What do you get...

...when you pack up two chicks and two little boys first thing in the morning and send them off into the big city? Read on!

Went to Dallas this morning for Alan's monthly transplant clinic checkup. This is only the second time Mom and I have driven ourselves over. We only felt brave enough last time after choosing our own route, avoiding some of the major hair-raising traffic areas. Last time proved to be pretty succesful, so our confidence was up this time, even if our concentration was down.

Long story short, we missed a very important highway split-off and didn't notice for quite some time. We ended up on a pretty major road, the highest up on a big stack of roads! I held my breath the whole way over! We pulled off (calmly) at the next exit and consulted our map. Turns out we were in the perfect place to correct our "mistake" and loved the new route! We even took it on the way home! I don't see things like this as luck or coincidence. I see it as God pointing out a new, better, shorter (safer?) route for us. :)

Even with our new, faster route, we had made a couple of stops and other things that ended up putting us pretty close on time. After getting Alan's blood drawn (NOT a good experience. We were in a different lab in another part of the hospital from usual. It took 3 sticks - the old lab ALWAYS gets it in one! - and the second poke involved some digging. >:-( I wasn't happy. In the future, we will be going back to the old lab, even if it means more walking) ...anyway, after the blood draw we had a follow-up EKG from Alan's evaluation in May. That went perfectly. By this time, it was 12:10, and our GI appt was at 12:30. We decided to go down to the cafeteria and get something that we could eat pretty quickly, since that wasn't much time. Of course, the cafeteria at noon was PACKED. All the 'real food' lines were very long, so we got a healthy (ahem) little snack:

Yes - that is a donut...with sprinkles!!! :) But notice Dale is also eating goldfish crackers. Cheese is healthy...right? The best thing about the cafeteria is the train track suspended from the ceiling. Dale loved it!

We made it back upstairs to our appointment in plenty of time. We ended up waiting in the exam room for a really long time - and it was a really little room! Alan chilled out in the stroller for a while:

We put a stool behind the exam table so Dale could watch out the window:

He decided the table was a better idea:

Both boys were really sleepy by the time we got to leave. Alan was asleep almost before we left the parking lot. Dale was awake for a little while. We were coming up on the big overpass section of our new route and Dale commented that we were about to go over the 'bridge'. Once we were over and back on level ground, I checked the rear-view mirror to see how he liked it. He was asleep!

Since it was nearly 4:00 and we had only had donuts for lunch, we went through a drive-through for a burger. It was the best burger I've had in a long time, and we all 3 ate every bite! :) (Whataburger, for those who might be curious)
It was a nonstop day, and we were all tired. When I turned off my lamp and laid my head on the pillow, the clock said 8:51!!! :)

Take a big breath and....

I have a habit of going into each of the boys' rooms and checking on them very last thing before I go to sleep. Tuesday night when I went Dale's room he was already asleep, and as I pulled his sheet up over him he raised up in bed and began looking for his bunny. (We HAVE to have the bunny to sleep. We have spares, but he can tell them apart and will only accept certain ones!) When he found his bunny Tuesday night as I was tucking him in, he said (all sleepy and cute), "cover my bunny up too." Awwwww. :)
Alan is getting so close to pulling up! He tried on his saucer today, but it wasn't stable enough. It wouldn't suprise me if he just skipped crawling all-together.
Kid Camp Report: Water Wednesday!
Got a tub full of water and a good bit of dishwashing soap and made bubbles! We gathered up everything we could find that had holes in it. :)
If we're going to do it again, I have to get some glycerin to make bubbles we can blow into the air. We had a good time with what we had, though. We had the best luck with the straw. Dale kept chanting (kind of with the same rhythm as 'W'ere #1!') - "We're making bubbles!" He played for a long time right after we set everything up, and then we left it out for the day and he came back through several more times to keep playing. I think it was a hit! :)














