Where have I been?

Nowhere actually, just too tired to make the time to update this blog. We are nearing the end (at least I'm hoping we are) of a very bad sleep issue with JT. I think it's combination of traveling for 3 weeks and then getting sick when we got back that started all this, but being consistent the past week and sprinkling a little prayer over it by every person that asks me if I'm tired (if you ask why I look so horrible then you get the prayer request) and I think we are working it out. Last week was the worst. He was averaging only 9 hours of sleep a night, including the 2 times he would wake up crying and we would have to fight him "back into bed" for about 30 mins each time. Then because he wasn't sleeping at night his naps were crappy too lasting only 45 mins to an hour. Most people think that if a kid is over tired then they will sleep good. While that might be true with some kids, it's not so with most, trust me I feel like I've earned a PhD on all the sleep books I've read in the past few weeks. The more tired they are the harder it is for them to fall asleep AND to stay asleep...SLEEP BEGOTS MORE SLEEP, plain and simple.

But THANK YOU JESUS, he is doing a little better each night. He didn't wake up at all last night until 5 this morning (hence why I'm up posting so early) and went back to sleep after daddy got him some water. I'm praying/hoping he'll stay asleep till at least 7:30 but not keeping my hopes to high. Lesson I'm learning from all this? You can't put a price on a good nights sleep!

Nothing to new around here, last week JT and I did Vacation Bible School at our church, which is always a ton of fun. McKinney Bible Church knows how to put on a show for kids of epic proportion! Their children's ministry is one the best I've ever seen and they are backed by some of the best parents to make such events a hit with the kids. JT was even asking on Monday if he could go to "caton bi-bul stool?" aw, how cute! The theme this year was crocdile-rock and that's exactly what it was....a rock concert. My kid is a rocker thru and thru so the music was his favorite. I was part of the story team and had to dress up like a swamp hill-billy each day so that my character, Beautice, could look the part. I'll have to get some pics from friends, I didn't take my camera and am kicking myself now.

On Saturday we went to the lake with our friends the Dollar's. I was feeling really brave and decided to do some wake boarding for the first time ever! I've snow boarded before and sucked at it, but what the hey, water sports are easier so this must be too, right!? Wrong! I had no problems getting up and going straight, but as soon as the boat would turn, which meant I had to turn, well that's when the face plants would happen. I did like it though and now am on the hunt on Craig's List for wakeboard.

Oh and just for my memory sake I'm going to put JT's latest developments on here. Last week he started saying 4 word sentence and yesterday he asked me "mommy, help Jackson find white truck please". I kind of stood there dumb founded that my toddler just used a complete sentence. He can also count to 20 now, which amazes me! I do have to admit that he gets the #'s confused sometimes between 13 and 20, but he tries real hard and has done it successfully about 3 times now. He also sings the melody of the ABC's and hits most of the letters in the alphabet, but still doesn't have that one down yet. Oh and he loves to sing along with his cd's in the car. It's the sweetest voice in the world! He doesn't know all the words to the songs but he knows most and it just shocks me how sings along with them!

Well here's some pics to keep y'all updated on JT's cuteness. Hope it's a good week!

Loves his pockets!

I was on the phone with some insurance people last week so he ran to his bedroom to get his cell phone that Meemee gave him and was walking around repeating everything I was saying on my phone. I had to stop and laugh...it was hilarious! He's "talked" on his phone before but never done it while I was on the phone, much less mimic what I was saying

Relaxing with daddy after a swim.

Which always turns into wrestling with daddy

My surprise 30th bday present from Travis! I've named him Jean Pierre (well actually Brenda named him that and since I couldn't come up with anything I liked, I thought a Frenchie would be ok)

Augh, clearly the sleep depervation is taking it out of me, but I love the sweet smile on his face in this pic, so I really don't care that I look like I've been beat. This was taken at 6:30 in the am on one of his early mornings last week. The camera was keeping him from being so whinny.

Getting ready to go boating

Travis holding JT up so he could see the F-16 coming in for a landing at the NASJRB. The landing strip is right at the waters edge on Lake Worth. So awesome to see these huge fighter jets buzz right over the top of our heads

Here comes the F-16

Right over the top of the boat...you could here it whistling...so cool!
And there she lands
He was holding still for a sec...waiting for the next jet to come in so I snapped a mommy and me pic
The boys having a snack. Those life jackets look un-comfy but they were good sports about it! See we do make him where his life jacket...that time in Wyoming was just a fluke!

