Boo-Boo Bed

Jordan loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Absolutely loves it. Except, when he refers to Thomas, he calls him "Boo-Boo," which we're pretty sure is Jordan-speak for "Choo-choo." So, when it came time to move Jordan to a toddler bed, we had an easy selection to do for it.

The crib Jordan has used these last 21 months converts into a toddler bed, so we did that in about half an hour this morning. We added the Thomas sheets, and voila, Jordan's first "big boy" bed.

Here are the pictures of the bed. We'll try to get some pictures of him in the bed and post them here.

100th Post

Well, it took almost 3 years, but we've hit the 100th posts for TheHayhursts.com.

What's the latest? Not just a whole lot, actually. I just got back from the annual International Conference of the Public Relations Society of America in Philadelphia. More than 4,000 public relations professionals worldwide networked and learned best practices from industry leaders. It was a great time.

While in Philadelphia, I did make it (after hours) to Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin's grave and the Liberty Bell. Since it was after hours, I didn't get a chance to tour inside the buildings or past the gate of the cemetery, but was able to see the exterior. Some pictures:

And baby makes four

It's official: Jordan's going to be a big brother. Dondi is due June 10, 2008. We went to the doctor's office on Thursday morning and got to see the heartbeat. (And it does appear there is just one heartbeat!).

According to the experts at BabyCenter.com, Jordan's little brother or sister has an oversized head, and dark spots on its head where the eyes and ears will be.

We're pretty excited, as you can expect. And, we'll keep everyone up-to-date with doctor's appointments, sonograms, etc., via the blog.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

Friday was Jordan's first trip to the Great State Fair of Texas
in Dallas. Jordan seemed to have a good time, though he was definitely ready to go at the end of the day. While we were watching the US Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps play, Jordan asked to be put in his stroller, and then said, "Bye, bye."

So, we were done.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa (who also chose Oct. 5 to go) and ate lunch (yep, corn dogs were required fare at the fair). We visited the Children's Medical Center petting zoo, visited the food exhibit (lots of delicious native Texan food), then (Dad's favorite), the auto show.

At the petting zoo, we bought food for Jordan to feed the animals with. What was funny to watch was Jordan getting real brave to feed the animals, right up until they came up to him then he jumped back, laughed because he scared himself, but then kept his hands well on his side of the fence. Too fun.

Here are some pics from the day:














(Yeah, we saw the OU trailer and truck, too, but, really, who cares?)















Jordan was convinced every animal he saw: goats, kangaroos, pigs, emus; were all cows.














Hey! This goat is eating my food!














Wow, you're kinda tall.














The rest of the Longhorn 18-wheeler. The OU one was around there somewhere.

Terrible Two's

It's official: we have a two-year old.

Jordan crossed the magic point a week ago, and we celebrated on Saturday with a Blue's Clues-themed party at our house. Dondi decorated the backyard with images of Blue characters, Tickety, Sidetable Drawer, Magenta and Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper.

Jordan had a ton of fun. We had five kids ranging from 2 to 5 in our backyard (thankfully, the weather was gorgeous), plus lots of adults.

Here are some pictures from Jordan's second birthday. Enjoy!

The Wiggles!

Jordan attended his first concert today at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. The Racing to the Rainbow Tour by The Wiggles was very well done, and Nokia is a perfect venue for their show.

Grandpa and Grandma got tickets for us all to go: Jordan, Dad, Mom and Aunt Cristina. Grandma and Grandpa graciously got to the theatre early to pick up our tickets from Will Call. We arrived about 30 minutes before the concert started and took our seats on the Southwest Airlines Flight Deck row. We had a great view of the stage, and sound quality was great. Jordan, who had been sick earlier in the day, started running a really low grade fever during the concert, so didn't jump and dance and sing with the Wiggles, but he did have a smile on his face most of the concert, and seemed to love every minute of it. It was really funny to see him realize the images on the giant video screens flanking the stage was really happening right in front of him on the stage!

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for the awesome tickets and the great fun tonight!

Galveston

We made a trip to Galveston again this year for a short getaway. Thanks again to Grammie D for organizing everything for us. It was a blast!

