It’s 11:00 pm on the first of February and I just now settled down in my bed with a munchkin by my side winding down watching Snow White while Alan works on fixing our Internet, so with no Internet who knows when this will actually get posted. Tonight we came home about 10:38 and I quickly jumped in the shower because again who knows when the next chance I’d have for one is.
I started this blog several weeks ago (hence the reason for the date posted), however; time has not permitted me to finish it till now (so I just deleted what I had and started over). Stressed, Frustrated, Depressed, Lonely, Bored those are just a few of the emotions I have been feeling lately. It seems like all I do anymore is for someone else and I haven’t had any time for MYSELF. I generally wake up when Alan heads off to work, and lay in bed (as I am still not much of a morning person) until Isabella wakes up, head over to my grandmother’s to fix breakfast, clean up from breakfast, fix lunch, clean up from lunch, fix dinner, clean up from dinner, help my grandmother dress and bathe, keep track of her medicine, take her to and from doctor and hair appointments, and while in between; doing my grandmother’s laundry, cleaning things up such as cleaning cans out of her pantry from 1998, pay her bills, get her taxes ready, feed her animals and find time to play, hold and try to get Isabella down for her daily nap, which only happens 2-3 times a week.
In the meantime, I have laundry literally waist deep at my house, clean clothes overflowing our big chair, luggage still packed from our trip to AL and to the Austin area for Shelley’s Wedding, a DVR COMPLETELY FULL and I don’t even watch that many shows, Christmas presents still sacked up-unopened, Christmas tree and decorations still adorning the house, a dog cage still sitting in my living room from Cuddles’ surgery, have been car-less since Dec. 29th and finally am now the proud owner of a new car that is 6 hrs away but don’t have the time or manpower to go pick it up (unfortunately I’ll probably have made 2 payments on it before I even sit in the thing) and my house just an all out MESS with company coming on the 12th. I just need some help and I’ve asked for it but no one can seem to deliver. My dad thinks I should accomplish great things in 4 hours but what he doesn’t understand is what I do accomplish in those 4 hours is just messed up if I never get finished and never have help to keep it up because we leave the house so early, come home so late and the last thing I want to do when I come home at 11ish is clean house, I already have enough to do before heading to bed (bathing Isabella, getting her to wind down and head to bed) after that …I just want to go to my bed and pass out. I generally get to bed somewhere around midnight or after.
Why I do this…..because I love my Grandmother and my family and I am available to help. But a word to the wise….24/7 care is too much for one person. Hopefully come March my mom will have made the appropriate arrangements and I will have help from Sandi. I will have lot more freedom to hopefully enroll Isabella in gymnastics, start back our weekly play dates with Kyla and Kaegan, weekends to do whatever with my husband and daughter, go to the grocery store without time constraints and be able to see MY friends which I haven’t spent anytime with in MONTHS!! I will still be in charge of beauty shop days, dr appointments, bathing and giving Sandi those days off that I have longed for since this started. I tried to do what was best for my grandmother and what she expressed that she wanted and that was to keep her at home and unfortunately I feel that was the wrong decision and she is now back on the list at Lynnwood and I will be whole heartedly supportive the next time a room becomes available for her. I feel that in the best interest of me, my family and the relationship between my grandmother and I and my mother and I that her going to an assisted living is of the best interest. Please keep all of us in your prayers as this is a huge process and heart jerking decision on all of us.
Not much new to report, as we have the same routine day in and day out, we don’t have much going on. Thursday and Friday we had more snow but it was way too cold and windy to get out and play in it and there really wasn’t but about 2 inches or so. Saturday Sandi stayed with my grandmother and Isabella so that Alan and I could go to Weight Watchers and then we spent the evening building shelves for our storage building to allow more room for Sandi to move her stuff in. We then all moved the stuff from the smaller storage building to the larger one. Thank goodness it was all in the same building and inside because it was quite wet outside. Alan and Ricky did get some work done on Isabella’s swing set on Sunday and it looks as if she will be able to play on it before her next birthday and possibly before the year mark of having it. It should make for some really fun spring and summer days. We also have been trying to potty train but it’s not going over so well. She knows what she’s doing and goes when she wants to but isn’t consistent. She’s been sick lately with high fevers and dripping to the floor-filling the bed diarrhea so I’m sure that has an affect on our progress and the fact that she only feels like she can go in her potty at our house (that she begs to go to and stay at but the poor kid hasn’t really played with her toys at home in months). Be on the lookout for a future blog about the "Potty Negotiator." Lately I’ve also been struggling with the weight loss issue. I have stuck to the plan to lose .4 lbs in two weeks. That is very frustrating and makes me want to give up. But thanks to support from Alan, Ricky, my mom and most of all Jennifer for the encouragement, daily reminder and the few food change ideas (such as adding protein i.e. peanut or almond butter to my morning breakfast…something that will definitely take getting use to), I have decided not to give up and keep chugging along. There will be a day soon in my future with a weight loss I can cheer about. Hopefully there will also be a change by Courtney’s wedding in May and I won’t feel like a plump purple grape standing up there with her and will actually have to have the dress altered down.
