Sunday, February 28, 2010

Katy Rodeo

My Mom purchased tickets for all of us to go to the Katy Rodeo last night, and we had a great time. Shortly after we arrived we went down to the 'Stick Horse' table and Mom/Nani let Mackenzie pick out her very own stick horse to love and to keep and to raise. Minus our efforts to get her to pick out the horse with pink and green hair she choose a very stylish horse with black and red hair (yarn and strips of bandanna). Needless to say that when we got home later that night she finally named her horse, "Bandanna".

Not only did she get to keep her horse, but she also got to ride in the 'Stick Horse Race" down in the arena between shows! Most of the other kids rode their horse, and Mackenzie just stood there loving on her horse. Oh well, maybe next year she will go more than two feet toward the finish line! She LOVED IT.

She also loved the, bull riding, bronco riding, cow roping and all the other fun stuff. Until around 9:00 when she said she wanted to go home. The she repeated herself around 9:15, so we left. I thought maybe she was tired, but NOOOOO. She stayed up until midnight loving on Bandanna and RIDING her around the house. Yes, she wouldn't ride during the race, but at home she rode like and old pro. Thanks Mom.

Monday, February 22, 2010

30 Things While 30 - List

Well, I have not been working on my 30 things list and really need to at least get some momentum going. I also have not had any suggestions from my friends as to what I should put on my list. Here is the deal. I am making a list of 30 things to do during my 30th year of life. I will turn 30 on August 18th.

My list thus far:

1. Get pregnant with baby #2 or already be pregnant and have baby #2, or get pregnant and have baby #2. This all depends on when I actually get pregnant, so cut me some slack.

2. Go on a family vacation. Seriously. We have NEVER had a family vacation unless our honeymoon counts. We went to Disney with my parents, brother and niece and nephews, but that does not count. We also went to Bandera with Wayne's family, sisters and niece, but that does not count either. I am talking about the Sherwood family vacation.

3. Draw Closer to God. I'd like to think that I already have a good relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ, but I KNOW it can be even better and more amazing.

4. Go on more than 1 date with my hubby. Seriously, we need a regular date night - once a week or once a month - just the two of us.

5. Go outside the borders of Texas. I love Texas and want to stay here, but I think I need to travel some. I use to travel for work quite a bit and have been a lot of places, but my hubby and daughter have not. We need to go somewhere. Maybe this and #2 go hand-in-hand, and maybe not.

6. Get into arts and crafts. I have recently acquired a love for making cute baby girl things as baby shower gifts, and I would love to expand to baby boy stuff, kids stuff and even things for adults. This is a fun outlet.

7. Pray with and Encourage Strangers. I don't know how to explain this, so we will just leave it at that.

8. Be a better friend. Let's face it; I HATE using the phone. I don't call people; well, pretty much never call people, so if you are not on the Internet, or I don't see you in person, or you don't take the initiative it probably won't get done. So here is to more phone calls and initiative from my end of the relationship.

9. Be more spontaneous. I would like to think that I use to be a spontaneous person, but after illness, work, marriage, a child and lack of money I have seemingly lost most of my spontaneity. So here is to getting it back.

10. Work out at the YMCA at least 3x's a week. Seriously, why not get in shape. Preggo or not I am going to work out.

11. Get Mackenzie in her own bed - ALL NIGHT. Mackenzie always starts out in her own bed, but somehow ends up in our bed sometime during the night. (she use to sleep in her own bed all night...what happened?) Hopefully this will happen before I am 30. When it does I will change this number 11 to something else.

12. Have (and keep) a nice front and back yard. Have you seen our yard!!! It needs a lot of work. A yard can be like another room on you house if it is nice.

13. Visit my Hubby at work at least twice a month. I think it is nice to break up his day with our presence - lol.

OK, so as you can see I need more ideas. Can you lend me a hand...please.

Oops. I missed some preggo friends.

I have so many preggo friends and friends that just had babies that I forgot 4 of them. Can you believe it. So add 4 ladies and 4 babies to my blog a few post's back.

Allison - girl
Emma
Jennifer
Carla

If I missed anyone else, I am sorry.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Cute Conversation

This was one of our conversations this morning.

Me: "Mackenzie, did you know that you are going to turn 2 soon."

Mackenzie: "Oh Man! Old."

Friends Having Babies

Right now I have a lot of friends (and family) having babies. It truly is a joy, and did I mention that I have the baby bug? I am ready to expand our family by starting on baby #2, but I have to wait until this staph is completely cleared up and the meds are out of my body.

