Maggie’s Journal

We had Brenden’s 2nd birthday party last Sunday and it went really well. All the kids played nicely and I think the adults had fun visting and watching the kids play. We had a Thomas the Train cake since Brenden is still loving all types of vehicles, especially choo choos.

On Wed. morning (his actual birthday) I took Brenden to his 2 year appointment and it went well. The only thing we have to follow up on is that he seems to be out of the range on his vision test and will need to go to the eye doctor to see what that means. Otherwise, we don’t go back until he is 3. Patrick and I were both a little taken aback by that, it’s just proof that he’s growing up.

The stats:
Weight: 30 lbs 9.6 oz (77%)
Height: 36 1/2 in (93%)
Head: 19 3/4 in (85%)

I know I usually have the video directly on the page, but this time you’ll have to click the link.

The bushes in the front of our house smell funny sometimes. Especially after a rain or in the early morning. After receiving a few comments from potential buyers that our house smelled like cat urine, we started febreezing the bushes every day in order to mask it. But it wasn’t working. And I really didn’t like having people think that I would really let my cat outside to pee on the door. So this past weekend we ripped them out. Here is a shot of our little family project before it got messy.

This morning, or last night—depending on how you choose to see it, I woke up around 4 to increadibly loud wind and tons of lighting. I instinctively grabbed a sleeping Patrick and in my half sleep told him that it was storming really badly. Startled, Patrick jumped out of bed. I got out of bed to and we went and looked out the window at the storm just as the tornado siren sounded. When this happend a few weeks ago I had time to gather some things and get Brenden and the cat, but this time we just grabbed Brenden and headed for the bathroom. Our power was out but we have a weather radio and flashlights in the bathroom. The radio was saying there were confirmed reports of 84 mph wind and reliable reports of 87 mph.

Eventually the wind passed and we emerged and Brenden started to play. The power was still off. When the storm died down I put Brenden back to bed and went outside in the rain to see the damage. The majority of the back line of our fence and our trash cans were all over the alley. We picked them up the best we could and then headed back in, the power still off for some bad sleep.

The power did eventually come back on. We were very greatful to have nothing more serious than a broken fence. Now lets hope the people coming to look at our house tomorrow night can deal with it being down because we can’t possible get out there and fix it until Saturday!

I know I haven’t been blogging much, so here is a dose of pictures:

Brenden on his 2nd Easter. He was so sick he had no interest in hunting eggs, but he did love sitting on this tractor. He also loved the plush fire truck Easter basket we got him. He’s acutally still carrying it around most days.

I took Brenden for a haircut on Monday and he was pretty good. They lady still had to work hard though because he wiggles so much and whips his head around. When it was wet and slicked down with gel, as above, I thought she did a really good job. But after it dried I could see it’s pretty bad. I cut the mullet end off the back and trimmed the front up some more, but there are still a lot of uneven places. He’s still handsome though!

Last year we started a new tradition of going to opening day with our parents and we continued that on Tuesday. It turned out to be a beautiful day despite the 40% chance of rain warning and the fact that the Rangers lost badly.

Could they look any more alike? Father and son walking into the Ranger’s game.

The smiling boy at Opening Day.

Oh, last week Brenden went into the doctor again! This time it was a rash that had spread all over his body. We suspect that he shares my allergy to all the drugs in the penicillan family and had to switch him to his 3rd antibiotic prescription for the still raging ear infection. He started taking his first antibiotic March 19th and won’t be done with this last one until the 12th of this month. But knock on wood the whole household will have been healthy for a whole week tomorrow! It’s a miracle.

Three times we’ve taken Brenden to this playcare place, and three times he’s come home sick. On the 15th we went to another hockey game and sure enough, two days later Brenden was sick. AGAIN. This time with pink eye and a cold. The cold turned into a horrible ear infection. He was absolutely miserable. I wonder what a nearly two year old must think about not being able to open his eye? The doctor said on Monday there is a still a lot of fluid and pus in his ear and that it is actually bulging a little. This was the worst he’s ever been. He would just sit on my lap with his head flopped over to one side Sean Preston (Spears) style and moan. He wouldn’t eat anything for over a week and he had a really hard time sleeping. Poor little guy.

Two trips to the doctor and one to the urgent care place—plus two different antibiotics, lots of tylenol, ear drops and eye drops later—he finally started feeling better yesterday. Today I would say he’s back to actually acting like Brenden. He played, laughed and ate. Plus he took a 3 hour nap. He still has a bad cough and a runny nose, but he is on the road to recovery.

Patrick and I have been trying this whole time to fight off the cold. I think the only think that has helped me from completely giving in is that I just had a round of antibiotics when I got my wisdom teeth pulled on the 13th. Which is another whole story about an arrogant doctor who did not want to believe me when I said no one could find my veins in my right arm so he attempted to prove me wrong 4 times all over my arm and wrist before finally going into my hand. That is something I would never have allowed if I hadn’t been under the influence of laughing gas at the time. I wish I had taken a picture of my poor bruised arm, but it is finally starting to look better. Mostly.

