The Ramby's

I want one

2012-01-25T09:38:00.001-08:00

I love running. This will make me love it more. http://www.nike.com/fuelband/.

Battle Over

2012-01-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

My uncle is now in heaven. He succumbed to his battle with ALS. His fight was a long one, and now he is at peace and among loved ones above. I have prayed long and hard for all of us left behind, as well as for his safe journey. I struggle with tears. They flow easily and fast, but that is my grief and the way that I cope. I'll be traveling by the weekend to bid farewell.

swallowed up

2012-01-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

I try hard not to let grief swallow me up. Ever since I had several family members pass away, I have had issues with grief. It is something my family is very cognizant of. While I appreciate their tenderness in dealing with me, I want to show strength. I want to show support. I want to emulate the grace that my mother holds for our whole family.

Since becoming a mother almost four years ago, I have become stronger. I pray now more than ever to be an example to my family and our children on how to send strength to our family that needs it most. My cousins, my aunt.

Last night I got a message from my mother and when I read it, something ticked in me about our family. We are SO BLESSED to have one another. We are closer than most families. Always picking up where we left off. I know that this tragedy unfolding will pull us down emotionally, but will pull us together closer than ever in the process.

These prayers are for my family. We all need them now more than ever.

Godly

2012-01-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

I have a lot going on right now. This will be short.

I mainly just wanted to talk about going to church on Sunday. The talk was wonderful. I needed to hear exactly what he was talking about. Finding Strength and refining and building your own strength.

I went to church because #1 I have not been for a while and I needed it #2 I needed to find extra strength for the prayers I am sending to my relative that is going through a terminal illness.

I found a lot of what I was looking for. I also realized that what I was being taught was true. You have to work towards training your strength just like you have to work to have physical strength.

The other lesson I learned? That just because you are religious, doesn't mean you are more Godly than anyone else. Just because you attend Church does not make you Godly. I always wondered about this. The bible actually talks about people that are super religious and how they are actually treated more harshly in terms of accountability of their actions. That surprised me. Your actions within your community, the way you conduct yourself, the things you do make you Godly. The bible says you don't have to be religious, you don't have to attend church to be Godly.

I often times get bothered by some friends that are constantly writing passages from the bible in facebook, or talking about how they go to Church every Sunday or even during the week. I am always thinking to myself, 'what, does that make you better than me?!'. What I want to hear about is what those people are DOING to make a change in themselves to be better. To better themselves, to better the world.

My faith has become important to me, but do you all really want to HEAR about what I am reading or when I go to church? No, I believe what you want to hear about is what is actually going on in my life. Correct me if I am wrong....but I don't think you want me to 'preach' to you about the bible. I believe you want to hear about how I am doing with my kids. The going to church part for me is a learning tool. A way to help me deal with and know how to be strong for my family and community.

A Walk to Remember

2012-01-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Chris got home the night before last. Since he promised Blair a trip to Chuck E Cheese, that is what we did Tuesday night. It was nice actually. The place was really almost empty and it was SO MUCH NICER that way! We had a great family outing.

Last evening Chris decided Jesse James the dog needed to run his little energetic butt off for a while. We didn't want to do the dog park, instead we went to our park that our trail leads to out on the Galveston Bay. Instead of walking the trail, which is about 1.75 miles one way, we drove. It is free to get in as a Seabrook resident. They usually charge $20 per car. This sounds steep, but if you saw the amount of people that were CLEARLY NOT Seabrook residents tearing up the park each weekend, as a taxpayer in the city, you too would want that fee enacted. I was SO HAPPY when they passed that! I remember going on my daily jogs out there and just getting so frustrated at the people that came in and trashed our park. Our beautiful park on the bay. Now, it is cleaned up! It is a fabulous park.

Last evening the tide was so far out that we were able to walk way far out. Way under the fishing Pier and up the side of the park. It was a lot of fun! The kids and Jesse really loved it.

That evening we treated ourselves to some ice cream (thank you to Nikki for leaving it behind, tee hee). When Chris and I looked over and saw Blair on the couch with it, we were about to scold him to get up to the bar with it. That is until what we saw him doing. He probably gave the majority of that ice cream to his sister. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

Motherly Anxiety

2012-01-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

My anxiety has hit new levels. Chris had a long trip this past week. He had a rare weekend flight and has been gone since Friday. Usually not a big deal for me. I am used to having a pilot husband. I am fairly self sufficient and know I can take care of things till his return. This time was stressful though.

Last night was a culmination for me. For some reason my anxiety hit a new level. It is so silly. But, Blair was in his bed. Usually he sleeps with his closet light on, but it needs replaced (a daddy task). So, I had to take his light that clips onto his bed (he has bunk beds and we have one of those clip on lights for his bunk) and rig it to clamp onto a toy bucket in his closet, then have the closet door almost closed, as usual. But, when I laid down I couldn't stop thinking about that light, and how dangerous it is. I kept thinking that it was going to catch fire and I would have to rescue Blair. I went so far in my mind with this that I was thinking up the different ways to escape with him. Crazy!!! Mommy is CRAZY!

I finally (after an hour and a half of dreaming up scenarios) went into his room, found him sound asleep and turned off that light. I then slept like a baby myself.

Part of this is completely normal motherly behavior. Worrying about every little thing concerning your children is totally fine. The other part is my knowledge which gets in the way of rational thought when mixed with my motherly instinct! My college degree is a strange one. It is a mix of Engineering and Psychology. I had to take lots of different courses which are difficult to mix in your mind. Cognitive Behavior, Product Liability, product design. Designing for the human. Engineering for the human. When I think about what can go wrong, it is because I have studied what HAS gone wrong when one uses a product the wrong way. UGH!!! Can't get this anxiety OUT OF MY HEAD.

Anyway...I had to pick the kids up late last evening. 6pm. Sucked, but it was a long work day for me. We try not to leave them there that late EVER and it RARELY happens, but it did yesterday. They had a great day though. We have the best daycare ever. When I picked up Skylar she said 'Night Night' to her teacher. Melted.My.Heart.

Listening to her start to talk more and more is just amazing and remarkable. I make sure to talk through everything we are doing with her to make sure she is developing her speech. I talk to her when we are putting her clothes on, when we change her diaper, when we feed her. All of it. I make sure to talk to her when I am telling her to do something she may not want to do. She has in turn developed wonderfully! She now shakes her head for yes and no, she replies many times with a 'bop'. She is now saying more words than Blair was at her age. But I am not surprised since she has her brother to listen to and also us. He teaches her so much. We have also told him to talk to her through things so she knows what he is doing. You know men...so not communicators. But Blair has been fabulous.

Her 12 month well baby visit went great! She FINALLY got it done after being sick for a couple of months. A Cold in October/November and RSV in December pushed off those shots. She was measuring right on schedule with her past measurements. 25% for Weight, 50-75% for height and 50% for head. Not sure WHERE that height thing comes in! Its not from her Mama!

Holiday Photos Part III

2012-01-08T06:51:00.001-08:00

Grandma fed Skylar her ice cream. Adorable! Skylar LOVES ice cream.

My smiling Skylar

Nana and Gram.

Beautiful Jenna

Uncle Scott with Skylar. She kept standing up and would smile at Scott and Scott would just smile back and tell her she should sit. She smiled and obliged.

I really enjoyed watching my dad play football in the backyard with my nephew Jack. Jack is a HUGE football fan, and goes to every game at home with my dad and brother (his dad). I am convinced that if Jack doesn't play football, he will be a coach one day.

Dinner with the family at the Aquarium.

Skylar Strikes a pose on the beach after lunch at Joe's

Daddy having fun with Baby girl. I don't think she could have smiled any bigger.

The Costin's!! Don't you love Jenna's arm doing the fist pump! LOVE IT!

So sweet. Now if we could just photoshop Scott's T-shirt with the big tongue! HAHA! Cool shirt, but not sure you'd want it hanging on your wall.

My beautiful niece Jenna. She is growing so fast and is already a teenager!! When did that happen?!!?

A friend of mine did this for us a few years ago, the writing in the sand thing. I think it's so cute when they are all laughing and having a good time.

Blair ran into the water....should have expected it.

My silly Skylar was getting a little crabby, threw her up on my shoulders and viola! She is a happy girl!

Ella, Blair and Emma with their 'braces', also known as the G-kid Krewe!

Holiday Photos Part II

2012-01-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

More breakfast with Santa fun! Santa fed the fish!!

We decided on a quick group shot and Skylar made her disdain for Santa KNOW TO ALL.

Making cookies for Santa. Blair had to 'taste test' Santa's milk AND cookies

Mom and Gram!! We enjoyed a bottle of '14 Hands' that night. MMM, highly recommend.

Papaw gave Skylar some of her breathing treatments

Holiday Photos Part I

2012-01-04T16:05:00.001-08:00

Nana and Skylar at Breakfast with Santa!

Santa and Blair Bear. Blair WOULD NOT take off that hat. That hat is from his one year old Christmas recitial. LOL!

Blair getting candy from the Seabrook firemen and Santa!!! They also threw out three pigs ears for little Jesse! Jesse was terrified of the fire truck. It was pretty loud.

Aiden (whom I consider Blair and Skylar's surrogate cousin since we don't have family near by) and Blair the weekend prior to the families arriving. They are such good buddies. Love how Aiden is double forkin' it!

Blair and Skylar helped us put up our Christmas lights. It was a lot of fun with both of them. Blair mostly drove her around in his car. She is amazingly patient with her brother when they are playing in the yard. He drives her around, he gets out and does some little chore like digging in the dirt, all the while she awaits him in the car, seat belted in.

Holidays 2011

2012-01-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

This holiday was fabulous. After Skylar and I finally got over the RSV and colds, my family arrived on the 22nd. It was GREAT to get my mom, dad and gram all down here to celebrate. Right away we had some things to get done on the agenda. First up we stopped at the Orion Test Lab I work in to get my dad a quick tour, then we needed to take Jesse to the doctor for his shots. Chris and my dad actually did this part since the kids needed a nap. They ended up sleeping for a while. I guess the vet just made all over Jesse. Talked about how fabulous he is doing for his age and what a gorgeous dog he is. Of course, we agree. He is doing great. After naps, Gram, Mom, Skylar, Blair and I headed out for the bulk of our grocery shopping. On the way there I had to tell Blair that we were NOT going to be getting one of those ridiculous carts with the tv in it. He was ok with that. What I didn't realize is that my mother was lying in wait to spoil him and he came walking into the grocery like a peacock with his miniature Blair sized cart. He walked in all proud. My mom smiled and said 'what, its not the electronic cart'. LOL!!! Hilarious. All the way through the store Blair followed my mother around with his little cart and her with her list. He filled that sucker up and she marked off on her list, it was comical. Should have gotten a photo of that.That night we just sort of chilled out knowing that we would be going to the boardwalk in the morning. We had breakfast with Santa at the Aquarium restaurant and let me tell ya, that is surely going to become a quick tradition. He was a fabulous Santa! Not only did he walk up to our table 2x, but he SCUBA dived, and sat in his big chair for photos. Wonderful. Plus, the breakfast buffet was really good!

That evening we went to a place on the bay for dinner. Blair was good, Skylar, however is quickly becoming difficult to take out to eat. Blair hit this stage and it was miserable for me. The kids usually whine to me the most and I can't get a break. Luckily, they have a fabulous daddy and he helped a lot along with Nana. Skylar has proceeded to be difficult at each and every meal now. Sucks. I was kind of hoping for a kid that wasn't so difficult while going out to eat. Guess we'll have to wait for her to be 3 to be good at the table again. Until then, I'm sure we'll keep trying tp teach her to be a good girl at the table.

Christmas Eve we got fresh gulf shrimp for dinner, fabulous as usual. So fresh and goooood. A Seafood dinner has been in our family for years. We usually do King Crab, but we were all still full from earlier in the day. So, we saved the crab for a couple nights later. Blair and I made my Great Grandma Cora Costin's Orange Cookies for Santa. They were a HUGE HIT. Those are so freakin' good. It makes a big batch that I thought would never get eaten, but those suckers were gone in four days. We put Blair to bed after reading a couple of books. My favorite is about a Bear family that explains how Christmas is really about Christ. It really explains things to a three year old well. Using the beauty of the snow and sledding as examples of how God and Christ are everywhere.

Christmas morning was magical. We spoiled the children rotten and we loved every minute of it. The day was great. We let the kids open gifts all morning. Since they are still little they pretty much take their time. Blair not as much, he is getting the idea a bit more. Skylar took well into the evening to finish. They have loved playing with their things.

Later in the day we had our Beef Tenderloin, which turned out fabulous, mooing just the way my dad likes it...very good!

The following day we all headed out for some returns, etc. I took the amazing gift in that Chris got me to get sized. Since my fingers are tiny I have to get my band ordered special. I guess it needs to be poured to my size to that it all fits together correctly. It is an anniversary band. The jeweler is also spoiling me and letting me wear the band he got me until mine is in. It'll take a month. I can see the imperfection that is there, but it is hard to tell unless you look hard. It is very romantic and special. My husband has spoiled me. 10 years of marriage...16 of being together and that man still melts my heart to pieces.

We did some shopping, not too much, but enough to get Blair some things for next year. I have done that each and every year after Christmas. I know many wonder how I dress that kid to the 9s. It is because I shop AHEAD. I get things on clearance people! So this year....the kid abercrombie store was HALF OFF. Yes, entire store. So, Blair got some things. He will truly match his daddy now. Also, I got Skylar some things at the baby Gap for next year.

We all went and got some seafood lunch. It was so YUMMY! That night is a blurrr.....leftovers maybe?

The next day my brother, sister in law and the kids joined us! We went to the boardwalk for dinner. Intended on doing Red Sushi for the kids to sit at the Hibachi, but it was extremely busy. Weird. We did Aquarium and it was fabulous. The kids loved it and all the tanks to look at. Even though we had just done it, it was great to have the whole family.

The next day the girls all headed to the mall again to get a few things for Jenna. She is growing like a weed and she needed some news jeans and her mom wanted to hit up the half off sales! We then headed to Galveston and met up with the boys to have lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. It is a great spot in Galveston because it has a HUGE play area. The kids LOVED IT. The twins sat next to me and were SO MUCH FUN (I swear to you that Jenna and I will be going with them on spring break one day). They got a crab pot and they were fabulous!! They ate all their crab legs! I hope Skylar will try the things the Costin kids will try. I've given up hope on Blair at this point. He is too picky. Jack even ate some squid (calamari). Next up we went to the beach and got some great shots of everyone (photos will be up later today). Now onto the Strand! It was fun to shop in the little shops. Chris never lets me do that anymore down there and I was excited to partake. I didn't get anything but some milk for Miss Skylar. She was refusing her nap despite the wonderful stroller she was being strolled in. I totally would have slept had my mommy and daddy strolled me around!

We all headed back to the house for leftovers, pizza, beer and football. The next morning my brother and his fam said goodbye (tear) and set out for their ride home. The parents, gram and us all went to Outriggers for our goodbye lunch. It was a fabulous 70 degree day and we sat outside and ate fresh seafood, again. It was great and we have missed Nana, Papaw and Grandma Lois so much ever since....

sick, busy, excited

2011-12-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Skylar got RSV recently. I was out with her almost the entire week last week, and luckily her daddy is home with her this week. I am so behind on work it is insane. It sucks. Seriously. Baby had to come first though. She was VERY sick. She was close to having to go to the hospital. Her fever was very high and she was wheezing like I've never heard before. Luckily the breathing treatments have been effective. Slowly. It is a respiratory infection that is very dangerous for little ones. Mostly the one year old and under set. The doctor said that since Skylar is still very small, it is dangerous for her. We have kept her away from all children, as that is how it is spread. Poor little darlin' has been a trouper. So has her brother. I was crazy about keeping them away from one another. I Lysol the house several times a day (that make Jesse sneeze like crazy, its pretty funny).

I now have a cold. It was bad for the first 4 days, Friday thru Monday. I am doing better now, but still have a pretty good cold going on. I really don't like colds. Of course, who does!?

Tomorrow my family arrives and I am not in any way ready. Our house needs a serious clean top to bottom. Chris is fabulous at doing a lot of the housework, but obviously I need to get home today to help out. I have a full day at work, so that'll be great. On top of it. I miss my Skylar time like crazy. It was wonderful to get that time with her. I'll get home and we'll clean clean clean. The fam gets here at 1030am. Can't wait. My mom, dad and gram will be here through the 29th I think. My brother and his family will be in northern Texas with my sister in laws family until the 26 or 27 then they come here!!! It will be TONS of fun to all be together down here.

Today is busy for me. Gotta finish up some stuff in the lab. I posted a photo of Mark Geyer above, he is the head of the Orion Program for NASA. I was sitting right behind the guy taking this photo, working away. He was doing a promotional spot of some kind in front of this mock-up of Orion (this mock-up is used for Human Factors testing by the way, the real Orion Test Article is in Denver undergoing testing). There were not many of us in the lab that day, it was an 'off Friday'. Many people work 9, 9 hour days, then get the 10th off! Great huh? I rarely take it as my schedule never really works out that nicely. I usually have a super busy few weeks, or not busy enough! Sometimes I get to take part of it. I actually like working those days, it seems like I get more done. My job is mostly Systems Engineering integration, so that means interacting with a TON of people, so getting pulled in several directions at once. I am a good multi-tasker.

I hope to show my dad the lab tomorrow, this is a big deal. Not many get to see this hot bed of activity for the space program. Its a small nit group.

What we are doing tonight

2011-12-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

A new Era

2011-12-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

A new era begins with our new boy, Jesse.

Before we decided to go get Jesse, there were many tears and much guilt. My family and Chris finally convinced me that this would be for the best. Chris and I found him online at the same time. It was odd. He was upstairs and I was down, and we both were looking at him online. We knew it would be a German Shorthaired Pointer we would adopt. Our reasons for NOT getting a pound puppy are for temperament. You can not control what temperament has been bred into a pound puppy. There are some things that are just built into their DNA. You can not deny science. So, we knew we wanted this bred. We also knew because Chris and I like the working and hunting dogs. They are pleasing, get along well with other dogs and people, and we knew we couldn't bare to get a lab. We drive by a park with a lab, and I start crying. I miss my Godiva. I still shed tears for him. Speaking of, thank you everyone. Thank you for the calls and emails. There have been quite a few, so I have not had a chance to reply to everyone. I really appreciate the understanding most of all. The people that sympathize over the loss of a pet are the best kind of people in my mind. Godiva was so many things to us, most importantly, he was our family.

Jesse is the given name of our new pup. He comes from a kennel about 100 miles NorthEast of here. His dad is a beautiful hunt dog and his mother is as well. They are both just beautiful German Shorthair's. We love that Jesse is darker, his head looks exactly like my parents' dog, Buckeye, he has a lot of chocolate on him and some liver. He is just what we wanted. His temperament is AMAZING. He is so good with the kids. SO GOOD. When we went to pick him up, he and his brother were playing with one another and we all fell in love. The kennel owner is a superintendent of a school system and has intentions to retire and continue to raise and train these pups. All his dogs are beautiful and you can tell he and his wife really adore their pups. They have a new litter we got to take a peak at. They are so cute! Jesse is 10 weeks on Tuesday. He is already good in his cage, doesn't whine . We got one that grows with him, so we have a divider in it that we can move as he grows. He is pretty attached to Chris and I already. He wants on our laps most times. He loves to play with his little toys. Overall, for the last 48 hours, we are amazed at how good he is. No accidents in his cage, just a few in the house, which were mostly our fault for not catching him in time. These things are to be expected with a 10 week old. I can see we made a good decision bringing this little guy into our lives. He has made it a happier place already.

Whoa

2011-12-01T08:17:00.001-08:00

So we lost the hamster yesterday. OMG, I couldn't believe it. I was beside myself. She was in her ball running around while I was out in the TV room on my laptop. Chris was talking with a friend of his. The kids were still at daycare. I had to take off a few hours early, I had a lot of time from my Denver trip, so took off a few early to get some bills paid, etc. I thought it would be nice to let her get exercise. She has gotten big and we can't let her out with Skylar, the Godzilla baby. Skylar loves her and will take the ball, pick it up, then drop it and kick it like a soccer ball. Not kidding. She has done this several times. We try over and over and that poor Hamster has taken a beating from that kid. We have just not let her out when Skylar is running around. I had her out in her ball for about an hour when I went to run upstairs for something. The ball was there, with the top off and no hamster. O. M. G. I yelled for Chris....we searched and search. No Baby (that is her given name from Blair). Baby was hiding and NOT coming out.

Last night we went to bed. Me in a state of shock and fury as I was in complete breakdown stress out mode from multiple hits of stressfulness in ALL AREAS of my life. ALL OF THEM. I have a family member that has a HORRIBLE disease and things are bad, my work is ramping up and things are coming in late, problems are piling up (Its all good, just a lot of work). I thought I initially had to go to Denver for a full week on the 12th. Thank GOD that got pushed to January. Wasn't sure I'd be able to handle that with everything else. The loss of Godiva has hit me hard. Harder than most would probably take the loss of an animal. But, he taught me how to be a Mama in so many ways. I love that puppy dog with my whole being.

