The difference one year makes

I know it has been over a month since we last updated the blog, we've been pretty busy. Today we've enjoyed not doing a whole lot and we are looking forward to volunteering at church tomorrow. We've had friends and family down to stay with us and we've also celebrated Tony's birthday. We celebrated Easter and are going to the coast soon too.

Tony took a picture of Kendall when she got home from daycare this past St. Patrick's Day. I remembered that we took a picture last year of her on St. Patrick's Day and thought I would post both next to each other on here to show just how much difference only 12 months (1 year) can make. Our little Kendall is not as much a baby now as she is a little girl. Where has the time gone? We can't wait to see what is in store for us in the future.

The last week...

So, this week has been interesting to say the least. Kendall got very sick with an ear infection which caused a fever and lots of puking. Yuck! She stayed home 2 1/2 days from school. Thank you, Mama Gail! She went to the doctor and got some medicine. She seems to be doing A LOT better, Thank God! It was a pretty difficult week because of how bad she felt. She would just sit in our laps and put her head on our chests. Poor miserable baby. She was also waking up several times a night, I think this may have been harder than when she was first born. ugh... She's upstairs playing with her house right now. "Light on, Light off" So, I'm thinking she's feeling better for sure. ;-)

Oscar has an ear infection too, I guess this is ear infection season or something. Eeww... He seems to be doing better too, Tony took him back to the vet this week to get his ear re-packed with medicine. He has to go back next week too to make sure it is all gone.

Yesterday we went to the mall, I got a few shirts. Thank goodness 'cause I tend to wear the same 5 shirts everyday! Boring!!! Then I made lasagna for our friends Ken, Kristen and Austen. If I may say so myself, this was probably the best batch I've ever made and I've been making it for a long time.

Today we were going to go to the movies, but we decided we just needed to rest at home, this last week was very long and tiring.

Next Saturday is a girls day with my sister and other mom. We are going to facials, massages and lunch. Tony and I may go to that Luminaria thing downtown in the evening. It's supposed to be really cool. Let us know if you're interested also.

Well, that's probably enough for now. I don't really have much else to say, this was just a post with a run down of our ear infection week. ha ha...

Have a wonderful week!

Original post from www.tlwhitefamily.blogspot.com

Making the hard decisions...

So, at the end of Friday's blog entry I mentioned that I thought Saturday would prove to be a difficult day. Boy was I right. Tony and I ended up having to take our kitty Stranger in to the vet to be put to sleep. :-( He was such a sweet kitty, I'm really going to miss him.

This was probably the hardest decision I've had to make. He and I used to lay on the couch together and watch TV. I would put my arm around him and through his arms and I would scratch on his chest and chin. He would purr and purr and purr, louder than a motor boat.

This was so sudden for us, two days after his diagnosis we were taking him back in to be euthanized. That is what was so sad for us. But, we did get to bring him home for a few days so that we could love on him for a little longer and say goodbye in our own way. The reason we had to take him in was because he wasn't eating or drinking and he would not come out from under the bed. I didn't want him to starve to death slowly, how painful and horrible would that be... So, I had to make the difficult decision to just take him in and take away his pain the best way I knew how. I will always have those last moments with him at the vet. The animals are given 2 shots during this procedure, one is basically a great margarita sedative and it sort of makes them go to sleep and relax. The next is an overdose of anesthesia and that stops their breathing. I stayed for the first shot, but had to leave before they gave him the second shot. I knew when the first shot took affect because he quit purring and just started to breathe nice and easy. Cats not only purr when they are content/happy, they also purr when they are nearing the end of their life or if scared or in pain. I was petting Stranger as he was on the table and he just purred and purred. I know a lot of it was because he was probably in a lot of pain and very scared at this point, but he did stretch out his neck a few times for me to scratch under his chin, so I know he did like me petting him. I talked with him for a long time Thursday and Friday nights and even fell asleep with him on the floor a few times. I told him some of the best memories I have of him and talked to him about how we will miss him. I talked, cried and prayed for strenth a lot.

Today while working from home I opened the door on a special delivery addressed to us. Our Veterinarian's office sent us a house plant with their condolences. I thought that was one of the nicest gestures, we were definitely not expecting that at all. If any of you are looking for a good vet, Northern Oaks Bird and Animal Hospital. Dr. Byrd is great.

