Bye Bye Boogies

Eye Boogies that is!!

On March 11, we took Annabelle to Plainview to have Dr. Kopp operate on her blocked tear duct. She has had the problem since she was itty bitty, but it had gotten progressively worse. Our pediatrician said that if it wasn't gone by one year, she would need surgery. Dr. Kopp is a friend of my fabulous sister-in-law, Beth, and she got the ball rolling for us.

So, we had a few visits to Plainview and set the date for surgery. Here is her before shot...

This is how I would find her after a nap or waking from the night. Her eye would be glued shut with goo and it was so sad. Though, it never seemed to bother her.

This was just days before the surgery.

Here are a few pics from the day of surgery...

Her hospital gown.

Being wheeled to surgery.

Recovering in daddy's arms

And this is what we have seen everyday since...

Wide-eyed and beautiful! And she has to be happy that I am not digging at her eye all the time.

We went back to the doc today for a follow up and he said she looks perfect and that the surgery worked!

Praise God!!

Ahead of the Game

So it seems that I have been behind in everything that I have done for the last 6 months. Oh yeah, I was at the beginning of my third pregnancy, but seeing some of the things that other bloggers are capable of, I have no excuses.

Take for instance why I am ahead of the game. I took an idea from a fabulous blogger - check out Controlling my Chaos - and made AG's valentine's cards with the help of my fabulous friend Monica. Valentine's Day is 11 days away, Ava Grace's party is on the 11th (8 days away) and I am done with her Valentine's. Sure, anyone could say that by just going to the store and buying the same old box of valentine cards. But, Not me!! Not this year!

We went to Ryan and Monica's for dinner last night and I told her I wanted her to help me with this project. After dinner, we snuck away to her computer and got right to work. Essentially, we were digital scrapbooking, but not for a book. We didn't quite finish last night so I went back this morning and thanks to her and one hour photo, they are done. Check'em out...













The first picture is the finished product in PhotoShop and the second is the printed (wallet-size) card with the sucker inserted. I punched holes with a handy scrapbooking tool that I have and it was perfect!

I hope Ava Grace is excited to give these to her friends. If not, at least I enjoyed making them and seeing them come to fruition.

Time To Catch Up!

I will be the first to admit that I dropped the ball in the blogging department. In fact, I truly suck at it, but I will try to get you up to speed and then keep up from here (I hope!).



Recap 2009:

January - We celebrated the marriage of my fabulous brother-in-law, Jeremy, to his perfect bride, Beth! I celebrated my 30th birthday!

February - I began my role as full-time homemaker/mother! The greatest job ever!!! It took some time to adjust, but I wouldn't want to do anything else!

March - Us girls set out on our first road trip to mom and dad's house, all alone. We made it there and back just fine. My girls are great travelers!!

April - We hosted the family (all of Neno's and my mom/dad) for Easter. It was such fun weekend! We love when everyone comes to visit!

May - Neno and I celebrated 5 years of marriage!!

June - AG started summer camp/swim lessons at TEGA and loved it! Neno had his 10 year reunion and they still idolize him in Howe, TX.

July - We spent another fun-filled 4th on the lake (even without water behind the house) and AG turned 4!!

August - Apparently, I got pregnant with baby #3!!! Mom and I filed all of the official paperwork and opened a bank account for Sassy Rags. We are in business and have had steady jobs ever since. If you need anything for kiddos (bedding, blankets, burpies, bows, etc) you just call me!!

September - We found out we were pregnant with #3!! We also went to our only Red Raider game of 2009 in Austin with Brandon and Molly - what a fun weekend!

October - Annabelle began walking and turned 1!!!

November - Kicked off the holiday season - Thanksgiving with the Brydsons. Brandon (my brother) and I made a trip to Johnson City with AG, Marlee and Emma Beth to see the lights and make our first of many visits with Santa!! It was so fun to watch them play together and sing Hannah Montana songs the whole way there!!!

December - Christmas!!!! Santa!!! We kicked off the month with a ride on the Polar Express. Neno had to go it alone with both girls since I was sick that entire week. I took a trip to see one of my very best friends, Mendy, in Pittsburgh. It was so good to see her and get to catch up. Plus, a weekend away is always nice. Then it was on to cramming for Christmas - family phots, shopping, food, etc. Finally, it was off to the Falls' for Christmas and a 14. 5 hour drive on Christmas Eve. Yes, you read that right. A 5 hour trip took us that long with the snow/ice. Ava Grace was already at Granna's thanks to Beth and Jeremy, but poor Annabelle had to ride it out with us. I think it took a week for her to recover. It was well worth it though to make it in time to see Ava Grace's face on Christmas morning - I wasn't going to miss that!!!!!

Now, it is 2010 and I am going to work on keeping this more up-to-date...

So here is what I have so far for the year -
The Red Raiders have a new coach - Tommy Tuberville - and I couldn't be more excited!!! I loved him at Auburn and I will love him here.

Neno and I chose a midwife to deliver our baby at home!! They are out of Midland and we feel really good about them. We had our first visit to their birthing center last week. We also had our first ultrasound and it is a.... GIRL!!!

Yes, we were a little surprised, but she is perfect and healthy and obviously, we like girls!! Ava Grace and Annabelle are going to be great big sisters to this new baby (she still doesn't have a name).

I think that about covers it! Happy New Year!

ANNABELLE IS 1!!

Time flies when you are having fun and this year has been a lot of fun!!! But I really cannot believe it went by so quickly that Annabelle has already had her first birthday.

October 18th was her first birthday and it was that time a year ago that we very quickly welcomed her into the world. I say quickly because my water broke at 12:30 a.m. and she was born at 1:10 a.m. It all happened so fast that the doctor almost didn't make it. He swooped in at the very end and caught her shoulders.

