5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 year

Exactly one year ago today (September 19th), my dad was in town helping us paint and put up a new ceiling in the living room. I left the boys to work and I went to see Jill to get highlights and a haircut. On the way home, I bought a $10 test at Albertson's, walked in the front door, and went straight back to the bathroom. After seeing the results of that test, I stopped painting for the rest of the weekend. And one year later, I have the sweetest 3 and 1/2 month old baby girl.

Friday Funny

"You won't remember how it started with us, the things I know about you that you don't even know about yourself. We won't come back here."

Wordless Wednesday

Flashback Friday

Hardin-Simmons graduation - December 2006

Rain, rain, go away

As many of you know (or maybe you don't -- who is even reading this thing anyways??)...sorry, I digress. As many of you know, I have a serious red cart romance with a happy little place called Target. I mean really though, who doesn't share in this romance with me?? Going to Target with a baby is a COM-PLETE-LY different experience than what I am used to. Let's start from the beginning...In the beginning, God created the...oh no, let's not go that far back...let's go back to Tuesday. I really wanted to go to Target on Tuesday to stock up on necessities like mascara and Happy Cola (oh yeah, groceries too). It rained and rained and rained on Tuesday and Wednesday. In my previous life, the rain would have never stood between me and my beloved Target. In my new baby life, the rain stands between me and just about everything. At some point yesterday afternoon though, the rain let up, the sun came out, and all was right with the world. So I packed it up and off we went to Target (first, I checked the hourly forecast via weather.com and they assured me there would be no more rain until around 10:00pm. You lie weather.com, you lie). The second I pulled into the parking spot, it started to sprinkle. Ugh, whyyyyyy?!?!? I was prepared though, I had brought an umbrella. Big whoop. When the rain is blowing in from the side, the umbrella doesn't offer much. I opted to use the Ergo instead of the carseat, thinking that I could shield Caroline from the rain better if I was wearing her. We made it in and were ready to roll. First stop, PJ's. Caroline has finally outgrown her newborn PJ's and is ready to move up a size. As I was browsing the PJ selection, I began to notice that she was getting very squirmy. Then in a moment of pure insanity I thought to myself, "Self, maybe I should just run back out and switch her into the carseat where she can stretch out a little more while I finish shopping." I ditched the PJ's (I would later go back and get them) and headed back out to the car. Just as I was about to open the door, the sky opened up and the rains came down. We were both getting soaked. I am usually pretty agile with the Ergo but to an outsider looking at me trying to get it unhooked in all my rain-stricken panic, I must have looked like a lunatic. Once I got her out and in the carseat, she was happy as a clam -- a wet clam -- but a happy clam. Then BACK in the store we went. In my previous life, I always had my list, pen, and calculator ready to go. In my baby life, I am struggling to just FIND the list and remember what aisle each item is on. I must have looked like pacman the way I was zig zagging around and going back to aisles I had already been on 3 times. I had just about gotten everything, when Jason called to say he was on his way to meet up with us because there was a tornado in the area. Grrrreat. Then just as I hung up the phone, they announced on the intercom that a tornado warning had been issued for the area and that everyone had to move to the back of the store until given the all clear. They closed all the check-out lanes and we waited. Jason got there a few minutes later and took Caroline out of her carseat (she had been a pretty good sport up until this point but she was starting to get tired of the view from the carseat). He walked around with her for a while and I finished getting a few things. At this point I had no idea how long this was going to last so naturally I opened up a box of Goldfish from the $1 spot aisle and started snacking. If you have to be stranded somewhere during a tornado, the $1 spot aisle just about has you covered. A few minutes later they announced that we could check out and leave. As I would later find out, there was a tornado in the area but thankfully it wasn't TOO close to us. The end.

Giggle

Wordless Wednesday

Top 10 (or the first 10 things that come to mind)

1. Caroline & I returned from Abilene yesterday. We went to Abilene to celebrate what would have been my brother's 29th birthday. Caroline was happy to see her Papaw, Mimi, Auntie Hannah, and other family & friends. What she was not so happy about though, was riding in the car...and boy did she let me know it.

2. I am a new member of the MOPS group at our church and our first meeting was today. It was great and I'm so glad to be a part of such a wonderful group of ladies. I am really looking forward to our meetings and socials this fall. Thank you Heather for all of your hard work!

