So much to say...

WARNING: A BILLION pictures ahead...keep going at your own risk.

So, Owen is 5 months old!!! Can you believe it??? I can't. It's crazy. But, he gets cuter and more fun every single day!!

Speaking of Owen, he sure did poop in the bath tonight!! YUCK!!! I just held him there, dangling in the tub as I tried to figure out what to do. But, lucky for me, Daddy swooped in to save the day. I took the poopy boy to his room and got him ready for bed, and HE cleaned up the poopy mess!! :-) Hooray! Lucky for you, I did NOT take pictures of this.

We started Owen on cereal a few days ago. He LOVES eating from a spoon like mommy and daddy. And he is super cute doing it. Of course we captured his first "meal" in pictures.

Owen getting read for his cereal.

His first bite.


"What is this??"

"Hi dad, I'm having some cereal."

"I'm done!"

We also FINALLY finished Owen's room. Holy cow, that was an undertaking. Ask me if I would do it again. Can you guess what my answer would be??

We went to a family reunion and Owen met lots of people. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are a couple I got.

Owen and Papa.

Owen and cousin Jake.

We had a baby shower here at our house! It was fun! I made a SUPER cute diaper cake!!

Ok...do you want to know what makes me happy?? The fact that someone decided to make these two shows:



Seriously...these two shows are beyond hilarious. I was rolling on the floor laughing.

I'm behind...

Catching up on reading blogs today, I noticed that Kelli tagged me on June 1st. Yeah, it has been that long since I read other people's blogs.

So, I will humor her and I guess put 6 things about myself.

(a new post with new pictures coming soon)

1. I love living in a house now. LOVE it. The only thing is...4 bedrooms to clean instead of 2, 2 bathrooms instead of 1, a laundry room, big living room, dining room, and kitchen. AGHHHH! The cleaning never ends. Why does it stress me out so?

2. I am very glad to be back in Texas and I just LOVE Austin. There is so much to do and so many fun people.

3. I have recently started watching "John and Kate plus 8" on TLC. Wow. 8 kids. All under 7 years old. YIKES!! Sometimes it stresses me out to watch it (hmm...do you see a pattern here??)- but it is so entertaining. I have much less on my plate than they do, and that makes me feel better. :-)

4. Things going through my head right now: I really need to finish painting Owen's polka dot wall. I need to make that diaper cake ASAP. I should probably think about making lunch. When does the laundry end? I need to go to Babies R Us. I need to fix my hair and get dressed. My son is so cute. Why can't I get him to take a nap? I need to join Weight Watchers. I have a headache.

5. I like watching "10 years younger" and "What not to wear".

6. My friend Hannah should be having a new baby very soon. I wish I was going to be in Cali to see her.

Ok, I tag Jennifer, Rebecca, and Brandy.

Dang...

I have a CUTE kid. (scroll down to see pics of my paci holders!!)




Here are a few of the pacifier holders I have made :-)

AGHHHHHHHHHH

I am LOSING MY MIND!!!

We need a new car. Travis needs our one working car 6 days a week (sometimes 7) for his class on the other side of town...so that leaves me STRANDED at home and completely bored and lonely. I can't stand this. Neither one of us has a job, so we can't buy a car.

I can't drive to San Antonio, I can't even drive to the dang grocery store. I HATE sitting at home all day long.

what a day...

FIRST: if you haven't read my post from yesterday, you need to check it out, at least for all the pictures!!

Seriously, what a day!! I could NOT get Owen to take a nap. Yesterday he took a 2 hr and 20 minute nap, and an hour and 20 minute nap. Today...two 20 minute naps (about 5 1/2 hours apart) - and anything less than 45 minutes is just completely worthless. Talk about a FUSSY baby. Dang. He is never mad or in a bad mood, but tonight he is unpleasant. He has been screaming, not crying, just screaming like he is grumpy. He is SOOO tired. Currently Travis has him swaddled up and rocking him in the glider. He needs to GO.TO.SLEEP.

News on our friend Katherine: it looks like she might have gotten out of ICU today!! That is good news, but of course she still has a really long way to go. Keep praying. (check the link to the right to keep up with her).

Anyway, I just wanted to post some more pictures. So, enjoy.

Playing Wii with Dad

Love the Ladybug

Helping pack boxes (please don't call CPS...we obviously did not leave him in the box)

Little Cutey boy

Fun with Mom

Heartbreaker

"whaaaat?"

He LOVES LOVES LOVES this new toy from his grandad.

A Whole New World...

WARNING: This post contains TONS of pictures!! Well, my tiny California boy is now a Texan. He seems to enjoy Texas now, but it took him a couple weeks to get adjusted to the time change and all the hullaballoo. Travis graduated from Law School!!

Walking In

Getting his diploma from Dean Ken Starr

DIPLOMA!!! Juris Doctor!!

Family

Owen went on his first plan ride!!! He did SOO GOOD!! He was asleep when we got on our connecting flight in El Paso, so he didn't suck on anything that whole ride, so when we started our decent his little ears started hurting and he woke up crying! :-(

Owen has also met some of his family for the very first time!

Owen and Nana

He didn't care much for Rhett
Owen and Grandad

Owen has had many other firsts since we moved. In fact, they were all in the SAME day!! He rolled from his back to his tummy, found his feet, and started sucking on his toes!!

The day we were moving in, our friends Jonathan and Shea brought us these YUMMY Texas treats!!

There are a TON more pictures...but they will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day!! Check back soon!!

Here we go...

Well folks...ALOT has transpired in the past week or so since I last posted. We have packed our apartment, and are sleeping on air mattresses tonight, because tomorrow we begin our trip to TEXAS!! Me, Owen and Cici are flying, but Travis and Pops are driving so their trip will be longer! (pray for them!)

Today, my sweet husband GRADUATED FROM LAW SCHOOL!!!!!!! Holy cow! I can't believe it! It was a great day, and a beautiful ceremony (though it was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!). Jay (Katherine...our friend in ICU's husband) was able to graduate, and when he walked across the stage he received a standing ovation from all of the graduates.

Monday we went to the hospital and visited Katherine one last time before we move. We were both able to go up and see her, and it was nice. She motioned me over to one side of her so that she could hold both of our hands, and she squeezed my habd when I told her that I loved her.

I am out of time for now, but when we get moved into our house in Austin I have tons of pictures to post!! So stay tuned.....

Next post will be coming to you from...THE TIDMORE CITY LIMITS!!! :-)

Lots of Pictures!!

This morning Owen and I went out for a short walk. I put one of Travis' jackets on over the baby bjorn. When we started walking, I realized it was colder than I had originally thought. So...instead of turning around to get a blanket I pulled Travis jacket over the two of us and zipped it up!!! :-) So, here I am looking like I gained 50 pounds...but I thought it was funny.

Then after our walk, he looked so darm cute in his little hat, I had to snap a few pics.
Then when we were getting him dressed...

This afternoon we had our playgroup. Mr. Snake did not decide to join us today, thankfully.
But, we did take some fun pictures.

Well, blogger is being STUPID and won't let me post anymore pictures. So, I will put more tomorrow.

Also...Katherine has a prayer pager now. Please follow the directions on this site and let her know you are praying for her!!

New Hobby...and update on Katherine

When I get more made, I will post pictures of my new hobby. I have been making pacifier clips. I have a couple that were either given to us or we bought at the store....but the clip is so large it sticks out and gets in the way of things or stabs Owen. So, I decided to make my own! They are REALLY cute, if I do say so myself!! Need a baby shower gift?? :-)

We have come to the conclusion that Owen is starting to teeth. He loves nothing more these days than to get my (or Travis') finger in his mouth and bite down HARD. It actually hurts. I don't see any teeth or anything yet, so it will be a while. Poor tiny boy. I can tell it is bothering him. He seemed to like the cold teething toy I gave him today, but he wants me to hold it the entire time because he doesn't like the cold in his hands. That gets old. He isn't napping well, and he gets fussy sometimes...and he doesn't want to be put down much. This makes it increasingly difficult to get anything done. I am supposed to be packing for the move to Texas...but the boy doesn't feel good. Boo.

You should all read Katherine's mom's latest blog post (from Sunday) here. Also, you can keep track of her battle at www.katherinewolf.info and the facebook groups. The facebook groups are Pray for Katherine Arnold Wolf and Praying for Katherine Wolf.

Katherine loves Romans 8 and can recite it from memory. She encourages people to learn it. Go here to get on board to learn it for yourself. The site will help with some tricks. If you aren't interested, no worries. Just thought I would post it here. Some people (friends and family mainly I guess) might feel like prayer and learning Romans 8 are the only ways to help and feel useful. Katherine would love to know that her situation has prompted others to learn a chapter in the Bible that she loves.

Ok kids....my boy is sleeping, so I am going to as well!

Sweet moments

Today my friend Hannah and I loaded up our kids and went out to Westwood to the hospital to visit Katherine's family. (don't worry, the family is congregated down in a very large waiting room that isn't even in the main part of the hospital).

