Bayli rides up front

Yesterday I had to drive Lealan's truck because he was taking ours to get the roof repainted where a big tree limb fell on it and scratched the paint off and to pick up the rental. For those of you who don't know what he drives, his truck is an extended cab, but not with 4 regular doors. You have to open the front and then open the back. Because Bayli was going with me and it would be crazy for me to run around the vehicle to let her out I just told her to ride up front. She doesn't normally ride up front because she is still only 11 and they really want you to be at least 12 to ride up front and apparently she has a bigger fear of policeman than I knew about. As soon as I said just ride up front she got this scared, surprised look on her face and said "okay, but if we get pulled over I'm 12 years old and I was born in 1997!" I laughed so hard. I told her I was pretty sure we would be okay with the police if that happened. Of course since we then made it down with no arrests for her sitting up front when we went home that day in the rental she asked to ride up front. Now she's feeling like a risk taker and it can only be downhill from here :)

No baby rabbits :(

Well it looks like when Lealan checked Specs for gender he was wrong. Of course Specs was just little and it is hard to tell when they are small. We never bothered to check anymore because Lealan had said it was a girl so I got him out the other day and checked. I'm pretty sure he was a boy. Would have been easier to tell if he didn't have so much fur and Bayli wasn't standing there with her head all in the way trying to see to while shoving the book (with pictures) in my face. The look on poor Specs face was priceless.

New Rabbit!

Bayli got a buck (boy rabbit) yesterday and named him Briar. She already has a doe named Specs and she is wanting to have babies. On the ride home Lealan asked her how long we needed to leave them together before separating them again, which led to one of those if you don't want to know don't ask situations. Bayli said according to the book just about 15 minutes! I loved it. I said we might just leave them together for a few days and then separate. I honestly can't wait until we have some baby bunnies!!!!!

Ear Wax

I am making my Christmas gift list and my friends little boy is into bugs, so in discussing what to get him we talk about a microscope to look at the bugs with. Thinking of microscopes makes me all warm and fuzzy inside because I remember Bayli with her microscope (from Wal-Mart). She loved that thing and looked at everything! We looked at pond water, bugs, hair, etc, etc. One day she made me open my mouth and then proceeded to scrape my cheek. Once the scraping was done I asked what she was doing. She replied that that was how you retrieved DNA and she wanted to look at the double helix under the microscope. I was for sure she would be disappointed when she looked into the Wal-mart microscope and didn't actually see the double helix. She was not as disappointed as I thought, she just said she would have to get a stronger microscope, but it was still cool. Well the incident that really stands out is also kind of gross. Lealan worked seconds at that time so I was always using the microscope with Bayli and pretty much nothing surprised me. A little background to reduce the grossness. Bayli had terrible sinus and allergy trouble that the doctors were just getting under control so her ears would sometimes have some wax in them that would come out on the q-tips. One day she had just gotten out of the shower and was cleaning her ears and the q-tip came out with some wax and she decided she needed to see that under the infamous microscope, but alas we didn't have time because we had to go to town so she put it in a baggie and stuck it in the potholder drawer in the kitchen. Why that drawer I don't know, but that's where it went. About a week later Lealan is needing a potholder and he reaches into the drawer and what does he find, a baggie containing a earwax q-tip! He had the strangest look on his face and he said is this a q-tip with earwax on it. I said (like it was just another day in the neighborhood) yeah Bayli is going to look at under the microscope. He had more questions like why, why is it in this drawer, in the kitchen, etc. etc. But that's Bayli, walks to her own beat. By the way if you ever get the chance, check out earwax under the scope!

End of the flu

Last Tuesday Bayli came home with a fever and so Wednesday morning I take her to the doctor and yes she does have the flu! She is so pitiful. Later that day as she is puking into a garbage can she is saying "I'm sorry I'm sick mom" Me - "It's okay" her- "I know you have to take off work" Me " it's fine really". It's sweet she thought of it, but a very weird time. Friday she comes shuffling down the hallway from my bedroom... I'm thinking great now I have to lysol that area as well; she is wearing my bathrobe, which is dragging the ground and with the arms hanging past her hands. As she passes by me she says "I told you I needed a new bathrobe" So, that makes it okay to infect mine?!?!? Saturday it was a toss up as to burn the robe or wash it, so I decided to wash it and see if all the cooties come out. We have now been feverless for 2 days :)

