Things overheard at the Payne house

Nate:
My feet are soooo hungry. They're ready for a snack!

My daddy is a giant.

(After tasting his green grapes) Hmmm. These taste like grass and my potty.
(Note: He has never tasted his potty, that I know of. It just happens to be green like grapes and grass.)

My wheels are tired.

That train is in my heart. And that train is in my heart. And that train is in my heart too.

(Flipping through a parenting magazine over and over until he finds an ad with a little boy in it.)

"There you are! I was looking for you everywhere in this!"

Georgia:
Puts pair of pants on her head and LAUGHS and laughs and laughs. Then takes them off. Then puts them back on her head and LAUGHS and laughs and laughs.

Kittens:
We wake up in the middle of the night to THUMP! KATHUMP! THUMP! The kittens take run and go's and hurl themselves up agains our bedroom door over and over again, until they bust it open.

Mama and Nate:

Mama: Nate, guess what! Memaw and GrandBob are coming on Thursday to stay with you and Georgia for a couple days while mama and daddy go to Las Vegas!
 
Nate: Begas? But I will miss you!
 
Mama: I'll miss you too, but you're going to have so much fun playing with Memaw and GrandBob.
 
Nate: But they don't live here.
 
Mama: They'll live here for a couple of days while we're gone. I bet Memaw will teach you new songs and play games ...
 
Nate: And maybe she'll play trains with me? (big smile)
 
Mama: Absolutely.
 
Nate: Is it Thursday yet?
 
*********
Okay, we're leaving in the morning for our trip to Las Vegas!!!! The company that Blake works for offers a Vegas trip as an incentive every year. Last year Blake went by himself and I stayed home because Georgia was only 3 weeks old. This year, we're leaving the kids at home! We've only spent the night away from Nate twice in his whole life, and both times were this year. I spent one night away from Georgia back in August, but Blake was here with the kids. So three days and two nights with both of us away ... I'm a little nervous! Nate will miss us, but he'll be fine. Georgia on the other hand ... I'm not so sure! I just hope she sleeps for Janie. She will probably surprise us all.
 
Even though I'm nervous about leaving the kids, I'm also really excited! I've never been to Las Vegas, and Blake and I haven't been on a trip by ourselves since our honeymoon 7 years ago! It's about time!

My Spina Bifida Awareness Month Post

For the last week, I've been thinking I need to write something about October being Spina Bifida Awareness Month, but I've just been mulling this around in my head. I'm always asking myself and others "What's the point?" What is the goal of this SBAK class we're doing? What do we want to accomplish with this mailing? What outcomes do we want to see from this event? And that's what I've been struggling with:

What's the point of Spina Bifida Awareness month?

I've never completely understood awareness ribbons. Breast cancer awareness--Who is NOT aware that breast cancer exists now? What's the real purpose? To me, it seems the purpose is to make us women aware that we need to do self breast exams and get checked out by our docs from time to time. Okay, that's a worthy goal, but is that the clear message we hear this month? And Autism ... well, the awareness campaigns have been pretty successful, I guess. Every time I see one of those puzzle clings on someone's car, I see another person affected. But again, what is the point of this awareness?

Every now and then I see a Spina Bifida Awareness ribbon or car cling, and I've actually never been a fan. To me, that just says, "Hey! Look at me! My kid has Spina Bifida!" So? Is that what I want everyone who passes my car to know about me and my kid? How does that help anything? (To be fair, probably the only reason I don't have one of those ribbons on my car is because they're not easy to find. I wouldn't go online looking for one to order, but if someone was selling them in front of me, I'm sure I'd buy one.) I have bought a bracelet that says "Spina Bifida Awareness--Hope." And I've just bought some awesome T-shirts that say "Redefining Spina Bifida." Those are clearer messages to me. (Okay, it's totally becoming apparent that I was a communications major.)

