A has been super high-maintenance this week, and I have been exhausted trying to "maintain" him, hence the lack of recent blog posts. I was blaming his extreme moodiness, lack of appetite, and bad napping on his teeth, despite the fact that his last four are mostly in, with the exception of his 2-year molars. I considered checking if said molars were the issue, but to stick my finger into that bear trap would surely leave me a digit short (more on that later), so I just assumed that was the case. But after a mostly sleepless night for both of us, followed by a fever and the discovery of crusty yellow gunk around his left ear canal in the morning, I knew I needed to get him to the doc asap to get antibiotics for yet another ear infection.
And sure enough, the doc found an infection in his right and couldn't see through the gunk in the left to make a visual confirmation, but all the signs pointed to infection and possible perforation of that eardrum, as well. Poor baby!
So I started him on his antibiotics and have kept him drugged up on Motrin and Tylenol, and he has been in good spirits, excepting when he woke up from his nap after thirty minutes and was a total mess. Luckily, he was willing to lie next to me in my bed and went back to sleep for over an hour before waking up in a decidedly better mood.
So, I guess we'll just wait and see what tonight holds. Keep your fingers crossed.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
as promised
I snagged a few more pics from Leah's Picasa site, which can be viewed in the slideshow below.
Instead of doing a typical guest book that people sign, Leah had the neat idea to take pictures of each guest as they entered the church, so she now has a visual record of all of the guests that attended her wedding. I have only posted a portion of those pictures, so if you want to see more, check them out here.
Instead of doing a typical guest book that people sign, Leah had the neat idea to take pictures of each guest as they entered the church, so she now has a visual record of all of the guests that attended her wedding. I have only posted a portion of those pictures, so if you want to see more, check them out here.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Leah's Wedding: The Big Day
At long last, the wedding day had arrived. A hung at the hizzy with Granny and Grampa B while us girls went to get beautified at a local salon. Leah's bridesmaid gift to us was a cute pair of pj bottoms with "Bridesmaid" on the leg and "Team Riley" on the rear, which we all wore with matching white shirts to the salon. The photographer took some pictures while we were there, which I am anxious to see, but for now I only have a couple that I took and a few from Leah's camera.
I did my own hair and makeup at the salon, mostly because I am a total control freak and didn't trust someone else to do it. When I was done I ran back to the house to get A dressed and ready for pre-wedding pictures at the church. The bridal party got dressed at the church, helped the bride slip into her beautiful gown, and stood for pictures. The wedding started at 6, so after pictures, we spent the next two hours playing in the nursery and trying to keep Alex from smearing Cheeto dust on his dress pants. Luckily Granny and Grampa B were there to help run interference and kept him entertained and out of trouble.
After what felt like eons, we were finally called to the sanctuary where we were crammed like sardines into the vestibule of the church, waiting for our cues to hit the runway. Alex was waiting less patiently than others, although his squeals were more of the excited variety than unhappy ones. Granny B kept him at bay as I made my way down the aisle, and as I saw Rachel and Rebekah at the doorway with Tinsley and Alex, I held my breath and prayed for success.
As soon as Alex's feet hit the floor, he got to walkin'. Rebekah was leading Tinsley by the hand, and as the girls slowly made their way up the aisle, A continued to march, exactly as planned, leading the pack in his usual Alex way. Oh, what a proud moment! I was totally cracking up as I watched him, that nervous and excited kind of laughter that verges on hysterics. He got more than halfway down when he realized that his crew was falling too far behind. So he stopped midstride, turned around, and started making "hurry up" gestures and sounds to the girls as they walked toward him. Once they had mostly caught up, he turned around and completed his task by walking all the way to the front of the church, where he immediately bent down and tried to roll the aisle runner back down the aisle. The wranglers in charge of removing the kids from the sanctuary before Leah's big entrance swept Alex and Tinsley up and out before they could do any real damage.
I was standing next to Tinsley's mama Shay on the stage, and the two of us were so proud of our babies. We could not believe that they had both done so well. We of little faith!
With that part over, the rest of the ceremony was cake. Although I did panic about my non-waterproof mascara when Leah came down the aisle and I bawled my eyes out. You never really know how you will react to those sorts of things until they happen. Turns out I am a big sap. Who knew?
