We still have snow!!

Wow, so last week it was snowing and now we are back to 80 degrees!! When it snowed David went and grabbed the box of ziploc bags to "save" the snow. I only allowed him to keep one bag (instead of letting him fill all of the ziplocs we had left! Before his snow, we were cramped for freezer space and now with family coming in for Christmas and some Chick-fil-A cheesecakes added to the freezer - we are literally having to open the freezer with our hands ready to catch something! When it is time to close the freezer you have to use your hands to push the stuff in and use your hinney (with a lot of force) to push the door shut. Anyway, I'm at work today and have been trying to think of a way that we can get rid of the snow without hurting David's feelings. Did I mention this is not sandwich size bag of snow. This is a super humongous BIG Ziploc bag of snow. He was proud of the snow and wants to keep it. If anyone has any ideas, please e-mail me! SOON!!! The only thing I can come up with is to leave it outside with the reindeer food on Christmas Eve. But that would mean I'll have too keep the snow in the freezer for another week!! I need it out NOW!! :) We have already moved the frozen waffles and many other Keep Frozen items to the frige!

So last weekend was my birthday! Last year Brad bought me a gift certificate to the Ritz Carlton and I had never used it so he and I went out last weekend in New Orleans. We had SOOOOO much fun. This was the first time I had left all three of the boys overnight without Annette (my mother-in-law). My friend Stephanie (Nana) watched them...all three of them! Before we left, Brad put out some nice clothes for the boys to wear. She was going to bring them to church and then to Piccadilly....YES, I said Piccadilly. The buffet place where you have to hold a child's hand, push another child in a high chair, TRUST a five year old with a tray of his own while pushing three trays full of food down a line ignoring the fact that there are a dozen hungry people behind you as your child takes five minutes to decide if he wants green or orange jello. And that is not even the difficult part - THEN you have to get all of that to a booth without spilling or loosing anything (including patience and sanity!). She did it!! Even though it was only two days, it was a good test for me to know that "non-mom's" will be able to handle all three of my boys! In February, my twin sister (who does not have children) is going to fly down to watch the kids while Brad and I are in California for a week. I am a bit nervous (well, a LOT) but I am sure she'll be able to handle it...She is coming in town for Christmas and I have already warned the boys that they must put up a front and act like they are well behaved children while she is here. I am going to try and keep her from Stephanie too. I don't want her hearing any horror stories of how exhausting it was! I want her to come back to stay with them! :)

Not too much going on around here...oops - I forgot to finish telling you about my birthday. David changed my birthday (it was really Sunday) because he wanted to give me my present early. He (along with someone that has a job!) bought me a three stone diamond necklace. It is beautiful! David told told me the big diamond on the top is from him, the smaller one is from Christopher and the smallest one is from Jacob. I love it!!! David grabbed my box and bag and then came back with the same Micheal's box and bag. He gave me a gift that was just from him. I opened it up and it was a diamond. He was sooo super proud that he got me a diamond. ...I am not a big jewelry person and don't know much about stones - but the diamond that David gave me resembled the same shiny sticker that was on his SnowMan art project from school, including the adhesive on the back. :) I had a great birthday. Probably the best one since the WWF ring side tickets Brad gave me ten years ago!! I know what you are thinking, but I really did want them and we had a blast! :)

MAAAOOOMMM....IT'S SNOWING...REALLY!!!

So yesterday morning, I was tired (as always!) and just laying in bed trying to get motivated to get out - David was up and getting reading for school as Brad was making breakfast. I heard Brad say it was snowing and then I hear David catch his breath and scream, "IT'S SNOWING!!" I guess that was just the motivation I needed! :) I got up and it was beautiful. It was the most snow I had ever seen in Louisiana! It was actually white and sticking to the ground. It was time for David to leave for school, but I said he could be late to play in the snow for a little bit. I was going to make it a somewhat educational experience. As we saw several of his friends pass by on their way to school, I was wondering if I did the right thing. Hopefully a truancy officer would not be scoping the neighborhood! :) For those of you keeping track of David's school absences he has only missed three days (vacation and Grandparents Day)...the automated system for the school later called and said that school was open, but children would not be marked as absent. We had a fun and cold day of playing in the snow. David and Brad made a huge snowman that is still up today!! Jacob was not too crazy about the snow and Christopher loved just standing outside with his mouth open.

This week, we kept on with our Christmas activities. We went to the Acadian Village in Lafayette. I have been wanting to do this for probably the past ten or so years (ever since Brad told me about it when we were dating) and it just never worked out. The kids had a good time. They had all of the village houses decorated with lights and they also had bumper cars, train rides and other carnival type rides.

Last weekend was also the Breakfast with Santa event at David's school. Siblings were invited so the little boys tagged along too. Christopher even warmed up enough to sit on Santa's lap. He told him he wanted a school bus. Santa asked if he wanted a "real" school bus and Christopher said, No - a baby school bus. Santa asked David what he wanted and David told him a penguin...yeah, not sure where that came from. He had been pretty consistent with the Wii request! Hopefully, he'll get back onto that request. I am hoping that Santa does not bring him a penguin!!!!

Brad and I are hoping to finish our Christmas shopping tonight. The kids are going to "Nana's Party". Stephanie's church has Parents Night Out tonight and we are bringing them. It is a great program where they watch the kids, feed them and have fun inflatables for $5!! The boys love it! We have never finished Christmas shopping this early - we usually don't finish until the trip to Walgreens (or RiteAid) on Christmas morning!! For those other procrastinators out there...they have a great "As Seen On TV" section. Sometimes the selections are not as good on Christmas afternoon - try early Christmas morning or even better...Christmas Eve! :)

WAHOOOOO....It is Christmastime!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!...We watched A Christmas Story the other night. Each Wednesday is our family movie night and it happened to be on. I LOVE A Christmas Story. The boys (even the daddy one) and I popped corn and watched it. David kept asking, how can he shoot his eye out? There were a few scenes that after they aired I realized were not quite appropriate for my five year old. He wanted to know why the mommy put that red stuff in his mouth (the soap). It ended up being a good lesson for David. I told him if he said anything mean or ugly I'd try that next time! The part when they go and sit on Santa's lap got Christopher's attention. Not a good thing, since he doesn't like Santa. Christopher does not want Santa to come to his house. Every time he mentions that it stresses David out. David says, YES you do!!!

