Party Planning and Sheldon

I have spent the past few weeks prepping for Little C's birthday party that is coming up. I am LOVING preparing for it. Searching pinterest and collaborating with my co-party thrower has been SO MUCH fun. I must say we have pretty good ideas and it should be a pretty cute party. I can't wait to enjoy the special day with our birthday kids.

In fact, I think I'm going to be sad when it's all over. Making little C's bithday special is something that I actually really enjoy. We have banners made, subway art and other decorations. We are making birthday cakes and desserts the night before, hoping for no issues! ;)

The only other thing we need to cooperate? Is the weather. Hurricane Issac is trying to make things difficult. Even though the storm is only moving at 6mph as of early Thursday, apparently they think it will swing wide enough to get a little bit of Oklahoma. Supposedly it's moving faster by Thursday afternoon and we will get rain FRIDAY instead. Praying that there is a minimal chance of rain on Saturday, otherwise the water slide people will not come to set it up. Fingers crossed!

Other than that, I have no Sheldon updates. It's been a week, and nothing new. I am waiting on a phone call for my referral. I have all of my scans and my report in hand, I just need another appointment. That's the hard part, the waiting. I just want to see someone and be done with all this. I really think I came home with a headache after that first scan. I mean, would that throw the whole thing off? Could it be a precursor for something else? Ah. Only time will tell.

Other than that, not much else going on. Preparing for the great bake off tonight, and a party Saturday. I can't believe we are celebrating his SECOND year!!

Curly Hair Problems #2

Every single one of these? YES. 

Curly Hair Problems

When I was busy not sleeping a few different nights last week for various problems, I would often find myself wandering around on Pinterest. You know how those Some E-Cards are all the rage with their funny sayings, but I found these and instantly could relate. Some are pretty funny too!! Enjoy.

This might be my favorite one yet!!

Two Year Pictures

Let me tell you the story behind these pictures. 

Camden's great grandma on my Husband's Father's side - her parents built this little teeny tiny rundown house on a corner, surrounded by fields in town. It's literally only a few miles away from Camden's Great-Grandma's current home. The area around it is starting to grow up, therefore it won't be long until this beat up house with broken windows and the inside that has been gutted, will be torn down for good. I figured this was a perfect time to get some pics of Camden outside of great grandma's old house. I absolutely LOVE the red door, despite how beat up it may be.  It adds character to the photos!

Camden was not the most cooperative this day, but I did manage to get some photos. I think he was just ready to be done with pictures, luckily I got enough to be happy with two year shots.  I had a few tricks up my sleeve to get him to actually LOOK at me, or at least enjoy the photos. The books are his current favorite, and he loves his trike as he is learning how to ride it. He was excited when we pulled them out, so it helped get a few smiley shots.

This is a pullback shot of my location! Great Grandma A's house!

Happy 2 years little C!

The Spot: Sheldon

I named the Spot.

I shall call it Sheldon after one of my favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory.

After all, Sheldon is kind of a pain in my life like he is in his friends' lives on the show. ;)

Anyway. I went to my pcp this past Friday afternoon to have her read the summary. She brushed it of as nothing, telling me that "we all have freckles and moles on the outside, I'm sure the inside is the same". I told her I wanted to follow up anyway and she got kind of cranky, asking me if the brain research place was going to pay for this MRI because insurance isn't going to like it and it's going to be expensive.

So, that was a relief at least. I got someone to tell me straight up its not a tumor or anything quite THAT serious. After a second opinion from a friend's dad, I decided the neurologist referral is the right next step, and I will hopefully gain more insight into what exactly the "cysts" or "lesions" are. Ideally I would like for a neurologist to view the image and just tell me it's something simple, and I can relax and let it go without a contrast MRI. But if not, I'm prepared. It is better safe than sorry, so here goes nothing.

At this point I'm just waiting on a phone call from a neurologist to set up an appointment, thus beginning the hurry up and wait game. I'm continuing to pray for peace and calmness, the best thing I can do is trust that He knows whats going on.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!

The Spot

 

So much going on around these parts lately. So sweet, exciting and bittersweet. Shocking too. 

 

You know how you feel like everything is smooth sailing in your life, and that you have had very few speedbumps recently, and then you think, surely there's got to be some challenges and trials, right? 

 

Allow me to further elaborate while I struggle to get my thoughts together.

 

There are times in life where you remember exactly what you were doing, where you were, or even what you wore, when faced with a big event.

