Stephanie and Micah: the blog(spot)

15 months

2011-09-16T13:29:00.003-05:00

Kaitlyn is now 15 months old. She is in the "pre-toddler" phase according to Baby Wise (toddler starts at 18 months).

We went to see Dr. Nesmith yesterday for her check-up.

Her height is 30 3/4 inches (about 50th percentile.) He told me she will be 5' 6" when she is older (same as mommy!) I didn't realize that they could tell this young.

Her weight is 23.7 lbs (about 75th percentile.) He was not concerned about her still being chunky since she has leveled out in her weight gain.

Her head is 46 1/2 inches (don't know that percentile, but I think it's normal.)

She had the best looking ears all day (no ear infections- praise God!)

He was impressed with her talking and said that is the earliest sign of intelligence and good school performance. I hope so! I started counting her words that she uses on her own, in context, and got up to about 162 words (divided in categories of people, actions, things, body parts, clothing, common phrases etc.). I'm so pleased with her vocabulary, and it is nice that I can understand what she wants most of the time.

She got 2 shots, including the flu shot. So far no reaction.

We also discussed dropping a nap (he was surprised she was still napping twice). He does not think the reactions she has had (mucus in stool and excess drainage) are due to peanut allergies, but it does seem she has seasonal allergies.

Both my doctor and a respected nutritionist (who works at MD Anderson) said that organic foods don't have better nutritional value than regular foods. I've been giving Kaitlyn organic milk and yogurt since she was 12 months. Dr. Nesmith said if it makes me sleep better at night, to continue the organic, but it's not necessarily better for her. There is still a small chance of getting the growth hormone in the regular milk, so I'll stick to organic as long as I feel we can afford it (but just with dairy- the dietician said there is absolutely no difference between organic and regular produce if you wash it thoroughly.)

I need to switch Kaitlyn to a sippy cup with her milk. She has used a sippy cup for water for some time now (and only takes a few sips throughout the day). My concern is that she will not get the required milk or hydration that she needs. Nesmith said that is probably true, but just be sure she is getting yogurt, vitamins and try giving her the milk in the sippy cup in the morning and before bed.

Kaitlyn is trying to drop a nap (or rather just crying before both naps.) Due to her not getting a morning nap on Sundays for church, Mondays for Mother's Day Out, and Wednesdays for NESTS, it's probably about time that we drop the morning nap anyway and stop fighting it. Sad day for mom. I will try to institute a "crib time" with toys, books, puzzles etc., to see if she can entertain herself for about an hour while I'm preparing for the day.

Currently, Kaitlyn's favorite people in the world are JT (one of our friends in our church group), Hunter (her cousin, pictured below), and Aniyah.

We took Hunter to Ninfa's for quesadillas in order to celebrate his second birthday. We missed it due to being at a wedding last weekend, but I hear the monkey party was fun!
Kaitlyn loves to be outside and seems happier out there. Thankfully, it's getting a bit cooler (mid 90's, not 110 in the day).
This was taken at the doctor's office before her appointment yesterday.

Other thoughts on Kaitlyn at 15 months:

- She seems to be an extrovert- loves people, but definitely prefers mommy at this stage.

- she is strong-willed and already saying "No" when she doesn't want to do something. (I thought that wasn't supposed to start until 2!)

- she's a quality time person and enjoys other people (Daddy, Mamaw etc.) if she spends one-on-one time with them.

- She loves her baby. It was my baby Lindsey when I was little. She prefers her naked. She has just started sleeping with her.

- She enjoys playing at Mother's Day Out and NESTS with the other kids, yet is still not sleeping well at MDO.

- She loves books and would be content to sit and read books together for hours.

- She is still quite the lady who crosses her ankles when she sits.

- If I ever sit down for lunch and forget to pray, she interrupts me by saying "AMEN!" Love it.

Go Texans!

2011-09-13T14:04:00.003-05:00

For Micah's birthday, I decided it would be fun to take him to a Texan's game. Since we were already in the Houston area for a wedding last weekend, and my mom would be in town to babysit, we decided to go last Sunday. It was a lot of fun! We were at the tippy top of the stands in the only 2 seats I could find together (for a reasonable price) on the 3 websites I searched. We met some friends pre-game for tailgating. Next time I go to a game, I'm going to bring my noise canceling headphones, like the little boy sitting in front of us had. Micah seemed to enjoy it, although he did say that he might take one of his guy friends the next time he goes since he thinks they will be more enthusiastic (I almost fell asleep at halftime due to lack of sleep the previous 2 nights- the Aggie band was playing- what can I say?)

Ashlyn's Wedding

2011-09-13T13:51:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Ashlyn and Ted Baker, newlyweds. After several years of dating, they finally tied the knot this past weekend on 9/10/11 (kind of a cool date.) They were married in the newly built St. Mary's Catholic church in Texas City. It was a beautiful church!

Since Ashlyn is one of the "great 8" (my group of best friends from high school), I knew several of the bridesmaids.
The reception was at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Quite a fancy place! It was the best dinner I've ever eaten at a wedding (prime rib, red snapper, salad, rolls, asparagus, potatoes, fruit smoothie dessert.) The groom's cake was excellent. The after party at Ashlyn's parent's suite was a lot of fun as well.
Here is a picture of Kathy and Ben Trick. She and I have been very close friends since 2nd grade. Her mom, Karen, is on the left.
Ashlyn preferred that children not attend the wedding/ reception, but since we were from out of town, she made an exception. There were other children of family members present as well. Kaitlyn skipped the wedding, but did attend a large portion of the reception. She got her groove on on the dance floor, which was hilarious! Thank you Mamaw, for helping to watch Kaitlyn so we could enjoy the wedding and reception.

NESTS

2011-09-07T12:46:00.003-05:00

Our church does a mom's ministry twice monthly called "nests." It is a place where you can come, be encouraged in the word, and be mentored by "seasoned" mothers. They provide childcare for your children so that you can focus and participate for 3 hours without distractions. Last year, I was unable to be a part of Nests because I worked on Mondays and Wednesdays and they meeton Wednesdays.

I'm very grateful to be involved this year. We had our first meeting today and it was so good. The brunch was excellent and it gives Kaitlyn time to interact and play with other children (in addition to Sunday morning and Monday parents-day-out). Our speaker today, Rachel Lee, a "famous" blogger, had a good message: (Her blog is http://inspiredtoaction.com/)

Rachel's first point is to know that you are a good mom. You love your children well. You are giving your all. Stop comparing yourself to others. You are the perfect mother for the children God gave you.

Then she listed some tools to help transform your perspective on being a mom:

1. Don't look at life too closely (as if looking through a microscope) or you will miss the beauty of it. Make a "Mom" mission statement. What is your purpose in mothering your children? What is your long-term goal? Look at the end from the beginning and decide where you are heading with your children.

2. Have smaller goals that are tied into that mission statement. What is my goal for Kaitlyn in this season of life? I certainly want her to be able to communicate. I want her to interact with other children well. I want her to learn how to obey us.

3. Change your circumstances. She recommended reading the book "1000 Gifts," which teaches you to be thankful in all situations, even when doing mundane tasks such as the laundry. Learn to embrace the moments. Remember that sometimes the days are long, but the years are short.

4. Stay inspired by resting. Get sleep! Allow for regular retreats (either 2 hours at a coffee shop one evening or maybe a yearly retreat with other moms). Nothing inspires you when you are weary, so don't stay in that place.

5. We will only stay truly inspired to parent well if we make Jesus central in our homes. He is the source of life, joy and peace. Give him your "loaves and fish" (whatever time you have, even if it's just a few minutes) and trust Him to multiply that time.

Be excited about being a mom! You are the most important person in the world to your children. Then she shared this video that Taylor Swift made for her mom. A real tear jerker, for sure!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtA3H_aDris

Autism

2011-09-07T12:33:00.002-05:00

After working with children with Autism for years, it is a disorder that is very near and dear to my heart. I often ask the Lord- Why? Why is it so prevalent? Why does it seem to be increasing? There are many questions about it that are left unanswered. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what Autism is, it's "A mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, and in using language and abstract concepts".

The children I treated with Autism were unusual, had behavior problems, social disorders, and were extremely behind in their language skills (specifically receptive language).

I was reading in my Speech Pathology journal (yes, I now actually have time to read!) this week, and they have some new research on Autism. In a study that appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry (of more than 1800 children, 300 of whom had ASD) they found that children whose mothers use antidepressants during pregnancy have a greater risk for having a child with Autism.

Those who took antidepressants in the year before giving birth were twice as likely as the average person to have an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disordered) child. Those who took the prescription drugs during the first trimester were four times as likely to have a child with ASD.

This is not written to make anyone feel guilty if you do take antidepressants, but it is something that I felt compelled to pass on once I read it.

To read the complete article, go to http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/archgenpsychiatry.2011.73

Ducks and Zoo

2011-09-06T14:27:00.003-05:00

We took advantage of this beautiful, cool pre-fall morning and went to Cameron Park. First, we fed the ducks (Kaitlyn's favorite animal!) Then we went to the zoo. It was a perfect day for both!

Eating lunch at the zoo.

Katie watching the turtles
Kaitlyn and the lion (with glass between them, thank goodness!)
Oh the ducks! the ducks! She gets so excited about the ducks. They are sort of mean animals. One of them came up to us and stuck his tongue out like he was going to hurt us or something.

I'm praying that the 100 degree days are far behind us and we can move towards more comfortable temperatures. I've noticed that people are in better moods when it isn't so darn hot outside- me included!

The Whinies

2011-09-06T08:48:00.002-05:00

Before you start to think that I think my daughter is perfect, read this post. I mean, I love her to death and wouldn't trade her for the world, but this new phase she is going through is very trying for me. I feel like we are hitting the terrible two's early or something.

Kaitlyn whines- and the sound is cacophony to my ears. She's incredibly loud and demanding. She says the same word(s) over and over again for what she wants and expects me to give it to her immediately. Some days, I feel like I've created a monster! At least she is able to express what she wants (I would say about 90% of the time, which is quite impressive for her age), but we need to learn a few new lessons:

1. how to shhhh and talk in a reasonable volume.

2. how to be patient if what she wants cannot be given right away

3. that repeating the same word over and over does not always get results.

4. that mommy loses patience when the whining begins and discipline may ensue.

I'm getting nervous about the plane ride to North Carolina. Her first time on a plane. Hope the fellow passengers don't hate us by the time it's all over!

Okay- I feel better just getting that out. I don't want to use this blog to point out all of Kaitlyn's faults, but the truth is that sometimes parenting is hard and frustrating and that's all there is to it!

Cousin Pics- Round 2

2011-08-30T22:38:00.007-05:00

We went to take cousin pics again this year at Joyce's request. We got a lot more individual pictures of Kaitlyn and my nephews. We went to Innovations (in the Central Texas Marketplace) and had a much better experience than we did at Sears last year. Here are some of the best ones.

Kaitlyn looks much cuter this year- not so sure about me. I am quite a bit thinner (although I'm not sure you can tell because somehow the lady made my face look thin last year) and my hair looks lighter.
Notice my toe at the bottom of the picture. They chopped it out of the ones we took home!

I would never let her get on a motorcycle in real life, but she really wanted to ride this one.
Since Micah loves football, I thought it would be fun to have Katie pose with a football. It turned out a bit strange, but she's still cute.
Cousin picture with Caleb (5) and Hunter (23 months)- see below for last year's picture.
Ducks are her absolute favorite animal right now.
Had Kaitlyn stayed more centered, this would have been a better shot. If only one-year olds did exactly what you asked them to do!

This was our pose from last year. Kaitlyn has changed quite a bit!

She was just learning to smile and did not smile for the picture. In looking back over our blog for this post, I posted on 8/30 of last year- kinda fun.

Birthday pics

2011-08-30T22:29:00.004-05:00

We celebrated Kaitlyn's first birthday party on 6/11 with a small party for family and friends at the house. We had a "princess" theme.

On her actual birthday (6/14), I let her watch a DVD for the first time. She was interested for about 1.7 minutes, and then went on to play with her toys. I figure we'll try again in a few months.
Grammy dropped by a few extra birthday presents on her actual birthday.
Here, she is practicing being a princess before the party.

It's amazing how much she has changed in just a year. Doesn't even look like the same baby. What a wonderful year it has been!

Visiting Louisiana- July

2011-08-30T22:13:00.004-05:00

In mid-July, we decided to make a trip to Louisiana to specifically see Momo (since my parents would be coming to Waco the following week). It's so nice to be able to travel for a week and not to have to ask anyone for time off from work! After looking at the calendar through the end of the year, we discovered that our only other free weekend was Labor Day weekend, and since we were traveling all the weekends around that weekend, we thought July would be best. Kaitlyn was a little ham and showed off for Momo and Papa. We stayed with them 3 nights and with Mamaw & Granddad three nights.Playing "Baby" with Mamaw
Saying "hi" to Papa- she literally did this about 1000 times!

Train ride with Momo. Highlight of the trip for Mo.
Sitting with Momo

She loved seeing the cows and going on adventures with Granddad.
We got to see several cousins who were also in Alexandria at the same time. Momo was on cloud 9!
Isn't it beautiful? One of my favorite places in the world.
This was at a casino in Marksville. Glamour girl.

It was a fun, relaxed trip. I'm glad Kaitlyn gets to enjoy her grandparents and great-grandparents. What a blessing!

Daily Schedule

2011-08-30T14:42:00.002-05:00

So I've been asked by my high school friends what I do all day as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom). Well, I don't get bored, I can tell you that! It depends on the day, but usually we go walking, and do another outing that day (mall, museum, zoo if it's not too hot, visit friends, splash park, library). Kaitlyn is still napping twice at 9 and 1. She is now napping with "baby" (my baby Lindsey from when I was little).

For structured playtime, we read books, work with letters on the fridge, play with potato head and work on body parts, identify vocabulary around the room, play outside, sing appropriate songs (wheels on bus, old mcdonald), or just try to carry on a conversation. I know that is difficult for Kaitlyn's age, but she is really talking well. She has a great vocabulary, but still has difficulty pronouncing many words, (nack/ snack, dough/ go, uh/ up) which is totally normal. She has already said a few 4-word sentences, "I sit in chair, I need a nack (snack). " I know- I can't believe it either!

Sometimes, we just stay home, I get the dishes, laundry, house cleaning done. We go to the grocery store usually on Mondays. It is just nice to have the weekends free to have fun, spend time as a family and to be able to do the house stuff during the week. Kaitlyn has her own vacuum cleaner and broom/ dustpan in order to "help" me clean.

I am often asked if I miss work. I do miss some of the children and families I worked with. I do miss my co-workers (and go visit them fairly often). I certainly did enjoy my profession and intend to get back to it at some point, but no- I do not miss it overall. I am absolutely sure that right now, I am supposed to stay home with Kaitlyn and there is no place I would rather be. There is a certain freedom that you experience when you feel like you are in the center of God's will for your life- whatever that place may be.

Hunter and Kaitlyn

2011-08-30T14:31:00.003-05:00

Here are some cousin photos from when we kept Hunter 6/18 thru 7/3. I'm going to slowly get caught up on the blog now that our I-Photo is working again. I also have some new blogging ideas, so stay tuned! (Hopefully we haven't totally lost our audience by not posting in 3 months!)

We implemented book time in order to allow me to cook dinner. It worked well and contained them temporarily!

I don't recommend grocery shopping with two toddlers without lots of snacks. They did okay until the check-out line.
Awe- how sweet. Not too many of these moments, so I thought I would capture it!
This was the camel in the Egypt portion of the Mayborn museum. Grammy is behind them, so don't worry!

Update

2011-08-11T10:19:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been forever since I've updated our blog. Our computer crashed a while back when trying to upload a ton of pictures from our vacation. Then we got busy! It's catch up time-

Kaitlyn's princess birthday party on 6/11 was a success. Unfortunately several of her little friends were out of town, but at her age, she doesn't notice yet, so that's good! She loved being the center of attention. We had family come in from Austin and Louisiana to attend.

For two weeks in June, I watched my nephew, Hunter, while Joshua and Melissa were on a mission trip. It was lots of fun and quite challenging at times (two take much more time, effort and patience than one!). Overall, he adjusted very well considering his parents were out of the country. Kaitlyn enjoyed having "Hunta" with us and learned her first three word sentence: "No, no Hunta!" There are tons of pictures from our two week adventure together. I'll have to share some of them on the next post.

The third week in July, Kaitlyn and I visited my parents and grandparents in Louisiana. We had a wonderful time, ate well (while still staying in the boundaries of my new "diet"), and most importantly, she got to know them better.

The last week in July, I was scheduled to work at Providence to cover someone's vacation. I got a call the Friday before, saying that it was really slow and they wouldn't need me much. I worked half days and it was fun to see everyone, as well as help a few patients. Providence speech therapy is now fully staffed, so they won't be needing me much other than for help on the weekends. Our weekends are so busy for the rest of the year that I'm not going to be able to help much!

Stay tuned for pictures. Hopefully we haven't lost our readers after not posting in almost 3 months!

11 months

2011-05-16T20:52:00.003-05:00

2 days before turning 11 months, Kaitlyn started walking on her own- with better balance and standing to initiate it. (She had taken a few steps before then, but mostly while falling forward.) She has taken up to about 10 steps now by herself and it's so fun to watch her. I'm not worried about chasing her yet though- she's still faster at crawling.

Kaitlyn is enjoying Sophie more and more. Today she learned how to throw the ball for Sophie. I use the term "throw" loosely, more like drop really. I've been impressed with how gentle Sophie has been with K. Usually schnauzers are not known to be good with children. Sophie's favorite thing to do is to get Kaitlyn up from her nap. I say, "let's go get the baby" and Sophie runs to her room and barks at the door.

Kaitlyn seems to be going through her "attachment" phase again. She cries more when I lay her down for a nap and has been a little more whiney than usual. I'm not sure if it's because she's teething or because I worked all weekend and she doesn't want me out of her sight. When K doesn't get her quality time with mommy she becomes a bit grumpy. At least she is making it through the church service without crying. Kaitlyn is such a "quality time" person- so I think she really likes me being home more. When she spends more time with Micah on the weekends I work, she seems to prefer him more as well.

Speaking of teething, her top 2 teeth are coming in- the one on the right has broken through the the other is trying hard. She's a pretty mild teether- thank goodness! K may have a random night that she wakes up a few times whining, but otherwise, it's mostly hard to tell.

We look forward to taking Kaitlyn on her first (real) vacation this Friday. We are going to Canyon Lake as a family, staying in a time share condo my parents graciously let us use. I'm SOOO excited to get away and have my first vacation (not counting going to a family's home) since October of 2009.

New words include: thank you, diaper, dog (her favorite word), hello, all done and uh-oh (her other fav). She is talking much more than signing these days. When Katie becomes frustrated lately, she has a form of talking that is absolutely hilarious. You can tell she is fussing at you in baby talk. I hope I can get that on video. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get the walking on video yet because it happens so randomly and she's always coming towards me quickly.

In the grocery store, Kaitlyn gets compliments on her "pretty eyes." It seems to be the one thing she didn't get from me or Micah. She has blue eyes, he has hazel and mine are green. I guess the blue eyes were a gift from God based on her mama's prayers!

Kaitlyn continues to be a joyful, peaceful child. She is content much of the time and good at entertaining herself. I realized the other day that sometimes she simply wants a "hug break," and afterwards, she's happy to continue playing with her toys for a bit. (Don't worry- she gets plenty of one-on-one time that is interactive!) Favorite toys now include: any books, hair brush, holding socks/ shoes, ball popper, blocks. For you personality guru's, Micah thinks that Kaitlyn is an ENFP- Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving. It's the only type of extrovert that requires alone time to re-charge. We'll see in a year or two if he's right!

At the Mayborn museum with the Lloyd girls. I couldn't believe K sat in the chair and played tea party for about 5 minutes.
Swimming at aunt Crystal's house. Kaitlyn went swimming for the first time on Mother's Day weekend and loved it!

Kicked Out

2011-05-05T21:03:00.002-05:00

So yesterday, on my first Wednesday off from work, I was called by the office. I was dreading listening to the voice message because I thought they were going to ask me to work for the month of May or something. Anyway, it was the secretary asking me if I had removed all of my personal items from the office. I said "not yet, I was planning on doing it next Friday- which is the next time I work." I knew they had not yet found a replacement, so I thought I had some time to gather my things. She said it would be best if I could do it sooner, so that she could get the room cleaned out. The good news is that they have a traveling therapist coming in June and another full-time who will also start around that same time. I'm so thankful. I knew I was supposed to leave and had to trust God that he would provide a replacement for my therapy clients.

So today, my sweet mother-in-law went with me to watch Kaitlyn while I packed up. I had about 25 textbooks, most of which I haven't opened in the past 7 years. I kept all of my class notes from every undergrad and grad class having to do with speech path. What I thought was going to take me 20 minutes, took about an hour and 1/2, but I did get it down to 2 large rubbermaids, 3 medium sized rubbermaids, and a few bags worth of stuff. So all this work I have done cleaning out our closets is almost counterproductive when I fill it up with this work clutter!

As I left, I gave the office one last look. I spent countless hours in that place with numerous different patients- some of which I loved and others who were more challenging. It's bitter-sweet. I'm very excited about being home more and not being torn between work and Kaitlyn, but at the same time, I'm sad to leave some of the children and families I've grown to love. All in all, I have no complaints about working at Providence hospital. It really was an ideal place to work. I made many friends, helped many patients (or at least I hope that I did) and grew as a therapist there. I'm thankful for the 7 years that I had at Providence and look forward to continuing there on an occasional (PRN) basis.

Joyce Meyer book

2011-05-05T20:56:00.003-05:00

I just finished a book by Joyce Meyer that a started a couple of months ago. I'm proud of myself for finishing a book considering how many I'm in the middle of currently.

Here are main points from the book that I thought I'd share with whoever reads our blog:

1. Eat the cookie- buy the shoes! The cookie is only a symbol for doing something that you like, enjoy and don't feel guilty about it. Don't let the workaholic in your life make you feel guilty either.

(For me, I want to read more, get back into my music, be there for my daughter, possibly write a children's book, learn to stop and smell the roses)

2. If you don't know what you enjoy because you haven't taken the time to enjoy much of anything in your life (this is me apart from vacation)...then start experimenting and find out. You may even have to develop interests, but whatever you need to do, do it and refuse to live w/o celebration.

3. Reward yourself for progress and stop punishing yourself for failure.

4. Learn to lighten up! Don't be so intense about life's problems or challenges. Learn to co-exist with them joyfully, as they aren't going to go away.

5. Celebrate discipline because it is your friend, not your enemy.

6. Discipline yourself to celebrate, because God loves a party!

7. Celebrate you because you are worth it!

8. Celebrate Jesus because He is the absolute greatest and most awesome gift that we have.

Family Fridays

2011-05-05T07:59:00.003-05:00

On Fridays for lunch, a group of moms from our lifegroup get together to either go to the zoo or park. Of this group of 4 couples, we have 7 girls, 1 girl on the way, and 0 boys.

We love our girls, but a couple of us are thinking that maybe it's time to add a little boy or two to the group. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when all these girls are teenagers together?!

Royal Wedding Party

2011-05-05T07:35:00.002-05:00

Last Friday night, I thought it would be fun to host a royal wedding watching party. I recorded 10+ hours of footage on the royal wedding (don't worry, we only watched 4 hours of it!) and invited my closest friends to attend.

We had a 6 course meal that is similar to what the Brits would serve with their afternoon tea. On the menu: tomato basil soup, spinach strawberry salad, chicken salad sandwiches, broccoli quiche, cantaloupe (my addition), chocolate chip scones, and homemade shortbread cookies. We had a variety of teas as well, but most people were too full after all the food to think about tea!

Even the skeptics, who only attended for the food/ fellowship, seemed to have a good time watching the wedding. It was quite an elaborate affair. I was super excited to use my china for the second time ever!

I think that deep down, in every girl's heart, we have a desire to be a princess, like Kate.

Spring Cleaning

2011-05-02T21:37:00.002-05:00

So I'm in my cleaning mood and thought I would take advantage of it. There is something inside of me that just gets thrilled when I throw things away. It sounds weird- but it's true.

I've discovered that I'm a "closet hoarder." Ever since we lived in a 500 square foot apartment with just 1 closet, I learned to stuff closets to the brim. I try not to keep the rest of the house too cluttery (with the exception of the baby toys in the living room), but I sure know how to fill up a closet. The other day, I was at a friend's house and saw her daughter's closet. Everything was neatly organized and the closet was more of a sanctuary for toys/ clothing than it was a stockpile. I realized that something has to change and the skeletons need to come out of my closets (so to speak!) I got started in our master bedroom closet. I just got rid of about 20 outfits and probably need to get rid of another 30 before this is all over. I organized the desk in our room that has been piled high with papers etc. I got rid of 12 shirt boxes that I think I may someday wrap up for someone (although I've used gift bags at Christmas the past few years.)

I've discovered that there are a few things I have trouble parting with: picture frames (I have found about 25 unmatching picture frames that I've kept), and Christian books. As I have discovered some of these books I'm not ready to part with, I've also discovered that for a task-completer, I'm horrible at finishing a book. I'm in the middle of about 10 books that I've started since I've been working full-time (about the past 7 years.) Maybe I should start reading in my spare time instead of getting on facebook, checking e-mail etc..

So far, I have 4 bags of garage sale/ Goodwill items, 5 trash bags of junk that needs to hit the curb, a small pile of items to give to people, and a whole lot more stuff to go through. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed by this process and know I'll feel better on the other side.

I'm trying to remember the rule that if I haven't used it in a year, it's time to get rid of it. I did finally throw away a purse that I haven't used in 20 years.

Easter

2011-04-24T22:33:00.006-05:00

We had a great time celebrating Easter with my family in Louisiana this year. It's my favorite time of the year and the front porch in Moncla is my favorite place to be in the spring.

Kaitlyn was a bit fussy on the ride down (only for about 10 minutes of a 7 hour trip), but who's to blame her- she is just getting over strep throat. On the ride back, we learned our lesson and traded off sitting in the back with her when she wasn't napping and she did great!

Kaitlyn got to see cats and cows for the first time. She heard her first rooster crow. She got to spend time with Mamaw, Granddad, Momo and Papa. "Aunt" Barb seems to be her favorite family member on this visit. She did enjoy going to moo at the cows with Granddad, which made me relieved because she wanted nothing to do with him when my parents were here several weeks ago.

Easter egg hunt in the front yard. Kaitlyn picked up the egg, but didn't get the concept of putting it into the basket. Then she picked up a rock and wanted to play with it.

Kaitlyn's easter bunny and basket. The chocolate candy is for mommy and daddy this year.
Picking out stickers with dad.

Momo bought K a swing for the swing set that's just her size. She loved it! Don't tell her, but we're getting her a swing set for her birthday this year.

Dying easter eggs.

It's hard to bring a 10-month old to a church service, especially at a church that I'm not familiar with the nursery, but I do feel as though we missed something by not attending an Easter service this year. The resurrection of Jesus is the whole point of the Easter holiday after all.

Thank you, Jesus, for the sacrifice you made that all who choose to believe in you may have abundant life!

Home Alone/ Vacation

2011-03-31T23:12:00.003-05:00

So I've found that I'm not a huge fan of being home alone. While it does have its perks (i.e. control over the remote), most of the time, I just miss my hubby! He's away on his second business trip in the past month. This is very unusual for us, because in our 7 years of marriage, there have been very few nights we've been apart, and those were because I went to a conference. How the tables have turned!

It makes me realize that I'm a grown woman and I need to get over not wanting to be alone.

It makes me appreciate what single moms have to do.

When he's gone to Vegas, it also makes me realize how ready I am to take a trip somewhere. I don't think Vegas is ideal for a 9-month old, but surely there is a good, family-friendly place to go that is reasonably priced and within driving distance. I'm trying to plan a May trip and it has been a bit frustrating. My parents offered a week of their time share, so that almost makes endless options of places to go, but very few places that are available for the week I'm wanting to go in May (and it seems the options get less as the date approaches.) I think the fall-back plan is to use my parents' mountain home- which is lovely- and then just do a weekend trip somewhere close by to see something different. That's one of my things with vacation- some people like to re-visit the same place every year for the rest of their lives. Not me. I like to see different things. I'd like to travel to all 50 states and all of the European countries one day.

If we want to use the RCI timeshare week somewhere cool, we need to plan WAY in advance next time. So, instead of planning my May trip, I'm now having to focus on where I really want to go in the summer of 2012. Meanwhile, it's almost April. Maybe we'll get a good last-minute deal?!

OCD

2011-03-31T23:01:00.002-05:00

So, I'm not sure of the exact definition of obsessive compulsive disorder. I have talked about it with my friends in counseling/ psychology and I think it does involve a behavior or thought that inhibits you from just living life because you focus so much on this one thing.

I obsess about these things:

1. wanting my house to appear clean to others (ha ha- notice I didn't say wanting it to be actually clean, although I do get that way when I'm alone in the house.)

2. about my weight. It's always on the forefront of my mind. How to lose weight. That I need to lose weight. The fact that I don't like the way I look post-pregnant (not that it was any better before, so I can't blame Kaitlyn on this one). The fear that this will always be a struggle.

3. Ok this is so silly and Micah has told me 100 times not to worry about this. But I worry that I somehow made Kaitlyn's head crooked. She tended to lay more on the left side of her head initially and now, I feel like her ears aren't even and it's my fault! She's awesome and perfect just the way she is - so this one, I definitely need to let go.

4. Money. Ugh. Constantly thinking about it. Sometimes worrying about it. Always planning with it. God has certainly brought me to a place of faith and trust in Him with my ability to quit my job (and yes, we have plenty to pay our bills and have some extra, so it really doesn't require faith for most people, but it does for me who is used to a large surplus).

Most people pay off their credit card bill monthly (or at least make the minimum payment.) Well, doing it once a month isn't good enough for me. So instead, I pay it off multiple times each month- whatever the balance is- online. So I may make 4 or 5 credit card payments a month because I just can't stand to have a balance on it. I pay bills as soon as they come in the mail instead of waiting until they are due. That has to be OCD right?? Angela, Kathryn...help me out here. Do I need some counseling?!

Words

2011-03-31T22:46:00.002-05:00

When Kaitlyn saw the nurse practitioner last week, I mentioned that I was an SLP. She said another speech-pathologist mom she had kept a huge calendar and wrote down the exact day her child said a word. Well, I'm not that organized about it, but I did decide to make a list of the words she is saying, mainly for my knowledge when I go back and read my blog. I'm not trying to compare her to any other child or brag or anything, but, being an SLP, her ability to speak and communicate is very important to me and a primary area of focus. I'm sure physical therapist moms work on their kids sitting and walking and artsy moms teach their kids art.

I added a word to the list when Kaitlyn used it appropriately in context at least twice. By no means does she usually verbalize or always say the words in repetition after me. But she has said the following words:

up, down, mo/more, mama, dada, cup, ball, dog, hi, bye, book, go, wawa/water, no.

My only concern for poor Kaitlyn when I quit work is all of my speech therapy efforts (that are now spent on about 10 clients) will be focused on her. Poor thing- one day she will clearly say, "Mom, stop with the speech therapy please." I hope she doesn't rebel like I did. My mother would always encourage reading so much that I went the opposite direction and either read what I shouldn't (Babysitter's Club!) or chose not to read at all. I realize that was a mistake on my part looking back, but hindsight is 20-20. I need to start praying against that rebellious spirit in my daughter!

Allergies :(

2011-03-25T08:19:00.003-05:00

We went for Kaitlyn's 9 month check-up yesterday. Her stats are:

Height 28 inches (75th percentile)

Weight 21.4 lbs (85th percentile)

Head 44 1/2 cm (50th percentile)

Since she has had a runny nose for two weeks with no fever, and has some dry skin the doctor feels that she has allergies. This comes as no surprise, but is unfortunate. At this point, we can choose to start her on either Benadryl or Zyrtec. I'm not sure whether to start medication or not.

Here we are at Dr. Nesmith's office.

Kaitlyn and Sophie playing.

This is her current favorite toy. It plays some annoying songs.

Clothes

2011-03-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

So I finally went shopping today for the first time in probably two years. My mom and grandmother have bought me some clothes. I bought a few maternity outfits with gift cards, but this is the first time I went in search for normal clothes for myself. Kaitlyn tagged along and was rather good considering how bored she must have been.

I didn't even know how to navigate Dillard's and which section to look in. I had a $50 Dillard's gift card that did not get spent because I was so frustrated with their selection. They don't seem to have a good variety for people around age 30. They have the teen section and a bunch of old lady stuff. Some of their "designer" stuff is way too expensive for this girl. So needless to say, I had no luck in Dillard's. Maybe I'll go back and buy some shoes there.

Then I went to Express and found several shirts I liked- 2 casual and 2 I could wear to work. They were a bit pricey, but were buy one, get one 1/2 off. I guess I shouldn't worry about cost too much since I shop so rarely and we just got a nice tax return.

I ended up in Penney's. (I know mom- I always said I wouldn't shop there when I grew up!) I'm not even sure if Capri's are still in style since I don't know much about style, but I did get a few pair and another top. I had a $25 gift card to spend there.

I think I'm set for awhile. Mom said we may go shopping when she is here next week, so perhaps I'll find a few more summery clothes and not feel so frumpy.

When I got home, I was in one of my "cleaning moods," which don't come all that often lately, so I must take advantage of it! I took all the maternity stuff out of the closet and put it in the guest room, got rid of about 25 items, and threw a few things away that nobody should be wearing. Maybe I'll get in a spring cleaning mood and get rid of a lot more stuff we don't use or need. Some of the outfits I finally parted with, I realized I had not worn in 6+ years. My friend Lisa would say shame on me for keeping them so long!

9 Months Already?!

2011-03-15T14:22:00.004-05:00

Last night, I calculated that in exactly 1 week, Kaitlyn will be outside my stomach just as long as she was inside. Crazy how much faster the time flies when babies are outside the womb.

Katie Sue was 9 months old yesterday. We don't go to the doctor until next week, so I don't know her stats, other than she's heavy and growing (mostly taller)!

-She wears some 9 month clothes and now is primarily in 12-month clothes.

- She walks well when holding your fingers and is able to walk while pushing her lion and baby stroller around. She is pulling up on everything, and cruising around furniture.

- Kaitlyn is starting to exert that little will of hers. She will occasionally respond to "no," and is starting to understand that when I say "no" she shouldn't smile in return. We are even having to discipline her a little bit (light thump on the hand) to help her know that she is not supposed to eat rocks that are in our ficus tree or Sophie's dog food.

- She is getting better at letting her needs be known through signing and talking. She consistently says "dada, mama, ma (more), ba (ball)" at the appropriate times. She will occasionally say "bye-bye", wa (water), uh (up), boo (book), and hi.

- When she is ready to nurse, she will sign "More" or "milk" and expect a quick response from me. I was asked the other day if she is trying to wean herself, and the answer is no- in fact, just the opposite. She loves her milk and I will probably have some difficulty weaning her in 3 months.

- She is down to 2 naps per day at about 9-10:30 and 1-2:30.

- Kaitlyn is a quick learner and enjoys playing. Her new favorite game is to chase the red ball around the room. Great exercise for my chunky monkey! She's at a fun age, apart from the discipline (which I realize will be ongoing for the rest of her childhood!!)

We babysat Cousins Hunter and Caleb last Saturday so Josh and Melissa could go on a date. We are excited to be keeping Hunter for 2 weeks this summer while they go on a mission trip. He and Kaitlyn are almost exactly 9 months apart.

Look at those luscious lips! Don't think she'll need collagen injections.
Playing with friend, Mariah.
Let me in to get Sophie's food!!!

Big red ball (well worth the $2.50 at Wal-Mart)

4 Weeks Notice

2011-03-10T14:50:00.003-06:00

Last Wednesday, I gave my notice at work to change my status from part-time to PRN, effective 3/30. My boss and supervisor were very supportive and understanding of my decision. While I love my patients, my priorities have just changed in the past 9 months. I never pictured myself as a stay-at-home mom; I always thought I would work full-time. My mother did it and I turned out okay! But as we got pregnant and throughout the pregnancy, we felt more peaceful about me staying on part-time than full-time, although we took a large pay-cut. I think it was a good decision because it helped me to cut down my work caseload significantly, spend plenty of time with Kaitlyn, yet still keep up my professional skills.

I've been back part-time for 6 months now, with my good friend being Kaitlyn's primary caregiver on Mondays and Wednesdays, and my mother-in-law being my back-up when Kaitlyn was sick. I always thought it would get easier dropping her off and going to work. It never did. Now, once I was at work and got focused on the daily tasks, I was fine. I thought it would be the perfect balance of work and staying home- but in a way, I felt like I never could give myself fully to either one. I would feel guilty if I wasn't with Kaitlyn when she was sick. I would feel guilty if I couldn't stay late at work to wrap things up. It was a difficult balance that I'm sure many working mothers deal with all the time.

After giving my notice this past week, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I knew we had made the right decision for our family. Now the plan is for me to be like a substitute therapist- I will not be on a regular schedule (except thru April until they find a replacement and covering 1 weekend a month), and will rather fill in to cover full-time employee's vacations. This will keep my skills up and give me the fulfillment of working, yet only occasionally.

Let me be quick to say that I know not every woman has the option to stay home and many, if given the option would choose not to stay home. We all must do what we feel like is best for our families and for us personally! I am thankful that it is an option for us (although our lifestyles will have to change a bit!) I'm grateful for a supportive husband who is hard-working.

So what now? I get the summer off again (and this time don't have a newborn!) I'm really looking forward to more extended trips to Louisiana to visit my parents and grandparents. I'm also looking forward to having all the holidays off! Yea! I'm trying to think of creative, budget-minded traveling ideas with the family. I like having my priorities in order, and know that when the time comes again (perhaps when Kaitlyn or our youngest is school-age), I can easily find a job in my field. The good thing about a speech pathology degree is that I can use it all the time with my own child!

Favorite Psalm

2011-02-22T01:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight, as I sit her awake after a difficult day, I find comfort in my favorite Psalm (139). I read it again today, like I was reading it for the first time. A few things stood out to me this evening:
1. Before a word is on my tongue the Lord knows it completely (v. 4). He knows everything I have ever said or will ever say. And He still loves me!
2. God is always with me through the presence of the holy spirit. v. 7 says, "Where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence?" I can't. Sometimes I want to run away and hide. I cannot hide from God. He loves me too much to let me hide.
3. God has already written the book of my life before I was even born (v. 16). God saw me in my mother's womb and knew the whole story of my life. It is so nice to be that known by Him. Who says we don't have a personal, loving creator, who is actively involved in our lives (provided we let Him be)?
4. The Lord's thoughts are precious (one translation says "amazing") to me...What He thinks matters, and it should matter more than what anyone else thinks. I want to be right with Him.
5. I'm not so sure about v. 23 that asks God to "Test me and know my anxious thoughts"- but he already knows them. I want to be tested by God and found approved.
6. I trust that God will "lead me in the way everlasting." He will lead me in the right direction as I seek Him. He will be my guide. I don't have to make every decision on my own, or between just me and Micah. God will be our source and strength as we look to Him. I am so thankful for a God who speaks to me, even when I sometimes have a hard time hearing His voice, He is faithful to get through to me somehow.

I love you, Lord. And this Psalm is another proof that you love all of mankind. You are truly amazing.

Signing and Speaking

2011-02-11T22:38:00.000-06:00

   I'm loving the age Kaitlyn is right now. From about 6 months on, it seems like she is learning something new almost weekly I'm so proud of our little princess. She is starting to communicate, and nothing makes her speech-pathologist mommy happier!
   So far, she can wave "hi", sign "more" (which is closer today than the jerky movement she was making when signing "more" over the past couple of weeks), and she seems to imitate "all done."
   Tonight, it was time for her to eat before bed. She started to whine, and I said "do you want to eat?" She signed "Eat" for the first time. Then I used the sign for "milk" and she imitated it! What a smart little cookie. I will take communication any day over whining (which she does from time to time).
   She has been babbling "dada" for awhile. Tonight, she repeated "mama" four times on command, and I even got it on video. It's like music to your ears to hear your child say "Mama." I remember crying several times with my Autistic speech patients who were very delayed in speaking when they finally said "mama" for the first time.

Other updates on Kaitlyn:
Pulling up/ standing: This morning she woke me up at 6:15 and when I looked at the video monitor she was standing up in her bed for the first time. Micah lowered the crib all the way to the bottom before bed tonight. She is also starting to pull up on the coffee table.

Crawling: Katie is finally crawling on all fours rather than just army crawling. It's still kind of awkward and she gets around faster with the army crawl (and can still hold her remotes and purple bottle), so she often still chooses that method.

Toys: As mentioned above, her favorite toys are two remotes that we no longer use and a soft purple toy bottle that comes in a picnic set her Momo gave her. If we let her, she will carry these with her all of her waking hours. Once, I tried to let her sleep with purple bottle, but that was a mistake- instead she rolled around her crib playing with it for an hour.
- We have learning time daily (when I'm home with her) at her high chair after her morning meal. I teach her about 4-5 different toys, use signs to describe them, play tea party, and have her try to differentiate between them. Mainly just playing and building vocabulary at this point.

Sleeping: it seems that it is time to cut a nap. Kaitlyn is still taking 3 naps, which range from 30 mins to 2 hours each, usually averaging about 45 mins to an hour. Hopefully if we cut her down to two naps, they will be a bit longer. She still sleeps at night from 7 PM til about 6 AM.

Teeth: She has her two bottom teeth in (as of about 2 weeks ago.) Kaitlyn seems to be teething again with lots of drooling and a runny nose, but no fussiness this time, so maybe it's just allergies. I hope the poor thing didn't inherit my allergies.

Social: Kaitlyn loves all of her friends! She enjoys interacting with other kids and had the best time meeting a new friend (1-year old) at a baby shower we went to today. Thank you, Lord, for a social kid after working with so many autistic ones.

Kaitlyn continues to be a very good baby. The word the Lord gave to Joyce for her is that she would have a "gentle and forbearing spirit." She does seem very gentle and tender-hearted. I wouldn't trade her for the world!

Here are some recent pictures of Katie Sue.

I love my purple bottle!

Happy Valentine's Day

Oh Baylor!

2011-01-02T20:51:00.000-06:00

Oh Baylor!
These were the words little Aniyah Sealey said on the way home from the game.
To have a good, winning season and end it like that was a bit depressing, but hey, at least we made it to a bowl game. Next year, maybe we can set the goal to actually play in and perhaps even win the bowl game. Thank goodness the game was in Reliant Stadium with a closed roof, or we would have been miserable. The trek into the stadium was already quite wet and miserable.

And yes, this is my Baylor Line jersey from 1999! Never thought I would wear it again. Not sure why I had them put "Queeny" on the back of it instead of my last name. Nobody in college called me that and only two of my high school friends knew me by that name.

Ben and Kathy, my closest friend from High School, decided to join us. Ben wanted to wear blue to root for Illinois, but we wouldn't let him. Here he is pouting!

Our good college friends, Angie and Ryan. Ryan got in trouble because he was an umbrella-hog on the way into the game and poor Angie got drenched.

Our good friends (and former housemates), the Sealey's. Aniyah did great at the game!

Mom and Dad drove from Louisiana to Pearland to watch the girls for us (Kaitlyn and Aubree), so that we could enjoy the game without having to deal with fussy little ones. We were grateful! Here they are looking at fish at the hotel.

6 month check-up

2010-12-23T12:19:00.000-06:00

Kaitlyn is 6 months old (well, she was on the 14th). We had her check-up today.
She is 26 3/4 inches long.
She weighs 19.6 lbs (I could have sworn it was over 20 lbs!)
Her head is 43 cm.

She is just getting over Viral Croup, which started on our trip last weekend in Louisiana with a fever (102.3) and a barking cough. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought it was my parents' old dog barking instead of my little girl. It nearly scared us to death!

After a trip to the doctor on Monday, she has been on steroids for inflammation and a cough syrup. We have had a few rough nights, but she is doing better. Thanks to Grammy for putting off her Christmas shopping to watch her for us! Now she just has a congested cough, so the doc gave me a pediatric expectorant. Fun!

The doctor was so impressed with her good, calm nature. He already projects that she will be a good student and an obedient, rule-following child. We'll take it! He attributes it to the calm nature of her parents (ha!). We are thankful all the same, for our sweet little girl and hoping that our next child is not a terror!

In the last month, she has rolled all around the house, become a tummy sleeper, and started eating solid foods. She now has eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas. We are taking things slowly and trying not to introduce too many foods at a time. The doctor said that she is cleared to drink water, but so far, she doesn't seem to enjoy it by itself. Mixed with breastmilk, she's fine with it.

She is vocalizing more, but doesn't seem to be a big talker. She has said "mama" and "dada" and "baba." One day, three times when she saw Micah, she coincidentally said "dada." He claims it to be her first word!

Kaitlyn continues to be a good traveler. She prefers a 6 hour drive to the 7-hour Louisiana drive, but if you get in the back seat with her and entertain her, she will make it the final hour.

Kaitlyn is now breastfeeding 3x/ day and eating twice per day. She sleeps from 7 pm til between 6-7 AM. We still have trouble with her taking consistently longer naps. She tends to wake at the 45-minute mark. The doctor recommended having her try to take a longer second nap by allowing her to cry a bit to see if she will put herself back to sleep. I'll try that when she is feeling better. Making her room darker has seemed to help some. Once her second nap is consistently longer, then we will likely drop the late afternoon nap.

She enjoys books. We read her storybook Bible every morning and multiple other books throughout the day. This week, we have been reading the Night Before Christmas book she got from Mamaw.

Here she is at the doctor's office today.

Church Pics

2010-12-21T12:59:00.000-06:00

I was hoping these would come in by Christmas and they did! Too bad they didn't get here at this time last week, so we could have brought them to Louisiana.

I think Kaitlyn is much more photogenic than her mother!

Thankful

2010-12-03T09:41:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, our pastor challenged us to set our phones/ watches for every hour, and to take a minute to ATL- Acknowledge God's presence, be Thankful, and Listen to His voice. So from 6 AM until 10 PM, our phones go off on the hour to remind us to do so. It has been a challenge, but it has helped me to focus on the Lord more throughout the day. So often, I spend time with Him in the morning through prayer and Bible study, and then as the day goes on, drift further and further away from the sound of His voice.
Usually, at Thanksgiving I spend at least an hour journaling about all of the things that I am thankful for. I will give you the 3 minute version:
I am thankful that I am a child of God- that He loves me, cares deeply for me, and wants to be actively involved in my life. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I were not a Christian.
I am thankful to be a wife of an awesome husband- who provides for us, who is encouraging, and who I love deeply. I am thankful that he is also my best friend.
I am so grateful to be a mommy. Kaitlyn is such a joy and has been long anticipated. She is a miracle!
I am thankful for our extended family- parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins etc. We are loved. We have been provided for.
I am thankful for the friendships God has blessed me with- from my best friend of 22 years, to some of my closest friends in our church group now. Being an only child, friendships have been really important to me throughout my life.
I am thankful for God's provision through our jobs. That we both enjoy what we do and that we both like to help people. We have never been without food, shelter, vehicles etc. We are blessed.

Just because Thanksgiving is over, doesn't mean we should ever stop being thankful, on a daily basis (if not an hourly basis) for all that God has done for us. Lord, help me to be "overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:7).

5 Months!

2010-11-16T22:33:00.000-06:00

Time really does fly with an infant. It didn't seem to go nearly as fast when I was pregnant.

Kaitlyn turned 5 months on Sunday. There is no 5-month check-up, but she is still a big girl. She is wearing some 6 month clothes, and some 6-9 month clothes. My guess is that she weighs about 19 lbs now.

Her new trick is to crawl on her back to get around the room. She also does this in her crib and ends up in one of the corners, unable to move any further. Her bedtime is 7 PM and she usually sleeps til 6 or 6:30 AM.

She is consistently rolling from stomach to back, and very close to rolling from her back to her stomach. She sits with just a little support and is able to sit in a high chair and the grocery shopping cart.

We will probably start rice cereal soon with her mainly to work on feeding skills to prepare her to start eating at 6 months. I made my first batch of pureed sweet potatoes the other day for her.

Kaitlyn remains a very calm and sweet baby. Absolutely no complaints out of this mama, other than the fact that she took about a week to adjust to the time change and was waking me up at 4 and 5 AM!

Kaitlyn now loves bottles, helps hold them, and grabs for them. I have been away from her for at least a few hours the past 4 weekends, and she has done great with daddy. He gets her again this Saturday for my first out-of-town adventure without her.

The Bumbo is getting a little tight for her juicy thighs, but her new favorite thing is the standing jumper. Even when she isn't in it, she likes to pretend she is jumping! I'm hoping this helps some with the thigh issue mentioned above! :)

Kaitlyn enjoys looking at books, listening to mom sing, drooling, chewing on toys, vocalizing (especially when in the car), watching people, and smiling. She continues to be a joy and reminds me daily of the goodness of God. I am so thankful!

Her favorite jumpy thing!

She has almost outgrown the swing. I moved it from the living room into her room today.

Playing dress up!

Check out my thighs!

Doing the crab crawl

On the go!

Baby D

2010-11-16T22:10:00.000-06:00

Kaitlyn was dedicated to the Lord last Sunday at Antioch's "Baby D" celebration. It was a nice service, and all of Micah's family was able to attend (even his sister and her boyfriend from Austin.) We also had good friends from Lifegroup come to see both Kaitlyn and Aubree dedicated. They had a brunch following the ceremony. Kaitlyn was actually still able to wear the size Newborn dress Momo gave her. It fit a little differently than it did when she was in the hospital.

Kaitlyn and cousin, Hunter. They are 9 months apart.

Kaitlyn made it from 6 AM til 11:15 without a nap. She was exhausted!

Visiting Relatives

2010-11-16T21:56:00.001-06:00

On Friday, 11/5, Aunt Crystal came into town unexpectedly and hung out with baby K and me. She had lunch and dinner with us before going to the Robinson High football game.

Then on Saturday, after the Antioch Women's Conference, my parents came into town briefly to see their grandbaby, on their way to Houston for my dad's eye appointment.

And yes, Kaitlyn is now gladly taking bottles! :)

Here, she is grabbing Granddad's lip.

Fall Festival

2010-10-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night, we went with some friends to the Fall Festival at the First Baptist Church in Robinson. We were actually impressed with all the work they put into it! It was a Noah's Ark theme, where the children were asked to dress up in non-scary or animal costumes. Since Kaitlyn is only 4 months old, we were not going to take her trick-or-treating, so this was a good, safe alternative and an opportunity for her to wear the cute lamb outfit her Momo bought her.

She got to help feed the baby goats!

Kaitlyn also got to ride her first pony.

She was talking to the photographer.

The evening ended on a high note, with an amazing win by Baylor over UT. So exciting to finally have a winning season and know that we will be going to a bowl game.

Sophie is healed!

2010-10-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

Our miniature schnauzer, Sophie, passed a bladder stone about 6 weeks ago when she suddenly peed on the floor in the kitchen. We immediately took her to the vet and they found two more larger stones in the bladder. They put her on a canned S/D diet and said to come back in 3 weeks.

At the 3 week check-up, she had 1 larger and multiple tiny stones. They said to try this special (very expensive) diet for another 3 weeks, and if the stones weren't gone, we would have to do surgery.

Sophie and I went back to the vet this morning, and the x-ray showed no bladder stones! Yippee!! So she doesn't have to have surgery and we don't have to pay for surgery. She will continue to require an expensive diet for the rest of her life, but that should prevent the stones from returning. No more table scraps for poor Sophie, but she is approved to have an occasional carrot, which is her favorite snack.

I Can't Believe I Found It!

2010-10-27T11:19:00.000-05:00

And soooo completely by accident. I made a picture a very long time ago and I thought it was lost. Today in trying to recover from one catastrophe and avoid another I stumbled on an old external harddrive.

I plugged it in to see if I could erase it and use it for other purposes and staring right at me was a folder that rang a bell in the far depths of my memory.

I found it.

I give you the Smith kids.

The hilarious part is that Ryan and Angela were just in town for Homecoming and this picture came up and I said that I was pretty sure that it was lost forever.

Homecoming

2010-10-24T19:44:00.000-05:00

Homecoming 2010 was fun and interesting! Usually we have about 6-8 people staying with us, but this year, it was just our friends Angela and Ryan. They are some of our favorite couple friends, so it was lots of fun spending time with them. Not sure if having a baby scared other people off or what!

On Friday night, we threw Kaitlyn's schedule off by taking her to bonfire at 10:00. We missed the big flames, but got a few pictures.

We borrowed this cute bear costume from a friend.

Family pic at Bonfire

Saturday morning, we went to the parade and got caught in the rain. We had the best seats on campus that we have ever had! (We won't say where, so we can get them next year!)

At the last minute, I decided to go to the game and got Micah's mom to watch Kaitlyn. I probably shouldn't have spent the $40, because 1 and 1/2 minutes into the game, it got delayed due to lightning in the area. Then a huge storm came right over the stadium. We decided to run to the car, but waited 10 minutes too long and got drenched. Everyone came back home to quickly shower and change. At that point, I decided not to go back and gave my ticket to a friend. Angela stayed for a bit, got cold, and ended up coming back to the house as well! Cold and wet did not seem like a good combination.

That evening, our friends Lisa, Brian and her baby Kaylee, as well as Suzannah and Bo, came to eat a late dinner at our house. It was fun to catch up with everyone. I fell asleep on the couch with our company still there at 10:15. Hope they weren't offended!

Kaitlyn and Kaylee playing.

4 Months!

2010-10-22T20:10:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe my little angel is already 4 months old. How time flies! I'm loving every second we get to spend together. It is such a privilege to be her mom. She is SUCH a good baby. I hate to brag- but she is, so I'm going to say it!

We went for her 4-month check-up yesterday, about a week after she turned 4 months.
She is now 25 1/2 inches tall.
She weighs 17.45 pounds! (I don't think she looks that big unless you look at her thighs!)

I can't believe how quickly she has gained weight. I was a fat baby and so was my mom, so I guess it runs in the family. I certainly don't worry about breaking her anymore! I asked the doctor if I should be concerned, and he said, "no since she is growing along her growth curve and started out as a fairly large baby." He thinks she will even out when she starts to move more. He calls her "appropriately chunky."
I think we will wait to start solids (rice cereal) because she seems to be doing just find with breast milk alone. She is doing better about taking bottles, but still prefers mom, if given the choice.

Her personality is really coming out. She is fairly laid back most of the time. Content. She rarely cries, and when she does, it is certainly not for long. She cried for about 15 seconds when she got her shots yesterday. She continues to be very observant and has been almost since the first week she was alive. She loves to watch people.

Kaitlyn has been battling allergies. I have a theory that she may be allergic to cats. The two times she has had reactions, she was in close contact with cats. The doc said that was possible, but not to completely avoid cats at this point. It could also be the weather change, high ragweed counts, the fact that both of her parents suffer from seasonal allergies. Who knows! All I know is that it's so hard to have a sick baby. Especially when she has fever and seems like she can't breathe through her nose. She's finally not congested anymore (13 days after the initial attack.)

I think she is going to be a talker. She likes to hear her voice. She is doing a lot of vocal play with mostly vowels and some consonants. I swear it almost sounds like she says "mama" when she is frustrated.

Kaitlyn has discovered her feet. She loves to grab them and play with them. She is close to rolling over onto her tummy. She is also starting to scoot just a little bit while on her tummy (but I bet it will be awhile before she is really crawling.) She is sitting up better and better each day.

In the past week, she has laughed for the first time. Such a sweet sound.

This weekend, she will get to go to her first Baylor Homecoming. We are taking her to Bonfire tonight and to the parade in the morning. Hopefully, it won't rain on us tomorrow!

Here are some recent pictures.

Love her expression here. This dress was given to her by cousin Claire. We have her infant dedication at the church on 11/14 and I hope it still fits, so she can wear it then!

After lifegroup one night, she actually took a pacifier! It was worth taking a picture of. This is a very rare occasion, but luckily, most of the time she doesn't need it.

She hasn't quite learned how to jump in it yet.

Go Baylor! Hope we get to a bowl game. Micah says he is going if Baylor makes a bowl game- and I can go with him if I want! Ha!

At Starbucks in College Station on our way back from Houston.

Mandy gave us lots of 6-month clothes including this cute bear hat. We were trying it out for the big debut at Homecoming.

Butterflies

2010-10-22T19:35:00.001-05:00

Butterflies.
They remind me of life, new life. I decided to do Kaitlyn's bedding in butterflies and flowers. Red, of course, because I'm not a pink person. The scripture that came to mind when I think of newness of life is John 10:10. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." In the past, I have preferred just the second part of that verse. I have the whole verse framed in her room.

Since Kaitlyn was born, I have struggled with this fear of death- her death. I don't fear my own, or at least didn't before becoming a mom, yet I am constantly battling fear of her death. I think that is why the Lord gave me this scripture awhile back. I almost forgot about it. The Lord has promised me he would protect Kaitlyn's life. He watches over her when I can't. He is her ever-present help in times of trouble. He is emmanuel- God with us. He will never leave her or forsake her. I believe that.

Butterflies. Do you know what God has done to reiterate his promise to me? I keep seeing butterflies everywhere! I see them as I drive, when I walk, and when we're out in the yard. It's just a tangible reminder of his love for me and my baby. He promises fullness of life. God loves to speak to us. It's fun when he does it in unique ways.

How has the Lord spoken to you recently?

AH-CHOO!

2010-10-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

You can't truly understand what it is like to be a parent until you are one. You can't truly understand what it is like to have a sick child until you have one. And it's awful. Just awful! You feel helpless. You don't understand why it has to happen to such a sweet, innocent little person. You wish you could take the illness upon yourself. You pray and pray. In fact, I prayed 93 healing scriptures for Kaitlyn. No significant results. But in a few days, it passes. She survived. And I start to pray about it a little less. Why don't I pray as much in the good times as in the tough times? If God has really called me to be an intercessor, which I feel like he has, then what is wrong with me? I'm thankful that it is not about performance. But I also know that if I would "pray without ceasing" in all circumstances, I would start to see awesome things happen around me. My faith would be built up. Others who I pray for would be blessed. It would so be worth the time invested. When will I learn from my mistakes?

Yesterday, I listened to 2 one-hour videos by Beth Moore on Believing God. My faith was so stirred! I do believe God is real, but do I believe He can do all things? Joshua 3:5 talks about walking into our promised land. The #1 hindrance to doing so is unbelief. She asked that we stand on the following statements: 1) God is who he says he is, 2) God can do what he says he can do, 3) I am who God says I am, 4) I can do all things in Christ, 5) God's word is alive and active in me. These 5 statements make up the shield of faith.

When Kaitlyn was sick, I found myself questioning God's goodness. Why would he let it happen? Why didn't he choose to heal her quickly as I prayed? I had the thought that he may not want to heal her- but that does not line up with the Word of God.

Here is the bottom line. I know God. I know that he is good. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loves me. Jeremiah 29:11 says he wants to prosper me and not to harm me. The same goes for Kaitlyn. I need to stop walking in passivity. I am constantly reflecting who I believe God is. I want it to be a positive reflection. I want to stand in faith no matter the results. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). His word has to be immersed in me daily to build up my faith. The word has to come in so that it will come out when other people need advice, prayer etc..

It's time to turn a corner in this journey. It's time to walk out what I say that I believe. I can't wait to see what God will do.

Bringing Up Suppressed Memories

2010-10-07T11:40:00.001-05:00

So Davey Ovey twittered the image below and said he just received it in an HTML spam email. He felt violated. Instead of feelings of violation, it waxes more nostalgic for me. (That is probably because I was not blasted with it from an unexpected email.)

There are several things from the land of web that have faded away over the years. Just a few of my favorite are the blink tag, bevels on EVERYTHING and animated GIFs. Every now and then I will come across someone "holding on" to one of these old trends. I go back and forth in my head whether or not they are attempting to be retro or are they just clueless (I'm looking at you BAA).

Given the word "Retro" in the GIF below I tend to think they are trying to be clever. I guess this is kind of like wearing huge white socks with thick colored stripes at the top of them. I love those socks.

(click the graphic for full animated goodness)

Heart-Shattered

2010-10-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

I was reading through Psalm 51 this morning and decided to take a look at it in "The Message". One line struck me.

Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.

"The Message" has some funny way of saying things from time to time (John 1:14 is a good example) but something in the phrasing of this verse resonated with me and I wanted to share it.

Psalm 51 (MSG)

Pumpkin Patch

2010-09-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

We went to the Kaska Family Farm pumpkin patch this morning with our friends, the Rogers and the Wards. Kaitlyn slept through half of it. We got lost in the corn maize (literally, and had to go back out the entrance, only to find out we were about 50 feet from the exit!) We took a tractor ride in a cow car. Kaitlyn wouldn't smile much for the camera, but we got a few funny shots. I'm hoping Mandy got some better ones with her high quality camera. Here are a few pictures from today.

Banning All Bottles

2010-09-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

All of a sudden, Kaitlyn has decided she does not want to take a bottle. Today I had to leave work in the afternoon to go nurse her because she had gone 6 hours without eating. Starting at age 1 month, we would give her an occasional bottle, and she only refused one (because it was cold.) When I brought her to Natalie's, the first day I went back to work on 9/1, she did not want to take that first bottle especially. After that, she did okay, although it was not her favorite activity. This past weekend, I was on-call for the hospital and (of course) had to go in for 4 hours both days. Micah kept Kaitlyn and she absolutely did not want her bottle on Saturday (crying louder than she ever has.) On Sunday, she took a little, got choked, and then refused the rest. Perhaps the flow-rate is too fast for her?
Tonight Micah bought two new kinds of bottles- Dr. Browns and Playtex Drop-Ins. So far, the Playtex one has not been effective. She played with it a little, but did not get any milk out. I have read that Mom is not the best person to give the bottle to baby because they can smell the breast milk, and prefer that of course. I'm going to call the wonderful lactation consultant, Gayle, at Providence tomorrow to ask for further advice as well as the pediatrician. I've read that if the baby is hungry enough, they will take it, but today, Kaitlyn proved this was not true for her. She is stubborn enough to hold out for mom.
I'm not worried about her wasting away- the child has plenty of extra reserves. It does stress me out to no end to know my baby is not okay when I"m off at work all day. Makes me feel guilty. Makes me feel really bad for Natalie.
Going back to work has brought on mixed emotions. On the one hand, it's nice to do something different during the day twice a week, see all my patients, have adult conversations, make some money, use my skills etc.. On the other hand, it is painful to leave Kaitlyn. I now know how working moms feel, especially when they want to be at home with their little ones. I love my job and they have been more than accommodating with my hours/ days of the week etc., but my priorities have changed a bit in the last 3 months. It's a hard switch when I used to be somewhat of a workaholic.
I know that there are numerous hurdles that will come up in raising a child. This is one of the many things I will have to deal with- be persistent with. I want to just breastfeed her whenever possible and not have to worry about her crying or not liking bottles. I want to take the easy way out. BUT, if I choose to work (and if I think I'm supposed to work), then the child will have to take some bottles. It would also be nice for our date night (if we ever have one) and other occasions. We will try again tomorrow. Hopefully she will make some positive associations with the bottle and we will get past this resistance. I'm praying so!

Good Little Traveler

2010-09-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

We went to Louisiana for Labor Day weekend to see Kaitlyn's maternal grandparents and great-grandparents. Cousin Barbara, whom Kaitlyn will call "Aunt Barbara" since I'm an only child, and my uncle Jimmy and aunt Carol also came to see her.

Kaitlyn was great both ways in the car (7 hours each way). Hardly a peep out of her!! She slept most of the time, but would stay awake when I sat in the back with her for awhile. We stopped twice to nurse her and the trip that usually took us 6 1/2 hours now only takes 7. On the way, we decided to get up at 4 AM to leave so that it would still be dark and she would sleep better. We considered doing the same on the way back and decided not to so she could get more time with the grandparents and so we wouldn't be so tired. Her schedule was thrown off a little bit, but not too bad.

The first night we were there, Kaitlyn came down with what we hope is allergies (severe congestion, no fever, still good disposition). We considered going to the emergency clinic there in Alexandria, but it seemed like overkill for her symptoms. We are going to Dr. NeSmith today to confirm our diagnosis and determine whether there is anything we can give her with her being so young. She sure hates the saline drops up the nose and the "booger sucker." We haven't been able to let her sleep on her back because she has trouble breathing, so she has been sleeping either in her car seat or in the swing.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

On the way in the car- A happy little camper!

A shot of her chunky little hand. So sweet. I need to cut her nails. I can't believe the I-Phone 4 takes such good shots.

What a good Granddad! He liked to hold her even though she would poop or spit up on him.

"Aunt" Barb

Momo and Kaitlyn napping together.

Kaitlyn and Mamaw. My child does do more than sleep, but I always seemed to have the camera out when she was sleeping.

She better get used to the trip- we are planning on going again for Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas.

New Desktop

2010-09-01T19:13:00.000-05:00

So I got inspired by Natalie's desktop background she posted the other day and decided to make my own. Keeping something like this on my background staring back at me helps me to keep things in perspective.

Sears Pictures

2010-08-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite one of me and Kaitlyn.

I like this one as well. Not sure why it is sideways!

Here are the cousin pictures.

Kaitlyn was tired and fussy at this point.

We'll try professional pictures again when she is a little older.

Growing Up (Second month)

2010-08-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

So Kaitlyn ended the last week on a bang! While some of the evenings were rough, as we were sleep training, and she was crying for spells of time at night, the end result was good. I felt horrible not responding to her cries, but it is better for both her and us if she is sleeping sufficiently.

Last night, Kaitlyn slept throughout the night without any crying or waking! She was double-swaddled (with the thermostat set at 73) and had both a sound machine and a fan in her room. I actually woke her up at 6 AM, after putting her down at 7:45 PM and dream-feeding her at 10 PM. It was so nice to get a full night's sleep (although I got up at 3:30 and went in her room to put my hand on her chest and make sure she was still breathing!) Tonight, she wanted to go down at 7 PM. So hopefully, we'll have another success story tomorrow morning. She will now be down to 6 feedings per day instead of 7, which is appropriate for her age according to the book, Baby Wise. I'm so thankful she has crossed this milestone before I go back to work. Here is a picture of what she wore last night (it says "Daddy's Princess.") "Princess" is one of my favorite things to call Kaitlyn. Other nicknames include Katie Sue, KatieBug, Baby K, Be-bu, and just plain Katie.

This past week, we went to Sears to take pictures with the cousins. It was quite interesting to photograph a 4-year old, 11-month old, and 2-month old together! The pictures of the kids together turned out okay. There were some really good pictures of Hunter and Caleb together. My favorite picture was one taken of Kaitlyn and me together. I was so pleased with it because I don't feel as though I photograph well. One of my prayers was that we would get a good picture together, since I'm always on the other side of the camera. The photographer at Sears couldn't get Kaitlyn to smile and she wouldn't let me move in front of her to try to help her smile (as she wanted me to be next to her in case she fell or Caleb dropped her). This was taken after the photo shoot. Mommy can make this baby smile! This is the only blue dress she has and I think it's so cute. Too bad the matching hat is way too big. The lady who gave it to her is the daughter of the woman who kept me as a baby (Katie). I wish big Katie could meet our Katie, but she has passed away.

Kaitlyn has now rolled over from her tummy to her back 3 times. The third time, I was able to get it on film and we posted it on facebook. All the tummy-time we have been doing has finally paid off. The child still does not enjoy being on her stomach for long periods of time, but now she has learned that she has a way to fix it herself!

A few days ago, we were playing in her room and I took some pictures of Kaitlyn sitting. Once, I was able to count to 60 (about 30 seconds). Of course she was bent way over, and was using her elbows to support herself, so I'm not sure if that counts or not?! She has a funny expression on her face in this pic.

Katie Sue is a very happy baby 99% of the time. She usually pouts with her lower lip protruding before she cries. Her evenings are no longer fussy now that she goes to bed sooner and takes an evening nap. We are aiming for a bedtime of 7 to 7:30, so that Micah still gets to spend some time with her at night. This also gives us some much needed together time. The past 10 weeks have revolved around the little one (as they should at first!)

We spend time each day working on her speech. I know it is WAY early to expect her to do much, but she will occasionally imitate vowels and mouth positions that I make. She says "oh, oo, /m/, /h/, /n/, ah" at this point. No babbling yet or laughing. I can't wait to hear her laugh! Her little voice is so sweet. I plan on starting sign language very soon. She watches my hands now when I occasionally sign to her. Usually kids can start picking up signs at 6 months and responding with them around 9 months. I also read in a magazine (and agree as an SLP) that a child learns best when the parents uses 30,000 words per day with them. This involves commenting on everything you are doing throughout the day. I have tried this the past few days, and it is tiring, as you feel like you are talking to yourself, but it will be rewarding one day when she has a good vocabulary!

Wednesday is my first day back at work. Up until the last few days, I was dreading it, to be honest. While I do enjoy my work, I just don't want to be away from her all day. Several events have occurred that have prepared me more for my return to work.
1. I feel like it's what I'm supposed to do at this point, which gives me the grace to be away from Kaitlyn- in fact, in some ways it may be good for both of us. She is starting to get a bit fussy at times when other people hold her. If I'm the only one she is ever around, she won't learn to be comfortable with others. If it is too rough and the two of us just cannot adjust to it, we will re-evaluate, but for now, this works best for our family's budget.
2. I now know my work schedule and it is manageable. The after school times are full, but I'm getting back all patients whom I had in the past, which is nice.
3. I have enough breastmilk stored up for awhile, especially since I will be pumping at work too. I don't want to supplement with formula any sooner than we have to.
4. We have gotten to hang out with Natalie and her girls some, which makes me feel more comfortable with the situation. It will be good for Kaitlyn to be around other children (especially older ones whom she can learn from). Nat is a great mom- a good disciplinarian, a very talented artist, and so different from me- all things that will help K be more well-rounded. I'm so thankful that we don't have to do daycare with her being this young. I'm also thankful that she is with a good friend who loves the Lord and will love her. I know the first few times dropping her off will be hard, but she will adjust to a new routine (and like my Momo says, it will probably be harder on me than on her).

I have complete peace about living a bit more simply and on less income. We will work it out. I just need to stay away from Wal-Mart, Target, and the children's bookstores. I've decided that since Kaitlyn has sooo many outfits (more than she can wear before she outgrows them), I'm going to spend money on books for her, not clothes. I just love children's books and really enjoy reading to her. She likes it too!

I feel like this is my first evening off in 10 1/2 weeks! So what have I done? Gone to the grocery store, called my mother and grandmother, and blogged for all of you! Thanks for reading :)

A couple more pictures from tonight- the Texans are playing the Cowboys, and we are Texans fans! The hat just doesn't fit anymore...

Sleeping Through The Night

2010-08-23T09:23:00.000-05:00

Kaitlyn has only technically slept through the night twice (about 7 1/2 hours). She seems to do so on the days that she takes fewer and shorter naps, so is more fussy in the evenings (which we don't like). Now when she was younger, sleeping through the night was considered 5-6 hours, which she always does. According to BabyWise, if you follow their concepts, an infant should sleep through the night at 9 weeks (75% of them do). Today is week 10. It says the other babies get on a routine where they are used to waking up between 3-4 AM. I wonder if this describes Kaitlyn. I have tried to re-swaddle her to see if she will go back to sleep, to no avail. Weight wise, she is plenty big enough to make it 7-9 hours at night. When I follow the concepts of BabyWise throughout the day, she just won't sleep as long as they say she should at night. Their suggestion is to let her cry it out at least 3 nights in a row at 4 AM (and that she will cry from 5 to 35 minutes each time). I tried this last night and could only take it for 10 minutes. They say she will then settle in to a new routine if we do this 3 nights in a row. As much as I want her to sleep uninterrupted through the night (especially before I go back to work), I'm not sure I have it in me to make her cry like that. I just want her to sleep longer on her own. I guess if that doesn't happen soon, we will re-evaluate. I thought moving her to her own room might help. Other suggestions?

Visiting Aunt Crystal and Mrs. Natalie

2010-08-20T09:47:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, we (Joyce, Kaitlyn, and I) got up early and drove to Austin to see Aunt Crystal and Glenn. Crystal had not seen Kaitlyn since she was born and was dying to see her. Since she is the only family member not in Waco, poor thing always has to drive to see us. This time, we felt like it was our turn to go visit.

We arrived about 9:30 and got a tour of her nice new house. It is two-story with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and an office. Then we went to Cannoli Joes for lunch at Glenn's suggestion. We thought about going to the mall, but ended up just hanging out on their comfortable leather couches and talking all day. Kaitlyn was a good girl until it was time to go home. She was very fussy in the car. We stopped and Joyce got in the back seat with her. She talked to her, but Kaitlyn did not calm down until a blanket was placed over her legs. Then she was happy and slept all the way home. Good thing to remember for the next time we travel. We got home close to 10:00. Long day, but it was fun! It's so nice to be off in the middle of the week.

On Thursday, we went to "Aunt" Natalie's house, where Kaitlyn will be spending much of her time (Mondays and Wednesdays while I work). Lucy greeted as at the door, saying "It's baby Kaitlyn!" River was a bit jealous when Natalie held Kaitlyn instead of her. It seems like poor Nat will have her hands full with all 3 of them. Less than two weeks until I go back to work part-time. It will be hard to be away from her, but at least I know baby K will be in good hands.

1st Trip to Dallas

2010-08-16T15:25:00.000-05:00

Kaitlyn had her first trip this past weekend when we went to Dallas to meet up with some college friends. People drove in from Arkansas, Houston and Oklahoma. We had a great time catching up with everyone. Traveling is a bit different with a baby. Lots more stuff to bring (and in the past, Micah has always complained that I bring too much for myself.) I only packed 5 outfits for Kaitlyn and 20 diapers. She used 3 of the outfits and about 14 diapers in two days.

Kaitlyn is a good traveler. She slept the whole time in the car except for the way home from the grocery store on Saturday night. She likes to go and not stop too often. Of course, we had to stop at every light and she did not like that too much. The last time she cried that hard was at the photo shoot mentioned above. As soon as we went about a mile without stopping, she fell asleep. Poor baby was just tired from being hauled around Dallas all day.

She was such a good traveler that we plan on going to see Aunt Crystal in Austin soon.

Fear versus Faith

2010-08-06T12:40:00.000-05:00

I have found that being a parent brings in a whole new element of fear that I never knew before. Is Kaitlyn still breathing? If she doesn't burp, will she spit up? Will she choke on her spit up? If she goes outside, will she get too hot? If people touch her, will she get sick? Is her head going to be uneven to the point that she will have to wear a helmet? The list goes on and on. I even had one night where I stayed up for 30 minutes worrying about her and whether she would be okay. If you know me, that is very unusual. Most of the time when my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep.

I guess I have a choice. Do I give in to this fear? Do I become a "worrier"? I never have been one before really, and especially not since I have been walking with the Lord the past 10 years. Or...do I choose faith. Do I choose to trust the Lord with this little life? He gave her to us and I don't think he wants to take her away just yet. I have to trust the God loves her more than I do. That he is her protector and her shield. I cannot always be with her and always be watching her. But Jesus can. And He does. I can trust Him because He is good. So I choose to walk in faith for Kaitlyn's sake. I choose to not have a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).

Adjusting to a routine

2010-08-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Kaitlyn and I are getting used to each other now. I'm so thankful that I have 12 full weeks off rather than just 6. And, as Micah keeps reminding me, I'm only going back to work part-time (2 days per week.) She continues to sleep well at night. She usually goes about 6 hours the first stretch and then an additional 3-4 after that. I rarely feel tired, and if I do, I take a little nap during the day. I'm so thankful that she is a good sleeper. I guess I have the techniques of BabyWise to thank for that ( as well as the suggestion of good friends).

Baby "K" is so observant. She is always looking around the room, listening to the sounds around her. She is starting to notice Sophie. I must say that Sophie is doing a great job with the baby. I think she understands that she is ours. Sophie likes going on all the extra walks in the mornings, even if it means she has to walk next to the stroller. Sophie also enjoys playtime on the floor, because sometimes she gets the ball thrown for her as I play with Kaitlyn.

We read several books every day. Kaitlyn is starting to attend to them more than the first few weeks of life. She usually prefers to watch my facial expressions rather than look at the pages in the book.

Kaitlyn's head control is great and has been for two weeks. She can hold her head up when she is lying on her tummy for a little while. She is a strong little booger. She likes to push up on her legs into a standing position. She has a good grip, like most babies.

Kaitlyn is good natured most of the time. She rarely gets upset. Once, last week, I was doing a little photo shoot of her and changing her outfits multiple times. She was fine with this until the last outfit (the beautiful white and pink dress Momo gave her to come home from the hospital in.) She did not like the bonnet that went with the outfit and started crying uncontrollably. It took me 20 minutes to calm her back down. So she is slow to anger, but when you do make her mad, watch out!! This is a very rare occurrence though. She hardly ever cries more than 5 minutes a day.

I am starting to put Kaitlyn into her crib during naptimes. She sometimes fusses a bit at first, and fights her swaddle. After a few minutes, I go in there, re-swaddle her, and she sleeps. I'm still not quite ready to have her sleep through the night in her crib. It seems so far away from us. Maybe at 8-10 weeks old? She is about to outgrow the bassinet in the pack-in-play though. I hope she sleeps as long in her crib as she does in the bassinet.

I'm enjoying getting out of the house once a day. Monday, we brought Sonic to Micah at work. Then he showed Kaitlyn off to his co-workers again. Yesterday, we went to see his grandmother at her home. Today, we plan on going to the Mayborne Museum with some friends. As long as I have something planned each day, I don't tend to get bored, and each day looks a bit different. I certainly have caught up on my movie-watching, between Netflix and the cable movie channels. I've also been disciplined to set aside time each day to listen to the voice of God. He has been faithful to speak to me each day and I have been e-mailing what he says to a friend, to hold me accountable to listening.

The Lord is so good! I am so blessed to be a mom and to be at this stage of my life. I am very thankful for a wonderful husband, a beautiful baby girl, supportive family, awesome friends, and to have a job I love. I'm still not ready to go back to work yet. It's going to be very difficult leaving Kaitlyn, even with someone I know and trust. I don't know how moms drop their infants off at daycare.

Here are some pictures of the photo shoot I mentioned above. Isn't she cute?! (I know I am a bit biased.)

Kaitlyn's Cousins

2010-07-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Who needs toys when you have boxes?!?

So I figured that we have had a lot of pictures and stories about Kaitlyn on the blog and it was time to branch out a little. Melissa, my sister-in-law, sent this picture she took of her two sons. Caleb and Hunter apparently really like cardboard boxes. Now I know what to get them next christmas!

This is a great picture and wanted to share it with everyone.

1 month old

2010-07-14T16:18:00.000-05:00

Today Kaitlyn is 1 month old. Hard to believe it has already been a month.
Here is her schedule thus far today:
After going to bed at 10:00 last night, she woke up at 2 and 5 to eat, then went immediately back to sleep.
She woke up for good at 7:50 AM, said bye to daddy and ate
8:40-10:15 drive to and visit the zoo (she slept the whole time!) We went by ourselves today, after going yesterday with some friends.
10:15 stop by and have a cup of Starbucks with dad (a little fussy, but the pacifier actually soothed her this time)
10:45 eat again
12:15-1:45 nap
1:45 eat
2:30 until now- nap again

Tonight we are having dinner with some friends, so I hope she is good. Night time tends to be her fussy time, usually starting at 7. Yesterday, I tried the Baby Bjorne, at the advice of a friend, and she was very content for the 30 minutes I had it on.

She is a good eater, pooper, and sleeper. I am so fortunate that she is considered to be "sleeping through the night" at this early age (which is only 5 hours this young, according to most experts). Thankfully, I am not very tired. I get about 8 hours of sleep total at night and then take 1 nap in the daytime.

Kaitlyn is very expressive. She has many facial expressions up her sleeve. In 1 minute's time, I can take pictures of her and she has multiple different looks on her face, from pouting to smiling, to mischievous looking.

We seem to have the nursing thing down, although that was very frustrating at first. I will tell other moms to stick with it through the first few weeks, even when it's hard and painful. It will save you $80 a month not to have to buy formula. It's also a neat bonding experience.

I'm glad she is at the age now that I feel comfortable getting out of the house more. We don't go anywhere that there are a lot of people or germs (like the grocery store), but we enjoy getting out about once a day to run by Sonic, go to the zoo, go visit daddy at work etc. I have also brought her up to Providence twice for my co-workers to meet her.

Micah's mom has been very helpful and willing to pick up anything we need at the store. My parents and grandparents came the first week (for about 3 days) to help with Kaitlyn. It was nice to let other people hold her while I slept and to have good meals (as well as not having to do the dishes).

We also have wonderful friends who brought meals every other day for about 2 weeks. We ate everything from chicken spaghetti to Rosa's mexican food. It was so nice not to have to cook early on.

My goal is to get better about blogging in the next month. Now that I know her schedule a little better and everything doesn't feel quite so new, hopefully I will be able to do so.

Here are some pics from the first month.

My favorite hospital pose

Grandparents and great-grandparents

Our favorite picture of her to date. Micah got her to smile by saying her name.

Another cute one..

1st walk at age 2 1/2 weeks

1 month old- picture from today at the zoo.

More Pics

2010-06-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

Some Quick Pics

2010-06-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Now for the real stuff...

2010-06-14T11:43:00.000-05:00

Well the fun and games of joking about taking care of a baby don't seem so funny anymore. :-) Kaitlyn Sue Lamb was born this morning at 6:20 am after keeping her mommy up for about the last 24 hours. We came into the hospital last night at about 11:30pm but they sent us home at 1:30 because stephanie wasn't far enough along.

At 4am Steph's water broke so we headed back up and got to the hospital at about 4:30. Two hours later we were parents.

It feels strange. It's amazing. It's terrifying. I recommend it.

More Tips

2010-05-03T16:21:00.000-05:00

Another friend of mine saw these and sent me some more...

Some Helpful Tips

2010-04-29T15:36:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine passed along some helpful tips to me the other day. Since he knew I was a visual learner he put them in a form I could easily grasp.

Family Reunion and Tummy Picture week 32

2010-04-18T22:01:00.004-05:00

These pictures are in front of my parents' azalea bush in their front yard in Moncla, LA. My parents helped organize a family reunion for the Moncla family this weekend. Over 200 people attended. It was a lot of fun! The food was great- cochon de lait (pig), dirty rice, chicken, crawfish, sweet potato casserole, rolls, green beans, and tons of desserts. Mom and dad hosted a cook-out at their home last night and then this morning, we had brunch at my Aunt Carol's house. Lots of fun and lots of laughs :) It was also fun to meet some of my Moncla facebook friends. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was getting to swing on the front porch at the old house and talk to my cousins/ husband. (Even though the cousins shared some scary birth stories with me!)

Me and one of my favorite cousins, Barbara.
32 weeks- how much more is my tummy going to grow? I'm hoping at least for 5 more weeks.
If we look tired, it's because we were! Micah sold t-shirts at the reunion and I had to register people as they came in.

Waco Baby Shower

2010-04-11T19:51:00.009-05:00

The baby shower on Saturday was lots of fun! I felt so loved by friends and family members! People came in from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Austin, Houston, Temple, and Dallas. It was fun to hang out with college friends, roommates etc.

These are the thank you notes and a framed scripture that my friend, Natalie designed for me. It matches Kaitlyn's bedding perfectly. You can look at her website at www.nwarddesigns.com

These are the shower hostesses. My sister-in law, Melissa, Mandy, Natalie, and my other sister-in-law, Crystal.

My friend, Kathy, surprised me and drove all the way in from Oklahoma. Raegan is always so trendy.
Look at this little premie outfit! Isn't it the cutest? I doubt Kaitlyn will be a premie since I was a 9-lb baby, but we'll see! At least she has 1 thing to wear if she is small.
Crystal and Melissa did the food. Melissa made the little tags that match the bedding to indicate what we were eating!
This looks like fun!
Mandy made the most beautiful butterfly cake. It was very tasty too! I was so impressed!

Dream

2010-04-07T21:35:00.001-05:00

I had a dream about kaitlyn last night. She was cute. Brown hair and blue eyes. Fair skin. Hair was curly. She sounds like another baby I know well. :). Micah did a genetics survey for Kaitlyn. She has 50% chance of green eyes, 25% brown and 25% blue. I'm hoping for blue, but like green too. I didn't know that only 2% of the world population has green eyes. That makes me pretty special, i guess.

-- Post From My

iPad

2010-04-06T22:22:00.004-05:00

Micah bought me an iPad today at the Baylor bookstore. He talked about how much he loved them and how he thought it would be perfect for me b/c it does e-mail, facebook, words with friends, internet etc. I really like it and have played with it all evening. I did have a little trouble posting on our blog from it, but otherwise have had no problems. It's 1/2 computer and 1/2 large I-Phone with a cool screen.
He wants to take it to work tomorrow because Baylor's iPad shipment had not yet come in. I hope to show it to my co-workers at some point this week!

First thoughts about the iPad

2010-04-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

So the Waco Best Buy had a few iPads. As it turns out they got 15 iPads in for sale starting on April 3rd and they were all purchased by people that had lined up outside the Waco Best Buy starting Friday night. I never would have dreamed that the Waco Best Buy would have had iPads in stock on the first day of availability. (It is probably best that I did not know...)

I am pretty sure the Best Buy salesman thinks I am a jerk. I sat there and poured over the device and just smiled and nodded while he tried to sale me on the iPad. He told me about how Apple had developed a special chip just for the iPad called the A4. He told me that the iPad could run iPhone apps. He told me that he likes to refer to it as a tablet. Smile and Nod.

Enough about that. What did I think?

First, it feels solid. It is going to be interesting to see how they sell to people that come in and use them at a Best Buy or Apple Store or something. I think there are going to be a lot of people that want to use one before they buy one. However, the "theft-prevention" cable coupled with the lack of chairs makes it difficult to imagine using the device normally. I found myself a little tentative while using it. (not wanting to set off any alarms.)

The concerns I have heard about the iPad mirror that of the pre-released iPhone. Most center around the on-screen keyboard. I ran the keyboard through all the tests I could think of and have to say that it works very well. I think the central difference between learning to use the iPhone keyboard versus the iPad is going to center around how much more similar the iPad is to a real keyboard. The iPhone keyboard was different enough from a normal keyboard to basically allow me to learn a new skill as I learned to type on it. The iPad, however, is close enough that it taps into my preexisting ideas of where the keys should be. This is both good and bad and makes it feel really natural to a point. Have you ever starting using a new keyboard where the keys are just a little bit different than your old keyboard? That is how it felt. Only time will tell how long it will take for it to feel completely natural.

Easter

2010-04-04T20:14:00.009-05:00

Usually we spend Easter in Louisiana with my family, but this year I was on-call for work, so we stayed in town. Micah's family started celebrating Easter a couple of years ago when my nephew, Caleb, was old enough to start hunting for Easter eggs.

This is my 6-month old Nephew, Hunter. He's still too young to hunt eggs. :)

Caleb found an egg!
Go! Go! Go! (Not sure who he was racing against since he was the only kid finding eggs!)
The attack of the ants. After he got bit, finding eggs wasn't as much fun anymore.
Micah with the chocolate pound cake my Momo always makes. I made it this year in her honor. Micah dyed the coconut green and wanted to take credit for making the whole cake (but I didn't let him!)
My bunny cake that I make every year. This one was a spice cake with cream cheese icing.
Some of today's entertainment included games for the older kids (our generation). We played memory with cards and answered some creative questions to obtain eggs with money in them! Very fun (except Micah is so good at memory, he ended up with much more money than I did and is not sharing!!)

Kaitlyn's Tree

2010-04-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Ever since Stephanie saw the picture of our chosen baby bedding she has been set on having a similar tree on Kaitlyn's wall. It has kind of become the focal point and anchor in the room. There is a baby bed to assemble and decorations to hang but first a tree must be planted (errrrr painted).

Lucky for us we have a very artistic friend. Natalie created a tree and I stole a projector from Baylor for the day and she went to work. Above is the finished product. The picture looks great and it doesn't even do it justice.

Now I guess I have a bed to assemble...

I'll take an Octa-Plenta Hazelnut Latte Please.

2010-04-01T08:03:00.002-05:00

Starbucks is introducing a couple of new sizes starting today. Check out that picture of the a "plenta" size drink... So now it goes micra (also shown above), tall, grande, venti and plenta.

I wonder if the refills are still $.50... I could supply my whole office with coffee for under a buck!

You can read more here: Starbucks Listens to Customer Request for More Sizes

(and yes I know... it is April 1, I just thought it was hilarious)

Bunco

2010-03-29T22:25:00.004-05:00

I played Bunco tonight for the first time. Filled in as a substitute at my friend, Cyndy's house. She roped me in by telling me that the BU women's basketball game would be on, that there was good food (chicken salad, spinach dip, fruit), and with the idea that I may win some money. I won 3rd place ($12) and tied for the most Buncos. The other lady got the prize for that b/c she did not win any money. I'd rather have the money than the Bunco koozie any day!

29 weeks- tummy shot

2010-03-28T21:56:00.003-05:00

Here I am at 29 weeks. I haven't grown that much in the past two weeks, but I do look HUGE in this dress. I've gained 15 lbs so far. I'm hoping not to gain more than 25 total, but we'll see.

Work Baby Shower

2010-03-28T21:31:00.011-05:00

My co-workers gave me a very nice baby shower this evening. I am so blessed to have such good friends who work with me at Providence. See the attached pictures.

The fondant cake was made from scratch by Miranda! I told her she should go into the cake business on the side.

I am very excited about our lamb swing! It was the hostess gift.
Daddy thinks this bathing suit is a little skimpy :)
Kaitlyn can sit on the lion or stand behind it and walk.
Kaitlyn will be stylin' in Ralph Lauren
Love the diaper wreath that Chelsea made. So creative!
Aren't the hydrangeas pretty?

A lot of Gold!

2010-03-28T18:01:00.000-05:00

All I can say is Sic'Em Bears!

Go Baylor!

2010-03-27T22:36:00.006-05:00

Baylor University!

I'm so proud of the Baylor Bears. Both the guys and girls have made the Elite 8- hard to believe! We won't be able to see the games in person, but it's fun to watch them on tv. I hope they both make it all the way to the top!

Spa

2010-03-26T18:20:00.004-05:00

I had a wonderful massage this afternoon at the Spa at Canyon Oaks (this is the backyard, by the pool). The weather was perfect. A prenatal massage is not quite as good as the real thing, but it was still very relaxing. Micah sure hit a home run when he gave me 1 spa treatment per month for 2010. I think next month I'm going to get a pedicure and use my other prenatal massage (since I did not do my spa treatment for January it's only fair that I do two in one month, right?) The Spa is offering $49 massages for 1 hour if you buy at least 2 services. Check out their website: http://www.thespaatcanyonoaks.com/ if you live in the Waco area.

I needed a relaxing start to a busy weekend. We are having dinner here for Micah's parent's 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow night. Then Sunday, I have a baby shower with all my co-workers.

More Rain...

2010-03-24T19:56:00.000-05:00

It seems like it has rained more this year than any year I can remember. According to weather.gov, McLennan county is between 200-300% normal rainfall so far this year. I really need to mow my lawn but it seems like it always rains on the day I was planning on knocking it out. I don't want to complain too much but the longer it gets put off the worse it is going to be. We have my parent's Anniversary party here this weekend and I know Stephanie really wants the lawn looking nice by then.

Maybe it will be dry tomorrow so I can mow tomorrow night or Friday.

Black Four Door Chevy Car

2010-03-22T19:59:00.001-05:00

Well it happened. Truck is gone. I am now the proud owner of a 2010 Black Malibu. It is very fun to drive. Actually its a blast.

I found the car I wanted last week and called the dealer and have been bouncing back and forth over price and options. Finally this weekend we settled on a good price and I drove out there this afternoon and had them appraise my truck.

When all was said and done I was driving off the lot and loving every minute of it.

I have to say, John McClaren Chevrolet is a great dealership with some great people. Go check them out.

Baby Shower 3/20/10

2010-03-21T22:22:00.007-05:00

Me and my mother-in-law, Joyce (aka "Grammy").
Me, my mother ("Mamaw" to Kaitlyn), and my "Momo." They came all the way from Louisiana!
7 of the "Great 8" (and the hostesses of the shower)
Kaitlyn's outfit for coming home from the hospital and for her baby dedication.
Monogrammed burp cloths- love the butterfly!

The Pearland shower was lots of fun! My friends sure know how to throw a party. The food was great, flowers were beautiful, and I think people had a good time. Thanks ladies. I had no idea I looked so pregnant until I saw these pictures- WOW!

Perspective...

2010-03-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

So today has pretty much sucked. I am talking about the type of day where computers die just because you walked by. Not a great place to be when you are paid to keep them running. In the middle of all of this funk someone asked me how my day was going.

"It's Friday," I responded.

"Is that good or bad?" came the question.

"The day has sucked but it doesn't matter; it's the last one this week."

Later I realized how true that is. I can put up with a lot of stuff when there is a visible end to the madness. It is the wow-i-can't-handle-this-and-tomorrow-looks-worse kinda days that are overwhelming.

I love my job. I really do, so don't take this the wrong way but I would rather have a horrific Friday than a middle-of-the-road Monday.

Baby Shower

2010-03-19T06:49:00.002-05:00

I'm really looking forward to the baby shower tomorrow in Houston (Pearland). It's being thrown by 6 of my best friends since the 6th grade. My friend Kathy is even coming in from Ohio to help host! It's really hard to believe that we are all still close after 17 years of being friends. We have been in each other's weddings, hosted baby showers for one another, and taken vacations together. I'm sure there will be many more stories to tell years from now about how we were there for each other and the fun times we had. Even though I am an only child, Kaitlyn will be blessed with lots of "aunts."

I'll try to post some pictures from the shower!

Thinking about replacing Truck

2010-03-18T10:42:00.000-05:00

When I bought my truck 9 years ago I knew it would not be the best 'family' vehicle. But I loved the way it looked and had absolutely no prospects of a relationship in the near future so it didn't really matter. How was I supposed to know I was going to meet Stephanie later that year?

Anyway, back on topic. Truck has been great. I have never had any major problems with him and have loved every minute of owning him. (Yes, Truck is a he.) I had always wanted a truck. Growing up I didn't have a car until my senior year in high school and the only reason I got a car then was because the insurance company told my parents that their car was totaled so my dad bought a new one. Allstate then changed their mind and fixed the old one. Voila! Three-Car-Family.

I loved that Sunbird. Four cylinders of mid-sized sedan goodness. We put 177,000 miles on it and my dad got $1000 when he traded it in 1997. Not bad since he only paid about $9000 for it new in 1989.

After the Sunbird went to greener pastures, my parent's 1995 Beretta became mine. Now this was a different animal. Red paint, two doors and six cylinders got me into a lot of trouble over the years.

In 2002, I traded in the Beretta on Truck. The first vehicle I ever picked out for myself. Black paint and four-wheel drive. Fantastic. I am going to be very sad to see it go. In fact, I have held onto it longer than some in my family *ahem* Steph *ahem* would have liked.

I have loved different things about all three of these vehicles. If only there was a way to keep them all with me...

So to recap:

White Four-door Pontiac

Red Two-door Chevy Car

Black Four-door Chevy Truck

That only leaves one option.

Black Four-door Chevy Car

The Beta Bug

2010-03-17T20:56:00.003-05:00

WOW! Three Steph posts in a single day! Her two complaints with our blog have always been it looked too boyish and posting was too complicated. Blogger has solved the complicated issue. You have to forgive me but I was a little skeptical about Steph posting so I didn't want to redo all the colors for nothing. (That and a blog filled with only posts by me and yet colored in pinks and yellows would just feel strange...)

She looks like she is going to start posting so I went ahead and changed it around. I am still not entirely satisfied but it works for now. After showing her the new theme her first question was, "What's the 'beta' thing all about?"

That's simple. The ladybug is for Kaitlyn and she is still in beta...

I know. I'm a dork but I thought it was hilarious.

Sophie's haircut

2010-03-17T19:29:00.003-05:00

This is Sophie's free haircut. I didn't feel like paying Petsmart $49 for it, so I did it myself. The ears aren't quite right, but she's still cute.

Tummy shot- 27 weeks

2010-03-17T19:19:00.003-05:00

Here it is..for all of you who have been waiting! (Notice I am wearing green for St. Patty's day.)

One of my patients told me today, "you are finally looking pregnant!" I don't know where she has been, because I've been seeing her 3x/ week for the past month and I've looked pregnant the whole time in my opinion.

Kaitlyn's Bedding

2010-03-17T18:42:00.000-05:00

So everyone is asking what the colors are going to be in Kaitlyn's bedroom. Because the walls are already painted yellow, we are going with yellow! I'm not a pink person, so I chose this bedding since it has reds in it. I love the butterflies as well! I can't wait to get the room in order- no, it's not there yet... My artistic friend, Natalie, is coming to paint the tree on the wall, so our room will look as cool as the picture!

We already have the crib and all the bedding/ accessories thanks to my parents :)

So I have given in...

2010-03-17T17:12:00.001-05:00

So after several years of "maintaining" my own home-rolled blog I have called it quits. I have been sucked into the evil that is pre-packaged blogger. (Actually this is pretty freaking cool). Maybe this way Stephanie will actually start to post... Only time will tell.

To be quite honest, it actually went down like this:

Micah decides he really wants to get a twitter feed and a flickr feed on his blog.
Micah tries in his spare time over several months to get something of that nature working.
Micah logs into blogger in order to show a Baylor faculty member how to maintain a blog.
Micah sees twitter and flickr "gadgets" mocking him with their ease of installation.
Micah dies a little inside and decides to switch to blogger.
Micah then realizes that what died was his pride. Yeah that's it, pride.
Micah realizes he is better for it...

At least that is the story I am sticking too.