Random Max and Scraps

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Starla from work bought Max this cute little Kenneth Cole outfit for Christmas and I was trying to get a picture of him in it to show to her. Unfortunately, America's Next Top Male Supermodel was not in the mood for picture taking yesterday. "No Mommy," was his frequent response to "Smile Max, look at Mommy." I think he was hungry! But I was able to catch a couple of shots of him in the outfit.

Below is the scrapbook page that I started on Sunday. I thought it was going to take me until this coming weekend to get it finished. I got it done last night! I think it only took me about 2 hours total. That time included selecting the pictures, arranging them on the page, choosing the proper special effects and embellishments to make it all pop, and making it all permanent. I love it! Below, the first picture is a rough draft and the second is the final product.

Awards Ceremony

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Rodney's squad received an award for excellent service to the community in the University Avenue area at a luncheon downtown. Their Lieutenant accepted the Rotary Club Police Unit Commendation Award on behalf of the squad.

Below are the plaque and certificate presented to the squad by the Chief.

Below - Rodney and I in City Hall before walking over to the luncheon.

RIP Daddy Odell

Monday, January 28, 2008

Daddy O'Dell passed away on Monday, January 21, 2008. He was the father of my Aunt Vi's husband, Uncle Richard. I attended the funeral today with my mother, who talked me into speaking. My public comments went something like the following: "Good morning, getting up to speak is not my thing, but since my mother has lost her voice today, she talked me into getting up for her. Although I didn't have a close personal relationship with Daddy O'dell, I knew very well who he was. He and my grandmother (paternal) shared a yard, which I played in on many occasions. Fortunately enough for me I never did anything bad enough to cause me to cross paths with Mr. O'dell. I can't say the same for my brother and some of my cousins. I have heard in recent years that he thought I was special, "That girl is smart," he would say. He used to watch me on the local cable station during the Little Rock Board Meetings. And I found out this week that my parents met at his home many, many years ago. So to my Uncle Richard, Aunt Vi, and my cousins: Gigi, Joi, and Ricky, I would like to say that we are sorry for your loss, we love you - God bless." I should have added that I always heard that he was a hardworking man and the perfect example of a gentleman. I can see from the picture below where my Uncle Richard got his style.

Kaitlyn's Birthday Party

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Another one of Max's classmates turned two! I thought they were all already two. We got an opportunity to celebrate Kaitlyn B's birthday at Gymboree. Max was totally non compliant to all of the structured activities, but he had a good time with all of the free play.

The parachute activity was a perfect example of his noncompliance. When they called your color, which ever one you were touching, you could go out in the center with the birthday girl and jump around while everyone else made bubbles. Max was green, but he jumped on blue, yellow, red, and green! The rest of the time he spent on his favorite playground apparatus - the slide!

He also ate three slices of pizza along with his cake and juice box. The other children ate like half of one slice! I had to be picked up off the floor a few times, but overall it was big fun for all of us - Rodney took all of the pictures!

Busy, busy, busy!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Waking up and discovering the severity of Max's mess on Saturday morning, solidified my decision to go hang out with the Ya-ya's. The Ya-ya's are a crafting group that I was kind of a part of already, but not an official member. Well now I am official and have attended my first event; it was very fun and relaxing. All of the ladies are different and everyone is so nice. We made calendars and shared stamps and exchanged craft supplies - I got some really cool new ribbon that I am going to use in Kisha's scrapbook. The party started at 11 AM; I left at 3 PM and they were still going strong! I rushed home after leaving the Ya-ya's to wrap a gift for a 3:30 PM birthday party for one of Max's classmates at Gymboree. It was big fun for the kids but it wore me out. After the party I was zonked; Max and I spent the remainder of the evening having a Backyardigan marathon.

Sunday was a lazy day, Shana came over, I made chicken spaghetti and garlic bread. I also introduced her to the new Walter Mosley book entitled Killing Johnny Fry. At the end of night I started laying out a draft of the next scrapbook page.

Snow Day

Friday, January 25, 2008
We had a bogus snow day. People in Arkansas freak out at the mere mention of snow or icy conditions. So Max's daycare closed at 10:30 AM, City Hall closed at noon, and Markisha's school closed at 2:30 PM. I picked everybody up and we headed for the house to hang out and do nothing. Max had the entire run of the house; he basically did what ever he wanted to for nine straight hours. During that time Markisha and I scrap booked some of her Sweet Sixteen birthday party pictures. We only got two pages done and we made a big mess (above), but the pages are cute and I am inspired to get the job done before she turns 18 this May. I have already started a third page, that should not take long with little or no interruptions, but will probably take the rest of this week.

Below are the two pages that we completed.

Fish Fry Correction

I talked to another one of my very best girlfriends for several hours last night. She mentioned that she was not on the blog any where; she felt that she deserved at least an honorable mention on the "fish fry". I told her that she was par of the "whoever we brought home with us" comment. Tamara I apologize for leaving you out.

Although Tam is not a part of the Shana, Carla, Denise, Taki core group from high school, but I do consider her one of my best friends. We became fast friends freshman year at Emory and have been together ever since even after I came home right before our sophomore year. She practices law in Chicago and I don't see her much, but we talk on a semi regular basis. That the great thing about good friends - you don't have to talk everyday, but you know they'll be there when you need them!

