Happy Birthday, Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday (Mark's mom). Six years ago, this is the picture I would have sent home for her to see.



Tonight we ate at Sammy's Grill and had boiled crawfish - and Anthony learned how to peel crawfish! And Benjamin learned how to eat crawfish: let Mommy peel one, shove it in my mouth, and sign "more" before I've even chewed and swallowed the first one.

I think Nana's birthday today was much better for her (and us!) than it was six years ago!

R.I.P.

Last night we had dinner at Mark's parents' house. After dinner, I washed the dishes and Mark dried them. While drying them, he dropped a bowl. Well, I can't really call it a bowl. Maybe an Icon? A Treasure? A BELOVED AND WELL-REVERED MEMBER OF THE FAMILY? Hmmm....

I'm sorry to say that THE Canteloupe Bowl has been broken. The bowl that has been part of the family forever, and that has been the topic of many conversations. In the seven years I have been in this family, that bowl has never held ANYTHING but canteloupe. And it's gone.

Rest in peace, dear bowl. You will be missed.

Fun at Nana and Grandpa's

We've spent the day at Nana and Grandpa's today. Nana bought a Slip n Slide for Anthony a few weeks back, and today was his first time playing on it. Of course, he had no clue what to do until Daddy showed him how to run, fall on his stomach and slide...and then he expected his Daddy to help him every time. Pictures? Why, of COURSE we got pictures!

First, though, is a picture of Anthony seconds after arriving at Nana and Grandpa's. He began to pull out all of the toys that he and Grandpa were required to play with, and then stacked them up, so that he could be sure to get them all in.


And then we got some snuggle time with Grandpa after nap.


WHEEEEE!!






Takin' a water break.


Splash!


And then after a little break, and after the pool dried out, Anthony decided to be an explorer (Anny a Splorer, Mama!).


Our best scary pirate face. "ARGH!"


Every good "splorer" needs a boat, you know!


And when he tired of being a "splorer", Anthony decided to bop Nana on the head with his "sword".


Phew. I'm tired!


So, yes. School. Kicking my butt. I feel like I rarely come up for air (well, except for those lunch dates with my dad, mom and sister!). I go home every day at noon, and do work until I leave to pick Anthony up (around 4:30). Then I do more work after dinner, usually until Anthony goes to sleep. I have at least one test every week until the semester ends in early August. It's going to be this way until I finish with classes next May...I'm just trying to adjust!

Anthony's not been too interested in potty training, but we're not rushing it. He'll let us know when he's ready. We put him on the toilet ocassionally, but he usually fusses to get right off. We don't want to make this an unpleasant experience for him, so we're just taking our cues from him.

Mark, Anthony and I will leave for Omaha, NE on July 6th for UNMC's transplant clinic and reunion . We'll be there Thursday through Sunday. The really cool news is that we were contacted by the PR Department at UNMC. We will be a "featured family" (or something like that) while at the reunion. I think that Anthony is the youngest living donor liver recipient at UNMC (if not, he is one of the youngest, as he was transplanted at 3 months), and that's GREAT PR stuff for UNMC. We will probably be interviewed by a news station or two, and possibly a newspaper. I'm so proud that Mark and Anthony will be able to promote organ donation with their inspiring story. Of course, as shy as Mark is, I'll probably do the talking (anyone who knows me, knows THAT won't be a problem!).

Lots of love to everyone,
Laurie

Nemo on Ice

Mark, Nana and I took Anthony to see Nemo on Ice Wednesday evening. He could hardly be convinced to sit down, and stood at the railing wide-eyed almost the whole time. When the other kids were frightened of the shark and the shark costumes, Anthony was laughing and saying, "BIG shark!" He had such a great time, and Nana and I sat back and beamed at our miracle while Mark took 566 pictures (that's counting the ones we kept, and not the ones we deleted because they were too blurry).

That's a shark hat on my head. Anthony didn't want to wear it, but wanted me to.




A rare occassion when Anthony looked away from the ice; you'll notice that there's nothing going on behind him.


The finale:




I took Anthony to the pediatrician yesterday because he started with a fever Wednesday night and has a nasty cough. Anthony's now on Zithromax: an antibiotic that will help get rid of his upper respiratory infection and kill any organisms that might be thinking to cause pneumonia. Thankfully, Anthony's lungs are clear right now, and we're hoping they stay that way! I'll take him back to the pediatrician if he's still sick after his 5 day course of Zithromax.

I'll be updating with news and pictures this week. Nana and Grandpa are on a mini-vacation (Grandpa's mixing business and pleasure) and I've promised pictures and news frequently. I'm sure I can find at least ONE cute picture to post of Anthony each day. :)

Love, Laurie

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Monday: back to day care if we're not sick, resting at home with Mama if we are.
Tuesday and beyond: stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

We love you and hope you have a great day today! Family picutre, lacrosse game, cake and presents...it'll be fun! See you in a few hours!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Santa!

Well, Santa did show up in our neighborhood yesterday. Of course, he came in about 20 minutes after I put Anthony down for his nap! I did wake him up, though, since it was about 20 minutes after they entered the neighborhood that they made it down our street. Anthony was BUG EYED watching the fire truck and Santa come down the street. He really got a kick out of it (so did Mommy since she had never seen it before)! He did go back down for about 15 minutes of sleep/resting in his bed, and then relaxed another 15 minutes in bed with me. So he got some rest.

He also played outside for a good while yesterday morning while we were waiting for the two sets of grandparents to show up. Mark got some good shots, so I'm posting pics of that, too.

Our friend Neel is in town for a couple of weeks! He's doing his residency in Orlando, FL, but his parents live on the West Bank of New Orleans (which was not hit as hard by Katrina). Anyway, Neel was in Baton Rouge yesterday and came for a visit. Anthony was very impressed with Neel, and found a fun game to play with him (something about throwing his cow behind his bed and getting Neel to fetch it). Mimi and Mike came over in the evening, and topped off Anthony's day with some more play time.

We put Anthony to bed shortly after everyone left...so he got to bed at his normal 8:00pm. I figured he'd sleep until about 6:30 this morning since he hadn't gotten a good nap yesterday. Well, at 6:45, I went in to check on him (read: make sure he was still breathing; yes, I'm that neurotic). He was fine, so I closed his door and let him sleep. At about 8:00, I opened his door, turned off the air purifier and turned on the TV in the den...hoping that the noise might wake him a bit. At 8:30, I had to wake him up because he would miss breakfast at day care if he didn't get there for about 9:00, and I knew that would throw his whole day off. He woke up happy, we got him dressed, and he's at school now. He didn't cry too hard when I dropped him off, and when I peeked through the door before I left, he was playing with a little girl in his class.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures from yesterday!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Monday: dinner with Maw Maw and Paw Paw, and tree decorating! (rest assured there will be pictures of this adventure, too!)
Tuesday and beyond: stay tuned!













Strolling with my Nana:


My crazy old Mama woke me up from my nap for Santa?


Still trying to wake up:


Here comes Santa!


An amazed little boy: