Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter Weekend!

Our weekend started off on Thursday night when we had a super fun sleep-over with Ally! David picked her up from after-school care, and then we headed to Moe's for a yummy dinner. After dinner, we walked down to Yogurt Mountain. It was sooooooooo yummy, and so much fun! Ally and I played computer games, while Uncle David relaxed, and then we headed to bed. It wasn't a very exciting night, but it was lots of fun!

On Friday morning, Ally, Grayson, and I drove to Jackson to have breakfast with Grandma. I needed to see a few clients, so the grandkids spent part of the day in Humboldt. I hated having to work on Good Friday, but I was very happy that Grandma and the grandkids got to spend some time together.

Saturday was spent doing some Spring Cleaning, some yard work, and getting ready for the Plank Family Easter. We had a great afternoon! We cooked out yummy turkey bacon cheeseburgers, hunted Easter eggs, and just enjoyed spending time together.

David and I went on a date that night, thanks to a last minute sitter agreeing to "watch" Grayson (he was in bed the whole time, so it was an easy job!). Thanks, Anna!!! We both really enjoyed having a chance to be together just the two of us. We watched the Grizzlies game, had a few drinks, and were home by 11pm. :)

On Sunday morning, Grayson opened his Easter basket, and Daddy got one, too! We really noticed how much Grayson seemed to understand what was going on when we gave him his basket. He smiled, laughed, and grabbed at each thing in his basket. It was super cute! :)

The Easter Bunny gave Grayson some books, bibs, a movie, bath toys, clothes, and a really cute photo album of all the people who love him!

Gammi came to celebrate Easter with us, and she came bearing gifts! She brought us some t-shirts from her recent trip to the B ahamas, and she also brought me some BEAUTIFUL jewelry for my birthday! We had a really fun and relaxing day together! We even made a trip to Mississippi to look at some houses. We stopped for ice cream, and then headed home so Grayson and I could take a nap! :)

As much fun as our weekend was, it ended on a very crappy note. We headed to Cooper Young Sunday night to enjoy a family dinner on the patio of Cafe Ole. It was such a nice evening to be outside! We had a delicious dinner, and Grayson really enjoyed people-watching. Unfortunately, while we were enjoying our dinner, someone tried to steal David's truck! Thankfully, they weren't successful, but they did manage to cause about $500 worth of damage to the door. Needless to say, we were beyond. And, we now have a top-of-the-line alarm installed.

Overall, we very much enjoyed our weekend. We feel very blessed to have been able to spend time together with the ones that we love the most! Thank you for checking in on us! As always, we love you all!

Just one of them days

Oh, goodness. We are soooooooooo tired! Lots has been happening this week, and its literally been one hit after another. I'm not complaining, though. We are making it just fine! :)
Anyway, I got a call from daycare Tuesday (they have been calling us a lot lately), and they let me know that Grayson had fallen and hit his head on the tile floor. They said he was acting fine, but they just wanted to let us know. David picked him up, so I didn't see him until I got home from work around 5:30. When I walked in, Grayson was all smiles, but he had a HUGE knot on his forehead. Poor baby! Grayson was a little grumpy (but who wouldn't be after slamming your head on the ground), so we put him down for a nap. He went to bed little later than normal that night, and I went to bed around 10:30pm because I knew I'd have to get up in a few hours when the storms came through.
Around 11:30pm, David woke me up because the electricity had gone out, and the tornado sirens were going off. We stayed awake for awhile until the storms passed. Once we realized that everything had passed, we headed back to bed. I was almost asleep when I heard Grayson crying. David set up the pack and play in our bedroom, while I went upstairs to snuggle with Little Man. Grayson fell back asleep for a few minutes, and then started screaming. No matter what we did, he just would not calm down. In fact, he would scream even louder! I knew something wasn't right. I even debated taking him to the ER because he was screaming sooooooo badly. He was so tired that he could barely hold his eyes open or his head up....but he just kept screaming.
He finally fell asleep in my arms, and then stayed asleep in his crib for a few hours. I think I finally went back to bed sometime around 3:30am. Grayson was up and at them by 6:30am. He seemed happy, but he didn't want to be anywhere but in my arms. I called the doctor as soon as they opened, and they got us in right away. Unfortunately, Dr. Catherine told us that he had infection in both of his ears (and one was so bad that his ear drum busted!), thrush (again!) in his mouth, and his top front tooth is just about to break through. No wonder he was screaming!!!
We got his prescriptions, and went home to cuddle with Daddy. It was so sweet how he just laid on David's chest all day long. Thankfully, by the end of the day, he was almost back to his old self: crawling all around, banging toys together, laughing at us when we told him not to do something, and trying to crawl on the dogs. He slept all night long, not waking up once. And, this morning, he seemed to be feeling much better!
Tonight, we are having a sleepover with Ally. Grayson looooooooooves Ally, so I know they are going to have lots of fun! Gammi is coming to visit us on Easter Sunday, and we are excited to hear all about her vacation. The rest of the weekend will be spent working and catching up on sleep! :)

please continue to pray for us...we are anxiously awaiting some news, and we definitely need things to turn out ok. like i said in the last post, its been one thing after another for the past several months, and i know how desparately we could use some good news!

