"iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, teeeeew!"

NOTE: When you watch this: Make sure you click on "Full Screen" down on the bottom left when it starts and click the arrow in the circle-gear-thing to turn the pages(it takes a minute, so only click once per page)...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We all had a great day! Olivia had spent the night out at Kira's, so Luke had every one's attention all morning! We got ready and took him to see Wall-E, only because he completely flips out every time the commercial comes on! He did really well for the first half, and then all of the Coke and M&M's he had been snacking on kicked in and all he wanted to do was run up and down the steps inside the theater! So we packed it up and headed for home. He, of course, slept 20 minutes in the car and was sufficiently revived enough to spend the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to do a somersault and getting put in time-out for throwing cars at everyone. We had him open his gifts before dinner and he LOVE LOVES the Bob the Builder remote controlled Scoop! You can see in one picture he is getting so made at Jas for taking so long to get it out of the box! (The damn thing was SCREWED in- that's a new one! Just when we had gotten used to the wire-ties...Oh, well!) We had dinner and busted out his cake (Please note: I know I am known for being quite the cake-diva, but I am so big and so tired, I had a melt down yesterday at the thought of having to make and decorate a cake for him, that I, gasp!, went and bought one at Safeway and stuck toys on the top! I know, I know- I am not beating myself up over it too much considering no one but us saw it and he's too little to know any different) Well! Then it was time for baths, PJs and our now Dance Party ritual. He and Olivia will dance in front of the TV for hours! Its hilarious, because he copies everything she does!! I'll try to get it on tape so you can see! He went off to bed with O and Granna, and that was that! I fun-filled day for a crazy little boy!

Adios, Anthem!

Guess who just got a phone call from our realtor saying that the Anthem house has been re-leased???? ME! Yea! We have til August first to re-pack the house back up, but I'm sure we'll have it all done by the 24th (aka Morgan Day!) If anyone wants to come by and help us pack, you are more than welcome! HA! Now I have a whole new list of things to do: withdraw O from her old school, re-enroll her out here in Cave Creek, find Bubs a preschool, etc... but do I care? Nope! Just excited to be able to help Martha here and be on our way home soon!

Sweet Olivia Moment: O overheard me on the phone to mom talking about what we could do with Gary's ashes until a decision on how to get him out to Pebble Beach has been made. When I hung up the phone, she asked me what I was talking about, and I explained in 6-year-old terms that it creeped G-Daddy out to think about being under the ground, so he wanted to be ashes, like in the fire place. I told her it made Granna sad to have those ashes in the house though, and we are trying to get them out to the golf course as soon as possible. She was quiet for a minute and then said, " I have a great idea! You should just put him in his golf bag so that he'll be all ready to play in heaven when he gets to Pebble Beach! I'm sure he'll want to use his own clubs!"
Precious!

The Agony and The Extacy

So! Olivia woke up yesterday morning and asked me if she could get her ears pierced- totally out of the blue! I told her it was fine with me, but she had to ask Jason too. I hear her in our room saying, "Daddy, I need to talk to you about something serious." HA! Well, he came out laughing, and said it was fine with him too. So, we ran errands all morning and then we had Claire's as our last stop. She was skipping and so excited.. until they had her sit in the chair. She got so still and quiet, I got nervous, and poor Granna had to walk away. The lady that did the piercing needed to brush up on her warm-fussiness, but she did an excellent job. I was SO SURE that after the first one was in that O would change her mind- but she didn't even flinch! BUT when the lady was done with both ears Olivia just sat here- frozen. I asked her if she was okay and she just made this face:

And then I asked if she was happy she had gotten them pierced she made this face:

So I was totally confused! We went and got frappicinos right away, which makes everything better- she finally admitted that her ears were really hurting, but by the time we got home she had perked up and literally wanted to clean her ears every 5 minutes! The weird Jas/ Olivia connection: When we got home I saw that he had texted me asking if she had really got them done at the EXACT time she was having them pierced! CRAZY! When he got home and saw her, he turned to me and said, " I wouldn't have said yes if I thought she'd really go through with it." HA! I think she looks cute (but big!)

Some are Silver...

So! In the past 24 hours, I have gotten to see old friends, new(er) friends and really missed my fierce-est friend!!!

We were able to meet up with Rachel at their house yesterday for a little swim party! It was SO great to see her, Kira, Karston, and even Kirk was there! I couldn't believe how BIG the kids had gotten- to think I really learned how to be a mommy to a newborn by taking care of Kira, and there she was doing crazy back-flips off the diving board! Karston was still the sweet guy we always ways, now only big and almost 7 and he even played with Bubs for awhile- so nice! Olivia and Kira totally hit it off, and O is having a sleepover at their house this upcoming Friday! Exciting!! So glad to have them back in our lives- Rachel is the fabulous mommy who always know cool stuff to do!

