A baby no more...

Dear Braden,

Two years ago today you came into my life and changed my world forever. When I first saw your precious face, I prayed your life be touched with grace. Each night I laid you down to sleep, I gently kiss your head and cheek. I'd count your tiny fingers and toes and memorize your eyes and nose. I'd linger at your bedroom door, awed each day that I loved you more.

As if it were impossible, today I find I love you even more. My baby boy is now a toddler. And today I see two little eyes discovering what's new, two little hands touching everything in view, a sweet little voice asking me why and a little boy with a mischievous smile.

Happy 2nd Birthday Little Man!

Changes...

I am one of those people who believe change is good. In fact you could almost say I love change. It's the twists and turns of life. Change presses us out of our comfort zone and has an adjustment period that varies within each individual. It can be uncomfortable and awkward, but in the end you find you've grown and that my friend is important. Change is here to stay.

With that said, the Boatright household is entering a whole new world of change. Friday, April 10th was Danny's last day of work at the company he has worked for the past 12 years. We knew it was coming and started preparing early. Danny took on a part-time job working at night and more recently we made the decision I would return to work full-time after receiving a phone call from my old employer.

It was never in our 'original' plan for me to return to work this early. We figured he would work part-time (while job searching), collect unemployment, I would continue working part-time and his severance would help fill the void. But, when my old boss called out of the blue and offered me a job, I felt I would be a fool to turn it down. With this economy there is no telling how long it will take Danny to find another job, so its "hi-ho hi-ho, off to work I go".

This opportunity is defiantly bittersweet. I will miss my little world of being a stay-at-home-mom. I will miss being with the kids; seeing first hand all the 'ins and outs' of their daily lives. There is no way to know what it is like until you have been there and I feel fortunate to have been able to be there for the past four years. The hardest part is I know what I will be missing with them. At the same time I have often wondered what it would be like to be to work outside of the home full-time. (To have actual adult conversations without the interruptions.) Now I have my chance and the timing could not be better. Worse case scenario is I hate it and return to my current position (providing we have other income).

The best part is Brynn and Braden will be home with Danny. Yep, Danny is going to be a stay-at-home-dad while he is job hunting (and I have a feeling several weeks from now, the hunting will pick up dramatically). It will be good for them and for him. He has worked long and hard for our family, it will be nice to take a little break and enjoy some time with the kids. He also has a list of house projects (you didn't think I'd let him off that easy, did ya?).

Seriously though, it will be a big change for our household, but I think we are up for the challenge (at least Danny and I are). Braden really has no clue what is about to happen to his world. But, Brynn keeps asking, who will do her hair, pick out her clothes, make her lunch, and take her to school and dance class? (The list goes on and on.) I assured her Daddy can take her to dance and to school, I would lay out her clothes the night before and we may just have to cut her hair short (I'm joking, kinda). She did not like the last answer.

I have the funniest little boy. This morning he spent nearly two hours in his sister's princess skirt and shoes (and of course I followed him around the house snapping pictures with my camera). The really scary part is he can walk and run in the little plastic heels with no problem at all! I might even have to question his 'manhood' if he didn't act like a little boy in every other aspect. (For you serious people out there ~ that was a joke!)

He's having fun now, but I am sure the day will come when he will ask why I never bought him a superhero's costume to play "dress up" in. I know his sister would appreciate it, then she would not have to share her stuff with him. Right now, it is just too darn cute and funny, plus I am building quiet the collection of 'black mail' photos (do parents do that?).

Enjoy the photos!

Braden running into living room after Brynn helped him get dressed.

Braden playing with his truck and 'under the sea' puzzles.

Braden calling for 'kitty cat' (you know...our cat).

Braden stopping to catch a little 'Max & Ruby' (a show I can not stand).

Sleep Anyone?

I don't know about you, but I have never been one who could fall asleep just 'any where'.

I remember in high school being in class looking over at a fellow student next to me and they would be dead asleep. I never understood it, but there they were using their arms as pillows and drooling on their notebooks. Sometimes you would even hear snoring. Call me crazy, but I need comfort (like a bed or couch), a blanket and a pillow before I could even think about sleeping, none the less snoring uninhibitedly.

Don't get me wrong I would love to be able to sleep anywhere and at anytime, but it just does not happen for me. I can't sleep in a car when traveling long distances, long lay-overs at the airport or even when I am flying in a plane. I once flew 15 hours to Japan and I was awake the whole time (and that did not include my 3 hour connecting flight).

