oh april, where art thou?

this month has been crazybusy. i can't believe that i have only posted once so far this month. especially since april is THE BEST month of the year. for various reasons.

we had our friends, the rexs, over for easter dinner and then their little girl and reagan had a egg hunt in our back yard.

reagan still wasn't 100% on the whole get-the-eggs-they-have-candy-inside concept. he really wanted to throw them around the yard. but once we were inside and opened the eggs up, the "yandy" was discovered and tooth decay was enjoyed by all.



this past week we spent time in waycross. thomas had to attend oral arguments in jacksonville, about an hour from waycross, so reagan and i spent the week with bubba and mimi susu.

waycross is a railroad town, which is how it got its name, where the ways cross. we visited the okeefenokee heritage center and toured the okeefenokee chief locomotive.

being at bubba and susu's house was fascinating to reagan. so many things to climb on and so many things to throw. plus, 2 huge dogs, a gazillion cats, and a herd of cattle.

catching up on some reading in susu's sunroom.

no pants makes for the best reading.

also, while in waycross, thomas was sworn in to the georgia bar.

reagan wasn't too impressed, he was really interested in running around the courtroom with a set of keys, trying to find locks that needed opening.

on the trip down, meatball got tired of sitting on his pillow and decided that he wanted to sit on somebody's lap. thomas and i both pushed him away and so he tried for reagan's lap. this last about 20 seconds. reagan thought it was great. meatball realized again that he is not a reagan fan.

posing on the farm.
posing in front of the old, old, old waycross hospital, where actor burt reynolds was born.

>driving back through southern georgia we noticed some true blue georgia fans. if you can't tell, that is a huge 'G' painted on the side of a barn.
a shot of my georgia boys. i think it is so dorky when moms and daughters dress alike. but for some reason i am a sucker when it comes to daddys and little boys.

welcome to the jungle

thomas and i have felt very fortunate to be able to rent the house that we are in. we have plenty of room and no loud neighbors to bother us. we live on a cul-de-sac, so our street is usually pretty quiet. there are 2 large parks just down the road from us and our neighborhood is very well maintained. that is, except for one house...
the house next door to us has a nightmare for a yard. in the time since we have lived here, they have never once completely mowed their lawn. i think PARTS of the front yard have been cut maybe twice since august. but they are AUBURN fans, so what do you expect?


this is a photo of their back yard. please note the golf course length grass on our side of the fence. thomas is quite meticulous about keeping our yard presentable. he does an excellent job. unfortunately, he could mow the lawn once every few months and our yard would still look a gabillion times better than the neighbors.

please note the 3 lawnmowers in the backyard. the riding mower is under the blue tarpulin. someone must have actually been in the back yard recently because all winter long, weeds were growing through the two push mowers. when we first moved in, i didn't think there were any windows on the back of their house. when they had their roof redone a few months ago, the roofers had to pull some of the vines off the house in order to get work done. and voila! there were windows!
from this angle you can see parts of a swingset and an old barbeque grill. behind the wooden fence is a swimming pool. i can only guess what condition that is in.
if you look closely, you can see a rusted porch swing.
thomas and i are also grateful that we don't own our house. we can simply pack up and move away at the end of our lease. can you imagine how hard it would be to sell this house with the amazon jungle next door? we would probably have to pay a lawn service ourselves to have their lawn taken care of. if i were them, i would probably just set the entire backyard on fire and burn it to the ground and then start over.

99 days and counting

before i begin, i HATE blogger. this is the second beautifully and artfully crafted blog in a row that i have lost to due the idiocy that is blogger! so, gone is the post about my anticipation of my last 99 days of pregnancy. gone is the exquisitely worded prose about devouring a whole family size bag of cadbury eggs. no more are the stanzas of praise for my wonderful husband and my delightful little boy. lost forever are the humorous stories of pregnancy braindrain and my silly antics that resulted. all you get is this:

a cute picture of thomas and reagan climbing stairs.
the remants of the bag of cadbury mini eggs.
that is all. what does blogger think, that i have all the time in the world to rewrite and repost blogs because of their server and html problems?

reagan's birthday party and the party in my stomach

we seemed to celebrate reagan's birthday all weekend long. i still have all my streamers and decorations up today. this year, opening presents was much more successful than before. reagan relished in the ripping of paper, and was even excited about the gift inside.

opening gifts, alabama-style.

once again we threw a birthday party for reagan. what i had planned was a small playgroup style luncheon for a few friends. what happened was a big party with many friends and their siblings and games and cake and hamburgers and the works. needless to say, thomas and i were exhausted afterward. but, reagan loved it as he had someone to pull him in his wagon during almost the whole party.

meatball, silly mama, reagan and the pinata.

i have had a few requests for a recent pregnancy photo. i will oblige:
this is me at 24 weeks. please note:

A-my hair has not been this long for years!