There weren't many people there when we were there. Katherine's mom got back from a break and was headed up to see Kat, so I asked if I could come along - mostly expecting an "only family can go up." But, to my surprise she told me to come along with her. Hannah watched Owen, and I went up with Kim (K's mom). I was bracing myself for the worst, based on this, written by Kat's mom. I wasn't expecting my friend to look like my friend.

What I saw was my usually bubbly and energetic friend held down by sickness and tubes and IV's. She had a patch over one eye, and her other eye was infected. She doesn't always have control over her eyes, so when her eye was on me I wasn't sure if she was looking at me or not. I'd like to think that she was. What I saw was my broken friend. She is only temporarily broken though, as I have faith that God will give her a miracle. Broken as she may be currently, she was still beautiful laying in that bed.

I told her the story of the snake visiting our mommy and me group (she organized the entire group in the first place...so she would have been there had she been able).

Her mom was amazing. I can't even describe her. Way stronger than I would be in that position- though that strength isn't her own I am sure. It was nice to see them interact - and Katherine was interacting in her own way, the best she could. She nodded her head in response to a few of her mom's questions. I could hear her voice in my head telling me something like I had to come up to her apartment and try these delicious cookies she had just made, because that is something she would call me about, and has before.

Then Katherine's dad and grandmother arrived, and I showed myself out and went back down to the lobby. While waiting for the elevator (which seemed like forever), I became very sad. Travis and I are moving in 2 weeks, and this is how we must leave our friends. I'll remember those delicious cookies though, and look forward to some more one day.

Keep praying.
________________________________________________________________

Another sweet moment: as Owen was laying on my tummy the other night I looked down to find him like this:
When I feed him, he folds his sweet little hands so nicely like this:
And look at this precious face:

SNAKES IN A PLAYGROUP!!!!

During our Tuesday playgroup today, I was sitting down in a nice shady area of the grass in the courtyard with 4 other ladies and their little ones. We were chatting and playing with the kids...I was tickling Owen when I heard my friends shrieking. I looked up just in time to see a 4 to 5 foot snake literally right behind (maybe a foot) Hannah (7 months pregnant) and her 18 month old, and Lyric and her 3 week old. Of course, I proceeded to FREAK OUT. We all scooped up our respective children and moved at the speed of light out of the area. As we were all moving quickly the snake raised his head up off the ground. YIKES!! Then he began slithering in my general direction again...I booked my booty and Owen's too up toward the clubhouse room screaming. (anyone that knows me well knows that I am TERRIFIED of snakes. I have nightmares about them. I have never actually seen one in person until today...I can pretty much guarantee a nightmare tonight). My heart was definitely working overtime and I had a mini anxiety attack.

Then Hannah called the campus police who sent out a campus firetruck. The guy couldn't find the snake...but he did mention that it could have been a rattle snake because it is rattle snake season. We told him we didn't see a rattle, and he said that we wouldn't necessarily see a rattle. AGHHH!! But, it was probably just a gardner (Spelling??). Nevertheless, it was SCARY!!!!!

sad...

i am sad tonight. please pray for my sweet friend.

updates and pictures

Travis and I went with a couple of our friends today to UCLA Medical Center to see Jay (Katherine's husband). Katherine is in ICU, and only family is allowed to see her currently. Jay was happy to see us, and seemed to be in good spirits.

Yesterday was not a good day for Katherine. She was basically unresponsive for most of the day, which was a step backward from the day before when she was so responsive. The doctors went in to replace or do something with a drain/tube in her brain that measures the pressure/swelling on her brain. When they took the tube out they found a blood clot and flushed it out. When they replaced the tube tons of fluid came out and Katherine was immediately responsive. So, last night was a good night. Today has been a good day as well, and she is still responding. When we were at the hospital her mom told us that she was telling Katherine to recite Romans 8 while she was in her cat scan. Her mom started to recite it and was botching it up, and Katherine was becoming visibly frustrated. Jay asked her if she could say it better, and Katherine nodded. The doctors are all amazed at Katherine's progress, and how quickly she is progressing after the surgery - especially when she wasn't expected to make it through the surgery. This just further proves the power of prayer. So, keep praying. It is working.

What really got to me last night was the fact that Katherine is missing so much time with her little boy. I miss 5 hours a day with Owen while I am at work right now, and that is hard enough. I can't imagine how she is missing James and all the little moments with him.

Katherine was recently on an episode of Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. Below I have posted a picture of Katherine, and if you click on "are you smarter than a fifth grader" above it will take you to a clip of the show she was on - so you can put a face with the name to pray for.


Ok, now on to lighter topics. Owen is 3 months old!! He is so sweet and cute I could just eat him up!! :-) Here are a few pictures.