She Wants Money!!!

Okay, I think I am in trouble.  This morning Summer asked me for some money so she could play with it.  It all started a couple of days ago when I got her coin bank that counts money as you put it into it.  We emptied her piggy bank into it to see how much she had.  She played with the coins and helped me put them in the bank although that was a little difficult for her since you really have to "press" the coins into it.  I tried to only put the silver coins into the bank and leave the pennies for her to play with.  Which she did.  Happily.  She would put them all in the bank and then dump them out.  Over and over again.  Then last night I let her play with $19 - a ten, a five and four ones - while I was watching Desperate Housewives.  I don't want to leave out where she found it either: my bra!  I don't normally carry money around in my bra, but it just so happens that yesterday I put it there after I found it in the washing machine.  :)  It was already my money though.  I am not lucky enough for people to leave money in the clothes that I wash.  Anyway, she played with that money and counted the bills for almost an hour.  We even played peek-a-boo with the money.  Apparently, she loved it.  So much that today she asked me for money to play with.  Crap.  Needless to say, she is playing with the pennies as we speak.  Putting them in the bank, dumping them out.  I rolled two rolls of pennies out of her stash and still left her plenty to play with.  Now I just gotta get her to counting it. 

I guess her numbers are next to learn.  I gave her some number magnets today that she can play with and hopefully learn.  I hope she is good in math like I was.  I was always good at doing it, but not explaining it.  My mind works too fast for details.  At least it used to.  :) 

We have been working on how old she is too so she will be ready for her birthday.  Two years old.  It is hard to believe the time has gone by so fast.  My baby is just a memory.  Now I have a little girl who is growingup too fast.  I just hope we can keep some sort of innocence about her in this day and age.  It is scary the kids our society is producing now.  Well, she is calling me to "help me, Mommy" so I better go put those pennies away.  I hope she doesn't expect to start keeping the money anytime soon.  LOL

Stop the madness!!!

I think I might be going insane.  Clint had surgery last week.  Scratch that - two weeks ago.  So, I have pretty much been at the hospital for the past 11 days.  Luckily, his parents are here so they relieve me for a couple of hours almost every day.  His mom is spending her 2nd night there tonight, giving me a much needed break.  By the time I get back, I will have been away from the hospital for 24 hours.  I just hope it is enough and I don't break bad on Clint shortly after I get there.  LOL

He is not eating very much and could possibly be over-medicated.  It is very frustrating to sit and watch him not do anything but sleep.  We found out on Saturday that he has some blood clots in his legs, so he is bed-ridden for the time being.  He doesn't talk very much because he said it makes him loose his breath.  It is driving me crazy because on Friday he was walking around and talking about leaving to go get his haircut.  Now he barely says a word.  I can only imagine what is going through his head, but it is obviously NOT "Man this food looks yummy!" or "Can I get some more food please?"  Anyway, I won't bore you with anymore details, but life is pretty stressful and crazy right now. 

To add to everything else, I haven't been able to see Summer very often at all.  I am having withdrawal from her and feel like I am failing her as a mom b/c I can't give her much attention.  I know she is young and won't remember any of this, but I still feel guilty.  She is in good hands with her Memaw and Nanny.  They have been a HUGE help and I don't know what I would do without them.  Summer absolutely adores them and they do her too.  That is one of the only things that comforts me right now.

Summer is spending the night with me tonight for the first time in a week.  We had a fun day today playing at my mom's house.  We ate dinner there and then came home to camp out in front of Barney for a while.  We took a bath together and then watched a little more Barney before I tucked her into bed.  I am glad I have the morning to spend with her too.  We are heading straight to the hospital after her swimming lesson at 11:00.  I know she is anxious to see her daddy.  I just hope he is awake enough to enjoy her company. 

Shoe Fetish

It seems my shoe fetish has rubbed off on Summer.  I love shoes and can never have to many, especially if they are on sale!!!  I even do it with Summer's shoes.  When I go to consignment sales, the first thing I look for is shoes.  The girl has 2 pairs of black dress shoes, 2 pairs of sandals, 3 pairs of tennis shoes, pink dress shoes, 1.5 pairs of croc style shoes (we lost one at Target...LOL), swim shoes, and a pair of house shoes.  And those are just the ones that fit her.  She has 3 or 4 pairs that are a size too big and lots that are too small.  It is amazing how fast their feet grow.  Luckily she has been in the same size for about the past 5 or 6 months.  She wears a 5.5 or 6W.  Although she is bigger for her age, her feet are not really oversized.  They are just fat.  LOL.

Well, it seems as much as I like to buy shoes, Summer likes to drag them all over the house and put them in piles.  The other day she had them on the table on the balcony, then the living room floor.  Back to her room and out again.  Every time I get them put up, it seems like she is dragging them all out again.  This afternoon they were ALL on the bench on the balcony.  Hmmmm. 

