Debbie & Co

May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:32:00 +0000

Hi,

It's been a little while since my last post. Sorry!!! We have had a very busy May.

The first week of May brought almost 11 inches of rain in a very short time. Wayne & Rhonda's house had about 6+ inches of water in it. We were very lucky. We had about 1/8 of an inch before our house we have started flooding. Several of our neighbors were not so lucky. You can see some great flood shots at www.wsfa.com and then click on the my12 photos. These are the photo's Patrick took when he came home to check on the house and Rocky.

The boys had a great time making gifts for Mimi and Nana. They painted birdhouses and made some bookmarks. I think Ryan ended up with more paint on him than his birdhouse...lol

Last week was fun week at Alan's school. Monday was PJ day.. boy, that made Monday easy. Tuesday was letter day. Alan chose the letter C and dressed up as a Cowboy. Wednesday was wear your favorite character shirt. Alan wore his Lightening McQueen shirt, Lightening McQueen crocs and took his Lightening McQueen blanket. Thursday was hat and sunglasses day. He had to wear his cowboy hat again because he had outgrown all his other hats. Friday was wheels day. Bad mommy grabbed the little tricycle rather than the big one... Ooops!!

I had my monthly doctor's appointment on Thursday. I have lost 3 pounds (not trying, but I will take it ;) ) and we heard the baby's heartbeat. I go back on June 22nd for my labwork and schedule the big ultrasound. As with Alan and Ryan, I will be having the ultrasound done in Bham to check to make sure that there are no heart valve problems and make sure that the baby also doesn't have the sagittal craniostenosis, which is what Alan was born with and had surgery to correct at 5 1/2 months old.

We went to the lake again this weekend (We went the weekend before) and it rained all weekend. Patrick did manage to get a new ceiling fan up, but the rest of the to do list was outside related, so I guess they will have to wait for another weekend. The sun came out once we came home, however, we did still have the occasional shower/downpour.

Alan "graduated" K3 today. He was soooo excited to wear his "church" clothes with his tie. The had a short program where the kids showed off what they learned. They all did such a good job. Here's the "diplomas" that he received:

Here's the graduation program:

Here's some photo's and videos from the ceremony. I apologize for the videos being a little shaky at times, Ryan was having a good time climbing up and down from my lap:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Hopefully June will be a little better month with a few more posts. You can also keep up with us on Facebook - Debbie O'Connor Stevenson, Patrick Stevenson.. even the grandpa's have facebook: Walter Stevenson or Mark OConnor

Hope everyone is doing well!

We love ya!
Deb

Long time no post.....

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Hi,

Sorry, it's been a couple of weeks since the last post. We have been busy with T-Ball, which is winding down. We only have 2 more games. Alan is finally starting to get into the game and ask to practice, etc.

The boys are good, getting big and amazing us everyday with the new stuff they are learning. Alan is graduating K-3 at Lighthouse at the end of May. They will be having a graduation ceremony on the 26th at 10:00 am showing everything they have learned plus some new stuff in the past week. Alan has been learning to count to 10 in Spanish, some sign language and of course, some new bible verses.

Here's some photo's from the "fishing trip" at Mimi's this past weekend. Alan caught a few fish sticks and Ryan kept trying to see how close he could get to the edge without falling in. Enjoy:

I swear they get cuter everyday.

Now, let's check to see who really reads our blog....

There will be an early Christmas present for us this year:

We found out today I am due on 12/12. For once, we are not due on anyone's birthday or anniversary. The heartbeat was 160 and then 154. I will be having a repeat c/section along with a tubal this time...lol

We hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Debbie & the "Growing Co"

Happy Easter!!

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Hi,

We hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We did. We got up with barely an hour to get to church..lol We went to the 8:00 am service and then the boys hunted Easter Eggs right after church. After they had found all the eggs they wanted to find, we headed in to eat some of the wonderful breakfast that had been prepared during church. They had to close the sanctuary doors because it smelled so wonderful!

