well, i'm not pregnant....

...wait! that's right...you had no idea! and pegs, let me just say right off the bat how sorry i am!!!! i KNOW you're disappointed...i think you wanted me to pop out another baby more than john did!!! so, for those of you not in the know, let me start from the beginning. for a couple of months, i've been feeling some classic baby carryin' symptoms: nausea and dizziness when i first stand; bloating and weight gain; etc, etc, etc. well, friday i was laying i bed wondering if there really was something growing inside my belly. i was poking and prodding (yeah...very scientific, i know!) i got to one spot in particular, poked...and vomitted all over. ummm, yeah...no! NOT normal!!! john kept asking me to go to the emergency room but i wanted to wait. i don't know if any of you have ever experienced it before, but i've had gas in my chest and back that has made me think i was in my final hours! so, i just didn't want to rush to the hospital, spend five hours there for the doctor to tell me to take an antacid!! on the other hand, john researched ectopic pregnancy and ruptured appendix on the internet and my symptoms matched both. i was so overwhelmed all i could do was cry. i've been dealing with these symptoms for a few months now and my first thought was of my father. my dad died in 2006 of cancer. his first complaint? a very sore spot in his stomach. so, i told john to sleep on it. i promised that if i didn't feel any relief by yesterday morning that we would go to the hospital.
when i awoke saturday, the pain was actually worse so kea went to my parents and john and i went to the emergency room. now, keanohn is not use to being with anyone but his parents and brothers. he's stayed with my parents once when he was four months old, twice with my mil before he made one and once with my sister when we were painting our living room (THAT was a complete disaster...but that's for another day!) so, john and i were having visions of my parents meeting us at the hospital to dump our demon seed off to us! don't get me wrong: kea is the SWEETEST little one! but, when you dump kids into situations which they are not used to being...it's NOT PRETTY!!! when we arrived at the hospital, i was triaged and stripped (i HATE those gowns!) within about 30 minutes. because my symptoms mimiced a ruptured appendix, i was warned not to sneak anything to eat...really?!?!? i mean, who DOES that? babe, the doctor may have to perform emergency surgery and i know i could choke on my own bile while unconcious if i eat but could you sneak me a lamb chop?!? i had to drink about 32 oz of CHALK before having a cat scan. we waited another couple of hours for the results: i don't have a baby growing inside of me but i do have an ovarian cyst. i'm so grateful to God that i don't have cancer. even though the hospital gave me good drugs, i tried not to take anything last night...and now i'm regretting it! we left the hospital SO late yesterday. i hadn't eaten in over 24 hours (though i'm sure my body was feeding off of its' fat reserve!) and i knew my husband was exhausted from sitting on that little stool for all of that time! if i wasn't hurting so badly right now, i would really get his booty! it felt so good having him by my side throughout all of this, encouraging and humoring me. he was so optimistic, too. he kept telling me, "we're going home tonight!" after he said it for the third time, i looked at it as verification from God that i didn't need emergency surgery. it made me feel great, too that my kid didn't make my parents tie him up and stuff him into the fireplace (NO! they've never done that before but anything's possible if you have the demon seed in your house!) my dad (who has the patience of oscar the GROUCH) said that he was great! he cried for about 5 minutes after john left him. my mom said then it was as if he said, "oh, well! they're gone! let me enjoy these people!" i LOVE it!!!
if any of you have dealt with this condition, let me know. and if any of you want to pray for me...i wouldn't mind that either!

sooo....

....no road trip for us last weekend! jamani actually came home instead to spend time with his girlfrien........brrr................wait! i think i just threw up a little! naw! i'm just joking! i'm actually cool about him having a girlfriend because he's such a cool dude. i really feel that his head is on straight and that he won't mess over or impregnate this girl! so, he came over and beat ahmad up for awhile-obviously that's how they bond! jamani punches ahmad hard enough to cave ahmad's chest in and ahmad screams like a girl! jamani said this is a neccessity since he's 5'9" @ 17 and ahmad is 5'6" @ 13...ahmad will CLEARLY be taller than him so he has to establish that HE'S the man! ummm.....o...k! i'm on john's computer and of COURSE all of my pictures are on MY computer so you've missed out on the yumminess which is jamani this time!

