Wee-haah, Flashlight, and Not working

Sean enjoys playing the wee-haah game - otherwise known as DC vs. Mortal Kombat for PS3. He and Scott play sometimes. He normally wants to be Joker, but tonight he is trying out a few new peeps. He saw The Flash a few minutes ago and called him flashlight. I wasn't sure I heard him right at first...
I have to preface this next section with these statements - I am anit-war, and even more so I am extremly anti-guns. Therefore, I have no good reason to tell you that I bought Sean army men except for the fact they were on clearance. Having said that - Sean and Scott were playing army men while I was making dinner. Scott was making noises and acting out, and Sean said "Mine not working"....

We just finished putting some Cootie's together. Sean loves Cooties!

Christmas!!

Christmas was wonderful! Sean had a BLAST!!!! He got more than one little boy needs, but that's ok :).
This is the first year in a LONG time that I haven't been depressed and "empty" feeling after Christmas. Actually - I'm not sure that before this year that I have ever felt...satisfied with Christmas. Oh, no, not the material things - who cares about the stuff... just the emotional side of things. I am thankful for my family and for such a good Christmas this year!!!

He is such a sweet little guy- full of hugs and love and stubborness!! :)

It's been great to be at home with him the past 5 days. It's been great spending time with him and playing.

He's got a bit of a cold, but hopefully that'll be better soon.

I've been a slacker about blogging. I think of so much to say, but then think of how long it'd take to say it and I put it off.

To X-MAS or not to X-Mas....

Until about 2 minutes ago, I believed that X-Mas was a disrespectul, pegan, way of taking Christy out of Christmas. Why? Because that is what I was taught- possibly by people who believed that because of what they were taught.
Then, I was reading a blog that I keep up with, and the person posted a link that explains the origin of X-MAS...which makes sense to me.
Now...I doubt I'll start using X-MAS as a greeting at Christmas- simply because there are so many people who would not know... and because of that I would not want to discount Christ.
Here's the link if you're interested....
http://www.starstuffs.com/xmas/xmas.html

Sleep, Cold, and Stanely Steamer

At times I forget that I live in the mountains now. You wouldn't think I would since I get to see beautiful mountains around me all the time. But it seems to be the weather that more takes me by surprise. It has already snowed a few times this year - the first before halloween. Not a big now - mostly just flurries. But already it's more snow than I'd see in SC.
Last night they were having a Christmas tree lighting at our town park and we decided to go. We didn't take into the account that it didn't get any warmer than 44 degress yesterday, so even at 5:30 at night, it was freaking cold out there! We made it to the tree, listened to a few carols, drank some nasty watered down hot chocolate, and then Sean was crying, screaming, and cold. We had misplaced his gloves and his little hands were so cold they hurt. So, by 6:15 we were home.
I had to go last night to have a second sleep study done. I had one about 3 weeks ago and they determined that I have mild sleep apnea. So, I went to sleep with the mask last night. It is so odd for them to dress you up like a suicide bomber and watch you sleep - record it even. The first mask didn't work out too well. Everytime I moved in the bed, it would blow air into my eye. So, we did another mask, and it worked much much better. I'm guessing I'll be getting a machine soon?
We got a letter in the mail last week that our annual apartment inspection would be on the 8th. I don't have a problem with them doing inspections, but they should not call it an annual inspection if it's going to happen more than once a year. They came out in July, and now they're coming out again. We had some really bad stains on our carpet that I knew my little carpet cleaner wouldn't get out, so I decided to suck it up and pay stanley steamer to come out and clean it. It is AMAZING how clean the carpet is now!!!! I went ahead and did the premium carpet cleaning where they did the protect and deodorizor, and they'll come out and clean again in 6 months. Oh, and let's not forget the nifty mat and bottle of spot remover they threw in. Honestly, the guy was a super nice guy, he even went upstairs and cleaned a spot that was in my bedroom at no additional charge.
Sean is getting pretty good at telling on himself these days. I picked him up from daycare the other day and he told me that he had been in timeout. When I asked why he said he hit tay-tay (his girlfriend). The teacher that was there didn't know anything about it, so the next morning I asked his normal teacher and she said yes, that he had and that he said sorry and hugged her as soon as he did it, so he didn't get time out. (As an added note - in NC they technically cannot do time out until a child is 3...so it is re-direction or something like that...)
He is also good at getting things out of the refridgerator - like the candy I had stashed for christmas. And Juice. And just wait -if there is any pepper in there, he can smell it from a mile away (pepper = dr. pepper)
We talked about going to plumtree nc to get our christmas tree - but I'm not sure if we will or not. I want to, but then at the same time, that's a long way to go - to bring a tree home on a stratus!
Work is going well, things are picking up and will be very busy over the next few months, but that's ok - better busy than bored.
I'm gonna go check on lunch...and wait for the hour to pass so I can tell the boys they can come downstairs.

something odd happened....

