A Season of Change...

So there has been a lot going on and with all this change I feel I need to get some things off my chest. The first and foremost important change is that the principal of our school has decided not to come back for the next school year. This is not unusual in the fact that teachers/staff/directors/principals come and go, but this particular change is going to bring about some things to be concerned about. When I started working at my school 3 years ago, Makayla was not going to school yet, since she was just 6 months old. By my second year, Phil and I felt that it was time for her to start going. I had heard rumors that teachers would get a discount on their child's tuition so I went to the principal to talk to her about it. Sure enough, I was right, but at that particular time, (since I am an aide) I was only eligible for a mere 20% discount. Well since Makayla wasn't going that much, that was ok. But this year, Makayla was in a different class and so I felt that the 20% was cutting it. (Lead teachers got a 50% discount.) So I again went to the principal and she really worked with me on getting me a 40% discount! That was huge! That really helped us out! Well, with her leaving, I am just worried about the next principal, will they keep that policy? We have heard that they can't just take it away, but as each year passes, the discount might be less and less. Well, as Makayla gets older, the tuition increases. We have also been informed that tuition will be going up a LOT next year. This is also a concern. Since I am an aide, I don't make that much, but enough to cover about half her tuition that we pay now...what if the tuition goes up to where my whole paycheck has to go for her tuition? Will it be worth it for me to keep working? Should we try and find a public school? These are all very real possibilities. I am really trying to just put this in God's hands and I will follow what I think he wants us to do.

The other thing that is scaring me is that I have been bitten. Bitten hard. Bitten by what you ask? Well, I will tell you.... the baby bug. Yep, that's right. Ever since Makayla was born I could not even fathom the idea of having another child. We knew we wanted more than one, but really couldn't imagine what that would be like. She has just been so wonderful and we have been perfectly content with her, but for some reason lately I have been having all these emotions and feelings about babies. Every time I see or hold a baby or even see a pregnant woman, I just feel this twinge in the pit of my stomach. I miss the feeling of being pregnant. I miss seeing the first smile, hearing the first laugh, getting that first hug etc. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE MAKAYLA with all my heart, but she too is feeling these effects. She has been asking Phil and I for a "baby sister" for many months now. I think she just wants someone to play with.. ha! Which I totally don't blame her for.. I mean how much fun can playing with your parents all the time really be? But is she really ready for this life altering change? Are we? I have been told a million times that even though you feel like you couldn't possibly love another child, you can. I really can't imagine loving another child as much as I love Makayla, but I guess I will just have to wait and see. We have talked about trying for next summer to get pregnant.. so that leaves us with only 7 months to cherish our time alone with our precious little girl. I really don't want this to come out wrong, because we really do want to have another baby, but for some reason I almost feel like this 7 month time frame is a death sentence in a way. Just for the fact that Makayla's whole way of life will be different. We will have to divide our attention as she won't be the center of ours anymore. She will have to share her toys and wait on Mommy when I have to take care of the baby. Will she still feel loved by us when things like this occur? I guess the only thing I can do is just pray and spend as much time with her as I can. Just to make me feel better, I need all you mommas with more than 1 child to give me some good advice and stories. Let me know how you got through it and I will be eternally grateful!

With a heavy heart,
Mama G

Another first for The Princess!

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was time for Makayla to experience her first movie in a theater. Madagascar was opening that weekend, so we set out to go on that Saturday afternoon. We went to eat some lunch first and then headed to the theater! She was in awe! It was so cute to see her big ol' eyes just taking everything in. She called the screen, "A really big tv!" Haha!! Well, as a result, all she talks about is the animals that "went to Africa" and she also walk around singing, "I like to move it, move it!!" So stinkin adorable!! So here are some pictures from our movie experience! Enjoy!!

In front of the theater!

She was checking out the poster for another movie!

Movie is about to start!!

Afterward she got to ride on a helicopter in the mall!

Something other than poop

Ok, I realize that my last post probably didn't appeal to many people... sorry about that. I just really had to get that out there because keeping that all bottled inside was driving me nuts! So, on to better things here folks!
I am happy to report that as of last week we have had poop free incidents! Yeah! Last weekend, Phil went out of town leaving Makayla and I to have a Mommy & Makayla Weekend of Fun!! I decided that since she is almost 3 (sniff, sniff) that it was time to introduce her to the world of film. And no, not the dirty kind you sickos. I knew that Madagascar was opening so we went and saw it on Saturday. It was so cute to see her experience that! She was just so amazed at the "really big tv" as we called it! Ha! She did so great too! She sat there the whole time and never got up! I was very proud of her!
This past Monday we decided to go get her annual Christmas portraits done at the Picture People in the mall. We did this last year and were VERY happy with the results. (Just come take a look at our house.... tons of the framed pics line almost every wall in our den!) Well, not too surprising, these lastest pictures turned out GREAT!!! They are so beautiful! I will post some up soon...

