Time with friends

Life has been busy. Cullen’s friend Forrest came up for a visit on Monday. He stayed two nights. Monday night they did some cooking for fish. They made up some balls of shredded wheat to stick on the end of their fishing poles. It was funny. They didn’t catch anything with the wheat balls. Cullen then did some hunting for worms and they caught a few fish.
I was at work on Tuesday and so I missed out on the fishing. Although that wasn’t so bad. Caitlin, my friend from work, and I got off at the same time. We decided to go shopping. I bought some clothes I needed and a few I didn’t. It was so much fun shopping with her. Then after the shopping we headed back to her home.
We talked.
We watched a few episodes of house.
We had a bottle of red wine.
It was fun.
I spent the night.
The next morning.
I had a hangover.
It was all worth it.

You know I don’t remember the last time I did something like that. I feel less stressed. Although next time I don’t think I will drink so much. It is nice to just let everything go if even for just a night.
And Caitlin was the best of host. I had clean sheets and I even got clean clothes, because she washed them for me.
Each time Caitlin and I have gotten together it has been on the spur of the moment. It is nice, no plans needed.
And my friend Caitlin is a wild one. She is going skydiving this weekend. I think it will be the third time she has gone.
One day I may go, but probably not for a few years off.
It has to be exhilarating.

Oh and Cullen got the tooth that was bothering him pulled. He has to get his other three wisdom teeth out soon. So, he is still sore but feeling a lot better.

Tooth ache and ice cream

Cullen has a tooth ache and will have one tooth pulled on Monday. He needs three more pulled but has to wait for the insurance to approve it. He is in pain, but is coping pretty well with the medicine he got from the dentist today.

Gregory had some ice cream. Stella was Gregory’s babysitter, but because we changed Gregory back to Ms. Linda we don’t need Stella to watch Gregory anymore. The thing is she is hooked. She comes over to visit Gregory all the time and today Stella was over at Ms. Linda’s house eating ice cream with Gregory. Stella’s mom also gets very excited when she sees Gregory.
Plus Ms. Linda is doing extended hours at her home daycare for us. So we don’t have to pay for a baby sitter and she isn’t charging anything extra. The thing is she doesn’t do this for anyone else she watches.
Gregory is loved and knowing that touches my heart.

Gregory's Bright Yellow Room

072508 Gregory's room
Originally uploaded by smileahug.

He is still snoozing.

Our living room

072508 the living room
Originally uploaded by smileahug.

The room is a bit dark because this picture was taken this morning.

Bright yellow and a melon in the living room

Gregory quite likes his bright yellow room.
Barrie asked what were the first words out of Gregory's mouth when he saw his room?
This is exactly what Gregory said “I like it. I like the yellow mommy.”

Our living room is now melon color it is a mix between yellow and orange.

You guys know I am blind and well I mentioned before Cullen is red green color blind. So, if you think we picked strange colors. This is probably why. But as Gregory said “I like it”.

Oh and the picture thing. Because I am blind posting it is too hard to put two pictures in the same post so you are stuck with me posting pictures separately

Gregory makes it All Better

On Monday I walked to the pantry. I was holding Gregory on my right hip. I opened the door and asked Gregory “What should we have for lunch?” Then I bumped a can. It fell and landed on my toes on my left foot. I held Gregory a bit tighter and set him down gently. Then I started to cry. I grabbed some ice for my toes and lay down on the couch.
Gregory came over and said
“Mommy you hurt?”
“I sorry mommy”
“I kiss it” He kissed my foot.
He then ran back in the kitchen picked up the can and put it back on a shelf. After doing that he came back to me. He climbed up on the couch and lay on top of me and held me. “I hold you mommy”
He lay on the couch with me until I got up.
“OK Mommy?”
I said yes but my toes still hurt from the can and that was two days ago. But I felt ok because my almost three year old son cares so much about me.
I guess kisses and hugs really do help boo-boo’s feel better.

I have just been in a fog

Gregory’s room is going to be bright yellow by the end of the day. Then tomorrow or Tuesday Cullen will stick a second coat on it. Gregory’s favorite color is yellow. So his room will be yellow. He is napping now, but I am sure he will be surprised when he wakes up. He will have to sleep with us tonight and tomorrow night. Well, until the paint is dry.
Cullen painted the entryway last week. We are hoping to get the living room done soon too. Once everything is painted I will post up pictures.

This past week I had a migraine that I just could not get rid of so I finally had to go see the doctor on Thursday for some medicine. I am recovered now. It is such a relief to feel better.
Gregory’s potty training is going pretty well. He has about two accidents a day. I figure that isn’t too bad.
Oh and on Tuesday Gregory will go back to his old daycare. I wish we wouldn’t have to move him again but that is what we have to do. At least we already know he likes Ms Linda.
I guess it is update on my life day.
Cullen got a new toy. He got one of those new Sprint phones. I think it is called the instinct or something. He can watch TV, go on the internet, and do lots of other things. That is all he ever talks about lately. Gregory was being cranky in the car a couple of days ago and Cullen turned on the TV show Little Einsteins for Gregory. So Gregory was using Daddy’s phone to watch TV in the car.

Well, really I haven’t been up to much except suffering from head pain. Now that my head is feeling better my life should become a bit more exciting.

