Alex & Lettie's Blog

Guess What?

2010-02-05T14:40:00.002-06:00

We moved!Here's our new blog address:Burns BehaviorsHope to see you there!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Patrick!

2009-12-21T08:20:00.004-06:00

My baby boy is 2 today!Here he is this morning with his birthday pancakes. He likes to eat.We originally planned his party for December 12th to not interfere with everyone's busy holiday preparations, but a stomach virus hit the Burns household that weeekend. We moved his party to the following Wednesday night. We had a great turnout-thanks to everyone that came!I originally made the Lightning

Penny's 2 month update

2009-12-17T06:41:00.003-06:00

Penelope turned 2 months old last week. Time is flying by, as usual! She is such a happy, content baby and is such a joy to us. She has observant and has started smiling and cooing so much. She likes to hold her head up and look around, especially at lights and ceiling fans.Here's a snapshot of her last week while sitting on my belly and looking around. Please ignore my freakish long monkey

We were those people

2009-11-23T07:41:00.002-06:00

You know, those people. The ones who have very sporadically been to church over the past year and somehow had the energy and will to bring all three of their small children to mass this past Sunday. Jackson was excellent as well as Penny. Patrick on the other hand...Actually, he was pretty well behaved (thank you snacks) and only got restless towards the end, but he managed to do some very

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-30T14:31:00.005-05:00

Things are settling down around here and we're finally getting used to having a little girl around the house. I've been going overboard lately shopping for girly things. I've discovered that I have a weakness, or some might call it a strange obsession, with tights and girl shoes. I just love them!We finally made it to the pumpkin patch last week. The boys had a blast playing on all the

Penelope's Story

2009-10-21T09:05:00.004-05:00

Most of you already know this, but we welcomed baby number 3 a couple of weeks ago and it's a girl! Penelope Kate was born on October 6th. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz and was 19.5 inches long. The labor was quick and easy. It went even faster than the other two-only about 3.5 hours. I hardly even had time to realize what was happening and she was already in my arms!She is doing great. She's

Blueberries

2009-07-29T08:23:00.004-05:00

The boys and I went blueberry picking in the rain this week. I've been wanting to go for a while and this week was pretty skimpy on activities and appointments so I decided Tuesday would be a good day. We ended up going to Gin House Branch Farm in Decatur. It was excellent. They had a ton of ripe, plump berries and they work on the honor system, so you can just show up whenever you like and

Picture Update

2009-07-27T16:29:00.003-05:00

Hello friends, it's been a while! The boys have been taking deliciously long naps lately, so I'm going to attempt a long overdue update with lots of pictures. This should definitely make up for my absence because I have serious issues with adding pictures in blogger and this will probably take me a week to get finish and get everything lined up correctly.We took our annual family beach trip to

Sleepless Ramblings

2009-05-27T04:08:00.007-05:00

A naked Jackson woke me up at 3 this morning with wet sheets. All that moving around while I changed his bedding and cleaned him up and got him dressed and back to bed woke up our third little peanut. So as I was lying in bed feeling our baby swim around inside of me and thinking about the future I was unable to go back to sleep.We have our big ultrasound tomorrow. We are still set on not

Finally!

2009-04-23T05:07:00.003-05:00

It's official! My babiest of babies started toddling last week. (Technically, he's not my babiest of babies considering the bun in the oven, but I'm not one to get technical and I really don't need any reminders that Patrick is not a baby and is growing up, thank you very much...)I read a statistic that 90% of babies are walking by the age of 15 months. Apparently, Patrick finally got that

So Long

2009-04-03T21:32:00.004-05:00

Today we sold Lettie's SUV. We are both sad to see it go. It was a very good car, and we never wanted to get rid of it. But, we either get rid of it or we get rid of one of the kids. We thought about it for a few weeks, then we chose to keep every kid. I hope we've made the right decision but only time will tell. Here's a picture from the Craigs List ad:We are working to get the replacement

What we haven't been blogging about

2009-03-19T08:30:00.004-05:00

I guess I should start with the biggest news first. The Burns household game plan is changing from a man-on-man defense into a zone. #3 is due October 14th and we are pumped! I have already gained 13 pounds. Wow...Patrick still isn't walking, but he's very close. He will walk all day holding a finger and he has taken 3-4 steps at a time on his own. He has holes in all of his pants, so I'm

New Game

2009-02-06T07:43:00.003-06:00

We have a new game in the Burns household. It's called "Pretend to be asleep" and it is awesome. Alex always wins.

The Big 3

2009-01-27T08:29:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to Jackson!I can't believe my first baby is 3 today! He's been such a big boy lately. He loves going to "school", counting, playing with trains, painting and singing. He's a big help with all of Daddy's projects and when Mommy is cooking. He's a super big brother and has been doing a great job being polite and kind. He has a sweet heart and loves to cuddle. He makes us

Bottomless Pit

2009-01-25T12:57:00.003-06:00

Here's a list of what Patrick ate yesterday:Breakfastcheerios1 banana1 yobaby yogurtmilkSnackanimal crackersjuiceLunchpiece of bread1 cheese stickgreen beansblueberriesmilkSnackgraham crackersjuiceDinnerbowl of peachesbowl of blueberriesfishbowl of peasricechicken nuggetsmilkI'm afraid he's going to be morbidly obese soon.

Being Humble

2009-01-23T08:14:00.003-06:00

Over the years my mother-in-law, Linda, has often stated that children teach you to be humble. I never really understood this until I had children of my own.Sometimes it's their embarrassing actions (growling at people as a greeting or announcing to someone "my booty itches"), but more often for me, it's about accepting that I can't be a perfect mom.I sent out invitations for Jackson's 3rd

2009-01-09T08:15:00.005-06:00

Hope everyone out there had a great Christmas and New Year's. Like everyone else, we're just now getting back to our regular routine. We did some holiday traveling for the first time this Christmas and were able to see my parents new house in Mississippi. The boys had fun and were good travelers and we only ended up with one small black eye. (Patrick likes to play rough) December 26th was

Wii Fit

2009-01-06T20:53:00.006-06:00

We went to Lettie's parents during the Christmas holidays. They have a Wii Fit that Jackson tried out. I'm guessing that his Wii Fit age is 37, since that's what everyone else's happens to be. Here's a clip of Jack playing a few games. Sorry for the length, but I don't know how to cut scene when a 2 year old is screaming while showing off minimal balancing ability.

Denial

2008-12-22T21:00:00.009-06:00

My little peanut turned one today. Exactly one year ago today, he surprised us all by arriving 3 weeks early. He picked a pretty terrible birthday. He didn't have any Christmas presents because none of us expected him until after the new year. He also had a pretty rough entrance into this world.He's come a long way.I absolutely refuse to accept the fact that he is technically no longer a baby

Jackson's Christmas Concert

2008-12-21T10:57:00.003-06:00

Jackson had a Christmas Concert at his "school." He goes to Mother's Day Out 2 days a week for 4 hours. He got a mild case of stage fright.

Mid-life Crisis

2008-12-20T09:35:00.009-06:00

58 years would be the full-life.Evidence A: We got a car to replace the truck this past week. It has 4 seats for hauling kids, and also has 290HP and a 6 speed transmissions for hauling me.Evidence B: I haven't shaved since Thanksgiving. Most of the reason is because Lettie doesn't have a beard of her own and she wants to experiment with mine. I don't miss shaving each morning before work and

Cowboy Santa

2008-12-18T14:30:00.010-06:00

I finally finished PJ's stocking. Just in the St. Nick of time (sorry, I couldn't resist). It's a cowboy santa and the stocking is shaped like a cowboy boot. Cute!I delivered a few goody bags today to some special people. I brought some to Jackson's teacher and to the other people who help out at his school. I also brought some to my ob and to the doctor I used to work for. Thought I'd

Sad Day

2008-12-12T23:07:00.005-06:00

I'm afraid it might be time to say goodbye to one of our oldest, and most dependable friends. On Wednesday morning I had a 1979 Impala prevent me from getting to work on time. We were driving beside each other and the Impala had a hard time stopping in time to not rear-end the car in front of them. They swerved into me, and used their bumper to hook the backside of the truck. And of course, I