Well, I am gonna wrap this up, but will leave you with an entertaining story from school today:
We were taking our class to P.E. and I usually stand at the back of the line to make sure the kiddos aren't trying to escape! Ha! I kid, I kid! Anyway, one little girl says, "Mrs. Graf you know what?" I ask her what and she says, "Um.. my mom died last night, but then came back to life. (Slight pause) Soooo, she's all better now."

The NOT so fun events in October...

It couldn't be all good and well could it?? Well, I waited a week to write this because honestly, it took me a week to fully recover from it all. It all began last Saturday, the day after Halloween. Makayla had a wonderful time trick or treating, so we assumed her weekend would be a good one. We were wrong. We woke up Sat. morning, ate breakfast and played for a while. It came time to eat lunch and go down for a nap. She was still in a good mood and didn't put up a fight to take a nap, which is always nice. Well, I put her down around 12:30. Phil had been out with some guy friends and came home about 1:30. Makayla was STILL up making noise, so I told him he'd better go in there and see what the deal was. The next thing I hear is, "What did you do?!?!" I run in there and once again, see one of the worse things ever. She apparently had a poopy diaper and instead of telling me, she took it off and painted her crib, sheets, blankets, bears, and walls with it. It was absolutely disgusting. She of course got disciplined and we spent the next 2-3 hours cleaning up everything. We were furious. We put her to bed early that night and thought that the discipline took care of everything. We were once again, wrong. The next day, Sun. it happened AGAIN. We had put her down for a nap, and after like an hour of making non-stop noise, Phil went in there and she had painted with her poop again. We were so shocked, we honestly didn't know what to do. Did the discipline from the day before not register?? So we once again, punished her and had a very long talk about it. Then we spent the next couple of hours cleaning.

Now fast forward to Tues. (Which is her school day.) We woke up, had a GREAT morning. No fights over clothes or what to eat, it was wonderful! She was being her old, sweet self again. I dropped her at her classroom and then went to my class. A mere 2 hours later, the director came to see me. She said that Makayla had pooped in her pants (no big deal right) but while she was in the bathroom waiting for the teacher to change her, (The teacher was finished cleaning up another child) she apparently got bored and shoved both hands down her diaper and then smeared it all over her clothes again. Then when the teacher turned around, Makayla accidentally got some on the teacher!!!! I WAS MORTIFIED!! You know that teacher is getting a BIG Christmas gift from us!! Anyway, I just wanted to cry! I couldn't believe she would do that at school!! Home is one thing, at least no one else has to be subjected to it, but at school?!?! So they cleaned her up and I went down there and had another talk with her. But there is some good news.... we have not had another poop incident since Tues.! Thank goodness!
So I am in need of some advice here people! I called my pediatrician, who assured me that this can happen at this age and it's not out of the normal, but for crying out loud, how do I STOP it from happening?? If any of you have had a similar experience, please give us a shout out in the comments! I really need to know I am not the only one going through this!!

Fun Events in October!

So October was a very busy, fun-filled month! I decided to make a short slide show to encompass all the fun things we did! Enjoy!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It's all the toddler's fault...

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! The story I am about to tell is not going to portray me in a good light... just to warn you. I KNOW some of you have felt the same way and that is the only thing that is helping me through this. Here's what happened:
Today was Grandparent's and Special Friends Day at school. Makayla did not take a nap yesterday so I was somewhat worried about that...So I woke her up this morning and she was in an ok mood. I started to change her and put this very cute little outfit on her! I had washed it last night, so I was excited about her wearing it. She liked it too, but when I put her brown sandals on her, the fight began. She did NOT want to wear those sandals. I told her in a nice way that she didn't have a choice. Well that did not sit well with her so she started pouting and fussing. She threw herself on the floor on her tummy and wouldn't get up. I told her that I was going to the kitchen to eat and that if she didn't want to be hungry, she has better follow me. Well she didn't like that either, but knew I wasn't kidding. So she started crawling on her tummy into the kitchen. I let her do that because honestly, I didn't want to fight with her more than I had to, I was already running late. So she was still on her tummy and I told her it was time to get up and eat some breakfast. She stood up and the whole front of her dress and leggings were wet. I asked her if she spilt something on her and she said, "No, I went pee-pee." My heart stopped. I went over and took a quick smell and sure enough, pee-pee. I guess in the time she spent on her tummy, she peed a lot and it just came out the front of the diaper. I was livid. I told her that she completely ruined her outfit and that I was very disappointed that she layed down and got her dress all dirty. I took her back to her room and got her into something else. (Which wasn't nearly as cute... damnit) So after I got her re-dressed, we walked back into the kitchen to eat our breakfast. She refused to eat. My blood pressure started rising. I told her I was not kidding, that if she didn't eat this, I was not making anything else for her and she would be hungry. She took 2 little bites and said she was finished. I said fine, and threw it in the fridge and ushered her out the door. She seemed a little confused as to why I didn't give her something else to eat, but I was so mad at this point, I didn't care. We got to school and luckily she didn't pitch another fit, or else I think I would have lost my mind.
Why?? Why do kids have this sixth sense that when you are running late that they need to be as slow and uncooperative as possible??? This drives me insane!!! Here's the truth though, if you are a "late" person before you have kids, well then you're screwed because kids just make you even later to things. It seems my whole life, I am always running late. I hate this, but can't seem to fix it. I always think ahead about how much time I will need, but something always seems to come up and sure enough.. I am 15-20 min. late.... again. When I became pregnant with Makayla, this freak occurance happened the whole time where I was on time, if not early to everywhere I went. My friends didn't know what to think!! But wouldn't you know that the minute I had that child, I slipped back into my old habits.
Anyway, I hope you all know that I do love my child more than life itself and I would do ANYTHING for her. But there are days like today where I just want to strangle that child!! (Not literally here people, so please save your energy in calling CPS). She just knows exactly how to push my buttons. My one pet peeve with kids are when they are defiant. UGH! This just aggravates the hell out of me!! I am the adult and when I say to do something, then you had damn well better do it!!! It's like she doesn't take me seriously or something! I hate having to discipline, but what else am I supposed to do, let her get away with it? Um no, cause then we'll have one of those lovely spoiled brat kids running around. So, I guess I will just try and endure this time of toddlerville and hopefully with lots of prayer, we'll all survive it together!!

