The Toy Box

So Cole got a Razorback toy box for his birthday from Charolette and Jerry. We completely filled it to the top with all of the toys he got at the birthday party. There were so many, he runs around like a crazy person from toy to toy, trying to decide which one to play with. Normally I just get a few out and leave the toy box closed. The other night, however, I left it open and let him go to town. He took every toy out and climbed in it and sat. And sat. That is all he wanted to do, to get in that box!! It reminds me of a story Bro. Sonny used to tell when he was preaching. He and his wife pawned some of their class rings so they could have some money for their daughter's first Christmas. They were so excited for her to be able to open up girts on Christmas morning. They got her something big that came in a box, and once they had everything opened, they sat back to watch her play with the stuff, and all she cared about were the boxes the stuff came in!! Children are truly a blessing and it is so fascinating to me to watch him discover the world! And he is so proud when he accomplishes something he wants, like getting in that box.......he probably wanted to get in it the whole time, there just wasn't any room!!

The First Birthday Has Come and Gone....

Well, I can't believe he is the big ONE, but he is! It is bittersweet - I'm glad to have that party over with, and sad that a whole year has passed so quickly!! I got a new video camera for my birthday from Jerry's family, so you'll have to forgive the shakiness, I didn't realize it was so sensitive!! Enjoy! Cole did!

Here we are a month later....

Ok, I am just going to stop making all the empty promises of being a better blogger. It happens when it happens, people, that's all I've got. I have been on the verge of a nervous breakdown for about two weeks now.....school is draining me. Walt and I also put our trailer up for sale so in my spare time I was trying to get it ready and show it to people whenever they called - not fun. Then, we sold it and had a ton of furniture we didn't need, so my sister-in-law and I had this bright idea to have a yard sale.......I will NEVER, EVER have another yard sale. We each made about $120. Which is better than nothing. But NOT WORTH THE WORK. I spent that much in gas getting ready for the darn thing, seing as how $120 will fill my gas tank once with a little left over. The moral of the story - one trip to GoodWill would have been cheaper, and a lot less stressful.

I have also been trying my hardest to lose weight. It is sooooo hard. I have done really well though, 35 pounds lost!!!! I still have about 20 to go, and it seems like this last 20 is definitely the hardest...they just don't come off as easy. But Tara (my sister-in-law), myself, and a friend of ours have been walking up at the school at least 5 times a week for about an hour and a half. But when I say walk, I don't mean your usual stroll in the park. We do lunges and squats and hike up those Fountain Lake stairs, so it has been really tough but definitely worth it. The only problem is, because of our schedules the only time we can go is around 6 or 7 - when my husband and baby come home for the day, and I'm out the door to go work out. So, I guess I've been feeling a little guilty about not being home much and plus there just aren't enough hours in the day!!!!

However, on a lighter note, I will be finished with school in 2 more days!!!! Yay!!!! I am not going to know what to do with myself with no homework, or papers, or driving to do! I am soooo excited to spend time at home with Cole and Jerry at night that I am just beside myself. I can't wait.

We are going to Florida on Friday. We are going to act like beach bums for 6 days straight, we've all agreed that this is a much needed vacation. My dad even says he needs to relax, and I don't ever think I've heard him say that in my life!!

Cole is of course getting bigger by the second!! He took his first steps last week, and I am sooo thankful I was there to witness them. He was standing up hanging on to the coffee table just babbling to himself and he noticed that I was sitting in the recliner close by and he just stumbled right over to me! And then of course I was cheering for him and yelling for Jerry to come see, and he was just BEAMING with pride.....standing up tall on his tippee-toes, with his head tilted back and grinning from ear to ear. It was so funny!! I also bought him a "big boy" car seat yesterday, so it will be fun to see his reaction to actually facing the front and sitting up in the car. He will like it soooo much better. After the trip to MS, we decided that for vacation we would go ahead and get the new car seat, he is at that age where he doesn't want to lay there, he wants to be sitting up and talking to everyone and act like a big boy, so, we'll see.....

I am attaching some pictures of......you guessed it, Cole! They are just random pictures from the summer and one of the three of us before church in MS. And by the way - thanks for the comments and a big congrats to Aunt Cindy for successfully posting one! She's been trying all this time! I can't figure it out either..... I am going to try to post a video of Cole - it was his first time swimming....hilarious!! He was all over the place and you will see why he keeps me on my toes (though most of you probably know), he is not afraid of anything!

With Sincere Apologies....

I don't think that there are many who are reading this, but for those who are, (hmmm..Aunt Patrice), I am so sorry that I have not posted in so long. I really am going to try to do better this time!

