halloween

Tuesday evening Beckham and I went to trunk or treat at church and had a great time! He played tic-tac-toe with limes, tried to catch bubbles, threw toilet paper rolls at a huge smiley face and ate a hot dog and some m&ms. I can't get over how different our Halloween was this year compared to last year. Life is so much fun with him! To see his face light up at everything around him seriously makes my life. He can say pumpkin, it comes out more like "pummpumm" but still. I know what he's saying. I was afraid the weather was going to be bad tonight so I was so glad we got some use out of his adorable Scooby Doo costume- which he actually kept the head piece on for most of the night- But, despite the horrible rain this morning, this evening turned out gorgeous, so we ended up going trick or treating. 

 I realize trick or treating is kind of becoming a thing of the past but I really want to keep the tradition alive with Beckham even if it is just going around to friends and family. It was exhausting to say the least since we had to drive around to each individual house but it was still fun and even without a nap Beckham had a great time.

I love dressing up for just about anything- I don't mind looking ridiculous- It's all for fun! A lot of the teachers at work dress up, so I did as well. I was shocked when I had a lot of kids ask me 'who' I was. Ugh! What? I'm a 50s girl......obviously! Anyways I got a lot of compliments and I think it turned out pretty cute.

At some point during the night Beckham ended up with my glasses on and I ended up with a mustache. Ha!

By the time we made it to our last stop which was Grami's house, Beckham was full on ready to dig into his candy. He settled for some fruit snacks and cheetos and had a hot dog and fun fetti cupcake for supper. I think he had a good time, even without a nap. I know it was fun for me! We worked on saying trick or treat but it came out more like 'chichi' haha! Oh well, maybe next year. I wish Daddy was here to trick or treat with us but hopefully he'll be home to go next year. Either way, he is an amazing Daddy for working so hard for us!

Happy Halloween 2013! It was a good one.

germ in his hip?

I should have written this about a week ago, but I honestly have not had time to do anything lately. Between work, family, applying to grad school, and typical life stuff, blogging has been put on the back burner. But, I wanted to make sure to document this in case anyone else has a similar incident and because I like to at least post about important things so I can look back on them. So, here it goes:

Last Tuesday I took the day off to pick up the hubs from the airport. It was the first day I had taken off and I was excited to get a day off and see my hubby! So, Beckham and I headed to Shreveport to get Daddy that morning. He needed to go by Bass Pro and get some hunting stuff and we ended up buying Beckham some camo stuff too including a pair of boots that are too big for him right now, but will be perfect when it really gets cold around here. When we got home we commenced to having a dress up session in all of Beckham's new stuff. He loves shoes and loved the boots. He was walking pretty good in them so we let him keep them on the remainder of the day. He tripped a little here and there but nothing crazy.

The next morning he unusually woke up around 6am kind of crying. He wasn't full blown crying but a little fussy. I was getting up already and Butch got up too so I could get ready without a baby on my hip (which I highly appreciated). As Butch is cooking some breakfast and playing with Beckham he noticed that he wouldn't walk on his right leg. He called me into the kitchen and said look at him he won't walk. I started calling Beckham's name trying to get him to come towards me but he was just sitting in the middle of the kitchen and wouldn't move. So, I grabbed him hands to stand him up and his leg would give like it was numb. He wasn't acting like it hurt at all. He was laughing and playing, even kind of bouncing on it, so I thought he was just being silly. He still never walked on it, which was extremely weird but I honestly thought he was just playing around. (The point of the boot story above was because we thought maybe he sprained his ankle or something the day before when he was walking in the boots that were a little too big.) It was Grami's day to watch him so I go ahead and take him to her house and head to work. On my planning period around 9:00a I called her to see if he was walking on his leg, she tells me no he still won't walk on it, which really freaks me out now. I go ahead and call the doctor and they tell me to bring him in. I took a half day of work and took him in to see the doctor. After a few minutes in the doctors office he starts walking on his leg, not normally, it was still giving out every 10 or so steps so I knew something still wasn't right, but I was glad he was at least attempting to walk on it. After we see the nurse, the pedi comes in, rubs his legs, hips, feet, etc. and then does a blood test. Mind you, this all probably took fifteen minutes but it felt like hours. The worst thoughts imaginable were running through my head. Until this point we had NEVER had a sick visit- ever. I just knew it was going to be something horrible. She comes back in and says he has a "germ in his hip" it's like a virus that gets in the hip joint, causes inflammation and pain for 24-48 hours. He still had not acted like it hurt it at all. He just wouldn't walk on it. I start asking 7352829 questions and she finally says, it's actual name is Toxic Synovitis. Which sounds like a death sentence. She said it sounds really bad but it's actually quite common in toddlers (no one I've spoken to has ever heard of it). She said it causes pain and numbness of the hip joint but usually goes away within 48 hours and there's not much you can do about it. Seriously, my heart dropped but I was so incredibly glad it wasn't something worse. By the end of the day he was running, jumping, climbing, and playing like nothing had ever happened. It was super scary but thankfully it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was still well worth the $25 co-pay and whatever else it ends up costing, simply for the peace of mind.

