My Two Frogs

Happy Monday!

Aunts, Uncles & Birthdays…Oh My!

Wheeew!

What a weekend and it isn’t even over yet!

B and I made a little impromptu road trip on Friday afternoon.  We packed up the car and headed north on our favorite highway, I-35, to Oklahoma  to see my little brother, J,play in his last collegiate lacrosse tournament.

B was quite a traveling trooper!  We met up with my parents and enjoyed cheering for Uncle J and his teammates.  J’s team played a phenomenal game, it was so much fun to watch! At one point a player from the opposing team tried to hit J with a his stick, J bent over and the player did almost two flips over J’s back…it was incredible (I wish I could have caught it on film)!

   

Later we celebrated my dad’s birthday by enjoying singing the birthday song, which B loved and eating some cake.

On Saturday morning, we woke up enjoyed a quick breakfast and hit the road again in effort to get home by lunch time. B was a trooper yet again and took his morning nap in the car.  

While B and I drove, C was at home enjoying breakfast at the bakery, getting a load of dirt for the backyard planters and trimming trees with his friend, D.  C’s morning efforts were quite fruitful as our backyard is continuing to take shape.

We made it home in time to make it to a fundraiser that a good friend of ours was helping to host at a local park.  C enjoyed the hotdogs while B stuck to his Cheerios.  B did try the bounce house with another baby about his age…must to his dismay! He felt much more content (and secure) just hangin’ out in his stroller!

  

(He really was happy…with his feet up and sun hat on!)

After the fundraiser, we headed downtown to take in some of the annual art fair…when I mention “take in” I mean take in the experience of people watching…it was more fascinating than most of the art work! (It left C and I feeling like we are rather boring individuals!)

(Please notice the Sonic drinks in the stroller cup holders…this was our attempt at being frugal, who doesn’t love happy hour half price drinks?  We loved them even more when we saw sodas being sold at the fair for more than $4.00 a piece.)

Later B enjoyed a long afternoon nap before we met some friends for dinner.  Let me take a moment to say that we have had the most incredible spring (thus far)! It has been sunny but NOT hot!  We were able to eat dinner on the patio and sat and chatted with our friends for almost 3 hours…B was a trooper once again and split his time at dinner between C’s lap, my lap and his stroller.

This morning (Sunday) we got up and headed over to the Big D to cheer C’s sister, B, on as she and a couple friends ran the Big D Half Marathon!  We met up with C’s parents, who had already scoped out some good cheering spots along the race route.  B and her friends did a great job running. The morning left both C and I feeling pretty lazy as evidenced by C’s comment after B finished… “Man, I feel like I need to go running this afternoon!” We’ll see if any of the feelings experienced translate into a run later today or later this week.

 

B spent the afternoon napping. C spent the afternoon working in the backyard, I will try to post some photos to provide some evidence of all his hard work soon, things are really coming along. I spent part of the afternoon baking, something I love to do, but am not incredibly good at.

On Sunday evening C’s family joined us for church and then came over for a quick bite to eat. We enjoyed our dinner, conversation and of course… birthday cake!  (My dad and C’s mom have birthdays that are one day apart in the spring…and C’s dad and my mom have birthdays one day a part in the fall…just a fun little fact about our family).

(Please excuse the bottle, I know that he is one and no, I don’t have an excuse)

A little shout out/side note on the birthday cake because it was a successful trial run…a friend of mine, J, makes this phenomenal chocolate cake, she was kind enough to share the recipe with me and told me that I could share it if it was a success….J, it was a success! Everyone loved it…I will be sure to make it again, I think it will rival…by no means beat, but rival my other favorite chocolate cake recipe! This was my first endeavor with the Bundt pan and as I mentioned earlier I am not a fantastic baker…so I commemorated the culinary moment with a photo (the recipe is below)…I predict this cake to become a staple in my small (but growing) desert repertoire!

 

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small instant choc. pudding mix
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup water
6 oz choc chips
Directions:
1. fold all ingredients
2. pour into greased Bundt pan
3. bake @ 350 deg for ~40 min (mine is never done in 40 min. I always cook it for ~50-60 min, but it might be my oven)

All in all it was both a great and exhausting weekend! We continued to be so blessed to have family and friends to share and celebrate life with!

Congratulations on a great game and season Uncle J!

Happy Birthday Grandpa B!

