Big Tex

Aunt Amy, Haven, and I loaded up and went to the great State Fair of Texas yesterday and it was big fun! Our first stop was lunch, so Amy and Haven started out with Fletcher's corny dogs. I took one for the team and had the first big bite of Haven's to get it started and then she chowed down the rest entirely on her own (broken into tiny pieces, of course). I had the fried cobb salad (which was one of the top 8) and it was pretty good, definitely better than it might sound.

Then we stopped at Big Tex. We got there right as he quit talking and didn't want to wait for another round, but Haven thought he was cool regardless. I guess I didn't do a very good job of capturing that in this photo.

Other than the food, our main stop was for the petting zoo and it was a big hit for Haven. She got to pet a sleepy camel and see many other live creatures. I didn't let her pet too many because I was afraid of what she would do (poke an eye, pull the fur, etc.) and didn't care to see her victims reaction to that, so we stayed an arm's length away from most of them.

We were looking at one of God's great creatures when the pooper scooper man told me, "if you want to really see something, there's a lamb-a over there having a baby." Sure enough, a few pins down, there was a llama giving birth. Her other llama friends were guarding her, which was pretty sweet, but I was able to capture this picture for proof and your viewing pleasure...

Haven really wanted to touch everything

Very interested in something...

Piglets

This has taken on a whole new meaning to me this year and I cannot imagine having a litter. Poor mama pig!

After the petting zoo, we got the Fried S'mores Pop-tart and the Texas Fried Frito Pie (both also part of the top 8). The pop-tart was surprisingly good, the frito pie, not so much. Clearly, I go to the fair solely for the food. In fact, I'm not really sure why else one goes to the fair?

It doesn't sound like we did much, but we were there from about 12ish-3:15 and Haven was wiped. She fell asleep in the car when we were about 30 seconds from home, so we drove around to give her a little 20 minute nap. Amy let Dutch out, I unloaded the car, and she was still snoozing...

*Shout to sweet and wonderful Michelle for helping me choose this carseat. I fretted over which one to get and she was so great to take the time and tell me her decision process which helped me tremendously!!*

Thanks for going to the fair with us, Amy! We'll have to make it an annual event.

On a completely unrelated note, tooth #4 has made it's debut and we've had two drop-offs at the nursery this week that did not involve screaming!

Who Me?

Yes YOU!

You may be wondering why this picture is blurry. That is because as I was trying to get a cute tub picture of Miss Haven, she pooped in the bathtub :( This was her third offense - not cool baby girl, not cool at all!

In other news, the weather for the past week has been uh-mazing! I was signed up to take dinner to a family that lives about 2 miles from our house, so I decided we would walk it to them. I loaded everything up and was trying my best to get there and back in as close to an hour as possible (which meant no sniffing stops for Dutch) so we were hauling. I could tell he was super hot and getting tired, so I thought I'd try to put him in Haven's stroller and see what he did (this is a reenactment ;))...

and they both loved it! Since he was riding I decided to try running to makeup some time. We made it like this a few blocks both there and back and it was Haven's favorite part of the journey - she giggled, squealed, and kicked him (lovingly) the entire time. Dutch bailed off after a dog or I think he would have let me "push" him all the way home.

These beautiful flowers were sent to us by a little baby on it's way. I'm keeping my lips sealed until I know the news is public, but we are excited for the new family! The mama and daddy were so sweet to tell us in such a special way and we are looking forward to meeting their addition in May!

Double Digits

Ten months! This months chair pictures were even harder than the last. At this rate, I will be lucky to get one for October and November. Our fall schedule is in full swing, so Haven and I spend 2-3 mornings a week at the church which means no morning nap 2-3 days a week. After two days in a row of no morning nap, I had a very tired and volatile baby girl. If I looked at her funny she would burst into tears.

One good one:

And the remaining attempts went something like this:

A few ten month updates...

Dropping off and picking her up from the church nursery is pretty stressful for both of us right now because 9 times out of 10, she is hysterical when I drop her off, and not always much better when I pick her up. Some reports are better than others, but the sweet workers and volunteers tell me she doesn't cry the whole time, and that she does better if she is held but is okay if she can sit right next to them and play. I've been hoping and praying that she will get better; I guess it has to because I don't think she can get much worse! She appears to be better at the pick-up if I am the first mom there, so for now I will be racing to the nursery after Sunday School, MOPS, and Ladies Bible Study.

Haven definitely throws fits - arches her back and screams (see picture above) when you take her away from something she isn't done with and HATES, hates, HATES to have her diaper changed. It is a total whip to change it almost every time. The changing pad used to be a happy place where she would coo and giggle, now it is a fish-out-of-water flipping, screaming battle. You can't even hardly distract her with anything anymore.

On a happier note, Haven has become quite the talker. She started with "Buh" in the beginning of August, then moved onto "Guh" for a brief period, next was "Mama" (as my cousin Nick said - it's not a competition but I won :)), and now she's got the "Dada" and "Duh." I'm not sure I would really say any of those were her "first words" yet though because I'm not totally convinced it was intentional rather than babble.

Haven gives sweet (open-mouth) kisses, waves (but usually after the person is already gone), shakes her head no with intention (and yes, but just for laughs), dances anytime she hears music and sometimes by request when prompted with, "Haven, shake your booty." Is that terrible? Maybe, but it's darn cute at this age. I realize it won't be cute for long, so probably shouldn't encourage it but I can't help myself!

