Friday the 13th

Was such the stereotype yesterday for my poor student worker...she had a wreck on the way to work on University Drive (8:00 AM) with an international student (not to stereotype - please don't take it that way - who exclaimed, "This happens to me a lot!", then after that was settled, got lost in Research Park (had never been there before), and while trying to get out of Research Park, got pulled over by a cop. Luckily (or unluckly, however you might want to look at it), at that point in time she burst into uncontrollable tears and the cop had mercy on her, just giving her a warning rather than an actual ticket. Poor thing! I was somewhat hesitant about giving her much to work on considering the day she had already had, but couldn't help it...The main lobby area of my office had been repainted this past week and was still very much is disarray...we had to get this whipped into shape before the students rolled back in (or more students, anyway, as my calendar can contest they've been pouring in since January 2nd). We recovered some of the sound boards in maroon fabric, but the fabric store was out of maroon (what fabric store in College Station doesn't stock enough maroon fabric...I ask you that question?), so we had to strategically place the recovered and original ones back on the walls and go from there. We've also gotten new office chairs for the conference room, etc., so all of those items have had to be moved around, etc., etc., etc. And this doesn't begin to cover all of the other things the I needed her to do, so she was really hopping yesterday. I do think that it helped to take her mind off of things, even for a little while, and she's really creative, so she had fun redecorating...

As I had feared, I'm starting the semester off with too many things on my project to-do list at work...some of the things that would have lessened my stress load for next week weren't able to get done this past week...so next week will be even more of a doozey than this week was. At least that's what I'm preparing myself for, anyway. That way if it turns out to be that way, ok - I've prepared myself. If not, great!

Many things at the university level are segmented undergraduate/graduate, because I think the powers-that-be assume that there are separate people in each department that do both of these segments...so having graduate fellowship/scholarship deadlines for major $$$ during the first week of school isn't a major thing if someone only deals with graduate students...but it's a MAJOR issue when that individual also deals with undergraduate students...my week is not my own during the first week of classes. My time will consist of putting out student fires. Period. But, it's a big deal to me (and the department, of course, as it increases the matriculation rate) to try and give our graduate applicants the most opportunities for "free money" that they can get...so in comes the stress. Which perhaps is why my boss approached me on Thursday and asked me to be thinking about how I would want to structure some additional, professional help for the academic area to take some of the load off of me...But the kicker is this...I can't figure out what I would want to give up. Working graduate applications helps me to know and develop relationships with the incoming graduate students, which in turn helps with the recruiting and outreach component of my job, as I can call on them and recruit them to help with the departmental recruiting...kind of a big cycle. If I wasn't involved in their graduate application packages and working with them through that process, I wouldn't develop such strong relationships with them and don't feel like I would have the rapport with them like I do with the newer students that have come in since I've been there...Undergraduate - no way am I getting rid of that. I've made too many strides in that area in the past two years...Outreach and recruiting, well - it ties in with both of those aspects as well...but perhaps a graduate assistant or someone working part-time to coordinate the actual recruiting activities with me as their supervisor would actual work. This takes quite a bit of my time. But...this was one of the aspects of my job that I was going to work into an academic course and try to teach as a 485...planning and logistics class...since I'm meeting with the students that do outreach at least once a month anyway, Dr. Heinz and I had already talked about this since I miss teaching. Arg! Pros and cons with each and every aspect of my job. Well, I'm glad he doesn't want a quick response from me!! But, I will say this...It is VERY nice to have a boss that understands - without me even saying it - that there are limits to what a person is physically, mentally, and emotionally able to do and is willing to do whatever they can to keep their employees happy and productive. After his initial comment, I agreed I was going to have some help pretty soon, especially if we were going to keep growing, and I laughed and joked that I couldn't do many more 3:30 AM - 11 PM days...he just shook his head at me and agreed...then commented that I had other people that counted on me..like Kellen and Matt and that I couldn't continue to work those kinds of hours. I am so blessed to be in this position! Thank you God for opening the right doors at the right times and putting me exactly where I needed to be.

Sorry for the work ramble...

Now...the fun stuff. I have a long weekend! Monday is a holiday for TAMU, so I have a 3 day weekend! Whoo Hoo!!! Jeff is coming into town this morning, and we're going to the Aggie Basketball game this afternoon. What fun!

Whooped...

This week has just taken it out of me...Monday was crazy...broken shower that began at 6:00 AM that resulted in an unplanned day off for me and an entire day of plumbing pain for Matt and I. Luckily, Matt was off on Monday and was able to fix the problem, but his extensive to-do list originally scheduled for Monday was shelved, much to his dismay. Tuesday I brought quite a bit of work home with me in an attempt to get caught up, told myself I was going to take a power nap after I put Kellen to bed, and knocked out in the recliner at 8:00...for the night...woke up at 3:30 and was just up - for good. Wednesday the candle burned from both ends, running from 3:30 AM until 11 PM. I worked from when I woke up on the things that I had brought home to do the night before, then had a normal morning, worked through lunch and then until 6, got Kellen & picked up dinner, met Matt at my office, had dinner with them there at the office, then Matt took Kellen back to the house and I stayed at the office...until later than I have ever done before (at least that I can remember). I was part of a panel presentation today and with Monday mayhem, just hadn't had a chance to catch up and prepare for it - at all, and winging it for a presentation, even a panel, just adds stress to my stress meter. Whew!

I'm trying desperately to get to some semblance of "caught-up" status before the semester starts next Tuesday...will I make it? Who knows! I estimate the answer to be an emphatic NO!

My day

Well, today is my day...Matt had written me a "My-day" note that was supposed to be for Janaury 1st, but he had gotten off shift on New Year's Eve and they had run quite a bit, so he asked if I would want a rain check so that I could get a full day's worth of the my-day coupon. You betcha! We'll hopefully get quite a bit done today and then get the added bonus of just getting to spend some time together...both quantity and quality time. Yeah! If the day is nice, I would love to take Kellen to the park to have a picnic and fly his kite, too...he just loves doing that - especially since it's a Shrek kite with a huge Donkey picture on it.

Now if I can just get over this head cold I could really fully enjoy the benefits of "My-day." The last two days at work have just been miserable with this thing! But it's going around, so I guess I'll take my small part of the misery along with everyone else. I just wish that I could take some medicine to make me feel better, but no such luck. I think I'm on the downward side of it now...at least it feels like it this morning, except that now I feel like it's settling in my chest and throat more and I'm getting a slight touch of a cough, which I hadn't had much of before. Oh I've just got to get over this before schools starts back up! Way too much to do at work to afford getting sick! These two weeks were supposed to be for me to get caught up...I can't handle getting back into the grind if I'm heading into another semester already behind. Arg and Yikes!! I remember now why I was working from home every night in an attempt to stay in some semblence of "caught-up" status. I haven't been doing that...I actually haven't done much of that in a while...but I'm feeling the pinch to perhaps start back up to avoid what I imagine to be the landslide...

OK...enough yipping about me...What happened to Alias this week? I went to watch it back on Thursday night...and there was a new season of Dancing with the Stars on instead. What gives? Where did my show go? It wasn't on after Lost...because Lost wasn't on this week - it was the Rose Bowl. Where all of the shows just messed up this week because of Bowl Games? Hmmm. So instead of watching my show, Kellen insisted that we watch the dancing...he enjoyed it immensely, actually. He loves watching dancing, including the dancers at the Aggie basketball games, of course. But, much to my surprise, he really enjoyed this show! I had gotten him all ready for bed and was just going to check that Alias was coming on, then put him to bed, but when I noticed that there was no Alias and dancers in its place, I decided to let him watch some of the dancers and continue to play with his toys. He was so cute...dancing to the music along with the TV. What a hoot!

Hooray for the weekend!

Basketball fun

Kellen and I went to the women's basketball Big VII conference opener tonight against Oklahoma State...it was a good game and we won 74-52 and one of the best part's was that the tickets were half-price...he and I both got in for $4.00 - Whoo Hoo! Kellen did really well..he only got restless during the last 5-6 minutes of the 2nd part of the game, which I thought was pretty good! It started earlier than previous games we had attended, which is one of the reasons that I think he did so well...a 5:30 start time is a really good thing for him! He loved to watch the Aggie Dance Team, of course, and swayed and clapped while they were on, then asked for more when they were finished. He sure is all boy, isn't he? I asked him if he wanted to go to the basketball game when I picked him up at daycare, and that's all he talked about until we actually got to the game. He really enjoyed himself and we had a great time.

We had originally planned to go and see Daddy tonight since he's on a 48, but there were too many issues with the trucks at both stations, so we decided against it...I would have hated to drive Kellen and I down there for them to get a call and us not get a chance to spend any time with Daddy - that would have really stunk. I guess it worked out all right anyway. Since we switched gears and went to the game, I had planned to come home and watch Lost, but didn't think about the fact that tonight is the Rose Bowl...Hello, Rebecca!

Kellen's wish

Today Kellen really got his Daddy, shocked him right to the core, I believe...by telling him that he wanted a baby brother. Yup. I'm really not sure where he's getting this, except perhaps at daycare...one of the moms of a kid in his class is expecting their second child - perhaps their discussing this in his class?, and the director of the daycare is now back from maternity leave, but still! He can't seem to make up his mind about whether he wants a baby sister or brother. He told me the other day he wanted a baby sister, then changed his mind and ordered an older sister....today it was a baby brother. As I was putting him to bed tonight he decided to ask for an older brother & older sister, plus a baby sister and baby brother. Hold on a minute there bucko! It doesn't quite work like that! He's cracking me up with this, but it's so sweet!

