Why I need to work part time:

I am home today with the Blakester because she is sick. Well, she is sort of sick. Yesterday she had a cough. Then last night (really this morning) she was up for about two hours tossing and turning and coughing, A LOT. I have to make the decision to stay home early or I won't have a sub. So, at 4:30 I stumble to the computer with no glasses on...can't see a dang thing...and with my face two inches from the screen I enter the info for a sub. I went back to bed then woke up around 7:00 to make sure I had a sub for the day. I did, so I emailed my sub notes and the assignment for the kiddos to another teacher and she took care of the rest. Sometimes being absent is more work than just being there myself.

On to the title of this post. Here are a few reasons I need to work part time:
1. I love my job so I would still like to work.
2. But it would be nice to have a little more time with Blake.
3. I have done 3 loads of laundry.
4. I had breakfast and made coffee.
5. Cleaned up the living room.
6. Cleaned the kitchen.
7. Put all of my laundry away.
8. Blake is down for a nap so I get to check up on blogs.
9. I folded and put away all of Blake's laundry.
10. I am dressed (don't be too impressed, t-shirt and jeans with no make-up) and ready so that when B wakes up we can go to Target.
AND IT'S ONLY 12:00!!!!

This list may not be that impressive to some, but for me, this is pretty good. Now, if I were home all day everyday, I can guarantee I would not be this productive. How do I know??? Uhhhh, I was just home for 3 months this summer and probably did this much in a week (or two).
I even did Ryan's laundry that was sitting on top of the dryer. He came in and said "Are you doing my laundry?" Yes, I am. "Why?" So you can see how useful I would be if I stayed home part time. "That's what I thought."

A Blake Update

This clock is Blake's nemesis. It lives at Mimi and Paco's house in the kitchen. Everytime she is in the kitchen she keeps a close eye on this crazy kitty clock. Sometimes it makes her cry.

We had a fun visit to Abilene a few weekends ago. We went to a great new restaurant (like a new and improved Fuji's) and went to the fair for a few rides and some funnel cake. Blake experienced her first fair ride with Mimi. She looks a little nervous. I completely understand, Blake. Fair rides scare me. They transform from an 18-wheeler to a ride...and that is supposed to be safe???? Yeah....right....


This is a picture of Blake eating cheerios off of the floor. She also eats Lola's dog food. Awesome. The last one is of an exceptionally messy experience we had one night when Blake decided to touch the spoon before it went in her mouth and then proceeded to rub her nose.
Blake does not actually like this pacifier but if I take her other one away she always seems to find this one. But she only sucks on it upside down. The second picture is of Blake's "tornado."

Today Blake is nine months old. I love you, Blakester!!!!

Her most recent tricks:

*she can say baby- not "baba", she actually says "baby." Not on command, of course.
*she stands up from anywhere in the room. she no longer needs to pull up on things to stand.
*she cries when we drop her off in the mornings. this is my least favorite
*she crawls everywhere
*when she is mad, she crawls and says "mamamamama"
*she smiles all the time but she does not laugh very often
*she gives me sweet, slobbery kisses when I pick her up in the afternoons
*she can say "dada"
*we think she is saying "gog" when we talk to Lola
*she loves her swing in the front yard
*she can wave bye-bye
*she can give you high five but it actually turns in to like 20 or 25

Recipe for Disaster

1 car seat (lightly seasoned)
As I was driving down the Interstate this morning about 15 min from the house and 10 minutes from school I realized that Blake's car seat was in my car and Ryan was at home with Blake.

1 empty jump drive with 2 sides of missing back-up cds
I needed to print a quiz and some notes when I got to school. Two weeks ago my jump drive (with ALL of my stuff from the five years I have been teaching) worked fine. Last week there was nothing on it. My computer was re-imaged one night and my jump drive was in the back... wiped it clean. Luckily I had two back up discs from 2006 and 2007 with most of my stuff. So this morning all I needed to do was get the info off one of the back-up discs. I couldn't find them ANYWHERE....

1 new quiz and a heaping tablespoon of copy machines
I quickly created a new quiz and decided to forget the notes. I get class started and run down to the copy machine to make the copies for the day. I start class about 10 minutes later than usual.

A fresh squeezed open house
As I am frantically making copies I hear our secretary say she is just about finished making copies for tonight's open house. "sh**" I completely forgot about open house.

Roast the five failing pre-ap students in the oven at 300 degrees
After I flew home during my second period conference to take the car seat to Ryan (I actually ended up dropping Blake off since I was going right by her babysitters), I had to come back to school, regroup and prepare to have a serious discussion with my pre-ap class about work ethic... since five of them are failing after two weeks of school.

Cool the car in the rain for a few minutes before attempting to serve
I met Ryan and Blake for supper before open house at seven. When I got back to school it was raining and there were tons of parents there already for 7th grade open house. I parked in the back of the school right by an unlocked door. I hopped out of the car tried to shield my super new leather school bag from the rain and ran to the door. I turned to lock my car and couldn't find my keys anywhere. Why?? Because they were still in the ignition and my car was still on.

Serving size: Big enough to last me for awhile

Today...

Blake fell off the bed and Ryan found a roly poly in her mouth.







That's all.

What was I doing...

8 months ago??

5:15 AM

Woke up because my back was killing me.

5:30

Couldn't go back to sleep so I took a long hot shower.

5:45

Starving. So I ate some waffles and watched a little tv.

6:00

I decided that maybe this was more than just back pain so maybe I should start timing these back contractions.

6:15

Woke Ryan up to tell him that the back "labor" was happening every 5 minutes so we should probably get a bag packed.

6:45

In the car on the way to the hospital. There was a beautiful full moon! Ryan was much more calm about the situation than I thought he would be. We laughed between contractions and there were several since the hospital was about 20 minutes away.

7:00

Getting close to the hospital and at this point I am doubting that this is actually labor. The contractions aren't hurting very bad and I'm super excited so...this probably isn't it.

7:10

Pulling into the parking lot Ryan and I realize we don't really know where to go since we did not attend the baby class. I decide we should go to the ER but Ryan sees a sign that says "Deliveries" and he thinks we should follow the sign. I am almost laughing too hard to tell him that I think the sign means deliveries to the hospital not baby deliveries.

7:11

As I am getting out of the car a red sports car zooms by and stops in the first parking spot. And my doctor hops out! He sees me and asks what I am doing there. For being a doctor this guy might not be real observant...I told him I was having contractions so I thought I better check it out.

7:30

I get wheeled to a room and checked by the nurse and I am at a 3. She laughs and says that my doctor told them I was down there but that he doubted I would be ready because I was laughing so much.

8:30

My doctor comes and tells me that we are officially having our baby today!! He breaks my water and tells me that I can have my epidural in about an hour.

9:30

Epidural time!! Or so I thought. The contractions are still pretty mild at this point. I am having to breath through them but things are still going great!

9:45

They come in to tell me that the anesthesiologist is assisting in a c-section so it will be awhile. They give me some demarol (sp?) and phenagrin (sp?) for the pain.

10:00

I get a contraction that just about sends me over the back of the bed. From this time on, all contractions could have me climbing the wall and I am only at a five. It is at this point that I think that all people who deliver naturally are completely insane and must be superwoman (no offense, just a personal opinion!). Ryan also tries to do a little recording and quickly realizes that is not the best decision.

10:30

I tell my nurse (and I have already told Ryan several times) that the medicine is not working AT ALL.

11:00

The nurse comes in and says the c-section is over!! So she needs to flush my IV before he comes to give me my epidural. Yippee!

11:00 and 30 seconds

Conversation between me and the nurse:

Me: Wow, did you just put more medicine in my IV?

Nurse: No just saline.

Me: (slurring slightly) Are you sure?

Nurse: Yes, it's just saline.

Me: (Right eye roaming the room, left eye barely open, still slurring) I don't believe you.

Nurse: Hmmm, it seems that maybe all that medicine we gave you before was stuck in your IV and when I flushed it you finally got the dose.

Me: Sounds really good to me.......(eyes closing.....)

11:15 (or so I am told)

The anesthesiologist comes to give me my epidural. The nurse has me lean against her. I am pretty sure that if she would have moved I would have fallen flat on my face on the floor. I don't remember much about this process. Because of my scoliosis it took him about seven tries to get the needle in the right spot but I never felt a thing. At one point, I said "Okay, I am going to try really hard this time."

No clue what time any of this happened:

I slept off an on until about 3:30. During this time my family came in to see me several times, Ryan ran to get him some lunch, I made several drug induced comments such as "That guy's throwing peanuts right at me." and "Lola (our dog) loves cat food. She is eating it right now.", and I got some really good rest.

4:00

They told me I was going to start pushing. So I had to get off the phone.

4:30

Because of the AWESOME epidural I can't really feel ANYTHING so I am having to pretend a lot while I am pushing. As I am pushing I am trying to remember what women look like on tv when they are having a baby and I am trying to look like that because I am afraid that if they realize how strong my epidural is that they will take it away.

4:45

Ryan and the nurse are encouraging me and telling me how great I am doing. I tell them that if I was really doing great then I would already have had the baby.

5:10

My doctor comes in. Uses the salad tongs, twist her head a little and in about three more pushes...

5:12

Blake is here!!!

5:15

My doctor begins the task of sewing 712 stitches. Okay, not really 712 but for those of you who speak "baby" I had a fourth degree tear. Yikes! That doesn't sound good even if you don't speak baby.

5:20

Blake is all cleaned up and we are holding her for the first time. I can't believe how beautiful she is!! And I can't believe she has hair...and that it's dark! We love her instantly!!!

I've got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight...

So tomorrow I'm back to school. I have been looking forward to this year with excitement and some mixed emotions.

First of all, I have to leave Blake. I went over to the house where she will be staying this year to get some things in order and it all sunk in. I had to work not to cry when we we drove away. Tomorrow will be her first day...I think she will love it. She loves to play and loves to be around other kids so I know it will be great.

Second, I have mixed emotions about the fact that I am ready to go back to work. I love Blake more than life but I have a hard time being a stay at home mom and I like to go work. And I hate that I have to justify that I go to work. I think it is great when mom's stay home. But I don't. And I always feel that I have to explain myself. Why do I work? Well, unless my house and car get paid off in the next 12 hours then I have to work. But I also really enjoy it. My ideal situation would be working part time. So if any teaching positions open up where I only have to work Tues, Wed, Thurs, sign me up!!

Third, I am the new 8th grade science department head...by default. My dept. head left and I was the only one with more than two years experience so they chose me. So this year will be COMPLETELY different. Our dept consists of me, two brand new teachers, another teacher who has taught one year but this is his first to teach science and a long term sub (until a teacher returns from maternity leave in Nov.) AND to top it all off, our school had some of the worst TAKS scores in the district. So, some pretty big changes to handle.

Tomorrow is coming whether I am excited or not. So, when your thinking of it, pray for my sanity and for Blake's new friends and for my sanity.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

It's my birthday too!! Today was a great birthday. Even though when you get older your birthday just doesn't feel the same as it use to. I don't know how to explain it but it's just a little different. But today was awesome. And so was last night. I am notorious for trying to make my birthday last as long as possible but this time it wasn't really up to me. My mom was in town and wanted to take us out for my b-day on the 13th since she wouldn't be here today for dinner. So we had supper at Ocean Rock which is my favorite seafood place. It was great but the dinner actually ended up being Jonathan's treat so...thanks mom for the effort and thanks Jonathan for the birthday dinner!!
On to my actual birthday, I woke up a little later than usual because Ryan got up with Blake. Then they brought me my b-day card in bed and Ryan told me my birthday present was picking out a new bag for school this year. Yippee! I love new school bags! And I love shopping!

Then we went to breakfast at Old South, the greatest breakfast spot in Fort Worth! Not healthy...AT ALL... but what really good breakfast is healthy?? Ryan had to go to work (shmurk) so Blake and went to hang with Heather, the kids and my mom. We went to the park for a bit and then mom took me birthday shopping! yippee, again! Thanks, mom! So we all took off to the mall for a couple of hours.

I also really needed a haircut so while we were at the mall I made an appointment with a new guy which is always a little scary but Heather and my mom go to him so I felt pretty good about it. So Heather kept Blake and I got my hair did. He gave me a 25% discout since it was my first time in and 25% because it was my birthday!!! So I got a haircut and some product for $45!! What a great end to a super duper birthday!

When it rains it pours.

This phrase is often given a negative connation but at the Ware house this week it just means we are freakin' busy.

First, the reunion was this past weekend and was much more enjoyable than I expected it to be. I have pictures and more to say about it but I haven't loaded the pics yet and what's a story with no pics to back it up??



This week at our house is really busy. I have no clue why but we are probably doing more this week than we have all summer! For example, here is how my (and Blake's) summer has looked so far:
6:30 am Blake wakes up screaming because she is starving. She scarfs down 6-8 ounces and falls right back to sleep.
8:45: Blake wakes up for real this time and I drag my sleepy head out of bed.
9:30: After some playing and a little Mickey Mouse clubhouse we eat breakfast.
9:45: Hit the road for our walk.
10:20: Come home and play.
11:30: Eat again and time for nap number 1.
12:30: (Yep, only an hour) Blake is up and ready to play.
12:30-3:00: This is where our day can get pretty exciting. We might play, go to the grocery store, paint the hallway, clean the house and if we are feeling really wild and crazy we might go to Target.
3:30-ish: Fight to get Blake to take her second nap.
4:30: Blake wakes up from her nap screaming.
4:35: Blake goes back to sleep.
5:30: Blake is up and the day is almost done. Well, our (mine and Blake's) day is almost done because daddy will be home soon to play with us!



But not this week. This week has been and will be crazy. The good part is that it's packed full of fun stuff for us to do before I have to go back to school. There are a few boring things sprinkled in there too...
Monday: I met two new science teachers up at school for a few hours to help them out a little and give them some things to help start the year. Then, Heather invited us over for dinner because we missed Laine's b-day this weekend due to the reunion and my dad was in town.

Today: Nothing, really. We have Ryan's softball game in a little bit.

Wed: Go up to school around 9:00 to start working on my room. Ryan has to take Blake to the doctor at 9:45 due to a myterious diaper rash. Training from 11-1:00. Pick Blake up at Heather's and go swimming with Heather and the kiddos.


Thursday: Lunch and swimming with Mary Catherine and Sara. Meet new science teachers at school again to talk about curriculum stuff. Meet with ex-department head and new teacher at Starbucks.


Friday: Leave to go out of town, AGAIN! We have been out of town the last four weekends! Yikes! It's been fun. Just crazy, crazy, crazy!

Here are a few pics from our last few weeks:Blake at our favorite pizza place in Ruidoso.

Riding her giraffe in her bedroom.

Going for a (tiny) wagon ride with her Uncle Bart.

One of the bears we saw across the street from our cabin in Ruidoso. I think we saw at least three different bears.

Preparations for the big one-oh

So the AHS 10 year reunion is tomorrow! I am a little apprehensive about the reunion for a few reasons.First, I am horrible with names. Ryan can vouch for this because there have been several times that we have run into people in A-town that I knew in high school and I don't introduce Ryan because I can't remember their name and you can't count on them saying their own name. "Hey, this is my husband Ryan. Ryan this is ............" In an ideal world it would go like this "This is my husband Ryan." "Hey, Ryan, I'm ________" But I just don't have the guts to chance it. So we walk away and he just looks at me and I'm like "Dude, I have no clue what that guy's name is!!!"
Second, (and some of you may have experienced this when you have seen me in public) when I see someone that I am not expecting to see or maybe I fear an awkward encounter, I turn a very bright shade of magenta. e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e. When I was working on my master's I had professors that remembered me because I would turn red when they called on me and I wasn't expecting it. I can stand up and act like a complete idiot in front of 8th graders but if my principal drops by....red. He loves to do that to me too. My kids are always like..."Mrs. Ware, you're red." I know, shut up. If I randomly see someone at the mall...red. No matter who it is, how good of friends we are, how long I have known them...red.

And third, as I have said before, I'm just awkward sometimes.

So tonight, as I prepare for the weekend, I have created a do's and don'ts list for the event:

Do: Start working out about 1 month before so you look extra fit for the big day.
Don't: Eat a pint of rocky road ice cream at 9:30 pm the night before the event.

Do: Get your hair done two weeks before so you have time to adjust to the new cut/color.
Don't: Decide two days before that your roots look really bad and go to Wal-Mart to buy a dye-at-home kit.

Do: Start working on a tan a few weeks in advance so you look bronzed but not burnt or fake.
Don't: Go to a tanning place, decide to try Mystic Tan for the first time and have random white splotches under your knees because you have wierd kneecaps and orange spots on your hands because you didn't follow the instructions.

Yikes.

I'm really behind on my posts. You know that overwhelming feeling you get when you have so much to blog about that there is no possible way to do it all at once and so you just avoid blogging because it seems like too much? That's where I am right now. And...did I seriously just write that? Am I really that stressed about my blog?? I have plenty other things that I could be stressed about (but I'm not really) like school starting in 3 weeks and I don't have anyone to keep Blake. Hmmmm...maybe that should stress me out and not this stupid blogging thing. But instead of dwelling on that let's talk about something much more interesting...

When we got back from Ruidoso we found this in our mailbox.



"Congratulations! It pleases us to inform you that your family is eligible to appear on Family Feud. You are now in our active file and we may contact you for a taping. Of course, we cannot guarantee an appearance. Please be patient and wait for us to call you....We appreciate your enthusiasm and look forward to seeing you soon."

We have chosen to ignore the part about "Of course, we cannot guarantee an appearnce." and we sit eagerly by the phone waiting for "THE CALL".

Post topics I must complete this week:
Blake is 7 months
Our 5th anniversary
Ruidoso vacation

These are all important but I am not sure anything trumps a Family Feud call back!!

It's Time To Play...

The FAMILY FEUD!!!!

This past Sunday Ryan, Heather, Jonathan, Virginia (Ryan's mom) and I tried out for Family Feud. First of all, I have to admit that during the summer I occassionaly watch F.F. at 12:00 on channel 33. One day Ryan happened to be home during lunch and we were watching and they had an advertisement for tryouts in the Dallas area so we called and got a tryout.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures but you get the idea... The tryouts were held in Grand Prairie at a restaurant in a baseball stadium. I was really hoping that there would be lots of white trash people there so we would automatically make it but that was not the case. There were about 40 families and I would say that more than half were quality looking people. When we got there we had to fill out some information on all the players, take a group photo and sit around and wait. They called up two families at a time and you played two rounds against the other family. They gave lots of instructions like:

1. make sure you say "Good answer" every time someone guesses even if they sound like a complete idiot

2. Huddle in a group when the other team is giving their answers so if it comes to your team you have a guess

3. When it comes to your team for a steal make sure you yell out answers for your captain before he makes his official guess

So, it was a little nerve racking to try to remember all of this and think of good answers and try not to look and sound like a moron. But I think we did pretty well. We should find out in about two weeks if we made it. So I will let you know if the Ware family will be the next contestants on the FAMILY FEUD!!!

Oh...I am a little behind on blogging because I have been at training all week from 8-4:00. But, we had fun at Ryan's reunion. We had to come home early for the tryouts. I will not post pics from that because I am probably going to wear the same dress to my reunion and then if I have pictures of it people might be like "Oh, that dress is cute. I saw it on your blog."

Ryan and I also just celebrated our 5 year anniversary but I posted this first because I am creating a picture montage (sp?) and I have to scan several on to the puter and it takes awhile. So, stay tuned.

Tomorrow we will be leaving for a week long vacation to Ruidoso, NM so I will be posting from the mountains where the high is expected to be about 75. Peace out.

Busy Bee

This weekend we were busy bees at the Ware household. Thursday night (the 3rd) we went to watch eat and watch fireworks in Southlake with our friends Chris and Jena. Jena was 36 weeks pregnant and had gone to the doctor that day and was told she was "ready to go". So sure enough, Miss Bailey Grace made her entrance on Friday July 4th. She is super cute! Ryan's sister Melissa and her husband Bart came in town on Friday so we went to eat at Mellow Mushroom then went to Trinity Park to watch some more fireworks. We sat on top of a hill so we could see two sets of fireworks and here is the fun we found while waiting for the shows to

That's right...all you need to pass the time? A little cardboard and a pretty steep hill.

Then Saturday we met Heather, Jonathan and the kids at Burger's Lake for some swimming and a cookout. Being the great mom that I am, I took NO pictures. So you can just imagine us hangingout, jumping off the high dives, sliding down the slide and swinging on the trapeze into the water. Blake thought Burger's Lake was pretty cool but she is not a huge fan of being in the water for extended periods of time so we took turns hanging out with her at the camp site.

Later on Saturday we got a text from Kyle and Brittany saying that their sweet girl had arrived as well! Two babies in one weekend!

Sunday we said goodbye to Mel and Bart after church and a trip to Joe's. Then we tried to catch up on some sleep and so we crashed on the couch for awhile.

This weekend will be another busy one because we are off to OKC for Ryan's 10 year reunion.

You Are MY Sunshine

Okay, I finally got the video uploaded! Yippee! Try to ignore my singing and my facial expressions...I wouldn't want any of you to be jealous of me. This is Blake's favorite song ever!

Need to lose a few pounds??