I guess this is a great time to mention my other "bests" and "favorites" who don't get mentioned because they are not local and have not fallen victim to the "Papa"razzi! So at this time I would like to send my shout-outs!

Synthia in Chicago! We became fast friends right before Skylar was born. We met on the job during my YMCA tenure. I miss you!!! I hate you moved back to Chi Town last year, but it was long overdue.

Denise in Atlanta! Love you girl! You do have a few mentions here and there! Can't wait to see you after the baby is born.

Gina in Atlanta! My favorite cousin in all the land!!! We don't talk as much as we used to, but I know she's there and she's got my back. I still can't believe you agreed to be my matron of honor with all of my crazy much younger girlfriends! Love ya!

Bonnie in Fayetteville! My former suite mate when I worked in Human Resources. She always kept me abreast on who was having a sale and she encouraged me to date the man who would later become my husband and baby's daddy! Come visit soon!!!

more Max! And Martin Luther King Holiday!

January 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Dr. King!!! I didn't do anything to commemorate the Holiday because I had a dr's appointment that morning to take my 3 Hour glucose test. I did however drop Max off at daycare where he colored a picture of Dr. King that was hanging on the wall outside of the classroom Tuesday morning. When I inquired about the artwork I was informed that when Max was asked who the man in the picture was that his response was "Daddy." I hope to do better in the future. I did pass my GTT and am not a gestational diabetic this time around, my response was "Hot D--n!" Now I just have to lay low until she gets here. The picture below is one of those random ones that Max wants taken occasionally. Last night he found frozen vegetarian chicken patties in the freezer and decided he should try them out. I let him - what could it hurt?!?!

I wonder what Dr. King would think . . . . .

Max, Max, and . . .

Max has really been enjoying the football season. He usually has plenty of snacks and cheers at the appropriate times although it could be for either team. This picture was taken at the beginning of the month, but during the playoff games this weekend he was hut-ting the ball. He can also work the TV remotes and will turn the channel until he finds football or cartoons. I hope he learns to read just as fast as he picked up those skills. Below is on a different day - very random. Daddy wasn't home so I had an opportunity to play with his new camera. Max has gotten to the point where he will request that you take a picture of him at any random time. If he sees the camera he starts saying "cheese!" I posted this picture because I thought he had a cute smile, but mainly because I think he has pretty legs and that they are really long and that he has big feet!

As if we didn't already know, the boy is a Blocker and on this particular day he wore Daddy's police skull cap out to the grocery store. It has Blocker and LRPD embroidered on it. It's a shame that his head is so big that Rodney's hats aren't the big on him!
The next few pictures are from Sunday when I had Rodney take him out on the deck to run off some of that energy he had from being couped up with GiGi and bed rested Mommy. He has a little slide and swing thingy out there to run around on and he got to toss his basketball as much as he wanted. Again that is one of Daddy's hats.

Bedrest is for the Birds!

January 17 - 20, 2008

~Thursday~

I guess I jinxed myself by doing all that talk about feeling great after my appoint on Wednesday because at the end of the work day on Thursday I was sending out the 911 call to Rodney and Shana because I had to limp to my car and knew that wrangling Max was going to be difficult for the evening. And you know he was in rare form - super hyped up, super Max!!! They all came running and filled in where the other fell short. Like Mama changing stinky under pants because Shana doesn't do diapers. And Shana feeding him because Rodney doesn't know what his eating schedule is and Rodney putting him to bed because I couldn't lift him over the crib side. It was team work as good as I can get it from my crew!! Thanks to everyone for pitching in.

~Friday~

The next morning I was feeling better, but by noon I was in so much discomfort that I decided to call the doctor. I knew I couldn't make it through the weekend. Of course Dr. Skokas and his nurse were out for the rest of the day by the time I called. I got to talk to Nurse Glenda, who almost made me curse because she kept saying to me "oh, yea, that can be extremely painful" and "it's only going to get worse as the baby continues to grow." Dr. Taylor put me on bed rest for the weekend with Tylenol and a heating pad and told me to come in Monday if it didn't get any better.

When I called Rodney to tell him that I had a call into the doctor I was totally blinded by the pain and couldn't think straight. He did something I don't think he's ever done or maybe just not in many years. He took control of the situation and came to me with a fine tuned plan of action. He called some people and all I had to do was go home and get in bed. Aryshona picked up Max, brought me ice cream, and took care of Max until Rodney got home. Shana was supposed to come in to relieve Aryshona, but got distracted with a hot date. But I do have to give her credit for the night before and Aryshona did volunteer for extra duty. Mama brought me a book to read and dinner, she also did some grocery shopping so that I would have carbs and sugar for the weekend in preparation for my glucose test on Monday. Rodney got put in an early car, which put him home by 10 instead of midnight. Kudos to Rodney for having a plan!!!

