2012: Year in Review

We started off the year on a high note, Scotty made partner at his law firm and we'd just found out on Christmas Day, a week before, that we were expecting a sweet baby.  But our excitement was short-lived as I ended up having a miscarriage on January 3rd. We were sad, of course, but I know they are very common with many friends and family having gone through similar situations. And after having gone through it with Rachel almost exactly a year before and then watching her with Anders about 10 months later, I knew we'd be fine.

January is always a tough month for Scotty at work.  And at the end of the month, we went ahead and put our house back on the market thinking it would take a while to sell and knowing that we would eventually need the extra space, hoping it would be sooner rather than later. About 6 weeks later, we had an offer. Yay! It was around this same time that Scotty started having some health issues.

Ongoing headaches, anxiety, sleeplessness, and eventually, tingling extremities were his symptoms. At first we thought it was just the stress of how crazy our first two months of the year had been (I didn't even mention the shut-out LSU rec'd by 'Bama in the Nat'l Championship...it took a while for the sting of that loss to go away...he still doesn't like to talk about it). Throughout the ordeal, Scotty saw an internist, optometrist, ENT, ER doctor, and neurologist. The eventual diagnosis was high blood pressure (which at least one of the docs commented on initially). However, we found out also that he had some nerve damage from overdoing it at the gym as a result of trying to de-stress AND he had undiagnosed carpal tunnel in his wrists which was also exacerbated by certain exercises. So medication, wrist supports, and a change-up of gym routines seemed to help.  Thankfully, as we'd like to keep him around for a while.

In mid-April, we sold our house in Gonzales and moved into a cozy apartment in BR. We were undecided whether or not we wanted to build a house or buy something move-in ready. About a month later, we found out I was pregnant, and the decision to buy a house was made.  In hindsight, after now going through a renovation, I don't know that I'd ever want to build a house given all the decisions you have to make about everything, constant phone calls, running over to the house, etc. -- granted, Scotty took the brunt of the phone calls and impromptu trips to the house to meet with whomever needed to be met with.

Our summer was spent looking at houses, swimming in the pool at the apartment, looking at more houses, and coming to the realization that the 4 BR/3 BA newer house with a decent-sized yard in a good neighborhood was not available in our budget. So we expanded our horizons and found a house about 25-years old that desperately needed updating but had an awesome backyard, was in a great location, and had the 4 bedrooms we needed. You know what they say -- location, location, location!  The sellers finally accepted our 3rd offer.  Talk about frustrating; although our realtor was great and we got to become really good friends with her. We later found out why it took so long for the sellers to accept our offer...it's because there were 6 sellers -- 3 direct heirs and 3 descendants of the 4th heir. Eek. After we closed on the house (mid-September), we quickly got started with pulling down wallpaper, pulling up the carpet (white with stains, navy, and green-- gag), and finalizing our updates with the contractor. And although it took several weeks longer than we were told it would, they finally finished, and we are so happy with the results. We updated everything except the kitchen, which we anticipate taking place in a year or so.  Living through the final phase of renovations...yay...looking forward to that.

Throughout the year, we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, had health scares with other family members, get togethers with friends and family, and went on a couple of trips to the beach. We worked hard so we could play hard. And we loved watching David Scott play hard and grow, turning from a toddler into a little boy. In the summertime, we concentrated on potty-training and after a few weeks, it was done -- really less than that as I'd kept him in pull-ups at night for a while just being cautious (and not wanting to change the sheets in the middle of the night).  He's learned so much over the course of this last year (colors, numbers, ABCs, words, songs, talking in complete sentences, and greatly improved on his swimming skills which turned out to be very helpful when he fell in the pool a few weeks ago).  He is even getting ready to be moved up to the pre-school class next week. Our sweet boy is also looking forward to meeting his little brother in the next week or so as are we.

2012 was an overall good year, but I am ready for what the New Year will bring. I know 2013 will be an adjustment for our family. But hopefully we won't have any medical mysteries or apartment life to contend with. And life with two little boys can begin...

Christmas 2012...

Christmas 2012 has come and gone but I wanted to document it as this year's celebrations were a first for us. We got to spend the holiday at home...as in our home that's finally refinished (for the time being, anyway). And we got to spend it with both sides of our family.

