September?

Where in the world did this month go? We have had a busy month, for sure. Some good...some bad.

It started out kinda' rough and we thought we were going to lose Toby. After rushing him to the emergency vet where he stayed overnight, we learned he has an enlarged heart and congestive heart failure. Somehow, his bloodwork showed no organ damage and everything looks good overall, so he is now on meds for the rest of his life. After three weeks, he is doing GREAT! He's already lost some weight and his blood pressure is under control. A few days ago, he even played with one of Brayden's balls like a puppy. It was amazing to see.

The weekend of the 13th, we traveled to Texas for my sorority reunion. First, on Friday the 12th, we weren't sure we were going to get out of town. More specifically, it rained 12 inches on Friday and flooded most of west Wichita. We almost couldn't get Brayden from daycare (at 119th and Maple). We did manage to get out of town and left behind a continuing flood. They said it was the worst flood in 15 years. Our house is in no danger, though it was still anxiety-producing to leave and not know for sure.

While in Texas, Nana and Papa kept Brayden while Greg and I stayed over in Wichita Falls for the reunion. We got a hotel - it was our first night away together without Brayden since he was born. It was great! Brayden developed a strong affinity for Nana that weekend...they bonded!

I thoroughly enjoyed the reunion and got to see sisters I haven't seen in years. More importantly, I got to see Michele and Mandi - my two best friends from college. Both of them live in the Dallas area and I miss them a lot.

Truth be told, however, the reunion was not so much fun for the husbands. Here is a shot of them at the place we dragged them to after the reunion was over. I will try to find the picture of them at the event playing on their Blackberry phones; praying to the gods of mercy for relief from the sorority chants.


We stayed in IP visiting with Mom and Dad until Sunday night. The trip was kinda' rough coming home to Kansas because Brayden decided he wasn't ready to go to sleep. He was awake all the way until OKC (ugh!), but at least he stayed asleep after that.


After getting home about 1:30am, I got up at 6:00am and left for Salina for a faculty retreat. We stayed at Webster's Conference Center - very....umm...camp-like, though we got a lot done. :-)

The Britches and Lace fall consignment sale was the latter half of that week. I somehow managed to get all of Brayden's old clothes ready to consign in time. I was able to shop on Wednesday during the pre-sale and got him loaded up and ready for the winter.

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law experienced a series of health challenges during that week that kept us all in prayer. I won't share their stories here because they aren't mine to share but all parties are healing in the ways that they will need healing.

Last Sunday, we tried out a new church. While it was not a match, it is exciting to be "in the market". The church had many great qualities - nursery, people, and location. The cons, however, were the preaching style and music worship. We'll keep looking and are open to suggestions!

We had the carpets cleaned on Monday - FINALLY! We are usually very good to get them done each spring, but we got busy this year. We also had the house sprayed for Brown Recluse spiders after seeing on downstairs . All is well now.

My 34th birthday was this past Thursday. I worked all day, but everyone made it a great day. I got cards, cake, and lots of well wishes from friends and family alike. My amazing husband gave me an amazing gift - 6 different 90-minute massages! Plus, he scheduled the first one for this past Saturday. It was the absolute perfect gift. The evening of my birthday, I came home from work, put on my pj's, and watched television. Did I mention this was premiere week? I'm on television overload.

Friday was my dad's last day of work at Cryovac after 33 years. Hard to imagine he is unemployed for the first time in his entire adult life! At one of his parties on Friday, he got a Mr. Potato Head kit, crayons, and a coloring book from his co-workers. Either there is a side to my dad I don't know, or else he must really talk about Brayden at lot!! Mom and Dad came up this weekend and brought the gifts to Brayden and they were all a huge success.

Saturday, my parents, Greg, Brayden, and Greg's dad, Mike, and I all went out to eat at Granite City. We topped the night off with a stop at Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream and then crashed when we got home. But...not before enjoying a fabulous evening on our deck. The weather this week has been better than we deserve.

Today, The Tonn-Robertson family went to the zoo for Greg's work picnic. We have been getting Brayden excited about seeing the gorillas for several weeks by watching them on the Internet. In fact, he says "gorilla"... sorta'. He sticks out his tongue rapidly and it comes out as "lilla". VERY CUTE! Anyway, we went straight to the gorilla exhibit when we got there today and wow!! At first, he was a bit scared because one of the big silverback gorillas was sitting about 4 inches away from the glass. But, after he saw that it was okay, he started pointing at him and saying "lilla". We let him walk around in the exhibit room for a while and he had a wonderful time. I have both video and pictures that I will post when I download them from the camera. He was so wound up after the zoo visit that he went all day without a nap. Boy was he tired!

Michelle and Jason came over tonight to watch the premiere of The Amazing Race 13. It was our turn for dinner, so I made roast, but Michelle brought cake to celebrate my birthday. Yum! They also brought a giftcard to Carrabbas! Double Yum!

I guess that's enough of a September '08 update...

Sick sick sick

Brayden was sick last week and gave his lovely germs to me. I have a nasty head cold that is getting worse and worse. Even Greg has been sick the last couple of days - and Brayden is well! The irony is not lost on me.

It really stinks because we were going to go with Jason and Michelle to the State Fair in Hutchinson tomorrow. We haven't made a for sure decision yet, but it ain't looking good for the home team.

This was a good week overall. One really exciting thing happened with a family member, but we can't yet say anything. Once we get the go ahead, I'll post about it. Otherwise, Greg and I worked very hard. Brayden added two new words to his vocabulary - "done" and "apples". I was videoing him brushing his teeth and caught "done" on video the first time out of his mouth! He said apples last night when eating applesauce for his bedtime snack. Honestly, I think he almost said "applesauce", but he kinda' gave up on the last syllable.

Here's the toothbrushing video:

I worked late tonight and when we got home, we watched "The Incredibles" on Disney. Brayden watched a lot of it with us ~ he even laid in the floor with me on my pillow!

Happy Weekend!

Next week is my sorority reunion in Texas and I can't wait!