New and exciting

Trevor's personality is coming out more and more (for the better and for the worse).  He just started making car noises while pushing around things. It took me a few times to figure out that was what he was doing. The first few times it was while I was holding him and he did it up and down my arm. Then Sunday morning, we woke up and he started trying to tickle me. It was so cute because I do it to him all the time and he finally learned to do it back. He laughed when he did it too. He has started climbing on the couch, lazy boy type chair, and his bed and then dancing on it. He hasn't fallen off yet, though, which is a good thing.  He also dances alot more to music, especially "Old McDonald."  The other day, another kid at daycare scratched up his face because Trevor tried to take his toy. I'm really surprised Trevor didn't hit him back. He's kind of a bully to Jack. He loved the sprinkler. Whereas Jack would run away screaming, and still does, the second the water hits his face, Trevor stood in front of it and just laughed as he got soaking wet, fully dressed. I was really just trying to water the grass. He loves looking at planes in the sky. We were at a friend's house near NASA and saw numerous planes within two hours and every time, Trevor stopped, pointed to his ear when he heard it and would find it in the sky and point to it.

Trevor is waving a little more. Yesterday after visiting with the twins, we got in the driveway and he waved and said bye-bye twice. Of course, when I want him to say it, he never does. He's getting better about not screaming every time we come inside, but when he does scream, it's ear-piercing. His other favorite thing to say is uh-oh. He has started clapping along to songs, on tv and in the car. He also dances and swings his arms during songs on tv. While in the bathtub, he has started swinging his arms back and forth very quickly. He loves to splash around, which is the complete opposite of how Jack was. Jack didn't get to visit much with the babies because the night before he and his friend stayed up until midnight. So he decided it was time to nap on the way to Jessica's and couldn't wake up after that.

Trevor had strep throat last week. Two weeks before that he had a double ear infection and upper respiratory infection. The doctor said the one good thing is that his immune system will be super good when he gets older. He loves daycare and is doing so well there that I hate to take him out. We'll see how the next month goes. Hopefully during summertime, the illnesses will lessen. Easter didn't go so well. I was sick the entire four day weekend. Needless to say, the Easter bunny made a late apppearance, but left lots of goodies to make up for it.

One Final Roadtrip

This has been the hardest past few days that I've been through. I've had sleepless nights of crying before when Trevor was in the hospital, first as a preemie then last December with RSV. We went through some really tough moments, but the next day we'd be greeted by smiling nurses telling us how he's such a fighter and how well he was doing. Then it'd be a happy, thankful day and the tears would stop. This is different though. There's not an end to this.

Recently, Suzy and I had had some pretty deep conversations about life in general. She couldn't understand how people could get so mad that they had to throw things or yell or just sit and mumble to themselves. I told her that was perfectly normal for most people. We talked about how she never let things bother her to that point and how I wished I could be more like her in that respect.

Even if she couldn't teach me patience, she was able to teach me numerous life lessons. In college, we had such a diverse group of friends. I never understood why our different groups of friends could never get along. Suzy could get along with anyone, even people who hardly spoke English. Now I realize it was her that taught me to be more accepting of anyone and everyone.

Suzy was also good, as we all know, at talking people into doing things, no matter how crazy it sounded. It didn't take much for her to convince me to pack up, change colleges, and move to Murray, KY. If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked "Why Murray?" I'd be rich. I'd always laugh and just say, "My best friend and her brother go there." I didn't bother explaining much more. The four short semesters we spent in Murray were full of the best times we had together. She managed to convince her boss at UPN 9 24 to hire me too. We got hooked on watching 7th Heaven together at work since it played every day at five before we went home. Sometimes we'd stay late to see the end of it. Then we'd head across the street to Fifteenth and Olive for a drink, or for me to watch her drink a beer, or to just visit with whoever might be there that we knew. We kayaked in Land Between the Lakes, skied in Indiana, hiked at Red River Gorge, went white water rafting in Chatanooga, took a road trip to Memphis to visit Graceland, visited the Country Music Hall of Fame then decided it would be a great idea to jump in the car (and I mean literally, within an hour) and drive to Cleveland to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I still remember she got a speeding ticket in Manville, Ohio. I tried to convince them to take the scenic route back through Pennsylvania, but everyone was sick of being in the car and Suzy was still mad about her ticket. We helped throw the best party Murray had ever seen. That included the police telling us never to do that again, making a pretty good amount of money, and an early morning trip to The Log Cabin to buy everyone breakfast with our profits! We had numerous trips to Baytown on planes and in the car jamming to Weezer with the windows rolled down. For some of our trips we were accompanied by the brave souls from Murray that we convinced to come visit Texas with us. That's when we took our tour of Texas to show off how awesome it is here.

Working with her this year had been wonderful! We helped each other during some pretty crazy days with the kids and complained about it over lunch at the picnic tables. We had started a garden with the kids for their class project. I warned her that I don't do well with plants, but she insisted that it would be ok. When she called me the day Bear was born, I said, "Suzy, you're not having this baby yet are you? You can't leave me yet!" I joked about her being 2 weeks late so she wouldn't have to come back at the very end of the year. She had read somewhere that hospitals have more births on full moons, but that would mean waiting until the 18th. She didn't like that idea much. So she promised the garden would be ok. She never let anything worry her.