 

For example, the OKC Bombing. I was in gym class in 6th grade. While we were in the locker room changing into our gym clothes a girl named Emmy came up to me and said, "someone set a bomb off a building in Oklahoma City, it's huge and tore the whole building up". I remember being skeptical. I mean, what did she know? Turns out, she was right. It was massive. As the day unfolded, TVs were on in every classroom and we learned the horror of what happened.

 

9/11. I was a freshman in college, in the middle of a Family Relations and Child Development Class. My teacher was not concerned, despite hearing reports that Tinker AFB which is nearby to my college campus had gone on red alert thinking they could be next. No one knew what to expect, most professers let students return to their dorm and watch the news, account for family, etc. Not my teacher. She lectured like nothing happened. I remember hightailing it out of class to get back to my dorm room to discuss with my bestie, Malissa. I mean, surely it's not OKC all over again, right? Turns out, it was worse.

 

There are other little events that I recall. I found out OJ got aquitted while on the school bus on the way home. A boy climbed on and hollered "The Juice is Loose, BABY". When Princess Diana died I was in 9th grade, I remember the teacher of my Biology class discussing it with the students. I think his lesson was to wear your seatbelt and drive safe, since we were all in Driver's Ed at that time.

 

What do most of these events all have in common? Any guesses?

 

Okay, I'll tell you. They are usually traumatic events. Something awful happened, and you'll never forget who told you, or that feeling in your gut when you got told.

 

I had one of those events recently. In fact, it was Tuesday, the night before Camden's 2nd birthday. 7pm to be exact. Husband and I were getting Camden ready for bed, they were showering. I was getting Camden's PJs laid out and my phone rang. I thought, what on earth is this number? Often, when I see a number I don't know, I ignore the call. I decided to go ahead and take it. I mean, what the heck. Turns out it was a guy from the Brain Research place that I volunteered at a month or so earlier to do a paid research study that involved an MRI. And before I realized what was happening, he was telling me that they saw "a spot". He said they had already sent my scans to a neuroradiologist in OKC for review. And they recommended further testing, so they wanted me to follow up with my primary care doctor and go from there. I was calm and collected until I hung up the phone. Asking any question I could think of, but of course after hanging up I had a bazillion more. During the phone call the guy stuttered a lot, having difficulty finding words. I don't think I was really worried until he asked me how my health had been, if I had been sick since my MRI or anything like that. When I answered, "no" and he seemed a little shocked, that's what I keep overanalyzing.

 

Such a punch in the gut. And probably one of those events where I will remember the phone call vividly. Also, I'm a professional over analyzer apparently. So after a rough night of coming to terms with the news I'd been given, I had to let go of it. I had to work my way into telling people about it in person without becoming upset. I gave myself 24 hours of upset time. After that? Absolutely not allowed. I don't have time to be upset or worry, there is too many other things to be grateful for. And ultimately, God has his hand in this like he has in every other area of my life. When I start to question things or doubt or start to play the "what if" game, I have to stop myself. I don't allow myself to go there. God's got this. If it is something, we were meant to find it early. If it's not? It still has a purpose. I just have to wait and see what God is revealing to me.

 

In the meantime, prayers are appreciated. I have an appointment with my primary doctor on Friday afternoon to get a referral and all I can do is go from there. It's the waiting game. Also to the ten people that read this blog that I know in real life, I did not make it facebook official, so please no posts. It's more of a personal thing at this point. Also? I'm going to name the spot. I've been known to name things such as the cyst I had in my wrist in high school, so why should this be any different? Name is to be determined.

 

And I'll leave you with a verse that really spoke to me the other day when it popped up on my daily Bible reading plan on YouVersion..

 

She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

2 Years: A Letter

My surprised self is having to write that you are two years old in this letter.

TWO!

I can't believe that it has been two years since the time I was attempting to ignore the fact that I was actually having contractions. Instead, I thought I was getting sick or needed to nap, while your father vaccumed the house and grilled a turkey. (Can we say denial?)

I can't believe that it has been that long since I had the contractions that felt like my body was trying to rip itself apart in an attempt to seperate my upper body from my lower body.

It's been two years I went through 9ish hours of contractions and pushing, anxiety and excitement wondering what it would be like when you actually came.

And now here you are. A big, independent two-year old and you have grown to take up such a large portion of your Daddy's and my heart.