Oh, Chic-fil-A...How I love you!!

July 4th and some other notes of fun!

First off, you can have your blog made into a book at this site. Not sure when I should start mine, maybe print it by year? Anyway, I hope that helps some of you.

Travis had Friday the 3rd off and some friends came over to swim and hang out. My friend Bekah and her little girl, Jordan made me a early birthday cake....it was so cute! Jordan decorated it all by herself

You can see my name on the bottom right...it was done with such love

JT and Sam

Sam and is mommy, Bekah.

Travis and his friend Derrick....they are both geologist and were probably talking rocks at this point, ha! ha!

After eating and swimming we came inside to start winding the kiddos down for bedtime. I heard some sirens outside but just thought that they were passing by so I didn't give it much more thought. Till I got done with cleaning up the kitchen, came into the living room as Derrick was quickly and VERY CALMLY came passing through the house to the back and as he did was asking "hey, Crissy, do y'all have a hose out back?" I of course answered back, "yah, it's by the BBQ-er, why for?" and he answers back "oh, no reason really" as he dashing out the back door. OK! I looked at his wife, Georgeanne and she said said "I think something is on fire in the back yard" WHAT!? WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST!? FIRE?!!!! So I went to the back window just in time to see 2 firemen coming in the side gate with Travis and heading across the yard to where all the smoke was coming from. Apparently after the dust settled the fireman said that someone must have flicked a cigarette butt (another reason I hate cigarettes) over the fence and because our lovely neighbors won't take care of their yard and it's been hotter than blazes here, their backyard lit it up like a chimney and caught our fence on fire! NICE!

The fireman and the guys hosing down our fence

The black hole it left....these two red tip bushes are dead now

The neighbors backyard.....

The part that caught on fire

So now I'm wondering who's going to pay for that part of the fence that needs fixed and for the 2 bushes that are dead now. Travis says that it will be us and for some reason that just chaps me! Why can't the neighbors be held responsible?! I'll let it go at that!

Moving on...... our July 4th was spent at home with just the 3 of us and JT's ear infection. That poor kid must have been fighting it for a few days before I added it all up (waking up endlessly at night, tossing and turning in his sleep, super fussy, tugging at the same ear) and hauled him off to our Pediatrician's Urgent Care on Sunday (7/5/09) am. Turns out that inner ear infections, which is exactly what he had, are more painful and take longer to heal...GREAT!! That poor kid, this is his 3rd ear infection in 3 months and it seems like he gets them every time he has some more teeth pop through. The Dr said that teething has nothing to do with ear infections, and I will agree that I'm not the one that went to medical school, but COME ON you've got to acknowledge a pattern here, Doc!

Swimming with daddy, that boy has become a little fish lately! We did have him in swim lessons with the infamous Miss Stephanie, but that only lasted a day because of the ear infection. He's really good with the kicks and scooper hands, but hates to be on his back, which is the key to him not drowning. Maybe next summer! Oh and all the grandma's reading this...don't worry, he never gets in with out someone else being in the pool first. It's been drilled into him and he does obey that rule!

On his own with the noodle....augh! He thinks he's 5!

Mommy likes to hang a little closer than daddy when he's on the noodle

My 30th birthday seems to be the biggest celebration yet...on Sunday night (7/05) I had dinner with two of my good friends, Brenda and Amanda, at a fantastic sushi restaurant (Sushi Tao) that I hadn't been to yet and it was FANTASTIC!

Grandma (Crissy's mom) flew in on Tuesday to come visit for my birthday. We headed to the airport to pick her up, but not before stopping off to get JT's hairs cut. Getting a strong willed toddlers hair cut is not a walk in the park, good thing Sherry is so patient, because I was going to hurt him if someone calm hadn't been in the room. Granted he was in pain from his ear infection, but COME ON! Oh the 2's.....they're great! We was excited to see Grandma, which was a huge blessing because she also came to watch him for the weekend so T-rav and I could go away for our anniversary.