Kristin came to see us in the afternoon. She had an exciting day. She was parked under a pretty big shade-tree at work and came out to find a huge limb had fallen on her car! It didn't break any glass, but left a pretty major dent in the roof:














I love all the ways Dale can make Alan laugh. Today it was by spitting little bits of (still dry) saltine crackers at him. Yes - I let this activity go on. They were both happy, the risk of injury was small, and I already had to sweep anyway. :)

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Ka-neen Ka-nose

Surprise, surprise! I'm blogging early!! :)

A couple of years ago there was a commercial that showed people trying to hit a home run to win getting their mortgage paid off. Greg and I always got a laugh out of this one guy that struck out and then stomped off hitting himself in the forehead and muttering (very angrily) "stupid, stupid!!".
I feel just like that guy right now. I sat down to blog with both boys asleep. I thought I would do my blogging now instead of in the evening when Greg is home since our time together is so much shorter now. I looked at my camera and saw I had pics of Dale for today, but none of Alan. I thought: How sweet would it be to sneak in and get a pic of him sleeping? (This is where you sense the foreshadowing and start willing me "No! Don't do it!")

Walked up to the crib without making and sound, and ... Alan's eyes popped wide open. I was caught.
"Stupid! stupid!!!"

So now, here I sit, with my little buddy playing in his walker right behind me. I don't think he's too thrilled about being awake, but there is no way on earth I could get him back to sleep right now.











Thankfully, for some of the dumb stunts like that, I have to say I also have my occasional moments of genius. ;) Coming up with Kid Camp was definitely one of those moments! :) Yay for Kid Camp!!! :) The amazing thing is, it is so simple! We don't do anything spectacular or anything, but I guess having something to look forward to is what makes it work so well. I have always rotated Dale's toys, pulling out something 'new' and putting away the 'old' at random times. But knowing on Sunday that you're going to play with your instruments tomorrow builds anticipation, making it that much more fun when they come down from the closet.
Last week Dale's Aunt Sandra gave him 2 Thomas videos. (*Hi Sandra!! :) * ) He watched one the very DAY we came home from camping, and we saved the other one for Thomas Tuesday. We started it not long after breakfast this morning, and about halfway through I came in and gave him some of his trains. Watching the story lines on tv must have given him a lot of inspiration, because he played and played all morning, with all sorts of new dialogue and adventures!
(Oops - actually, Sandra is my aunt, which would make her Dale's Great Aunt, but you get the idea!) :)



Got another early start today.... Alan woke up at 5:50! I nursed him. 6:00 - he was done nursing, but still awake. Greg gave it a shot until 6:10, but then he had to go to work. So... Alan and I entertained each other for a while. It's amazing how much a baby can love Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over again so early in the morning. Even more amazing is how much animation a mom can put into Itsy Bitsy Spider so early in the morning!! :) Even though it was an early start, the day seemed to get off to a slow start. Dale joined us around 7 or 7:30. A thunderstorm blew up about that time too. It was dark and rainy for a couple of hours. I had fleeting thoughts about how much I would loooooove to have been covered up in bed right about then, but - no use dwelling on that! (I'll just have another cup of coffee, thank you very much)

Started a load of laundry. I have to admit, I don't mind laundry at all. In fact, I sort of (*gasp!*) enjoy it! There is just something oddly satisfying about a job that has such definite, repetitive steps. It's always the same - start the machine, put in the clothes, put in the soap, let the machine do the work. And the results are always the same - clean, wonderful smelling clothes. I always feel so good putting them away, too. There is no question of where does this go? or what should I do with this? And even there is NO way to get every single item of clothing clean at the same time (at least not while still remaining clothed! :-o ) it doesn't even bother me that this is a task that has no end. Now doing dishes and sweeping the floor, well... that's a different story. ;)

Mrs. Shelley came today. It's been a while because she was on vacation and we have gone to once a month between visits. Come to think of it, we had to wake Alan up from his first nap of the day to get checked out by her - so he's been woken up twice today!

