Friday, December 28, 2007

Merry Christmas and a Happy Surgery...

Christmas was great! Joy was getting into the excitement and enjoyed getting presents. By the end of the day all you had to say was Joy present and she would come running ready to open. I will get some pictures up as soon as I can get Rob on that (next year sometime!).
Surgery went well as far as I can tell. I went in with Rob around 9:15 and did my paperwork and pre-op stuff (the nurse was sure to tell me I am not pregnant) and then Rob got to come and sit with me while we waited for the doctor to show up. The surgery was scheduled for 10:30 and last I heard it was about 10:35 and the doctor was there not long after that. So I went into the operating room fully awake and then I moved to the table and I remember seeing a syringe putting something in the IV line, but then next thing I remember was waking up. Apparently I was smiling allot when I woke up and I chatted with the nice nurse who was there in the recovery room. She gave me lots of water (which I later learned was a bad idea). I was doing very well and so she said she would go tell Rob I should be ready to go in about 15 minutes. Well then she sat me up, and nausea set in. She laid me back down for another 5 minutes then I sat back up finished getting dressed and then she moved me to a "recliner" next to the bed I was in. She then went to get Rob because it had been about 30 minutes to the original 15 he was told about. He sat there with me for awhile, and I apparently was looking very tired (I might have dosed off again) and another nurse asked if I was ready to go home. I went with a yes on that. So the nurse and Rob loaded me into the car (not hard as I literally walked from the wheelchair to the car about 5ft). Then we took off toward home. Now I failed to mention to the nurse and Rob that I still had some nausea, and not even to the corner I managed to get all that water Sprite and a cracker they had given me back up. Then I felt much better! We made it home, luckily Joy was sleeping so I didn't have to worry about her seeing me and wanting to play. Vicki stayed with me while Rob and Marty went to get me some lunch. I ate and slept the rest of the day. Thursday morning I woke up in pain!! I managed to get up and to the couch, but no further. I pretty much stayed there all day. Not sure now why it was so painful, but it was painful! I took my medicine every 4 hours and made it through the day. After Joy went to bed I started to try and clean up some of the Christmas mess that we brought home after Christmas at my Mom's. I did real good I got things into piles all in the middle of the floor and then I could do no more. So the piles stayed. This morning I managed to get the piles out of Joy's way (at least the ones that needed to be) and I had a good day. I only took my pain medicine this morning, and have been pain med free the rest of the day. I don't know if it was the medicine or just the lack of food, but I was having that nausea feeling again. Anyway we got out twice today, and I am feeling fine. I even took my bandages off this evening and examined my stitches (I think they are cool). Anyway that's my story for now. I will try and do more about Christmas later with pictures!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Pictures (Finally!)

Okay so I have been promising pictures but anytime I can get on my computer Rob is typically on his and the pictures are on his and it's easier not to bother him to get the pictures so anyway finally here are some pictures!

These first two are of Rob's office for Halloween. I don't recall if I mentioned he did the Matrix theme with a couple other guys from work, well I never got the pictures of all of them, but here is his office. Yes he hand painted all that, and each one is a letter or number, a few coded for me and him to understand.


So Halloween night here he is in front of our home. He brought home the panels from work and hung them in the entry way, you can kinda see it in the pictures, but not really great. Basically you could not see into the house just the Matrix panels.


Switching Holidays, right after Joy was born my dad was here and bought this from a lady down the street. We didn't get it up last year, and it's not lighted at night, but it's out and Joy loves to play with it!


Now this is the Christmas Program at our PDO. These are the best 2 pictures (the only ones where it's not the back of her head.) She came out and jingled her bell for the song, but was a little surprised by all the extra people in the Sanctuary (those people were not in practice!) She did okay cried a little but was still the cutest one!

This is just a random picture, Joy got the top (along with some pants that are too big) for Christmas from my friend Mary. She's in the laundry room refusing to come in the house. Just being herself and cute.

Now here is THE dress! She hasn't tried it on yet (I fear more tears when she does) but it is as done as it gets and I am okay with it. If you look close you will see the mistakes, but your only allowed to say wow you made her a dress what a great Mommy you are! I think I might get my friend Michelle to embroider that into the dress. It's done she will wear it twice then it will hang in the closet until I am willing to toss it out. I am really hoping for some sewing lessons next year so I can make all her special dresses preferably with a little less tears. (The blood is inevitable I prick myself all the time!)


Well I do have some news also. I went to the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday. He agreed it was a meniscus tear, and then saw the MRI report (I guess no one told him it was there so he examined me and then when he came to his conclusion I told him about it.) So he said surgery is the thing told me about the surgery and I asked about the alternative and he said it would be like it is now, which is okay as long as I don't squat, go up or down stairs, or walk more than 20 feet. So The scheduling nurse came in and was looking through the calendar. She was in mid January when she asked how soon I wanted it. I mentioned Rob has off work next week, and she flipped back to December 26th, said she had a cancellation and would see if she could get the space back from the Surgery center. Long story short I am having surgery on December 26th at 10:30am. My sister will watch Vicki that day and Rob will be home all week just for safe measure. The doctor said I would be able to walk out of the surgery (after I wake up) and I should have little to no restrictions. I will have some at home exercises to do, but I should be better than now by this time next week. So that's my story this week. I hope to get some Christmas pictures of Joy in the dress and then on Christmas Day, doubt I will get them up for awhile though so be patient with me :)
Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Not a dressmaker

Okay so I had this wonderful idea to make my daughter's Christmas dress. I even went as far as buying a pattern, material and the things that went with it. I have sewn before, I made myself a shirt (that I actually wore) at one point. I have made other things too, I did all my living room curtains, I have done other little crafty sewing things. So why not tackle a dress.... Let me tell you why not, the directions are written in a foreign language, they say it's English but I didn't understand it! In addition they are asking you to do things that just aren't humanly possible at least not by this human. I called my mom on many occasions asking what's this, what's that. She finally came over (a week after I gave up) and fixed some of the problems. Oh by the way I am doing this on her high school graduation gift/sewing machine. Well when she left on Sunday *all* I had to do was the side seams and the hems on the sleeves and the bottom then put on the cutesy little things. Well I managed to get it done (screwing up the sleeves but fixing with rickrack). Then I notice a few things I had not before. The dress is done (and a picture has been taken but our camera or computer did not delete the pictures last time we downloaded them so Rob didn't want to wait out the download of 230 pictures a second time for really only one picture.) Joy will wear the dress to church on Sunday, then to my Uncle's party and then again to the church's Christmas Eve service. Is it perfect, NO! Is it handmade with blood, sweat and tears absolutely! Merry Christmas Joy, I promise this is the last dress I make until after someone give me sewing lessons (a great Christmas present if you haven't already bought one for me!)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Better than Santa

Okay so I admit my computer time is not spent blogging because I am on CafeMom reading other Mom's issues and writing about my own or MySpace lurking it's amazing who is out there and what they are doing! Anyway this post is only going to be a stolen item from CafeMom, I loved the message and wanted to spread it. Hope you like it!

WHY JESUS IS BETTER THAN SANTA CLAUS

Santa lives at the North Pole...
JESUS is everywhere.


Santa rides in a sleigh...
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.


Santa comes but once a year...
JESUS is an ever present help.


Santa fills your stockings with goodies...
JESUS supplies all your needs.


Santa comes down your chimney uninvited...
JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and then enters your heart when invited.


You have to wait in line to see Santa...
JESUS is as close as the mention of His Name.


Santa lets you sit on his lap...
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.


Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is, "Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?"
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, he knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.


Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly...
JESUS has a heart full of love.


All Santa can offer is HO HO HO...
JESUS offers health, help and hope.


Santa says, "You better not cry"...
JESUS says, "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."


Santa's little helpers make toys...
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.


Santa may make you chuckle but...
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.


While Santa puts gifts under the tree...
JESUS became our gift and died on a tree.

It's obvious there is really NO comparison. We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about. We need to put Christ back into CHRISTmas, JESUS is still the reason for the season!


Yes, Jesus is better, He is even better than Santa Claus!!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Not a good Blogger

Okay so it's overtly obvious I am not good at this blogging thing. Well just add that to the tally of things I am not great at, cleaning house, cleaning laundry, just cleaning anything, keeping up with my scrapbooking (Joy's is at least a year behind, and the "family" one is even worse!) However, I am keeping up with Joy's moods and her schedule, she has yet to go unfed (although sometimes the meals aren't that great. I know all the mom's who are great at the cleaning and you can eat off their floors sometimes wish they had more time to spend with their kids. I wish I had more time to clean because I would rather spend my time with my kid. I hope that makes me a great Mom. I know sometimes I feel it makes me a great Mom but not a great wife. First thing when we win the lottery (that we don't play) is we are hiring a maid and a lawn guy, then Rob and I don't have those weekly things that keep us from Joy! Until then sorry no eating off the floor! I am not sure where that came from, but there it is.