So, that's my scary story that ended up not being so scary in the end, thank the Lord! I guess Beckham just loved me being off the day before he wanted me to come home early! lol

fifteen months

Butch took Beckham to his fifteen month check up, I hated that I couldn't go but I took a day and a half off last week (long story- I'll update later) and I really couldn't miss another day. All my fellow teachers out there: Is it just me, or is is more work to plan for a sub than to just stick it out?

This was the first time that Butch took Beckham to 1)a doctors appointment and 2) out of Vivian by himself. I was nervous but knew he'd have no problem since he is a wonderful Daddy! So, I didn't think Beckham had to get any shots today, I thought he might have to get a flu shot but wasn't sure so I didn't mention it to Butch. Around 11:00 I get a text saying they are giving him shots and Butch is freaking out.. ugh. I honestly didn't know. He ended up having to get two routine vaccines and a flu shot. Butch wasn't happy- said Beckham cried a lot and he didn't like having to see that... I can't blame him but it does kind of come with the territory. I have already had my fair share of crying doctor visits. Other than that the visit went pretty well.

He now weighs 29.6 lbs, head circumference of 19 cm and 31 inches long/tall. He is doing everything he should be at 15 months, including saying at least 5 words (my last count was around 23) he recognizes objects such as ball, cup, shoes, balloon, bear, phone and can follow directions, such as when I say bath he starts walking towards the bathroom, when I ask if he is hungry he says eat and starts trying to climb up the highchair, when we ask if he wants to go for a ride he starts point outside, saying "side". When we put shoes on him he starts saying "bye bye", when I change his diaper he immediately grabs the wrapped diaper and I'll say go put it in the trash, and he follows directions and drops it in the trash can. He can even match certain things like shoes. If I ask him to go get my shoes he will get a matching pair, even if other shoes are around (so it's not just a coincidence :]) He is walking with ease, holds his balance well, can squat down and back up easily, he's running, walking backwards, standing on one leg, and he can even stand on his tip toes to reach things without a problem.

About a month ago we switched to 2% organic milk because he was having some stomach problems, our pediatrician wants us to switch back to whole organic, but I just bought two half gallons of 2%, so I guess when he goes through those we will switch back to whole and go back and forth, hopefully he can handle it, if not, I'll switch back to 2% exclusively because he seems to do well with it. Our pedi also said to only give 2-4 oz of diluted juice per day. He's been drinking a lot more than that and she says it can cause him to feel full and he won't eat as well, but he eats really good so I'm not sure how much more she wants him to eat. He has chubby little cheeks and thighs- he's by no means skin and bones, but she wants him to gain some weight. He's perfect in my eyes, but I am going to try to cut out some of the junk food and focus more on proteins, but honestly, he's never been much of a mean eater. He's all about the carbs like his Mama! :)

The boys had a day of shopping planned, but after Butch was scarred but the shot incident they decided to head back home. By the time I got off of work he was fine- he usually bounces back pretty fast. The Dr. said the fly shot may cause a rash or fever, but so far he hasn't had any kind of reaction (he didn't last year either). She also said to try to keep him away from large crowd as much as possible because this Winter is proving to be a rough cold season and that a lot of bad illnesses are going around, so we will try to keep him in as much as possible, but that's harder said than done, and I'm truly not that sheltering kind of Mama. I mean, yes I do everything in my power to keep him from getting sick (15 months down and he hasn't ever really been sick- everyone gasps when I say that) but I think that kids are going to get sick no matter what a person does. It is inevitable and I'd rather him build up an immunity now than later.

All in all, I think my boys had an okay day- I know the shots were not the funnest activity but they have to be done. It's all part of the parenting gig. ha! Here's a few recent pics of our precious angel...growing and growing- he can't be stopped!

I got this pic of them in the doctor's office while I was at work today.

enjoying a half and half sprite water tonight waiting on our food he's such a big boy

Reminiscing

written October 15
his post is probably going to be a bit random- per the usual lately.

Sunday Beckham and I went on a bit of a shopping spree. I am a self-proclaimed shopaholic....no apologies here. My hubby embraces and I am forever grateful. How did I get so lucky to 1) have such a supportive husband of my less than frugal ways, and 2) have a son that is seriously the best shopping buddy ever? Hmmm....blessed.

So, I have been dabbling with the idea of enrolling in grad school and I finally took a minute to talk to Butch about it and he was completely excited (with me). He said it was a great time to go ahead and get started and I should definitely get the ball rolling.... okay, fast forward about two-three days and I am sitting in front of my computer (the same computer that I got right before I started college in 2008) so yeah, it's a dinosaur. It literally took me 2838493 hours to enter grades, I was getting so aggravated. Then, as we were heading out the door Sunday, Butch says "get you a new computer babe." as men do, he then needed to justify why I needed a new computer (school work, grad school, etc.) which I'm fine with :). Awwww.... I was so excited!! I am the proud new owner of a Samsung 7 Ultrabook. I am obsessed. I love it so much and it has seriously motivated me to get going with all of the paperwork for grad school. So, yesterday I scheduled to take the GRE and enrolled in Northwestern. Yay! I'll update all of that later on.