Thanks for all your help D!

Good Job Ms. K for all your hard work and planning with the fundraiser!

K & J…thanks for joining us for dinner…we had a fantastic time!

Congratulations on a great run Aunt B!

Happy Birthday Grandma J!

Thanks for sharing the recipe J!

Thanks for being a trooper B!

Will You Join Me?

I have absolutely no idea how many of my posts are ever read, they may just end up in the oblivion of what the world wide web has become…we initially started the blog as a way to keep our friends and family up to date with the happenings in our little family since several miles separate us.   The blog has done that and also provided me with an avenue to share my often random thoughts and ramblings…it really can be therapeutic. I never realized that I had so much that I wanted to share, I guess that’s what happens when you are a verbal processor!

With all that said, I haven’t really ever asked for prayer via the blog, like I said, I have no idea who even reads each post….BUT there is someone close to me (it’s not C or B) who is really in need of prayer and thought this may be a way to lift this person up… I will leave them name-less for anonymity’s sake…but God will know who this person is as they are prayed for.  This dear person is at a major cross point in their life…and in real need of wisdom and discernment in regard to an upcoming decision. 

Would you (whoever “you” are) please join me in lifting this fellow believer up? Would you please pray for wisdom, for discernment, for peace and reassurance in regard to the decision at hand and this person’s future?

I am encouraged by these verses and hope that they may encourage your hearts as well…

“For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.” Proverbs 3:26

“Commit to the Lord whatever you so, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Praise God that He hears our prayers…thank you on this dear person’s behalf!

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On a much lighter note, I just heard C saying “MAAAAVS…. MAAAVS……. MAAAAVS….DIRRRRK…..DIRRRRRK….DIRRRRK as he and B were playing together before B went to bed. 

Surely B’s first word won’t be Mavs or Dirk! Or will it? If C has anything to say about it, it will…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

GO MAVS!

First the Crate…Now the Basket

B has recently shown interest in climbing in and out of things…he has learned how to empty baskets out (of course he always cleans his messes up) and then climb inside…

I hope this new interest in climbing doesn’t turn into climbing up onto the dinning room table, kitchen countertops…or even the refrigerator…hopefully he hasn’t compared climbing notes/ideas with his Uncle J!

 

Hopefully he will just keep it to baskets!

We love you Uncle J!

Gatsby’s Fort

We took care of Ella’s cousin, Gatsby(my brother’s dog), this past weekend.

B was quite enamored by Gatsby’s crate…Ella doesn’t have one, so this little “fort” was quite novel, B crawled in and out and in and out…

For the record, we know this probably isn’t the cleanest of play places for B…he enjoyed a bath not too long after this play session ended…he is really turning into quite a boy!

Gatsby, thanks for coming to play! –B & Ella

Chesapeake Bay Breeze

I have never known what it is like to not have a dog, simply put they are the best!

Some of my earliest memories include my family’s golden retrievers, who couldn’t love their wagging tails, slobbery tongues, doggie pulls, dairy queen stances, begging from the table, perked ears, desire to play fetch, drool, milk bone fetishes, semi-obedience…but most of all loyalty!?!

Cheesea, our golden who we have had since the tail end of middle school, did a fantastic job of encompassing all of these typical canine traits…but even more, I always knew that I would find the Chess at home after a rotten day of school (high school was rough!) always content and excited to have my company when sometimes  it felt like no one else wanted it …I really think one could learn a thing or two from a golden retriever!

 

 

As silly as it sounds…this sweet dog touched my life through both her loyalty and quirks…I know that all of my family would agree…she was a fantastic dog…now when we go home it won’t be the same without  her laying in the sun in front of the family room window waiting to greet us…but we do have plenty of stories to laugh and reminisce about as we remember our sweet canine companion.

 

Thank You Lord for our sweet pets, they really do remind us of loyalty and unconditional love!

Insult to Injury in the Blink of an Eye

Both C and I became more “seasoned” in our parenting experience last night, let me explain.

We got home from our Easter lunch in the mid-late afternoon, upon getting home, we put B down for a nap. He slept and slept and slept. Neither C or I thought anything of it because we had had a big day celebrating Easter and just assumed that B was exhausted and trying to catch up on his sleep.

