A few things borrowed

from Seven Things Sunday. After I wrote that post, I realized there were a couple of blog-worthy events that I wanted to write about further. So I've decided to expand on a couple of those topics.

this is the first topic

Ashley's hair. Here is her hairstyle all "done up". You can't really see her shirt that well, but it says 'No Pictures Please' on it. That shirt was my choice because I thought it might make for a fun photo op. Ashley will be taking a multimedia class as one of her electives, so I showed her how to crop these photos and how to remove some unwanted scratches on her face.

Seven Things Sunday

As some of you know, I own a message board on BBC (www.babycenter.com) called Blogaholics Anonymous. We are a group of gals who come together to talk about all things blogging, whether it's something basic like which website is the best (blogger vs. wordpress) or what kinds of widgets are the best. Someone mentioned something called Seven Things Sunday as something you can do weekly that basically mentions seven things you did this past week. Soooo, this is my attempt to share just seven things we did this week.

7. I visited with my friends just before they left to go back to Dallas. I *would* mention that we spent last Sunday visiting with them, but that's more than seven days ago - ;0!! My friend, Resa and her husband John and I have known each other since grade school. Resa was my very first friend when I moved to Nacogdoches from Austin. And I learned a new fact during their trip! It turns out that John and Resa and I all attended the same elementary school as kids. Maybe I don't remember him because I was about as interested in boys at that age as I am in root canals now...maybe.

6. I got school supply shopping done last Monday!! Both Ashley and Jonathan have pretty extensive lists, and rather than wait until the last minute (because I'm a stickler for getting it all in one *or two* shopping trips), I thought we'd cross that off our to-do list.

5. Ashley and I got her school clothes shopping finished yesterday!! It took several stores and a positive attitude to plow through all those stores looking for good deals (err um, cute clothes). We found some super cute clothes...and as always, I found an excuse to go to many other stores to find Paige and Drew some cute clothes. Funny how I'm always looking for something for the kids to wear. Jonathan was the odd-man-out this trip. To be honest, right now his wardrobe is pretty well set.

4. Ashley got a super cute haircut for the new school year. Lots of layers and framing around her face. I showed her how to use my flat iron (or as she says "I-run", lol) and the hot iron spray to make it flatten out nicely. It looks adorable and I'm sad I don't have a picture of that. Soon, along with my many other 'to-do's'...

{I will have to do a post about this when I get some pictures of her}

3. Paige got moved up to station 2 at Nitro (read: swim lessons)! Her lessons expired last week, but I added a few lessons before the end of the month. She got to bang the gong (a treat reserved for the kids who advance to the next level) and we took her to Sonic to really emphasize this huge milestone. She has been afraid to put her face in the water and didn't like wearing her goggles. We're proud of her for overcoming her fear!

here she is showing us what she learned earlier today at the pool

2. Drew shakes his head furiously when we say 'no no no' in a sing-song-y type way.

1. Neil finally beat Agentownage on NBA Live '08. He is very nearly addicted to this game and he'd have quit a long time ago except that the people he plays are real and he looks forward to handily beating low-ranked players. His rank has been all over the place, as high as 20,000, but recently he's been holding the fort in the 100-300 range and today he is somewhere in the 50's.

8 months old!

Mom said I could dictate the post today!! I'm really advanced, you know. Just last week I did my first google search on Mom's iPhone. She was so impressed she kept it up on her browser and showed everyone.

So, now that I'm eight months old I should share some new things I've been doing lately. I can now officially do zerberts (Dad calls them zerbies) on people's arms. I'm actually pretty good at it. Mom's not so talented at catching it on video but soon, very soon you'll see what I mean. I'm also good at shaking my head 'no' when someone says 'no, no, no' to me. I think it's pretty cute. They think it's pretty cute, but I'm sure that'll wear off in about a year or so.

Let's see, what else should I talk about? I'm eating like a champ and putting on weight. Short of getting baby protein powder, Mom and Dad have been feeding me nearly every jar of food with some kind of cereal in it. Some of you have been concerned about my weight. I'm getting sturdier every day. My next weight check is next Monday. I'm sure Mom will be posting my new weight once we know how much I've fattened up. Look at my pictures below. Can you see how my cheeks have fattened up?

This shirt was given to my big brother, Jonathan, when he was my age. Then my big sister,
Paige, wore it next. Now it's my turn to wear it! My aunt Jamie gave it to Jonathan when
she was a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain - Ashley was behind the tree,
holding onto his hand to make sure he didn't topple over.

And there we have it, folks. I can't say I was *entirely* impressed with this set of photos, but it started raining within minutes of us coming inside. I did like that it was overcast, but the wind kept blowing his little old man toupe all over the place!!

Never believe 'em when they say they're laying down...

In order to minimize the up and down, up and down, up and down of making sure Paige is in her bed upstairs during nap time, I've been known to put her in my room with her pink blankie (her lovey), formerly known as her pink 'manket' or pink 'mankie', and her pillow. She sleeps on my floor and I make it super dark in there so "ideally" she'll go right to sleep.

