29 September 2008

A quick update...

Just a few pictures to keep you all updated...

We have started wearing bigger bows!!!!  :D

We have started using the Bumbo and Jayden loves it!!!

She loves her Luvee too!!

Learning all about football with Dadda!!


A video of Jayden rolling over!!
(I know you already saw it...but this is the full thing...not just the end!)

24 September 2008

Proud Momma and Dadda...

Jayden rolled over from front to back today!!!  Yay!!  I just got the very end of it...but it is enough!

23 September 2008

Road Trip '08 Continued

To continue our adventure...

After we spent a couple of days at Grandma Mary's we headed to Edmond, OK to visity cousins Mary Ann and Dana.  I had so much fun catching up with my cousins!  On Wednesday we went church and I got to see a few of my friends from college.  Thursday Mary Ann and I took Joel and Jayden to the Zoo!  It was great!  I love the Zoo!  :)

Thursday, after the Zoo, we headed to Wayne, OK to see Grandma Helen and Grandpa Jack.  Friday we went to the Senior Citizen Center for Grandma's birthday lunch.  She had a great time showing Jayden off to all of her friends.  

Saturday I headed to Arlington, TX to visit Oma and Opa (my mom and dad) and Grandma Mary was there.  She went down there after I left her house.  I got spoiled seeing her so much on this trip!  We went to Lafe's soccer game and he did so well.  He was so exhausted and hot.  It was down right cruel that they had him out there the whole game!  He was trying so hard to keep up with the pack and he kicked the ball several times!  Dispite being tired he did a great job.  He was so tired that when they called the game he ran to the sideline with a huge smile on his face and said, "Did you hear that Mom...the game is over!!!"  Hehe...he is soooo cute!  Sunday we went to church and my friends Jill and Jennifer came to church from Ft. Worth.  I got to see so many people on this trip that I didn't expect to see!  It was great!!  Monday we cleaned out mom and dad's room because they were having a guy come stretch the carpet.  It was a busy day, but we still got to enjoy each other!

I left Monday afternoon to come home and we still didn't have power.  About an hour from home...I was on the phone with Travis and the power came on!  It had come on just in time to cool the house down for us! :)  It was great!  

While I enjoyed my trip completely...and Jayden was absolutely wonderful with all the traveling...I am sooo glad I am home!!!

To see all the pictures from the trip just go to the link to the right that says "Pictures...Yay"

19 September 2008

We Got Iked

Post By Travis:

I am sure most of you know that we are safe and sound after the recent hurricane. Jana and Jayden we off on their planned road trip, and so I stuck around to brave the storm alone. We got out of work early on Thursday so that those who needed to prepare could do so.

I got home to find my next door neighbor boarding up his windows, which made me think that perhaps I was taking this storm too lightly. I still would have done nothing, except that he had a bunch of extra wood, so I went ahead and boarded up the four front facing windows on the bottom floor.

On Friday I spent most of the day just hauling everything from the outside indoors somewhere. Most items found a home in the garage, and the dog kennels got moved into the living room where I planned to sleep that night as the storm hit.

Seeing as how the storm was set to hit around 1:00 am, I popped a movie into the DVD player and was just about to hit play when the power shut off... that's right, at 9:10 PM without so much as a drop of rain, or gust of wind, I lost power.

So now, completely unprepared, I made my way to the garage (detached from the house) in the dark to get my flashlight only to find that the chrager had not been plugged in properly and the thing was useless.

So candles got lit inside, but it was only about 9:45 by the time I decided I would just go ahead and try to sleep.

Around 3 in the morning I woke up to the sound of wind, but the experience was surreal. I could not see. I mean, it was darker than ANYTHING I had ever experienced. I literally touched my eyelashes with my finger, and still could not see my finger or even detect movement.

So by the light of my cell phone I walked to the back windows to see out into the yard... but the blackness was impenetrable, so I went back to sleep.

The next morning it was drizzling rain and still fairly windy. I didn't wake up until about 9:30, well after the eye passed directly over Kingwood. So time to survey the damage. I looked out back to see a small tree had been knocked over, doing no damage to anything around. It fell away from the new fence I had built a few weeks back, into the middle of the yard.

Out front, one branch lay in my front yard, along with plenty of sticks, but the typical summer storm accounts for that much. So I thought to myself, wow, all that hype for nothing. I walked my street, and most of my neighbors fared the same. A small tree here or there, 2 fences with segments knocked down or leaning, but on the whole, not much had happened.

Reaching the end of the block I was shocked... literally 1 block in any direction there were HUGE trees laying across roads, cars and houses. One house a block over had 3 enormous pine trees resting on the roof. It was about here that I realized just how devastating this storm was.

Later in the day I drove over to the Woodlands to hang with Mom and Pop. They had a generator powering their fridge and freezer, so it was nice to have a hot meal. I stayed there that night, a night in which we got hit my more storms caused by an incoming cold front.

So the waters rose, but I still thank God for the cold front because it made the next few days tolerable if not down right enjoyable.

I headed back home to start the cleanup, and all of my neighbors were out, cleaning raking, and the kids were playing football in the cul-de-sac.

The next two nights, without power, we had block parties in which people brought watever was going to spoil from their homes and we cooked out.

After that I was invited over to Bob and Teri Ethington's (our preacher) and we ate dinner there with the Mahlers, and Jen DeChillo, and we even roasted Smore's on Bob's fire pit.

On the way home that night I got the call that our building downtown was safe to enter, so I was to head into work the next day (Wed).

I work in the Chase tower downtown, and for those of you who are not familiar with it, it is the tallest building in Houston at 75 floors, and was by FAR the hardest hit buidling in downtown. All of the pictures of office buildings that I have seen from any source are ALL of the Chase tower.

I work on 48 which did not lose a single window. 47 and 46 did, and floors 1-about 35 lost almost every window on the east side.

So as it sits now (Friday) I am in my office, working away, but still do not have power at the house, nor do I expect I will before Monday.

Jana and Jayden are still in OK, and are planning on coming home Sunday if we have power, or Monday if we dont.

I am anxious to see them, but know it would not be comfortable for them to be in that house with no power all day long. My nights since Wed have comprised of walking the dogs and reading books, of which I am about to finish my 2nd.

All in all we made out very well. I can complain about not having power, but then all I have to do is drive through my neighborhood and see trees down, huge holes in homes, store fronts ripped off, and 2 hour lines for gas stations that are operating, and I count my blessings.

There were many who were very adversley affected by this storm, but it intrigues me that the media has given it very little coverage when all we heard for months was news about Katrina.

The difference was poigniently pointed out to me by one of my colleagues. Here we were out in droves cleaning our yards, cleaning our neighborhoods, helping each other, and making the best of what we were dealt. This city came together in a spirit of service and solidarity. There were communities coming together to push through instead of waiting for a goverment to save them.

I am proud of the people of this city, Houston at large, and Kingwood specifically. I ask all of you to please keep Galveston, Houston, and the surrouding areas in your prayers. The need here is great, as you will see from the photos. There were no levees to break, but the aftermath is very Katrina-like and we need to not forget that there are many suffering, and many more "getting through".

If you want to pray specifically for power to come on at my house so I don't go insane this weekend, that would be appreciated to :)

Sorry for the long post.

God Bless,
Travis

15 September 2008

Road Trip '08

Hello everyone! I am going to make this brief...

Yes...we are safe! :) Jayden and I started our Road Trip '08 on Thursday morning to avoid all the hurrican traffic and have been on the road since.

We started by going to Lara Jane's house for a Stamp N' Stack party. It was soo much fun! The cousins loved getting to play with Jayden and we had some great sister time! Dava Lynn and Juli Beth were able to make it too. The only one not able to come was Kari Ann and we all missed her so much!

