Today

Not sure where to start... so, we'll start with today and work our way backwards. Why not!

Today was my (former) school's luau. They have this all day picnic every year on the second to last day of school. On this day last year... I was admitted to the hospital because there was a big chance I would go into labor... I was only 30 weeks pregnant. See, I woke up that morning and got ready for school. I wasn't really looking for to the picnic that year. Um, did I mention I was 30 weeks pregnant! It was hot outside. My back had started to hurt. I was going to be miserable and useless!! But, before I headed out the door I realized that I was spotting. I knew that some spotting towards the end of your pregnancy could be normal. But, when you have had 3 miscarriages it's hard not to think the worst when you find blood! I called Brad... he told me to call my midwife and that he'd get on the next flight home (he was working out of town, of course). I called my midwife. She told me that the spotting could be normal, don't worry, but go ahead and come in because of my history. So, I left for the hospital. I called my parents (they where still living in Houston at the time) who where at my grandparents place in the country 2 hrs away. I told them that I might need them to come to Dallas. And, they did. I called work and let them know what was going on too. To make a long story short... I had a incompetent cervix, I had released some hormone or enzyme or something... can't remember, but, with it's release there's a big BIG chance that you go into labor within 2 weeks. The thought of having a premature baby, after everything Brad and I had been though, scared the crap out of me. But, Lincoln hung in there... he decided to wait till the day before his due date to join us!!! So, a year ago today that's where we were at... and look at us now!!

I went to school today for the luau. It was great to see some of the kids and parents!! This one little girl brought a lei and placed it around my neck. She disappeared to only reappear with another lei... which she then placed around Lincoln's neck. It was the sweetest thing!!!!!

So, Lincoln is now 10 months old. He's walking all the time and getting better and better at it!! He can stand up from a sitting position without using anything to pull up on!!! It's crazy! He's eating cherrios now. At first, he wouldn't pick them up and put them in his mouth. Well, he'd pick them up but just play with it. So, we were trying to get him to do it himself. He'd get a little frustrated. But, the funny thing was that instead of taking them off the table or out of our hand he'd lean over and just eat it right off of whatever they were sitting on... without using his hands... like a dog!! Talk about lazy!!! But, now... he's a pro at sticking those o's in his mouth!! He has also started to play with his little car... the way you're suppose to play with cars... you know, he's no longer eating it! It's pretty cute. I had been wondering when he would do that!

He also got his first (early) birthday present!!! His Gramma and Pop Pop sent him a radio flyer walker wagon. Lincoln helped daddy put it together.



And, he loves it!!!!!!!!! THANKS GRAMMA AND POP POP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also went back to Houston for Memorial Day. Lincoln got to meet his Great Grandmother and Great Uncle.

He had his first crawfish boil... don't worry he didn't suck the heads!

And, he went for a swim!

While we were in Houston Johnny and Shelia joined us for dinner one night. And, our friend Elin stopped by for some crawfish. We also had brunch with the Pereira's. And, we got to see David and Lorraine's new house!!!

It was a really great weekend!!!! AND, the drive there and back went really, really smoothly!!!!

Mother's Day

This was my very first Mother's Day. I was so excited! It wasn't so much that we were going to celebrate me and how wonderful I was... but, that we were going to celebrate me being a mommy... because, well... we have Lincoln. So, really... it's all about him!! I feel very, very thankful to have him in my life. It's been a long and sometimes difficult road... just leading up to the day that he was born. Without most of it happening he wouldn't be here. But, he is here and every day since his birth has been an amazing experience! I can't even explain... so, I won't... it's just amazing!!!

Mother's Day was simple and laid back... just like I like things! We had brunch with my mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law at Breadwinners. It's this great little place that has amazing food. Well, at least everything that I've had has been really good. And, we've only ever been for brunch. I think they have a different menu for other times. After brunch my parents, brother and sister-in-law went to go see Rent. Brad, Lincoln and I went home and had a normal day... playing, napping, playing!!