So, this is what happened Saturday:

I go to the office to get caught up on the latest board posts and drama and such when I hear odd noises coming from my bathroom. The office wall meets with our bathroom. I can hear clacking, but not on tile. I have *got* to investigate this, I think. So, what do I find in my bathroom? None other than Miss Paige sporting some dressy shoes she found in my closet.

Note to self: Add thrift store dress up clothes to my current necessary purchase list. Yup, I was short on reasons to spend money {please note this last sentence is dripping with sarcasm}

And so, without further delay, I give you my counter dress up princess...

Tuesday adventures

Well, no one could accuse me of coming up with creative blog titles lately! I documented a usual day around our house. I was *going* to get some pictures of Jonathan at his swim lesson so he would be included, but I left the house without it! So, here's our day:

Ashley and Paige work on a craft together (sun catchers!)

Drew works on his sewing skills (er, um...chewing skills?)



and now onto a bit of fishin'




AHA! I will eat you now!

Last night we went to a TCA drop-in clinic for Ashley. I told the coach to give the girl with the pink shirt a hard time...as we all know, Ashley's volume level is a minus four, lol, so when they would do a group huddle he would ask her to lead with a loud '1-2-3 volleyball' and of course it was mouse-like volume. I apologize that they are blurry...I didn't want to use flash and be too distracting, and they're not tight shots because I needed the wide angle to catch as much of the action. Oh, and I did next to nothing in the way of cropping. Sorry, too many pics today to worry with extras in the editing!











TCA is the only club in our state that teaches jump serves at Ashley's age. With a little convincing Neil, she will likely try out at the end of August and hopefully gain the skills and confidence to make the 8th grade team.

It only took three years to get her first haircut!

Paige has been ready for a haircut for quite some time. The thing is, I wasn't. And neither was Neil. Her hair has been a part of her identity. It's beautiful, it's a sort of light chestnut brown, it's thin and wispy and very pixie like. You can see why the decision to cut it was difficult. It wasn't just hair, it *was* Paige. But lately, I've been thinking about preschool and it might be fun for her to get a cut just to give her something new to start preschool. So, yesterday after church, just the girls went to our favorite hair cut place, Snip Its, and took on the daunting task of letting go of those baby wispies.

i guess i couldn't get enough of the 'before' photos

now, normally i wouldn't advocate such an involved haircut the first time, but when we tried to comb out her hair to see what kind of style we wanted to go with, we found tangles and bits of food in her hair...yeah, slightly embarrassing, but we fixed that...


aaaaand, the first snip!

it's not perfect unless we have something pink in our hair!

At the end of her visit, we took home a lock of hair and a cool certificate that documented her bravery and courage in getting her first haircut!!

As you can see, the haircut wasn't as drastic as we all anticipated. Dad requested layers, and since she has such fine hair that turned out to be a good move because it's supposed to make it look thicker and fuller. When we got home, I had to scramble to get everything out of the car in time to beat Paige through the door and see Dad's reaction. After the initial hugs and kisses and how beautiful she looked, he said something along the lines of "oh, your hair looks...........the same", lol.

Paige's before video

and the after video. enjoy!

While we wait for those remaining test results...

...let me just post something fun for Friday.

You Know You're A Texan If...

1. You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Palestine, Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Burnet, Boerne, Nacogdoches, Mexia, Waco, Amarillo , and Waxahachie.

2. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.

3. You've ever had to switch from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day.

4. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.

5. Stores don't have bags, they have sacks.

6... You see people wear bib-overalls at funerals.

7... You measure distance in minutes.

8... Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.

9. You go to the lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.

10. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit

11. You know cow-pies are not made of beef.

12.. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.

13. You have known someone who has had a belt buckle bigger than your fist.

14. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.

15. Your 'place at the lake' has wheels under it.

16. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol; a Ford F350 4x4 is.

17. You know everything goes better with Ranch dressin'.

18. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.

19. You actually understand this and you are 'fixin' to' send it to your friends.

20. Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:

' You wanna coke?' 'Yeah.'
'What kind?' 'Dr Pepper!'

Prayer Request

**Final Update - July 14**

I took Drew in today and he weighed in at 12lbs. 15oz. The remaining tests came back and they all looked good. We did a urine analysis in office today and that came back and looked good too. So...at this point, we go back to being conservative; in other words, no more testing. We'll continue to feed him calorie dense foods, bring him back in two weeks, check his weight then and go from there. His 9 month visit is scheduled for late August.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for Drew, and even those of you who aren't of the praying sort, your well wishes and positive thinking helped keep all of us in good spirits. I am simply amazed at the outpouring of support. I never thought I'd get to be a part of such a great group of gals who I know are there for me every bit as much as I've tried to be there for them. Simply amazing...God bless. :)

***

I took Drew in yesterday for a weight check. At his six month appointment, he was 13lbs.13oz. or in the less than 5th percentile. Yesterday, and after noticing some pea sized bumps under his skin on his neck and head, I thought it was best to go ahead and schedule a full appointment versus a weight check. It was a good thing. Our poor little guy dropped weight significantly in six weeks, weighing in at a scant 12lbs. 8.5oz. Doc recommended some blood work to see what's the cause. His bumps turned out to be swollen lymph nodes and he was a little out of sorts and under the weather over the weekend, so that's consistent. However, at this point we are waiting to hear back on the test results. He had three viles of blood taken (a *lot* for a baby!) and we have to bring in some 'samples' from home...hopefully, you can connect the dots on that one.

