the great adventure

womp, womp....

2011-10-28T09:54:00.006-05:00

guess i haven't been so great at keeping this thing updated, huh?

maybe its because i don't feel like life has been all that exciting! school started and we're in the heat of football season. marcus got their first loss this past friday to a team who's nationally ranked...i think its safe to say we'll make the playoffs.

next week basketball tryouts start, so we'll have some overlapping of sports this year. so i guess the countdown to spring break starts...because thats when drew will be on cruise control for the remainder of the school year and...HOME! :) we miss him when he's gone.

lana is keeping us super busy with potty training. i feel like we've been doing this for ages. but i think she's pretty much trained now! we couldn't figure out how to get her to TELL US that she needed to go. she'd always go when we asked her to, but she'd never instigate it. so now we bribe her with reese's pieces....and of course, she tells us very frequently :) whatever works, right? haven't had ANY accidents ALL WEEK! i am one happy momma!

i got moved to a new area a few weeks ago at work...they moved me to jewelry. its nothing new thanks to my zale days, but its been 4 years since i worked in jewelry...kinda forgot a lot! its coming back to me. things are getting a little busy at work since black friday/cyber monday/christmas is all around the corner...but i've been saying christmas is around the corner since july...drives drew nuts :)

i decided not to run the white rock this year...last year's half marathon was good enough. after all the money we poured out on a bulging disc earlier this year, my doc said it'd be wise of me not to run more than 6 miles at a time. so i'm obeying because i'm a good patient...and a rule follower :) and i go back to the dermatologist in november to get checked for more skin cancer spots...pray no more have surfaced. that cream treatment is NASTY....and EXPENSIVE...and i'm a wimp :)

halloween is on monday and what do you think lana is going to be? NOTHING! ha! i thought about taking her trick or treating because i think she's at the point where she'd really have a good time...but drew will have a 7th grade football game. there is NO way i'm doing the trick or treat thing alone. it just wouldn't be nearly as fun. so we'll be at home handing out candy this year!

we're still enjoying church at the village. we both think matt is such a gifted speaker...its really easy to listen to him and it doesn't feel like he preaches nearly an hour each week. there have been some things brought to light that i guess i just skimmed over in my bible my whole life. so honestly, its really driving me to read, study, and learn everything i can in order to see what God is saying through it all. we are also REALLY enjoying our small group....although i wouldn't call it SMALL....i think 22 people is kinda BIG! :) but its fun because there are so many kids. this year we're hosting the kids at our house, we have some college girls come babysit the kiddos, and all the adults meet at another house. it works out great and lana LOVES it when her 'friends' come over. i just can't explain how excited she gets.

i updated lana's baby site -- new pictures under her 2years album....but here are some from the past, oh i don't know, 6 months?? i'm getting TERRIBLE at this...sorry.

more to come! hopefully it won't be another 3 months, though....

whoops!

2011-06-13T15:52:00.011-05:00

well, i didn't realize how much time had passed since the last post. i'm sure i need to update you on my doctor appointments....and everything else.

i finally got the results back from my biopsies last week. they cut 8 spots. 3 came back as no big deal. 4 places came back as skin cancer--basal cell carcinoma. the last spot came back as a dysplastic mole...in short, thats the in between stage of a normal mole and melanoma. i'm very grateful that's all it was since that's the worst kind of skin cancer you can have.

so last wednesday i went to the pharmacy and picked up a prescription for a cream to start treating one of the skin cancer spots. its superficial so no surgery needed. just 6 weeks of cream rubbed on it and we should be good. of course, that cream is $100 a pop. and of course, its also used to treat genital warts. ugh. i'm going to make a point to talk about skin cancer every time i need a refill for my own sake. i don't want anyone thinking i have genital warts! :)

so that leaves the surgeries. i have to have 4 spots cut out--3 of them are skin cancer and the 4th is the dysplastic mole. they can't do them together, so i had to set up 4 different appointments starting in mid july. nice. so i'm going to have gashes and stitches on my chest, shoulder, and side...just in time for summer time! needless to say, i now hate the sun and am staying as far away as possible.

in other news...summer has officially started and i'm so grateful for this little break drew gets from school. he works so hard throughout the year he definitely enjoys his time off. we're really enjoying the hyundai....highly recommend it if you're in the market for a new car. lana is growing and changing. keeps us on our toes. i'm constantly staring at her amazed at how this little person is growing up so fast. i just love her to pieces! keep all the teachers in your prayers and districts haven't made their cuts yet. we think drew will be safe, but we're not sure about my brother in law....seems like they cut the arts before anything else. being a band director isn't job security, sadly. Have a happy monday! keep the libbys in your prayers!

cha cha cha cha changes

2011-05-11T09:41:00.012-05:00

what's going on? well, where do i start? :)

after watching gas prices soar, drew and i decided it was time to get rid of our premium gas guzzling machine....we traded it in for a WONDERFUL 40mpg elantra....

i was so sad to see this car go...i cried. seriously. but 24mpg with premium was not good on the budget. nor was the $250 headlight replacement, the $1200 expense of tires because they can not be rotated at ALL....i could go on. it was so much fun to have for the short time we owned it! i suggest you ask TONS of questions before buying a lexus...or any 'luxury' car for that matter. it was painful.

so now we have this! sporty, sleek, and super mileage. i'm already having fun driving it. missing a lot of the bells and whistles from the IS, but this car is really neat too!

so what else? well, thanks to drew's sister, we've all been to the dermatologist within the past week. drew checked out well...they're just going to watch him with yearly checkups. my appointment was not so good. i went this morning and they biopsied 5 spots...they had to stop at 5 because my insurance only pays for 5 per visit. so guess what that means? i go back tomorrow. because i'm pretty sure they have 5 more they want to biopsy. i have not gotten as great of news as drew did...they want to see me back multiple times of year. dang fair skin! but i'd rather do this than die an early death from skin cancer...i find out in 2 weeks what the results are from the spots they removed. i'm asking for lots of prayers. because, honestly, i'm a little scared about this.

what else? i've been interviewing for a new spot at jcp. i have pretty much hit the point (actually, i'm sure i hit this point about 6 months ago, but couldn't do anything about it then) where i have to move jobs or i might just quit. this position is highly analytical which i hate....so i've interviewed for a spot on the internet side. i'd be in charge of running a portion of jcp.com--making sure the pictures are uploaded on site, that we have enough inventory to support the product placement, that the site is inviting...etc. i think it'll be a lot of fun! i get to merchandise my little 'store' and do some more creative stuff. i should find out at the beginning of next week if i got the job. there were 6 of us interviewing so it may be a long shot. we'll see!

drew also has quite a bit going on. without getting into details, just pray for the job situation. the school districts are making huge cuts, they actually have a coaching spot open at his school, but they're not sure who (if anyone) will fill it thanks to hiring freezes...plus a lot more that isn't public knowledge so i'm not going to go into everything until he gives me permission to do so :)

we've also been reading an amazing book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love in our small group at church. i HIGHLY recommend this book. do yourself a favor...go check it out or buy it. it'll turn your world up side down!

i'm on sinus infection #2 in the past month. this has been a HORRIBLE allergy season in texas. we have some crazy winds that are stirring things up and literally kicking my rear. i'm actually working from home today thanks to my throbbing/pulsating sinuses. yippee.

anyway, just updated lana's picture site... head over and check out what's been going on with her the past month by clicking here!

have a great wednesday!

having a moment...

2011-04-03T11:56:00.004-05:00

lana has had her big girl bed since january, but we kinda rearranged her room last night to give more play area. i don't know if its because i'm sick, or what, but i'm getting sentimental all of a sudden. we walked into her room after church and lana was making "chicken" for her bear...who was perfectly in his highchair....i didn't realize we were already at this point in her play time! i guess its because she's in daycare and i don't get to see it--or maybe i just havent been paying attention. either way, it hit me how quickly she's growing up! here's a cute little video of her playtime this morning!

just spark it

2011-03-26T16:10:00.004-05:00

hey friends and family...back in january drew and i became advocare distributors in an effort to supply people with the same products we've grown to love and depend on. on the journey to growing our business, we've started designing our own website. right now it just takes you to our advocare page so you can order through us. we hope to be more 'hip' in the near future :)

for now, if you're interested in the fantastic product line let us know and we'll be able to guide you through product selection. if you're interested in the business side, we can walk you through the income potential. if you're not interested, but know people who are, share our contact info!

hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

www.justsparkit.biz

this girl is nuts and we LOVE it!

2011-02-27T07:39:00.007-06:00

you'll have to ignore the singing by drew and me when watching some of the videos. we're not professionals...yet.

lana LOVES to sing and we had to capture it on video....i hope you enjoy. it is so sweet to hear her sing...warms my heart! :) still working on getting jesus loves me...that one is TOO cute because she does the motions. sorry to tease you.

i also included some of lana playing with the dogs....i guess its more called torturing the dogs. don't worry...we don't let it go on long before we let them outside to recover! ha!

more pictures to come!

joy joy--"down in my heart"

"ABCs"--she was CRAZY during this one! HA!

"PUSH!"

"Stroller Chase"

lanas got some sweet moves! HA!

Hope you enjoy!

The TRUTH about the Smarts & the Fortes

2011-02-20T16:31:00.000-06:00

The Truth About The Smarts and The Fortes

by Kenny Boren on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 2:40pm

I am writing this with the permission of both families', the Smarts and the Fortes. It is important to know the facts, and the entire story, rather than blurbs, half-truths, and rumors/lies. It is unfortunate that no one really has a recourse to the media giant, the Dallas Morning News, or to anonymous/cowardly emails and sources that started this whole chain of events. One is left with only public perception, and that is not fair. Think how you would feel if this were to happen to you on the front page of a newspaper for-profit. Most of the facts below were presented to Mr. Dent (by the LISD ) who wrote the article, and the Editor of the Dallas Morning News, Mr. Whitfield, who chose to publish it on the front page. They chose not to use the personal and truthful facts in their article. They left most of it completely out, on purpose.

Social media is our only recourse to get the truth out. This has nothing to do with a player on a basketball team. It has everything to do with a 16 year old kid (Marcus) and a 17 year-old kid (Phillip) who I admire, respect, and love. Please spread this publication and its facts to all your social media friends. Facebook helped elect a President, so I'm sure it can be just as effective as the front page of a newspaper for-profit.

The Facts:

Fact- The Dallas Morning News had information that they presented in their article before their chosen publication date (Saturday, Feb. 19th). They chose to investigate it and publish it 3 days before the start of the State Playoffs and one day after the conclusion of the UIL Regular Season, a regular season we went 32-1 in.

Fact- Mr. Forte transparently owns the Smarts' rental home.

Fact- The Smarts' transparently have rented, for $800/month, the property from Mr. Forte over the past three years. The $800/month rent is excess of $100 of the principle and interest payment of Mr. Forte's mortgage of the property.

Fact- LISD initiated and transparently released this information to the District 8-5A Executive Committee in September, 2010 (the beginning of the school year) as soon as it was discovered.

Fact- The Forte's and Smart 's are close, personal friends, and have been for many years.

Fact- Marcus and Phillip are LIFELONG friends, to the extent of brotherhood.

Fact- Marcus struggled in South Dallas (Red Oak) academically and on state mandated tests (which he did not succeed on). Tragic events in their family played a part in this.

Fact- Marcus' uncle Gary (Marcus' mom's brother) was shot and is wheelchaired because of a car theft incident while they were living in South Dallas.The are now his primary care-giver.

Fact- Mrs. Smart receives dialysis three days (3-4 hour sitting each time) a week for reasons I'm sure you can figure out. It is extremely tough on her on the days of dialysis.

Fact- While in his old residence in South Dallas, Marcus' oldest brother, a great basketball player and someone Marcus idoled, was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age 15. He passed away at age 33 after a lengthy and painful battle with this cancer.

Fact- concerned about their son because of the facts mentioned above, Mr. and Mrs. Smart decided they needed to move for the well being of their son.

Fact- The Smart's moved to Flower Mound late summer between Marcus' 8th grade and 9th grade year with the recommendation of their friends, the Fortes. They also researched the community and school.

Fact- Marcus HS Basketball won 18 games prior to the Smarts moving, had only made it to the regional tournament twice in its schools' twenty year varsity-eligible existence (once in the 90's and 2006)

Fact- If the Smart's wanted to move their son for "athletic purposes", it would be to a basketball powerhouse, like the ones in their backyard (Desoto/Duncanville/Cedar Hill/Lancaster/Kimball/etc...), not Flower Mound, Texas.

Fact- Mark Dent of the DMN spent a paragraph in his article about the four move-ins/transfers...

"Since Smart’s transfer in 2008, four other basketball players have moved into the Flower Mound Marcus district. Three of them are contributors on the varsity (Aj/Nick/JJ ), and one plays on the junior varsity (Ricky ). Two have played on the same AAU team (Nick/Ricky ), Texas Assault, that Smart and the son of Forte play on. None have been found to have violated UIL transfer rules."

These players are all black.

Fact- Mr. Dent did not do his homework/research. It is obvious in his article he knows nothing about the fifth move-in/transfer. A junior on the varsity who moved in/transferred two years ago.
This player is white.

Why did Mr. Dent focus solely on the black players and mention not one word about the white player?

Fact- Mr. Dent Facebook friend-requested all five black players, and only those players. Their parents found out and immediately deleted that. He also friend requested me. That request is still "pending", for proof.

Fact- Marcus Smart is an A/B honor roll student at Marcus, an Exemplary TEA Campus.

This is embarassing to have to write this. For parents to have to justify their incomes and personal information about their lives because of a choice they made to move- a choice to pursue happiness. I pray the anonymous/cowardly emails that sparked this did not come from within the community- a community I was born in and grew up in. A community where every single one of us MOVED INTO. More than likely, the vicious attacks were a result of jealousy and lies outside of the community.

The LISD has supported these two kids and families wholeheartedly and without bias, a move very appreciated by all involved.

Spread this information, as it is truth. And support us at the games. And if you don't support us, at least know the truth. Their families moved here with the assumption and rumor that our district and community is a great place to live and raise their kid. And know this- that the Smarts and the Fortes are good people, starting with their son(s) and daughters.

happy february!