B-my sexy sweatpants otherwise known as my mama uniform. i think reagan thinks they are part of my legs.

C-my maternity shirt is from downeastbasics. i have been quite pleased with the weight of the fabric, the stretchabililty and springbackability, the shirt length, the cap sleeves and the scoopiness of the neckline. best of all, price-$9.99. they do fit snugly, which i have never shied away from. however, i wish i could at least try on a size larger.

pregnancy update-

cravings- none currently. just enjoying eating lots of different types of food and trying to avoid heartburn.

pain-MAJOR LOWER BACK AND HIP PAIN until last week when i bought a body pillow. has greatly alleviated a good deal of the pain associated with getting up and sitting down and walking and lifting and breathing and being alive. funny, my doctor prescribed me some loritab for my back, but said that i wouldn't be able to drive while i was taking the medication. the thought of staying home all day because i can't drive is more painful to me than back pain.

energy-doing well, enjoying exercising and playing with reagan and meatball, but i do fall asleep almost instantly if i sit down for too long. but then, who remembers me in college? that isn't news to you guys.

moods-some people in this house claim that i am a little more moody than normal. this person uses the term "mean". i have no idea what HE is talking about. just don't cross my path, go ahead and give me what i want, don't question me about anything and we won't have any problems. i am in the motherly way. i glow. i am ripe with ample bosom and ample patience. but for reals yo, thomas is right, i am mean. i HATE other drivers, especially ones that poach your parking space when your groceries aren't even loaded. i DESPISE when the shelves at the store aren't stocked. don't even get me started on not RSVPing to a child's birthday party. and you better not try and cut in front of me when they are passing out the free cookies at Dachshund Days and take the last samoa girl scout cookie box. if i don't have a knife on me, i will cut you with my steely gaze.

skin-much better than last time. might i recommend to you other pregnant women out their struggling with 13-year-old-boy skin, the wal-mart brand of Proactiv solution. last time i was pregnant i just wanted to wear a bag over my head, i was so self-conscious about my skin. apparently i am one of those women who do NOT get gorgeous, radiant skin during pregnancy. this product is fairly reasonable in price, there is no shipping, and you see results in about 2 weeks.

a final note-for those of you with multiple pregnancies under their belts, how have they compared? i have heard many old wives tales about how you carry your baby determines gender, and lots of heartburn is lots of hair, and all that good stuff. for me, this pregnancy has been quite similar to the last. i carried reagan VERY low, i am carrying scarlett just as low. heartburn, very similar to last time, but reagan was slick as an onion when he was born, back pain-always. thoughts?

reagan 'til you puke

initially, this whole week of blogging was going to be dedicated to my sweetest, stinky boy reagan. he turns 2 on friday and i had a host of ideas for a daily blog about the numerous things i like about him and silly things that he does. but since i only posted on monday, today is going to be a MASSIVE INFLUX OF EVERYTHING REAGAN!

a photo montage entitled
REAGANISMS: snapshots from the life of the boy genius
or
"IF DADDY CAN DO IT, THEN SO CAN I!"

reagan is not a big tv watcher. about 5 minutes of the doodlebops is about all i can get him to consume. BUT, he loves to watch live! with regis and kelly. at first is was all the clapping and cheering by the audience that drew him in. then it became a love for the trivia-a-sno-go trivia game complete with spinning wheel, fake blizzard and go-go dancer. the regis and kelly theme song will draw him from anywhere in the house like one of pavlov's dogs to his dinner. it is the best 20 minutes of the day. at our house we were especially pleased to hear that regis philbin is recovering so well from his heart surgery. what would our mornings be like without reeg and pipa?

one of the few times a day he is actually sitting still!

this is the other way that i get him to sit still for more than 5 minutes. it was becoming impossible for me to ever take a shower without worrying about what reagan was getting into(or without reagan throwing random household objects in with me. blowdryer, YIKES!). i devised this method of "bundling". i wrap him up in his favorite blankets in our bed and place his animal menagerie around him with a bowl of goldfish snacks and the clock radio at hand. he likes to play DJ with rick and bubba. now showering is a breeze!

other favorite activity: watch the garbage truck eat all the trash cans.

reagan isn't much of a talker in public, but give him a cell phone or a banana and he is non-stop!



i don't know what inspired this ketchupy-faced art work...

but at least he is doing better with sharing.

just like daddy. he is very proud of himself when he wears thomas' hats and often poses in front of the mirror with them on. and then sometimes he climbs on the bed and practices karate moves with them on,(complete with WHOA! and WOO! and YEAH! noises) while watching himself in the mirror. safety first!