Last night we drove over to New Orleans to go and order Christopher and Jacob's big boy beds. As soon as we arrived in the Pottery Barn Kids, the sales lady was super excited. I thought she must have worked on commission and was excited to see the three little boys....not the case. Renee Zealwigger (who ever that is) was in there too. After playing with everything in PBK we headed over to ride the train at the Santa Land. I love the Santa set up at Lakeside Mall. Brad mentioned last night that it reminded him of the one on A Christmas Story. All three of the boys really enjoyed riding the train around their village and then David went and sat on Santa's lap. Christopher and Jacob didn't want to. Christopher did tell me he wants Santa to bring him a school bus though. I tried taking a few pictures to post on here but wouldn't you know they didn't come out! Last night, since we were already in New Orleans we went over to look at the lights in City Park too.

I guess I should update you on how our Thanksgiving was. Never a dull moment. It began at 5AM when Brad went to the Mall to open his store up. He had several employees that wanted (yes THEY wanted to!!) go and prepare for Friday's super busy day. As soon as he shut the door the little boys woke up. They NEVER wake up that early and I didn't want too! I did though...I figured since I was up I should go ahead and begin preparing for Thanksgiving meal. I put the turkey in....A few hours later I opened the oven and notice that juice is dripping ALL over my floor. The glass pan that I was cooking the ham in had shattered everywhere! Brad rescued the Ham without getting cut and I worked on cleaning up the floor. Then the carrots I cooked, didn't cook. We finally had everything ready and we all sat down for dinner. The kids argued over who was going to say the prayer first and then a debate began between David and his cousin. David prayed to God and Bailey said, No Jesus. It was really cute. We all beagn eating and I thought about how thankful I was that I was actually getting to sit down and eat such a yummy meal. And then, David choked...no, I mean CHOKED...creating him to gag himself and make EVERYTHING else come up too (at the dinner table!!). After we clean that up (and lost our appetite) we went to relax. Brad made some coffee that somehow or another ended up brewing all over the counter and floor instead of into the pot. As the ladies were inside, the boys (including dads and granddads) were outside. Brad comes in for me to come and see what Jacob is doing. I go out there and the adults that are suppose to be supervising are laughing at Jacob as he is standing under the truck!! It was horrible! I actually had a nightmare that night about Jacob being under the truck. After that the boys came in to view Brad's sports collections. Brad's new hobby is purchasing overpriced used shoes and shirts (aka sports memorabilia) on online auctions. Nope, not e-bay...it has to be a fancy auction that has everything certified and authenticated! That is a picture of Jacob wearing autographed Shaq shoes. According to Brad, this is all being purchased for the Game Room in our new house. (No, we don't have the location of a new house or the plans yet!!) Oops - off subject again...back to Thanksgiving... I am so thankful that I have a husband that loves sports! :) So that is how our Thanksgiving went. It seemed like we were in a Thanksgiving Comedy show. Actually, I really enjoyed all of the chaos and was very thankful that we were able to share the day with our family. After everyone left, I packed up the kids and we headed to my parents for the long weekend. I was informed over there that they would not be returning next year for Thanksgiving. They'll go to my Grandparents house instead! :) After that crazy Thanksgiving, I don't blame them!! Brad was super busy at work, so he stayed behind to manage the mall mayhem. He ended up having a record day on Black Friday! Even with all of the talk of the recession, his sales have been up tremendously!

Rookie Tooth Fairy...Fired!!

I am STILL covering for that Rookie Tooth Fairy that visited this Summer!!
Remember the fairy dust? How she woke up my kids? ...Well there's more!

I am....well let me rephrase that...I have a girl that has been coming to help me organize the house and make the most of what little storage space we have. A few weeks ago she cleaned and organized my closet. One night last week, I came home from hanging out with some of my girlfriends and Brad warned me that David found a tooth in a box that looked exactly like his first tooth. It was in a box of "junk" that the storage girl had left for me to go through (and I still haven't). I asked Brad what story we were going with. Thankfully, David had come to the conclusion that it must have been my tooth from when I was little and I forgot to put it out for the tooth fairy. Since this happened last week, I certainly wasn't going to bring it up again...I thought he forgot about it. Yesterday evening, David told me I was going to have to go to bed early. Ummm, OK...I certainly don't mind...but why? He told me about the tooth he had found in a little BLUE box from when I was a kid. :) I needed to put it under my pillow so the tooth fairy would leave some money for me! Soooooo, last night I went to bed early (he and Brad stayed up to watch the Saints game - since he doesn't have school today!). This morning David woke up early to make sure "my" tooth was gone and it was!!!! I got a quarter from the tooth fairy!!! WAAAHOOO. This time, the tooth fairy took the tooth and disposed of it properly...if you catch my drift! :) Funny how I got the same amount that I received 25 years ago - but David's tooth fairy adjusted for inflation!