Since I was (and still am for that matter) so pregnant -- too pregnant to travel to North LA -- we were able to host each of our families here at home, although at separate times. The Anders/Randall/McGehees all made the trek down two weekends before Christmas...about a week and a half before the actual holiday. And we had Mamaw, Debbie, and Lee come down Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. I'm a big fan of tradition so I was sad that we weren't able to do our annual Christmas Eve trip to Sue Sue's followed by Christmas Eve night with the rest of the Wrights. However, it was really nice not to spend any time in the car burning rubber up and down I-20 and Hwy. 15. And it definitely made the holiday last longer since everything wasn't crammed into two or three days. We were able to start/continue some new and old traditions, though -- building a gingerbread house (new), making Christmas cookies with Mamaw and Mimi (continued), and Christmas Day pancake breakfast (continued). And for each celebration we did have some traditional holiday fare mixed with some new stuff...luckily, both sides of the family like to eat so there was no lack of food at all.  We are so grateful to our families for being flexible with their plans and being able to accomodate us/me.

Here are a few pics from each get together:

Cousins (in coordinating outfits)!

Making Christmas cookies

Christmas with a 3- year old was lots of fun. Anders was cute too (as always), but with him only being a year old, didn't really understand what was going on. Maybe he was slightly overwhelmed with everything, but DS was very particular in opening his presents and inspected each one carefully which I thought was so sweet. He loved his train table but has spent hours and hours working and re-working the puzzles Santa brought. I suppose Santa could've spent a lot less money had he just brought this kid a ton of puzzles. Speaking of Santa, DS was really into Santa this year and also Clarke, our elf. Clarke even stayed in DS' room a few nights to make sure he slept in his bed all night (he did).

Santa came!

And look at my trains!!!

And in between the family get togethers, we had David Scott's Christmas party at daycare:

As for me, as I type this post, I am almost 38 weeks, so Baby Drew is now considered to be full-term in case he makes an earlier-than-planned debut. I can't wait to meet this big boy with his head full of hair. As of my 35-week visit, this guy was weighing approx 6#, 10 oz so we'll see how big he really is whenever he arrives. I've felt for a couple of months that he was big. And I've also been having acid reflux really bad at night. So as confirmed by the sonographer, he has lots of hair -- which better turn out to be true since Tums is my new bff. And now, we're just waiting...

Need More Time...

Between trying to finish getting the house set up, baby room ready, Christmas shopping done, working full-time, general life stuff, I have almost reached my limit. I've come to the conclusion many times, especially recently, that there just isn't enough time for me to get to everything that needs my attention and unfortunately for all three of you who read my blog, it has been the casualty of this prioritization. Oh well. The important/big stuff that's happened recently is...
- We spent Thanksgiving in North LA. Really it was a glorified long weekend since we didn't get up there til noon on Thursday and we left Saturday morning. That was our last trip up before the arrival of Baby Drew.
- We are having a couple of Christmas get-togethers with our families this weekend and on Christmas. My family is here for this weekend; Scotty's is coming for Christmas Eve. It will be so nice to spend a major holiday in our home although I know we will all miss the traditions we've had for our whole lives. Some of them, though, will be continued this year -- the Christmas Day pancake breakfast that has been enjoyed by Scotty's family for decades for one. And if I can come up with some kind of tradition our own little family can have, perhaps we'll incorporate that as well. While this may be our first Christmas at our home, it probably won't be our last and when our kids are older, I want them to remember the different traditions we have and get all warm and fuzzy inside too.
- Since so much of our stuff that was in storage got ruined -- just by being in storage at the apartment, I've had to buy so much new baby stuff -- travel system and carseat, bouncy seat/swing, exersaucer (I'll have to get one), and who knows what else I have yet to discover is ruined or missing. I'm still so p-o'd (as my dad would have said) at all the issues living in that apartment caused. However, the one thing I am so glad we got to experience while living there was the frequent swimming. DS learned so much just from us playing with him in the water and teaching him how to move his arms and kick his feet. And that knowledge came in handy this past weekend when our sweet boy fell into the pool at our house. He wasn't paying attention to what was going on and ran into a table which threw him off balance and into the pool. And amazingly, he did not sink to the bottom and in my opinion did a pretty good job of keeping his head above water while kicking his feet and moving his arms. Of course, Scotty was a split second behind him in going into the pool after his boy. We remained calm, but David Scott was cold and "soaking wet" and was upset that he'd gotten the sticker on his shirt wet. The only casualty of the day was Scotty's phone (Thank you, Lord!), so that wasn't a big deal.

