House of the Plauge

I haven't blogged in a while because we have all been sick of one thing or another. Last weekend I missed a Ya-ya event and Max missed two birthday parties. So no fun pictures cause we haven't done anything, but lie around.

Max came home early from school last Thursday with the Flu. I nursed him back to health all weekend with three prescriptions, lots of fluids, and lots of "Mommy and Me" time. Every time his temperature spiked he insisted that we both lie down to watch "Nemo," which has become his favorite movie these days. Thank Bonnie for convincing me to purchase "Finding Nemo" a hundred years ago. I think I saw it five times in a three day period.

By Saturday, Rodney started complaining of an itchy throat and sinus congestion. By Sunday, I was feeling bad, but not quite sure what was going on with me. Monday morning Max went to school and I took Rodney to the doctor. He was feverish and hacking all over the place by then and I insisted that we go so that I didn't get what he got. I had already spent several hours at the pediatrician's office where I was told there was nothing they could give me to prevent me from getting the flu and I had talked to my OB twice who suggested some over the counter stuff to treat any symptoms I might get. We spent from about 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM trying to see the walk-in doctor who diagnosed him with a sinus infection and gave him some antibiotics. She told me I probably had the same thing, but since I hadn't checked in she didn't give me anything. We hired a babysitter, went home and slept the rest of the day and night. Or at least I tried to.

After 48 hours of pure misery, coughing, vomiting, congestion, fever, incontinence . . . I went to the doctor again yesterday. It took all morning but finally someone gave me some antibiotics and some cough medicine that actually works! And a note to stay off the rest of the week. After getting a humidifier to put some moisture in the air I finally got some rest last night. I still had to get up every 2-3 hours for the usual pregnancy stuff and some coughing or taking a prescription, but the in between time was pure bliss.

I think I may have finally shaken the fever. For five days I have not hardly been able to hold my head up. I have been moving from bed to bed. Today, I have enough energy to at least do this blog entry. It is my goal to disinfect the upstairs - wash all of the linens, empty the trash cans and spray Lysol like there's no tomorrow. I am probably being a little ambitious, but I have good intentions.

Pray for us. Can't wait for a better week!

Fashion Statement

Sunday morning, in freezing cold temperatures, Max wanted to go outside. When we went to the coat closet for his heavy coat he decided that the rain jacket was the definitive choice for him. So out he went in shorts and a tank top, in his raincoat, with his dirt devil vacuum cleaner. Yes, I am the mother and should have better control, but the way I see it is that you pick your battles and this was one that I didn't want to fight. It's not like this incident is going to keep him from getting into Harvard! Plus I knew he wouldn't last long. He didn't last 15 minutes before he insisted that I join him. So I went out in my gown, duster, and flip flops to get these pictures. Below is one of his "Top Male Model" poses. I have entitled it "Watch Me as I Look Away."

U of A

Last Friday we took a trip up to Fayetteville for Kisha to have tour of the U of A campus. We spent all day there and practically walked the entire campus. Max was a monster, but cute,

and I was exhausted by the time it was time to go home. I cancelled my visit with Bonnie, so we could get on the road. These are a few pics from the day.

Rodney, Markisha, and Max head for the admissions office. I think Rodney and Max were more excited than Markisha. I personally don't care for UofA, but I just want her to go to college.

Markisha in the admissions office waiting for the advisor to see her. She started very excited about the school.
Eric, the tour guide, did a great job at showing us around the campus and giving us insight on campus life.
Max was very in tune to the tour. He was a natural on campus. Everybody thought he was cute.
I think he might be seriously considering it. The Fulbright Advisors gave him markers and paper in thier office in the Old Main Building. He did some major coloring while listened to he core cirruculum requirements for a biology or chemistry degree for Markisha. Right now he is still undecided, but his sister decided that it was too big for her.

Birthday Celebration Pictures

These are more pictures from my family birthday celebration. Me getting out of the car. Wow! I think I said in a previous blog that Rodney and the kids took me to the newest BBQ joint in town for dinner that night.
Shana and Kisha helped me open and read all of my lovely cards.
Rodney and Max at the table.
They bought me a really tasty unusual looking cake.
Max's favorite dish was the rib tips, but you can't tell how much he enjoyed them can you?

Can you find the baby in this picture?

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I had my 3-D ultrasound last week. She was not very cooperative, and so this is the best picture they got. Maybe we'll try again on another day. We spent the entire morning (9AM-12:30PM) at a photo shoot in Cabot - family, belly, and senior pictures. So we ate a late lunch at the Golden Coral in North Little Rock. By the time I made it to my 3PM appointment Lil' Mama was super energized. She would not be still for thr required 65 seconds and eventually she just turned away.

