Brian, Starr and Xander - Starr's Blog

Now that it's already Wednesday...lol.

 

Friday night we went to Frailey's. Shocking, huh?  We ran into Kelly & Geoff by chance, so we all ate together. Brian took Xander over to a race car video game to play, and X fell off and bumped his head something harsh. He had a knot on the side of his head the size of a golfball (or, a goose egg, as others call it).

 

I freaked out and called his mom to see if she thought we should go to the ER. She said yes, then tried to talk Brian into it, but no go. Honestly, Xander handled it better than I did. He cried a little, but not for long, then he was a crazy man afterwards. He had a couple Oreos, which must have gotten him all hyper because he was a little nut when we got home.   He's so friggin funny.

 

Saturday we went to WalMart (Woohoo!) and then to Tony & Michelle's for Tom's 4th birthday party. The weather was gorgeous, it really couldn't have been more perfect. It was a nice time; I love getting together with the family. We only stayed about 2 hours, though, because X was getting tired and cranky.

 

Sunday Brian went to my parent's to paint around their new front door, but X and I stayed at home until after his nap. Then we went over at about 2:00. I got the pic DVD from Leslie Windau from Xander's party, so that was really exciting!  We hung out over there for awhile, then went home. If we did anything else I sure don't remember.

 

This week at work we got some sucky news. A girl who had been interviewing for the CRM position turned it down, after tons of testing and several interviews. We really thought we were finally getting on track, but oh well. Back to square one. Also, it's fee billing week, so very busy busy.

 

Apparently X woke up at 5-something this morning, but I didn't even know that Brian was up with him since I had my earplugs in. Brian has been snoring something awful this week, and I just can't take it. It was his turn to get up with X anyway, I woke up the last few times.

 

Oh, also, Brian moved the computer from Xander's room into the basement this week. Now I can get online without waking up my little dude.

 

Ok, better get back to work.

*S* 

So, I have a horrible time making myself go to the doctor. I went to the same doctor and nurse practicioner for many years. Then the nurse left the practice and couldn't take any patients. Shortly after, the doctor moved to Indiana. I went to a new doctor recommended by a friend, and all was good. After 1 appointment, he moved practices also, and couldn't take any patients. What is up with that? I don't understand why they can't ever take their patients with them.

 

While I was pregnant I figured I didn't need a general doc, since I was seeing my OB so often. But now that I've had Xander for over a year, I needed a new doctor in my life. Bad. Since my year long prescription of meds just ran out.

 

I went to a family doctor that Brian knows because she was in his high school class. Kinda weird having a doctor your own age, but she was really nice. The office is right at Butler Hill and 55, so it's convenient (hey, right by Fraileys!). The office is all computerized, so they had a laptop in the exam room and typed in all my answers. She even sent my prescription right to the pharmacy while I sat there- SO cool!

 

The sucky part of the visit was that I had to get 2 shots; one for tetanus/whooping cough/something else, and a flu shot. I think my last tetanus shot was when I was 14, and I remember my arm being sore for days afterwards. I keep trying to flap my arm to keep it from getting sore, I'm sure I look like a mental patient.

 

I figured the flu shot was just a good idea. I've never had one before, but if it keeps me from getting the flu I'm all for it. Especially with Xander around. I know it doesn't protect against ALL strains of the flu, but I guess it can't hurt.

 

I have to go get blood drawn, because she wants to check my thyroid, cholesterol, and some other things. I was glad to see that my blood pressure was very good again, after being elevated after my C-section for awhile. She also said she'd consider giving me a prescription for weight loss pills, depending on what my thyroid test says, but that I have to come in monthly to be monitored while on the pills. 

 

So, I picked up Subway and got to work around 11:00. It's nice to have a short Friday! And Katie's here today helping out, so that's good (our intern, who is usually away at college). Right now Diane is interviewing a guy for the CRM position. I'm crossing my fingers! We need that &*$% position filled!

