My Little Booger-Head

Last night was pretty nice. R got a dispatch and had to leave shortly after I got home, which was a bummer. But J was in a fun mood. We played for a while, then he had supper, then he was off to bed quite early. He was fast asleep by 7:30. I fixed supper, ate, and cleaned up the kitchen. By then it was bedtime. I woke up to the sound of J chattering about 4:00 this morning. I got up and warmed his bottle, got him out of bed, and he was SO surprised to see his Daddy there! He finished his bottle, at which point I can usually get him to go back to bed. Not today! He was all about Daddy! I warned R not to “play jungle gym” because I’d never get J back to sleep if he did. So R was good, and only cuddled and loved, but J had other plans! He was totally confused when Daddy wouldn’t throw him upside down and all the other horse play they are accustomed to. He kept rearing his head back and doing all sorts of gyrations trying to get Daddy to play. It was really breaking R’s heart to say no! Finally he started to get sleepy so I laid him down. Daddy went to bed exhausted (mind you, he’d been driving since 6pm the night before!). J was having no part of that sleep stuff! No sir! He insisted on getting up. We played on the floor a bit, and hung out a bit. Finally he’d let me lay him in bed, but only if I stood right next to his crib. He kept reaching his little baby hand through the bars to touch my shirt and reassure himself. If I moved away even a foot, he’d cry. He finally went back to sleep at 5:35. Guess what time my alarm usually goes off? Yup. 5:30. So what would be the point of going to bed? So I just stayed up and got ready for the work day. I fell asleep while I was pumping! LOL (using the breast pump for J’s milk, that is, for those of you who don’t know.) So when I went to drop off J at Mom’s house I grabbed my big ole’ 64 ounce mug and took it to the convenience store to fill it up with Mt. Dew for the long day. I got there, went in, filled it with ice, and then……………AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! The Mt. Dew was OUT OF ORDER! This is just so not my day! SoI am here, not very coherent, but here. Now you watch, the darling little booger-head will decide to stay awake till 10:00 tonight!

The Weather by Cybil!

So, last weekend we had the most gorgeous weather I can remember since winter began. It was sunny and warm with a light breeze. I took J outside to enjoy the fresh air and he loved watching the leaves dance across the yard and the cars drive by. Monday it was still warm, but the wind was blowing like a son-of-a-biscuit! By the time I left work the wind had blown up so much dirt and crap into the air that the sky all around was LITERALLY brown! I wish I'd had a camera with me, because I'm sure you think I'm exagerating, but I'm not. It was so nasty! I felt like my sinuses had been filled with concrete, my eyes were itching......it was miserable!

During the night last night the wind switched from the south to the north. When I woke up this morning it was cooooold! It was about 30 degrees and the temp will be falling all day. The high for the day occurred long before sunrise! It snowed sideways for a while this morning. Now the sun is bright again. They say tomorrow is supposed to get up into the 50's again, and then snow/ice on Thursday. Next weekend is supposed to be warm and nice again.

No wonder half the people in my office have the crud!

Bring me a STEAK! I now have opposable teeth!

I bought J some mini popsicles to help aleviate the pain in his mouth. Here is a picture from when he tried it for the first time. He actually really loved it and ate almost all of it before his hands got too cold. I did manage to snap this photo, though. We FINALLY have a picture of a funny food-related face! I think he was just reacting to the cold. Too precious!

If you cannot see them in this picture, click on it and see it bigger......those are FOUR NEW TEETH in the top of J's gums!!! No wonder this kid was being a royal butt head for two days! He had such a terrible time Friday and Saturday. I was getting very worried. He was constantly crying and nothing would help him. He didn't want to be held, put down, played with, fed, nothing! We were giving him baby Tylenol, but it didn't seem to help. He would not drink any of his milk. He got very angry if you even just showed him a bottle. I was almost to the point of taking him to the doctor, but he never had a fever, so I didn't. Then Saturday afternoon, after he finally took a long nap, he woke up with FOUR TEETH! No wonder the poor guy was miserable! Now he is feeling much better and eating better. He won't let us anywhere near his mouth, though, I suppose it's still tender. We got this picture by Daddy making him look up and laugh, while mommy hovered over his belly looking up his nose with a camera till he laughed real big, LOL

