Updates

It is so hard these days to keep up. I know in about another five months I will really be saying that when we have a new little one at the house.

-things that make me smile:
Kennedy singing "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Old MacDonald", saying the nursery rhyme " Hey, Diddle, Diddle"

When she wakes up in the morning she says "Goodmorning, Mommy"

She started going to Ms. Pat's house a couple days a week while Trey and I are either at work or need to tackle chores. Dropping her off hasn't been easy, when she starts to cry and then when you pick her up she starts crying too. I believe today, Wednesday 23 of Sept is the first morning when she went in crying, I laid her down on the couch, and we talked and she quit. I hope that was really the case. It's so hard for me because you want to be with them 24/7 but it is so good for both us for a little seperation. I know she has fun when she is over there. The first day I left her I picked her up from the Lockhart gym because they had gone up there to watch a volleyball game. She was so cute, sitting on the bleachers by Ms. Pat sucking on a blowpop. They watch the animals across the field playing, water plants together,play at the park, and go to McDonald's for an occassional play on the playscape with a happy meal included.




Kenneth and Laura stayed with us on Friday night because we were going to Cabela's on Saturday to meet Joy's family. Kylie climbed all the way up the stairs without us knowing it. From then on everytime Kylie headed for the stairs you could hear Kennedy say " No, Kylie". Here are some pictures of Kylie and Kennedy playing:<

We went and got Kennedy a tennis racket so we could all go play tennis as a family. Trey and I were able to play a little game and have Kennedy chase after the ball. She loved trying to hit the tennis ball. You can see in her face how red she was from running around trying to hit the ball. We had a great time!















Trey and Kennedy built this little castle for Kennedy’s baby Sue to sit in. This is so much better than the things I build with her…this actually looked liked a little castle.

Trey got a great deal on some plants at a Houston's nursery so we finally are planting some around the house and at the Killeen Property. Here is an Oak Tree that him and Kennedy planted together, she's 29 months right now(almost 2 1/2) so it will be interesting to see the growth of this tree 20 years from now when she will be 22.


This is a photo of me after letting Kennedy apply makeup to my face. I don't think we will be letting Kennedy wear makeup this soon...we have a long way to learn about how to apply eyeshadow.

It's a .......

Trey, Kennedy, and I went to have my 18 week sono done today. Katherine had given me a great idea on how to keep the suspense on knowing a little longer and have Kennedy have a big part in it. We were to have the Ultrasound Technologist not tell us the sex, but put it in an envelope and seal it up for us to later open. So that is what we did, although Trey and I had a pretty good idea of what it was when she circled the gentitals on the screen.

So, yes waiting all day was hard and it did add to the joy of not truly knowing the sex of the baby. When I arrived home from work Kennedy was in the best of moods. She ran from the kitchen to greet me, waving her hands in the air screaming "I'm going to be a big sister, I'm going to have a baby brother or sister." Where is the video camera when you need it. Her screaming that made the sex of the baby seem obsolete. So...we had her open the envelope and this is what we saw.......we are having a baby.....

Gracie Taylor's 3rd Birthday

Tuesday, Sept 1, we went with Mel, Gracie, and Carolynn Mees to the Austin Children’s Museum for Gracie’s birthday party. The girls had such a great time running around playing with one another. Then we went to McDonald’s to eat and they ran up to the top of the playscape and slid down so many times that Kennedy had blisters on the top of her feet and both their legs were bright red. To end the birthday festivities, we went over to Carolynn’s( Gracie’s Nana) house to have Sponge Bob cake and ice cream. The girls had such a great time together and I believe Gracie had a wonderful 3rd birthday, I’m so glad we got to be a part of it.

Indiana Trip

We took a family vacation to Indiana to visit our friend Katherine who captured Kennedy’s first year with photography. The plan was to take some family photos so we could have our Christmas card complete and to portray Kennedy at age two.