It's My Birthday!!!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Today is a special day;

It is a day when everything will go your way;

Today is the day that you were born;
It's your birthday;
You got it going on;
It's your birthday! It's your birthday! It's your birthday!

I turned 34 today and I am loving it!!! For some reason I am very excited about this one; I haven't had this much fun or attention on a birthday in a long time. In fact my last party was when I was 12. I haven't worked on my birthday in seven (7) years so it was weird going to work. My boss was out due to circumstances beyond her control. But it was a good day. I've been treated to lunch several times over the past few weeks and today it was Phyllis at the Oyster Bar. Thanks!!! We had the usual cake in the City Manager's Office where everyone sang and I got a card signed by the office group. Shayla surprised me with a card and new earrings - gotta love the jewelry! Mama gave me money - can't ever go wrong with that. I had dinner with Rodney and the kids and Shana at Famous Dave's, a new BBQ joint in town. It was good! And they got me this really unusual cake that was really pretty (pink and green of course). It was the best cake I have had since Kisha's Sweet 16! I'll post pictures of the evenings event later!

Max's friend Nate

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Max and Nate had another Playdate. This one was at our house. We had planned an activity for them, but they just ran around the house, jumped on the beds, and ate snacks. They seemed to have an excellent time. Nate doesn't have stairs at his house. So there was some quality time spent there. Below was one of the times they were actully just sitting.

Aren't they adorable!

Tea Time II - My Birthday Party!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Since the tea was a few days before my birthday, I decided to throw myself a birthdya party also - Shameful!!!! The theme was Strawberry Shortcake which was inspired by my friends Anne's daughter, Olivia. I wore a birthday princess tiara. The table was set with party hats and boas and treat bags with candy and party horns. See my flowers from Lenieka on the table!! They were perfect!
As an added bonus - I got gifts. I was not expecting anything, but they were good ones. I got a spa gift certificate, a Indigo Home gift certificate, and a Body Shop pedicure set. And to top it off my little brother James came by unexpected and gave me a new diamond ring - it was real! I loved it; it mathces all of my favorite jewelry. Now I just need some earrings to complete the set. I had a fabulous day!! I ended up falling asleep in a pile of clothes in the middle of my bed when it was all over.

Tea Time - Part One

Saturday, February 9, 2008

I invited my six friends from work over for tea so that I could give them all their very late Christmas gifts. We had a really good time. It was suppossed to be from 2 PM - 4 PM, but the last person didn't leave until after 6 PM.

This is a picture of the buffet with the napkins and plates and ladybugs. Many thanks go out to Stacia for making sure that the ladybugs arrived in time for the party.

This is a closeup of the ladybugs. They were special truffles that I ordered from Willimas and Sonoma. I orginally purchased them for my friend Bonnie in Fayetteville because it made me think of her late daughter, Jennifer, who was ladybug crazy. She enjoyed the surprise.
The tea gave me an opportunity to use my special hand embroidered linens that my mother brought back for me from her island cruise the Summer of 2006. I have a matching table cloth, napkins, and apron. Pink and Green of course.
This is the front cover of one of the photo albums. All six were different.

I found these cute little bags at the Dollar Tree on Cantrell. They were perfect for the occassion.
Everyone enjoyed their assorted teas and boas! We chatted it up and ate and drank for hours.
We had plenty of food to go with along with our tea.
Along with their individualized photo albums telling the story of our trip each guest received a "make your own card" pack which is perfect for beginners who might be inspired to design something.

Thank you all for coming. I had a really good time. It was nice to have company without all of the other interuptions from the hubby, kids, and mom.

Flowers For Me!!!

Friday, February 8, 2008

My sister-in-law delivered a beautiful bouquet of roses to my office on Friday. The card was signed "I love you and so does God." From Kobi, Lenieka, and the kids. I was having an awful day and this little surprise brought tears to my eyes and made it all alot better. It was just what I needed to get me through the end of the day. I took this picture with the new camera; isn't it awesome.

Thank you brother and family for brightening my day!!!

Scrappin Fool!

I have kept our dining room a complete mess over the past few weeks working on various craft projects. My main two focuses have been Kisha's Sweet 16 scrap book and then the photo albums for my tea. Apparantly my husband has been documenting the activties. I got the photo albums done and the dining room cleaned up in time for the tea, but Kisha's scrap book is going to take a while. I have to do my Feburary Ya-Ya card and my Valentine's before I can get back to her project. These are a few shots of the my work in progress.

Houston, you're in big trouble now!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Mama made it back from Myrtle Beach but not before buying this astronaut suit for Max and Kamron in the Charlotte airport. She was inspired by the work my father did for NASA and couldn't help herself.

