Going Home Part 2- Friends

"Friends are the family you choose"

I'm not sure who originally said this, but it's so true!  People would ask me, "Are you here to see family or friends?"  My reply is "Yes"... yes they are friends, but yes they are family.  Unfortunately, I did a HORRIBLE job at taking pictures so you won't see much of them.  I was so caught up in watching them play with Caylee and enjoying it that I just never pulled out my camera! 

That brings me to Caylee.... she did FANTASTIC!  I was a little afraid that everytime someone would pick her up or hold her she'd scream.  Nope, she cried a little the first night/day, but given that it was about 3 hours past her usually bedtime and she had been up all day and flew on an airplane, I wasn't too surprised.  After that, she did wonderful.  We were so busy seeing so many people....

The few pictures I have of people:

**Every baby LOVES this girl!  Babies that hate other people, LOVE this girl.  There is just something soothing about her calm personality that they can sense.  Caylee was no exception and went right to her, they played a little and then Caylee fell asleep.  I enjoyed time visiting with the rest of her family while Caylee napped!  

**Caylee's playmate for the week.  Melanie's sweet puppy Lucy!  Lucy was so funny and Caylee just stared at her- especially in the mornings :) 

**Caylee loved Melanie!  It was very sweet when I brought Caylee to the office to visit people and Melanie stopped by, Caylee saw her and smiled so big! 

**First off, I LOVE this chair Caylee is in.  Sherry brought it home and I put her in it all the time... it's such a great seat and she could hang out there in the mornings while I fixed her bottle or before dinner-- very cool chair.  They took this picture and said Melanie was teaching Caylee early how to study so that she could be an Aggie one day too! Gig 'em :)

I told you I did a poor job taking pictures!  That's it.. no more of our sweet friends... and actually the last 3 pics weren't even taken by me!!  Next time we go I am forcing myself to take more pics.

So to fill you in on what you missed.... 

*We spent the majority of each day with Sherry, David and Melanie.  It was so relaxing being at their house and we LOVED being there! They took such great care of Caylee and entertained us both (Thank y'all for EVERYTHING!)

*In between, we made sure to go to lunches or dinners or yogurt with other friends.  I'm sure at times Caylee was overwhelmed by all the people, but I loved catching up and visiting!

    --I have to say one of my favorite dinners was the one where Reed entertained Caylee  He is 3 and of course tried to feed her things he shouldn't, but it was so funny when he said "Baby, I'll be right back, I have to go to the restroom"  and then to a random lady said "Hey!  This is the baby I'm petting".  Yes- he is super cute and very funny and Caylee just smiled and smiled at him!!

*We attended Sunday morning church and Wednesday night church.  At one point Sunday morning I wasn't sure who had Caylee... although the large crowd and no crying told me she was just fine and being loved on by wonderful people. 

     --I will apologize because I think she spit up on everyone that day... sorry :(

*We also made a point to go up and visit Sonya and the other assistants and staff at the church I worked at.  I had some stuff to finish up on-line so Sonya took Caylee and introduced her to everyone and walked her around the office for quite a while.  I loved that everyone got to see her and meet her!

Overall, our trip was AMAZING!  I loved being there, seeing people, visiting and just relaxing with "family" :)  I'm already looking at future dates to visit!



Going Home Part 1- Texas Travel

Caylee and I just returned from a trip to Texas.  For me, this is like going home for many reasons.  First off,  I know, "home" is where Matt is for me.  However, if I could choose where Matt would be, it would be Texas.  I was born in Texas and have lived in different parts for the majority of my life.  More specifically, I've lived in Bryan/College Station longer than I've lived anywhere my entire life.  This is where Matt and I went to school and bought our first home.  More importantly, it's where my closest friends live.  That's why, for me, going to Texas will always mean going home. 

