Photo Catch-Up Part 1

Here are random pictures taken fom our last days in San Angelo until now ...  I was going to put these in chronological order but that may not completely happen ...

Esther's first popsicle - it's a real fruit juice popsicle.  She loved it!  Although probably not smart to let her eat it on our bed.

Jesse exploring:

Before we left San Angelo, we had to clean our apartment.  I cleaned the refrigerator.  I am embarrassed to say I think that was the first time in my life I completely cleaned out a fridge.  I was pretty proud of my accomplishment!  And thanks to Tyler for cleaning our previous refrigerators! : )

Jesse looking cute.  I couldn't pick just one... 

Esther riding the merry go round at the fancy mall not far from our new place.  She picked the giraffe.

And Esther and me ... I couldn't get this one to rotate for anything but I liked it, but I liked it so here you go...

 More to come.  : )

Jesse Tyler, Six and Seven Months

I am deviating from my plan and am now dedicating a post to Jesse,  who had his six and seven months birthdays since my last post from San Angelo!

Jesse turned six months the day before we left San Angelo, on Sept 3.  I am pretty sure we made a big deal out of Esther's six month birthday.  I am telling myself we would have done the same for Jesse if not for the craziness of moving.  Either way, he didn't seem to feel neglected.  : )

On the floor in San Angelo (Esther may be using him as a pillow!!)



Right before his six month birthday, we started feeding him solid food!  With Esther, we waited til six months but Jesse just seemed to be hungry.  So I tried to make him some cereal myself out of organic brown rice but I just couldn't get the texture smooth enough.  Then I found a box of organic brown rice Gerber baby cereal and he was much happier with that.  Bananas were the first food, which he seemed to like, then sweet potatoes, which he didn't seem to like.  But I think he just took a few tries to figure out this whole eating from a spoon thing, because now he will eat them -- also peas, green beans, squash, pears, and prunes.  I usually mix the fruit/veggie with some of the cereal and he gobbles it up.  I made most of Esther's baby food but I have given myself a break so far and bought baby food jars/containers.  But it is on my list of projects to start soon.  I am also still nursing, either four or five times a day to go with the solid food.

Esther loves to help feed him!

At six months, Jesse was able to scoot himself around the floor, but kind of slowly.  Now, he can go anywhere he wants to go!  He still doesn't do a full crawl with one leg moving at a time.  He does kind of afrog kick across the floor but he is pretty fast.  He can seriously go throgh a whole  room, down the hallway, and into another. And of course, everything he finds goes in his mouth.  I forgot how good babies are at finding every little piece of dirt and debris on the floor - and then eating it. 

Six months pictures:

Our friends Kristen and Justin gave us an exersaucer for Jesse to use, and he loves it!  He will play in that thing for a long time.  He really investigates and plays with each one of the toys on it.  He seems to be a hands-on kind of guy like his Papa.  :)

And other big news is that Jesse has his first tooth!  We discovered it just a couple of days before he turned seven months.  It didn't seem to bother him except for the day after we first saw it.  He was cranky, very abnormal for him, and even cried during the afternoon.  But the next day he seemed fine...so we'll see what happens for the next one. 

The old frozen washcloth trick.

And Jesse likes swings!!  His first time on a big playground swing he seemed undecided.  The next time he really enjoyed it, and even laughed.  But he grabbed on to the side like crazy when it first started moving!

Like father, like son:  Home Depot and Moutain Dew!!

Seven months birthday pictures:

Here is Jesse trying to climb the steps.  He loves it when I help him "walk" up the stairs.  And he crawls over to the steps now but he can't quite pull up onto them yet.  Oh, but he wants to!  I am excited to see what the next month holds.  : )

One more story I remembered ... a few days ago, Jesse was lying on his tummy on my legs while I was sitting on the floor.  Esther was beside me playing with a toy.  Jesse bounced himself to try to get to that toy but he couldn't move himself off of my legs.  He bounced himself again but still couldn't move.  I was paying attention to Esther when suddenly Jesse launched himself across my legs and onto Esther and the toy!  This little boy has drive and determination.  : )

First Post from Conroe

Hi everyone!

Finally, here is our first blog post from our new home in Conroe, TX.  It has been too long, between moving and finding a place to live and then a couple of weeks of computer/Internet problems after we moved in.  But here we are! : )

I think first I will write a short update on the last few weeks, then follow up with some pictures I've taken.  After that, I'll get back to more specific/topical posts. Shew, a lot to catch up!

We left San Angelo super late on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  It had been a whirlwind weekend with packing and cleaning.  We also felt God's timing with our move ... it was a huge blessing that our move date "happened" to be on a three day weekend. I don't think we could have made it otherwise!

On the road that night, we saw an abundance of Texas wildlife.  We saw deer (always a little nerve-tracking while driving) and a HUGE racoon.  But the giant rattlesnake in the middle of the road takes the cake!!  We were driving along, I was talking to Tyler, and half-noticed something in the road  as we drove by.  Tyler stopped the van suddenly with a "Did you see that??!!"  I said no, and he backed up to shine the headlights directly on a very large rattlesnake crossing the road.  He was waving his rattle in the air.  Tyler declared he wanted to go look at the snake.  I'm pretty sure I begged him not to, but out of the van he went as the snake started to coil up.  Tyler tried to take a picture with the Iphone but it was too dark and I was too hysterical to find the camera.  He came back to the van and said he wanted to kill the snake and keep the rattle and mentioned maybe finding a screwdriver or something in the back to do the deed.  Well at that point, I totally lost it and he finally got back in the van to calm me down.  No rattle for Tyler and I guess I am more scared to snakes than I thought. 

We stopped before Austin that night, too exhausted to continue.  Then we met up with two of Tyler's guys the next morning.  They had graciously offered to share the U-Haul driving to give Tyler a break and so I wouldn't have to drive the whole way by myself with the little ones. 

Due to a slight route miscalculation, we ended up right by the terrible wildfire in Bastrop.  With even more poor planning, we had to stop for gas at the station right by the blaze.  It was an absolute madhouse of people, and all understandably upset and mad.  This resulted in some slightly scary scenes such as people almost running into each other, getting into shouting cursing matches, and even one man who drove off with the gas pump still in his car, pulling the handle and hose out of the pump.  A local reporter accused Tyler of stopping just out of morbid curiosity.  It was a very sad experience.  It made me think about some of my favorite novels (Christian fiction about life back in the old West/prairie farming days -- my secret guilty pleasure!), where if there was a fire the entire town would rush to help put it out, no matter who the building or land on fire belonged to.  It was a little disconcerting to be driving right by without stopping to help, not that anyone would have let us help put out the fire anyway ... but definitely something to think about.

When we arrived in Houston, we left the huge U-Haul at the house Tyler's guys had already rented.  We were invited to dinner and to spend the night at the home of my friends from college, Kristen and Justin.  They have three adorable kids, Ben 6, Drew 4, and Sara Kay just turned 2.  It was really great to reconnect, as I hadn't seen them since they graduated college two years before I did - about 8 years ago!  For all of my post college friends, you'll never guess how Kristen and I knew each other -- we were on a drama ministry team together!!  Sometimes it's still hard for me to believe I did that, but it was one of the best parts of my college experienced and really something the Lord used to help me grow in lots of ways.  And Kristen is the one who put me on the team.  : )

Anyway, we all got along pretty well so they invited us to keep staying while we were house hunting.  We ended up staying with them for about a week and a half!  They were great hosts and seemed to be okay with having us as guests.  It was fun to hang out and catch up, and Kristen was also a huge help by baby-sitting Esther while I ran errands and also drove me around to learn the area. 

After seeing lots of houses in several areas around north Houston, we finally decided on a townhouse in the city of Conroe.  It was a hard call because in this move, I was excited to have a house after the apartment in San Angelo.  But the houses we could find were either expensive and nice or cheaper and very not nice.  This townhouse was at the cheaper end of the scale but nicer than the houses at the same price.  So here we are!  It does have its own small courtyard, which I am excited about, and a laundry room, which I am ecstatic about!! 

We are still not completely unpacked.  Tyler has been working lots of hours and even Saturdays since we've been here and I just haven't gotten it done.  But I am getting excited about decorating so hopefully that will be unpacking motivation.  And our first MOPS meeting will be on Friday!!  I am very excited.  I missed the one two weeks ago because I got the time wrong, but I am planning on this one.  We haven't found a church yet.  It's been a little discouraging spending so much time at churches we don't like on Tyler's one day off a week.  I've really missed Daystar in Atlanta - especially the worship - and Christian Church of San Angelo - especially Pastor Beaver and the fellowship.  But now we are hoping to find a church that meets on Saturday nights so that Tyler can have one day a week totally free. 

