What I Ate Wednesday - Hattie B's Hot Chicken

Hey, y'all! I'm back again this week for what is unintentionally becoming a weekly blog. I have been really sick. Just too sick to think about words and complete sentences and articulate thought... but I'm hopefully getting better. I came down with a cold about two weeks ago and by Monday, it had developed into pneumonia. I knew at this time last week that I was feeling far sicker than a cold should make me feel. Marvin did such a great job taking care of me last week when our weekly date was pretty much just me sleeping while he brought me stuff to make me feel better. All I have wanted to do for the past two weeks was sleep, honestly. I would wake up enough to talk to him on the phone a couple of times a day but mostly I was just going from sleep to sleep. I had a doctor's appointment already scheduled for this past Monday and  my dr knew right away... pneumonia. So... I'm on an antibiotic (a whole new world of unpleasantness) and am scheduled for a follow up in two weeks to make sure it has all cleared out because ... with me, it rarely does with just one course of antibiotics.

That's part one. Cold - turned to pneumonia - hopefully getting cleared up with antibiotics. Part two is my blood pressure. Tuesday my blood pressure was 153/120 AFTER starting a new (fifth) medication to try to bring it down. I have been dealing with high blood pressure since I was 35 and for the most part, medication and behavior modification have controlled it. Lately, nothing works. One possible reason is sleep apnea. I was diagnosed with this back in 2011 but there was so much going on with my health then that I just couldn't afford the time off work, cost involved, etc to get that issue sorted and honest to dog... I just don't want to deal with the c-pap machine and all of that nonsense. However, uncontrolled sleep apnea creates so much stress on your blood vessels because of the interruption in breathing... your body goes into fight or flight and your heart pumps harder and harder to keep you alive. Doing that every single night will ruin the elasticity of your blood vessels and cause a lot of other issues... so, as much as I hate the process of controlling sleep apnea, it's a part of the puzzle in getting my bp under control. The other step is seeing a cardiologist because... once your blood pressure is as high as mine has been for as long as it has been without finding a solution with medication... you have to start looking at the mechanics.

The past seven years have caused me to develop a love/hate relationship with the medical profession. I hate that I need them. I hate the cost. I hate the inconvenience of going to appointments, especially when I'm seeing new specialists and I have to start at square one with them. My medical history is crazy. When I start listing diagnosis' I sound like an absolute hypochondriac. OH how much do I wish I was just a hypochondriac. I would love to never have to deal with prescriptions and doctors and copays and ... all the things. There have been times that I have just abandoned the process because I hate dealing with it all... just as with the rheumatologist. I was supposed to follow up in February 2017 in the ongoing quest to isolate the specific auto-immune disorder going on in my body. The bottom line for me is that nothing they suspected was anything they could treat with one magic pill. It's still a symptom by symptom resolution which is what we're already doing... so... anyways... not happy to see a cardiologist. Grateful to have the health insurance to be able to do so. Hopeful that he will have a solution for this blood pressure issue. It just becomes very scary when you know you're taking all the meds and trying to eat healthy and still, not able to lower it.

SOOOO... today's blog is about our trip to Hattie B's Hot Chicken for lunch today. I know it seems completely contradictory to what I've talked about so far but ... I try to take a 80/20 approach to healthy eating. I do the best I can within my resources (as far as feeling too poorly to cook for the past two weeks, not feeling like shopping for myself, etc) and then on date night (and day and night and day) I loosen the boundaries a bit. Honestly, I had one piece of fried chicken, some potato salad, black eyed pea salad and lemonade. It wasn't horrible. What was horrible is that I completely forgot to take pictures. Cody met us for lunch as he was working right down the street and his birthday is the 30th... not sure when we might be able to celebrate so we did today. I've snagged some photos from the web and you should also check out Hattie B's website.

