Baby Carrot

Okay, not really but give him time. Swimming lessons ended this week. Garrett is very sad, he ended up loving them. I knew he would once he got to know the teachers. He went for 6 weeks and made amazing progress. I am very proud of him. We were in the pool this morning and he was swimming around. He is not really moving that much in the water but he tries. He can get to the side or steps and climb out. I am happy about that. We will definitely go back to the same school next year.

We attended The Wiggles Concert today and had a wonderful time. Garrett was in awe and just sat there. He danced a little and sang the songs that he knows. He would just start laughing a clapping during the songs. It was a very good show!

I posted some of the pictures from Cozumel. They are the ones that we took with the little camera. Branden has all the ones of the wedding and most of the beach pictures on the other camera. But there are enough for you to see how amazing it was there.

Bonzai took his last kitty breath on Monday evening. He was too weak to go on. I was with him but thank goodness Garrett was already in bed. We will miss him terribly especially Scooter. We adopted both of them a few months after we were married. Scooter was 6 weeks old and Bonzai was 10 weeks old they are now 6 years old. They were our kids before we had kids, they have always been together. Since Monday night Scooter won’t let us out of his sight. It breaks my heart, he misses his brother. Bonzai was very laid back and did not get upset often. He would steal the candy canes off the Christmas tree every year. He loved to lay in a warm lap and watch football on Sundays. Bonzai was a great kitty and a great friend. Now he is chasing gazelles and elephants in the wild like he always wanted. We will meet again, until then we will keep him in our hearts.

Goodnight my Sweet Bonzai Boy. I love you.

That is where you could find me last week when we were in Cozumel. We had a wonderful time and Chantal’s wedding was BEAUTIFUL!!! I was tearing up again just looking back at the pictures. It was amazing. She is very happy and she deserves every bit of it. We are very excited that she and Dave have found each other. Of course Branden enjoyed taking pictures and they turned out great. We will get them up soon. It was nice to get away without G-Man. Branden and I enjoyed adult time but it was hard not to talk about Garrett. We did find things to talk about and watched shooting stars at night on the beach. Wanting to explore we rented a Jeep and drove around the island. We stopped along the way at shopping huts and public beaches. The best place we stopped was a little bar that had a sign out front that said ‘Mother of all Margaritas’, and yes they were. We will go back just for the drinks. We also drove into town and did a little shopping. There were three cruise ships and four ferry boats that let people off right before we got there. So there were people everywhere. We did not stay very long, I could hear my chair calling me.

Our kitty Bonzai has not been doing very well for about three weeks now. He stayed at the clinic where my mom works while we were gone. Now that we are home we are still having to force feed him. It is not fun for anyone involved, and since Branden said that the smell of the cat food makes him sick I am taking care of Bonzai. On Monday I said enough is enough and that we need serious answers. Our vet here was able to get us into a specialist on Tuesday to see if he could find out what is going on. He took biopsies and we are still waiting on the results. I am calling their office first thing in the morning to see what is going on. Neither one of us can go on like this; it is not fair to Bonzai. We will have answer soon.

Garrett is going to start school in a few weeks and I am very excited. He will have a great time. He will only be there from 8:30am – 11:30am not too long but he will be able to have a nap at home.

Miss. Lucy Jane Pottebaum made her grand entry on August 7. She is very sweet and pretty. Garrett was very happy to meet her but was happier to play with his best friend Jack. We will play with him again this week. He misses his friends.

Oh, he loves swimming lessons now and is jumping off the diving board. My heart stops each time he does it. We are starting his last week tomorrow it will be sad when it is all over. Just like anything else.

That is what Garrett asks us every night before we read him a bible story. He talks about him in the way they talked about The Dude from The Big Lebowski. (I am not comparing Jeff Bridges to Jesus) It makes me giggle every time. We have to find The Jesus and talk about what The Jesus did for us. We don’t correct him we will let his Sunday School teacher worry about that.

Swimming lessons are going great. Ha. If you have talked to me in the last 36 hours you know that is a lie. Garrett HATES them. He loves swimming in our pool at home or anywhere else for that matter. But he likes to do what he wants, like climb out of the pool. You can’t do that during the lessons. He also has an issue with trusting new people. I guess this is a good thing to have but not in this case. It took him 2 weeks to willingly go to the child care area at the gym. Now he runs in there to play.