A trip to the Principal's office.....

So, Makayla has not had a good school week so far. First off, we are all still sick. Not enough to stay home, but just enough to feel like utter crap and be in a bad mood. When Makayla doesn't feel good, she ALWAYS acts out a little. So on Monday, we didn't have school so Phil and I took Makayla to Dewberry Farm. It is a cute little farm that has an awesome corn maze, a fort, swings, pumpkin patch, hay rides... the list could go on and on! The place doesn't open until 10, so we made sure to leave early because we wanted to be there right when it opened. We ended up getting there at about 10:20 and I think the whole freaking city of Houston decided to go too! We had to stand in line for 45 min. just to buy tickets and get in!!!!! But once we got in there, everything was great! Makayla had a blast! We ended up leaving around 2 because we needed to get Makayla home for a nap. We stopped briefly at my in-laws house and then got home around 3:30. We promptly put Makayla down for a nap and the child proceeded to sleep for 3 1/3 hours!!! So she woke up when she is normally going to bed! So we kept her up for a couple of hours and luckily we had no problem putting her back to bed.
This leads into the next day (Tues.) when she goes to school. I had to wake her up because of course she didn't quite get enough sleep, but she is in a good mood. So I take her to school and she seems fine. A little while later though, the Director of the Daycare center brings her down to me. This has never happened before. The Director, who is basically the equivalent of the Principal for that area, says that Makayla refused to do anything her teacher asked her to, and didn't listen and then went and hid under a table. So she leaves Makayla with me and she and I had a nice little talk. Anyway, the teacher said after that, they didn't have any more problems! But man alive, 2 1/2 and already going to the principal! Should I be worried for the future??

Mama G who??

Yes, I'm here...no seriously. I'm right here...I know, I know... I have been away for a while. It's been a little crazy around here since the hurricane hit. We have had tons of branch debris just sitting in front of our house...which really sucks. We have slowly gotten back into our routine, so it is very weird to look outside and still see remnants of the destruction. But luckily today, a nice big 18 wheeler came through the neighborhood and picked up everything! What a relief!

On a completely different note, one of the kids in our class had his last day on Friday. He went to be at another school that was better suited for their family, and it was just really sad. We had this little guy's older brother 2 yrs. ago, and we just loved their family. We will miss them so much! It is really hard when the kiddos leave at the end of the year too, because you know some of them won't be coming back. That is really the one downside of being a teacher... you just get so close with these kids and their families for 9 months, and then they are either gone, or on to another classroom. Luckily though, a good amount of parents keep their kids at our school, so we do get to see them again. This one just really hit me hard because we did have 2 of the kids and we really liked the family.

On yet another note.... I haven't been feeling too well lately. The stuff that this hurricane kicked up in the air has done a number on my allergies. Then a lovely stomach bug has been making the rounds at our school and of course I have caught a little of it. The only good thing is that I am not catching nearly as much as I had the first 2 yrs. at school. Man alive, when you immerse yourself in all the kiddie germs, it is horrible! You catch every little sniffle and runny nose... but after a while, you finally build up some immunity to it! Thank goodness!!
Well I have a Dr.'s appointment on Wed. to check my thyroid levels again. I really don't think the medicine is working... I think I need a higher dosage, so hopefully that will get straightened out then. Anyway, that's about it over here! Hope you all have a great week!

Babies, babies and more babies...

