Thankful

So, I know I am month late on the "what I am thankful for" but I think any day is good day to express what you are thankful for.

Today, I am thankful for many things, the first is an amazing loving husband who would do anything to make me and James ok.

The second, although of course not really second, is my son, James. His unconditional love, hugs and kisses, make everything better.

Last and certainly not least are my dearest friends and family, who love me so much, are so comforting, and who would drop anything to be there for me. While I always know they are there for me, it is sometimes truly overwhelming to know I have so many great people who care. So thank you everyone.

It's Been a While

Well, I guess I should not be surprised that I only have only a few loyal blog readers when I fail to post for at least two weeks. Things have been busy, but alas, not really to the point that I should not have at least blogged a few times.

Alex, James and I went home for Thanksgiving. We were lucky and got to be in Ohio for the whole week. It was wonderful visiting family and friends and it was hard to leave when it it was time to return to KC. That being said, there is nothing like being in your own home. James did really great at Grandma and Grandpa's, he took to the toddler bed they got for him right away and he loved playing with his aunts. Overall, he was a little disturbed about why Aunt Jen and Mommy sound so much alike, but he got over it. I will hopefully have some pictures up soon of our grand adventures in Ohio, including our trip to Newport Aquarium, where James ran from tank to tank shouting "ish!" He loved the fish, it was so much fun seeing him so excited.

Things have been kind of quiet around here since we have returned.

In pregnancy related news, the second child is slightly more finnicky about what mommy eats and drinks. As a result, I am currently not able to drink coffee. As soon as I stopped drinking it, I stopped getting sick in the morning. Some of you may wonder about the advisability of drinking coffee while pregnant anyway, but while pregnant with James, I drank my normal 1 cup a day with doctor's approval, but alas, that is not to be this time around. However, there is still tea! Second, I no longer like zuchinni, it is not so much the effect on my body, but I actually don't like the taste any more. On the bright side, knock on wood, my neck is not yet pimple playland, so that is a small favor. It is true what they say about the second one though, while I am still in all of my clothes, my gut is decidedly pooched, much more so than last time around. I go to the doctor on Friday and hopefully should be able to hear the heartbeat, as I am now 10 weeks along.

The long awaited, Halloween Pictures

James was a doggy, he was very excited although not sure why. We visited about six houses, then came home and passed out candy.

Just so you know, I have had these downloaded since november 1, sorry it took so long.



Getting Ready to Go!


Bouncy! Now we are getting excited!



Going up the front stairs (I was still inside and he did not want to leave without me.


Have to be careful!


Watch wear you walk!




Just precious, if you ask me, but I am a little bias.

Meme

Ok, I have been tagged twice, and have not responded. Sorry. These are the rules as I understand them.


Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you (check!). Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged. As a caveat, I will not be tagging anyone because all of the blogging people I know, have tagged me, but hear are my random eight facts.

My favorite baseball team is the Cincinnati Reds, but my favorite professional football team is the Cleveland Browns, and I live in Kansas City.

I have lived in 5 states, Ohio, Tennessee, Connecticut, Florida and Ohio.

I have not lived in Ohio for five years, but it is still "home".

I am the only one of my sisters who did not move back in with mom and dad after college :)

I transferred colleges in undergraduate and law school and did not lose a single credit either time.

I am six 1/2 weeks pregnant, and everyone is already referring to my "sons"

Illinois beat my buckeyes yesterday, and I worked very hard to not be devastated today.

I am absolutely exhausted and ready to go to bed, it is 9:00 p.m.

I am will now attempt to "link" Jenna and Sarah's blogs. Ok, I tried, it did not work, so i just put in the website addresses.

http://theworldofjenna.blogspot.com/"

and
"http://www.snargle.org/crafty

The Pumpkin Patch

One of the best parts of being a parent is getting to do the Pumpkin Patch Photo Op! We went this Saturday, a perfect fall day! Grandpa Larry went along, that was fun! James enjoyed running around outside and getting dirty, he also loved the big orange balls. The pumpkin he picked out for himself was unfortunately broken before we even left because he thought it was a basketball/soccer ball. Pumpkins are not fond of being bounced and kicked. Here are the pics!

