The Butler Clan

The Butler Clan has MOVED!

2008-11-11T06:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, after my big blog split and the debut of Parley and Prate, I decided I like Wordpress better than Blogger so I'm switching! From now on you can check on Butler family news at bandofbutlers.wordpress.com. Thanks!

Pink Pajamas

2008-10-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Ari got some new cute pink pajamas from The Children's Place's fall clearance sale! I couldn't resist taking a few pictures, they are just so cute. :)

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Look at that face!!!!!

Then I put her new hat on her so she could get used to wearing it, and she proceeded to climb on our safe and pull books down off the bookshelf. In her hat and overalls. Beyond cute.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

BOOOOOOOOOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

My Favorite Game, by Ariana

Then I bribed her with a banana to sit still.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Here she is in the middle of her newest sound, something between a screech and a mongoose.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Photo Contest!

2008-10-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I entered Ari in a photo contest, and the winner gets a $50 gift certificate to Tiny Prints! If you want, you can vote here.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/october-baby-foodie-faces.htm

Splitting Blogs

2008-10-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

I've realized for some time that I kind of have two blogs in one on here. An update on the family blog, and a soap box blog. So I've split them. For those of you who enjoy my articles on green living or political commentary, you can go to my soapbox blog, titled Parley and Prate. For those who just want to know how the family is doing, you can go to my update blog, titled The Butler Clan. So update your bookmarks!

The Butler Clan
Parley and Prate

Ari said mama!! ARI SAID MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to post until I was certain it was really "mama" and not just blabbering - I'm pretty convinced now!!

This morning I was taking a shower and Ari was in her play pen in the bathroom with me. After a couple of minutes she got bored and stood up and started fussing. I tried to comfort her, then went back to my shower - at which point she wailed, threw her arms in the air towards me, starting bouncing up and down and whined, "Mamaaaaaaaaa! Maaamaaaaaaa!!"

She did it again just now after lunch when I left to go get a washcloth to clean off her face. "Mama!! Maaamaaaaaa!"

I'm not sure she knows I'M "Mama" - I think she may think "mama" means "fix it!" - but I am soooo okay with that. :D :D :D

Awesome Mommy Moments #3

2008-10-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here at my computer having eaten a snack of a bagel and cream cheese when Ari came over and was playing at my feet. I gave her a spoon to chew on because she loves chewing on spoons (and banging them on things, they make terrific noises) so the chewing sounds she was making didn't concern me. Until I looked down. And she had not one, but TWO bagels in her lap because she had apparently found the package, opened it, gotten out two bagels, and was happily munching on one of them.

Oh, and I have good news! My daughter doesn't choke while cramming bagel down her throat. Also, she likes bagels.

Awesome Mommy Moments #2

2008-10-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

So I was changing Ari's diaper today and there were these crusty white clumpy globules in it. Something that shouldn't be coming out of any of my child's orifices, ever. I freaked out for about 3.2 seconds before I realized it was dried cottage cheese from lunch that had dropped into the giant black hole that forms near her belly button when she sits down.

P.S. I filed this under "food" because I want someone to be searching my site under the "food" label and read this post. Because that would be hilarious.

Meemaw's 80th Birthday

2008-10-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

We went up to Dallas this weekend for Justin's grandmother's (Meemaw's) 80th birthday celebration! We had fun, ate waaaay too much cake, and even had a "mini date" while my parents watched Ari so Justin and I could go to the mall and play cards in the food court. :)

Ari is really acting like she's remembering grandparents and people from time to time when she sees them. She starts singing every time she sees PaPa Joe and laughs everytime she sees her Uncle Jerd and I think James is starting to scare her. She was fascinated with my dad's oxygen machine, though (which we are calling his life support) and kept trying to eat the little cord. We finally gave her a stethoscope and that seemed to satisfy her.

On Sunday we went to church with Justin's parents (which is about 18 hours away by car, or 55 minutes, I never can remember which) and Justin sang a sort of impromptu (decided to do it the day before) duet with his father. It was really neat and I'm glad we got to go. I loved the sermon the preacher gave and will be blogging about it later. On the other hand, I am never leaving Ari in that child care ever again. (Always trust your gut, mamas!)

I think Ari might be starting to get the concept of waving. She'll hold her hand up but she doesn't quite move it yet so we'll see if it develops into something or if it's just a coincedence. She does move her hands a lot. :)

Well, that's it! I think we're all starting to feel a bit better (except for the hacking, uncontrollable, sleep depriving cough) so it looks like it might be business as usual for us from now on! Back to play groups! :)

Standing up by herself!

2008-10-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ari is getting so big!

Today she stood for a long time by herself. She had already been standing for about 30 seconds when I took this picture. She's not nearly as wobbly on her feet as she was a week ago, and she wants to practice standing all the time. She'll pull herself up on anything she can find, the wall, a table, Mommy, the dog. Once I was laying on the couch watching her play, and she stood up using her table then would let go and sway for a few seconds before grabbing the table again. Then she would bounce up and down and get this huuuge grin on her face like, "Yay, yay! Look what I did look what I did!" And then do it again. I laughed so hard. :)

So here's our little angel, practicing being a big girl!

Well, I held out long enough. Plus, I might be going insane.

2008-09-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

I tried. I tried SO HARD. I just can't avoid the batteries!

I bought her toys that would really stimulate her brain. You know, blocks. Stacking toys. Cups. Stuff that crunched when you twisted it. A ball. For a long time, she only had one toy that ran on batteries.

I have officially given up.

I went out and bought her a play table at a garage sale yesterday. Now I'm singing my 123s to the tune of La Cucaracha, Ari is pressing on the chocolate chips of a half eaten plastic cookie to hear a crunching sound and playing with an electronic pizza that unceasingly declares how yummy junk food is. I am going to be an awesome parent.

*sigh*

Manwich

2008-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Me: "Manwich does NOT come with meat!"

Justin: "Yes it does."

Me: "No! It doesn't! You buy the meat and brown it and add the sauce. Manwich is the sauce! It does not come with meat!"

Justin: "Then why would it be called Manwich? If it didn't come with meat, it would be called Girlywich."

Standing UPPY!

2008-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to wait to post this until I had a video but my little one is waaay too into my camera phone to be interested in showing off while I have it pointed at her. So I'll relay the news less dramatically: ARI CAN STAND BY HERSELF!

That's right folks, and I'm not talking your I'm-keeping-balance-just-long-enough-to-find-a-safe-place-to-land standing. I'm talking 20 seconds. 20 SECONDS! It started about a week ago and now she's having tons of fun with it, even pulling herself up to a stand without help! (Okay, that was once, and is disputed, but I stand by it!...haha...stand...by it...gettid?...ha...um...::ahem::)

I don't know where my baby went! What's next? Flying lessons? Scuba diving? Dates? (No way, Ari bar! Not till you're 53!)

Awesome Mommy Moments #1

2008-09-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a new section on my blog called Awesome Mommy Moments, because there are just some things that only mothers understand. It's the little things...

Today I kept going around and something on my arm would itch. I'd reach up and scratch and it would stop but then it would randomly start itching/scratching again. I finally lifted up my shirt sleeve. I had a partially digested Teddy Puff dried to the inside of it.

Thanks, Monster Mess*.

*Ari's new nickname.

Lesson for Today

2008-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Never, ever, EVER accidentally not press hard enough on your $7 crappy Wal Mart diaper pail that was probably designed by drunk monkeys because the latch, well...DOESN'T...and end up leaving the lid open after your baby starts eating solids.

NEVER.

EVER.

Back in Houston

2008-09-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we are officially no longer Ike Refugees! No more free donuts...dang...

I'm not posting any pictures of the damage. Because there wasn't any. 95 mile an hour winds at my apartment and the two rotten old pine trees are still standing in the yard. Morbidly dissapointing. Justin said he saw a billboard that had been thrown through the roof of a building in the Woodlands. I was asleep. ;)

We had a fun experience last night. And by fun I mean I might have accidentely thrown something through our wall. Our baby monitor stopped working. Only you didn't know it stopped working. It didn't tell you until two in the morning when it suddenly rang out like the apocolypse was starting in our outlet. I could not get the thing to stop screaching for the life of me. I ended up having to sleep on the couch so I would be able to hear Ari if she cried. Too bad we can't afford another monitor. Maybe we'll use our walkie talkies.

Back on Wednesday!

2008-09-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Justin just got an update from his school and we are officially going to be back in Houston on Tuesday! He starts back on Wednesday and classes begin on Thursday.

In other news, my dad is in the hospital. It's not serious right now, but he needs to keep up with treatment because apparently he's got some sort of breathing problem that's more serious than asthma. I'm not sure what the situation is, but I'll update when I get back from visiting the hospital.

Finally Got Internet

2008-09-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well my parents don't have internet and we were in Oklahamo for a couple of days, but we're reconnected now!

