Someday I'll take more pictures with my real camera

But my phone is always closer. I just love looking at her curly hair. She won't let me play with it unless she's asleep.

I can do it myself!

Kisses!

Nom nom nom nom nom nom

Kiernan started laughing and ran to get the phone

It will be a happy day when we don't have an alarm system any more. I'm tired of it going off for no reason.

They found that little 6 year old Vegas boy tonight wandering the streets. I'm wondering if the police will return the poor guy to his family.

Holy Crow! I know I felt puffy after the IV but I've gained 10 lbs in water! EEK!!!

And done

Dad update

So, dad called today. Why is that unusual? Because he only calls me when he’s in the hospital. Guess where he is; in the hospital. I asked him why he had been admitted and he said he didn’t know. “So they just started calling random vets and let them know it was their turn to be admitted?” “No, I came to get checked out and they admitted me.” But he still doesn’t know why. “I was having some shortness of breath, that’s all.”

C: Is it because of all the water you’re retaining?
D: No, they’re taking care of that and it’s much better.
C: Is it your hernia?
D: No, it’s not that.
C: Are you going to get your hernia repaired?
D: No, it doesn’t hurt.
C: How can it not hurt, dad. I would think it was getting infected?
D: It doesn’t hurt, it just looks stupid.
C: Maybe it’s your conjoined twin? Why don’t you get it taken care of?
D: Because I cough so much that I’d just end up spreading my guts all over town.
C: Ewww
D: Yeah, all 27 feet of them

The VA has two new doctors from Lithuania and they seem to think it’s *something* and decided to admit him. But he doesn’t know why. I gave him what he called for in the first place which was my sister’s telephone number, told him I loved him and that I’d talk to him later.

And here I sit at work shaking my head. Seriously, I don't know what keeps him going.

Mommy is taller so her legs are longer

And a rainbow colored roof & apple tree

Alexia's House has hearts for windows

Mommy in her pretty party dress

Lexy in her pretty party dress

Actually 2 trees

Not quite the right way

Pinky tails & bunny blanket

All the ingredients for a cute girl in the morning

I watched the debate & I'm still uncommitted

Yay! We got to see "Papa" on our way home. Lexy said "Papa? I LIKE PAPA!!"

Alexia's Elevator

We take turns closing the doors and pressing the buttons

Sick at home--day 2

Yesterday I didn't have a voice. Today I have a voice but am really dizzy. No fun :(

Blood and bones

Lexy has moved from blood to bones. What are bones? What is inside and what are they made of? She's told me a few times they're full of blood but today she told me they had seeds in them (in addition to blood). Oh yeah? Why do they have seeds? So they can grow! Very smart.

Obama is coming to the UNR quad tomorrow. The quad must be a Secret Service nightmare.

Lexy is very interested in blood, hers to be specific. She wants to know where it comes from and why she has it

I climbed up the wall all by myself!

A bumped knee to match with her elbow

Owie at the park

We visited a new baby babboon tonight and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures.

Who *is* that mysterious belly dancer?

This was after she dragged the veil all over the floor

We just received a HUGE bag of fresh peaches! YUM!

All done with her shots

She does not care for the doctor now. She is never ever, ever going there again.

Lexy's getting shots today and I didn't have the heart to tell her. Luckily, Mike is going to take her so I don't have to see the needles

Lexy is in the back seat singing Diarrhea Diarrhea Diarrhea. Huh?

This morning my scale read 162. That's 30 pounds lighter than this time last year :)

Pacing..waiting for the Easy Bake Oven

The Great Reno Balloon Race is here!

Cheese in the morning Part Deux

Cheese in the mornin

"I want a hot air balloon!" Lexy demanded this morning. "I want one NOW!" Yes, Verruca.

Nevada is such a funny place. This time last year it was still blazing hot from sun up to sun down. I had to wear a sweatshirt this morning.

Princess Lexy heading home from Gwamma's

The Pillow Master

My mother can't play Uno

I have to give her a little credit (she had been drinking quite a bit) but my mother can't play Uno. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNO_(game) She says there's no strategy to the game but if the suit is blue and you don't have any blue cards, don't use your wild card to change the color to blue. And that being said, don't do it multiple times. Uno is a fun game but hysterical when you play it with her.

Blondies and Bubbles

From my reunion--Photos by Dede Miller

I don't want to jinx things but...

Lexy has now been sleeping in underwear for 8 days and hasn't had one accident. I know that means she'll have one tonight but in the meantime, she's doing AWESOME!!

ANGRY MAN NO LIKE KIDS!!!

SIT ON COUCH, BE SILENT! ! !

I GO HOME! ANGRY MAN GOES HOME!

ANGRY MAN SAYS EAT YOUR LUNCH!!

NOW YOU MAKE FUN OF MY BREATH!!

PAY NO ATTENTION TO MY NINJA!

WHY DO YOU LAUGH AT ME?!!

You never know what will set Angry Man off

A day in the life of Angry Man begins

Stop looking down on me.

Checking out the geese

I remember what I was doing 4 years ago today. Happy Birthday Alexia!

I think I need a plumber

Twas the night before the birthday party

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for Kiernan throwing up.

Chant with me now "Please don't be the flu, please don't be the flu, please don't be the flu!!"

Day 2 of Lexy sleeping in underwear was a SUCCESS!

She did it! I woke her up saying Lexy, you did it! You slept all night in underwear! She replied I took a picture of a poopy! Not quite awake.

It was Lexy's first night sleeping in underwear. I wonder how she did.

The halls open today. I woke up this morning with a panic attack at 3:30 and now I'm really tired. It's gonna all be ok, right?

It's been 20 years!

How time flies. My 20 year high school reunion was this weekend so I thought I'd blog it before the week of insanity begins. I gotta tell you, I was very apprehensive about going. Most of the people who logged into the myevents.com site were people I only knew by name and had never spoken to. I had a performance on Friday night so I missed the Friday night "Debauchery." Saturday night was the dinner and dancing and Sunday the BBQ. Like in true Carver fashion, we were very late to the events on both days. I said hi to a few people I recognized as we tried to find a chair so we could eat dinner. When I came to the person I thought I'd be eating with there weren't any chairs left. However, the people in those chairs were people I didn't know were coming and I was so happy to see them. We found a place to sit and eat and made some chit chat then made our way back over to the original table we stopped at. Tracey Fuhrman was the first to come over and give me a huge hug. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her face. I had seen her bio on the events site and I smiled thinking about her but when I saw her I was absolutely giddy. Best hug ever! Then it was Jennifer Dunn. She and I lost touch even before high school ended but seeing her again also made me smile. It was a great evening. I found myself dancing to lots of memorable songs but kept stopping to talk. Then dancing. Then talking. All in the same place. Guess what? 80's music, while it brings back memories of high school, sucks to dance to. Blech! Dan Dement grabbed my hand to dance to a Duran Duran song and on the dance floor I had to confess that I really couldn't stand them. He was nice enough to point out my bleached out Duran Duran jeans (bleached with all their names in it). I just found a bag of Duran Duran pins out in the garage when I was going through boxes a few weeks ago. I was tempted to wear them but it went away. Jennifer Barnes Parlane was blond and for a brief moment I didn't recognize her but I don't see how I could have missed that; she looks just the same. Jeff Barr came up from Phoenix for the reunion. It was super great seeing him plus then Mike had someone to talk to. Poor Mike. We'd be standing around in a group then suddenly the perfect song would come on and someone would grab my hand to go dance. The whole feel of this reunion was different than the 10 year. At the 10 year it was like people felt they had something to prove. At this one people were just themselves and had a great time.

As we left the BBQ today, Ross stopped and said, "This was fun!" He said with so many of us living locally, we should try and get together for a yearly BBQ. We'd invite the out of towners but the locals could still get together and hang. I hope it works out.

"I'm a pretty pony!"

"Clippity Clop, Clippity Clop. Such a pretty pony, Clippity Clop, Clippity Clop." Yes, that's what it sings.

The most beautiful Mermaid

Lexy's "beautiful" Mermaid. You can see her head, face and arms and her loooooong tail and fins. Her teacher made a photocopy of her original before she colored it in. It is truly a masterpiece.

I know I have a lot of stuff on my floor

But I don't remember seeing this before I left

I LOVE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

From the backseat of my car comes the chant All Hail Lexy!

HOORAY and BOOOOO

Booooooo=My next door neighbor's house finally sold. They are nice, quiet neighbors and I will be sad to see them go. Also "Boo" because I wanted their house so bad. The housing market is so terrible that after starting their house for $310k they finally sold it for $240k. I wanted it bad!! Their house is so beautiful and the upgrades they've made are spectacular.

Hooray=No more crazy grandson coming over to the neighborhood!!! YES!

Lexys massive digger

Bounce House we waited 20 minutes for

Yin Yang on fire

Definition of a great night

Pink & purple hair with a unicorn & cotton candy on top

It matches with her hair

Disney Night on the Quad

Lexy and I aren't getting out of bed today except to get food or go potty It's 2:30 and our plan has worked thus far

Kiss for you

Asha has their own Flickr site

Go and see for yourself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28386136@N02/

We're wireless! A friend of Mike's gave us a wireless router Our laptop and Wii are online now I LOVE IT!

Bye Bye carseat and Hello booster seat Now it will be even easier for Lexy to kick her brother

Lexy cried for nearly 10 minutes because I didn't pack Mac and Cheese in her lunch So much for mixing it up

So sad :(

This past Saturday we decided to head over to the pool in Sun Valley for some RnR. We decided to call up Kiernan's best friend to see if he wanted to go and swim then spend the night. Arrangements were made and we met him and his mom at the pool for the exchange. We had lots of fun (it's a cute little pool) and it was not as crowded as we thought it would be. A few hours later we piled into the car and headed home. As we drove the road between Sun Valley to Golden Valley we started talking with the boys about school starting (today the 7th) and as we drove past the North Valleys High School we talked about how they both would be going to that school.
I hear this quiet voice in the back seat,"I don't know if I'll be going to that school. We might be moving." I think there was a collective WHAT?! from Mike, Kiernan and myself. He followed up with that his parents are getting a divorce. "They've been fighting a lot lately." A few seconds went by and I said, "Honey, just because your parents are fighting doesn't mean they're getting divorced." I hear his quiet voice again, "My dad told me they were getting divorced. We're (meaning his mom and brother too) living with (I think he said his uncle) now because they're separated and dad is living at the house by himself."
My heart was aching and my eyes filled up with tears. I think I heard him say something about how he didn't know what school he was going to end up at. I wish I could have thought of something to say to him but how do you reassure an 8 year old that it's going to be ok? In hindsight I wish I had thought to say to him, "No matter what happens, it's not your fault" or something!
That night I talked to Kiernan for awhile about it because we were both pretty bummed out by it. Both Mike and I come from divorced families (heck, in my case a two divorce family) and it just really hit home. I remember when my mom was a single parent raising two kids and I know it was hard. A big difference with them is that his dad is super involved with the boys and will still be in his life as a presence. My dad just fell off the face of the planet.

Watching kitty TV

I'm awake!!!

The smokes from the Northern California fires just came in through our swamp cooler and set our fire alarms off. I about jumped out of my skin.

Happy 4th of July to you. Patriotic songs always make me weepy.

I'm not sleeping in my room anymore!

I'm going to sleep on the floor! And she folded up a blanket under her head, covered up and fell asleep immediately.

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Today is Kiernan's 9th birthday! Nine years ago I was 2 weeks overdue and miserable. I had been laid off of work and my last day was to be when I had Kiernan. The co-worker I had been covering for had been on vacation and the joke was that I couldn't go into labor until she got back. Well, on June 30th she got back and I was having contractions at work. Talk about timing!

When I woke up on the morning of June 30, 1999 I knew it was the day. I wasn't having contractions yet but the strangest thing happened. I was drifting in and out of sleep and heard Mike get up to jump in the shower. I'm sure it was the door needing some WD-40 but as he shut the bathroom door I distinctly heard a child's voice say the word, "Momma." It startled me awake. I told Mike, "Today is the day!" and told him what I heard. He just looked at me like riiiiiight. All day I wrote down my contractions on sticky notes (stacking one on top of the next) until finally I called the doctor's office. Come on in!

It was a rough night but 23 hours after my water broke we had Kiernan! Mike and I both cried. And Kiernan peed on the mean nurse. I remember mom telling me she had to go into work to fill out a leave slip and her boss challenged her about putting in for family sick leave. "I have amniotic fluid on my sandal! I'm putting in for sick leave!"

We were driving to Kiernan's party on Sunday and I mentioned to Mike about how having a baby naturally is pretty exciting. He was like, are you nuts? I pointed out that with Alexia the doctor was more like, "What are you doing next Thursday at 8am?" With Kiernan there was the day of contraction counting, calling my mom to pick me up, my water breaking the instant I called Mike to tell him I was in labor, the hospital stay....and Mike interjected, "And me yelling at the doctor and nurses." Yeah, we could have done without that.

And nine years later we have a funny little boy who dances around singing, "babycakes, babycakes, babycakes", thinks everything should be spanked, "like a pepperoni", tells me every day, "I'm boooooooooooooored!", I hear "LEXY!! Mooooooom!!! Lexy is *insert annoying thing his sister does to him here*" a few times a week and everywhere we go he asks, "Will Logan (his cousin) be there?" He's everything I wanted in a baby boy. It's his last year in the single digits and only a few years away from his teens. I hope he stays as sweet as he is now.