This year's forecast called for rain the entire time we were in Galveston, but fortunately, it didn't turn out to be that bad, so we were able to get plenty of beach and pool time. We ate lots of good seafood, rode the Galveston Island-Bolivar Peninsula ferry; we went to Moody Gardens for both the rainforest pyramid and the aquarium. All and all it was a great time, like last year.

Rather than a blow-by-blow account of this year, we thought we'd let the pictures tell the story...















Jordan has his first experience touching a starfish at the Moody Gardens aquairium.





















Jordan took very literally the call to "follow me" on the floor of the aquarium.
















More than a million gallons of saltwater. Thousands of species of plantlife and fish. Jordan found every bench in the place more interesting.
















Jordan imitated a wooly mammoth with straws at dinner at Casey's in Galveston. (He did this all on his own, with no prompting from any of us!).





















Jordan was mezmerized by the blue macaws on display.

We're back in Texas (and not a moment too soon)

Jordan poses in front of the Texas welcome center on I-35 near Gainesville this afternoon.

We made a trip to see Dondi's grandmother in Oklahoma this weekend, and had a pretty good (yet wet) time there.

We (Dondi, Jordan, Grammie D and me) packed up the Camry and headed to Oklahoma Friday morning. There was some bad weather in Oklahoma and North Texas on Friday, but we managed to miss most of it, though it rained a few times. Getting out of Fort Worth (traffic) and then getting out of Texas (bad accident at the Red River) made the trip take a lot longer than normal (7 hours on the drive up).

Going to Grandma's is a bit of fun: you turn off a two-lane state highway onto a gravel road, follow that a mile and half or so, and then drive down a dirt driveway, through a creek bottom and then to the house. The only problem this time is that is has rained a lot in Oklahoma (as here in North Texas) in June and July, so the gravel road was muddy, and the creek (usually dry) was flowing. So, we got to see Dad's driving skills in the muck and mud. Not bad, if I do say so myself. You can see how the front of the car looks below:















Saturday was a fun day. Uncle Charlie came out and grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links. The food was good, and a lot of fun was had by all.

Sunday we packed up and left. We also got to experience first-hand Oklahoma's record-high gas prices. The latest reason excuse the oil companies are giving for the prices is a flooded refinery, but you'll have to pardon my skepticism. :-)

What we paid today at Love's in Guthrie:















I wouldn't call it price gouging. I'd just call it, um, well, yeah, I'd call it price gouging. We paid $2.759 a gallon when we got home tonight.

It was a pretty uneventful trip home. Lunch in Moore, and a couple of stops along the way. Jordan was quite happy to see Chloe, and be sleeping again in his own bed.

And, the week starts again, tomorrow morning!

Some more pics from the trip:

Trying video

I finally got around to starting to learn about You Tube this weekend, meaning I am perhaps the last person in North America (under the age of 40) to do so.

This video below (if I do this right) was shot last June 25 in Galveston.



Edit: it works! If you can't see the You Tube player above, it's most likely because your security settings prohibit it. Sorry, can't help you there. :-)

Happy 4th of July

Greetings!

This year's fourth of July followed pretty much the same pattern as last year's, with a couple of exceptions.

We started the 4th's festivities at the Light Up the Lake event Tuesday night. Grampy, Grammie D., Aunt Deona and Monica all joined us. The party was a combination community-wide 4th of July celebration (with about a dozen boats decorated with lights and fireworks) and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Lake Arlington. I'm told if I can't say anything nice about something, just don't say anything at all. But, I will say that someone at the event did mention this was poorly done, and I didn't disagree with him at all.

So, once that was over, we got home late. Jordan didn't go to bed until well after 10 p.m. At 7 a.m., we all got up and headed to downtown Arlington to watch the 4th of July parade with Grandma and Grandpa. Jordan wasn't interested in much of anything (other than running up and down West Street), so we left after less than an hour. We did get to enjoy the bands from Lamar, Juan Seguin and Arlington high schools, though, and all were excellent. Maybe one year, we'll get to hear all six high school bands. Arlington can't throw much of a lake party, but they can and do throw an excellent parade.

