Flashback Friday

I chose this picture for no other reason than it's probably my favorite ever. D'Laney was one day old, and Cameron was completely smitten. He would just stare at her and say to me, "Can you believe her? She's just so perfect!" For some one who didn't really want kids, he sure is taken with that little girl, and lately has said many times how much he misses having an infant... he likes the way infants cuddle. That man aggravates the tar out of me, and makes me fall more and more in love with him every day.

Menu Planning

I have been wanting to start menu planning for a while. It not only saves you from having to figure out what to cook each day, but it helps with grocery shopping, and if I'm not here, Cameron will know exactly what we have and what to fix. I think it's also going to help us start eating healthier. No more empty cupboards, let's just order pizza nights. There may still be a few, I'm too tired to cook, how about Sonic days, but we're working on those:) I made a menu today on scrapblog (I seriously love that thing!) and I'm about to fill out our first week! Since D'Laney isn't always eating exactly what we are yet, I'm going to have to separate hers from ours for a while, but I'm happy to report that her eating habits are improving daily, so hopefully I won't have to plan hers separately for much longer.

We'll see how it goes!

Adolf Hitler Rant

This video is hilarious, whether you're a fan of Texas A&M or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmEAo-nzBgY

One word...

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Where is your significant other?golf
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? caring
5. Your father? hardworking
6. Your favorite thing? sleep
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your goal? healthy
9. The room you are in? office
10. Your hobby? none
11. Your fear? loss
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Angelo
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you are not? well
15. One of your wish list items? garage
16. Where you grew up? everywhere
17. The last thing you did? ate
18. What you are wearing? sweats
19. Your TV? big
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? new
22. Your mood? sick
23. Missing someone? yes
24. Your car? messy
25. Something you are not wearing? make-up
26. Favorite story? westerns
27. Your Summer? uneventful
28. Love someone? completely
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

I tag Amy G, Page, Stefanie, and Britney

Flashback friday

Right around this time in 2006 we went to Aspen to visit Cameron's friend Rand. I had never been skiing before and after a tumultuous day that almost caused a divorce, I finally got the hang of it and enjoyed myself. It wasn't Cameron's fault, he really was being patient with me and trying to help. It's just, if I'm not very good at something immediately, I hate it. I have to learn by myself, which I ended up doing unintentionally, and having someone in my ear constantly makes me very angry. We got separated for several hours, Cameron thought I had fallen off the mountain, and I learned to ski. It all worked out!

On the mountain the first day. My smile was slightly forced.

On Rand's deck the day we left. The river below was raging, it was so beautiful!

Geek Squad to the rescue!

My computer wasn't dead, or even close really, but it just wasn't working very well. It would go super slow, and not just when we were on the internet. Pulling up pictures or our music would take forever, and our poor computer would sound like it was about to work itself to death. A very nice Geek (hey, that's what they call themselves) named Morris came and fixed us right up. He mostly just had to clean things up. He installed more memory, whatever that means, and took all the junk that we don't use off. He also updated all our virus and spyware software and spiffed up our Internet Explorer, which is way cool, by the way. Thing are running great now! So fast and, it may just be in my mind, but I do believe even the colors are brighter and clearer. It did cost a pretty penny, but Morris said that as hard as our computer was having to work, it was only a matter of time before it just gave out, so I'm thinking of it as an investment so we don't have to shell out more for a new computer.

organization!!

I am becoming completely, ridiculously obsessed with organization. In my mind, I have every single inch of my house neat and orderly in pretty little containers and creative arrangements. Getting it there, now that's another story. I have always been the most disorganized, disfunctional person. Paperwork, money, even time have never been well managed. For me, it started small. When I got pregnant, I couldn't remember anything anymore, so I bought a big calender for the fridge and several magnetic lists. I would have to write everything down, Dr's appointments, when Cameron was going to be out of town, even if I had clothes at the cleaners to pick up, I couldn't even remember that. I became a meticulous list maker, and I love it! Just that small step made life run a little smoother. Slowly over the last couple of years I've learned basically how to manage my life. I've become much better at paper work (although I still have all our bills drafted, just in case) and my house looks more presentable, most of the time, I mean, I do have a toddler. But now that I have this beautiful big house, just having things thrown here and piled there makes me sick. I'm starting very small, so that I don't get overwhelmed and so that I don't spend a fortune, all those cute little boxes add up! Here's a few things that I'm starting with, that cost little to nothing:

• making a menu at the beginning of each week and sticking to it. This will not only provide an answer for my husband when he asked me every single day what's for supper as he's driving home, but it'll also help lower our grocery bill. I'll know exactly what I need and (once I get my pantry perfect, which it's close!) I'll know exactly what I have, which will eliminate multiples of things we rarely use. I have 3! bottles of soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, and I cook Asian maybe once a month. I'm good about keeping a running grocery list, but I never look to see if I already have these things in the back of the pantry.
• As I post, I'm scanning all of the christmas cards we've gotten the last couple years with pictures of our friends and family. I'm creating a folder just for these, separated by year, and next year when the holidays roll around, I'll use that folder as a screen saver that scrolls through the pictures. A digital picture frame that I already have! I'm also scanning birth announcements and tossing them afterwards. I kept a couple years worth in a drawer and finally threw them away when we moved. I wish I had thought of this before I did that!
• I found a charger station at Target the other day that had matching mail organizers, etc. We don't have a home phone, so we've got my cell, Cameron's cell, and a work cell, and this little station has an outlet for up to 4 electronic devices. It also has a tray that Cam can drop all his pocket contents at the end of the day instead of just on the dining room table.

Well, like I said, I'm starting small in what I'm actually doing, but I have so many things worked out, and yes, down on paper, it'll just take a little bit of time and money to get them accomplished.

A great day!!

As crappy as yesterday was, today more than made up for it. It was a wonderful day just hanging out with my little family. We slept until 9:30 or 10, then got up and went to town to eat "breakfast" at the Cracker Barrel. D'Laney and I had hair appointments at noon, so I got a little trim and my baby had her first hair cut! She was working on quite a mullet, so I decided the back needed to be worked on until the front could catch up. The girl that cut it is married to a guy that I grew up going to church camp at Blue Haven with, so we had a nice visit and I got to catch up on the Broyles boys. I charged my video camera to capture this momentous event in D'Laney's life, only I forgot to check the disc. Sure enough, it was full and we didn't get any of it on film. However, I did remember the little keepsake box that we had for her first hair cut. Luke's girlfriend, Sam, made a box when D'Laney was born that has a lot of smaller boxes in it to keep things like the first curl, first tooth, baby shoes and jewelry, etc. It's so cute and we just unpacked it a few weeks ago, so this is the first thing that we've actually put in it. D'Laney's hair looks good, it actually looks like it has a little style to it, and it didn't make her look like a boy like I was afraid of.

After we got our hair done, I wanted to get my nails taken off. I just don't have the time for the upkeep, and my nails grow really fast, so I have to get them filled every other week just so they are presentable. D'Laney was asleep so Cameron just dropped me off. He got back just as the paint on my real nails was drying and D'Laney was carrying a little plastic bag. When they got to my station, I saw it was from Circuit City and had the Apple logo on whatever was inside the bag. They had gone to Circuit City, which is closing, and Cameron got me an iPOD Nano!! It is awesome!! He got a Classic last year for Christmas, but we just now got around to messing with it. He said I was trying to take it over and he didn't want to fight over it, so he just got me my own. But he was just being sweet. He doesn't do things like that very often, or at all, so I was really surprised. I love that man.

Ugh...

This day has majorly sucked. D'Laney didn't nap yesterday afternoon and finally crashed about 6 last night. I didn't think she'd be down for the night, but she was, only to wake up at 4 this morning. Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to play. I had a really bad headache last night and the only Advil in the house was PM, so I was in a coma by 9:30, and the medicine did not wear off by 4. I vaguely remember making her some waffles and Cameron and I some cinnamon rolls, but I do remember making Cam some coffee because I burned my hand on the steam. After D'Laney finished and Cameron got off to work, around 5, I made sure D'Laney couldn't get into anything and was pretty occupied with her toys, and I got my pillow and lay down on the couch, not really caring if I dozed off. I kept the TV on, I can't sleep very deeply with it going, and sort of kept an ear on her while I slept. She played pretty well by herself until 7, then started whining, so we both went back to bed for about another hour and a half. Then she was up again and just now slowed down enough to take a nap. I think I'll probably nap as well, this headache is only slightly more dull than last night, and I just cannot function on so little sleep. So anyway, so far, today really sucks.

But enough of that, on to flashback friday. This picture is of all the Cauley grandkids. It was taken somewhere around 2000, I think, which puts me around 16. This is my grandparents back yard on my granddaddy's wagon. It is an authentic cowboy chuck wagon that he restored. He used to compete cooking out of it, but he hasn't done that in several years. We used to take pictures in front of it every year since long before I was born, but this was the last one we did for some reason. It's hard to get everyone together and when we do, someone always has to rush off as soon as the presents are opened or supper is over.

baby contest

The San Angelo newspaper is putting on a cutest baby contest that for some reason I decided to enter. I uploaded a picture of D'Laney, then it had a box for a description. I put who her parents were, grandparents, and great-grandparents and what she was doing. I don't' know why, I just thought that's what it was asking for. Wrong! After it was all finished and submitted, I looked at some of the other pictures, and none, NONE, of the other descriptions were anything close to all that mess I had written. I feel like an idiot, but oh well, like I told my mom, maybe some people will recognize some of the names and vote for her because of her impeccable breeding! Anyway, here's the link, you can see how dumb I look...
http://standard-times.upickem.net/engine/ApprovedSubmissions.aspx?PageType=APPROVED&contestid=4606

Well, that backfired.

OK, folks, encouragement was not what I needed. You were supposed to say things like "no, Amy, you need to wait, D'Laney is still so young." "The doctor said to wait 18 months before you even begin thinking about having another one. You should listen, your body needs time to recover." "Cameron just started a new job, wait until things settle down." These were the things I needed to hear... Even Cameron is getting in on it, saying that if (heaven forbid) we have another girl, he suggested a name that I love. I wanted to scream at him, YOU'RE NOT HELPING!! It's funny how he didn't even want to hear the word baby for so long, but now that we already have D'Laney, he talks about another one all the time. The difference is, he can talk about it in future tense and be fine with that. And I can too, really, because all I have to do is look down and see that sweet, beautiful little girl wrapped around my legs and be thankful for what God has already blessed me with and be patient until we're blessed again.

Flashback Friday returns!

I have got some serious baby fever. I don't know why, but all of a sudden I'm so ready for the next one. I think because the plan was to get pregnant again sometime in 2009, and well, 2009 is here. I miss D'Laney being a baby. And I think she would love to have a little brother... Cameron said the other day we need to start saying the next one will be a boy, something about the power of positive thinking! I'm trying to combat this fever by remembering all the negative about my first pregnancy. I was very, very sick the whole time. I lost almost 30 pounds in the first few months before we got it under control. I was hospitalized for a week at around 6 months for a kidney infection. My hips and pelvic bone began making room at around 8 months, and I go to take a step and my leg would fall out of my hip socket and man did that hurt. And I was extremely, excruciatingly huge. I carried completely straight out in front of me, and the number of people that asked me if I was having more than one was in the dozens. XL maternity clothes were stretched to almost see through over my big belly. D'Laney was over 9 pounds, though, so all that I went through didn't hurt her any at all, and really, it wasn't that bad. I'd do it 10 times over. But for now, I'm telling myself how terrible it was and how awful I looked, and looking at these pictures to remind myself!

See? Massive!

Oh yeah, how could I forget the Braxton-Hicks?

Even swimming did nothing to alleviate the weight or pain in my back and hips.

We have a job!

Cameron started welding again on Monday. Things are a little different this time around. Instead of being self-employed and contracting himself out (as well as paying self-employment taxes) he is an employee of a oilfield construction company that is owned by a good friend of his. The company provides the truck, welding machine, all the equipment, etc. All Cameron provides is the labor, and while they pay is less than a contracted welder, when you figure in expenses like truck payment, supplies, and then the whopping taxes, none of which we're responsible for anymore, we're more than likely going to be doing better than before. It's a win-win for us and the company. We have been so blessed. We had faith that God would provide something for us like He always does, and I think he rewarded that faith with this job. There will be a little bit of travel involved at the beginning, but it won't last long. We'll stay here in Stanton because this area is where the work is. And that's where this house is, and we'd sure hate to leave it.
I took D'Laney to see Dr. Patyrak yesterday. She had some chest congestion and was coughing, and I wanted to catch anything before it got too serious. I had bronchitis and pneumonia many many times as a kid, and Cameron had croup so often and so badly that he was hospitalized a couple times, so we wanted to stay on top of anything. She does in fact have bronchitis, although a pretty mild case of it, so we're on antibiotics for a few days and it should clear right up. I'm afraid that I'm catching it, though, I feel awful run down today. Hopefully I just haven't recovered from the holidays.

Holiday pictures

I don't have many, but here are a few pictures from our Christmas travels

Yay! It's almost Christmas!

My mom made me and Cadye these little outfits when we were little. Cadye's fit D'Laney this year so she wore it one night.

It's like he's allergic to taking a serious picture.

Nobody was up for taking pictures this night.

My mom and dad got D'Laney this little table. She loves it!

Waiting for Daddy to put together her little stroller. The kitchen that Santa brought is in the background

With her cousins on the Holifield side. From left, Drake and Loren (Cameron's brother's kids) & Ryder and Orin (his sister's)

She still loves her music. She took these headphones from Cameron and put them in her own ears and was jammin'. Hopefully her interest in music will make us, oh I mean her, some money someday;)

Luke is so ornery. And heavy!