So tonight I finally sorted it out in my head. For me, there are two great things that can come from Spina Bifida Awareness Month. For others there might be other goals, such as advocacy for their children. But these are the two that stand out to me:

1. To make all women of childbearing age *aware* that they need to be taking their vitamins BEFORE getting pregnant. And since about half of all pregnancies are unplanned (60% in Kentucky, fyi), that means all of us should be taking a multivitamin or prenatal to help prevent birth defects by up to 70%. (Preaching to myself here too.)

Some people say they eat a healthy diet, so that's good enough. Uh-uh. Did you know you'd have to eat 14 cups of broccoli, or drink 8 cups of orange juice, or eat 200 medium red apples EVERY DAY to get enough folic acid? Honey, just take the pill and get it over with.

I'm going to be honest, I know this is an important goal simply because most people really are unaware, but this has never been my fire. I do work health fairs and explain all this to women, but it's sort of beside the point for me. And I know it's because I was taking 1mg of folic acid 4 months prior to getting pregnant, and it still happened. I also know it happened for a reason.

2. The other goal I see as important for SB Awareness Month is to let women know that if they find out their unborn baby has Spina Bifida, there is no reason to terminate that pregnancy. This is my fire.

I totally understand that overwhelming fear, because I was there too. I also wished the "problem" would just go away. I also got bad news ... The most severe form of Spina Bifida. L2--higher than average. Arnold Chiari Malformation and hydrocephalus. It was terrifying.

I chose to trust God. I knew He doesn't make mistakes, and if He gave this child to me, He was going to help me raise him. And I don't want to sound like a crazy person, but He told me so. I heard Him. Not audibly, but very clearly.

And this is what I got:

A handsome! ...

 silly ...

train-loving ... 

outgoing ... 

stubborn ...

Did I mention train-loving? He really, really loves trains ...

brave ... 

HAPPY! ...

running! ...

fun-loving ...

 

Daddy's boy ... 

totally adored ... 

musically gifted (That's right, I said it! He's gifted!) ... 

hard-working ...

Superman!

Does that look like a boy who has a poor quality of life to you? Does he look sad, or sick, or disabled?

Some might say, "Well, sure, but he's an exception." No, not really. It's true--Nate does not have a whole lot of medical issues. I know some kids who have fewer issues than Nate, and some who have more. But you know what? I think all of us think our kid is the exception. We all consider our kids miracles, and they ARE because we gave them the chance to be. Not because we're any braver or stronger or more patient or better parents than anyone else, but only by the grace of God.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

On Saturday, Mindy and I headed out to Huber Farm to do a little pumpkin picking with the kids. It was a beautiful sunny day--warm in the sun but a little chilly in the shade. The perfect fall day.

We started out with a little shopping.

I got two little ornamental pumpkins for the kids and two pie pumpkins for me and Blake. Later, I drew faces on each of them to represent our family. Georgia's has a pacifier, Blake's has a goatee and glasses, and mine and Nate's have freckles. :) 

Anyway, we ate and wandered around for awhile.

By this time it was getting pretty cool, and I had to find a jacket of Nate's in the truck for Georgia to wear.

Then we took a ride out to the pumpkin patch. This was Nate and Georgia's favorite part of the whole day. Georgia clapped all the way out.

Once we got out there, the kids raced around while we looked for the perfect pumpkin for carving.

By the way, this looks just like a picture of Nate from two years ago, but I can't find it right now to compare the two.

Then it started raining. Bummer. We headed back in and listened to some music for awhile under a tree.

Here are a couple of really funny videos of Nate and Georgia dancing.

But pretty soon Georgia was shivering, so we left. On the way home, the road was so wet I actually lost control of the truck! Everyone was okay, but I was shaken up. Nate laughed.

So we have our pumpkins and our apple pie and our pictures. I guess that will do until we try it again next year!

And back to the good news--clinic!

Yesterday was Nate's big clinic day. We only go to clinic once or twice a year, and we were especially interested in one particular test he was having, so it was going to be a big day. Sunday night I was rushing around getting everything ready for our trip to Nashville the next day, and I went to bed at midnight and fell asleep like a rock.

