Thanksgiving!!

Texas came to Georgia for Turkey Day 2010!!

Carter and Austin found a familiar sight at the Fernbank Museum

Here they are running through a rain simulator.....pretty cool!

Carter (in Aggie paraphernalia) in front of a GIANT dinosaur!!

Ansley is explaining how to make a screwdriver work!!

Carter is taking Ansley for a ride in her Jeep!! At first Carter wanted nothing to do with this Jeep because it was for "girls" ... but once he saw how much fun they were having in it, he decided to join in!!

We got to watch the Longhorns play the Aggies; it was a good game, and I am glad the Longhorns did not get beat too bad!!

It was great to have Uncle Scott, Aunt Natalie and Cousin Carter here for a long visit; it was their first time to come to Georgia!! We had a blast and can't wait to see everyone for Christmas!!

Caught!

Somebody caught us outside being silly!!

Been a while!

Well, it has been a while, and I am sorry for that; we have been a little busy!!

This is from Austin's school. While his singing is not the best, he is quite proud to belt it out. His teacher sent this mainly because he built himself this little podium and then put a block behind it and found a microphone to get his best ABC song out there for all to hear :)

We had our follow up visit to the pediatric urologist, and ...... Ansley is fixed!!! Her urinary tract reflux has stopped due to the urethral reimplementation, and now her urine stays in her bladder...YIPPEE!!!!! This is a great relief, as she no longer has to have a catheter put in each time she gets a fever. She would only have to do that now if she has a fever over 103.0 and .... she is starting to potty train, so hopefully she would be able to provide a urine sample without the catheter. All in all, it has been a great week!

Of note, mainly to me so I won't forget :) Ansley's left kidney will always be smaller than her right one due to the damage caused by the reflux, but it should not have an impact on her life. However, her children have a 60% chance of having the same condition, so we will have to remind her of this many, many, many decades down the road .... tee hee :)

We also celebrated Eric's birthday and had an awesome bar-b-que dinner to help remind us of Texas. He was in training all week, so he did not get to go fishing or hunting for his big day, but he may in the coming weeks.

I had a conference presentation last weekend in Savannah, and Eric's parents agreed to take both kids for the weekend, so Eric and I got to go and have a relaxing weekend. The weather was great and on our way home we stopped in Juliett, GA and ate at the Whistle Stop Cafe, where Fried Green Tomatoes the movie is based and we had some FGT, they were awesome!!

So again, all in all, we are great here and are ready to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holidays with family.....more to come soon.

Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Ansley, our puppy dog and Mrs. WeeWee (Wendy), our next door neighbor

Our street pre-hayride.......Eric made us a hayride in his trailer and took us to the party and then took all of the kids in the neighborhood for a ride.........or for 7 rides of about 10-15 kids each time!! What a trooper!!

Austin & Ansley before we went.........he was a red Power Ranger and she a dog..........note it is the same costume he wore when he was 1.5 years old, and she in 2.5 years old :)

Here is Austin at his school's Halloween parade.........he is the only one with the orange hat....

Here he comes in the "parade" through school.

We had a great day; hope you all did too!!

Lotion

So Eric took Ansley to the grocery store today and an "older" lady (70 ish) says to Ansley that she likes her makeup! Well, of course Ansley was not wearing make up, and Eric did not want someone to think that he would let his 2 year old wear make up, so he gently said to her that An was not wearing make up. The woman said she could not believe how pretty her lip color was, and how it was so amazing that her lip color was so naturally beautiful....Ansley piped in and said "lotion" and smiled really big! Seems the kid already knows a thing or two about getting pretty!!

Hair Color

So we were driving home tonight from dinner at Grandma & Grandpa B.'s house and I asked Austin if he was excited that it was a school day tomorrow, and he said yes! I told him I had to work tomorrow, so I had a school day too. He said that meant that the orange haired people in the family had school and the brown haired people had a stay home day. He then said, "well Ansley has brown hair, and Daddy has black hair, with a little grey."

I laughed until it hurt!! Why??? Because Eric only has 3 grey hairs, but somehow Austin has paid enough attention that he knows they are there and was quick to point them out......Eric has a birthday coming up soon......maybe he needs some male hair color!!! hahahaha!!

Too much TV

So I was cleaning the floor tonight and unable/unwilling to get up and get AC1 & 2 something from a shelf, so Ans decides to push a chair over to where the shelf was and climb on the chair (mom of the year here I know....she already has broken one finger climbing on the same chairs)....and she cannot reach whatever it was she was going for.....so Austin climbed up on the chair, and then up onto the desk and turns to Ansley and says "don't try this at home."

Oh my gosh!!!! Did he really say what I think he just said!!!

Me: Austin we are at home
AC1: I know mom, but Ansley is too little to do this
Me: Where did you hear that phrase, "don't try this at home?"
AC1: That dirty show (Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe)......

Note to self: turn off TV!!!!