Just get strep throat and you can drop about 3 pounds in 3 days, at least I did. I probably wouldn't suggest this option but it does work...

Yeah, so I woke up with a super icky sore throat on Sunday and my ears hurt and my head ached and my legs were crampy. I just felt gross. Do you remember the commercial of the little girl sitting on her bed saying "It'll hurt if I swallow. It'll hurt if I swallow. It'll hurt if I...MOMMY!!!" That is EXACTLY how I felt. I would do ANYTHING not to swallow. Or yawn. Or talk. So Monday I woke up feeling just as crappy so I went to the doctor and sat around for 2 hours and they told me I had strep and they gave me a shot in my butt... which hurt really bad afterwards and was pretty expensive "Thanks, doc!" So, I did just what the commercial said and I called my mommy. She came to the rescue to keep Blake while I laid around and felt bad. I haven't been this sick in a LONG time...like, I haven't been this sick since I have been married, so at least 5 years. I was down for the count for three days and I am still at about 70% today.

Then, on top of being sick...yesterday Ryan was getting ready for work and walked down our hallway and found water on the floor. When he opened the closet that holds our water heater and air conditioner (our house is old so all of this is conveniently located in our hall with the wood flooring) thier was water pooled around the water heater. So he called the plumber listed on the water heater. He came about an hour later. I showed him the problem. He poked around and said he thought it was the air conditioner and not the water heater. Then he took the air conditioning vents off that were underneath the closet where the ac and wh were and their was a puddle of water under there. AWESOME!!! So he decides that it is the water heater and that the tank broke so we need a brand new water heater and he says it will cost $1300. YIPPEE!!! We thought this sounded a little high so Ryan called Home Depot and they said they could do it for $700. Woohoo!!! $700 that was suppose to go towards a little vacation this summer is now paying for a new water heater!! Well, then our neighbor, Jim...a super nice guy and a Mr. Fix It comes buy and fiddles around with it all and he finds out that it is NOT the water heater and IS the air conditioner. Turns out all we needed was a little drano because a pipe was not draining that should have been! JIM IS THE BEST!!!! So our $1300 problem turned to a $700 problem turned to a $4 problem in about 7 hours. That deserves a real YIPPEE SKIPPEE!!!!!!!

Two Things You Gotta Check Out

Numero Uno:  Go to my sister's blog and see Blake's adventure's in babysitting!  Heather and Jonathan kept Blake last Saturday so we could go to a friend's birthday party.  Thanks guys!  You gotta go check out all of the shenanigans from that night.

Numero Dos:  Here is a video of Blake (and me) at my parent's house.  Sike!!!...I couldn't freaking figure out how to get the video uploaded on my mom's stupid mac so this will have to wait.  I will try again later when I am back on my normal pc.  So now you have no choice but to check out Heather's blog!  

To Blake...a 6 month update

I can't believe it has already been 6 months! On one hand I feel like it was just yesterday that we were at the hospital... but on the other, I feel like you have been here forever. (ooohhh, please don't enlarge that picture...yikes) You have made such a smooth entrance into our lives. I did not know what to expect when you got here but you are so much better than I could have ever imagined! We love you so much more than I can explain. I hope that your life is full of love and happiness. Your daddy and I will do our best to make sure of that!!!

Blake Facts:

You have just started holding your own bottle.

Holding your own bottle is tiring!!




• You scoot all over the place. My least favorite place that you scoot to?? off of the carpet and on to the tile. Why? because you like to lick it.

• You started getting on your hands and knees ready to crawl when we were in Arkansas.

• You love to watch Lola play.
  
• You don't laugh a lot but you smile ALL of the time.
  
• You growl when you are frustrated or bored or just because you want to.
  
• You have started making this fake cough sound when you want attention.
  
• I can lay you down at night for bed and you put yourself to sleep.
  
• You sleep until 8:30 or 9:00!! Mommy loves that!!!
  
• When you take a bath you suck on a finger puppet the whole time you are in there. It's kind of gross but it makes you really happy.
  


• You LOVE to be outside.
  


• Your favorite song (and has been since the beginning) is You are My Sunshine. You can be screaming and we will sing it to you and you calm down immediately.


• You can put your pacifier back in your mouth. I lifesaver for me at 4:30 in the morning!


• You are really good at eating baby food...most of the time.


• You make me really happy when you try to roll over while I am changing your diaper. I love that...


• You give the sweetest kisses.