We're still in Dallas, hanging out and having a ::very:: extended vacation time. Electricity is back on in our apartment and Justin tentatively starts back to school on Wednesday, so we'll probably head back to Houston early Tuesday and start our lives back again. ;) We've signed up for text message updates via Humble ISD's alert system, so we'll see if that tentative date moves at all!

Ike Update

2008-09-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we're still in Dallas. We evacuated to avoid hurricane Ike and our apartment complex is still out of power. Entergy says it might be as late as October 17 to get power back on, but Justin is probably going to have to start work on Monday. Ari and I can't go to an apartment without power (it's waaaay too hot for an infant) so we might be in Dallas for a month while we wait. Justin's going to try to get a ride back to Kingwood with a coworker who also evaced to Dallas. I guess we'll see. We're having fun here, hanging out with friends and family, really getting to rest. It's pathetic but I've watched more TV in the last week than I have probably in all of 2008. There's just not much to do!! ;) Well, we'll see how things go, but we're kind of enjoying our forced vacation for the time being!

Sign Class

2008-09-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to take ASL since Jr. High, but I never got the chance. They didn't offer it at my high school, A&M's class was always full, and even the community college near me has dropped their program. Then a few days ago I found out that the community center in Huffman offers a free sign class taught by a women who has been an ASL instructor for 25 years!! :D I went tonight, the class was 2 hours long and it was SO much fun! I'm really looking forward to going back for more. We learned family members and fingerspelling and numbers in ASL, a lot of which I already knew but it was really awesome to be able to see someone else doing them because it's a different experience (obviously) than when you're learning out of a book. The class is 8 weeks long and then I can move on to a more advanced class for another 8 weeks, I'm hoping that I can be somewhat conversational by the end. This will be a lot of fun!!! :D

Our daughter is going to be a musician

2008-09-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

She has repeatedly shown herself to be very auditory. She wants a toy that makes noise rather than lights up or looks interesting. Right now she is banging vigorously with a rattle on the bottom board of our console table, finding all the different sounds it can make. My guitar is her favorite toy (though she tries to nurse on the tuning pegs more often than she tries to strum. ;)

She loves playing with the pots and pans and a wooden spoon when I'm doing the dishes or cooking in the kitchen.

Of course, it's not at all surprising, considering that she has oodles of musical talent coming from every side of the family. My brother wants to start teaching her how to play the mandolin and she had a toy piano before she had her first pacifier. Ari doesn't really have much of a chance. She's going to grow up thinking "EADGBE" are the first 6 letters of the alphabet.

Meals for Ari

2008-09-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll miss all the links, you should come to my blog. :)

Ari has begun three meals a day! She still nurses a lot, but we added the extra solids to help her stay full longer on the doctor's recommendation (she's still waking up three or four times a night to eat). Some friends have expressed interest in the fact that I make Ari's baby food, so I thought I would share a typical day of meals for Ari. :)

Making your own baby food is easy, cheap, healthier, and tastes better. It's actually good!! When I have to eat some of Ari's food to get her interested in it, I don't have to pretend to enjoy it. In fact, sometimes I'll just sit there and eat tiny bites myself, and she'll reach for the plate, and I'll say "Oh, no, this is good stuff, Mama's gonna eat this," and keep eating it. Then she REALLY wants some. ;) I make all her meals entirely out of organic foods, and it's cheaper than if I bought the Gerber stuff in the store. She's also able to chew solids now, from easily mashed up foods like pasta and banana to even crunchier (but still easily dissolved) foods like graham. I haven't yet attempted to make my own graham crackers, but I bought some organic graham flour at the HEB the other day and plan on trying it out soon! (Our kitchen is busy with banana bread right now.)

"Recipes" are below. That's in quotes because I really just kind of make it up. And I haven't included recipes for pureed stuff. You just cook it and put it in a food processor.

A note: Don't ever add salt to baby food, they can't handle sodium like we can and it will overwork their kidneys and is dangerous. They can eat salt that naturally occurs in stuff, but don't use it as a seasoning. Also be careful with nitrate rich foods, such as carrots and spinach, until your baby is 8 months old. Just research it. :)

Breakfast:
Frozen waffle (organic Archer Farms homestyle waffles): I leave this frozen, it kind of serves as a teething biscuit (thanks for the tip, Paige!)
Fruity oatmeal

Lunch:
Macaroni and cheese (sometimes with some pureed chicken)
Veggies (if it's something like peas I might mix it in the mac and cheese, it's better than it sounds ;)

Snack (sometimes):
Cheesy crackers or graham crackers or puff cereal or a teething biscuit

Dinner:
Pureed veggies (peas and carrots and corn or broccoli and carrots etc)
Pureed fruit (applesauce with a dab of cinnamon comes in handy ;)
Yogurt
Chicken
Leftovers from lunch (usually some mac and cheese left)
Diluted apple juice

Okay, so now for recipes:

Fruity oatmeal is pretty easy. I buy the organic oat bran from the bulk section of HEB for like $0.77 a pound, so it's about 5 cents a serving or so. Cook it with apple juice and mashed up banana and it turns into a fantastically healthy and delicious grit type breakfast.

Macaroni and cheese is a lot of fun and one of Ari's favorites. (You can buy organic flours in the bulk section at the HEB for less than a dollar a pound, or you can mill your own for even cheaper.) What makes this work is the pasta. I found this pasta at the HEB the other day - it's absolutely perfect. Rice, beet, and spinach based, it's tiny, swirly, colorful, and perfect for tiny fingers to grab. There's no wheat to worry allergy conscious mamas and it tastes wonderful. So I cook the pasta (don't cook it for as long as it says or for as long as you're used to cooking wheat pasta, it only takes a couple of minutes or it gets soggy...which isn't bad if your baby isn't chewing yet, anyway) and meanwhile make the cheese sauce. Put a pan on low to medium low heat and melt some butter into it then add flour (you can substitute a rice flour for entirely wheat free but I've never done this so you'll have to watch it closely). Cook it until it's a paste then add some milk and keep stirring and cooking until it's a thinner paste. When you are ready to add the cheese, add it. A mild flavored cheese works best and it needs to be finely shredded. Only cook the cheese long enough to melt it. You might need to add more milk/cheese to get the consistency you want, but the longer you cook the cheese the lest awesome it will taste. ;) Pour the sauce over the pasta, and voila! Instant fave. :D

The chicken is just as fun. (To save money and still eat very healthy, you can buy the organic chicken from the HEB when it goes way on sale because it's going to go bad in 24 hours, so it's cheaper than normal chicken, then cook it all at once and eat it throughout the week.) You can cook it however you want and then puree it with a bit of water or milk (or juice if you're bold). The last time, I breaded mine with some flour, milk, egg, and a bit of seasonings (some rosemary and such) then cooked it in a pan with a bit of sunflower oil and pureed it. She loved it! (And so did Justin and I. ;)

So there you have it! A day in the life of a mobile, eating Ari! Good enough that you can sneak some off your baby's plate. ;)

Ari and the Teething Biscuit

2008-08-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

We gave Ari a teething biscuit the other day, because the list on the back of the box of milestones she's supposed to have accomplished before she can have one was completed! So she tried them out. They are the wheat teethers from Earth Baby Organics, but I think we're going to switch to the non wheat version...either way, she LOOOVES them. She's never sat in her high chair for so long! She got so messy and covered in cracker from top to bottom and did NOT enjoy the cleanup that ensued! We ended up just having to give her a bath because the washcloth just wasn't getting into all the nooks and crannies she managed to stuff cracker into. ;) Looks like we found a new staple treat... :D

Smiling baby

2008-08-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

It's like you just can't fit enough happy into this child.

Happy Swim Time!

2008-08-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

We went over and did a photo shoot and had bbq with some new friends of ours yesterday. They set up this awesome little kiddy pool and Ari and her friend S played around for a while until both mommies discovered giant spiders in the grass and got a little freaked out. ;) She does love the water though!!

Trying out some new vintage processing... :)

Ari really liked this flower, she kept trying to crawl on it and eat it.

She found herself a slide!!! :)

"Do we have to get out? Really?"

Ari and her friend S! S can't crawl or really sit up on her own yet, so she was just kinda chillin' while Ari pretty much dominated the swim area. Look at that huge swimsuit! We had to borrow it - 18 month size! ;)

Cucumbers

2008-08-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes cucumbers can enjoy the pickle they're in, but only when they relish it."

~ Justin

Library Reading Time

2008-08-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

The library near us has a "mother goose lap sit," a reading time for infants. They sing songs and play games and read books. Ari LOVES it. Today, my whole play group met up there. Ari had just woken up from a nap, so it took a bit to get her excited. But near the end, they brought out the boxes and boxes full of toys. Ari literally crawled straight to the middle of the toy pile so she was surrounded by toys, and just kind of stared, then crawled around to all the boxes and dumping them out. At one point she actually got herself stuck inside one of the boxes! Between the libraries close to us, there are 4 infant reading times a week, and so far we've been going to all of them. She just has SO much fun!

