Memories....

Here's a fun one... (Thanks, Amy!)
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't have a blog, still leave a comment for me so I know you were here!

The storm before the calm

So we are looking at a hectic couple of weeks around here. Clayton's school work is really starting to pick up now that he's in the last two weeks of the summer term. He's got three big things this upcoming week and then it's finals week. We'll so be looking forward to the two weeks he has off after that before it starts all over again with his next set of classes.

The storm doesn't start there though. It started earlier this week. Some of you know and some of you don't know that when Andrew was a year old, he decided to try and knock a bunch of teeth out...twice. We ended up taking him to the dentist. We were lucky he kept all his teeth and as far as we can tell, there has been no long term damage or discoloration. Well, that kid is bound and determined to lose a tooth someway, somehow. He's been complaining of his mouth hurting for a week or so. He's kind of bad about picking at his gums when his nails get too long so I thought that was all that was wrong. When the pain didn't go away, Clayton fought Andrew and made him show daddy his mouth. Lo and behold, he had white spots on the gum below one of this molars. We immediately called the dentist who had us come in right away. We don't know what caused it and we aren't sure if it's just his gums or if it's affecting his tooth, too. Andrew was put on antibiotics and an appointment was made for two weeks out to have him sedated (that scares me) and, depending on the damage, possibly have either the tooth removed and a spacer put in or have part of his tooth removed and to have a crown put on. I was of course in tears. What did we do? Why is this happening? Why do I have to be so hormonal and emotional when I'm pregnant? We of course won't know until his appointment what's going on, but it's nerve wracking knowing something is wrong with your child and you can do absolutely nothing to help him other than give him his medicine and pray for the best. It could just be an infection of the gums and may not be affecting his tooth at all. That's what we're praying for.

So, we are getting ready to buckle down and push through the next couple of stress-filled weeks. If you don't hear anything from us for a while, don't despair. We're just chugging along trying to make the best of it. And we are hoping that this is the storm before the calm!

The Sound of Silence

This week has been a quiet one...literally. We went to a b-day party for our nephew, Stephen, at my in-laws house Tuesday night. When Clayton and I left, we left Andrew there. And it's a good thing, too. He was so hyped up on sugar from cake, ice cream and candy from a pinata that I don't think I'd have wanted to bring him home. :o) He's been with grandma and grandpa all week. It's been so nice. Don't get me wrong. I've missed him a lot. But it has been nice to sleep as long as I want and not have anything or anyone else to worry about other than me. I'd like to say I spent the time doing all of the stuff that I have needed to for a while, but that is so hard to get done with a two-year old around, but I didn't. I relaxed and well, that's it. I relaxed. I do have to admit that it's been a bit lonely. I don't remember the last time I had the house to myself for this long. Probably before Andrew was born.

He's coming home tonight and we are looking forward to showing him his big surprise... We moved his big-boy bed into his room while he was gone. I'm sure he'll love it. I made a cute Thomas the Train quilt (thank you for the help, Grandma!) and there's a matching pillow case. Andrew LOVES trains so he loves his blanket. I'll be sure to let you know how it all works out.

Next stop...potty training.

Kids say the darndest things....

So Clayton and I have both noticed a great increase in the number of surprising, and often times funny, things Andrew says. As his vocabulary grows exponentially, so do the jaw dropping or gut-busting things he says. I thought I'd share of few examples...

I'll start with a couple of real heart-warmers. I was sitting on the bed the other day. Andrew climbed up next to me, leaned against me and said, "Mama, you're my best friend." Today again, I was laying on the bed. He climbed up and laid down next to me and said, "Mama, you're my best friend, ever, in the whole world, in my life." Those kind of things make all the terrible two's disappear. A few days ago, Andrew said, "He's a superhero." I asked him who was a superhero. His response, "Dada is a superhero."

Yesterday, Clayton asked Andrew to go get his shoes so we could put them on to leave. Andrew got his shoes and brought them to his room. Clayton told him thank you and Andrew responded, "It was my pleasure." We just had to shake our heads and laugh.

I've decided that Andrew is psychic. I went to get him up from his nap the other day. I had been cutting celery in the kitchen when I heard him wake up. Before he ever left his room, he said, "Mama, you making celery?" Now how in the world did he know I was cutting up celery. The world may never know. Though he did say something last night that makes me hope he's not psychic. I was visiting with a friend. She asked if was having a girl baby or a boy baby. He said a girl. Then she asked how many babies were in my tummy. He looked at my tummy, pointed and started counting, "One...two...three." Even the doctor said he hoped not when I told him.

One of the biggest gut-busters came the other night. We were chilling out in the living room. Andrew said something to the effect of "Wabba Wabba dobie do." I asked Clayton what he'd said. Andrew looked and me and said, "I said Wabba Wabba dobie do," repeating the last part slower as if that would help me understand. Clayton and I were laughing so hard we were almost in tears.

I'm sure that I only have more of these moments to come as Andrew talks more and more. He's so smart. And I'm so blessed to have him in my life!

...How does your garden grow?

So our little family decided to delve into the wonderful world of vegetable gardening this year. Neither Clayton or I had ever planted a garden so we really had no idea what we were doing. I did a little research about how to prep the horrible concrete-like soil we had in our yard and we planted a pretty good variety to see what happened. We waited and waited...nothing. We had created rows and planted in the high soil. We decided to do the opposite and plant in the "valleys" and within a few days we had little green leaves poking up out of the ground. The cantaloupe was the first to come up. We left for a two week vacation to Idaho the beginning of May just as everything was starting to come up. When we came home, the garden had exploded.

Now, our venture hasn't been filled with 100% success. We learned after it was too late, that we had planted about two months later than we should have. Because of that and the scorching heat we have in AZ in the summertime, the green beans plants and the peas look a little brown and our tomatoes pretty much bit the dirt. It didn't help the tomatoes to find two of these....

Behold the great Tomato Hornworm. This has got to be one of the nastiest things I've ever seen. When Clayton found it, he had to save it for me to see since I wasn't home. I found Clayton and Andrew sitting in the garage watching this little "caterpillar". I was physically getting ill watching it crawl around the floor of the garage. GROSS! And as a funny side note, Andrew thought this was the coolest "caterpillar" he'd ever seen. We had to tell him that we had to find the "caterpiller" a new home and I had to take him in the house while Daddy sent this thing to the tomato garden in the sky.

We have had some success though. Our carrots are looking good so far - tall lush tops. The green onions and yellow onions are looking good. We've eaten our first beet and are just waiting for them to get a little bigger. Our corn seems to be doing well. We're starting to get TONS of cucumbers. And our cantaloupe...our lovely cantaloupe. Neither of us had ANY idea how much space the plants take up. They've overtaken a huge part of our garden, but we are getting a lot of fruit. So we feel like we haven't done a horrible job with our first attempt at a veggie garden. Next year will be even better since we have learned a lot about gardening...especially in Arizona!