And, this is what I got for Mother's Day...

This is the description given: A potent symbol for new beginnings and infinite potential, the lotus inspires us to transform ourselves in ways we never thought possible. The stone of passion (Lincoln's birthstone), ruby brings spiritual health, wealth, and wisdom.

I'd say it was a perfect gift!

A weekend at the lake

On May 3rd Brad and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe we've only been married 6 years... but, we have been together 13 years! Now, talk about CRAZY!!! We usually go all out... we spent our 1st in Mexico, I believe it was our 4th in Vegas, always the best restaurants, 10 course meals with wine pairings... the works! We spent number 6 at the lake. On Saturday night we left the little one with Grammy and Grandpa and headed to town for a romantic dinner. Hehe... did I mention they live in Corsicana, Tx? It's a small town... you know, kinda country. We went to eat at this place called Black Jack McCanless Steakhouse. It use to be some old saloon. It was actually kinda cute. It made me smile sitting there. The menu was like a newspaper. The steaks were really great. There was also live music... some guy playing old stuff like Johnny Cash!!!! Even though it wasn't all fancy I really enjoyed it! And, of course... my date!! Love ya lots!

Other than that....

Lincoln took his first dip in a pool. The water was actually a little cold. But, he didn't seem to mind until he sat down in it. He really loved splashing around in the water.


Lincoln also had his first boat ride. Daddy and Grandpa worked real hard cleaning the boat and getting it ready. Brad and I had bought a life jacket for Lincoln the night before. I figured we get the thing on and Lincoln would hate it and throw a fit... we'd never even make it in the boat. But, to my surprise... it didn't bother him! So, we all piled in the boat and went for a ride. Lincoln seemed to really enjoy it. He sat at the front of the boat and bounced up and down... watched the water splash and smiled. Then, he started to get tired aaaaaand, became not too happy. Grammy tried her hardest to distract him by dancing around, being silly... but, he wasn't having it! So, we turned around and went home. It was a short trip. But, I think overall he really liked it!


This is a picture of Lincoln getting into the paper recycling basket. He loves to get his hands on paper. And, of course... it then goes into his mouth!


And, last but not least... this is a flower that Lincoln picked to give to me for our anniversary!

Playing catch up!

This post was suppose to go before the last one... but, I could never get it finished. So, here it is now:

Okay, so it's been awhile. Seems as though I say that every time I post! Hm.... what does that tell you?! There's so many great pictures and things to talk about... but, I'm going to try and keep it short. Remember, if you want to check out all of our photos go to our dotphoto site!

We went to the Arboretum back on the last day in March with our friends Michelle, Jadon and Torin . It was a Tuesday and they had a petting zoo and a lady doing a music class.

Sorry, but this video will be sideways. I'm not sure how or if it can be rotated.



Then there was Easter which we spent at the Lake house. I packed Lincoln and I up and we drove by ourselves. Brad was real busy with work and met us up the next day. This is the Easter basket that I had as a kid. My mom filled it with goodies for Lincoln. There's an Easter bunny in there that she sewed herself... which we gave her a hard time about... um, because it didn't look like an Easter bunny!


This is the Easter basket that Brad and I gave to him. I filled it with seashells, paper mache eggs, a soft Peter Rabbit book, a small stuffed blue bunny and a book about ducks. The duck book was his favorite because you can push a button and it quacks! Next year, I'd like to make him a soft basket... one that he will use to gather eggs in. I have seen some really cute basket ideas!

My mom was really excited and went a little crazy. She made an Easter bunny house, Easter cookies and a Easter cake. Gotta love her!!!!