3. It has been raining all day. I did not even KNOW it was supposed to rain today. If you know me well, you know this is shocking because I pride myself on knowing the most up-to-date weather forecast for wherever I am. So you can imagine my surprise this morning when I woke up to the sweet September rain...which is not so sweet when you combine it with 8:30am traffic & accidents on 635. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

4. Most TV shows will have a Fall premiere in a couple of weeks. I am still catching myself up on Glee. I've noticed that FOX has kicked it into overdrive and they are now showing 2 episodes every Tuesday night. Hopefully this will get me completely caught up by premiere night. Weeeeeee!

5. My 27th birthday is 1 month from today.

6. My birthday brings: cooler weather, football, pumpkins, and falling leaves. Mmmmm....

7. Caroline is taking her last nap of the day which is why I have time to write this silly list.

8. Caroline is the cutest, sweetest, snuggliest, bestest baby in the whole wide world! ;)

9. She is even cute at 3:00am when she wakes up to eat.

10. I am craving tacos for dinner and I really want to try this new place on Mockingbird. Baja tacos...mmmmm.....

Friday Funny

3 months

2 months

*I'm terrible and forgot to take the 1 month picture. WAH WAH.

Wordless Wednesday

Forever and a day, always

The other day you asked me to
Tell you how much I love you
Oh but words so often fail
To describe the depth and scale
And even though it may sound cliche
I'll tell you now in my simple way




My love is as true as the oceans are blue
And I'll always feel this way
Just listen to the beating that keeps repeating
My heart wants to say
Like Gala and Dali, it's you and me
Forever and a day
Forever and a day, always


You watch me turn out the light
Wrap my arms around you
Say good night
Trace our shadows on the wall
Thank God for the miracle of it all

My love is as true as the oceans are blue
And I'll always feel this way
Just listen to the beating that keeps repeating
My heart wants to say
Like Gala and Dali, it's you and me
Forever and a day
Forever and a day, always

The road of life winds
With the passing of time
I can hear you say
"How can hearts know where love will go beyond today?"


Just listen to the beating that keeps repeating
My heart wants to say
Like Gala and Dali, it's you and me
Forever and a day
Forever and a day, always

Checking In

Just writing to let you all know I have NOT given up on blogging (or running) but both have been put on hold this week while I'm at work. I am EX-HAUS-TED. All I can manage to do when I get home is play with Caroline and sniff her head, take a shower, and go to bed. I am SO SO SO thankful that my maternity leave starts on Monday. So I'll get back with ya next week.......

Until then, a sweet picture of my little bathtub baby.

Flashback Friday

Me & my brother - Christmas 2005

It's H-O-T!

Wordless Wednesday

Catalog Living

If you have a *weird sense of humor like me, you will really enjoy this little gem. You can thank me later with a chocolate cupcake. And a glass of 2% milk.

*Why is this word spelled this way??? Does this keep anybody else up at night?? "I before E except after C" -- not "I before E except after W". Ugh.

Update

I just started week 5 (9 weeks total) of the Couch to 5K program. Here's me in my former life as a spud.

Holy moly. It makes me tired to even write about it. But the good news is that I've stuck with it and I haven't passed out one single time. These made a big difference starting in week 3.

Before wearing them, I was having some wicked knee pain during/after every run. I was so discouraged. Thank you Run On for hookin' me up.

Flashback Friday

Eating lunch w/ Hannah - sometime in 2005

Wordless Wednesday

Daddy Doodie

This is what happens when I go to the gym and leave Caroline alone with her Dad...

Apparently, she had a blow-out. He did make it a point to mention that he was not the one that put the diaper on. ;)

2 months

Snot Happens

We are on day 3 of a snotty nose. This has been our saving grace:

along with this:

I never imagined that a snotty nose and an elevated temperature could make me so sick to my stomach...but it did. Anyways, back to the snotsucker. Who knew that hearing AND seeing the mucus come out could be so gratifying?? It truly is. You must try it for yourself to fully understand. Thankfully, the snot faucet seems to have turned to more of a drip and her temp is down to normal.

Get Out Of My Head

It's a pillow. It's a pet. It's a pillow pet. I cannot get this dang jingle out of my head. Anybody else?? No? Okay.

