A Moment Captured

Buggy discovered the magic of a water hose today.

I enjoy seeing her get so excited over the simplest things.

Love this girl!

p.s. Still in New Boston...ready to get home sweet home tomorrow.

The Shed

We drove down to the Mississippi coast on Monday with three goals in mind: the beach, outlet shopping and lunch at The Shed. This is one of the places that has been highlighted on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri.

It did not disappoint....the food was outstanding and the atmosphere entertaining.

I snuck a sharpie out of my purse while in the restroom and secretly left "my mark." Then I had to laugh when the waitress brought a sharpie over to AnnaLee to leave her mark....guess I didn't need to be sneaky after all.

Our Trip

Here's a few pictures from the first part of our trip.

Visiting Mamo in the nursing home.



At the Clark family reunion.




Ladybug with all her little cousins...she loved hanging out with these "big" girls.



Bug with Luke on the trampoline...she followed him around everywhere and copied everything he did.



Feeding the ducks from the car.

At 28 Months

* Ladybug has learned how to turn the door knobs and open doors all on her own. Time for more toddler proofing around here!

* She loves to grab any ink pen laying around and will proceed to doodle. We've had a few near misses with the couch and table so far.

* I love how she's learning all the characters' names and when she sees them she lets you know it.

* She's still singing and recently learned the entire Happy Birthday song in order to sing to Lori a few weeks ago. On the 20th for Nanny's birthday she sang again...but she still said Lori.

* Buggy has learned to jump off the side of the pool into my arms usually with a little help from T.

* She still seems to be using both the left and right hands. I can't decide yet which one it's going to be. Although, she does better with the fork in her left hand.

* Her height and weight are still the same but that little tummy pudge is back. Wearing size 3 diapers...leftover size 2 swimmers and size 5 shoes are fitting good now. Clothes are still a mixture of 18-24 months.

Love, Love, Love this sweet girl !!

You can see last month's chair photo here.

Va~cay

I'm excitedly on vacation starting TODAY at 5:00!

Friday we are hitting the road to Mississippi for a little family time and the Clark Reunion.

T's already telling me that my accent is starting to show just talking about the trip. (He's traveling for work this weekend but will meet up with us later on next week.)

I cannot wait for a little relaxing, swimming, visiting, and doing-a-whole-lotta-nothing.

I have some blog posts scheduled...look for the chair post on Saturday.

Photo Booth Woes

It's always a little disappointing to excitedly jump into a photo booth...

....only to find out that it's broken.

Peanut Butter Love

This is one of my favorite snacks and Ladybug definitely shares the love.

Take a few crackers, any kind (we prefer the tiny nilla wafers) dollop each with a little peanut butter and top with a marshmallow.

Place in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds...Viola!

Great little snack, you really must try it.

Enjoy the day,
Deana

p.s. 3 more days until my vacation starts!

Happy Father's Day

I had to work yesterday, but only because I'm off for vacation in just 4 days. T got to spend the whole day with Buggy but we went out for dinner at Palio's last night. It was delicious, we are definitely going back!

Thank you T for being a great Dad. Love you bunches!

p.s. pictures taken with my cell phone

I'm Smash'in~

I was introduced to Smash when my June Studio Calico kit was about to be shipped. I purchased the red Smash folio with my kit just to take a peak and see what all the fuss was about.

When it arrived, I realized the quality was tremendous. It really was neat and cool and amazing...just like everyone said.

It was also going to be my summer scrappy for all the little things that were stacking up, waiting for a home. So, I turned my red Smash folio into "Little Bits of Summer."



If you're not a real scrapbooker, this book is perfect for you! In fact after receiving mine, I've ordered one for each of my two best friends as little happies. I want to share my new found love. Oh, and I also ordered all the accessories! Fun, fun - hurry up backorder. I know they will enjoy the Smash as much as I do!

Here's my first pages from our trip to the zoo. A perfect little place for those little things and my photo strips. We never walk past a photo booth without jumping in! I challenge you to do the same!



Enjoy the day,
Deana

I can't heeeear you~

I haven't been a very good blogger lately and mostly because I just haven't felt very good. Back in February I went to see my doctor about my right ear being "stopped up." He peeked in and boldly stated that I had a very nasty ear infection and gave me an antibiotic, nosespray, and a couple of shots then sent me on my way. Well, every day I kept thinking it was going to clear up but it never did. Some days my ear would ring, some days it would throb, and every day I kept saying I just don't feel good.

In March I started having vertigo spells...these crazy dizzy spells where I couldn't walk straight and keep my eyes focused while the room was spinning. I know everyone thought I was crazy. One day in April when i was trying to get ready for work, a vertigo spell hit me and I went to lay down for a few minutes. When I got back up I immediately threw up...laid down again and when I tried to get up the same thing happened again. That was the last straw, I knew I had to figure out what was going on with me and Coco took me to the emergency room.

The doctor in the ER told me to keep taking my allergy meds and gave me another shot. I told him I don't care about not being able to hear, just make me not be dizzy! Again, a week-2 weeks pass and no relief. The hearing loss in that ear is huge and the continuous ringing or ocean sounds, depending on the day, was really becoming annoying. (T is still tired of hearing me say, "I don't feel good.")

I go back to my doctor, he doesn't have a clue...thinks it's fluid and sends me to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. Sounds easy enough...but they are all booked for a month out. I was so happy to finally go see a real doctor this week.

The good news is when I told him my story, he pretty much knew right away what was wrong with me. Meniere's Disease. The bad news is there is no cure, just a suck-it-up and deal-with-it. He told me to cut back my sodium intake to less than 2000 mg a day but I've been shooting for less than 1000 mg and only my caffeine in the morning, water the rest of the day. After doing that for 4 days I am already feeling better. I don't feel like I'm in a daze or spinning out of control, but my ear still has hearing loss and an ocean sound. Guess that is better than the ringing or throbbing though. Oh, and no signs of dizziness the last couple of days at all and much more energy.

I'm going to the Audiologist next week and then back to the specialist after that. Hopefully, everything comes back that it is Meniere's and not something horrible like a tumor. I suppose there's always that chance.

I've reflected on my ears over the past few years and there were weeks here and there when my ear was "stopped up." I assumed it was because of me overusing q-tips and after I stopped a week or so later, it would clear up and I could hear again. Now I know that it wasn't those silly q-tips, but the onset of this disease. I hate that word.

About those ear candles that you can buy at the health food stores for a homeopathic remedy. They are completely ineffective. I asked the doctor....and yes I did try it. They are dangerous too!



But I was desperate.....

Sidewalk Chalk

We played for a short while outside today and it was pretty hot. Earlier, Buggy didn't want to sit at the table and color for very long, but I think she would have colored outside with the chalk all day.

Sliding

Capture a fleeting moment...

Often, T can be seen chasing Buggy all around.

Oh and she loves it too.

He can just pretend he's going in for a chase and she'll squeal and take off in a little scamper.

Yellow Box

I'm passing on my love for Yellow Box flippers to Buggy!

Mailtime

We sang Blue's mailtime song when I gave Buggy her package from Nanny and G-dad today. She opened it and squealed Ni Hao when she saw Kai-lan on her new panties!





She then proceeded to put on 3 pair of panties over her shorts! So cute!

Thanks Nanny,
Deana

Success!

She finally did it!

And I'm pretty sure I was more excited about that tee tee in the potty than she was!

She's also been noticing who else goes into the bathroom and saying, "Daddy tee tee."

Perhaps we're going to get there. I'm so happy!