Bad news

For all of you out there who love looking at cute pictures of my daughter as much as I do...well Mike's hard drive crashed on Sunday as we lost ALL of our pictures. Apple even tried to access the computer remotely with no luck. So some day we will take our computer with a lot of prayers and hope to see if they can pull anything off the hard drive and at the same time buy a back up hard drive and new cameras with software that works on my computer and a really nice photo printer...any well anything else we can think of. The worst part is that I had just a couple of week earlier put the pictures from Seattle on it and I was going to copy the pictures to my computer this weekend but Mike's wouldn't turn on...if only I had the thought earlier..

Sister

Sorry for the delay in posting..Leslie just left on Wednesday...such a great visit. She spoiled Isabel and played and played and played with her. That is after she go over the flu on Tuesday and Wednesday. We went to Target multiple times...it's therapy. This past Sunday Church was cancelled again due to the 6inches of snow on the ground so we ran outside and made snow angels, went sledding down a hill on plastic garbage bags, took Isabel out in the snow...she HATED it. But I forced her to make a cute know angel anyways! As soon as we find the cord to download all the pictures I'll get them posted...besides Leslie will yell at me if it takes any longer. Merry Christmas! I'm off to shampoo my carpets before family comes on Monday.

Jesus

There is this totally cute thing that my daughter has been doing for MONTHS! I'm not sure why I've never bragged about it in true proud mother fashion but here it goes. Isabel has been picking up a picture of Jesus (with out any prompting and shamefully with out us really talking about him in reference to his picture) and she'll hug it and kiss him. All the time. The first time I saw here do this was about 2.5 months ago and I was so happy. Well when we came back from my parents house we had a small glass nativity. Isabel took it out of the box and was playing with it....one I said 'is that baby Jesus?' she kissed him and hugged him. Then decided she didn't want to leave Mary and Joseph out she hugged them also. It's so nice to know that the veil is so very thin with little ones and they still understand even if their parents forget to tell.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


as a side not totally unrelated to Christmas, check out my sister's blog (Leslie's) for a hilarious video

Lazy Sundays

This weekend we were supposed to have our Stake Conference, so instead of normal church, we were having combined church with other wards for two hrs. Well we are experiencing ice storms so they canceled the adult session as well as todays session of conference. I will admit I was nice to have a lazy morning. Isabel and I watched Frosty the Snowman and the Return of Frosty and then Mike got up so as he watched Santa Claus is coming to Town I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to Isabel setting wooden blocks on me. I do miss church but it was fun to make a nice breakfast of pancakes and sausage. The best part is now we get to read the Ensign as a family (or church magazine). I'm ashamed to say I haven't hardly picked up the last few months so today the talks in there will be our spiritual uplift as we study them as a family. I'm so grateful for this Church and for my Savior especially at this time of year when we get to focus so much on him. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season.

Jealous?

So I know that everyone out there reading this is so jealous of all the 'Mom of the Year' awards that I've racked up doing things like, locking Isabel in the car--with my keys, letting her diaper rash get the best of her and causing sores, carrying her and running her into the corner of the wall...the list goes on, but now you can be jealous again. Last night in true 'Wife of the Year' fashion. I gave food poisoning to Mike, myself and the dog. Luckily Isabel didn't eat any of the chicken stuff so she was fine, but the other three of us were throwing up all night. Thankfully I have a great friend who came and picked up Isabel for me this morning for a couple of hrs while I tried, successfully I might add, to throw up one last time. So to all of you hoping to have this award, I'm sorry that yet again I've bested you...

Pictures

Here are some pictures from my trip...it's my first time using this program so I hope it turns out ok...

