Who's gonna take care of mommy?

Sunday, the day after Damon's birthday party we were at my parents house for dinner. Around 7:00 that evening I started feeling a little sick to my stomach and decided to lay down. Shortly after I got extremely sick and after about an hour and a half of straight vomiting (on both ends) I asked my mom to drop me off at the hospital. I knew that I would not be able to make it through the entire night of this and I needed to get some relief. Luckily I was at my parents house so Damon was able to stay with my dad while my mom drove me to the hospital. On my way out I told Damon that I was sick and had to see the doctor and that I would see him after school the next day. He was very sad and gave me a hug and said "I don't want you to go to the doctor. I don't want you to leave me." It was so pitiful but I promised him I would be back.

My mom got me into the E.R. and I sent her home to Damon because I knew he would need her. I was in the E.R. until about 1:30 the next morning and my mom came back to take me to her house. I slept in the next day and she took Damon to school for me. That entire day I was so weak and dizzy. I laid in the bed almost the entire day until it was time to get Damon.

After a night like that you don't feel the same for a couple of days so I had to break all of the rules that I have for Damon because I was just not able to do much. When I told him he could watch t.v. on a school night while I lay on the couch he said:
Damon: "I can? Are you still sick?"
Mommy: "Yes, I still do not feel well so you may watch t.v. and I'll lay down with you."
Damon: "Mommy, who is going to take care of you?"
Mommy: "Well Damon, Mommy's a big girl so I can take care of myself but I could use your help. I need you to watch t.v. with me and be real still."
Damon: "okay mommy, you can lay on my lap."

What a little sweetheart. He was so good all week as I nursed myself back to recovery.

A Chick-Fil-A Birthday!

Okay so this morning I had every intention of having Damon's birthday party at my place but when I got up and started trying to get everything ready with Damon by my side it became difficult. Around 10:00 a.m. I made an executive decision to have his party at Chick-Fil-A. It just made sense, good food, indoor playground, and a mess that I don't really have to clean up. I called everyone that was invited to his party (close friends and family) and told them about the quick change. Then Damon and I headed out to the stores to get the decorations and cupcakes for his party. I decided to let him pick everything out seeing as he didn't even know what he wanted. This way I wouldn't be in trouble for getting the wrong things. He picked out Power Rangers plates, cups, and table cover, football cupcakes and a Wal-e candle...a non-matching theme.

The party was to start at 3:00 so I got to Chick-Fil-A around 2:00 to save tables close to the playground. After hovering for about 45 minutes I finally go the section I wanted and started to set up while Damon ate some lunch. I had pre-ordered Chick-Fil-A platters online so they were ready by the time I got there.

Everyone started arriving and Damon would get so excited every time someone new walked through the door. He knew he was having a party but I don't think he realized people were actually coming! The Guest List Included: G-maw, G-paw, GGMaw, Aunt Erin, Evan, Briana, Christina, Aden, Niki, Lacie, Laurie, Riley, and Kat.

The kids had a blast as well as the adults and all in all it was a big success!

Riley and Damon...best friends...future boyfriend and girlfriend...

Riley, Damon and Aden...how cute are they!

Miss Briana really enjoyed herself. She got so much attention!

The kids were all over the place but the great thing is, the adults didn't even have to hear it because the playground is in a separate glass room from the eating area so we could keep an eye on the kids without having to be with them. Smart huh?

Yum! Lacie enjoyed that cupcake and she hung in there with all of the bigger kids.

Damon received so many wonderful gifts and mommy got the pleasure of putting some of the gifts together.

Thank you all for making this day so special. We are so lucky to have you in our lives.

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Happy 4th Birthday Damon!

Today is Damon's birthday! I started the day by serenading Damon with the Happy Birthday song. He cut me off midway and said "No thank you Mommy." I said, "You don't want me to sing to you?" He really does like it when I sing but maybe it was too early in the morning for him. He did however sing to himself so maybe it was just my singing.

The musical stylings of Damon Ryder!

Before school I took him to get a birthday doughnut. When we went into the store I announced to everyone in there that today was Damon's birthday. All three people said happy birthday to him and we went skipping out with our doughnuts and off to school. Around 3:00 I picked up two dozen sprinkled doughnuts and took them to his class. The kids really enjoyed it...so did the teachers. I went back to work for a few more hours then picked Damon up around 5:30 to head home for a special dinner. He saw his birthday cake and opted out of dinner because he just had to have a bite of his cake.