Ok, I might have added one too many babies...! So 2 of my best friends are pregnant!! Yeah!! They are also BOTH due in April, within weeks of each other! So exciting!! I can't even begin to explain how ecstatic I am about this!! There are several reasons why I am so excited, so here they are:
When I got pregnant many many moons ago (back in 2005/2006), none of my friends had kids. Not a single one. So my pregnancy was a pretty lonely one. I had no one to compare notes with or ask questions or anything. Luckily my pregnancy was a very easy one and I never got sick or had any complications. This did not however take away that very lonely feeling. Being pregnant is just an amazing experience and I could not wait until my friends could experience it too. It is truly a magical, wonderful thing to grow a baby inside you and just feel that connection. Ok, I know I am getting sappy, but it is awesome. I felt very sorry for my husband that he could not feel what I was feeling in my body. Another reason I am excited is just the fact that a baby truly does change everything. Your whole life revolves around that baby. Your feelings and well being come last.. now this might not sound too appealing for some of you, but it is totally worth it for the following reasons:

• First smile
• First laugh
• First roll over
• First crawl
• First steps
• First words
• First day of school
• Your child telling you they love you
  

I have personally experienced each of these events, and even now I tear up at the mere thoughts of them. There is absolutely no better feeling that having your child look at you and telling you that they love you. Oh. my. gosh. And believe me, you might think there are things that are better, but trust me, there isn't.

So knowing that my friends are about to embark on such events just makes my heart ache for them! (In a good way!) Ok ok, I know I need to stop now or the water works will really start flowing!

**To Kelly and Sara,
I truly love you both and I am so deleriously happy for you and can't wait to meet your little bundles of joy!!**

Mama G

We are alive and ok!

Hi friends,
Just wanted to let ya'll know that we did survive the hurricane and we are doing alright! We had no damage to the house or yard... just several branches come off our Magnolia tree. We lost power in the middle of the storm, and it only came back yesterday. We bunked in with my parents who only live about a mile away, and who coincidentally never lost power but had WAY more damage to their neighborhood! Go figure! My school is closed until Mon. which sucks for the fact that since I am hourly, I don't get paid when I am not there. So, that's kind of a bummer, but it has been nice to have a little break.

Well, it's getting late and I need to get some sleep! Hope you all are doing great, and I will talk to you soon!

Dr.'s Appt. and Hurricanes...

Will this madness ever end? For the last week, the news has inundated us with Hurricane Ike updates, letting us all know that we are pretty much screwed. Houston is going to be on the "dirty side" of the storm, so this weekend will prove to be very entertaining! The hubby went out tonight and got some supplies, just a few things in case we lose power. We didn't go overboard because these things have been known to change course at the last min. Several years ago when Rita was a big threat, we rushed out and got all this stuff and even taped up all our windows and guess what?? It lightly drizzled for the better part of a day. So be on notice Mr. Weather... we are not falling for your tricks again.. you have cried wolf too many times!

On another note, I finally went back to the Dr. after many, many tests and he finally figured out that I have hypothyroidism. Meaning an under active thyroid. He threw some sample meds at me and said to come back in 4 weeks. They will take some more blood and figure out if this medicine is not enough or too much... so that will be fun. I almost hoping that it is too much....maybe it will jump start my thyroid! That would be awesome!
I had an lovely experience in the waiting room though before my appoint and thought I would regal my dear readers with a story! So I get to the office about 15 min. early hoping that maybe the Dr. would be running somewhat on time... cough, cough... yeah right. So there are 2 other people in there waiting, a man and a woman. After signing in and sitting down, I notice that the woman is on her cell phone, which is no crime right? But it soon became apparent that she was, "Obnoxious loud phone talker person with no boundaries." Don't you love those types? So all of a sudden I hear her start talking about some crap about how the person she is talking to needs to come to some event at a church, that I later assessed to be a Baptism. Yes folks, she was that open with her conversation. Apparently though, the person was protesting about going to a church and so this lady starts tearing into him about how could he not come, what is he thinking, and how is knows nothing of this church.... SERIOUSLY?!?! Really... this is what you want all the waiting room people to hear? Then, when the nurse calls her name to go in the back, she says to the person on the phone, "Oh hey, they just called my name, but don't hang up ok." I am not even kidding, she actually said that. So my imagination starts reeling of how the lady is still griping to her friend while this poor nurse is asking her to step on the scale, and then tries to take her temp. and blood pressure....all while this idiot is chatting away. I don't know.. I just don't get people sometimes...personally when I go to the Dr. I want to get in and out as fast as possible. It was probably this lady that caused my Dr. to be 30 min. late....she probably wanted her friend to stay on the phone and hear everything the Dr. had to say to her.

Anyway, I will give you all updates in these next couple of days on what this hurricane will do to my weekend. I had planned on doing nothing but resting... now I have to start worring about my family's well being... geesh...stupid hurricane.

Infections, pulled muscles and allergies... OH MY!

Howdy friends! Boy has it been a week! School started a week ago and life has been busy!! Our class this year is great! Much better this time around! The kids are just as cute as ever, but my only complaint is that the school put 19.. yes 19, 3 yrs. old in our class this year. It is so chaotic in our class that we are having trouble just staying on track with our schedule. Oh well, we will get by!
So yesterday poor Makayla's allergies went hay wire! Her nose is running constantly and she is sneezing her head off! Poor thing! I have been giving her some medicine and she is being such a trooper! When I got home yesterday, I needed to edge the lawn because it was long overdue! We had bought a new weed eater and I was anxious to use it. I go out there and realize pretty quickly that this particular one is a little shorter than our old one. As a result I had to kinda bend over a little more which was not the most comfortable position in the world. So after I get through, my back was a little sore... but I brushed it off. This morning however, I woke up in horrendous pain! I am guessing that I have pulled something...yeah.. great. On top of that, my right ear closed up again a couple of days ago. I put some drops in and it opened up for 2 days, but this morning it had closed up again. The last time this happened... which was only 3 months ago mind you, the Dr. said I had a pretty bad infection. The only good thing about it was that I don't have any pain with the infection! Thank goodness!! So, I have started taking some left over meds from the last infection and hoping my ear will open back up SOON!!
BTW, if anyone medically minded out there reads this... if I start getting more and more ear infections, will I have to get tubes? Do they even give 29 yr. olds ear tubes?!?!

Happy Birthday To Me!

So my birthday was this past Tues. (19th) and I went to dinner with my family. We had a great time and took some great pictures! Enjoy!

Makayla and Mommy

Family Photo

Makayla being her goofy self!

Beach Fun!

Well friends, we're back from the beach! We went down to Galveston and spent 4 wonderful days at a beautiful resort! This was also The Princess's first time to the beach, and she LOVED it! We had lots of adventures, i.e.: sea turtle tour, seeing her first crab and jellyfish, spending time in an infinity pool, watching the sun set and many more things! I figure I will let the pictures speak for themselves.....

First steps in the ocean

Jellyfish

Dead crab, but still cool to look at

Me and hubby

Posing...

Beautiful sunset outside the Beach Club

Running into the ocean

Another beautiful sunset view from our balcony

Makayla with the Sea Turtles

Family Portrait in the Infinity Pool

Just a hat rack today folks!

This is going to be a short post.. but oh the hilarity that will ensue! I don't think I told you that after school ended, I taught summer school for 3 weeks. It is a "gifted and talented" program that these kids come to and we get to make up classes for them to take. For instance, I got to teach the kids American Sign Language. (And before you ask.. yes, I do know sign language.) Ok, so back to the story, the kids get to pick out the classes they WANT to take.. that becomes important later.
So school starts and for the first time, I had boys in my class. Yeah, that was interesting. The girls seem to pick it up and most of the boys did ok, some had a little trouble. But I try to make the class really fun and we play games and work on puzzles etc. I mean, if they aren't gonna have fun, then what's the point right? So at the end of the program, the kids are required to fill out a form that asks them questions like: Did you like all your classes? Which classes did you take that you didn't particularly like? You see where it is going....
So one of the girls in my class, (who did quite well mind you) fills out the form and when asked what class she didn't like, here is her response:

"I did not like my American Sign Language class. All we did was do stuff with our hands the whole class."

........I'll give you a minute to fully digest that statement.......

So folks, just to let you know... not ALL kids who are in the "gifted and talented" programs are just that. Some are genuinely really smart and use their brains, and then there are some who just use it as a hat rack.

Sick and Sicker...

So Makayla and I are sick right, although she has it a little worse than me. On top of that, I might just qualify for the Worst Mommy of the Year Award. Yesterday Makayla had a Dr. 's appointment to get her last Hep. shot and we had to get some forms filled out for school. So in the morning, we went outside and she wanted to swing, I get her up in the swing when something starts buzzing around us. I thought it was just a bug, so I swat it away, big mistake. Next thing I know, it freaking stings me on the hand and then I see Makayla holding her leg and saying, "Mommy, owie." I promptly remove her from the swing and we rush inside so I can inspect her. She ended up getting stung on her leg, poor thing. I still can't tell you what the hell it was. I know it wasn't a wasp or bee... it was smaller and thinner... my husband thinks it was a mud dobber, but oh well. So I put some bendryl on it and we headed to the Dr. I had them check out her bite, but they said she wasn't having a reaction thank goodness. Then it came time for her shot... I felt so horrible making her get that after everything else. But they gave her a lollipop afterwards and she uttered the cutest thing ever.

Mommy: "Makayla, how's that lollipop? Do you feel better?"
Makayla: "Mmmm...it's delicious!"
Mommy: (Laughing too hard to respond)

Where did she learn that word? I have never heard her say it before, but it was pretty darn funny nonetheless. Well we get home and her poor nose is just a faucet and I can't seem to stop it, but I pumped her full of drugs and I think she is a little better today.

