I am still here!

I know that I have never been that great at keeping up my blog, but i have taken a break these past few weeks. I realized that I was not spending enough of my time getting all of our MANY pictures actually organized on the computer and ordered. So I decided to take a little break from the blog until I get all of that caught up. I think I have also decided to make a digital scrapbook for Molly. I have had good intentions to make a "real" scrapbook, but like a lot of my good intentions, it got pushed to the back burner. The days just come and go so quickly when you have a 13 month old! So, the scrapbook things remain in the closet, but I am almost done organizing all of my pictures on the computer and am working on figuring out all of this digital scrapbook stuff. It is going to be a lot of fun and it will hopefully be something that I can really commit to!

Until I am back, here are some pictures of my sweet baby (ok, toddler) girl! She brings us so much joy!

My favorite picture from her Birthday Party!

Silly girl. :)

Reading with Daddy.

12 month check up! She weighed 20 lbs. and 1 oz.=31st percentile

I love this picture!

We takes lots of baths in between all of the fun!

Breakfast time!

Pretty girl. :)

Eating dinner on Lake Travis near Austin! :)

Craig, Fallon, and Lylah at dinner. :)
Matching cousins.


Lylah-4.5 month Molly-13 months


State park in Austin.


Austin has a GREAT zoo! Molly loved it!

I know, I know....I STIIIIILL need to post pictures from the Birthday party, but we are ready for summer! I just wanted to say that.

Isn't she cute (even though the stripes don't match)?

We can't wait for summer to be here!

1 Year Portraits!

I still need to post pictures from Molly's party, but here are her 1 year pictures. 1 year! Wow...that went by waaaay too fast.

We went to Portrait Innovations and loved it! Thanks Lori for recommending them to me! We will definitely go back again!

This next picture sums up the last 5 minutes of our session! We were hungry and tired (all three of us!)

Arboretum

Dicky had 5 days off in a row, so we decided to spend one of those days at the Arboretum. It was a drive, but it was worth it. It was gorgeous! Here are a few of my favorite pictures.


Molly was too busy pointing at the other kids to look at the camera, but we just went with it. :)
Daddy and Molly

Mama and Molly with the tulips

We practiced our walking...

...but Molly decided that it is much easier to crawl!

In between taking pictures, we had to put the bow back on her head....over and over again.

Here she is eating her bow. We just gave up.

Sweet girl.

Cruisin'

Well, our cruise was pretty much amazing! The first and last days were a little bit cool, but we didn't care. We relaxed! We didn't take many pictures with the "real camera", but here they are. Most of the pictures were taken with the water camera. I will post those when I get the camera to CVS, which means....well....maybe sometime next year! Ha, I will try to do it sooner than that.

On Tuesday, we were in Cozumel. We went "power snorkeling" which means that we snorkeled with this machine that you hold on to. It pulls you around the water. So, it pretty much does the work for you! That was at 9:00 in the morning and we were able to get back on the ship, shower and change, and get back to town for a meal and some shopping.

On Wednesday, we were in Grand Cayman. We went to the beach and para sailed. (Not sure it that is supposed to be one word or not). It was a lot of fun, my second time, and Dicky's first. We were 300 feet above the water...that is as tall as the tower at Six Flags (according to my husband...who knows stuff like that!?!)! Then we got back on the ship and layed out.

On Thursday, we were in Jamaica. We took a 2 hour bus ride (each way) to climb Dunns River Falls, a beautiful (and freezing) waterfall in Jamaica. I think that this was my favorite excursion. I climbed the waterfall with my family the summer after I graduated high school and it was just as fun this time! :)

The other days, we were at sea and relaxed and ate! Here are a few pictures that we got...

Getting ready to leave Galveston! It felt so weird without Molly there.

Dicky and our cruise ship in Cozumel. This picture makes me laugh. You should have seen him when I was taking this. You would have thought that he was a 7th grade boy that was embarrassed by his family.

Eating in Cozumel. I played it safe and got quesadillas. Dicky got chimichangas. It was good, but it sure is hard to beat good ol' Tex-Mex (like Anamia's).

He will be upset with me for posting this picture...

And we did a lot of this...laying around!

We had a great time but missed Molly so much! We are glad that we went, just the two of us. We were able to get some R&R and Molly had a fun week with Mimi and Pops. We were one of the first ones off of the ship on Sunday morning! Normally, you set your luggage outside of your stateroom the last night, and they gather it up for you and take it where you need them to in the morning. If you want to carry all of your luggage (and we had a lot) then you can get off of the ship first. We both decided to do that. It was either get off of the ship at 7:15 or 11:00. We carried our own bags for sure...it got us home to our girl that much sooner. Too bad she had just started a 2 1/2 hour nap when we got home, so we had to wait that long to see her anyway! Oh well...

