Heidi's baptism...must see gorgeous dress!

Heidi was baptized today! I hated to add to the chaos that is the holidays, but Heidi's sponsors live in Tennessee and are only up for a couple week span, so we had to pick a weekend that they were here. To add to the craziness that the holidays brings, we had this super-warm day yesterday, which meant the snow started melting causing everything to be wet, which then froze overnight causing my driveway to turn to pure ice, which was then covered with 3 inches of fresh snow. Yeah. Fun. So in the midst of getting ready to get out the door by 8:30 this morning, we had to try to figure out how all these people are going to get to our house when our driveway is the equivalent of a steep uphill wet ice rink.

Our truck (woot-woot Tundra) got up the driveway, but it was the only one. I intended on having Josh chauffer people in the truck from the bottom of the driveway to the top, but everyone just hopped out of their vehicles and merrily shuffled their way up the driveway (in dress shoes and bearing gifts, no less). Love of family is a wonderful thing.

Anyway, the baptism itself went well. Heidi was pretty good in church, being as it was her naptime and she was hungry but was too distracted to drink her bottle. She fussed a little bit during the head-wetting, but then smiled as Josh walked her around the church to meet her new "family." She was a bit crabby at home, since she fell asleep on the way home and slept for a few minutes in her car seat at home before she was woken up by all the excitement.

I got a few pics, including some fabulous ones before hand. The dress was hand-made by my sister and I just love it! It was perfect! Without further ado...pictures!

Us and the Godparents, don't mind the blur

Us and Heidi

Beautiful girl in a beautiful dress!

Heidi loved the dress and played with it all day!

Thank you Aunt Laura for making me such a beautiful dress!

The only thing that would have made the day better would have been having Aunt Laura and Cousin Keagen with us! Feel better soon Keagie!

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

Well, Heidi has recently picked up one of my best habits, and one of my worst...Let's start with the best:

Here she is doing a little light reading:

Did I read it right, mama?

This is a good book:

And sometimes, you have to taste the book to really get the feel...

And then there is my worst habit...at least she doesn't have any teeth to rot out yet...

At least she got her daddy's good looks...

Heidi does laundry

It's a link to a video...it's really funny :)

http://vimeo.com/2548619

Oh Christmas Tree...

Every year we go to Josh's aunt and uncle's Christmas tree farm and cut our own tree. This year we had to take Heidi out on the hunt with us for the perfect tree. She has a good eye for finding pretty trees, but she's not so good with the saw, so we had to let daddy do the cutting down.

We got the tree put up and mommy even bought special twinkling lights for Heidi to stare at. We got all of her Baby's First Christmas ornaments hung up on the tree. The lights are on. The ribbon is wrapped. And Heidi could care less. She never gives the tree a second glance. Oh well, I'm sure next year we'll wish we had that problem...

My little snowbunny!

Well, we had our first big snow of the season on Monday night. We were all snowed in on Tuesday (me, Heidi, Emily, and a sick Josh). I was out shoveling and decided that it wasn't too cold, so we bundled up the Heidster to get her first feel of the snow. She didn't seem to know what to think and she didn't have her hands out so she couldn't really feel it except for when it landed on her face. I think she was mostly overcome by the brightness of it! Here are some pics to document another first:

All bundled up. The snow was deep enough it supported her so she could sit without help!

Not completely sure what she's looking at here...

Yeah, mommy ran to get the camera from daddy and forgot about the overly friendly pups. So Heidi got a couple licks from the Mol.

And then she started falling into the snow

Heidi and mommy. Don't mind me, all bundled up from shoveling...

So, that's enough snow for the year now, it can melt any time :)

Never been thankful like this...

I've been thankful for many things in my life--my family, my education, my husband, my job, my house, my pups, etc. But I've never been as thankful as I am this year. How could I not be, with a face like this?

Her first ponytail:

We started with a bow, but it flopped over when we laid down...

It has been a year full of ups and downs, but now more than ever we have to remember all the things we have to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Puppy Love

I remember when we were first pregnant with Heidi that Josh and I were worried about how our other canine babies would react to their new little sister. That first day when we brought her home from the hospital and placed her carrier on the ground for them to get a sniff, we knew our worries were all for nothing. It was love at first sight for our big brown girls and our little baby girl.

Do you think it's possible to get Heidi and Molly to smile at the camera at the same time?

Well, that's a little better.

Sometimes they just like to lay around together...

And sometimes Molly likes to help Heidi with her self-care, she's excellent at cleaning ears.

