Road Warriors

2 weekends. 1,100 miles. Only 1 hour of “in the car sleep” by Tate. 3 sanity-saving DVDs.

We have had 2 back-to-back weekend road trips and lived to tell about it. Actually, it wasn’t near as bad as I’m sure it could’ve been. I still don’t know how people travelled with small children for long distances without a DVD player, but for now, I’ve embraced the technology and have appreciated it so much.

Our first trip was to Little Rock. It seemed fast and furious, but we still loved every minute of being with some of our favorite people, Bert, Paige, & Anna. We planned the trip around a bike race that Wade wanted to ride in. I guess the Arkansas hills didn’t slow him down too much, because he was done before we could even make it to the finish line.


Afterwards, we enjoyed walking across 1 of the 6 (I think?) pedestrian bridges they’ve built across the water. It was the cutest thing seeing Anna & Tate hold hands walking down the bridge. And throughout the entire trip, Tate couldn’t get enough of Anna. He loved playing with her and asked for her first thing when he woke up in the mornings. She was so sweet and patient with him and did a great job sharing all of her toys.

On Saturday night, we headed to a cute outdoor Harvest Fest for dinner and some walking around. I was pretty excited to see snippets of a fashion show that featured their hometown hero, Korto, from Project Runway. I love that show, and she is my favorite and pick to win. I never got to see her in person but could hear her over the speaker.

As always, we had a great time with lots of laughing and fun.

The next weekend, we headed south to San Antonio to see my college roommate, Garyn, Zach, and their brand new baby girl, Campbell.

Tate and Wade stayed for the first 2 days and then flew home by themselves. You can read all about that little adventure here. I stayed 2 more days to get in lots of dedicated baby time.

I loved every minute of getting to meet Campbell and be with Garyn as we talked all things baby. We even got to check a big first off the list…the first trip to the grocery store with the baby. I remember that being really scary and intimidating at first.

They are all doing so great, and Campbell is such a sweet baby (who also sleeps 6-7 hours at night already!!!). I'm so happy for Garyn & Zach as they enter this incredibly challenging and rewarding new chapter.

Let The Training Begin…Again

Since I have about zero self-discipline when it comes to regular exercise, my method of motivation is to participate in a process that costs money and may ultimately result in losing a toe nail. Sound like fun?

Actually, it is. I (along with my Dad, sister, brother-in-law, and several friends) will be doing the White Rock Half Marathon in December. I completed it last year as a very weak attempt to get into some kind of post-baby shape. Sadly, my training wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. But hey, I finished.

So this time around, I still plan to be one of “those” walkers (no running for this girl), but surely I can take the training a little more seriously and beat my time.

And yes, even with a Half Marathon, you lose toe nails. Gross, but I must speak the truth. I’ll spare the details of what happened after I completed a full marathon in 2004.

So let the training begin!

I Heart The Office

September 19

I remember an older couple telling me that even 30+ years after their miscarriage, they still remember the due date for that baby. This was the 3rd September 19 that has come around and caused pause. As I wrote last year, the sting is much less now, but the day still holds a special place in my heart.

I just recently had a memory of that experience that had been tucked away and forgotten. We were with Wade’s family at a restaurant for dinner a month after the miscarriage. I hadn’t seen my niece (who was 6 years old at the time) since she heard the news. As everyone was catching up and talking, Mary Tish looked over at me and sweetly said, “I’m sorry your baby died.” The tears flowed because that little sentence meant so much at the time.

If you have someone around you that goes through this experience, follow my niece’s example, and all you have to say is you’re sorry.

The Latest With Tate

It has been so long since I’ve written an update on Tate. He’s now 21 months old and is a busy, busy boy. It’s funny because I’m realizing now that he has always been busy. Even from the early months of kicking his legs non-stop, and now he’s a little boy on the move.


You can barely tell that he’s been walking less than 2 months except for when he gets ahead of himself and thinks he can run like a 5 year old. That usually ends with a face plant onto the ground. But I have to give him credit; he usually just pops right up and keeps going. I absolutely LOVE seeing him walk/run all over the place (non-stop). It makes my heart so grateful for all of the help we’ve had and the hard work he’s put into the physical therapy. It has paid off.

The downside of his constant motion is, well, it’s constant. Seriously, he doesn’t stop moving. I guess he’s making up for some lost time. We are also having a hard time teaching him that he has to hold someone’s hand at certain places (like parking lots!!!). He wants to just go. And if you try to hold his hand and he doesn’t want to, he’ll just go limp and fall on the ground (sometimes while laughing). Needless to say, he quickly loses his walking privileges at that point.



He had a good ‘ol time with cousin Mallory’s baby stroller when they were in town awhile ago. He did about 100 laps pushing it through my parent’s house.