I hope your week went better than mine.
Smiles

Spring cleaning in the Summer

This past week I have had a few terrible combination tension and sinus headaches. You know life is a bit stressful. One thing I don’t understand is how some people decide that if I can’t see them, they can’t see me either. I have to ask a question at least three or four times for anyone to respond to me on the bus, at the metro, or in a store. I guess I am the invisible woman. It is so frustrating, but that is just how it is.
Cullen and I also have been doing some major cleaning and rearranging of our home. I do like the changes. Tonight when Cullen gets home from work after dinner we are going to start painting the entryway. Yea!!!
Oh yes and my laptop has a broken part. This makes it so I can’t close it and if I do I risk braking the screen to reopen. So, if I disappear for a prolonged period of time it is probably because I am getting it fixed.
My stress level has been running on high lately so I am working on bringing it back down to medium or low. Well, I am going to go pick up Gregory and spend some time with him fingerpainting. He likes it and it is fun for me too.

Brain Freeze

Cullen, Gregory, and I went shopping. We all wanted a fruit juice icy thing. So we got three. We looked around the store.
“uhhhrhaaa!” Gregory cried
“What’s wrong, what hurts?” Mommy and Daddy asked.
“hurts” Gregory said pointing to his head.

Brain Freeze
Cullen and I couldn’t help but smile to ourselves.
The joys of icy drinks.

What I do at work

070708 Angela Crochet blanket
Originally uploaded by smileahug.

I crochet.
Lately work has been very slow. I mean with the exception of last Saturday. So to keep myself busy I end up making blankets. I made this one for my friend Caitlin. She is going to a baby shower this month and asked me to make one for her to give. I said yes and this is the finished product.
Before I started this one I made one for one of my new nieces. I will have the other one finished this week probably. After I finish the second I will post a picture of the two baby blankets.

If I ever get back on my computer

It seems as though I am much busier lately. I usually check my email every day. Last week I think I checked it twice maybe. I would say that Gregory’s unwillingness to go back to a decent sleep schedule is causing part of this problem. I don’t get on my computer if Gregory is up. Therefore my computer time consists of Gregory’s sleep time. I have also been trying to go to bed at a decent time. With Gregory not going to sleep till after ten pm and me needing sleep my computer play time is very very limited. But wait that is not all…
I am being potty trained
No
No
I mean Gregory is being potty trained.
Boy is that some work there. He is doing pretty good. As long as I remember to have him sit on the potty. He prefers not to ask. So, mind reader like I am I have to know.
UGH
His shoes smell like urine.
Ewe
Pull ups are not the answer. They work just like a diaper. With fun designed underwear there is some progress.
The one thing that saves me is that I know I am not alone. Many of you are going through this wonderful process in your childs life at the same time.

Not much else is going on. Today I was off work and went up to see a friend from school for a massage and boy was it great!

Back to the child news.
We are switching Gregory back to his old daycare lady.
This is because we are losing our babysitter. Our babysitter was affordable, by affordable I mean about ten dollars per hour.
All the other babysitters in all the world got together and decided they were going to charge 15 dollars an hour.
On slow days at my work I don’t make that much. I mean when you average out how many massages I got with how many hours I was there.
The old day care lady will be doing long hours and will give us a flat rate. So we are saved. The only thing is that we really liked Gregory’s preschool. I guess you have to do what you have to do and I can’t afford over $400 a week. If I had to do that I may as well just quit my job.
Yes all the joys of childcare.
Gregory is worth it though.

Oh and this past Saturday I did nine massages. That was the most I have ever done in one day. Let me just say I was dead at the end of the day.


I am hoping to have blog time tonight. I will make daddy put Gregory to bed.
See y’all then

As soon as we get home everyone gets showers and clean pillowcases

061708 Gregory5
Originally uploaded by smileahug.

Sunday night we spent our first night as a family camping. We hadn’t been camping as a family before so we had to get everything. The trip was a last minute idea, because Cullen and I rarely have two days off together. We went shopping for everything we needed Saturday night. We didn’t get home till 11pm.
Then Sunday we got to the campground around 11 am. We set up the tent. We found out that the camp store ran out of firewood and they didn’t have worms. So, my manly man went and searched out wood and worms. Cullen came back with a few big tree branches and a bucket full of worms. He found the branches in the woods. They had fallen down. Cullen brought them back and cut them. The worms he found under a rock. He took his shovel and dug to get them. Now that is getting back to nature.
Cullen caught several little fish. He threw them all back in the water, because they were just little sun fish. Gregory had his own little fishing pole. He quite enjoyed fishing.
Before we went out fishing Cullen and I both learned how much Gregory truly hated flys. He calls all bugs lady bugs. So he called the flys lady bugs. Well, one landed on his knee and he started to bawl. He cried so hard over a fly on his knee. I actually had to take a baby wipe and rub his leg before he would calm down. The whole thing was very funny. Not for my sweet son though.
We ate hotdogs, baked beans, and chilly for dinner, all cooked over the open fire. And of course we had smores. I over did it on the marshmallows, but boy they were good.
That night we took off the rain tarp because it was so hot. We got a nice breeze when we did that. Then in the middle of the night it started to rain. Cullen quickly put the tarp back on and we were protected from the rain.
The next morning Cullen went fishing while Gregory slept and I rested in the tent. We packed up when Cullen got back and we all went out to eat for lunch.
After lunch we came back for one more fun thing, the paddle boat. You know the kind that you peddle with your feet. While we were out on the water it started to rain. We all got wet. Then we went home.
The trip was a lot of fun.

We forgot the camera so instead of a picture of the camp here is a picture of Gregory.