We have been doing great, just trying to keep up! I am going to summer school (I will finish in August) and that has been just lovely. Driving back and forth to Arkadelphia everyday in my gas-guzzling Yukon has been just lovely. I just keep telling myself that surely those gas prices will go down soon, right?? There is no way we could sell my car right now, I mean, what idiots would buy a Yukon during these horrible gas times??? Yeah, that would be my husband and I. I will say, however, that gas was actually only $3 a gallon when we bought it last May. Of course now it is $4 a gallon, but every time I get to complaining about it, I think of Aunt Cindy, in Michigan, where the prices are even higher!

We are looking forward to going to Mississippi the last weekend in June for the Johnson family reunion. I haven't been in probably 7 years due to working. When you are a waitress you do not get weekends off in the summer. But I have missed a lot. I talked to my Grandaddy a few days ago and he said that it has dwindled down to only a few. The last time I was there, there were so many people I could not keep up with them all! I guess that is the circle of life, my generation will have to start bringing lots of babies so that the reunion can stay alive! I guess that means it is up to me, Walt, and Jacob as of right now! Just kidding Aunt Patrice!! Haha!

We are also going to Navarre Beach, FL in July with my mom and dad. I CANNOT WAIT! The last time I was at the beach was a year ago when I married my sweetie and I didn't even get to relax on the beach! Well, I did at night time when everyone else was searching for crabs, but I wanted to relax in the sunshine!! So I am definitely looking forward to that. Plus - it will be Cole's very first Family Vacation. Let's hope we don't turn it into a re-run of National Lampoon's!!

I am adding some pictures of Cole - these are mostly 7 month pictures. He will be 8 months old next week!!!

Go Baby Go!

Ok, I know i am awful at this, I told you I would be. It has been about 5 weeks since my last blog and so much has happened. After Cole rolled over, he finally started to push himself up into push-up position! It was hilarious! He would just sit there like he was gonna do a push-up and look up at me and Jerry like "Look what I can do!". And then he started scooting, but mainly with his legs. It seemed to be very awkward for him, almost like he couldn't figure out that his arms had to work WITH his legs! And then it happened, he just started taking off.....and before we knew it he was in a different room, and then before we knew it he had managed to get every spec of dirt in my floors on his face.

So, last weekend, I had my final portfolio interview with the Teachers College at Henderson. Thank the good Lord that is over! I still have two classes to take this summer, but they will be nothing compared to that portfolio class. And then I will have a Master's degree!!!! Jerry's sister Tara kept Cole for me while i had my interview, so once I was finished, I used some time to get my floors "ready" for Cole. I vacuumed every inch of every floor in my house, and paid special attention to the corners and along the trim. It took me like 4 hours just to clean the floors!

And then he came home. I had put him over in his play pen while I went outside to do something, and I came back in and the little monkey was STANDING UP, hanging on to the top of it, trying to peer over the play pen. I almost cried. I mean, not only is my kid now a big kid, but all I could think was now I have to get everything in the house ready for that level! Like the coffee table and end tables and chairs and all of that. I mean, how am I supposed to keep up with him???!!!!!

He is also saying "da da". Now, he doesn't say it like he knows that is Jerry, he just kind of babbles, "da da da da da da da". I am fighting it with my utmost power. "Say mama. Mama. Mama. Mama." And he looks straight at me and says, "da da". Jerry obviously thinks it is hilarious and he is just smitten with Cole. I love watching them together. Cole LOVES him. He is always looking around to see where Jerry is and then he will just crawl over to him and sit at his feet or pull up on his leg. It is so cute!

I am going to stop for now, I am sure there will be something different to report next week. I will try and do better with the blog now that school is finished. Love to all!!!

Oh - and I am posting some pics of Jerry and my Grandpa's fish they caught over Spring Break.

*I cannot figure out how to format the pictures with the text, so it looks awful. Sorry!

Spring Break

I know I have not been a good blogger and written in a couple of weeks. We were sick and so on and so forth. But we just got home from a relaxing trip to Corsicana, TX to see my Grandma and Grandpa. My Grandpa and Jerry are very much alike. They did nothing but fish the entire time. They both had a really good time! I went fishing with them a couple of times, but mostly relaxed and enjoyed my Grandma's and my mom's company. The three of us are also a lot alike. We are so opinionated and strong-willed that you can hardly get a word in when we are all together. Throw my Aunt Cindy in the mix and you have got the most powerful foursome of women there ever was, I guarantee it! My Grandma has once again inspired some thought into my life, the way I want it to be, and made me think about giving. She is absolutely one of my favorite people on this Earth. She has a very soft spot for men and women serving in our armed forces. She is very active in the Auxiliary in her community, and she spends A LOT of her time and A LOT of her money sending things to the troops. I am just in awe of her generosity. She is wonderful and I hope that I can give back the way that she does one day. I really enjoyed spending time with her, and I am now inspired to do better as I usually am after spending time with her.

