weeks. We are doing the Race for the Cure (I'll have donation information up soon if you're interested) in Downtown OKC. Caroline will be riding, even though she does motor around the house now.

I obviously know that I can't run the whole 5K right now. However, I can continue with my training and do the best I can. Most importantly, it will give us a base time to measure against for future races, including Disney.

The next race with be the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. T won't be able to go with us because he's working, but it will be a great way to start a holiday focused on eating. Our final race before Disney will be the Santa Run on Dec. 4th (Leslie's 30th birthday, by the way).

I think it's a good plan. I'm excited to see our progress as we get better.

No turning back now!

2010-09-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

I finished Week 1 of the Couch Potato to 5K training program. And I didn't die. I managed to get highly motivated along the way. Well, motivated by things other than fear. That fear being the giant gloved Mickey hand that will sweep me off the race path if I don't maintain a 16 minute mile pace for the Disney 5K.

This big race idea started as support for Nick and Stephanie as they run the half marathon. Yes, I said that right... 13.1 miles! They need familiar faces to cheer them on and congratulate them when they finish. So I said we'd take one for the team and travel to Disney World to support them.

Somehow that show of support morphed into us participating in the 5K. We signed up in June. We had 7 months to train...... hell, after that long, we'd have no problems with the required pace. But we didn't really start training. It was hot, you know.

But now.... we've started. And oh holy crap, I now know that I can actually do this! It blows my mind every time I think about it. My first mile tonight was my best mile time yet AND it included my 5 minutes of walking warm-up.

I felt good. I trusted myself and my ability. I envisioned myself running through Epcot (in no way similar to the College Program, Claudia). I was well over half-way through before I even LOOKED at my time. I was ok just running.

Week 1 is in the books. I'll probably start Week 2 on Sunday instead of Monday... just because I'm excited to test myself with longer run periods. Did I just say that? Apparently, I did. I'm now excited about exercise.

It's all over but the crying.

All you have to do is do it.

2010-09-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

This video found me tonight. If this can't inspire you, I'm not sure what will.

Just Do It

2010-09-13T21:49:00.001-05:00

I am the queen of excuses. I can come up with 10,000 reasons for or against something.... especially if it's something I do or don't want to do.

In theory, I'm a runner. But to make theory match reality, I needed a few things first. I needed the iPod Nano and Nike+ sensor so that I could track my workouts. I had an iPod but it was a first generation and didn't work with the Nike+. So I got those... in January 2008. But it was winter... so no running then... right?

Then I got pregnant... so no running program starting then... right?

Then I'd just had a baby by emergency c-section.... so definitely no running then.... right?

Then once I was healed and ready to start again, I needed new shoes. I needed the Nike+ shoes that held the sensor that I'd bought back in 2008. So I got those in January 2010. And they sat in the box, in my living room. It was winter... there's no running then... right?

So I broke them out of the box in April for the Redbud Classic, where we walked for 2 miles. And I was motivated. I was going to start walking before I started running. Because there was no way that I was in shape enough to start the Couch to 5K program. Yes, I was so out of shape, I couldn't start a program for COUCH POTATOES!

And then it got hot.... so there's no running then... right?

And then my Nike + sensor went out, so I needed another one....

And then I realized I needed a new sports bra.... so I had to order one of those. And no, I couldn't find one in a store.

And then after putting off starting this program for 2 years, during July, I signed up for a 5K race in January that requires me to maintain a 16 minute mile pace. That will motivate me, right? But it's too hot to be outside, let alone start running.... right?

So now it's the middle of September. I've got a little over 100 days till my race. So what's a girl to do?

She runs. And I did.

I ran the entire program for Week 1, Day 1 of my training. I never thought I could actually do it. I thought I was too out of shape for the couch potato program. I'm not a couch potato... I'm a couch... right?

I did not run fast. I did not run far. But I did run the entire training run with no cheating. I was half-way through before the thoughts of quitting even entered my head. And then I thought, "HOLY CRAP, I'M HALF-WAY THROUGH! I'm not stopping now!" I also thought about my dear friend asking me about it tomorrow. I knew she'd be supportive no matter what.... but I wanted to be able to tell her I did it.

And I did.

**This is no attempt to be an advertisement for Nike. Nike has no idea who I am and does not care anything about me.**

15 Months

2010-09-09T22:38:00.001-05:00

Caroline is 15 months old today.... can you believe it? She's walking and talking and trying to rule the roost. Some days she's more successful than others at all three.

She's just finished cutting a new tooth and that combined with allergies made for a tough Labor Day weekend. We didn't get much sleep or many things accomplished. She did, however, start swimming lessons. That went wonderfully!

She gripped me pretty tight at first, but after a few minutes, she relaxed. I was even able to get her to float on her back for a while. She kept putting her face in the water and drinking big gulps. And she kept burping... loudly... that echoed throughout the indoor pool.

But she had fun... and so did we. Which is good, since it's every Saturday through October! T took a ton of pictures, I just haven't sorted through them yet. That's on the agenda for next week.

Silly should be Caroline's middle name. Right now it's very funny to put things on top of her head. Just sitting there, hanging out with a toy on her head... and then she giggles to get your attention. You laugh and her audience is amused and she's happy.

She's throwing far fewer tantrums now that she can walk and communicate better with us. But she still gets upset if she doesn't get her outside time with the dogs in the evening. That's her afternoon activity with Daddy because Momma isn't interested.

With the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine moving through the state yesterday, there was no outside time. And this resulted in a whining, crying, demon goat for about an hour. I had enough and announced it bedtime.

Her hair is down to her shoulders (when it's combed straight). Most days it's flipped up in every direction. After being so dark and so straight for so long, all of her new growth is MUCH lighter (I'd even say blonde) and has a definite curly flip to it. The top stuff is still dark and straight and hangs directly into her mouth if I don't pull it back. I even managed to get pigtails up one day. They have much better luck with hairdos at school. My goal is out of her face.

I don't have height or weight measurements, but I'd guess she's grown at least an inch since June (her last doctor visit). All of her current wardrobe is showing that growth too. We've got new fall clothes, but we're just waiting on the weather to catch up.

Now it's time to think about a Halloween costume. How do we top the chicken?

We're all undefeated

2010-09-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow kicks off the college football season for most teams (aside from the handful that has played the last 2 days). Right now, everyone is undefeated and the season is full of possibilities.

This time of year has a mix of emotions for me. On one hand, I'm extremely excited to have college football back on televsion. I really miss Saturday nights in Tiger Stadium, but can still follow along with most of the coverage. But on the other hand, I'm nervous about what kind of team we will be fielding this year.

It's not like you're going hear local reporters trash talking the football team before they've ever even played a down. My point is that it's not really objective. We all HOPE that what we are seeing will translate well to the field. But no one really knows for sure.

So in 21 hours, we'll have a better idea but definitely won't know for sure. How can we judge our team against a team stripped of so much of their talent?

I vow now to be optimistic and hold my tongue while watching the game. Caroline is starting to repeat things we say!

Geaux Tigers!!

Step by Step

2010-08-31T08:25:00.000-05:00

No, this isn't a clip of the popular New Kids on the Block hit, although I was tempted to include that. We were finally able to get a little video of her walking tonight. We hid the camera, thus the bad angle and low sound. Although the sound is mostly just us encouraging her.

All the kings horses and all the kings men....

2010-08-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

The great mystery water saga has finally come to an end. The house is starting to look normal again. At least as normal as it can look with one really messy person (me) and a toddler who thinks the more spread out her toys are, the better.

On Saturday, we went into town and bought the replacement carpet pad. After Caroline went to sleep that evening, T put the carpet back in place. It's not a professional job, but it works for now. We will eventually put down wood floors... it's just not in the budget right now. I would imagine that will occur after we get our next tax refund.

As we put each piece back into the office, it got a thorough cleaning, which was sorely needed. I haven't gone through all the junk that was piled up in there. That will take time. But the large furniture pieces are back in place, including the computer.

We did some rearranging and it makes the floor space seem a lot larger. So as long as we keep from putting stuff on the floor to stash it out of the way, it will stay nice.

I guess it's a happy ending for something that started out as so disastrous last week. We didn't lose anything, which was unbelievable considering the amount of water in there. But it was a wake up call for us.

The plan is to install water sensors on all our major appliances that will alert us to a leak. Considering this is our second leaky pipe in this house, it seems like a small investment to save a lot of headaches. We will also be turning off the water when we leave the house for a trip longer than overnight.

So let's just hope this is the end of our house-induced cleaning.

Um, whose idea was this?

2010-08-29T19:41:00.001-05:00

What was I thinking? Only 15 things for the next month? I must have been under the influence of something. I certainly wasn't in my right mind.

So I've got my picks made. I'll have nice pictures before we start this wacky idea on Wednesday.

Fashionista

2010-08-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

No, I'm not talking about myself. I'm happy not to spill something on my shirt. I'm talking about my very particular little girl. She has always known exactly what she likes.

Her latest love affair? Well, it's shoes. And T weeps at the thought of this problem as she gets older. I know it sounds completely crazy, but the kid loves her sandals. I often referred to her as Shoeless Joe. It doesn't help that her feet are so stinking small. We've inherited tons of shoes, but most of them don't fit yet.

So with some of her birthday money, I bought her this pair of shoes at Target in June. They were on sale, so I didn't feel too bad if she decided to only wear them once. We wore them a couple of times, but they always came flying off in a fit.

Then she moved to the Bumble Bee room. They get to spend time outside... and she loves to be outside like her Daddy. But like her Momma, she's not intersted in actually touching the nature. So she keeps her shoes on all day. And I can't believe these shoes have held up to a month of the torture that is Bumble Bee room. That's part of the reason I'm showing you a stock picture of the shoes... Caroline's are now very dirty.

So while most kids have thick, chunky, easy to walk in shoes, my daughter has thong sandals with decroative butterflies. The real kicker? She cries when I take them off!! Whenever she sees them, she tries to put them on her feet. She just loves her shoes!

I couldn't wear sandals with something between my toes until last year.... apparently Caroline is tougher than her Momma!

15:30 - Can you do it?

2010-08-27T09:49:00.000-05:00

When we were looking at houses in Oklahoma, the one we wound up purchasing (I say that like we wrote one big check... the one we wound up committing the next 30 years of our paychecks to) stood head and shoulders above our 2nd choice. Why? The kitchen and the master bedroom closet.

If you know me, you know I've got a lot of stuff. Over the years, I've gone through periods of getting rid of stuff. But it always tends to reaccumulate. This is particularly true of clothes. The issue is that I have such a wide range of sizes hanging in my closet that I could be a clothing store.

Last summer, Leslie and I went through and weeded out all the stuff that if I ever could fit in again, would be completely out of date. That did get through a lot of stuff. But knowing that I do tend to lean toward classic pieces, it still left a lot of stuff hanging in my closet.

The truth is that I wear the same stuff over and over again. Don't we all? So in an attempt to be more pulled together and not getting dressed in the dark just grabbing whatever's on top of the pile, I'm participating in the 15:30 challenge.

The background and details are chronicled here and here. This is not my idea and I do not take credit for it. But it did get me thinking. So here are the rules and the adjustments for erratic September weather (as is apt to occur in Oklahoma) as taken from the first link.

1. Select 15 items from your closet: These can include shirts, trousers, jeans, cardigans, dresses, etc — in short, clothing. Make your final selections by August 30th. Each Wednesday, check the forecast for the next 7 days and adjust as needed, but ONLY in response to the weather. In other words, if the temperature drops from today’s near-100 high to something more appropriate for September (say, highs in the 70s) you can trade a tank top for a long sleeved tee. But you cannot trade one tank top for another just because you’re bored. That’s a no.

