Wedding Nonsense

My brother got married this weekend in Carroll, IA. What a funny little town that is. It is just a hair larger than Maryville but with no university, but it does have a Buckle. Not in a mall, an independent Buckle. Very strange...

Anyway, the ceremony was lovely and the bride and groom looked amazing. Adam was an usher and Zeke was a ring bearer and they both looked super handsome in their tuxes. The kids were pretty well-behaved, all things considered. I felt crappy all weekend due to allergies that turned into a sinus infection and the development of a canker sore under my tongue. OUCH! When I got out of the car before the wedding Zeke told me how pretty I looked in my dress and that made things a little bit better!

I am going to try and post a couple pics but I am not very good at it so bear with me. My niece Tori, who was the flower girl, caught the bouquet at the reception. In true Heflin style she dove for it and caught it on the floor! Zeke and my nephew Tye before leaving to go to church for pictures. Rosie right after I finished her makeup. Isaiah really tore it up on the dance floor, here he is dancing with my dad. Everyone thought he was sooooo cute. He loves music and does a good job of staying on beat. I have no idea where he gets that from!




We stopped in Audubon on our way home to take a picture with the famous Albert the Bull. Hey, why not? It's a 30 ft tall anatomically correct red bull. I avoided taking a picture of Isaiah smacking the giant testicles!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Drumroll, please......

Here they are! Miraflex Frames in dark blue for my sweet baby boy! More later!

Glasses, Part Deu

Okay, so we gave up on the cute little wire framed glasses that we originally got for Isaiah. I mean, who would think it was a good idea to give an 18 month old glasses like that? I could see the trouble from a mile away and was proven right with our 3 trips in two weeks to get things fixed on them. The last time included replacing the whole right temple because it was bent beyond repair.

Enter saving grace Aunt Jenni, who hasn't even seen the poor kid in his glasses because I keep taking them away from him to keep them from being destroyed. A few months ago Jenni started following the blog of a couple out in NC who has a very unique story. In a nutshell, thw wife has cystic fibrosis and while preparing for a double lung transplant in the summer of 2007 discovered that she was pregnant. Their daughter, Gwyneth, was born super early (like 26 weeks) while mom was in an induced coma to reduce the stress on the pregnancy and her own body. Taking the baby early like that was the only way to give either of them a chance at surviving. Read more at http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com . It is a really cool blog and they are a totally cool little family. Anyway, due to Gwyneth's developmental delays she has had glasses for a very long time. Jenni emailed the dad and asked where they got her glasses and he sent us to the Miraflex Frames website.

These frames are so totally cool. They have no metal components (and no choking hazards) and are one fluid piece of a nylon/plastic blend. They can be run over by a car...not great on the lenses but the frames would be fine! That is what I need for my little bull in a china cabinet! The frames came in on Friday and we stopped in to check them out. We put them on him and he didn't necessarily wear them any better than the others but when he ripped them off his face it was no biggie because they can't be broken! Amazing...and I hope other parents will be able to take advantage of these frames from Dr. Poynter because I know a few other little ones in the area that could use a more durable frame. The lenses have been ordered and hopefully we will have them by the end of the week. And the best part? We got to return the other set of glasses since they didn't work for us and so we won't have to pay for the new set! Sometimes I really love insurance!

I will try to add a picture once we get the frames back in. So stay tuned for more super cute spectacle news!

Winter Doldrums

I don't even know if that is how you spell doldrums, but who cares, it's cold outside! Yesterday was a snow day, AGAIN, which started with me picking Zeke up at 9:45 on Friday because I thought it would be best to go ahead and get him rather than waiting the 3 extra hours for school to let out so they could count the whole day. This added to yesterday meant that we basically had two 4 day weekends in a row! Great for Zeke, not so much for me. I am a work from home mom because I want the flexibility to be with my kids when they need me but I am not a stay at home mom because I value my sanity! I think it's a good thing for kids to miss their parents a little bit as well as good for me to miss them a little bit too!

