He's gonna give me away.

Craig and I are really trying hard to be the parents that don't spank, but instead use time out. It works great for Craig because he's never here. But I'm the one who has to tell him no and send him to his room or sit in the chair. So, the other day after several attempts of telling him "no" and trying to get him interested in something other than climbing on the dishwasher, I swatted his bottom. Not hard, of course, but it was a spanking and he did cry a little. Since Craig isn't here, he hasn't witnessed any of these outbursts of mine. I fear, though, that Hayden is going to throw me under the bus one day. Now when I tell him no he starts spanking himself! Too bad it doesn't deter him from getting into that dishwasher.

Why is there sand in my sand box?

Silly question, I know. But after observing Hayden for several minutes, I came to the conclusion that is what he was thinking today. We were outside playing. It was a little cold, but still a bright, beautiful day. I opened his sand box thinking he would jump in and play with all the toys. Not today. Today he was on a mission to rid the sand box of all it's contents. He quickly grabbed his little green shovel and started a monumental excavation of the sand. He got a scoopful and walked across the driveway to dump it in the grass. More times than not, there was no remaining sand in the shovel by the time he got to the grass, but that didn't bother him. The only thing that did bother him was that the dogs were interested in the sand as well. He told one to move. Well, really it was more like "moo!", but she got the idea and quickly got out of his way. This went on for several minutes when I decided to run get the camera. Of course, by the time I got back, he had moved on to playing with something else. It never fails!

Affection

Hayden is doing something that I was so looking forward to. He gives kisses!! He's does not discriminate who gets them either. The dog, the cat, the toys, the spoon and even the babies in his books. It just melts me when he does it. He grabs both sides of my face and plants a sloppy one anywhere on my face he pleases. Now, if Craig did it that way I wouldn't care much for it, but Hayden's much cuter when he does it. Yesterday we were visiting Craig's family. Hayden has a cousin that's 8 weeks older and he was giving her plenty of hugs and kisses. It was the cutest thing I have seen. But all the affection quickly came to an end when Hayden hit Landry in the head with a small, iron wagon wheel. She wasn't having any of his hugs and kisses then.

Ok, I realize my last post was a little gloomy. But I really am thankful for all the blessings that God has given me. I have a wonderful husband who works hard for us. My son is happy and healthy. We have a new place that we love. We are hoping for another baby soon if God allows us to have one. I am in a good place right now. Thank you so much, God.

Thanksgiving

This year we went to my Grandmother's house. If you know my Grandmother, you know how this must have been. It's always a big production. You would think she is expecting the Queen of England and not her family. We have to sit where she feels we should sit (there might be name cards next time). We must eat something of every dish, because that's the polite thing to do. No elbows on the table, napkin in your lap and always use the CORRECT fork. I believe in good manners, but family doesn't care if you make a mistake, or at least they shouldn't. Craig and I always worry that Hayden is going to make a mess on the white carpet. There are so many things that could get broken so we run after him making sure that he doesn't pick up something he shouldn't. It's a far cry from when I was little and we went to my uncle's house. It was comfortable. You could make as much noise as you wanted and never had to worry about making a mess. That's what family is. You should be happy to be together. It shouldn't have to be work. I miss those days. I know that life doesn't and can't stay as it was when we were young. Not to mention there were many times that I wouldn't want to go back to, but just to have the holidays stay as they were would be great.

Mommy of the year award goes to...

Well, it certainly doesn't go to me. Where do I begin? My son survived the day, so I guess that is a start. We have a fence around the house to keep the horses out, but it's not designed to keep the dogs in so we have a hot wire around the bottom. I have been telling Hayden that it's "hot, don't touch". Today he grabbed the wire and nothing happened, thank goodness. But if it didn't shock him, it won't keep the dogs in. I got my tester and it was working. About that time, he comes over and leans on the fence. It shocked him through his jeans and he cried. I mean he screamed and when he was done screaming, and I was done comforting him, he walked away sucking on his fingers. He doesn't do that. He has never used a pacifier, sucked his thumb or even taken to a bottle. Ok, guilt is bad, but I know he will be ok. He's been trying to climb through the fence lately and I have to tell myself that a little shock is better than being kicked by a horse.

Then, after dinner I put him in his room so that I could go feed the horses. I took the monitor so that I could hear him. He's crying, of course, because he doesn't want to be left. While I'm outside, he starts crying louder, but then gets quiet. It's 7:00p.m. so he's probably getting tired, but something just doesn't seem right. I lock the gate and run back to the house. When I get in, I'm still thinking that he's probably asleep so I grab some p.j.'s out of the basket on the counter and head to his room. When I walk in, he looks up at me with the most pitiful face I have seen and starts crying again. I look down and realize that his left arm is stuck in his "busy ball popper" and he's trapped. Once I get his arm out, I sit holding him and just cry along with him. He's done this before, but never gotten it wedged in there so badly. The guilt is worse now.

And finally, in the bath tub he is laying on his stomach like a frog, kicking his feet. He loves to do this and always puts his mouth under water. This time the water got in his mouth and he jumped up red eyed and coughing. It took him a moment to get his wits about him. I swear that I am not trying to harm my child. Craig tells me that "boys will be boys" and to be prepared that this is just the beginning of what is to come in his life. That may be, but my heart can't take all this in one day. I wonder how much a pallet of bubble wrap would cost.