After the parade, we went and got cleaned up. Lunch was at Mimi's apartment complex, where we had hot dogs, sausage, potato salad, pasta salad, cakes and pies, and some other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten. It was all excellent.

Wednesday afternoon, we capped off the day at Aunt Deona's house with some swimming. Jordan did not enjoy that at all! Which, he'll have to get over; swim lessons started this week.

Thursday, I've taken the day off from work to go with Dondi to see the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. We're looking forward to that.

All and all, it was a good 4th, if for no other reason than it didn't rain for the first time in 40 days or 40 nights. :-)

First baseball game

Jordan got his first taste of Texas Rangers baseball last night. In other words, the Rangers lost. (If you're going to be a Rangers fan, losing is part of the package deal).

BTW, if Ron Washington and Jon Daniels both aren't looking for new jobs by the All-Star break, then a certain owner clearly isn't interested in fielding a winning game. But I digress.

Dondi is busy studying for the audit portion of the CPA exam (Tuesday morning in Waco), so Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cristina and I went to watch the Rangers take on (and by "take on," I mean get their brains beat out by) the Boston Red Sox.

Earlier Saturday was a busy day (full of rain), and unfortunately, we couldn't get Jordan to take his nap. As Dondi, Jordan and I drove over to the game, Jordan dozed off. We met Aunt Cristina, Grandma and Grandpa in a parking lot near the Ballpark, and Jordan stayed asleep. We walked the few hundred yards to the Rawlings All-American Grille for dinner. The restaurant sits above right field at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Jordan slept all through dinner. He woke up just as we paid the bill (and boy, was he unhappy about being awake).

I walked Dondi back to the car so she could head back to study some more, and then returned to the park. I stopped by and bought Jordan a hot dog and juice box. He gobbled the hot dog down and drank the juice quickly, and wanted more, so Grandpa went and bought another hot dog and juice box. Jordan ate another half of a hot dog and drank most of the second juice box.

Jordan spent most of the game running around a picnic area behind section 139 (we were seated in section 39). He had a blast, and cheered whenever the crowd did (it was hard to tell whether the Rangers or the Red Sox had more fans there, so Jordan cheered with both teams).

Jordan was tuckered out, so we left in the top of the 7th inning, just as it started raining again. Jordan was home by 9, and fast asleep by 10 p.m. He had a blast. Thanks to Grandma for the tickets!

Final score Saturday night was 7-4 in favor of Beantown. After the game, Boston was 33-15, atop the American League East; Texas was 18-31, and is 12 games out in last place in the AL West.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today wrapped up a fun Mother's Day weekend of activities....

* Friday, Grandma and Grandpa watched Jordan before and after Mother's Day Out. After Mom and Dad came home from work, they, with Jordan, headed to Rosa's Cafe in Hurst to meet Jay, Kelly and Brittany for dinner. Then, we headed home and Jordan went to sleep.

* Saturday morning, Grampy and Grammie D. came by the house and took Jordan to their house for the day. Mom went and ran some errands, and Dad stayed while the exterminator made the annual trek to Kill. Bugs. Dead. Or something like that. Saturday afternoon, Dad and Grandpa did some Mother's Day shopping.

* Saturday evening, we gathered with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina at Saltgrass Steak House in South Arlington for Mother's Day dinner. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for gifts for Grandma, and Jordan watched Blue's Clues.

* Sunday morning, we decided to be heathens and skipped church (again). Dad picked up kolaches and sausage rolls for breakfast and we hung out at home. Jordan got Mom a handmade card he made at school, as well as a gift certificate for a massage at Shelton's Salon & Day Spa. Mom was thrilled with both.

* Sunday lunch, we met with Grampy and Grammie D. at Mimi's apartment complex. They had a fun program with a ton of delicious food: your choice of salads, choice of salmon or grilled ham, asaparagus, potatoes and lemon pie. It was delicious. We also gave Grammie D and Mimi their Mother's Day gifts.