Me, on the other hand, not so much. I am at that point where you feel like crap, but don't have a temp. or anything. But you feel just well enough to still function. Yeah, that's a great place to be. I hate that! My body needs to make up it's freaking mind, either be sick or not.. On the other hand, I do have to give it props because I rarely get sick, so thank you dear body for not emitting nasty unmentionable things from thine self and keeping me functioning for my child's sake. We do appreciate it. Now if you could find the time to maybe discard some fat or cellulite, that would be just AWESOME! Love ya!

The one where I tell you about the "C" word...

Hello all! I hope you had a good holiday weekend! Mine was good! Hubby and I took The Princess to see her first fireworks show on Friday and man, was it worth it!!! She kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy, LOOK!!! Whoa.. a big one!!! Look, look!!!" It was so precious!

Well, I am going to dive into a deeply personal subject that I have yet to talk about until now. I feel I can share this with you all since it is a subject that many of you have probably have dealt with in one way or another. In January of 2007, my mom was having some abdominal pains and figured it was her appendix. She dealt with the pain for a week or two, but then it just became unbearable. We took her to the ER one evening and the docs did a CAT scan and sure enough it was her appendix. It had a small hole in it, but had appeared to seal itself over so she was in the clear until the morning. They scheduled her for a routine appendectomy. The next morning arrived and they wheeled her into surgery. The Dr. assured us that it would be very routine and that she would be out of surgery in 45 min. Well, an hour came and went and I wasn't too worried. Then and hour and a half went by, and I started to get nervous. All of a sudden, the Dr. comes out and he doesn't look real happy. I start bombarding him with 20 questions, but he stops me and says, "I have some news." You know that's never good. He explained that when he opened her up, her appendix which is normally the size of your pinky, was the size of a grapefruit. She had a mass inside her appendix and this very experienced Dr. had never seen anything like that before. He immediately took a small slice off and sent it to pathology and they confirmed it as Cancer. He said it looked bad since it was so big and since her appendix had a small hole it in, some of the cancer cells had leaked into her abdomen. He said he would try and get everything out and I shooed him off to go fix my mother ASAP. After another hour or so, he came out and said he had gotten everything he could see out, but that Mom would probably have to do some chemo just to make sure.
After 6 weeks of recovery, we take her to an oncologist and it turned out to be Stage 2 Appendiceal Cancer. We get her started on chemo and luckily it is the kind where she won't lose her hair or make her very sick. So she takes it for six months, but after a while, she starts getting more and more weak. They do a PET scan and found no signs of cancer in her body, so they decide she can stop the chemo. They will keep doing PET scans every 6 months or so to just keep an eye on her. So this past January, she had another scan and sure enough, she is still cancer free. That marked her as being in 1 year remission! YES!!! So, several weeks ago, she had her bi-yearly scan, and sure enough, she is STILL cancer free! I can't describe how ecstatic I am. We are just so thrilled that she has had such a positive outcome! I know that unfortunately, some do not fare as well, which is what scared the hell out of me. I can honestly say, I don't know what I would do without my mom. She is like a best friend to me.. corny, I know but true. However, this has not always been the case. I did have my obnoxious teen years where she and I NEVER got along and I swore to never be anything like my mom. But as I got older and saw that hey, she wasn't so bad after all! Then I had a child of my own, a daughter no less and everything changed. How in the world did she put up with me?? Now Makayla is a pretty good child, but has her moments and I saw just how important being a mom and having your mom by your side really is.
Ok, I now this was kinda of a downer post, but I just thought I would get all this out there now, in case I referenced my mom/cancer in future posts.

Happy Birthday America!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! I hope you all have a really awesome day and stay safe and don't light yourself on fire with the fireworks! Ha!

Mama's Top 10 List

Howdy friends... I realized the other day I had not posted anything in a while. Sorry for the absence, I have been neck deep in Toddlerville and it has been interesting. So interesting in fact, it prompted me to come up with a Top 10 List of things I have liked and disliked during Makayla's Terrible Two's stage. And away we go....

Top 10 Things I Love

1.) She started saying "I love you" seriously... so sweet I want to cry every time I hear it
2.) We can finally communicate with her and she can verbalize what she wants now!
3.) She loves helping us out in and around the house
4.) She eats just about anything we give her (you have no idea how great this really is)
5.) The fact that she finds most everything hilarious!
6.) Whenever she gets scared or gets a "boo boo" she calls for me, not my husband (That's right!)
7.) I can finally fix her hair all different ways!
8.) She is just an all around sweet and kind little girl
9.) Her hugs and kisses
10.) We can play games with her

Top 10 Things I Can Do Without

1.) The meltdowns
2.) When we are out in public and she tries to run around like a hooligan
3.) When she refuses to take a nap and sits in her room and screams
4.) When we ask her not to do something, and she keeps right on doing it
5.) Every once in a while, she just refuses to eat what we give her
6.) Sometimes she gets a hold of my stuff and tries to destroy it
7.) Every once in a while, she will try to hit one of our animals (big no no in our house)
8.) The 2 times she smeared poo on her walls... (yeah, that's all I am gonna say about that)
9.) When I am trying to hurry out the door and she won't cooperate
10.) Her new found love of spitting out any drink she has in her mouth (grrrr)

Ok folks, so there you have it.. now you basically know what a day in the life of Mama G entails, because usually most of this stuff happens on a daily basis! Haha!