 

Last night Xander stayed at Donna & Tony's. I always miss him! He's saying "PawPaw" now. Brian and I went to Hooters for dinner and a few drinks. I had some margaritas, which I seem to be craving these days. Then we stopped by Kelly & Geoff's on the way home because Brian needed to drop off some paint stuff. I got to meet Seymore and Daks for the first time and they were SO much softer than I thought they would be. They are so cute! Daks was shy at first, but then he warmed up to us. Seymore was very sweet.

 

Tomorrow morning we are going to the Baby Mania sale at Mehlville High School. Hopefully we'll find some clothes, shoes, and maybe even a decent toy box.

 

Back to work, as usual...

*S*

Today was nice. We went to the Baby Mania sale at Mehlville, so Grammy & Grandpa watched the X-man. They had a lot of fun with him. We didn't find too much at the sale. We got a few pairs of shoes and a couple outfits. We did get a nice carseat for my parents for $10 though, so that was a good deal. Then we went to Once Upon a Child and bought him a snowsuit, a winter coat, and a bunch of winter clothes.

 

When we got to my parents' house, he was taking a nap, so we just hung out for a bit. When we left we went to Frailey's for lunch. Xander was in a pretty good mood today, and being very silly and social. He had a hot dog and fries for lunch.

 

When we got home we hung out w/ the neighbors outside for awhile, and then X ran around the driveway while Brian washed his car. He was so funny, he kept playing in the water (of course) and going after the cat.

 

Tonight Brian went out with Mark, so X and I just hung out at home. It was nice to have some alone time. He only took a short nap, so hopefully he'll sleep really well tonight. He discovered that he can climb up onto the fireplace while holding the end table, so he was very proud of himself. He'd clap and get a huge smile on his face. I tried to be mad but he makes it so hard...lol.

 

Now he's asleep and Brian is home and I'm taking my happy ass to BED! We have to get up early to go to the orchard with the Session side of the family. I'm really excited about it, but my arms are still sore from the shots so I'm a little nervous about carrying him around all day. Of course, I know that I will have some help from the grandparents.

 

Goodnighters, I need to catch some ZZZZzzzzzz's!

*S* 

It was a busy weekend. Not stupendously exciting, but busy.

 

Friday night we went out to dinner at Frankie Gianino’s. Xander was a little fussy, but not too bad. We actually got a seat right away, which was shocking in itself. My buffalo chicken sandwich was hotter than I expected, but still very good. I don’t think they use exactly the same sauce as Frankie G’s.

 

Saturday we went shopping at Wal-Mart and Kohl’s. It’s amazing how fast you can go through money. We spent a ridiculous amount of money this weekend. Saturday night we took X to stay at my parents’ and we went to Dave & Buster’s for Kate Deters’ birthday party. It’s always so good to see Rick and Kate; they are so much fun. They turned a pool table into a party table- hey, whatever works, I guess. I already knew that Laurie & Chris were expecting a baby, but we found out that Tim & Laura are as well. Kate has a new 'do and she looks fabulous and totally sophisticated.  

 

Sunday morning I went to pick up X from my parents’ and I hung out there for awhile. My dad bought me breakfast from Jack n the Box :) X was in a great mood, he was being such a silly goose. The grandparents had a lot of fun with him. They actually took him out of the house for the first time, since Brian helped them install the car seat. They took him to Steak N Shake for dinner, and said he really liked the chocolate malted shake.

 

Sunday afternoon we took Brian’s car to Sams to get a new tire, so then we shopped at Sams, went to the Halloween store (where they had nothing good), picked up X’s photos from Sears (finally), & Target. We are going to a Blues Hockey game next Saturday (and we get to sit in one of the boxes- SWEET!) so we were looking for Blues shirts, and couldn’t find them anywhere! Finally my (former) Aunt told us that they had some at Target, so X and I both got shirts there. We all got some new clothes this weekend, and X got some new tennis shoes in size 6. We picked up White Castles for dinner, and by the time we got home I was BEAT! Somehow, X didn’t even take his 2^nd nap of the day, and he was wired as can be all evening. He ran around like a nut, and his new thing is to spin around in circles to make himself dizzy, then fall down. It’s hilarious!

