Yesterday morning at about 4:00am I rolled over and felt a pain in my right side. I knew instantly what that pain meant. KIDNEY STONES. I made it to the bathroom, and then to the couch, where Joey and Jaxon were (another story!) to tell Joey about the stones. I was in incredible pain. The pain escalates so fast, you don’t have much time to catch your breath. This pain was all too familiar. Almost 8 months ago, a week before Jaxon was born I had kidney stones. I woke up one morning thinking I was in labor, but Oh no… I gave birth to a stone in the Dr.’s office that morning instead of a baby. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind for that day. Well, I made it through that, but certainly didn’t expect to have them again any time soon.
My husband is the best. He managed to get me into a hot shower while he got poor little Jax up and his bag ready. He had us both in the car on the way to the ER within 15 minutes. After getting sick outside the truck, and feeling like I was dying on the way, we made it to the hospital. Thankfully we had all green lights, and there were no police around!! I was the only patient in the Er, so I had good care. They had an IV in my quickly and I finally had some pain relief. After several hours and a CAT scan to reveal that I had one large stone that I was passing and “a kidney full of smaller stones” as the Dr. put it, we were on our way home (with pain medication).
I am so thankful for Joey. He took such good care of me (as he always does), and Jaxon yesterday. I wish he could have had the day off to catch up on sleep. Today I have felt much better. Hopefully the smaller stones won’t give me so much grief. If you have never had Kidney stones – I pray that you never will. I can tell you that after having stones twice and labor once, the stones DEFINITELY are worse than labor (before epidural!)

i hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Today, i can’t help but to think of so many around the world that are less fortunate than i. i REALLY have nothing else that i need. i have a roof over my head, a car to drive, a full tummy, a really great bed, i am clothed, i am on a computer, i have a beautiful baby, a man that loves me unconditionally in the next room, we are healthy, family, the best friend i could ask for, and most importantly a savior who gave his life for me. What else is there?
i just hope that during this holiday season, we can all simplify. There is so much going on in the world that we need to put our own lives into perspective and count our blessings. May we all remember the things we are thankful for, not only today but EVERYday.

Today was a great day. My parents were here from Ft. Worth & my sister was here from around the corner! I decided last night that I wanted today to be relaxing, and not too scheduled. So, relaxing it was! We slept in until about 9am – amazing!! Jax actually slept too (after waking up a few times). I wanted to prep all ingredients first so I got started on that right after eating the baked french toast casserole I’d made last night. It was very yummy. I felt bad that Joey didn’t get to taste it because he had to go pick up our turkey. YES – we ordered our turkey. A fried turkey from Pearls & it was pretty good. After 4 hours of sauteeing, mixing, tasting, and baking we sat down for our Thanksgiving meal at 2:20. Not bad!! At 2:44 I was clearing off the table. Four hours cooking for 25 minutes of eating!! My poor family. I made them wait so long to eat! It was so good though. My Mom & I decided that we would not make as much food this year. Yeah Right!! We, without really realizing it, made the usual amounts of everyone’s favorite. Here are the Must Have’s at our house.
Joey – cheesy brocoli & rice casserole
Dad – green bean casserole
Mom – carrots or sweet potatoes – this year we had glazed carrots!
Stacey – hash brown casserole
Me – dressing
Jaxon – gerber sweet potatoe snacks & chicken vegetable dinner
Here’s to leftovers!!!!

Joey got the tree up and decorated, and started on the outside decorations!! Thank you sweetie!! I am looking forward to my day with my two boys tomorrow!!
Happy Thanksgiving!

This has been a long week – and it’s only Tuesday!! Oh my! I just got home from doing my Thanksgiving shopping. The store was already out of several key items!! Looks like we’ll be making a trip to Target tomorrow!! Jaxon is in bed, and Joey is on his way home from a BB game in Lawton. The girls won by the way – Go Lady Eagles!!
I had to take Mr. Jax to see Dr. Hedlund today. After Renee picked him up from school, she called to let me know he wasn’t feeling too well. Since this has been ongoing since last Wednesday I decided I’d better take him in. I had talked to two Dr.’s on the phone in the last week for advice and it all worked for the time being, but he just wasn’t getting any better. Thankfully, they were able to get us in within an hour. Thankfully, Again, I was able to leave work to take him in. Jaxon has his second ear infection. This makes two in the last month. Not good!! At least there’s good ole’ Amoxicillin! Hopefully he’ll be feeling better by turkey day!
So…tomorrow will be filled with making up a few hours at work, spending some quality time with my two boys, finishing cleaning up the house for our company, and starting to cook!! Now I’m off to clean the oven. Fun, Fun!!
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Eve!

