Ice Storms and Milestones

We are all housebound today because of the ice storm. It's not really that bad - no power outages or anything, just nasty out. I took some pictures of our bushes :

















It looks beautiful actually. The boys are holding up fairly well for having been cooped up since Sunday night.

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I can't beleive our little guy turned the big "ONE" on the 16th! We had a party last Sundy and our friends and family came. Henry had a great time, though I'm not entirely sure he knew what the hell was going on. Not to fear, I took about a million pictures so that when he grows up it will be well documented. Cole enjoyed opening all of Henry's gifts and declaring that they were all his. He still doesn't quite get that, in fact, they are Henry's and he can't rip them out of his hand and knock him over.

This is Cole on Christmas morning playing with the guitar that Aunt Penny and the Mekhaniks (that sounds like a band) sent him for Christmas. They also sent Henry a kit with all sorts of percussive instruments. John thought they were being smart-asses. He immediately started thinking of something obnoxious to send Stella for her birthday. I thought instruments were a great gift - the kids love them. Turns out Penny admitted she was "sort-of" being funny.

When I say that our kids got spoiled for Christmas, I am grossly understating the fact. Take a look at the presents waiting for them on Christmas morning:









It took hours to open everything. Needless to say when people ask us what Henry needs for his birthday - There isn't a thing. The Holidays were great. Aunt Meg and Uncle Jason drove in from Phoenix, and Nanny and Teddy drove up from Fort Worth. There was a lot of celebrating, and even more eating.

This past Saturday it was 75 degrees out, so we packed up the mini-van and the Morgans and Nana and Grandpa went to the Tulsa Zoo. Cole was so excited. He kept screaming "Cole's at the zoo!" When we rode the train "Cole's on the train!" He had such a blast - I can't think of the last time I saw him have such a good time.
Here are some random zoo pictures


This last picture is significant because it shows Cole doing his absolute favorite thing - opening a door by remote means. It's like playing God.

Henryland

It's two in the morning and Henry just fell asleep. Again. He's been having sleep issues again. He wakes at odd hours and just wants to be held. He falls back asleep, but as soon as he senses that he's being put back in the crib he starts bawling again. For those of you who know Henry (or Hank the tank as I affectionately refer to him), it's so sad to see him cry. He's just such a happy boy that it makes his sad so much sadder.
John and I went out tonigt. It was so nice. It was his company Christmas dinner at Flemmings followed by "The Santaland Diaries" at the PAC, followed by dessert at Polo Grill. Thanks mom and Bill for taking such great care of the boys!!!
Christmas is rapidly approaching and we plan on getting a real tree and setting it up in the living room. We have an artificial tree in the front room. It sits right in front of the big window and looks nice from the street. Unfortunately we have no furniture in that room, so we can't really enjoy it. The beauty of the fake tree is that we can lock the door to the front room and the kids can't have their way with it. Not so if it's in the middle of the living room. Fair game. Surprisingly I'm not nearly as worried about Cole as I am about Henry getting his hands on it. Todd and Amy's baby will be exactly the same age next year as Henry is now, so we'll be the crash-test dummies.
My arms are tired from holding my phone up so I can write this post in bed. Pictures soon!!!

Holly Jolly

(Cole is not joking around here. He wants Henry AWAY from him. Henry is oblivious, and loves that Cole is paying attention to him)

For the time being, everyone is healthy. Knock on wood, please. The holidays are rapidly approaching, and the temperature is dropping - thank you six pound eight ounce baby Jesus! I am loving it. The only drawback is having to bundle up the boys. It's a pain in the arse. They don't want to wear the bulky jackets in the car, so it's constantly on and off on and off....... Oh well - the price you pay I guess. Aunt Jonna is coming to town (better than Santa if you ask Cole) tonight, and I can't wait to see how Cole reacts. He's all talk. He keeps telling everyone at school "nana's coming". Points to everything she's ever touched in the house "nana, nana". My prediction is that when he sees her he'll bury his face in my leg and do the half-grin-look-at-the-floor bashful routine. We'll see.

Nanny comes tomorrow - he can't stop talking about her and Teddy either.

Then my cousin Tricia comes on Monday - I am beyond excited! We lived together for a year in New Jersey and for a few months in Sarasota before I moved to Tulsa. She is awesome, and I miss her so much! Her visit should be a blast!

Jolie, Fletch and Blake will be in town next week.

Next week will be great!

What a bummer it will be when everyone is gone. Wah-Wah.



Anyway, I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's house. She is an awesome cook, and there's nothing like the holidays with your mommy. I'm so glad that she and Bill moved here. I say it all the time, but I don't know what I'd do without them. I had a harsh taste of reality when they were in Europe for three plus weeks.



We took Cole to see Santa at the mall. He was all "Santa, Santa! - Mall! Santa" I kept asking if he was going to sit on Santa's lap for a picture. "yeah, Santa's lap. Picture" We waited in the relatively short line - he was still excited - pointing to Santa, reaffirming his intention to sit on his lap.