sometimes belts also work for holding up droopy diapers on skinny little boys.

once daddy puts his belt on in the morning, reagan knows it's time for his belt too.

if the gloves don't fit, you must aquit. (that reference is for you thomas!)

while i am folding loads of laundry, reagan will take off his socks and put on some of thomas' athletic socks.
pleased as punch!
just chillin'.

hooray for reagan! you are almost 2 and you are still alive! sometimes i truly am amazed at that feat! especially now that the road and mailbox are so interesting!

sun glorious sun!

the weather has been just GREAT lately! everyday for the last few weeks, except the day the tornados blew through(minor detail), have been in the mid 70s and sunny and delicious. like drinking liquid sun. i didn't realize how much the cloudy, overcast weather was affecting my mood! everyday we try and take advantage of this fabulous, rejuvenating weather!

a couple of sundays ago, we went to the local art museum by our house and enjoyed the lake and grounds.

my son is a photographic genius! was this posed you ask? no! he just wants to sit on all sorts of animals! at least this one wasn't real.

feeding the geese and the catfish.

my cute boys.

my attempts at being photojournalistic.

so, i hate the zoo. the kansas city zoo was always stinky, poopy, hot, boring and had no animals. just empty cages. surprisingly, montgomery has a FABULOUS zoo. it is not large, but there are actual animals there and everything is well shaded and not spread out over 8543 acres. and, best of all, a kids play area with swings and a jungle gym and all that. great for kids that get restless just walking around or sitting in a stroller. like mine.

*note-blanket can NOT be left in the stroller while playing. it was wrapped around his waist twice and tied in a knot.




reagan has really started to refuse anything "baby". no booster seats, no baby cups, no baby forks(yikes) and definitely no baby swings. just another one of those battles you lose just to win the war. the blanket must be classified under man-cloth.

hurray! and don't let that little smile deceive you. in that tiny, precious mouth is a frosted mini wheat bite from breakfast. this photo was taken around 11:30am. what a gross habit to develop, but i am getting better at my fishing-food-from-previous-meals-out-of-the-mouth skills.

it's only thursday

monday- thomas discovers a hose in his truck is leaking and we take it into the dealership. in the afternoon, i notice reagan has been acting differently since he woke up from his nap. as i am picking thomas up it dawns on me what the problem is. my normally very vocal, rambuncitious boy is not opening his mouth. he is making grunting sounds, but he refuses to open his mouth for drinks, snacks, talking or anything. i am even bribing him with junk food that i normally don't let him eat. this continues for quite a while and thomas and i ultimately decide to take reagan to the ER, just in case he has locked his jaw shut and can't open his mouth. like me, reagan is a major jaw grinder and i wonder if he has developed some of the same problems of not being able to open his mouth. at the ER, it takes a large male doctor, a large male nurse, thomas and myself to hold reagan down and pry his mouth open. when his mouth is open, we discover that reagan's mouth is full of food...from lunch...8 HOURS EARLIER. he had been holding food in his mouth all afternoon, including a 4 hour nap! i had no idea. the doctor has no clue as to why he would do this. tests are run and all his body signs were normal. so, we go home.
tuesday- i have to wake reagan up in the morning which is odd because he is almost clockwork with his 6:30am rising. he is pale and lethargic. i am taking thomas to work and reagan keeps falling asleep in his carseat, which and about 1 minute before i drop him off, reagan starts projectile vomiting all over the back seat of the car, including thomas' briefcase. hurray! as i am driving home, in my best mommy sweatshirt and pants no less, i call his pediatrician to see if i can get him in immediately due to yesterday's odd events. i drive to the doctor and carry my vomit covered child to the waiting room. one of my most glamorous moments. the doctor checks reagan out and gives him and injection to reduce to vomiting and diarrhea. the most comforting words ever spoken: "watch out that he doesn't dehydrate because that could kill him with the condition that he is in." thanks, thanks a lot!
for the rest of the day, reagan sleeps like a newborn on a makeshift pillow bed in the middle of the living room. he occasionally wakes up, takes a few sips of water and juice, stares at me groggily and then falls back asleep.
wednesday-reagan wakes up looking a gabillion times better, but still losing all his fluids through diarrhea. he has reverted back to not opening his mouth. this continues all morning. thomas comes home at lunch and prys his mouth back open and reagan GOBBLES down his lunch and juice. then as soon as thomas leaves, reagan decides he likes his mouth better shut.
thursday- THURSDAY ALREADY?! reagan is doing better, and he has made attempts to play with toys and demands chocolate milk. not a lot of food consumed yet, and some diarrhea, but mostly okay. if i knew that any of this was in the mom job description, i may have done a little more negotiating on my wages.