2011-02-12T09:56:00.002-06:00

well, life has been exciting to say the least. we've had our fair share of snow/ice days. in the past two weeks, drew and i have been home with lana 5 of the work days. pretty nice little break! although we had cabin fever pretty bad. we're happy to have our sun back and the highs back into the 60s/70s for the next 10 day forecast. much better.

last night drew's sister, kim, came into town for the weekend. they're heading to the advocare conference for the weekend in fort worth. as much as i'd like to be joining them for information purposes, i really am looking forward to my time with lana! we're going to have a ball in the sunny nice weather! making lunch plans right now, actually :)

last night we went to the marcus high school basketball. they were playing plano east...well, i say "playing" lightly...it wasn't much of a game. we're VERY excited that marcus has already clinched district and has a GREAT chance of winning state this year. we've got our hotel room booked for the 2nd weekend in march to go to austin to watch the tournament. should be fun! hopefully we'll sneak down to san antonio to eat some yummy mexican food on the riverwalk...my favorite town in the good ol' state of texas. SA!

work is going decent. i think i'm over my job. i really like the planning part of it, but the analysis part of it is overshadowing any of the good in it. so i'm trying to decide what i want to do next...a different position at jcp, or teaching? i do have my certification, but with billions of dollars being cut from texas's education fund, i'm not sure now is the time for an alternative cert to be pursuing a career change...we'll see where God leads me.

lana is growing and changing like crazy. she turns 2 in just 17 days...not that i'm counting down or anything :) i LOVE birthdays! and 4 days before her birthday is my big 3-0! it should be an eventful next couple of months, for sure. but lana is keeping us on our toes and we're having so much fun watching her learning and hearing her new phrases....she loves to dance, always wants me to snuggle with her before she goes to sleep at night, loves to SING! her favorite song is "i've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart".....so sweet to hear her sing. drew has all the singing videos on his phone, so hopefully i can borrow them at some point to post. you can't help but smile watching :)

anyway, we're off to start our weekend adventure. just wanted to give you a little update on life! spring is coming! get excited for warm weather!!! we are!

growin up

2011-01-12T21:16:00.003-06:00

our little lana is getting so big now!

over christmas break we went to oregon to visit family. while up there, lana refused to sleep in the pack n play that she normally sleeps in. so we tried out the twin bed...just to see how it'd work. piece of cake. seriously. we pulled the trundle out underneath her in case she ended up being a wild sleeper like i was when i was younger. shoot, drew may still think i'm a wild sleeper. i do move around a lot :)

but the twin worked out just fine. she never rolled off the bed. she never even tried to get out of the bed. it was a hit. so drew and i started working on a plan to transition lana. we actually moved her straight from her crib to a full size bed...not the usual path parents take, i'm sure, but i REALLY didn't want to have to deal with lana getting out of bed on her own and us having to put her back in there. so we just got her a big intimidating bed that she's too afraid to get out of on her own. now don't freak out yet. we do have railings up on the sides to prevent her from falling. and she's doing just peachy in it!

she's been in her big girl bed since saturday night and so far it's been a hit! every time we go in her room to change her diaper she giggles and says "lana's bed". it so stinkin cute.

the other big thing is that we got her a potty chair. i wasn't really thinking she was ready to be potty trained or anything. i just knew it'd be coming up soon. but since we got it, lana has been VERY interested. of course i think it's because its something new and fun. i really don't think she's ready to start training. but who knows. she may surprise us. so we let her go on it whenever she wants to--but a lot of times she just wants to hang out on it. no biggie. we just move it to the living room. hahaha that's actually what my sister did when she was potty training. she couldn't miss young & the restless. HA!

so, those are two big things going on right now. lana's sleeping soundly right now in her big comfy bed and occasionally going to the bathroom on the toilet/potty chair. i can only imagine how life is going to change in the next several months as lana celebrates her second birthday, and continues to grow grow grow!

that's all for now! i'll keep your posted on little miss's progress....before we know it she's going to be graduating from college!

yes, i'm lame

2011-01-03T16:30:00.004-06:00

but, there are entirely too many pictures to upload for your viewing pleasure...and blogger doesn't exactly make it easy on me! so i've updated lana's pictures and added a family album so you can see our christmas's spent in altus, oklahoma, flower mound, texas, and roseburg, oregon. we were busy busy as always! and had so much fun. enjoy the pictures. here's a tease.

corbin conducting bryson--who's playing the harmonica. i'm sure lana was singing along--or dancing.

playing in the snow with oregon family. lana eating the snow off her gloves/hat/coat when she's supposed to be cheesing....

pictures with the oregon cousins

snow on new years eve in roseburg

lana eating snow...again

carriage ride with the kirkseys in mid december

playin in the snow in oregon

texas cousins all matchy-matchy for christmas

hope you enjoyed your christmas/new years!!

click HERE for the rest of the pictures

lana's pictures updated!

2010-12-08T13:58:00.002-06:00

i updated the link for lana's pictures if you want to see what she's been up to lately!

CLICK HERE

a new adventure

2010-12-06T10:29:00.009-06:00

well, the libbys had a BUSY weekend! we started friday night off by christmas tree shopping....at lowe's. we do actually have christmas tree farms around here, but unfortunately, i'm not in the market for a $300 tree....so maybe we'll just go out to the farm, take some pictures, and pretend like we got ours there. haha

saturday morning we got up and took the DART (dallas area rapid transit) downtown to pick up my race packet. this weekend i ran the white rock half marathon benefiting the scottish rite hospital. so we went down to the health expo and picked up my packet, got my free tshirt, and lost lana's shoe. yes, you read that right. we lost just ONE shoe. can i just tell you that drew and i were SO sick to our stomach's because of this. these shoes are lana's FAVORITE. they light up, and she just loves running in place with them on. so sad. but, luckily, i work for jcp...and get a discount...on top of my coupons...so her replacement pair is in the mail! tell me these aren't adorable! :)

about a week ago the weather looked just perfect for the race. lows in the upper 40s, highs in the mid 60s. but as race day approached, the meteorologists changed the forecast...cold front. blew through on saturday. race day morning lows in the low 30s. WHAT! you've got to be kidding me! so needless to say, there was NO way lana and drew were going to stand out the cold for 2 hours (or 3 or 4 depending on how long it took me) to wait for my grand finish. we got smart...hey! let's rent a hotel in downtown dallas near the DART rail, and i can just take the train race morning, drew and lana can play around the hotel, and come later to the finish! genius! so we booked a room at the magnolia. we had an acu carb loading dinner to go to saturday night, so we checked in our hotel around 8pm. we had to circle the hotel a few times to figure out how to get in line to park, but it was so worth it. we discovered that the neiman marcus was two blocks down. we got to see their spectacular christmas window displays! they were SO cool! (i wish we'd taken pictures, but we didn't. boo)

so we got all checked in, watched the rest of the OU/Huskers game on tv, and fell asleep. i had to be up early to get to the race around 645, and drew had to be up early because, well, lana gets up early. so there you go.

it was a long day. the race was a lot of fun. miles 1-10 were actually really easy for me. and i hadn't run in almost 4 weeks due to a back issue i've been having. but race day it was no issue. we got to run through really pretty parts of dallas...highland park, the m streets, uptown...it was so much fun sight seeing! and then came the grand finale...i was able to spot lana and drew fairly easily as we were coming in for our big finish (i ran it with a friend of mine from work, jessica).

the weekend was very eventful...very exciting...and full of adventure. we had a good time.

and the icing on the cake...was oregon defeating the beavers!!! WOOHOO! i think after that win, drew was willing to help me with ANYTHING i asked. he was in such a great mood! :) haha, he always is, actually. but we had fun. something i'm not sure i'll ever do again (of course i'm saying this the day after when my joints ache) but we'll see! there's another one coming up at the end of march...maybe. just maybe....

here are a few pictures from the race...

lana waiting patiently...well, as patiently as an almost 2 year old can wait...

lana all bundled up in the cold...i think it was in the mid 40s (but sunny!) when i finished around 12pm

the finish!

waving hello!

hope you all had a great weekend! GO DUCKS!

halloween/pumpkin patch

2010-11-06T07:33:00.006-05:00

forget words....here are pictures!

last weekend we went to the flower mound pumpkin patch. i love the fact that it might be 2 miles away....nice for a little one who doesnt like car rides...

you can see some of the entertainment behind us...

lana learned about pumpkins all week in daycare...loves to say "puh kin"

watching the train in the background go by....

they had little radio flyer wagons to ride in...it was a hit. maybe a christmas present?

daddy and lana

pumpkin house

hangin with snoopy and the gang

riding thru the pumpkins...we had no intention of buying any. it was the day before halloween and i'm not really the pumpkin carving type. that might have to change as she gets older....

finding pumpkins

playing in the toddler area

driving the tractor

excited to see mickey and minnie!

daddy, what's in here?

miserable hat pose

peekaboo!

sliding down the slide

over and over and over and over....

hay maze

finding her way thru

a cool tree we saw...

she's getting so big!

walking the streets on halloween--although we didn't go trick-or-treating

her official costume...an oregon duck

halloween was pretty quiet...i think our doorbell rang 4 times and that's it. but that gave us more time for the ranger game :)

lana loved her costume because she REALLY loves ducks...is oregon in her future????

on a side note, lana is growing and talking like crazy. she can repeat just about anything you ask her to. she's learning her shapes, colors, can say her animals and the sounds they make. we're VERY happy with the daycare she's at because she's learning so much. and the projects she comes home with are awesome! my fridge is overrun with her artwork...so we had to buy a tub to start storing her things. it's a fun stage...she thoroughly enjoys life and has fun with anything--except diaper changes and car rides! ha! but we're having so much fun with her!

hope you all have a great weekend!!

picture post!

2010-10-24T07:40:00.004-05:00

guess i'll just make this a misc post of mainly pictures....

here's lana friday morning before going to daycare...of course supporting her rangers

here's me and lana watching the ranger game that sent them to the world series! drew was scouting...which is why i look so funny in the picture. self taken... :)

lana thursday morning before daycare. sporting her new oregon shirt and ready for the game that night. they whopped up on ucla. go ducks!!! (yes, lana yells "go ducks" and "touchdown"....drew's got her trained)

at dicks sporting goods...i think she might be getting golf clubs for christmas. hey, tiger woods had them in his hands at 2 years! we're close, people!

drew teaching lana how to putt. i have to say, she's actually pretty good at making contact. i think she's got drew's athleticism.

yesterday we participated in the neighborhood garage sale. i would say we got rid of a LOT of stuff--but probably didn't make as much money as we could've. i think drew and i were both to the point of just wanting to be rid of the stuff. after cleaning out the attic a few weeks before (i have battle wounds from falling down the ladder! it was interesting) and wondering the whole time if it was about to start pouring, we practically gave stuff away. the CCA is coming to pick up the everything we didn't sell later today.

ok! that's it for now. i've got a little girl that can't stand keeping her hands off the computer, so i gotta close up shop! hope you all have a fabulous weekend. we were planning on going to the pumpkin patch by our house today, but the torrential rain from yesterday (tornado sirens, 60mph hour winds, etc) might have put a kink in our plan...we'll see.

OH! klahoma!

2010-10-17T07:16:00.001-05:00

just a side note...oklahoma is my absolute FAVORITE musical of all times. i don't think i can even count how many times i've seen it--it might compete with kim & white christmas if that tells you anything (if you're not in drew's family, you don't know how many copies of white christmas kim has gone through....)

so, about two weeks ago, drew had to scout and break down film. so lana and i packed up around lunch time on friday, and headed out to oklahoma to visit my grandparents. they live in a small town about 15 minutes north of the red river. its about a 3 hour drive from my house, and lana did incredible. luckily we were traveling during her nap.

we got there around 4 on friday and really had a good time just hanging out with my grandparents on a quiet friday night. they live out on some land with a cotton field in front of their house, and behind them is another field that's usually wheat. this year it was nothing. but oh my! the cotton crop was beyond amazing this year. it literally looked like snow! i haven't seen cotton that large in ages! it was neat. good year for the farmers.

my mom drove up saturday morning to spend some time with us all. drew stayed in fm and got caught up on some much needed rest. i think he said he didn't get up until noon saturday! i'm so glad he could sleep in without feeling like he needed to get up and participate in family stuff. :)

here are some pictures of our trip. it was VERY relaxing, lots of time outside, and a good time visiting my grandparents! i think lana was a hit :)

here's the barn and part of the 'wheat' field behind their house

this is my mom about to take lana on a tractor ride...she's supporting her oregon ducks!

lana and grandma on the tractor riding around

behind the house near the wheat field

my mom, lana, and grandpa looking at stuff on the tractor--this thing was from the early 1950s, still runs, and is still used! obviously my grandpa doesn't farm anymore--its used for little projects around the land.

here's lana just playing on the couch.

i have never been so grateful that she can play quietly and by herself

here's lana standing in front of bella's crate--bella is a 6 month old black poodle with SO much energy. lana had a ball with her. lana also found some beads from MY great grandmother's collection. she wore them all weekend. it was so cute.

here's lana with my grandpa and bella after church sunday

my grandparents, my mom, and lana right before we left to come home

and i had to include this video. its just a snippet of the fun lana had with bella while she was visiting :)

more posts to come since i'm up so early on a sunday morning!

fall fever

2010-09-16T12:18:00.004-05:00

i'm sitting at work listening to john mayer on my ipod. it's one of the bonuses of having my job. i get to listen to music all day (when i'm not in meetings). if you know me, you know how much i love music. so this just works out great....if i have to work :)

i've got john mayer on shuffle--all his albums. yes, ALL of his albums. i own them. it makes me think about my very first john mayer album that i bought in college at acu. i'm the type that buys an album, listens to it over and over and over and over (you get the picture) until i know the words to the ENTIRE thing...and i love to sing along. about a week ago i went with a good friend, jess, to the john mayer concert here in dallas. i warned her that i like to sing along and that i really did know all the words...not sure she realized the extent of it until we were at the concert and i really did sing the entire concert. it was awesome. we're a great duo. i think i should go on tour with him :) anyway, back to my point. and no, it's not that i think john mayer could possibly be the greatest musician of our time (i really do think this could be true, though), but rather nostalgia. every couple of songs they play one from the very first album--and i listened to that sucker almost an entire semester at school neglecting all other music. it just happened to be the end of fall/beginning of winter. so when i hear these songs it makes me long for autumn.

also....

i remember the first full fall drew and i spent in our house. we'd get up every saturday morning (that he wasn't working) and college game day was the first thing to come on the tv. he took the love seat...i took the sofa. we laid there and watched the entire thing just waiting to see who lee corso would pick to win the premiere game. i remember every once in a while i'd glance out the windows that look out to the backyard and watch the leaves fall from our neighbors pear trees. i'd think about how pretty the leaves were...how nice it was to be out of the heat of the summer...and how much i loved football season--except for drew working all of the time. it was just such a peaceful time in the week and very relaxing. i remember burning pumpkin/spice candles to give it the full effect. oh i LOVE when my house smells of pumpkin spice in the fall and cinnamon in the winter. i don't care how much it costs to make my house smell of these things, its worth the sacrifice. well, i say that now. maybe after 3 weeks straight of peanut butter and jelly i might change my mind. MIGHT. but probably not. :)

also...

i remember when friends first started having kids. they'd always send these really cute pictures of them at the pumpkin patch (which we happen to have TWO down the road! i LOVE living in the country...HAHAHAHA), their little girls wearing cutsie pumpkin onesies with ornate orange tutus and matching bows. i remember pictures of their costumes for halloween--no, they weren't going trick-or-treating at only a year old, but they still had costumes!

