The Sweatshop is Open

I'm participating in a craft fair that my work puts on every year.  You can rent a table that they have set up in the cafeteria.  A co-worker and I are getting a booth to sell our wares and see what happens.  She makes baby blankets and I've opened the sweatshop that is my downstairs to start producing burp cloths and crayon rolls.  I'm really excited to see if any of our stuff sells.  I'm sure it will.  We have about 4,000 people in our building, so I figure we'll get some pretty good traffic.

If you're looking for something to do and know how to sew, I'll put you to work in the sweatshop!  Or you can just come hang out with me while work my fingers to the bone!

30 Years Old - Which explains why this post is late

So, I'm officially 30th now, which seems so crazy.  I don't feel 30 at all.  I mean I don't feel 21 either, but that's a different story. Anyway, my loving husband threw me a party (80's costumes) and invited some friends.  I was super excited and ready to celebrate this huge milestone into the wee hours of the night.  The results, most everyone was home in bed by 12:30am and I held my last two guest hostage until about 1:00am. As I'm killing 100s of trees trees trying to get all the blue eyeshadow off, I think....."I guess I really AM thirty!"

Nice Shorts!

Nice mid-drift!

We would've been HOT in the 80's

So would these ladies!!

Love the bag

Who knew 80's professional gear was so attractive!

Saving Udders One by One

Lately I’ve been trying to go on a “dairy free” diet, which is incredibly hard.  I know, I know.  I’m sure your first question is why?!  Well, I have psoriasis , a skin condition, for which there is no cure.  There are steroid medications that you can use which do help with the symptoms. Of course, I can’t use said medications because I’m pregnant. So basically I want to itch my skin off and sometimes I think I might because I’m scratching so hard.  (sorry, I know that’s gross, but such is my life). 

Now I’ve heard from a family member that a vegan diet has helped the psoriasis in her family, but that they particularly notice flare ups after consuming dairy products, hence the dairy free diet.  I thought instead of going with the whole bean enchilada (vegan diet), I’d try the dairy free version first.  Great theory.  The problem is - do you know how much stuff has milk or cheese in it?  It’s absurd!! Seriously, I’m not kidding, it’s obscene!

So, I’m trying to go dairy free but then I’ll eat something and then think – oh, I bet that was made with milk, crap!  Seriously, it’s in everything! By the time I actually get this figured out, I’ll probably not be pregnant anymore.  Problem solved!

Who's growing the baby?

It's a little hard to figure out exactly how to tell a two year old that he's going to be a brother.  I thought about it a while and then one day I just had the conversation.  It went like this:

Me: Mommy's growing a baby in her tummy (insert pat of tummy here)

Carter: NO, I grow baby in belly!

Me: ok

The next conversation went something like this:

Me: Mommy's growing a baby in her tummy (insert pat of tummy here)

Carter: NO, I grow baby in belly!

Me: Where will the baby sleep?

Carter: on the floor (he later changed that to in her bed)

Me: Will you share your toys with the baby?

Carter: Noooo (which he later changed to yes)

It's going to be interesting. I think little Carter may get his world turned upside down. 

Pregnant...again

We're officially moving to a family of four.  A few things about this second pregnancy:
1) I'm so tried, without as much time to be tired as before
2) I'm already showing - seriously!  (that whole you show sooner on the 2nd one is TOTALLY true)
3) I'll be pulling out my maternity clothes very soon - ugh!

I'm due April 25th.  This is going to be a loooong pregnancy, but I'm looking forward to it.  Carter is taking it well although he doesn't understand.  Our conversation went like this:

Me: Mommy's growing a baby in her tummy
Carter: NO, I grow baby in belly

There you go.

Doctor Doctor Gimmie the News!

I really not sure if anyone even still reads this, but I'll keep writing when I can anyway.

On Wednesday I noticed that Carter started limping on that same foot he hurt on vacation.  So Thursday, when he was still limping on it I decided it was time to get it checked out.  We spent 2 hours at the pediatricians office getting x-rays and they scheduled an appointment with an orthopedist that afternoon.  Carter and I went home to grab some lunch and a quick nap before heading across town to the orthopedist. Our appoint was at 3:30, but the asked us to come in at 3 to fill out paperwork.  After taking the 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork, I asked the receptionist how long the wait is typically.  She then informed me that they were running an hour to an hour and a half behind today.  WHY then was I asked to be there 30 minutes early to fill out paperwork????  I was livid.

