A Very Merrry Christmas Indeed

We started off the season early with a visit to the Edenfield's out in Dayton. It was a big family gathering where nearly everyone was there. Everyone with the exception of Ryan (working of course) and the cousins that live out of town.

Me and My Dad

The following weekend we headed out to Nederland to visit with the Forey's. That is where I snapped this adorable shot of Kaylon (1 year old) playing blocks with MaMe Forey (101 years young.)

Kaylon & MaMe Forey

Ryan had to work Christmas Eve until noon. (Thankfully he was able to take off Christmas Day.) Our routine was the same as usual. We started off Christmas Eve by hanging out at Mema's house for a while where it was utter chaos with all the grand children opening their presents.

Kaylon & Mema

After a few bowls of her awesome chicken noodle soup, we headed to Pop and Noni's (Ryan's Dad and Step Mom.) It was really special this year because Kaylon is a little older and able to tear some of the paper of of his presents (he especially loves the tissue paper out of the bags) but also because it was cousin Brynlee and Chance's 1st Christmas.

Kaylon @ Pop & Noni's


After leaving Pop and Noni's we made a straight line for home, where GG, Uncle Luke, Aunt Meagan, and Aunt B where waiting for us. The Girls and Kaylon went straight to sleep while the rest of us waited up for Santa. Uncle Luke thought he would be of better assistance with a few drinks in his system. After helping himself to half a bottle of crown and Ryan to a few Vodka tonic's, GG and I were thoroughly impressed Kaylon's new 4 wheeler was put together properly.

We had a rule this year the Aunt B could not wake us up until 8am unless Kaylon woke us up 1st. To our surprise she handled that like the big girl she is and was pacing back and fourth when we woke up at 7:30am.

Our precious boy is such a sweet kid that Santa was super good to him this year. He got a pretty cool 4 wheeler that he absolutely loves and a 3 tent/tunnel system with ball for his play room. After presents GG and everyone left us to our day where Daddy and Kaylon took a nice long nap together and I picked up the house.

Kaylon with 4 wheeler

Kaylon in ball pit


That evening we spend with Grammy and Papa Ed, which we did but unfortunately Papa had a pretty bad fall on Christmas Eve morning so he was in the hospital. But we did get to spend some quality time with Grammy while waiting for Uncle Sean to get off of work and Aunt Mel, Brynlee, and Chance to arrive. (I don't have any pic's from the evening because I forgot my camera.)

Ryan went ahead and took off work Saturday as well so he could catch up on some rest (which didn't happen) and go see Papa in the hospital. Papa was very happy see to his Ryan and hated that Kaylon had to wait in the hallway. (Not sure why I assumed Kaylon would be able to see him.) But Ryan and I visited for a short while and played Papa a super special video I caught on my phone of Kaylon saying Papa over and over again. After leaving the hospital we spent the rest of Sat evening taking down Christmas decorations and putting together a pretty cool play room, that Daddy is so very proud of.

New play room

To sum it up would be silly not to say we are blessed. I hope you had Very Merry Christmas, too!

Words!

14 months and my sweet boy is adding some words to his vocabulary. Of course his 1st word was "Da Da" despite my consistency with forcing " Ma Ma" into his brain. Of course my name ranks second in his speaking department. He will jibber jabber all day long mixed in with a few Da Da's here and there, but it's not until he wants something that he has to hold on to my leg, look up and me, and whine Ma Ma. Sometimes I swear when he's going to town with his jibber jabbering that he calls me Aimee ( I ALWAYS correct him and tell him, no I'm Mommy even if it is in my head) My Aunt KK swears she hears him say her name too. (I'm currently trying to teach him to say "I Love You Mommy" I know its a leap, but I'll let you know when we get there!...Sorry got side tracked)

