House 1st Anniversary

We have now been our house 1 year! The year has really gone by fast, but we have made a LOT of progress on our house.
Outdoors: We put a new and much improved flower bed and painted the front door and garage door. A good section of our yard has been converted into our garden. There are about 7 raised beds and we recently put gravel around the beds. Carl put up a fence and made a gate for the garden to keep the dog and boys out. We had lots of zucchini and cucumber during the spring. Jalepenos and bell peppers are our biggest producers right now. Maybe we'll have better luck this next year.
Indoors: We cleaned..no..we scrubbed down the house. Most of the walls have been painted and new ceiling fans in almost every room. 2" faux wood blinds installed in every window. Holes patched. In the spring, we put tile in the kitchen, laundry room, 2 bathrooms, and around the patio door.
Although we have made a lot of progress, there is a LOT more to do. Our projects for the next year (hopefully) include:

• Putting a walkway in the front
• Finish painting walls (touchups and common areas)
• Paint the kitchen cabinets
• Replace our fence
• Put drapes/curtains up (have to make some)
• Install quarter-round (and paint the base boards)
• Whatever else comes up and needs to get done

We have received numerous compliments on our house and the progress we have made. We are enjoying it even though we are exhausted.

Allergies?

We recently had a seasonal cold. Sore throat, head congestion, cough....
Corbin seemed to be over his for the most part... other than a cough. He told me, "I have allergies in my mouth." At a later time, he requested some chocolate milk. After drinking it, he informed me that he no longer had a cold. The chocolate milk cured him ;)

Ever, Ever, Ever

Corbin has become quite the mouthy little pouter! If he gets mad or his feeling hurt, he begins to pout followed by a phrase: "I don't want to ______ ever ever ever!" (fill in the blank)

Hello! My Name is Trouble

Cavan hasn't gotten to the stage of saying many cute phrases. Probably because he is always into something. He actually has a t-shirt that says : Hello My Name is Trouble (looks like that standard name tag). It's so fitting. We cannot keep him out of anything. Our bedroom door has to be locked. He finds things to climb onto to get our car keys or into my purse. The other day he poured out some carpet cleaner over the second floor rail onto the carpet below. He's been caught playing in cat litter. Cavan's specialty is electronics. The camera, computer, but most of all, the cell phone. He can take pictures and email them to people. He has deleted things on the phone.
Cavan is TROUBLE!

Engine or Ninja?

My boys have great imaginations. Yesterday, Corbin and Cavan were playing. Cavan was bumblebee (transformer) and Corbin was claiming he was an Engine. An Engine? He had his Ninja dagger and tried to correct him. He insisted that he was an Engine. I proceded to notify him that an engine was like a train. "Are you a train?" He decided he was wrong and mommy was right ;) He was a ninja!

Tickle Daddy's Tarsals

This morning the boys came in our room to let us know it was time to get up. Cavan climbed onto my lap and I began to rub his back. Corbin noticed he had bones in his back, so we started naming different bones (at least the ones I could remember). This included the foot bones, Tarsals. So I began to tickle his tarsals. Carl was hiding under the sheet, so Corbin decided it would be fun to tickle daddy's tarsals. Corbin kept saying, "tickle your tarsals, tickle your tarsals". It was funny and I was a proud biologist ;)

New Blog

I have decided to start an additional blog to cover recipes and issues concerning my diagnosis: adrenal fatigue. Mostly so that I can work through it with online journaling and keep recipes I like together. Another bonus is that it may help others (if they come across it). It's a whole new lifestyle....doable but at times overwhelming. A new way of thinking about nutrition, stress management, etc...
So if you know anyone that has this condition or you suspect may have it, refer them to my blog or have them read the book, Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome. click on the title above to visit the new blog.

Bzzzzzz.....

Wow... it's been a long time since I have blogged. The latest for me has been the Hives. Yep.. I was one big Hive and no bees. Apparently the bees got lost at my parents house! Don't know what caused it, but it's not a lot of fun. So now I'm staying doped up on steroids, antihistamines, and antibiotics. Hives is like having a million mosquito bites all over... the itch is intense and some areas is more of a burning feeling. I sure hope I don't get them again... wish I knew for sure what caused them.

Super Saturday

What a day! Full of great moments, surprises, impressive feats, and more....

One of the biggest moments today.... Corbin said "STOP, BOBO!" when his dad was pestering him. This may not seem like much, but with Corbin's severe speech impairment it was a big accomplishment. He said it very clearly and pronounced the 'B' sound which is very very difficult for him. The program at school is helping and he has been playing a computer game that is really helping too.
Cavan changed his own pull-up this afternoon. I was napping and Carl laid him down for a nap. I guess he pooped and decided to change it himself. It was quite impressive although messy/stinky. He even tried to wipe himself and put a swim diaper on... then went to sleep.
We went shopping again at our new favorite store....HOME DEPOT. Bought a few tiles to test out if they would work... great choices on my part. We'll probably stop by there tomorrow and buy the amount needed before they sell out (and they are on sale). A fairly dark brown for the downstairs bathroom and dark gray for the kitchen/utility. Still working on finding tile for other rooms.
We also bought a carpet cleaner.... Bissell Proheat 2X. It's a winner. It's amazing how clean it is getting our carpets and believe me they were nasty. Almost as if the people never vacuumed. Carl has been cleaning carpet all afternoon (he wanted to). He is very impressed with it. Anyways... if you are looking to buy a carpet cleaner get this one. Better than paying someone to do it and cheaper.

Anyways... a good day. I even got a nap! I like it when Carl is home.

All I Want for Christmas...

is a babysitter. You wouldn't think that would be much of a request, but as my lot in life goes... it is! Every time we finally find a babysitter someone ends up sick and we have to cancel. Or the babysitter ended up having plans that night after all. Apparently it is my lot in life to never get a real break from the kids. Grocery shopping does not count!
I know a vacation is way out of reach, so all I ask is for a babysitter for one night. One measly night of a reprieve is all I ask. How difficult could it be?!
We thought we had a babysitter for Carl's work party, but everyone seems to have a party that night. Carl's work wants to pay for us to go to a nice restaurant, but that would require a babysitter!
YES.. i'm whining. But you try going no telling how long without reprieve or how about this... try not having a restful night's sleep in over 11 years (since July 1996). Naps don't count. I've given up on asking for that one.