This morning was ABSOLUTELY fabulous, as we met Heather and Troy for breakfast as they were on their way through to Hawaii! I have missed her like crazy and couldn't have been more excited to see them and catch up, even if it was only for an hour or so! Heather brought Bubs a sock monkey doll (originally for MJ's nursery, until I switched the theme on her- sorry!), that he now LOVES and made dance all the way home from the restaurant! He calls it, "Oo Ah"... I was totally nostalgic this morning, talking and texting Lysh while she was at our semi-annual girls only OUAC dollar sale, all by herself! That is totally one of those silly things we both look forward to: who doesn't love a day of no kids and shopping??? Hopefully, we'll be back in TX in time for the winter sale, and we can steal all the bargains together! "Dollar Divas Unite!" I loved the message where she says, "Well, I could only find, like, 45 things for Olivia, 20 things for Luke..." LOVE IT!

That's What You Get!

Duh, duh, dummmmm...We took Mr. Mo to the vet yesterday for his snip snip, and I have never been more nervous in my life! We even thought about sitting in the waiting room all day, but thought that might be a LITTLE much... Anyway- he's home, he's fine and is HIGH as a kite!!! BUT! On Monday we were all swimming (because its the only way not to melt when its 113 degrees outside) and Olivia and Luke were being their little fishy-selves, jumping in the pool, splashing... So Olivia gets out and gets ready to jump and who decides to jump in with her??? MO! HOLY MOLY! He just jumped right in! Now, we have put him in the pool before, but Jas has always held him, and guided him towards the steps when he had had enough- but this time he had jumped in the middle of the pool and PANICKED!!! So sweet Olivia swam over and tried to push him up over the wall where he was frantically trying to get out. She grabbed him and he really freaked and the next thing I know she is screaming, the dog is yelping and I had to get off my float (damnit!) Everyone came out running to see what had happened and we look down and Mo just about took her sweet little leg off- totally scraped up! It was awful- but honestly, nothing that an icepack and a Popsicle couldn't fix! The next day, she woke up and it looked like we had beaten her!!! And to make things worse, I had to take her to the doctor that day and didn't realize she was wearing short little shorts til we got there- I am sure Dr. DeLucca made a note to call CPS in her file- Great!

ON A GREAT HAPPY NOTE: They are putting the house we are leasing back on the market this weekend! The homeowners approved, and so we are going to start packing our stuff back up, and officially moving into Martha's to then help her pack up and then work on selling her house once Morgan has arrived, and I am back on my feet. We are hoping to be home by fall! Say a prayer for us that: a) our house leases quickly b) Morgan arrives safe and sound in July and c) Martha's house sells lickity-split!

The Birds and The Mo's

OH LORD! So anyone that has been to our home since say, February, has seen or heard about Romo's raccoon girlfriend...Well, it has been getting him a bit of trouble lately, considering he can't seem to control himself around her. We have been in talks since we got here about finding a vet ASAP to have him fixed- mostly because we didn't want Olivia to ask us what in the world he was doing! WELL! AHHHHHHHHHHH! Today we were are Martha's house and she has this HUGE stuffed animal dog- we're talking like 6 feet long- Mo goes crazy over this thing, and we usually put it in a guest room. We forgot today, and didn't think anything of it, until Olivia comes running in the office where we all were and says, "There is something reall wrong with Mo! He was doing this (and she proceeds to demonstrate by shaking her tush and do some spastic pelvic thrusts- AH! UGH! NO!) and then his peepee turned all red! He won't move!!!" So she's freaking out, we are crying laughing and freaking out, and poor Mo is just freaked out period. This was not how I invisioned my precious little O learning about the B & Bs. But of course, she knew she had gotten a rise out of all of us, so she kept asking question after question! IT WAS HORRIBLE! All I could come up with was "That's what happens to dogs when they are in love." How sad is that? He has an appointment Tuesday at 7:30 am.

"Alrighty"

I thought I should try to post this before Gary's memorial, because I'm not sure what state I will be in by the time this day is all over. For those of you who haven't heard, Gary lost is short, but courageous, battle with ALS early Friday morning. We have been by Martha's side ever since, and Jon, Jen and Bryant came in to stay with her late Friday night. We have all taken a little comfort in the fact that we were all able to see and spend time with him last Thursday- I came and visited for awhile when I dropped the kids off to stay with them for the afternoon. Jason came later that evening to pick them up and stayed and had dinner. I know that he spent his last day doing what he love: being around his family. We all noticed, looking back, that he had gotten up and hugged and kissed everyone of us before we left- usually something we did to him since he had a hard time moving around. He also woke Martha up in the middle of the night and told her, as best he could, that he loved her. I know in my heart he had tried his best to hang in there, but he was just ready to go.