Today as I write (Wednesday) we still have no Internet, hopefully the new modem will come tomorrow and will fix our problem. It has been raining here ALL day and last check on the gauge we had about 2.5 inches. We are very thankful for the rain as this makes for a wonderful start to this years cotton crops! Last night while watching LOST at home I did manage to get a load or two of laundry washed and some of the clothes folded and hung that were overflowing our big chair. I also have been doing good this week with the diet changes and have gotten in about 30 minutes of exercise for 3 days in a row now. Another reason to be thankful for the rainy weather….it keeps my two toddlers napping for extended periods of time which allows me a bit of “me” time to exercise. Toddlers you say…yes I call my grandmother a toddler…today is a prime example…Isabella and her were watching cartoons from her bed. At some point Isabella got her milk and snuck a “cookie”. Come to find out the “cookie” was a cracker I had given her and to me the milk wasn’t a big deal. But my grandmother then began to tattle that Isabella was kicking the covers and taking up too much of the bed….come on…really? I was in total disbelief that my 89 yr old grandmother was tattling on my 2 yr old. I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t soaking up the fact that my child was being cuddly and wanting to watch cartoons with her because that doesn’t happen very often. Isabella has always been extremely close with my grandmother, however; ever since she came home from the hospital she has been real stand-offish of her until last week. I really think that it has something to do with my grandmother’s attitude and the fact that the dr finally decided she was suffering from depression and gave her something that has truly helped with how she treats everyone. Not much else to report, hopefully it won’t be too wet this weekend and the guys can finish up the swing set, I can make a vast improvement on the looks of my house and finish up laundry. Hope everyone stays warm and dry for the rest of the week/end.
We would like to wish Ron (Alan’s dad) a very Happy Belated Birthday!! His birthday was on the 19th of January and we want him to know we were definitely thinking about him. We would also like to Congratulate Shelley and Brandon Scott on their marriage January 23rd. May you have many years of bliss!
And don’t forget…February is the month of a very important birthday….*wink* wink*
(Now you have no excuses Alan)
Oh yeah, AND one of Isabella’s new favorite things right now is to tell you Knock-Knock Jokes…they go along these lines, “Knock-Knock”; “Who’s There?”; “Cow”; “Cow Who?”; “Cow goes MOOOOOO!” Although it’s not funny, it’s so darn cute and funny at how hard she’s trying to make you laugh!! Gosh I love that kid!!
I started this blog several weeks ago (hence the reason for the date posted), however; time has not permitted me to finish it till now (so I just deleted what I had and started over). Stressed, Frustrated, Depressed, Lonely, Bored those are just a few of the emotions I have been feeling lately. It seems like all I do anymore is for someone else and I haven’t had any time for MYSELF. I generally wake up when Alan heads off to work, and lay in bed (as I am still not much of a morning person) until Isabella wakes up, head over to my grandmother’s to fix breakfast, clean up from breakfast, fix lunch, clean up from lunch, fix dinner, clean up from dinner, help my grandmother dress and bathe, keep track of her medicine, take her to and from doctor and hair appointments, and while in between; doing my grandmother’s laundry, cleaning things up such as cleaning cans out of her pantry from 1998, pay her bills, get her taxes ready, feed her animals and find time to play, hold and try to get Isabella down for her daily nap, which only happens 2-3 times a week.
In the meantime, I have laundry literally waist deep at my house, clean clothes overflowing our big chair, luggage still packed from our trip to AL and to the Austin area for Shelley’s Wedding, a DVR COMPLETELY FULL and I don’t even watch that many shows, Christmas presents still sacked up-unopened, Christmas tree and decorations still adorning the house, a dog cage still sitting in my living room from Cuddles’ surgery, have been car-less since Dec. 29th and finally am now the proud owner of a new car that is 6 hrs away but don’t have the time or manpower to go pick it up (unfortunately I’ll probably have made 2 payments on it before I even sit in the thing) and my house just an all out MESS with company coming on the 12th. I just need some help and I’ve asked for it but no one can seem to deliver. My dad thinks I should accomplish great things in 4 hours but what he doesn’t understand is what I do accomplish in those 4 hours is just messed up if I never get finished and never have help to keep it up because we leave the house so early, come home so late and the last thing I want to do when I come home at 11ish is clean house, I already have enough to do before heading to bed (bathing Isabella, getting her to wind down and head to bed) after that …I just want to go to my bed and pass out. I generally get to bed somewhere around midnight or after.