Her better tomorrow...

is on its way! Thank you Americans for electing Barack Obama. America can once again be a place that is respected around the world. Halleluiah for a fresh face in the white house that doesn't pander to the big corporations and oil companies. A true spokesperson for the middle class. Having a daughter makes many things more important to me, and the future of this country is one of them. So thank you Americans! Yes we can!

This election was a nail-biter

Vote for Obama!

You know you want to!

You voted for Obama, right?

Thanks for voting for my better tomorrow

A better country for my daughter, I could not ask for more.

Why Obama is right for my family.

I've been debating a while about writing this post, but the fact of the matter is that this election is important to me and to the future of our country. I have pretty strong views about it, but I'm also able to acknowledge that if my chosen candidate, Obama, doesn't win the election the country isn't going to fold. I think both candidates will be able to lead our country in a better direction than it's currently in (though that's not saying a lot--Thanks Bush). But deep down, I know that Barack Obama is the best choice for my family.

It's not just because Obama comes from humble roots, but his background is one of the many reasons that I believe he will be a great president. Obama is not afraid to work hard, he was raised by a single mother to value hard work, education, and helping people that are not as well off as he is. It's refreshing to see a politician that doesn't come from a family of politicians, who actually knows what a majority of Americans are going through. Someone who would turn down a big paycheck in order to do a job that he believed in.

I also agree with Obama's plan for the future (and unlike McCain, Obama actually talks about his plan too, instead of just bashing the other guy). Working in a public school, education is a very important topic for me. Obama's views on NCLB are completely consistent with mine in that teachers should not be "teaching to the test" and that schools should actually receive some of the funding promised when NCLB was passed so that they can improve the education that they are able to give. McCain has repeatedly voted to deny funding for NCLB. In regards to healthcare, under McCain's plan, I would have to pay taxes on all of the health benefits that I receive. I'm lucky enough to have state healthcare through the school (love my school insurance), but I completely disagree with paying taxes on the benefits that I receive (and I received a lot of them this year...). I have family members that are just now able to afford healthcare, and under McCain's plan, they probably wouldn't be able to anymore, and people with pre-existing conditions, such as my nephew who has cancer, could be denied coverage. Bullshit.

But then again, I'm not voting against McCain, I'm voting for Obama. His economic plan makes a ton of sense to me. The rich in this country continue to get richer and richer (as do big corporations...ahem oil companies). I encounter so many families that have two parents working two or more jobs and still cannot make ends meet. Just because they don't have a college education (and even those of us that do but chose careers in non-profit fields such as education and social work) doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be able to put food on the table for their families, heat their homes, have hot water, a reliable vehicle, and health insurance benefits. Raising taxes on the wealthy makes sense to me (I know that many people may not feel that it's "fair" but I'm not one of them).

Then there's the war. Under McCain's leadership, I don't believe we'll ever be out of Iraq. Republicans are looking for a win, but Democrats know that we lost that war when the first American soldier died over there. Our country will only be better for having a president who finally sees war as a last resort, not a spontaneous decision. Who would try to talk to world leaders before we drop a bomb on their country. At the rate we are going right now, I already have to worry about my daughter being drafted in 2026. Obama is respected by other countries and can make American into a country that is once again respected across the world.

I cannot wait to be an American with Obama as my president. I cannot wait to see the changes that our country can make with an intelligent, charismatic, forward-thinking president.

Not everyone will agree with me, but I know that Obama is right for my family. And that doesn't make me any less Christian, less caring, or less moral.

Irregardless of whom you are voting for. Make sure to hit the polls in this, the most important election in a long long time.

Can you see me now?

As if Heidi needed to look any more like her daddy than she already does...my little girl rocks out in her camo (with ruffles, of course). Not only was her clothing adorable on this day, but she was showing off some mad skills and facial expressions, all caught on film for your viewing pleasure:

Big smile, jonesing with mama:

Crazy facial expression, not sure what this one is...


At last, just the thumb and not the entire fist, or better yet, both fists. She's been doing just the thumb more and more lately. Looks so darn adorable...

She did this all on her own. I put the bottle in her mouth and she grabbed on with both hands. She held on for long enough for me to run and grab the camera and take 2 pictures. Then she forgot that if she moved her hands the bottle would move to...alas, mommy had to take over:

And this is the patented "Heidi almost roll." She gets more than half way over and then *psych* flips back onto her back. The one time I helped her roll the rest of the way onto her tummy, she immediately rolled back to her back like I hadn't done a thing. She's hilarious. And I think the butt ruffle is flattering to her tiny bottom :)

Happy Halloween!

