Happy 3 Years, Babe!

Three years ago, on Labor Day Weekend, Michael and I got married. I can not even begin to tell you how he has made me so happy and how he has improved my life. He brings so much love and support to me daily. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together!

Last night, we were able to celebrate. We had steak dinners and walked the park where he proposed. They have added nice touches with fountains and benches there. We ended the night talking at a coffee shop.

Over dinner, we went over highlights of the last few years. It was so sweet to remember all of those times we have shared.

I believe special relationships like ours carry a certain energy. This energy is easy and very powerful. It makes you joyful, gives you strength, and wraps you with love. I am glad I have this marriage as an example of Christ's love for us.

A Day NOT at School

Today was the first day of school for so many kids and teachers out there. There is a saying that the two best days of school are the first day and the last day. No truer words have ever been said.

Audrey woke me up at 6:30 this morning. This is earlier than usual, so I wasn't a happy momma. I brought her in to our room and we played for a little while. I finally let her eat breakfast. As per routine, I open up the blinds in the window across the dining room table that looks onto our yard and the elementary school across the street. I typically enjoy watching those dedicated morning joggers and the hustle and bustle of people scurrying off to work. Today, I got to enjoy watching entire families walking to school, anxious about the year ahead of them.

What struck me was this. These kids with backpacks looked soooo young! I am used to thinking 6th graders were the small kids at school. I watched 4 and 5 year olds bounce down the sidewalk and cross the street with the sweet, old, crossing-guard lady. Then I would put a spoonful of baby food into Audrey's mouth. These last 8 months have flown by and I know that I will blink and find myself taking Audrey's first day of school picture in front of our beautiful tree in the front yard.

I did not contemplate too long that this is the first August in 24 (?) years that I was not in a classroom. I did not go over the excitement of meeting the 130-160 students that will be your responsibility everyday for the next 180 days. I didn't really relish the freedom that I now have. What I did was come very close to shedding a tear for how quickly my little girl will grow up. And, btw, Becky, your blog and video did not help things! :) So, say a prayer for your children -that you will cherish each moment and raise them so that they are confident and ready for their first day of school.

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On a side note - Did anyone see what happened to me at church Sunday? We feed Audrey those star puffs during church to keep her as quiet as possible. These puffs become a nasty, soggy mess once they touch her mouth. Since Audrey insists on being the one to put the puffs in her mouth, sometimes they get in and come back out. This can create quite a mess. I was so proud of her yesterday. I didn't see a single puff fall from her mouth and her hands were staying pretty clean. What I didn't see was that a puff had fallen and was hiding behind a bow on her dress. She was sitting in Michael's lap, facing us. She looks down, sees the puff, and proceeds to THUMP the puff off of her dress. I see this random object shoot across the air. The soggy, gross, and apparently very sticky puff strikes me in the neck and stays! It was like I was in a movie, sitting in the forest, minding my own business, when a native shoots me with a poisoness dart in the neck! I peeled the puff off of my neck and made Audrey eat it. Michael and I were trying to suppress our giggling, since this happened at a very inopportune time. Isn't that always the case at church? Can you imagine if it had hit someone else on our pew? How embarrassing!

The Last Gummy Smile

I snapped this last night after Audrey took a bath. Today, she has a tooth. Looks like its neighbor is coming in too. I'll admit, I'm a little sad. I'm also scared about nursing. Can you say "Ouch!"?

8 Months Old

Today marks 8 months with this little munchkin. It has been so fun watching her develop a personality!

Audrey has decided that she no longer wants a pacifier! One day she wouldn't take one and hasn't looked back since. I need to find all of them and hide them so that she doesn't find a random pacifier one day and pick up on her old habit.

I'm pretty sure that the no pacifier has hurt Audrey's sleeping. There's no telling what to expect from her when it comes to sleeping. I really miss just plopping a paci back into her mouth to settle her. We'll be through with this one day.

Also, she is all over the map when it comes to how well she eats. There have been several times she has gone to bed with just a bite of food for dinner and her other meals weren't great either. The past couple of days have been a completely different story. I had to go to the pantry 3 times to get her more food last night. It has continued into today. I guess she knows when she needs more food.

