The higher you climb, the harder you fall......

Or whatever that saying is???? Last weekend, our little mountain climber, Addyson, had a hard fall off of the kitchen table onto the hardwood floors. She climbs all the time on everything, so she's had her fair share of falls, but this was by far the hardest yet. It scared me so bad that I took her to the hospital. She became very lethargic and fell asleep promptly after putting her in the car, which is odd for her. I thought I might be over-reacting, but rather be safe than sorry. She threw up after we got there, which is not a good sign after a bad bump to the head, so I was grateful we had come. The doctor seemed very thorough and observed us for a few hours to make sure that she didn't vomit again or become lethargic again and didn't need a cat-scan. She didn't throw up again, and she actually became quite herself after a while and was miss-social, so they sent me home with instructions to keep her up as long as possible and then wake her every 2 - 3 hours to check for conciousness, and to come back asap if she vomited again. So everything was fine and she was fine the next day for all but crankiness because I'm sure she had a bad headache and she was a little lethargic, but not anything alarming. By the next day, however, she was pretty much back to normal and giving her infant motrin seemed to do the trick. She was back to climbing again.

The scariest part about the whole thing? It was definitely the ER check in. We got there and the place was all but deserted. One family was in the waiting area, but there was no one at the desk to be found. We waited and waited and a line began to form. Finally some gal came out and said...."Oh, people are here", and went back and had some goof-troop permagrin male nurse come to check us in. He smiled and actually asked how we were doing......UH....I have a 15 month old in my arms and I'm in the emergency room and I've been waiting here forever....how the @#!$%! do you think I am???? So, he gets our 411 and has us sit down and then Addyson starts peuking her guts out. I ask for help, but he and the other two people in scrubs ignore me. I asked (loudly) about 3 times for some help, then finally walked into a gals little cubicle thing and she just handed me some paper towels and didn't even look at me!!!!!!!!!!!! What the @!#$%!? So, if you know me, you know that I don't always filter what I say when I'm upset or emotional about anything, and this was one of those times, but I am proud of myself for filtering most everything, but, I, of course, couldn't restrain from being loud and sarcastic and condesending. Finally someone came to help me and said...."oh, you don't have to clean that up, we have people that do that for you".....after I'm already knee deep in vomit. Thanks lady, that would have been great to know before the 5 paper towels were thrown at me. So, the perma-grin male nurse came up like it was the best day of his life and acted like we were at a birthday party waiting to have cake, and gave Addyson a bright orange elephant, which was nice, but she and I were over it at that point. I was nice, however, and said thank you and followed the scrub-clad woman into the ER. After I actually got in a room, the doctors and nurses were wonderful and doted on Addyson, which was nice after our little fiasco in the waiting/triage area. Oh well.....after all that complaining, I'm very glad that we have a hospital so close and that the people that matter (the doctors and nurses) are actually competent. As for the check-in people that afternoon.......let's hope they don't have to learn the lesson the hard way.
I'm off my soap box.

He's Made it and he's Home!

President Hinckley was such a dear prophet. He will be greatly missed. When my husband and I heard the news on Sunday evening, we were sad for us, but couldn't help but be thrilled for him. He's where he has longed to be since his wife passed away. We are thrilled for him. He was my example of the most Christ-like, God-like person alive and if God is anything like President Hinckely, then heaven will be so much fun! Hail to the Prophet. We love you President Hinkley and you will be missed by not only those who know you were a prophet, but by those whos lives you touched all over the nation and world.

Timothy 4:6-76.

"For I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand."

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the Righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."

"Well done thy good and faithful servant".

Musically Bummed!

I'm sooooooo bummed that one of my very favorite radio stations, 99X (Atlanta's alternative rock station) is off the air!!!!!!! I truly don't know what to do. This was my haven since the early 90's. If there was nothing else worth listening to on the radio, I knew that there would always be something tolerable for my ears on 99X. This just totally sucks. I guess I'll just have to have my ipod in the car with me at all times now. Give me a shout out if you feel my pain......I know Chaunette probably does!!

