Welcome Home Hazel!

Today Auntie Lo and Uncle Al brought home their new baby girl. I wanted to share the news earlier but decided to wait till she was home. Lillie and I got the call about 2pm today that we could come home over and meet her. Lillie was excited to meet her bbff (baby best friend forever.) I was so excited to hold a new soft and snuggley baby. She is just so precious! She seemed to be taking in all of her new surroundings. She didn't fuss a bit, but wouldn't sleep. She couldn't keep her eyes off her Mommy and Daddy. I feel so lucky that I got to meet her and luck forward to many walks in the park with her and her mommy.
Hazel and her Daddy.

Cute little Hazel. She is just so sweet!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or laugh. I was so excited and happy. There is nothing better than holding a new baby. Of course, except for holding my old baby.

Lillie checking out Hazel. I think she was glad that she was smaller than her. She is a tiny new baby. Lillie looks big for the first time in her life.

Mommy and baby. She loves looking at her Mommy.

Us girls.

Tagged?

Ok, Honestly I have no idea what this means. I do know that I am supposed to write 6random facts about myself. That sounds easy enough.
1. I always follow the rules. Even the littlest rule breaking makes me a nervous wreck. If I am to stand behind the yellow line, I do it. If it says "No Parking," well then... I won't park. I even drive the speed limit, make a complete stop at stop signs, and always use my turn signal (even in my drive way.) No matter how silly the rule I always follow it because I hate to get in trouble. Deep down I am a Goodie Two Shoes.
2. I am always on time. I hate to be late and even showing up somewhere on time is late to me. I am too early most of the time and have to drive around before I show up places. I get that from my father.
3. I hate mustard. I love all food and don't think of myself as a picky eater, but I hate mustard!
4. I started smoking when I was 16 years old. I quit in June of 2007 when I found out I was pregnant with Lillie. It was the best thing I ever did and I am so proud of myself!
5. I would like to move to another country for a few years so my children can experience other cultures like their father did when he was young. I think it makes for a well rounded person.
6. I got married when I was 18 and divorced at 23. Soon after I met Chris. He actually did my divorce because the lawyer I hired was incompetent and expensive. Till this day I wonder why someone didn't try to talk me out of getting married. I was a stupid kid.
The end.

Anniversary of our first date...

Last night was the annual Bar Association's Presidents Reception. It was nine years ago when Chris asked me if I would join him for this event. It is tons of free food and drink so of course I said "yes." Every year when this event approaches we know it is time to celebrate the anniversaryof our first date. Last year I didn't go because I was pregnant and couldn't stand to be around a bunch of drunken lawyers. This year was different. Chris and I got dressed up and left Lillie with Draven. That was scary, but he has babysat a little at a time before and this was only going to be an hour and a half. We left around 7:15pm. We arrived at 7:30 and had lots of food and two drinks each. By 8:45 we were out the door and done. Usually the dinner ends then everyone heads to the party suites of the hotel for more drinking till sun up. Not us. We just wanted to get out of the house and be together as a couple. It was so nice. We held hands, laughed, talked, kissed. Just perfect. Draven did such a great job babysitting. He didn't call me at all and only called Auntie Lo once. He even discovered that Lillie loves water in her bottle. Pretty clever! When we came home we put Lillie to bed then watched Top Chef with Draven. By 10pm we were all in bed. I have to say it was a great evening!

THis year the theme was "Life's a beach." Pretty lame. We did bring home some drink umbrellas, beach balls, and leis for Draven.
Chris favorite part of the party... Shrimpzilla!

And of course a whole roast pig!

Lillie... meet Christmas

I am so excited for Lillie to discover Christmas. I thought that maybe she was too young to get it, but I was wrong. Well... She may not get the true meaning of Christmas, but she knows there are a lot of shiny pretty things starting to appear in her world. Today I decided to go with my father for some pre-holiday shopping and introduce Lillie to Christmas. We started small with the Christmas ornaments... She loved each and everyone of them. Then we moved over to the dancing Santas and Reindeer... Rudolf was her favorite. Then on to the big yard decorations... She just smiled and laughed. Even the little snow globes made her face light up. This is just the beginning. She has no idea that Christmas will soon appear in our house. I can't wait!