Happy Annifathaversary.....

Hi friends! Yeah... you are probably wondering what kind of gibberish that title is, well let me explain! Last Thursday was my hubby and I's 4 Year Wedding Anniversary! Whohoo! Sounds short right? Well, we have actually been together for 9, that' right count 'em, 9 whole years! We got engaged 2 years after we met, were engaged for about 3 years, and have now been married 4 years. Man, does the time fly! Then Sunday of course was Father's Day.. a mere 3 days later! So my hubby had a lot of celebrating this weekend! (Not to mention his birthday is June 1!) Yikes, what were we thinking getting married in June?! Anyway, a good weekend was had by all!
Now I get to tell you a lovely little tidbit that Makayla has enjoyed doing lately. I have previously told you that I have been working on not cussing in front of her, and have done a good job so far! Yes, I have had just a couple slip ups from time to time, but I have worked on using other, more appropriate if you will, words to replace them! But the other day, I guess I had gotten frustrated with something and reverted back to my 'ol favorite, "Damn it", and just take a guess who was standing there listening to me in all my glory? Yep, Makayla. So now she walks around the house saying, "Ow, damn it.....ow damn it", over and over again. I have read many a parenting book that says if you ignore them, they will stop. It hasn't stopped. So then I tried to sit down with her.....you know, the 2 year old, and told her that wasn't a very nice word and I would like her to stop saying it. Yeah, that didn't work out so well either. So, my mom comes to take care of Makayla today and sure enough what's the first thing she says?? "Ow, damn it." Classic Makayla folks, classic.

The Big 3-0!!

Hi friends! Well, my hubby turned the big 3-0 yesterday. Yeah, he' s old now. Haha! No, he had a very good birthday, we went to his parents house where we ate lots of good food and he got lots of presents! My parents, Memaw, brother and his gf were there as well, so a good time was had by all. Hubby was really not to thrilled to turn 30, but he'll get over it. I, however, will be a complete wreck. I don't know what it is about 30, but I won't like it one bit. I do have 1 whole year to rejoice my last days of youth though... I will be turning 29 in Aug. so at least I have a little while before my nervous breakdown. As you have gathered thus far, I am completely freaked out by turning 30. I just feel like I will have to start acting like a "grown-up." I won't be able to get away with silly little things like I used to because I am not in my 20's anymore. Anyone have any tips on coping with the big 3-0? My husband will certainly appreciate any sound advice you might have to give.

Drinking Problems, Eating Disorders and a Mild Case of IBS....

So this will be an interesting little post. As you can tell by the title, there have been some odd things going on at our household. Things started last Saturday night, my husband decided to take the Princess and I out to dinner. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Chili's. Well, I ordered a soup and salad and for some damn reason, I could not keep the soup off my shirt! So I walked out of there looking like a freaking 1 yr. old! The second problem is that the Princess has taken to spitting out her water. She will drink it, swish it around in her mouth, then proceed to spit it out somewhere, although most of the time it usually ends up back on her. The third and probably worst of the problems is what we like to call, Irritable Baby Syndrome. (Yeah, I know what you were thinking... and we'll get to that in a minute.) So Kay Kay has decided that "No" is her favorite word recently. Now she uses this as an answer to even the questions that are true. "Kay Kay, are you hungry?" "NO!" "Kay Kay, do you have a wet diaper?" "NO!!!" "Kay Kay, would you like tons and tons of candy?" "NO!" So you see what we are dealing with here. Well today was our last day of school! Woo hoo!! Kay Kay had her class party, so the hubby and I decide to go. She is having such a good day, then we all go out to lunch. We proceed home where we attempt to put her down for a nap. She is very tired, so we are hoping she will go right to sleep. One can hope right? Well I go lay down and she is still talking to herself. Well I kinda drift in and out of sleep, when I hear my hubby come lay down too. After another 45 min. she is STILL talking to herself. So I told said husband to go regulate on her. The next thing I hear is, "KAY KAY, WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!" Then I hear some discipline actions being taken followed by screaming. I jump up and run in there and see a sight I never thought I would see again. Kay Kay has decided to yet again, take off her poopy diaper and paint the walls with it, including everything else in her crib. We could not believe it. WHY GOD WHY?! What the hell is wrong with her? Why in the world would she want to play with poop?? What demon child is this?? What we really don't understand is that she has always been such a sweet and gentle kid. Then this side emerged. So here is my question: Has anyone else dealt with this? Please let me know, I have to know if I am not alone in this battle. I need any advice you can give as well. I am getting ready to potty train her because she is SO ready anyhow, but this is just ridiculous! So please give me all your horrible potty stories, no matter how grotesque. Trust me, after today I can handle it!!