For those of you that were aware of Christopher's Developmental Test last week. He didn't do too well. Understandably so!! I went to pick him up from Mom's Day Out to bring him to the School Board Office. He threw a fit because I "forgot" Jacob. It took me about ten minutes to explain that Daddy was coming to get Jacob when school was over. So we were late and running up the stairs at the very old, outdated, cold yucky LeBlanc Services building (a very OLD school that they tried to spruce up on a Trading Spaces budget!). It was not one of those places where you get a warm and fuzzy feeling. In fact, as soon as we walked in it reminded me of a hospital! When we arrived in the testing room there were six adults sitting around a kiddie table staring at us. They wanted Christopher to go and sit in the empty seat. Of course, Christopher froze. I ended up sitting in the chair and he was on my lap. They took turns asking him to do and say things and before he could even respond, the next person was asking him something. Christopher didn't say a word or do anything that they requested. I tried to hold back, but all of a sudden my maternal protecting instincts kicked in. I started tearing up and someone had noticed and asked if I was OK...I explained to them that Christopher CAN speak and he can do many of the things they requested. I agree that he has speech problems but it was not to the degree that they were witnessing for those 10 minutes that they were with him. They decided he will start attending Dutchtown Primary School the week of his third birthday to assist in his speech development. He'll attend a few hours each week. They have requested that he is fully potty trained. ...Here is where I think the tears may have helped me...One lady piped up, because of his medical issues if he is not potty trained, we understand and will work with him! :) Ummm, obviously she doesn't understand...but I'm going with it!! :) His heart defects have NOTHING to do with his mother's lack of commitment and consistency on the potty training!! :) Since he doesn't have Mom's Day Out this week, I thought I'd make another attempt at the potty training. Christopher wore underwear ALL day yesterday and NO accidents. I attached a picture of his living sticker chart next to his sticker chart on the wall.

I'm "working" (or at my office!) and Brad's lovely Mom is watching the boys today, so I'm not sure how today is going...Poor Annette! So sorry!!! Yesterday, I was on bathroom duty with him all day and during the process Jacob took advantage of the distraction. The same gal that organized my closet, organized the pantry last week. She doesn't have children and it was obvious. She put the cake, pancake seasoning mixes, etc on the bottom shelf of the pantry. Jacob decided to take advantage of their new location and opened the box of "pancakes" and poured Bisquick mix all over the floor. I didn't complain too much, because the Bisquick mess could easily be Dustbustered up and was nothing compared to the day before.

On Sunday morning, all three of the boys got together and created a "lotion potion" in my mop bucket. I was in the shower assuming their father was watching them and he was unaware that he was "on duty". Anyway, they opened every bottle of the hotel shampoo, lotion, conditioners (yep, I'm one of the people that takes them home!!) and poured it into the mop bucket. Yesterday, when I went to mop it took me an additional ten minutes to get all of the soap out of the bucket. And then last night, when I went to wash my hands, bubbles came up from the sink. I must admit, it brought a smile to my face when the bubbles came up...I guess this is just the beginning of what it is going to be like with three boys!!!




Sunday we spent the day looking for a Christmas tree. I know, it is not Thanksgiving yet, but I like a big full tree and they are always picked over on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Brad is way to busy at work on Black Friday and Saturday, so it is usually the Sunday before we are able to get out and get a tree. It will stay outside until after Thanksgiving. I guess that shows my true greed. :(


David wants to "be charged" (that is how he says "in charge") of watering it. He is getting to be so big and responsible. I am super proud of him. Yesterday he helped me go through the little boys rooms and purge their outgrown clothes and toys. We are bringing them to some friends that have younger kids and the rest to Goodwill. David ran to his room to look for things that he could give away. He grabbed some old Vacation Bible School t-shirts that he doesn't wear anymore and some shirts that are saturated in stains to add to the give away pile! My sister, Cathy sends him the Highlights Kids magazine. He went and grabbed one and a pen. He wanted to know what her address was so he could send it to her dog (she doesn't have any children). I guess he thought the dog would read it?!? He was serious and so I told her the address. Sis, Sierra should be receiving her book soon! :) 'Tis the season for giving!

Not too much going on around here. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. The kids are excited, I am too. I hope the food turns out OK!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Santa's Elf Has Arrived at Our House...

NaugtyNize (sitting on cross)

and the book Santa sent with him

Yesterday, when we came back from picking David up from school we had a new book on the coffee table. It was about an elf that watches kids for Santa. David soon noticed that an elf was on the fireplace mantle! The book said we had to name him. Christopher wanted to name him "Santa Claus". Since that may be too confusing, David came up with "Whitie Red" (he is red with a white collar). About two hours later, when everyone else was outside and had forgotten about "Whitie Red", David out of the blue says his name is going to be "NaughtyNize". So he is officially "NaughtyNize" (no, not naughty nice). According to the book and the tradition. Every night he goes to the North Pole to give Santa a behavior report. The next morning, he'll be in a different location. When Brad came home, David told him all about NaughtyNize and how we have to be on our best behavior because he will tell Santa everything...even how we act at school and work!! When he got to the part about him being in a new spot every morning Brad looked at me like, "How the heck are we going to remember to do that!" So last night Brad and I came up with our story just in case he doesn't move one night! :)

I figured since NaughtyNize is watching everything that the boys do, Brad and I will take the night off tonight! :) Just joking...we have a sitter. We are going to the Hornet's game tonight. We have season tickets and I haven't been to the last four games. I am pretty excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the Hornets games. They are so much fun. David loves going to the games, but it is finally my turn! We told him last night that a sitter was coming to stay with them tonight and his first response was, "Oh you have a meeting?". Before Christopher was born when I was selling real estate I would work a lot and a sitter would come stay with him. Since I am only working while they are in school, we don't use a sitter as often. He still associates a sitter with me working or having a Board meeting. I thought yesterday was a good day to start telling him the truth! :) I told him that Brad and I are going to the Hornet's game, expecting him to get upset and he just asked why he couldn't go too. It is a school night so I am going to go instead of him! He was totally fine with it!!! Thanks NaughtyNize. I know that I would not have had the same response if you were not watching!! :)

UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG - Christopher just came in here and said uhoh. I look down and his underwear are soaked. ...Let me take a break and go find out where the pee is!!

OK, I'm back. Thankfully it was a small puddle on the ceramic floor. This potty training stuff is not fun. The thing that makes it even worse, I know that I'll be doing this again in six or eight months with Jacob. Part of me wants to give up on Christopher and just let them do it together after Christmas. I've heard it is even harder though the longer I wait.