Flashback Friday

Rangers Game - 2005

Hair, Hair Everywhere

If any of the following applies to you, please read on: you have long hair, you have a dog, you have hardwood and/or tile floors, or you want to come clean my house. Between my constant hair shedding and Boone's constant hair shedding, we accumulate quite the mess of hair balls and dust all over the house. One would think that a short-haired dog would not shed (or that it would be minimal) but then one would be so, so wrong. The only carpet in the house is in our closet which leaves alot of square footage that is wood or tile. So, I'm reaching out to you fellow bloggers and/or readers of blogs -- what has worked for you in hard floor cleaning? My current regimen consists of a broom, a canister vac, a dustbuster, Swiffer WetJet, and Mop & Glo. I am desperate for a little shake up in this routine. Let me hear ya...

Wordless Wednesday

My Oh My

I am still thinking about things in terms of weeks. As in, baby Caroline is 8 weeks old today. The other night at a MOPS dinner, someone said "Oh, your baby is 2 months old, right?" and I found myself saying, "No, she's almost 8 weeks...oh wait, yeah, I guess that is pretty much 2 months". I know everybody says it so I'll just join 'em...how DOES it go by so fast??? Some of my favorite things that we're seeing alot of these days: bright eyes, gummy smiles, less poopy diapers, regularity (sleeping, eating, etc.), cooing, gurgling, laughing, and neck strength. She is beautifully and wonderfully made. We are so lucky to be her parents.

We've had a few days of random rainfall here. Thankfully we don't get out too much so we haven't gotten soaked. Boone does NOT like thunder. He barks at it with his biggest big boy bark. Caroline is not a fan of his biggest big boy bark. Did you know that a baby's scream registers the same as a jackhammer? 130 decibels. Well, now you know.

Flashback Friday

My Birth Announcement - 1983

Care-o-lion

Our pediatrician got us on this kick of calling Caroline, "Care-o-lion". Her daughter's middle name is Caroline and her son says "Care-o-lion". It stuck and now we say it all the time -- usually followed by a little "roar". So, I was really excited to find a lion Pacimal at Kids Village. Initially, the pink Pacimals caught my eye (pig, bear, etc) but when I spotted this cutie, I knew it was meant to be!

Wordless Wednesday

Abilene

We just returned from Caroline's first overnight trip to Abilene. Visiting with family is always good for the soul and it was good to visit with friends too. Here are some pictures...enjoy!

Couch to 5K

I hate running. But in running's defense...it requires very little gear and I can do it with baby girl in tow. So, I have started this 9-week program called Couch to 5K. I have pretty much been on the couch or in bed for the past 6 weeks...and several weeks before that too! So, the name is quite fitting I think.


I am going to try this along with some Pilates & Yoga classes at LA Fitness. I have just completed week 1 and so far, so good. To keep track of my distance, I am running on the track at the high school. I have to run pretty early in the day before it gets to be a zillion degrees outside. My goal is to do it straight through in 9 weeks. Then I will try to actually run a 5K in October. I guess I am making this public in hopes that someone will ask me how it's going...and if I've given up...then I'll feel like a bum...or lie to them. And I don't want to feel like a bum or lie! So wish me luck...I'm gonna need it!

Flashback Friday

Baby Boone - Spring 2005

Prophesy

Remember this dream...? While not 100% sure, I'm pretty sure this child DOES have red hair along with her big blue eyes. (Disclaimer: She doesn't quite have enough hair yet to be sure) Don't worry, I'll keep you posted!

Wordless Wednesday

TV

My little sister is 8 years old so she keeps me up to speed with what is going on in kid world, including what's on TV for kids. After watching TV with her...wow...there is some crazy stuff out there. I realize that makes me sound old. I don't care. By the way, here is a super cute picture of my little sister holding Caroline.

So anyways, back to TV. Right now, Caroline pretty much just watches what we watch (or at least hears what we watch). This mostly includes Rangers games, channel 8 news, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Caroline Manzo is her favorite character, obviously). As for later on in life, I really want her to watch the same cartoons and shows that we watched growing up. Here are some that I loved to watch...I wonder how many of these actually still come on TV??

• Looney Tunes
• Tom & Jerry
• Scooby Doo
• Sesame Street
• Fraggle Rock
• The Jetson's
• The Flintstone's
• Care Bears
• My Little Pony
• Berenstein Bears
• Punky Brewster
• Full House

If you are a child of the 80's like me...what were some of your favorites?

GO RANGERS!

When you have a newborn baby, you spend quite a bit of time at the house. Lucky for us, the Rangers play on TV almost every night and we really enjoy watching the Rangers play -- and win! We're going to take Miss Caroline to her first game in a couple months -- hopefully on $1 hotdog night :)