A long day ahead...

Well, as many of you know, we are traveling to San Diego this weekend for Nonnie's (Bill's maternal grandmother) 80th birthday party. It will be good to see his family again, as well as introduce Nonnie to her great-granddaughter! We leave out of Dallas early in the morning, so we are driving over there this evening and bunking with some great friends of ours that are wonderful. (Thanks for letting us crash your place C4 & Joy!!!) So today will be a long day getting the house prepped to leave, as well as finishing up packing.
And now for your baby fix:

She still wants that kitty! And he wants nothing of it...

Wanting to move (I apologize for the shaky camera!)

Until next time, pray we have a safe trip there and back! Love you guys!

Would like to say...

Happy Birthday to Bill's father today!

We Bought a House

House

Deal goes through at the end of this month. After that, lots of work! Will be worth it though.

Here's a picture from today of the princess to tide you over until her mother posts more.

It's been awhile...

Well, life has once again gotten exceptionally busy for us. Bill's job is going well. He has recently been assigned a difficult project and issued a 1 month deadline to solve this problem 10 years in the making. Elise and I spent a week in Amarillo visiting Poppa, Nana, Uncle Nathan, and alot of other friends. We had a great time!! I will post some of those pictures soon. For now you will have to deal with some older ones. I love this dress she is in! (Thanks Lauren and Ryan!)

Hamming it up!

Rest for those who play hard!

Talking with daddy

Talking some more!

Getting Culture - YaY! for Classical music

Trying to get housework done - I wore her out

We are headed to Dallas tonight for a friend's halloween party and another friend's BBQ tomorrow afternoon. She is going as an angel :-) Entirely too cute!! Until next time!

The Thing that lives outside her window...

Recently (the past month or so) I have noticed much more of our surrounding wildlife on the micro level. We have many lizards that live in our yard, such as this one:


We also have alot of butterflies that are attracted to the flowers in one of the flowerbeds. The mosquitos are unfortunately abundant. All of these things, I can live with. It's the spiders that get me. I hate spiders. Especially this one:



This particular spider has migrated from in front of our kitchen window (where it left 4 - count them: 1, 2, 3, 4!! - egg sacs the size of a LARGE grape) to in front of Elise's bedroom window. This sucker is huge!!

Egg Sacs

The pictures really do no justice; she is approxiamately 6 inches behind my thumb to give you an idea. Her body is about the size of a peanut shell. BIG. And did I mention I hate spiders? My rocking chair sits right in front of that window, and when I get up with Elise in the middle of the night it gives me the heebie-jeebies. At least I can see it is still OUTSIDE in the day. Bill looked it up, it is a Black and Yellow Argiope. Like I care what it is... It's alive!

Oh well, on to more pleasant things.

Today I have a baby shower to attend for one of my floor-mates from the good old days of LU. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. This is the first time most of them will have seen my sweet little girl.

One of Bill's old stuffed animals is a frog puppet. She and Bill both enjoy playing with it.

"Oh no!! It's Mr. Froggy!!!"

"Don't lick me Mr. Froggy!"

Her eyes are changing colors... not sure to what yet though. Such rosy cheeks too!

Profile view really shows her cute CHUBBY cheeks off!

Tomorrow I will post some of the MANY new videos we have. I was looking at pictures earlier today from when she first came home through to the present and comparing. She has already grown so much!

What a week...

Well, we have had quite the exciting past few weeks. Last Monday went went to the doctor for her well child 2 month checkup. Everything looked great! She weighed 12lbs12oz and had grown 3 inches (24inches long now!!). Doctor Brown was quite proud (as was mommy!). She got her vaccinations (one oral, 3 shots) and we headeed home. And that is when the fun began.

A couple of hours after getting home, she threw up. And not just a little spit up, projectile-everything-in-her-stomach throwup. This happened a couple of times that day. That night she was running a little fever. I passed it off as side effects of the vaccines. The next day, same thing. Wednesday too. Then suddenly, life was back to normal. YaY!

Until this Saturday. All over again. She is not sleeping well, running fever, throwing up, being generally fussy. So we went to the doctor yesterday (unfortunatly Dr. Brown was out of th eoffice and we had to see another doc) and he ordered chect x-rays (because she had been coughing a little) and a urine culture, suspecting a UTI (urinary tract infection) as the main cause of what was wrong. He started her on some antibiotics and sent us home. We went back today and Dr. Brown ordered another urine test due to some interesting results from the previous days', but this time he wanted it via catheter. Much pain and suffering. After getting the new results back, he ordered a blood test. More pain and suffering, dang nurse had to stick her twice because she didn't do it right the first time!! Made me angry. So, we will see what he has to say tomorrow. And just a quick side note - she weighed in at 13lbs 8oz today! Holy smokes!

Things that I have noticed over the past couple of weeks:

She has discovered her hands. They are constantly in her mouth, being chewed, sucked, or licked. It annoys me. Why can't she just accept and like the pacifier like other "normal" children. Oh well, at least I can never forget them at home...

She likes faces, especially mine. She will smile in response to you, and sometimes (if she knows you) will reward you with her "pre-laugh," as I have come to call that specific coo.

She already knows she can play me like a fiddle. Today at bible study she was getting fussy and one of the other ladies took her out in the hall. They had a great time, talking, looking out the window, etc. When I came out and she heard my voice, on came the waterworks. How early she learned about those crocodile tears!