I am also not the person who lies down in bed and falls to sleep within minutes. As long as I can remember it has taken me at least 30 minutes or so to wind down once I get in bed. I guess this is why I often find myself talking to myself a lot at night. I'll think my husband is listening until I hear snoring or dead silence when I am expecting an answer to a question. He is one of those people....you know, head hits the pillow and two minutes later he's out. Must be nice.

So now you are probably wondering, why on earth I have become so obsessed with sleep cycles and am giving you my life history regarding my sleep habits. Well....of course there is a reason.

Yep, there she is my lovely daughter at the dinner table tonight. Danny and I are having a conversation and Braden is yelling, "Brynn", "Wake up, Brynn". We both look over and she is dead asleep. Now you know she did not get this from me!

Everyone's well! *Knock on wood*

No more trash cans full of Kleenex, no more antibiotics, no more breathing treatments, no more thermometers and no more sleepless nights. Yeah! I am feeling like my old self again (and so are the kids). March was a rough month for the Boatright household and we are keeping our fingers crossed that April does us right!

With that said....we do have some very sad news to report. On Monday, March 31st Brynn had her appointment with the allergist and we found out she is allergic to dogs. So Lacy has now moved in with Aunt Debbie (Danny's sister). We are so grateful we were able to keep her in the family and Brynn will be able to visit her from time to time.

It was a very rough day last Tuesday when we did the drop-off, but Brynn understands (as best as she can) it is the best thing for her and for Lacy. When she had the skin test done they tested her for 10 well-known allergens in our area and for dogs. Let's just say this little girl has a rough road ahead of her. She was allergic to 9 of the 11 allergens; with cedar and dogs being the worst. In fact, her doctor said she is a candidate for weekly allergy shots right now, but we are unable to do so because of her age. Apparently she needs to be five (which was really almost a relief to me, I can not imagine going once a week to give her a shot....she is scared to death of shots). So for the time being we will try to keep everything under control with Nasonex (daily) and Zertec. We are also keeping the nebulizer on hand just in case. At least we now know what has been causing the reoccurring sinus infections and will hopefully be able to keep them at bay.

As for dogs, they are just not in the cards right now. Someday I'll look into the allergen-free breeds that are out there, but for now we will keep a stuffed one on hand (even though she is not supposed to have those either).

'Snow' storm

I have been waiting for the opportunity to blog about something other than sick kids the past couple days and Mother Nature has provided my chance.

It snowed here today according to Brynn. All she knows is...snow is white. She has no clue of its silence, its lightness, its fluffiness, its softness and its purity, nor is she aware of the feeling as it lands on your skin (can you tell I miss the snow just a tad?). No, quite the contrary...she thinks it sounds like raging bulls running across the roof and boulders being thrown at our windows (okay...maybe not boulders, but you get my point). Brynn thinks hail is snow!

Yes my friends we had a good ole' central Texas 'severe thunder storm'. I think the weather men should have just called it a 'hail storm' warning instead of a thunder storm warning. Luckily I had the TV on and was able to get a least one car in the garage. The other one...well let's just say I am glad its paid for. We had hail ranging from pea to golf ball size and it came down hard and fast. I heard in other parts of town the hail was as large as tennis balls!

Every one here is safe. We will have our roof looked at just to be on the safe side (we have already 'been there done that' with the roof leaking...not fun). Other than Danny's vehicle and several of succulents (I'll cry later) we survived what could have been a lot worse. We pray for the families that weren't so lucky.

I thought I would share with you some of the photos I took during and after the storm.

Brynn watching it 'snow'.

Some hail from the backyard

Our backyard


more of the backyard

Brynn showing off her 'snow'

3.25.09 'Snow' storm

A Qick Update....

My last blog post we thought the puppy was the cause of Brynn's wheezing, but last Friday I had to take her back to the doctor because even being on the breathing treatments her cough was not getting any better. Her doctor sent her for chest x-rays and we found out she had pneumonia. Wow! I was not expecting that (and I don't think her doctor was either). She did not show any of the 'typical' symptoms; in fact she never even 'acted' sick. We even went to dance class right before the appointment. Kids are amazing (and scary).