In order of due date, here is a first name list of the Mom's having babies, and the baby's gender being born:

Suzanne - boy
Kiersten - surprise at birth
Laci - girl
Melinda - twin girls
Cierra - surprise at birth
Amber - girl
Jill - surprise at birth
Amanda - boy
Laura - gender unknown
Hannah - gender unknown
Jill - gender unknown

Plus the two ladies that recently had their girls and boy and the one friend that just had a miscarriage. At one time, that put the total count at 14 ladies and 16 babies. In utero we are now standing at 11 ladies and 12 babies; no wait, just got a call that the top lady on my list is a new mom, so 10 ladies and 11 babies. Congratulations Suzanne!!!

Here is the thing. I LOVE making part of my baby gift, and have great and fun ideas for baby girls, but I am almost completely blank for a baby boy. Does anyone out there have some really neat home-made baby gift ideas for a new baby boy? If so, please comment and let me know.

Friday, February 19, 2010

It's WHAT!!!!

Some of you know that I have this rash/burn like thing on my right hand. Then all of a sudden my face started doing something similar with patchy, itchy, slightly swollen 'stuff', but no burn spots. I thought it was a combination of contact dermatitis that turned into an environmental burn and eczema all in one. I was partially correct and partially incorrect.

I had some people pray over my hand and face on Sunday and had started seeing drastic improvement, but Wednesday evening and Thursday morning it looked WORSE. It started spreading and my had was slightly swollen-ugg. So I decided it was time to go to the doctor. Every dermatologist I called was booked through the end of March or early April, and I thought just in case this is something serious I better go somewhere. I called my GP and got in immediately. She has been my GP since I was like 14 or 15 years old, so she is AWESOME and really knows my history.

The nurse went through the usual weight, temperature and blood pressure routine. When she took my temperature it was 98.4* which is about a degree and a half high for me; curious. Then my blood pressure which she said looked GREAT was also a little high for me (mine is usually pretty low on the normal scale). Tale tale signs that 'something' is going on.

When the doc came in I told her my story and with one look she new EXACTLY what was wrong. I was correct in the fact that is started off as contact dermatitis, but what was the diagnosis??? Staph Infection! That's right, a staph infection. Good news, it doesn't look like the MRSA (resistant staph) and we can knock this thing out in 10-days. Bad news, high dose of antibiotic 4 times a day for 10-days and a crazy steroid pack for 6-days. She was pretty funny when she told me the treatment because she knows I DON'T LIKE medication. She started off by telling me that we can get this fixed up, but don't get mad, I have to be on antibiotics and steroids. Then she followed up by telling me to TAKE EVERYTHING. She knows I always do following the directions, but yuck!!! I suppose it is alright because I have not been sick, to the doctor or on medications for almost 3-years now. I suppose once in 3-years is alright. :)

So, here is to getting ALL BETTER.

(oh, and I have a picture on my camera, but my camera is acting up. I will post if I can get it off of there and onto here.)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Old Friends

OK, so my friend is not old. Actually, he is younger than I am, but I have not seen him in about 10-years, and that makes him and old friend.

Today I got to meet up with this old friend and meet his wife and kids (who I absolutely adored). It was great to catch up a bit, but we didn't get to hang out nearly long enough because I am preparing for a class tonight. Maybe next time we can have a game night.

So, here is to old friends!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

B-I-N-G-O

And I don't mean the game.

Today we (Mackenzie to be exact) had a HUGE potty training breakthrough.

At 4:25 she told me "Poopie, poopie". We ran to the bathroom. We made it on time. And...she went poo in the potty all by herself!

Of coarse we were so excited and made a really big deal about it. Hopefully she will remember the positive fuss we made and keep up the good work. Now if we can just cut down on tinkle accidents we will be doing great. Especially because she stopped throwing her tantrums yesterday.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Turning 2

I can hardly believe that in less than a month my baby is going to be 2 YEARS OLD. It seems like just yesterday that she was born, but somehow at the same time it feels like we have always had her with us.

I will blog more about her turning 2 when her actual birthday comes. For now I will just enjoy the last of her being 1.

Turning 30

OK, so I have a ways to go before I turn 30 (a little over 6 months), but I was just reading my Sister Kelly's blog (sister-in-law so you don't get confused) and we have the same birthday. She is making a list of 30 things to do during her 30th year of life. So, I am stealing her idea and I am also going to make a list. We have until August 17th to make our lists because on the 18th we will officially be 30.