Height and Weight

Addyson's 15 month check-up was today, which I had scheduled after I dropped Syd off at school. BUT, Sydney woke up 4 times last night crying with bad ear pain, so she got to go with us to the doctor as well. You would think they would give you a two-for-one deal, but of course they can't do that. Well, since Addyson was getting her height and weight checked, Sydney wanted hers as well. I asked the doctor to give me percentiles for both the girls.
Addyson is 50% for height, but only 7% for weight. This floored me, as she totally has a "beer"belly!!! I made the doc check again, but it was true. 7% weight. I always call her my little butter-ball, but I guess I technically can't do that anymore. Oh well..... Now, for Sydney...she was off the charts for height. The doctor went to put a little dot on the "chart" for where she is and she put it way over the 100% line, but said, since she's off the charts, we'll just say she's in the 100% for height. ha ha. I knew she was tall, but goodness! They were both super terrific in the docs' office even though Addyson got her shots and Syd has an ear infection....again.
Well, after we got home, Addyson ate lunch and went down for a nap, and Sydney (who has refused to nap since 2 1/2 years old) laid down on the couch and watched Scooby-Doo. During that time, a friend of mine was coming over for lunch. She happens to be a caterer, so she wanted to bring lunch (which was obviously fine with me), but said she had a ton of it, so I invited my mom and my neighbor over too. I set the table all pretty w/ good china for a real southern ladies luncheon :). The food was fabulous. It was wierd having a catered luncheon at home just for the heck of it, but it was free and SOOOOOOO good. She even whipped up her own icecream for dessert. She makes everything from scratch and from fresh foods she buys from either Harry's or Trader Joes. I told her I felt like I needed to tip her afterwards. She just laughed and said we needed to do it again soon. I'm so lucky!
HOWEVER.....this goes with my "weight" in the title of this blog. I've gained almost 7 pounds of fat since Halloween. This is completely discouraging to me and I just feel yucky. I had been running, but after Thanksgiving, either I was sick or Addyson was sick or it was too cold. We don't have a treadmill or belong to a gym, so to jog, I need to do it outside while pushing Addyson, while Sydney's at school. So, if it's raining, snowing, too cold or Addyson's sick, we can't go. So, it's been awhile and I have to start all over. I'm just having a pity party for my butt and stomach who are now hidden under that evil gross yellow adipose tissue hiding in all of my favorite foods. How can chocolate treat me this way after I've paid so much attention to it? And I'm so forgiving that I keep going back for more even though I know it will just do this to me again! Love is blind.

Constant Discussion with Sydney

My dog, Fritz


Travis's dog, Major


It all started with a "kid's Bible". Jesus dies and is resurrected in 3 days. Well, Sydney was VERY curious about the resurrection and death after this. This first fascination was months ago, and I didn't realize what an impact it would have on Sydney. After first explaining it to her, she said...."Mommy, you know that whole 'body' thing you just talked about? um, I don't get that", and I thought it was done. She's 3, right? So, we'll discuss it for a few days and she'll move on. No, she won't, because this is Sydney. At first it was a discussion every few days until Christmas. While we were at Travis's parents, she saw a picture of Travis's dog that he had growing up. She loves dogs and wanted to know where this dog, Major, was. I told her that he had died a long time ago and that he now is in heaven with Heavenly Father. She asked me if I had a dog when I was growing up, which I did, and if he was in heaven with Major, Daddy's dog. Yes, I told her, and his name was Fritz. Well, EVERY DAY since then, we have had to talk about the resurrection and what I think the dogs are doing in Heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. If they are taking naps, if they lick Jesus' face, if Jesus plays ball and tag with them, etc....you get the drift. She also has started praying that the dogs will be resurrected soon, so that they can come and live with us. I've had many discussions with her about the fact that it will be a very very very long time until that happens, but she still always adds at the end of her prayers that the dogs will be resurrected. I have to giggle at her endearment, but worry, of course, that she will be sorely let down. So, when I tuck her in at night, we have the same or similar discussion about "the body thing" or the resurrection (which she refers to it in her prayers) and then what the dogs are doing . I wish I knew!