My Sweet Friend

Just to give an update: since I wrote last, I've now recieved a total of seven ecards, another phone call, several sweet emails "from J," and a very lovely tribute from my best friend E on her blog. I went there to check and see if she had posted an update since returning from her vacation and when the site popped up I saw.......ME! Yup, she posted a picture of me and J and the sweetest message all about how special she thinks I am. Well, let me just say that the feeling is totally mutual. She and I met on a website called babyfit.com when we were both pregnant. We were in a group of women who were all due in June of 07. After our babies were born and we went back to work, we exchanged email addresses so that we could talk to one another directly instead of through babyfit. From then on we have only grown closer and closer. I really consider her my best friend (second to my husband, of course) and don't know how I'd get through a workday without her. We literally talk every day. We share our joys, our worries, our gripes, and our children. We each hold a very special place in our hearts, not only for each other, but also for each other's babies. Baby B is my sweet princess. We live in different states many many miles from one another and have never met face to face. We talk on the phone occasionally. I would give anything to hug my dear friend E and to smother Miss B in kisses! I know without a doubt that God brought us into each other's lives and I beleive he will give us a way to meet each other in person some day.

So I just wanted to take the time to say thank you darling E, and I love you. You are a tremendous encouragement to me and I appreciate the way you hold me accountable to my faith. You are an invaluable addition to my life. I love you with all my heart!

P.S., If you scroll down to the bottom of my blog page, you will find a link to my best friend E's blog. Check it out, she is wonderful. (And she and baby B are both gorgeous!)

"I love you with all my liver!"

For those of you reading this, who may not have known, today is my birthday. I am now 29 years old. I have had a wonderful day so far! This morning when I woke up, my wonderful husband was in bed beside me, having not gotten a dispatch for last night. As soon as I began stretching and waking up, he reached out and hugged me and said “Happy birthday, I love you.” How wonderful is that for a way to start your day!? I told him, “I love you with all my heart!” He then reminded me that in fact, I love him with all of my parts, and said, “You love me with all your liver!” LOL

From there it just got sillier, and the conversation ended up something like this:

“I love you with all my SPLEEN!”
“I love you with all my ESOPHOGUS!”
“I love you with all my APENDIX!”
“I love you with all my KIDNEY!”
“I love you with all my DUODENUM!”

Now THAT’S love, baby! LOL

From there things only improved. I had two cards waiting for me when I got up. One from R, and one from J complete with his handprint stamped at the bottom! How sweet! When my Daddy picked me up to go to work, there was a card and two presents in my seat. I got a lovely new shirt, pink of course, and a box of my favorite nuts (cashews) from my favorite nut store here in town. When I arrived at work, the stuff was hitting the fan with a job that I’d been quoting, so things were very hectic for a while. When everything finally settled and I was able to go through my inbox, I ended up with five e-cards and a lunch invitation! My coworker remembered to say happy birthday as well, in the midst of the morning chaos.

So if the first day is any indication, I guess being 29 won’t be as bad as I thought. Thanks everyone!

Goodbye Heath.....

I was very sad to hear about the death of one of my very favorite actors yesterday. Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment. I'm sure you've all heard the news on TV. I'm usually not one of those celebrity chasing girls who go "ga ga" over cute actors. But I think this guy was different. I have LOVED Heath since I saw him in "10 Things I Hate About You." I think he was a great and talented actor who had a lot left to give to his profession. He was the same age as me. It is so sad that such a promising life was cut so short, and that his little girl will have to grow up without her Daddy.

My Job Stinks!

Literally! I have a wonderful job and work with a great bunch of people, but the building in which we are located, well.....leaves some to be desired. One of the biggest ongoing issues is that somewhere somehow we occasionally get sewer gases leakin into our work area. Yes, you heard me right. Sewer Gas! Which various individuals seek to improve by burning scented candles at their desks. It takes a very strong scented candle to overcome the smell of sewer gas, lemme tell you. And the end result is that our entire office smells like, ....um.......how to put this......cinnamon poo!

Picture Post

I'm a big guy! 8 months old.
awww......so sweet!
Like my hat?
My first taste of spagetti. Yummy!

Sweeeeet Baby D!!!

As promised, here is the first email picture I have received of my new great-nephew. Isn't he just totally gorgeous?

