Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are all doing well. So sorry I haven't written but once this month. October has been crazy, and this week has been absolutely insane. Casey is still coaching football, and I had parent teacher conferences this week until 7pm, so we sent Maya to Columbia to enjoy her grandparents for the week. WE MISS HER!!! It's funny how empty a house can become all of a sudden, and as much as I long for a break when she is home with me, I can't stand it when she's away. Actually, I haven't had much time to dwell on her being gone this week because I haven't had a moment to myself anyway. Casey and I are driving down to Columbia tonight after work to go and get her, and hopefully do some trick or treating before we pass out of exhaustion! Maya is supposed to be a bumblebee tonight, if we can get her to wear her costume. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon.

Tomorrow we are planning Maya's first trip to Riverbanks zoo - she has only been to the Greenville Zoo one time before, and she was still little and mostly just enjoyed playing on the playground. Hopefully she'll enjoy it more this time, and hopefully it won't be absolutely freezing!

Maya turned 2 last week, and we had the family to our house for a party. We kept it low key this year, and that worked out great. I wasn't so stressed and could actually enjoy everyone, and Maya still had a great time. She couldn't wait for us to sing happy birthday to her, and she had waited for weeks to blow out her candles. In fact she had been singing happy birthday for weeks, and always pretended to blow out the candles at the end, so she was most excited to see real candles and actually get to blow them out. She was so proud. All of the family made it to the party, except for Aunt Becca, who is still in Chile for one more month! We missed her, but it was fun to have all of our family in one place for once. I don't think they had seen each other since the party the year before.

Well, I'm supposed to be working right now, so I guess I'll straighten up so I can go home in a bit! Have a safe and spooky Halloween everyone!

October

I LOVE the fall. It is my favorite time of year - the weather is nice, the colors are amazing, and there are so many fun holidays to look forward to. Not to mention my precious baby was born during October nearly 2 years ago. I simply cannot believe it, but I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy every second that I have with my amazing family, and especially our little bundle of joy, who is still only weighing in at 23 pounds. Oh, will we ever see 24?? : )

Friday night we used one of Casey's birthday gifts and went out to eat at Outback!! I always wonder why we don't go there more until I get the bill. Sheesh! Anyways, it was delicious, and I could enjoy it all the more because we weren't really paying for it! Afterwards we went to the mall so that Maya could play on the cars that we NEVER put money in, and shop for cousin Julie. After nearly tearing apart Walden's book store, we returned home. You would think Casey and I would take advantage of a Friday night to do something fun, like watch a movie together, but we were both so exhausted that we were sound asleep by 10:30. We are so getting old!

Saturday we went to Anderson for Julie's party at the local jumping place, and Maya LOVED it. It was a ton of fun. Then we went back to Nana and Papa's for a delicious lunch, and an even more delicious nap (yes, we are very sleep deprived). We spent the afternoon digging sweet potatoes and pulling up radishes in the garden, watching Maya ride her Dora bike and "nancing" to the music, and enjoying being together. We hated to leave, but needed to get back for church today, so we left while listening to "I want my nanapapa!!!!" for the next thirty minutes. Pitiful.

Today we enjoyed going to church, eating leftovers and not cooking, taking yet another glorious nap, and not getting anything done that needed to be done. Sounds like a typical Sunday for us!

Hope everyone is slowing down to enjoy the sweet things in life and enjoying October as much as we are. Love you!

Fall days are here!

Hello everyone! So sorry that I have been neglecting this blog, but life has been VERY busy! Work has been crazy, Maya has been sick, and we have been gone every weekend for the last month. But, with that craziness, comes some really great time spent with our families.

Last Friday morning Maya woke up at 12:30 am with a 103 fever, and after some Ibuprofen (thank GOD for Ibuprofen), she went back to bed. We went to Columbia for the weekend to attend my riveting 11 year reunion, and she continued to get worse over the weekend. While coming home Sunday night, with Aunt J in tow to save the day as usual, Maya vomited all in the car, and we found ourselves cleaning her and the car up at a scary gas station half way between Greenwood and Columbia. She got worse over the night, and by Monday morning she looked awful. We went to the doctor around 2 on Monday, and Dr. Feole began running all sorts of tests, taking her blood, a urine sample via catheter, etc. to diagnose the problem. Apparently she had a urinary tract infection, so she got a hefty shot of strong antibiotics and an appointment scheduled for the next day. That must have been some really great stuff, because by Tuesday she was MUCH better. She has fully recovered, thank God, but we do have to go to the hospital on the 16th for some additional tests just to make sure she won't be prone to these infections.

Casey's football team won their third game in a row tonight! They are so proud!

Well, we are about to watch the Vice Presidential Debate. Hope everyone is well!
The Argos

Go Titans!