By the way - this adorable outfit she's wearing that my mother bought for her - yeah. Size 18 MONTHS. As in, EIGHT - TEEN MONTHS. It's not joking, either. There was a toddler about that age walking around today. Ari was TALLER.

She's gonna be a drummer!!

Ari's helping me pack

2008-08-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, she did it on her own. ;)

This is what we woke up to this morning

2008-08-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Don't ask me how. I just work here.

New Sound

2008-08-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ari has found a new sound. She does this ALL THE TIME! Can you hear it?

Baby Prison

2008-08-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

We finally got Ari a little baby prison so I can clean (or, you know, blog about it) while she safely practices crawling. Here's a little pic of her chasing after her Sophie in it.

It's going to take some getting used to. She would just crawl up to the edge and scream. Then I got in the pen with her, completely ignored her, and just began playing with her toys and laughing hysterically. When I left, she seemed to be fine on her own. She's just old enough now that she should be able to play for a few minutes by herself without constantly having to be held! :)

Sophie

2008-08-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

In response to the panic in the streets that the scare of BPA has created, I've decided to ditch all my plastic stuff and switch to natural. Even silicon pacifiers have toxins! I've just decided to play it safe from now on. So I bought Ari "Natursutten" natural rubber pacifiers, a "Sophie" natural rubber teether, a "Zmooz" organic cloth and natural wood teether, and "Green to Grow" BPA free bottles. I expected her to accept the new toys in place of her old - she's just not picky when it comes to stuff like that. I never, however, expected that she would love them THIS MUCH.

The first time she figured out she could chew on the wood on her Zmooz, she got a huge grin on her face and just started chomping down. She thinks the squeak in her Sophie is absolutely hilarious, and a few minutes ago (before I trapped her in her entertainer) she was rolling around on the ground giggling and chewing on the giraffe's squishy legs. And her pacifiers double as natural teethers - she seems to actually enjoy them more than her others! She is able to more easily grip the ring and so can insert and remove it with ease, a struggle with her others. Anyway - I'm really glad with these purchase and I can rest knowing my daughter is chewing on something completely natural - and not chock full of potentially hazardous chemicals that have been deemed "inert" by the same people who are trying to sell them.

I have a feeling Sophie and the Zmooz are going to be regulars in her toy rotation from now. ;)

Texas A&Sam Houston State

2008-07-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

I dressed Ari all up in Aggie gear for Justin's parent's visit this week. When they showed up at our door, she was wearing a white and maroon A&M onesie, maroon A&M shorts and maroon A&M booties.

I gave her to her grandparents (who are both from Sam Houston State) and went to finish brushing my hair. When I came back out, my beloved aggie daughter had been converted. Check out the picture.

Baby and Doggies

2008-07-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do! I've been in Dallas for a couple of weeks, and that was a bit of an adventure. Anyway, here's a little pic I snapped this morning on my phone - Ari is fascinated with these dogs!

Dancing Baby!

2008-07-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

I cheated a bit. She didn't actually GET herself into this position. But boy, does she love it there! I put her hands on the bars and she just started DANCING! Check out those moves! She certainly didn't get 'em from me! Swing those hips, baby!! Yeah!

Bragging on Justin Again

2008-07-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

He's just so talented! He doesn't know I'm blogging this one, and he probably wouldn't approve because it's "not finished," but the main part is done. It's just so hilarious I had to share it!! It's called "Productivity."

Creepy CRAWLERS!!

2008-07-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks! My daughter is officially CRAWLING! It's not much right now, just a few inches to grab a toy before she rolls back over to her back, but it's definitely not long now before I have a fully mobile child! Ari and I are headed to visit grandparents for a week in Lubbock. I'll bet that by the time we get back, she's a movin' and a groovin'!

My Husband is Awesome

2008-07-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

Justin is signing up to be an illustrator with iStockPhoto, a cheap stock site where he can submit illustrations for download. I just had to brag on him a bit, he created an image today for his application and I thought it was just hilarious.

Where is it? I have no idea.

2008-07-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Justin, while holding a can of beans and twisting his hands: "Where's the scrapey-McOpener-pop thingy?"

Me: [staring]"...the can opener?"

Justin: "Yeah."

Talking Baby

2008-07-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ari and I love talking to each other. It's probably her favorite game in the entire world. I got a bit of a conversation on video while she was naked after a particularly messy (albeit very exciting) lunch of carrots and broccoli.

When it was over, I picked her up and took her to the computer, where we watched the video. It was then I discovered that possibly the second greatest game in the world, besides talking to people, is talking to yourself while watching yourself talk to people.

Ari's First True Head Bonk

2008-07-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

...and it was Mommy's fault!

I was holding Ari on the hip walking through the front door of our apartment when she suddenly leaned forward. I was too close to the frame, and she hit her head - hard - on the wood. I waited...3...2...1...SCREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAM! We got a frozen bunny out of the freezer and I tried to comfort her - heaven knows how much head injuries hurt. She's fine now but she's going to have a nasty bruise, possibly even a bump, right above her left eye.

As you can see from the photo, it's obviously bothering her quite a lot now.

Ari Eats a Mango

2008-06-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Ari Goes Swimming!

2008-06-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Me, Justin, Ariana, and two of our friends who are down from Dallas to visit all went to the pool today! Ariana was so cute in her little blue swimsuit and red goggles and white hat. I slathered her in sunscreen, waited thirty minutes, and off we went!

The water was warm, no doubt heated by the ridiculously hot sun that had only started to cool, so the transition was not a shocking one for her. In fact, she seemed to not even notice she was in water. The first few minutes she just stared. At everything. At the water, at people blowing bubbles, at me, at Justin, at the sky. After a while, though, she got really excited. We passed her from person to person and she splashed herself and got water all in her face and splashed herself some more. By the end of the 45 minutes we were there, she was smiling and laughing and splashing and getting very excited. We left while she was still having fun so her last "memory" of water would be good, and came home. She was so exhausted she went to bed 15 minutes early. She had such a tiring, good day!! :)

I don't have any pictures, which is sad, but I didn't have a camera I could take to the pool. We're definitely going to go to the pool again, and probably often, so we might go get a waterproof disposable to take down there. She just had SO much fun, someone needs to record the absolute bliss on her face when her hands hit that water and it splashes up in front of her!! :)

Ari's First Laugh

2008-06-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ariana has laughed before. After much work and tickling, I can usually coax a few giggles out of her. Today, however, Ariana was in my arms, getting tired and about ready to go down for a nap. This was, however, before she noticed Toby lying on the floor. She watched him for a few minutes, he just lying there, occasionally letting his limp tail whack the floor. But when he moved - oh when he moved - she went INSANE. She laughed SO HARD I thought she was going to break something. She giggled and cooed and chortled hysterically at him for about 10 minutes. I managed to catch a bit of it on this video. I'm really looking forward to more of this laugh!!

You've Won!

2008-06-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, so 1 in 6 ain't horrible odds, but I do like winning things. Especially when those "things" involve Dr. Pepper. So when I picked up a 2 liter of the goo for a party I noted the "1 in 6 wins!" on the bottle and decided that, this time, I would actually take the time to enter the stupid code on the stupid internet, thereby signing myself up for a lifetime of ridiculous spam, to see if I could get my hands on a free bottle of sweet tasting, carbonated liver poison.

After the party, Justin and I gathered around the computer and signed up for our Dr. Pepper membership, which is on a horrible written, cumbersome, GIGANTIC website that nearly ate our computer four times. Then I entered my code. I waited...waited...and YES! Wow! I won! Alright, and now to claim my prize! What greatness would it be? A free small fry with purchase of a franchise? A fountain drink redeemable at 10 convenience stores nationwide? Maybe even a 2 liter?

"Congratulations, Amber, you did it! Claim your WALLPAPER PRIZE now!"

Wait...what?

I won a...a what?!

That's right, folks. 1 in 6 wins ain't gonna cost this company a DIME. Because I am now the privileged recipient of a FREE downloadable advertisement for my computer desktop! What happened to the days when stupid marketing schemes like prizes on a coke meant popping the top and out comes a five dollar bill instead of soothing liquid goodness?!

Oh, well. This is America, right? Maybe next time I'll buy a Coke.

More Grandpaisms

2008-06-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

If you liked my granddad's "whorehouse" comment earlier, you'll like this.

I went into his bedroom to watch TV with him as he was falling asleep. I asked him what he was watching. "Oh, I don't know," he said. "Well, what do you want to watch?" He can't push the buttons, so I was going to help. He hesitated, thinking. "The black man." I laughed. "Which black man, Poppy?" He looked very confused. "Well," he said. "There's only one."

