Easter 2014

Sorry for the blog absence. I'll try to get back to posting more frequently.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!! Such a great weekend for us celebrating with family and friends the fact that Christ conquered death for us!!! We are so blessed!

Dugger Family Cruise 2014

Well we got back yesterday from our 7 Day Cruise with Royal Caribbean!! This was my 4th cruise and I'm a Royal Caribbean loyalist! I love cruises!!! In fact, I might just do a little blog about cruises this week. But for today, I'll just leave you with some pictures.

Help me Fight Cancer!!

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2014 Man & Woman of the Year Campaign has just kicked off and I am very pleased to be a campaign team member for my dear friend, Samantha Hale.   Being part of this campaign is an opportunity to help patients and their families in the ongoing fight against cancer.  

The money raised will benefit the LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life for blood cancer patients and their families, as well as funding scientists to conduct the necessary research to find a cure. 

Sadly, most of us know someone who has been affected by cancer.  

My husband lost his mother, Laura Harwood, to leukemia in 2006. 

I lost my maternal grandfather, Lawrence Anderson, to leukemia in 2001.  

Also one of my dear friends, Taylor Peterson, is a survivor of Hodgkin’s disease. 

 I have several other family members who have been affected by other types of cancers as well. Research funded by the LLS crosses over and helps all forms of cancer.  The organization has invested over $814 million dollars towards this effort.

This campaign is also about Patton Jones, Jr. and Eva Gandhi – LLS’ 2014 Boy & Girl of the Year.  Patton Jones Jr. was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma in March 2011 at age three. Recognized as one of the fastest growing human tumors, Burkitt’s lymphoma is a non-Hodgkin’s form of lymphoma affecting the patient’s lymphatic system. Now at the age of five, Patton is happy to be in remission! Patton spends his days at school, playing with his friends or hanging out with his younger sister, Hallie. He is a friend of my god-daughter, Addison Hale.

Eva was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September 2012. Soon after her diagnosis, Eva underwent intensive chemotherapy for 4 months.   After enduring excruciating chemotherapy Eva is now eleven years old and in remission!  She completed her last chemotherapy treatment in December of 2012.

The campaign dates are February 20^th to May 2^nd.

Donate online by going to and making your contribution on my donation page http://www.mwoy.org/pages/sctx/austin14/aharwood

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible.

Thank you for joining us in honoring those who have suffered and continue to suffer from blood cancers.

I felt like THAT mom yesterday...

So yesterday Carter and tried out a new class at The Little Gym! We have been doing swim classes since June and I decided it was time to mix things up. (Mostly I was sick of wearing a bathing suit in the winter!) I was so excited to try it out and have Carter get to do something different.

You see, I feel like Carter really is a great boy! We really haven't had HUGE issues with him. Slept good. Ate good. didn't cry much as a baby. sweet. etc But he definitely has started getting a bit more personality and with that comes a bit of an attitude at times and he knows what he wants and will let you know if its not what he wants.

So anyways, we get to The Little Gym and go inside. While we were waiting for the class to start, I let Carter finish his snack and drink some more water that he started with in the car. Well big mistake. He started screaming and such when I went to put it away in his bag so we could get ready to go to class. Not that he was eating or drinking it, but he wanted to hold it. So there he was throwing a tantrum in front of all these moms and their toddlers.

FINALLY, we get over that and go into the gym area. Now the instructor did warn me that some kids have a hard time following the structure of the class at first and just want to explore, but that it was fine and let them do it. Well the first part of the class had all the moms and their kids sitting in a circle and doing little fun things with music and such.  Carter wanted NONE of that, he did not want to sit still with me, he wanted to be up and checking things out on his own. I let him some, but would try to reel him in to do stuff with the class. And of course he would then fuss. When the teacher brought out hula hoops or balls for each kid. Carter would get interested, but then leave his and go and take the other kids. UGH! Now he wasn't screaming or anything, just fussing at me if I tried to keep him from doing what he wanted.

I totally felt like THAT mom yesterday that can't control their kid. The mom that lets their kid do whatever and has no discipline. It was ROUGH. He's never acted like that before. But he was a mess and all over the place. I felt like other moms just looked at me with these wide eyes and judged me and my kid. It sucked. And of course, Carter wasn't the only one whose first class it was, but he was the only one that wouldn't sit down. I'm sure there were some moms that probably understood all kids can do this, at least I hope so.

Now Carter had a ball yesterday, he got to play and run around and explore. A boy's dream. Mom? Not so much fun. But I've decided we will persevere. I figured we should give the class a chance. And if anything, maybe it'll help teach him some structure and learn to follow directions better and such.

So wish us luck!!! :)

Lately Pics- February 2014

Life is just flying by with our family. I look up and wonder where time has gone. Our big guy just keep growing and growing. A few recent pics of us.