Audrey is also repeating the sound "ba." She cold totally join the Beach Boys and sing Barbara Ann with them.

Catching Up

It has been a long time since I blogged about life. This post will mainly be about Audrey. Today is Audrey's 8 month birthday, so I will snap some pictures when she wakes up from her nap and post again.

Below is a picture of Audrey and her new friend, Levi. Levi's momma was a great friend of mine in high school. This friend, Jennifer, is so brave. Her husband is on his second deployment to Iraq. It will be over a year before she and Levi will see him again. Can you imagine? Take a moment to say a prayer for all of our soldiers. Levi is two weeks younger than Audrey and is all smiles. He even cuddled with me! That's huge to me because Audrey is an anti-cuddler.

The next two pictures are of Audrey eating breakfast in the mornings. Her hair and messy mouth always make me want to snap some pictures. What am I going to do with this kid's hair?

Like mother, like daughter. Audrey is watching the Olympics. She's a big fan of Nastia and Phelps. She's likes to kick back a lot these days. BTW, anyone else dealing with Olympic fatigue?
This video below makes me laugh. I honestly don't know if you'll find it funny or not. It's the very end that gets me. It leaves the viewer guessing. No babies were harmed in the making of this film.

Public School Crisis

As a former public school teacher, I have seen some pretty sad things. Today, I have been blown away by what I have read in the news.

Harrold ISD, north of Ft. Worth and just south of Oklahoma, is allowing its teachers to carry guns. Their reasoning is that they are far from police and just off a freeway. They would need to protect themselves if something were to happen.

It is sad that we have to think about protecting ourselves, even out in the country. This isn't a school in the rough inner-city, where you might assume you need protection.

Even at my own school last year, a student pulled a knife on our principal. Imagine if that had been a loaded gun instead.

I can't decide if I'm okay with this new policy or not. We do need protection. It's just sad that we do need protection in the places we send our children.

Another thing that I read was about Dallas ISD. Have you heard about this? The new grading policy is to allow late work. Students always have the option to retake a test and they are to receive the higher grade. If homework grades are bringing down their average, those grades don't count. The lowest grade a student can receive as an average is a 50.

As a teacher, I've done some of these things at one time or another. It was a decision that was made after evaluating the situation. The students never assumed that it would happen. I always took late papers, but points were deducted. If a student retook a test (during tutorials before school), I would average out the two grades. I never just took away homework grades! I've had to (due to district policy) give a student a 50 on a report card when it should have been a zero.

I felt bad every time I did these things. I felt that I was becoming part of the problem. But the thing is, I had to have at least some students pass my class. The ultimate goal was for learning to take place. If learning didn't happen by the first test, than hopefully by the retake, that student would learn at least one thing.

Isn't that sad? I understand to some degree why DISD is doing this. Now that it is a policy, the students will never do anything right the first time around. What are we teaching them? Will they expect all of these second chances in college (if they get there) or at work? Will they expect that if something is hurting them, that it will simply be taken away?

This, my friends, is what I think is the most crucial issue. I don't think a president can do something to fix the horrific system that is public education, but something MUST be done. This country will be so different in a few years if we allow all of this to happen. Maybe I will pack up my family and head to Canada.

Hold on to Your Hats!

Life's been busy and I've not been blogging. Shall we catch up?

Two precious people have been waiting to give birth to baby girls during this month. I really thought my sister-in-law, Emily would have her baby before July 4th. I was sooo wrong.

Let's begin with Thursday. Happy Birthday to my father-in-law, David! On this day, my brother, Brett's, family came in from San Antonio. My parents will be keeping their boys while they vacation. Also, my Uncle Joe's family came into town. My parents hosted my grandmother, Aunt Sasa and Uncle Ralph, Uncle Joe, Laura, and twin boys Mike and Jack, Brett and Jenny, Zach and Ethan, Blake and Jaime, Maddie and Macie, and Audrey and me. That's seven kids ages 5 and under. Fun fun!



Saturday, Michael's sister, Melissa surprised everyone when she, Matthew, and Meredith came into town. We had dinner and fun with the Halls, Burrows, and Averys! Emily still hasn't had her baby yet!


