Wastin Time

5 months

2012-01-16T20:39:00.000-06:00

To Busy to Blog Because We Are Busy Saving the World

2012-01-12T21:35:00.000-06:00

Saving the world from trees that is. Here lately Molly has wanted to wear her super hero cape (a twin sheet) I mean every girl super hero needs a long cape flowing behind them. We also have been hiding out in her castle (her closet), but I am starting to think that she is trying to hold Hattie and I prisoners there. Once we get in there she will not let us leave and she just keeps giving me blocks telling me they are cheese to eat. Oh and I have no idea why we were saving the world from trees. All that being said not much interesting going on here and I have not been taking ANY pictures. Hopefully soon I will get back into the blogging mode.

First Trip to the Dentist

2011-12-30T13:13:00.000-06:00

Molly had her first trip to the dentist. She saw Aunt Abby.... Dr. Mann, DDS. We or I was very nervous about how she would do. I mean it is one thing if she starts crying and refusing and it is someone you don't know but it was Aunt Abby and I wanted her to do so good. Well Molly did awesome!! I could tell Molly was very nervous but she cooperated and did great the whole time. When we got in the car to leave. She told me "mom I did good I did not even cry!"

If anybody is looking for a dentist Dr. Mann is working in Sunnyvale on Thursdays and Fridays:
http://www.abbymanndds.com/

Christmas Round Two

2011-12-29T22:22:00.001-06:00

We are very blessed to have such a big loving family on both sides. Christmas round two was with Bret's family which is here in Rockwall. The Friday before Christmas we got together for dinner and presents with just immediate family. We had a great time and Molly loved her presents.

The Tuesday after Christmas we got together at Bret's grandparents with all of the uncle's, aunts and cousins.

Christmas Morning 2011

2011-12-29T22:12:00.000-06:00

Molly really did not want to go to bed on Christmas Eve so she was willing to do anything. Even when I asked her to take some pictures.

Molly was being so shy Christmas morning but warmed up and loved her presents. If you ask her what Santa brought her she will tell you she can't remember. I don't know if she thinks she has to keep it a secret or just does not want to talk about it.

What Might Have Been Our Christmas Card If I Actually Did One

2011-12-23T11:00:00.000-06:00

So I never got around to getting some pictures taken of the girls. Bret and I just decided this week we would try and get a few snap shots of them so that we could at least give family a picture of Molly and Hattie together. This was the winning picture! And this would have maybe been our Christmas card if we had done this early and I had time to actually send any out. So Merry Christmas!! By the way, I love getting everyone's Christmas cards in the mail.

In case you are wondering neither Bret or I whipped this card up. It would have come from Shutterfly.

Christmas Round One

2011-12-22T15:51:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we had Christmas with my side of the family. We all traveled to Cleveland, TX where my parents and siblings came in from San Antonio, well really Stockdale but trying to explain to people where that is....it is just easier to say San Antonio.

On Friday we had Christmas with my immediate family then went over to my dad's mom for Christmas with his family where we had a delicious spread of Mexican food.

On Saturday we had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Thanks to my dad for all of his fishing at the coast we had a scrumptious fish fry.

Molly, Colton, and Rylan playing in the leaves

Lori, Rylan, and Hattie

Molly and Rylan helping make santa hats

Hattie and her Rudolph nose

My Mamaw (my mom's mom) and the Great Grand kids

My immediate family: My mom, dad, two sisters, brother, brother in law, niece, and nephew

My Mamaw and just the Grandkids. Well actually we are missing one. Amanda we miss you! Her husband is in the Coast Guard and is stationed in Sitka, AK but not for much longer.

4 Months Old

2011-12-21T11:58:00.000-06:00

We are loving every minute with this happy little girl. She loves to give smiles and is typically an easy going baby. Hattie can't get enough of Molly and will just smile and giggle at her all day.

Here are a few things you are up to Hattie:

Weight: 15 lbs 3.5 oz

Height: 25 in
You are rolling both ways, not much but you have started.
You usually go to bed around 8:00 and sleep anywhere from 6 to 10 hours.
You have a bottle every 3 to 4 hours.

We just started you on cereal and you gobble it right up. You love your food.
You sometimes like to growl at us when you talk. It is very funny.
You have started to enjoy the carseat better. Those days of endless screaming in the car are past us, yippee!

Just a little video if you want to hear some baby giggles.

Christmas Programs and Parties

2011-12-20T22:30:00.001-06:00

Last week was Molly's Christmas program and party at her school. Her class dressed as reindeer and sang a few songs. Hattie was done with Christmas programing so we did not get to see the older class do the manger scene. I also did not get any pictures of Molly's class party. She ended up leaving school early because she was not feeling well.

A little "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"

They had Santa come to the school one day. She would have NEVER done this if I was there. I did ask her if she wanted to go with me to get a picture of Hattie with Santa. She said "sure BUT I don't need to take another picture with him. I already did at school. Just Hattie can." And well, I still have not taken Hattie to get her picture with Santa. At this point it is not gonna happen either, oh well.

We had our tacky Christmas party with our Growth Group from church, so much fun!

Bret and I wore matching shirts. You really need to see a full length picture of us to get the full picture. I had on way more tackiness going on that was not in this picture.

Sisterly Love

2011-12-06T19:19:00.000-06:00

We will see how long this lasts.

And just because...yes Hattie loves to pull Molly's hair. Molly cries and cries.

Thanksgiving 2011 (Act 1 & 2)

2011-11-30T21:22:00.000-06:00

Act 1:
We went over to Bret's grandparents on Thanksgiving day and ate some wonderful food and good visits with family.

Molly loves to play under their dinning room table.

Hattie and Audrey

The three cousins: Molly, Hattie, and Audrey

Act 2:
Friday we traveled to Cleveland, TX where both of my grandparents live. We had Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family on Friday and my mom's on Saturday. For confidentiality reasons (really just for the sake of not embarrassing my family members or myself) I cannot tell you everything that happened in Cleveland. What happens in Cleveland stays in Cleveland and if you have ever been to an east Texas Thanksgiving then you might have some clue of what I am talking about. We did have a great time and had lots of food. I will say we did eat something different each day: Thursday - roasted turkey, Friday - fried turkey, and Saturday fried turkey and a delicious grilled pork tenderloin.

3 Months and a Turkey

2011-11-17T20:57:00.002-06:00

What have we been up too. Well we have a

3 month old, and a

turkey!

We have reached that pivotal 3 month mark. Do I dare say she is sleeping through the night?? We will see if it was a lucky week or if she is being nice to mommy and starting to sleep through the night. She has also ditched that fussy evening time (more like her witching hour) and is just happy unless she is hungry, tired, or has a dirty diaper but look out if she is tired. I don't know if fussy is the right word to describe her when she is tired. Here is where my mom would say while pointing at me, even Bret for that matter, "I don't know where she gets that from." Yes I do tend to lean more toward the cranky side when it is past my bed time and I am not asleep. Hattie loves to give out smiles and will even give the occasional giggle. I think Molly might get more giggles from her then all of us. I am not sure that Hattie knows she is doing it yet but it is so sweet to hear. She will only give out like two little giggles then look around like what just happened. She gives lots of silent giggles or that is what I call them. We will be trying to get her to giggle and she will just have her mouth wide open with that twinkle in her eye but no sound comes out. Now she still hates the car seat so that sometimes makes for miserable car rides, but some days are better than others.

This morning was the Thanksgiving program at Molly's preschool. Molly's class was turkeys. Each class performed a few songs and then they had their feast. I was shocked that Molly actually participated in some of the songs.

October Happenings

2011-11-03T21:21:00.001-05:00

I have not had much time to do any blogging so I am keeping this one short (well word short but lots of pictures) and sweet. Here are some pictures of all of the fall festivities we have been up to.

Picking pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch

Playing games at the Fall Festival, well making daddy play the games. Molly was not interested or more like to scared to play any games.

We went to a friends party at a dance studio and Molly loved it! Maybe we need to sign her up for some dance classes.

Halloween is also Bret's moms birthday so our intentions were to go over to her house have dinner and then take Molly trick-or-treating in the neighborhood but Molly had different plans. She was to scared to go trick-or-treating and would not put on her costume so we just stayed and passed out candy.

Hattie and her cousin Audrey in their costumes for Halloween.

Molly checking over the candy bowl.

The Things We do for Entertainment

2011-10-23T21:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, that would be Molly standing in my shower trying to throw a ball out and over. To be honest though it was kind of funny watching her.

