The BIG Day!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG day -- the day we fly to ILLINOIS for a two week visit! YIPPIE SKIPPIE! I am very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very excited! I've been telling people that Douglas is too, but in all honesty, I don't think he really cares as long as he's going wherever mama is! :-) I think the excitement will hit him once we get there and see all the people we love so very much. Anyhow, the bag(s) are almost completely packed....then I have to weigh the bag we are checking to make sure it's not overweight....and if it is then REpacking will ensue. But the excitement is there none-the-less! I couldn't sleep last night for all the excitement raging through me!!!! YAY!!!

Helllooooooo?????

Does anyone even read this blog?

Peanut Butter and Hives

Douglas had his first real peanut butter sandwich today. It was all his own, not just a taste off of mine. He had 3 or 4 decent sized bites. Twenty minutes later, he had a face & neck FULL of hives! I gave him Benadryl and put some cortisone cream on the spots that seemed to be itching the worst. Douglas was conked out by the Benadryl but I kept an eye on him. He seemed OK aside from the hives - meaning, he was breathing fine. I spoke to the nurse at his Pediatricians office and she said the only things I could have done differently were that I could have given him a larger dose of Benadryl than I did AND that I should have listened to the Doc when she said to wait until Douglas was 2 to introduce peanut butter.

Hmmmm....I don't think I will try to introduce peanut butter again!!! :-)

OBX Pictures....finally

As I said in my previous posting about this trip - it was a blast! Here are just a few of my favorite pictures (of the more than 100 that we took over the 4 days!!). Hope you enjoy them too!

YAY ME!!!

I know it's been over a month since the semester ended, but I just found out that I made the Dean's List for the Spring 2009 semester! I've never made the Dean's list before but this semester I was able to pull off a 4.0 GPA. I'm quite surprised about both those things (4.0 GPA AND the Dean's List). WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!

A new recruit for the Future Plumbers Association of America

"They" say that many people decide as children what they want to be when they grow up - teachers, nurses, actors, etc. I think this picture tells us just what Douglas has decided he wants to be!!!

Just another Red-Letter kind of day!

It's been kind of rainy here for the past week or so. The days when it isn't raining, it's very hot and very humid. SO, we have been spending a lot of time indoors. Yesterday, Douglas kept bringing me his shoes and then running to the door - his indicator that he wants to go outside! So I obliged him. We went out and he ran around the yard while I did a little bit of gardening. Then he decided he wanted to be up on the porch. So he climbed up the stairs and started playing with the bicycle that we have sitting up there. I told him not to play with it and he wandered away but as soon as I turned my attention back to the plants, I hear this great crash followed immediately by a scream from Douglas. I look up and he's all hunkered down and the bike is tipped over on top of him. I pulled it off and checked him out. Sure enough, he banged up his ear pretty good. There's a big ol' bruise along the outer cartiledge and a nice scratch on the inside curve part. This picture doesn't capture all the pretty colors but you get the idea...

So I take him inside & clean his ear up. A few hours later, he's bringing me his shoes again and wants to go back outside. It's almost time for Allen to come home so I figure what could it hurt to spend some more time outside! Silly me! We weren't outside for more than 5 minutes when Douglas fell down on the concrete sidewalk and skinned both of his knees!!! He wasn't ready to come back inside, so I hosed him down (he REALLY liked that!). When Allen got home, we came back in the house and cleaned Douglas up (again) and Neosporined up his knees & his ear.

I just feel so bad for the poor kid! I was bathing him yesterday too and found this big scratch across the top of his head! It's pretty well hidden by his hair but it's also about an inch long so I was really surprised when I found it! It was already scabbed over so it had been there for a few days at least but I hadn't noticed it at all -- what a great mom I am!!

I know I should be ready for stuff like this being that Douglas IS a boy and he IS a kid and boy kids are generally very prone to ouchies, but still...seeing this big scrapes & bruises on my little baby makes me get butterflies in my tummy -- the bad kind that make me feel like I am going to throw up!!! Yeeeeeech.

"You Gotta Have Strength"

I think I've mentioned to a few people that Douglas just LOVES his Thomas the Tank Engine videos. Well, all the videos have a song on them. This song is called "You've Got To Have Strength". Every time the song starts up, Douglas drops whatever he may be doing and starts to dance....THIS dance to be specific. EVERY TIME. It's quite cute actually.

27 Days

Less than ONE month! Less than FOUR weeks! Why am I so excited? Because, as in the words of the immortal Ozzy Osbourne, "Mama, I'm comin' home!!" Yes, that's right ladies & gents. I am making a pilgrimage across this beautiful nation and it is going to end in the great, flat state of Illinois. OK, OK -- so that's a tad bit of an exaggeration. BUT Douglas & I will be coming to Illinois for 2 weeks at the beginning of July. During our stay in IL, I hope to see as many of my friends & family members as I can. And that is why I am so dang excited. It's been a year since I saw most of my friends and family. A WHOLE YEAR. That is just much, much too long a span of time to go without seeing the ones I love.

Anyhow...for those of you who haven't seen this picture yet - here is what is quite possibly my favorite picture of Douglas. Taken during our trip to North Carolina at the beginning of May, Douglas was chasing Allen around trying to tickle him and giggling like a maniac the whole time! God bless this little man! :-)