Back to it

So it was back to work today for me. Matt stayed home with Kellen, as daycare was closed, and I got the report that Kellen was a bit of a handful...fussy and just cranky. Daddy's thinking that the munchkin isn't feeling well. Uh oh. Not what we need...he's had the runny nose, sneezing, coughing thing, but hasn't been running a fever, I just hope it isn't getting any worse. I haven't felt the need to give him a breathing treatment for a while - in a very long time, actually - so I hope we don't have to go back to those again. The last time I actually remember having to give him a breathing treatment was when he and I were in Ohio, I think...or did I even have to give him one when we were there? No, that was a high fever, but I don't remember breathing trouble in addition to that...I just took the breathing treatment maching and medicine just in case...did I give him a treatment there? Hmmm...when was the last time he had to have a breathing treatment? Well, my memory obviously isn't registering, so it's clearly been quite some time...

Poor guy...even as I'm typing this I can hear him coughing in his sleep. I hope that he's able to get a good night's sleep tonight and try and get over this thing.

Blessings

As I was putting Kellen to bed, he started to say his "Bless," which is what he calls his prayers. I don't know if it was just him being cute, just himself, or not wanting me to leave the room, because he got me after he went through his normal, "Bless Daddy, bless book," etc., He added a new one tonight with asking for a sister, he actually asked for a little sister, then changed his mind and asked for a big sister. That's going to be fun to try and explain...hmmm. (Just to clarify and for those of you who might be wondering based on Kellen's prayer, no, we aren't expecting a new addition to the Hapes family). After his prayer, he thought for a while and then said, "Ok, that's all. Love Jesus. Amen." However, as I was walking out of the room, he stopped me, "Wait Mommy! I forgot bless."

"Who did you forget to bless sweetie?"

He looked me square in the eye and replied, "Bless Mommy. Happy New Year. I love you. Night-night Mommy."

Man oh man...This kiddo can just make me fall to pieces! How did I get so lucky to be blessed with such a wonderful little guy?

I'm about to start a project that will require me to remember details - facts and events in great detail actually - about the period of time when he was first born. I remember being out of my mind in love with him, but I honestly don't know what has been my "favorite" time period since he's been born. Each time period has had their own special points, wonderful and some not-so-wonderful, I'll admit, moments that I cherish. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by...and now we're embarking on yet another year.

Let the fun continue!

Play day

Well, it's New Year's Eve...this holiday really isn't a big deal to Matt, and his attitude is rubbing off on me more and more, although I've always wanted to do the whole New Year's Eve thing. He's on a 24 hr shift, but we were actually able to see him twice today! What a treat! Bright and early this morning, after Kellen's haircut that was supposed to be a surprise for him, (Kellen's hair is a lesson in compromise between Matt and I...short during the summer - a 4, or when Mommy messes up and gives Daddy the wrong guard, a 2; longer during the fall and winter - he got his haircut today with an 8, and I think it looks wonderful!), he called to say that they were on their way to the Med...Well, I was literally finishing up with Kellen's haircut, and it wasn't even 8:00 AM yet, so we raced to get ready so that Kellen could see his Daddy. He sure was excited about seeing him and just ran around the inside of the ambulance playing with Daddy. We could only stay for a few minutes while they were finishing up with the paperwork, etc., as they had to get the truck back in service, but it was a nice treat.

Back to the house and Kellen and I just played and played all day long. My to-do list is written out, and there is nothing scratched off of it today...Ha! I had so much fun with Kellen that it doesn't even bother me. We played with his new toys, I tried to find homes for his new toys (where will they all go?), we read book after book, and watched lots of VeggieTales in the midst of it all. He discovered the massager that my parents got me, tried it out, and exclaimed, "Kellen like it!" He sat against it for a little while and would make noises just to hear his voice vibrate. It was so funny! Then he decided that he wanted to share, prompted me to sit forward, put it behind my back and told me, "Mommy's turn." What a sweetie! He has a bad case of the sniffles and a cough, so I gave him some medicine that I think made him drowsy, because he actually snuggled next to me a little after noon and said that he was tired...That's my cue! Naptime here we come. I read him a book then told him to get in bed and he didn't even fuss. He crawled into bed, snuggled into his pillows, surrounded himself with his stuffed animals, and was pretty much out.

I hadn't watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation yet this year, so I pulled it out of the cabinet and watched it...I just think that movie is hilarious! Then I took a short nap while Kellen was finishing up with his. How nice! I was awakened by my cell phone...I'm still getting used to its new ring...It was Matt and they were coming back to the Med. I heard Kellen stirring and talking to himself in his room, so we got ready to go see Daddy again. Lucky us! This time when we got there, the ambulance was still parked by the ER doors, and the lights were still going. As we pulled into the parking lot, Kellen exclaimed, "See Daddy! That's Daddy's big truck!" That kiddo's a smart one! We parked and he got very upset that we couldn't get out immediately and go see Daddy. I tried to explain to him that Daddy was working and we had to wait for just a few minutes until he was all through. I'm so glad that he was able to see his Daddy today...and twice...what a treat, really.

As we left, Kellen was upset because he wanted Daddy to stay and not go back to work. I told him that Daddy had to go back to work to help people. "Oh, ok. Daddy go work and save people. See Daddy 'morrow." Oh my goodness, sometimes he just makes my heart melt!

Back to the house and he and I just continued to play. I did get something constructive done though...I made some cookies. Mmmm. Yummy! I also chatted for a while with my grandma's, which was nice, too.

Maybe in 2006, I'll be a little better about sending birthday and anniversary cards, etc. I had an aunt that was wonderful about doing that. She never missed an event, and getting a card from her always made me feel so special. In an attempt to organize this effort, I've started an events excel sheet, so I'll be trying to get birthdays and anniversarys from folks and get going on this.

Well, it's now 2006 in New York. I just watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV. I'm glad that Dick Clark is able to host this event this year...he sounds pretty good despite the stroke, so it's obvious that he's been working hard to try and get back to TV shape.

2006...what does the Lord have in store for us this year?

Painting progress

Well, I feel like I've made some progress today on that spare bathroom project (yes, I'm still working on that!). However, I've gotten my motivation back and I'm actually working on it again, which is a good sign. I've gotten what I hope will be the final layer of caulk on the seam and have taped off the room. Matt will sand the caulk down later on this afternoon, depending on how it's drying. This is supposed to be a quick dry caulk, but it still seems to be a little tacky, so we'll see. I'm hoping to get a coat of primer on it today as well, but it all depends on the drying time of the caulk and subsequent sanding, so everything is up in the air on that one...But, I finally feel like I'm making progress again, which in my book is good. Yeah!

And by the way, I should no longer lose phone calls and my cell phone signal when I move into another room to talk, as yesterday Matt and I got me a new cell phone. For some unknown reason we didn't feel that the $10 to transfer the stored phone numbers into the new phone was worth it and I spent several hours yesterday afternoon converting phone numbers into my new cell phone. Urg! I will NOT do that again! The next time I get a new phone, I will spend the lousy $10 to transfer the phone numbers! On the up-side, I now know how to program phone numbers into my phone...with ease.

While I'm waiting on the caulk to dry in the bathroom, I'm going to work on another project...I'm going to try out my space bags. Yes, I ordered them off of the internet. My mom swears by them and Kellen has outgrown lots of his clothes and I have gotten them back from Julie, with no one else in line to lend them to, so now I have to actually store them. Let's see how this storage experiment works!

Christmas fun!

So I finally got the docking station out of Matt's truck and have uploaded the pictures...Christmas fun and recap here we come!

Satuday
Let's go back to Saturday...Christmas Eve day...Matt was scheduled to work a 12 hour shift that night, so his aunt and uncle moved their normal evening routine (Christmas Eve chili & cold cut sandwiches) back a little bit so that he could participate this year...we got out of town a little later than we wanted to, but made it to Conroe by ~ 1:45-2:00, and the whole gang got to the Gilmer's a little after 3:00 PM...we were shooting for sometime between 2:00 - 3:00, so we really weren't that far off, especially for our gang! I don't think that anyone stopped eating once we walked into the door, but hey...what's a Christmas gathering without continuous munching? Matt & I broke the gift-opening order tradition, which normally runs from the youngest to oldest, and opened our present first, since Matt had to leave to go to work - rule-breakers are we!



Uncle Randy's sister, her son, his wife & their two daughters came as well, and the two girls are just a little older than Kellen, 3 and 5 or 6. He had fun playing with them throughout the night.



At one point in time, PawPaw was bowling the kids, which they just loved! We ended up leaving around 6:30 or so, and went to look at Christmas lights before heading back to MawMaw and PawPaw's for the Hapes Christmas Eve routine...open one present, usually new PJ's, and the reading of the Bible Christmas story.



Kellen got an incredibly cute little stuffed puppy dog...but when I asked him what the puppy's name was, he thought he needed to ask PawPaw...he didn't understand that he could name it himself! I still don't think that the puppy has a name...other than "puppy" right now.

Sunday
Christmas morning....Kellen woke up pretty early (4:30AM) scared of something, but crawled back into bed with me and actually went back to sleep. I feel like that was a Christmas miracle all in itself! We slept in until almost 7 AM...another Christmas miracle...he rarely sleeps that late! When he woke up, he told me, "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday Jesus." We're trying to make sure that he understands what this holiday is actually all about...but the true little two-year old self shone through when the next words out of his mouth were, "Open presents, Mommy!" I told him that we had to wait until Daddy got home from work until we opened presents, which I didn't figure would be too long, based on how long we had actually slept. Sure enough, we stayed in bed just talking and playing and a few minutes later, Daddy walked through the door.

