On Vacation

We'll be in Florida for the next week, so look for me then . . .in the spirit of the Fourth I'll share more pics from the Korean War Memorial Dedication.

God Bless America!

Pool Therapy

Today was Clayton's first day of pool therapy. He'll get some OT and PT in there every week. Very exciting, considering he's kind of plateaued in land based PT activities. We're hoping this new environment will help him learn some more movements. (The bottom pics are of him doing some "pull-ups"--that exercise was all his idea!!)

The Week in Pictures

I've been busy, thus the neglected blog. Thought I'd just post the week in pictures, starting with last Saturday. We went to the lake with my brother's family. Can't wait to do it again--the kids keep things hoppin'!

Josh, Nicole and Taylor:

Brian with Drew:
My brother (and yes, he landed!):

My dad with Clayton:

My mom with Drew:

Taylor:

Heidi:

Clayton, before his haircut. He's finally big enough for the cape!

During the haircut:

And after:

Spencer's pool party:

Clayton is obsessive about stickers. And for some reason he wants them all over his head (yes, he directed all these placements!):

And today was the Korean War Memorial Dedication. This is my grandfather. Look for more pics of this event soon.

Nothing Doing

Nothing happening here except hot and humid--love that Arkansas weather!

Clayton's having therapy at the moment--he's all about Ms. Hannah! She definitley makes therapy fun for all!

FINALLY!

Clayton's new activity chair arrived today. And while I was very glad to see it, I'm past the excitement of getting it. We've waited so long for it. We ordered it in NOVEMBER and it wasn't approved until MARCH. Arrives in JUNE. Nothing like speedy service . . . guess they didn't care that he had totally outgrown his feeder chair. At any rate, he seems to really like it and he sit ups so much better in it--much more appropriate!

HE IS BEAUTIFUL

Don't you agree? :)

What I Do on the Weekends

On the message boards I frequent people are always asking what are your plans for the weekend? What'd you do over the weekend? Well, this is pretty much what I'll be doing every weekend until fall . . .

and the money shot (looks like a mag pic with all that spray!):

Thanks to my hubby for putting up with me--I've wanted these pics for a while . . .glad we finally got the chance to get them.

Since I'm Sharing NICU Pics

I'd thought I'd share this one of Clayton's cute little feet . . .can you believe how little he was???

(AND, can you tell I've learned how to use our scanner? I'm having fun with these old pics!)

Just Can't Shake It

Over the last week, I've thought about Shawn for hours . . .don't know why, he's just on my mind. I think it started when I was working on a layout about him which I have yet to finish. I want all my layouts about him to be so perfect that I labor over each little element of the page. My mind just wanders. When he first died, I looked through his pictures with a smile on my face, so proud. And then I went through a long period when I couldn't look at his pictures at all. And for a while I would look at them and get so angry--angry in a jealous way. Angry that he isn't here. But now when I look at them, I'm angry for a totally different reason. I see how sick he got the day before he died. That night was horrible; he was so sick. It makes me furious that he had to suffer! Yes, those moments were wonderful for us--we were able to have some time to love him and hold him. But he was so sick. How horrible that he had to endure that!

And for those who will worry about this post, I'm not "depressed" any more than usual about it, just reflective. He just seems to occupy my thoughts a lot these days. On a happier note, I love this pic of him even though you can't see his face (most pictures we have of him he is wearing a mask for his eyes). You can see his strawberry blonde hair and the way the lights were that day made him look like a little angel. How strangely prophetic. The doctors were very optimistic about him before he got the staph infection. When they started laying him on his belly, he literally tried to crawl out of the bed a couple of times. One doctor said he was incredibly agile for a baby in his condition. We just knew he would survive and do well. Not so. And here I go again with the what ifs . . . . .

YIKES!

Has it already been a week? I can't believe I've neglected my blog for so many days! Let's see . . . for those who are curious, we didn't really do anything on my birthday for my birthday--the lake trips last weekend were pretty much the celebration. On my birthday, I actually cleaned the bathrooms and sat around here! My mom did buy me a birthday cake even though we didn't have an actual party. Good thing, too, because if not for that birthday cake, I think Brian would have starved to death. He devoured that thing!

Tuesday, we had band practice here at our house--hope the neighbors liked the music! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were the same ole', same ole', and Saturday we had a family outing to the courthouse for the weekly bluegrass singing. There is a group of "pickers" that play bluegrass at the courthouse every Saturday. Brian has gone up there before and played with them. This was the first time Clayton and I went with him. Clayton loved it of course and they even asked me to sing a little. Problem is I don't know a lot of bluegrass! I told them I would come prepared next time. They had some kids up there that could play just as well as the old folks--amazing musical talent.

Last night, Brian and I did a grocery haul at Wal-Mart. I have no idea if we got anything to cook for meals, but we got a ton of snack food--you could tell we were in the snacking mood when we shopped. In fact, I think I'll be having spinach dip for lunch!

I've been listening to some old Mahialia Jackson music for the last couple of days--she would have been great to see at a jazz club way back when.

The other big news is I bought a potty chair for Clayton. He is smart enough to get it, but it's going to be a logistical nightmare. He usually says "diaper" before he poo poos and he knows exactly what pee peeing is. I sat him on it this morning and we couldn't get everything in the right spot if you know what I mean--I'm glad he didn't actually pee because it would have sprayed right onto me! Ah, the joys of boys!

Gotta go for now--I need to make use of my "mommy time" while Clayton is in therapy!

This is What I Would Like to Know:

How can a card that is mailed to me from across town on May 24 get to me on the same day as the card that was mailed from Australia on May 24?

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend on the lake--and as you can see, Clayton even rode in the tube! My pictures didn't turn out great because the sun was setting and I couldn't keep still enough to keep things in focus! We were all a little disappointed in the weather. It couldn't have been less cooperative. It actually poured down rain on us as we were getting the boat ready--but we endured and had a great time anyway. The sun finally came out late Sunday afternoon. And of course it was hot and sunny today--it figures, since we stayed home today . . . .

And thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes! I'm another year older, but I'm feeling the exact same as yesterday. I am wondering where the last 10 or 15 years ran off to though!

Thursday

Today is one of those days when I just want to sit and vege. I did a little housework earlier this week (enough to get by), and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday, so I'm just feeling like a bum today! I am doing the neverending laundry and entertaining Clayton, but I'm thinking he'll want a nap soon. :)

Design Team Work

All of these cards were made with the May Card Kit from Inspire Me Card Kits. I only added ribbon, brads, the Happy Birthday stamp and Ranger ink.