Then Georgia woke up screaming at 12:15. I settled her down, but everytime I left the room, the floor would barely crack and she'd start screaming again. Finally I crawled out of the room. 10 minutes later she woke up again. And this happened over and over for the next hour. I knew I had to get up at 6 to start getting ready for Nashville. I was starting to panic.

I took her to Blake to let him try to get her to sleep, but she did not want Daddy. She would climb up me, stiffen out, and just writhe around miserable. We decided she had an ear infection, which we had suspected for a few days. At 2 am, I put her in the car to take a drive, but she still wasn't going to sleep. I knew I wouldn't have time to take her to the pediatrician in the morning, so I decided to go ahead and take her to an urgent care place. Except I didn't know where one was, so I just drove around looking for one. I asked the GPS, and it took me on a wild goose chase for something that didn't exist. Then I found myself 3 minutes from Kosair Children's Hospital and even though I felt silly taking her to the ER for an ear infection, I was just that desperate.

Of course when I took her inside she was asleep! Ugh. Until they took her temperature rectally, and that woke her up. A couple doctors later, I found out that her ears were absolutely fine. No ear infection. Seriously? The doctor said what I was describing--sometimes inconsolable, stiffening out, screaming--sounded like a condition some babies her age develop where something (intestines?) restricts like a microscope? I was so tired I did not understand half of what she said, but she wanted an x-ray of Georgia's belly. I held her down while she screamed. The x-ray was clean.

So, they determined, she must just be teething. What? You mean I brought my baby to the ER for teething? Wow, I'll never live this down. But even worse, she was still screaming.

I got home at 5:15 am and laid down for 30 minutes before getting in the shower. Awesome. We stopped by the brace place to pick up Nate's new braces, then I had to stop by the hospital to have blood taken, and Alisa met us at Subway for breakfast. Blake had a test at work and couldn't go, so I was soooo glad Alisa went with me. Usually when Blake is driving, I'm the one climbing halfway into the backseat to find a dropped paci or fix Nate's movie or stop someone from hitting, but this time, that was Alisa's job. :)

We got to the hospital in time to eat at the children's hospital food court and spend a blissful 15 minutes with the trains. On the first floor they have a great train layout with buttons to push to make the trains go. This was the highlight of Nate's day, and he'll be asking to go back to the hospital for weeks just for that reason.

First up was the urodynamics. A couple months ago I called the urology nurse to talk about potty training, and I asked them to do this test to look at Nate's bladder function to see if there is any reason we should not try to potty train Nate. Since then, he has become continent with his bowels--yay! Even though he pees on the potty a lot, we haven't been pushing him to stay dry until this test to see if it was even possible. He's always had pretty good results with the test, so that's what we expected today. They inserted a catheter and some probes and slowly filled his bladder with liquid, including dye, so they could watch on a screen what his bladder looked like as it filled. With SB, some of the problems can be fluid backing up into the kidneys (reflux), high pressure bladder (which usually results in reflux), or loose muscles that cause leaking. I'm happy to report that Nate has none of that! His bladder looks great as it's filling. What's funny is, as he laid there on the table for this test, he was watching a train movie, and he fell asleep. Catheter and all. And this happens every time he has this test! Why doesn't he nap at home? Anyway, the only issue was that they fill him up a little past the normal capacity for his age (6 oz, fyi), but he doesn't automatically empty. However, it was very promising that when he reached that level of normal capacity, he started rousing from his nap and was obviously uncomfortable. That means he can to some extent feel when his bladder is full! They wanted to make sure he emptied all the way to see if he ever leaves any residual urine in the bladder (can cause infections) so they said they'd put a diaper on him and would weigh the diaper and cath him later to see what was left. I suggested instead to sit him on a potty with one of those measuring hats in it to see how much he peed himself, but I guess they're not used to kids peeing in a potty and don't have the tools for that? So she put the diaper on him ... and within an hour he peed so much his pants were soaked. Which is sad, but also happy! He peed! Anyway, the doctor was pleased with the urodynamics, and we decided to continue with potty training and to see where he is in 6 months at his next appointment. The doctor thinks he may need a schedule of sitting on the potty every 2-3 hours (which seems like too long to me) to help him stay dry in case he doesn't always know when he needs to. I think the nurse is very skeptical, but I think Nate is going to prove her wrong in 6 months. :) Very happy about this test.