2. Use unlimited accessories: Remix your outfits relying on all of your jewelry, shoes, scarves, outerwear (blazers/suit jackets do not equal outerwear!), and belts.

3. Captain Obvious: your pajamas and lounge-at-home clothing do not count, undergarments do not count, gym clothes do not count. I’m going to add my weekend pre-shower wardrobe of shorts and tees that are fit only for housework to this category; I’m also lumping my running clothes in here, for — as Felicia says — obvious reasons. (Nicole edit: I'm not including my chosen sporting team gear for football, since that's what is typically worn around the house on Saturdays in Smithville.)

4. Make the COMMIT LIST: Document your list on your blog, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, loose-leaf paper, etc. Feel free to snap photographs of the items, list them — get creative! This is your commit list, and you can’t stray from it. Stain on shirt? DEAL WITH IT. Cat ripped your pants? Get a SEWING KIT. If you amend based on the weather, update your list. Keep the total to 15 pieces, and stick with those pieces for at least a week; only change them out if the temperature soars or drops dramatically. As it hopefully will in September.

5. Keep a diary: Document your outfits each day, whether it be via an “outfit of the day” photo or a log of what you’ve worn and how you’ve mixed it up.

6. Ask for help!: Call your friends, pen a blog. Don’t be afraid to ask friends for help on creative ideas on keeping your wardrobe fresh!

I would add one last thing: don’t be afraid to make your own rules. If you only want to do this for work, or only for the weekend, then do it; the idea is to get you to think smarter about what’s in your closet and how you can wear it, and to give you a break from the slog of getting dressed.

So that's the deal. Since I practically wear the same thing every day, I'm not sure this will be such a stretch for me. But it may encourage me to put together things that I didn't think about. So I'll pick my 15 things this weekend and have pictures on Monday.

Comment if you'd like to join me in this challenge (or don't... although I'd prefer a comment). It should be fun!

It ends

2010-08-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's not completely over... but the water has stopped flowing in Smithville! Plumber came yesterday. T pointed to the spot in the wall. Thirty minutes and $79.25 later the leak was fixed.

Now we just have to put the house back together.... for now, we are just replacing carpet pad. We were able to dry out the carpet quickly enough that it's not moldy. And while it is stained, the filing cabinets are going right back in the same place, so it will be covered for now.

Eventually, we will replace the carpet. I'm thinking we'll do wood floors. But that's a project for another weekend.

So we'll add the cost of the carpet pad into our total and I would imagine we are getting out of the little fiasco for just a couple hundred bucks... far less that I was envisioning when I was thinking we might have to cancel the Disney trip!

Smith luck makes me ask, "What's next?"

It's getting better

2010-08-25T09:25:00.000-05:00

Last night, I got home and vacuumed up the mini-lake in the office. The mystery source of water was still flowing. It wasn't any worse and the rate of water flow didn't seem to be increasing. That was a positive thing, right? I was trying to be positive.

T got home from his quick out of town trip about the same time I got home with the Doodle. After we changed clothes and got her dinner ready, he started doing some more investigating. This time he went a little more in depth than on Sunday.

Upon further investigation in the hot water heater closet, he heard a dripping sound. So he opened up some drywall and pulled out the insulation and found the puddle of water that was flowing into the office (right on the other side of the wall).

He mopped up what he could and wanted to see if he could figure out a better idea of where the drip was coming from. After dinner, he went back and pulled out more insulation. Apparently once, he pulled the insulation away from the actual leak, he could hear the spraying water. I could hear it when I walked into the garage.

The insulation matted up against the pipe had kept it from spraying everywhere and was causing the drip. So I emptied the coat closet that shared the back wall of the hot water heater closet. Upon doing so, I could see signs that the leak was right there. The wall wasn't wet, but the baseboard was pulled away a little and the wall was hot.

Looking more closely, you can tell that they've had to go through it before to work on the hot water heater. Why didn't they just put an access panel there instead of redoing the drywall? That doesn't make any sense to me. Once we're done, it WILL be an access panel.

Anyway, we turned the water off last night once we were ready for bed. This morning we woke up to a dry office! Can I get an AMEN? Woot!

The plumber is coming at 2 today. He'll fix the pipe... and we'll go back to living normal lives instead of vacuuming up a lake of water from the office every 2 hours. And no, we won't leave the drywall open for 2 years like the last time we had a leaky pipe. This weekend is now declared "home improvement weekend". Yippee for us.

It is worse

2010-08-24T09:08:00.001-05:00

Yeah... it's a leak. This isn't Smith Luck... it's just BAD LUCK! Given all my plumbing knowledge, I declare this a leak. If you can't tell by the picture, that is standing water, not just a damp foundation. Making calls to the plumber today.

It could have been worse

2010-08-23T10:52:00.000-05:00

I know I've talked about Smith Luck. It's not something I believed in until I became a Smith... but it DOES exist. It could be considered just bad luck, but it's more than that. It's weird luck. If it's a 1 in a million chance, it will happen.

Our office is our dumping ground for junk. The junk room used to be the guest room, but once the baby arrived, people wanted to visit... so we had to clean that out. And yes, it's cleaned out for those of you who've visited and thought it was a little junky.... it IS clean (considering its past). Anyway.... so the office is where we quickly stash stuff out of the living room and close the door.

It's right off the living room and to your immediate right when you come in the front door. It's where we house all of our computer equipment, plus other office things like filing cabinets and bookshelves, etc. So imagine our horror when T walked in there last night to get his computer and stepped into a puddle of water.

He immediately thought AC or hot water heater.... so he took off to check those, while I started pulling stuff out of the way and sopping it the top layers of water. It was strange because none of the walls were wet or the baseboards. Nothing was looking warped, etc.

We checked all our mechanical systems and found nothing. We put our ear to the floor and heard no running water. We walked out the front door to see if we could see if we could see anything from the outside. And then it hit me... we've been watering the flowers right by the front door. Overwatering to be exact... but watering none the less.

So our best guess is that in the process of our over-watering last week, we managed to soak the foundation too, which was getting directly hit with the sprinkler. And it just managed to seep up through the foundation into our office.

It has obviously been going on a while because the office smells... and the filing cabinets rusted onto the carpet. We hadn't watered since Thursday or Friday and it wasn't wet then when we stashed sutff into the office to "clean" the living room before our friends arrived.

We dug out our wet/dry vac from the garage. It was a wedding gift still in the box. Those are one of those things that you don't need often, but when you do, you do. So T vaccummed up tons of water... at least 4 gallons.

It was still smelling, so we made the decision to pull up and get rid of the carpet pad which was just completely soaking wet. So we (and I use "we" very loosely) pulled up the carpet and carpet pad. On a good note, there was no crack in the foundation and we definitely couldn't hear running water.

Also, there was no construction debris under the carpet, which made me happy. You never know what's down there!!

So we have office stuff all over the house and an exposed foundation in the office. For now, we are waiting for it to dry out. After that, then we'll decide what we are going to do.

It DEFINITELY could have been a lot worse. But how does this happen from watering plants? As a rule, we don't water... I guess we learned our lesson! Aside from the stained carpet and moldy carpet pad, we didn't lose anything. With all our computer equipment in that room, it could have been very bad.

We needed to clean out the office anyway... apparently the house was ready for it before we were.

Our little firecracker

2010-08-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

We are finally making our way to pictures from 4th of July! We had a great time at Stephanie, Nick and Mason's house. It did rain, but we tried not to let that dampen our spirits. It was quite fun to see all the adults sitting in the garage with the phones out all comparing weather maps telling each other when it was going to stop raining. And no, I didn't get a picture. I was too busy looking at my map.

Where were the kids while we were watching the radar? They were playing in the rain... well, that kids that can walk (which is everyone but Caroline) were playing in the rain.

I managed to conquer my battle with cake pops that plagued me as I was prepping for Caroline's party. In retrospect, I should have attempted those BEFORE the week of the party. It might have made for much less stress. But that's just not the way I do things sometimes.

The rain cleared as the afternoon wore on and we fired up the grill. We brought green onion sausage, which is a special treat for us since we have to have it imported. Yes, imported to Oklahoma... if you ever want to know what we need, it's Manda's green onion sausage. You just can't buy pork sausage up here... but that's another post for another day.

Caroline didn't flinch at firecrackers, which surprised me. But she was not fond of the big booms of the large, pretty fireworks. Those made her try and climb up T's neck like a cat. We didn't make it through the whole night. We tried to put her to sleep, but the noise kept waking her up. So we left mid-show and she was asleep before we even made it to the road.

We got home to two dogs who wanted to crawl under the bed and stay there for two weeks. If you're not familiar with our area during this holiday, please reference this post. It was a rough night for me.

In case you forget....

July 4, 2009

Why weren't they feeding this baby? I believe I used the term "freakishly long" to describe her.

Party like a Bumble Bee

2010-08-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

Friday was Caroline's first school party. They were celebrating the end if summer. On Monday, all the older kids will move up to the next class.

So naturally, I made plans to be there. I had no idea what to expect since this was our first school party.

I got there a little early and finally went in as they were waking from naptime. And the party commenced.

So what did we do? The kids had their afternoon snack and I sat next to Caroline while she ate. Wild and crazy, huh?

12 Month Pictures

2010-08-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

I posted pictures from Caroline's party but I neglected to post her 1 year portraits. Once again, the photos were taken by our friend Nick. We went to Nick & Stephanie's for Memorial Day and before we enjoyed the backyard fun in the sun, we took a few pictures.

I had bought this dress for Easter but she didn't wear it. So I'm glad that we got some wear out of it... even if only for these pictures.

After we moved outside, she became much more relaxed and started getting giggly. And no, there was no wind-machine... that's just part of the fun of Oklahoma.

The pictures on the slide are my favorite. All of them...

Louisiana Part 2

2010-08-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

Here are so more pictures of us out and about in Baton Rouge. I know... I'm not a just dump a bunch of pictures into a post kind of person. I like words... and to over-explain... and throw in a ton of random facts and side stories... but not today... It's just straight up pictures of Caroline with family.

Caroline Frances with Maw Maw Fran(ces)

I think they have both have the same expression on their face!

Caroline and some random crazy-haired person... oh wait.. it's me... thus the look on her face.

Caroline and Aunt Carolyn

I don't know if Aunt Carolyn has people call her Caroline, but Caroline has people call her Carolyn all the time. I'm ok with it.

Caroline and Paw Paw

I'm pretty sure this was early in the morning.. thus the hair. Caroline's hair, this is... I think Dad quit having morning hair problems in 1992.

Caroline and Big

They were laughing about something. I hope it wasn't my hair. It was scary that whole entire trip!

Growing up

2010-08-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

When we moved, my goddaughter Jolie was 10. And for better or worse, she is now permanently 10 years old in my brain. So every time we go home and I see her, I'm blow away by how not 10 years old she is. She's almost 15! I need to get over the 10 thing... but it's so hard.

While we were home in May, we went to Jolie's graduation party and ceremony. She graduated 8th grade from the same school I went to. Twenty short years ago in May, I was going through the same ceremony in the same church, with some of the same teachers (which I got to visit with while I was there).

It's funny how teachers seemed so much older to you as a kid but it turns out, they weren't that old at all while they were teaching you. Anyway... so I got to spend some time with my girl during her big day. And now she's doodling in class in high school. I know this thanks to Facebook.