all this to say, i love this time of year--or maybe what this time of year represents. currently, it's still hot and surprisingly humid for mid september. but i have something to look forward to. fall starts officially a week from today (my sister-in-law's birthday!) and i'm just DYING to really wake up, watch college game day, and see the leaves changing colors and falling. and for the temperatures to REALLY be falling--not for it to just look cooler outside through my windows. i REALLY want to get lana all dressed up this year and take her to a pumpkin patch. but why? just for pictures sake? because the pumpkin patches around here are ridiculously expensive. and let's face it...even if i broke down and bought one, am i really going to take the time to carve it out? yah, probably not. but i want the pictures! and i want lana to have a halloween costume. why? its not like 18month old kids should be eating that candy...heck, they can't even say 'trick-or-treat' to ask for candy! so why? i dunno. just because its fun and cute! and because i just want to embrace everything "fall" to not miss this special season.

but i just love the changing of seasons. i'm ready to leave summer behind and start fresh with fall. i'm ready for more football, cooler temperatures, and some really fun experiences as a family creating memories for a lifetime. hopefully, i'll be a better blogger this fall and actually document the things we do! that's my goal.

ok, sorry. no pictures. just me rambling. thanks for reading! :)

raw raw ra-ah-aaaw

2010-09-14T08:26:00.007-05:00

someone PLEASE tell me this is NOT real....every interview i've read she insists it is...and it looks real. please, Lord, no. this world is nuts! if you don't know what this is, it's Lady GaGa at the VMA's sunday night wearing a dress made of raw meat. yes, you read that right. raw meat. and i've read numerous articles praying that its just fabric washed and treated to resemble meat, but seen interveiws where she insists its real. can it really be? how much would she wreak wearing this? wouldn't it have attracted flies/bugs? wouldn't it be dripping of fluids? (sorry to get graphic on you) i'm trying to convince myself this can NOT be the world we live in today.

some people call this artistic...i call it crazy. check this girl into the looney bin. and her designer/stylist too.

prayer request

2010-09-09T09:52:00.003-05:00

***Update***

well, surgery was very successful. they removed all of the endometriosis--it was really bad. but there was some super fantastic news--she did NOT have fallopian tube disease like they had thought. they were able to clean out the cysts, and leave her tubes! praise God! she is resting at home now with 2-6 weeks worth of recovery. thank you for the prayers. our God is so GOOD! (PS...even if this hadn't turned out the way i had prayed for, God would STILL be GOOD!)

hey friends/family in the blog world.

i'm coming to you coveting your prayers for a dear friend.

she's my very best friend from high school and still my favorite friend in the world! tomorrow she's having surgery to remove her fallopian tubes...she has fallopian tube disease and stage 4 endometriosis. this has made it impossible for her to conceive and with the removal of her fallopian tubes, she'll only be able to get pregnant with IVF. i praise GOD for opening the eyes of doctors/researchers in the medical field--that she still has a great shot at getting pregnant and having children through this process. but more than that, i beseech God for a miracle! i would love for the doctors to do one last sonogram on her only to find that she's 100% completely healed. even if this isn't the case, i trust in God's plan.

my heart breaks for her, because i know her desire for children. please pray for jo and her hubby, seth. these past several months (maybe even years) have been so trying. pray that they continue to press into God during this season of their lives and that they find peace amidst this storm they're enduring. pray for an even stronger marriage to emerge from this. pray for the doctors during the procedure--that everything goes as planned with no complications. pray for a quick healing process and as little physical pain as possible.

thank you, friends! i know she'll feel your prayers tomorrow afternoon!!!

happenings

2010-09-02T20:02:00.006-05:00

well, you'd think that the reason i haven't blogged in a while is because we've just been so busy! but that's a lie. i'm just lazy :) so let me update you on life.

drew's parents came in town to spend some time with us for a few weeks in august. we had such a great time. we took them to the rangers/red sox game for john's birthday. then for a belated father's day gift, we took them to tour cowboys stadium. it was a lot of fun. i think lana even had a good time running on the field!

we really enjoyed their time with us. we got a lot of home-cooked meals, many repairs done on the house, and what great timing--lana got hand/foot/mouth while they were here. i was so grateful to drew's mom for getting up in the night with her while she was sick and allowing drew and me to rest for work. it was such a blessing to have them here. and we always have a good time with them.

drew has started back to school. well, he started back to school before they went back to school. i think at the beginning of august/end of july he was already doing meetings and football camps or practices or something. i've given up on trying to keep it all straight. all i know is when he's going to be home late. and we've pretty much hit the time where that's every night. tonight he's breaking down film up at marcus. tomorrow night he scouts and breaks down more film. so, hopefully, i'll get to see him sometime saturday...hahaha no really. keep him/us in your prayers during this extremely busy time of year. i think it's going to be harder on lana than last year because she actually knows he's gone. and he just gets so wiped out. i feel bad for him. but i know he really enjoys what he does--the majority of the time, anyway. :)

i'm still enjoying my new position as a store planner at jcpenney. i won't bore you with the details of my job. i'm a numbers/financial nerd. enough said.

lana is still at the in-home daycare by our house. sharon has been such a blessing to us. we've really enjoyed getting to know her and were thrilled to run into her at our church a few weeks ago. it's nice to know you're on the same page spiritually with the person caring for your child...

yesterday lana turned 18 months old. i took her in for her check up and everything is going just super. she's 31" tall (31st %) and 21 lbs 6 oz (8th %). yep, still small. but that's ok! the doc isn't worried one bit. she's growing and developing just perfectly.

well, i'll quit boring you with words...here are some pictures. i know that's the only reason you come to our blog :)

drew has popcorn nearly every night before bed. lana has recently started to want to be a part of the popcorn eating...and she really likes to feed us now. weird.

here's lana looking at a toy my dad gave her for christmas last year. it turns over and laughs. sometimes she giggles. other times she just stares at it wondering what's going on....this is one of the times she's just not sure what to think of it.

we recently started dropping the morning nap. here's one of the first days without her morning nap. she passed out around noon while eating...poor girl. she's adjusting much better now.

here's lana sitting in the seats at cowboy stadium

us on the field...

our little lana

with nana & grandpa near the star in the center of the field

the four of us at the end of the red sox game...yes, we look whipped. this was toward the end of the game--that went into extra innings. i'm sure it was close to a 4 hour game. oh, and it was 100+ degrees when it started. luckily, we took a cooler of water in as well as battery operated hand held misting fans. genius. oh, and the rangers won with a walk off homer by nelly! great game which was concluded by friday night fireworks at the ballpark.

well, one last thing before i go. i'm running a half marathon on december 5th, so training is in full swing! i'm running the white rock here in dallas and i'm completely terrified. but it was something i want to do before i turn 30, so i'm going to do it! wish me luck!

have a super labor day weekend. i'm off tomorrow to have some 'jamie-time'. i'm definitely planning a nap somewhere in there...and possibly a drive to dallas for sprinkles cupcakes. :)

Donate Life | Texas - Registration

2010-08-24T08:30:00.003-05:00

I don't know why I hadn't done this sooner...just came across a link to sign up to be a donor. For some, this is highly controversial. But I lean more towards the whole "well, I'm dead. Take what you want to save other people" mentality. :)

Sign up if you haven't already!

Donate Life Texas - Donor Registration

happy august!

2010-08-07T10:28:00.003-05:00

you know, most people think that august is a blah month when it comes to sports...but if you're a baseball fan, and more importantly, a ranger fan, august is just as good as any other month. i get that preseason football is here and people are getting so excited about the season--and they can hardly handle these teaser preseason games. i get that college football is about to start and again, people can hardly wait. but come on! your texas rangers are STILL in first place and baseball is fun! we watch practically every game...or at least part of every game. when they play on the west coast and the game starts at 9pm...i have to admit, i only make it through 2 innings max. but anyway, all this to say we're raising up another little ranger fan!

CHEEEESE!

eating breakfast this morning...ready for the game that starts at 3pm!

wakin up right!

checkin sportscenter to make sure the rangers won last night

hope you all enjoy your weekend!

random

2010-07-16T21:20:00.006-05:00

ok, so this'll be my last post of the night. drew's almost home from golfing, and i'm practically caught up on telling you about life! :) so this'll be random...just a little of everything we've been doing lately.

last weekend on my way to the grocery store i noticed a garage sale with this in it! i ran home, got drew/cash, and we went back to get it. i think it was a hit! for $13!!

she loves sittin in it

last weekend drew and i were also in a wedding for some dear friends, richi & bambi. here are a few pics from the rehearsal dinner.

listening to the wedding day instructions for the bridesmaids

we were upstairs at a house doing the rehearsal while lana was downstairs eating at the table like a big girl!

lana and her friend, seoul (i know i'm spelling that wrong! I'm so sorry!!!)

drew's groomsman gift was the perfect size....for lana.

the beautiful bride on the right, lisa, a bridesmaid on the left

i got lana a booster chair/spacesaver high chair from consignment today. i thought it'd be nice if lana could sit at the dinner table with us, rather than off to the side in her high chair. i know i know. the high chair was working just fine. but this was a steal! and a hit!

sitting at the table, eating off a plate with her fork. what a big girl!

ok, i think that's it. when i get more pictures, i'll tell you more stories!

by the way...the wedding was beautiful. the skies cleared just in time for the ceremony to start. it was outside and the temperature was perfect (during the reception). couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!

swimming!

2010-07-16T21:10:00.004-05:00

drew and i took lana one sunday afternoon to the flower mound community activity center. we only payed the daily rate, but we're thinking this could be something we'd want to join...if nothing else for the pool! they have some crazy slides, a lazy river, lots of different pools....its really cool and CHEAP! :) here are some pics!

lana had no issue jumping into the pool! she's a little fish!

getting excited about jumping in!

lana and momma

the 'toddler' area of the pool--very cool. call me if you wanna go!

the 'big kids' area...drew REALLY wanted to go down the slide...but refrained

just walkin around in the pool...we were pleasantly surprised at how independent she is...didn't have any problems walking, falling down, going under water, and coming back up chokin....she would just laugh! :)

she also has NO fear of heights/tall slides...we sent her down this one solo many times, but have no pics...i had to be at the bottom to catch her! haha

oh boy!

2010-07-16T20:51:00.004-05:00

boy am i way behind on blogging!

so, at the end of june/beginning of july drew, lana, and i headed to oregon for some fun family time. we flew into portland where drew's parents were waiting for us. they picked up lana, took her back to roseburg, and drew and i stayed in portland for a few days to celebrate our 5th anniversary. it was a lot of fun and so nice to sleep in!!!

we shopped, ate, walked around, saw movies...everything that so easily becomes complicated or impossible with a little one. the only sad part is i have no pictures to document our time.

after 3 days, drew and i headed down to roseburg to spend time with the family. i love going to oregon because i know it's going to be game-central! i love that. my family played a lot of games growing up, but we just don't seem to be able to do it anymore with all the kids around. but we have a good time eating brownies and playing games up in oregon. great memories.

a few days later i flew home to go back to work. lana and drew stayed 2 more days so i was able to have some 'jamie' time. i can't tell you the last time i had alone time! i thought i was going to be so sad and lonely....oh boy was it nice, though! i read a whole book, watched a few rangers games, and just kinda did whatever i wanted. a nice break. but i was really looking forward to drew and lana coming home.

well, that about sums up our trip. i'm waiting on pictures, so i'll upload them when i get some. drew took some on his phone, so that's what i'll leave you with! ENJOY!

at the airport in eugene with grandpa

on grandpa's boat...loving it!

hanging out on the boat

at the park with corbin and bryson

sitting on the plane--the flight into portland

happy friday!

special day

2010-06-18T07:54:00.003-05:00

it's my 5th anniversary!!!

today, drew and i are celebrating by going to see toy story 3. i'm taking a half day, and bambi has offered to watch lana for us. i'm pretty excited. i'm not exactly a movie person, but i think toy story3 is going to be so fun!

hope you all enjoy MY (our) anniversary! :)

lana's week at home with drew

2010-06-17T12:26:00.003-05:00

i will definitely add more words to this, but i'm trying to get a video up for some people to see! so....more to come. here's a cute video for now! :)

lana update!

2010-06-02T10:28:00.005-05:00

well, we just got back from lana's 15month appointment. and of course i'm putting off going in to work as long as possible. so while lana takes a nap (and i make sure she's going to be ok to go to daycare) i'll blog!

lana is:

29 5/8 inches tall--this is about an inch growth since her 12 month appt and in the 25th percentile.

19 lbs 10 oz--this is about a 2lb gain since her 12 month appt and in the 7th percentile. (we've been putting formula in her milk to help her gain weight, but let's face it...she's a skinny girl! we could have worse problems!)

perfect! she's right on track with everything developmentally, which is great. i'm not a fan of daycare at all, but we have her in a place that's practically not daycare. the best option possible for our circumstances. so i'm just happy she's getting so much love, attention, instruction and learning what she needs to!

on memorial day we played out in the front yard in the hippo pool we got her last year...oh how things have changed since then. just for grins, lets compare.....

i remember she was propped up here...we were afraid she was going to topple over into the pool!

couldn't even stand up...nor could she fight wearing the sunglasses!

waiting patiently to get in...thanks for the new swim suit nana and grandpa!

lovin the outdoor bathtub!

happy wednesday!

pictures!

2010-05-29T15:50:00.004-05:00

no news here! just having a fun saturday on a very much needed long weekend. lana is "napping".....although i can still hear her talking in her room. drew is watching the ranger game (and i'll be sitting in there watching too shortly). we don't have big plans for this memorial day weekend, but that's how i prefer it! we ran a few errands this morning, so all we have left before work tuesday is to actually releax! love it!

here are some pictures of lana's 15th month with us. enjoy!

FM just opened a new mi cocina...we actually preferred the old location bc no one ever went there. but the new one is super fun! great patio. drew, lana and i checked it out last night. same great food as always...just a new loc!

lana was being a nut

my absolutely favoritest picture ever

love the wrinkle nose

this is before work one day...she was drinking her milk, sitting in her chair, and i'm pretty sure she's watching the news. haha

the "peeps out" shirt i got her for easter...you know how i love my peeps. but look at her new nikes! she loves them!

happy long weekend!

short fun story

2010-05-19T20:05:00.002-05:00

i posted earlier that i've moved to a new position. and i'm the type that wants to be resident expert immediately. village idiot doesn't suit me. i have a VERY hard time asking for help, but this job has humbled me....as does every new job i start. so needless to say, in my pursuit of said 'resident expert' i've been working late to get everything done.

tuesday night i got home around 715. i pulled in the driveway to see drew and lana hanging out in the front yard. they were looking at the birds in the tree. such a cute picture to see.

but the best part was when lana saw my car...i don't think she could see IN at me, because the windows are a dark tint. as soon as she saw my car, i could see her mouth start saying "momma!" over and over! doesn't it just melt your heart? now she could always SAY momma, but i've been really working for her to understand that like her daddy, i have a name. and it's momma. (boy does she know daddy).

that was the sweetest thing i couldve come home to. love it.

new addition to the family

2010-05-15T10:24:00.003-05:00

so, we've got some exciting news in the libby house! we have a new addition--make that TWO new additions--to the family! we're so excited! seriously! :)

Meet our new..............

washer & dryer! WOOHOO!!!!

i bet you thought i was gonna say i was pregnant! HA! i'm so mean, i know. but we are super excited about the washer and dryer. our dryer went out a few weeks ago, so we decided to 'invest' (if that's possible) in a pair that would last a long time.

anyway, off to do laundry! i'm actually excited to!

since the last post

2010-05-03T20:28:00.005-05:00

well, i'm still not doing so hot keeping this updated....so sorry.

since the last post, we celebrated drew's birthday! friday night we got bambi to watch lana (really had to twist her arm! haha) and we went to a movie. we saw date night, which was very funny. afterwards, we headed over to patrizio's for some yummy dinner. this is how i know we're getting old...drew and i were back from our dinner & a movie date by 930. oh man. amazing. we're gonna have to work on that one! i got him an iphone for his birthday...i hit a home run with that one! he was literally jumping up and down. so of course, i was pretty stinkin excited for him!

since the last post, drew has started P90X and is kickin it's rear! really, i'm so stinkin proud of him. i'm listening to him do a video now...as i sit on my rear and relax. we've both been doing so much better at working out. a typical night goes like this--we put lana to bed, drew starts his video, i go for a 3 mile run, and then we regroup and hit the sack. i'm sleeping so good lately!

since the last post, i was promoted! i'm now in a store planner role. my most recent position was an allocator--i was in charge of sending the merchandise to the stores. my new role will be more like the merchandise planner job i had at zales. i'm in charge of the financial plan--sales, receipts, and inventory--for all jcpenney stores for the men's, kid's, and athletic shoes. i'm pretty nervous about it, because it's a big responsibility. but i'm so happy to get back to planning! yay!

since the last post, i'm having so many spiritual revelations! i'm realizing how fundamentalist i really was growing up....how it was all about following the rules to make sure God "smiled" on you. now i realize that my God is not the way some (joel osteen, for example) choose to portray Him. He does not promise an easy life just for following the rules. He does promise to find a way to make you press in to him. this sounds so obvious as i'm typing it, but i think i really missed that growing up. i LOVE what i'm learning and i LOVE that drew and i are both really in a state of hunger for what the word says. we're learning so much and really growing spiritually.

since the last post, we've just really been loving life. drew's done with sports, it's nearing the end of the school year, the weather has been amazing, and we're getting some real quality time as a family. it's so much fun!

ready for the day!

loving balloons!

quick! grab the camera! she didn't pull her bow out! (YET!)

hope you've all been doing well....since the last post!

the best easter yet!

2010-04-04T17:05:00.005-05:00

happy resurrection sunday! :)

by the way...this morning we sang this song at church....beautiful.

well, for some reason, a reason i now know, God moved me to persuade drew to go to the branch for church this morning. i haven't felt quite right spiritually, as is usually the case when you're church hunting. we thought we'd found one, the village church, but for some reason something is holding me back. it could be the massive size, it could be the worship time (which is so loud! but kinda fun), or just the fact that we were at the branch so long and actually know people there. whatever it is, my uneasiness (is that a word?) drove me to ask drew if we could go to the branch this morning for service.

when we got there, chris announced that they were taking money from today's offering and giving it to people in need. we were instructed to write down the name of someone we know in need, put it in the collection plate, and at the end of service they'd draw some names. it was bizarre. part of me was saying, "really, a raffle? this is how you're trying to get people to come back next week?" but another part of me was saying, "how great that so many people are going to be blessed by this church financially!"

well, i guess you can tell what happened...my name was the last one called. they had drawn my card. and at first i was just smiling, because i do tend to have freak luck when it comes to winning stuff. but then it hit me what had just transpired. God had wanted me right there so we could help someone in need. and that's when i lost it and just started sobbing. it's such a beautiful way for God to let me know that he sees ME! and he hears my prayers every night (trust me, i pray for this same person every night!!) what a blessing to me and what an incredible way for God to be able to speak directly to me! and i'm pretty stinkin excited that someone is going to be blessed financially by this too! Thank you, Jesus!

so, i was a mess. and i've been off an on a mess today. we still had a good time showing lana her easter basket and letting her try sweettart jelly beans for the first time. but this easter i will ALWAYS remember as the Easter when God let me know how much he loves and hears me!

Lana in her pretty dress

lana and daddy ready for church

opening her basket

playing with the plastic eggs

lana just bein' lana :)

hope you were all moved this Easter--by more than just too much sugar! :) and i pray that he speaks to you in ways that display his never-ending love for you!

please be in prayer for my mom tomorrow morning. she's having some tests run.

THANK YOU!!!

birthday party and catch up

2010-04-01T20:25:00.007-05:00

oh man, i'm so behind. i just DONT have any time for this blogging thing...or facebook for that matter. the weather is beautiful so we're going on lots of walks and honestly just have more fun things to do than sit on the couch! but we're watching tv, and i'm a major multi-tasker....so here we go!

lana's birthday party was about 3 weeks past her birthday. drew's parents were coming in from oregon and we really wanted them to be a part of the celebration. plus, now that my sister & her fam live in houston, we had to plan it around a time they could make the drive up. it was perfect. the theme was hawaiian, the cake was amazing, decorations very festive...but of course, it was snowing outside. weird.

here's a picture of drew enjoying one of lana's toys...the plasma car!

lana sharing her cake...she's just not into sweets, which could be a good thing!

the libby family!

her AMAZING birthday cake my friend, joanna, made her!

the day before the party, i was off so we took drew's parents to eat at joe t's. oh buddy. if only it were closer. i LOVE that place. it was a beautiful sunny 72 degrees outside and we had such a good time. we went down to the stockyards too. i honestly don't think i'd ever been before! weird!

enjoying the grass & sun!

with grandpa in the stockyards

at joe t's

before that, we were in austin for the state tournament. marcus did such a great job, but some very critical calls toward the end of the game caused them to lose (really, i'm not just saying that because we lost! they were HUGE misses on the ref's part!) so, we headed home on saturday to get rested and ready for drew's parents to come in town.

while we were there, we stayed with darbie, a college roommie of mine. i hadn't seen her sweet little girl since she was born two years ago, so clearly she'd never met lana either. we had fun catching up and talking and watching the kiddos play.

here's a little barn play house that lana had a good time playing in

here's gigi's jacked up radio flyer...well, the only part of it that's truly a radio flyer is the top part...the rest came from a golf cart. it had a cooler and they were in the process of building a radio for it! crazy!

gigi also had an escalade power wheels. i ALWAYS wanted one of these growing up, but of course never got one. this was SO cool! lana had a lot of fun riding in it!

gigi's not such a bad driver!

well, that's about it for now! more pictures to come. drew and i are going to ranger opening day on monday! WOOHOO!

update

2010-03-06T12:57:00.005-06:00

***UPDATE***marcus won!!! they're headed to the state tournament next weekend in austin! YAY!!!!

well, a lot has happened since my last post.

i celebrated my 29th birthday! yay! richi and bambi came over for a game night (since bambi's bday was 3 days after mine). but we really didn't celebrate just me & drew. i told him i wanted to wait until it was warm, and i could go to joe t garcia's and celebrate! LOVE THAT PLACE!! John & Meredith...you know where we're going when you get in town in a few weeks! :)

lana celebrated her 1st birthday! well, kinda. we gave her a present, put cake in front of her, and she refused the cake! what! she's definitely not my child. :)

lana went to the doctor for her 1 year well check. she's in the 18th percentile for height at 28 1/4 inches, and the 5th percentile for weight at 17 lbs 6 oz.

lana switched off formula onto whole milk. this transition was so easy. i put milk in a cup, she drank it, we were switched. love it. she's been on straight sippy cup since the middle of january and straight table food since then too. this girl is easy. thank you, Lord.

lana started a new daycare! she's at an in home about a mile and a half from our house. drew now gets to take and pick her up most days thanks to his workload winding down. it's been a tremendous help to me being able to work out or stay late when i need to work. and it's been nice for drew and lana to have time together when i'm not around. we really like sharon, the lady who keeps her, and feel like God led us to her. it's so great.

since being in her new daycare, lana has started walking! (see below post). she also says a few words:

mama

dada

dog (dah)

done

also, we put her in her car seat last weekend and she started shaking her head back and forth saying no no no. so, i guess you can add "no" to the list too! :)

and something else that was VERY fun, was being a part of our great friends, richi & bambi, getting engaged. well, i didn't get to be part of it, but drew & lana did. richi sent bambi on a scavenger hunt to basically find him, but our house was one of the stops and lana had a clue. it was so neat that lana got to be part of that. and we can't wait until their wedding! yay!

also, the marcus basketball team has made it to the regional finals! if they win their game (which starts in just 1 hour) then they'll go to state next weekend! drew's already there, but I'm waiting on lana to wake up from her nap before we head down to fort worth for the game. yes, we'll be a little late, but we need lana to SLEEP! she's gonna miss her afternoon nap, more than likely.

let's see, what else is going on? i'm in the process of making lana's outfit for her official birthday party. it's going to be family only, so don't get your feelings hurt if you weren't invited. the theme is hawaiian, so i'm making her a hula/grass skirt/tutu! here's what i've got so far....

but i think overall, that's about it. i'll keep you updated on the game...we can't wait to head to austin next weekend for a getaway! (and i guess for some basketball too! haha)

here's lana's skirt for her bday party...still a work in process. waiting the hibiscus to arrive so i can attach them to the ribbon/wasteband

bambi and lana reading the next "clue"

bath time! boy does she LOVE baths now!

daddy & lana brushing their teeth together

playing with a new birthday present!

hope you all have a good weekend! off to the game!

happy birthday to me (early)

2010-02-24T20:16:00.002-06:00

look what lana can do now!

drew picked lana up from daycare today. when i got home, they had this surprise for me! i guess she took about 2 steps at daycare today (something she's done with us, but not on a regular basis, and definitely only when she feels like it!). next thing we knew, she was pulling up on everything so she could walk! without holding on to anything! YAY! our little lana is getting so BIG!

oh gosh

2010-02-21T21:28:00.003-06:00

i just found all these snow pictures i hadn't uploaded yet. it shows a LOT more snow. i haven't rechecked the forecast since friday, so i'm not sure if we're still planned for winter precip on tuesday. we'll keep you posted!

this was our front yard...notice how you can't see the street

neither drew nor i went to work thursday or friday. too stressful to drive in.

the tree in our front yard at night. so beautiful. i wouldn't mind framing this one

same tree, but daytime. clearly i couldn't get over the amount of snow on each branch. it was so beautiful. i can't come up with another word besides beautiful. where's my thesaurus??

backyard

catching up

2010-02-20T17:00:00.003-06:00

so a week ago today we were starting the thaw out process of nearly a foot of snow in flower mound. i'm just now getting around to posting pictures. i figured our family in oregon and elsewhere would LOVE to see how crazy texas has been this winter.

here's a pic of lana holding snow...not sure what to make of it

mom and lana enjoying the wonderland

diving in

beautiful!

a view from the front of our house. we still got about 6 more inches of snow on top of this picture.

it was all so beautiful. i wish it'd come back! oh wait. it will. tuesday night. more snow in the forecast. amazing.

pictures

2010-02-01T16:52:00.008-06:00

so here's a quick update on altus.

we got up sunday morning and drove up there to take my grandparents a generator. we drove through freezing fog, and it really only took until decatur for us to hit ice/snow on the ground. not a lot, but i could see it!

the closer we got to altus, the crazier the scene became. it was nothing i'd ever seen before in my life. the trees looked like they had white branches--there was so much ice on them! and as we drove out to my grandparent's house from town, it felt like we were driving into a desolate area. something out of a war movie....there was no one on the road, no one leaving their homes. it was so weird.

we got there and pulled up to see this:

notice the large pole that is leaning on the tree:

these are the trees in between the house and the barn.

the house was a cool 60 degrees inside, but manageable. they had a fire going and that's how they were keeping warm.

after we got the generator hooked up, we got the space heaters going to warm up the house. i was the only one in the living room and i was working to keep the fire going as well. within 2 minutes one of the space heaters caught on fire. it was pretty stinkin scary. it ruined a good chunk of the carpet and there was ash and smoke all over the house. luckily, my grandma got it out of the house before anything else happened. of course all i could do was scream. clearly i'm not so great in emergency situations. :(

UPDATE:

right now my grandparents are staying at a friends house further in town. they got the power restored there, so they have heat and warm showers. what a blessing! now if only they could get the power back on at their own house!

keep praying for them. its tough having your life disrupted...especially when you're 80+ years old.

article

2010-01-31T21:05:00.001-06:00

when you get a chance, read this article. it's matt's story thus far.

i'll keep pictures and an update on my gparents hopefully tomorrow. that's another amazing story.

thanks for the prayers.

prayer request

2010-01-30T13:39:00.004-06:00

hey guys.

just a quick prayer request. we had a major ice storm go thru the area over the past two days...didn't really affect the metroplex but the texas panhandle and southern oklahoma and north got hit pretty hard. my grandparents live in southern oklahoma in a little town, altus. they live in the country and this storm hit them hard. they've been without power since thursday. all of the surrounding cities are without power too. the hospital has shut down and is only taking people with life threatening emergencies. the only places in town with generators are the hospital and the nursing home. they don't even have generators to allow people to pump gas. the roads have been closed due to ice--the power lines had about 3" of ice on them--no wonder they came down! a few of the trees on my grandparents property fell down. one of them fell and is keeping them from being able to get my grandpa's truck out of the garage--this poses a problem if they were able to get ahold of a generator...they wouldn't have a way to go get it. and at some point, this tree is going to have to be cut up and the wood moved--hard work for my grandpa, who is 83. so, currently they're huddled up next to the fire. they sleep in their recliners and take turns keeping the fire going. their fire wood is very limited. they have some family further down the road that's bringing them fire wood, but they're almost out too. they have candles for light, and batteries to get updates from their radio. all of these things are going to run out at some point--hopefully not before the stores open back up!

luckily, the phone line still works...the blessings of keeping a land line phone with cords! :) currently my grandpa has driven into town to see if anything is open. they've got minimal food in the pantry because it wasn't grocery day yet. they've been reheating things to eat over the fire. last night they had cottage cheese and fruit for dinner...this morning they had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, and for lunch today they reheated some soup. normally, i'd say, "well, good. sounds like they just might be ok". but being in their 80s, i'm VERY concerned. some of the reports are saying it could take up to two weeks to get power back on--in the city. who knows how long it'll take all the way out at their place.

they're very resistant to leave because they're worried about water pipes bursting...not like they could do anything to prevent it though! my mom has been calling around trying to get pricing on generators and fuel to take up to them. and we've also thought about just going up there and forcing them to come back down here with us until power is restored. our only concern is the roads...they're still pretty icy. they had shut the highway down leading to my grandparents house because of the power lines and trees all over the road.

so please just say a prayer for them! pray that my mom and i will figure out what to do to help them and that they'll be willing to accept the help and our suggestions. and pray that the power comes back on SOON because they aren't the only ones in this situation. pray for safety, health, and a heat wave! :)

thanks guys, i'll keep you updated!

giggles

2010-01-23T11:09:00.003-06:00

i have so much to write about, but i'll just give you this for now.

please excuse my pjs--i hadn't showered yet, but you can probably tell that. thank you, drew, for BARELY getting me in this video. otherwise it could've been REALLY embarrassing! :) haha.

here's just a blip of how much fun we have with our little girl. we're so happy to be able to share her joy, the joy she brings us, with you!

frustration and panic

2010-01-12T10:48:00.002-06:00

today lana is home sick with a cold/fever, so i'm searching the internet like crazy trying to get help on eating!

yesterday, the ladies at the daycare told me lana is perfectly ready to transition to her next class room. the only problem, is that she's extremely picky about her foods and has this thing with weird textures--she starts gagging. this translates into lots of work for us at home. i need help trying to get her to eat more table foods. we have about 6 weeks until she moves, and that's not a lot of time to get her completely off baby food and 100% on table/finger foods. any ideas? HELP!!!!

i'm kinda thinking babywise wouldn't be ready for this--or for her to drop her morning nap at less than a year (GRRR!) but i don't have a choice since i'm working. we have to follow the daycare's rules. and just so you know, it seems like all daycares have these same rules. boo!

any advice or little tips you could give me would be fantastic!

oh yah!

