I am Blessed

Eleven years ago tomorrow I married my best friend!  He’s my soulmate and the only one I’ve ever know that my heart flips and flops and skips a beat for!  He’s also the only man that makes me so mad I can’t see straight, but that’s what I love about him!  It’s passion!  He’s truely my prince, created just for me because he doesn’t always agree with everything I say!  He challenges me and pushes me to be a better person.  Sometimes he acts  tough on the outside, but he is so sweet and gentle to me.  I see a side of him that he doesn’t show anyone else in the world and that’s what I looooove about him!  Happy Anniversary Babe!  I love you and am so unbelievably blessed to call you mine!!!!

Eleven years ago

Now :)

 

What Could Be Better?

Bradley and I had such a wonderful evening together tonight!  I read stories to Caleb and put him to bed, and then Bradley did his United States of America puzzle while I folded laundry.  It sounds like such a boring, normal evening, but it was so nice.  This is the first Monday night in about 14 weeks that I haven’t had to sit down in the evenings and work work work on my college work!  (There’s still an assignment, but it’s due Friday instead of early in the week).  Anyways, it actually felt good to have the time to just fold laundry!  We turned on the satellite music channels and found one that was big band 1940’s Christmas music!  We both loved it.  It was just a wonderful time together, folding, doing a puzzle and singing Christmas music!  Thank you Lord for this time!

Here’s Bradley doing his puzzle, he’s slowly learning the names of the states!  He is on the brink of reading too!  It’s so exciting to watch him discovering words!  He knows all his letters and sounds and is starting to put them together!  The coolest part is that I haven’t even really purposefully taught him a whole lot.  He just notices things while we read and when we’re out and about.  He just picks it up!  They have been teaching him alot about letters and sounds at school though.  I just loooove his preschool!  I think with a little push he would probably be reading now, but I think I’m just going to wait and let him read next year in kindergarten.  There’s no rush, so I’m just allowing him to continue to explore the letters and sounds and enjoy puzzles, coloring, and all the other learning experiences apart of reading.  We do loooove to read books together though!  Tonight we read three books about the pilgrims and indians and the first Thanksgiving.  One of the advantages to being a librarian is that I get to bring him home new and different library books all the time. 

You may wonder where Chris was in all this happiness.  He was off shooting Bambi’s daddy.

 

What’s one more?

That’s right folks!  You’re looking at him!  This here is Chuck, the newest member of the Markham family. 

Bradley and Caleb are both very excited about the new addition.  Hopefully Chuck will last more than three days.  I fear we may be having a bowl-side funeral all too soon and sending Chuck to that great fishbowl in the sky.  We shall see!

Bradley won Chuck at the Jacksonville Fair tonight by tossing a ping pong ball into an orange bowl.  Whoo hoo!  Luckily I already had a fish bowl (long story) at home.  Here are some other highlights of the afternoon.  First it was buy one get one free day, and the kids are free anyway, so all of us got in for eight bucks.  I never like paying full price at the fair, there’s always a special on certain nights.

After taking a look at the cows, chickens, chicks, bunny rabbits, turkeys, horses, pigs, piglets, and all the other farm animals you can imagine, we headed over to Jump The Ultimate Dog Show – four or five different dogs did all sorts of amazing tricks.  Jumping in the air to catch frisbies, jumping out twenty feet into water, bouncing off the trainers back, and even balancing of the trainers outstretched hand.  You name it!  The boys loved it!!  And the best part was that we came in late so we sat criss cross apple sauce (only you elementary teachers understand that lingo – indian style is no longer politically correct) right on the very front row!  We couldn’t have had better seats!

Then we saw Kachunga, the alligator show.  It was cool too, and once again we got front row seats!

Here’s Bradley after winning Chuck.  Can you guess how we came up with the name?

