Motherhood - 2012...

This past Mother's Day, we were in North LA for Anders' christening. So my day wasn't filled with lounging around with someone waiting on me hand and foot, relieving me of my motherly duties. My weekend/day was spent in the trenches of motherhood. Getting ready for church, having to take you out of church, fixing food, making you eat, changing diapers and going to potty, playing, disciplining, pouring juice, bathing, and not getting sleep b/c you toss and turn and kick in your sleep.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. Being a mom is not easy -- in fact, it's harder than my paying job. Sure, there are days that are easier than others, but most of the time, at this age anyway, the days are harder b/c I feel like all we do is redirect, tell you NOT to do something, tell you TO do something, give you ultimatums/bargain with you about eating supper, it's just endless at times.

But then there are other times where you give your Daddy a kiss, or tell us you love us and that bit of goodness way overshadows the earlier frustrations. Or you'll say please or thank you without being prompted and it reinforces for us that we are doing the right things in trying to teach you manners.

Being a good mother is the greatest responsibility I'll ever have. And while I know I have and will continue to make mistakes in my mothering endeavors, I know that as long as I do my best (most of the time -- I did let you have a cookie with breakfast on Friday), I know that the end result will be exactly what it's supposed to be. In the meantime, we'll continue to enjoy the ride.

2.5 years old..

David Scott,
You are two-and-a-half years old! We can't believe how quickly time has flown by. We are still working on potty training -- truth be told, for a while, we really weren't trying too hard. But recently you've started asking to go to the restroom every time we go anywhere (yes, anywhere -- and usually multiple times per outing). We went to the bathroom three times one night that the three of us went out to eat. I think you just like seeing what the bathroom looks like everywhere we go. However, you don't go as consistently at home. Oh well, it's a work in progress.

On other fronts, you have an amazing vocabulary and can carry on conversations, mostly with Daddy and me. Your favorite question is, "What happened?" You also like to say, "I don't want to..." and, "What's that?". Typically you will also try fake crying/whining in conjunction with the "I don't want to..." statement. It's pretty comical except when we want you to do whatever it is you don't want to do, which is most of the time.

Size-wise, you are wearing 24-month/2T clothing, some 3T shirts, and size 6 or 7 shoes. And you're still in size 5 diapers. You weigh 30 pounds and are 34.5 inches tall.

You are starting to identify some letters of the alphabet but have known your ABC song for several months now. You can also count to 10 and you know all your colors. You say that your favorite color is blue. You also tell people you are three and hold up two fingers when someone asks you how old you are; it's pretty cute. You also know your full name and the first names of most of our family members. You love pizza, spaghetti, and your cousin Anders (who you also say is so cute...which he, of course is).

David Scott, you bring so much joy and happiness to our lives and the lives of our family too. You are already hard-headed and determined like your Daddy (although I'm sure Gran and Daddy would also say that you get the hard-headedness from me, too), but you are sensitive and personable too -- a combination of which will take you very far in life, sweet boy. We love you so much!!

Love,
Mama

Whew...!

It's official -- we are no longer homeowners in Gonzales! The deal was sealed on Thursday the 19th at closing. And we are both relieved for the house-selling process to be over. Buying is much more fun than selling, I think. And moving is even less of a party.

However, I knew we had a big light at the end of the tunnel -- a light that was reflecting an immediate result and another that's 6 months (more or less) in the future...the beach...and a new house. And since the new house is farther away, we were all looking forward to the relaxation that only the beach can provide. I should say that we were also celebrating Scotty's 32nd birthday by going to the beach. But let's back up a little.

Packing up to move and the actual move itself were not fun. At all. The silver lining there was that we'd hired movers who were a tremendous help. And although I don't anticipate any additional moves in the next 15-20 years (I hope) once we move to our next house, we will absolutely hire movers anytime something of this magnitude has to be done. Scotty and I spent the better part of the week before packing and sorting and taping and taking what we could to the apartment before Moving Day. And I think the movers appreciated the extra help. Little did they know we weren't trying to help them out but trying to get the job done as quickly as possible since we were being charged by the trip (it took 2), and by the minute (it took about 4.5 hours). Good times. Once the stuff we needed was in the new abode, and the crap we didn't in storage, we began the unpacking process, which we'd been trying to do along the way to make the job easier on ourselves. Two weeks later, we still have a couple of boxes of stuff in our closet, but everything else is put away. So following moving weekend, we had closing day the next week, followed by beach vacation which began mid-way through the following week.