Help me... please!

Ok, I don't know any other way to do this, but I need help with this darn blog. I can't figure out how to put pictures on here. I tried to change my profile photo and now it won't add a new one. I have clicked on the add photo link above when putting in a post, but when it's done I don't know where the photo goes. I want a cute new template, but all I can find are the basic ones. When I tried to edit layout it says I don't have javascript or cookies enabled. WTP (pelosi)!?! I don't know if it's my slow internet or just something I am doing wrong. I can upload pictures to other sites if they are small enough, so I don't understand! I know that y'all may have some suggestions because I am at a loss. How's this for an intersting post?!? haha

The beat goes on...

My child is so sweet. He was digging in a drawer in our entertainment center and found my old "bebe" that I used to listen to him when I was pregnant. So we played "listen to mommy's and Hayden's hearts". It's so hard to believe that just a short 18 months ago I was using this to listen to my baby in my belly. Now he is playing with it like it's a toy. Where did all the time go? I am looking forward for the time when we can listen to his baby brother or sister together

I know it's not Friday, but here's a flashback...

A few weeks back we were visiting my old job. My boss gave Hayden a little present. Picture a chicken that is wearing a red bandanna on his head (think crips or bloods) with white polka-dots. He's got white glasses with red lenses, a red shirt and a white coat with a "furry" collar. The best part of all is that he is wearing a necklace that would make Flava-Flav jealous that says "Fluffy B". Sounds tough, right?

So, where does the flashback come in? Meredith and Nicole, you will find this funny. When you press the little button on the chick's wing it plays "tootsie roll". He flaps his wings and his head moves back and forth. Now this brings back memories of the three of us riding in my aunt's car on the way to Houston. This song came on and we all were rocking in the back seat. To the left, to the right, to the front, to the back...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

lMy son is still very young, but I have learned that he is catching on to more than we realized. He is constantly mimicking what we do. He makes car noises when we do, he tries to put the "key" in the ignition of his cozy coupe and his tractor. He tries to play on the computer when I am not looking and has even learned how to roll the wheel on the mouse. The phone is his favorite thing to copy and anytime he finds anything with buttons, be it the cell phone, a calculator or even his room monitor, he holds it up to his ear and pretends there is someone on the other end. He even grabbed my cell phone once when I said bye and shut it for me.

Well, yesterday was just another example of what he sees, he will copy. When Daddy is getting ready to go somewhere (other than work) he sprays cologne on. He always sprays it on his shirt in a couple of places. So while I was getting ready to take Hayden to the park, he runs in and gets into the drawer where we keep our perfume, cologne, what have you. He grabs daddys cologne, takes the cap off and pretends that he is spraying it on himself. I had no idea that he even paid attention to such things, but obviously he is watching every move we make...

Bye, Daddy!

This morning Craig was sleeping in. Hayden wanted to go in to visit him. Visiting consists of climbing up onto the bed on one side and climbing down on the other. I think he thinks that if he stays up there too long, we will make him take a nap. He also likes to pick on the dogs and get into anything he can find. Our room is usually off limits to him, so going in there is exciting. Anyway, as Hayden was running down the hall, he stopped turned back and waved saying "bye, daddy". It was the first time that he has said a sentence on his own without any coaching. He has said "go bye bye" once, but it was more mimicking me than on his own. This showed me the train of thought! I was so excited and almost started crying. My baby boy is growing up.

This week is almost over.

Monday morning I received a phone call from my sister-in-law, Suzi. She said that our mother-in-law was in the small "hospital" in the next town over. Momo had chest pains that woke her up at 1:00a.m. and she had waited three hours to go because she didn't think it was that severe. That is, until she got sick and started having pain in her arm. Then she drove herself there. They opted to transfer her after her blood pressure dropped drastically. Once at the bigger, affiliated hospital, they decided to do a cardiac catheter. It is supposed to be a simple procedure, one in which she remains awake. But since they have to sedate her slightly, she has to be fasted. She waited until 4:30p.m. before they decided it was too late in the day to do her procedure and put it off until tuesday. At this point she had been without food for 25 hours. The procedure was done tuesday and they placed a stint without any complications and she went home on wednesday. She, thankfully, is doing well now. She can return to work next monday on light duty only until she is cleared by her regular physician. God answered many prayers and kept her safe.

On his way to work on wednesday morning, Craig called me at 2:30a.m. I didn't realize it was the phone ringing, I thought it was the alarm and turned over to tell him to get up. Then it dawned on me that he was already gone. I looked at my phone and called him back. He said that he had hit a deer and his truck wasn't drivable. Luckily a sheriff had stopped on his way home from work and gave Craig a ride home. We then had to go tow his truck to the house so his tools wouldn't be stolen out of the back. I am so greatful that he was ok. He has a small work truck and he thought the deer was coming into the window. It could have been very bad. God was watching out for him.

So, needless to say, I am glad to see the end of this week coming. We have lot of work to do this weekend on the "farm" and are hoping to have the horses here by tomorrow night. What a great ending to this week that will be. I will finally be able to look out and see them in my own pasture! I can stand in my window at the kitchen sink and see them whenever I want. I know it seems simple, but it is a joy for me.