Cranky, camping copyrights!!

Alan had another cranky day today. He and I were home alone this morning while Greg and Dale went to Paris to run some errands. If Alan could talk, he would have said the same two words all morning: "hold me, hold me, hold me!" Pretty much as long as he was being held and toted around he was fine, but IF you could put him down he wasn't happy for long. Have you ever seen that Sharpie commercial where the baby cries everytime his feet touch the floor, so the mom has to do everything with one hand? That was me today.

But, Alan did have some very happy and very photogenic moments this afternoon after a particularly good nap:

We are leaving tomorrow for several days for a camping trip with Greg's mom, stepdad and our nephew Aaron. They brought us the camper (their previous one...hadn't sold or traded since getting a newer one) a couple of months ago for us to use to be able to get away here and there. We are so grateful...and so excited for the weekend coming up!

So - I tried to pack this morning, and managed to get our clothes for the trip washed and folded and sorted and ready to go. Greg and Dale came home for a late lunch, and then Greg had to mow. Yes - again! It seems like it comes at least twice a week, lol! It has rained off and on throughout the afternoon, suprise, suprise.

One of the guys' errands in Paris was to go and pick up our family portraits from a couple of weeks ago. I was sorting them out and decided to hang the largest one. I took down a picture in the hallway to replace with the new one. It has been there for a couple of years; Dale was about 7 months old in it - and it includes Greg, me, my mom, dad & sister. When I took the picture out of the frame, I could see DALE's little baby fingerprints all over the front of the glass, where time after time I have stood in front of that picture and let him point out who was who. It was just so sweet to me to see those little bitty finger-prints and know they belong to my Dale, who turned into a kid one day when I wasn't looking. :)

My big kid, being silly today for the camera:

One of our new family photos.... I took a picture of it to share here. I am such a rule-follower...I'm terrified Sears is going to come after me for a copy-right violation! We went to SEARS to get our picture taken. Please do not copy, reproduce, or sell for any purposes without exclusive permission. Lol. (sort of!) :)

I guess this page will be quiet for a few days..can't wait to share all of our camping stories when we get back!!

Have a swingin' 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!

I don't think Alan has felt well the past day or so. After I finished writing last night, he was up a couple of times; his tummy seemed unsettled. We ended up not doing his overnight feed to avoid upsetting it further. So without the feed, he woke up a couple of times to nurse. At a quarter till 5:00, he wouldn't go back to sleep, so Greg sat up with him for a while. He was ok, just kind of cranky throughout the morning and afternoon, but after a long (over 2 hours!) nap (while being held by Mimi) he seemed to be feeling better.

We had absolutely no plans for today. Greg got started on the bathroom again right after breakfast. I got ansty - hadn't left the house since Sunday! - so I loaded up the boys and went to see Mimi & Gramps. (Plus the potty was out of commission for texturizing behind it!) :)

Gramps took Dale and Alan outside to play...Alan had his first ride in the swing, and he loved it!

After lunch (brats & grilled corn on the cob!) Greg, Dale & Gramps took a drive to see how high the water has gotten at the river and a local lake from all the rain. Mimi, Kristin, Alan and I spent the afternoon entertaining ourselves... did a little beading, played on the computer... Alan had a first today: he wanted to share a toy with Mimi! He would chew on it, then put it up to her mouth to give her a turn. :) He also pulled up to standing this morning. Greg was holding his hands up high, dressing him, and he just stood right up!

Got everybody to bed around the usual time. Gramps and Dale went out and bought a bag full of fireworks & sparklers this morning, but since they had such a long afternoon out, decided to save those for tomorrow. So (as long as it doesn't rain, haha) our 4th will extend to the 5th! I'll try to get pictures!

Here and there and why, why, why?

More rain, rain, rain today. We are going to wash away!!
Mrs. Shelley came today. I know I say it every week, but Dale really loves when she comes! He has so many things to tell her, and then he wants to try out all her stuff! She is always so good to listen to him and include him in everything. She has a daughter his age. Alan was sleeping so good when she got here, and we had to wake him up! :(

Greg took Dale with him late morning to get our van inspected. He did his truck yesterday. They got milk and bread while they were out, and we had a late lunch when they came back.

I spent a lot of time on the computer today. I always regret days like that. Today wasn't any big chunks of time, just lots of checking in on things here and there ....liver families, watching the radar (we had about 3 different thunderstorms come over), email, checking for blog and caring bridge updates....just keeping myself busy, and away from things I should be doing!

