Note to Self

If one rides her bike 10 miles away from home, she has to turn around and ride back. If one decides to ride her bike 20 miles when it's 90 degrees in the hot afternoon sun, it's wise to apply sunscreen. Lessons learned.

A Walk in the Park

Today, Colter and I went to the park to take a walk. Instead of getting the exercise I was hoping for, we

threw rocks in the pond,

hung out with some black swans, fed the swans Cheerios off the floorboard of the car,

and played at the playground! I didn't take pictures of that part though because I was too busy sliding, swinging, and chasing Colter around to keep him from falling off equipment that he's really too little for. The walk I planned on was cut short by all the things Colter saw to do instead of sit in his stroller. The park is a big loop, and every time we walked passed something Colter wanted to do, he would start crawling out of the top of his stroller and do his best to convince me to stop. As we walked past the area where we could barely see the playground equipment he likes, he would point at the swings and say, "Whee! Whee!" (whee whee means swing by the way). I was silly enough to think Colter wouldn't notice the playground equipment and we could walk before playing. Silly mommy. I guess we can't go for walks in the park anymore unless I plan on wearing Colter out at the playground first. :)

Tatty Watty!

A couple months ago, Colter and I checked out this book from the library.

Colter loved it! We kept it for as long as we were allowed and read it every day. After I took it back to the library, Colter asked for "Tatty Watty" for several days. I tried to explain that it wasn't our book and that we would check it out again someday. I'm pretty sure he didn't get it, but he eventually quit asking for it.

Until this past week! For some reason, he remembered the book and started asking for it at bedtime. When he was sick Monday night and couldn't sleep, he kept saying, "Tatty Watty, Tatty Watty!" So I got on Amazon, and a few days later I presented Colter with a box.

A box? Thanks, Mom.

Oh! There's something inside!It's my book! Tatty Watty!Colter was thrilled with his present! I think we're going to be reading about Tatty Ratty's adventures for awhile. :)

All Done, All Done, Wanna G-g-g-goooooo!

My poor boy had to go to the doctor today! He ran a fever from 101 -103 degrees for about 24 hours, had an awful sounding cough, wouldn't eat, had a sore throat, and was just basically miserable. I thought maybe he might have strep throat, but from past experience, I was fairly certain that if I took him to the doctor, she would say it was just a virus, and we would just have to wait it out. Even though I felt that's what she would say, in the middle of the night when Colter couldn't not sleep and we were watching cartoons at 3 a.m., all I could think about was swine flu! Isn't that silly? So in order to be safe rather than sorry, I took Colter to the doctor.

I wish I would have listened to my instincts and waited another day because they tortured Colter at the doctor's office. His throat looked awful so they did a strep test, which he did not enjoy by the way, but it was negative. His throat was just so red because of drainage. The doctor didn't think his lungs sounded very good, so she sent us to the HOSPITAL to get blood work and an x-ray of his lungs! Not fun! Poor Colter was miserable. First, we had to wait in a tiny room with a bunch of people who were also waiting to get blood work, and I was thinking about how if we didn't have swine flu before, we were going to catch it in there! Then, a nurse and I had to hold Colter down while another nurse took a vial of his blood. It really went pretty well; Colter held very still and the nurse got his vein on the first try (thank you, Jesus!), but he was so sad! He knew something was up when I had to start holding him tight and a stranger started holding his arm down. Before the needle was even in sight, he started sobbing big, pathetic cries saying, "All done, all done, wanna g-g-g-g-ooooooooo!" So heartbreaking! The nurses gave him three stickers and a pinwheel to try to make him happy again. They gave me a pen because I cried too. :) Next, I had to take Colter to the radiology department for an x-ray of his lungs. Of course, after getting his blood drawn he did not trust the x-ray technician one bit and did not want to cooperate at all for this totally painless procedure. There's no reasoning with an almost-two-year-old though. After several tries, she was finally able to get clear picture.