In real news at our home everyone is sick! Last Wednesday night in the middle of the night Joy woke up crying, something she hasn't done in 4-5 months! I would like to say I rushed into her room, but I let her be for a few minutes until it was obvious that something was wrong and it wasn't just a random small cry. I get in there and she had thrown up all over her bed. I yell into the monitor to wake up Rob and together we clean the baby and the bed. Joy did not seem to phased by this other than it disrupted her beauty rest. When she was all clean and her bed back together we rocked her for a couple minutes and then I laid her back down. Rob and I headed back to bed. about 2 minutes later I hear her coughing, well I had to go check and be sure she hadn't thrown up again, and sure enough she had thrown up a little more. It wasn't much and it was high on her bed so we rocked a little then back to bed she went. Again a few minutes later she was coughing so since Rob was still up and had followed me last time anyway I let him take care of her. Until I heard her upset over the monitor. I went in and we all rocked. I think this happened one more time, and Rob took care of her that time (he was up no reason for everyone to be in the room). Joy and I stayed home from Parent's Day Out and she was fine all day. Friday again fine. She was fine all week, she was pooping more than usual (a good thing) and on Wednesday this week got a not that said she had a loose poop (unusual, but no worries). So Thursday Rob isn't feeling well and I leave him at home, with him thinking he will go to work just an hour late, Joy and I went to PDO as usual. I get home at noon to find out he never made it to work and is feeling pretty miserable. So Joy and I just do our usual thing and Rob stayed in the bedroom being sick. This morning Rob is feeling better but unsure about his prospects so Joy and I head out. Just past the mall Joy starts to cough, I check the mirror and she looks fine, but starts coughing again. I keep watching as much as I can while driving, next thing I know she is throwing up. I call Rob ask him if he is well enough to take care of Joy since I have to go to work since 2 other teachers, in my room, are out that morning. I bring Joy home drop her and my car here, then go to work in Rob's car. I get to work tell Donna (the Director) the story and we decide I can go at 10:30 when my kids will be covered by other teachers. I get home and Rob is still ill feeling, but Joy is no worse for the wear! I already have a doctor appointment for her this afternoon, so we will see if anything else is known, or if we just keep going as we are. I am glad to know that she is like me and just takes being sick as a minor nuisance, but it makes it hard to determine when she is sick! Is she sick? Has she been sick this whole time? *urgh* I can't wait till she has more words to tell me how she feels! Oh and in all this I don't like taking her temp, I refuse to do rectal, until I have been shown by someone who knows what they are doing and the underarm doesn't seem reliable, and we don't have an ear thermometer yet. So that is where we are now. *sigh*

News about me... My knee which has been hurting since Joy's b-day and I went to the doctor about took an x-ray said it was fluid, it still hurt but I didn't call until it was killing me after spending 3 days at my sister's 2 story house. I called and the doctor scheduled an MRI, and I did it last Saturday. Side thought that thing is loud, and although I am sure it really was 25 minutes it seemed very short. I decided going in that I would say a quick prayer to make it not seem as long as it was and God really answered that because when the tech said 6 minutes left I thought he was going to say 10 minutes passed! So the results were given to my doctor on Tuesday and I have a torn medial meniscus, and I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I have that appointment on the 20th, which was the first new patient available appointment. I decided it's not killing me now, so I can wait. I will let you know when I know more. Until then if you see me hobbling you will know why.

Other babbling because I can... I am over ambitious this year in my thoughts for Christmas, I have a pattern and material to make Joy a dress. It's still just a pattern and material. I do have a backup dress, but hope that everyone will be well enough soon enough that I could get it worked on soon. What this means is she has not yet seen Santa, and our mall is a no go now because she would never be good enough for the line and then sitting in a stranger's lap. So if we can we will go to the Texas City mall, where Santa actually dresses like Santa, and it's a dead mall so that means little or no line. *shrug* we will see. Again needing the time we don't have. Oh my other bother this weekend is that we have 2 things scheduled to do with others, and I really want to do both but now may not be able to do either. The first is my friend Mary, her husband, her twins (2years) and her baby (7 mo?) will be here at Moody to see the lights etc.. I really want to go with them tonight, but if Joy is sick I don't want her to forever hate me getting her boys sick! Although her boys have recently been sick also. Then Saturday is our Christmas Party for our Sunday School. Also my sister is taking her residents (the teens she is house mother for) to Moody on Saturday so that's another thing we could possibly do if time allowed. *sigh* the ONE weekend the rest of this year we have stuff planned and Joy decides to be sick for the first time!
OKay that's all my ramblings, it any of it made sense I am impressed. I will try and blog more, but in reality it's not high on my list (although it does rank above cleaning the kitchen floor!)

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Pumpkin Picking...

Last Friday Joy and I went to the Pumpkin Patch while waiting to go visit Daddy during his office Halloween party. We had a good time, I was impressed with her reaction to walking on hay and seeing ALL those big orange balls! The pics show the story!


I just let her out of the stroller (in the background) and put her down to see what she would do...She wasn't sure what to do with the Pumpkins at first...

So She decided to walk around them...

I kept pointing out different things I was trying to get her to notice the pallet of gourds behind her, but she was more interested in the giant pumpkins (and the other kids running around)

I think her eyes stayed this big most of the time, she was amazed with the pumpkins!

She was showing me the little pumpkins in front of her...

So I gave her one, she wasn't sure what exactly to do with it,

So she dropped it only to pick it up again, and again, and again...

I put this one down for her to inspect, we got it for Daddy.

I could not resist trying the little photo opportunity they had, I was impressed she wasn't screaming or trying to get down,

Until after the first picture!

Oh and she never got back in the stroller it got commandeered by the pumpkins!
So that was all the Friday before Halloween. I think we will go back to this Pumpkin Patch again next year, but maybe a little earlier in the season as the Pumpkins had been picked through allot! (I had gone on Wednesday with my preschool class and between then and Friday they were down quite a bit!)

Halloween was last night and we again put on our Minnie Mouse dress, and occassionally I could get the ears on (sorry no ears in the Pumpkin Patch too much to do by myself!). Joy "Trick or Treated" at 3 houses, our neighbors, and 2 Grandmotherly (about my Mom's age) ladies across the street. I knew they would love her so we went to see each of them. She wasn't sure what to think, but Rob and I are enjoying the little candy that got us :) I will try and get the pictures up soon.

Rob was also a great Halloween participant this year, he did a Matrix theme with 2 other guys from work. He even won the office decorating contest with his Matrix walls! He then brought those walls home and decorated the entryway for our trick or treaters! He was Neo and a couple kids even recognized him! Pictures to follow later this week...

Other news....
I am working at our church's Parent's Day Out/Preschool/Kindergarten I started out 3 days a week full days 9-2 as one of the 4's teachers. Then many things happened and now I am working 5 days 9-12 as a 4's teacher and the Kindergarten teacher. This is good and bad. I enjoy the consistency this gives me and Joy, and technically it's the same hours, and we get to see Rob everyday for lunch. The bad is it is 5 days, and this is only week 2 of the new schedule, but it's making for long weeks. I also don't have much planning time at the school so it is causing me to do some work at home, which I don't want to do. I will say my allergies/sinuses have been INSANE these 2 weeks so that could be part of the issue and being new to the positions also creates more work, but only time will tell. So that's all my news.

Friday, October 12, 2007

I'm updating!!

Okay I told you it would be Mid-October before I could update! Here it is I am updating (and by the way I would prefer to be going to bed, but this is for you Geneva and Michelle.)

The Birthday Week was long but fun. Paw Paw and Grand (My Dad and Step Mom) were here Sunday through Tuesday. Then Wednesday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa (Rob's Mom and Step Dad) came and stayed through Monday morning. On Tuesday and Thursday we went to Moody Gardens (I love that place!) mostly for the adults, but Joy also likes to see the fishies! Friday I did the cake which is in the previous post, I was proud of it and it tasted as good as it looked! The party was Saturday at 11:30...
The Party was a success. We had a great time and Joy did not freak out with all the people watching her. When people got here we basically hung around for awhile. Then we had some food (burgers by committee) and then we did presents and last we had cake. Joy got the small butterfly cake all to herself. At fist she poked at it eating one star of icing off at a time, then people quit staring at her and she managed to smash her smash cake :) Okay we all know what you really want is not my babbling but the pictures so here:

This is before we opened presents. The rocking chair was one of her gifts from Me and Rob. It was my rocking chair as a child and has a music box on it, great for annoying my sister. I re-did the cushions to have it match her stuff.

She would not wear her crown, but it was fun to try anyway.

Here she is picking the stars off one at a time.

Then she figured it out...


Okay so that is all the birthday news.

Other Lybarger news and notes...