Monday afternoon Jacob's teacher called me and said he had a fever. I went to pick him up and he did feel a little warm. I brought him back to my office with me until it was time for Brad to pick Christopher up. Monday's are "Brad days" (he is in charge of picking the boys up from school and keeping them entertained so I can work a full day). Once Jacob and I got back to my office I could tell he was not feeling well at all. Any other day, he would be bothering the receptionist for candy and running around my office like a mad man. This time he just sat and colored and then fell asleep in my chair. He had an ear infection. Since he has tubes, I can easily tell when he has an infection - it oozes out of his ear! Kind of yucky, but since he is not able to tell me too much, it helps so much when I can see the problem! Yesterday morning was Christopher's appointment with the ENT. Brad went with me to help hold him still since I did not want Christopher to be sedated (too risky for his heart). The ENT put a numbing cream up his nose and down his throat. While we were waiting for the numbing meds to soak in he took a look at Jacob. Jacob has a bad ear infection and a bad case of tonsillitis (possible strep). He gave him a shot of an antibiotic and loaded him up on some prescriptions (see previous post about him winning pharmaceutical trips courtesy of the Arton's!) Christopher did not want "that man" to come back. He was scared (and rightfully so!) "That Man" put a camera down his throat and we watched it on the screen. It IS obvious that he was intubated, but he doesn't think it is damaged enough to affect his voice. In fact, he didn't even notice anything wrong with his voice. He asked if Christopher ever had any problems with reflux. UMMMM YEP!! Remember when he would throw up 17 times an hour! No, unfortunately that is not an exaggeration!! Anyway, it appears as though he is still having some problems with reflux and that could irritate his throat and make him hoarse sounding. His pediatrician never wanted to do anything, her comment was if it is not bothering him- we have more important things to worry about. The ENT did agree that if it is not bothering him, the meds are probably not the best for him. They can have a lot of side effects that aren't worth risking in Christopher's case. Since it doesn't bother him and his voice is only "bothering" the therapist, we are not going to do anything about it! So, my motherly instincts were right again! ...No surgery and no big deal!

Murals by Christopher...Full Size - Any Location!

What a week! This past week we were gone every night. We were in Lafayette on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for Chick-fil-A Grand Opening Events. Christopher does not like the cow. Well, it is actually more than him not liking the cow. He is terrified and traumatized of the Chick-fil-A cow mascot. He literally shakes in fear. Sunday night after the first event of the week, he kept saying even after we were home, "Mommy, no cows!". Before he went to bed, I had to do a cow check of the house. By the Grand Opening on Thursday, he was too scared to even go into Chick-fil-A. We would get to the exit on the interstate and he would start crying, "Mommy, no cows!!"

One afternoon when Christopher was suppose to be taking a nap, he was busy practicing for a possible career as a artist doing wall murals. I've attached a photo of his first wall drawing. He not only does walls, but also bed linens and furniture. You may also remember his try on ceramic tiles too! If not, see the "How 'bout Jakey" post. Christopher doesn't take naps anymore but he has to stay in his room for quiet time until we go and pick David up from school. I went to go and tell him it was time to go and get David and he was super proud of his artwork. I asked him who did it and he showed me everywhere that he drew (carpet, chair, ottoman, sheets, wall, train table, trains, etc...). I asked him where he got the marker and he went straight to his bookshelf and showed me the book that had a dry erase marker in it that was suppose to be used for writing in the special book.

In other mess making news, Jacob decided to pour the entire bag of Doritos mix out. I'm not sure how he was able to reach up in the cabinet to get the bag down. I have a good idea, but I'm not sure! :) ...David...

On Thursday, David had Grandparent's Day at school. Brad's parents were busy with the Chick-fil-A opening and my parents didn't attend either so David went with us to Lafayette. Since he missed school, I tried to make it a somewhat educational day. After performing his very important job of quality control of the Chick-fil-A playground, we went to the Children's Museum in Lafayette. The boys had a fun time. Their favorite part was the ambulance inside the museum. David and Christopher enjoyed playing in the back of the ambulance. While Jacob loved being the e driver. I've attached a picture of David performing CPR on Christopher.

Saturday morning was the AHA Heart Walk in Lake Charles. We went over and spent the night with my parents Friday night since the Heart Walk was early in the morning. It was not like the one in Baton Rouge. I think the boys had fun, but I was a little disappointed. It appeared as though they didn't know children are affected by heart disease too! I did meet one other Mom of a CHD child, she mentioned that they don't have any type of support groups or events for kids. I told her about our foundation...and that my friends, is another reason you should support http://www.lpcf.com/ :) We have started working on the annual tennis tournament fundraiser for LPCF. If you have an item that you'd like to donate for our silent auction or would like to be a sponsor, please let me know!! :) We appreciate everyone's help in making the fundraisers so successful. Last year we were one of the top fundraisers for Baton Rouge and had a lot of fun doing it!

David was super excited to hear that my dad got a four wheeler! The boys rode around the yard many times.

After the Heart Walk and visiting my Grandparents, Brad headed back to Lafayette to work. The boys and I headed out to Sam Houston State Park for a picnic with my mom and dad. Christopher kept running ahead and so my dad picked out a stick for him to hold one end and my dad to hold the other side. It worked for a while. Jacob on the other hand had to be held the entire time. He was heading straight for the water or the road. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a good time being outside - even though we missed the LSU/Bama game! I like this picture of David, Christopher and my dad walking on the nature trail.

My Target Shopping Experience on Election Night!!

WAAAHOOOOO AMERICA - We are getting a dog!