Colossians 1:9

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

This is the verse we dedicated to Haven on Sunday and it could not be more fitting. We started on March 8, 2009 and continue to pray nonstop for Haven. My prayer, which is also my biggest source of worry and fear, is that Haven will know and love the Lord with all of her heart and that she will constantly seek Him. Only by the grace of God will we get that right.

You never know what you are going to get with a 10 month old in front of a crowd, but she did great. As my mom said, she was up in front of the contemporary service so happy that everyone had come to see her on Sunday morning.

After church, we all went to brunch at the Grape and it was fabulous!

Family photo - Dutch wasn't about to let us leave him out.

After brunch, we came back to the house and Haven performed for everyone.

On Sunday morning during breakfast, she started 'saying' "Dutchy." I use the term saying loosely because she screams it in this very high pitched squeal and she is more matching my pitch than actually saying Dutch. Either way, it is (of course) adorable :)

Thank you Grammy, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, Aunt Kim, Uncle Brandon, Emily, and Aunt B for coming to church and brunch with us to celebrate a special day. It would not have been the same without you there!

Double OUCH!

Haven smacked her head good on Thursday afternoon. I felt so bad for her...I still do when I think about that hit. We were in her room, she was standing holding onto my leg and was going for the bars of her crib but fell short and smacked her forehead on the bed which also knocked her neck back. I try not to suck all the air out of the room when she falls, but I definitely did that time because I knew that had to hurt. Poor baby! She cried hard, but not for too long - she is tough and I let her play in the freezer (it's an odd favorite)!

Ouch #2 was the Tech loss on Saturday. We had some friends over for dinner that night, so I actually didn't get to really watch the game, but I think that was a good thing. While they had the cutest cheerleader, it sounds like the football was pretty ugly.

A bonus picture of Haven caught hiding her flower in the cabinet :)

Miss Em

Emily is 9! Her birthday is September 16, so Haven, Grammy, Amy, and I met Brandon, Kim, and Emily for dinner to celebrate (Grandpa was out of town and Benton was in class). It was late and definitely not Haven's finest hour, but we couldn't miss such a special day!

"Yea! I'm out WAY past my bedtime"

Grammy and Haven with the birthday girl!

Eating a lemon kept her quiet and occupied for a few minutes.

Happy Birthday to Emily!

Do you think Haven wanted some of that ice cream? I don't think she can open her mouth any wider.

There are 8 years between me and Brandon, and 8 years between Emily and Haven. Emily has been such a sweet cousin to Haven and we've been fortunate to get to spend lots of time with her lately. Happy Birthday Miss Em - we love you and hope you loved your day!

Random Updates

I guess I did this backwards because the most recent changes are at the top...oh well.

Haven finally started crawling consistently in a normal crawl on Friday. She started out in May pulling with her fingers and pushing with her toes. That gradually transitioned to an army crawl, then she would occasionally get up on her hands and knees but she didn't really know what to do once she was up on all fours. I guess she finally figured it out. She'd rather scale a wall to get what she wants, but she will crawl if she must.

Haven has three teeth now. Her top left tooth started coming through last week. Amy saw it on Monday and the gum swelling finally went down enough so I could feel it on Thursday.

While we were at the beach, Haven started really protesting her third nap and missed it all together a few days. It is officially gone now, which means bedtime is even earlier - 6 o'clock on the dot most nights. As all the books tell you, this earlier bedtime has brought a later wake time - it is the strangest thing. Haven slept until after 8:00AM three times last week. She hasn't done that since she was five months old. It has been great, but at the same time it throws our whole day off, so it's not something I want to happen all the time. I can't imagine how awesome it must feel to get 14 hours of sleep?!

While waiting at the airport in Fort Walton on Friday morning, I got this text message from Benton, "My car was broke into. The cops just left..." (He did try to call me first but I didn't hear my phone and it was longer, but I'll spare the remainder.) This is what we saw when we got home:

I was really surprised that the window was so intact. Benton was at an attorney's office at 10AM parked on 75. Talk about bold. I asked Benton if it was sad that when I saw his text I immediately assumed he was at home when it happened. He told me that was scary. Thankfully, everything that we lost (including the window) is replaceable and only with minor headaches.

A couple of months ago, I bought the Groupon for a Brazilian Blowout at a salon in Frisco. I finally had my appointment the day before Haven and I left for Destin and it was worth every penny! The stuff is AMAZING! I can be ready so fast with dry straight hair - I almost forgot what that looked like. I am totally hooked and will be doing it again every 12ish weeks.

My Grandma came in town for a week and I managed to not get one picture with her and Haven. I did however, take this picture for her because she wanted a full body shot in Haven's rain boots.

Thankfully, this has only happened once so far, but after throwing a tantrum in her bed at nap time, Haven fell asleep like this:

I was so worried she was going to wake up sore, but she slept exactly like that with no movement at all for 45 minutes and woke up as happy as could be.

Haven and I went to try out the Little Gym and she came home with the little germs. We thought she might have pink eye, but it was just a little cold and she got over it pretty quickly. She really is pretty tough and doesn't slow down much ever, but she can definitely look pathetic.
I think I've mentioned this before, but Haven LOVES to be outside. She thinks she is such a big girl now because she can "walk" out on the balcony by herself if I have the door cracked for Dutch. Then she throws a nice little fit when I make her come back in. Such a mean mom - so much to look forward to :)
We had to drop Haven's crib twice within a span of two weeks. We are at the lowest level now and have been since the beginning of August. We used to always come in to her like this on her knees, but now she's almost always standing.