2 months

2011-10-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

Oh sweet Hattie is already two months! I am trying to relish every minute of it because I know it happens so fast. She is doing great and growing like a champ. She still eats every two to three hours but will sleep about six hours at night. The only thing about that is sometimes that starts at 8:00 pm which then she is up at 2:00 am to eat and then up every two hours after that. She is smiling and cooing and loves to be talked to. She also loves her big sister Molly. I think her hair is actually starting to grow back in and with a redish tent to it. Her eyes are still blue but I have not doubt they will turn brown since both Bret and I have brown eyes. She went for her two month check up and everything looks great!

Two Month Stats:

Height: 22 1/2 in
Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz

She's A Big Girl Now

2011-09-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

Does that title kind of remind you of the jingle to the old pull-ups commercial......."I'm a big kid now!" Whatever happened to cheesy commercial jingles? I remember most commercials from them. Anyways, this post is neither about commercial jingles or pull-ups. It is about miss Molly going Tuesdays and Thursdays to pre-school. It was a last minute decision. I called to see if they still had any openings in the young 3 year olds class and they did. Molly did not start till two weeks after everyone with all the events we had with Hattie but I think Molly was going stir crazy at home and ready to get out of the house. She usually cries any time we drop her off any where but she did so great! She is such a big girl now (sniff,sniff). Every time I drop her off she just goes right into her class and tells me bye. She loves going to school. She even asked the other day to wear her hair in a ponytail.....yes, my child wanted me to fix her hair!! That is huge!

Check it Out - You Grew in Our Hearts

2011-09-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share a blog of some friends of ours that are starting the process of adoption:

You Grew in Our Hearts

The Green's are a wonderful family with two girls and a boy. They are adding another little boy to their family from Ethiopia. Please pray for them and follow their journey through this. Besides Holly writes some pretty funny and entertaining posts.

You Grew In Our Hearts

1 Month Old

2011-09-23T14:21:00.000-05:00

Sweet Hattie Jane turned 1 month a week ago but we have been a little busy so I am just taking some pictures. We had to go to the pediatrician for a follow up visit and this little chunker weighs 9 lbs 14 oz and is doing great. She has always been a fussy baby but I think maybe we have that figured out and we have seen a night and day difference in her lately, such a sweet baby girl!

Both of my girls so serious and not looking.

Both of them with their hands on their face. These silly girls.

The One Good Day of Vacation

2011-09-21T17:47:00.000-05:00

We did have a good day of family vacation before it all went bad (see previous post if not sure what I am talking about). We went with some friends to the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch Resort in San Antonio. The girls and adults had a great time. They have very kid friendly pools to play in which was so nice since Molly cannot swim yet. She could just wade around in the shallow and go in and out as much as she wanted.

Molly and Audree

Miss Saylor and Hattie

Just to put a picture of Molly with her hair in a ponytail! That she actually left in!

Playing in the sand/beach at the lazy river.

Vacation Gone Really Bad

2011-09-19T16:01:00.001-05:00

I don't even know where to begin. Last Sunday the 11th we headed to San Antonio to spend some time with some friends at a family resort for a few days. We got there Sunday evening and had a great time Monday. Then things quickly changed. The events of what happened next:

Monday evening I noticed that Hattie was sleeping more than usual and felt kind of warm but just thought maybe she was warm from being outside.
Through out the night I noticed Hattie continued to feel warmer and would make a pitiful whimper when I would pick her up to feed her.
Early Tuesday morning Hattie was burning up and I told Bret I was pretty sure she had a fever. I took it to confirm that she did have a fever at 101.8. I knew my pediatician had just told us at her two week checkup that anything over 100.3 is very serious for a baby under 3 months.
I start to panic a little but held back the tears and Bret and I head to the ER at Santa Rosa Children's hospital. Our friends kept Molly with them. Did I already mention we are out of town and in San Antonio?
We walk in the ER the lady at the desk that took your name and info of why you are there immediately but kindly explained that this is serious and that we would not be waiting and would be put in a room asap. She was not kidding, we were immediately taken back.
A doctor immediately came in the room and started going over the procedure of what would be happening. He was so nice but wanted to make sure that we understood how serious this was and because she was not 30 days old they had to do a whole work up to find out fast why she had a fever. He said they would do blood work, a cath to get urine sample, and a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. The doctor assured me if at any time I need to leave the room I could because he had gone through this with his son when he was a baby and he even had to leave the room. By this point I am an emotional basket case!!
The doctor leaves and nurses come in to get blood work and urine sample. Most of the time only one nurse was in the room so somebody had to hold Hattie still while they attempted to poke her and hold her legs while they did a cath. I just looked at Bret bawling and he knew there was no way I was going to hold my baby while they did that. I had to look away. It makes me teary eyed thinking about it.
Because Hattie was so upset and sick her veins would not cooperate so it took 4 different nurses and 8 pokes to get an IV started for antibiotics and get blood which they never could draw they had to end up dripping.
Doctor came and got us to take to room to do the spinal tap. I left the room so could not really tell you how it went.
After 5 hours in the ER getting all the work up they admitted us and got us to a room.
Once in the room Bret told me he was not feeling well. The nurse in the room took his temp and it was 101. She asked him to leave.
Luckily my parents live an hour from where we were because they were able to get and keep Molly and Bret had a place to stay. Bret was sick the whole time so was never able to come to the hospital.
Hattie and I stayed at the hospital for four days waiting on cultures and test results to come back.
The spinal tap results came back quickly and was negative, praise God!!! Now we wait to see if it is a bacterial infection in the blood. Results came back positive that there was a bacteria but they wanted to see exactly which bacteria to determine if it was a contaminate that got in the blood when they were taking it, which is exactly what had happened.
The third day there Hattie developed a rash all over which the doctor said was viral which confirmed even more that she had gotten a viral infection. Probably the same thing Bret had but since she is so little it is very serious and scary.
Bret was finally feeling better and came to the hospital to pick us up on Friday. We stayed at my parents Friday night and then came back home to Rockwall on Saturday.
We are all so exhausted but so very thankful that sweet Hattie Jane is okay. I still get teary eyed when I look at her to think how bad it could have really been.
I love my girls so much and am so thankful for them!

Feeling much better and listening to all the beeping going on from the machines.

Looking at me like mom what the heck just happened to me.

Getting a nap in which is so hard to do in a hospital.

My sweet serious little old man. I think she is the cutest but that hair line does not help and makes her look like a little old man :)

2 Weeks, First Bath, and a Cousin all in One Day!

2011-09-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday Hattie was two weeks. She also lost her umbilical cord that day so got a real bath, and my sister-in-law had her baby.

Hattie's two week stats:

Height: 20 1/2 in (75%)

Weight: 8 lbs 4 oz (78%)

I really thought that Hattie would not enjoy her bath. She seems to be a little more out spoken about what she likes and doesn't like than Molly was, but she loved her bath or well she seemed fine with it until we took her out of the water. She did not like being out and getting dressed but after she was dressed she was happy again.

My sister-in-law, Abby Mann, had her baby on Tuesday morning. They waited to find out the sex of the baby. We were all so excited when we found out it was a GIRL!! Welcome to the world Audrey Mann. She is so precious!

A Princess Should Never Pick Her Nose

2011-08-25T19:28:00.000-05:00

Well this princess does!

Now this is my Molly: In a Toy Story t-shirt just running around having fun!

1 Week Old

2011-08-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

Hattie is one week old today. I feel like it has been longer but at the same time I can't believe it has been a week. I think you tend to loose track of time with little sleep ;) Molly just loves Hattie and cannot get enough of her. She always hold ups her shirt and asks if she can help feed Hattie too. I explained to her about mommy feeding her and that just mommy has milk. Molly told me that she has milk too, that she has chocolate milk to feed her.

Hattie is doing great. She tends to be a little moody when she is awake but I think we have that figured out now and realize that she is going through a growth spurt and just hungry All The Time!! Which for this nursing momma is not fun but after seeing a lactation consultant and getting all that figured out hopefully things will calm down. I mean this little girl loves to eat. We went to the pediatrician Friday and she weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and today at the pediatricians she weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. Yes in just four days she has gained that much. Hungry little thing :)!

Hattie Jane is Here!