Okay, it's his birthday so sure I'll let him have some cake before dinner. He didn't want to eat cake the regular way, you know with a plate and fork. He wanted to eat it by just taking a bite out of the whole cake. He took one bite and was done and ready to open up presents. Since his birthday party is on Saturday I only gave him one present to open. It was two sweatshirts and a pair of pants. His reaction was "Wow, they're totally awesome but are there toys?" Too cute. I gave him a card to open from Gee Gee's (great grandmother). Here is the video of him reading his own card and finding or should I say missing the surprise inside.

Then I told him I was taking him on a surprise date to the movie theatre tonight. He was excited and wanted to wear his new clothes and of course we had to model them before we left.

This is his signature pose. I'm still not quite sure what it is but he's working it!

This is his "How you doin?" look. Check out the lean...

This is his "man this life is tough" look. Everyone wants a piece of him...

It was time to head out for the movies. He was so excited. We saw the movie Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. Damon really liked the movie and he was laughing all through it. I just had to get a video of his cute laughter. Unfortunately you can not see him but just listen to his cute laugh. Towards the end of the video he realized I was video taping him and he was not pleased.

Is that not the cutest laugh you have ever heard? It's so Innocent and honest.

We had a nice date together but he is looking forward to his party on Saturday.

A trip to Gee Gee's house...

Today I took Damon up to Marion to see my grandmother-his great grandmother. We left around 12:00 and got there around 1:30. He was so excited to see his Gee Gee! We took Gee Gee to the grocery store and loaded up on some grapefruits then headed out to my aunts house to see her new puppies. When we got there Damon's two cousins were there so they played for about an hour or so. The puppies were so cute. We left there about 4:30 and took Gee Gee to dinner at her favorite Italian restaurant.

After dinner we went back to Gee Gee's house where Damon and her played with army guys. I let them have their quality time together-I went into another room. They have a special kind of bond. He will sit with her for hours just talking and laughing.

Gee Gee's or as she is known to me, Mom, has always been a big part of my life. I grew up living with her from time to time and spending almost every weekend with her. I think Damon feels that bond between us and knows she is a special person. How blessed that Damon gets a chance to know his great grandmother. We Love You Gee Gee's a.k.a Mom!

Football Party with The Tanners!

Tonight Damon and I got invited to a football party at The Tanner's house (Laurie, Shawn and their daughter Riley). Damon and Riley have not seen each other for about a month because of the holidays, everyone had just been so busy. This was going to be fun. I love going to the Tanners house because it is just so relaxing. The kids run off and play together and we don't have to worry about them; not to mention they always have wonderful food and great drinks!

Me, Damon, Riley and Riley's Aunt Kat which is also my friend.

The kids were so cute in their Panther gear. Damon was the football player and Riley was the cheerleader. No it wasn't planned, that's just how it happened.

The kids had their own rock'n roll band. They were the pregame show!

This is also perfect because the kids never got a chance to exchange their Christmas gifts so we made sure we did that tonight. Damon got the coolest towel. It was a dinosaur with his name embroidered on it. He loved it and wore it for several minutes while playing.

What great hugs!

Damon and I left in the third quarter of the game so we were not on the road with all of the other people that have been drinking. I gave Riley and Damon a heads up saying that we had 5 more minutes and then we would be leaving. Riley said: "I'm sure that we are both going to cry." That was so funny. Damon didn't cry but he did get mad when it was time to go but he got over it and was fine. We have made plans to take a trip to the mountains with the Tanners in the next month or so.

The first week done

Damon made it through his first week of school with great success. He hasn't cried since the first day. Wednesday Damon got a special treat which was to have not only his grandma pick him up at school but his great-grandma did too. GGmaw went in to Damon's classroom and he lit up with joy. He ran over to her and gave her a big hug, grabbed her hand and showed her to his locker. Then Gmaw popped her head in and he got excited again. He told them that they learned about strangers in school today and he said: "You can not open the door because it could be a stranger and he might napkin you." It took them a while to figure out what Damon was trying to say and then finally GGmaw figured it out. The strangers would kidnap you! Too funny.