She likes to put on her black dress shoes the most right now.  I don't know if it is because they are shiny or if they are just comfortable.  Sometimes she even wears them around on the wrong feet.  :)  She will walk around a shirt, diaper and black dress shoes if I let her.  She even wants to wear them with sweatpants sometimes. 

I gotta get off here before she takes her shoes off.  She is going to play with some friends tonight, but she keeps talking about taking her shoes off.  So far she still has them on, but I imagine she will find a way to get them off before it is time to leave.  LOL

A night at the circus

We went to the Ringling Brother's Circus last night.  It was a family affair with my sister and her family joining us.  The kids had a good time, as did the adults.  Clint had to go to the bathroom during the show, but didn't want to get up because he was enjoying it so much.  He finally did though....LOL.  Before the show, I went down to get us some snacks.  The lines were long and you couldn't get popcorn (which was what I had went for) in the line I was in.  So I ended up getting a couple of nachos with cheese which I knew the kids would love.  And they did.  I even had my fair share although my hips don't need it!  :) 

The acrobats, clowns and animal tricks were all great.  The only thing I thought it was lacking was a trapeze act.  I have always loved those.  Oh well.  It seems the circus has gotten smaller than when I was a child.  There used to be three rings but now there was only one.  It was still a great show, just different.  The other thing I remember always seeing at the circus was a motorcycle in a cage.  But not last night. 

One thing I did notice is that all the people in the circus are in great shape!!!  They all have lots of muscles and can do amazing things with their bodies.  I wonder how much they work out.  Hmmm.

On the way out, we passed the stands selling spinning flashlights for $18 and other over-priced merchandise.  It is crazy the people that buy it too.  You couldn't even get a snow cone for less than $10.  Thankfully the kids didn't ask more than once and we made it out without buying any junk to add clutter to my already toy infested house!  Speaking of toys, I think I need to go through them and get rid of some.  Sounds like something I could do today while I wait for my friends to come over tonight. 

Honey, I'm Home

Well, we are home again but probably not for long. We may be getting away next weekend too!!! Or sooner???

The trip to Orlando was awesome. We saw Shamu, and more importantly, Barney!!! We hopped on a plane from Chattanooga to Orlando and arrived to nice weather. Summer immediately decided we needed to go swimming at the pool which you could see from our balcony. We had a 3 bedroom condo all to ourselves. So, we each had our own room...LOL. We cooked dinner every night and ate breakfast either in the lobby or our room. Clint even learned how to cook fish and baked potatoes! He was happy to leave the pool early so he could go put the fish in the oven when the baked potatoes were about ready. I would stay at the pool and convince Summer it was time to leave the pool. She really liked it the best of anything we did I think.

At SeaWorld, we first watched the sea lion and otter show which she was scared of. Then we went to a dog and cat show. It was cute. She really liked it and Clint took her up to the front to pet one of the dogs after the show. I think it was her favorite show of the day! Then we went to play in the kids area where they have slides, sand, ropes to climb on, and rides. We tried to get on one ride, but when they were fixing to buckle us in she decided she didn't want to ride. So, we got off and didn't try again on that one. We did finally get on one ride (teacups I think) and she was a little scared when we went up in the air and I spun the cup around. But, she did pretty good and didn't pitch a fit or anything. After that I tried to take her to the fountains where she could play. We put her bathing suit on, but she didn't want any of that either. Hmmmm. We decided to eat lunch and then go to the Shamu show. We fed some birds, some kind of Ibis, a few of our fries which Summer enjoyed doing. She got scared at this show too. We think maybe the music was too loud, but maybe the animals were just big. ??? I got quite a few good hugs during those scared moments so it was all worth it. She enjoyed the dolphin show. We were the closest to the front we had been all day at those show. Maybe she was just too tired to be scared. We left shortly after that and she was asleep before we got on the interstate.

Universal Studios was fun too. We mainly went there because Barney was there. It basically cost us about $150 to see Barney (and for Clint to be on Fear Factor Live). We didn't do much else at the park. We did try to ride a ride when we got there, but Summer didn't really enjoy it. It was really loud and we were sitting in front of a big screen, flying through the city with Jimmy Neutron or somebody. Our seats were in the front so they did not move like the others, but she still didn't like it. We decided that was enough rides for the day. :) I did get to ride on the MIB ride which was pretty cool. I had to shoot aliens as we went through the ride and spun around. I didn't even know we were supposed to be shooting until after the ride had already started....LOL. The man was going to let me ride again, but I figured I better get back to Clint and Summer. We walked by the Fear Factor Live set and they were doing casting for the next show. I convinced Clint to do it and Summer and I left him to get ready for the show. I beat three little girls at a water shooting competition and won Summer the biggest prize they had. It was fun. Then we went to see Barney while we waited for Clint's show to start. At first when we saw Barney and Baby Bop and BJ she was scared and would not touch them. I had to hold her to get a picture with them at first. They were in the playhouse the whole time we were so she kind of got used to them. We left and went and watched Clint come in 2nd place at the fear factor show. It was fun and he won two tickets back to both Universal Parks which is worth about $175 (oh yeah and a Fear Factor hat). He was happy he did it. He got to hang onto a bar and then drop about 30-40 feet when he lost his grip. He did several other stunts, but ended up getting beat bya 20 year old girl. :) After that we took Clint to Barney's playhouse and she was much more used to Barney this time. She actually got upset when he had to leave to go get ready for his show. We got a pizza and went to get in line for his show (which btw you don't need to get there early for - go for the back row when they finally let you stand outside the doors!!!). She enjoyed the show. We sang and danced and clapped. I even enjoyed it. We ended up going back to it again before we left, but she was too tired to sing and dance this time.