2011-08-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

Hattie Jane Williams

Born on 8/16/2011 at 3:45 pm

7 lbs 6 oz 19 3/4 in

Apparently Hattie was not being stubborn she was just being punctual! I was scheduled to be induced on my due date. The morning of August 16th Bret and I woke up to head to the hospital. We had to be there at 6:30 and were running a little early so knowing it would be a long day Bret wanted to go grab some breakfast for himself. On the way to get breakfast I started having contractions but did not really say anything to him. Once we got to the hospital and all set up my contractions were already very regular and getting strong. The doctor ended up having to go to a surgery so just said to get an epidural and get comfy. I got my epidural and they checked me I was at 5 cm. The doctor came back after his surgery to break my water but it had already broken. At that point I was at 7 cm. He kept watching Hattie's monitor and said he did not like what he was seeing. He said "I think the cord might be wrapped around her. If that is the case I may not be able to be patient when you start pushing. I might have to help you/pull her out." Then he looked at the monitor again and said but maybe it is not, maybe she is trying to trick me. He told the nurse to give me a whiff of pitocin. Well she gave me just a whiff but I quickly started feeling nauseous and Bret handed me a bucket and left the room. He can handle seeing all of the other stuff but the second I mention throwing up he was out the door. He came back with the nurse and she checked me thinking I was nauseous for a reason and she said well there you go you are a 10. The doctor had left the hospital to go see a few patients. The nurses had me start pushing while he was on his way but then quickly had me stop because they said a few more pushes and Hattie would be here. The doctor came in and I pushed only 4 or 5 times and Hattie was here. Right before she came out he was telling Bret where to stand and what he was going to do to cut the cord. Well those plans quickly changed because right when she was coming out the doctor said "Just what I thought the cord is wrapped around her neck." He quickly got it cut and we are so thankful it did not take me long to push her out and that she was okay. This recovery was so much better than with Molly so we got to come home the next day. We are adjusting to having two kids and no/little sleep :). We are so thankful and grateful for our precious Hattie. More pictures to come soon. Molly just loves Hattie and can't stay away from her.

Belly Love

2011-08-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

Molly loves to feel Hattie kick in my belly. She really only felt her kick once but now anytime she puts her hand on my belly I make it move and she thinks it is Hattie. She gets so excited.

Yummy Snow Cone

2011-08-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

Just trying to beat the heat with a yummy delicious red messy snow cone. And yes that does happen to be the tiniest breeze blowing. Okay maybe it felt more like a hair dryer blowing on us but at least it was something.

39 Weeks....Are you Kidding Me

2011-08-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

This is all so new to me. Molly came a little before 37 weeks, which I know each pregnancy is so different but even my doctor thought that Hattie Jane would be here by now. She is way to comfy in there or just being really stubborn. Either way the doctor said that if she is not here by next week he would induce by breaking my water since I have already started to dilate. One more week at the most and we finally get to meet Hattie!

38 Weeks

2011-08-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

I am definitely ready for Hattie to get here. Aches and pains and sleepless nights. I feel like I have no more room for Hattie to grow. I am not complaining since we are both healthy and doing great, just making a statement :) The doctor says IF I make it till next weeks appointment he thinks it would be my last prenatal visit. I am not holding my breath though. Everything he has said about this pregnancy has been different or Hattie hears him and is already proving her point that she is going to do what ever she wants.

Potty Party!!

2011-08-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

That's right we had a potty party at the Williams household! Where do I even begin. If you do not care to read a story about a long drawn out process of potty training, especially one talking mostly about pooping then I suggest you don't read this post.

Molly has always been a very calm, sweet, and laid back child. However if she gets something stuck in her mind she can be VERY stubborn about that decision. One of these has been potty training. For the longest time now Molly has shown no interest at all in potty training. I would try to bribe her with food, candy, toys, stickers you name it she could care less. About four weeks ago it was just the two of us at the house and she was arguing with me about not wanting to wear any clothes. She did not want to put on a diaper or panties, nothing. I told her fine then that means if you are naked in my house you have to go pee and poop on the potty. She looked at me and said "okay." For a couple of days after that we had great success with peeing in the potty. We have had a fair share of accidents here and there but for the most part I think she has gotten the peeing thing down. Now pooping in the potty was a whole other story. She was terrified and would cry and cry if she had to poop on the potty. For four weeks now I have been dealing with a terrified little girl that did not want to poop on the potty and would just poop in her panties. Yes for four weeks now I have been cleaning poop out of panties. Even if we were in public she would do this. I was at my wits ends. Once again we tried every trick we could think of. Mind you I used to work with kids that were difficult to potty train and my own daughter was giving me a run for my money. Out of the blue somebody mentioned something about going to Chuck E Cheese for a party in front of Molly. Molly started asking if she could go. I told her if she pooped on the potty then we could go to Chuck E Cheese. For the last week and a half every time she would poop in her panties she would get excited and ask if she could go to Chuck E Cheese I just responded when you poop in the potty. Well finally, finally last night she pooped in the potty!! My husband and I actually gave each other high fives. Molly was so excited and proud of herself as were we. We kept our promise and loaded up around 7:30 last night and headed to play at Chuck E Cheese. Molly loved it. Now don't get me wrong she will not get to go to Chuck E Cheese every time this happens. I can now slowly start scaling back on her prizes now that she knows what to do. But you must understand this was a huge deal and big hurdle for her.

37 Weeks

2011-07-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

36 Weeks

2011-07-20T17:20:00.000-05:00

And the countdown begins. I am 36 weeks. Only four more to go (maybe). I went to the doctor today and he said I had started to dilate just a smidge, but that does not mean anything. I could be like that a couple of weeks. Next week is my last week of work so after that I can just relax (well as much as I can with a baby that has no more room in my belly and chasing a toddler around). It is getting so hard to do things and sleeping at night is a whole other issue. I think at the end you are so miserable and can't sleep so that you kind of start to get a taste of what it will be like when precious baby gets here and you get NO sleep. It is all worth it though! I can't wait to meet and hold Hattie.

Molly's First Movie Theater

2011-07-19T20:13:00.000-05:00

Bret and I have talked before about taking Molly to the movies but just were not sure because she was so young and because even at the house she will not sit through a whole Disney movie. Well when we saw that Winnie the Pooh was in the movie theaters (and only an hour long) we decided to give it a try. Molly was so excited! She was a little intimidated by the seat since it kept trying to fold up on her but once we got her all situated and comfortable she sat and ate her whole bag of popcorn while watching the movie.

Looking at the water fountain while daddy bought the tickets. I guess it is the hair but she looks like such a big girl in this picture (sniff, sniff)

Running to catch up with daddy to go see the movie.

Loving the movie and her popcorn.

65th Wedding Anniversary

2011-07-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrated Bret's grandparents 65th Wedding Anniversary. I am in awe of his grandparents and cannot explain the respect and love I have for them. Can you believe it, 65 years!!!! If we could all be so lucky. We started the day off by the whole family (all of Bret's uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings) going to their church. After church we headed back to Nanna and Grandaddy's house to get some family pictures and then all went to lunch together. It was a great day and such a fun day to celebrate a wonderful couple.

Belly pic of Abby and me

Bret's family
(Ha, we are on a slant I promise Abby's husband Erik is not 7 ft tall)

The whole family (minus the three babies that are expected in the next couple of months and one of the cousins wife that is a nurse and had to work)

The happy and cute couple!!

Prayer Request

2011-07-12T15:18:00.000-05:00

If those of you that read this blog don't mind I have a prayer request for a special family. D'Lisa was my awesome assistant when I taught in Garland and when we both moved our separate ways to get out and be in Rockwall of course we could not still be together even though we would have loved that. We have always stayed in contact and would see each other often when the district had all the Special Ed classes get together for meetings. Her son Collin who will be going into the 6th grade was diagnosed with Lymphoblastic Leukemia this past March. I read their story and journal through the Caring Bridge site she has set up and it breaks my heart everytime I read it. The amazing strength that this family has and what they go through just astonishes me. I ask that you continue to keep Collin in your prayers. If you are ever interested in following his progress here is a link to his site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/collinchristian

I am not sure if it will let your read it or make you sign in, but if you have to sign in it just wants an email and password nothing else.

Molly's First Rangers Game

2011-07-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

One of Bret's co-workers gave him some tickets for the Rangers game on Saturday night. We decided it would be a great opportunity to take Molly since the tickets were so kindly given to us. Molly actually did surprisingly well. She made it till the 7th inning. We did get up once to walk around but well that did not last to long but because of me, my feet immediately started swelling. Oh the fun of being pregnant in the summer time. I am not sure that we will be taking her again anytime soon. I think the newness of it being the first time helped that she lasted so long, but we had a great time and it was fun to be doing something with just Molly before Hattie gets here.

34 Weeks

2011-07-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

I went to the doctor today and everything is going good. He said when he sees me back in two weeks he will start checking me to see if anything is going on. It is just so nerve racking because Molly came at 37 weeks. Will little miss Hattie make an early appearance too?? Or keep me guessing (and miserable) till her due date?

Hattie Jane's Nursery

2011-07-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

We are ready for miss Hattie to be here. Well maybe not just yet since I am only 34 weeks but her nursery is ready. Her room was the guest room and we wanted to leave the bed in there so we tried to work around the colors that we already had going in the room. My sweet cousin let us borrow her nursery bedding which matched great with the room. We just added a few extra touches to the walls and around the room to make it more special for Hattie. There are a few small things I would like to get but I can get those over time.

Here is the fabulous quilt my sister-in-law Abby made for Hattie. I just love it!

This was the name art I had mentioned I was working on.

I go the insipration from this blog: Crap I've Made

I obviously made a lot of changes to fit with Hattie's nursery and it actually did not take that long to make, like I had mentioned before. When I found this on the Crap I've Made blog I knew I wanted to make it so I had already bought the frame, fabric, and supplies and then had it all ready and made. The day we picked her name I got busy putting the letters on the frame and this is how it turned out:

Baby Girl Has A Name

2011-07-02T15:24:00.001-05:00

Hattie Jane Williams

We finally agreed on a name just a couple of days ago. I am in the process of making a name art piece to show her name and wanted to reveal it that way but well that might take forever till I finish so I just grabbed some of Molly's blocks and snapped a picture. I am almost finished with the nursery and hopefully will finish the name art soon so that I can post pictures.

If you are curious as to where we came up with the name Bret just happened to see the name Hattie somewhere and Jane is my grandmothers name. We were looking for a simple older name to go with Molly and thought Hattie was perfect.

Somethings Missing

2011-06-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

That's right Ruby the fish is with us no longer. Molly was in bed when Bret and I noticed that Ruby was doing everything she/he could from going belly up so Bret just went ahead and flushed it. It took Molly a couple of days to even notice that the fish was not in the aquarium. When she did came the following questions:

"Wait,I don't see the fish."
"Mom where is Ruby?"
"Did Ruby jump out?"
"Did Ruby jump out by herself?"

Molly was always so worried that Ruby was going to jump out of the top when you opened the lid to feed her so she was just certain that was what happened. When we told her that Ruby got sick and died she just said "okay." If you ask her what happened to Ruby the fish she will even say "oh she got sick and died." Glad she was not that attached!

3 Year Well Check

2011-06-22T22:12:00.000-05:00

Weight: 40 lbs (90th %)

Height: 37 in (50th %)

Molly's 3 year well check went great! She did so good and sat in the chair like a big girl while they took her blood pressure and checked all the other things they look at when you take them. I felt so bad because we had talked about her not getting shots and that the doctor was just going to look at some things to see what a big girl she is now. Wellllll of course we had missed a vaccination and so she had to get a shot. She never knew it was coming because they came in so discrete with it (thank you to that nurse). Molly just got right up on the table and I held her then she yelled "owwwww" and cried for just a little but as soon as we walked out of the room she stopped. I am not so sure that she will go as willingly to the doctor the next time we need to go.

Happy 3rd Birthday Molly!

2011-06-21T15:01:00.000-05:00

Today is miss Molly's 3rd birthday! Where does the time go? Since her birthday always falls around Father's day/my birthday/our anniversary we always just end up doing a small birthday with the families. This year she had two parties. One with my family and one with Bret's family. As her birthday was getting close when people would ask how old she was we just had her say "I will be 3 in June." Well when you ask her now she still says "I will be 3 in June." Now we have to work on just saying "I am 3!"

Here are some pictures with my family. Molly and I had gone down to Houston to visit my grandma one weekend and the rest of my family met us there so we decided to have a party.

She does not like to be the center of attention.

On Father's Day since all of Bret's family was together we had a party for Molly too. Once again she hates being the center of attention so had me cover up her face till everyone was done singing.

I just have to brag on my brother-in-law Erik. He made this bed for Molly! Yes I said made!! Isn't it awesome. He is very talented!

AnniBirthday and Father's Day = Busy!

2011-06-19T21:22:00.002-05:00

Today was Bret and my 7 year Anniversary, my 30th Birthday, AND Father's Day! Not to mention Molly's birthday is in two days. Yes this time of June is busy.

For the AnniBirthday, as I like to call it, Bret surprised me/us with a night away at the the Gaylord hotel in Grapevine. I had a wonderful massage and pedi. Then we had a great dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant in downtown Grapevine, all kid free!! Thank you to Bret's mom and dad for keeping Molly for the night. This was the only picture I took of our time away.

Well I did get this picture of this classy tattoo on this lady :)

Sunday morning we got up checked out of the hotel and headed over to Bret's grandparents for a little birthday party for Molly (which I will post about later) and me plus Father's Day lunch.

Happy Father's Day to the best dad Molly could ask for! I know that this new little one on the way will love him and adore him just as much!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2011-06-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

Well maybe it's not, but we can pretend right!!

30 Weeks

2011-06-09T18:11:00.000-05:00

30 weeks and still doing great! I went to the doctor today and every thing is looking good. Baby girl, who still does not have a name, had a very loud strong heart beat. The doctor did say for me to take it easy these next 4 weeks. I have been having lots of braxton hicks which usually aren't an issue but he wants to be on the safe side. I am not on bed rest or anything he just said don't go over board and pay attention if I am doing an activity that seems to cause more than usual to stop and rest. He said once I reach 34 weeks I can have all the contractions I want, not that the doctor or I want to have the baby then! By the way I took this picture myself on a timer, so this is the best you get :)

Meet Ruby or Max

2011-06-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

I have had this fish tank in our garage for a while now. I used to have it up in my classroom. Well out of the blue Molly has been saying for several weeks that we need to get a fish to put in that aquarium, so we took Molly to the pet store to get her first pet. We let her pick out the fish she wanted. Okay so maybe after going through and pointing at all the pretty salt water fish we finally steered her away and she picked this one. She named him Max and then changed it to Ruby (she loves the show Max and Ruby on Nick). I think now she has decided to stay with Ruby, but every day is different. We have had it a little over a week and Molly still loves to feed it and watch it swim around. I wonder how long that will last.

Memorial Day and Playing At Work

2011-06-03T19:41:00.000-05:00

I apologize that this post is not all that exciting, but sometimes we just don't have to many exciting things going on around in the Williams household.

We did not do much for Memorial day. We had just gotten back after our week vacation of fishing with my family so we just hung out at home. We got a blow up pool for Molly that we also enjoyed and tried to make it a little more exciting by putting her play set slide in it, which she loved.

After Memorial day I had to run over to my work in Dallas and switch out a few things but Molly got to come with me since I was not going to stay and work. She has never been with me to my work location and for a reason. When we got their the gym was set up and ready for classes to start next week. She had so much fun playing. I did give her a little PlayWisely private lesson, and she did not want to leave. I felt kind of bad that I don't bring her to be in an actual class. I do PlayWisely with her at home but of course it is not the same as playing in the gym.

Fishing Trip 2011

2011-05-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that every year my family goes on our annual fishing trip down in Corpus. It is my mom, dad, siblings: Ross, Lori, Leslie and her husband and their two kids Rylan and Colton, and then me Bret, and Molly. We always have a great time and come back with stories and fish. For some reason I did not take any pictures of the fish the adults caught, and yes I went out on the boat and caught some fish too.

(By the way there are two posts tonight because one just was not enough for our week in Corpus.)

This year we had shirts made. I did not get a picture of the front but it said:

McLelland annual Fishing Trip 2011. Only The Strong Survive.

This is what the back said:

Warning if cuss words offend you please skip this picture ;)

If you know my dad you would find this so funny because fishing with my dad can be quite interesting to say the least. He takes his fishing very serious. These rules on the shirt were just a few of the things my dad has told us over the years. The last and number one rule we just made up because well if you don't make him mad then it is a little more pleasant while fishing.

The condo is right on the water so in the evenings we take the kiddos fishing.

My dad would take the kiddos for a boat ride almost everyday. They loved to go fast. By the way I am sure you notice the boat has no sides. That is why we can't take the kids fishing out in the bay. The other reason for this skinny boat is that it can go in shallow water. I mean inches deep that other boats cannot go to get some good fish.

Of course the kids had their own blow up pool to play in on the deck to keep them entertained during the day.

Molly was not a huge fan of fishing. After she caught this one she quickly put it down and ran off.

Colton LOVED fishing. By the way we did not make him always fish with a pink pole. He just happened to have it in the picture :)

Just being silly kids. They have fun playing together.

