Where is Pointer?

On Thursday evening while I was giving Faith a bath, I noticed she was pointing at the duck in her bath book. Now I am not sure that this was the first time she pointed, but it is the first time that it donged on me that she was. We talked about the duck and proceeded with her bath. Later before bed, we were reading Goodnight Moon and we we read "goodnight kittens" she pointed to the kittens and in a highpitched voice she said "ki-ki" and looked around the room. (Now, we don't have a cat, but she knows "kitty-kitty" from visiting Grammy's house). I pulled out a basic picture book and showed her another picture of a kitty.

Friday afternoon while swinging in the backyard, I had given Faith her sippy cup. When she was done with it, I'd place it in the hanging plant next to us. When she wanted another drink, she'd point for her cup (or my soda that was next to it...which I did not share.) Later that evening while reading Goodnight Moon again, I asked Faith, "Where are the kitties?" She was able to point them out on every page! I was quite impressed! She is such a smart girl!

Faith and I sleep most of the night together and Paige usually sleeps with us. However, this morning Paige was out in the hallway. I asked Faith, "Where is Paige?" Faith started panting (which is the sign language for dog) then she patted the bed and said "ca-ca" for "come-come". I love it! It is so much fun to see her grow and learn!

A Little of This and That

Okay...I think I started this on August 9th, it has only taken me a few of weeks to complete!

It's been such a busy month and my computer crashed, add the two together and it equals hard to blog! Anyway, here is this past month in a nutshell:


We went to Georgia to visit family (but most of you know that cause it's pretty much just you Georgia family that read this!) It was awesome to see family, I sure miss being around everyone.

We are all packed and ready to go. Thanks to my Spacebag, we were able to just do carry on!

Faith and Teddy watching the planes at Austin Airport.

Faith's first trip to the Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette, Ga. Home of Fried Green Tomatoes!

A short visit with Papa Fred.

Faith and Great-Grandmommie playing pee-pie on our girl trip to Washington, Ga

Faith begging for her first bite of ice cream which Aunt Kelly did not share.


Faith sitting on the kitchen floor of her great-great-great-great-great grandmother's house...for real!

4 Generations standing in what was possibly the bedroom of our distant grandmother's house. Cool!

Mary Sneed's House in Washington, Ga

Faith taking a milk break in the car with Mommy

Giving sweet Miss Missy some loving

The Girls

Faith loved banging on the windows looking for Jake

Faith just chilling at Grammy's house

Webcaming with Daddy

Just a swinging

Grammy and Grampa got Faith a matching rocker for the porch

Faith loved all the animals, she even liked Jake and his howling!

Brooke and Faith at the baby shower.

Meeting Uncle Steve for the first time, he even shared his sweet tea!

Time to head to the airport. Grampa Andy swung her to sleep on the back porch while we packed.

The plane ride home was much better than the plane ride out!

Last week I found out that Round Rock Library has story time for babies. I loaded up Faith one morning and headed out. It was held in a confrence room and all the babies and parents sat in a circle around a big parachute. The program was only about 45 minutes long. The first 15/20 minutes we listened to a few stories and sang a few songs. Most of the babies sat in their parents lap while a few others cruised around. The story teller brought out a couple of tubs of toys for the babies to play in for the last half. It was fun to see the kids all play. On my way out I noticed the sign that advertised story time...oops we came to the 12-18 month time. The 0-12 month one was the next day; so we came back the next day! The second day Faith seemed a little more comfortable, she was little more vocal and had no problem taking toys she wanted. Looks like I am going to have to teach her how to share!

Jumping right in at story time

Checking things out while Mommy sings to herself!

Is she sharing to about to take?

This past weekend Alan, Faith, Paige and I headed down to Zilker Park for a couple of hours. It was blazing hot outside so we didn't stay too long. Alan and I stopped by Torchy Tacos on the way down there so we could have lunch and eat while we watched all the swimmers at Barton Springs. Faith sure seemed to enjoy the people watching. Anyway, we then headed down to the springs for a closer look.Paige, who hates to get wet, went down with me to the water and just laid in it. She must have been super hot! After Paige got out of the water, I took Faith in to see the swans. She eyeballed them for a minute, but really enjoyed running her toes through the sand in the spring.

When we were at the Round Rock Library earlier this month, we noticed they were going to be hosting a puppet show by Mr. Puppet. I had seen him before at the hospital and thought he really knew how to put on a great puppet show. The show was geared toward 3 and up, but I took Faith anyway. She loved it!

New Discoveries at Our House

Yesterday, I wanted a little of down time to eat lunch, so I figured I must introduce something new to Faith to keep her busy....something safe, but something she thinks she shouldn't have. I came to the conclusion that it was time to open the tupperware cabinet. SHE LOVED IT! I ended up not being able to eat my lunch, I was too busy taking pictures!

Faith has really come to love being outside. However, due to the heat, rain and mosquitos, we don't go out too often. Anyway, yesterday, Faith discovered the doggy door.