Winter Wonderland

It snowed AGAIN in north GA! Yippee. It was like a winter wonderland! My first year at BYU in Utah, I was so excited about the snow and told my friend, Mali (who is from Michigan) that it looked like a winter wonderland.....she thought that was so funny and always teased me about it. (I have to say that seeing the snow all over the ground, on the trees, on the houses, etc. made me yearn for a Utah winter and go snow skiing). Well, us southerns don't see snow that often....once (or twice this time) in 4 1/2 years. So, we had to play in it and build another snowman! Travis was out of town, but my Uncle from Minnesota was down visiting my grandmother, so Sydney and I recruited him to help us build another snowman. Sydney was so proud, again, and was even more excited to throw snowballs at us. I forgot to mention that the few days before, we had made snow-cream. My mom used to make it for us when it would snow here when I was little, and it was such a yummy treat. If you've never had it, you really should try it....I'll give you the recipe...of course, you have to have snow first. We were at my Mom's house and we were outside playing in the melting snow, from a toppled over snowman, when I decided that Sydney would love it. The 4 neighbor boys were very excited too and helped me collect clean snow from the snowman and we made a huge batch of it and ate it while watching Scooby Doo. It brought back good memories from my childhood.

One caveat....from the last blog of "hubby tag"...Travis is the BEST omelet maker ever, so I never make omelets, but he likes to make me one on the weekends b/c I love them and he's a pro!

Hubby Tag

Rachel Tagged me, and it's been fun! I tag Natalie, Jessi, Stacey and Stephanie!

What is his name? Travis Patrick Jarrard
How long have you been together? We have been married almost 6 years, but have been together almost 8 years.
How long did you date? We dated for 7 months before we got engaged, but were engaged for a year.
How old is he? 32
Who eats more? He does except during wrestling season, then he basically doesn't eat b/c he's so stressed!
Who said, "I love you" first? I did, but only because I knew he was already smitten in love with me and when I realized that I felt the same about him, I couldn't hold it in any longer!
Who is taller? He is by 5 1/2 inches
Who sings better? Me
Who is smarter? He is, but he is smarter than most everyone I know, and he isn't humble about it either.
Who does the laundry? Me...I won't let him touch my clothes (or his for that matter!). When I met him he had no idea that whites and colors don't go in the same load. He also didn't own an iron.
Who pays the bills? He does....thank goodness. I'm horrible with finances.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
Who mows the lawn? He does. He doesn't want me to, b/c he feels that it's his job, and I'm totally fine with that b/c I don't want to!
Who cooks dinner? Me except when we have chili
Who drives? He does, (but he drives like a grandpa too Rachel.) If it's a long trip, we'll switch off.
Who is more stubborn? He is. (which my family will find hard to believe)
Who kissed who first? He kissed me first.
Who asked who out first? Well, he'll say I did, but I asked him to "hang out with me and some friends", but he asked me out on a "date" first, even though it was to "have dinner" after a football game he was coaching and it ended up being me, Travis and 4 other football coaches at a bar and the kitchen had closed, so there was no food, and I was starving. But, I was happy to be with him and he felt bad, and he was so cute. The next date, however, I was playing with the radio and found "Glory of Love" and started blaring it and singing it, and when he started singing it with me, I realized that he was just the right mixture of goofy and cool for me, and I was digging his stuff. (note that I added that song on the "playlist").
Who proposed? He did....down on one knee and everything. I cried so hard and kept saying "i love you", that he told me I forgot to say yes.
Who is more sensitive? ME by far! He's a wrestling coach for goodness sakes. Sometimes I wonder if his tear ducts work....I'm beginning to doubt it. He doesn't understand why people cry. He is, however, very sweet and sensitive with me.
Who has more siblings? We both have one brother and one sister.
Who wears the pants? He does, but he makes me feel like I do.
This next one isn't on Rachel's list, but I thought I'd add it to mine.
Coincidences: The fact that the Madonna song "Crazy for You" has been my favorite song since I was 9 years old and that Travis's favorite movie (for about that long) is "Vision Quest" where Madonna actually made her film debut singing her song "Crazy for You".
Also, Travis and I were both recruited to work at North Forsyth Highschool the same year.....Coincidence.....I'll let you decide....but as for Travis and myself...we think a high-power had His hand in it.

Okay, Travis, I know you're going to read this, so i want to hear your comments on this too. :)

Snow in Georgia!!!