The next weekend we went back to Houston for Johnny and Shelia's wedding. Again, Brad wasn't with us on the drive down (that crazy work). I was suppose to pick up his dry cleaning before we left... which I did... um, but I forgot I was suppose to take his suit from that and take with us!!! Opps, Brad had nothing to wear! Luckily, he was able to borrow a new suit from his friend Mark. My mom had to put a temporary hem in the pants. And, he had to buy a shirt... but, now he was decent! We weren't sure if we to were going to make it to the wedding from my parents old house (they kept Lincoln). It rained like crazy and flooded. We managed to find a way out of the neighborhood and made it to the wedding. We had a good time... and I didn't worry too much about Lincoln!! This was the first time we've left him. And, he did pretty well until it was bed time and then he pretty much had a melt down. I felt so bad for him!!!


While in Houston we spent time at Pops and Nona's. We had breakfast there and Uncle Taylor, Debbie and Richard (Taylor's mom and step dad) joined us.

Lincoln got his feet wet in the lake that's behind their house.

We also stayed one night with Gramma and PopPop. They also braved the weather and went to the wedding!

On the way back to Dallas we stopped to visit Big Daddy (Brad's grandfather) and Granny (Brad's grandmother).


I feel like I left out so much... but, I said I was going to TRY and make it short. I said try, right??

Lincoln's First Steps!

Our baby took his first steps yesterday!!! We were down in his room playing. He was getting a little fussy... not completely sure why. I he's getting some more teeth in... so maybe that was what was making him cranky! Anyways, I stood him in front of me and let go. He took 3 steps towards me before he fell forward. It was so, so sweet. He got a big smile on his face! I told Brad, who was in the study working, that Lincoln took his first steps. He came in the room and I stood Lincoln up facing Brad and let go. I was hoping he'd do it again and that it wasn't just a fluke. Lincoln took 4 steps towards his daddy!!!! He's still very cautious about the whole thing. He hasn't taken steps on his own free will... it's been us standing him up and seeing what happens. He stands up and lets go of what he's holding on to all the time... just never has taken those tiny steps on his own. You could always tell that he was thinking about it though!!! So, we'll see what happens! Cute, cute, cute!!!!

I was going to wait and post this once I had it on video... but, who knows when that will happen! We will try to get it on video some time this week. I'll post it as soon as we get it!!

Later!

Save Our Organic Farms!!!

Please help me stop HR 875. In its current form, the bill would prevent small local organic farms and community gardeners from growing and selling you nutritious, truly fresh, organic produce. The bill would effectively ban small farming and outlaw organic gardening. It would crush our small local food producers by imposing heavy government regulation that only large corporations could adhere to. Imagine:

• No more farmers markets.
• No more garden fresh, seasonal ingredients from the local farmer at your favorite restaurant.
• No more roadside stands with fresh picked sweet corn, juicy ripe tomatoes, or refreshing
  watermelons in the summer.

Americans would essentially be forced to only eat corporately manufactured, chemically treated, hermetically sealed, irradiated fruits and vegetables. Stop this abomination now.

To prevent this bill, act now by signing the petition!

Future champion

I remember watching a TV program some years ago about how Andre Agassi’s dad started him out in tennis with a ping pong paddle. Ever since then I’ve had my own designs on what to do for my own son. Well here it is…

The Wilson K Factor KSix-One Tour Racquet for the 8 month old…

In case you are wondering, Roger Federer plays with this racquet and as Shannan would say I might be a bit obsessed with the great one.

The project took over 3 weekends since I travel most week days and was so much fun to focus really intensely on something creative. With this project I knew templates were the way to go so I first photocopied the ping-pong paddle and then drew in the designs to mimic the Wilson. Cut out each individual piece and placed them into position then traced ‘em onto the paddle. I actually scored the lines for the string pattern with a razor blade and even created a template of the ‘W’ to paint onto the strings. If you know me, you know that I plan everything out and test where I can to make sure things turn out perfect down to the last detail. I even used a real overgrip just like I use on my racquet when I play.

Here is the lil’ guy taking to tennis…and momma making him cry just before the unveiling.

He really just wanted to eat the tennis ball...

And of course the racquet has to go into his mouth…

No pressure at all on Lincoln to play tennis…If he wants to play soccer that will be fine too. Everything is all for fun! And apparently eating as well.

For more on the Agassi story follow this link.