For now, I guess going home will just have to be two or three times a year :)

Now... for the traveling part....
             Caylee and I were scheduled to leave Friday, March 2 from Lexington thanks to our friend Hollis for working out the flight details.  As it would happen, Lexington was in the middle of a SEVERE thunderstorm/tornado watch/warning and the town was beginning to shut down.  The schools let out early first, then the restaurants were beginning to close.  With all this chaos you'd think we'd go somewhere extra safe.... nope, we had a flight to catch and people to see.  Caylee and I packed up and headed to the airport!
             Once at the airport we settled in near the tv's to watch the radar.  It did not look good at all.  Then we saw the clouds rolling in.  I knew the plane we were to travel on had already left and would be arriving to Lexington within the next hour, but the storm was moving fast, so I wasn't sure we'd be able to get out on time.  One part of the massive storm blew through and it looked like nighttime outside!  The lightning was incredible and I thought for sure we'd never get out.  The plane was able to land and suddenly the ticket guy (not sure what their title really is) said, "Houston travellers, you've got 30 seconds to get on this plane- let's go!"  Just like that we all jumped up and everyone was so helpful because we all wanted to get out of Lexington.  They didn't call rows or priority seating or anything!  We boarded faster than I've ever boarded a plane before!  They finished loading the bags underneath and we were off.
                  The flight was extremely smooth and incredibly beautiful!  From my window I could see the most amazing sunset, every color imaginable and very crisp.  From the window across the isle I could a massive thunderstorm!  Dark, but translucent clouds with TONS of lightning going crazy inside the clouds.  I can't even describe it except to say it looked like jellyfish lighting up... the strikes of lightning being the tentacles and the round clouds the jellyfish itself.  Yes, I realize what a ridiculous image this is, but I'm telling you, it was amazing! 

**Sidenote: I wanted to take pictures, but the guy next to me was and they weren't coming out... So I googled pictures to give you an idea.... these are the best I could find, still not accurate, but close...

We finally landed!!!  Caylee did ok, it wasn't her best flight, but we made due.  We weren't too late getting in, considering what we left from.  Then our week in Texas began and waiting for us were David, Sherry and Melanie!!  I was sooo excited to see them and we spent a wonderful week at their house!!

More of our Texas traveling to come...  :)    

4 Months!

Caylee is 4 months today!!  She is doing so well sleeping, even slept from 8pm-6:30am 3 times this week!  We're hoping she learns to do that every night, but so far we're back to waking once at 4am.  She still takes a good 2 1/2 to 3 hr nap a day, and usually we can get her to doze for about an hour in the evening- Matt likes this because he's tired when he comes home and they nap together.  She can roll to her side, but not completely over.  She can sit up with some support.  She loves standing on her feet when we hold her- she's so curious and loves to see what is going on around her.  She is becoming more vocal and will play for almost 30 minutes by herself on her mat at a time.  She still isn't too interested in toys, unless they are held above her and she can pull at them- that's why the mat works great!  She'll sit contently in her chair while I make dinner and we listen to music.  Anything Caylee can put into her mouth makes her happy... we had thought maybe she was starting to get teeth, but it doesn't appear that way anymore (I think she and I both just had a cold and we over-read her symptoms). Caylee is just about out of her 0-3 month clothes and we're starting to add in the 3-6 month clothes.  (Matt said the 0-3 pants still fit, they are just capri's... um... no, I know the difference :) ).She loves when Daddy makes funny noises or faces and is starting to try to imitate some of those sounds.  Caylee is very attached to me, I'm ok with that!  She will get her 4 month shots on Monday and hopefully not develop too much of a temperature this time. 




Caylee,
You are getting so big and have been such a joy to watch grow!  We love you and keep looking forward to all your new tricks!

Morning

I am a morning person,always have been.  This doesn't mean I want to talk to people in the morning, it just means I enjoy the peace and quiet that morning brings.  I like getting up and getting ready for a new day!
Luckily, Caylee seems to be a morning person too.  She is always SO happy in the morning.  I don't get my quiet mornings to myself anymore, but I'd say this is better.  We get all of our errands and chores done in the morning, so that when afternoon comes we can rest.  Even though Caylee takes a long afternoon nap, she still is never as happy as she is in the morning.  Here are some morning smiles...

 

"...joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

Willing to Yield

I've been doing Beth Moore's new study on James for the past 5 weeks now. 
**Sidenote: Don't do this study if you aren't ready to be convicted about something!