my friend emanuel was in town and he and his wife brought there little boy over. now, emanuel and i have been friends since i was pregnant with ahmad, which is a little over 14 years. when i was a single mom, he was really good with jamani and ahmad, giving them advice and manly support whenever they needed it. so, i always ASSumed that when he had kids i could establish a relationship with them too. the first time i met his baby (in march) he just kinda stared at me like i was an alien. cool...he was 5 months old...i felt that it would get better. when he visited a few months ago he did let me hold him...for about SIX MINUTES!!!! then, he pushed me away and spent the next hour in john's arms. what the h$%&?!!? i'm a MOMMY!!!! i have BREASTS!!!! he was supposed to put his head on my bosom and be lulled by my motherly heartbeat! so, when they visited for labor day, i fully expected the brush off. but, i was pleasantly surprised: he actually stayed with me for about TWENTY minutes before dumping me for john! by the time he's 10, maybe he'll stay with me!!!! i took about a gazillion pix of him, though, because he's gorgeous!!! i DID get one layout done of his pix so far:

this is for our album...i'll make one for his parents....SOMEDAY!!!
please keep my little sister, taj, in your prayers.
her great grandmother (who raised her) just died. she's having a pretty hard time right now, dealing with the same issues i JUST dealt with a few months ago: she never got to say goodbye. just continue praying for her heart to mend!

he...

...called me two days ago. i told him that his car is finally ready. (we got him a car for graduation but it needed some work. hubbs finally found time in his busy schedule-he has like 15 projects going on at the same time-to get it road ready). i asked about how his academic schedule is going. he said, ma, everything is fine. BUT...we don't have any food! i just about lost my mind! the school didn't get his dorm assignment straight so he's blessed to be a freshman in his own apartment. he's also blessed to have a cousin who attends the same school as a junior so they're rooming together. don't worry! my sister lives about 10 miles from the school and he's actually only about 80 miles from home, so we're keeping a close eye on that booty (ummm, LITERALLY!!!!) but, i said all of that to say this: we can't have our kid up there starving! i feel so blessed to have raised a young black male who will be 18 in a few weeks and who has never been disrespectful (well, other than that one time! and after i threatened to send him to meet Jesus...he hasn't slipped since!); he's never been to jail; he doesn't have any kids. i'm so proud of the fact that he's staying on course and i want to do everything i can to encourage him to CONTINUE on the right track. sooo, ROAD TRIP!!! i'm cooking a huge pot of red beans and smoked sausage as i type-actually TWO pots: one for jamani and tristan and one for US to eat next week. we're giving the boys a few things: corn; string beans; vienna sausages; pasta roni; chili; wieners; salt; pepper; grape jelly; rice; and we have to make a trip to the grocery store tomorrow before we go for a few packs of chicken and smoked sausage (they eat a LOT of smoked sausage!) i hope those two know how blessed they are to be in college and in a situation where they don't have to work. jamani's grandmother and father are paying his portion of the rent; john and i bought the car; and EVERYBODY is feeding them! my sister i mentioned earlier? she made them a HUGE pan of lasagna. i guess she thought that would tide them over for a few days...ummm, jamani said it lasted ONE day!!!! hopefully the beans will fare a little better! of COURSE i'll have my camera with me because we may just take the two of them to the buffet for dinner before we leave baton rouge to give the beans a fighting chance for another day! and if my baby continues doing well in school i'll keep you all posted. if you EVER see a post where i say, "oh, jamani? i SPIT on him!"....well, you know he's not doing the right thing! but, we're praying that never happens!

in 3...2...

1! i'm the guest designer for Coordinates Collections for the month of september and my stuff goes live today! The kit, called Beach Bum, was perfect for me to scrap those gazillion pix we took at Disney last month. i didn't want to do the traditional disney red, black and yellow but i still wanted a summery feel to the pages. you can go here to read my bio and to see all the work i kreated with the kit but in the meantime, let me show you a few:

don't forget to check out coordinates collections to see the other five projects i kreated and also to see what the design team came up with!