Joey is finally home!! He arrived about 5 am this morning. Shortly after crawling into bed Jaxon woke up. I think he knew his daddy was home. Joey ran to his room, he couldn’t wait to see him awake! I was glad to see Jaxon happy this morning. He seemed to be feeling a little better! He was so excited to see Joey. It makes me feel so blessed, to see my baby love his daddy – the man I love so much!!
Jaxon gave me a little scare last night. I had to call the Dr. after having some sicky issues. She was afraid that he was becoming dehydrated. He has hardly eaten anything since tuesday. Well, luckily my best friend Renee was able to run to the store for us. Jaxon would not take the pedialyte, finally I was able to get it down him by means of a medecine dropper. NOT FUN!!
Well, very needless to say we are so happy our daddy is home!! Jaxon is enjoying his second nap of the day with his daddy.

I am enjoying a little quiet time. I have been folding laundry and picking up what I didn’t get to yesterday. Also catching up on reading blogs, e-mails & blogging!!
I am looking forward to a short week. Joey and I have to work Mon & Tues, but are off for 5 days after that!! Hooray for Thanksgiving break!! My parents & sister are coming to our house for thanksgiving. Joey has BB games on Friday and Saturday, but I am so looking forward to 5 days with my husband & baby!!! I am finishing up my list for thanksgiving. I can’t wait to start cooking. I have been watching the food network thanksgiving marathon to help get in the thanksgiving mindset!! Last night I got to see Paula’s Southern Thanksgiving, featuring my FAVORITE: Paula Deen!! The food looked so good!!
This will be my first time to cook thanksgiving dinner on my own!! I’m really looking forward to making a special holiday meal for my family. I will post my menu later on!!
Have a blessed Sunday!

Well, the same still goes…we miss our daddy! Since Joey has been gone, wouldn’t you know Jaxon has had his first fever and his first REAL and may I note BIG puke!! Oh yeah, at about 6:00 am this morning. All over Jax, me and the bed!! Thankfully my sister was able to come over (she lives around the corner!) and help us get cleaned up. Now, I know this is just baby puke and that it will get much worse, but I don’t deal with it well at all(not even my own for 9 months!)!! Joey and I made a pact a few months ago that he would deal with the puke, if I would deal with the poop. No problem!! Well…that plan is great as long as both parties of the pact are present!! It’s all fine though, because Jaxon is so worth all the gross stuff and cleaning up that comes with it!!
On a lighter note, I went for a haircut today. I decided not to have my hair colored because it is finally back to my natural born color and I’ve decided that I really like it and coloring it is just a waste of money!! Today was the first time since I started coloring it about 5 years ago, that I just got a cut. Kind of different – much less time=good for a mommy!!
Well, when Katie was almost done drying my trimmed hair, I bursted out with “I want to cut it more, like a lot more” After making very sure I was sure, she turned off the dryer and got out the scissors!! I have mostly had short hair for the past 7 years. As do most men, Joey prefers my hair longer. However, Joey and I both understand that I do with mine what I want, and he does with his what he wants (shaved). I had been growing my hair out since January. Well…no more!!

Here’s the new look. I am mostly posting this picture for my Joey so that the suspence & wonder of “how short is it?” won’t kill you before Sunday!! Joey we miss you and love you and want you home safe & soon!!

Jax and I are missing our daddy/husband! He left for Tennessee today for 3 Oklahoma Christian Basketball games! I hope they play well!! We plan on listening to them online!! Well, wouldn’t you know it: Joey is out and Jaxon is teething. He has been working on the top two teeth for a while, but I think they are going to come through in the next few days. He has been a little feverish, fussy, not hungry, clingy, puking and having tummy issues. I think all signs point to TEETH!! I miss Joey anyway, but I AM REALLY missing him. Today was just the first day, but it was a little challenging. I know it could be worse, and I am so thankful for my husband and my situation. I was thinking on the way home from Renee’s tonight (while Jaxon screamed in the backseat) about how hard it would be to be a single parent, or a mother of a military husband, or any situation where the husband (or wife)is not around much. I feel truly blessed for my Husband and my good friends and family for the support I receive.
Today Jaxon and I went to see my grandmother. We also got to see my cousin Riley Jo. She is a year older than Jaxon. She is a sweetie & soo cute!!
Joey – We love you and wish you and the team luck tomorrow!!

Okay, so I now realize that this is all backwards in sequence, but you’ll just have to be smarter than the blogger. Jaxon, Stacey and I headed for Texas on Friday morning. Instead of writing forever about our weekend, I thought I’d just share some of the pictures!! I hope you all had a great weekend too!!

And finally…home on Sunday morning in time to go to church! After church we came home for lunch and a 3 1/2 hour nap!! It was great!! Jax and I had a great time in Texas, but there is no place like home with our Joey/daddy!!

After church last night, Joey and I had a little time on our hands (during the commercial breaks in Grey’s Anatomy)(my new favorite show!) Here’s the evidence!!