Bitter Sweet

This past weekend was my mother's - father's family reunion. We all gathered in Weatherford at a great hall and enjoyed each other. It was great to see so many relatives and all the new additions. There were 7 (I think) new babies in attendance, and 8 new babies over the past year. And all but one were boys. Lots of love was spread around the family last year. My grandfather was there for a little while. He is 88 years old and for the majority of his life he never looked or acted his age. Until Saturday when I saw his thin little body, all his bones were pointing out. He looked his age. And for the first time ever I felt like he didn't know me. He is always so happy and excited to see me walk into the room, but when I walked up to him to say hello and show him Cooper, I wasn't sure he knew who I was. I was instantly sad. My grandfather has been the pillar of the family, he knows of only good and honest things and he is the most amazing man in the world. I have always looked up to him and wanted to marry a man who had/has the same characteristics (which I was blessed to do). I am most frightened to see him die. My mother will be completely beside herself, as will my sister and I. We adored my grandmother and I think we were all completely torn up when she died because our grandfather would be alone. But now that it is nearing time for him to go, it breaks my heart.
My mother took him to the doctor today, he fell twice at the nursing home this morning. So something isn't right. He 'has' cancer, but doesn't want to know it. But the doctor said the cancer has spread, therefore he's very sick and weak. All he does is lay in bed and watch TV and sleep. I'm so sad, when the phone rings, I think it's my mother to tell me he's passed. I know that call is coming, so I need to prepare myself. 88 years is an amazing time on this earth, he has seen so much of history. He is a very smart man and could tell you stories about anything and everything. But now he is just wasting away. The doctor put him in the hospital today, not exactly sure why, but I'm sure it has something to do with the fall and the cancer.

I pray that if he is in pain, or before he get in pain, the good Lord will take him and fast. Pop-Paw has seen his fair share of pain and now its time to let him meet Jesus. He'll be reunited with his wife, my Granny and one grandson, my brother. Bitter sweet!

Cooper's 6 Month Update

Wow, my baby is so big. We went for Cooper's 6 month check up on Monday, he weighs 19lb 9oz. He's in the 80%. I'm not surprised. He is such a happy baby! He had 4 shots, one being the flu shot. OUCH. He didn't like that and neither did I!

Isabella went to Cooper's appointment with me to get her flu shot. She had NO idea what was about to happen to her. She was a gem, I had her lay down the nurse held her legs and I held her arms and kissed her face, I told her I loved her and asked her if she wanted a sucker, she said yes and then yelled for about 15 minutes. She cried and yelled and screamed and threw her sucker across the room, twice. She was so not happy.

The pediatrician is located across the street from her church school and Adventure Kids. So she always says, "I need to see the doctor" then she follows that up with "I need a sucker". She has put two and two together. While she was screaming, she said I don't like the doctor, I don't like suckers! and threw the sucker across the room. It was somewhat comical, in a twisted sort of way.

Colonoscopy Update

I had the colonoscopy done yesterday, all went well. The dr. found two polyps and one ulcer. He's biopsying it and I'll know in a few days. I'm sure all is fine. However, I have been pretty icky today. I guess they blew some air in my butt hole, because I have had the loudest gas, EVER! Now if you know me, gas and I go way back. My nick name when I was very young was Wendy/Windy. So all night last night I thought my tummy was going to explode, but it was all just gas! I asked Brian if he heard me all night, he laughed and said yes. Ha! Ha! Gotta love that!

Anywho, besides the gas, I have felt like I had major cramps and I just wanted to bend over and hold my belly. I assume it's from removing all the things the dr. removed, I would guess it takes a while to heal from being cut on. I'm on a slight diet. I can't have anything carbonated, no beans, bran or any Advil or aspirin. Not that big of a deal. I think it said for one week. And with all this gas, I don't need to be making more. My tummy will explode!

Cleansing Day - TMI!!!

WARMING - TOO MUCH INFORMATIONS

Today is cleansing day for me, to prepare for my colonoscopy. It is 3pm and I've had many stool sofners, laxatives, nausea medician and two pills I have no idea what are, but they were in my packet and on the list. I have already gone to the bathroom and had two loose BM's. I have had two Dr. Pepper's, three cups of chicken broth and a few bottles of water.

I'll update later how it is all going...

What A Weekend!

This weekend was so much fun, busy but fun! Friday night I had some moms over for a Mom's Night In, to drink, eat & be merry! And boy did we ever! We played 'I've Never...' where you say "I've never drank beer." and if you HAVE you drink. So everyone at the table would drink. We got really honest and it was so much fun. I have some wild girlfriends!!

