14 Months Old

It's that time of month, again, when we celebrate Kyle getting older. He is now one year and two months old! He didn't have the greatest day today...lots of crying and carrying-on. That's okay. Everyone is entitled to a bad day, every once-in-a-while.

He does seem like he's growing up. We notice new things he's learning everyday. He can understand so much of what we tell him, and can even communicate a few things back to us! He is also starting to drink from his own water bottle. (Yeah, the sippy cup thing still isn't going so well! Maybe he'll just skip that step!)


We so much enjoy each new day with this boy, even if it happens to be a gloomy one, like today!

Ohhhh Nooooooooooooo!

Most of you (especially Auntie Deb!) probably remember Mr. Bill. He is most famous for his appearances on Saturday Night Live. Each Mr. Bill episode would start out like any normal day, but he somehow always got involved in dangerous adventures. The violence usually resulted in Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered, while squealing, "Ohhhh noooooooooo!!!"


I think we need to name Kyle's sock dog "Mr. Bill." Kyle keeps trying to end the sock dog's life in various ways. This morning I found the sock dog version of "Mr. Bill" thrown across the room. Kyle must have catapulted the poor thing out of the crib. Our "Mr. Bill" has been tossed down 2 flights of stairs. He's been stuffed in the laundry basket. Kyle can be found sitting on "Mr. Bill's" head or giving him a "body slam." Today, Kyle attempted a new level of violence. He tried to drown our "Mr. Bill" in the toilet!!!!


Luckily, I was able to stop the violence before it was too late! Just look at this face, right after I told me NO!

We're Back!

We made it back to Miami! It's good to be home and back with Stephen! Now it's time to catch up on posting about what we've been up to over the last 5 days.

Today's flight was MUCH better than Thursday's. We had a direct flight, even though we had to make 2 stops. Kyle slept, played, and cried, but we made it, even a little bit early! (While we were waiting for the flight, Kyle LOVED playing with the wheelchairs and getting to explore the practically empty airport.)


I'm glad another day of flying is over, and look forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!

Four Generations

Before Granna and Jules had to leave on Monday, we got the four generations together for a picture. Then, we shed a few tears and waved goodbye. It was a short visit, but a good one.


Shortly after they left, Kyle got back to business....TOYS!

Then, we were off to school. Kyle and I met up with Michele and Rhonda for a reunion lunch at Jane Long. How fun it was to see so many of my former co-workers and WITHOUT having to return to work! Also, the looks on my former students' faces when I walked into their classrooms to say hello were priceless. My visit was so unexpected, but me being there seemed to really make their day! They were my favorite group of students, so it was really special to get to visit with them.
Michele planned a traditional lunch of salads from Pizzaria Venti and Route 44 Sonic drinks. We had a fun time catching up and reminiscing. While we were eating, my Red Raider, 4th grade teacher friend stopped in to say hello. Kyle, as if to send a little message, quickly popped his A&M binky in his mouth! I'm so glad we got to go to school, but didn't have to stay. (Although, a "help wanted" sign on the front door was tempting. They need a lunch monitor. Should we move back to Midland for this great opportunity?)

Party "Princess?"

After church on Sunday, Auntie Deb opened all her cards and presents. We all had some great laughs, but we were laughing with her, not at her. Kyle was so caught up in the spirit of the festivities that he donned the birthday crown and tossed confetti in Auntie Deb's honor.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Auntie Deb pulled off a great party! Kyle was quite the little party animal. He had a great time working the crowd.


I thoroughly enjoyed cake. It looked great and tasted even better!

Kyle and I spent some time at the actual party, but most of our time was spent.....


....playing on the inflatable toys! Kyle loved the Bungee Run. Aunt Jules also wanted to race me, knowing ahead of time that I am the Jane Long champion of the Bungee Run. However, she has a bit of a height advantage on me and was able to beat me every time!




Then, we got our gloves on for a little boxing match. Kyle tried to back into his:



When that didn't work, he pulled out some karate moves on me.


Even when he fell down, he kept getting back up and coming at me with more.

He finally had to give up, so he could return to the party.

The birthday girl, herself, also had a little boxing match. "T" came out as the winner!

