A daddy and his daughter

How to leave a comment...

I have many of you that come to visit my blog to see the wonderful and fabulous life of a stay at home mommy and her precious little daughter... well you visit then you email me! Which is totally fine, but to save you time at the bottom of each post you can just leave a comment there if you so choose. You don't have to have a blogger account or anything... just click on other and type your name or don't! No pressure, but everyone loves to hear what others have to say about the topic.

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For all the Stay-at-home Moms!

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was & open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring on a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside, he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?" She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me "what in the world did I do all day"??

"Yes," was his incredulous reply. She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Priceless.

Playing at Mema and Pop Pop's house

Grace found the pumpkins in the house and couldn't figure out the thing on top! If you notice in this picture she is holding onto both pumpkins! They are bigger than her!

She is trying to get Sammie in this picture. I guess she can't figure out there is glass in between her and the puppy.

8 Months

Can you believe it?? Grace is growing so fast.

Here is what she is up to this month:
*Crawling everywhere... as you have seen in previous posts.
*Pulling up to standing all the time in her crib and a few times playing.
*Her best friend is the puppy, Sammie! They are becoming good buds.
*She says bababa and lalala... no mama or dada yet! :(
*She weighed 18 pounds 5 ounces earlier this week...which puts her at the 50% for weight.
*She eats anything she can feed herself. She still hates baby food. Her favorite food seem to be Mexican... loves black beans, rice and avacados!

*Her favorite thing to do it to play airplane with dad... he flies her around the room like an airplane.

*Her favorite toy is probably anything she knows she isn't suppose to have... she finds everything now.

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I've just updated our family picture website. FINALLY! Click HERE to check it out!

More crawling videos...

This one is of Grace crawling to get Sammie. She is getting pretty good now!




This video is of Grace trying to get Sammie's dog bowls! :)

Cuddling

I think this is what every parent loves most... cuddling. Although Gracie is normally go, go, go all day long, she will cuddle in the morning and at night. I love it. I just hope she is never to old to cuddle with her mama.

Five for Five

1) Five Minutes to yourself. How would you spend them ideally?
I normally end up on the internet... I love thenest.com. Although knowing me I would probably clean up or throw a load of laundry in the wash. I know exciting huh!

2) Five Dollars to spend right now. How or where would you spend it?
Anything from Taco Bueno.... maybe Mexi Dips and Chips! YUM!

3) Five Items in your house you could part with right now?
Sammie's hair... labs shed so much. Now that Grace is crawling I have to vaccum pratically everyday!
The kid stuff. I've been taken over by large plastic toys. :)
Cords, wires, etc. Although we do have wireless internet there are just so many in the house.
Dirty bottles and pump parts... I HATE cleaning bottles and all the parts for my breastpump.
Not sure this is apart of my house... but Grace being sick. I could do without that!

4) Five Items in your house you absolutely, positively could never part with?
Well of course my husband, daughter, and our puppy Sammie.
All my china. Even though I haven't used it (its under the guest bed!).
My computer... it has all our pictures of Grace on it!
My jewlry. I have every peice of jewlry I have ever gotten including a braclet with my name on that my granny gave me when I was maybe 10.
My granny Bev's buffet table... I love it!

5) Five Words you love?
Grace's babbles... she says "lala" and "baba"... no mama or dada yet :(
Hmm... not sure there are words I love. I guess I just love words period, but not any particular ones :)

She is EVERYWHERE now!!

Busy busy... I can't leave the room for a second now. She is crawling perfect now and pulling up on everything. Here are some pics! Thankfully she hasn't figured out how to climb, but I'm sure that isn't far behind.

Still sick...

Went back to the pediatrician and Grace's ear infection is pretty bad... had to change her meds to see if it works better. She is also still battling this cold and cough. Poor baby.... she just looks and sounds aweful. Hopefully she will better soon!

Sick baby...

The last 2 days have been no fun. Grace has been so fussy. At first I thought it was just teething... her top gums looked a little swollen. Well it was just getting worse... she was not sleeping well at all (woke up several times the last couple nights), had yellow/greenish snot!, and her fever spiked up to 101.5. So this morning I brought her to see the pediatrian just to make sure it wasn't something. Well she has an ear infection! She also has a cold which is causing the snotty nose. Today hasn't been much better. I sure hope those meds start kicking in soon... I need some sleep. Adam picked a perfect time to be gone!! :(

Come Home Daddy!

