Happy Easter!!

This has probably been the best 3 day weekend I’ve ever had! We were both off on Friday which was great. I actually put an out-of-office reply on my e-mail and didn’t take any work calls. It was nice to just put it all off for a while. Whatever anyone needed can just wait until tomorrow.

My mom came to see us on Friday and to give Scarlett her Easter basket. This basket is so cute! It’s a white bunny with her name monogrammed on it. I had seen a similar one and thought about buying it, and I’m so glad I didn’t as this one is just perfect.

We went to eat at Babe’s Chicken in downtown Carrollton for lunch which was fun for all of us….especially Scarlett! For those of you that have been, it’s pretty common for all the wait staff to do the hokey pokey and get all the kids to join in. Scarlett and Joe did while my mom and I watched. I did take a couple of pictures, but they were moving too fast, and they didn’t turn out.

Next we went to see the Easter Bunny. Just like her visit with Santa, Scarlett did just fine. I was a bit irritated that the bunny was on an hour long break when we got there. They really shouldn’t advertise hours of 9:00am – 10:00pm and then take an hour long break right before nap time! Scarlett was definitely getting a little grumpy before her picture.

Is it just me or is this bunny a little strange-looking? What's up with his fur-like pink whiskers??

Scarlett got a set of bunny ears after her picture. I think her expression is a direct reflection of how she feels about them. She took them off on the way home and tore them up into several pieces! :)

On Saturday we went to North Park Mall to see my cousin Jana and her two girls, Mallory and Olivia. They were in town with friends shopping for the weekend. We had planned on going to lunch with them, but our schedules were just off. After Scarlett’s morning nap, we’ve got about 3 hours to do whatever. Then it is time for another nap. It was great seeing them!

Joe & Scarlett


Mallory, Scarlett, and Olivia

This morning marked the 10th Easter Joe and I have spent together and our 1st with Scarlett. This was also the 1st year that we have not traveled anywhere. It was so relaxing!! Scarlett had fun with her Easter basket and especially loved her blue raspberry ring pop. Joe ended up going to the grocery store to get stuff for lunch and dinner and picked me up a hollowed milk chocolate bunny. We even let her have a little bite of that too.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!!!

Nico's and Makenzie

We had a very busy weekend! It all started on Friday night when I told Joe that we were going to eat Mexican food. I had been craving it all week, and that’s what I wanted for dinner!! Of course Scarlett was a mess. She had been crawling all over the back porch and all over our neighbor’s backyard. She was dirty, didn’t have on any shoes, and her hair was sticking straight up in the back from her nap. Oh well….

We went to Nico’s Cocina which is pretty close to our house. They have a great back porch and a really great play area for kids. We ate and then Joe took Scarlett over to the slides as I waited on our bill. The bill was taking a while, and Joe yelled at me to come look at Scarlett. I didn’t have my camera, but I did have my phone which has a video camera! So, here is my first attempt at uploading a video:

Scarlett was EXHAUSTED when we got home and went straight to bed after a very needed bath!

She had no idea, but we had more fun in store for her the next day. Our friends Natalie and Dave came over with their little girl, Makenzie. She is a month younger than Scarlett. They played very well for the most part. Instead of telling you all about it, I’m going to send you to Natalie’s blog for the full update and pictures as I am having difficulties adding pictures along with the video....
Go to: http://notablenatalie.blogspot.com/2009/04/playdate-with-scarlett.html

We all had a great time and look forward to getting together with them soon!

Poor Old Punkin!

Yesterday afternoon we all went on a walk around the neighborhood. I pulled Scarlett in her wagon, and Joe walked the dogs. As usual Punkin slowed us all down. That dog likes to pee on every single blade of grass, tree, weed, etc. He was a little slower than usual as he’s been limping a little bit lately. We think he might have pulled something when jumping off the bed or something. We ended up putting him in the wagon with Scarlett. He LOVED IT! Scarlett didn’t care at all, and Punkin was happy not to be walking!!

As soon as we got home I ran in to get my camera. I even took an “after” picture of the flowerbed that had all the ground cover removed. It's still not completed, but it looks A LOT better than it did.

Flowerbeds, The Wedding, and 3 Ducks

I know that I’ve been really busy when there are 3 unread issues of Star Magazine at my house! It usually only takes me a day or two to read through one issue, but I just haven’t had the time.