Thanks for checking in on us! As always, we love you all!

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Tuesday Ramblings

I should give you fair warning that I am completely overwhelmed with life right now, which has put me in a very strange mood. I can't guarantee that these ramblings will make any sense at all! :)

I am going to be 29 next week....today, someone said something about me almost being 30. The way he said it, though, made my stomach go up in my throat. Shouldn't I be an adult by now? Instead, I feel like a little kid....but I have the job, bills, responsibilities of an adult. It kind of makes me uncomfortable.

I made a run to Sonic today for a Diet Dr. Pepper (and also to grab a few things for one of the staff's that I work with). I was in the middle of ordering when the lady interrupted me, gave me my total, and said "Thank You!" I guess I ordered too much stuff...at least she said thank you!

The police officer that normally directs traffic at the school I drive by every day wasn't there today. Instead, an extremely grumpy police officer was attempting to keep cars from ramming into each other. I wanted to get out of my car and give him a hug, but I resisted.

I always feel like I'm being judged when I walk into Grayson's daycare with my jeans, t-shirt, and flip flops on. All the other parents have on dressy outfits or suits. I'm sure they must think I'm one of those moms who puts her kids in daycare so I can spend the day shopping or eating lunch with friends or something. Maybe I should wear a sign that says, "I'm not lazy. I just have a cool job."

We got our first "Grayson had an accident...but he's ok" phone call today. The owner of the daycare called me this afternoon to tell me that Grayson lost his balance and fell face-forward into the tile floor. He has a pretty major bump on his forehead as a result. I'm sure he has a headache, too. He was pretty needy and fussy tonight. I debated taking him to get a CAT Scan, but that seemed like over-reacting. Now, I just feel like a bad mom.

In all seriousness, I need to ask for some prayers and good thoughts to be sent our way. It feels like one thing after another keeps happening latey. I would typically be able to deal with everything pretty well, but since everything keeps happening back to back to back, I'm feeling more and more like crawling in bed and hibernating for a few days. Of course, that woudnt solve anything....I just want to do it.

We love you all.
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Men just don't understand!

I had planned on writing a blog on a whole other topic today, but then my morning went drastically downhill, and I got to thinking about the differences between men and women. Now, don't worry if you are a guy who is reading this; I'm not going to bash men or anything. But, I do feel there are some distinct differences in the way men and women look at situations.

I guess I should start at the very beginning. If you don't already know, I have a very flexible job. I have a certain number of hours to work each month, and that's it. Once I'm done, I'm done. So, if I get up one morning and don't feel like going to work, or if I decide I want to get home early one day, I can. The downside of this, though, is that I often find myself trying to fit a bunch of hours into the last few days of the month (because I am much more laid-back than I should be at the beginning of the month). This month, I am working more hours than normal on top of being lazy at the beginning of the month, so these next two weeks are just slammed.
Anyway, I left for work and dropped Grayson off, just like I always do. I took him to his classroom, and I told the teacher that I had this nagging feeling that I was forgetting something. We ran through the list of his supplies, and decided he had everything, so I left. I had to see a client who lives about an hour away this morning. I had been there for about an hour when I noticed I missed a call from Grayson's daycare. They left a message letting me know he didn't have any bottles at school. "No big deal," I thought to myself. "I will just call David, and he can run some by. " I called David. And called again. And again. And again. His phone went straight to voicemail each time. He wasn't answering the home phone either. So, I had no choice. I got in my car and drove the hour back to Memphis.
I need to make very clear that I was never mad at David. With his job, he has to sleep when he can, and I knew that's why he wasn't answering his phone. This is a fact of life that I have grown accustomed to over the last three years, and I have learned to deal with the inconvenience it can sometimes be. Anyway, David woke up when I walked in the door, and found that his phone had died. I grabbed some bottles, dropped them off at daycare, and hit the road to drive another hour to see my client. (That's 3 hours of driving for only one hour of billable work.)

Whew. What a morning.

Here is where the differences between men and women really became apparant:
To David, although this was a big deal and a major bump in the road to the day, it wasn't a huge problem. It was something that sucked, but we needed to move on and go about the things we needed to do.
I, on the other hand, was absolutely discombobulated. I was soooooo frustrated, to the point I was on the verge of tears. How was I going to still see all my clients and get all my monthly hours in, still getting home in time each day to spend time with Grayson?!? It was all too much for me to handle!