(I asked his nurse: turns out he wanted to watch Obama on the 10:00 news.)

Eventful Week

2008-06-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well, wow, this has been an eventful few days. Because so much has happened, I’ve decided to divide the story up into segments. Pictures will come later when I’m not on 28.8 dialup in the middle of nowhere.

Graduation
Last Thursday morning I drove up to Dallas. My brother was graduating (yay! He’s headed to UNT in a few months) and my grandmother was in town until Monday. She’d never met Ari. I made it with plenty of time for me, Ashley, my cousin Kelsy, my mom, my dad, and my grandmother to make it to the graduation.

It was a good ceremony. One of the speakers told a ridiculous story about a kid who “made up” a new major: criminal psychology. I guess he didn’t realize how idiotic he sounded to be so high up in the world of education and not know that “criminal psychology” is actually a field.

We were going to go out to eat but graduation didn’t end until about 9:30 or so, so we just went home and my dad made shish kabobs. I have no idea how to spell that word. Thank you, Spell Check.

We’re Still Alive
Because we didn’t get to go out to eat after graduation, we left on Friday night to eat at AW Shucks, an outside seafood restaurant in downtown Dallas. My mom, dad, and grandmother piled into my mother’s Lincoln, and me, Ashley, James, and Ariana were going to follow in the Matrix I was borrowing from a friend.

As we were driving down the highway, I was in the lane to the right of the far most left lane. I needed to merge right, so I checked behind me. No one was there, so I began to merge. At the same time, a teenage boy was in the lane to the right of the one I was trying to merge into, and he was trying to merge left. He was behind me, but apparently hadn’t seen me. I veered to avoid him, but overcorrected and ended up in the far left lane. At this point something must have happened to the alignment because, try as I might to keep the wheel straight, it kept swerving right to left like a piece of luggage too big for it’s wheels about to tip over. Ariana was screaming and everyone else was quiet. I kept saying, “I can’t make it straight! I can’t make it straight!” I also yelled for my brother, who was in the backseat, to watch out for Ariana. After not hitting anyone going back and forth through several lanes of traffic a few times, we finally crashed into the median. It may have saved our lives, because it straightened out the wheels enough for me to drive us to the side of the road. I leapt out of the car and ran to the back seat. I was shaking but Ari was fine and giggled when she saw me. The left back wheel was twisted underneath the car. Though I was stoic for a few minutes, I eventually broke down sobbing. The car was barely drivable at a few miles an hour, so my brother drove it cautiously back to our house and switched it for his car, then met us at the restaurant.

AW Shucks
This place was really cool. It was across from The Granada downtown and served the spiciest, best seafood EVER. My dad and I shared a plate of crab legs, shrimp, and sausage. I got hot peppers in my eye. My sister screamed at me to wash it out before I burned off my cornea, and my mother offered to call an ambulance. I rinsed it out with ice water and was fine. The food was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the whole evening.

Weekend
Saturday and Sunday we basically just hung out with my grandmother all weekend. I bought some cloth diapers on Saturday (Ariana is getting so big!) and enjoyed a lecture from my grandmother about how cloth diapers are not only bad for babies, but inconvenient and more expensive (yeah, try that one on for size). I’m trying out a couple of new types of diapers and so far, I am a HUGE fan of Thirstie’s All in Ones. I might just get all of that type next time I buy.

The Butlers
On Monday my grandmother went back to Lubbock and I went to figure out how much it was going to cost to fix the car. I was planning on getting back to Houston by Wednesday so that I wouldn’t miss Toby’s obedience class. That wasn’t in the stars. It’s gonna cost several thousand dollars to fix, so I parked it in my father’s driveway and my mother in law drove me and Ariana to her house, where we planned to stay for the next few days since we had spent so long with my side of the family.

Sewing
We had SOOOO MUCH FUN at the Butlers! Linda took me shopping for fabric and patterns and over the course of the four days I was there, we sewed three dresses for Ariana. I say we. She sewed two, I sewed one. It was so much fun, and the dress I sewed for Ari is really adorable. I’m quite proud of myself and plan on doing more of this in the future. J I’ll put up pictures of it later. The dress Linda sewed for her was a cute blue and white polka dotted vintage 50s looking dress with a bit of a modern twist – it’s very cute. I can’t wait for a Sunday we’ll actually be going to church. ;)

Teeth
Ariana started to cut teeth while we were at the Butlers! I noticed that her chewing on my hand started to be a little sharper than usual, and when I looked, sure enough, there was a small white peak inching through the gums. Now you can definitely see the beginnings of a tooth, it seems to have finally poked through Saturday.

Oklahoma
On Friday afternoon, Ariana, my parents, and I all headed up to Oklahoma to visit my grandparents, who love to see her. We’ve had a really good time so far. My grandfather has always been a fun loving guy, and that hasn’t changed even though he now slips between dementia and lucidity. He confuses my father for his (my grandfather’s) brother sometimes, and once thought Justin was Mexican because he speaks Spanish. But in his periods of clarity (which are often) he says some extremely hilarious things reminiscent of his sense of humor.

For instance, just today, my parents and he were talking about how they plan to move to northern Dallas because that’s where all of their friends are. My grandfather was wondering what they would do with their current house. “Well,” my dad said, “we’d probably sell it. What would you do with it?” With all the seriousness in the world, he looked at them and said, “Well, I’d start a whorehouse.”

So it has been quite a busy week for us. Justin had to stand in for my class on Wednesday and take notes for me, but it looks like I’ll actually be back by next Wednesday to finish out. He is currently driving up to Dallas in a van he borrowed from a friend so he can take me down to Houston tomorrow. He’ll meet me in the morning and we’ll be on our way! Though it has been exciting and fun, I am really looking forward to going home.

My Daughter Hates the Vacuum

2008-05-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's true! At first I thought maybe she was just tired. And then maybe just annoyed. But every time I run the vacuum cleaner, she totally freaks. She doesn't get mad or even just upset - she screams that scream that makes big crocodile tears stream down her face, the scream she screams when something incredibly painful or scary has happened. Most children love the sound of the vacuum - it's soothing. I will give her this, our vacuum is remarkably high pitched and jolting. Maybe the sound just grates her nerves. Who knows. Either way, the dog hair is definitely winning the vacuum war on our carpet.

Dinner's Ready

2008-05-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today, as I was getting off of work, I was thrilled to get a text message from Justin that said, "Dinner is ready!" Justin's idea of "dinner is ready," apparently, means, "I've boiled three hot dogs and there's bread in the pantry."

Back :)

2008-05-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

This past Mother's Day weekend was a big event for us; we hosted both mine and Justin's family in our apartment for the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day and Ari's baby dedication. In preparation, I laid off blogging and any other "extra curriculars" for over a week to prepare. But now I'm back!

Justin had a "social" at his junior high last weekend. I went for moral support ;) and it was pretty fun. Not a lot of Jr. Highers showed up, but the few that did looked like they were having a blast. I caught Justin on video dancing with his daughter. :) We're having technical difficulties right now, but I'll upload it later.

"Uncle Jerd" (Justin's brother, Jared) loved playing with his "fluff" (Talsi). He really just needs to take her home with him. Except I think she might go insane without Toby around. She really does love Jared, though. Goes crazy whenever she sees him. I mean, look how happy she is!

This IS her happy face. I promise.

Toby was pretty hyper the whole time. He gets REALLY excited when he sees my inlaws...so we "short leashed" him. (I.E., tied him to the couch.) He was very confused.

On Saturday, my brother James head butted Justin. You can see the bruise on his left eye lid. The kids at his school kept asking if he was wearing eyeliner because it really looks like he is! Not the cute girl kind, but the punk rocker kind. You can't see it well here, but it's pretty funny. In response to his kid's questions about eyeliner, Justin said that he says, "No, my brother [in law] head butted me." I told him I was glad. That's a much more manly answer than "Yes."

My brother is morally opposed to Senior pictures, so the fact that we were able to get even five minutes out of him for a few shots was a miracle. I think I'm going to be able to convince him to let me take him on an actual photo shoot while I'm in Dallas for his graduation. I'm looking forward to it, it should be fun. :)

Ari's baby dedication went well, the video is on Facebook and YouTube. My mom took over a hundred pictures, but the camera is BRAND new and she wasn't used to working it. (Anyone who has ever switched to digital from film will know what I'm talking about!) Anyway, there was a technical malfunction and we don't have any of the pictures, but we do have a few to make up for it. :) This is me and my pretty newly-dedicated baby. The bib may be off-putting, but it's better visually than the puddle of saliva that had already collected on her dress from picture taking. ;)

Here is Grandma Linda with her grandbaby. I think Ari was a bit sick of being passed from person to person and was making sure we lodged her official complaint.

Here's her Grandpa Joe singing to her. It's the first and last thing he always does around her. She has no hope at NOT being a musical child. ;) She really loves some of his songs (and really hates others! ;)

After everyone had gone and the bustle had died, me and Ari settled down to put her to sleep. Her bedtime story tonight was "The Secret Garden." She was a bit worried at the part when Dicken was introduced, but she settled down after she found out he was okay. :)

Today I put her to sleep in her bassinet. I promise she was right side up when I left her!

No story with this one, I just love this picture.

Tonight I made homemade pizza with mozzerella, pepperoni, green peppers and a whole wheat crust. It was absolutely fantastic.

And THEN, I remembered why I don't cook like that very often. This was only one table! It's clean now...after an HOUR!

Well that's all for my update for now, I'll be posting more about the past couple of weeks of my haitus as it comes to mind and as media becomes available. In the meantime you can check out my YouTube or Facebook accounts for more. (Though my Facebook videos are set to "public," my YouTube videos are private, so email me if you want permissions to view them.)

Being "The Mommy"

2008-05-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm used to working with kids, all sort of kids. Small kids, big kids, young kids, old kids, happy kids, screaming kids. Most of them like me, ask for me to come back as their babysitter, run around the house in excitement when I show up. They curl up with me on the couch at bedtime, ask for me to read them stories, and fall asleep in my arms. But there is one thing that all of these kids had in common: I was not the mommy.

There was always someone that ranked higher in their minds than me. No matter how much they laughed at my jokes, loved running around and playing with me, begged me to read them a story, there was always someone who made their face light up, their voice change, their steps a bit lighter. Someone else. I was not the mommy.

I remember when this first hit home with me. I was "babysitting" a nine month old boy, the son of a friend. I put "babysitting" in quotes because there were about five of us girls hanging out and we were all watching him, so it really wasn't that big of a task. We fed him and changed him and played with him...and when it came time for bed, we tried to put him to sleep. Nothing would take. We rocked him and sang to him and walked around with him; we talked to him and hummed to him and all he would do was scream. Scream his little head off, scream like the world was ending, scream so loud I was genuinely concerned he might break something. We were helpless. And then, after about 20 minutes of desperately trying to figure out what was wrong with this child, his mother came back through the door. I apologetically handed him to her, saying that we had tried to get him to calm down. The next thing I witnessed was miraculous. This screaming, livid child hit his mother's arms...and was silenced. He instantly settled into her breast and fell asleep. It was then that I realized...no matter how "good" at taking care of this child I was...I am not the mommy.

I remember the first time I really felt like Ariana's "mommy." We were at Justin's school and we were showing her off to all of his teacher friends. After a while, I guess she just got overstimulated and started fussing. The teacher who was holding her at the time said, "Oh! Guess it's time to go back to Mom," and handed her to me. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I am the mommy.

Ari has started sobbing, and I mean really sobbing. I'm talking big teddy bear tears, red eyes, monster pout, quivering lower lip, and that characteristic and desperate half-shaky gasp in between wails. And I love...I love...that I am the one that gets to comfort her. There is no comfort that trumps mine, no higher earthly power to which she can plead. Sitting on the couch at 6:00 and just rocking her, I am not waiting for Mommy to come home. I'm not watching the clock wondering if I should just feed her or wait...I'm not reaching for my cell phone to call for backup or see how much longer they're going to be...I'm just rocking her. Because she's mine. Because there isn't going to be a Mommy to walk through the front door and take her away from me. Because I'm the one who comes home to her. Because I'm the one she smiles at when she wakes up. Because I'm the one whose sleeve she grips while bouncing in my arms. Because I'm the one whose lips she tries so hard to trace and follow with her own, whose face she can now awkwardly and clumsily grab for, whose voice makes even those teddy bear tears and desperate sobs fade away. Because she calms to my voice, settles into my arms, and slows her breathing when she feels my breath. I'm the one who gets to hold her, because there is no one else to hand her to. Finally...finally...I am the mommy.

Mythbusters

2008-05-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

OH, did I forget to tell everyone? I married Jamie from Mythbusters!

Fedora

2008-05-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

I "promised" Justin I would share this picture with the world.

We were in Wal-Mart and we saw these hats...these Fedoras...just lying on the shelf. Just LYING there! Poor hats...they were so...lonely...without some kind soul to wear them...

Seriously though...doesn't he look sexy?!?!

She sleeps sideways!

2008-04-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have always slept in my bed sideways. I remember waking up in the morning, even in High School, and my head would be on one side of the bed, my feet draping over the other. Somehow, in my sleep, I determined the best way to lay on the bed was shortways, so I wouldn't quite fit.

Well, it seems my daughter takes after me. :) I've noticed this before but it's so cute I had to share. When she woke up from her nap today, she was exactly perpendicular to the position in which I placed her to sleep. I try my best to keep her right-ways...I turn her, even sleep with my arm on her chest. Nope. Sideways. Almost every time.

So here's my little backwards-babe, taking after her mama (and loving her mobile!) In case you are wondering, yes, that is the Geico gecko on her crib. Don't ask. Or if you must, ask Justin.

New Definition of "Crappy Phone"

2008-04-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well, Justin and I got fed up with it. Pending litigation with whoever is responsible for the loss of my phone, we decided that we simply couldn't be without a method of communication that didn't depend on our apartment complex's internet (which is about as reliable as their signature on packages). So we went to Wal-Mart and bought two of those $20 Go Phones (thanks to a very generous Wal-Mart gift card given to us by our neighbors) and, not expecting much, plugged in our SIM cards.

For not expecting much, I was not disappointed.

The screen (color!) is more old school than my first cell phone. It weighs so little I feel like I'm going to break it in half just holding it up to my ear. It doesn't even have a volume control. BUT, it makes and receives phone calls and even stores numbers (!) so you can call us now! Hip Hip, Hooray!

Seriously, though, it really was a blessing we were even able to get these phones and we are very grateful for them. :)

Well, I am awesome.

2008-04-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

So those of you who know me know that I'm a pretty modest person. I hate the low cut and tight fit of girl's shorts, so I buy boy shorts - from Target - the cargo ones.

Well, one of the main attractions of cargo shorts has become my demise.

It seems the pockets of cargo shorts are remarkably deep. I have lost many things in them before. I have found money buried deep in their recesses after looking for it (and washing my shorts) for weeks. And now, I have done it again. Only this time, the item being washed wasn't quite as resilient as cotton-based money.

Yes, my friends, you have guessed correctly. Not only was MY phone stolen a few weeks ago, but now JUSTIN'S phone (which he heroically left for me and the baby) has been obliterated in a mesh of hot water and detergent.

My mother joked recently that "if you want to get a hold of Amber, don't call her, just email." Well, now that could not be more true. So if I don't return your calls or answer them at all - you know why. I don't hate you. I just, apparently, hate having a phone.

Cloth Diapers: Where to Buy?

2008-04-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

Note: If you are reading this on Facebook, the links will not work. Go to my blog here:
http://thebutlerclan.blogspot.com/2008/04/cloth-diapers-where-to-buy.html

I have been getting asked about where to buy cloth diapers, both new and used, so I thought I would make the information public.

The best place (I have heard; no personal experience here) to buy used cloth diapers is through a cloth diaper consignment. There are brick and mortar ones (like Young and Restless in Houston or Saturday's Child in Katy) and some online (such as The Diaper Jungle, Apple Blossom Baby, and Diaper Deals). Just do a Google search for "cloth diaper consignment" or "cloth diaper consignment near [your city here]" on Google Maps to locate one near you.

You can also buy new cloth diapers in brick and mortar stores as well as online. If you live in the Dallas area, the only brick and mortar new cloth diaper store I know if is Babies, Bottoms, and More in Farmers Branch. Diane, who works there, helped me pick out which cloth diapers to get (which is the advantage of brick and mortar stores). She was also the one who suggested Thirsties diaper covers, which I adore. Some popular places to shop online include Punkin-Butt, Tiny Tush, Diapers Etc, Diaper Pin, Kelly's Closet, Cotton Babies, and more.

Of course, the cheapest way to get cloth diapers is to sew them yourself. This you MUST do over the internet. Diaper fabric is not sold in major retail fabric stores. I have been told that occasionally you can get a mom and pop store to carry it, but as most diaper cloth is a specialty item, there is just not enough demand; only 10% of America uses cloth diapers, and a much lower percentage sews their own. So for support, patterns, and cloth, I would recommend visiting Very Baby, Celtic Cloth, The Diaper Hyena, Sew Diapers Community (powered by Very Baby), and Diaper Jungle. For the very easiest, try buying a kit from Diaper Kit, Wazoodle, or Kayla's Cloth Kits.