Dr. Tulipan, the neurosurgeon, was happy that Nate isn't having any problems. I bragged on how smart he is and that he's running and jumping! Dr. Mencio is the orthopedic specialist, and as usual he asked, "Any problems? No? Okay, see you next year." I insisted he look at Nate's new braces since I had gone to all the trouble of picking him up that morning for him to see. I told him Nate's right foot turns out some, and he perked up and started looking for tibial torsion. He seemed almost disappointed to see straight legs. Those surgeons just want to operate.

We finally made it home by 9 pm, and I put Blake on Georgia duty so I could sleep. And I slept HARD. Speaking of that, it's time for me to go to bed and try to continue catching up on sleep.

By the way, thank you, everyone, for the very supportive words in response to my last post. It was good for me to write about it, and it also helps to read your kind comments. I'm feeling better every day. And very thankful for Nate's health, and Georgia's health, no matter how cranky she is.

Sharing the not-so-happy news too

I didn't really have any intention of posting what I'm going through right now. Obviously I have a blog and share a lot about my family, but it's almost exclusively the happy news, smiling pictures, funny kid quotes, and cute stories. I'm not one of those people who posts on Facebook everytime I have an argument with my husband or my checking account is running low. Some things are just nobody's business. But today I read my fellow-SB-mommy-blogger's post titled "I'm a Monet" about her life looking picture perfect from a distance, but it gets messy when you look closely. Her honesty made me think. When people ask me how I'm doing, I say fine. But right now, I'm not really fine. And there's no real reason to keep that a secret when I can allow other people to pray for me and help me through this.

A couple weeks ago, on a Thursday, I woke up and rolled over in bed and felt a sharp pull that I immediately recognized as round ligament pain. After having two children, I know what round ligament pain feels like, and I know you feel it when you're pregnant. That evening on the way home from work, I stopped to get a home pregnancy test and took it as soon as I got home. When I saw a very clear "Yes" ... my mouth dropped open. *Shock* We were not trying to get pregnant. At all.

I was FREAKING OUT. Three children. Two under two. Georgia is still just a baby ... still nursing. I can barely keep up with the two I have and am still getting used to my full time job. We got rid of all of our maternity and baby stuff. But what really, really terrified me was that I had not been taking my vitamins. What a hipocrite I am. I stand in front of people at health fairs and tell them to take their vitamins every day to help prevent birth defects, and I'm not taking them myself. With a family history of SB, if there's even a chance I could get pregnant, I should be on a megadose of folic acid. SB happens by the 28th day, and I surely was beyond that point. It was too late. I knew that if this baby had SB, I would never, ever forgive myself because I knew the information and I was just too irresponsible to follow it.

I called Blake--who was happy and excited--and loaded the kids in the truck to go buy folic acid. I took 4 pills as soon as I got home and realized my mouth had been hanging open in shock for the past two hours.

Over the next few days, I decided there was nothing I could do about the vitamins I didn't take. It was all in God's hands, and worrying wouldn't help anything. I allowed myself to get excited. We started talking about names, whether we wanted a boy or girl, where the baby would sleep, we'd need to buy a minivan. We had always talked about whether we'd have a third child, and I guess this made the decision for us! Little things ... I realized I'd need to buy another name charm for my mother necklace. This time we'd save money by buying used baby gear. I thought, I will never sleep again! I cut back on caffeine. And at least 100 times a day, I thought, "I can't believe I'm pregnant." I really could not believe it.