Superbowl Sunday

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Our Superbowl plans changed a thousand times, but ultimately we spent the entire day waiting for Mama's flight from Mrytle Beach to arrive. She did not get home until 5 PM the next day. So we did what the Blocker's do best in small bursts - eat and spend time with each other. We had plenty of food and snacks. Rodney pulled out the fryer and made lemon pepper chicken wings. I backed that up with hamburgers, little smokies, celery and carrot sticks, chips and all the fixings. I did something I don't usually do - watch the game. I live for the commercials and half time show; I didn't see any of that stuff. We all kind of did our on things after the first hour. Kisha played on the computer. I worked on my scrapbooks for the tea party. Rodney watched the game and made phone calls. And Max ran between all three of us getting into mischief and mayhem. It was a good time.

Congratulations, Rodney!!!

This past Tuesday Rodney took the Police Sargeant Promotional Exam. He has taken two times before in years past - once after his mom died and once a few months after Max was born and he had knee surgery. He has been studying for this one since September. His months of hard work and dedication paid off. My "Bad Boy" passed and is #4 in the rankings at this point. 60 officers and detectives took the test; only 25 passed. Yea!!! Rodney!!! Max and I stopped to get him a balloon and card on the way home yesterday. We promised him a big party when he completed the process #1 on the list.

The Exam in Brief - There are four components to the promotional procedure: 1)Written exam; 2) Assessment Center; 3) Panel Interview; and 4) Achievement Porfolio. Each participant is assigned points based on their performance on each component. At the end of the process, scores are compiled, and each participant is ranked. The higher the ranking, the better chance you get an actual promotion. The list is good for two years or until they give the test again. If you don't get promoted before then, you have to start over.

In my opinion the written exam is the most difficult portion of the process, but pray that he does exceedingly well on the other portions!! Assesment Center is in early March!!!

Later that night/Early in the morning

Around 5:30 Am I woke up again and noticed that Max's room light was on. I went to investigate and found him lying on a blanket on his floor in the middle of the mess he made earlier (I left it so that his Daddy could see it when he got home). I didn't bother Max; he seemed so peacful there on the floor.

The Dark Side - Phase 3 Gone Wrong

I went to check on Max about midnight to see how he was doing in his new bed. Because of the freedom the new bed will grant Max, we gated both entry ways to his room so that he couldn't get out of bed and roam the house. We put him in his room around 9 PM, in the dark with "Finding Nemo." At 10:30 his Daddy checked on him and he was out of bed and going through the PJ drawer finding the matching top to his pants. I was already asleep but Rodney told me to check on him periodically - "yeah right." I found him sleeping soundly in his bed (pictured below).I also found his room a total mess. Some how he found a box in his top chester drawer that has been there since his birth and pulled it out. His Daddy had (unbeknowgst to him) also arranged for him to have unlimited access to his room light. In the box he found a black laundry pen, a puzzle, the screws to the crib, instructions to assembling his new bed, his digital ear themometer, and all of his wash cloths. It must of been the greatest time of his life. He marked up everything he could think of. Below are pictures of the mayhem. The hamper was full of his clean PJ's which he had removed from the drawer - all of them.
He pulled all of his pull-ups from the diaper stacker and marked a few of them. Under that pile I discovered the contents of his backpack that we had taken out on a little shopping trip yesterday.
Thankfully, this wall is the only one he marked on. He also embellished his already hanging piece of artwork there, his giraffe chair, and the puzzle.
He marked his diaper/trash pail.

He really did a number on the themometer. I am not sure if it is going to work ever again. I should have put one on the registry I did for the new baby yesterday at Babies R Us. Guess I'll have to go back and add one.
He even wrote on himself. It really looks like two of those letter make a "K" and an "N"

I am not sure if he ran out of ink or if the pen dried up first, but it doesn't write anymore. And those things are hard to find. But I guess he went to bed after he finished his art project. His Daddy wants to beat him; he didn't think it was funny when I called to share the news. Gigi and I laughed about when I called her in the middle of the night. I agreed with Daddy but I think it's mostly our fault. He had plenty of light (which I thought I had made impossible). I had asked for child proof latches on the drawers when the boy was 6 months old and crawling (but they never got installed). And we didn't check the drawers. Oh well!!! Can't wait to see what happens tonight.

Big Kid Now - Phase 3

February 2, 2008

Rodney and I took the crib down and temporarily stored it until we are ready to tackle the new nursey. 11 weeks and counting. We assembled Max's new bed. He loved it, but I think he understood that it was for sleeping. Before long he was jumping over the railing. We tried to get him to go down for a nap, but that ended up with me in the rocking chair reading stories and eventually falling asleep. Daddy ended up falling alseep on the floor in front of the bed and acting as the prop in Max's human trampeze act. About an hour later and a spanking he ended up taking a nap in his new bed!