"MA MA"

You know, it’s a funny thing that I was writing about heartsoaring/heartbreaking milestones last Friday. That very day when I got J home, I laid him down and got him settled with his toys, walked down the hall to take off my work clothes, and heard this WAIL! “MAA MAA!” Absolutely flat serious, no joke, without a doubt. J started saying “ma ma” on Friday! Could I BE any happier? Nope, don’t think so. All weekend long he kept it up. Unfortunately, he also kept up the whiney, wailing tone. LOL Most of the time that he was saying “ma ma” was when I would dare to get more than three feet away from him. He was quite a little fuss-budget most of the weekend, actually. But that’s ok. We all have our days. He just really needed me, and I was happy to be there when I was needed.

We stayed home all weekend for a change. My mom did some shopping for me, and I never even had to take J out the front door. Yeah! We got a lot of chores done. My floor is actually vacuumed at the moment. LOL

Last night he suddenly decided to be a total Daddy’s boy! R and I were sitting at the table playing a game. We had J in his chair seat at the table playing with some toys. Well, I got a phone call, and J got fussy for his dinner. So since I was talking on the phone and feeding J, R decided to go downstairs for a smoke and get back to the game in a little bit. Well, THAT was NOT going to work for Mr. J! He wanted his daddy! He kept looking at the stairway and he was just fussing and fussing, and refused to open his mouth. He would only turn his head and holler. Finally I picked him up out of his chair and he just looked down the stairs and he’d coo, then listen, then coo, then listen. So I called down and said, Daddy, your boy is calling you. As soon as J heard Daddy’s voice, he started kicking excitedly. Sure enough, as soon as Daddy appeared, J practically dove into his arms and then he was happy as a lark. So I told R what J had done, and he took the bowl and went to feed J the rest of his cereal. The little booger ATE EVERY BITE for his Daddy! LOL Of course, Daddy was then strutting like a peacock. J and I had a bath, and Daddy dried him off, put on his “ba-dreamy” lotion, and his “ba-dreamies” (that would be lavender scented baby lotion and pajamas) and played with him while I got clean. They were both smiling just as big as they could possibly smile. It was the sweetest thing ever.

R starts his new job tonight. He will be hauling groceries from the distribution warehouse to various stores in the general area for a local grocery chain. It will be nights and some weekends, but it is better than going over the road, which is what he was considering. The grain hauling just was not working out for his asthma or our budget. This should be much better, although I will be lonely and miss him terribly. But I would miss him much more if he were over the road and only home two days a month.

Duplicity

So, here it is the end of another week. How do they fly by so quickly? As much as I want the weekdays to go by so that I can spend two wonderful uninterrupted days with my son, every time we tick off one of those weeks just inches us closer and closer to him being all grown up and not my baby anymore. As much as I cheer and feel genuinely elated over every milestone, and every inch of independence he gains, I am really beginning to struggle with the duplicitous nature of my own emotions. I read that “the decision to have a child is to accept that your heart will forever walk about outside your body.” So true, and yet only part of the story. There are so many things that no one tells you about parenthood before you join the club. For starters, they can’t. There is no way to put it into words. And secondly, you wouldn’t be capable of understanding it if they tried. I mean, I am a very intelligent person. But understanding intellectually that you are about to love another person beyond your capacity, and actually experiencing the feeling are wildly different. It’s like the difference between watching Buzz Aldron walk on the moon, and ACTUALLY WALKING ON THE MOON.

So here I am, trying to put into words something I’ve already said cannot be communicated. Why? Because that is who I am. I have had to cope with a lot of heartbreaking events in my lifetime: my parents’ divorce, loss of loved ones, relationship breaking up, and the biggest one to date, the loss of a child. And each and every time I have used writing as the outlet by which I come to terms with my pain and learn about the new person I have become through that experience.

So what is this thing that I am feeling? This double edged sword that has divided my heart in two? It amazes me how emotions that I previously thought were mutually exclusive can swell up in my heart simultaneously. How can a moment make you feel both joyous and depressed? Proud and humbled? Competant and befuddled? Excited and terrified? I am learning that these complex feelings that seem to be opposites are actually the same. They are two sides of the same coin. You think that just growing up, being an adult, is all it takes to mature. That is not so. I see now that there is an aspect of our humanity that cannot be learned outside of parenthood. There is a capacity for love and adoration that cannot be fathomed! There is also an amazing ability to continue to function in spite of a level of pain, fear, anxiety, and self doubt that is beyond measure. So I am learning how to cope with this new found dual faceted emotion I’ll call ‘duplicity.’

