Eleven+ Months Old

I literally can't believe this little girl is almost a year old. I know I shouldn't take any of the baby things for granted, but I'm really looking forward to the next year as her little personality starts to really come out more and more.

She's starting to make a lot more noises - seems like she's babbling bababa (often with her little wave!) and mamama and tssssssssss and dadadada all the time these days. Her little voice is just precious. Ohhhhhh and to hear her belly laugh when someone (usually Owen) gets her going! Pure joy.

 And she wants to crawl soooooo badly! She lunges over her feet to get things she wants but then that little hiney drops and she's on her tummy and she DOES NOT like it so she rolls over. She can actually get around pretty well considering she really just scoots and rolls. I'm having to really force myself to not always plop her down on the ground with a bunch of toys - but put them out of her reach so she'll move for them. And both grandmas are doing their version of crawling bootcamp with her...I think everyone is anxious to see her really start moving. On the other hand, I think it has probably been a blessing that she's been content to stay mostly in one place for so long...has probably made our first year with three kiddos a lot easier!

Oh, spaghetti. Can you see it on the wall? And plastered to her hair?

Food is fun!

Yea for food!

And yea for pool time!

Whoops! Somebody help me! (Don't worry - I put down the camera and helped her.)

Laughing at brother and his crazy water gun while chewing on a rocket.

Seriously, can't believe she's almost one. Where has the year gone???

*PS - today was a blog catch up day - see several other new posts below. Enjoy.

Little Miss...

Little Miss Rebecca has been giving us a run for our money recently. Her ups and downs are pretty phenomenal. It's hard to be two and a half. She has started calling us Mom and Dad - which just seems way to 2.5 going on 14...

Remember how I told you she's doing quiet play time instead of naptime now? Well, we've reverted some. It started when she'd come in right at the end of QPT and tell me she wanted to "take a widdle noose wih you on da couch". I fell for it every time and after a few minutes of her squirming we'd both be asleep. Bad bad bad. So, we're back to naptime a lot of days, but trying to do it earlier in the afternoon. It's a trade-off. Figuring out how much (and when) our kids should sleep is one of my least favorite parenting jobs. It's a good thing she's so cute.

It must not apply to getting wet and muddy outside...but when the tiniest thing happens to something of hers (a toy gets wet or her shirt gets dirty) she dramatically announces that its ruined!!!

The other day I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she told me the following (in rapid fire): a princess, a doctor, a mama, a kid, a halloween creature, a baseball player, a dog, a princess, a kid, a doctor, a kid, a princess, a halloween creature (scary!), and a dog...

I asked her if she was a princess, and she said no and held up her shirt to show me she was not wearing her tutu. It's that simple.

Man Day

Another post I that is really second hand - since I wasn't there - but I'll do my best. A few weeks ago Kyle and Owen had a MAN DAY. They went to the Llano Ranch to do things that the girls are too young to fully appreciate. 

They ate at The Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls - a right of passage. Owen shared his first chicken fried steak. And I'm sure there was pie. There has to be pie at the Bluebonnet.

The ziplined.

They waded through really tall grass.

They fished (with poles and a trap) and Owen learned what it meant to "get skunked" (not catch anything). 

But the highlight was that Owen shot his first gun and he brought home his first trophy - a beat up coke zero can with lots of bullet holes in it!

TIME with BMDMI in Honduras

In a dream world I would have Kyle give you the update on his trip with TIME to the BMDMI Hospital in Honduras but this is the real world where his time is tight and the blog is not "his thing" and he would probably rather clean out our gutters than type up a conversational summary of his trip. So, it's up to me. Bare with me - I'm sure I don't have all the details right, and I'm working with the few cell phone pics he took. 

This is his packing pile the night before the trip. He had 5 checked bags - mostly filled with disposable medical equipment and anesthesia meds including controlled substances. Hours and hours and hours and hours of work went into getting these things acquired and ready for export/import.

A laproscopic surgery for ___________. Impressive feat. 

One of Kyle's anesthesia partners - Aaron - who went to residency with him in NC and now lives in San Antonio.

Loading up a trauma patient into an ambulance for transport to Tegucigalpa - he was brought to the mission hospital and was their first patient of the trip.

A Honduran ambulance.

The mission hospital/compound.

A supply closet after Kyle spent an evening tossing expired disposables and making it somewhat possible to find something...

Some sweet Honduran boys.

At the airport coming home - with Marabel - a veteran RN with TIME - she keeps people in shape and on talk - she is the real deal. An awesome lady.

I think that's about it. I think there were about 80 surgeries performed the week Kyle was there. That's not including the honeybear that Kyle "saved" by putting an IV in after he had been attacked by a dog - making him the local hero. My hero. :)

Be Our Guest

We can't wait to have a little more space (and an actual guest bedroom) in the new house...but that's not stopping us from using up every square inch of this place when we have the chance to have guests...