Ok, 3rd I got a "Hi" from him a while back, or I guess I should clarify that it actually sounds more like "eye" but paired with a wave you get the picture. And just yesterday (was it yesterday or two day's ago? I'm not really sure, they all run together anymore) regardless...We drove back from Orange after having lunch with "Da Da" and stopped in Deer Park to pick up our Max and Lucy (that Grammy does us such a huge favor by watching them so frequently for us) I woke Kaylon up from the drive and asked him where we are as I always do hoping he will begin to recognise places we go. He was still waking up so I told him we are at Grammy and Papa's that we were there to get Max and Lucy. My precious baby looked up at me with his freshly waking up face and said "Pa Pa." It was more of a question than it was a statement. It caught me completely off guard. So of course I egged him on to repeat what he just said knowing Papa was standing at the door. I was hoping he would get to hear his name in that sweet voice. Kaylon did say it 2 more times "Pa Pa, Pa Pa" but of course my monkey doesn't perform on command so when he got to Papa he just wanted some loving. It didn't seem to matter to our 95 year old Papa whether he heard it or not, he was tickled to death that "his boy" called his name. It was pretty cute. We have been practicing since then and he'll say it now and then, but it always seems to be right before we can get to the door for Papa to hear. Oh well, soon enough I'm sure.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past few weeks have been pretty busy in the Forey household. I have a few drafts in my box that I haven't have time to finish, so bare with me as I try to summarize and get everything in one...here goes:

A confusing but intriguing toy

11/19/09

Hollywood!

(He loves putting stuff on his head all by himself...he was actually successful this time!)

11/22/09


Playing with Papa
(Grammy was out of town for a week and we got spend lots of time playing with Papa)
11/23/09

If your Happy and you know...
(clap your hands!)

Playing outside after a LOOOOONG ride

(Daddy has been working such long days, so we are making the journey back and fourth so he doesn't have to worry with the drive and can get a little extra sleep.)

12/02/09

Waiting for Daddy at the hotel

12/04/09

There he is!

I see Daddy now!

LET IT SNOW!

Daddy and Kaylon

12/04/09

Mommy and Kaylon

Hope it wasn't too much to take in! Like I said...busy, busy, busy!

Being Thankful

This was the very 1st year we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. We were very happy that Daddy did not have to work this year. GG, Uncle Luke, Aunt Meagan & Aunt Brittanee, Grammy and Papa all came to visit and join in the feasting. We definitely cheated a little this year by purchasing our turkey and dressing from one of our favorite restaurants, but all the sides were homemade for sure thanks to everyones help. To end the evening, of course I had some black friday deals to catch, and I was VERY surprised that Ryan said he would go with me for the "experience." Man, oh, man...we pulled up to Toys R us seeing the line, we for sure thought half was for the Target next door, boy were we wrong! No way he was going for that line, so we went down the road to another Toys R Us store and I believe the line was longer than the last store. We are still debating that. Never the less, we parked and proceeded to stand in line outside in the cold for 3 hours. I do have to say the line was crazy but Toys R us had it together this year. We got everything on our list, checked out and in the car 30 min after we got in the door. Not bad! Enough time to make it to our local Wally World for some door busters. Got everything on our list and then some there too. I have to say I am so proud of my hubby for all the hard work he did for us standing in those long lines. He still doesn't think it was worth the money we saved but he said he would do it again next year because ( I quote) "it was good quality time with just the 2 of us." How sweet! Stinks for him, because he knows I'm going to hold him to it! All in all, one of the best Thanksgiving we have had.

Kaylons 1st recital at Mothers Day Out

The cutest 10 minutes I have ever witnessed. Thank you to GG, Mema, Grammy, Aunt Mel, Brynlee, and Chance for coming out to watch! To see the pictures click here.

Washing cars with Daddy

As always, you can view more photos by clicking here.

Really?

Something to BLOG about...

So, that incredibly wonderful and adorably handsome husband of mine brought home my Christmas present last weekend. Of course he couldn't help himself but to give me my new CAMERA! Yay! Its a Nikon D70...whatever that means! I just know now, I'm going to look like the tourist/ obsessive picture taking mommy lady. Its cool though..I can pull it off. So, before I retire my old " always miss the good shot" camera I figured I would use it to take a picture of my new awesomeness camera.Ta da! There it is! Thank you Baby!

So here are some pictures with my new awesomeness camera...

Daddy and Kaylon playing

One Cute KID!

Kaylon and Aunt Meagan

Helping Noni cook

To see more random awesomeness pictures click here.

Something to blog about #2

Check this out... the best bouquet I ever got. (Sorry Daddy.) Just melt my heart. Of course they are in a vase on the kitchen counter right now!