A few weeks ago I borrowed some CD's from a co-worker (then I ripped the to my computer)...so, over the past couple of weeks I've been listening to these songs from time to time. All the CD's I borrowed from her are Christian music. One of them is Casting Crowns. I'd never really listened to them before. Honestly, something about their name didn't sound appealing to me. I know- go figure.
As I was listening to one of the songs, I feel something I have not felt in a long time. I felt.... moved, touched,....you may even say alive. I don't feel much often, not in that sense anyway. It's like something is broken that I can't fix. I've talked to God about it. I'm sure it's on my part and not His. One day I hope it will be fixed. It was nice to have that feeling. I love being able to feel God. It seems to happen when we least expect it.
While I'm on the subject...I've done a bad job of looking for a church here. I've visited 3. One seemed to be alot of gliz, glamor and show. The second I went to the contempory service and failed to see anything comtempory about it. The third the preacher was talking about selling rocks from the parking lot for prayer. It was the I realized that the churches here are NOT like the ones in SC. At least not like MY church in SC.
Thankgiving was pretty good this year. We stayed at home, and just had a nice day the three of us.
Normally the day after thanksgiving me and my sister and my sister in law go shopping. Alot has happened lately, and things just didn't work out for us to go this year. I went out a few places by myself but it wasn't the same. I went to Kohls first, and had to abandon my mission - it was too backed up in there, and my back was hurting and there were no carts. So, I headed to walmart, old navy and target. I was home by 7.
There were a few emotional days this week. Nov 25th was the 17th anniversary of my mom's death. I was 17 when she died, so that means that this year I've lived as long without her as I lived with her. I miss her alot and there's a lot I wish I could talk to her about. Life is complicated sometimes in a way that only a mommy would understand. There is a lot I wish I would have paid more attention to, but all in all, I'm thankful for the mom I had and the time I had with her.
Sean has told me a few times this weekend that I dont listen. I wonder where he got that phrase from! HA! He is becoming such a chatterbox, and repeating ALOT of stuff. It's funny when you tell him not to say stuff - for example, he now will proudly tell you "don't say boobies".... or "don't say dammit" and let's not forget that the guitar told him to shut up, and shut up is a bad word, so the guitar needs soap.
It is late, and my bed is calling me.

It is 3:15 am and I'm....

Getting ready to go shopping!!!
I love black friday. We normally do it as a tradition- me, Paige and Donna, but so much has happened lately in Donna's world, and Paige has to work today, I've been sick and had some back problems, it just didn't work out. So, my back feels ok this fine friday morning, so I'm gonna go brave the crowds so that I can spend money that I don't really need to be spending on stuff that I don't really need to be buying!! Whoo- hoo!!
I've been lazy on Blogging -I'll try to be better.
I'll leave you on this note - We hung up a Santa Claus last weekend and Sean kep calling him Christmas Claus. Too cute!

What??!?!?!?!

As I watched the news this morning, I heard about some con-artists in Greenville. They hit once and ran off with someone's money. The second time they stole the person's $35,000 watch and... I have no idea what else - I stopped at $35,000 watch - what kind of person spends that much money on a watch? Further more - do you REALLY dare going out in public wearing something of that much value.
Common sense people!!

Behind....catching up!!

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in reading everyone else's blogs that I use all my free time doing that and don't have time to write - and then when I have time, it seems to be all random.

Sean has learned what Eye Brow's are - but he calls then Eye Browns.

When you go to a restaurant to order something to eat, Sean wants hamburger nuggets.

Sean got the flu mist this week. He did great with it - at the office. But I have a sneaking suspicion that is why he was up until 2 AM on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Whenever he gets any sort of vaccine we normally have a night or two of sleeplessness. Around midnight that night Sean informs me that he wants a kitty. This isn't the first or last time he's said it, but it seemed random in between me telling him to close his eyes, lay down, etc.. that he wanted a kitty. I reminded him that he was scared of them and he said he was not afraid anymore. Yeah right - he saw the neighbors cat Friday night and screamed so loud that I could hear him 2 houses away!

I went to see Brian on Monday night after work, then I was off on Friday and went down there and spent a few hours with him at the hospital in TR. He is doing so much better. He had even figured out a way to talk a little bit. Sean calls Brian "Muncle Brian" and colored a picture last night to go in the card I bought him.

Friday morning Sean slept until we woke him up at 9:30. 9:30 is normally the cut off time for taking kids to daycare, but I had called his teacher and she told me that as long as he was there by 10:30 that it was fine. He didn't want to go to daycare that day - until I told him he was having a party that day. When I took him in, I sat down with him for a little bit like I normally do, and I was surrounded by 2 year olds all talking at once!

When I got back to NC Friday afternoon from seeing Brian, we picked Sean up and went to the mall to do early voting. Voting with a 2 year old wasn't easy, but I felt it was important to put my vote in for McCain, and Friday worked out better for me than missing time at work on Tuesday.

