Today as you saw, I did a lot of shopping. I sooo need new clothes. All of my old clothing is wayyyy to baggy on me. Now that I’ve lost some weight, it’s much more fun to shop since more things fit and you are happier with your image – you know?

So anyway, I’m surprised dh isn’t ready to kill me. This week I bought a $39.99 quilt for our bed. Our room is lighthouse themed and it fit perfect. Our old comforter is years old and not in good shape anymore. All together with shipping it was about $50.00.

Then today I spent $60 or so at the consignment shop. I got a dress (tags still on it) for our formal night on our cruise, a beautiful shirt and a video for Joey.

Then I spent $50 at Salvation Army for some more clothes, mostly for me, but some for Joey and some toys for him – including Thomas the train stuff.

Then I went to Payless Shoes and got myself 3 new pair of shoes and 1 for Joey for $40.00.

Then I went to the fruit market and spent $26 on fruit and veggies.

Oh and get this. I have such a wonderful hubby. Our local awesome scrapbook store – the Zone, has a newsletter and they have 40% off coupons in there. Now this is a great store to have a 40% off coupon to. The newsletter includes 3 coupons for 3 different months (ie. June – August). The catch is to stay on her mailing list, you have to use 2 of the 3 coupons every newsletter. So I didn’t use June’s and I NEEDED to use August! So dh went on Wednesday (the last day of the month) to the scrapbook store for me. He looked lost, told the ladies I wanted Prima flowers, and then picked out two bottles for me and used my 40% coupon. Now when your dh goes into a scrapbook store for you and doesn’t even complain, you know you have a great dh!!

I know I talk about food a lot. I started a new diet today. It’s the core WW problem. It’s like a low-carb diet but instead you can eat potatos/brown rice once a day and you can have all the fruit you want. It went well until Joe ordered Chinese. I ate those Crab Rangoons. They are my favorite. I ate an eggroll. The soup was on the program so it was fine. I ate a few Sweet and Sour Chicken pieces, but they weren’t that great, so then I was done. I ate well otherwise today. I’m trying to lose a few extra lbs before our cruise in October!

Oh and Thursday was exactly a month away from our cruise. 29 days now and counting!

No new photos. I’ll have to take some this weekend.

Joey has been great lately. He has a chip obsession. We may have to stop buying chips for awhile! Joe says he wants one every morning when he wakes up. Silly boy. Boy are we bad parents for giving in.

Joe had an awful day at work. I won’t go into what exactly happened... but I don’t think I’ve seen him this angry – ever. He even told me he got home, took his baseball bat and crushed a few shelves in the garage. He told me it was a shelving unit he always hated and was going to trash anyhow. I guess we’ll see how things work out later this year. Joe does such an awesome job. He’s such a hard worker. I think it’s hard for Joe and I to prove ourselves in an environment like we work because we are younger than almost everyone. We are 27, in a world of people in their 40s and 50s. Sometimes it’s hard to be taken seriously.

Can you believe gas is as expensive as it is? It was $3.29 yesterday! WTF?!!! I saw our local station dropped it back to 2.99/gallon today but geez.

The hurricane Katrina – I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like a bad sims game where a natural disaster happens and you can’t stop it and it destroys cities. To see the cities UNDER water is just nuts. My co-worker’s parents lived in the city that was hit worst. They took off once they heard the hurricane was coming their way – before the mandatory evacuation. My co-worker was telling me it was a good thing they didn’t stay because they wouldn’t have made it. Her parents are living with her now. They are assuming their house and possessions are totally gone. They don’t even know when they are going to go back and see their house.

It’s kinda weird actually. My co-worker’s sister was going to move to Florida. Her sister has a son that my co-worker is in love with. She doesn’t have any kids so her nephew is like her son. Since this hurricane came through, her sister decided they don’t want to move south, so she doesn’t have to worry about not seeing her nephew, whom she loves dearly, AND her parents are now in Michigan and have said they are going to stay. SO all in all, this natural disaster actually had a very happy ending for her.

I can’t even fathom what these people are going through. To have nothing. No clothes, no food, no car, no photos, no home, nothing. A girl on a message board today said that she lives in Houston and that is where a lot of people are going. She said she was in Walmart and there was a woman trying to get a prescription filled for her asthmatic son and was crying about having nothing. I swear, if I lived in Texas, I would just take in a family. I couldn’t bear to see these people with NOTHING – not a thing and not help like that. I mean, I have extra clothes, extra food, extra room. I know it sound rash, but I really would. I get this extra empathy from my father. My dad is always trying to help everyone out. It’s a good trait to have…but sometimes it gets you in trouble.

I have to scrapbook this weekend. I plan to get a few pages done.

Poor Joe. Not only did he already have a bad day, but we got all the way to Fenton, and the traffic was totally backed up already from the traffic jam, and I told him I forgot the power cord to our laptop!!!! What crap! So we turned around, went all the way back home.

It was a good thing actually. Joey NEEDED a diaper change. He can drink 3-4 sippy cups in the hour and a half ride up north, and when we get up there he’s totally soaked through his diaper, shorts and seat! So we changed his diaper, put on an overnight, which is more absorbent and we got the power cord. We took a different way up north, which ended up being much quicker and no traffic jam. So good did come of it actually.

I need to update this more often and there won’t be such a long write-up here. I have been printing these out for grandma and grandpa to read when we aren’t up there to visit so they can see what we are doing, even though we aren’t there. They seem to really like it and I like them seeing what our daily lives are about, and how Joey is growing and doing.

I was reading some old emails tonight about Joey and my birth. There were a few emails that made me want to have another baby soon, and then I read about my birth experience and about Joey’s tests and blood draws and the unknown before his surgery and I second thought my baby vibes. I am not ready to go through 10 months of being fat again – especially when I’m so close to where I want to be physically. I don’t want to go through labor again, knowing I could have urinary problems again for months. Or how about wondering if the next baby is a boy, and if it is, worrying the whole pregnancy about another blocked kidney. My mother says that it was a thing that happened, not hereditary and probably won’t happen again, but I’m not so sure. I’m just not ready. Maybe when Joey’s in school, maybe when he’s 5, 6 or 7…but not now. The wounds are too fresh, the thoughts of surgery, spending a week in the hospital, worrying about Joey’s tubes out his back are just too fresh in my memory. Not only that but Joey is an angel. He slept though the night from day 1. He is well-behaved. Do I want to chance having a second – and having a hell baby? Almost everyone I talked to says their second baby is so much more work and so much more demanding. I know every child is different, but I’m not ready to play the odds!!

Today I went shopping. I dropped Joey off at daycare, and went to the consignment shop. I got a nice shirt, a dress for the cruise and a video for Joey.

Then I went to Salvation Army to drop off some clothes and ended up shopping. I got Joey some videos, I can't believe I found some Thomas the Train figurines!!, some cars, got him a few clothes and went wild shopping for me! I must have gotten 10 pair of pants, 4 shorts and 5 shirts or something! I spent $50 there!!! I can tell you, I have some clothes now! LOL. I got a ton of name brand stuff too. Lot of new khaki's, black slacks, nice shirts, etc.

Then I went to payless and got myself 3 new pairs of shoes and a pair of shoes for Joey.

Then I went to the fruit market and got a bunch of stuff.

I went home, cleaned a grocery bag of peppers to freeze and just went to pickup Joey!!

I have dropped so much weight that I needed new clothes and I have no problem going to second hand stores - esp when the clothing is in great condition and name brand! It's just cheaper and the same with a good wash!!

He woke up from his nap a holy terror, and I think he was super hungry, and after that he's been a doll for the rest of the day. We went on a long walk today. We met some people in the neighborhood who have a 3 1/2 year old. She loved Joey. The mother Lara was very nice.

Later we met another set of people - two women walking their rotweiller dog. The dog was super sweet and let Joey pet it. He loves dogs.

Tonight he was crying his head off. We tell Joey his vitamins are candy so he eats them. He loves his vitamins now and wants them more than once a day. So I made Joe go up to the store so I can have something to bribe him to lay down for a diaper change if I really need to (most the time he's good). AND because he seemed to want a piece of candy so bad. He already has a sweet tooth? So once Joe left I picked up Joey, asked him what he wanted. He didn't want candy - he wanted a different sippy cup. Joe said before he left he did point at the candy....but when I picked him up, I guess he just wanted a different sippy. So I gave it to him, and he was instantly happy.

After that we played. He loves to be chased as he runs through the house. If I catch him, I pick him up and hold him upside down while he giggles. We did this for about 15 minutes. He kept running to the chair, climbing up it and turning on and off the light. It was cute.

Today while we were eating he was signing like crazy. I think he's going through another growing spurt - he ate a ton today. He watches a video and he knows how to say or sign every one of the ones on this video. I'm so amazed!!