He was the designated present-opener, and had a blast doing it!



I don't think that I've ever seen him, or any other kid for that matter, slide across a present like he did with his first one of the morning...a baseball set.



Elmo was, of course, a HUGE hit...Wait a minute...wasn't I the Mommy that swore Elmo would never be allowed in my house??? Oh well! I can tolerate him...But I haven't budged on the purple dinosaur (how annoying) or the Teletubbies (those things give me the heeby-geebies!).



He also got the Disney edition of Memory, much to PawPaw chagrin...he'll really enjoy this game, given how much he enjoys some of the Disney movies. I guess I'll need to introduce him to some of the others that he hasn't seen yet that have made their way to MawMaw and PawPaw's because they're on VHS (Little Mermaid & Hercules are two that I can think of off the top of my head).



I'm so glad that MawMaw and PawPaw were able to find a stick horse for Kellen. Matt and I had looked for one for him, but we just couldn't find one that we liked! This one is really cute, and it has wheels on the back! I've never seen one like this before...and Kellen loves it! He was riding the horse all over the house!



He just loves trains...so he got a Thomas the Train train set...and he played with it quite a bit over the weekend! However, he didn't actually want Thomas to pull the two cars that came with it! He would get very upset if we attached the cars to Thomas and would quickly pull them apart. He would let Thomas push the cars, but not connect and pull them...I'm not quite sure why?!?

As you can probably tell, it was just a lot of fun this year with him, as he enjoyed his presents and wanted to play with each and every one as he opened them up. We "stashed" them away as he opened them, and toward the end, he found the "stash" and remembered what he had opened earlier. Aunt Boo remarked that he had found his stash...he picked up very quickly on the terminology and yelled, "Kellen play with stash!" If the tone hadn't been what it was (read: terrible two temper tantrum), it would have been pretty funny.

Daddy got the Lord of the Rings trilogy, among other things, of course,



...and Mommy got a wonderful foot massager...mmmm.



We didn't go down to Channelview on Sunday like we normally would have...MeeMaw was actually staying with MawMaw and PawPaw, so we had Christmas dinner there in Conroe and just hung out at the house, which was actually nice and relaxing.



We watched the Polar Express with Kellen and then Sunday evening ended up being game night, which was fun as well.

Monday
Aunt Boo had planned a get-together with high school and college buddies for Monday, and the presence of "dork boy" was requested, so we stayed around for Monday as well.



Kellen enjoyed playing with the other kids, but got just a little jealous when they all wanted to play with his PawPaw. He made it quite clear that that was his PawPaw!

Whew! What a wonderful Christmas...two weekends in a row! Perhaps I should have blogged this in phases...I didn't realize it would take me quite this long to get all of the narrative and photos added...it's almost 11:30. Yikes! That's enough blogging for one night. Enjoy!

Potty Progress?

I know that I still haven't updated with Christmas...but that will have to wait...I just got Kellen to bed and feel like we're actually making progress with the potty...and it's been initiated by Kellen, so I just had to blog it!

We were getting ready for his bath tonight and we were walking to the bathroom and he asked to go to the potty. I sit him on the potty and seconds later...I hear him actually going pee pee. Success! Initiated by him! Bathtime ensues...an Epsom Salt bath, no less, as he has some form of sore on his finger that Matt will just have to look at when he gets home from shift tomorrow morning that I managed to lance tonight (blood and yucky green stuff came out that I'm sure was not a good sign). Bathtime was officially over when he told me he pee peed...but I must have mistaken that for him telling me he had to pee pee, because he got very upset when I let the water out and washed him off again and he asked to sit on the potty...I finally understood what he was asking, sat him down on the potty and wrapped the towel around him, and he pee peed twice more!

Yeah!

As for me today...I was just a little off...I had a doctor's appointment, looked at my PDA and was still an hour off for my appointment. I thought that I was running late, but was actually an hour early...What was going on in my brain? They were able to work me in, so I had more time to kill (read: run errands) before my haircut appointment, which actually turned out to be a good thing. I was able to get all of my errands done between the two appointments and then was done with the out-of-house errands for the day. Back to the house to try and clean up without Kellen underfoot, since he was at daycare, but I don't feel like I got as much accomplished as I wanted to, although I did get quite a bit done. Matt and I have quite a list of to-do's for ourself for this week, so we'll see how much of that list we're able to knock out while we're both off of work - him until Saturday and me until next Monday.

I promise that I'll update on Christmas...but I don't have the docking station for the pictures, and it makes more sense to do all of that (pictures and narrative) at once...I just hope I don't forget any cute details!

Future football player

Just had to blog this...it was too cute. So Kellen got a football in his stocking and was throwing it to PawPaw tonight...did this for a while and then turned to me and said, "Kellen throw football. Kellen need helmet to throw football to PawPaw."

Yup. Our future football player here...And he was throwing overhanded, fairly on target...and hard! Will give more Christmas details later in a longer blog. I just got Kellen to bed and I'm off to play cards with the gang.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing...

Matt and I spent yesterday afternoon driving around looking at houses...some we know we can't afford...Indian Lakes, or is it Village, anyone?...and some that could actually be possibilities at some point in the future. We looked at a brand new one that I fell in love with that was just a little bit out of our price range...then another (4/2) that I adored that was way outta' our league! I love to dream that a 4 bedroom (with walk-in closets in all rooms), 2 1/2 bath, split floor plan with the great-room style Matt and I have come to like, in College Station in either the Southwood Valley area or out where we are now would just drop into our lap, well within our price range...Hey, it's Christmas Eve day...I can dream, right? We'll get there...maybe not the 4 bedroom, because we really don't need that, but the house itself will come in God's timing.

This morning has already been a busy one. We're (I'm) trying to get the last minute details ready for the trip to MawMaw and PawPaw's, and Matt isn't feeling all that well, so he's still in bed...well, he's actually gravitated toward the futon, but you know what I mean. I've gotten some more of the Christmas baking done...scratch the brownies and one batch of the peanut butter fudge off of the list...a couple of batches of no-bake cookies and another recipe of peanut butter fudge, if I have time, and I think I'll call the baking good for this year. No cherry or chocolate pie this year...that would be kinda' hard to transport, considering we have all of the gifts and the dog to get in the truck, in addition to Kellen boy...too much hassle.

Merry Christmas!

Relaxing Day?

Well, I had hoped that yesterday was going to be a relaxing day, but it ended up that I tasked myself to death. That's ok, because I actually got quite a bit done. Here's how my day went:

5:30 AM Day begins with the discovery and realization that Kellen can now open the door to his room all by himself. Attempt to get him to come back to bed with Mommy to no avail.

6:00 AM Give up on attempts to get Kellen back to sleep and get up. Turn on PBS and let Kellen watch Clifford. Start cleaning house & doing laundry.

8:00 AM Put in mouse movie for Kellen (what a rule-breaker am I!) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, put away almost all of the now clean laundry.

9:30 AM Take Kellen to daycare, swinging by the dry cleaners first.

Hi everyone. Love, Matt

{What a dork}

10:00 AM Take car to get oil changed, transmission flushed...the fluid is almost black and it is my understanding it's supposed to be a pinkish color - yikes!!, then vacuumed and washed.

10:45 AM To Ross Dress for Less to try and find a pair of jeans that fit me. (No such luck, by the way). Then to TJMaxx to pick up a last minute Christmas present on Judy's behalf...luckily it was still there. YEAH! Swung by the Verizon Wireless store to scope out some phones, since Matt and I will be getting new phones at the beginning of the new year. My contract is actually up today, but his is up on January 6th, so it makes more sense to get them both at the same time. I desperately need a new cell phone, since I bought the one I carry for my beloved when we were DATING, I believe!!! I lose the signal when I'm talking if I scratch me head...it's so annoying!!

12:00 PM Back to the house to eat some chili that I made on Wednesday night...Yummy! Called Aggieland Credit Union about my missing car title (how sad is this...they mailed it to me in...wait for it...March of 2001!!, but I never got it) Got the information about what I need to do to get a replacement. Called Wells Fargo about setting up a savings account for Kellen.

12:30 PM To Wells Fargo to set up Kellen's savings account...finally. Then to the grocery store (I have an order of more homemade hot chocolate mix to fill for a couple of someones...*grin*), then to another store for some last minute Christmas gifts.

2:30 PM Back at the house, groceries are put away. Now it's time for "ME" time...manicure and pedicure...I thought that I might be able to get them done before MawMaw and Aunt Boo got here and we all went to the basketball games! That didn't happen, but I sure tried! The foot soak sure felt nice and I ended up putting color on, but had to take it off of a couple of toes this morning because their just wasn't enough drying time, so now my feet look really funny! I'll have to fix them later on tonight.

3:30 PM MawMaw and Aunt Boo got here...picked up the cooler and headed out to Readfield Meat and to Wal-Mart...I stayed behind to try and finish up the pedicure.

5:30 PM MawMaw and Aunt Boo got back and we headed out to pick up Kellen at daycare. Went to eat at Freeb!rds and Kellen got his burrito - he's so cute with the way he says that!! On to the women's basketball game and then the men's after that...Kellen was asking to go...he was ready, but I was the one that the most tuckered out I think...by 10 PM (men's halftime), I was nodding off and just couldn't take any more. So, MawMaw drove Kellen and I home and then went back to watch the rest of the game with Aunt Boo...

