Santa!

O met Santa this weekend.  She wasn't having much of it, though she didn't cry.  She was kind of emotionless about it.  I'll attach the pictures that I took later, but to see some go here.  Select the event on 12/12/09 vs. Sharks, and then gallery 12.  Our pictures are 38, 39 & 40.  Enjoy!

Baby alligator, snakes found in university dorm

Only in Arkansas:

Baby alligator, snakes found in university dorm

Bath Time

I don't know why but O has started squinting when she smiles for the camera.  It's really pretty funny but we're going to have to work on it.   The pictures below are from her bath the other night.  The ones with the dry hair are in her bath tub.

Look at that curly hair!

And the pictures with wet hair are in my bath tub post poop.  Yes, she pooped in the bath again.  I suppose I'm pretty lucky since she doesn't do it that often.  I think that she is getting closer and closer to being interested in potty training though because it really freaked her out that it was in the water with her and she has started stopping and squatting whenever she poops in her diaper.  I know you all were interested in that bit of information.

She got her flu shot last week.  Finally.  She didn't cry at all when she got the shot.  I was very surprised.  She also weighed in at 28 lb. 10 oz.  I don't know her height but will update everyone after her 18 month appointment next week.

I Wanna Be Like Mom!

Just some pictures of O trying on my pajama pants (isn't she so cute with pigtails!).

 

Don't forget to check out my other blog called Moms Questions!

Thanksgiving

We survived!  That's the big news I guess.  O was wonderful on both plane rides and even slept for part of both legs.  Never in a million years did we expect that.  I didn't even bring a magazine or anything else to read expecting to have our hands full with her, but I really could have used some reading material after all.

We got to Austin on Wednesday and went up to Ryan's house where we were staying.  We chilled most of the day and had some barbecue for dinner from a place called Rudy's.  It was very good but I'm still a Memphis Barbecue girl. Ryan's dad, Mike, and brother and sister-in-law, Jason and Amanda came over as well for dinner and some Painkillers (a drink that my parents and Erin and Ryan discovered on their trips to the Virgin Islands and Ryan has recreated).  Awesome!  As you can tell, we had some fun.

Olivia is wearing my shoes but wanted to get in the boots.  It didn't really work.

This is Little Eddie.  He is Ryan's pirate (don't ask).  We took his patch and bandana off and put it on O.

 Some others got in on the act too.

On Thursday we went to my Uncle Larry's house for dinner and it was wonderful.  We had so much fun with everyone.  My entire family on my mom's side was there including two fiancees who will be joining the family next year.  Welcome Ryan and Jose!   

Here are some pictures from that day.

On Friday we drove from Austin to The Woodlands.  My mom was so excited that O finally got to go to their house.  We thought stairs might pose a problem since our house doesn't have any and she didn't have any experience with them but she put our fears to rest at Ryan's as she had no problem going up and down with a little help.  The only problem we had was that she wanted to go up and down over and over.  She had also shown us at the Goodyear Ballpark that she was fine with stairs.

We hosted a baby shower for my friend Renee on Saturday so we had a houseful of women.  It was a lot of fun and it was great to see several of my high school friends.  On Saturday night Tom and Melanie came over with their daughter Riley to watch the Baylor game and hang out.  And I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the girls, but Mel did so when I get some pictures from her I'll post them.

Sunday we just relaxed and my Uncle Andy came over for dinner.  O loved the lights my dad had put out so we ran around outside.

 

On Monday we came home.  As much as we didn't want to go home it was nice to be back in our own house and to sleep in our own beds.  I hope all of you had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did!

New Site!

I wanted to let all of you know about my new website called Moms Questions.  I started it to get conversations going about being a mom (or dad) and raising kids and the worries and questions that come up in day to day life.  And then some.

Please check it out, comment, make suggestions, tell your friends!  Let me know how I could make it better or improve my writing.

I will still keep this blog going for a while, but eventually hope to move everything to that site.

Enjoy and thanks!

Prematurity Awareness Month

For those of you not aware, this month is Prematurity Awareness Month, and today is Blog For Preemies day. 

I was lucky enough to not have to deal with the heartache and stress that comes with having a preemie, but follow stories of those that have.  Not all stories end up happy, but one that did is documented on a blog called Our Stork Got Lost.  It deals with prematurity as well as infertility in a wonderfully humorous but serious way.  The willingness of these people to share their story, and the courage they display is inspiring.  (I went to high school with Jeff but haven't seen him in years - I give him, and his wife Kerry, so much credit for displaying their life and struggles to the public and putting themselves out there for scrutiny.  You'll see what I mean when I say scrutiny.) 

The strength of parents that have children born 10 or 12 weeks early amazes me.  The months their babies have to spend in the NICU must be agonizing.  I don't know if I could do it and I pray that I never have to. 

I didn't realize, though, that my chances of having a premature baby are higher here in the United States than in most other developed countries.  According to the March of Dimes the U.S. gets a "D" grade when it comes to the number of premature births.  In the U.S. alone more than 540,000 babies are born prematurely (that's 1 out of every 8 births!).  And worldwide the number is around 13 million.