 

Ok, what else…oh yeah. Thursday night when we were at Las Fuentes with Brian’s family Xander got his first introduction to “hot”. We were kinda cramped at a smallish table, and I was sitting by X. When the waiter set down my plate he made sure to tell me it was hot. X doesn’t know what that means yet…he just sees a bright yellow plate with food on it, so of course he reaches out to touch it. He pulled his hand back really fast, then just looked at me with this confused expression for like 5 seconds, then burst out crying. It was so sad, but so cute! Poor little guy! It really sucks that the only way to teach “hot” is by touching things that are hot! FYI, the plate wasn’t hot enough to actually hurt him, it just scared him mostly.

 

We got the new St. Louis Magazine at work today, and they have their list of the 16 most eligible singles in STL. I knew one of them (a million years ago). Mark Fernandez is one of the hot twins that were camp counselors when I was at Camp Mo-Val in Jr. High. I had a huge crush on him. He also used to deliver pizza to our house back when I was about 13, so I’d always want to order pizza from Domino’s and cross my fingers that he would deliver it. Apparently now he’s a dentist, and still very good looking.

 

On Saturday, Barack Obama was in town doing a big rally under the Arch. It was apparently quite crazy, there were about 100,000 spectators! Diane and Conor from work both went. The weather was gorgeous for it, too. In a way I wish I would have went, just because it is an amazing part of history to be a part of. But, honestly, I’m too lazy for that kind of hassle (parking, crowds, bathrooms, etc). Funny enough, McCain had a rally today in , but his crowd was only estimated at about 3,000.

 

I “won” a free photo book from Shutterfly on Café Mom. They have some influencer program I joined, and I was selected for a free 8x8 photo book. They gave like 1,000 away, so it’s not like I’m particularly special, but it’s still a welcome freebie. I already ordered a photo book from Walgreens before, so I’ll be able to compare and see whose is better. Obviously I like the Shutterfly websites, so I am hopeful that I will like their books and developing just as well.

 

Ok, I think that sums the last few days up. Oh, except that Brian’s allergies have really been bothering him. He’s living on Mucinex right now. Luckily, X and I have been okay so far. With my luck I’ll be sick for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Hopefully the flu shot will keep me covered!

 

Have a great week, y’all…

 

Just a quickie. Last night we bought 2 toyboxes from a lady on craigslist. One is a round froggie for his room, and one is a teal/white Little Tikes box with shelves for the family room. She delivered them, too. They are in great shape, they still look new. So now, hopefully, we can get some toys off the floor.

 

I pinched my arm last night in the baby gate when I was pushing the latch down, and man, it hurt! I have a gross blood blister. I look like a heroin addict. Lovely.

 

There was a bomb in a building 2 blocks from my work this morning. We actually have people we deal with in that building. There was a bomb in a box by some guy's car, and it went off when he tried to move it. He was hurt, but no one else was. The building was evacuated for investigation, of course, but if they found anything out I haven't heard about it yet. Luckily no one was killed, and only 1 person was injured.

 

Tonight we are going to dinner with Brian's parents at Las Fuentes. Yum! It's a belated birthday dinner thing. Then Xander is going to spend the night with them tonight. Brian and I might go shopping for Halloween, or we may have some drinks. Or both. We'll see.

 

We're busy at work, so I gotta go!

*S*

Did I ever mention that Tuesday is my least favorite day of the week? The novelty of the new work week is over, and there's still soooo far to go until the weekend.

 

Diane is out of town today, so the office is pretty quiet. Yesterday was Brian's 33rd birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY SQUISHY!!!  He had a bad case of allergies and was pretty miserable and spent the day at home. I'm sure Louie was happy about that. Needless to say, we didn't really do anything. I got him a little birthday cake and some flowers and a card, and ordered him the ShamWow he was wanting. No big whoop.

