blessed beyond measure

So the moms reading this blog are going to think we're crazy, and Trey's doctor would probably have us shot. The information sheets we get at every appointment say "delay potty training until at least age 2". But we bought a potty. I know what you're thinking - Trey turns 20 months next week. It's way too early, especially for a boy. But I guess we figured it couldn't hurt. For the last month or so, Trey has been telling us right before he would go #2, and sometimes for #1 also. I'll be the first to admit I've not read the first potty training book or article. The main thing I have been hearing from everywhere is that he has to be "ready". Maybe he's not ready, but surely identifying urges is a good start. So anyway, Trey has been introduced to his own potty, and we're working on association right now. Yesterday he said the word for #2 and got that look on his face, so I took him and set him fully clothed on his potty, and...

Today is Brandon's 35th birthday. In honor of that, here are some things that I love about this incredible man: - His sometimes-weird, sometimes-dry, still very funny sense of humor - How he shares my giddy-ness whenever Trey does something new and impressive. - The way he looks in a suit. That he loves getting all dressed up. - His obsession with socks. It's like a kid at Christmas when he gets to go buy a new bag of white athletic socks. - His grill skills. - The way he talks to the seeds when we are planting the garden. - That he sings while he's mowing the yard - for the whole 2 hours. - How I've been able to turn this former rap-listener on to Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Michael Buble. - His playtime with Trey, wrestling in the floor, making him laugh hysterically, and teaching him funny words. - How his sound effects, especially cows and dump trucks, are so realistic. - The way he so badly wants to play golf like Tiger Woods. - How it's like pulling t...

Well, sometimes. For these videos anyway.

So another part of my Organization 2009 campaign is to clear up some space on our computer by getting the pictures onto removable storage. I'm about a year behind with this. Good grief, I didn't realize we had taken so many pictures. I got an 8GB flash drive, figuring that would last us a while. Um, it's over 75% full now. I'm pretty sure part of that can be attributed to the new camera we received for Christmas. We went from 3.5 mega pixels to 9.1, and each picture is triple the size of the ones we took with the old camera. Oh, but the quality is so much better! I am hoping the new camera will help me keep my vow to never go to Sears Portrait Studio again. We had a horrendous experience for our Christmas pictures, spending one miserable hour there to get one good and one decent picture. It would be great to just do wannabe-professional portraits from now on. These might not be professional, but they turned out well enough to already be framed and on display: Br...

Before Trey came along, I don't remember life being boring. But now as I look back, I wonder, what in the world did we do with all that time?? Having a kid is hands down the most entertaining thing ever. Trey has really come out of his shell just today with speaking in sentences. Throughout the day Brandon and I found ourselves actually participating in back-and-forth conversation with Trey, and it was so neat. Hence the title of this blog and the food journal to follow, a majority of the sentences were food-related. We packed breakfast for a meal on the road during the long, early trip to the doctor. The last 45 minutes of the journey, pretty much all we heard out of Trey was "Daddy, paypay!" (pancake). He ate two regular-sized pancakes, drank a cup of soymilk and who knows how many cups of "apa doot" (apple juice). While at the doctor's office, we found out that Trey now weighs 27 pounds. That would be a gain of 2 pounds in the last 6 weeks. Add to...

Tomorrow morning we make the hour-and-a-half trek yet again to the pediatric surgeon's office for Trey's follow-up appointment. Hopefully our last trip to the doctor for a while. He has recovered beautifully from the surgery and the incisions are healing very well. Thanks again for all your prayers. I sort of put all my eggs in the Trey and Mama basket last week as far as blogging. Not a whole lot new here, except: The weather has been gorgeous all week, mid-sixties and sunny, making me want to stop wearing socks. We have played outside as much as possible and I've been using my lunch breaks at work to walk. Oh and the heavenly aroma of our house after a whole day of having the windows open! I love every season for what it is, but once the remote possibility of snow is gone, bring on the flip flops! Also, Trey is continuing to learn more letters and numbers, and speak more sentences. Many of those sentences deal with the cows in our backyard or the moon, two of Trey...

What a great day Trey and I have had. Today was a work-from-home day for me, and Trey was an absolute angel. Probably just glad to have his routine back after last week. He has become very interested in his shape sorter and puzzles lately, and many times puts the pieces in the right slots. It is so neat to watch him learn. We took a little field trip this evening to see one of my dearest friends, who had a baby last week. We took dinner for her and her family, and got to visit for a little while. I honestly had never been around a baby that small, a little over six pounds. Trey never got below 8 pounds. But it brought back a lot of memories for me. Oh how difficult the first few months of Trey's life were. I was scared to death. Of doing something wrong, of not feeding him enough, terrified that things would never be "normal" again. Should we ever add to our family, I hope and pray that I won't allow the hormones to take over again, that I can actually enjo...

So last night's Trey and Mama time had an unexpected and very welcome guest...Dad! When Brandon found out Trey and I would be having dinner with his parents, and I texted him a guilt-trip-ish "we'll miss you", he decided to opt out of his school responsibilities and come home to us. He's got it bad. We ended up spending most of the evening at Nana and Granddad's, which was great. There's lots of neat stuff for Trey to do at Nana and Granddad's... They have skylights, all the better to find the moon. This is the only couch Trey can climb onto, with his short little legs. Basketball with Dad is always a blast. Love the family. After we got home we played for a little while. Brandon fixed my washing machine - what a man! And then after Trey went to bed I put the finishing touches on my grocery list. I'm on a kick this year of being more responsible. This takes the form of making an attainable budget, spending money more wisely, and getting our fina...

With Brandon doing his basketball thing last night, tonight, and tomorrow night, Trey and I are on our own. I'm going to try to post for each night. It's been a whirlwind of a week and a half, starting off with Trey's surgery. It was harder on the adults than on him, I'm sure. He was not happy at any point during our stint at the hospital, freaking out when anyone touched him or especially when they put that oxygen saturation monitor on his toe. Guess he's like his dad and doesn't want anyone messing with his feet. The one exception to Trey's unhappiness was after the first round of anesthesia kicked in. They had him drink a liquid that made him, well, drunk. During the drunkenness, Trey fixated on this plastic ring stacker that was in the room. He insisted on holding as many rings in his hand as he could, and I had to hold the stacker pole piece. Which was hard considering by this time he had lost control of his head, so I'm trying to hold up ...

It has been very busy lately for us. Basketball season consumes not just me, but the entire family. I have always read from successful coaches that including your family is a must. They must feel like they are part of the program. These are coaches that were successful with their families and not just their teams. My goal is to be a great Christian/husband/dad first and then hope that we can have some good results on the basketball court. It has been a joy to look up in the stands at home games and see my wife, son, dad, and mom. Last season was difficult because mom was not healthy enough to make it to games. It's been a blessing to see all of them there. It has also been fun to be walking around in the team room or coaches off and see Trey running back into that area looking for a "baaa" (ball). Usually by the time he leaves, has has two or three basketballs that he has borrowed from the coaches office to play with. I try to make sure that I have time to speak ...