all things new...

Well, hello everyone. Back from the dead you ask?? Nope. Just back from not having a computer, having a babe, starting new jobs and moving. So, update of the summer...
Beau is doing great!! Such a content and happy baby, 16 pounds already! Reese is just blossoming and her personality keeps us laughing constantly. Skip started at his new school a few weeks ago and it has been good and challenging for him. It is a middle school in Saginaw and he is also coaching. I was blessed to be able to go back to part time as of last week!! Still at the Gaylord, same job and everything, just working 3 days a week. I love it and am so grateful to the Lord for showing Himself to be good and faithful yet again in my life, to my husband for working so hard to provide for us, and to my amazing work peeps for being so supportive! It has been awesome to be home with my babies :) Let's see...Oh yeah, we moved 2 weeks ago to Keller. We are loving the house! Trying to find a church--love the Village and Christ Chapel (where we have been going) but are visiting churches closer to the new hood. Ok, now that you're all caught up...random thoughts...
1)Love the rain!
2)love football!
3)love decorating!
4)love our sweet family foursome!
5)love our dear friends we live life with!
6)love lil smokies! (had them for bfast Sunday :) )
7)love cupcake pops! (www.bakerella.blogspot.com)

**Pics coming tonight!!**

The birth of Beau.

So. I am going to summarize this because I know not everyone is interested in the gritty details of childbirth :)
Sunday, May 10.
8am--wake up with contractions, but not too bad yet so we go ahead and head to IHOP for Mother's Day breakfast. At breakfast they are getting more painful, Skip wants to leave but I want my pancakes. By the time we get home, we start timing them as they are getting more painful and closer together.
10am--Skip's mom comes and picks up Reese "just in case". Skip and I go outside and walk and they get really close together, about 2 minutes apart, and painful enough that I have to stop walking when I have one.
11am--Skip wants to go to the hospital but I want to hold off as long as possible. The contractions are very painful at this point and so I get in the tub for a while. They keep coming and so Skip starts getting everything ready and loaded in the car. By the time he is helping me out of the tub, it is hard to even get my clothes on.
12noon--Most fun car ride ever :) Took about 20 minutes to get to Baylor.
1pm--get upstairs, checked in a room, IV started, all that stuff. I was dilated to a 5 when we got there. For the next few hours we labor. We had the best, most supportive nurse ever, a major answer to prayer! Skip was amazing too. He stayed totally calm and very encouraging. I thought I would get in the shower at the hospital or walk around or something, but it was just so intense so quick that I just sat up in the bed, leaned on Skip, sat in the rocker...They checked me several times and things were moving along.
5pm--start feeling like I have to push. Can't yet though because I'm not totally dilated. That was not a fun hour. That was when I wanted to give up.
6pm--Ready to go and start really pushing. The nursery people come in the room, the doctor is here. The pushing contractions were the strongest feeling I have ever felt in my life for sure.
618pm--Beau is born! I was sitting up and pushing so I saw him right after he came out and got to hold him right away and everything. It was an unbelievable feeling! I honestly couldn't believe I did it. I thought I would be the "grit my teeth and bear it" type...but turns out I was a screamer. For whatever reason that just helped me get through the contractions. At one point during pushing, my nurse told me she could tell he was almost out because I was screaming "primal jungle screams" :) That got a laugh from everyone...So she basically called me Xena: Warrior Princess. Oh well, so much for the silent suffering :)
So the experience was amazing and very much worth it for us. But of course the most important thing is our precious baby boy and that he was healthy! God is so good and we are incredibly thankful for and amazed by our little miracle.
Happy birthing to all of you that are pregnant!

Baby Beau

Beau Thomas.
Born May 10, 2009
8 lbs., 9oz.
21 inches
Full story and more pics to come soon! :)

Simplify.