Rachel and Kevin's Party...

Chris and I threw a party with the help of our friends for Rachel and Kevin's engagement. The party turned out so well... The food was all buffet style and the drinks were served by a bartender and kept simple. You had your choice of beer, wine, or champagne. Chris and I were able to enjoy the party without having to worry if we needed to do anything. We even got everything set up and ready hours before the party started thanks to our co-hosts. The next morning I had a full on staff help me clean up. My house looks better than it did before the party. Nice work everyone!
Here's the cute cake. Doc is his dog and Moxey is her cat. I hear they don't get along.

Terri and Lo

The happy couple before the toasting and cutting of cake.





The buffet.... it looks a little bare here. We had tons of food and drinks, enough to last from 7pm-3-am!

The video confessional room. This will be a great keepsake for the couple. I have watched a few of the confessionals... pretty funny stuff.




The view coming down the stairs...

There was a lot of girls wearing sweater dresses, leggings and boots. We tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out so well.

This was a few minutes before the cab came to take the last of the crew home. I think we had about 6 people left standing (not including me and Chris) at 2:30 am. That is late for us, not so late for everyone else. Our old parties would last till 4 am!

Looking at these pictures it looks like there were only about 20 people there. Chris and I think there was at least 40-50. It seemed crowded. Everyone stayed around the bar and food. No one sat down in the living room until after midnight. Strange. I guess it is weird to be in someone else's house.

All about Lillie...

This post is just to catch up with Lillie. I told everyone last week how we were working on sleeping and eating. Well, it is going a little better. We bought her a bunch of food she can feed herself. We bought Mum-Mums (baby rice cakes) cereal bars, yogurt bites, apple and veggie wheels, and ravioli which we haven't tried yet. She plays with it mostly and gets a few bites in her mouth. She loves her Mum-Mums, but we already knew that. As far as the sleeping goes, well... it is better. Not great, but there is a slight improvement. We are trying to do better and let her fuss herself back to sleep. We let her get up once a night to eat then we put her back down. She woke up about 4 times last night but we only picked her up once. The other 3 times she fell back asleep on her own. Supposedly, she will learn to sleep without waking up. She definitely sleeps better in her crib then in our bed. We sleep better with her in her crib too. On Saturday Lillie stayed at Aunt Sis's and Uncle Bear's house. She ate baby food and an avocado. That night she slept through the night. I think this confirms my theory that more food = more sleep. We just have to get her to eat.

We went to work with daddy and had lunch.

Yesterday Aunti Lo and I took Lillie to the park to go swing. She could swing all day. She is just getting so big. She is even taking steps behind her toy. She is growing up!

9 month check up...

Here's a pic of Mommy and Lillie before her appointment. We don't have many pictures of the two of us. Thankfully I have a timer on my camera.

Lillie had her 9 month check up today. Here's the info.
She is exactly 17 pounds and 26 1/2 inches.
She is in the 25-50 percentile. Woo-hoo!
We spoke to the doctor about our two concerns: eating and sleeping.
First eating, she suggested that Lillie is bored and done with baby food. She recommended switching her over to table foods. We are to cut her food into small pieces she can feed herself or mash the food. Basically, Lillie is becoming more independent and wants to feed herself. Second sleeping, if you didn't know... our precious little angel doesn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time at night. Chris and I have just gotten used to it. The doctor told us to go in when she wakes up and tell her to go back to sleep even if she is standing up and screaming her crib. Do this every 10 minutes. Sounds like we will never sleep again. We are to only pick her up if she needs a diaper change. This is going to be rough.
As far as her developmental stuff she is right on schedule according to her pediatrician. We have Sooner Start coming out tomorrow so Lillie gets to show off her "tricks." Here are a few new things for Lillie at 9 months.
She has two bottom teeth.
She crawls and explores the house.
She can get into sitting and standing position on her own.
She can walk around furniture.
She pushes a walking toy and takes steps behind it.
She makes a bunch of noises, but is not talking.
She growls and makes baby monster noises all the time.
She fake coughs.
She remembers people.
She loves to swing at the park.
We took these pictures right before Lillie got her shots. Chris got her a santa outfit and wanted her to wear the hat at the doctor's office. Pretty cute!