~Saturday~

I woke up and really didn't do much bed resting, but I did kind of keep still. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher once, folded a load of clothes, cleared the miscellaneous Christmas leftovers out of the upstairs hallway and put them in the attic (Rodney helped), helped Mama tutor a student and plan a baby shower, made my YaYa Art Club card of the month and started making baby shower invitations. I got back in bed around 7 PM and decided that Sunday would be different.

(That's my YaYa Card of the month - Trees and Snowflakes was the theme and I had to use the smakin acetate technique)

~Sunday~

For this day, Mama got the Kudos. We know what she did on Friday, but on Saturday she cooked pot roast with carrots and potatoes for dinner and it was excellente! She also started the laundry. But Sunday she outdid herself. Rodney worked late and didn't come in until after 5 AM, so I got up for a few hours when he came home. Mama came upstairs around 8 AM with freshly washed and folded laundry, got Max out of bed and dressed for the day, and took him downstairs for breakfast. But before she took him downstairs she gathered up the rest of the laundry (including the gown I wore all day on Saturday with the chocolate ice cream stain from Friday) and emptied all of the trash. All I did for the day was a few dishes, baby shower invitations, watched football, movies, and read.

Ms. No Name

January 16, 2007
I had a doctor's appointment today. I feel great in general and everything is going well with the progression of the development of the baby, who I have decided will not receive her first name until I meet her. The front runners are Madeline, Madison, Marley, and Memphis.

I didn't gain any weight from last month. That's 12 pounds total I have gained; I'll have to really kick it into high gear to catch up to the 60 I gained with Max. I failed my Glucose screening test and have to go back for the big 3 hour glucose tolerance test (GTT). I scheduled it for Monday since we are off work for the Holiday. Pray for the best!

Otherwise, I signed up for every child birthing class Baptist Health System has to offer; including a Big Brother class for Max. It should be interesting. The first class is all day on Saturday, February 16. I also made us appointments for family photos and belly shots and stuff with my favorite photographer.

Pretty Girls Wear Twenty Pearls

January 15, 2008

Happy 100th Birthday - Alpha Kappa Alpha!!!

On this day, 100 years ago in history, the dream of Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was realized and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was born! Happy Founder's Day, Sorors!! Congratulations on 100 years of "Service to All Mankind."

Starla and I attended the Centennial Celebration Press Conference at the State Capitol this afternoon. I had trouble finding some pink and green to wear to the occasion. Don't get me wrong I have plenty of pink and green - just not in maternity sizes. Shana helped me pull something together the night before and it was kinda of cute.

I got see lots of sorors that I hadn't seen in a awhile and that's always nice. Since 1908, the sisterhood of Alpha Kappa Alpha has responded to the world’s increasing complexity. It continues to empower communities through exemplary service initiatives and progressive programs. The main focus of the press event was "100 Days of Awareness," which is a campaign to make the Arkansas community aware of the devastating affects of, ways to prevent, and where to seek treatment in regard to cervical cancer. We were encourage to tell everyone who would listen to get regular pap smears and look into getting the new vaccination. It was amazing to hear that Arkansas was the leading state in deaths due to cervical cancer.

Today I also promised Markisha that I would become active in the grad chapter and if she decided to pledge (like she has a choice) that I would show up to pin her.

Fry Daddy Galore!!!

January 11-13, 2008

This past weekend was super busy. I got to use new mega fryer in exchange for one of my Christmas Dustbuster's. I sent Blocker to make the exchange, of course he brought back the biggest one that Wal-mart sold. He kept saying "you can fry a whole chicken in this one." We never fry whole chickens.

Aunt Vi and Uncle Richard came to visit again to check on Daddy O'Dell. I cooked a lot of food because they were in town. I fried pork chops and made red beans and rice. I used Carla's 3-step breading process and it was fabulous! They were the prettiest and tastiest I have ever seen. My mother fried chicken.

"I'm living the single life"

January 5, 2008

I thought I was going to have a nice quiet, lazy weekend. But my mother decided to have a singles mixer/party at out house on Saturday. She invited a small group of her single men and women friends and acquaintances. I am not including pictures or names, but I can tell you that everyone at the party was over 40. It was very interesting to see the pre-elderly interact with one another. It will be interesting to see if any couples emerge form the group. The food was great and Max enjoyed eating and hanging around the group.

Aunt Vi Comes to Visit!

December 29, 2007

My mother's sister came to town for a visit. It's always nice to see them, although they were not actually coming for us. They were actually in town because my uncle's father and sister are very ill and in the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers.

Above (l to r): Cousin Gigi, Uncle Richard, and Aunt Vi

"Pappa"razzi forced Mama and Aunt Vi to pose for this shot. Mama is trying out a new hairstyle and was very nervous.

New Hanes Model

December 31, 2007

Max and I had lots of quality time during my week off for Christmas. But you know that I sent him to daycare every time the doors were open - I pay whether he is there or not - might as well make the best use of the money! SMILE!! Bright and early Monday morning we both got up to get ready for daycare and work. Although I was depressed about it, Max was happy as usual. Bye-bye vacation!!I discovered that Max was short on laundry as I got him dressed for the day. As a result he got to wear his new Hanes boxer-briefs. I still can't believe they make these things in a 2T-3T. But I thought he was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen. Michael Jordan better watch out!