Anyway...today is Matt and my day. He's off today and we're going to have our day! Yeah!

Backseat driver

I've realized that Kellen is a backseat driver. Yesterday and today he suddenly decided that I needed help getting to and from daycare. "Mommy go this way. Mommy go that way." Um...does he think I've forgotten in the last day? I told him that we were going to go and check the mail on the way home and he replied, "Mommy no go that way." What a hoot!

Now for the delayed Santa's Wonderland update (sorry about that...I was too pooped to type last night and fell asleep in the recliner watching TV after putting Kellen to bed!)....So much for what I had hoped to get accomplished around the house after work!

MawMaw, PawPaw, Daddy & I took Kellen to see Santa's Wonderland and the walk around place (the name of that place has now escaped me) next to it on Monday night. He just LOVED the lights...I think his favorite was the frog that leaped and jumped into the water...is anyone at all surprised by this little tidbit of information?? When we were through driving through the lights, we parked and then went into the walk around place sans PawPaw. First stop was actually the pony ride to see if Kellen wanted to try this out, but he declined on the first go-round. So we went to the petting zoo area, which he just loved...Amazingly enough, he went after the fowl...any and all of the fowl, actually...couldn't seem to get enough of them! He wanted to pet the ducks, chickens, and the goose, but just couldn't understand why they weren't as excited about him petting them as he was about petting them. He did get the ducks a couple of times...they seemed to be the most tolerant of all of them towards him! They also had a donkey, one rabbit, little puppies, sheep, goats, and a calf. When I pointed out the donkey and made the reference to Shrek...he was suddenly completely excited about the donkey. Before either his Daddy or I could stop him, he had gone over and kissed the donkey on the side. Oh boy! After we played in there for a good 15 or 20 minutes (at least it seemed like that long), we decided to see if he wanted to ride the pony now that he had been playing with some animals. Sure enough, he did. And he loved it! Daddy strapped him on the pony and walked next to him during his ride. He looked like such a big boy riding the pony! It only lasted for a few minutes, but when it was over and Daddy was taking him off of the pony, he definitely did NOT want to get off.

After the animal adventures, we went to wait in line for the attempt at the Santa picture. Although the wait wasn't that great (the building is cute, but the egress isn't all that great - the entrance and exit are the same path), the Santa himself was wonderful. When we finally got to him, Kellen didn't really want much to do with him. Daddy sat next to Santa with Kellen on his lap and Santa pulled out a photo album and asked Kellen if he wanted to look at pictures of his reindeer. Of course Kellen said yes and they started to look at this photo album, which was a red velvet album and looked ok in the picture, too. Then the Santa started making jokes with Kellen, tickling him in the tummy, etc., making Kellen laugh. Kellen never did fully sit on his lap, but Santa totally impressed Mommy! So this year we have two pictures of Kellen with Santa, and both include Daddy, too!

Santa's Wonderland

MawMaw and PawPaw came into town today to take Kellen to Santa's Wonderland. We all had such a good time! We got back a little after 9ish, and I'm dragging, so I'll have to give details later. To tide you over, here are a couple of pictures of Kellen out there looking at the lovely stuff, playing in the petting zoo, and riding the pony. He also sat on Santa's lap (well, partly on Santa's lap and partly on Daddy's, but it was close). I'll update more tomorrow.

Spread the wealth

Well, that's what Kellen did. He spread his little wealth of virus to Mommy on Saturday. Luckily, I didn't actually feel fully ill until after the graduation breakfast was completely done and I was back home...I felt a little yucky for a few hours and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. So much for the fun Gerren family Christmas weekend! Gramma and Pap Pa Gerren were already on their way, and this was the only time that they could do Christmas with us, so we needed to have our Christmas this weekend, really. I kept hoping that maybe it was just something that I had eaten and that it would get out of my system quickly, but no such luck. Matt was wonderfully helpful, because I could barely life a finger, literally. This little virus just took it all out of me!

Despite me and my sidelined illness, Gramma & Pap Pa had a wonderful time with Kellen....is anyone surprised? When they first arrived we decided to postpone the big feast until Saturday night dinner (Pap Pa had made a chicken breast in the slow cooker & we were going to do all of the trimmings- I was so looking forward to that!), they put Kellen down for a late nap then they went to watch the Chronicles of Narnia and I took a very long nap. When they got back and I finally woke up, they ate (I watched) and then we opened up the presents - what fun! Kellen was the official present-opener, I believe, but he was also the official present-deliverer, and did a wonderful job of handing out the presents to the correct people. Then Daddy & Pap Pa went to the mens basketball game and left the women and child at the house. Poor Gramma! With Kellen and I to look after, she barely made a dent in the cleaning up of the kitchen, which she was also trying to do in addition to caring for the two of us. Kellen shocked us...he was playing with his new tool set, pulled out the two blue heart shaped wooded parts, looked at us and said, "Kellen have 2 hearts!" Whoa buddy! He also put together his new puzzle, a much harder one, with very little trouble...he's amazing when it comes to puzzles and it just astounds me!

During the course of the day, Kellen would come over to me and try to interact with me or play with me, etc. He wouldn't understand why I wouldn't really let him, although I would tell him that Mommy didn't feel well. As he said his prayers for the food, he incorporated, "Bless Mommy feel better." Also during the day, I had asked for a quick hug from him and Gramma had mentioned to him that hugs make Mommy and Gramma's happy. He smiled, walked over to me with his arms out and said, "Kellen hug Mommy. Make Mommy happy." Every so ofter he would come over and do that to me. Too cute!

To progress with the sharing, and to show that our household does our fair share of that...it's Matt's turn today. Because of his souped up immune system, his external symptoms aren't near what mine were yesterday, although he's had his share. He's been sleeping virtually all day long, so it's been pretty rough for him and I know that he feels miserable if he's staying in bed that long. As I tucked Kellen into bed tonight, Daddy got a, "Bless Daddy home. Bless Daddy happy feel better." Gramma and I went on a small excursion today...she had some Christmas shopping to do and I was going stir-crazy from being in the house non-stop for so long, so we decided to go to Ross Dress for Less and then TJ Maxx if we had the time. We did pretty well at both places, but were gone much longer than we had originally anticipated, much to Pap Pa's chagrin.

All in all, despite the illnesses, we had a pretty good Christmas weekend. Not much we can or could do about being sick, so we weathered through and made the best of it!

Sick kiddo

My little man is sick. I hate it when he doesn't feel well! I got the call this afternoon at work - and it's one of my least favorite - throwing up. Apparently there is a stomach virus making its way around daycare and the throwing up lasts for about 12 hours...we're in hour # 7 at this point. He threw up twice at daycare and then once again on the way home...Yup...in the car. I hope I got it cleaned up ok...I didn't go back out to the car and check again once we were situated in the house (what was I thinking??)

Once we were home and situated I tried to get him to drink some Pedialyte - which he had liked before in previous illnesses, but because it wasn't the apple juice, prune juice, or milk he had asked for, he wanted no part of it. What a stubborn kiddo! I later disguised it by just putting it in one of his sippy cups and calling it juice...he drank it right up and asked for more...a couple of times, actually. That made me feel good...so I know that he's hydrated at least a little bit.

He has told me on and off tonight that he's hungry, but I'm only allowing crackers until we figure out what is staying down and what's not. He ate part of a cracker but wasn't too interested - ended up smashing it on the table, so I guess he wasn't as hungry as he made out to be...

We had a discussion about the "bucket" and getting sick in it...haven't tried that out yet but good luck Mommy on that one, I'm sure. He did mention it to me later on, though, after he reminded me that, "Kellen no feel good. Kellen throw up at school and Kellen throw up car, but Kellen throw up bucket, ok?" As I went into slight panic mode, I realized that he wasn't expressing the need to throw up, just reminding me that he understood he was supposed to throw up in the bucket if he needed to do so. Hmm...not so sure that will actually happen though.

We watched Madagascar, Shrek, then Shrek II (he was playing while these were on, so it wasn't as if he was glued to the TV the whole time here...). It was way past bedtime when that last one was over, so I put my foot down when he sweetly asked to watch Aladdin. No sir, buddy boy...It's night-night time. No real complaints; however, when I said that. Change of diaper and of clothes and he actually crawled himself into bed before I even made it into the room! Poor guy! I rearranged some furniture and some of his toys, just in case...and put the bucket right next to his bed...also just in case. You never know, right?

As I tucked him into bed with all of his favorite animals, I inadvertently covered Shrek up with the covers and Kellen didn't realize that he was in the bed. We were saying our prayers and Kellen says, "Excuse me Mommy. Kellen forgot Shrek."

I uncovered Shrek for him and he smiled, "Oh. Ok. Thank you. Where Shrek's eyes?"

I turned Shrek around so that he was facing Kellen and pointed to his eyes. "There they are sweetie. Shrek's eyes are right there."

"Thank you, Mommy."

Unscripted, unprompted...and while he's sick...my little sweetie with the wonderful manners. Wow! I am just so absolutely blessed!

I like ta' move it!

I went in to get Kellen just now, and those were some of the first words out of his mouth, after he told me that he heard the train coming and that he had broken a book. He also informed me that he wanted to watch the Madagascar music (music video that accompanies the DVD) and dance. Hello! it's 6:20AM - boy does he wake up with lots of energy - sometimes at least! He's so cute when he tells me that, "I like ta' move it, move it!"