Back to the Grind

We finally got back from Seattle on Friday. We had so much fun!!! Honestly we really didn't do much but relax around my parents house but it was great. Unfortunately we couldn't get to the city because my parents do not have a car seat friendly car so when we would leave to run errands or go shopping, Mike, Isabel and I with my mom we in her 98 TransAm. For those that don't appreciate it, it's two doors with bucket seats. The back seats are a bit less then roomy and the car seat sat at a slight angle but we had fun nonetheless. My sister and her boyfriend came up for Thanksgiving and stayed thru the weekend. We played Apples to Apples a few times...I highly recommend the game. It's a ton of fun. My grandpa, when he came for Thanksgiving brought Izzy a blow up plastic chair that she carried everywhere around the house and sat down for a few minutes, then picked and walked to a new location. She provided a new meaning to the phrase "hours of entertainment". All day she just puddered around the house playing with stuff. My mom bought her a little musical penguine that flaps it's wings while moving up and down singing jinglebells. Isabel would join him in dancing. It took her a couple of days to settle in to a routine but after a while she finally would go to my mom.
Her favorite place to play was in the kitchen in the measuring cup drawer, which is in the middle of the kitchen. OH! The first day we were there Mike and I ran to IKEA for a couple of hrs and Izzy was so worn out by 8:30 from playing with Grandpa that she was standing in front of the oven and slide down and fell asleep leaning against it! I wish we could have seen it but Dad put her to bed before we got back.
She got her first kiss while we were there. One of my best friends came over with her husband and CUTE 2yr old. He kissed Izzy and then Izzy said "I gotcha!". Keegan kissed her on the cheek multiple times again that night...
I know I need to post pictures soon, Leslie will yell if I don't so I'll figure out how to put some in a collage so I can post more. As soon as Mike can get his computer to work...hopefully tonight...even the mighty Mac is falling.
It was a WONDERFUL vacation but its good to be home and decorating my new house for Christmas!

Seattle!!!

YEA! We leave for Seattle in 2 hrs! We'll be there for 12 days...I can't wait...Pictures at the end of the month...

A few more

Since Jeni graciously posted the picture of all the "yellow house" girls I'll refer you to her blog...there's a link to the right.

Bama Trip

This past weekend we had so much fun on our whirlwind trip to Bama. The journey began when we stopped just after we started because Mike's phone randomly turned off 5 times in 5 minutes. So we finally had it replaced and it took FOREVER! It should have been maybe 45 min but the Sprint people on the phone are less then competent so it took 2 hrs. Then we stopped in Cape Girardeau to pick up my THESIS!!!! It was bound and now I don't need to return there again! Isabel was in the car wandering while Mike walked Gibby and she found the Cinnabons. Mike turned and looked in the car just in time to see Isabel taking a handful of the sinful indulgence and stuffing it in her mouth...that's my baby...hey you can't fault her for her good taste.
So then about 2 hrs out our last headlight went out on the freeway...at dusk...the next exit was approx 5 miles. It was 5:35 on a Thursday and car dealerships close at 6. Needless to say we were worried. But we found an Autoparts store and a Mazda dealer next door with someone to install the new ones for us. (3 people couldn't figure it out, I promise we're not that ignorant). We finally get in at 8:30pm and stayed up at Marcus and Courtney's until 11pm. We were so tired but there were fresh sausage balls waiting for us! We love the Stallings-Barr resort!

Friday morning was spent visiting old friends and professors on campus and showing off Isabel. We looked for a sweatshirt for Mike and stopped by the new (to me at least) Institute building and saw a few faces I knew. Later that night was the event I had been most excited about (aside from the wedding!) We went to PEPITOS!!!!
Good food and good friends. We were able to meet lil' Olivia who is just beautiful and definitely a Martin!

Saturday was the wedding stuff and Lacy was beautiful. I was fun for Mike and I, we hadn't attended a sealing in a while. I love hearing the amazing promises over and over. And we were able to see friends that we hadn't seen in years. (insert Tracy Alder, Doug and Sarah Cole and Debbie Mayfield) That night we met up with my mom's old college roomate and boyfriend, Susan and Wayne. They are such a riot. Finally we came back and had a wonderful dinner made to order at the Resort. Courtney's cooking is amazing. Her hashbrown casserole is the best. Followed by wonderful cheesecake which I had after everyone else on account I fell asleep on the couch. Again is was delicious. We stayed up talking and watching movies. Oh we also met the younger Archibald boys who I taught in Primary...I felt so old! I can't believe that Sterling is a senior!