Then Saturday I slept in and went to my sisters for Michael's 9th birthday party. Isabella had a blast and I did too. We jumped on the trampoline and I reverted back to my childhood. I loved it.
Then today we meet Julie Birdseye http://www.birdseyephotographyblog.com/ for a photography session. I'm so excited to see her work. She has such an amazing talent, I'm really proud of her. She made Isabella love the camera (a feat of its own!!) and we all had FUN! Usually it is a complete beating to get photos taken, but the time flew by and before I knew it we were finished. I can't wait to see the photos she took today.

Now, I'm waiting for the time to pass so I can go to be, just to wake up to prep for my colonoscopy. I'll be going to the bathroom ALL day tomorrow. I just hope I loose a few pounds doing this. And I hope all is well in my colon. The big day is Tuesday early am. Can't wait.

A Busy Month!!

Happy Fall Y'all!!

The month of October is always busy, but this year even more. Not only am I celebrating my 33rd birthday and my nephew Michael's birthday (9 years old this year)!! But we took a family vacation early October, I have a mom's night out here at my house for my mom's group with 20+ moms coming over to drink and be merry, then the Susan G Komen race for the cure in honor of one of the moms in my group. And then a family photogrophy session with Julie Birdseye in Denton, and a family reunion I am organizing, and a halloween party for all the kiddos in my moms group. BUT on top of all of that I'm having a colonoscopy on the 21st. Now, about that, I have been having issues since before Cooper was born and after the issues becoming pretty bad, I finally went to the doctor and he couldn't see/feel anything unusual, SO the next step is a colonoscopy. I'm not worried, I just want the bleeding to stop, if you know what I mean! So with all that, I'm actually looking forward to the next few weeks. I thrive on staying busy. Fall is here and it is so nice to be outside going and blowing.

New, New Hair...

So, a few weeks ago, I colored my hair a dark brown with a hint of red. Well the red is all washed out and now it's a great natural brown color. Then this past week, I chopped it all off! And I actually like it a lot. Good thing, right?!!

Me and baby Major at my birthday party!!

Annual Pumpin Patch Outing!

Every year we head to the Owens Farm Pumpkin Patch in Richardson. The moms groups I'm involved in goes each year so we make this a fun family outing. We went this past Monday. They have farm animals and a hayride and rows and rows of pumpkins to choose from. Here are a few photos from our outing.

This is our first family picture. I love it!!!


Brian and the kids on the hayride.


Cooper and his pumpkin!


Isabella and her pumpkin!


Kids with their pumpkins!

Brian, Cooper and I. Isabella was 'finished' with the photos!


Isabella feeding the goats!

More goats - fearless!

Isabella's other boyfriend, Landon!


Not interested in the camera... and Lilah (Landon's baby sister)

Fredericksburg & San Antonio

The weekend of Oct.1 we took our first family trip, as a family of 4. The kiddos did fantastic! Neither one of the slept on the way down. Cooper fell asleep for about 20 minutes until Isabella woke him up by her singing. UGH! So then she entertained him the rest of the way.

We first went to Fredericksburg on Thursday night and stayed until Sunday early morning. We went to Oktoberfest with the whole Stephens clan. Todd and Genna's son Jack and daughter Avery both played well with Isabella. We're going to arrange a marriage with Jack and Isabella. They would make some pretty babies!! (I can't believe I said that!)

On Sunday morning we drove to Sea World/San Antonio. We saw all the amazing animals at Sea World and Isabella absolutely loved it all! Especially feeding the dolphins. Cooper was even interested in the dolphins flying through the sky at the Viva show. We took a back stage tour of the Viva show and got up close with the dolphins and whales. It was pretty great to see the animals in a private tour. The weather was great and Cooper even took a little nap while we watched a few show. We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and it was beautiful. Hammocks, tree tire swings, playgrounds, tricycles, bikes, lazy river and much more. We can't wait to go back when we can actually enjoy it.

Headed to Oktoberfest - Isabella, Jack & Avery

At the Wildseed Farm - Isabella holding a butterfly on her finger.

At Todd & Genna's - Avery and Isabella on a very fun swing.

Jack and Isabella on their first date. Jack's even driving.

Isabella trying to touch the dolphin.

Isabella feeding the dolphins.

Shamu! Amazing!!

Isabella feeding the Sea Lions.

The backstage tour of the !VIVA! Show.

Backstage - dolphin

At the resort - a very fun tree tire swing

Cooper watching sister swing and daddy push her. He loves to watch her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Today is my 33rd birthday. Wow, is that old? Brian keep teasing me about how old I am, but he's over 4 years older than me. He'd better watch out. He'll be 40 soon and I'll be pushing his buttons big time!!!! I'm already planning that party! Watch out, dude!!