It was a lovely ceremony, and when I wasn't thinking about how bad my feet hurt from hours of standing in five inch heels, I was thinking about how fun weddings are and how I was so excited for Chris and Leah. The bride was a vision in ivory, and the groom looked very dashing in his tux. They had been waiting impatiently for this day to come, so once the groom had kissed his bride and they were announced as "Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Adam Riley", the happy couple booked it down the aisle to the tune, "This will be an everlasting love" with the rest of the bridal party trailing behind.
After a few more pictures, we walked over to the reception, and while I'm kind of bummed that I missed people's initial reaction to our grand transformation, dozens of people came up to me to say how awesome they thought everything looked. And I must say, it did look pretty awesome. It's like, you have this vision in your head of how things should turn out, and you kind of have an idea of how to realize that vision, but there's always a chance that what you have in your head isn't possible to achieve in reality. And when you are working with hundreds of yards of nine foot wide fabric at heights well above ten feet, that chance multiplies by, like, a thousand. But fortunately, it all worked out, no ropes broke, no panels fell, the heater didn't light our tent on fire. Nope, it was all good.
And boy, can that Vicki Evans throw a party or what? I think we estimated that over four hundred folks showed up (not that I am surprised in the least) and gnoshed on the mashed potato bar, chicken and beef, chips and salsa, goodies from the chocolate fountain, and the delicious "cupcake cake". I actually didn't get to eat much myself since I spent most of the evening answering questions about our tent project, but what I did eat was really great. It felt a lot like my own wedding, in fact, since I got to see so many people I hadn't seen a while and ended up chatting most of the evening. There were a few times when I completely panicked not knowing where Alex was, only to find that he was eating cupcakes with Granny B or making the rounds with Grampa B or burnin' up the dance floor with Macy.
That said, I was too busy to take pictures during the ceremony or reception, which bums me out big time, but I have "borrowed" a bunch that people have posted on Facebook until I can get some more.
The couple exited in a shower of rose petals and headed to Little Rock, en route to the Smoky Mountains for their honeymoon. I was more than a little jealous. But I was still basking in the glow of a successful reception, so I was somewhat distracted from my envy. Oh, and if you are wondering, no, I am not planning on entering the custom wedding tent business any time soon. But ask me again in a few months and see if I've changed my mind...
I did my own hair and makeup at the salon, mostly because I am a total control freak and didn't trust someone else to do it. When I was done I ran back to the house to get A dressed and ready for pre-wedding pictures at the church. The bridal party got dressed at the church, helped the bride slip into her beautiful gown, and stood for pictures. The wedding started at 6, so after pictures, we spent the next two hours playing in the nursery and trying to keep Alex from smearing Cheeto dust on his dress pants. Luckily Granny and Grampa B were there to help run interference and kept him entertained and out of trouble.
After what felt like eons, we were finally called to the sanctuary where we were crammed like sardines into the vestibule of the church, waiting for our cues to hit the runway. Alex was waiting less patiently than others, although his squeals were more of the excited variety than unhappy ones. Granny B kept him at bay as I made my way down the aisle, and as I saw Rachel and Rebekah at the doorway with Tinsley and Alex, I held my breath and prayed for success.
As soon as Alex's feet hit the floor, he got to walkin'. Rebekah was leading Tinsley by the hand, and as the girls slowly made their way up the aisle, A continued to march, exactly as planned, leading the pack in his usual Alex way. Oh, what a proud moment! I was totally cracking up as I watched him, that nervous and excited kind of laughter that verges on hysterics. He got more than halfway down when he realized that his crew was falling too far behind. So he stopped midstride, turned around, and started making "hurry up" gestures and sounds to the girls as they walked toward him. Once they had mostly caught up, he turned around and completed his task by walking all the way to the front of the church, where he immediately bent down and tried to roll the aisle runner back down the aisle. The wranglers in charge of removing the kids from the sanctuary before Leah's big entrance swept Alex and Tinsley up and out before they could do any real damage.