You are such a big boy, and we are amazed daily at how much you know and continue to soak up. You are still wearing 24 month clothes, you have been right on track into fitting into your clothes with your size/age. You are wearing size 5 diapers and size 5 shoes, you are about ready to move into a 5.5 I think! You are still missing your canine teeth, but you finally have molars all the way through.

You are practicing being potty trained at school. They take you to the bathroom quite often, and you are pretty successsful at peeing in the potty, but it doesn't seem to bother you to go in your diaper. Baby steps, little man, baby steps.

You are becoming more of a talker, I love it. Saying things like "not yet" and "right there" and "thank you momma" without prompting. I love how chatty you have become.

You love to mimic your daddy and do the things he does. You like to water the yard with the hose, you like to help mow and blow. The loud noises intimidate you and you always run for my lap when he turns on the mower and blower, but as soon as he calls you over to push the buttons to make the weedeater or the blower work, all fear is gone. You love to push those buttons and realize that you can control it.

You are also obsessed with fine motor activities. Lock and key come to mind. You love to lock things, especially the locks with a key. You also feel that it is your duty to put Mommy's keys in the ignition. Oh, the things you know that you probably shouldn't!

Your favorite TV shows are Mickey Mouse and Bubble Guppies. You ask for them ALL the time. We have been distracting you lately with books and you seem to love your flash card book that has pictures of items that you like to name, as well as the Llama Llama Red Pajama books. You have been asking for those before bed, and even in the morning when getting ready.

Bubble Guppies is HILARIOUS.

You continue to attempt to be independent in everything you do. You get upset if you don't get to turn on/off something, like the lights or the TV, you get upset when you don't get to be in charge of watering, or when we try to help you brush your hair. You like to be independent and if you know how it works, by golly, you want to do it while we watch.

The other day you fussed and fussed at me while I was changing your diaper. I couldn't figure what you wanted, so I took you to the Elmo potty. You refused to sit down, keeping your legs sandwiched together while continuing to fuss. Finally, I relented and said "show me". You took off running stark naked to the other bathroom where you pointed at the big potty. I sat you on it, and you happily peed. When you know what you want, you sure go for it!

Swimming WITHOUT help!

You ask regularly to draw. You like to "trace" our hands, the term trace used very loosely here as you tend to just scribble between our fingers. You let us trace your hands or feet, and you will even scribble away on the paper, point at it and annouce that it is "Dada" or "Pearl". You continue to love all things art at school. You are still using both your left and your right, no real preference noted just yet, your Daddy swears you prefer your left and will be a lefty. Time will tell!

They are working on letting you drink out of big boy cups at school, with no lid. You have been quite messy. You can do this at home as well, but you tend to like to just pour everything out on you. We are also working on sharing. You share food really well, toys not so much. They have done a great job of teaching you your colors at school, and you know all of them with the exception of white. When we ask you what color it is, you always rattle off "white dog". I guess that's what we get for having a white dog that we call "white dog" on a regular basis. It's rather adorable. You can also put together puzzles like a champ, you like to problem solve and figure out how things work, which probably explains the lock and key thing.

You lay your head down on my chest when we pray at night, and it is so sweet. After we finish you mimic my "AMEN". You recognize our church's logo, pointing it out on our shirts, cars and in emails. You will see the 'LC' and say "church". It warms my heart to know that you are learning about church and Jesus and how important they are in our lives. You will be moving into another room for 2-3 year olds, now that you are officially two. You will get to do art in there, and I think you will love it! Before too long you'll be in the room with the wii and the rock wall, and I pray that you will continue to love it, love church and learning about Jesus. I don't care what you are when you grow up, as long as you have a heart for the Lord, you won't disappoint us!

You LOVE your blankie. You are so adorably attached in the mornings and at night. It is your little blue lovey your CiCi got you. You have a back up one as well, but lately we haven't been able to find it! Silly boy. Every morning you have to use your thumb to push it through the handle whlie you hold your milk. You have to hold it this way, EVERY day. Sometimes before bed you will hold it and put it in between your pointer and middle finger and rub it. You will even put a corner in your mouth so you can hold it while your hands are busy. You love your "BB" as you call it, even running to go find it so you can drink your milk. Apparently the two go hand in hand. 

You are growing by leaps and bounds, each day you astound us with what you learn or what you already know. You are a stubborn, silly boy with a heartwarming giggle that we just can't seem to hear it enough. You are affectionate, independent, and a lovable little boy, and we look forward to what is to come!

Happy 2nd Birthday my little love!

Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be,
Mommy