The Best Happenings

Christmas Pictures and a HUGE milestone (@ least for this mama!!)

2011-12-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

A sweet friend of mine took pictures of the twins for Christmas cards and they also happened to be their 7 month pictures. I couldn't be more excited about how they turned out...especially since we were on the verge of the great stomach bug of 2011.

You can't tell, but Hannah's onesie says "You better not pout!" and Brady's says "You better not cry!" I was so glad to get some great pictures of them and ones that definitely show off their sweet personalities. (and Hannah's ornery streak!)

This last picture is how we spent probably 75% of the first "session". Hannah would steal an ornament and Brady would scream. Pretty much sums up life @ our house these days. I'm just waiting for the day that he steals something from her. The world might just come to an end!!

Hannah-@ 7 months you are 17lb., 27 inches long, and your head is 17 1/4 inches. That puts you in the 50% for weight, 75% for height, and 90% for head.

You are wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes
You wear mostly size 2 shoes as long as they are narrow enough to stay on your feet.
You LOVE to eat. Your favorites are puffs, sweet potatoes, apple sauce and peas.
You sleep 11-12 hours @ night, and you are taking 2-3 hour to hour and a half naps during the day. Just depends on how tired you are. We're trying to phase out one of the naps so that hopefully you will take two solid naps.
In true female fashion you LOVE to shop. You love to smile and talk to people as you ride around like a big girl in the cart.
You are sitting up by yourself like a pro and you are starting to pull your legs up under you some, so I have no doubt you will be crawling soon.
You still just have your 2 bottom teeth, but you have 4 coming in on the top.
You have discovered Rocky and Boudreaux and try to terrorize them every chance you can get.
Your favorite toy is still the jumper, but you and Brady discovered the wonderful world of Little People this month and those are quickly becoming favorites...word has it that Santa is planning on bringing you some...
When you are sitting in our laps, you love to flip yourself over backwards. So much so that I feel the need to warn anyone that holds you to beware of your backbends!!
You had the worst diaper rash ever this last month all thanks to a bout with strep, which won you your first antibiotic and antibiotic diaper cream.
You are a happy baby and you have such a sweet personality.

Brady-@ 7months you are also 17lb, 27 3/4 inches long, and your head is 18 inches. That puts you in the 25% for weight, 75% for height and 95% for head.

You are wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 months clothes. If they were long enough and we could get your big head through them, you would still be wearing a long of your 3-6 months clothes b/c you are such a skinny thing.
You wear size 2 shoes and LOVE to wear them.
You are a good eater and will eat just about anything we put in front of you. Your favorites right now are blueberries, oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, and of course puffs.
You sleep 11-12 hours @ night also, however, if one of you is going to wake up in the middle of the night, it's you 99% of the time b/c you need your paci. You take 3 solid naps a day. We're trying to phase one of them out, but you are having a harder time with that than your sister.
You like to ride in the cart or stroller and just flash that big 'ol grin @ anybody that will pay attention. You are definitely a flirt and you LOVE to talk to anyone who will listen.
You blow the best razberries.
You are sitting up great also, however, you are totally content to just sit there. You have no desire to roll anywhere, and you are showing NO signs what-so-ever of being the least bit interested in crawling.
You just got your bottom two front teeth over Thanksgiving. And boy were you ever a slobbery mess!
You love Rocky and Boudreaux, and anytime you can get your hands on them, you do!
You love to play with anything you can chew on, but mostly whatever you sister hasn't stolen from you.
You are still my little snuggler and you love to be rocked to sleep, but will also put yourself to sleep too.
You are such a giggly little boy and so much fun to have around.

The big news around our house this week and is that thanks to a horrible stomach bug, we are now bottle free and officially on just sippy cups. Last week they were both sick so we spent several days on just pedialyte, which they got in sippy cups. So, yesterday when I started to give them 1/2 strength formula, I put it in their sippy cups to see if they would take, it and they did. So we are officially going to pack up the bottles this weekend as soon as I can get a rubbermaid tub to put them in.

Well, I guess I should get off of here and go to bed since they will be up in 5 short hours.

Bathing Beauties

2011-11-29T22:32:00.001-08:00

Bath time is a definite favorite activity @ our house these days. The challenge being that the babies want to sit up and play all the time, and I haven't gotten them seats for the bathtub yet, so some days that is a challenge. Right before Thanksgiving, I was doing stuff in the kitchen one night and needed to give Hannah a bath, so I decided to just let her play in the sink. To say that she loved it would be an understatement. She splashed and played for a good 45 minutes while I got a bunch of cleaning done. (Brady had skipped his nap that afternoon, so he went to bed @ around 6:45 that night and missed out on all the fun.) Tonight I remembered to put my camera in the kitchen before we got started, and was rewarded with some absolutely adorable pictures of my sweeties.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brady...the look on his face just makes me laugh.

I'd like to know what the two of them were conspiring in the picture, or if Brady was plotting against Hannah since she kept reaching over to his side of the sink and stealing his toys!!

Sweet girl...you can see some of her curly hair in this picture. I miss her cupie curl she had as a tiny baby.

It's so fun to see them accomplish new things every day. Hannah figured out how to turn herself in a circle in the sink tonight, so we spent quite awhile just turning in circles. And Brady did eventually figure out how to turn the sink on, so I had to turn him around in the sink to get him away from the handle. Such fun memories!!

Bad Mom Moment #2...

2011-11-22T22:37:00.001-08:00

Well, I spoke too soon. Shortly after I posted on Sunday, both kids woke up with 102 fevers. Hannah only wanted to be held, even after the Motrin and Tylenol kicked in, so I knew she really felt bad. Brady was a trooper, however, there was one point where I was curled up in the recliner with both of them in my lap. Hannah had started to have a little bit of a diaper rash before we went to church on Sunday, but I didn't think anything of it, b/c it doesn't take much for her to get a little red. Just slapped some Corona on there and went to church and made sure the girls in the nursery put some on her when they changed her. It didn't look too red when we got home from church, but by the time she woke up with fever it was flaming red. So I went to option 2 and did Lantiseptic. That didn't help, so I tried every other kind of diaper rash ointment I have (which is about 6 other kinds) and nothing was helping. Finally, I just left her laying on a towel in the living room floor without a diaper. That didn't even help. By the time we went to bed Sunday night it was all but bleeding, and by the time we got up Monday morning it was bleeding. I had to get up several times in the night to change her, b/c everytime she was wet or dirty, she would wake up just screaming bloody murder. I felt so bad for her. So Monday morning when we got up, I did what any good mom would do, and I texted some of my fellow mom friends who happen to also be nurses, and asked for their suggestions. We finally decided that I had exhausted all options and should call the doctor so I did...and after listening to the description of the rash and then her fevers, etc. she said she wanted to see Hannah. Can I just tell you how incompetent I felt as a mom @ that point?? For pete's sake, I am a nurse and a PICU nurse @ that...there is no reason on earth that my child should have a diaper rash like that!!! Long story short, took her to the pediatrician and she tested positive for strep. Never realized that strep could give you that bad of a diaper rash, but apparently it can, so now we are on antibiotics, and having to occasionally give her prescription pain medicine so that she can sleep some. Praying that she will at least sleep a little better tonight than she did last night. No sleep @ night makes her a bear!!! She can skip naps, but sister needs a full 12 hours @ night.

The Weekend

2011-11-20T11:51:00.001-08:00

We have had a pretty chill weekend around here. It's been nice. I worked Friday night, so my mom and Billy had the kids yesterday morning, and then once I got up we just hung out. I didn't get a bit of the cleaning done that I needed to, but we got to spend some good time together, so I'll just deal with the dirty house later. Last night we ran to Amarillo to do some grocery shopping. It was so nice for there to be two of us so that we could each push a cart with a baby in it instead of me having to sling one of the babies while the other one rode in the cart. And the babies LOVED getting to sit up and see all the people and sights. Today, the kids and I went to church and Billy is in the office getting ready for their bowl game next weekend. Can't believe that it's already Thanksgiving!! Just a question...how long does your pastor usually preach? We just got a new pastor and he's very good...just rather long winded it seems like. I'll leave you with some cute pictures since we all know that that's the whole reason we read blogs!!! :)

We were cracking up @ Hannah with her legs crossed while she drank her bottle yesterday!

I just love him!!!!

I was trying to get a good picture of Hannah in her turkey dress after church today, but no such luck...I'll have to try again when somebody is here to help me and get you a better picture Hillary.

Finally!!!

2011-11-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

We got a new computer so I am going to slowly start updating the blog and getting it caught up. For Halloween, the babies were monkeys, and if I do say so myself, they were pretty stinking cute monkeys! We were supposed to go ride a hay wagon through one of the neighborhoods here in Canyon with a bunch of friends, but the babies were a little under the weather, so we opted to just go visit dad @ work, to see Molly and Katie, run and see Mimi and Papa and then I took them up to my work for just a little bit. They were troopers and did great. I'm sad that we didn't get to ride the trailer, but we will be there for sure next year! And now for your viewing please...two very precious monkeys!!

Alive...

2011-09-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

If anyone is still reading this blog, we are still here and doing well. The babies turned 4 months old yesterday and are doing fabulous!! Life as a mommy is everything I imagined and a thousand times better. Billy is fully drowning in football season and loving every minute of it. We had our first game on Thursday and lost, which was a bummer, but nothing you can do about it now. Now they just have to move on and get ready for our next game in two weeks. Hopefully I can figure out how to get pictures on here using my mom's computer without having to upload all of them to her computer first. Our computer crashed about a month and a half ago, so I've been using my mom's since. Hopefully we'll have a new one by Christmas...hopefully!!

Fancy Pants...

2011-06-13T16:30:00.001-07:00

Saturday night a girl that I work with got married, so the babies and I got all dressed up in our best duds and went to the wedding. It was a lot of fun and the babies did great.

I can't decide what makes me laugh more in this picture...her screaming her head off or his facial expression. She was mad b/c I took her binkie out of her mouth to try and get one picture without it in her mouth.

One Month

2011-06-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

So I am late getting this post up, but I was waiting on our monthly stickers to get here and take their pictures for this post.

Hannah

-Weight-8 lb even
-Length-I didn't measure their length this month. Have to remember to do that next month.
-You are starting to like bath time more. I think if we did it every night you would like it more.
-You still have your curls on top of your head and that we can tell you haven't lost any hair yet.
-You are starting to have more awake time during the day.
-You still love to be snuggled up in a ball in anybody's arms.
-You were the first to stay with a baby-sitter besides family. (You stayed with Emily while I took Brady to the chiropractor.)
-From 6-8pm is your fussy time and some days no matter what we do, you just cry and after 20 minutes or so you are okay.
-You finally got your pooping issues figured out.
-You religiously eat every 3 hours during the day (2 oz.) and are sleeping from 11pm to around 3:30 and then from 3:30 to 8:00 or so in the morning. It's SO nice.
-You love the swing and you like the bouncy seat as long as someone is bouncing you in it.
-You tolerate tummy time. It's not your favorite, but you are getting better about it.
-You love your pacifier, but you don't absolutely have to have it all the time.
-You are still wearing newborn diapers, but we are going to graduate to size 1 this week and you are in newborn and 0-3 mos. clothes. We have already had to retire some of your newborn stuff b/c it is too short for you. (Mostly the footie jammers)
-You are definitely a diva, but an absolutely precious diva! :)
-You sleep great in your crib with the positioning wedge.

Brady

-Weight- 8lb 1/2 oz. You have now officially surpassed your sister and your daddy couldn't be more excited!!
-Length-???
-You are definitely a fan of bathtime. Although you hate getting your lotion on and your jammers afterwards.
-Your best time of day is normally about 6:00-8:00pm. You lay on your back on your daddy's chest and are totally content for the most part. It's so fun to watch you lay there and look around.
-You love the swing and you like the bouncy seat okay.
-You are ADDICTED to your paci already. I have a feeling we could be in trouble with you when it comes to that thing. You blow your top when it falls out.
-You will lay in your crib during the day and just chill while I take care of sister.
-Your hair is falling out all over the place. You are pretty much bald on top now except for some peach fuzz.
-You have some of the funniest facial expressions.
-You eat every 3 hours during the day and like your sister are starting to sleep longer @ night, however, you are usually the first to wake up @ night.
-You are in mostly 0-3 months clothes now b/c we either can't get the newborn stuff over your head, or it is too short.
-You are in NB diapers, but will be graduating this week as soon as we finish off this last box of NB.
-Your first non-family baby-sitter was Amy. She kept you and Hannah while I ran to the post office and to Thompson's one afternoon.
-You have the longest feet and toes. Everybody comments on them. Uncle David calls them your tree climbing toes.
-You are not a big fan of tummy time, but you are starting to tolerate it a little better every day.

And now for the part you've all been waiting for...more pictures! :)

Right now this is probably my favorite picture of Brady!! I love it :)

All of these pictures were taken on their actual one month birthday. We did a little photo shoot in their room that morning after we changed out of our jammers and got ready for the day.
The last two pictures are from when we went to Hereford one weekend in May while Billy was out of town and spent the afternoon with my grandparents.

A Visit from the Bells

2011-06-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have truly missed seeing my kiddos that I picked up from school this year. Their mom had her baby 2 weeks to the day before Hannah and Brady were born, so she's been home to pick them up from school and I've not seen them since they came to visit us in the hospital...that is until last Friday. Amy had a luncheon to go to and Lauren got out of school @ noon since it was the last day of school, so I went and picked Lauren up from school and brought her home with me. She is a pro @ holding babies and I'm pretty sure was in hog heaven holding Hannah. (She REALLY wanted a baby sister.) Once Amy got through with her lunch she went and got Jace and she and the boys came over and we all hung out for a little bit. Jace was so big and did such a good job holding the babies. We've been teasing him about holding Hannah b/c for forever he said he was only holding the boy babies and Lauren could hold the girl baby. He ended up holding Hannah though and we got some really cute pictures. Amy and I laugh everytime we get together and she holds Hannah and Brady or I hold Rylan b/c there is such a size difference in the 3 of them. She is going to bring him over to weigh him this week, and I'm curious to see what he weighs. He is a CHUNK! :) He was 8 lb 10 oz when he was born and I bet he weighs every bit of 10 if not 11 lb by now. They are such a sweet family and I have loved getting to be a part of their lives this last year and am so glad that we continue to hang out and be a part of each others lives.

Lauren and Miss Priss

The three amigos!! (Hannah, Brady and Rylan 5/17/11)

Jace and Little Man

Hannah and Jace

I don't have a picture of Lauren holding Brady b/c until today she hadn't, but they got lots of good snuggle time in today.

4 Weeks Already...

2011-05-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

I guess since the babies are already 4 weeks old, I should probably post some pictures and update the 'ol blog! I ended up having a c-section b/c the little turkeys were both breech. I've always heard horror stories about c-sections and the recovery, so I was a little nervous about that. Let me just say, it was NOTHING like what I thought it was going to be. Yes, I was sore and it wasn't fun getting out of bed those first few times, but it was not bad @ all. I had a spinal block for surgery and it worked great for surgery, but wore off before I even got out of recovery, so I was in a little more pain than expected to begin with, but once they started me on the Toradol and Morphine PCA, I was good to go...minus being sick to my stomach from the Morphine. I was up walking the halls that first night, and I think that getting up and getting moving and staying moving was the smartest thing I could have done.

We got to the hospital on Monday around 11 and they of course got me hooked up to everything and got my IV started. Then about 1:20 they came and got me and we walked back to the OR to get my spinal and get started. Once they started my spinal, they laid me down on the table and were getting me all prepped and that's when things got a little exciting. Apparently Brady decided he was through being stuck inside me with his sister squishing him b/c he dropped his heart rate into the 50's and no matter which way they turned me or how much they messed with him, it wouldn't come back up, so what was supposed to be a routine thing quickly turned into an emergency situation. To say that I was terrified would be an understatement. The relief that washed over me when I heard his first little screams is a feeling I don't think I'll ever forget. So since he decided to rush Dr. David, both of them were born within about 20 seconds of each other. I remember thinking, "I can breathe" when they pulled Brady out and then when they pulled Hannah out, it felt like somebody had lifted a 45 pound weight off of me. It was such a surreal feeling.

We stayed in the hospital from Monday to Thursday. I could have come home on Wednesday, but am glad that I didn't b/c Wednesday night was a rough night for the babies, so I'm glad we got to send them to the nursery. Once we started supplementing them after they nursed, they were much happier with life and started to gain some of their weight back. I loved having people come up and visit us and come see the babies. Amy, Joi and Lindsey came up one afternoon and they brought Jace (5), Lauren (8), Gage (5) and Gracie (2) with them. The kids were so cute just looking @ the babies and inspecting them. Then they found the gloves and so they spent a good deal of time blowing up their gloves and playing. When they left, Billy said he felt like an F5 tornado had just blown through b/c the kids were so busy while they were in the room. :)

Billy had to leave on Friday after we got home to take his mom back to Louisiana, so my mom came and stayed the weekend with me while he was gone. We got the babies on a schedule in the hospital, and for the most part, have been able to stick with it since coming home. Just this weekend they have started sleeping for longer stretches @ night. Last night they ate @ 10:30 and were in bed asleep by 11 and didn't wake up to eat until 4, then went right back to sleep and slept until 8. I feel like a new woman having gotten that much sleep last night! :) They still eat every 3 hours during the day. When we first came home I was nursing them and then supplementing until my milk came in. Then I went to just nursing them, but we have since gone to me just pumping and then giving it to them in a bottle. I am much less stressed and they are in turn much happier. I am getting a scale from my cousin this week so I'll be able to update with their current weights for their one month post.

The first 2 weeks we were home it seemed like all we did was go to the doctor. I had to go in and get my staples removed and get my blood pressure checked on Monday, they had to go in for weight checks on Tuesday, and I had to go back for another b/p check on Thursday and they had to go have ultrasounds done on their hips (because they were breech and b/c they were multiples they were @ an increased risk of having hip problems so we had to rule that out...). Then, I had to go back on Monday for my 2 week post-op appointment and another b/p check (it was FINALLY back down to normal then), Wednesday was their 2 week appointment with the pediatrician, Thursday Hannah had to have a barium enema study done b/c she wasn't pooping, Friday Hannah and I both went to the chiropractor and got adjusted and then last Tuesday Brady got to go to the chiropractor for his adjustment. Thank heavens we are through with dr. appointments for awhile is all I have to say!!! One thing I learned through all of it is that I am totally capable of getting out with both of them by myself (at least for little adventures) and it is an odd feeling to only go somewhere with one of them! :)

They are both starting to smile some and have adjusted well to sleeping in their own beds @ night. We started out with them both in Brady's crib, but they got to where they were waking each other up so Hannah quickly got promoted to her own bed! They both love the swing and neither one is really a very big fan of tummy time. Brady definitely looks like he has grown a lot in the last 2 weeks, so we shall see. @ their 2 week appointment, he was up to 7 lb3 oz and she was up to 7 lb 8 oz.If they aren't both 8 pounds by now, they are both pretty close I bet. We are already having to retire the newborn footie jammers...not b/c they are too small around, but b/c they are too short for our long legs and tree climbing feet.

And now for the reason everyone really looks at the blog anyways...the pictures...

My last picture as a pregnant woman

One proud daddy...

My first time to hold them

Still their favorite part of bath time...getting their hair washed.

And just a few random pictures...

They're Here!!!!

2011-05-04T18:38:00.001-07:00

Hannah and Brady made their appearance on Monday @ 1:34 pm. (yes, they both have the same time of birth...) She weighed 7lb 3 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. He weighed 6lb 12 3/4 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. They are absolutely perfect and both are doing great. We are supposed to go home first thing tomorrow and then the real fun will begin I am sure! :) They are both nursing great and it's been an amazing first couple of days. I can't get my pictures to download to my sister's laptop so I will have to add pictures then, but trust me, they are PRECIOUS!!!! (and no, I am NOT one bit partial! :))

38 1/2 Weeks

2011-04-27T20:08:00.001-07:00

Well, we are down to the wire. I seriously can't believe that I'm still pregnant. I really thought that these two turkeys would have already made their appearance by now. They are still all snuggled up inside though. Unless something crazy happens this weekend (which I am praying it doesn't b/c Billy has to be out of town), my c-section is scheduled for Monday @ 1pm. Crazy to think that they will be here in 72 hours!! The closer it gets the less prepared and the less ready I feel for the whole situation. I am so excited for them to be here though. I had a sono on Tuesday to measure them and got to see their sweet little faces. Sister has some big ol chubby cheeks on her and Brady definitely has his daddy's lips.