There are many, many, MANY more resources than I have listed here. If you find one that you think is worthy of addition, let me know. Just do a Google search and you'll find you have ended up in a whole 'nother world ;). Once you find one site, you've pretty much found them all - I find the cloth diapering community to be very intertwined. Good luck! :)

Pictures

2008-04-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder...pictures of Ariana are posted on a separate website. I will occasionally put some up here, but I upload them as I take them to picasaweb.google.com/familyofbutlers. That's where all the pictures of her go. So, if you lose this link, it's in the side bar to the right of what you're reading right now. :)

USPS Fraud?

2008-04-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

So here's what happened:

Over Easter weekend I left my phone in Dallas. My Dad found it and mailed it to me on March 31, with a tracking number. The tracking number shows DELIVERED on April 3 at 3:58pm, signed for by J****, a worker at our apartment complex.

Only I never received my cell phone. I checked back many times, nothing in the office, nothing in my mailbox. I called the post office, who claims that they can do nothing about it because someone signed for it. I talked to J****, who says that the post office worker who delivers our mail has them sign for packages, then she takes them over to the main mailboxes and should leave us a key to retrieve them. No key. This is not the first time this has happened, though before, I made a lot of ruckus and they always eventually "found" the package stuffed somewhere.

I must interject here that the post woman who delivers our mail is THOROUGHLY INCOMPETENT. I have never had a package arrive on time. Once, the only time she's actually delivered something, she literally threw it at me and ran away. I lodged an official complaint with USPS; last I heard, it was "forwarded to [my] local office."

So, I gotta say, this woman has pretty much got it made in the shade. She's got gullible office workers signing for packages they've never seen. I filed another formal complaint with the post office investigative services (which, I just found out, has about as much power as the FBI) but I don't have any hopes of ever seeing my phone again. I'm really sad about this as I had irreplaceable contact information, photos, and videos on that phone. Technically, the apartment complex is legally liable, so I am going to get a replacement phone from them (if I shake enough cages) but I hope that, if this worker really is stealing mail, she's eventually put in jail where she deserves to be. I'm not the only person in this apartment complex missing a cell phone...

Obedience Training

2008-04-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a bit of a scare the other day. Ari was in her car seat asleep with the hood down; you could barely see her socks sticking out the bottom. We were getting ready to go on an errand with the dogs. As I was getting everyone ready to go, Toby decided to get really excited and run towards me. He had no idea Ari was in the car seat - it was my fault, he wouldn't have gone near her if he could see her - but in his exuberance, he nearly knocked the car seat over before I grabbed him, literally picked him up off the ground using only the fur on his neck, and threw him against the door. (Yes, he weighs 74 pounds.) Needless to say he's been a bit scared of me ever since. Now, Ari would have been just fine even if he had knocked her over, and it really wasn't Toby's fault, it was mine. He was being a rambunctious puppy, and I have really slacked on his training.

After this, Justin and I discussed things and decided to re-enroll Toby in obedience classes. (We're only doing Toby because the most exuberant thing Talsi has ever done is fluff on people.) He hasn't been since he was 8 weeks old and it's high time for a refresher course. I really just don't know enough about dog training to correct the behaviors in him. None of them are violent, they are just out of control - he's mentally still a puppy, and I can't control his excitement sometimes, and it needs to stop before Ari starts crawling. While I would stake everything short of my life on the fact that he would never be aggressive, I wouldn't stake a nickel on whether or not he would bowl over a small child in his excitement and desire to play. I need to be able to say "Down" and Toby go down, exactly where he is, and immediately - and I have no idea how to train him to do this.

So Toby is taking an obedience class! From a lady whose 6 Golden Retrievers all hold utility (intermediate) and above obedience titles from the AKC, one of which is Champion. I wanted to enroll him in a serious class, not just a Petsmart train-your-dog-to-be-nice class, because I need to have real, immediate, off leash control over him. All that to say - next time you see Toby, ask before petting him or playing with him. We're really going to get serious about making him calm down when told to, so don't be offended if we don't let you play with him while he's being trained. :)

We're going to take him to a place called River Ranch Dogs, a short drive up 1314 from our apartment. I've spoken with the lady and I'm confident that she knows what she's doing and that she'll be able to teach me how to teach him. Hopefully soon we'll have a well mannered, well adjusted, happy Golden!

I blog now

2008-04-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, sir, I do.

So sad...

2008-04-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about this one. I just got back from Dallas to say "bye" to one of my best friends who is moving to Hawaii. She actually should have got there around 6 this morning. We had a good time, me and her and her husband and another friend and Ari hung out until after midnight at Cafe Brazil in Dallas. Her husband is in the military and is now stationed in Hawaii until October when he will ship off to Iraq for 18 months. "Bummed" doesn't really begin to describe the situation for me. She'll be gone for three years, at least 18 months of which she'll essentially be a single mom and I won't be there to help her out at all. I'm just glad it's the internet era - we can actually video chat with each other :) so that'll make it a little bit better. But yeah. No politics implied, the war just sucks.

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

2008-04-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob, a little friend of ours, turned 3 years old on the 8th. His birthday party was on the fifth in south Houston, and we went. It was so much fun! We got to see a lot of friends who have moved to Dallas and Jacob's little sister, who is just a couple of days older than Ariana! She had a great time, we learned about trees and grass and to stay away from little boys who like to throw sticks up in the air. ;) It was a Superman party, so Jacob was Superman and he ran around that park like he owned the place and could fly. It was a lot of fun and Ariana got some in some quality learning while she was awake. ;)

Ariana Turns 3 Months!

Ariana turned 3 months old on April 1st! We can't believe how fast time has flown. She's already getting so very big. She can roll over (from front to back, at least) and holds her head up like a pro. She loves being in her Moby (a word which has become a verb in our family; "Ari, you wanna get Mobied up?") and facing out. She's technically not supposed to do that until she's 6 months old, but she gets upset if she can't see the world! Her favorite game is talking and it's the cutest thing in the whole world. To listen to her tell a story, you KNOW she really believes she's communicating something with you, it's amazing and hilarious all at the same time. Justin and I will just sit and talk to her for the longest time, she never gets tired of it. Unless, of course, she actually gets tired.

We're all pretty good at understanding each other now. Justin and I can distinguish her cries and can tell if she's too hot, too cold, too hungry, too wet, too tired. It's a great feeling to actually be able to understand what she wants instead of holding her, screaming and helpless. Her screaming. Us helpless. Most of the time, at least.

I really never imagined I would love being a mommy this much. I'm looking forward to the future but I've never found myself dreaming about it, like, "Oh, once she can call me Mommy, that will be great," or, "Once she can play with other kids, that will be great." I have really been able to just take each day as it comes and enjoy the moments I'm having with her now. Like this moment, for instance. She's just gotten done eating and, as I'm typing, we are having the most delightful conversation about "Arguububs" and "Thulgads" and I'm not really finding myself wishing anything about her were any different than it is at this exact moment.

Easter Sunday

We visited Dallas for Easter Sunday and it was a lot of fun. Me, Justin, Ari, Ashley, James, and both my parents all went to Bent Tree for the service. Ari slept in the nursery the whole time. In the photos above you can see a pretty blue silk Easter dress my sister bought for her - isn't it gorgeous? I'm glad I got pictures of her in it while she could still FIT in it (that child is growing like a horse!) We all enjoyed the little break and I know family really enjoyed having everyone together on Easter Sunday. We went and hung out with Justin's family after the service and had an Easter lunch. He got to spend some time with his brother and Ari had a great time in the bassinet that my in laws made for her. Then, on the way home, we blew a tire about an hour out of Dallas - at 8:30! It was dark, we were in the middle of nowhere and I was a bit terrified. Justin tried to change the tire and in his manliness actually BROKE the tire wrench! (Yes, BROKE, as in, IN HALF.) So we had to wait for a tow truck to come and fix the tire. We finally got back into Houston around 2:30 in the morning and poor Justin had to wake up and go to work in the morning! It was an exhausting trip and, though it was good, we are NEVER leaving Dallas that late again!

Granny B's 80th Birthday

The weekend we visited Dallas for Easter was also the week after my grandmother's (father's mother's) 80th birthday. The whole extended family (minus one who was just two weeks from her due date!) showed up in Hugo, Oklahoma to enjoy the festivities. My grandfather, who has been in and out of good health for a while now, was doing great. He was lucid and back to his funny, joking self. It was great to see him and my grandmother. There are SO many kids on that side of the family! It's really amazing, trips to the farm look more like summer camp than a family get together. ;) Ari was just one face in a crowd here, there were tons of little babies and kids running around. I'm so glad it's that way again, that's the way I remember trips to the farm and I'm glad that kids are able to enjoy it's magical wonders again. ;) I'm looking forward to Ari getting to be friends with all her little cousins and playing with them like me and Ashley did with all our cousins growing up. Anyway, the party was great and I know that my grandmother enjoyed being able to see everyone and have everyone there and to meet her new (not newest!) greatgrandbaby. (Yes, there was a baby younger than Ari there!) I'm really looking forward to our next trip to the farm - Thanksgiving will probably be the next time we get to see the WHOLE family there, and I'm really excited about it!