After all that fun and excitement, we went back to the doctor's office where she looked at everything and determined that Colter had..........a viral infection! Of course, I'm really glad Colter just has a virus, but OH brother! If I would have waited just a bit longer, his fever would have went down, and he would not have had to visit a vampire and a lady with a scary camera. Hopefully, my boy wasn't traumatized too much, and he'll trust people in scrubs again before he's 47.

May Flowers After May Showers

Dandelion Fluff

Want a lawn seeded with dandelions? Give Colter a call! He'll hunt up all the dandelion puffballs and gladly blow seeds all over the lawn in record time! He doesn't like the fluff on his hands though. When that happens, he wipes it on mommy.

For references call Grandad.

A Diaper for Ducky

My son gets some silly ideas sometimes! While hanging out at Grandma and Grandad's house, he randomly decided Ducky needed a diaper change.

Hold still, Ducky!

Hmm...how many wipes does it take to wipe a duck? Almost finished! Mommy might have to help though.
All done!

Do you like Colter's mug shot pose? This was serious business so no smiles.

A few months ago, Colter decided his Duplo man needed a diaper. The Duplo man is only two inches tall! It didn't work so well, and I finally got a tissue out to use instead of a diaper. It was really funny!

He has been more interested in matters of the diaper lately. We got a potty chair a few weeks ago, and he likes to sit on it, pretend to wipe, than flush toilet paper down the toilet. It's a very environmentally friendly game. I have not really tried to get him to actually use the potty yet, but it's here for when he is interested. Maybe he'll potty train himself sometime. :)

In Daddy's Shoes

Colter just can't decide. Should he wear these smelly basketball shoes or Mommy's favorite brown heels? Decisions, decisions...

Colter's Nest

When I was little, I used to build nests on the floor. I remember my siblings and I using blankets and pillows to fashion cozy, round beds and pretending we were birds. Colter already knows that game, and I didn't even show him how to play! The other day Colter and I were playing Little People on the floor in his room. It wasn't quite nap time, but it was getting close. Colter lost interest in the toys and started pulling the blanket and pillow through his crib slats and onto the floor. Then he grabbed a bunch of stuffed animals and placed them around the "nest" he was building. Next, he dragged me to the window, had me pull down the shade, turned off the light, dragged me to the door, and shut the door in my face! I peeked in, and he had curled up in his blanket on the floor and was preparing to take a nap with his animals. The silly guy! I wish nap time was that easy everyday. :) He took a nice long nap, but when he woke up, he was kind of freaked out--I think he forgot that it was his idea to sleep on the floor. Here he is after he cheered up! Nothing a little cartoons won't cure.

Pool Time!

It was finally warm enough to break out the pool today! It was close to 90 degrees, so we got Colter's wade pool out. He had so much fun! He's been ready to play in the water all winter. Any time he sees people swimming on TV, he tries to take off his clothes, points to the TV, and says, "Me, Me!" I was finally able to grant his wish. He splashed around for over an hour.

By the way, it's not a good idea to leave a cell phone unattended next to a toddler's pool. It might end up in the water. Cell phones and water don't get along.

A Mother's Day Tea and My Favorite Book

My mother has taken to playing tea party. I remember having a tea party here and there while my sisters and I were growing up, but Mom has gotten serious now. After she, my sister Courtney, and my brother Sawyer went to Prince Edward Island last summer and had high tea at the 100th anniversary celebration of Anne of Green Gables, Mom started buying fancy tea cups like this one:And we started playing tea party! It's great fun. :) Courtney has learned how to make scones, they make some kind of special yummy cream and lemon curd (which sounds gross but it really yummy, or if I am using my tea-party-British-accent, it is quite delightfully splendid). I think the best part is all the pretty dishes that we actually use. So often, china just hangs out in the china cabinet. It's more fun use it!

On Mother's Day, Courtney outdid herself and made a delicious Mother's Day Tea. She made cucumber sandwiches, scones, yummy cream stuff that I am sure has a name, chicken salad, cookies, cheesecake, and other tasty treats. We had three kinds of tea, English breakfast tea, mint tea, and caramel tea (SO good). Courtney did pretty much all the work as a present for Mom, Jessica, and me. What a good sister!