This is going to be fun!


Family Picture


Go pick out a pumpkin!


Here is mine!


You hold it mommy!


The Boys!

Family Pics at Target

We went a few weeks ago for family pics at Target. Here are some for your viewing pleasure.

Crazy Life!

Well,

Since my last post, things got a little crazy. As most or all my readers know, I had to take an emergency trip to Ohio a few weekends ago. My grandfather fell ill and was given very little time. I was blessed that I got home in time to say goodbye. Grandpa led a long life, had his wits about him when he went, and was ready to go see "Katie". I flew home on Sunday night and Grandpa passed away Monday night/Tuesday morning. I did no go back for the funeral. Since then, I have been catching up on rest and work. Alex and I had planned to go to the Ohio State football game this weekend, but in light of all recent events cancelled the trip. It was heartbreaking putting the tickets in the mail, but someone else will get to enjoy them.

My little guy is doing fine. He has a double ear infection that we are working on with some pretty potent anti-biotics. We have started vitamins to hopefully keep them at bay, but I might talk to the doctor about tubes if this continues.

In happier news, James is growing, he can now reach the light switch in the kitchen if he stands on tiptoes and can turn the light on and off....over and over again. He must have gone through a little growth spurt because he couldn't reach it last week. Also, he has two "new" words. We can now say "baby". We can also call our milk "mak", which is well on our way, and it is an identifiable word.

That is all from here, I will post some new pictures soon.

Fall is finally here....

Fall is finally here, but the fall weather has not been. Oh well. Last weekend, Alex, James and I ran errands on Saturday, played outside and went to dinner. Nothing too exciting. There were all sorts of festivals going on this past weekend, but in the end, the backyard was the most tempting for James. On Sunday, we went and had family pictures taken. Keeping an 18 month still for pictures was difficult to say the least. We got some good ones, I will share with you as soon as I get the e-mail link and I can promise my faithful readers they will get their own copy, b/c we got ALOT of pictures.

In other news, I am very very busy at work and trying not to get to bogged down by it. So, if I don't post for a while it is because I am busy at work and generally do not want to see a computer at night. Also, it is premiere week and alot of good shows are starting that I have to catch, because I am a tv junkie. I also now have DVR which will not help my addiction. more later.

Jamie

Not much going on here....

In case my one loyal blog reader wants to know, there is not much going on here in Kansas/Missouri. This past weekend, we ran errands on Saturday and watched the Buckeyes beat Washington.

On Sunday, I went to Sunday School. I am volunteering as an aide for the 3 year old Preschool class at the school of religion. It should be interesting keeping ten 3 year olds occupied for an hour. Luckily, I am just aiding, so I just help the teacher. I only go every other week, but since last week was the first week, I went for a little bit, but will go again next week. It should be fun and rewarding, but my ulterior motive is to see what it is like, because I will want James to start this when he turns 3.

After Sunday school we went to brunch to celebrate my nephew's baptism. Brannon Porterfield was baptized in Cleveland, at his mother's home church. Andi and Jason wanted Brannon baptized in the Byzantine Catholic church and their priest was kind enough to let them to return and do it there, which I think is cool.

Finally, the last news is James has an ear infection. I had to leave work on Tuesday and take him to the doctor. So, by 3:00 on Tuesday, Alex, James and I were all at home. James was fine, but Alex and I had to take turns getting work done!
James is still just fine, taking his pink amoxcilin which he thinks is yummy! Our other breakthrough is that James actually ate some of my zuchhini the other night...he generally will not any green vegetables, so I was VERY excited.

That is all from here...

18 month check-up and weekend

James had his 18 month check-up on Friday. He is 25.9 lbs. 33 inches. This means he is in the 45% for weight, 75% for height. His head is also growing just fine and is in the 75% as well. Not much else to report regarding the check-up all is well!