Cole is rolling all over the place, I can hardly keep up with him and he's not even walking yet! I put him down on a blanket and let him go to town and the next thing I know, he is off the blanket up underneath the coffee table and I can't find him! I have got to get my house child-proofed this weekend! We took Cole and his cousin Calie to Garvan Woodland Gardens, a botanical garden here in Hot Springs that is run by the University of Arkansas, to have some Easter pictures made. Are you kidding me? We could not get the child to look at the camera to save our lives. We were out there dancing and acting a fool trying to get his attention, but no such luck. He was so much more interested in what was going on around him!

Roll Over, C'mon, Roll Over, Good Boy!!!

So you have probably guessed by the title of this that Cole rolled over this week! Yay!! There we were sitting in the living room, I was grading papers and Jerry was playing football, and all of a sudden I looked down at Cole and he was on his belly!! We clapped and acted like idiots for about twenty minutes. And of course we then proceeded to make him go through the circus again so we could get pictures. And he was a good boy! He did it again! Since I work all the time and he is with his grandparents more than he is with us, I was really ecstatic that I got to see it. I am sure I will miss a lot of firsts, but I realize that is just the way it is, and if I can get one in every now and then, I will be excited!

It has been an awful couple of days at our house. I have been at home sick for 2 days with Bronchitis, and Cole has Bronchiolitis. He has been coughing and wheezing since Sunday and I called his nurse Monday. Of course I have to harrass them to get someone to call me back and they tell me to "try a humidifier and call us if it gets worse". So Tuesday the cough is a lot worse and I call them back. Finally after several calls the nurse calls me back and says, "I will call you back and let you know what the doctor says, because I can't find your file." So I'm thinking, okay, can't you help my kid without the file? But anyway, never heard back from her. So Wednesday rolls around and now he is wheezing with every breath. I called and called and called and the nurse never called me back, so I called and made an appointment for the night clinic. We go in and right away the Doc tells me what it is and that if we don't keep an eye on it, it can get really bad. So Cole has an inhaler with an attachment to help him actually get the medicine. He is pretty pitiful but he seems to be in really good spirits considering. We have had some trouble getting him to eat, so now we have to watch out for dehydration. But not to worry.....Supermom has Pedialyte!!!

In the Beginning.....

I am trying this out as a form of therapy. I have friends that use blogging to keep in touch, play, chat, etc. but I don't have the time or the energy for all of that. I love to write, and find it very relaxing, so I am trying this to see how it goes.
I also have a baby, Cole, who is four months old (almost 5) and I have realized that because I am so busy, I am horrible at keeping up with current pictures, filling out information in his baby book, etc. So maybe if I become addicted to blogging, the poor child will have some written proof of his childhood. And maybe I will meet some moms who do this all the time and they will constantly be asking me for new pictures of Cole. That way I HAVE to take pictures of him. I don't mean to sound like I never take pictures of him, but aren't new mothers supposed to have pictures coming out their ears? I don't. I took a lot of pictures through month 2 and have failed to take more than about 10 since then. I know. I am terrible.
For those of you who have no idea who I am, I live in Hot Springs, AR. I LOVE it here. It is beautiful. I love the outdoors and this is the perfect place for me. I am married to my best friend, his name is Jerry, and we are having a blast getting to know Cole. There is not a night that goes by that we do not laugh at him. He is hysterical.
The reason I have no time is because I am a Spanish teacher and I teach Distance Learning, through the tv to students at different school districts all over the state of Arkansas. On top of that, I love competitive cheerleading and am a cheer coach at Cheer Zone in Hot Springs. We travel all over and compete and it is a blast. I love my gym kids to death and they are the reason that I still coach, even though I don't really have the time. I am ALSO getting my Master's degree. I could have taken time off while I was pregnant or when Cole was born, but I didn't and I am proud of it. I will be finished in August. WooHoo!!!! Now you might think that reason I didn't take any time off is because I am strong, and determined, and hard-working. But that is not the case. The reason I didn't take any time off is because I feel like I have been in school for 8,000 years! The thought of prolonging that any more than necessary absolutely sends me into a panic attack. I am so sick of reading articles and writing papers until I would rather be physically and mentally worn out until August and be done than be worn out until Cole is 3.
So, I think that is a pretty good over view of my life. I will keep writing and send this website to all my folks and see what they think. Any of you who are just searching around and want to subscribe, feel free to do so. And any new moms that don't mind discussing poop, pee-pees, and snot, hit me up!