Easter

The Easter bunny was good to Bennett & Porter {along with their grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc.}

Their Easter baskets were mostly filled with beach items since we left for the beach the next day!

And my camera battery died, so I got ONE picture of Bennett on Easter morning

my cute model!

The samples for my new smocked line {to go along with monogrammed items} came in this week, and I have the perfect model!

D Day

the draft is here!!  Whooo hooo!!  Welcome to the Saints Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram!!

I love the Draft--really really LOVE it!  Main reason??  It means that Ryan is ALMOST DONE with the "spring"!  We can't wait for next week and lots of "daddy" time :)

**All pictures courtesy of New Orleans Saints photographer Micheal Hebert**

New Orleans Saints Scouting Staff--Draft Day 2011

Ryan--hard at work or checking his fantasy baseball team??

the beach

Me & the kids headed to the beach with some friends this week!  It was so much fun, and its safe to say I now have TWO kids that LOVE the beach just as much as their mommy :)
We ALMOST didn't make it to the beach though---Monday morning I was finishing up the last swimsuit coverup at about 8:30 {we were leaving at 9}.  I was talking on the phone and I thought it was about to start sewing on needle #1, BUT it started on needle #5 right down on my finger!!  I SEWED MY FINGER!!!  Amazingly, it didn't hurt??!!  I guess I was just in shock, and the first thought was, "I'm going to miss my trip :("...I looked down and my finger was bleeding, and I saw the needle was broke and the tip was missing.  Once I got the blood cleaned off of my finger, I noticed that the thread was sticking out of the top of my finger where the needle went in.  Well, I knew then that the broken needle was somewhere in my finger!  I was on the phone with my friend, and I said "meet me at the ER in 10 min and get the kids"!  So 15 min later I'm sitting in the ER triage (thank goodness I was the ONLY patient there since the Dr.  had already ordered my antibioitics, XRAY, and tetanus shot before I even left triage!)...
Sure enough the needle was stuck right next to the bone in the tip of my finger.  All I could think of was THIS--a fellow "embroiderer" who this happened to and had to have surgery!  And my friend Emilia did it, too and although she didn't have surgery, she said it HURT. BAD.   The Radiologist said I needed to have surgery, and the General Surgeon in the building refused to even try and get it out, BUT luckily I had a GREAT ER dr. that was determined to get it out without surgery so I could make it to the beach {and partly because in his words, he didn't want to "tick off the hand surgeon with this one"}.  So after numbing my finger, cutting the side of it about 3/4" DOWN TO THE BONE {where the needle was}, and digging for about 45 min under the Fluoroscopy it came out thread still attached!  I made the mistake of looking over once and almost threw up and passed out, but besides that it didn't hurt one bit...until the lidocaine wore off a few hours later.  It hurt BAD for 2 days but is now feeling much better!  I'll save you all the gross pictures I was texting Ryan (ha!) but here is one when I first got to the ER
You can see the thread sticking out, and the scratch where I ripped my hand back after the needle went in the the broken part scratched my finger (which is where the blood came from)

So we got to the beach a little later than planned but still had a fun 4 days! 

Porter and his BFF Kamryn

 why beach pictures in 35mph winds at bedtime is never a good idea:

Kristin to the rescue--made Bennett smile for a second :)

oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

 Kinley deciding to eat seashells...

Kinley Sue

 Luke

 z

Ms Danielle's 3year old MDO class 2010-2011!

they have a love-hate relationship :)

Thanks to Frankie for taking us all to her wonderful Beach House for the week--it takes a special person to invite their friends along with their SIX kids (most under age 4) to their vacation!!!

strawberry patch

 We took a visit to the Strawberry Patch today!  It was H.O.T. but we had a great time!  I'm already thinking we may have to go back when Daddy gets home!

{lots of pics below!}

Regina, showing off her strawberry fingers:

Porter did a lot more eating than actual picking:

 my BIG boy!

Like I said, A LOT of eating!

what bennett did while we all were picking:

Luke found out what green strawberries taste like ;)

 a little air guitar in the "barn"

happy 8 months Bennett!

Bennett is 8 months old!

She is now crawling ALL over the place and getting into EVERYTHING!

So, why did I think she'd sit still for me to take pictures, when the toys look so much more fun?!

Her new thing is pointing her finger at you, and laughing :)

She's pulling up on her crib...

and biting her crib--I went immediately and put the plastic teething guards on after this!

She is 18 pounds (40th percentile) and 29 inches (90th percentile--tall girl!) and has a little bitty head (25-30 percentile)...she is losing some of her cute baby rolls and that makes mommy sad!  She is eating lots more foods, and still prefers real foods as opposed to "baby" food.  I talked to her pediatrician about this, and she was all for Bennett eating "real" food, and we're staring meats this week--yummy!  

Still has the 2 teeth on bottom, and it looks like 2 more coming in on bottom.  The Dr. said we have a ways to go with the ones up top, though.  

Overall, Bennett is a healthy & happy baby!  We were referred to an  Ophthalmologist for her eyes at our last appointment this week.  Her eyes are very almond shaped and are also close together--and in pictures it always looks like one is turning in.  In person, you can't tell at all, but it's very noticeable in pics (see top pic??) --Usually its the left eye, but sometimes it looks like the right eye??!  She focuses with both and has full range of motion in both, but we're going to see the eye dr just to be sure!  Our pediatrician seems to think nothing is wrong, and its just the shape of her eyes and the illusion of pictures when they're not directly head on to both eyes but she (and I) felt like we needed the stamp of approval from the Ophthalmologist!  Luckily it's a minor thing even if she has some eye issues :)