So I spent the day doing laundry and dishes between being serenaded by Zeke singing his original song "Chinchillas and Nature". Keep in mind that he has a bit of a lisp when he makes the "ch" sound so he kind of sounds like Donald Duck....so I actually love to hear him say words like chinchilla! Isaiah was like a fart in a whirlwind and I finally had to take his glasses away from him last night because he bent them pretty badly.

Which reminds me that you may not know that he has glasses. He is 17 months old...and we can't hardly keep shoes on the child....but he has glasses! And he looks absolutely adorable! We noticed him going cross-eyed at the beginning of the year and it was confirmed that he is indeed far-sighted and has a mild astigmatism in his right eye. The far-sightedness is pretty severe so he won't totally grow out of it. I am looking for glasses made out of a pliable material so I don't have to make weekly trips to the Optician to get these fixed. If anyone has any ideas on this I would welcome them!

Isaiah has also discovered music and loves to dance and move to the beat. Unfortunately he has my skills...not that Adam's skills would be any better!

That's about it for now. I know there is more I could share but I really have to get going. I have an order waiting at home that needs to be sorted and delivered and it ain't gonna do it by itself. Happy Tuesday everybody! Make it a great one!

Hello, old friend!

And by old, I don't mean old like ancient. I mean old like friends since the dawn of time old!

That is how I kind of started my day. I actually started it by running late because my bed was warm and I didn't want to get out of it. Then Zeke was in slow motion and Isaiah just wanted to be held. We finally got downstairs only to find that the van was encased in a thin layer of ice, WONDERFUL! It was too cold to stand out there and scrape so I threw on the defrost, came back inside and called school to let them know that Zeke would be a little late. Great, today is the 100th day of school and that is a huge deal in Kindergarten and my kid is going to be late....again!

Kids dropped off....despite the slicker than snot roads....and I am back home to get ready for the day. I check my twitter and see that my "old" friend has posted something about pulling out all her hair and I think, "Jodie needs to hear from me!" You see, Jodie and I have have been friends since 1st Grade. I can't tell you how many hours we spent at each others house although I can tell you I spent more time at her house then she did at mine (I had a bratty younger sister and brother and she didn't!). By the time we were in 5th grade we were inseperable and remained that way until high school. We have always been very different, she the petite blonde and me the amazon brunette. She the smart girl, me the funny one. She the one who always had a boyfriend, me the one who always had friends who were boys. But somehow through it all we remained friends. Through a series of interesting events (I'll spare you the details) we found ourselves in Abnormal Psychology together. It was her last year of College...not mine because it took me 7 years to get done! Fast forward several years and she is my maid of honor...then a few more years and I am hers! She is the Godmother to my children and I am to hers and it doesn't seem to matter if we go months without talking, we can always pick right up like we see each other every day!

Jodie and her husband are both Pediatric Dentists in the Navy and will be getting out in August. They are working on setting up practice in Lee's Summit (hence the pulling out of her hair) and we will be within 2 hours of each other for the first time in over 6 years! This includes the 3 years she was stationed in Japan!

When my mom died unexpectedly in April of 2006 (Jodie had just been home with her husband and daughter in March) I had a hard time finding her. Momma Ruth (Jodie's mom) was able to help because Jodie and Glynn were housesitting for friends and weren't at their normal phone number. By the time Jodie called we were at the funeral home picking out a casket and mom had been gone for about 12 hours. When I answered all she said was "I'm coming home!" I tried to talk her out of it because I knew it was expensive and she didn't have much leave time built back up. She knew I would do that so she conveniently waited to call me until she had already booked her flight. I can't tell you how much that meant to me for her to do that. I don't know that I would have made it through that ordeal nearly as well as I did if it hadn't been for her.

So that's our friendship in a nutshell. I can't wait for them to be back in Missouri. The boys miss their "aunt" Jodie and I miss her kiddos, Maddie and Brady, as well. Plus the boys will have a new dentist and Jodie plans on taking Fridays off so we will definitely be able to spend more time together!

Make new friends,
But keep the old,
One is Silver,
And the others Gold!

"Baby, it's cold outside!"

Brrrr....it's freaking cold! And it's not warming up any time soon. Except that I leave KC early afternoon on Saturday and am headed to sunny San Diego where it will be about 72 degrees that day! WOOOOHOOO!!! Maybe 4 1/2 days there will be long enough for me to kick this cold and runny nose. Not to rub anybody's nose in it, but man am I excited to get out of here. The only thing that would make it better is if I was taking my husband and kids with me!

Decade in Review

Wow, what a difference a decade makes! Major milestones occurred during the aughts for me as early in the year 2000 I became an aunt for the second time inFebruary. Joyous news as Amberlea joined our family and many times over the last 10 years it has been shared with me how much she reminds people of me! Later that same month we lost my mom's mom, Grandma Eickholt. I lost a brother-in-law with Jenni's then husband Tim when their divorce was finalized that October. That June I also met and fell in love with my friend Angie's cousin, Adam Morrow, and we were engaged just before Christmas, more on him later!

2001 was a mild year for milestones although I did move out of my parent's basement into a crappy little apartment on West Thompson where I lived alone and continued college while working at Hy-Vee, the Cov, and my Mary Kay. It was a busy MK year as my team and I earned the use of our 1st career car and worked toward becoming our own unit. i became an aunt for the 3rd time in October when Adam's brother Tim and his wife had Jadelin Nicole while stationed at Ft. Riley, KS. I also added a brother-in-law when my sister Erin married TJ...great party!

2002 was a huge year as we debuted as the 24 Karat Gold Unit in Mary Kay on January 1st and picked up that 1st career car later that month! I had moved into my Grandma Eickholt's house and lived there for most of the year. April brought the much anticipated graduation from NWMSU (7yrs in the making, just a BS, no PhD, don't get too excited). Adam and I were married on June 22, honeymooned in North Carolina then settled into married life at 502 S. Walnut....until November. That August we lost Adam's Grandpa Loren, his mom's dad. Shortly after we were married I realized that Adam would not be happy living in town, he works nights and there is just too much daytime noise for him to get any real rest. We moved to the country outside of Hopkins and life went on.

2003 added to our family yet again as Jenni married Brian on January 3rd after having met him just before Erin's wedding in 2001. 2003 also brought a lot of snow in early February and I experienced my first time of being snowbound and unable to leave our house for several consecutive days....with no satellite...no cable....and in mid-March we found out we would be welcoming our own addition to our family that November, GO SNOW! On July 22 Erin and TJ gave birth to Victoria (Tori) Ann, Adam's brother Aaron and his girlfriend had Kyara Zeline on August 8 and his brother Tim and his wife had baby #2 with Madeline Grace on August 26. November 7 we brought Ezekiel (Zeke) James into the world at 3:12pm weighing 8lb 12oz and 21.5 inches long....life was good! Mom and Dad moved into their newly built house in December which was built on the site of my Grandma Eickholt's house and where my mom had grown up.

2004 got even better as Jenni and Brian welcomed Tyler Craig to the family on February 2 sealing Jenni's fate of having babies only in February since Rachel is on the 4th and Amberlea is on the 16th! We have often teased her that she must really celebrate the end of the school year in May, haha! Jacob graduated from MHS thus ending the Heflin era there. We also moved from Hopkins to Conception Jct after finding our rental house had a VERY bad case of termites and was going to need extensive repairs and we didn't want to deal with all that! I reached a huge goal with my MK business by qualifying for the National Court of Retail Sales by selling in excess of $36,000 that seminar year. I was so excited to accomplish that and be able to choose my 1st Mary Kay ring! My team and I also earned our 2nd Career Car and picked it up in early December.

2005 was still good but got kind of sketchy in April as Jenni's husband Brian had a recurrance of his Melanoma and testing and treatment had to begin. Erin and TJ had Don Joseph on July 2o and his birth was definitely a high point in that year!