Anyway, please keep our little guy in your prayers that it's nothing serious. He is normal in every other respect. I think in an effort to show me how "normal" he really is, he made his first attempt at crawling up the stairs this morning. He went up three steps before I picked him up.

ETA (edited to add): Dr. Chang called around noon today and said that of the results that *have* come back, they all look normal. We are still waiting on a few more from the blood tests and the 'samples' we took in earlier today. Those should be 24-72 hours turnaround time. The 'samples' will be testing for lead (which is kinda scary, but related to losing weight) and malasorption, or his inability to retain the nutrients from his food. If nothing comes back conclusive or his weight doesn't improve with his weight check next week, we'll probably meet with a dietician and decide to do a urinalysis to test for a UTI. In the meantime, doc suggested putting him on three squares and two snacks/day, which isn't *usually* suggested until they are nine months old. He's doing great so far today and we're stuffing him as much as he is willing to eat. So I guess until next week, we'll just do our part to feed him and carbo load...thanks to the many prayers. :)

****Thursday, July 10****

**For those of you who have been keeping up, I call this video "it's come to this..."**
i bought *lots* of bananas {see Demitri Martin banana joke below; and you've never truly visited us if we haven't subjected you to the comedy stylings of Demitri Martin} for Drew to eat...I'm pretty sure they're calorie dense foods and lots and lots of cereal to mix with it, both rice and oatmeal. We're still waiting to hear back about the remaining tests, but I felt I owed everyone our personal update. Drew is in great spirits and laughing a lot and eating even more!

In this video, we gave Drew some Cool Whip to play with (we had fresh raspberries with Cool Whip - extra creamy courtesy of Ashley - for dessert). The goal was that he'd eventually get some in his mouth to eat, but he found playing with it to be just as fun. He's sporting his November 2007 BBC babies shirt.

Demitri Martin joke:
"I feel stupid when I write the word banana. Its like, how many na's are on this thing? 'Cause I'm like 'Bana ... keep going. Bananana ... damn.'

Click here to hear more by Demitri, but only if you want to laugh...lol.

Happy Fifth of July!

Our craft day didn't turn out quite the way I intended. I made both their shirts after Jonathan flatly refused to decorate his (but was ecstatic to wear it for the Fourth of July) and Paige put her hands on her t-shirt and I did the rest. It ended up being very therapeutic for me, lol. Ashley also decorated a shirt that I will post later!

I don't know if it can be called procrastination since the entire day was crazy busy, but here I am the day after posting about our fourth of July. We started the day off by trying a new place out, Volente Beach, down on Lake Travis. The kids had a blast, right down to being disobedient (see pictures for full story). Then we came back home and had an un-American dinner of tuna fish sandwiches, lentil soup and pineapple slices, watched part of Daddy Daycare and then finished up by going out to...our driveway to watch some fireworks. We are not considered Austin "proper" so fireworks are not illegal in our 'neck of the woods'. We have neighbors who live off a cove across from us who put on a small show each year, so we pulled up chairs and watched for a while. Hey, when you consider the fact that we didn't have to fight traffic, kids' schedules, or entertainment for the kids prior to the show I'd say we did alright!

the view from Volente Beach



Ashley and Drew share a snuggle

***

I call this next series 'the unfolding of disobedience'

Neil and I were both drying off and essentially done with swimming. Paige was told to stay near us, but as you'll see she inches her way back into the water. First she starts off pouty. "I can't believe they really said not to get in the water."

"yes, I'm still pouty"

the idea to disobey enters her head: Gee, with two older siblings, I wonder *where* she could have gotten that idea???

one leg in

two legs in

"let's see, if I try to look cute, maybe they'll overlook my behavior"

"a smile for good measure - no one can resist my cutie pie-ness; there's *NO* way I can possibly be in trouble now!"

notice the smile...

she holds her breath as she attempts to 'go under water'


TA-DAAAA!

see?! I *can* get in the water and disobey Mom and Dad!!

***

Here are a few snippets of video of the fireworks display. With four kiddos, this is the best way to watch the fireworks. Drew was already sound asleep in the house and the rest of us enjoyed hanging out in the driveway watching the 'sparkles', as Paige called them. The first two are from the cove across the street from us and the last video is from another town's firework display...we think it's Wells Branch or maybe Pflugerville.