That's all for now!!!  Pictures and more posts soon to follow ...

Yo Pienso

So here is our biggest news -- Tyler has a new job!  That's right, after so many months of interviewing and offers that fell through, Tyler got an awesome job offer.  He will be a Superintendent again but on a much bigger project.  And with better compensation. : )  We are very excited.  Here is Tyler's "I got a new job" face:

                                                                                               

He looks excited, right??  : )  However, the job is just north of Houston so we do have to leave our new home in San Angelo.  We have had a wonderful year here and soon I should post a tribute to San Angelo, our friends, and our church here - so be on the look-out!  But this was an opportunity we just couldn't pass up.  Houston here we come!

A great bonus is that one of my friends from college lives right there!  She was in drama ministry with me in college, one of my favorite parts of college. She is two years older than me, and I haven't seen her since she graduated.  And she has three kids, and the youngest is a girl just a bit younger than Esther!!  Instant playdates - yes!!!!

So Tyler already left to start working at the new job and I am still here with the kiddos getting the apartment all packed up and ready to go.

Want to know the first thing to do after Papa leaves?  Eat mushrooms!!  That is definitely something I cannot do with Tyler here.  : )  Esther tried some ...

But then she put them back in the bowl.  Oh well ...

Esther playing in her kitchen before it went bye-bye ...

And how is Jesse taking all of this?  Well, he likes his feet and his toes - a lot.

Shoes, no shoes ... doesn't matter.

Esther is quite fascinated with the fact that everything Jesse can grab goes in his mouth.  So that was some entertainment for a while ...

Poor Sammy had to participate too.

I am trying so hard to catch Jesse.  He is now sucking his thumb with his right hand and holding onto his ear with his left hand.  It is super adorable but he always stops when he sees the camera.  I got close this time but he let go of his ear too quickly.  I'll keep trying!

And we just hang out in between the packing ...

Tonight we made a special treat with whole wheat toast, butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon - a kind of slightly upgraded cinnamon sugar toast.  Esther loved her treat - yum!

Before he left, I overheard a conversation between Tyler and one of his guys.  He asked Tyler if he thought he made a good decision to leave the old job for the new.  Tyler's answer was "Yo pienso" (they were speaking Spanish).  That means "I thinks so" or at least roughly that's what it means.  This does feel like a good decision.  Tyler's feedback after his first day was glowingly positive.  He is looking for us a house to rent and hopefully we'll have glowingly positive feedback about that too.  : )

And now a special message for my husband, Tyler Williams, who will be reading this post from Houston -- we love you!!  And we miss you.  Have a fabulous first week at your job, and I can't wait to be home with you.  : )

Baby-sitting the Beavers

A few days ago, we got to serve as last-minute baby-sitters for our friends.  These are two kids that Esther loves to play with!  And - so I can remember this in 20 years - their mom, Mary, was the first to befriend me here in San Angelo and introduced me to MOPS and other church/community activities.  She definitely made my time here enriching and enjoyable!  Thanks, Mary. ; )

So here is Esther playing with Judah in the play kitchen ...

Julia is telling us about something in this picture.  It is amazing how well she talks, and she's not yet three.  Notice Sammy in the stroller in the picture as well.  Esther now enjoys sharing Sammy with Julia when they play.

And all three piled on Esther's bed!

Then the request for Play-Doh.  We still only have two canisters so they had to share, but they did very well.  Tyler played too, since he is a master at Play-Doh sculpting.

Tyler asked Julia what he should make and she said "an airplane with a squirrel on it."  So there it is, folks - an airplane with a squirrel on it!

Esther had to show hers off too, after Papa did.

We love this family, and are happy to baby-sit for them anytime!  : )

Esther's First Year

I found pictures on the computer of Esther's first year, so I thought I would share them. One of the things I have made sure to do is take pictures of the kids on their "month-day" during the first year (at least, so far for Jesse!). Here are Esther's pictures in order, starting from the day she was born to her first birthday.  Enjoy!