4 days left...

Ok people, we have exactly 4 days left of school. I might just lose it before it's all over though. Here's the breakdown:
Today, a beloved former co-worker passed away. She had been battling cancer for many many years, but had twice gone into remission. She had decided during one of these times to come join our team and teach this past year, but in January, the cancer returned. It had apparently spread all over her body and the prognosis was bleak. She went on some experimental treatment and things were starting to look up, but this past weekend, she started having some small strokes. They hospitalized her and found that the cancer had spread to her brain. They pretty much gave her less than a week to live. She went into a coma and they took out the respirator yesterday and today, she went to be with the Lord. The truly tragic thing is that she has 3 young daughters, all under the age of 13. Although we knew it was coming, it was just devastating news.

Tomorrow we have a Retirement Party for a secretary at our school who has been there since I was a child and went to school there. (Yes people, it was a long time ago.) She is happy to be retiring, but it is just bittersweet. She is loved by all and we will miss her truly.

Friday, our principal decided to cut the day short and school will dismiss at 11:30, since the funeral for our friend will be that afternoon. That will be a tough day.

Monday is Memorial day, so at least I have the day off for that. My husband has the day off as well, so we will probably have a nice family day! Yeah for that at least!!

Tuesday is technically our last real day of school. Wednesday is FIELD DAY, which is basically like having a carnival for the whole day. Thursday is early dismissal, so it's a blow off day! Then we will be done!! Hallelujah!!

Wish me luck, this is going to be a very emotional week! I hope everyone else is having a great week and looking forward to the kiddos getting out of school!!

A work in progress

Ladies and Gents, we have reason to celebrate! The Princess went pee-pee in her potty! Yes, I did just write that. I had originally planned to really put all my potty training efforts to work this summer, but apparently our daughter had other plans. Don't get me wrong, we are very excited! She is really showing us that she is sick and tired of her diaper, seeing as she takes it off any chance she gets. So tonight she came running to me naked, again, so I said, alright, let's go use the potty. Not to sound mean, but I really didn't expect her to go. We have tried this before and all we get is her sitting there, looking bored and then stuffing toilet paper in the potty. (Only because it makes this charming little noise when stuff passes the sensor.) Well, I was about to give up since she was standing up next to the potty when she gives me this funny look and says, "Uh oh Mommy." She was starting to pee, so I told her to quickly sit down and she did!! She got so excited too! It was so cute! It was like a light went off, oh, so that's where it is supposed to go! Yeah! So anyway, we rewarded her and put her to bed! Hopefully this trend will catch on! Ok, I know this was kind of a "Mommy blogger" post, so I promise to get back to my usually snarly self soon! Ha! Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day/weekend!

What they don't tell you about toddlers.......

Hello friends, I am going to start this post off with a warning.

**WARNING**
This post contains one or more of the following:
1.) Vulgar material
2.) Nudity
3.) Bodily Functions

If you have a weak stomach, you may want to leave now, however if you can tolerate it, get ready for a highly entertaining, yet disturbing story.

This past Monday I had a day off from school, so I decided to take The Princess to one of those inflatable places where the kids can run around and jump to their hearts content. This usually tires her out…so afterwards we go to eat and then I rush us home so I can put her down for a nap. So everything is going well... she is very sleepy and I put her down in her crib and she lies down right away (which is a good sign) and then I leave the room. For the next 45 min. I hear the usual noises of her just talking to herself, but she's being relatively quiet. Then I hear this, "Mommy, yucky." So I go in there and see the worse scene of my life!!!! She apparently had a poopy diaper, took it off, and proceeded to smear the walls, her crib and everything in the near vicinity with poop. There is poop everywhere!! And it was all over her!! So gross! I quickly yanked her up, stripped her down and got in her the bath as fast as possible. I had to call my husband and tell him to come home so I could sanitize her room.
Here is where I have to say, what the hell?!?! When did this become acceptable behavior for a 2 yr. old??? I mean, we have always told her that poo-poo is yucky, so what the heck prompted her to go and do this? Of course, when I tell my mom and mother in law, all they could do is laugh. (Apparently they went through this as well.)
Of all the times I have been to the pediatrician, why the heck did I not get forewarned about this? You know, a little head's up might have been nice, "Oh Mama G, by the way, since your child has now turned 2, here is something that may or may not happen. Your child might decide to strip herself naked and paint the walls with poop. You know, just to let you know." Hell, I would have been happy with that!!
So I guess you can say that we both had a.... (wait for it) shitty day!! Thank you ladies and gentleman and good night! Haha!
Well, at least I can laugh about it now.