Towards the end of the day when their lessons are over an afternoon teacher comes in and relieves the school teacher. The afternoon teacher oversees the kids before the parents come to pick them up. Most times the kids will all go into the gym and play and that's where the parents pick them up. Thursday when I went into the gym to get Damon his afternoon teacher, who I met for the first time that day, came over to me and told me that Damon was one of her best students; that he is so polite, sweet and so cute. She said he is such a good listener and uses his manners. She assured me she doesn't say that to everyone but you know what I believe her because Damon is really good. When he is not around his grandma he does really well because he gets in trouble if I get any kind of bad report.

Damon is no longer allowed to watch t.v. during the weekdays so on Friday when I picked him up from school our conversation went like this:

Damon: "Mommy!" (as I bend down and open my arms for a hug) "What is today?" (as he puts his hands on my shoulders...no hug.)

Mommy: "Uh, today is Friday."

Damon: "Does this mean I can watch a little cartoons before bed tonight?"

Mommy: "Yes that is correct."

Damon: "That is so awesome Mommy, Thanks!"

Too cute!

Damon's first day of school

Today Damon officially started his first day of his new school. The night before I laid out the "outfit" (a.k.a uniform) for him to wear. I tried to down play the uniform thing because Damon has always been adamant about picking out his own clothes. My cousin and I had planned to let Aden walk Damon to his classroom to make him feel better. When we got there Damon wanted to walk Aden to his classroom first so we did that and then went to Damon's classroom. Aden was so cute rubbing Damon's arm and telling him it was going to be okay. Aden and Christina left and I stayed with Damon for a little bit. We went to his "locker" and put his coat and Rollie Pollie up. Damon again was shy and holding on to my arm so I bent down to talk to him. His teacher came over and greeted Damon and started talking about all of the fun things they were going to be doing in class today. After a few minutes I told Damon I had to go. He was not happy and started to cry. His teacher came over and picked him up and I walked out of the classroom. As soon as I was out the door he stopped crying.

Damon looked so cute in his uniform.

I called the school during the kids nap time and I spoke with his teacher to see how he did during the morning part. She said he did excellent and once I left he didn't cry the rest of the day. That was a relief.

Damon on the sidewalk of his schools entrance with his Rollie Pollie.

Okay, so I was pressed for time when picking Damon up today. I was hustling to get there before it closed and I did. As soon as I walked in the school assistant said: "I am supposed to tell you that Damon did excellent today and he had so much fun." That's one of the things I like about the school. They remember who you are, who your child is and make you feel good about being there.

I went to Damon's classroom and stuck my head in so he wouldn't see me and he was just playing and having a good time. When I went in he ran over to me and gave me a hug and wanted to show me some of the books they read. This is the first time in a long time that he has been excited about what he has done at school. I felt really good about him being there.

Tour of Chesterbrook Academy

The reason I didn't have Damon start school today is because I wanted to personally give him a tour of his new school. I had gone to the school the a couple of weeks before and sat down with the assistant principal and she took me on a tour of the school. I told Damon what we were going to do and he was pretty excited about going in. We stopped by his soon to be classroom and met his teacher and some of the kids. He was very shy and kind of hid behind me. Like me, Damon does not like it when all the attention is on him. ;) Then we went into the gym and Damon really liked that. Damon's cousin Aden already goes to this school so Damon asked to see Aden. The assistant principal took us to Aden's class which was a nice surprise. He ran over and gave Damon a hug. I got some of Damon's uniform...oh did I mention the kids wear uniforms? Yeah, they are so cute. The boys wear khaki's or blue pants with a green, white or blue polo shirt and the emblem of the school on it. Boys can also wear plaid ties. The girls mostly wear their plaid skirts. Anyway I got a few shirts for Damon at the school and I bought him a Rollie Pollie. It is kind of like a cover for his cot except it is fleece so very soft and warm with a built in pillow. We got him a green one since his cousin has a blue one. I am going to have it embroidered with his name.