Sunday was more talking and showing off Isabel and church. We saw Thad who also has not been seen in years, looking dapper as ever. More kids I taught at church who are all grown up. Good times again..Oh and the church is no longer the awful 70's orange...it's PURPLE!!! I love it, so regal. That afternoon we went wandering around campus with our hosts and took pictures then had dinner with the Martin's. Isabel kept climbing in to Olivia's bouncy chair and acting like she was 2 months old again. So funny.
It was a fast trip and very exhausting but so worth it. We had so much fun. One day we'll actually stay for a week or so, but in the mean time we'll cherish the times we get to spend with friends and "family". Thanks to everyone who made our trip amazing. We love you all!

Enjoy the pictures!

countdown continues

2 days to BAMA!!!

pictures

So the following are pictures from the Boo and the Zoo and her trying to play fetch with gibby

pictures finally!

Keys

I hate losing keys. Today is Halloween and after my workout I was going to Wal-mart to get new headphones, to Costco to have my tires rotated and checked, to the mall to have Isabel's picture taken in her cute Halloween costume and then to downtown St Charles with my new neighbors and friends to go trick-or-treating at the store fronts. OH! did I mention my husband took off with the only set of car keys we have. Oh yea, the car seat is in the car.

So You Think You Can Dance

Mike and I went to the SYTYCD concert on Friday. I was really good although we did not enjoy it like we wanted to. Lacey, the girl who came in fourth, was not there performing due to a knee injury. The girls who covered her dances for her did a great job but for us (especially the samba routine and the Mia Michaels routine about her and her dad) something was just missing. It was fun to relive the dances and we tried to contact Benji (Lacey's brother and season 2 winner) to get back stage passes but he was in Spokane, WA working so he could not call for us. Oh well, it was fun

Another not so fabulous first

Yesterday Isabel hit a new mile marker...we could have gone without this one. The finger in the really dirty diaper, then pulled out to look at it. I have friends that have told me of these experiences but hoped I'd never have them but my daughter proved me wrong. On a really happy note...14 days till Bama!!!

Noisy kids + quiet church =

I am so blessed to have a great family and a wonderful daughter. Isabel is just fabulous. I feel so fortunate that among many families with children in our church, I have one of the quiet ones. Well at least until today I did. There is no telling when Satan entered my child today, but there was no "banishing" of the evil demons that decided to take up residence in my poor child. Thankfully she's still cute that I can still want to hug her and place her gently in her crib rather then throwing her like a football as hard and fast as I can. (Don't worry I actually haven't tried the latter...yet). For those people who have a hard time concentrating at church, I want to apologize for my child being the reason today. The good news is..one more Sunday then is NURSERY time. I will actually be able to attend, pay attention and participate in Sunday school and YW. What an amazing thought..it brings a smile to my face just thinking about it!
I do have to take a picture and show you her latest injury. She apparently thought she could walk through doors yesterday as evident by the 2.5in long welt/bruise thing that appeared with a small chunk of skin missing. I guess she couldn't see the car door open in front of her. I'll get her eyes checked soon...
So here's to hoping that next Sunday we can feel the Spirit, the good one.

BAMA

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!
19 days until we arrive...

Snooze

I love my husband. I thought I should start with that. However, since he's been working 12 hr days we don't see eachother much so we of courses stay up to late some nights so we can spend time together which means the next morning he's hitting snooze. Now for some people this might not be a problem but for morning people it is. By the time he's hit snooze twice, I'm awake and he, well he's passed back out next to me in bed. I want to invent an ear piece, that is remotely connected to your alarm, you can put in so that you don't wake up the person next to you when you want to snooze. So for now, I'm just going to have to enjoy waking up 45 minutes early...approx 6am. Please insert you sympathy for me here...

