AHHHHHHH!!!!!

I just got a call from Jet Blue. Our flight has been cancelled.

We need to be on the boat in Los Angeles by 2:00 tomorrow.

Not good.

Blah, blah, blah. Something about bad weather in the Northeast. Planes can't get here. But what about the planes that can't get there. Send them to LA!

Looking at other flights.... they're all an extra $200. Oh happy day! I didn't want to use that money for anything fun on my vacation!

It only takes 11 hours to drive there. Who knows, maybe we'll hop in the car and start a road trip!

Assessment

McKenzie had her assessment today. The speech test was good for her. They asked her to talk about some pictures and asked her the perfect questions to get her to say the sounds she struggles with. Watching the therapist write down some of her words, it made me realize that there were more sounds than I had been aware of, sounds I had overlooked because I knew her intentions. I felt okay after the speech test.

But, after the behavior test, I was a little bothered. She tested with high levels of hyperactivity, aggression, a low attention span, and a low adjustment tolerance. I knew that these were problems, that's why I had scheduled the tests. But, it hurt to hear them said.

About my child.

I feel.... I don't know. I guess there is some guilt. Wondering what I could do/can do differently.

At the same time, I know she's just a kid. She's three. Kids are hyper, play rough, and don't always follow directions. I feel a little protective, not wanting to go to far in the program. I worry what to do. And the crazy things is, I don't even know what my options are. They'll call in a few weeks with more thorough results and let me know if she even qualifies for the program.

Why is wanting the best thing for your child such a complicated thing?!

We're still here!

My sister and I were talking the other day and she gave me a little grief for not updating my blog. Yes, the very same sister who updates her blogs quarterly. I explained that I had been reading through my past blog entries and realized that nearly all of my posts contain the description of some kind of bodily fluid, bodily function, or a big raving complaint. Not the best kind of reading material, eh? In an effort to expand my posting horizons, I have completely ran out of material! LOL!

There are a few things going on in our house, but none seem quite worthy of an entire post, so how bout a little update?

We are getting things ready to leave on our family cruise this weekend. I've been spending the last few days shopping for new summer clothes for the family, packing hordes of crap we'll probably not even touch, and getting primped. I got my hair cut, eyebrows waxed, and a pedicure (thanks for the gift certificate, Terri!). This will be our first real vacation as a family since... forever. We'll be dragging along 3 large suitcases, a carry on, a diaper bag, a great big stroller and two carseats. It should make for some great entertainment and some frazzled tempers by the time we actually reach check in. And since we have an early flight, we may be taking along a few cases of bed head and drowsy kids. (Hopefully not the tempers to match?) However, I can't describe how excited I am to see McKenzie experience her first plane ride, and all of the fun the boat has to offer.

Tomorrow I am taking McKenzie in for a speech test. And I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. She's made huge advancements lately, and has an amazing vocabulary. However, unless you are versed in the delicate language of Menzie, you can't understand what she is saying. If she needs help I will get it for her, but am I just being a worry wart with my first child? Or am I going to label her forever by enrolling her in a special needs program? I don't want to put her in a program that won't challenge her in other areas either. Right now she can recite her alphabet, her days of the week and can count to 20. I don't want her learning to stagnate. SO, I think we'll just have to have the assessment, see what they recommend, and make a decision from there. Anyone with experience with the Early Learning Center?

Cris and I have stayed good on our challenge to give up soda and sweets. I'm surprised it's gone on this far! Since I was already depriving myself, I decided to overhaul all of my eating habits and I'm finally starting to shed some baby weight! I can put on my pre-pregnancy pants - not that they are pretty yet. But a few more pounds will make me feel a whole lot better! And hopefully a few more after that!

My mom has had a problem with her upper eyelids covering most of her eye, to the point where it blocked a lot of her vision. She decided to have them fixed, and the doctors office suggested that she have them done before our trip because it was such a minor surgery. When she had it done on Tuesday, they couldn't get her numb. They used more numbing solution than usual, and had to continue with the surgery anyway. She said the cauterization was horrible - felt like a shock behind her eyeball. Because of the problems, her entire face is swollen, and can't open her eyes a lot of the time. She's a nice purple color too. Looks like she went a few rounds with Mike Tyson. I feel bad she's not going to be feeling the best on our trip.

In other news, Allison will be 6 months old tomorrow. I can't believe its been half a year! I'll dedicate an entire post to her half birthday... eventually. All I can say is, I can't imagine life without her.

I might update more tomorrow, but I make no promises! See you guys later!

Family Day

We usually try and have some type of "family night" on Tuesdays - Mondays just never seem to work out. This week, we went to Classic Fun Center (the old Classic Skating on 90th) for the first time. And you know what, we loved it! It's pretty inexpensive, and there are all sorts of things to do! We weren't quite ready to tackle skating with McKenzie yet, so we did take a pass on that one. But, we did have a ball on the big inflatable climbers, bouncers and slides. McKenzie was a blur running from one to the other, hardly ever standing still. But, I think Cris had more fun than anyone! I think we are going to have to add this to our list of regular haunts!

My busy little girl and I. Do you see those rosy cheeks! She was working hard!

Cris scooped up Allison and took her for a ride down the slides, too. She loved it!

Alli loved laying back and watching the kids play!

A cute, but slightly blury, shot of McKenzie in one of the tunnels

I don't usually get to see Allison with a bottle, so this was a treat for me. I was surprised to see she holds it herself, and even put herself to sleep. Aww, precious!

Paper and Stickers and Glue! Oh my!

I'm getting ready to go to the scrapbook expo. It still feels really funny saying those words. I always secretly laughed and the crazy ladies who packed up all of their scrapbooking supplies, waited in hours of lines and all sit together in a great big room cutting and gluing pictures. What was the big deal?

My mother and sister in law started going, and came back with reports of how crowded the place was, how crazy people dressed up in matching jammies with their friends and how hectic the whole experience was. "No thank you!" I thought. But, they did bring home some pretty great deals and some really cute products.

After a few years of them hounding me, I finally gave in. I think this will be my fourth or fifth expo. And you know what, I really do like it. I love to scrapbook, so a weekend of that - without children interrupting is blissful. We've come up with a few of our own traditions, and I enjoy spending that time with Ashli and Terri. We've taken tons of fun classes, and a class or two that was pretty pointless. However, I still look forward to every March and September when the expo rolls around.

But, there are a few things that I am sitting her dreading:

• The long admission lines. People start lining up at midnight the day before. What the heck?! Ladies, your pictures will still be ready for cropping when the sun is up!
• The crowd. Whats up with people who suddenly stop in the middle of an aisle and have an in depth conversation. This place is crowded - Move it or I'll be tempted to plow you over! (Ok, I never really would do that, but I can't say I'm not tempted to tackle a few people every year)
• People who are never on time. For the sake of my mother and sister-in-law, I will not name names. LOL! :)
• Loading up and carrying my junk. Do you know how heavy paper is?!
• And by far the very worst: the bathrooms.

Maybe its the insane number of same-sex people crammed into one building. Maybe its the glue fumes? Or maybe it's the Mexican food in the concessions stand. I do not know. But whatever it is, those bathrooms reek! And it gets worse as the weekend wears on. We're talking plug your nose, hold your breath, run in only when you are certain you'll pee your pants if don't go NOW. It's horrible!

Last year, I was pregnant at both expos. It was not pleasant. Smell = puking. Not fun. And this year, I'm still not certain I won't gag. So this year, my only request is, ladies, do you really need to do that in public?

2 Days Sober!

Two days with no sugar and no soda! Can I get a woo-hoo!?

I'm especially proud, because yesterday I went to the movie theater, and remained sober! Do you know how hard it is for me to not have a snack or a Dr. Pepper during a movie? (eek! I sound like a junkie!)

Technically, it's been three days, because I started a day before Cris and I made our little wager. However, according to him, I am unable to count that first day. He's grasping at straws already! Ha! And although I usually try to be a little more sensitive to his pain, I have to admit that I giggled a little when he had to head to the medicine cabinet to help him deal with a painful caffeine headache. Thank goodness I wasn't that addicted! Honey, I'm sorry, but you are TOAST!

Fun at the cabin

This past week, we were able to get a little R&R at the cabin. Malory and Devin went up with me and the girls Friday morning, and Cris met us after work Saturday evening.

I don't usually spend much time at the cabin in the winter (there's SO much snow!) so it was a little different from the summer water fun I'm used to... but we still had so much fun! I took a million pictures I'd love to post, but I narrowed it down to these:

My moms dog, Beans, went with us. McKenzie had a blast taking him for walks, even if it was just on the deck! We did get to play on the swing set a little, but most of the trip was spent indoors.

McKenzie warming her tootsies by the fire. Isn't this what winter is supposed to be?

Alli worked on her sitting up skills, and just about has it down! Quit growing up girlie - you're only 5 months old!

We watched a few movies and cuddled on the couch. Cris and McKenzie dozed off. Too cute!

Aww!