Like clockwork

2010-08-18T15:17:00.001-05:00

This post has nothing to do with Caroline. Most of you are no longer interested. The other 5 of you are now quite excited to see where I've fallen this time and how many people were witness.

Believe it or not, I've managed to stay upright since the early summer. Today I'm writing about my clock. Yes, an actual clock. Not the one on my computer or my phone or any other electronic device.

I like a little background noise while working. The radio is always my preference over intense work dialogue. So when I started my job way back when, I purchased a clock radio for my desk. It worked very well for a long time.

Now, my clock is possessed. I am not at all surprised by this. First, it will no longer hold a time. Let me rephrase - it will no longer hold the CORRECT time. It also thinks it's April of 2003. I have no idea why either.

But the really strange part... yes, there's more.... the really strange part is that EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. at 3:05, my radio changes from the station I'm listening to (104.1) to 87.5 which is nothing but static and the beginning of the dial (back when radios had dials).

So even if I'm not looking in the direction of any clock, when I hear static, I know it's 3:05 (which is 6:00 am according to my clock).

Then... yes, there's MORE... at 4:05, the radio just turns off. Yes, it turns itself completely off. Since I leave at 4:30, that's my signal to start wrapping up what I'm working on.

It was frustrating at first. Then it was disturbing. Now it's just an audio clue as to what time it is.

Worn Out Yet?

2010-08-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

I told you I had pictures... lots and lots of pictures!! I'm giving you and my photo sorting a break today. But stay tuned (and I mean it this time)... there are more on the way. We aren't even to June yet!!

Going for a Dip

2010-08-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

While in Baton Rouge in May, Caroline went for her first swim in a full sized pool. We walked down the street to Mr. Alton's pool where Leslie and I spent many afternoons swimming, diving, jumping, laughing and just having a great time.

Mr. Alton always had his chlorine just right - no burning or dried out skin or hair. And his pool is always spotless. Twenty years later and it was just like I remembered!!

She was a little leary at first, but once I started bouncing her up and down, she loved it. I think she took the best nap of her life afterwards. She was completely worn out!

Louisiana Part 1

2010-08-15T07:00:00.003-05:00

We went home in May, originally for Jolie's graduation but unfortunately we extended our time there for Mee Maw's funeral.

We really enjoyed seeing everyone. We just weren't fond of the circumstances. While we were there, T, Dad & I met up with our cousins for an evening at Superior Grill. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard for so long in my entire life.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-08-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

I know I've already talked about my first Mother's Day. We took a trip to the zoo and I loved every minute of it. I think Caroline had fun too. But this time, I've got pictures!!

I don't know who enjoyed the kiddie train more - me or her!

This is my all time favorite picture of her!

The Smiths

The First of Many

2010-08-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been sifting through pictures all night so that I could finally post some of my much talked about pictures of Caroline. I know.. you're shocked. So I'll give you a minute to collect yourself or pick yourself up off the floor.

I can believe how much she's changed in just the past couple of months. The pictures today are of bath time. When she was newborn, she HATED a bath. It took months before she got used to it. Now she loves to play with all her toys in the tub.

This bath time was in early May. It's amazing how many bath toys we've acquired since then!

A Look Back

2010-08-12T02:32:00.000-05:00

It's been brought to my attention that I'm a great promiser of pictures, but lack a little something on my follow through. Well, if that's not the story of my life, I don't know what is. So in an effort to combat that, I'm adding a couple of pictures from a business trip in April. I am lucky enough to be able to bring the whole family

Just looking at these pictures reminds me of how much she's grown in such a short period of time. Her hair even looks so short!!

Demon Goat Baby

2010-08-11T07:31:00.001-05:00

So sometimes my darling daughter is a sweet angel. And sometimes she's a demon goat baby. Lately we've seen more of the goat than the sweet angel. I'm not fond of the demon goat.

On Monday, I went to pick her up from school and was informed she apparently bit another child. She bit the kid so hard, she left a mark. She is cutting new fangs every day... so we aren't really sure how many weapons are inside her mouth, but I know it's enough to draw blood. She has on me before. When we try to look in her mouth, it becomes WWIII in our house.

I know she's dealing with the pain of teething and she's very frustrated that she can't walk yet. She's the only kid in her class that can't. She's also not fond of sharing space and toys. And those are just things she'll have to learn. But right now, her method of solving the problem is biting. At least it was on Monday... I'm just hoping it's temporary.

About 2 weeks ago, her latest thrill was to see how much pain she could inflict on me at one time... scratches, biting, hitting (especially in my face). Apparently my howls of pain were a source of great humor to her. She would just cackle with laughter. So I quit reacting and put her down and walked away... no matter what we were doing (unless it was a diaper change). Once she couldn't get my reaction anymore, she stopped. But you wanna talk about make me mad? I think you could actually see the steam coming out of my ears.

So I'm sure I can guess how the biting incident happened. She didn't want to share space in the cart, so she bit the kid. The kid screamed and Caroline probably cackled and tried to ride off with the cart into the sunset. However, I was informed she did get a time-out (or as much as you can force time-out on a 1 year old).

Lord, please give me patience as we make our way through teething and onto the next phase that will drive me batty.

9 Months Difference

2010-08-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

The picture on the left was taken when Caroline was not quite 3 months old. The picture on the right was taken right before she turned 1. They were both taken by our friend Nick and as you can see, they capture her being her.

Yes, the picture on the right is part of her 1 year portraits that I haven't shared yet. They will be upcoming... I promise. And because I really mean it, here's another one to enjoy!

14 Months

2010-08-09T12:49:00.002-05:00

Caroline is 14 months old today. It was a year ago at this time that we were trying to figure out our new roles as parents and how that fit with me going back to work. The year has gone quickly, but I can hardly remember that little tiny baby.

We went to our friend Mason's birthday party on Saturday. Caroline and I went to his party last year and she was so tiny. Last year, she slept through most of the party in a friend's arms.

She has gotten so big in so many ways. We are officially done with the bottle. She hasn't had one in several weeks. We are all sippy cups, all the time. T's very happy with that news since he was the bottle washer in the family.

She's extremely close to walking. She seems to have gotten over her fear of falling as she plops down all the time now. She loves to push her shopping cart around the house, but she gets really mad when she pushes it into an obstacle.

She loves being outside, but she hates the grass. She's very content to sit in your lap and watch everything unfold around her. She loves splashing in the pool but would rather you be in there with her at times.

She can be quite silly at times. I'm not at all sure where she got that. We don't know any silly people. She will try and tickle my neck every now and then when she wants me to tickle her.

She loves to hang upside down off our laps and she loves to make noises. She also likes to "sing" along with the Zac Brown Band. And sometimes when I'm rocking her and singing to her, if I stop, she will start swaying and singing.

On the flip side, when she doesn't get her way, everything turns into a tantrum. She's throw herself into the coffee table a couple of times because of her meltdowns. And diaper changes, clothing changes and hair brushing turns into an all out war.

She loves her new class and all the new things it brings. She loves to play outside and do art activities. She's even sleeping decently for them. She loves her class so much that when she'd see me, she'd throw a fit because she didn't want to leave.

She still does her own thing and is social when she wants to be. But there is more room to spread out in her new class, so she's not freaking out on kids being too close to her. At least, not yet!

I have no idea what the new months will bring, but I'm sure she will handle it in her own unique way. She always does.

Silly Me

2010-08-06T13:47:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am very aware that it's August. I'm also aware that the blog header still thinks it's July. Believe it or not, I created the August header in the middle of July. It's very cute. And it's saved on a flash drive that's in my desk drawer at work. Handy, huh?

Since I'm in a class today and not at the office, when I do get back there (more than likely on Monday), the blog will then pronounce it August.

Monday

2010-08-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

It's a Monday. What can I say? Caroline is teething and poor thing is just having a rough go of it. I can't get close enough to her mouth to see how many teeth there are now. And yes, her allergies are going crazy too.

I didn't sleep well... my allergies are going nuts too. I heard her wake up at 4 am this morning. I didn't get up and I should have. She went back to sleep and when T finally got her up at 6:45... well.... let's just say everything went into the washing machine and I had to throw out a pillow. Suffice it to say, I learned my lesson and I'll get up at 4 am from now on if she's awake and whiny. She's probably whiny for a reason.

That's about it around here.

An Open Letter to the Zac Brown Band

2010-07-28T11:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Zac Brown Band,

I would like to say thank you. Thank you for being the music that my daughter loves most. We have 2 copies of your CD, plus iTunes downloads on both phones.

I'm not sure if it's your voice... your melodies... or your catchy beat. But for almost the last year, if she ever makes a peep in the car (oh and she will if she doesn't like the tune on the radio), I hit the CD button and track 1, Chicken Fried, starts up. She's normally calm by the time Toes is on. And she's just downright chill as the violin solo of track 3 fills the car.

Lucky for us, we love the whole cd too. Thank you for making her calm and happy. Thank you for keeping us sane.

She's been a fan since she was 3 months old. Keep up the good work!

The Smiths

Flying By

2010-07-27T14:11:00.001-05:00

Anyone recognize this baby? My how quickly she's turning into a full fledged kid!!

Summer Fun

2010-07-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

While visiting Leslie, Caroline got a new wardrobe which included 487 swimsuits. So now it seems that we need to spend a lot more time in the pool! T cleaned it out yesterday. We coated Caroline in sunscreen and out we went.

She really enjoyed splashing around and it didn't matter that the water was a little cold. It felt nice because it was so hot outside!

"Hey, I wonder why the doggies are way over there?"

"Hey Copper! Come play!"

"Oh wait... that's real close... help Daddy!"

"Ok, I'm good here... Copper, let's play!"

"COPPER! Where are you going?"

"Well, darn. I thought Copper wanted to play."

"Momma, why are you taking my picture from way over there in the shade?"

New Features

2010-07-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

Some of you may or may not have noticed new features on the blog. I wanted to take a minute to point them out because I think they are cool. Blogger has come a long way since I first started this blog.

At the bottom of each post, you have some options for sharing the post. You can email it, publish to Facebook or Twitter, etc. I encourage you to share with anyone or everyone. Our Oklahoma adventures are an open book.

Who know? Maybe I can expand our readership past Estonia!

Jet-lag, Bumble Bees and Molars... OH MY!

2010-07-22T20:07:00.001-05:00

I'm still in a sleepy daze... and I'm covered in bruises. I guess those are the hazards of traveling with a 1 year old across the country and into another one.

We got back from a week long visit with Leslie, Jamie, Navarre and Baby Jay on Tuesday night. We had a great time, even if there were some hectic moments. I'll have pictures to post in the next couple of days. I'm very aware that I owe you lots of pictures (12 month portraits, 4th of July and now these promises!!).

Caroline is still not 100% back to normal on sleep and neither am I, frankly. I went to bed at 9 pm last night. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. It was 11 pm according to my body. This morning at 5:30, my body thought it was 7:30 and decided I needed to wake up.

Before we left, the director at school said Caroline was ready to move up classes. I knew she was right but still a little sad. She is so off her routine after traveling, that I knew more change was going to be hard. So on Wednesday, we moved to the Bumble Bee room. (She was previously in the Tadpole room)

The Bumble Bees are decidedly more grown up than the Tadpoles. Caroline is now the youngest in the room and the only one not walking. She's cruising along, but all the other kids just toddle around. It's a very structured curriculum throughout the day, even for kids so young. They have learning objectives and I get a detailed report each day. She even had an art page from her first day... fun with stamps!