Patrick took three days off of work starting today and we had a nice day together as a family. And that’s my update for now. I’ll try to add some pictures in the next couple of days now that Brenden is back to smiling.

So Brenden and I were sick since the time I posted 2 and 1/2 weeks ago up until this past Friday evening. We were just getting over our colds. My voice had just come back to a point where I no longer sounded like Marge Simpson. We took Brenden back to the kids play place so we could go to another hockey game. And then we got hit with the flu.

We were all in the car in Plano getting drive thru Krispy Kreme’s on our way to view several houses with realtor in Richardson and Dallas. Our food had just been handed to us and we heard the horrible sounds coming from the back seat. I won’t gross you out with details but I’ll just say that we to this day haven’t gotten everything off the car seat despite a seriously large effort. We had to strip Brenden down, wrap him up in my coat and hit the nearest Target for a new outfit. We decided to see if he could make it through the house tours we were now running late for, but we cut out one or two that were at the bottom of the list. He threw up several more times later in the day and we ended up taking him to the doctor where he tested negative for the flu. But I’m not buying it because by Tuesday I was hit with it so badly that I could not move and I had to call my Mommy to come help us out. Even Patrick who just never gets sick came home from work. Of course he slept for a few hours and bounced right back by the next day. I even missed my GRE and a hockey game

So it’s been a yucky couple of weeks and we were so happy to start feeling better on Friday. We had a playdate on Saturday because we thought we were having an open houses. The open house didn’t actually happen until Sunday, but we were glad for the mixup because it allowed us to have a truly relaxing day on Saturday which we probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. We took the kids to the park and enjoyed a beautiful day and good conversation. We haven’t gotten to relax or enjoy outside in so long that it was really blissful. And Sunday during the acutal open house we went and played with more friends. So all in all it was a nice weekend.

We are got a little discouraged on the whole house selling over the course of last week so here’s to hoping for a better week. After getting so close to having a deal go through in our second week, it’s just disappointing to not really be any further along yet, but we are trying to stay positive.

Here are a couple of picts from the sick days:

He insisted that he wanted to go somewhere. So we put his hat and shoes on with his pjs because he couldn’t be patient enough to get dressed.

All of his hats hang on a peg that he has discovered he can reach if he stands up in his chair. He flings the stuffed animals off the chair, climbs up and gets all the hats. Then he picks one to wear and I have to wear the rest.

Life has been a little crazy around our house since the new year. Patrick is in his busy season at work plus taking a night class every Tuesday and Thursday. He often gets home after Brenden goes to bed. Meanwhile I’m trying to take care of Brenden and get the house ready. So we’ve both had our stresses and pretty much just want to rest, which is why there hasn’t been much writing lately. But I think things are slowing down a bit now. I think.

Brenden is a handful. A sweet, wonderful, adorable handful. He climbs on chairs to cook in the microwave, make pop (toast), eat his father’s breakfast and pretty much do anything that would otherwise be out of his reach for good reason.
Today he wanted to go for a ride in the car so he brought me his shoes and I put them on him. I guess I didn’t get it though because then he went and got my shoes out of my closet. Exactly the pair I would have picked to wear. Then he got my coat out of the coat closet. So we went out. And when we got home he didn’t want to take his hat, coat or shoes off. The part with his shoes started on Friday but the coat and hat were new for me. The only time I was allowed to take his shoes off today was when I was changing his diaper.

We went to a hockey game with some friends of ours on Sat. night (thanks again guys!) and left Brenden at a daycare type place so he could play with other kids. And those darn kids got him sick! Again. Yesterday he threw up once and then sneezed a lot. Today he has an out and out cold with lots of coughing and very productive/projectile sneezing. He was very pink checked and glassy eyed most of the day but still wanted to run and play.

He has decided for some reason that all dogs are Sam now. Only it’s pronounced shamy. Sam is Shamy. Bailey is Shamy. The target dog is Shamy. The dogs on his dog pjs are Shamy.  You get the idea. And no matter how many times I try to correct him, he is determined that Shamy means dog.

So he’s been keeping me busy trying to keep him safe though I am fairly certain he has a death wish. Or at least a break every bone in his body wish. But he has also been very entertaining blended with lots of hugs and kisses and “mommy. mommy. mommy”.

Here are a few pictures from after his bath last night:

And a bonus.

Here are a few recent pictures. He’s been a lot of fun and a lot to keep up with lately. Getting more independent and willful every day. Learning new words and being funny every day too.

sleeping in the car.

riding the choo choo train at the mall.

courtesy of my parents.