She finished her last bit of antibiotic yesterday and her cough has improved quite a bit. She did spike a fever on Monday (the only time during this whole thing) and I took her back to the doctor. They tested her for the flu (to be on the safe side) and everything came back negative. Her fever is gone today and I am hoping we are on our way to being healthy again.

Once she is completely better we will be bringing Lacy back into the picture. That poor puppy has been shifted from house to house and is probably so confused. Right now my in-laws have her and she's probably eating scrambled eggs for breakfast!

We may have a sad little girl on our hands....

I spent my entire mornings both yesterday and today at the pediatrician’s office. Yesterday it was Braden and today was only suppose to be a quick drop-off of urine and a short follow-up (to get the results) Instead it was 2 1/2 hours, chaos, purchase of a nebulizer and a trip to Walgreens pharmacy.

Let me back-track a little and try to do this with the short version:

Braden has been sick on and off for a little over a week with some on and off symptoms. I finally decided to take him to the doctor yesterday. His doctor wanted to do a blood and urine sample to rule out anything serious. Braden of course did not cooperate for the urine sample so I got the pleasure of doing it at home.

So this morning the plan was to deliver the urine sample and get results. I called ahead to let them know we were on our way and to see if Dr. C had time to see Brynn as well. On Monday she woke up with a slight cough that now sounded horrible and since we were going to be there anyway, I figured it would save us a trip later.

We arrive at the office and are seen right away. Braden's tests come back normal - great news except we still are not sure what is causing the vomiting and low-grade fever. So we watch him and we wait.

Next she wants a urine sample from Brynn (we went to Emergency-care two weeks ago and had a UTI and bladder infection and she wanted to make sure it was cleared up ~ a whole other story). Getting the urine sample was a complete and utter mess. I won't go into details, but it involved a change of clothes for Brynn (that I luckily had in the car), me cleaning up urine off the floor and myself (Yuk!) while Braden destroyed the changing table full of diapers and wipes. A finger slammed in the door and tons of tears. (Ohh...the joys of motherhood!)

Once we were changed and back in the office, Dr. C listens to Brynn as she takes deep breathes. And she listens...and she listens....and she listens (okay you get the point).

She finally looks up at me and says, "She's wheezing."

Me: "What?"

Doctor: "Has she complained of her chest hurting?"

Me: "No, this morning she was telling me her heart beats fast." (I didn't think anything of it because last week at school she learned about her heart, so I just thought she was making conversation.)

Doctor: "I want to do a breathing treatment on her now and listen to her again."

So now I am trying to convince Brynn to strapped this mask to her face and breathe 'normal' for TEN minutes. Have you met my daughter? This is the sort of thing that just might send her over the edge. Not to mention the 22 month old destroyer I have in the room with me....I was SO not looking forward to this. And then I remembered my friend Staci telling me about how she gives her kids candy during portrait sessions to ensure perfect smiles. A few seconds later, Braden is sucking on a lollipop and I am bribing Brynn with one to put the mask on and take the medicine. We did not get the actual mask on, but she agreed to hold it to her face and breathe. I was happy with that. (Thanks Staci!)

A few moments later Dr. C is back in and listening to Brynn again. She looks up and says, "No more wheezing."

Me: "That's it."

Doctor: "She was having a small asthma attack and something trigger it." "Has anything changed with her?"

Me: "I am not sure; she woke up on Monday morning with a slight cough, nothing else. This morning it sounded even worse and that is why I brought her in with me."

Doctor: "It's a good thing, but something is really bothering her."

Me: "Oh my (a light bulb goes off in my head), could it be Lacy?"

Doctor: "Excuse me?"

Me: "We just got a puppy on Sunday. Do you think it is the dog?"

Doctor: "Sounds like it might be."

You can only imagine where this went from here and I should have never said anything in front of Brynn. She was really upset and made it very clear it was not Lacy to me and Dr. C that is making her sick. Poor little girl...she has wanted this puppy for so long and it will be horrible if she is allergic to her.

For all of our sakes, I am praying it is not Lacy and is just a coincidence. Dr. C told us to find a temporary home for Lacy for the next few days, clean the house really well including all the linens, continue with the nebulizer and come back on Friday to see her. If Brynn is better, we can then introduce Lacy back in the picture and see what happens.