Stay tuned for a completed 30 Things in 30th Year list. Oh, and if you have any ideas you want to submit to me for consideration feel free; you might see them on my list.

Two Steps Forward...

Two steps forward, one step back.

At least we are taking two steps forward on the potty training front. This past Saturday and Sunday we took a break from potty training. By 'a break' I mean that Mackenzie wore pull ups instead of big girl panties and we only used the potty twice each day. This seems to have helped because she is down to one tantrum (or less) each day instead of the ridiculous 6 tantrums a day. Oh, and we stopped watching Karate Kid I which may have also helped?

Yesterday we went back to big girl panties and normal potty training and the tantrums stayed to a minimal once a day :) Also, yesterday she started saying 'poopie' just before she needs to go poo. This is AWESOME!

As for the one step back...she is having more accidents during the day.

I know it will all be worth it when diapers are a memory of the past and she is never having accidents. Then we will start all over with baby #2 (when we have a baby #2).

Electronic Queen

This post has nothing to do with Mackenzie except that she is very much like me and may also be an Electronic Queen some day.

Typically I am the Electronic Queen. If it is electronic and you need something done, fixed, corrected...I am usually the person my family calls. It is so much so that Wayne refuses to do anything electronic and just asks me to do it first (along with much of the house hold fix-it-up stuff).

Today I think the electronics are in rebellion. This morning while removing one of the 'empty' ink cartridges (which by the way are NEVER empty when our machine says they are) the cartridge burst and yellow ink poured out EVERYWHERE. Seriously, ink inside our printer, all over our desk and computer mouse. Ugg. And let's just say that it doesn't clean up very easily.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Houston Auto Show

OK, so that last post was a little rough, so I thought I would post something happy.

Last Wednesday evening Wayne, Mackenzie and I went to the Houston Auto Show. We were reluctant to take Mackenzie at first because we were not sure how she would act, and she was only on day 3 of potty training.

Well folks, let me just say that she LOVED the Auto Show. Seriously! For the first half she walked around from car to car with us and commented on the color and the sound it makes and just simply had a great time. The second half she had juice and snacks in her stroller.

And can you believe that she held her pee the entire time and waited until we got home to go potty on the potty! Yes. We even took her at the auto show and she refused to go then. My baby is growing up. (for more details on how potty training is currently going read my last post)






Potty Training

OK. I realize I have not blogged for a LOOOONG time, but hey...I just didn't feel like blogging. Now that something pivotal is taking place in my daughter's life I decided it is time to post again. That something pivotal is POTTY TRAINING and the 'Terrific Two's'.

Mackenzie has been showing signs of going into the terrible -I mean- 'Terrific Two's' for a month or two now, but nothing to dramatic. The occasional throwing herself on the floor when she was mad or random hitting or kicking when she didn't get her way. She would only do this about once a week at first, then she decided to go for a minimum of twice a week. No big deal. I can handle twice a week, and so can she.

But then -loud music playing DUH, DUH, DUH- we started potty training. The first week was AWESOME. She only had accidents the first two or three days, then days 4-7 she did great. She loved going on the potty (no poo, but that is another story). She loved putting stickers on her potty chart and washing her hands and doing the victory potty dance. We were laughing and having a great time. Day 8 there began some rebellion. She started saying, "NO" when I told her it was time to go to the potty. I thought maybe we were going to often, so I backed off from every hour to every hour and a half to two hours. This worked for day 8, but on day 9 she would just YELL, "NOOOOOO" when it was time to go to the potty then she would just pee in her big girl panties. Yes, pee all over the floor. I thought this was just a stage, but on day 10 she started throwing these yelling tantrums with kicking, biting and hitting if I asked her to do anything (get dressed, eat lunch, go potty...anything!). And these tantrums didn't last just a minute or just five minutes; they lasted 45 minutes each, and she threw 5 or 6 of them each day! No matter what I did, hugs, kisses, reading a book, leaving her alone; nothing worked to soothe her and she just continued on with her rebellion of whatever. So I decided that today(day 12 of potty training) we would just take a break. She can wear a diaper today and I will take her to the potty only a few times today. Did the potty training aggravate the 'Terrific Two's', or is she just testing her limits? Is she not ready to potty train? She finds it easy to tinkle in the potty so that shouldn't be it!

Uggg.

Oh, and NO MORE KARATE KID the movie until her tantrums stop!