"Batman" watching Batman (above) and the official Santa pic for 2012 (below).

David Scott turns 3...

How is it possible that my tiny 21.5-inch, 6 pound, 6.5 oz baby boy is now a 34-inches tall, 32-pound 3-year old boy?!? This kid knows his ABCs, can even identify several of the letters (funny enough, he knows "DSR" is "his" name), can count almost to 20, knows all of his colors, can identify so many animals, and can talk up a storm. He asks situation-appropriate questions and makes applicable comments. But we've also had a few cringe-worthy comments/situations such as the time Scotty took him to the bathroom while we were at a restaurant and he commented to the guy in a nearby urinal, "I've got a penis!" Whoops...oh well, he spoke the truth.

We celebrated his birthday with friends and family last weekend at a local jumping place. We figured with all the house renovations, moving, my being 7-months pregnant, etc., that we were going to take the easy route this year. He didn't seem to mind as he had a great time. The birthday celebration continued this week with cupcakes at school on Friday.

Birthday party with friends and family

Birthday Breakfast of Champions (all while wearing his fashionable helmet)

And today, on his actual birthday, we went to NO to eat beignets and go to the aquarium. DS also requested a salad with tomatoes so we ate a late lunch before heading back home. We had a much-needed family day and showered our little boy with fun, food (who cares that we had cupcakes for breakfast, then ate beignets for a snack later -- your birthday only comes once a year and we like to celebrate), and family time. And he also got a little scooter with Spiderman helmet which I'm sure he'll want to play with more once he wakes up from his big day-induced birthday nap.

The aftermath of beignets...

Our sweet boy was so excited to see the sharks!

David Scott,
We are so excited to celebrate your 3rd birthday! I can't believe you are already 3-years old. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with you and in less than two months, you're going to be a big brother. Time has flown by and I would really like for it to slow down, if that's possible. With each stage/year that passes, we have embraced what the future brings. We can't wait to see the continued development of your sweet, spunky, precocious personality. We know you will accomplish great things in life and are so honored to call you our son. Daddy and I love you so very much, my sweet boy.

Love,
Mama

We're In...Sort Of...

The week before last and corresponding weekend were a whirlwind...for me anyways as I had two big things on the agenda: Moving and Anders' first birthday party. And keep in mind, these two events were taking place about 4 hours apart, driving-wise. And while, I didn't get any pics of Moving Day 2012 2.0, I did get a couple of cute shots of my favorite nephew on his big day. Luckily for us, DS stayed in North LA all weekend with Gran and Papa first then with Mimi so he was able to have a good time and not be in the way during the moving process.

Scotty was so good to let me skip out on the major part of Saturday (it's not like I could do much anyway besides "supervise" or tell people what to do (both of which I excel in). But he also knew that I would be back on Sunday to start unpacking what we could. for the last week (and the better part of this one), we have been/will be living in only part of the new house as they are still finishing up the living room and our master bedroom/bathroom. Good times. We have stuff everywhere and there are a ton of boxes that still need to be unpacked but can't be due to the fact that those rooms can't be set up yet. For instance, our "bed" (box springs and mattress on the floor) are set up in what will be Drew's room. And our guest room is currently set up to be the "living room" with a leather chair, tv, and the recently added beanbag for added seating. Our old couch went home with Lee and once they finish the living room, we can have the new sectional delivered (we've had to reschedule it twice already...not happy). But what choice do we have-- so we're trying to make the best of it. Or at least we were until this weekend when David Scott caught a nasty stomach virus that we're still dealing with. We'll just leave it described as him having fever, reverting back to diapers, multiple loads of laundry, and not eating much (but drinking liquids pretty good). Fun times. After a particularly explosive incident, DS proclaimed, "There's poopoo everywhere!" And he wasn't lying. Dr. K said it was going around and to continue doing what we've been doing. But it looks like we'll be staying home tomorrow too due to his fever not having gone away. I'm hoping we are on the mend and that Scotty (and especially myself) manage to avoid contracting this virus. It is not fun.