When you wake up in the mornings you never cry, you just talk in your crib until someone comes in to get you.

I love you, sweet girl!! Happy 6 month birthday!!

"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Eph. 4:1-3

What's your opinion?

Okay...read through the following and when (not, if) you comment just put the number and answer yes or no. If you feel you need to explain your answer, great. If not, great. If you want to answer anonymously (sp?) great. But I don't think I put anything embarrassing on here. So, comment AWAY!!!

YES OR NO?????????
1. Music on blogs? Sometimes I enjoy it but other times I forget my speakers are on and it scares the c-r-a-p out of me.

2. Wearing t-shirts out in public? I am about to turn 28 and I realize that as a mom and an adult maybe I should dress a little better when I go out in public.

3. Am I a bad mom? I love to read and since I work during the year, that is what summers are for. Sometimes I cringe when I hear Blake waking up from her nap because I haven't finished the really exciting part.

4. Am I a lizard? This is for those of you that are around me or have been in the past. Do I lick my lips a lot when I am talking? ( I already know your answer, Ryan.)

5. Spandex shorts. Are they ever appropriate?

6. Awkward faces. This is for those of you who have kids. Can you keep from making an awkward face while you are feeding your kids baby food?

7. (Not an opinion, just a fact) Shaving. I am terrible at shaving my legs. Never fails...I ALWAYS miss some hairs, either on my knee or around my ankle. Are you good at shaving?

8. Saving money. Does there come a point, when saving money, that you aren't actually saving you are hoarding?

9. Nail polish. Do you think it is necessary to have polish on your toes for your feet to look good?

10. Getting political. Will you vote for Obama?
If you don't want to answer number 10, for whatever reason, then that's okay. You can just answer this alternate question... will you vote? (title it alt. 10 on your comment...that you will definitely be leaving.)

Happy Father's Day Ryan

Well, here I am...as always... a day (or two) late and a dollar short but better late than never. (Wow, two sayings in one sentence. Amazing. That should be my motto.)

Twenty reasons why I love my husband...

1. He looks ridiculously good in shorts.

2. He is one of the most sincere people I have ever met.

3. He tells me I look good without makeup.

4. He loves God.

5. He is crazy too.

6. We both think the same things are funny. (which are not always funny to other people)

7. He makes me try to be a better person.

8. He opens my car door... even after (almost) five years of marriage.

9. He holds my hand when we are just lounging on the couch.

10. When I am away or he is away from home he calls at least once a day just to say hi.

11. He does not judge people when they make mistakes. Which is why he is really good at his job. (For those of you that don't know his job...he is a counselor for kids, and their families, that are on probation and who also have a mental health disease like ADD, ADHD, bipolar disorder etc.)

12. He talks in voices that make me laugh sooooo hard.

13. He loves me.

14. He is the greatest dad to Blake.

15. He is good at sports and likes to play sports with me.

16. He is hot.

17. He makes me pancakes and coffee on the weekends. Or if he doesn't feel like cooking then we go to Old South.

18. He is my best friend and I can tell him anything.

19. He loves to travel.

20. He loves me even when I am not being very lovable.

**This list is in no particular order.

And Happy Father's Day to MY dad!! Who is in Spain right now with my mom. But I am not jealous AT ALL. Not even a little.

Now, I am copying my sister but here are the reasons I love my dad.

1. It takes a LOT to make him angry.

2. He is funny.

3. He likes wierd things.

4. He is definitely one of the smartest people I know. If I were on W.W.T.B.A.M? he would be my phone a friend.

5. He used to come watch all of my tennis matches when I was playing. (So did my mom)

6. He had funny nicknames for me when I was young...the most common? Shatzi (sp?) I think it's german or something.

7. He loves all of the grandkids and is great with them.

8. He loves to work out and sometimes spurs me on without knowing it because I'm like "Ok, if my dad can run a marathon surely I can run a half."

9. He is adventurous.

10. He is kind to people. Even ones that he has not seen in a long time but still call the house to talk to him almost everyday.

11. He gives good advice.

12. He's very photogenic. (Come on, dad, you know that made you smile.)

13. He would do anything for me or Heather or my mom.

14. He pretty much used to do everything for me. (I was a little spoiled)

15. He is a very good teacher.

This is my dad putting Laine through the window because they were locked out. See... he is a good teacher.

My list had more than Heather's!!! nanny, nanny, boo, boo......