All Alone...

Wow...it's been 2 weeks since my last post. So much has happened!! But to spare you all the details, I'll just jump right in talking about how so very alone I am...okay, so I have Tori and Wyatt...now do you see where this is headed??

Wesley is off at camp. I took him on Sunday to Grapeland, TX where Frontier Camp is located. This is his 2nd year at camp. He LOVES it. Now, if you notice, I said "I took him" meaning me, solo, alone, by myself, etc, etc, etc...WHY? Because Greg was leaving for Norway and wouldn't be back in time if we all went. So, I took him and drove back, 2 1/2 hours all by my lonesome. It wasn't bad!! Greg left for the airport around 5:45. He told me he was leaving around 5. He figured he had time, so he left later...his flight wasn't scheduled to leave till 7:30 or so. Turns out, the plane arrived early and they wanted to leave but he was the only one not there, so they called home wanting to know if he was coming!!!! I wasn't home yet but Sharon was here as was Mike and Kim. They called Greg on his cell and he was at the airport. So, they didn't leave without him! I talked to him later and he said there were 8 people on the flight!! He took some pics of the town he was in in Norway which I will post.

Wesley is having a ball at camp. At least, I suppose he is. He's not allowed to call home till Thursday and that's ONLY if he's so miserable and needs to hear our voice...I'm not holding my breath! He didn't call last year, don't expect him to this year. I'll post a pic of him at camp and you be the judge or how he's doing!!

So, I've been single mom-ing it since Sunday. Wyatt did great Sunday/Monday and slept till 5:30am, and even then I woke him to feed him. I heard him stirring so figured it would only be a matter of time! Tori was so exhausted from the night before (swimming with daddy in the afternoon then uncle mike in the evening did it to her!) she didn't wake up till after 8:30. We missed our 9:15 gymnastics class. That was okay because we made it up today...gave us something to do! I also registered her for dance today. She was sooooo excited but sad that today wasn't actual dance class day. She insisted on wearing her ballet shoes to the dance studio!! I bought the required ballet and tap shoes last week and had to hide the tap shoes or my floor would never forgive me! And, she's practically living in her ballet shoes! Last night Wyatt decided to wake every few hours to eat or should I say nibble...that's all he was really doing! This evening he was really downing his bottles so hopefully that's a sign of good things to come as far as waking this morning! I don't know how single moms do it or shall I say single moms of small children! I can't wait for Greg to get home tomorrow...he's such a great dad and husband...he's there right by my side every night/morning. He doesn't even complain on the weekends when I call "you have baby duty" before he does!!

Well, there's much more, but I'm exhausted as it is! More later...

The Cheese Wedge

Shaving cream slide

Water balloon artillery

Bergen Norway

And all is well...

Wyatt had is 1 month checkup today. Well, actually he had it a week ago Monday except somebody forgot about it. Okay, so I didn't forget, I knew it was coming up, I just didn't know the exact time and date. I was waiting for my friendly reminder call from the pedi's office that they usually send the night before...nope, didn't happen. What I got instead was a nasty, where are you call...okay, it wasn't that nasty but it makes my story more interesting! Anyway, I ended up rescheduling for today. He weighed in at 9lb 10oz. For a guy that only eats 2 oz a feeding, he sure is putting on the weight! The doc said I could start offering him a 1/2 oz more, but I told him I was already offering him 2 oz more and he was adament about stopping at 2oz. Oh, if only I had that kind of will power! He was 85% for height, 50% for weight and 75% for head. These are important stats that I'm sure will serve him well in the future. He also got a shot after I was assured (over the phone) he would not. It was actually a part 2 shot, so maybe it doesn't count as a "real" shot, who knows. Anyway, he cried a bit, then got over it.

Wesley had a friend over yesterday and he ended up spending the night. I love Wesley's friends. He has chosen wisely! They are so great to NOT exclude Tori in their activities. Now, don't get me wrong....they don't necessarily INCLUDE her, but they definitely don't exclude her. That makes my life so great! They swam a bit then played on the swingset. After dinner, they played on the swingset again. Tori was in HEAVEN!!