Sleeping Beauty

Isn't she precious? Notice the pink bear. This is her new best friend, Pinky. She was instantly attached to it. When I go and get her from her nap, she reaches down to pick him up and bring him along. She is a good friend. :)

We are going on a cruise next week. Molly is staying with my parents and I am sure that I will have lots of pictures to share next week. I am sure that Molly will probably have a new wardrobe (shoes included) after being with Mimi for a week, too. :)

We haven't even left for the cruise yet, and I already miss Molly so much! We have one of those Royal Caribbean credit cards and are going on our second free cruise in the past two years. I am telling you, you gotta get one of these. Anyway, we booked this cruise before Molly was born and didn't realize how much we would miss her for a week. I am very excited though and it will be a great break for the two of us. Don't doubt that I won't be one of the first cruisers off the ship making a hurried trip home to see my baby girl!

Out with the old. In with the new.

So we were driving around one Friday evening, just the three of us, and Dicky was telling me about how much he liked the new Optometrist at the Target on 75 and 380. He just graduated and was getting his practice started, still had his diploma laying on the ground to be hung. Since we had nothing better to do on a Friday night (I know we are losers), I thought I would call and make myself an appointment, too. I was about 6 months overdue and Dicky could stay with Molly and it would be quick and easy, right? Well I called and the only appointment that they had was at 6:30. It was about 5:00 at the time. We decided that we would go to half price books and kill some time. On the way to half price books, we drove past the dealership. "Let's drive in here, just for fun." That is what Dicky said. We pulled in, and there it was...a pretty little used Tahoe that was in our budget!!! I sat in it and smiled at Dicky really big, just as the salesman was walking around the corner. Of course, the salesman saw the smile on my face and prob. thought that he had this one in the bag. Well, I canceled my 6:30 eye appointment at Target and we found ourselves driving home a Tahoe for the night, just to try it out. The salesman said to drive it home, see how we liked it, and we could make a decision in the morning. Those salesmen really know what they are doing because, well, after driving it home, doing some online shopping and research until 1:00 in the morning, we pulled out of the dealership the next afternoon owning a Tahoe. Dicky's facebook status the next day said something like this..."The next time you have an hour to kill before an eye appointment, go to the bookstore instead of the car dealership. It will be a cheaper visit." Boy was he right! This seems like it was an "on the whim" decision, but we really were ready for a new car. It was the first one that we have bought together and I will never forget it.

We sure will miss this Dodge truck though. Dicky felt like a part of his manhood was being taken away. I will never forget the night that he got this truck either. We were with his parents and we were seniors in high school. While his parents were finalizing the deal, Dicky and I were in a hurry to get to youth group. It was a Wednesday night. So long, Dodge truck. You will be missed. Here he is with his truck for the last time.

We didn't have any idea how long it took to "make a good deal". Good thing I had this in the back of the jeep. Molly was wheelin' and dealin'. She pushed this stroller down a hallway of offices. She thought she was big stuff!

And here we are with our new ride...

Sick Baby

Our little munchkin had RSV last week and had to do some breathing treatments. This first pictures make her look much sicker than she really was. We were glad that she did so well and was able to fight it off quickly!
We almost put her bouncer up in the attic a few weeks ago, but kept putting it off. I am glad that we didn't put it up because it came in handy during her breathing treatments. We stuck her in the bouncer and put baby Einstein on. She didn't put up a fight at all! Distraction is the key, people. :) Has anyone else had to give your baby Albuterol breathing treatments? WOW! It was like have the most hyper baby that you can imagine....times ten! Almost too much to handle. :)

Notice the smile under the mask in this next picture. This must have been one of the puppet scenes. Those are a favorite!

For sure, we must eat the mask...

All done, with a smile on her sweet face!

Once Upon A Time...

We have loved to read to Molly since she was a few months old. Lately, she really enjoys going to her bookshelf that Mimi and Pops got her for Christmas and picking out a book for us to read. Well, she pretty much drops them on the floor, but we like to say that she is "picking them out." :) Her favorites right now are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Corduroy's Day, and all of the Touch and Feel books. I think I could quote them all by memory right now if I had to.


At night, she gets her bath and then picks out her books. Here she is picking out her books. Aren't those cheeks sweet?

Slightly different angle...

Here are a few pictures of us reading over these past few months. I can't believe that she is growing up so fast!

This is a picture of Daddy reading Goodnight Moon to Molly back in August, 3 1/2 months old.

Grandma reading Goodnight Moon (even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon). 4 months, poor girl was loosing her hair.

Mimi is readying Brown Bear, Brown bear to Molly. This was one of her Daddy's favorite books when he was growing up.

PawPaw reading Where is Baby's Belly Button?

And Daddy reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear again...

I am glad that Molly likes her books, because our family sure does love to read!