Trent's Girlfriend

Well, since Trent has moved to the 4's room he has come home talking about Sydney. He told us that she is his girlfriend, his best friend, and everything in between. On his first day in the 4's room he had an invitation to Sydney's birthday party at Pump It Up. I usually don't go to the parties of kids from Trent's class, but I knew that he would love this one. So.... we used it to make him act right for 2 weeks. :)

On Friday night, Matt helped Joey move his stuff out of his house, and he didn't get home and in bed until 2. Jack was up again from about 3 AM until about 4:30, and I was exhausted too. Matt was very sweet and let me try to get some more sleep. I got the kids ready and headed to Pump It Up in time for her party at 12:45 (right in the middle of Trent's normal nap time).

We took in our present. Oh, let me tell the story behind this. On Friday, I picked up the kids at about 4:30, and since Matt was helping Joey, I took them with me to get gas and go to Target for Sydney's gift. We got her a cute Barbie accessory kit, and I bought Tinkerbell wrapping paper and some Valentine's Nerds. I stole this ideas from Melissa Williams (props to her). I used the Nerds to make a number 4 as the bow of the present. Then I printed off a gift tag with Tinkerbell on it. Here is a picture of the gift.


I say all of this because as soon as I walked in with the gift, I had moms talking to me about it. It was a great ice breaker and made me look like "Creative Mom of the Year." I didn't know anyone at the party, but I ended up talking to other moms the entire party.

Trent was also very good. Jack was very fussy by the time Sydney started opening gifts, and Trent was ok with us leaving right after she opened his gift (which was the first one :)). I never thought this party would have gone so smoothly, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yay!

Jack is 6 months old....

Jack in the Box

I can't believe Jack is a 1/2 year old. He is growing up so fast! He has started doing some funny things lately. He loves to make kissy or pouty lips.

It makes me laugh every time he does it, too. He also started this giggle type laugh today. He started doing it right after he got his shots at the doctor.

I almost forgot. Here are his stats today. He weighed 21 lbs. 5 oz. which is in the 95th percentile. He was 27 1/4 inches tall which is between the 75th and 90th percentiles. He is a BIG boy just like his brother was at his age.

I am really started to get sad because he is growing out of the baby stage so fast. He is my last baby, and I don't want him to grow up so fast.

Some other things that have happened this week....

I stayed home with Jack on Monday because we got no sleep Sunday night. He was up most of the night with the croup cough. I started him on the Prednisone first thing Monday morning.

On Tuesday both kids went to school, but I had a call from the daycare by 10:00. Trent was acting really funny. His face was bright red, and he was nearly passing out. The teachers kept having to catch him before he fell out of his chair. They said he was glassy eyed too. Matt went straight to the daycare, picked Trent up, and headed to Dr. Ellis. The verdict was that Trent was coming down from being on the Prednisone, and he was exhausted from not sleeping well. He seemed fine by the time I got home from school on Tuesday.

Wednesday - Jack woke up at about 5:15. I looked outside to see rain. I got in the shower and gave Jack to Matt. When I got out of the shower, the snow had started. I had Jack dressed, Trent was started to get dressed, and I was beginning to put my makeup on when they announced Shelby County Schools were taking a snow day. I became a "woo" girl right then and there. It wsa so nice to have a day at home in my sweatsuit. Overall, the kids were pretty good. Jack was still feeling bad though.


Thursday - Back to school. I had a pretty good day. I had to rush out at 3:10 in order to pick up the kids and get to Dr. Ellis's office by 4:00. I signed in at 3:57. Jack had a good check up. Dr. Ellis did prescribe a medicine to help with his congestion. Jack also got 3 shots.

I am excited that tomorrow is Fun Friday. That means I get to wear jeans to work. One of the departments at school makes a huge buffet breakfast for everyone. I love Fun Fridays!

I hope to update a little more often now. Sorry that I am such a slacker!!!

Mother's Intuition Part 2

Well, it has been another busy week around our house. Trent moved up to the 4's Room at daycare on Tuesday. Matt had his surgery (the big V) on Monday and spent the week recovering. I did my usual work plus Matt's for most of the week. That was TOTALLY exhausting. I have a wonderful husband who helps out a lot around the house, and I did not realize all the little things until this week when he was unable to do them. I had to keep detention on Friday. That is always NOT fun, and doing it on a Friday makes it much worse!

All of that brings me back to title of my post. Jack woke up at about 4 AM on Friday morning, so I got up to deal with him. I fed him a bottle, and he would not go back to sleep, so I was up for the day (the same day I had detention - poor kids).

Then on Saturday morning Jack woke up at about 3 AM. I fed him a bottle and decided then that I would take him and Trent to the Saturday Clinic at his doctor's office. Trent woke us up pretty early, so I asked Matt to watch them until 8 (to give me some more sleep). He woke me up, and we got the kids ready.

I loaded them up at 9 and headed to the doctor. When I got there at 9:20, I signed in and saw that we were numbers 31 and 32 on the list. It was going to be a long morning. We sat down, and Trent was good and quiet for a little while. I looked in the diaper bag and got out his Penguin toy (Batman) and showed it to him. He was happy and started playing in the corner of the packed waiting room. Then he had to use the potty. We loaded up and let him use the potty. Then when we got back in the waiting room, there was more room in the front so we found a new place. Overall, Trent was very good. He played and kissed Jack and talked to me. There were some other kids there being very difficult, and I was lucky that Trent didn't follow suit. Anyway, we got called back at about 10:25.

The doctor looked at Trent first. He listened to his chest and said it sounded like he swallowed a whistle. He had the croup. Then he checked his ears. He had a little fluid on one. Then he checked Jack. His chest sounded ok, but then he looked at his ears. One was great. The other had a bad infection - 2nd one in a month. He prescribed Amoxil and Prednisone for both of them, but told me to hold off giving the Prednisone to Jack until he really had the croup.

On the way out, Trent got to pick a sticker for himself (a transformer) and one for Jack (Winnie the Pooh). I mention this because I thought it was VERY sweet of him. He could have picked an Incredible Hulk or another transformer for himself, but he thought of what Jack would like. Sweet, huh?

Then we loaded up in the car and headed to Walgreens. I dropped off the prescriptions and then took Trent to Howard's Donuts since he was so good at the doctor. We bought several donuts and donut holes and headed back to Walgreens. We picked up the meds, and then I went through the McDonald's drive thru for Trent's lunch. All of this before noon.

I had hoped to be lazy all weekend, but I followed my mother's intuition this time and I was right. They were both sick. And, in case you didn't know... Prednisone will make your kid bounce off the walls - literally. Trent hasn't stopped moving since he started taking it. Thank goodness it's only for 3 days!!!

So, I am telling all of the mothers out there. If you have a gut feeling - it will probably be right! Do what your gut says because God blessed us with those feelings for a reason!

Life Never Stands Still....

I feel bad that I haven't posted anything in a while, but I honestly have not had time to sit down and post anything. It has been another busy week in the Gatewood household. I had my second week of school. It went well. I have been feeling TONS better. It looks like the medicines are working. My only complaint has been my feet, and to be honest, my feet hurt before I got RA. That is just one of the setbacks of being a teacher. You are on your feet all day.

So here is a breakdown of our week since my last post...

Tuesday - I had bunko in Olive Branch (or the OB as we call it). Melasond and Jennifer rode with me, and we enjoyed our time with the girls.

We had a normal rest of the week. I spent a lot of the week watching the Jeffrey Scott trial. He beat his teacher wife to death. She was a teacher in Shelby County Schools too. Then on Friday, Matt went to his friend LC's house. He had a guys' night while I planned to stay at home and read Eclipse. I watched Grey's Anatomy after I got Trent down. Then I put Jack down and headed to bed. I actually only read 2 pages before my eyelids failed me. I just couldn't hold them open anymore.