We miss our daddy! Adam was in Washington state for 16 days... came home for 2 days and 3 nights and went back! :(

Thankfully he will be back again on Saturday night for good. We really miss having him here, especially on long days like today. I guess Grace was hungry when I was trying to take the pic! :)

Crawling = Busy Mommy

Why did no one tell me? Crawling is no fun for mommy. Shoot I can hardly go to the bathroom now when she is awake! She is into everything.

Today so far she has discovered DVD's, dog food, toliet paper, flip flops... plus I'm sure some dirt on the floor. I am trying to keep the house clean, but I can't look away from her for a minute.

Should I set up her pack 'n play (portable crib) and use it like a play pen when I have to leave the room?? I'm a prisoner to my living room!! :)

And I know its only going to get worse as she starts to crawl faster and walks and then runs! Can't wait!!!

Grace can pull up now...

well in her crib she can! She tries to pull up on other things, but can't quite do it yet. We lowered her crib again this weekend after we saw this! She just is so proud of herself!

Molly turns 1!!!

Molly had her 1st birthday party this past weekend! Here are a few pics from the party. Happy 1st Birthday Molly!

Eating her cake! YUMMY!

Molly giving Grace a kiss! Notice Gracie's mouth is open!!! Grace riding on Molly's ice cream truck.

More trying to crawl...

I just can't get enough of her trying to crawl! Although right now the only thing I can get her to for is the remote :) Oh well... its cute!

Trying to crawl!

She is trying so hard to crawl. She goes from sitting to laying/scooting and laying to sitting. Here is her in action!

Double click on the play button below!

How is this possibly comfortable??

An afternoon at the park

I've started bringing Grace to the park and she loves it. She loves to swing and go down the slide on my lap. She is getting so fun!!! (Oh and in the pics it looks like she is swinging in the dark... I promise it wasn't dark... just how the pics turned out I guess).

My Beach Babe...

We are back from Galveston. Adam is away on business for a couple weeks so Gracie and I headed to Galveston with my mom, grandma, and a few of my aunts. We had a great girls trip and really just enjoyed everyones company. We stayed at my Uncle Doug and Aunt Holly's beach house which is beautiful! Thanks Doug & Holly!!

Grace loved the beach... and loved the sand even more! She got a little taste when I wasn't quick enough to knock it out of her hands, but she quickly spit it out. She loved the water and the waves.... although I was scared she would get salt water on her hands and then rub her eyes so we only brought her in the water a couple times. I brought a baby pool and an umbrella and she just played in it with a few toys (minus the water)... and loved it! Here are a couple pics of Gracie's first trip to the beach.

Hangin' out on the beach. Notice her little area in front of her where she was digging in the sand. It must have felt funny between her fingers!

Looking at the beach... Grace says "Mom lets go in there!".

7 months (well tomorow)

The time has flown and Gracie will be 7 months tomorrow (we will be out of town so I thought I would post today).

This is what she is up to this month:
*She is trying so hard to crawl... she gets on her hands and knees, rocks and then goes backwards!! She does scoot around on her tummy though.
*She has learned to pull up to her knees, but I have only seen her do it in her crib.
*She can go from laying to sitting... workin' out those ab muscles! :)
*She still HATES jarred baby food, but LOVES table food... we are still just trying things slowly b/c I am so scared she is going to choke! So far she has tried... black beans, refried beans, rice, corn, avacado, green beans, peas... I think thats it. She loves avacado the most!
*She is babbling all the time... no true words yet, but she makes a "da" and a "la" sound... unfortunatly no mama!
*She loves the park and loves going for a run with me in the morning. Just loves being outside and finally its cooling off a bit so that we can get out more!

Baby Conner update

I posted a couple weeks ago that our friends, Rob and Kelly, had their baby 8 weeks early. Thank you for all your prayers. Conner is doing great. He is finally gaining weight and has now gotten back to his birth weight plus a couple ounces. He is sleeping in an open crib and keeping his body temperature up. They took him off of the oxygen so he is breathing all by himself!! AMEN! He is still eating from a feeding tube, but next week they are going to try a bottle of breastmilk. Rob and Kelly (and Hannah too!) just can't wait to get him home. Hopefully soon! Of course the hospital wont give them a time... they just say sometime around his due date which isn't for 6.5 more weeks!

Here is a picture of the little man. Just so you know... that is a premie outfit that Kelly tried to shrink... but he still looks like he is swimmin' in it! :)

Workin' Out!

