COUCH GATE 2011!

So when I met Rob he had recently moved from San Diego to Valdosta....Depressing huh? Well, anyways he talked a lot about the pub he used to frequent there and an annual event called Couch Gate. Between deployments and being pregnant I never got the chance to experience this crazy event until this year. This was our second trip to SD so I already knew the pub people, I had fallin' in love with the Mexican place next door to the pub and even had a sitter out there that I LOVED! Once we got all the details of CouchGate we made plans to be there. It is basically what it sounds like, tailgating with a couch!  We loaded up the Jeep on Thursday morning with snacks for the kids, juice, Red Bull, Jack and beer! We headed to meet up with everyone at the pub and then all went to Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers game did not start until 5pm, but we started around 1pm! We parked the Jeep opened up all the windows and the back and turned on a movie for the kids! The best thing about SD has to be the weather, it was the perfect tempt in the Jeep and such a nice breeze blowing. While all the kids watched movies, we ate, took fun pics, had lots of jello and of course did some drinking. Unlike most people I stuck to beer because I didn't want to feel like death the next day! The kids were so good, Tre' liked the fact that he got to play his games with out us bothering him and we were able to hang out with friends with the kids there!!! The kids even hung out for a bit, may have to get them shirts next year! We left the parking lot around 5ish and headed to the hotel to get the kids ready for the sitter and to get dressed to go out to the pub. We had a great time overall that night and I laughed all night. The best part was the California burrito from Sombrero's. I usually eat these for 2-3 of my meals while in SD! Overall, it was a great time, with fun people and I look forward to next year!

FAMILY VACATION....not really

Well, I have mentioned that we have been on the road the past few weeks to Savannah and then to South Carolina. Once we got back from Savannah on Friday we unpacked and repacked and got ready for our next trip. We would go to Columbia, SC with Rob. With his job he goes out of town a lot, so anytime he goes somewhere that he drives, we usually tag alone. Not because he goes to any super exciting places, but the kids are crazy when he leaves and ask for him all the time and I like staying at hotels.. Weird, but I have always liked them since I was a kid. It is also a way for the kids to get to go to places we would not normally go. Well, before we could leave we had to take Preston back to South GA to get the remainder of the blood work done. The regualr nurse was there and was able to get all the blood with one stick. I guess Preston knew where he was because as soon as we got to the room he started crying and saying no, no, no and I'm sorry, as if he was getting punished! We hit the road and made it to SC that evening. Rob has made this trip a few times with out me so he knew where he wanted to go  eat the very first night. We went to the Blue Marlin, which is yummy but kinda pricey place. Preston's kid meal was $7 for a plain burger and fries, no drink included! I had already had a late lunch on the road so I stuck to a liquid diet of beer that night. Once we finished there we headed back to our room and watched Swamp Brothers for a few hours. It was a pretty interesting show that seemed to suck us in. It stormed pretty bad that night, which was great background noise for some good sleep.   The next morning we headed down to breakfast. I love hotels that have great breakfast to choose from and I really love when I can make my waffles in the morning. Not a meal you can really eat every morning without turning into a cow, but a few days of a waffle topped with strawberries, whipped cream and syrup is pretty amazing for a few days. Rob went off to his training and the kids and I did some shopping. It was nice to be somewhere that had a decent amount of stores to shop at because Valdosta lacks in the good stores. We headed back to the room and had dinner at the Melting Pot that evening. Rob didn't understand why we were paying so much money to cook our own food, but ended up really liking it in the end. he had been once before and didn't care for it. maybe it was the bottle of wine we ordered that made this time better. The next morning we did a late breakfast, Rob had to be in class by 8 so eating with him required us to get up too early! We hung out at the hotel most of the day and kind of relaxed. We did dinner at Bonefish that night, which was once again a yummy night of food. We made it back to the hotel just as it started storming. Bad storms, that kind you don't want to go out in at all. Good thing I had a bottle of wine already! I had a few glasses and off to la la land I went! The next morning after breakfast I decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was free for both of them and ended up only being $10 for me after my military discount. Preston liked everything but LOVED the fish part. He would put his hand on the tank and when the fish would bump the glass he would get so excited. After a fun day at the zoo, we headed back to the room and waited for Rob to get out of class. The next day we were back in Valdosta and back to regular breakfast food as well. The trip ended up being fun and I it made me happy that Preston and Savannah were able to go to the zoo!

 

Gracie doing laps in the hotel room

Preston taking a color break

FISH!!

At the entrance to the zoo, they don't know where they are yet, I swear they had fun!

Okay, so this was at the mall, I have never seen a little toilet so low to the ground. They also had the low sink and hand dryer, so cute!

Preston doing a little reading 

Everything always goes wrong when Rob leaves.......