Kennedy began running fever the night before we were to leave. Trey and I were hoping it was just a 24-hour bug, but this wasn’t the case. She ran fever the entire trip, which reached as high as 103. At one point, I was looking into her mouth and thought I saw a rotted tooth because there was some dark brown almost black looking stuff around one of her top teeth. After many a tears, some vomiting, and restless sleep, we took her into the minor emergency office where we found out she had a virus that causes blisters in the mouth.

To combat the fever Trey and I tried about everything. The best result we found was using a suppository. I just didn’t realize they shot out of the rear end like they did. Apparently, we thought one went in and stayed in until the next morning when I walked to the bathroom I had one stuck to my foot.

Weather…. when we left Texas we had just experienced the hottest summer in the history of Austin. When we arrived in South Bend, Indiana they were experiencing their second coldest August. Besides the cold weather, it rained the entire time in both South Bend and Chicago. The scenery was beautiful because of the wet weather. Lush green crops mostly soybeans and corn were seen most of the trip. We were able to see a lot of the country side because Trey was determined not to have to pay any tolls(dad this reminded me of our trip in New York when we tried to avoid tolls). He was successful and really didn’t take that much longer to get to any of our destinations.

We did do a little sight seeing, anything that we could do pushing Kennedy around in a stroller so she could rest. Our first stop was Navy Pier in Chicago. Here you see us at the end of the pier gazing out at the lighthouse…cold!!


Katherine offered to watch Kennedy so that Trey and I could go on a tour of the Notre Dame campus.The video you watch in the beginning caused both of us to tear up and made me want to attend school there. There are currently about 8000 students attending classes, with tuition, room/board, and books, which costs about 50K a year. Most students live on campus their entire four years. The campus is self sufficient an example is they produce electricity from a nuclear plant on campus. . The landscape is lush with flowers and has two lakes (although the priest that discovered the area thought it only had one and was to stubborn to change the name).

Here we are at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, lighting candles and saying a prayer.
We also went by the Golden Dome that serves as the symbolic center of campus with its statue of the Virgin Mary watching over the campus. This is a photo of what the students’ call “ Jump Mary” because it’s a statue of Jesus lined up perfectly with his raised up to Mary on top of the Dome.
We visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, which is seen here, but were quickly asked to leave by one of the nuns because of a fire in one of the underground tunnels.
Trey and I stand are in front of Hesburgh Library.
Then we went onwards to Notre Dame Stadium.

On Saturday, we took Kennedy to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend. We rode the train around and pushed her in the stroller so she could see some of the animals. Here we are…..


That same day we went by the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Trey went on the tour by himself because Kennedy didn’t want to put the required hair net on. So, Kennedy and I had hot chocolate and ice cream in the candy room awaiting his arrival.
The plane ride to Chicago was wonderful. Kennedy slept, as seen here, for most of the trip. She didn’t cry, just occasionally pulled at her ears. However, the trip home was a different story and we were expecting that because the dr. said her ears were red because of the virus. The first leg home she screamed about half the trip. When we arrived in Atlanta she was holding her baby Sue when all of a sudden she ended up hitting herself in the mouth, which busted one of the blisters. So, imagine a child with blood coming down her mouth and us running through the airport to catch the next plane. Once on the plane home she fell asleep and didn’t wake up until about 20 minutes before landing. She did great all the way home. It felt so good to be at our own home to help nurse her back to health. Currently she is not running any fever, just dealing with the popping of the blisters.

Katherine posted a nice note to us on her blog( http://katherinemariephotography.com/blog/)with some of her favorites from the photo sessions. Soon I'll be emailing with the passwords for the galleries so everyone can view all the photos.

Circus

The Barnum and Bailey Circus was in town so Melonie, Gracie, Becky, LeeAnn, and us attended the big top event. The kids enjoyed the animals, but some of the acrobat stuff didn’t interest the kids. Yes, we purchase a $12 bag of cotton candy that came with a corny hat, but we figured it was part of the adventure. We all agreed the next event we would bring a stroller or have the husbands go with us just to help with the kids.