After waiting about 2 hours, we were finally seen.  The doctor looked at Carter's x-rays and said he had a small heel fracture, often called a toddler fracture, and that he would be getting a cast.  We asked Carter if he wanted a band-aid for his foot and he said yes and held his foot out for the nurse to put the band-aid on. He wanted if off for the first five minutes, but he's gotten used to it now.  Thankfully, he only has to wear it  for two weeks.

Only 26 months old and has already had stitches and now a cast.  I think I'm pretty well suited to be a boy's mom.  This stuff doesn't really bother me that much.  I'm not sure how I'd do with the all the emotional stuff of a girl, but all this physical drama with a boy is not too bad.

True or False: I am a camper.

FALSE.  I was 95% sure I wasn’t a camper before this weekend, but after this weekend, there’s not much doubt.  Carter and I headed off on Friday to go camping with my mom, sisters, and kids.  Now, I’m not talking about pitch a tent, hang your food in a tree camping.  This is go to a large campground facility on the beach, with a camper kind of camping.  Still, it matters not.  We arrived Friday, put away the few items we packed in the effort to maximize space on the camper and then hung out with the girls until time for bed.  Carter went to sleep on his little pallet beside my bed just superbly. I thought – hey this may not be too bad.  UNTIL…the rain came.  Thunder and lightening were crashing all around us, car alarms were going off, and at about 4:30 a.m. when we all were jolted from the light sleep we had managed to get up until that point by a loud CRACK, BOOM, CRASH! What the heck was that!?

My sisters and I wearily rise from our beds to see what induced such a noise and find upon attempting to open the door to the camper that our awning has literally bent in two and come crashing down on the side of the camper bocking us all in the camper.  Now thankfully there are two doors on the camper and the other door near my mom’s room is not blocked by the awning leaving us an escape route should we need to venture out into the storm.  Not so thankfully, the large crash woke up Carter and Teagan, who were not in the mood to return to bed after such excitement.  Thankfully, I brought my mac book and Mickey was up and running in no time flat, leading my sisters and I to catch a few more minutes of zzz’s. 

Needless to say, after waking at 4:30 a.m., Carter was not the bright shining star that I always hope for by about 9:30 a.m.  With the rain still coming down, I make the decision that if I’m going to be cooped inside with an ornery toddler, I’m going to do it in comfort and drive the six miles to Granny’s house for some much needed rest.  Mom tags along.  We sleep from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. – blissful sleep.  We return to the camp ground now that the sun is shining to try and enjoy time with family.  After about 10 minutes at the pool, Carter professes that he’s hungry, and in my poor mommy planning had failed to bring any snacks.  A tantrum ensues.  I head back to the camper to feed the poor starving child.  After a sandwich and some delicious hamburgers and hot dogs that mom grilled up, we were finally about to just hang around and play and enjoy each other’s company.  But with another impending rain storm that night, I’m not willing to take the chances that come along with spending the night again.  So after dinner, playtime and our walk down to the beach, I announce that Carter and I are packing it up to spend the night at Granny and Papa’s house tonight. 

We got the most wonderful, much needed sleep for which I was so desperately  hoping.  Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful day and headed down to the campground to go to the beach with the girls.  After a few hours of enjoying the sun, we packed up the car and headed home. 

So, I’m not really much of a camper.  I like my creature comforts; I’m kind of a girly girl (much more so than my sisters, I think).  But, this is something that mom has always wanted to do with the girls and now the grand kids too.  Who am I to stand in the way of what my mom wants?  I’d do anything to make her happy.  Even go camping again.

What's up with the foot?

So, after talking to Scott's mom (a very experienced nurse), she recommended waiting until we got home to go to the doctor about Carter's foot since it didn't seem to be hurting him too much.  We were leaving the mountains for home the following day, so I thought it would be ok to wait.  I called the pediatrician on the way home on Saturday and she said to see how he did once we got home and back in his familiar surroundings.  If he still wasn't putting any weight on it, she wanted me to bring him in to see the doctor the next morning.

Who would have thought, that once we got home Carter would start putting weight on his foot and trying to walk on it.  By Sunday, the kid was hobbling around like nobody's business.  Today - his first day back at school in a week - he did great.  He was limping just a little, but compared to he way was nursing it, I was super happy.  I was so scared he had broken something! Apparently, he was just vying for a little extra attention from G-ma, G-pa and all the aunts and uncles - oh and probably mom and dad too!

While on vacation with a bum foot - Carter got to go to the arcade with his cousins Jackson and Gwen.  From this little adventure, Carter garnered the nickname "our little FDR" for the remainder of the trip - thanks Uncle Sean.  Of course I was not about to carry this child everywhere we went, so I broke out the stroller.  Once inside the arcade, I was wondering how he was going to play any of these games until I found the Skee Ball machines.  This kept him (and us) entertained for a while.  I hope you enjoy this clip of our little FDR.

Do you know what sucks?

Being sick on vacation - that sucks.  I came down with a cold or something yesterday and have felt like crap ever since.  What a sucky way to spend the last two days of vacation.

In other - more exciting news - Carter has slept for 6 nights and 6 naps on his mickey mouse blow up mattress.  He has done a SUPER job at getting in bed and staying in bed.  Only twice has he asked to get in mommy and daddy's bed.  With a firm no, this is Carter's bed, now lay down - he would lay down and go to sleep.  This looks very promising for when Carter moves to a big boy bed in a few months.

Also, it looks like we'll have to take Carter to the ER this afternoon.  He tripped on the bottom step of the stairs yesterday morning and hurt his foot.  He has been unable to put any weight on it since then.  I called his pediatrician today and they thought that we probably need to get it looked at today, so it looks like after nap, we'll be heading to the doctor for an x-ray or two.  Wish us luck.

Awesome Birthday!

Today was a fun 30th birthday.  I woke up to Carter and Scott singing me happy birthday which they proceeded to sing at random moments throughout the day.  I got to go shopping at the outlets with Katie and she treated me to a nice birthday lunch.  Then, after dinner tonight, everyone here at the Rankin Vacation house sang happy birthday and they got me a yummy chocolate cake with chocolate icing! YUM!  Now I'm just lounging around the house and playing with my computer. I think I may see if anyone is up for a movie in a little bit.

This is Carter and Scott singing happy birthday to me this afternoon.  How precious is this? And how can you not have a great day with this little thing trying so hard to get all the words to happy birthday out.  A sweet little boy is what I have.

I'm Baaaaaack!

Hello old friend, it's been a while.  Right now we're on family vacation with Scott's entire family.

Family vacation = 16 adults and 9 kids in a 3100 square foot cabin

16 adults and 9 kids = lots of noise and mess

Lots of noise and mess = frequent "time outs" for me and Scott wielding a broom or vacuum within 2 hours of arriving

It's fun though, crazy, but fun!  Today we had a lazy day hanging out and letting the kids have fun playing with each other.  Scott and I had to get out of the house a little bit, so we took Carter out to lunch at Clint's BBQ.  Now we're home and Carter is napping and I might be headed that way soon.  I'm not sure what the plans are for this afternoon.....possibly the Deer Park.

In related news, I won the Blue Diamond Award at work on Friday which basically says I'm doing a bang up job and they're pleased.  But the best part is that the award also came with a small bonus, which I promptly took to the bank to cash before we left because I've heard there is great shopping here in Sevierville, TN. So, outlet stores here I come!!

Here's Carter sitting in the little red fire engine outside of the BBQ place.

Also, I wanted to wish my precious God children a Happy Birthday today!!  I'm going to try to Skype with them today for the first time.  I've never skyped before, so it should be interesting.

Smith and Addison - I love you guys so much and I wish I got to see you all the time! I hope your 2nd birthday is full of CAKE!!

Faker!!

One day about a month ago, i randomly said to Carter "how do you cry?".  I got so tickled when he automatically started to whimper and show me his fake cry.  Since then, i've been trying to figure out how to get this on tape.....well, as you see, I did.  Enjoy the musings of an almost 2 year old!

Testing again

Carter wants to be just like daddy!

Easter morning

Here's a clip of Carter enjoying some jelly beans on Easter morning.

Test

Mobile blog test

Where did it go?

I'm talking about my motivation to blog, download pictures, be on the internet at all......

If anyone finds it, please let me know!