St. Nicholas Day and a tree

2008-12-10T08:46:00.007-06:00

Christmas is in full swing around here. We've gotten most of our decorations up and most of our presents wrapped. Yay!Jackson and Patrick left their shoes out on December 6th for St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a wealthy man who spent his life using his inheritance to help the sick and needy and December 6th is his feast day. You can read all about that here.This is the first year that Jackson

Excitement

2008-12-05T16:14:00.004-06:00

I'm super pumped. The source of my excitement? 2 strangers in a stanley steemer truck that arrived on Tuesday. Those blessed men cleaned my carpet, tile and grout and I think I love them. I've tried every known method of grout cleaning out there. I've bought industrial strength chemicals and scrubbed on my hands and knees with a toothbrush, but the grout still didn't look great. Honestly,

I'm it

2008-11-26T07:20:00.004-06:00

Susan tagged me, so I guess I'll play along. (She's one of those people with a private blog, so you might not be able to use that link)I'm supposed to find my 4th picture in my 4th file and post it.This was taken when we were in Australia visiting my parents. They lived in Toowoomba for about 2 years. We were able to go visit for 2 weeks. We had been married for a year and saved up our entire

Really?

2008-11-23T03:49:00.008-06:00

Ok, I am still sick...hence the reason I am awake at 3 am, so I decided to do a little blogging to pass the time. My hearing has greatly improved over the past week. I can hear, things just sound distorted. I know Alex is so glad to not hear "Huh?" and "What?" nearly as often. I went to the ENT last week and he could see the ruptured spots on both of my eardrums, but that they are healing.

Poor Alex

2008-11-13T17:16:00.003-06:00

I appreciate the support Lettie has shown to me during this difficult time of her reduced hearing. I don't think that everyone has shown the same amount of support during such a difficult time for me. I thought I would give a few examples to show how hard my life has been.The night before last, I had to get up with the kids at 3 different times. Jackson had one crying fit where he needed to be

Weekend Getaway

2008-11-11T09:30:00.009-06:00

We took a short vacation to Gatlinburg last weekend. Alex did a great job picking out an awesome chalet that had a gorgeous view and the timing could not have been more perfect. The leaves were in peak color transition and everything was breathtaking.The boys had lots of fun playing with leaves and going on a couple of short hikes and I think they had the most fun just hanging out with their

Patrick's election day message

2008-11-04T15:08:00.003-06:00

Boys, boys, boys

2008-10-14T13:59:00.006-05:00

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, my boys are keeping me busy.I am still up to my elbows in potty training. Jackson has been doing really well and only has to wear a diaper at night now. Lately he's been fascinated with "splashing the water" (peeing standing up), so I spend a lot of my time mopping and cleaning the toilet. Thankfully, his aim is quickly improving.Patrick has really

Camping

2008-10-05T21:15:00.007-05:00

We went camping this weekend. A number of people told us we were crazy for doing it, but the weather is nice and we both wanted to go. We gave it a good shot.We searched for the right place to camp all week. DeSoto was our first choice, but it is closed for renovations. The Bankhead was a 2nd choice since it wasn't so far away. I couldn't decide where in the Bankhead, then we finally decided

Hi Neighbor

2008-10-01T08:20:00.004-05:00

This is the letter that we put in our neighbor's mailbox yesterday: September 30, 2008Dear Neighbor,You may not realize that your dog has been barking most all of the night for the last few weeks. Our bedroom window faces the dog, and most nights the barking keeps us both awake. I’m not sure of the reason for the barking or the solution, but we would appreciate

Nothing Going On Here

2008-09-28T20:48:00.007-05:00

Today we built a raised bed for a garden. We started to get the itch when we were thinking about which Fall plants to pick. I don't think we've decided on any plants, but we have built an 8' x 16' raised bed out of landscape timbers. It doesn't have any dirt yet, but that's a minor detail for a garden. Here's a picture:We haven't had a chicken update lately. They must be full grown now,

Vacation

2008-09-26T22:06:00.005-05:00

We went to the beach this week. It was nice. The house's deck ended just a few feet from the ocean, and all the bedroom windows faced the water. Even little Jackson had a personal room, which didn't quite count as a bedroom since it only had 20 square feet of floor space. It was perfect for a little bed, and his little potty.Jackson is nearly potty trained. He doesn't like to make his Thomas