After voting we came home and got ready for Halloween. Scott had pitched a fit several times over the past month wanting a costume. I can't justify spending the money on that for someone who never really leaves the house. So, he dug through the closet and found the Zorro outfit I bought him last year.

We got Sean ready and we headed to Halloween Hoopla at Biltmore Baptist. It was huge with tons of people!!

There were lots of games to play to earn candy. They had free snow cones for everyone! And they had inflatables! Sean's favorite is the inflatables. He loves to bounce!!! He liked the games ok, but he kinda cheated at some of them - although I'm sure he didn't realize he was cheating.... I hope. We only stayed an hour or so and he was ready to go home.

Saturday morning we watched some TV and then we headed out to shop. We went to Target to buy leftover Halloween candy. I bought some to freeze to keep for Christmas. Then we went to Toys R Us. Sean has been saying that he wants a purple guitar for Christmas. Now, I don't know if you've ever looked for a purple children's guitar for a little boy, but I don't think they exist! So, we ended up with a sponge bob guitar. Scott is going to re-string it so that it can be a lefty guitar.

Saturday afternoon we took Sean to the Sky Top Apple Orchid in Flat Rock. I never knew it existed, but I read about it in my old friend Tracey's blog. My friend Tracey who was 5 minutes from my office on Tuesday and didn't call me. But I still love ya!! Anyway, back to the Apple Orchid - It was a really cool place. We opted not to pick our own apples. We just wanted to play. There were play areas for Sean with swing sets, and play houses - one even shaped like an apple! Then there was a pumpkin house that was a slide. Fun stuff. Then we went on a hayride so that we could see all around the orchid. After that we bought two half pecks of apples and headed home. It was a good afternoon and I think Sean had fun. When we were paying for our apples, Sean was eating one and the guy asked if he picked it himself - he said yes. I laughed and told him - yep, right out of my bag! I am glad that we put a pull-up on Sean for the trip - the only potties they had there were portable ones and I can't imagine taking him into one, no matter how clean or well maintained they are.

Last night the church around the corner was having a BBQ. It was over-priced and the oddest experience I've ever had at a church. The guy that took our money was nice enough. The guy spooning out the food was ok, but acted like I was nuts when I asked for a plate for Sean (I had paid $5 for a kids plate!!). And then they were taking $2 donations if you wanted a beer to drink. Now, I'm not opposed to people having a drink now and then, but having beer in the house of God just seemed...wrong! Guess I'm just a little too Baptist!!

We also took Sean to the park last night. We had fun until Sean was done swinging and Scott wanted to swing for a minute. We told Sean to stand to the side and he did - at first, then he ran behind Scott - and so when Scott came back he accidentally hit Sean. Sean had sand everywhere - mouth, nose, etc.... His lip was busted, but otherwise seemed ok. He is a little bruised this morning, but nothing like I expected, thankfully!! I'm very glad he wasn't badly hurt.

They opened a new super Wal-mart near us this week. It is great to have one close by so I don't have to drive to Hendersonville anymore. On Wednesday night we decided to go check out the new store, and we bought Sean a dinosaur that he wanted. It was cute in the store, but when got it home and Sean figured out that it walks, it wasn't fun anymore. He's finally to the point where he'll press the button and run jump on the couch while it walks. Too funny.

Ok, I think that is caught up enough!! If you want to see pics of Halloween Hoopla or the Apple Orchid, check out my facebook photo albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007708&l=4e194&id=1337868030

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007745&l=3890d&id=1337868030

Batman and Zorro

Cooking with Sean

Sean and I made rice crispie treats today. We had a lot of fun and he was a big help!

The Mommy Stick

**warning - graphic female information included in this post***

About a week or so ago, Sean came into the bathroom while I was using it and opened the cabinet, got a tampon out, and asked me if I needed it. I told him that was a mommy thing and I didn't need it. He said that it is a stick. I told him him again that it was a mommy thing and he asked if I needed my stick. I told him no and he handed it to me.
He stood there looking at me, waiting for me to do something with it. I then asked him to give me a few minutes privacy, which actually bought me about 5 seconds - which was long enough to hide it under a towel.

Yesterday I was in the bathroom again and he came in, opened the cabinet, and said here's your mommy stick....once I finished laughing i just took it from him and laid it on the counter....

Dammit....

is a new word is Sean's vocabulary.
I thought he said it yesterday morning, but I wasn't sure. As the day went on, he said it a couple more times. So...out came the SOAP!
We went to the halloween carnival at Kate's park yesterday. They had games that the kids could play and win toys or candy. They had a little train that Sean enjoyed riding on. They also had an inflatable for the kids to bounce on. Sean had lots of fun and was wore out by the end of the carnival.
We went to the pet store yesterday to look around and see what Sean tought of the animals. He has so far been pretty steady in his fear of animals, but he talks about wanting a kitty, so we thought we'd go looking around. We found a kitty that we thought was cute, and we asked if we could hold him.... so, I sat down, Sean in my lap, and the lady handed me the kitty. It took about 2 seconds for Sean to start backing away. Not ready yet. Maybe someday.
I'm planning to go see Brian at the new hospital today...just waiting on Scott to get up to keep Sean for me.