The day before we left, we went to Cocoa Beach. There were tons of shells on the beach which meant I was in SHELL HEAVEN!!! Summer even walked in the sand a little (with her water socks on), but she suckered Clint into carrying her to the shore line. She picked up shells and we found a few cups on the beach which we put shells in. She dumped hers out a few times, but I didn't let her dump mine when she tried (the 2nd time anyway...LOL). I caught on quick! We went out on the pier there and I fished a little. I didn't catch anything but one of the supporting poles. :) Summer got attacked by a pelican. Those birds were about her size and weren't scared of anything. She got tired so Clint took her to the car where she fell asleep. So, I packed up my fishing gear and left. We drove back to Orlando and grabbed a little lunch at Taco Bell. We went out for our final swim in the pool and then called it a vacation.

We headed out early Saturday morning. We got to the airport in plenty of time and Summer entertained some of the other people waiting around us. She was a good girl both ways on the airplane. We all three actually slept part of the way on the way back. It was nice to get away and make a few special memories. Bear and Blackie both joined us on this trip as you can see from several of the pics. They are definitely Summer's partners in crime.

Orlando here we come!

We are packing today to make a last minute trip to Orlando.  We wanted to take Summer on a trip before we find out what is going to happen with Clint this month.  So, we thought it would be fun to take her to SeaWorld and maybe Universal Studios or Aquatica.  We just booked it yesterday and are leaving tomorrow.  So, I gotta get all our stuff packed today.  I spent almost 5 hours yesterday trying to decide where to stay and ended up staying at the first place on the search results.  Why couldn't I just have booked it instead of shopping around all afternoon??????  Oh well, it is done now and I am excited.  I hope Summer enjoys it.  I really think she will because she knows what dolphins are and she will get to pet one which should be exciting.  We are members to our local aquarium so she gets to pet sharks and rays whenever we go there (if she is in the mood).  Mostly she just likes to splash the water...LOL.  Dolphins are much bigger so we will see how she reacts to them.  I guess I better get off here and go start getting all our stuff in suitcases. 

Valentine's Day

This post is a little late coming, but I have finally gotten around to going through some of my pics.  LOL

Summer got a morning surprise when her daddy returned from working out with a balloon and candy for her.  She also got a really cool princess card from him which says, "May all your dreams come true this Valentine's Day!"  It was cute and she still looks at it whenever she comes across it laying around somewhere. 

And there are toys EVERYWHERE!!!  But, that is another subject. 

We decided to go for lunch at Tony's Pasta since I love Italian food and by golly I was going to splurge off of my pre-Mexico diet.  So, we loaded her up in the stroller after getting her all dolled up in a skirt and some pink leggings.  Any let's not forget Blackie.  He is like part of her wardrobe on some days...LOL.  I have noticed that since we have returned from Mexico, she has not had him at her beck and call like before.  She is taking a nap with him right now (Bear too).  I think she even has a towel with a bear on it in there with her...LOL.  She likes that towel.  Her nap directly followed her bath which was fun for her as usual.  I tried to teach her the difference between yellow and orange, but I'm not sure she will call the orange crayon orange.  She will probably call it yellow.  :)  I think yellow is her favorite color because my mom and I have both noticed her calling any color of M&M yellow.  The things you remember...

There I go completely off subject again.  Okay so we went to lunch and then walked up to this garden full of art to take some pics.  Summer liked crawling/climbing on the bench.  She really is a climber or as I like to call her, a little monkey.  She likes to jump too.  "I 'onna jump," she says.  She rarely does, but she is learning to use her knees so I suspect it won't be long until she is jumping all over the place.  Darn.  Anyway, we took our pics and walked home in the cold. 

After Summer's nap wewent to the mall to let her play on the playground.  She really likes it and it is nice to have an free indoor playground to go to if it is cold outside. They have all kind of things for her to climb on and a slide.  She never really wants to leave and that day was no exception.  Some battles she just can't win.  :)  Overall, our day was pretty awesome and I think I got some good pics.   

We were in the paper a few weeks ago.  There was a picture of the three of us coming across the bridge.  It was neat to see us all on our bikes, doing what we do all the time.  One of those pics you would never be able to shoot on your own, but someone else saw it and thought it would make a good picture.  So, we have had our five minutes of fame for the next 10 years.  :)  I'll try to put a scanned pic of it up on this site in the future.