Aden's class and Damon's future class were about to go on the playground for recess so I let Damon go out there with the kids and Aden while I "interviewed" Damon's teacher. I just asked her a series of questions-nothing major. When it was time to go I called my cousin Christina and asked if it was okay that I go ahead and take Aden home with me. She said yes so I loaded the boys up in the car and we went to the playground. They really enjoyed themselves and I think that was a great kickoff to Damon starting his new school tomorrow. We'll see...

A date with Damon

Tonight I took Damon to a lovely dinner on the lake to celebrate him starting his new school on Tuesday. He did such a great job sitting in his seat and keeping himself occupied. I brought a few things that would help with that.

He started off using his electronic writer but that ended up making too much noise. Every time that thing would start talking Damon and I would hurry up and turn it off. It was pretty funny.

Damon decided he wanted to learn how to take pictures too so I was letting him practice and he got a great shot of his water and the candle.

So then we switched to him writing on regular paper. Something a little more quieter.

Finally our food arrived and yes Damon ordered the fillet Mignon and orange juice. He loves steak. I ordered chicken so that we could share but surprisingly Damon ate all of his steak and a few bites of my chicken. Well...it looked good.

At the table Damon announced that he needed to go "pee-pee". I have been working on reminding him to say he needs to use the restroom instead of describing the duty. Also when he has to go to the bathroom he holds the area in which he needs to relieve. So keep in mind we are at a nice restaurant with candlelight and we are walking to the bathroom with him saying : "I have to go pee-pee, I have to go pee-pee!" and he's holding himself at the jean part of the area. As we are walking the the restroom I'm whispering to Damon to please stop saying that and to move his hand. Of course he responds to me out loud "Mommy, I have to hold my pee-pee!" I guess that is my fault because when we are in the car and he says he has to go to the bathroom I'll say "okay hold it until we stop" and he will literally hold it.

After dinner Damon and I took a stroll outside on the docks and looked at all of the boats. Damon loves boats and I hope to get him out on one this summer. We took several pictures unfortunately there was no one else out that night so we couldn't get our picture together.

Damon looking out over the lake. It was so dark that we didn't get any good shots of the lake.

This is Damon breaking it down to the music in his own head.

This is his signature pose these days.

This is the picture he wanted to take of me. Not bad...he might be a famous photographer.

More gifts!

My aunt Holly was in town this weekend visiting her daughter and grandson so she stopped by my place to drop off gifts for Damon and for me. How did she know we love gifts?!?!





Damon got action figure water diving toys. Damon and Aden actually practiced swimming to the bottom of the pool last year to get pennies so this gift is perfect. Damon really likes to play with these toys outside the pool as well. When he first opened it he said "Wow, this is awesome!" I wish I had that on film.




The next gift he opened were Spiderman underoos. Okay do not let this face fool you. He loved the gift in fact he had to put it on right away. This face was just his way of telling me I had taken too many pictures...duh. Anyway, I got several wonderful gifts...too many to list them all but I loved them. My aunt Holly finds the neatest things and so random that it is truly a surprise when you open gifts from her. Thank you Holly! WE LOVE YOU!

Haircut, Duh and Guest

Today I took Damon to get his haircut at a special place called Pigg Tails and Crew Cuts. There were different types of transportation seats to sit in such as a car, train, and firetruck. Damon decided to sit in the airplane...good choice. Normally we go to hair cuttery but I wanted to take him somewhere special in honor of him starting his new private school on Tuesday. He did great getting his haircut today...well he does great every time.

After Damon's haircut I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he said "chicken nuggets, duh." Duh, I should have known that. I can't believe he is saying "duh" already. The funny thing is he doesn't say it in a disrespectful way, like with attitude, he says it really nicely...funny.

Damon and I got home and awaited our guest. Briana joined us for a few hours today while her mommy went to work. She is always fun to play with. Her birthday was last week but unfortunately Damon was not able to make it to her birthday party, so tonight she opened her present from us. Well, she didn't so much open it as watched Damon open it for her. Still she liked her new toy and played with it for a whole 3 minutes.

Damon wanted to carry her tonight so his first instinct was to wrap his arms around her chest and just start to lift (you know how kids do), so I showed him the right way to carry her. I told him to wrap one arm under her armpit and around her back and the other should wrap right below her bottom. When Erin came to pick Briana up Damon showed her how he could carry her and he would say "I've got her butt, I've got her butt!" It was so cute.