 

Abigail

Today is a tribute to our German Shepherd Abby.  Abby is nine years old and has been with Chris and I since our days out in Arizona.  We got her in Oct. 2000 when we first moved from an apartment to base housing where we had a yard.  She was twelve weeks old.  She is an unbelievably beautiful shepherd with perfect markings.  Shepherds are supposed to have a black saddle shape on their backs and large pointy ears that stand up tall and proud.  Abby is such a good dog with our children too!  She doesn’t really like other dogs so much, but I think that’s the only fault you’ll find with her.  She has never once even hinted at snipping at the kids.  I have never never never seen this dog exhibit one even tiny bit of mean-ness to me, Chris, B or C.  Only protectivness and gentleness.  One of the kids favorite things to do is give Abby treats and she takes the food from their hands so very very gently and delicately.  She’s so good to us and it brings all those old cliches to mind about dogs.  They really do love you no matter what.  Sometimes people are in bad moods, or not so nice, but not your dog.  They are ALWAYS happy to see you when you get home.  When life is hard, you can talk to them and they always curl up next to you with unconditional love.  Anyways….Abby hasn’t died or anything like that, but Sunday we noticed her shaking her head and scratching her ear alot.  By Monday night her right ear was flopping down completely and very puffy.  Long story short, Chris took her to the vet and apparently she somehow burst a blood vessel in her ear and the outter ear filled with blood.  The weight caused her ear to flop down.  The doctor gave her a shot for pain and some ointment and pills, but here’s the kicker….the doctor said her ear may never stand up straight again.  That is so unbelievably sad!  She looks soooo pitiful!!  I don’t know if you will understand unless you too are a german shepherd owner, but a shepherd’s ears are it’s pride!  It’s a distinguishing mark of a shepherd and makes him look so strong!  Without those strong erect ears the dog looks just like any other mixed breed.  And don’t get me wrong, I love mixed breeds.  Anyways, this whole ear thing makes me realize that Abby isn’t getting any younger.  The doctor said she’s in great health, but did give her “mature” dog treats.  In people years she’s like 63.  I know that someday we are going to have to cross that bridge of saying goodbye to her and the thought is so terribly sad to me.  I’m going to treasure the time even more that she is with us.  I am thankful that she is healthy and as long as she isn’t in pain, I can live with her ear flopping down.  Here are some pictures of Abby before and after.  I hesitate to even post the second picture because I feel like I’m posting a picture of someone at their worst.  It’s really sad.  Am I crazy or what?

 

Here’s to Our Veteran’s

Last weekend was great!  We started out a beautiful Saturday morning at JCPenney for Christmas pictures.  The boys were so handsome if I don’t say so myself!  I took these before we left the house.

Then we enjoyed an unbelievably gorgeous day at the zoo with Meemaw, Aunt Michelle, and Lindsey.  The weather was just picture perfect and we couldn’t have asked for a more amazing day!

Sunday, Chris, Bradley, and I went to the Blue Angels air show at Jacksonville Beach.  Once again, I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect sunny afternoon.  Both of my big boys loved watching the jet airplanes, and a great time was had by all.  We met some of Bradley’s friends there and the kids played in the sand while the adults rested on a blanket, soaked up the sun, and watched the amazing tricks performed by the planes in the sky.  The kids stopped only now and then to look up at the sky.  I think they were more interested in playing in the sand!  The last act of the show was the Blue Angels themselves though and everyone was watching the sky then.

As I watched these amazing machines and pilots performing, a patriotic wave swept over me.  These fighter jets are more than just jet planes.  To me they represent our freedom, all the men and women who serve defending our country, and the immense power of the United States of America’s military.  Today is Veteran’s Day and  I’m so thankful I live in a country where we are free.  I salute the ones who have given their lives for our freedom, and the ones who are sacrificing today so we can live in freedom.  We live in the best country in the world!  God bless the USA.

 

You Might Be a Mom If…..

…….you find yourself talking about poop with your spouse, family, and coworkers.  If you are squeemish about such topics, you might want to stop reading right now.  This was never the topic of my conversations before having children!!   But alas, now it is.  Caleb’s been battling some terrible constipation and we took him to the doctor again today.  It’s been six days since his last BM and I was starting to really worry about serious problems.  Constipation has been a problem in the past occasionally, but never really severe until a month or two ago.   What worries me is he’s been eating, and eating, and eating, and nothings coming out!  Last Friday he went to the doctor and she recommended Miralax.  He was on miralax for 3-4 days, then prunes, apple juice, pear juice, raisins, soppositories, you name it, anything and everything that people had recommended to me throughout the week.  And still nothing.  I can honestly say never before in my life did poo poo come up in my prayers, but the last few days I’ve been praying so much that Caleb would poop and not be in pain.  The last 3-4 times that he has pooped it has been extremely painful for him (and painful for me to watch!).  Even Bradley’s prayers the last few nights have been, “Dear God, please help Caleb get his poo poo out with out it hurting”. 