Last night after David's tennis lessons, I decided to run into Target to try and grab a few items. I RARELY take all three of the boys shopping with me (especially that late at night) - but Brad was working in Lafayette and we needed some things, so... I'm grabbing some diapers and all of a sudden I hear a woman yell from across the store "OBAMA'S PRESIDENT". Then through out the store everyone was clapping and screaming (I did hear a few moans!) I tried to remain calm and prayed that my little David would not voice his opinion since it was VERY obvious that the people in Target did not vote the way I did. I have heard all kinds of rumors in the media that riots would occur if he was not elected. Oh no...I freaked out...Is there about to be a "joyous" riot in Target right in front of my young children???? I could imagine people grabbing can goods and throwing them across the store, unrolling the toilet tissue and "rolling" the store, shaking bottles of champagne and opening them in celebration... And then David asks in his loud big boy voice. "Mom, why are they yelling?" Trying to keep him quiet and not alert everyone that we seem to be in the minority I respond that "I don't know. ...Let's just grab the diapers and head home." Once we got in the car, I told David that Barack Obama is going to be the next president. He was upset. David is very competitive. He knew who we wanted to win and was upset because "our" Maverick didn't win. He wanted to know if Daddy was going to have to pay "Rock" more (that is what he called Barack). Oops - at that point, it was obvious that we have talked too much politics in front of David! :) I tried to explain the election process to him. I told him that "Rock" had more people that wanted him to be president (I didn't explain the ACORN stuff to him!!). The person that gets the most people, wins! He was OK after I explained that "everyone" else wanted "Rock" to win.

I will try not to get on a political rant...but as a wife of a self-employed "small business owner" that will be affected by Obama's tax plan and as a mother of a "special needs" child that has weekly therapy and long-term medical expenses and as someone that has to pay OVER $1,000 a MONTH for health insurance (not including co-pays and prescriptions)..I am looking forward to finding out what "Rock" will be doing for us as we are handing him our hard earned cash!.... The really sad thing is that this is not only affecting us as "self-employed" people. This is going to cause the price of everything to go up. Do you think Joe the Plumber is going to keep his rates the same? Nope...he will be increasing his service charges to cover the increase in taxes that he will be paying. And those taxes will be paying for the "First Dog", dog food and steam cleaning the house training of it! :)

On a more positive note...A few weeks ago we were looking at houses. We asked David if he would rather live in a neighborhood or have a house with a big yard. He told us he wanted to live in the White House. I told him that is where the president lives and that Daddy will not be the president. He wanted to know why Daddy would not be the president. One really good thing about Obama becoming our next president is that he truly does show that anyone can be president. I am not talking about just the color of his skin. In just the past few years, he has gone from a typical American to the White House (with a few questionable financial donations). I must admit that I am excited that he is not a "professional" politician. On the other hand, I hope his lack of experience (political and age) does not hurt him make good decisions. Hopefully he will choose good people to be on his cabinet that will reassure the public that he is not only "changing" America, but changing it for the better! Change is not hard - and after our current prez, the bar has not been set too high! :) Make us proud "Rock" and prove me wrong! I wasn't in front of you last night, but now that you are the Prez- I'll get behind and support you! :) I do however, request the same from you...think about ME and my family sometime!! :)

Here is a picture of Christopher and his favorite Speech Therapist, Ms. Alyssa.

In other news, I brought Christopher to the ENT last week for the vocal cord scope. He was unable to do it because (much to my surprise!) Christopher was too congested and had ear infections in both ears. So we ended up leaving with four prescriptions (antibotics, steroids, ear drops and decongestant) along with another appointment in two weeks to try and do the scope then. Since I already was ranting earlier....I'll continue :) Do you ever get the feeling that the Doctor creates prescriptions for those trips and prizes that the drug companies offer them? And what about scheduling follow-ups? Now he gets two office visits!! I mean really!?! Christopher was not in ANY pain, showed NO signs or symptoms of even the common cold and I left with four prescriptions to fill. I filled the ear drops and the decongestant (just in case we needed it), but I'm not big on unnecessary antibiotics and since he is a cardiac patient I didn't want to give him a steroid to increase his heart rate even more -so I didn't get them. I hope I'm not the one that prevents the Doc from the cruise that the pharmaceutical company is offering! :) But I am the one having to pay for the prescriptions. :)

Anyway, I'll update on Tuesday when we try again to do the scope to check for vocal cord damage from him being intubated during his heart surgery. His therapist seems to think that the "physical therapy" he was doing while he was in the coma may have also affected his tonsils. It is pretty common problem with kids who have been intubated for an extended period of time. At this point, I'm not worried about it. I hate to sound like I'm not concerned, but really...at this point, I am thankful he is just able to speak. Remember earlier this year, at two years of age he couldn't even say "Moma"?!?! My prayers for him to speak have defiantly been answered...and Christopher LOVES to constantly show me!! :) Maybe I am naive or in denial, but I really don't even notice the voice problem everyone is pointing out. Then again, if I listened to everything that his medical team has try to scare me with in the past, he wouldn't be able to talk, walk or even be alive.

Another Diognosis to Add to Christopher's Repertoire

Where do we start...All five of Christopher's therapists have asked, "Does he always sound like that?". Yep. The therapist he works well with and the one that I trust the most, asked me to make an appointment with an ENT. She seems to think he has vocal cord damage. Even after being asked dozens of times about his voice, I had never thought about vocal cord damage. It could have been damaged when he was intubated for his heart surgery. The more I think about it, I can vividly remember how "rough" I thought some of the nurses were handling him while he was in the coma after the surgery. When he had the chest infection they would sit him up and bang on his back with some special "physical therapy" tool to break up the mucas in his chest. Sure, he didn't feel it, since he was in the coma - but now I am realizing that damage can be done, even if he didn't feel it!!

As she was explaining what it could be, she kept telling me..."I don't mean to scare you, but I think you should get it checked out!" She is not fully aware of the medical issues we have gone through. After reassuring her that I am going to make an appointment, but I am not really concerned. She said, it could require surgery and they may have to shave his vocal cords down a little. I said, Ok...is it life threatening? Of course she said no. I said I'm OK with it then! It was just one of those days and I bet I have her thinking I am some crazy woman! Well, I am...but I have decided not to get concerned until after we meet with an ENT tomorrow. I won't lie - it is on top of my mind, but I'm not too concerned yet!