Happy Birthday, Auntie Deb! You've come a long way, baby!

Friday Night

Granna and Aunt Jules flew in on Friday afternoon! It was great to get to see them. We had dinner at Grama Sue's house with Auntie Deb, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Terri. Then, Auntie Deb opened her big birthday box, full of 50 funny things for her 50th birthday. Among the favorites were the camping toiletry kit, FLARP, and the Mushebelly Ewe.

Granna, Jules, and Uncle Mark also got in some practicing for the song they were singing in church on Sunday. Kyle liked the music and wanted to "help" with the accompaniment, but did much better at helping Granna with her singing.

The Plane Ride

These are a couple of pictures from our plane ride from Ft. Lauderdale to Midland. Finally, on the stretch from Dallas, Kyle was able to have his own seat!

He kept looking up to try and see where the blast of cold air was coming from!

A LOOOOOOOOOOONG Day!

Exactly 9 hours from the time I walked out of my door in Miami, we pulled into Grama Sue's garage in Midland. It was a very long day.

The flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Houston wasn't too bad. We just had turbulence the whole way because of Hurricane Ike. We could even see the outer bands from the plane's windows! Kyle slept most of the way, which was a great blessing.

Then, we walked out into an airport I didn't recognize! We thought we would escape the effects of Ike, only to walk into the panic of evacuation mode in Houston! The airport was standing room only....and not much of that left! Our plane was late. Instead of having only an hour lay-over, it ended up being almost 2 hours! Then, we got on the plane and ended up staying on the runway for 25 minutes. That was the worst part of the day. It was hot, I had a headache, there was no movement, and Kyle had already been waiting around and had not been able to run and play for several hours. (Side note: as the plane was filling up, people kept moving past the middle seat next to us....a benefit of flying with a baby...no one wants to sit by you. Finally, we got down to the last few people. This lady asks if she can sit there, so I get up to let her have the middle seat. Then she asks, "Would you mind if I had the aisle seat?" *Is she INSANE? Did I not get an "A" boarding pass? Did I not get on the plane before her and already chose my seat and unpack all of Kyle's necessities? Can she not see I have a baby? Did she want me to do all the work of planning and preparing and then she just comes in at the last minute and gets what I already have with no effort? She must be a Democrat.* I'm thinking all these thoughts and more about this moron. I say, "Yeah, I do mind. With a baby, I need to be on the aisle, in case I need to get out." She replies, "Oh. Well, I'll go see if there's another seat in the back." Fine by me! So, here we are, doing all the stuff before we take off, and I think I may be sitting next to the ONE open seat on the plane, but in comes on last passenger, a stand-by, who ended up being VERY nice.....and DIDN'T ask for my seat.) Once we finally got off the runway, Kyle did pretty well.

Then, we had to land in Dallas. I'm actually glad we did, even though it added time to the overall trip. All but about 50 people got off the plane! Kyle and I had the whole row to ourselves. I'm so grateful for small miracles like that. It was an easy last stretch, and my headache FINALLY went away. (I had to cave in and get a Dr. Pepper.....even though I went back to Weight Watchers last night and pledged I would get back on track after gaining 4.4 lbs. Oh well. It's life. I'm still under goal and I'm not going to let food run my life, but I digress...)

How nice it was to land in Midland and have our luggage and Kyle's car seat arrive! We look forward to a great weekend!

I must be Crazy!

In a few hours, I leave for the airport. Kyle and I are going on a trip back to Midland to visit with family and friends and go to Auntie Deb's birthday party. I must be crazy.

I'm flying ALONE with an almost 14-month-old....who doesn't like to sit still...and is teething....has had diarrhea for 2 days.....which has caused AWFUL diaper rash....and doesn't like to drink out of a sippy cup because I'm still in the middle of taking away his bottles, "cold turkey."

And, it's the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

But, hey....let's look on the bright side. A week ago, we were supposed to be slammed with a category 4 hurricane, one that could rival "Andrew" of 1992, and make my trip virtually impossible. That didn't happen. Plus, it's not THAT long of a flight, and maybe Kyle will sleep.

We'll be fine and we'll have a great time, but you might add us to your prayers!