Quick Catch-Up

Whew! It's been a while since I've had 2 minutes to blog!
Here's a  bit of info & some pics to catch up on the Burns' craziness:

The weekend of the 13th, I worked our school's annual Santa Breakfast. This year I convinced Jacin to pay the $10 for JBird to have his picture with Santa. As you can see by the picture, Bird was absolutely thrilled.

This was the BEST out of several pictures.

Wednesday night through Friday morning of Thanksgiving, we spent time with my family in Gwinnett. JBird wasn't feeling too great. In fact, he couldn't keep any milk down. Poor guy. He spent the majority of the Thanksgiving meal in my lap or sleeping in our room downstairs.

Feeling yucky.

When he wasn't sleeping or crying, JBird was enjoying bouncing in his Hoppy Days Bouncer. Notice the leg-pump action...

It was great to see family! We missed you, Aunt Deb, though I'm sure Thanksgiving was much sweeter in Heaven. And congrats to Eric and Alexa! We're excited for you!

Whites, Rigdons, Briggs, Stovalls, Burns & Hales Families

Friday we came home and celebrated Thanksgiving with Jacin's family. Once again, Bird cried through the entire meal. Jacin and I took turns inhaling our food while the other held Jackson. By the time we got home, I decided that Bird had a stomach virus. Straight Pedialyte for the next few days.

Then... that night... I started with the stomach virus. This is the THIRD time Bird has gotten stomach sick and passed it to me (and other family members). After throwing up and passing out in the waiting room of our local Urgent Care, I finally received some IV fluids and eventually felt better.

Last night, Jacin, Bird, and I were sitting at the kitchen table after dinner. I had pulled out my Veggie Tales nativity characters and was attempting to introduce the Christmas story characters to Jackson. In the middle of my explanation, Jacin started lining the characters up across the table. "This is how the offensive line forms, buddy," he explained as he named each position. "Now, you take this one and play defense. I'll be the quarter back." As if he understood, Jackson grabbed his designated character (I think it was a wise man) and hit Jacin's "defensive line," scattering the characters everywhere. "Yeah! That's my boy! You sacked the quarterback!" Jacin shouted jumping out of his chair. Hmm. Boys.

And speaking of boys, here are my two having fun in the shower.

Whew! So maybe that wasn't too quick. Oh well. Lots has happened in the last week or two. I can't complain, though. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Jackson with a side of Joy

So JBird and I saw quite a show while sitting in the pediatrician's waiting room today. A little blond-haired toddler, holding a squeaky cow toy, waddled over to meet a little girl. The little boy held out his cow toy toward the little girl (I guess this was his pick up line?). The little girl grabbed it and threw it across the room. I watched with wide eyes. The little boy looked at the girl for a minute, then suddenly flew into a rage. If toddlers could punch, this one would have. I thought the boy was going to deck the little girl. The parents of each toddler jumped up simultaneously and yelled the name of their child. A Daddy jerked the little blond-haired boy back and said, "Jackson, be nice!" A Mommy stood up and grabbed the little girl and said, "Joy, that's not the way to make friends." After watching that first encounter and then watching the two tear the waiting room apart for the following 20 minutes, I walked away thinking 2 things:

1. I have absolutely NO CLUE how crazy it will be when Jackson (MY Jackson) gets mobile. I'd better buckle up. He's going to be a tornado.

2. Naming a kid Joy is kinda, well... why would you do it? I found it very ironic to hear the Mom in the waiting room repeated yell at Joy, who was definitely bringing the Mom everything EXCEPT joy at the time. I can definitely scratch that name off the list of potential baby names for the future.

1st Hair Cut

Today Mom and I took JBird for his 1st hair cut. I know you're not really supposed to take kids for the 1st cut until they're 1 year old (or at least this is what I'm told), but his hair was getting a bit ridiculous. The comb-over in the front was gradually falling into his eyes. His hair on the sides of his head was growing over the tops of his ears. And the trademark cowlick in the back was starting to look like a duck's tail. So we decided to take the plunge. Here are a few pics (thanks Mom!).

After all is said and done, I'm glad we got it cut. However, I'm not sure I was prepared to see him look like a little boy instead of my sweet baby bird. Where did 7 months go?
I love you, Jackson Bird!

Rats and Chocolate

So if you know me well, you know I like chocolate. Ok, that's a lie. I LOVE chocolate. It's somewhat of an obsession. Honestly, if there was a support group for chocolate addicts, I should probably attend.

Let me paint a picture of how bad it is:
I keep a bag of Dove chocolates in the front office - the secretary guards them. I go up there once a day, and she gives me one of my chocolates. Hey - I'm not ashamed! Accountability is a beautiful thing.
Well, one day I brought a new bag of Doves to restock my supply, and the secretary happened to be out sick that day. I had to keep the chocolates in my room until she returned. This was NOT GOOD. By 10am that morning, I had eaten half the bag of chocolates. Not kidding.

Hi, my name is Hailey Burns, and I have a chocolate problem.

So today I'm working out at the gym, reading a magazine while on the eliptical. On one page of the magazine, I spy a sidebar entitled "Chocolate Comfort." Of course I read it. It states: "A study of more than 900 people found that those who were clinically depressed ate, on average, three more servings of chocolate than people who weren't feeling blue" (Archives of Internal Medicine).  For real? Only 3 more servings? They obviously didn't study ME. I would have blown that out of the water! It gets better. Dr. Beatrice Golomb says, "Depression may stimulate chocolate cravings, and rat studies show that chocolate could improve mood." Really? She had to study rats to figure that out? I would love to bring home her salary and make obvious "discoveries" like that. Geez.

PS: You may have wondered how I was able to quote the article since I saw it while at the gym, and I'm obviously not at the gym now. Well, since I'm in a confessing mood - I'll admit it: I tore out the page of the Women's Health magazine and brought it home. I doubt anyone at the gym will notice it's gone - but I needed it. Blogging about my problem is therapeutic. :)

Miscellany Monday

One of my favorite blogs, lowercase letters by Carissa Graham, has weekly Miscellany Mondays with random thoughts and comments. I like the idea, so here it goes...

Fall is great. I love the cool weather, having fires in the fireplace, and drinking cider or hot chocolate. I also love the feeling of anticipation it brings as we look towards Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is by far my favorite time of year.

I shopped at Publix for the first time this weekend. Yes, it's true that I had to drive 30 minutes to Cartersville, but it was completely worth it. I was able to buy almost double what I normally buy at WalMart each week for the same amount of money. Plus, I'm slowly learning how to combine coupons with sales. I saved $57 Saturday at Publix and $47 today at CVS. Now I just need an extra pantry and freezer.

Sometimes love isn't a feeling as much as it is a decision. There are times when you may not feel love for a person, but you've decided to love them; made a commitment to love no matter what. It's through those times that you often get to see God do His best work, changing you and your loved one to be more like Him.

Over the past 20 months, I've learned that pregnancy and giving birth can wack-out a woman's body - PERMANENTLY. The larger butt and hips, the nice soft band of fat around the waist, the persistent memory loss... and... wait, what else was I going to say? Oh yeah. The hot flashes, the mood swings, the appetite changes, and the totally unpredictable periods. Good grief. BUT - look what I got out of the deal! Yep, he's worth it.

The Best Squirrel I Ever Had

This week has been rough. I'm teaching my least favorite unit at school, and it's almost killed me. There's only so many times I can explain what a citation is, or how to access articles online, or how to find something in an encyclopedia. I don't mind research IF I'm the one doing it. Teaching research, however, has got to be the 10th circle of Hell. In fact, one of my students asked me this afternoon if the day had been rough. I smiled and asked why. He said that it looked like I had been pulling out my hair. I asked if it really looked that bad. He nodded. I have to admit that there were points today when I felt like some type of sedative was being pumped through the air vents and I was slowly losing consciousness and my sanity. And it seems I wasn't the only one affected. During the (L O N G) three days we've spent in the library, I watched my 7th graders become more and more distracted, bored, and down-right goofy. Here are just 2 examples (the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).

#1 Great White Attack!!!
Caleb walks up to me while in the library and informs me that he is researching Great White Sharks. I try to mirror his enthusiasm, but I can't get a word in edgewise. He holds up 3 books and tells me he already knew all the info that was in those 3 books because he goes diving with his Dad. Caleb adds the random fact that sharks are 55 million years older than dinosaurs. He hesitates for a minute before confiding in me with a whisper, "and you know what? I was bitten by a Great White when I was little. Almost took my leg off."
Wow. We've been in this library *WAY* too long!

#2 PopTart
Me: Daniel, remind me what you're researching.
Daniel: Squirrels.
Me: Oh, ok. Have you found much info?
Daniel: Nope. Will you help me?
Me: Sure. Let's grab one of the laptops and look up squirrels online.
Daniel: Ok. I can do that. (Picks up a laptop, turns it on, googles squirrels, chooses a website, and starts reading)
Me: Awesome. That looks like a good website. I'm going to help Johnny and then I'll be back to check on you. (Gradually edging away)
Daniel: No! Wait! I have something to tell you! (waving his arms wildly as if trying to stop traffic)
Me: Yes?
Daniel: Well, Mrs. Burns, have you ever had a pet squirrel?
Me: No. I haven't. Have you? (Falling into his trap...)
Daniel: Yeah! I have!! (getting more and more excited, now moving his feet into the seat of his chair and crouching precariously as if preparing to spring) One day my dad was going to cut down a tree cause he's a tree cutter-downer and he seen that a squirrel nest was in the top so he climbed up and looked and there was 2 baby squirrels in the nest (he continues on without breathing...) and he took it down cause the momma had already done gone. And he brought the babies home to us. I was pumped. And one of the babies died during the night, but the other one lived and you know what we called him?
Me: No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me.
Daniel: PopTart. Yep. We named him PopTart cause that's what he liked to eat. And I guess PopTart was a good name for him as any cause that's how he died.
Me: What?
Daniel: PopTart died eating PopTarts - and the wrappers and box. We found him belly up in the sink. (drops his eyes to look at his hands folded in his lap.)
Me: (eyes wide, trying to sound sympathetic while imagine a dead squirrel in someone's sink) Wow! I'm so sorry!
Daniel: It's ok but he sure was a good one. In fact, he were the best squirrel I ever had!
Me: How many squirrels have you had?
Daniel: uhhh... one. (facial expression serious as a heart attack).