Beach and Aquarium

2011-05-30T21:28:00.000-05:00

The kiddos could not go out on the fishing trips with the adults so we did take them to the beach and Texas State Aquarium on different days so they could have some fun too.

Rylan and Colton loved the beach. Molly liked it for about 10 minutes then wanted all the sand off her and wanted nothing to do with getting in the water.

They all loved the Aquarium. Especially seeing the shark and dolphin.

Congrats Dr. Mann

2011-05-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

This morning my sister-in-law became Dr. Abby Mann. She graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry. I am sure when she started this journey she thought this day would never get here, but it did and we are all so excited for her! The graduation was at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. It was so nice and intimate. We even took Molly (gasp) but she did great.

Ha, not the best picture of our family but it was the only one :)

Lovin This Weather

2011-05-16T22:56:00.000-05:00

I am sure everyone around here has been loving this weather. Here are a few things we have been doing to enjoy this weather while we can.

We have been doing lots of jumping and playing on the trampoline.

We have gone on lots of walks. Well mostly me walking while Molly enjoys the ride.

We even went to our local Farmers Market. If you are in the Rockwall area you should come check it out. It is every Saturday from 8:00-12:00 in downtown Rockwall, going till October 8th, several local farms bring their things to sell. There are lots of great veggies, fruits, honey, pastas, breads, and even meats - chicken, beef, and pork. If you are interested more in finding out about the vendors that come check out this link: Rockwall Farmers Market

We did attempt to take the boat out too but it would not start :( Hence the name of the boat "Failure to Launch." Hopefully it is just a starter problem and can be easily fixed.

Where is Molly?

2011-05-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

Here over the past few weeks Molly has gotten really good at hiding. She does not last long but maybe a minute or two then she starts giggling. The other day I was folding clothes on my bed so I saw her doing it, but she made her way behind the pillows. She got all behind them and laid down. You could not see her at all. She stayed like that for most of the time I was folding clothes.

Her bed is never made and always looks like this so I did not think anything of it when I walked in and saw her bed like this. Then I started walking around the house calling her name and she would not answer. I happened to walking past her room to check if she was in the nursery/guest room and heard a giggle. I looked in and saw the covers slightly move. If she would have never made a sound I don't know if I would have found her.

Fancy

2011-05-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

Here in the last week Bret and I have attend two banquets. One for PlayWisely , my new job, and one for International Justice Mission. If you are not familiar with IJM it is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. They were both great but required a nicer attire than our normal everyday wear. Who I am I kidding even my normal evening out wear. I wanted to make sure and get the classic "prom" picture of us dressed nice. Especially Bret in his coat and tie. Not sure when that will happen again :)

Weather: Just for the Record

2011-05-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to document the cold weather we have had here in May!! Yes I said cold. I think it is cold when I have to bring back out the winter clothes and even turn on the heater at night. I know here in a few days we will be back to our normal Texas weather wishing for the cooler days.

24 weeks

2011-04-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

24 weeks and growing, growing!

I am feeling great for the most part but this little baby girl is active. No, she’s not just active, she’s a little crazy, sometimes I think she is trying to get out. Her most active period is in the evening. But, really, she moves all day and night. Also we still have not picked a name for this precious girl yet.

Easter: Part 2

2011-04-25T20:12:00.000-05:00

The second part of Easter we spent with Bret's family. We got back into Rockwall late Saturday night. Sunday morning we got up and went to church then went over to his Nanna and Grandaddy's for lunch and more egg hunting. Molly was a pro-egg hunter by the time the weekend was over.

This was the best picture I could get of Molly, at least she was sitting still.

Easter 2011: Part 1

2011-04-24T21:34:00.001-05:00

What a busy Easter weekend! That is why I am turning it into two different posts.

Thursday night Bret, Molly, and I headed down to Cleveland,TX, which is east of Houston, to spend time with my side of the family. It so happens that both my dad's mom and mom's mom live there so we get to see both Grandma's when we go. This time though my dad's mom was in the hospital and still is after recovering from heart surgery she had earlier this week. We visited her lots while we were there but we also spent time with my mom's side of the family. We had no problem staying busy. It was exhausting but fun. We came back home late Saturday night to make it for church and to see Bret's family on Easter Sunday.

On Friday between all the playing the kids did they helped my cousin Amy make her bunny cake she makes each Easter.

The finished cake.

And they dyed Easter eggs.

Saturday we had the great Easter egg hunt. We hid 200 eggs for these four little ones but they actually had no problem finding them.

Here they are waiting at the starting line ready to go.

Molly's basket full of eggs.

Colton's favorite part was this centipede he found.

Showing Mamaw all the stuff in their eggs.

Saturday late afternoon/evening we had a surprise birthday for my aunt that turned 60. She was very surprised or at least she said she was.

After some birthday celebration we packed up and headed home. I will make another post about our Easter Sunday.

Bug!!!!

2011-04-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

For the time being Molly is petrified of bugs, spiders, or anything that may resemble a bug of some sort. I do not mind her caution for them. Last summer she came screaming out of her play house yelling bug. I took a look and it was a yellow jacket that had made a nest in there so yes some caution is nice but sometimes her concern for these things can be quiet much. For instance this little spider. It was on the outside and Molly saw it when she was looking through the window. She went into panic mode and was telling me that spider was going to get her. I had to show her that it was not going to get her through the glass and it was not going to get her period. She moved away from the window and played but kept an eye on it till she could no longer see it. Another time it was just Molly and me in the car and she starts screaming like something was attacking her. I almost wrecked because it scared me and I was trying to get somewhere so I could pull over. She was crying and so hysterical I could not understand what she was saying when I would ask what was wrong that I was kind of worried that maybe something did sting her. I finally get pulled over all to find out it was just a, wait for it.................... piece of FUZZ that she thought was a bug crawling on her pants. Now that is a little much.

Working At The Car Wash

2011-04-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

Not this little miss! I asked her to help me wash my car since it was a nice day. She was so excited, but the minute she got some water on her shirt she ran inside took off her clothes and stood at the garage door and supervised me. In case you are wondering I tried to get her to put on her swimsuit but she wanted nothing to do with it.

So here I am washing the car all by myself.

I could not get a picture (nor did I want a picture) of me really washing the car, so this will have to do.

Weekend with Mom

2011-04-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

Bret had to leave town for work all day Friday and Saturday so Molly and I had a little mommy daughter time together. Now we typically have a mommy daughter evening at least once a week because Bret has to work late but since he was gone for the night I thought we would make it fun.

We started by having pizza for dinner, which both Molly and I love!

For dessert we had ice cream. While we were there this older man sat at the table beside us and had a fluffy full white beard. Molly got very excited and yelled "mommy it's Santa!" The grumpy old man just kind of looked at us. I wanted to tell him "well if you don't want kids calling you Santa then don't look like one."

After that we came home and got in our comfy clothes to eat some popcorn and watch a movie. I let Molly pick. Okay well after much of my trying to persuade her to pick certain movies she of course picked Peter Pan. This girl loves her some Peter Pan. It is the only Disney movie she will or wants to watch. All of the other ones scare her and believe me I have tried ALL of them. Even the Tinker Bell movies. Now those don't scare her but she wants nothing to do with them, so for the 153,579,450,001 time we watched Peter Pan...again. By the way I realize we had a junk food evening with the pizza, ice cream, and popcorn but it sure was good :)

Since Bret wasn't getting back till Saturday evening a friend invited us out to have a pre-egg hunt. Molly loved it and is ready for the real thing!

They had a huge bowl of cheetos that Molly quickly found and became best friends with. This is her telling me "I love cheetos."

20 Weeks

2011-03-31T21:41:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe I am already 20 weeks (well really the end of 20 weeks). I am half way to the end. It is going so fast and I am trying to just take it all in and remember and enjoy all of the kicks and movements that this little girl is doing. That is hard to do when you are chasing a toddler around :)

JBF Sale

2011-03-27T13:53:00.004-05:00


http://dallas.jbfsale.com/pages/home

Have you ever heard of the JBF sale. Well, this past Wednesday was my first experience at the JBF sale. My friend Virginia and I went and had a lot of fun. I think there are lots of other big consignment sales like this in the Dallas area but this one was closest to us. We went on Wednesday which was the first day. You had to pay to get in on this day but it was well worth paying to get in to beat the crowds that would all be coming on the free days. Also on the first day there are no kids allowed so that was nice to not have to bring our little ones and just get to shop. I took some pictures of the massiveness of this place and the amount of stuff there was to look at (sorry some of the pics are blurry). There were also rows and rows of clothes divided by boys or girls and then divided by sizes. You have to be in the mood to look, but I found some great finds. I will say that if you actually sale stuff at the event you get to shop before everyone and I have heard that is when you can find some really great deals, like name brand clothes and boutique clothes for really cheap. However, I still found some great deals and cute stuff!

Here is our Canton cart full of stuff I also got Bret's mom that little bouncer seat to have at her house since there will be two little babies!! My sister-in-law Abby is expecting too! We are four weeks apart. How fun!

I found this cute diaper bag in great condition for cheap-o

Since I knew I was having another little girl I could not resist picking up a few outfits for her. I will be able to reuse most of Molly's stuff for her which is great but I still had to get her something.

I don't have pictures of all the stuff I got for Molly because it is already washed and put up. I got her some great cotton any time summer dresses, some cute summer night gowns, several cheap cheap play clothes (for like $2, there would be two shirts stuck together for $4 or two pair of shorts stuck together for $4. I don't think anything could be priced under $3 or $4 so some things would be paired together to sell better), two pair of crocs that were $4 for both pair, some reef flip-flops. I am sure there is more. They only have this sale twice a year. Once in the spring/summer and then in the fall/winter. I definitely think I will be going back in the fall!

It's a..........

2011-03-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

GIRL!!

We are very excited to say that we are adding another sweet little girl to our family. Bret and I were both a little shocked because I think we both thought it would be a boy. This pregnancy has been so different.

After we found out we tried to be very clever and surprise Bret's family and tell them the news. We had intentions of making our own fortune cookies and each cookie would have this fortune inside it. Well, the cookies did not turn out right. They honestly are very easy to make we just made them to thick and did not have time to make another batch.

So on a last minute decision we had picked up dinner to take to Bret's parents house and picked up some "pink" ice cream for dessert. When we were eating the ice cream we told them the "pink" was for the baby girl that would be added to our family in August :)

Now to get down all of Molly's stuff from the attic to see what I can still use, which hopefully will be most of it.

Jumpin Fool

2011-03-22T19:38:00.000-05:00

Now that Molly has gotten over her fear of jumping on the trampoline she can't get enough. She loves to jump and it does not stop on the trampoline. She jumps on her bed, the couch, off of stuff and up onto things.

If you had not heard the story before of her jumping fear here it is: For Christmas she got a trampoline because she already loved jumping on her bed. We thought she would love it! Well we got it set up and tried to get her on it and she refused. Bret and I even took turns jumping on it to show her how fun it was and she still refused. We made her get on it and she screamed, terrified screaming! This fear of her not wanting to jump and us asking and telling her it was fun went on for well from January till the end of February maybe beginning of March. One week my dad was up here for a meeting and was playing outside with her and tried to get her to jump. She told him "NO, I will get stuck in the clouds!!" This was funny but it was a real fear. She really thought she would get stuck in the clouds. One day she finally asked if she could jump. She got on and held on to the sides and started jumping. She let go and jumped some more and got higher and higher. She turned and looked at me with such shock and delight and said "Mom, I did not get stuck in the clouds!" Since that day she asks to jump everyday.

Paint Paint Paint

2011-03-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

Molly loves to paint and would paint everyday if she could. Most of the time she does a really good job of not paining herself or the chairs or the table, but she does have the occasional times that when I turn around for two seconds she likes to see what she looks like painted. The last time she did that I tried to get a picture of her but she ran away into my closet so I could not take a picture. I immediately had to change my plans to not getting a picture so I could grab Molly before she got paint on the clothes in my closet. P.S. the time she did that she was not painting with these water colors. It was still crayola paint and probably would have come out but I did not want to do an extra load of laundry of my clothes that could be avoided.

Molly Monday's

2011-03-07T14:31:00.000-06:00

16 Weeks

2011-03-02T21:54:00.001-06:00

Well, hmm as I look at this picture I guess there is still not much to see. I think what ever outfit I have on definitely makes a difference in the look of the size of the belly. It is growing though. There is no doubt about that. It is crazy that in a few weeks we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!! I have mixed emotions and want both but well there is just one in there (thank goodness). It will be great for Molly to have a sister but also a brother and for me to have another daughter or son. Just crazy to think about! Honestly I am fine with whatever. I just pray for a healthy baby.

Ballerina

2011-02-28T16:03:00.000-06:00

Here is a little video of Molly doing some of her ballet moves.

Not much has been going on around here. Molly has been sick and I am hoping it is just a 24 hour stomach bug and nothing more AND that Bret or I don't get it. Hopefully soon I will get a picture up of the baby belly :)

Car Wash Fun

2011-02-20T11:19:00.000-06:00

This past week my dad had to come up for a meeting in the Dallas area so he spent one day and evening with us before heading out. I had intentions of washing my car myself but we were out eating lunch and came up on a pull-in wash your car place so my dad said stop here and I will wash your car. Molly and I sat in the car while he washed it and she loved it. I will need to remember this if I ever need some quick and fun entertainment for her.

Pretty Snow

2011-02-07T16:45:00.000-06:00

On a not so pretty note. I guess this little guy wanted out of the cold too. Some how he made his way in to Molly's bathroom. Luckily he was dead when I found him but I am still curious as to how it got in!

Ice Days

2011-02-03T19:50:00.002-06:00

Don't let those first two pictures fool you. It is not snow it is solid ice in our drive way. We could not get the car out. Early Tuesday morning an ice storm came through meaning we were stuck at home. That was the case for most people since schools and business were closed. As a matter of fact the schools are still closed tomorrow. They say there is a chance of snow late tonight into tomorrow morning. I guess we will just have to wait and see what we wake up to. When you are stuck at home for a couple of days you try to do things that you don't normally do to make things more fun since you can't get out. We had mickey mouse pancakes, stayed in our pj's, raced through tunnels, watched some movies, and we did venture out a few times to eat dinner at Nani's and to let Molly have a change of scenery to play.

P.S. I am excited too because even though I don't teach any more I still teach for PlayWisely on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays soooo I have had off Tuesday and I will get off Friday. I am kind of glad about Friday because I have to drive into Dallas on Fridays. It will be nice to be at home and warm.

Enjoying the nice Weather

2011-01-30T17:32:00.001-06:00

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and go out on the boat. We had a fun little picnic and Molly did some "fishing." However shortly after that the wind really picked up and the wind blowing off the lake was cold. Molly was getting miserable and ended up laying under a towel so we quickly headed back in and by the time we got back Molly had fallen asleep under the towel. It was a fun and quick trip on the boat. I am sure it will be awhile before we get to get back out on it.

Laundry Time Helper

2011-01-26T15:42:00.000-06:00

I am sure at some point it is nice when your child helps with the chores. For now I guess I will be happy with whatever help I can get. If help is what you want to call it when Molly folds laundry. She usually just grabs what ever regardless if it is folder or not and starts putting it all into her own big pile. I guess if she sees mommy making piles then she thinks that's what you do. However for some reason today after she so kindly piled the clothes up she started piling all the towels on Tilly. The crazy thing is Tilly did not even move. Tilly must have been very tired or really cold and enjoying the extra layers.

10 Week Progress... And A Few Cravings

2011-01-20T16:51:00.000-06:00

Well everything is coming right along. I went to the doctor this week and am 10 weeks and feeling so much better. Sorry no pics not much to really see. I never really had any cravings when I was pregnant with Molly and I am not sure if this post qualifies as a craving or just a good buy :). I had intentions of buying some popsicles because that sounded good and when I was standing in the isle looking at all the options the Blue Bell Mini Sandwiches just shouted out buy me!! I feel that since they are mini's that it was okay. Besides I only have one a day and sometimes not even that.

Girlie Girl

2011-01-15T19:21:00.001-06:00

For a few minutes tonight my little Molly wanted to be a girlie girl. She would prefer to have no clothes on, be outside, throwing or catching balls, jumping off and on things (but her trampoline), just running around, and absolutely never a bow or clip in her hair. However tonight she walked up to me and said she wanted to put on her butterfly dress. I had no idea what she was talking about so we walked into her closet and she pointed to her Easter dress from last year and said "see Mommy my butterfly dress." I put it on her thinking could it be, can she still fit in this, but once I tried to zip it was a little too snug to zip all the way. Then what she said next I could not believe. She said she wanted a bow. I said "what!" She told me she wanted the brown bow so I grabbed it without hesitation and put it in her hair which she did not even try to pull out. After that she said "don't I look pretty." She ran around playing for maybe 15 minutes in her dress and bow then as quickly as she wanted it on it all came off. This was of course picture worthy :)

More Snow!

2011-01-10T09:40:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it snowed two years in a row in the Dallas area? I can't! I don't know what we will do next year when it doesn't. We are getting kind of spoiled, ha! Last year Molly wanted nothing to do with the snow. She cried when we put her in it but she LOVED it this year. She could not wait to go outside and play. We actually went out a couple of times. She had so much fun running around and eating the snow. She even "helped" the neighbors build a snowman.

After a long fun day of playing in the snow Molly was so exhausted. She fell asleep snuggled up to me on the coach. She has not fallen asleep in my arms since she was like 8 months old. It was so sweet.

August 16, 2011

2011-01-08T09:30:00.001-06:00

Is when this little one is due!

We found out over Christmas and are very excited that Molly is going to be a big sister. Bret is sure that this one is a boy because this pregnancy has been so different than with Molly, but I keep telling him not to get his hopes up that every pregnancy can be different. I have been much more nauseous/sick with this one especially in the evenings and I must eat a little something first thing in the morning so I don't get sick either. I think that it is getting better (I think). I will be 9 weeks on Tuesday so hopefully it will be better soon. Besides that when we went to the doctor a week ago everything looked great.

As for Molly. We ask her if she wants to be a big sister and she says YES! I don't thinks she really gets it yet. I guess I need to get all of the baby stuff out of the attic soon so that Molly can use them and get over them. I had gotten this chair down when I was babysitting a friends baby and of course Molly wanted to pretend that she was a baby. She specifically asked for a paci (I don't know how we even have any because Molly NEVER used one). After we found a paci she put it in her mouth and crawled into the chair. She played like that for several minutes and over several days, until I put it back up.

Look Back at 2010

2011-01-01T19:17:00.000-06:00

January:

Molly was one and half (so little and still not much hair)

February:

It snowed.

March:

My Granny turned 90.

April:

Easter

May:

Molly moved out of her crib to her big girl bed.

AND it was my last month/year teaching. I would now be staying home to take care of Molly and work part-time doing PlayWisely.

June:

Molly turned 2!

And the annual family fishing trip.

July:

4th of July party

and Bret's Grandparents celebrated their 64th Wedding Anniversary.

August:

Fun on the boat.

September:

Labor day weekend with some friends.

October:

Giving out candy at Halloween.

November:

My Uncle Larry passed away.

And Thanksgiving with the families.

December:

Molly enjoyed the decorations and presents this year.

AND Bret turned 30!

New Year's Eve

2011-01-01T15:27:00.001-06:00

This New Year's Eve was a fun laid back one. We went over to some friends house with a few other people. A delicious five course meal was prepared. We sat around the table most of the night eating and talking but we did turn on the t.v. to watch the ball drop. The craziest part was that Molly stayed awake the whole time. She is a party animal! I have not really thought of my New Year resolution yet or if I will even have one. Do you have a New Year resolution?

If you can read it the list on the right is the 5 course menu.

Christmas in a Nutshell

2010-12-30T18:56:00.000-06:00

I had planned on making a nice long post or two about all of our Christmas events but the thought of that makes me tired. We had a great Christmas and are very blessed so here it is in a nutshell. On Monday, December 20th we headed down to Stockdale to spend time with my family. We stayed there most of the week then headed back to Rockwall Christmas Eve morning. We went to a wonderful Christmas Eve service at the church we attend. Christmas morning Bret, Molly, and I woke up for our Christmas/Santa morning at our house then later that afternoon we headed over to Bret's parents for Christmas with his family.

At my parents: the cousins had a movie night

Molly watched the cows (everyday)

The cousins played on PawPaw's boat

Colton yelling "No" at me. He did not want his picture taken.

Rylan and Molly helping pass out presents.

Christmas morning at our house. Molly enjoyed unwrapping all of the presents.

She was not a fan of the trampoline she got. She screamed "get me out" and has not gotten back in it. I guess she will have to warm up to it.

At Bret's parents: Bret and Uncle E frying the turkey

More presents

Her cool little bed and Elmo from Uncle E and Abby

Love this girl!!

Glitter...Oh my!

2010-12-16T12:25:00.001-06:00

I let Molly make her own Christmas tree ornament including using glitter. I let her have full range of ~~globing~~ dotting her own glue and even pouring ~~the whole bottle~~ just a little glitter on. Now don't worry I made sure to put a piece of paper under the glitter pouring so I could easily get the excess back into the bottle, so really no glitter was wasted. Well maybe some was. I thought it turned out pretty cute! It made me chuckle when she was pouring the glitter because it brought back memories of when I was teaching in the self contained Special needs classroom. I had a student that LOVED glitter, and anything else small that he could throw in the air. If there was a bottle of glitter I mean in two seconds he would have it and in one motion grab it and throw the WHOLE bottle of glitter up in the air while yelling "you have won a million dollars!" At the time it was not so funny because for days he would try to pick the glitter out of the carpet that the vacuum could not pick up and throw it in the air, but looking back now it kind of is funny. Oh the stories I could tell :)

Another One Bites the Dust

2010-12-12T18:14:00.000-06:00

This is the second ornament in a week that Molly has knocked off the tree and broken.

I thought last Christmas when she was 18 months that we would have had that problem, but I guess she is so much more into this Christmas and loves all the decorations so is constantly touching the balls on the tree or counting them. Here is her in action counting them.

I think after she broke the second one it kind of scared her so she has been better about not touching the tree or being very careful to just look at the pretty balls on the tree. I was actually kind of surprised that she has not messed with the cookie monster ornament that we bought this year to put on the tree.

Here was one attempt to get a picture of Molly in front of the Christmas tree. She was more interested in what daddy was doing :)

Cookie Monster in Bethlehem??

2010-12-02T12:08:00.001-06:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Apparently Cookie Monster made a visit to see baby Jesus in Bethlehem, who knew. I was pulling this out of the box to show Molly and talk about it and apparently when packing it up last year Cookie Monster somehow got in the box, so of course Molly insisted that he be a part of the nativity scene. I guess if Cookie Monster was really real Jesus would have welcomed him with open arms.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T19:58:00.000-06:00

What a crazy and busy Thanksgiving we had! The Thanksgiving Holiday started off by Wednesday evening having our annual Turkey Bowl with the Seidler's (family friends of Bret's). Thursday on Thanksgiving we had lunch at Bret's Nanna's. Friday we headed down to Houston to have Thanksgiving dinner with my Granny (dad's side of the family) and then Saturday went over to my Mamaw's (mom's side of the family) for more Thanksgiving. I have eaten my fair share of turkey!! It was great to see all of the family but nice to be back. I did not do any shopping on Black Friday because we were traveling. I heard there were some great deals but I will admit I am not a fan of crowds, they make me nervous :) Now time to get decorating for Christmas!!

Turkey Bowl. Molly loves bowling.

Friday at my Granny's: Bret, my dad, Ross, and Lori (my brother and sister) frying the turkey.

Yummo, it was a delicious fried turkey.

Ross and Lori were making fun of my blogging so I got a picture of them especially for the blog.

Saturday at my Mamaw's: do a little arts and crafts with some of the little ones.

Molly's hand turkey.

Putting up Mamaw's Christmas tree.

Target Secret

2010-11-18T16:44:00.000-06:00

Okay so maybe it is not a secret but if you don't know about this the next time you need to do a long shopping trip at Target just go over to the little food court area thingy before you start shopping and get the popcorn/drink combo for only $1.50!!! Who can beat that and the best part is it will keep the little one entertained and in the cart the whole time. It is a big bag of popcorn and then of course Molly gets excited because she thinks she has her own big girl drink.

Sweet Treat

2010-11-15T16:04:00.001-06:00

It is always a nice treat when we make an unexpected trip to get some ice cream for dessert, yummy!

Trick or Treat & Goodbye

2010-11-08T21:54:00.000-06:00

If you have forgotten about our Halloween costume experience last year well let me just remind you: click here. Needless to say when we showed Molly any costumes in the store this year she wanted nothing to do with them, and honestly I was perfectly fine with that. Bret's moms birthday is on Halloween so we just hung out at thier house and got Molly this scaredy cat shirt to wear so she could help pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Every time the doorbell rang she got excited and yelled "the kids" but then would stand back and watch us give the candy.

Molly sampling the candy.

Helping Aunt Abby make cookies.

Molly keeping her distance.

Just being silly.

Now for Goodbyes

This past Wednesday night I got a phone call from my mom saying my Uncle Larry had passed away from a massive heart attack. He had just turned 60 in February. He is my dad's only sibling. We packed up our stuff and headed to Houston on Thursday to be with the family. It was of course a very emotionally draining weekend ending with the funeral on Sunday.

Uncle Larry

In between people visiting, viewing, and funeral we had to keep the little ones busy and happy, which actually wasn't hard to do. My poor Molly and niece and nephew are deprived of having trees all over their yards, but my Granny sure does. The kids liked to swing but they LOVED playing in the piles of leaves. That kept them entertained every day! It's the little things :)

If you did not see my previous post make sure you check it out. It is about FREE Christmas cards!

Free Christmas Cards

2010-11-08T19:46:00.000-06:00

I saw this post on another blog I read The Smith Family and had to give it a try. Besides I love Shutterfly! I use them all the time to print very nice quality photo books (since I don't scrapbook), just to print pictures, and I have used them for past Christmas cards.

Right now Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards to bloggers, click here!! Can you believe it!! If you do not have an account with Shutterfly you should. I love it!

Here are just a few cards of the many to choose from. I don't want to post to many so maybe it will be a surprise of which one I pick when you get it in the mail :)

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

This year we decided to do a pumpkin carving with Molly. She was not to big on cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin. She would not even touch the gooey stuff.

Our one tooth jack-o-lantern

We also made one of the Mr. Potato head pumpkins, which is a lot faster and not as messy. Molly picked out the princess one.

Skinny!

2010-10-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

Whenever we are with our friends Jay and Alison we would always tease one another when one of us made a "healthier" choice. You just look at that person and say "Skinny!" It may not have always been a healthier choice but maybe not as bad as what everyone else was choosing to eat or drink. All that to say is that Bret really has been getting Skinny. In July he joined Weight Watchers and it has been going great. It is so easy with all of the meal suggestions to cook on line like Skinny Taste or you can even check out Dotty's website that will give you any restaurant and the points for their menu. We have actually just recently joined e-mealz, which has a point system menu to choose from so it not only helps me plan our meals, it helps us budget, and keeps Bret on a point system.

Here he is in June.

Here he is now. He has lost 26lbs (and still going)

Go Rangers!!

2010-10-23T22:13:00.000-05:00

I know that everybody knows that the Rangers are going to the World Series and more than likely were even watching the game last night, but you have no idea what this means in our household. My husband LOVES baseball. That might be an understatement. When baseball season starts that is all that is on in our house. Yes he loves the Rangers but if the Rangers are not playing he will find another game to watch. He made the comment tonight at dinner that he is excited that it is the World Series but that means that baseball season will be over soon. He even had Molly watching baseball when she was 3 months old. Here are the pictures to prove it.

This is just one picture of the many games we went to this season. They are so much more fun to be at than to watch on t.v.

Trying to get a picture of Molly and Bret in their Rangers shirts last night. I can promise you this that we WILL be watching every game of the World Series and if it is not on in our house it is because we are at somebody else watching it!

Electric Youth

2010-10-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

Okay please tell me that when you saw the title "Electric Youth" that you thought of Debbie Gibson or the perfume. Anybody?...Anybody? Don't tell me I am the only one that had the perfume!

Ha Ha, okay I really made this post to show what crazy static Molly had the other day. I even took these pictures with my phone. It was so much more crazy in person.

What's On T.V.

2010-10-14T12:11:00.000-05:00

When Molly came along and I was working I NEVER had time to watch t.v. not even when I would DVR something. I would not have time to get around to watching it and it would get deleted. They only way I knew what was going on was hearing all of the teachers talk about the shows in the teachers lounge at lunch. Now that I am not working full time I have been able to enjoy this so called invention: the television/DVR. Now that all of the new shows have started up here is what you might find us watching, and not necessarily together.

My top three:

1. Modern Family

2. Glee (I know I know, yes I watch it but sometimes I do fast forward when they are getting on my nerves)

3. Grey's ( I started watching this again but if it gets to dramaish then I will look for something else :)

Bret's Top Three:

1. BASEBALL (when it is baseball season that is all that is on our t.v regardless if the Rangers are playing)

2. Community

3. The Big Bang Theory

Molly's Top Three:

1. Dora

2. Max and Ruby

3. Fresh Beat Band

Weekend With My Fam

2010-10-11T13:09:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my mom, two sisters, and niece and nephew came up to visit for the weekend. We had a very busy, eventful, and fun weekend. As my niece Rylan said "it was the best weekend ever!" Friday we went to the Dallas zoo and had a birthday party for my mom that evening. Saturday we went shopping and Rylan was the only one we found a Halloween costume for. Sunday we attempted to get pictures of the three kids together, ha!!

Bret's mom let us borrow her van so we could all fit in one vehicle. We tried to get a picture of the kids in front of the van before we left. As you can see it went well: Colton is escaping, Rylan is yelling that the sun is in her eyes, and Molly is just standing there like what do you want me to do.

My mom (Nana) and her surprise birthday cake.

Rylan's princess costume. She loved it.

This is pretty much how it was when taking pictures of two - 2 year olds and a 3 year old.

Dallas Arboretum

2010-10-06T14:59:00.002-05:00

On Monday, Molly and I met Sherry, Jack, and Chloe at the Arboretum for a fun play date. Apparently Mondays, which we were unaware of, is Mommy and Me day at the Arboretum. I have never seen so many moms, strollers, and kids in one area. We debated on leaving but we decided to stay and it was so much fun! The weather was amazing and the pumpkin houses were so cute. After playing around and trying to get some picture of the kiddos we walked around the rest of the Arboretum and found a secluded place and had a nice picnic lunch. Molly would not cooperate with pictures she thought it was more fun to throw the hay, but she did stand still to show me her pumpkin she was holding :)

Fun Friday!

2010-10-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

When I was teaching every Friday at school we had "Fun Friday" in my class. It was still educational but we let loose a little and played more games, went outside more, had cooking and social lessons, played with the other classes (this is all possible because I had a self contained Special Ed classroom). It was Fun Friday! Well today I decided to have a little "Fun Friday" with Molly.

We started the morning playing outside. Molly told me she was cold and needed her life-jacket with arms (her jacket) and a hat, but she was fine in her flip-flops and shorts.

Then we headed over to the library to check out some books and while we were there Molly got to play on the computer.

After the library we grabbed some lunch from Chicken Express and headed over to one of the parks for lunch and some playtime.

We had a lot of fun and to top it off Molly is taking a nice long nap while I type this :) The day is not over so who knows what we will do this evening. Happy Fun Friday!!

Fish Camp

2010-09-25T21:38:00.000-05:00

This past Friday we, as in Bret's family, went out to Fish Camp in Royse City to celebrate his sister Abby's birthday. We have been before but I did not take my camera so I made sure to this time. It was a wonderful evening so we sat outside on the patio and listened to the band. The GREAT part about this place is that while you wait for your food you can feed the fish or actually fish out of the little pond they have there, and since it is so open outside and kid friendly it is acceptable for antsy little toddlers to run around.

The back patio

Molly getting some fish food.

Feeding the fish

Uncle E (Erik) actually caught a fish.

For the Record

2010-09-23T15:35:00.000-05:00

I am blogging about this so that I have it in writing with date and proof of pictures that Molly let me put a clip in her hair and actually wore it for half the day!!! Those of you that know Molly every time you see her, her hair is always flapping and hanging in her face and eyes because she LOATHES any type of bow or clip no matter what color, shape, or size. She always runs away screaming then starts crying when you get it in and instantly pulls it out so of course it is not a battle I choose to deal with. Don't get me wrong there were tears shed and hands having to be held down on this particular day that is going down in the record book but after the episode she was fine and left it in until she bumped her head and started rubbing it to realize it was still in and of course pulled it out, but that is okay with me. She did wear it for a few hours.

Molly and Tilly

2010-09-17T15:43:00.002-05:00

Molly and Tilly have a love hate relationship. Well Tilly loves her all the time it depends on Molly's mood if she likes Tilly. If Tilly has anything that Molly thinks she is not supposed to it is a guaranteed dislike. BUT if I am trying to put Molly down for a nap, Molly usually starts crying saying she wants to go see Tilly (i.e. get out of the room and nap time). Sometimes though Molly will be sweet and love on Tilly, it is kind of cute.

Here is a video of Molly trying to get a sock from Tilly and getting very upset about it. Notice the headband she has on. She fixed her hair herself.

And here are some pics of the few moments that Molly will give Tilly some loving attention.

Blustery Evening

2010-09-14T21:24:00.003-05:00

Before it started raining this evening Molly and I went out to enjoy the nice cool wind.

Mommy its windy.

Look at that dark cloud.

Oh wait I was coloring.

Did you hear that thunder!!?

Oh well let's keep playing.

Bath Time Fun

2010-09-11T09:14:00.002-05:00