We had a fun fall weekend. Halloween festivities all weekend! Saturday, I brought the boys to Boo at the Zoo. Brad "worked" (that means he was at the LSU game "supervising" his employees as they sold Chick-fil-A sandwiches IN the stadium) so Nana (Stephanie Ray) went along with us. I thought since it was a home LSU game day, there wouldn't be too many people there. Boy, was I wrong!! It took us over an hour to get into the zoo from Thomas Rd. I was pretty aggravated sitting in traffic, but even more so when we finally got into the zoo parking lot and saw four sheriff's deputies standing around talking, instead of directing traffic or assisting people in parking!! I rolled down my window to let them know about the traffic situation out on the road. The said they were already aware of it and continued standing around in the parking lot!!! I was extremely aggravated. If you'd like to know the rest of the story - you'll have to ask Nana! ...I'd like for y'all to think I am a very patient and polite law abiding citizen! :)

Yesterday was our neighborhood picnic. That is what the pictures of Jacob are from. He had so much fun bobbing for apples. We are a really close neighborhood - thankfully! He would grab an apple, take a bite and then put it back in the water. Brad was completely grossed out. I am sure it was not the most sanitary game I could have chosen for them to play. But he had fun and I doubt it is any worse than him taking off his dirty Crocs and chewing on them. A daily task that Jacob participates in! By the way, everyone else was finished playing when Jacob did this! The first picture was before the "competition". That is why he has his game face on. After many tries and bites, he thought he would do better without his shirt on. Christopher and David had fun jumping in the bouncy and playing football, instead of playing in the chewed apple water. Hmmmm...that may have been why Jacob woke up in the middle of the night congested last night! :)

I worked all day today, so Brad picked up the boys from school and they headed over to Lafayette for the evening to see his parents and help out with the Chick-fil-A opening over there. I'm excited about having some peace and quiet. It is rare that I have a NO BOYS evening to myself. Usually when Brad and the boys are gone, it is because I am busy at a meeting or something myself. Tonight I can just sit at home, watch one of my girlie shows, post an update on their blogspot or just do whatever I want without having to get anyone a juice cup, fix dinner or change a diaper!! Wow...this is FUN!!!! :) I have been sooooo exhausted lately. I guess you can tell by my post today, I have been in quite a mood! :)

Yep..Those are the NKOTB (New Kids on the Block)

Last weekend was super fun!! I went to the New Kids on the Block concert. The concert was great and sooooo much fun. They did kind of disappoint me when they came out for an encore wearing the Boston Celtics jerseys. The concert was in the New Orleans arena (where the Hornets play). As a major Hornets fan, I thought that was a little disrespectful. Of course, since the whole arena was filled with women...no really there were not ANY guys there...they knew they could get away with it. The concert was great and long. After the concert, we met up with our husbands and hung out in New Orleans for the night.

This weekend was also the Louisiana Pediatric Cardiology Foundation Family Picnic. I was charge of it so after being up all night and only two hours of sleep we headed back to Baton Rouge Sunday morning to prepare for it. The boys stayed at Brad's parents while we were in New Orleans so G'ami (Brad's mom) and Gran (Brad's grandma) met us at the picnic too. The boys had a good time jumping and playing. It was nice and so encouraging to see so many children doing well after such serious heart diseases, difibulators, pacemakers, heart transplants and various surgeries. The kids wore their Halloween costumes and we went with a fall carnival theme. At the end of the picnic, the "heart kids" let the heart balloons go that we used for decorations. It was really cool. They all headed toward the sun, so I wasn't able to get a good picture.

Later that evening, we had a Fall party at church. Thankfully, with such a full day - the boys were exhausted and ready for bed. Until we realized that Cow (not only what he is, but also his name!) did not make it home from Pop and G'amis. Those of you that don't know Cow, he is a member of our family (he even has a picture on this site!) Stevie and Jamie bought him for David's first birthday and he has slept with David EVERY night since. He used to go to little school with David, he travels with us when we go out of town, etc. Thankfully now that David is 5 1/2 he only "needs"him to sleep with. David was upset and after I created a makeshift "Cow" he agreed to go to bed. He then came out crying, "But G'ami doesn't have his food". Brad and I tried so hard not to laugh. I asked him what Cow ate and David looked at me as if I was the dumbest person on the planet..."he eats HAY". I must admit I was quite surprised, because for the past few years I had not been stocking the pantry with hay for Cow. We promised David that Cow would be OK for one night and that we'd go get him after school on Monday. Well on Monday, Brad picked David up from school but David didn't want to go back to Lafayette to get Cow. Today is Wednesday and David has not asked about Cow since Sunday night!!!

Our Fall Vacation....

Last week we packed up the boys and the Sequoia and headed for the "woods". David has been wanting to go camping - so we did the next best thing....rented a cabin at Beavers Bend (Oklahoma). We went horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, fly fishing and of course made a bunch of s'mores! We had to stay somewhere that would catch the sorry LSU game - so we stayed at the Dancing Rabbit cabin. It was super nice (nicer than my house!!) The closet was so big, we ended up putting Jacob's pack and play in there for him to sleep. David loved the pool table and the hot tub. Christopher's favorite part was the tipi. They had a huge tipi on the side of the house.

