HaPpY HaLlOwEen!!!

We found this stray kitty-cat on our porch this morning. Hopefully we can find her a good home soon! Any takers??? :0)

Have a Happy Halloween!!!!!!

Tis the Season?

Which picture doesn't belong? No, this isn't a reminder of an old kindergarten lesson you might have had. These are pictures of things in my house right now, on the day before Halloween. My child is currently OBSESSED with one of the items in the above collage. No, it isn't seasonally appropriate, but Hattie is currently in love with all things snowman or "snowmeh" as she calls them. It isn't just this snowman that she loves either. She loves them all whether they be on pillows, coffee cups, figurines, or blinking little statues. I blame Hobby Lobby. We have been there a couple of times since the move, and the place is decked out in Christmas decor. The snowmen at Hobby Lobby caught Hattie's eye as soon as we walked in the door the first time, and it was love at first sight! Since then, I have taken her to Hobby Lobby 2 more times just to see the snowmen. This is free, blissful entertainment for my child.

Don't get me wrong, she appreciates the occasional pumpkin, but snowmen are where it's at!

Tomorrow she's gonna be a kitty-cat for Halloween, but gosh, had I known this obsession for snowmen was going to be, I would have tried to find a snowman costume for her!

Lovin' the weather

For the past couple of days, I have taken atleast two walks a day, usually one in the morning with Hattie when it's still pretty chilly and then one in the afternoon when Sean gets home when the weather is just perfect. I should be running considering that my pants are feeling snug, and I am constantly complaining that I need to lose a few, but why would I ruin a perfectly good day with running?!?! Never liked it much. The whole point of this weather being so great is that I don't sweat when I go outside. Why would I want to do something that causes sweat in perfect, non-sweat weather?!?! Anyways, I wish every day could be like the past few days we've had. I am just lovin' it!

We went to Mimi's house this afternoon, and Hattie just loved the wind-chimes......

We took the most precious Halloween pictures of her. I'll have to share those later so we don't spoil our Halloween card that we're sending out. She was totally workin' the camera, which doesn't happen very often these days. She usually wants to get far away from me when I have the camera in hand. Hope I haven't scarred her for life with all of the picture-taking I've done the last 15 months.


Well, it's almost time for The Office, and since we no longer have DVR, I gotta go catch it now. DVR is the one sacrifice for the sake of pinching pennies that has been the hardest to make. If you don't have it, don't get it because once you have it, it's so hard to live without it!!!

Signs

Both my mother and mother-in-law gave Sean and me some signs for our new house as house-warming gifts. Both signs are cute, relevant to the season and have messages that really hit home for me right now.


The one my mother-in-law gave us is in our front yard and says, Give Thanks. This really hits home for me because I have so many blessings in my life to give thanks to God for right now.


First of all there is my dad's health, which isn't perfect, but it could have been so much worse following the stroke. I am thankful that he is home and his speech is improving and that he didn't suffer from any other effects like paralyzing limbs or loss of vision or memory. No permanent damage was done. For this I give thanks to God!

Also, I am so full of joy to be back in Houston. I might bust! This past year has been hard, hard, hard. Moving to a new place with a new baby in the tiniest little townhouse has been a challenge to put it lightly. We have known for over 6 months that we were moving back. It was supposed to happen in the summer and then it was pushed back until the fall. I felt like the move was dangling in my face, but I couldn't quite make it happen for so many months. Talk about frustrating! Then there was the possibility that Sean would have to commute to Dallas until January. But he doesn't!!!! He spent the last several months proving to his bosses that he could hack it in Houston solo right now. I'm so proud of him. For all of this I give thanks to God!

And our sweet Hattie Boof as we like to call her. She is healthy and thriving and so curious. I love getting to spend my days with her. I don't have to miss any moment of her growth and development. What a blessing! For this I give thanks to God!

Finally, I just love our new house. It fits our family so perfectly. We have a big yard for Hattie to run around in, and we have so many new nice neighbors. For this I give thanks to God!

Those are just the recent blessings that are at the forefront of my brain. There are so many more. God has been so good to me and my family. I am so thankful for all of the gifts that He has given me. None of which I deserve.

The sign my mom gave us says, Happy Fall Y'all. This hits home because we are now experiencing the first real cold front of the season, and it's GREAT! Sean and I sat on our patio last night with hot chocolate and had to come in because we were too cold. I'm lovin' it!!! Anyways, here are some recent fall pictures that we have taken outside enjoying the wonderful fall weather!