We've Moved!
Okay, for those of you who aren't aware (or who don't have to abide by this rule) the state of Texas doesn't like three people living in a one bedroom apartment, so we have moved! Just across the parking lot, so our new apartment number is 635 for those of you who have our previous address. Email me if you need the full number! We LOVE our new apartment! Once we got everything in Justin stood in the living room and looked around and said, "This isn't an apartment. It's a house on stilts." It's so huge - it's actually larger than my parent's first HOUSE. Especially being a stay at home mom I love having enough space to breathe, and the staff is great. Hopefully we'll be able to get a house in the next fifty-seven years or so ;) but for now, this place is perfect.

New Job!
I (Amber) now sell BilJac dog food!...part time, just a few hours on the weekend, so Justin can have a fun Daddy-Daughter date with his favorite little girl. The job is fairly easy for me in the sense that I fully believe BilJac is the best dog food on the market, so it's not hard for me to try to sell it. BilJac is the best for EVERY dog unless they have some serious problem like kidney failure, so I like explaining to people WHY it's the best and WHY they should be feeding it to their dogs! It's nice to get out of the house but I always miss my baby girl by the time I get home. Justin, however, loves the time alone with her.

I think that's all for this update, thanks for keeping up with us and if you're reading this - call us if you're in Houston! We'd love to hang out. If we know you. If we don't know you, don't call. That would...well, that would just be weird.

In Dallas!

2008-02-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it to Dallas, though the journey was quite eventful! My Dad came down on Friday morning in his white cargo van he uses for work and we got our minivan out of impound. It wouldn't start and the latch to open the hood was broken, so we put it in neutral and pushed it with the cargo van a couple of miles down the highway to a Denny's and called a tow truck. When we got back home my Dad worked to get the battery recharged and we got it started by Saturday morning. We packed up my Dad's cargo van, the minivan, and our car to take the six of us (my Dad, Justin, me, Ariana, Toby, and Talsi) to Dallas. Because Justin had to work this week, he needed a car, and my Dad wanted to drive the van for a week to see if it was doing okay. About 2 miles after we left our apartment, the van died again! My dad ended up having to get a U-haul trailer to tow it home! We then discovered it was the fuel pump (which Justin had guessed at first, so he gets kudo man-points for that) which my Dad says he can fix. So my Dad's working on fixing our van this week, our dogs are confused because they had to ride all the way to Dallas (a seven hour trip) in the back of a tilted, being-towed van, Justin is all alone in Kingwood, and Ariana has decided she really likes her extended family!

Grandpa Joe loves singing to her and she loves singing back! Last night she just sat on his lap and stared at him as he sang. She is going to be so musical.

So far we're really enjoying this trip. Family members have taken random days off of work and my grandmother may even be flying in from Lubbock to see Ariana for a few days. I'm really going to enjoy this time and I'm glad everyone gets to see Ariana now for a few days.

I had better sign off, my mother-in-law should be here any minute to kidnap her granddaughter! ;) (In all fairness, she's taking me, too.) :)

Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me...

2008-02-15T03:17:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 5 am and I officially can't sleep. It amazes me that no matter how little I sleep, or how exhausted I get, sometimes the tiniest noises Ariana makes keep me up. This is why I'm in bed for 12 hours and only get 5 hours of sleep. She wakes up to eat, eats for fifteen minutes, and goes right back to sleep. I, however, take at least an hour, sometimes three to get back to sleep, so I only actually get to nap for one to three hours at a time. She'll get 10 hours of sleep for my 4. "Sleep when the baby sleeps." Easier said than done! There has got to be a medicine for this!!! I'll probably be sick again in a few days from not being able to sleep, but oh well.

My van broke down today on the side of the road. During our efforts to revive it it was towed and is going to cost a couple of hundred dollars to get it out of impound. I don't even know if we're going to do it. The van itself was barely more than that and, well, frankly, we can't afford to pay $200 to retrieve a van that doesn't even work. My dad is coming down to see if he can fix it; who knows. In a year or so maybe we'll be able to afford a car that functions correctly. We still don't know what happened to it.

We are all visiting Dallas this weekend! We're leaving either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Justin will come back to go to school next week, but I will be staying in Dallas until the 23rd. That way Ari can really spend some time with her family. I know her grandparents and aunts and uncles are really looking forward to it, as am I.

Speaking of Dallas, looks like we're not moving! Our apartment complex gave us a great deal on staying so we decided to go with that instead of me having to take a full time job to pay for a move to Dallas. Hopefully we'll be able to come up within the next couple of years, so sorry for our friends who were hoping to have us up sooner!

Well, I can't decide if I want to try to sleep. She'll be up in an hour to eat anyway, is there really a point? Maybe I'll give her to Justin this weekend and down some Nyquil and drift to my favorite place. ;) I'm going to use my flu-causing insomnia for good and go do the dishes. Happy 5 in the morning, everybody!!

First Hospital Visit, Possible Move, TV Obsessions, and More

2008-02-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

First Hospital Visit

Well, we've had an eventful last week! I had to go to the ER - it was Ariana's first time in a hospital. I was nervous having her around so many sick people, but she did fine and stayed healthy. I was better about the third day and it looks like things might finally be looking up for me, I'm so tired of being sick! I'm looking forward to being good and healthy from now on. :)

Smiles and Coos

Ariana is really starting to show her little personality! She grins at me every morning after she's eaten and her favorite game is making faces with me. We coo and giggle back and forth and she just thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. What I don't think she fully appreciates is that it is the greatest thing in the world. :) Here is a video of those little smiles and coos I love so much:

Are We Moving Again?!

We are caught in a bit of a dilemma right now! Justin and I both really want to move back to Dallas because we want Ariana to be around her grandparents, but Justin absolutely loves his job. We've decided that the best plan (if it's at all possible) will be for Justin to do summer school here and then we'll pack up and move! I have a feeling him finding a job is going to be fairly easy, Spanish teachers are a "critical needs" area in many places. Right now we're really wanting to move to Carrollton, and when Justin spoke with them last week they apparently sounded desperate for Spanish teachers. We are going to hate moving from Kingwood and Justin's great job and our great apartment and the great church we have here, but we've decided that it's time to make our life a bit more permanent and stable. If we do move to Dallas, it's going to be the first time we've ever moved anywhere with the intent of staying! We'll probably rent a place for a couple of years before buying a house, but we're looking at living in the northern Dallas area, Carrollton or Plano or even Richardson. Nothing is set in stone yet, we certainly don't know if this is even going to be possible or even likely, but that's the plan we're hoping for.

A Bit Sad...
On a bit of a more personal note, I am really bummed right now, one of my best friends is moving to HAWAII in a couple of months and while that's a cool deal for her I'm SO sad about it! I hope to enjoy the couple of months we've still got!

Lost in Obsession
Justin and I have returned to our obsession about Lost. Greatest. Show. Ever. We have a standing appointment with ABC every Thursday at 7. If you don't watch it - you're missing out, and don't start! I told Justin it's like a drug - you can't wait to get your fix and after you do, the only thing you can think is, "What am I doing to myself?! I hate this thing!" Really, though, it probably is one of the greatest and most brilliant shows ever devised. Very clever and smart and entertaining and kind of obsessive. ;)

Cloth Diapering
I love cloth diapering, especially now that I have enough cloth diapers! It's a lot easier than I thought it would be and saves a ton of money and landfill space. I would recommend anyone with a baby (and a washer/dryer in house) to look into it, it's not nearly as complicated as I think people think it is!

Well that's all that's new with us! I should go do the dishes while my sugar plum is still asleep. :)

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

It's Justin's first birthday as a father today! He's 26. We're not sure how much we can really celebrate, given we are broke and have a 4 week old child ;), but I'm hoping we can find some way to make it special for him. Happy Birthday Justin!

Our little goth baby has some red speckles to go with her purple tongue now, courtesy of baby acne. More importantly, though, she's starting to smile! It's not very frequent, but the last two mornings that she has woken, she's grinned when I picked her up. I've seen lots of babies smile in my day, but I have never had my heart so completely taken from me with such a simple gesture. All the frustration and lack of sleep in the world is gone in a moment when she flashes that toothless grin!

We are slowly but surely falling into a routine and schedule, especially at night. We get her ready for bed and then read her a story before laying her down around 9:00. It takes her a while to fall asleep, she just kind of squirms for a while, but she's getting better and more used to going to bed at that hour. For a while, she would want to eat until around 11:00, but now that she's a bit older she can go longer and is more satisfied after each feeding, so it's becoming easier to let her be independent for longer periods of time.

