A Whole Lot Of Things To Talk About.

Today, I’ve got lots to talk about. Since the last time I blogged lots of things have happened. Christmas, New Year’s, work, etc. So I’ll start by warning you that this will be a lengthy post.

I’ll start with Christmas Eve. This was the first year on Christmas Eve that all of our extended family had other plans for the day. I got home early that morning and we spent most of the day at home. We did make a last minute run to Target to get a few needed things. We ended up leaving there right when they were closing their doors. They even posted people at the doors to make sure no one else came in. After we left there we had Christmas Eve dinner at ……wait for it……..DENNY’s! It wasn’t too bad actually, but Susan & I agreed that we don’t plan to make it a Christmas Eve tradition. A tradition we did decide on for Christmas Eve was to let Joshua open one of his presents that night before bed. He opened a puzzle board. Well, actually I helped him open it. Then came Christmas morning. We all got out of bed at around 8:30am. For me this is very late. I always get up at 6am on Christmas Day, but this year I was sick and the extra rest didn’t bother me too much. Susan’s sister had let us use their video camera that morning. I videoed us going to wake Joshua up for Christmas and then set set it up to record us all opening presents. However, when I setup the camera, I forgot to check the battery power and found out that the camera stopped recording even before the first present was opened. Damn! Well, at least we still took pictures with our regular camera. Joshua was really excited about all his presents and wanted to play with everything. In the afternoon we went to Jeromy & Mandy’s house for Christmas with the family. It was their first Christmas at their new home and they wanted to share it with everyone. We all had a really good time and ate some really good food and got some really awesome presents.

A week later brought New Year’s. Once again I got home early on New Year’s Eve morning. We went out to dinner at Pasado’s with Jeromy & Mandy. We had never been there before, but the food was really quite good. Of course, it’s Mexican food at that’s always good. After dinner, they came over to our house and all of us played on the Wii Fit Susan got for Christmas. Unfortunately, we discovered that we’re all getting older and it’s hard to stay up until midnight. Jeromy & Mandy went home around 11pm, Susan went to bed at 11:30pm & I watched the ball drop and shut the TV off right after and went to sleep too. What a bunch of party animals we are right?

Work has been really slow lately for me. Every week for the past month I have been told that they don’t have a load for me to go out and I end up missing a day or two of work. It’s beginning to become a pain in the pocketbook. We also just got our new insurance cards the other day and our co-pays have changed and not for the better. Not good since we’re always using  our insurance for some reason or other.

Last Thursday was a really lousy day. I had decided I was finally going to put my new hedge trimmer to use. As I was trimming one of our bushes in our front yard my phone rang. I just barely heard it too. I answered and my wife was hysterical on the other end. Joshua’s daycare had called her and told her an ambulance was on the way to the daycare to get him because he had had a febrile seizure during nap time. I dropped everything and jumpped into my car and headed straight to the hospital. Susan & I both arrived there almost at about the same time. We even arrived earlier than the ambulance did. When they got there, Joshua was stripped down naked and only covered by a thin sheet. He was still a little out of it at first, but he slowly came out of it. Sara, the daycare director, rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital so that if he woke up he would see someone he recognised. Susan & I both really appreciated that. I think he’s in an awesome daycare. The people there seem to really truly care about the kids they take care of. Anyway, after waiting in the hallway for what seemed like forever, we finally got put in a room. It so happens, it was the same room Susan’s dad had been in when they found out about his incurable cancer. I guess she’s really strong though cause I know I was having a hard time dealing with it myself. After all was said and done, Joshua was back to his usual self and wanted to get out of there asap. We left around 5:30pm. He and mommy had to stay home on Friday.