We finally got the nursery done this week. Minus putting the last bumper pad on Mr. Brady's bed and batteries in all the bouncers, etc., we are ready for them to be here. Hopefully I'll get pictures posted up this weekend after I get his last bumper pad put on. I am loving the way that it all turned out. The room is a little more cramped than I would like, but hey...what do you expect when you are putting two babies in the same room right?? :)

Nothing else very exciting going on here. The babies decided that they wanted to be a part of the Royal Wedding festivities, so they were nice enough to wake me up early enough to watch it all. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to watch and definitely one of those once in a lifetime memories for me.

Billy and I are going on our last pre-babies date tonight and then he leaves tomorrow and will be back Sunday and while he's gone, I get to go grocery shopping and pick up the last few little things that we need before Monday.

34 Weeks

2011-04-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I am slacking in the picture department. We are taking maternity pictures on Saturday though, so I will have some after that. We were going to do them this last weekend, but it was cold and yucky outside, so we decided to wait a week. I had my weekly appointment yesterday and so far so good. Nothing has changed and I'm doing so well, I get to skip next week and go 12 days before my next appointment. I am super excited. (He checks my cervix EVERY appointment, so going a week without that joyous experience doesn't hurt my feelings one bit...) We still get to see the babies next week. I have a sonogram on Monday to see how big they are. I found out yesterday that he probably isn't going to section me until 39 weeks...kinda bummed about that, just because I want them to be here already, but at the same time, I want what is best for them. Dr. D. told me yesterday that he was going to hire me to give lessons in how to have a successful twin pregnancy. :) I gave him a hard time b/c the lady he saw before me is also having twins and he had told her originally that she was having a boy and a girl and then yesterday they got to looking again and it was very evident that it was two boys, so I told him he better not be changing the sex of any of my current occupants!!

Billy is hopefully going to get the other crib put together this weekend and we are going to go shopping for a glider/ottoman. Saturday night I get to go on a GNO to celebrate birthdays and a baby on the way and then on Sunday I am taking a dear friend of mine to see HOP for her birthday! I'm actually pretty excited about that one. She and I don't get to hang out near as much as we would like, so it will be good to see her and get caught up face to face.

That's about all for this week. I'll update next week with pictures and the baby's stats...hoping they are both @ least 5 1/2 pounds when we go in...

33 Weeks

2011-03-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

I don't have a picture yet b/c I haven't felt like taking one this week. I am definitely VERY worn out, but I still have spurts of energy where I get quite a bit done. As far as the nursery goes, we have one crib completely together (minus 2 decorative pieces) and are waiting on the 2nd crib to be delivered. Billy put together their bouncy seats the other night and I sorted through a good chunk of what we got @ our shower. None of it is put up or has a place really @ this point, but I at least have a better idea of what we have.

I go to the doctor this morning and hopefully nothing has changed from last week so that we can just keep trucking on as is. I can't believe that it's getting so close already. My belly has become VERY heavy this week. I can't wait to go get my prenatal massage on Friday morning. I am hoping and praying that it will help with my back and just the overall general soreness.

Billy went to a Daddy Survival Camp this week. They talked about a lot of baby basics, but then also went over developmental milestones, RSV, SIDS, Shaken Baby Syndrome and lots of other cool stuff. My husband, the human file cabinet, of course came home and wanted me to start quizzing him on everything he had learned. It's fun and reassuring to see him finally starting to get really excited about the babies being here. He tells me all the time he's ready for them to be here and to hold them. (I think the biggest part of it is that he's ready for me to be myself again and not the crazy emotional mess I have become :), but he sweetly tries to continue convincing me that it's really all about the babies!!!)

We're hoping that the weather will hold out so that we can do maternity pictures this weekend...I want to get them done before I get too much bigger. If we don't get them done this weekend, then next weekend it is. I'm getting stir crazy being at home by myself all the time. I crave human interaction these days along with ice. I keep trying to convince Billy that we need to get a Sonic ice maker @ the house, but he won't go for it.

I'll update later today after I go to the doctor, and hopefully have a picture or two to put up.

32 Weeks

2011-03-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

32 Weeks

This weeks picture is in the freshly painted nursery!!! I'm so excited that we started making progress on it. Having Billy home for just a couple of days made a huge difference in everything we could get done around here...pretty sure that we filled the dumpster out back completely by ourselves in less than 24 hours!!! All that's left in the nursery is to finish the touch ups and stripe the bottom half. Hopefully my sister will be able to do the stripes on Thursday and then we will be finished. She got their dresser finished today and it looks so good. Now we just have to get screws long enough for the drawer pulls and it will be done and I can start putting stuff in it.

(this is what it looks like in the daylight...)

My appointment went good today. I am bummed because I don't get to work anymore until after they get here, which means that I am only going to get to be home with them for 6 weeks, but it will be worth it to have healthy and fat babies. H weighed in @ 4lb 7oz today and B weighed in @ 4lb 4 oz. Billy was of course wound up that she is outweighing her brother right now, but I have a feeling that that won't last for long once they get here. They are still breech and looking @ each other. Dr. D. said everything looks good and is still hopeful that I will make it to 38 weeks. I am still having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions all day long, but the contraction contractions have backed off. Overall, I am just tired a lot, mostly from the insomnia, and I don't have a whole lot of stamina, but I do have spurts where I get energy, so I try to get as much done as I can then...

Billy left today to go to his mom's for a couple of days. He's getting one of the cribs while he is there. As of right now the plan is for him to come home on Friday. Not that I really wanted to ride in the car for 13 hours, but I was sad to see him go and know that I couldn't go with him just because it's been so nice to hang out with him these last couple of days. I had to go to work this morning after my appointment and turn in paperwork and talk to my boss and I have to say, it was a little surreal knowing that I won't be back up there to work until June!!!

Nothing else really very exciting going on here. Just lots of resting with my feet up and taking lots of naps when I get the chance. If anyone wants to come visit, just call me...I'll be here!!! :)

31 Weeks/Baby Shower

2011-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was our baby shower. We got tons of really cool stuff and probably my most favorite part was all the books that we got. In the invites the hostesses put this cute little poem about giving us a book with a special note in it instead of a card b/c if you're like me, you don't keep cards, but the books will get used a lot!!

This is a pictures of some of the books that they got, plus their little play mat. Billy of course has been wanting to put everything together already so that we can try everything out, but since we haven't even started their room yet, we're holding off on opening stuff and putting it together.

As you can see from this picture, we got TONS of stuff and have still been getting more stuff in the mail every day. Thankfully we have a storage building where we can put a lot of it, b/c at this point I don't know where else it's going to go!!! The babies got tons of cute clothes/burp rags/blankets and lots of toys.

My hostesses and I...what can I say about these girls...they have made life survivable these last couple of years. We always have a great time when we go out for girls nights out, and they have been great resources to ask all kinds of questions since finding out we were pregnant. And of course, they have all offered to come hold babies once they get here. I am so appreciative of them and the effort that they put in to make my shower so special.

My mom, me, my sister, my Grandma Norma, and Grandma McIntosh...and no I am not wearing anymore of a heel than my sister is...she's just that much shorter than me! :)

The yummy fruit tray...

Hannah's diaper cake and her letters that the girls had made to match her blanket.

Little man's cake and letters...

And the 31 week belly picture. Pardon the look of absolute exhaustion on my face. This was after my shower, and I was totally wiped out. Who would have thought that opening presents would make you so tired, but I was exhausted. I am feeling pretty good these days. Lots of braxton hicks all the time, but so far nothing that hurts or feels like it's actually doing anything. They are moving all over the place. I love laying in the recliner watching my stomach move all over the place as they wiggle around. If all goes as planned (which we all know it probably won't), they will be here April 25th (ish). I'm hoping that I can hang on that long so that I can have a good couple of weeks @ home with them before I have to go back to work.

Spring football is over today!!!!! Woo! Hoo!!!!! I will finally have a husband back for the first time since August...He's on spring break next week, so I am hoping to be able to get a lot of the nursery/rearranging/painting stuff done in the next two weeks or so. He's going to his mom's house to get one of the cribs next weekend, and then hopefully we will be able to get the biggest part of the "nesting" knocked out. I have their coming home outfits almost completely ready. Gotta find a pair of socks for Miss Priss and have to put the "b" on Little Man's onesie and then that is done. I've been surveying everyone this week to find out what I need to put in my hospital bag, and hopefully I'll be able to get that packed in the next week or so. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday and am praying that the appointment goes as smoothly as the last few have.
One huge prayer request is that I would be able to continue working my 2 days a week until the babies get here...every day that I don't work cuts into my maternity leave, so I would like to be able to save as much of it as I can for after they get here.

Well, just heard the washer go off...guess I should go switch out laundry. Have a blessed week.

28 Weeks

2011-02-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well, there is no picture this week b/c I have been too busy outside playing and enjoying this gorgeous weather while I can. Last week on Wednesday our low was -4 and yesterday the high was 83!!!!! This girl is loving the weather this week. I have taken the kids to the park to ride their bikes after school the last two days and it's been great. My poor white legs have gotten to absorb some sun!!!! :)

I had my 28 wk. appointment yesterday and everything looked good. Hannah is measuring right @ 28 1/2 weeks and Brady is measuring about a week ahead. That's pretty much right on track for where they have been for the last 2 months or so. I go next Wednesday for another big sonogram to check on their weights and hopefully we'll be able to get a decent look @ their sweet faces. I'm curious to see how different they look from the last time.

Overall I am feeling good. Just tired all the time, but it's made a big difference to only work 2 days a week. This week I started working on their bumper pads. I haven't made as much progress as I wanted to, but progress is better than nothing @ all. I'm hoping this weekend I'll make quite a bit of progress.

On Sunday, I took the kids and one of J's friends to go see Gnomeo and Juliet. It was cute and they all loved it. A fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon for me, and it gave their parents all an opportunity to move furniture without them in the way.

I guess that's all for this week. I promise to have a picture to post for 29 weeks and I'll try and be good about posting the sono pictures next week. (depends on how distracted I am being excited about our girls weekend next weekend!!!!)

27 Weeks

2011-02-08T14:58:00.001-08:00

27 Weeks

I definitely think that this picture is a much more accurate depiction of the belly than last week's picture. A huge praise this week is that my back pain has gotten SO much better, and I've figured out the pressure point to press when it does start hurting that brings almost instant relief.

It's been a crazy week weather wise. We are once again experiencing frigid temps!! The temp dropped 10 degrees in less than an hour this morning while I was at the laundry mat. Add single digit temps and our crazy panhandle winds together and you can only imagine how cold it is. They weren't even letting the kids out of the school today until their parent was at the front of the line to pick them up b/c the wind was so bad. The kids were disappointed b/c we were going to go to Amarillo today and make a V-Day gift for their parents, so we went to The Cake Company and got cookies instead. I'm secretly hoping that they cancel school tomorrow so that I don't have to get out in the weather.

It's been a productive couple of days around here. I am finally almost totally caught up with laundry. I have 2 more loads to do and then I am done. Thanks to a busted valve on our washer that turned the garage into an ice skating rink, Billy got the garage almost totally cleaned out on Saturday. My mom and sister came over today and we finished emptying out dressers and moving clothes into all of the new furniture and we got the babies' closet cleaned out. We sorted through a bunch of the clothes that my cousin gave me for the babies and I purged and got rid of a ton of stuff. I am trying really hard to be less of a pack rat these days. We just don't have the room for it anymore around here. I have a little bit of tweaking to do and then I think I will have our baby registries done. Registering for everything on Saturday made me super excited for our shower to see all the fun things that the babies get.

Tonight I have Bible study and then I am going to brave Wal-Mart for the necessities since I wasn't paying attention to the weather and didn't know until this morning it was supposed to get cold! Teach me to not turn the TV on!!! Guess I should go finish up the last little bit of my Bible study before I go so I don't look like a goofball during discussion time. No doctor's appointments this week. I go back next Wednesday and hopefully Billy gets to go with me. This will be his first time to see them in person since we found out what we were having back @ 15 weeks!

26 Weeks

2011-02-03T06:13:00.001-08:00

How Far Along: 26 weeks
Size of Babies: Both are about 2 pounds with Brady being slightly bigger than Hannah
Wt. Gain/Loss: I have gained 9 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, but I lost 22 in the first trimester so I'm making progress
Clothes: Still in lots of non-maternity shirts and dresses, but definitely maternity pants...this week it's been lots of sweats b/c it's been so dang cold!!
Gender: A boy and a girl
Movement: They are all over the place!! 4 am is usually their most active time of the day which makes me a little nervous for after they get here!!
What I Miss: Having energy...sleeping for more than 2-3 hours straight @ a time.
Sleep: yeah...on that subject...My body is definitely in preparation mode for after the babies get here I am pretty sure b/c I only sleep 2-3 hours @ a time and then I'm awake for who knows how long. Sometimes I can just get up and go to the bathroom and go back to bed and fall asleep fairly quickly, and then other times, I am awake for 2-3 hours before I fall back asleep.
Symptoms: swelling in my hands and feet and just being tired...
Cravings/Dislikes: Chips and Hot Sauce, HUDS Cherry Limeades and chocolate cupcakes w/ icing and sprinkles
Best Moment: Having my doctor telling me that things are going much better than his normal twin pregnancies usually do and that the babies both looked great and had grown quite a bit in the last 2 weeks.

I was excited when I went to the doctor yesterday and I had gained 4 pounds. (Pretty darn proud of myself actually!!) He said that both babies looked good and that he was really pleased with how things are progressing. He did, however, limit me to only working 2 days a week just because we are SOOOOO busy @ work right now. RSV is bad this year and we've been really busy, so most nights I am only my feet the majority of the night. For right now I am going to keep doing my Thur/Fri schedule and drop Sundays, but I may have to split those days up eventually. Thankfully I have learned from others struggles and have stuff in place to cover all the days that I am going to miss. Most importantly, thank heavens that Billy got a raise this year!! That is going to be such a lifesaver for us!!

To sum up this week I have one word...COLD!!!!! I don't remember it ever having been this cold up here. We haven't reached double digit temps since Monday and we've been below zero by several degrees every night. The depressing part is that we have nothing to show for all the coldness...no ice, no snow, no nothing!!! Thankfully minus having to pick up the kids from school and my doctor's appointment yesterday I have been able to stay holed up @ home where it's been nice and warm.

Yesterday was National Signing Day, and in our house, that's a BIG deal. Billy is finally going to be home for a whole weekend without anything on his plate. (minus working on the honey-do list that has been growing since December...) We start spring football Feb. 15, so the break is a short one for him, but that means that off season starts earlier this year, which will be nice for us. That way if and when I do go on bed rest, he will have a little more freedom to come home during the day if I need him to, and he won't be having to work as many late nights. I'm excited!!!! Hopefully we can get started on the nursery soon. I am getting anxious to get started and see everything come together. I have this picture in my head...just hope it turns out that way once we start putting it all together!!! :) I am headed to the post office today to mail their blankets to my MIL so that she can quilt them and I ordered the forms for their bumper pads the other day, so hopefully those come in quickly and we can get started on those.

These are their blankets that my mom made for them. Can't wait to have precious babies to wrap up in them. The walls in their room are going to be the lime green above the chair rail and then the below the chair rail it will be black and all the furniture is white. I can't wait to see it all put together!!

I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and then it sounds like he's going to make me come in once a week after that. Which is just fine with me b/c that means I get to take a peek @ my sweet babies every week instead of just every other week. :) Hopefully we'll keep getting good reports and sail through the next 12 weeks!!!!

24 Weeks

2011-01-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

I don't have a picture for this week b/c you don't want to see what I've looked like this week. I had Billy take one, just so I would have it, but I look as TERRIBLE as I feel in it! The babies are doing great. According to the doctor they are right on track for where they need to be and growing just like they should be...their momma on the other hand, apparently is not growing like she should be! I had a stomach virus this week, so I am attributing my 3 pound weight loss to that...hopefully that's what it really was and not something else. When he measured my belly today, I finally asked what I measured...31 weeks he said. However, he was upset that I wasn't measuring @ least 32.5 weeks b/c when I was there 3 weeks ago I measured 30 weeks. Guess I am going to have to start packing on the calories. I've ordered a book about eating properly (amongst other things) when you are pregnant with multiples, so hopefully I'll get that soon, and maybe get myself back on track. This has been a week of lots of firsts...
-the first time I have thrown up since I found out I was pregnant (so thankful for that)
-the first time I felt the babies move (they like to have a boxing match every morning about 4)
-the first time I've had contractions (got dehydrated on Tuesday from the stomach bug, but all was well once I got some fluids back in me)
-the first time Billy has felt the babies move (so fun to watch his face light up last night as he felt them kicking)

I am sure that there were a lot of other firsts this week, but I am too tired to remember them right now! :) As of today, Dr. D said that I can still work full-time. but I am now limited to 1/4 a mile a day for my exercise (ie. one time around the block) and if I start to have contractions too often, I'll probably have to go to working just 2 days a week. Personally I am praying that that doesn't come anytime soon. He gave me meds to take if I start having contractions again...that kind of made a little bit of reality set in I guess...definitely a little scary, but I have at least reached the point of viability now. He wants to get me to 38 weeks, so that is my goal as well. As miserable as I am with all of my back pain now, I am thinking that I will be throwing a party when 38 weeks gets here!!! :)

My two big prayer requests for the week would be that I wouldn't have any more contractions and that I would find some relief for my back.

Update on Kodi-

As usual, she is doing amazing! She got to go to the Ronald McDonald House there in San Francisco yesterday. They can't fly home yet b/c her radiation levels are still too high to fly, but they are getting better and better every day. Right now they are scheduled to fly back on the 24th. Thanks so much for your prayers. Now to wait the 6 weeks to see if the treatment had any effect on the tumor. Praying for amazingly good results.

23 Weeks

2011-01-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

(Jennifer-23 weeks; Kristen-26 weeks; Ally-35 weeks)

My 23 Week picture...I had been to the doctor and then Kristen and I took Ally lunch. She's been on bedrest for a couple of weeks now, so we hadn't taken a picture together in awhile so we figured we'd go visit her and get caught up. Ally goes off of her meds next week, so we are gonna get together again next week and take a picture since it might be Ally's last one before Mr. Kyler makes his appearance!!! :) It's been so fun to be able to share this pregnancy journey with these precious girls I work with.

I am feeling pretty good...minus my back/rib...so I can't complain at all. I had a sonogram appointment yesterday and got to see my sweet babies. Brady is literally scrunched up in a ball right on top of my bladder and Hannah is all stretched out on my right side with her little touche tucked up under my ribs. As of yesterday he weighed in @ 1lb 6 oz and she was 1 lb 2 oz. Everything looked perfect on their sonograms. It was so cool to me to be able to see their little hearts and all 4 chambers beating...such a miracle.

I have a new obsession...maternity spanx!!! They are heaven sent. As my friend Erin says, it makes you feel less like you have a bowling ball hanging off of the front of you!!! And they have helped so much with my feet swelling at work. As long as I wear them like I am supposed too, my feet don't swell NEAR like what they had been.

I still haven't felt them move yet, but I'm hoping that in the next couple of days/weeks I will. I know I've said it before, but I'm getting anxious to feel them move. It was a huge relief to see them on sonogram yesterday moving around and doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

I haven't had time to upload the new pics from yesterday yet, but hopefully on Saturday I can get that done. She did mostly 4D shots of them this time, so you can see their little faces and their huge feet!! Poor babies don't have a chance in the world of having normal sized feet with Billy and I as their parents!!! :) I'll also post pictures of their quilt tops before I send them to Billy's mom for her to quilt. So ready for spring break to get here so that we can start to put their room together...

Kodi Update

2011-01-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

Kodi starts a new leg of her treatment today...one that when she was first diagnosed almost a year ago, I am pretty sure was never mentioned. For 2 hours today, she will have radiation injected into her little body via her IV...so much so that her own parents can only be exposed to her for 15 minutes a day TOTAL because she will be so radioactive. No one knows at this point when that amount of time will begin to increase. It all depends on how Kodi's body flushes the radiation out of her system...of course, seems like she can't catch a break with anything and this is no exception. Kodi only has one functioning kidney, so it's quite likely it could take longer than normal for her body to rid itself of the radiation. Pray for Kodi as she has to spend the majority of her time by herself these next couple of days. She has a walkie-talkie that she can talk to Tracy J on, who will be sitting right outside her door. Pray also for Tracy, Tracy and Maegan as they can't go in to see Kodi and hang out and help pass the time like they normally would. They have all been in California for the last week having a family vacation and just spending time together and will all continue to be there until Kodi gets to come back to Texas. The last time I talked to TW, the plan was for them to fly back out here on Jan 22. I pray that this is the answer and the treatment that Kodi needs to get her little body headed in the right direction and on the road to a full recovery.