She is getting much better about staring at things! The mobile above her swing is finally interesting; I caught her staring at it for a long time yesterday! It has a concave mirror and stuffed birds around it, which she finds almost as fascinating at her own hands. ;)

Well, it's time to do what cleaning I can while Ariana is napping! :)

Ariana's Onemonthaday

2008-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Well, our baby girl is one month old tomorrow if you go by weeks...one month old on Friday if you go by months. ;) She was born four weeks ago tomorrow, and she's already changed so much! She can watch you with her eyes now, and she does, relentlessly. One of her favorite games is staring at things. ;) At her last appointment, which was yesterday, she weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces, which keeps her perfectly "status quo." When she was born, she was in the 95th percentile on height and then 50th percentile on weight. She is still in the 95th percentile on height and the 50th percentile on weight! She seems to be keeping her balance very well.

Right now she's a little goth baby! She was diagnosed with thrush at her last appointment, which is just a minor yeast infection that's very common with newborns, and the medicine stains her mouth a very deep purple. So my four week old little girl looks like she's got dark purple lipstick on! She looks like she's been sucking on a marker.

She loves talking, too. Her favorite words so far are "Oouf" and "Boop." Her eyes have turned into a pretty slate blue color and she still has more hair than both of her parents. ;)

Justin is loving his new semester. His major iTeach assignments (the program he has to complete to become a certified teacher) are almost done! Only two more to go and life will be getting a lot easier for him. There was a bit of excitement at his school this past week when a student was caught with a gun. He said half the kids didn't show up the next day, despite the hallways teeming with police officers.

His teaching style is rapidly evolving to be very effective. I, for one, am incredibly proud of him. His iTeach instructor bragged on him and how much improvement he's made over the last semester, even finishing her comments by saying that he's on his way to becoming an exemplary Spanish teacher in his district.

Not much has changed with me. I'm still sick off and on but I think it's getting better. I'm really enjoying taking everything one day at a time. My favorite part of the day is when she's just eaten and isn't fussy, and we sit on the couch and read. My favorite is "Thumpity Thump Gets Dressed," a book my great-grandmother gave me when I was four. My mom brought a bunch of my old books down and I'm really enjoying reading them to Ariana and I can tell she enjoys the time too, though she has no idea what a book is. ;)

She's getting along well with the dogs. They know they aren't allowed to go near her. Once I even laid her on the floor and stepped just out of site, but close enough that I could get to her in a split second, and just watched. Toby and Talsi wouldn't go anywhere near her. In fact, once I was sitting on the floor holding her when Justin called Toby. I was in his way, so Toby went up to me and just laid down until I moved - he wasn't about to go around me when I was holding Ariana. Toby and Talsi are both doing very well with her and I have no doubt that they will be excellent playmates when she is older.

Let's see, a quick review of favorites and least favorites before I go:
Favorite place: Mommy or Daddy's lap
Favorite sound: Daddy singing in a low voice
Least favorite flavor: Mylicon drops
Favorite thing to stare at: Faces and mini-blinds
Favorite body part to eat: Left pointer finger
Favorite place to nap: Lying on Mom or Dad
Least favorite activity: Bath time

And at the rate she's going, my next blog will be talking about how she can hold her head up for a whole minute! :)

Thriving :)

2008-01-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been a bit sick for a few days. I had a high fever and quite a hard time finding the energy just to walk. No new pictures, either, I've been just working on taking care of myself and Ariana. Justin has been a tremendous help, getting very little sleep to help take care of all of us. I was never contagious, and Ariana managed through it completely unscathed. I'm still a bit ill, but getting better and better every day. :)

Ariana had her second checkup today. Great news! Usually a baby loses weight after the birth, and is back up to their birth weight by the two week mark. Ariana was weighed, and has gained 12 ounces off her birth weight, from 7 pounds 9 ounces to 8 pounds 5 ounces! My midwife was thrilled. She is thriving!

She grows more coherent every day. She maintains eye contact and though she has no idea what anything is, you can tell she can focus on things better than before.

Justin took off work today to help out because I was sick, and got a sub. That's been a tremendous help, and he goes back to work tomorrow. He says it's weird to think that his Spanish class is happening and he doesn't even know who's in it! We'll see tomorrow what his classes are going to be like this semester!

Second Grandparent Visit

2008-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the day for Ari to meet the grandparents and uncle on the crazy side of her family. ;) My mom, dad, and brother came down to see their 3 day old granddaughter/niece. She was a big hit. My dad kept talking about the "teeny baby feet!" and sardonically constantly reminded everyone to "Hold the baby's head!" which is a phrase my great grandmother apparently used incessantly. She got passed around all day and I even got to take a nap! (Yay for sleeping!)

Her gaze is getting so much better. She's stopped doing her ultra cute "What am I staring at?" blinking, but she can maintain eye contact with me for several seconds at a time which is really just replacing one ultra cute thing with another. We're also doing great with breastfeeding thanks to my midwife (I sooooo wouldn't have been able to figure any of that out on my own!) She's also SMILING! I have yet to catch a picture. And you know, I don't really care that it's probably "just gas." Those tiny fleeting dimples make me the happiest person alive. :)

First Checkup and Errand

2008-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Ariana's first checkup was today. She is a happy, healthy little girl! Besides a bit of trouble breastfeeding (nothing my midwife said a pump won't fix) she's doing wonderfully. Heart tones good, lung function good (tell me about it!), everything exactly the way it should be. :)

She also made her first trip to Target today! Though she had plenty of warm clothes, Justin and I realized as we were dressing her for the doctor that all of her 0-3 month old warm clothes swallowed her alive, so we went to pick her up some newborn sized items of coziness. :) Putting her in the car was a task; first of all, I was nervous because I've never put a two day old child in a carseat before. We finally (after about 20 minutes) got everyone in perfect place and situation when - yep - our car was dead. So we had to switch cars and then - yep - out of gas. Then we got stuck behind a funeral procession, which wasn't that big of a deal because I couldn't have been PAID to drive faster than about 35 anyway. We stuck to the side roads and avoided potholes like little green monsters were going to jump out of them and run us off the road. ;)

She slept the whole time we were at Target and got ogled over by just about every woman in the building. I enjoyed that more than she did. ;)

Ari discovered that she loves her daddy's chest. Laying on it while he talks and sings to her is probably her favorite activity in the whole world. Besides eating. Eating is good. :)

First Grandparent Visit

2008-01-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Justin's parents visited yesterday and today. Ariana is not only the first grandbaby on either side of the family, she's the first girl on Justin's side. It was just Justin and his brother growing up, and Grandma Linda has been REALLY looking forward to finally having a little girl to spoil! So far she's doing a bang up job. ;)

They got to hold her and coo over her. She's a big hit and, by her grandfather's confession, "Much cuter than Justin when he was a baby." ;) They agree with the midwife that she has my lips but Justin's dimples.

Grandparents brought with them Christmas presents for everyone (including a present for our computer...don't ask ;), especially Ariana, who now officially has something to wear at every stage of life until she's 3 years old. :) It was a good visit and I'm glad they were able to come down, as both grandparents start back to work tomorrow and wouldn't have otherwise been able to see her until she was several weeks old.

New Year, New Life

2008-01-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Our daughter was born today.

Around 9:30 I started having contractions and called my midwife an hour later. She was at my apartment around 10:45. I progressed rapidly; so quickly, in fact, that Justin barely had time to call one person to tell them I was in labor. He was really great the whole time, helping me through contractions and reminding me that, no matter how strongly I insisted, I was not going to die. ;)

After 30 minutes of pushing, Ariana was born in our bathtub at 3:49 pm. I'll never forget that moment. All of a sudden everyone just started moving around, no one was concentrating on me anymore. I didn't even know what was going on and I asked what was happening. Justin almost whispered, "That's our baby's head..."

The midwife had to suction her fully, which took a couple of minutes. Before I went into labor I promised myself I wouldn't ask if she was okay. ("If she's not okay, they'll tell me, I'm not going to ask!") All I could say, though, was, "Is she okay?" The midwife had the suction in her mouth and couldn't answer. Finally she turned to me, dropped the suction and said, "She'd better be okay, she's BITING me!" ;)

It took a couple of minutes for them to fully suction her, then with one last push Justin caught her and put her on my chest. She was slimy and gray and had a ridge on the top of her head that made her look like a gorilla and I swear to you she was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. She stayed on my chest for several minutes before they wrapped her up and gave her to Justin so everyone could get cleaned up. I fed her for the first time - she figured it out really fast! - and then, after a checkup confirming a good heartbeat, good lung function, a weight of 7 pounds 9 ounces and a length of 21 inches, Justin and I dressed our newborn baby and went to relax on the couch.

The midwife and assistant left around 6:00. I was in the living room with Justin holding Ariana when I realized how incredibly grateful I was that we were able to do a home birth. Not only did my baby never have to be separated from her mother or father for more than a few seconds at a time, but here I was, with a 2 hour old healthy child, sitting comfortably in my living room. I am so grateful.