I was standing next to Tinsley's mama Shay on the stage, and the two of us were so proud of our babies. We could not believe that they had both done so well. We of little faith!
With that part over, the rest of the ceremony was cake. Although I did panic about my non-waterproof mascara when Leah came down the aisle and I bawled my eyes out. You never really know how you will react to those sorts of things until they happen. Turns out I am a big sap. Who knew?
It was a lovely ceremony, and when I wasn't thinking about how bad my feet hurt from hours of standing in five inch heels, I was thinking about how fun weddings are and how I was so excited for Chris and Leah. The bride was a vision in ivory, and the groom looked very dashing in his tux. They had been waiting impatiently for this day to come, so once the groom had kissed his bride and they were announced as "Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Adam Riley", the happy couple booked it down the aisle to the tune, "This will be an everlasting love" with the rest of the bridal party trailing behind.
After a few more pictures, we walked over to the reception, and while I'm kind of bummed that I missed people's initial reaction to our grand transformation, dozens of people came up to me to say how awesome they thought everything looked. And I must say, it did look pretty awesome. It's like, you have this vision in your head of how things should turn out, and you kind of have an idea of how to realize that vision, but there's always a chance that what you have in your head isn't possible to achieve in reality. And when you are working with hundreds of yards of nine foot wide fabric at heights well above ten feet, that chance multiplies by, like, a thousand. But fortunately, it all worked out, no ropes broke, no panels fell, the heater didn't light our tent on fire. Nope, it was all good.
And boy, can that Vicki Evans throw a party or what? I think we estimated that over four hundred folks showed up (not that I am surprised in the least) and gnoshed on the mashed potato bar, chicken and beef, chips and salsa, goodies from the chocolate fountain, and the delicious "cupcake cake". I actually didn't get to eat much myself since I spent most of the evening answering questions about our tent project, but what I did eat was really great. It felt a lot like my own wedding, in fact, since I got to see so many people I hadn't seen a while and ended up chatting most of the evening. There were a few times when I completely panicked not knowing where Alex was, only to find that he was eating cupcakes with Granny B or making the rounds with Grampa B or burnin' up the dance floor with Macy.
That said, I was too busy to take pictures during the ceremony or reception, which bums me out big time, but I have "borrowed" a bunch that people have posted on Facebook until I can get some more.
The couple exited in a shower of rose petals and headed to Little Rock, en route to the Smoky Mountains for their honeymoon. I was more than a little jealous. But I was still basking in the glow of a successful reception, so I was somewhat distracted from my envy. Oh, and if you are wondering, no, I am not planning on entering the custom wedding tent business any time soon. But ask me again in a few months and see if I've changed my mind...
Leah's Wedding: lingerie shower & rehearsal
Leah had, I don't know, about sixteen bridal showers before her wedding, none of which I was able to attend. Leah's cousin Ashley and friend Shay (flower girl Tinsley's mama) were hosting a lingerie shower the Monday before the wedding, so I finally got to go to one. We had Alex with us and thought that he might enjoy hanging out with the girls. But it only took about five minutes before he discovered the dish of Hershey's kisses and started taste-testing each of the pigs-in-a-blanket that Ashley had made, so we called Poppa to come get him and take him home. Once he had left, the party started, and I got roped into a fun game of "Who can get pantyhose on the quickest while blindfolded?" Leah and I lost to Michele, who claimed that we were too young to remember the days when pantyhose was a requirement, whereas she spent every Sunday morning as a girl manipulating hosiery up and down her legs.
As I mentioned in previous posts, we spent the week draping the gym, running errands, decorating, etc., and by the time the rehearsal rolled around on Friday evening, we were almost kind of close to being almost done. Kind of. Timothy got in from Dallas the night before, and my mom and dad got to town around noon that day, although I was completely unaware that they had arrived because I was ears-high in fabric at the gym and didn't hear my phone ring when they called to say they had made it. It was great to have them there for various reasons, including the fact that they could watch Alex while we tied about a million loose ends in those last two days.