New Thing

So...I have entered a new phase of trying to contribute to our household via my "Stay Home Mommy career." Lets hope this one works out better than my cutting coupons (and forgetting to use them) phase! I found this blog thru my SIL newly renovated blog site and decided to follow. Leelou Blog revamped to a new and improved LeeLou Swag. To kick off her new website she has launched a big Favorite Things Giveaway! And seeing as how I know some giveaway goers who have had some luck, I have decided to give it a shot. 1st on the list to win is a New JOOVY sit and stand caboose...which I AM STOKED about because I have been trying to convince my wonderful hubby to buy me this very stroller since we found out we are pregnant with baby #2. So wish me luck! To check out her new blog click on the link above or on her button to the right.
A few things on my list I can not live with out...
1) Mothers Day Out! If you are not taking your local church up on this 2x week break...its a must. It has helped my son flourish in his social skills while allowing Mommy to get some groceries and chores done in peace!
2) My new NIKON D70 camera, that my wonderful hubby brought home to me last week that thankfully replaced my "always miss the good shot" digital camera. I have taken it with me everywhere!
3) My mini notebook. Talk about handy. so small and compact, easy to carry with you and always have a full computer nearby.

Thanks for staying with me thru my new endeavour!

Mothers Milk Bank

Just following up from our awesome day at the

Houston Zoo Boo thanks to the Mothers Milk Bank.

Can you find us?

(Hint: 1st row...ok...second box..oh, and Jenna and Kinzie are 2nd row 5th box)

A little info on the Milk Bank:

Our story
Austin neonatologist Dr. Sonny Rivera remembers the baby who started it all. Born two months early, this tiny baby boy lost two-thirds of his intestines due to complications because his mother could not provide him breast milk. Seeing this sick baby, another mom who had an ample supply of milk, offered to donate hers.“I had to tell her no, though I felt sure breast milk was what this baby needed, because we didn’t have a way to test or pasteurize her milk.”“After two weeks of this baby in trouble, I was going crazy. The one baby you always remember is the one you didn’t save.”In 1999, after reviewing massive amounts of data confirming their own experience in the NICU, Dr. Rivera along with the late Dr. George Sharpe, decided to start the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin (MMBA), a community resource to improve the survival rate of premature and ill infants.Today, Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin is a nonprofit organization which carefully screens donor mothers, accepts milk donations, and then pasteurizes and dispenses donor human milk by physician prescription to premature and ill infants. We also work to educate the medical community about the benefits of donor milk. In addition, by recruiting and supporting donor mothers we encourage breastfeeding. We are the second largest milk bank in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.Our MissionTo accept, pasteurize and dispense donor human milk by physician prescription primarily to premature and ill infants.Our VisionThe Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin will be a leader in advancing the use of donor human milk to improve the quality of human life.



Having a 4 week preemie baby who spent 4 days in the NICU doesn't even compare to what some parents have to go through. I was very uneasy about the breastfeeding situation from the very beginning, but pumping RELIGIOUSLY and getting my milk to him seemed to ease the helpless feeling. It gave me the satisfaction of knowing I was doing the best I could for him.
The Milk Bank is ALWAYS in need of healthy mom's willing to donate their surplus supply of this precious liquid. Please check out their blog for more information. And PLEASE spread the word!

We See PINK!

Our ultrasound yesterday confirmed IT'S A GIRL!!

Kaylon will be a big brother to a new baby sister!

(PICTURES PENDING)

Girl parts

She crossed her legs and waved to us through the whole ultrasound

Profile

Face

It was just Mommy, Daddy, and Big Brother Kaylon in the ultrasound room this time, a special moment for our little growing family to share. The news was mostly spread by telephone and text messages. Our doctor's visit went well. The bottom number of my blood pressure seems to be steadily creeping up (which is a sign of chronic hypertension; in other words it is not caused by the pregnancy.) The anatomy scan we had was not able to show all her internal organs and determined a gestational range of 18weeks and 3 days (which is a little small) so we will be repeating it in 3 weeks. Dr. Boswell said there was no cause for concern with this either, that sometimes babies wiggle just right where the ultrasound can not get a good read on all the important stuff. All in all, everything looks good, but we will be keeping a close eye on things.

Houston Zoo Boo

We had a great time. It has been so long since I have been to the zoo. It is nothing like i remembered. The scenery there is just beautiful. It was a little hectic with all of the people there but we lucked out with the weather. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Unfortunately Ryan could not join us, but Grammy Toni, Jenna, and Kinzie made the trip with us. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Me and My Monkey

(Hello pregnant belly!)

We attempted to take advantage of all the beautiful scenery and snap some pictures, but Kaylon wasn't feeling it. He is definitely a people watcher like his Mommy and of course there was plenty to look at with all the kiddo's running around in their Halloween costumes. Never the less, to see more pictures of our adventure at the Zoo click here.

