My baby girl hit another HUGE milestone, make that TWO milestones this week.  She has been working on getting and staying in the crawling position for a while now.  Well this week she went from being in the crawling position and tumbling forward onto her her belly…. to full blown crawling across the floor in one week!  You GO GIRL!!!!  YEAH!!!  (WATCH THE VIDEO) Then, just while we are taking the time to celebrate this ground breaking milestone….  the little determined bugger pulls herself to standing several times this week!!  WOW, that my girl!!!  I am going to try and get it on video so you can see for yourself.  She is awful proud of herself….  Who can blame her!  YEAH SYDNEY!!!

pictures from Syd’s 1st Birthday

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pictures from rockport

This week’s List question:  List The Extravagant material items that you would purchase with unlimited funds…

 Now, I have a list of humanitarian items…. but this week’s list is strictly frivolous, so here goes… 

• A home in Hawaii
• A home in Florida
• Disney cruise tickets for everyone I know to have a fabulous vacation together
• A home on Lake Austin with a high end kitchen!  and lots of decks.
• A long luxurious European vacation
• A 5-star Vegas trip
• New vehicles, nothing in particular comes to mind
• a Harley for my hubby… wait no… An Orange County Chopper
• A daily masseuse (ahhh….)
• A new wardrobe (my BFF Kim would HAVE to go with me)
• Go on a house decorating shopping spree
• Throw a few shindigs at nice restaurants

Really, I want to travel… and I want to take family and friends along.  It’s SOOOO much a fantasy, that I am not really good at this. =0)

I also mentioned in an earlier post that we went to Rockport, TX for a visit.  Randall and Ron’s mom live down there so we decided to head down for a visit to the grandparents and the beach.  The kids had a great time.  The waves were high due to the hurricane out in the gulf, so Anthony stuck close to shore.  He was happy with the sand.  Sydney enjoyed the waves as long as no water got in her face.  Ron and Lisa enjoyed hanging out in the waves and the two older girls Kyla (14) and Kayte (16) tried their hand at boogie boarding.  Kalyn (2) was either in a parent’s arms or playing with Anthony on the beach.  The grandparents Judy and Pike hung out in the lawn chairs and watched everyone in the water.   Our trip was cut short thanks to hurricane Dolly.  No matter, we had fun and will be back on a milder day.  The pictures are Sydney chilling in the lawn chair, Anthony playing in the sand, Sydney and I playing in the waves.  As soon as I figure out how to add an album, I will add more pictures in the gallery.  (I need to get the help of my dear husband for this task).

As I mentioned in the last post, Sydney had a GREAT first birthday.  Our theme was a Beach party.  We had some friends over and it was a great afternoon.  The kids made handprints in sand, decorated them with shells, sea glass and glass beads, then set in plaster.  We opened presents, ate cake, and the kids played in the kid pools in the backyard.  Thank you to everyone who came.  It was fun!  Here are some shots of Sydney as the party progressed…  Cute and awaiting her guests, putting on her party hat, eating her cake, playing with her buddy Ellie (they are only 5 days apart)  wearing their matching outfits. 

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  It has been a VERY busy week.  The run down is that Randall came home from Honduras last Thursday and his brother Ron and his family came in from Iowa on Friday.  So, needless to say, I have been swamped.  Saturday was Sydney’s first birthday party which was WONDERFUL.  (more later)  Then we had a relatively calm Sunday, but on Monday we were off again.  Originally we were all scheduled to go to the coast to Rockport to visit Randall and Ron’s mom on Wednesday, but due to the building hurricane Dolly, we had to adjust our plans.  Dolly showed up and was expected to hit the coast on late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, so if we were going to head to the coast, we needed to head out Monday morning.  The decision was made Monday morning, so it was a flight-of-the-bumble-bee packing job.  We loaded up and were headed out. 

 We made it by late afternoon and settled in at the hotel.  Tuesday we headed to Port Aransas (I think that is where we were).  We took a ferry to an island and played at the beach.  The waves were huge, due to the storm out in the gulf.  We had a great time.  Randall’s mom and dad sat in chairs on the beach and watched the two families play in the water.  We had a nice dinner together and it was back to the hotel.  Unfortunately and suddenly Anthony was SICK!!!!   I won’t provide details, but I called room-service twice for new linens.  Poor baby, he was repeatedly sick until the wee hours of the morning, which is when it hit me.  UGH!  Needless to say, this was not the fun part of the trip.

In the morning, the PLAN was to head to Corpus Christi to tour the USS Lexington and then head to San Antonio.  Well, hurricane Dolly had other plans.  She strengthen and slightly turned, so Corpus was in the path.  So, when the medium rain that we had going all morning, SUDDENLY turned to intense downpour with gusting winds…. we THREW everything into the vans and headed out immediately.  Fortunately Anthony was much better, but I was in the height of the “bug”.  Sick or not…. it was time to head inland and quickly.  We outran the storm (which was tropical storm strength where we were) and headed towards San Antonio.  We parted vans so that Ron’s family could tour San Antonio and we headed home.  I just wanted my bed.  =0(

We made it home and I crashed early.  I woke up MUCH better, but Randall woke up sick.  I guess it was his turn.  Little miss Sydney started it all off with her tummy bug, but fortunate for her, it was mild.  Anyway, we are all well and safe.  For the most part it was fun.  We REALLY enjoyed meeting Ron’s family.  He has been up in Iowa for three years, so we haven’t been able to meet them.  We can’t wait to visit together again.  I will add another post of Sydney’s b-day party with pictures as well as her first visit to the beach.