As for me...I was just exhausted last night! Lost was a rerun - again! Arg! And I couldn't even muster the energy to make it through all of Alias...Someone had kidnapped Syndey and was drugging her? That tells you how far into the show I made it! I'll have to get online and get the update...and I didn't want to miss any of the shows this season, either...arg Rebecca!

Funny things

Funny and cute things that Kellen said today before I zapped out on the recliner and Matt took over full parental, put Kellen to bed, night-night duties:

"Wait just a minute."

"I want to go home and see my Daddy."

"Come on guys. Give me a break." Said from Kellen in the backseat of the car to the guys riding bikes who did not stop like they were supposed to at the stop sign.

"Kellen busy." What is Kellen busy doing? I asked him. "Kellen busy looking at cars."

"Kellen want to see the big bear and Santa Clause come out and say Hi again." referring to the decorations at one of the houses next to our mailbox that we saw yesterday - twice. The Santa Clause comes out of the chimney on top of their deck roof and then descends back into the chimney.

Oh my, oh my...where does he get this stuff?

Locking doors

Locking doors is something that I've learned Kellen can do today...car doors. Luckily, I had my keys out of the car, since he and I were both out of the car and Kellen hit the car door locks and tried to close the car doors, all the while thinking that he was helping Mommy unpack the car and get into the house after coming home from work. Well, that's what he sees me do every day, right? Oh boy! I'm going to have to be extra careful from now on about this one! The guys from Pop-a-Lock will be even more of our friends than they already are, and that could get really costly really quickly!

Side note regarding the car...many of you have heard me say that I'm going to drive my wonderful Grand Am into the ground. I've had this car since 1999 when I bought it from its original owner when it barely had 30,000 miles on it, now it doesn't even have 80,000, but the driver side mirror just fell out this morning. Strange! I'll re-glue it and the upholstry that's starting to come undone from the driver side panel, but hmmm... It's just a '97, so it really isn't that old and I guess I would rather have the body have issues that the inner workings, but it was just odd that I closed my door to leave for work and the mirror just fell off. And I really didn't realize how many times a day I actually use that mirror until today when I can't use it. I need to glue that thing back in quickly!

So I get to daycare to pick up Kellen and his teacher tells me that he had fallen sometime today...not hard enough to hurt himself, but he decided that he wanted some ice. The teacher told him that he didn't need ice, so he proceeded to hit his head against something and then said, "Now Kellen need ice." What a hoot! We're really in for it!

Sleeping in

Well, as I rolled over and looked at the clock this morning, I realized that I had done just that. I cannot remember the last time that I had slept in until...wait for it...10 AM! I couldn't believe it! I had let Matt sleep in yesterday morning, and he returned the favor for me today, but I just couldn't believe that my body had allowed itself to do that! He laughed when I finally came out of the room and said that I must have really needed some sleep, because I hardly stirred when he had gotten up. Granted, last night we were out later than normal because of his Christmas party, but I fell asleep around 11:15ish, so it wasn't all that late. I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and I guess my body just kicked in and said that it had had enough...so I'll consider this a recharge and a leisurely morning rather than laziness. Man-o-man was that nice!

Kellen hasn't been feeling well today...he's struggling to go poo poo and telling us that "Kellen tummy hurts and Kellen needs prune juice." If you could just hear the way he says that it would break your heart. It has almost made me cry a couple of times today to see how badly he's hurting. I've been juicing him up for the last couple of days, so he has been going a little bit, but I guess it's still hurting him. To add to this, he's got a rather substantial case of diaper rash, so it's really painful when we change his diaper, poor guy! And he knows that it's going to be painful and tries to avoid it after he's had even a small poo poo, which of course compounds the problem. Quite the catch 22 here. (Yes, he's still in the diaper at home but doing rather well on the potty at school - except for the last couple of days when he's been having trouble with the poo poo)

On a lighter note, he's otherwise been in an ok mood...wanting to watch just about everything today. I went to a conference a few months ago and brought him back a stress zebra (you know the stress ball material stuff that they now make in all kinds of shapes?, well this is a zebra) and he's now calling it Marty because of Madagascar. Well, all day long he's been carrying that around and occasionally he'll put it on his head and just sit with it there. Not quite sure what's going on with that, but it's quite entertaining. He was doing it while we were out of the room, so it wasn't even for attention or show. I walked into the room and saw it and just about fell over...but tried to be quiet so that I could get Matt to see it, too. His comments and actions are more and more grown up every day. It's quite scary sometimes what comes out of his mouth. He told us today that he wanted to watch the other Toy Story when Einstein was finished. Are 28 1/2 month old kids supposed to be saying coherent sentences like that?

Party

We've just gotten back from Matt's EMS Christmas party and it was so nice! They served steaks and all the trimmings, had Santa bring gifts to all of the kids, and then had a Chinese gift exchange for the adults. Kellen refused to sit on Santa's lap, and just had Daddy take his present from Santa. I can tell already that trying to get a picture with Santa this year for MawMaw Hapes will be very interesting.



See what I mean?? Matt ended up with some coffee mugs and some hot chocolate (which is ok, even though I made more than a half dozen batches of homemade hot chocolate mix today...I'll always drink hot chocolate *grin*), and I ended up with some rechargable halogen light of some sort that Matt was so excited about. The service gave everyone personalized travel coffee mugs with the logo and personalized pens...what a nice treat!

As for our anniversary yesterday, there isn't much to speak of at this point in time. That's not to say it was a bad day, just not much to report. Matt got home from the end of his 36 hour shift and after being away for that long, he pretty much belonged to Kellen for the night, because that little man had really missed his Daddy! They played for a good long while, then Daddy put him down to bed quite a bit later than his normal bedtime. Matt had given me a card prior to going on his shift (on Wednesday) because he knew about the pending bad weather and was worried that something would happen that would cause him to get held over at work and that he might not make it home on Friday...so he figured better early than late. For our actual anniversary celebration, we were planning to go to a cabin in the hill country for a couple of days during the week after Christmas, but I talked with MawMaw today and she regretfully informed me that the person who we were to be borrowing the cabin from had just sold the cabin. Bless her heart, Judy had found out about this yesterday and couldn't bring herself to tell me this on my anniversary...Oh well! We'll just figure out something else to do for a small retreat/escape for a couple of days.

Bad Weather Day

Well, today was a bad weather day and TAMU was closed...only I didn't know it until I was dropping Kellen off at daycare. Considering the fact that I was minutes away from work, he and I were already dressed, and he loves daycare, (he was, in fact, actually asking to see his teacher Christy and some of his friends this morning)...and I had some major things on my schedule (a luncheon planned for over 75 people that had required an RSVP and $$ that we had to figure out how to now handle postponement & communication for), I decided to head into work to cover some details and get some things done while no one was around. Apparently there were two other people with the same idea. *grin* I really didn't think that things were that bad...I had left ~ 10 minutes early, gone out 15 minutes before I was planning to leave to turn my car and defroster on...it was cold, but I didn't have any problems. I can understand the apprehension of people having to travel in from other surrounding cities, but Matt drove to his shift this morning and left before 5, so I guess I don't really see the point of this day (listen to me begrudging a day off here...what is wrong with me?). Indulge me for a moment...what gets me is that it seems like every time we get the spur of the moment day off splurge, Matt was originally supposed to have the day off and then had just recently switched with sometime, usually to help them out and be nice...he wasn't supposed to be working today...he was supposed to be on a 24 hour shift yesterday and then a 12 hour shift tomorrow...It's better in the long run because it saves on a round trip's worth of gas, but still...we could have had a whole day to feel like we were playing hooky together. I think that's what really gets me about today. Anyway, I ended up working until noon (the absolute latest that I was allowed to stay in my office, per direct order from the head honcho himself *grin*) and will just end up taking a half day at some other point in time before the holiday break to make up for it. On a very positive note...my to-do list that I had set out for myself yesterday afternoon actually got accomplished in the half-day that I was in the office this morning. YEAH! It's amazing what can be accomplished with few interruptions!

By the time I left, Kellen was being put down for a nap at school, so I just left him there and ran some errands. Our 5 year anniversary is tomorrow, so I was finally able to get some shopping done for it and Christmas shopping done for Matt, although we'll really be celebrating our anniversary in a cabin in the hill country for a few days the week after Christmas, which of course means that we'll have a small celebration tomorrow and a larger one then, right girls? Then I came home and made some cookies...I have a Holiday party tomorrow afternoon and then Matt's EMS party is Saturday & we have another Christmas party on Sunday, so there are three events that we'll need to bring something to...so the cookies (no bake chocolate cookies - I take them to virtually any function that requires someone to bring something) are the simplest thing that I can whip up quickly, which I did. I was planning to make a couple of batches, but ran out of some things, so added grocery shopping to my to-do list. One batch down, ran to pick up an order for Waller County EMS at Collegiate Illustrations in Bryan, something they need for the party on Saturday. Then I picked up Kellen from daycare, ran to the grocery store, then went back to the house to make dinner & let Kellen watch Madagascar, one of his early Christmas presents from his Gramma & PapPa Gerren, which is a totally cute movie, by the way - and I can even get past the fact that Ben Stiller is in it. I decided that instead of another batch of cookies I would make brownies, so I cooked them after I finished up with dinner. I had planned to also make some peanut butter fudge & homemade hot chocolate mix, but I'm thinking that those two things are going by the wayside for tonight...maybe I'll get to them tomorrow. I'm beat!

