EYE ya ya

Poor Hudson

This pictures does the whole eye thing no justice! It was so bad. I mean borderline emergency room at one point. It began with what I assumed to be pink eye. I'm not sure if it was ever actually pink eye or just severe allergies. I told the nurse my diagnosis over the phone and she just called us in the drops for pink eye. His eyes seemed to get better over about two days and then, at the end of day 2 they flared up again. After a doctor visit, I continued the drops but added allegra, steroids, and everything seemed to go away... not the end of the story... about 2 weeks later, I got Hudson from school. We ate lunch outside and then came inside to rest. I went in the kitchen and then just looked in on the boys and I had to do a double take. Hudson was rubbing his right eye very hard. I went over to him and his eye had swollen, underneath, to the size of a golf ball or what you might call a goose egg. HUGE! As I tried to calm down and get a better look I thought, "this is serious!" I called the nurse at first because I just wasn't sure what to do... go straight to her office or what? She did have us come right in and when she saw his eye, it shocked her. Dr. Resendez took Hudson to the other pediatrician in her practice and then came back. I sat there thinking, what in the world is going on. When she returned she told me she had never seem that type of swelling. She said the white part of his eye was swollen. When I looked at it my perspective was off, but she was right of course. The swelling included the whites of his eyes which raised slightly above the color center which was still flat. It scared me. We had to do steroids again, which I hate, and continue allegra and a new antihistamine eye drop. Just a couple weeks later, which was last week, and the week of Major's birthday, Hudson got bronchitis. Phew! I hope we're done for awhile!

Slumber Party

One of our bestest friends, Lila, came to spend the night. Her daddy left some cinnamon rolls for us to devour in the morning. That is exactly what we did as you can see some icing around Hudson's happy little mouth.

kisses and here comes a hug...

big hug

major making a call on lila's phone

It was a sweet time to take care of this precious thing. She was a treat and we can't wait for her to come play again!

HTL + RKH + GML + WGH = FUN

Hudson presented Ryan-Kate with a few tokens of his affection when she came to visit... flower headband and bracelets. I think she likes them!

Sisters spent some quality time concocting a moscow mule and I loved it. I loved the time relaxing on the back porch with my sisters more.

ALERT: kiddo with a camera

Whitley Grace

(i cropped this a lot so it's fuzzy but i couldn't resist zooming in on that face!!!)

major loves him some baby whitley

victoria zoo

hudson loves him some baby girl cousin holdin' too

"really mom?"

I spilled coke on my camera... a hazard of trying to sneak my drink into the zoo. I'm thinking it has issues now. Maybe it's time to get a new camera?

So, my sisters... I love them! They drove from Coppell to Victoria, which is 5 hours. They did this with a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 week old. I thought it might take them 10 hours but they did it without stopping! That's how the Brawner girls roll. I'm so thankful for my sisters/built in best friends! It really seemed like a pivotal time for a visit. Julianne with her TWO kids and Jenny days away from starting her job that she has been working towards for over two years. I feel blessed to have had them in my home and get some time to talk and jabber like only sisters can. I hope they come back soon! That Whitley needs more kisses from the boys. I'm sure Ryan-kate is ready for some more wrestling with the Livesays. And of course, I'm ready for them to come and just bring that realness that makes life simple and peaceful.

Charity Ball 2011

we clean up nice we just don't clean up very often

our table

This year Charity Ball was on March 5th and the theme was Venetian Masquerade. It was a little more laid back than last year when it was on New Years Eve. The bonus was that all the dresses were on sale! I got a deal on my dress so I went for fun shoes as my reward for such savvy shopping. Prior to the event I didn't think I would wear my mask but as we stepped off the elevator to the ball, there were some "theme enforcers." They stopped me immediately and helped me put my mask on. I still didn't think I would wear it long but turns out, I kinda liked the mystery. Who knew? The only problem was that I started walking like I was stepping over puddles in the rain. The mask took away most of my periphery vision so I kept thinking I was going to trip, and if you consider the 5 inch heels that I had on, I'm lucky I didn't break something. All in all a fun night out with my man. We enjoyed sitting with Caroline and Zane in the front of the pic and Claire and Daniel in the back. Anyone need a mask or 5 inch heels? Let me know...

It's just funny to me

Victoria Livestock Show 2011

Just a few moments from the Victoria Livestock Show

I asked Hudson which animal he would like to take a picture by and he chose the chicks. Funny choice and I love that about him.


I'm also excited to say that the boys have had haircuts since these pictures. I think they look so cute with nicely cute little boy hair. I'm going to steer clear of crazy long hair.

Belize 2011

Our Belize adventure really was breathtaking. It's such a nice quick flight and so different from anything else we have been to within such a distance. We had the most beautiful welcome as we flew from Belize International Airport to our destination on the island of Ambergris Caye. The water was so shallow which made the color just beam. It was a beautiful turquoise and so dreamy.

I love quirky little things like the way they wrap the top of drinks. They did this every time.

THAT'S NOT ME

So, why did I take a picture of this half naked lady? She was getting a message on the beach and I thought it was interesting. I had the "masseuse" give me a message the next morning and lets just say she walked away with some extra cash, while I felt like I had been hustled, for sure. Lesson learned. Stick with what you know and always go to the hotel spa. What was I thinking? It's really funny when I think about it.

trying to show the celling in our room. it was so high and i thought it looked cool.

ramon's village as seen from the ocean

lots of docks and boats which we think are there to scuba the famous blue hole

our room was the top of this hut

where we spent most of our time

stephen got seriously sunburnt and kept covered the rest of the time

looking down the main street

checking out victoria house which is another resort we considered staying at

most people drive golf carts on the island, not cars... so we rented one and took it south. the island is very small so it was fun to drive out of the city center and into the less populated area. there were lots of new houses being built and the beach was untouched.

some of our sights on the golf cart

a check point that had us nervous for a minute

a small church we spotted over a fence by a resturant

after we returned the golf cart, we decided to just get a snack and beverage, and keep exploring. we didn't go back to our room until we went to bed that night, so as you can see, i continue to have on my rockin hat and work out gear. hey, i was comfortable and fit right in.

dinner on a stone

we cooked at our table and it wasn't as scary as i look

getting ready to head home. this is the balcony of our room.

We did snorkel one day and saw lots of amazing fish, sting rays, and a nurse SHARK! I thought it might not look exactly like a shark but it did. It was the real deal but apparently they are bottom feeders and don't have shark-like teeth. Who cares? They were scary! One of the guides wrestled one under water. It was a 2 1/2 hour excursion which was great since we only had 2 full days in Belize. I, of course, got a little sea sick on the 5 minute boat ride out to the snorkel location, but I recovered quickly. Another funny thing that happened was when 3 different locals tried to sell us pot within our first hour there. I tried to figure out what secret signal I was giving off. The sell me pot signal? It never happened again but had me a little nervous for a little while.

I'm so thankful for this trip! It was so much fun to be with my hubby and just relax. My parents and sisters helped with the boys. I can't wait for our next adventure together.