Per Donnie's Request...

So, Donnie entered our oh-so-fun blogging world a few months ago - only his is legit - for work! It's a Real Estate blog, appropriately titled "Donnie's Real Estate Stuff." Well, he asked me to help him get the word out by posting about it on my blog. So, here it is.

If you guys are interested, check it out - donnieicenhour.blogspot.com.

Happy Blogging!

Finally on the Mend

Well, it's been almost a week and a half since Michael Dean's first birthday party and I've finally got some photos from the event. Since MD was pretty much sick at his party and stayed that way for a week - then I got sick - I've not had much time (or energy) to do, well, really anything! So, I'm finally back with some pics.

The poor little guy felt horrible at his party so he didn't want any cake or presents or attention. He was a trooper, though. He held in there. I tell ya, if he felt anything like I felt a few days last week, I don't blame him for being a sourpuss. In fact, he should have been way worse than what he was...

The party was a lot of fun, though. I, being the OCD planner that I am, had been preparing for months - you know, a little here, a little there. So, by party day I had so much stuff to haul out to the park, it took 3 cars to get it there. Thank God for my 3 sweet helpers - Donnie (of course!), Tina and Merissa. I wouldn't have made it without them. And, since Donnie told like 5 different people the party started at 3:00, rather than 4:00, we had some early partiers show up - ugh! But, anyway, we had fun and we'll have memories to keep with us always.

Party Day





Enjoying some of his gifts

I'm Bummed

So, Donnie left today for Ohio - to visit his good friends whose son just graduated from high school. We decided after the fiasco that was Asheville to send Donnie on this trip alone. No long car trips and sleepless nights in hotel rooms for the 3 of us.

Well, since I had already asked off for Thursday afternoon and Friday I decided to keep those days off and spend some fun time with my beautiful son. I should know better by now than to plan something out of our normal schedule - that's actually fun because something always goes wrong.

Anyway - leaving my pity party - last Sunday (the day after MD's 1st birthday party) he woke up with a horrible rash and after speaking with our doctor and mommy's online self-diagnosing we determined he has Hand-Foot-Mouth disease - which is basically not treatable, just bearable until it goes away. So, we've been dealing with that all week.

And, of course, I started feeling like poo on my way home from work Tuesday night and have spent the rest of the week in bed - while my son's been with my mom. We were supposed to have a great, fun time while daddy was away and now I'm stuck - sick and with no energy.

So, I'm bummed. Please send some prayers and good thoughts my way so I can pull myself out of this funk and enjoy this rare, 1-on-1, no work time with my son :)

Michael Dean's First Birthday!

We sure had a busy (and wonderful!) day, Monday. It started with early wake-up photos with mommy and ended with cake up the nose...

There were plenty of things in between - a big present to unwrap, a new basketball goal to master (which he did), some shots that we won't mention, a trip to Great Clips for his first haircut (with a very hairy sucker), a huge balloon from GiGi, a cake that looked just like Mila, and an extra-special-homemade birthday cake to rip into.

It really was an awesome day. We've come a long way in 1 year, and I love it!

(Make sure you click on the photo above to see it bigger)

07.07.08

Michael Dean,

One year ago our eyes finally met. You were so perfect and beautiful. Your cry was so deep and sweet. You were so big and already so strong. You fit perfectly into my arms. I didn't know it then, but I was hooked.

You've been such a blessing. For one year I've been able to hold you, rock you, feed you, kiss you, bathe you, dress you, play with you, sooth you and love on you. Before you, I didn't know how to do any of those things for a little baby. You taught me everything I know and I thank God every night for you.

I didn't know I wanted you until I had you. And now, you're everything I want.

I love you, my sweet son - Mommy

The Rest of the Story...

OK, so a few of you have asked for the whole story from my last post. Well, I'll try really hard to give the consensed story here. So, enjoy...I sure didn't!

Two weeks ago Donnie had 2 days worth of Realtor meetings to go to at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. So, I decided to take a few days off of work, grab Michael Dean and go with him. Big mistake.

The trip started off on the wrong foot, with no help from me. I had to finish packing that morning and we had to leave before MD's breakfast so I had planned on feeding him in the car. Well, the minute we got in the car he started to fuss. So, we pulled over and I got in the back seat to feed him - only to find out my stomach was a little too queasy to do that - in Charlotte traffic. I have a huge fear of traffic (I'm trying to find the official word for it. There's got to be one!) so my anxiety kicked in. We had to pull over again and a frustrated Donnie got in the back seat to feed MD.

We got to Asheville only to find that our key was stuck in the ignition. We had no idea why and Donnie had to get to his first meeting so we just took off our keyless entry thing and went on our way. The rooms weren't ready for us yet so I was stuck just hanging out in the lobby. I fed MD his lunch and headed out to visit my good friend, Erin. I took MD's pack 'n play in hopes he'd take a nap (he'd only slept about 20 minutes the whole day so far). Well, didn't happen. He freaked out, got stuck standing a few times (see earlier post!) and wouldn't settle down enough to sleep. So, again, no nap for MD.

We got back to the Inn in just enough time to quickly say Hi to Donnie then send him off again. See, we (MD and me) weren't invited to any of his meals so we were on our own. Well, by this time it was about 7:30pm and MD's bedtime is normally 8:15pm so I didn't have time to get myself dinner. So, I ordered a $14 BLT and fries from room service only to find, after I got my receipt, that it really cost $23 - after a service charge, delivery charge and my tip that I stupidly gave the nice man. (Note to self - ALWAYS look at the receipt first before tipping. It's probably already on there. Shame on you Grove Park.) Anyway, MD and I sat on the floor and ate. That was kinda nice. He had fun crawling all over the tray and playing with the really cute, mini ketchup and mustard bottles.

Donnie got back around 8:30pm so we hung out a bit and went to bed around 9pm. Since I found out earlier that day that the pack 'n play wouldn't work, I had a crib brought to our room. So, when I put MD in for the night, he freaked out again. I had to give him his paci (which we DON'T do at night) and stand with my hand on his chest 'til he fell asleep, or so I thought. I was up and down at his crib about 4 times that night - 9pm, 9:30pm, 5am, 6am, 6:30am. Not pretty. Not much sleeping for us.

Anyway, sheesh - this is getting way too long. OK, I'll really try to shorten the rest....

Donnie went off to breakfast and meetings. I had 2 pop tarts for breakfast, at the Grove freaking Park Inn. Tried to load up car - parked very far away - but couldn't get in because deader than a doorknob. Hauled everything back to our room - up hill - for real, not like your grandpa always used to say. Called the Chevy place. Found out key had drained battery. Got MD to nap for about 30 minutes. Went to valet guys to beg for help. Scheduled locksmith to come and break into my car. Stuck in lobby again. Met locksmith at car. Paid a lot of $ to get in and charge battery enough to get to Wal-Mart. Donnie finally done with meetings and gave me his box lunch. Very sweet, btw! Drove to Wal-Mart. Found out had 2 hour wait. Waited. Ate lunch. Waited some more. Paid a lot for new battery. Key got stuck again. Thought new battery would fix it. Didn't. Drove home. MD only slept 30 mins.

Finally home - BUT - Impala was in shop for a week. Had to borrow nephew's car. Only had 1 car seat - big challenge. Got car back and paid a heck of a lot of money (see earlier post!). And, that's it.

Whew! Needless to say, we decided to make our family trip to Ohio later this month a daddy-do-it-alone trip. Way too traumatic to try it again this soon. Let MD get a little older...and then we're off to Disney World!

Speaking of MD...