Derailed my plans

I had all kinds of plans to get the things that needed to be done DONE this week. But, James has had a pretty high fever, so I've been taking care of him. I guess, according to the information I found on the internet, that it was NOT a high fever. I read that temperatures up to 103degrees are considered mild. Doesn't seem mild to me, but I also tend to overreact. (When he first got to 102.5, I was pretty sure he had swine flu or some sort of rare, exotic illness that would only be diagnosed when it was too late. Again, let me state that I overreact.) It got to 103.7 (moderate?) but is coming down. He was showing a lot more energy tonight. So, hopefully we can all start getting more sleep and getting back into the swing of things. We did decide to take him to the doctor yesterday, who is very nice. She found it amusing when he asked if she was Dr. Seuss.

At least I got my final classes taken for renewing my OT license. Just need to submit the paperwork. Then to finish thank you notes and making calls about my name change. Oh, I don't think I mentioned the name change last time. I debated for a LONG time about my name. I knew I was taking Blake's last name, but the question was whether to keep my middle name (Ann) or change it to my maiden name. I finally decided that no one calls me Heather Ann, but people have been calling me by my last name for 40 years, so that would be a more fitting middle name. So, I go to the license bureau to change it, and find out that it is no problem to change the last name, but to change the middle one, I have to go to the Social Security office and change it there first. So, after months of debating, it comes down to the license bureau deciding for me. It just wasn't worth it to wait in line at the Social Security office (with a 3-year-old) for the change. So, feel free to call me Heather Ann. Except don't. It makes me think I'm in trouble.

ACK!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Although those 2 months have been a little busy . . .

Here's a summary:

1. Got married.

2. Had a honeymoon.

3. Came home to James with a cold (or allergies?).

4. Got the cold (or allergies?).

5. Turned 40.

6. Had 3-4 hours of therapy on my arm each week.

And a bunch of other stuff.

There is seriously so much that I want to share, but have been working on catching up on stuff. And coughing. So, I'm going to try to post a little something each day, because this has been such an amazing time for us.

First, a funny story. Last week, as I was trying to get James to eat his breakfast, I told him to eat his oatmeal, or no cookie and no Diego (I know, bad mom), he said to me "Ok, Mommy, you drink your coffee or no opening presents and no Jeopardy!" And this was even before my birthday. So, yes, we have a lot of thank you notes to write!

So, the wedding was beautiful (although I am a little biased, but I've heard others say it, too). It was an indoor ceremony and reception, but the weather was perfect, which made it even nicer. We were really blown away by how many people came to celebrate with us, since it was out of town for everybody. My aunts and uncles came from New York, my mom and dad from Texas, and Rachel and her husband even came from Wisconsin! We had so much fun at the reception, talking to everyone as much as we could. I hardly ate in the 24 hours before the wedding (from nerves), and by the time of the reception I was starving, then didn't get to eat much because I was talking. No worries about me wasting away though -- I made up for that lack of food by eating everything in sight on the honeymoon.

Blake and I keep talking about sitting down together to jot down all of our notes on the wedding and honeymoon, so we don't forget anything. That has yet to happen, but we really need to, because there is so much that we want to remember. One thing that I am so happy about is that we waited until now to do this -- James was old enough to be our ring bearer, and he did a wonderful job! He still talks about how he brought our rings to us.

We should receive our discs from the photographer soon and are excited about that! We used David Owens from Columbia, and he does not provide any prints, just ALL the pictures he takes in high resolutions on a disc. He followed us around like a shadow for 8 hours, so I know we are going to have so many amazing pictures.

And, as soon as we got home, Larry had given us a disc of pictures he had taken of all of the festivities, and of the week James spent with his grandparents Larry and Debbie, Aunt Danielle and cousins Cameron and Landon. So, here are a few of them!

Blake cracking us up at the rehearsal dinner, while Landon tries to get the presents.

The wedding party

Looking back toward the chapel and pavilion. We were taking "sunset pictures" and many people came out to enjoy the weather and view of the river.

At the brunch the next morning, Blake discovered mimosas. He has had many, many mimosas since.

I am going to try to update with more pictures and details of things, and as I try to get my thoughts down, it may seem a little scattered.

And, just so it doesn't seem like we get to slack off and relax now that things are over, NOW we are starting to look for a house to buy!

Again, thanks to everyone who helped make this time so special for us!

Do you know anyone named Pam?