After 4 1/2 years, it finally snowed again here in north Georgia! Sydney has been wanting to see snow "for real" since she was 2 years old, and yesterday, for the first time in her life, she got to see, taste, feel and play in real snow. She was so incredibly happy. But, I'm not sure who was happier....Travis, me or Sydney. Addyson thought it was quite fun her self and was toddling around all bundled up and giggling because she was running around outside and probably because she saw how excited Sydney was and knew that it was a special time. It started snowing before dinner-time and wasn't sticking to the ground, so I didn't think it would.....because it usually doesn't stick to the ground. But we hammed it up and ran around outside and played. Sydney said that it was like "taking a shower in the snow". Travis got home, so he played with the girls outside while I cooked dinner. During dinner we noticed that the snow WAS STICKING TO THE GROUND!!! We were all excited. We promised Sydney that in the morning we would build a snowman. So, we put the girls to bed. About 45 minutes later, however, Travis and I were regretting our move to wait to build a snowman in fear that the snow would melt before morning time. Travis anxiously asked me if it was okay if he woke Sydney up to go build a snowman. It was 9:00 by this time, but WHO CARES?? We were both so giddy while going upstairs to wake her up. Travis did the honors. At first she was too groggy from being woken up that she didn't know what Travis was saying, but as soon as it registered, she sat up quickly and said..."right NOW??!!" So, we bundled her up and went outside to build a snowman. She wanted to make sure we had a carrot for the nose, and all I could find for the eyes was some "crunch 'n munch" popcorn, so that worked. We put gloves, a scarf and a hat on it too. All of our hands were so numb, but we were all so giddy and having so much fun that it didn't really matter. Travis and I felt like kids again. As we were coming inside, Sydney was just laughing and said, "our snowman is so ugly!" and just started laughing even more. Travis and I thought it was a great snowman/woman, but it was so funny to hear Syd say that, so I just had a little laughing fit myself at that comment. Especially because I've never even heard her call anyone or anything ugly before. Sydney was so good and cute and went right to bed without stalling after building her first ever snowman. We were so glad that we acted irresponsibly and woke her up b/c sure enough, it started to rain, instead of snow and our snowman/woman had toppled over and begun to melt by morning.

It's a memory we will never forget. Having kids is soooooo much fun. It gives us adults excuses to act like kids again!
(And, yes, I had my camera on the wrong setting when I took the following pictures, and it was wet from the snow, so they aren't clear at all! boo hoo).

GETTING MY GROOVE ON, YO!

Okay,
So the music on here most of the time is music that I like, but music suited for my blog.....for my kids and family basically. Well, I wanted to have some fun and put a playlist on here for a few days of the music types that I like. It's my "rock on" music. It's a wide genre and variation of music that I like....as you'll see if you view all the songs. They aren't in any particular order of my likes, and in no way does it encompass all the songs or types of music I like......I don't have time and http://www.playlist.com/ doesn't have a lot of the songs on there. BUT, it is a good reflection and little insight into the mind of Kate Grant Jarrard. Sorry if some of the songs offend you...if so, then click on another one. They aren't all "clean" I'm sorry to say, as they should be because I don't like swearing, but, I do like these songs. Shame on me, I guess, but why lie and pretend I don't? I think it's a fun list and if you want to rock out or get a little nostalgic (lots of 80's hair band stuff on here), then play away. Or just browse to see what a freak I am or don't listen at all. I really don't care. This was just so fun for me. (I'm counting on Rachel Hudgins and Mimi Keyser to turn it up and rock out to Brass Monkey...that's why it's on here first. So many memories with that song....seems like a lifetime ago, but then again, seems like last summer.)
Have fun. I am!!!!!!!
As Sydney likes to say...."Shake your booty!!!"

Piano

So, I try to practice the piano b/c I really can't play anymore.....which is sad b/c I used to be half decent. But, much to my dismay, my little ones push my hands away and want to play by themselves!!! They were just so cute today, I had to take a picture. Sydney was singing while she was "playing", but Addyson was just playing. Addyson was so excited at first and then she got more tired and more tired.....as you can see on the progression of pictures, she put her head down finally on the keys.
Poor Addyson is shirtless b/c it was so hot in our house today, I thought she'd be more comfortable without clothes on and then I go and take her picture! She'll love me for that when she's older!! ha ha.

Teasing Sydney

Addyson is starting to tease Sydney, and it's so funny. She'll grab something that Sydney is playing with and run away from her as fast as she can while laughing hysterically. Sydney gets so upset, but I can't help but laughing. Of course Sydney is telling me, "MOM, IT'S NOT FUNNY!" I really need to learn to control my giggles.