Rob - nothing much to report here, he is doing well and still likes his job most of the time. He has also had a birthday and is now 34. We did a family dinner at Olive Garden on his b-day (October 3rd) and then an extended family dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday. It took 30 minutes to get there and then 30 minutes to get from the freeway to the restaurant (it's one block you have to love the Galleria!) After that we did have a good time. And he felt well celebrated.

Donna - The Sunday before Joy's b-day I was working in the preschool extended session at our church (the time after Sunday school during big church). While in there my knee popped a little louder than usual but I thought nothing of it. Later that day it began to hurt a little still thought nothing. Each day it hurt more and more. I finally would take Aleve at night to help the pain and let me sleep. Then last Tuesday I broke down and called a doctor and was seen. I have/had fluid in my knees. He prescribed Ibuprofen and said call in 2 weeks if it's still hurting. I have been taking the ibuprofen and noticed it wasn't hurting so I stopped a couple days ago so far it's okay and only a mild ache on occasion (I have a high tolerance for pain and hate taking meds). So that is where that is now. after 2 days no drugs I am doing better than I was so I guess the fluid's gone? I might call this week just to double check he doesn't want to follow up, but it feels okay now.
I am also working at the Parent's Day Out/Preschool at my church, which I enjoy, but we still have a few kinks we re trying to work out, both with Joy and with my classroom. Pray that we can get the kinks ironed out!

Joy - Well she began really walking on September 11th. Since then she has decided it's better to walk than crawl and has almost perfected the getting up without assistance, although if you are near she wants your help. She loves her outside walks that she now gets to take she will walk on the sidewalks and the driveways but not in grass. She cut 3 more teeth the week of her birthday, which brings the total to 7. I think I might have seen another coming in too, but not sure. I did weigh her on her b-day and she was 18lbs 2oz. This continued the last few months weight gain curve so all is good there. I am more relaxed and so the bottles are gone. All but the night time one. She is confidently drinking out of a straw all day and then at night I give her 8oz of formula in a bottle just to make sure she gets through the night. I think when we are out of formula that will be the end of the bottles!! I don't know how to wean this last night night bottle, but I am sure she will do better than me! She is eating fairly well, he favorite things are french fries and fajitas (she loves Taco Cabana fajitas!) She drinks whole milk except for the last bottle of the day. She is doing well, and loved by all! If I missed anything let me know. Here are a couple more pictures for the road!

Grandma has a cane and Joy liked to walk around with it, didn't bother her it is twice her height!

Rob's Piano - Peggy and Fred brought his piano from Florida and Joy loves it!

Friday, September 21, 2007

We Have Cake!!

In the beginning their was cake with white icing and then pink icing.

Then the baby needed icing (don't worry I cleaned it after this)

Adding a little yellow

More for the baby...

TA-DA!!

Joy's smash cake

Lily's cake (if she wants it)

All done!!! Sorry for the head turn.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

One Year!

Wow! Has it been a year already? I don't know if I fully believe the calendar, but I do believe my baby is no longer the baby I see in the pictures from her original birthday! This year has had it's highs and it's lows. The high points are waking up each day to the realization I'm a Mommy, anytime Ma or Daddy comes out of her mouth, best of all is those moments when ONLY Mommy will do. The lows include not being able to breastfeed exclusively as long as I wanted and then not at all, the resulting weight issues and general crying without understanding.

Joy has learned so much this year and has so much more to learn! She learned first how to control her body, her head, her hands and her feet. Then to make them do something other than fly around about her. The real trick was then coordinating them all to learn to crawl. Next came pulling up, and then cruising. After months of crawling she decided being upright is best. Now she is determined to walk upright as much as possible. She even stood up in the middle of the hallway on Friday at Church and started up walking again. She was not going to crawl!

Her voice has also grown all year. First from the wailing cry she started at birth (and lasted for quite awhile). Then a few coos and other small sweet noises. Then she started experimenting with sounds. First came Da, then Buh, and finally Ma. We would play with these sounds for awhile, then find new ones. Now she knows Daddy, even says Daddy when he comes around a corner or home from work. She will cry Mea, which I am guessing is her version of Mommy. She also talks about Puppies allot! She will also say uh-----oh after throwing something on the floor (and sometimes after dropping it accidentally). Her vocabulary grows each day, sometimes I am unsure if what she is saying is a new word or just a mimic of what she has heard. She just this week will start what I can only guess is the ABC's like her Leap Frog does them (so far I have heard up to about E).

I don't know what else to say, but I love her! I love her will all my heart and can't imagine this past year without her. I look forward to seeing what she will do each day, and can't believe she is the same small lump of a baby from a year ago. With that I will give you pictures of her First Birthday Celebration with her Paw Paw (my dad) and Grand (My Stepmother). The Birthday Party is this Saturday and as soon as I recover (sometime mid October maybe) I will fill you in and chronicle it in pictures.


The Cake!

The Family!

You want me to do what?

I got the rose!

Are they really letting me do this?

Can't miss a thing!!

Yeah! I like this!
I love you Paw Paw!

Joy's 1!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Steps!!!

SHE TOOK STEPS!!! My big girl!! She had me almost in tears today as I stood her up and she would walk to me then plop on her bottom and clap for herself! Now technically she took steps last week Daddy was holding her hands and she was going really good and Daddy let go and she took two steps before falling flat. These were momentum steps though, and she only did it once. Today she had no momentum she did it all on her own power!! I stood her up as far from me as I could reach and let go of her (she started the last couple days just standing or slowing sitting down) then I would scoot as far away as I could and see what she would do. About half the time she sat or would just stand there, then finally two steps!! I did it again and she did it again. Finally I decided I have to try and get this on video, so I got the camera out set it out and then pressed record. I stood her back up and she took many steps!!! I tried again to see if she could/would repeat it, but she was getting tired of my new game. I turned the video off put it where she could not get to it. Then tried again I stood her up and called her to me, she turned and walked towards some of her toys! My little girl can walk!!!! Now as soon as I learn how to get the video off the camera and onto the computer I will post it, until then just know she's cute and wobbly!!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

trying...



So Joy has discovered the art of walking with her push toy, walking holding someones hand(s) and walking along a wall, but not walking all on her own. We imagine it won't be too long though. I will try and post it as soon as she does.

This month has been a little crazy! I can't even remember all that has happened. We have been to Moody Gardens Palm Beach a couple times, we continue to Monkey Around allot. \

The big events were I went away for a night and left Dad and Joy alone! They both survived and are still on speaking terms with me and each other. I had a great time with my cousins. We decided when our Maw Maw passed away we wanted to be able to get together on occasion, and waiting for our Dad's to help us would mean never doing it. So we took it upon ourselves and have a cousin's weekend each year. Last year we went to Galveston. This year we went to Salado Texas, which we loved! It's a great little town in the middle of hill country. Basically it's one street lined with all kinds of shops, Antiques, crafty stuff, Texas stuff, etc. It was a good relaxing and fun visit with the cousins and just generally nice to get away.

The other big even this month was a visit from my friend Mary, her boys, and one of her nieces. We had a great time, we went to Moody Gardens, did the beach, the Aquarium and the Rainforest. Then we went to the real beach (so her niece could see Galveston beaches are not really white sand and blue water). When we got to the real beach Michael (Mary's Youngest) William (one of the twins) and Joy were all sleeping so since I am very familiar and not a fan of Galveston beaches I stayed by the cars while Mary, Holly and John Morgan trekked to the beach. While sitting there taking to Rob on the phone I was looking at my tire and saw a nice big tear in it. So I called AAA and about an hour later they came and changed the tire to my donut. Then we did a short tour of the rest of Galveston and came home. That was a full day plus some! Friday Mary took her crew to visit her Aunt Ruth and then we met up with them at Kemah where we rode the train and watched the kids in the fountain. Then we said our goodbyes around 1:00 and Mary started to Dallas and I went to buy a new tire. That night around 9:00pm Mary gave me a call as they had just dropped off Holly and were on their way home! Yikes that was a long trip!!

This month we also helped my sister Vicki move from her house which they are renting to the work house. Then on Tuesday Rob went back over to help Marty with some stuff and after they were done they played some basketball with some much younger guys and Marty came home hurting. By the end of the week Vicki convinced Marty to go to the doctor (same one she went to when she broke her foot) and his Achilles Tendon is detached. He is having surgery on Wednesday (tomorrow). This is not helpful as many things were left undone at their home in Katy. So we went back and helped with a garage sale on Saturday and Rob helped with a few things in the house that needed fixing. Marty's Aunt and a family friend were there to help.

For the future... Tomorrow I start work at the church's Preschool/Mother's Day Out program. I will be working MWF, except the next 3 days are teacher work days so I will be there all 3. This means Joy will also be attending MDO on MWF. I will let you know how it goes!

We all know what is coming on the 19th! I am both excited and nervous. I look forward to her getting older, although I am loving her as a baby! I know I will love her as she grows, but it's hard to imagine her getting bigger. She is a sweetheart and I do love how she is now, and know I will love the person she grows up to be! As I have time I will update