Little did we know that B’s body temperature  had started to creep up as he napped. We finally woke B up in the late evening with the plan to feed him dinner, play and then get him ready for bed.  When we went to wake him up, we discovered a very flushed, very red, very hot and very pitiful little boy. We immediately took his temperature only to learn that he had a 104.2 degree fever!  My heart went into panic mode…while C (like usual) kept his composure and loved on B. I ran to the kitchen to get the Motrin and then called' B’s doctor.  The Motrin did its job and B’s fever fell back to about 100 degrees within about 20 minutes.  Our pediatrician’s nurse and a family friend didn’t seem too concerned, (they didn’t think we needed to head to the ER…which we were thrilled about) but both encouraged us to watch him through the night and then make an appointment with the doctor first thing in the morning…that sounded easy enough!

We sat and rocked with B for several minutes…I have to admit that he is a lot more cuddly when he isn’t feeling good!  Later, I made the plan that I would try to keep him up until about 10:00pm so we could monitor his temperature to make sure that the Motrin was continuing to do its job.  B and I hung out together on the couch (while I watched some TV). He just sat and cuddled…

He didn’t have any get-up-and-go in him what-so-ever! Then in the blink of an eye (no pun intended, adding insult to injury, he sat up and had a burst of energy…that burst of energy catapulted him off the couch and into the side/corner of the coffee table…I jumped to catch his little body as major crying ensued!  B’s eye puffed up like a marshmallow in a matter of seconds, I became hysterical and again, C calmly kept his composure and tried to examine B’s eye.  We both decided that we would be rather safe than sorry, grabbed the car keys and headed the the ER…the place that we had so proudly avoided just a few hours earlier.

Upon arriving at the ER, we entered triage where a couple of nurses asked what had happened and both C and I tried to explain why B had still been awake, the whole fever fiasco etc.  About a half hour later we were sent to register and after that we waited…

and waited…

and waited…

and waited…

while waiting, both C and I were overwhelmed by the “perspective check” we were experiencing!  How grateful we are to have insurance, a pediatrician…each other! We may have to stop by the ER every once and again to be reminded of how blessed we are (just visit though…not actually need to be seen)!

We continued our wait…one of us would hold B outside (in effort to not expose him to all the nasty germs that seemed to be crawling all over the waiting room) while the other stood inside the waiting room hoping that B’s name would be called next so that we could see a doctor and go home.

While we waited, B’s diaper decided to shift…and yes, B peed all over me…of course, I didn’t have the diaper bag with us, so we had to ask for a baby-sized hospital gown so we could change him (that was humbling)…not to mention humbling that we even used the changing table in the bathroom…something that I had told myself I would NEVER do! Oh, how I have eaten so many of my pre-mommyhood words!

At this point, we had been waiting to see a doctor for almost three hours, so we decided to ask  where B was on  the patient list, we thought his name would surely be towards the top of the list…

Not so much! We were told that  there are still at least 5 patients in front of B and that could expect at least another hour wait! Meanwhile B is screaming, he is wearing a hospital gown, I am wet from B’s accident, the kids around us are throwing up and crying, B’s eye is no longer near as swollen as it had been and tracking and dilated properly…

So the logical side of C kicked in and he asked me why are we doing this? Realizing that B was probably in more  danger  of contracting some awful germ at the ER  than of sleeping at home with his puffy eye! Especially knowing that he would be seeing his normal doctor in a matter of hours (because at this point it was after midnight) to have his fever checked!

Praise God! B did make it through the night safe and sound, the Motrin kept his temperature normal. His eye was pretty puffy when he woke up…it made you wondering what the other guy looked like?  After heading to the doctor, B got a clean bill of health…the fever could have been related to teething or he could have had a small throat virus…but the most incredible part was this, B’s doctor told us that “Our eyes are designed  to close upon major impact. The area around the eye is designed to handle the brunt of any trauma, that tissue will be bruised and hurt but the eye will not be…” How incredible is that? Our Heavenly Creator really knew what He was doing when he created us, we are praising Him for B’s eye lids, that they knew to close “in the blink of an eye” to protect his precious eye from a pretty serious injury!

This is what B has to show for his second Easter, his doctor called it “Easter in the ER”!  I guess we could call it a small Easter miracle & reminder! We never anticipated spending Easter night in the ER, but came away being drawn closer to our Heavenly Father…Easter is supposed to do just that, right? It is awesome to see God at work in our little family’s life!