It was a 9 hour drive, and I don’t think my bod is too happy with me!  But ya know what?  I’d do it all again!  I had a great time with Beth, Paula, and our great hostess, Julia.

Now, I get the dubious pleasure of getting all the laundry done, and leaving again on Wednesday……for Texas.  I think I need a vacation! 

It was just a short walk, thankfully, and I had the presence of mind to actually wear sneakers this time.  

We gobbled down lunch, and it was time for everyone to explore.  Did you know they mine for gold in NC?  I sure didn’t.

    Paula insisted this rock was going to be the BIG one….nugget, that is.

I think Julia was doing her Marilyn Monroe imitation. 

     Do you see any gold in there?  Me neither.       

Tadpole hell! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many tadpoles in one spot in my life.  

    Some young’uns were having a high ol’ time in the water.  Don’t know how, that stuff was COLD! 

Julia!!  Please!  No poking the children with sticks!!       Ok, so she wasn’t actually poking them.  The currents were pretty strong, and they were getting pulled away.   Thankfully, no small children were harmed in the poking…uh…picture taking episode.    Hey!  Yep, they were still looking for gold!  Obviously, they never found any.  Ok, so I did some snooping around as well.  Found some purdy mica.  Heh.

And big feet! He gets those from Brat and Jr. I have the smallest feet of the bunch, including SP, the 13 year old. sigh…

A new blankey! Monkey blankey! Spud monkey blankey!

Now, it is past time to be unconscious!

He is LOUD!

His mom LOVED her ‘johnny jumper’, or whatever they call ‘em now.    She’d stretch her legs out, twist the cords as tight as she could, or until she couldn’t reach the floor anymore, and let loose!  Spun around, cackling the whole time.  Then, when she stopped, she’d do it all over again.  Hmmm…  That might explain a great deal. 

Heaven helps us…he’s starting to look like Jr! sigh…    All attitudinal!

   My question:  Why does he look stoned?  Brat’s response:  Because he’s a baby.  *cocking eyebrow*  Yeah…there’s a logical answer.  How ’bout we just blame her photography skills.    Or lack, there of?

I got a call from my granddaughter, Spud had been throwing up EVERYTHING, and was running a bit of fever. She was sitting in the doc’s office with him, waiting to get in. They were nice enough to squeeze her in since her regular pediatrician was out of town. A couple of hours later, I got a call from my daughter…they were heading to Kingswood Medical Center for an abdominal ultra sound. The doc decided it was either baby reflux, which apparently is more common than I thought, or pyloric stenosis.  So, we started the phone waiting game.

After what seemed like forever, I got a text…the radiologist ruled out pyloric stenosis, but said it is possible he might develop it later.  So, thankfully, no surgery!  At least for the moment.  If that had been the case, I would already be in Texas by now!  They headed back to the doctor, and he sent them promptly to the ER.  After all the vomiting, the tiny person was quite dehydrated.  He was throwing up Pedialyte as well, so he was getting no nutrition, or liquids.  My daughter sent me a picture, which of course, being 700 miles away, made me feel completely helpless.

They did all the normal tests, x-rays…wish she had gotten a shot of THAT…itty bitty completely covered by portable machine, blood…white count good so no infection, and urine. Now, when she told me how they got a urine sample from little boys, even I had to cringe. Evidently, they have this little plastic bag cuppy thing, with a little hole in it, and they have to tape it to his…well…what males don’t want kicked. It seems the tape got stuck, and removing it made him even MORE unhappy.

About seven, I got another text. They decided to keep him overnight for observation. A just in case scenario, which of course, put my stress back up into the ‘you don’t wanna be around me‘ level. If it hadn’t been for Chris….well, I’ll just say THANK YOU, m’friend! And leave it at that!

Brat let me know they put him in a ‘baby cage’. Now, the way my mind works…the mental image of something small with the word cage…..

Jr, all the while, kept wanting to know what she had done wrong. Nothing! Brat attempted to explain to her over and over, this was NOT her fault, and she hadn’t done anything wrong. Unfortunately, these tiny people don’t come with a users manual, and all kinds of things can happen to them, physically, that no one can predict. But if you’ve ever been a new mother, or even a dad, you know all the reassurance in the world doesn’t stop you from thinking it was something you did.

Hopefully, she has now calmed down enough to realize, things just happen, and there was nothing she could have done differently that would have prevented this episode. Perhaps, after Brat got some food in her, she was able to get a little sleep. Although, knowing her…not a whole lot! I think Brat finally made it home just in time to collapse into bed.

So, yeah….yesterday seriously sucked! We are praying the medication will do its job, he’ll be rehydrated and be able to keep down his formula. She stopped breast feeding last week, so the young’un got plenty of what he needs from her. Now, if we can get him to start gaining like he should, and the meds work so he can keep everything down, or most everything, and he doesn’t develop that stenosis thing….  I haven’t had any updates this morning, so I’m guessing everything has gone well.

He’s about 7 weeks and barely 10 pounds. His cousin, on the other hand, who is a week younger, has grown, and gained, like a weed! With a LOT of hair! Heh.

So, now you know why I was mostly absent from the blog yesterday.  Yes, real life DOES take priority!

Go here, or here, and do yourself, and Wyatt, a major favor.  It is Earth Day after all, and what better way to celebrate than to buy a book, made of paper, from a tree, just to piss off the eco-nazis.  Heh.  Aw…c’mon.  It was a little bit amusing. 

They look kind of dark blue, but then again…kind of blue black… Oh shoot. Doesn’t matter in the long run does it, as long as they work!

Rocky was a big boy. Let’s face it, there was a reason I called him Rocky Moose.