Got a call from the lady setting things up at our new pump supplier saying our current insurance coverage expires today. What!?! We knew things would have to switch over to the new district, but it is the same provider. Plus we thought this switch wouldn't happen until August 31st/Sept 1st, but apparently we were a month off. Made a few phone calls, and have been assured that there will be no lapse in coverage, but things are kind of in limbo until all the right paper-work gets done. Ugh. It's never easy is it? I wouldn't call this exaclty 'seamless' (as we were told it would be), but I won't complain. Just "thank you Lord" for insurance, right?!?!

Alan has forgiven me (sort of) for waking him up. I thought at one point I had him back asleep, (during my 'ode to clean laundry'), but that didn't work out. So for now he's happy playing in his high chair, and the race is on to see if I can get supper made while that lasts! :)




**And now - the explanation: My parents tell me that when I was little I often replaced my L's with N's. Thus, "clean clothes" became "cnean cnothes" (ka-neen ka-nose). :)

Feeding pump blues and blue kazoos

Well! My week got off to an early start... 2am!! We have decided that our new pump wasn't calibrated right - it ran for 2 hours past when all the formula was supposed to be gone, and there was still some left! This meant Alan was hungry and woke up to nurse both Saturday and Sunday nights. So - he woke up around 2:00 this morning, but after I nursed him, he was wide awake. Greg was up with me, so at 2:30 we decided to take shifts sitting up with him. I went first. I made a dumb move trying to lay Alan down to change a diaper in the living room floor and tore his tube from the tape and nearly pulled it out! Greg had barely had time to get back to sleep, Alan was screaming, and I had to yell for help down the hall. Oops. I really felt bad all the way around about that one. I was supposed to wake Greg up for his shift at 3:30, but at 3:35 I laid Alan down asleep in his bed. Whew.
We traded for a new pump today, so hopefully tonight he will sleep through and get his whole feed.

Today was another Music Monday. Dale seems more open to songs and singing when it is part of a theme. Usually he'll try to make me stop, but today he seemed pretty interested. We sang the "Good morning to you" song at breakfast, a new one for him. We also got out the instrument box again today - Alan always enjoys that, too.

During Alan's morning nap we made a kazoo. Toilet paper tube, painted, with wax paper glued over the end. I was thrilled when Dale picked it up to play it and it really sounded like a kazoo!!

Greg is officially back to work for this school year now. We've been really spoiled the past few years with him being able to come home for lunch and even occasionally for a few minutes during the day. Now, after 2 whole months of all being together all day every day, Daddy is gone to work alllllll day. Not only that, but we've added on an hour+ commute!! :(
It was pretty funny though... he got home tonight just after 6. I had supper ready and the table set and everything. At one point getting ready for him to get home, I felt like I was playing house. Later Greg commented on the funny feeling of being a stereo-typical Dad...coming in to dinner on the table, 2 little kids playing. ....oh anyway... I guess you had to be there...but it was funny to us. :)

Even though it was a loooong day, both boys were really good. Alan had two great naps, and other than constantly asking to go somewhere, Dale behaved himself too. It seemed like we spent a lot of time just playing - and I even got in about a 30 minute nap too! :)

music genes & mac'n cheese

Humph. I guess I've quit taking pictures.... I have no new ones to share!

Today was church day. The last Sunday of every month is potluck lunch. Today I brought mashed potatoes and a peach cobbler. This time after lunch we all gathered back together for a devotion and singing. Dale did his first real singing in front of people! He sang Jesus Loves Me into a microphone while Mimi played it on the piano. He did a great job as far as not being nervous or acting silly or anything. And he really does have a good sense of pitch for a preschooler. Yay! He just may have inherited Greg's music gene!! :)

First night with Alan's new pump went ok... it's supposed to last 9 hours, but we still had formula left after about 10. :(? We decided to run it at a faster rate tonight and see what happens. Alan had a little nap during church and then a longer one in the afternoon. No 2 hour+ ones, but we all made the day ok. :)

