Lefty likes artwork, football, cars and more...

Artwork of a 2 year old (or one week shy of being two). He still loves to do artwork...drawing, coloring, painting, gluing, etc etc. He is focused when he works and always starts with colors separate from each other, only mixing occasionally.
 
 
 


He also loves to play with his little toy cars. He'll line them up, push them over to me, I'll push them back, and he'll line them all up again staying very focused when he does so. Is it just me or does he seem to like to keep things linear and in their own space. Remember how he always lined up the "hammer ball" colors on the proper colors every time he played with it at 18 months? Very fun to watch him work.




Playing football with the always elusive kitty cat...this time she's run off under the deck as Fender says "Kitty, catch" and throws a ball right at her. :( Poor kitty.


This week Fender randomly started singing the alphabet song all the time. I was very surprised to hear it and how much he knew. He gets A-P every time...though K is a mumble and LMNOP is a slur ending in P. Then he has three variations on the ending. Mostly he continues with QRS, YZ (skipping TUVWX) and it ends with a high pitch Z. He can also sing the whole song and depending on the focus, he'll either add "next time sing with me" or not. Maybe I'll get a video of it at some point. It is pretty funny. "Where is thumbkin" is another new song he's singing after hearing it only once on an Elmo's World. What a sponge.

And an eye update for me...saw the doc last Wednesday and he seemed surprised by what he saw. There was more inflammation at the back of my eye than before, which led him to suspect toxoplasmosis from a scar I have that he initially dismissed as old and inactive. It is likely many years old, but recently became active. He is treating me with a round of sulfur based antibiotics to see if that will stop it. All the while keeping me on my second round of steroid pills and adding steroid drops to my eye. Sheesh. I am a medicine factory. What he seemed to suggest...is if it is toxoplasmosis causing the uveitis, then if we can stop the infection, it should stop the uveitis flare up putting it into remission, and if that goes into remission, he says my vision should restore itself when things settle down. I check back in with him in two weeks. At which point, things will either be better...or I'm getting another opinion. Have I mentioned how much I loathe wearing glasses!!! At least I finally found the new pair I had lost many months back. Woohoo, the clunkers are gone.

Not the best week for our Cowboys, but Favre and his Charger dressed Jets had a phenomenal game.

Get ready to party people...this is the last week of Fender's 2nd year!

An update of sorts...

 

Be sure to answer the poll question on the left!

Haven't taken many pics of Fender lately, but be assured he is always up to his little boy ways. Has turned into "bamm-bamm" from the Flintstones. He runs around with his plastic bat (sometimes two bats) banging everything in sight. Which means there are constant reminders that "no" we don't hit the doggy and "no" that hurts mommy. Yes the couch is fine, but "no" please not the electronics. He still LOVES to read. Every morning he asks to "read a book" and every night before bed and is often even sitting down happily by himself reading a book when I pick him up at daycare.

This week I have also noticed an increase in appropriate responses. Such as...our everyday "Did you have a good (or fun) day today?" never gets a "yes" or any kind of response. But today when I asked, "What did you do today?" he told me "Reesha on the table." And Noresha (his teacher today) told me about how she always tells the kids not to sit or stand on the table, but that she had been standing on it to change a bulletin board and Fender told her "No, Reesha, not on the table." She thought it was so funny! And tonight when Drew asked him if he likes his teacher (Tamra) he said, "yes." And a few times this week I've noticed he says "yeah" to answer our questions. I am so glad he is starting to understand the meaning of answering yes to a question. It feels much more like dialoguing now instead of repitition.

Thought Dobby needed to make an appearance. Fender loves playing ball with the dog. He throws the ball, dog gets the ball and shouldn't have the ball because he'll chew the ball, so Fender immediately says "No, Dobby!" with emphasis...dog drops the ball, Fender gets the ball, throws the ball back and says "Dobby, get the ball." Which he does and then we're back to "No, Dobby!"
 

Rare picture of our kitty cat too. She always runs from Fender, who is typically chasing her with bat in hand.
 

It's Party Time...
 

A week from Saturday our boy turns TWO! If you can get here, you are invited!
Saturday, October 4th from Noon to 2PM at our house. Call or email us for the address if you need it. FYI: The Texas-OU game was moved to the following week so this is a rare year that we don't have to schedule around it! There will be plenty of fruit, pizza, cake and ice cream for everyone!

For those of you who have been concerned, thought I'd let you know that the steroids relieved the pain and pressure from my eye, though the vision remains obscured. It seemed the vision cleared up a little too, but about two weeks off the steroids, the pain and pressure returned again and the vision worsened even further. I'm on round two of steroids now, pain and pressure relieved again, still no improvement in vision, but I am scheduled to finally see my doctor on Wednesday (first time since initial 10 minute visit with him...so I'm excited to maybe finally get some answers).

Also, while I have been unemployed I have not been completely idle. I have been trying to pursue certification as a lactation consultant through their Mentor pathway. It turns out I'm sort of pioneering this route...not good for getting certified quickly, but important that it gets done so that some kind of protocol for this pathway exists and others can follow without "re-inventing the wheel" each time. I'm working with the President of the Dallas Lactation Consultants Association and others to better define the process and complete the 500 hours with breastfeeding women I need in order to take the exam.

Meanwhile I have just been offered a part-time job working for our local Environmental Co-op organization. This has a good chance of turning into a full-time job later this year depending on a few circumstances. Most of the work initially will be recycling oriented, but also will include organizing volunteers, working on promoting water conservation and education about the Cedar Creek watershed proposal for the county, grant writing (which I'm working on tomorrow), and tons of misc stuff covering all manners of environmental work for the county. Should be challenging, inspiring, and fun!

