Ode to the Snot-Sucker

So a few months ago I came home from work and Kyle had Zachary in his lap, just relaxing. As I step closer, I notice that Zachary has, of all things!, the snot-sucker in his hand and he is just going to town playing with it! Immediately, I'm freaking out that my baby is playing with a snot-sucker (I mean, we DO have real toys for him!) but Kyle just simply says, "He likes it." So the more I think about it, it is a great toy. First of all, either way you hold it, it's easy to grasp. Second of all, it's been a GREAT teether/chew toy. And hey, it is kinda of cute! So the snot-sucker (which is clean and has actually never been used to suck snot) now stays in Zachary's toy basket, and is almost always one of the first toys he pulls out to play with. In fact, lately he has even taken a few naps with his beloved! So, thank you snot-sucker, for bringing so much joy to my little boy!

Two year celebration

My how time flies! Today we celebrated my nephew Matthews 2nd birthday, along with his cousin Luke (the boys were born exactly one week apart). Two years ago Kyle and I were still living in Texas, but starting to get homesick. When Matthew was born Kyle was able to fly up to Chattanooga to be with the family & while he was in TN he took a test for the TN State Troopers. Thus, our decision to move back home was eventually made. That July we packed up things, our kitties, and a lotta prayer and moved to Chattanooga. We had no jobs, no house, but we were very prayerful that God would take care of us and that we would be okay. Of course, we both found jobs pretty quickly and became settled. Anyway, Matthew's birth was a big reason in our deciding to move back.

Matthew has brought a lot of joy to our lives over the last two years. We have watched him grow from a baby, to a VERY active toddler with loves to be in control and "doo-ed it" himself. (As he would put it!) It has also been a joy watching Matthew and Zachary. They are both enamored with each other and I hope that as they grow older, they will be the best of friends, like their Daddies are.

Now, back to the party! It was held at the Ooltewah Gymnastics Center....which was great because the kids could run around, jump, play, and entertain themselves (well, at least the walking kids could!) It wasn't too shabby for the adults, either. Except for the giant sea of blue foam cubes....let me just say, appearances can be deceiving! It looked like sooo much fun! Remember when you were little and you'd go to McDonald's or Chuckie Cheese and there would be those pits full of balls you could jump into? Well, this is basically what this was, except the pit was full of these foam cubes, and it was DEEP, too! We jumped in (me and Kyle that is...and a few others) and started throwing cubes, wading around....it was all great, until I tried to get out! Talk about closterphobic...I thought I'd never get out of there! Obviously, I did live to tell and write about it...but let's just say, never again....

After all of that fun, it was time for cake and presents. Matthew and Luke had a big Thomas the Tank Engine cake which was chocolate and very delicious....poor Z. He just had to watch everyone else eat....oh, but his time is coming. By the time we got to presents we decided to go on and leave because Zachary was more then ready for a nap and Kyle needed to get back home to get ready for work. We were all quite exhausted from our day!

Thankful Thursday

1. I am thankful for a safe trip to and from South Carolina, and time spent with family.

2. I am thankful for Facebook because it helps me connect with old friends. One of my best friends when I was little found me the other day and we have enjoyed catching up!

3. I am thankful for my husband, who sacrificed A LOT of sleep to take us to SC.

4. I am thankful for my nephew Matthew who has brought a lot of joy to our lives. He is 2 years old today! (Happy Birthday, Thew!)

5. I am thankful that Tooth #2 has come through and that possibility of better nights (seriously, I am really thankful for this!)

6. I am thankful for life and health. We had a client at work who was killed over the weekend and it just reminds you how short life really is.

A Visit to South Carolina

Last Thursday night (or super early Friday morning, however you want to look at it) we traveled to SC to visit my Mom. Since Kyle works until midnight we just left then since we thought it would be best to travel through the night with Zachary. Mom & Dads house is about a 4 hour trip, but if you've ever traveled with a baby you know everything takes longer. So by the time we arrived it was almost morning. Z did pretty well on the trip and ended up sleeping most of the way, like we had hoped. However, once we arrived at about 5:30 he had no intentions of going back to sleep! But that was okay since he got to see his Gram for a bit before she had to leave.....See, there was a reason for our trip. About a year ago my Mom started having a lot of health problems, among them anemia, severe back pain, and on top of that and several other things was diagnosed with lukiemia. They told her it was the "good kind" and that there was really no need to treat it at the time. (Did I mention she told me all of this right after I told her I was pregnant?! Talk about an emotional roller-coaster!) Anyway, a year has passed and now they have decided to try and treat it with Chemo. She goes every 3 weeks on Fridays, and is about half-way through her treaatments. Well, my Dad is in England doing mission workand would not be there to take Mom to her treatment last weekend. So...Kyle and I got to planning and he arranged to take a day off work so we could travel down and be there for her over the weekend in case she got sick. Plus it gave her time to spend with Zachary. (He has not been able to see her much, since Mom is not up for much traveling right now). So Friday Kyle took Mom up to the hospital while Zachary and I stayed at home trying to catch up on sleep. Mom was through by about 4:00 and was feeling okay so we went out for Japanese that night.

On Saturday, Kyle had to return back to Chattanooga to work, while Z and I stayed in SC. We got to visit with my brother, his wife, and their kids Thomas Andrew, Gabrielle, and Evan. Thomas and Gabby are 9 and 10, respectively, and Evan is 15 months old. So they got to play with their cousin and Zachary was so good for his aunt Yulia.

By Sunday, Mom was feeling AWFUL, so we stayed at home all day and helped her out day. Zachary celebrated his 7 month birthday that night by waking up every hour screaming....oh, how we missed Daddy that night! By Monday, Mom was feeling much better and was back at school (she is a middle school teacher) so Zachary and I went to go see my good friend from High school, Kim, and her little boy Ethan, who is almost 9 months old. We met for lunch, let the boys play for a bit (Ethan is crawling and going everywhere and Zachary just watched him!) and then we took the boys and her doggies on an afternoon walk (it was almost 85 degrees out there!). North Augusta has a beautiful, shaded walking path that is about 7 miles long and stretches throughout the city. I used to love going on walks on it in high school. One of the starting points is right by Kim's house. After the walk, we returned home to cool off and go meet Daddy. Kyle was back to bring us home Monday evening, and again, we were going to travel through the night so Zachary would sleep.....well, it worked until about half way on our trip. Then the screaming began....UGH. We stopped several times to console him, but every time we got back in the car, it started again. He finally quit and fell asleep about 45 minutes from home and didn't even stir when we moved him from his carseat to his crib. Found out the next day why he was screaming.....Tooth #2 has arrived. FINALLY!

Zachary and Ethan

***OK...so, anyone who wants to coach me in uploading pictures on here, I'm all yours!***

Melt Away

No, I am not talking about snow. (Which, by the way, we got virtually NONE of this weekend, although the rest of the country did!--I'm not bitter ;) I'm talking aout me when I look at this picture of my baby boy. Now that he is 6 months and getting into everything it is sometimes hard to get a good picture of him, but I think this one we had taken at JC Penneys a few weeks ago captures just how preicous he is! Those eyes make this Momma melt away, and I love that you can see the drool on his overhauls and his chapped upper-lip!