              Anyways, today she talked about yielding.  She posed the question... "When you see a yield sign, what do you do?"  Everyone on the video and in the room said "slow down so the other person can go".  Well, clearly I needed this lesson more than they did because my response was "speed up so you can beat the other guy and not get stuck behind a slow driver!"  Oops.. :)
                Yielding is hard for me. Obviously.  I feel like I am giving in or giving up if I yield to a person or situation where there are two conflicting ideas or where I have been previously hurt.  I feel justified in my way of thinking... especially if the other person in the situation has caused harm or been unkind to me, I do not want to yield to that type of person for sure!  Trust me, I know people like that too.  And it's especially hard to yield in a situation where I feel I am right-- which of course, is often.  :) 
              But she explained yielding differently.  She explained that yielding to something or someone is not giving in.  She said "we yield out of wisdom from above, not out of fear below".  We have to be looking towards God to know when to yield to a situation or person- even if we might be right, there are times when we must extend mercy and yield.  She explains this a lot better than I will so I recommend doing her James study.  Nonetheless, I still wasn't sold on this idea of yielding.  Several situations/people popped up in my mind during this lesson and I was not sure I could yield.
               So...When I came home, I put Caylee down for her nap and started in on my normal quiet time.  Guess what?  There was that word again... yield...  ugh!  A situation has continued to come to my mind throughout this entire study.  In this situation I have been hurt numerous times and my guard is constantly up and yet here I am with the clear knowledge that God is asking me to yield- not to give in and, as Beth says, not to allow myself "to be trampled on in a situation", but to receive wisdom from above and yield-to extend mercy and basically, in my own terms "to be the bigger person".  Thankfully, this time I saw the word, God softened the idea in my head (I'm still wrapping my heart around it), and what I read this afternoon compared yielding to that of a palm tree.
                I figure God must have a sense of humor in all these lessons we learn because of course He would use a palm tree!  I LOVE palm trees, to me they symbolize the beach, peace and calmness- how could I refuse to listen to something that involved palm trees!?!
                Anyways, did you know, a palm tree bends during storms?  Did you also know that it's root systems exceed the height of the tree?  Basically, during a storm a palm tree has the ability to "yield" or "bend" and amazingly after the storm they can stand straight again and come out stronger than before.  Also, the root systems are super deep in palm trees, which gives them solid anchor during the storm.  Do you see what I see yet?  Yielding isn't about giving in or letting people walk over you.  Yielding does not mean you will break.  There are times when God asks you to bend a little or a lot, but don't worry- you'll come out stronger in the end.  And the roots?  Obviously, it's a great reminder that we need to be so deep into God's words that we cannot be uprooted by even the strongest storm.  Pretty cool, I thought!
               So... to wrap things up.... yielding is not weakness or breakage, in fact, it's just the opposite- it's strength and adaptability.  Yielding is wisdom from above and yielding is merciful.  Now that I know this, I know the areas I need to yield in my life (driving is probably one- haha) and I'm not saying it will be easy or that I'll get it on the first try, but I love having the palm tree as a constant reminder.  (Maybe I need another trip to FL for an up-close visual?!)   :) 
 

Love Bug 2012!

Isn't she the cutest love bug ever?

This is her Valentine's dress... we will continue to wear it, but it was perfect for V-day! (Yes, she ALWAYS has her hands in her mouth now... kinda cute, but kinda annoying for pictures!)

Matt was lucky this year to have 2 valentine's!  Me and Caylee of course!!  

Matt was so sweet to get a card for me and Caylee.  The card he bought Caylee is precious and when she's old enough to read what he wrote she will really appreciate it!  The cupcake was for me :)  And it was DELICIOUS!  No, I didn't eat all the icing (and I should have taken a pic before eating the top part, but oh well). 

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

Daddy Time

Matt's time is very limited these days.  He leaves for work by 6:30 or 7 (although I think it's about to be earlier) and he doesn't come home until 6:30 or 7 (although, that might also be getting later).  Since Caylee goes to bed by 8, their time is extra limited!  He's such a great dad though and when she gets older I want her to know that the time he did have with her he loved.  This is how they spend their time....


Changing diapers and standing up...

Reading vet articles... (I force the reading so she'll know his voice, but think how many big words she'll learn!)

Flying... (what kid doesn't like to fly?!)

I am very grateful for the time Matt does spend with Caylee.  It's sooo important and I know he's exhausted after a long day, but he loves his little girl and it's so neat to see her smile at him!

We love you!