Thank you very much to all of our family and friends for all of your love, support and well wishes over the last couple of days. It means a lot to us to have you in our lives.

I've got to go, just writing the paragraphs above made me cry, I hadn't cried today, I guess I was due.

Much love,
Lisa

When it rains it pours...

Have you ever noticed that when you have "bad" things happen to you, they happen in 3's? Well, I'm waiting on my third one now.

On top of Stranger being SO sick, Kendall decided to throw up all over herself and her car seat this morning on the way to daycare. Tony had taken her and he left her there while he came back and I helped him clean everything up and get clean clothes for her. It was really gross and a mess. Yuck! We thought that maybe she was car sick since we had just fed her breakfast before she left and she is now riding front facing in her seat. Well, while at school she had a diaper blowout... Double Yuck, I'm glad I didn't have to change it. Then on the way home she puked all over herself and her seat again in her daddy's truck. Triple Yuck! Poor Tony had to roll the windows down so he wouldn't get sick because of the smell. Eeewwww! Then she got home, I dunked her in the bathtub and she wanted to whine and eat. I let her have some step 2 fruit (I wasn't about to brave the solids) and a piece of bread and some water (Milk, NO WAY!). We let her have some puffs and a few goldfish and promptly sent her to bed. I'm just hoping she sleeps through the whole night considering she didn't really have a filling dinner. Hopefully the piece of wheat bread she ate will have given her enough fiber to keep her filled up.

So, those are 2 "bad" things that have happened this week and I'm waiting on the third. But, maybe we've already gotten it with the vet bill we had to pay on Thursday for Stranger and Oscar with his grooming, shots and ear infection, ugh... Hopefully we're at the end of our bad luck streak and will be headed up. But, I think tomorrow will prove to be a difficult day.

Hi/Lo Thursday

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.


I thought I would try this this week, maybe it will help with the pain I'm feeling today.


My HIGH for this week has got to be Kendall and how well she is finally picking up baby sign language; this is so helpful since she is still little and doesn't talk yet. That and all of the dancing she does every day. I think she must get her rhythm from her mama. :D

My LOW for this week is obvious for those of you who know me and have spoken with me today. My kitty of 9 years, Stranger, has been diagnosed with Liver cancer. It has metastisized so much that in his X-Rays you couldn't even tell where his organs are. The doctor and I were surprised by the fact that he hasn't had any issues until now. Apparently, this can just grow and grow inside of you for a long time without really doing anything else until one day it grows big enough to push on a major organ and really cause some damage. At this point it looks like it is pushing on his stomach which is why he suddenly does not want to eat and has been losing weight this week. I'm really going to miss laying on the couch with him to watch TV and listening to his LOUD motor boat purring as I stroke the fur on his chest and under his chin. The doctor says he probably won't live much longer but gave him a steroid shot to hopefully shrink the tumor and bring down some of the inflammation caused by the cancer and give us a little bit longer to shower love, affection and as much "kitty junk food" on him as he wants. I'm seeing chicken in his future, that is if he decides he wants to eat. Which he may if this steroid shot works. If it doesn't, we should know by tomorrow evening or Saturday morning and we will have to take him in and show him mercy from any pain that would doubtlessly be in his future. I've asked Stranger to tell me when he is ready to go, he is a mature 14 or 15 year old cat who I rescued when I moved back to my hometown from my college town, so I'm sure he will give me a sign.

Please pray for me that I have the strength to take him in to be released from pain when the time is right and before it gets too bad for him.

Please pray for him that he doesn't feel too much pain. At this point he doesn't really seem bothered by it except for the not eating part and being lethargic and having lost a little weight. But, if I pet him his motor boat still goes.

I love you Stranger (My Strangie)

This picture was taken just a few weeks ago. Isn't he a beautiful kitty? It's sad that even though he seemed fine here, the cancer was throughout his body.

Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Lisa

The Rodeo take two

So, we went back to the rodeo grounds yesterday. I once again forgot the camera! ugh... I think being pregnant with Kendall sure took all of my brain cells away. Does anyone know if I ever get them back? I have a feeling I won't. Oh well, I'll just have to keep playing Scrabble on Facebook to exercise my brain as much as I can. :-) Tony even wrote a note and put it in my purse to remind us to bring it with us. Well, I moved the note in order to get a few things out of the purse to put in a smaller purse that I use at the rodeo. So... that's why I forgot the camera. BUT, we used my camera on my cell phone to take some pics of K at the petting zoo there at the rodeo. She was nervous at first, but after I showed her that the animals wouldn't hurt her she was good to go and enjoyed pointing, laughing and even touching the goats, sheep and llama. See the pic below of Kendall at the petting zoo.

Yes Patricia, this is a G-O-A-T. hee hee...

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Hitting, Pushing and Yelling OH MY!!!

Well, it seems as though Kendall's development is right on track. On two separate occassions this week at daycare, I SAW Kendall push a little girl down AND hit another little girl. I, of course, reprimanded her... well, as much as you can reprimand a one year old.

The pushing incident involved a little girl name Miyu who was using my legs as something to hold on to as she was standing up near where I was squatting to talk to all of the little kids. Well, Kendall decided that she was ready to go home and she wanted to be near me instead of Miyu so she just took her arm and pushed little Miyu down. I was mortified. So, I spoke sternly to Kendall and told her NO! Seriously how much can you reprimand a 1 year old? Then she started to cry. ugh... What a mixed message! She just wanted to be near me and got yelled at. At least that is what is in her mind at that moment. When you think about it that way don't you feel a little sorry for her? :-(

The hitting incident was a little later in the week. I had just dropped K off at school and she pulled a toy out of the toy cabinet. She put it on the table and turned around to get another toy out of the cabinet. Well, another little girl name Ryan saw a toy that wasn't being used and decided that she wanted to play with it. Well, apparently K wasn't done playing with the first toy which Ryan was now playing with and she hit Ryan. Ugh... mortified again. The daycare teacher informed me that all of the little girls hit each other now. I was like, seriously? Oh no!

Well, I got home and saw an email in my inbox about my 4th week 13 month old. It was so fitting and appropriate. Here is a small excerpt from that email: If your toddler indulges in fits of screaming, hitting and biting, you can take some solace in knowing that his development is right on track. Well, thank goodness she's on track... I think.

She has really developed a lot this month. She is completely eating table food and using a sippy cup at daycare now and has moved up to the next classroom. They sleep on a little cot in there, it's really cute.

So, if you guys could say a little prayer for me that I don't go crazy and that I stay patient with her, that would be great... yeah...

Abby Riggs - Please Pray For Her

Hi Guys - I have something important to write about today. I was on Facebook reading through my friends statuses and saw that one of my friends was "Praying For Abby". Her status included a link to a blog. This blog chronicles the story of a little girl named Abby, she has Leukemia. She's going through chemotherapy right now and is just about to enter possibly THE most dangerous and painful phase yet. I've read the blog in its entirety and have seen the postings which mention the horrible pain she has already gone through. I would just ask that any of you who visit our blog please take a moment to visit Abby's blog and in that moment while the blog is loading, say a little prayer for her. Her family has many specific prayer requests, some for good pain control, some for Abby to have energy and some for them to have the energy to get through the day. These are very trying times for them, but their faith is keeping them strong. They know that even if she does not get well here on Earth, she WILL be well in Heaven.

So, before bed tonight, say a little prayer for a sweet little girl that you most likely don't know.

Also, if you have specific prayer requests, Abby's father has a prayer network on the site. See below:

We participate in "Pray for Me... Pray for Others" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to add your prayer request.

Thank you and have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Lisa

Retired after 38 1/2 years... Mama Gail!!!

Well, she finally did it! My mom retired after working at the same place for 38 1/2 years. That's amazing to me! I've now been there for 8 years now and that by itself seems like forever. I'm not sure I can imagine 30 more years at the same place. I think I'll just focus on the present for now.

Thursday was her party, it was a lot of fun! Thank you Grandma Carolyn and Aunt Patricia for watching K-dub for us. We really appreciate being able to stay out passed 6:30 or 7.