• Colors • Rainbow • Red • Orange • Yellow • Green • Blue • Purple

• Vegetable • Fruit • Carrot • Corn • Beans • Potato • Lettuce

• Grapes • Peach • Pear • Strawberry • Watermelon

• Dance • Walk • Sit • Swim • Sing • Run • Swing • Jump

He's so amazing the way he's picking up everything now like a sponge. Watermelon is a hard sign. You first have to sign water, and then sign melon and he does it perfect. He does please and thank you in sign and says thank you. We are so proud.

Here are some photos from tonight. I'm so in love with his big blue eyes!

I didn't get any scrapbooking done this weekend :( I need to get a page or two done by the end of month!

Oh and I got on the scale tonight and I was up. I hate the scale! LOL

Our wonderful aunt and uncle told us that we could have their little tykes playhouse. They didn't want it anymore and that if we didn't want it, she was going to freecycle it or something because Uncle Gary just wanted it out of his yard.

I wanted it for Joey but we have a tiny house, and a tiny yard. Also he is only outside at our house for only 1/2 hour to an hour a day. So I made a phone call to our daycare. She watches kids 6 weeks old to 3 years old. So she said she would love to have it for the kids. This way, many kids can get use of it, including Joey on a daily basis!! I told her to call me Saturday to pick it up and I would drive with her over there.

On Saturday she called and I said we'd be over soon. Her brother had a truck. So we went to the post office, then we went to McDonalds because we were starving. We drove over to Dena's and were off to my aunt's house to get the playhouse. 1/2 way there it started to POUR rain. I mean buckets and buckets. Go figure. It hasn't rained in a week. So we get there, it's still pouring! The guys get out, heave the playhouse into the truck, tie it down and jump in the car. Dena's boyfriend makes a crack that his hair is getting wet (he's bald). When we were done and ready to pull out the drive, all the guys were soaked.

We get back to Dena's and she thanked us a ton of times for the playhouse. I can't wait to ask her how all the kids like it. It's a small home daycare and the kids really would love stuff like that. They take such marvelous care of Joey. They have worked with him on sign language and now all the kids are signing too - they implemented it into their program. The other kids there get along with Joey so well. It's such a wonderful place to take him. I could not imagine him being taken care of by anyone else!

So Saturday evening we had a wedding. I needed a dress. I went to Fashion Bug and the lady said this store did not carry dresses!!!

So I was off to another expensive dress store in town, when I passed by this consignment store that I have been meaning to stop at for 3 years, but never have. I stopped in. I'm amazed. They had everything, in great condition, in style and for reasonable prices - ok maybe a bit pricy but a lot cheaper than brand new! I spent $63!! I got a few nice shirts and more and a shirt to wear to the wedding that night with my black skirt I already had - see photo.

The wedding was small and nice. Good thing the bride and groom didn't get there on time because the hall was not ready at all. They didn't get there until quarter to EIGHT - it was supposed to start at 7pm. I guess the photographer took pictures up the wazoo. It was a smoking reception so Joe and I ate, and saw people and left. Joe got really sick - he thinks maybe it was McDonalds that morning, so it was a good thing we left when we did.

Mom and Dad watched Joey. They said he was so funny.

When he is over there he eats in his booster chair, on the ground in front of the big tv. So yesterday after we left, he heaved the big booster chair off a chair in the kitchen, carried it into the living room, put it on the ground in front of the tv and looked at my dad. My dad looked at my mom and said - I think he's hungry.

Hahaha - my smart child. LOL. She said he signed a lot yesterday. Good thing they know the basic signs. Also, he kept running into the kitchen by the stove, signing and saying HOT and running away. Mom said it was a riot. They enjoy him so much!

Here is a picture of him when we picked him up. He was sleeping on the couch.

Wow - a newscast just came on the tv about Katrina the hurricane. The mayor of New Orleans said that this is the first time in history that a hurricane of this strength has come to that town and told everyone to evacuate! How scary!!!! I do think it would be neat (ok I'm nuts) to be in a small hurricane and see how the weather is. I love storms. See - I'm nuts!

Today we just relaxed. We went to Best Buy to take back a head set that did not work with my cell phone. I have not found one yet that did. They all suck. I think I'm getting a new phone! I need my headset to talk on the phone!

I'm making shrimp scampi for dinner for Joe. I'm a bit concerned, I think I'm gaining a few lbs. I bet I'm not but I just think I could be. I'm journaling food again. It's so hard to lose weight. Sigh.....