Ultimate Playdate

Our school district is off this week.......makes no sense to us, but we are making the best of it around here......our local park had an Ultimate Playdate for the kids. Eric took our kids with several of the neighbor kids and parents while I worked :(

Here Austin is bogeying with Saxton, Kylie & Logan

Here Ansley is shaking her groove thing with Jordan and Madison and Wendy

More shaking and grooving....

Somehow earlier in the day Eric fed six kids their lunch.........pretty impressive. But more impressive was the fact that no one got into trouble :)

Beach!!

Sand dollars ............

and waves can mean only one thing..........

We made one more trip to the beach to squeeze in the last bit of summer!!

Eric & Ansley inspecting their "loot"

time to make a river, as sand castles were out in this type of sand.............

We went down to Jekyll Island off of the Georgia coast and had a blast playing in the water.

These rocks behind An serve as a barrier for erosion.....at high tide these rocks are all that you see as the waves are crashing over them and there is not any "beach" to play on; at least that was the case for the part of the island where we were staying and where we would go to play.

This was a picture of the marshland just as we crossed the bridge onto the island

A really cool bridge to get on/off the island too.......goodbye summer, it has been fun.........see ya again soon!!

My brain

Conversation between Mom & Austin tonight:

Austin: Mom, we learned about lying today at school and I was thinking in my brain, that we probably don't lie at our house, so I thought in my brain, I won't lie at Mom & Dad's house. So I think my Mom & Dad would not want me to lie at their house.

Mom: So does that mean you would lie at someone else's house

Austin: (thinking....looking at Mom.....)no, I don't think so because I don't think their Mom & Dad would let them lie either.

Mom: Okay, I don't want you to lie at all.

Happy Grandparents' Day!!

Today, Ansley was getting ready to talk to all of her grandparents, and decided to let Charlie have a try at talking to her relatives...she sat down beside him with my cell phone in hand, and lifted up the flap of his ear (he's a lab) and put the phone under the flap and had a pretend conversation with "dandad"....I laughed until it hurt!!

Happy Grandparents' Day!!!

Parade!!

There was a parade in our neighborhood this morning so Eric took the kids with one of our neighbors....great fun was had by all and they brought home a back pack full of candy!!! I truly have not seen so much candy since Halloween!!

This is just a random picture of the parade....

Here is Ansley going for the candy!

Ansley & Austin are coming back with their loot!

Eric took pictures of them before they left....in case they got lost :(

Austin looking inquisitive ....

To whom?

On our drive to school this morning I said to Austin that I needed to make a brief detour to mail some cards....
AC: To whom?
LT: What did you say?
AC: To whom are you mailing the cards?
LT: I guess you are paying attention when I correct your grammar ....

enjoy your Friday!!

Labor Day

We spent three days outside in our front and back yards during the Labor Day weekend working on our yard and all of our neighbors...we should get cul-de-sac of the month!! It all culminated with smores in our backyard on Monday night....

Ansley LOVED them!!

Austin and some of the neighborhood girls roasting the marshmallows

Ansley explaining to the camera that it was completely appropriate to eat with your fingers :)

Hope you all had a happy Labor Day too!!

Antagonizing

So Austin was laying on the couch the other day reading a book and An walked over to him and started trying to read the book too and Austin deadpanned said to her "Anzy will you please stop antagonizing me." I died laughing....seems those words of the day from Grandad have a lasting impact ;)

Camping

Austin, Eric and Eric's dad, Barry, went fishing and camping the weekend after Ansley's surgery so that she would have some peace and quiet and be able to recuperate a little easier than having a 4 year old around....they went to Carter's Lake, GA and the entire time Austin kept saying "I sure do like Carter's Lake" implying that it was his cousin Carter's lake and Carter had loaned it to them for the weekend!! Very cute!!

This is a shot of what they looked out at from their camp site on the lake

This is a shot of Austin going up a water fall....Hook'em Horns hat and all!!

nap time....looks comfy

another shot of the lake........they said it was beautiful

AC1 enjoying the water and spending time with his dad and grandpa. They had fun and AC2 got some good sleep!!

Ureteral Reimplantation

It's done; we are home from the hospital, and all went well. Ansley had her ureter reimplanted into a new spot in her bladder. She is on restricted activities for 2 weeks and then will go back in a few weeks for follow up tests to assess the surgery's success. But for now, she seems fine, she is wetting diapers as she should be and she seems pretty much the same old Ansley.

Here she is after getting her "giggly juice" before she went into surgery; the nurses were great and everything they did to Ansley they did to her baby doll first so that things were not so scary

she really did look drunk in real life too! She just kind of hung out in Eric's lap and talked more gibberish than normal!!