Jackson Reads to Us

2008-09-13T13:41:00.008-05:00

Bedtime has changed lately. Now, Jackson reads to us, says "Good Night," then quietly closes the door while we lay on his bed. He lays on our bed for a few minutes, then comes back and says "Hey, Good Morning."Here's a movie of Jackson reading his favorite book to Lettie:

Homemade Sandwich Wrap

2008-09-12T12:22:00.012-05:00

I know Brian is going to appreciate this post because he is one of those people who washes and reuses every ziplock and plastic container he comes across. Alex and I were recently talking about how many ziplocks we go through since he takes them for lunch a lot and Jackson uses them for his "school" lunch and for snacks.I saw a small story on reusable cloth sandwich and snack bags in one of my

Sidetrack...

2008-09-10T13:19:00.011-05:00

I promise, I really was planning on talking about sewing today, I even have a draft written and pictures lined up. As frequently happens in my daily life, I have become sidetracked. I often spend my days in endless frustrating loops: I can't mop until I vacuum, I can't vacuum until I pick up the toys, but I really need to do the dishes first, I think Patrick needs a diaper change...you get the

"Stop Saying No!!"

2008-09-09T19:12:00.002-05:00

That's what I just heard Lettie yell to Jackson while he was taking a bath. Ohh, that's funny. He has gotten out of control with his "nos" and "yeps".

Saving the Planet and the Cuteness

2008-09-09T08:01:00.009-05:00

Whew! That previous post was a tough one. Don't worry...we hugged it out and Alex is feeling better now. I'll try not to rant or lecture you in this post.The Burns household has had some changes lately and we're becoming a lot more "green." I've always tried to do my part in the green movement and as you can see from the previous post, Alex has definitely started to feel more strongly about

High Fructose Corn Syrup Quick Facts

2008-09-08T20:25:00.007-05:00

Lizzie got me going this evening by sending this:SweetSurprise - Facts about Sugar, Honey and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)Lettie also showed me the complimentary TV commercial that goes with these quick facts.I have another Quick Fact for you. High Fructose Corn Syrup will rot your teeth out, make you obese, give you diabetes, and make your family dislike you.Why does every item in the middle

SHARKS

2008-09-07T19:46:00.003-05:00

Jackson gets to eat one dosage of pure high fructose corn syrup a day. He eats fruit snacks in the shape of sharks. They taste good.He chooses when he eats them. Sometimes it's for breakfast, but most of the time it's after his afternoon nap.Jackson has amazing self-control. He eats all the sharks except one. He ALWAYS saves the last shark to eat it later. They get stored in pants pockets,

Homemade Baby Food

2008-09-02T07:22:00.010-05:00

I like making homemade baby food because it is very simple, quick and rewarding. I still buy jarred foods because they are convenient for travel and there are some varieties that I would rather not make myself like meat and prunes.The two simplest foods I have made are avocado and banana. All you have to do is mash them up and add a little liquid, you could use breastmilk or fruit juice.

This Blog Brought to You By: Lysol and Purell

2008-08-29T06:33:00.004-05:00

I hate to inform our many devoted readers (all 3 of you) that my blogging has been interrupted by a baby with a cold. I know you were all waiting with bated breath for my latest breathtaking peek into the world of a housewife and sadly my next post will be delayed until I can get little PJ well.Here's a hint of what you're waiting for: my next two posts involve 3 of the things in this picture:

Adventures In Canning

2008-08-28T07:13:00.007-05:00

Since we have a small garden this year, we have been overrun with cucumbers, tomatoes, dill, oregano and basil. I've done some canning in the past and have all the gear so I've had a few canning parties this summer (We party like rockstars around here!)I was able to use everything we grew because I made pickles with the cucumbers and dill and I made stewed tomatoes with the tomatoes, basil and

Little Miss Suzy Homemaker...

