Sunday & Birthday Slideshow

Happy 2nd Birthday, Isabella Lynae'!!!

I can hardly believe that my little princess is 2 already!! It seems like yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital on that very hot June morning, embarking on the awesome adventure of parenting. How time flies!

(Slideshow - Birthday Party in seperate post)

On Saturday we celebrated your birthday with family (including your Uncle Chris & Aunt Rachel who drove in from Arlington) and some very special friends (also including Hollie, Caitlin & Christie who drove in from Monahans). You had a cupcake party and I made you 2 giant cupcakes for your cake. You opened many fun and noisy toys that you are having a blast playing with, we cooked out hamburgers and everyone went swimming. On Sunday, your Grandma Nicholas and Aunt Kari stopped by for a short visit and Uncle Chris and Aunt Rachel had to leave. You finally got to get out in the yard and ride your motorcycle that Uncle Ricky gave you for Christmas. It only took you a few mins and you had that thing mastered, now if you would only learn to stear. Later on in the afternoon your Papa got out in the yard and tried to teach you how to ride your new Big Wheels you got from Mommy & Daddy. Then Grammie and Papa watched you for a few hours while mommy and daddy had a date to the movies. You were still awake when we got home so you joined daddy in playing Guitar Hero!! On Monday we had to take Grandmother to the dr because of her fall Saturday before the party, then we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and cleaning up from the weekend. After Daddy got home from work we had saved 2 presents for you to open on your actual birthday, so we let you open those then had spaghetti and cookie pops for dinner. You were so excited about your new Barney movies that you watched one before bedtime.

(Slideshow - Sunday & Birthday in seperate post)

Isabella, this past year has been so delightful, getting to know who you are more and more! Although at times you make things very trying, at the end of the day I thank God you have become the sweetest little girl I could imagine having! You give the biggest hugs, flash the biggest smiles, and yes, throw the loudest, most spectacularly embarrassing tantrums.

You have such affection for those that you love- constant kisses and hugs for Mommy, Daddy and Mady, your Great-Grandmother, Grammie, Papa or just about any adult or child that you spend much time around! You also give lots of loving to all of your babies!

You've also surprised me with your wonderful, imaginative play at such a young age. You may not have all the words yet to tell us about it, but you certainly are creating some delicious meals, ferocious animals, excellent parenting skills and loving your "babies" so well.

Speaking of words, here are a few that you say these days:

• I la-you (I love you!)


• peas & kack you (please & thank you)


• gapes (grapes, tomatoes, cherries or anything small, plump and round)


• num-num (yum-yum & just your word for wanting a bite of whatever we have)


• it tased good (it tastes good or it smells good)


• diaper or diaper peas (means you want your diaper changed)


• need help? (you always ask if we need help, especially elderly people)


• k? (whether someone coughs, falls says ouch or whatever it may be you always check to make sure they are ok)


• Oh No & Aw Man (just a few of your favorite phrases to say when you get in trouble or something doesn’t work)


• Ion’t want it & All done (used quite often at the dinner table)


• outside (either in or out, depending on the context)


• opn da door (open the door)


• Ganmuter (Grandmother, this is your great grandmother, whom you love to go next door and see)


• Gammie (Grammie)/Papa (My Parent’s)


• awkr (Oscar, the goat, you love to take him apples)
  
• nack (snack – this is ANYTHING anytime you actually get hungry)


• nana (banana)


• potty (this means you would like to sit on the potty, for precisely 3.7 seconds, without doing anything in it, and then get up immediately wanting paper to throw in the potty)


• glup glup glup (plus hand motions) – (this is the sound you say a fish makes)


• owie or “it hurts”(this means you need a kiss to make it all better)
  
  

  I'm know I could come up with more, but this helps to capture just a bit of how adorable you are these days! Life with you is so much fun…you teach me something new every day. My life is better because you are in it. I love you, my sweet baby. Happy birthday!
  
  

  You're an explorer and a climber, who loves being outside (and will often put on your shoes and try to drag me outside with you), and you don't seem to have much fear. You love to go swimmin’ in our new pool. You already kick and try to move your arms and you are very good alone with just your arm floaties. You move all around the pool, splishing and splashing! Yet you're still so sensitive, creative, intuitive, thoughtful, purposeful... we so look forward to seeing these gifts that God has given you as they grow and develop.
  