List the products that you SWEAR by or items that you CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT:

• Swiffer wet jet
• Baking soda, vinegar, and bleach.  My cleaning staples
• Green grocery bags  (I didn’t buy into this fad at first, but I love them now.  They hold so much more and can be thrown over the shoulder.)
• Sheercover makeup.  It REALLY works
• My self-tanner.  (no more sun for me)
• Huggies disposable baby washclothes (they smell wonderful)
• Automatic dog food, cat food, and water dispensers.
• The doggie door (freedom for the animals and me, whew!)
• White Chocolate Peanut Butter (Thanks to Amy for hooking me on this stuff, Yummy)
• My glue gun….  it’s the female version of Duct tape… with it I am invicible! (moo ha ha)
• Craft supplies.  I ALWAYS have to be working on something
• The Lazy boy.  It rocks, it swivels, it’s cozy… what’s not to like. =0)
• Automatic doors on the van.  Ahh, technology.
• My i-Phone.  Again, I say ahhhh, technology.
• Kitchen Aid.  (I finally understand that butter and sugar do “fluff”)
• Diet coke  (My name is Jeanette and I am a Diet Coke adict)
• Stay on lipstick

What is on YOUR list?

I cannot believe that our little Angel, Sydney is a year old today!!!   Wow, time flies.  Today really makes me reflect on the last year.

Sydney overcame a rough start.  Since then we have been celebrating one step after another.  First we celebrated her coming home from the NICU, then ditching the oxygen and going wireless, then her heart healing.  Then we celebrated EVERY milestone: nursing, rolling over, lifting her head, lifting her upper body, sitting up, getting into a sitting position on her own, getting on all fours, and getting her first tooth.  Now we are waiting any day to see her crawl.  These are milestones that we celebrated with the boys as well, but the cheers are even louder, not just because there are more of us to cheer, but knowing how much tougher it is for her. 

What do I LOVE about Sydney? 

• She has a bright smile that lights up her entire body.  I have never seen someone smile with their whole being.  Sydney does.

• She has the prettiest Blue eyes!  They are deep blue with pure white marbling.  When you are outside and the sun catches her eyes, they are mesmerizing.

• She has a sweet, sweet voice.  She babbles and coos… and lately makes chicken noises… Blawka, blawka, blawka.  It is hilarious!  We say that she sounds like Pebbles (minus the chicken noises.)

• She knows how to cuddle and hug!

• She turns her daddy into a big mush-ball in two seconds flat.

• She has taught me so much in such a short time.  In getting prepared for her arrival and through her first year, I have learned to put my life in God’s hands.  He has made my life so much richer for it.

• She’s made me a better mom, wife and woman.  Thank you Sydney!

Although today was her actual birthday, we had a low key day today.  It was just Anthony, Sydney and I since Randall is flying home today and won’t be home until the wee hours.  Sydney’s BIG celebration will be Saturday.  We are planning a “Beach Party”.  I can’t wait to celebrate such a joyous occasion.  God knew what he was doing when he let us take care of this Angel.

Randall is out of the country right now on a medical mission to Honduras.  He left last Wednesday and is coming home sometime tomorrow.  I miss him and can’t wait to see him tomorrow!  He is coming home on Sydney’s first birthday!!!!!!  We have kept relatively busy while he was gone.  But this week has been especially busy.

This last Sunday, I was approached by one of the kid’s Godmother’s Deborah who asked to take Anthony to the Austin animal sanctuary this week.  He was excited and the two of them went out for the day yesterday.  Anthony had a blast and I think she did too!  Deborah spoiled him rotten, which he loved.  He got to see a bunch of animals, dig up dinosaur bones, eat at his choice of Restaurants for lunch Chili’s, and he came home with a toy and a t-shirt.  Wow, what a day.  With Ant away for the day, this gave Sydney and I a day of just us girls.  First we met my BFF Kim for lunch at Chuys (yum!) which is something I do miss about working.  Then we ran a couple of errands and after a catnap at home we had some time alone to play without a bouncy toddler in the background.  =0)  It was a nice afternoon.

Also on Sunday, I was talking to my friend Jan and she mentioned that she would love to babysit Sydney someday and get a chance to play with her (as opposed to just holding her at church).  So today Jan came over and watched Sydney while Ant and I went out for a “Mom and me date”.  We saw Speed Racer, went to lunch (his pick was Cici’s), ran by the dollar store where he got to spend TWO whole dollars.  We stopped at a few other stores and then headed home for a nap…. so we could head out again for dinner. 

Dinner plans were to head over to my friend Jennifer’s house for dinner and swimming tonight.  Jennifer (aka JoJo) used to watch the kids when I was at Dell.  During the three years of dropping off and picking up Anthony and then Sydney, Jennifer and I became good friends.  She is an absolute doll.  Now, we love seeing her when we can.  We had a nice evening with her and her brother Phil (who is the COOLEST person on the planet… just ask Anthony).  We caught up on each others lives and our opinions on the Reality TV shows that we only admit to each other that we watch <blush>.  It was fun.

Today was a long day, but a fun one.  I can’t wait to see my hubby tomorrow….  And celebrate Sydney’s birthday!