Bye Bye Curls

So about 1 hour ago, I cut off Isabel's curls on the side of her head. For those of you that know and love them they were pretty cute...but they had started to take on a frayed yarn-like consistency so they just didn't have that same adorableness to them anymore. Plus I'm hoping that maybe her body will put more energy into making the rest of her hair grow...not just the curls. Seriously, they were about 4in long, the rest of her hair is only an inch. Plus now she doesn't look like a little version of Einstein anymore! I'll try and take a picture today and post soon.

concerts

Ok so I have to tell everyone...I loved the concert last night. The two shows were awesome. The opening act, A Fine Frenzy is unbelievable! Followed by Brandi Carlilse who is on VH1's list of shows you gotta see. The former was very a funky bluesy performance and the latter was a little bluesy, a little rock. I highly recommend both of these artists to everyone. Here is a link to a youtube video of a fine frenzy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LqJ2Hqt3A4
I can truly say the after last night they are my favorite group!

Not much going on

So here I am trying to find something exciting to share...but there really isn't any. I did win tickets to go see Brandi Carlile twice today. I could not attend the lunch concert but hopefully we can go tonight. I haven't been able to find a babysitter yet so we'll see, oh and Isabel just threw up so we'll have to see how she's feeling. I have to run and pick up the Q-tips she's also taking out of the container...oh great now the dog is eating q-tips..time to go!

Thoughts again

So today I watched (ok I did sleep some) General Conference. Afterwards I started thinking about forgiving and forgetting. There may be some people who think that forgetting about people and letting them go may be a way of not forgiving them for whatever you were mad about to begin with. However I think that when you've had people in your life that you have parted ways with, and the frustration finally gone, you really can get to a point where you just don't care anymore. The anger is gone, the sadness is gone, you're tired of the lies and now you just really don't care at all if there is/or was anything left to salvage. So today I am ready to say to a "friend" good luck with life but I really don't care anymore.

My reasons for dissapearing

I'm back. I realize that it's been awhile but last Wednesday my husband came home with a dog. So I have been really really busy. Plus this dog is supposed to be potty trained..but try telling that to my carpet! So the battle continues. Gibby is his name and his pictures on on the previous post below. Isabel named him and he plays GREAT with her, licking her to death and although he mouths he never bites. She is totally enthralled by him. Mike and I have been officially replaced, when she wakes up in the morning she doesn't really care about seeing us...she just wants Gibby. There are some other pictures attached. One of her cute new hippy dress with her cute pink cowboy boots (the flash never went off so they're a little dark. And just some other cute pictures from this past week.
Sorry about the peek-a-boo pictues, I forgot to rotate it. The one of the cute boy in the sun is of our friends Lara and her son Kayson. The boy in the train is Weston..he wasn't having much fun!
OH Isabel is learning to give kisses this week. She's so darn cute! I hope these pictures satisfy those of you who have been waiting for them (read Leslie and Mareesa)

The Return

Insurance

I hate dealing with insurance. I would love it if they'd have a section for people who DO NOT go to the Dr. for every sniffle, every ache ect. But I understand that the vast majority of the people want a pill, or someone to know that they really just need their mommy. I also understand that with the rising cost of insurance, I'm sure the insurance companies are not making any money...so they have to inflate costs (see above reason with people crying all the time) so those of us that only go to the Dr. when we're pregnant (No I'm not if anyone is wondering) get screwed in the process. Granted I wouldn't change the fact that we live in the greatest nation on the earth with regards to medical care but I really really want my chocolate cake so I can eat it too!

Volleyball

Last night the some of the women in our ward played volleyball after Enrichment. During one of the games the discussion came up whether or not we could play off the walls and ceilings. This instantly brought my mind back to a fateful day in Tuscaloosa. We were having a Stake YSA Volleyball tournament when one adult refereeing wanted to change the rules because of a team I was playing against was losing. True to my early days I lost my temper, in front of the world. There are probably not many who read this who were there when this happened...Thanks goodness! So here's to controlling my temper and maybe at times my competitiveness during Thursday night play...

New Milestone...(at Costco?)

I took Isabel to our favorite store today..Yes Costco. We were enjoying a lovely meal in the food court and I offered her some of my water...She drank it. Now this may not seem so amazing until I tell you that it's the first time she used a straw!!! She just kept drinking and drinking and best yet...no backwash!! I hope you can all be as excited as I am.. or at least fake it!

