A Party for Finley Katherine

Shauntel and the Grandmommies-to-be

The Guest of Honor and her HostessesOne of my closest and longest friends, Shauntel, is having a sweet baby girl and we threw her a shower Saturday afternoon. She got so many precious things for Finley and now all we need is a baby (but not until the end of July)!!! We are all so excited and can't wait!! Finley is already spoiled rotten and Shauntel is going to be such a wonderful mother!! Let's just hope she and Jared can handle the poopie diapers. :)

Best of Friends

My future Beethoven

Saturday afternoon, Amy kept Graham for a few hours while I helped host a baby shower for Shauntel. I felt absolutely TERRIBLE having to ask Amy to watch Graham especially since she is almost nine months pregnant and she also has Caroline Mae who is 11 months old AND David was out of town. But she was my last resort. Thank God for awesome friends. she is just the absolute sweetest person i know and would do anything for anyone. She is truly one of a kind and I am certainly blessed to have her as one of my closest friends. graham and caroline just absolutely love playing together and it's been a couple of months since they have seen each other.

Both of our lil ones have allergies and it's no fun for them or for us. Saturday night, Graham's left eye got so swollen and red and then it was purple under his eye. He also had a 104 temperature. I was hoping that he would follow after me and not have allergy/sinus problems like his daddy but I'm afraid that isn't going to be the case. I've been alternating between giving him a little bit of Benedryl and Zyrtec. It seems to be helping him a little bit. His eye looks A LOT better but his nose is just terrible. This morning it started bleeding from being so raw because of wiping it so much. I feel so terrible for him but I don't know what else to do. I keep Vaseline on it and keep his humidifier on all night. By the time I wake him up in the morning, his snot is completely dried up and pretty much covering his nostril openings. Thank Goodness for boogie wipes. i need to send the inventor a candy basket because they are awesome and it's pure genius.

Ultrasound Appointment

Graham has an appointment at Arkansas Children's Hospital on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 9:30am. Please keep Graham in your thoughts and prayers. Mommy, Daddy, and Mimi are nervous wrecks but we are putting everything in God's hands and we know that He will take care of us.

9 months and some pictures

I took Graham to see Dr. this morning for his 9 month check-up. she said that he obviously has no problem eating. stating the obvious, i suppose.

23.25 pounds - 90th percentile
29 inches long - 70th percentile
45.3 cm head circumference - 50th percentile

All is well with G. he is developing as he should be. and he is all over the place. by the time we left her office, i was exhausted. next time, chad better come with me. our child was crawling back and forth on the long table, crinkling up the table paper, throwing toys everywhere. all of this within five minutes. sheez.

We are awaiting a call from AR Children's Hospital to schedule Graham for an ultrasound. He is going to hate me for telling this but he has a testicle that has retracted and won't come down. So we are going to get an ultrasound to see where it is and if it will have to be surgically pulled down. Sorry Graham for telling your business. Please forgive mommy.

Right now, like I said earlier, our child is all over the place.

he is now pulling up to stand.

he makes "clucking" sounds with his tongue.

he throws his arms up in the air all of the time like he's doing the touchdown sign.

he is still dancing away. loves it.

he hates it when mommy gets the big camera out. my happy smiling baby turns into a mad disgrunted child.

he has started throwing fits when we take something away from him that he wants.

we have to wrestle with him when it comes time to change his diaper. he just hates to lay down period unless it's naptime or bedtime.

he knows his name and understands "no". but when you tell him "no" he looks at you and gives you the cutest smile and it's so hard not to smile back because gosh darnit, he's so freakin adorable. but if you don't smile and keep a stern look on your face, then he will stop.

he likes olives. like his daddy. certainly did not get that from me.

i have a hard time getting his pants over his thighs. sorry graham. this is my fault.

here he is waving

i love these New Balance shoes that I got for him...so cute!

prairie dog...we NEVER see these come out of their hole...but it was feeding time and we got lucky

Challenge Update:

The 42 Day Challenge is now over and I lost a total of 7 pounds! YAY!! I'm thrilled!!

But we have now started another challenge and it's 12 weeks long and this time we will be taking body measurements to see how many inches we have lost. I haven't had a chance to work out as much but I think I walked more than enough at the convention center during our conference to count for something. Right now i am trying to get us all back into our routine and get everything back to normal at the house so it hasn't left me for ANY free time. but I am still drinking LOTS of water and eating right.

Wish me luck on Challenge #2.

i will let you know when we will go to Children's for Graham's ultrasound.

My Conference

This conference has been my baby for the past four years now. I usually start planning in January and that makes for a longgggg and hectic 5 - 6 months. The target audience for the conference includes state legislators, mayors, county judges, rural fire fighters, local community leaders and community development professionals who are interested in the future development of the State of Arkansas. This year we had over 600 attendees and over 70 Legislators in attendance. Which is WONDERFUL but which also means a lot more stress for me. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE my job and I love planning this conference but it gives me ulcers. when you are in charge of the entire conference and everything that happens or doesn't happen, it puts a lot of pressure on you. All week long I was constantly being pulled in a million directions and if you know me, you know that I am a detail-oriented perfectionist. That may just be an understatement actually. This is the week that I get no sleep (because I am up all night thinking about everything that needs to be done the next day) and I barely eat (because I am so stressed out that the thought of food just makes me sick). But I got through it and it was very successful and everyone had a great time. I can't ask for anything more.