We had passed by Hattie B's a few weeks back when we went to The Vortex for lunch. Hattie's had a line going down the street so we thought... hmmm... we should go there... and we also though, hmmm... we should get there early. Win on both counts today - we got there about 11:15 and had zero wait time. You order at the counter and they give you a number and bring your food to your table. The menu is pretty straightforward and simple so ordering was easy... the table service is attentive and helpful. We were able to order dessert without getting back in the (then very long) line. The food is fresh and hot (except my potato salad and black eyed pea salad which are meant to be cold). I got the very bland - no spice - chicken because I'm a wimp and because my belly is kind of unwell from the antibiotics. Marvin and Cody both got medium spice and agree that it was about as spicy as they would want to go. I got light meat because that's my preference and it was not the least bit dry. Marvin and Cody got dark meat because they worried that the white meat would be dry. It wasn't. There is limited parking, Cody had to pay to park so... that's a drawback but it's in the city so, it's just part of the process. We snagged what Cosy refers to as "Nana parking" because I have the handicapped tag. Definitely though, if you're in Atlanta / Five Points area, I would recommend Hattie B's. There are also locations in Nashville and Birmingham.

What else can I tell you about the past week? We had lunch with Cosy last Thursday and then had a good time playing with her afterwards. I didn't see her over the weekend because I was feeling so rough and then finally got her again yesterday (Tuesday) and had THE BEST TIME despite my blood pressure being high. Austin was around and did most of the actual caring for Cosy, I just got to enjoy her. She dried my hair for me and helped me put on makeup... she's just the best medicine!

Tomorrow Austin and Cosy are coming to pick me up from Marvin's. I don't have to drive, which helps when I'm not feeling myself. Until then, I'm just tucked in, enjoying being spoiled a little and appreciating the peace and quiet. I'm basically just trying to feel better. I think the blog creativity will improve as I start to feel better... in the meantime, I'll try to keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by! Love and hugs, y'all!

 

Throwback Thursday - July 4th and 5th

This week I'm going to look at what happened on this day, July 5, and the day before July 4th in my blog history. These have been two very memorable days in my life. Last year on July 4th, my dad went to the hospital to see my mom who had been in the hospital for the past few days. She had been very sick but mentally fine. That morning, July 4th, changed everything. From that point on we only had brief glimpses of who my mom used to be. I can remember one day when she seemed particularly clear and I tried to hurry and talk to her about everything, knowing it could be my last real conversation with her. It was.

In July of 2015, I was enjoying tiny baby Cosy and looking forward to Oliver's arrival. This year the highlight of the month will almost surely be Oliver's birthday party on the 21st. It will be Cosy's first ever visit to Oliver's house and her longest road trip. I'm so excited to be there for his party this year. Last year my mom was so unwell that it was impossible for me to travel that far away. Instead I gave him a little party at my house for the family up here. It will be nice to go to his party (and also to not have to give  a party!) this year.

The post summarizing my 4th of July in 2014, didn't go up until a few days later. Cody and Marquee and their friends had come up for a visit. They had a nice swim in the lake and we did fireworks and sparklers and it was just a nice time with friends and family and friends that feel like family.

On the 4th of July and 5th of July in 2013, we were growing mushrooms in our front yard. It was a very wet Summer, our first full Summer up here. The basement flooded frequently. My level of frustration was pretty high but at the same time... life was much easier since I had recently stopped working.

On these days in 2012, I was at Grandma's house in Hayesville, North Carolina, staying with her until it was time to move her to Assisted Living. She went through a lot of emotions that week and it was... rough. The whole process went much more quickly that I had thought it would but I feel proud that I was able to spend those days with her at the end of her time of independence and help her say goodbye to the people and places that were so important to her. It was hard.

Probably the hardest 5th of July I ever faced was the one in 2011. I was at work and I received a call from Austin letting me know that the house was on fire. Our little duplex had been struck by lightning and caught fire. The next two weeks were hard... some of the hardest days I had ever lived through at that point but in the end, we were ok. A lot of special treasures survived the fire. We survived the fire. The cats survived. I had renters insurance (it's so important! If you're renting you really NEED it!) that paid to pack up all our stuff, clean it, salvage what was salvageable and move it to our new apartment. I felt very, very blessed throughout that whole process. It was not easy but having renters insurance made it bearable. The fire is covered in blog posts that you can access by clicking here and here.

Looking back at 2010, I was talking about losing weight and what was different for me in that weight loss effort than previously. You can read my posts here and here and here is a fabulous recipe for this really yummy frittata. Now I need to make a frittata this week!

AND... the oldest blog post I have for this day is from 2009 when I had just had my wisdom teeth removed. It's short and sweet but if you'd like to read it (and your fabulous comments!) you can click here. 