  

  Isabella, we pray that as you enter your 3rd year of life, that God will continue to reveal Himself to you and make His gospel known to you, and that it may take root in your heart of hearts. May you come to love Him more and more.
  
  

  With all my love,
  Mommy

Birthday Party Slideshow

Me and Slideshows don't get along!! I know some of you are having a hard time with the slideshow loading so if you are...just click on view all images and it will open the slideshow in a seperate window. ENJOY!!

A Whale of a Tale!

This afternoon after returning my mom home from the hospital we had some Isabella time. We went to Alco and found Isabella a pool that she was so excited about, she even wanted to help blow it up. She splished and splashed and went up the slide the wrong way. BTW, she does have many cute swimsuits one of which I brought with me, however, at Grammie's house she has DORA swimmers and she wanted to wear her DORA SUIT, so who cares, we were in the privacy of our own backyard so little swimmer she went. She then did some relaxing and jumping on the trampoline while Grammie and Mady looked on. After dinner Alan and I took her on a walk to the park where she got some quality sliding in. Boy will she be in HEAVEN after her daddy gets her NEW BIRTHDAY swing set put together!!! (10-13 hrs for two men -- haha more like 10-13 months for my husband--hopefully by her 3rd birthday at least!!)

Hospitals--ICK!

First off, I will be glad to report that I can be a morning person if I HAVE to be. I'm sure most of you who know me are laughing your pants off however, I have pictures to prove that I did see the sun come up yesterday morning!! Mishap after mishap I was unable to leave Wilson Monday as planned so the next plan was to get up and be in Monahans before my mom left for the hospital so she could see her adorable granddaughter before leaving. This meant me leaving before 4:30 am. I WAS SUCCESSFUL!!! Isabella and I both hit the sack a little after 11. The alarm sounded at 4 am and thank goodness I had packed the car the night before. I got up, got dressed, put the sippy cups in the diaper bad, grabbed the kiddo and embarked on our early morning trip, pulling out of the driveway at 4:22. As I was putting Isabella in the car she awoke so I started up her Barney video thinking it would only be minutes before she would be out again. Minutes after minutes and hours after hours passed, Barney video, every lullaby I know sung at least twice and Barney for the second time and we arrived at my parents front door and the kiddo was still awake!! Much excited to see Grammie and PaPa, she was then whisked away to spend the day with Sherrie and Alan reported that he could tell she DEFINITELY had a BLAST! (Thank you so much for watching her, I hope she wasn't too much trouble!!)
As most of you know my mom had surgery yesterday morning to have a Parotid Tumor removed. The surgery was very successful. Dr. Cepero said the tumor was larger than he had anticipated but Praise God for the good news that the tumor was benign. Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers, they all were much appreciated and cherished.
But although most of you may not believe I can be a morning person and I'm glad my mom is doing well this really isn't the whole of my post! Have you ever been in a hospital and noticed the ickyness? I mean aren't these places suppose to sterile, clean and healthy. Although I'd like to agree, i must disagree with this. Also, I would hope that the staff that is caring for your health would be smart people, however, I think these particular days at MCH they told a portion of their staff to leave their brains at the door. As I was lagging behind a bit, due to dropping Isabella off, I missed some of the experiences, however, I walked in on the pre-op questions. You know the what religion are you, do you smoke, have you ever, do you or your family have this or that...THOSE questions! Speaking of THOSE questions...I have a novel idea, let's get a database, and share with the world, ask them once and poof everyone has them. If there is a change, we can swear on the girl/boy scout honor that we will inform our health care professional of each individual change! Here we encountered Ms I must ask every question to the T and Ms she looks healthy so just check no to all of those questions and yes she has anxiety she's having surgery!! Next is the medication list...ok, so if you take 20 pills a day (aka - my grandmother) then I understand bring a specific list or your bottles but come on...if you take 3 medications and have been taking them for years I'm pretty sure you have become quite acquainted with the bottles! However, despite this fact the following conversation takes place:
Nurse: What medications do you take?
Mom: Med A, B & C
Nurse: C there isn't a drug by that name, it's not in my computer or in my book, are you sure that's right?
Mom: Yes, you can call the pharmacy if you must
Nurse: Well is there someone at home that can read the bottle or bring it up here?
Mom: No, I live 30 miles away and it will say exactly what and how I just spelled it for you.
Gina: Give me a moment, I'll look it up on my I-phone.
(SERIOUSLY, it has come to the patients friend looking a drug up on an I-phone and telling the nurse what the drug consists of and anything she might ever want to know about it INCLUDING it's ORIGIN date which was probably before this girl was born!!!)
Nurse: Now how long have you been taking these medications?
Mom: Years -- more than I can remember
Nurse: Years? Like 10, 15?