My parents met us up there on their way to pick up my Dad's new hunting dog, since hunting dogs aren't bread in Louisiana. Hmmmm...maybe just another excuse for them to travel :) My mom went horseback riding with us and Dad created a new hobby for Brad...fly fishing. Brad is on a fly fishing kick - looking for places in this area to do it. I am excited about his new hobby. I (like my parents) love to travel and maybe this will mean we'll have to go on more trips to the mountains where the "REAL" fly fishermen go! :)

One more quick note...this weekend is our LPCF Picnic. If you know of a family that has a congenital heart defect or disease, please pass the word out. We are meeting at the BREC park on Jefferson Hwy from 11-2 this Sunday. We have a clown coming, inflatable bouncing things and some yummy food! Check out our website for more details. http://www.lpcf.com/ Also, for those of you in Lake Charles - the AHA Heart Walk is November 8. I have set up a Team Christopher - Cardiac Kids since we had to miss the Baton Rouge walk (remember Jacob was in the hospital!). Even those of you out of Lake Charles can participate by making a donation. I won't get on my soapbox - but y'all know how I feel about kids with heart disease and the lack of research about it. It is afterall the No. 1 birth defect!!! More kids die because of heart disease than ALL pediatric cancers combined...Let's raise some awareness people!!! :)

We did not get the rookie toothfairy this time!!

Thank God we did not get that fairy dust leaving tooth fairy this time! Last Friday David lost his second tooth. This time he quite literally "LOST" the tooth. He came in from school and said, is my tooth still in? Nope. He worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come since he didn't have the tooth. We left a note for her. David went to bed early (just in case she came early) and I ended up falling asleep on the couch - waiting for her. She never came. Thankfully another fairy sneaked in and left a note saying how great of a big brother David is and thanked him for doing so well in school. When David woke up, I panicked (since I was STILL on the couch). Brad told me that he thought she came and so we went to look and she had the note and money under his pillow. David was upset that she didn't leave a toothbrush or glow stick like she did last time. We quickly responded that she must only do that for the FIRST tooth! He pointed out that it must have been a different one than last time since she didn't make a mess. {See previous tooth fairy post}.

This weekend is the school fundraising fair. Brad and I have to work the ticket booth tonight from 5-10! I am not too excited, but if it is what helps keep our tuition down - I am there!!! Sunday, David is performing in a fair act. I'll take pictures and post them next week. In the meantime, have a good weekend!

Do good at church...Get a gun!?!

First let me say...if you read that last post, Sorry! I had just received the e-mail about the "hope" study and the comments got me wound up! I intended to inform you about what happens when you are are good in church, instead I got on a rant about the lack of "hope" our doctors had given us! :(

Anyway...several weeks ago during the hurrication, David got paid for picking up the branches from my parents yard. Last week he spent that money on a transformer thingy and had one dollar left. On Sunday morning, after we dropped Christopher and Jacob off in the nursery David went to "big" church with us. Brad was going to give him some money to put in the collection plate. (That is David's favorite part of church!) David pulled his own dollar out and said he wanted to put his in. Without being told or promted, he brought his last dollar to give at church. We are both VERY proud of him. When we got in the car Brad told David that since he gave his last dollar to church, we could go to Cabela's and get a gun! David has been wanting another gun for a long time. My parents got him one for Christmas a couple of years ago. He plays with it often and it is broken in two places. Brad and I are not big fans of guns (especially for little children) so I didn't think he would be getting another one. Brad totally surprised me by getting him a new one that shoots little pellets. David has played with it non-stop. I just think it is kind of funny that you get rewarded with guns for being good at church! :)

Warning: Venting TODAY!!

HOPE!?!...I am in a bible study group for "special needs" parents. hmmm, I'm not sure how or why one child is classified as "special". I never got that....implying that a healthy child is not "special"!?! I can't think of a better word for children who require more doctor appointments that the average child, but I'm not too sure if "special" is the best word.

Anyway... the bible study is lead by one of the neurologist in the office that Christopher visits. ...For those of you that may not be familiar with why we have "neurologist" added to our team of docs.. Christopher was delayed in most of his milestones (rolling over, sitting up, crawling and the most obvious ones were walking and talking). At two years old, the only words Christopher would say were"eat" and "dada". Christopher's neurologist (not the Bible Study Neurologist!) told me that because Christopher's oxygen saturation levels were low the first couple of months of his life (prior to his heart surgery) and since he had been in a coma for an extended amount of time - he probably has brain damage. At two years of age, he was operating on a 9 mth old level. Brad was not at the appointment with me and in order to do brain scans he would have to be sedated. Because of his heart issues, he is in a higher risk for having complications with anesthesia. Since I was alone and don't handle stress well - I voted no brain scan. The information from the scan would not correct the problem - we would just know...yes, the lack of oxygen has damaged his brain. Duhhhhh. After I refused the brain scan the neurologist proceeded to tell me that Christopher is mentally retarded... One may ask...hmmm...How in the heck does she know that if I just REFUSED the brain scan!!?????!!

This may also remind you of the time when I was pregnant with Jacob (just a few months after Christopher's open heart surgery in Boston!) and the Maternal Fetal Doctor told Brad and I that Jacob had Trisomy 18. Trisomy 18 is a fatal chromosome disorder. He went so far as to tell us that IF Jacob was born alive he would not live past his first birthday. Most children with this disease are stillborn. After Brad and I refused to do anything about it (other than pray and cry) the next month we were told...the chance of him having it was much lower (still high - but lower than the previous month). Of course our little Jakey did not continue to grow according to their standards and he was "taken" early. But look our Jacob now!! Healthy and 18 months old....hhmmmm, isn't 18 mths more than ONE YEAR??????

One more story...When I was pregnant with Jacob, during the time we thought he had Trisomy 18, Christopher had an infected eye and was very congested. It was on a weekend and right after his heart surgery so I was concerned. I made an appointment for one of the doctors at his pediatrician's office (not our normal pediatrician) and she diagnosed Christopher as having neuroblastoma. A fatal pediatric cancer that attacks the spinal cord and stomach. She wrote down the name of the disease for me to start reading about it and told us to make sure we come back to see our normal doctor on Monday morning. I was too stressed to even look it up, so Brad did. He called me from to work to explain what it was. hmmm, after he read the symptoms we realized that Christopher did not have it. We went to see our pediatrician and she apologized for Dr. Fletchas ignorance and assured us that Christopher did not have anything more than a cold! hmmmm....one may ask..."How do you confuse the common cold with neuroblastoma?"