Regardless of how it happened, we were so glad to finally meet our sweet Annabelle. She weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21 inches long. She had the fattest little face that we instantly fell in love with.

A year later, she is almost 22 lbs and is 31 inches long. She is walking, talking, laughing, eating everything in sight and along with big sister Ava Grace, she lights up our world!!!

Happy Birthday, sweet Annabelle!! We love you!

My Lil Cheeseburger Pirate

A few weeks ago the girls and I got McDonald's and came home to watch a movie and have a carpet picnic. This is what happens if you turn your back even for a second!! Luckily, I had my camera handy. I would have hated to miss this momemt!!

ARGHH, I got me cheeseburger!!

Way too long between posts...

August Update at the end of September...

Ava Grace's Party Recap -

Ava Grace had the best 4th birthday party - if I do say so myself. "Pony Rides and Water Slides". Thanks to Aunt Bess and Uncle MeMe, we were able to do just that. We set up a water slide borrowed from Uncle Bubba, Aunt Molly and crew and saddled up some horses out in MeMe's backyard. It was so much fun. We had a great turn out and the best hotdogs and ladybug cupcakes to top it off. AG came away with some pretty great gifts too. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends!!

After Ava Grace's party, our nephew Noah spent the week with us. We went non-stop the entire time. We went to the park, the movies, to Jump n Jungle, to friends, we played on the slip and slide and just absolutely had a blast!!! We even ended the week with Annabelle getting her first tooth!!

Ava Grace spent the next week with her Granna and Grand Pappy in Howe. They had a house full of unexpected guest, but they made the most of having young girls to play with AG, fix her hair and swim with her. They swam all week, went the the sprinkler park, swam some more, did crafts, went to the zoo, watched a Disney movie or two and just soaked up each others company. She had an awesome time there, as usual!! She even came home with a souvenir - a terrarium full of leaves, catepillars, cocoons - soon to be butterflies that we would let go. It was really a lot of fun watching their transformation.

The past two summers that AG stayed with them, I was so busy with work and getting ready for Annabelle that I didn't really have time to miss her. I missed her terribly this time. She is my entertainment around the house. Though I was glad for the break and got a lot done with only one, I must say I was glad to get her home on Saturday! She was so tan and looked like she had grown.

With Ava Grace gone, I finally took some time to just watch Annabelle. Ava Grace is always on the go and wants so badly to play with AB and get her attention that it was nice to just let her play. Don't get me wrong, they are the sweetest sisters, but a lot of times, AB will get a toy taken away or I am in the other room helping AG or making a meal or something. This time, I just stopped and took her all in. She is such a happy baby and wants to discover all that the world has to offer. She now pulls up on all of the furniture and my legs in order to get a better view and to take a few steps. She will be walking in no time. She also cleaned my floors quite a bit. We started construction on the front bath while AG was gone and Annabelle cleaned it up with her belly - she was still army crawling everywhere until about 2 weeks ago!! It made me crazy to change her clothes every couple of hours, but I don't think she seemed to mind being dirty.

As for the bathroom, we are well on our way to being finished and it looks amazing. Neno let me splurge a little and get granite from a local dealer that was sellling remnants. I love it!! Let me see if I can recap all that we have done in there....

1. Demo all walls in bathing/toilet area.

2. Remove countertop and sink

3. Drywall bath area

4. Put in granite vanity top

5. Remove cabinet doors and drawer fronts

6. Remove existing doors

7. Remove mirror

8. Move light fixture up

9. Have plumber install shower plumbing in wall

10. Drywall/Concrete backer board in bath area

11. Remove existing toilet

12. Tile floor and bath surround

13. Install beadboard in bath area

14. Texture

15. Paint

16. Grout tile

17. Seal grout/tile

18. Hang mirror

19. Trim out entire room

20. Hang doors

21. Reface cabinet

22. Paint cabinet (still need to finish painting these black)

Some of these things aren't completely done, but we are getting there and I am so excited about the outcome. Here are a few pics....

Happy 4th Birthday, Ava Grace!

Here is your story....

You were born at 2:06 p.m. on Saturday, July 30th, 2005
You weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz and were 20 inches long

On Satureday, July 30th labor began at 3:15 a.m. It wasn’t until 6:45 a.m. that we went to Covenant Medical Center to for you to be born. I was observed for an hour or so with contractions 2-4 minutes apart and dilated 2 centimeters & Doctor Broslow started to send us home. The nurse checked my blood pressure as we were about to leave and it was high. The doctor decided it was best for me and you to get labor started right away. The doctor broke my water at 9:15 and petocin was started at 9:20 to speed things along. Finally, at 11:20 I gave in and wanted the Epidural. It was all down hill after that!

Your daddy was told to let me rest—to go home or get lunch—that it would still be several hours. WRONG! At 1:40 p.m. I was told to get him back to the hospital—you were ready to be born. So I called him to tell him and he was in the shower at home. When he entered the room, the nurses were all there and ready to go. Dr. Broslow was right behind daddy and you were born at 2:06 after about three really good pushes! You were perfect from the moment that you arrived. You were placed on my belly while daddy cut the umbilical cord. I will never forget that moment.

You were gorgeous then and you are gorgeous now. I cannot believe you are four. I am so blessed to be your mommy and to have watched you grow and make me smile and laugh. You are such a joy and I cannot wait to see what the years bring and what you will throw at us.

Happy Birthday, Ava Grace!! Daddy & I love you very much!!!!

Here you are at 2 weeks - posing for your announcements

Now, you are 4 and fabulous!!