Hope your 4th of July was amazing and I'd love to hear how you spent it this year... and what was your most memorable 4th of July?

Photo Dump - Week In Review

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm binge watching Criminal Minds.
Marvin is working.
Austin is at the ER getting treated for staph infection (same general area, new wound) and is getting a massive dose of antibiotics.
I had several things that I meant to share with you over the past week that I haven't yet so...

<------ angle="" best="" but="" cosy="" it="" me="" my="" nbsp="" not="" of="" p="" photo="" sweet.="" took="" was="" yesterday.=""> This was my blood pressure this morning. I went two days without two of my medicines and oddly enough, without those, my blood pressure went down. It could just be coincidence. At this point I'm looking for anything and everything that could possibly be the magic fix for my bp. I am working SO HARD at eating healthy, whole foods without preservatives or high sodium content. I'm still struggling with getting in enough fluid but I'm trying.

Trying out CBS All Access to have access to the Big Brother Live Feeds for a little bit of time this Summer. I'm not one hundred percent sold on this year's edition and cast of Big Brother but there are a few characters that I'm interested in so I'm watching it for now. I also thought it would be fun to binge watch a few of the CBS shows that I haven't watched or have only seen parts of because I watch SOOOO much tv. The site is not as easy to navigate as Netflix. I didn't think I could watch old episodes but then I found a way... it's just weird.

Cody received a huge honor this past week... he is working for a new company and has only been there for two or three months. Last week they awarded him as their Rookie of the Year for the past year - even though he was only there for a few months of it! My kids are good at whatever they do. It's pretty amazing. Cody has all these specialized certifications on life safety systems like fire alarms and sprinklers and that sort of thing. The company he was working for was really falling apart. There were weeks that they would barely have one day of work for him. This new company recruited him and have really taken great care of him and that makes mama happy.

As I mentioned earlier, Austin had to go to the ER today. He has another wound like the one last week... it's a staph infection. They got him started on some major antibiotics. Poor kid. He can't work tomorrow. I've got to decide if I want to try to get Cosy tomorrow while I have the car so she can see her daddy a little bit or if it would be better just to let him rest and get well and I'll get Cosy on Tuesday, like usual and it just be me and her.

All of a sudden with Cosy in just the past week it's like someone switched the light on for her with the whole potty thing. I just stopped asking if she had to go and told her she was the boss of her teetee. I still put her in big girl undies because... Nana don't play that pull-up crap. She's not had a single accident out of the three days we had her last week. Every single time she had to go she told us, we helped to the potty and she went in the potty. She has been so freaking proud of herself for it, too!

I finally got all my meds yesterday. Cody went and picked them up in Flowery Branch for me. I was up most of the night Thursday night and ALL night Friday night. I went ahead and picked Cosy up when she woke up - 7:30am yesterday- even though I was a freaking zombie - because it's so important to me that the babies spend time together. I knew Oliver would be disappointed if he came up and Cosy wasn't here. I posted lots of pictures of them on my Facebook and Instagram yesterday but I'm posting a few more for my records here and for those who don't do the other social media things.

Pool that Marvin bought them. I think Marvin needs a grandpa name but he gives me a major eye roll on it. He really is just the sweetest ever to these babies. Honestly, he couldn't be any sweeter if he birthed them himself. 

 

 

 

Further back in the week... pictures from my Spa Night, Wednesday night at Marvin's (while he was working)

  ceviche and tostadas

I ran this photo through the Prisma App and I like the way it turned out... sweet baby girl washing dishes.

I slept great last night from like... 6:30 to 7 this morning with a few interruptions in sleep to go potty. Then I laid back down and took a nap at 11. I've just been really run down. I am still feeling really fatigue and having a hard time moving around but I feel like I'm on the right track now.

And one last thing... the invitation to Oliver's 3rd birthday party. His mama and grandma hand made the invitations. It's a Toy Story theme so they're made to look like an etch a sketch. I absolutely adore them! It's hard to show in a photograph but they are 3-D.

Hope you're having a great weekend! Love and hugs, y'all!

News Day Tuesday

Cody at 10 or 11 (not sure exactly) 

Happy UnMonday, Friends!