Below are a few of the pics from the party. I hope you enjoy them!

The Rodeo

Well, Saturday was Kendall's first trip to the rodeo. And, boy was I disappointed when I realized I had forgotten my camera. I think she really enjoyed it. She loved looking at all of the people on the grounds and watching the animals at the actual rodeo. She had such a cute outfit on, it was a little onesie with an attached skirt. The bodice of the onesie had a pair of boots on it. So cute. My mom bought the outfit for her last year right after K was born in anticipation of this year's rodeo. This year my mom thought it would be fun to get her a little purse with her name on it. She loves it and likes to put different things in it.

We can't wait until she's old enough to really enjoy everything there. AND... we'll definitely be entering her in Mutton bustin' as soon as she's old enough. So cute!!!

We saw Alan Jackson that day and Reba on Monday. Reba is soooo awesome. Thank you to my mom for babysitting Monday night. T and I had a great time!

Kendall's 1st Birthday! part two

Last Sunday we had Kendall's first birthday party. It was a roaring success. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends! Your generosity and love is astounding!!!

Kendall had such an awesome time and we really hope you guys did too. She got so many awesome presents, we finally got them all put away yesterday. Woohoo! We love all of the clothes that she will grow into and she loves all of the new toys that she gets to play with.

We had a ton of food at the party and the venue worked out great! We used an upstairs loft area which had a TV and DVD player. I played the movie I made of Kendall's first year, then we watched the basketball game. I think it turned out great for kids and adults. I wonder what is in store for next year. I'm looking forward to it.

Here are a few pics of the day, I hope you like them!
Happy Birthday Kendall!
Kendall's Cake and Cupcakes - cute right?

Happy Birthday to you!

Mmm... Mmm... Good!Mimi, Trudy, Jeff, Mackenzie, and NickMost of the group, some were on playground at this point. We had like 60 people there. I couldn't believe it!Todd and Denise Reus with Aaden and Addison. Denise is an awesome realtor if you need one. :-)

Annie and Kenzie take Kendall to the playground, isn't this cute?

Mackenzie took Kendall down the slide. She loved it!

Dada and his sweet baby K.

Our friends Ken and Kristen, cute couple!

Mimi and Kendall, isn't this sweet?Patricia and Kendall - beautiful pic!Carson, son of Bonnie and Ryan. He's so cute and getting so big.

Look at Aiden go! He's the son of our friends Jennifer and Rick who are also in the pic with him.Mama and baby! Go, K, Go!

Cousin Nick! Such a sportsman!

Austen playing soccer - he's the son of our friend Kristen. So cute and definitely looking older than he is. Time sure flies.

Poppy with his grandkids. Connor, Mackenzie, Layton and Kendall. Kendall was so tired by this point. But, she was a very good sport about it all. Good girl!

All in all it was a great day! I can't believe my little pooty is so big already. Time flies when you're having fun, and boy are we having fun with her. We cherish the time we have and look forward to experiencing what God has in store for us with her in the future.

