Is This Nasty or What??

So you've heard about how I'm losing my hair, right? Well, Saturday I decided to do a much needed thorough floor cleaning at my house. It's funny how even if nothing else is clean, if the floors are clean everything else seems cleaner too. So, I vacuumed all of the wood floors with that attachment (we have a central vac) and then switched to the carpet attachment. I vacuumed the kids' rooms, then my bedroom and bathroom rug. When I got into the den to vacuum our rug, the vacuum started making this noise like it had something stuck in it and it was kind of banging around. I turned it off and turned it over and saw hair, EVERYWHERE! It was wound so tightly around the little bar thing that I had to cut it off and pull it out. I had to take a picture just because I've never seen so much hair in a vacuum....and it's all mine! Please tell me how I have any left if just this much was in our carpet...and we only have carpet in the bedrooms! At work, it's collecting on the entry mat. The mat looks like it's growing hair and it's navy so my blonde really shows up well. I tell you it's everywhere and it's grossing me out! When will it stop?!

I have major hair issues...I hate it. I don't want to touch it, don't want it to touch me, mine or anyone else's. It totally grosses me out! I always loved those folks who like to play with hair because I liked that, but please don't ask me to return the favor. When I lived in the sorority house in college, there was one bathroom that 12 girls shared. There were 2 showers in there, but only one drain for both. You can only imagine the hair that collected on this drain, but probably none of it was mine. I'm typically not a heavy shedder. Anyway, one of the cleaning duties was to remove "the beast" from the drain. Seriously, that's what the job was called! That was the nastiest thing. I get nauseous just thinking about it. Don't think I didn't put two rubber gloves on and wrap my hand in toilet paper when I got assigned that job. Disgusting! Enough about my hair rant.. I just had to explain how much I really do get grossed out by it so just imagine me losing it in clumps now!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOKIE!

Today, Pookie enters the last year of his 20's! I'm almost done with that last year myself, so I'm not giving him any grief! When we started dating, he was only 19, so we've been together for over 10 years now, and my how it's flown! Back then, I could've never imagined what a wonderful husband and father you'd be..even though I don't always tell you so. You are so great with our children and you can even be great around the house when you want to be! I am so appreciative of everything you do and everything you sacrifice for our family. We are all so thankful that you are in our lives! Happy 29th Birthday Pookie!

Here are some pictures from the last few months/years. I wish I had some from when Grant was born, but I wasn't digital yet then!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Sleep, Sweet, Sweet Sleep!

Well, I might be totally jinxing myself, but Claire has slept all night long 2 nights in a row. She goes through spurts when she does this for a week or so, and then she goes back to waking every night. Since I've come back to work, she's been waking up almost every night between 3:30 and 4:30 am wanting to eat. The last two nights she's gone to bed before or right at 8 pm and slept until 5:45 am. This morning, I actually went in her room at 5:45 and fed her because I needed to get in the shower and I was afraid she'd wake up while I was in there and be really upset (her bed and our shower share the same wall, so she can hear us really well). I picked her up, fed her, and laid her back down. She never woke up. I eventually had to get her out of bed at 7:00 so I could get her ready to go. I just keep hoping that this is the end of night wakings...we'll see!

One night last week, Claire graduated to the "duck tub." Grant started using this tub when he was probably 7 or 8 months old. I don't remember exactly. He loved it so much that his first real word was "duck." Since Claire is getting more stable, I decided to move her out of her tub chair and into this. She seems to really like it. The first time I put her in it, she was so funny. She just sat there with her head down looking at the water, while she held onto both sides with her hands, like she was in a boat or something. She's now pretty relaxed about the whole thing and kicks back and enjoys the water!

