Halloween in Pictures

Here are some of our precious pictures from the big night. I had lots of gel in Colin's hair in an attempt to make him look like Dr. McDreamy. I obviously succeeded. :-)


Colin running with Duke at the carnival. Mimi is in the background taking pictures of Jackson in the stroller.

This is one little man who LOVES Halloween. Look at that smile!

The doctors getting a stroll in Mimi's double grandson express. :-)

Me, Jer, Cory, Meredith, Jackson and Colin (who wanted us to get out of his ball bin!)

Happy Halloween!

It is 10:30 pm and therefore way past my bedtime, but I had to make a quick post! We are in my hometown in East Texas for Halloween so that Colin could trick-or-treat with his cousin Jackson. We had the best time! We all headed out to a great little carnival at a local church and the boys had an absolute blast. They had a petting zoo, bounce houses, hot dogs and snacks, lots of candy and rooms full of games, even for the little ones! Colin found a ball pit and was beside himself with glee. It was, of course, stunningly adorable. :-) Colin and Jackson were both doctors and everyone we passed said, "You guys are needed in the ER, stat!". We all got a big kick out of it. Colin loved on Jackson the whole evening...this is the first time Colin has really been old enough to play with J and they had so much fun. Jackson was the perfect "big brother" and was so sweet and patient with Colin. Once we got back to my parents house to go through all the loot, they really got into the swing of things. My parents have a great little tent in the living room and both boys were inside it playing...with Enzo! :-) I probably died of cuteness several times tonight. I got Colin down for bed at around 8:30 and my parents stayed home with him and Jackson so that us "kids" could all go eat. It was so nice to share a meal with Meredith and Cory that did not involve me wolfing down food so that I could take care of Colin. :-) It felt great to have a grown-up meal and was a nice end to a perfect Halloween. We have tons of pictures to download, both from my parents camera and mine, so I will do all of that in the morning. Hopefully we have some cute pics to come! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Married Life Meme!

After reading Shannon's anniversary post and meme, I am doing my duty and joining in. :-)


1. What year did you meet your spouse? late in 2000


2. Who said “I love you” first? yeah, so...I can't remember. I even asked Jer, who also can't remember. However, I am 99.9% sure it was me, knowing us like I do. ;-)


3. How long after meeting your spouse did you get engaged? hmmm...we got engaged in early spring 2003. I suppose it was around two years after we met, but we did not begin dating immediately. He was just one of our hot pilots for awhile there and I don't date pilots. Oops. ;-)

4. How did the proposal go? Jer had been on a trip and arrived home to find me scurrying around trying to get ready for an evening out with our friends. He was talking to me and I was running around putting on make-up and fixing my hair. I must not have been paying much attention, because he finally said, "CHALNA! PLEASE come sit on the couch for a second and listen to me!". He had such a serious face when I sat down that I asked him if he was about to break up with me. HAHA! :-) He said the most precious things and asked me to marry him with the most beautiful ring that he bought in Phoenix. He had done a lot of research on the ring and even planned things out with the jeweler there so that he could buy the ring while he was out on the trip. It was the most amazing moment!!!!

5. When did you get married? July 11, 2003

6. What’s something that drives you nuts about your spouse? he doesn't like the same movies that I do. ;-)

7. How big is your bed? King size...we love it because there is plenty of room for Enzo and Ferris Mewler.

8. Who cooks dinner the most? It used to be Jer (he is a great cook!) but it is me since I started staying home with Colin. I think I have gotten really good!

9. Do you have any children? Only the sweetest boy in the world! :-)

10. What city was the first place you lived as a married couple? Bethlehem, PA

11. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We never had an official honeymoon. We married in Vegas over a long weekend.

12. What’s your favorite thing about being married? I adore that I share my life with my best friend. I love that I feel "complete" with Jeremy, like I am with my other half. It is just this safe, whole feeling that gives me peace. We were meant to be...we are just right. That feeling is my favorite part about being married.

13. What is one thing your spouse would say really annoys them about you? Probably that I am horrible with anything related to paperwork. He is so right about that. Jer literally took my voter registration card out of my hand the other day and put it away so I would not lose it. Which I totally would have. ;-)

14. Where’s your favorite place to go on vacation? We both want to spend time in Europe. Jer has been before, but I have not. We can't wait to go together one day.