Our house is officially for sale! After several weeks of working hard, we listed our house this morning. There’s a sign up and everything. Now I just have to go crazy trying to keep it clean!

* I should note that the title is a quote from a movie since only about 2 of you will get it. *

So the premiere of Lost season 4 was tonight. It was awesomely good in a way it hasn’t been since season 1. I’m not one of those people who complained through seasons 2 or 3 either. I thought both season were just fine until I watched tonight. I can not believe we only get 7 more episodes before they run out of stuff that was finished before the writer’s strike. 16 episodes each season was already going to be too few. Come on already, just give the writer’s their money so we can get back to “keep you on the edge of your seat” or “huddled up next to your husband” good tv!

In December, as the idea of Patrick’s impending busy season loomed, we started to look into moving closer to downtown Dallas. I quickly found a house that I absolutely love the outside of and could love the inside with some work. We went and saw it and several others. It came down to two houses that we really liked, but we decided on the first one we saw after a lot of discussions. We thought of making an offer on it contingent on selling our house, but after some great advice decided that wasn’t the smart way to go. Even though we’ve owned this house the whole time we’ve been married, neither of us have ever actually bought a preexisting house before, so it all seems a little complicated to us. Plus, this will be the first place we’ve actually picked out together and we are hoping to stay for a long time so we want to make the right choice.

So now we are spending some time getting things fixed up and packed up in our house so that we can put it on the market. The hope is that we can get our’s sold while the one we want is still available. We also know more about what we are looking for now so we know we can find something else if we have to. It’s meant a lot of juggling trying to get things done while Brenden naps and on the weekends. This weekend, should the weather cooperate, we are having a big work day on Sunday. Then, whatever doesn’t get done, we’ll have a professional do. Then time for cleaning. Our house should be ready and on the market starting the 9th of next month. Touching up all the paint is proving a little maddening for my perfectionist side. Everyone keeps pointing out though that I’m going to see it more because I did it though. So if you know anyone who needs a 4 bedroom 2 bath home in McKinney, send them our way!

Update: Here is a link to our house listing:
http://www.cbdfw.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=10943499&PRM_MlsName=NTREIS&VAR_AgentCode=&VAR_OfficeCode=#

I took Brenden to the play area at the Collin Creek Mall on Tuesday. He loves to go play with the kids and go up and down the slides. Poor kid doesn’t get to spend a whole lot of time around other kids. He had a great morning playing and then came home for a nap. When he work up he had a surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa and wore himself out again. He was one tired little guy by the end of the day.

When he woke up Wed morning, he had thrown up in his bed. I gave him milk. He threw up. I gave him more milk because he begged for it. He threw up more milk. Any time I gave him milk or crackers he would throw up. He also had a slight temp of 99.4 so I knew I had to keep fluids in him. The nurses line at his doctor suggested giving it to him in spoonfuls but Brenden was having none of that. So I kept giving him electrolite water mixed with juice in little sips in his cup. Anyway it was a long day of cleaning up the carpet and the kitchen floor and the chairs and his clothes.

Thursday he didn’t throw up once, but any time I picked him up he was cuddle and warm. Brenden is not generally one to sit still long enough to cuddle, so I knew he still didn’t feel good.

Today I gave him milk for breakfast as usual because he had successful kept some down last night, but today it quickly came back up. It’s been a long week, but the good news is that he’s been taking 2 1/2-3 hour naps all week! Darn carrier monkeys at the mall!

Great, now I just need to become obese and I too can have my diabetes cured.

Little boy: Mom can I have a gumball?

Mom: Sorry, I don’t have any money and gum is yucky.

Little boy: Moms don’t have any money. Only daddies have money!

His shirt says ” I still live with my parents”

I used this photo to enter him in the Regis and Kelley/Parents magazine Beautiful baby contest. That’s right, I pimped out my baby.

Everyone knows that I hate shots and needles. Since I am diabetic however, I have to go in to my endocrinologist every 3 months to make sure all my numbers are ok. That means that I have to have blood drawn every 3 months. And even though I’m see-through and you would think my veins would be easy to locate, they are deep and they roll. Unless the person is really good, they have a hard time. Anyway, I got lucky the last time I went and the doctor said since nothing was changing I could wait 5-6 months before coming back. So I scheduled my appointment for 5 months out and Wednesday was the day. I always get really nervous as my appointment date gets near, and this time was no different. Especially since I’ve had some trouble with my medicine supply and it’s been the holidays so I knew that my numbers probably weren’t going to be as good as they normally are.