Saturday, we were up pretty early and started cleaning. It was strange because Matt and I seemed to be on the same wavelength all morning. We got the house clean in record time. Then, that afternoon we headed back to the OB for Christopher Shaidnagle 's (Fred & Keeley's son) first birthday. Trent had a ball there. It was a very small party, but it was so nice.

Saturday night, my parents came up, and they let us go out for the night. We planned to go to Huey's and then to see My Bloody Valentine in 3-D with Mel and Floyd. We made it to Huey's, but the movie sold out. :( We were the loud, obnoxious table at the restaurant, and it was AWESOME. We had so much fun. Then we decided to go bowling. We headed to Bartlett Lanes and had to get on a waiting list. While in the bar waiting, we saw Jerry "The King" Lawler. It is strange how much we have seen him around Memphis. Then we bowled a game and enjoyed goofing around with that. It was a much needed fun night for us.

When we got home, we saw a present that my parents gave Trent. They used it as an incentive to get Trent out of the bath and in bed with no fussing. It was a dancing Incredible Hulk. It sings the "Hulky Pokey" Put your right fist in, put your right fist out. :) We had a good laugh at about 11:30 with that. My parents were in bed upstairs listening to us giggle and play with the toy over and over. I guess we are still kids at heart...

On Sunday, Matt's parents came up. We ran some errands that afternoon. Then we had red beans and rice for supper, and I made some homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

On Monday, I had my appointment with my endocrinologist, and Matt had his appointment for the big V. We went to my appointment. We ran by Target and picked up a few things. Here is the funny part of that day. Matt felt like he needed to go to the bathroom before his appointment at 3. I am sure that it was just nerves. If you know Matt, you know that he does not like public restrooms. He wouldn't go at Target, and he decided we had enough time to run to his office and use the facilities. Well, we drove to his office, got out of the car, and then Matt remembered...He didn't have his badge. He couldn't get into the building, so we drove all that way for nothing. So we headed back to the clinic for his appointment. I was giggling most of the time because Matt was acting just like any woman acts at the OB-GYN. He was trying to get the drape to cover his butt, and as any woman knows, that just doesn't happen. :) Anyway, after about 30 minutes the Valium and Percocet started working because Matt was super laid back. He had the procedure and we were headed home by 5PM. I went to Chick Fil A and got him a milkshake for a treat. Then we went to Walgreens to pick up his pain pills and antibiotics.

My parents had kept the kids and made a great dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas. We enjoyed the meal, and then I started getting ready for the week.

I had my appointment with my Rheumatologist today. She has increased my Methotrexate and decreased my Prednisone. I am glad that the meds are working, and I am hoping that I can get off the Prednisone all together soon. I go back for a checkup in 6 weeks.

So, you can see that I had a busy week, and I didn't even mention work. As I said, life never stands still. I am trying to make the most of it!

I will try to be better about updating... I promise!

Trent's Busy Weekend

Well, you would think that my first weekend after being back at work would be easy. Wrong! Trent had a busy weekend planned which always involves the whole family in some way.

Friday night we went to the "Armadillo Place" (aka Texas Roadhouse) as a family and had a good meal. I saw a student from this year as well as several students from previous years in the restaurant. That is always fun because kids think that teachers don't really exist outside of school. They are SO surprised to see you in a normal environment.

Then Matt took Trent to the Monster Truck Show at the FedEx Forum. Trent had a BLAST! When he got home, he had no voice left. Matt said that he screamed the whole time and waved his flag whenever the announcer told him. He also got a Donkey Kong Monster Truck toy. They got home at about 10:40, and by the time Trent told me about it and he put on his kajamas (pajamas to Trent) it was after 11.



Trent at the Monster Truck Show


I actually had very little pain during my first work week, but Saturday morning was a different story. I woke up aching all over, and of course, the weather had turned COLD. I am sure this had something to do with my joints. Once I got going for the day, it got better. Joey came over and hung out while his house was being shown (and they got a contract on it - Yay for Joey!). He and Matt watched TV and played Xbox. He headed out about 1 or so, and we started getting ready for our busy afternoon.

