Monday, May 24, 2010
Psst.
I have a secret and I want to tell real bad. I never have been good at keeping secrets. But I got to.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Our Gifts
I have been one super-emotional Mommy lately! Emma's days left at Redeemer are numbered and I am absolutely broken-hearted about it. I've been praying for a miracle to happen so she could stay there for Kindergarten. We just love it at RLS- she's totally blossomed since she's been there and it just feels like family!
About the time that David and I were getting married we made a plan for our family. We both agreed that we would not be able to buy a house right away if we wanted to have a baby anytime soon. At the time we thought we might want to have more than one in addition to Emma and since David was turning 30 and I still needed to finish my degree etc. we'd need to get busy! So we decided having kiddos would be the priority and that we'd wait a little while (a year, year-and-a-half was the "plan") to try to get pregnant.
I'm so thankful that we didn't jump into an expensive mortgage. We would never have been able to afford these months with both kids in daycare! Not to mention the fact that David hadn't gotten his job with Bee Cave yet and we might have ended up living in Hutto (because that's where David talked about applying back then and we knew we could afford a house there). There's nothing wrong with Hutto, I'm just saying we needed time to be married and figure out where we wanted to go. I digress...(the POINT is coming up...)
Now we think it's the right time for us to buy a house. We have an idea where we want to be and have seen many home options that we love and are taking steps to making it happen. The point of all of this is that we are looking to move this next year and Emma would have to change schools again for 1st grade. I would just assume keep her at Redeemer and then once we are truly settled she could begin at her Elementary School near our home.
Financially it's impossible. We wouldn't be able to afford a house payment and a decent daycare for Cody if we kept her at Redeemer. If I EVER got child support it would be another story- we'd be there in a heartbeat. David or I neither one need to take on a 2nd job- so if it doesn't work out, it's not meant to be. I think I'm just having a hard time with her growing up, period! Everyday Cody is bigger and doing new things and Emma is growing up before my eyes.
Friday, May 14th was her preschool graduation. It was wonderful- the kids performed beautifully and we had so many friends and family come to celebrate with us! Afterwords Grammy, Paw Paw, Nana and Granddad all joined us for dinner at Olive Garden. During the meal Emma BURST into tears and said that she had hurt her tooth on her fork. It's not like her to cry that hard over something like that so I was concerned she had chipped it. Her face was buried into my mother so Emma came around the table to see me and actually let me touch her tooth. It was LOOSE! Now she has her first loose tooth! I wasn't expecting the tooth fairy until she was six or seven!
My thinking about the Redeemer thing is that we need to visit the church. This way Emma could stay close with her friends, see her teachers etc. We are planning for Cody to attend preschool there when he turns 15months old. We will see! I know that God has a plan for our family and our "plans" don't really matter! But we do the best we can!
I never posted anything about Mother's Day- better late that never! It started off early; David was up with Cody and was so excited to give me his cards and gift from he and the kids that he woke me up about 7:30AM! Not quite what I had in mind but you gotta love all of them jumping into bed with me. David is big on cards. He can never buy just one. He got me a mushy sweet one and a funny one that the kids signed. Cody probably had some help.
For my present I was very impressed. He picked it out by himself. I hadn't said anything about loving this one! Honestly I forgot or I would have mentioned seeing it online :)
"Our Gift"
Having Cody has been nothing short of a miracle. I can't imagine life without him and going through it all with the love and support of David is a blessing. Our family is complete and he surely is a gift!
We spent the morning getting ready for lunch with my parents and my Granny. It was a wonderful day and I'm thankful David was off this year to share it with me!
About the time that David and I were getting married we made a plan for our family. We both agreed that we would not be able to buy a house right away if we wanted to have a baby anytime soon. At the time we thought we might want to have more than one in addition to Emma and since David was turning 30 and I still needed to finish my degree etc. we'd need to get busy! So we decided having kiddos would be the priority and that we'd wait a little while (a year, year-and-a-half was the "plan") to try to get pregnant.
I'm so thankful that we didn't jump into an expensive mortgage. We would never have been able to afford these months with both kids in daycare! Not to mention the fact that David hadn't gotten his job with Bee Cave yet and we might have ended up living in Hutto (because that's where David talked about applying back then and we knew we could afford a house there). There's nothing wrong with Hutto, I'm just saying we needed time to be married and figure out where we wanted to go. I digress...(the POINT is coming up...)
Now we think it's the right time for us to buy a house. We have an idea where we want to be and have seen many home options that we love and are taking steps to making it happen. The point of all of this is that we are looking to move this next year and Emma would have to change schools again for 1st grade. I would just assume keep her at Redeemer and then once we are truly settled she could begin at her Elementary School near our home.
Financially it's impossible. We wouldn't be able to afford a house payment and a decent daycare for Cody if we kept her at Redeemer. If I EVER got child support it would be another story- we'd be there in a heartbeat. David or I neither one need to take on a 2nd job- so if it doesn't work out, it's not meant to be. I think I'm just having a hard time with her growing up, period! Everyday Cody is bigger and doing new things and Emma is growing up before my eyes.
Friday, May 14th was her preschool graduation. It was wonderful- the kids performed beautifully and we had so many friends and family come to celebrate with us! Afterwords Grammy, Paw Paw, Nana and Granddad all joined us for dinner at Olive Garden. During the meal Emma BURST into tears and said that she had hurt her tooth on her fork. It's not like her to cry that hard over something like that so I was concerned she had chipped it. Her face was buried into my mother so Emma came around the table to see me and actually let me touch her tooth. It was LOOSE! Now she has her first loose tooth! I wasn't expecting the tooth fairy until she was six or seven!
My thinking about the Redeemer thing is that we need to visit the church. This way Emma could stay close with her friends, see her teachers etc. We are planning for Cody to attend preschool there when he turns 15months old. We will see! I know that God has a plan for our family and our "plans" don't really matter! But we do the best we can!
I never posted anything about Mother's Day- better late that never! It started off early; David was up with Cody and was so excited to give me his cards and gift from he and the kids that he woke me up about 7:30AM! Not quite what I had in mind but you gotta love all of them jumping into bed with me. David is big on cards. He can never buy just one. He got me a mushy sweet one and a funny one that the kids signed. Cody probably had some help.
For my present I was very impressed. He picked it out by himself. I hadn't said anything about loving this one! Honestly I forgot or I would have mentioned seeing it online :)
"Our Gift"
Having Cody has been nothing short of a miracle. I can't imagine life without him and going through it all with the love and support of David is a blessing. Our family is complete and he surely is a gift!
We spent the morning getting ready for lunch with my parents and my Granny. It was a wonderful day and I'm thankful David was off this year to share it with me!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Emma's Faith
Emma singing "Faith" from last years' Vacation Bible School 'Crocodile Dock'. I've always loved this song and I cry everytime I hear it (we have the CD.) The lyrics are so beautiful but I don't get very far singing it before I'm bawling! That's probably why I didn't record all the 4's singing it last night at preschool graduation.
I just wanted to stop for a moment and write about my precious girl. The first thing people have to say about Emma after getting to know her is how sweet she is. She is very sweet. But some of us also have the pleasure of experiencing her faithfulness. Everyday she talks to me about God and Jesus. She knows that they are with us always and Jesus heals and takes care of us. It's such a blessing to have a child who just makes everything so clear. Now I know exactly what I was commiting to on the day of her baptism. I have to give most of the credit to Redeemer. At her former daycare they talked about Jesus but at Redeemer they LIVE OUT their faithfulness every day in every activity. Everything from growing plants, to healing boo boo's, to healthy eating and exercise, praying for each other and seeing the relationships between Bible stories and everyday life.
Emma singing this song means so much to me. The lyrics are important as a Christian like myself (who still has so much to learn) but also as a Mom. I hope she knows the great things He has in store for her, things she can't even fathom yet. I want all of her dreams to come true and I'm recommitting myself to ensuring her faith stays as strong and pure as it is now!
I just wanted to stop for a moment and write about my precious girl. The first thing people have to say about Emma after getting to know her is how sweet she is. She is very sweet. But some of us also have the pleasure of experiencing her faithfulness. Everyday she talks to me about God and Jesus. She knows that they are with us always and Jesus heals and takes care of us. It's such a blessing to have a child who just makes everything so clear. Now I know exactly what I was commiting to on the day of her baptism. I have to give most of the credit to Redeemer. At her former daycare they talked about Jesus but at Redeemer they LIVE OUT their faithfulness every day in every activity. Everything from growing plants, to healing boo boo's, to healthy eating and exercise, praying for each other and seeing the relationships between Bible stories and everyday life.
Emma singing this song means so much to me. The lyrics are important as a Christian like myself (who still has so much to learn) but also as a Mom. I hope she knows the great things He has in store for her, things she can't even fathom yet. I want all of her dreams to come true and I'm recommitting myself to ensuring her faith stays as strong and pure as it is now!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Simpler Times
I'm THIS close to deleting my facebook profile. I've bumped up my "hides" and parred down the "friend" list. There are real friends and then there are Facebook friends. And frankly, I don't have the time or energy for it. I'm over the lying, game-playing, drama and attention-seekers. It's literally affected who I am as a person and I'm not going to let that happen anymore.
I love my friends who are confident and secure in who they are, their family, situation etc. No longer am I going to let anyone "get to me". I LOVE my life. I LOVE my husband, kids, family and closest friends. I am BLESSED. My Mom forward the following in an email to me this morning and it was like a light bulb went off.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants and children we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, seat belts or air bags. The tires were bald and sometimes there were no brakes.
Riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared soft drinks with four friends from one bottle and one one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real, white sugar. And we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day...and were were okay!
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode them down the hill only to find out we forgot brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Nintendo's, Playstations, and XBox's. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no videos, movies or DVD's. No surround-sound or CD's. No cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS! And we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cute, broke bones and teeth. And there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team! Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years there has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with all of it.
If you are one of them, then congratulations! You might want to share this with others who had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives 'for our own good'.
While you are at it, forward this to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornadoes and fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, sever thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of swine flu, and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us, go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on.
A small prayer:
God determines who walks into your life...it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay and who you refuse to let go.
When there is nothing left but God, that's when you realize that God is all you need.
I love my friends who are confident and secure in who they are, their family, situation etc. No longer am I going to let anyone "get to me". I LOVE my life. I LOVE my husband, kids, family and closest friends. I am BLESSED. My Mom forward the following in an email to me this morning and it was like a light bulb went off.
"To all the kids who survived the
1930's. 40's, 50's, 60's and '70's:
1930's. 40's, 50's, 60's and '70's:
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants and children we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, seat belts or air bags. The tires were bald and sometimes there were no brakes.
Riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared soft drinks with four friends from one bottle and one one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real, white sugar. And we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day...and were were okay!
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode them down the hill only to find out we forgot brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Nintendo's, Playstations, and XBox's. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no videos, movies or DVD's. No surround-sound or CD's. No cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS! And we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cute, broke bones and teeth. And there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team! Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years there has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with all of it.
If you are one of them, then congratulations! You might want to share this with others who had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives 'for our own good'.
While you are at it, forward this to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornadoes and fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, sever thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of swine flu, and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us, go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on.
A small prayer:
God determines who walks into your life...it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay and who you refuse to let go.
When there is nothing left but God, that's when you realize that God is all you need.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Intellectual Lull
This time of year is always bittersweet for me and I'm not just talking about the skyrocketing temperatures. Graduation. Something I have yet to ascertain. I didn't take any classes in 2009. The 2008 fall semester ended with the passing of David's father and I knew he needed me. Just a few months' later I found out I was pregnant and knew I didn't need any additional stress. But now I've got the itch.
Life isn't going to get any easier anytime soon; things aren't going to slow down. This is going to be another big year for us but I'm determined to get my foot back in the door. I've always loved learning and miss challenging myself. Especially now that I'm taking upper-division courses. It's nice to know you chose the right degree! The COMM classes I've taken so far are a perfect fit!
Soon it will be time to transfer back to UT. I look forward to it. I'll never forget the day I withdrew. I don't think my head could have hung any lower. But I was pregnant, trying to give all I had to the relationship I was in, and knew I needed to trade my schoolbooks and designer duds for diapers and bottles. I don't regret my decision at all. I withdrew in September of 2004 and was taking classes by May- just a couple of months after Emma was born. I took another semester or so off when I started my job and was living on my own for the first time. But then I got back in right before I met David. He was very supportive of my goal and helped me in the evenings w/Emma so I could study.
Ergo I Go
A couple of weeks ago 'the big boss' tasked our IT guy with making sure we were all equipped to be ergonomically correct. So after some research, email blasts and individual assessments, we have all made adjustments. My arms were nearly 'right on' at the suggested 90-degree angle. However, Joel thought I was having to reach a little far for my keyboard and mouse.
The first thing we did was raise my chair up slightly (which caused my feet to dangle and created the need for a foot stool.) Then we got rid of my keyboard tray. These two changes were supposed to ensure that my arms were perpendicular to my shoulders. Since I would now have to scoot my chair in to reach the keyboard that now sat on the desk, that should have alleviated the need to stretch and cause pressure on my joints. In no time I was in pain. Initially it was my elbow and later my shoulder and wrist.
I put my chair back where it was- we hardly adjusted it, but I wasn't taking any chances. I gave the keyboard (sans roll out tray) a few days in case my body needed to get use to the change. But after a week I put everything back to normal.
This is similar to my desk except that mine has a tall reception counter on the right, is U-shaped and has larger file drawers. I sit in that 90-degree corner which is why I think the tray is necessary so that the keyboard comes to me and I don't have to reach.
This is my desk chair. It's fully-adjustable and seems to fit the bill. At the end of the day I just reverted to my original positioning.
I did however, decide to give a new, more ergo-friendly keyboard a try.
I am also the guinea pig for the foot stool. I'll let ya know how it goes.
A lot of the guys used this movement as an excuse to get new monitors. I am kinda lucky in that respect because I was already outfitted with two side-by-side flat panel monitors. What's better than one? Two! My boss has three...
So finally I think I have this all figured out. I was willing to give it a shot because you don't feel the effects of posture mistakes, carpal tunnel etc. until you are older. But it seems to me I had it pretty close! Good luck!
The first thing we did was raise my chair up slightly (which caused my feet to dangle and created the need for a foot stool.) Then we got rid of my keyboard tray. These two changes were supposed to ensure that my arms were perpendicular to my shoulders. Since I would now have to scoot my chair in to reach the keyboard that now sat on the desk, that should have alleviated the need to stretch and cause pressure on my joints. In no time I was in pain. Initially it was my elbow and later my shoulder and wrist.
I put my chair back where it was- we hardly adjusted it, but I wasn't taking any chances. I gave the keyboard (sans roll out tray) a few days in case my body needed to get use to the change. But after a week I put everything back to normal.
This is similar to my desk except that mine has a tall reception counter on the right, is U-shaped and has larger file drawers. I sit in that 90-degree corner which is why I think the tray is necessary so that the keyboard comes to me and I don't have to reach.
This is my desk chair. It's fully-adjustable and seems to fit the bill. At the end of the day I just reverted to my original positioning.
I did however, decide to give a new, more ergo-friendly keyboard a try.
I am also the guinea pig for the foot stool. I'll let ya know how it goes.
A lot of the guys used this movement as an excuse to get new monitors. I am kinda lucky in that respect because I was already outfitted with two side-by-side flat panel monitors. What's better than one? Two! My boss has three...
So finally I think I have this all figured out. I was willing to give it a shot because you don't feel the effects of posture mistakes, carpal tunnel etc. until you are older. But it seems to me I had it pretty close! Good luck!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Spit Up, Sit Up and So Forth
Cody is three months old. I can't believe it. I'm still holding on to those labor and delivery memories but they are fading and pregnancy seems forever ago.
We took Cody to the Dr. a week and a half ago and he was still just 11lbs. He is on the low end of the normal daily amount of formula intake so we bumped him up to 6oz but it seems to be too much because he is all of a sudden spitting up a lot! It's mostly thick phlegm though. My poor mucousy baby! He had been getting 5+oz for a while now so I think we'll back down a little bit while he is spitting up so much.
The first two times I gave him 6oz he slept so hard! I had to wake him up from naps so that we could get on with our day!
He's still doing well at night, sleeping anywhere from 9-11hrs and falls asleep between 8-9PM depending when his last bottle is. He's taking one significantly longer nap at daycare now. Generally mid-day from about Noon until 1:30 or 2PM. He is eating pretty religiously every three hours during the day.
Cody enjoys bathtime and we've started putting him in the saucer for short periods of time with blankets rolled in front or back to help support him. He doesn't last long in the evenings be cause he is tired. He is taking his paci less and less but it helps him fall asleep when I can convince him to keep it in his mouth for a few minutes. He's spending less time in his swing because it is fairly reclined and he wants to SIT UP.
I'm so sad that he's outgrowing his first outfits. We've given most of them to David's co-worker Mark who is expecting his first baby very soon! (July, I think?) But a few of my favorites are going to reside with us for a little longer :) In most brands he's wearing 3-6 months or 6mos top and 3mos bottoms.
He's a complete joy and lights up when you talk or sing to him. He is still LOVING his Daddy and Sissy!
We took Cody to the Dr. a week and a half ago and he was still just 11lbs. He is on the low end of the normal daily amount of formula intake so we bumped him up to 6oz but it seems to be too much because he is all of a sudden spitting up a lot! It's mostly thick phlegm though. My poor mucousy baby! He had been getting 5+oz for a while now so I think we'll back down a little bit while he is spitting up so much.
The first two times I gave him 6oz he slept so hard! I had to wake him up from naps so that we could get on with our day!
He's still doing well at night, sleeping anywhere from 9-11hrs and falls asleep between 8-9PM depending when his last bottle is. He's taking one significantly longer nap at daycare now. Generally mid-day from about Noon until 1:30 or 2PM. He is eating pretty religiously every three hours during the day.
Cody enjoys bathtime and we've started putting him in the saucer for short periods of time with blankets rolled in front or back to help support him. He doesn't last long in the evenings be cause he is tired. He is taking his paci less and less but it helps him fall asleep when I can convince him to keep it in his mouth for a few minutes. He's spending less time in his swing because it is fairly reclined and he wants to SIT UP.
I'm so sad that he's outgrowing his first outfits. We've given most of them to David's co-worker Mark who is expecting his first baby very soon! (July, I think?) But a few of my favorites are going to reside with us for a little longer :) In most brands he's wearing 3-6 months or 6mos top and 3mos bottoms.
He's a complete joy and lights up when you talk or sing to him. He is still LOVING his Daddy and Sissy!
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