Falgout Family 2013 Year in Review
Well it appears I’m not a very good blogger since I only get around to blogging once a year. But regardless, here is our year in review as well as monthly updates on Ellie’s 1st full year. It looks like I beat last year’s 18 page size 11 font update and this year it’s 35 pages long! If you happen to read any (or all) of this blog, please forgive any mistakes since it’s just too long for me to proof read. 2013 was a wonderful, blessed year for our family.
I’ll start with December of 2012 since that’s when Ellie turned 1 month old.
December 2012
Ellie 1 month old:
Date: Dec 22, 2012
Weight: ~ 10 lbs
Height: ~ 21 in.
Color Eyes: Dark blue/grey
Color hair: Dark brown
Clothing size: 0-3 month although they are still big on her
Places she has gone: 2 visits to Moody Gardens trail of lights, 1 visit to Dickinson trail of lights, walks around our neighborhood in her daddy’s arms
Things she can do:
Complete a nursing session in approx. 10 minutes
Wake up to nurse every 2-3 hours and never miss a nursing session
Prefers to be held
Sleeps much of the time
When not in arms, mostly naps on couch and sleeps at night in crib in our room
Likes to be swaddled with arms free
Doesn’t seem to care much for swing or bouncer
Likes baths
Likes watching football on TV
January 2013
By the time January arrived, I was finally starting to feel better and felt like getting out and leaving the house more. But since Ellie hadn’t received any vaccinations and because it was flu season and there seemed to be a lot of illnesses going around, I chose to keep her at home instead of taking her out in the public. I started jogging again and making trips to the store but only when Charles was home to watch the girls (generally going during Payton’s nap time). The jogging started out pretty painful and I had to walk quite a bit the first few times I went. Thankfully after just a week of jogging, I found I was able to jog over 2 miles without walking, albeit it was a very slow jog.
Cotton Bowl
On January 6, 2013, we watched on TV as Texas A&M took on Oklahoma. I’ve seen (and attended) many Cotton Bowl games and this one was definitely one of the more fun games to watch. With this being the first year the Aggies said “adios” to the Big XII conference, it was interesting to see how the Aggies would match up to a former conference opponent. The Sooners were considered a top Big XII team, finishing the season as Big XII co-champions (the Big XII, no longer having 12 teams, wasn’t eligible to play a championship game). The Aggies red shirt freshman quarterback had quite a bit of pressure on his shoulders going into the game having just won the Heisman trophy. But if he felt pressure it sure didn’t show as he led the Aggies to a 41-13 win over the Sooners. Clearly had the Aggies stayed another year in the Big XII we would have easily been conference champions and possibly would have played for the national championship, but despite that I think few (if any) Aggies are sorry about the decision to join the SEC. If you want to be the best then you need to compete against the best. Needless to say, we are all excited (and nervous!) to see what next season has in store.
Cardiology Appointment
When Ellie was 2 weeks old her pediatrician referred us to the UTMB pediatric cardiologist because Ellie still had a heart murmur. He reassured me that most heart murmurs in babies are caused by a hole in the heart that is just taking a while to close and that it’s nothing serious. I thought the cardiologist would just confirm this for us. And the cardiologist did confirm this for us and told us that for many people (10% of the population) the hole never fully closes but gets small enough that it’s not an issue and he feels like Ellie will probably be one of those people. Unfortunately he also discovered that she had thickening of the aortic and pulmonary valves. He said the blood was still flowing fine through the valves but that we would need to monitor things to make sure the condition doesn’t worsen. Despite his reassuring words that she would likely be just fine, we were nervous about this because no one wants to hear that something could potentially be wrong with their baby’s heart. He told us to come back in 2 months. Thankfully when we returned to him in March, he found that the valves had not thickened anymore. So the plan is to wait 6 more months and in September he will do another ultrasound to check on her heart valves. It is possible that she was just born with thickened valves and that because they aren’t thickening, it may never be an issue for her. This is what we are praying is the case.
Ellie’s 2 month appointment
Ellie’s 2 month doctor’s appointment went well. She received her first set of vaccinations and the rest of the day she screamed in pain. In broke my heart and caught me completely off guard because Payton has never acted like the vaccinations caused her any lingering pain. I will know in the future to be sure to give Ellie some Tylenol prior to getting her vaccinations. We learned that Ellie weighed 11 lbs 2 oz which is heavier than 60% of girls her age but is only taller than 37% of girls her age at 22 inches tall. So she’s much smaller than Payton was at this age.
First Park Outing
The day after Ellie’s 2 month doctor’s appointment, I decided it was time for me to start taking the girls out on my own. The temperature was in the 70s so I took Payton and Ellie to the park. I wore Ellie in the Moby wrap and she slept the entire time. We went back to the park the next day and again Ellie slept in the Moby wrap. At the same time that we were going to the park in t-shirts, most of the country was going through a huge snowstorm. It’s times like this that I feel very grateful that I live in Texas.
BBQ Benefit
On Saturday, January 26, we attended a BBQ benefit at the VFW in Santa Fe, benefitting the family of my former co-worker Marlo Bear. In the past 5 months or so, both her 14 year old daughter and her husband were diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully her daughter underwent surgery that they believe removed all of the cancer. Her husband, however, is still undergoing treatment. They have definitely been in our prayers. At the BBQ, we also saw my friend Christel Foxworth , her husband Derrick, and their two daughters. Abby is Payton’s age and was all about playing in the bouncy house. Payton, for some reason, is scared of bouncy houses so we have never been able to talk her into getting into one. Payton is a pretty laid back kid, but she’s also cautious so things like bouncy houses and slides are on her list of things she’s not interested in right now.
Galveston Marathon
The following day the Galveston Marathon came down our street. I made a sign the night before that said, “You’ve already gone further than most people ever will!” and we stood in front of our house and cheered for all the runners.
Last week of January
Monday, January 28 was the first time I took both girls to Moody Gardens. Ellie slept soundly being worn in the Moby wrap and Payton enjoyed seeing all the animals. On the same day, Ellie started to really smile and make cooing sounds. The following day, I took both girls to the store together for the first time. I wore Ellie in the Moby wrap and had Payton in the shopping cart. I found it pretty difficult though because I had to use one hand to support Ellie’s head and then I had to push the cart and deal with Payton all using one hand. Thankfully we were just at Target for a few items. On Wednesday, the three of us attended library story time together for the first time. I stood at the back of the room so that Ellie would sleep in the Moby. Unfortunately being at the back of the room resulted in Payton not really paying attention and playing on the chairs instead. That Friday, Christel Foxworth came to visit with her daughters Abby (2) and Anna (1) and it was cute to see all 4 of our girls together. Payton and Abby enjoyed playing together and Anna seemed fascinated by Ellie.
Ellie 2 months old update:
Date: Jan 22, 2013
Weight: 11 lbs 2 oz (60%)
Height: 22 in. (37%)
Color eyes: Looking more dark blue and less dark grey/blue
Clothing Size: 0-3 months
New places she has gone: The Strand, the beach
Things she can do:
Wake mommy up all night long
Sat quietly in swing through Christmas present opening
Looks just like her big sister at this age
Has started only nursing 1 side every 3 hours and sometimes goes longer, refuses to eat (screaming and turning away) in between sessions
Still prefers to only spend 5-10 minutes nursing
Has started focusing her eyes on things and is more alert
Likes to sleep in someone’s arms as they walk around with her
Naps on couch and then goes to crib at night when mommy & daddy go to bed
February 2013
Mardi Gras
The Friday of the first weekend of Mardi Gras, my parents came to visit. On Saturday we all attended the noon and 6 p.m. Seawall parades. This was not only Ellie’s first Mardi Gras to attend but my parent’s as well. Payton loved to be on Charles’ shoulders, waving her hands for beads. She also loved that Lala and Papa got her a Dora balloon that she likes to point out is wearing a purple backpack. Payton loves Dora right now! Mardi Gras is a fun time for us because friends always stop by. During the day Roger and Terri Torres stopped by with their kids as well as Travis and Kristin Bohlmann with their kids and my friend Christina Bockmon had dinner with us (dirty rice) before the evening parade. The parades were good but they didn’t seem to throw as many beads this year as they have some years.
The second weekend of Mardi Gras, Charles’ sister Mary, her husband Randy, and their boys Evan (17) and Evan (13) came to visit. Payton loved playing with Little Evan. She kept saying, “Evan dance Aggie Band music” and having him dance in her room to the music. That evening our friends Erick, Amanda, and Kacey (3) came over for pizza and then we all went to the Momus parade. Like Ellie had done for each of the parades, she slept the majority of the time on me in the Moby wrap.
The following day (Sunday Feb 10, 2013), Mary and her family surprised us by all showing up wearing Texas A&M shirts. This was shocking because Mary has a degree from LSU and the entire family are LSU fans. We loved this, however, and it really made our day! That day we attended the children’s parade and the pet parade on Seawall.
On Monday, we went out to eat at Shrimp N Stuff with Mary’s family. It was Ellie’s first time in a restaurant and she sat quietly in her car seat baby carrier.
On Fat Tuesday we attended the Fat Tuesday parade and caught tons of beads! It made up for the lack of beads thrown throughout Mardi Gras and Payton loved it!
Play Dates
The ladies in League City who we’ve been having play dates with for the past year decided to form an informal “Mom’s Group” and schedule weekly play dates. This play group has really been great for us because there are a bunch of little kids that are Payton’s age in it and they are all extremely sweet and I’ve really grown to love the other moms in the group. The first play date I attended with Ellie was at Elisa Yates’ house on February 4, 2013 and Ellie slept in my arms for most of the play date. Payton loved playing outside with the other kids and playing fetch with their dog. On Friday, February 15, a couple of the moms brought their kids (Skyleigh and Lee) to Galveston and met us at the Galveston Railroad Museum. Payton and I hadn’t been in a while and Payton loved it! Ellie slept on me in the Moby wrap which made it a bit difficult to climb up onto some of the trains but the other ladies helped Payton on and off of the trains.
Our House
On February 4, 2013, as we were arriving home from the play date, at the same time another car pulled up and stopped in front of our house. A lady rolled down her window and I figured she must be lost and in need of directions (we live right off Seawall so it has happened before that tourists stop to ask for directions). Instead she said, “I’m sorry to bother you. This is the house I grew up in and anytime I’m in the area I like to stop by and look at it”. I said, “Oh, well I would love to hear a little about the history of the house” And she started to tell me how it was built by her grandfather around the year 1940 (she wasn’t sure of the exact year). That her grandfather was a tug boat captain and built this house for his family. Having already heard a similar story from the previous owners of the home, I felt her story matched with what they had told me so I said to her and her husband, “Would you like to come in and see the house?” I’m glad I invited them in. They were here in Galveston from Minnesota to attend her mother’s funeral. She walked in the house and immediately looked at the floor and couldn’t believe we can restored the old wood floors. She looked at the middle of the living room and said, “There used to be a large heater in the floor there” and I told her how the men we hired to restore the wood floors had taken wood from the front bedroom closet and put it in the living room to patch the spot. She told me how she would lay on the floor in the living room watching TV and right before the bell would ring at Lovenberg Junior High School she would run across the street to class. When we walked into the front bedroom of the house, she started to cry. That had been her parent’s bedroom and she always loved how the morning sun would shine in through the windows and light up the entire room. That is something I’ve always loved about that room as well. She said there used to be a door from that room into the living room but eventually they closed it off. She noticed that we had removed the storm shutters from the house and how much that change brightened the house, particularly the kitchen. We walked to the back bedroom and she told me how her parents had added that bedroom to the house for her brother. She looked out the back windows and said she remembers how large the backyard used to be before they added the separate garage. She also said there used to be a winding driveway from the street to the backyard but it was too difficult to use so they used to pull their car into the garage from the alley instead. We actually just use the garage for storage now and park our trucks outside. She remembers helping her mother hang clothes on the line to dry in the backyard. She said, “This house is just so small! I always remembered it being small.”
Grocery Shopping with 2
By mid-February I felt like it was time to start attempting to do the grocery shopping during the day with the girls. I’d been having success taking Ellie out of the house in the Moby wrap. The problem was, she didn’t like the wrap over her head and since she was still unable to support her own head, it meant I had to use one hand to constantly support her head. From our little trip to Target, I could see how it would be an issue with me touching groceries, the shopping cart, and other germy things at the store and then quickly bringing my hand back to her head. So instead I decided to keep Ellie in her baby carrier car seat and place it in the cart. Well, that didn’t work very well. For one thing, her car seat took up the entire cart so there wasn’t really room for groceries. And also Ellie hated it and cried pretty much the entire time. It was Valentine’s Day and I had already told Payton she could pick out a little present for the occasion. With Ellie screaming I was thinking, “Hurry up, just pick something!” as Payton went back and forth about 10 times as to whether she wanted to get the Mickey Mouse or the Minnie Mouse stuffed animal (ultimately she decided on Mickey). I have worn Ellie to the grocery store ever since, germs or not and she’s done great (she usually falls asleep)!
Visit from Nana and Debbie
Feb 15- 19 Charles’ mom “Nana” and sister Debbie came to visit. We mostly just stayed at our house during their visit but did enjoy a trip to the Moody Gardens aquarium. It was great seeing them and having them here with us!
3 Month Portraits
I’m starting to get into photography but wasn’t feeling quite confident enough to take Ellie’s first “professional” portraits (3 month old) so we went to Portrait Innovations to have them done. It was a disaster as usual. We had to wake so long to have them done that by the time it was our turn both girls were ready to leave. Ellie did okay but Payton acted scared of the studio and cried anytime we tried to get her in front of the backdrop. I think in the future I will just do the girl’s portraits myself.
Ellie 3 months old:
Date: Feb 22, 2013
Weight: ~ 12 lbs
Height: ?
Color eyes: Dark blue
Hair color: Dark brown
Clothing Size: 0-3 months
New places she has gone:
The park
Santa Fe VFW for a BBQ benefit
Target & Kroger
Rosenberg Library story time
Moody Gardens
Mardi Gras parades
League City for a play date
Galveston Railroad Museum
New things she can do:
March 2013
Moody Gardens
In February and March we took several trips to Moody Gardens as a family and we had a play date with our friends the Foxworths, Gerkes, and Cowerts. The other kids really wanted to pay attention and look at the exhibits. Payton, as usual, just wanted to breeze through things. I’m not sure if it’s because she goes to Moody Gardens all the time or if it’s that she has an exceptionally short attention span.
Big Kid Bed
Payton has been sleeping in a toddler bed since her 2nd birthday in October. But the bed belongs to my brother’s family and they are expecting a new baby in August. As a result they will be needing the crib. So we decided the time was right to get Payton a twin bed to replace the toddler bed. On Sunday March 3 we shopped around for a bed, sheets, comforter, and railing. Payton loves her new “Big Girl Bed”!
Ellie’s Milestones
On Fri March 8, at a little over 3 months old Ellie held a toy and brought it to her mouth intentionally for the first time. The following day she rolled from her tummy to her back for the 1st time. Ellie has also been spitting out her pacifier and sticking her thumb in her mouth instead. Thinking she may end up being a thumb sucker which is okay by me since the “yoyo” habit (as Big Sister calls them) is pretty gross.
Rainforest Café
We took Payton to the Rain Forest Café and now it’s where she wants to eat every week. If you haven’t been to one, there are pretend animals everywhere, a huge waterfall, and it’s inside of a big volcano. Basically a kid’s dream restaurant.
Ellie’s Cardiology Update
Ellie had another cardiology appointment. Dr Jewani said the PFO and thickening of the valves looked improved and for us to follow-up in 6 months.
Easter Play Date
I hosted a play date at Challenger Park. I set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids. The weather was sunny and warm and everyone seemed to have fun. Ellie mostly slept in the Moby.
My Birthday:
The weekend before my birthday my parents came to visit. On Friday we went to eat at the Original Mexican Café and then came home to eat cookie cake and open presents. Payton loved helping to blow out my candles and open my presents. The next day we went to the Railroad Museum in the morning and rode on the “Red Train”. Payton loved it and talked about riding the red train for weeks to follow. In the afternoon we walked the beach and then went to Shrimp N Stuff for dinner. Sunday was St Patrick’s Day and my parents left to go home. Charles, the girls, and I went for a hike on a birding trail on the West End. It was a nice day and Ellie enjoyed being carried in the Moby wrap while Payton liked running on the trail. Tuesday was my actual birthday and Charles took off of work for it. We went to the Houston Zoo where Charles had taken me for my birthday 11 years earlier. Payton has been to the zoo once before but she was so little that this was the first time she really noticed all the animals. Payton had really wanted to see a gorilla at the zoo and we didn’t have the heart to tell her they didn’t have a gorilla so we showed her a big black monkey and told her it was a gorilla. She was pretty excited about it. For my birthday Charles gave me a new camera lens. A Nikkor 35mm 1.8g. I love it!
4 Month Appointment
Ellie had her 4 month appointment and we discussed the blood she is having increasingly in every stool, how she wakes up screaming every 30-40 minutes all night (and day) long, and her constant fussiness. Dr Hay, our pediatrician, believes she is milk protein intolerant. He said it is uncomfortable for her (which explains her unhappiness) but as long as she continues to gain weight it isn’t harmful to her. That we could try switching her to formula but she might have problems with it as well. I decided to continue breastfeeding and hope she outgrows this milk protein intolerance sooner rather than later.
Ellie 4 months old:
Date: Mar 22, 2013
Weight: 13 lbs (37%)
Height: 23.75" (31%)
Color eyes: Bright blue like her sister’s
Hair color: Dark-ish brown and growing enough to look spiky
Clothing Size: 0-3 months and still in size 1 diapers
New things she can do:
April 2013
Easter
For Easter we went to my parent’s lake house where we enjoyed time with my parents, my sister-in-law Erin, my nephew Hank, my brother Kyle, and also got to visit with Charles’ cousin Jennifer and her son Nate. While there Ellie learned to get her toes into her mouth. While there I had a lot of fun learning more and more about photography and taking lots of sunset and blue bonnet portraits. Payton and Hank were my primary models. While we were there Payton and Hank had a blast playing with each other and when Nate came over Payton and Nate had a great time too. I love that Payton has cousins her age and both Erin and Jennifer have babies on the way so I feel like Ellie will always have playmates as well. After spending a week at my parent’s house for Easter, we went to Austin to attend my friend Natasha’s bridal shower. I brought Ellie with me because she is exclusively breastfeeding and can’t be away from me. Unfortunately she also loves to scream and scream which is what she did during pretty much the entire shower. I felt really bad about it and had to keep leaving with her. She isn’t an easy baby, that is for sure.
Things Payton Says
2 year olds are hilarious! Really Payton has been hilarious since the moment she started talking. I love her sense of humor. One of many incidents where she has said something that cracks us up…. Charles was washing Payton's hair in the bath tub when she started whining because she said soap got in her eyes. Charles and I could both saw that no soap or water had gotten into her eyes. So Charles said, "Oh no, what does it feel like?" To which Payton responded, in a very upset voice, "It feels like cherries!" On top of being funny she is also very sweet. She is constantly saying things like, “"You're pretty Ellie. I love you. Let me hug you.” Charles said, “I think Payton is the nicest person I know” and I would have to agree. We feel so lucky that she is our daughter.
Aggie Muster
Every year on April 21 Aggies everywhere celebrate Aggie Muster. Aggie Muster is a day when Aggies gather together both to relieve their days as students at Texas A&M and also to remember those Aggies who have passed away during the previous year. We have attended the Galveston Aggie muster before but it takes place at night and wouldn’t have been an ideal place to take our two noisy girls. So this year we got together with our friends the Andersons and Bohlmanns. We first went to the Kemah boardwalk where we rode the little train and carousel. Ellie hated the train and screamed in terror for most of the ride. After the boardwalk we went to T-Bone Toms for dinner. It was a really fun evening out of the house. As a side note, on April 21 we also remember our friends the Helmkes because they lost their sweet daughter Ashlyn on that date. We will never forget Ashlyn’s smile, laughter, and absolute love for all people. We were blessed to have known her during her short time on earth.
Dallas
In late April we traveled to Dallas to visit Charles’ family. Ellie was experiencing a lot of stranger anxiety and cried the majority of the trip. This was unfortunate because it was the first time Charles’ aunt, uncle, and grandma got to see her. Payton had a lot of fun spending time with her Nana (Charles’ mom) and throwing rocks in Nana’s fountain that she referred to as her “mountain”.
Other April happening
In April we attended the Galveston Country Fair & Rodeo, hosted a beach play date, attended library story time, went to Moody Gardens several times, attended a couple of play dates where Ellie did nothing but scream.
Ellie 5 months old:
Date: April 22, 2013
Weight: ~ 14 lbs
Height: ~ 24”
Color eyes: Bright blue like her sister’s
Hair color: Medium brown
Clothing Size: 3-6 month clothes
Things she does:
Bring her toes to her mouth
Sucks her thumb
Has bad “stranger danger” and becomes overwhelmed very easily
Often wakes me up every hour of the night
May 2013
Sleeplessness
May started in a bad way with Ellie getting me up every single hour of the night for days in a row. I got to where during the day I felt so dizzy that I could barely function. I was scared to drive anywhere in that state and even missed my friend Natasha’s wedding because of it. Her pediatrician again believes her problems stem from a milk protein intolerance. I did some research and found that some people had success with going on a total elimination diet so that no potentially allergenic foods get transferred to the baby. On this diet I only ate turkey, rice, pears, and squash. It was so difficult and when after a month of the diet things still weren’t any different I went back to my normal diet. The day I stopped the Total Elimination Diet (aka TED), Charles got me a cookie cake (the food I had been craving the most). He ordered it from the Great American Cookie shop on the Strand and asked that it say, “So long Ted! Won’t miss you!” When he went to pick it up the woman gave him a strange look and he said, “It’s a joke” to which she said, “I was hoping it was….” I laughed and laughed when I saw the cookie cake. It was perfect!
Optical Migrain
On the morning of Thursday, May 9 I was preparing breakfast for Payton and waiting for some of our friends to come over to the house for a play date. All of a sudden I had this light flash in my vision that lasted about 20 minutes. It obstructed my vision immensely and I could still see the flashing lights even when I closed my eyes. It was really scary. I went to the doctor and was relieved to learn it was nothing serious but rather was an optical migraine. They are apparently brought on by stress and I’d say not sleeping ever is pretty stressful.
Mother’s Day
Overall Mother’s Day was rough because Ellie and I hadn’t slept in days, I was only eating 4 foods, and Ellie was a screaming mess. But Charles turned my day around by giving me the most amazing Mother’s Day present---- a Nikon D7000 camera! I was so excited!!! I had a feeling he was getting me a new camera but I didn’t expect the D7000 at all!
Sleep, or lack there of (continued)
On top of Ellie not sleeping well, Payton has also been waking us up during the night. So we’ve started a sticker chart where she can earn “Sleeping Stars” for sleeping through the night and those sleeping stars can earn her sleeping presents. We’ve been seeing some success with this plan and more nights of her sleeping all night and not calling for us.
Digestive Mystery SOLVED
Since Ellie was about 3 months old she has had blood in nearly every stool. Her pediatrician believed this was caused by a milk protein intolerance. Right before Ellie turned 6 months old Charles came across an article talking about how some babies get too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk when nursing and how this imbalance can cause blood in the stool. Apparently foremilk is more difficult to digest and after a while it can irritate their system enough to cause bleeding. The solution he found is to give the baby lactase enzymes (like Lactaid that adults who are lactose intolerant take, only this kind is made for babies) before breastfeeding and those additional enzymes can help the baby break down the foremilk. And it worked like a miracle! This was such a relief to me because I had been agonizing over the blood in her stool for so long and constantly questioning if I should continue to breastfeed her. Unfortunately this solution did nothing to help her sleep or constant fussiness, but at least she was no longer bleeding.
Ellie at 6 months old:
Ellie is small for 6 months old. She can roll over but she doesn’t. She can’t stay sitting up on her own and is nowhere near being able to crawl yet. She still just seems like a little baby. She is very fussy most of the time. She is exclusively breastfed and is also a thumb sucker. She is completely adorable!
Ellie’s 1st Food
The day after Ellie turned 6 months old we introduced her to solid foods. Her first solid food was mashed up (and watered down) avocado. She seemed to like it. She never gagged or made a face or anything. And she wanted to help use the spoon to feed herself. I think she’s been watching us eat for so long that she was just like, “It’s about time!” Payton also really wanted to help feed Ellie so Charles let her help him bring the spoon to her mouth. A few days later we introduced sweet potatoes to Ellie and she really seemed to love those! In early June, at the recommendation of our pediatrician because he felt if Ellie had any problems with acid reflux that it would help, I attempted to introduce brown rice cereal to her. She hated it and spit it out. The 4th food we introduced was bananas and she loves them! She literally grabs the spoon and helps shovel them into her mouth!
Other May happenings
Also in May we stopped by the Yaga’s cookoff for a bit and visited my brother’s cookoff team “Burning Wood” who ended up winning 1st place in the cookoff. We had a Going Away play date for our friends Elisa and Aiden who are moving to Utah. The play date was held at a park in League City. It ended up raining but the weather was warm so the kids had a blast playing in the rain. With warmer weather and water, we started taking the girls to the beach more often.
Ellie 6 months old:
Date: May 22, 2013
Weight: 15 lbs (37%)
Height: 25.5” (43%)
Color eyes: Bright blue
Hair color: Medium brown
Clothing Size: 3-6 month clothes
Things she does:
Likes to be held
Sucks her thumb
Can roll front to back
Likes playing in her exercauser
Naps in her swing
Likes Elmo
Likes to watch Payton
Cries during tummy time
Likes to chew on things
Has 0 teeth
Can’t yet stay sitting on her own
Doesn’t crawl
Takes 2 naps a day (a short morning nap and a 1-2 hour afternoon nap)
June 2013
Palm Beach
In June we started taking the girls to Palm Beach, a waterpark at Moody Gardens. We met our friends the Andersons there once (so their little girl Kacey and Payton could play) and once ran into our friends the Gerhke’s there (whose little girl Skyleigh is Payton’s friend). And then there were times we just went on our own. Last year Payton loved to go down the waterslides in Charles’ lap but this year we weren’t able to talk her into going down them ever once. She seems to have a fear of slides and this includes waterslides. She was also afraid of the wave pool at first (despite having zero fear of the real waves in the Gulf) but ended up getting over her fear and really loving the wave pool. She also really loved playing on the stationary jet ski toys by the wave pool. At the beginning of the summer Ellie would sleep the majority of the time being worn in the Moby. When she did wake up I would try to put her feet in the water but she would freak out and start screaming. But by the end of the summer she would stay awake for our entire time there and enjoyed sitting in the shallow part of the wave pool with me.
First Teeth
At just over 6 months old, Ellie got her 1st tooth on June 4.
Milestones
On the same day that Ellie’s first tooth came in (June 4), she also learned to roll over from back to front for the 1st time. She was lying on the carpet watching Elmo on TV with Payton when Payton yelled, “Ellie’s doing tummy time!” and sure enough she had rolled herself over onto her tummy. Ellie isn’t a fan of tummy time and couldn’t figure out how to roll herself back over so she wasn’t really happy about her newly learned skill. Also right around this time Ellie started to be able to remain sitting for a second or two without support. Two days later she learned to blow “Raspberries” with her lips and started doing it all the time.
Beach
The second weekend of June my parents came into town. That Friday we met my friend Cristal with her 2 year old daughter Skyleigh at the beach. Payton and Skyleigh had a blast playing on the beach. Payton kept yelling things like, “I love this!” Just like last summer she would lay down where the waves were coming in and even if an unexpected wave came in over her head and we had to pull her up with water all in her nose and eyes, she didn’t seem bothered by it. She is a little fish! We enjoyed many summer days at the beach this summer.
A Week at the Grandparent’s
After my parents spent the weekend with us…. Payton, Ellie, and I rode back to their house in the central Texas to spend the week with them. With several stops along the way and Ellie screaming her head off the majority of the trip, it took us almost 8 hours to get to their house. A couple days later, Albert, Erin, and Hank flew to meet us there. We had a very fun week. The weather was warm but beautiful. Payton and Hank got along great and really entertained each other. They loved riding their little cars around the house, swinging from the swings hanging from the large pecan tree in the backyard (overlooking the lake), swimming in a baby pool, playing with a water table, and hiking up and down the hill with Papa (my dad) to throw rocks into the lake. Because of those swings, Payton named their house “Home of Colorful Swings”. On Tuesday morning my mom, the girls, and I drove to Lampasas to see Charles’ cousin Jennifer, her 2 year old Nate, and their 1 month old baby Sadie. I enjoyed taking a few pictures of the kids and meeting Sadie for the first time. On Thursday we drove to Georgetown to go to the Splash Pad at the recreation center there. Payton enjoyed the splash pad and really loved the indoor pool. Ellie was really cranky. I unknowingly tried to nurse her in front of a large one-way window where, according to my brother Albert, about 30 people were working out on treadmills facing the Splashpad on the other side. To me it looked like a black wall. Since I’ve never been to this rec center someone could have given me a heads up that it was a one-way window! Also in front of that one-way window my mom whipped off Payton’s diaper only to have a turd roll across the ground! Charles came to visit for the weekend and then the girls and I rode home with him.
Sitting
At nearly 7 months old Ellie is now sitting up unsupported for about a minute at a time before losing her balance and falling over. Payton is always reminding me, “Mama, don’t let her fall”. She is so sweet and always looking out for her baby sister.
Payton
Payton’s favorite song right now is “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” and when it comes on her C.D. she says, “Turn it up!” She also likes to announce things like “I stink very bad!” when she goes poo. She is pretty funny.
Fussiness
Near the end of June, Ellie had days of constant screaming and very little sleep. She also had trouble with constipation. I took her to Dr. Hay but he couldn’t find anything wrong with her. He advised giving her apple juice to help with the constipation.
Dallas
The second to last weekend in June we took a trip to Dallas. Charles’ sister Debbie was also in town from Charlotte so we got to visit with her and with his mom, Nana. We didn’t get to see his grandma, however, because she had shingles and we were concerned about exposing the girls who hadn’t received the chicken pox vaccine yet. We brought Payton’s Big Wheels tricycle with us and she had fun riding it on the sidewalks by Nana’s house. Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Raul were out of town but they said it was okay to go to their house to swim in their pool. We didn’t bring Payton’s Puddle Jumper (floaties) with us and she was a bit frustrated because she wanted to swim on her own. But she did enjoy jumping off of the side of the pool into Charles’ arms which she did many times. Ellie enjoyed being held in the water for a bit but then got sick of it. That evening Charles’ cousins Susie and Jim came over but they didn’t get to meet Ellie because she had already gone to bed. On Sunday we met up with my friend Lindy for breakfast. Ellie, unfortunately, wasn’t in a good mood and remained in a bad mood for pretty much the entire drive home, screaming for hours.
Other June happenings
Other things we did in June: Went to a play date at Tamra/Lee/Clay’s house and met 7 week old Clay for the 1st time, went to Fisherman’s Wharf a couple times with my parents, Kyle, and Marissa and enjoyed the view of the ship channel, and Payton and Papa (my dad) made up a game called “Rolly polly on your belly” where Payton rolls across the ground with her belly on a bouncy ball.
Ellie 7 months old:
Date: June 22, 2013
Weight: 16 lbs 1 oz (34%)
Height: ? Not sure but not very tall for her age
Clothing Size: some 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9 month, size 2 diapers
Favorite food: Sweet Potatoes
Least favorite food: Rice cereal
Number of teeth: 2 bottom teeth
Things she does:
Likes to kick her legs (in water, on ground, or in bouncer)
Can sit unsupported but eventually loses her balance
Can roll both directions but rarely rolls
Has the most ear piercing, high pitched scream
Smiles when spoken to
Is ticklish and laughs when tickled
Screams/cries easily
Naps in swing
Usually sleeps on her side in crib at night
Wakes 2-5 times/night to nurse or just be held
Goes to bed around 7pm, up for the day between 6-6:45 a.m.
Loves to buzz her tongue--- And Payton likes to comment “She loves to buzz her tongue!”
Takes 2-3 naps a day but naps less time than Payton’s 1 nap a day
July 2013
Potty Training and July 4th
I decided that starting July 1st we would get rid of all of Payton’s diapers and start potty training. I didn’t really think this through before starting otherwise I wouldn’t have started just a few days before my favorite holiday July 4th. We took her to Target and let her pick out a potty which she picked a Princess Potty that plays music when you go. She was really excited about her potty but seemed scared to actually go potty in it. On the first day of potty training Payton had 7 poo accidents, numerous pee accidents, and 0 success! Needless to say by the end of the day I was pretty discouraged. A friend had mentioned the 3 Day Potty Training Method so that evening I downloaded and read the manual. The idea of the 3 Day Potty Training Method is that instead of having the child “try” to go, which adds stress to the situation, you leave it up to the child to go by continually saying, “Tell me when you need to go pee, okay?”, continually complimenting them on keeping their undies dry, and if they start to have an accident running them to the potty. Then if anything ends up in the potty you reward them. Using this method I could see a complete 180 change in Payton’s attitude towards potty training. Instead of being upset about it she was suddenly excited and wanted to go in the potty. Unfortunately she had an accident while I was trying to get her undies off and not only did pee get everywhere but poo got flung all over the wall, the floor, my clothes, her clothes, my FACE, my HAIR, and a nearby toy train. Really disgusting! But a little ended up in the potty so she got a reward. Ha! By the 2nd day of the 3 Day Method she was starting to go pee in the potty. She loved that she could earn “Santa Candy” (candy from a Santa PEZ). And on Day 3 she had no accidents and even went poo in the potty for the 1st time! This earned her a toy electric guitar that she was very excited about. It was the 4th of July and we didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave the house with Payton only being on Day 3 of potty training. So we put the girls to bed at their normal time and I walked out to Seawall to watch the parade. After the parade I came home and Charles and I sat in the front yard and watched the fireworks. We always appreciate the fact that we live so close to where they shoot the fireworks.
First Word
On July 8, 2013 Ellie said her first word which is “Mama”. It’s wonderful to hear although she doesn’t use it to refer to me. She seems to say it when she’s complaining about something but I love it nonetheless.
Milestones
Ellie has started to reach for me when she wants to be held. This started when Payton kept rolling a beach ball towards Ellie and Ellie was scared of it so she kept reaching for me to pick her up. On July 14th Ellie went from a sitting position to her tummy.
MRSA Infection of the Middle Ear
The second to last weekend of July was a rainy one. After one of the rain showers ended we decided to take a family walk. Payton started walking through puddles and we decided it was pretty fruitless to try to stop her. So she started jumping in puddles and I took some pictures. One of the pictures I took of her jumping in a puddle turned out really cool. Even though we didn’t let her lay down and “swim” in the puddles, by the time we got home she was pretty soaking wet from all the puddle jumping so Charles rinsed her off with the water hose and she later took a bath. The next morning Payton’s right ear smelled like something had died in it. You could literally smell it across the room! Since she has tubes in her ears, I called her ENT and she worked her in for a late afternoon appointment. Her ENT, Dr Mukerji, said she thought she had a pretty bad middle ear infection and prescribed Ciprodex drops. By Thursday her ear was draining tons of stuff and continued to smell really awful. Also that entire side of her face was red, broken out in a rash, and warm. That day when we went to the grocery store Payton loudly announced, “I love my stinky ear! Maybe I got poo in it!” Since her ear seemed worse instead of better, I called the ENT on Friday morning. The ENT called in a prescription for Amoxicillin and scheduled an appointment for Monday. At the ENT appointment Ellie, who wasn’t even the patient, kept loudly crying. Payton was good until they decided they needed to use a vacuum to suck all the drainage out of her infected ear to get a better look at things. Then she started screaming at the top of her lungs too. We were told to come back in a week. A week later Payton STILL had the infection in her ear! Dr Mukerji swabbed her ear and after lab results were run it turned out she had MRSA (a medicine resistant staph infection). Dr M had us treat her hair with a highly potent ear drop that she warned us in a small number of cases can cause deafness but that in this situation the benefit of it getting rid of the staph infection outweighed the risk. And thankfully it worked! By the end of the week her ear wasn’t draining anymore and smelled much better.
Parks and Picnics
Lately most days Ellie has been napping from about 9:30-10:30 a.m. and when she wakes up we go to a park where we eat a picnic lunch and then let Payton play. It’s very hot but both girls seems to enjoy it and it gets us out of the house.
Ellie 8 months old:
Date: July 22, 2013
Weight: Not sure but smallish
Height: Short--- she looks about 6 months old, not 8
Clothing Size: 6-9 month clothes, size 2 diapers
Favorite food: pureed prunes and bananas
Favorite toy: Whatever Payton is playing with, especially Duplo Legos
Things she does:
Has gotten tan legs this summer despite me trying to keep her out of the sun and always using tons of sunscreen.
Has one freckle on her leg
Doesn’t crawl, roll, scoot, or walk. She screams and screams until she gets what she wants.
Says “Mama” but doesn’t know who Mama is.
Can drink from a sippy cup including the ones with straws
Sleeps in her crib but wants to be held every 1-2 hours all night long
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August 2013
Baby Pool
In August we spent a lot of time with the girls in the baby pool and in the “silly snake” sprinkler that we have. Ellie started the summer a bit scared of the baby pool but now she loves it!
Feeding Seagulls
Since spring we have taken an evening walk as a family, usually out to Seawall. Last month we started bringing bread on our walks to feed the seagulls. One night Payton said she didn’t want to go for a walk but Charles said, “Well Mommy and Daddy want to” to which Payton said, “Well okay, I need to feed God’s seagulls for Him”. She is so sweet!
Hudson
On August 19 my nephew Hudson Thomas was born to my brother Albert, his wife Erin, and their almost 3 year old Hank. His coloring wasn’t good at birth so they had to keep him in the nursery for several hours on oxygen but thankfully he and his mommy Erin are doing well. He has a head full of dark hair. I am very excited and can’t wait to meet him! (Although I’m not sure when that will be since they live in Lubbock). We did a little photoshoot with the girls to take pictures with a chalkboard that says “Welcome Hudson!” and also to get some 9 month portraits of Ellie and some pictures of Payton.
Milestones
This month Ellie learned to clap, wave, and she is sitting up more reliably on her own.
When I Grow Up
I was looking online for 1st day of school photo ideas and kept coming across the idea to write on a chalk board "When I grow up I want to be a ____" and write what the child says they want to be at the beginning of each year. Cute idea but I wasn't sure Payton would even understand what that means right now. So I asked and she thought about it for a minute and then said, "When I grow up I want to be a butterfly". I'm certainly not going to be the one to break the news to her that she can't actually be anything she wants to be when she grows up!
1st Aggie Game of the Season
This first Aggie football game of the season was held on August 31st at noon. We have season tickets but ended up selling our tickets because we thought it would be too hot, especially for 9 month old Ellie. It’s a good thing we did because they said the feels-like temps were above 100. We watched the game on TV and when the Aggies won Payton said, “The Aggies won! I’m soooo happy! I’ve got a big smile on my face for the Aggies!” Payton is a great Aggie and a huge fan of Johnny “Football” Manziel. We are so excited to watch him during his 2nd season at A&M after winning the Heisman last season as a freshmen (1st freshmen to ever win the award).
Other August happenings
We attended a play date for our friend Emmalynn’s 1st birthday, a Minnie Mouse party for our friend Elise’s 3rd birthday, Payton earned a trophy for meeting the book goal of the Rosenberg Library summer reading program, and Nana came to visit.
Ellie 9 months old:
Date: August 22, 2013
Weight: 17 lbs 14 oz (33%)
Height: 27" (31%)
Head circumference: 45 cm (79%)
Clothing Size: size 6-9 month clothes and just started on size 3 diapers
Favorite food: bananas and peas
Number of teeth: 2 on bottom with 2 starting to come in on top
Things she does:
Can clap her hands, wave "hi", and give high-fives
Can turn around while sitting and tends to inch across the floor unintentionally while playing
Doesn't crawl, army crawl, sit herself up, pull up....
Often rejects being fed by a spoon and prefers finger foods that she can feed to herself. Is a good self-feeder.
Easily overwhelmed, prefers quiet play although she is often not very quiet herself
Only likes musical books to read otherwise she only wants to eat books
Loves Elmo
Still a poor sleeper both at night and for naps
Breastfeeds a couple times a day and several times at night
September 2013
1st Back-to-School Feast
This year Payton is starting preschool for the 1st time. We feel like she isn’t around other kids as much as we would like her to be so we think she would benefit from a few hours of preschool a week. She will attend two days a week for 3 hours a day. So on Labor Day, the day before the 1st day of school, we had our first ever Back-to-School feast. This is a tradition I hope to continue each year. I made special crowns for each member of our family and decorated the dining room with balloons. We ate some of Payton’s favorite foods- hot dogs, sweet potato fries, green beans, and ice cream with chocolate syrup, cherries, and sprinkles for dessert. Payton had a blast!
Preschool
Tuesday, September 3 was Payton’s first day of preschool. I’m pretty sure I was a lot more nervous about it than she was. Her teacher, Mrs Kate, is extremely nice and there are just four other kids in the 2 year old class—Myar, Emma, Reid, and Seth. Payton wanted me to stay just a bit to play so I told her I would but then made it clear that after that I would be leaving but would come back to her after she had time to play with her new friends. When I left her she started loudly crying, “Mama! Mama!” It absolutely broke my heart not to go back to her. I went to the parent coffee social and less than 10 minutes later when I peeked back in on her she was skipping across the room, playing with toys. I could tell she was still on the verge of tears but I felt like everyone was going to be okay. When I came to pick her back up she told me, “I got to ride scooters!” but before I could respond she started to cry. She seemed really shook up as we left school but I told her I was so proud of her that we were going to Target so she could pick out a toy for having such a great 1st day of school. She picked out a pink Mega Blocks car. Payton was excited to attend her 2nd day of school because she wanted to ride the scooters again. She did look like she might cry when I left her but she got over it in about 30 seconds and was fine. They didn’t get to go outside for the scooters but she still seemed happy about her day. She told me, “We sang the Day of the Week song” and when I asked her how it goes she sang, “Days of the week…. Days of the week…..” I have a feeling there’s a little more to the song than that. The second week of school Payton reported to me that she likes to play with Myar. That they play kitchen and built with blocks. Payton admitted that she likes to knock down all the towers and we weren’t sure if this was a good thing so we discussed how she should only knock down towers that she builds, not other people’s towers. She also told me that Reid hugged her. I asked “Why?” and she said, “Because I was good at school”. I’m just so happy that so far she seems to be liking school!
Ellie’s 1st time in Kyle Field
Saturday, September 7 was Ellie’s 1st time to attend an Aggie football game in Kyle Field (or attend an Aggie football game in any venue for that matter). We met my parents before the game at Double Daves for an early dinner. Ellie was very fussy but Payton was excited to see her Lala and Papa. The game, against Sam Houston, started at 6 p.m. Ellie was pretty upset by the loud noises in the stadium and I spent most of the game in the concourse with her. She did enjoy hearing the Aggie band which I know is a soothing sound to her since we play Aggie band music for her at home all the time. We left the game at halftime and got home around 11 p.m. Thankfully Ellie nursed before we left College Station and both girls slept in the truck.
Photography
I’m not sure when I decided I wanted to become a professional photographer. I know for a long time I would think things like, “Man, that would be the most awesome job!” but I didn’t think it was even a possibility for me. Then I started learning more and more about exposure (you know, shooting on manual instead of auto) and friends started complimenting my pictures and I thought, “Maybe, just maybe I can do this”. And at this point I’m still there at the “Maybe, just maybe” stage. I know I still have lots of room for improvement, but I feel like when I stage a photo shoot I am capable of producing professional quality pictures. And I’ve had plenty of friends message me asking if they can pay me to do a photo shoot. Unfortunately I’ve had to turn down the majority because at this point in time I have no one to take care of Payton and Ellie and I do feel like they are my priority at this moment. In September I did a photo shoot for my friend Cortney’s one year old Emmalynn and it was a blast. A lot of work but fun nonetheless. So maybe, just maybe when the girls start school full time, I’ll become a professional photographer. But for now I’m just having fun with photography, continuing to learn, and slowly building a portfolio of work.
Aggie Football
Besides Ellie’s 1st football game we attended two more games at Kyle Field in September. We were there for the big ESPN Game Day game against Alabama. Last year we stunned the sports world by beating #1 Alabama in Alabama but this year we lost by a touchdown. It was a pretty big disappointment. We brought noise blocking ear muffs for the girls and Ellie was much calmer than the last day. The following weekend we watched A&M beat Sam Houston.
The Yoyo Fairy
At almost 3 years old Payton was still sleeping with a pacifier that she called her “Yoyo”. It’s a habit we have wanted to break for a while now but with Ellie not letting us get any sleep we didn’t want to risk having Payton keep us up as well so we have just let her keep it. Unfortunately instead of getting better about just using the “yoyo” for sleep, she started getting worse by having meltdowns numerous times a day because I wouldn’t let her have her yoyo. So that led to our decision that the time was right to do away with the yoyo. We talked to Payton about how when you become a big kid you don’t need a yoyo anymore and so the Yoyo Fairy will come and get the yoyos to give to babies who need them. And in their place the Yoyo Fairy will leave a basket full of big kid toys. Payton seemed to like the idea that the Yoyo Fairy would come but we still weren’t sure how she would react to her yoyos actually being gone. The morning she discovered that the Yoyo Fairy had come she was sooo excited! She kept saying, “He came! He came! The Yoyo Fairy came and left me big kid toys!” And then, amazingly, she napped and slept well without her yoyos. Before bed she would think about her yoyos and then just matter-of-factly say, “The Yoyo Fairy gave them to babies that need them because I’m a big kid now”.
Johnny Football
Did I mention that Payton loves Johnny Football? She seriously talks about him several times every day. “I’m going to eat my food like Johnny!” At the end of September I said to her, “Payton, did you know you’re almost 3?” to which she said, “No, I’m 2 like Johnny! He throws the ball real fast!” She seriously doesn’t want to turn 3 because Johnny is #2.
Pediatric Cardiology
Ellie had a follow-up cardiology appointment to check on the PFO and valve thickening. Unfortunately she screamed from the moment when came into the office and would not stop screaming. As a result they couldn’t do an ultrasound on her. Dr Jewani said he could still hear the murmur from the PFO (which is to be expected since she will likely always have it) but otherwise they couldn’t really check on things. He said she seems healthy so to just come back in a year. I had really hoped they would do an ultrasound and find that things were improved enough to dismiss her from cardiology check-ups but I guess no news is good news too.
Other September happenings:
We went to Palm Beach a couple of times including Labor Day weekend which was very crowded and once during the month the girls had fevers but no other symptoms.
Ellie 10 months old:
Date: September 22, 2013
Weight: 18lbs 8 oz
Height: 27"
Clothing Size: Starting to wear 9-12 month clothes
Favorite food: grapes
Number of teeth: Has her 4 top teeth all coming in at once, still 2 teeth on bottom
Things she does:
October 2013
Vacationing and the Stomach Bug
The day before the girls and I were scheduled to leave on vacation, Charles came down with a 24 hour stomach bug. Charles being sick didn’t affect our travel plans since the girls and I would be driving with my mom to Lubbock and then to Albuquerque and Charles wouldn’t be flying in to meet us there until Thursday. Monday I made the first part of the trip with the girls on my own driving from Galveston to Georgetown. The following morning I awoke not feeling too great but I thought I was just tired. A couple of hours into our 7 hour drive from Georgetown to Lubbock I started to feel sick. I was pretty miserable and the worst part of it was that our main reason for taking this trip was so I could finally meet my little 1 ½ month old nephew Hudson. And obviously we didn’t want to spread a stomach bug to him or to any member of his family for that matter so we wouldn’t get to see him before heading to Albuquerque. But we did still have the hopes that I would recover from the illness and we could see him on our way home. That night in Lubbock, Payton also came down with the stomach bug. My poor mom was sleeping in bed with her and got thrown up on in the middle of the night.
The following day we just rested in our Lubbock hotel room and thankfully by Thursday Payton and I were feeling well again and we left for Albuquerque. Charles and my dad flew into Albuquerque that same day. The big hot air balloon festival was going on (our reason for planning a trip there) and so the next morning we woke up to a view of hot air balloons from our hotel. The first full day that we were there we went to Sandia Peak where we took the world’s longest tram to the top of the peak. The ride up the mountain the tram was extremely packed and Ellie wouldn’t stop screaming. At the top it was really cold and windy but the view was amazing. Coming down the tram was much more enjoyable as the tram was mostly empty and you could just enjoy the view (plus Ellie didn’t scream). After that we went out to lunch at Sadie’s Café where we enjoyed some delicious Mexican food. Their Mexican food is different than the Mexican food in Texas. It’s very spicy but really delicious. That evening we attended Glodeo where they fire up all the special shapes balloons. It was so neat! Payton said her favorite was a balloon shaped as a woman with fruit on her head, Charles’ favorite was Darth Vador, and my favorite was a cute grey elephant balloon.
Saturday morning we got up at 4:30 a.m. in order to make it in time to attend the dawn patrol hot air balloon mass assention. It was to be the highlight of our time there. Unfortunately while waiting in traffic to get there, Ellie came down with the stomach bug. We didn’t have any extra clothes for her to wear so we wrapped her up in our coats and walked out onto Balloon Field. It was very cold and I was concerned that Ellie wasn’t warm enough and also concerned about her being sick so I ended up taking her back to the truck. The rest of the family enjoyed watching and cheering as the balloons took off one by one. Ellie seemed okay the rest of the day so around dinner we went to Old Town to shop and eat some more Mexican food. Unfortunately Ellie became sick again at the restaurant.
Our last morning in Albuquerque my parents, Payton, and I went to the zoo while Charles stayed back at the hotel so Ellie could nap. The zoo was nice and the weather was perfect! Afterwards Charles and Ellie met up with us for lunch where Ellie yet again became sick! From there Charles and my Dad went to the airport while us girls drove to Lubbock. Thankfully this time no one because ill during our car trip. But unfortunately we again couldn’t meet Hudson or see Hank, Albert, and Erin since Ellie was still sick. Monday we arrived back in Georgetown. Ellie finally had her appetite back but I think her stomach just wasn’t ready to handle all the food just yet because she once again became ill. My poor baby had this stomach bug way worse than the rest of us! Amazingly my mom never did come down with the illness even after being thrown up on and my dad didn’t catch it either.
Payton’s 3rd Birthday
The day after returning to Georgetown from our trip, it was Payton’s 3rd birthday. We stayed in Georgetown for the day to celebrate. In the morning we went to San Gabriel Park to let her play and then met up with Papa (my dad) for lunch at Burger King where Payton was able to play in the playground area (and me too since she was scared to climb up in the play set alone). Lala (my mom) fixed her famous spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and we had birthday cupcakes for dessert. We sang Happy Birthday to Payton, she blew out her candles, and ate her cupcake. She asked to have a 2nd cupcake and then insisted on more candles and singing.
Another ENT Appointment
Payton started saying, “What you said?” all the time. And it’s often at times when you would expect that she would be paying attention to what we are saying. For instance she will ask me what’s for breakfast…. I’ll respond with “Waffles”. To which she’ll say “What you said?” and I’ll again say “Waffles” and again she will say, “What you said?” so I practically scream “Waffles!” before she hears what I’m saying. So I took her back to the ENT who removed an enormous amount of wax from her left ear. I was really surprised so much wax could fit in one tiny ear. I do believe that it improved her hearing however she still says, “What you said?” an awful lot. Her teacher reports that she seems to hear as well as the other kids so I’m hoping it’s just an age related problem with paying attention to what’s being said to her.
Johnny Football
I’m sure I’ve already mentioned several times that Payton is a huge fan of Johnny Manziel. On October 19 we were trying to get ready to leave the house to drive to College Station to see Johnny (and all of the Aggies play). But we often times have trouble talking Payton into going potty before we leave the house. We finally talked her into going and while sitting there she announced, “I’m going potty like Johnny! He goes on his maroon potty!” During the football game Johnny got hurt. I took Payton to the restroom after he got hurt and she told me, “I’m so sad my best friend Johnny got hurt”. Thankfully Johnny was able to come back into the game but the Aggies still lost to Auburn. We left the game feeling extremely disappointed with the loss. Turns out Auburn was a lot better than everyone thought and will be playing this year for the national championship.
Bum Scoot
At almost 11 months old, Ellie is starting to get around the room by scooting on her bum. It’s almost like a one legged crawl. It’s not very fast but she is getting better at it so it seems to be working out for her. She has never done a real crawl or army crawl or moved herself in any way other than this bum scoot and an occasional roll. She still doesn’t sit herself up on her own.
School Birthday Celebration
Since we were out of town for Payton’s birthday, we brought cupcakes to share with her classmates the following week when she returned to school. Payton’s favorite color right now is blue so she requested blue icing cupcakes with cupcake shaped candy decorations on top. I made them and the turned out very blue. What I didn’t think through until that morning was the fact that it was “Wear white for mummies” day at school and all the kids were wearing white shirts. When I showed up to pick Payton up I noticed the kids looked a bit covered in blue icing. I’m sure all the other parents really appreciate it! Oops!
Halloween Events
On October 20 we attended a kid Halloween party hosted by my friend Lauren, her husband, and daughters Elise (3) and Claire (8 months). All the kids looked so adorable in their costumes and the Shenkirs had put a lot of work into coming up with cute activities for the kids to participate in. The girls and I dressed up as butterflies, per request of Payton. Payton wanted her daddy to be a butterfly too (or firefly) but he wouldn’t do it.
The next Friday we went to the Moody Methodist pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins like we do every year. Then a couple days before Halloween she helped Charles carve one of the pumpkins. Like last year, she still refused to touch the guts but she did pick out a design of a pretty traditional looking smiling pumpkin.
The day before Halloween we attended Truck-or-Treat at Moody Methodist. This is the second year we’ve participated in this event and it’s really so much fun! The event is well organized and the kids end up with tons of goodies.
On Halloween Payton got to wear her Monarch butterfly costume to school. The kids had a Halloween party and then a Halloween parade which ended up being held in the fellowship hall because it was raining really hard outside. For the parade the kids all filed into the room in somewhat of a line, waving to the parents, but then Payton saw me and darted past the other kids to come see me. After that she stayed with her teacher for the rest of the parade. That evening the rain had stopped and so we went to our neighborhood block party and then took Payton trick-or-treating to a few houses for the 1st time ever. We went to 2 or 3 houses with their porch lights on but then no one answered the door. Finally we hit a couple of houses with some nice people who gave Payton candy. After that we came home and had about 6 trick-or-treaters show up to our house.
Other October happenings:
We attended Kacey Anderson’s 4th birthday at League Park and two Aggie football games this month.
Ellie 11 months old:
Date: October 22, 2013
Weight: ~ 19lbs
Height: ~ 27.5”
Clothing Size: 9-12 months, size 3 diapers
Number of teeth: 4 on top, 2 bottom
First word with meaning: “Uh oh”
Things she does:
She has been a great eater this month! She sometimes eats more than Payton who has never been a very good eater. She eats finger foods, baby food, and nurses 5-6 times a day (mostly at night). And yet she’s still a little thing.
Still awake many times a night and up early every morning
Takes 2 consistent naps a day at 9:00 a.m. and 1 p.m. for about 1 hour each
Has gotten better about other people hold her
Points at lights and birds
November 2013
Sitting Up
At 11 ½ months old Ellie finally learned to get herself into the sitting position. Very excited that she finally hit this milestone! Now instead of napping she wants to keep sitting up. I walk in to lay her back down and she starts laughing. She thinks this new trick is so clever! A couple days later she discovered that not only can she sit herself up in her crib but that it’s also fun to bounce herself up and down in the sitting position on the crib mattress. She really thinks it’s hilarious when she’s doing this and I have to keep coming back into the room to lay her back down.
Several Aggie related Lasts
November 9 was the last A&M home game of the season. Which means it was our last chance to see Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans play for A&M. It was also the last game before Kyle Field will be undergoing massive renovations that apparently are going to change the entire appearance of the stadium. Before the game we met my parents at Double Daves and celebrated Charles birthday with them. Then before the game we took a few family pictures standing in front of Kyle Field. Ellie actually sat in my lap for most of the game and then fell asleep on my chest so, unlike all the other games this season, I got to watch the majority of the game. Near the end of the game the band played When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again over and over and then at the finale of the game Johnny jumped into the student’s section of the stands to Saw Varisity’s Horns Off with the students.
Charles’ Birthday
Monday, November 11 was Veteran’s Day and also Charles’ birthday. But, he still had to work. So after work we went to The Spot for dinner. The girls loved it. Eating food and watching TV is right up Ellie’s alley! Payton made Charles a card for his birthday where she drew her first portrait of our family. It’s pretty cute.
Gruners
Our friends Kourtney and Gus found out that their 17 month old baby, Otto, has terminal brain cancer. They have been heavy on our hearts and minds this month. We are sending many prayers up for them and their baby boy.
Payton & Ellie’s Birthday Party
The morning of Saturday, November 16 we had a birthday party for Payton and Ellie at League Park in League City. Payton loves this park. She calls it “Music Park” because it has a section with musical instruments. It’s just overall a really nice park with a covered pavilion that I was able to rent. My parents and Charles went to the park early to set up while I stayed home with the girls so that Ellie could nap. My mom helped so much to make this party take place and I’m really grateful because I’m not sure I could have done it alone. The party was from 10:30am-12pm. The weather was in the 80s and felt really warm. The girls had on cute long sleeved t-shirts which they were burning up in. It was overcast and drizzled a bit but thankfully it didn’t rain. The following people attended the party:
Bea “Nana” Falgout
Pam “Lala” and Al “Papa” Bartschmid
Christina Bockmon
Amanda, Erik, & Kacey (4) Anderson
Christel, Derrick, Abby (3), and Anna (1) Foxworth
Cristal, Brian, and Skyleigh (3) Gehrke
Courtney, Mason (3), and Emmalynn (1) Cowert
Payton had so much fun. When we gave Payton her cake she announced, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Ellie enjoyed sitting in her high chair eating and watching everyone. The theme of the party was Mickey Mouse but Ellie’s cake was Elmo and I decorated with some Elmo balloons as well. The kids had fun playing on the playground, eating pizza and cake, and hitting at a piñata filled with fruit snacks.
Charles’ mom stayed until Tuesday. Payton enjoyed the time with her Nana, especially playing catch with her new Minnie Mouse bouncy ball and playing with all the new toys she got for her birthday.
Ellie’s 1st Birthday
Ellie’s 1st birthday was Friday, November 22, 2013. Charles was working and we’d already had a big party the previous weekend so I figured I’d keep her actual birthday low-key. I had planned to take the girls to Star Drug Store for lunch and then to the library to play. I told Payton the plan and she was counting on being able to go to the library. So when Ellie took an extra long morning nap, I knew our change of plans couldn’t include not going to the library. So instead we went to McDonalds for a shorter lunch outing. Just as we got to the McDonalds on Broadway a cold front with wind and rain blew in so we quickly went inside. Two homeless men sat at the table next to us and they were just minding their own business, eating their lunch but I couldn’t manage to get either girl to eat a bite of food because they were too busy staring at them. After that we went to the library which in the past has been a fun place for the girls to visit. The new children’s center is all by itself on the ground level of the library (it was wiped out by Hurricane Ike but just reopened this summer) so the kids can’t really disturb others and there’s several fun activities for them to do. There are a bunch of computers and no one else on the computers so Payton got on them to play games. Although the computers all have the same games, Payton doesn’t realize this so she got on 3 different computers before the librarian came over and chewed her out for it. I don’t see what the problem was with being on more than one computer but clearly the librarian thought it was unacceptable. After that I tried to get Ellie to sit on the floor with me to read a book but she kept trying to crawl over to grab books off the shelf. Each time she would do this I would pick her up and try to get her interested in something else but she would start screaming and I could feel the eyes of the librarian on me. In general I really like this librarian and have known her since Payton was this age, but on this particular day I wasn’t feeling like she was being very accepting of my girls and I so we left. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, a man started to try to get my attention. I had a good feeling he was going to ask for money and I wasn’t comfortable rolling down the window of my truck to talk to him. So I continued to back out of the parking space which seemed to make him mad and he came up right up to the window of my truck. Needless to say, the girls weren’t bothered by our outing but I felt a bit like a failure of a mother for providing such a lousy 1st birthday to my baby girl. By dinnertime it was really cold and rainy so Charles brought home Salsa’s Mexican food for dinner and we ate Dora cupcakes for dessert. After dinner we gave Ellie her birthday presents from us which were a Minnie Mouse ride-on toy (that Payton was very excited about) and a Care Bear for each of the girls.
The letter I wrote to Ellie for her 1st birthday:
Ellie,
Happy 1st birthday, baby girl! I can’t believe you are 1 year old already! I still feel like you are my little baby and for that I am glad because I’m not ready for you to be big yet. You are fairly little for your age, you don’t pull up and stand yet, you are nowhere near walking…. You are still my baby. And you will always be my baby even when you’re big but for now I am thankful you still love to snuggle in my arms. Your snuggles, your smiles, your laughs…. Your personality really lights up my life. When you are tired or upset all you want is to be in my arms and I love how my presence seems to fix everything. Thank you for making me feel so important and loved. You haven’t been the easiest baby in the world but I’m absolutely crazy about your little opinionated personality. You are such a blessing to our family. Payton is crazy about you too and loves you so much. I thank God every day for you and I pray that He blesses your life with so many good and wonderful things. You are the sunshine of our lives and we are so lucky to have you.
I love you more than words can express.
Cow’s Milk and Sleep
The week of Ellie’s birthday I started giving her cow’s milk in a sippy cup to drink with meals. She seemed to like it but she went from her usual routine of not sleeping well to not sleeping at all! The night after her birthday she literally slept one hour the entire night! I don’t know for sure if it was because of the cow’s milk but her pediatrician does think she has a milk protein intolerance so if that’s the case it might have been the cause of the sleeplessness. Since she is still nursing about 5 times a day, I’m going to wait and try to reintroduce cow’s milk at a later time. And by the way, I have zero interest in trying soy milk and I can’t try almond milk because there’s a chance she has inherited her daddy’s nut allergy (hopefully not!)
Flu Shot
At the girl’s one year checkup, I had not planned to get the girls the flu shot. I was raised by a doctor and a nurse and I don’t think I got the flu shot a single year. And I’ve lived a pretty healthy life and seem to have a good immune system (knock on wood!) But our pediatrician talked me into it, saying the flu is especially bad this year already. Well, I guess the girls are like me because they got pretty sick from the shot that night. It was hard to see Payton with a fever looking so miserable. I know they say that shot can’t give you the flu but boy can it give you flu-like-symptoms!
Bike Rides
For the past several months, I have rewarded Payton for taking a nap each day by then taking her for a bike ride when she wakes up. She rides either her tricycle or her “helicopter” (a plasma car she got for her birthday from my parents) and I push Ellie in her stroller. We ride around the GISD administration building and since we go every day, many of the ladies who work there now know us and say Hi on a regular basis. There are ramps there that Payton rides up and down and to entertain Ellie, I jog up and down the ramps too while pushing her stroller. We play what Payton calls the “Woah!” game where she runs down the ramp at the same time I push Ellie up the ramp and we act like we’ve going to run into each other but at the last minute we both veer the other
School Thanksgiving Feast
The last day of preschool before the Thanksgiving holiday, they had a Thanksgiving feast at Payton’s preschool. The kids all dressed as Indians in paper headdresses and jackets they had made. And they ate off cute placemats they made. Payton’s placemat said, “I am thankful for Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Lala, Nana, Myar, and Emma”. Myar and Emma are classmates of hers.
Thanksgiving
We went to Dallas for Thanksgiving. Charles’ sister Debbie was in from North Carolina and it was fun seeing his Dallas family there. Payton and her cousin Nate, who is just a month older than she is, had a great time playing together. In a house full of people, they constantly ran around playing. We also got to see and take pictures with his baby sister Sadie who is a little less than 6 months younger than Ellie. It’s fun to think that they will likely all grow up having fun together during family get-togethers.
Sisters
Payton and Ellie are really starting to interact and play together now. They love to copy each other. Whatever one person does, the other person imitates. It’s so much fun to watch them entertain each other.
Ellie 1 year old:
Date: November 22, 2013
Weight: 20lbs (~30%)
Height: 28 ½” (~30%)
Clothing Size: 9-12 months, size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes
Says: “Uh oh” and “Brrr” for bird and balloon
Things she does:
Likes songs like The Wheels on the Bus and Patty Cake--- and can do some of the hand motions to them
Has become fast at getting around doing a bum scoot/ 1-legged crawl
Pulls up onto her knees
Will come put her head in my lap if I asked for a hug
Plays “So big” when she is in the mood for it
Loves to eat but only if she’s feeding herself
Breastfeeds about 5 times a day
December 2013
Santa
The first weekend in December we took the girls to see Santa at Moody Gardens. Last year Payton was terrified of Santa and this year we had a feeling things weren’t going to be much different because she’d already been talking about how she was scared of him. So we bribed her by telling her that she didn’t have to talk to Santa but if she would just take a picture with him we would then go to the Moody Garden’s gift shop and let her pick out a toy. This is a big deal to her because we’ve been to Moody Gardens 100 times and never gotten anything more than $.14 rocks from the gift shop. Standing in line I could clearly see that she was nervous about the idea of seeing Santa. I had both girls dressed up in these adorable white and green Christmas dresses my mom gave them. When we got up to Santa I attempted to set Payton on his knee but she screamed and tried to fight against me, in the process accidently kicking Santa in the leg. Not wanting Santa to get hurt any more, I held Payton for the picture. Charles had successfully handed Ellie off to Santa and she sat in his lap crying loudly. After the picture Santa asked Payton what she wants for Christmas and she looked at me and said, “Mama say” so I told him she wanted a trampoline for Christmas. Santa told her “Okay but be careful with it. Ho ho ho merry Christmas!” Then he gave the girls candy canes which Payton was excited about. From the gift shop Payton picked out a Santa hat with blinking lights on it. I thought that was a pretty appropriate toy to pick out after visiting Santa.
Christmas pictures
Christmas pictures of the girls this year were a difficult matter. We went out to the beach on a beautiful evening and took some pictures of the girls sitting on the beach together. Unfortunately I encountered a problem with my camera and the pictures didn’t turn out very sharp. I was pretty disappointed especially since the very next day a cold front was scheduled to blow in. I decided I really needed a Christmas beach shot so we took the girls out a couple of evenings later to try again. But the second we placed them in the sand, a cold wind blew in their faces and both girls started crying. So we ended the photo shoot right then. The long term forecast showed cold weather and/or clouds for the next 10 days so I knew I needed to come up with a plan B. I’d seen pictures that some photographers had taken in front of a studio backdrop with icicle lights and decided I would give it a try. Having no experience shooting while trying to get the backlit Christmas lights exposed properly as well, it took Charles and I a little practice before we had things the way we wanted them. I ended up being really proud of the pictures we took.
Trails of Christmas Lights
Friday, December 13 my parents came to help my brother Kyle move. Kyle is a P.A. student and this year he has rotations all across the state so he has to move every month or so. And since he stays in an RV but also has his vehicle, he needs an extra person to help when he moves. Anyway, that Friday my parents came over. We went out to eat at Shrimp N Stuff (fried crab balls, fried shrimp, and sweet potato fries, YUM!) and afterwards we went to the Moody Garden’s Trail of Lights. Despite an occasional mist, the temperature was in the 60s and very comfortable. We walked through the trail of lights and Payton loved it! It was a very fun evening.
