Merry Christmas!!!

So cold...so cold!

I gripe when it's too hot. I gripe when it's too cold. I am really never happy except for a few short weeks usually sometime in late April or early May. :o) It's pretty much the truth though. Sweating...gross! Freezing...not fun! I am super glad for my wonderful husband who has been making me lovely fires to get through this cold spell. I only wish there would be some snow to go along with all this chilly weather. That would be nice!

There's a lot going on around here. Last week we had our small group Christmas party. It was super fun. I ate waaaay too much, but there's nothing new there! I've been trying to get my Christmas shopping done, but it's been pretty difficult. Thank goodness for the internet or I'm not sure if I'd have any gifts! Only one more week of school to go before our break. Hooray! This week Jeff and Linda are coming to visit. They will be hanging out here until Christmas Eve. This coming Friday will be Maggie's program at school. I don't know what they're doing, but they've been "practicing" for some time. Ummmm...should be interesting. I'll let you know when I know what in the world they're doing. We're spending Christmas Eve night with my family. On the 27th we'll be heading out to see Debbie, Frank, Angela, Perry, Briannah and Cadence. We're so excited to see Cadence since we haven't met her yet! It should be fun!!! At some point this week I hope to get my hair done. Maggie MUST have her picture taken with Santa as well. Thank goodness there's no Kindermusik! Somehow I'm sure I'll manage to get everything done. I will certainly be happy when this week is OVER!

Maggie pics....

Back to the grind....at least for a few more weeks!

Thanksgiving was fabulous. We always have such a great time in Little Rock. I love seeing all my family, and Aaron fits right in. This year there were a lot of new babies that joined. Since last year, there have been 3 new additions. It made it more fun, but it's pretty hard to keep everyone constantly entertained and try to keep on a sleep schedule. Whatever! I'm already looking forward to next year!!

We had some lovely family photos taken by Angela. They are so great. We will be giving many of them as gifts. Thanks Angela!!

This next Saturday the big Christmas shopping begins. I'm so excited. There will be my fav girls, yummy food to start us off and lots of money to spend. My kind of day! I only wish I knew what to get everyone....

Here's some Maggie pics to end with. Life is good.

Okay, I know I'm mean, but I LOVE this picture. So funny! Can you tell that she was fed up!??

Here comes Thanksgiving...here comes Thanksgiving....

Can you believe it??! It's almost Thanksgiving! I can't say that I'm sorry about that. Aaron, Maggie and I are heading down to Hot Springs for a few days before heading to Little Rock to eat turkey with the fam. I'm really excited about it too. A lot of my family will be there, and there will be lots of babies! Three more babies than there were last year! Fun, fun, fun!

Nothing much else has been going on. Angela Faris came over and took pictures for Maggie's 7th month and just some family ones of all of us. They're so good. I'll put a plug in for her. Check some of them out on her photography blog. We already put up the Christmas tree. It's not all done, but it sure is pretty. This will be the best Christmas ever since it will be Maggie's first.

In Maggie news....she got her second flu shot today and took it like a trooper. Aaron will be taking her to Kindermusik tomorrow, and I'm really excited about that. I know they'll have so much fun. I'll be doing conferences...yuck!!! I'm not concerned about them though. I'm actually glad we're having them. It's been a good year....

Here's Maggie....she was a bee for Halloween but barely got to wear her costume because she was sick! We went to a Halloween thing where Aaron works. They had bubbles! Maggie LOVES bubbles! Maggie missed her school photos, so I took some. I love her outfit. Isn't she pretty!!?

First real sickness....

Maggie got sick yesterday. I picked her up from daycare, and she was crying and carrying on like I've never seen. Well, she had totally pooed, so they changed her before we left. When I picked her up, she was really hot. I figured that I'd take her temp as soon as I got home. I walked in with her and walked into her nursery. She got this strange look on her face and was kind of gulping. I totally knew that she was about to throw up, but I just wasn't fast enough. Yep! She threw up ALL OVER ME. EWWWWWWW! She freaked out. I got her changed and got myself changed. Then I took her temp, and sure enough she had one. We decided to take a nap after getting some meds. She was okay after that. This morning she woke up still having a temp, so I stayed home with her. She's been cranky but seems okay. It wasn't too traumatic, but it is sad to have a sick baby. Plus they had school pictures today which she missed at daycare. It made me really sad to miss that. Whatever.... Here's some pics...

The State Fair rocks!

I have to admit that we got off to a rocky start. We went last Saturday around 11:00, and there was TONS of traffic getting there. Now those of you that know my husband know that he does not enjoy traffic. I thought he was going to turn the car around and just head home. Seriously! In the car, he is just like my dad. Anyway....we finally got there and parked. It was HOT, and people were everywhere. (Note to self...do not go on Saturday again.) We got to bypass the huge ticket-buying line thanks to my parents(they gave us a ticket) and made it in. We started with the dog show thing where they jump in the water and catch frisbees and such. Now I like this one. I've seen it before, but I have to say that I was disappointed that the pig races weren't until much later. I knew we'd never be there that long, and I really like the pig races. I don't know why. There's just something funny about it. Maggie wasn't too impressed with the dogs and did a lot of screaming. Gotta love it! After the dog show we got our foot long corn dog. HEAVEN! I only like corn dogs at the fair. They are so yummy. We plodded over to the car stuff. Maggie fell asleep, and I spent most of my time looking at mini vans. That's right, people. I said mini vans. When #2 comes along, I'm getting one. I'm not ashamed. I need convenience...and doors that open all by themselves. I got my fried cheesecake after that. We took some pics and went to the butterfly exhibit. This was neat, and I think Maggie liked seeing the butterflies. However, it was as hot as HADES in there. Sweat poured!! It was a greenhouse on the sun. Oh well! I still loved it. Enjoy the pics....

I'm 6 months old!!!!

The picture above was taken at Maggie's first Ranger game. Notice all the empty seats! :o)

Okay, Miss Maggie is 6 months old. We went in for her shots and check up on Friday. Can you believe it? They gave her 5!!!!!!!!! shots plus one oral vac. Needless to say, she wasn't super happy about it, but she got over it soon enough. Here's her stats....

Height: 26 1/2 inches...about 75 %
Weight: 16 lbs. 7 oz...about 50%
Head: 17 in....no idea about %

Tomorrow Maggie will be dedicated at church. She will be wearing a super cute dress given to us by our sweet friends the McGuires. So excited!

Just a little something.....

Maggie will be 6 months tomorrow. Oh how the time flies! Here's some pics to show how she's growing up......

Happy 6 month birthday, Maggie! Mommy loves you more than the last number......

TARANTULA....run for your lives!

I'm starting to think I'm never going to have a normal day at school. We were on our way outside to recess when we saw a tarantula prancing in the hall of our school building. Ummmm...hello! He wasn't exactly huge, but he was pretty good-sized. My whole fourth grade team of teachers kind of freaked out a little, and the kids, of course, want to get as close as possible. Ummm...hello again! Tarantulas jump! I've seen it, and it's scary. Sooooo....we put a trash can over it. That's right...a trash can. We were going to have the office dispose of it, but I felt kind of bad about it. It's not like he WANTED to come in the school. I mean who does??! :o) We decided to scoot the trash can to get him outside. However problems arose getting him over the lip of the doorway. Shashi(one of my team members) then got crazy with that spider. She was smacking the trash can down behind him to get him to go. He resisted, but we finally got him in the grass...hopefully to kill lots of bugs....OUTSIDE where he belongs.

On another note, Maggie has been having rice cereal for almost a week. She just has it once a day, and she likes it okay. I like that the daycare is the one giving it to her. Ha ha! No messes here. Actually she's not that messy. The very first time that she had it was priceless though. She made the funniest face....like what in the heck is that!!?? Enjoy the pics...my baby is growing up!!

Well, it's been a while....

School is just crazy right now. I always feel like it takes me FOREVER to get into the swing of things. This week is nutty because my kiddos are swimming all week. Yep, we swim. Really it's more of a safety thing. They learn how to feel more comfortable in the water. It's fun to watch them improve. The kids are sorted into 4 groups based on their ability. The lowest group is REALLY fun to watch. These kids really start to blossom after a few days, but they are sooooo timid at first. I just don't remember being scared of the water, but many of these are. They call them the Flippers. Here's a funny thing that was overheard.... The Flippers were complaining how they would rather be Dolphins(the group second from the bottom). Then one of my rather bigger kids said, "I don't want to be a dolphin...I want to be Shamu." Ummm......what do you say to that? Anyway, it was funny!

Maggie is coming up on 6 months. It's still a couple of weeks ago, but that just sounds so old. We are STILL working on rolling from back to front. She just can't seem to figure out what to do with her arm. It stops her every time. We MIGHT start some rice cereal this weekend. As of yet, we haven't had any solids. We went to a Kindermusik class tonight. We're in the Sign and Sing group. It's really fun. I think Maggie liked it. Hopefully she'll be signing before I know it. We're also still working on sitting up. She can do it for a short amount of time, but then she messes it up by grabbing her foot and sticking it into her mouth. She loves sucking on her feet right now, but it does make it a little bit hard to balance! It's pretty funny to see her bending like a pretzel. And for those of you who know how much it was bugging me....Maggie is finally supporting her weight. For the longest time, she just wouldn't. I knew it had nothing to do with leg strength since she regularly kicks me....hard. I think she was just being stubborn. I see that streak in her already. What did I expect really!!!???? I'll post some pics hopefully by this weekend. I know. I've been slacking off.

Labor day fun....

We went to Chuck and Sharon's for our pre-labor day celebration and had barbecue and fun in the pool. The pool was lovely(and heated), and Maggie LOVED it. So funny! She just kicked and acted like she totally knew how to swim. We had such a great time. Aaron's mom Debbie was down this past week. I'll blog about that later. For now, enjoy the pics!!!!

Woo hoo...2 posts in one night....

I will post the pictures later, but I wanted to tell you all about our trip to get our hair cut. Well, Maggie got hers cut, and I just sat there. So here's the story....Maggie was getting a mullet, so I tried to cut her hair. It didn't look so hot, and Aaron gave me a super hard time about it. Ugh! So Kelli and I took Maggie to Cool Cuts for Kids. It was pretty fun. A lady named Delilah(who names their child this??) cut her hair as she sat in my lap. It was funny since I had to wear the lovely gown around me too. Maggie didn't fuss at all. She just sat there. Afterward they took a cute picture and gave me some of her hair. It was a really great experience. I would highly recommend it to those whose husbands apparently have nothing better to do than gripe about haircuts. :o) Just kidding! It really did look good though, and it was finally out of her eyes. Too cute!

Here are some pics.....

Hail, hail the gang's all here. This was on vacation in Galveston. I love how Maggie is just ignoring everyone...including me behind the camera.

Can't you tell that Maggie's having a wonderful time with her cousin JD. She just looks soooo happy!!


I just love this picture because she looks like she's pouting. Check out that lip!

4 month appointment

We went in for Maggie's four month appointment on Monday. The thing about going to the ped is that there's good and bad stuff. The good first..... Maggie weighs 14 lbs. 3 oz. Yeah, I knew she was packing on the weight. :o) She's 25 1/2 inches long. Her head is 16 1/4 inches. Big head=big brain! She actually moved up on her growth curve. Yeah me!

Now the bad.... 4 shots again! Ugh! I do not do well when this happens. It just seems so mean. She can't understand what's going on. It's not like you can explain to her how very important it is to get shots. Nope! She just cries. So sad! Then she was horribly fussy yesterday....all day pretty much after that. Today was much better!

Okay, that's it for now.

First vacation....

I totally forgot that I said that I would post about our trip to Galveston. Maggie and I went with my parents and 1 niece and nephew and stayed in Galveston. On the way we stopped off and hung out with my cousin and her new little boy Cameron. He's a cutie! Then we traveled on. It was Maggie's first taste of the beach, and she wasn't overly impressed. It was just too bright and humid for her. I kind of got a kick out of her pretty much burying her face in my shoulder every time we walked outside. Silly girl! My parents with the older grandkids in tow went to Moody Gardens and had a good time. Maggie and I stayed at the house. I just couldn't imagine carting her around all day. Oh well! There's always next time. We went down to the Strand to do some shopping, but my only purchases were a magnet(see my fridge next time you're over) and some saltwater taffy for my lovely husband who wasn't able to go with us. :o( I think that I'll wait until Aaron can go and Maggie is older to do that again. I just kind of felt left out....she's just too little still. There will be plenty more family vacation to come. I'm sure we'll look like the Griswalds, and it will be sad!

Hi, my name is Becky, and I'm a shopaholic.....

It's true. I really am, and this is NOT about me. I LOVE buying stuff for Maggie, but it's getting out of hand. Seriously! It's like I can't even leave the house without buying her something. When I was her age, I probably had like 7 outfits that my parents just rotated. :o) Well, it probably wasn't that bad! I just feel like I spend a ridiculous amount of money on this stuff. I just have to see her in cute stuff. It's really a disease. People will GIVE me stuff. Am I gracious about it? Heck no! If I don't think it's cute, out it goes. I'm not kidding. Like I said, I have a problem! I don't really see how I can make it better, but I wanted to just put it out there. Now you know.......(and knowing is half the battle)....

All I want for Christmas is....

Maggie has her first tooth. Yep, she's not quite 4 months old, and there it is. I'm a little afraid of her getting teeth though...you know, the biting and all. Ouch! It's making her pretty cranky too. I think it hurts her, but it's not like she can tell me or anything. I hear that genetics plays a role in how early you get teeth. I guess it's true. I had my first tooth at 4 months, and Maggie even managed to beat me. Now we're just waiting for the next one. Hopefully at some point I will be able to get a picture of it even though Maggie refuses to smile when I bring out the camera. Oh well!

I know you can't tell, but I had to cut Maggie's hair a few weeks ago. I was a little concerned that she seemed to be sporting a mullet. Now we can't have that! Since then I have been doing some hair experimentation, but it's not working so well. See picture above. Her hair is just so baby fine like mine used to be. It was such a pain when I was younger, but maybe hers will get better.... But it's still cute!

Dang it....I've been tagged!

1. First memory:
Well, I do remember being about 3. My sister was starting kindergarten, and she got this cone thing with all these gifts in it. I wanted ALL her stuff, and Khristy, as usual, gave it to me! :o) I'm so bad!

2. First kiss:
A boy named Michael, and he was actually a good kisser. I was 12.

3. First concert:
I saw Steven Curtis Chapman when I was in middle school. I guess that counts. I didn't even know who he was at the time. My friend Heather invited me.

4. First Love:
A guy named Michael(not the same guy I kissed). We dated for a looooooooong time. He was a high school sweetheart, but I knew when it was time to move on.

5. First crush:
I don't even remember.

6. First thing you think in the morning:
Is it time to feed Maggie already? :o) It was 5!

7. First book you remember loving:
Trixie Belden....if you haven't read her, try and find one. She's awesome...kind of like Nancy Drew but better and sassier!

8. First pet:
A cat named Grub.

9. First question you'll ask in Heaven:
Hmmmm...that's tough! Maybe...where's the rest of my fam?

10. First thing you think of when you hear the word vacation:
Anywhere away from home at this point! I do so love going places. Right now the word Italy comes to mind...

11. First best friend:
Gosh, I had lots in elementary school. My best best friend was this girl named Chrissy Massey. We were certainly a pair. She lived about a mile from me, and we were inseparable! Then I moved to Texas!

12. Last time you dressed up:
Britney and Brad's wedding

13. Last thing you ate:
muffin for breakfast this morning(it's weight watchers, no worries!)

14. Last CD you bought:
I bought the Wedding Singer soundtrack

15. Last book you read:
Can't remember the title. It's by Linda Howard.

16. Last time you cried:
I cried this past week when I saw Maggie roll over for the first time. It was a happy moment, but I was sad that Aaron wasn't there!

17. Last movie you saw:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Love it!

18. Last time you told someone you love them:
Aaron...just a little while ago.

19. Last really funny thing you did:
I can't remember. I'm not funny at all. :o)

20. Last thing you watched on TV:
Baby Einstein video

21. Last Halloween Costume:
I haven't dressed up in a long time. It was probably about 4 years ago. I went to this party dressed as Bonnie...from Bonnie and Clyde. LOVED the costume! I had fishnets, a beret, the works!

Well, there you go. I did it. Ugh!

Later, I'll post about my lovely trip to Galveston! I'm sure you're all waiting with great anticipation!

Harry Potter.........

Okay, JoeDan and Kelli took Aaron and me to see the Harry Potter preview last night. First of all, let me say that I really do miss going to the movies, and Aaron and I are going to try to do it more often. Now on to important things.......

I am really more than a little bit obsessed with the Harry Potter books and movies. When the movie actually started(after about 20 minutes of previews), I actually got tears in my eyes. It's like I'm seeing friends that I haven't seen in years, and I genuinely miss them. Sorry if you think that's weird, but that's always how I've been with books. The characters become my friends, and I miss them when they're gone. I won't bother with the plot since the book has been out for years and all, but this has been my favorite book for a long time. I reread it in anticipation of the movie, and I wasn't disappointed. The movie was good. It's never as good as the book, but that's to be expected. I try really hard not to expect too much because then I'm always disappointed. I believe that's pretty natural. But here are some things I liked and didn't like....( Kelli, I swear that I'm not copying you. :o))

Likes:
*still think they do a great job on the characters...I applaud their choices
*glad to see Neville looking a lot less goofy
*pleasantly surprised that I liked Snape in this one...even though he wasn't in it much
*interesting to already see Ginny looking all jealous...and glad she's getting so precious
*enjoyed Tonks but wanted bubble gum pink hair
*really liked the big battle scene even though it wasn't what I pictured
*Voldemort is super scary and icky to me...it's good to have a really BAD villain

Dislikes:
*I will never like this Dumbledore better than the first one. I know the first one died, but it's just how I feel.
*wanted to see how the DA couldn't see the thestrals and how weird that would be to ride on them when it was just like air to them
*like Kelli I was looking forward to seeing the fountain...come on people, it was right there!
*wanted more development on the people in the Order

I do want to say that I liked the movie. It was good. Now I am so waiting for the last book....

LIVE HARRY! LIVE!

Why...why...why am I up???

Here's some of Miss Maggie..........who you all really want to see....

Yep, it's really late on Thursday night, and I'm still up. It's pretty terrible actually. I really WANT to go to sleep, but I just can't yet. Here's why....I have a UTI! Ugh! Sorry if that grossed anyone out. I'm just pretty mad about it. If you've ever had a UTI, you know why I'm still up. So, here's my topic of the night....Doc in the Box. I went to one for the first time tonight. That's what happens when you need to see someone after 9:00. Anyway, it wasn't so bad. I was just glad I had somewhere to go. Then my sweet husband went to the 24 hour CVS pharmacy just for me! It was probably the greatest gift I have ever received. :p So here I am just waiting for the meds to kick in, but back to Doc in the Box. I had to pay more than the usual copay. WHAT!?? Does this make sense to anyone? If I could have waited until the next day, I certainly would have....and the copay would have been$20 less. That's right...$20 less. That stinks! Then I had to you know what...pee in a cup. I was just hoping that was all over after the whole pregnancy thing! Ugh! Anyway, I just want to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be.

Now on to other not so gross topics.....
The 4th of July was fun. Actually all the fun started on the 3rd. We went to see Kaboom Town. Always a good show! Maggie woke up and got to see her first fireworks, and she wasn't scared a bit. I'll post some pics of that soon. Then on the actual 4th we went to Kelli and JoeDan's to have a cook out. Fun times! Fun peeps were there. I didn't do so well on the eating front, but it could have been way worse. That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be in my bed soon........

Here are some pics.....

Well, here are some pics of our sweet girl. I guess it's pretty bad when other people(like Kelli) have put more photos on here of Maggie than we have! I should say I have. Here's the deal though....I never seem to be able to find where Aaron stashes all the pictures. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to find them, but I seriously have the absolute worst time. I am just so tired of feeling like a big dork on the computer. Seriously! It's pretty bad.

Back on subject.... Maggie is great. She is getting close to 3 months. When I thought about that today, I totally teared up. Time really does fly. I mean, look at that first picture. I LOVE her in the monkey outfit. She has now outgrown it. Yep, it's not long enough. My baby is growing up already. I'll try to do better at posting pictures, but don't hold me to it. I read other people's blogs way more than I pay attention to mine..... :o)