Concert

Saturday was the Keith Urban/Sugarland concert. We were all so excited!! It was in Nashville at the Sommet Center, which was an excellent venue! Unfortunately Bayli's allergies kicked into high gear and she didn't feel too good, but she managed with some benadryl and a 20 minute nap during a very loud concert to make it. She loved it and wants to go back. SL was great and Keith Urban was AMAZING. He was so funny and humble. You can tell he loves what he does. The first time he went into the crowd bayli looked down and then looked at me and said next time we get seats down there! LOL! This morning she took her Keith Urban poster to hang in her locker, which was kind of bittersweet for me because I once again realized my baby is growing up. She has a locker and now it's going to have a poster in it! Where did my baby go? We got home Sunday about 3:15 AM. It was so worth it. SL went on at 8:30 and played for an hour and then there was about a 20 minute break. Keith Urban then came on and played til after midnight! We all want to go see Keith again. I told Lealan he should see if Keith needed a truck driver because I know a good truck driver!! Ha

Birthdays!!!!

Happy Birthday to Lealan and Bayli!!! He is 33 and she is 11 today! Where did the time go? Lealan is not as happy to be 33 as she is to be 11. She has counted down for a week. I told her this morning that technically she wouldn't be 11 until 5PM tonight and she informed me that it was HER birthday and she IS 11. Well, I guess that cleared that right up! She had me and McDonald's with milk pills in hand at 5 after 7 this morning for a birthday breakfast. She had 2 orders of cinnabites. She called her dad and said it was her birthday and she is 11 now (like he didn't know) and said of course it's your birthday too so we can't forget that and then told him happy birthday! As a little birthday to everybody we are going to see Keith Urban and Sugarland tomorrow. We can't wait!!!!!

DCS Sweatbees

Last night was the first game Bayli played in the band at. She was excited. She's not a real sporst fan so she didn't think she would like the actually game watching portion. She loved being able to run around and the fact that there was a concession stand. Concession stands make everything okay with her. We stomped Chattanooga Christian like 32 - 14. We would have had 2 more touchdowns, but they didn't let us keep them. They threw flags each time with some crap about people in the back field. I think we got the shaft, but we still won so Yeah go Sweatbees! When it was over Bayli said it was fun seeing her friends, eating pizza, playing in the band and even the football wasn't bad because "they hit each other"!

It's been forever.

I didn't realize I hadn't done anything in August. I guess with school getting started and things changing up at work I haven't realized I was remiss. Well so far Bayli is doing well in school. Loves her teacher Mrs. Eakins. She had her for volleyball camp last year and that's who she wanted, so she really lucked out. Maybe I've been putting it off because this is a hard month because my baby turns 11 tomorrow and I am not ready for that at all. My cell phone rang yesterday and it was Bayli's teacher, so of course you instantly assume they have done something. She was like how are you, haven't talked to you since the first day (which makes me think she is working her way up to telling me bayli has done something awful) and then asks how things are on our end school wise. I said they are fine, but what about your end!?!? She said Oh Bayli is doing great. No complaints grade wise or behavior. This would be where I finally took a breath. She said Bayli was easy to love. Well duh, she's my daughter what do you expect. Said she is always willing to participate in discussions and not just in science. She said she has already reached 100 AR points for the year (thats 10 more than she is required for the whole year). She said her handwriting is not too good. I said I know, I've been trying to help with that, but it continues to be awful. She said she thinks it has got just a little better. I think she has just learned how to read it. All in all it was a great conversation and it made me feel good that she is reaching out to the parents. Most teachers don't just call to check in. It made me feel good and proud of Bayli.

Oink Oink

Yep that's right I said oink oink. We woke up yesterday morning and found a pig in our yard. We have no idea where it came from. Of course me being the animal lover that I am starts scrambling for something to feed it. And what do I come up with, but a hot dog! Bayli runs to her dad and says "mom's feeding it a hot dog, don't hot dogs have pig in them?" He said yes they do, but I said I was just going to think it was a turkey hot dog. The pig had no problem with eating two of them! Besides, Bayli was standing there are the porch watching the pig saying how much she would like to have some bacon. I thought that was uncalled for. Unfortunately for me and yeah for Lealan the pig was gone when we got home from church. I was hoping it would stick around. I was going to name it Pork Chop.