 

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Saturday we went to the Howl & Yowl Festival that Country Acres was putting on. It was okay, nothing spectacular. It was really hard to navigate with a dog and trying to pull X in a wagon, or follow him around. The weather was nice. We saw 2 or 3 other basset hounds, one was HUGE. Both Xander and Louie were very tired afterwards!

 

Sunday Brian went to a golf tournament with Cory and Steve Hooper. I stayed home with my crazy little man, but we had a good time. His favorite thing right now is to climb onto the fireplace and "jump" (bellyflop) onto the big SpongeBob pillow that Brian made him. He's a daredevil like his daddy.

 

I think that's it...pretty boring weekend. But that's just fine with me.

 

Yesterday I got a disgusting email from someone trying to scam me. They saw my craigslist post from when Kiddo was missing. They said they had him and were holding him for $1000 ransom, yadda yadda yadda. Pretty funny, since Kiddo has been home since last Wednesday. What a sicko. I was pretty pi$$ed off about it.  I reported the email to Craigslist, Yahoo, and Gmail (since those were the email providers they mentioned). I doubt it will matter, but I had to do SOMETHING.

 

I went to Schnucks last night for a few groceries, and they moved a lot of the departments around. I couldn't find the baby section. I walked from one side of the store and back, and never found it.

 

Xander is at Aunt Trish's today. Mandy was going to a field trip or something. I'm sure he'll have a great time with his cousins. I imagine he'll be exhausted tonight!

 

I updated Xander's baby book a little during "lunch" today (I don't really get a lunch break). Now I just need to get about a million photos printed. *sigh*

 

I wonder if anyone has ever read these blogs? No biggie, they're mostly for me. But it would be nice if someone would sign the darn guestbook some time, since it's blankness depresses me.

*S*

 

So, what’s been going on with us this week?

 

Kiddo disappeared on Monday evening, around dinner time. We were going to bed and Brian mentioned he didn’t know where the cat was. I figured he’d be pawing at the back door in the morning trying to get in. Tuesday morning it was chilly and rainy, and no sign of Kiddo. I was sure he would be in the doghouse, but no luck.

 

For 2 days I alerted the neighbors, searched online, posted lost and found ads, called the local animal control centers, etc. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, Liliana next door saw him by our house. I guess the little explorer had just gotten lost. He didn’t seem to be hurt at all, which was a relief since another cat has been coming into our yard to attack Kiddo, and he is declawed.

 

My first born is now home, safe and sound. We’re going to get a little reward for Lilly for finding him.

 

Work has been pretty crazy this week. I went to dinner with Maria and Olivia at Red Lobster on Wednesday. Olivia is so totally cute.

 

Nothing really new with Xander right now. Early in the week he bonked his head pretty bad at Mandy’s, right between his eyes. He’s just as silly and goofy as ever. He didn’t freak out during his last 2 baths, so hopefully that has passed. He stayed at MawMaw’s last night, so I (finally) dyed my ridiculously long roots. It looks kinda crappy, though. I really need to go get them professionally done so all of my hair will ‘match’ again.

 

Tomorrow we’re supposed to go to the Howl & Yowl Festival at Country Acres Kenell/Resort. I hope we actually go, and don’t blow it off, like we usually do with things. It really looks fun, and it would be nice to take Louie for a fun trip.

 

Now I’m just trying to think of a good costume for Louie. I always loved dressing Tootie as a Hooters Girl, but since Louie is a boy that would be really mean.

Wow, I’m way behind on my blog. That’s probably because I have so much I want to say that I haven’t found the time.