Last Wednesday was the first available appointment at the OB. I just shook my head as I entered that office again, only a year after my 6 week follow up after having Georgia. I received congratulations and reassurance about not taking the vitamins. I had no idea how far along I might be, so they sent me for an ultrasound to date the pregnancy.

Oh, the ultrasound room. It's always been a source of joy and fear for me. My first ever ultrasound was when we learned Nate had SB, and that was not a good day, to say the least. We had a couple more "bad news" ultrasounds during that pregnancy. Then in summer 08, after trying for 6 months to get pregnant, I was alone (well, Nate was there with me) during the ultrasound when I learned the pregnancy was a blighted ovum and I would miscarry. During Georgia's pregnancy, we got only good news during ultrasounds, but those anxieties do not go away.

So last Wednesday, alone in the ultrasound room, my heart sank when the tech said, "Hmmm." She didn't see anything. Nothing at all. This could mean two things: I was less than 4 weeks along and it was just too small to see yet, or it was an ectopic pregnancy (stuck in the fallopian tubes). In the latter case, they'd have to go in and get it, because it's not viable, and it's dangerous for the mom. She said they would look at my hormone levels and call me the next day. If the number was high, it was an ectopic pregnancy. If the number was low, it was probably just too early to see anything on ultrasound. I went home and tried to stay positive. In my gut, I really did not think it was an ectopic pregnancy.

The next day they called and said the number was low, so I was probably just very early in the pregnancy. But something did not feel right. That would mean I got a positive home pregnancy test at least 7 days before my LMP. That seemed very unlikely. I didn't have a good feeling about it at that point, but I waited. The next morning I had to go in for more blood work, and they were to call me that afternoon with the results. If the number had doubled since two days before, everything was fine. If the number went down, that was not good news for the pregnancy.

But that afternoon, before I received the call that the number did go down, I started to miscarry.

My first reaction, inexplicably, was anger. Maybe it was because I was at work and was very, very busy because our Stroll & Roll was the next day, and I knew I didn't even have the luxury of going home to my bed, pulling the covers over my head, and grieving. Or maybe it was because after all the shock and then acceptance of the past 8 days ... it was now just over. It made no sense to me. I went out to the privacy of my car to call Blake and my mom, and then I just had to pull myself together and get back to work. The next day, I worked hard and put a smile on my face, and very few people knew what I was going through.

This was not the right time for another baby, I know that. It could have easily been too much for me with Georgia still being so little and being so new at my job. But for eight days, I caught a glimpse of this path my life was going down, and on that path I had three children. Then before this new reality even really sunk in, it was just gone. And I suddenly had to readjust to the reality of 8 days ago ... which is wonderful--I was and still am totally in love with and grateful for my little family of four. But now there's this loss of something that never even really existed, I guess, but it felt very real to me.

It's been a week, and I still feel mostly numb. I haven't really sat down and let myself have a good cry about it. I've been busy with work and family and life, and when I'm not busy, I make myself busy with distractions. I read this book recently in which the author says that people are so afraid that their emotions are going to swallow them whole and they won't be able to recover from it, so instead of allowing ourselves to feel those emotions, we turn on the TV for distraction or eat chocolate to numb the pain. When if we'd just look those feelings square in the face and just feel them already, we will not die, and we'll be able to move on. That makes a lot of sense to me, and yet I just don't feel like putting it into practice. I don't want to feel this sadness. I'd rather keep distracting myself.

So that's how I really am. I'm not terribly depressed, and I know I'll be okay. But the truth is I'm a little confused and just really sad and pretty much feeling sorry for myself. Prayers are appreciated.

A collection of random stories

The kids and these kittens are just so cute together I can't stand it. Georgia chases them around growling, "Kitty! Kitty!" (yes, she growls) and they actually stop to let her pet them. One day Nate was laying on the couch on a pillow with a blanket over him, and both kittens jumped up there to cuddle with him. Another day he was sitting in a chair watching a movie, and the kittens were piled on top of each other napping beside him. He started petting Kooka and said, "You're the best kitty in the world." Then noticed Allee Galloo and said, "And so are you."

