I forgot to mention...

We found out Christmas morning that we will be having another little girl. We are pleased and excited, of course, and now we just need to start thinking of a name. That's the hard part.

I am actually a little relieved that we will be able to use all of sallie's clothes that I have saved and that sallie rose will have a sister.

The ultrasound showed that everything is going well for the little girl and that she is growing as she should be, thanks be to God. That is the best news of all.

Christmas fun

I am now blogging from my new iPad thanks to a great Christmas present.

Within in a week of Christmas

Sallie Rose and I are so excited that we are within a week of Christmas. We head to Texas on Wednesday and then the real fun begins.

Sallie has asked us almost everyday if it was Christmas morning yet. She is so confused about the date, but she will soon find out when Christmas morning is. She can't wait to see if Santa brought her a Minnie Mouse doll.

I have to say, I just caught her digging into one of my favorite candles and had it all over the rug and ruined the candle, so Santa might be reconsidering her present. Errrrrrr....

Oh and today we go to the dr. for our 18 week sonogram. Yeah, can't wait to see the baby. We will find out the sex, but not til Christmas morning. I can't wait! I honestly have no preconceived ideas about whether it is a boy or girl. Either one is great and we just want a healthy baby!

The Littlest Star

Sallie Rose had her first Christmas Pageant at Church. They have been rehearsing for weeks and last Sunday they had a 3 hour rehearsal after Church. She knew every word to every song and was so excited about wearing her costume. The costumes were super cute. Of course, the night of the pageant she was in a bad mood and didn't want to do anything. I believe she sang one verse to Away in the Manger and that was it.

There were about 15 3 and 4 year olds that were dressed as stars and the boys costumes were way too big for any of the boys and they kept poking Sallie Rose in the eye while they stood on the risers or hitting her in the back. She was annoyed. She didn't cry and she didn't yell, so all in all it was a success. I do have some cute videos, but I am not even going to attempt to load that here.

We are getting excited about Christmas and she can not wait to see if Santa brings her a Minnie Mouse doll. I finally wrapped some of our gifts to other people and she came home and was so excited that Santa had come. I had to explain that Santa had not come and those were gifts for her friends. She was not accepting it and lo and behold, I had to put the gifts in the closet so she would quit crying and not unwrap any of them. It's a hard concept to understand, I suppose.

Here she is showing Christopher, her BFF, her ballet shoes. He asked her if she could dance in them. She said no.

This is a glimpse of the costumes. The girls had silver and the boys were gigantic gold stars.

Christmas Decorating: Part 1

Check out Part 1 HERE.

Baby Deuce

I finally decided to take some pictures of the new baby bump. I am 16 weeks this week, but I feel further along since we started going to the doctor at 6 weeks. They thought I was further along than I was.

So far, I don't think I have gained as much weight as last time, but then again I didn't gain most of until this time. The only reason I really even am concerned about it is because I do feel like all the weight I gained might have had something to do with my blood pressure problems at the end, although they can not prove that. I am still watching it a little more than last time and trying to avoid things like sweets and Mexican food. I ate a lot of both of those last time. :)

Everything is going well so far and I feel pretty good, still a little tired and not exercising as much as I should be, but what can you do?

Oh and I did make a mistake a few posts ago about what the due date is. It is May 19th not March 19th.

Sallie Rose wanted to be in the picture.

Hey little baby in there.

Today we went to see Santa (and it was adorable!) and tonight we go get our tree! I can't wait to put out all my Christmas decorations that I made last year. My lollipops and peppermints!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am proud to say that I am feeling out of my funk that I was in last week and ready to get jolly and excited about Christmas.

I don't usually have "funks" that last very long. I am that person who always says "it will be fine and everything will work out the way God planned it." Well the last month has been very hard and my "it will be fine" machine was broken. I couldn't shake it. I was tired of discussing which one of the numerous bills we should pay this month and alert those who wouldn't be getting paid until next month, hopefully. I think it was just a surprise to me that we were in this position again with the rentals. I had worked so darn hard to get them rented and then 4 murders happen within 4 weeks within 2 blocks of our rentals. We lose 2 tenants because of the murders, and then the next month 3 more for various reasons. Plus, many of our tenants are just not paying their rent and I don't have the heart to kick them out immediately. Well, that's not real great business, because we have bills to pay and its usually their bills to keep their water and electricity on.

So, it hit me. I was tired of this business and I am tired of dealing with these tenants and their "needs". I went to a funk. And so did Kevin. It's not easy to unfunk when your partner is in the same funk. Then, one day I woke up in a good mood and decided, yeah its bad, but we are still paying all of our personal bills and we still have a beautiful home and no we might not have money at the end of the month to do anything but buy a coke, but that is more than most people could dream of right now. I am BLESSED AND I WILL BE HAPPY. I will deal with all the other unpleasantness of not being able to pay the roof company or so on, but I will still be happy and have faith in God. I am working as hard as I can and he will bring us through it. It just seems like we have been doing this same merry go round for 3 years.

On the other hand, I have a healthy baby growing and another healthy baby on the way. We took Sallie Rose to the doctor with us on Tuesday and I had asked her if she had any questions for the doctor and she had a couple. She wanted to ask him if we could get the baby out today and other various related questions. When we saw the doctor, I asked her if she had any questions for him and she said (in her cute, tiny voice) "what's your middle name?". We all laughed and he was a little embarrassed, because his middle name is Eugene and he is not very fond of it. It was adorable.

We will be finding out the sex of deuce (baby #2), on December 20th, but will wrap it up and not look until Christmas morning. We want to give ourselves a little surprise and a little extra Christmas joy.

So, here is to a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas full of family, fun, Christ and health.

Children's Sermon

Now that Sallie Rose is 3, she gets to go to big Church with me. Today was her 2nd Sunday to go with me and considering she had already gone once and did just fine, I really wasn't worried about it.

The first Sunday she sat quietly and scribbled with the little pencils and occasionally she would whisper to me and she even folded her hands and closed her eyes when it was time to pray. She did great. Then, she went to the front for Children's sermon all by herself and went out the door to Children's Church.

And today, well it started off good, but ended up with me running down the side aisle of the long Church to whip my child's behind.

We sat next to Christopher Butler and his parents. Sallie Rose and Christopher were baptized together and have grown up in the Church nursery for 3 years as buddies. We love Christopher and his parents. The kids were a little loud at first and I had to grab Sallie Rose and put her in my lap so she would be quiet. Christopher was being a little louder than her, but she wanted to play and stand up just like him. They did fine.

Then, it was time for them to walk to the front. Our Church is fairly big and this particular Sunday, the Church was full which means there was probably 400 people in service. We sit on the 3rd row from the back. I let her and Christopher walk up to the front by themselves. She went and sat down and I could not see her. I saw Christopher though and he was standing at the altar, kind of hopping up and down and just not sitting still.

I wasn't concerned about him....until I saw Sallie Rose get up and walk over to where Christopher was playing. At that moment, I thought that I might want to walk up there and make sure nothing was about to happen, but I didn't. I just watched them nervously. All the other children were sitting quietly and listening and usually if there are other kids who are not, the preacher will ask them to sit down and listen.

I watched as the two of them started giggling, then they started jumping up and down on the altar and I kept waiting for them to stop, well of course they didn't. They decided to start hopping like bunnies down the aisle and waving to me and Whitney very happily. They had no idea that they were embarrassing their Moms and that they were disturbing the Children's sermon. I was a little frozen, I was laughing nervously, and then as they got louder and starting hopping more and more, I got up and went down the side aisle (very red faced I am sure) and went straight to the front. Of course it felt like it took me an hour to get up there. Not to mention, it took me an hour to pick a dress this morning, because I am getting a little too big to wear anything. The dress I chose was a little short and a little tight and I felt very self conscience that as I was running down the aisle my butt was hanging out or that people could see the top part of my panty hose.

As soon as I got to the front, I grabbed Sallie Rose and pulled her off that altar and sat her on the front row. I was so mortified and a little amused as well. I can't help but laugh, because you always hear those kids that say or do funny things at Children's sermon and you always laugh, but never think about it being your sweet, nicely dressed little girl. Needless to say, I will be walking her down the Church for the next few Sundays to make sure she stays in line.

Honestly, how could you stay mad at this face?

We're having a baby!

We are so excited to be having another baby. We have been waiting for the right time and the right time is NOW! Sallie Rose is so great and she is so excited about having a baby brother or baby sister or both as she likes to think. She tells the baby good morning almost every morning and she kisses it good night every night. I bribe her to snuggle with me on the couch by asking her if she wants to snuggle the baby and she will. She won't just snuggle with me.

The baby is due March 19th and yes we will be finding out the sex of the baby. We will need as much time as possible to decide on a name for either a boy or a girl. Kevin and I have very different ideas about names and Sallie Rose was our one agreeable name and I don't think we can use that again, although Sallie Rose the first thinks we can.

I have felt a lot worse this time around. I basically lay on the couch every night and try to take a nap everyday. I was pretty irritable for a few weeks too. I think in the next couple of weeks I should start to feel a little better.

In other news, Sallie Rose was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. She was soooooo cute, as you can see from the pictures below. She had a festival at school and we went trick or treating around our neighborhood Monday night. We had a good time, but I am ready to move on to the next Holiday.

Fun Filled Weekend

We had a very fun filled weekend in Dallas and we were all 3 exhausted by the time we got on the plane on Sunday. Sallie Rose had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed every minute of it. By Saturday night for her birthday party, she was definitely beginning to wear down. It was so great to be with almost all my family and some long time best friends of mine. We had a wonderful time and thanks to all my family for everything you did for Sallie Rose to make her birthday weekend special.

Her new Super Sallie cape that my Mom made her.

Grumps, formerly known as my Dad, and two of my best friends from Middle School and High School. Aren't they gorgeous?


Sallie Rose blowing out her birthday candles.

Cousin Avery, Sallie Rose, and cousin Vin

Here are Kam and Tara riding some crazy bungee ball. Never ever would I get on that.

Eating friend bubble gum, which was really a marshmallow that tasted like bubble gum. I thought it was pretty good.

Sallie's first rodeo. She was riding in the wind, look at that hair whipping. I laughed so hard that I cried. She was so cute. Her cousin, Vin, won the rodeo.

Two little circus bears. These two really love being with each other.

We were glad to be home and everyone is a little grouchy tonight, so I think we are still trying to recover from having so much fun.

We also had a parent/teacher conference this morning and her teacher had nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She passed all the "tests" with flying colors and was only 1 of 2 students in the class who could count to 30 and knew all her shapes, colors, ABC's, and recognized her name. She did not however know how to use scissors very well. So, this week we work on scissor use. Most of all, the teacher said she looked forward to seeing Sallie Rose everyday and that she was getting along well with the other children.

Savannah Birthday Party

Saturday we had a few of Sallie Rose's friends over for a small birthday party. She was so cute the whole day. That morning she helped me clean up the house, make cupcakes, and decorate the house in all purple. That is one of the things she said she wanted as a gift for her birthday, she wanted everything to be purple. We made that happen.

As we were putting out the purple tablecloth, purple napkins, purple balloons, and purple cupcakes, she kept thanking me for her beautiful purple party. It was so sweet and I just hope that as she gets older she will appreciate the small things like that forever. We did not go over board and get her any really big gifts, just some shoes and clothes that she needed, but I tried to make her party as special as I could. She seemed to feel real special. She is real special.

Nana, Kevin's Mom, bought her the little dress she is wearing and she loved it. Kevin's parents have been sick so they were not able to make it to the party, but I was sure to get a few pictures of her in the dress to send to Nana.

Sallie Rose had a wonderful day and the next day we played with her new scooter (that she rides all over the house until we can take it outside), her Candyland game and all her other new toys that she got. Thursday we head to Texas for the State Fair and another party, yes that's right, she will have 2 parties. I hope she is as sweet at this next one as she was at this one.

Vacation/Upcoming birthday

Wow, I have been trying to do this post for 2 weeks, but somehow I have not been able to find the time to sit down for 15 minutes to do it. So, finally I am writing about our trip that we took 2 weeks ago and now I have forgotten most of the things I wanted to say. :)

We stayed in a nice condo on Amelia Island that faced the beach and had a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was small, but perfect for us. Sallie Rose loved having her own room, but she did ask if her friend Julia could come next year to sleep in the other bed. Amelia Island is really nice. Its not very big, but it has a little downtown area that has good restaurants and an ice cream shop. What more does a 3 year old need.

Sallie Rose loved the beach! She sat and played in the sand for 2 hours and never really got in the water. She would find pools of water on the beach and sit in those. We had a great, relaxing time. It was just what our little family needed. She never threw a tantrum, she slept great and she loved being with both me and Kevin. I loved being with them too! One night we were driving back from eating and she kept saying "let's get back to our combo and look at the beach." I thought I was going to melt in cuteness. Of course, her sometimes annoying Dad corrected her and told her it was a condo.

I would definitely recommend Amelia Island to anyone who is looking for a low key beach vacation. The weather was great too.

This weekend I will be making purple cupcakes (and next weekend too) to get ready for Sallie's 3rd birthday. We will have a party here with a couple of her friends and then we head to Texas for the State Fair and another birthday party with her whole family. We are very excited. I am not so excited about my firstborn baby turning 3, but it is coming whether I like it or not.

She has been such a fun, easy child lately and I have loved every minute with her. She is learning manners, she is beyond smart, and she told me the other day I was the best Mom ever. Happy Birthday next weekend to the most precious, beautiful, best dancing 3 year old in the World.

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September 15th is finally here

September 15th is a very important day to me each year. Since I have known Kevin, it has been a day I looked forward to each year. It is the day that all of our new residents have moved in and have settled into their new rooms and have usually stopped bugging us about getting another dresser, desk, light bulb and so on. This September 15th is a little different this year.

Last year and the year before were very trying times for us. As soon as we had Sallie Rose (the best day of our lives of course), the stock market crashed a week later and our downward spiral of events began to happen with Kevin's work and with the rentals. As much as I would like to reflect on those events to help myself realize what we have overcome and accomplished in the last year, I am moving forward and trying not to think about some of the events that forever scarred Kevin and me. Some of the things that happened were things that were out of our hands, but still felt so incredibly close and personal and that we pray and hope never happen again, and not just for our sake, but for the sake of our young, vulnerable art student renters.

This year, we tried new things and we came to grips with the fact that these rental properties brought us together as a couple and they would not pull us apart. As difficult and demanding as they are, both financially and time wise, they are a part of us and they should never determine how we live our lives. We do have a very busy time of year, which was these last 2 months, but we have to work together and grow stronger in the situation rather than apart. I have a hard time telling people what it is we do, but it is very physically and mentally challenging and it is a struggle to figure out how to deal with so many different types of personalities and most of all PARENTS! Some of these parents, ooo weee, they are awful. I had one Dad call me a slumlord and that I take advantage of young children. That kind of thing makes me so mad, if he only knew how hard I worked and how much I truly did care about most of my renters, he might change his attitude. Not to mention, he was mad over something so petty and something he had no idea about. I get all worked up just typing it.

Those are the kinds of situations that build my character and help me to deal with people, who I don't really care to even deal with. This year has been different. I was not working in an office and trying to run the properties on Friday. I had a better outlook on life in general and I took the chip off my shoulder and quit wondering "why me?". Because that obviously is a very dumb question and I am so grateful that I am healthy and have so many people in my life who I love.

And by the Grace of God, we are 100% rented and I made it through move in week and I think I have a pretty good group of new tenants. I thanked God last night for giving me the strength to make it through another rental season and for helping us improve our outlook and outcome. Not to mention, I have a very cool design job I am working on! Woo-hoo for work that is actually what I went to 8 years of college for.

This weekend, Kevin and I are going to Atlanta, alone, and Sallie Rose is staying with Susan. Next weekend, we are taking a much needed 3 day family vacation and in October we are going to Dallas to have Sallie Rose's 3rd birthday with her whole family (minus Kevin's parents). God is good!

First day of pre-pre-pre school

Here she is preparing to be serious and learn so much

Here she is showing me her change of clothes bag

And, the beautiful, contrived smile

Sallie Rose had her first official day of pre school, which in my mind it really pre to the third degree, because technically she won't be in preschool until pre kindergarten. Although it doesn't matter, I still like to clarify.

She is now attending the school at our Church. I was very hesitant to take her out of her previous school, because she loved it so much and she learned SO much. She never had any problems. Plus, Kevin was concerned that this was their first year of having a school and she would suffer in spite of that. We shall see. So far, she has had a few bad days and has been a little defiant, but I honestly believe that is her age. She is definitely testing her limits at home and very strongly. And then some days, she is as fun and happy as can be.

On a side note, last night she fell out of her bed while sleeping and that was not cool. Not cool at all. Those darn safety rails evidently are not fool proof. She does seem a little stranger than normal today.

We were so busy for the last 4 weeks and we are ready to slow down, enjoy the changing weather and take a few small family trips.

Do it yourselfers

All you do-it-yourselfers might enjoy this. There are some really great projects to look into making.

No Access

Uh...I have been without internet for almost 2 weeks now. Our home internet has been out and my office computer is so slow and works 1 out of every 4 days; therefore, I have not been able to really use the internet. So, no blogging and no reading blogs lately.

Sadly, I don't have much to say and I don't think I have any new pictures of Sallie Rose. I have been very busy with our rental properties for the last two weeks. I decided I wanted to save some money on painting one of them, so I dedicated about 12 hours last week and weekend to doing just that. I also enlisted the help of Kevin and my friend, Natalie, to help as well. I enjoy painting, but it was a lot of work and I have had a crick in my neck since Sunday night. It's sad, but I am getting too old to do manual labor. The apartment looked great and overall I did save about $1000, so I would say it was worth it. It's worth it as long as you don't have to live with me and hear me complain for a whole week after about how tired and sore I am.

Sallie Rose is growing and changing so much. She is definitely getting a little more independent and a little bit harder some days to handle. She has started really trying to resist everything I ask her to do, but some days she is a perfect little angel. She sleeps in her big girl bed just fine. She loves to go to the potty and needs her "privacy" when she does it. I think she is also beginning to learn that sometimes she can get whatever she wants by making a really cute face and asking in her sweetest voice. It gets Kevin every time.

Here she is at her new vanity. I saw this in an antique store with our neighbor, Patrick, and I wanted to buy it. I didn't buy it and he went back and got it. Very nice.

Sunday lunch. Everyone was so shocked to see me with my hair done, because I never take the time to do it. My theory is that if I do it all the time, then no one will appreciate it. This way, everyone comments on it and we all win!

Daddy and Sallie Rose. Twinsies.

Weekend project

I don't get around to doing weekend projects much anymore, because I am usually consumed with housework that wasn't done during the week or I want to do things outside of the house.

This weekend I started a project and finished it. And I had fun doing it!

You can see it here.

The good, bad and ugly

I have been meaning to post about our Two Week Texas Tour Trip, but I have so much to say and some many pictures, I was a little overwhelmed. I will give a short recap on the good, the bad and the ugly and then I will post as many pictures as I can (there are a lot of good ones).

The good:

Lots of good things happen, but the best good thing was being with my family. This trip seemed to be a little less busy than usual. It probably didn't hurt that we were there for 16 days and we had a lot of time to spend with everyone. We swam, we boated, we played games, and best of all Sallie Rose spend a lot of time with her cousins: Ally, Maddy, Vin and Betty.

I also did a lot of fabric browsing and junk store browsing. I only bought a few yards of fabric to make some cute pillows, but I really enjoyed seeing a lot of new fun things. Texas has such a different style and I saw so many very creative, unique things that you wouldn't see anywhere else (definitely not in Savannah).

The Bad:

16 days is a very long time to be away from my bed, my husband, and a VERY long time to sleep in the same bed with a 2 year old who thinks sleeping sideways with her feet in your ribs is the way to do it. I was a little tired on some days, to say the least. It was all worth it though.

The Ugly:

We went to Amy's Ice Cream in Austin, because I love their Mexican Vanilla flavor and they have a playground. Well, Sallie Rose was in a particularly bad mood that afternoon and so was I. I asked Maddy to take her to the playground so she could get off my back. They were on the playground for about 5 minutes and I have to admit, I was not even looking out the window at them. Then, I turn to look and here comes Madison holding Sallie Rose with her face out and I was confused. Did she have a tee tee or poo poo accident? No, her face was gushing blood and she was screaming very loudly. I grabbed her and tried to find a bathroom. I had no idea what to do. Luckily, my Mom was there and she went with us to the bathroom and knew just what to do. Sallie Rose had hit her nose and mouth on part of the playground and was bleeding from both openings. After, many paper towels, Sallie crying and me crying, my Mom got the bleeding to stop. She didn't break anything or lose a tooth and we had no trip to the ER, but it shook me up and it shook her up very badly. We got over it in a couple of days, but that was Ugly.


Now the pictures:

Me and my lifelong best friend, hot cousin, Grace.

Me and my lifelong best friend, hot sister, Tara.

I love this: me taking a picture of Betty taking a picture of Sallie Rose.

Vin on the horsie swing.

Betty on the horsie swing.

Sallie Rose on the River Walk. It was so HOT.

Mom, Maddy, Sara on the River Walk.

Trying on Vintage glasses at Uncommon Goods in Austin.

Maddy as Mickey Mouse

Maddy and Ally

I wanted to do more pictures, but this blog is driving me crazy. I will do more pictures in another post.