Tonight Maya and I drove after school to Newberry, SC, to meet grandmama and granddaddy and watch Casey and his middle school team play football. Maya had a grand time running around on the grassy hill, and we cheered Casey's team on to their first real game victory that they've had since he's had the pleasure of coaching middle school football. The kids were so excited, and I think he was too! It was a very intense and close game, so it was fun to watch. It was good to see Mom and Dad too. Maya cried, " My mamama grandmamama, my gandaddy" for the first 2o minutes of the trip home. It made me cry too. : (

We had a great time in the mountains last weekend with Nana and Papa and Casey's brother, Joey, his wife Penny, and the crazy cousins Maggie and Julie. : ) Nana rented a beautiful cabin in Maggie Valley, NC, and we spent most of Saturday lounging around trying to catch up on some rest. The kids had a ball playing in the creek in front of the house, collecting sticks for a big bonfire, roasting marshmellows, making smores, and getting in the hot tub. Boy, did they enjoy that hot tub. They were jumping around and screaming and splashing, and Maya was bounding from person to person. At one point we managed to get Nana, Papa, myself, Casey, Joey, and all three kinds in the hot tub. Needless to say the tub was not near as full when we finished as it was when we got in. They really loved it. Maya just couldn't understand why she couldn't just swim around and sink to the bottom. : ) There was also a riveting boat making contest early Saturday morning, and I believe cousin Julie's boat won the race. It was a short trip, but super fun!

School has kept us extremely busy this week. Casey's birthday is Sunday, and I think what he most wants is a quiet weekend at home where he can play videogames and nap and lounge in his pjs all weekend. We'll see if he gets his wish with a 2 year old running around!

Yes, 2 year old...or almost. Maya will be 2 on October 24th, and I am in utter shock at how fast 2 years has gone by. I have loved every minute, and continue to try and savor as much as I can!

September Days

Well, I'm glad to report that the biting incidents seem to have ceased for the moment...except for me! Maya bit me yesterday and once more today, I guess just to show me who is boss! : ) However, at school she has been behaving herself, and for that we are thankful! Today my school marching band held an exhibition, so I picked Maya up from school and we went to watch. She LOVED it. She sat still the whole time drinking up the sun and following those flags and drums. Of course, I'm a marching band geek myself, so I was most pleased.

When we got home there was a letter waiting in the mailbox from Great grandmama Ott, and she had send stickers for Maya. Her face lit up when I handed her those stickers, and we had to come in a make some art! She probably spent about 45 minutes putting stickers on her paper and moving them, and getting mad when they got stuck on her fingers.

I couldn't possibly keep a word list for Maya anymore - she is busting out in full sentences and saying all kinds of things. It is simply amazing, and she is such a joy to be around. We thank God for her everyday!

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all!

The Argos

Full time stinks!

Well, we are back in the routine of school again. Casey is coaching away, and loving it, but coming home exhausted. I'm working a lot too, and some days poor Maya ends up at daycare for 10 hours. Thankfully she really seems to like her school.

We've had some incidents lately of VERY BAD behavior - Maya started biting last week. When I picked her up one day, she had bitten 3 friends, pushed one down, and pulled another down to the floor by its hair. Ugh. When I ask her what she did at school that day, she usually says, "Bite buddies." She's even been saying that now even when she gets a good report. Confused perhaps?? Yesterday we went to her friend Gabbi's house to play. Gabbie and Maya have a love/hate relationship. One minute they were hugging, and the next they were having a pinching match. Oh well, at least they can take what they dish out. : )

Maya went potty twice this weekend at Grandmama and Granddaddy's house. She was so proud! This was the first time she actually peed in the potty - so, we're setting the foundation for successful potty training, we hope.

Well, I must go to bed! I'm wiped. Hope everyone is doing well!

Back to School

Well, what an interesting week. We started out with a bang on Monday, and things were going well. We were all exhausted, but that's normal for the first week of school. Then on Wednesday morning things got interesting. Maya woke up at 5:30 screaming, and even after we got her out of bed, she kept crying and crying. We couldn't figure out what was the matter, so I had to stay home with her on my third day of school. It was a disaster. I took her to the doctor only to find that nothing he could see was wrong. Dr. Feole used some stickers to get her to move her head in all directions, and we finally surmised that she must have had a crick in her neck, which was causing her not to be able to turn her head all the way, and obviously some pain. He put her on a high dose of Ibuprofen and sent us home. Maya slept about 4.5 hours, and then woke up totally fine. Ugh. He gave her those 2 stickers, which we put on her shirt. Well, when it was time to put on pjs, the stickers had to be moved to them. The next morning when we got dressed for school, we had to put the stickers on that shirt too. I finally convinced her to stick them on her door, where they would be safe. Let's just say our child is just a little bit OCD. (ok, a lot!)

There's also a pic of her sitting on the big girl potty, showing off her Firehouse Subs firehat and sporting her stickers. Oh yeah - hot stuff!

Today when I picked that little booger up, she was playing outside with her "buddies." She did NOT want to go home with me! Instead she wanted us to keep playing on the playground with Tristan, her favorite buddy. So, we swang, went down the slide, rode the carrusel, rocked on a fish (yes, a fish) and rode cars. She was so happy until we finally had to go home. Then she cried for her daddy all the way home, only to find he wasn't home from football practice yet. I hated to break her little heart! It was pitiful.

We bought her the movie CARS and I am proud (I guess) to say that she has now watched a whole movie. Not in one sitting of course, but she did watch it and LOVE it. If you haven't seen CARS, you need to rent it. It is so cute!

Her newest accomplishment is counting to ten, and she's actually gotten most of the colors straightened out now (for a long time she could say them, but would get them all wrong when you asked her what color something was). Casey taught her to count, and she still needs some prodding, but if she really wants to she can do it. I'm attaching 2 videos of her learning - they are cute!

Ok, I don't think the video is working. Ugh.