2008-08-27T14:57:00.004-05:00

That's what I've been lately, in a weird way. I've felt the urge for lots of new project, unfortunately my day-to-day housework has kind of taken a hit. In case any of you are interested or can find some inspiration or maybe just get some new material to tease me about (...Jerrod...), I thought I could have a few blog posts about my adventures in canning, sewing and saving the planet.Stay Tuned

Watch Your Mouth...

2008-08-13T15:01:00.002-05:00

The boys are busy being cuties lately, so I thought it would be a good time to update.Patrick is crawling now. Not only is he crawling, but he is obsessed with crawling. He is loving being able to get around and reach toys and even loves crawling around his crib.He learned his first sign last month. Of course, it's the "milk" sign, and he uses it a LOT. He's gotten a lot taller and is eating

7 years ago...

2008-08-11T08:32:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of Alex and me at the butterfly release on our wedding day. Seven years ago today...A lot has changed since that day. We have a lot more stuff, a lot more responsibility and even more love. When I look back at the pictures (terrible...our photographer sucked) I realize how fast the years have gone by. Here's a picture with even worse quality.This is from our first prom. I

Delayed Update

2008-08-10T21:21:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since we wrote to the blog. Our computer took a permanent trip to the farm last week. It slowly started resetting more and more often until it was too much of a pain to use.So, we got a new family member. Here's the pic:She's pretty.I also got a new lawnmower. It's a 2003 Troybuilt, to replace my 1997 Scotts with a bad transmission. The Troybuilt has a seized engine, so I

Hypermiling

2008-07-24T19:49:00.006-05:00

I've entered a hypermiling competition with a few guys, and an entire lunch is at stake. The competition consists of filling up our gas tank and driving normal for 1 week. Then fill up the gas tank and compute the normal gas mileage. Now drive with any hypermiling tactics you can deal with to save gas mileage. The winner has the biggest MPG improvement between weeks.I filled up yesterday to

Mourning Chickens

2008-07-22T13:49:00.004-05:00

The chickens are in mourning. They have requested black ribbons for their chests. One of their beloved namesake has left this world for a better place.Here's the story.

Chair mistreatment

2008-07-14T16:07:00.007-05:00

WARNING: This post is not about the chickens!Yes, the chickens are cute and all, but I would like for us to maintain a well-rounded blog, so today I'm going to talk about awesome decorating stuff.Our computer chair was brought to our marriage by Alex and it has definitely been around the block. The original covering is some god-awful durable canvasy fabric in a puce color that is probably

Ready To Leave The Nest

2008-07-13T21:46:00.004-05:00

Today we are completing Week 3 for the chickens. They have grown in ridiculous fashion. At this point, they have most of their feathers, but still lack a little on their necks. Their wings have grown in, and they like to flap around the box. They also fight with each other when the box walls start to feel claustrophobic. I thought fighting would focus on beak attacks, but no. These guys

Weekend Update

2008-06-30T03:14:00.006-05:00

The chickens have been doing great. They have already grown so much. Feathers are starting to show up on their wings, and they have all gotten bigger and taller. I have been amazed at the amount of food and water they consume. I am equally amazed at the amount of fertilizer that exits the chickens.Rose has become a real pet. I placed my hand in the box this evening, and she ran over and

CHICKENS !!

2008-06-25T11:44:00.002-05:00

They're here. YAYTheir names are:DorothyRoseSophiaBlanche

Case of the Mondays

2008-06-24T20:07:00.005-05:00

I didn't see this coming. Our chickens didn't show up today. I have everything ready for the little girls, but no one showed up. I called the chicken factory, and the United States Postal Service but I didn't get any answers. I'm working at a gov't building now days, so I fully understand our government's efficiency challenges. I have a few majorly ridiculous stories which have occured this

Toddler Emotions

2008-06-23T13:47:00.005-05:00

I had a draft written that was all complainy about how Patrick is not sleeping anymore and the grumpy, bleary-eyed Lettie was back, but I guess our little angel baby decided to return because he slept peacefully all night last night. Yay!I really wanted to get a post in before our blog becomes overridden with chicken information and pictures, so I thought I could talk about what the boys have