Finally, we get to today. Today was my court date for the tickets I received over 2 years ago. On November 23rd, 2006 I hydroplaned into a light post and like a good citizen I reported it to the police. My reward was a fine for reckless driving, an incorrect address on my driver’s license, and no current proof of insurance. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. I went to court the following Monday to plead not guilty to all the charges. I had changed my address on my license before I went there and brought them my current proof of insurance. The license charge was dismissed, but the other 2 remained and a future court date would have to be set for them. It took 2 years and 2 months to finally get my day in court. I went there with my court papers, proof of insurance, and even pictures of the area where the accident took place. I was scheduled in court at 6pm. I sat in the courtroom for about 15mins and the judge called my name. I stood up and the judge said, “All charges have been dismissed. You’re free to go.” And just like that, it was all over. 2 years of waiting was finally over. The police officer who gave me the ticket had not shown up in court so the charges were automatically dropped. Thank God! To celebrate, we went out to Pasado’s for some good ole Mexican food. Too bad I’m sick again and couldn’t taste a thing. It all looked really good though and I did get full. Oh well.

One last thing before I go, I want to congratulate Daniel & Christina on the birth of their baby girl, Isabelle. I’m glad to hear she’s doing well and I look forward to getting to see her in person just as soon as I get over this stupid cold. I’ve seen the pictures though. Again congratulations.

Well, in the words of the famous Porky Pig………Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That’s all folks!

Giving Thanks For Christmas and Family

The past month has been very busy. In the last week of November our water heater stopped working and had to be replaced. It happened right before I was headed out the door to go to work. My brother-in-law came over to help me with replacing it. We rushed to Lowe’s to get a new one. We barely got there before the store was going to close. When we went to remove the old water heater, the drain was plugged up and 50 gallons of water would not drain out. We had to move the thing while it was still full. Not a fun task. Once that fun was over, we went to put the new one in, only to discover that it was shorter than the old one and wouldn’t reach the pipes. Luckily, he had some boards at home and we were able to build up the base below the water heater to lift it up to the height it needed to be.

 Then came Thanksgiving. I got back home from work just in time to head up to the cabin in Arkansas for our holiday weekend. We had lots of fun riding around on the 4 wheelers, shooting fireworks, firing the guns, and even an unexpected trip into town to buy a new air mattress for us to sleep on. The 1st night  we slept on our old mattress and found ourselves on the floor halfway through the night. I discovered a hole in it right below my pillow. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. Okay, we actually didn’t have thanksgiving dinner until Friday night, but that was because we didn’t get up to Arkansas until the late afternoon on Thursday. This year, for  the 1st time, the turkey was deep fried. It turnedout pretty good too. My sister-in-law made my most favorite dessert in the world…… Cherry Cheesecake. It was delicious! Not a single piece was leftover. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we had to head back to reality (and home) on Sunday morning.

This year we decided to buy ourselves a brand new artificial Christmas tree. We’ve been wanting a pre-lit tree for a few years now so this year we went out and got it. It really is an awesome looking tree. My son just stands there looking at the lights and saying, “Wow!” He has been absolutely fascinated by all the Christmas decorations everywhere. Last week, we went to this neighborhood that does a Texas themed Christmas story in the poeple’s yards and Joshua just loved it. There was this one house that welcomed people to get out of their cars and walk through the Christmas Wonderland they had in their yard. The decorations were fantastic. Joshua was so excited that he was bouncing up and down and waving his hands all over the place.

I’m glad Joshua’s enjoying the holidays. He gave us another scare last week. On Monday I was busy putting up our Christmas lights on the house when I got a call from his daycare. They told me that he was running a fever and that he had thrown up and asked if I could come and pick him up. When I got there, he was sleeping in the office area, away from the other children, and he was burning up. I brought him home and all he wanted to do was sleep. When his mom came home she woke him up and took his temperature. It was 103 F. We were in the middle of deciding whether or not to take him to urgent care when he threw up all over my wife. I brought him to the bathroom to clean him up while she went and cleaned herself up. He threw up again in the sink. Once he was done we immediately got him in the truck and headed toward the hospital. But the worse was yet to come. As soon as we got to the end of our block Joshua began having a seizure in his Mommy’s arms. That scared the crap out of us. I began to panic, but saw that my wife was really losing it and becoming extremely panicked. I pulled myself together and tried to remain calm while trying to calm her at the same time. We managed to hit almost every light red! I was getting annoyed. My wife had me call her mother on the way to the hospital and she in turn called the hospital to let them know we were coming.  Finally, we got to the urgent care and they took us right away. They ran tests, took blood, x-rayed him and said he was going to be just fine. Thank God! The next day he was as happy as could be and seemed to be himself again.