I’ve been stewing on this for a few days now. Discussing it with my learned advisors who’ve ‘been there, done that.’ And talking it over with my peers who ‘are there, doing that.’ And they’ve been tremendously helpful. And now what’s been brought to my attention is not only must I learn to cope with it, but I must also come to terms with the fact that I will feel this way FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! This will not only plague me as my child grows out of babyhood, but also as he grows out of boyhood, out of adolescence, into adulthood, into family life, and into parenthood himself. Every step of the way will bring with it both an exquisite joy and a searing pain as a new and wonderful phase of his life opens up before him while a part of life will be sealed forever in the realms of memory only.

So, while I cannot yet say that I have my mind or heart wrapped around this concept, I can say that they are stretching. I suspect that they will continue to stretch and grow daily, as my boy and I do, until one day many years in the future when the metaphorical fingertips just touch each other on the other side as I learn my last lesson on this earth; that my child must continue learning and growing and changing on his own without me while I wait for him with God. And that there is nothing I can do to prevent it. And that he’ll be ok.

Welcome to the World Baby D!

We got the news this morning that my lovely niece L had her baby boy last night. Mommy and baby are doing well after a bit of a rocky ride through labor and delivery. Baby D is healthy and totaly beautiful! He weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.

Congratulations L! You did a great job, honey. I am so proud of you!

Sis, it feels so weird to call you a grandma! Congrats and enjoy. This is the funnest part of life. (or so my mom tells me.)

All I've seen so far is a cell phone picture, so as soon as I get one by email, I'll post it for you all!

Picture Perfect

This picture was taken shortly before Christmas. J was mesmarized by watching the snow fall out the window. He laid there staring at it for the longest time.
Here is J catching some Z's with his great grandma. (We call her Grams)
This is a picture of J and D from this past weekend. See previous post about D.
J and D are big buddies!
Here is J giving Big Bird a big kiss.

Well, it looks like the picture problem is fixed, so here are the ones I wanted to share with you.

Weekend recap

Well, apparently there is a problem with uploading pictures on Blogger at the moment. Too bad, as I have some very cute ones for you. I will try again later, but for now, you'll have to settle for text only.

Hello again folks. Well, I didn’t make it back to you on Monday as promised, but I’m here today. That has to count for something. I have been working to clear my desk so as not to cause trouble by leaving something undone because it got buried and forgotten. That has happened and almost happened too many times recently. So I have been busy but rather bored as far as work goes.

The weekend was as wonderful as I expected. Big Bird and her nephew D arrived Friday evening and stayed until about noon on Sunday. She had a bad episode with her breathing on the way here, but D was a big HERO! At only 10 years old he had the maturity and intelligence to not only stay calm, but to get out her oxygen, figure out how it worked, put it on her and turn it on, then reassure her and calm her while she recovered from the episode. Can I just say D, I LOVE YOU! You deserve an award, honey!

For the rest of the weekend everything went well. For the most part we just hung out together and enjoyed one another’s company. We played some pool and air hockey and cards. J soaked up lots of love and attention. He and D were instant buddies. D was amazing with him! They played and loved, and acted silly and laughed. Once when J was being very fussy and I had tried everything I knew how to get him to sleep, D came into the room, and because I didn’t want him to act playful when I was trying to calm J, I said, “I’m trying to get him to sleep.” The little booger just looked up at me and said, “It’s not working out so well, is it?” Then J noticed him there and suddenly went quiet. He was mesmerized, so I left the room while he wasn’t paying attention to me. Next thing I knew, here came little D into the living room telling me “shhhhh.” Yep, he put the baby to sleep. Um, can I keep this kid for, oh, a couple years!!!!! He was an absolute joy to have around, and I hope he comes back to visit me again.

In other news, J has been drinking much less milk lately despite all our efforts. He seems to have some more teeth trying to come in and it is bothering him. He does not like to take his bottle. We consulted with the doctor, and they asked that he be brought in for a weight check. They checked him over and said that all is well and they are satisfied that we are doing all we should by being persistent, using cups, bottles, whatever to get the milk in the tummy, and cutting out juice for now and cutting back on solids. So the official word is that now J weighs 21 pounds, 12 ounces and is 29 inches long! Whew! No wonder I groan every time I stand up with him in my arms!

Unofficially-Nameless Tagged me!