Today has been quite quiet for me. I did a little dog-sitting this morning while my mom was visiting the urologist. I worked on my Italian. I watched some YouTube videos. I did a little Pinterest research for toddler activities (Austin is very much into planning things for Cosette to do because he is an awesome dad, as you all know!) I did not do anything on the to-do list from yesterday so... boo hiss on my organizational aspirations. I'll get there eventually.

My parents got something marked off their to-do list today - they hired a guy to do yard work! Austin has been doing it since we moved here and his perception of a perfectly groomed lawn is somewhat different from my mom's perception. She's always just kind of done what needed to be done to bring it up to snuff as she enjoys working in the yard but she really can't physically do that any more. With Austin working so much and having Cosette on one of his days off every week, he doesn't have the time to put into it that he once did. AND... the riding lawnmower quit working about two weeks ago and we haven't been able to figure out how to get it going again. I say "we" as if I had anything to do with it. Trust me, I don't.

Following up on my recent interest in that YouTube series on a visit to North Korea, I watched a video on this guy who defected to North Korea in 1962. I believe there were a few others but this guy was the first. His name is James Dresnok. It was very interesting to see how deeply indoctrinated he has become during his time there. His reason for crossing the border was ... stupid, if you ask me ... his marriage had ended, he had forged a superior's signature on a pass while stationed in South Korea and ... he just figured, why not? Suicide by crossing the DMZ, I guess. He became a propaganda piece for North Korea as did the other men who followed him around that time. He has sons who were born there and who speak English with a Korean accent. It's pretty bizarre because the accent doesn't match the face. The documentary was called, "Crossing the Line" if you're interested in seeing it. I watched it on YouTube.

I'm hearing that the Pumpkin Spice Latte release is September 1st, as in DAY AFTER TOMORROW! I'm wondering if Cosette is old enough for her first PSL as she'll be with us that day... Just kidding. Mostly.

For my first "Autumn themed flavor test" I tried the pecan pie m&ms that I bought last week. They aren't BAD but they are awfully sweet. They taste as if you dipped an m&m in maple syrup. So... maybe if you don't like super sweet things you would want to skip them. I'm a fan of sweet and salty so I think I would like peanut m&ms dipped in maple syrup but you can't make pecan pie with peanuts so...

Me & Bryan circa 1980-ish

Today is my middle son, Cody's birthday and tomorrow is my brother Bryan's birthday! I can always remember Bryan's age because he is ten years younger than me. His birth that occurred in the middle of the night. Jim was 12, I was ten and Michael was 3 so my Aunt Ginger and Uncle Carl came and stayed with us when my parents went to the hospital. At some point during the night they opened my bedroom door and turned on the light and said, "you have another brother!!!" And my ten year old/only girl response was, "turn the light off.". I did grow to love him, as I love all my brothers. Although I always wished for a sister, the ones I gained through marriage have been pretty awesome. Some of them are real awesome and some are not awesome so it balances out to be pretty awesome. (Bryan picked a real awesome one) At any rate... Happy Birthday, Bryan! I've always been proud of your accomplishments but I'm even prouder of seeing you as a husband and father!

Tomorrow is also my nephew Caleb's birthday. We haven't seen him in awhile but we love him dearly and are thinking about him on his ... yikes... 12th birthday!

Tomorrow my mom has two procedures to try to get more information on her health situation. I'll share more when we know more but keep her in your prayers tomorrow. And also, keep my dad in your prayers as he is not great at waiting and he'll be doing a lot of it tomorrow. Praying for comfy waiting rooms and long naps for him. I'll be Oscar sitting so pray for the cats (LOL!). Sometimes Oscar is friendly with the cats and sometimes he isn't. We are anxious to know what my mom is facing. I just keep trying to remember that God knows already and has been working to prepare us all for whatever news comes... and of course you never know anything right away so it's really more the beginning of waiting than it is a resolution. Her first procedure is one I've had before and it's uncomfortable all by itself but then she has a long drive, another procedure and another long drive to face afterwards.