Greg made a lot of progress on the bathroom. Here is the story on the bathroom: There was wallpaper when we moved in. We lived with it for nearly 3 years, and then it had to come down - it was beginning to tear and peel in quite a few places. So, one day several weeks ago we jumped right in and started peeling paper. Ooh.... not good. The top vinyl-like layer separated from the gluey-paper underlayer. The underlayer stuck terribly to the dry-wall. It took hours and hours of scraping that stuff off of un-plastered drywall. Then Greg sanded up the rough places, and we (mostly he) puttied the uneven places. It is definitely imperfect, but our plan all along has been to put up texture. Our hope is that this will disguise the little imperfections. So, before the texture can go up, the walls have to be primed. That is the last thing Greg did tonight. We are ready for texture tomorrow! :) (Don't you love my "we"? I helped make the big mess of peeling the paper, and played with a putty knife long enough to know how hard it is, and that's about all the help I've been! This was supposed to be a project we do together! Ah well...I'm directing. :) (yeah, right) )

I've had lots of why questions today...
Why are we having torrential rains and flooding after two years of severe drought?
Why is it that every time Alan throws up his vitamins I was the one who gave them... never Greg?
Why is it that we hurt the most over those we love? I know the answer to that one. If we don't love we don't care nearly as much. When we love, we open ourselves up to the risk of so many kinds of hurt. But isn't it worth it? Think of those you hold dearest.... yes...it's worth the risk. :)

Dale has a routine of making sure there is a glass of water by his bed each night when we turn out the light and leave the room. Tonight he ordered up a glass of water, with ice, in the cup that was already sitting on the shelf. After waiting for him to ask politely, I grabbed the cup and stood to go fill it. Playfully teasing, I flicked in his direction, thinking a few drops of water would be in the bottom. Instead, Dale got splashed right in the face with a couple of tablespoons of ice cold water! I felt so bad! But he's a very good sport and just laughed. I sure love that little boy!

Also at bedtime tonight.... Greg, Dale, and I always pray together at bedtime. Dale always prays last. We try to model for him some of the things he can and/or should pray. Lately Greg has been including "please forgive me for the wrong things I've done". Tonight Dale added in his version of that, saying, "please watch out for the bad things I've done." LOL!!

I think Alan must have had a bad day. He just seemed so fussy. :( I'm sure this is because I posted in his Caring Bridge about how great he is doing. :) Maybe it is just because he didn't get to finish that morning nap and was 'off' all day after that...? I found myself just seeing us having to find a dr. late in the afternoon on the day before July 4th!!! (Not that he was feeling THAT bad...but he starts acting even the little bit funny and I have to wonder! Things can change so quickly...)
I found out today he is the only baby in our whole region (Texas & OK) under 1 year with his blood type waiting for a liver transplant. I have no idea what this means as far as wait time. But it was a stunning discovery. Kind of took my breath away and made my heart race!

New link I want to share: http://simple-journeys.blogspot.com/ Pretty pictures, interesting reading, and more fun things to come, I'm sure! :) Can you guess who this blog belongs to? (and it's not mine!)

Time to go readminister vitamins and start tonight's feed. And .... ta-da!!! I'm done with today's blog before 10:00!!! Yay! :)

Playgrounds & Pinatas

Blog time!! :)

Set out Saturday morning for our 4 hour trip to Fairfield, Texas to meet with fellow liver families! We left hoping & planning to spend the night back at home, but packed and prepared to stop for a hotel room somewhere along the way if needed. First stop of the day was 5 minutes down the road at the ATM:

Dale was eating his breakfast, a pbj sandwich and a chocolate milk box:

Both of the boys did great in the car. About 2 hours in it was time for a get-a-late-morning-snack-and-really-stretch-your-legs stop. We were looking for a fast food place with a playground, and saw one behind a Sonic. I knew that some Sonics had pgrounds, but this was the best fast-food pground I have EVER seen! It had all kinds of slides and things to climb on and a bouncy castle...all sitting in fine sand! Dale loved it!!

After our Sonic playground break the rest of the drive went just fine too. We had a great time in Fairfield meeting 6 other liver families. Let me tell you, Dale has never met a stranger. He will make himself right at home anywhere! He jumped right in with kids more than twice his age. He also had some lessons in sharing with a couple of younger boys. That will be useful in the next year or so! :)

After a barbecue lunch, all the kids went out to hit a pinata. Dale got to go first, and then once the pinata broke, he was the very last one there picking up candy! Most of the other kids got tired or bored, I guess, but not Dale! He and one other girl stayed until every last piece was gone...and then he went and turned the busted pinata upside down to make sure it was empty!

The ride home went almost as well as the morning. We stopped again at our new favorite Sonic. Stayed and played until the thunder started up and we got back on the road. It rained for about an hour of the drive, then the last hour Alan was pretty fussy off and on. Stopped once at a historic road-side park. It was built in the 1930s and had a natural spring and one rock picnic table. No pics...it was too dark. We were so glad we came all the way back home the same day. We got home not long after the boys' bedtime and they did really great! :)

Went to church Sunday morning, and had lunch with Mimi & Gramps. Gramps, Greg & Dale went out to my parents' new place after lunch. Alan was in a great mood, so Mom & I walked up to Nana & PawPaw's house to visit. (You may notice in these pics Alan is tubeless....he pulled it partially out Sunday morning...we tried to work it back in but it wasn't gonna go, so we pulled it and left it out for church and the afternoon.)

Back to church in the evening and then home to put in The Tube.
Not much to tell from today...more rain...some errands....boys played...now it's bedtime! :)

Think positive! (and get packing!!)

If there is anything Alan does consistently, it is be inconsistent! He slept great Thursday night, and slept all the way until 7:45 Friday morning. Last night we had a hard time getting him to sleep, and now he has been awake since 5:30!! Not great since we are making a 4 hour (one way) round trip drive today. I'm not exactly happy I lost my last hour of sleep before such a long day. Ah well, we'll see if Mr. Unpredictable will at least sleep in the car.

Not much to tell from yesterday. Greg & Dale went out together just before lunch for some errands. Alan & I never left the house all day. We also never got any mail at all yesterday...which means no wallet. :( Which means no driver's license, which means I can't help Greg with our drive today. :( I really hate that.

Dale played in the pool for a little while late in the afternoon. My mom & dad came over for supper - odds and ends other than the zucchini fritters I made from the huge zucchini Greg's mom gave us. Dale was so cuddly before bedtime, so we let him stay up and watch tv with us a little later than his usual bedtime. He is usually not a snuggly kid, so when he climbed onto the couch with me & settled in, I couldn't resist. (Don't tell him though, or he'd want to cuddle up for late bedtime every night!) :)
Earlier in the day we all watched a show together on Animal Planet about a baby camel in a small family-owned zoo. Towards the end of the show, the mother camel died of bone cancer and everyone was sad. This is the first time Dale has asked many questions about dying. He wanted to know what happened to the camel, why, where it was and how it got there. I felt so unprepared! I told him 'animal heaven'. Okaaaay....that's a far stretch and nothing that I actually believe, but it was the best I could do at the time. He asked why it died and I was sitting there trying to think of an answer other than "it was sick" since I have heard that some kids hear something like that and think they or their family will die when they get sick. Greg said, "It was sick." Ok. We obviously haven't been reading the same material! :) So I added, "She was a LOT sick." Oh yeah, mom's really on a roll. After he asked how it got to 'animal heaven' (I cringe here), I was still trying to think of an answer when he answered himself: Something about a good spell, or a good camel spell or something. I just let that one go. If we were talking about a person I would have felt better about my answers, but a camel?! But I'd rather talk about mama camels than real mamas. If I'm lucky he won't make the association this time. (Thanks a LOT Animal Planet!!)

Well, lucky me, Alan is back asleep and my alarm just went off (time to wake up!), so I will go start my day now. Got some gathering, packing and getting ready to do. (Yeah, ideally you'd do more of that the night before, but then there's no time for baby camels!!) :)

sugary snacks and big city trips

Doctor day! A few months ago, doctor day seemed to come up at least once every week or two. For now we are in a nice quiet time and it has been a month between visits!

(mmm....I'm eating Jelly Belly's as a write....first one was a root beer!)

Greg, Alan and I set out for Dallas first thing this morning. About a half hour into the drive Alan quietly went to sleep. He slept the entire rest of the drive...two hours!!! This was especially helpful the last 45 minutes or so, as we were in heavy rain, just as we hit the big city traffic.

Alan did great getting his labs drawn. Greg had to do all the registering where they copy your driver's license and insurance card since all my important stuff like that is in a post office somewhere. (See previous post if you are confused)

We decided to go cheap and simple today and packed a lunch to eat in the van. Nice choice, since it was still raining. This did give us a long lunch break to fill. We came back into the clinic a little early and explored the gift shop. 'Clinic' sounds kind of small, but this is a 5 story operation complete with lab and x-ray and all sorts of things we've never needed. But as big as the clinic is, the gift shop is the size of a walk-in closet, so that didn't take us long.

(Black licorice...put that one aside)

Once we were done with the gift shop we made a fun (and useful!) discovery. (mmm...bubble gum flavored) Next door to the gift shop is a "Family Resource Center": a mini library of children's books, magazines, and two computers with internet access! Woohoo! There is also a little side room with comfy couches and a phone, and another room labled 'multi-purpose' we didn't go into. Looked like maybe tables to eat at? We have passed right by this room so many times, but now we know where to go if we have time to fill! :)

Met a new liver mom today. I first saw her at clinic in May when we were there for evaluation. Her little boy was so tiny and yellow. :( Saw them again today and introduced ourselves. I asked how they were doing and she said they had had a transplant! I peeked into the stroller and saw her little guy (forgot to ask his name!) and he looked so pink and smiley! He is six months old. Very interesting to me was the fact they were only in the hospital 12 days after transplant!! I also noticed he still had his feeding tube. This is a reality that has just begun to sink in the past few days: you don't always lose The Tube immediately after transplant. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm glad my brain is getting the idea that it's possible to keep it too, so it won't be a big deal to me after if we go home with our Tube.