My friend, Lindsay, has made a new blog...

Workin' Out

Check it out!

This is just another motivation for me to get into shape. I posted a few weeks ago about Turbo Jam (which I love) and getting back into shape. Things are going well. I've also started running and I am planning to run a 5K on October 14th. My friend, Lindsay, and an old co-worker, Bonnie, recommended new sneakers... so 2 weeks ago I made my way to Run-On in Dallas and got a pair of Asics that I LOVE! It is crazy the difference what a good pair of shoes that fit you will make. Anyway, check out the new site if you are interested!

I love big girl food!

So we have accepted the fact that Grace doesn't like jarred baby food. I have pretty much given up on them. But we have found other foods she loves!!! Tonight for dinner we gave Gracie black beans and avacados and she LOVED them. As you can see by the picture she had avacado smeared all over her face. We put little chunks on her tray and she tried so hard to pick it up (it was hard b/c avacado is slippery!) but she finally got a few pieces. We helped her out too by spoon feeding her a couple bites. She knew exactly what to do...she bit it with those 2 front teeth and used her gums to mash it up before she swallowed. She is such a big girl!

For my friends that are just starting table foods, the new issue of Parents magazine (p.160) has 52 finger food ideas.... some aren't good until they are bit older, but they had some GREAT ideas.

Mema and Pop Pop visited...

Adam's parents came to visit Gracie. They brought us a riding lawn mower that Grace loves to ride!! (They moved into a new house about a year ago and with a lot less grass so they thought we could use it more with our 1 acre lot... I guess Adam will have to get off his tail and MOW!)

Anyway, here are a couple pics!

Notice Gracie's Aggie shirt... ready for the game on Saturday! :)

Pulling up... oh no!

CAUGHT RED HANDED!!! Well sort of... I heard Gracie playing in her crib after a nap so I went into her room to find her holding onto the railing. She only pulled up to her knees but she thought it was so funny. While I was in shock at first, I told her to wait and I ran for the camera (of course... gotta have a picture!). I just can't believe she is already pulling up. Anyway, I guess we will have to lower the crib yet again. I also took the mobile out of her crib this week because she was pulling on it! I was sort of sad b/c she loves it so much, but I don't want her to pull it down over her or break it.

She survived...

Adam and I left Gracie with the grandparents for 2 nights this past weekend!!! (Well I guess it was really just my first time to leave her, Adam has before when he has gone on business trips). Anyway, Adam and I dropped her on Friday afternoon and headed to Aggieland! We stayed with my Aunt Janet and Uncle Bob and had a blast. Friday night we went to First Yell which was so fun and went to our favorite ice cream place... Shakes (YUM!!). Saturday morning we went shopping for some new Aggie gear and drove around town to see all the changes. WOW... there is so much new stuff in Aggieland. Then Saturday afternoon we went and tailgated before the game (it was soooo hot!, but fun). Then we went to watch the Aggies beat the hell outta the Citadel. Whoop!

This was all really just a test to see how it would go leaving Gracie behind. Adam has been begging me to go with him to Germany at the end of October. He has to go for work, so we would really only have to pay for my ticket! So..... I'm going. Gracie will stay inTexas with both her grandparents while Adam and I will be in Germany for 5 days! I'm going to miss her so much. I called every couple hours when I was in College Station. But it will be nice for Adam and I to have time to ourselves.

The Price of Children...

This is for all my friends that are thinking about having kids... and of course those that already do. Enjoy!!
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The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock!? That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich."??

Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.

* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
*coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!

Real Peas... YUM!

Gracie still isn't a fan of baby food, so last night we decided to see what she would do some real peas. She spent forever trying to pick it up, but finally got a couple in her mouth. But boy did we have a mess on our hands. Lets just say we should buy some stock in Pampers wipes! :)

Gracie and Molly

I babysat Molly the other night b/c it was Joey and Hailey's anniversary! Adam was out of town too so it was just me with the girls. Boy did I have my hands full. Molly is now 11 months... she is walking, getting into EVERYTHING, and she doesn't like to share. But we had fun. Here are some pics of bathtime (that was exhausting!) and hanging out before bedtime. They are getting so big... Gracie weights more than Molly now and is practically as tall.

Little Miss Gymnast!

Gracie is just streching before she goes to bed! Gotta get ready for that long nights sleep.
How funny is this!

Prayers needed

My good friend, Kelly Hiss, went into labor yesterday 8 weeks early! Conner arrived yesterday afternoon weighing in at 4 lbs 2 ozs and was 17 in. long. Although he is 8 weeks early, he is very healthy. He will be in the NICU in Toledo, OH probably until he was due to come. The main concern is about his lung development but other than that he looks like a very healthy and strong little boy! So please add Rob, Kelly, Big Sister Hannah (14 months) and their new baby Conner to your prayers!

I will add a picture as soon as we get one!

6 month pro pics...

This picture was the one that she won the contest with!















These were all the other pics that were taken.
I just copied these from the website so they aren't perfect. They had to darken them a bit b/c Gracie looked so washed out. But the real pictures are a bit cuter!

Laundry Day

Gracie just loves to help out with the laundry. She helps me to unfold after I have already folded it and she LOVES to play in the hamper :)

Now how can you get mad at that...

Gracie won a picture contest.

How fun is that! Last week I had her 6 month pictures taken at the Picture People. They are having a contest right now to look for the "New Face of the Picture People". You just pick one of the photos to be entered into the contest. Well they just called me and told me that Gracie won the picture of the week for her age category (under 1 year). So she won a free photo package at her next sitting. She will now be entered into the pick for the month and if she wins that she will be put in the running for the company wide New Face :)

I sort of feel like those moms that enter their kids into pagents. HA! Of course everyone thinks that their child is the cutest, but for someone (strangers at that) to think she takes cute pics is a compliment.

The funny thing about the picture I entered is that I didn't even buy it!! It was very simular to a picture that I got at 3 months. I guess I may have to buy if she wins big :)

Oh and I will post the pictures we did buy once I can get them scanned in. (Next week sometime) Just wanted to share our fun news!!

TEACHER APPLICANT

After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said: "Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning, and I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits. You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise theirself esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job. I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, and make sure all students pass the state exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments. Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physicalhandicap. I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card. All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!You want me to do all of this and then you tell me...I CAN'T PRAY?"

Lake chick

Isn't she cute... ready for the lake in her adorable Aruba dress that Memaw and PopPop got on their cruise this past Spring.

PEAS...

Something she sort of likes! My mom and grandma recommended trying peas... said that we loved them so I tried them out and sure enough... SUCCESS!!! Sort of! We have tried them the last 3 days and she has done okay. She will eat about 4-5 bites and then NO MORE. She will them clamp her mouth shut and nothing is going in. Here is a few pics of the progress.

Open wide...















Tasting the peas...hmmmm... not so sure...















YUM!!!

Yucky vs. Yummy

Our pediatrician told us to try baby food at least once a day. So this week we introduced SWEET POTATOES... this is what she thought of those. Didn't like it. Tried it for 3 days and got the same face every time! So onto the next fruit veggie tomorrow!















He also told us we could try baby toast/crackers/etc so we got some of this special baby toast (it disolves in their mouth so they don't have to chew) and this is what she thought of it. LOVED it! Although I think she had more fun banging in on the highchair tray than eating it!

Her 2 front teeth...

Click on the picture below and you can see her 2 little bottom teeth coming in. Maybe next week I can catch a better picture.

6 month stats...

Gracie went to the doctor this morning and got 2 shots. She didn't even cry. She is such a big girl.

She weighted in at 17lbs 2 ounces (70th percentile) and she was 26.75 inches long (90th percentile).

We are so blessed to have such a happy and healthy baby!

6 months today!!

I feel like I just had her yesterday. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. The last 6 months have been amazing. We have laughed, cried, learned, loved, and changed lots of diapers!

*I will post her 6 month stats tomorrow after we go to the pediatrician!
Gotta know how much my little rolly polly weights!! :)

Here is what Gracie is up to this month:
1. She can sit completely independently now, which is nice to just sit her on the ground.
2.Gracie rolls to get what she wants now... you can't leave her on the changing table or on the bed anymore... so she is on the floor most of the day.
3. She has learned to get up all 4's. But she doesn't stay that way for long and ends up going in reverse. Needless to say it makes her pretty upset.
4. Grace is getting her first 2 bottom teeth. Just the sharp part has come through, but she has been a extra fussy and sleepy the last few days.
5. She is still breastfeeding. She gets a bottle on occasion when Adam and I are able to go on a date! She doesn't eat much else... she HATES rice cereal and pretty much all baby food, but we will keep trying.
6. She loves to do anything outside. She helps dad water the flowers (since the heat is trying to kill them!)

Here is a picture of Gracie when she was first born and one of her now! She has changed so much!!

A few days old... sleeping!

Nearly 6 months old... sitting pretty!

It's official...

Gracie is getting her first tooth! You can now see the top of her razor sharp first tooth. Grace has been a little ham the last couple days (not eating or sleeping well) so I just blew it off that it wasn't teething because last time I thought it was teething it wasn't... it was an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. So last night she was being super fussy and nothing was making it better so I randomly put my finger in her mouth and I could feel a little tooth popping through her gums!! After about 10 minutes I was finally able to pry her mouth open to see it there. I called Adam in the room just to make sure I wasn't imaging it :) and he confirmed that it was there. My pediatrician told me that true teething only lasts 4-5 days, but they normally get their second tooth shortly after, so to plan for a week and half. So I have her drugged on Tylenol (so she is sleeping like a good girl!). As soon as she will let me get a picture I will post it. She will hardly let me put my finger in her mouth. Sort of stubborn... not sure who she gets that from! :)

Tear jerker

Inspiring story to put your life into perspective

A friend sent me this and having watched the video twice, I was utterly overtaken by it. Please read article, then watch video.

Strongest Dad in the World

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to Pay for
their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick
Hoyt, I suck. Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2
miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and
pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars -- all in the same day
(doing the Ironman Triathlon). Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing,
taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S.
on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much -- except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was
strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and
unable to control his limbs. "He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life,"

Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months
old, "Put him in an institution." But the Hoyts weren't buying it.

They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick
was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and
asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick
says he was told. "there's nothing going on in his brain." "Tell him a
joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on
in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the
cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally
able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!"

And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the
school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do
that." Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran
more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he
tried. "then it was me who was handicapped,"

Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks." that day changed Rick's life. "Dad,"
he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick
that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that
he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a
single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few
years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they
found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another
marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following
year. Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?" How's a guy who
never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to
haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've
done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It
must be a buzz kill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy
towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick
does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a
cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together. This year, at ages 65
and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place
out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in
1992 -- only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep
track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing
another man in a wheelchair at the time. "No question about it," Rick
types. "My dad is the Father of the Century." And Dick got something else
out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a
race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you
hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably
would've died 15 years ago." So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's
life. Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass.,
always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and
compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's
Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like,"
Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

Here's the video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

Bye Bye bumper....

Well Gracie has learned to use the bumper as leverage to get a little closer to getting OUT of her crib! GREAT!!! This is a pic her pushing the bumper down. When I went into the room I caught her with her hands holding onto the top rail! How in the heck? I guess its time to lower the crib too! Not quite sure why they make bumpers anyhow since by time they can roll around you usually need to get it out of there anyway. She is getting so big so fast!!
(Notice Sammie is very interested too... she can see Gracie now.)

Bath time fun...

Here is Gracie posing for the camera! What is that face??

Visiting Family!

This week my cousins (Gracie's first cousins once removed... took us a while to figure it out!) Britney and Kaila (they were in my wedding) came through Dallas on their way back Indiana to go to school. Britney (right) is a sophmore at Purdue and Kaila (left) will be a senior in high school. Aren't they so cute. I need them to take me shopping so I look that cute :)
Anyway, they just loved Grace! They hugged and kissed on her all day and Grace ate it up! She just loved all the attention.

Lake day

We went to the lake yesterday with 6 of our friends. We mainly just hung out drinking beer and sangria (WOW was it strong!). We just had a blast, but of course I forgot my camera. I would have loved to have some pics of Hailey and Rachel doing a face plant when they flew off the tube while we were pulling them! While we had fun playing at the lake Gracie stayed at home with the babysitter and Molly (Hailey's daughter).

Gracie's new favorite toy...

Not sure if you can tell by the pic... but she has the BIGGEST smile on her face! She loves the computer!

TURBO JAM!!!

Well I have a few lingering pounds (7 to be exact!!) of baby fat that I am determined to get rid of. And since I live in the smallest little town we don't have any work out places with a nursery, darn it, so I ordered the Turbo Jam DVDs! I should be getting them anyday. So anyway, I decided to post this so all you out there can hold me accountable. My goal is to do it at least 3 times a week. So I will give you an update in about a week once I try it out! Hopefully in no time I will be back to looking like this... (this is me on my honeymoon... several pounds less than I am now!)