The following weekend we drove up to Dickinson (about half an hour from here) and met our friends Christina and Brian for dinner at Chili’s. We hadn’t seen them in a while and it was nice to have dinner with them. Brian recently learned that he has a brain tumor (he had one 27 years ago and apparently it’s back) so they have been and continue to be in our prayers. After dinner we went to the Dickinson Trail of Lights. I absolutely love the Dickinson Trail of Lights. It’s in a park and there are all these tunnels of lights that you walk through, Santa is there (we didn’t make the girls see him again though!), a cookie decorating hut, and Christmas music playing through the entire trail. Payton’s favorite park was the playground in the middle of all the Christmas lights that she got to play on. She definitely didn’t want to go home even after it was well past her and Ellie’s bedtimes.
Christmas Parade
On Saturday, December 14, Payton and I attended the Galveston Police Christmas parade downtown. It was Ellie’s naptime so Charles stayed home with her. It was a great parade for us because there were lots of floats, firetrucks, etc but not a lot of people there for the parade. So we caught a ton of candy and Mardi Gras beads. I have no idea if it’s like this in other cities but in Galveston for any parade and any occasion, Mardi Gras beads are thrown in mass.
Christmas Play Date
The very first play date Payton and I ever attended, when she was 14 months old, was a Christmas play date at my friend Christel’s house in League City. Through that play date and many others to follow, we have made some incredible friends. So it seemed fitting that Christel would host another Christmas play date 2 years later. It’s amazing how much the kids have grown and how the play date now includes younger siblings. Everyone brought food and I brought some Christmas cookies for the kids to decorate. It was a bit of a mess but I know they had fun. We are blessed to have such good friends both for my sake and the girls.
Pajama Day at School
The next day was Payton’s last day of school before the Christmas holiday and it was wear pajamas to school day. Payton wore some cute reindeer pajamas that her Lala gave her. At school that day they made edible Christmas trees out of ice cream cones and drank hot chocolate. Payton was especially excited to tell me about the hot chocolate since she had never had any before. She also told me that she got in trouble for taking tools away from Reid and Emma and making them sad. I’m glad she still tells on herself so we can discuss what she did wrong and how she can act in the future. I’m sure these days of telling on herself won’t last for very long. On a more positive note, her teacher posted on my Facebook page that in school she was singing the B-I-B-L-E song which made me happy to hear.
Pulling Up
On December 19 (same day as PJ day at school) at almost 13 months old, Ellie hit a big milestone by pulling herself to a stand for the first time. She was determined to get a closer look at a framed picture of Payton and I, and then point at the picture and say "Dadadada". She calls all of us Dada at this point.
Funny Things the 3 year Old has said…
Charles, Payton, and I were singing Silent Night. The song ends with "Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace". Payton starts laughing and says "How you sleep in heavenly peas?"
Payton: Can I have another piece of candy?
Me: No, if you are hungry you can have a healthy snack.
Payton: Uhmm, is chocolate a healthy snack?
I overheard Payton playing with her nativity set and she said, “Oh my, an angel on the roof! Quick, we need to rescue her!”
Also overheard while playing with the nativity…. a wise man walks into the stable and here is how the conversation went…
Wise man: I’m here to see Baby Jesus.
Shepherd: He’s sleeping right now.
Wise man: Sleeping? Oh let’s go then.
Shepherd: Don’t forget to shut the door.
Pre-Christmas Christmas
Since we would be going to my parent’s house for Christmas and didn’t want to haul extra presents there and back, we celebrated Christmas as a family at home the weekend before Christmas. Plus it worked out nicely that Santa wanted to deliver the girls trampoline early because he didn’t have room for such a big item in his sled with all the other presents he needed to deliver. Payton was so excited about the trampoline and Ellie seemed to enjoy being bounced around on it too. It’s a trampoline called My First Trampoline…. It’s only about 1 ½ feet off of the ground and has a cage surrounding it. I have a feeling we will be spending many hours playing on it in the future! Our Christmas tree was also surrounded by presents sent to us by family and close friends. The girls loved all the presents and it is really fun to see the joy it brings them.
Christmas
Christmas Eve we drove to my parent’s house in central Texas. We spent the next few days spending time with my parents, brother Albert, his wife Erin, my nephews Hank(3) and Hudson(4 months old), my brother Kyle, and his girlfriend Marissa. So 12 people in a fairly small house. It was really fun in a slightly chaotic kind of way. Our family of 4 stayed in a room together and the only issue we had was during naptimes when Payton would refuse to lay down and sleep but instead wanted to go up to Ellie’s crib and try to play with her. So Charles ended up napping with Payton each day on the ground behind the living room couch. This was actually pretty unfortunate because we were hoping Payton and Ellie were about ready to start sharing Payton’s room at home, but I’m not willing to deal with these issues on a regular basis so it looks like for now Ellie will continue to be Charles and my roommate.
Christmas Eve my mom fixed a huge, delicious turkey dinner. Ellie, my good little eater, ate and ate and ate. So did the rest of us for that matter! Christmas morning we were up early like we are every other day of the year thanks to having little kids. We opened a few presents and then took a break to eat breakfast. My mom had prepared her traditional breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls which were yummy as usual. After breakfast we continued to open presents. There were actually so many presents that both Payton and Hank grew tired of it and started refusing to open presents! Later in the morning Hank and Payton wanted to go outside and while outside we discovered that Santa had left a Dora power wheels for Payton and a tractor power wheels for Hank.
Payton and Hank had a great time playing together, as usual, and Ellie is getting big enough now that she’s getting in on a lot of the play time too. They played outside on the swings, the power wheels, and inside they played with Hank’s many cars and other toys they received for Christmas, one that stands out to be is the Klip Klop Stable given to Ellie from Hank and Hudson. They also watched the “big kids” (their parents) play with Albert’s new remote control helicopter and Charles’ new talking monkey. Payton and Hank also had fun trying to jump from the couch to a picnic table and back until they both went falling off of it onto the tile floor and we thought for a moment that Payton had broken her wrist. Thankfully we had an excellent orthopedic surgeon on hand and he assured us that she was fine. So after that they just jumped on their grandparent’s bed instead.
This was our first time to meet my nephew Hudson who is now 4 months old. He is so adorable and smiles all the time! I loved getting to hold him. Payton, who loves babies, also really enjoyed spending time with Hudson. She loved talking to him and giving him kisses. And my 3 year old nephew Hank is still just the cutest little boy ever and so sweet too. And although he’s still considerably shorter than Payton, I was surprised at how much he has grown since I saw him last summer.
My friends Margaret, Natasha, and 2 out of 3 of Margaret’s kids came by for a visit. Margaret’s son Jonah has grown a ton since I last saw him. He’s now a tall 6 year old with lots of important things to say. And this was the first time I got to meet her baby girl Emma, who was almost 2 months old. Emma has lots of beautiful, thick dark hair and is just so precious. I’m so lucky to have friends willing to go way out of their way to see me while I was in town. My friends the Williams also really wanted to see me, unfortunately sometimes trying to work around 2 naps and an early bedtime makes things more challenging. I’m lucky to have them in my life too and hope to be able to see them the next time we’re in town!
It was a wonderful Christmas and we are blessed with the love of family and friends. And most of all with remembering the true meaning of Christmas--- the birth of Christ our savior.
Baby Otto
Our friends Kourtney and Gus lost
their 18 month old son Otto to brain cancer the day after Christmas. We feel so heartbroken for them and can’t
imagine what they are going through. It
really makes you take a step back to realize what’s really important in
life. Instead of letting out a big sigh
every time Ellie wakes me up at night, I feel thankful to be able to hold my
healthy baby in my arms. When Payton has
a 3 year old meltdown I again remember that I’m lucky she is a healthy,
opinionated 3 year old. Our prayers are definitely
with our friends at this time!
New Years Eve
The morning of New Years Eve we all got dressed in our Texas A&M game day maroon shirts in preparation of the evening’s game and then we took a little trip to Moody Garden’s rainforest. That evening we put the girls to bed and watched the A&M bowl game against Duke on TV. The beginning of the game, when A&M got down 21 points was sooo depressing. We knew Johnny and the rest of the offense was capable of coming back and scoring a bunch of points but it wasn’t going to be enough if the defense couldn’t get some stops. The comeback led by Johnny Manziel and ultimately made possible by a couple of interception by the defense was awesome! The game ended with about 1 ½ hours left in the year and it just ended the year on a great note! Knowing Ellie would likely have us up throughout the night, we didn’t stay up to ring in the new year but rather went to bed after the game. I don’t think we’ve stayed up to ring in the new year since before Payton was born. Maybe when the girls are a little older we will stay up and celebrate with them but right now it just seems pointless to sit and watch lousy music on TV, knowing Ellie is going to have us up throughout the night and we’ll start the new year even more tired than usual. No thanks.
Ellie 13 months old:
Date: December 22, 2013
Weight: ~21 lbs
Height: ~29”
Clothing Size: 12 months, size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes
Number of teeth: 8
Says: “Dada” when she sees her daddy but she also calls Payton and I “Dada” and uses it to refer to many other things as well. Says “Ruff, ruff!” anytime she sees a dog or cat. Can also say the words “Dog” and “Meow” but only repeats them and doesn’t say them on her own yet.
Favorite book: A Highlights magazine for babies titled “Hello”
Things she does:
Pulled up for the first time this last week at almost 13 months old and has now pulled to a stand a total of 3 times. Also climbed onto the dish washer once and our toddler chair once.
Doesn’t attempt to walk while holding onto objects (but might be able to now if she tried) and if we try to get her to take steps from person to person she immediately falls.
Likes to says “Ahhhh!” into Payton’s Dora microphone which makes us all laugh
We are very grateful for all the blessings we encountered during 2013. For our health, safety, warmth, Charles’ job, the love of family and friends, and just everything that God has blessed us with. We are truly
lucky and look forward to all that 2014 has to offer. Thank you family and friends for being a part of our lives and we wish you a wonderful 2014.
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