This weekend was a pretty easy weekend. James got his third haircut. Unfortunately the person who did the second haircut did a terrible job, so we went someplace else, someplace that is cuts kids hair only. We just felt he needed someone who new how to move with a child, that does not understand that he is not allowed to turn his head. So, James got to sit in a police car and watch baby einstein has he got his haircut. It went quite well. The rest of the weekend we just hung out at home and James got to play outside with the neighbors quite a bit because the weather has cooled down.

That is all from here!

Socks!

James was interested in learning the word SOCK tonight, which currently being pronounced as ck! or ock! Since I already had socks on, he decided he would take my other pair and put them on himself.

Labory Day Weekend

Well, we had a busy Labor Day weekend.

Aunt Anne flew in very early on Saturday morning. After some time with James, Anne and I went to see "Becoming Jane". If you are not aware of the movie, it stars Anne Hathaway and is loosely based on Jane Austen's life. It was very enjoyable. After the movie, Anne and I walked around the Plaza and then had Jack Stack Barbeque for dinner (yummy!)


On Sunday, we spent the morning at home and around 4:00 Anne and I headed out to the K.C. Irish Fest. This was my first trip to the Irish Fest and was well worth the trip! The festival is still growing but they have excellent bands. Anne and I were fortunate to see two bands "Solas" and "Gaelic Storm". Solas was a really good band and much to our surprise a gentleman by the name of SEAMUS EGAN was playing with them. Here is Seamus Egan, Anne and Myself at the Irish Fest, you can not really see Seamus, but it was him!





We got a quality two hour performance from Solas and it was great. The next band to play was "Gaelic Storm". Gaelic Storm is most well known for their appearance in Titanic. If you are like Anne and I we were expecting a low key band and some pretty music....not so much. Gaelic Storm is a Celitc rock band, their songs are fun and hillarious, and we ended up staying through the second encore. I will definitely be paying money to see them again!

On Monday, Anne and I recovered from the Irish Fest (tired more than anything, but the Boulevard Wheat Ale was also quite tasty). Then we headed over to the neighbors for the street cook out. Here are some pictures from that event...James was being very cute, of course.









By Monday night, we were all interested in just being on the couch!




That was our labor day weekend, fun but a little tiring!

New Words- James Report

James is adding to his vocabulary!
We can now say "ow" which means "cow"
"at" means "hat", I only know this because he pointed at the cat in the hat last night said "at" and tapped his head.
"boc" means block and box, several times we have opened the pantry door and stated "boc, boc, boc" as he pointed at all the boxes.
"oc" means sock (i think)
"k" is drink.
and every else is doggy or duck! He has really got his "D" down!

James has also started eating with a fork and spoon (kind of). He is actually quite successful with the fork, and he has taken to eating all of my strawberries.

Finally, James is also addicted to cheerios, like any good toddler. The other evening, I had a handful of cheerios on the kitchen table for him. However, James knows the cheerios are in the pantry. So, James went to the pantry, squatted down to be eye level with the Cheerios and stared at them. I would tell him I have the cheerios, he would run over and get some from me, then run back to the pantry to again stare at the cheerios. He did this for about five minutes, until we closed the pantry door, which was welcomed with a temper tantrum (which if you have been on the phone with me, you know are quite famous).

Thatis all the new stuff with James. Alex and I are saying all of our words just fine and have managed to kick the cheerios for some years now. Not much to report for us, going to work and watching James!

Mama!

Well, after 18 months, my son finally pointed at me last night and said Maoma! I was very excited, he has being saying lots of things but not this. I had to share.

Other things

In other matters, things are tracking along here in Kansas. Those of you who visited Jenna's blog lately should know that it is more than dirt roads and windmills. Although, the windmills are pretty.

Alex and I celebrated our fourth weddding anniversary on August 9th, we did manage dinner and a movie the following Saturday.