The rehearsal started at 6, and since we wanted Alex to do a trial run as the ringbearer, he and mom and dad tagged along to the church. Neither Alex nor Tinsley were in the mood to walk the aisle like they were supposed to, so Rachel and Rebekah ended up carrying them. We considered keeping the kids on the stage while Leah came down the aisle, but, being curious toddlers with better things to do, they squealed and squirmed until we let them go about their business. We promptly decided that the kids would be ushered to the back of the church just as soon as they had made it to the front.
We had several theories about what A might do when his big moment arrived. The first theory was that he would be completely confused about what he was supposed to do and would take off to the back or the side of the church instead of towards the front. Then again, he is kind of a show-off. With an entire church full of people staring at him, he might make it halfway down the aisle and start dancing, or perhaps he would spy someone he recognized in the audience and stop to have a conversation. The third and most dreaded theory was that he would refuse to participate altogether, that he wouldn't go down the aisle himself, and when carried, he would kick and writhe and squeal his way to the front. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that Leah was unconcerned about the outcome, and besides, the kids are fifteen and eighteen months old. One can only expect so much. But I was still a little anxious about what he would do, and tried to put it out of my mind since I couldn't do anything about it anyway.
We finished rehearsing and headed downstairs to the Fellowship Hall to eat dinner. I sent Alex home with Granny and Grampa B so he could get a good night's sleep before the Big Day. Dinner was catered by Abe's, who delivered a delicious feast of deep-fried fattiness that all but guaranteed that my bridesmaid dress wouldn't zip. It's bad enough that Leah planned her wedding immediately after the food-filled holidays, and now she was tempting me with boatloads of tasty salt and grease the night before the wedding. Throw a girl a bone, wouldya? Preferably one that's not embedded inside a piece of fried chicken.
The food was delicious, and it was exciting to meet and/or greet the rest of the wedding party, many of whom I hadn't met before that night. We soaked in the last few minutes of relaxation, then went right back to work putting the finishing touches on the gym and church. We were pretty much on time according to our self-imposed schedule, but we were starting to feel the pressure. One day to go!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Leah's Wedding: home & helpers
You might be wondering what Alex was doing all week while Grammy and I were otherwise occupied with wedding-related tasks. Sure, Grammy got her hands on him as much as possible, but sometimes it's just easier to get things done when you don't have a toddler clinging to the rear of your pants. Go figure. So at naptime and at those times when being productive was not an option, Grammy found reliable volunteers to watch him in the church nursery or at home. Luckily there is an abundance of trustworthy kidsitters in Eldo, including the Mamaws, church friends, and nursery workers, who were willing to help out.
When he wasn't being "sat", he was playing in the gym, helping us clean, moving tables and chairs, providing the entertainment, and playing with Tinsley the flower girl, with whom he had undeniable chemistry. In the few minutes of free time we had between decorating, errand-running, ribbon-tying, gift-wrapping, and gym-draping, we spent time goofing off around the house. Or at least Alex did.
We did allow ourselves a meal now and then, and on this particular day, we went to Good Times Grill for lunch, where I ordered Alex a corn dog off the kids' menu.
The kids' menu. Call me crazy, but isn't the kids' menu supposed to have smaller portions, you know, for kids? What kind of kid eats an entire foot of corn dog at one sitting, not to mention the mound of fries and cold beverage that accompany it? According to Leah, the answer is, "Kids from Arkansas". My question is, if this is what they're feeding the kids, what on earth does the "adult-sized" corn dog look like?
Anyway, I am posting another slideshow because, for some reason, it has become a nightmare to post pics to Blogger. They don't move where I want them to go, they don't blow up when you click on them, etc., etc. This set includes a little of this and that, Alex stuff mixed in with pics of us and our helpers completing some of the aforementioned wedding tasks, with a few other random things thrown in. I'll try to label them in Flickr when/if time permits, so please check back later if you want more details about our fun week.
Sidenote: Sometime before or after the pictures of Alex playing baseball were taken, A smacked the ball hard and hit a line drive directly into Auntie Leah's eyeball. He didn't really feel as bad about it as he should have, considering it would have been his fault if Auntie Leah had to wear an eyepatch to her wedding. Luckily she made a full recovery and the eyepatch wasn't necessary. Although I would have been more than willing to glue white beads and lace to it if it had been. That could have totally saved her money on accessories, anyway. I mean, who needs earrings when you have a bedazzled eyepatch?
