All Clear!

I am happy to report that I received good news from the doctor. The mole was nothing. Yeah!!! The anticipation of waiting was terrible and I am glad that it is over. I had my stitches removed today and thankfully I can shave! John just knew if I tried to shave we would end up in the emergency room getting new stitches. Here is to healthy skin and clean armpits! :)

Wednesday Rambles

There are so many things I want to blog about so I guess I will just give a brief rundown of the events of the past few weeks.

1. Halloween was a blast. After many failed attempts of getting Lindsey to wear a lady bug costume, we resorted to plan B. Mommy made a piggie costume complete with curly tail. My pictures are stinky, but thankfully the video is pretty good. We all went around the neighborhood. Lindsey managed to get out "Tri Treat" and even snorted for some lucky neighbors!
2. After many weeks of smooth drop offs and pick up from MOPS, Lindsey cried when I left her in the nursery. It was horrible. One of the worst feelings in my life. She also cried when I picked her up. My heart broke for my little girl and I was just thankful that I did not have to do that everyday.
3. Lindsey got rave reviews at her 18 month check up. She is 22 pounds and 32 inches long. The doctor asked me how her vocabulary was and thankfully Lindsey was very happy to show him that day. It is amazing how many words she picks up on now. We are working on please (peeeze) and thank you (nank you). It is so fun.
4. We are on day four of Operation No More Bottles. The transition has actually gone pretty smoothly and for that I am thankful. I just hope that it continues to go well. We have also pulled out the potty chair. She knows to go sit on it, get toilet paper and to flush. Now we just have to work on explaining the actual using the potty part. These things are all huge milestones and although I am so thankful because I think life will be easier, not to mention cheaper, it is a little sad. My baby is growing up so quickly!
5. I am out of places to put things in my house. I think I might just need to build a shelf right by the ceiling. Climbing on top of things is very popular right now, as is going into my underwear drawer and wearing them around her neck. How does stuff like that get started?
6. John has been off since Monday and I have loved having him around. He has done several home improvement projects despite of the yucky weather. I am so thankful I have a husband that is willing and able to do so many things to make our house look even better.
7. I had a mole removed on Monday, so I am currently nursing a few stitches on/in/under?? my right underarm. Let me just say that this is a terrible place to have stitches and not bending or moving your arm is not an option, not to mention that fact that going without deodorant is just plain gross. It is standard for them to biopsy these things, but it makes a little nervous. Feel free to pray for good news! :)

Go Big Blue!

A few weeks ago we attended John's 20th High School Reunion. (I still find it hard to believe that it has been that long) After a few disappointing experiences with my high school reunions, we almost didn't attend. I am so glad we did though because both of us ended up having a really great time.

The organizers did a spectacular job. They had a section for us at the pep rally, a great happy hour and football event for Friday night, a family picnic Saturday afternoon and a nice semi-formal event Saturday night. Even though the Vikings lost in the cross-town showdown, we had a great time. The picnic was so much fun with great activities for the kids including a train, bouncy thing, sand art and pinatas. Lindsey even had a little male suitor chasing her around. He would come over and touch her and just giggle. So cute...but hands off buddy! It was fun to get dressed up a bit for the evening event since my normal uniform is jeans and t-shirt these days.

Just a few thoughts on pep rally's. I went to a school that had little school spirit, a band that consisted of about 12 people and a football team that lost almost every game. Therefore, I had some preconceived notions about pep rallys. Bryan knows how to do it! The band was so loud, the kids were screaming and crazy excited, it was fun to see. You could tell all of us old folks though as we gasped when some of the cheerleaders did a few of their moves. Wow, we certainly didn't do those sort of things when we were their age, did we? ;)

Pregnancy Does Not Cloud the Brain...Ha-Ha-Ha

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who is pregnant. We had a little chuckle over some of the things that happen to pregnant women. So, when I read this article I had to laugh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081010/hl_afp/healthaustraliawomenpregnancy

I am all for girl power and I really believe that we are the stronger sex where it is really important, but I think that the researcher has not had children. I believe that our mind shuts down to non-important things like how we usually drink our coffee, whether our clothes are on inside out and if we only managed to get mascara on one eye that morning since we are growing a little life in us and we must prepare for the challenging days ahead of motherhood. Maybe I am just crazy and only my friend and I have experienced the "Duhs" of pregnancy...but I doubt it!

A Constant State of Being Behind

Once again, I have fallen far behind in the blog department. Do not worry however, it is not the only department that is suffering. It is right there with boxes still cluttering my house, pictures trapped in my digital camera, birthday presents still not mailed. It is official, I am in a constant state of being behind. Since I haven't posted pictures in a while, I thought I would do so. Granted these are old, but something is better than nothing. The first is a picture of Lindsey and John at Greene's Smokehouse. Lindsey fell in love with the stuffed armadillo that could hold a beer bottle. The second picture is of Lindsey right after she was finally big enough to turn around and face the front of the car. Can you tell she was happy about this? :)

Besides being behind, life is great. Sixteen months is such a fun age. Lindsey pretty much runs everywhere. She is talking up a storm. We can't understand everything of course, but her vocabulary includes: Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, Ro-Ro, Ra-Ra, (Ro-Ro and Ra-Ra are my sister Rosemary and my niece Robin), doggie, woof-woof, meow, easy, cat, bye-bye, hi and the always favorite, diddle-diddle. There are others she has said once but these are the ones we have mastered ;) Currently Sissy is her favorite word. First thing in the morning she runs to Sissy's room (our master bathroom) and stands there and yells, "SISSY, SISSY, SISSY!" It sounds bad to say this but I think it is a blessing that Sissy is deaf and can't hear the craziness.

We start Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) tomorrow. I am so excited. It is going to be a good experience for us both I am sure. Lindsey goes to the nursery and there are programs for the moms. Lindsey has no problems with separation, but Mommy might so we will just hope for the best!

Lindsey's Eye

Good news! For now, it appears that we are not going to have surgery on Lindsey's eye to open her tear duct! :) Isn't that great?!?!

It seems that our a frustrating experience with the doctors, multiple trips to Temple and several co-pays was all for a reason. As Murphy's Law would have it, when we went to see the new doctor, Lindsey's eye was clearing up. He saw a little inflammation so suggested we go ahead. Well, that was back in July and her eye has been clear ever since! No medicine, no yucky morning eye boogers...just my pretty baby girl smiling up at me.

Our pediatrician says there is no medical way of knowing for sure if it has really opened, but we are taking the chance for now and just saying NO to surgery. Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

Hair Trauma

For those who know me, they know that I have battled the attack of the grey hairs for many years now. I had a stylist in Houston who was amazing. My higlights were pretty darn natural looking, the cuts were great and the best thing of all was that she was so affordable.

So after going for almost ten months and coming close to looking like the Cousin It from the Addams Family, I embarked on the task of a finding a new hair stylist. It is no easy task. After grilling several friends and family members I settled on someone.

Let me begin by saying that I really liked her, she was fun and spunky. I should have known when she said, "You have really pretty eyes, we just need to do something to bring them out." She recommended full color rather than highlights to give me more coverage. She said it would be really natural and very close to my natural color. Now, I know I had highlights and maybe my natural color was a little hard to detect, but I don't recall ever seeing black in my hair anywhere. Okay, it is not really black, but it is sooo dark I scare myself in the mirror sometimes. Several people say I look much younger, but then I just think, man, did I look that old?

Anywhoo, it is just hair, it will grow out and until then I guess I will just enjoy this new Susanne. :)