I know that David tries so hard to understand my point of view on things, but I think this is one of those situations that he just won't ever be able to see from my perspective. As a mom, there is a lot of pressure from the world (and ourselves) to be perfect: have a perfect house, make perfect meals, be the perfect weight with the perfect clothes and hair and make-up, make the perfect amount of money, and not be a. bitchy naggy wife. That's hard, yall!!! I don't pretend that everything is perfect because I really word lose my mind if I did. But, I still strive for that perfection....and not reaching that perfection can be a major blow to my Mommy Ego.

I am sure there is just as much pressure on daddy's, and I know I can never understand that. I have tried very hard over the last several months to attempt to take that pressure into account whenever I am frustrated at David or things don't go my way. And, I will be the first to say that I will never fully comprehend David's point of view.

But, I try. I try really hard. After all, isn't that what I hope David would do for me?

So, today didn't go at all as it should have. It was way hard I guess I learned to very important lessons, though:
1. Life is so much easier if I remember that guys and girls think differently.
2. Always pack extra bottles.

Thanks for checking in on us! We love you all!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Home Sweet Home

Can you guess who was happy to see his mommy and daddy today?

Grayson really wanted to play with Cordi's water bowl.  So, we gave him a pot and a wooden spoon instead.  

He wanted to eat the spoon instead.  :)

Finally, our little boy is a messy eater:

We gave him a teething cookie, and, well, let's just say he loved it.  :)

We are so happy to be home!  Thanks for checking in on us.  As always, we love you all!

Rocky Top Country

Yesterday, David and I continued our adventure by heading further East....to Knoxville. David and I both LOVE Knoxville: he loves it because of UT Football. I love it because of the mountains, the river, and the atmosphere. So, we are always happy when he get to go there.

For some reason during this trip, though, we encountered some very rude people: one lady flipped us off while we were driving on the interstate, another lady decided we were walking to slow (in a crowd of people) at the game and yelled "oh my God," and then a guy at the hotel ran in front of us to get to the elevator almost knocking David down! What happened to Southern Hospitality??

But, I digress....
We checked-in to the hotel and then headed to campus. We wanted to grab something to eat, but parking was just atrocious everywhere we went. We finally found a place on campus. Woohoo!! We got a great workout climbing all those hills. :) It was crazy windy here for the whole day, which also meant it was crazy cold. The forecast said it was going to be 63, and it was...but they didn't mention the windchill in the 40s! And, David and I didn't pack anything warmer then sweatshirts...we only had shorts, capris, and flip flops!! Oops!

We ate lunch on campus. Once we got to the stadium, we found pretty awesome seats, and froze. I think we made it about an hour and a half before both of us were so cold we hurt. We hated to, but we left. We ended up doing a little shopping at the bookstore (and got some GREAT deals), then went back to the hotel to thaw. .

Today, its supposed to be 76 and sunny....with no wind. Darn weather!

For dinner, we ate at 5 Guys....it was AMAZING!!! Soooo good, and I am soooo excited because one is coming to Memphis! We ended up crashing out at the hotel by about 10:00pm because we were both just so exhausted. Thankfully, our neighbors were completely understanding about the importance of us getting a good night's sleep and kept us up all night. Fun times!

We are very much looking forward to getting Little Man today. We have really missed him. I can't wait to love and kiss on him!! :)
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Date Night!

David and I had lots of fun last night!
We headed out of Memphis yesterday afternoon after a little bit of a rough start. Thankfully, all that is behind us now. :). Anyway, we dropped Grayson off with my mom, and tearfully said goodbye to him. (This is the longest we have been away from him since he was born.). Then, we drove to Nashville.

We got to Karen and Adams house around 5:30....and, of course, a monsoon started as soon as we pulled in the driveway. Bummer. We dropped off our stuff, dried off, and ended up at the Corner Bar for some drinks and fun. David and I really enjoy these times hanging out with friends and just relaxing...we haven't been able to do it in awhile, so we didn't take any moment last night for granted....and we may have enjoyed it too much! :)

Today, we are off on another adventure. Stay tuned....

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Test Post!

I finally got rid of my much-hated cell phone and was able to upgrade to a B lackberry Bold. I can't even express how excited I am to, not only have a phone that works, but also to have a phone that I have wanted FORVER!!

Anyway, this post is just my testing out my phone's ability to cooperate with mobile blogging. Hopefully it works so that I can keep you all updated even when we are on the go! :)

I am looking forward to sharing some super cool updates in the next couple days.....stay tuned! We love you all!
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8 months old?!?!