2010-01-08T11:28:00.002-06:00

it's 1130am....we're now up to 20 degrees outside. i LOVE it! :) drew even let me use the truck this morning so lana and i wouldn't freeze as i crawled into the backseat to get her out of her car seat. oh the joys of a 2 door car. i believe it'll get much easier when we can face her seat forward (in less than 2 months!).

by the way...count down to my birthday has begun. as of today, 6 weeks and 6 days. and because i'm worlds greatest mom, i guess i'll count lana's birthday down too. 7 weeks and 3 days. :) it'll be here before you know it! cake two weekends in a row! woohoo!

NYE Videos of Bambi

2010-01-03T20:40:00.005-06:00

just for kicks...

we had some friends over to play games on new years eve...here's bambi singing along with one of her fav songs....on the tv. oh yes. our night was interesting! :)

we have such great friends!!! how lucky we are to be able to go to church with and live near them!

Happy 2010!

christmas break

2010-01-03T20:31:00.004-06:00

hese are just some pictures from our christmas break. i already wrote about our oregon christmas. we did the mcdonald family christmas on new years day. my sister's family came up from houston and we all had a great time! lana got some quality cousin time with cousins from both sides of the family the past 2 weeks.

lana playing with a toy from her great-grandparents

lana and i waiting on our plane at love

playing with noah

judah

isaac

oops! i found some presents early!

amber trying on drew's golfball finder glasses

studly

and jake tryin them on

merry christmas!!

oregon christmas

2010-01-03T20:20:00.003-06:00

oh boy. i think i have my work cut out for me getting all of these posts together.

drew, lana, and i went to oregon for christmas this year. we flew southwest on an amazing deal and ended up on the flight to oregon almost 7 hours...close to what it takes to get to hawaii! but, we couldn't have been more pleased with lana. she was a rock star. she didn't have any trouble going or coming. just the normal i want my bottle, or i'm sleepy fussiness that usually lasted about 20 seconds. it was amazing.

we got to drew's parents house and had a great time with cousins, grandparents, and aunt kim & uncle scott. she never adjusted to the west coast time, though. we weren't wanting her to, but what ended up happening was lana was never on a schedule. it was tough. she wasn't sleeping, she had a hard time eating...but it was so much fun to visit that we got over the difficulties of a time zone pretty quickly. small sacrifice to be with family.

the trip went by very quickly and before we knew it, we were back on our way home. we can't thank drew's family enough for making lana's first christmas so special!

here are a few pictures...head over to our babysite to see the rest.

opening presents on christmas day

riding the horse with corbin and grandpa

napping with nana

playing in corbins new megahut

dinner with nana and grandpa

it figures

2009-12-24T08:54:00.004-06:00

i got a text from my dad this morning saying north texas was getting snow today! and that more than likely, tomorrow will be a white christmas. so enjoy the snow for us while we're in oregon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Santa comes tonight! I can't wait!!!

my heart is breaking for people i don't really know...

2009-12-16T13:55:00.002-06:00

today the village church posted this on their website. i don't KNOW the chandlers, but my heart breaks for them. please continue to pray. as it says below, they're faced with a challenge, but "not as those without hope and perspective". from what i've seen, we have incredible leaders at this church....

Dear church,

In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.

You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer. Specifically, pray for the following:

Wisdom for all the coming decisions
Strength and peace to endure

The kids’ (Audrey, Reid and Norah) hearts; pray the Lord is merciful as they process and that their little hearts do not grow embittered
The Chandlers and The Village would suffer well because of the gospel and for the sake of Christ’s name
As you hurt and weep for the family, do not do it alone. Gather with your home group and with other believers in homes and pray together. This is a time to walk together with others and to endure this trial in community. If you wish, send cards and letters to Matt and Lauren at 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

We will continue to keep you informed as new information is made available. Please be patient with the frequency of the updates. May God strengthen us all and may His glory shine brightly through this.

matt chandler

2009-12-07T21:25:00.001-06:00

drew and i have been attending the village church for the past several months. it's much closer to our house and somewhere we already feel at home.

over thanksgiving, the preacher (i just can't call him a pastor...i grew up saying preacher...sorry. it's the church of christ in me!) had a seizure thanksgiving morning and was rushed to the hospital. they found a tumor in the frontal lobe of his brain and had scheduled a surgery for just one week later. after a 7 hour surgery friday, they had removed all of the tumor. matt was doing well and recovering in icu. they should find out this week from pathology if the tumor is cancerous.

this past weekend was the first weekend in the new building. the village church had bought an old albertson's building in flower mound and transformed it into their new building. very strange being there with no matt chandler to preach the first sunday, but it was still amazing.

before the sermon, they played a video of matt addressing the congregation. you should really watch this. what an amazing servant of the Lord. and i've also attached his latest blog entry on the church website. it's so comforting to have leaders at such peace and without any control over the situation. incredible to be this new to the church and able to see how the eldership/leaders deal with such a tough situation.

please keep matt chandler and his family in your prayers!

here's a link to the video...the blog post is below. http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/blog/hvpastor/

My Heart is Full....I am Thankful

The last seven days have been some of the most interesting of my life. I have felt anxiety, fear, sadness and a deep and unmovable joy simultaneously and in deeper ways than I have felt before. I am grateful for this heightened sense of things. Today at 10:45 a.m. CST I will have a good portion of my right frontal lobe removed. I head into that surgery with a heart that is filled with gratitude and hope.

Here are some of the things I am thankful for in no particular order:
I am thankful for the thousands of you who have prayed and fasted for my health. It has brought far more tears to Lauren’s and my eyes to receive this kind of attention from the Church universal than this tumor has.
I’m thankful for health insurance because I’m guessing they aren’t doing my five-hour surgery for free!
I am thankful that I have deep, real friendships at The Village with Michael Bleecker, Josh Patterson, Brian Miller, Chris Chavez and Beau Hughes. They have been such a comfort to me and my family this past week. Pastors should have good friends on their staff. It’s risky but worth the risk.
I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.
I am thankful for my wife Lauren. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
I am thankful for my children. Audrey the Beautiful, Reid the Valiant and Norah the Joyous. Being a daddy to these three is one of the greatest joys of my life.
The privilege of seeing and appreciating all of life through the grid of a heightened sense of my own mortality.
I am thankful for brilliant doctors and surgeons who have been given a real gift by our great God and King to repair things as complex as the brain.
I am thankful for The Village Church. If there is a place that loves Jesus more, takes sanctification as seriously and wants to see the lost love the great King deeply I am unaware of it. These last seven years have been a spectacular joy!
More than anything else I am grateful to my King Eternal, my Lord Immortal, for my God invisible. He alone is God. All Glory and Honor, Forever to You O God. I am overwhelmed in these moments by God Himself and the assurance of a future inheritance of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and where all things are made new (Hebrews 12).
Christ is All,
Matt Chandler

thanksgiving

2009-11-28T21:09:00.005-06:00

some pictures...in reverse order since i can't figure out how to move pictures around. i know it seems like such a simple task, and it probably would be if someone could teach me how to maneuver a mac, but since i don't have such a person, you're going to see thanksgiving in reverse! HA!

the end of the busy week. we didn't hear her bouncing in her toy anymore, went to check on her, and found her completely passed out!

sitting with aunt burrito and noah. don't ask why she's aunt burrito. its a nickname i've called her for years and it just stuck.

all the cousins.

drew chasing after lana, but soon realizing maybe he shouldn't crawl under the table. she's just enough smaller than him that he can't quite make it through as gracefully...

lana lovin on her daddy. this week she showed us how she can give hugs. we had no idea that she grasped that concept. she gave noah hugs, isaac hugs...just about everyone. it was so adorable.

everyone gathering around to play uno moo...we had to see what all the hooplah on the commercials was about. gotta admit, VERY cute game.

thanksgiving day...lana staring out the window as drew, jimmy, isaac, and judah kicked around a soccer ball in the front yard.

noah just finishing up dinner. he's got such an easy going personality. and it's so neat that he and lana are close in age. they had a ball together. and what can i say? this little man is pretty stinkin handsome! :)

the three rowdy cousins...noahs the tame one.

deer in headlights. i've got nothing else.

well, we had a fun thanksgiving!

my sister and her family drove up from houston and stayed with us. it was so much fun having them in our house and finally getting to spend time with them. yes, they only live in houston, but 5 hours is a pretty long trek! we hadn't seen them since they moved at the beginning of august. so, we REALLY enjoyed the full house and the fun times.

the rest of the family came over thursday afternoon for a later thanksgiving meal. turkey courtesy of kroger, again. it was so yummy. no one in my family wants to deal with the turkey, and kroger just makes it so convenient....so they smoked the bird for us. we only had to fix the sides which was so nice. but somehow we were still cooking all day.

the meal was good...the family time was good...it was all around a good day. the only thing bad was that drew and i were down and out sick. we've both got (still) pretty bad colds...a cough that once you start, just doesn't allow you to quit, and more congestion than i knew any two people could have. other people weren't feeling well, either, but drew and i literally have slept for many many hours since getting sick. great hosts, huh? the funniest part of being sick...hearing your mom who does not drink nor does she condone it say "you should go get you some peach brandy or some whiskey and burn that stuff out of you"...oh yes, my friends. my mom was encouraging me to drink! ha! yah, i realize it was to burn the crud out of me, but it's still a little shocking to hear. but we obeyed...drew went to the liquor store..got some whiskey, and luckily my brother in law, jacob, knew how to make the hot tottie. boy did that sting. i think for a second i forgot it was alcohol, because i sure did take a huge swig thinking it was like the theraflu i'd been drinking. my face broke out in a sweat, my eyes were bright red, and of course, i started coughing! but the next few drinks i had learned my lesson. i gotta say, whiskey is some nasty stuff, but it sure does break up the congestion. drew and i both slept very well last night, were rested enough for family pictures today, and will probably do it again tonight in order to keep getting better. of course, this won't be a nightly thing. but i do believe i've found my cold remedy! thanks, mom!

so, today was a sad day. amber and her fam had to leave and head back to houston. but they'll be back for christmas! hooray!

any how...it's hot tottie time (sure hope we remember how to make it now that jacobs gone). and i have to be rested enough to go in to work tomorrow--holiday replenishment. fun times. so i'll close. hope you all had a super thanksgiving! yay for the cowboys!

family portraits

2009-11-28T20:41:00.004-06:00

well, today we finally gave my parents their mothers & fathers day gifts. we all went and had family pictures made with my side of the family. i think they turned out super! i think the last time my family was in 1 picture together (besides my wedding) was when i was in 8th grade. and that dreaded picture hung on the wall in the hall of my parents house until it sold. the day didn't come soon enough that it came down! haha see, i had a mouth full of braces and the picture that my parents just HAD to pick (because my brother was finally smiling!) was the one where i was saying "french fries". so yes, braces and me making the "fr" face...fantastic. again, couldn't come down soon enough! haha

so today was my redemption. finally pictures that i will be proud to display in my house! and the most amazing part of it all, is that my parents still get along VERY well. so i was able to have a picture of my whole family...mom and dad both. what a blessing in such a messy situation!

so, i've attached some pictures from today's adventures. it was so much fun...very hot, and hard to keep the kids smiling, but we survived!

i'll write more on thanksgiving shortly....

the cousins....

the libby family

the faske family

the original 'mcdonald' family..sweet redemption!

the WHOLE family!

happy saturday!

the impossible job

2009-11-14T13:04:00.005-06:00

i'm amazed every day by people who have clean homes and young children....AND work! how in the world do they do it? seriously...all i want for christmas is someone to clean my house for me. i'm talking, top to bottom. there are so many areas that have piled up and just need cleaned out. unfortunately, i think that's a job only drew and i can do. but i'll still take someone cleaning it after WE'VE cleaned it out! :)

lana is busy as ever. pulling up on any and everything...crawling all over the house...setting off the carbon monoxide monitor....and letting the dogs in when i've put them outside. yes. our back door doesn't latch, so all she has to do it push the door enough for the dogs to nudge their noses in, and it's all over. she nearly gets trampled! so, i'm going to start locking the door. baby-proofing, oh baby-proofing. i fear its a never ending thing.

today drew is at the marcus play off game. he's got a field pass for the game at the new cowboys stadium in arlington. i sure hope he gets some pictures to share!! other news on the drew front--basketball (middle school) starts monday. he's been pretty stressed this week with tryouts, placing kids on teams, and teaching some plays to get them started. tough only having 3 practices before your first game!

other news--we all had a serious stomach bug this week. lana went home sick wednesday, we had to keep her home thursday (daycare rules) so drew and i split the day, then friday we were all sick. lana was so great, though. she just played quietly and napped while drew and i were sick. what a blessing!

other than that, not a lot going on. my sister and her family come to visit next week for thanksgiving! we haven't seen them since they moved the last weekend in august. it's going to be a lot of fun and a FULL house! 5 more people and another dog to add to the mix! pictures to come!

and speaking of pictures, here are some we had done of lana! check them out! so adorable.

happy saturday!

halloween

2009-11-03T20:16:00.006-06:00

bah! i was playing with my camera changing the date for daylight savings time ending, and somehow deleted all the pictures! argh! so now I have no pictures for you from the pumpkin parade from lana's daycare. but trust me, she was adorable.

here's a picture of her trial run!

i do, however, have pictures of my nephews on my side of the family! i'll show off corbin & bryson once i get some of those! :)

isaac, noah, & judah

noah at 5months (or right about)

adorable little pumpkin! you can tell he's lana's cousin!

isaac on the left and judah on the right. i know this has to do with star wars, but i really couldn't tell you anything beyond that. :)

Happy Halloween!

doorstop fun

2009-10-25T14:05:00.002-05:00

well, lana has discovered the doorstop!

Drew and i went on our first date last night! bambi and richi took care of lana while we went to pf changs for dinner. it was so good! and drew and i had a lot of fun talking and not being interrupted by a baby. it had been way too long!

we've had a pretty slow week. just working and living our daily routine.

i finally bought babywise II so i've been reading that like crazy. i've learned a lot about lana's eating...and she's starting to eat a lot better! and now that we're getting her nice & full she's back to sleeping through the night. i had a brain malfunction--my pedi kept telling me that solids weren't a meal, but just getting them used to eating for later. well, yah, that's true, but it's also because liquid isn't enough anymore! when that finally clicked, i started feeding her more altogether and now we're golden. eating, sleeping...everyones happy!

so, i'll post more later. drew and i are watching football and the pizza is ready to eat!

happy sunday!

post for nana

2009-10-18T16:14:00.003-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

wedding weekend

2009-10-17T22:00:00.004-05:00

well, i'm not doing so hot at keeping this thing updated. since i've become a single parent for the majority of the week (yes, football season is in full swing) i just don't have the time or energy to update anything! all of my social networking sites are severely deprived! no time for facebook or this blog, and I barely have time to check email. tough life, isn't it?

but if i'm gonna be this busy, i LOVE that it's with lana. we're having such a great time. and even more fun when drew gets home and plays with us!

last weekend we went to austin for a wedding. the last of drew's buddies from college got married. let me tell you, we were all beyond shocked to find out he was getting married. craig always was the one no one thought would get married....or at least not for a long time! but he seems to have found his perfect girl.

the wedding was in johnson city (outside of austin) on the ranch craig works at. he's the foreman, i think. the couple who owns the ranch made their money because the wife invented self-checkout! yes! i met the lady who invented self checkout, stayed in her million dollar ranch house, and it was incredible! we had such a great time! the house slept somewhere around 28 people. drew and i had a room ('the cowboy suite') and a crib for lana! i wish i would've got pictures of the ranch, but for some reason, i never thought to take any.

the weekend was pretty chilly. we had a cold front go through so the majority of the time the temps were in the upper 50s low 60s. way too cold for my liking! and poor lana wasn't dressed appropriately. that's another strike against me as a mom. i had no idea it was going to get and stay so cold. normally i'm on top of my weather, but lately...well, just refer back to paragraph #1 of this blog.

so, drew was in the wedding...it was ranch formal. they wore cowboy hats and boots. so as soon as i get more pictures of that, i'll post them. we even found lana some boots for under $5!!! i just wore black pants and a top, but i think we were all wishing we'd been in heavier clothing once the wind started blowing.

we got back sunday afternoon in time to change clothes and head to our FPU class. the class has been such a blessing to us. we're learning so much and are well on our way to living in financial peace!

this weekend was acu homecoming. we had every intention of going, but after being so busy the last few weekends, we decided we needed to relax and keep lana in some kind of stable atmosphere. good thing we did. the past few weeks/month her sleeping through the night has been sporadic at best. it's a combination of teething and being sick and maybe even her erratic napping schedule at daycare (they can't seem to keep her on my schedule...mainly because they believe in child directed napping/feeding and I DO NOT! a tangent for another day....)

but last night i put lana to bed around 745...i had dropped her mattress down to the lowest level, put the bumper back in (don't scream at me! i know it's a sleep hazard, but i figure if she can sleep with a blanket, she can manage to move her face out of the bumper and not suffocate!) and it was genius. i think because she can't see out of the slats in her crib, she was able to go back to sleep quicker. she didn't wake up once and slept for 11 hours! WOOHOO! so, both of her naps today we put her down awake and she went straight to sleep until we woke her up. again tonight, no crying when she went down. i pray this is a real solution to the waking up in the night problem...and i'm really enjoying not having to listen to her cry it out. that just breaks my heart.

anyhow. here are some pictures from the wedding.

lana and brady boozer

lana showing off her cowgirl boots

lana and drew...yes, that's a cowboy hat. if only i'd got a picture of the boots!

have a great weekend!

videos and more videos

2009-09-26T15:05:00.004-05:00

you're gonna all have to bear with me....

we've got lots of cute little things to share with family, so you all get to see the videos too! some of them might not be as great in your opinion, but when you're the proud momma, grandparents, etc, they're all amazing! :) you'll have to pardon the cheesiness...i was playing around with iMovie and might've got a little carried away. this is what happens when a VERY non creative person gets ahold of "creative" programs....cheese! haha

this first one is lana eating...she's discovered that she doesn't need a wash rag! she'll 'lick em clean'!!

this one is kinda long. but she uses this bear/blanket to go to sleep...and gets so excited when we give it to her!!

and this last one is the best. this week she's started the army crawl! she scoots everywhere! we're having to keep an eye on her because she moves so fast! i'm NOT ready for this! but it's so much fun! :)

today drew is scouting in corsicana. that's 3 weekends in a row out of town for football. katy, waco, now corsicana. rough month!

today is my nephew, judah's 4th birthday! i really wanted to take a day trip with my mom and brother down to houston to celebrate, but knew lana wouldn't be able to handle 10 hours in the car. so i sent his gift with my mom and they're gonna eat some cake for us.

other than that, not a lot going on. we're staying extremely busy with life....still LOVING our financial peace university class. we're learning so much and i just love the concept of paying everything in cash. points, schmoints! we don't need stinkin credit cards! :) we don't have debt (unless you count school loans) but we just feel there's so much to learn! any tips we get i'll be glad to share!

hope you all have a super weekend! it's lana's nap time...therefore, its MY nap time!

weekend fun in waco!

2009-09-21T18:59:00.004-05:00

well, this past weekend we took lana on her first trip out of the metroplex. and where did we choose to go? WACO! haha marcus was playing katy in football (like last year) and their game was in waco. so lana and i went along for the ride. it was actually my first time out of the metroplex since CHRISTMAS! i know. pathetic. i don't get out much! :(

but we had a fantastic time. the game was fun...met lots of people thanks to lana! and she got REALLY sunburned. that's another strike against me. not a good mom. i had a hat for her, but they wouldn't let me leave the stadium to go get it without buying another ticket to get back in. so, i tried to shelter her. by halftime, we moved to the shade. it was too late.

drew and i have started the financial peace university--dave ramsey--class. it's so fantastic. i think i'm having more fun than i should being on this budget. but maybe it's not being on the budget as much as being able to create one! i'm such a nerd. literally.

lana is back to normal. sleeping and eating very well. she was a little small for her 6 month appointment. she had been getting over a stomach bug, so she only weighed 13lbs. but she's probably back up to normal by now.

she's sitting up for short periods of time by herself; feeds herself from her bottle; and just has more of a personality these days. we're having so much fun with her! she's such a blessing to us!

oh! and we finally closed on our refinance! HOORAY!!!!!

no other news. lana is grabbing my arm, so clearly it's time to eat! here's a picture of lana in her new acu get up and one of her sunburn!

enjoy your week!

update

2009-09-07T07:06:00.006-05:00

well, i think lana is still sick. she hadn't thrown up since friday morning...until now.

she hasn't been napping hardly at all....it's a fight to get her to fall asleep. she screams when we lay her down and just cries and cries. we try to let her cry it out, but how far are you supposed to take it when she's recovering from a sickness (or so we thought...maybe a relapse now). but drew and i are so exhausted! she wants to be held ALL the time...but doesn't want to be laying down on you. you can see how that makes it difficult to nap....

the diarrhea has stopped, so that's good. and she's still eating pretty well. she just refuses to take solids. we added formula to her bottle last night, so we're going to start adding it back in today too. she's been waking up 2x a night, and i'm sure a lot of that has to do with hunger...she's not eating enough because she doesn't feel well enough to eat like normal. i completely understand that.

she's also started this separation anxiety thing....if we walk out of the room, she starts wailing... which i'm sure in part is why she's having a hard time going to sleep. she's freaking out cause we're not in there. in her cries, you can hear how exhausted she is, but she just gets so upset about us leaving her that she can't go to sleep.

i feel like we're starting over. she had just started getting really good at solids...i'm talking a whole container of carrots in 15 minutes! and we were adding more and more formula to her bottle to wean her off milk, and she LOVED her crib...we could put her down wide awake and in 5 seconds, she's soothed herself and would be out for the night. all night.

i'm praying (with ALL of my heart) that this relapse is just because she's sick. please pray for little lana to get better and for our sanity! :)

on a lighter note, this weekend lana has learned to spit. how she figured this out, i have no clue. last night she and drew were going back and forth and it was hysterical. but of course, as soon as the camera came out, the game ended. i did get some video of her by herself, though. (but don't teach your kids this! we're gonna have a time teachin her that this is not ok! haha)

no bueno

2009-09-03T21:32:00.002-05:00

our little lana has been so sick lately.

first of all, let me just give a disclaimer that this might be hard to follow...i want to update everyone on whats going on, but i'm not sure i can stay awake long enough to proof read! :)

moving on....

monday i kept her home because she started projectile vomiting at 430am! she soaked me twice! i put a call in to the doctor and they said to keep her home the rest of the day. so i did....and we went back to daycare/work tuesday. everything was fine. then tuesday night i noticed she had a killer diaper rash. no biggie. just throw a little desitin on there and we're good. nope. apparently the diarrhea from teething (and the stomach bug going around) was so acidic and so frequent, it started eating at the skin...and she was bleeding! who knew diaper rashes could get so bad! so, wednesday she was in so much pain from this bleeding diaper rash/possible yeast infection that the daycare made me take her home. she was inconsolable and wouldn't eat/sleep/play. she would only slightly calm down if she was being held (let me just throw in that it was NOT bleeding when i dropped her off...it got progressively worse. i'm not that terrible of a mom!!!). poor little lana. so i took her home around lunch time, loaded her up with lotrimin (anti-fungal cream--good for yeast infections on babies! who knew!), desitin, and baby powder. then i took her outside naked and we just aired her out! :) i think she enjoyed being naked, honestly. but we definitely don't want her to get used to that!

so today i took her back to daycare because her rash was significantly better. she did have a small bout of projectile vomiting last night that concerned me....it included dry-heaving into the sink. i swear, i've been a wreck all week just watching my little girl be so sick! it's terrible. but, we took her to daycare today and i was able to go back to work. until....lunch time. projectile vomiting back. she soaked the teacher, her crib, and her clothes (let me also bring up that by the time i get to daycare every morning, she's blown out her diaper and needs to be changed into a new outfit. so this was her third outfit for the day.) they gave me an illness report which means she can't go back to daycare tomorrow. what in the world. i was out monday, 1/2 day wednesday, 1/2 day thursday, and now she can't go in friday either? talk about an unproductive week! drew is going to go to practice in the morning, he's got a sub from 9-3, so he'll be home with her and i'll go to work. and then i'll be back in time for him to get to afternoon practice and scouting. this is tough. the worst part is that i have NO vacation thanks to maternity leave. none at all. and when lana is sick, that's a vacation day...not a sick day. ugh. pray for lana. i just want her to get better. you can tell she doesn't feel well, and that's just sad to see her not her smiley self.

after i got her home today, i fed her some pedialyte and we took a long nap. she hasn't thrown up or anything since we've been home. she's had 1 messy diaper, but looks like she might be getting better. the pediatrician (who i've spoken to MANY times this week!) said there was a nasty stomach bug going around...apparently lana got it. the twins in her class had it about a week ago, so i guess i should've been expecting it. looks like lana's got my sickly genes for now...i was hoping she'd just naturally be born with drew's super human immune system. no such luck. maybe she'll still develop it!

so, this weekend we were going to either head to houston to visit my sister or just kinda get away from home, but stay close (staycation). well, neither is going to happen now! sick baby, diaper rash from heck, and drew and i are just flat out pooped. we're both extremely stressed out and overwhelmed with work. so, pray that we're able to find some peace this weekend and get caught up to start next week fresh.

lana turned 6 months on the 1st, so next wednesday is shots day! pray for that too! i hope she's better in time to get those shots!

hope you all have a super holiday/long weekend!

struggles

2009-08-22T10:26:00.005-05:00

i've kinda decided, at the risk of sounding very skeptical and pessimistic, that people just can't be trusted. it doesn't matter how long or even how short you've known someone...you just can't really trust them. i try my hardest to not give people a reason to say anything about me behind my back, but somehow it still happens. and my faith in people decreases. this shouldn't be a surprise to me, though. we're a fallen people. we're not perfect--and even though people claim to be christians, they're clearly not holding themselves to the same standard. and it still hurts my feelings. i think i'm going to try EXTRA hard this week to stop people from gossiping around me. not cool, kids. not cool.

secondly, i'm having a very hard time at work. unfortunately, we've entered the realm of "drew is no longer available--please check back in march". it's a tough time of year for him, and i feel terrible that work wears him out like this. so be saying prayers for drew. he can always use them!

the problem i'm having at work is that i don't have enough time in my day to get things accomplished that i need to. the daycare opens at 7am...and if i wanted to be there to drop lana off at 7 so i could be at my desk and working by 720, i'd have to be up at 5am every day. i'm definitely NOT a morning person, but i guess this could be done. poor lana would have to move her wake up time up to 545-6am and her bed time up to 730-8pm. which i guess is ok. (but would be horrible on the weekends getting up before 6am! ugh!) i have to be on my way down to the daycare at 515 to make sure i get lana out of there by 530. you might be thinking....what? it takes 15 minutes to get to the daycare INSIDE YOUR BUILDING??? people, JCP is huge. and huge doesn't even capture it's hugeness. it's a quarter of a mile from one side of the building to the next, and while that doesn't sound very far, it may as well be a MILE in heels! :)

so my struggle is that i've been losing about 2 hours of work every day since i started back in may. i used to come in at 730 and leave around 6. Now, i get to my desk around 8, leave by 515, and since I'm still nursing, i have 1 hour a day i spend walking down to the clinic to pump (sorry for all the information...i'm sure you were just DYING to know that!) Most days i eat lunch at my desk to get an hour back, but somehow I'm still always behind. I feel like people are having to pick up my slack at work, and that's not something i take lightly. i'm a very independent person who doesn't like asking for help. i'd rather work all night so i don't bother other people with having to do my stuff. i'm definitely being taught a lesson here. not only that, but something happened to my brain after lana was born. i'm not kidding. it really doesn't work. i can't think straight and i sure am NOT as smart as i used to be. this is not a joke. but a real struggle for me at work. you can laugh, but seriously, pray about it too!

but i feel like people are starting to get annoyed. for example, yesterday the daycare called me to come get lana...she was sick and they wanted me to take her to the doctor before she got any worse. we had already been out monday and tuesday due to me being sick, and then i had to leave early friday because lana was sick. really? i worked 2 1/2 days last week? how in the HECK am i supposed to get my work done in 2 1/2 days when i'm struggling to get everything accomplished in 45 hours a week? so i can definitely tell it's grating on people's nerves that I have to be out.

but what am i supposed to do? really, what? do you really think i'll get things accomplished if i were to bring lana back up to my desk to finish working? do you think anyone else would get anything done with a screaming baby nearby? i'm just at a loss for what to do. these are not circumstances i have control over--getting sick, having a sick baby.... i have no clue how in the world i'm supposed to be able to do my job (and do it well, because we're supposed to serve our bosses as if we were serving the Lord.... something i still need to work on). but lately, i can feel myself getting frustrated at drew. why is it that he doesn't have to just cut meetings off because the daycare is closing. why is it my job that always has to suffer? why do i have to look like the slacker? but it's not his fault. the daycare is at my work. this is something we've talked through many times, and even before lana was born. i insisted it would be fine. but i can feel this frustration bubbling up in me and it's hard to not lash out in anger.

so please be in prayer over us. i'm not sure what to do. i dont know if God is trying to show me a different path and i keep missing it, or if He's trying to toughen me up a little. i honestly wouldn't mind just working at a no brainer job so i could leave at 5pm every day (or maybe 430). of course my paycheck would suffer tremendously, but i'd still be contributing something! i guess that's the point. life focus has shifted. it shouldn't be on a career for now, but on family. i've had this desire to do the financial peace university for a few years now, and thanks to kim & scott doing it, i think drew is on board too. maybe this will be our way to get finances in order (paying off dreaded school loans) in order for me to cut back work hours and really be able to raise lana. for fear of going off on another rambling tangent, i'll spare you the "i don't want daycare raising my daughter" sermon. if you've read my blog for a while, or know me at all, you know i am not in favor of daycare at all. moving on.

so, i know this is a bomb of a post...and a side of me i don't really like to show all that often. i've struggled a lot since starting back to work. and i know if there was anything drew could do to allow me to stay home, or to make this easier on me, he would. it hurts him to see me so upset about this stuff. but i don't want him to switch jobs. he LOVES what he does. and he's so good at it. he has found his calling and he needs to stay there. see, i just don't know what the answer is. pray for us to have open hearts, ears, minds, everything so we can figure this out. and pray for our sick little lana! i hear her now, so i'll end.

have a super saturday! the weekends are so precious!

PRAISE!

2009-08-19T18:52:00.002-05:00

my sister got a job today! teaching 2nd grade in the same school district her hubby is working in! and she starts TOMORROW!!!! pray that they find a daycare, and FAST!

swimmin in the hippo

2009-08-09T17:27:00.004-05:00

since drew and i don't have a pool, we have the second best thing...a hippo.

here are some pictures of lana going "swimming" for the first time! she seemed a little unsure about the water shooting out at her at first, but eventually we got a big smile. and of course, she loved her swimsuit & sunglasses! she told me so. :)

the hippo

Drew & Lana

tastin the water...mmmmm

lovin it!

all by herself...barely

also, she is officially getting her first tooth. we thought she was a few months ago, but there's no mistaking it this time! you can feel the jagged ridges breaking through the skin. our little lana is being a trooper though! the only reason i found out is because i periodically check her mouth. this time we had a surprise! so, we're praying for her because it's gotta be uncomfortable!

drew started back to work last week...coaches meetings. this week he starts 2 a days. boo. it's way too hot for that, in my opinion. but he starts scouting either this week or next. and so it begins. more to come!

things

2009-08-05T17:44:00.001-05:00

you know, my previous post title is so incorrect.....let me update you.

i've come up with a few things you should NOT do at one time....from experience. individually, fine. all at once, no bueno. say a prayer for us. things are a little hectic around here!

1. have a brand new baby (and oh do we love her!!!!)

2. refinance your house (started this process in march...still no closing date set thanks to people quitting their jobs and our paperwork just hanging out on desks for weeks. thanks, bank of america, for letting us know there was an issue with personnel.)

3. replace the roof and fence thanks to major storm damage (which causes a second appraisal to have to happen!)

4. sell your truck (living with one vehicle is hard! even if it's only for a week!)

5. purchase a new truck...in oregon...from family who is patiently waiting for your house to close so you can get your truck loan!!!

it doesn't look like much when i write it down, but oh boy! have we been busy and slightly stressed lately. do you think we might've taken on too much? maybe, just maybe....

not much...

2009-08-02T17:41:00.004-05:00

going on around here. we had family in town last week! it was such a blessing to have drew's sister, her husband, and their two kiddos in to visit. we went to six flags on friday, rested saturday, shopped in southlake sunday, and ran errands/rested monday. the visit was WAY too short. we very so happy to have them at our home for once, and for them to meet lana. we have a few shots of the cousins together!

bryson and lana at life's a beach

bryson, corbin & lana...cousins on the libby side

but last weekend was also sad. my sister moved to houston. my brother in law finally got a job down there, so they had only a few weeks to pack up their whole house and move. it's bitter sweet. we'd all been praying for jacob to get out of Dallas ISD. but now we need to pray that my sister finds a job down there! if you're in houston and know of openings, let me know!!!

isaac, judah, lana, & noah...cousins on the mac side

pictures are out of order, but here's kim, scott, bryson & corbin at six flags!

tuesday we're having more company! drew's parents are flying in to spend some time with lana...and us too! haha it'll be a treat to have them here again.

here are a few things about lana lately:

--she's a rolling machine! it takes only a matter of seconds for her to be on her stomach!

--she likes to turn the pages of her books! and really looks at the pictures!

--she's still sleeping like a champ! which makes drew and me VERY happy! we had a few problems at 4months, but we worked through those by adding calories to her diet!

--she's loving her dogs! she gets a kick out of toketee...just tugs on her ears and laughs

--she's full of smiles...can't help but smile when she's smiling all the time!

--she LOVES her daddy! drew's been able to keep her home quite a bit this summer, so they were able to get some good father/daughter bonding time.

well, i hear her waking up from her nap! more to come!

anniversary

2009-07-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

i couldn't let today end without acknowledging how special it is! today is the anniversary of finding out i was pregnant! i'm not going to go into all the details of the day, because honestly, july 10, 2008 was the scariest day of my life. a year later, i couldn't be more happy (well, i could if i wasn't working! HA!) but really. I was terrified of becoming a mom. i thought i would have kids MUCH later in life. that was my plan, anyway. who knew that God had a different one?! doesn't he always? :) but i'm so thrilled with how things have turned out. funny how i can't even imagine how life was pre-lana. i don't know what i'd be doing right now if she weren't here. she's such a blessing to me. and such a welcomed surprise.

so, thank you, Lord, for surprises! and for having plans that don't coincide with ours! drew and i are so lucky!

4 months

2009-07-05T14:04:00.003-05:00

well, drew's playing golf today, and we're down to only 1 vehicle (we sold drew's truck), so that means i'm confined to the house today! lucky for you, i've actually got time to update the blog! :)

wednesday was lana's 4 month birthday. she got her shots and it was terrible just like the 2month ones. i'm not looking forward to 6months. BOO! but she weighs 12lbs exactly and is 23 3/4 inches long. about the 25th % for both. we have a little girl! but the doc said we could start introducing solid foods, so we did! last night before fireworks we got some cereal and had lana try it out. i don't think she was completely sold on it. i don't blame her. it smelled like baby vomit. :)

4th of july....well, we thought it was gonna be super! flower mound was setting of fire works at flower mound high school. we're probably no more than 1 mile from the school so we thought we'd watch them from our front yard. i'm not quite sure why, but we didn't see anything. we heard a lot and saw flashes of colors between the tree branches across the street, but no "fireworks". bummer. last year we watched them in hawaii and the year before was in boston. let's just say i was VERY disappointed. poor lana. maybe next year.

last night we also went to church with some friends of ours who attend the village. the first time drew and i went we weren't very impressed. i think maybe the sermon was too simplistic. but last night was great. their minister is an ACU alumni so we're partial! haha but the sermon was super and it was great to worship with friends who don't go to the same church as us.

say a little prayer for me...i'm still really struggling with this working mom thing. i know it's really hard on drew to see how hard it is on me. lana's schedule is so jacked up thanks to daycare, she's decided to start getting up at 5am, i'm fearing that we're gonna have to supplement with formula due to low production (work/stress/time)....i'm just really not handling this very well right now. so just keep me/drew/lana in your prayers.

other than that, not a lot going on! here are some pictures!

waitin to see why she was in her new chair!

oh, mom! this can't be edible!

hmmm....can't decide what to think.

this is how i found lana saturday morning. she sleeps like her cousin, corbin!

and sometimes she breaks free of her blanket...this was during nap time

hope you all have a super sunday!

pictures!

2009-06-26T18:25:00.005-05:00

no words, just pictures!

lana taking a ride on toketee

last weekend drew and i went on a staycation at the hilton in southlake for our anniversary. we had such a great time. crazy how you can be 20 minutes from home and still feel like you're on vacation! we ate at the cheesecake factory for our anniversary dinner. this is me and lana waiting for our table!

drew and lana get quite a bit of play time now that he's off for the summer!

here's a picture of lana before going to 'school'! the pants are still a little big, but too cute! thanks, nana, for the outfit! it finally starting to fit!

more to come! hope you all have a super weekend! I apologize for the delay in updates!

update

2009-06-14T16:13:00.009-05:00

here's a video of lana 'talking'....she does quite a bit of this these days.

and here is a super cute picture of lana. this outfit is from some good friends of drew's family in oregon. it's size newborn, but is just now fitting lana! ha! and it's nothing i would've ever picked out, but as soon as i put it on i loved it. i don't know what it is...maybe it just makes me think of clothing from decades ago--maybe when my mom was a baby. regardless, she's adorable. as always. :)

we are having a hard time letting the dogs out since we're missing the fence. surprisingly, i think they're sick of being inside all the time. i'm with 'em. i'm ready for them to have their yard back! the adjuster is coming saturday so hopefully we'll get something going pretty soon in terms of repair. by the way...the tornado touched down 2 miles from us! we were huddled in the pantry waiting for the 'all clear'....the power kept going in and out so it was hard to tell when it was safe to come out. luckily, we didn't lose power completely like many of our friends in surrounding cities.

the side fence next to our A/C

the split tree in our neighbor's yard

drew has been sick all weekend, so i've been trying to keep him away from lana. she's still congested (so am i) but slowly getting better. he has a basketball camp to work this week, so hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.

as for lana, she's still super at daycare. we're trying to adjust her schedule to eating every 3 1/2 - 4 hours...she's taking to spreading out eatings well, but i'm having a hard time figuring out how to make it work smoothly with our commute and her bedtime. seems like she won't sleep through the night if she goes down before 9:15. and it's hard because one of her last feedings at daycare is actually supposed to occur as we're on our way home from work/daycare--impossible. i tell you what...this work/daycare thing is throwing a wrench into my schedule planning! :) so, say a little prayer for us. it's stressful for me trying to decide the best way to change things when i'm not there every second mentally taking notes of what works and doesn't work. it's always harder when someone else is taking care of the baby instead of me....what mom wouldn't say that! so needless to say, i'm still adjusting to having to work. but on a side note, i did finish applying for teaching positions! i'm almost positive nothing will come of it this year, but hopefully it'll get the ball rolling for next year. even if i just get called in for a few interviews with no offers it'll help having that experience.

hope you all had a great weekend. they go way too fast for me. :(

the faske family

2009-06-06T22:28:00.004-05:00

noah joel faske was born june 6th at 4:16pm. he weighed 8lbs 12oz!!! BIG BOY! :) my sister's first was 6lbs 12oz, her second was 7lbs 12oz, and now the third is 8lbs 12oz! crazy! so all are doing well and they hope to go home monday.

Isaac, Judah, & baby Noah

also, my brother-in-law, jacob, has an interview for a position in southern houston tuesday. pray that he gets it! although i don't want them to move, he REALLY dislikes working for Dallas ISD and needs to get out of there. so pray that a door will open and provide them an opportunity to go somewhere he'll be an effective teacher--and not overworked! now with 3 boys, they really need all hands on deck!

that's it for now. more to come! :)

exciting news!

2009-06-06T11:13:00.003-05:00

well, my sister is in labor as we speak! That means we're going to have a new nephew by the end of the day, and a new cousin for lana! YEAH! pray for my sis and her family in this transition--it'll be their third son with all 3 under 5 yrs old.

drew is officially out of school....which means i officially hate my job. it's hard going to work since i'm coming off maternity leave, but even harder when i know drew is just hanging out at home. i'm glad he's getting a much deserved break though.

lana is doing super. she's adjusting to daycare well, and i have lunch with her every day. it's a lot of fun. she's already learning so many new things. and last week she did her first art project! they stripped the babies down to their diapers, laid them on white paper, put a water color brush in their hands, and let them do their thing. it is 100% done by lana and only lana. adorable. i can't wait to hang it on the fridge. and the pictures they took are precious. but i'm not in possession of those just yet. i'll post them as soon as i am. she got a little bit of water color on her face...at first i thought she'd had an 'incident'. but no biggie. came right off. she's also talking so much...it's music to my ears. i could just sit and listen to her and watch her all day. crazy how life changes.

last weekend we had a bit of an 'incident' ourselves. saturday afternoon we were all taking naps. drew got up to take care of lana and thought it was super hot in the house. he checked the thermostat and it said 80. hmmm...weird. whatever. it's hot outside. well, about an hour or two passed and we finally realized that this was a problem. we called the a/c people to come out and they looked around. decided it was the circuit board, but told us nothing could be done until tuesday--they had to order the part. we were going to tough it out, but at midnight it was still 82 in the house. windows open, box fans going, still unbearable for little lana. she was getting sick. so we packed up and headed to the embassy suites. we stayed there saturday and sunday night. and although i didn't want to be paying money for a place to say, it was so fun! like a little mini vacation! so, monday & tuesday nights our friend bambi let us stay with her. luckily, everything was fixed by wednesday night. i'll spare you the details. basically, we had shorted wires, blown transformer, and a shorted circuit board. i had a dream last night that the bill was $2500...hopefully that won't be the case. we're still waiting on the invoice! :(

anyway, that's all for now. our house is cool and we're getting ready to head to rockwall to meet little noah for the first time. pictures to come! happy weekend!!!!

back to work....

