Family Reunion

Yummy banana pudding

Today was the annual Gilmore Family Reunion in Wichita Falls. I did not make the trip because I took the principal certification test. Justin bravely took on single parenting duties, but had plenty of help from his Dad, dru, and Michaela.

Caroline did so well and enjoyed being around family. According to Justin she ate and played most of the morning. Wish I could have made it, hopefully I will be there next year. :)
Lovin' on the other baby.

Final Farewell

Tonight is our last night in our first home. Justin and I built our home as we were planning our wedding. We love this house, it holds many special memories, and we have great people all around us. All of this is making it emotionally hard to leave. We actually close on Wednesday, but must work all week so we are doing most of the moving tomorrow. Last night we hosted a shrimp boil for all our great neighbors. We will miss them so, but will be back to visit often.

A few pics of our first home

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Now, onto other business. The Aggies sure did WHOOP Tech tonight. The emotional roller coaster football season brings me is now in an extreme valley. I am disappointed because Tech had been playing well and looked to finish strong. I had a bad feeling as soon as I heard Sheffield was out. Tech is always a sucker for the trap game and plays down when unexpected things happen. I even told my Aggie friend Abby I was nervous about the game...I had good reason, TECH STUNK IT UP. I must say congrats to all you Aggies out there.

I am looking forward to starting Crab on my fantasy team tomorrow. My fantasy team really stinks because I have a habit of picking players I am partial to, rather than players that are productive. I have tons of Cowboys and all Tech players available. Needless to say, my team only has two wins this season. I will watch Crabtree, hopefully redeem my Tech pride, and think back to more exciting times at Tech like when Crabtree scored with a few seconds left to beat Texas. (I sound pathetic, haha)

Loads of Fun

Climbing

Made it

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Back up again to do it all over.

One of those days

The days of having a hot dinner and clean children awaiting the arrival of the dad are long gone. I tried to be the traditional wife today, have a nice homemade dinner cooked, Caroline bathed, and a few chores done by the time Justin got home. This afternoon, that plan was not for me.

While cooking dinner I often leave the backdoor open and let Caroline play on the deck. I was watching her closely out the door and windows and I noticed she had gone into the grass. Well I turned around to stir the boiling pot and keep it from running over ever, and when I turned around Caroline had two big hand fulls of....I don't even want to say it....dog poop. We had just cleaned the yard too, so this wasn't a fear of mine. I could not believe it. I rushed out the door threw her hands open, drug her inside, stuffed her in the sink kicking and screaming, and lathered her arms and hands with soap until they were practically raw.

Since I learned my lesson I shut the back door and made her play around the living room. She wasn't too happy about this and quickly made her way into the kitchen. I had left the pantry door open which is where we have our trash. Caroline went right in, grabbed the empty can of cream of chicken stuck her hands in and began chowing down. Cream of chicken was everywhere, and Boomer was enjoying this as much as Caroline.

I decided to just leave dinner on the stove and go ahead and bathe Caroline. After a nice, long bath I went back into the kitchen to finish dinner and clean up my mess before Justin got home. Apparently I don't learn to quick because I made the same mistake twice and left the pantry door open again. Guess what, Caroline got right back into the can and smeared the cream of chicken all over her now clean self, and of course fed our diabetic, on a strict diet dog a high carbohydrate snack.

Finally dinner was done and we were waiting for Justin. Caroline was playing and I filled up Boomer's one gallon water bowl. Well Caroline decided that looked like fun and about a minute after I sat the jug on the bowl, she tipped the entire thing over and water flooded my breakfast area.

By the time Justin was home dinner was cold, Caroline was no longer clean, and the kitchen was still a disaster. I told Justin he was in charge of bed time and I ran out to pick up some boxes from Jessica Lewis who kindly saved hers for me. I needed to get away for a few minutes. Days like this make me wonder how in the world women handle multiple children, dinner, and all the other household demands.

Really I blame this all on myself, Caroline is at a curious, exploratory, attention demanding stage and I know I can't take my eyes off her for a second. She gets into things in a matter of seconds. While it might get overwhelming and exhausting at times, I can't complain because the good outweighs the bad 10 to 1. I love having a toddler and all the joys and trials that come with the age.

Right Now

Right now, our house is being packed up into many boxes.
Right now, I can find absolutely nothing and I am worried I never will again.

Right now, Caroline loves to pull the newspaper out of our boxes and eat it.
Actually, Caroline likes to put anything that is not food into her mouth and try it out. This weekend it feels she has reverted back to putting everything in her mouth, just as I was beginning to think she was out of that stage.
Right now, Caroline only likes to be outside. Rain, shine, cold, hot she could care less, she loves it outdoors. Below is what she does when we are inside, follows me fussing and repeating "outside." I have a feeling it might be a long winter. Hopefully it is not a cold one.

Caroline is still obsessed with swinging. It does not matter how long we keep her in the swing, she still cries when she has to get out.

Caroline likes to climb on top of her picnic table. Not a great thing for me, I can't take my eyes off of her.Right now, Boomer is doing much better. However, his blood sugar is still a little high and weight a little low, but the vet wants to keep his medicine the same. I find myself doing things and spending money where I swore I never would. Boomer is now on prescription food and yesterday Petsmart gave me fits when I tried to buy it. Getting this stuff, is worse than filling a human prescription. It is nuts.

Right now, Caroline is still pulling out her bows as soon as she recognizes I have snuck one in.
Right now, our family is experiencing many emotions: excitement, nervousness, sadness, stress, anticipation, confusion, craziness and much much more.

A Happy Gilmore Family

We are a happy family today, Tech beat Nebraska, a game Tech fans fretted, and one most people expected Nebraska to win. I love football season, it is a roller coaster of excitement, but the feeling can't be topped.

Paige had this skirt made for Caroline and Blake. It is adorable and she gets many compliments on it when we are out and about.

Now, some other every day fun news for me, Caroline got some spooky new pajamas from Grammy. Aren't these adorable? I love dressing my daughter for holidays. I don't look so cool in my Halloween and other holiday (teacher) gear, but at least Caroline does.

I have a dilemma. I have no idea what to do with Caroline's hair. It is growing over her ears, long on her neck, but the upper section is so far behind. So, she kind of has a mini mullet going on and sometimes her hair reminds me of the dude from Wayne's World. I try to comb it to where it looks not mulletish, but usually after a couple of hours she is looking like a rag muffin. My hair dresser said to wait until it was all long enough to cut into a mini bob, and I don't want to cut the sides because I do want it to grow all out. So, I just don't know. I guess I will have to stick with her crazy hair for a little longer. Anyone have any good luck with transition haircuts/hairstyles?

Girls Night Out

Last night many of my close girlfriends and a few of our moms went to Ft. Worth to watch the musical Menopause. We began the night at Gloria's, where we chatted and chowed down on delicious Mexican food. I love Gloria's and cheese enchildadas, so I was a happy chick. After Gloria's we went down the road to the musical. It was very cute and funny, and something out of the ordinary to do. It was great to get out and about for the night.

Lately...

Lately Caroline, Justin, and me have been busy as bees. Saturday we hosted a garage sale to scale down for our upcoming move. Yes, we are moving soon, but more on that later. We have been collecting boxes, packing up, and preparing for October 28th, the day we have to be out. Caroline, as you can see, has been watching with a bit of confusion.
Justin left town for business Sunday evening, so it was Caroline and me. Monday morning we visited the Pumpkin Patch with our friends. It would have been so fun had it been a nice day, but instead we dealt with the mud. Caroline didn't mind too much though, overall I think she enjoyed it.
Caroline didn't think Snoopy was a great as I thought he was.

Monday evening my parents, my brother, sister, Caroline, and me went to the circus. Caroline looked around at all the lights, clowns, and animals, but soon lost attention and I spent lots of time chasing her in the hallway. We ended up leaving at intermission! However, she did love thepony ride. I am sure the circus will be much more exciting as she gr0ws.

Boomer update update

So last I spoke of Boomer he was doing well, right? Well the next morning, his health declined rapidly again. He began vomiting and did not have the strength to move. I began freaking out again and wondering if I should even be putting him through all of this for our benefit. I decided to take him in one more time and seek a second opinion before I chose the alternative. So on Thursday morning in the pouring rain before work I rushed Boomer to Gully Animal Hospital. I brought him in the room, where they saw him immediately, and Dr. Gully commented that Boomer was a very sick dog. My eyes filled with tears as I feared the worst, but they said they would check him out and give me a call. I headed to work late and then had a small break down in front of my sixth grade class. Poor kids. Well about an hour later they called and stated his blood sugar was still out of control, but there were no underlying health issues. They were going to monitor him and give different doses of insulin until they figured out the appropriate amount. Really, Dr. Gully and his staff were incredible. Boomer stayed at Dr. Gully's office for three days (we brought him home at night), and they monitored his blood sugar closely. They decided 17 units every 12 hours is the right dose for Boomer. The other vet said only 5 which was clearly not enough. So today, Boomer has been home for three days, and he is back to his old self. Running, barking, rolling, eating, chasing, and playing with Caroline. He will go back in a few days to be sure his blood sugar is still looking good, but for now we are thankful he is doing so well.

Caroline is 15 months!

Our little Caroline is growing like a weed, changing, and learning before our eyes. She is one funny, energetic, and happy chick. She is learning new words and teeth are popping through at a pace I can't keep up with. Today she saw a reflection of herself, said "baby", and leaned down and kissed the reflection. She is lovable, when she wants to slow down to be.
Today was her doctors appointment. She weighs 24.4 lbs and is 30 and 3/4 inches tall. She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight, not sure about head size. The doctor thinks she is doing well, which we are always grateful to hear, and she got shots including the flu shot.

She was a wild child in the room waiting for the doctor. She was tearing paper, climbing on all the stools, jumping around, and squealing so she could hear the echo. Justin came with me to the doctor because as Paige recently wrote, doctors appointments are often two man jobs.

We did ask the doctor about appropriate discipline since Caroline's strong willed personality does clash with what we think is best for her at times. She surely lets us know her desires with her overly dramatic cry and slow motion fall to the ground, something most call tantrums. He did say to use a stern and serious tone when telling her we don't approve of her behavior and if warranted, maybe hold her in a "time out" spot for 30 seconds to a minute. His advice is not far off from what I have read in several books, so I am really going to try to start getting consistent or I know her behavior will get worse.

Having a toddler is never boring, and really so much fun.

Not sure why all these pictures are blurry.

15 months

Caroline is 15 months today. I am excited to see what this month holds, I have heard from many friends and from reading that this month is when their vocabulary begins to multiply. Pictures and more coming tomorrow.