The funny part of the tea party is that my brother, twenty-five-year-old, wild child, railroad worker brother, Chance, was in attendance. Chance is the last person I expected to attend a tea party, but since it was Mother's Day, I guess he felt obligated. When he saw the all the pretty cups, tea pots, and the girly food, said and I quote, "What the *&#^@*# am I supposed to eat?" He then commandeered the bowl of chicken salad as it was the only meat on the table and started eating it out of the bowl with the big spoon. Oh brother. Literally. While it was funny to watch three grown men (my brother, brother-in-law, and Courtney's boyfriend) drink tea in flowered cups with their pinkies out, I think the next tea party should be ladies only.

Later on that day, my mommy dearest gave me this book!It's The Secret Kitten! My favorite book! My copy got ruined in The Great Basement Flood of '88 ('89?) Mom bought me a copy off Ebay. Mom read me this book so often when I was little that she still has the words memorized. :) I didn't really remember the storyline, but I remembered the pictures!

The kids finding a kitten at a grocery store...trying to figure out where the kitten belongs...trying to convince their daddy with the grumpy eyebrows to let them keep the kitten...and eventually getting to keep him!
I was so excited to get a copy of this book! It's neat to come across something so very familiar that's been missing for twenty years. THANK YOU SO MUCH MOMMY!!!! I love you! I'm going to bring The Secret Kitten home tomorrow, so you can read it to me.

THE STORM

The silence jerked me awake. The seemingly peaceful May morning was quiet—too quiet. :) John had already left for work and the room was too dark for 8:00 in the morning. At least I think it was 8:00; the red digital numbers were missing from the alarm clock. That explained the silence. No electricity! Just then, Colter’s “Hey, Mommy, come get me cry” came from down the hall. I retrieved Colter from his crib and decided we would snuggle in my bed for a bit and hope that the electricity came back on.

We had only been curled up a few minutes when a fierce wind suddenly hit the house. I then knew why the electricity was out; it was crazy windy! Almost immediately, it sounded like the roof was being ripped from our house (thankfully, it wasn't). I honestly thought the windows were going to be blown in, so even though I had not heard the tornado sirens, I rushed Colter to our designated tornado spot. It’s a pathetic excuse for a safe-haven. We don’t have a basement or shelter, so we cower down in the hallway, the only place in the house without any outside walls.

Without electricity, I could not flip on the TV and see what the weatherman had to say about what was going on, so I tried to call my mom with my cell phone. No signal! I couldn’t get through. Had the wind blown a tower down? It sure sounded like it; I had never heard such a wind! It sounded like things were being blown into the house, and the rain was coming down in torrents. I went to the front room and took a peek outside, and it looked like a blizzard. I could barely see three feet out the window. Buckets of water were falling from the sky and the wind was blowing it so hard, it was just white outside. I saw a few green blobs blow by though. Trees? Oh brother! Were there seriously trees blowing by my house? Surely not! I rushed back to the hallway, panicked now. I hunkered down on the floor, praying with all my might, when I heard the sound of a freight train! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! I was really terrified then and felt exposed and unsafe without a basement. I rushed to the living room with Colter in one arm and grabbed my solid oak coffee table with the other arm and practically threw it down the hall. The table offered a little protection if the roof fell down on us. I seriously was terrified. Colter didn’t seem to mind one bit though. He was not completely awake yet, and probably thought I was playing a new game.

