Busy, Busy

It has been a while since I have published a blog. We've been going quiet a bit. In the last few weeks we:



*went to Alex's birthday party at Des Arc

*went to the zoo twice

*Bailey and I went to Mineral and spent a few days

*went to Grapevine for about a week

*went to lake Ouchita for the day to visit Ericka & Nathan

*various doctor appointments

*Lauren's birthday party



I feel like I'm leaving something out. Maybe the lack of sleep last night is affecting my brain. The last few weeks have been crazy for Bailey. I don't know if it is because we have been going so much or what but we are all off. While we were at Grapevine Bailey had issues about every other night. I don't know what the deal was. She would wake up at around 2 or 3 and reach for me and cry until I would pick her up. She would lay down for about 10 minutes very quiet and still. Just long enough for me to relax and think that she was asleep then she would stand up and cry again. She finally ended up in the bed with me and Austin went in the other room. One night she laid in bed with me from 2 to 5:30. She was very quiet and still. She just kept starring at the ceiling. I don't know what the deal was. She just couldn't sleep. It has been better since we've been home, but we were up for a while last night.



We've also been dealing with this newly developed attitude. My precious two year old baby girl has been acting like a teenager. I am hoping that getting back into a more normal routine will help. She has been better the last few days. Pray for us!!



I went to the doctor for a yearly check up and she noticed that I had a lump on my thyroid. She sent me for a thyroid ultrasound. When the results of the thyroid ultrasound came back I was referred to an Ear Nose & Throat doctor. At my first appointment they did a fine needle biopsy and removed three syringes full of fluid from my cyst. The result of that biopsy came back benign but the doctor want me to come back in. We discussed my options. I could just keep an eye on it and see how much it grows (it is a little smaller than a golf ball right now) or we could go ahead and remove it. The doctor recommended to go ahead and remove it because she was pretty confident that it would just continue to grow. I am having surgery July 24. They are going to remove the cyst along with part of my thyroid. While I am still asleep they will do a frozen biopsy on the cyst. If the results are benign they will sew me up and send it off for a more detailed biopsy that will take a couple of weeks, if the results are malignant they will remove the whole thyroid while I am still sleeping. The surgery is an outpatient procedure unless the frozen biopsy results are malignant then it is just one night in the hospital. The doctor says the chances of cancer are very low. If the results of the frozen biopsy are negative, but the more detailed one comes back positive then they will have to go back in and remove the rest of the thyroid. The chances of that are slim to none. The doctor also reassures me that thyroid cancer is the best cancer to have. It is very easy to treat and for someone my age there is nearly a 100% cure rate. If I understood her correctly, the only treatment besides removing the thyroid if it is malignant is one treatment of radioactive iodine.

Anyway keep me in your prayers. At this point I am not really too nervous. I had a pretty major back surgery 5 years ago so this doesn't seem like such a big deal. I will try to post some zoo pictures soon. There are so many cute ones I am having a hard time narrowing it down.

"Flower Girls"

The last time we were at Poppy and Mammie's house Bailey and Mammie decided that they should plant some flowers together. We went to Wal-Mart where Mammie picked out flowers. We saw some Dora gardening gloves that Bailey just had to have (well I just had to have them for her). It was so funny how serious she was. She really thought that she was doing something. I think you can see how she had her little lips in one of the pictures above. That was her expression the entire time she was "working". First they pulled all of the weeds out. Next they adding potting soil. Finally they planted the flowers and "gave them a drink of water". They had so much fun and Bailey is looking forward to seeing them again. (The flowers and Poppy & Mammie)

We also spent some time in the back yard with Poppy & Mammie. Poppy was so cute when he chased down a little bird that had fallen from its nest so he could show it to Bailey. She actually liked it and rubbed it's head when Poppy held it up to her. She is usually a little afraid of anything that could possibly bite. We had fun and look forward to seeing them again.

"Pizza Pie"

A few days ago Austin and I decided it would be fun to let Bailey help us make a pizza for supper. She was so excited, as you can see in one of the pictures above. She did a great job. She loves to cook. Every time we cook supper now she wants to pull a chair up so she can help.

CRUISING

Here are some pictures from our trip. We had a great time. We left from Mobile, Alabama around 4:00 Monday afternoon and returned around 8:00 Saturday morning. We won the trip from Country Maid for having the fifth highest sales volume. Yeah!! Sheila was kind enough to come and stay with Bailey at our house for the week. Thanks so much!! It would have been a totally different trip with a two year old. It also happened to be the week before our 7th anniversary so it was a wonderful anniversary trip.


The first picture is our ship. I thought it was huge when I first saw it. The second picture is our ship beside a much larger ship. That ship was enormous. Here we are docked at Cozumel. We were there all day Wednesday and Thursday. We were supposed to be in Cozumel Wednesday and a beach just south of Calica on Thursday but the wind was too strong to dock the ship at Calica so we stayed an extra day at Cozumel.



These pictures are from the first day on the boat. The wind is so strong out on the deck. That's why there is no picture of me. The wind blown look just doesn't look great on me. The weather was very nice. It was sunny but the wind kept it from being too hot.