Speaking of Madagascar, Kellen has just immediately fallen in love with this movie...yesterday he just got me in the car. I almost lost it driving. I guess Matt had let him watch the movie again yesterday morning during their fun time before they came to the chili cook-off, but on the way home, Kellen just busts out in song with,

"I like move it, I like move it. I like move it, I like MOVE IT!."

Let me tell you what..It was actually on beat to the music that accompanies this song. I just about died it was so funny, but of course maintained my cool and control of the vehicle and managed to get us home safely.

Tonight, we ended up watching the video to that song..hmm..I think three times total...it's really cute, but then Kellen would say that he wanted more dance. It was hilarious, because he was watching the video intently, then would start to imitate their dance moves!

What a hoot!

1st Place

Although I was just entering for fun, it ended up that my team, "Hapester & Catanach" actually won 1st place at the 9th Annual Entomology Departmental Chili Cook-off today. Wow! My team partner was pretty funny...she joked that she had chosen the right team to join and that maybe next year she would actually help to cook the chili. *grin* For the most part, she was a team member in name only (although she did wash and clean up the crock pot, as I was supposed to be in two places at the same time today during this cook-off), which didn't bother me at all...I wanted as many students as possible to be a part of this if they wanted to be. I think one of the funniest things about this is that many of the people there today were teasing Matt about him not letting me actually make this chili for us at home...and now it's "award-winning" chili! We hadn't thought that he was going to be able to make it to this event today, but before we were sure about it we had discussed he and I making two different kinds of chili and entering two teams...maybe we'll be able to do that next year. He ended up switching shifts at the last minute with someone at their request and brought Kellen up there with him to join in on the fun - which was a HUGE treat for everyone, but it wasn't enough time for him to make his chili. The students just love it when I bring Kellen around!



In case you're wondering, yes, the prize is actually a stock pot...and it has the first place plaque on the outside and then on the inside is a smaller plaque with the individual year winners, so I'll get it to keep in my office (after they've updated it) for the year. Whoo hoo!

Chili Cook-off

The undergraduates host a chili cook-off every year during the "dead days"...and this year it's being held tomorrow, so my chili is currently brewing in the kitchen and it smells so good!. Maybe next year both Matt and I can enter a "team" since we cook our chili so differently. Mine is "yankee chili" with beans - three different kinds...yummy!!!, which Matt won't allow me to make at any point in time unless I'm taking it to a pot luck or something. His chili is southern chili and doesn't include beans. I do; however, have another member for my once one person team - one of the undergrads was around when I was trying to turn in my entry form and fee and said that she didn't have a team but volunteered to be on mine. Whoo hoo! So we're "Hapester & Catanach" - not a really catchy name, but I wasn't in creative-mode today, I was in productive mode...and did get quite a bit done...not everything on my to-do list, but 5 of the 8 things off of it that I had ear-marked for today (and quite a few that had never made it onto that list). Not too shabby for trying out that new technique learned in that workshop last week (and the technique isn't a to-do list...those of you who know me know quite well that I have those with me virtually ALL of the time). It's more of a to-do time allocation management list, and I haven't fully implemental all aspects of this system at this point in time. Phases Rebecca, phases.

Anyway...I have never actually made it to the Chili Cook-off, so I'm excited to see how the turn-out will be for tomorrow. I hope for their sake that the turn-out will be a good one...When I talked with the president earlier today, he only mentioned 5 teams, including mine, so I'm hoping that there were more teams that had signed up that he didn't know about. I'm not thinking that we'll win or anything like that (my chili isn't a hot chili), but I just think it's nice to support them in what they're trying to do. I'm supposed to be in two places at once tomorrow, so I'll enter the contest and stay for a little while there, then leave to go to the COALS advisor meeting and just make it over to that a little late, which shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As for Kellen...He woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, but his Daddy got to deal with him and get him dressed for school. We're still counteracting the effects of the grandparents, I think, because he wanted to watch everything on TV, or what he wanted he wanted right then, etc. He was just being a bear! I don't think he actually got a swat, but it was pretty close. He had a rough morning, because Matt had brought him into bed at I don't know what time...and I finally had enough at about 5 and took him back to his room and put him back to bed, and he went back to sleep, amazingly enough. So he just had an overall rough morning, so it was somewhat understandable that he wasn't acting like himself.

After work, I got to daycare to be told that he had successfully poo poo'ed in the potty today...and had a nice little sticker on his shirt as a reward. When asked if he had done so, he replied quite proudly, "Yes. Kellen poo poo potty!" I once again do NOT understand what world warp we go through when we leave daycare that he does so well there and NOT at home. Will I ever understand this?

There are some days when all I want to do is have him sit in my lap and I wish he would just let me snuggle with him...but alas, it seems that those days are over now. He only does that on rare occasions when he feels like it, and usually that's when he doesn't feel well, so although I enjoy snuggling with him, I don't like for him to feel poorly. I just wanted to snuggle with him tonight as I broke rules and let him watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special on TV (which doesn't help the overcoming grandparent rule-bending weekend, but oh well!). He was being so sweet, but no such luck. I managed a hug and a quick sit down on the lap, but that was about the extent of it. He did; however, enjoy the show...and asked for more when it was over. Too cute!

Whoo hoo

Yippee! Except for two address, one of which is sitting on my old planner at work and the other of which I'm waiting on a return phone call and/or an email reply...my Christmas cards are addressed. Yeah! Now I just need to put the return addresses labels on them, stuff them, stamp them....yadda, yadda, yadda. BUT, I'm going to celebrate the small accomplishments here folks! YEAH!

Special Day

I had such a special day today, but I'll get to that in a minute...Gramma and Pap Pa Gerren came down yesterday in preparation for the special day today and were able to spend yesterday afternoon with us, and they just had a ball with Kellen, of course! Gramma is sometimes more of a kiddo than her grandson, and brought some early Christmas presents for him to open, and he LOVED THEM! He got a Winnie the Pooh 3-D puzzle, and I had never even seen those kind of puzzles before! They are so cool! We've determined that Kellen is a puzzle king...he's just a genius at some of these puzzles that he shouldn't be able to put together yet...really! They also brought him some Veggie Tales figures from the Jonah story, which I don't think he's put down since he opened...he even had them watch him eat dinner last night & tonight and took them to daycare with him today. He got a snowman snow-globe and some sort of snowman singing gun thing...not quite sure what to call the latter...and two Christmas books. Unfortunately for the books, they came after the Veggie Tales, so he really didn't care one thing about them since he was too busy playing with Twippo and Junior, but he'll read them later, I'm sure...

As for today, it was a great day! The awards ceremony for the President's Meritorious Service Award was this morning, and it was so nice to have my parents and Matt's folks there for my cheering section...I had lots of other folks there for support as well, so I don't want to leave anyone out, but it was just a really nice day. The awards ceremony went really smoothly (except that I just wanted the video that Matt took with the digital camera and realized that I didn't shake Dr. Gates' hand again at the end of the comments before I went to sit down and it looked like he was trying to shake my hand and congratulate me again...Whoops!) Then Matt, his parents & I went to lunch at Cheddars and had a wonderful lunch...topped off with the Cookie Monster dessert(YEAH!!! - I just LOVE that dessert & it's such a treat!!!). So it was a leisurely day and lunch...I was nice to myself and had scheduled my freshman on Friday for their pre-registration appointments and only had one appointment on my calendar for 3 PM today...



Back to the office after a late lunch to actually work for a few hours and the day was virtually gone...worked a little late and tried to prioritize what needed to get done for tomorrow (I'm trying to implement some of the skills from a workshop I attended last week - Balancing Work & Family - we'll see how that goes). Kellen and I played for a little while with his new puzzle and Veggie Tales after we got home and I tried to counteract the effects of the grandparents schedule (you know...things get a little off-schedule when the grandparents are here - he was up until at least 9 PM last night...but it's ok) by getting him in bed pretty much at 7:30 PM on the dot...he was so tired tonight! Although he fussed while getting ready for bed, I didn't even have to go into his room once to tell him to turn the light off...I think he just crashed once he actually laid down!

My goal for the rest of the evening...work on addressing Christmas cards...wish me luck!

PS

Stands for Percussion Studio...a student organization that had their fall show last night that Matt and I went to watch. One of the grad students in the department is in the group, and they were FABULOUS!!! If you can't imagine what this organization is...think Stomp crossed with Blue Man Group, then add in any ole' thing that you can think of that, when hit, could be used as a percussion instrument. It was great and we had a blast! They did some rock n roll, new and old school (Stairway to Heaven was very cool, by the way) some Christmas music, threw in some videos of the group in a Lounge type setting between acts and then had some comedy skits in there as well. It was just really enjoyable, especially given that it was just Matt and I - date night!!.

During the day yesterday I tried start working on my Christmas cards...worked through the address list for missing or outdated addresses and tryed to figure out what we were going to do. I always seem to have these good ideas about Christmas cards, but the follow through is sometimes lacking - trying to get a family picture made to them order through Shutterfly is a great idea, except that we don't yet have a family picture made...and I don't see a "nice" one getting made in the near future. So, considering the fact that it takes ~ 1 - 1 1/2 weeks for something to come in from Shutterfly when ordered...ummm...don't think that idea is actually going to work. So, scratch that one and we'll go with a different idea. I know what we'll do and have already got the plan working...now I just need to sit down and start addressing the envelopes...or do I just want to be hi-tech and print labels out? Hmmm...now that's an idea...