The actual appointment went great. Alan loves the crinkly exam table paper. It's great for keeping him entertained while we wait.

Time to head home and it was raining again. Pretty steady leaving the city - thankfully we were early enough to miss the worst of the traffic. Then about 30 minutes into the drive we got into a couple of downpours that made it hard to see. At one point it wasn't raining where we were, but there was a dark cloud ahead that was very obviously dropping a lot of rain. I have never seen it come down in such dark sheets like that before. I thought it was fascinating and tried to get some pictures. Of course, it doesn't show as good in the pic as it did in person. (It might have been better if I'd opened the window, but I was too afraid of leaving my camera in pieces on I-30!!)

Alan slept some on the way home. Dale spent the morning with my mom, lunch and early afternoon with Nana & PawPaw, and then my dad (Gramps) had him for the rest of the afternoon. Since Gramps was fresh (gotta be considerate to our sitters!) we went ahead and made a stop at Wal-Mart on the way home. Picked up some essentials and came on in to get our little buddy Dale! He had made friends with some singing/dancing stuffed critters and wanted to show them off to us. This is a very big deal to Dale, who has never wanted to have anything to do with anything that sings, dances, talks, snores, ho-ho-ho's, laughs, etc at the push of a button, squeeze of the ear, shake of the tail, whatever! He has always been this way (works out great for the hand-me-down toys...none of the sounds are worn out, lol!), and is very gradually getting braver. So after letting Dale show off his new friends and having a quick visit with Mimi, Gramps & Kristin we went home.

Nice to be all back together again, even if it had just been 24 hours.

(ooh! cinnamon! the jellybeans have been kind of boring, some citrusy stuff....a couple I couldnt identify...no need to interrupt with those!)

After a little play time we started all the bedtime rituals. Took a while, but everybody's asleep in bed (knock on wood), and Alan is medicated and snacking away...well...the pump's running anyway! :)

(dug down for one more cinnamon, and put the jelly beans away!)

Whoo...not much sleep last night. Greg and I stayed up late and then Alan was up for a while in the night. Not fussy - very happy from what I hear. Greg stayed up with him and let me sleep. Then when Alan was up at his usual time this morning I got up and let Greg sleep. Can you tell we've been here before? :)
Mrs. Shelley (Alan's home nurse) came today. I think I've mentioned before how much Dale loves her visits. Today she came inside and Dale said, "Welcome to our home." LOL!! :) Alan has gained another couple of tenths of a kilogram...we were happy with that.
Greg left around lunchtime to go sign his new contract. Have I mentioned he has a new job? This all happened at the end of last week. More than being excited about the new job, we are very very thankful that he is out of the old one.
Soon after lunch the boys and I went to the library for a kids program. Illegally, I might add. Not that the library is illegal....it's just when our family was here yesterday, Rick and I went out for a couple of errands and I left my wallet and keys under the front seat of their car...and my wallet and keys went to Arkansas. Oops. Rick was kind enough to mail them back to me, so now they are somewhere in between here and there....on their way back to me in the care of the USPS. :)
Anyway...library....I was pretty nervous driving without my license! Dale had a great time at the program. The kids played Musical Islands (much like musical chairs, but with floor mats as pretend islands to go along with the sailing theme) and Dale loved it. He giggled and giggled through the whole game!
From the library I drove (very carefully!) to Nana & PawPaw's for a quick visit. Alan was getting sleepy and hungry, so we didn't stay long.
Did this and that through the rest of the afternoon and went to church at 7. It has been while since all 4 of us went on a Wed. night. I was glad I did - Bro. Cecil has been going through the Psalms and it's really good stuff! :)
Dale went home with Mimi & Gramps to spend the night. Greg and I are taking Alan to Dallas - it's been a whole month!
I have a feeling this entry doesn't make much sense....but I'm tired and I've been doing 3 things at once while I type...so...I quit! :)

But first...a few more pics from yesterday....

Aaron wearing Dale's goggles....from the closet, of course! :) These goggles even made it into the pool later!
















Alan gets fed by Grandma while Greg & Scott visit.













Five cell-phones in the house...somebody was almost always on one! This time Grandpa Rick got a call from HIS brother. Brothers, brothers everywhere! :) (and cousins too) ;)