We always head to our conference destination (Hot Springs or Eureka Springs...this year Hot Springs) a day earlier so we can get settled in and have a staff meeting. I always hire 3 - 4 extra girls to help during the week of the conference. Usually, we just hang out in one of the suites and order pizza and have our staff meeting but this year was different. in a very good way. one of our sponsors, Ted Mullenix, who is a Lobbyist, invited us along with our Commissioners and some of our other sponsors to his lakehouse for steaks...some of the best steaks I've ever had at that. It was just absolutely gorgeous and definitely a great way to start the conference. Boy, I needed that night just to sit by the pool and the lake and just take a deep breath and relax. of course, i really didn't relax all that much at all but i faked it pretty well. :)

The conference officially kicked off on Tuesday, the 2nd of June. We had our Commission meeting and the Opening Welcome. We also had our "USDA - Rural Development" panel as well as the "Lottery in Arkansas" panel at which Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter was one of our speakers. Tuesday evening, we went to the Oaklawn Jockey Club for dinner and then went to their new gaming facility to try to win some $$$$$. I didn't play. I just got my $15 in free game play and stuck in my pocket. graham needs wipes. ha!

ARDC Commission Meeting

Opening Welcome
Lt. Governor Bill Halter


My awesome staff at Oaklawn
Kelsey, Holland, Morgan, Shana, Lauren and Brittney

Wednesday's panels included "Strengthening Rural Fire Departments", "Community Development in Arkansas", "Looking Back at the 87th General Assembly" with Doug Thompson with the Arkansas News Bureau moderating, and the "Political Roundtable" with John Brummett with the Arkansas News Bureau moderating. All of the panels throughout the conference were well attended and very informative. At Wednesday's Luncheon, we had the Attorney General Dustin McDaniel as our guest speaker. That evening, Representative Roebuck and her husband, Dr. Roebuck has us at their lakehouse for dinner. They are so kind to have us at their place every time that we are in Hot Springs. They are the best! After dinner, we came back to the convention center for karaoke, dancing and live music from J.R. Rogers and the All Stars. J.R. is one of our State Representatives and he put on quite the show. It was so much fun!! He lit his piano on fire and let me tell you, there were a lot of nervous people in the room that thought they were about to get a good shower from the fire sprinklers. Good thing they didn't go off.


Two of our state Representatives at the exhibit area (we had 32 exhibitors!!! more than we have ever had!!)

Luncheon w/Attorney General McDaniel

Legislative Dinner at the Roebucks

J.R. Rogers and the All Stars

Thursday was our last day!!! YAY!!! The panel discussions that we had for Thursday were "Good Roads and Transportation" and the "Grant Writing Workshop". We also had our Grant Awards Luncheon with Governor Mike Beebe as the keynote speaker.

My husband told me that I should start my own business of party planning, etc. I nearly whacked his head off. Once a year is fun and fine with me. But if I had to do this all of the time, I would be a crazy woman. but on the bright side, it could be a great weight loss plan for me.

My First Week Without Graham

What a crazy week it's been!! I am sooo behind on blogging and for this, I apologize.

Monday - Thursday (June 1 - 4th) was my conference that I've been working on for 6 months now. Ever since I was promoted to Deputy Director at my agency, the conference has always been my "baby". There will be a whole other blog on the conference...as soon as I get pictures. Pictures are on the work cameras. Anyway.

For over a year now (ever since we found out that we were having Graham) we had decided that this would be his first time to spend the week with Mimi and Poppi. And for over a year now I have dreaded for the moment to arrive. Sunday, Chad and I met Mimi (my mom) in Arkadelphia. I actually did surprisingly well. Chad, not so much. After we got home and had the house to ourselves, we didn't know what in the world to do. We are so used to being on a schedule and planning everything around Graham. So to have nothing to do, our world was pretty much flipped upside down. So we got out the Guitar Hero and had a blast. Until 8:45pm rolled around and I was exhausted. Plus I knew Monday was going to be a hectic day for me so I went to bed.

Graham, Mimi and Poppi had so much fun this past week. They spent a lot of time singing and dancing, swinging in the swing, riding in the go-cart, playing outside. I was so thankful that I was so busy during the week that I didn't have much time to really think about how much I missed Graham and Chad. But on my way to Texarkana after my conference in Hot Springs, a huge wave of emotions came over me. I called my mom and was just BALLING! I was crying so hard. You would have thought that I would have been the happiest woman in the world because my conference was OVER and I was going to be back with my family. But I was just so exhausted and still so stressed out and just FINALLY had time to be with myself to just let it all out. Anyway. Like I said, more about the conference in another post.

Here are pictures of Graham's week with Mimi and Poppi.

G's first time eating spaghetti noodles