The kittens are not always so adorable. Kooka (the gray one) is usually pretty calm, but Allee is a troublemaker. A couple nights ago, I was trying to get Georgia to go to sleep. As I was rocking her, Allee wandered in the room and crawled under the crib. Hmm. Well, I can't just leave her in here because she'll disturb Georgia. So I called Blake in there, and we had to move the crib and spent 5 minutes chasing her out. Blake closed the door behind him, but it was pitch dark in there so I opened the door, thinking he took Allee downstairs. Just as Georgia was nodding off, here comes Allee again, right under the crib. So I had to move the crib again, but she wasn't under there. I looked everywhere and finally found her out in the hallway. She must have run out when I wasn't looking. So I put Georgia down and left, and a couple minutes later we heard loud meowing over the baby monitor. Allee!!!! Sneaky kitty.

Georgia is saying so many words these days and really communicating well. On Saturday I had her in her high chair and she started whining. I asked if she was all done and she said, "No." I asked if she wanted more lunch, and she said, "Yes." But after a few minutes she was still whining, and I said, "Georgia, I don't know what you want!" She said, all exasperated, "Nigh nigh!!!" She's figured out she is going to have to talk to get through to me.

One day we ran out of milk, so Alisa tried to sneak some formula into her bottle. She looked at it skeptically but gave it a try, made a face and pushed it away. She kept saying, "Milk!" and "Baba!" thinking surely one of these magic words would get her her milk!

The last couple of times we've gone out to eat with Georgia, we've tried to get her to drink through a straw, but she really wasn't interested. On Sunday, Mindy and I took the kids to Steak and Shake for breakfast (surprisingly good breakfast), and Mindy gave it another try. After practicing for just a minute or so, she got it! It is so amazing to watch a baby learn something new. Drinking through a straw is one of those things we all do and don't even think about, but babies have to learn pretty much everything. I don't know why, but Nate had such a hard time learning to drink through a straw and didn't get it until he was almost 3. And here Georgia picked it up in no time. It's just kind of magical to watch a child learn a lifelong skill (even just drinking through a straw) right before your eyes.

Nate also learned something amazing a couple nights ago. We were reading Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop, and it's a perfect book to start learning how to read. Nate knows all his letter sounds, and he was actually sounding out and reading these words! I'm so proud! We read it again the next night, and he was able to sound out the word "Red" without help.

And lastly, another Nate-ism. As I was giving him a bath, he said, "I don't want to take a bath! I want to go to school stinky!" :) Nice.

Stroll & Roll!

Our Stroll & Roll benefitting SBAK was last Saturday, and Team Nate the Great raised just shy of $1,200!!! That is awesome! Thank you so much to everyone who gave a little and a lot. This money goes toward programs and services for SBAK, and since I plan those programs, you know they're helpful, right? ;)

In addition to raising money, I also of course helped put on the Stroll & Roll. (On a staff of 3, you really can't not be a part of anything!) The event was a lot of work, but we were very pleased with the outcome and everyone seemed to have a great time. I guess we had 250-300 people there--at least that's how many we were expecting, but it looked like a really good crowd. In addition to the walk, we had carnival games, free lunch, face painting, shrek, a magician, train rides, and a basket raffle.

Both Mindy and Lucas came to participate in the walk, which I really appreciated. Blake of course brought the kids, and even though I was working the registration table, I noticed a little crowd forming to watch Nate doing the Cha-Cha Slide with Shrek! It was so cute. He would sliiiiiiide to the left, then sliiiiiiide to the right, then CRISS CROSS!

You can see pictures of it by going to this slide show and looking at numbers 4-8. Then 57-63 is my family starting the walk. Several people now have told me they saw me walking on the news! (I'm glad I didn't see it!) http://kellydavenport.zenfolio.com/sbakstroll/slideshow

Both Georgia and Nate wanted to run for awhile then be carried for awhile. It is not lost on me how amazing it is that Nate is running in the Spina Bifida Awareness walk. We are very thankful.