Anywho, for my birthday Brian got me some beautiful roses, I love flowers. They smell amazing! Good job, baby! Also, over the past few months Brian bought me out door furniture and 16 training sessions with my personal trainer. So I didn't expect anything additional! I did however go clothes shopping for myself, without any kiddos. That was actually fun! I got my hair cut, pretty short (I'll post pictures soon). And with my new hair color, I feel like a new woman. I got some very cute trendy blue jeans and shoes and a few new tops. I wore one of my new outfits today to a brunch playdate, and my entire attitude was completely different. I love feeling good again. I look, feel and even smell good! I just needed to give myself a make over and there you have it a new me!

Happy Birthday, to me!

My Baby Boy

Cooper is such a cute and serious little boy at times. He's such an active, happy baby. He loves to be tickled and kissed on. He loves Jewels (dog) and his big sister. Just looking at them makes him laugh out loud. He's such a doll.

Plano Balloon Festival

I love the Plano Balloon Festival! I love the colors, the balloons floating in the air, the crisp morning air at 6am and the look on my beautiful daughters face when she spots on in the sky. This year, we went to the Sunday 6am take off. We parking at the Garden Ridge parking lot and watch a handful of balloons float above us. All while waving and screaming HI. Bella loved it. Then Brian asked Bella if she wanted to go 'chase' the balloons. YES! That is my favorite part! So we all loaded back into the car and took off with the windows down 'chasing' the balloons. We followed them for a while from Plano to Allen, to the Russell Creek Park. The balloon we chased was driven by one of Brian's friends. We watched them land, bring the balloon down, then fold it up, pack it away and drive off. It was all very cool!!

Hair Today Red Tomorrow

What have I done??? I'm now a 'redish' haired person.

I told Brian Sunday morning on our way home from the balloon festival that I was going to color my hair today, with the help of my sister. He said what color are you going? I said darker, more like my roots. He said how about go red. WHAT? Are you serious. I think I asked him that about 12 times, "Serious?" He kept saying yes. So off the the grocery store I went to get a roast and hair color. Great combo.
I arrived home with the hair color and my sister helped me apply it. I took a shower to wash the color out and it turned out AWFUL. What did I do? It looked like the designer Betsy Johnson, crazy, wrong on so many levels, red.
So back to the grocery store I went, this time with my sister. We choose a much darker color than I really wanted, but I couldn't be that other color red, dark brown would have to do. Sister applied the color, I washed it out and WOW, it is dark, but still really red. It looks 'natural', so that say. I'm learning to like it. Only problem I am finding out is all my pastel clothes look awful with my new red/brown hair. Good thing it's fall! Off to go shopping!!

The pictures don't do it justice. This is the first try.






This is the final product. Not half bad.

SHE'S POTTY TRAINED!!!

I am so darn happy! My sweet Isabella is potty trained(ing). She has been wearing big girl panties since last Monday and she is doing a great job! She is having a huge struggle with doing number 2 in the potty, as most kiddos do. But she is finally enjoying the process.

My mother came to stay a few days this past week. She came Monday night and went home Thursday. She watched Cooper for me while I helped Isabella with the potty. My mom read a book on how to potty train your child in one day (which is hardly the truth). And mom gave me pointers all day. We were hard core on Tuesday and Wednesday when she want to gymnastic school she did pretty good. But on Thursday at church school she did fantastic!! No accidents! I am so proud of my big girl, she gets so excited when she feels the tee tee coming out. She always tells me "I doing it" "I go tee tee" I love it.

I have to say a huge thank you to my mom. I would have never had as much success with this task if Honey wasn't taking care of Cooper and directing me along the way. I can't say how much I appreciate my mom for taking charge and making me do this. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do. AND not only did she help me with potty training Isabella she helped me get Cooper in his own bed. I was just mentally struggling with this and just thought it couldn't be done. But she proved me wrong. He sleeps in his bed now (except last night) and it is great. I am very proud of both my children. Thanks again mom!!

One of the cutest things Isabella did was last night at about 2am, she screams from the upstairs, I NEED TO GO POTTY!!! I wanted to ring her neck, but she had stripped off her pull up and was standing at the top of the stairs butt naked. I helped her go potty and she went right back to bed. Only in hindsight this is funny, last night Cooper was up every hour, and that is no joke. I brought him to my bed so I didn't have to climb the stairs all night. So Bella screaming at 2am was just the cherry on the top.

My Husband Loves Me!!!

Or is it the new body I'm on a mission to get!?! I joined the gym a few weeks back and purchased a few personal training sessions, I used up all my sessions and my trainer asked me if I was going to re-sign for more. I of course love the personal sessions and I totally wanted more. So I called Brian and he said, SURE!! He knows how much I enjoy it and that I feel like I'm making progress, you can't see my progress, but I know it's there. So he allowed me to purchase more, kind of for my birthday. I got 8 more sessions. That will last until end of Sept, going twice a week, so I'll ask for more for my birthday again, maybe he will have forgot the first request.

Although, he said he already had something planned for my birthday. I wonder what it is??