Lots of my news for today is really about tomorrow and the next day, it seems... it's all part of being a daily blahhhhger. Some days are just dull. I haven't watched much actual news today. I said I'd go back to the 24 hour news cycle after the Olympics and I really haven't. It's on in the background with the sound mostly off while I do my Italian lesson in the morning. I check online news periodically throughout the day and I leave it on the news channels during the night in case there's something big breaking, I'll see it on one of my multiple bathroom breaks during the night. I'm still so aggravated with the political situation in our country. I feel like we've dealt with so much legitimate tough stuff as a family this year with my mom being sick and the custody stuff and it just makes me angry that people like Anthony Weiner are in the news because he is such a massive pervert and that Colin Kaepernick doesn't have enough human decency to stand for the National Anthem. Our country may not be perfect but it's done an awful lot for him. There's so much more in life that MATTERS. It's just easier to keep my blood pressure under control if I don't watch much news. Does that make sense?

End of anti-news rant on News Day Tuesday.

I'm catching up on my DVR'd shows this evening and maybe watching a few more episodes of Drop Dead Diva. We had a great dinner - chicken and rice. I'm having a peaceful, easy evening and I hope you are too! Just two more days until Pumpkin Spice everything! Love and hugs, y'all!

The "To Do" List

Combining inventories... a work in progress

My blog needs work now that we're all coming here more often. It occurred to me today that I was still showing Austin's age as 21 in the border of my blog and he turned 22 in March. Cody's birthday is tomorrow so I needed to change his age too. I also realized my photos were sort of dated and... didn't include my grandchildren... so I made a lame attempt to update it all. I got sort of cross-eyed looking at photos. The ones I ended up using aren't necessarily the best photos or my favorite photos so... let's call this a work in process.

Speaking of works in progress... this is a good day for making a Wish List / To Do List or whatever you want to call it. Revamping the blog is at the top of the list and although I didn't get it exactly like I want... I did work on it today. It felt productive.

Also, remember I mentioned a friend gifting me some of her husband's embroidery supplies since he passed away recently? Today I started sorting through and combining his "floss" inventory with mine. It was rough on my back bending over but there's something about having all that thread that makes me feel inspired... energized... READY TO SEW! I also was given a project of my Grandma's that she needed help finishing and then yesterday my second cousin Rachel contacted me about sending me some of her unused supplies. I thought... hmmm... maybe I'm supposed to start sewing again. Life seems to be pushing me in that direction. It really is an amazing way to feel productive when the days all look the same. Step one was combining inventories... maybe tomorrow I can actually start to sew!

We also need to get started on Christmas stockings for this year. We don't yet know who will be with us at Christmas but the stockings we made a few years ago were sent home last Christmas with the idea that we would make new ones again this year. I've been searching "DIY Christmas Stockings" so we can get started soon. It's a long road from idea to complete project for me so... time to get crack-a-lackin'!

My mom is the one who operates the sewing machine and she's not doing great, health wise. Tomorrow she sees a urologist about some kidney issues then the next day they do further tests with the gastro doctor about the new places of cancer they found on the little bit of pancreas she has left. I feel like we need to get things done before they start doing anything treatment wise that might make her not feel well.

I'm also sort of thinking about buying Christmas gifts but I have a bad habit of choosing a gift and having it purchased and wrapped and then I find other things that I would want that person to have so I buy more and more. We've spent a lot on lawyers this year and I still have a long way to go with the dental work (see next paragraph) so I'm going to try to be conservative on the Christmas spending this year. I'm keeping an eye out for gifts in case I come across "the perfect gift" for someone but trying to keep it off the official to do list for a little bit longer.

OY. The Dental Work. It's at the top of the "got to get it done" list. My dental anxiety has grown exponentially since we started working on things and I kind of just abandoned the process. I mean, there were things that made it hard for me to intentionally subject myself to addition pain like... having a hysterectomy and going through the custody drama. But it's time. On my list for tomorrow: make my next appointment.

Speaking of making appointments... I've been talking about going to the eye doctor since... forever... I can't see to drive after dark. I'm using cheaters to read and sew. I have all these headaches and I really need to get the vision piece of my health issues taken care of. Ask me tomorrow if I've made those two appointments: dental and vision. Remind me. Don't let me put it off any more.

On more of a "wish list" than a "to do list" although, I imagine they sometimes cross over. I want to re-do my bathroom. Not as far as replacing the shower with a tub/shower combo (which is what I REALLY want to do) but just as far as painting it a color I enjoy more... new shower curtain... a bigger and better mirror... new towel racks and all that. I thought I'd add it to my Christmas Wish List but in the meantime, if I see something that fits in with my mental image of how my bathroom should look... well... I might have to go ahead and buy it.