After a few more minutes of this, I finally heard the tornado sirens. They were just a little behind the times. I was then able to get through to my mom, and she was able to see the radar for me and let me know that the worst was over. Praise the Lord! We were alive! The wind did quiet down some, although it was still quite a storm, but since I knew the worst part was over us, I felt brave and went to look outside. Our backyard was a lake, my metal patio furniture was blown into a heap, and our trashcans were missing. Colter’s plastic swing set was blown into the middle of the yard, shingles were strewn about and limbs were snapped. It was a mess! It was still windy and rainy for quite awhile after, but it was nothing like the frightening first thirty minutes of the storm. While I waited for it to quit raining, I talked to a friend and found out that the tornado sirens had actually gone off three times, but the wind had just been too loud for me to hear them. It turned out that the shingles were actually from our neighbor’s roof, and our house pretty much looked all right. We had some stuff blown about, but the only real damage was a broken vase which I had left on the deck table, a broken trashcan lid, and a bent over crab apple tree. We were lucky, for there was a lot of damage around town. While waiting for the electricity to come back on, Colter and I drove around town and saw trees down, sheds blown over, and a tree crushed by a car!

When we went home, I picked stuff up and put our coffee table back into the living room. It is heavy. I struggled getting it through the hallway by myself. When I put it in the hallway for Colter and I to get under, I used one arm! Apparently, my adrenaline was up, because the table had felt like nothing. I realized as I put the table back in its spot that my arm was actually sore. Too funny!

The weatherman called the storm a derecho, which can have winds up to 105 m.p.h., and it looked like an inland hurricane on the radar. A man, originally from Louisiana, interviewed on the news said it was just as bad as any hurricane he had ever experienced. Even though I’ve never been in a hurricane, I agree! I’ve never seen anything like it and have no desire to again. Colter wanted to know why his sandbox was filled with water.

There were a lot of trees blown over a few streets down, but this was our only real damage. Hopefully, the little crab apple tree can be straightened out.

I know this post is already super long, but I have to mention what my silly husband was doing during the storm. He was at school supervising all the students that were hunkered down on the floor in the basement. A door up the stairs from where the kids were blew open, and John went to hold it shut! Apparently, the scene in Twister when the dad blows away after holding the storm shelter door shut had no effect on John. He watched the roof blow off the school gym, watched debris blow by the window, and felt the wind pull the door harder and harder, yet he still kept holding it! He finally had another teacher help him. Just as they were going to give up and let it go, someone came with a key and was able to lock it, so it wouldn’t blow open anymore. Thankfully, my husband didn’t blow away and everyone was all right.

We Are Hippos---Isn't It Obvious?

Colter taught me a new game! We had to put our shoes on our hands and crawl around on all fours. I didn't know why we were doing this until I watched a video that Colter's Grandad, Mike, took of Colter and his friend Riley. After the race, Joey, Rachel, and Riley came over for a few minutes, and while Rachel and I were talking, Colter and Riley were playing in the other room. Come to find out, Mike was taping them. When I watched the video, I saw Riley teach Colter to put his shoes on his hands and crawl around on all fours. When Mike asked Riley what they were doing, she said, "We are hippos!" Duh. :)

Why didn't I know what we were playing? :)

The Preggo Lady Is Faster

Or she just has a trouble-maker for a husband! Grr....Joey. :)

My friend Gina organized the Carter Ryan Run for Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society on May 2nd (go here to read Carter's story). There was a mile walk, a 5k run, and a 10K run. Although I could have run the 10K in record time and amazed all the onlookers with my speed and grace of course, out of the goodness of my heart, I decided to have pity on my friend Rachel and walk the 5K with her as she is preggo and didn't feel running a 10K would be in her baby's best interest.

It was a cold day for a walk, but look at our smiles. And look who is winning! Colter!Our families had a great time walking together and visiting, UNTIL the end of the race! Look at me casually walking with Rachel thinking we're going to have a six-way tie. Oh, the innocence! Little did I know Rachel and Joey had an evil plan!
Suddenly Joey grabbed my arm, and Rachel took off!Grr!Look at the expression on Rachel's face! It's obvious this was her plan the whole time. The little sneak. :)
The preggo lady crossed the finish line first! At least I got ahead of Joey. See how John is behind us? He just watched the whole thing and didn't rescue his wife. I hope I don't ever get attacked for real!
We finished the race in an amazing 52 minutes! We are speedy. :)The man of the hour with his mommy!

Thanks, Mike, for taking great pictures! I love how you captured the turn of events at the end of the race! :)