James came out from his nap the other day, informing me that he had changed his name to Pam. When I asked him why, he said it was because he didn't know anyone named Pam, so he would be the only one. I was forced to inform him that we did know people named Pam, and perhaps he should choose again. Or keep the name Daddy and I worked so hard to come up with when he was born. He eventually went back to James. Either way, Pam or James, I like this picture of him dressed in his pirate costume, trying to look fierce.

On the wedding front, there is no need to panic. But I'm pretty sure I will at some point. It is less than a month to the wedding. It is all going just fine. Nothing is wrong. But, it just seems that so much time is being spent on wedding stuff, despite the fact that it doesn't really seem like there should be that much to do. I can say that everything that has been done is great. I love my dress, almost all RSVPs are in, and the honeymoon is booked! So, really, nothing to worry about.

Got a new doctor, who has referred me to a specialist for my arm. I go Tuesday and hope to get some quick work done. At least something good has come of this -- I love the new doctor I found. So I can face future illness and injury with confidence, hahaha.

Yeah, Blake!

Blake started his new job today! He proactively went looking for one, being unsure if his previous company was going to have work for him when his project ended. They were a little offended that he did this, but turns out that they didn't actually have more work for him. So, I think he did them a favor.

We are excited about his new company, including that they are allowing him to take vacation after a month, which lets us take our honeymoon! And, I know that I am marrying someone with a clean record. His new employer does some work for the government, so he had to complete a 50-page security clearance application. And he passed :)

Easter was great -- James had a BLAST looking for eggs. Periodically, Blake would take a couple that had already been found and re-hide them so James could do more looking. James never knew and had so much fun each time.

My arm is still a mess, but is maybe a little better. I don't like resting it. I feel lazy.

Can't Post

Supposed to be resting my arm. Apparently I cannot fully extend (or now even fully bend) my arm because I have medial and lateral epicondylitis. Better known as tennis elbow and golfer's elbow, despite the fact that I have never played tennis or golf.

So, still no working out, which became increasingly frustrating today when I got a call from the bridal shop saying my dress was in and I could begin alterations. NOOOOO! I'm not done altering my body!!!

Well, no more typing. Except to say that if you get a chance, watch the new episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. Jack Black is on it. It is pretty hilarious. Apparently he also has a preschooler who loves that show.

I am SOOOO drunk

because I am such a supersticous fan. When we were down 13-2 toUConn, I yelled for Blake to bring me a beer. He brought his good Boulevard Smokestack Series Sixth Glass. It's yummy. And strong. And we finished it before the game was over. BUT, we started doing better almost immediately. So, when I ran out of beer, but we were close, and the game wasn't over, I had to have more of the EXACT SAME BEER, just in case that was why we were doing better. But we still lost. and then I had to chop veggies and cook pasta sauce. Drunk. Probably about the closest we've ever been to the final 4. So I'm happy., But, still so so so sad.

At least Kansas lost in the Sweet 16.

Elite 8!!!

I am so excited!!! Mizzou beat Memphis and is in the Elite 8! I will gladly have my bracket picks ruined for that. We play UConn tomorrow, so I'll be looking forward to that game.

It has been a fun and busy, busy week. Last week, Danielle and the family came to town for her birthday. It was fun to celebrate, and of course James always enjoys parties. He's already asking about the next birthday, which is actually mine, but not until June. Saturday night, we went to dinner at Buca de Beppo with Danielle and Shawn, and some friends of theirs from school. It was fun to get out without the kids. If you haven't been to this restaurant, it is a serious amount of food! Fortunately, James enjoyed the leftovers and has been eating them all week. And has some killer garlic breath as a result.

Monday, I went for Mom's Night Out at the Melting Pot. It was Ladies' Night, and this Melting Pot has an even better special than the one in Chesterfield did. $22 for cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, and 2 drinks (wine or martinis). Much better than their usual prices. The company was great, too. It's really nice to be getting to know the other moms in the group better and feeling like I have friends again. I should post a pic, but I'm too lazy to upload right now.

After all of the eating and drinking out, combined with the fact that I still can't work out with my left arm, I doubt that I'm still 8.5 pounds from my goal, but I am trying to be good. We'll see.

Go Mizzou!

Doing the happy dance!

The big things that have been hanging over my head have been completed! I finished my continuing ed and submitted for my certification renewal last week. And today, I just mailed out the wedding invitations (minus 2 that need addresses). Hopefully no major omissions, typos, wrongly addressed envelopes, etc.