21 Weeks/Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

Me and the babies @ 21 weeks at the Bean--

21 Weeks--
It's hard to believe that I have already made it this far. Seems like time is just flying!! This last week has probably been the hardest week I have had since getting pregnant. Lots of pain from the rib I have out of place has made life interesting. It's hard to get comfortable at any point and time during the day, and sleep is pretty much just a nap here and a nap there...even when taking Benadryl or my pain pills. (which both normally knock me flat on my tail end!) I feel like I constantly have ants in my pants b/c I am changing positions every 5 minutes it seems like to get comfy. Oh well, such is life, and hopefully, with the holidays being over and being able to get back into a routine with the chiropractor, I will be able to get the pain under control. We had a great time in Chicago, and thankfully, for the most part, my back didn't bother me, except while we were on the airplane to and from Chicago and we won't talk about how that went...

I still haven't felt the little boogers move...anxiously awaiting that day! As far as appetite, I am now hungry all the time, but am only able to eat small meals b/c I get full really fast. We found this place in Chicago called Yolk and we ate breakfast there on Sunday and Monday...the babies and I were in heaven! It was delicious food, especially the cinnamon roll french toast. I don't even want to know what the scale says tomorrow when I go to the doctor, however, I was reading a book this weekend about multiple pregnancies, and it said that with multiples you should gain half to a little more than half of your pregnancy weight by the time you are 22-24 weeks, so if that's the case, I don't think I'm doing too bad so far.

Billy and I were talking about all the fun stuff that the babies have already gotten to do and they aren't even here yet! They've survived an entire football season, been to Disney World, been on several road trips, and now they've been to a Bears game, been to Wrigley Field, and have seen all kinds of fun sites in Chicago!! I'm very thankful that I have plenty of pictures of all these adventures to be able to share with them when they are older.

Christmas 2010--
We had my parents, my sister and my grandma over for dinner on Christmas Eve and exchanged gifts. We drew names this year, and am pretty sure that we will continue to do it that way. It's so much less expensive and then there's not the stress of buying for a ton of people. My sister had my name and she got me a gift certificate to Brush with Art. Can't wait to use it!!!! :) Billy and I also exchanged our stocking stuffers on Christmas Eve since we had to leave for the airport @ 4:30 the next morning!! Billy got me a tripod for my camera b/c it makes him crazy to walk in the living room and see all the things that I have stacked up to get my camera at the right height to be able to take my weekly/bi-weekly belly pictures. He also got me some warm and fuzzy house shoes. I got him 2 books and some fuzzy socks b/c he is always trying to steal mine!!! It was a good low key night with my family and then we furiously packed to head to Chicago.

Christmas morning our flight left @ 5:50 am...the things you do to yourself to save money!! The flights up there weren't bad at all, and we got to our hotel without any problems. We stayed at the Chicago Hilton were President Obama had all of his inauguration stuff, and where they filmed part of Home Along 2. It was really nice and a very convenient place to stay. That night we went to dinner with J'Marcus and his mom and brother. It was fun to get to talk to him and catch up on things. He is doing really well and is enjoying being in Chicago. After that, we went back to the hotel and crashed b/c we were exhausted from having gotten up so early.

Sunday morning we put on all of our layers and headed to Yolk for breakfast, ran back to our hotel to give Colby and Sarah some extra clothes to put on (since only 1 of their 3 bags made it to Chicago...) and then we walked over to Soldier Field. It was a great game and we had a blast. It snowed off and on throughout the game, and even though it was cold (the wind chill was only 10 most of the game), it wasn't near as windy as we thought, so it wasn't near as miserable as we expected it to be. The Bears played well and it was a great win. It was fun to see the LSC so well represented. 4 of the Bears 22 starters are former LSC players. After the game we went to the family room to hang out with J'Marcus for a little while, and then we walked back to the hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel, I needed a nap, so I took a nap and then we went and got dinner and hung out before heading downtown for a little while. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory, where we got our cheesecake to go and then came back to the hotel and devoured it!!! :) I felt like our eating schedule was off the whole time we were there b/c we would eat breakfast about 9 and then not eat again until 4 or so, and then by the time it was time to go to bed, I was starving again...

Monday we got up and ate at Yolk again and then went to the Field Museum. This is the museum that they made the first Night at the Museum movie at. It was really cool, and I would love to be able to take our kids back there someday. We got to see Sue, the T-Rex skeleton, that they have there. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton in the world. We spent several hours in there and then went to Millenium Park to watch the ice skaters and go see the Bean. I have been to the Bean before, but Billy hadn't, so we went and took pictures there, and then as we were getting ready to cross the street, we randomly ran into our friend Dana, who is from Chicago and home for Christmas, and her boyfriend. It was good to see her and I love little random run ins like that. After a quick stop for some hot chocolate, we took the train down to Wrigley field and took pictures and then went back to the Navy Pier where we walked around for awhile, did some window shopping, and then had dinner. After that, I was done in, so we went back to the hotel and I put on my pajamas, and after he hung out with me for awhile, Billy went back downtown and met up with Colby, Sarah, Dana and Mark.

Our flight left @ 8 on Tuesday morning, so we didn't get to do anything on Tuesday, but overall it was a great trip. I was telling my friend Joi tonight, it was nice to just have Billy's (mostly) undivided attention for a few days and not have job/player/football/recruiting stress/drama constantly at the fore front of our conversation. I am struggling with my attitude about that right now, so if you think about it, say a prayer for me and my attitude! I'm just not in the mood to share these days...

Billy and the Chicago skyline

Billy and I with J'Marcus after the game. (He always makes me feel so tiny...I LOVE it!!!)

Sarah and Colby with J'Marcus afterwards...wish I had a picture of Sarah's hat she wore at the game...it is the best ever!

The big blow up that the players run out of before the games.

I have lots more pictures, but will have to do a separate post for those b/c I don't have time to upload them right now. Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas, and hopefully I'll have new pictures of the twins tomorrow that I can post along with more Chicago pictures.

19 Weeks

2010-12-14T21:17:00.001-08:00

Wow...can't believe that in all reality I am most likely already past the halfway point!!! Doesn't seem like it's been that long. (but seems like it is taking forever also!!) Some high points/low points this week:
-my feet are still swelling like CRAZY, but the horrible rash I have stays under control as long as I am diligent to take my Benadryl every six hours. (which definitely helps in the sleeping better department...)
-My mom has almost got their blankets finished so that we can ship them to Billy's mom to quilt for us.
-I got to see their sweet faces last week at my doctors appointment and they looked great. So far they are measuring right where they should be and are pretty much the same size.
-I discovered some pants in the back of my closet that I had forgotten about that are quite comfy and work quite well with my belly band.
-Found out that another friend of mine is expecting a baby in June...so excited for her!
-I found an ornament to represent this Christmas perfectly.
-We leave for Chicago in a week and a half...SO excited, although, I hope there is a little less snow for that game than there was for the game this past Sunday.
-I haven't felt the babies move yet, which I must admit, I am getting very anxious for. Seems like that is the next step in the progression of things, so I am antsy for it to hurry up and get here.
-I actually started my registry @ Target this week...only has a few things on it, but they are things that I have been looking a long time for and so when I found them, I just went ahead and added them so that I wouldn't have to hunt for them.
-I finished my Dave Ramsey class @ church this week. I would highly recommend that class to any and everyone I know no matter how old, young, rich or poor. SUCH a blessing for me.

That's about all the excitement that has gone on around here. We did get our bedroom furniture in and are in LOVE with it. We are debating whether or not to get rid of the box springs. The issue is that we have drawers underneath the bed, so the box springs are a good 12 inches higher off the ground than they previously were and although I can get in the bed now, I can just see me trying to get myself into bed 3 months from now...definitely probably going to be a moment for America's Funniest Home Videos! Now to find the perfect bedding for it and we will actually have a grown up bedroom instead of a hodge podge group of furniture.

Now to see how much organizing I can get done before my Benadryl for the night kicks in!!! :) Have a blessed week.

17 Weeks

2010-11-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 17 weeks
Size of Babies: 5 ounces and about the size of the palm of my hand
Wt. Gain/Loss: According to the scales at work, I gained 2 of the 22 I have lost back this last week which is a victory for me!
Clothes: Still in pre-pregnancy shirts and dresses, but maternity pants and the scrubs are getting less and less comfortable...
Gender: A boy and a girl
Movement: Haven't felt them move yet, but hoping to soon. I told Billy on the way to the airport this morning that hopefully they'll be moving where he can feel them by the time he gets back. He's on the road for 2 weeks straight. :(
What I Miss: Having energy...drinking endless amounts of Crystal Light
Sleep: Not so good this week. Only sleeping for 4-5 hours at a time and then I am up for at least a couple of hours...
Symptoms: headaches
Cravings/Dislikes: Chips and Hot Sauce and Crab Legs (thus we went to Red Lobster last night to celebrate my birthday so that I could get crab legs!!)
Best Moment: Having my hubby home to hang out with this week and talk about our hopes and dreams for these precious babies.

I took Billy to the airport this morning to fly to Mississippi to start recruiting. I'm bummed that he is going to be gone for 2 weeks straight, but thankful that he has a job and that we aren't on the job hunt right now. Thanksgiving was good. We had my family over and a couple of guys. We didn't set anything on fire (although I did come close with the first round of marshmallows on the sweet potatoes...) and it was pretty stress free. I work Thursday night and Saturday night. Kind of a glimpse into what is to come as far as my schedule goes after the first of the year and having split days. We are supposed to be getting our dresser and chest of drawers today and then hopefully our bed and night stand will be here in the next 2 weeks. (figures it would all come while Billy is out of town...) I'm just ready to get it in. How sad is it that I had to go back to the store where we got it the other day to look at it to remember what it looks like b/c it's been so long since we ordered it. We bought it the same weekend we found out I was pregnant which was 13 weeks ago!! Craziness!!! All of my Christmas is up minus making a garland for the window in the living room, finding something for one last shelf and re-doing my wreath on my front door. It's nice to be able to just relax today. I am going to go watch a movie and enjoy just being a bum!

Doctor's Appointment

2010-11-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

I had my regular OB checkup this morning and he said everything looks good with both the babies and that they are right on track for where they should be. He did say that he's going to want to do another detailed sono down the road to look at Hannah's face b/c we never got a good look at it, but that he really didn't think that there was any sign of a cleft lip. He made it official today is saying that I am not going to be able to travel anymore after the end of January, so hopefully I'll get both of my girls weekends in before then. He limited me to no more than 1/2 a mile of walking a day (as far as for exercise purposes) and said that if everything stays on track like it is right now, that there's no reason I shouldn't be able to carry the babies to term.

Billy didn't get to come with me this time b/c they are getting ready for Central Missouri, but he got to go on Monday and see the sono, so he made the important appointment. I finished buying the material for their bedding yesterday. I can't wait to start putting it all together. Hopefully I'll get to get started on it soon. Right now I have to go iron Billy's pants for team pictures today...

15 Weeks...

2010-11-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

Pardon the pajamas and bad hair...we were getting ready to head to bed when I remembered to make Billy take my picture.

How Far Along: 15 weeks
Size of Babies: According to the sono today, both babies are measuring right @ 15 weeks. Brady (Twin A) is 4 ounces and Hannah (Twin B) is 3 ounces.
Wt. Gain/Loss: As of last Wednesday, I am down 22 pounds...don't really have much of an appetite these days despite knowing food is a necessity.
Clothes: Shirts and dresses I am still wearing my regular clothes, but am wearing maternity pants (except in my scrubs). I don't want ANYTHING touching my stomach right now...
Gender: Twin A is a boy (William Brady) and Twin B is a girl (Hannah Joy)
Movement: Haven't felt them moving yet, but I can tell that my bladder is most definitely being used as a trampoline!!! They were going crazy this morning when I had my sono. The tech wanted to know what I had had to eat/drink before I came in b/c they were bouncing off the walls!!
What I Miss: The desire to eat food. I have no appetite and so even though I eat all the time, I don't enjoy it.
Sleep: Seems like it's all I do if I'm not at work.
Symptoms: Tired and having to pee all the time.
Cravings/Dislikes: Not really enjoying food in general right now as I said before. Hoping that soon I will once again have an appetite.
Best Moment of the Week: Finding out what they were and laughing at my lopsided stomach as they both crowded over to one side last week!

Brady was more than happy to show off for the camera. Billy said, "He's kicked back, watching the game, with his hand in his crotch!" 90% of the time we were watching him he was laying with his hand on his man parts, and then when we were looking at Hannah, everytime she peeked back over at him on the ultrasound, he was laying like that. It was so funny.

Miss Hannah played shy and stubborn today! It took the tech forever to be able to even get a good shot of her face, which was the whole reason we were there. For the most part, she had her hands up by her face, or she was waving at us. For probably the first 2 or 3 minutes we were trying to look at her, she was face down with her face buried. I'm quite certain that she will have her daddy wrapped around those precious little fingers in no time!

I go for my actual doctor's appointment on Wednesday. We'll find out the official results then, but the tech said, from everything she saw, neither baby has a cleft lip, and everything else looks to be right on track for 15 weeks. You could see both placentas, and we saw both umbilical cords along with all the major organs, so that was reassuring. Now to get started on getting their bedding made and getting their room put together. First on the list is the Christmas decorations though! This is the only time I'm going to have Billy home for awhile, so you better believe that I am going to put him to work!!!

Snap Happy...

2010-11-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

So I got just a tad snap happy on Saturday!! Took 800 pictures at the game on Saturday. :) Hopefully my computer will cooperate when I get home from the doctor today and I can do a football update and an update on the munchkins...

14 Weeks

2010-11-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

I don't have a picture this week b/c I haven't seen my husband long enough to get him to take one, and I can't get the camera set up right to do it with just the timer. Hopefully I can't get him to take one this evening and I'll post it then.
How Far Along: 14 weeks
Size of Babies: A lemon-we go for our detailed sono next Monday, so hopefully they measure close in size again.
Wt. Gain/Loss: I've lot 20 pounds so far...I've been maintaining for the last 2 weeks
Clothes: Shirts and dresses I am still wearing my regular clothes, but am wearing maternity pants (except in my scrubs). I don't want ANYTHING touching my stomach right now...
Gender: Don't know yet...hoping we find out Monday when we go for our sono
Movement: Haven't felt them moving yet, but I can tell that my bladder is most definitely being used as a trampoline!!!
What I Miss: The desire to eat food. I have no appetite and so even though I eat all the time, I don't enjoy it.
Sleep: Seems like it's all I do if I'm not at work.
Symptoms: Tired and having to pee all the time.
Cravings/Dislikes: Not really enjoying food in general right now as I said before. Hoping that soon I will once again have an appetite.
Best Moment of the Week: Taking the babies to Disney World for their first trip this past Wednesday. Really wanted to get something cute for them while we were there, but everything was very much either boy or girl...nothing that really could go either way.

WT vs. Midwestern

2010-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

To say that these two teams don't like each other would be an understatement. The strong dislike starts at the coaching staff and works it's way down. I have to say, I was really proud of our guys last night. There was some scuffling going on, but overall, I thought our guys carried themselves well. Midwestern, not so much, as evidenced by the 4 unsportsmanlike calls. Most importantly we won and are now 6-2. We have 3 games left in the regular season...it would be awesome if we could win out from here on out. We have to play ACU still, which will definitely be a tough game, but first up with have Incarnate Word. We play them next weekend in San Antonio. My family is making a road trip of it to see my dad's sister who lives in San Antonio.

I took pictures down on the field last night, and it was tons of fun...well, except when the buffalo was headed straight at me...but I moved after that and it was a very enjoyable experience. I got some good pictures and managed to survive walking from the field to the top of the stadium to go to the bathroom!!! (Although I thought I was going to have to stop for oxygen on the way!!!) Here's some pictures from the game and a few from previous games this year...

Scratch that...just posting my favorite picture from last night and then I'll have to put the rest of them on facebook...blogger is being stubborn tonight, and I don't have the patience to mess with it tonight.

This is Shaun Wesley, our left tackle. Just thought this was a fun profile picture. Check facebook for the rest of the pics later this week.

12 Weeks

2010-10-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

How Far Along: 12 weeks
Size of Babies: A large plum (they measured within 2 days of each other on Wednesday...with baby A being the bigger of the 2)
Wt. Gain/Loss: I've lot 20 pounds so far...hopefully I won't lose anymore!
Clothes: Shirts and dresses I am still wearing my regular clothes, but am wearing maternity pants (except in my scrubs). I don't want ANYTHING touching my stomach right now...
Gender: Don't know yet...maybe we'll find out in 3 weeks when I go for my in depth sono.
Movement: Haven't felt them moving yet, but I can tell that my bladder is most definitely being used as a trampoline!!!
What I Miss: Crystal Light and Diet Citrus Green Tea
Sleep: Seems like it's all I do if I'm not at work.
Symptoms: Nausea 24/7 (but not actually sick, thank goodness!), Tired, and having to pee all the time.
Cravings/Dislikes: I've been really craving fruit this last week and the thought of eating meat or hummus turn my stomach, although I have been choking down meat and am hoping hummus sounds good again soon b/c I absolutely love it most days.
Best Moment of the Week: Watching/Hearing/Reading everyone else go through their own version of shock just like we did on Wednesday at the doctor finding out that it was twins and getting to see both babies and their precious little heart beats on Wednesday.

Baby A (the one on the left)

Baby B (the one on the right)

I can't figure out how to turn the sono pictures around...sorry. Baby A's picture has the baby and then the 4D of the baby. Looks like we have a little boxer on our hands...

I think that some of the shock is starting to wear off...maybe! It still seems surreal anytime I am talking about the babies and say "they or their". We were comparing bellies at work the other night between myself and several other girls and I just had to laugh that I am already as big or bigger than the girls who are 8 weeks further along than I am! We started re-thinking the nursery this weekend and I started cleaning out the office which will become the nursery over Christmas. Thankfully we have great family members who are passing down cribs, so we already have 2 cribs and don't have to worry about that. Now to just pick the right shade of lime green for the walls. The bedding will be different black and white patterns, lime green, and then for a girl pink and for a boy turquoise/orange. If we have 2 girls we will probably do one pink and one purple and then one turquoise and one orange for 2 boys.

I still need to do a post about football season so far, so I am going to end this here and hopefully I'll get Billy trained a little better before next week, so that my weekly picture looks a little better!!

Twins...

2010-10-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Twins...really??? Did I really see two sweet babies yesterday when I went to the doctor?? If you can't guess, I am still in a little bit of shock. Billy on the other hand is totally stoked about it all! :) That's good though b/c his excitement has kept me from getting totally overwhelmed by the thoughts of what is in store for us.

What a huge blessing these sweet babies are. My ultimate goal in life has always been to be a wife and a mom. There were days in college where I didn't care if I graduated with a degree, I just wanted to find Mr. Right and get married and have lots of babies. To say that I am excited about these babies is an understatement. It was SO much fun to share their little pictures with everyone at work last night and to watch everyone else go through some form of the same kind of shock that we went through yesterday!

My prayer right now is that a: I have a safe and healthy full-term pregnancy. b: That I would not let Satan over take my heart and mind with worry, but take comfort in the fact that if God didn't think we could handle twins and all that comes with being parents to twins, then he wouldn't have blessed us with them to begin with.

On a different note: My friend Erin talked about her hubby getting her a sideline pass for one game and how much fun she had taking pictures down on the field...well, she inspired me to convince Billy to let me be down on the field this weekend to take pictures (although I have to admit there wasn't much convincing going on...I asked and he quickly said yes...). So this Saturday I will have my usual seat at the stadium, but I will also be roaming the sidelines for part of the game with specific instructions to stay far, far away from the buffalo!!! :)

And 2 become 4...what????

2010-10-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to the doctor today and had my first appointment. He put the ultrasound wand on my stomach and my heart rate immediately went through the roof...see, I've been having these dreams for weeks now that I was having twins, but I haven't really been sick so I've been telling myself that there's no way I could possibly be having twins. Well, never say never! When he put the ultrasound wand on my stomach, I instantly saw two babies with two little heartbeats. So First Down has now been renamed the "Flex Twins". Definitely still in shock. I can't quit laughing. Billy and I just look at each other and we start laughing!

I go for another sonogram on November 15 b/c Dr. D wants to do a more detailed one of both babies since I had a cleft palate and it is something that can be passed down from generation to generation. There's not anything to do about it until after they are born, but at least if we know we can already be set up with a plastic surgeon.

As soon as I figure out how to, I will post the sono pictures. What a relief to finally be able to see them and to be able to see their little heartbeats and know that everything is going just like it is supposed to.

Emotional Roller Coaster

2010-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

The last 24 hours have been hard. We had Kendrick's (our football player who died 2 weeks ago) memorial service and let me just tell ya...it is an absolutely helpless feeling to sit and watch these big tough football players cry their eyes out remembering and missing a friend. I wanted to wrap every one of them up in a hug and not let go. It was SOOOOO hard. I am praying that they are able to focus tonight for the game as we will be honoring Kendrick at halftime and Tanner, his roommate and our back-up QB, will be wearing his jersey along with his parents being there to watch. That's lots to ask of a bunch of 18-22 year old guys. I know in my heart though, that they will play hard for Kendrick.