The imaginary dinasour

Sean is carrying around his imaginary dinasour this morning, bringing it over from time to time to let me pet it or kiss it. He even let me hold it for a few minutes.
He also announced this morning that he does not have a winkie - he has a tail. I'm glad he cleared that one up for us.
This has been a busy week. Brian has been in the hosptial for a little over a week and a half, and he had surgery on Tuesday, so I took the day off to spend the day at the hosptial with him and Donna. The surgery went well and he seems to be improving since then. They moved him to a new hospital yesterday. I really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers for my brother this week.
We stayed in Greenville last weekend so that I could visit with him. We also took Sean to Boo in the Zoo. Sean is batman this year, an although he was hesistant to keep his costume on, once we got there and he started figuring out what that it was all about - he became batman on a mission. At the first station - when he said trick or treat and they put a reeses cup in his bag - he was in heaven! He wanted it out to eat right then. When I told him that he had to wait so he could get more - he started speend walking - bag open - through the zoo. He did great. Towards the end he tried to take his costume off. I let him shed the mask, but he had to keep the rest on - he didn't have any pants on underneath :).
Work has been busy this week, but good. I'm glad not to be on-call this weekend though :)
We're taking Sean to another Halloween event this afternoon at the little park nearby. I hope he'll do good there.
I've thought of a million things to blog about lately but not have the time to, and now I can't remember what all I was going to say.... that's how life goes, right?

Locks, Potties, and Elmo, oh my!!

Day before yesterday (tuesday), when I picked Sean up from daycare, one of the teachers told me to start sending him in underwear and she'd work with him on using the potty.
So, yesterday was the big day - He wore Elmo on his hiney and he had two accidents all day. Not bad for the first day.
Today he wore Elmo on his hiney again, and he used the potty all day very well. When we picked him up today he was getting his clothes changed for the first time because he was a little bit wet - and the teacher told me that she'd gotten tied up on the phone with another parent and so he had to wait a little longer to go potty, hence the reason he had the accident. Very cool. My goal is potty trained by 3.
Tonight we took Sean to the park for a little bit, but there were lots of bugs there - don't know what was up with that, but we didn't stay too long because of that. When we got home I was working on supper and Sean went into the bathroom. He called for Mommy because he couldn't get the door open, so I opened it and let him out. A few minutes later he went back in there and locked the door. He started calling for me again - and then we realized it was locked. I was trying to talk him through unlocking the door and Scott was looking for a screwdriver and trying to decide if we should bust through the door instead of looking. Sean finally listened and was able to unlock the door. Whew!
I gotta get my BP med filled soon ... I've missed 2 days and now my head hurts.
Gas is starting to get more plentiful around here. Still scarce at times, but no long lines when it's available.

Breaking News! Batman Sucks His Thumb!

HOHOHO Happy 'Tober

Isn't fall the most wonderful time of the year??? The weather is cool...The air smells "fallish"
It's a great time!
Halloween is coming soon. We had Sean try on an ELMO outfit last night. It was so cute...but... he didn't want it. I'm itching to go back and buy it...

So, Santa did some shopping last night. Santa had a 10% off coupon that was going to expire soon, so Santa decided to stock up and bought lots of cool stuff :)

We took Sean to the park last night. We started at the community park, but there were TOO many people, and too many big kids that weren't watching what they were doing. So, we left and went to the small park near our house. MUCH better! Sean swang for a LONG time. He is finally big enough to sit in the big boy swings and hold on tight :). He also loves to slide and to roll down the grassy hill.

Let's Think...

Sean was telling me all the people he loves this morning....
I love mommy bunches
I love daddy bunches
I love Maverick bunches
I love Ta-Ta bunches
then he but his finger on his lip..tapped once...and said "let's think"
I love Rica
I love Meca
"let's think" again....
I love Landon
"let's think" again...
I love Katrina

Then he informed me that Katrina is now his girfriend...not Ta-ta or Maddie.

I not your girlfriend...