My 30th birthday was on Thurs, July 9 and it was by far the best birthday yet. Not only because I'm finally an age that people will listen to me (well, maybe not, ha! ha!) but because I got so many surprises. Georganne and Kari took me to lunch on Wed, then Georgeanne brought cupcakes over on Thursday. I got to have dinner alone with T-rav on Wed night, and then went with my mom to meet Brenda for more Mexican on Thurs night. Travis also e-mailed me on Thurs a picture of the gift he got me.....a car! WHAT?! I know, so unlike him, but really it was more about the timing of needing a new car than just buying a car because it's my birthday. He picked it, test drove it and bought it before I ever even seen a picture of it and actually I won't get to see it myself until we pick it up on Friday. We've just been so busy that that will be the only time we can get it. It was a very sweet gift and I'm so glad that I didn't have to be apart of process of finding and it's a great car!

Our weekend away to celebrate our 10 years of wedded bliss was to Possum Kingdom Lake. Maybe it's because that was the 1st time we've been away for longer than 5 hours together, but we had THE BEST TIME! T-rav and I were enamored with PK! During the blazing heat on Friday we drove around in the A/C truck to check out some property. We are in no way a position to purchase something there now, but it is definitely on T-rav's radar. Guess he's been doing a lot of thinking lately because his new 5 & 10 year plans have changed a little and since my plans are to do whatever T-rav's doing (c'mon folks, you know I don't have an original thought in my head!) I guess we are focused on some lake property now. Nothing fancy, just a nice a place to get away to and let others use it as well. But you never know, plans are always a changing at the Kinley Casa ;-).

Our little trailer for 48 hours

Down the road they watered the lawn a little more....check out the cute little baby deer

Self portrait!

T-rav checking out the ducks under the dock

The view from our front porch....ahhhh!
This is my favorite pic! Who needs professional photos? Ha! ha!

Pretending that I'm smoking the cigar. T-rav had to have some c-gars, because as he said "I'm on vacation"

Oh, wait you actually have to light it and put your lips on it! Ok, I remember now....augh, still prefer the wood tips, these real ones were gross!

T-rav said it was like riding a bike, he didn't forget how to smoke one!

Beautiful Possum Kingdom Lake

The infamous Devil's Gate

T-rav playing air guitar while floating...kickin it up!

We came back Sunday am early to get my mom to the airport my 10:30 am, but also came home to a very sick little boy. So while I helped my mom pack up T-rav made the call and got JT another appt to the urgent care at our Ped's office. I headed to the airport with my mom and daddy headed to the Doc with JT. Turns out the anit-biotics JT was on weren't working and the bacteria from his ear had spread to his sinus. Now the poor little guy had 2 very bad infections going on and his little eyes were so swollen from the lack of sleep and his sinus being huge. We were prescribed a different anit-biotic and sent home for rest and NO SWIMMING! Kind of hard to get JT distracted in temps like this from the big blue cooling pool out back, but I've managed to do it all week till our swim day on Thursday.

Some other milestones are JT last week counted to 7 all by himself, then the next day it was 8 and then yesterday he hit all the way to 13 before jumbling up the numbers!!! I'm just amazed at what they can absorb at this age. I've also started on letters of the week, so on Monday I drew a big letter "A" on some paper, let him color it and then cut it out to hang on the art wall. We then talked about the letter and I showed it to him in some of his books. He now points out the letter "A" when he sees it in a word and will say "A says aaaaaaaa!" Little sponges, they are!

Our self portrait on our anniversary

10 Years on the 10th!

Happy anniversary to my honey! It has been 10 years since we said "I do" and we are more in love today than that warm July day in Casper, WY. In looking back it seems like we were just kids (um, I guess we were?!), but what an adventure God has led us on together. Together we have matured, laughed, cried, become parents, and enjoyed life. I love you and am so blessed to call you my husband! I wasn't always easy and blissful, but thank you for sticking it out with me when it was tough because being on this side of working it out is so amazing! I LOVE YOU TRAVIS!!

Hey all, please be praying not only for our marriage (who can't use prayer, right?!) but also that things will go smoothly with JT for my mom this weekend. Travis and I are leaving this morning, we won't be back till Sunday am and JT has never woken up to anyone but mommy or daddy. This is the first time we've left him together overnight and Travis is especially worried. Thanks all!