Stephanie joked that all they do in the Tadpole room is take temperatures and monitor poo. I can honestly say that's not going to be an issue in this room - at least from my perspective over the last couple of days. She has a definite pattern of her teething. We've been through it once a month for the last 2 months and each time it resulted in them sending her home "sick". After explaining it to the teachers in the Bumble Bee room, they were like, "Oh ok. No problem." Tadpole room didn't care what I said. She was "SICK!"

I picked her up on Wednesday afternoon and she was obviously tired and clingy but they said she did ok for a first day. She was, however, completely FILTHY! As soon I got home, I took off her clothes and drenched them in Shout. Bibs just get in the way like pants got in the way in the Tadpole room.

Last night while getting ready for bed, she was fussing and I noticed something in her mouth. She's got two bottom molars half-way broken through! No wonder she's been miserable!! I've been trying to look since I noticed her teething signs while we were in Halifax, but I hadn't seen anything until last night.

Today when I picked her up, she was much better. She was even drinking water out of a sippy cup. She hadn't had a bottle all day! Can we say HALLELUJAH?

Thursdays are splash days. The kids get to basically splash in a bucket of water all they want. They said she had a ball and loves to be outside. This from the kid who doesn't like to touch grass (and from the momma who is allergic to all outdoors). She was once again filthy but happy. She slept better today and seems to be adjusting very quickly.

There are kids in her room that were in the Tadpole room with her, so it's been a mini-reunion. Some kids I hardly recognized because they've grown so much since the last time I saw them. I'm sure they think the same thing of her.

My tiredness aside, we are slowly returning to our new normal. We also have a new family rule - no more than 5 days apart!

Messages from the front line

2010-07-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, as a-political as I can be, I've got some inside scoop on the current Oklahoma Governor's race. Who knew, right?

Yesterday, I was part of a meeting that has drawn criticism and even a couple of protesters. I find it all amusing given the actual content of the meeting. So I can report what actually happened.

As a rule, I do not discuss work on my blog. But since the majority of my readers are friends and family, it's not a big secret where I work or what I do. And since my boss is one of Caroline's emergency contacts at school, I'm pretty sure she's OK with whatever I say.

I work for a membership trade association. I do a variety of things during the day, including represent our Association when my boss can't make it. We are a staff of 2, so at times we must be interchangeable. Our Association represents large and small companies in the state, many of whom are highly involved in the political process (as many business owners are). We do have a Political Action Committee (PAC) that contributes money to campaigns of candidates that are deemed "friendly" to our industry.

No joke here people... we aren't talking a ton of money. I cut they checks... and they aren't large in terms of campaign dollars. But it's what we're working with. And even small amounts of money help legislators remember your name.

My boss is a registered lobbyist because she does attend networking events with legislators and people at the Capitol. We are very careful not to do anything that might even remotely be deemed inappropriate. But most times it's just about knowing people and your Association being represented and being seen.

This brings us to yesterday. There was a campaign briefing for gubernatorial candidate Mary Fallin. She is currently our US Congresswoman from the 5th district in Oklahoma City. Basically this memo was sent out to all the Associations and their PACs that have given in the campaign in the past or are on the email distribution list. I forwarded the email to my boss and she was going to be tied up in meetings all day in Clinton, so she said I should go to represent our Association and report back what was said.

Here's the link to our local newspaper about the meeting and the resulting hullabaloo. I got there to find two protesters outside the building. They were not chanting or throwing stuff... but I thought it funny. I got inside to find out what all the hub-bub was about. See, I'm so a-political nowadays, I had no idea there a big stink being made about this meeting with "special interest groups".

The meeting took place. We introduced ourselves around the room and I can tell you that there was a WIDE variety of people there, representing industries that are normally pitted against each other. The pollster discussed Ms. Fallin's position in the polls and the current national political climate.

The campaign manager discussed scheduling and upcoming events. The financial manager discussed fundraising. Q&A period (which was mainly about stuff not relating to even this race) and it was over. It easily could have been handled in a 2 paragraph email, but it was about the face to face networking.

No secrets... no special "give my industry money" pitches and secret under the table deals... In fact, I think they spent more time talking about the big attention the meeting was drawing than anything. And what was not noted in the press is that the campaign had the same exact meeting with state legislators the day before.

Am I a support or not? Doesn't matter one bit... the meeting was totally on the up and up and very benign at that. I rubbed elbows and pressed the flesh and got back to the office and ate my lunch at my desk and answered the phone and made copies. It's all in a days work, right?

Stay Tuned

2010-07-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

After a great weekend of fun and friends, I have lots of pictures to post. Tune into tomorrow for all the details. I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!

Vindication!

2010-07-03T23:25:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, the Doodle slept exceptionally late on Sunday morning. That gave us an opportunity to watch some early morning TV in bed without a goat stepping on our faces and laughing about it.

T was flipping through the guide and found Band of Brothers had just started. It was 8 am and the first episode was on. A quick glance showed that the whole series would be playing straight through all day. I hadn't seen the first one, so I started watching in earnest.

T left to play in a golf tournament and I kept Band of Brothers on all day. I realized that for as much of the series that I had seen, there also quite a bit that either I hadn't seen or I didn't remember.

I dvr'd the episodes at the end while I fed, bathed and put the baby to bed. I curled up in bed to watch the last couple hours. I watched the last things that I remembered from the series and it kept going. And then, much to my horror...

after watching ALL. DAY. LONG....

a horrendous lightening storm knocks out the satellite (yes, we have satellite). I WAS PISSED!

T doesn't help the situation. He says "well, I can tell you how it ends... we win and they go home..." I wanted to smack him, but I didn't.

All it did was remind me of several years earlier. It was 4th of July and we were at T's parents' house for the weekend. The History Channel was showing its series "The Revolution." I spent all day watching in-depth about the Revolutionary War.

About 30 minutes before the end of the show, dinner is ready and everyone comes in and the TV is turned off. Yes, I missed the end. The resounding "I know how it ends" jokes ensued.

I know you're wondering where the vindication comes in this story. You're also probably asking why I watch so much tv, but we'll address that later.

This morning while finding Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv for Caroline, I saw History Channel was showing "The Revolution" again all day today. Well, I promptly found the last episode and set it to record. And after Doodle went to bed, T and I settled in to watch the end.

I FINALLY SAW THE END OF SOMETHING!

Hey... small victories work for me...

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July holiday. I saw General Tommy Franks speak last fall. He left us with these parting words, "Freedom is not free. But it's worth every penny."

UPDATE: Double Vindication!! Band of Brothers was rebroadcast again all day yesterday and with sunny skies and no satellite malfunction, I was able to see the last episode!

How was your trip?

2010-06-29T21:48:00.001-05:00

Sudden.... painful.... highly embarrassing.... In other words, just like always.

This morning I made a lovely impression on Caroline's teachers at school. I was putting her down on the floor in the designated play space near the bookcases full of toys. Her new thing is to try "walking" while I'm still holding her hands. This time she practically took off "running." I lunged forward to try and keep up with her, but clumsy people really shouldn't wear flip flops.

I tripped and fell forward. Not wanting to fall on her, I tried to go to the side to avoid her. So the lovely toy bookcase stopped my fall, along with a giant plush cube. Caroline fell forward on her knees and was fine. She just doesn't like to fall down (she won't even plop down on the floor... she very slowly lowers herself with purpose).

So she started crying. My knee started to sting a little and my pride was wailing with pain. The teachers just asked if I was ok. I comforted Caroline until she calmed down, which only took like 15 seconds.

I left and wanted to crawl under my car when I got to the parking lot. So I started thinking about the other times I've fallen. Then I started realizing I fall a lot.... I mean, a lot.

There was the time I slipped on black ice outside of work and did one of those feet flying up in the air and landing squarely on my butt falls that you see in comics or cartoons. My papers and drink went flying straight up in the air. Took me forever to get up because I kept sliding on the black ice. My hip was sore for 2 weeks.

During the same winter (in fact, the same day), I slipped while crossing the street... and my leg shot forward and I went down on one knee. The rule of this day of horrible falls? Stick to snow boots during the winter and forgo the cute shoes.

Then there was the time I was walking to IHOP late one evening with a friend. She pointed out something for me to look at and silly me tried to walk and actually look at the same time. I tripped on a raised piece of sidewalk and fell face forward. Bloody palms... a scar on my knee that took over a year to go away... and a pride on life-support.

Sadly, these are just a few public falls that come to mind since we've moved. There HAS to be something wrong with me!!

**all falls during Mardi Gras do not count towards my total fall numbers**

Such a big girl!!

2010-06-22T09:29:00.001-05:00

I'm always afraid that when we take Caroline out in public that she's going to be that screaming, unruly kid that ruins everyone's time. But every time we take her out, I'm pleasantly surprised how she acts.

This past weekend was full of "firsts" for Caroline. On Friday night, we went to see our favorite little guy Mason in his staring role as Berlioz in Aristocats. The theater was in the basement of the preschool Caroline and Mason both attend and is quite small. I thought for sure we'd be up and down with her during the production.

I guess when you plan for the worst, you are prepared for anything. She LOVED watching all the kids perform. And when it did get a little loud, she wrapped her arms around mine or T's neck, but kept looking back at the stage, not wanting to miss anything.

We all went out to dinner to celebrate afterwards and she did great in the restaurant even though it was WAY past her bedtime. She crashed in the car on the way home.

On Sunday, we decided to take her to see Toy Story 3. It was her first movie. Once again, we were prepared to be up and down with her. We saw the IMAX 3D version, which was great... and loud. So I wasn't sure at all how she'd do. It's the volume of most things that bother her. She loves to people watch!

The previews started and it was really loud. She was squirmy... but we made it through. With the help of Baby Mum-Mum, a bottle and a paci, she made it through the whole movie without getting up once.

I was so proud of her. She is turning into such a big girl, and is usually game for whatever crazy idea Momma comes up with! So is Daddy for that matter - which always helps.

Party time... excellent!

2010-06-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Steph asked me late in the afternoon if I wanted to join her and Laura out for Girl's Night! Before I even asked T, I said "oh yeah... I'm there!"

You can read about the night and view the pictures on Steph's blog . Yes, I'm totally stealing a post... but it applies to me too, so I think it's ok.

It never ends

2010-06-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

The bad weather in Oklahoma has now reached a new high (or low, depending on how you look at it). This morning, we woke up to loud thunder and the sound of a downpour right before I was trying to get into the car.

Normally when I leave for work, the weather has generally let up by the time we get to school. So lucky for me, the times I've had to deal with torrential downpours at school, where there is no covered drop off, have been few.

Hearing the rain, I grabbed my "rain shoes". My rain shoes are a pair of crocs, that don't look like crocs, but are still very much made of rubber. Perfect for sloshing through feet of water... oh yes, I said feet.

Anyway, we left the house early because I had a physical therapy appointment at 7:30. Normally if I leave before 7, I can get Caroline dropped off and to PT on time. Not even close today. First, it was raining very hard.

It took me forever to get just to Choctaw (the town directly west of us - please refer to your Oklahoma City metro maps). At the base of the overpass, one of the lanes was blocked off - full of water. It took me almost 30 minutes to get almost a third of the way through my trip.

I got to Oklahoma City and sat forever at the light where 23rd St (my daily route to work) crosses over I-35. Right after I got through, I heard they closed 23rd St. right there. Then as I'm approaching the Capitol, I hear "23rd St closed at I-235", which is right after the Capitol. So I'm making alternate route plans when a cop zooms past me and then blocks off where I was going.

So my internal GPS was working on route #3. It finally was dry enough to get us to school, but no parking spots close to the walkway that is covered. Caroline had been asleep but woke up when lightening hit so close to us that it caused the stop-lights to start blinking red.