Last night Caleb was awake on and off throughout the entire night, just moaning and crying, “ma ma….ma ma…”.  You could look at him and tell he was trying to sleep, but something was hurting him and preventing him from sleeping restfully.  Thankfully, I was able to get an appointment, leave work early and get him to the doctor today.  We’re going to a new pediatrician too, but that’s another story. 

The doctor suggested a pediatric enema and I asked, “Do you do that here in the office?”  He informed me that no, I would be doing it at home.  Ahhhh!  This evening before “Nurse Lisa” performed the procedure, I was doing some more serious praying, “Dear God, please help him and I both get through this”.  God answered prayers and it really wasn’t that bad.  Caleb finally delivered his little care package (which wasn’t really all that little) shortly thereafter.  It still came with painfully screaming and his little legs shaking horribly though.  The doctor recommended Caleb continue taking (at a higher dosage) Miralax daily, and tomorrow he’s getting a teaspoon of milk of magnesia.  The doctor also suggested stopping his whole milk.  He can still have dairy products, as long as they’re with other foods and not in isolation. 

So in summary, here’s my mastercard commercial:

Copay to the doctor’s office = $25.00

Miralax = $11.99

Apple Juice = $2.99

Pear Juice = $2.99

Raisins = $2.29

Infant Suposotories = $2.49

Baby Prunes = $4.00

Infant Enemas = $5.58

Milk of Magnesia = $3.49

Having your baby do a really good poo poo after 6 days of nothing:  PRICELESS

I’m so thankful for the poo poo God provided, but I just feel that we’re not out of the woods yet.  If you’re reading this, please pray for Caleb, and Chris and me.  Pray that we can get Caleb’s little bowels regulated and that he won’t go another six days without poo-poo-ing.

 

Obsession

Yesterday morning Caleb got a new pair of dress shoes to wear to church.  The experience of picking them out and trying them on must have really made an impression on him because he has barely taken them off in the past 36 hours!  When he got home from shopping he wanted to wear them all over the house, out to dinner last night (usually he wears his tennis shoes everywhere) and then he refused to go to bed without them.  When I take them off him he screams and cries, “Shoes!! Shoes!!! Shoes!!”, until I put them back on him again!  It’s pretty hilarious!  Here are the infamous shoes I speak of.

 

Here’s the Cay-man last night at bedtime.  Can you see the smile on his face?

 He took them with him to nap time today and wore them all evening.  Here he is tonight before bedtime with his pajamas and dress shoes.  A fashion expertice, he is not.

 It will be interesting when he has to wear his tennis shoes to school tomorrow.  We may have to pull the ole’ magical trick of distraction out of the bag.

 

Pizza Night at the Markhams

We got home fairly late today after school, so we decided to do pizza night.  We took plain frozen cheese pizzas and made them personal!  It was fun!  Black olives count as a vegetable right?

Here’s Caleb trying to reach the salt shaker.

Here’s my little angel after I had to move the salt shaker so he didn’t either pour salt all over the place, or drop it and break it.  He cracks me up when he turns on this fake, fake cry.  It lasts about two seconds and he’s off playing and smiling again.  Ok, so maybe five to ten seconds. 

 

Yeah for Chris Columbus!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, but  life around here is pretty boring, so there hasn’t been much to say.  My days pretty much all go the same, work, home, dinner, dishes, bath, kids in bed, my school work (for UCF).  I try to finish it by 9, sometimes 9:30 or 10 though, watch TV for an hour or two, then to bed.   I get up the next day to do it all again.  I’m taking two classed this semester, one of which is kicking my butt and requires soooo much work. 

So since today’s a holiday – yeah for Columbus Day! – I’ve got some extra time and it’s been sooo nice!  I started the day waking up on the couch where I slept all night, which wasn’t so great.  I love to stay up late when there’s no school the next day.  It’s like a special treat for me to stay up late and sleep in late, but I usually drag myself to bed around 1 or 2 if I fall asleep on the couch.  I woke up every couple of hours and thought, I really need to get up and go to bed, but just didn’t want to wake up and move.  So around 7;30, I went to bed for about an hour until Bradley woke me up at 8:30.  We rushed around to get the kiddos to school by 9:00.  So I dropped both the kiddos off and had three hours completely to myself!  Yeah   I came home and had a bagel with cream cheese, bacon, and vanilla caramel coffee while I watched an episode of NCIS.  Pamper Pamper Pamper!!  Fun fun fun!!!  I thought NCIS was completely cheesy when I first watched it a few weeks ago, but I watched it because there was nothing else on.  Well now the darn thing has grown on me and I really like it.  USA runs it three or four times a day.

After NCIS and my breakfast, I decided to go for a run.  I debated taking Abby with me.  I used to take her back when I first started running.  I decided to.  Big mistake.  We did about three miles, and the last half mile I practically dragged her.  She was panting so hard and didn’t even want to walk.  I kept cheering her on to keep going.  I was praying the whole time that she wouldn’t pass out on me and drop dead right there.  I wasn’t sure I could carry her 70 some pound body home, so I just kept praying.  We finally made it home and I hosed her down with the garden hose.  It was so stinkin’ hot out there!  96 degrees in October!?  Please?!?!

I took a shower, and by this time it was lunchtime.  I went to pick up Bradley and thought we’d go on a little date just the two of us.  When I picked him up he had just finished eating, so we went out together, but he had ice cream while I ate my lunch.  We had a really nice time, and he said he liked going on a date with me!

Then B and I came home, picked up Abby, and took her up to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed.  There was this crazy pit bull in the store barking and going nuts with an owner who was barely in control of the animal, tugging and jerking the leash, etc.  It was really scary.  I know what it’s like to have a crazy dog on your hands, mine can be pretty nuts, but when it’s a pit bull it’s scary.  Bradley got an education on pit bulls as we navigated the store going around the edges and taking the long way to avoid going anywhere near it.  I know, I know some pit bulls may be really wonderful dogs, I just know when you hear about a dog attack on the news it’s always a pit bull.  And when they attack, it’s not just a bite, it’s a mauling.

So we brought Abby home and Bradley and I went to pick up Caleb.  When we got home, I cleaned house, vaccumed, etc. while the boys played together.   It’s amazing how much energy you have when you don’t wake up at 5 in the morning and you are able to start clearning at 3 in the afternoon, not 8 at night!

 

Girl Power

Here’s some of the highlights of my weekend.   I stayed in a Disney condo with eight other girls.  We all competed in the Trek Women’s Triathalon Series Sunday morning.  I did well, and by that I mean, I finished!  I ran the entire 3.1 miles with no walking so that in itself was an accomplishement!  My swim was average for me, 800 meters in 24 minutes (always slower than in the pool), my bike average speed was 13.6 mph (really really pitiful, this is my weakest portion of the three.  Seriously I need to work on this part).  And my run averaged 12 min. 30 seconds a mile (this time is also always slower after the swim, bike than if I just ran).  But my total time was exactly 2 hours. 

The highlight (not) of Saturday was this idiot lady coming up to me and asking me how far along I was.  I just looked at her is disbelief, and she said, “you’re pregnant right? How far along are you?”  I said,…..”I’m not pregnant”.  What a freaking idiot!  Hello?!  You just don’t ask a woman that!!!  I realize my belly pops out a little, but I don’t think it does anymore than anyone who’s had two kids.  And three pregnancies!  Maybe it does?  I’ve been looking at it in the mirror since then, but no, I’m pretty sure she was just a crazy fool.  Amanda stuck up for me and said to her, “she was pregnant just two months ago!”  Thanks Amanda!  I wanted to cry for like two seconds and then I just wanted to kick her in the knees!

Back to the triathalon.  My biggest supporter and best friend (and hubbie) came out to cheer me on Sunday and it was fabulous.  It was a great feeling having all those girlfriends there to cheer you on too.  Everyone was so nice!  I only knew three of the girls beforehand, but now I can say I’ve made five new friends! 

So, now I’ve done three triathalons in the last one month!  It’s the end of the tri season, so this will probably be my last one until the spring.  I’m going to focus on my run and improving my bike.  Chris and I plan on trying to do a half marathon in December (that’s 13 miles), so I’ll be run run running.  For a second I think, there’s no way I can do that, and then I remember that I’ve completed a triathalon.  Three times!  A year ago I would have said, “I could never do that!”   But now I have done it and I feel like I can do anything!!!   Bring it on!