So 2 weeks ago Rob headed to Virginia and the kids and I planned to meet my parents over in Savannah for some of the days he would be gone. He left out on the morning of June 6, a Monday and I planned on leaving on Tuesday. Well, when I took Preston to the bathroom that morning I noticed that his urine was really dark, almost tea colored. I didn't know what was going on so I decided to see what the next pee break looked liked and in the mean time I googled away. Well, around 10 his pee seemed to have a red color to it and I immediately got him and his sister dressed and headed to his doctor. I took him in as a walk in and we were seen pretty quickly. They needed a urine sample but he had just gone to the bathroom so after waiting for about 30 minutes I told the nurse I would bring the sample back. We live extremely close to the doctor so I went home and loaded him up on juice. I knew I would regret the number of bathroom breaks I was setting myself up for, but I needed that sample and i needed it fast! I think that he would have peed a lot sooner, but he had the urine bag collector tape to him, it's supposed to be easier to do it this way instead of a cup for his age. After about 20 minutes he finally went. I sealed the bag and loaded the kids back in the car and to Dr. Criscola we went. He was somewhat concerned because there was blood in the urine but also told me that it could be something as simple as a bruised penis. He also told me it could be an issue with his kidneys which sent immediate panic through my entire body. He sent us over to South GA for some lab work to just be on the safe side. Well, I was told by the nurse to go to the outpatient lab, when we got there I was told that we had to go to the main hospital and get registered there and then have the lab work done on the pediatrics floor. This meant that I had to load the kids back in the car seats, drive over to the main hospital and then unload them again. It was also 99 degrees out and I was beyond stressed. Once registered, which was a pain because the hospital didn't know the correct codes to put in on the lab request and could not get in touch with anyone from the doctor's office for about 30 minutes. We were finally sent up to the lab. This was honestly the most horrible part of my day...week...life! The regular nurse was out that day so that already was a bad sign. Nothing against the fill in nurse, but I would much rather a nurse that does this all the time to stick my kid over the girl who looked younger than me and seemed a bit nervous. She called in another nurse to help hold Preston down so they could get all the tubes of blood. He has never had lab work done and he is not old enough to understand what was going on. The process of trying to get enough blood from him went on for over an hour. We took breaks, they attempted to bribe him with stickers and juice, turned on the TV, nothing worked. With the first stick he peed on the table, I changed him and tried to calm him down and a total of 6 nurses tried to get blood. They did both arms, both feet and his hand. After painfully watching with tears in my eyes, i asked if there was something else we could do. The nurses agreed that none of them wanted to stick him again and had enough blood to do about 3 of the 6 test. They called the doctor and told him what was going on and he told me that I could bring Preston back in a week to complete the lab. I knew Rob would be home for a couple of days at the end of the week and I would have him there to help. Once we got home they day was over. I had not got anything done around the house and really had a bunch to do. Preston crashed as soon as we got in the car and his sister was still laughing. She seemed to find joy in his pain. The next time he peed it was normal and  has continued to be that way. Tuesday morning we headed over to Savannah. I was about 30 minutes out when his doctor's office called and told me that he would need an appointment with a nephrologist...I immediately started to cry, I already knew before she could explain that a nephrologist is a kidney doctor. My mind went to the thinking the worst, was there something wrong with his kidney, would he have to be on dialysis, would he need a new kidney....and then even more panic because I knew I had already donated my "extra" kidney.... what the hell were we going to do now?!?!?..... I called Rob in tears and told him what happened. He called to nurse back to get more of an explanation. We were told that anytime there is blood in the urine they are going to make sure there is absolutely nothing wrong with the child and that I could relax. He showed no signs of pain and had only peed 4 times with the blood in it, everything was now coming out normal. I relaxed a bit, and said a little prayer that everything would be okay. We headed on to Savannah and had a great week. My dad and his buddy buddy,( that is what he calls Preston) were two peas in a pod and Gracie, the girl that goes to know one really took to being with grandma. Anytime mom went and fixed a snack or had chips she let Miss Piggy have some, so I think that is what broke the ice. I was able to go out two nights in Savannah and spend time with friends that I don't see very often. I also went to my godparents and they were able to spend time with the kids. After almost a week, we headed back to Valdosta. It was kind of bittersweet to know that this would be the last time, at least for a while that I would do the most boring drive in the world, 84 East to Savannah and 84 West back to Valdosta.  

Birthday and Mother's Day

So Saturday we had a little I mean very small celebration for Savannah's birthday. Her actually birthday is May 11, but my parents came up so we did a little cook out on Saturday. We grilled out and she had fun with her cake and opened a couple of gifts and then took about a 2.5 hour nap on her granddad! Of course once she woke up from the nap and realized he was holding her she flipped out, but she was so content while sleeping on him. I have mentioned before that we don't do big birthday celebrations for the kids and we won't until they have real friends to invite. If I wanted to have a ton of adults over I would just throw a party, which if you know me it's not gonna happen. It's not that I don't like parties, I just don't like having a ton of people at my house and some people don't know when to go home!!!!! Anyways, for mother's day all I asked is that I get to sleep in....well that didn't happen so I ran away and spent the day at the pool. It was supposed to be for an hour or so, but it turned into almost 4. I guess all the other mom's had the same idea of a great mother's day would be to not have the kids around! We all laughed and had drinks and just relaxed. Rob stayed home watching basketball and movies with the kids, lucky him. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend nothing to extreme or exciting, but it was nice. here are some pictures of the day and her playing with some of her presents!