Today Gramma and PapPa are coming into town so to play with Kellen and for the Holiday Coffee and awards presentation tomorrow morning. They should be here shortly after Kellen gets up from his nap, so he'll be really excited to see them. We haven't told him they're coming, so it will be a nice surprise for him. He's be cracking Matt and I up all day long today. He's just been so adult-like in his conversations lately.

I guess I'll need to start getting used to that...him begin more adult-like...there's a twinge of sadness to that realization.

Schedule

So I'm going it again...getting off-schedule with my daily blogs...and what, you might ask, am I doing blogging at 1 AM? Beats me!?! I sat down to work on some quick emails after putting Kellen to bed tonight when George of the Jungle II was over on the Disney Channel (breakin' rules right & left here!) - and that was ~ 8:30 (another one bites the dust!). Anyway...one email led to another...and here I am...1 AM. But on the bright side...I had a HUGE dent in my emails, which had been overwhelming me lately.

So, to catch up...Last Friday was the game...tu vs TAMU...Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we had hoped for...but it was a close game and the Ags played well...McGee did a tremendous job! I'm looking forward to watching him for a while! Then we out to eat at Koppe Bridge, then back to the house and played Monopoly. I hadn't played that game in AGES - and we had fun...for a while...it was just taking forever for the game to be over. Officially, it was a tie between Matt and Judy...but at the very end, Judy had totally smoked Matt...and the rest of us, out of the game.

My Christmas decorations had arrived at the house with George and Judy, so my Saturday morning consisted of decorating the house for Christmas. Since they were coming back over in the afternoon, my goal was to get the house decorated so they could take the boxes back with them and store them back in the store room...for those of you who have been to my house, you understand why this was a goal...little to no extra room for storing boxes in the house...And I did it...the house is decorated for Christmas minus a box or two that just didn't make its' way over here for whatever reason. For those of you who aren't there yet, don't feel bad...we aren't putting up a tree this year, so the decorations were really easy!

On Saturday afternoon we ended up going to the George Bush Library and saw the train exhibit, which was on its last weekend there. Kellen had so much fun at that exhibit! He didn't want to stop playing on some of the trains! He was so cute! We stayed there longer than I thought that he would actually last. After that, we headed to Wings so that Brenna could get her Wing fix for this trip...then we went to the basketball game...and had originally intended to buy the tickets online, then decided against it (sorry guys - that was a total - my bad on that one - but Kellen had still been running a low grade fever on Friday...wasn't sure how Saturday was going to go when everyone was talking about getting the tickets for a Saturday night event). The line to purchase the tickets was unbelievably long...we thought that we would be smart and swing by my office and buy them on the internet...nope...they stop selling internet tickets after the game starts...which is a good piece of information to know, which now we do. So back to Reed and back in line we go...Arg...Then confusion ensues with reserved vs general admission tickets, etc...it was just a little crazy there for a while...But, we finally got our tickets and got inside to watch the game, and it was a good game. I thought sure that Kellen would fall asleep, but nope - he was a trooper and made it through the whole thing.

And he liked the dancers - a lot. When they would come on to dance and then leave, he would look at me and ask, "More dancing, Mommy. Please." Well all right then...

Sunday was an attempt at a restful day. Just getting ready for the craziness of the upcoming week - which I knew would be hectic for me with the continuation of registration for students and other things that are happening at this time of the semester. Matt wasn't feeling too hot...which is always a shocker since he has a super-strength immune system, but he's been knocked out almost all week this week not feeling well.

This week itself has been just a blur...I can't believe that Friday is upon us...and now it's actualy December. How crazy is that? Where did this year go? Now it's 1:30...and I know where I need to go...night night all...

Thanksgiving

Despite Kellen's "viral infection" and corresponding come-and-go fever, he's been in a relatively good mood for the past few days. As my last blog detailed, I got the phone call on Tuesday to come and pick him up from daycare, and we've been fighting this thing ever since. Matt took him to the doctor on Wednesday and the diagnosis - "viral infection" - which in my book translates to "we can do nothing for you...your life is turned upside down until his body can fight it on his own...tough it out."

Matt was able to stay home with him on Wednesday, as I still had a half day of work - and a schedule FULL of students needing to see me for registration advising, which would have been really tough to reschedule. Our original plan was to keep Kellen in daycare on Wednesday afternoon and for Matt and I to go and watch Walk the Line...a plan which obviously had been sidelined. Oh well! After work I ended up going out to eat with a professor and one of the students that had just defended their master's internship project, their final thing to complete their degree, as a celebratory lunch, then headed back home to relieve daddy from Kellen-duty so that he could go and run some errands. Kellen's fever came and went all day, apparently, with the highest spike being a little over 102, which ruled out the Rockdale Thanksgiving option for he and I on Thursday - there are too many kids there and I'm not taking chances around other kids with him running a fever.

So, Thursday morning Matt and I are up pretty early because he has to go to work, and lo and behold, Kellen wakes up around 5 AM as well, just as Daddy's walking out of the door for the day. He gets to see Daddy, but he's awake. I try, to no avail I might add, to get him to go back to sleep, so we end up watching the morning sequence on PBS, then Veggie Tales after Sesame Street is over at 8 AM. By 9, he had gathered all of the items from his bed and had carefully arranged them on his SpongeBob couch (which was salvageable, by the way), then he tells me, "Kellen go night, night."

"Ok buddy. You can go night night if you want to."

And within 5 minutes...he was fast asleep. He would have stayed that way for more than the hour that he slept if the dog hadn't started going nuts outside barking a who knows what. Much needed nap cut dreadfully short by Bailey. Big ARG on that one!

So we ended up driving to MawMaw and PawPaw Hapes house for Thanksgiving. It was relatively safe, as there were no small children there, so we hopefully lessened the chance of Kellen sharing his illness with anyone else. His fever had spiked to its highest Thursday morning - 102.4. When it's over 101, we actually give eiter Tylenol or Ibuprofen to bring it down. He slept the entire drive, and was a super cranky monster when we arrived...for about the first 30 minutes or so, at least. I couldn't leave his side...literally. PawPaw brought out the bed for him (a super cute, blow up, Winnie the Pooh, bed with attached covers and pillow-ish headboard) and he laid on it, but I had to be next to him so that he could hold my hand.

Now let me clarify some of my statements here...despite running the fever, Kellen has been acting JUST LIKE HIS NORMAL SELF. He's not telling me that his tummy hurts, his ears hurt, he's not throwing up, having trouble from the other end, nothing....The only things that we can tell that's a physical symptom of something being wrong is that he's running a fever and isn't eating as much. That's it. So I want him to rest, but neither Matt nor I think it's a big deal to take him somewhere since he's acting virtually normal.

Aunt Boo gives him a new Hermie video and stuffed Hermie doll, which to this current point in time I don't think has left his side. They proceed to watch this "New Hermie" for what will be the first of many times over the weekend. After waking up a little bit and getting used to all of the people that aren't normally at his MawMaw and PawPaw's house, Kellen overcame his clinginess and was fine. He didn't eat much, but then again, I didn't expect him to...other than rolls, of course. I think he had half a dozen of those!

I'll have to detail Friday's game day activities and Saturday's George Bush Museum visit and Basketball game later...Kellen wants me to come and watch the "New Hermie" with him...

But first...I have to share this...we were looking for his stuffed Hermie yesterday and he asked me where it was. I said, "I don't know. Kellen where is it?" His reply?

"I don't know either."

Gotta go!

Coupons

Well, a while back at the departmental party, I bid on some kiddo coupons that I thought would come in handy...some GattiTown kids eat free coupons and Bush Library kid free with purchase of adult entry tickets. I had the brilliant idea of using the kid coupons so that my friend Jennifer, who is in from New York for the holidays, and I could go out tonight for dinner, and loe and behold...our kids aren't even old enough to have to pay yet. So it appears that I bid on that item at the auction for nothing...There were two families with kids that came in immediately after us, so I used 5 of the 6 coupons, paid for their kids and treated them for the night. I hope that they enjoyed themselves!

Anyway...she and I had a good time during dinner catching up, but it wasn't really long enough. Kellen is sick, so he ended up falling asleep on my shoulder (really sick, huh...) and James hadn't really had his normal nap or normal sleep routine since being back in Texas on vacation and was tired as well, so we cut the evening a little short.

Speaking of Kellen, we aren't really sure what's going on with him. I got a phone call today a little before 4 PM from daycare and they indicated that he was running a fever (100.3 auxillary, so really 101.3), just wasn't acting like "our Kellen" and that I needed to come and pick him up...Yes sirree...I'm on my way.

I got to daycare and he informs me that, "Kellen no feel good. Kellen temperature." When asked what hurt and what was wrong, the response was, "Tummy hurt." Well all right. I've been hearing those words for a few days, they just haven't been accompanied with a fever.

He really was acting like a relatively normal Kellen, in my opinion anyway. I talked with Matt and, luckily enough, they had had to go to the Med Center and were in town, so we ran by to see daddy after leaving daycare. Kellen was so excited to see him as we drove up to the hospital! We were only able to stay there for a few minutes, and as we drove off I hear from the backseat, "Bye bye truck! Bye bye Daddy. Daddy loves Kellen." Doesn't that just make your heart melt? "Yes Kellen, Daddy loves you very much."

Fast forward to home from dinner...the dog is missing (Houdini dog, by the way...who can open the gate), so I drive around for a little while looking for him, but it's really too dark for me to see anything, so I give up. He's got a full dish of water and dog food outside, I'm leaving the gate open and praying that he makes his way home sometime tonight and that I hear him outside or see him on the swing in the morning.

Take Kellen's temp to compare with daycare's reading earlier today...the "right" way, and it's 101.5...so I gave him some meds and got him ready for bed, one book and he goes down without a fuss, surprisingly enough, considering that he had been asleep (GattiTown), been woken up (getting in the car), fallen back asleep (car), been woken up again (out of the car into the house), then was getting put in his bed. Normally, that wouldn't make Kellen-man a happy camper. Yeah for small miracles! We have an appointment with his pediatrician for tomorrow morning, so we'll see how that goes and how he's feeling then.

Family NIght

Tonight was family night...and it was GREAT! We all got home right around the same time...later than we all had intended, but within about 5 minutes of each other. Matt asked me to run to the store and pick up a few things and in exchange, had virtually the entire dinner prepared by the time that I got back to the house. What a deal! We bent the rules and let Kellen stay up WAY too late, and finally put him to bed in the midst of a meltdown around 9 PM...ohhh...I'm going to pay for that tomorrow. But he and his daddy had a good time watching some TV...yet another rule bent tonight. That's ok. Matt's on a 24 tomorrow & again on Thursday, so we needed some quality family time.

Kellen was so sweet eating his dinner. He commented that he liked the pasta, so I suggested that he thank his daddy for making it for him. So when daddy came back into the room, he did just that.

"Thank you, Daddy"

Matt looked at me with a slightly confused look on his face, so I explained our exchange regarding the pasta and resulting thank you.

It's just so nice to have a night where we're all at the house! We need more of those...I'm submitting a formal request to the scheduling folks...whoever those people might be...more family nights, please!

Training Continues

This must be a two way street...one in which I am not in the right gear or something...Kellen did just spectacular during his potty training at daycare this past week, but at home...well, let's just say it was a different story entirely.

On Monday he had a grand total of three accidents all day long - which I thought was fabulous for his first "official" day of potty training; Tuesday it was two (and that included actually sitting on the potty for a BM - yes boys and girls, my little man who has SUCH a hard time going poo poo in general actually sat on the potty and went); Wednesday, well Wednesday doesn't count for the potty training week - if you have questions about that ask his daddy and MawMaw Hapes *grin* since he didn't go to daycare; Thursday we were still at two accidents; Friday we had gone down to one accident - ONE! - Oh my gosh!

I'm just not sure how to proceed on the home front...Tried the exact same training pants and vinyl covers that he wears at daycare on Saturday, tried to get him to sit on the potty every 30ish minutes or so, but by noon we already had three accidents, one of which required a major clean-up and overhaul of the beloved SpongeBob couch, rendering it unusable for at least the rest of the weekend, and if my clean-up job doesn't meet Matt's inspection standards (who knew he was such a germ-a-phobe?) - forever. I gave up and went to the diaper/pull-ups and just continually sat him on the potty as I remembered (hmmm...have we hit on something that might be the problem here???).

But seriously, his teachers tell me that he gives them no trouble at all about sitting on the potty at school, but when I take him to sit on the potty, he throws a fit about half of the time, saying that he doesn't want to sit on the potty. I know that there is a fine line here between consistency, readiness, and pushing too hard...but when I get him to finally sit down he is fine, normally actually doing some business 3/4 + of the time he sits down. We aren't making a big deal of the accidents, aren't requiring him to do some business before he gets off of the potty, just asking that he sit there...no punishments at all - only praises for when he pees - I can't imagine what we would do if something else came out of his body while he was out our house and sitting on the potty like he's demonstrated he's capable of at daycare. He still makes a spectacle of telling us, "Kellen go poo poo" and walking into a corner or something. When I ask him during those times if he would like to sit on the potty and poo poo, he tells me, "No" and I might ask him if he's sure, then I drop it and let him do his business. I'm trying not to push things here.

Wow. All-out potty training here we come! And I obviously need to get out those potty training books that I bought a while back in my attempt to get prepared when the time came - HAH!

Matt made a comment to me on Saturday about Kellen having the ability to turn him into mush...I snickered, which caused him to ask ask if I already knew that, which just made me giggle even harder. Now, for those of you who know Matt, you know he isn't normally a mushy man...for those of you who don't know him...think Marine, then think Medic...then push those two imagines together & throw a Christian belief system in there (i.e. he's not a wimpy guy). If anyone has ever been around Matt being around Kellen they know that munkin turns him into mush...Which is, I'm sure, one of the ways that God intended a man and a woman to continue to be able to stay in love after having children. When the woman sees the man with their child, acting like a true father should act, it makes her fall in love with that man all over again, which is how I felt on Saturday. Those two were just so cute wrestling, playing and running through the house! I love watching them together! Then today they decided that they needed a nap...well, Kellen fell asleep watching a cartoon and Matt snuggled next to him long enough to do the same...It amazes me how much Kellen is like his father sometimes - It looked like Matt and mini-Matt while they were taking their nap.

Migraine update time...So far this month I've had 3...Arg...If this dosage doesn't help then we'll increase and try another month. However, I have noticed that I've been more functional during the migraines while on the higher dose of medicine, even before the Imitrex really has a chance to kick in, which is a plus - I guess. Unless the migraines are my body's way of telling me to slow down...then if the medicine allows me to continue to work during and through them, I'm just totally ignoring my body's signals. Hmmm...new twist on that...

Jaw update...still clicking and popping...I was supposed to call the doctor a month after my last visit. I can't remember when that was, which means it's probably been at least a month. Nothing new to report on that front.

So I was debating about whether or not to include this, but I guess I will. I found out on Tuesday that I was selected to receive of the 2005 President's Meritorious Service Award. Each year, twenty individuals and one team is selected out of the employees of Texas A&M University to receive this award, and I found out that I am one of those individuals. The award will actually be given by President Gates during the President's Holiday Coffee on the morning of December 5th. I feel so honored to be selected for this! I think that Mom & Dad will be coming in for it - Mom put in to take the day off and they'll drive in the night before, and I feel pretty sure that George & Judy will drive in as well. Dr. Heinz made it pretty clear that virtually the entire administrative staff would be there for support during the award presentation, too. It feels so nice to have such a supportive and appreciative work environment! I just love it!

I think that's all for now...I get the slacker award for the least amount of blogging activity, but will try to get back in my once-normal routine of nightly blogging. The nightly routine that replaced blogging this week was washing soiled clothing from daycare, but I'll see if I can somehow manage both *grin* I miss too many fun and cute details when I cram an entire week into one blog...

Potty training...

Went to a whole new level today. We went to day care in training pants today. Not diapers, not pull-ups. Training pants. The almost regular, I'm a big-boy undie kind with the vinyl undies over them in an attempt to stop leaks and complete messes on everything around him. I talked with his teachers at the end of last week about how he was doing after I saw all the "P" for potty on his chart - he was sitting on the potty virtually every diaper change. So they suggested that I bring him with the training pants this week just to see how he did.

And did he ever! Only three accidents today. And every time they put him on the potty - which based on the chart was almost every thirty to fourty-five minutes, he went for them. Wow!

Then I get him home...try to get him on the potty and I end up with a MONSTER-MAN! What is it about being a home that brings out that side of him? I just don't get it? Power struggle? Hmmm? But he was wet when I got him home and I don't remember on his chart what they had written about the last time that he had gone potty. But I'm still impressed...three accidents on the first "real" day that we've tried anything resembling hard-core potty training. I think that's wonderful!

I"ve just realized that it's been almost two weeks since my last post...horrible!

We had a wonderful weekend this past weekend...My aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary was this weekend, so their kids threw then a party and my two aunts and an uncle drove in from Ohio for what was supposed to be a surprise...unfortunately, the surprise was ruined when my cousin from Ohio called looking for his grandfather, my uncle, the night they were scheduled to make it in...the night prior to the party, but all-in-all the party was still a great success.

Tackle

Matt has taught Kellen how to tackle, and so far this has been a Daddy & Kellen thing. However, today he decided that he wanted to tackle Mommy. Down, set, hut, and he runs to me, arms spread wide with a huge grin on his race, and bowls me over. I was ready for it, because he had asked, "Ready?" before he started, but it was so cute! He backs up as far away from you as he can get and still be in the same room to prepare for the run..it's so funny! Then he wanted to play airplane, and horsie...all fun activities that he realized he would need to play once it sunk in that Mommy really wasn't going to bend on the no TV during the week rule...his options were to play (with his toys or without, didn't matter) or read. Period.

He's also on a yogurt kick right now...ate one in the grocery store yesterday (thank goodness the lady behind the counter at the deli told me where to find some available plastic spoons - since he had opened one without me catching him - he's too quick for me sometimes!), then another one for breakfast this morning, then asked for another one on the way home from school today. I like it when he's on a roll with foods that are really good for him! And hurray for the kind that doesn't come off of the spoon - whoever thought up that one MUST have had kids...

He did his "Bless Daddy work" quite a bit tonight while getting ready for bed...he misses him, but he normally does when Matt's on shift, so we just roll with it and deal...He's getting more and more pack-rat-ish at bedtime and wanting more and more things to sleep with...Clifford, Shrek, Larry the Veggie Tale, various books, blankets, etc. I've put my foot down on the 4 foot alligator...if he wets the bed too bad, that thing can't really go in the washing machine and would be virtually ruined, so I've upset him by telling him, "No" on that one a few times. He's going to get to the point where he can barely fit on the bed with all of the other things in there! Do we need to set a limit? I remember seeing pictures of me when I was little with tons of things in my bed, though...so I know that I did it, too. Hmmm...