Cowboy Up!

Saturday night we went to Johnny and Rachel's for a cookout and he had rented a mechanical bull for us all to ride. It's been a long time since I've been on one. We had a blast! We all rode over and over. Even Bayli got in on the action. Of course now we are all bruised, sore, and have knots all over our legs, but it was so worth it! Bayli wants to have a birthday party with a bull now. We told her we may have us a cookout next summer and rent one after we all heal up.

I've done enough for you!

Well as you know I got stitches is delicate areas and with them being there I really can't doctor them too well. Since Lealan isn't home this responsibility falls to Bayli, much to her dismay. I think her actually reaction was "You want me to do what where?!" Not at all excited about it to say the least. Well yesterday morning was the first time for her to do this. I had to have vaseline put on them and then bandaged back up and the first 2 were ok, but with the third being in such a delicate area as your butt crack, she was very hesitant. She did finally do it wonderfully and then ran out of the bathroom like she was shot out of a canon. I was wearing a black slick material shirt that ties in the back and because of the slick material it never stays tied for long. We were just walking into the YMCA that morning to drop her off and I had just got to the counter and realized I had come undone and when I mentioned it Bayli looked up at me and said "I've done ENOUGH for you today" and then she turned and preceded to walk away. Connie, one of the counselors, laughed and tied me up. Yep it's pretty obvious that when I get old she will ship me directly to the nursing home.

Stitched

Well, I am all stitched up now in places stitches aren't supposed to be. I had to go have 3 moles removed which is no big deal for me, but it gets interesting. One was on my back and 2 on my butt. Who even gets moles on their butt. Nobody should, it should not be allowed. One is on my butt cheek and the other is like at the top of my crack. Now I am all bandaged up and well let me tell you band aids in your crack, it ain't normal! They used special stitches that make better scars, but aren't as durable so they put in some special stitches for sitting purposes... who cares about scars there. Nobody is going to see it so why not just use the durable ones so I don't go to sit down and my stitches bust out. Not only that I usually cut my own stitches out, but with all these I can't reach them so I told them Lealan would cut them out so I didn't have to drive back down there and pay another co-pay. Well, it turns out that those special stitches require special cutting out skills. I left the office with a sticky note that had pictures drawn like a map so Lealan would know which ones to cut first and then pull. He's going to love it! He may back out of this whole stitch cutting thing after he sees the sticky note.

It's been a while!

It has been forever since I have been on here, but it has been busy busy. I do have a funny little store to tell about Bayli. Sometimes she says the funniest things. We are having homecoming at church Sunday and after it is over the guys always go golfing. Well, me and him were discussing what me and the girls might do yadda yadda and Bayli pipes up "hello, third wheel here!" It was so funny, but she is right we were not discussing what she would be doing while we were both busy. So much for just saying, hey what am I doing. Right now I am busy with Lingerie and Bachelorette party planning. We are going to have a blast. I finished the invites and just have a few more to pass out. We are going to do our Lingerie shopping on Sunday after church and I can't wait!

The lost have returned!

Saturday we put Gigi and her 2 remaining babies outside where they will be living from now on. They did well all day. The black one we are keeping is a girl named Kenny, thanks to my husband and the white one is going to mom, which I have named Cracker. I don't know if she will keep the name, but that is what I am calling it! We got up Sunday morning and the kittens were gone! We were all so sad and thought they were gone for good, but Tuesday night they showed back up and were HUNGRY. They ate and ate, but that was all that was wrong. We figure they may have followed Gigi off and just couldn't get back since they were so small. We are all so excited that they are back. It really sucked telling mom we lost her kitten, but now we got to tell her we found it again.

Only 10 days until vacation!!!!!! I can't wait!

NEW KITTIES!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,I am her daugater. I am writing about the kittens our cat had. It's funny because there is 5 white ones and 1 black one.I am really not shure where she was hiding them all.To begin with she was skinny anyway.

