Colby vs. The Vacuum Cleaner

There is a constant battle at my house between Colby and the vacuum cleaner.













And the vacuum cleaner wins every time.

I Changed Diapers Back Then, Too

Apparently, I found my calling at an early age.



That is four-year-old me changing my cousin Mark's diaper. For someone who was just four, it looks like I was doing a pretty stellar job at changing that diaper. I guess all of the diaper changing practice I got back then made me the expert diaper changer I am today.

Yesterday, we threw a surprise birthday party for my grandmother, Mimi (more on that later). As part of the surprise, we put together a scrapbook for her. Each of Mimi's children and grandchildren made a page for the scrapbook. When I was looking through some of my mom's old photo albums for this project, I came across a lot of pictures of me holding and caring for baby Mark. I asked my mom about it, and she said she remembers me always being obsessed with Mark. She said I always wanted to take care of him.

Here is me holding Mark on Christmas of 1987 (I was three and Mark was just a few months old):



Here is another picture of me holding Mark (what a chunk!!) in 1988. I was four and he was close to a year old.



I've never been able to pinpoint at what time in my life I heard my calling to become a neonatal nurse, but I guess these pictures tell the story.

And just because it's cute...I also found this picture of me and my brother from 1988, and I just love it. But don't ask me to explain my brother's outfit...

Backyard Update

I was looking at the "Flower Power" blog post I made a few months ago, and I realized how much the plants in my backyard have grown and blossomed since then. Although I would like to take all of the credit for this (I mean, I do water the plants every once in a while...), my mom has played a big part in it. I like to call her my landscaper. Whenever my yard is looking rough, I call her up and she drives up from Mobile to landscape it. She can take my yard from bleak to chic in the matter of just a few hours. Most recently, she came up here to landscape my backyard (and dog-sit) while I enjoyed a weekend at the beach. It was a great deal for me!

If you remember correctly, this is what my backyard looked like a couple of months ago:





Here are some more recent pictures of my backyard:











There are some plants in my backyard that I am quite proud of. One is the mandevilla I have growing on a trellis:





Another is the lantana that my mom just planted:





I'm also proud of this crinum lily that just bloomed a few days ago. When my mom planted a bunch of crinum lilies in my backyard back in the spring, she said that it would probably take 4-5 years before I would see any of them bloom. Surprisingly, one of my crinum lilies bloomed a few days ago!



I also have some Mexican petunias blooming along my fence. When my mom planted the Mexican petunias back in the spring, they were tiny little plants. They have grown a lot since then! I love their pretty purple flowers.





I think I am most proud of the vinca growing along my fence. Here is a picture of the vinca from a few months ago:



Here are some pictures of the vinca now:











My landscaper-mom does good work, doesn't she?!

Colby's Favorite Toy

Recently, I discovered that Colby has a favorite toy:



Yes, that thing is pretty much as nasty as it looks. My brother's dog donated this toy to Colby back when I adopted him. Of course, it was in much better condition when we first received it. Just in the past few weeks, Colby has really taken a liking to playing with...and destroying...this toy, as you can see.



Apparently, destroying this toy is hard work.



I think this toy has become somewhat of a security blanket for Colby. I've caught him curled up with this toy on many occasions. Sometimes he tries to bring it into the bed when we turn in for the night, which is where I just have to draw the line. The thought of waking up with that nasty thing in my face is enough to give me nightmares. I'm already dreading the day when this toy becomes a pile of chewed up string and I have to explain to my sweet little Colby that toys aren't meant to last forever...

Five Years Later

It's hard to believe it's been five years.



Please join me in praying for all of those people who are still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina, five years later.

This Ain't Sea World, This is Real as it Gets!

CCN Nurses Go Coastal 2010

THE PLACE:

A cozy little condo in Gulf Shores.



We immediately fell in love with the condo when we saw this huge fan hanging on the wall with push pins. I mean...why not?! For the remainder of the trip, we refered to it as "The Perfect Fan".



The condo also had some great views. Here is a view of the beach from our balcony.



And here is a view of the pool from our balcony, complete with two old geezers wading in it.



THE PEOPLE:

Steph A. (aka "Blondie")



Steph G. (aka "Other Steph")



Megan (aka "Luna")



Beverly (aka "Bev", "Beaverly")



And, of course, me.



I really enjoyed getting to lay on the beach and enjoy its beauty. The beach was absolutely beautiful--no oil in sight, and the water was super clear.



One of the highlights of the trip was being on a boat...like Leo. A kind sailor gentleman saw the importance of having a photo shoot on a boat, so he allowed us to jump on his boat for a quick photo shoot. Before getting on the boat, we knew it was important to ensure our safety while on the boat. Never mind the fact that we never left the dock...



Here are the pictures of us on the boat, which was appropriately named "Scandal".





We all had a blast on our beach trip. Here are some shots to prove it.







And of course, we got our annual toes picture.



Another CCN beach trip tradition is for us to have a photo shoot on the beach on the last evening of our trip. For this task, we recruited Beverly's friend, David, to be our photographer. As luck would have it, David has a degree in photography, so we were quite pleased with the quality of the photos.







Because these pictures were so good, a little creative editing was done to make the pictures even more awesome. Thanks Beverly and Ali!





Because we are super cheesy and consider ourselves a CCN family, we decided that we needed some pics of us walking down the beach holding hands.





And now, I present to you the 2010 CCN Nurses Christmas card:



What a great beach trip! Looking forward to CCN Beach Trip 2011!