We had an awesome challenge at church yesterday to simplify our lives. Just about all the clutter that fills our life both physically and otherwise. This is something my dad often told me growing up as well and I love it! Simplify. So on top of cleaning out my car, the garage and purging our lives of all the clothes, dvd's, and just crap that fills up our house (and I dont consider myself a pack rat and I'm not a knick-knacky person either but still we have so much we could get rid of!...)...anyway, we are also trying to clean out our time, focus and emotions. "Seek FIRST HIS kingdom..." Which is so hard to do truly and authentically I think, but in our daily struggle to be more like Him and honor Him in our daily living...the process begins, which is ongoing, of "simplifying" the DVR timers, our weekend calendar, bank accounts, the pressures and expectations we put on ourselves and others and just our crazy, busy thoughts and lives in general. Anyway, wish us luck! :)
**Baby is good. 37 weeks and counting! Reese pics and update soon!

Our little princess

So as the day and time approach quickly here at the end (I am 35 weeks yesterday) we are getting so excited to meet this new little member of our family. I want Reese to have siblings and I have always wanted a big family. But also as we get closer, I find myself with the mixed emotion of being sad at the reality that we will go have this baby and at that moment, things will change and we won't have Reese by herself anymore. I'm not worried about my love for the new baby or anything, but just sad that it’s not just gonna be “Reeseie” anymore. and wondering how that dynamic is going to work out. She is just so sweet and cute and fun and a joy to us and we have loved loved loved her personality and just love being able to give so much to her and spend so much time with her…I know those things we love about her won’t change and that pretty much everyone in the world has gone through this moment if you’ve had more than one child. I know that once the baby is here, I’ll love it so much and won’t be able to imagine life without it…at least, that’s how I always felt when one of these guys was born. But, it is still a feeling I am struggling with a little here. We are praying daily for the Lord to bless and sustain our individual relationships with Reese after the baby and to allow her to feel loved, special and steady...not overwhelmed or upset by the change in her little life. So anyway, anyone with advice for me, please share! :)

32 weeks and counting...

Sorry for overloading you with 2 posts in one day!(below)
I am 32 weeks today. Everything is checking out good at the doctors appointments. Feeling good, just huge, sore and tired :) We are still taking our Bradley class and it's going well, I am feeling more and more confident and excited about our choice to labor and deliver naturally. Reese doesn't totally comprehend everything but is very sweet and thinks the "bo baby" (what she calls the baby) is going to come out and play with her in her room! So, we would appreciate your prayers for these last weeks and the labor/delivery. We are very excited!
**Im not a huge fan of belly shots (mainly because I look huge) but here are a few. The first one is at 22 weeks, the bottom one is tonight at 32 weeks--and yes, Im already in my pj's and my hair is puffy--I know.)

San Antonio...

Last weekend we had the pleasure of visiting our dear dear friends, Rosey and Jimmy, in San Antonio. Some of our best college friends and we have stayed that way for almost 10 years now!! We are turning 30, having kids, and taking crappy vacations together and love them so much and miss having them close by! They are very gracious and always allow us to drag them out for mexican food when we are there and this time, they took us to a super fun place called La Fogata. If you are in San Antonio, try it! And I finally got my churro that I have been waiting like 4 years for! On the way back, we stopped in Waco at a place called Health Camp...we try to make that a tradition...also a great place to try if you ever happen to be in Waco. (O'steens-am I right?? :) ) It is a great greasy burger and shake place! Here's a few pics from the weekend.

Thankful.

"My soul waits for the Lord; He is my help and my shield. For my heart is GLAD in Him!..."
Psalm 33:20-21a