As always, we had a great time in Orange Beach. Mimi (Debbie) and Mamaw (Mamaw) joined us since we were also celebrating Scotty's aforementioned birthday, which they were obviously present for 32 years prior. His actual birthday was the day we left, Wednesday, but it was an extended celebration and the cookie cake and chocolate cake and eating dinner out (or steaks in!) lasted the whole stay. Besides beach time, we went to The Track where DS got to experience his first go-kart ride (he says he loved it, but you couldn't tell from his expression). DS loved the pools. The problem was that the water was quite frigid. The weather was perfect, though, and we had a good breeze most of the time. We also went crab hunting the night we cooked out at the condo. We ended up catching only one crab. But, we also found a neat sea thing which was later determined to be a whelk egg case -- incubator for predatory snail babies. We left it on the beach (I think), b/c it kind of grossed us all out once we knew what it was. And now we're on our way back home...to our cozy apartment...counting down the days til we get to go back to the beach.

PS -- For posterity purposes, I'd started this post on 4/21 hence the date. I finished/published it on 4/29. I've got to figure out a different system for this b/c my pictures and the funky date issue are annoying me. Also, happy 6 months to my sweet nephew, Anders, who had a birthday yesterday.

Catching Up...Again...

** Out of order pics at the end. Thanks, iPhone. **

Well, after a monthlong blogging hiatus -- unintentional for the most part -- we're back! We had several weekends at home and even one in North LA. Additionally, we've had a lot going on during the week. We had a number of doctor's visits for Scotty and his high blood pressure, but I think we finally have everything under control. As it turns out, had he not thrown himself into working out after his initial diagnosis, he probably would not have aggravated his apparent carpal tunnel syndrome or damaged a nerve in his leg -- both of which had symptoms that greatly concerned us as we waited to see the neurologist and had tests run. BUT -- as it turns out, everything was not a big deal and was really coincidental, and all apparently led back to overdoing it in the gym. The lesson: just skip the gym. Or maybe just stretch and do low-impact exercises. Whatever floats your boat.

Additionally...BIG NEWS.….… WE GOT AN OFFER ON OUR HOUSE! Woohoo! We're scheduled to close on April 19th and will move into our temporary abode (an apartment) the weekend before. I'm thoroughly looking forward to having access to a pool daily and I know we're going to have so much fun with DS swimming and being cozy in an apt. It's going to be amazing being so much closer to work. Ah-ma-zing! And then we'll take our time finding the perfect home to grow up in. :)

In other news, DS had lots of fun on our last trip to North LA. I had some work-related meetings that Friday, so he stayed down at Gilbert at Sue Sue's while I took care of business. After I got done, I met Rachel and sweet Ahhhhnders (as DS says) and we went to surprise Sue Sue and pick up my boy.

We visited some and David Scott and I got to experience riding a tractor for the first time. He loved it!

Back at Mom's later that weekend, we rode the 4-wheeler and fed the horses whose land adjoins the back acres.

Good times!

Sickness...Ugh...

Almost two weeks ago, I was home for several days with a sick David Scott. The apparent culprit? A fever virus. Prior to becoming a mother, I'd never even heard of a fever virus. However, it has hit DS twice so far. And poor thing, just about any time he gets sick, even if it's with the slightest cold, we almost always have to start doing breathing treatments due to the inevitable coughing/wheezing. His pediatrician said this is to be expected of him until about age 3, due to him getting RSV when he was about 2 months old. So here we are, doing multiple breathing treatments each day -- you'd think it's the worst form of torture for David Scott, with him just sitting there and breathing. So tough. We've literally had to hold him down several times just to get through it. Not fun. And especially not fun at 1 a.m., for the record. Luckily, Scotty was able to stay home with our patient one afternoon so I could take care of a few work obligations, and I've been able to keep up with my email so I won't be too behind. Finally, that Friday, we were able to resume our normal day with DS going to daycare for the first time that week.

Not much else is going on. We went to North LA the weekend before. DS and I were able to visit with my friend Alicia who is on bedrest and pregnant with twins that Monday while Scotty had work stuff in Shreveport. Our weekend, though, was spent visiting with Gran, Papa, Mimi, Mamaw, and even a quick lunch with Boo and Anders. David Scott l-o-v-e-s Baby Anders. He kept kissing his bald head and just being adorable with his cousin. I hold such hope that these two boys will grow up and be such good friends. I can see them going fishing, swimming, and having so much fun together at Gran and Papa's house.