When he wasn't being "sat", he was playing in the gym, helping us clean, moving tables and chairs, providing the entertainment, and playing with Tinsley the flower girl, with whom he had undeniable chemistry. In the few minutes of free time we had between decorating, errand-running, ribbon-tying, gift-wrapping, and gym-draping, we spent time goofing off around the house. Or at least Alex did.
We did allow ourselves a meal now and then, and on this particular day, we went to Good Times Grill for lunch, where I ordered Alex a corn dog off the kids' menu.
The kids' menu. Call me crazy, but isn't the kids' menu supposed to have smaller portions, you know, for kids? What kind of kid eats an entire foot of corn dog at one sitting, not to mention the mound of fries and cold beverage that accompany it? According to Leah, the answer is, "Kids from Arkansas". My question is, if this is what they're feeding the kids, what on earth does the "adult-sized" corn dog look like?Anyway, I am posting another slideshow because, for some reason, it has become a nightmare to post pics to Blogger. They don't move where I want them to go, they don't blow up when you click on them, etc., etc. This set includes a little of this and that, Alex stuff mixed in with pics of us and our helpers completing some of the aforementioned wedding tasks, with a few other random things thrown in. I'll try to label them in Flickr when/if time permits, so please check back later if you want more details about our fun week.
Sidenote: Sometime before or after the pictures of Alex playing baseball were taken, A smacked the ball hard and hit a line drive directly into Auntie Leah's eyeball. He didn't really feel as bad about it as he should have, considering it would have been his fault if Auntie Leah had to wear an eyepatch to her wedding. Luckily she made a full recovery and the eyepatch wasn't necessary. Although I would have been more than willing to glue white beads and lace to it if it had been. That could have totally saved her money on accessories, anyway. I mean, who needs earrings when you have a bedazzled eyepatch?
Leah's Wedding: Tent-building
Man, between computer issues and recovering from an exhausting week of Wedding Boot Camp, I am just now getting back to blogging. As you may have noticed, it has been ages since I've posted anything, and while I usually like to wait until I have all of my pics and post everything in chronological order, I'm going to have to pretend that I'm not totally neurotic and post pics as I get them. At the current rate, life is just passing by and I'm not blogging about it, and that's proving to be slightly more stressful than the thought of posting things out of order. Just slightly.
That said, it was an amazing week with the folks in Eldo. Timothy, Alex, Murphy, and I met up with Bill and Vicki somewhere in Mount Pleasant last Saturday, where B & V joined Alex, Murph, and I in the van and headed to Arkansas while Tim took Vicki's Murano back home to finish a week of work. Of course, I was heading to Eldo to work, as well, only instead of drafting motions for summary judgment, I was going to be draping a gymnasium with obscene amounts of fabric.
And I guess that's about as good a place as any to start picture-posting. Here's the skinny. Leah's wedding ceremony was to take place at the church, with a reception to follow at the gymnasium across the street. The gym wasn't appropriate for a wedding reception "as-is", at least not by Vicki Evans standards (nor mine), so we devised a plan to buy white fabric to drape the entire space and create a tent of sorts. After measuring and remeasuring and estimating and re-estimating, I said a little prayer, gave the thumbs-up to order 500 yards of 108" wide white broadcloth, and crossed my fingers that it would be enough.
And it was, thank tha Lord. I think we used about 450 yards out of five hundred, and guess what folks, that's a lot of fabric. The draping process was grueling, although we had a great team of helpers that were willing to let me boss them around. Bill was my right-hand man and spent most of the time tottering precariously atop a hydraulic lift. But volunteers came out of the woodwork to lend their helping hands, which certainly made things easier. Nonetheless, we worked into the night for three days to get it all done. The transformation was pretty amazing and totally worth the hard work, even if I do say so myself. The pictures hardly do it justice, so for those of you that weren't able to make it to the wedding, you'll just have to take my word for it.