The first day that we were in Cozumel we spent the whole day eating and shopping. Austin loves to bargain with the people at the stores. It gives him great satisfaction to pay $15 for something they were originally asking $35 for. It makes me nervous. I try not to look them in the eye so they don't try to wave me into their store. I just walked by Austin and let him do the talking. This picture is of me and a live statue. These guys were standing around in different spots in Cozumel. The would stand there and not move a muscle, then they would reach out and grab some poor unsuspecting person and scare them to death. Unfortunately I did not know this and I was one of the unsuspecting people. This guy grabbed me and I let out a very loud scream. Everyone laughed and I was sooo embarrassed. Austin convinced me to go back and take a picture with him after we sat and watched him get a few other people. The embarrassing thing is we probably saw 20 other people that these guys grabbed and I think that I screamed the loudest.

The sunset was beautiful on the boat. Night time was also nice out on the decks. They were illuminated beautifully. The second picture is some sort of house looking thing built on stilts just out in the ocean. It wasn't too far from land. I think you might can see some land in the background. We weren't sure what it was. Austin teased and said we would have to tell my mom that we found her some ocean front property for when she an dad retire. She isn't crazy about the idea of being out on a boat in the middle of the ocean so he thought that would be funny. Any ideas on what it could be?

This is the couple that we had supper with every night. We were assigned to the same table. We hit it off right away and spent quiet a bit of time together every evening after supper. It was crazy how much we had in common. We were about the same age and had kids very close in age. We bought our kids the same souvenirs and had many of the same concerns about being on the boat. One night was particularly windy and most people had trouble walking because of waves rocking the boat. It was nothing dangerous and the people who worked there even seemed a little amused watching the rest of us trying to walk. The couples names are Mike and Jen. They live in Pensacola, Florida. He is in the Air force so they move every few years. I think they said they had been there about a year now. We got their e-mail address so maybe we can keep in touch.


These pictures are from the days spent in Cozumel. The first picture is of me rescuing Austin from a shark. Don't know what he would do without me? The second picture is of the coast of Cozumel from our boat. The last one was taken from a dock off of one of the restaurants in Cozumel. It was very nice to be able to sit in the restaurant with a view of the ocean as you eat.

This first picture is a picture of our room. It was quiet a bit smaller than I expected, but I guess you don't have that much room on a ship. The next pictures are of some of the towel animals that we would find in our room. They cleaned our room at least twice a day. The service on the ship was amazing. Everyone was so kind and you were waited on all of the time. Almost none of the employees were American. We teasingly said that was because they wanted people who would be so kind.


The food on the trip was excellent. The buffets were good, but the meal in the dining room at night was awesome. I tried some things that I wouldn't have usually tried. My favorite meal was probably the grilled Mahi Mahi. It was delicious. It had grilled vegetables and a potato cake on the bottom. It was all stacked in a tower with some kind of sauce that would melt in your mouth. Each night you had your choice of an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. There were always several options to choose from. Some were the same every night and they would throw in a few new things each night. I didn't stray far when it came time for dessert though. I had the warm melting chocolate cake with ice cream every night. YUMM!!

This was one of our waiters. You have the same two people that wait your table every night. His name was Vladamir but we nick named him Franc. If you have seen the Steve Martin movie "Father of the Bride" you know what we mean. Franc was the wedding coordinator. This guy doesn't look like Franc but he sounded just like him and his mannerisms were very similar. We told Mike and Jen what we thought and they couldn't look at him without laughing after that. Supper time was the most fun. Every night the wait staff would break out in a song and dance that they would do around the room. They would pull people from their table to join them. I sat on the inside so I was safe. They tried to get Austin a couple of times but he didn't budge. It reminded me of a movie when everyone in the restaurant joins in a song that someone started. Anyway we had a blast and definitely plan on doing it again in the future.

Potty Time!!

Bailey's first day accident free.

Last Monday we decided that we would start the toilet training process, again. I tried for about an hour a few months ago and after several pair of wet panties decided I wasn't in any hurry. Monday morning I put her in big girl panties and told her that when she goes tee tee in the potty she will get candy as a reward. If you know Bailey very well you know she loves candy. She did pretty well that day but we did have a few accidents. Tuesday was better. She still had a couple of accidents but was starting to figure the whole thing out. By Wednesday Bailey had figured out that she could squeeze out a little tee tee about every fifteen minutes. She would say "I want some candy. I'll go tee tee now", and sure enough she could manage to go. I knew then something had to change. I decided to make her a chart and when she gets three stickers in a row she gets candy. She was so excited about putting stickers on the chart she almost forgot about the candy all together. Thursday was her first day using the chart. She still had one accident Thursday. She wasn't telling me when she had to go and if I asked her if she needed to she would still say no. I started using our kitchen timer. It beeps every thirty minutes. Bailey knows when she hears the beeping that it is time to go potty and she doesn't mind at all. Friday was her first day to be completely accident free. Hooray!! I am gradually lengthening the amount of time between potty visits. She is even telling us on her own a lot now. In just one weeks time she is accident free most days. She doesn't even remember the sticker or the candy very often now. She just goes. She doesn't do as well when we are out and about, but I know that will take time. Sorry I know this was a long and rambling blog but we are so excited. She's growing up so fast!!