A day at the Arboretum

Maddox and I enjoyed a nice mommy & me day at the Arboretum on Monday. I was off from school for the day, but Leyton still had to go since he's in another school district then where I teach. I have really been itching to get behind my camera and take some shots. It's been awhile since I've gotten to play around with my camera. I took about 170 shots that day. Maddox was being very photogenic too, which just helped my trigger happy finger. Here's just a few funs shots I took.

Flu, Flu, Go Away...

Yep, our family was hit with some string of the flu bug. Amazingly, it hit all us in different ways. We're not sure, but we think we may have gotten it from Maddox, although he NEVER should signs of being sick?! He threw up in the middle of the night last Saturday and had one diarrhea diaper on Monday. And that's it??? Then, Monday night I woke up around 11p and was up for the next 6 hours hovering the porcelein goddess. Thankfully, Kris took both boys to school on Tuesday and I was able to sleep on the couch all day. I went to bed very early and woke up 110% better on Wednesday. It was back to work and school for everyone. So I thought...

I get a call around 130p on Wednesday that Leyton was sick at school. :-( Poor boy. Got him all picked up and the hershey squirts were blessing him with their presence for the rest of the afternoon. He never has felt sick or achy, but I've kept him home all day today to keep him from infecting his classmates. It would be a lot easier to feel sorry for a sick boy if he'd actually ACT sick.

Kris also was graced with the 'maria' all day yesterday and came home early from work because he was achy all over and couldn't keep his eyes open.

So, today, while I'm at home with Leyton this house is getting super cleaned and sanitized. All comforters and sheets are being washed, toothbrushes thrown out, and everything in sight is being hit with Lysol and/or Clorox!! Go away flu!!

Death is an evil bastard!

The title says it all. Death is an evil bastard who sneaks up on you just when you're least expecting it.

I recently found out this week that a dear friend of mine from year's past has been taken away from us at a much too young age. Robyn and I were college roommates. We lived together for almost 2 years and shared many travels and road trips together. Two very long roadtrips all the way from Oklahoma to Niagara Falls and one snowy trip I’ll never forget to Colorado. And of course, our 6 week journey to Scotland and England will never be forgotten. All of that was over 10 years ago!! My goodness, life sneaks up on you and next you know it’s been 10 years!!

Sadly, and to no fault of my own, I’d lost contact with Robyn after college. We went our separate ways and onto our separate lives. I got married a year out of college and moved to Dallas. There was no myspace 10 years ago and email had barely hit the ground running. Keeping in touch with friends took more effort, sad to say. Although I lost contact, she will always, ALWAYS be in my heart. Our memories will always remain. Loosing contact with a loved one does not make death easier. If anything, it brings in loads of guilt for letting our lives and too many years separate us.

Since digital camera’s didn’t really exist ‘back in the day’, here are a few ‘vintage’ photos of Robyn and I.

My most embarrassing day EVER!

So, this morning I took the 2 boys to a bday party for one of Maddox's 2 year old buddies. They party was really cute. They had a company bring out farm animals for the kids to pet. All the kids really loved the animals. Leyton loved the bunnies and Maddox loved the piggies and goats. So, Maddox eventually thought he had had enough of the animals. He was hot too and wanted a juice box. So, while everyone was still out in the backyard petting all the farm animals, playing on the swingset, etc. Maddox wanted to come inside to do a puzzle. So, I let him go in to play. I kept checking on him every few minutes or so to make sure he was playing nicely with the toys inside.

Well, probably no more than 3-4 minutes of me not checking on him he decided to...





SPREAD POOP ALL OVER THEIR COUCH AND SOME TOYS!!!! Oh, and he was naked waist down and had poop all over his shirt!


Thankfully EVERYONE was outside so they didn't see me acting a fool to get him and the house cleaned up. I made a mad dash to the bathroom to wash him up and in the meantime clogged their toilet with a papertowel! I mean, seriously, what else could go wrong?? Oh, just wait!

So, I get Maddox cleaned, get the baby wipes and start cleaning the poop on the wood floor, toys, coffee table, and suede couch! At this point, my friend, the bday mom came in to help and she was very kind about it all. I'm sure, now that it's over with she's a little peeved. I mean, EWWW!!!! We sprayed some Oust, clorox wiped what we could, she got me a new shirt for Maddox, and we continued on with the party. Okay, so you think it's all done now. NOPE!

As the kids are eating cake I went back to the playroom just to do another double take to make sure there were no more toys with poop on them. I found a lego toy and OMG it was on a white cloth bench under a toy!!!! Um, yeah, I couldn't get it out. It left a stain. This was probably one of the most embarrasing moments of my life I believe. All thanks to my terror of a 2 year old. I couldn't wait for that party to be over so I could high tail it out of there!

Maddox is 2!

Oh my, I've certainly slacked from my blogger responsibilites. This past month has just flown by and it seems like my daily schedule sends me in multiple directions a day.

Maddox celebrated his 2nd birthday last Friday and he is the Big 2! We had a family celebration for him up in Oklahoma a few weekends ago. He's such a big kid and I love watching him grow and learn. He's speaking 3-4 word sentences now and is definitly getting an attitude. Ah, the terrible two's they call it?! He is definitly a terror at times and will push your buttons.

Here's my cutie. I took these shots a few weeks ago back at my parents farm.

Project Black. Take One

Leyton and I had a quick, fun photo shoot in the backyard yesterday afternoon. I wanted to get some shots of his cute new mohawk that he's been begging for. I also needed some shots for Project Black. http://annacpics.blogspot.com/ Thanks Anna, for inspiring me to get out and take some more creative shots with my son.

And, I know we aren't supposed to use B&W's for Project Black, but I couldn't resist adding this one to this blog post.

It's time to potty train

I've been putting off potty training for as long as I think I can with Maddox. He's 23 months and according to some the right age to start. But, according to others, proably still a little too young. It's seems like if I remember right we also started pt'ing Leyton around this same age and he's was fully potty trained by 27 months.

Maddox has been regularly taking off his pants/diaper for about the last 6 weeks atleast. It's now gotten so bad that he immediately takes off his diaper right after he pees or poops. So, with him doing that, plus the fact that he'll pretty much pee everytime we sit him on the toilet, I've decided it's time.

Maddox will basically be naked anytime he's at home and I plan on taking him to the potty every 30 minutes. This is what we'll be doing for the next week or so until he gets the hang of things. Since I just decided today that we're 'officially' training, I still need to go out and buy some reward candy to help incentivise him to go on his own. Wish me luck, I really hope this doesn't last for months. I'd like to get him in undies by the time he goes to preschool at the end of August.