Also, since I have last posted, James got his first black eye. This needs explaining. James was travelling from the living room and into the kitchen, which requires going up a step, and he slipped and hit his face on the edge of the step. Overall, he was over it quite quick, and just a little red mark. However, he went to school next day and was standing on a step and had one foot on and one foot off, and slipped again, hitting his face on the exact same spot, hence a black eye!



Here is a picture of the black eye.



Here is another picture, but I think it is slightly more "thug" like.





Currenltly the little guy is battling a sore throat, no he did not tell us, but his fever and fussiness gave us a clue and the doctor figured it out. He should be better in a few days, the virus just have to run it's course, and then I will get it!

The Pool

I have not posted in a while, so let's get caught up. Here was our visit to the pool a few weeks back.


First thing first, is the pool bag ready?


Let's Go!


Finally at the pool, and we are not happy!


But now mommy is swimming, so it is better!

Harry Potter and My mother-in-laws "new house"

Well, I finished Harry Potter last night at 9:00. I could not have done it without a great deal of cooperation from my husband and James. Although James tried very hard to give me his books to read instead, and I did as I always do, begin to read his and after 3 pages, he walks away.

As some or most of you know, my in-laws are getting divorced. Fortunately, now the decision has been made, they are not attempting to drag it out and make it bad. In fact, my father-in-law bought my mother-in-law a new house. She is downsizing to 4000 sq. feet. The link for some of you who are interested is below, just copy and paste and it should take you to the listing. There are not very many pictures. Overall though, Alex and I very pleased with her choice of location because instead of being 25 miles away, she will only be five miles, and I believe the new place will ease the transition for her.

http://www.prukc.com/xq/ASPX/MLSNum.1400499/qx/HomeSearch/Listing.htm

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter 1, 2:00 a.m. I know you are shocked, I did not got to bed at 10:30p.m. As I left for Border's around 12:30 a.m. (I already had my wrist band) I almost felt like I was breaking curfew! If my mom reads this blog she should get a real kick out of that!

Back to work

Well, I am happy to report that I am back at work today. I did not arrive until 9:45 a.m., but I am hoping that will improve. Right now I only have 2 1/2 hours to make until 5:00, and so I am very optimistic :)

I however and very swamped with two weeks worth of work that was barely maintained in my absence, so I better get back to it.

On the mend....

I am still not back to work but definitely on the mend. I am on a great deal of medication which includes hydrocodone and valium and some other medications. Needless to say, I am not awake very much. In fact, in the past 72 hours, I would say that I have been awake for about 22 of those hours. On the bright side, all that sleeping has allowed me to continue healing. I am definitley feeling better and have begun to back off the meds...just for any wondering eyes they are all prescribed medications.

I plan on doing some work from home today. My mommy is leaving me tomorrow, so that will be difficult. She is heading to Indianapolis, picking up the Doty crew and heading to Middletown for the great balloon race.

James has been a golden child while Mommy has been sick. He plays alot on his own in the living room and comes and hangs out with me on the couch and gives me big hugs and kisses which is definitley the best medicine. Dadddy has also been a hero, taking care of bath and bedtimes.

That is all from here.

Surgery

Well, I survived surgery. It was unpleasant as surgery tends to be. I was not able to make it back to work today as I had hoped. I am still in to much pain. I tend to be in the most pain the morning and it gets better throughout the day. So, my hope is to return to work tomorrow, even if only for the afternoon.

Unfortunately, I am not the only one sick, on Saturday Alex came down with something. He went to the doctor today and he has strep throat!

Luckily for us, and unlucky for her, Grandma Karen has been here to take care of us...all of us. She is getting paid with James kisses though, which I think is good enough for her.

Later.

The Police Concert

Well the Police Concert was on Monday night, my sister Anne and her friend Kelly and I went to the concert. Before the concert though we had a lovely dinner at Landry's at Union Station with Mom, my sister Jen and her boyfriend Wally.