I've been thinking about doing a gallery wall on the big wall in my living room for a long time now. I have so many awesome pictures of the babies and treasured photos of my kids growing up, old photos that I've been meaning to have reprinted and artwork that has been just sort of piled up and not hung. I can't hang pictures myself but I could gather everything, get it framed and plot it out so that when I have access to a son with a hammer, I can put him to work.

Speaking of sons... Cody's birthday is TOMORROW! He will be 26! How many of you were around when he was born? He has always been the sweetest, most compassionate kid... On my "to do" list this week is getting together a little birthday party for him for this coming Saturday when they come to visit, you know, cake and stuff. If you're going to be in White County on Saturday around noon and you want to my sweet middle child... stop by and say hello!

Also speaking of sons... I talk to the younger two all the time because of the babies but I need to sit down and chat with the eldest one day soon. He's planning a wedding.... or at least Sara is planning a wedding... and they're still adjusting to life in Myrtle Beach. I hope to be able to make the trip out there soon, you know, when it's not hotter than the face of the sun outside. Time with Ryan is definitely on the to-do list.

If you stop and think about it long enough... can't you name off five or ten people you need to make an effort to contact or spend time with? I can. Being physically limited makes me reluctant to contact people because I feel like the question "how have you been?" always brings down the tone of the conversation if I say how I really am. And I feel so guilty for not being physically present in people's lives and not really having the potential, realistically, to be present any time soon/ever. That's an unhappy item on my to do list. I could, however, be better about written communication. I'm never going to be better at telephone communication but I can write, right?

I need to clean my closet out. Some of it is too much for me but I could do it in small bites here and there. There are so many things I own that I am just not going to wear again. Other than a few special items, for the most part I'm just wasting space. Then maybe I could stop piling clothes on the bed.

Is it too early to break out the fall decor? That's on my to-do list. Along with purchasing my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. Rumor has it that PSL hits the stores on September 1st. Anyone have an "in" at Starbucks who can let me know? The chalkboard markers I used for Olivers birthday chart can be used on windows! I'm eager to draw some pumpkins and... whatever else Autumnal that is within my artistic ability on my big sliding doors.

So... I guess I need to put away the laptop and start ticking things off the to-do list, don't I? I mean... I did get the thread sort of halfway sorted today... and I updated the blog a little... so I've made some progress. AND I have been a better blogger lately, right? I think I'm at my productivity limit for the day so I'll get back at the list tomorrow. For sure. What's on your to do list for this week? I'd love for you to share!

Happy Monday... love and hugs, y'all!

Facetime With Oliver

These photos were taken during my "Facetime with Oliver" last night. Try to ignore my crazy faces in the corner. To grab a toddler's attention on a phone you have to be pretty animated. I'm fairly animated anyways. Also... by the end of the day my hair is pretty much just a fuzzy bun. I'm not trying to impress.

I Facetime with Cody and Oliver - mostly Oliver - a couple of times a week. They live about 100 miles South of us and I'm just not as portable as I'd like to be so I end up seeing Oliver about once a month. Facetiming with him when he was a tiny baby was like... ummmm... I think we did better with pictures. Facetiming now that he's old enough to realize that it's Nana on the phone and now that he realizes it's an interactive process is loads of fun! Usually Cody will call me after they've had dinner while Marquee is having a bath and recuperating from taking care of our crazy monkey boy all day.

Oliver is ALL boy. B-O-WHY???? Boy. He climbs all over the place. He's a daredevil. He is hilarious and adorable and full of life. He also doesn't sleep much. He doesn't have a slow speed. He is busy all the time.

Oliver is now 13 months old. He loves cars, balls, climbing on things, Scooby Doo, outside and water. If you make faces at him he will make the same face back to you. He can stick out his tongue, wiggle his eyebrows, blow raspberries, make about a dozen different motor sounds... he's just fun to play with, even over the phone.

He sort of understands the phone situation but not fully. The other day I was eating an Italian Ice and I said, "do you want a bite?" and held the spoon up to the phone and he opened his mouth. I have the same activity table that he has. Yesterday while he was playing with it I pressed buttons on mine and he was really confused. He's really good at waving goodbye and blowing kisses when it's time to hang up the phone. He's honestly just the most adorable little boy ever... and I'm an expert on little boys!