                                                      Here's Anders at his first birthday:

A Quick Life Update...

We are in a frenzy of packing up the apartment, unpacking (what we can) at the new house, waiting on the new house to be finished being renovated, raising a rambunctious boy, and growing another one. Also, don't forget our jobs with both of us having to travel a little. Oh, and also planning David Scott's third birthday party. The phrase "slightly busy" is a gross understatement right now.

I go back to the doctor on Wednesday when I'll have my glucose test. Joy. I'm currently enjoying a rare treat -- a chocolate milkshake -- knowing there's a possibility I won't be able to have anything like this for the foreseeable future if I am diagnosed with gestational diabetes... again. I hope that we'll get to have another ultrasound soon because I feel like Baby Drew is bigger than his big brother was at this point. I feel like I could spontaneously combust most of the time. But he is just as active as David Scott, although it took him a few weeks to get that way.

First LSU Game...

First off, I'm going to pat myself on the back not only for posting twice in a week -- much less one weekend -- but I'm actually pretty timely with my topics instead of playing catch-up. Go me! So yes, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, we took David Scott to his first LSU game last night. But first, we had to make a quick trip by the Urgent Care to have his foot looked at. Rewind to last Thursday. I noticed our boy had an ant bite and a few mosquito bites on his foot/ankle. The area was red and swollen and warmer than the rest of him, but this was not his first time to have a sensitivity to bug bites; Scotty apparently had similar issues as a kid. I couldn't find the topical Benadryl so I just rubbed some cortizone on it and we went on about our day. Friday, the area looked normal so we really didn't do anything to it. However, as were getting dressed for the game yesterday afternoon, we noticed his "bite-foot" was bruised looking (purpley-red) and said it hurt when Scotty pressed on it (he had not complained about it at all during the day). So, not knowing what was wrong, we made a pit stop by an Urgent Care place by the apt pre-game. Ugh. Those places are cesspools of germs and I just hope and pray that we don't get whatever ailed a couple of the poor, puking kids had who were waiting along with us. I tried not to breathe as much as possible.

Anyway, we finally got called back to our own room where we waited some more. But then the doctor came in and kind of anti-climatically said that he's just had a severe allergic reaction to the bug bites and the blood from the earlier swelling was now settling further down in his foot as pulled by gravity. Yay! So off to the game we went.

As with the Saints game, there were multiple bathroom trips throughout the first half, but distractions with popcorn, ice/water, the band, Mike, and cheering meant that we got to stay until almost the end of the third quarter. DS had a good time once again. This time, there was no mid-game nap, nor did he fall asleep on the way home, and actually didn't go to sleep til almost 10:30. Scotty delusionally asked if the boy might sleep late this morning. I laughed at him. Sure enough, about 5:45 this morning, I hear, "Mama! I'm want to come in your room!" So we let him come on in and all slept a few more glorious hours.

We have all been enjoying the slightly cooler temps and are looking forward to fall.

Football Games...

Scotty and I took David Scott to his first Saints game last weekend. He enjoyed it. And we tried to. But it's kind of hard when you're when your toddler has to go to the bathroom (3 times before the first half was even over), and the three and a half of us were sharing our two seats. Good times. David Scott went to sleep right after halftime and slept until halfway through the 4th quarter. At that point, we became fair-weather-fans, noting that the Saints were not going to win, out kid was asleep, and we wanted to avoid the mass of people who would be leaving at the end of the game. So we left. And leaving the Superdome and NO was...not bad. Our boy enjoyed himself (while he was awake) and that's all that matters. However, I probably will not make it to another game this season. After walking all the way across LSU's campus at 5 months pregnant in the hot sun the previous day, and then going to the Saints game on Sunday, this Mama was beat. I'm looking forward to watching games from the comfort of our home (we close on Monday!!!), in my jammies, for most of the season. But not today. Today/tonight, we are taking DS to his first LSU football game. It should be...interesting...but fun!

It's a...