I took the majority of the rain to keep her dry (yes, I know an umbrella would have been nice, but it's not always practical when juggling baby, keys, diaper bag and anything else I have with me at one time).

I finally got to work, almost 2 hours after I left my house. So now it's time to get back out in it. School has called and said I have to take Caroline to the doctor because her eczema is too bad. I need a note. Don't even get me started!

So I'm braving the roads again in "record setting flash floods".

Happy Birthday, Caroline!

2010-06-09T14:57:00.002-05:00

As promised, complete details of Caroline's first birthday party! We went with a theme of pink and orange with bits of green. And I'd like to take full credit for all the ideas, but they were not mine alone. Back in March, Stephanie sent me a link. She said, "Wouldn't this be so cute for Doodle's party?" Yes... yes it would!

Claudia helped me design the invitations. She also created the custom monogram at the top.

Then I added the pictures on the back.

Plans started in basic details in March, but with work, it was hard to focus right away on the minute stuff. I sourced all the things I'd need to recreate what I'd seen from our inspiration party. I decided on a menu. Then I started on the execution in full force when we got back from Baton Rouge in May.

I started by buying all of the pink and orange paper I could find in Oklahoma City. Literally. I bought out Michael's and Hobby Lobby of their loose cardstock. But in the end, with a lot of help from Dad and T, the result was the precious backdrop for the cake/sweets table.

The cake topper was a custom made design by my friend Leah. Leah has her own Etsy shop, CuteNation, if you'd like your own cake topper. It's now a permanent fixture in Caroline's room.

Stephanie was kind of enough to sew the custom table runner for the cake/sweets table. The pink color really popped off the white tablecloth and helped tie in the backdrop.

I made the Happy Birthday banner myself with a color printer and ribbon. I also had 8x10 prints of all her monthly pictures made and mounted them on scrapbook paper to make additional banners. Caroline loves looking at herself... and she stared at these the moment I put them up. She loved them!

There was a welcome station for people to write notes to Caroline. I'll take those notes and put them in a scrapbook for her, along with a picture of her taken with the guests. I'll add the scrapbook pages with her monthly pictures to the book.

Also there was a bucket with thank you gifts. It was a picture frame with 2 pictures of Caroline from her 1 year portrait session, wrapped with pink or orange tissue paper and tied with the alternating color ribbon.

The menu was fairly simple, I think. My dad made a jambalaya and my Mom made white beans. Then we had the basics - fruit tray, veggie tray, cheese, crackers, chips, dip. For dessert, I made a 3 tiered cake with each tier being a different flavor. The top tier was a vanilla and raspberry dobos torte. The middle tier was a lemon layer cake and the bottom was a chocolate butter cake with a chocolate ganache frosting. I covered all 3 tiers in fondant, rolled as thinly as possible, to provide a cohesive look.

We also had peanut butter truffles, oreo truffles and carrot cake pops if cake wasn't your thing. We rounded out the menu with homemade pink lemonade. Caroline's cake was a carrot cake. She was just too cute when it came to eating it. At first she just looked at me like "Normally you don't let me put my hands in my food and now you want me to? What's the catch?" But she caught on and really enjoyed it.

After opening gifts and playing with them, she finally gave in to all the excitement and went down for a nap. It was a wonderful party and I only cried a tiny bit while people were singing, "Happy Birthday".

You can see all of the pictures from her party HERE. Stephanie's husband Nick was our party photographer so I didn't have to worry running around with my camera. He's also taken a bunch of her monthly portraits and our family pictures.

A big THANK YOU to everyone for their help and for everyone who made the trip. I know it was a long way, but we really appreciated you being here. For those who couldn't make it, I hope the pictures show how much fun she really had!!

One Year Ago... Part 2

2010-06-09T00:33:00.004-05:00

A little after midnight, they came to get me. They gave T a lovely paper jumpsuit to wear and said they'd be back to get him. I was sleepy... very, very sleepy....

The wheeled me to the operating room and after a few minutes I just closed my very heavy eyes. I must have drifted off to sleep. The next thing I remember is T coming in the room. I heard his voice and opened my eyes to find him. He held my hand. The anesthesiologist was talking to me. I remember that I liked him.

I could feel movement, but not pain. I could hear the doctors talking. I remember thinking, "you know, I can hear you.... " I remember the anesthesiologist telling me to tell him if I was feeling sick.

I felt like I was going to be sick. So I said I was going to be sick. And then I threw up all over T and the doctor as he was giving me the medicine to keep me from getting sick. I did apologize though. T was wearing that fancy paper jumpsuit... so it's not like it ruined clothes or anything.

A few minutes later I hear, "we have a girl! born at 12:33 am" Then my doctor says "you weren't kidding about that heartburn, were you?" She had a head full of dark hair! They carried her around so I could see her and I couldn't see any white in her eyes... and she was covered in goo... I thought "that's not my baby... that's an alien baby... where's my baby?... oh wait, they are expecting you to smile... so smile..." I smiled. Let's remember I was under the influence of drugs...and Tylenol can put me to sleep.

They asked where our camera was.... we didn't think of a camera... so the anesthesiologist took pictures with his phone and sent them to us. They weighed and measured her - 8 lbs, 1 oz, 22 inches long - and then bundled her up. T took her back to the room while they finished up with me. That took forever.

I finally got there and it was smiles all around and I got to hold her. And there she was... my doodle.

My parents left to get some sleep. It was almost 2 am. T crashed. I just held and looked at my baby. She ate and looked at me with her big eyes. I was falling asleep while holding her and the nurses offered to hold her while I slept. I said ok. And I slept.

They moved us to a room about 5 am. It was much smaller... and hot. It would be home for the next 4 days. I was released on Thursday morning, but Caroline had jaundice... and it would start 24 hours of pure torture for me. We were finally released on Friday to go home.

We got home late that afternoon and I took a nap. It would be a little more than 18 hours and we'd be back in the hospital. This time for me. Another 48 hours later, we would finally be home for good.

And then in a blink of an eye, a whole year has passed.

Happy Birthday, Caroline (my doodle)!!

James Louque Falcone

2010-06-08T10:41:00.001-05:00

Baby Jay and Momma

One Year Ago...Part 1

2010-06-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

One year ago today.... right about now (8:20 am), I was running late to make my doctor's appointment. It was a Monday and my first day that I wasn't working. I had the appointment, then I needed to go to the grocery store.

I'd been feeling awful, but I was 9 months pregnant. You're supposed to feel awful, right? Friday had been my last day at work. I just simply couldn't do it anymore. I made the 8:30 appointment thinking I was going to still be at work. What a mistake... since I was now running late because I'd overslept.

I threw on the only thing left that I could wear - a black cotton dress that hit me at the shoulders. I wedged my oh-so-swollen feet into my crocs. I brushed my dirty hair back into a pony tail and off I went.

Got to the doctor's office.... went through the routine... got on the scale and cried a little... chatted with the nurse... tried to elevate my feet while waiting for the doctor so my cankles didn't get rolls.... The doctor finally came in. She took my blood pressure again.... and through her sweet smile she said, "ok, you're having a baby today."

I stared at her. "Excuse me? I have errands to run." Nope... change those plans... your blood pressure is too high... so you are having a baby today... in fact, you're going to the hospital right now.

So I called T and said "it's time... she's sending me to the hosptial now." Called Mom and Dad and Leslie with the same conversation 3 times.

I checked out of the doctor's office. Ran into some people from our birthing class and chatted with them. I walked slowly to my car. It was almost surreal... I wasn't going home again without a baby. Drove myself around the block to the hospital and valet parked. Checked myself in and they were waiting for me. The walked me right to my room and I changed into the gown.

I hadn't eaten breakfast and I was hungry. Should I eat? Can I eat? They hooked up the pitocin and other stuff. I turned on the tv and waited. T got there and we waited some more. Contractions came and went. And then they came and came. I was trying to breathe through them, but I couldn't catch my breath.

I had decided that if I did anything, I'd do the epidural. It was less impact on the baby. And when I couldn't breathe and the contractions were coming so fast, I couldn't take it anymore. I got to 6 cm with nothing... looking back, I think I kind of wussed out. So it was time for the epidural. That took an hour.

But I finally got some relief and I rested. They made me lay on my side, which made my heartburn go through the roof. I got cranky then. I finally drifted off to sleep. I don't know how long I was alseep. Poor T was perched on a little stool right next to me the whole time.

My boss came by to check on me. I remember talking to her but not the details. It was getting late, although I had no idea on the timeframe. I just know the lights were more dim than when I got there. My mom got there. The doctor came by to check on me. Apparently, I'd finally made it to 10 cm and it was time to push.

They readied the room. My mom went to the waiting room. T and I had agreed ahead of time that he'd stay up by my head and just cheer me on and help how he could. The nurses had other plans. Apparently it was a busy night and they were short handed. The doctor told T to grab one of my legs. A nurse took my other leg and so we began.

I pushed for at least an hour. And I would make some progress, but not a lot. Apparently the baby's head was stuck. My bloodpressure was finally under control and the baby was fine, but no progress was being made. I was worn out and the epidural was wearing off. We took a break and discussed our options.

Little did I know, the doctor pulled T aside and said we should do the c-section and we need to make a decision soon on it. I was ok then but they were still worried about my blood pressure. He and I talked and we made the decision to do it. I was so tired. Mom came back in the room.

They redid my epidural and I was quickly relieved of the pain. We had to wait for a room because they were both being used. While we were waiting, Dad got there.

It was late... and the calendar clicked over to the 9th....

I'm baaaaaaack!

2010-06-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

I know that I've been spotty with the posting the last month... but trips and funerals and party planning takes it toll on you. Oh and there was that little thing called work that actually fills my days.

So in the coming week, I'll have a full party recap - right down to the ridiculous detail of Caroline's custom designed monogram on the menu cards.

But for now, the most important thing is the birth of my new nephew! The Louque girls finally have a boy!! James Louque Falcone (aka Baby Jay) was born today at 12:40 pm (Halifax time, of course). He's 7lbs, 7 ozs and I don't have a length yet. Momma is doing fine. That's all the details I have right now. When I have a picture, I'll definitely post it!

Progress

2010-05-22T14:38:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure she is going to be running in circles very soon!

Playing catch-up...

2010-05-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

So it was pointed out to me that I've been MIA on the blog. And I guess, technically, I have. The majority of my readership knows where I was (except for those in Estonia... I wasn't there). Anyway, I had made plans to surprise my goddaughter Jolie for her 8th grade graduation. Caroline and I were flying in Saturday and leaving out on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, plans changed and T joined us and we extended our trip. My MeeMaw passed away on Thursday, so we left that night and drove into Benton and then on into BR on Friday. It was sad why we were there, but it was good to see all of my family... extended family included.

We got a reprieve from all the insane weather here for a while and traded it for torrential downpours in Baton Rouge. Dad said it hadn't rained like this in a really long time, so he kept checking over his shoulder for tornadoes. The weather was sure to follow us, right?

I do have lots of pictures to post... and I'll get around to it. But in the meantime, I'm playing catch-up and trying to get stuff straight for the upcoming party. Time is starting to move to quickly for me. My 3 weeks is now almost down to 2!!

So now that you know what's going on, are you happy, Stephanie? :)

And so it blows...

2010-05-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

As many of you know by now, a "tornado swarm" hit the Oklahoma City metro area yesterday evening. For those of you who want the short version, we are fine. Those of you that want the long version, read on.

