My new 4 year old

It's really hard to believe my baby is now 4 years old. He had a party with some of his friends on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend playing with all of his new loot.

His haul?

Thanks to his "church girlfriend" - 300 teeny tiny Legos that will be all over my house on a regular basis.

From his Aunt S - a V-Tech learning laptop that he has already offered to let his Daddy check email with.

From his "school girlfriend" - transformers

From one of his buddies - dinosaurs and airplanes to attack them with

From Mommy and Daddy - his own Fisher Price "fp3" player with headphones. We have loaded it with over two hours of his own music and stories. Now he wants to "listen to my phones" all the time...

And enough Hot Wheels stunt tracks and race cars to make a lap around the living room. The trick is getting Daddy to stop playing cars long enough for AJ to enjoy them.

A look back:

AJ's first birthday

AJ's fourth birthday

This Day in History

On this day four years ago, our journey with prematurity and parenthood began. I went to see my doctor after work that day because my blood pressure seemed to be a little elevated and my feet had begun to swell. I was 25 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

After doing the requisite "pee in a cup" that I had been doing at every doctor appointment, I was informed that I would not be going home that day. He was arranging a bed for me at the local hospital. Pre-eclampsia was setting in and he wanted me on a fetal monitor and bed rest. I would likely be there for the duration of my pregnancy.

We had no idea at that time, that the duration of my pregnancy would only be another 3 days. That was on Thursday, September 23, 2004.

One year later, on September 23, 2005 we were preparing to evacuate for Hurricane Rita and had to cancel AJ's very first birthday party.

I sit here today in an office that is still without electricity after Hurricane Ike, preparing for my miracle baby's fourth birthday. And as stressful as those few days and weeks were in 2004, I am thankful for my sweet, healthy little boy.

Ike goes on

We had power last night. Had some friends over who were without electricity to enjoy the A/C for a while. Unfortunately, the lights went out again at 4am. It finally came back on at 11am.

There are trees and fences down everywhere.

Don't think we'll be going to work tomorrow...

Update on Ike

3:35pm - the winds have started to pick up now. It has finally started sprinkling. The kids outside playing with their kites are having a little harder time now.

4:00pm - it only rained for about 5 minutes. Not enough to even get the sidewalk wet. The sun is shining and there is a nice breeze. We have turned off the A/C and opened the front door.

6:00pm - They say that hurricane-strength winds have now hit Galveston. But here in Katy, it's just a little overcast, and the wind hasn't really gotten to us. A few gusts now and then, but not much.

7:55pm - the wind is staying pretty steady right now. Some pretty decent wind gusts. Getting a little harder to see what's going on since it's getting dark.

10:55pm - now getting tropical storm force winds. The power just flickered but came right back.

11:30pm - power has gone out. Hasn't really started raining much - it's just the wind. Can't post until we get power back.

3:15am - I think it's the eye of the storm. It's gotten pretty calm.

4:00am - That was DEFINITELY the eye. The winds are now much worse and are coming from the other direction. This side is MUCH worse than before!

6:00am - the power flickered on. Then off just as we started celebrating. It's hot in here.

10:00am - Still windy and raining, but not bad. Still no power. It's really stuffy.

2:00pm - if we don't get power back soon, I will likely be childless. AJ is bored and is driving me absolutely BONKERS.

3:00pm - HALLELUJAH! We just got the power back on. Hopefully everything in the fridge and freezer is okay. We were very careful not to open them while the power was out.

Hunker Down

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Or so the local media would have us believe. After the latest forecasts on Hurricane Ike, I was a little worried. It seems to be drifting closer to the Houston area. At my house in Katy we are told to expect sustained winds of 81 mph if the storm goes in near Freeport on its present course. If it tracks a little further north into Galveston Bay, I actually end up on the clean side. We will be preparing today by clearing out space in the garage so that both vehicles will fit.

My biggest concern is the large pile of lumber in pieces within 10 yards of my house. They have pulled off the boards that created the form for the concrete foundation on the new house they are building. They have not bothered to clean up the construction site at all. I will take pictures of this hazard and let the builders know that if any of that stuff ends up in my house through one of my windows, they WILL get the bill for the repairs.

Other than that, we'll have AJ and the kitty sleep with us on Friday night. Or board up the window in AJ's room and put an air mattress on the floor in there with him.

We'll try to keep updates coming and we can. Stay safe, everyone!

You Gotta Ask the Right Questions

Daddy: "AJ, did you go to kick class today?"
AJ: "No."
Daddy: "Didn't you and S* go to kick class?"
AJ: "Not kick class. We went to the cafe."
Daddy: "What did you learn in the cafe?"
AJ: "We. didn't. learn. anything...!"
Daddy: "Well, what did you and S* do in the cafe?"
AJ: "Kicked."

Just like in the interrogation room. You can eventually break them down...

Ridiculously Early

So the EXTREMELY LOUD noises outside my house this morning at 5:30am? Yeah...cement trucks pouring a foundation next door. About 6 feet from my front door. AJ and the cat were terrified.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the one morning lately when we have actually gotten out of the house on time? Yeah...cement truck blocking my driveway so I couldn't get out.

It's gonna be a long day.

THAT didn't go as planned...

Every year, Hubby and family gather for a big get-together at his aunt and uncle's house outside of Orange. This year we didn't have quite as many people (only 25 instead of last year's 75). We were having fun anyway, until they called a mandatory evacuation of Orange county for 6am Sunday morning. We were being forced out of our hotel room, and needed to make a choice. We could get in the traffic with everyone else and head back to Houston. Or we could go somewhere else and enjoy the rest of our holiday weekend. We headed north and went to my parents' house. The storm track looked like they may get some tropical storm-forced winds, so we helped tie everything down there and visited for a couple of days. Now we are home and, just like after Hurricane Rita, need to put out the sprinkler in the yard.

YIKES! I just caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a mouse scurrying across the top of my desk! I'm outta here!