Tracy W. text me this morning, and Kodi's cancer is now progressive. Basically that means that it is not responding to chemo. The tumor on her spine is once again back and it continues to grow in her bones. Needless to say, I have spent lots of time on my face in prayer and tears. The fix it character in my personality wants so badly to be able to just wave my wand and this to all be over.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8:28-29

There is hope in this verse. Our FCA pastor who did Kendrick's service used this verse, and it is very applicable to both situations. I have to hang on to this verse and know that God is being glorified through all these circumstances even when it doesn't feel like it.

The joys of morning sickness

2010-09-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

I must say, my morning sickness hasn't been too bad...however, mine doesn't hit me until I have been up about 4 hours or so and then it's pretty much non-stop until I go to bed. I am mostly just nauseous and then I usually have about a 20 minute period every evening where I seriously debate whether I am going to lose my dinner to not, but so far I haven't thrown up. I don't mind being nauseous as long as I don't throw up!! I am also a lot more tired this week than I have been. Not getting to sleep by like 2 1/2 hours last Friday really did me in. Thankfully I knew ahead of time I was going to be short on sleep and one of the girls at work volunteered to come in and work the 2nd half of my shift for me. Otherwise, I don't think I would have made it home Saturday morning, and there's no way I would have made it to the game on Saturday night.

We told my parents today and we mailed Billy's mom and step-dad's frame to them today. They should get it by the end of the week. We had originally said that we weren't going to tell until after we had been to the doctor, but we couldn't wait. It is killing Billy that his family doesn't know yet, because we know that his mom is going to be ecstatic!!! Hopefully she will catch on to what the pictures mean quicker than my parents did...I had to explain to my parents what the pictures meant. I made signs that said "Mimi & Papa--I can't wait to meet you in May." My dad thought it was a sign from the dogs saying they were coming to stay for awhile in May!! LOL Even after they saw the picture of the positive pregnancy test they still didn't get it. I just had to laugh. Of course they and my sister are so excited. I have to admit, it was nice to be able to sit down and talk and be excited about it with my mom. These are pictures of the signs that we made to tell our parents. I realized today that I go to the doctor 5 weeks from tomorrow, so that's really not that bad. It doesn't feel quite so far away as it did when we first found out.

Here's to another week down. Can't believe that I'll only be 7 weeks on Friday...it seems like it was such a long time ago that we found out!!

Stream of Consciousness

2010-09-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

The title is really just to cover up the fact that I am so tired right now, I don't know if I could write an entire post that made logical sense!! :) It's been a BORING week at work this week. We only have 2 patients, and while I am thankful that no one else has children sick enough to need our services, it has been next to impossible to keep myself awake the last two nights. Last night I walked laps around the unit for 45 minutes straight trying to keep myself awake and then almost fell asleep walking!

I can't believe that it's already the weekend. I am ready for Satruday and to get to play with my new camera lense. The pictures I took at practice were pretty sweet. The guys are coming over for dinner tomorrow. Billy is a little nervous b/c he is going to have to do the dinner by himself b/c I will be at work. I don't know what he is nervous about, because I will have everything ready for them when I leave for work. It's not like he's going to have to actually cook anything!

I can't wait for my new housekeeper to start. I did the dusting and floors today, and it didn't take long at all, but I was totally bummed to think about the fact that if I still had a housekeeper, I could have let her do that and slept that extra hour! :)

I have tried to read a book the last two nights, but it just isn't happening. I am too tired to even try. We'll see if I am able to have a conversation this morning for my meeting. Totally bummed that I have a meeting and then have to come back to work tonight b/c there is definitely the potential for me to be a total zombie tonight. Thanksfully I will only be here for 1/2 a shift, so hopefully I'll miss that point of exhaustion tomorrow night.

The kids are excited that they get to come overan dplay with Rocky and Boudreaux tomorrow afternoon while I am cooking. They have been begging to take them walking all week, and the weather has just not cooperated, but no matter what they get to play with them today because I am taking them to my house to stay until Amy gets home so that I can cook and clean and continue to get stuff ready for dinner.

Well, I am falling asleep writing this, so I guess that means it is time to get up and walk some more laps.

Peace and Chicken Grease!

My Life is now complete!!!

2010-09-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

I am now officially ready for football season to start. I got my new telephoto lens today!!! I am so excited. I can't wait to try it out this weekend when we play in Weatherford. I am debating going to practice tonight at the stadium just to see what kind of pictures I can get from my normal seat...I probably will go, just for the heck of it.

It's been a crazy week here. I left on Sunday afternoon as soon as I got up (no, I wasn't being lazy, I worked Saturday night...) and headed to Sanger to hang out with the Tutts for the weekend. It was good to see them and spend time with them. Yesterday, Tracy and Tracy ran errands and the girls and I just stayed at the house and hung out. It was nice to have just a low key day. We went to watch Maegan at soccer practice and then out to dinner, but really nothing too exciting. This morning I dropped Maegan off at school and headed home. I drove home in some CRAZY rain, but it didn't last too long which was nice. I ran by Sams and got food for our dinner for the guys on Friday and then came home, unloaded groceries and had time for a quick 20 minute nap before I went and picked J and L up from school.

I work, tomorrow, Thursday, and half of Friday and then Saturday morning I am headed to Weatherford, OK to see Amy and Ashley and the kids and hopefully watch my Buffs beat up on some Bulldogs.

Guess I should get off of here and get to cleaning my house since it looks like a tornado blew through here and we have company coming on Friday. Hope everyone has a great week and I will post pictures from the game on Sunday.

Prayers Please

2010-09-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

Please be praying for our football team. One of our players, who was medical red shirting this year, was on his way home to Austin for Labor Day yesterday and was killed when he rolled his truck. There was also a WT soccer player with him. Please be praying for the Cutsinger family. Kendrick was loved by everyone and several of his roommates and best friends are on the team this year. Please be praying also for the soccer player. I don't know his name, but I know he is from Venezuela and he is still in critical condition in a hospital in Austin.

An answer to prayer is that Kodi got to go home this week, and our friend Cali is doing amazing! She is in rehab and improving everyday. Please continue to remember these families as well.

It has hit...

2010-09-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

The morning sickness is in full swing around here. It's not bad, but it's definitely there. It's worse today because on top of the morning sickness, I have my normal game day nervous stomach that is of course worse b/c I am not actually at the game, but watching from the sidelines at work...hopefully! It's been crazy how weird it has felt to be pregnant so far. I know you are probably thinking...okay Jenn, you're only gonna be 5 weeks tomorrow how weird could it really be, but seriously, knowing what's going on in my body right now is just crazy to think about!! I have loved every minute of it so far, including almost puking at the gas pump the other day b/c of the smell of gas. October 20 needs to hurry up at get here fast b/c I am getting impatient. The girls whose kids I keep after school is also pregnant, but b/c of her age, she got to go to the doctor yesterday instead of having to wait. I have to admit, I was so jealous listening to her talk about her appointment today. I can't wait to hear the heart beat and see my sweet baby for the first time. I can't even imagine all the emotions that will come with that day.

It's Here!!!!

2010-09-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Football season is officially here. We are done with the madness of two-a-days and we officially start our season tomorrow night. The guys left this morning for Michigan. Just got a text from Billy that they had landed. I'm bummed that I am not there, but I couldn't justify taking off the whole week of work and also making this trip, plus going to Orlando in November. Too much money!! Plus, we just bought bedroom furniture this weekend, so there went a good chunk of play money for awhile. Instead I am going to head to Sanger this weekend to see Tracy and Tracy and the girls. Hopefully Kodi will get to go home today. She had a really hard time with mouth sores this round of chemo, but the docs decided not to give this particular chemo to her anymore as the side effects outweigh the benefits. Nothing else too exciting going on around here. I'm taking a break from paying bills and balancing the checkbook!! Yuck!! Two of my least favorite things to have to do ever!!

Summer is officially coming to an end around here. We are putting the top back on the Jeep...mostly b/c it rained yesterday afternoon while we were sitting in the pick-up line waiting on L, so J and I got wet. I told Billy last night that when he gets back from Michigan, the top has to go back on before he can go back to work!! Hopefully he's down with that plan b/c I am done with the wind blown look for awhile.

Well, my timer went off, so I guess that means playtime is over and back to work...I'll upload some pictures soon. I am LOVING my new camera!!

And 2 become 3!!!!

2010-08-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, we are going to have a baby this spring. We just found out yesterday and I am only about 4 weeks, so at this point we aren't telling anyone. (Which may be one of the hardest things I have ever done!!!) We aren't going to say anything to anyone, including our families, until after my first appointment, and that is not until October 20. I am kind of bummed that we have to wait that long, but hopefully with it being football season I will be really preoccupied and have plenty of other things to think about to keep my mind busy between now and then. We are both really excited. I am still a little shell shocked I think, because this is the first month that we actually tried, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to be a one and done kind of thing. We are proof though that you can get pregnant during 2 a days!!! So far I am feeling good. No nausea yet (hoping it doesn't ever come!!!), but I am definitely a lot more tired than I normally am.

I originally didn't think I was pregnant because I had taken a test on Friday and it was negative. So I was bummed, but thought to myself, it's just one month, not that big of a deal we'll just try again in September. Well then I woke up Sunday and hadn't started my period which is VERY weird for me. I am like clock work on my cycles and have been for a long time. So while I was in Amarillo Sunday afternoon, I got some pregnancy tests from Dollar Tree (was a little nervous about using a cheap pregnancy test, but I'm sold on them now) and took one and lo and behold it was positive. I started freaking out a little bit and doing a little happy dance. Then I went with another one of the coach's wives to watch practice. I wanted so badly to tell Billy right after practice when we were walking back to campus, but I didn't b/c there were lots of players/coaches around and I wanted it to be special. (In the mean time, I have called/texted some of my dearest friends who have been praying for me about having a baby for a long time, to make sure that I remembered correctly from nursing school and that there was very little chance that a positive pregnancy test would be wrong and they have all responded with excitement and reassurance that I am in fact really pregnant.) Just to be sure before I told Billy, I took 2 more tests and they both came up positive so I VERY anxiously waited for midnight thirty when he would be home. I had made Billy this really cute picture from that says I heart daddy on the bottom of it and I was going to write something cute and put it in the frame to tell him, but I didn't get by the pottery place before it closed on Saturday, and they aren't open on Mondays so I had to come up with a plan B because I was too excited to wait until Tuesday to tell him when I could get the frame. I ran to Wal-Mart and bought as gender neutral of a onesie as I could and a little bib that says I Love Daddy on the front of it and gave them to him along with a card. He's excited and having almost as hard of time as I am not saying anything to anyone. He did tell Coach Carthel today, and then when he told Coach he couldn't say anything to anyone until October, Coach told him that that's was going to be a mighty hard secret to keep, especially because I haven't told Cindy yet!! I told a friend today, May (which is when I am due) seems so far off!!! I know that the time will just fly by, but right now it seems lightyears away!

I saw my regular family doctor today, just for a well check, and I made sure to ask her and also my OB's office about special diet concerns with the vegan diet, and from what I had written down over the last 5 days in my food journal, Dr. B. looked at it and said as long as I was taking my prenatal vitamin that I am good.

Guess since it's 11:00pm I should be hitting the sack. Kind of hard to turn the excited switch off in my brain though!!

Prayers...

2010-08-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

Please be praying for our coaching friends Jake and Cali. Cali had her surgery yesterday and it took 26+ hours. She didn't go to recovery until around 11 this morning. Pray for rest and recovery for her and also that her family could get some rest today. I know they are all exhausted after the last day and a half.

Also, please continue to pray for Kodi. She is currently inpatient for chemo. So far it's going well, but she has to stay confined to her room for this round and that is hard!!!

Have a blessed hump day!

Vegan...to be or not to be...

2010-08-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been two weeks, and I have to say, I think it's working!!! I don't feel 100% myself again, but I definitely feel better and feel more like myself than I have in months. Hopefully this means I am making a step in the right direction. The hardest part of the week has been to pass up all the food that patients' families bring us. I have to admit that when they brought us homemade noodles and egg rolls I gave into the temptation...but then I paid for it later. I know that that will get easier with time.
This is one of my new favorite finds. It is great in oatmeal, and makes great sweet tea without as many calories.
And of course, what would summer be without lemonade in mason jars!!!!!
And one last picture just for fun. Maycee, my sister's dog, is a poser!!! You can definitely tell that her mama takes pictures of her all the time, b/c unlike my boys who don't sit still long enough for a picture, she is an angel...I took this the other day when she came to spend the night. I love her blue bows!

P.S. Friday needs to hurry up and get here!!!

Summer Rain...

2010-08-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

The last two evenings it has rained in the evening. Just a good slow steady rain. It has been wonderful. We cracked open the windows, and enjoyed the smell...one of my favorite smells by the way...

This week has been good. I finally had some days off on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday was just what I needed...to chill out while painting some pottery. Such a stress reliever. Then after my meeting at work, I got to go to dinner w/ Billy and the Ficklings. I can already tell that I am going to love Brittany and Sean, their 3 week old, is absolutely adorable. Then the last two nights I have had to work. I hear from Billy that sleeping has been a little rough b/c Maycee, my sister's dog, has been spending the night and she is not used to sleeping without any boundaries like the boys, so she's been a little spaz at night, but she's been just fine for me during the day!! :) Other than that, nothing to exciting going on around here. I can tell a difference with the Vegan eating. I am definitely starting to have more energy and not be as tired at work, which is nice. I work the next two nights and then have a couple of days off before it's back to the grind for 2 days and then a little vaca for me!!!!!

Oooooooooo....just heard it start sprinkling. Guess I better go let the dogs in before I have 3 mud covered puppies!!

P.S. Kodi had a great day at clinic and they got some good news concerning all of her results from her surgery last week.

Date Night!!!

2010-08-03T08:33:00.001-07:00

Last night was my first night off since last Tuesday, and let me tell you what a glorious night off it was!!! We had dinner here at the house w/ Billy's GA and his volunteer (who's living with us for the time being), and just hung out and flipped channels...it was SO nice!!! Today I am about to head out the door to finish painting some pottery for three of my favorite ladies who I get to see in t-minus 10 days and counting!!! Then it's off to the pool to soak up some sun and then after a quick meeting at work, it's date night with the hubby and his volunteer and his wife (who currently lives in Lubbock). Hope to get some pictures of stuff to put up soon. Most exciting will be when I get to post the picture of my new spectacles!!! The guy at the eye place was pretty sure he had never even seen anyone try them on, let alone buy them!!! I'm so excited. Should be sometime this week. Happy Tuesday!!!

P.S. Kodi got to go home yesterday!!!! :)

Kodi Update

2010-07-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

I am cheating and just copying what Tracy J put up on Kodi's site today! :)

By the numbers:

9 hours of surgery

2 bone marrow samples

3 units of blood

2 units of platelets

2 kidneys intact

1 pancreas intact

99% tumor removed

100% relieved!

Kodi is out of surgery and being moved to ICU. We haven’t seen her yet, but Dr. Miller came out to let us know let everything went well. He said it was a long, difficult procedure, but that Kodi did extremely well. He was able to save the kidney and did not have to remove any of the pancreas.

There are still some small nodules remaining in/on the kidney, but they appear to be calcified and “dead.” The only way to remove them would have been to remove the whole kidney. The remaining courses of chemotherapy should be able to kill out any microscopic active cancer cells. (Spine and rib area were left alone today – treatment should take care of these as well.)

Kodi has an incision that spans across the entire abdomen, IV’s in both hands, and another arterial catheter in one wrist. Dr. Miller tells us that she will be very “puffy” from the transfusions/fluids, and she will have the NG tube for about 5 days. I’m assuming the epidural is in place, but we did not confirm at the time.

Please continue to pray for Kodi’s recovery. We still have a long way to go!

Thank you guys so much for your prayers for them today. It's such a relief for me to have it over, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for them. I'm hoping to get to run over and see them for a little bit when I go to Stephenville in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get down there before Kodi has her transplant b/c I won't get to visit her for sure for awhile after that. Glad that today is over and I can go to bed tonight knowing that she is resting tonight.

--Jenn

Kodi Update/Prayer Requests

2010-07-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Kodi is doing well. All of her tumors have shrunk significantly. Tomorrow is the big day. She has surgery tomorrow to remove what's left of the tumors. The big concern right now is that there is a very good chance she will lose her L kidney when they remove the tumor b/c of where the tumor is. Pray for steady hands for the doctors, calmed nerves for Tracy and Tracy and the girls, and for good pain control for Kodi. Often times that is one of the hardest things for post-op kiddos is being able to get their pain under control.

Secondly, please be praying for my friend Cali. She has an AV malformation in her brain that they found back in May. Since then she has had 3 different surgeries to embolize (cut off blood to) the area and she was supposed to have surgery today to remove the malformation. Her surgeon called her last night and due to some complications with scheduling, his partner was not going to be able to be in the OR today and he and his partner don't do these type surgeries without both of them in the OR, so they had to reschedule her surgery for Aug. 9. To make matters even more stressful, her husband coaches football at SFA and their players report to camp on Aug. 10. Cali really wanted to get this surgery done sooner rather than later so that Jake would have to miss as little of football stuff as possible, but God obviously has different plans. Pray for patience and peace for Cali. She's like me, she's a worrier, and so this whole process has been VERY stressful for her. Pray for Jake that he is able to discern where his time needs to be spent at each moment, whether it be with Cali or in the office/on the football field.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers for Jake and Cali and for Tracy and Tracy and Kodi and Maegan.

San Antonio/Boerne/Life in General

2010-07-26T10:14:00.001-07:00

Last week we went to San Antonio for the last day of coaching school and our annual coaches retreat. It was a blast. We had a great time in San Antonio and then we headed to Boerne on Wednesday. On our way to Boerne, Billy and I made a detour and stopped in San Marcos. I spent $100 and I got two cardigans, 5 shirts, a pair of Teva flip flops and six pairs of socks...I was pretty proud of myself! Once we got to Boerne we just hung out and relaxed. We had some AMAZING Mexican food that night and then Thursday we got up and after Sarah C. got in from the airport we all packed up and went to float the Comal. I was kind of disappointed b/c the sun never really came out so it was kind of cold, but we still had a blast. That night we ate dinner and watched the Rangers game and then Friday morning everyone got up and cleaned up the house and headed our various directions. Billy and I had planned on going to Houston, but then decided that we needed to head towards home and stop and play along the way instead of driving the opposite direction. Needless to say, we found ourselves in Dallas at a Rangers game on Friday night. It was very fun seeing as how we were in a suite 3 or 4 suites down from the former president's suite. Coach Carthel had called a guy to see if he had extra tickets for us and he did. We thought that they were just going to be decent seats on the bottom level, but really didn't care where they were as long as we got to go see the game. So when we got our tickets and walked in and asked the little Rangers guy where we were at and he directed us to the suites we were WAY excited. The people who let us come were very friendly and they love baseball as much as Billy and I do, so we had a blast. Saturday morning we got up and went camera shopping. We decided to go ahead and make an investment in one so we got a Canon Rebel EOS T1i. I LOVE it!!!! It's takes fantastic pictures and we spent less than I had been expecting on it, so that was a definite plus also. While we were at Fry's to get the camera, Billy called his friend Shawn to see about getting more memory for our computer. You see, it has been slower that molasses on a cold day in Vermont for MONTHS now and I was ready to throw it out the window. Needless to say, all it needed was a little memory. It works beautifully now. I am so excited. Maybe I can actually download some pictures now without sending the computer into a downward spiral! Overall, it was a great trip and a great way to end our summer. Billy started back in the office full-time today and kids report on Aug. 10. Can't believe that football season is already here again!!

On a totally different subject...I have been reading a book and doing some research, and have decided that at least for awhile, I am going to go vegan...only where food is concerned for now. No I do not expect all of you to go vegan also, but this book that I have been reading brought up some very interesting points about the processes our meat and dairy products go through. This is not to say that I am going to be hardcore and never eat cheese or yogurt or meat again, but I want to try this and see if it helps me feel better. I have not been feeling great as of late (as in the last 4 months or so) and maybe a change in diet is what I need. Please do not try and make special accommodations if I am coming to your house, or am going out to eat with you. I am going to make this fit into my life and not the other way around. I would NEVER expect you to go out and buy special food just for me, nor would I want you to. For the most part, I'm just going to be eating lots of fruit and veggies and whole grains. Like I said, this is not a permanent thing at this point...just something I want to try to see if it helps me feel a little more human.

On that note, I have to get off of here and get my house clean. I'm having a Scentsy Party here tomorrow night, but am going to be gone to Lubbock all day tomorrow with a friend taking her little boy to the doctor so I gotta get all my cleaning and errands done today.

Peace!