We went home after church to get a little down time. Saturday was pretty busy with t-ball and an Easter egg hunt at AUM. The boys had a lot of fun at that one also. They came home with 28 candy filled eggs. The boys got their train table (thanks FREECYCLE!) and loved it. They played with it a little while while watching Cars.
Then it was off to Lisa and Joe's for Easter lunch.

Poor Ryan fell asleep about 3 minutes after we left the house. Of course, he woke up when we got out of the truck at Lisa's. Once he saw his cousins, that was the end of any chance of a nap. Since it was such a beautiful day and actually dry, everyone was outside. So, we visited and let the kids play outside for a little while.

Then it was time for a yummy Easter dinner. Honey Baked Ham, Pineapple casserole, Sweet potato souffle, potato salad, deviled eggs, pickles and wickles. Alan ate pretty good, Ryan was too grumpy to eat and got mad because he couldn't sit at the bar and eat his dinner.

After lunch, back outside to run off some of the boys energy. Then, Rhys thought he heard the ice cream truck and got soooo excited. Alas, we guess he was hearing things since we never saw one. Darn, I wanted that ice cream also...lol

Mimi had put together an Easter Egg pinata. All the kids had a fun time swinging at it. Ryan decided the bat was too short, so he went into the garage and got out something a little longer...lol Rhys was the one to finally bust it. Ryan was real happy....Finally.. candy! Poor thing, when he looked for eggs in Lisa's beautiful backyard, he got upset because most of them were empty...little stinker. He wanted chocolate. Ryan has a sweet tooth, chocolate, fruit, syrup, he doesn't care...lol

We really figured both boys would fall asleep on the way home, but only Alan did. Alan fell asleep one block away from home. We woke him up when we got home and sent him outside to play so he would be good and ready for bed. It worked! The boys ate a great dinner and both were asleep by 7:45! WOO HOO!

Here's some pictures from today's activities:

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Hope everyone had a great day with family and friends.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Love,
Debbie & Co.

Misc March and April Photo's

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Hi,

Here are some a couple of pix of the boy's playing in the empty garbage cabinet at Looney's skating rink:

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The boys having a great time on Nana's birthday:

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A few pictures before the Easter Egg Hunt at Aldersgate UMC and then Alan's t-ball game:

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Love,
Debbie & CO

Alan's 1st T-Ball Game

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Hi,

Alan had his first t-ball game yesterday. He hit really well, the 2 times he actually went up to bat. He played "pitcher" our last time in the field and he stopped the ball and threw it to first base! Our games last about 30 mins, enough to have fun, but not enough that the kids (or parents) get bored...lol. Alan is number 7 and Ryan is number 1.

Alan had a big cheering section.. Mommy, Daddy, Ryan, Nana, Poppy, Sheila, Shelby and Nanny Pat. Sheila and family decided to suprise us and both boys were so happy to see them, especially Shelby since they hadn't seen her in several weeks.

After the game, we went to Chappy's for lunch. Alan was pretty much asleep when we got home and Ryan was very shortly after we got home. They slept until about 5 pm. Alan got up in one of the best moods...he hasn't been in that good of a mood in about a week... maybe he has finally kicked whatever little bug he had picked up.

I hope you enjoy the little picture slideshow of Tuesday's 1st indoor practice and Alan's first game. I have thrown in a couple of other cute shots of the boys. One is them eating popcorn and watching Cars in my bed. The other is both of them all tuckered out after the game.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Deb

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:15:00 +0000

I finally caught this on video... Ryan responding to "Who let the "dogs" out...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Our 2nd tball practice went really well. When we got there, Alan told me he wanted to play and not sit on the bench! WOO HOO!! I only got 3 pictures this time. I helped with the fielding until Daddy got there. Then I started helping Mimi chase Ryan!! Oh, the updated schedule is on the left sidebar of the blog.

Tonight, we packed up some sandwiches and headed to the park. It was beautiful. The kids had a great time. They were too excited to eat, but made up for it later...lol

Here's some pictures from the tball practice and park. Also, a video from the park.

Video of kids not staying on one thing at the park:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Hope everyone has a great week!

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Alan had his first t-ball practice on Friday. I picked him up from school then we ran by Nana's to get Ryan. I took them to Ida Belle Park first hoping to run off some extra energy before the practice. Note to self, don't take 2 rambunctious boys to the park by yourself...lol Actually they did really well until Alan fell flat on his back and knocked the wind out....that really scared him and me. We had forgot the backpack!! We never go anywhere without the backpack!!! I was beginning to panic thinking he needed his inhaler and we didn't have it with us. But once he calmed down, I could tell he wasn't having an asthma attack after all.

I was soooo excited to see that practice was just that. They separated into groups and practiced throwing (we need to work on this skill!), batting and fielding. Alan did really well at batting (see video's below)and enjoyed hunching down like a crab to field the ball.

We will practice every Tuesday night from 5 to about 6 pm. We are the Yellow team. Our first game will be March 21st at noon....so hurry out and get your yellow t-shirts to support the team!!

Here's some pictures from the park and t-ball practice. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted since it took Patrick awhile to get there and my hands were full trying to keep Ryan from running on the field.

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Scroll down for the videos!

Enjoy!

Love,
Debbie & Co

Tball Practice Video #1

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Tball Practice Video #2

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Tball Practice Video #3

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Tball Practice Video #4

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Children's Hospital Miracle Rodeo

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:24:00 +0000

Hi,

Tonight we went to Garrett Coliseum for the Children's Hospital Miracle Rodeo. We had a blast. They had a riding club/team from Autauga County riding holding the flag, and the precision was just amazing. Those girls were really good. The boys really enjoyed it. Then we watched some barrel racing. The first girl was only 7!!! Then came the team roping....Wow, those boys were good! After the exhibition, they had a cowboy come and entertain us with some pretty amazing rope and whip tricks. His partner was a sharp shooter.

After that, we got to go on the coliseum floor and ride in the wagon, ride the horses, pet some animals and learn how to rope. One of the volunteers, Chris, is a senior at AU and hoping to get in the vet school there made friends with us and the boys. He got them to the head of some of the lines, took them on the wagon rides, and walked them around on the horses. This was his 4th year doing the rodeo. Children's was a very special place to him, his younger brother was a patient there for 7 years before he lost the battle. After all that fun, we ended the night with a yummy pizza party!!

Here's some pictures from tonight:

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Hope everyone has a great evening!!

Love,
Debbie & Co

Snow in Alabama

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:38:00 +0000

Yesterday morning the sirens woke us up about 6 am and it was 60 something degrees outside. This morning, we woke up to below freezing and SNOW!!! Here's some pictures from our neck of the woods:

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I know for my northern relatives, this is nothing... but here, this shuts our city down!!

Love,
Deb

Day after Surgery

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Here's pictures from Ida Belle Park the very next day! We didn't stay long because it got very windy and it was close to naptime.

Enjoy!!

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Love,
Deb

Pictures from Ryan's surgery day

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:20:00 +0000

Hi,

Here's some pix of Ryan the night before and the day of his surgery. Don't worry... no pictures of any wounds, etc...... Besides, if you saw the surgery pictures of Alan when he was 5 1/2 months old, you can handle ANYTHING!!!

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Love,
Deb

Ryan's surgery

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:55:00 +0000

Hi,

Ryan's surgery went really well. We got to the surgery center right at 6:30. Pastor Randy was already there and greeted us. Ryan snoozed on me in the chair until about 6:50 or so. About 7, Ryan and I went back to do some paperwork. Wow, it was nice, they already had everything printed up, we just signed a couple of things and were on our way back out to Daddy and Pastor Randy. We sat down for maybe 10 minutes and they called us back to get him ready for surgery. Nana walked in just as we were getting ready to go back to get him ready for surgery.

We went back, weighed him and went to our little curtained area. Ryan must have remembered something from last time. He started whining when we stepped back there. He didn't want to take his pj top off or let the nurse listen to his chest. We had the same anesthesiologist again. That was kinda reassuring. Dr. Knox was already in the building, so Patrick went and got Pastor Randy and he came and said a blessing over Ryan. We all had tears in our eyes when we headed back to the waiting room at 7:31 am. Nothing worse than hearing your child scream Mommy, Daddy and you are completely helpless to go to them! They should really start letting a parent suit up and go back with them until they are sleeping. All in all, we were back there for about 15 minutes. What a change, last time, we spent at least an hour in the pre-op area.

The nurse came and got us at 7:58 to talk to Dr. Knox. Dr. Knox said the adenoids were "huge and nasty" and needed to come out. He was really surprised at how nasty they were. Ryan's ears weren't bad, some mucus left in them, but the antiobiotic had done it's job.

We waited maybe another 5 minutes and then we got to go see the little bug. He was crying Mommy, Mommy and then Bebe.... He wasn't really awake yet, but just burrowed down into me once I picked him up. We had another surprise, the same recovery nurse, Ms. Hermonine. They moved into a nice room with a tv, but Ry really wasn't interested in watching. They gave him some Demerol for the pain and then some tylenol a little later. We were in recovery about an hour. We headed home with him about 9:10 am.

Ryan is doing well. He did take a nap, and he has to nap on me. He has pretty much quit whining, however, he does have to be in the same room with me at all times.

Thanks for everyone's prayers, text messages, phone calls, emails, etc. They are greatly appreciated.

Well, our supper is ready... time to get the boys to eat.

Love,
Deb

Ryan's Surgery

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Hi,

Ryan will be Dr. Knox's first patient tomorrow. We have to be at the surgical center on Taylor Road at 6:30 am. Ryan is not going to be a happy camper after midnight tonight and tomorrow morning. He wakes up in the middle of the night for "drink" and pretty much the first thing he asks for in the morning is something to drink. Probably because his mouth is dry from having it wide open all night snoring, etc.

I really hope that getting his adenoids will help him sleep better and deeper. He is such a light sleeper, if the phone rings 2 rooms away, he will wake up. Poor bug, last night the weather radio and the alerts on the tv kept waking him up. He would sit up in the bed with his hair all a mess and look at me with this confused look on his face. I should have had my camera ready.

Ryan will also be getting his 2nd set of tubes put in his ears. One ear is "flat" and the other has negative pressure. I bet once everything drains, he is going to be a chatterbox...lol

I will update tomorrow as soon as I get a chance.

Love,
Deb

Ryan's 2nd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:12:00 +0000

My baby boy turned two yesterday!! Ryan seemed to be over the worst part of RSV, so the party went as planned. He had soooo much fun pulling out the tissue paper in his gift bags and saying... Woooww.... he was just so amazed. It was so much fun just listening to him as he opened his presents. Ryan loved blowing out his candles and I am soooo proud of his big brother... he let him blow them out all by himself.

Ryan went back to the doctor today for his 2 year checkup. He can go back to "school" tomorrow. He is 35 1/2 inches long (75th percentile) and weighed 30 pounds (75th percentile). He's right on target with where he needs to be.

I did start him on some Zyrtec tonight to see if it would help clear up his runny nose. Yep, it did... I have been wondering for a couple of weeks if his runny nose was from a cold or allergies. Alan started having allergy problems around 2... and with our crazy weather... go figure...lol

Ryan has an appointment Friday with an ENT doctor to get his adenoids checked out. He has always snored and a couple of times actually stopped breathing.... what's weird is that this week, he has actually quit snoring...lol

Ok, here's some pictures from his party yesterday:

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Deb

Enjoying Poppy's Birthday Cake

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Poppy turned 65 on Thursday. His co-workers surprised him with lunch to Olive Garden and later on that afternoon, cake and ice cream. Poppy brought some down to share with our boys......

Umm, I think they liked it....

Love,
Deb

Ryan starts "School"

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Sniff, sniff... my baby started Mother's Day Out yesterday at Vaughn Park Church of Christ. This is the same place Alan went. He walked right in and made himself at home. No problems with me leaving and didn't really want to stop to give be a bye hug. He had a pretty good first day. Ryan did have a time out for pushing a little girl, but they said he went right into time out without a problem. When I went to pick him up, he came running, saying, Mom-ma, Mom-ma.... and as soon as the door opened, he hugged me and then took off down the hall. I finally got him bundled up and out the door. Brrr.. I think it was finally a little above freezing by that time. He also did really well eating his lunch and cleaned his plate.

When Nana took him today, she said he went running to his teacher and gave her a hug. Barely even noticed that Nana left. Soooo different than Alan. Poor Alan had to be peeled off and has been like that for most of his life.

Ryan was sooo excited to carry his little Mickey Mouse lunchbox. When I showed it to him this morning, he was walking all over the house carrying it. He didn't like it when I told him we had to put it up until it was time to go to school. I was afraid he would hide it and then Daddy wouldn't be able to find it and it probably wouldn't have been found until it started smelling...lol

Here's some pictures from his first day of school:

Hopefully I will do a better job at keeping this updated in 2009!

Christmas/December Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Hi,

December was a very busy month for us, and I am sure it was for everyone else also. Add in the typical kid illnesses....and before you know it, it's a new year. We hope you and your family had a wonderful and magic Christmas. We also hope that you have a great new year.

Here's some pictures taken in December:

Seller's Family Christmas Party

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:51:00 +0000

Every year, Patrick's family has the Seller's Family Christmas Party. This is Patrick's grandmother's "siblings" and their family. My SIL, Lisa Holifield, has graciously "hosted" at the Sturbridge Clubhouse the past several years. My FIL, Walter, played the part of Santa Claus. He didn't fool Alan. As soon as Alan saw him, he wanted to know why "Toot-Toot" was dressed up as Santa. Smart boy. Too smart! Cousins Joel and Becky read and acted out the Night Before Christmas. Several of the young cousins sang Christmas Carols for us. Wish I had thought to get that on video.

Here's the pictures from the party. Hope you enjoy:

Alan's Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:36:00 +0000

Here's some pictures from our party on Sunday:

The party went well. The kids got there, played outside for a little bit, it was in the lower 60's.... then I brought them in, put white t-shirts on them, and let them paint some wooden train engines I got at Michael's for $0.99. I had already written the child's name and date on the front and on the back, I wrote Alan's 4th bday party. We put those outside to dry and then I hung them on their goody bags to take home. We played Alan's Thomas Bingo and used Hershey's kisses as the markers. I already see how that can be improved..... After bingo, it was Cake time!! Then it was back outside to let the kids run off some sugar.

The goody bags were just brown bags with handles from the craft dept at Wal-Mart, that I let Alan decorate with markers and stickers Sunday morning. In their bags was the candy bars, some of the those blow toys, various dime store type stuff and individualized notebooks. I bought some little notebooks at Sam's club, I printed up some labels on it that had Thomas then "Child's Name" Notebook in the middle and then another Thomas picture. I just added to the bottom of that label the child's name again and a Thomas engine saying thanks for coming to Alan's birthday party. I cut the child's name and Thomas Thank You and pasted on the outside of the bag....hey, when you only have to do seven bags, it's easy....

We served dinner for those that wanted to stick around at about 5 pm (smoked pork butt, grilled sausage, baked beans, broccoli salad and potato salad.) The butts, beans and sausage all cooked on the grill during the party. Everything else was already made.

Alan finally got to open his presents after bath.....wow, I think he wasn't sure what he wanted to play with first. (He got up still trying to play with everything...lol)

Neither Alan nor Ryan took a nap yesterday, so they were in melt down mode.... big time.... Needless to say, after all the excitement, they were very hard to get to go to bed....Pretty much, threw them in bed with me, held on tight and we all went to sleep.

Sorry it was so long in between posts...hopefully we can keep up a little better during the holidays.

Alan's Birthday party at School

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Alan had a little birthday party at school on Friday afternoon after nap. Here's some photo's from this:

Trick or Treating ~ Part I

noreply@blogger.com (deb4ala2) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:09:00 +0000

We started trick or treating a day early. Alan is Spiderman and Ryan is the World's Cutest Spider. We didn't make it to everyone's house...so, we might just have to continue on Saturday....lol So, don't eat all the candy if we haven't knocked on your door yet!!! On Halloween night, we are going to go help Dakota Alexander (Dale & Gail's BIG boy) celebrate his 5th birthday with a fun filled Halloween birthday party. Here's some pictures from tonight's trick or treating adventure: