Doctor Visit and BFFs

The whole family went to visit with my doctor this morning. Donny went into work late and Cole got to check out the "kid's corner" at the doctor's office. It was a kind of family outing. If you remember a couple of months ago I wrote a post about HELLP Syndrome. It was kind a doom and gloom post full of uncertainty and fear. Well today we got to put all of our doubts away. After getting my blood work back and checking my stats today the doctor put it all out on the table. The good, the bad, the not so bad, worst case scenario, etc. We must have exhausted her with an arsenal of questions. She loved that we wanted to be so informed before making any decision though. In short, sparing you all the boring details, the doctor gave us a go. She said that if it were her she'd go ahead and try to have another baby before the age of 35. My liver is functioning (platelets) at a very normal level, my blood pressure is excellent, my weight is decreasing, I had the least severe form of HELLP and it occurred at the very end (full term) of the pregnancy; all is good. She gave us a 30% chance of HELLP reoccurring. There's a 75% chance that it will occur at the same time during the pregnancy as last time, so near the end. Worst case scenario the baby will have to be delivered early but no permanent health damage to me. So, we'll pray that I will not get HELLP again and if I do, I'll get it around the 38th week like last time. Mostly, we will be praying that God's Will be done and that He'd be glorified through it all.

Enough about that. So after the doctor's visit and lunch, Cole and I went to visit with Jasmine and Marianne (Jasmine's Mama). We had such a good time catching up on the events of the week and letting the kids play together. Jasmine started making a new face lately. She squenches up her nose and puckers up her lips. It is the cutest face ever.

Cole chased the cat around and actually caught his tail, once. He also cheered Jasmine on while she practiced walking back and forth between me and her Mama. He was so happy for Jasmine each time she made it. He's such a good friend.

I just love our time with Marianne and Jasmine. It's always a hoot.

Fun with John

Cole always has a great time with his friend John. Today we met up at the local garden nursery. Yes, even though it was less than 40 degrees outside, we went. Anne (John's Mama) and I browsed through the isles of plants daydreaming about our future gardens and backyard oasis' while the boys sat in their strollers and ran around (when possible). It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again in the spring (when it's warm enough for me to feel my fingers).

We had planned on having a picnic lunch but since the weather was not cooperating we went to the local Chic-fil-A and let the kids play on the indoor playground. It was Cole's first time on an indoor playground. He had a blast. He watched John scale the stairs to the slide with ease and decided to try it himself.

He got up two stairs with little effort and decided that was high enough. These two boys play so well together. I just love watching them interact.

Coley-Moley & Jasmania

Cole and Jasmine are quite the duo. They are only a few weeks apart in age but couldn't be further apart in their personalities. Jasmine is a kind of girly-girl; very content and easy going. Cole is adventurous and a little rambunctious.

Jasmine came over to visit yesterday. She and Cole played and had tons of fun. They shared, passed toys back and forth to each other and played well with the same toy at the same time. They even shared a lap together. All was well until the snacks came out.

It all started with a few goldfish. Once the goldfish ran out, Cole had a snack trap and was sharing cheerios with Jasmine but he wanted to remain in full control of the cup only giving her a few cheerios when he wanted to. I gave the snack trap to Jasmine and let Cole have another container full of cheerios. I thought this would be fine because they were both getting cheerios.

Wrong. The magic snack trap must have had better cheerios in it than the container I gave to Cole. He walked over to Jasmine and tried to steal the snack trap from her. She held on with all her might and they fought over the snack trap. Yes, I said fought. It was kind of cute at first but became serious very quickly. Both children had death grips on the snack trap and were red faced and screaming.

Needless to say, snack time was over.
Cole and Jasmine quickly made up. Seeing that there was no food involved, they could be friends again. Cole hugged Jasmine (or put a choke hold on her, depending on your point of view). These two are going to be great buds for a long time.

(*None of the pictures in this post were taken yesterday.)

Taylor-Maylor

This weekend we had the priviledge of having our niece, Taylor, come spend some time with us. It seemed like the time flew by. We had so much to do.....so little time..... (minus all the boring little details, here's some of the things we did):

On Saturday, we got together with my best friend, Marianne, her Mom and Sister-in-law and our friend Sarah to go see Bride Wars. It was a very cute movie. Definitely a chick flick and something you should see with your closest gal pals.
Donny and I are turning our study into a study/playroom so we got a more grown-up looking TV entertainment center. I think it's beautiful. Donny likes it's functionality. It's perfect. We moved our old entertainment unit (which is basically a shelving unit) to the study. I plan to fill the openings with baskets for Cole's toys and shelves for his books. In part of my search for the perfect size/shape baskets, Taylor, Cole and I went to Garden Ridge.

Taylor carried Cole around the store like a prince on top of her sholders. He had so much fun. They were very cute and caught the eye of many customers.

Cole loves to read and I think Taylor must have read the same five books to him a hundred times while she was here. Sweet Taylor, thank you for loving on my little boy. He adores you. We can't wait for you to come back. We love you!

My Boy Just Wants to Have Fun

What more does a boy need; wide open spaces and a Tonka truck. Cole sat in the middle of our back yard for probably 30 minutes "working" on his truck. He pushed it around the yard picking up pine cones and anything else in sight, he dumped out all the miscellaneous stuff and then flipped it over to check out how the tires were working. That's my boy.

Cole and I got to hang out with our friends, Mrs. Anne and her son John, this week. We met at a park and took the boys for a stroller ride. Afterwards, we had a picnic lunch and let our little bundles of energy run around for a while. It was so much fun.

Tissue anyone? I was changing a load of laundry the other day and when I was done, this is what I found Cole doing. I watched him for a minute as he pulled out one Kleenex at a time. He pulled them out with such joy and amazement. It was almost like he had a magic box of tissues that would never end. When he noticed I was there, he kindly offered me a tissue. What a sweet boy.

Bringing in the New Year

Christmas was a little different in 2008. We celebrated with Donny's side of the family the weekend before Christmas. (Sorry no pictures.) We spent Christmas Day just the three of us at home. (Again, no pictures....sorry.) I have to say this will take some getting use to. As a child I celebrated Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve night then went from one side of the family for lunch and the other side of the family for dinner on Christmas day. Not only were we stuffed to the gills but it made for a pretty tiring day. I grew to dislike the holidays because of the hustle and bustle. So, Donny and I decided that when we had kids we'd always celebrate Christmas Day at our house. Sounds nice and relaxing.....yeah.....but believe it or not, I kind of missed the ol' hustle and bustle.

Anyhow, the week after Christmas we went to my folk's place and brought in the New Year. It was a lot of fun. I got to reconnect with some of my cousins and was able to spend a lot of time with my side of the family. Christmas felt like a month this year. All of the family and food and memories made; I could not ask for more.

I thought you may like a couple of picture of my favorite memories from that week:

Pa and Grams bought a wagon (sports utility version) for Cole to ride in while at their house. We each took turns riding up and down their driveway almost every day. Cole looked forward to the ride (and so did we ;) ).

Cole got a plush rocking horse for Christmas that whinnies and makes a trotting sound when you squeeze the ears. He got a bit confused and tried to make Socks whinnie by squeezing his ears. When nothing happened, Cole proceeded to stick Socks' ears in his mouth. That's where Socks drew the line.
We made some great memories in 2008. I am looking forward to all 2009 has to offer. I wish everyone the best. God Bless.

Tagged - 8 Things

Ok, so I know I've been on a blogging hiatus but here's a quick one for ya. (I will post a Christmas post after we get back from visiting my folks.) My dearest friend tagged me on her blog a while back but I'm just now getting around to it. Hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better. Here it goes:

8 TV shows I am currently watching:

• Gilmore Girls (thanks to my niece, Taylor. She let me borrow all of the seasons.)
• Prison Break
• CSI
• Criminal Minds
• Psych
• Law & Order
• The Mentalist
• Numbers

8 Favorite Restaurants:

• Boudreaux's
• Los Cucos
• Goodson's
• Pappadeaux's
• The Slogar Bar & Grill (Crested Butte, CO)
• Maggiano's
• ok so I couln't think of two more....:(

8 Things that happened to me yesterday:

• We had our very first Christmas alone as a family. Just the three of us.
• I drew a horse head that actually looks good, for the first time. (Thanks to a gift I got from My Love.)
• I watched Cole open every present with awe and excitement, even if they weren't for him.
• I got pegged in the head with a lego (thanks to Cole).
• I stayed in my pajamas until 4pm (by then we all wanted to get out of the house and go for a short walk.)
• I watched The Ultimate Gift. It was very good and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to see something wholesome.
• ok, I'm struggling here.....you'll have to do with just six.

8 Things I look forward to:

• Watching Cole grow up.
• Getting to ride horses more.
• Visiting my folks next week.
• Going to a horse show with my Dad and Cole.
• Going on a weekend get-away with My Love.
• Seeing beautiful places in the US/world.
• My "sista's" wedding (you know who you are. I can't wait!)
• Seeing what God has in store for our lives.

8 Things I wish for:

• That the people I know and love will know the Love of Christ. I'd really like to see them in eternity worshiping our Heavenly Father right next to me.
• When I think about it, what more can I wish for.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy New Year!