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! :)
Showing posts with label Dallas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dallas. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Back on Wednesday!
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.
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.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ike Update
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!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Eventful Week
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.
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.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!
Jacob's Birthday
Ariana Turns 3 Months!
Easter Sunday
Granny B's 80th 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.
Monday, February 18, 2008
In Dallas!
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.) :)
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.) :)
Friday, February 15, 2008
Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me...
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!!
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!!
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