In other happy news, Mizzou is finally back in the NCAA tourney, and even earned a 3 seed. And, we WON the Big 12 tournament! Poor James. Since the NCAA tourney starts tomorrow, he is going to have to put up with a LOT of basketball on in the background for the next few days. I've been trying to get him excited by having him play with his Truman the Tiger and then pointing out the mascots on tv. It helps a little. He even took Truman to the MOMS Club meeting yesterday, which meant that I was holding Truman the whole time while James played.

I've been working out hard, and am now just 8 1/2 pounds from the goal I've set. But, maybe I've worked out too hard, because the muscles in my left arm are so stiff that I can't straighten that arm. Literally can not straighten it. But, I'm sure no one will ever notice because of the amazing definition of my biceps, right?

We've all been enjoying the warmer weather, going to the playground during the day and taking some walks when Blake gets home from work. It is so refreshing.

And lastly, I was so proud of James the other day. We were at a play area, and I saw him at the top of the slide, looking around. Then he quickly came down, threw his arms out and said, "Wonder James to the rescue! Mommy, I'm going to save that little girl!" Sure enough, he was trying to come help a little girl he heard crying. Of course, her Wonder Mommy was already taking care of it, but I appreciated James' chivalrous side.

It is such a pretty day!

It is beautiful outside today, and James and I had a nice walk. Although he wasn't in a curious, adventuresome mood today -- instead of pointing out and watching the spiders, spills on the sidewalk, and random sticks, he decided they were all scary. Even I wasn't afraid of these little spiders. Hopefully the next walk will involve less of me coaxing/pulling him along.

We had a great trip to Texas! James did wonderfully on the car trip, and didn't even complain when he had to get back in 2 days later for another all-day trip. DVDs helped. He saw Bambi for the first (and second) time(s). Now, every time he sees a picture of a deer, he asks if it is Bambi. Mom had a new little bed for James, and we were surprised that he slept there quite well the first night, while Blake and I were at the hotel. The second night, he was back with us, because he wasn't used to the new sounds at Grandma's and she didn't have a loud air filter in the room like we do. (Which has been helpful for me, since he used to try to turn the air filter off, but now he understands that it keeps other noises out!) We went to Chuck E Cheese's (overwhelming for the adults, fun for the child), the park, and played in the sandbox she got for him. He had fun digging for treasure. I was really surprised at what a fun, relaxing trip it was, since it was so short, but now we look forward to doing it again!

I went to Mom's Night Out last week to a Japanese steakhouse. It was a lot of fun to talk, but I was disappointed in the restaurant. We had such a good one in St. Louis, and this one wasn't as good. Oh well, I guess it will save me money in the long run! And March MNO is at the Melting Pot for Ladies' Night. OOOOH!

That's pretty much the news here. It is pretty funny to think how things have changed. I watched the Oscars the other night. I had seen Tropic Thunder and Kung Fu Panda. (and 1/2 of Dark Knight, which I just finished yesterday) So, when Jack Black said that he only saw movies he was in, apparently that was me, too. I used to go see as many of the nominated films as would come to town. Now, they have to be on DVD and it still takes me a couple of weeks to get through one. But I did get to listen to Bambi when it was on in the back seat . . .

So Lately . . .

We have had colds, had fun in between colds, and are generally trying to get finished with winter. A whirlwind trip to Texas might help with that! We are going to visit my mom for about an evening and a day, since it will be a lot of driving time. We are really looking forward to the visit, but a little nervous about the drive (with a 3 1/2 year old). But, we are more than overdue to travel to her, since she makes the trip up here every few months. James is very excited and has been asking if we are going to see Grandma Janice today for about 2 weeks.

We've also went to Manhattan, KS for Cameron's birthday party. It was a fun trip. James and Landon played really well together, sometimes alone in Landon's room -- which means the adults had a little free time.

My friend, Brian, visited recently, and we all enjoyed talking with him. I stayed up way past my bedtime talking, and now realize that I am an old wimp and can't do that anymore. I was about useless the next day. The funniest moment of the visit came the next morning when we went out to breakfast at the coffee shop. It was crowded, and a fairly nice morning, so we sat on the patio. James kept complaining that the wind was blowing his muffin pieces off of his fork. Then he looked at Brian and asked if the wind blew Brian's hair away (yes, a fair amount of it is gone, not from the wind). We all got a good laugh out of that one.