Also with the mobility has come the new skill of climbing. He loves to climb up in chairs and on the couch. He doesn’t do it as much now, but there was a period of about 2 weeks that he would climb on and stand up on his train table. I just about wore a path in the carpet for time outs for that. He seems to have gotten the message, though, and doesn’t do it much anymore. The train table has now actually turned into a car table. The wooden tracks don’t stay together well and seem to be a little too frustrating for him right now. Maybe we'll try again in a few months. But this kid is CRAZY for cars. He can play with them forever and “drives” them on any open path he can find.

And poor Macy. The good thing is that she has a friend for life. Tate loves Macy. The bad news is that Tate loves her so much, he is in her business all of the time. And Macy is such the sweet dog, that she just sits there and lets him harass her. It’s pretty sweet and kind of sad at the same time. We’re working really hard on what it means to be “gentle” and that it's not OK to stick your finger up her nose. :)

Food is a little bit better. He’s added a few items to his repertoire, but meals can still be a challenge. And the fork/spoon feeding makes them still very messy.

As far as his treatment goes, he gets to cut back to physical therapy once a week instead of twice. But now, we are going to add one occupational and one speech therapy session a week. Everyone seems to think there isn’t a huge concern and it will be short term, but it will help him get caught up on a few skills. The therapists say it’s pretty common for kids with low muscle tone, because they’ve spent so much time on the big physical therapy skills.

Although it’s been the most challenging so far in the area of discipline, this has been the most fun stage as far as interaction goes. I love watching him discover new things and try to communicate. I know it will only get more fun. Here's his play phone that he talks to Mimi on.

He is a bundle of energy and absolutely loves to say Hi and Bye to anyone and everyone that is in his line of vision. He gives the cutest hugs and kisses. He is the sweetest little cuddle bug right before he goes to bed and likes me to sing Jesus Loves Me to him in the rocking chair. He LOVES all 4 of his grandparents and gets upset if we are anywhere near their houses and don’t go see them. Here’s a video of his favorite cuckoo clock at MoMere’s house.

He is truly our delight making our days so much fun, and we are thankful for him every single minute.

Fun With Ike

It looks as though Hurricane Ike is proving to not be as bad as once thought. We’ve heard good reports from all of those we know in the Houston area and hope and pray that continues for everyone.

For us, Ike’s rain started this morning and stayed around most of the day, but it ended up not being anywhere near as bad as the forecasters said. Pretty much just slow and steady rain all day. Our yard thanks you, Ike. And so does Tate.

He absolutely LOVED getting to go outside and play in the rain some this afternoon.

PS: A much-delayed update on Tate coming soon.

I Love A Rainy Night

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? I just had to copy Susan and post one of my all-time favorite songs. I could sing this song at the top of my lungs with any kind of weather, but nothing beats dancing around to Eddie Rabbit on a cloudy, overcast, rainy night like tonight. And the flash back to Solid Gold is pretty hilarious as well. Enjoy!

A Bumpy Milestone

Tate accomplished a new milestone today. I'm assuming (and somewhat hoping) it's one that most all kids do at some point in time...not just my child. He fell down a flight of stairs. He is completely OK with no bumps or bruises. We were at a new friend's house (what an introduction) for a play date. I've been working with him on going down the stairs for awhile and was standing right by him when he lost his balance and starting bumping and rolling all the way down.

It took about 45 minutes for us both to stop crying. Not sure if we'll be invited back! :)

The day started early as "one of those days" even before the stairs ordeal, so I'm absolutely thrilled to be going to a Girl's Night tonight.

TGIF everyone!

Second Verse (Not Quite) Same As The First

Confession time. I’ve been known to like boy bands. I was a NKOTB (New Kids on the Block for all of the non-fans) junkie and went to 3 concerts throughout the pre-teen years. Then into the early adult years, I was seen at 2 different ‘N Sync concerts (one of which even included sporting some body glitter!). And of course, now we have JT to enjoy. Love him!

So imagine my excitement to hear the newest New Kids’ album/CD/song on ITunes/whatever you’re supposed to call it these days. I recorded The View to see them perform. And the verdict...

Wow, I feel old. And wow, they’ve gotten old. The voices aren’t quite the same. And the dance moves just make me laugh. I’m sure this means my fan club membership from 1988 will be immediately cancelled, but I can’t help but wonder what happened.

Have I lost my youthful spirit? Have I just grown up? Or do boy bands only work with boys? The real question, though, is which one was your favorite? I was always a Donny girl. Now it’s your turn to spill the beans on your NKOTB crush…

Bye Bye Summer

Since we don’t have school calendars yet to tell us summer is over, our signal that the long days are coming to an end is that the outdoor pool is closing. To enjoy every splash that we could, we went swimming 3 times this weekend.

Tate can’t get enough of the water. And excuse the goofy life jacket, but he also has absolutely NO fear when it comes to the water.

We have loved packing a lunch and coming to the pool just about every Sunday morning (yet another plus to going to church on Saturday nights) and watching Tate have a blast.

To really make the most of the last day of the pool, he went down the water slide all by himself. It’s still pretty hard to believe that 2 months ago he wasn’t even walking and today he walked across the bridge and went down the slide on his own.

Bye Bye summer. It’s been fun.