Have you seen the commercial with the kid who is obsessed with Pauley the Penguin? Has all his dvd's, stuffed animals, etc... They wait in line for an hour at the mall, he walks up there, gets close, then freaks out and turns around and runs away?



That was Cole.



We had to bribe him with a cookie and he begrudgingly sat long enough for us to get a picture of him and Henry with the big guy. I'll try to scan it and post it later. It's pretty funny.



Henry started clapping and waving last night. I got him to say "Bye Bye" a couple of times. He's so freaking cute! He only needs one finger to help him balance while he stands and yesterday he moved from the couch to the coffee table with a step. We think he'll be walking by Christmas.

The saga continues....

For those of you following the continual ups and downs of the Morgan boys' health status, here's a brief update:

Somehow, Henry gave Cole Fifth disease. Henry had the telltale "slapped cheek" redness last week and was generally out of sorts - just crappy. For those of you that know Henry, he's just not a crappy kid. There was nothing specifically wrong with him, so we gave him Tylenol and chalked it up to teething. By Thursday he was back to his old self.

This past Saturday, Cole woke up covered in what looked like hives. Big ones. Scary nasty itchy ones. Poor kid. We slathered him in hydrocortizone and kept him on Benadryl. This morning when the "hives" hadn't gone away, but rather were reappearing in other places all over his body, I brought him into the doctor. She diagnosed it as Fifth Disease which is a lot less serious than it sounds. It's a virus that just has to run it's course.

Since Cole has such a sensitive immune system, it showed itself in a nasty rash, whereas Henry just got the rosy cheeks. She put him on a seriously strong antihistamine and said that if the rash isn't gone by tomorrow, we'll have to come up with another plan of attack. The good thing is that the meds make him sleepy. It gives his little body a chance to slow down and recharge. Keep your fingers crossed that his rash is gone tomorrow.


Speaking of tomorrow - VOTE!!!!!!!!

-preferably for Obama :)

Pumpkins, Turtles and Dragons

Cole had his school "Halloween Picnic" today. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and it was nice to get the kids outside. Surprisingly, Henry didn't protest wearing his shell at all, while Cole immediately wanted his dragon getup off. I bribed him to keep it on so we could get a few pictures. All in all, he had a really fun time - mostly while hanging out with John, Henry, and me. He's not into the social scene yet, so we laid-low - I put some temporary tattoos on his face in lieu of Sandy, the director, painting his face, and he did not participate in any fun Halloween games, but he did enjoy walking up the hill behind the lawn and running full speed ahead back down. It's the little things.

This past Saturday we went to the Pumpkin patch and Cole had a ball playing with pumpkins, posing for a gazillion pictures and watching the horses pull the wagons. He didn't want to ride, just watch. He also had a lot of fun yelling at the train full of kids and their parents. "Away Train!!!" - He's not big into motorized vehicles. Every truck we see - literally every one - "Away Truck!" or "Away Bus" - sometimes he makes it personal toward the driver "Away lady!" He's very bossy.

Mass Hysteria

Holy Effin' Crap! I have to say that last night ranked right up there with the birth of my two boys for me. Oh, and my wedding too :) Yep, it was the big night. NKOTB - back and in concert! Angie and I were really surprised to discover how good our seats were. We were on the floor about 20 or so rows from the stage. Before the show started, the girl next to me asked if we'd switch seats with her friends who had closer seats so they could sit together. It got us about 5 rows closer. Jordan I'm coming!

They busted out all the old songs, and a few of the new ones, but they were quintessential New Kids. They didn't try to de-cheesify themselves for the new millennium. It was a perfect balance of a great stage performance, and a whole lot of nostalgia. I was absolutely 15 again! Jordan was singing directly to me (Though Angie swears it was her - poor, sweet, delusional Angie). I think I must have screamed louder last night than I did way back when. I am now partially deaf, and very hoarse.

At one point in the show, They popped up in the center of the floor on a tiny stage that rotated. I found the picture above on the internet. It was actually taken at the show last night. They were seriously like 8 rows right behind us. It was insane. I could smell Jordan's pheromones, and I knew he wanted me. I flashed him my wedding band, and I think I saw a tear fall from his eye. Poor guy.

I digress. Last night, I was Sarah - a 33 year old woman (eeeew) who went out with a bunch of other women for dinner and drinks before a kick ass show. I wasn't mama, or Maaaaaaaaa (I miss you Fletch!) - I was me. I let loose, and allowed myself to have the time of my life. I needed that sooo bad. Thank you John for agreeing to watch the boys all weekend and take off work today so I could do this. It meant so much to me.

Angie and I got to bond, and share probably TMI with each other, but it was fun! We met up with Jolie, Blake and Fletch (again, I miss you Fletch - what an effing cute kid!), and got to shop the outlets.

It was a perfect weekend!!