Breakfast and Fun!

We went to breakfast this morning with Jer's parents at one of my favorite places...a dive of a cafe in Denton that serves the best breakfast food! I had a blueberry pancake that was the size of a long oval dinner plate that was chock full of fresh berries. Colin had some potatoes, eggs, texas cinnamon toast (which he adored) and some of my pancake. It was a big hit for everyone involved. I love breakfast food, so this brought me a lot of joy in particular. :-) We went back to their house afterwards and opened our presents from them early, since we are going to my parents house for Christmas. It was a great morning....Colin discovered the stairs and spent a good deal of time going up and down them. He even started trying to walk up without using his hands and he got pretty good at it! We were all very impressed at what a big boy he was. It really seems like he conquers something new every day.

Also, I finally found slippers last week for Colin...they are bear slippers from Gap and he picked them out himself. They had a bin of bear, race car, and dinosaur shoes and he clearly leaned into the bear bin to grab them. They are soft with a sturdy rubber non-skid sole, so they are perfect and they fit (although they are a little big at the moment). Before dinner, Jer changed his diaper and slipped on the shoes without his pants. I thought he looked so adorable that I made him stand for a picture, and got the shot below. He was furious with me for stopping dinner to take this shot, but it turned out too cute for words. Jer pointed out that this will make a great picture to show his girlfriend one day. hehe!!! :-)

17 Months Old...A Little Update

Today was a good day...I finally got to see Dr. Smith and I am so glad to be on the road to recovery. My back is sore from the physical therapy, but I am feeling better! It was 75 degrees this afternoon, so I took the opportunity to take Colin to the park and he enjoyed getting to run around outside after a pretty cold week. This weekend is going to be very busy since we leave for my parents house on Tuesday. I have to get everything for Christmas done and I am still behind. I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away...this season seemed to go faster than ever!!

Colin will be 17 months old tomorrow and he is growing up so fast. This week he blew me away with his latest development. He took an extra long nap on Monday and when he woke up, I asked him (like I always do), "Did you have a good nap?". This time he looked at me and said, "I did!". I could not believe it. I said, "YOU DID??" and he said it again..."I Did!". I thought it must be a fluke, but he has been saying it all week!! Today when I got home from the doctor, I asked if he had fun with his Aunt Alie. He grinned from ear to ear and announced, "I DID!". It just kills me....I have not taught him that phrase at all and he just came out with it on his own.

He is turning into the most thoughtful and sweet little boy. When I give him his juice, he then lines up his stuffed animals and gives them "drinks". He started this just a couple of weeks ago and I actually teared up the first time I saw him doing it. He was so gentle and sweet offering his juice to each little animal. I can't express how adorable it is. He is all boy...he loves to climb and jump and get into everything and he has a lovable little personality that is all smiles. He still eats absolutely anything I give him...some days he eats lighter than others, but he always tries everything I put on his tray. His absolute favorite food is still guacamole. This cannot be understated...he adores it. Tonight we had dinner at our little Mexican place and he ate an entire large guacamole on flour tortillas. That's my boy!! :-)

My Aching Back

Well, my back problem is rearing it's ugly head at the moment and I am none too pleased. Yesterday morning, I noticed the exact same strange pain in the dead center of my back. This was the same pain that I felt about 24 hours before ending up in the damn ambulance, so needless to say, I flipped out. There is no way that I am going through that again. I called the back guy that helped me last winter and called in my sister to drive out here and babysit. I showed up at the appointment only to find out that 1) the stupid receptionist is still incredibly rude and a gigantic idiot and 2) I had to get a new referral from our family doctor to make sure my insurance would cover it. That seemed odd since we have PPO on purpose to avoid referral messes, but I digress. I had to LEAVE and make an appointment for today with Dr. Green. Jer stayed home from work to make sure that I did not pick Colin up and have to call 911 again and allow me a chance to go to the doctor. It took literally all afternoon...my doctor was running over an hour and a half late and then it took CVS almost an hour to fill the scripts. Luckily the visit paid off...I now have pain pills and and a series of steroids that should keep me from locking up before I can visit the back doctor again on Friday. I have not been doing any of the exercises that I am supposed to be doing for my back...I know that Dr. Smith will have something to say about that when I see him. I hope he can work his miracle again because lord knows I don't want to deal with this over Christmas!!! I have stuff to do!!

A Festive Weekend!

This has been a busy, tiring and good weekend. Today was the highlight...we took a trip over to Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine to see their Santa Land area and Colin had a blast watching the trains and race cars. He is such a boy! Once he was out of the stroller, he went running toward all the awesome fishing and camping equipment. I really have a feeling that once this boy gets a little older, I will have to take up outdoor activities or never see him again. :-) After Bass Pro, we went over to Grapevine Lake and let Colin play at the edge of the water. He was in heaven picking up rocks and throwing them into the water. He would have played there all day if he could have. We got some really cute pictures, which always makes me happy. It was a little nerve racking since we had to keep hawk eyes for glass and things that Colin should not pick up, but we managed to find a clean area to play in for a bit. It was a beautiful day here and in the 80's! Tomorrow the high is only 40, so I am glad we took advantage of the random "summer" weather for a family outing.


On Friday night, we attended Jer's work Christmas party at The Gaylord Texan. It was my first year to attend as a "spouse only" rather than employee. It ended up being a lot of fun...we got all dressed up and my sister Alieson came over to stay with Colin. We got home slightly after midnight, which felt SO LATE to me. It was our first date night since our anniversary in early July, so it was really nice to get out. The Gaylord was just as amazing as it is every Christmas and it was great to see all of my old friends from work. It felt like a homecoming for me, except I got to just enjoy the party and not show up for work on Monday. hehe! I also drank entirely too much wine and then ended up taking a tequila shot thanks to my lovely friend Tom. That was not the best idea...while I had a great time being warm and tipsy for the first time in ages, I felt miserable on Saturday. I am really getting old. :-)


Here are some of the pictures from today...