We loaded up the boys and headed to Funcuts so Trent could get a haircut. He loves Brian, and I don't think we will ever be able to go somewhere else. :) Then we loaded back up and went to Target to get Parker a present and pick up a few miscellaneous items. I wrapped his present in the car (bag and tissue paper, of course) and headed across the street to Pump It Up. (Funny side note - Kelly's daughter Kenna calls it "Pump a Dump" which I find hilarious!)



Trent at "Pump A Dump" :)


Trent had a ball at the party. He loves to show out, and he got cupcake icing all over his face.



Our Little Showoff

Then, at the end of the party we had TOTAL meltdown. He was the ONLY kid crying when we left. That is always such a great feeling (I am sure you can sense the sarcasm in the that statement, right?), and we headed home. We got the kiddos in bed and both hit the hay pretty early for a Saturday night.

Sunday - clean, do laundry and fold it all (which Matt did 99%), give Matt a haircut, go to the grocery store, get ready for the new week. Busy, busy, busy for a weekend.

Today was another good day at work. I have no complaints so far and hope to keep it that way. Robin is substitute teaching at my school tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing her there, and I have bunko tomorrow night. This should prove to be another busy week....



I forgot to mention that Matt has grown a beard. This is a picture at Pump It Up.

Those aren't socks....

Well, it is now Wednesday of my first week back at work. School hasn't been bad, but I have to admit that I am tired today. Our friend Sarah made a casserole for us last night, and it was REALLY nice to sit and put my feet up after work last night. However, I am back to the grind tonight.
I told Trent we were having pork chops, and he asked, "Chicken pork chops?" It is funny to me that kids think that chicken is good and if anything else is good - then it must be chicken too. Makes perfect sense right?
Then he told me that he wanted chicken pork chops and chicken casserole with potato chips. That is what the casserole last night was. It had Doritos on it. He is so funny.
Last night while I was standing in the kitchen in my socked feet, Trent asked me, "What are those?" as he pointed at my feet. I said, "Socks." He then informed me, "Those aren't socks! Those are for princesses!" I guess that princesses wear thin trouser socks! (Mine were brown, by the way.) Anyway, kids say the funniest things, don't they?

My "First" Day

I know that today was not my official first day back at work, but to me it was. I worked hard last night to get everything packed and laid out for this morning. I packed Jack's diaper bag with bottles and clothes. I got Trent's blankets and extra clothes packed and ready. Matt put cheese biscuits with jelly in a ziploc bag for Trent's breakfast. I packed my lunch, and laid out clothes for me and both kids. Then I took an Ambien and read the first chapter of Eclipse. I turned out the lights at 10:02.
Then it happened. Jack woke up at about 3:00. He usually can put himself back to sleep by sucking his thumb, but this was not the case. Matt got up 2 or 3 times to change his diaper, give him a bottle, and put him in his swing. None of these things worked, so I drug myself out of bed and put him in his bouncy seat. It took a few minutes, but that did the trick. Then Trent got up at 5:30 to tell us his foot hurt. Matt said, "Why don't you get in bed with us for a few minutes?" and he moved over to give Trent room. Then Trent turned and high tailed it back upstairs to his room. He went back to bed. I am still wondering if he was sleep walking.
I got up to the alarm at 5:45 and hopped (actually I moved pretty slowly) into the shower. Then I got myself ready by about 6:25. While I was getting things together and measuring Jack's medicine, Matt found Brodie poop on the floor - 6 pieces of it! So what other drama could happen this morning?
Anyway, I made it to school by 7:15 and got busy getting ready for the day. Another teacher informed me that my interim had signed up for the basketball game today, but after much stress and lots of questions, I found out that was false. I don't have to work any games because she worked 2 games for me. :)
My kids were overall pretty good all day. I wore a new outfit and new shoes, but after lunch I changed into my tennis shoes. I actually haven't hurt much this week. But, last night my shoulder started hurting and today my feet and legs were hurting. I don't know if it's from the cold or the stress or the standing on the hard floors. I guess I will have to see how the week goes.
I did my school web page and other things that needed to be done, and I was out of the door at AMS by 3:35. I picked up both babies by 4 and was informed that Jackpot had a blowout diaper at school today. His little tummy is upset from the antibiotic. :( I hope he feels better soon.
Well, I am making chili for supper, and Matt just arrived home. He walked into our room to find Brodie puke on our carpet. Another thing to add to the drama of my first day back at work. Oh, well....
Oh, yeah, and ice is forming on the trees as we speak. I guess the least eventful part of my day was actually at school! What are the chances????