Umm, YES YEARS did you not hear that she just told you more than I can remember and if it was 10 or 15, what the hell does that matter??? Write something down and move on!
Nurse: SO why are you having your Thyroid out?
Mom: I'm NOT!! Parathyroid in the future but not today!
Nurse: Oh, then why are you here?
Hell because she thought it would be fun to walk in the hospital, admit herself and decide to have surgery, you have the orders why don't you take a look before opening your mouth!! Brains left at the front door I tell ya!!
FINALLY we advance past Ms I left my brain at the door and Ms get her butt to surgery and we end up at Pre-Op, waiting & waiting & waiting. My mom decided she needed to go to the bathroom but didn't know if she could...I told her to go, if it wasn't ok, they'd tell her. We checked, the coast was clear and she hauled off the the bathroom but caught just short of EXITING the door! "Where are your shoe covers?" *She was barefoot* to which my mom responded that she didn't have any! Stay here till I get you some the Nurse responded. Really why?? She had already walked to, entered and exited the bathroom shoeless, how was this going to save her the 10 feet she had left to get back to her curtained partition. She got in mild 1st grade trouble for darting to the bathroom and not having shoe covers but how this is her fault I'm not quite sure, we were stuck in a pre-op curtain and left, no call button, no instructions NOTHING!!! She gets shoe covers and finally they come to prep her for surgery, talk talk talk, questions, questions, questions (this is where the world wide database comes in handy), IV finally in and more waiting. They decide they need more tubing in her IV so they insert more, now the IV won't flow, so here comes the nurse taking it apart, asking Gina and I to hold parts of it (no gloves and she has no clue if I have clean hands or not). The nurse ungloved herself, in the middle of the process of trying to unclog the IV, she takes a barrette down out of her hair and replaces it. Then doesn't skip a beat continuing with her job. That's sanitary? Seriously? I'm sorry but next time please try to keep your hair gel, hair spray or whatever you might put in your hair out of my family member IV line!! This all happened PRE-SURGERY!! The funniest brainless wonder from today came in to check on her and I told him the potty chair needed to emptied. He said ok and went about his business. I then again told him that it needed to be emptied and he said ok, that's fine, we are getting rid of it anyways. Let me remind you I specifically said twice "THE POTTY CHAIR NEEDS TO BE EMPTIED". Now wouldn't you think that means there is pee in the toilet? Anyways, he comes in and hoists the chair up to carry it out, I notice a little bit of the urine spilling out but say nothing thinking he will notice...he sits it down and I think he's going to empty it, NOPE, he picks it up again and stings urine all the way out of the room. After exiting the room I hear a splash in the hallway. I can't help but burst out laughing because I know this poor guy has spilled my mom's urine all over the hallway and probably all over himself. Sorry guy...you were warned!! TWICE!!! *HERE'S YOUR SIGN". Needless to say I think he went home to change because it was an hour or so before we saw him on the floor again! There were countless other occurrences but I hate to bore you...let's just say that the stay was less than up to par and still today certain staff members were required to leave their brain at the door. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the facility as a whole or the staff as a whole because I have very good friends that work over there...just different floors, different jobs and we also did encounter a few that knew what was going on, but it's those that don't and show it that make your stay memorable or should I say "entertaining/frustrating/annoying" or just plain ICK!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Daddy's out there including mine and my wonderful husband who is an EXCELLENT daddy to Isabella and she ADORES him very much!! Since we were up till 4am last night baking and decorating cookie favors for Isabella's party next Saturday we sadly didn't make it to church for the Father's Day service. Alan had probably a slightly different Father's Day than most...it was all but relaxation and me caring for the kiddo. I woke up not feeling well so Alan got up with Isabella who wanted us up around 8 but I think he managed to hold her off a few hours. He then got up and cooked them both breakfast, got her dressed/sun screened and they headed outdoors to do some yard cleaning. After awhile I went outside to check on them and you could tell Isabella was hot, tired and thirsty. I didn't even have to ask her to come in, she just waltzed on in and took her shoes off, wanted water and laid back and relaxed. Alan shortly followed and although I offered to cook dinner he wanted to do it, so he fixed us all a delicious serving of Hamburger Helper!! Isabella later went over to Grandmother's house to play (we were hoping for a nap) while I worked in the house and Alan did yard work. A nap for Grandmother and Isabella was in the cards so after we checked on them we decided to go for a swim for a few, then we had Pizza for dinner. That about wraps up our day and like I said not the traditional day, but although not the traditional day it was exactly what Alan wanted.
Oh he also got Guitar Hero Metallica and a partial payment for his new cell phone which he was super excited about!