Chicken Readiness Review

2008-06-21T13:24:00.006-05:00

It's close to chicken time. I'm expecting chickens to ship on Monday June 23rd, and arrive on Tuesday. Jackson is super pumped just like me. I get lots of cockadoodledoos from him while I work on the brooder.My brooder is a cardboard box purchased from Target during a huge tantrum thrown by the 2 year old. The tantrum was based somehow on Thomas the train and how we're terrible parents for

Scattered

2008-06-18T13:13:00.008-05:00

Does life just get more and more scattered when you have kids, or is it just me? Today is our first day back from vacation. When I checked my planner, I realized that Jackson was supposed to start his summer Mother's Day Out schedule last week and he has now missed 3 days of "school." The people at that program must think I'm the biggest idiot. I am the biggest idiot.So, we just left this:And

Next Project ??

2008-06-06T20:27:00.006-05:00

I've gotten antsy and need a new project to keep me from doing anything crazy like go get a pilot license. Here are my suggested projects:1. Enclose the deck, and make a new living room. Our living room is too small, so it could now become a study. The study could become the dining room. The dining room could be the expanded kitchen. This project would keep me busy for a little while.2.

What's that crazy lady doing in her front yard?

2008-05-24T14:22:00.007-05:00

That's what my neighbors were thinking last Saturday.So, we have this couch and she's a khaki colored denim fabric. I really love this couch, but I bought her way before I had any inkling that I would be bringing 2 boys into this world.The slipcovers on the cushions are removable, so they have seen many trips to the washing machine, but the rest of the couch is definitely not washable. I was "

More Chickens...

2008-05-07T13:52:00.005-05:00

Ok, I am honestly a little sick of hearing about chickens, talking about chickens, looking at chickens, preparing for chickens and you probably all are too. I think Alex is more excited about this than he was about finding out we were pregnant-and that took a lot of time and effort!If you know and love Alex like I do, then you know that he has a tendency to go a little overboard with everything

Chicken Update

2008-05-05T20:20:00.013-05:00

I have some great chicken news to announce. I have the coop, and our chickens will be here in a few weeks. We are receiving 1 day old chicks, which could be considered a little crazy by some of you. That's ok if you think this. You are the same people that will be jealous of my easter egg laying chicken in a few months.Here are few pictures of our 4 hens. We've been told that the adult color

Excitement

2008-05-03T14:01:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is chicken coop day. I can hardly contain myself.I'll get back to drinking mint juleps, wearing my oversized hat, watching race horses, and of course sitting on the deck.

EOB

2008-05-01T20:34:00.004-05:00

I would like to take this time to announce that this is now an equal opportunity blog.It doesn't matter who Lettie currently has a crush on. I realize that sometimes we might have awesome celebrities, such as Nester, stop by and read about my crush on chickens, and salt water aquariums, and getting my private pilot license, or whatever disease I have contracted. We appreciate the celebrities just

Starstruck

2008-05-01T09:58:00.009-05:00

Oh...my...gracious!I can't believe the nester posted a comment on our little old blog!I haven't posted anything about the nester's blog on here before because I didn't want to give away where I've been getting all my awesome, cheap, cute decorating ideas lately, but I guess the secret is out and I really should be nice and share her awesomeness with everyone! So...here it is...the

Chicken Fever

2008-04-30T20:57:00.003-05:00

I have had chicken fever for more than a year now, and now Lettie has a mild case. Someone my sister Lisa knows needed to get rid of 2 chickens quickly, so I volunteered to take them. Sadly they were taken before my offer came. As you can imagine, this was extremely devastating to the Burns household. We had convinced ourselves that we were chicken people, and that was taken from us. But,

Mom thoughts

2008-04-23T14:05:00.005-05:00

A few things that incur the wrath of Jackson lately:Overalls -- apparently making a 2 year old wear overalls is cruel and unusual punishment. I bought Jackson a pair last week-supercute and a bargain, too-but he screams and cries and tugs at them as if he is in a straitjacket. *sigh*French toast for breakfast -- Are you kidding me? You must

An Ode to Delaine and Drew

2008-04-21T14:17:00.008-05:00

A very important part of our little group of Huntsville friends is moving away tomorrow. Delaine, Drew and Claire will be leaving for North Carolina on Tuesday. Delaine, I can still remember the day we met at a Dynetics softball game (this was back in the day when Alex still exercised.) Our group just won't be the same without you guys! We'll miss you and we can't wait for the beach trip!Here are

Bad Dog Parents

2008-04-15T14:26:00.004-05:00

Bless her heart...this is the story of Lucy's first professional haircut.Lucy is our first baby. We got her the day we graduated from Alabama when we had been married about 4 months. We have loved her through a lot and she is very dear to us, but since having human children, she has kind of taken a back seat.Lucy is a golden retriever, scientific name Canis lottahairicus. I vacuum at least

Lovin' Life-even as a single parent

2008-03-21T10:22:00.010-05:00

It's been a long while since we blogged and Brian layed a serious guilt trip on us, so even though Alex is out of town I am going to try to throw you a bone here.I am loving life this week because Patrick started sleeping through the night. He is just an angel baby! As long as I feed him about a million times between the hours of 5 and 8 pm, he has been sleeping until 6 in the morning! This means

Victory Speech

2008-03-07T15:42:00.007-06:00

They said our sights were set too high.They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose. But, on this March night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.You came together to say that we are one Blog, and the time for simple, yet sophisticated deck flooring is now.Thank You, Thank You. We stand

Disappointment

2008-03-07T12:41:00.005-06:00

Wow, I'm surprised at all of our bloggies. It looks like Alex wins again. Don't y'all know that Alex always wins at everything and you should have voted for my painted idea to take him down a notch?I would like to defend my painted floor position and try to win some more votes. I could just disregard everyone's opinions and do whatever I want, but I'm a people pleaser and I like harmony and

Blogger Poll

2008-03-05T17:54:00.005-06:00

Alright Alex's Blog groupies, it's Super Wednesday which means it's time to let your voices be heard. Lettie and I need your help deciding how to finish the deck floor. We've been arguing all week, and I might be losing. We need you guys to settle this for us. Here's what it looks like right now:http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexlettie/The question is.... Do we paint the deck floor with a

The Wild Animal

2008-02-29T13:52:00.005-06:00

I took both boys to the doctor this week-Jackson for his 2 year checkup and Patrick for his 2 month checkup. I know I promised I wouldn't talk about boring motherhood and house cleaning stuff, but being a mother is actually pretty entertaining, and come on it's the only material I've got if I don't want to be mean to Alex in every post.The doctor's office is usually where Jackson's dark side

What a life

2008-02-26T13:57:00.005-06:00

The 3 things I heard Jackson say in his sleep last night:vroomwow!choo-chooI wish I were 2.

Performance Anxiety

2008-02-22T07:09:00.002-06:00

Ok, ok...you asked for it, but I'm feeling way too much pressure to live up to Alex's wittiness. I couldn't sleep thinking about the guilt I had for not writing a blog entry and then I got up and saw that Alex had blessed us all with another one. Thanks, Alex.So, I'm now going to try to keep up the blog and hopefully not bore everyone with too many tales of potty training and Patrick's

Apologies

2008-02-21T20:49:00.004-06:00

I've been deeply involved in the middle of a standoff this week. The blog has been an unfortunate loser to this standoff. Lettie has not had the inspiration she craves to enable a blog from her. I have refused to continue the blog without the support of my dear spouse. Well, it turns out everyone loses. Here I am writing another entry. There you are having to read something written by me

I'm Healed

2008-02-17T21:12:00.004-06:00

From Friday until today my nerves sucked in all the steroids and grew back just as they were supposed to. My mouth and eye just seem to move on my command. The doctors were right that about 2 weeks would be needed. I have a small amount of movement left to gain on my left side, but it's not enough to merit a full up blog of daily complaints. My taste is mostly back as well. With full mouth

Significant Improvement

2008-02-15T11:27:00.004-06:00

I don't have long to post, but I have noticed significant improvement today from earlier days. I can move my left eyebrow on command. It moves about 1/2 as much as the right side, but any movement is better than before. My mouth hasn't shown the improvement yet, but hopefully this means my eye is blinking better so the days won't be as long.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T20:51:00.005-06:00