15. What vehicle was your “get away” car from the wedding reception? a bright white limo! Vegas, baby!

16. Did you have a big wedding? No, it was teeny tiny! We practically eloped!

17. If you could change two things about your wedding what would they be? I would have done the honeymoon...we were so busy with work and I wish I had just done it anyway. I miss that we did not run away to Mexico or something equally great. We said we were going to have one shortly there after, but time got away and it never happened. Other than that, I would not have changed a thing about the actual wedding. It was adorable and perfect for us.
18. What’s your song? "Northern Sky" by Nick Drake. Long story here, but suffice it to say that this song will be important to me for all time.

19. What do you enjoy doing as a family/couple? As a couple, we loved to explore new foods and awesome places to eat before we had the little one. We will get back into that more when Colin is slightly older. We also loved going to the movies. Now, we are all about anything that is fun for Colin. We all love to picnic. Jer and I love to lay in bed at night and catch up on the news together, read, or just chat. Our hours together after Colin goes to bed have become very special to us.

20. How many family pets do you have? two...the famous Enzo the Italian Greyhound and Ferris Mewler the fat cat.

If you are reading this, you have been tagged!

Monday - Tuesday Updates

Well, Colin threw up again all over the place last night before bed. He had been having such a great day, too! I thought we had turned the corner, but not so much. He was acting just fine, although I did notice that he was not very hungry at dinner. He seemed okay, so I decided to give him a bottle at bedtime...bad idea. It was not pretty. I was rocking him at the time and now we have to have the cushions on my beautiful glider replaced because the stupid covers don't come off. Trust me, there is no salvaging the ones we have. Needless to say, it was not a good night. I ended up in tears simply because it is making me crazy seeing Colin sick like this.

I called the nurse this morning to ask about getting more nausea meds and they called back and told me they wanted to see him in the office. So we went for another doctor visit. After a ton of questions, we were basically directed to wait and see. They sent me home with five plastic vials and all kinds of instructions for poop samples. If he is still sick by Thursday, they want to see the poop in the office. Once again, he seems better....I am really hoping that last night was honestly the end. He went to bed tonight without issue, thank goodness!! He seemed happy this evening, so my prayers tonight are that he is done with this. I sure don't want him to miss Halloween!!

The big question is where did he get this? The only place he really could have gotten it was one of the playgrounds we went to last week. I know I can't keep Colin inside like a hermit, but I would really like to after this one!! UGH!

SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!!!!!

I am here and alive. BARELY. This has been the worst five days ever. After I wrote my last post, Colin woke up on Thursday morning literally covered from head to toe in vomit and diarrhea (sorry in advance for this gross post!). I spent the whole day cleaning his room from top to bottom. The poor little angel was so sick and it literally broke my heart. By Thursday night, I just managed to get Colin into bed before it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have can honestly say that I have not been that sick in probably 12 years or so. After several hours of throwing up, I called my mom in a panic. My saint of a mama got in her car and drove to me in the middle of the night. She arrived at 3:30 in the morning and it was the most wonderful moment of my life. Before I knew it, she was putting ice cold wash clothes on my forehead and scurrying around me making everything better. Thank the Lord above for Mama's, that is all I have to say about that. I was up sick for 12 hours straight, so no sleep for me. Friday is a complete blur of my mother taking care of both of us. Colin was better on Friday, but woke up throwing up again yesterday morning, so we spent the better part of the day at the children's urgent care place. Once we finally made it home, we had to disinfect everything in the whole house. Then my poor wonderful mother comes down with it late last night! UGH!!!!! Seriously, this is HORRIBLE!!! Jer just got home from his work trip a couple of hours ago, so I am sure that he will have it by tomorrow, although I am sure praying that he somehow avoids it.

Colin is not well, but he is getting better. He has not thrown up today, which is such a blessing. He got some great pills from the doctor yesterday that melt on his tongue to help with the nausea and vomiting and those have been a huge help. I can't wait for him to be well...it kills me to see the light out of his eyes like this! I feel like our house is under siege at the moment!! I do feel much better today, so that is good news. What a MESS!!!