Long story short- the whole point of telling about my new laptop was because I was transferring all of our 1,700 (literally) pictures from my old laptop to my new one and ran across some teeny tiny baby pictures of Beckham. I, naturally, bawled and squalled looking at how little he was. I realize he's only 15 months (tomorrow) and is still a baby, but he's really not. He rarely likes to snuggle anymore, he's just too busy. He is so smart, mobile, and growing up way too fast. As I was reminiscing at all of the adorable pictures, I had to go through this blog to see things I talked about back then. Here's a post from his two month check up and I also ran across this post from when he was six months old and already crawling, that seriously still blows my mind.

And here's a few of my favorites:

I'm obsessed with this picture because if you look at the clock in the background, Beckham was only 20 minutes old. I'm so glad we got this picture!

1 day old

2 days old

4 days old

In short, I am super excited about starting grad school, I'm sad my baby is not so much a baby anymore, and I am so thankful I was blessed with this beautiful life.

grab a friend

I had the awesome privilege of co-hosting a Blog Hop for Noor & Areeba for the first time... so, here it is!! eeekkk :) Thanks girls!

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Welcome to the weekly blog hop , Grab A Friend 

Link up here , answer a question , grab a blogger and be friends!

Every week this hop is created with lots of love + fun . So be sure to share it to more and more people ca catch up and our lovely little hop can be large with more friends ;)

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Want to co-host? Shoot me en Email or check Sponsor .
                           

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When you go to follow your hosts , leave the answer to make their day + a bloggy present .  We all would love to share love back { will follow you back} .
 
This hop is for finding new friends & bloggy mates . So be sure to go and find yourself one .
I am so happy cheery to see you all linking up with us every Tuesday . Yip-yip , you're rah-king.
Twitter is a new addition in hop , so if you want some Twitter-holic bloggy mates so link up , hop around & grab some tweeeeeeeeter sweeties .

Q: Have you ever done a Pinterest fail?

Noor :

I have a LONG list when it comes to Pinterest fails . Once I tried to make pizza sauce with tomato and garlic paste . It took a lot of time and ended up tasting like an old mud pot . Then , I tried to make a scrap book . I couldn't handle hot glue and it was ALL over my project .

Areeba : 

Oh no, please don't ask that. I was trying to make a project in which a balloon & string + glue was needed. All I needed to do was to paster string around the balloon & when it dries, you can separate balloon and an epic beauty (almost) lace project was ready. I made it with superb energy but it never dried in proper way. It was looking like a mummy-balloon imported from Egypt :(

Katie :
I have actually done quite a few Pinterest fails, but the worst one was an angel food cake that you were only supposed to add pie filling to. It looked easy so I tried it. I added cherry pie filling to a box mix of angel food cake, and now that I think back on this I don't even know why I used cherry pie filling because I hate cherry flavoring. Anyways, I think it was supposed to bake for 45 minutes and it was still completely wet. I baked it another 15 minutes, but it formed this foam on the top that tasted like soap. It was disgusting!

Tara :
OMG....of course I have had a Pinterest fail!  I made one of those ornament wreaths two years ago.  It took me all night and I my fingers were raw from hot glue burns.  I hung it up on the wall and in the middle of the night it came CRASHING down, breaking almost all the ornaments.  So I spent the rest of the night cleaning up ornament shards.

Your turn to answer!

Beckham's top 5

Beckham is now 14 1/2 months old and I thought it would be fun to update everyone on his favorite things. This will be different from the one year favorites post because these are all of Beckham's favorites, not baby gear. So here we go.... Beckham's top 5.

1. a phone/iPad/remote of any kind- Seriously, this kid is obsessed with the telephone. As I said before, he now says "PONE" and can spot one from a mile away. He knows the difference from a play phone and a real one and most of the time will not settle for the toy phone. He knows there's no one on the other line and he'll hand it to me and say "fisssit" like fix it. lol

2. 4 wheeler/Ranger- All you have to say is "wanna go for a ride?" and he gets so excited, starts running towards you and trying to crawl up to go. He'll start waving and saying bye bye. I'm pretty sure he would ride that thing all day, every day, without a problem.

3. the golf cart- Beckham has always loved to ride anything but since our trip to Little River he has a new found love of the golf cart. When we are at Grami and Pop's house he will start walking all around the yard looking for it. It's usually parked in one spot and he has already figured it out. He constantly climbs up the seat and pretends like he's driving. Similar to this:

4. being outside- Beckham is such an outside boy. You say the word 'outside' and he starts to freak. We recently got a new back porch and he loooooves to play out there. We don't have a whole lot of grass around our house so anytime we are in the yard he gets absolutely filthy; which is fine most of the time, but sometimes it's nice to be outside and not have to take a bath when we come back in. He loves to play with his toys or just lay around on the rug. This was from the past weekend.

5. running around naked- He went through a phase where every time we went to change his diaper he would throw a fit and try to run away. It's not so bad anymore, he has grown out of the fit throwing (at diaper changes) but he still loves to run around naked. Usually I let him have 3 or 4 minutes of naked time after his bath. I'm pretty sure it's his most favorite time of the day.