2006 was a year for the books, the one's that keep track of patients in the crazy ward at the local sanitarium! We thought things were looking up after a difficult year with Brian's cancer and even thought about celebrating the completion of his treatments and the thought that he would be in the no evidence of disease phase of his cancer....Then everything was turned upside down when the Thursday after Easter our mom died in her sleep of a massive heart attack at the age of 53. In June Adam and I closed on our 1st house and now having lived there for 3 1/2 years I sometimes wish something would have fell through....cuz everything can look good on paper, except the estimate to get the fireplace fixed and the bill for the 1st filling of the propane tank and the breeze that blows the curtains even when every window in the house in closed and locked....more on that to come! Later that summer Brian's Melanoma was found to have spread and was starting to affect different parts of his body. That fall Dad shared with us that he had met someone online and was dating her...WOW....2006 sucked!

2007 saw many changes, some good, some bad just like most normal years. I am trying to recall the good and am having a tough time because the bad were really bad and apparently the good were not all that exceptionally good! Unfortunately most of the bad involved the changes in Brian's cancer as it ravaged his body mercilessly! Zeke did start Preschool at St. Gregory's and very quickly grew to love it. In Mid-December much of our area had it's butt kicked by an ice storm and electricity to most of the homes was knocked out for about a week. Erin and TJ announced when we had Christmas that they were having a baby, but refused to tell us the due date, how weird is that? On New Year's Eve we received news that Brian would not be continuing treatment for his Melanoma because it had progressed so far that he would be coming home to hospice care on New Year's Day.

2008 began with all of us knowing that Brian had very limited time with us and that was tough to deal with for all of us, especially Jenni and the kids. I did some big time subbing for Jenni as she opted to stay home with Brian and care for him. Surprise, on January 11 I discovered that Adam and I would be having baby #2! We thought the baby would be due in mid-September but a May ultrasound confirmed that this little baby boy would actually join our family around September 10. We still didn't know when Erin was due....On Good Friday we lost Brian to the Beast. Although Melanoma robbed us of his body and his life, it did not rob us of the tremendous memories we made with him in the 6 1/2 years he was in our family! Erin and TJ had Luke Terry in the wee hours of July 28 and in case I lost you in the sea of memories...she also had all of her children in the same month! The joke for her was that she and TJ really know how to celebrate NW Homecoming! And our little bundle joined us a bit early (due to induction) on August 28 at 5:35pm. Isaiah Noble weighed 6lb 3oz and was 19.5 inches long and has been a joy ever since!

2009 was a medically evently full year as we started out with Zeke having a cyst removed in January and it ended up being an infected hair that wasn't able to come back through the follicle and was attacked by antibodies and bound up tight...expensive hair follicle! My Grandma Heflin died on February 24 and the morning of her funeral I fell and almost broke my foot and spent 6 weeks in a moon boot. February 26th Adam's brother Chris and his girlfriend had Cooper Quintin to finalize the Morrow Brood and helped even out the boy/girl ratio on that side of the family. Easter morning Adam's Grandma Lucille suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for a couple weeks, then moved to a rehab center for several weeks. She lived with Adam's parents for a couple months then early this Fall she moved into LaVerna Village in Savannah and is doing great. She works in the library and has reconnected with many people that she knew early in her life. April 19th my mom's brother Gary passed away after a short battle with renal cancer. A week later Isaiah was admitted to the hospital with Pneumonia and we were there for 4 days. All was quiet for the Summer then Zeke started Kindergarten in August. A couple days later Isaiah had an accident at the sitter with a cabinet door and nearly amputated the tip of his right index finger. 7 stitches and 4 months later you can hardly tell that anything happened. The next week Adam had a sleep study to determine that he does indeed have sleep apnea and needs a C-PAP...that is a wonderful decoration on our bedside table! And we capped off the decade at 7:30am New Year's Eve with a tear duct probe on Isaiah to open the drain from his tear duct to his sinus on his left eye!

Wow, that was a lot. Where will we be in 10 years? Zeke will be driving and Isaiah will be in middle school. Jacob will be married and hopefully have some babies. Dad will be married and Jenni and her family will be living in my Mom and Dad's house after Jenni buys it here in the next few months. The future is a mystery. On January 2000 I never would have written half this stuff so I won't even try to guess any more of the future.

I figured since I hadn't updated for so long I would do it up big time today. Have a blessed new year and tell everyone you love that you love them.