Paula Deen Live!

Mom flew into town so that we could go to the Music Hall at Fair Park to see Paula Deen Live. It was her birthday and Mother's Day present from me. We had so much fun! It was so nice to have an afternoon with just Mom.

Paula is even crazier in person than she is on her shows! Her mind is in the gutter most of the time so that was pretty entertaining in itself. I wish that she had signed autographs afterward, but I know that she comes to town from time to time to do book signings so that may be why.

I knew my friend Kristy was also going to see Paula. We had talked earlier in the week about calling each other when we got there to see where the other was sitting. She called my cell phone at 10:45 while I was shopping with Mom and the kids at Firewheel. I almost had a stroke right there in the Carter's store. Apparently Paula had an 11:00 show and a 4:00 show. I called Lorne at home and asked him to please tell me that our tickets were for later that day because there would be no way for us to make it to the show in time. Mom and I had tickets to the afternoon show and it never occurred to us that there was more than one show! I told Mom that if I'd screwed up and made her miss Paula I would not only buy her another ticket but also fly her to the new city so that she could see her!

I figured most everyone there had an extra five pounds thanks to Paula Deen...myself included!


Paula's son Bobby and husband Michael also made the trip.

Chloe is Five Months Old!

Chloe has spent her fifth month rolling around the living room and any other flat space she occupies. She is slowly but surely no longer in the same place that I leave her after a period of time. She is still enjoying being held and I am happy for that. I keep telling her that she is way too rotten to be my second child. She doesn't believe in being put down for any period of time. That makes most days pretty interesting!

Mom's friend Frances gave Chloe this outfit. She said that she wanted Chloe's first Ralph Lauren outfit to be from her. I figured that this would be her ONLY Ralph Lauren outfit so she would get her wish! :)

I Must Be Crazy!

If someone had told me five months ago that I would be traipsing around the county with a four-month-old and a two-year-old four out of five days this week I would have told them they were crazy, but that's exactly what we did!

Sawyer had his PlayPals class at the Plano Parks & Rec. on Tuesday. It was his second class and it went really well. I think that he has warmed up to Miss Linda pretty quickly. I only stayed for ten minutes of the hour and a half this week. I was there closer to forty-five last week. I was only out in the hall both times. I haven't built up the courage to actually leave the facility.

We went to Weight Watchers on Wednesday. I lost a whopping .6 pounds. Man, it sure is tough to go when I haven't lost much weight. I have lost 13.8 pounds in fourteen weeks. At this rate I will get to my goal weight by the time I'm eighty! By then everything will be headed so south that I won't care one way or the other.

I had a mammogram and sonogram yesterday. I wasn't planning on the mammogram, but apparently it is procedure to begin with a mammogram. It was not at all as horrible as I have heard it would be. I guess not much would be when my own personal mammogram is pulling, pinching, and yes, sometimes biting, on me on a daily basis. The great news (I guess) is that they didn't find anything physically wrong with my left side. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to have a tumor, but it is really frustrating when they tell me that there's no explanation as to the reduced production. I guess that I just have to be happy with the right side and continue to do what I'm doing. It looks like it's working out well enough. At least now I have a definitive answer as far as to whether or not something is physically wrong. I just wish that I didn't have to still be feeding her every two hours. I think that she would be able to go longer if I had adequate amounts on both sides. I'm still planning to wait until she's six months old to start solids, though. From what I've read it helps with the digestion process of breastfed babies to wait because their systems have had that much longer to develop and be able to digest something other than breastmilk.

Lorne and I went to the dentist and had our cleanings today. I have FIVE cavities!!! I was absolutely floored! I have had four in my entire life, and now I have five at one time. I missed my cleaning in March because I went to see the perinatologist instead and then when I tried to reschedule I felt like it was too close to my due date. I didn't want to go into labor in the dental chair! Now I have to go for two more appointments so that I can get them filled. I am so bummed out! The dentist said that they are between my teeth so that's probably why I haven't had any discomfort. I can't imagine not feeling any pain, but whatever. That's how I'm feeling about the whole thing....whatever! This was my first visit to this office. He is our fourth dentist we've had since we were married. I felt like it was very clinical and detached. The hygentist wore her mask the whole time and never even introduced herself. I miss Dr. Dennard and Brenda! :(

I need to get more creative in my picture taking, but this was the best I could do:

Thanks for the Disney Store outfits Aunt Jamie!