Christmas

Yes, it is about time I posted pictures of our Christmas. We went up to southern VA to visit Travis's parents, and were joined by his sister, Tawnya and her family and his brother, Cody, and his two dogs. Tawnya has two little girls, Kayleigh is 6 months older than Sydney and Madison is 2 months younger than Addyson. Madison got a little confused every time I said Addyson, and Addyson vice versa. Travis's Mom, Di, thinks we should call them Virginia and Georgia (Tawnya lives in VA too). We might have to start doing that when we are up there! Sydney and Kayleigh were thick as thieves and had a great time playing with each other. Sydney loved Uncle Cody's dogs, of course, and is still talking about them. She saw a picture of Travis's dog, Major, and wanted to know all about what he was doing in Heaven. She asks us everyday what Major and Heavenly Father are doing. So cute. The only thing Sydney asked for this year was Baby Alive, so she was more than thrilled to open her up on Christmas morning. She was so excited and said..."It's Baby Alive because I've been such a good girl!" She also got a ton of little ponies, princess stuff and a "smart cycle" which she loves to play. Addyson wants to play too, but since she's too little and Sydney doesn't want her to, she just taunts Sydney by turning it on and off. Both girls racked up this year, so I had to secretly put a lot of their old toys into a "goodwill" box one night while they were sleeping. And we still have way too many toys!

Uncle Cody helping Addyson

Addyson was thrilled with her box of balls and wasn't interested in anything else except after Travis opened part of his grill (an empty propane tank) and left a big box full of nothing but Styrofoam peanuts in it. Addyson thought this was fabulous and immediately climbed into it. She was furious with me when I finally took her out b/c she started eating the peanuts.

Sydney and Kayleigh had a great time making and leaving cookies for Santa and sprinkling reindeer food out out on the lawn on Christmas eve. They were thrilled to be able to have a "sleepover" with each other and sleep in their little mermaid sleeping bag/air beds.

Opening presents tired everyone out!

My girls were thrilled to get home and see that Santa had made a visit to our house as well and filled their stockings and left a big red Santa bag full of gifts for them under the tree. Annie and Poppy had also been over and left a darling pottery barn table and chairs for them as well.

It was time to clean up Christmas and Sydney did better than I expected about not being too upset, but was very disappointed when "Soley Doley" her "elf on the shelf" had to fly back to be with his wife and Santa until next year.

I was bummed, as always, to have to put up the decorations because the house just looks so empty without them! No, however, I actually can decorate my new house for real b/c since we've moved in we've had holiday decorations (Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas).

Happy New Year!

Is it really 2008????? Wha???
Okay, so I'm late on getting my Christmas post done b/c I need to download my Christmas pictures. It's coming, but not today. New Year's Eve was fun. We got to try out a Wii for the first time. Travis fell in love with the guitar game. He was very hesitant to try it, but then was a super star and we couldn't get him off it. He did look mighty hot playing the guitar, though. (even if it was fake). I kicked butt on my first song, "Hit me with your best shot" and then got booed of the stage (from computer fans) on a Poison song of all things...How can that happen to me? One of their biggest fans?? :) So, Travis decided to "show me how it's done". ha ha. I, however, liked the tennis game the best myself, but I kept turning around to talk when it was my turn, so I had to start focusing and then I kicked some booty. A Wii will definitely be on our Christmas list next year. Travis had to get up early this morning for wrestling practice, so we didn't stay up late. We watched the ball drop and headed for bed! We are getting old! I don't even think we made it to midnight last year!
Another Sydney funny for ya...there are just too many to write down, so I just do the ones I remember at the moment....I was singing a song...who knows what it was, but she told me that Scooby didn't like it (she was pretending her Clifford dog was Scooby) and said "Mom, Scooby doesn't like that song" and I said, well, I do and I'm going to sing it, so she said, "but mom...NOW it's stuck in his head!" I had to giggle at that one. She is not only addicted to Scooby Doo, but loves to sing "Shake your Boooooty" while she's shaking hers. Very cute and cuter when Addyson joins her and tries to shake her little booty. It's so fun having a little 14 month old around!
2007 was a great year for the Jarrard Jokers (that's us), and I hope that 2008 just gets better. If it follows the trend, then it will b/c, so far, every year has gotten better. I hope that it's awesome for everyone (even the 2 or 3 people who ever read my blog!!...thanks by the way for reading...it makes me feel good that someone is interested!)

Cheers! and God Bless!