Then last weekend, we tooled around the house and didn't do much to continue on the path of recovery. An uneventful week this past week lead up to what was supposed to be a busy weekend for us. We had a birthday celebration/Mardi Gras parade for another friend turning 2 on Friday night. DS thoroughly enjoyed himself, and kept saying, "Beads!" Here's our haul:

We were supposed to go back up to North LA this weekend for Stella Grace's 2nd birthday party. But as luck would have it, DS had a little fever during the night and our weather was atrocious -- much too bad for traveling 3 hours away -- and neither got better for too long. It rained all day long and then DS ended up with a high fever (like 103 -- eeck) that afternoon. We were able to get his fever down to 99 within an hour (via Tylenol and a cool, wet washrag), but we really don't know why he gets fever for just a day here and there. Perhaps it's related to his fever virus from a week and a half ago. He's still coughing too, so after a brief reprieve from having to do breathing treatments, we're back doing them
several times a day. We will be going to the doctor if he runs fever again.

And finally, Scotty's been dealing with blood pressure issues. After feeling a sense of uneasiness for several months and a couple of trips to the ENT (we thought it was sinuses), one of his secretaries (a former nurse) suggested he check his bp. Lo and behold, it was sky high. So following a brief trip to the ER, Scotty was able to see his internist later that morning and we got our official diagnosis: high blood pressure. For the time being, he's on meds and is back in the gym several times a week. So we are pretty relieved and look for him to continue to feel better as he has improved greatly over the last two weeks since being on meds and relieving stress in the gym. Of course this means I've started back to the gym too as I can't have my in-shape hubby with a flabby wife. :)

I would also like to add that today marks the 15th anniversary that Scotty asked me to "go with" him. Happy other anniversary to the most thoughtful, hard-working, kind, loving, high blood pressure experiencing baby daddy I have! I am so glad I said yes to you all those years ago.

Edited to Add:  We went to the doctor this morning (Monday) and DS has a double ear infection.  Yipee.

More DS-isms...

Wanting to start 2012 off on a positive note, I wanted to remember some of the funny things David Scott has said recently. Some of these were from before Christmas, but they're still worth documenting.

As DS was jumping from the couch to the ottoman and back, Scotty playfully nudged him onto the couch one time. Ever the one to point things out, our son jumped right up and said, "Not nice, Daddy! Don't. Push. People!"

It may have been that same weekend when we were (all three) in the car heading to town. We stopped for smoothies (or soomies, as DS calls them). On this particular day, I was sharing my smoothie with the little man. I went to take it back and he starts yelling, "Not nice, Mama! Mine! David Scott's soomie! Hear me? Hear me, Mama?"

Recently, I made cupcakes. Like Scotty and me, DS is a fan of these little morsels. As soon as I started talking about making cupcakes, David Scott says, "Cupcakes? Happy to you!" Later on, he grouped two cylindrical blocks together, one small and the other smaller; they looked like a mini-double-decker cake. He came up to me and said, "Happy to you!". He obviously affiliates cakes and cupcakes with birthdays. Smart boy!

Finally, the last time Scotty was taking DS to daycare, DS called Scotty "stupid" at some point. Scotty told DS he was going to ignore him since he was not being nice. David Scott's response was, "Hear me, Daddy? David Scott not mean!"

I said finally, but I just remembered another thing that David Scott keeps saying in the morning. He is up every day while Scotty and I are getting ready for work. Usually, though, I have to call after him to come brush his teeth. The last few mornings, as he is watching cartoons in our bed, he responds with, "I sleeping. Ok?!?"

Christmas 2011...

Christmas 2011 was wonderful.  We spent a lot of time with family and friends and going back and forth between Monroe and Winnsboro.  Scotty and I each took off a few extra days surrounding Christmas so the holiday wouldn't be as rushed as it usually is.  Well, wouldn't you know we were still picking up a few last-minute things on Christmas Eve as is per our usual M.O.  However, we did have some time for a few extras that we haven't normally been able to squeeze in -- dinner with the Mosses, Merry-go-round rides at the mall, bowling with Scotty's family -- or trying to...DS had not napped at all that day and we were dumb to think that this would be a successful outing.  I got to bowl about half a game before ordering fried pickles and settling down with DS for a snack before we ultimately decided it was time to go.  Needless to say, he slept well that night.  I believe that was Christmas Eve Eve.  On Christmas Eve, we went down to Gilbert to spend a few hours with the Sproles clan as we've been doing since we were kids.  That night, we were back in Monroe for the annual Wright Christmas Eve Dinner which was held at Deb's house.  Sunday morning, Christmas Day, we woke up to see that Santa had come -- and left David Scott way too much, I might add.  We ate the traditional pancake breakfast at Mamaw's before heading back to Winnsboro for Christmas Day Dinner.  As usual, the food throughout the holiday was great -- always a highlight of any holiday for this girl.  Below are a few pictures to commemorate Christmas 2011:

We are very much looking forward to what 2012 has in store for us and our family.  2011 has been a great year for us all.  We've been blessed beyond measure and we're happy to end the year on a high note.