This is one of our favorite holidays. What's not to like about a holiday that centers around dressing up silly and eating lots of candy? We made like pirates for Grandma Farm's halloween party and brought along our silly parrot too. Here are some pics:

A bunch of wee-pirates enjoying their pirate dinner (my gorgeous niece Lexi, and nephews Garrett, Triston, Landon, and Seth)

Heidi eating her dinner on the hayride:

Heidi and Daddy on the hayride. Daddy's arm fell asleep from holding Heidi the whole ride, but she stayed nice and warm under the blankets.

My niece Kaileigh (Tinkerbell) and nephews Triston (Peter Pan) and Seth (Captain Hook):

Two fabulous pirates with their wee parrott. The parrott costume only lasted about as long as it took to take 5 pictures or so :)

Happy Halloween!

One week left :(

Only one more week for this mama till she's off to be a working mom. I'm so sad to have to leave my little girl all day while I go to work. I know that she'll be fine. She'll be in loving hands while I'm gone and will probably have fun getting to play with lots of different people, but I just wish I could be here with her until she's 4 years old and off to school. She's doing so many new things right now (nearly rolling back to tummy, giggling, scooting around in circles, and making lots of talking noises) that I hate to have to miss any of it.

Then there is the actual work aspect of it. Ugh. No one has filled in for me while I've been gone, so I basically have 2 months of work sitting on my desk just waiting for me to come back. We're starting to do the state testing the day I come back, I still have DIBELS reports from October to get home to parents and probably by the time I get them done we'll be on to the next round. It's going to stink because with all this work I'm probably not going to be able to leave on the dot and get home to get my little girl. My stress level just thinking of work is at peak level. In some ways it's reassuring that they didn't realize these last 2 months that my job is dispensable. But at the same time, I'm overwhelmed just thinking of it...

Not to mention, the time change is the weekend before I go back so I'm going to have a baby that is not on her normal schedule. And election day is my second day of work so I'll probably be up all night waiting for the final count.

How many days until Christmas break?

Life and the unfairness of it...

Reading the posts below you'd know that my sweet nephew Keagen is battling neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer. Today was a really bad day, pretty much the worst so far and it just leaves me so damn mad! I just want to punch something or scream at the top of my lungs or cry until there are no more tears left. It's just so cruel! Of all of the people in the world, why does it have to pick my sweet nephew. Not even 2 years old. His mommy's baby boy. Twin brother to his spirited sister, Kaileigh. Baby brother to the loud and rambunctious Triston and Seth. When we first found out, basically the 2 days of constant crying, my grams said something to the effect of "the cancer always gets our family, but at least it's stayed away from our little ones..." until now, of course. Cancer is a cruel enough disease when you're old enough to understand it, to research it, to say your own prayers and understand that all the pain is for a reason. Can you imagine being 2 years old and having no idea why you felt okay when you went to the hospital and now you are sick and in pain almost all of the time? Why just when you start feeling better you have to go back to the hospital and get the tubes hooked back up and then start feeling worse again?

I think the unpredictability of it is the worst. We never know. We never know how Keagen will react to the drugs, if the tumor is shrinking, if he's going to spike a fever in the middle of the night or have a reaction to one of his medicines. We never know if he's getting better or getting worse. And he's too little to tell us where it hurts and how badly. I just can't imagine being my sister and having to go through all of this that she's had to go through. It's just another unfairness of it all though. Unfair that a mama should have to give her baby shots in the leg to help with a blood clot and tear tape off his sensitive little chest to clean the area around his Hickman and rebandage. It's unfair that any mama should have to know that her little baby has to get so so sick before he can get better and that she has to be strong for her 3 other babies along the way.

And in my own selfish way, it's unfair that it makes me terrified everytime my daughter cries out that maybe she is in pain or sick and I just don't know it and won't know it until it's too late.

I hate not knowing. I hate the uncertainty of the cancer, the unpredictability. I hate looking for the silver lining and being positive all the time when sometimes I'm just so damn mad. And most of all, I hate thinking that he might not make it and how damn unfair that is.

3 month pics...thanks Wal-Mart

They see me coming a mile away...new mama...must buy lots of pictures of adorable daughter. Oh well, at least it was Wal-Mart so it didn't break the bank too badly.

Here's my little princess. She was very good and smiled a lot, of course, the photographer was very silly.

And here's one of the three of us, Heidi was kind of done with pictures at this point in time. Them's the shakes.