Unofficially-Nameless: Hillsidehollow Tagged me
Cool Dude!: "On the Road Again!"

In this tag you share 6 quirky or weird things about yourself.

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share six non important bizarre things/quirk/habits about yourself.4. Tag six other people, link to their blogs and let them know by posting a comment on their blog.

Here are my six:

1. I will be turning 29 in a couple weeks, and it is BUGGING THE CRAP OUT OF ME! Can't explain why. I don't feel old, just feel like I'm not young anymore. Boo Hoo!

2. I am still creeped out by "under the bed" at night.

3. I cannot sleep unless I clean all the toe jam out from between my toes. (I clean out J's every night too!)

4. I cannot stand other people's feet. I am very creeped out if someone's feet touch me unless they have shoes on. The only exceptions to this are babies and my husband. Years ago I told him that's how I know I truely love him. When I realized I could stand for his feet to touch me, that's when I knew I was in love. I'm completely serious.

5. I've never met my best girlfriend. She lives in another state, and we talk by phone and email, but have never met face to face.

6. I am secretly (not so secret NOW!) thrilled that having a child gives me an excuse to watch Sesame Street and Veggie Tales, and I cannot wait to go see..... ahem.... I mean take J to see Sesame Street Live!

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away...on my way to where the air is sweet!

Can you tell me how to get...How to get to Sesame Street?

LOL I am inspired! Big Bird is on her way to my house as I am typing. (I assume, as she hasn't called to say "I'm on the road" yet.)

What's that? Oh. You say Big Bird is a boy? Ha Ha, Mine isn't. She's a lovely big-hearted sweet friend who's the only person I know that loves pink even more than me. My dear friend L is coming to visit for the weekend. My mom and I have called her "Big Bird" ever since I was a little girl because she is very tall and blonde and very very sweet. I am really excited. I have not seen her since November, and she has been quite ill, so this will be good medicine for us all. J just adores her, and she reciprocates. She likes to spoil him, and does a darn good job of it. If you can't read it in the picture, his shirt says "My Big Bird Loves Me." Yep, she had it made for him. In two sizes, even!

Now I've got to get going so I can be ready. I will try to find time to tell you how it went on Monday. Have a great weekend, hug the ones you love.

Some more holiday photos

Here is the lovely blanket of snow we got for New Year's.

Aunt C, Uncle C, Grams and Gramps in my home for Christmas. I got my wish!
Here is the spread we put out. See my lovely Christmas China? Now if only I could get rid of the horrid orange counter tops in my kitchen! What were you baby boomers thinking?

Photographs and Memories

Here I am with my Cousin W. Daddy and my uncles thought I needed to join them in the Christmas festivities. (Don't worry, Gammo, the can isn't open)

Look closely at the try of my walker. That's snow! I didn't want to go out in the cold, so Daddy brought me some snow in the house. Boy is that stuff cold!

Snow is fun to play with, but it tastes weird!

Here I am watching a movie with the big kids.
I just LOVE my big brother! (He kinda likes me too.)
Check out my future Sister In Law. She's a cutie! (If I were older, I'd give you a run for your money, big brother!)
My Daddy spoils me. He gave me this piece of pizza. Mommy is a party pooper, she took it away from me just when I finally got a bite off of it. Bummer. It sure was yummy, though.
Here I am enjoying my very first sled ride. WEEEEEE!!!!!

National Lampoon's Nall Family Vacation

Well, folks, I must apologize for not posting for so long. I have been very busy, as usual, and keep forgetting to get my pictures downloaded so I can post them for you. I forgot them again today, so I’ll just have to post a text-only for now, and make sure to get them done this weekend. Hopefully I’ll be posting pics like crazy next week.

Christmas was fun and wonderful. Sunday we spent the afternoon at my Daddy and Momma J’s house with my siblings and nieces. My girls are such a blast! I wish they lived closer so that I could steal them for a weekend more often. W gets so much more grown up every time I see her, it just breaks my heart! My sister and I played pictionary against our husbands. That was something you should have seen! It was hilarious. We were over halfway around the board before they got off the first square. They kept looking at our paper and asking incredulously, “how did you get a ROBOT out of that? It’s just two squares!” To which we would respond, “No, it’s two squares and a line. See, that’s the neck.” Then they would assure each other that we secretly whispered the answer while they weren’t looking. It was great. It’s funny how my sister and I think alike considering how opposite we are in almost every way.