Mother's Intuition

Well, Jack started having a runny nose and sneezing on Thursday, but I just figured it was a cold. Then Friday, he seemed a little worse. I really thought that I should take Jack to the Saturday clinic, but then I thought I might be overreacting so I let him sleep late. I called the nurse and asked her if I needed to do anything, and she said to put him in the bathroom with me while I took a shower and to go get a humidifier. Well, after my shower I felt Jack and he felt hot to me. Matt thought so too, so I checked his temperature (rectally). It was 103.2. I knew that I should have taken him to the doctor! I always fight my mother's intuition, and this is always what I get.
I took Jack to Urgent Care, and they weren't very busy. The doctor checked his ears, and he had an ear infection. They also took some blood the check his white cell count. He screamed and screamed during that process. It was just a finger prick, but then they squeeze and squeeze his poor little finger. :(
His blood count was good, so we got our prescription for Amoxicillin and were on our way home. The poor baby... Shame on me for not trusting my gut!!!

New Year

Jack loves his Mississippi State socks. He follows his feet wherever they go.... :)


Cute pic of my handsome boys in their MSU gear

I have had a few busy days - if you count reading as being busy. :) Matt and I tried to go see Twilight on our anniversary, but it took longer to eat than we had hoped so we missed the movie. Then on the day after Christmas, my parents offered to keep the kids so we could go see it. On that night it was SOLD OUT. Can you believe it? It has been out in theatres for over a month! Then we got Tina to babysit on the 30th, and we finally got to see the movie. I really enjoyed it. Of course, it is not as good as the book, but what movie ever is? Now I am over halfway through New Moon, and I really want to finish it and start Eclipse before I go back to work on Monday. We'll see how that goes...

On New Year's Eve, Fred, Keeley, Christopher, and David (Fred's brother) came over. Matt smoked ribs and grilled sausage. We also had leftover goodies from Christmas. We had a very low key night. Matt showed Dirty Driving to Fred and Keeley while doing his normal pausing and commentary. :) Keeley fell asleep on the couch pretty early, but she just rested up. Just before midnight we headed upstairs to play Rock Band. We ended up playing until about 2 AM. We missed midnight - which is our norm. We were playing and checked the clock at 12:05. Anyway, we were asleep by about 3AM, and the kids were up by 6:30. I fed Jack and got him back down, and Trent stayed in the living room watching cartoons. This let us snooze a little longer. Fred, Keeley, and Christopher were up pretty early and gone too.

On New Year's Day I made our usual meal - Hopping Johns, Coleslaw, and Cornbread.



I know that coleslaw is not the norm, but Matt and I don't like cooked cabbage. But, we have to eat cabbage for the money, right? Anyway, we enjoyed our food, and we watched Untraceable once the kids were down for the night.

We hope everyone has a wonderful 2009!




Hoppin' John Recipe

1 cup cooked ham, cubed
2 2/3 cup fresh black eyed peas or 2 (16 oz.) cans, drained
1 large onion, chopped
3 cups hot cooked rice
1/2 tsp. Tabasco
1/2 cup dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup dried chives
1 tbs. bacon fat
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Saute chopped onion in bacon fat until transparent. Add chopped ham and seasonings. Combine with black eyed peas and stir in rice. Salt to taste.