Some pretty cute pictures and videos

I haven't posted pictures in awhile, so here goes! First is a short video of Nate's latest achievement: Walking down steps without railing or holding a hand! Whoo! We are so excited.

Here's a rare brother-sister photo. Neither can sit still long enough for me to get them in the same frame.

Here's me and Darla, my best buddy from senior year, with our babies! Cash is so cute I could just keep him in my pocket.

A favorite activity of both kids is climbing on daddy. He's their personal, portable jungle gym.

Notice Georgia STANDING on her chair. Typical.

You know she's sleepy when she willingly lays down. But not for long. She was back up and running within seconds.

Okay, this is a fairly steep hill at my parents' house. Nate decided he wanted to run down it. By himself. With no shoes. It took a lot of effort to get up the hill, then stand up, then I just cringed and prayed as he took off running down it.

But he did it! Over and over! I was so proud of him for being brave and trying something he really wanted to do.

Crinkle nosed smile.

Looking at trains at the train museum.

I don't even know what this look was about.

Here's Allee Galloo (formerly known as Baby Allie)

And Kooka (short for Kookaburra, formerly Baby Smoke)

We had a motorcycle run to benefit SBAK yesterday, and the kids came out to see the bikes and show their support. Nate was walking on Daddy's shoes.

Georgia found some beads and was enjoying all the attention running around.

Here's another recent achievement--riding a tricycle ... while playing a kazoo. (The OT says it helps him coordinate his breathing with activity.) Sorry it's sideways, but it's short ... because he ran into something.

Team Nate the Great Update!!!

As I posted a few weeks back, we are participating in the Spina Bifida Association of Kentucky's Stroll & Roll, it's awareness walk and major fundraiser. I set a goal of raising $1,000 for SBAK, and thanks to everyone who donated, we reached our goal!!!!! I'm stoked!

But, I'm also very competitive. :) And another team has surpassed my fundraising by $250. So, if you would still like to donate to this very good cause, we would appreciate the support, and we might just win!

Also, if anyone wants to walk with us, it's going to be Sept. 18, a week from this Saturday. So far Lucas and Mindy are going to walk with me, Blake, and the kids! The more, the merrier! Grandparents are especially welcome. (Wink wink)

I'm back!

My laptop has been in the shop, so I have been unable to blog for more than a week. Blake took the laptop to one of the IT guys at work who has his own business on the side. He opened it up one night but couldn't do anything because half the screen was black. Blake said, "Oh yeah, Colleen says it does that, but all you have to do is poke the screen in this one place and the black part goes away." Oooookay, so he tried again, but this time he still couldn't do anything because the battery would die every few seconds. Blake told him I also had a secret for that--all you have to do is unplug the cord, wait 5 seconds, and plug it back in ... the laptop always has to be plugged in. He just returned it in the same condition he got it. The laptop has died twice while I've written this paragraph. So I think I'll buy a new battery and go from there. It's just so slow I can hardly do anything. It's sad when I can check my email or facebook 100x faster on my phone than on my computer.

Well it has been a very busy couple of weeks. Last week at work was crazy. One day I drove to Murray, Ky, which is a really, really long way from here, for a conference. Then a couple days later I hosted a program at work, then I worked one evening at a trade show. There were 3 out of 4 days there when I barely saw my kids while they were awake. I have vowed to myself that I won't do that anymore. If I have to work one evening, I will take the morning off. If I work way more than my regular 40 hours, I will take a day off. I'm fortunate that my boss is very encouraging of that, but I have learned the lesson the hard way. Last week I was exhausted and just missing my family. I get so excited about my job because it's exactly what I want to be doing and there are so many opportunities to do great things. But I need to pace myself for the sake of my family.