Easter Came Early

So we had a fun weekend! Our condo had a Easter Egg hunt on Saturday for all the kids. In February, we all went to the Mardi Gras party the condo threw and had a really good time, so when I saw the invite for the Easter Egg hunt I was pretty excited. I didn't know how well Preston would really do, but he likes putting stuff in containers, so I figured this would be a lot of fun. So, Saturday morning we all got up and had breakfast and I got the kids ready for the hunt. I was running a little behind so Rob went ahead and took Preston. As soon as I walked out of the condo and got closer to the park I spotted Preston's Easter colored polo running all around. It made me pretty happy, to top it off he had a basket running over with eggs and was still trying to add more! I was so proud. Rob told me that he showed him how to do it one time and Preston took off! Above is a video clip and here are some pics.

Overflowing basket!

Still collecting more!

They also had a art station, juices, bubbles, balloons, candy and my favorite nuggets from Chick-fil-a

Gracie wanted in on the eggs once we got home

This is the face she made when Preston took the eggs from her!

Well, I took the kids home and put them to bed for a nap after the egg hunt and had a little mommy time at the pool. Once I got home we just watched TV and hung out! Sunday, I decided I would take Preston to the pool early before it got too crowded. He had fun and had no problem getting in the water, even though it was a little cold to me. We had snacks, blew bubbles and he even colored with the chalk. After about a hour and a half, I took him back home because the sun was no joke out there and his little brown skin was getting a little red! I got him home, he got a bath and took a nap. I went back to the pool for about 3 more hours. I don't think I realized how hot it was, nor how burned I was getting. When I got home Rob immediately told me how red my shoulders were and that he could feel the heat coming off of me! We were pretty much bums the rest of the day, which makes me very happy. I love lazy days! 

Snack Time! 

Coloring with the chalk, the only way I could get him to stay in the shade!

That's my kid....

So today I decided that I wanted to try something new and go to a soft play area. I never thought that I would let my kid play in a public area like that because I am a germ freak, but I figured all the months of breast feeding built up a healthy enough immune system to handle it. So I decided we would do Chickfila for lunch and play there as well. They are a pretty clean place and I figured the play area wouldn't be too bad. Well when we arrived we realized it was spring break in valdosta so it was crazy in there, we also went around 12:45 so it was a lunch rush. We got our food and had a booth right by the window and Preston was so excited looking out at the play area while eating his food and sucking down the yummy lemonade....that darn lemonade! Anyways, I took him out to the play area and there were two grandmothers whose grands were way above the height and age limit to be out there, but I didn't say anything. They were also really rude and didn't offer to move their wide loads of an ass over when I came out. I let it slide because Preston was so happy and excited. He never went up the slide but had a blast climbing up the stairs and just running around and laughing at the other kids. He was squealing and laughing so hard, the grandmoms were letting out irritated moans everytime my kids squealed but I didn't care, it was a play area! Well, all that lemonade caught up to Preston and being so caught up in all the new playing he let out a little pee. I picked him up as soon as it started and he only let out a Litle bit on the turf (floor) on th
e play area. I ended up getting some on me as well, but as a mom it didn't really phase me. Grandmoms freaked out and told there grands that they had to go immediately. Ughhh I was super embarrassed, and apologized. They were so rude and ignored my apology.WTF. There was another mom in there that grabbed her wipes and actually got down on the turf and helped me blot it up. I was so grateful that she didn't freak out! I told her thank you and apologized a billon times, she told me not to worry about it and said obviously the old ladies don't know what it's like to have a toddler in the early statues of potty training and that their kids probably stayed in diapers until they were 5! I asked someone that worked there if they sprayed anything special down and he said as long as it was on the floor, they really don't care. I also kinda felt bad because the mom that helped annoyed me earlier. She was talking
super loud, about a serious topic, but still super loud at the table next to ours when we were eating. Her daughter had brain cancer and had been through a ton on treatments and was doing better! I heard her whole convo while we were eating and she knew one of the grandmothers that freaked out and was talking to her when we were in the play area. They were also talking about how her husband was in the air force and the old ladies were saying so much good stuff about military members. I read in Miesha's post about all the stuff you could have said after the fact and I am gonna use my blog to say it! I would have said ummm really old grandma wide ass bitch??? You are probably wearing depends so you don't pee your pants so calm the hell down! And FYI, my husband is a Chaplain in the AF, so you can stop giving me all those oh young single mom stares that you were throwing my way. And your grandkids are too damn big to be in here anyways and the fact that they want to play on this little kid playset makes me wonder about what kind of parents they have! Oh and your perfume stinks! And my kid is a billion times cutter than your grands wish they could be. Oh and my purse is better than yours and you can kiss my ass because accidents happen and I don't need to feel bad about it!I would also like to give a super mom award to the mom that got down and helped me wipe up my kids pee with no hesitation!(sorry for any typos, I'm on my iPhone and auto correct is a pain!)