Addictions

I have been thinking all day...I'm developing an addiction.. Not to anything spectacular, but to everyone else. I have been at my computer a lot today, between checking emails, taking my online realestate class, shopping for Izzy etc. My addiction is with everyone else's blogs. I have probably check everyone's blog about 5 times today so see if there were any more posts. It's so sad. Especially when so many of those people I could actually pick up the phone and call...So now that it's out there maybe I can get help....(of course if everyone would post daily I wouldn't need to get help...I'd have my fix!)

As Promised

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks of Isabel...I realized the other day that I must take most of the pictures after she's eaten...she seems to be naked in most all I have of her! Enjoy!

Finally...I'm smarter then a machine

I'd like to think of myself at least somewhat intelligent...after all I did finish my Masters, that has to say something. I have been trying to get you some new pictures the last week...our battery died on the camcorder so I've been looking for my charger...and I could not for the life of me get the card out of either camera we have...I was looking all over for my tweezers and couldn't find them, I about broke a nail trying to pull them out...finally I thought to ask my husband, his response...just push it down and it will pop up...Thanks....Let me tell you how smart I felt after that...

So good news is that when I get home from working Junior High football today (I know, ya'll are jealous!) I will find the jump drive and get the pictures posted of my adorable daughter!

Why India?

I'm all for making money and saving money. But when you bottom line is compromised by your customer service...maybe you should rethink it. Like in the "good ol' days" that I never lived in but hear about when customer service is all that mattered. I called to set up my Dish service and then called be for a couple of questions...I apparently miss dialed and ended up in India! So now that my call has been re-routed and I'm on the phone on the other side of the world, we speak for 30 min all the while I'm listening to what I feel are preprogramed responses...like they have a piece of paper with 5 responses and surely one of them will always satisfy the customer so if I just keep repeating myself over and over and over...that is going to be the answer. Well not really. so after wasting my minutes on my phone and spending 30 minutes to change my order...when the Dish guy shows up..guess what.. my order was never changed. WHY INDIA! Can we at least talk to people that speak English when we are calling from the US to a US company...heck I'd take Ebonics over that. So I guess I'm still in The Waiting Place until Tuesday when the nice man comes back with the right equipment I can finally leave. (and watch Bama football!)

The Waiting Place

Have you ever read Dr. Seuss's "Oh the Places You'll Go?" Well today I feel like I'm in The Waiting Place. I have a bunch of things to do today and instead I'm waiting for the Dish Network guy to come and install our service. While I'm grateful that I can have this luxery...can I have it on my time. I will say at least they are better then the phone company. I was told by them I would have to wait between 8 and 5...luckily they came at 8:30. The Dish man should be here between 12 and 5. Slightly better but I had to cancel plans for today to see some people that I haven't seen in a year.
Oh well...I 'll just stay in The Waiting Place

Blessing of being a big sister

So last night my husband was able to give a blessing to his brother who is going thru a tough time. This in itself may not have been that amazing..but for the first time I get to be a big sister. And unlike my sister I can be nice and supportive (I'm just kidding Leslie....). It is really cool to me that now my little brother and sister ask me for advise and want to talk to me about things. It's fun to be in this role since I was the little sister at my house. My "adoptive" lil' sis in Highschool, known to others as Niki, who was also one of my best friends was the closest I've been before. This is so much fun!

Secrets

Secrets are interesting things. I've been thinking about them a lot today. Why we have them, why we keep them, and how powerful it is to know someone's secret. I don't know why I've been pondering on them today. Maybe because I was falling asleep while driving and I needed something for my mind to twirl about to stay awake. I think the worst part about secrets is when someone does not know that you have a secret of theirs and you may want to help them in some way, or tell them that you know, but that would be betrayal to how you found out about the secret. Have you ever really tried to sit and think of all the secrets that you know? They really are powerful things....

I'm back!