I also almost went blind last week. Well, that's a little dramatic, but it felt that way at the time. I was putting together a cardboard sign at work for a program the next day, and I rammed the corner straight in my eyeball. Didn't even flinch! Aren't you supposed to have natural reflexes that make your eye close? Mine did not. It HURT. I finally got my contact out, and it was ripped. I couldn't open the eye and couldn't drive, so Blake had to come get me. This was Nate's first day of school and I planned on picking him up, so we did that on the way home, with me covering my eye and wishing for a patch the whole time. Lucky for me I have a friend who is an optometrist, and I went to her house, where she saw there was a tear on my eye. She gave me some drops and told me to put another contact in there to act as a bandaid to protect it. She said to go home and lay down in the dark and take the next day off work. Yeah right on both accounts! I wish! :) The next day I went to work wearing sunglasses and wore them all day. It was great hosting a class, inside, at night, wearing sunglasses. If I hadn't explained what happened to everyone I talked to, they probably would have thought I was nursing a hangover. :)

Oh, another stupid thing I did last week. When I went to Murray, I had to get up at 4:30 am and drive there in time for a conference, then drive back that evening. On the way out of town, I stopped to get gas. I will say that I rarely get gas for myself--Blake is so good at keeping it filled for me. But I'll also blame lack of sleep. While it was pumping, I went inside for some caffeine and a snack, came back outside, and drove away ... with the pump still in the tank. Everything was okay! The car was okay, there was no gas spewing everywhere. I was hoping no one saw that smooth move, but two guys came running over to check on things and made sure to tell me how lucky I was. Oops.

Because of working so much last week, I was able to take a super long Labor Day weekend! I took Friday off to pack and we got an early head start to my parents' house. What should have taken 4.5 hours took an agonizing 6 hours--and the last one was sheer screaming by both kids. We were glad to get there. Saturday morning I got to visit with my friend Darla who I haven't seen for years and meet her adorable baby. Then later in the day, the Bowen family descended on my parents' house! My dad's parents, 2 sisters, and his brother and his wife and 2 sons came to visit. We had so much fun! Nate LOVED his cousin Trace ... a little too much. He followed him around like a little puppy. Trace was great with him though. We ate a lot and went shopping and sat around a fire ... good times. Georgia was attached to my hip the entire weekend. She wouldn't go to anyone or even ride in a stroller while we were out! Must be on mama's hip.

Monday before we left, my parents played a round of hide and seek with Nate. He cracks me up! While my dad counted, Nate ran to the other end of the patio and just covered his eyes. Awwwww. My mom hid him behind a chair, and when my dad said, "I wonder where Nate is ...", Nate piped up, "I'm behind the chair!" :) While my mom counted, my dad took Nate up the hill behind some trees, and you could hear Nate giggling uncontrollably the whole way up. Once my mom hid in a big trunk, and she seriously startled him when he lifted the lid and saw her! The last game, my mom counted while Nate just ran around in circles giggling then ran over to a tree and, with his back facing us in full view, put his hands over his face. SO CUTE.

On the way home, we decided to break up the trip this time by stopping at the train museum near Cincinnati. A little boy's idea of heaven is eating pizza and a Thomas cookie while watching trains roll by. Only about the last half hour of the drive was absolutely miserable.

So, we brought home two kittens. My mom's cat had a litter of seven, and she'd given away all but the last two. I figured we'd be talked into bringing one home, but she somehow talked me into bringing home both of them so they wouldn't get lonely. I don't even really like cats! I'm such a sucker. They really are cute though. The intention was for them to be outside cats, but they've spent a lot of time indoors today. They wanted to come in, so I thought I'd let them in for a little visit, and next thing I knew I had lost them upstairs. I spent half the day hunting kittens at one point or another. Georgia LOVES them. A little too hard. Nate named them Baby Allie and Baby Smoke because one looks just like its mama Allie, and the other looks just like my mom's other cat Smoke. We might change the names, but for now it's really cute.

I was so happy I got to take today off to recover from my long weekend! That's the dream! I did laundry and put things away and went grocery shopping and took a nap! Now I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow.