Claire - 5 Months Today!

Today Claire is 5 months old. Wow, how she has changed in her first 5 months of life! She is slowly putting on weight and growing long like a champ.
What can she do now?
*She can roll over. And over. And over. She absolutely LOVES laying on her tummy and propping her head up with her elbows on the ground and looking all around.
*She is very chatty. At least once or twice a day, she just starts making these...noises. Nothing consistent, just random gurgling, growling and a few screams thrown in to really keep up laughing.
*She loves to smile and laugh. The kids LOVE to see her smile and will do anything to get one out of her. Luke will dance and do jumping jacks to see her little grin. Cooper will sing too her and coo to her to calm her down. And Natalie? She will either sit right next to her, or in front of her and sing, talk, dance or clap. Sometimes, I think if Claire could talk, she would be asking me, "where did you get these characters?"
*Did I mention she could roll over like a champ?
*She is the only child who does not like sleeping on her tummy. She will wake up on her tummy and be pretty ticked off about it. And she is not afraid to let us know about it.
*No, she is not sleeping through the night. And yes, I am still waking up at 2 or 4am to feed her. When I do feed her, it is very apparent that she is STARVING and would not just 'go back to sleep' if I did not feed her.
*She is a slobber-monster. If she is not wearing a bib, after just 10 minutes, she can completely soak the front of her outfit. No teeth popping through yet, but sure looks like she is prepared for it!
*Did I mention she has a great smile? She melts my heart when she looks me in the eye and smiles her beautiful smile.
*Claire can do no wrong. The older kids are so understanding when she is crying or fussing. They will do anything to help her not be sad, mad or fussy. They all love her, but Cooper is vocal about it. He has told me numerous times, "I'm glad you had Claire, Mommy."
*Natalie adores her the same, if not more as the day we found out that I was having a girl. She will drop whatever she is doing to give Claire a kiss. I am quite sure that not many moments pass by without Natalie thinking about Claire. (I LOVE it!)
*Luke is just Luke. He will be running, running, running, carefully dodging Claire in her bouncy seat, then stop abruptly to give her a kiss, sing a little nursery rhyme, then resume his run, run, running!
*Claire loves to stand up. She can make her legs so straight and just hold herself up. She is incredibly strong.
*Claire has one of the strongest baby grips I have ever felt. When she grabs your finger to pull it into her mouth, she is SERIOUS. I am quite sure that if she held on to my finger for too long, she could stop the blood flow!

First Day of School

8/23/2010

Today was the first day back to school for the 'big kids'. Natalie was so excited, she could hardly contain herself. Cooper? Notsomuch. He has said all summer long that he did not want school to start. I think he secretly did, but he always seemed to get a better response from people when he said he did not want to go back to school yet.

Cooper is a 2nd grader this year. Wow. When Cooper started kindergarten, those 2nd graders seemed so big? Mature! Now he is one of them. I try not to put too much pressure on him, but I know his abilities and I want him to excel. To show his teachers all his intellect.

Natalie is a first grader and still one of the tiniest ones in her class. She is such a good little student. She tells me most everything about her day, what she says to the teacher and how many tickets she got that day. (tickets are given out for saying or doing something good) I hope that she always shares her day with me. Even 10 years from now.

Back to School Picnic

The kids' school had the 3rd annual 'Back to School' picnic tonight. Very fun! The teachers all wore matching shirts and we got to find out who Cooper and Natalie's home room teacher would be. I must say that I really thought that Natalie would get Mrs. Stone, like Cooper had last year. I mean, I REALLY thought she would, as a for sure. Nope, when I checked the list, Natalie had Mrs. Coffman. I have heard nothing but positive things about Mrs. Coffman, I was just a little shocked that she did not get Mrs. Stone. Oh well, God knows what is perfect for Natalie and He wants only the best for her.

Cooper got Mrs. Boggs as his homeroom teacher. Since I know next to nothing about the 2nd grade teachers, this was just fine with me. He seems to have a charm that works on most teachers. (Thank goodness!)

I cannot wait to see how this year plays out!

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

At the beginning of the summer Mary had suggested taking the kids out to Fossil Rim. I agreed that would be a great idea. Well, 2 weeks ago, we both remember and quickly check our calenders and decide that this Thursday would be a great day for all of us, considering the kids start school Monday.

I drive out there with Mary and the 3 older kids (leaving Claire with Gram). We nixed the 'safari guided tour', since it was $38 per person, no discounts whatsoever. We got the self-guided tour for $13 for the adults and $7 for the children. After $6.95 for food, we were ready to see the animals!

Mary said that she would drive, so I could take pictures. Seeing as how I had 2 cameras, I quickly took her up on this offer. We let the kids ride without their seatbelts, so they could move from window to window to get the best views of the animals. And, we hardly went over 10 miles an hour at any point. Mary even let Luke and Natalie in her lap, so they could see and feed the animals.

What a fun time! We saw ostriches, different varieties of deer, mountain goats, cheetahs, hippos, giraffes and LOTS of zebras! In fact, the zebras were so friendly that they stuck their whole head in my SUV. Their whole head! I was terrified and excited all at the same time. I was afraid that they would bite me. Nope, they just wanted food. Lots of food. Then, one of them pushed the other one's head to try and get a better angle. The kids thought that was hilarious!

Even though it was an hour and half drive both ways, it was well worth it. The kids had such a great time, and so DID I!

The Duggar Family

There is a family in Arkansas that has 19 kids...and counting. They have their own reality show and I just love to watch it. In December (2009), their latest baby girl, Josie, had to be delivered at 26 weeks because the mom had preclampsia. The baby had multiple issue/problems along the way, but she is now home with her mom and dad and siblings and doing great.

What bothers me is the media. I read an article in People magazine where they took up a whole page discussing the 'controversy' in this family wanting another child. 2) That this family was overpopulating. 3) That this mom was not a good mom because she had so many kids. 4) That a woman's body is not able to handle having so many children. (Apparently her body is!)

First of all, there is no controversy over having another child. Just because they announced that they were ready for another child, does not mean that it is open for discussion for the public to address. No, it is their decision. They will be taking care of the child, so why does anyone feel empowered to comment on it?

Secondly, overpopulating? No one makes comments to married people who chose not to have any children, that they are not contributing to the population. That the population will be diminishing because of their lack of reproductivity. To say that this one family impacts the whole United States birth rate is just a little ridiculous.

Yes, she has a lot of children, but in no way does this make her a bad mom. Granted she does not have a lot of one-on-one time, but these children ALL know that they are loved. They are surrounded by love. They each get individual attention at times from their mom, but they are always getting attention elsewhere. Just because they do not live like most families, does NOT make them wrong in any way, shape or form.

I think that they are a great family with great values. They do not push their beliefs into other's faces, they are just living their lives the way God wants them to. I think the Duggar family is just AWESOME!

Back to School Fairs

I worked the Junior League back to school fair on Saturday. This is where we have 3 low-income schools come and get community assistance in one gym, then come into the 2nd gym and get a backpack full of school supplies for their particular school. They even get to pick their favorite color! It is so rewarding to know that we are making a difference in these kids lives, especially when they show up to school for the first day and they have a backpack. This is why i joined Junior League.

On Sunday, I worked the Back to School Fair for the Burundi community at my church. There is a whole community of Burundi refugees from Africa that were relocated here in Fort Worth. Some of them have never been to any American school and many of the parents do not speak any English. This Fair was not only for the kids, but the parents as well. The parents were shown how to fill out the free/reduced lunch forms for FWISD, and other necessary documentation. The kids were given vaccinations that they needed, haircuts if they wanted them, shoes, socks, coats, jeans, shirts and sweatshirts, along with a backpack full of supplies and 5-10 age appropriate books. We even had 2 police officers teaching a class about safety (one for the 10+ and one for the 9 and under kids). Overall, I think it was a huge success.

This is ministry in action. And I love it.

How I Met John

I was his personal trainer. ~1996, I trained him on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 - 6:50p.m. He chose me to be his trainer (it didn't happen by chance). I called him my 'triple A' because he seemed so high strung. He would be ready and waiting for me 10 minutes early, nearly every time. My response to that? "Go warm up", John: "I already did", Me: "Go do it again". I find out years later that his 'warm-up' was sitting in the wet sauna downstairs for 5 -10 minutes until he broke a good sweat. Then he would come upstairs 'warmed up'. Nice.

Once, he asked me if I wanted to come over and watch ER. (That was the hot show that year.) He said he would make me dinner. (I would come to find out years later that he is quite a chef.) I politely declined because: 1) I didn't date my clients; and 2) I had just gotten out of a rotten relationship and just wanted to not date at all.

Flash forward a few years, and we meet up at a different gym. I am no longer a trainer, I am now a pharmaceutical rep for Ortho-McNeil, a Johnson and Johnson company. We start chatting and he tells me about a swim clinic that he is going to. I ask him why and he says that he is training for a triathlon. I was training for a triathlon as well! I asked him which triathlon, and he said the Tom Landry. Me TOO! We decided that we would train together. However, I made it blatantly clear that we were NOT going to be dating while we trained. Period. He agreed and we started some training. In February, one of my good friends, Albert, came over to my apartment to propose. Seriously, with a ring and everything. I was so stunned. We were friends and that was all. I (of course) said no and he left. I called John to tell him about it and we ended up meeting at Khaki's to eat. (not a date)

About 3 weeks before the triathlon, John is over at my apartment. We had been out a few times, but I would not let him hold my hand, kiss me, nothing. Anyways, he is sitting on my leather chaise lounge with one of my cats on his stomach and the other one sitting on his head. John hates cats. I can still picture him sitting there with the cats all over him and him tolerating it on my behalf. He asked, "What are we doing?" And I responded, "We are hanging out and training. If you don't like it, you can leave." Thank goodness he did not leave. He stayed around.

On May 1st, we both completed the Tom Landry Sprint Triathlon. This was the only race that John ever beat me. For my defense, I am not as fast of a swimmer, but more importantly I had a mountain bike for the bike part and he had a road bike. Let me tell you, that makes a HUGE difference. After the triathlon, his friend Robert Garcia, took our picture. Years later, Vanda painted that picture, not knowing that that was our official 'first day of dating'.

After the triathlon, we headed out to Cedar Creek Lake, where Mother and Calvin lived. John had wanted to go fishing, so I suggested we go out there. On the way to their house, he wanted to stop and get a hanging basket for my mom. Once my mom met John, it took her less than 5 minutes to ask me when I was going to marry him. I explained that we were not officially dating just yet, and she told me that, yes, I would end up marrying him.

Well, John proposed on August 19, 1999 at ~8pm. We were rollerblading on the Joe Pool levee. He faked an injury and ended up on one knee. I skated over to see if he was Ok and he proposed, with the ring and all. I could not have been any happier at that moment in my life. We celebrated by going over to Mother and Calvin's 'place' and having some champagne out of jelly jars.

We wanted to get married right away, but since John is the youngest of 7 children, we needed to have a decent wedding, not an elopement. We wanted to wait until the new year, but we were worried about what ~could happen with all the hoopla of Y2K. We chose the 1st weekend in February, which just happens to be his brother, Buddy's, birthday.

It has been over 10 years now, and I can say that I love him more, way more than the day I married him. There are so many things that have happened that make me love him more each day. God truly blessed me by giving me John.

Claire - 4 Months Old

Wow! I cannot believe Claire is already 4 months old. She is now 12 lbs and 24.25 inches long. That puts her in the:
10th %ile for weight
50th %ile for length
25th %ile for head circumference
Attagirl!

I think she is absolutely perfect! She has the most beautiful blue eyes that she will just focus right on me. She can also follow things (or siblings) as they move around the room. The easiest way to distract her or get her to quit crying is for the kids to do jumping jacks in front of her or sing a VBS song with arm motions and that totally captivates her attention.

Claire's newest skill? Putting her toes in her mouth. I must admit that I have been working on trying to get her to do this. I 'help' her put her big toe in her mouth, then she realizes that is fun to do. It is quite cute. She also can get nearly her whole fist in her mouth. I can barely get a knuckle into my mouth! Her most prominent skill? Slobbering. I bet we go through 3-5 dresses or onesies a day because this girl slobbers so much. I keep checking for teeth, but none are showing yet!

It is so sweet that Claire is adored by every person in this household. Claire can do no wrong. Even when she puked up on Cooper, he just kind of sighed and whined, "Claiii-rrrre!" And then had to change immediately as though he was now wearing hydrochloric acid. So many times, I hear him say how much he loves baby Claire.

Another nice thing? Everyone gets a chance to feed Claire. Right now she is only drinking out of bottles, but All the kids take turns feeding her. Cooper gets to feed her in the car, because he can sit right next to her. (Special treat for him) They also think it is fun to 'burp' her, but I usually have to do the follow-up 'real' burp. I will let them help as MUCH as they want!

Core Competency

I believe God is involved in and cares about my daily life. I believe this whole-heartedly. Whether it is a 'big' prayer or a prayer for me to find my keys, God cares. There are so many times throughout the day that I see God helping me, answering a prayer or orchestrating things/events to where they turn out just right. If I was not looking for it, I would totally miss seeing God in my everyday life.
I have to write this down, because this was HUGE and I am still thanking God for it. There was a person, that I do not exactly like so much, that was going to be on a TV show. I was afraid that this person was going to say something negative about me on this show, on National TV. i worried and fretted about it a whole day. A WHOLE day. That night I prayed to God asking him to take my worry away, because it would not change any events. I also prayed for this show not to be played. I did not know how that would happen, but that is what I prayed.
The next day, I woke up and was half way through the day before I realized that I had not worried about it at all to that point in the day.I still kept praying for this TV show to not to be played.
Well, the day it was supposed to be on, it was rescheduled until the next week. The next week, they rescheduled it again. The next week, I was on the stairmaster when I realized that it must be on right then and that there was nothing I could do about it. I had a sick feeling, but I was not worried. That night, I went to the website to see it, and the network had quite carrying the show! The network had dropped the show completely!!! Can you believe that? I am still in awe of how God orchestrated that. Complete awe. If that is not proof-positive that God is involved in and cares about our daily lives, I don't know what is.