First at the pumpkin patch:

And then in our front yard:

Oh My

Well, for starters, I haven't posted in so long because we were busy moving, and then when we got all moved in and hooked up to the world wide web, we realized something was wrong with our computer, so after being in the "shop" for a week and a half, the computer is fixed, and I can finally get on blogger and my email again. Honestly, it was probably a good thing that I haven't had the interenet as a distraction for the last week and a half. I have been able to get a lot more done without the temptation of wasting time on the net.

Some of you may have heard that my dad had a stroke last Tuesday. He is okay now (praise God!), but he was hospitalized for several nights and may have to have heart surgery again in the months to come. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts for those of you who knew about it! My inbox is flooded with tons of sweet, thoughtful, concerning notes about my dad. I have over 100 new messages that I need to check, so if I don't reply to yours soon, I'll get to it as soon as I can!

Finally, here is a sweet picture of all of my daddy's grandchildren. They all love their Popo very much!

A New Blessing

I finally got a picture of Wyatt Loren. He's so precious and much blonder-looking than his big brother at birth. Shelley and Wyatt are now home, but there is some concern about his weight. He's lost several ounces and is now down to weighing 5 lbs. 5 oz. He is on a strict eating schedule, and if he loses any more weight, he has to go back into the hospital. Shelley takes him to the doctor to get him weighed today. She's under a lot of stress and worry over his weight right now, so please keep her and Wyatt in your prayers.

He passed his hearing test on both ears, which was such a blessing since he failed on one ear the first time he was given the test. My sister keeps commenting how tiny he is. Garrett was over 8 lbs. at birth, so it's a big difference. He's like a little doll. Shelley says when he cries, he "squeaks!" And she says that he sleep all of the time (ah, yes, the bliss of those first few days home!!!). Surprisingly, he has not developed jaundice, but the doctor is concerned that he might, so that is another reason for the strict eating schedule.

Wyatt sure is a cutie, and I can't wait to get some snuggle time with him!!!

Baby Wyatt's Here!!!

My younger sister called me just a little while ago and said that the c-section went without complication. Wyatt is perfect and over 6 lbs. (she didn't know the exact weight), and he has a few strands of dark hair atop his head, very different from his brother who had a head full of dark, dark hair. I'm sure the doctors will keep an eye on him since he was so early, but things are looking good. Praise God!!! Shelley is recovering and a proud mama of 2 boys now! As soon as I have pictures, I'll post some. I can't wait to meet him and hold him next week when we move!!!!

Baby Wyatt

Please be in prayer for my sister, Shelley, and her baby. Shelley's water broke unexpectedly this morning, so baby Wyatt will be born about 6 weeks before his due date. She is having an emergency c-section this afternoon. I'll post an update when I know anything, but in the meantime, please pray for the baby's health and an easy and uncomplicated delivery for my sister.

Finally!

I finally have my camera back, so I have some new pictures to share!

We've been enjoying the cool fall mornings lately. It's still really hot by like 9:00 a.m. so I try to take Hattie outside after breakfast. I can't wait to have a backyard again, so we don't have to get the stroller out every single time I want to take her outside. I can't believe we'll be in our new house in less than 2 weeks! It kinda scares me as I look around at all of the empty boxes that still need to by filled.......hhhmmm.......yet I choose to get on blogger!

Hattie's newest phrase as of yesterday is, "Come-ere." (come here). She says it just like I do. It kind of runs together as one word and has a little bit of a Texas twang to it. Part of me feels like I should pronounce words correctly when speaking to her so she doesn't learn them incorrectly like she's doing. It's so funny, though, the way she imitates me. I can't help but smile when she says it.

She's also very into shaking her finger and saying "no-no!" all the time. This is not as cute, especially when I am trying to get her to eat something. She's become a bit of a picky eater and refuses many of the things that she was willing to eat just two weeks ago by saying "no-no" to almost everything I offer her. It's a great way for her to comfort herself, though. For instance, if she's walking and bumps her head on the table, she'll shake her little finger at the table and say "no-no!" and then she's over it. That's pretty nice.

Another new thing she's doing is she puts anything and everything "night-night." Her dolls, her stuffed animals, a book, my shoe. Anything she can get her hands on. She picks it up and says, "nigh-nigh" then puts it on the couch or back on the floor or whatever. She's such a little mama!

I can see her incisors on the bottom trying to cut through, and her poor little nose has been running and dripping for going on two weeks now, but other than that, life is pretty good for my little girl who will soon celebrate her 15 month birthday.

Now, back to those empty boxes again......