We knew there was a really good chance of bad weather yesterday afternoon. They had been talking about the "unprecedented" computer models and severe blah blah blah blah... I'm not really sure the details. I all drones together after a while. I rely on my resident weather guru to keep me forewarned. Not to be to confused with the my east coast weather guru. Apparently I'm surrounded by guru's.

At 4ish yesterday afternoon, Stephanie asked if it looked like death and destruction. Nope, it sure didn't. The sun was shining. I joked with my boss, finished up some stuff and left as it started to get darker. It was looking darker by the minute, but not death and destruction. I decided to head to school to pick up the baby.

The tornado sirens started going off when I was about halfway to school. (I work about 5 minutes from there.) I decided just to hang out at school with the baby until we got the all clear. I even parked in an area that didn't have trees so if the winds picked up nothing would fall directly on my car.

I ran through the now falling ran to get to the door and walked quickly to her room, but the rooms were all empty. They were already in their shelter areas. So they directed me to her where she was. They had just gotten in there. Caroline was little unhappy to be sharing a space.

To get the 8 kids in her room to the secure area, they put 4 kids each in a rolling baby bed and 1 teacher takes a bed and rolls it into the room. Let's just say that Caroline is one for her own space, so she wasn't exactly happy. But I got there not long after and all was well.

We played for a while. We crawled around the floor. She enjoyed just watching all the kids in one room. (There were 5 classes in one room. It was a GIANT safe room and the kids are little.) The lights flickered several times and I could hear the wind. But things were calm. I was calm.

Because cell phone coverage was non-existent, I called T from the school phones once I got there and made the decision to stay put. He said the wind was blowing but things were fine at the house. So we waited.

I checked the radar a couple of times and it seemed like the bulk of the bad weather was past us. I didn't know a lot of details about what was going on. I just knew that I was getting batches of texts - a bunch at one time - asking if we were ok.

So about 6, we decided to head home. School was closing but they said they wouldn't kick us out. I was comfortable enough with things to say that we were ok to go. Driving home, I heard about the tornado that hit I-40 and Choctaw Road. And it occurred to me that had I just picked up Caroline and left, we'd have been on the interstate at that time. As Caroline slept in the backseat, I started bawling.

I pulled myself together and got us the rest of the way home. The sun was shining on the car even though there were black clouds in the distance. A rainbow appeared.

T's evening was a little different. Once he knew we were safe and staying put, he ventured outside with the rest of our neighbors and enjoyed an adult beverage while watching the weather. The wind was blowing, but he said other than the black clouds, it wasn't too bad.

Today brought more revelations. Apparently, people in the back of our neighborhood didn't fare so well. About a mile south of us, homes are destroyed. We are very lucky to have been spared. Thanks to those who checked on us.

I'll continue to play it safe with storms in the future. Since a part of NW Oklahoma had a tornado warning tonight and they are predicting more severe weather tomorrow, it should make it an interesting week.

11 Months (and a Mother's Day too)

2010-05-09T13:52:00.000-05:00

Caroline is 11 months old today and is currently napping (knock on wood). She was so tired but not even remotely interested in a nap. I had to bounce and shush and she finally fell asleep with her arms wrapped around my neck and her face on my face. Some days naps are easy like they used to be. Some days it takes some work.

Yesterday, we went to the zoo for the first time. It was beautiful outside (60's and sunshine, with just a light breeze) and that meant the zoo was packed. The Children's Zoo was just redone last year, so I wanted to check it out. I thought for sure Caroline would be excited about all the animals. She was much more excited to watch all the people that were there.

We took her to ride the Kiddie Train. She was so cute watching the train. She was waving at everyone as they came back around. When it was our turn to ride, she just stared at everything. I managed to get one wave out of her towards Daddy who had the camera. But for the most part, she was just checking it all out.

When we stopped, she clapped and was very excited after it was over. It was absolutely so fun to watch her get excited over everything. It was the best Mother's Day gift!

She is moments away from pulling up.... we just know it. She can hold herself up if you stand her up. And she can push up her legs from her hands and knees. She just hasn't managed to put it all together. Her feet are so tiny. I often wonder how they are going to hold her up.

She is feeding herself pretty well now. She is eating lots of different things now - cheese, crackers, fruit, pasta. She loves bath time. I can't wait to take her swimming at some point this summer. I think she is going to LOVE it!!

We are full speed ahead on the birthday planning. It's hard to believe she's almost 1. But she definitely is... the next monthly update will be an annual update.

Now pardon me while I go cry because my tiny baby is growing up....

School Crafts

2010-05-08T15:50:00.001-05:00

Caroline goes to preschool/daycare. That's obvious since T & I both work. I've always been so happy with her teachers. They always work with her. They do crafts. They teach her new things.

I picked her up the other day to find a present for me. I almost cried.

How sweet of them to think of us. It made my day!!

Project Birthday

2010-05-07T13:12:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not know, The Doodle's 1st birthday is fast approaching. The invitations were finally sent to the printer this week. Now I just have to get those out ASAP next week when they come in. Keep an eye on your mailbox becaus they are tres cute! I'd like to thank Claudia for helping me with them. I was obsessing about them and she took my ideas and input and ran with it.

That being said... now we have to do everything else! I am making my detailed To Do list this week. It will be an overly OCD list, with very minute details (makes it easier to cross stuff off and make me feel more productive). If the list says "cake, food, invites"... you can't cross stuff off until the day of the party. I like to see a detailed list so that I can know I'm making progress. Like I said, OCD. But that's another post for another day.

I'm calling on all my crafty friends for this party and the things happening already are exciting. I can't wait to show you the results. Stay tuned!

Fruit & Flowers or Linen & Silk

2010-05-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Thursday, April 29th marked our 4th wedding anniversary. Wasn't it just yesterday? It's funny how quickly time goes by but yet it seems like T's always been part of my life. We met on Dec. 27, 2003. We had our first date on Jan 4, 2004 and never looked back.

I think we knew by February that this was it. He fit in my life and I fit in his. It wasn't that we had found someone without issues.... we had just found another person that our issues fit together. That and I think he liked partying with my sister and having me chauffeur them around all night.

We were engaged March 9, 2005 and married the following April. And then we moved. Here we are 4 years later.

The traditional anniversary gift is fruit or flowers. The modern anniversary gift is linen or silk. Well, we spent our anniversary at Big Cedar Lodge on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. And there were lots of flowers around. And I wore a linen shirt on Friday. And I had some fruit at breakfast that day.

It wasn't all fun and games.... I was there working and T was working too (someone had to watch the baby). But we had a nice time anyway. We normally don't do anything more than exchange cards. Last year we did go out to dinner knowing it would be our last anniversary just the 2 of us.

We had to run into town to buy more Children's Claritin because Caroline's nose was a faucet. While there, we were walking down the card aisle at Walgreens. We stopped and picked a card for each other. Then we gave each other the cards, read them and put them back. We got the sentiment without spending the money.

Does it get any more romantic than that?

A state of disarray - Redux

2010-04-27T17:15:00.001-05:00

Here is my second attempt at this post. This time from the beauty salon while my gray hair is disappearing.

This past weekend was our version of "This Old House" at Casa de Smith (aka Smithville). While our house isn't old, at 7 years (4 with us), it's just the time all those little things start to break (sooner if my family comes to visit).

Sidenote: the running joke in my family is that whenever someone in the family visits, something winds up broken.

We finally fixed the large, gaping hole in our dining room wall. It's been there since August 2008.

We may have had some visitors also in that summer and they may have damaged our doorbell. We finally replaced that.

We installed a programmable thermostat and added mulch and replaced plants in the flower beds.

Lastly, we had the carpets cleaned on Monday. That required moving everything from those rooms. Since we had to allow 24 hours to dry, we spent last night sitting on the sofa in the dining room listening to my iPod.

It was nice to sleep in my old bed in the guest room, even if my cuurent mattress was at the foot of the bed.

-- Post from somewhere other than my living room sofa.

Foiled by technology

2010-04-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good post about the current state of our house... even had pictures. But I was posting from my phone.... and instead of publishing the post, it got lost somewhere in cyberspace. And frankly, I didn't even want to think about typing out another blog post on my phone... So in turn, you get a post about technology (or lack there of)...

Yes, we both lose.

Important Events in Oklahoma History

2010-04-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

April 22, 1889     Land Run
Smiths not present

November 16, 1907    Statehood
Smiths not present

1927     Route 66 Created
Smiths not present

1930's     The Dust Bowl
Smiths not present

1960's - 1970's   Oil Boom
Smiths not present

1980's     Oil Bust
Smiths not present

April 19, 1995   Murrah Federal Building Bombing
Smiths not present

November 16, 2007     State Centennial Celebration
Smiths present

April 22, 2010     Oklahoma City Thunder hosts franchises first playoff game AND WIN!
Smiths present!

It's a slow work day...

2010-04-22T14:46:00.001-05:00

Actually, it's anything BUT a slow work day.... However, my new camera lens came in today, so I HAD to try it out... and I'm very excited about it. Yes, I happen to have my camera here with me at work waiting for it's arrival.

The new lens is a low depth of field, macro lens and I'm extremely excited about it. I think if it can make my horrendous desk look interesting, then imagine what it can do for flowers!!

This last shot is a picture of a picture. It's me and Leslie on her graduation day in May 2003. Don't we look cute and young... and cute... I keep it on my desk to remind me what I used to look like. HA!

Who is reading this thing?

2010-04-20T07:00:00.002-05:00

I added a new analytical tracking software to the blog about a week ago. I had a very simple version before, but this new stuff is HIGH TECH.

And guess what I found out... this little site has an international readership. I know... I know... You're thinking, "Nicole, your sister lives in another country.. of course it's international." But that's not what I'm talking about.

So as it turns out... I've got readership in Rakvere, Estonia!

I know what you're thinking and no, I have no idea why either. But let's just give a shout out to Estonia....

WHAT UP, RAKVERE!?! (and Tartu... WHAT UP, TARTU!?!)

And no, I had no idea where it was either until I looked it up on Google Maps.

Where were you 15 years ago today?

2010-04-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful spring day. I was a freshman at LSU. I met my friends at the Student Union for lunch. We were joking and having a good time, not a care in the world. These were before the days of cells phones and tv's everywhere. We ate outside that day on the patio underneath the oak trees.

Julie asked me to go to her psychology class with her so we could continuing goofing off but she'd be counted as present. No problem, right?

We got to her class and seated ourselves in the back so we could doodle and pass notes and be 18 years olds. And then her teacher started talking about the tragic events of the day. I started paying attention because I had no idea what she was talking about.

Apparently, a building in Oklahoma City had been bombed. It was 1 pm. I was 18. I could not possibly comprehend the catastrophe that was unfolding. Yes, it was sad to me, but I was too young and too far removed to understand the impact.

That day sitting at LSU, I could never imagined that 11 years later I'd move to Oklahoma, that I'd work a mile from the site of the bombing, that I would drive past the memorial every time I had to drop stuff off at the post office on my way home.

Beauty Shop

2010-04-16T11:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got to school to find The Doodle with a new hairstyle.

-- Post from somewhere other than my living room sofa.

WAVE!

2010-04-13T20:25:00.000-05:00

If you've been on one of my family's vacations to the beach, then you are familiar with "WAVE!" If you haven't, then enjoy this little insight into why I am like I am.

My family likes a beach vacation, a Navarre Beach, FL vacation to be specific (yes, thus my niece's name). And beach vacations mean time at the beach and in the water - the Gulf to be specific.

Now if you are floating around in the Gulf, then you're more than likely going to encounter a wave. These aren't Hawaii North Shore kinds of waves, but waves that can catch you off guard if you aren't looking at them.