Wesley has been great with Wyatt...too great if you ask me! The other night he finally settled down, so I put him in his swing for a few minutes so I could have just a little of me time. I went to my office to check email and such. The swing is in the family room. Greg was upstairs getting Tori ready for bed. Next thing I hear is, "Oh, lil bubba (that's Wyatt's nickname) what are you doing here all alone? You shouldn't be alone, no..." 2 minutes later Wesley strolls in with lil bubba in his arms ready to hand him over. I was not very happy. Wyatt was fine in his swing, not fussing, just chilling out, next thing you know he's in my arms, again... He's also great at feeding Wyatt when I'm in a pinch.

As for Tori....poor little thing, that could go for Tori or Wyatt. Tori so much wants to mother Wyatt. He cries and she tries to hold him. Not a good thing...so, I have to keep an eye on her or she'll try to pick him up and carry him away...If you've seen the things that she's done with her baby dolls, you'd understand! But she loves him and doesn't protest when I have to feed him, etc. She loves to help give him a bath! I tried giving Wyatt a bath in my big tub in my room. I placed his little tub into the big tub. Next thing I know I had 2 other naked children in the bath with Wyatt!!!

So, other than the french being in town (greg/work) all is well!

Crazy, Crazy Week...

Well, it's Friday already. I kept telling myself that all day, cause I couldn't believe it! Didn't feel like a Friday to me. Anyway, Greg turned the big 38 on Wednesday...poor guy...getting soooo old. We had a very special birthday dinner for him at home. I made crab legs and shrimp gumbo. Followed by a very small birthday cake and 2 slices of cheesecake. I had NONE of the sweets (or rice with the gumbo) as I'm trying to lose my pregnancy weight. Don't feel sorry for me though, I did indulge prior to starting my weightloss plan!! It's extremely frustrating right now cause I really want to exercise, but I can't. My dr. even made it a point to tell me so at my last appt. She did say I could walk (oh, hurrah), so we've been doing that. It's so HOT though by the time we get back I'm so sweaty it's gross! Back to Greg...Tori and Wyatt gave him some CD's and Wesley bought him a game for the PS2. We recently had a sprinkler system installed, so I printed out a piece of paper with sprinkler system on it and typed happy birthday and wrapped it up from me!!

Then, on Thursday, the kids playset was delivered and installed! I haven't taken any pictures yet, but when I do I'll share them! They LOVE it! Tori wants to spend all day outside swinging and sliding! Wesley's been joining us too (that is when he's NOT talking to his cousin on the phone!). His cousin Michael is in California for the summer and they've been spending MANY hours on the phone! When it rings and it's Michael I give a big sigh of relief because that means his dad is paying for the call, not us! He'll be home in 3 wks though, one of which Wesley will be away at camp, so only a little longer of long distance calls! We don't have free long distance anymore like we did before, so it will be interesting to see what this is going to cost us.

Today we had the best buy repair man out trying to fix our refrigerator. The ice in the door is not working. He was out a few weeks ago but had to order a part. Then, the part was back ordered so he was back this morning. It was working when he left, then a few hours later, it quit working again. I called him and he came back out when he finished all his other calls, around 5:30 and fixed it again. It worked great when he left and now, it's not working anymore. I hate Best Buy...that's all I'm going to say. That and this...their Geek Squad sucks...okay, no more...breathe in, breathe out...get back to your happy place....

So, now that it's down on paper, guess it wasn't that crazy after all....OH YEAH, I forgot...we supposedly had a package delivered on Tuesday, UPS, but it wasn't. I ordered a chair for Wesley's room (we put a desk in there for him) and the tracking shows "left at front door"....ummm, no it wasn't. I know this because I continually checked my front door on Tuesday, awaiting the packages that contained Greg's birthday presents. They were actually scheduled for Wednesday, but I thought it was Tuesday, so I kept checking...anyway...nothing. It was a huge 30 lb box, so I don't think anybody took it. I think the UPS guy took it, that's what I think. I called about it on Thursday and the driver comes by sometime that evening and leaves me a note asking if I found it...yeah, I accidently misplaced a HUGE 30 lb box...right...

I would have talked to him, but we were out back playing on the swing set! That's another company that makes me leave my happy place. They delivered my Gymboree package to another Elizabeth Foster in MAGNOLIA because our address wasn't coming up on their locating system, so they assumed that EF was me...Totally different address, totally different city...yeah, that's me I just put that I lived in Cypress to give everyone a good laugh...don't mess with me and my kid's clothes, KWIM?? I spend WAY too much on my Gymbo to have it delivered to someone in Magnolia. That was the package with Wesley's Easter outfit. In it was the shirt that matched Tori's dress. We ended up getting it on time, no thanks to UPS.

So anyway, Best Buy joins UPS on my black list. Come to think of it USPS is on that list too....you don't want to hear about the fiasco that happened with my envelopes I ordered for the birth announcements I sent out.

Okay I'll tell you...I ordered some envelopes off of ebay. The gal shipped them immediately. I waited and waited, then finally decided to check on them. Well, it showed it was delivered on June 26th, a week before. So I emailed the ebay gal (who had no responsibility at this point because she had delivery confirmation on it) to ask her what type of packaging it was in...I explained it said delivered but it wasn't. So she emails me back and tells me the box dimensions, then tells me to keep her informed because she'll make sure I get my envelopes. Well, on the 3rd I called the post office and talked with my mail carrier who SWORE UP AND DOWN SHE LEFT IT ON MY DOORSTEP. Swore up and down to me...I'm like, okay well, now what, cause I don't have them. She put me on hold to talk to her supervisor...I held for 20 minutes then decided enough was enough. I emailed ebay gal back and told her what the carrier said, and get this...she tells me she's going to mail me another pack asap, and I should get it by Tuesday. Because of the holiday, she was going to mail it on Saturday. She said if the other pack shows up, just ship it back to me...how is that for an awesome ebay seller...so I go and check the mail on saturday and what's in the lock box????? My envelopes, postmarked June 26th. The SAME envelopes my mail carrier SWORE up and down she delivered personally to my doorstep...she said she remembered exactly...right...that's why they are showing up on Saturday in the lock box. So come Monday, the 2nd set of envelopes get delivered. I emailed ebay gal and told her I got them both and offered to pay for the second set...she accepted, but said not to feel obligated to buy them! How great is she. I did buy them because I know I'll use them...and she considered them a second set, so she discounted them for me!!

So, to sum up...here's my black list so far: UPS, Best Buy, USPS...

And a Possum come A-Knockin'

So the other morning, I'm walking towards my office from my bedroom. For those who have not been to my house, my patio is in between my bedroom and my office. From my bedroom to my office, I have 4 huge windows and double glass doors that lead out to my patio from my breakfast room. Anyway, I'm walking, looking out my windows as I'm passing and what do I see? 2 sleepy dogs and this....

If it looks like a dead possum, that's cause it is!!! And, who is responsible for the madness??

That's right, Pongo is. Our sweet, loveable, white dog.

Looks alittle guilty in this one, doesn't he??

Funny thing is, we never heard a thing! Either that or Wyatt has us so worn out we simply slept through the whole ordeal!! When I saw it, Greg was walking by and I asked him if he'd seen it. He said yeah, he had. I then asked him if he (Greg) thought he (possum) was playing dead!!! Yeah, no... So Greg, being the man of house, takes care of the nasty situation...he throws the dead possum over the fence. We deal with lots of "nasty situations" this way! Later in the day, we're greeted by these on our fence:

Okay, so what you don't see are the other 10 or so on the trees behind the fence. Also, at any given time there were up to 4 or 5 on the fence post! I suppose they were taking turns enjoyung their meal!!

This is not the 1st creature Pongo has killed...we can add rats to the list as well...better dead outside then snuggling with you inside. Did I mention my neighbor woke up with a mouse on her chest? Good times, good times!!

Lastly, if you've never read Possum come A-Knockin by Nancy Van Laan, you should...it's a great read! You cajun's will especially love it!!

Happy 4th!

Well, the 4th has come and gone. We decided to have a peaceful, quiet, day at home. Wyatt slept till around 4:45 which was wonderful! Then we fed him, and when I say we, I mean me! BUT, Greg was busy unloading the dishwasher and making bottles which is a huge task in and of itself! We've pretty much settled into a routine where nighttime feedings are concerned. Wyatt wakes up, I go to the bathroom (thought that was going to end once he was born, nope), then I put the bottle to heat. Greg gets up, gets Wyatt, changes his diaper and re-swaddles him. I then sit to feed Wyatt and Greg unloads the dishwasher, makes bottles (so I just have to grab and heat during the day), then loads the dishwasher if it needs it. He then heads off to bed. I'm usually back in bed around 30 minutes after Wyatt has woken up, on a good night. For the 2nd feeding, same routine, except this time since the chores are done, Greg goes back to sleep. I'm totally okay with that since he does have to go to work in the morning!