Sunday. Happy 36th Anniversary to my parents! WooHoo! Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Janie! We had Sunday lunch over at the Halls and waited to see if Emily would go into labor. Nope. We went home and I took my Sunday afternoon nap. While getting ready after my nap, we got this video of Audrey.




Monday, I went out to visit Zachary and Ethan again. Zach's birthday is soon, so I took him shopping! He is definitely Brett's kid. He wanted something from the dollar area at Target. I convinced him to look in the toy section for something better. He looked over everything and chose something on clearance! What a great kid to shop for!
While visiting these boys, I find out that Lori, my college roomie, has had her baby! Sophia Grace arrived at 1:10, weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz. Everything went well! YAY! I'm sure big sister, Faith, is thrilled!


On my way out of Rockwall, I get a call from Emily. She has seen her doctor again today, and she's at a 7/8. Are you kidding! You're still holding in this baby!!! She went home and would go back later Monday night to have the baby. Molly Christine came into the world weighing 7 lbs, 6 oz.

Memories and Fun

Got this from Lori and Dee Dee. Play if you would like!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot-- or just from blogland-- anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

7 Quick Months

Little Miss Audrey is 7 months today! I simply can not believe it! She has changed so much in the last two weeks - it is stunning!

For the most part, Audrey has become a happy person!!! I've been waiting for the day that I could say that! A couple of Sundays ago, we had lunch with Michael's family and the topic of her "contentness" kept coming up. They simply couldn't believe what they were seeing. (I couldn't either, really.)

She has left rolling behind in the dust. You can almost hear her say that rolling is for babies. She is almost crawling. She sure has figured out how to pull herself around. Each half day, I see improvements. She's better at night than she was that morning. The next morning, she'll be better than she was the night before. And she gets so excited about going anywhere in the room she wants! She kinda sounds like a panting dog - it's funny. The video below was taken a few days ago, so she has improved on her crawling skills.

Audrey typically goes to bed 7 or 7:30 and won't stir until 5. That's still an hour earlier than what the doctor said she should be able to do, but I'm not going to fight it. She goes right back to sleep after I nurse her. If she were a chubbier baby, I might let the feeding opportunity pass.

She LOVES running around the house with her daddy. She kicks her legs as they do this. I think she believes she's running on her own. I've noticed that when she hears the garage door go up that she gets excited and looks around for Michael to come in. So cute!

Audrey is still doing well on the baby food. Looks like the Apple and Blueberry Mix is boring her. I just keep buying it because it looks sooo good! I think her favorite is Plum-Banana-Brown Rice Mix. It looks like we lucked out on not being allergic to bananas. That's a pretty big allergy on Michael's side of the family. Whew!

Lori's Baby Shower!

My college roommate for four years, Lori, had a baby shower on Sunday. She is expecting her second daughter, Sophia, in just a few short weeks.

Lori and I were inseparable for most of our collegiate life. We didn't really know each other before rooming. She lived in Austin, and I lived in Dallas. My sister-in-law, Jenny, had a friend at ACU that tried to put another girl and me together. When I finally got around to calling that girl (I was sooooo shy that I couldn't bring myself to call her), she had found a roomie and set me up with her friend, Lori. That was God working, let me tell you!

Lori and I got along so well! We were both education majors, so we tried to have every class together. She made a great study partner! She had a boyfriend freshman year and we had him always have someone for me when they went out on dates because we didn't want to be apart. Horrible, I know! I bet he hated me! We used to joke about how we needed to find boy versions of each other to marry. Funny, I'm nothing like her husband and Michael is not like her!

Michael, Audrey, and I made the trek to Abilene and back on Sunday. You're probably feeling bad for Michael, but he had a lot of studying to do and he got the time to do that. He sat in the back with Audrey on the way there. Audrey did great! She had very few tears and mostly smiles. This was Audrey's first trip. If you had told me 2 or 3 months ago that I'd be able to make this trip with Audrey staying happy, I would have laughed in your face. Audrey has really made a turn around lately. I have to credit Gerber Puffs, toys, peek-a-boo with a burp towel, and baby food for keeping Audrey happy. She slept 30 minutes on the way there and about an hour on the way back.