How in the world is our little boy 8 months old??
You will notice that this months "sign pictures" are missing something......
That's right!  The sign!  It turns out that Little Man is just too curious and on the go to worry about a little old sign.  :)
But, sign or not, here is his 8 month update:

Grayson is on the move!  He started full-blown crawling this month, and, now, there is no stopping him! He loves being able to go where he wants to when he wants to without having to wait on Mom and Dad to come pick him up.  And, he is into EVERYTHING!  He is the most curious little boy I have ever met!  

He has the BEST sense of humor.  He has learned things that he should and should not do, and he thinks it's absolutely hilarious to do things that he shouldn't.  Just yesterday, he found my phone on the floor.  He knows that he is not supposed to play with my phone, so he picked it up, rolled over to his back, and just held it.  When I went over to see what he was playing with, he started CRACKING UP!  Little Stinker!

He is definitely growing, and this boy can eat!  He eats 6oz bottles five times a day, along with oatmeal and fruit in the morning, a veggie at lunch time, and usually a meat/veggie combo in the evening.  He also loves to eat his Puffs, his NumNums, rolls from O'Charley's, ice cream, his baby cheetos, and his yogurt bites.  We have started giving him little bites of our dinner while we are eating, and, so far, he likes everything! :)  He is wearing size 4 diapers, and 6-12 month clothes (depending on the brand).  He has mastered drinking out of both a sippy cup and a regular cup, and he is sooooo close to feeding himself with a spoon.

He LOVES to play with his toys!  We moved his exersaucer in front of our big window in the living room, and he really enjoys playing in it while watching all the neighborhood kids playing out front.  He also loves his music table, his sports set, his drum, his musical books, and Scout (his doggie that talks to him).  He thinks it's so much fun to play basketball with Daddy, to chew on the remote, to bang the computer, and to roll the ball.  That's right...he can actually roll the ball back and forth with us!

He pulls himself up on anything that is within reach, and really loves to pull up on the couch when we are laying down.  He has bumped his head several times (but thankfully he has his daddy's hard head).  :)  He is 100% boy, that is for sure.  

He has 3 teeth, and another one or two on the way.  So, as a result, he drools ALL THE TIME!  As you can tell by the pictures, he is always smiling and showing off his pearly whites.  He continues to sleep through the night, and goes to bed around 7:30pm, waking up around 6:00am.  

He LOVES his daycare.  In fact, he yells and talks in the car on the way to school every morning.  His teachers, Mo, Helen, and Jennifer absolutely adore him, and the feeling is definitely mutual!  He also has made several friends at school.  In fact, he spends most of his time with his best buddy, Spencer.

He has outgrown his baby seat, and is now riding in style in his convertible car seat (still facing backwards of course).  He really likes the extra room.  That baby seat was just cramping his style!  :)

He loves to be on the go all the time, and he loves to stare at people no matter where we are.  He usually catches the attention of people everywhere he goes, just by staring at them and then smiling his huge smile.  He especially likes cute girls--we have taught him well!  :)

Grayson loves Cordi and Bailey and has started to want to play with them....or, just pull their fur.  :)

From the beginning, Grayson has loved to take baths, and that hasn't changed in the past 8 months.  He thinks it's super fun to splash in his ducky bathtub...and loves when he gets Mommy and Daddy all wet, too!

He is babbling and talking all the time, and can say 3 words: Dada, Mama, and hey.  He also gives high-fives, waves (most of the time), and loves to scream.  :)  Right now, his favorite thing to do is make raspberries with his mouth.  

Grayson loves his cousins, Ally and Jarrett.  He also thinks it's lots of fun to go to their house and pull on  all of the wires to Uncle Jason and Aunt Becky's speakers....no matter how many times Mama picks him up and moves him further away.  :)

Another month has come and gone, and we continue to fall in love with Grayson more and more each day.  He has the BEST personality, and makes us laugh constantly.  We just marvel sometimes at what a good kid he is!  He is so easy-going, and smiles almost all day long.  

Grayson, we love you so much and are so proud to be are parents.  We love watching you grow up....

...but could you slow it down just a little?  

As always, thanks for checking in on us.  We love you all!

Fun Sunday!

What a fun weekend we have had!  

Today, we went to the Memphis Redbirds' Kids' Opening Day.

First, though, we had to eat lunch.  So, we went to Kooky Kunuck's.  It was absolutely delicious!  And, Grayson enjoyed eating his NumNum's very much.  :)

Then, we walked down to the stadium.

Grayson and Mommy hanging out with the catcher.  :)

Safe!!

The boys, waiting for the game to start.

Grayson was a little sleepy, so he napped through the first two innings:

When he woke up, he enoyed some cookies and cream Dippin' Dots.  :)

Mommy and Daddy had lots of fun, too!

It was the perfect end to a great weekend!!