Getting back to our 4th of July day...Wyatt slept till 4:45. Then, at 7:30, the phone rings...yes, the phone. Everyone was still asleep, including Tori who usually wakes up around 6:45. I check out the caller id and it's the Yard Depot. Greg called them yesterday to get and estimate on delivering mulch. Now, he didn't leave a message or anything asking them to call us back. They must have checked their caller id and decided to call us back, AT 7:30 IN THE MORNING. After his chat with them, Greg then tells me we better get up. I look at him and ask "why??"...remember everyone in my house is still asleep. He then reminds me we have the 4th of July parade this morning. Wesley is riding in the parade with his Cub Scout troop and we'll be watching from Kim and Mike's house as they are in the path of the parade! After his reminder I respond with a lovely "CRAP-O-LA" and my day begins.

We rush, rush, rush, to make sure everyone is dressed and ready...Wesley in his Scout uniform, and the other 2 in their 4th outfits. We drop Wesley off and head over to Mike and Kim's place. I fed Wyatt while we waited. Tori played with the cats inside for a bit and went potty. Daddy wasn't good enough to take her though and Aunt Kim had the honor of taking her!! We did bring Tori breakfast, but in all the excitement, never gave it to her! She didn't complain though.

The rest of our day was spent lazily around the house putting together a cabinet for my office. I did the 1st part and Greg did the second. It's not perfect (according to G) but I think it looks great and it's just what I need. Did I mention we've had this cabinet since around Feb/March? Anyway, it only came with 3 shelves, so I'm going to have to get some cut and get some clips to hold them.

Around 8:00, Mike and Kim came over. Mike swam a bit with the kids and Greg then we headed outside for the fireworks. We had ours and they bought some also. At first Tori was scared and wanted to go in, but I was feeding Wyatt (are you seeing a pattern to my life????) and Greg was helping light, so she eventually got over it and did great! At one point she wanted to light some of her own but no, not gonna happen....I did get word this morning that she did do a sparkler last night AFTER I went in with Wyatt. Kim had asked me at one point if she could do one and I (being the responsible parent I am) said NO, she's too young. When Greg told me this morning she did one, I just let it go...what's the point in saying how dangerous it was, if something went wrong she could be scarred for life, literally. I mean what's done is done and I can't change it now, can I??

Below are the pics of this morning and my precious kids in their 4th garb (is that a word?) You'll also get a glimpse of Greg's patriotic, 4th shoes (according to him) that he INSISTED I take as I was taking pics of the kids. I think he was just making fun of me for taking so many pics of the kids. Again, I'll just let it go....


Here's a hint, click on the pic to see it bigger!!

Can you find Wesley?

Check out the bling bling!


What a cutie!

Our Scout!!

Get down Tori!




The SHOES...now seriously, they aren't even red, white, and blue!!

Welcome!

So, here I am...typing on my computer at 10:41 p.m. Since we have a 3 week old baby, you'd think I'd be doing something more productive like sleeping! But, not an option at this point as Wyatt is not asleep yet. Greg just came in and told me he's acting hungry. He ate about an hour ago so I think it's gas. But, we'll feed him to see if that's really what he wants. Maybe it will be just what he needs to put him to sleep!

Greg was off today as the firm gives the 3rd and 4th as a holiday. He had a list of things he wanted to get accomplished today...all of which pertained to the outside. I told him I wanted to go to Babies R Us to look for a few things and I'd take Tori and Wyatt with me. He asked me several times about my decision in taking them both. I think he didn't think I could handle them both. Now, before you send him nasty emails, he never actually said that to me, he just implied it! Anyway, Tori comes down stairs dressed in stained clothes that are a little snug on her. Daddy dressed her. He says nobody will notice. I then proceeded to say that he must not have gotten my telepathic message that I wanted to get pictures made while we were at Babies R Us. He said, no, he didn't. Up we went to get Tori changed.

Speaking of Tori, did I mention she's potty training? More on that later!

Here are the pics we took at Babies r Us. Greg asked me why I didn't get any pics of Tori and Wyatt together...Do you know the obvious answer? Because Wesley wasn't with us. I didn't want to hurt his feelings by getting pics of the other 2 together with out him. I later asked him if it would have actually hurt his feelings and he said yes, it would. Good call on my part!

These pictures do have a purpose...it's Tori's 3 yr pics and Wyatt's semi-newborn pics!

ENJOY!!