B-O-Y!!!  We are so excited that David Scott is getting a little brother!  Baby Boy will be here before we know it. And yes, we have a name -- Andrew Wright Rainwater. His name is inspired by both My family and Scotty's. Andrew comes from Anders - and since my nephew is Anders, well, we're not trying to recycle anything.  Wright is the last name of Scotty's grandparents, more affectionately known as Mamaw and Papaw.  And although Papaw passed away just before DS turned one, I know that he would be thrilled that another part of his name lives on in his second-born great-grandchild. It has yet to be determined if we will call him Andrew (my choice) or Drew (his Daddy's preference). I guess we'll just wait to see if he looks more like an Andrew or a Drew once he arrives.

We got several good ultrasound pics including the money-shot confirming his gender. Here's another pic of the baby -- thumb-sucking and all:

Crazy...

Are we the only ones crazy enough to be heading to the beach today (for a week) despite the approaching tropical storm/hurricane?

Yes? Ok, just checking.

A Few DS-isms...

While eating at Brown's Landing a couple weeks ago, our precocious boy points to my salad (lettuce, ranch, and bacon bits) and says, "I want some of that dog food." What? "These bacon bits?" I say. "No, that dog food on your salad."

Ahhh -- I love my child. He wanted to talk to the baby, so he did for a minute. Then he acted like he was going to say or do something so sweet and poignant...then he proceeded to blow (zerberts) on my belly. This went on for a for a couple of minutes. Then he said, "Bye, baby. You be good."

And just now as he and Scotty were wrestling, David Scott told Scotty, "You hurt my feelings!" Again, what? "Where are your feelings?" Scotty asked. "They right here," DS replied to his daddy as he pointed to his head.

David Scott has a habit of roaring when he's trying to either express frustration as in "Stop attacking my dinosaur with your dinosaur!" and sometimes he'll do it randomly as we're going through the grocery store. One of his favorite movies is African Cats (he calls this movie King Lions); Kali is one of the main characters and king of the lion pride. Scotty randomly decided one day to roar at David Scott. He must not have liked this too much as he told his dad, "Be nice to me!"

Needless to say, life with our boy is pretty funny most of the time. He definitely keeps us laughing all the time. On another note, David Scott is officially potty trained. The only reason I still put him in a pull-up at night is b/c I still have a supply we're trying to use up. He was trying to go #2 earlier today and we kept checking on him. He tells us both, "Leave me alone. I'm trying to poopoo!"

And on a second note, we did not find out what Baby Rain is last week. Scotty had to go out of town unexpectedly (a whole other post) and we didn't want to find out without him being there. Trying to reschedule seems like a waste of money as the next available appointment was a week and a half away from our next dr's visit, so we will just wait. The suspense continues...

P.S. For my own records, I'm editing my post to add that Scotty was able to feel this baby kick a few minutes ago. :)

16 Weeks...

I am 16 weeks (17 weeks this Wednesday!) pregnant with Baby Rain. I went to the doctor last week for a regularly-scheduled appointment. I only gained a pound the whole first trimester (woohoo!). We got to hear Baby Rain's heartbeat -- 166! When I was pregnant with David Scott, at this point, his heartbeat was 165. I've already started to feel the baby move some over the last week and that, combined with the heart rate leads me to believe that we've got another rambunctious one on our hands! We'll go this Wednesday to find out if we're having a prince or a princess! We are SO excited to find out!! At first, I thought this one might be a girl for two reasons -- the hormones/hormonal acne and the month of constant hunger; neither of which was experienced the first go-round. Both symptoms have subsided for the most part and I feel pretty much like I did with DS...but more tired (!), so now I'm starting to waver. All of our family thinks it's a boy -- and DS will say he's either having a brother or it's a boy when you ask him, although most of the time if he's referring to it, David Scott says "my baby." Cutest thing ever.

If only finding a house was as easy as my early pregnancies have been...

And that is my shirt pulled up to expose my tank top with "bump."  :)

Yep...

So...I suppose my last post entitled "Not Much Here" wasn't the best blog title as we've actually had a good bit going on. David Scott is going to be a big brother mid-January! We're so excited and can't wait to find out what Baby Rain is!! So yes, the goal is to be moved out of this cozy apartment so that it doesn't become even more cozy with a newborn...although living in a 2-bedroom apartment with 2 kids sounds like SO much fun (insert eye roll here). Fingers crossed that we're out by the end of October when our lease is up.

Anyhoo, regarding Baby Rain, I've been feeling ok lately, although I seem to have had a 24-hour stomach virus earlier in the week. I think it was just coincidental and not related to being pregnant. Except I was reminded that if that's what morning sickness is like, God knew what He was doing by skipping over me each time I've been pregnant. Yes, my friends, you can dislike me if you've had this unfortunate side effect of pregnancy. I've been pretty tired off and on up to this point. I blame part of that on chasing after a busy 2-and-a-half year old boy. And other than going through about a month of what felt like constant starvation, my appetite leveled out and I've finished out my first trimester with only 2 lbs added weight. So far, so good, so we're praying for a similar pregnancy/birth to what we had with DS, since we had a great and easy experience the first go-round.

Not Much Here...

We're still working on potty training David Scott. In fact, he's gone several days without accidents at school. He's actually wearing underwear during the day but a diaper at night. This is our second real try at wearing underwear. The first was a few weeks back and it was a less than stellar experience. But his teacher wanted us to try again this week and he's done great. Let's just see how good the next few days go before we claim any kind of victory.

We are still house-hunting. And I never thought I'd say this, but I am so tired of looking at houses. I guess you could say also that we are quickly growing weary of apartment life with one exception -- the pool. We go to the little pool just around the corner from our apartment several times each week. It's nice to have that at our disposal when it's triple digits outside. Yuck.

For Father's Day a couple weeks back, we were able to stay at home. It was nice. We gave Scotty a nice framed pick of DS and an Edwin Watt's gift card and some assorted golf accessories. It was a quiet day spent at home for the most part. Then this past weekend, we were in North LA for Scotty to play in a golf tournament. He and his partner won it (yay!) and we got to visit with everybody as well. Anders is getting so big and even has two teeth coming in. He is such a cutie pie and growing like a weed...just like the rest of us. :)

Conversations...

Now that David Scott is talking in complete sentences, and has been for a couple of months, we have some interesting conversations about things....

On our way to "school" one day this week, DS spots a bird on a red light. "Mama! A bird! Two birds!" he said as another one landed near the first. "I want a bird." I asked him why he wanted a bird. His reply: "So it can sit on my head!"

We usually let DS watch PBS cartoons in the morning as we're getting ready. Usually, he gets to watch "Clifford," "Curious George," and maybe a few minutes of "Cat In the Hat." On weekends, he also gets to watch "Super Why" and "Dinosaur Train" b/c they come on later. Not relevant, but giving a little background for posterity. At any rate, one morning this week, DS yells out, "To the rescue! To the rescue!" I asked him who was coming to the rescue. His response? "Me!"

Once a week or so, we'll go out to eat after going to look at a house. Last night was no exception and we went to a nearby De'Angelo's. We've been having conversations with DS about the differences between babies and big boys with the biggest difference being that babies wear diapers and big boys wear underwear and use the bathroom in the potty all the time. DS got pretty incensed when Scotty said that he wasn't a big boy since he still wore diapers. So David Scott told us, "I a big boy! I get my own pizza!"

Lately, DS has developed an affinity for informing is when he "poots." So one morning on our way to school, he asked me, "You hear me poot, Mama?" I could barely contain my laughter trying not to encourage him. This kid...he's too funny...all boy...and all ours.

Last week, we were heading to Winnsboro for the day for a speaking engagement I had. I hadn't planned on bringing DS but he'd started running fever and I knew he couldn't go to daycare. So off to Sue Sue's he went. As we were driving, corn fields were on both sides of us so I pointed them out to my sweet boy reminding him that he liked corn. He proceeds to tell me, "Squirrels eat corn. Frogs eat bugs." He is too smart for his own good sometimes.

On another note, I can't wait til this guy is having conversations with us:

Isn't Anders just adorable?  He's got the biggest blue eyes and big grin.  My cutie pie nephew!
And for the record, we had our first voluntary, unprompted Code Brown in the potty earlier. I guess the boy just wants a little privacy. Don't we all...

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.