The last time I blogged I talked about our front flowerbeds and the over-grown ground cover. I was so happy to know that they were about to be taken care of and looked forward to the arrival of the people that were going to remove all of this for us. Since then I have once again been reminded that good help is hard to find! The workers didn’t show on their scheduled date. Maybe because it was raining… I really didn’t expect them to show up anyway, but you’d think that they would have called or something. Well, they didn’t. It continued to rain, so I decided to wait on calling them until we had sunnier days.

While waiting on the rain to go away, Joe and I headed to Houston for Katherine and Ed’s wedding. My mom and Larry came here to watch Scarlett, Punkin, and Peanut. It was really nice to get away, and we had a great time!

Here we are at the wedding

On our way back Joe wanted to get a picture with the Sam Houston statue outside of Huntsville. This thing is MASSIVE! We actually pulled off to the side of I-45 (in front of the "Do not park here" sign) so that I could take the picture from the truck.

The rain finally stopped, so I started calling about my flowerbeds. I probably left a message daily for about 5 days. No call back. No nothing. So, Joe decided to do it himself. He started on it and then informed me that it was going to take him about 10 hours to get it all out. Hello. He doesn’t have 10 hours for something like this! Time is money. We need to be working on our businesses and taking care of Scarlett. So, I convinced him that we needed to go find some workers ASAP, and that’s what we did.

We found Carlos and Francisco working on another lawn in our neighborhood. It was mid-day on a Saturday afternoon, but they agreed to come by and give us a quote. I was quite pleased with their quoted price and asked them to start on it immediately. They decided to return the next morning at 8:00am. I was surprised that they’d be working on a Sunday, but I didn’t question them about it. I just wanted that crap out of my flowerbeds!

This is how far Joe got on pulling the ground cover out.

Well, Sunday morning arrived, but Carlos and Francisco did not. So, we all headed to Lowe’s and bought flowers, etc. to plant out front. We decided to work on the other side of the house until we could find someone dependable. Luckily Carlos called around 11:30am to let me know he was running late and would be here in about an hour. They didn’t show up until about 2:30pm. At this point we were in the middle of working on the other side of the yard and just kept going.

They ended up doing a pretty good job! Joe and I had to go back to Lowe’s the following day to get everything else we needed to finish everything up. We are both pretty darn pleased with the results and were so thankful that we got it all completed before it started raining again.

Well, a lovely cold front decided to blow in on Friday. We decided that it would be best to move all of our potted plants back into the garage. We could at least save those and hope for the best as far as everything else that was already in the ground. Joe woke me up on Saturday morning to inform me that it was snowing outside. Not a heavy snow, but a light one. He then got Scarlett up for the day and left to go fishing and camping for the night. As I was feeding Scarlett, Joe called. He wanted to let me know that 3 ducks were in our front yard. Sure enough, they were! They ended up staying in our yard most of the morning.

Scarlett & Peanut looking out the front window

Last night as Scarlett and I played in the living room, the phone rang. I went to check caller id, and saw that it was the original man that was supposed to have cleaned out the ground cover out front. I’m not sure if he wanted to re-schedule or what since I decided to let it go to v-mail. A high sense of urgency is obviously something he does not possess, and I cannot work or deal with people that don’t get it!

I ordered some marigolds from one of the neighborhood kids. I’m going to plant those once they come in and then post after pics.

Spring Fever

We are on the countdown. Scarlett’s baby brother will be here in about 81 days. I actually got to see him today when I had my sonogram. He’s doing great, and so are his kidneys. There was no reflux – YEA!!!

I’ve also had a big case of Spring Fever. I usually get this way at this time of the year. I am so ready to start working in the flowerbeds and getting outside spruced up. We spend a lot of time outside especially when it is warm enough to get in the pool. My project this year is our front flowerbeds. They look ok except for one side of our house where there is all the ground cover growing. It’s out of control! I met with someone today that is going to remove it all so that it will be a lot easier to plant something new. This craziness that is growing is very hard to get rid of, and I really hope that we aren’t battling it for years to come. I’ll post before and after pictures later.