My Not So Green Thumb!

While at my parent's these past few days I have become depressed about my gardening skills. At first I didn't think I was that bad...but as I walk into my parents backyard plant paradise I discovered that my skills were just beginner and my plants were on the brink of death. So why is it that my mom can have the exact same plants in full 100+ degree sun as I do in not so hot of sun and hers are doing so much better. It could be her live-in full time gardener, or is that I just can't keep plants alive?

Exhibit A: Zucchini -- notice the size difference and her pretty plant vs. mine--which was bought at the exact same time, planted well before hers and now is struggling to survive!!

Exhibit B: Hibiscus (my poor hibiscus has gone from green leaves to yellow

leaves and back to green leaves finally...but the gazillion blooms it has had on it have only produced ONE flower and hopefully one more will be open by the weekend...my mom's has two open today and many more (approx 5) that will be open tomorrow!

Exhibit C: Lantana -- the first picture is her beautiful hanging basket of Lantana that I purchased for her, the same time I purchased mine, the second picture is my Lantana and the third is Lantana she has growing out of asphalt! ASPHALT, PEOPLE!! What is wrong with my green thumb. If my parents can get lantana, strawberries and geraniums to grow in ASPHALT what the heck is my problem with potting soil?!?! No, they do not plant in asphalt, but they have plants OTHER THAN weeds coming up in their asphalt on their patio...it all THRIVES!! Give it a few weeks and that wee plant will have flowers as will the geranium and as I type, I just picked two strawberries from the asphalt plants!

Exhibit E: This is a picture of my parent's luscious green grass...something I long to someday have in my yard. Whereas my yard is green, not quite so luscious, it has slick weeds and the weeds that produce goat heads growing throughout that I cannot get rid of. So we are resorting to a bit more expensive tactic of weed killer since the more we pull the more it grows! Tilling and sodding will be a last resort, however; probably won't be happening this year!!

Exhibit D: Geranium -- This is the Geranium I bought my mom for Mother's Day, in a look alike boot I planted Zinnias for myself...my thought--hardy flower, surely I can keep it alive....well it's been a STRUGGLE!!! Maybe I should have gone with the Geraniums, or maybe I should find me a live-in Gardener because I'm not quite sure the luck of the thumb is going to change! I thought next year I would have a fruit and vegetable bearing garden, maybe I need to rethink that and just have my mom's live-in, plant & harvest my garden in their alley!!

Play-Dates

Last week Grammie came to visit on Monday and stayed through Friday. On Tuesday we went and had Isabella's 2nd birthday pictures made (after 2 hours of "work" we finally made it through all 3 clothes changes and ended up with some very good pictures--It then took us another hour to decide what ones we wanted), Wednesday was dr's appointments and grocery shopping day and for the most part Grammie's week here was spent hanging out and playing with Isabella. They watched Barney together, they took pictures of each other, read books, took naps, played outside, went swimming and even dug weeds in the yard! I think they both had a blast and both definitely enjoyed each other's company. Isabella was also introduced to real live worms and frogs last week and now in the evenings when I'm watering and the frogs start to come out, she calls them and chases them all over the yard. We even caught her kissing a toad...this will definitely be a keeper picture for that senior high school or wedding slide show!