So why is this the case?  Why has the percentage of premature births grown so drastically in the last 20 years? 

Most of the time there is no particular reason for a woman going into premature labor.  But there are precautions that can be taken to help prevent a premature delivery.  The March of Dimes website has some wonderful suggestions for pregnant women to help them stay pregnant for their full term.  It gives some great information on prematurity for moms, families and professionals.  It also gives you ideas on what you can do, pregnant or not, to help fight prematurity.

Arizona's budget

I have been meaning to post this link for a while now.  I don't really know what took me so long.  It might have to do with a certain seriously teething 17-month old.

Anyway, most of you have seen the posts I've put up in the past about how Arizona is in a serious budget crisis right now.  Most agencies have laid off employees throughout this year in an effort to reduce costs.  I've been lucky enough to make it through two rounds of lay-offs at my agency.

Just recently the Governor asked all agencies to put together a proposal for what they would cut should they be required to reduce by another 15%.  These can all be found on the Office of Strategic Planning & Budgeting's website.  My agency is Administration.  To go directly to ADOA's proposal click here.  Go to page 62 for the Human Resources Division section.  The gist of the document for HR says that if ADOA were to cut the amount requested in the proposal then HR would essentially go away completely.

If that happened all the agencies would be required to handle the HR duties that ADOA currently does (HRIS entry, recruiting, employee relations, etc.).  The problem, though, is that the agencies that we help out are saying that if they have to cut 15% they will cut their HR department as well and give everything that we aren't already doing back to us.  Ummm, hello?  There is going to be no HR anywhere!  It just can't work!

It still remains to be seen if something will come of these proposals.  Our Governor is still pushing for a temporary tax increase to help offset the deficit we have but the Legislature isn't having any of it.  There still is not a budget passed for FY2010 (which started July 1).  I think that they are getting ready to start a 4th special session to try to get things worked out.

So that's where we are.  Who knows when we'll ever get in the black again.

Halloween 2009!

Halloween was a crazy day for us this year.  We had a garage sale (more on that in a different post) and then went to the Coyotes' game.  I didn't think O is ready for the whole trick or treating gig this year, but we'll definitely try next year.  My parents were also in town so we wanted to make sure they got to at least one game this year.

We carved pumpkins for the first time since John and I have been married.  I think our jack-o-lanterns turned out pretty good.  I free-handed, and John used a pattern.

John deciding which pattern to use.

 O enjoyed playing with the guts more than anything

I guess before we had a baby we never really got that in to decorating for the holidays.  Sure, I'd put a few things out for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but now that O is here I want to make sure she has great holidays, and that means decorating.  It's actually kind of fun!

I went a little overboard with the pictures but O was so cute as Supergirl.  I just couldn't resist.  Enjoy!

This costume was so cute.  I had to get it from all angles.

Up, up and away!!!

Supergirl has to re-fuel at some point

Christmas ideas

I received a couple of e-mails this week for fundraisers that are currently going on.  No, I'm not going to ask you for money or anything like that.  I wanted to give you guys some links to take a look at because, not only are they fundraisers for some really great causes, but they are also great ideas for Christmas gifts.  We have less than two months worth of shopping days remaining!

The first is for our friends Tom and Melanie.  They adopted their adorable daughter Riley in April 2007 and are currently going through the adoption process again in the hopes of bringing another beautiful child into their family.  Unfortunately the adoption process is not cheap so they are doing their own "fundraiser".  Basically a percentage of proceeds from their Just Love Coffee! storefront go to them to help defray some of their costs.  If you love coffee, and I know a lot of you out there do, this is a great site!

The second is for the Rhodes College Softball program.  This is a program that is near and dear to me having played for Rhodes for 4 years.  They are taking a trip to Florida over Spring Break - yes, they will be playing not just laying on the beach!  One of the fundraisers they are doing has to do with gift cards.  With Shop With Scrip, you go online and purchase gift cards for everyday expenses such as gasoline, groceries, dining out, home improvement, etc.   There are over 600 retail chains available, including Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Applebees to name a few.  When you purchase a gift certificate, Rhodes Softball receives a percentage of the sale.  The percentage differs for each retain chain, but ranges from 2-25%.  The next order Coach Hicks will be placing is on November 3 so if you want to get a jump on some gifts this is a really good chance to do it.

Ordering Instructions

·         Go to www.shopwithscrip.com

·         On the right hand side, click “not a member.”

·         Enter your information.  For “student name,” enter the name of the student you want proceeds from your purchases to benefit.

·         On the next page, you will be asked for our organizational code.  It is 5C6798E21757L

·         You are ready to begin shopping.  Again, you will find hundreds of retailers, restaurants, gas stations, just about anything you want. 

·         When you have placed your order, you will come to a screen that will ask you to print a page and mail it, with your payment, to Coach Hicks at Rhodes.  Mail your check and this form.  Coach Hicks will place orders on the 10^th of the month, and by the end of that month, your gift cards will be mailed to you. 

If you have any questions about either of these, please let me know.