Adventures with Cosy and Oliver

 

Back update: no improvement. I see the doctor on Friday. I am having a hard time sleeping even while taking ambien. The pain breaks through. I haven't checked my bp today.

Next order of business: the beginning of "date night" (and day and night and day) has been moved from Tuesday evening to Wednesday lunch date (and night and day and night). Don't want y'all to be disappointed when I don't check in from some place fabulous tonight... just know that I'll check in from some place fabulous tomorrow and then tomorrow night I'll have a fabulous What I Ate Wednesday post telling you ALL about it! (Well, all about the food anyways... *wink*)

I picked Cosy up this morning about 8:30 (in the car, I don't mean that I physically lifted her) and brought her to my house. She stayed and played a bit. She and her dad made a donut run... and then they took Jessi to work... and in between we played with beads and bubbles and used the bug zapper. She is addicted to these moronic toy opening videos on YouTube and I had reached saturation point today so I changed it to the Wizard of Oz in hopes of creating a new, much better obsession. Cosy loves to sing. She will sing "the itsy bitsy spider" with me as many times as I will. I'm out of breath and sweating and having a full on cardio workout from helping that spider crawl up the water spout a gazillion times and she's clapping her hands and saying, "AGAIN! AGAIN!!!". SOOOO... I thought, as long as I'm singing along and being animated, she might just be ready for the Wizard and YES, it worked! She did ask a few times to change it to her thing but I said, "let's just see if that Wicked Witch comes back...." and I did the evil laugh with her and... I'm not saying she's asking to be Dorothy for Halloween but she's definitely following the yellow brick road.

 
I have so much work to do with this one to fully indoctrinate her into loving musical theater. There are so many alternatives out there. She is a country girl, after all... but her name is Cosette and it would be a shame for that name to never been listed in a Playbill somewhere... is there any better name for a musical theater geek?

I digress. Austin carried down the laundry for me and Cosy helped me load the washer. This is one of her favorite things... watching my clothes take a bubble bath... see how even laundry becomes fun when you're looking through the eyes of a child?

  

I took a lot of pictures of Oliver when we FaceTimed last night. They were outside on his new trampoline so the light was good. He was tired and not Tigger bouncing all over the place like he normally does when we FaceTime, ironically, since he was literally ON A trampoline.... so I was able to get some photos that weren't just blurs. I just can't get over how beautiful he is... that gorgeous curly hair, his big brown eyes... he's so articulate and witty and smart. I had heard that kids who are bi-lingual sometimes have delayed speech but that's not at all the case with Oliver. I also wondered if he would realize that some words are English and some are Spanish because to him, they're all words, right? But we've noticed that he uses the same phrases with the the people he heard them from... and he ends up speaking Spanish with Marquee's family and pretty much just English with me, except for the Spanish phrases I use with him. It's fascinating to watch a little one grow up with two languages from birth.

 
What else can I tell you about Oliver? He's pretty much potty trained (still working on the poo... he tends to do that when he has his pullup on at night). He loves sports, just like his dad. He loves music and animated stuff and... really, all kinds of things on tv. He loves his cousin Cosy and has endless patience with her when she won't hug him or share toys with him. He will sometimes be an instigator, especially if he thinks he'll get a laugh like when he is persistent with trying to hug her and she is shrieking and pushing him away. We shouldn't laugh but it's just so stinking funny!  I won't make Cosy hug back though because I think it's important to let her know she has ownership of her body and doesn't have to share affection with anyone unless she wants to. (these are things I didn't think about as a parent but I think about now that I'm a Nana and have a lot more time and experience). (also, these are things I think about when raising a girl that never occurred to me when raising boys, which is sad, because boys get abused just as much, if not more than girls).

 
Oliver is outgoing and friendly and loving and smart... he will have the occasional meltdown as all three year olds do. He is constantly in motion, he mind works overtime. When we FaceTime he always has to know where Cosy is... where is Uncle "Hoggie"?... where is Pop?... where is the cat?... what are you doing? And when we start to say goodbye he will kiss the phone and tell me he loves me. He can show you how many fingers old he is and he can also make the sign for "I love you" in sign language. He is honestly, the most perfect little boy that I could ever imagine and I consider myself an expert on little boys. It's hard not living closer to him because I don't get the one on one time with him that I have with Cosy but we talk on Facetime a couple of times a week and I feel very bonded and connected to him. He has so many people in his life that truly cherish him and I know that he's growing up feeling loved and supported and will be able to do great things because he is loved.

And now... please, God, I'm going to try to catch up on a little sleep because my body needs rest, deep sleep rest, in the worst way. Hope you have a great day and I'll be back again tomorrow night with a restaurant review for What I Ate Wednesday!

 

Reasons To Love Monday - Oliver's Birthday Party

I couldn't get them both still long enough for a picture... close enough

Happy start of a new week, friends! On Saturday morning I stopped by the Dunkin Donuts to buy a pink donut with sprinkles for my sweet Cosy and an iced coffee with hazelnut flavoring for me... picked up baby girl and headed South to Marvin's. Then we switched Cosy's car seat to his car and loaded up all the things and drove down to Oliver's house in Riverdale for his third birthday party.

Last year due to my mom's illness, I wasn't able to go "down south" for Oliver's party. We held a small one here for him but it's not the same. If I had to drive me and Cosy down... we probably wouldn't have made it this year either. My back is just not good right now. But Marvin was a champ and took the day off so that he could go... and of course, he drove. It was Cosy's longest trip away from home... just 100 miles... she really is a little country girl.

It was hot and humid. We had heavy rain in the morning so the moisture was thick in the air. If you've never been to the Southern United States, you can't really appreciate how thick and heavy the air feels in the Summer. It's pure misery. As usual, I wanted to be where the babies were so I spent a lot of time outside with them. Cody set up the little bounce house that I bought for Oliver's first birthday and the kids jumped until their little heads were soaked with sweat. They played on the swingset, they filled up watering cans with water and poured the water out on ... everything. Although Cosy STILL won't let Oliver hug her, she had a really good time.

I think one of the best things for her on the trip was when Marvin took us to a parking lot near the airport where we could see the planes landing. Cosy was absolutely spellbound by the sight of those huge planes coming down so close. It's just the absolute best to be able to see things through the eyes of a child, isn't it? It doesn't take much to entertain them... bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a watering can with water... I love every minute with them.

Marvin was really good to help me remember not to pick the babies up. He even helped me with a poop situation (Cosy, not mine) by picking her up and laying her on the bed so that I wouldn't have to... and so that the poop wouldn't get everywhere by her climbing up on her own. (Side note - Cosy, if you're a teenager reading this, please don't be mad that I talked about your little poop accident - everyone goes through it when they're just learning to go potty and you did a great job staying dry all day and using a strange potty!) I didn't lift babies but I did stand a lot and ride in the car a lot and carry other - less heavy - things. Honestly, it's so frustrating because it's nearly impossible to not aggravate my back at the moment. Any little movement and I'm just done. Yesterday I did a small little Walmart run and just carrying that little bit up the stairs, etc, had me wrecked. So yesterday and today I'm resting and binge watching the tv series Bones. It's so good! Tomorrow I'll have Cosy for a little while but I'll also be doing a lot of resting. I'm not going to Marvin's until Wednesday morning because he starts his new Tuesday night trivia show this week.

 

I shared a ton of pictures from Saturday on Facebook but I have probably another couple dozen that I haven't shared. I took a TON of pictures! I wanted to share a few here for those who don't do Facebook or Instagram and also, I wanted to have a few posted here for posterity.

 


My Reasons To Love Monday this week:
Having two amazing, healthy, beautiful, loving three year old grandchildren who make everything better...
Having a great partner who makes every special occasion so much better
Knowing that we're past the halfway mark on Summer
Being able to take days like yesterday and today to rest. Even though my back hurts, it would be absolutely unbearable if I had to try to work while I'm in so much pain. There's just no way.

I hope your weekend was magical... and that your week is starting off well. Love and hugs, y'all!

 

 

 

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!

Random Quotes, Topics and Photos

I am honestly beginning to think that Cosy will never be potty trained. She is so completely resistant to it right now. Oliver picked it up in about a week or two but I've been working with Cosy for over a year. Girls are supposed to be the easy ones. Of course, she's with me maybe six hours a week. When her dad has her by himself he doesn't force the issue as much. Her mom and other grandparents are keeping her in pull ups - I think. Maybe that's just when she's going somewhere, I'm not sure. When I have her I put big girl undies on her and take her to the potty frequently. She doesn't like the interruption in her schedule but she does get proud when she goes. She has accidents but I never make a big deal of it. I just help her clean up and we go about our business.

I had the best nap today... and also yesterday. I don't have the easiest time going to sleep at night or staying asleep and lately I'm waking up too darn early. I used to never be able to nap during the day but lately I'm using this specific formula of the hum of the a/c window unit, my muscle relaxer (that I'm supposed to take three times a day but don't because it makes me sleepy) and something sort of boring on tv. I can sleep for two hours plus with that formula provided no one disturbs me. The bonus of being in the guest room is that nobody wants to come all the way up here most of the time. As Cosy says, "Pribe-acy".

Does anyone else put salt on their watermelon? Marvin says it's weird. He has sort of been hammering the Fried Shrimp Theory on me over the past few days. Basically... when going out for seafood I would always order fried shrimp because I knew I liked it until he had me try fried crawfish and I realized that I like it SOOOO much more than fried shrimp! The Fried Shrimp Theory is about trying things outside of your comfort zone and... it's true, I have spent most of my adult life - at least the past two decades - as a single woman and as a single woman I have eaten exactly what I wanted and watched what I wanted to on tv and only seen movies that appealed to me. Sure, I've missed some good ones along the way. Whenever Marvin has suggested that I watch something that the rest of the world has already seen, Silence of the Lambs, for example, I have been willing. There are probably a solid dozen movies I've watched in order to catch up with the rest of the world. But I've had to point out to him that I'm the one in our relationship who has gone outside of their comfort zone the most since we've been hanging out. For instance, Mamma Mia collected dust on his dresser for several months and he never ended up watching it. I picked it specifically for him because yes, it is a musical but it's a musical with ABBA music. Not exactly Oklahoma or The Music Man.... ROCK music. Well, pop music anyways.  He will say that he watched Sweeney Todd with me but really, he put it on so I would be entertained while he took a nap. He slept through most of it. I think it should work both ways... he needs to expand his horizons to some of the things that, as a man (single or otherwise) he might not have been as willing to do. Eat something besides fried shrimp!!  Although, truly, I'd rather keep some things sacred rather than have to experience them in the eyes of someone who doesn't love Musical Theater like I do. But salt on watermelon... that's just good eatin'.

Honestly, I think it's ok for us not to be clones of each other. Some of the music he likes... I'm just never going to get into. Some of the movies we've watched... eh, not my thing. Pulp Fiction - no thanks. It was too confusing since it's presented out of order. But I really loved Sling Blade and Shawshank Redemption and several other that we've watched.

I'm a hardcore creature of habit. I find something I like to eat and I'll eat it every day for four years (Luigi's Mango Italian Ice). I hear music I particularly like and I'll listen to it every time I'm in the car (Butch Walker... Les Miserables...). I don't think it's always a matter of teaching old dogs new tricks. I think sometimes, going back to something that you know is going to tickle your fancy is exactly what you need. Especially when things are not going well. I tend to control the things that I can control when other things are out of control.

I've been struggling for the past day or three with really bad back pain. With me, it's always something. My worst headache days this week were Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. My back started bothering me Wednesday night and has been better and worse off and on since then. It's definitely worse after I wake up from sleeping but I'm just so tired from not sleeping well because my back hurts. Same for me is just easier than having to mentally process different when all I can think about is what hurts. My blood pressure today was 140/95 so... borderline.

Poor Austin has this sore... we aren't sure if it started out as a pimple or ingrown hair or spider bite or what... but that thing is terribly infected and painful for him. He doesn't have health insurance but he may end up having to go to the ER to get an antibiotic for it. He's doing warm compresses and peroxide and neosporin and keeping it clean but ... ew. It's rough.

Oliver got to go to the Braves Game yesterday. I tried to catch a picture Friday night of him with his foam tomahawk doing the chop but he moves too fast for me! Here are two pictures where I missed...

 

And the cheesy picture his dad sent me from the game yesterday...


























A few quotes I collected over the past few days that I wanted to share with you... and also keep for my own remembering.

And I guess that's all I have for today. Hope you've had a great weekend! I have barely moved from my nest since Thursday afternoon and it may continue that way tomorrow, too.