What are the chances?

Last night Ben and I watched a 20/20 from Friday night about homeless teenagers in the US.  Did you know 2 million teenagers are homeless?  How sad is that fact?  The show broke my heart to see children who were either abandoned by their parents OR felt safer leaving their parents home to live on the streets.

At the end of the episode, Barbara Walters gave viewers a glimpse of next Friday's episode titled "What Saved Barbara Walters Life."  I am a Barbara Walters fan and for those of you who do not know, she underwent open heart surgery 6 or so months ago and it literally saved her life. 

After my mom died unexpectedly from heart disease last May, it's amazing how much I try and take care of my body now.  The things I never knew about heart attacks in women and how they manifest...I now watch what I eat, exercise frequently and get a much sleep as possible (easier said than done with a 7 1/2 month old!). 

I was stunned when the preview started then I started to cry...what are the chances that something like this would come on?  Heart disease, heart attacks, open heart surgery...they all "hit home" now especially since my mom could still be here if she had paid attention to the warning signs.

My mother is no longer here on this earth and I feel as if this preview came on last night for a reason.  For those of you out there reading this please do me a favor and tune into Barbara's special on ABC Friday night.  As hard as it will be, I will watch.  As Barbara says, "it could save yourself or a loved one...it's no big deal... just a matter of life and death." 

For a preview, click here.

Love,
Carmen

School Picture Day!

Allie's school picture day was today and my good friend Dana (her son is in the same class - he's the cutie to the right of AP) took video and a picture on her phone and sent them to me...so fun to get a surprise like this when I'm home by myself working! 

Back row left to right:  Ms. Crystal, Gianna, Brady, Lauraelis & Locke

Front row left to right:  Audrey, Cade, Allie, Evan & Ms. Annie

Late afternoon photo shoot

Since dad gave me the new camera for Christmas I've really been trying to take new pictures of Allie weekly.  Some weeks are better (or easier) than others BUT I have to travel tomorrow through Thursday night so I thought I would attempt this afternoon.  You can tell Allie was NOT into the camera today.  

Mother of the Year...

Notice the fall...LOL. Glad I have a tough kid!

Panda Class

I am making a 2011 calendar through Shutterfly for Allie's class so I took pictures of the babies last week.  Are her classmates precious or what?

I eat my words...

So all of November and December I RANTED and RAVED at how awesome Allie slept at night.  She would go down at 7:30 pm and not wake up until 7:30 or 8 am. 

WELL...I think we are back to newborn status.  During the Christmas holidays Allie got sick while we were in Marshall and things have not been the same since.  The first week in January I had to travel to Tampa to our home office and Ben was in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl.  Allie stayed in Marshall with Pammy and G Rob and Meme and Pepaw (my grandparents).  Not only was she out of her "normal" environment, but mom and dad were gone (6 nights for me - TEAR!) and she had a cold.  The story of our lives.

Since Christmas she goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up between 12:30 am and 3 am.  We put her in bed with us then between 5:30 am and 6 am she's ready to EAT.  She hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night to eat since she was like 12 weeks old.  What's up with my child?

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Will she ever get "back to normal"...or is this "normal?"  :/

New Camera!

So I've been lobbying for a new camera for a couple months now...to dad and Ben...but mainly Ben.

WELL...I got two...one from each of them, for Christmas!  Both got me a Canon EOS Rebel which is an unbelievable camera.  I kept daddy's and took Ben's back and purchased a "family" iPad for the Ross clan. 

Of course I had to test drive the new camera...