Ok, to start off...I'm one of "those" mommies. I believe in soap. Not just for bath time. For cleaning little mouths that dirty words come out of. So far the only bad word that Sean has gotten soap for is Shut-Up.
Last night when we were getting ready for bed I was in Sean's room with him playing. While we were in there, we heard scratching at the door. We opened the door, and noone was there was nothing there. We closed it back, and then the scratching started again. Sean started getting a little scared. We opened the door again...still nothing. Then once again, it started back. When mommy opened the door again (sean was already scared and not about to open it on his own), daddy jumped out to scare us.
I ended up leaving the room to take a shower because I was coughing and wanted to see if the hot water would help. After my shower, I scrated on the door. No one came to open it. I scratched again. Still noone. So, I opened the door and roared. Sean screamed and laughed.
Scareing your two year old isn't very nice. Neither does it make it easy for them to go to sleep.
So, we talked to him a good bit about the monsters on sesame street being the only monsters that there are, and as long as he isn't a cookie, he has nothing to worry about.
Fast forward 10 minutes -
Scott and I are laying in our room talking because we're not really expecting Sean to stay in bed long. Sean appears at our door with his pillow and skeeti (spaghetti head - his stuffed doggie). So, I let him climb in with us for a bit. Scott went downstairs. Sean and I are laying there talking, and apparently skeeti was acting up. Sean told me that skeeti said a bad word and needed soap, then he spanked him AND put him in time out. He told skeeti "I not your girlfriend" Then he picked up my stuffed bear (yes, I know..I'm 34 and still have a stuffed animal), and he said that Buttons had said a bad word and needed soap. I wonder what word they said???
Sean ended up dozing off in our bed, then woke up when we moved him to his room. I had to "sit chair" for a while, and when I left he got up and banged on the door. Scott went up there and talked to him and got him to lay down.
It looks like we all have a cold, cough, or something. Yeah for us!!
We took Sean to the park last night. He had a good time running around. The little park we went to is next to the Methodist church in town...which just happened to start their pumpkin sale yesterday. So, we went over and checked out all the pumpkin's after the park. They had lots and lots of pumpkins. We found a HUGE one for us, but we gotta wait a while to put it out because last year the squirrls ate it. We let Sean pick one out and he close the littlest one there was. It is tiny. TINY!! But it's all his!
It's getting to be much cooler weather these days. It's nice!
There's still a bit of a gas shortage around here. Ingles had gas yesterday, so I stopped in on my way to work - not because I was almost out of gas- but because I was almost out of money and decided that maybe I should get gas while I still had some left before next payday!
I think my boys are home from going to Ingles to get muffins for breakfast!

The Bad Lion

We were in the living room tonight and Sean was sitting in his comfy lion chair, then the next thing I know he is telling he that the lion is mean and that he spanked it. I asked if it was ok now, and he said no and spanked it again. Then Scott came in the room and Sean told him that the lion was mean. Scott asked what the lion did to him and Sean said the lion hit him. I lost it. I was trying not to laugh, but I had a vivid mental picture of this lion chair hitting Sean.
I think he's forgiven the lion now.

When we got to daycare tonight Sean was crying because Maverick had hit his hand. Before we left for the day Maverick gave Sean a hug.

I got to talk to my brother today for the first time in a while today. He seemed to be doing ok.

We took Sean to the park tonight. It was cold and he was whiney, so we didn't stay long.

This morning at 3 am I heard Mommy. Mommy. Mooooommmmmmyyyyy.
I went in there and Sean was standing in front of his tv, pushing buttons on the remote, trying to get Scooby Doo to come back on. I got it playing again, and told him I was going to bed, which caused him to cry. So, I told him that I was going to bed, I'd leave his door open and he could come get me if he needed me, or come get in my bed if he needed to. 20 minutes later he was in between us, sound asleep, rooting me to the very edge of the bed. But ya know what?? I love him no matter how tired I am :)

Sean and I went to dinner with Blake and Jenny last night. We ate at the Moose. The food and the company were great, but the service sucked. Oh well, at the least it was great otherwise.

I'm a Crappy Person

I have a bad habit of trashing Scott. The things I say are not untrue. But it hit me last night that I really shouldn't trash him as much as I do. And the fact that I say things about him to entertain others makes me a crappy shallow person. Scott has issues, he's not perfect, and we argue alot. But he can be so nice, and he loves to play with Sean, and Sean adores him. He can be easy to talk to.
I have to find a way to get the tension that I feel over the things that go on in our relationship out without being such a crappy person and talking so bad about him and making fun of him.

Moose Breakfast, Corn Maze and Sean

I woke up close to 8 this morning and Sean wasn't making a peep. I was surprised, so I went ahead and took my shower. When I got done, I opened his door and he was laying in the floor watching scooby doo. We played in his room for a while. Finally close to 9 we headed downstairs. We ate a light breakfast and played for a while. He was a stinkerpot when it came time to get dressed and when it was time to get in the car. We met Joe at the Moose Cafe for breakfast at 10:30. As soon as we walked in, Sean saw the huge moose and called it a horsey!
Sean was in a MOOD at the resturant. He was being difficult.
After brunch, we went to the farmers market next door and walked around. Sean's mood was a little better, but not much. He wanted to touch everything. At one point he picked up an apple and almost took a bite before I could get it away.
We went to Joe's house and hung out for a little while. Sean and Joe had fun playing - well, I know that Sean did - I hope Joe did. Sean was running around, hiding in the closet, riding his deigo trike, etc... Sean opened Joe's refridgerator, grabbed a stick of butter and ran into his bedroom and into the closet!
We came home and I finally got Sean to take a nap.
After his nap, we decided to go to the corn maze that's about 30 min away. None of us have ever been to a corn maze. Scott and I had been to a mazed at a beach a few years ago, but it wasn't corn. So, we went through the first part of the maze fairly easily. When we got to phase 2, it got pretty frustrating. We kept going in circles. We were hot, sweaty, itchy, etc... Sean was getting tired and although Scott tried to carry him on his shoulders, and his arms, Sean just really wanted me. So, I carried him while I could, and then held his hand part of the time. We were finally frustrated enough and ended up sitting down to let Sean rest. After that we went in circles a little longer, found our way to a familar spot, cut through the corn, and found our way out. I think it'll be a long while before we visit again.
I'm tired, broke, and dreading waking up early tomorrow for work, but had a good weekend!!!

Green Beans and Molassas

We went to eat tonight at the Moose Cafe. Wanna know a secret? I went there last night with my friends Joe and Jenny too!
The Moose is wonderful!
Sean was being a little bit of a stinkerpot at dinner. When he finally got around to eating HIS food, he was also asking what was on the table, and that he wanted it.... so I had to put some molassas on his plate - then...you guessed it - he started dipping his green beans in it and eating them. Then he was eating some of my fries -and he wanted ketchup- then he started dipping his green beans in ketchup. Whatever it takes to get him to eat it, right?
Last night when we had gone to Ingles and we got a pack of little pumpkins. Sean's been playing with one since then - the rest were on the kitchen table - just a little bit ago he started getting them off the table and putting them on the bottom step, he was so proud of himself too.
After the pumpkin incident, Sean got his stool out of the kitchen (which is supposed to stay in the bathroom to help him reach the potty and the sink - but ya know how that goes....). He put it on his head and was walking through the living room singing happy birthday. (but to who??)

Yesterday was the first day that it was cool, so Sean wore his spiderman jacket to daycare. He was SOOOOOOO excited!!!
It's raining today, so he wore the awesome raincoat that i bought him at the thrift sale last weekend!

Sean was just tickling Scott and he said "i love you" - that's the first time he's told someone that without being told first. Very sweet!!!

Sean's been a stinker about going to bed lately.

Gas is still short.

My cough is finally getting better. I've been sneezy the past two days, but that's ok.

I LOVED going to dinner with Joe and Jenny last night. It was so much fun!!! Scott kept Sean and took him to the park to play while I was gone.

Gas crisis continues....

So, gas is still in short supply now. Some stations are gettins shipments and running out within a short time frame.
We ended up driving to SC to get gas tonight, just to relieve the stress of not knowing...and we still had to wait an hour and a half to get $40 in gas.

Ice/Water Dispensor Discovery

Sean has just discovered the joy of the ice/water dispensor that is built into the fridge.
Last night he added LOTS of ice to my cup, and tonight he helped himself to some water.
He has also learned how to open the fridge/freezer this week. I'm sure the popcicles that were in the freezer helped with that discovery. He wasn't shy about opening it up and getting more popcicles out. He had the cutest grin on his face when he'd get one - like he'd made the greatest discovery in the world!

Sean drew a nice big purple line on his face - all the way back to his ear today at daycare.

He got to see next to his girlfriend Madison for breakfast this morning.

I tried to call the doctor today because I'm still coughing. It was getting better over the weekend, but it seems to be getting worse again. They didn't call me back. Yet.

We took Sean to the park last night. He learned how to slide on his belly. It was cute. I took some pics and videos with my phone - I just need to upload them.

I want to go visit a corn maze or ghost town this weekend, but it all depends on the gas situation. And of course if I have the money for us to do that.

Have I mentioned that I love fall?? Monday was the first day of fall, and it was great!! The weather is cooler - my windows are open and the AC is off. There's something about this time of year that makes me both very happy, and very melencholy.

GAS

I never thought that we'd be in the middle of a gas shortage. I'm amazed at how things are. A hurricane hit 2 weeks ago in Texas. Gas supplies have been low since before the hurricane hit, but now they are really scarce. More stations seemed to be getting gas near the weekend, but this week it's sad and a little scary that gas is so hard to find. Not just in my town - but all the surrounding towns too. People are sitting in line for a hour or so at a time - just to get gas as soon as somewhere gets a shipment. Police are directing traffic at the stations.

Tonight cars were lined up about 2 miles at the Enmark station, as the tanker filled up the gas, people waited... An hour and a half later, the line didn't seem any shorter as we drove by.

I not your girlfriend

So... there's been a few times lately when Sean has been playing and we're chatting back and forth, and i'll say "i love you" and he'll say it back, or say he don't love me, or whatever he feels like saying at the time - then he'll say "i not your girlfriend" - it's so funny!!!
It looks like ta-ta has some competition at daycare. Ta-ta (taylin) has been Sean's girlfriend for a while now. Friday morning she pulled out a chair for Sean to sit beside her... But Sean turned and went and sat next to Maddie! He rubbed her arm and said "my maddie" and then started touching her curls.
I've been sick for a couple of weeks now. I went to the dr on Wednesday and she decided it is walking pneumonia... so, I finished my antibiotics yesterday - hopefullly all this mess will go away!
Yesterday morning was the first day that I woke up feeling good in a while, and Sean woke up in an incrediably good mood. We played some inside, and it was in the 50's outside (I love the mountains!!!). We went on the deck and played with sidewalk chalk. Sean had me drawing butterflys, ABC's, circles, anything he could think of. Then we got dressed and went to a park. We'd only been to this park a couple of times, but it's a good one. He played on the playground for a little bit, then I got his trike out of the trunk and we took off along the walking trail. He peddled his little heart out!!! He had to stop a couple of times to pick a flower (weeds, grass, etc), and he intentionally went into the grass so he would fall off a couple of times. We played on the playground stuff a little more, then we headed to the Chilren's consignment sale (we had gotten him a lot of stuff Saturday and Sunday was half price day). After we picked up a couple of things, we went to walmart to buy groceries, then headed home. A busy but good day.
I am so blessed to have such a good boy!!
A few times on Sunday, Sean would do something to hurt me (hit, pinch, bite) and when I'd say something to him about it, he would look at me and say "I sorry". I asked if he has to say that alot at daycare :)
I gotta get ready for work!! I'm gonna be late!

MINE

Is it bad that I want some things to be just mine?
It seems to be an on going battle. I shouldn't have to tell another adult to leave MY stuff alone, right? Not to touch it, borrow it, steal it, etc..., right?
The latest of this battle is two-fold.
Not too long ago I bought 2 printers from Sam's. One for Scott and one for me. Scott has been using his, but I haven't needed to print anything so I didn't set mine up yet. So, today I find out that Scott used up all of his printer cartridge and then helped himself to mine. WTF??? Why was that ok? Without even asking?
Then this afternoon, Scott came downstairs and said he had a confession to make. Oh my, those are usually doozies - Apparently he had been upstairs and for some reason decided to take two big swigs of MY cough syrup. My PERSCRIPTION cough syrup. And the only reason he told me? Because he started to feel bad physically afterward and was afraid it was mixing incorrectly with the tons of addreall he's eaten in the past 4 days (that he's stayed awake and not slept during).
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I should have locked my cough syrup in the safe. The safe that I had to buy to keep him away from my other medicines because he thinks if I have something that it is his as well!
Anyone wonder why I wish I was an ex-wife?

Randomness

I hate viral illnesses. I hate even more paying a doctor money to tell you that an illness is viral.
I've had a horrible cough for over a week now - it's a deep chest sounding cough that sounds like bronchitis or pneumonia - only it dosen't feel like it's in my lungs. So, I paid a doc $50 the other day to tell me that it' s viral and gave me cough pills and couch syrup.

Sean has a My Size Batman that is almost as tall as he is. For a long time he was terrified of it, but now he loves it. Two nights ago Sean gave batman a spanking and put him in timeout. It was too cute! I'm not sure what the offense was, but it must have been bad to get both a spanking and timeout!
He also had a brush and was brushing batman's hair. Kinda funny since Batman has a platic head and no visable hair.

When we got to daycare on Thursday to pick Sean up, he was on the far end of the playground, climbing the fence. It freaked me out. (Meanwhile the teacher was sitting on her butt not doing a thing about it...) Scott talked to him about it, and on the way home Sean told me that he didn't want a spanking for it. I explained to him that he wouldn't get one unless he did it again. The next morning when we got to daycare, as I was getting Sean out of the car he told me that he wasn't gonna climb the fence.

Sick People (and I don't mean a cold)

Not too long after we moved, I found an article online about the in-home daycare that Sean had stayed at for the first approx 9 months of his life, where the husband of the caregiver had been arrested for molesting possibly two girls that were in the daycare. I had known this couple for many years, lived near them, they kept my neice, etc... so the news was shocking, but it did explain why she had to close suddenly.
For some reason tonight I looked up online to see if there were any other news about him.
Apparetly they had his sentencing in July and he got 5 years jail time and 5 years parole.
When I heard about it, I immediately thought of one sweet girl that was in the daycare who had already been though hell in her short life, and my gut told me it was her. In the newstory that I saw tonight, that was confirmed. It showed her "mother" (grandmother actually, but she is more of a mother to this sweet girl than her "real" mom ever was), and it showed her cousin's mom in the courtroom too (the second little girl that was possibly moletested, but as a plea deal he was only charged with one).
I don't get it. What makes people do crazy things like this? I knew this man, his wife, their kids, their grandkids.... I left my son with them. I had alot of respect for them, and even before tonight questioned if it was really true. I am thankful that Sean was too young to realize what was going on if anything ever did happen while he was there. I hope and pray that these little girls can grow up and move beyond this, and overcome any scars that this may leave on their lives.