Hello! I'm finally back! Our neighbor gave us his password for his internet so now We don't need to pay for that...I'll he wants in return is to be feed once a month. So...bachelor's never change!
I love this house, it's so open and airy, we've settled the kitchen in, and Isabel's room should be finished soon, I have a friend coming on Tuesday to help me cut in on the corners...( I suck at that!) so I'm hoping to do the cute flower/butterfly stuff on the walls. Our bedroom is 1/2 way there and the dining room is almost painted. The rest may take another 4 months...we're so tired of painting. Isabel loves the new house she does laps around the kitchen/living/dining room combo. All in all it's been a wonderful few weeks trying to settle in! I hope all is well with everyone!

New House

YEA!!! We finally closed on Friday...This was not as exciting of a day as I had hoped. The builder forgot to send some stuff over to the mortgage co. and there was a small discrepency in the total loan amt so we had to wait for 4.5 hrs. I was not happy but by that afternoon we had a sexy fridge, keys to a new house and a check from the title co. I will post picutres as soon as I can. We don't have internet access yet on at our new place so it may be awhile before I post again. Since we've gotten some work done painting and such this weekend...I LOVE IT!!! I hope everyone is doing well.

What a difference a Year makes

So this is a little belated but I was looking at my cute daughter last night (as we were shooting her first naked video!) and started thinking about how far she has really come in that last year. This is from approx. the picture from the zoo was approx one year from her home coming from the NICU last year. Following is a list of basic comparisons from '06
Height
'06 = 16" (three inches longer then birth)
'07 = 29"

Weight
'06 5 lbs 14oz (3lbs and 10oz more then at birth)
'07 21 lbs

It may not seem like such an amazing thing to most people but I think its the pictures that put it into perspective. I'm so proud of my feisty daughter (about the only thing on her she gets from me!)

Communication

Communication is a wonderful thing...except when you don't have it. Mike just called me and needed me to make a phone call for him regarding work on the house he his renovating. This conversation took about 5 minutes 4 of which were spent in utter confusion on my part. He wanted me to call a company to measure a glass wall where we were taking out a window and have them install it...right...no.. he wanted me to have them measure and install a window and bring the glass for the shower. I fully realize that to most people this doesn't seem like a problem... I was so confused and he was sidetracked so that's how our 1 minute conversation took 5.

Tagged

First off I have to say that I love how I won't post for days and here is my third post today! I was tagged by my friend so here we go!

Basics
1. Who is your man? Mike
2. How long have you been together? 3 years
3. Dating/Engaged/Married? We started dating in January, engaged in April and married in August (the first week of all three months)

4. How old is your man? 26

You or your man
1. Who eats more? Him
2. Who said "I love you" first? he did, I was determined to not say it first...
3. Who is taller? He is 6'1", I top out at a fabulous 5'4"
4. Who sings better? Me at least I think so...
5. Who's Older? I am
6. Who's smarter? Well, since I'm older and wiser...actually it depends on the subject
7. Who's temper is worse? Mine!!!
8. Who does the laundry? Usually me but he does help out alot
9.., Who does the dishes? Me unless I've been lazy and then he does them...
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mike
11. Who's feet are bigger? His
12. Who's hair is longer? Mine
13. Who's better with the computer? Mike
14. Who mows the lawn? Since we don't have a lawn...neither!
15. Who pays the bills? He does, they'd never be done on time if I did them.
16. Who cooks dinner? Usually me but he's been stepping in a lot lately..
17. Who drives when you are together? Depends on who's more tired..usually he does
18. Who pays when you go out to dinner? Now me..he lost his check card.
20. Who is the first one to admit when they're wrong? Mike, he doesn't like me to be mad at him...plus I'm older and wiser...
21. Who's parents do you see more? Mike's, they're a 25 min drive, mine are a 4 hr flight
22. Who named your dog?No dog but one coming soon!
23. Who kissed who first? I say he did, he says me...really I thought he was going to kiss me so I turned slightly and he thought me turning was my way of being forward and kissing him first...so our first kiss was an accident(?!)
24. Who asked who out? He asked me out
25. What did you do? Went to Applebee's and to see Paycheck
26. Who proposed? Mike
27. Who's more sensitive? Mike
28. Who has more friends? Me
29. Who has more siblings? He does, lil' Katie threw off the balance...but I wouldn't trade her
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Both of us if their clean...