Well, Christmas is only a week away. I’ve actually already completed all of my Christmas shopping this year. Except for the stocking stuffers. I can’t wait to see my son’s reaction to all the presents under the tree and getting to open them. I’ll probably post again that day or the day after. Now it’s time to get back to my job. Hopefully, my load is ready by now.

Holiday! Celebrate!

Before I start telling about everything that’s happened this month I’d like to take a moment to wish everyone a joyous holiday season to come. I hope that everyone is very blessed with many wonderful moments with all of their loved ones. Ok that’s enough mush for now.

Since I last blogged Halloween has come and gone. My son dressed up as a pirate and went out trick-o-treating with his mommy, who dressed as a scary monster. I had to work on Halloween, so I wasn’t able to go out with them. Our lil’ pirate did bring home lots and lots of treasure, um..er.. candy. He’s kinda young for some of the candies he got, but that’s ok. Mommy and Daddy have been taking care of those candies. He also went to the pumpkin patch again this year. My wife got some really good pictures of him that matched the one’s from last year. She put last year’s and this year’s pictures side-by-side and has posted them on our Flickr account so everyone can see them. Actually, we’ve taken lots of pictures lately and she’s really backed up on editing them. Yesterday, we went with the Howards to Bass Pro Shop to get pictures of their kids & Joshua with Santa Claus. Santa had a real beard and Mrs. Claus was even there. Joshua walked almost all the way up to Santa, but stopped cold about 2 feet away and just stared. He just didn’t know what to make of Santa. Finally, Mommy walked over and sat him in Santa’s lap. He got his picture taken and was given a candy cane. While we were there, he also got to decorate a pinecone with glitter. Actually, mommy did it, but he sat and watched.

Two weeks ago my schedule at work was changed. I used to work Wed. – Sun. Now I work Tues. – Sat. So now I’m able to be off with my family on Sunday’s and go do things with them. Another thing the schedule change did was to allow me to start going to church with my wife & son. I think my wife is really glad about that. It’s a little unusual for me. Before recently, I hadn’t gone to church on a regular basis since I was a kid. I feel a bit out of place right now, but I’m sure I’ll come around and be comfortable soon enough.

Our house has been a mess for along time. Finally, I just couldn’t take it anymore. So, 3 weeks ago we began gathering up laundry from all areas of the house and washing clothes like crazy. We sorted though mail and other papers, and threw away alot of clutter. It’s still an on going process, but the place is starting to look better. We still have the spare bedroom we haven’t even touched yet, but that’s a project that’s going to take time. There’s things in there that need to be stored, sold, or just plain gotten rid of. Once the whole house is in order, we’ll probably start working on redecorating the front bathroom and the office. The wallpaper in both rooms needs to go. I’m not sure what we will be doing to redecorate them, but I’m sure we’ll work something out.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and we’re planning to spend it at the cabin in Arkansas with my wife’s family. Their going to be deep frying a turkey. That’ll be different. I’ve always had my turkey oven baked. The last time I went to Arkansas during the month of November it was so cold I thought we were going to freeze to death. That was back before the cabin was built and we were sleeping in tents. Now if it gets too cold we can just turn the heater on. I love electricty, don’t you? Anyway, there might be one possible snag in our plans, but I’m not sure just yet. I don’t know if my work is going to have me come back in that Friday or if I’ll be able to be off that entire weekend. I won’t know until the end of next week. Everyone keeps asking me what my schedule is going to be and I can only tell them, “I wish I knew.”

Christmas is right around the corner too. We’ve already bought a few of our people their presents, but there’s still so much to get. I want to give my son the type of Christmas’ I always had. My parents never left me or my sister wanting for anything on Christmas Day. I want to make sure my son always feels the same way on Christmas. My dad always decorated the whole house, inside and out. It’ll take along time before I have as many Christmas decorations as my dad does, but at least we still have a really nice tree and cool candy cane decorations for the outside of our house. Last year’s Christmas was cool. This year’s is going to be awesome. By the way, if you can’t tell, Christmas is my favorite time of year. Hands down.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got this go round. I’ll be back again sometime soon.

Breakdown & Take A Vacation

Currently I’m sitting at a TA truckstop in Shreveport, LA. I’ve now got some time on my hands now to catch up on my blog since my truck has broken down here and the only maintenance guy they have is away on a roadside service call and won’t be back for awhile. Lucky me. At least I was at a truckstop when it happened and I’m not stuck on the side of the freeway somewhere. The truck has an air leak coming from under the cab and the air pressure for my brakes became dangerously low.

Anyway, enough about the truck. On Sept. 27th we finally got to go on the vacation we’ve been planning for over a year. It was awesome. We went on a road trip from Fort Worth, TX and our first stop was in Flagstaff, AZ. We spent only one night there, but that was more than enough for all of us. The hotel we stayed at sucked. The A/C didn’t work & the night manager’s solution was to tell us to sleep with the window open. This hotel has a bar attached to it and we have two 16 month old kids with us in the room and he suggests sleeping with the window open. What a jerk. He did tell us that we’d get a discount on the room for our troubles, but when we went to check out of the room the day manager told us that the A/C is new & that it works just fine & that we wouldn’t be getting a discount. After my wife told her a few choice words we left there and headed out to find us some breakfast. We ended up at the Galaxy Diner. It took a long time to get seated, but when we did the waitress took our order and brought it to us in a timely manor. However, when our cousin, Christina went to put syrup on her pancakes she discovered the hard way that the lid was not screwed on the container and hot syrup poured all over her. I got up and ask a server for a wet towel  and gave it to her to help clean up the mess. During all this, not one person came to check on us and see what was going on. At least when they finally did come over the did comp her meal and brought us a free chocolate shake. Let’s just say we won’t be visiting Flagstaff again anytime soon.

Our next stop was at Hoover Dam. We only stopped for about 30 minutes. Just long enough to take a few pictures. It was 101 degrees there and no one wanted to hang around too long in that heat. We left there and headed for Las Vegas. We spent 2 days at the Stratosphere in Vegas and didn’t gamble at all. With 2 little boys in tow it’s kind of hard to do. Instead, we went and toured the sights and did alot of shopping and souvenir buying. I think I probably had more fun doing that than I would have blowing all of our money in the casinos.

After Leaving Las Vegas, (yes, I had to through that in), we headed to my parents house in Walnut, CA. It was my Dad’s 65th birthday and we where there as a surprise to him. That evening, we went to the Pirate’s Dinner Adventure. It was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. The next day we went on a tour of Hollywood in a double decker bus. The tour was okay, but lasted too long. We were all a little tired of it by the time it was over. The hotel we stayed at was awesome! We stayed at the Best Western in Rowland Heights for those 2 nights. The room was huge and the bed was very comfortable.

Next on our trip was San Diego, CA. We stayed there for 2 days at the LaQuinta. It was a nice hotel, but nothing real fancy. On our 1st day we went to Seaport Village and took the Land & Sea Tour. That was probably my favorite thing we did on our trip. The tour is on a bus that becomes a boat. It was cool to go from the land to the water in the same vehicle. After the tour we did some shopping in the village and ate outside at a little mexican cantina. When we were done there, we headed to the beach and let the boys play in the sand and get their feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. on day 2 in San Diego we went to the zoo. I’m not the biggest fan of the zoo, but everyone else wanted to go, so I was out numbered. At least we did get a really good caricature picture drawn of my son.

From San Deigo we drove to Las Cruces, NM and spent the night at a Quality Inn. The hotel was brand new and had only been built ealy this year. It had all the usual things you’d expect to find in a hotel, but there was also a LCD tv hanging on the bedroom wall and a phone in the bathroom. However, the night wasn’t so restful. Our son decided this was going to be the night he didn’t want to go to sleep. He fought and fought until my wife finally had to load him up in the car and take him for a drive until he finally went to sleep. The next morning, of course, he didn’t want to wake up because he was still so tired.

After that, we headed back home and vacation was over. Now it’s time for the holidays to begin. Oh boy, will the fun ever stop? Anyway, That’s enough for now. I’m still sitting here waiting for the guy to show up and fix my truck so I can get moving again. Bye for now.

All The Fun A Month Can Handle.

It’s been a month since my last post. So, in no particular order, here’s what’s been going on.

Joshua had his surgeries on Aug. 18th and everything turned out good. He did put up the biggest fuss of his life (so far) when he came out from the anesthesia. Who knew a 15 month old could be so strong. I was beginning to think the doctor gave him super human strengthwhile they were at it. But, witha little time and a little morphine he settled back down and was his old playful self in no time. One of the nurses there gave Joshua a little teddy bear to take home with him. He absolutely loves that thing. He hugs it and calls it his ‘baby’ all the time. Anyway, since the tubes were put in his ears he seems to be picking up on words better and has begun repeating some of the things we say. So now people need to start watching what they say or he just might repeat it! But the cutiest thing is that when I leave to go to work he says, “Bye Bye Daddy.”, and waves to me too. In the mornings he’s all about giving hugs and kisses. And he opens his arms as wide as he can to give you those hugs. He has caught himself a cold about 4 or 5 days ago and has been congested and had a runny nose. He’s starting to get better though. Yesterday, I took a few pictures and a couple videos of him playing ball in our front yard with Mommy, Daddy, Nana, & our Great Dane, Chanci. It was a beautiful day outside and we could see wasting it couped up in the house the whole time.

I know yesterday was Sunday and usually I’m working but, here’s what happen that got me home a day early. On Wednesday night I was sent down to Harlingen, TX and than sent back to Dallas, TX the next day. When I got here Friday morning Hurricane Ike was heading for the Texas coastline. My company told me they weren’t sending anyone in that direction and gave me a load going to El Paso, TX instead. I left to go there Friday afternoon and when I arrived they already had a load waiting the to come back to Dallas, TX. I got back at 2am Sunday morning and was told that I was done for the week. I also put my truck in the shop to get some minor things done to it. The repairs weren’t major, but I figured since there was no parking available where I normally put my truck I might as well park it at the shop and get the wipers replaced and have them fix my broken armrest.

I did do something yesterday that I haven’t done in a very long time. I went to church! My wife and son went last week with her sister’s family to their church and said it was nice and that Joshua behaved really well. She asked me since I was going to be home this time if I wanted to go. My experiences in the past with the church has not always been great. But I felt it would be wrong for me not to go when wife and son were going to be going. The experience wasn’t too bad. The Bible study part was a little annoying though. The reader kept going so fast I couldn’t keep up. The service itself was okay. It might have been better, but my well behaved son of last week was nowhere to be found this week. Instead, we brought a talkative and fussy Joshua this week. My wife had to take him out of church twice. I do believe, however, that if given another Sunday off, I probably would go back again. The people there seemed really friendly and the parts of the service that I was able to pay attention to seemed nice too.

As a quick side note, I’d like to say that I hope everyone along the Gulf Coast is able to get all the help and support they need. My company has a service center in Houston, TX, Beaumont, TX, and New Orleans, LA. I hope they all weathered the storm well and that Hurricane Ike didn’t cause them too much grief. For all those who did not fare so well, my heart and prayers go out to you and I hope that the future ahead will look brighter soon.

On Sept. 6th, my mother-in-law got married. The wedding was held at a park inside a huge picnic area. It was a nice wedding, but I must say, I have never been to a more unusual wedding in all my life. See her new husband belongs to a biker gang. So, on the bride’s side you have casually dressed people and on the groom’s side you have t-shirts, jeans and leather. I must admit though, I think the biker guys were all a really great bunch of people. They were all really friendly and seemed to be a close knit group of people. One of the bikers was ordained and performed the ceremony. The music was a very wide variety of songs. Everything from classic rockto modern rock to even country music was played during the event. And yes, the bride and groom rode off from the wedding on a motorcycle. Congratulations to the both of them. I hope you both make each other happy for many, many years to come.

And for the grand finally. This morning I got up as usual with my wife and went and got our son ready for her to bring him to daycare. I brought him outside, put him in his car seat, started the car and when my wife was ready she came out and drove off with him on her way to work. However, she had locked me out of the house when she left. I ran to the street yelling and waving my hands like a mad man. She never saw me. I hope none of my neighbors did either. I didn’t have my keys, my phone, or my wallet on me. I was truly locked out. I tried all the windows and they were all locked tight. I tried to jimmy open the lock on the front and back door. Still no luck. I finally decided if I was going to get in I’d have to break in. But I didn’t want to break any of our windows. So, since I knew the front door was only locked by a regular lock and not the deadbolt lock I knocked it in. That’s right I broke down my own front door. I was actually amazed how easy it was. I hit it with my shoulder somewhere around 5 to 7 times and the lock mechanism inside the door snapped in two. That is why you should always use the deadbolt. I was able to replace the lock and the door works just fine again.  The door did splinter a little bit, but only in the frame and not too badly. From now on I’m bringing my keys with me whenever I step out that door.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll post more again sometime soon.

I’m In Shock! I Got A Weekend at Home!

  So, I went to work Wednesday night and drove from Dallas, TX to Little Rock, AR to Memphis, TNto Jackson, TN to Dallas, TX to Houston, TX and finally back to Dallas, TX again. I was back home at 7:30am Saturday morning.  I got home and went to bed to sleep for a little while. That little while ended about 2 hours after it began. My son started fussing with his mom over and over again. Then I got a call from my work asking me why I went home. I knew someone was going to drop the ball and this was going to happen. I was able to fix the mess up and still have the weekend off. Actually, I don’t have to go back to work again until Wednesday night.

  On Friday morning I had to go and take my DOT physical. My Medical card had expired the day before and they told me I had to get it done now or I wouldn’t be driving anywhere until I got it done. My wife came and picked me up from my work annd took me to Doctor’s office. We were there for less than an hour. They weighed me, measured my height, checked my blood pressure, tested my flexability, heckedmy eyesight, and had me do a urine test. I passed all of it and get my new medical card. After it was over Susan and I when to IHOP for breakfast and had some good food but received lousy service. She took me back to my truck and I went straight to sleep.

  This Monday Joshua has his surgeries. He will be knocked out for the 2 proceedures. He has to have tubes put in his ears and his circumcision redone. He’s not going to be a happy camper for awhile after that.ight now he and his mommy are both napping. He was supposed to nap, and she paased out from dealing with his fussiness so far today. However his sleep time is almost over. I hear him over the baby monitor sturring in his room. I guess the fun is about to begin again.

  Our vacation at the end of September is a sure thing now. We now have all the money we need for the trip. All of the hotels are booked. All of the plans are made. And the minivan is reserved. I can’t wait for it to get here. I think everyone needs this vacation really badly. I know I sure do. Stress at work and with bills and other things have tested my limits of sanity. And on top of all that my wife was let go from her job almost 2 weeks ago. I’d love it if we could live as a single income family, but it just can’t be done. Plus, Susan would go nuts spending most of her time at home everyday. She’s an out-and-about type person. Definitely not a homebody. She’s had some interviews but so far no one’s hired her yet. It seems like everyone I know is looking for work. I know at least 5 people looking for a job. I’m glad at this point my job seems pretty secure.

  Well, Joshua’s waking up and jabbering in his bedroom. It’s time to get him out of his bed and let him join the real world again. Anyway, I hope this keeps people content until the next time.

Babble, Babble, Babble

It’s been close to a month since my last post so, I guess it’s time to play catch up. Let’s see, where to start. I guess I’ll start with my son. He’s going to be 14 months old on the 19th. He walks all over the place now. He is also learning how to climbnow. Yesterday we all came home from dinner and my wife & I sat down on the couch. To both of our surprise, Joshua grabbed hold and pulled himself right up on the couch and sat down with us. That was a new trick. I also had to lower his mattress in his crib another notch. Seems he was able to get his foot almost to the top of the rail. Speak of his mattress, My son keeps getting bitten while he’s sleeping. We thought it might be bed bugs, but after trying all the recommended remedies to kill bed bugs and zipping the mattress in a vinyl mattress cover he’s still getting bites on him. Heck, I even tried vaccuuming the entire room from top to bottom. He’s got so many little bites on his arms, legs, and head that it’s hard to tell if the bites are old one’s or new one’s. At least we have an ointment to put on the bites to stop him from itching.

Tomorrow Joshua’s got an E.N.T. appointment. He’s had lots of ear infections since he was born and it may be time for tubes to be put in his ears. He’s seen his pediatrician more times than I can remember due to having ear infections. We’ve tried all types of medications and his ears just keep getting infected.

Joshua also keeps coming home from his daycare with a really bad diaper rash. We get it all cleared up on the weekends and when I pick him up for daycare on Monday evening the rash is back. I keep telling everyone I think he’s allergic to the butt paste his daycare lady uses but no one seems to be listening.

In August, Joshua goes to the urologist to have his circumcision redone. When he was born, the doctor didn’t do a very good job the first time. And being that this is kinda giving out more info then anyone needs to know, we’ll just move on from this topic.

Boy, you’d think with all that’s happening to my son he’d have fallen apart by now. Thank God he hasn’t. He’s really is quite healthy actually. He eats well and drinks lots of liquids, he plays with all of his toys, he laughs and screams alot, and he babbles all the time. Some of the babbling sounds like actual words too. Some of the things he can say are, “daddy”, “mama”, ”atches”(Patches, our cat), “anci”(Chanci, our dog), and “juice”. We’re just so proud of our little guy. He is truly a blessing.

As for other things in life, well… the job’s good. I just received a small raise in pay 3 weeks ago. It’s just a little more money we can use to save for our upcoming vacation with the Spencer’s to California in 2 1/2 months. I think everyone’s really excited about it and ready to have some fun. We’ve already booked some hotel rooms and the car rental. Our plans change here and there, but not too much. It’ll be nice to get to see my parents and my sister again. They haven’t seen Joshua since he was less than a month old. It’s also going to be my Dad’s 65th birthday. Supposedly, he’s not aware we’re coming. So far during our road trip we plan to stop in Flagstaff, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA(and the surrounding area); San Diego, CA; and Las Cruces, NM. It’s going to be quite an adventure.

Anyway, it’s late and I need to get headed off to la-la-land. I have a busy day tomorrow and won’t get much sleep before I head back to work. Until later.

Stuck at 65mph and in a hurry!

Do you want to know what will make you hate having a rig that’s governed at 65mph more than anything else in the world? Try being on the phone with your wife and the last thing you hear before it hangs up is, “Oh my God! Something’s wrong with Joshua! I gotta go!” And than try calling back numerous times only to go straight to her voicemail. I think I lost a few years off my life due to panicing.

Finally, my mother-in-law called me and told me that she was on her way to our house. My wife was on the phone with 911 and that’s why I couldn’t get through. My son had had a seizure and an ambulance was already at our house. After a few more minutes my sister-in-law called me to tell me that she too was on the way to our house and that my wife and son are on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. At last my wife called me to tell me that Joshua was going to be fine. They took him and her to the hospital for observation.

I was already heading toward Dallas, TX from Shreveport, LA. I had left there at about 6:00pm. I got the 1st call from my wife at about 6:30pm and  I was still about 160 miles from home. I got to the Dallas operating center at 9:00pm, dropped off the rig and was in my car by 9:15pm. My car is NOT governed at 65mph and I drive a Camaro. I got to the hospital in about 15 mins and it’s about 25 miles from my work.

When I got to my son’s room he was sound asleep in the hospital bed and we were waiting for the doctor to check him out. He slept really well too, until the doctor began checking him out. At that point he was not a happy camper anymore. It took 2 nurses, and his mommy to hold him down for them to draw blood from him. Once that ordeal was over he calmed back down and went back to sleep.

So, here’s what the doctor says happened to him. He has an ear infection in his right ear, possibly both ears, but he wasn’t able to get a good look at the left ear because Joshua wouldn’t stay still long enough. The ear infection had caused his temperature to spike up really fast and that’s what caused his seizure. He also said they believe Joshua my have had 2 seizures, one right after the other. The 1st one would have been in his crib while he was asleep and the 2nd one was on his changing table. He gave us a prescription for the ear infection and told us to have him see his regular doctor this week for a check-up. We left the hospital at about midnight.

All day Sunday and so far today he has been just fine. His check-up is set for tomorrow. I’m just glad he’s ok. I know there are going to be plenty more scares to come, but I hope they are few and along way away. Thanks to everyone who helped us out that night. We are greatful to all of you.

Well, I’m done for now. Hopefully next time I blog it won’t be as exciting.

A New Chapter In Life.

On Feb. 29th, 2008 a new member was added to the Lackey family. Jeromy married Mandy. They finally took the leap. The wedding was very well done and the reception was awesome. I was grateful that Joshua didn’t make too big of a fuss during the ceremony. I was afraid he would go into a tantrum and we would have to step out. I am very happy for the newlyweds and believe they have a wonderful life ahead of them. Welcome to the family, Mandy!

During their ceremony I couldn’t help but stare at my wife and remember our wedding day. It was so perfect. Everything was the way we planned it. Well, except for the music not playing during our reception. But nobody even noticed. And of course, we were duped by our family and had our car was trashed. (I still find bird seed to this day!) All in all there isn’t anything I would change. I married a wonderful woman and got a great family out of it.

Family is one of the most important things in the world. They’re there through good times and bad. Happy times and sad. Sure, there are times when they drive you crazy and make you wonder,”Why me?”, but they are also the first ones to come to your aid when you need a helping hand, and care for you in your times of need.  At times they can make you want to pull your hair from your head. But they are also the best friends you’ll ever have. I know all this because I’m lucky enough to be part of that kind of a wonderful family.

I think I’ll leave it with this. Enjoy life! It’s the only one you get on this planet!

Life’s Latest and Greatest Adventures.

6 months ago I wrote, “There will be more to come later.” Well, it’s later now.

Since I last updated on here many things have happened in my life. My son is now 7 1/2 months old. He weighs 20lbs and is a few inches over 2 feet tall. Joshua also has his 2 front teeth and is eating baby food. He sits up all by himself, but still won’t crawl. He really is the most awesome thing that has ever happened in my life. I love my family. 4 years ago I met the most wonderful woman in the world. 1 year and 8 months ago she became my wife. 1 1/2 years ago we bought our 1st home. And on May 19, 2007 we became parents. If someone had told me 5 years ago that this was going to happen to me, I would have told them they were crazy. Of course there’s been a few bumps in the road along the way. Nothing’s perfect. However, when I look at my life at this point in time I realize that my life has turned out better than I ever thought it would.  

Moving on…. On Labor Day weekend Joshua got to spend time at the cabin in Arkansas. For Halloween Joshua got to go out trick or treating with lots of friends and family. He also went to the pumpkin patch and got to help with carving the pumpkin(sort of). For Thanksgiving Joshua got to have turkey(baby food style). He and Susan also went back to the cabin again that weekend. I had to work, so I couldn’t go. 2 weeks ago Susan, Joshua and I celebrated our 1st Christmas as a family. It was absolutely wonderful. Joshua got so many presents. And the pictures we took show how excited he was. Now as far as bringing in the New Year, well, that was just way past his bedtime.

As far as my job goes, well, it’s not what it was anymore. After a shift bid in October I lost my being home everyday due to my low seniority level. I had to take what was left that would still pay the bills. Now I work Wednesday night through late Sunday night. I don’t get to much time with my family. The next shift bid is in April and I’m hoping to at least get weekends off again. I still like the company I work for. It’s just going to take time to get the seniority I need to be back to being home everyday again.

Anyway, it’s late and I’ve got to be up early to drive. Take care y’all.