Right before Kyle went to Honduras, our dear friends Andrea and Harry Frankenfeld spent 2 nights with us. Andrea was a year ahead of me at Vanderbilt but we mostly became friends through church after we had both graduated and were living in Nashville. She and Harry have spent the last 2+ years living in Bangalore India - Andrea is a freelance writer and Harry is a jack-of-all-traits techy, video/audio engineer kind-of-guy.

 The were essentially doing a tour of friends/family and we were glad to make the list. And they were gracious to put up with our crazy living/sleeping situation. Andrea and I even got to go get our toes done. :)

 Then last weekend (with Kyle's bags from Honduras still not fully unpacked)...we had the pleasure of hosting our buddy Nathan (Christal and Phil's 3.5 year old) for the weekend so they could go to NC for a wedding and a graduation (and to see our old W-S pals, which we are jealous of)!
 

Let me be clear - having 4 kids is NOT easy. Especially because Kyle worked all day Saturday and Sunday night...but if you're going to add a fourth to the mix, Nathan Murray is the one you want! He is such a delightful little dude. 

I personally think 3ish is one of my favorite ages (so far) - they can feed themselves, use the potty, and get dressed. This kid is amazing. He wakes up (first kid) and comes out already mostly dressed and (at 6:45) asks what is for breakfast. (Whereas my kids would be content to be in PJs (or naked if we're talking about Rebecca) and consume nothing but milk until 10am.) 

And I guess we all get use to the things our own kids say - even the funny stuff - but its such a treat to hear the funny stuff other kids say. Like Nathan telling me how good he is at football and baseball (which by the way, is true - he's quite the baller). Or Nathan correcting Rebecca on how to say "sheep". Or Nathan telling me that since its Saturday we're supposed to have pancakes because its pancake day! (And of course we had pancakes.) Nathan telling me all about his school friends, etc. etc. etc.

 And the kids actually played really really well together. Sometimes it was more Owen and Nathan, sometimes more Nathan and Rebecca...but mostly it was all three, which was really fun to watch. The first night we had all 3 of them in the same room - that was a bad idea - they were up super late - we totally should have known. Actually, I think we did know but still wanted to give it a try. We ended up having to remove Rebecca (The Instigator) - she slept in our room in the pack 'n play and O & N were conked out in minutes. The next night the boys stayed in the same room and did great, so the next night we let them both sleep on the palet on the floor (their request) - because who doesn't want to sleep on the floor when there are 2 comfortable beds in the room? Little boys!

Here they are enjoying a little milkshake treat on Nathan's last evening with us.

 Silly faces.

 We are so funny.

Here was lunch on Saturday - Katie was keeping N's little brother Micah - so they came over for lunch and playtime. Emmy was out of down with her dad, so we only had 6 kids. Good times!

Thanks for staying with us Harry, Andrea and Nathan!

Happy BEE-lated Birthday!

My mom's 60th (!) birthday was on April 30th...so what better way to surprise the Queen of All Surprises than to plan a surprise party for her. And what better way to fool the Queen of All April Fool's Jokes than to plan her party early...on April Fool's Day. 

Mom at 6 months and 6 years old.

 Mom at 20 (or so) and recently as a Bee for Halloween.

 Surprise!!!

Mom thought she was just going to brunch with me because I "won a gift certificate for brunch in the preschool silent auction"...and there we all were.

 The private patio at Z Tejas was perfect!

 Bee and my co-conspirator, JoJo.

 One of best parts was that both of her sisters made it. Joyce (right) had been in town from the Panhandle for a wedding - actually staying with my mom that weekend - and my mom had dropped her off at the airport early that morning. But then Debbie drove up from San Antonio and picked Joyce up and Joyce actually flew out the next day. What a stealthy move!

 Bee and Maggie. (Like her corsage?)

 We all wrote messages to Bee completing the sentence: "BEE IS SIXTY, AND ______".

Bee is sixty and happy birthday to You, bee!

 Bee is sixty and pretty and awesome.

 Bee is sixty and the most spunky-fun grandmother ever!

Mom is sixty and is the best Mom EVER!

(PS - don't let Alex deliver cupcakes...high speed chase?)

Mom is sixty and I have a lot to live up to!

 Becky is sixty and she is still a sweetheart.

 Everyone wrote a message - and I put them together for Bee in what might be my favorite MyPublisher book to-date. That plus all the old photos we had of her (on the walls, topping the cupcakes) - made it one of my most favorite parties. Plus the fact that I didn't have to do any of the cooking!

It was a really fun day - I know she was genuinely surprised! Happy Birthday Bee...