It's been 9 days since the failed emergency room visit. Nothing is different today. I thought my taste might be coming back since a snack I had seemed to be very different. I can't remember what the snack was but I figure it must have been rotten. My taste is still muted and I think it's the same as the past days. I was thankful for the muted taste as it worked marvelous today at Mom and

Haircut

2008-02-13T20:18:00.005-06:00

I got my haircut today. That's the first time I looked in the mirror for a long time without making a bunch of weird faces at myself. I looked in the mirror to see if I would notice someone else with these symptoms. I'm pretty sure I would. I noticed my left eye was very relaxed and open, when the other eye is squinty. I noticed my lips curved to the right all the time. Normal lip force

Tuscaloosa

2008-02-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

I went to the doctor and to Tuscaloosa on Monday. It was a new doctor that I was interviewing. He did a good job. He didn't change any medicine and just said let him know what's going on after a few weeks. If I'm better that's good, if I'm not then we can talk again. He didn't think a neurologist would say anything different than Wikipedia and would just waste more time.The trip to

Straight Line Winds

2008-02-10T21:40:00.000-06:00

I never knew how often I pucker my lips and blow air out of my mouth. Lettie generally serves molten pasta for dinner, and I have to blow on that to cool it down. Jackson is currently big on bubbles, so he likes me to blow bubbles outside. And then today, I needed to blow sawdust away from the saw while cutting the pencil line. You people with 2 halves to your face might not realize this, but

I'm still not better

2008-02-09T17:11:00.000-06:00

I took my face out to the public today. I like this picture because it shows my goal of keeping my open eyeball out of the sun. I have found that the sun is brighter when my eyelids don't work as well. I went with the Burns family to the Botanical Gardens so Mom's dog could have her date with Socrates the Standard Poodle. Lucy didn't attend Dog Days at the Gardens because of her undesirable

3 Days

2008-02-08T19:24:00.000-06:00

I started putting eye drops in my eye this morning. It turns out that they help. I didn't know how much I needed them until I started. Now that's something else I'm addicted to. I dreaded putting the drops in because I have an enormous fear of things touching my eyeball. Without a blink reflex, these drops are a piece of cake. I'll keep using them.I wanted a good lunch today, so I splurged

48 Hours

2008-02-07T16:23:00.000-06:00

From what I've read, symptoms seem to increase for 48 hours after muscle twitching. This is what I've seen today. My swelling has come back a little on the left jaw and my eye blinks are a little worse. My jaw is sore from the swelling. The symptoms are still more annoying than anything else.I took 1/2 day off from work and took a nap. That was nice. I'm tearing through my vacation hours.

Bell's Palsy Diagnosis

2008-02-06T23:58:00.000-06:00

Today I was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. If you aren't familiar with it (why would you be at 23/100000 odds of getting it) you can find some information here: http://www.bellspalsy.ws/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell's_palsy. In looking for information, I found a few diaries of other people's recovery and thought that was a good idea. Hopefully my recovery is quick and I don't have to

Real Symptoms Appear

2008-02-06T23:55:00.000-06:00

This morning I knew something was different. I still had the same dull tongue, and it had not gotten better or worse in smoothness, and maybe a little worse in taste discrimination. I can tell food temperature, but not taste. Maybe this is a evolutionary effect to my wife's cooking (just kidding...I grew up on my Mom's cooking so I clearly have evolved before today) I didn't have any meetings

Face Twitches

2008-02-05T04:12:00.000-06:00

I stayed up most of the night for some reason and was very tired today at work. I wasn't thinking at my best, but made it through the day without any brain catastrophes. I did notice consistent twitching on the left side of my face; mostly above my left lip and at my left eye. Since everyone gets this I didn't think much of it, but it is more noticeable than normal. I covered that side of my

My tongue feels weird

2008-02-04T04:07:00.000-06:00

Late in the day I noticed my tongue has started to feel weird. It feels very smooth in my mouth. I didn't notice it right away, but can now tell this feeling also comes with diminished taste. I ate a sandwich with jalapeños and had plenty of heartburn to show for it, but no taste. I'm not a conosiour of food, so I really didn't think much of this. I had some terrible chewing gum that Lettie