Poor Baby Girl

Last Sunday afternoon, after her nap, Kendall's eyes were pretty much glued shut from eye boogers, poor baby. We thought this would be a quick passing thing and that she would be fine the next day. Well, when she woke up on Monday morning, we had to really work hard to get the crusties off so she could open her eyes. Poor baby girl! We took her to daycare thinking that surely this would pass. Ummm... No! By the time Tony picked her up from school that afternoon you could tell that Kendall just really wasn't feeling well. To add to all of this, she has had a runny nose and congestion for about 4 months now. We've been to the doctor several times where they have told us that it is just because she is in daycare and she just has a cold that needs to run its course. Well, obviously it had not run its course and the humidifier that we run in her room on high every night was not working. On Tuesday morning when we all woke up, Kendall's eyes were crusted over again and really red and puffy. I had looked this up the night before on the internet and found that it was most likely the result of allergies. But, I called the nurse at the hospital, which is where the doctor's office routes its medical questions when they aren't open yet, to ask them if I should take her in. They told me that she is probably fine, but that the doctor would want to check her to make sure it is not pink eye. So, Kendall and I got ready and she ate some breakfast and I took her in to the doctor. I could tell she wasn't feeling well because while we were waiting for the doctor to see us she just sat in my lap with her head laying on me. The doctor listened to her lungs, checked her oxygen intake and looked in her ears. After hearing how long she has had the congestion, the doctor finally gave her an antihistamine/decongestant. She also said that she has pink eye, but it's not like she ran any tests, I really still think it is allergies that caused the eye crusties, but I'm giving her the eye drops just in case. Because Kendall has been coughing for so long, the doctor ordered a chest x-ray even though she reassured me that her lungs sounded clear. She just wanted to check her. So, I bundled K up and took her straight to the imaging center after the doctor's appointment. It only took about 5 minutes to take the x-rays and Kendall cried the whole time. Awww... But, good news, the doctor's office called later and said that she doesn't have RSV (forgot to tell you that they checked her for that AGAIN) and her lungs are clear. So, I'm supposed to give her the eye drops for a week and I'm giving her the sample medicine for her cough, if it works I'm supposed to get the prescription filled. It's been 4 days of using the cough medicine and the only thing that I'm noticing is that it makes her sleepy. If she still has the cough in another week and a half, I'm supposed to take her back to the doctor so they can try something else I guess. I'm glad they are finally giving me something for her, I was getting really fed up with the "Oh, she's in daycare" line. I can totally understand that logic, but it seems like she would have had periods of time when she was well also. Oh well, maybe now we can figure out what is going on. I have a feeling that she has allergies (they are supposedly genetic) and that she will need to be put on some allergy medicine if she wants to have any type of time without congestion and runny nose.

Anyway, I guess that's enough for now. Tonight we are going out to dinner with our friends Ken and Kristen for our first annual Double Holi-date. We decided that instead of buying gifts for each other we would go out to a nice dinner. I'm excited! K is staying with my mom and spending the night with her tonight. I'm hoping I'll be able to sleep past 6:20 tomorrow morning, that's the time that i woke up this morning. Yuck!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, maybe I'll write more tomorrow.

Lots of Love,
Lisa

Kendall has a good time

Kendall had such a fun time in the bathtub tonight. I just had to post these pictures up here. She was splashing all over the place. I know, I know for now it's cute, but when she is big enough to splash everywhere it won't be so cute. I'm sure we won't do it for much longer. ha ha...

Bathtime is such a special time for us. We love to watch her laugh and play and just explore the water. She loves it! We also will read her a couple of stories at the same time. She is so into pointing at everything in the pictures of the book and at everything around her now. She is really doing pretty good at starting the regular (non-baby) food. And, she is doing GREAT at using a sippy cup. She really caught on to that one quick.

The second picture is of her watching me make silly faces at her and splash her with water while making funny noises. We had a great time tonight!

Enjoy your week!

Saturday turns into Saturnight

Here's how our Saturday went...

- Addressed Kendall's b-day party invites
- Went to order b-day cake/cupcakes
- Went to post office to mail invites
- Drove to parents to pick up Annie for lunch
- Parents drove up and offered to keep Kendall while we ran our errands (Yeah!)
- Went to Alamo Cafe for lunch
- Went to Party city
- Went to Costco
- Went to Barnes & Noble
- Went to pick up Kendall and then planned to go home and watch movies - Annie was going to come along
- Kathy came over to go out with my mom for dinner
- Annie and I change plans and go out to dinner for Kathy's birthday
- Driving downtown to Aldaco for dinner, traffic was too bad so passed our exit
- Drove to Little Red Barn and ate there instead. Annie and I split a small filet, neither of us very hungry
- Decided we should go do something after dinner (maybe LaserQuest Annie suggested), received laughs from Kathy and Mom. Don't understand why... ;-)
- Stopped at Phantom Stop Signs and Green Lights in the middle of the intersection, tried to treat a stop light like a stop sign and make a left on red, laughed the whole rest of the way home... (I wasn't driving)
- Well, we were going to go home, but then saw Bob and Bev's truck at Charlie Brown's and decided to go visit
- Mom and Kathy had one drink, Annie and I just chilled and talked with everyone
- Kathy took Mom, Lisa and Annie to Mom's
- Annie took Lisa home since hubby had taken baby home a few hours before

Well, that's your Saturday wrap up. Phew!!! That was kind of fun and that's how SaturDay turns into SaturNight!

