happy 2 week birthday james!

my nephew was born 2 weeks ago today! his name is james hinton and he is ADORABLE!! i just got back home yesterday from visiting him -- oh, and i did see my brother and sister-in-law too!

i have been around quite a few newborn babies in my life and i have to say that this baby is the most easy-going, happiest baby that i've ever met! i thought my babies were pretty easy - my oldest slept for most of the night by the time she was 10 days old and neither of them had colic or anything like that so they didn't cry excessively but i definitely had quite a few nights of standing up (because somehow they know if you are sitting or standing) and bouncing a crying baby to try to get them to quiet down and go to sleep!

for the five days that i was up there, this little boy ONLY cried when his diaper was being changed and that's mainly just because he was ready to eat! he would wake up, they would change his diaper, she would feed him for 30 minutes, burp him and he was back to sleep for 3-7 hours at a time! the few times that he didn't fall fast asleep he still didn't cry he would just swing in his swing or look around. i am so happy that they got such an adorable, happy baby but they may be in for a big shock if their next baby doesn't behave the same as this little angel!

happy housewives' day

today is national housewives' day. oh come on, don't pretend like you didn't know that already! okay maybe it's not a nationally recognized holiday like bosses day or mail-carrier day or nurses day but i think housewives have a pretty damn important job! it just happens to be the most under-appreciated job too! when i was growing up, i always wanted to be a housewife ... of course i anticipated it to be more like it is on tv (kids are rarely seen, moms are doing their own thing and helping out at the kids' school every now and then). i was in for a rude awakening! it is the most monotonous job EVER -- make the same foods, clean the same things, launder and put away the same clothes, wipe the same butts -- EVERYDAY!! but i also know that if i was working at a job outside of the home i would feel that i was missing out on so much of my children's lives! i didn't have kids so someone else could raise them. i want to be there to help with homework, to make their lunches, drive them school, take them to dance and gymnastics, cook dinner, and volunteer at their school. no one may be giving me a raise or a bouquet of flowers and a card on this "housewives' day" but i do feel rewarded everytime my girls give me a big hug and tell me how much they love me! i feel very fortunate that i have been granted the opportunity to do this important job!

happy halloween

what a busy weekend -- which finished off a busy month (which might explain why i haven't written in so long)! or at least we will use that as the excuse! this month has been filled with gymnastics, playdates, birthday parties, concerts, carnivals, pumpkin patches, school field trips, dress-up days, preschool parties, choir practices, church, our anniversary and of course, halloween! my little one dressed up as a cowgirl (because she LOVES to wear her boots) and my precocious one was a gothic vampire (because she LOVES to make me crazy)! here's a few pics to recap the month of october:

back to school

school started up one month ago today! a lot has happened in this month (which explains why i haven't written much)!


my little one started preschool and she LOVES it! she only goes 2 days a week and she's sad that she can't go on the other days! she loves getting to take her lunchbox and she has made friends in her class (although she can't remember anybody's names yet)! she even takes naps during naptime!! this is the same child who hasn't taken a nap for me in two years! i guess she's just so worn out from all of the fun she's having!



then there's the drama queen! she has started a new school this year. she was going to a small christian school for kindergarten and first grade but they are no longer going to have any higher grade levels so we had to find a new school for her. our housing development got rezoned for a brand new elementary school that was just built so we figured this would be the perfect time to try out the public school system. everyone coming into this new school would be new - the teachers, the students, everyone! she could transition to a different school and not have to be "the new kid".

the first week she started crying and saying that she didn't want to go to school (which is completely out of character for her). she has always loved school! it is so disheartening for me to hear her say everyday "i hate school"! this school is very strict - which i guess you have to be when you have this many students and some of them have never been disciplined!

here are some examples of the other things that have been a "buzz-kill" to her: on the first morning of school, my "precocious one" was asked to make something out of clay. she just made it into a ball because she was nervous and didn't know what else to make. her teacher asked her what it was and she said "it's a circle". to which her teacher replied, "wrong! it's not a circle, it's a sphere!" keep in mind, this is the first hour of school! one of the other second grade teachers has a couple class pets (turtle, gerbil, fish) and when drama queen's class asked when they would get a class pet her teacher answered "there is no pet in this classroom and there never will be". she keeps complaining that they won't let them have fun and told her that you don't go to school just to have fun, you are supposed to be learning but she doesn't get to visit with her friends in other classes before school, at lunch, or after school. the boy that has been sitting next to her has been taking her things, pinching her and scratching her. other kids have said "shut up", "you're stupid", "i don't like black people", "i don't like white people" and even "i'm gonna kick your ass"! i went to the principal this week to talk about all of this and it seems to have helped. she has been moved away from that boy and she has actually come home a couple of times now and said she had a good day!

i really hope that things will keep getting better because i want her to like school! especially since she's only in second grade -- she's got plenty of time to hate school when she's in middle school and high school!

just what i needed...

...a new puppy! i have officially lost my mind! not only do I have more than enough to do taking care of everything to do with this house, tending to my husband and two children and trying to clean up after a gigantic, hairy dog who seems to want to destroy my house but last week I brought home an 8 week old puppy! she is adorable and really sweet and cuddly but she is a puppy which means chewing on anything and everything and peeing in the house! she has narrowed it down to peeing on (mostly) just the tile floor! my girls LOVE her to pieces and even sadie (my huge german shepherd) seems to be enjoying having her around! (which giving sadie a companion was one of the main reasons that we got her.) i guess my kids happiness is more important to me than my sanity!

♥ R.I.P. Uncle Robert ♥

my uncle was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer two and a half years ago. anaplastic thyroid cancer usually takes its victims within two years and has a less than 10% survival rate. since being diagnosed with this type of cancer he has also been battling cancer in the bones of his legs, cancer in his brain and cancer in his lungs! he has fought all of this harder than i could EVER imagine!

his diagnosis worsened - in fact, he was unable to attend our family reunion in Galveston a few weeks ago because he was in the hospital. the doctors at m.d. anderson in houston told him that they could not do anything more for him so they placed him in hospice care at his home. we were still hoping and praying for a miracle of some kind or at least to have him around for a little longer! unfortunately, he sub came to the cancer yesterday...fortunately he is no longer in pain like he was!

please allow me to reminisce about him for a moment - he was always the "fun uncle" that every kid wants to have (really, he was just a big kid himself)! he was my uncle (and my god father) and every year i went to visit him and my aunt during the summer. he took us to see movies like ghostbusters and howard the duck (which as an adult now i know must have been torture)! actually, i think it just gave him an excuse to see the movies since he didn't have any kids of his own yet! every summer he would teach me how to dive in his pool and by the next summer i would forget and he would teach me again! always patient and always kind!

due to his positive attitude, many prayers and all of the love (that he said he didn't know what he did to deserve) he was able to pull through and "fight the good fight" longer than anyone thought!

AND HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!

the return of the flies

i love summer but i cannot stand all of the flies!! i have been killing at least 5 a day - oops, better not tell peta that! president obama killed a fly during an interview last year and peta raised all kinds of hell for "killing a life". give me a freaking break! peta stands for "people for the ethical treatment of animals" and last time i checked flies are insects and not animals! god help us if no one killed flies because we would have even more that we already do and i'm about to go insane with just the ones that we have now!! i would like to know how many people die of insanity in third-world countries - you see all of these poor children in ethiopia with 100 flies buzzing around their face and they just sit there! i would lose my mind!!