A close-up of the munchkins.

Sawyer helped me make dinner the other night. He added (and ate) the mozarella to the baked rigatoni.

Here are some pictures from Denise's shower:

Starting with Denise in the red and working clockwise: Jeremy's mom Luann, Laura, moi, Jeremy's sister Veronica, Denise's niece Lauren, Denise's sister Carey, Denise's co-worker Nanci, and co-worker Renee.

Laura, Denise, and I.

Denise and Ducky. The little baggies on the table are the duck candies that Lorne and I made.

It was Lorne's idea to add the "water" at the bottom to make the cake larger. The only downside was that we all ended up with blue teeth!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know that I begin every post by saying that I can't believe how long it has been since I posted, but, "I can't believe how long it has been since I posted!" It seems like we have been really busy lately. I'll try to get us up to date for those who are interested:

Lorne and I had our eighth anniversary on July 24th. The eighth anniversary gift is bronze. I got Lorne two bronze hanging baskets and he got me an Eiffel Tower from a souvenir shop in Paris! He ordered it online. It was a surprise, but when it was delivered to the porch it was pretty obvious what it was from the way it was wrapped. It also had a customs sticker that had "Eiffel Tower" written on it so that was a dead giveaway too. I thought that it was still a great gift!

We joined Lifetime Fitness recently. We had been talking about it since before Chloe was born and finally got around to enrolling. I know that if I am going to lose this fifty pounds I have to get off my tush and exercise. Lorne's company pays a subsidy based on salary so we will get a monthly reimbursement from them. I think that it will be a great place to work out if I can get Sawyer used to the childcare area. He wasn't too thrilled about it the first two times we went, but I know that it will take a while to acclimate him. I'm the only person he has been around during the day for pretty much his whole life, so I'm trying to be patient and not give up. One of the workers told me that it can take up to a month and then he will be getting sad when he has to leave. She also said that it is especially crazy during the summer and that it will quiet down considerably once school resumes. Chloe is so young that she does fine so I'm hoping that she just won't know any differently.

Denise's baby shower was on the 28th. Laura and I hosted it at the Into My Garden Tearoom in downtown Plano. It was so much fun and so nice to not have to clean my house or worry about what to do with Lorne and the kids during the shower. I also thought of the tearoom because we have attended so many baby showers recently and I wanted hers to be unique. I went with a rubber duck theme since that was what was on the invitations. I baked a rubber duck cake and made rubber duck candy for everyone to take home, but that was really fun and I started working on them on Wednesday so I had plenty of time and didn't feel rushed at all. I also had a door prize of some Bath & Body Works travel-size items wrapped in cellophane with a rubber duck. I placed a rubber duck sticker under one of the placemats to choose the winner. I think that Denise had a nice time too so it was all worth it. I have pictures, but the picture poster isn't cooperating so I will have to try again later.

Chloe had her four-month well-check on July 30th. She is in the 75th percentile for her weight and off the charts for her length! That is so hard to believe! She weighs fifteen pounds and is 26 3/4 inches long. Sawyer weighed 13.6 and was 24 inches at the same age! I keep wondering how two kids can be so different in size. She got four shots so that was tough, but I always bring Tylenol and give it to her to try and curb some of the pain.

I had my yearly appointment last week and I asked Dr. Watts about why I am only nursing at half capacity. She said that she didn't think that there was anything physically wrong, but she referred me to a breast surgeon for a second opinion. I was able to get an appointment for Friday while Larry and Velma were here so it worked out really well. She was unable to find anything upon an examination either, but said that she would order a sonogram to ease my mind. I am scheduled for the sono on August 16th. Even if they don't find anything I will feel better knowing that I did all that I could. The surgeon told me that decreased lactation doesn't necessarily indicate pathology so that made me feel better. We'll see what they find...

I'll close with some pictures of our babies:

I actually got them to sort of smile at the same time! Sawyer got a haircut today so that's why he looks kind of scalped.

I wish that she would stay this little forever!

I love how she's posing for this shot.

If you look closely you can see a bottom tooth.

Chloe loves the Exersaucer!