On Saturday we traveled to Paris, Tx to see Kari Ann. We spent Saturday night and went to church with them in the morning. Again, the cousins had a blast playing with Jayden. That was the first time Kari Ann had gotten to see Jayden! It is so much fun watching my family love on her. After church on Sunday, we headed to McAlester, OK.

So, here I am at my grandma Mary's. We are just playing around today and having fun with my Great Aunt Edna. I am going to go weed Grandma's garden here pretty soon. We are going to stay here until Tuesday and then head to Edmond, OK to see my cousins Mary Ann and Dana. I will post more there if I get a free moment.

**Travis is safe in Kingwood. We lost one tree in the back yard and it didn't fall on the house or anything...just into the yard. He is without power and has been since Friday at 9pm. We dont' know when they will restore power, but he has been able to go to the grocery store to get some food that won't spoil. :)

I will keep you updated as we travel along. Love you all!

07 September 2008

Sleeping Baby...

Yesterday we had a good day.  We were productive and relaxed...a perfect Saturday!  We woke up and went to the church to help move our Sunday classroom furniture to another room and then went to lunch with a few friends.  Travis and I introduced them all to Pete's Burgers.  This place has the best burgers in town!  We found it by accident one day when we were driving to Home Depot and realized we hadn't eaten lunch yet.  We looked over on the side of the road and there was this little shack with the name "Pete's Burgers".  So...we stopped and boy were we glad!!  I'm telling ya...they are awesome burgers!

Anyway...after lunch we headed to The Woodlands to let Pop and Mimi babysit while Travis and I went on a date to the movies.  We went to see The Mummy and it was actually pretty cute.  We like that whole series, although, the first is definitely better than than the rest.  :)

After the movie we headed back to Pop and Mimi's to eat dinner and shortly after, we headed for home.  Jayden had a hard time getting to sleep because she has been so congested lately.  But when we finally got her to sleep she stayed asleep and didn't wake us up until 6:41am.  She slept for just over 8.5 hours!  We were soooo pleased! :)  She has been a great sleeper from the beginning, but we sure are enjoying the more frequent nights of solid sleep.

The other day I was sitting on the couch, checking my email while Jayden was asleep in the Pack n' Play.  All of a sudden something caught my eye:

05 September 2008

Murderous Dogs!

Okay...we have already established that our dogs kill for fun.  Nikki kills squirrels and birds.  Cooper kills a snake, frogs and huge bees, wasps and dragonflies.  We have just come to accept that our dogs like to hunt and are really good at it.  We have tried to convince them that they do not need to bring us presents, however...the game just got bigger!
Now...I think this poor animal has been hidden in the yard and drug around like a toy because our dogs have not been left out all night for several days.  They are usually in their kennels at night, but sometimes we give them a little freedom.  Poor animal...

03 September 2008

2 Month Check Up

Wow...2 months already!  I just blinked and she went from 2 weeks to 2 months!  Ugh...she is getting so big...and sleeping most of the night!  She hasn't slept less than 6 1/2 hours in a long time.  She averages between 7 to 8 hours a night.  We are getting lots of sleep!

The doctor says she looks good and is really strong for 2 months.  He was impressed.  He is so funny.  He is extremely happy about the fact that I am not working and still breastfeeding.  He has to be the biggest advocate for it.  Anyway...we are right on track...here are her "stats":

Weight: 10lb 9oz (44%)
Height: 22 1/2 inches (58%)
Head: 37 something inches (15%)

So...our little one is average weight, long body and tiny head...Yay!! :)  

She got her shots today too.  She was NOT happy!!  She was holding onto my finger for dear life and crying so hard she wasn't breathing.  She does that sometimes, briefly, if she has really bad gas, but this kid held her breath for the entire thing!!!!  As soon as I picked her up though, she stopped crying, and every time the nurse looked over at her she started to quiver the bottom lip again.  The poor thing!  She was fine for a few hours, but then around 3:00pm she started crying harder than I had ever heard her cry before.  I could tell she was in pain.  I gave her some more tylenol and she seems to be okay now.  She just wants to sleep mostly.  I'm going to try and feed her now...we will see how that goes...
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