I feel like all of my posts lately are more about Claire than Grant. Obviously, this isn't intentional. She's just doing so many new things right now. Grant is still the character he always was. He's enjoying his summer pool time, but begs to go back to school (MDO) weekly. Trying to explain summer break is easier said than done. He is taking swimming lessons next week, which will probably be interesting. I hope he does well, but I'm not expecting much. He's a bit afraid of going under. Although, last weekend, he did jump off the side several times to my sister in law. I tried to get him to jump to me to no avail. In a few weeks, I think we may take him to an amusement park and water park..I know we're gluttons for punishment. I'm sure I'll regret it afterward, but right now, it sounds really fun! Here's a random picture of Grant from a week or so ago in the backyard.

just a thought

When I say.. "I'm a Christian", I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess."

When I say.. "I'm a Christian", I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

Unknown Author

I saw this quote on someone else's blog and really liked it. It kind of goes along with what our Sunday school lesson was yesterday, and it's something I have a little trouble with...being humble enough to "let go and let God." I should probably print this out and hang it somewhere that I can see it all of the time so I'm reminded that I really do need cleaning up...a lot!

Hope every one had a great Father's Day!

Claire is 5 months old!

My baby girl turned 5 months old yesterday! She had her little procedure first thing in the morning and she did wonderful! We really couldn't have asked for it to have been any easier. She fell asleep in my arms before they came to take her to the OR. I was so glad I didn't have to look in her big eyes while someone else was carrying her off. She was only away from us for about 15 minutes and she ate as soon as we got her back. Other than being a little tired for most of the day, she wasn't any difference. I took these first two pictures yesterday and as you can see, she was in a wonderfuly mood! I'm a little OCD about pictures and think that I have to have my baby's picture made every month for their first year. I did it with Grant and have followed suit with "sissom" (as Grant calls her). However, I loved these (and so many more that I took yesterday) so much that I think we'll just call it good for her 5 mth portraits.

Claire has really come into her own in the last few weeks. She is grabbing EVERYTHING!! You seriously cannot hold anything near her that you don't want her to touch. She is trying to eat my food if I'm holding her while I eat. She pulled placemats and silverware off of the table at Buca last week and she is obsessed with water bottles! I swear she gets excited when she sees one across the room. She is loving her rice cereal and fruit now. She knows it's coming when I start fixing it and gets so excited. When I'm feeding her, she grabs the spoon and tries to shove it in. That's my girl...loving her food! She's weighing in at about 16 1/2 lbs and I have no idea how long, but I think she's growing and distributing her rolls a little more evenly! She has started raising her arms for you to pick her up recently and leaning into whoever she wants to hold her (usually me). She LOVES her brother so much. She never takes her eyes off of him. It's so funny to watch her watching him!

Claire goes to bed almost every night before 8:00. It's the greatest thing! I'm just hoping she'll stay that way. Grant slept pretty well as a baby, but never wanted to go to bed until 11:00 or so. When he wasn't there on Monday night (he spent the night w/my mom) and Claire went to bed at 7:45, we literally didn't know what to do! So, we rented movies and watched them. I cannot even remember the last time we rented two movies and watched them both within 24 hours. The funniest thing she's doing in her bed now is scooting right up to the end of her bed and sucking on the tag that's on her bumper pad. It's not usually hanging in the bed like this, but since I noticed she's doing this, I've left it. It seriously soothes her to sleep. I know a pacifier would be much easier, but she will not take one!

Claire went swimming for the first time this past month. I can't say that she loves the water, but she's tolerant of it. That's all I'm asking for. Our weekends in the summer are pretty much full of pool time and that's about it. My house rarely sees a broom or dust rag anytime, but especially in the summer. We love nana and papa's pool so we spend as much time as possible there on Saturdays and Sundays. Here's a pic of her first time in the pool. Apparently my husband doesn't know what use the zoom and don't get me in the picture means!

This is a picture of Grant and Claire Sunday before church in their matching outfits that Alicia gave them. They were precious! Trying to get a picture of the 2 together is just about impossible. We're going to try professional pics of both next month..should be interesting!

Happy 5 month mark baby girl!! We can't believe how fast you're growing up and that you'll halfway to 1 next month!