Love,
Lisa

The Addiction

Okay, so what is it with facebook. that makes it so addictive? We've been hearing for several months now that we should join because the rest of Tony's family has accounts. But, since we have this blog and a MySpace account I didn't really want to mess with having info and pictures and friend requests and whatever else that was associated with a new account. Well, my friend that I used to work with who now lives in Dallas and I only see once in a very blue moon sent me a friend request to my email. I saw that he had pics on his account but I couldn't see them without joining and becoming his friend. Well, I wanted to see how much his little boys had grown, so I joined with the sole purpose of looking at his pictures and then that would be the end of it. That's exactly what I did... until a few hours later when I got back on the computer just to check out all of Tony's family's accounts. They were all set to private, so of course I sent a friend request and that was the start of the MAJOR addiction. A day and a half and 23 friends later, I'm well on my way to having a facebook problem. At least I can admit it, the first step is admitting you have a problem. The point of all this is that I like facebook much better than mySpace now. It's way easier to use and you don't have to worry about setting up a layout or anything. Cool Beans! (whoa, 80's throwback!) Also, Tony liked it so much that he set up his own account. It's pretty cool and if you are a member look us up and add us as your friend.

YUCK!!!!

Well, I had to stay home from work today. I woke up soooo sick. I am hoping it is just the 24 hour stomach bug that I've been hearing about. I'm finally feeling a little better thanks to the Sprite my lovely husband brought home for me. Unfortunately I had to forego the Celine Dion concert I was going to attend with my friend and sister.. ;-( Luckily Kendall was going to be kept by my mom while I was at the concert, so we just kept those plans and Tony will pick her up after bowling tonight.

Speaking of bowling... wish T-Dub luck using the new bowling ball for the first time that I gave him for Christmas. This was the first week back to league and he was pretty excited to throw the ball. He threw a couple of practice games last week after he got the ball drilled and threw a 190 and 200. Not too bad for a brand new ball that you still need to get used to.

Watch out, here comes another segue. :-)

Speaking of getting used to... (okay, that transition wasn't as good) Kendall has started trying out the regular lunch menu at daycare. I think she seems to like it. Hopefully we'll be baby food free pretty soon. I guess next on the list is teaching her to use a spoon. That should be interesting.

Okay, well I need to get back to resting and trying to get rid of this stomach bug. Wish me luck, I haven't felt like this since I had food poisoning the Christmas before I got pregnant. (Stay away from that Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich from Mickey D's.)

Leave a comment, let me know you were here. Talk to you soon! -Lisa

Kendall goes to the playground... a collage

This evening we took Kendall to the elementary school playground that is up the street from us. She went on the swing, and slid down the slides. We all had a great time. It was fun and sort of scary watching her go down the slide BY HERSELF... ;-)

I found this cool collage feature that picasa does for you and decided to try it out. This is a collage of our time at the playground. I hope you enjoy it!!! (you can click on the collage to get a larger view of the pictures)

Kendall gets a haircut

Kendall got a haircut on New Years Day. We waited the full year to cut her hair so she wouldn't have bad luck... ;-) Just teasing. So, it's a little crooked because she wouldn't stay still and screamed the whole time. We just wanted to cut her bangs because they were hanging in her face. But, we also wanted to be able to save her hair from her first haircut. So, we had to get her bangs in a pony tail and then cut right above the ponytail holder. ugh... easier said than done. The result is a slightly too short, crooked haircut. I think while she is sleeping I will sneak in and trim it a little. Luckily we can still get it in a ponytail. I guess it's not TOO bad, plus it should grow out a little before her birthday party.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family! This was the first year in a very long time that I have actually been in town for New Years. It was funny how loud it suddenly got outside when it turned midnight. Usually we are at the coast or the ranch and since there is no one around there for miles, it is super quiet. We had a quiet night in and watched a movie. It was really relaxing. Tony bbq'd some chicken and grilled some corn and I made up a new potato dish that turned out soooo good if I may say so myself.

We wish all of you many blessings on the start of your new year! May this be the best year you've had.

Love,

The Dub Family