Unsolicited Advise

I am borrowing this wonderful bit from my friend Debbie's blog..I read it had to laugh so here's to everyone mother that can relate...and for those who need to be reminded that if we want advise...we ask!

"one thing i have discovered since becoming a mother is that perfect strangers love to give advice. so i have learned to lie. about most anything. i find it is perfectly acceptable for me to tell people that don't matter that my child is fine, he/she never throws tantrums, eats everything on his/her plate, crawled at 3 months and walked at 6, has shown a propensity for speaking in full sentences at one year and has never EVER needed a perfect stranger in the line at sam's club to scold them for bad behavior. that is my job thank you very much!

"list of things i would like to say to people who needlessly give me advice:
1. yes, i know she is only two weeks old, but i have too much to do to stay at home and cloister her from all the germs in the world.
2. he doesn't want to be held by you because you are a stranger, that doesn't mean there is something wrong with him.
3. yes, i am aware he is yelling my name over and over again. if i could stop it i would.
4. no, pacifiers do not give you orthodontic problems. but you might have some after i punch you in the mouth.
5. she's a girl for crying in the night! she's wearing PINK!
6. just because we have a boy and a girl does not mean we are "done". i don't see how that is your business anyway, mrs. walmart checker!
7. yes, all of our clothes have stains on them. we are not blind. we are just busy.
8. you're kidding, my son is running down the aisles of the grocery store? goodness, your children must have always walked in straight silent lines. please teach me how to do that!
9. yes, i know that she has no shoes on. it is freaking july in alabama!"

... and here is one of the comments she received:

"The big one I get is when we are out for walks, 'The sun is in your baby's eyes. You need to put a hat on him.' Yeah, so he can rip it off and throw it on the ground like he did the last 5 times I put it on him before you came along."

Thoughts

Yesterday was an interesting day. I hate being a girl some days. All day I was helping a friend go thru some of her things and try to clear stuff out for a move, when I had a phone call saying that the mortgage co.for our new house (we close in 2 days!!!) did not have all the information they needed. Now we all now that I thrive on a little stress in my life...but being "stressed out" stinks. So I had to run up to St Charles and take care of it which took awhile. If the company didn't get this information we would not have been able to close this Friday. Why do people always want income/tax stuff when it's put away and you can't get to it? Then I had to run to the post office just to mail some stuff..oh yea, Isabel was awake back at the house and crying (someone was home...I didn't leave her by herself!), so I had to run back there and it was hard getting things accomplished with her wanting to play in all the piles we had for Goodwill, garbage, other people's things ect. So Mike was finally coming home, but was running an hour late, I had a YW presidency meeting that night and Isabel didn't want to eat dinner even though she hadn't eaten all day...so back to my hating being a girl some days. I was so stressed and Mike was finally home as I was trying to leave and I went to say goodbye and proceeded to stub my toe on the highchair. Then I started to just cry. Honestly, it didn't hurt..we not bad enough to cry, I just don't know of any guy that would cry at that point. Anyways, luckily when that day was over and I came home from my meeting (which I was supposed to clean the church after the meeting but the other couple assigned has already done it! THANK YOU HOOD FAMILY!) so Isabel was sleeping and crashed on my shoulder when I walked her in. It was so sweet and it made me remember that no matter how bad the day, not matter how stressful, I still have a wonderful family to come home to and this sweet daughter that can melt away all frustration in seconds.
Here's to hoping ya'll don't have a stressed day anytime soon!

New Arrival!

Here are some pictures of Aubrey and Cheyenne's baby...Her name is Olivia Tynne ( I hope I spelled it right...Tynne (pronounced tin-knee is a family name)

CONGRATS!!!

I have to say congratulations to Cheyenne and Aubrey Martin! They had their first little miracle baby this morning around 12:30am. I"m so excited for the two (three!) of them. They had a little girl that was approx. 6lb 9oz, true to form Cheyenne hasn't decided on a name yet but when they do if they let me I'm posting a picture of her. I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet but I just got off the phone with Aubrey who changed her first poopy diper (yea!! a Dad who changes them!). I cannot wait to get down to Bama and visit them this fall. I think we'll head down for Lacy's wedding in Nov and stay for a week or so. This has been an amazing year, two of my best friends had babies that were miracles! Congrats again to the Martin family!