We have followed all of the doctor’s orders and Lacy is staying with some friends of ours (thanks Mistin, Edy and Sunee) for the next few days. I can only hope this all goes well or we will have one broken hearted little girl on our hands!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Meet Lacy

There is a new edition in the Boatright household and her name is Lacy. I am not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to this, but she is here and I can't help to be delighted. She is little (which I am not fond of), she is furry (which I am not fond of) and she will shed (which I am not fond of), but she is pretty darn cute.

How did this come to be? My dog-free home of nearly two years....well it starts with a little girl named Brynn.

Brynn has been asking us for months "when is my puppy coming?" Funny thing is I don't recall any conversation about agreeing to a puppy, ever. Sure I entertained the idea from time to time; after all I grew up with dogs. Every kid needs a dog and EVENTUALLY we would get one...a BIG one.

See when Danny and I were first married we both wanted dogs and had agreed he would pick the dog of his choice (Chihuahua/Dachshund mix aka: wein-a-hua-hua) and I would choose the dog of my choice (Boxer or a Rotti). Well, somehow I got the short end of that stick and we ended up with two litter mates (wein-a-hua-huas), Missy and Liberty. I don’t dislike little dogs, I just prefer larger ones. I dealt with it and may have even grown to like them a little.

So years later we have Brynn and Missy takes to her and Liberty well doesn't. After a few snapping episodes and breaking skin it was time for Liberty to go. There was one problem. They were litter mates and could not stand to be separated (even for five minutes), so they both had to go. Luckily, Danny had a friend who took them both and they went to a good home.

Why am I telling you this? Well, because this friend called us about a month ago and let us know Missy AND Liberty both had puppies, see where this is going? Yes, Missy had five puppies and Liberty had four. And why are they telling us this? Well, it turns out Liberty died a week after giving birth and Missy was now feeding all nine puppies! And, some where along receiving this information I new Brynn's puppy was coming.

We made the trip this weekend and picked out Brynn's puppy. We went with the intentions of getting one of Liberty's puppies, but Lacy grabbed our attention the minute we showed up. She was extremely friendly, had lots of energy and Brynn really liked her. She was our dog.

Lacy has been with us for one full day and she has been great. She barely whined at all last night and the kids love her. Brynn sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to her today before her nap and Braden tried to feed her some goldfish crackers. She is making herself right at home.

Just catching up....

You may be asking where have I been the last few weeks? I assure you nothing tragic has happened, we have just been busy, REALLY busy.

I won't go into great detail, but I will post some photos from February (one thing I have been keeping up with).

Feb 28th ~ G-ma, Grandpa Jerry and Aunt Erin were in town again this weekend. Grandpa Jerry is teaching Brynn how to fly her brand new Dora kite at Me-maw and Papa's house (of course mommy was working :(

Feb 27th ~ Me eating dinner with two fabulous women I met at work! Here's to getting to know each other.

Feb 26th ~ Braden eating his favorite meal, chicken nuggets and apples at McDonald's after a long morning of running errand with mommy.

Feb 25th ~ Brynn dancing in the living room to the soundtrack of Studio 54. This girl loves to dance!

Feb 23rd ~ We planted our first crops today; white and red potatoes, garlic and sweet onions.

Feb 22nd ~ Some of Brynn's artwork from school this year.

Feb 21st ~ Danny took the kids to his parents house for dinner while I was working. Looks like a fashion show took place! He must have been modeling his mother's jacket....not sure what was going on here. The photo was on my camera, so that makes it fair game!

Feb 20th ~ I had the evening off and we all worked in the backyard getting the garden ready. Braden picked me a 'flower'. What a sweet boy!

Feb 19th ~ Dan took Braden to get a 'big boy' haircut.

Feb 18th ~ Started wearing my pedometer. This was the first day....I know you are suppose to have at least 10,000 steps a day.

Feb 17th ~ Girl's Night for me! We went to Trudy's for dinner and drinks and then headed to the skating rink. Yes, you read that right. It had been 22 years since I have been on roller skates and I did not even fall! We had a blast and I could not believe how sore I was the next day.

Feb 16th ~ My mom and step-sister (Erin) were here for the weekend and Brynn got Aunt Erin to play dress up with her. The blue 'wig' is a tutu!

Feb 15th ~ Brynn was invited to a Birthday party for her pal Aiden. It was a robot theme and they made their own robots out of marshmallows and pretzels. Notice hers is headless.