That said, it was an amazing week with the folks in Eldo. Timothy, Alex, Murphy, and I met up with Bill and Vicki somewhere in Mount Pleasant last Saturday, where B & V joined Alex, Murph, and I in the van and headed to Arkansas while Tim took Vicki's Murano back home to finish a week of work. Of course, I was heading to Eldo to work, as well, only instead of drafting motions for summary judgment, I was going to be draping a gymnasium with obscene amounts of fabric.
And I guess that's about as good a place as any to start picture-posting. Here's the skinny. Leah's wedding ceremony was to take place at the church, with a reception to follow at the gymnasium across the street. The gym wasn't appropriate for a wedding reception "as-is", at least not by Vicki Evans standards (nor mine), so we devised a plan to buy white fabric to drape the entire space and create a tent of sorts. After measuring and remeasuring and estimating and re-estimating, I said a little prayer, gave the thumbs-up to order 500 yards of 108" wide white broadcloth, and crossed my fingers that it would be enough.
And it was, thank tha Lord. I think we used about 450 yards out of five hundred, and guess what folks, that's a lot of fabric. The draping process was grueling, although we had a great team of helpers that were willing to let me boss them around. Bill was my right-hand man and spent most of the time tottering precariously atop a hydraulic lift. But volunteers came out of the woodwork to lend their helping hands, which certainly made things easier. Nonetheless, we worked into the night for three days to get it all done. The transformation was pretty amazing and totally worth the hard work, even if I do say so myself. The pictures hardly do it justice, so for those of you that weren't able to make it to the wedding, you'll just have to take my word for it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
must-see Sunday
Hey folks, we made it to El Dorado and are already in the throes of wedding-planning-crunch-time, but I wanted to take a sec to mention something that I have been meaning to post about for some time.
Back in October, my mom was invited to participate in a little television program called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Some of you may have heard of it, and for the rest of who have been living under a rock, it is a home renovation show hosted by Ty Pennington of Trading Spaces fame, where a deserving family is chosen to have their home completely leveled, only to be rebuilt at nothing less than four times its original scale, fitted with the latest and greatest in home electronics, appliances, and related gadgets, and designed and decorated with all the bells and whistles.
A family from Peoria had been chosen for a show being taped in October, and my mom was discovered by a producer who asked her to select a team of artists to provide some of the aformentioned bells and whistles in the form of artwork for a little girl's bedroom. Without giving too much away, I will just say that her team painted murals and furniture for the girl (named Rebekah, I think), which should be featured on the show when it airs.
And the reason I am compelled to mention it now is that it airs tomorrow night, at 8/7c on ABC, and I would love for everyone to watch it. I don't watch it regularly myself, but obviously I will watch it this week considering that it's featuring my home town, and yeah, the fact that my mom might appear on national television. It's a pretty cool concept, and it's even cooler that my mom got to contribute. Even is she doesn't make the cut, her artwork should, and that's just plain awesome if ya ask me.
So that's it, tomorrow night, watch it if you can't, and if you can't, just set your Tivo and watch it later. Thanks!
Back in October, my mom was invited to participate in a little television program called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Some of you may have heard of it, and for the rest of who have been living under a rock, it is a home renovation show hosted by Ty Pennington of Trading Spaces fame, where a deserving family is chosen to have their home completely leveled, only to be rebuilt at nothing less than four times its original scale, fitted with the latest and greatest in home electronics, appliances, and related gadgets, and designed and decorated with all the bells and whistles.
A family from Peoria had been chosen for a show being taped in October, and my mom was discovered by a producer who asked her to select a team of artists to provide some of the aformentioned bells and whistles in the form of artwork for a little girl's bedroom. Without giving too much away, I will just say that her team painted murals and furniture for the girl (named Rebekah, I think), which should be featured on the show when it airs.
And the reason I am compelled to mention it now is that it airs tomorrow night, at 8/7c on ABC, and I would love for everyone to watch it. I don't watch it regularly myself, but obviously I will watch it this week considering that it's featuring my home town, and yeah, the fact that my mom might appear on national television. It's a pretty cool concept, and it's even cooler that my mom got to contribute. Even is she doesn't make the cut, her artwork should, and that's just plain awesome if ya ask me.
So that's it, tomorrow night, watch it if you can't, and if you can't, just set your Tivo and watch it later. Thanks!
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