14 days

Just 14 days to go until we close on our new house! I am so excited I can't stand it! Mike will hopefully be taking the day off that we close so we can immediatly start painting and getting it ready. We want to have most of the painting done by Saturday so we can start moving in on Monday/Tuesday. I figure we'll be out of this basement by the end of that week, but we'll still be coming back to help her move and get her house ready. Izzy's room will take a while to finish but if we can get it started then it can be a work in progress.

Speaking of Isabel, she took 23 steps on Wednesday. She took 19 then squatted in the grass for a minute then took her last 4 steps. She was SO proud of herself! She's getting a little better about keeping her feet closer together and not trying to walk like a sumo wrestler! One day we'll get the pictures and video posted!

I'm walkin' yea it's me, I'm walkin'

Isabel took her first steps on Saturday!!!!! We are so proud of our angel for hitting this next milestone. Offically at 14 months and 28 days! She took 6 steps, stumbled and then took 3 more before she fell... She is so darn cute!

On other great notes, we stopped by our house today and the carpet is in, the light fixtures, most of the faucets etc. We decided to move our close up one business day to the 17th so we'll have Friday and Saturday to paint and hopefully I can start moving things in on Monday. My goal is to have the pod delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday so we can start unloading it. So many exciting things going on!

Thoughts

This morning I woke up very groggy and my phone rang about minutes later, it was the pest control guy! Precisely who I want to talk to at 7am. I love the woman whose house we're living in, what I don't love are the bugs. Anyone who knows me knows I am SCARED to death of spiders and roaches. Luckily I don't see many of the latter (knock on wood) but the former make appearances every few days. One of the daughters came by with her husband to take some stuff out decided to point out they types of deadly spiders that are in the basement (where we are staying). I was so glad that he shared that info with me. So all this to tell you that I just spend 1.5 hrs with a very nice man who traded bug horror stories with me. Needless to say if we were in a competition he'd win. He's been in the business since '89. So know I have an extreme heightened sense of awareness to bugs today and I have mosquito bites all over my legs, OOOH and I'm even more freaked out about bugs although I have learned to kill a few (those of you in Alabama will be so impressed...).

Da Bears

So we finally took Isabel to the zoo for the first time this weekend! She loved it. She was overly excited about the bears, polar and black, the penguins (one came up and "stood" on it's "fins/feet" and flapped it's wings about 1.5 feet in front of her.. She was sooo excited. The elephant was my favorite (altougth they only have asian and not my favorite African), however only the male was out. the females and babies were put up. Then the final was the monkeys! They were soo playful and all the little baby was swinging and playing catch while trying to chase or get the older ones to chase it. It even did a slide all the way down the hill...it looked like so much fun and Isabel wasn't sure which way to look there was so much to entertain her! I'm posting some pictures from this weekend! Enjoy...

Happy Birthday to me

So last night Mike and I got our birthday presents from my parents (late in keeping with family tradition). They bought us a camcorder!!! We are so excited!!! Especially since Isabel could be walking any moment now! So I got the battery charged up ready for today I might just have to video tape for the fun of it! I'm off to play!!!

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

So here are some pictures of Isabel...Auntie Leslie wanted them posted...



Have no fear...I took these to use Isabel as an example for a presentation I was doing on skull fractures. It was used as the most common way infants fracture their skull. Slightly sick and twisted I know...but what I really wanted to do was do the staging on the kitchen floor so I could put ketchup down so it would look like blood...to bad I put her to bed before I remembered!!!
enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Mom's ?? birthday!!! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

August 17th

So I went out to my new house yesterday and they said we'd be able to close as soon as the 17th of August!!! We can't wait. We have to close within 7 day of then so we'll close around the 23rd or so. Mike needs to finish the house he's working on. I( was jumping up and down.....) just wanted to share the good news!!!