Yesterday we took Lillie to her NICU reunion Thanksgiving dinner. It was so much fun. Great food and great people. Tomorrow we have another March of Dimes event. They are doing a slide show with cake and punch honoring the babies. There is also some kind of press conference at OU medical tomorrow, we might attend. We just have to be back in time for sooner start. I am going to have to come up with some Mommy stuff to do with out baby. She has a busier social calender than I do. I guess that will all change when I start school. Hopefully, I can enroll next week. Not going to happen this week. I have to do it without Lillie. I will need Chris off work so he can watch her while I meet with a counselor. I am loving the stay at home mom life. It is a lot of work, but it is all for me and my family. I am working to keep my family happy and healthy. Not working for someone else. yay!

My funny friends...

Tonight we had Patrick, Lo, Al, and Rusty over for soup and football. The game was pretty boring but company was awesome. Rusty tried to teach us his Deniro impression. He has it down, the rest of us need to practice a bit more.

What the hell???

Last Thursday was my last day of work. Woo Hoo, right? Well I ended up sick with strep and so did Draven. I had to leave early and go to the doctor on my last day. I started feeling better, then on Sunday worse than ever. I had a headache that wouldn't go away. I tried a dark, quiet room, Tylenol, sleep... Nothing worked! The pain was so bad that I couldn't see, think, walk, I when I stood up I just wanted to throw up. I have NEVER been in so much pain! Finally Monday afternoon I couldn't take it anymore. I called my sister to take me to the doctor. They sent me to the ER. After a spinal tap and cat scan they told me I had spinal meningitis. Once I got to the hospital room I was still throwing up and dehydrated. How does that happen? I spent the last four days in the hospital. After days of Morphine and Antibiotics I now feel great. I am home and trying to take it easy. I missed my family! Lillie couldn't even come and see me. I was stuck on the floor filled with infectious people. Glad to be home!

NASHVILLE

I started a post about Nashville last week. I accidentally posted it before it was done, then deleted it, then got sick. So now you just get pictures. I don't have the energy to list our daily activities on our trip. I will say that it was tons of fun for the whole family. Draven and Lillie had a blast! Now here are a few pictures...
Our first night in Little Rock.

After checking into our hotel our next stop was visiting campus.

Waiting for the best meal in Nashville. I mean it, this place is awesome!





Walking campus. It is absolutely beautiful!


Draven and Lillie's first frat party!

Lillie making friends with the sorority girls.

The Parthenon.




Saturday after tailgating we went and explored Nashville



Draven and Chris were chasing after each other with pooper scooper bags on the Mississippi.

Draven and I taking goofy pictures of ourselves.

Now here's a fun family activity.

We saw lots of this guy.

Who's this????

Which one is the real king?

I have to say, this is not a bad look for the kid.




I got arrested for public drunkenness.



This was Lillie's favorite part of the trip. She tried ice cream for the first time. This place had the best coffee.









We drove all over trying to find Chris' favorite bbq spot. It's called Mary's, check out her photo. She looks like Rosanne Barr.

Chris and I got the Loretta Lynn bed, Draven had Roy Rogers.

Lillie had fun just playing in the hotel room.


On our way out of town we stopped at Loveless cafe.







A geology lesson on the way out of town. We stopped and dug for fossils off the side of the highway.


Memphis on the way home.

Lillie crashed right on top of me. We were all tired from our trip.

Sleep tight!