 

First off, I hope you have been enjoying the updates to the site. I have added tons of photo albums, and even got all our wedding and honeymoon photos online- finally, after 2.5 years. I also put up a bunch of old photo albums if you want to check them out. And, of course, adding new ones of Xander all the time :)

 

Last weekend was quite a lot of fun. Saturday night we went to the Blues game with the Sessions and got to sit in the box seats that Charlie & Carol weren’t using. It was so much fun! The box was super nice…carpeted, 16 padded seats, then a little bar with 4 bar chairs. There was plexiglass in the front was about waist high. In the back there was a fridge with soda and beer, a sink, a table and 2 club chairs, and our own bathroom. Did you hear that? OUR OWN BATHROOM! That was SO nice!

 

Xander had such a great time, it was so fun to watch him. He got to run back and forth, up and down the steps, played on the shelf in the closet, and did plenty of dancing. There were times he was just mesmerized by the music and the action. The only thing he didn’t care for was the loud horn when we make a goal. He didn’t cry, but he definitely looked for someone to cuddle.

 

X did take a nap for a bit, but then he woke back up and totally got his second wind. He actually didn’t go to bed that night until well after midnight, which totally screwed up his sleep schedule for the next day, but that’s no biggie. The Blues won the game 4 to 0, but I forgot who we were playing…lol. Oh well. GO BLUES!

 

The sucky part of the night came at the end, when I realized that my purse was gone. Luckily, I had taken my denim mini-purse, so I didn’t have ALL of my cards and such in it, but it had my cell phone, debit card, driver’s license, makeup and a 2GB memory card for my camera. It really drove me crazy what could have happened to it, because when we got drinks at the bar near the end I remembered putting the change away so I had it then, and we were sitting in a box with family so there wasn’t anyone who would have stolen it.

 

I got mostly good news on Monday. My purse had been turned into the lost & found. Apparently the strap had broken, so it must have fallen off my wrist. My cell phone and $3 were stolen, but the rest was still in tact. It sucks, because I had just gotten a new cell phone a couple months ago and now I have to use my old, crappy one, and I have to get everyone’s phone numbers and enter them again, but it definitely could have been worse. Overall, I guess I’m pretty lucky.

 

Saturday was also Donna’s birthday, so we framed Xander’s 1 year photos for her, and gave her a candle and an Applebee’s gift card. Happy birthday, Ma-Ma!  (Apparently she spells it Ma-Ma. I prefer MawMaw myself, since Ma-Ma looks so much like Mama. But hey, I guess it’s really her choice. ).

 

Sunday Xander slept really late…until like 10:30 or so. Sweet! But that also meant I had no idea when he was going to take a nap, since usually he was already napping at about the time he woke up that day. We decided to go to Stuckmeyer’s Farm for Xander’s first trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Grammy & Grandpa Stamm met us out there. It was such a gorgeous day. They have tons of fun stuff out there now…face painting, pony rides, hay rides, forts and tunnels, playgrounds, several huge inflatables, and you could buy pumpkins, mums and apples. Their mums were gorgeous…we wanted some, but we didn’t have room in our car.

 

Xander mostly liked going through the tunnels of the fort with Brian, and going down the slides. It was obvious he was very tired from the night before, so we only lasted about 2 hours before he was getting pretty cranky. We also ran into the Hoopers and the Vandivers while we were there. We bought 3 pumpkins and a bag of apples, so at the end when X was really fussy we gave him and apple and he chomped the whole thing like a champ…including the core! That boy can eat an apple like nobody’s business!

 

It was a really nice weekend, and I probably took about 500 photos (check the photo albums if you haven’t lately). Monday night we went to the Hoopers’ for pumpkin carving. The Cleaves and the Vandivers went as well. It was really cool to watch all the ‘big’ kids carve their pumpkins, they did such a good job and had some cool designs. Xander was just not a happy camper; he wanted Brian to hold him, but B was busy carving his puking pumpkin. Of course, if I picked him up he cried bloody murder. I swear, that kid can sure break my heart when he wants to. After a while X started walking around and checking things out, though.

 

That’s what’s been going on in the past week. Tomorrow is Halloween and I’m super excited. Xander is going to be a spider. When he tried on the costume he was NOT happy, so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles it. Hopefully once he’s outside wi