Why I do this…..because I love my Grandmother and my family and I am available to help. But a word to the wise….24/7 care is too much for one person. Hopefully come March my mom will have made the appropriate arrangements and I will have help from Sandi. I will have lot more freedom to hopefully enroll Isabella in gymnastics, start back our weekly play dates with Kyla and Kaegan, weekends to do whatever with my husband and daughter, go to the grocery store without time constraints and be able to see MY friends which I haven’t spent anytime with in MONTHS!! I will still be in charge of beauty shop days, dr appointments, bathing and giving Sandi those days off that I have longed for since this started. I tried to do what was best for my grandmother and what she expressed that she wanted and that was to keep her at home and unfortunately I feel that was the wrong decision and she is now back on the list at Lynnwood and I will be whole heartedly supportive the next time a room becomes available for her. I feel that in the best interest of me, my family and the relationship between my grandmother and I and my mother and I that her going to an assisted living is of the best interest. Please keep all of us in your prayers as this is a huge process and heart jerking decision on all of us.
Not much new to report, as we have the same routine day in and day out, we don’t have much going on. Thursday and Friday we had more snow but it was way too cold and windy to get out and play in it and there really wasn’t but about 2 inches or so. Saturday Sandi stayed with my grandmother and Isabella so that Alan and I could go to Weight Watchers and then we spent the evening building shelves for our storage building to allow more room for Sandi to move her stuff in. We then all moved the stuff from the smaller storage building to the larger one. Thank goodness it was all in the same building and inside because it was quite wet outside. Alan and Ricky did get some work done on Isabella’s swing set on Sunday and it looks as if she will be able to play on it before her next birthday and possibly before the year mark of having it. It should make for some really fun spring and summer days. We also have been trying to potty train but it’s not going over so well. She knows what she’s doing and goes when she wants to but isn’t consistent. She’s been sick lately with high fevers and dripping to the floor-filling the bed diarrhea so I’m sure that has an affect on our progress and the fact that she only feels like she can go in her potty at our house (that she begs to go to and stay at but the poor kid hasn’t really played with her toys at home in months). Be on the lookout for a future blog about the "Potty Negotiator." Lately I’ve also been struggling with the weight loss issue. I have stuck to the plan to lose .4 lbs in two weeks. That is very frustrating and makes me want to give up. But thanks to support from Alan, Ricky, my mom and most of all Jennifer for the encouragement, daily reminder and the few food change ideas (such as adding protein i.e. peanut or almond butter to my morning breakfast…something that will definitely take getting use to), I have decided not to give up and keep chugging along. There will be a day soon in my future with a weight loss I can cheer about. Hopefully there will also be a change by Courtney’s wedding in May and I won’t feel like a plump purple grape standing up there with her and will actually have to have the dress altered down.
Today as I write (Wednesday) we still have no Internet, hopefully the new modem will come tomorrow and will fix our problem. It has been raining here ALL day and last check on the gauge we had about 2.5 inches. We are very thankful for the rain as this makes for a wonderful start to this years cotton crops! Last night while watching LOST at home I did manage to get a load or two of laundry washed and some of the clothes folded and hung that were overflowing our big chair. I also have been doing good this week with the diet changes and have gotten in about 30 minutes of exercise for 3 days in a row now. Another reason to be thankful for the rainy weather….it keeps my two toddlers napping for extended periods of time which allows me a bit of “me” time to exercise. Toddlers you say…yes I call my grandmother a toddler…today is a prime example…Isabella and her were watching cartoons from her bed. At some point Isabella got her milk and snuck a “cookie”. Come to find out the “cookie” was a cracker I had given her and to me the milk wasn’t a big deal. But my grandmother then began to tattle that Isabella was kicking the covers and taking up too much of the bed….come on…really? I was in total disbelief that my 89 yr old grandmother was tattling on my 2 yr old. I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t soaking up the fact that my child was being cuddly and wanting to watch cartoons with her because that doesn’t happen very often. Isabella has always been extremely close with my grandmother, however; ever since she came home from the hospital she has been real stand-offish of her until last week. I really think that it has something to do with my grandmother’s attitude and the fact that the dr finally decided she was suffering from depression and gave her something that has truly helped with how she treats everyone. Not much else to report, hopefully it won’t be too wet this weekend and the guys can finish up the swing set, I can make a vast improvement on the looks of my house and finish up laundry. Hope everyone stays warm and dry for the rest of the week/end.