Christmas day J woke up talking sweetly at just the right time to wake me up to put the turkey in the oven. Then he just went right back to sleep on his own. What a good son! My mom was there with me (thank goodness) to help with cooking and with caring for J. I was so focused on getting the food done and coming out at the right time all together, that I forgot all about getting me ready. At about 11:30 I looked out the kitchen window to see my grandparents and Aunt and Uncle with their kids pulling up outside. I looked down and said, “Oh crap!” That’s right, folks. I was still wearing pajamas. I served a wonderful delicious Christmas dinner to my extended family in my pajamas. At least they were cute ones. LOL. Special thanks to my Mommy for giving me cute new pajamas on Christmas Eve, just like when I was a little girl. Dinner consisted of:
Sage and Garlic Roasted Turkey
Veggie Dressing
Mashed Potato Casserole
Pear-Cranberry Chutney
Orange Glazed Butternut Squash
Cinnamon Candied Apples
Fresh Steamed Green Beans tossed in Herbed Butter
Gravy
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate-Pecan Pie

As we were finishing up dinner, before we had gifts, my aunt asked to take J outside to play in the snow. I thought it an odd request. What’s a baby going to do in the snow? But she bundled him up, so what’s the harm, let her have some fun. Next thing I know, my Grams is at the window laughing her head off. I looked out, and there is J sitting in a little blue baby snow sled! Cousin A is pulling him all around the yard while Aunt C runs along behind, winded and laughing her head off, making sure he doesn’t fall to the side. It was the coolest thing I ever saw! Who knew they make sleds for babies?

After everyone left J laid down for a nap and so did I. We were both more tired than I thought, because by the time he woke me up, we were already late for my other Aunt’s house. And I still had to pump and get dressed and pack up J’s stuff. We had a real good time there. We played Uno Spin, which is viciously fun. We had our gift exchange and Grandma gave J a wonderful gift. He got a wooden toy tractor and trailor set that my Grandpa made before he became too ill to do his woodworking any longer. (For those of you who don’t know, my Grandpa went to Heaven June 04, 2006, and he was an amazing craftsman who could make just about anything out of wood. He was famous all over the area, especially for his old fashioned children’s toys and his puzzles and his fretwork.) Part of me wants to keep these out of J’s hands and put them up on a shelf, but I know Grandpa would be much happier to see them played with as they were intended to be. So J will get to play with them as soon as he is old enough to. Then we played pictionary again. Once again I found myself on the winning team, only this time we had three teams of three people each. What can I say? I rock at pictionary.

The next day it was back to work. You cannot possibly imagine how hard it was to leave J again after being with him 24/7 for four days! It was torture. But he wasn’t bothered. He was happy to have his Gammo back! Just three days and I was back at home with my guys. I had New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off, so it was another four days without leaving my son. Heaven…I’m in Heaven!

And one of the best treats of the whole holiday season: My oldest son T came to spend the afternoon on New Year’s Day. And he had reason to celebrate. At midnight on New Year’s he proposed to his girlfriend W. Of course, she said yes. I was very proud of my son. He even asked her dad’s permission first! We had such a wonderful time just hanging out with him. J was on cloud 9, and couldn’t decide whether to play with Brother or W, so he just rolled back and forth between them endlessly. LOL To T I have to say that I love you so much more than you will ever know. You will always be my first son, and I will adore you till the day I die. I am so proud of the young man you have become, and the grown man you are striving to be. I am excited to watch this phase of your life unfold. And to W, I want to say welcome to our family. I could not have hand picked a better mate for my boy. You are a wonderful, sweet, smart lady. I have admired the person you are since I met you five years ago. I look forward to getting to know you better.

And now it’s back to the ole’ grind with no end in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. It’s just hard to walk away from such a sweet precious smile every morning. Now that the excitement is settled down, who wants to place bets on how long it will take me to get my tree taken down? Hopefully not as long as it took me to get it up! LOL The weather has been so bitter cold lately. It gives me all the more reason to wish I could stay at home with J. I hate getting him out in the cold and wind. One day this week it was 12 degrees when I left in the morning! But they say it’s supposed to be nice this weekend. It’ll have to be quite a change to make it to nice, but stranger things have happened in this part of the country!

Hope you all have a great weekend, and I’ll meet you here again next week WITH PICTURES! I promise.