OK...so back to the bible study...next week the topic is Hope. In order to prepare for next week the comment was made, "I feel that doctors have an obligation to give the reality of individual situations, and not provide parents with a false hope or false sense of security that children will be fine or normal" I love that the Doctor is leading the bible study and I found it very ironic that she would not want to provide parents with a false hope or false sense of security. When I feel that many of the doctors (especially in our case) are doing just that! Don't get me wrong...I DO want to know the diagnosis for my children but don't put unnecessary labels on children that hamper their self-esteem and give them excuses to give up without any medical evidence that something is wrong. After hearing the murmur, performing an EKG and echo cardiogram, Christopher was diagnosed as having four complex defects in his heart. I kept listening to Dr. Brumund explain the disease and the whole time I was wondering...Is this life threatening? I didn't know how to ask him other than by blurting out "Is he going to die??" and I was too scared of what the answer would be. I love that Dr. Brumund has never given us a false sense of security or false sense of hope. He is by far the most trusted Doctor on our "team". He has been honest and given us the life expectancy of most children with this disease BUT also gave us hope and told us how fast technology changes and he has encouraged us to let Christopher live a "normal" life...just like any other child. You never know how long your child will live (healthy or not!) - but why not make the best of each day you do have? If they enjoy being active, let them. If they want to try something new, let them. Let him live!! I think by doing that we have seen how Christ lives in and through us. How blessed we really are and how faith (or lack of!) can change things!!!

It is hard not to believe in God, when you see my "nine month old level", "mentally retarded", cardiac defected, "cancer" kid that is running, climbing, speaking to me in full sentences and acting like any other 2 1/2 year old child. Sure a lot of it has to do with the incompetent doctor staff misdiagnosing things. But I think a lot of it has to do with our "Hope" and Faith. God has some created some very talented physicians, therapists and surgeons and for that I am extremely thankful!! And by the way...Jacob seems to be just fine too! ;) He does not have Trisomy 18!

Hmmm...How 'bout Jakey???

Today is Jacob and Christopher's first day of Mom's Day Out. I thought they would do better if Brad brought them. Ok - I can't fool y'all. I thought I would do better if Brad brought them. I ended up going to work before they left. He called to say they did horrible. Both of them were crying. Surprisingly, I am not too upset. Christopher cried a lot in the beginning last year and then LOVED going. I think it is just going to take a week or so for him to get used to it. Jacob on the other hand, has never been left with anyone else - other than the sitters at our house and church nursery. He may take a little bit longer to adjust. I will be heading over there shortly to pick them up and see how their day went. I attached a picture I took with my phone earlier today.

I just wanted to share a quick story. Yesterday while David was in school and Jacob was taking a nap. Christopher decided to dig through his new school supplies and take the crayons out. When I walked into the kitchen, the floor had crayon markings ALL over. I asked who colored on my floor and Christopher without even thinking said, "Hmmm, how 'bout Jakey?" I still didn't have it cleaned up when Brad came in and Christopher stuck with the story that Jacob did it. When I told Brad look how pretty Jacob colored and then I asked Christopher which one he did...he ran to one of the spots and said "THIS ONE!!". Ooops - Busted!!! :)

Do you all remember what happened seven years ago today? The World Trade Centers and Pentagon Tragedies, my boss at the apartment complex laid all the entire office staff and.....Brad asked me to marry him!!! I obviously said yes!!!! Four months later we were married and seven years later, we're living in Baton Rouge with three little men.

Evacuees...

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. We left last Friday to run away from Gustuv. We packed up as much as we could in the Tank (including Mae Mae - the stinky dog!) and headed to Dallas. We never travel with a dog and so when it came time to check in the hotel - we were reminded that dogs can't stay in hotels. Oops!! Mae Mae (along with several other evacuee dogs) ended up sleeping in the truck. Please don't call PETA...we checked on her several times throughout the night and she was fine! While we were in Dallas, Matt and Cheryl were gracious enough to let us stay over there a couple of nights. The boys had so much fun. We ended up going boat riding with them and even Christopher ended up riding in the tube this time. I'll post some new pictures in the next couple of days. I'm too busy unpacking and preparing for Ike today!

The day after the storm hit, we met up with my parents who were also evacuating up there. We followed them back to Sulphur - what a LOOOOOONG trip back. The traffic was much worse returning than it was leaving. The boys and I ened at my parents until last night. Our area was hit pretty bad. Thankfully we don't have any damage, but many people around us do. I was planning on returning home as soon as the power came back on (Saturday) but when I informed David that we had power he was upset. He mentioned that we couldn't leave yet because he did not get to see Grandpa's tree stand. David LOVES anything that has to do with the hunting/camping or the outdoors. He didn't want to miss the opporunity to see a tree stand. We ended up having a fun week. The boys went boat riding, saw a duck blind, saw a tree stand, went to the beach (even though it was disgusting!!), rode a four wheeler.... We have a vacation scheduled for next month and hopefully it will supercede our evacuation trip! :)

This morning we watched the weather and it looks as if Ike could come here. I am not one that stays around for storms-so just in time for our return, I booked a cabin in Gatlinburg for this Thursday through Sunday. If anyone wants to skip town with us we have plenty of room. It has three bedrooms, two baths, hot tub, pool table, fooseball table and air hockey table. What more would you want??? I bought travel insurance for it so we don't have to go if the storm heads elsewhere...but it was so pretty and looks fun enough to go anyway!! I'm not too crazy about an 11 hour drive right now though! Hurricane season...good times!!!



I'll update soon. I have too much to do today...wash clothes, unpack, reschedule Chrisotpher's appointments that we missed... this iis just so much more fun.