I recently read about a family who lost their loved one and how they finally knew things were okay when they saw something that had a lot of meaning to him and the family. I thought how cool, but how would you know it was a sign from them? Well, last Friday morning, barely 24 hours after she passed away, I was holding Trevor and asked Jack to turn on the television while we got ready for school. The first thing I saw on the Disney Channel were clips from older Disney cartoon movies of mothers holding their babies. It took a few seconds to process, and the commercial, or whatever it was, didn't last long, but I sat there and realized that was Suzy's way of telling me she's ok and to take good care of her babies for her! Suzy was always there for me when I needed someone to watch Jack or Trevor, and of course I will do the same for Morgan and Bear.

The only explanation I have for this is that it's just another of her spur of the moment road trips. She decided Heaven sounded like a fun place to be and just like all of our other road trips, once she made up her mind, there was no turning back.

Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World

There's no one in town that I know

You gave us some place to go

I never said thank you for that.

I thought I might get one more chance.

What would you think of me now,

so lucky, so strong, so proud?

I never said thank you for that,

now I'll never have a chance.

May angels lead you in.

Hear you me my friends

On sleepless roads the sleepless go

May angels lead you in.

And if you were with me tonight

I'd sing to you just one more time.

A song for a heart so big,

God wouldn't let live.

May angels lead you in.

We lost one of the most positive, carefree and loving individuals yesterday morning. My best friend since 6th grade passed away. She had her beautiful baby boy Bear on Sunday after calling me to tell me her contractions were 7 minutes apart. I told her if she didn't leave for the hospital right then, I was coming over there to get her. I think I finally convinced her when I told her if she waited much longer, she wouldn't be able to get an epidural. I'm almost positive she was able to get one because she called not long after having the baby and said how easy and smooth it was. The doctors told her not to tell anyone how easy it was. She went home Tuesday and I got to visit briefly with them. I have had a bad cough and didn't want to spread germs, but I had to see them. Wednesday she didn't feel great at all and ended up going to her doctor that evening. She was immediately sent to the hospital for antibiotics due to an infection. Before I went to bed, her mom called to tell me this and asked for prayers. She hung up so quick, I didn't know what to think and didn't want to bother them by calling up there. About 2:30am John called and asked me to come up saying things had gotten much worse. They eventually got her stable and were going to transport her to Herman Hospital. Right before the transfer something went wrong. They decided to transfer her anyways and she passed away during the transfer, or right after getting there. I am so thankful John called me so I could be with the family for support.

After reading everything people are posting on Facebook about her, I don't think I could say it better than they already have. She made me who I am today. When you are around someone sooo much, you begin to pick up their mannerisms. I'm happy to say there will always be a part of her in me. We were pretty much opposites, but that helped keep us level headed and our feet on the ground. I'm so glad Jack got to know what a great person she was. It'll be hard on Monday walking into school because most of the time we arrived within minutes of each other and walked in together. If she saw me coming down Bayway, she'd wait outside the car, and if I saw her flying down the street, I'd do the same. A few times, we pulled up at the same time and had a mario-kart type race to park. I let her win because I didn't want anyone to get hurt! : )

The kids call me Mrs. Gregory half the time in class and I never corrected them because I didn't mind being call that at all.

I couldn't sleep much last night thinking back on all my memories from the first day I saw her in the gym at Baytown Junior, to orchestra, to road trips across states, countless airplane trips from Murray to home, switching out which bunk we'd get in the dorms every semester to be fair. I could go on forever I think. But I'll stop for now.

waving finally

After a long day of high-fiving, I decided if he could do that, then he could wave. So by the end of the day, he was waving. Sometimes it's a double hand wave. He won't always do it when you want him to either. It kind of looks like he's dribbling a baskbetball. He loves to carry around the basketball and always looks up at the goal.

We made it to the beach twice this spring break (once for the St. Patty day parade and another just for fun). The second time the field behind us had bluebonnets everywhere.

Trevor LOVES riding in their Power Wheels. I'm glad we're finally getting some use out of it. Trevor tries to climb up in it by himself. I'll be in trouble when he gets tall enough to reach the pedals. We finally turned up the speed so Jack had a BLAST! He didn't want to come in. Now everytime we come inside, Trevor throws a huge fit. You probably think I'm exagerating, but it involves screaming and banging his head on things. I can't even go in the garage to do laundry anymore with out him seeing me and throwing a fit because he can't play outside.

Finally! Videos!

Latest news

There are lots of pictures and videos since the last post that I will try to post! First of all, Jessica had the twins on March 7th. I can't believe they're only 10 days old!! Here is a link to her blog. It's much more entertaining than mine! It's cejkatwins.blogspot.com

Trevor's been back in daycare since February 7th. I think his speech has actually gotten worse. All he does now is babble and scream. He also started banging his head on the floor (tile or carpet) and wall when he gets mad. I asked today if he does it at daycare, and they said no, but another kid does. Hmm...I wonder where he learned that one from.

He loves to ride in Jack's Power Wheels truck. He even tries to crawl into it when we are in the garage. We have been taking daily walks/rides as soon we get home from daycare. The weather has been beautiful, and I don't know what we'll do when it gets too hot or the mosquitos get too bad.

Today, Trevor came home with his first bite mark. I won't be surprised if he bit the kid back though. I didn't see it until we were home, so I didn't get to ask them about it.

Jack and Trevor have lots of fun jumping on the trampoline.

We went to the zoo this week. Jack got a mood changing necklace with a frog on it that he is VERY proud of. His hair is getting very long...eventually we'll go get it cut.