This is McKenzies silhouette in front of a pile of snow that had fallen off of the roof. There was about 2 feet on the ground when we got there, and another foot fell Monday night.

Here's a picture of the storm. It was SO peaceful to sit near the fire with hot cocoa and a book or a cuddle from one of my girls.

Watching my girls enjoy the cabin, brought to mind some of my favorite memories from the cabin. Here's my Thursday Thirteen list:

1. The whole family sitting on the porch, eating cherries and spitting pits
2. Catching skeeters and tadpoles in the pond
3. Watching my dad fly fish on the river, and him letting me reel them in
4. Jessica and I thinking we were cool when were 12 and met some boys there
5. Sharons mighty fall into the pond
6. The worlds best hide and seek games
7. Grandma repeatedly attempting to make fudge, but it never turning out. (She can make fudge, just apparently not at the cabin!)
8. The hummingbirds fighting over the feeder while we watch through the window at breakfast time.
9. Grandma Dona rescuing fallen baby robins by picking them up with a teaspoon, and climbing a ladder to put them back in their nest.
10. My brother, Bob, claiming to have been bitten by a snake when it "jumped up" and bit him
11. The cabin smell.
12. Yahtzee!
13. I had to include a story for number 13: I was there when Grandma and Grandpa were setting the rocks around stream in front of the cabin. I startled a small skunk from the brush, and took off running. Grandma yelled at me, "Push its tail down! PUSH IT DOWN AND IT WONT SPRAY!" I wasn't convinced so I ran to the porch near Grandpa. Grandma took after that skunk with a shovel, trying to push it's tail down. She eventually knocked it into the stream and tried to drown it with her shovel. I remember Grandpa taking a sip of his diet coke and shaking his head while he said, "sometimes I don't know about your grandma..." with a big smile on his face. I think she fought with the skunk for an hour before we lost interest and went inside. I still don't know who won, but I don't remember her smelling like she was sprayed!

The Battle of Wills

Yesterday, I told Cris that I was trying to give up drinking soda. I normally don't drink much of it, but while I was pregnant, I craved it like no other! I think the habit stuck and I had way more than I should. But, I didn't like the feeling of needing a Dr. Pepper. That, and my mom gave me a guilt trip, telling me that women who average one soda a day have a 60% increase for getting diabetes. So, I decided I needed to be done. Cold turkey. AHHH!

I asked Cris if he wanted to give up soda with me, and you should have seen him laugh! He has a bigger addiction to soda than I, and really no desire to stop. After a little fun teasing, he agreed to give up soda, if we could make it into a challenge. However, he said that his addiction was stronger than mine, so I had to give up candy as well. I agreed, as long as he stays away from fast food. To make it interesting, the person who gives in to temptation first must buy the other a prize. He said he wanted hunting equipment, and I told him he could buy me a spa package.

I can't bear the thought of him rubbing his victory in my face, so I am pretty motivated. Sanctuary Day Spa, here I come! :)

Oh, and is it cheating to have a cold Mountain Dew waiting for him when he gets home from work? LOL!

Go Jazz!

I am a little behind on posting, so you'll have to bear with me while I dump a whole bunch of stuff onto my blog at once. Sorry!

2 weeks ago, Cris and I were watching the Jazz game at home. McKenzie was hunkered over her big bowl of "pot kern" (pop corn) watching the game, too. She looked up at Cris and asked if he'd take her to go see the "Boozer game" in the green seats. How could we say no? We tried to explain that Carlos Boozer was injured, and probably wouldn't play, but she still wanted to go so badly.

So, last week we went to watch the Jazz play the Rockets, which was an AWESOME game - even if we did have the worst seats in the house (can you blame us for being cheap and buy the $9 seats in the very top row? We were taking a three year old and weren't sure we'd make it through the entire game) And luckily, Boozer played!

We filled McKenzie full of junk food and soda, because, really, whats a game without all that? And ended up making a few trips to the potty - which was not too easy, considering the location of our seats. On one of the trips, McKenzie smiled at a Jazz employee. He asked her if she was a Jazz fan, and she said "Let's Go Jazz!" He chuckled and asked her if she'd like a Jazz tattoo. She was so polite and kind, I was VERY proud. Apparently he was impressed, too, because he complimented her and loaded her up with all sorts of Jazz gear like a hat and thunder sticks. She was so proud to go and show her daddy!

Thank you, Grandma Terri, for watching Allison. It was such a fun, special trip for us to have some quality time with McKenzie. The only bad thing: every time she sees them on tv she begs to go to another game! We've created a monster! But, daddy couldn't be prouder! :)