So feel free to keep us in your prayers...that my eye will heal, the lactation consulting pursuit will find its direction, this job will workout for everyone (me, the co-op, and the entire community), and that Fender and Drew remain healthy always and that we all stay calm and focused should anything go wrong with any of it.

Oh...and I forgot to mention that I'm a trained Doula now as well. A Doula is a woman who tends to the needs of a mother during her labor and delivery. This is not a midwife or doctor, who will actually tend to and deliver the baby. A Doula is there solely to comfort and support the mom, reassure the partner, and help them to have the birth experience they want or as close thereto given whatever circumstances may arrive. I need to attend three births by next November in order to be a "Certified Doula." And while one doesn't have to be certified to be a practicing Doula, I always think certification is important. So, if you know anyone who is interested in having a Doula, feel free to have them call or email me anytime! I am a firm believer that every woman should have a Doula, and if I am not the right fit due to proximity, certification, or it just doesn't feel right, then I will be happy to be a resource in helping her find other Doulas in her area to contact as well.

Monday Night Football...

Wow...in THE most riveting game I've ever attended or seen for that matter, our 'BOYS won 41 - 37 over the Eagles Monday night if any of you didn't know that already! We were on our feet the entire game (thank goodness for the occasional commercial break so my feet could have a brief rest). The crowd was electric! So much energy...so loud!!! I'll really miss Texas Stadium, but just like my mom grew up with the Cowboys at the Cotton Bowl, Fender's mom will have grown up with the Cowboys at Texas Stadium, and he'll grow up knowing only the new stadium. Seems appropriate I guess. We did get Fender a souvenir from the game, of course. :)

My brief, critique of the game: Our defense needs to work on not making "stupid" mistakes like holding, and not leaving the ball laying on the ground when it is dropped before a player reaches the end zone. There is room for improvement on defense and special teams (best not to kick the ball out of bounds on the kick off), but both did have their moments...including that fabulous return for a TD by Jones!

This should be a link to a recap of the game...can't get "link" feature to work, so you may have to cut and paste into browser. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20080915006

And our seats...okay...long side note here about how we obtained our tickets and where they were located... as reward for officially completing his EA (Enrolled Actuary credentials) Drew went online and purchased tickets for the game. These tickets, however were in different sections, with an assurance from the seller that these were his season tickets "and that one seat says Section 6 and one says Section 7 but there is nothing in between them." Uh-huh...my thoughts..."nothing in between them, but an aisle of stairs with people going up and down." But we decide that is alright and a reasonable risk and we'll wait and see. So we get the tickets (had to stop at stubhub downtown to do this before the game) and the guy says..."uh...one in Section 6 and one in 7???" To which Drew replied with an uncertain yeah, uh-huh. Looking at the tickets, one says Section 7 row 34 seat 114. And the other says Section 6, row 34 seat 11. Wha??? We were expecting something more like seat 1. So now we're wondering how many people we'll have to ask before someone will be kind enough to move and let us sit together...and what kind of nasty feedback this guy deserves for misleading the buyers...

When a miraculous turn of events occurred right in the middle of row 34 between sections 6 and 7. See picture below. And I wish I had taken a picture of the rows in front and behind, because numbers in the rows had been going down in the hundreds (111-110-109 etc...not up to 114) and all the other rows were numbered appropriately, but freakishly enough...out of nowhere were our seat numbers together. And our seats were awesome!!! We were at the goal line where all but three touchdowns occurred. It was truly something else.

Below are some pictures and a video of the last Marion Barber TD.

Arriving at the stadium...
 

Our seats...
 

Our view...
 

Romo in charge...
 

Me by the tall wheat that lines part of the walk from Texas Stadium to our parking spot. Only in Texas...


Touchdown Video:

Weathering the storm...

Well, thankfully, fallout from Ike in our neighborhood meant a nice rainy afternoon with family. The wind gusted some, but no more than the average day growing up in Amarillo. It turned out to be a very pleasant, lazy afternoon watching cars splash by from the front porch.

New favorite picture alert: Previously my favorite picture was "Snacking" from Oct 2007 post (look it up), but now it is the third picture below..."Fender keeps his pants dry." Priceless...makes me laugh every time I look at it.

 

 

 

Next up...Momma and Daddy went to the Cowboys Monday night football game. Oh wow what a game!!!!!

Being green...

Fender playing and posing with Kermit and Elmo, then goofing off with Daddy after church in their green shirts.

DIY Kitchen remodeling...

So what did I do today all by myself??? Got the remaining awful green kitchen cabinets stripped, primed, painted, and added new hardware. All so our fun new red pantry wouldn't look so out of place. I LOVE THE NEW PANTRY!!! Thanks Uncle Bruce and crew for building it and the ever amazing DJ (a.k.a. Memaw) for giving it lots of TLC and ECP (extra coats of paint)! The new pantry has four tall, extra deep pull out shelves! Functional AND fun! :)

 
 
 

Just an fyi: I painted the right side more than a year ago and the left side has been green the whole time. And no we didn't like it that way, but it took too much time and effort the first time around that I refused to ever do the other side. I guess time really can heal all wounds. Plus I changed a few things that made it easier this time around. Just that tricky back splash to finish up next, but it is all starting to come together.
 

All my grandparents...

Memaw, Papaw; Grandmother; Granmama; Nana and Pop. It may never happen again where Fender has a good photo opp with each of his grandparents in a short period of time so...For Fender: This rare picture collection is my early birthday present to you.