I think one of the neatest things a person can hear is their child praying. Prayer has been something I have been studying, hearing about in church, convicted about the past month or so. So many times, almost all the time, I struggle to solve things myself, fix things myself, I struggle with controlling every aspect of things happening in my life, good or bad, I struggle with remembering daily that this place is not my home, I struggle with self-pity and contentment, I struggle with feeling isolated and alone sometimes. I have been reminded many times as of late that I am in no way in control, that no matter what happens in my life my God is a GOOD God, a God that forgives, a God that is faithful. The past few months have really highlighted my “life verse”, James 1:2-4, for me and just recently has the Lord been gracious enough to allow a light to click on in my head. Pray. Pray without ceasing. I think prayer is such a general term and something we throw around so easily without understanding it. I have for the first time in a long time, truly been on my knees faithfully praying, trying to turn my focus from “me, poor me” to “God. What an amazing God. What an amazing creation, what infinite power, goodness, justice, and holiness!” It has been amazing and emotional and has shown me my Savior in a deep way. And back to the beginning comment…Reese has also been included in this with me and we have been praying together, not just at bedtime, but in the mornings before school, in the car, everywhere and she has responded in this truly amazing way. Her attitude has been different, the way she is relating to us…Hearing her sweet little voice saying “I love you Jesus” is very humbling. So, as I sit here crying, in renewed knowledge of my sin and my need for my Savior…I am thankful that He would save a wretch like me and continues to work in me…

“Count it ALL JOY my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. For the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything…”
James 1:2-4

Color Splash

So I've found a new way to waste time on my iPhone. It's an app called Color Splash and you can take photos and make them part black & white and part color. For whatever reason I think it's really cool. Kate doesn't really get it. But here are a couple of photos I "color splashed" anyway.

First Trip to the ER

Well to celebrate Valentine's Day and our 6th wedding anniversary Kate and I took our daughter on a date to two emergency rooms. Last night at dinner Reese got a very funny look on her face like she was dizzy and about to puke. Then she tells us that her head hurts (which she's never done before) and starts acting funny. And being the good parents that we are we rush her over to the Cooks Children's urgent care that's about 3 minutes from our apartment. We fill out the book of forms to check in and after sitting in the waiting room for 15 minutes Reese's dinner shoots out of her mouth and onto the floor. Now I forgot to mention that earlier in the day she had fallen off of our overstuffed chair in the living room and hit the back of her head (this info will be important in a second).

After seeing her undigested macaroni and having a family clean up session in the bathroom, Reese's head seems to stop hurting. But again we as concerned parents decide to stay and have her checked out by a doctor. So they check her and three of the symptoms of a concussion are change in disposition, vomiting and fever. Of course Reese is batting 1,000 on this and we recall that she hit her head earlier in the day. But she maybe fell 12 inches onto carpet. Well long story short (too late) the doc at the first place scares the crap out of us and says that they need to send our daughter downtown because head injuries can go downhill quick. They have to send an ambulance (that takes 40 minutes to get there), I have to follow behind it in the car, they give Reese an IV, hook her up to a heart rate monitor, she gets a CT scan, the hospital tells my mom that we're coming on Care Flight, on and on it goes.

When it was all said and done we discover that she has some sort of stomach virus that's going around and there is absolutely no head injury of any kind. Reese gets a teddy bear from her ride with the Teddy Bear team (that's what they call the Cooks transports), she gets a rainbow popsicle at midnight, and a new shirt to wear home because her other one contains the remnants of her dinner.

All of this story to say that it was a hectic, stressful night. But we are so thankful that our little girl is ok and we're interested to see how much the teddy bear and popsicle cost. :)

Need I say more.

MLK Day

I would just like to take a moment to thank Martin Luther King Jr. for giving me this opportunity to have a much-needed day off! Gaylord Entertainment decided this year to observe as a company MLK Day as a paid holiday and all I have to say to that is a big, fat YEA!!! So I am enjoying signing up for Facebook(yes, Skip finally drug me into it), catching up on 24, taking a glorious afternoon nap, reading, taking Reeseie to the park...It's a great day!

(And yes, I do also realize that he was a very significant historical figure that did some pretty cool things :) )

Finally...

Here are few pictures from Christmas...

Jack's back...and so are we!

With the return of our beloved Jack Bauer last night, Skip and I felt it was time to return to the land of the “blogging” living. The new year has brought many new exciting things…cold weather, a new slew of resolutions, vacation time kicking in at work, 24 and Lost….
But to backtrack a little, our holiday times were wonderful although fast. We spent Christmas Eve with Skip’s family and Christmas Day with mine. Reese cleaned up this year as you will see from pics coming soon (as soon as I replace the batteries in the camera). Then we slid into the new year with a bang, with a New Year’s Eve consisting of pizza, pajamas, and my favorite couch.

As of tomorrow, I will be 23 weeks along, pregnancy wise…We had a second sonogram last Thursday and everything checked out well. The first one showed some inflammation in the baby’s kidney’s but this time it all looked fine, which was an answer to prayer. I am feeling stretchier and bigger this time around so I am a little scared about 15 more weeks from now, but one day at a time. I am getting very excited!!!
Well, pics to come. I'll get them up tonight. Hope everyone had a great start to 2009!

Question of the day to ponder (brought up by my weekend activity of doing dishes and laundry): What the heck happens to 1) tops to Tupperware?? and 2) socks. I swear there is a hole in the dryer that sucks out the matches to socks.

Ummm, nothing clever comes to mind...

...Two blogs in one day, I know. Obviously I am very busy at work today :)
Just wanted to catch up on some pics! Life is good. I am still feeling sick but T-2 had a good checkup this week! Reese has now decided however, that it is a "boy baby." :) We got to go to the Coldplay concert this past week and it was awesome as always! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving food (my fav) and taking some time away from things for family, friends and setting aside time to specifically pray and be thankful for all the things we are continually blessed with! We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

...Look at the sweet, glitttery face! Our little fairy princess!

Her first "trick or treat." With her best friend Miller (Fergus the train)

...showing off her one piece of candy she was allowed to eat :)

Forgot to turn the pic before loading. Sorry!

...Hangin with the Stewart's and our dear friends the Womacks.

Travis is back from Iraq and we are so thankful for his safety!

...Playing in the hay maze at the pumpkin festival

... At the Great Pumpkin Festival at the Arboretum

With GiGi at the Butterfly Flutterby...sporting her antenna! :)

Riding the pony at the Butterfly Flutterby

Talking to myself

So, in response to myself and my last blog...
Church on Sunday was very convicting for me. It was one comment that really reminded me of something. During the prayer, we prayed that God alone would satisfy and consume us.
That was it. Small words that meant alot to me considering my recent addiction :) I was very convicted about that certain book / movie that I previously called an "obsession". I truly want and struggle daily to be satisfied in my God and Savior ALONE. I struggle against the things of the world that fight for my time and emotions. I could go on and on, BUT, I want to be careful not to go too far the other way either. I do not think books, movies, music are wrong. I think being truly consumed by it, and using it to fill and satisfy, is. So anyway, just some thoughts I am thinking today. Think what you will about it. I know people have differing opinions on Harry Potter and tv and all that stuff...but hopefully the one thing we can agree on as Christians is that we all struggle to be more like Christ, to live our lives in a manner that would glorify Him, and that none of us will reach that standard this side of heaven. So I guess in closing...enjoy Twilight :) (because it's awesome!!)....but remember what, who, and where our true loyalty, worship and affections lie.

Obsession.

Obsession. Check out the definition in Webster’s. This word defines the last week of my life. I have been waiting to start a certain book until I felt better, but with the movie coming out this weekend, I felt I couldn’t wait any longer. Yes. That’s right. I’m talking Twilight. My original intent was to casually read Book One this week so I would be done in time for the movie. Started reading and couldn’t put it down! Literally. I have read 4 books in 6 days. There might be soundtracks, magazine covers and DVRing Entertainment Tonight involved. It reminds me of the first time I read the Harry Potter books. So exciting and something new. I am pretty much dreaming about vampires :)…although I have assured Skip he has nothing to worry about! I don’t actually think in real life I will meet a vampire any time soon…although I wouldn’t mind meeting Rob Pattinson.(the vampire character in the movie) :)
So to those of you I have already pulled into my obsession with me, congratulations and I cant wait for the movie! And to those of you not yet on the bandwagon, hop on!!