Side bar about one of our animal encounters:

We walked up to a cage, paying no attention to what was in the cage of course, but I turned around and this is what I saw...

Freaky right. It was totally creepy. Perfect for Halloween. I snapped the shot, made some loud comment about his weird eyes and how that must be why they can see so well at night and laughing. I looked back and saw this....I swear...If there had not been a cage between us...I would have been dinner! I only thought his eyes were open before. Of course I backed us up slowly and left Mr. Grouchy Vulture Bird guy alone!

Inspiration

There is a blog that I have been following for the past month or so. I have no ties to this family but found it through my sister-in-law's blog and have been following it ever since. This is a family where Sara was diagnosed with Breast cancer, received chemotherapy during her pregnancy and was put on bed rest. Their beautiful baby Chloe was born 6 weeks early and spent some time in NICU. Sara was able to spend 2 day's at home with Chloe before she began to seize and ultimately become brain dead a week later. Sara passed away before her baby was 3 weeks old and just a few day's before her 30th birthday. The blog is maintained by her husband Brady. He showcases an amazing testament to faith, love, and overcoming. Truly a beautiful and inspirational story despite the darkness. Click here to check in on them.

A few facts about us

-We said “I do” on October 13, 2007 at 6 o’clock in the evening.
-We were engaged for 16 months before we got married.
-We were together for 5 years before we got engaged.
-We have been together for 8 years total.
-We bought our 1st “house” in October 2004 (1 ½ years before we got engaged)
-We bought our house in Crosby in March 2007 (7 months before we got married)
-We still haven’t sold our 1st house.
-Our 1st valentines day as a married couple we found out we were pregnant with twins.
-We lived together in Mississippi for 6 months before the baby was born.
-5 days before I left to meet Ryan in MS we found out we were no longer having twins, but one - healthy beautiful baby.
-We both “forgot” our 1st anniversary because we were sleep deprived at home with our newborn
-Our son turned one 3 weeks ago.
-We are currently pregnant with our second child.
-Today is our second wedding anniversary.

To the my husband that I love so very much,
Thank you for being you. Thank you for choosing me.
Happy Anniversary

Katy Rice Harvest Festival 2009

We had lots of family fun, and were glad to spend some time with GG . I got lots of great ideas for new sewing adventures, so I am very excited! Kaylon received his first face painting and handled it very well. We had snow cones, ginormous corn dogs, nachos, and of course we couldn't leave without some funnel cake. It was totally worth it!

Burn

Ok, so back at the end of August I was getting Kaylon ready for bed when I noticed his fingers were swollen and puffy like they had been burned.

I knew I had been cooking in the oven that night, but he never cried or carried on that his fingers were hurt. I did recall at one point he fussed a little bit, but I picked him up and he was fine. Since the burn situation I have done what any good mother would do. I have purchased and installed lock harness to the oven door and to the drawer underneath.

That is all I know to do. Well, dun dun dun...last night I was cooking in the oven and I was sacking up the trash when Kaylon let out a gut wrenching scream. I turned around and he was in the middle of the kitchen standing there loosing his mind. I had no idea what was wrong so I checked him all over. I took his clothes off even his diaper and found nothing. All the while he is still screaming. Then I noticed his same little finger ( which had barely healed, the skin was still pink and soft) starting to bubble up again just like before.

I immediately filled a cup with water and ice and stuck his hand in it. It must have helped because he stopped crying. While I let him play in the ice water I went to investigate the stove. I put my hands every where. It was warm to the touch but no where was it hot enough to burn him like that. The only thing I can think is that his little fingers can wiggle their way into the small gap between the bottom of the oven door and the drawer below. I couldn't tell if it was hot because my fingers wouldn't fit. I have no idea what to do about the stove situation. We tell him "no" and "hot" every chance we get. Maybe we need to get a full size guard to cover the oven when in use or something, because apparently it becomes irresistible when its hot. Wish us luck that our parenting know how will figure this one out!

Birthday Bash

It was one for the books that is for sure. Of course I got all frazzled during all the hustle and bustle. We hired a good friend of ours to take pictures of the event. One less thing for Mommy to worry about. Anyway, she did a great job. You can see pics by visiting her website here or you can click on the photo link to the right.

Happy 1st Birthday Kaylon!