* Sunday evening is now all about laundry and getting ready to work for the week. Should be a ton of work. Over the next few weeks, posting will be sporadic (as if it isn't already). Dondi will take the first part of her CPA exam on Tuesday, May 29. Roy will be traveling to a convention in San Antonio in June (it includes a weekend down there, so Dondi will be joining him down there for the weekend, and a chance to see Dusty and Kim). All three of us will make a trip to Oklahoma in June, as well, followed by the 4th of July at home, and finally, a trip to Galveston in late July. So, if the posts seem more infrequent than usual, well, now you know why. :-)

By popular demand

Getting one's picture taken in the bluebonnets is an annual ritual in Texas. Our state flower only blooms for about three weeks in the spring, so it's a special treat.

We thought Jordan would enjoy the experience. Turns out, we were wrong.

Dondi's Knee Surgery and Some Easter Photos

Dondi's surgery was this morning at Surgery Center of Arlington. Our morning started with the alarm going off at 4:45 a.m. We had to drop some projects off at Dondi's office before we could head to the surgery center, so we left the house close to 5:30 a.m., swung by her office, then over to the surgery center.

We arrived there at 6 a.m. and signed in. A little after 6:30, Dondi was called in to get prepped, then I was allowed to the pre-op area about 7 a.m. One of our favorite ministers from church stopped by and prayed with us just before Dondi went to surgery. While Dondi went under the knife, our minister and I went to breakfast.

Dondi was out of surgery by about 9:30, and the doctor told Grammie D and me everything went perfectly. It's going to take about six weeks before she is able to resume most of her activities, but a total of six months before she's back to normal. She'll be able to go back to work in two-three weeks and able to carry Jordan again in six weeks.

So, other than that, not much to report.

Here are some pictures of Jordan from the Jordan family Easter get-together at Aunt Deona's new house:

Texas Weather

It's the week of Easter in North Texas, so let's all review the week's weather:

* Monday afternoon, it was warm, sunny and about 86 degrees.
* Tuesday afternoon, the weather turned severe, including a small tornado touchdown up the road in Dalworthington Gardens.
* Saturday, we had snow flurries, and temperatures in the 30s.
* Tonight's forecast from the nice people at the National Weather Service calls for a 50% shot at more snow, and a low near 32. Easter Sunday calls for a 20% of snow/rain, and a high of 49. We're under a freeze warning overnight.

So, it should be interesting to see how people dress for church on Easter Sunday. :-)

I'll post about our week, including mine, Grandma's and Aunt Cristina's birthdays, Jordan's first Easter egg hunts and the Jordan family Easter get-together Saturday night at Aunt Deona's new house soon. Hopefully, it'll be warmer by then!

Dondi's Knee Surgery

Dondi's knee surgery is set for next Thursday, April 12. Your prayers are appreciated.

If you're interested in the type of surgery she's having (including a link to a 3-D animation of the surgery), click here.

San Antonio

Dondi and I are back from a whirlwind trip to San Antonio for Kim and Dusty's wedding. The weekend almost didn't happen.

Wednesday afternoon, Jordan started throwing up. We took him to the Cook Children's Medical Center Urgent Care facility in Hurst where he was seen by a doctor pretty quickly. She said a stomach bug was going around, and he was its latest victim. Poor guy couldn't keep Pedialyte down or anything. Over the course of Thursday, Jordan got much better, and by Friday morning Dondi was able to head down to San Antonio with Julie, Gina and Kristie. Dondi was one of the bridesmaids. Me, I was just along for the ride. I waited a little later in the day with Grandma and Grandpa, then dropped Jordan (who by then was fine) off at Grampy and Grammie's house for the weekend, and headed south to San Antonio.

I hit Austin during rush hour. In case you're wondering, I know why Austin is growing. It's because people, on their way between DFW and South Texas just give up during rush hour, and figure, "what the heck? I'm never getting out of this traffic jam, I think I'll just start a new life over here." And it keeps growing. But, back to my story. Early Sunday morning, the traffic cleared....

Just kidding. Sort of.

I made it to our hotel in Schertz, Texas, just northeast of San Antonio about 8 p.m., and then joined the wedding party at the County Line barbeque restaurant (excellent brisket and ribs) on the west side of San Antonio. Dondi and I left there about 10 p.m. and headed to the Schertz Wal-Mart (every trip we go on requires a stop at a local Wal-Mart) for some last-minute craft supplies and a couple other necessities.

Saturday was the wedding day. Dondi went with Kim, Gina, Kristie and both Julies to the spa for the day. I went downtown. First stop was the Rivercenter IMAX to see The Alamo: the Price of Freedom, a fantastic IMAX production on the battle of the Alamo. Then, I walked down the river to eat at a County Line barbeque place there. Finally, it was back to the car for a drive by the Alamo before heading back north to the Natural Bridge Caverns near Schertz. Formed over the last several million years, these caverns have an amazing amount of beauty.

Saturday evening was the wedding at the First Baptist Church in Universal City. It was a beautiful worship center, and a great wedding. Kim and Dusty's pastor seemed to know them well enough to tell some good stories and really provided a great message with the service.

Afterwards, we hit the reception at Granberry Hills, which was beautiful. The food was outstanding, and the DJ did a great job. Dondi even got me out on the floor for one dance. Thankfully, there are no pictures of that. :-)

Here are the pictures:















From left to right: Julie Harris, Julie Von Hollen, Dondi, Kim (Smith) Graves, Dusty Graves, Gina Scurlock, Kristie Seward and Holly Torres.



















Dondi and me at Granberry Hills.

Sunday morning, we sprang forward (thanks a lot for that, Congress), Dondi and I headed north. We stopped in San Marcos at the two outlet malls. We were there for 30 minutes and spent well over $100. I'm glad we weren't there for an hour! But, it was all for Jordan. And, he made out pretty good: two polo-style shirts, two pairs of sunglasses, a baseball cap and two short outfits from The Children's Place outlet, a swimsuit, two pairs of jeans and a camp-style shirt from Oshkosh outlet and two pairs of shoes from the Stride Rite outlet.

We finally made it home about 4 p.m. (yep, we hit a traffic jam coming through Austin on the way home). Jordan was thrilled to see us, and we him. Now, it's back to work tomorrow.

Bright and early!

Some recent Jordan pictures

Grampy got these shots one nice afternoon last week. Jordan loves the doggy door at Grampy and Grammie's house.

Dondi's knee

{From Dondi}

Roy and I saw the orthopedic doctor this morning. My MRI shows that I have torn the left cartilage, torn the middle ligament and cracked the right cartilage of the right knee. So the doctor recommends knee surgery. The facts we know so far:

• It is a day surgery
• I will be in pain (and on pain killers) and basically out of commission for two days at home.
• After the first couple of days, I will be doing physical therapy and on crutches for 3-6 weeks, depending on healing
• I can't drive for at least three weeks, and can't go to work for at least two, but maybe three, weeks. (I can work from home with my laptop, he said).
• He also mentioned it would be six months of complete recovery time.
  

President's Day Weekend

Hello! I'm trying to get better about blogging, so, here is a short update:

* Saturday night, Dondi and I went to the new Studio Movie Grill in the Arlington Highlands. We saw Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I normally don't like either of them, but this was a pretty good movie. We also thoroughly enjoyed the new theater, and are looking forward to the rest of the Highlands opening up this spring. It should be a fun place to shop, eat and just take in the afternoon.

* Monday was an eventful day. Dondi had to work, but our offices were closed for the holiday, so Grandma joined Jordan and me for a trip to his doctor. He's had this cough for weeks, if not months, that won't go away. The doctor agreed with Dondi and me (who needs medical school?!) and agreed Jordan should get an allergy test. So Aunt Cristina and I took him to get blood drawn for an allergy test. It took Aunt Cristina and me to hold him down and two technicians (who obviously didn't care for children) to draw blood. We should have results as to what he is (or isn't) allergic to.

Monday night Dondi had the MRI on her knee. We see the doctor again on Friday to learn the results and hear his recommendation on what to do next.

* Tuesday was back to work for me and back to school for Jordan.