Paranoia

I'm sick.
There. I said it. I have a horrible cough.
I paid a guy $50 yesterday to tell me it was viral and to give me cough meds.
I found that I get emotional when I'm sick. Two of my friends made me tear up yesterday - over stupid stuff that should not have bothered me! AND I'm paranoid when I'm sick. My boss's door was shut, then open, then there was an HR person in there, and I was sure they were preparing to fire me. Why? Cause I'm nuts. I've done nothing wrong. I do my job well to the best of my knowledge. Just crazy some days I guess.

Jesus

When Sean was sick two weeks ago, he was so miserable that he wanted mommy to hold him like a baby and he told me "Jesus" - he wanted me to sing Jesus to him. So, there we sat, for a long time, me holding him, rocking like a baby, and singing Jesus Loves Me.
Since then he's become more instant on saying Jesus at night- which is saying his prayers to thank Jesus for his family, friends, and teachers (with our help of course).
He has a book of Jesus Loves the little children - it's very sweet when he hands it to us and says Jesus. Tonight he tried signing it with Scott as he sang it to him.
It's sweet to watch him grasp Jesus - in the way only a 2 year old can!

Sean's Week

Sean's had an interesting week this week...
Saturday we went to the doc for croup
Sunday we spent the day in SC playing with Esme's toys
Monday we were lazy and hung around the house
Tuesday he went back to daycare and his little girlfriend bit him on the arm. She said she was sorry and he said he still loves her :)
Wednesday he wouldn't sit down for dinner and when I wouldn't hold him, he started bawling and when I laughed at him the said "leave me awone!!!" - just made me laugh more (of course then I hugged him and let him sit in my lap for the rest of dinner)
Thursday when I picked him up from daycare he didn't have his socks on - just his shoes. When we went to look for his socks, one of his teachers told me that he had taken them off outside and filled them up with dirt! (I later found out that he also did the twist in the dirt in his socks!
Friday he and his best friend Maverick got into a fight over a truck...Rica said he wasn't about to let go of that!

Weekend

This past weekend was a pretty good one. I was supposed to be oncall, but my friend Joe needed to be off call next weekend, so we traded.
When I picked Sean up from daycare on Friday he had a bad cough and I could see then that we'd be at the doc on Saturday.
Friday night we just made dinner and played. Sean went to bed by 8:30 and I laid in bed a read a new blog that I had gotten very interested in until my laptop died, then I went to bed. Scott had a friend over.
Saturday I called and got Sean a doctor's appointment. I was shocked when they told me that the doc could see him at 9:45 - it was 9:12, I hadn't had a shower, and the dr is a 25 min drive. Talk about getting ready very FAST!! The doc walked in the door and said right away that it was croup (shocker!)...and so...we started on steriods. We didn't do much on Saturday, mostly just played around the house.
I read more of the blog that I had started reading. Without going into much detail, the person in the blog had been through some very trying times this year, and in her blog she showed all the normal human emotions, but she also showed amazing faith in God. Her story was amazing, but her faith and love for others in the midst of her own hell was amazing.
I woke up Sunday morning a bit homesick for my church and my friends. I felt like going to church, but knew the church I wanted to go to was my church - in my home town. I started not to go because Sean was sick and couldn't go to the nursery, and I didn't know if I should spend the money on gas. But after a little while, I decided it was what I really wanted to do.
I got Sean ready and we headed to SC for the day. We got to church a few minutes early.
I got to see my friend Susan, then I ran into my friend Amy. Amy and I met in first grade, so it was great to see her, and I sat with her and her sister Keleigh. Before going in I saw my friend Gloria, and she sat with us. I had really hoped that I'd get to see Gloria, I miss her very much. After church Gloria asked what our plans were, and since we didn't really have anything planned we went to her house. I had a wonderful day. It was great to spend time with Gloria and talk and just be. Gloria has a granddaughter that is 2 months younger than Sean, so she had alot of toys for Sean to play with (even pink cinderilla slippers - should've taken a pic of that!!).
At the end of the day, we ended up going to the city park for the labor day concert. We went to Robin's house and walked to the park from there. It was really hard to hear at the park, but it was still nice to spend the time there.
After the concert, we walked back, I took Gloria home, and headed back to NC.
The drive home was long, Sean was worn out and slept the whole way home, but all in all, that was a great day! It did make me miss my friends and church even more though.
Monday turned into a lazy day. We mostly just played around the house, until around 6:30 when we went to the grocery store and to get dinner from Chick-fil-A.
Sean did not sleep good last night, and ended up half the night. Luckily Scott was up and helped some with him so I could try to sleep.
He is in bed now, so hopefully he'll sleep good tonight. We gotta get up early tomorrow because I have a dr. appt.
I've rattled on and on enough!

Introduction....

I've thought of blogging from time to time, but anytime I've started, I haven't stuck with it.
Can I this time? We'll see.
I find that I normally have a lot to say and don't have anywhere to say it. I plan to use this to post thoughts, feelings, events, etc.. about my life - the good and the bad.