I went to bed and fell asleep FAST. The stress was just too high and I was exhausted. Skylar woke up screaming at 3am. Very unlike her. She sleeps 715pm-7am usually like clockwork. I think she is getting her sharp canines (which ones are those?). That is all she has left for teeth to come in besides her 2 year old molars. The only time she has every woken up like this was for teething. So, Chris did come in and said 'Baby is BACK'. I was like 'What?! Huh?!' then we were in baby mode. So, we took care of Skylar and Chris did most of it. He ended up on the couch downstairs, in the 'L' portion with Skylar in the corner, knocked out. Poor baby and Daddy. They will both be very tired.

Chris told me this morning that he heard Baby come back about 130am. He went to check her and she had already taken all the food I left out for her (with the front door of her cage open) up to her condo area and was quickly putting a huge plug of bedding down the tunnel so she couldn't get out! She was locking herself in her condo and NEVER COMING OUT! I think her taste of freedom must have freaked her out. She does have it pretty good in there.

A Shattered Heart

2011-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

This photo shows how big a part of the family Godiva was. We trusted him with Blair. With a 6 month old Blair. He never ever even attempted to snap at anyone ever in his 13.5 years. He was just a magical being.

Godiva Ramby: June 10, 1998 - November 26, 2011

Godiva was with us for 13.5 years. I knew the end was near, but I didn't know how much denial Chris and I were in until the moments were upon us. Godiva spent Friday hanging out with us the way he always does. He was tired, he had been tired for the last year. He still got around. He would still go upstairs, he was able to do his business outside, and come back in to see us. He got turkey scraps from me as I was making a casserole for dinner Friday night. He ran into the front yard as we all put up our Christmas lights in our front tree as we do every year. Chris and I didn't know what was to come for us that night. God came for our Godiva. He came and took him home to heaven.

Chris awoke me at about 2am. He told me he thought it was time. He scared me, I didn't know what he was saying. He was upset, you could tell. He told me to come quick, Godiva was dying. I couldn't believe him. How could this be? I went downstairs and he was on the floor breathing heavily. My emotions for the next 20 minutes ranged from denial, to focus and letting him be at peace. I knew I needed to tell him it was ok to go. That he had done so very much for us and that he loved us. He taught us how to be loving parents, how to care, and be loved, and to love! It took about 20 minutes, and he left us. He went to heaven, where he is now at peace.

We are having him cremated and bringing him home. We will most likely take him to the golf course he loved so much. The pond on #11. He loved it there, he spent so much time swimming and playing in that pond. We used to have to yell at him to get out, that he was wearing himself out. He adored it out there. Bounding across the field to get to that pond. I remember taking wedding photos and one of Chris's groomsmen had a hold of him and he tried to take off to the pond to go swimming. What an amazing creature Godiva was.

Reflecting on it, I see how lucky we were. Godiva was present with us all the way to the end. Sure, he was hard of hearing, he needed to be on pain meds for arthritis, but he played right up to the end. He was here, with us. I also see how special it was that Chris and I were the ones to see him go. We were his parents, we were the ones that raised him, took him to college with us, moved him all over the country, had him as a part of our wedding! We are the lucky ones to have had him along to share in all of our special moments. His greeting our new children into our family. He played soccer in the backyard with Chris and Blair so many evenings. Walks to the bay, swimming in the bay! I could go on and on. He is such a part of our family. Our house is so empty now. It just doesn't feel right.

Blair is confused. Why wouldn't he be. He asks several times a day where Godiva is. He wonders why his Mama is so very sad and crying so much. It is so difficult to let go. It is so difficult to figure out how to re enter reality. I am thankful I had two full days at home to mourn. To remember, to look at photos. To absorb the loss of him. It will be a long time till my heart feels full again. I am lucky to have my children to make me smile and my husband to give me the knowing looks of sadness. Only he can know how this feels, as he was also Godiva's loving parent.

We know there is a new bundle of joy out there that we will adopt. Maybe soon, maybe in a month, who knows. This hurt my heart to even think about it. But my family knows me better than most and they know that this loss could bring me down hard. I need to focus on a new pup eventually. I am not sure how I'll continue to get through it, I just know I will.

God Blessed me with the most amazing animal that gave me so much unconditional love. I am truly blessed.

I love you Godiva. Rest in Peace now my fuzzy bear.

Flash

2011-11-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Me and my Bear Bear feeding the giraffe's at the zoo. Great weekend for it! Overcast and every animal was out it seemed! We saw the bats getting fed, the tigers making baby tigers (you read that right), the hogs making baby hogs (yup, lovin' day at the zoo).

The days are flying by. Since I have gone on a half dozen business trips this year, I have been super duper cognizant of my time with my children. I make sure to focus on having fun with them as much as I can. So the evenings seem to fly by. I think rolling on the floor laughing and playing is my favorite thing in the whole wide world. Skylar is so silly and cute. She is dancing more and more. Last night we were playing in her room. She kept bringing me her babies and she says 'Baby' A LOT. She started to whisper it the other day, so cute. Now she just comes out and says 'BABY!'. Then, she played with her toy piano and it has a setting where it just plays music, she backs away, puts her hands in the air and dances away! I think she is getting this more and more from school! She is in the 'Toddler 1' room and they play an awesome CD in there of modern dancy music, but it has children friendly lyrics. It is great! All the little babies dancing around. By the way, she had Zero issues moving up! She loves her room. I think she is happy to have all her little buddies she has grown up with around her. Plus the teacher's are GREAT! LOVE them.

Blair has been officially moved up at school as well. I guess I haven't really talked about this, but over a month ago he started having behavioral problems. When I say that, I don't mean he was really 'bad', just not normal for HIM. The teachers always reported that he is very helpful and kind in class and then about 6 weeks ago he started acting a bit badly. Wouldn't listen every time when the teacher said to do something, would play 'guns' with his other little dudes, which is a no no. They told us they have a couple of young ones that are allowed to watch bad movies I guess. He was acting out like some of the others that normally act out, which is unusual for Blair. So, we finally talked with the director, our friend. It was decided that he was probably bored. He could trace his name, all the letters, numbers, colors, he knows everything that room teaches. We knew it would be a bit of a difficult transition, however, it has gone great! Just a few days of him being upset and missing his old room, but now he is THRIVING!! I mean, the difference a week makes is insane! He is now coloring AMAZINGLY, he is doing his name, his letters like SO GOOD. I am very proud of him and he is proud of himself which is even better! No more acting out! No more tantrums that are not like him. Angie is a Godsend and she saw how right away he needed to move due to the learning curve and him being beyond it for three's at that point. I am so happy with his daycare. The fact that they pay attention to EACH kid and their needs and not just the bottom line, like age and numbers. They saw that he was not challenged and they enacted a change for him so that he could continue to grow and be challenged. LOVE IT! Plus, it makes my life easier. There were a few weeks where I think the three year old teacher was scared to tell us when Blair had a bad day, she would always preface it by saying 'now just so you know, he really wasn't bad, just not normal 'Blair' behavior'. LOL...cute, but we want to make sure he is being himself and not acting out due to other children's behavior. Chris and I would talk to him each evening after this occurrences and he was always good at home, good while playing with the neighbor kids (they are older though). Now those Three year old teachers can focus on teaching the three year olds and Blair is being his good ole self again in the Four year old room. It is not that far off for his four year old birthday, just 4 months. OMG, I think I just realized that. Now I am all emotional and crying. I'LL HAVE A FOUR YEAR OLD!!!! NOOOOOOO! Thank Goodness he still lets me cuddle....

Tired

2011-11-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

I am pretty tired. I'm not getting great sleep. You would think being away from the little ones would help enable some better sleep, nope. If anything I just miss them and it stresses me out. I get better sleep at home. Coffee is my friend. Now that I am totally done nursing I can have as much as I want, which usually means 2-3 cups a morning. I never have caffeine in the afternoons, so bad for you. If I do, it is the occasional glass of iced tea. I am trying to do all water. The end of nursing was last week. I decided to do it verrrrrrryyyyy slloooowwww since each and every time I cut out a feeding, I got some form of clog and it was horrible for me. I did it the right way! Cause all is good and Skylar seems just fine with getting a bottle for the night time lay down. Yes, we are weening the bottle slowly as well. It took Blair till 2.5 years and he is FINE AND he has been the the dentist (it'll be twice in a couple of months actually) and the dentist says his teeth look great!

I think I am going to sign up for the Tinkerbell half for next year. Obviously this year is out since it is in January. March would have been doable for training, January, not so much. I really want to do it and if I am going to run a marathon (even if it is only a half) I want to do it at DISNEY WORLD!! I am going to inform the rest of the fam that they are expected to be there to cheer me on. Tee Hee. I already told my mom this morning, she's in. 14 Months is a way's off, but if it is anything like this past year, it'll fly by anyhow. I REALLY want to do a half and I am doing nothing but getting older, I would like to do a whole one day, but I know that I need to do some shorter runs prior to anything like that. Also, I just don't know how much I can fit that kind of training into my schedule. I've done 7-8 miles at a time, so I know I am capable of pushing through to a half. Also, my other goal is a Mud Run. TOTALLY wanna do a MUD RUN!!! Now if I could just find others to do it with me! I keep wanting to get some friends of ours to do it but keep forgetting to ask. We could call ourselves 'The Muddy Aviators'! I was going to ask Chris's friend Kevin and his wife and our friend Jacen and his girlfriend. I think it would be perfect. We'll see. It's a long shot as these boys have the most insane schedules EVER.

Ok, gotta get to it! Bring on the cold!

Extreme

2011-11-15T16:01:00.001-08:00

Extremely busy doesn't even cut it. I feel like I've been on a virtual marathon since August. I'm still not doing a great job with the work life balance, but getting much better at it. I can start to feel some relief.

I flew to Denver today. It was an easy flight and the weather is perfect and beautiful. Unfortunately it'll be 21 tonight. BURRRR!! Just got done running a couple of miles at a beautiful park here. Nothing like a run in the hills to realize how OUT OF SHAPE you are! I am totally a flat Houstonian runner at this point. The hills killed me. I'm feeling the good burn! I've been running again for a couple of weeks. I am only doing 2-3 miles at this point, and my pace is embarrassingly slow, but I am getting it done and it feels great. Chris and I took the kids on a long walk to the water the other day and it was great fun. Blair ran a MILE with us!! Chris ran with the jogging stroller which should easily count as double the freakin' calories burnt cause doing that sucks it. I hate doing it as a matter of fact. Don't get me wrong, love having my babies on the nice run/walk with us, but hate pushing that thing while jogging. It's a killer.

I am so very thankful for Facetime on my iPhone. My mom and I just got done talking so I could see my babies. I am so glad to have seen them. I miss them terribly already. Chris is on a trip as well, a long one. Due back Thursday very late. I go back Friday late. Our kids will be comforted by the only other person in this world that they love as much as us, my mother. Truly, Blair asks for his Nana each and every time he is upset with us. It is comforting that they have that attachment to her. Skylar ran right to her when she came off the plane (well, Blair tackled her first). I wasn't sure she would remember her. She did!

Skylar's breathing treatments were stepped up last week. She has to be on a double treatment for about a week, then she'll start stepping down. She just can't seem to get over this cough. It has been a very long time. Not sure what the next step would be, but she does sound better than ever now with this new med added in to the nebulizer, along with an antibiotic. Hopefully this treatment will knock that crap out of her system. Poor baby girl.

I am hoping to get a lot done on this trip. I have a lot to learn and am eager to take this new role and step in my job. It is an exciting team I have been put onto and entrusted to be on. I am thankful and motivated!

Then, BRING ON THANKSGIVING!! YAHOOOO!

Photos!

2011-11-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

My poor baby girl on her breathing treatments. She is doing much better!

Photo of School Photo. They got individual and together shots! SO CUTE. Sorry it is a little from above, they have huge heads in this huh?

Halloween Dress!!! I made it :)

My princess birdie (those wings were so sweet and easy to make) and my Dino!!! Blair wanted to be a dinosaur SO BADLY so he could walk around and go ROAWR!!! He loved the making of it. I had the tail done first and he carried that thing all over!

Getting his trophy from his Coach. Blair truly enjoyed soccer. He was so sad it was over for the season. He continues to play each evening in the backyard. He is a great player. Dribbles down the field and runs so fast!

So difficult!

2011-11-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

I am having a very hard time balancing my life right now. So far, work is winning. I guess it is really the 'extras' in my life that are suffering. I am trying very hard to be there for my kids and my husband, as well as be very present at work.

I have had several new things happening at work. The promotion gave me some new tasking that I am taking on, and trying to do it all to the very best of my ability. Next week I travel to San Antonio for a prep course for my Systems Engineering Cert. Then, the following week I go back to Denver for some more training for a team I was honored to join. I do hope to excel with my new job and be granted even more exciting opportunities.

What is suffering are all the extra things I want to get done. I still need to get out the thank you's from Skylar's insanely awesome 1st.

Also, this blog is suffering. I need to upload countless photos from Soccer, Skylar's cute walking, Trick or Treating...so many.

My mother comes this weekend and I can not wait! It'll be great to spend a day with her going to the famous International Quilt Show! Not that I have time to make another quilt right now....a girl can dream.

Promoted

2011-10-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have not been good about updating! I am sorry. I am just so busy. Busy doesn't even get it. I am overwhelmed at work and home! I am holding it down though. So far I have not had any complaints. Except maybe from the husband. He is not really excited about my clothing putting away right now. We have like 3 large piles of kids clothes on our dressers in our room. That have been there for over a week. I am a little behind!

I am making my kids' costumes. They need to be done tomorrow so that they have them to wear to the children's museum. Blair's is half done. I would say Skylar's is 25% done. I have a ways to go. I hope they turn out cute. So far Blair's is very cute if I might say so myself!

I got a promotion at work. It feels GREAT! I am so happy and flattered and STRESSED. I am taking this seriously, as I have a whole new set of parameters to meet. I was focusing so hard on what I needed to do to get here, and now I need to re-set my focus on a whole new level. I am totally up for it. I thrive on pressure.

Skylar is still getting her Molars. These suckers are KILLING US ALL. She just walks around fussy right now. My poor happy baby girl. She wakes up about 2-3 times a night, but is usually not up long at all. Night before last she was though. I had her for 1.5 hours at 3am, then Chris took over at 4:30am and he just ended up letting her fall asleep on his chest in her room on her couch. She walks all over. Matter of fact I have an AWESOME video of her walking with her Wee Squeak shoes on and it is so funny, Blair is also on the video gagging on Mac and Cheese. That's my boy! Gagging on food....food that EVERY KID LOVES, every kid but him.

This weekend is a big one! Lots going on! I'll try to post pics at the end of it. Bare with me through my busy schedule. I have some out of town training coming up as well, so Mama is coming back!!! My mom is a total world traveler this year :).

Swing

2011-10-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

It is difficult getting back into the swing of things after such a nice getaway. Chris and I find ourselves missing our children so very much during the day. Just being able to pick up and snuggle and hold one of them whenever was glorious.

Skylar is walking all over now. I would say she is an official walker, however she doesn't stay up forever. She'll sit right back down and crawl when she wants to get there really fast. She is getting good though. She can already multi task while on the walk. She eats her teething biscuit while on the walk, she bangs two toys together, she drinks from her sippy. Quite cute. She sprouted a one year molar while in Ohio. We really never noticed it until one of the last days there and my SIL put her finger in there to verify with me that it was in fact a molar! Here we go!! That is 9 teeth, with three more ready to pop. It is weird to me that she got the bottom four and top four in the middle, then a molar. Blair had all 10 top teeth and his one year molar's before he was 1! It is strange how different the children are. I love it. It is so much fun and an adventure having two.

When we were up in Ohio I sat with my cousin Amy during the football game. We had some time to talk and catch up. My cousin has 7 kids. At first, some people are like 'WHAT?! 7 KIDS?!?!'. However, I must say, these 7 kids are some of the nicest, kindest, SMARTEST, most caring children you will ever meet. They range in age from 16-4. Amy is a certified High School Biology teacher. Her hubby is a CPA. He has his own business and she stays home and home schools the kids. They are brilliant kids. When they get to about middle school I think they give the kids the option of doing some public school. Some have done a few classes, others have not. They are all brilliant and wonderful. I always look to her for examples on how to raise children. All her kids are so different. I think it is totally fascinating how different.

I started a new Bible Group and I love it so far. The women are all wonderful and they are doing a very interesting study right now. About Finances! Everyone could use a study on those! They have been together for 7 years! Some women have come and gone and come back. It is a wonderful group to get into as I could see myself forming lasting friendships with these women. They all have kids from about pre-school to high school. I look forward to more meetings and learning more about the teachings of the Bible.

We have a busy month ahead full of soccer, parties and fitting in some fall activities like the zoo and a pumpkin patch. After that it'll be Thanksgiving and Christmas with my mom/dad and GRAM! I am so pleased and thankful they are coming to visit. My brother and his family will be in north Texas with my SILs family.

Happy Hump DAY!!

Where to Begin

2011-10-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

My mom got her to nap on Saturday while decorating for her party. I have NO IDEA how she did that!

Nice going away dinner for Scott. Also pictured is Chris's best friend Jason whom came up to help with stuff almost EVERY DAY! He is pretty darn awesome.

Chris, Skylar and his Grandma. She is so beautiful and kind.

Blair and Jack on the way to the Friday night Football game!

The view of my parents back yard. Chris is on the tractor. These are the woods he started to clear. I think they own about 9 acres or something. SO BEAUTIFUL with the leaves changing. The photo is early morning, so the reflection is the house.

Saturday morning soccer fun. Blair got shy when I wanted a photo of him, Emma and Ella and they both bent over to check on him! ADORABLE! They were so sweet with him!!! Like a couple of little mommies. So stinkin' cute!

The twins sat on my mom's lap and then Skylar got J-E-A-L-O-U-S! She climbed over there.

All my loves! The kids had so much fun running around together on their last night together. Blair was in heaven all week, telling us how much he loved his cousins.

Beautiful Jenna on our nature hike up into my mom and dad's woods. We named this tree the 'Sophia' tree. It is so pretty and has this big 'plume' of leaves at the top. It reminded me of Skylar when I put her 'sprouts' in her hair.

Setting off Sky Lanterns off my parents' hill in Scott's honor. Since he is in Haiti on his mission we wanted to do something nice for him.

Saying goodbye to my gram was hard. I miss her so much. I am so glad she'll be here for Christmas!!!

On the way to Ohio we were delayed in Houston. Due. to. RAIN! Ugh...no rain in 6 months and it decides to rain the minute my airplane obsessed son is due to GET ON AN AIRPLANE! God was testing our parenting skills and Chris won. With Beer. My husband is genius. Oh well, I couldn't bare to do beer due to the fact that we had 4 hours of airplane travel ahead and I would have #1 gotten my baby drunk (she is still breastfeeding) #2 fallen asleep. We finally arrived at my mom and dad's at 230 am.

The kids slept in till like 11am if I remember correctly. Thank GOODNESS! Friday was a recoup day and a planning day for Sunday's party.

Saturday I had planned on having my niece come help me with party stuff, but she had to be on standby to watch her siblings in case her mom was called in to the hospital. So, I ended up dropping her some crafty things to finish up for the party. She and her mom (my SIL) did an AMAZING job with some party hats and boxes for displays. It was actually a really big help for me. I (in true 'Costin' fashion) had way too many projects going on at one time. That night we got pizza and my SIL and my nieces and nephew came over. Blair had a BALL playing with his cousins.

Sunday was a total whirlwind. I owe my mother a spa trip. She was a HUGE help in every area. I did almost every single thing except for food. She did all the food. I got the cakes (which were ENORMOUS) but she did the rest of the food. I couldn't imagine a happier and more fun time at this party. It was great fun for me to plan and do, and I hope that Skylar enjoys seeing what we did for her First Birthday someday. I have exactly one photo of my first birthday (it was a different ERA!) and it is of me banging my head on a pan. I kid you not....lol. I would love to see more photos from that day, but I understand, it was just a different time then. Certainly not the digital age that it is now. I'll have photos from that day in a few days, as the CD is on its way from the fabulous photographer.

Monday was a relax day. I don't even remember much from that except that Skylar had started taking several more steps. She was doing about 4 at a time, then this day she did a few more (she is WALKING NOW).

Tuesday was Skylar's Actual 1st! We had her baptised as I previously posted about.

Wednesday we took Blair and Skylar to see their Great Grandma Ramby in Springfield. It was a very nice visit and the kids seemed to have fun running around her house and property. She was so sweet and gave Chris a few things of his Grandfather's. That night we had Scott and his kids over for a going away dinner. Scott is in Haiti on a mission trip! We got him a card which we all signed and told him how proud we are of him! God Speed to HIM!!!

Thursday was Columbus shopping day with my Gram, my Mom, and Skylar. LOVED THIS. We went to Easton which is a fabulous outdoor shopping area. The Woodlands has one of these areas, but not as big as Easton. It was SO NICE!!! Blair got to spend the day with his Papaw and Daddy doing Golf Course Chores.

Friday we went to the office and made a 'space room' in one of the patient rooms. It turned out nice! I put up so much of my memorabilia. Some of my awards, certificates, pins from flights I supported....etc. It looks great! If you are at my dad's office, check it out! I'll be adding to it. That night I took Blair to the Bellefontaine High School Football game. It was a lot of fun! I loved showing him how I spent SO MANY Friday nights of my youth. I remember watching my grandfather support them as the team physician and then/now my dad and brother!

Saturday we went to see my nieces play soccer. First the twins and then Jenna. Lunched at Tumbleweed and then naps, finally a beautiful dinner on the porch with Linda (SIL), the kids and my gram. We took an evening walk through their woods, which Chris had been clearing paths through all week, and set off Sky Lanterns in my brothers honor. It was a glorious ending to a beautiful visit to my childhood home!

Joyous

2011-10-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Ohio has been so great so far! The party was a huge success and I have seen (and if you are on facebook you have also seen) a sneak peak of the photos and they look AMAZING. Seriously, my friend Ryan has got a gift of seeing a photograph that others do not. She captured so many memories that I owe her a true debt! Chris even said 'man, what else do we owe her?!' Meaning...she does not charge enough!!! We will for sure be going to see her each year when we are up here for family photos. I highly recommend her if you are anywhere in central Ohio. RL Memories. Click it to get to her blog site about her photog biz, along with the sneak peak photos! We keep looking at them and just cherish them. There will be several we'll be blowing up for our home.

On Skylar's actual birth date we got her baptized. Our church in Texas is fabulous, we love it, but they do not do infant baptism's. I understand the reason, however, the Presbyterian Baptism (I am a member of my childhood church in Ohio) means a lot to me. So much so that we had Blair baptized at 4 months here in Ohio and I wanted Skylar to have it as well. It is almost a promise from the church and also us, her parents, to bring her up in the Christian faith and to teach her all the things I was taught as a child in the church. I felt like she had been given a gift of love and a faith that was uplifting and joyous. It was so moving to me, I cried almost the entire time Pastor Rob was doing it! It was a private family affair and was so special. She was a quiet sweet girl during the whole thing.

See me in a little while

2011-09-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Not sure I'll have any posts in the next few. I am headed back out with the fam on a trip. See ya'll soon!!

Full Fledged

2011-09-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Blair and the coaches daughter, Caymen at the end of their Game. They are buddies.

I guess you could call me a full fledged soccer mom at this point.

Blair had a fabulous game. He was great actually. Surprised the heck outta me! The kids had a good practice the first half of the hour, second half they played. It was HOT. Very hot, but Blair was a total trooper.

About 30 minutes in, Skylar was just miserable. Chris decided to take her under the big awning to let her cool off. I stayed with Bear and just hung out on our blanket and watched. There was this dad there that has never been to any of the previous four weeks of practice games or meetings. He was large and loud. He was yelling at his kid the ENTIRE TIME. The poor little boy was just not that interested. Not a big deal, Blair has had those sorts of days. He had one last week! He didn't play at all! They are THREE YEARS OLD PEOPLE. The guy was all over the place, yelling from the sides to his kid. Not mean per se, but annoying nonetheless. He was trying to encourage him, but it was not working. I kept wanting to say 'leave him alone!'. So, when the game rolled around, the kids mostly did great. Blair was really great, getting the ball right away and dribbling down the field with his feet only (no hands this week!) and getting goal after goal. About three in a row actually. The other kids didn't have a chance. Blair took a break thankfully and the other kids went after it. I should mention that this whole time I sat on the blanket and let the two coaches coach. I never interfere unless Blair asks for a drink or to go potty, I just let him do his thing with his team. So, when Blair took a break the coaches daughter took over and got every goal. Then, Blair went back out and got the back from her. He barely knocked her over in the process. I also need to mention that EVERY PARENT was yelling for the kids to 'take the ball away! take the ball away!'. So, when Blair went out and kicked the ball away, there shouldn't be any surprises right? The big dude yells 'NO SHOVING BLAIR!'. Oh and don't forget it was the coaches little girl, and, she totally didn't care. Didn't phase her in the least. Matter of fact, she got up and went back after the ball.

ARE YOU SHITTING ME DUDE!

This is the first time I have EVER felt like a Mama Lion. I yelled back 'UGH, I Don't think he meant to knock her over!!'. I yelled it....I was PISSED. Still am if you can't tell. I still can't believe he did that.

If you know me, you know that I am the FIRST PERSON to get on my son if he is being pushy or mean to ANY OTHER KID. EVER! I always get on him because we want him to be kind and compassionate to all others (I guess if I was kind and compassionate I wouldn't have yelled back). I guess I just don't think what I yelled was mean. Dude should not have yelled at my kid. He was being a back seat driver. The two coaches were RIGHT THERE! They didn't see him shove ANYONE! I have never seen him shove anyone. I've seen HIM get shoved and hit, but never have I seen him do it. If he had done something like that, I would have stopped him and talked with him, and given him a timeout.

Dude never said anything after that. At the end of the game he and his wife and kid left first. I think he knows he screwed up. I feel bad for that kid. He obviously has a pushy father. I actually think the dude meant well with everything he was doing, I honestly think he was mad that his kid was not participating and that ours was. However, no one else cared because they have all been there each week and they have seen that Blair has had days of not wanting to participate. We don't punish or harass Blair for it. We let him get over it on his own.

I was happy to see all the other parents supportive with this, cause I always take these things to heart and very personally. I don't want to get mad at other people or seem bitchy. I know I can come off that way, but I honestly don't want to. I want to always be kind, but want others to be kind to my son, naturally. The coach talked with me after the game with our kids were playing (See photo :)). She was talking about how great Blair is. Such a good player and a nice kid on top of that. It made me feel so much better because she didn't have to do that. I think she just knew it was an uncomfortable thing that the guy did that.

SO...Did I handle it correctly?

Potcake

2011-09-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

Princess Potcake

Exuma Potcake

My mom, Skylar and our Royal Potcake Figgaro!!

I learned so many new things while in the Bahamas. One of the most interesting? The Potcake. My first experience with a potcake came my first day! The dog that my friend Reiko is watching is named Figgie, short for Figgaro. He is awesome and very sweet. We also met Princess Dalia Birdie Potcake (ok, so I named her that, her real name is Ebony or something stupid like that). Princess Potcake was a stray that Reiko's friend and her sister were fostering while trying to find her a home. However, the whole thing got messed up. I won't dive into that story, hopefully Princess Potcake has a happy home by now.

Once we got to Exuma, the three of us ladies, me, Reiko and my mom where relaxing off our back deck in the waters of Exuma when we saw what we thought was a statue far off up the water's edge at the next house. It was actually a Potcake fishing for his dinner. This adorable Potcake made his way to our place and stuck with us for the three days we were there. I tried feeding him several times and he wouldn't eat until the last morning. Then, when we pulled out of the driveway with our bags, he troted down the road back to his other house. He literally stayed with us that whole trip, then left when he knew we were leaving! The entire visit he sat on our back deck and fished. That's it, just fished. It was amazing.

Magic

2011-09-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

The photos are backwards...sorry, they loaded that way!

This was our last night, I forget the name of this fabulous place, it was great! Me, Skylar, Reiko and Hanalei.

Me and Skylar on Old Fort Bay Beach

Me and Skylar on Lyford Cay Bay Beach

Me and Skylar the last night in Exuma, this is our cottage's back deck.

Me and Skylar in the water at the Chat N Chill, Stocking Island, Exuma. Usually there are Sting Rays that come to beg for food, but they didn't show up! I guess because this place is usually very busy, but we had it to ourselves! Heaven!

At the Chat N Chill....baby had fun!

Tropic of Cancer Beach, Little Exuma. Reiko, Hanalei, Skylar and myself!

Snorkling off our back deck, Exuma.

Our Cottage in Exuma - Sea Biscuit

Just arriving in Exuma - at the airport. Me and Skylar

Me and Skylar, Old Fort Bay Beach

Reiko, Hanalei, Skylar and me - Old Fort Bay Beach

I was gone for a week with Skylar. We went to the Bahamas. It was an unexpected trip of sorts. My friend Reiko invited me to go visit her last year when she was there, house watching, for a month. I was, however, 9 months prego at the time! This year when she asked, I JUMPED on the chance. Chris has only one week of vacation, so this was a girls only trip. He will be going with us to Ohio soon. I decided to take Skylar to sit on the beach and just hang. My mother joined us on the trip and THANK THE LORD FOR HER! The extra set of hands came in super handy when Reiko and I needed help with our girls.

Reiko's Daughter, Hanalei, is 17 months. Skylar is 11, so only 6 months separate these girls. I really look forward to them knowing one another through the years, as I count Reiko among my best of friends.

Skylar slept every leg of every flight we went on. WOW, that is quite a switch from her brother. She has already been on several flights, but not since she was 6 months. So she is quite mobile now and I was worried, but she was an angel. We I got to Atlanta, my mother met us at the gate and we flew to Nassau together. Reiko and Hannalei greeted us right outside of customs. The skies were glorious and beautiful!

We hopped into the little SUV owned by the lady she was house sitting for. The minute we saw the water, I held my breath. I have never seen water so blue. I have been to the Florida keys, including Key West, and Jamaica. This water can't be compared. All the little islands and all the beautiful reefs surrounding it were amazing.

We got to the condo, dropped our stuff and got on the golf cart to explore Lyford Cay (pronounced Key). First stop was a tiny beach that hugged the outlet/inlet for the MASSIVE yaghts that are kept at Lyford Cay's Marina. I almost ran into that water. I couldn't help it. It was like I was being drawn in! I need to mention that Lyford Cay is the most exclusive community in the Bahamas. Google it, then know that most of the most famous, don't have their names listed. We saw the Owner of Quizno's yacht, it is a sailing yacht and SO AMAZING. I could go on and on about all these types of details but don't want to go on and on. If you see me and want to know more...let me know, I'll drone on for ya! Next up she took us up further into the community where we saw house after amazing house. One of them being Sean Connery's (whom my mother and I are obsessed with). We saw his cats, his Land Rover and golf carts....that was about it as he is not there in the off season (we were sad to learn that). I guess he is a big part of the community there though. He does many of the social type events. We also learn many of the British royalty hang around this area. There is tons of gossip on that stuff, again, we can talk about those things if I see you! Next up we drove up the road leading to the tip of Lyford Cay. The road hugs the Lyford Cay Bay. This is a private beach area that we had access to. Lastly she drove us into a super exclusive area, that is marked as such! She wanted to show us the gate to Nygard Cay. WOW. OMG, seriously you guys, just go to nygardcay.com and you will say WOW right on your own. We didn't know what was behind this gate at the time. This gate that looked straight outta Jurassic Park, but I took note of the name and googled and MY GOD that place is CRAZY!

Next day we headed to the newer exclusive community right next to Lyford Cay. It is called Old Fort Bay. The lady Reiko is house sitting for is building a new home in this community, so we had access to both. The beach is unreal. That is where I got the best photos. Fun side note, we sat on the beach in front of Shania Twain's house. Almost no one is around at this time though, they all come Nov/Dec time frame.

On Friday we packed up for Exuma. A short plane ride later, we were on our way. Her cottage in Exuma is called 'Sea Biscuit'. It is amazing and right on the water. It is not beachy water, rather it is sitting atop coral, as are all the places on that side of the island. It was not easy to get to, the roads were terrible, but the payoff was unreal. I was able to walk right into the water and snorkel. Dude, it was amazing.

Next day we headed off to see Three sisters rocks, I forget the story, I'll have to look it up. Then, we headed for Little Exuma and a place called Santana's. OMG, the BEST GROUPER EVER. Then we hit up Tropic of Cancer beach (again, I need to look up why it is wonderful). It was super overcast and the beach had lots of seaweed, so it was not great, but the water was still turquoise. Last was the beach Chris said we must go to, Stocking Island which is a short ferry ride away from Georgetown. It has the Chat n Chill bar and restaurant right on the most amazing line of beach in the world (that I have seen thus far). We had a ball laughing and playing with the girls on this beach.

That evening we just hung out and relaxed. We also partook in showers in the outdoor shower, SO COOL! The next morning we took it easy before departing back to Nassau.

Once back we headed off to check out the dive shop I could go with on a refresher (it has been years since I went diving). It looked like a REALLY nice shop and I was really excited about the next mornings dive. I got there at 845 and met the dive master who took me to a small pool to do some quick checkouts like clearing my mask, operating the BC, etc. It was easy, then one of the other dive master's said I was the other refresher, so instead of the 1 tank boat, I was being put on the 2 tank boat. SCORE!

The dives were amazing. I can't even begin to say how special it was. I saw sting rays, grouper, too many angel fish, parrot fish, trumpet fish to count. I saw one barracuda and my favorite, a SEA TURTLE! I saw him around 55 feet and could have followed him all day long. It was magic. I forgot how much I love diving. I really hope Chris can get certified sometime soon so we can go together. It is just so amazing and so hard to describe, it is another world. Especially in a beautiful place like the Bahama's. The coral is bright and beautiful, the sea life is amazing.

That afternoon we headed to Atlantis, I don't have much to say, they don't let anyone see it anymore unless you pay way too much money. More than I was willing to shell out. We headed home and chilled, and walked along the private beach for Lyford Cay Bay.

The next day we did Old Fort Bay Beach again. AMAZING as usual, but the surf was up, so the girls were a little fussy about it, we didn't stay more than a couple of hours.

I could go on and on about the details, but there are so many I don't want to bore you.

It was Magic.

First Game

2011-09-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Each week the kids will have a practice followed by a game. This week and next I think, they will play each other in a scrimage. Here they are getting ready to play 'Green Light Red Light!'. They really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. The lady on the left is their Coach. She is just great with them.

Here is Blair scoring the very first goal during the scrimage! They were all told to go toward the goal with their jersey color on it. Plus, they used Blair's ball for the game. I am pretty sure the kids were all confused, Blair was the only one to kick the ball and run. The other goal he scored, he totally cheated (well, he didn't know he was cheating, lol). Another kid on his team kicked it, Blair ran after it with him, grabbed it with his hands to get it away, then kicked it in. The other kid was not happy, then Daddy told Blair what he did wrong and Blair was sensitive and cried. They are all learning! I didn't realize that almost every kid cried at one point until I reviewed the photos. I totally thought it was only my kid. Guess it just goes to show that you really get tunnel vision when you are focusing on your own kid.

All and all it went really well. Like I said, there was a bit of a meltdown toward the end when daddy got on him for picking up the ball. He did great though! Even his coach mentioned he was good! We just need to teach him to not go pick up the ball, run, then throw it down when it is out of the way of others. The other thing was that he wanted to play football. There were other fields with football games. The kids were not more than about 10 years old. He wanted to do that so badly! Lord help me, must be in his blood. He'll really want to do it after going to a couple of games with Papaw! My dad is the team physician, my grandpa was before that, and now my brother is starting to take over. It's tradition. They even have some portion of the weight room named for my grandfather.

Thanks to Nikki, Travis and Aiden for coming out! We loved having the company and I think it put Blair a little more at ease to have a friend that he knew there.

iPhone Photo Round Up

2011-09-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Blair and I had a Mommy-Son date and we went to the Jumpin' Jungle for a Birthday party. It was FUN!!! Blair had a blast. Since Skylar and I are headed out of town next week, I have another date planned with my little dude on Sunday. It's gonna be fun!!

Daddy and Skylar can be found each weekend in this position around nap times, twice a day. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

We were at the neighbor's hanging out last week and Skylar decided it would be fun to eat their mail. Wes, our neighbor, took photos of her feast, LOL.

When Chris and I hit up the grocery this past weekend we stuck the kids in the cart, I had to send my parents a photo. This is my dream, my two beautiful children and my husband, all enjoying a Saturday together. Heaven.

A couple of days ago my mom was asking what the kids were doing. I told her the Skylar was up to her latest trick, buggin her brother. It is her #1 goal in life at this point. SHE LOVES HIM. He on the other hand, loves her sprout when we give her one. He always grabs it. I think it stems from his love of my and my mother's hair. Now he loves hers too!

My Little Man

2011-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

He is so very excited for his first game this Saturday. Amazing how fast they grow!!

Jack

2011-09-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am a day late, but 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JAAAAAAA-AAAAAAACK!, Happy Birthday to you'. We love you JACK!!!!

I will NEVER forget the moment in my life when I met my nephew Jack. It was an interesting time. Jack was born just 11 days after my wedding (my SIL was SO SWEET to stand up for me as my MOH when she was 9 months pregnant). Then, a few days later was 9/11. So, I had my plane reservations all setup to fly up there to meet my nephew prior to my wedding so that I knew he would be there (it was for a couple weeks after his due date) and that I wouldn't be bothering Scott, Linda and Jenna while they were getting to know their new family member. When I walked in their back door I saw Linda first, then I saw Scott round the corner wearing a baby Bjorn. Jack, so tiny was tucked inside. I saw his little arms and legs first and started crying the second I saw him in the flesh. I couldn't help it. It was a moment that I think God flipped the switch in me. I knew I wanted to be a mother the second I saw him. I just knew. It was so strange and sweet. Jack will forever have this hold over me because he is my first experience with a newborn baby. My brother's newborn baby at that. Jenna, my oldest Niece is also so very special to me. She is my first experience with a toddler that was my first relative! I was always the baby in the family. I am 8 or more years younger than every single person in my family. It was a joy to bring Jenna into this family. She was about 2.5, almost 3 when she joined us. OMG was she a cutie pie (now she is a beauty and growing so fast!).

Anyhow, my point is this. You never know when it'll hit you, how it will hit you, but you do have a realization that your point in life, is to give life as a woman. Jack was this switch that got flipped inside my heart. He'll always remain there, in my heart.

The below video is something my mom sent on her phone from Saturday. My mom and dad took Jack to the Ohio State Game thanks to my brother and his wife who paid for the tix! It sounds like it was loads of fun (even though it was a super hot day for Ohio).

I LOVE YOU JACK!!!

Soccer MOM!

2011-09-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

I am a soccer MOM! Blair got his uniform last night. A T-shirt, shorts and the SOCKS to go over his shin guards. ADORABLE. It was a meet and greet with the team. Blair was his usual adorable self. He said hi to his coach and shook her hand and met some of the other kids. It was so cute!!! He was fighting mad they didn't actually play though. A week from Saturday is the first practice and game! I am so pleased he is ready to DO THIS! I wasn't sure since he is just 3. This is gonna be SO FUN. Chris and I are really looking forward to him learning team skills and working together to accomplish something. The coach is wonderful. A mom about my age with a nice husband and daughter. The other parents seem equally as nice and helpful, everyone wants to get involved and help out, bring drinks, snacks, lawn stuff.

SPOIL ME!

2011-08-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

In the last few days I have gotten seriously spoiled. It's like Christmas in August! I got new running shoes (Chris also got the male version by the way...), New Balance Minimus Trail Shoes. OMG, if you have ever wanted to try the five fingers, but don't want your feet to looks weirdo and have all your toes separate, these are the next best thing. They are SO LIGHT and it doesn't even feel like you are wearing shoes. We LOVE THEM. If you run, exercise classes, do any sort of high energy running around, GO GET THEM.

AND I GOT A BERNINA!!!! Only those of you that are sewers will understand the Bernina part. It is the GREATEST sewing machine ever. They last FOREVER. Case in point, my mother will not let me have hers. It is like 40 years old. I am not kidding. I could go on and on about it. My other machine that my mom got me is fine, it works, but I have outgrown it and am ready for something better. I am making something for Skylar and my old machine was not cutting it. I needed an upgrade BADLY. My other one is 15 years old, so it was time. This Bernina should last me a lifetime. Did I mention it has a 20 year warranty? Look forward to photos of my projects coming soon!

More from the Weekend

2011-08-29T07:37:00.001-07:00

Skylar found the pots and pans!!! YIPPPEEEE! Here she goes! I remember Blair playing in all my drawers in the kitchen just having a grand time, now it's Skylar's turn!

On Saturday before the Shuttle party Chris and Blair went with 'uncle' Brian to his worksite to pick up some dirt. Blair was in heaven.

Salute to our Shuttle

2011-08-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

Chris and Blair in the mock up facility, Blair was afriad of the blow up astronaut.

Me, Nikki, Skylar and Mr. Aiden on our spot.

Chris, Skylar and Blair. Chris with his two Beers.

Me and my baby, I think I had tears in my eyes watching Columbia.

Aiden and Blair...

I went to an event at work last night wondering if I would be sad walking away from it. Turns out, I was re-energized.

I got tickets to a big party they threw at Johnson Space Center a couple weeks ago with the intention of taking Nikki, Aiden and Travis to show them just a slice of my workplace. Chris had (obviously) been there a ton, so nothing new for him. But, he really enjoyed it nonetheless. We got there right at 108 degrees. Yeah, you read that right. It was 108 degrees at JSC yesterday. I can tell you that for certain because the MC of the night was a Houston weatherman. He verified it. When we got there we parked at my old building I worked in while I was in my old position (when I would work mission control stuff) we took one of the Space Center Houston Trams to Building 9, the mock up facility. Anyone that has come to visit me, I've taken you there, it has all the big pieces of the space station, a soyuz, a shuttle, amongst other things. We got to walk everyone through on the floor, which rocked cause it was 108. I enjoyed seeing Orion being highlighted in the building. I feel very close to Orion after these past 6 months, and I was sort of relieved to see it getting attention. Next up was WATER and food. We each got something different which was cool. I ended up not being able to eat my turkey leg, oh well. We hung out for a while on our blanket in the kids area, trying to survive the heat. The men headed off in search for beer's while Nikki and I began to reposition near the center of the program. There were astronaut signings that we missed, bummed about that, but I am hoping to get the kids autographs from another guy anyhow, a commander from one of the most recent missions.

We got set up and settled in, I got a Margarita and Chris got a couple of beers (the line was insane, so he got two!). The boys (Aiden and Blair) did laps around our spot for a good hour, T38s flew over, and the program began. We saw many famous people give little inspiring clips on how good of a job everyone at JSC has done. Jay Leno, Jimmy Buffet. What sticks out the most to me is the big montoge of the shuttle flights, when Challenger exploded, then Columbia. Tears sprouted in my eyes. Then, they highlighted Orion. I was elated to see this. I had no idea they would show so many details. I even saw my friend Chris (whom just moved to San Diego to work on Military stuff) in a photo! He used to work in SEI for Orion. Awesome! They showed its progression, the Pad Abort 1 Test (PA1), the environmental testing it is getting now. I was so pumped! I AM so Pumped! THIS Is why I work for the space program! Amazing how one little video montage can help SO MUCH! I loved it, I want to see it again.

The administrator was there, but I really have no comment there. Mike Coats, our center director is awesome. So supportive and giving us encouraging words for the future. I know he'll be in Denver on Tuesday seeing the very work I help with! The Orion Test Labs! Fabulous!!!!

We saw the first two songs of the band 'Five for Fighting' before I was DONE. The kids were on overload, I actually got Skylar to sleep in her stroller, but Blair was ASKING to go home. We were all sticky and hot. I am sure if we didn't have the kids we would have stayed for the whole thing. Oh well, we had fun. Thanks NASA!!

Silly Girl

2011-08-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sickening

2011-08-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

There is a lot that scares me. I get nervous and upset thinking about what COULD happen. It is the source of a lot of my anxiety. Having kids intensified it.

I saw a video this morning of a woman with a stroller in the back of a truck. That stroller had an 8 month old baby boy in there. It made my stomach churn.

When I was in college I took a class where we studied liability. It was fascinating. We learned about how human error caused mishaps in everyday items and then how we could correct those human errors by engineering them OUT. Some of it could only be engineered out with signage. Such as the push lawnmower. Some brilliant idiot managed to use his to cut his hedges. True story. His fingers were all chopped off. He sued the company and won based on the fact that they had not TOLD HIM IN THE warnings to NOT use it on his hedges. Really? Seriously. Many remember the lady that spilled the coffee on herself right? Same thing, what a DUH moment.

So when I saw this lady with this baby in the back of the truck I thought about how many other parents break the rules with car seats. It makes my stomach churn. This is another thing we studied. We watched videos on what happens to a child crash test dummy when not restrainded properly. You see, for one thing, children's head are not proportionate to their bodies until about 4. That is why they SHOULD stay rear facing until 4, in a car seat, with a 5 point harness. This is just now coming to light in the US. In the netherlands they do it already. Hmmm, where are Volvo's made? The safest cars out there? Yeah, the Netherlands, Sweden in fact. Anyway, I digress. My point is this. Why wouldn't you restrain your child?!?! OMG, EVERY PARENT should have to watch a video on child crash tests prior to leaving the hospital. EVERY PARENT. If they saw what a crash could do to their child...ugh, it just makes me sick to my stomach.

I also don't understand why a parent wouldn't use the booster seat until the kid is tall enough to for the seatbelt to be in proper position. If it is in the improper position, it could actually harm the child. Scary stuff.

Ok, enough of my rant. I know I am not going to change anything, I just wish that these kids would be put in safer positions in cars. It scares me. Now we know better, know we see what can happen. Now we can protect them. It is our responsibility.

I got Skylar one of her convertible car seats a few weeks ago. I DID buy the one with the highest crash rating there was. However, I took it back in favor of another that had an almost equal rating. The reason was I found out the one with the HIGHEST rating was also the HIGHEST for having testing positive for LEAD in the clip! OMG! Ugh, there is so much to think about as a parent.

Busy

2011-08-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Chris feeds Skylar her cereal in the morning. We always joke that we are going into combat when we feed her. She is like a Ninja with her arms when you feed her. It is hillarious, I need to get video of it. He sent me this photo yesterday morning with the caption 'Combat feeding and she is WINNING!!!'

This morning I put a little sprout on top of her head with a barrett. Seriously, it is so fun having a girl to do these things with. Chris gets to play boy games with Blair and I get to do Skylar's hair. Its like playing house, only FOR REAL!!

I have been super busy at work lately. I feel like my mind doesn't really stop these days. I have SO MUCH going on at work, and then I get home and it is like this big circle of madness. I have to cook, clean, organize, clean again, then wash children, then put children to bed, then plan things for Skylar's party. Why do you ask, am I doing stuff for her party now?! Because I have a trip planned for a few weeks from now and if I don't get all the party stuff done prior, I won't be able to do it at all. I have to have all this stuff I am doing shipped out to Ohio (where said party will take place) prior to Sept. 14th (when I am going to be on said trip). WHEW. I have been so busy and tired all at once that I have not grocery shopped in over a week. That is crazy business because if I don't feed my husband he heads straight to the first McDs or Taco Bell he can find. I am trying to avoid any and all fast foods whenever I can. So last night, the family got grilled cheese. Night before, burgers. Night before I fixed the recipe on the side of the Cream of Broccolli can. It was good actually. Anyhow, now we are out of things we need to survive with a Three Year old. Like Cereal and Scooby Snacks.

Skylar is H-I-L-L-A-R-I-O-U-S these days. She is sleeping all night (YEAH for me getting over 8 HOURS A NIGHT NOW) and she is following Blair EVERYWHERE. Matter of fact, he is one of the best big brothers I have ever witnessed. He actually is ok with letting her come in his room to play each and every day. He barely gets upset about her having his stuff. I can't believe it and I keep waiting for him to freak. He is so sweet. That boy makes me so proud. I was just telling someone about his latest developments. One of them is his ability to really tell us how he FEELS. Like 'Mama I sad' or 'Mama I SO HAPPY!'. He has been doing this for a few months consistently and it is so sweet. When my parents were here they got to hear 'Nana I need you!' and now they hear it on their phone calls.

Not sure how the weekend will go. Chris is taking his motorcycle course all weekend. I'll probably take the kids to watch him ride around at some point. But honestly, we'll just miss him. We are so used to him being around each and every weekend! Oh well, then, on Tuesday I FINALLY have a dentist appointment for Blair. I am a BAD MOMMY! I have put this off for too long. I will not do that with SKylar, she'll be going with her brother in another 6 months for sure. Wish us luck! This pediatric dentist is supposed to be FABULOUS!

PS - Does anyone have any good blog suggestions? I don't read too many anymore (no time) but would like to update my bar on the right with blogs that actually get updated.

Be Thankful

2011-08-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

A posting on my friend Nikki's facebook page got me to thinking. She put on there that she saw a lightening bug. That is so exciting because we just don't see those here in the south. They are mainly a northern thing (but they are all over just an hour or two north of here). I remember seeing them at night in Ohio when I was younger. They were a special treat only in a few of the summer months. The summer months up north are perfect. The weather, the climate is wonderful. It is only about 3 months long though. If that. Just last night my friends had to wear sweaters already. It was in the lower 50s. It is still August. The weather really yo-yo's. I loved my childhood. I had a wonderful time. Enjoyed all my experiences and never felt like I was missing out on anything on my life up in Ohio.

However, I see more and more of our friends here in Texas complaining about what their kids are missing up north. The posting had a comment about how her kid was missing the lightening bugs up there, like her childhood was incomplete because of it. I have the opposite reaction to that. I see all the things my kids GET to experience because of where we live! I never got to swim 8 months out of the year, I didn't get to go to the beach on the GULF OF MEXICO whenever I wanted. I didn't get to go to world class museums in the fourth largest city of the US whenever. I didn't get to go to NASA and see astronauts in TARGET. I didn't get to go to big battleships and subs because who would want to put one of those in the middle of Ohio anyway? I didn't get to choose from four different water parks. I didn't have some of the neatest cities within the US just three hours away (Austin and San Antonio are AMAZING). I could go on and on.

I choose to see what my kids get to experience and I love it! I am so happy and excited for their unique experiences! Its awesome! I just think people should ENJOY where they are instead of complaining about where they are not. Enjoy it, life is short!

All Over

2011-08-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

Skylar is pretty much booking it these days around the house. She cruises so fast that Chris and I blink, and she is in the next room. Mostly she just wants to play with Blair's stuff, which is fine for the most part. He doesn't really care. Which is amazing to me. Sometimes he wants what she has gotten her hands on, but it is usually no issue and she happily gets something else to mess with. Usually its a monster truck or an airplane. Yeah. So for her birthday she will be getting ALL GIRLY STUFF. I am serious. ALL OF IT will be pink. Tee Hee....

For the past two nights Chris has taken over night time duties with our little birdy. It just got out of control with the all night buffett going on. She wants me to come in there and nurse like every 2-3 hours and it was killing me. He realized this and agreed to help with the Ferber method. The first night was a killer. On me that is. She cried for about 45 minutes and we figured out that it best to just stay out of the room altogether since when she see's you, she goes ape sh#$ and wants you to pick her up. She has a shrill cry that will bust your eardrums, I assure you (GOD HELP US next year when she is a full blown toddler). I had to walk downstairs and let Chris do it all. I put her to bed, but then Chris does all the rest. How did I get so lucky in the hubby department? He is wonderful to do this. I know it is not easy for him either, but I myself cry my eyes out whenever she is upset and I know I need to let her work on her sleep issues herself. I wish to God she would have kept up her great sleeping habits from when she was tiny (sleeping 8-10 hours!) but alas, I cannot swaddle her anymore. STUPID SWADDLE! DANG YOU SWADDLE! Luckily she worked it out each and every time. She woke up three times last night. The last one was the toughest because she kept sitting up and had her legs in front of her, then she would lay forward, ontop of her legs. No way could she sleep that way. After a half hour she finally figured it out. Poor baby girl. I can see that this won't take but a few more nights and she'll have it down and be sleeping peacefully all night, knowing we'll be in to get her in the morning.

She was SO DAGGONE SWEET this morning too. So sweet.

Looking forward to the weekend. Nikki, Travis and Aiden are coming up for dinner. Blair is SO EXCITED. Plus, we are headed to Palm Beach on Sunday, yeah!

Just a few

2011-08-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

When Chris and I went to the Hyatt and checked in the kids did something just adorable and I grabbed the camera as fast as I could. Skylar and Blair went behind the curtain and looked out the window together. Blair put his arm around her and they seemed to be holding their own conversation that no one else could understand but one another. It melted my heart into a million pieces.

Also, as I mentioned before, I took Blair on the lazy river for a little mommy and Blair time on Sunday morning. While we were playing, Chris had some fun time with Skylar and I guess they had a fashion shoot! He got some great shots of her. She was all smiles for her daddy!

I believe I also mentioned that I left my Kindle behind in our first hotel room. Well, it is a LOOOONG story, but it has been RETURNED! For a little while I was concerned that there were some not so nice people at that hotel, but the managerial staff stepped up to the plate and did SOMETHING to get that Kindle returned to me. It is on its way here via overnight UPS. Another wonderful thing? They comped our room. Amazing. I am in the process of writing a nice review and a nice email about their managerial staff.

Ramblin' River

2011-08-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

This August 24th will be Chris and I's 10th Anniversary. As I have said, it would be great to go on a sweet topical vacation together, however, there are many reasons why we just can't right now. Two of them are our children and the other is the fact that his job is only 6 months in and he is taking his first vacation in Sept./Oct. to go up north. So, we just can't. We decided to go to the Hill Country for the weekend. His co-pilot had requested Friday and Monday off which guaranteed that he wouldn't be flying. Awesome. We wanted to take the kids to the Hyatt Hill Country. I was bummed to find that Friday night was sold out. Not only at the Hill country one, but also at the Lost Pines resort (the one in the Austin Area). Totally bummer. We decided to take our chances and go to the New Braunfels area to explore and pick a hotel once we got there. I picked the nicest one they had. It is on the Comal river and is woodsy, pretty, brand new. We got there, checked in (Chris had mentioned they weren't the nicest upon checkin which is weird for a Marriott). Then we headed to Canyon Lake for dinner. There is a cute little place on a peak on the lake. We had a nice drive and made a plan for the next day. We knew we wanted to do a few things. One was to see the Natural Bridge caves, the other was to meet up with some friends that live in Wimberly that we had not seen in a few years. That night was ok. Blair and Chris went swimming. Skylar was teething (still is) and I kept her up in our room to play and hang. That night was awful for us all. Both kids kept us up half the night, there were kids running the halls (we even had a knock at 2am and about 3am we think). We couldn't get outta there fast enough the next day. We headed to the Natural Bridge Caves and they were AMAZING. We have these sorts of caves in Ohio, but the ones here are larger. I will say that our stalactites and stalagmites are much more white in Ohio, but the caves here are HUGE compared. The kids were excellent. Blair was scared at first, but then he thought it was SO COOL MOM!

Next up we had lunch at Rudy's in New Braunfels with our friends. It was SO GOOD to see them!! I hope we get to see them more. They wanted us to come up to their place, but alas, we only had so much time this weekend and that Ramblin' River at the Hyatt was calling our name!

We headed for San Antonio and go checked in, and promptly headed for the water. Blair was DYING TO GET IN. This one is all in the woods compared to the one in Austin (Hyatt Lost Pines). It was devine. We were on it for three hours. Skylar loved it! She mostly stayed on my lap throughout it. There is even a FLOAT UP BAR! OMG it was so fun. Blair started to say 'mama, you need a drink' every time we would go by the turn off for the float up bar. It was so funny. When we got out, Blair had a major melt down. He didn't want to get out. We were going to do more activities (they have so much for kids there). We were going to let him ride a bike, do s'mores by the campfire, even watch a movie out on the lawn next to the river, but he was so cranky. We ended up getting a pizza and crashing. We all slept pretty darn good. Skylar awoke a few times, but was good. The next morning we had a delightful buffet breakfast. It was also super yummy and had lots of great kid options in addition to our adult yumminess. Blair and I headed to get our suits on to do another hour or so of the lazy river. It was heaven. Just spending a bit of time one on one with Blair was so (almost) bittersweet. I hardly ever get one on one time with him and I miss it. He and I had a BLAST! We giggled and laughed and played. It was so great. Chris had a wonderful time with his princess. Speaking of that, I forgot to mention that Blair introduced his sister this way at lunch Saturday 'this is my sister, Skylar, she a princess'. LOL!!! So funny.

We headed out around 11am (boooo) and got into San Antonio. I wanted to stop at El Mercado. I had never seen it. It is a HUGE market with TONS of places to buy goods from South America. Mostly Mexico. We got a couple of paper halo's for Skylar. I'll try to put one on her for her birthday (we'll see if she keeps it on). Then it was 3 hours in the car to home. It was good to be home, but I so wish we could have had two nights at the Hyatt. Oh well, next year! We are TOTALLY going back, I hope each year. It was fabulous.

So sweet

2011-08-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Nikki sent me these photos that the photographer at Luke's party took. Adorable!

Chris and I have been trying to figure out what to do for our anniversary. We kept thinking about trying to get away overnight from the kids, but I think we decided to take them. We went to Palm Beach last night and had such a great time that I believe we may try to just go to either Hyatt Lost Pines (outside of Austin) or Hyatt Hill Country (outside of San Antonio). They both have HUGE lazy rivers and beach play areas, the hotels are beautiful and relaxing, there is stuff for kids to do, and it would make Chris and I happy. We will get away and do an adult vacation soon enough, for now, we want to enjoy the kids. So why not?! We'll take 'em with us!

5 years ago we did Hyatt Lost Pines, it was great! We had a wonderful time. I kind of want to do the Hill Country one this time, but we'll see. They are both beautiful resorts with lots to do

and they are an easy 3.5 hour drive. No biggie.

iPhone Photo Roundup

2011-08-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

My mom sent me this photo of my brother's kids from when they picked up Jenna from camp. Do you think her brother and sisters missed her?! So adorable. I am just jumping out of my skin with excitement to see these four. I miss them SO MUCH. We really enjoyed having Jenna for a week here last year. I wish we could have done it this year, but it would have been pretty difficult with Skylar. I am hoping we can get something going for next year. I would really love to have one on one time with her again. She is growing up way to fast, as are the other three. This is my mom's favorite photo right now. She had it blown up for a bunch of us.

Here is daddy holding Skylar at her 9 Month well baby visit from last week. No shots, but she did have her blood drawn. That is why he is holding her finger. She is quite cleaver and got her band aid off in record time. So, he is holding it while I try to fidget and find her a new one. I was trying to get a shot of her little band aid. This kid is like Houdini. She is 18lbs (25-50%) and she is 28" (50-75%). She is right on track they say! The doctor did sort of give me a little nudging over the fact that her Iron is slightly low. Since she only gets 4oz of formula a day, that would be my fault. I have had iron issues my whole life. I used to take it, but due to my GI issues, I don't take that stuff. Chris and I headed for the meat market right after her appointment, got some wonderful fillets and spinach salad! I'll show you iron....

This is just the sweetest. When Chris was on a flight, I of course was with both kids and when Blair got up, I hopped in the shower, soon he was yelling to me that 'sister is awake mama!!'. I told him to go talk to her. Well, he did one better, he got in her crib and snuggled! He has done that a few mornings now and she LOVES IT. I got a photo on the monitor. If you look close you can see my two babies on there.

My mom and dad did their annual Lovey Dovey getaway to Put-In-Bay again this year. They sent me this photo while there. My dad even put 'Hot Mama!' In the text message as the caption. I'll say! She is quite beautiful, my mama :).

From this morning. I just thought she looked so cute in her little T-shirt and shorts....

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to Charlie's House for a visit. It has been so long since we have gone to visit Karen and Charlie. They have been like second parents to us. Blair went nuts over riding in the Mule, seeing the horses, chickens, deer, lama, longhorns, tractors. He didn't know which way to turn! It was great fun and Blair has turned fearless with the animals (good and bad). We had a fabulous dinner and it was so good to see them. We have to get up there more often.

LAUNCH

2011-08-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

This Saturday morning the husband, kids and I all headed out to find some adventure. We knew we didn't want outdoors considering the 100 degree temperatures we are having, so we headed towards the Bass Pro Shop in Pearland. On the way we saw some pretty awesome airplane acrobats going on. We stopped and talked to the guys that were flying these neat Remote Control Planes. Blair LOVED IT. He kept saying over and over, 'Mommy I do that!'. I kept telling him that we would. Chris talked with the guys and we have decided to start small and do it in increments. Years ago my brother started to get into this hobby. Matter of fact at one time he had like 5-6 airplanes/helicopters and such. Chris was really into it, but we never had enough money to really get into it. The planes are expensive. About 200, then the radios are just as much, so you are looking at AT LEAST 400 to get started. Probably more like 500-600. So anyway, we liked it that Blair seemed highly interested in this fun hobby. Hopefully it is something he and Chris can pick up slowly and they can do it on the weekends and such. I would love it. Its safe and teaches him all sorts of things like building, aerodynamics, the power of failure (he WILL CRASH it) and success when he flies it! I am encouraging it. Hopefully we can get him started with it around Christmas time. Chris already looked up a three year old that actually flies these things. I think we'll probably get Blair some tiny thing to get going on, then build from there.

Anyhow, we did go to Bass Pro Shop, and had lunch (what an awesome grilled Mahi Mahi) and then we headed back down home in order to get naps in for the kids. On our way, we stopped at a Hobby Shop to check out the planes. In the end Chris got sidetracked by the rockets! He got one for Blair (Himself....) and the boys were all too excited.

Chris got it all ready yesterday morning and we launched it! Blair had a blast, we put it up three times (all the prop we bought) and it only got stuck in the trees once (the last launch). Chris was great with Blair and explained the whole thing to him. FUN!!

So cute

2011-07-30T06:05:00.001-07:00

Little Love

2011-07-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

She is crawling now. Started to really do it on Sunday. She gets around like lightening fast now. Plus, she plays catch with her brother. Amazing! She copies everything he does, or tries to!

The Weekend

2011-07-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have not uploaded the photos yet, but I do have some from this weekend. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

On Friday I got to go to a work function that included them renting out a dinner movie theater. We saw Captain America. It pretty much rocked. The ending was PHENOMENAL. LOVED IT. Dude is HOT. Anyway, enough of my swooning. I am sure the husband DOES NOT appreciate it, tee hee. But whatever, he has what's her name from the first two transformers movies and that is Blair's current obsession. He loves Optimus Prime. Friday night was sort of sucky in the putting Skylar to bed business. She was not going to sleep. For the umpteenth time she had her daddy get to to sleep, then I took over. Saturday night was worse, I'll get to that. Saturday we pretty much didn't do much of anything but hang out and go run errands. We got a birthday present for the party we were headed to that day and had lunch at Freebirds (Chris can't understand what is going on, letting him buy a motorcycle, eating at freebirds, what is the world coming to!!). After naps and such we headed to the party. It was so fun. Blair wore his cowboy boots and he new jeans and belt. He was ADORABLE. The minute we saw the party, the birthday boy's daddy was helping to get out the rest of the farm animals. You read that right, there was a petting zoo at the party. It was awesome. A horse, goats, piglets, bunnies, baby ducks, baby chickens. It was funny!! The goats kept trying to eat Blair's belt buckle. They were hybrid Pygmy goats. Whatever that means. Also, Blair LOVED riding the horse! We couldn't get him near a horse last year, this year, LOVES IT. I am so glad as his daddy and I grew up with horses and we would hate it if Blair was afraid of them. They are such awesome creatures and should be appreciated. My dad could call his horses by name out of the pasture and they would come running, I'll never forget being on the bridge to our pasture watching that. It was so special. The party was a lot of fun. I felt bad for yelling at one kid....but he was HITTING MY BABY ON THE HEAD. Not hard, but H-E-L-L-O, where are your parents little guy? Anyway, it was not a big deal, she is totally fine, but when another little kid is batting your baby girl in the head, the Mama Lion comes out and it can get nasty I tell ya. The little guy was awfully cute, but the parents were busy getting their grub on while there 15 month, or so, old kid was toddling away on his own. I guess Chris and I are just a little more aware of where our kids are when they can get into trouble at another person's house.

Another revelation that day was how much alike Aiden and Blair are. I mean REALLY alike. Aiden is like a clone of what Blair was like a year ago. AMAZING to me. Aiden is HILARIOUS. Once, he heard the piano in the other room. He dropped the toy he was playing with an off he went! He was SO EXCITED and ran to see it. So cute. Just the discovery and amazement at that age. So sweet.

That night Skylar went to bed, but woke up within an hour. I got her and she was not going back to sleep. I brought her into bed with me. She woke up at 1115 crying and would not nurse. I felt her and she was pretty warm. I gave her tylenol and walked her downstairs to get the thermometer. She then proceeded to projectile vomit all over me and herself three times. We.Were.Covered. It was so gross. I felt terrible. She seemed to start feeling better. I got Chris to help us with a shower. He handed her to me, then took her when she was clean and got her in new cozies. We went to bed, she was still fussy, she started to fall asleep in my arms, but then wouldn't. 1am, I gave her to Chris. She wouldn't sleep. By 2am I was frustrated and so was Chris. I swaddled her as a last atempt. She fell asleep! Like a rock until 8am. Amazing. She broke that fever at about 2am. Never had one again. Weird. She does have 2 more top teeth coming in. I just can't explain the vomit. She ate fine yesterday, acted fine. She slept fairly well last night, woke up three times, but went back to sleep fairly well and slept in her bed the whole night.

Thoughts

2011-07-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

I just have random thoughts today. Work has kept me pretty darn busy as of late. I am looking for a slow down in the next month, we'll see though, there are a couple other items coming up on my plate that may ramp me back up.

I took off work a couple of hours early yesterday. Chris and I took the kids back to the Moody Gardens Palm Beach water park. SO FUN. TOTALLY worth the season passes. It is free for Blair and Skylar to get in, so we just had to get them for Chris and I. They are paid for in 2.5 trips. We'll easily go 4-6 times before the season is up. Chris is able to take Blair during the week with another pilot buddy of his that has two kids that Blair likes to play with. Kai wanted to go yesterday, but was still on a trip. I think they may go next week. We went last week with my parents and Chris was on a trip. Chris LOVED it with Blair. This was Skylar's first visit though and she was NOT HAVING IT on the lazy river. She was not mad, she was scared of the water falling on her. It was pitiful and I felt so bad so I didn't go back. Chris thinks she'll get over it the way Blair did though. We'll see, we'll be going back for sure. This park is geared for a more lazy day. It is not a huge Schlitterbaun type place. It has a lazy river, with interactive play areas for kids with water guns, water cannons. It has a couple bigger adult slides, a small wave pool, a kid area with kid slides and then a big area of water play with spritzers and such. PERFECT for our size children. Plus, it is not nearly as busy as the big park next door. We love the relaxed atmosphere. I was able to sit in a secluded area and nurse while the guys went to play. We left after a couple hours. No stress to stay longer cause we have the passes, like I said, totally worth it.

On the way home we had to stop at Kroger for something and I sat in the car with the kids. Blair was quiet after scarfing down a burger and then said 'Mommy, I had a lot of fun in the water, did you have fun in the water?'. I talked with him about it. When Chris got in the car I looked over and as the kids were smiling and laughing at each other I was in pure heaven. Chris said 'what'. I just told him how our son is amazing and he is growing up so sweet and kind. I had just taken notice of how he started the conversation with me, and he asked me about my time at the water park. I told Chris how proud I was that he was that socially with it. He is such a nice little boy, he waited his turn each and every time there was another kid using a water toy, he would move out of the way when he saw another kid wanting to use a toy. I am so ecstatic that Chris and I seem to be doing a pretty good job raising him. Despite the times of frustration of trying to teach him to behave or to be quiet or some such thing, he is growing and thriving. For that I am SO PROUD. Chris and I both are.

Chris's job is amazing as usual. We keep pinching ourselves over it. They only fly the airplane for business, so it only flies during the week. Only on the weekend for an occasional emergency. They did have an emergency week before last, but it was a day trip. He flew a lot last week, but he is busy most of the time he is gone, which makes his job so much more enjoyable. We have truly been blessed this year.

My job on Orion is funded through next year and I feel honored to be among those that have been 'adopted' by Orion. There are just a very very slim few of us that have. I was on Constellation last year, and as of October 1 will officially have a change to Orion. I speak of this because of my sadness over the shuttle landing. I am not close to it at all anymore. I was a flight controller over three years ago now, so it is not as fresh as it used to be in my mind. I do look up and over at my shuttle cue card that I was given as a parting gift from my old group and do have a bit of sadness. They will not longer fabricate these items for Space Shuttle missions. They will not longer build the products that they built in my old group for the shuttle's. They will still send a select few items onboard space station, but no more of these relics to be built. I will think fondly on the times that I got to fly in the motion based sim (a rare treat the SECOND day on the job), show everyone in my family mission control, get taken on a private tour of the flight line here at Ellington by an astronaut with my aunt and uncle, going to Europe and Japan's Space Agencies....there is so much I have gotten to do and will never take one of those moments for granted. I just pray I'll have more memorable moments to come. I hope Orion Flight Test 1 (OFT-1) arrives soon (scheduled for 7/16/13 as of right now, my birthday!). That is what we are working towards now.

I just feel blessed. I feel thankful. I feel serene. I hope the feeling lasts.

The daily negotiations for Blair to go up to see Nana and Papaw on an airplane are ongoing. I keep telling him a couple of months. He is not having it. He wants to go now. Poor kid. He really misses them something terrible.

More From Last Week - out of order and from my phone

2011-07-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a happy Skylar at the Downtown Aquarium. She was hanging out with Nana and Papaw while Chris, Blair and I hit up some rides.

Here is my mom, me and Blair at lunch after a morning at the water park (hence her wet head of hair). We went to a nice place on the seawall in Galveston. I think it was called the Brick house? It was good, weird choices, mom and I shared breaded olives and some sort of handmade chips with blanko queso and blue cheese, YUMO.

My dad next to the freshly shucked oysters he was about to EAT. YUMO. SO FRESH. Galveston Bay Oysters are hands down the best I have ever had. I think my dad agrees.

The kids would pile up on my mom like this daily, many times a day.

Chris and Blair on the carousel. He LOVED it!

Chris and Blair on the Faris Wheel, overlooking downtown.

Bear Bear cuddling his Papaw.

Blair giving Papaw kisses at the place overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston.

Blair made a friend at the Aquarium. They were so funny looking at the fish together. The other kid LOVED Blair, kept putting his arm around him and laughing. Silly!

AWWW, bad lighting inside the Aquarium, but can you see my earrings?! OMG they are so cool. A birthday treat from my mama. Got lots of compliments :).

My Visit with the Most Wonderful People!

2011-07-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

My dad with Skylar. I can not emphasize enough how in love Skylar is with her Papaw. She is just totally smitten. I am telling you, I have never seen her like this! She LOVES HIM!

They had lots and lots of play time. Skylar was in heaven and never fussed while hanging out with her papaw. SO.CUTE.

Chris with our babies. I cut his head off by accident while trying to make the kids laugh. I thought this was just too cute of Skylar not to post.

My LOOT! I got SO MUCH for my birthday. I was totally spoiled. Chris even got me an amazing outfit from Ralph Lauren for work. He also got the kids some clothes which are SO cute.

Bear Bear helped me to open them all. Then my mom made me try on everything. I mean EVERYTHING. LOL, it was so fun! I have not gotten any new clothes for over 2 years due to pregnancy and weight. Now that I am down in pre-pregnancy levels, I feel like I can get some new things! Here is a maxi dress from Forever 21 and some awesome yoga mat flip flops.

Beautiful clothing from Banana Republic, J. Crew and LOFT.

Bear Bear helping and Skylar eating my shoe box.

Yesterday Chris and I took off for a motorcycle ride while my mom was swimming with Blair and my dad took Skylar for a cuddle, this is what I came home too. He made her a little bed on the floor with her bottle! AWWWWWWW!!!!!

In heaven....

Gift from Chris....OMG I love it. The iPad is just too hard to read at night, it is too heavy. The nook is not well responding. I am used to how nice the iPad operates, I just wanted a reader, and This thing is AWESOME.

Mom recovered our dinning room chairs for us. WOW, they are so nice now. She keeps joking that she wants the set back (it is a REALLY nice set they got right around when I was born).

The week went too fast. They got here on the 9th, and left today. We got our bathroom re-tile completed thanks to my dad and mom. Mom and I had a girls day at he Galleria which was so fabulous. We went to a waterpark that Bear bear protested when we left. He had a BLAST. We had the BEST oysters, we cuddled and watched movies, we went to the downtown aquarium, we went to the boardwalk. We ate too much and laughed so much. It was such a great visit. Blair is beside himself with grief that they are gone. I haven't seen him so upset. He walked in my room this morning and kept saying 'Where's my nana?!' and then he would tell me he wanted to go on the airplane with her. He is so sad and had huge tears in his eyes. I feel terrible that I can not explain to him well enough that we will see them in a couple of months when we go up north for Skylar's First Birthday. Poor kid got so attached this time. Skylar was attached to my dad, Blair to my mom. I hate living far away from them. I wish they could live partly here and partly there.

What a great visit, we are so blessed to have them in our lives!!! We are so blessed that they come to visit so often. I can't wait to go up there for our visit. It'll be so sweet to have Blair run to his Nana's arms. And who knows, by then Skylar may run to her Papaw!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Aiden!!

2011-07-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

Our Aiden (Nikki and Travis's son) turned 2 years old on Friday. We got to celebrate on Saturday with a fun Luau! I didn't get a lot of photos. But here are a few of the good ones.

Beautiful Baby Kenley. She is a doll.

The Birthday Boy! Ever the fashion plate with those eyes!

My husband with his drink, yeah, that's right, he's man enough to hold a pink drink with an umbrella. Love that open mouth look, LOL!!!

My Love.

Me.

Honey I shrunk my Husband!, Orion and my LOVE!

2011-07-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a somewhat boring photo of what I was doing the last few days in Denver. This is an actual simulation of the Orion spacecraft. It is going in to re-entry and it went nutty after this was taken. Just a slight bug that they'll have worked out by now. It was quite fun to be a part of this. I look forward to many more sims in my future. Plus, once the ground test article is out of environmental testing, I get to see it!!! That is the ACTUAL Orion spacecraft. COOL

MY LOVE!!!

And here is my husband in miniature. It was dress up day at school, guess what he went as?

Denver

2011-06-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

I've been in Denver since Tuesday morning. Early. Chris left on a trip on Monday. I had the kids on my own Monday night, until the babysitter got there with her son. I put Skylar to bed with a fever, then put Blair to bed. Blair woke me at 2am. He was in the hallway. He was crying that there was something in his mouth and then that it was all over his bed. I didn't understand until I turned on his light. He was sick. He had thrown up all over the bed. I got him to the bathroom and he got sick again. Poor Baby. He sat in his chair while I changed all his bedclothes. I got him back in bed. Skylar awoke from the ruckus I was making in the hallway. I got her back to sleep. Then, he awoke again. He got sick in the hallway. Luckily he didn't get sick in his bed this time. I got him back to sleep, then his sister was up again. Got her back to sleep. Now its 345am. Not much of a point in going back to sleep! My alarm was going to go off at 415 for my 615 flight! So, up I am! My poor babies. That day they awoke, and Rachel said he seemed fine. Skylar slept until 8. She was ok, but still had a slight fever. I guess by 10 or 11am Blair was getting sick again. They ended up keeping him at daycare in the director's office (she is our wonderful neighbor who took care of me and my kids last week!) for most of the day. Needless to say, I felt helpless and like a horrible mother. Blair went on to have it coming from the other end. He was a trooper I guess. Chris got home at 2am on Wednesday and stayed home with Blair and took him to the doctor. He is better now, but we thought it best he get checked out. They said it was just a bug of some sort.

The business end of my trip has been successful. I have seen the Waterton facility where they have build the ground test article for Orion. I have spent all my time in the labs where they are testing all the avionics, hardware, software. It is pretty amazing. Not only am I getting to witness the development of our next crew vehicle, it is in an amazing location! The Lockheed Martin Waterton facility is located in Waterton Canyon. Google that. You'll be amazed by the location. They mostly house the United Launch Alliance here. They do satellites and such out of this facility and it is COOL. They built it for missile development.

I can't wait to go home. Just a few hours till I get to hug and kiss my babies.

Again?!?!

2011-06-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

A week or so before Blair's 9 month birthday I had a horrible bile reflux attack. I wrote about it here: Hermon Memorial. It was terrible. Well, guess what people, it happened again. Only this time I was within arms reach of my phenergan. Thank God for that. It was 11pm on Monday night and my stomach woke me. I was cramping bad. It felt like my stomach was having wave after wave of seizure. It was insane horrible. The kids were asleep, but within a half hour Skylar was awake. I let her cry for a bit before going in and trying to help her. I finally called my neighbor Angie who is an angel. I can't imagine life without her! She took care of Skylar for a good 4 hours I would say. While I sat in the bathroom having attack after attack. I kept down about a half a phengergan before being able to take a full one after about 3 hours. By morning I felt really bad, but was not vomiting up bile any longer. I took the kids to school, came home and crashed for several hours. I went to get the kids and felt bad on the way there. Angie happens to run that daycare and she got me water and crackers. I got the kids home and was hoping Blair wanted to chill. But no, he was rambunctious. He came upstairs where Skylar and I were playing peacefully and started running all around the bed, knocked her over, upset her, upset me and then here it comes again. Another wave of the same. This time Chris was on his way home from his trip. I called to say that he needed to find me help, stat. I was in the bathroom, not able to move. Blair was trying to entertain his sister who was sitting at the entrance to our master bathroom, and he was also running around me, upset. I would be too if my mommy was so sick. Chris got Angie's hubby Brian to come over for 45 minutes until Chris could get home. The rest of the night is a blur. I just took a phenergan to save off more bile reflux and sort just got my system to reset. It was AWFUL.

I don't really know what to say. I didn't do a darn thing to provoke it all. I didn't eat anything bad, I didn't do anything different! I wish I could get this figured out!

Do you see the only thing that is similar to when this happened before? Skylar is turning 9 months old in about a week. I think it is something. Like some sort of hormone is leaving my system from pregnancy. Pregnancy is the ONLY time I have been able to stop taking these meds and all my stomach symptoms stop. Its weird and I wish I knew what it was. I can't imagine going through life not knowing when I'll start throwing up bile uncontrollably.

Happy Birthday Brother Bear!

2011-06-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother's birthday. While I can't be up in Ohio to celebrate with him, I can tell you how much I look up to him, and always have. He is 8 years older than me. So, you could say we were like 'only children' in a way. The age gap was such that we were in totally different phases. I remember being very young, going to watch him play college football. Every weekend in the fall my parents would trek us all out to see him. It was usually over an hour drive any given weekend. We tailgated, we would hang out with him for a few hours after each game. I have vivid memories of having a pig roast at his fraternity afterward. I ALSO remember walking outside, seeing some hazing going on. I had never seen anything like it. He went to a neat college, it was small and private and the fraternities were all in a row, so you could see all the HUGE houses gathered around one another.

I also remember family vacations. Our SCUBA trip to the Florida Keys when I had to share a room with him and he put the thermostat at like 50 degrees. I am not exaggerating. It was FREEZING. So cold that when our parents knocked on the door to get us to head out, it looked like you were opening a freezer door. I had full sweats on, in the middle of 90 degree weather. Then, there was the ski trip to Keystone when I had to share a room with him and he had a bit of a gas issue going on. Of course, he kept on saying it was the altitude. Ugh huh...I say it was his form of brotherly love. The memories are too numerous to name. I hold one to them, hoping upon hope that my children have as fond of memories of each other.

I love you Scott. I couldn't ask for a cooler brother. Thanks for the great childhood memories!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

While I get to enjoy Father's Day with the amazing father of my children, I miss my daddy soooo much it hurts. But, he is coming next month! We love you Papaw! We can't wait for some fun!!!

Its BAAAAAAAACK

2011-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

On Monday evening I felt a lump. I sort of knew I had waited probably an hour too long to pump. But, I was supporting meetings. I couldn't walk out. I am on travel for work, I gotta be there! So, I hightailed it back to my room to pump. It didn't get the lump out. I didn't worry much. It was small and I felt a hot shower would help, and another pumping session in just a couple hours. In the middle of the night the fullness feeling woke me up. I got up, pumped in a groggy state. Still had the lump. Ugh. Got up early due to feeling full and pumped again. The pump was not doing it. Thankfully the building I am going to has a wonderful mothers room with a hospital grade pump, I brought my tubing from my job here with me. I had high hopes that the high grade pump would help me. Well, it did just a bit. I felt more relief faster, but within the next couple hours the same lump was harassing me. By noon I was called my dad in fits. Scared to death of the dreaded mastitis, which is what this has turned into. I was feeling achey all over (still am) and he quickly called in something for me to help with the infection. I can't believe this! I can't believe I am dealing with this! Oh well, at least I know what I need to do. The bad thing is I need my baby! She is the ONLY one that can truely get this cleared up. No pump works the way a baby does. A nursing baby is a miracle. They get milk out like a pro, like NO pump can ever do.

So, my child. 8 Months old, will not in fact be weening any time soon. I have a CRAP LOAD of milk here in the freezer. My milk supply is skyrocketing. Not only did the last week and a half of Skylar waking up at night to nurse increase my supply, but all this pumping is increasing it. I was talking with Chris about the weening thing and told him that I was praying she would latch back on tomorrow night (PLEASE OH PLEASE GOD I hope she still wants to nurse). Chris and I agreed I'd ween her at a year. Just like I did with Blair. Its a team effort at that point, daddy will have to help ween her.

Chris was just saying as well how awesome this friend of ours has been with the kids. Her name is Rachel. She is in her mid-tweenties and just beautiful. Not only on the outside, but on the inside. Her positive attitude radiates and effects everyone around her in such a good way. I think the kids are latching on to that and they just love her. Chris has been pleasently pleased and surprised by how well Skylar has done with me being gone. I think it is a testament to several things. Not only is Rachel the GREATEST, but Skylar is just flat out a good baby. She is so sweet and easy going. The only times she is not easy going is when she sees me and wants me, and when she is getting her teeth. Other than that she is amazing. I am so proud.

We are very lucky to have found Rachel. Chris has already had two flights and will have another tomorrow. Who knows, he could get called out today. This double travel business is hard for us. But, we are figuring it out. Rachel has been a Godsend and she has told us she can help us out whenever we need it. She has even started a new job this week and is STILL helping us! How wonderful is that? I see a lifelong friend in her. She is a lot like me (I need to adopt that positive attitude of hers though).

If any of you are wondering, I have a nice set up here in Denver in my hotel room with a kitchen, full fridge. Its pretty sweet. So, I have a nice place to keep this huge food supply for baby birdie.

God has blessed me this day with an off day. I have lots of work to accomplish, all of which can be done from my room. Tomorrow morning I have more meetings, then it is on to the airport. Another hurdle for me. I don't know if I should take my pump with me onto the plane. I am scared to check it (as I did on the way up here). It is a straight flight home, but what if it gets delayed after I check my pump? I would be in BIG TROUBLE. So, I think I have to drag it along with me, with my laptop. Man...oh well. I'll survive this. I am getting lots of work done.

Happy Pump Day, I mean Hump DAY! Tee Hee...

My Beauty

2011-06-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

Skylar has indeed gotten four top teeth at once. A feet not performed by her brother. That explains the COMPLETE lack of sleeping schedule she has been on for the last week. I am dead tired right now. But my baby girl was in pain and I needed to be up with her, comforting her. These times are fleeting and I gladly sacrifice a bit of my sleep to make sure she knows her Mama loves her and will comfort her when she doesn't feel well.

Now, however, I am in Denver. I am going to get through this week, and HUG HUG HUG my babies the SECOND that plane lands!

UGH

2011-06-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have been just sort of going through the motions this past week. I am SO STRESSED OVER GOING TO DENVER right now. I have to go on Monday morning, at the crack. I have back to back meetings Monday and Tuesday, but then nothing really planned for Wednesday, Thursday. That is the part that freaks me out. I will be away from my BABIES!!! I need to stay BUSY. So, I'll have to figure something out. It won't be from a lack of work, however, I think I could do it from here in Houston. Most likely I'll get follow on meetings, so I shouldn't stress, but that is not in my nature. Oh well, I am going to get this done and do a good job and hopefully the time will fly.

Skylar is getting more teeth, FOUR of them! One of them broke through on Monday, there are two more that are breaking through skin right now and have been for a couple days. They are all top teeth. I feel TERRIBLE for her. She has gone from sleeping all night in her crib back to staggered nighttime sleeping. I am stressed out for the girl that will be watching Blair and Skylar while Chris and I are gone. Yes, we'll both be gone! Our poor children will be all out of sorts. I am hoping Chris's flight is only two days, but we'll see. Luckily the girl we have watching them is WONDERFUL. Skylar is totally in love with her and HOPEFULLY her teeth will have broken through by then. Normally Skylar is a super happy little girl. Right now she is super clingy and not at all herself. Poor baby.

Another great one

2011-06-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Photos of the kids in their Memorial Day Finest

It was another great weekend with our family. Friday night was uneventful. The kids and I hung out and Chris ran down to meet some friends. His plans ended up not happening, so he was back home with us for bedtime. Blair has been sleeping rather well lately (I shouldn't write about it, the consistency will stop I am sure). We read him a couple of books. His favorite lately has been 'Oh the Places You'll Go!' I LOVE that book. My mom and dad gave it to me for graduation and Blair adores reading it. He actually 'reads' along and I really should get it on video somehow. Saturday was a day of errands and then going to the Ward's house for a wonderful cookout. Blair was less than stellar while there. He kept us on our toes. If Chris was not yelling at him for something, I was. I felt like a bit of a failure parent that night because I was just ON him the whole time. Oh well, we more than made up for it on Sunday when we had a nice family day together. I made many new puree's for Skylar. Among some of the items I have made her: Butternut Squash, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, Zucchini, Cauliflower, blueberries, peaches and a concoction of edemame, peas and apples. She has not yet tried the blueberries and peaches, but I am sure she'll love them when the time comes. I need to remember to take it slow because when I was making them, I was letting her try them. She threw up. Poor girl. Her mama forgets she is so new to the world and her system can't handle a bunch of new things at one time. On Sunday I gave her not only her usual of butternut squash, cereal, and zucchini, but I let her try the mix of peas edemame and apples (she LOVED it), and also the yellow squash. I think it was just too much.

On Monday we had Nikki, Travis and Aiden over for a stress free cookout. It was impromptu and just what we all needed. No fuss no muss kinda time. The boys ran wild in their suits while I put Skylar in her little pool for just a short time (I swear I am a freak with her and can't let anything happen to her)!

Since Mother's Day I have been transitioning Skylar to her crib. She has done it like a champ. Every night there is forward progress. Last night was the night, she slept all night long on her own. She had been working to that for several nights, maybe a week. She had been only waking up once for a feeding. Even then I am pretty sure I was not letting her fuss long enough and she probably would have slept. However, lets not forget my adventures in Mastitis. I am NOT eager to let myself get to that point again. I have to be very careful to either nurse or pump.

Back to last night, I missed my girl! I heard her moving around at 6am and got her up. I know she would have slept longer but my BOOBS WERE HUGE. Too much information for ya?! Tough, it is what God intended. Tee Hee!!! So, I had to feed her right away. She ate, and got too much and spit up. Then, her brother woke up and we were up for the day. I got my coffee and him his mickey mouse on the tube. I played with them for a few minutes before begining my routine to get to work. Once I started doing my hair Skylar started to get slightly fussy, then nothing, I peeking out and she was asleep on her boopy. SO CUTE. She slept the entire time I got ready. Sweet baby girl.

Sick Baby Sleep Baby

2011-05-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sick on the couch, my poor Bear.

Feeling better, checkin' out daddy's airplane.

He came home and told me 'daddy wouldn't let me fly yet'.

Pretty new dress from Nana.

My first born was so sick a couple days ago. Pretty sure it was an ear infection. The daycare called to say his temp was up over 102. I RACED to the daycare mostly because he has not been sick or had a fever since he had those tubes put in over two years ago! It is amazing really. He is a little machine. He takes after his Papaw that way. The man we named him after. He plays hard, sleeps hard, and works hard. So anyhow, I called the doctor on my way to daycare, they got him in that afternoon. They said it was one of two things, but too early to tell. Either an ear infection or hand foot and mouth (a common childhood virus that goes around). He had no signs of the latter except for the fever (usually there would be signs such as sores of some sort in the mouth). He was complaining about one of his ears. So, we deducted it was that. Plus, we went to the GALVESTON BEACH on Sunday which quite frankly, while it is nice we have the gulf right there, Galveston is nasty. They don't take care of the beaches AT ALL (is is NO florida, I don't know where they spend their tax money cause it is not on beach cleanup). There is nasty seaweed and grossness everywhere and the minute we told the doctor what we had done, she even checked out any cuts on him (to make sure it was not a horrible baterial thing from the gulf). UGH, only chlorine for my baby from now on! The doctor said his ears really were not bad at all, but that it could be the very beginning of the infection. She gave us the drops we are all too familiar with (having dealt with over 6 ear infections when he was just tiny) and told us to use Tylenol to keep the fever down. Sounded good to me! Chris and I took our poor little solider home and he literally crashed on the couch for the rest of the day watching Gnomeo and Juliet (cute movie!). I couldn't believe he fell asleep on the couch. He NEVER does that. He sleeps in only two places, his bed and sometimes in his car seat. So, I babied him, as any good mother would. I played with Skylar and made dinner for Chris and I while Bear Bear rested to get better. He spent yesterday morning with his daddy. Chris had to go up to his airplane, so Blair went along and he had a GREAT TIME. His last fever broke around 7-8am yesterday, and he has not had one since. I came home after lunchtime to watch Bear while Chris did some scheduled work/repair with the boat guy. Blair was excellent and hung around the couch region all afternoon. He was still feeling a little punky you could tell.

Last night was the big night. I have been putting Skylar down for naps in her crib for months, but at night she wouldn't go in. So, I moved her to her room with her co-sleeper and me on the fold out couch for about a week and a half to get her used to her room. At first she was scared in the room and wouldn't let me even put her in her co-sleeper, but she adapted and slowly started doing longer and longer stretches in the co-sleeper. I finally decided last night was the night for the crib! I put her in at 8, anticipating a bit of a fuss, but nope. Not a peep. Since she is able to roll I put her on her belly to sleep because when she is on her back, she wakes her self right away by throwing her arms and legs in the air and slamming them onto the bed. Silly girl. So, I put her down and she was asleep quickly. She awoke about an hour and a half later, but was only half awake. A couple of pats on the back and rubs and she was back out. We did that about every hour until 230am when she nursed for not even 5 minutes and went right back down. Then back up at 430 and nurse for not even 5 minutes and back down till after 7! That is progress. I am hoping that she is able to go all night on her own within a couple of weeks. She is a champ and I miss her co-sleeping already, but I know this is for the best. With TWO business trips coming up for me, I need to make her a bit more independent of me (oh GOD how am I going to get on that plane?!?!?!) so that she is not so upset when I am gone.

Made it

2011-05-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is Chris enjoying a refreshing drink of Milk after inhaling his slice of chocolate fudge birthday cake! This was his actual birthday dinner last Thursday. It was so nice! Just the four of us and Blair was a sweet angel through dinner. He even ate his corn and pork chop. The smashed red potatoes were a no go though. I can't get that kid to eat a potato for the life of me, unless it is the french fry kind!

Blair with Reily and Brennan at 'The Spot' after running wild on the beach all afternoon.

Silly photo of Chris taking a photo of me. Tee Hee. Skylar is enjoying a puff or two.

My Sweet Lovely Lady.

Chris's Eagle was delivered on Saturday thanks to the help from our neighbor! Whew, that was a big deal to get it there. Thank goodness his piece made it into the showing! They called him today to congratulate him. It will be at the Art Alliance of Clear Lake in their Open Door Series showing from June 2-23. Make sure to check it out if you live in the area!

Saturday evening we had a cookout with some friends to celebrate Chris's Birthday. It was crazy with those kiddos! Then, on Sunday we headed to Galveston to try to watch our friend Kai's kids at their Surf Camp. We didn't get our act together in time, but we headed out there and played in the sand for a while anyhow. Afterward we caught back up with Kai and his two adorables for some good 'The Spot' Food. SUCH a good fish sandwich!

Happy Birthday My Love

2011-05-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is the 16th birthday of Chris's that we will be spending together. I still can't believe that. Also, I chose this photo to display because it is one of my favorite moments to see happen each and every day. This is the way our children look at Chris because they are so in love with him. I know our children love us very much, that is obvious, but you don't always capture these types of moments on camera.

Now that I am a mother, I feel like saying thank you to my mother in law for this day! Thank you for the birth of your son! I love him with all my heart and he is amazing. You never have a full realization of what life is until you give life and I fully appreciate my mate, my Chris each and every day.

I love you Chris. You are my whole heart each and every moment. Always.

Eagle

2011-05-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Chris finished the Eagle. I have been wanting him to make an Eagle for as long as I can remember. I have a bit of an obsession with Bald Eagles. They are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G creatures and this one he made is no exception! It will be judged this weekend and then hopefully it will be on display at an art gallery here in the Clear Lake area. We heard of this unknown artist series type showing through our friend Nicole! Thank you Nic!!

Delightful

2011-05-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning walk. A well deserved ride on daddy's shoulder's after a quick .5 mile run.

Sleepy girl at the boardwalk after playing with her friend Liliana.

Joe, Matteo, Blair, Chris and Skylar.

What a great weekend. It was delightful. On Saturday morning we hung out around the house relaxing. I made Chris and I an omelet and then we decided that it was time for a walk. We walked out to the bay with the kids. Blair was not excited that his sister got a stroller to ride in and he didn't, but then he caught on quick and walked like a champ. FOUR MILES of walking! Amazing three year old. We walked to the park on the bay and let Blair play on the playground. On the walk home Blair actually JOGGED about .5 with Chris! I can't believe he did that! Once home Blair didn't even put up a fuss at all about taking a nap, he was POOPED. He slept good for over two hours. That afternoon Chris and I packed 'em up and headed south to the Ward's house to see if Chris could do anything to help Travis with with his new patio addition. We grabbed some fajitas for everyone from Taco Cabana and headed down. Nikki and Aiden were at a birthday party, so while we waited for them to get home, Skylar and I watched Travis, Chris and Blair put together part of the patio. Travis has done such a good job on this sucker, it is PERFECT! Amazingly so, the blocks he put down fit just right.

On Sunday morning we headed out on our walk to the Boardwalk. This time we met up with the Pascucci's. With Starbucks in hand we walked along the water until we got to the playground where we copped a squat and let the kids run. Carolyn even put out a blanket and the girls played. It was pretty darn cute to see out first Born's playing together and now our second Born's! Blair and Matteo are about 6 or so weeks apart and Skylar and Liliana are about 5 weeks apart in age. It is remarkable and so much fun. Blair and Matteo really played well together and ended up holding hands on our walk to the train! We let all the guys ride the train while us girls sat and watched them go by. It is always a fun time with the Pascucci's, we must do it more often.

Sunday afternoon was NICE. Blair wouldn't sleep, but whatever, it was Sunday. We heard him playing in his room while we rested in ours with Skylar. She and I lay ed there while Chris read his new book for a couple of hours. It was GLORIOUS. Afterward we all got up and did a BUNCH of housework. Me up doing the laundry and ironing and Chris down doing the dishes. Afterward Chris and Blair headed outside to mess around while Skylar and I made dinner. My little dinner buddy is so great. She sits in her high chair happy as can be while I run around making dinner. She eats a bite of her food here and there while I cook. I just love weekends like these. Ones with the whole family together. We are so blessed with this job of Chris's. Him not being away on the weekends is just amazing. It has really made me count my blessings. Our lives are richer and fuller than ever.

Now if I could just get Skylar to stop nursing every two hours at night....we are working on it!

He's HOME

2011-05-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

This new job of Chris's is so great. He is only gone during the week (rarely a weekend trip) and it is usually for three days. Then, we have our fourth back and we are complete. It is not bad the first day, the second day is just a catch up from what we didn't get done on the first, but the third day. WHEW, Bring my man home! Last night there was much weather on his way back. He had to fly from Pennsylvania to Dallas (that was diverted to Midland) back to Dallas after the storm cleared, then AROUND the rest of the storm to get home. Whew. I don't know how those pilots do it sometimes. I guess that is partly why I married him. He has a very cool head in stressful times. Very cool. He is quite amazing.

I got to witness that cool head WAY back in college when we took a cross country trip in a small multi-engine airplane with his instructor and another dude that shared the cost of the plane. We flew into some weather that would have been fine in Florida, but it was not fine in Kentucky. We ended up dropping 1K feet a couple of times due to updrafts or downdrafts or some such thing (Chris is the weather man, not me). It was pitch black out and we had to do a 'missed' approach into an airport. Let's just say that the MD80 was calling the air traffic controllers saying they had 'mild turbulence'. Can you imagine the difference in what turbulence felt like in a 140 seat airplane compared to a 6 SEAT AIRPLANE! HA! Chris and I look back at that story now and laugh. I actually look back and wonder why I was not more afraid. I guess it has something to do with the faith I hold in my husband and his ability. He is so cool under pressure and he was trained for those times. He is good at what he does.

Anyway, I am so glad he is home. Blair is a strong willed little guy. He is polite and sweet and kind, but also strong willed. He got up three times the last two nights. It was all within about a 20 minute period, but it still grated on my nerves. JUST GO TO BED CHILD! He ends up going to sleep fairly fast, but it is difficult when Skylar is waiting on me so she can in turn go to sleep. When Chris is home it is so much easier. Plus, I just miss him when he is gone...

Heavy on my Heart

2011-05-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Something that has been weighing heavy on me lately is my back and forth on if I should begin weening Skylar. It is a great source of pride for me that she has been thriving on breast milk alone for over 7 months now. I couldn't do that with Blair. When he was 2 weeks old we began to supplement formula because I couldn't make enough for him (I still question if that was just me being freaky and maybe I really was making enough). Breastfeeding was not something I thought I would do. Before Blair was born I was still thinking of my breasts as sexual objects. I couldn't imagine breastfeeding and told my doctor that. She told me that when I heard my baby for the first time that feeling would change. She was right. The minute I heard him cry, I wanted to breastfeed him. Crazy. It is wild how things work out. I breastfeed him for a year. I was going to ween him at 5-6 months, then the hurricane happened. He went back to 24/7 nursing for a few weeks. I slowly stopped pumping at work and only nursed him to sleep by 12 months, the week after turning one year, I stopped altogether. It was a nice gentle ween. That is my plan for Skylar. I started it on Mother's Day. I didn't really cut out any nursing, more like I added in one ounce of formula. I tried to do it again yesterday, but she really wasn't having it. She didn't want the bottle from me. I'll keep trying. I want to stop pumping at work. There are a multitude of reasons I don't want to pump any longer. I was doing three times a day and it is just getting to be too much for me. Last Friday I cut it down to two. In a couple of weeks, I'll cut it down again to one, and by July at least I want to not be pumping at all anymore.

This is super duper bittersweet, as nursing became so easy with Skylar so quickly. We both relax the minute we begin and it is so nice and what a bonding experience. There is nothing else like it. I am going to have a much harder time weening than she is. She will not want to cut out the night time feeds, but we'll just do it gradually.

The Weekend

2011-05-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday Afternoon Fun!

Sunday Morning Breakfast at the Boardwalk.

Skylar is a happy girl at breakfast (and always!)

On Saturday at the Metro's, John V. holding Juliet and Skylar!

The weekend was pretty much everything I wanted it to be and more. I am a cancer, a crabby cancer and while I don't usually put much stock into these astrology things, this seems to suite me to a T. I like my home, I like a schedule, I don't usually enjoy pop up surprises (except for a nice one, like a birthday surprise or flowers, or something to make me smile). So being at home on Saturday morning was wonderful. We stuck around the house and finished up a few things, our new shower being one of them. That afternoon we went to a birthday party. It was with many friends that we have had for 7 years now (the length of time we have been in Texas) and it was so wonderful to catch up. When we met each of these people we were sans kids. It was WILD to watch all of our offspring playing with each other! Even Skylar has friends! Skylar and Juliet were playing on the floor while their older brothers ran around creating havoc. It was positively wonderful to see them all having a ball together. It was 630 before we knew it and we headed home. Blair was fairly good at going to bed. Only up once, then back to bed for good.

Sunday morning I was up early. My wish was to sleep in, alas Skylar had other plans, which were fine because she is so darn happy that you can't help but want to smile back and play with her. We got up and headed downstairs where there were beautiful flowers and cards awaiting me, The Mama. I still can't believe I am some one's mother, let alone TWO SOMEONES! Chris got me three cards. Can you believe it? So sweet, one from each child and him and the children together. The one 'from Skylar' made me cry my eyes out because it was a photo of a mother holding her small daughter's hand. Wow, I am tearing up now! I am just so very blessed.

After I cleared up my tears of joy we headed out to the boardwalk for breakfast. We usually stop at the starbucks, this time we headed for the Mexican place and got a big hearty breakfast. It was SO GOOD. The kids were little angels and we headed out for a beautiful morning walk around the boardwalk. Afterward we headed to run an errand and then home for the day. Skylar and I went up and took a long 2 hour nap (oh sweet nap how I love thee) and cuddled away. Oh it was heaven. Chris and Blair hung out on the couch and watched a movie. It was glorious. That afternoon we got out a sweet little pool that I had gotten for Skylar. She needed something tiny to sit in with a top. Blair ended up sitting in it with her to acclimate her to it. She hated it at first, but then the sweet daddy put a bit of warmer water in it and she loved it! Blair helped her to see the joy in it as well. She stayed in there for a while! Long enough to prune up a bit. She loves to splash and kick her legs. Ugh, SO DAGONE CUTE. I have to say that this was my favorite time of the day. Sitting next to my cute little bathing beauties while they laughed and laughed with one another. The joys of motherhood are immeasurable. You can not understand it until you experience it. It is God's gift to be a mother. I thank him for it every minute with every fiber in my being.

Me and My MOOOOMMMY!

2011-05-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the chance to scan just a few photos. I was hoping to do three times this many, but I only had enough time for five. So far. I wanted to show my mom and I through the years. She has been the BEST and through these photos I am reminded of all the awesome stuff I got to do. What I haven't gotten scanned are photos of us skiing, going to Europe, gardening, going on polo trips, SCUBA diving, hanging at the beach. The list goes ON and ON!

I forget why we took these photos, they were family photos and I think I was 17.

This is at one of many a church function. We did a lot with the church as a kid, I have so many fond memories there. This is in the gym having lunch afterward.

My mom was the director of PR and Marketing at the hospital. One of her best friends had that title first (she is pictured in pink) and they would get Jack Hannah of the Columbus Zoo to come do talks to the hospital staff. It was amazing because he would bring animals! CUTE ONES! I am holding a BABY KANGAROO in this photo. Holly Cow was I in HEAVEN.

Here we are lighting candles at my Grandma and Grandpa Costin's 50th anniversary. I can believe how the memories of these times come flooding back through these photos.

Here I am in the kitchen helping my mom 'cook'. She would always let me help. She would give me my own little station where I could mix and blend and stir and 'bake' my little heart out. Chris and I have been very good about letting Blair do the same. I look forward to Skylar 'baking' with me in the next few years. I believe this is partly what enstilled a love of cooking in me!

My Mama

2011-05-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

This year for Mother's Day I sent my Mama roses. Rose Bushes from Jackson and Perkins. They are lovely on the photo, and I am sure with my Mama's green thumb they will be so beautiful this summer. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I hope she enjoys them and their fragrance.

I never know what to do or get for either of my parents. Everything seems so inadequate and not worthy. The older I get the more I realize how truly awesome of a gift God gave me when he gave me to my mom and dad. They are the most amazing parents a girl could get. They care about everything in my life, but they know how to strike a balance with living their own lives how they want to. Enjoying trips together, going out to eat together, they really are in love with one another and it shows. I think this is why Chris and I have such a hard time living away from them. However, living away gives one perspective. Blair now noticeably misses his grandparents. He asks for Nana and Papaw a lot. He wants to see them, play with them, but we don't have that luxury of being able to see them whenever we want. A lot of people we are around have the same situation, so it makes it a little less hard to deal with.

I am blessed. I am so blessed with the Mother I got. She is amazing. I wish to God I could be around her more often, but have realized that I will not and can not take any second we are together for granted. She has slowly turned from being my caretaker, into being my best friend. She makes getting through tough times easier. Discussing all the childhood things going on with my own kids takes a bit of a burden off of me. Even though most of our relationship is through the phone, it is so special.

I wish I was there on Sunday to do her biding, because I WOULD. I would clean her garden, or do whatever it is she wanted to just say thank you for blessing me with her kindness, generosity, her big giant heart, and her love.

Thank you Mama. You are God's blessing for me, and I am so thankful.

Sunday Funday

2011-05-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

First things first, we headed to Sam's Club on Sunday to pick up our coffee. Chris and I have a fancy smancy Breville Coffee machine and they have the K-Cups cheap at Sam's. Best deal on those K's we have found so far. While there Blair was sweet and good, I snatched him up for a big HUG and daddy caught it on camera.

Before nap time Blair kept telling us his tummy hurt, well, if you can guess this is a child's way of indicating a BM is coming! Blair has been potty trained for quite a few months now. However, there has not been a 'poopy on the potty' yet. He usually does it when he has a night time pull up on. We have tried EVERYTHING. If you think of it, we have tried it. Plus, Blair actually tries all the time then chicken's out and then the 'poopy hiding mommy'. So, yesterday Chris caught him and put him on the toilet for like the 12th time and he DID IT. Yup, it finally happened. It was pretty funny that Blair started walking around telling us all the things we 'owed' him for doing it. Amongst those items? A PLANE RIDE. Yeah, so we have to come up with a plan for that. We are hoping our buddy Jacen will take him up again in his plane sometime. Otherwise Chris will have to get checked out in one of those little planes again. We'll see! So, what else? We had a big present he ran and opened, it was a big bathtub toy, then he said 'Chuck E. Cheese!'. Yeah, we promised a trip to crazy land with Chuck. The above is a photo of Blair on one of numerous rides he had a BLAST ON.

Here are photos of Blair and I, then Chris and Skylar. There is a booth that makes these for a coin, totally worth 25 cents. Cute huh? Blair was very good. He even sat down mid-way to eat a slice of pizza. I think he needed the fuel. He played with set of twins most of the time. Cute little guys dressed alike, so it was really easy to spot Blair. I love it that they stamp everyone in the family with the same number so your child can't be stolen. Makes me feel just a little better. I am sure there will be a Chuck E. Cheese B-Day in his future.

When we got home we decided to walk the couple of houses to get the mail. Chris put Skylar in Blair's old car! I can't believe how fast our daughter is growing. In a couple of days? 7 months. 7 FREAKING MONTHS. She is a total delight.

Smiles ALL the time. Even when she is working on teeth #s 3 & 4! She is gnawing on EVERYTHING.

This morning I awoke to wonderful news that we (the United States) caught and killed Osama Bin Ladin, but for some reason I am just not a happy person. So, I think God said 'Cheer up Alexa! Here are some baby DUCKS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!'. And, I smiled.

Ladies Lunching

2011-04-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

My mother and a few of her friends do regular lady lunches. Today I got an AWESOME PHOTO of my mother and Godmother, Joy. They wore their finest hats for the royal occasion this morning. LOVE IT! My mother's caption 'Joy's Bee's got caught in my nest!'

Photo Update

2011-04-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

This first photo pretty much sums up Skylar's week while getting her second tooth. Happy Easter! It broke through last night, whew!

Our garden. I keep meaning to post a photo of it, here it is! We have had several things out of it, salad's, green beans, dill, cilantro. We are watching the okra, corn, squash and zucchini like hawks, we can't wait!

Easter egg hunt at church with Blair, Skylar Aiden and myself.

Beautiful Nikki, I just think this is a great photo.

Tried to do a family photo...it was sunny :).

Blair, busted with a hersey's kiss out of his loot from church. He knows he shouldn't have chocolate, makes him nuts. That is why he SNUCK IT!

I love taking these of Chris. It's the 'I'm driving, why are you taking my photo' Photo.

Easter Morning!! WHOO WHOO! The bunny CAME!

Skylar opening her things from the bunny.

My Lovely. We keep trying to figure out if she will keep these violet eyes. They are amazing.

Happenings

2011-04-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Blair started to have some sort of rash all over his face on Sunday. We have no idea what in the world was going on. By Tuesday I was Facetiming with my dad, trying to get it figured out. Dad thought Chicken Pox, but that couldn't be right since Blair was immunized against them. However, that is what they looked like. So then we threw around the idea of Scabies, good lord! I was like NOOOOOO! Well, turns out it was a Reactive Reaction (because of the chicken pox immunization) to being around someone with Shingles (related to chicken pox). There are any number of places he could have picked this up. Anyway, they didn't bother him, didn't itch, nothing. They just looked bad. Here he is. They are only on his face and they are fading away. No treatment or anything of the sort.

First tooth breakthrough! I was in the SAME Kroger I was in with Blair when I found out she had her first tooth! Just days past her 6 month birthday :).

Here are her boo boos. Even Blair noticed them right away when he got home from daycare. Poor baby girl! She was WONDERFUL and only cried a small bit when she got them, she was smiling at the nurse within seconds. Amazing little girl! She is so happy! Now if only I could get her to sleep through the nite again...

Peas! She is now eating peas. The ones I pureed for her. She actually eats them! She is 75% in each weight, height and head circumference. The doctor said she is just PERFECT!

Thoughts and Goings On

2011-04-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

My sweet 6 Month old after a bath and in her cozies (what we call PJs in our house).

I have a whole new appreciation for my husband. Since he was gone away for training for 2.5 weeks and back again, I see how much he does. I know he sees how much I have to deal with since he was gone. But, in order to have our household run nicely, it takes two. For example, last evening I came home and started a bunch of things at once in the kitchen. I got the sweet potatoes and butternut squash in the oven for me to later puree, I got the cauliflower steaming, I got Skylar fed with both nursing and then her rice cereal (My friend Angie really helped feed her the rice cereal while I ran around). I got our veggies put away from our visit to the farm out in Alvin on Sunday. Chris on the other hand was outside with Blair and Angie's hubby trimming our front tree. We have had wind this past week and the neighbor's tree was banging on our roof. NOT COOL. For anyone that knows me well, they know I don't deal with noise at night AT ALL. I can't sleep with any sort of noise besides white noise. It is horrible, I know. I am a pain. So, Chris was a God send and helped out by doing much needed trimming. He also cleaned up the additional dishes after Skylar and I went down, and picked up some toys Blair forgot to pick up. He left the downstairs cleaned up and I am forever grateful for a wonderful husband. I don't tell him often enough how truly awesome he is. I am working on that. On other notes, Skylar's first tooth broke through last week. I was in the EXACT SAME Kroger that I was in when I discovered Blair's first tooth! I can't hardly believe that because we usually go to the Kroger in our town, this time we were in the one next to daycare. Amazing. I was so excited that Chris had to yell at me to not get run over by carts going by me. She is still getting the other tooth, you can tell because she is usually a very easy going baby, but this weekend she was anything but. I dosed her with a few doses of Tylenol, but she generally just wanted to have her feelings validated, lol. Sweet girl. She has kept me up for SEVERAL NIGHTS. I have not been able to get her to go the 8-10 hours she was 2 months ago. Last night she did go four hours, three hours and then two hours, so I figure that is progress and I am hoping to get her to cut out at least one of those feedings in the next couple of weeks.

Need a Laugh

2011-04-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Pee Pee in the Potty from Alexa & Chris Ramby on Vimeo.

I forgot to post this. It is from a couple of months ago when I was on my business trip. Blair was almost potty trained, but not quite and he had a bit of an accident. It is HILLARIOUS. Wondering if I should send in to AFV?

6 Months

2011-04-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that just 6 months ago I was in the hospital getting to know my little girl. I can't believe she is 6 months! Where does the time go? Her personality is coming out more and more and she is a happy one. It is rare she is upset or fussy. Usually it is because she wants me or wants a change of some sort in her position.

She is babbling more and more. This morning it was a series of 'ba ba ba ba ba ba'. Dada is not far behind, I'm sure! She loves her brother and laughs at him. She is TOTALLY in love with her father though. I have never seen her really stare admiringly this way until I saw her with her daddy on Saturday. It is to die for! She is just in love and puts on a HUGE smile when he looks at her. I just can not imagine that in another six months we'll be celebrating one year with our daughter. Amazing and such a blessing! I only have one complaint and that is the sleeping. Of which she is not doing any longer. For some reason she stopped sleeping through the night about two months ago and I can't figure out why and how to get her back to normal. I think it will take me putting her in her own room to start. She sleeps in the co-sleeper still and she does a good job (usually) for the first three hours, then she's up and wants to nurse every hour or two. It is killing me. I do it happily though because I know these times will not last. So, I am going to begin the process of getting her into her own room. It'll be biter sweet, but good in the end.

What a Week

2011-03-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Pea's cooking away...these will be Skylar's first food!

I am already so sad they are gone. It was a fabulous week and I soaked in every moment I had with my mom and Gram. They arrived in the afternoon and we promptly went to Landry's at the Kemah Boardwalk and sat on the water to have a light lunch. It was a glorious day and we sat out in the sun. Afterward we picked up the kids. Blair was over the moon to see 'his Nana!'. When we got home my mom gave him his birthday gift. A small outdoor play grill (that will be staying inside for now) with food, a hat, apron and all the utensils. Adorable! Blair had so much fun making us all hotdogs and serving us and such. He even told us they were hot, to blow on them to cool them down. Each evening we took it easy and had a light dinner then went to bed fairly early. Blair has been a challenge for me as of late at bedtime, but while my mom was here he was pretty good, only getting out of bed occasionally. My mom was a GODSEND and took the monitor and listened for the little escapee in the evenings. He has been crying out for me at around midnight each night. I think he is overly tired, but I can't seem to get him back on track correctly. I have no idea why. I am guessing it is from several changes going on. He moved to the three year old room, his daddy is away at training for a few weeks, his mommy went away for a business trip. The changes are only going to continue as I have another business trip in April. Poor dude. I can only hope Chris will be around the majority of that week.

I have been thinking that Skylar has been ready to try food for a couple of weeks. She watched every move her dad and I make while eating. She is so funny! I thought it would be so cool to have her Great Grandmother be the first person to give her food. I got her all set up with the super duper organic whole wheat rice cereal and breast milk concoction, then I got my video camera and regular camera out. Skylar sat in my mother's lap while my Gram feed her. She LOVED IT. If I could come up with a better word for it I would. She ate voraciously and has every night since then. You actually have to hold her hands back or she'll go after you with the spoon and bowl to get more in her mouth! She even tried to eat the table of her high chair! She just loves the rice cereal. I have since thickened up the mixture and she has taken to it like a champ.

Saturday morning we went to the Boardwalk to walk around. It was a LONG morning and we were all totally worn out. Matter of fact we missed a birthday party that Blair would have LOVED due to his three hour napping! We hit up Galveston on Sunday. It was fun to go to the Rainforest Cafe and see the sites with my Gram. She loves the Rainforest and it was fun to take Blair as an older kid. He didn't really LOVE it, matter of fact, he was downright clingy to my mom, but he was fine.

My mom helped me to organize all of Blair's toys. It is AWESOME. All of his stuff has a 'place' now. I invested in two organizers and I just love how it has worked out. We did a big donation to the Goodwill of items he either does not use or play with and it has been glorious! He loves his new organization and it's like he has a whole new set of toys now that they are organized! All the big Lego's are together, all the little ones are together, all the airplanes are together, cars, etc. WONDERFUL. Like I said, it's like a whole new world. He has been so good about putting things back in their place. Love it!

Other things...we spent lots of time on the back porch soaking in the great weather, we played with Blair in the yard, mom trimmed my hair. I made FOUR kinds of baby food for Skylar in the BabyCook maker (thanks Aunt Sam!), she'll have fresh zucchini, peas, butternut squash and sweet potatoes as her first foods. I can't tell you how awesome it feels to have that fresh stuff all ready for her in the freezer. So cool! And surprisingly so easy to do! Skylar was her usual adorable babling self. Mom couldn't believe how strong she had gotten in the past month. She almost sits up on her own for extended periods of time now. She is very inquisitive and loves to watch her brother (who wouldn't he is totally hillarious most of the time). Blair is so funny, you tell him to count something you have, like two leaves and he goes '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...etc. He just keeps going! He adored cuddling with Gram in bed each evening before bedtime. They would lay in there together watching whatever he wanted (Gram spoiled him, what else are Gram's for?!).

The last evening we decided to lay low. Our only goal was to get some photos in the Bluebonnets down the street from daycare. There is a huge field of them just blocks away. Blair was a HAM. Our neighbor came out again and got the best shots. I still have to get some of them. But enjoy the sneek peak!

Chris is due home late Friday night. I am SO EXCITED to have my honey bunny home. Boy do I miss him!

Nana & Grams

2011-03-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Chris is in training for his new airplane for over two weeks. I had to call in the troops to help me out. My mom and Gram are on their way here right now! I had to fly my mom down here. There was just no way I could survive that long without help. Here is an example....Skylar was up every 2 hours last night (I have no idea what is going on with her, teeth maybe?), Blair was up at 2:30am trying to scale the baby gate (he even got his stool to help him out) to go downstairs to do who knows what. Then, Skylar was up again, every two hours, then she slept till 8 and I even had to wake her up! Blair is pee pee trained, but not poopy trained. He is scared of the potty. He had an accident this morning. SO, I had to stop getting ready to get him a bath. THEN, Godiva thought it would be a good idea to go lay in the sand and then come back inside. My gram is coming! I HAD TO VACUUM. UGH. So much to get done. The house is picked up, thank goodness we mostly have Blair trained to pick up after himself and throw away trash from his snacks. If he didn't go do those small things like put his clothing in the laundry basket, I would be in a trashy house. I just wouldn't have the time between feeding and taking care of a 5-6 month old, my full time job and the attention I need to give Blair. It is crazy! I miss my husband SO MUCH. That is another reason I am so very glad my mom agreed (or, was forced really) to come visit with my Gram.

So, I'll try to be good and take lots of photos. Posting will be sparse.

Lots of love!

Three

2011-03-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning with a huge smile on my face. On this day, three years ago, my son taught me many life lessons in an instant. In that moment that he cried out for the first time, my heart burst with so much joy, passion and love. I can not explain in words those feelings. Those feelings are reserved only for those that have been there, and heard that cry. He gave me the gift of motherhood, the gift that will give me the most joys that life has to offer.

Blair has become such an amazing person. When he was a baby, as in the photo above I just wanted to get through each day of taking care of him, get through it and do a good job. As he grows and learns, I find myself wanting more for him. Wanting him to know compassion, to know what it is to feel humbled, to know that you are never going to be perfect in this life, but that if you try as hard as you can, you can accomplish great things for yourself. I want him to realize his worth and never to take anything for granted. Life is full of challenges, but through hard work, compassion and love, anything is possible.

His birthday party was a resounding success. I am so overwhelmed by the generosity of others and the love they bring to us. Living far far away from family is so difficult. Only getting to see Nana and Papaw every three months or so seems so unfair to my children, but we do have the love of so many wonderful friends! They have become such a great support system. Blair has many 'aunts' and 'uncles' and 'cousins'.

To my Blair, I thank you. The many things you have taught me overwhelm my senses. Your dad and I are so proud of the kid you are becoming. You astound us at your successes, you show us how to fail and then keep trying till there is success. You have humbled us beyond compare. Your sister is amazed by you and is in love with her big brother.

Happy Birthday my first born. You will always be the one who taught me so very much. I hope I do you justice as your Mama in this life.

Photo Update

2011-03-19T05:29:00.000-07:00

I took Skylar and Blair to a Mardi Gras parade...it was SUPER OVERCAST, I had no idea she would get burnt. I felt SO BAD. I was crying, I didn't know what to do. As usual, my dad and my sister in law to the rescue. They told me what to do to soothe her. She looked MUCH better the next day and it was gone in a few days!

Chris is re-doing our bathroom. He is putting in a standup shower, he put the concrete down and Blair walked RIGHT INTO IT. SO FUNNY. Well, not funny for Chris, but funny for Blair's Baby book! HA!

Evidence

We got to see Chris's new plane he is flying. AWESOME. It is a beautiful plane. A 2007. Blair was in HEAVEN. Chris let him push the button for the automated Checklist. A pilot in the making...

Skylar with her favorite man in the world.

Blair in his little slice of heaven. That smile couldn't have been bigger.

Just being silly.

When we are doing our evening routine Chris and I like to blow on Skylar's tummy to get her to laugh, Blair has started to do it and she giggles away! It is so satisfying to see your children really love one another.

Party Time

2011-03-14T08:34:00.001-07:00

This time of year always holds many birthdays on weekends. The weather is great for it. Usually in the 70s and beautiful.

Yesterday we attended a party, the first of many. This next weekend is Blair's. I've rented a really cool bounce house with a big slide and all! Yesterday's party had one. I only went to the bounce house once and the one time I went down to it to check on Blair the kids were crazy. This is my concern for this next weekend. The boys in the bounce house were older than the birthday girl (4) and obviously my son (3). There were 8-11 year old boys being mean to a 7 year old boy (a good friend of ours' son, whom is very sweet). And also were not great to Blair (but not openly mean as they were to the 7 year old). One older kid (11) slide down after the 7 year old boy, who was still on the slide and then my son slide down. Well, the 11 year old started acting dramatic like my 3 year old actually hurt him. I was standing RIGHT THERE! He didn't do anything wrong except to emulate what that 11 year old had done, which was to slide down the slide right after him. Blair was great yesterday, got along with everyone, as he tends to do. I am just concerned there will be hurt feelings and mean kids. I just hope to GOD there is no drama. Especially with Blair. I would be MORTIFIED if Blair acted the way this kid did. I just want all the kids to be good to each other. I know that is not possible all the time, they are kids! Plus, this is mostly the parents fault. If the mother would have been doing just a little bit of parenting and getting onto her son for not being nice, I think things would have gone a bit better. As it was another parent had to let the dad of the birthday girl know what the boys were up to and he put a stop to it. I know that I can not intervene in much of the kid politics as it would only hurt the situation most likely (I can be a bit blunt and it comes off as too strong, it is a weakness I am working out). Chris will just have to play 'ref' at the bounce house, while I stand back and not worry too much about it.

On a happy note, my son is going to be nuts when he sees that thing being set up in the backyard. It is HUGE. I hope he enjoys it and I hope to goodness there are not a bunch of timeouts for him. Hopefully he listens and is good for us. I HATE it when he has a rough day and does not listen. It is getting better, but he is a toddler and still learning how to deal with his emotions and not getting his way. Yesterday he was so sweet. Good, listened to us. I think it had a lot to do with the parenting his daddy gave him on Saturday. God love my husband for stepping in on Saturday with him. He was just full of fire that day! Chris took him up for nap time and it was a four hour battle. A battle that Chris won. Much to Blair's dismay. But, Blair has been so much better for it. He realizes that mommy and daddy mean business when it is nap time, it is time and you don't get out of bed.

His New Ride

2011-03-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Citation Excel

It was a long year of odd jobs, contract work and full of plenty of blessings. This past year Chris suffered being laid off, like so many in this country. His situation was weird, he had zero control over it as his airplane was broken and the owner is in litigation over it. Since I have no idea how all that legal stuff works, I will not talk about it here.

Chris did plenty of odd jobs for people. Helping to re do cosmetic items on a friends sailboat, re doing rental houses for a great man that kept Chris very busy (that man was such a blessing and still is)! He would keep Chris busy to this day if it weren't for his NEW JOB! For over two months Chris went through round after round of interviewing for three different places. He did contract trips he did smoozing, he did it all. He applied to every known airline he could. He worked SO HARD to get to where he now is.

He is in his dream job. Seriously. It is a private jet that is owned by a gas/oil company. They almost only fly during the week, they rarely do total pop up trips (where he only has like an hour to get to the plane), he gets good compensation, he gets benefits (like two weeks of PLANNED vacation), he gets a new type rating. It is wonderful. He never has to fly a contract trip again because the plane is strictly private and only used by the company.

God has blessed us and we are pinching ourselves.

Trying to decide if I should tell the blogger world what I gave up for Lent....for fear that I will not be able to live up to it!!?!?! AHHHHH! Stay tunned, I'll tell ya in 40 days.

Almost 3

2011-03-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Blair is closing in on the three year mark fast and furious. He is making strides in all areas of development, which is no surprise, he is almost three! That is their job!

He is Pee Pee trained. I say that with a chuckle because we can't get him to poo on the potty. He goes without a pull-up (except for the one night time pull up) now and it is weird to me. He had been doing it at school for a while, but we enforced the no pull up thing at home starting March 1st. That was the day he transitioned to the Three Year Old room at Daycare. I am so glad he is in this room. There are a multitude of reasons, the number one being that he was just too mature to be in a room with younger two's. They need a bit more attention and he was taking away from that and he has been ready to move for a couple of months I believe. It was just a matter of doing it. Plus, all the changes with his daddy working a new position have thrown things a little wacky in Blair's world. As long as he knows that daddy is flying a plane, he is usually fine with it. Occasionally he gets upset and says 'NO, no daddy flying people!'. It is adorable. We call him our little Frenchmen because he says things so cute, 'NO! No diaper! NO! No vegetables! NO! No night night!'. Adorable.

Chris and I hit up Sam's Club over the weekend and a lady stopped me and asked me about Blair, how old is he? how long has he been talking in long sentences? How long has he been counting? She was impressed with his talking and wanted to compare to her own grandson who is 2.5 and not talking. Plus, Blair was being cute and counting EVERY FREAKING THING. I quickly told her with a laugh that all kids learn differently, even Blair. I told her he was going to be three in a few weeks and was still refusing to poop on the potty, so don't fret! They all learn at different paces. I think the biggest thing is to try not to stress, cause if you do, they pick up on it and they will stress. I try my darnedest not to stress over things, like that I had to CLEAN UP POOP this morning cause Blair STILL refuses to poop on the potty. Ahhh, the life of a mommy. I ADORE IT! Poop and all!

I have been planning things for Blair's 3rd birthday party and have decided upon a construction type party. The ideas are boundless for this construction thing! It is gonna be fun! I have tool belts I got from Home Depot, and construction hats I ordered on Amazon and I'll have tools for the kids to play and little areas to do their construction projects. I hope they enjoy it. I know Blair will!

Long Enough

2011-03-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

I've put off writing about this long enough I think. My heart is heavy over this. I have sent many prayers, but it seems the ending is such a sad one and nothing will change it.

The Friday before Valentine's Day a young woman (26) came up missing. Her mother called police the next day saying that she had dropped her two young boys (3 & 5) off with the neighbor to run a couple errands. One to deposit her mothers business off at the bank, the other to cash her tax return and put a deposit down on a vehicle. By 11pm the neighbor returned the children to the young woman's mother's house.

By Tuesday (I was in Denver with my mother and daughter at this point and we were watching the story unfold online) it was going to be on Headline News with Nancy Grace and they had search parties out, etc. On Tuesday evening the police were once again questioning the young woman's mother and her boyfriend of about 15 or so years. The police noticed a piece of clothing with blood on it. They got a search warrant and searched the house on Wednesday. By that night the boyfriend of the mother was missing. On Thursday morning I was in a meeting and happened to read my hometown's newspaper online. I noticed something in the photograph of the mother's home. It was my great Aunt Bessie's house! I was sickened to learn that they had found the young woman's body in that dank basement. It was not a pleasant death at all for her and clearly the young women's mother's boyfriend was responsible. He was now missing.

That evening my mother and I started to discuss that house and its history and what happened to it after Aunt Bessie died. My great grandfather Zohar Costin had a construction business. He built MANY of the houses in this area. Matter of fact, he built Aunt Bessie's house, another Aunt's house and MY house growing up! My great grandfather had three children, my grandfather James, then his sisters Bessie and Wynetta. Bessie got married and had a son, a son she named BLAIR! Sound familiar? My grandfather became a doctor, so did Blair, so Zohar looked to have someone take over the family construction business. This is where Richard Russell enters the picture. Dick Russell took over Costin Construction. He did all sorts of projects in the area. He also built a big addition on to my house growing up. My parents added on two bedrooms and a re-do of the kitchen. I can remember Dick in our house often, along with his assistant. My mother told me stories that Thursday evening about Dick Russell and how my dad was so busy at the hospital was other baby deliveries that Dick even put my baby crib together! He was a kind man whom ALWAYS had a hat on. I don't remember seeing him without it.

Growing up I can remember running across our field (we had about 5 or so acres in the city, it was in the middle of our block, it was pretty sweet) to Aunt Bessie's house to see my dad who was having coffee with her. I would get in her pantry to get out my hot chocolate and sit with them, or I would get in her closets and play dressup or I would go out into the wonderland that was her greenhouse. The greenhouse my dad built for her. It was amazing and bloomed all year long, even in our cold winters. I'll never forget the smell in her greenhouse. I associate that smell with my childhood more than any other.

I asked my mom what happened to Bessie's house, who bought it when she passed about 15 or so years ago? She said it was The Russell's. They fixed it up cosmetically and put it up as a rental for several years. In 2009 they sold the house. They sold the house to the mother and boyfriend of this victim.

At this point it was the Friday after the girl was missing and there was new news. The boyfriend's truck was found 2-3 miles from the Russell's farmhouse. The Russell's had come up missing. A neighbor noticed on Wednesday evening that they were not home, car was gone. Thursday some family called the police. Now, we were looking for a murderer and these very old sweet people.

I had this sick feeling in my stomach when I found this out. There were tears and I just felt them gone. I felt like there is no way this horrible man would keep around this sweet old couple whom needed lots of medical attention due to many ailments. My father, being their physician was on the news being asked about his connection with them. His family practice is also right across the street from the police station. The family practice founded by my grandfather and his nephew, Blair.

8 days ago they found the murderer. They found him with dogs tracking him in West Virginia. There was blood in the car. He confessed. He confessed to killing them and dumping them in Georgia. Only he was not quite there yet. He was in Tennessee. This last Saturday some scrap hunters found Dick's body. They have not found her yet as she was dumped in a separate location. I am now just sick over the fact that Tennessee looked for her for TWO DAYS and called off the search. SHAME ON YOU Tennessee. I hope there is more to that part of the story than I know because it makes me sick that they wouldn't give it more of a go to find Gladis.

God be with these people and may God judge those that need the judgement.

keeping up

2011-02-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

OK

2011-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

I was on my way to work this morning and was side swiped by a Cadillac Escalade. I am sore, but fine. I have never been involved in any kind of car accident, so I was really (and still am) shaken up. Chris has helped to take care of all the details of filling a claim against them etc. I am so thankful my children were not in the car with me. The gentlemen that hit me was nice, took full responsibility. The cop even told me there was no way for them to even dispute it. I was very worried about making sure I had all the correct information because I have friends that have been burned by this sort of thing. I am hoping I am not going to be one of those. I don't want to have to deal with that. The guy got a ticket, I didn't.

What an un nerving experience!!! DISLIKE!

I have so much more to write about with what is going on in my hometown and the connections to our family....I am just not up to writing about it yet. I am sad over it. Will explain it later.

God's Blessings to you all for a good day.

Denver

2011-02-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

On Valentine's Day Chris and I took Blair to daycare. I squeezed that boys cheeks and kissed him a dozen times before letting him go. I have not been away from my baby for more than two nights (when I had Skylar) since he was born. He is my buddy. He is my baby, my little lovie, my BOY! I was so afraid of the piece of my heart that would hurt while being away from him. Chris gets a little annoyed when I talk about this because Chris is a pilot, his job requires him to be away for a bit. I, however, have been the mainstay in Blair's three years of life (well, three years on March 21st)! When Chris got Skylar and I all checked in at the airport, the time just started to fly. The plane ride was easy. The lady sitting next to me adored Skylar and talked about how badly she wanted a grandchild. Once I saw mom, she just kissed Skylar all over and Skylar just laughed and loved it. We got our rental car and were off...but then I got a call from my husband wishing me Happy Valentine's Day once again. I thought it was nice, but odd. We had just seen one another. Then he told me in a cute way that he had gotten an offer from a position that he had really been wanting. He is now a pilot for a corporate jet that flies out of an airport north of Houston and we couldn't be happier and I couldn't be more proud. It is a wonderful position. I cried half the way to the hotel. Prior to getting there I HAD TO EAT. So, we stopped at a PF Chang's that happens to be run by a childhood friend. What a GREAT meal and fun to catch up!

The mountains in Colorado are breath taking. I have not seen them since our Hurricane Ike evacuation and I forgot their beauty. Photos would never do this area of our country justice. I remembered how much I can't wait to take our children on ski trips to Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone. It'll be awesome! My week at work went off without a hitch. I had the perfect babysitter for my girl (her Nana is the greatest ever), so I was free to relax and soak in the fire hose that is my new position with my company. I actually really love learning new things, so this was right up my ally. On Friday after getting some work done my mother and I decided to do a couple of tourist things prior to getting to our hotel by the airport. We stopped at the Red Rocks. I now have a new item for my bucket list. See a concert at the Red Rocks. OMG. It is SO GLORIOUS out there. Just right outside Denver, this amazing formation of rocks makes the most perfect amphitheater in the world. You MUST be in shape to get to it though! Whew! Next up was the Coors factory tour! Wow, this one was GREAT. It is the largest brewery in the US and FREE BEER! It was tons of fun. I can't believe we did all that for free. It is amazing the things you can do without spending money. Love it!

I didn't take many photos as I was working the majority of the time, but I'll get uploaded what I have later on.

During my business trip we found that Chris had not one but TWO trips to go on. The first being a contract trip with another company that he had accepted prior to the new job offer, so he did that one, then the new job required him to go on a three day trip up north. Thank heaven for our neighbor's who took care of Blair during these times. It was a bit rough when I got back. Blair didn't have a good time getting to sleep on my first night back. I think because he thought I was not going to be here when he awoke. I felt so bad (I even caved and allowed him to get into bed with me for about 15 minutes to calm him). On top of it some neighbors were celebrating a birthday and set off fireworks practically in our YARD at 1030 that night. Scared the CRAP out of me and woke up Blair (whom had FINALLY fallen asleep by 10). I was so unhappy. Blair took a good nap Sunday then went down by 745 on Sunday night. Chris was home at 10ish, and then last night Blair was asleep by 730 again. What a sweet boy he is! When my neighbor came to get me at the airport, Blair RAN into my arms and I couldn't have been more excited, I started to cry I was so happy to see him. He kissed his sisters head about a half dozen times.

I miss my mother terribly already. I hope that my parents come to visit at the end of next month while Chris is at school. Let the lobbying begin! Haha...

Enjoy the day!

Organize!

2011-02-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

For a multitude of reasons I have forced myself into organization mode through out the last several weeks. Mainly because I have two children, a husband who is a pilot and I work full time. Therefore, I MUST prioritize and organize each weekend to tackle the week. One thing I thought of (can't believe I had a creative thought on my own) and have done each week for about a month is to pick out each day of clothing for myself, Blair and Skylar. This way there is no thought that must be put into each of those decisions Monday thru Friday. At first I just had each set of clothing on top of his dresser. This was a pain and seemed a bit messy. So, I stopped in the organization department at Wal-Mart and saw this shoe organizer for the door, perfect! So now there is a slot for each day of the week with each set of his clothing. Shirts, pants and socks all neat, in a row. I must say, it has been great. I feel like it has really helped a lot having this all done on Sunday of each week. Especially on a week like this when I will be on travel. Organization is a MUST!

To the Land of the Snow Bunnies

2011-02-10T06:47:00.000-08:00

Things at work have changed around several times for me. I am hoping at this point things are starting to settle. I am going to spend half my time at NASA and the other half at my companies building doing internal capability work. The NASA work involves travel for the Orion Project. Next week I'll be headed to Denver.

To say I was concerned about the Skylar situation is an understatement. I have no qualms with traveling for work, I am happy to do so. However, with her having such a close relationship with me still, it was a stressful conundrum. Chris and I talked and talked about what to do. We set up our WONDERFUL neighbor to help us should he get a trip, we discussed my mother coming down, we thought of asking one of her daycare teachers to come help, we were just concerned. Mainly for the nighttime feed and sleeping. She relies on me big time to get to sleep and back to sleep if she ever wakes. Chris was on the fence (I could tell in his voice). On one hand he would say 'they are my children, I can handle them just fine'. Plus, he has, several times he has taken them both while I leave to either have some girl time or else go to my group for church. However, I am always home in time for the bedtime routine. The two times we have had my mother take over with Skylar in the evenings, it has been touchy. The second time, Skylar screamed for a good 45 minutes. It was not fun. And trust me, Skylar is in love with her Nana.

Yesterday I arrived at a decision. When Blair was 6 months old, I had to attend training in the DC area for work, I took Blair with me. There were many reasons, but it worked out great because I also flew my mother there to watch him while I was in training. Then, I was able to take over in the evenings. Skylar will go with me to Denver. At first I thought everyone would think I was nuts, but most actually think its a great compromise and will take the stress off of Chris for having to put her down on his own. Plus, if he gets called away on a trip, we would be in real trouble. Our neighbor is a huge help to us and we really don't want to burden her with both children, one of whom is attached to having mommy at bedtime. Blair goes to bed without a fuss, he was out in his bed last night at 730 and I didn't hear a peep until 7am. He does this most nights. Such a good little guy. Skylar is only four months old and while she is sleeping about 9 hours a night, she is still difficult to get to sleep unless she is nursed.

We had a free ticket we needed to use up, so I booked my mother to Denver! We'll be there all next week and I couldn't feel better about it. Now I won't stress for so many reasons.

Daddy will do great with Blair and not have to worry about a baby who misses her mommy. I, however will miss my Bear Bear SO MUCH. It'll be hard, but Daddy is so wonderful with him, I am sure they will be fine.

Speaking of Daddy, he is in Colorado right now. This morning I had both kids snuggled in bed and I heard Bear saying to his sister 'Our Mommy! Our Mommy!'. I walked back in from the bathroom and I saw him pointing to me, telling his sister that. Aww, be still my heart!!! Love those babies!!!

Another iPhone Photo Wrap

2011-02-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Chewing on giraffe and hanging with Daddy before school.

All smiles after seeing AIDEN!!

Bundled up for the big FREEZE.

LOVE

This past week we experienced some icing. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. In all fairness to Houston, we are not equipped for such an event, so they encouraged everyone to stay home. Many did not and that equated to over a THOUSAND car accidents in our county. Crazy. By the weekend it was almost 70 and totally gorgeous outside. Sunday morning we headed to the park with the Ward's. Nikki took her camera. See the photos via her blog linked to the right, Nikki's Nutshell. It was really exciting seeing the kiddos play and Skylar was in heaven watching the boys run wild. You can just see her running after them in the near future. It will be so fun. However, she is only four months old and I have NO desire to speed up this time of her life. The vultures in this park are amazing. SO MANY OF THEM and so creepy. Nikki has a sort of fear shall we say of anything that can take flight. Except for planes I guess. So these guys were a little un nerving for her. She was so funny explaing to us that Travis had originally parked on the OTHER side of the park where the main portion of the vulture were hanging out. Travis started to honk the horn to scare them. Nikki yelled for him to stop for fear they would TAKE FLIGHT! AHHH! Love it...love her. You know those stupid emails you get to answer all these questions like 'name the first person of the same sex NOW!'. I did one of those and she was the first one I thought of. So, it said she is my BFF. Tee Hee....I would consider her one of my best, as I confide in her on a regular basis. Thanks Nikki!

It is a joy to spend time with Skylar and I just adore her. She is one of the smiliest babies I have ever encountered. She puts on a full blow big mouth smile all the time and she talks! Boy does she talk! Love it. She is still nursing, breastfed exclusively, she sleeps well (8-10 hours a night lately) unless she is not feeling well. She is still fighting a bit of a cough, but really, all of us are. It is a weird cough all of Houston seems to have and have had for over 6 weeks. She is in 3-6 month clothing, and mostly getting into just 6 month stuff. She is IN LOVE with Sophie the Giraffe. It is easily her favorite thing. She is just generally so happy. We are truly blessed.

Blair is so fun. He is still very much a toddler that continues to have toddler meltdowns on occasion, but you can see shades of big kid coming through. He'll do things that I had no idea he knew how to do such as counting. His counting increases every time I hear him do it. He is consistently up to 12, but Chris said he does up to 20 on occasion. He has known his ABCs for a while now. He sleeps all night in his big boy bed and has been for weeks now. He is still not potty trained, but does go on the potty all day long. It is not something we are stressing over at this point since he has done most everything on his own without much of a fight at all, after all, why stress over things that are fleeting? This time in their childhood FLIES by, so we are just enjoying the good things and focusing on those. With good action, our children follow. By living a good life and making good choices, our children live a good life.

For this week we are having another round of freezing temps at night, then it is back up to 70 by next Monday! That's right, 70!! YIPPEEE! More park time!

iPhone Photo Wrap Up

2011-02-02T08:14:00.001-08:00

Blair got on the counter and sat in the Bumbo....which was his and is now his sisters. Silly Boy! He was mad I was taking his photo.

Cuddled in bed. Blair actually loves to lay in bed with his sister and cuddle. I wonder how long this stage will last? I am documenting it every chance I get!

This morning it was 24 degrees!!! We bundled 'em all up!

This was last Friday. Skylar is in the Moby wrap. She loves that freakin' thing. I swear by it. We have a nice Baby Bjorn, but the Moby is WAY BETTER. So much easier on your back!

So Happy

2011-02-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

I couldn't be happier with these!! To see them all, click ME

What's wrong with this picture?!

2011-01-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

Chris and I were GUSHING over this photo and how much we loved it, then we noticed something...do you see it? My Lovely lady is doing something not so lady like. Tee Hee...Luckily the wonderful photographer has LOTS of other amazing photos of our lovely girl to blow up for our walls.

KIDS!

2011-01-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

Here we are pre make up, pre shower. We have the best time with our kids in the morning. They are such joy.

CATS

2011-01-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

I am just not a cat person. I actually really like cats, as long as they are not walking on me with their liter paws. All I can think about is the liter they walk in to go do their business, and then they have it stuck to their fur and then they walk where I SIT or SLEEP, yuck. Also, when they lay on my stuff and I have cat fur all over me, I am grossed out. This has become increasingly annoying to me as I have had children, cause I don't want all that fur on my child. Whereas my dog's fur is a bit easier to control. I sweep the floor, its taken care of. I brush him or have him groomed, it is taken care of. He does not get on our furniture like a little dog or cat, so it doesn't get on our stuff and I don't have to worry about my clothing or my families clothing.

There has been an ongoing battle that the neighbor across the street has become a cat lady. She had a pregnant cat this past year and now ALL THE BABIES ARE BIG. There were no less than FIVE CATS in the front of our house this morning. NOT COOL. These cats CRAP in our front yard! She needs to get those suckers adopted for real. All our others neighbors are pretty peeved about it themselves. Not sure how to handle it, but it needs to be handled cause it is out of control. There are MORE THAN FIVE over there. What to do...what to do? I'm gonna try to get a photo to show you all! You'll be annoyed, lol.

I did it

2011-01-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

I did it, I cut her. I cut her skin when I was cutting her nails! UGH!!! She cried, I cried, Blair started to cry. We were all crying. She bled for a good 20 minutes from that tiny cut. It was horrible. I feel like the worst mother EVER!

The Buzz B Nail Trimmer will be delivered on Friday. I will never cut her nails again. My friend Reiko has this nifty gadget and it ROCKS. I should have bought it sooner. Alas, now it is mine and she shall never be cut by her horrible mother again.

My eyes are still puffy from the crying. MY POOR LOVELY GIRL!!!