After dinner we headed to the concert. The Concert was AMAZING, PHENOMENAL, as our horribly expensive tickets ended up being worth every penny. We were placed on the side of the stage with Sting standing on that side of the stage and he was only about 30 to 40 yards away, so if you know me at all, you know how big of Sting fan I am, that was...well words can't describe. Oh, and the music was AWESOME as well. The first song was Message in a Bottle, and the last song of the night was Every Breath You Take. So, we heard the greatest hits and more!

One of the bad things about are tickets were that they were in three separate spaces, but two of them were in the same row. A very nice man willingly switched with us (because I was not shy about asking!) In the end two of tickets were together. Then half way through the show, Anne and I switched tickets so we each got about equal time in the amazing seats. The other seat was directly across from the other seats, and only about 10 rows up from the other seats, so that seat was actually really good as well. I could go on and on about the concert, but I will not. Needless to say....I am very happy I went.

Tomorrow is surgery, I will post again as soon as you can.

James meeting his cousin last wednesday

Quiet Week

To see Brannon Christopher go to:
http://www.overlandparkregionalmedicalcenter.com/WebBabies.asp

Birth date was June 20, 2007, click on Brannon P


This is a pretty quiet week for the Porterfield house. Right now, we are just trying to enjoy the nice weather. James and I have been going on a walk every evening. He really enjoys pointing out the grass and the trees and calling them "ball". It has been great for me as well, because since we started walking, I have lost 2 lbs and a couple inches in some spots! Very nice and unexpected.

Next week will be pretty busy, I am going to the Police Concert on Monday in St. Louis. I am uber excited for this because- I love Sting and Sting in the 80's- can't get better than that! In St. Louis I am picking up Grandma Karen for a visit to K.C.
Then Wednesday is 4th of July, which should be an interesting day at my mother-in-laws. For those of you who know the situation- interesting is putting it lightly. The worst part is I probably should not be drinking that day because on Thursday, I am having surgery. This should not be a big deal, as it is outpatient, but they still have to put me out, which I hate. Oh well.

Have a good week everybody!

A few things

Well,

First of all, I am including in this blog pictures of our new hardwood floors. We love them so far, and I am pretty sure anything would look better. They were completed on Wednesday. Now we are looking for area rugs that will make me happy.

Also, we went swimming today and there is a picture of my little boy in his swim trunks and aqua shoes ready to go.

It is a boy

Well, Alex's brother's wife, Andi, finally pushed out a baby boy this evening. I now have a nephew!

His name is Brannon Christoper
He was 8 lbs. 15 oz.
20 1/2 inches.

Andi's water was broken at 8:00 this morning. She started the whole process was at 3cm and 90% effaced, so we did not think it would take long. At around 11:00 she got an epidrual. By 12:45 she was 8 cm. My next update was at 3:00 p.m., she was at 10 cm, but did not have an urge to push. Brannon was finally born at 6:15 p.m. The moral of the story is... epidural if you dare. Over 3 hours at 10 cm-- I'll pass :)

Good Morning

Well, we are waiting on pins and needles for Andi to have the baby. They broke her water about an hour ago.

In other news, I got a traffic ticket when I left work last night. No left hand turns from 4-6. Oh well, truth be told, I make that turn every single day, the fact that I just now got a ticket is a small miracle. The up side, is that I do not have to pay attorney's fees to take care of it :) Why else become an attorney if you can't fix your own traffic tickets?

James has a "splash day" at daycare today, so I might have a tired bubba at home tonight.

I will be in mediation for the rest of the day, but will post as soon as I know anything about Andi and the baby.

Jenna did it, so I will too.

Here is my new blog, this is mainly going to be so people can see the new and wonderful pictures of James that you are clamoring for me to send. I will try to be better.

Not much is going on in K.C. Currently, James is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his cousin. Jason and Andi are expecting, and Andi is going to be induced tomorrow. I personally am beside myself excited, because we don't know if it is a boy or girl or what names they have picked out. If you know me, you know that I am not a patient person for these types of things!