Today was his second day at lessons. We have 4 weeks of swimming lessons; if he doesn’t get better it is going to be a long 4 weeks for both of us. Today we arrived early to watch the other kids swim. He started crying when we turned down the street. But he enjoyed watching the other kids swim and jump in. He was laughing and we were talking about how no one was crying and sitting on the step waiting their turn. But when his teacher called him to the pool it was all over. He was crying for me and I was asked to leave so he would stop asking for me. I stepped outside the gate where he couldn’t see me but I could hear him. He continued to cry but he did everything they asked of him. It isn’t going under water or jumping in that is the problem it is a new place.

Garrett’s best friend Jack had the same reaction at his lessons. He went to the same school last week. But his mom only made him go for 1 week since he had such a bad time. I think that Jack told Garrett about these lessons and that is why he is having a hard time. Thanks a lot Jack!

The other mothers were giving me the sympathetic smile that said, “It will be okay, what a sweet little boy”. But what they were really saying is, “I glad THAT is not MY child”. I know this because I have given the same smile to other moms.

We will get passed this and if not he will scream at sunscreen for the rest of his life.

Yes, James and his mad skills helped out with Jeep Jeep and the parade. Even though he left us after lunch, we still love him. I hope that his other offer was as good as he thought it would be. Garrett is still struggling with forgiving him. I’m sure a treat from the ice cream man will help. (hint hint)

We had a fabulous holiday week! Branden took off all of last week and we loved having him around. It was a little weird having him here so much but Garrett and I adjusted our routine. He completed several projects around the house that he wanted to get done so that is good.

Lakefest was scheduled for the last weekend in June but with the rain it was rescheduled. We decided to get out of the house and head down anyway. The water is very high! There isn’t anywhere for the kiddos to run around and play in the water. I bought a sprinkler and inflatable pool for them to play in at the house. And thank goodness I did or they would have been pretty bored. It was fun and we will be going back next weekend and hopefully the other side of the family will join us as well.

Garrett had a great time at the parade in Double Oak. Branden drove Pam King, the Mayor, in Jeep Jeep. He loved it and they looked great! Garrett called out everything that was passing by. Of course it rained after the parade, not much you can do about it. I had G’s rain boots in the car just in case. I put them on him and set him free. He ran to the mud puddles and jumped and splashed, it was fun! It is fun to be a boy! He took a good nap that afternoon so we headed over the King’s to watch fireworks. Since we could not see the big show like we normally can they set some off in the street. I didn’t know how he would like them being that close but like always he amazed me. He sat in Branden’s lap and laughed at them. I know it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he did that. But laugh fireworks, really?!

The party was great! Thanks to all who came out and brought yummy food! Everyone had a great time! Those who couldn’t make it, you were missed.

Sydney came over to play on Friday while Teri and Jeff took Abigail to pick up their new puppy, Hank. She is very excited about him and he is so sweet. I would love to get a puppy but keep getting out voted. It is 3 to 2, Branden and the cats against me and Garrett. We will win, one of these days. Until then we will play with Baby Hank.

I have posted new pictures.

I’m wondering what the management of restaurants everywhere are thinking when they send the kid plates out boiling lava hot. Holy moly. Without failure, every single meal we get when we go out usually starts with a hot plate of food taunting Garrett.

Usually, the first thing we do the second we sit down is order milk and dinner for the Squid. Normally, they are pretty quick about getting it back out to us, but by the time it cools down, we are just moments away from getting our food. Last night, our food showed up before his was cooled down.

Guys, get a clue! Anything under BODY TEMPERATURE is a good temperature to send out the food.

Anyway…. Last night’s fun was taking Garrett to Hooters. Last time he was there, he was still pretty young. This time he could say “I love Hooters!” and “Thanks,” when he got his milk. Left much to be desired by our “new” waitress who poured beers like the place was on fire–half foam, half beer.

To sum. Restaraunts, SIMMER DOWN!

While driving in Jeep Jeep today:

G: “Grande, Soy, Chai, Extra Hot, No Water”

Me: “What did he just say?”

B: “I think he just ordered your Starbucks drink.”

G: “Grande, Soy, Chai, Extra Hot, No Water”

Me: “He did it again! Now I just need to teach him how to order me a Martini.”

Garrett and I were at our favorite place last week, Target. He likes to hold the plastic bags from the produce section and hand them to me when I need them. I had one extra bag so I let him keep it while I picked up a few last items. He was having a good time putting his arm in it and clapping, rolling it up in a ball, you know fun stuff. Then he looked at me and said, “Hat”. Yep, he put the bag over his head. I took it off very quickly and told him, “No, it is not a hat”. Thank goodness no one was around. I dodged another CPS bullet that time.