If ever there was a more mellow, and patient, cat, I don’t where he/she is!  Rocky went to sleep this afternoon, and did not wake up.  He will be extremely missed by the entire family, and many friends.

Rest In Peace My Moose Friend

I had checked Mapquest, read the directions sent with the invite, looked at Mapquest again, then Google Maps, read the directions several times, and just KNEW I could make it without getting lost. Uh huh! Let’s put it this way….it’s a darn good thing we left early! It was about an hour drive according to what Mapquest AND Google Maps said. *blink*

I know it said turn left at the first stop sign. So I did. And we drove….and drove…and drove. Ya know, it’s right pretty out that way, but the problem was, that wasn’t the way I was suppose to go. sigh… So, I finally turned around, and drove….and drove….and drove….and passed that stop sign, where I should have turned right, and drove…. THEN we got to the stop sign where I was suppose turn left. *shakes head* We made it! With 10 minutes to spare.

Sadly, I forgot to take my regular camera…naturally…so the pictures I got aren’t all that great. I did try to get pics of the procession but what I got were a lot of blurs.

So, here we have the groom, Brennan! Is it just me, or does he look terrified? LOL Evidently, I wasn’t the only who noticed. *snicker* Aw…that’s ok. He’s entitled. His life has now taken a whole different direction. Heh.

One thing I noticed….it seems to me they did this all a bit backwards. Aren’t the groomsmen suppose to escort the bridesmaids, then the best man enters with the groom, then the ring bearer, the maid of honor, then the bride? Hmmm… Well, there was the groom, the best man was followed by the groomsmen. Then the bridesmaids followed by the maid of honor, and ring bearers. Sadly, the little bitty one with the cute tight curls was too little bitty to be seen, and all I got as she passed by was a tiny blur. sigh…

Dad almost didn’t give the bride, Lindsay, but finally, he let go. *tear* It was so cute.

Then, they had the vows. There was some hesitation, and I’ve yet to figure out if they were going to say them without prompting, or Brennan was zoning. Heh.  But, they did get through it, and it all turned out ok. Then the rings.   It took a bit to get his on. Do ya ever notice that it’s usually a wee bit harder to get the groom’s ring on than the bride’s? Wonder why that is? Is it cuz males are so resistant to be ‘claimed’? LOL

Now, I’ll be honest…I have NO idea what this was all about. They each took a rose out of a vase, and put them in a vase with other roses. Then they stood there a bit, whispering to each every once in a while.

Then, they were pronounced man and wife, everyone cheered, and we all tried to figure out where the reception was going to be held. Finally, someone gave out directions to the high school. Huh? Well, ok…this is a small town in Tennessee. So, we headed down the road, found the school, and it wasn’t the right school. Really? As I was parallel parking, and doing quite a good job of it too, someone stopped and let us know…it was the NEXT school down the road. Ummm… okie dokie.

Now, ya know you’re at a Southern wedding reception when you find yourself anxious to get the BBQ! Hey…it was good stuff! Well, it was until I bit my tongue. Lemme tell ya…hot BBQ sauce on a bleeding tongue is extremely painful! But that didn’t stop me from chowing down. That sucker didn’t quit bleeding until I waded through many tasty cakes and pies. No, I didn’t eat all of the yummy goodies. I took a couple of bites, and let the Mr have the rest.

I completely zoned taking pictures cuz there was so much going on, bumping my gums with folks, watching Brennan yank off the tie, jacket, vest, shirt and exposed his KISS t-shirt. Heh. The groom’s cake was KISS themed. Ya get the impression he has a thing for KISS?  I’m not real sure why, cuz he’s pretty good with his country singin’ and pickin’.

ADDED:  Found a picture of that cake!    Brennan had it on his FB page.  Seriously dude?  It’s your WEDDING night!  LOL

The tongue biting incident was bad enough, but then, poor Yvonne lost her crown. Oh…she was NOT a happy camper!   Where else but small town USA could you call your dentist’s assistant, at home, on a Saturday, and get her to get a hold of the dentist so he can stick a crown back where it belongs?  I just love it here! 

Luckily, I managed NOT to get us lost on the way, and we thought it would be a good idea to pop by the old car show at one of the local eateries, and check out Rodney’s (neighbor and church member) restored Hudson.  Well, we saw two really cool Hudsons, but no sign of Rodney.  Oh well, that’s ok.  We were both pretty tuckered by that time anyway.  My jammies and bunny slippers were calling my name!  It has been quite an eventful day.

So, since it’s been more than 2 weeks since I posted any pictures of the infamous Spud…..

Looks like he’s got an on/off button. Wonder if it works? *snicker*

I’m finding it more than just a tad annoying that neither my daughter, nor my granddaughter, aren’t sending more pictures. Sheesh. And I KNOW there is a flash video in that house, cuz I bought it! A few action shots would be nice. Of course, with a month old kid, there isn’t a whole lot of action, but still…..

THAT’S A HUGE HINT BRAT! *shakes head* Kids. sigh….

Papaw and Spud       Papaw has some major issues.

Actually, I got home a bit after 6, but hey…had to get reacquainted with my recliner, cats, and… oh yeah…the Mr!

No major hassles on the drive. Saw a lot of dead armadillos, but other than that…. Oh yeah…there was that one guy when I was going through Jackson, MS who evidently thought he was a NASCAR star. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone driving in and out of traffic at that speed, and not being chased by cops. What an idjit!

After spending nearly 4 weeks in a house with 4 other adults, one new teen, one squalling baby, 3 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 ferrets….it’s too quiet around here. I’m sure I’ll adapt though. Kind of missing Spud. Oh well, we’ll be going down for the 4th of July, and there will be a lot of pictures sent. Or there damn sure better be!