Because I'm used to little boys... I don't freak out when they climb on things. Cody famously pushed my mom's ladder back rocking chair up against her refrigerator and climbed up... all the way to the top... and was pulling himself up on top... at 8 months old. Whenever someone at the ballfield would say, "whose kid is that way up in that tree?" I knew it was Austin. Ryan was never as much of a daredevil because he was born "grown". He found trouble in other ways. (We'll save that for another blog post... I could write volumes on Ryan. He turns 30 in November... maybe then... )

< --- in this picture Oliver is running across his couch. RUNNING. He will reach for his dad's hand when he crosses the ottoman from the couch to the loveseat. He still hasn't quite figured out how to climb up on the chair - his favorite spot because it's beside the window and he LOVES to look outside.

He's pretty good at getting down off of the furniture. He thinks that pillows are magical protection from injury and will sometimes jump with a pillow. It reminds me of when we were growing up and the two Jeffs would do Evil Knievel tricks off of our concrete slab porch. It was about three feet off the ground. They would build ramps and ride up one end and jump off the other. It's a wonder we didn't have more backyard injuries.

There was the one time Jim slid down the hill behind our house because someone yelled that "the old man" who lived in the house behind our property was coming after him. He snagged his knee on something and ended up with a lot of stitches.

Our neighborhood was your typical 1970's neighborhood... ranch houses, fenced yards, dads worked and moms stayed home, for the most part. We had a Jeff on one side of us, in the house where Cody and Marquee now live. There was John on the other side and just past his house was another Jeff. Jeff, Jeff, John and Jimmy. I played with Shannon and Karen (John and one of the Jeff's sisters) and Kim, who lived a few houses down and across the street. There were a ton of other kids in the neighborhood. I'm friends on Facebook with a lot of them. But mainly, especially during elementary school it was Jeff, Jeff, John, Shannon, Karen and Kim. The house we lived in had belonged to John and Karen's grandmother. Now my grandson lives in the house beside the house where I grew up. And Dawn who is my parents "favorite daughter" (really just a much loved neighbor) lives across the street from Cody. Her daughter lives in the house next door... where I grew up! Also... my sister-in-law Angie, being the smart woman that she is, bought the house across the street from my parents when her and Jim started getting serious. Once she was in the neighborhood it was a cinch roping her into the family! (she has since sold the house).

Oliver living in our old neighborhood... I guess he can't help but carry on the Evil Knievel traditions.

The other day I posted a picture of him standing on one of his ride on toys... here's him standing on his activity table. You can only barely see the table but...

Why is he clapping? Because Nana said, "yay, Oliver!" He's got amazing core strength. And you know that activity table hurt his feet... at one point he got frustrated with it but he's just a tough little boy.

I've bet Cody that this one ends up with stitches or a broken bone before his second birthday. Not wishing it on him, of course, just knowing... from being a boy mommy...

 

Notice the one picture where Little Kitty is in the upper right instead of me? He got bent out of shape because I had moved from my usual nest to another chair in my living room. He climbed all across the living room to be able to get behind me so I put the camera on him for a minute. Oliver checked him out for a hot second but he's not as impressed with cats as he is dogs. And pretty much everything else.

My parents came through my living room while I was on the phone. You can tell when I'm talking to Ollie because I answer the phone screaming, "OLIVER!!!!" Which makes him giggle. I really love that kid! He seriously makes my day. I've always said that Austin is my youngest and Cody is my baby. Cody has always just been the sweet one. Oliver is like his dad... tough... but just so sweet.

Cody's birthday is on Tuesday. They're coming up next weekend and *hopefully* I can get the two babies in one place for the first time since April. Marquee's family was celebrating with Cody today. He wanted us to drive down but it's just too much car time for me. I promised him a SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!! if he came up, complete with cake, balloons, clowns... whatever he wants. So I'm really looking forward to seeing him and celebrating his 26th birthday next weekend. And I can't wait to play with my buddy Oliver!

Hope you enjoyed "Facetime With Oliver"... I know I talk about my grandchildren in every single blog post but they really are the loves of my life, my reason for getting out of bed in the morning and truly, my reward for sticking it out this long! Love and hugs, y'all!