I did not take a lot of pictures as I mainly held her all day and night; but here are a few...

hanging out coloring - her eyes were pretty red and irritated on the skin all around her eyes as they taped her eyes closed during the surgery. She had "caudal anesthesia" so her muscle control was a little out of whack and they wanted to ensure her eyes were safe during the surgery. So her eyes were really the worst looking part yesterday.

a close up of her IV; just remember this is my digital baby book.

her room; Pooh in the background helped out too during the rough parts. We were confined to our room yesterday since she had to be hooked up to a number of machines; IV, blood oxygen monitor, etc. She had trouble sleeping, so she and I both slept in her bed, it was a little uncomfortable, but worth it so that she was not so restless. She would wake up periodically and say, "close your eyes Mommy" "go to sleep Mommy"

she was drawing a picture for Austin for good measure ;)

We made it through, and are thankful for the skilled doctors, nurses, etc. that helped us!!

I will update more later.

Brakes!!

I have decided to marry Eric ;) I have had squeaky brakes (really squeaky) for several weeks/months now, and they were starting to drive me crazy and were a bit embarrassing in the "kiss & ride" lane at Austin's school..........so, my dear husband replaced my brake pads tonight, and taught me how to do it too!! I was completely impressed!!!

Furthermore, he did not utter one cuss word and it only took an hour!!! I think I should marry this man!!

Thanks dear!!!

No liky big bed...

So tonight after we put Ansley down for bed, she showed up down stairs a few minutes later saying "no liky big bed" "no liky big bed" ... so I picked up the somewhat sobbing child and carried her back upstairs to her room. See, while Nanny & Grandad were here An went to her big bed instead of her crib, so we took it down and are planning to sell it, so there is no going back!!

But I did find it intriguing that after several weeks of no problems, all of a sudden she didn't like her big girl bed....so as she and I were talking, in came Charlie to her room, and then into her bed!! Seems she does not like her big girl bed because Charlie felt it was his duty to sleep with her. So when he jumped in, Ansley again said "no liky big bed" and I asked if it was because Charlie jumped in with her and she said "jes" (yes). So problem solved, and we are now back to "liky big bed."

You all sleep tight in your big beds too!!

OMG a month off!!

Where have we been? Busy!!

Let's recap....but first....today was Austin's first day of pre-K!!

All dressed & ready to go...

Has his backpack all packed.....plus his frog for nap time

Having second thoughts about leaving....

And then there is the parting shot.....Austin walking out the front door and Ansley shocked to be staying home ... such a big boy!!


So what has been going on since we last spoke.....
Granddad & Nanny came to visit us for a few days
Ansley went for her annual urinary tract study/tests
Ansley's Urologist has determined that her urinary tract is not getting any better on it's own, so we have scheduled her for surgery on 8/24. She will be in over night but this should fix the problem for good!

That is all the news that is fit to print....stay tuned, I hope to get some video of Ansley talking on the phone up here later today ;)

Ansley's 2 year old check up

We grew these in our back yard!!

So Ansley went today for her 2 year old checkup (yes it was a month & a half ago) and she "looked good." She is growing and developing as scheduled and we are set to go back to the urologist in a few weeks for her VCUG and Renal Scan. She will have to be put to sleep for the Renal Scan as the pictures take about an hour and she has to lie totally still.

So anywho, her stats:

Height: 33 inches, so she should be about 66 inches when she is full grown (so the wives tale goes) which makes her taller than Grandma B, Grandmother T. and her own mommy!!

Weight: 23 lbs - which puts her back on the positive side of the percentage mark; she previously has been off the chart in a skinny kind of way

Head circumference: 49 cm - which is 82% so, she has a HUGE head!! Thanks to her daddy & big brother!!

BMI: 15.2 which is 20% which is way better than Austin's!!

and her iron levels were good, so she does not have to take iron like her brother!!

So all in all, a good visit; only one shot and a foot prick to check her iron.............we will give you the scoop on her other tests when we know something.

Happy 4th of July!!

4 year old check

Austin had to go to the doctor yesterday for his 4 year old check, and I told him, "oh Austin there is nothing to worry about, they are just going to say, 'Yep, he looks like a 4 year old.'" I was SO painfully wrong!! He got 3 shots and had to give a blood sample.....ooopps!! He was a trooper!! Seems his iron is low so he got put on an iron supplement and we go back in 1 month to see how his levels are.......otherwise here are his stats:
Height: 42 inches
Weight: 40 lbs....according to Grandad T. that is a pound an inch!!
His BMI is 76% so we have to keep a look out on this as he is a big boy and anything over 90% is considered overweight!! We are not too concerned as he is incredibly active, but we have to cut back on things like hot dogs for dinner more than once a week....obviously a good thing!!


So later on last night, he wanted to show his "concerned face" after he got his shots and finger pricked!

But then he and Ansley just played in her room for a while...........they are doing this more and more and it is really great!!

Austin got a hair cut too (free for his birthday!! I am SO cheap) and so he was happy about that too!! Have a good week!!

My Clone

He crawled in bed this morning with me and fell asleep too....so much for him being an effective alarm clock ... kind of scary how much we look alike