Camp 2010

2010-07-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

So I had a blast at camp last week. It was a fast and furious trip, but a much needed one. My mom went with me b/c I had to drive back a day early to go back to work and didn't really want to drive back by myself, so it was good to have some quality one on one time with her. I made it through the week with only one kid with a broken bone, so I think I did pretty good. It was nice to get away and just enjoy the peace and quiet. My mom scared the ever living tar out of me on the way home, because she fell asleep driving and I just woke up to the sound of us hitting the rumble strip and then the ditch. It scared me to death! Needless to say when we stopped for a bathroom break 15 miles later, I took back over the driving duties.

I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then had last night off and came back to work tonight and tomorrow night and then I am off for a week. I can't wait!! Yesterday Billy was gone camping with a bunch of the other coaches, so I got to play while he was away. I spent 3 1/2 hours painting pottery and it was heavenly! Then I went home and cleaned up the house a little bit and then made dinner. We ate as soon as Billy got home and then we both crashed like rocks.

We leave on Tuesday for San Antonio/Central Texas. I am thrilled that this week is finally here, but it's bittersweet at the same time. While I know we are going to have a blast and have been anticipating this trip since I found out we were going, this is also the last week before Billy hits the football grind full-time again. I'm praying that we just enjoy the week and the time that we get to spend with each other as well as friends.

I guess that's all for now. Nothing else really very exciting going on. I'm hoping that maybe we'll get some excitement at work tonight to keep me awake. So far it's not looking so good.

Camp 2010

2010-07-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

I leave this morning to go to camp with 4th and 5th graders until Wednesday. I am going to be the camp nurse. They are actually staying through Thursday, but I have to work on Wednesday night, so I have to come back a day early. I'm excited though. It's going to be a blast. Camp holds some of my best memories in life no matter where I was at for camp.

Hopefully I'll be bright eyed on the drive this morning. Last night, or should I say early this morning, we woke up to the boys barking. We, like usual, told them to be quiet and rolled over to go back to sleep...well, that's when I noticed that it looked like someone was in our backyard w/ a flashlight. I then heard voices, and immediately woke Billy up...so glad that he was home for this one! Come to find out, the cops were chasing some 15 year old kid through our neighborhood and had been in our backyard b/c he had been hiding back there. I don't know if they ever caught him or not. Billy, being the good concerned citizen that he is, got dressed and went outside to investigate and get the scoop...I, on the other hand, stayed in my nice warm bed and waited for a report!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Random

2010-07-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well, found a housekeeper and she comes on Friday!!! So excited! Guess I better get to cleaning before she gets here! How sad is that that I am going to have to clean my house before the housekeeper comes...she is a friend of mine that I didn't even realize was cleaning houses until I started asking around for suggestions. I'm so excited for it to be someone that I know I can trust and that I know will do a good job. It's always a good sign when you go to their house and it's immaculate right???

In other news, on the way home from work this morning, I saw what has to be the funniest stinking bumper sticker ever!!!!! :) It said, "I promise I'm only speeding because I have to poop." I don't know why, but I was crying I was laughing so hard. Call me weird, but it was funny.

Hopefully work is a tad bit more lively tonight than it was last night...oh my goodness...wanted to pull my eyes out last night!

Life...

2010-07-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Billy has been in and out all summer working camps, and the Lord has definitely blessed us with enabling us to use that money to pay off some debt. We are getting closer and closer to getting the credit card and medical bills paid off! :) I've been working lots and have started orienting a new nurse recently. I am so excited about her and the other new grad that we have. I think that they are going to be great nurses and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them already!!

We took a quick trip to Billy's mom's back in June. It was good to go visit everyone for a couple of days, but oh my stars was it hot!!! I was sweating like a fat girl on her first date, just standing still!!! We had a lot of fun, and while we were there, we went to a Sugarland concert in Shreveport. It was a blast. We took Billy's best friend Carlos with us, and I'm pretty sure that he will think twice before ever going to a concert with us again! :) I have a hard time sitting still in my seat when it's a song that I absolutely love, and I have absolutely no qualms about singing along, so needless to say I loved every minute of the concert and as Billy says, I "bounced and sang my little heart out!" Most of all it was just nice to get to hang out with Billy for a couple of days. It definitely did our hearts good.

This past weekend we got to go to Dallas for my friend Megan's wedding. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I am so glad that I got to go and help out. I was just the helper girl for the day and did basically whatever needed to be done, but it was a great day and I am so happy for Megan. Last summer I went to see her in a production of Grease and ended up being her date to a wedding for a friend of hers. While we were at the wedding, we talked about how her mom had been commenting that she just knew they were going to be planning Megan's wedding for this summer. At the time Megan had never even met Kyle, so she just kept telling her mom she was crazy, but lo and behold, like always, momma knows best and Megan did indeed get married this summer.

On Saturday night after the wedding, Billy and I went to downtown Ft. Worth and walked around for awhile and then went and ate dinner at Texas de Brazil. Oh my gosh!!!!!!! It was SOOOOOOOOOO good. Even though my feet hurt like crazy b/c I had worn blisters on the bottoms of them from having worn my next shoes for so long, dinner was wonderful. Billy and I were talking on the way down, and he made the comment that this was the first time that we had been on a vacation/weekend getaway since we had started dating where we weren't worried about whether we were going to have enough money to get us through the weekend or not. It was so nice to not have to stress about the finances and just enjoy the weekend. On Sunday, we got up and went to Six Flags for the day and had a blast. It was nice b/c it didn't really start getting packed until we were leaving so we didn't really have to spend a whole lot of time waiting in lines, and I was so proud of Billy b/c he actually rode some roller coasters. He is not an adrenaline junky like yours truly, so even the thought of getting on a roller coaster makes him start to loose color in his face. I can't even remember which ride it was, but we got off of one of the roller coasters and he said, I feel like I should be sick to my stomach right now, and I looked back and he was white as a ghost. Bless his heart...he was trying to be adventurous for me, but I'm pretty sure that that particular coaster pushed him way closer to the edge than he likes to be!!! :) After Six Flags we ran back the the truck and enjoyed the air conditioning for a little bit then went to the Rangers game. It was so much fun, even though the Rangers lost, and it was actually not near as hot as we thought it was going to be. The fireworks at the end of the game were fabulous, even if we did keep getting nailed with all the debris from them fireworks.

Billy is in Denton for one last football camp this week, and then we get to go on a little getaway with all the other coaches' for a couple of days and then Billy and I are going to follow the lead of my sweet friend Whitney and her husband Jason and go hang out in Houston for a couple of days for one last trip and then it's back to the football grind. I can't believe that it's already July!! Time has flown by this summer!!

The most exciting new development for us is that we have decided to hire a housekeeper to come twice a month just to do the deep cleaning kind of stuff like dusting and cleaning the bathrooms really well and doing the floors really well. I'm sure some of you are thinking what the hee haw...you are a young married couple with no kids, how on earth do you need a housekeeper...I've been thinking the same thing, but here's our reasoning. Our schedules are so different from each other (he works days, I work nights), and we are both so busy with work, that by the time we get home and have time to do all the deep cleaning, it usually falls on the one or two days a week that we actually have time to spend/see each other, and I don't enjoy spending the precious few hours I have my husband to myself, cleaning the house. So since Billy got a raise, and I got a promotion that comes with a raise (which was not planned), that is our present to ourselves. So now the search begins for a housekeeper.

I wish I had pictures to put up from all of these adventures of late, but unfortunately, my camera has died. I'm hoping that I can at least get the pictures that are on my memory card off and downloaded, but we are on the hunt for a new camera as we speak.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I'm off to workout and then head to work.

--JB

Holy Moly!!!!!!!

2010-06-11T02:02:00.001-07:00

Nothing like sending yourself into cardiac arrest when you open up the cell phone bill. Apparently there was a LARGE mistake made when Billy got his new phone and we now owe the cell phone company 3x what a normal bill is for us. Here's hoping that they are understanding and work with me in the morning when I try to get it all straightened out.

grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-06-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

I absolutely hate being home alone...Billy has been gone since Wednesday and won't be back until next Saturday...for pete's sake it's the summer...he's supposed to be at home!!! It's been a rough weekend. Mostly because I've spent a lot of time around couples from our SS class and it always makes me sad when Billy isn't there to do stuff. I feel like a third wheel at times...I know I shouldn't and I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter to anyone else but me, but none-the-less, I'm ready for him to be home. We see little enough of each other as it is and for him to be gone 10 days in a row in the summer is hard for me to be okay with!

Okay--I'm over my little fit how. Back to catching up on blogs and continuing on the cleaning quest.

Life...

2010-06-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

Life has been absolutely crazy here lately. May was supposed to be an "easy" month because Billy is off for the most part in May. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't remember stopping in May. My sister FINALLY graduated from ACU the first weekend in May so we were there for that. On Friday night before graduation we got to meet up with Jason and Whitney and Matt, Erin, and Rylan for dinner. It was great to see the girls again and just fun to enjoy dinner with them. Then, once we got home we hit the ground running. Billy went to Cinncinati the next weekend while I stayed here and worked, and then I don't even know what happened to the last two weeks in May! Work has continued to be crazy as usual. I'm ready for us to have some staff, so that there will at least be a little bit of hope for getting a day off. I have a few pictures that I will try and post soon. Our computer at home has been on the fritz, so I've only had access to the internet from work or if I come to my parents. Hopefully I'll be able to get it figured out soon. Billy left today and will be gone until next Saturday working various football camps. It kind of stinks on timing because I actually have the next 6 days off. Oh well, I'm on a mission to deep clean my house from top to bottom while he's gone. I've enlisted a friend in return for helping strip her house of clutter here in a couple of weeks. Nothing else really exciting going on right now. Just thought I would post so that I would have proof that I am still alive in case I begin to wonder! :)

Relieved or Disappointed...I don't know which!

2010-04-27T02:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know whether I am more relieved or disappointed that I will not be changing jobs at this point. I absolutely LOVE my job, even though some days are really hard, and I honestly can't imagine myself doing anything else; however, I struggle w/ working nights. It is hard on me and hard on our marriage, especially during football season and recruiting season. So Billy and I decided that after 3 years on nights it was time for me to start looking for a day position. I really want to continue taking care of kids, so I started my search by applying for school nurse positions. I knew that they didn't pay a lot, but the thought of having my summers off and having a schedule very similar to what Billy's is was very exciting, so I went ahead and applied. Long story short, I was talking to a friend at church this weekend and asked her what she had been offered when she applied for school nurse positions last year and when she told me how much, my heart sunk to the floor. There is no way that Billy and I can take that kind of pay cut. So, I will not even be interviewing for positions. I have to call both school districts in the morning and let them know to remove my application.

I am relieved, because the thought of leaving my job had become very overwhelming in the last week or so. I don't feel like I have finished everything here that I am supposed to, and what I once thought was just nerves about a new job has turned out to be a true lack of peace in my heart and mind about the decision to leave. Things have been really rough the last couple of months, but they are starting to look up and work has become a fun place to be again. I am disappointed though, because like I said, the idea of being off in the summer w/ Billy and have holidays and that kind of thing off was very exciting, and it's been sort of a let down to know that at this point that is something that isn't attainable. I think that Billy is more disappointed than I am about it all, mostly because he really doesn't like me working nights.

So it's back to the drawing board. Coach Carthel set up an interview for me for later this week, so we'll see how that goes. I'm not just real excited about it, because it's not really a job that I want to do. Is that being selfish? I understand why Billy doesn't want me to be working nights, but at the same time, I love my job, and have little to no desire to do anything else as far as work is concerned at this point in my life.

Speaking of work, I am at work and it's time to do 5 o'clock rounds, so I will end this here. I'll update later in the week about how Kodi is doing, how the interview goes, and Billy's proud papa moment this week.

It's Official....

2010-04-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

I submitted my application to both Canyon and Amarillo ISD on Saturday for school nurse positions and mailed my transcripts, etc. today. Hopefully I'll hear something in the next couple of weeks. It's a big step and a big change that I'm not sure I'm ready for or really want, but one that I know is necessary. I'll keep y'all updated as to how things are going.

Kodi, Cook's, Granbury, work, and everything inbetween!!

2010-04-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

I have got to get better at updating my blog and downloading pictures so that it doesn't take 3 hours every time!!!!! :)

I went to Dallas to visit Kodi and the rest of the Tutt gang a couple of weeks ago. While I was there we took multiple trips to the playrooms, up to the 4th floor to the aquariums to see the eel, wagon rides out to the playground to play, and had a toenail painting party amongst other things. It was SO good to be there and to be able to hug them all and just hang out and love on them. Kodi is doing well. She got to go home on Saturday after I left on Friday. She has embraced her baldness and now only wears her hats to protect her head, but not because she's trying to disguise her bald head. She was pretty much back to her old self when I left, and it was good to see Tracy and Tracy relax a little as the real Kodi appeared. Right now she is still at home hanging out. She goes in on Monday to have blood drawn to check her platelet level, and hopefully her level will be high enough that she can get chemo. She is already a week behind because her platelet count hasn't recovered from the first round of chemo yet.

Cook's is a great hospital and they took amazing care of Tracy J and Kodi while they were there, and I know that they will continue to do that. It makes me want to work in a bigger Children's Hospital and makes me sad for the things that we don't have for our kids. (like a playground)

When I went to see Kodi, I also got to stay not just one, but two nights with my friend Shanan and her family in Granbury. They opened up their home to me on Tuesday night and then again on Friday night. It was wonderful to just sit and talk. It was the first time I had really spent any time w/ Shanan's husband and I can't wait for Billy and I to go and hang out with them this summer because I know that we will have a blast. Their girls S and B crack me up!!!!! B came into the living room on Friday night and got me to come and do a concert with her. We then proceeded back to her bedroom where she gave me a stuffed guitar and told me that I was her band and then she turned on her CD player, stepped up to the mic and went to town. It was so much fun, and I hope that if we ever have little girls that they will be as big of fans of "jamming" as Shanan's girls are. (oh, and we definitely belted out Miley Cyrus the whole way home from Babe's that night...it was good times!)

On Tuesday, I also go to see my sweet friend Whitney, however, I am pretty sure that she thinks that I am a horrible influence on her children and I don't know that I will ever get invited back to her house! :) She has two adorable little girls M and K and they both have lots of personality and make me smile. It was good to get to hug Whitney's neck, even if I didn't get to stay long.

Work has been draining in every way, shape, fashion and form the last couple of weeks/months. We are short staffed, and just seem to keep getting shorter staffed so we've all been having to change our schedules around and adjust to make sure all the days are covered, so most days, I have no idea what day it is! We have had some rough cases come through the last couple of weeks that have been very emotionally draining for us. The little girl I am taking care of right now is absolutely precious. She was in a car wreck and lost her mom, her brother and her sister. I just want to hold her and love on her, but haven't been able to physically do that because of her injuries, so instead I've been doing "the little things" as her dad likes to call them. I have washed and french braided her hair, made sure that her head bands have been in place to cover where they had to shave part of her hair, painted her fingernails and toenails multiple different times, and spending lots of time just holding her hand. She has already lived a life much more difficult than any seven year old, let alone any seventy year old, should have to endure and now to lose the people she loves the most in her life. My heart just breaks for her family as they are struggling with how and when to tell her now that she is starting to be more awake. I want to be able to fix it, and I can't, so I'll continue to do "the little things", and hopefully they'll add up to a big thing in that her family will see the love of Jesus.

We had a house guest for a about a month and a half. It was nice because I knew that when I was at work at night, Billy didn't have to sit at home by himself. And we had lots of fun all hanging out together. We bought a new grill a couple of weeks ago, and have already more than gotten our money's worth out of it. We use it every day at least once a day if not more. We also got a fire pit and some patio chairs so that we can actually sit outside and enjoy the evenings. (The fire pit also has come in handy for disposing of our shred pile!!!)

Not a whole lot else going on around here. I head to Dallas again next week to hang out with the Tutt's and to spend some much needed girl time with Whitney and Shanan. I'm at work right now so I can't add pictures to this post, but once I get up this afternoon I will upload all the pictures that go with this post so that you'll have something to look at instead of just my rambling!!!

Update on Kodi and Spring Break for us...

2010-03-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Kodi officially has her first round of chemo under her belt. TW and TJ thought that they were going to get to go home today, but the doctors want to see Kodi's pain under a little better control and want to see her eating better before they let her go home along w/ doing more education with TW and TJ on what to watch for when they get home so Friday is now the plan. They finally got the official results back from her bone scan today and along w/ the tumor in her abdomen and the one close to her spine, ALL of her bone marrow, and ALL of her hard bone is effected. Not great news, but when Kodi was diagnosed everybody knew we were in this for the long haul and that hasn't changed. Tuesday can't get here fast enough for me. It's going to be hard for me to make myself take a nap before I leave to head that way, but I will have to make myself so that I can stay awake for the drive down.

I finally caved this week and let Billy buy Rock Band. He and Jared May (one of the other coaches here) were about to pee their pants when they got home from Best Buy the other day they were so excited. I have to admit it's been pretty fun to play the last couple of days. Along w/ rocking out on Rock Band we have been finishing up laundry and yesterday we moved all of the furniture out of our room and cleaned the carpets in our room. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get the guest bedroom done.

I have to work tonight, so I guess I should get off of here and get ready. Hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day.

Pray that Kodi will have an appetite and that her pain would be better controlled as they get ready to go home. And say a prayer of thanks for all the people that have rallied around the Tutt's. Their house has been invaded and disinfected top to bottom and the grocery store there in Sanger is giving them free groceries for as long as they need them along w/ all the countless other things people have done for them.

What the heck?????

2010-03-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

What a week it has been. Definitely ranks up there in the hardest weeks of my life...probably only second to the week that my dad was diagnosed w/ cancer. My sweet precious Kodi, who for all practical purposes is my niece, went to the doctor for what we thought was just a pneumonia and turned out to be a neuroblastoma. It's a fairly aggressive form of cancer and the tumors that she has are quite big. She started chemo last night at 11:00pm. It's not fair. She's only five years old. She's supposed to be enjoying soccer season and finishing up kindergarten, and instead, she's laying in a hospital bed having been put through the ringer this week. She is at Cook's in Ft. Worth and I'm so glad that she is in such a good place, however, it stinks that I have to be in Canyon and not there. I am going down on the 23rd to stay for a couple of days, and can't wait to see her and her sister. They were both flower girls in our wedding and mean the world to me. I can't believe that they are having to go through this. This is the type of thing that happens to complete strangers and then they become my friends as I take care of their child...it doesn't happen to people that I know and love. The hardest part has been having to wait for information. Being the nurse that I am, I want and need answers NOW, but have spent the week living in the unknown for the most part. Thankfully, we have an AMAZING God who is able to handle me being mad and throwing a fit and he's able to handle all the tears and the heartache. It was so nice to get a call from Tracy J (Kodi's mom) at 4:30 Thursday morning asking if I could get dry shampoo for them. Finally, something I can do to help. My next project is going to be to make her some rocking hospital gowns to wear. She's going to be the best dressed pt. Cook's has ever seen! :) Please be in prayer for her family. Her name is Kodi, her sister is Maegan, mom is Tracy Jane, and dad is Tracy Wayne. I'll keep information updated on here as much as I can. My prayer for them is that as the shock is wearing off that they would gain their footing and take off full force to attack this. Also, please be praying for the fundraisers that are being done in Kodi's name. Tracy and Tracy are driving back and forth from Sanger at least once a day, which is an hour or so one way. Between gas and eating out while in the hospital, any money that the fundraisers make is going to be a huge blessing, and I want them to be blessed above and beyond anything that any of us could imagine. I'll end with two of my favorite pictures of the girls and myself.

So Excited!!!

2010-02-26T15:19:00.001-08:00

My favorite pink lady is getting married!!!!! :) This is my sweet friend Megan whom I've had the privilege of knowing since the first day of my freshman year of college. I absolutely love her and she recently got engaged. I'm so excited for her and can't wait for her wedding this summer. Pardon my horrible tan lines in the picture above...we floated the river 3 days before I went to see her in a production of Grease this summer, thus the horrid tan lines!!! :)

Much more to blog about, but for now I have to finish getting dressed and out the door...TTFN

Drumroll please...

2010-02-09T10:49:00.001-08:00

Our 2010 taxes are officially done!!! woo! hoo! Hoping to get our refund back in time to beat the rising interest rates so that we can refinance our house. I think next year we are just going to have someone else do them for us though...we haven't really spoken just a whole lot since we got them done! oops! We tend to butt heads a lot about financial/computer stuff and the right way to do stuff, and last night was definitely no different.

On a different note, I started my Dancing w/ the Stars workout routine yesterday...let me just tell ya, as fun as that show looks, I understand why those girls look the way they do. That business is work!!!! My abs and calves are sore today from all that jive and swing business yesterday. Hopefully my workout this morning will go a long way to helping get rid of some of that soreness...no luck so far, but here's hoping a few more hours will do the trick.

