An' Another Thing

I LOVE youtube.com. It takes all the crazy randomness of life and puts it all in one searchable place. People just never fail to astound, shock, amuse and entertain me with the things they choose to do. Mostly though, I just enjoy the really random stuff you can find. Here is some guy's Dad singing one of my favorite Lyle Lovett songs. I like how the guy sings and plays, his earnestness and talent and also how that kid in the background ducks behind the corner and then runs across at the end.

About as much fun as...

So have you ever heard anyone say "It's about as much fun as a root canal?" well I guess I'll understand what that means first hand on Monday. I went to the dentist today and happened to mention a little place on my gum that seemed infected. Turns out that the nerve on one of my teeth is abcessed, YUCK. The tooth is fine, it isn't from decay or poor dental hygeine or anything(I just feel like I should say that). He said it may be that because I had braces as an adult, they had to use so much force to move the teeth that it caused damage to the root. Wahh Wahh Wahh, I'm being a big baby about the whole thing! But there really isn't any alternative and left untreated you can actually die of an abcessed tooth, so I guess I'll have to get it over with. They had wanted to do it TODAY and I talked them into waiting so that it dind't interfere with Will's birthday - and I just wanted to put it off a little!

In other news... I knifty knitted a little hat for Bella -


she looked like a super cool skater chick in it (Will says it is too much like the Aggie color but really it is rose pink).

Also notice how well she is holding herself up on her arms! At school her teacher Ms. Isabel told us that they can't put Bella in the bouncer anymore because she kicks with her feet so hard she could tip over! She's getting so big and strong. At her last check up she was 13 pounds, 24 inches long. Dr. Stanley says she will probably not be particularly tall (however my brother is super tall so you never know) but her growth is steady and she is proportional and healthy. To me, she seems to grow overnight!

The other picture is me standing next to the sold sign on our lot. We still haven't heard back from the developer to know if we will for certain be able to build on that lot or not, but we're hoping to hear something on that soon.

This & That

So we have some news, we have begun the process of having a new house built. We fell in love with the model home from the first time we walked in the door and it might seem sudden but in actuality we have been visiting this particular house for many months now. We had the chance to get a lot in a cul de sac which is back in the inside corner of the curve so it is a huge pie shaped lot - plenty of room for play equipment, a deck and maybe even a pool some day. At this point we are cautiously optimistic - there are several hurdles ahead before we will allow ourselves to become too excited. Challenge # 1 is that we are waiting for the developer to approve the house we want on that particular lot as there is already a house with the same floor plan in the cul de sac. The sales agent seemed to think it would be OK as we will have a completely different elevation, brick and stone than the other house. But still, we are waiting to see what their decision will be. The next hurdle will be selling our current house given the not so great market conditions. We have a bottom line dollar amount and if we can't sell the house, or can't sell it for a given level of profit, then the whole deal will be off. So we are trying not to get overly emotional about it, but it's so hard! As I told Will last night, if you aren't excited and emotionally involved then why buy a new house in the first place, but we are trying to not get into a situation where we will be too heartbroken if it doesn't all work out. In other news, Bella is cutting her first tooth, or teeth actually - the bottom front two are coming in together. I had forgotten what sharp little needle points new teeth are when they first start to show and just the jagged tips stick up. Suffice it to say Bella and I are both uncomfortable these days. Jacob is doing great, he has discovered the joy of chapstick and enjoys globbing it on all the time. We are gearing up to move some stuff into storage this weekend and also enjoy some cake for Will's birthday. Bella was up all night so I am exhausted and off to bed.

Party of Four

Tonight we went out to eat at Fiesta Azteca (Big surprise there, I know). I've blogged about this place before - it's very family friendly (read: LOUD) and we go so often that Jacob refers to it as "The Restaurant". When we first arrive, he cracks me up because he really studies the kiddie menu, carefully tracing the words with one finger and kind of mumbling to himself. We ask him what he wants to eat and he replies in a serious way "I want that please" and points to a picture of a sombrero. Next comes his favorite part of the Fiesta Azteca experience, a visit to the ladies room. He loves everything about it, bashing through the swinging saloon doors, dancing around to the blaring mariachi music and waving his hand to make the automatic paper towel dispenser go. Most of all Jacob loves nothing better than to take a big, long, relaxing potty break at The Restaurant. I asked rather hopefully, "So, just pee right?" But, such was not the case. Tonight he hunkered down in his favorite stall for almost 15 minutes, doing his business, swinging his feet, messing with the toilet paper, and singing sea chantey's, something about "Oh, Oh the Deep Blue Sea". I'm truthfully so deeply grateful that he's potty trained that I don't even mind.

Next comes the part I don't enjoy. The part that really makes me want to order an adult beverage. Namely that Jacob hardly eats anything. Finally we manage to get him to eat a few bites of rice, a cup of milk and a bite of quesadilla. I mean, clearly you can look at him and he's not thin or anything, he's perfectly fine and healthy in every way. I think it's just that I'm such a control freak and it bugs me. And then it bugs me that it bugs me if that makes any sense. And it's funny, because our weekly dinner out is almost always the same. We order the same thing (El Torito with beef for me, El Torito with Chicken and no beans for Will), go through the same routine with the bathroom and Jacob not eating and it's loud and we can't even really have a conversation but there's just something about it; we just enjoy being together at the end of the week. It's OURS, our family routine, and it's that our-ness of it more than anything else that I think keeps us going back week after week.

Road Trip Photos

Jumping is What Bella's Do Best

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Waltz Across Texas

Last week our family took a mini vacation - traveling nearly 1,000 miles in four days. On Thursday we left Kingwood and headed with both children to Granbury, Texas. There we met up with Will's parents and visited with Will's grandmother and his aunt and uncle. On Friday, Anabel and Will and I headed to Cedar Park (outside of Austin) while Jacob left with his grandparents. We've discovered that having Jacob spend some time with Will's parents is a wonderful thing for everyone - Anabel gets some one on one time with us, Jacob gets much loving (and silly) undivided attention from his grandparents, and frankly Will and I get a bit of a break. We spent Friday night and Saturday morning at my Mom's house visiting with her and Randy.

On Saturday afternoon we traveled to Corpus Christi to attend a wedding of one of Will's fraternity brothers. We shared a room with our good friends Bill and Angie and had a fun time at the wedding. After a great breakfast and a quick stop to see the bay, we headed back home on Sunday afternoon, eager to be reunited with our son and our dog Lady. Bella was a joy to travel with, I wasn't sure how she would do but she really was a trooper and slept all night each night in her travel bed and was very good considering we had her up at all hours and in and out of the car seat so much. Pictures of the trip are coming soon.

In other news, I'm involved in starting a new bible study at our church, I wanted to start up something that would meet the insane schedule that I and so many other Mom's keep so I thought it would be cool if it was an online bible study that Moms could log onto whenever they had some spare time (you've heard of churches without walls, this would be a church without hours!) I'm scared. Scared on the one hand that it will totally bomb, scared on the other hand that it will totally take off. Hah! Anyway, if you get a moment, pray for me and for the ministry!

New Year's Day

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Happy Nights Are Here Again...

Last night marked the second night in a row that Bella has slept through the entire night. But wait you're thinking didn't I post this already??? Well... the first post was when she began to sleep until 4:30 AM or so. That may not sound so great, but trust me I was grateful! Now she is sleeping ALL the way through - 6:30 AM yesterday (I had to wake her) and then until 7:30 AM this morning when she finally woke on her own. This makes for a very happy, well rested, actually able to think clearly and function Shaun. I had forgotten what 8 straight hours of sleep would do for a person! Woot! Woot! Happy New Years indeed.