To My Dear Beautiful Son,

Today is your 1st birthday. What a year it has been. I can't help thinking of how at 9 o'clock this very morning just one short year ago Daddy and I found out we would be getting to meet you for the very 1st time a short while later. 52 min pass and there you were. Our lives have not been the same ever since. You have brought us so much joy and fulfillment to be such a tiny thing. Each and every day we are so very proud of you and you never cease to amaze us with all the things you do.
As Daddy helped you blow out your 1st candle, I realized it was the end to the happiest year of my life, but also the beginning of a new realization of knowing just how wonderful our life will be because we have you. You truly are heavens gift.

Love, Mommy

Last weeks update

So much is going on, things have been very busy in the Forey House. We rang in the labor day weekend with the purchase of our new floors. Installation was Tues, Wed, and Thurs. My Dad and his guys didn't quite get it finished on Thursday, so came back last Sunday to tidy up their loose ends. Needless to say our lives have been total chaos with our house upside down. Getting thru construction STINKS! But totally worth it in the end. We love our new floors!

So,through out this pregnancy so far I have been dealing with what I would call "serious" waves of nausea. The doctor and I have been able to manage it with a prescription of zofran to take as needed. Well, during all this construction last Tuesday night I took my prescription, but it just didn't seem to do the trick. I was pretty much hugging the toilet all night and retreated back to bed right before Ryan got up for work. I let him know that I wasn't feeling very well, and since I was going to be taking Britt to the doctor in the Med Center that morning, he thought I should go ahead and see my doctor. After sleeping a bit more, I went ahead and woke Britt up and I jumped in the shower, only to loose whatever fluid in my stomach I had left. We made it to Britt's apt and when we were leaving her apt I got real shaky and started to get sick again. I called my Doctor to tell her we were in the area and if I could see her. She decided I should go to the emergency room to get immediate help, and she would see me tomorrow. I was NOT going to the ER for throwing up. So we decided to go home. On the way home (yes I was driving) I started to get sick again, so we stopped at Jenna's house so I could rest. I got SO sick with the dry heaves, that Mema showed up and forced me to the ER. I got there and they saw me pretty quickly. I had to receive 2 injections to stop the nausea and the reflux. Then I was so dehydrated that they gave me 2 bags of fluid thru IV. But after that and 12 solid hours if upchucking I felt "fine" and they sent me home. Dr. Boswell said the next day that if it ever happens again, after just a few hours to go to the ER and start getting IV fluids and the injections instead of suffering thru it all. She did get a "cocktail" of four different prescriptions I am to rotate through out the day to help prevent another episode. She also told me this was a sure sign I was having a girl. Girl or Boy...this baby is racking up some spankings for when it gets here!

On the bright side of things...Kaylon's 1st birthday party is creeping up on us, so many last minute things to do. We celebrated with the family our twin niece and nephew's 6 month birthday, GG and Noni's Birthday's were also last weekend. So many things going on the month of September. I am looking forward to October, we will be in desperate need of a break! (And it's the begining of the best time of year!)

The Best Husband

Award goes to mine!

It made me cry! Isn't he sweet!

Count down!

Ok..its September 1st...that means 22 more day's until our baby turns ONE YEAR OLD! There is so much to do! Invitations have gone out for the big birthday bash. Aren't they adorable! Here comes mommy's big test...can I get everything done while he is at school? We will have to see!

2nd day at school (aka Mothers Day out)

Mommy got him a new back pack that Grammy was getting his name embroidered on the first day of school. So he got to use it today. It was to heavy for my big boy to carry when it was filled with his diapers and lunch. He kept leaning forward to walk, and still fell down backwards. After falling down 3 times, he was done with it (hmmmm...who does that remind you of). So, Mommy will just have to carry it for now.

I dropped him off with no tears from either of us today. We are so big! I only stayed and watched thru the one way glass for 30 min today. He did catch me peeking thru the window as I left though, but once Ms. Danyel side tracked him with a fun toy he totally forgot about me again.

I am so proud of us. I know this is going to be so beneficial for us both. I get a mental and physical break and am able to get few things done during the day, and he gets to socialize with other little people that I am not sure he even knew existed until now.

I stopped at the store to pick up the items he has on his school supply list for the year. Just a few of the things include water colors and jumbo crayons. I can't wait to see what comes of these purchases. Daddy said he wondered which color he would eat first. We will see!