Stitched

Well, last night I had to take Bayli to the ER to get her thumb stitched up. She cut it with scissors. Boy can a thumb bleed! Our kitchen looked like someone got stabbed in it. I got it rinsed off in the kitchen sink and had her wrap a paper towel around it until we got to my bathroom. When we got to my bathroom we unwrapped it and of course it is still bleeding and she sees the blood and goes white as a sheet and says she doesn't feel do good she needs to go to the toilet. She hugged the toilet for a few minutes. She never threw up or passed out, but it was close. If she had passed out I don't know how I would have gotten her to the car! We wrapped up the thumb and headed to the ER. She never cried or anything when she cut it, which was surprising. She cried a little when they numbed it, but who wouldn't it hurts in your thumb! She did real good through that part. She got a couple stitches and was good to go. The PA sewing her thumb asked if she had a problem with blood and she said she had a problem seeing her blood! It was pretty sore this morning, but she was doing good.

New Shoes!!

My new shoes just arrived today. They are super cute. Of course I only have one outfir i can wear them with right now, but who cares. I bought them to go with the new dress I got for our Ladies Conference. It is brown, white, turquoise, and green. The shoes are going to look so good with it. I just hope it is warm on April 4th because my dress is not going to keep me warm enough if it is not.

Rain, Rain go away and come again another day

Ugh. I am tired of the rain. I know we need it, but can't it rain while I'm sleeping so you don't get soaked all over during the day. This weather makes my shoulders hurt is another reason I would like it to go away. It also makes me want to do nothing but curl up in my jammies.

Herbst Appliance

Yesterday Bayli got the Herbst Appliance put on. I thought they were going to remove the braces and put it on, but I was wrong. They cut some of the wires out and then along the bottom braces they twisted wire all through it and then put in the herbst. It kind of looks like a big hinge. It makes her jaws puff out and she woke up this morning and could barely talk because it was so sore. I had to help her brush her teeth last night. It is so hard to try to get around that thing in there. They said she can't sleep on her side, that she will have to sleep on her back. They said if she sleeps on her side in can imbed in her jaw and make horrible sores and cuts. That is going to be hard because she sleeps all over the place. I feel for her. She can't chew anything right now and is eating soup. I couldn't get her to eat anything for breakfast, not even oatmeal. She has to wear it for a year and then continue on with braces after that for another year. It feels like she will be in this stuff forever!

Girl's Weekend

Me, Jimka, Sarah, Jill, and Cara left Thursday for Gatlinburg for a girls weekend. We had a blast! Our cabin was 3 levels. One was a theater room, with awesome recliners and a screen as big as the wall. And the hot tub was wonderful. One level had pool, air hockey and video games. We had a ball just walking around, hanging out, and eating lots of food.

Last night I think Lealan broke the pinky toe on his right foot. Bayli left her step stool in the hallway and Lealan did not turn the light on as he went down the hallway. It was a little crooked and swollen and hurts like crazy! I am hoping it will heal fast.

No more meds!

I took my last antibiotic Monday at lunch! Yeah!!!!!! I am starting to feel a lot better. The nausea is going away. I think things are looking up now. I took bayli to the Jonas Brothers 3-D movie Friday and we had a blast. She LOVED it. There were screaming girls all over the place. I actually enjoyed it myself. I took my ring that Lealan bought me that night and dropped it off to be sized and I can not wait to get it back. He bought me a black & white diamond square ring. It is beautiful. It was for my birthday and our anniversary. I have been wanting black diamonds forever. He is so good!

Back in the human race!

Well, today I feel back in the human race. I have been sooooo sick. Friday the 13th, how weird, I got extremely sick. Lealan had to take me to the ER Saturday morning. Turns out I had an abcess where part of my surgery took place and it burst, which turns out was a good thing, because if it hadn't they would have had to remove it surgically. So needless to say I got to spend some time in the hospital with all kinds of drugs. It was complicated by the fact that I have no spleen, which sucks at times like this. They said it had just started and that the normal white cell count is between 5,000 - 10,000, at that time mine were 33,200!!! WOW! After I got home I got so much sicker, if that is even a word. Friday the 20th they called me some new nausea meds in and they are my new best friend!!! Don't worry I won't be posting any pics for this! Ha! Lealan and Bayli have taken such good care of me!!!! I am so lucky!