2009-05-26T20:16:00.002-05:00

i just wanted to let everyone know i went back to work today. i really appreciate all of the prayers! since lana was sick, i went in later--around 930. it took from 930 to 10 to get her unpacked at the daycare and all the paperwork filled out for the day. i was going to just stay down there and feed her before heading up to my desk, but she was crying and refused to eat! so i finally just passed her off to the kind ladies and they took over. she never had her 930 feeding and didn't go to sleep until 1045 (she'd been up since 630!!!). and then woke up at 1125...that was the story for the day. she didn't nap but eventually she did eat. and she sure is passed out now!!! :) when i went in to pick her up at 5 she was sitting in a bouncy chair. i walked over and as soon as she saw me she grinned really big. and then she let out what was the beginnings of a laugh, but we're still not there. right now it just sounds like a deep breath in, but i know what it really is! a laugh! and it was so fun seeing her get excited to see me. when i got home from work she was equally excited to see drew! so cute. what a fun girl. but overall, she did fine. and i did fine. they hadn't reactivated me at work, so i couldn't get into my computer or any systems. so i just hung out all day and asked random questions about stuff trying to get caught up--no, i was just trying to look busy! ha! i even let lana hang out with me at my desk for about an hour. it was a lot of fun showing her off and hearing everyone say how adorable she is. yes, she is! haha! but anyway--a good first day back. i still wish i didn't HAVE to go back, but i guess since i have to, i'm glad i work for jcp!

lana's congestion seems to be clearing up really well thanks to the saline drops. i think she's pretty much back to normal. that's terrific news.

well, hope everyone has a good rest of the week! say a prayer for my sis--she's due basically any day now! YEAH!!!

its official

2009-05-24T20:34:00.003-05:00

lana is sick. you can hear the congestion gurgling in her nose/throat/head. she's sneezing a lot and has snot dripping out of her nose. so i guess we're just supposed to keep her elevated and next to a humidifier until this passes since there's no medicine safe for infants. say a prayer for her! she hasn't even started daycare yet! i just feel horrible for her! you can tell she doesn't feel good! :(

week in review

2009-05-24T14:48:00.004-05:00

well, we had a pretty busy week! wednesday my grandparents came in town and got to meet lana for the first time. they were only here a day or so, but it was so nice to see them and for them to meet their 6th great grandchild!

friday morning we went to the daycare and got everything squared away there. i've already blogged about that.

friday night the boozers brought some crazy huge steaks over and we cooked out! it was so good to see them. i don't think we've hung out with them in a year or so??? ridiculous. we're terrible friends! :)

saturday drew and i decided it would be fun to go look at the st. jude's dream home. every year they build a house, sell $100 raffle tickets, and give away the house as well as other prizes. this year, the house was built in flower mound pretty close to us. so we went over to check it out. it was 3500 sq ft and valued at about $439,000. in texas, that's a lot of money for a house...probably not in oregon and california. (just to put it in perspective). but the home was beautiful and drew and i are already making plans for when we win it! :)

saturday night our friends patrick & shannon came over to meet lana. we went to eat dinner with them at chili's. it was good to catch up...i don't think we'd seen them in about a year either! it's crazy!!!

today we're just hanging out. the rangers are playing the astros, so of course we're watching the game! lana got sick today...for a few days her spit up has been kinda slimy like she might be congested (i think she got it from the daycare friday!) as i was putting her down for a nap today she started spitting up everywhere. she starts coughing and that leads to spit up. so, right now drew is holding her while she sleeps. you can tell she doesn't really feel well, but she has no fever. we'll see what happens.

other than that, not a lot going on. we toyed with the idea of going to the ranger game tomorrow since they're playing the yankees, but there aren't any tickets in the shade available for the price we want to pay. guess we'll just watch it on tv! i might prefer that anyway since it's been decently humid lately.

lana has done some new things this weekend! saturday she figured out that if her pacifier falls out of her mouth, she can maneuver her arms to get it back in! it was really cute. which i guess brings up the next new thing--she's starting to take a pacifier! and the last thing is that she kind of held her bottle yesterday! i put it in her mouth and somehow her hands figured out how to get on each side to steady the bottle. i guess that's not technically holding it, but it was still amazing to me. i didn't even put her hands there! she did it herself! of course, none of this may ever happen again. it could be a one time deal! haha

this video is of lana waking up in the morning. it's so fun to see, so we thought we'd share! by the way--if you go to the lana's pictures link on the left, you can see all the pictures from week 12!

hope you all enjoy your memorial day tomorrow. remember to be praying for me and lana on tuesday!

i just can't do it

2009-05-22T13:05:00.004-05:00

today i went to the daycare at jcp for lana's intake appointment. the people are so incredible there. they're going to keep her on her schedule for naps, feedings, etc. and the 'room mom' said they're always working on different things with the babies during wake time--tummy time, working with feeling new textures, seeing things...it's going to be really great for her to learn those things. but it was terrible too. because i realize that i go back to work on monday. today is technically my last 'work day' off....and i'm a wreck. i'm trying not to be, but this is probably the hardest thing i will ever have to do. and just think--it's not even monday night yet. or better yet--it's not tuesday morning as i'm walking away from the daycare and up to my desk. i realize now that tuesday is a horrible day for me to start back to work, and this isn't just an excuse. i seriously have meetings from 8am to 5pm on Tuesdays. how in the WORLD am i going to find time to go see my little lana? this is terrible. i seriously would sell everything i own to be able to stay home with her--my house, my car, you name it, SOLD! i know she's going to be fine. and i know that i'm eventually going to be fine. but i just don't think this is the way it's supposed to be. i really feel like i should be the one to raise my daughter. not to knock any of you who are total advocates of daycare, but my mom stayed at home with us and i wouldn't trade that for the world. and i never thought i'd want to be a stay at home mom, but i do! i want that! so, i've never done this before, but i'm going to buy a lottery ticket for tomorrow night. if i win, then i'll know God wants me at home. if i don't win, well, then i'll just play every wednesday and saturday until i do win! :)

tonight we have some friends coming over for dinner. the wife is a teacher (the boozers) and i plan on picking her brain! drew and i are still trying to get me into teaching, so i need help on interviewing. i can interview for business jobs...i've never not got a job i interviewed for. but teaching is a whole different ball game. i'm terrified of the interview process. but i know that i really want to be a teacher...and that's going to make life so much easier in the summers if i can get one. time off every year with lana. so, say a prayer. i'm not sure it's going to work out for this next school year, but who knows. and actually, this may be a moot point....if i win the lottery.

hope you all have a super friday!

mover and a shaker

2009-05-16T14:07:00.005-05:00

here's a little clip of lana gettin excited in her jungle gym...she takes a breather every once in a while. it's not a true representation of how active she is, but i think it gets the point across. (we put her at the top of her crib at night and by morning she's at the bottom....crazy girl.)

it's raining here, so drew and i are at a loss for what to do today. it's so bad we're thinking about renting a rug doctor to clean the carpet....or maybe we'll just take yet another nap. i'd normally clean the house or do laundry, but i'm so domestic these days--it's already done.

tomorrow is my sister's baby shower, so hopefully i'll have pictures to share. lana is going with me....i'm praying she'll still nap while i'm holding her. otherwise, we might have a cranky baby by tomorrow night.

hope you all stay dry and enjoy your saturday!

bottle-1, lana-0

2009-05-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

we've overcome the bottle issue! poor drew is the one who had to suffer the most. it still takes a really long time for her to drink the whole thing--ab0ut an hour and she cries a little bit. but it's so much better. YEAH! we just had a weekend where drew would feed her from the bottle for every feeding. the first night she was screaming and i had to completely stay out of the room or it'd get worse. but by saturday night, we were all good.

my first mother's day was super. i got up early but just couldn't get moving. drew and i were both exhausted from the tiring weekend of lana crying so much at every feeding. he let me go back to bed while he took care of lana. so i got up for the 630 feeding, put her back down at 730, and then didn't get up again until 1230. really? i didn't budge for 5 HOURS! it was incredible. and then sunday night we celebrated by eating at Pazzo! my absolute FAVORITE pizza place. you should all go.

saturday my mom and sister & nephews came over. we celebrated mothers day (in between lana screaming while she ate) by cooking out. drew made burgers & hot dogs...poor guy was the only male in the house...don't think the nephews gave him that male companionship he was needing! my brother in law was at a band competition and my brother had to work. but we had a great time celebrating my mom and my sister. (and i guess me too! haha)

well, that's all the updates i have for now...more to come later. GO RANGERS!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-08T08:09:00.002-05:00

first of all, i have no pictures to upload yet...i'll understand if you stop reading. :)

i have just 2 (maybe even 1...that's a story for later) weeks until i got back to work. lana has all of a sudden decided she hates the bottle. WHAT?! NO! this can't be happening. we're regressing. how in the world am i supposed to pass her off to a daycare when she refuses the bottle? about a week ago, she started this. she would just gum around on it, then eventually suck. but this morning she cried hysterically when we tried to give it to her. she's never been picky before...i could easily be the one to give her the bottle and she'd take it in 5 seconds. we started her on the bottle/breast combo at 3 weeks, so we didn't wait until she was too old to have a preference...so then WHY does she all of a sudden have a preference? i'm reading up on any tricks there are to get her back on track, but if anyone has a tip, PLEASE SHARE! by the way, she's still not taking a pacifier...every once in a while, but not enough for it to be a comfort to her. ugh.

lana is still sleeping through the night....usually around 8 hours, so i have that to be VERY thankful for. her best naps are in the mornings, but she goes down for any nap with great ease. we've had her in her crib sleeping since day 1, so i think she really finds it a comforting place to be. she doesn't cry unless something is really wrong (gas, hungry, diaper, super tired) so it's easy to know what's going on with her. there have been times when she's just laid in her crib looking around for 45mins because she didn't want to go to sleep. but she didn't make a peep! she's a very easily trained baby and we're so lucky. she likes her schedule...or has adapted to it very well. wakes up on the dot for her feedings every 3hours. it's nice to not have to set my alarm...i know she'll wake me up! but she wakes up so happy to see us...and we love seeing that huge smile she gets when she finally notices us peering over her crib!

other than that, not a lot going on. i'm trying to make the rest of my doctors appointments and run my final errands before i head back to work. i'm still a wreck at the thought, but a lot of prayer is giving me some peace...for the moment anyway. :) i'm so grateful to meghan for covering the whole department while i've been on leave! THANK YOU!!! (i know you're reading this! haha) but i'm certain i'm gonna have no clue how to do my job when i get back. 13 weeks is a long time to be off work! hopefully my brain will be up to the task.

so, it's friday! and we love friday here in the libby house...even when i'm not working. and it's going to be a fun weekend--my mom is coming over for lunch tomorrow. i think it's supposed to storm, but we're gonna cook out anyway! hope you all have a super fantastic mother's day...and really...i need some bottle tips!

2 months

2009-05-05T20:45:00.005-05:00

a cinco de mayo lana won't forget. or maybe she will. but i won't. lana had her 2month check up today and she's great! she's 22 1/2 inches (50%) and 10lbs 3 oz (25%-50%). so she's right on track! here are some pics from our super sad day. she's been pretty fussy but that's to be expected. and really, i don't mind. she stops crying as soon as she gets to snuggle with momma! :)

before the shots....

after the shots...

week at a glance

2009-05-03T21:10:00.004-05:00

this week was drew's big 30th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DREW!!! we've had lots of rain this week, but thought it was going to clear up enough to make it to the ranger game on his birthday. we packed everything up and headed to the ballpark with lana hoping the 30% chance down in arlington didn't include the ballpark. unfortunately, it poured. and poured. but we ate our $1 hotdogs and had a great time watching the rain! after about an hour, we left...so now we have tickets to redeem later in the season!

we went back to the ballpark with some friends friday to really celebrate drew's birthday--and to celebrate lana's 2 month birthday. much better weather and great seats. below are some pictures of lana's first ranger game! i think her onesie turned out super cute! just a simple iron on, but somehow it made me feel crafty! haha

we also got a new laptop! we got a mac that can support a million pictures of lana...apparently our pc was breaking down from the lana-overload! :) but we're loving the laptop....although i'm still adjusting to no mouse and a MAC! never thought i'd EVER own a mac. i'm a pc lover.

and LISD has canceled school this week due to the H1N1 virus...yes, swine break 09 is in full effect. i'm so happy to have drew home with lana and me for another week! yeah! he's got plans to golf and enjoy his time off with us. i'm glad he's getting a break before he gets super busy with....SUMMER! ha!

i go back to work in just 3 short weeks. time has FLOWN by but somehow it seems like forever ago that i worked. i'm still extremely sad about having to leave my lana at daycare....but i've decided to tell daycare people that i don't want to know if she walks/talks/crawls...i want to see all of her firsts for myself. so just be in prayer over me and the situation. it's gonna be so stinkin hard leaving her. even though it's downstairs, i'm still so sad to leave her with complete strangers all day. i'm sure my first day back to work will be worthless...

well, that's all i've got for now! hope you all have a super week!

lana seems to be breaking out of her swaddle more these days...this was after a nap...

all dressed up ready to go eat with alyson, sarah, & camryn on tuesday

the fam at the game...she did so good and LOVED the fireworks after the game!

all ready for the game and SO EXCITED about her rangers! :)

TWO NIGHTS!

2009-04-27T13:58:00.002-05:00

lana has slept thru the night for 2 nights straight! saturday night was 1130pm to 7am and last night was 10pm to 630am!!! THANK YOU, LORD! got the best sleep of my LIFE last night! so much so, that today i have cleaned the kitchen & utility room TOP to BOTTOM! seriously...i'm talking about mopped floors, cleaned baseboards & cabinets, and shelves organized--including the pantry! this is fantastic. pray that it continues because the rest of my house needs to be cleaned like this too!

but now, i'm gonna take a nap...because i can. :)

i think it's gonna be a great week!

sleep, precious sleep

2009-04-25T08:35:00.004-05:00

i don't really have much going on right now. just trying to perfect this sleeping through the night thing. last night lana slept from 10 to 5 after a few rough nights of not even making it 5 hours. so, with LOTS of prayer so far, and even more to come, i'm asking God to make it continue. i feel very rested only having to get up once at 3, and then to feed lana at 5. but the greatest part is that drew took the 630am (which was really 7am due to her sleeping until 5) feeding and let me sleep in until almost 8! woohoo! i'm ready to start the day. i'm not promising that i won't still need a nap this afternoon, but that's what saturdays are for, right? naps....

i'm also gonna have to apologize for pictures this week. seems we fell a little behind on them, so there won't be very many to look at. hopefully i'll get more taken and uploaded tomorrow.

have a super weekend!

playin in the gym...as always

the family at guero's for dinner w/my dad & bro

waiting for a table at guero's was exhausting!

a little of everything

2009-04-14T07:59:00.004-05:00

lana turned 6 weeks old sunday! it's amazing how quickly time is flying by. she's already so different than the day we brought her home from the hospital. she smiles on purpose now! not always when you want her to, but it's definitely on purpose when she does! this is the best part though--we're doing babywise and it's AWESOME! lana is already sleeping from 1015pm to 415am...yes, 6 hours straight. i think we're definitely on track for her to sleep thru the night completely by 12 weeks! that's the goal! we can see her little personality molding and taking shape. we're loving her so much in her short little life so far!

i go back to work in a little less than 6 weeks. it's REALLY hard on me, but staying home is not an option right now. i'm trying to think about the positives...she's going to be riding to & from work with me every day & she'll be right downstairs in JCPenney's daycare whenever i'm having separation anxiety. i just really hate that someone else is going to be raising my daughter. i grew up in a home where my mom didn't work and i was so blessed by that! maybe someday....when we get my stupid school loans paid off! :(

i'm finding LOTS of things to keep me busy thru the day while i'm home--not that that's hard with a little one and a house! it's so nice to be able to run errands thru the day when others are at work. and it's so nice not really having 'plans'...just being able to go wherever i want whenever i want (within reason). i really think i need a job that isn't so confining....i like being able to go for mid-afternoon jogs/walks and NOT DRIVE IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC!!!! i like being home at 3pm when all the moms are picking their kiddos up from school....ugh. maternity leave is such an incredible vacation. i'm not even kidding. i'm definitely making the most of it!

anyway...here are a few pics of lana from week 6. happy tuesday!

bath time!

watchin the rangers...or golf....

isn't her bunny wrist rattle cute?!