Nothing else very exciting going on. Going to see a movie with a girlfriend this afternoon and then hoping that I don't get called into work so we can have another quiet night at home relaxing.

Texas vs. the Nation...and some random pictures

2010-02-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

The boys absolutely love to play in the snow!!! These are a few pictures from the first time it snowed. It's snowed two more times since then and just started snowing again tonight! I'm a little tired of the snow!

This was post playing in the snow...they had worn themselves out!!!

Boudreaux stayed perched on the couch like this for a good hour and a half just watching people driving/sliding up and down the street.

He really is excited to be in the snow even though he doesn't look like it here!

This was the Jeep the first time it snowed. SO thankful that we have 4-wheel drive.

This weekend to celebrate the end of recruiting season and because we were too busy to get together for a Christmas we decided to go to Ruidoso/El Paso for the weekend to play and watch some of our players play in the Texas vs. the Nation game. We all drove up Friday and pretty much just hung out Friday night. Most everyone went to the casino Friday night, but seeing as how I hadn't slept since Thursday afternoon b/c I worked Thur. night, I headed to bed early. Saturday morning Billy and I and Coach Carthel and Miss Cindy headed off for El Paso while everyone else stayed behind and went skiing and sledding. Apparently they got a little wild on the slopes because by the time we got back they were all either in bed, or on their way to bed and it was only 8:15!!! (side note: The people that let us stay in their cabin failed to mention that you can't get in their driveway without 4-wheel drive, and that you have to watch and make sure your vehicle doesn't slide down the driveway even when you have the parking break on!!! It was crazy, and we all at one point or another were either stuck or almost stuck at the bottom of the driveway. ) We had a lot of fun at the game, however, Miss Cindy and I decided that there is no way that we could be press box wives b/c we get to into the game for the people in the press box!! We were lucky and had all-access passes, so we got to spend time down on the field and see our guys before and after they game.

At the cabin there were probably 25 deer that came running and would eat out of you hand anytime you came out the door with bread or crackers. Here's Miss Cindy feeding them.

The fun helmet that the guys go to run out of.

There are several military bases around El Paso and so at the beginning of the game they did a fly over w/ F-22's. It was pretty cool.

J'Marcus is number 73. He played great and hopefully will get invited to the combine.

In true Keithon fashion, he spend almost every defensive series for Texas standing up on the bench watching. I laughed when I looked down the sidelines during the first defensive series and there he was standing up on the bench!! :) We were so excited that both of our guys got to start. Keithon started out the week on the 4th team, so he was really excited to have gotten to start and we were so proud of him.

Here we are w/ both of them after the game. I told J'Marcus that I loved standing next to him b/c he made me feel short and not very many people can do that!

Along w/ the football game, they also do a sort of Texas vs. the Nation w/ cheerleaders and have a cheer camp for middle school and high school squads from west Texas and then they all get to perform at half time of the game. The colleges that were chosen this year were Texas Tech, UTEP, Kansas and Kentucky.

Had to get a picture of their "guns up" pyramids.

And for my favorite friend from Kentucky a picture of the UK cheerleaders!!! ( I have to say, I can see why they won the national cheer championship last year...they were VERY impressive to watch!)

After the game we went to a boot outlet to look for some boots for Billy and of course none of them carried a size 15 so then we headed back. On the way we were stopped at a stop light in El Paso and I looked over and a lady seriously had a sofa, not a love seat, a full sized burgundy leather sofa, tied to the top of her suburban! It was hilarious. We got hungry on the way back so we stopped at the hole in the wall Mexican food place in Alamagordo called Margo's. It wasn't until after we ordered that we realized that they charge 75 cents a basket for chips and hot sauce!!!! Thank goodness their food was amazing and made up for the fact that we had to pay for chips and hot sauce!!!

We got home this afternoon just in time to beat the cold front in. It is now currently sleeting/snowing outside. We are only supposed to get 3 inches tonight, so hopefully they are right and it will clear off tomorrow. Kind of tired of driving in the ice and slush.

February 3...hurry please!!!!

2010-01-31T05:22:00.000-08:00

February 3 is signing day. For the wives of college football coaches, that is music to our ears. It means that we will finally have our husbands back...sort of! To me, recruiting season is worse than football season b/c Billy is gone ALL the time. Thus creating a one woman show at our house. That's been especially exciting this week/weekend w/ our foot of snow on the ground. Thankfully we didn't have any frozen pipes, I have 4-wheel drive in the Jeep, and a large portion of the mess melted off yesterday. (Just as a side note, after this winter, Billy is very thankful that I was insistent that we have 4-wheel drive in both vehicles. He told me yesterday that we wouldn't ever buy a vehicle that doesn't have 4-wheel drive after this winter weather experience.) However, this one woman show is quickly coming to an end...THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! He left this morning at 5:45 to go to meetings and then has to take the last load of recruits back to central Texas. He will be back on Tuesday and then on Friday, all the full-times and their wives are headed to Ruidoso/El Paso for a weekend away! I'm super excited.

All the snow has been lots of fun and has made me wish that we had kids even more so that I would have had someone to play in all of it with. The boys have loved getting to run around in it, but they don't tolerate it very well for any amount of time. Hopefully it will melt off quickly so that we don't have remnants of this snow left over when it starts to snow again on Thursday. As usual my camera is being retarded, so I can't upload my pictures of them playing in the snow, but soon hopefully.

I start working weekends today officially. I'm excited b/c the increase in pay will be nice, however, it's not quite as easy to plan things now...I definitely have to be much more prepared and have to plan ahead of time for stuff on the weekends. Thankfully this is only a season in my life and not a permanent thing. I'm hoping in May or June to be able to go back to something closer to what I was working.

As usual, I have been a slacker and waited until the last possible moment to clean house, do laundry, go grocery shopping etc. Hopefully today is a very productive day and I will be able to get it all done and still manage to fit in a nap before I have to go to work tonight.

Crazy story for the weekend. Two of our players got hit by a train...they are okay, but the car...not so much! There are several places in Canyon where we have double sets of railroad tracks. Needless to say, they had pulled up to one and had slid up onto one of the sets of tracks. They were sitting waiting on the train on the other set of track to pass, when all of the sudden they got hit by a train coming in the other direction. Sam said the train only hit like a foot of the front end of the car, but that there is nothing left but an engine and tires on the front end! I thought Billy was kidding when he said that they got hit until I saw Sam and talked to him about it yesterday. Thank goodness they are okay. Not many people can say I've been hit by a train and lived to tell about it!

SNOW!!!! Part 2

2010-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

Well, not only is it still snowing, but there is a good 2 inches of ice/sleet underneath! Needless to say I am very thankful for a friend who graciously let me stay at her house today since I have to go back to work tonight. It was quite the fiasco to get across town to her house this morning, but I made it. There is probably a good six inches if not more outside and it's not supposed to quit until midnight. We got an e-mail today that we have to ration linens at work. Kind of makes me laugh!!! I am going to try and get home in the morning, but we'll see. I may be stuck at Carissa's for awhile.

Billy and Coach Carthel survived a tornado at Stephenville HS today. I called to check on the boys when I got up and he was telling me about their adventure. He also told me that the guy that was supposed to be letting our dogs out hadn't been over there today because he couldn't get out of his apartment so I had to call the neighbor to go let them out. Hopefully my house isn't wrecked!!! Good times!! Only in Texas is there a blizzard and a tornado in the same day.

Guess I should get off of here and get ready for work. Thank goodness Carissa was a sweetheart and washed my clothes so that I didn't have to wear dirty clothes to work tonight...I have to wear the same clothes again, but they are at least clean.

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

So I think we are finally going to get the "BIG" snow that we have all been waiting for this weekend...which means that I quite possibly will be getting a workout in hiking up the hills at the stadium after we sled down them!!!!!! I cannot express how absolutely excited just the thought of this wonderful adventure makes me.

In other not so exciting news, Billy is once again gone for the week. This time with Coach Carthel, which for some reason makes me worry less about him...I guess it's because he's not having to do all the driving by himself, although he usually does all the driving, he just has someone to talk to this week instead of riding in silence, or being on his phone the whole time.

I am ready for the weekend to be here. I already need a break from work and I have only been there once so far this week. PT was exhausting as usual this morning, however, my therapist and I did laugh quite a bit b/c the more she challenges me, the more she realizes that I'm not lying when I say I'm uncoordinated!!! :) And hopefully by the end of this week/beginning of next week my neurologist will have some answers for me and some of this anxiety will go away. I think for the most part I will be fine whatever they find, I just want to know what it is good ro bad.

On that note, I should probably go to bed since I have to go back to work tonight, and being tired doesn't help my anxiety at all...

Oh--funny story for the day...I ran by the chiropractor this morning to pay him for the rest of the week. When I walked in he was talking to this sweet little old lady who has to be well into her 80's. She left before me and as I walked around the corner of the building she was backing out of her parking spot. As I was getting ready to back out, I look up to see her pulling into a parking spot on the other side of the parking lot...mind you, this parking lot has A row of parking on each side of the lot w/ an aisle down the middle, so it's not even as wide as your typical neighborhood street. So anyway, she pulls into a spot on the other side of the parking lot and gets out and goes into the insurance office that is next door. I immediately had to call the secretary in the chiropractors office and tell her what happened and we laughed for a good ten minutes over the situation. God Bless little old ladies...I hope I'm that entertaining to someone when I'm in my 80's!!!

Girls Week--WARNING: LOTS of pictures on this post...

2010-01-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

So minus the fact that Billy and I haven't seen each other in a week, it's been a great week for me. It started last Friday when I headed to Abilene for my sister's senior art show and then to stay the night w/ Whitney. Saturday morning Erin picked us up and we headed to Dallas for a weekend of shopping and lots and lots of talking!! We met Shanan for lunch and Channa and Valerie also joined up with us.

This is the salad that Shanan got at Cheesecake Factory. Needless to say, along w/ consuming the appetizer sampler pictured below, we helped her with her salad and then split a piece of Dulche de Leche cheesecake. It was all wonderful.
It was a wonderful weekend and we had so much fun. I can't wait for us to do it again. It was so nice to hang out with women who like me are trucking through recruiting season as a single woman. Saturday night Whitney, Erin, Shanan and myself stayed at the Westin. We laughed a lot and of course talked a little football. (All of our husbands coach division 2 football in the same conference so we're supposed to be enemies, but I couldn't ask for four better friends!) We ate lots of good food from The Kona Grill, The Cheesecake Factory, a cute little bakery and a random pizza place where the owner made pizza for the buffet especially for us. We also had some chicken fried steak w/ mashed potatoes and gravy at the pizza place. Very random, but very good!

I was sad to leave Abilene on Sunday, but know that we will be getting together again soon. As you can tell from the following pictures I got rather bored on my way home. It's amazing how much entertainment self portraits can provide!

Work was so much fun on Monday night because for the first time in what seems like forever it was our normal crew! There's something comforting about the familiar. RSV season is in full swing (FINALLY!!!) so we are busy and all but full at work. The game of musical patients has started...enjoyable as always.
Wednesday night one of my co-workers was nice enough to come in so that I could go to dinner w/ the WT coaches wives since I was in trouble for having missed dinner on Friday to fraternize with the enemy. We ate downtown at Napoli's and of course I made myself sick eating the bread because it is SOOOOOOOOOO good. And then tonight was girlfriends night at my favorite pottery shop Brush with Art. We made really fun plates and I got to see Carissa for the first time in what seems like FOREVER! Our schedules seem to be going 700 different directions all the time, so it's nice to know that barring any catastrophes, we get to see each other at least on the third Thursday of every month for girlfriends night! We are known as the trouble makers because no matter who else sits with us, our table always ends up a little on the rowdy side!!! :)
These are the plates that we made tonight. Mine is on the L and Carissa's on the R. We were supposed to pick New Year's Resolutions to put on there, but I put my verse for the year on there instead. I can't wait to see if after it comes out of the kiln to see what the colors really look like!!
I painted this frame last week in anticipation of our girls weekend. I can't wait to print the picture below in black and white and put it in my frame. I picked it up tonight when I went to girlfriends night and LOVE the way that it turned out. The hard thing about painting pottery is that you don't ever really know what it's going to look like until after it's fired so it feels like an ongoing science experiment everytime I go paint. I have been in there enough since November that I filled up my frequent fire card and get $10 off my next project!!! So excited.

Girls Weekend!!!!

2010-01-13T01:35:00.001-08:00

Yeah!!! It's finally here. I've been waiting for this weekend for FOREVER it seems like. We are going to be headed to Dallas to hang out. Can't wait to see these girls and have some good shopping and talking up a storm take place.

40 years old...seriously!!!

2010-01-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

What a week it has been...really I guess I should say what a crazy few months it has been. Since my wreck back in October, life has just gone crazy it seems. In the last week I have gone from wondering if I was going to have to have surgery on my neck to now knowing that I don't need surgery now, but most likely will within the next 5 years, and in this time I also discovered that on xray and MRI, my neck looks like it belongs to a 40 year old. Guess I should have been nicer to it in high school and college. While it's a relief I don't have to have surgery, it's frustrating that there's not an immediate fix for the numbness/tingling in my R arm/hand. My ring finger and pinky on my R hand have now been numb/tingling for almost 24 hours straight. Up until last night it was something that seemed to come and go, but this time it came and decided not to go I guess! Between all the doctors, I am now going to physical therapy 3 times a week, the chiropractor 2-3 times a week and then whatever doctors appointments I manage to squeeze in there inbetween all those appointments. Needless to say, I am excited for the first of February when my work schedule changes from Mon-Tues-Wed to Sat-Sun-Mon, and I will have less juggling of schedules to do in order to fit everything in. Thankfully the change in schedule is not going to be a permanent one, but it will be nice to have the extra money from working weekends consistently again!

We have been on a roller coaster as far as jobs for Billy goes. I guess that's the way it goes with all football coaches this time of the year. We are hoping for something that will pay better, but will be content with where we are if that's what the Lord has for us. I'm hoping that there will be some change for Billy's sake simply because I know he struggles with the fact that he doesn't feel appreciated at his job b/c they have made no effort to pay him better even though we've been really successful the last 5 years or so.

I must admit I am very sad that for the most part the college football season is over. We are going to watch the Cactus Bowl tonight and then the first weekend in February, all the coaching staff are going to Ruidoso/El Paso for the Texas vs. The Nation game to watch some of our guys play. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching a TON of football over the last couple of days/week or two...so much so that my husband began begging to watch something besides football!!! What can I say, I LOVE me some college football.

It has been bitterly cold here the last couple of days. The wind chill in the mornings has hovered between -6 and 0 the last couple of days. It was 1 when Billy left for Lubbock this morning. Needless to say, we have experienced our first set of frozen pipes as home owners. Our cold water in the kitchen is frozen. Hopefully by now it has thawed out a little and we can use it again. Lesson learned...leave the cabinets open and the faucet dripping at night when it's this cold!!!! I wish it would just go ahead and snow though. I don't mind the cold as long as there is a reason for it, but without snow, I don't really see the reason for the cold weather!

Well, I guess I have to quit procrastinating and finish paying bills...bleh!

Christmas

2009-12-28T01:06:00.001-08:00

Well, Christmas was pretty low key around here this year, and I think that I might like to continue that tradition. It made it a lot easier to focus on the reason for the season, and it was nice to have my husband all to myself for a few days. He left today to go to his mom's for a few days while I work. Bummed that I didn't get to go with him, but thankful to not have to ride in the car all the way there and back. Especially because it took him even longer than normal to get there because of the weather today. I ended up working Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we opened our stockings Christmas morning when I got home from work and then I crashed while Billy just hung out and relaxed. I got Billy the book The Blind Side and a gift card to Starbucks and he got me the stars that go with my nativity scene, a gift card to bath and body works, and my favorite gift was a new cowbell!!!! Anyone that has sat with me during a football game knows how I love my cowbell, but it's kind of quiet, so Billy got me a new one that is definitely going to be heard at games!!! :) We did Christmas with my family yesterday. We went and ate dinner at Cheddars and then went and watched The Blind Side. Even though my mom, my sister, Billy and I had all seen it, my dad really wanted to see it, so we all piled in a went to watch it. I loved it even more the second time, as did Billy. I was supposed to work tonight, but ended up getting left on-call (so far...there's still a few hours in the night) so my sister and Maycee came over and we watched movies and just hung out. It was a nice low key night. That's about it for around here. I gotta hit the sack b/c I have to get up in three hours to get ready to go to physical therapy. Remind me again why I scheduled it for 7:30 on a Monday morning???

Kanza Bowl 2009

2009-12-15T13:52:00.001-08:00

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about our bowl game. It was a lot of fun, but you could tell it was definitely the first year for it. Hopefully it will continue and get better. On Friday morning Jessica and I boarded the Kanza Bowl Bus at 5:30 am. We both had intentions of sleeping the whole way from Amarillo to Topeka, and that's just what we did. I had stayed up all night so it was very easy for me to just crash once we got on the bus. The only problem was...it was 8 degrees when we left Canyon that morning, and for some reason, it took FOREVER for the floor of the bus to get warm, so everyone rode with their feet propped up off the floor. Once we got to Topeka, we got our hotel room and immediately had to get ready for the banquet that they had that night. It was pretty cheesy on the banquet cheesiness scale. They had some guys that came in and immitated the Blues Brothers for the entertainment. Those guys made Coach Carthel and UNO's head coach get up there and sing and dance with them, and then they made the coaches wives and players moms get up and dance with them. Cindy and I took it as a compliment when our players came up and told us afterwards that they were glad we had more class that the other teams female representatives...lets just say that their dancing was a little suspect for being moms and wives in a very public setting. We also were a little distracted during dinner b/c our volleyball girls were playing in the national semis. Once they won we were able to focus on the dinner a little better. The other thing about the dinner was that they did not hardly feed the guys anything. I was still hungry afterwards, and I eat like a bird compared to the boys. Thankfully one of the boosters had pity on the guys and called and ordered pizzas for them before the banquet was even over.

Saturday morning started bright and early w/ breakfast and then the layering on of clothes. Thankfully it wasn't near as cold as we thought it was going to be. I ended up not even wearing my coat. Granted I had on two thermal shirts under my sweater and kept my vest zipped up the whole time, but still...didn't have to wear a coat!

Here's me and Jessica before the game started. We commented later on how glad we were to be in the sun for the game, because I'm pretty sure we would have frozen had we not been.

All of our boys lined up for the national anthem. They had the Topeka HS band playing and they were actually really entertaining. Their drum corp played on the side lines through most of the first half and we had a lot of fun listening/watching them.

Eugene trying to keep warm between series.

Okay, so this may be the picture of the year for me. We didn't play all that well in the first half and had had several 3 and outs. This was taken after one of those. The guys walked over to the bench after the punt, and Keithon told the coaches he had it and to give the players and minute...and then Keithon proceeded to "motivate" his teammates for about the next 5 minutes. Just a great picture to show what Keithon and his leadership meant for our team this year. He is a great kid and we will miss him SOOOOO much next year.

My honey edumacating his boys!

All the guys after the tropy presentation...the gangs all here one last time.

Billy and his senior linemen w/ the Kanza Bowl trophy. We're gonna miss these guys. They have provided lots of memories for us over the years.

Billy and Eugene

Billy and Keithon. Billy loves this kid. Keithon was one of Billy's kids when Billy was at Ranger JC before he coached at WT, and came to WT w/ Billy, so Keithon is one of those kids that will always hold a special place in Billy's heart.

To be continued...

Christmas Decorations...WARNING...LOTS of pictures

2009-12-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

So I finally have gotten around to uploading pictures of my Christmas decorations...I still don't have all of my stuff out, but hope to remedy that tonight if I can get my kitchen cabinet finished.

This is my small tree that is in my kitchen. It has all of my gingerbread/candy land themed ornaments on it. All of my Christmas stuff is gingerbread men/houses, so it's fun to have a tree this year that matches my theme. I'm also proud of the fact that I managed to get 700 lights on this 6 foot tree!!! :) Just call me Clark Griswald.

This is the little tree before the topper was on, and so that you can see the green ribbon on it.

This is my favorite little gingerbread man on my tree.

And this is my favorite ornament on my gingerbread tree.

Just a close up of my big tree

This is what Rocky and Boudreaux's ornaments look like this year. I haven't gotten their pictures in them yet, but they are at least on the tree.

This is my favorite nursing ornament. I just think it's adorable.

Billy and I's first couple ornament, and my favorite ornament on the tree!!!

While we were in Topeka we went to the mall and Jessica and I stopped at one of those ornament booths in the middle of the mall and had these made to commemorate our trip and the bowl game. I put the final score on the back side of it.

This is the big tree all lit up. I am in love with it. I got it at a garage sale this summer and was so excited to get to put it up. I love how it turned out. I still don't have a topper for it, but am thinking that I will just make a bow out of the left over red ribbon for now. Billy picked out a topper at Hobby Lobby, but it's not big enough. I put it on top the other night and it just looked awkward.

And this is the big tree w/ the lights on. Needless to say, I am a Christmas nut! Billy always tells everyone that our house looks like Candy Land threw up in it! Since I took these pictures I have wrapped numerous boxes and put them under the trees, so it's looking quite festive. Now I'm off to finish my kitchen cabinet and hopefully get all of my Christmas dishes and the rest of my Christmas decorations out for the year.

Crazy creations!!!

2009-12-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

My sister helped me put out some of my Christmas stuff while she was over for Thanksgiving. She loved the boys stockings and talked about making one for Maycee...well, I beat her to the punch and not only made Maycee one, but made Carrie one to match. My mom laughed when I walked in the door with all the remnants I bought for their stockings. Needless to say, she and I had fun today.

Carrie's Stocking

Maycee's Stocking

Along w/ the stockings, mom finished up Mr. Rylan's Christmas pajamas this week. (I promise they are going in the mail tomorrow morning Erin...it's been a crazy week.) I can't wait to see a picture of him in them.

Billy finally made it home today. He's been gone since they left to go to Topeka last week. I think he was a little overwhelmed when he walked in the house today. He hadn't seen any of the Christmas trees or anything yet, so he had a lot to look at. Right now he's out with the other coaches and the recruits they have in for the weekend, eating dinner and hanging out. Hopefully he'll be here to get me soon. Love hanging out with the parents, but I'm ready to be at home with my husband for a few hours.

Tomorrow I am going to finish my cabinet for the kitchen, make some Christmas goodies, and get caught up on my blogging. Pictures of my Christmas decorations tomorrow...promise.

We're going bowlin'!!

2009-12-04T01:56:00.000-08:00

So I leave in less than two hours to go to Topeka for the bowl game this weekend...am I packed you ask...nope! Still have a load of clothes in the dryer and a load of dishes to load in the dishwasher. Why is it that on nights when I don't need to stay awake, that I have ABSOLUTELY no problem staying awake all night. I haven't even had to bust into my new cannister of Spark to make it through the night! Needless to say, I hope to curl up in my seat on the bus and CRASH before we even make it out of Canyon. I am so excited to let you know, that it's not going to be NEAR as cold as we first thought. The weather report now says 44 for a high that day with clear sunny skies a winds of 5-10 miles an hour which we all no means we won't even notice it!!! I'm kind of excited to be able to put myself on auto pilot for the weekend and not have to be responsible for driving. Somehow I always end up getting volunteered to drive anytime we go places...no matter how near or far! So it will be nice to let the bus driver drive and put myself in my seat and relax. It's been a crazy week. Between work and doctor's appointments and insurance people, I am DONE...like stick a fork in my done!

It has snowed twice this week which has been fun. And it has been BITTERLY cold here. Right now the temp is 15 degrees and it feels like it walking into my garage!!! We keep our extra bottled water in the garage and it's all frozen solid! Gotta love the winter.

Well, I guess I should get off of here and go finish getting stuff done so I can get to the bus on time. I promise to put up my snow pictures and Christmas decoration pictures on Monday or Tuesday. I am going to finish decorating when I get home and on Monday and then sit back and enjoy all my hard work.

Catching Up...continued

2009-12-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

So Thursday was also my birthday. I got lots of sweet messages from friends and appreciated them all. It was kind of a bummer though, because my birthday definitely took a backseat to Thanksgiving. My parents were so busy, they completely forgot about it, and Billy didn't go shopping until this weekend, so it was just kind of bleh! I have to say though, Billy got me the wise men for my nativity scene and I'm super excited to have them. I can't wait until I have enough birthdays for him to finish out my set. That's my yearly gift that I always get and then I usually get something else to go along with it.

In all the craziness with working on Friday and Saturday, I don't have my trees put up yet. That's on the list of things to do this week though. I should have time on Thursday to get them put up. Billy and I went to Hobby Lobby on Friday and got some decorations and then I went to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby today to get the rest of the stuff for both trees. I can't wait to get it all put together. I have all of my garland up inside and my stockings and most of my gingerbread houses are out. I have to finish painting my hutch for my kitchen and I can put the rest of the stuff out. Hopefully I can get it all done on Thursday so that when I get back from Topeka it will all be done and I can just sit back and enjoy it.

In sitting and talking to the girls at work tonight, I think I've decided that if I do end up having to have shoulder surgery, I want to wait until May or June so that it's during the slow time at work and then I would have my whole summer to hang out and relax!!! I don't know if Dr. Parker would go for that, but it's always worth a try right???

Billy and I were talking tonight and he made a joke about our family being true Buffs b/c we are injury plagued!! :) Seems like every season we've been here, we've either lost major contributors, or they've had to play hurt all season. Billy has a follow up appt. for his back in the near future, so we'll see what Dr. Parker has to say. My suspicion is that he will refer Billy to a neurosurgeon. At which point, I am going to pull out the 'ol I'm a nurse and have a preference card so that hopefully he'll refer Billy to one of the neuros that I actually like.

Well, gotta go hang some Phenobarb...then it's home to bed!!! woo!hoo!

So Behind!!!

2009-11-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, there's lots to update on from the last week...or at least I feel like there is, so I'll start with the most recent and work backwards.

First of all, I will once again be dressed like an eskimo this weekend. The predicted high for the game on Saturday is 36!!!! Yikes! Oh well, what's a little cold weather to see our guys get to play one last time. We are riding the luxury fan bus up on Friday and back on Saturday. Will be a crazy fast trip, but at least I am not responsible for driving, and the bus is supposed to be pretty nice.

Secondly, I had my MRI done this morning, and I do have a tear in my rotator cuff, so I get to follow up with Dr. Parker, the orthopedist, on Wednesday and we'll go from there as to whether I will have to have surgery or not. I'm personally hoping not, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

This last week flew by in a whirlwind I felt like. I worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and then we had my dad's family over for sandwiches and just to hang out on Wednesday b/c two of my dad's sisters from out of town were here to visit. It was lots of fun to hang out with them and as usual, we laughed a whole lot!!! Then on Thursday we fed the masses at our house for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I felt like for the first time I am actually getting the hang of cooking for the masses. It was nice to not feel like a crazy woman trying to get stuff ready.

My sister stayed with us this weekend and brought her dog w/ her. Maycee and the boys had a blast playing all weekend. They were all worn smooth out by the time Carrie and Maycee left to head back to Abilene last night. The funniest part is, the boys have never really played w/ toys, but for some reason, Boudreaux fell in love w/ Maycee's squeaky duck and now Maycee won't play with it b/c Boudreaux has been playing w/ it, so Maycee's getting a new squeaky toy from the boys for Christmas.

That's all I have time for right now. I have to get ready for work, but hopefully I'll have time in the morning before I crash to update some more.

Wildcat or Texan???

2009-11-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I walked into the football office this morning to take Billy some breakfast burritos. As I was leaving, one of the coaches asked me who I was supporting today, the Wildcats or the Texans...at first I was a little confused, and then it all made sense and I quickly retorted...neither, I'm supporting the Crusaders. You see, I had on my purple scrub pants from work last night w/ a black long sleeve shirt so they felt it necessary to harass me about being friends w/ the opposition! Little did they know, even though I was tired, I was still quick on my feet and could shoot right back at 'em!

The Truck--

2009-11-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

We got the truck back today. Billy was sweet and went and cleaned all the dog hair out of the car while I was asleep and went and got the truck. Oh so very excited I am!!! However, I was not excited to learn that in doing this, he left me w/ no keys to the Jeep, thus I had to miss my chiropractor appointment this afternoon, because while I am all about riding my bike...the wind is literally blowing about 45-50 miles an hour today and I ain't riding my bike in that!!! Now hopefully he gets home in time for me to get to work on time. I am so excited that we are going to a bowl game, but I will be so glad when it's over so that my husband will no longer be tied to the office 23 hours a day!! (sorry...just had to vent a little...I'm better now.)

Free Christmas Cards!!!!

2009-11-23T06:37:00.001-08:00

I got all of my Christmas cards for 100% FREE this weekend. Go to seehere.com and you can get 50 FREE 5x7 photo cards. The coupon code is newbaby. This is good through November 30. And also, as long as you choose the standard shipping method you don't have to pay shipping either, so they truly are 100% free! I have a friend that ordered hers a week or so ago and she got them in on Saturday and they looked great! Just a little bargain to share with everyone...I personally am all about saving money any way I can, especially since the price of stamps just keeps climbing!!!! Have a great Monday everyone.

Show us your life: Pets

2009-11-20T08:50:00.001-08:00

Kelly is hosting Show Us Your Life once again this week. Rocky and Boudreaux are our children. We first got Rocky the Christmas before we got married from the pound. He is a corgi mix. He is laid back, loves to dig and chase rabbits, and likes to take his time eating his food. Boudreaux came along in September after we got married. I had taken Rocky to doggie day care and when I dropped him off they kept talking about Rocky needing a brother and that they had the perfect little dog. Well, I went home and talked to Billy about it, and of course he was all game for it, so Boudreaux came to be a part of the family. B is a full blooded Welsh Corgi. He is a spaz to put it simply. He is hyper, loves to wrestle, likes to chase tennis balls, go for rides w/ his head hanging out the window and unlike his brother INHALES his food. WOW how different life is with two dogs versus just one. Rocky was so sweet and innocent until his brother came along, and now, some days they are just plain little toots. They have a knack for going through the trash and eating my Gianni Bini heels...not a fan of those habits. I even bought one of the shoe hangers and they ate the shoes in the shoe hanger!!!! For the most part they get along, however, there has been blood shed more than once over food...typical boys!!They LOVE to play with their cousin Maycee. She's a spastic Maltese and she gives them a run for their money. When Maycee comes over, she leaves exhausted and the boys sleep great!!!!! This picture is from Christmas last year and they are all doing tricks for brisket!This is Rocky and Boudreaux's annual picture w/ Santa. This is last year's. Every year, they have one Sunday night, where they do what's called Paws w/ Claus and you can take your pet to the mall Santa and get their picture taken. The boys always have fun and it's always interesting to watch them interact w/ other dogs.One last picture for kicks and giggles! This is one of my favorite pictures of them. We had been on at the canyon hiking and stopped to take a water break.

New Moon...

2009-11-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

So I would definitely not consider myself a Twilight fanatic. I have read the first two books and would like to read the last two, but it's not life and death if I don't get to them immediately. However, I somehow managed to let myself get conned into going to the midnight premiere of the movie last night. Mind you, on a good day I have a hard time staying awake through an entire movie, let alone going to the movies after the week I've had and going to a movie that doesn't start until midnight...it would normally mean a recipe for disaster. I went with a bunch of the nurses I work with and we had a lot of fun. Some of us girls met before hand and hung out and then we met everyone else at the theatre. We got there about an hour before the movie started and needless to say that was a mistake. We ended up sitting on the second row. Praise the Lord I have a chiropractor appointment first this this morning b/c I need it after craning my head for 2 1/2 hours to watch a movie! The movie was good...much like the Harry Potter movies for me, where they aren't as good as the book, but they simply can't include all the detail that the book includes. I didn't like that the ending totally left us hanging. I don't like suspensful endings unless I can have the instant gratification of watching/reading the next part in the story immediately. Although I have NEVER in my life experienced motion sickness, I'm pretty sure that that's what I suffered from during the movie tonight. I simply listened to the last hour and a half of the movie b/c it made me sick to look at the screen. This was definitely probably a one time experience, but I can at least say that I have been to one midnight premiere!!

And I got my Christmas cards edited and ordered today so I feel better now!

November...so far!

2009-11-16T00:03:00.001-08:00

Whew!! It's been a crazy month. Can't believe that it's already half over!!!! I guess I should finish catching up on my pictures from October and then move on to November. I never got my pictures up from our last home game, so here they are.

These are my wounded boys...hanging out on the sidelines before the game...this was right before we had the band blowing their trombones straight in our ears, so we all still had our hearing here!!

Billy and Renarko and his mom. One of our three seniors.

Me and Liz-the d-line coach's wife. She's from Kentucky and SOOOO much fun...even if she is a little loud sometimes!

Me and Stine--it was so good to see her that weekend. Totally jealous that she is headed to Barbados for two weeks for work. Wish my job sent me to Barbados for 2 weeks...such a rough life she leads!

Billy and I after the Tarleton State game. He was so excited, and so proud of his guys, as was I.

My friend Shanan's girls in their shirts that I made them. They are two of the most well behaved and precious little girls I have ever met.

My friend Shanan and I, whose hubby is the DC at Tarleton State.

This is Matt, one of our GA's this year, and Billy. Matt is part of our family, and definitely the favorite of the dog sitters if you ask Rocky and Boudreaux, b/c he can't resist their puppy dog eyes and gives them a treat everytime they come in the house I think!!! Matt lived with us for awhile this summer, and at one point, was going to be one of Billy's assistants...I personally still wish he was, but that's a whole different ball of wax that I won't get into! Anyways, Billy had to miss class one week to go speak at the booster club luncheon, so Matt filled in for him and gave his class their test. Well, one of Billy's students asked Matt if he was Billy's son b/c they look and talk just alike (according to this student mind you...). Matt told them he was and left it at that, so now all of Billy's students think that we have a college aged son. We have laughed A LOT about that story. I definitely don't look old enough to be Matt's mom and Billy definitely doesn't look old enough to be Matt's dad, even if Billy does have a little gray hair!!!

To catch up from where I left off, we beat Northeastern State 66-23 Halloween night. I didn't get to go b/c it was too far to drive, and b/c I had to work that night. I did watch most of the game at work though. My co-workers, two guys mind you, made fun of me for being so focused on the game and silent cheering and screaming since I couldn't yell at work! It was definitely an amusing experience for us all, and definitely proves that I am no good at listening to games on the radio, or watching them on TV.

The same day we beat Northeastern, ACU beat Kingsville, which set up perfectly for us to be co-champions in the south division, if we beat Tarleton State the next weekend. Well, we did beat Tarleton. It was a very exciting game, and much higher scoring than I think anyone expected. We won 49-35. (I think...I've slept since then...) It ended up being a 4 way tie for the south division champions. Who would have ever thought that we would have come back from being 1-5 to sharing part of the conference title? It was a great way to end the regular season. Billy's sister and her boyfriend and Billy's best friend Carlos all came down and met us in Stephenville. It was good to see them and fun to sit with someone different at a game, although, I definitely missed my girls as I was the only one around me cheering at some points in the game.

Before the game I got to meet up with Shanan and her family. They were all so sweet and her girls are absolutely precious. I must admit, seeing Shanan and Whitney with their girls this season has done NOTHING to help my baby bug! Good thing I didn't get to meet Mr. Rylan, or that might have sent me right over the edge!

The Thursday before the Tarleton game, we decided to feed the guys one last time before the regular season was over. (We feed them occasionally during the off season, but not near as often as we do during the regular season.) Well, this summer, I started buying meat when it was on sale to BBQ one night for the guys, and we decided this was going to be the night. I was planning on our usual 12 guys and then on Thur. morning as I am on my way to Sams, Billy calls me and tells me that not only is it the usual 12 guys, it's also, the red shirts and freshmen and the running backs...that put me at about 30...and I think there were only 5 guys that didn't show up. Needless to say, I had to rethink the plan a little bit. When it was all said and done, I had made a brisket, 4 racks of ribs, 12 pounds of BBQ chicken, 12 pounds of potato salad, a huge can of baked beans and four batches of brownies. I was pretty proud of myself, b/c I went into slight panic mode when he told me that there were going to be that many guys coming. And no, there were not any leftovers when it was all said and done. It was a lot of fun, but by the time they all left, I was exhausted and ready for bed!!!

This last week hasn't been anything too exciting outside of work and getting some great deals shopping! My friend Carissa and I have gotten about $750 dollars worth of clothes for right at $250. Can you say bargain shoppers!!! The other exciting news is that our guys will get to play one more game. They are playing in the Kanza Bowl in Topeka the first weekend in December. I also, was reminded why I don't listen to games on the radio. On Saturday, I got home from grocery shopping, and Tarleton was still playing, so I turned on the game on the computer to listen to it...little did I know it was going to send me into near heart failure. I still don't know how Shanan survived that one! Tarleton kicked and made a 64 yd. field goal to send the game into overtime and then won in the second overtime on a two-point conversion. Congrats to Tarleton and to ACU. It is so nice to not be playing each other anymore, and to just be able to yell and cheer for each other!!!

Billy left today to go to Mississippi for the week to recruit, thus once again making me a football widow. I thought I was going to be okay with it b/c I have lots to get done this week, but tonight when I crawled into bed, I laid there for over two hours trying to fall asleep and couldn't. Hope that's not a preview of the way the week is going to go. Hopefully I've got enough stuff going on to keep me busy, and that Saturday will be here and he'll be home before I know it.

The big thing to get done this week is to get my cabinet for my kitchen painted, the house cleaned for Thanksgiving, and to get all my Christmas decorations (minus my trees) up. I put my new tree together last night and while it is absolutely gorgeous, it is much wider than I thought and so it will definitely be a tighter squeeze in our living room than we planned once we get it put together. We are thinking we will probably have 10 or so guys over for Thanksgiving dinner, so that will be an adventure I'm sure. We've finally gotten smart and will simply be frying both turkeys this year instead of trying to bake one. The fried ones taste better anyways!!

That's all for now. Hopefully it won't be so long before I have time for another "real" update again.

Concerned????

2009-11-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm wondering if we should be concerned that when Billy played the CD he made Coach Carthel in the office yesterday, all the coaches started cheering...the first song on the CD is "Take This Job and Shove It...". Ha! Ha!

News...

2009-11-09T18:02:00.001-08:00

Well, Billy had his MRI done this morning and he has two bulging discs and narrowing of the spinal column is several places. He hasn't heard back from the doctor yet, so we don't know exactly what the plan is, but I would imagine we'll start with PT and the chiropractor and go from there. Our goal is to delay surgery as long as possible.

I'll update for real on Thursday after I am off work and can upload all my pictures. Highlights from last week are that I got to meet Shanan and her sweet family this weekend, I made it to an out of town football game by myself w/o having a wreck!!, we won our last game of the season and we are going bowling (as in going to the Kanza bowl) in December.

Gotta go take care of my patients...hope they sleep well tonight so that I can finish my Twilight book!

No News...

2009-11-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well, no news so far. Dr. Parker thinks it's a herniated disc, which is what we've been suspecting, but the only way to diagnose it is to get get an MRI done, so Billy is scheduled to have an MRI at 8:00 next Monday morning and we will go from there. Headed to work...think I'm in baby land tonight...

Prayer Request

2009-11-01T23:26:00.000-08:00

Hey--I will update about this week/weekend, although it really was pretty boring, later, but right now I just want to ask ya'll to be praying for Billy this afternoon. He has a Dr. appt. at 1:00 and we are hoping to get some answers as to why his legs just randomly lose complete sensation in them. We think that we have a fairly good idea of what is going on, but just pray that no matter what it is, we would have a peace of mind about it and also, for selfish reasons, that it would be something that can easily be fixed b/c he doesn't make a very good patient! :)

Halloween Costumes

2009-10-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting Show us your life: Halloween Costumes this week. We don't have kids yet, but that certainly hasn't stopped us from subjecting Rocky and Boudreaux to the craziness of Halloween.

These are their costumes for the last two years:

2007

2008

I wouldn't go so far as to say they were always willing participants, but they tolerate their momma and daddy's craziness for the most part. They lucked out and won't have to get dressed up this year b/c their daddy will be in Oklahoma for a football game and their momma will be at work. Next year though, they will definitely be sporting some sort of costume!!!

Buffs Win!!

2009-10-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, our seniors won their last game at the Bro. We beat Angelo State 43-15. We FINALLY looked like ourselves last night. It was a good win for both the players and coaches. I was sad that I didn't get to meet my friend Erin, whose hubby is the DC for Angelo, but thought it was funny that the only thing our husbands talked about after the game Saturday was how we knew each other and talked and texted all the time!! I have loved becoming friends w/ other wives in our conference, but it makes having to play those teams just that much worse!! It's also nice though, because we have all been in that spot before where we were either on the winning or losing end, so we understand what the other one is going through.

Saturday was senior/parent day, so we recognized the seniors before the game and had the parents meet and greet also. It was sad to see all of our seniors lined up out there b/c most of them were Freshmen Billy and I's first season, so we have gotten to really know and love these kids. It's always bittersweet to see them leave, but at the same time, we know that they are going to be on to bigger and better things. I was hoping that with Ioane and J'Marcus leaving our grocery bill to feed the guys wouldn't be so big, but I'm pretty sure that that is wishful thinking. It was lots of fun to see these guys get recognized and to see the appreciation the fans had for how hard these guys have worked the last couple of years. It will be weird to see different numbers lining up for us next year and for sure will be odd to know that Keithon and J'Marcus aren't coming back. Hopefully we will be watching them play on Sunday next year though.

My friend Stine was here for the weekend. We didn't do anything just really exciting, but it was nice to just hang out and get to spend time w/ her since we haven't seen each other in awhile. Friday we really didn't do much except cook for the boys and take our Christmas card picture and then on Saturday we went and helped my mom w/ her craft show for a little bit and then came home and went to the game. Poor Stine, she's been out in the wilderness for the last six months, so she was WAY over stimulated at the game Saturday, but we had fun and took a cute picture (which I will post once I get my camera back from my husband...). Saturday night after the game we had our after game party at the Carthel's and it was a lot of fun. There was lots of laughing and cutting up and the team chiropractor came and was doing adjustments on everyone. I was still so sore from my adjustment on Friday that I opted out, but it was fun none-the-less. She left to head to Sanger on Sunday morning when I left for church. I get to see her again in December, so that date can't get here soon enough in my book!

I thought I was going to have to work on Sunday, but as it turns out, I didn't, so I ended up getting to go to the Haunted House after all. It was not scary to me, but then I think I just automatically go into the frame of mind that it's all fake before I even walk in the door, so it doesn't bother me (however, the toilet that splashed us w/ who knows what and the vine that hung down that we so lovingly named the swine vine did disgust me a little bit). Billy's freshmen guys on the other hand...they were freaking out and it was hilarious. They fought the whole time over who was going to lead the way and then when I ended up in front, they were moving so slow that I kept having to stop and wait. I gave up and went to the back of the line and then spend the rest of the time laughing at all of them. It was a lot of fun and I was proud of myself for not freaking out when the guy w/ the 9 ft. python came and stood next to me. I don't do snakes and was NOT impressed. Billy didn't believe me that it was real until after booster club yesterday and he heard everyone else talking about it being real.

This week the guys go up to play Northeastern Oklahoma State. I am not making the trip. I will instead be at work(hopefully) taking care of kids and trying to watch the game at the same time. Pretty sure that I am going to have to break the rules and wear "non" NWTHS apparel to work under my sweatshirt so as to show my support for the Buffs!!

Nothing else exciting going on really. I'll post pictures from this past weekend once I get my camera back from Billy and hopefully the rest of the week will go as smoothly as the first part has gone. Still waiting to hear anything about the truck. The guy that is working on it for us went to Abilene and got it for us on Saturday and I talked to him at booster club yesterday and they were going to start breaking it down yesterday afternoon, so hopefully in the next couple of days we will hear something.

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars

2009-10-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

So these are the oatmeal chocolate bars that I got attacked over 2 weeks ago for and then again this week!! I've included pictures since I actually thought to take some tonight. They were super good and definitely one of my new favorite desserts.

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars
Mix:
2 eggs
2 sticks of softened butter
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda

Blend well then add:
2 c flour
3 c oats
Mix well and press 3/4 of mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. (I put parchment paper in the bottom of my pans tonight and I would definitely recommend doing that. It made the clean up easier and they were much easier to get out of the pan and cut.)

After you have that in the bottom of the pan, in a small sauce pan over med. heat, melt together
6 oz. chocolate chips
1 stick of butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 tsp of vanilla

When that's all melted, pour it in the pan over the oatmeal crust. Then take the remaining 1/4 of the crust mixture and crumble it up over the top of the chocolate. Bake in the over on 350 for 30-40 minutes. You don't want the middle to be runny when they are done. I bake mine for 37 min. Let them cool for at least an hour before you cut into them, that way if the chocolate is still a little gooey, it won't run every where. Tonight I just pulled them out of the pan using the parchment paper and then cut them on the paper and it worked great.

To finish off the post I'll leave you with a preview of our Christmas card. This is NOT the picture we are going to use, b/c of course, not everyone is looking at the camera in this one, but the one we are using is a great one.

My friend Stine is here for the weekend, so I'm going to go finish watching Drumline w/ her. Still don't know anything about the truck and my shoulder feels a little better...we'll see if it survives a whole game of ringing my cowbell tomorrow night! Have a great weekend everyone.

Congratulations!!!

2009-10-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Keithon, Shad and Crowdry. They were named the offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week for the conference. So proud of these guys. They all 3 played huge parts in our win on Saturday.

We Won!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

Update: The chiropractor thinks I partially tore my rotator cuff...so excited about that, let me tell ya. Just thankful that that's all it is.

I was so proud of our guys yesterday. They stuck it out in a well played game and beat the #1 team in the country in ACU. The final score was 32-21. It was definitely a battle of defenses. Both teams lost a lot of firepower on offense last year, but both of our defenses are much improved this year which is evident by the fact that the score was only 32-21 and not 93-68 like it was the last time we played!! It is the first time we have truly seen our guys smile after a game this season. As I predicted we were in t-shirts and shorts getting sunburned. The weather channel said it was only supposed to be 72, but I'm pretty sure it made it into the 80's.

Saturday didn't start out so well. I had a wreck in the truck. I ran a red light and hit a guy. Thankfully no one was hurt. Now hopefully they will be able to fix the truck and not total it out b/c if they total it out, I am afraid we are going to end up upside down on it and be in trouble. I am definitely feeling the effects of it today though. I am sore from head to toe. I'm going to the chiropractor in the morning and the team doc wrote me a prescription for a muscle relaxer yesterday, so I am going to try and take one tonight and see if it helps. The true test will be when I go back to work tomorrow night.

The Lord never ceases to amaze me. In the last couple of months I have become friends w/ several wives from other teams in our conference. I am the person who always asks the Lord, why did you place this person in my life? Why did I have an encounter with them and what is the purpose for this relationship? Well, I know why I am friends w/ Whitney (whose hubby is the DC at ACU). I was actually going to meet her for breakfast yesterday morning when I had my wreck. She was so gracious and came and stood w/ me while we took care of everything and then came and got me and took me to lunch and let me hang out w/ her and her sweet girls until time to go to the game.

I had fun hanging out w/ my sister on Friday and the bus ride home last night wasn't so bad. It was a little uncomfortable just b/c my adrenaline had worn off and I was starting to feel the effects of the wreck, but we watched Any Given Sunday, a Mike Tyson documentary and The Longest Yard on the way home. The Mike Tyson documentary was quite amusing I must say.

Now for another week back at work. I'm not really very excited about it, but hey, who is excited to go to work everyday. We play our last home game this weekend against Angelo State and my friend Stine is coming to stay w/ me for the weekend so that will be fun. I'm sad that I have to miss the annual trip to the haunted house next Sunday with the team. I'm not a big fan of haunted houses, but I love to stand outside and watch all the guys go through on the video camera and to watch them come out the door. It's always hilarious to watch. Two years ago, our offensive coordinator crawled through part of it he was so scared. It was quite amusing to watch. That's about all that is going on with us, so here's a few pictures from the weekend.

Our HC wife Cindy, their daughter Courtney and her daughters Kylee and Kyler at the game on Saturday.

The final score!!

Me and Camille soaking up the sunshine after freezing last week!!

All my o-line guys celebrating after the game.

The I Don't Wannas

2009-10-14T22:58:00.001-07:00

I have a serious case of the I don't wannas this week. Not exactly sure what the problem is, but it's BAD!!!!!!!!! I usually leave for work at 5:40 every afternoon. Today, I didn't even get out of bed until 5:45. I don't know if it's because I have gotten my bootie kicked at work everyday this week or what, but my motivation level is zero to none. Hopefully tomorrow I'll sleep well during the day and it will get better. At least that's my goal. I have lots of laundry to get done, and apparantly I'm the only person in my house who knows how to load and unload the dishwasher, so even though I haven't eaten at home all week, I have a ton of dishes to do. I realize it's football season, but it doesn't take anymore effort to open up the dishwasher and put your dirty stuff in it, than it does to pile it in the sink. At least I get to go paint pottery tomorrow night. It's girlfriends night, so that's definitely something to look forward to. Then on Friday I go to Abilene to see my sister and paint some more pottery and on Saturday I get to have breakfast with Whitney.

I'm so nervous for our guys for the game this weekend. We have to play the #1 team in the country for the 2nd time this season. We started out the season playing the #1 team and then they got beat last weekend and the team that we play Saturday is now #1. I've felt sick all week long, and I'm 99% sure it's from thinking about Saturday's game.

Does anyone watch the Biggest Loser? I DVR it and I watched Tuesday's episode yesterday afternoon after I woke up. I was so angry. I don't like Tracy to begin with and then for her to act like she did on this week's episode and pretend to be upset that she split up other teams made me want to punch her in the face.

Well, I gotta go take another blood sugar. Maybe we'll be a little closer to having my patient's blood sugar where it needs to be...guess we'll just have to wait and see. And hopefully tomorrow my case of the I don't wannas will be resolved b/c I have lots to do!

Seriously...

2009-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

I ran my tail off last night w/ 3 hourly babies and I can't sleep today. How on God's gracious green earth does that happen? I need a good stiff drink I think.

Homecoming 2009

2009-10-11T10:58:00.001-07:00

Update: I added more pictures at the bottom from the weekend...enjoy!

Well, we survived last night. Thankfully one of the other coaches wives offered to let my great niece play at her house w/ Huston and the babysitter while we were at the game, b/c I don't know that Emaree would have made it through the whole game. As it was, all the big people were frozen by the time it was over and done w/. I'm pretty sure that it was right at or below freezing for the entire game. As you can tell from the picture, we all look like little abominible snow people. We laughed b/c when we first got to the game, we didn't know who any one was b/c everyone was so bundled up you couldn't see anyone's face. What is going to be really funny, is when we are all in tank tops and shorts next weekend b/c it is so hot when we play. Nothing like the good 'ol Texas panhandle for ya!

We won 34-24 and it was great to watch the guys rush the hill at the end to pick up the wagon wheel. It was also nice to see them smiling after the game. The highlight for me was when one of Billy's guys picked up a fumble and ran it for a 5 yard gain. I love it when our o-line guys get to do fun things like that...I don't like the fumbles though...However, the highlight for the rest of the crowd was when they introduced Keithon in the starting line-up. He is a fan favorite and has been hurt all year and this is the first game he got to play in. The crowd went nuts when they introduced him. Next weekend we play Abilene Christian. It's going to be a tough game for sure, but I'm excited to go stay w/ my sister and paint pottery w/ her. It will be fun. Enjoy the pictures from our night spent in the sub arctic temperatures!!

My favorite float!! The sign in the back says "Future Sigma Nu"

All of the coaches wives freezing together!!

My sister-in-law and I freezing our tookis' off together!

Now tell me that that sweet face doesn't just melt your heart...it's my great niece Emaree who came to visit this weekend w/ Billy's sister!!

Me and Rocky on Sunday morning...tried to get one w/ Boudreaux, but of course he was freaking out and wouldn't hold still long enough to take a picture...typical Boudreaux.

My best effort at getting Emaree to smile. Note her morning after afro she's sporting!!

Dear Sweet Gussy

2009-10-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

Oh mylanta--I almost met Jesus face to face tonight. I walked into the AC w/ my usual batch of Friday food for the o-line guys and little did I know, they weren't in their meetings yet. When I got to the top of the stairs I was met by all of my boys. I was pretty sure I was going to be attacked, so I just surrendered the food and took off back down the stairs. Apparently they all like it, b/c Billy said that they all said it was their favorite thing I've made on Friday night so far. We'll see...Next week I'm thinking I am going to be a little more ambitious than normal. Depends on how clean my house stays this week. Well, I gotta get to bed. Have to go to the stadium early in the morning and put out our "Reserved for the CWC" signs so that we get our seats we want...we decided to put CWC instead of Coaches Wives b/c then people don't know who we are...or at least we can dream that they don't know who we are!

Show us your life: Tailgates and Favorite Teams

2009-10-09T10:09:00.001-07:00

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting Tailgates and Favorite Teams and that is right up our alley!!

My husband coaches football, so of course I am a huge fan, however, my dad enstilled a love for sports of all kinds in me at an early age. Dad is a HUGE Cowboys fan and so I grew up watching football on Sundays every fall and grew to absolutely love it.

Billy currently coaches at WT. Our mascot is the buffalo and we have a real live buffalo that leads the team out on to the field for every home game. It's one of my favorite traditions at WT.

This next picture is a picture of Billy (the coach in the center) and all of his guys. I love that his guys make him look tiny!!

This is me and Miss Maci!! She got to cheer at halftime of one of Billy's games and I loved that I got to be there to watch her.

So, this was supposed to be our Christmas card picture last year, but thanks to a stingy photographer who wanted to charge me $6 a card it didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for paying a fair price, but $600 for 100 Christmas cards was a little excessive. We're going to try for round two this year...

Billy and two of his seniors and their families from last year. Devo (70) is Billy's grad assistant this year.

Because Billy is always coaching or recruiting when we are at games, we've only watched one game together that wasn't on TV. This was last year at the Tech/Baylor game. It was a lot of fun to watch Billy actually enjoy watching a game.

I graduated from UMHB, so of course I am a HUGE Crusader fan and being from Louisiana, Billy is a big LSU fan.

My favorite tailgating foods have to be fried Oreos and roasted corn. We have a huge tailgating area out at the stadium and I love to go visit with everyone and just people watch!!

GO BUFFS!!!!!!!!! Beat Eastern!!

It's Official...

2009-10-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

...we are going to freeze at the game Saturday night. They are predicting a light snow by the time the game is over. HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! I love the cold weather, but was really wanting a little more fall weather before the snow hit. I am prepared though. I bought some really cute leopard print rain boots at Academy last night b/c my feet seem to be the thing that always gets neglected when preparing for adventures in the cold/wet Texas weather. Hopefully it's not as bad as they are thinking it's going to get b/c my great niece will be here and she's not used to cold weather (they live in Louisiana) and so I'm not sure how well she will tolerate all of it.

Blessed

2009-10-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I love my job. Although it is not always easy, I can truly say I love my job. I love that I have the privilege of praying for countless families every single week as I take care of and love their children like they are my own. In nursing school they teach you that there has to be a line between you and your patients and that that line cannot be crossed at any point. "Don't get attached" they say...sorry folks, I think especially when you are taking care of kids, you can't help but get attached, and personally, I think I am a better nurse for it.

Last night I got to take care of one of my favorite patients...when we first started taking care of him I would have NEVER in a million years thought he would turn out to be one of my favorites. When we first started taking care of him, he was a smart mouthed, sarcastic 16 year old who had more than enough attitude to go around. I immediately started praying for he and his family, b/c I knew that they had a long hard road ahead of them. (Like I said, I pray for all my patients, but I pray especially hard for our cancer patients as they all have such a hard road ahead, and their diagnosis is always such a shocking and painful diagnosis for their parents.) He has cancer, a rare type, and it's a fairly aggressive type. Thankfully he is doing amazingly well both physically and mentally I think. I'm pretty sure we've gotten him addicted to Ambien, but that's nothing in the long run! S has had a total attitude adjustment since we first started treatment. It happened about 2 mo. ago and I don't know what triggered it, but I'm going to figure it out b/c I think it's made all the difference in how well S has done w/ things. Yeah, he's still that same sarcastic, smart mouthed teenager, but one who has a great sense of humor, can play the drums like nobody's business, and who, the more he lets us in, the more we are seeing that he is truly just a big teddy bear. For his make-a-wish, he got a SWEET laptop that has a program on it called Finale. For you non-musically inclined folks, that is an AMAZING composing program. He and I were talking about his computer last night and I told him I was just a tad jealous that he had Finale b/c I have always wanted it. I got to use it when I was in college and fell in love w/ it. (I was a Music Therapy major for a year and a half before I changed my major to nursing). He told me I could just go buy it since it was only $400 and I was in shock b/c it was like $3500 when I was in school. And then he said, "or you could just get cancer and then you could get it for free!!!" I told him I thought I would just stick w/ saving up my money. It was a HUGE relief to me to hear S joke about having cancer b/c for so many teenagers...boys especially...they simply live in denial and don't cope period. I think that that is the road S chose for awhile and now he has made the turn. I cried all the way home this morning, it was worse b/c I was exhausted, but b/c while S has started to cope and is doing amazing, his parents are not. His mom just had a baby, and while I totally understand that that has to be her focus for awhile, she can't forget her other kid either who spent all night puking his guts up b/c of his "kool-aid" cocktail, as he likes to call his chemo b/c it's bright red!

Work has been a little rough here lately, just as far as my fellow employees go. There are a lot of them that are not happy in their home lives and that shows up in their attitude when they come to work. I've been struggling w/ why do I keep working in a place where, I love what I do, but for the most part and fairly miserable while doing it (if that makes any sense at all...). Last night was confirmation of why I do what I do. It's so that kids like S have a second chance at life and have a chance to go and make something of themselves and make an impact on the world. And like my title says...I am truly blessed to be able to work where I work and have the opportunity to do the job that I do.

Accountability

2009-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Okay girls--I am putting this on the blog, so hopefully it will help me to stick with it. I have been doing Weight Watchers since February and have lost 20 pounds so far, but I'm kind of at a plateau...partially b/c of the craziness of football season and partially b/c I just seem to have lost all my motivation. However, I am ready to get back on track. My goal is to lose another 20 pounds by Christmas. I am supposed to weigh in on Saturday mornings, so please if you think about it, ask me how I did at some point during the weekend. I also am going to try to get back in the gym at least 3 days a week. With winter and all it's craziness at work right around the corner, I know that it is not realistic to think that I will be able to consistently workout more than 3 days a week...I'm just too tired a lot of times, so 3 days a week is my goal.

On a different note, you've gotta love when you spend 30 minutes patting a kids back to get them to sleep at 2:00 in the morning so that mom and dad can sleep, and then mom and dad come bang around in the room, wake the kid up and put you back at square one...I mean come on...he can't have anything to eat or drink and you know that if he wakes up, all he's going to do is cry for his bottle, so WHY on earth would you walk in the room and start banging stuff around and wake him up...seriously!

Week in Review...

2009-10-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

So I ended up making ice cream sandwiches for the guys. I bought the already made chocolate chip cookies at Sams and then put vanilla ice cream in between them. I usually only do dessert/snack stuff on Friday nights b/c it's 10:00 by the time they are meeting and so they usually are trying to wind down on the eating end of things by that time...whatever "wind down" means...pretty sure it's not the same in my vocab as theirs seeing as how J'Marcus and Shaun both had 2 Big Mac meals in their hands as they walked in the door for meetings that night.

When we have them over on Thursdays, their favorite meal is burritos. I have done chili, chicken spaghetti (easiest recipie in the world by the way...), hamburgers and hotdogs and BBQ over the course of the last 3 years, but burritos is what they always ask for if given the option. I would love to do something easy like a mexican casserole or something, but one casserole in an 11x17 pan feeds about 3 guys, so to feed all 26 that's a lot of casseroles and I can only do 2 at a time in my mini-oven. My neighbor and one of my players mom's are going to warm up casseroles for me this next time though, so we'll see how it goes. Then for the last one right before Christmas we are going to do BBQ. I have 6 racks of ribs and a brisket in the freezer so I've got to get one more brisket and then start stocking up on sausage. Always an adventure cooking for them. I still say that that is the reason that God put me on the kitchen staff my first summer at camp, b/c after cooking meals for 500+ people at a time on a daily basis, cooking for these guys is nothing! I'm excited for Thanksgiving to get here. I always love that meal, b/c it's not as many guys and they stay and hang out for a good portion of the afternoon and it's always a lot of fun.

We lost last night to Midwestern. It rained for a good portion of the game which always makes the passing game interesting. Injuries are eating our lunch right now. We have something like 10 starters out right now. Over half of them are gone for the season... This coming Saturday is homecoming which means Fair on the Square. I couldn't be more excited. Lots of shopping and good food...what more could a girl want!! Billy's sister and our great niece are going to be here on Friday and stay for the weekend. Hopefully we'll be a little drier than we were last year. It POURED last year at homecoming and so we were all soaked for the majority of the game. We play Eastern New Mexico so I'm going to make a cake w/ a wagon wheel on it for the big wagon wheel game. We've kept the wagon wheel for the last couple of years and I know that they guys really want to hang onto it this year.

We got to see Charly Martin last night at the game. He is on the practice squad for the Carolina Panthers and w/ this being their off week, he got to come to the game last night. It was good to see him, and as always he had us all laughing w/ his stories of training camp.

I am learning how to knit right now. I'm making a cute scarf for one of my "nieces". It's pretty dang cute if I do say so myself. It was a successful weekend for me in the grand scheme of things as I FINALLY got all of my pictures uploaded to my website and I gave myself a pedicure which I was in bad need of. Now I have cute toenails that look like candy corn.

Guess I need to get off of here and go to bed. I'm excited that it's going to be cool this week b/c that means that I can start making soups. First on the list is definitely a huge batch of tortilla soup. I LOVE that stuff and it's so easy to make.