Friday the 13th

So far nothing freaky has happened, which is a good thing, but then the day ain't over. I am sitting here trying to distract myself from the cupcakes beside me that I am taking to the YMCA for Bayli's Valentine's Day party. It is EXTREMEMLY difficult seeing as how one of my most favorites foods ever are CUPCAKES. The other is Cheetos. Frankly I think they are Heaven on earth. And these cupcakes have wonderful icing and sprinkles!!!! I keep thinking surely that one kid at the YMCA that won't get one if I eat one won't mind at all. Wouldn't they see it as giving which is always better than receiving? I mean they are cupcakes with icing.... I don't know if I'm strong enough for this and I'm not sure I want to be. OK, so I need to think about something else. I think we are going to have a really good time tomorrow at Aunt Annie's 70th birthday party. It will be good to see everybody. Shout out to Aunt Annie!!! She doesn't look 70! Have a great Valentine's Day everybody!

My old friend warm weather!

AHHHHHH! I know today can't last because we WILL have more winter weather, but it was so great today. In Dayton it is like 71 degrees. It really makes me miss summer. I hate being cold and this just teases me. I would be OK with only having snow at Christmas, with enough to play real good, eat some snowcream, sled and then be done and back to the warm weather.

We had our first new young adult class at church with me and Jimka teaching. It went really well and I hope the rest will be as good. I think it will challenge me, which I need. Teaching them is not like the little ones I taught. It is a little more difficult right now and they require more than crayons, puppets and simple Bible stories. I think we are going to have some really good discussions. I hope I improve as a teacher and do them and God justice.

Ice Ice Baby!

We are getting lots of cold icy weather these last few days. It was beautiful this morning when I went out to feed the cats. It was still dark and it looked like glitter coming down. But alas I am not cut out for cold weather. I am actually considering moving to some warm, tropical paradise where it never, ever gets cold. We finally got a cart for Bayli to use to haul her Sax around. It has bungee straps to hold it on. She looks like a little professional hauling her gear around. Poor Lealan has been up north driving since Sunday and he is NOT enjoying the weather at all. Very cold and lots of ice and snow. I feel for him!

BOWLING

Yesterday we took all the kids and teens at church bowling and pizza and then we went to Kay's Castle for ice cream. The picture was taken after we ate our ice cream. The two ladies that were working looked a little worried when we all trooped in there and wanted ice cream. We had a blast! I bowled on a lane with some little kids so I got the use of bumpers!!! Too bad you can't always have those. Bayli I think bowled better than me. She had a great time and fell asleep in the truck on the way back home.

Icy

We didn't go to work or school yesterday because our roads are VERY icy! We had a great day of doing nothing. Bayli went out for a little while and played in the snow. Her cough is doing better after the doctor gave her a pill for her cough. So hopefully now her breathing will improve. Our roads were still icy this morning, but Lealan drove us to school and work.

BRRRRRRRRR!

It is so cold outside that it hurts to even go out. It was in the negatives this morning and me and Bayli looked like marshmallow people with all our winter gear. I had her bundled up in her big coat, gloves, scarf, and a hat. She complained because she says with her big coat she can't keep her backpack and lunch box and purse from slipping around. She is hot natured and just wants to wear a thin jacket. I told her it was this or frostbite and frostbite was not acceptable. This is really making me reconsider going to the grocery store because I don't want to stand there to load them in the car and then unload them at home. This morning was pretty funny when we were trying to leave the house. Our two outside cats, Milo and Gigi, have a good place to get and they stay warm, but everytime I tried to shut the front door this morning Gigi ran in and jumped on the couch. She wanted no part of staying outside anymore. I had to catch her 2 or 3 times this morning before we could leave.

First week back to work.

I went back to work after my surgery on Tuesday, but I only worked until Bayli got out of school. Then I went home to rest. I feel pretty good now. Still a little sore, but I already feel a LOT better. I wish I could have had this done a long time ago. I probably wouldn't have been as tired this week, but Bayli's asthma is acting up and she is up and down all night and coughing. I hate this for her. She is constanting having to take her inhaler and can't breathe good. So far we have been able to keep her from having to go to the doctor and get some treatments. I hope that trend continues and that she gets better soon. The picture with this is one I love from Thanksgiving. Such a great face!

Seafood...it's what's for dinner.

We just had cajun seafood balls and jambalaya for dinner! It was all good, but those seafood balls were the bomb!!!! The jambalaya turned out to be a might spicy, but we all love food that is hot. We saw Paula Deen make these and decided to try them. Well I hope everyone is having a great New Year so far!!! I am getting over a terible cold and thinking how much I don't want to go back to work next week after being off for a while! Oh well, it could be worse.