Look Who's Sitting Up!

Claire is now sitting up for short periods. This was actually the longest one yet, so I went and grabbed the camera. She's not totally steady yet, but she's getting better by the day. At this particular time, she was even picking up toys while she was sitting there. Shortly after this though she reached for a toy and apparently had too much forward momentum. She went head first into the toy and is now sporting a bit of a black eye.

This picture totally cracks me up! Look at all of her rolls. Someone said today that they thought she looked to be losing weight - ha! See any resemblance to the man below?!
She did so much better in the pool this weekend! It helped that the water was like a bath tub this weekend. I couldn't believe how much the water temp. changed in just a week. There was a period of maybe 30 to 45 minutes when both kids were asleep and Pookie & I actually enjoyed the water (and sun) without anyone clinging to us. Amazing how much I appreciate those brief moments in time!

Claire is having a little procedure tomorrow that requires her to be put to sleep. The whole thing should only last about 15 minutes. They say that there is really very little pain, I'm just hoping they're right! Her frenulum on her tongue is a little short and while she obviously has no problem nursing, it's possible that it could be what has been causing all of my problems with the nursing (mastitis, plugged ducts, etc.). I wish they would've taken care of it earlier so the anesthesia wouldn't have been necessary, but hindsight is 20/20, right?! I think they're supposed to start around 7:30 in the morning, so just pray that we have a good day and that she's not in much pain and that everything goes well. What a thing to do to her on her 5 month birthday, huh?!!

TGIF!

Nothing much to say..I'm just tired of seeing my forehead every time I pull up my blog. We've had a busy week, as always. Claire is battling a cold and her very first fever. Grant pulled the fire alarm at Buca de Beppo last night..just another ordinary week! Did y'all know that we skipped spring and went straight to all out summer?! Why can't we just have some highs in the low 80's? This 90 degree + stuff is killing me already and it's only the beginning of June!! We have no plans for the weekend other than to try and acclimate Claire to the swimming pool. I can't sit in the shade the whole weekend again.

I just ate my first tomato of the summer and they're getting there. It wasn't as good as they will be in a few weeks, but it was still good. I'm obsessed with homegrown tomatoes..homegrown at someone else's home that is. They are my favorite summer side dish! Tomatoes and fruity desserts are one of my favorite parts of summer (you knew there had to be some sugar in there somewhere). How 'bout you? What food means summer to you?

Yes...I changed my blog background. It's not staying this way b/c my brain can't deal with the links being on the left. I'm sure that means something, but I have no idea what. Hopefully I can figure something out to make it more "summar-y" ya know to go with our last name!

The Klutz in Me!

Yes, this is my forehead, which is now glued and steri-stripped together. It could definitely be a lot worse, but I'm just embarrassed that I've even done this! Last night, Grant kept throwing his crayons on the floor. It's this new game he seems to play with all of his toys. He doesn't really play with them, he just throws everything on the floor, usually under or around the kitchen table. I had asked him to pick them up several times and he hadn't done it. I went and laid Claire down for bed and came back out and was going to pick them up myself. Well, I went to pick one up that was right beside the leg of our kitchen table, and apparently I failed to realize that my head was moving directly toward the corner of the table. So, I smacked it pretty hard right on the corner of the table. I fell backward and ended up sitting down on the arm of our loveseat where I then proceeded to pass out twice! I'm so glad that my mom was there. It scared poor Grant to death and it's given me a pretty major headache. The cut wasn't really staying closed very well on its own, so we took other measures this morning to hopefully minimize the scarring. I haven't looked really closely, but it's possible this scar will be right on top of the one from when I burnt myself really badly with the curling iron in say 7th grade...you know, when big bangs were the thing. Grant was supposed to have his pictures made next week and I was going to also get some of the 2 of us, so I guess we'll be rescheduling. Of all things to injure, it had to be right in the middle of my forehead!