We would like to wish Ron (Alan’s dad) a very Happy Belated Birthday!! His birthday was on the 19th of January and we want him to know we were definitely thinking about him. We would also like to Congratulate Shelley and Brandon Scott on their marriage January 23rd. May you have many years of bliss!
And don’t forget…February is the month of a very important birthday….*wink* wink*
(Now you have no excuses Alan)
Oh yeah, AND one of Isabella’s new favorite things right now is to tell you Knock-Knock Jokes…they go along these lines, “Knock-Knock”; “Who’s There?”; “Cow”; “Cow Who?”; “Cow goes MOOOOOO!” Although it’s not funny, it’s so darn cute and funny at how hard she’s trying to make you laugh!! Gosh I love that kid!!
**Picture Blog of the past weeks to come soon....when I have some time ;)**
While in AL visiting Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, on Monday before we were to leave on Tuesday we made an hour trip two states away to visit the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. It was amazing and truly the best aquarium I had ever been too. Although fish became fish to Isabella, I think that she really enjoyed it and seemed to have a few favorites, the sea horses, the otters, she liked the penguins but wanted them to move around, she wanted everyone to pet the stingrays EXCEPT her and she enjoyed the butterflies except when they all attacked her. We had a really good time and then enjoyed a nice lunch close by at TGI Friday's. We had wanted to walk across the TN river but it was just was too cold for that. We definitely wore the little tyke out...we weren't 2 blocks or 2 mins away and she had already drifted to sleep. Hopefully next visit we can make another trip back to Chattanooga as I think it has LOTS to offer for Isabella.
Everyone petting the stingrays EXCEPT Isabella.
We all enjoyed the Butterfly Gardens. 
The boring non-active penguins...
She was POOPED!
Suppose to be trying to take a nap....
but this is where she ended up....
while Daddy working on quilting!
In grandpa's truck headed out through the pasture to see the barn, the cows & all the land.
Late night ice cream with Grandpa.
Singing her baby to sleep...."Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little baby!"
Grandma was building with dominoes and Isabella was knocking them down.
She was suppose to be taking a nap....
BUT was being so darn cute!
Giddy Up Daddy!
Grandma teaching Isabella how to write her ABC's
and now reading DORA!
Almost every night Grandpa would go upstairs and try to put Isabella to bed in her favorite little bed. She did stay a couple of nights.
Grandpa taking her curlers out while she watches cartoons.
Isabella with her Great-Grandparents
Of course, any picture Alan and Isabella are involved....you take a 50/50 chance of one not looking and one looking retarded.
and I'm pretty sure that they ate more candy than adorned the gingerbread house.....
Kyla and Kaegan went to SantaLand with us!
My favorite lil' man let me hold him long enough for a picture!
This was not the first time we visited Santa but was the only chance we got to capture it for future reference...oh maybe when she's like 15 or 16.
She was much happier in the lap of Mrs. Clause.
Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer!! One of the many of Isabella's favorite cartoon characters.
The snow was up to her knees but she still wasn't standing on the ground!!
Isabella LOVED making snow angels!!
This snow ice cream was bowl licking good!!
Making cookies for Santa
Isabella was ready to open gifts....
She thanked grandmother for every one of them....
and was very intently studying this toy....
Awww, the lovin' was so SWEET!!!!
This is the face of a child who got just what she wanted....
A NEW KITCHEN!!! She was thrilled and hasn't stopped playing with it since!! I bet she can't wait for the weather to warm up and get it out in her playhouse.
She was so excited about the cookies and milk set....Thank you Nana Gina!!! Santa had a few cookies and pretend milk (We were out of milk and snowed IN) and the reindeer a few carrots.
Dressed to see what Santa had left this good little girl...
Isabella asked Santa for a dolly and Santa delivered. Well for the most part....she also asked Santa for a bicycle but Santa didn't think she was quite old enough for one yet.
She was so excited to see the stories of....If you go to bed, Santa will come visit and bring good little girls toys....
And much to her surprise the milk, cookies and carrots were GONE....
She loved all the little toys that filled her stocking!!
Isabella kept well hydrated by eating snow while....
Alan and I did the hard work of trying to lift this VERY heavy middle section of the snowman...you would think we had learned at an early age to not try and build the Guinness Book of World Records Snowman!!!
Grammie adding the finishing touches...pecan eyes, tomato nose, a carrot smile, celery pipe and pecan buttons....
Then we posed with our very handsome, taller than Alan snowman. He stayed visiting for several days...in fact his base is still sitting in the yard as of today!
After a morning of snow playing.....dress up time! This kid can walk better in heels than most women I know!!!