At first I got the video camera because she looked like she was having fun just trying to figure out the flap. Shortly after I grabbed it, she realized it opened to the outdoors! Her fussying isn't because her fingers are stuck, it is because the flap won't say open for her to crawl out of!

This video we took the next day while she played in the cabinet:

Bye Bye 'ol Girl

This past week I sold my old convertible to Carmax. She no longer would pass inspection so we upgraded and added another family car to our fleet. Her inspection was LONG overdue and apparently some computer part in it was bad, it would cost about $1500 to repair it. Since it wasn't worth putting that much into we had it appraised at Carmax. They offered me $1700 for it, which was more than I was expecting. However, I think the Bluebook value was probably more, at least I didn't have to worry about selling it to someone else.

Over the years I've definately had a love / hate relationship with this car!

Love it:

1. It's a bright red convertible, what's not to love?
2. It's sassy!
3. I loved driving it with the top down and music blaring!
4. It was fun to flirt in (of course I only did this before I met Alan!)
5. Gas mileage wasn't too bad
6. It was somewhat of a unique car
7. Could haul long stuff with the top down
8. The dogs always loved it
9. It was just a fun car
10. It was paid for

Hate it:

1. The roof leaked, even though I paid for it to get fixed a couple of times
2. So of course the seats were always wet after a rain, or I was if I was driving it
3. With the heat, it was musty after a rain
4. It always broke down, left me stranded on I35 twice
5. Expensive tires
6. Got a speeding ticket in it
7. Keyless entry remote quit working
8. Trunk was little
9. Trunk no longer popped open and would slam shut
10. AC went out on it (but had it repaired)
11. Hard to fit more than 2 people in it.

So Alan had driven his Harley a couple of days before, so the convertible was out in the driveway. Needless to say it rained. The day I decided to turn it to Carmax was bittersweet. The interior was soaking wet from all the rain we had had. I had to sit on a towel to keep dry. As I pulled out of the neighborhood, top down and CD player turned up loud it began to short out! I think she was trying to get back at me for selling her. I semi-enjoyed my last spin in my car speeding down the interstate, wind blowing in my hair listening to the radio because my good music wouldn't play on the CD player!

We drove by Carmax the other day and spotted her sitting in the auction lot. I can't help but think of her each day it rains, getting wetter and wetter out there without the protection of her garage. I just hope she does good at auction and goes to someone that will treat her well.

RIP 'ol girl!

Note the new Mommy Car in the background.

Babysitters, Car Shopping and Crawling

Lots going on around here. I officially got a babysitter...one that I really don't know. I've gone back to work for a few hours and had been trying to leave Faith with friends of mine that are stay at home moms. Other than my friend Deanna, most of my friends have bailed on keeping Faith on a consistant basis. I don't blame them, most of them had little kids also so I could only imagine it would be hard to add another one. Anyway, Olivia is the daughter of a nurse friend of mine. She came over on Tuesday to discuss what I was looking for and to see if we were a match. She watched Faith on Wednesday for about 3 hours for me. I think it went good. Faith was still alive with no cuts or bruises! Faith really seems to like Olivia, so I hope this will at least get me through the summer. It's a little nerve racking not knowing her very well, but what else do you do when no family is around??

I've been car shopping and researching...what a lot of work! My 1996 Eclipse Syder has about kicked the bucket and won't pass inspection with out about $1500 worth of repairs. Since it is only worth about that much and we need a 2nd family car we've decided it's about time to get rid of it. *sniff, sniff* I've been looking at Highlanders and Honda CR-Vs. We are looking at used cars and it seems that everytime I find one I like at a good price, it's gone before we can get to the car lot. Then I am still torn between which one do I get? The Highlander that is comfy, without as many features or the CR-V that I can get for around the same price with features, but it's smaller and not as comfy? Hummm....

Don't laugh....This was taken about 10+ years ago!

Also, Faith is crawling. She is keeping me super busy. She is pulling up on everything and she crashes all the time. I try to keep a good eye on her when I let her have free reign of the house, but she crashes even when I put her in her crib or playpen. Darn hard toys and crib rails! She is also getting in her top two teeth. I think she is also hurting herself some when she starts to chew on her toys then hits it just right probably sending a sharp pain in her mouth. We are taking Advil on and off to help with the pain (and with her immunizations she got this week).....

That brings up another thing. I purchased a Buzzy online the other day to help with immunizations. It is suppose to help confuse the nerves so they don't feel the injection as much. I took it to work with me and tried it out on myself while I had a nurse poke me. I thought it worked so-so, but I took it with me and Faith for her immunizations this week to try. The nurse let me use it. Faith cried with the injection, but stopped as soon as she was done. I don't know if this is because it worked or because I picked her up immediately. However, the nurse said that most of the kids are still screaming a couple of minutes later. Perhaps it worked!http://www.needle-pain-management.com/