What made my Sunday was seeing my beautiful friend all round and precious and Audrey doing so much better than what I was expecting! Thank you Lord!

Free Friday Night Fun

Wondering what you could do tonight that was fun and free? Why not get a slurpy at 7-11? Today is July 11 (7-11) and so you can get a free slurpy! Oh happy day!

After the Fourth

We survived the 4th of July. Audrey woke up hoarse Friday, so I didn't make her get accustomed to the swimming pool like I was hoping to do. We did have a lot of fun though. We spent the day with family, friends, swimming, and eating. Sadly, I didn't even go outside to see fireworks. Holidays are quieter when you have a sleeping baby.

Happy Birthday to Blake and Maddie!

Here's a video of us playing with Audrey today.

Figuring Things Out

I took my usual Sunday afternoon nap today and Michael caught Audrey investigating instead of napping. I didn't bother to edit, so it's a couple of minutes long.

Take 5

1. Wednesday morning, on the way to Audrey's checkup, I was driving down the road, minding my own business. Suddenly, I hear a loud thud against my driver's side window (the one inches from my face) and see feathers fluttering. I bird flew into my window! Michael was driving behind me and I called him to see if he had seen what had happened. He said the bird was definitely dead. Was this bird blind? I could understand him not seeing me if I was going fast, but I was going 30 mph and down a straight road! It put a damper on my drive, knowing that I just killed one of God's creatures.

2. Audrey has a hard time digesting sweet potatoes, among several other things. I noticed a few months ago that if I ate a sweet potato, Audrey would be in tears all night. Now that she's older and eating solids, I gave her some sweet potatoes. It was in my beginner's pack of veggies and I thought she would just love the taste. Surely her tummy can handle it now. Wednesday night, she woke up every 2 hours. I thought her shots were hurting her. She was fine all of Thursday and I gave her some sweet potatoes at dinnertime. She was up nearly every hour last night. So, I'm pretty sure it was the food and not the shots.

3. Since Audrey didn't sleep last night, we slept in past 9 this morning. We were playing in the den when the doorbell rang. I was not expecting anyone and my pj's aren't really appropriate to wear while answering the door to a stranger. I ignored the second doorbell and the knocking (I do this quite a bit actually). Then, the man got up on our roof! What?! I ran back to our bedroom and called Michael. It was an adjuster to look at something we had reported to our insurance company. Michael didn't know he was coming and wanted to be here when he did. Well, I knew that he needed to come inside, so I put on some better clothes and got him down off our roof and into our home. I felt foolish for not answering the door, but I was soooo relieved that he wasn't about to break into our house and rob us! A girl's mind can run wild, you know!

4. Do you believe in luck? I didn't use to, but now I'm thinking that my dad is a pretty lucky guy. And it is not just because he's married to my mom. He wins things all of the time! I don't know how many trips he has won, but it is quite a few. He's been to see a Stars game in California and stayed at the same hotel with the players because he won first place in a contest. He entered a Ranger contest in which they select a name in a particular inning and if a Ranger hits a grand slam that inning, they win something. His name was pulled and ARod hit a grand slam. Yesterday, he was the 10,000 viewer on Lynn's blog and won a gift card. This man is lucky!

5. Last night, we ate dinner with Greg and Shirley Broom. Now, Greg is lucky to have Shirley! They are such a fun couple and wonderful spiritual leaders for Michael and me. We want to raise our family to be like the Broom family. I am so blessed to know them and to learn from them.

6 Months Stats

Alright. Shannon has motivated me to be more intentional about blogging about what Audrey can do at each phase of her life. Thank you, Shannon, for doing such a great job detailing life with Morgan to get me going!

Audrey checked in at 26 inches and 14 lbs 10 oz at her 6 month checkup. That is another drop in height for her (60%...used to be 90%) and staying steady at 25% for weight. She's a little one! She is eating solid foods. She's had peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, and pears. Audrey's favorite is carrots!

Audrey is a rolling machine. When she is placed in her crib, she would rather play than sleep. She rolls about two miles worth in her crib before she grows tired and goes to sleep.