And if you're floating around in the Gulf with my family, you will more than likely have a drink in your hand. If you are caught off-guard by a wave, you will ruin said drink because no drink needs the addition of saltwater in it. So it's the job of the person facing the waves to yell, "WAVE!" when one is coming.

The proper response? To stick your arm straight up into the air as high as you can reach without ever having to turn around and look and see what's coming. Doesn't matter if it splashes over your head, your drink is safely at the end of your outstretched arm.

It becomes a reflex... "WAVE!" *stretches arm straight up into the air*

I bring this up because Caroline is now waving. And when I say "wave" to her, it's all I can think about. But she is a long way from holding up drinks at Navarre Beach!

10 Months (and a couple of days)

2010-04-12T19:28:00.000-05:00

Caroline was 10 months on Friday. It was also picture day at school. So I'm sure we'll have the pictures sometime before she's 12. Hopefully.

You can't keep her still anymore. She is all over the place. She crawls after me when I leave her in the morning and makes a beeline for me when I pick her up.

She is starting to pull up and can get one leg up, but not the other. We feel like it will be any day until she's up on her feet and, lordy mercy, walking.

She can clap and wave now. She will only wave for strangers and after I've quit trying to get her to do it. Although, she will clap all the time... it's quite cute. I'm working on a video of it.

She is quite tempermental lately. If you take something from her or do something she doesn't like, she let's out this howling cry like you wouldn't believe. It's generally over in about 10 seconds. But in that 10 seconds, her world is ending.

I can't even believe it's been 10 months. Birthday party plans are in full swing. Mark your calendars for her party - June 5th!

Not Your Average Sunday

2010-04-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

A typical Sunday in the Smith house involves breakfast at the Harrah Steakhouse and then some vegging at the house for the rest of the day. We may do some laundry around 9 pm if we realize we don't have any clothes for work on Monday.

Well, today was different. The Smiths took part in the 2010 Redbud Classic. We walked 2 miles through Nichols Hills on a warm, but clear day.

When we got to the halfway point, T said he was proud of me for not stumbling, falling, or causing any stroller wrecks to that point. You'll be happy to know that I made it to the end of the race in one piece, without even tripping. We also weren't the last people to finish.

You never know, this may start some sort of healthy trend with us. While we ponder that, I'm getting some ice cream.

Picture Day

2010-04-09T08:37:00.001-05:00

Today is picture day at school. When I started thinking about her last picture day, I almost started crying. She was so small last time. And she couldn't sit up.

Today, she wasn't super interested in having a flash in her face this early but hopefully they will come out cute.

-- Post from somewhere other than my living room sofa.

Caroline's First Haircut

2010-04-08T21:05:00.001-05:00

Caroline had her first haircut today. It was really about time. In fact, she's needed a haircut since before Christmas. I guess that's what happens when you're born with a headful of hair that you don't lose.

I finally bit the bullet and took her to my hair stylist. She sat still for the first few minutes until she got comfortable with everyone. And then she turned into Mega-Ham Supreme. It didn't help that she was looking into a big mirror. And there's nothing she loves more than looking at herself in the mirror.

I had a poll going on Facebook asking people advice on bangs vs. no bangs. I did NOT expect the number and passion of the responses. I found that mom's with girls responded an overwhelming, "NO BANGS!!!" And people with no kids or boys, said "Oh bangs would be so cute on her!"

My gut was telling me bangs would be so cute. Her hair hangs straight down.. stick straight down into her face. But everyone was so adamant against it. I should learn from their mistakes, right?

It's not like dealing with hair and hair maintenance is a new thing for us though. I've been battling hair since she was born. There was that 2 month period were all it did was stand up straight. That was fun. And in the end, she's my kid and I might as well do with her hair what I want while I can.

So instead of short, straight-across bangs, we went with a more long, side-swept version of them. This way she doesn't look like a shaggy sheep dog if she doesn't have a barrette or bow in her hair, but I can still pull it back if I want. We also cut off her wings on the side. When her hair was wet, the back sides went all the way down to her shoulder blades. That's just crazy!

Now she is sporting a cute bob with side-swept bangs. I'm ready for the NO BANGS crew backlash, but I think she looks darling.

Tecnology

2010-04-08T14:37:00.001-05:00

So this post comes to you today from my cell phone. Not sure if this is a good feature or not!

-- Post from somewhere other than my living room sofa.

Bittersweet

2010-04-07T20:07:00.000-05:00

There are a couple of things I've come to realize during my almost 10 months of motherhood. One, holy crap I'm a mom! That still throws me off a little. I can now say "my daughter" and not fall out of my chair dead, but it still catches me off guard.

The other thing I've learned is that developmental milestones to me are bittersweet. Stephanie told me once that each new stage with her son Mason is her favorite stage. I definitely feel that. But I also get a little sad to know that she's not my teeny, tiny baby anymore.

Now that Caroline is crawling, she is all over the place. She is trying to pull up and can get one leg up. She is really enjoying her independence and is thriving with her ability to get where she wants to. I love seeing her so happy and engaged in the world around her. But as we start planning her birthday party in ernest, I am saddened by how quickly this first year has gone.

Stephanie enrolled Mason in kindergarden today. She was so sad to be transitioning from baby stages to kid stages. I totally know how she feels. I'm dreading Caroline's move to her next class and that won't come until later this summer. I can't even fathom kindergarden.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:27:00.003-05:00

The Move

2010-04-02T09:37:00.001-05:00

Yeah... so we're not moving. It was a joke... April Fool's!! But as Stephanie has pointed out, it loses a little something after April 1st!

I am, however, leaving it up for a while so everyone can have their own little freak-outs. That and I don't have time to change it right now....

UPDATE: If you didn't see it before I changed it, the header is below.

Almost Famous

2010-03-31T06:30:00.004-05:00

I love to take pictures. I'm slowly venturing into the realm of manual settings on my big, fancy camera... and eventually even additional lenses.

Little did I know that my pictures would eventually be featured in a gallery. Like a real place people go to buy art. It's the JLH Gallery in New Jersey and the gallery officially opens on April 1st - no joke, April 1st.

I'll have more info on the grand opening celebration as it draws closer. And my photos will be available online for purchase as well. You can find the gallery online at ~~http://www.jlhgallery.com/~~. www. jlhgalleries.com. (Thanks, Claudia for correcting me!).

I'm still in a little shock about the whole thing.

Parent Proofing

2010-03-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

Now that the Doodle is crawling, it's all about baby-proofing the house. We took some steps last summer, but have been making sure the stuff we overlooked is going to be ok. For instance, we never even knew we had an outlet under the bar. So when we put outlet covers on everything, we missed that one.

Well, guess who made a beeline for that outlet last weekend? Yep... 15 seconds later, it was promtly covered and then we spent the rest of the day trying to decide if we knew we had an outlet there or not.

What none of the books or experts talk about though is parent proofing. In an attempt to open the container that held her new sippy cup, I managed to give myself a fat lip. I had to pull on the packaging so hard that the force caused the cup to fly out of it and hit me in the mouth.

I yelped and my lip started to swell. T was feeding the baby, so I told him to ingore my cries. I was ok... it just hurt like.... well, like someone popped me in the mouth! This morning my bottom lip is still a tad swollen, although it only hurts when I eat or drink...

Yes, I'll live.... but really? All I was trying to do was open the stinking cup!

Told ya...

2010-03-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

I knew when I left for New York/New Jersey last week that Caroline would be driving when I got home. I told her not to grow while I was gone, but apparently she was having none of that!

She is quasi-pulling up. She grabs on to stuff and is up on her knees. That's as far as she's been able to get, but she is getting quite adept at that move. She was playing like that when I picked her up from school today... just hanging on to the activity center and kneeling next to it playing with the stuff on it.

Well, after we put her to bed tonight, she was quiet for a while. Then over the monitor, I heard a weird sound. It sounded like a bouncing mattress and a squeaking bed. Could my not even 10 month old daughter be jumping on her bed?

T got up to investigate and came back into the living room laughing. He said, "you've got to come see this."

So there she was... jumping in her bed... sort of. She was holding on to the side... on her knees... bouncing up and down. After we laid her back down and covered her back up, we then made plans to lower the bed even more tomorrow night.

Reincarnation

2010-03-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

If you don't believe in reincarnation, you should. The more time goes by, the more B imbodies everything that made Rufus what he was. It's simply amazing to have two dogs so similar. I woke up on Saturday morning and found that B had taken over Copper's bed.

Sing it with me, a la Chris Farley "Big dog in a little bed.... "

Forgive the grainy, bad, early morning, cell phone photos. I knew if I got up to get the camera, he'd move. He moved after I snapped the first picture. He looked at me like "What? You've never seen a large dog in a tiny bed before?"

Seems innocent enough you'd think. But keep in mind that we had to get Copper and Rufus the exact same beds or otherwise they'd fight over them all night long. And even with the same beds, they were constantly back and forth in each other's beds anyway.

Because I'm like that Part 2

2010-03-20T23:40:00.000-05:00

I've given up reading books. I get sucked into the story and don't put it down, forsaking sleep and food and work and baths. It's in everyone's best interest that I've given up reading books.

I do, however, love to read blogs. Simple, normally short posts about as many topics as you can imagine. But I have this strange quirk when I find a new blog.

I know it's completely out of this world that I might have a strange quirk, but believe it. I feel like when I start reading a new blog that I can't just start reading from that day forward. If I do that, I feel like the kid who's late to the party and won't know the fun inside jokes.

So I start at the beginning and read ALL the posts for said blog until I am up to date. This can take weeks... months actually, depending on how old the blog is and how frequent the author posts.

Well, tonight I managed to finish my own personal version of War and Peace. It's taken me months to read the entire thing... but now I have. When I caught up to real time, I raised my arms in touchdown mode and sang "I am the champion... I am the champion...."

T just looked at me with a blank face. Apparently it's not all that impressive to everyone.

Maybe if I fold the towels on the sofa he'll be impressed. He might not be impressed, but he'll definitely be shocked.

The Blizzard of March 2010

2010-03-20T06:30:00.001-05:00

It poured rain all night. It was supposed to turn to snow today.... stay tuned and I'll hopefully have some pictures to post of insane blizzard.... IN MARCH!

UPDATE: We only got about 2" of snow today. And I didn't ever bother to take a picture. It was ugly snow and never inspired me to take a picture. T did get some great pictures of the blizzard on Christmas Eve. Maybe I'll post those one day for you. Maybe... if you're good.

Crawling

2010-03-19T09:22:00.001-05:00

And here is more crawling....

Rare gems

2010-03-19T08:54:00.000-05:00

Living in Oklahoma, our circle of friends is decidely smaller than it was in Louisiana. We don't have a life-long connection to this area and the people in it. But we have managed to find friends that I feel like I've known all my life.

When you don't have school or family or similiar histories in common, it's often difficult to cultivate friendships - especially as adults. But when you do find those friends, it's a special gift.

To find people who think your kid is as cute as you think she is and is excited to keep her late on a school night so you can enjoy a night out as an adult is something I probably might not have needed in a friend if I still lived in Baton Rouge. But I am thankful that I do have that now.

Thank you, Steph, Nick and Mase!

9 Months in pictures

2010-03-17T15:18:00.001-05:00

Well, in one picture. This was taken this past weekend in Benton. She wasn't super crazy about Momma's photoshoot idea, but we got one good one. And I know that white bow is awful. I need to find a better one.

She does occassionally close her mouth... but it's rare!

Not so innocent

2010-03-12T10:03:00.000-06:00

It's funny what seemingly innocent little things bring back very vivid memories. Last week, I bought a package of cookies with the intent to make a little sweet snack to bring with us when we visit T's parents. Mr. Andy always likes it when we come baring sweets (oh and the baby).

Well, life happened and the dessert didn't get made. So last night after dinner, I helped myself to some of the cookies, because I wasn't cooking at 9 pm. That's actually pushing towards and past my bedtime (no comments about my advanced age, please).

But as I sat on the sofa enjoying my cookies, I remembered the first weekend we were in Oklahoma. The pods hadn't arrived with all of our furniture yet, so all we had was the sofa, Rufus' chair and the TV. The TV was sitting on the floor because we hadn't bought an entertainment center yet.

Since the TV was on the floor, so was I. I was leaning back against the sofa, sitting with my legs crossed eating a couple cookies (notice a pattern here) and watching TV. The dogs were inside because we didn't have the yard fenced in yet.

I was eating Nutter Butter cookies. I used to love them as a kid, but hadn't bought them myself in years. I decided to get a package while I was buying our first groceries in Oklahoma.

So I was casually sitting on the floor eating cookies. I had one in my right hand that I was eating. And I had the other cookie in my left hand, casually resting on my knee. My sweet Rufus walked up to me and licked the cookie in my left hand. Then he sat down and looked at me like "um... are you gonna eat that?"

I was completely caught off guard. Rufus had NEVER done anything like that. Now, Copper, she'd take the food out of your mouth if you let her. But sweet Rufus had never done anything so blatant!

I looked at T and we both burst out laughing. Of course, I had to give him the cookie. I wasn't going to eat it after he licked it. He proudly took his cookie and jumped up into his chair. Copper just sat there looking at us like "what the hell?!?" So I gave her the rest of the one I was eating.

That will teach me... won't it? My innocent dog was apparently not so innocent. I miss that goofy dog...

Naturally...

2010-03-11T19:52:00.000-06:00

We had our ENT appointment this morning. We got there early and lucky for Momma, there was a Starbucks in the lobby. So Doodle made her first visit to Starbucks and proceeded to scratch their lovely leather club chair with her fingernails. It looked like a cat had attacked that chair. I felt so bad... it was a soft, beautiful leather. Oh well... that's what they get for letting yahoos in.

We made our way up to the 3rd floor and arrived 30 minutes early with all of our paperwork in hand, already filled out (typed cause I'm anal that way). There was only one pair of chairs open, so I plopped her in a chair and sat next to her to enjoy my Venti Nonfat Caramel Macchiato.

It was 15 minutes before they called us up there to take our paperwork. So they took all our info, 14 forms of identification, insurance card and payment. It was another 10 minutes before she called me back up there to take all my cards back.

Did I mention it was HOT in the waiting room? Doodle was sweating. I took off as many of her layers as I could. I know better, but only had on a tank top under my sweater, therefor, all my layers stayed in place.

Another 45+ minutes rolls by before we are called back into the room. By this time, Doodle is tired, hot, hungry and sporting a full diaper (at least I suspected that one). I didn't come prepared with a full diaper bag because I figured we'd be in and out.

Universe - 1, Momma - 0.

We are FINALLY called back and don't have to wait very long for the doc. I tell him a brief history of the last 6 weeks and why we are there. He looks deep in her ears, up her nose and in her throat (gotta make sure we cover all bases of the E-N-T). Then he says that her ears are fine now (of course they are). She is a borderline case of needing tubes. He says that right now, structurally she could go either way.

So our course of action is to do nothing for now. Next time she gets sick, we'll re-evaluate but at least now we are established patients and can get in same day if we need to (provided we don't mind waiting forever, of course).

And with that 10 minute (max) consultation, we were on our way. I rolled into school with a tired, hungry, dirty-diapered baby... at least I apologized for dropping her off that way.

9 Months

2010-03-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

Doodle is 9 months old today. She is 21 lbs, 3 ozs and 17 feet tall. Ok, maybe not quite 17 feet... maybe only 12 and half.

She does, however, have 2 new teeth! After a weekend of demon-possessed-goat baby, the second of her two teeth finally pushed through and our sweet angel returned to us.

She can do some serious business with her commando crawl. She is really trying to pull her knees underneath her. We keep thinking it will happen any day. And I'm sure she'll walk right past me as soon as I post this.

Unfortunately, we are headed to the ENT. When she started running fever again last week, we couldn't rule out her ears even though she is teething. So we saved a co-pay and just called the doctor. She confirmed that it only makes sense to head to the ENT.

Her new thing, that I could totally live without, is a temper tantrum. If she doesn't get exactly what she wants, when she wants it, she throws her whole upper body back and flails around, while screaming. I'm not sure how this started, but demon-possessed-goat baby debuted it this past weekend.

We tried a new vegetable last night - butternut squash. Daddy didn't think she would like it, but she gobbled it right up.

It's fun to make her laugh... and I'm never quite sure what she'll find funny. So I'm generally acting like an idiot in an effort to coax a giggle.

I guess it's time to really start planning that birthday party!!

Setbacks

2010-03-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

Unfortunately, Caroline's ears aren't doing that much better. So we are headed to the ENT this week. My back is better, but I'm not pain free quite yet.

But work doesn't stop.... so we keep going.

Super is an understatement

2010-03-07T18:34:00.001-06:00

Picture it. New Orleans, 1989. A middle class young girl and her family venture to the big city to enjoy an NFL football game.

That young girl - me. That NFL football team - The Saints.

It was my very first NFL game. The Saints were playing the Indianapolis Colts on December 24, 1989. Erik Dickerson was the star of the Colts. Jim Mora (Sr.) was the coach of the Saints. Bobby Hebert was the quarterback.

It was unseasonably cold in South Louisiana that day. Parks of Lake Pontchartrain had frozen over. In fact, Dad said they the lake was FROOOOOZEN SOLID! We parked our car in a parking lot on the corner of Julia and O'Keefe. Dad told me to remember that. Twenty-one years later, I still remember. Don't ask me where my shoes are though.

We walked as a family through the streets of New Orleans, taking in the sights to be seen. When we got to the Superdome, I remember looking up at it and thinking it was just so large. We made our way to our seats and peeled off our coats.

I remember just taking it all in.... the sights, the sounds, the vastness of the Superdome. The Saints were in rare form that day. The scored almost everytime they touched the ball. It was so fun for a first game... all Saints, all the time.

There was about 5 minutes left in the game and Dad said it was time to go. I was UNHAPPY. There was still 5 minutes left in the game. We could score again! Mom and Dad both insisted that we wouldn't score again and we wouldn't miss anything but the traffic.

When we finally got back in the car and put the game on the radio, they HAD scored again. They scored on a kick return. They set up and ran a reverse and added insult to injury in a runaway win against the Colts.

It was a positive Saints memory from my childhood. And frankly, there weren't a lot of them. Just when you thought they were on the doorstep of turning a corner, they would screw up and it was a dagger to your heart.

I remember getting beat down by Joe Montana twice a year. I remember winning with replacement players. I remember not being able to see games because they were blacked out in Baton Rouge. I remember year after year Benson threatening to move the team if the state didn't give him more money. Ups and downs... highs and lows... lots and lots of lows.

When the Saints beat Minnesota to go to the Super Bowl, I almost couldn't believe it. It was surreal. I had to keep asking T if it was really real.

When they returned the interception for the touchdown, I almost posted on Facebook that I couldn't believe we were going to win. But I stopped myself. I didn't want to jinx it. And if anyone could screw it up, I figured it would be the Saints.

I sat there in disbelief as the confetti rained down. I knew lots of people actually at the game. I remember watching LSU win the 2003 National Championship and I wondered if it was the same feeling that I had then.

Part of the reason I haven't posted about it before now is because part of me is still in disbelief about it all. The Saints... Super Bowl Champions! ? Really? Wow....

Because I'm like that

2010-03-06T08:00:00.001-06:00

A friend of ours here is an editor at the local newspaper. He also has a blog. He was coming over for the Super Bowl with his family. The week before he sent me an email asking a couple of questions because he was working on a blog post.

He asked if we'd been life long Saints fans. I sent back this huge email full of stories about what it means to be a Saints fan... memories... emotions... feelings. He emailed me back with a follow up question.

"So that would be a yes?"

I had assumed that he didn't want just a yes or no answer the first time. I mean, he was writing a blog post about this, right?

If you'd like to read the blog post he wrote, it's here . If you happen to miss where I'm mentioned, it's the part that said, "die-hard Saints fan."

Apparently he did just want a one word answer. That's what I get for assuming, right?

Tomorrow - my long awaited Super Bowl post. I know... you're on the edge of your seats.

Reasons I'll never win a Bloggie

2010-03-05T08:00:00.001-06:00

1. I don't post often enough. I try my best to keep everyone updated on what's going on since my original intent of this blog was to stay in touch with family. Beyond that, it's hard for me to remember to post that often. And frankly, what do I have to say really?

2. I don't have a gimmick. Gimmick is the wrong word... but people don't flock here because of my fabulous photography or my baking or my knitting. I've done a little of all of that, but I'm not a specialist. I'm more of a general practitioner.

3. I refuse to recount the endless tales of my embarrassing ways. It's hard enough living through it the first time. I don't need to remind myself that I'm a huge dork. If you know me, you are very aware that I'm a dork. If you by chance are reading this and don't know me, trust me... I'm a huge dork.

4. I have no idea how to generate enough traffic to this site to even scare people off.

5. I don't have contests and giveaways.

6. While it would be an honor to be nominated, I don't really care.

Thank you, Mrs. Hutson

2010-03-04T18:33:00.002-06:00

In the 8th grade, I had a wonderful English teacher. I never was a big fan of English up until that point. But she made it fun. She made it interesting. And she made me realize that I was pretty good at it.

She taught us some things that I still remember to this day. One of the things she was a stickler about was words that aren't really words. That stuck with me. Her pet peeve became one of my pet peeves. So I'm going to run through some words that aren't really words. (Note: If you have used these words while talking to me, I noticed.)

1. Ginormous
This is not a word. I use this word all the time, especially when referencing our sweet baby. In my defense, this word is used for emphasis. I know it's incorrect, but it adds emphasis. It's used as hyperbole as Stuart Scott intended it to be. (Stuart Scott - ESPN Sportscenter anchor credited with creation of this word... at least in my opinion)

2. Ya'll, m'aam, alot
These are not words. When you make a contraction, you place an apostrophe where you removed letters. You all becomes y'all. Madam becomes ma'am. Alot is just simply not a word. It is two words - a lot (as in "a large amount"). I'll never forget the day Mrs. Hutson got on her soapbox about "alot." Let's just say it stuck with me.

3. Funner or Funnest
These are not words. You will never catch me using these words. The correct form of these words are more fun and most fun. Please do not use these words around me or you will make my head explode. Yes, there was also a soapbox about these words.

4. Normalcy
Oh holy crap this is not a word!! In 1920, Warren G. Harding used the word normalcy in a speech on the campaign trail. After the disruption of the World War, Harding said on the campaign trail, it was time to get back to normal: "America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration." He repeated the word in his inaugural address the next year: "Our supreme task is the resumption of our onward, normal way.... We must strive to normalcy to reach stability."

Normalcy was popular with the voters. But since it was a newly prominent word uttered by a politician, reactions to normalcy were mixed. Language purists sneered that Harding's word was a mistake for normality. They explained that -ity is the usual suffix for words like normal, while -cy is only attached to words that end in t, as in democracy from democrat.

You can't turn on the television today after some sort of disaster without reporters using the word over and over and over again. And that's when my brain starts to ooze out of my ears.