We've also been going to more playgroup events, which have been fun for James, but a surprisingly large amount of work for me. He is on the move constantly, and tends to do exactly the things I have asked him not to. I notice at these events that mothers of boys tend to look a little more stressed than mothers of girls. We went to a tour of Petco the other day, and he had so much fun seeing and petting the animals. He seemed to like the fish the best, but that is when we had to leave, because he kept getting into the buckets used to disinfect the nets. He is a very, very good, sweet boy, but he has about 300 times more energy than I do right now!

I've picked out some continuing ed courses to take online, since I need a LOT of hours by the end of March. And I need to make and get out wedding invitations by mid-March. If I spent as much time on doing those things as I do thinking about doing them, much progress would be made. Next week . . .

I am quite pleased with how my Mizzou Tigers are doing this year! We just beat Kansas, which is always a cause for celebration, and should end our NCAA tourney draught. Go Tigers! (Which reminds me that I need to do those classes and invites NOW, since I need free time to watch basketball in March!)

That is the general rundown. I really do hope I get back in the habit of blogging more regularly, since I am way behind on scrapbooking, and the blog helps remind me what to journal!

Lots of Plans!

We have made two trips to Hermann for wedding planning stuff recently, and we have accomplished so much! But, that trip was a lot shorter when we were living on the other side of the state. We are so thankful that we chose a site that includes a wedding coordinator. It gives us so much less to think about, since she's already thought of everything and just asks us the questions. Like who the designated person is to handle anyone who becomes an obnoxious drunk. We wouldn't have thought of that, and hopefully wouldn't need to!

We've now chosen our menu, cake, flowers, and some of the ceremony details. We just don't know the bill yet. We have a general idea, but it is all a little scary. But not as scary as it would be if we'd had the wedding in the St. Louis or Kansas City areas.

I went to Archiver's yesterday and got supplies for invitations and favors. Using the die cut for the first 50 favor boxes worked out my right arm pretty well. I should do the rest with my left to balance it out!

James and I have a busy week planned, with lots of playgroup activities. Weather permitting. Hopefully, getting him out and with other kids a lot will improve his new bossy attitude. Maybe some 5-year-old will come along and put him in his place.

And I went to Mom's Night Out last week at a wine bar. Very fun! But expensive. Or maybe I just eat and drink too much . . . either way, it was worth it!

Have I mentioned my dislike of winter?

James and I are going a little stir crazy today. We were supposed to go to Tunnel Town with MOMS Club, where he could burn off energy and play with the other kids. But, it snowed. Blake said it took forever to get in to work today. Instead I talked on the phone with one of the other moms for a bit, James and I had a creativity morning, and he is currently making a bunch of noise in his room. So, apparently creativity time did not sufficiently wear him out to nap.

But, Blake and I have 2 trips to Hermann coming up for wedding planning stuff. I am so excited about that! I've been printing out pictures of cakes that I like. Blake likes them to, after I remind him that just because the cake in the picture has brown on it, ours does not have to. Having a little more trouble with flowers. I don't know what I like, I don't know what is inexpensive or will be in season, I don't know what will last well, I don't know what colors will go with our dresses. Among other things. I hope the florist is nice! And patient.

I hate to admit it, but I started watching American Idol. (It's cold out and I was apparently bored) The highlight for me was when Ryan Seacrest tried to high-five the guy who they just made a big deal about being blind.

Well, off to make some buns for sloppy joes. This is the type of excitement that I have not been blogging about lately. You can thank me later.

This Blog Post Did Not Originally Appear In Playboy

But, apparently much of James' new book did. He received Don't Bump the Glump by Shel Silverstein for Christmas and he just loves it. Mostly because he likes to say the title over and over and over. When Blake was getting ready to read it to him the other day, he noticed in the notes at the beginning a notation the much of the content originally appeared in Playboy (in the early 60's). I found that more than a little odd.

In other James news, since I keep getting in trouble for not documenting these things better:

1. When we were all in the car one day during bad weather, we were stuck for a bit in traffic. Blake said there was an accident. And James said, "Did somebody poop in their pants?"

2. The other day, when I went to plug in my cell phone to charge it, the cord was put through the belt clip of James' toy cell phone. Apparently he needed to charge his, too.

3. Today, when we were at Costco, James saw an elderly lady and said, "Hi, little girl!" She just laughed and said that she didn't know him, but she liked him already. That was much better than when he says "Hi lady!" to a big man.

Otherwise, not much noteworthy going on. I got some new clothes and am quite pleased. We are working hard on our resolutions. James got a new Smart Cycle. We all love it! And I'm getting ready to host bunco at our place on Wednesday. At previous months' bunco gatherings the hostesses have had way too much food. So, I am attempting to continue that tradition.