Bath time, ah, bath time! What can I say? She will one day grow fins! She has graduated from her baby bath tub and into the big one. She loves splashing around in there. I will fill it all the way full and get in with her and she will float and kick. Her favorite by far though is to stand up and walk and run her little legs. I have the cutest video ever of this, but Bill made me promise not to post it. He doesn't want me going to jail. *rolls eyes* We have a digital thermometer that fits over the spout (really neat! thanks mom!) that she loves to look at because it has bright colors for the readouts. She thinks bathtime is playtime, and is rather indignant that it be interuppted to actually get clean. The nerve, honestly!

She loves looking at herself in the mirror. What a little prima-donna! It makes her smile and gurgle and coo, and I love it! I will try to get a video of it someday soon.

Hanging out with Daddy

At least my bandaids match!

Until next time, we bid you all adieu!

More, as per requested :-P

Lots of things having been happening around here... mainly in my head at 4 am when I can't get to sleep!

Elise is doing great! Still growing like a weed. Her little legs are getting so chubby she is getting dimples in them. Her chin has developed a twin that hangs out right behind the original, and her cheeks are just so kissabley fat! For the most part, she is a pretty happy girl. We have settled into - dare I jinx it? - somewhat of a "normal" routine. Eat at ~10:30ish pm, got to bed. Wake up, eat at ~2:30ish am, go to bed. Wake up, eat at ~6:30ish am, go to bed. Wake up, eat at ~9:30ish am. Play. Watch mobile, read a book, tummy time, bouncy seat, swing - all these fall into the "Play" category. Take a nap ~11:30ish. Wake up in an hour and repeat until night. For the most part, she is happy. Seems as if we are beginning to have a bit of a problem with reflux though. I intend to ask the doctor on Monday what we can do to help make it better. Her poor little guts are still giving her problems from time to time as well, but nothing like it was those first 2-3 weeks.

I can't believe she will be 2 months old tomorrow!!! Just amazing how time flies by when you are looking back on it, and how slow it seems to go sometimes when you are looking forward. Depending on the day, when you are in the present it can be either slow or fast. Talk about relativity.

Random thoughts:

Yesterday when I was cuddling with her after she fell asleep I was thinking that I just wanted to "hug her, and squeeze her, and call her George" so badly, and how sweet it would be when she could hug me back. I can hardly wait!

Her laugh is coming! Today she almost squealed when we were playing.

She abhors tummy time, unless she is on my tummy looking at me. She is progessing well, and can hold her up at 90 degrees for a few minutes at a time. Her little back it getting so strong.

She likes it when her stuffed giraffe and baby doll give her kisses. It makes her grin. She also likes it when daddy makes the giraffe run on her tummy - I think it must tickle a little!

And someday, she will probably hate me for this:

Watching her much beloved mobile:

Well, now that I have made everyone's download take forever, I think I should stop for tonight. Goodnight everyone!

Pretty in Pearls

Well, Friday she was 8 weeks old! I am guessing that she weighs at least eleven and a half pounds by now - she is really chunking up! She sure has grown - I can especially tell when someone else is holding her how much longer she has gotten. We won't know for sure until her two month checkup on Monday the 17th. I am excited to see the real numbers!

We hung out around the house Friday, just playing together. It was a good day. I think I heard the beginnings of her laugh! She is learning to smile, and is just so cute. I keep trying to get them on the camera but they always seem to allude it. Bill picked up the pictures we took at Sears - they were finally ready!

Saturday Bill let me sleep in while he took care of her. It was much needed. I have not been sleeping well for the past week. I toss and turn for an hour or so after she goes to bed (anywhere from 10:30-11:30pm) and then am up with her again 3-5 hours later. Usually not able to get back to sleep after that feeding until after Bill leaves at 7am. Makes for very long days. Saturday afternoon we took a drive up near Diana (about 10 minutes north of Longview). Bill and I have begun to look for a house. We are not quite ready to buy yet, but we are keeping our eyes open in that area. We saw a couple up there that looked interesting.

Today has been a challenging day. I am just plain tired. The crying is starting to grate, and I am obscenely irked that I have not been able to get a good picture of her all day. She looks so cute today, but anytime I get her in a good spot to take a picture all hell breaks loose. So today's picture is her cuteness + screaming. :-/

One of my other favorite outfits (courtesy of her Great Aunt Royann) that she wore Saturday




Looking at her angels


Pretty in Pearls, screaming


Pretty in Pearls, take 2

I really wish I could post some video files, so you could see her playing in her bouncy seat, watching her mobile, etc. She just looks and sounds so adorable and I am sorry you guys are missing out on it!

The things we get roped into...

Today Elise and I, along with one other worker, babysat fifteen 2-5 year olds for three hours. These were the children of the participants of one of Longview's Mommy League.

And those of you who know me are thinking "What??! Her? Did she go mad?" See, I'm not exactly a kid person. Don't get me wrong, I love mine as well as a few other select children (mainly the Owen kids). But just children in general? No way. Somehow I got roped into it. Oh well. Never *hopefully* again!

It seems like all we did was run today from one place to another. Made for a hard day, on both of us. She did not get a good nap in until this evening when I left her and Bill at home to attend a "Sign Language for Babies" course with a good friend of mine and her sister. Bill is skeptical about the side effects of doing sign language, but I think it's a great idea and am determined to use it to communicate with her when she gets a little bit older. It makes perfect sense to me.

And now, what you all have been waiting for (sorry about the red-eye, I have not figured out how to get rid of it yet):

A new outfit


Hamming for the camera


Me and Mommy

Today...

we bummed, and it was great fun. We played together all day, in between naps and eating. It was a great day to be a bum, all rainy and gross outside. She smiled so much today it was unbelievable!

Swinging in the swing


Those pesky hands! How do they do that?!


Help! I can't see!