The Morning After

Well, I am feeling many things this morning. Disappointment, fear, uncertainty. I could truly go off about the outcome of last night. Un-educated voters, the fact that no one can actually tell me in words what “change” he is bringing, the fact that the media and pop culture directed so many peoples votes, the fact that Obama will not allow the media to even speak his middle name, the fact that people have already been arrested for assassination plots against him, what is going to happen regarding terrorism, the fact that his moral compass is completely broken. The man now running our country scares the crap out of me. But at this point, it is done. God is in control. Regardless of my opinions, our ultimate, supreme ruler is Christ anyway. He is aware of who is now our authority as far as government goes. I will continue to be faithful to pray every day for God’s protection and favor on this country of ours even though we do not deserve it. And I will trust that His sovereign wisdom is greater than I can understand. I will continue to love this country, love freedom, support the troops, sing the national anthem, pledge allegiance to the flag, and remember 9/11. As out of control and worried as I feel, I will take comfort in the God of the Universe. The entire Universe. As in, the Universe that is bigger than the United States.

Vote!

I am leaving work to go VOTE!! Remember to vote and PRAY for our Nation today! God is in control people!

--Ok. I know. Blogging 2 days in a row. I just feel like I need to share Part 1 of the story I told yesterday. The so sweet moment that ended up in the blog yesterday was preempted by this one: All day Saturday Reese was whining, throwing fits, being 2…My husband, who has many virtues, one of the strongest I consider to be patience, was losing it. (As was I) And you all know it takes a lot to make him lose his cool—unless it is a church softball game :) Anyway, so at 8:00 that night, which is her bedtime, we pack Reeseie up and head to Mimi’s. We drop her off to play in a desperate moment, and for one precious hour, go sit at On the Border and have chips and queso. I don’t think we said a word the whole time :) It was wonderful. Im sure our waiter wondered if we were fighting or something since we weren’t talking and I know we looked a little disheveled. Me in my stretchy workout pants, hair in a ponytail, no makeup…And these times are really few and far between right now because of Skip's football schedule and me feeling so bad 24/7! Oh well. But you know what, these many imperfect moments in our life is what made the moment in the blog from yesterday so much sweeter and makes us "real". Just had to share. I thought it was only fair you see both sides of the story :)

Now, Go Vote!

True Love and Sleeping In

So. On this, the Monday following Daylight Savings Sunday, I write to you to say…I miss sleeping in! This is the third year that we in no way get to sleep in as our daughter got up at 5:30, (so 4:30 time change wise). I was not about to get the day going that early so I moseyed on into her room and climbed in bed with her. She laid there awake for probably an hour, but God was good in the midst of my exhaustion and it was the sweetest hour ever! We were both curled up on our sides facing each other, and Reese had her “wankie, soodie.” Which for those of you that don’t speak Reese is her blankie and soothie (pacifier). Anyway, we laid there looking at each other, and both of our eyes eventually started to close. Then I felt her scoot closer to me and put her forehead against mine and she put her little hand on my cheek. Then she moved it and put it right on the middle of my chest and was kindof patting me. All this with her eyes closed. I was so tired I felt like crying (I have to admit), but laying there with her was the sweetest thing ever! Moments that will be etched in my mind forever and that mean way more than an hour of sleep. Having her has taught me so much about what it really means to be a mother, unconditional love (and I mean unconditional)…Sometimes I know I haven’t done the right thing with her or I raise my voice when I shouldn’t have and I ask her to forgive me and tell her I love her so much. She doesn’t remember those things…Eventually she will grow up and experience being hurt, having her trust in someone broken, mean people. One of my prayers for her is that she experiences love as Christ intended it more than the harsh effects of a non-believing world. I think that innocent, unconditional, close your eyes and put your hand on your mommy’s cheek kind of love is rare and one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced! And only through a child.

But, all that being said…next year, seriously, I am hiring someone to spend the night with my kids so I can SLEEP IN!! :) I'm for real. Any volunteers? I will pay cash.