Audrey also learned to sleep on her tummy. If she is only a little tired, she will sleep on her side. If she is super tired, she immediately rolls to her tummy and buries her face into her taggie. She prefers to sleep with a pacifier and her taggie touching her face.

Sitting up is still a struggle, but she is getting better. If she is sitting by me on the couch, I'll let her sit while I fold a shirt or something. She's not so good that I would leave her sitting on the floor beyond my reach.

Today, while Mimi was here, we trimmed her hair. She no longer has that strand of hair that curled over her ear or the long straight strands that ran down her back.

She is constantly blowing air out her mouth while pressing her lips around her tongue. She also likes to kick her knees. She will kick a knee while eating, while nursing, or while getting her diaper changed. It's really funny.

She likes to sleep about 12 hours at night. I have been feeding her at 4am, but the doctor said that she can go later than that, so we'll see how that goes!

She's been on all fours, but she scoots back rather than crawl. Again, she prefers to roll.

That's our little munchkin at 6 months!

Our "Vacation"

Michael was off for vacation last week. We didn't go anywhere, but it was busy. We both went to the dentist and we both had to get two fillings. Sad day. Poor Michael went to the dentisit office three days in a row. Michael got his eyes checked out and got a pair of new glasses. We got Michael some clothes for Father's Day. We got to see a movie. We ate out A LOT. We even went to Kobe Steakhouse. Audrey did not enjoy the food being cooked at our table, but was totally into the what was going on at the table next to us. I guess it was too scary when it was so close. It was really just a time for all three of us to be together and get important doctor appointments in. Audrey had a pretty hard time napping last week. I really think it was because she wanted to be with Michael. If he left to get the car's oil changed or to buy some groceries, she fell asleep pretty easily. She loves her daddy. We also got pictures made of Audrey. The photographer got her to smile! He had only been working at this place for a month and had previously done sports photography. I couldn't believe how easily he made her smile and laugh hysterically. Unfortunately, it was the flash that really made her laugh, so her biggest smiles were after the picture was made. Silly girl. Here are a few of those pictures:

My Baby is 6 Months Old!

Audrey is half a year old! In another six months she'll be walking around and saying words! Here are some pictures I got of her this morning.

This was a little too Gilligan's Islandy, so we opted for the bow instead!

Still chooses to keep that smile under wraps!

I love this face of her's! She does this a lot!

Her face is finally filling out some.

Having fun with her favorite playmate.

New 'Do

I know you've been dying to see the haircut (yeah...right!), so here it is. I know you like Audrey pictures better, so she's with me to make the picture more interesting. She participated in her first Girls' (+ one 9 month old boy) Night last night. She had fun. Stayed up past 9:00 and all! She and Vander got a lot of attention at the restaurant. Vander waves at anyone looking at him, so there was a lot of interaction between us and the other customers. We watched 27 Dresses. If you've seen the movie, don't you think those dress styles were a tad far-fetched?

I've Got This Problem

My child has crazy hair. It naturally does a mohawk. That might be cute on a baby boy, but not my baby girl. The picture to the right does not do justice for what is actually there. I took this picture right after she took her morning nap. I decided that I'd better change her diaper and put her in her clothes for the day before I start taking pictures. It is like putting a diaper and onesie on a monkey (hmmm, another monkey reference...). So, after all of the wrestling, her hair started sticking up around that big center curl that flows back and down her head. The second picture shows just how crazy that hair in the center is. Just one curl following another, heading towards her back. Then she has straight, flat hair that totally doesn't match up with what's going on at the top. There is one curl that isn't located at the top and it's on her left side, behind her ear. You can see it in that second picture. She'll be turning 6 months soon, and I am wanting to get some 6 months pictures taken. Any ideas what I should do with her hair? I have been putting gel on her hair, but now that her hair is longer, it just looks wet and crunchy. I also hope that I can get a picture of her
smiling. That last picture is the only I got of her smiling, and she looked down! Michael is off next week, so maybe I should do it then. She just lights up when he comes home from work. I do too. He's our favorite and we can't wait to celebrate Father's Day!

Audrey Laughing

As hard as some of us try to make Audrey laugh, her Daddy does it easily.