Scarlett is doing just fine too. She’s now got 4 teeth up top. They seem to bother her some, but she really isn’t very whiny or anything like that. She does enjoy getting her bottom teeth brushed, but we are very gentle with the ones up top. She’s trying lots of different foods lately and loves to go out to eat. We rarely go out to dinner but have been going out for lunch 2-3 times a week. We pretty much feed her whatever off our plates that can be mashed up. She’s not picky. Well, she doesn’t like baby food that is a mix like chicken and veggies. It has to be separate, or she won’t eat it.

I’ve been trying to take more pictures lately, and here are some that I wanted to share.

Scarlett loves bath time!

Here she is holding on to our Red Bud out front. We picked the perfect day for this as the "red" is almost gone and being replaced by green leaves. Check out the "flowerbeds" in the background. That's all the ground cover that is being removed.

Here she is on the go. She's all over the place and mostly likes to crawl directly to the tv or to the dog's bowls.

Joe got this picture of her when they were at lunch and Bass Pro on Saturday. Looks like someone dropped their Cheerio!

I love this picture! Scarlett loves her books and would prefer to flip through the pages herself than be read to.

Scarlett loves to swing at the park! We walked there on Sunday and pulled her in her wagon. Check out her new cowgirl hat that Joe got her at Bass Pro!! :)

As soon as we got to the swings this sweet little girl walked up and wanted to push Scarlett. Scarlett loved her and her little friends. She also enjoyed watching them slide and laughed out loud over and over as she watched them.

Punkin and Peanut enjoyed the park too. Well, kind of.

Here she is with her cute hat again. This is the longest she'd wear it. Every time we put it on, she'd pull it right off.

Really?

I have been in shock over several things that I’ve either read about or seen on the news lately. I guess the main 2 things have been that woman in California with the octuplets and of course, the economy.

First and foremost, what is up with this woman in California?? She already has 6 kids and then signs up for more infertility treatments?? I honestly do not know of ANYONE that can take care of 8 infants with 6 small children already in tow. I think she’s mentally insane. She’s not married and is supporting all these kids on her student loans. REALLY? I wonder how she is planning on picking up the 8 babies from the hospital. Between Joe’s truck and my Jeep, we could fit 8 infant car seats though we would have to put one in each of our front passenger seats. Those other 6 kids would have to be in the bed of the truck. I read that the hospital costs were going to be around $1.3 million just for the care of the babies until they get home. Congratulations to the State of California! You’ll probably be picking up that tab.

Then there’s our lovely economy. Ok, so the main cause of the problem was mortgage companies and banks over lending to people that could NOT afford the homes they were purchasing. So, now these over-spenders are facing foreclosure. We had dinner with friends last night, and this was a major topic of the conversation. Why should our tax dollars bail out the $30K/year millionaire that has to live in the Mac Mansion on the hill? Everyone at the table was hardworking and responsible and didn’t see why we should be punished for a choice we did not make.

Of course, some people’s homes are being foreclosed on by circumstances out of their control….. like a major illness that causes them to stop working and therefore stops their income. I work with a lady whose husband had a heart attack between jobs (and insurance). Unfortunately, they were left with the astronomical bill from the hospital. They tried to work out a payment plan, but the hospital would not budge. They were left with no choice but to file for bankruptcy.

People have just been living beyond their means for way too long! If you can’t afford 14 kids, then get your tubes tied and quit having children. If you can’t afford that, use a condom or some other means of birth control. In the case of the nut in California, stop going to the fertility clinic!!! As far as people spending beyond their means, stop. You don’t have to live in a 3,000 square foot home that you can’t afford. Unfortunately, a lot of these people are stuck. Homes aren’t selling right now, and values are dropping.

The icing on the cake was this article I read this morning about a woman that has been out of the military for a few years and has been called back. Her husband works full time and travels a lot. She is now a stay at home mom. There is no one to take care of their 2 children. Read the story if you have time: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29441874/?GT1=43001

Anyway, I’ll stop ranting and raving now and give you all an update on Scarlett (probably the main reason most of you stop in to read my blog anyway….).

Scarlett is doing GREAT! She turned 10 months old yesterday. She’s got 2 bottom teeth and 3 coming in up top. She’s crawling everywhere and pulls up on everything. She now will let go of what’s she holding on to while standing and works on balancing. We all think she will be walking VERY SOON. She’s also holding her own bottle and even crawled up 2-3 stairs this morning! Coming back down isn’t so great. It looks like she’s going to roll (head first) while coming down. I think we may be getting another gate soon…

Speaking of gates, we had to purchase a pool safety fence last week. Of course, we aren’t thrilled with how this makes our backyard look, but when you see things like Scarlett sticking her hand out the dog door, you know it’s very necessary.

Baby #2 is doing great too! He’ll be here in exactly 3 months from today (if not sooner!). We’re both very excited about meeting him and completing our family. Unlike the nut in California, we know when to draw the line. I have another sonogram in a week. This time the sono tech is going to take a very close look at his kidneys to see if there is kidney reflux. There is a 40% chance that he could have kidney reflux too, and we are praying that he doesn’t. Finding this out early and via a sonogram is so much better than waiting on a high fever that sends us racing to the ER or a lot of testing after he is born.

Other than that, work is busy for both of us. Joe is working on several new groups, and I am tying up loose ends on several projects that I have been working on. All in all, everything is going great!

Less than 4 months to go!

I really try to update my blog once a week, but it is getting harder and harder. We’ve got lots going on especially with Scarlett. She is just all over the place and growing up so fast. I’m also worn out. It’s hard to believe that I was 6 months pregnant with her this time last year, and now I’m 5 months pregnant with her baby brother. When I was pregnant with her it was easy to go take a nap and or just sit in my chair and watch tv. Things aren’t that simple anymore…. I am very lucky to have Joe. He knows that I’m tired and does A LOT when it comes to Scarlett. He gets up with her in the mornings so that I can sleep in and stays on alert when I take a nap. I think I would fall completely over the edge if I didn’t have his constant help and support. As far as my tv time goes, well it doesn’t happen unless she’s taking a nap or down for the night. Otherwise, we’re all watching Finding Nemo or one of the Baby Einstein movies.

So, what have we been up to? Well, a couple of weekends ago we went to a nearby park. We were having an unusually hot day here in Texas, so we were in short sleeves, shorts, and sandals. Well, I guess the heat during summer isn’t so unusual… Texas weather is just all over the board! It actually SNOWED over Easter weekend a couple of years ago! Anyway, Scarlett had a great time swinging and going down the slide with her daddy.

Last week we went in for her 9 month checkup. Everything was just great! We did share with the doctor that she wasn’t crawling yet, but she did like to pull herself up on basically everything and stand. He said that was fine. All babies do things differently.

Two days later I set her in the hallway outside of the bathroom while I got her bath ready. I guess she didn’t like it there, so she just crawled straight to me, pulled herself up, and looked over at the running water in the tub. I was so excited!! Now she’s crawling everywhere, and we are on much higher alert.

We decided several months ago that we were going to enroll Scarlett in a preschool program. I luckily found one at a nearby church, and we went to check it out. We were very impressed and signed her up. The program starts in the fall and only runs during the school year. She will go Monday through Friday for 5 hours a day. There are only 6 children in the class so I know she’ll get more attention than she would at a regular daycare. Joe and I feel that it is very important for her to have interaction with other children. Hopefully she will really like it! We also need time during the week to work. I work from home 3 days and week, and Joe is here the entire week. We’ve managed to juggle our schedules this far without having to put her in daycare, but it has not been easy. It’s only going to get harder when Baby #2 arrives.

We took Scarlett with us to see the preschool. Here she is right before we left. Check out the bow in her hair. She finally has enough hair to clip a tiny bow in!!

Later that day we fed her lunch. We thought that chicken with vegetables sounded good. We were wrong. She didn’t like it at all! Joe had fed her something she didn’t like the day before and put a little salt on it to see if that would help. It did, but it didn’t help this chicken dish at all. She just refused to eat. That’s ok. I’m not going to force her to eat something she doesn’t like. It’s kind of like me and the babysitter that tried to make me eat a pimento cheese sandwich. To this day, I will not eat pimentos (I even pick them out of green olives), and I will not touch pimento cheese.

Isn't this just priceless?? :)

We finally got to work on the new baby’s room. Well, he’s actually moving into Scarlett’s old room. We moved Scarlett into the guest room this weekend. We took down the guest bed and bought her a new baby bed. The room is painted mauve. I thought we were going to have to repaint it before we moved Scarlett in, but it seems to work with all of her things. Now we just have to work on the other room, and we’ve got less than 4 months to get it done!

The Guest Room Before Scarlett Moved In

Scarlett's New Room