Jumping Party

Since it rained every day that we actually felt well enough to get out during Spring Break, I did a lot of research about fun indoor activities. It's funny that I've lived here for all but a few years since I graduated from high school but was able to find some previously undiscovered gems with a Google search...

Tay and I went to Jumping Party the day the Bears basketball team took on Kansas. While she enjoyed the inflatables, I was able to watch the first half of the game on the flat screen TV mounted to the ceiling. It was awesome!

Look at this child playing Brick Breaker on my phone instead of playing!

Since we were still recovering from being so sick, she only lasted about 45 minutes before she was tuckered out. We went to Logan's Roadhouse for lunch and watched Kansas fall to our guys on the televisions there before heading to the Dr. Pepper Museum. We have quite a few pics from that adventure so it warrants another post.

Stay tuned...

Practically Pikasso

Tay and I got to the point last week that we just HAD to get out of the house! We'd been sick for days and were tired of lying around during Spring Break. Plus, it had begun to storm (and continued to do so for 4 days), which makes walking almost impossible for Dave because his knee acts up.

We wanted to try something we'd never done in Waco before so we went to Practically Pikasso to paint ceramics. We're definitely not professionals but it was super fun - Tay's still talking about it. She kept counting down the days until she could go back and pick up Sparkles. He's a piggy bank and has taken up residence on her night stand.

I was rather embarrassed that mine turned out the way it did and Dave told me it looked a third grader had painted it, which HIGHLY offended Taylor :-). My tile is now displayed in my office, though, with my other KD decorations.

This was only the first of several expeditions through the rain so stay tuned!!

Dave update: The Friday before Spring Break (when Tay and I went to the doctor), we learned that the cardiologist thought Dave's EKG was normal. He felt that an older machine was to blame for indicating that my man had suffered a mild heart attack at some point. Hallelujah - praise the Lord!

So he'll just have a follow-up in a year. His BP is now under control as well and all of his labs came back good. His good cholesterol was a bit low so he's begun taking fish oil capsules. The news could have been so much worse, though, so we're just thankful and feel very blessed.

Such a cute pair!

Getting started...

Hard at work...

Sparkles arrives at his new home...

What do you think - how'd we do?

Storybook Character Day

Tay's school has a spirit/dress-up day once a month. She loves these days and they are generally pretty easy like Crazy Hat Day or Shades Day but March was Storybook Character Day. This presented a problem for my little perfectionist because she couldn't be Judy Moody without having the EXACT tiger-striped pajama pants from the movie, she couldn't be Willy Wonka because she didn't have the EXACT pants, etc.

Dave had a very clever idea and thought she should be a pea from The Princess and the Pea. Spray paint a giant styrofoam ball and you're good to go, right? No, not so much...Tay didn't buy it at all. 

So we hit Wal-Mart on the Thursday before Spring Break and I walked through a fog (sick as a dog) aimlessly looking for something, anything to serve as a costume. She finally decided to be the Princess from previously mentioned book and got a cute dress and shoes along with a crown. The only crown they had was a Snow White crown so I had to cut the SW medallion off with a knife. In hindsight, perhaps I should have let Dave do that since I wasn't in my right mind at the time...

In any event, it worked and she proudly showed off her costume Thursday evening for Dave when he got home from work. Isn't she cute? 




Unfortunately, it didn't last long and little missy was pretty sick the next day. They called from school shortly after lunch because she had a fever. Again, in hindsight, I should have known something was up when these were the best pics we got that morning. Needless to say, I didn't get the Mother of the Year Award that day. 

She kept saying her eyes were watering constantly, which is exactly what happened to me when we were at the ADDY Awards and it went downhill from there. Thankfully, she's all better now.

Best Laid Plans...

On her way to take the reading TAKS test the week before Spring Break.

Think she was a bit excited to have that behind her? Now on to math, which is April 23.

So we were all pumped to go on our vacation to Louisiana but it wasn't to be...at least not over Spring Break anyway.

I got a call from Tay's school on Friday around lunchtime to come pick her up because she had a fever of 101.2. Luckily, I was able to get her in to see the doctor with me (he had a cancellation while I was on the phone - is that divine intervention or what?) that afternoon. The doc was absolutely shocked when her flu test came back negative so we breathed a sigh of relief and went home with lots of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections. He thought we'd no longer be contagious in 36 hours so we planned to head out Monday morning.

Well, Tay was definitely better and almost back to normal (just a bit weak) after 48 hours but I was still super sick and Dave began running a fever Sunday evening so, at that point, we knew it just wasn't in the cards. My grandmother had already been sick with this type of illness twice this year and she just didn't need to get it again. So we decided to stay home and recuperate with hopes to get out and do something fun with Tay later in the week. That was before we watched the weather...cold and rainy beginning Wednesday and lasting through the weekend. Tuesday was pretty rainy as well as the front began to come through.

We did manage to have some indoor fun toward the latter part of the week and are now planning to head to LA for Easter next month. While it was disappointing, I know there's a reason God didn't want us traveling last week and now I'm praying for good travel and no illness for both the upcoming trip to Maw Maw's and for our Disney trip in June as well.

I'm downloading a bunch of pics right now so there will be several posts this week documenting our activities from last week (which happened inbetween naps, by the way)...

Dave's all better now (he was taking Nyquil as a precautionary measure, which shortened the length of time he was sick) and so is Tay. I am still dizzy every time I blow my nose or move my head too quickly and can't stop coughing but I guess it'll take some time since I was sick for almost an entire week before getting meds. Yes, I know that wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done...

Spring Break 2009

glitter-graphics.com

We've been counting the days until our Spring Break trip to Louisiana and are super excited that the day is almost here! We're planning to leave early tomorrow morning and will return home on Wednesday so Tay will have a day to relax before going on a mission trip with church on Friday.

On Monday, we're planning to hit New Orleans for beignets, yummy coffee and awesome Cajun food. Even though I don't get to eat it very often, it remains my cuisine of choice. Guess you can take the girl out of Louisiana but can't take Louisiana out of the girl, huh?

The only hiccup in our plan is that I'm sick and have been getting worse daily since Tuesday. Last night I crossed the threshold of 'not feeling well' and headed into Sickville with a fever. I have an appointment at 3pm this afternoon so I'm hoping he can give me a fast-acting shot. :-)

I'm sure we'll have tons of pictures from our little adventure so look for them late next week.

Until then, Happy Spring Break to you!

This One's For My Baylor Friends

One of the fun things I get to do at Baylor is work with the Campus Visits group. They are awesome and so many students tell us that their personal visit is what clenched it for them that Baylor was THE PLACE for them to be. Because this is such a vital cog, the University recently invested a large amount of funds to replace the outdated buses used for tours with new ones that have DVD players, extra capacity and wheelchair lifts.

We had the opportunity to design some bus wraps for them to decorate the new vehicles. The buses have been named 'Joy' and 'Lady' and one is decorated as a spirit/athletic bus while the other is more academic. I snapped a few pics with my phone last week when we went over for Bus Day. 

Although there are no pics of the inside, we did get to hop in and have a look. They are awesome!

Sic 'em!!

Did Not See This One Coming!!

So yesterday was most interesting!  Since I found out in December (when going in for surgery) that my blood pressure was high, I've been slightly (that's an understatement) obsessed with that fact and with getting it down to the point that I can get off of my meds. So far so good - I'm down to only 1/2 of a pill and my pressures are consistently just over 100/55-70. Once they are consistently just under 100 (systolic) I can try to get rid of the meds altogether. Since my nose was so obstructed that it simulated sleep apnea, our doc thinks that's why my bp is high (even though my family history is TERRIBLE) and that it should be back to normal at 6 months post-op...we're right at 3 now so it's good progress.

Moving on...so I'm so obsessed that I bought my own little machine and I ordered the larger cuff online so I could check Dave's pressures. His have always been good but I wanted to make sure this man stays around a long time. So imagine my surprise when the first time I took his it was 183/116. Seriously?!?!

So he went to the doctor today...now when I went back in December, they totally freaked me out by doing an EKG to see if my heart has sustained any damage. Because I worry about everything, I asked - even before they did it - what would happen if they found something. I was assured that it would only be a med change as they would add beta blockers to the mix. Luckily, no damage was found and I was on my way...

Dave also had an EKG today and sent me a text - a text, do you hear me? - from the doctor's office that they found he has indeed had a mild heart attack at some point. To make matters even better, he tells me that he read it himself (there's a healthcare worker for you) as it was coming out of the machine. They think it's rather old and it probably happened when he was riding bulls (ie being drug around the ring unconscious after a nasty experience in the chute) and it's probably nothing to worry about. 

I was so proud of myself because I didn't freak out at all - probably only because I already knew it would just change the treatment course...I mean, it's not like they can fix it now, right? So here's the moral of the story...breaking my nose with that dang deer rifle was a good thing because it all led to us finding out this important piece of information.

Everything truly DOES happen for a reason.

And, yes, we did have a discussion at lunch about how it being in appropriate to deliver that type of news via text. That was right after I gave him a tongue lashing for calling to tell me he couldn't have lunch with me as he was on his way to the hospital for a stat heart cath. It was his little idea of a joke. I mean, really, who would think that was funny?? 

Update: I wrote this yesterday and wanted to fess up to actually freaking out last night even though the post indicates I was cool as a cucumber. Let's just say delayed reaction. 

Tay came home with a (far) less than stellar homework paper on a subject we've discussed over and over. Once she admitted she simply wasn't paying attention, the entire weight of the day just came crashing down. I lost it and was a crying, upset mess...just felt completely helpless with Tay, Dave's situation and the fact that her teacher won't communicate AT ALL didn't help matters...but I'm all better now. I do realize it really wasn't about Tay's homework paper at all and we had a great big hugfest when she got home from gymnastics.

Dave update - so he waited until today to tell me there may be an echo or cath in his future depending on what the cardiologist has to say...so we're waiting...not patiently but still waiting. We are supposed to go see my grandmother next week so I'm praying the EKG will either be benign or the infarct is so old that they think his heart function has stabilized since. I used to work in healthcare and don't remember heart problems being something they just took care of whenever they felt like it so I'm hopeful that the fact we haven't heard anything yet is a good sign. Prayers are greatly appreciated.