Had tons of leftover potatoes and just enough cobbler to share, so we took them over to Mimi & Gramps' house to combine with their leftovers from today (mac&cheese). Even though he had just nursed, Alan was really wanting to eat off Mimi's plate, so we set him up in the highchair with some macaroni. I'm not sure how much he ate (if any), but wow squishing it in his fist was so much fun! Now that's where I should have had my camera! ;)

Italian food and orange balloons

For some reason lately, recounting my day seems tiresome and tedious, so I end up not blogging. But then I miss blogging. Hmmm....

I'm just going to start typing and see what happens.

Alan has been sleeping really well the last couple of days. Amazingly well really - kind of makes me wonder what's going on! Does he feel ok!?!? Lol. Worry when he doesn't sleep and then worry when he does. :) Our best guess is that he was teething these last couple of weeks and now that those top teeth have broken through he is feeling better. *sigh* I don't know. We can't figure him out. We're just glad he seems to be sleeping well for now.

We got our new feeding pump today. "New" as in new to us. This particular one is an older model and different brand. Doesn't have as many snazzy features as the previous one and will be slightly different to use, but hopefully having a local supplier will be worth the trade-off. Greg and Dale made the run to Paris after lunch to get our new supplies and pick up a few groceries. Our freezer was starting to look kind of empty! I've been challenging myself some this week to see what I could do without grocery shopping. Similar to the 'challenges' I've tried when making at altered book page (1 picture from this folder, 1 from that one, and two paint colors - for example) I've tried 1 thing from the freezer, 2 from the pantry and something from the fridge.....or something like that. I used to plan a week to 10 days worth of menus and make a grocery list from that. Don't seem to have time for that these days, but my pantry is full of an interesting assortment of canned goods that I'd like to start using - if for no other reason than to clear out a little space! :) My favorite creation from this week:

1/2 lb pork sausage - browned in skillet

1/2 med onion - added to sausage

1 small zucchini, cubed - add to sausage & onion

Salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, basil.

Boiled 8-12 oz spaghetti

6-8 Roma tomatoes, sliced - added to sausage mixture as onions begin to get soft

1-2 cloves garlic - added in with tomato

Mixed all together when pasta and veggies were done. Served w/Parmesan cheese and a hot roll. (A fresh salad would have been nice - oh well).

So...this didn't get rid of anything but spaghetti from the pantry, but I DID use that leftover sausage before it went bad. Same thing with the zuch & tomatoes.

Ordered pizza w/my parents tonight. Spent a lot of time at their house today working on those altered books again. It's very addictive. :) I just really like burying myself in a project for a little while!

Greg kept both boys this morning, then my Dad held Alan for his nap this afternoon.

I love watching as Dale and Alan are able to play together and interact more and more. Alan isn't quite to the point of copying Dale yet, but he usually wants his hands on whatever Dale is doing. Dale is ok with this unless he is lining his race cars up. He takes that very seriously and 9 times out of 10 does not appreciate Alan choosing which car wrecks!

Dale, however, will copy Alan. Tonight in the bathtub Alan started banging one of the toy cups against the side of the tub. So, Dale did too. I've noticed he does this a lot. I guess he thinks if it is cute when Alan does it, it will be for him too.

I think Alan is really feeling better lately. He was actually laughing this morning, a sound we haven't heard much lately. Dale handed me a little orange balloon to blow up, so I did. Then I turned it around and let the air blow out into Alan's face. He loved it! We played over and over again, until my vision started to close in around the edges from lack of oxygen. :) I decided that was enough balloon fun for me. (And for all you baby-safety types - yes the balloon is out of reach.) :) Oh - and since it WAS Dale that brought the balloon in the first place.... he sat right with us and loved every minute of the game, too. I guess a baby's laughter is infectious to everyone, even big brothers. :)