So Brenden and I made the drive into Dallas for my appointment with all this going on in my head. It’s a colder day than I thought and I’m realizing I probably should have put a coat on Brenden. I went to the back seat to get him out, but then realized I needed to get the stroller out first. He has lately become completely obsessed with anything related to his beloved beep beeps so he really wanted my car keys. I gave them to him to play with which I do sometimes and then went to get the stroller out of the trunk. When I went back to the car door to open it, it was locked. Brenden had locked himself into the car. With the keys. With my phone. With everything but me and the stroller. And it all came to me at once that I’d shut the car door to keep him warm and that I normally leave it open when I give him the keys. That he’s been pressing the buttons on my Mom and Dad’s keys so that he can hear the panic alarm and all the beeps. Oh my goodness why on earth did I give him my keys?

I tried for a good 5 minutes to get him to press the right button. He thought it was very amusing when I told him beep. He beeped back every time. And then he grew bored of that game and dropped the keys out of reach. Freaking out, my only choice was to go in to the doctor’s office, tell them I wouldn’t be making my appointment and ask to use the phone.

I had plans of remaining calm. Instead, I walked in, the receptionist said hi and asked how I was doing. Tears spring to my eyes as  I say, “Not good. I’ve just locked my toddler in the car and I don’t think I’ll be making my appointment.” She gives me a phone book, the phone and a business card with the buildings address on it and I proceed to call Patrick, who doesn’t answer and leave him a rambling message about how he can’t call me back.  I then call a locksmith who tells me that since there is a baby in the car, the police department will come out fast and free so I call them.

It’s the fire department who comes, with 4 men. Nothing to make you feel more like a stupid woman than to have 4 fire fighters all there dying to hear the explaination of how this happened. All bearing a slight smile on their face.
Anyway, they got him out. He was freaked out by the 4 men breaking into the car. But he handled it pretty well. And after verifying that I had my keys in my hand, they were on their way.

The doctor’s office fit me in. The whole office knew that I’d locked the baby in the car but didn’t know how it happened, so I got to explain it. Many times. And then I got my blood drawn and a bonus flu shot too. The one good thing is that without the focus on my arm being pierced by needles, it wasn’t as bad to have two attempts at drawing blood followed by that darn flu shot. And I did learn that there are a lot of people out there willing to help. Like the fireman and all the people in the doctor’s office. And the fine gentlemen that took the hanger already straightened out for just such an event out of their trunk to come help me before I told them the firemen were already coming.

It was an usual but great Christmas this year. I think I’ve mentioned in previous years that we are fortunate enough to have three families to celebrate Christmas with. We celebrate with Andy’s family (Patrick’s best friend since forever), Patrick’s Dad and Stepmom’s family and my family. We always celebrate with Andy’s family on Christmas Eve and then our families it seems to change from year to year, but for the past several years it has been my family here for Christmas day. This year with celebrated with the Burleson’s on Christmas Eve day, then headed to Oklahoma. Brenden enjoyed both celebrations very much. Especially climbing up and down the one step that each of the houses had. Up. Down. Up. Down. He seemed to really get into other kids that day.

On Christmas we got up to prepare our feast. We had a hookup on our meet from our connections and Patrick was very nervous that he would mess up. But he did great (thanks to all the help from our hookup) and we feasted on Prime Rib. None of my siblings or my two cousins who normally come were able to make it this year. My sister had just been in for my graduation for the week before and we were going to see my brother and his family the next weekend. So it was a smaller crowd, but that just made it nice and relaxing. Brenden was happy that without the distraction of too many people everyone could fix their full attention towards him!

In Oklahoma

Christmas Day out our house

My Mom, Me and my Aunt Jane

Ok, so on Dec. 15th I FINALLY graduated from college. Or so they say, but I haven’t gotten my diploma yet! The few people that I got to invite to the actual ceremony (we had a ticket limit) braved the wind and freezing cold to come watch. Despite the weather, I had a great day and really appreciated everything my friends and family did for me!

The next day it was off to Vegas. We hadn’t been since right before we moved to NY. We really have a great time in Vegas and had been missing it. If you read Patrick’s blog, you already know that we refer to this as the upgrade trip. If you don’t read his, I’ll give you the jist of it. We got offered an upgrade to a suite and though I thought Patrick was crazy to agree to it, as soon as I saw the room, I got over him blowing our carefully laid out budget in the first 5 minutes of being there. It was an amazing room, or shall I say rooms. He’s got all the pictures posted on his site, because yes, we are that easily impressed that we took pictures of every inch of the room. So take the link to his site to check them out. We loved the increase of the penny slots everywhere and had an especially great time with a few versions of Monopoly. On our flight home we got offered an upgrade to first class seats and took that to complete our 2-day trip in luxury. It was the perfect way to reward myself. Brenden seemed less than thrilled that we went away and did not seem to think his new M&M World loot made up for it.

I haven’t forgotten about blogging. I have a lot I want to post about, just haven’t had the time and energy to get there yet. Here are some upcoming topics: 1) graduation 2) vegas trip 3) christmas 4) My run in with the Dallas Fire department. I’ll try to get these posted over the next few days.