He was one of the sweetest, kindest, most vibrant person I have ever met. He welcomed me into the Yarbrough family with open arms, when he could have been upset and judgemental- but those are two things I have never seen him be. He always called me "Miss Anne" and there are so many little moments that he and I shated that I will cherish forever. He was an incredible grandfather to Olivia, his "tooter girl", and I am completely heartbroken that Luke and Bryant won't have the chance to know him. If I can raise Luke to have even half of the honorable qualities that Gary possessed, I will know I have raised a good man.

We would love everyone's prayers and thoughts, especially out to Martha, and any other family out there that has had to deal with this nightmare of a disease.

Surprising Myself...

I have spent the last two days in total right-brain-zone-out mode, which has been nice. I stayed up til 1 am last night, and then Jas had off today, so he took the kids out all day so I could focus and I've finished sewing the nursery basics: bumpers, crib skirt, window treatment and changing pad cover (which has a total last minute thing). I must say, I have completely impressed myself. Maybe it was the new sewing machine, or maybe God wanted me to have a good day: but everything came together without a hitch, and I even figured out how to make the pad cover without a pattern. All of this was cut out and cleaned up with a pair of child-sized school scissors by the way, and yes, my hand hurts like hell. BUT I'M SO HAPPY!!! Baby-land is coming together... I need a crib sheet obvisously, and a few more odds and ends, but slowly but surely, its almost finished.

I have found a new doctor, who I will be seeing next Wednesday- hope she's nice. I have heard nothing but awesome things about the hospital where I am delivering, so that has put my mind at ease too... I'll keep everyone posted on MJ's new birthday.

Funny Note- Overheard Yesterday Morning:
Jas (In a very serious voice): "Olivia, seriously, you can't listen to Hannah Montana anymore, the girl can't even spell "go"! "
(They were playing in Olivia's room and listening to Hannah Montana's song "Girls Night Out", where the lyrics are "Lets go- It's G.N.O!"- She's not spelling "go" she's saying the initials for "Girls Night Out"!...I was peeing my pants laughing at him! Especially when he came out here and told me all about it!

War Path

Guess who's doctor no longer accepts the insurance she's spent ALL month signing up and jumping through hoops for???? Guess who basically got kicked out of the doctor's office today??? (I'm surpried they didn't hand me my pee sample on the way out the door!) Guess who's hormones are so THROUGH THE ROOF, that they almost had a complete and total melt-down at the front desk when the secertary treated them like a second-rate citizen all of a sudden??? Guess who now has to not only find a new doctor, but a new hospital and a new day to have the poor kid at 33 weeks along??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!? TOTAL. COMPLETE. NIGHTMARE. Then I have to deal with some complete JACK-ASS customer service rep for the insurance who has the BALLS to say to me "Well, obviously, you have no idea what you're doing!" Don't think I let that slide after the morning I had had. I ripped his head, and the head of his supervisor- off. O-F-F. And then to top it off, I have someone renting my home who I feel we have catered too as much as we can, who has the nerve to request that that the windows be cleaned by the company that is coming to RE-CLEAN the f***in' house at an additional $70 some-odd dollars?????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! I've had it. I'm done being nice. DONE.

The Latest...

We have spent the past two days at the Yarbroughs swimming- it has been toasty-oasty out here, and the water has finally really warmed up! SO FUN! You would all TOTALLY die if you saw the fearless Mr. Bubs and his floaties in action. He gets irate if you try and hold on to him! It took him a total of 5 minutes to figure out how to a)hold his head way up above the water to keep from getting water in his mouth, b) how to flip around from a sitting position to a floating one and c) how to kick to make himself go where he wants to go! ITS UNBELIEVABLE! Now if only he could share some of that go-getter spirit with O... She's trying to get reacquainted with the water, shall we say...

Good News: Gary has been set up with 2 hospice nurses through a great agency out here. Jason met the women who runs it and was very impressed, so I am relieved! They will be coming to help Martha with everyday things and meds, and also coming to stay with him while she gets out of the house- That's the only part I'm nervous about. He had an episode last week where he kept handing Martha the phone and telling her to "Call Anne"- he couldn't remember who she was and got scared and wanted someone he knew. But, oh! It will be so great for her spirit, though, to get out and about again! It was truly priceless today: The kids put on a dance show for Gary, with props and everything and he LOVED it! We has actually cracking up!! Wish I has taken pics!

I'm off to the docs tomorrow. I passed my glucose screening test, and things are going fine on my end. Just getting bigger, and BIGger, and BIGGER! Olivia has busted out the baby dolls- which she hasn't played with in a long time- I think the baby mood in the house is building! We asked Luke to kiss the baby doll and he did that thing where to touched his forehead to the doll's face. Then we said, "No, with your mouth, Silly!" and he licked her. Nice.