On Friday afternoon we headed to Lubbock to meet up with Kyla and Kaegan at Fazoli's for lunch and then headed to the park. It was HOT!! However, I think the kiddos had a good time. When we had enough of the Texas summer heat we headed indoors where they continued playing at the play place in the mall.

After Alan got to town we all went to Cancun's for a delicious Mexican dinner where Isabella and Kaegan danced to the Mariachi band. We had a wonderful day with Kyla and Kaegan and can't wait to set up another day of fun & adventure. After dinner we took Isabella to her first 3D movie, "UP". If the glasses would have fit her face I think she would have really enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, she was wonderful. She watched 3/4 of the movie before she started getting sleepy and restless to where Alan had to take her out of the theater. She LOVED the balloons!! She also would sit with these huge glasses on and watch until they would fall down or she just got annoyed with them and then she would sit and watch without glasses. How she did this, I have no clue, it would have made me sick from the fuzziness!! The rest of the weekend was spent doing laundry, starting the process of putting together the swing set and preparing for Isabella's birthday party (which included Alan and I staying up till almost 4 am Sunday morning rearranging our living room furniture and cleaning the floors). Monday we headed to Monahans to help my mom start working on cleaning her house and to move furniture so that she could have her new furniture delivered on Wednesday. We made lots of progress and got lots done....we hope to make a bigger dent in the mess sometime real soon! On Tuesday afternoon we went to visit Hollie and Caitlin. While Hollie and I talked about this and that, the girls played with balls, babies and chased each other round and round the hallway. It's always good to get together with them. Just wish we were closer to do it more often!
That about sums up the lost time from the last post. (P.S. Surprisingly I've been pretty good at keeping this thing updated...I give myself 5 stars!!, we will see how the rating is in 6 months).

BLAH Week!

Not much happened last week. Isabella and I spent the week doing some cleaning around the house and a little bit of playing outside. We are trying to get ready to have a garage sale on one of the next few weekends so we have been going through everything we own. The weather was crazy last week, very stormy and when it wasn't stormy it was windy and way too hot to be outside, so no swimming until yesterday and most of our days were spent inside. However, I did capture some pictures throughout the week of her doing this and that!

Thank goodness we have a very patient and good natured dog!!! Who knows, next Isabella may be trying to play dress-up with Mady!!

Thursday was the weekly beauty shop day and this Thursday Grandmother bought us dinner at McDonald's! Isabella loves her Happy Meal's (especially the apples -- she's not a french fry kid)!!

There is 100% truth to her shirt "Being Sweet (its a full time job)"!! It is definitely a full time job for her!!

She's trying to ride her giraffe! This was sooo funny, she kept falling off and just giggling!! Let me remind you this is a plush, has some structure but not sure it's made to hold up 30 lbs!!

Isabella LOVES Otter Pops!! So I let her take them out on the back porch and eat them. This is what I saw when I looked out!


If you could only hear the words that go with this picture. "MIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNEEE MADY!! GO AWAY!!!"

If you look closely, Mady finally got the leftovers that Isabella didn't want anymore!


Sidewalk Chalk -- Better than Crayons!

Isabella doesn't quite understand that Mady isn't capable of helping her draw!

Friday we went to Lubbock and ran some errands. Toys R Us was one of our stops to do a little birthday shopping but while there Isabella found a grocery cart she decided she was going to push around the store and take a few things off the shelf and put in her basket like mommy!! Unfortunately for her the grocery cart didn't come home with us since we don't have a place for it.

Another stop was Target where she found a hula hoop laying around that she decided she would try out!! She doesn't quite have it down yet, but it won't be long!!

Sunday after church, Grandmother had a meeting so we had to wait on her. While waiting Isabella ran around in the shade of the church yard, picked a flower with the lady that takes care of her in the nursery and then found some dirt! Yes I know..."church clothes"...but they wash and she was having fun. Kid's are only kid's for a short amount of time so I let her play!