Weekend in Angelo

We had so much going on this weekend! On friday, D'Laney had her last well baby, and on saturday, we had the rodeo parade, a wedding shower, a wedding, and tickets to the rodeo! Sunday held birthday parties after church, and on monday, our stock show at 8 am. Whew! We were going to be busy! Well, we didn't get all of that accomplished, but we still had a long weekend.
D'Laney's appointment went wonderfully. She weighs 20 lbs and is 30 1/4 inches long. Both put her squarely in the 5%, which is small but proportionate. Dr. Patyrak said she is perfectly healthy and petite and beautiful and he doesn't want to see her again until Kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN! That is just 3 1/2 short years away! For some reason, that really hit me hard, that my little bitty baby was just 3 years from school. I don't like this growing up thing, not one little bit. After her appointment we met mom downtown to drop off her truck so that we would have good seats for the rodeo parade on saturday. We did a little shopping, picked up pizza, and went home for the night. The wind blew all night and hadn't let up by the morning, so I decided I didn't want to get D'Laney out in that. We had had a short night and I was tired, so I also skipped the shower I was supposed to go to. Olivia's wedding was that afternoon, and being a Spanish catholic service, I didn't think D'Laney would handle it very well, so I left her with mom and dad. However, both Marlayna and Shyanne had their little girls there, so after the wedding I called my mom and asked her to bring D'Laney to me, which she did. I had a blast catching up with those girls, and Olivia looked beautiful. I think Susan took some pictures, so as soon as I see them, I'll pass a couple on. She got some good ones of D'Laney and Maddie getting reacquainted. I had tickets to the rodeo that night, but since Cameron wasn't going to be able to go with me, it's just not the same without him, so I gave them to Luke and Sam. After church on Sunday both sets of grandparents came out to my parents' to celebrate mom, sam, and Cameron's birthdays. After church that night, a couple families from Bronte my folks have gotten to be pretty good friends with came out to help finish the leftovers. They didn't' leave until after 9, so it was a long day. Monday morning was our hereford heifer show at the fairgrounds. Neither of us ever showed, and neither of us have any experience with herefords, but we've been helping out with the show for several years now. There weren't many kids this year, I guess the economy is making it hard for people to travel, but it was a good show, I always enjoy it. D'Laney got to hang out with my grandmother all morning, and I know they both enjoyed that, too. We came home yesterday afternoon, and will only be here for a day or two, then we're heading back to Weatherford. It's been a long time since Cameron has had to work out of town, and he's sure missing his baby. He probably misses me, too.
Wow, long winded this morning!

All about Cameron

Cassandra did this about her husband, and I thought it was interesting and it gives me something to post.
I tag anyone who wants to write about their husband.
1.He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
football or a movie
2.You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
creamy Italian
3.What's one food he doesn't like?
mushrooms
4. You go out to eat. What drink does he order?
sweet tea
5.Where did he go to high school?
Iraan High School
6. What size shoe does he wear?
10
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
pistols
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
turkey, cheese, pickles, and lots of pepper
9. What would he eat every day if he could?
Italian food, but the tomatoes hurt is stomach
10. What is his favorite cereal?
he doesn't eat cereal, but i think he liked cinnamon toast crunch when he was younger
11. What would he never wear?
pink
12. What is his favorite sports team?
Texas Tech Red Raiders
13. Who did he vote for?
McCain/Palin
14. Who is his best friend?
Me, or his brother Jason
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
snores
16. What is his heritage?
Irish and Apache
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
pina colada cake
18. Did he play sports in high school?
football, in college too
19. What could he spend hours doing?
playing his guitar
20. What is one unique talent he has?
drafting, he draws up plans for buildings and is very precise, he uses rulers, protractors, compasses, the works. they look very professional

Valentine's weekend and an anniversary.

Our valentine's weekend was pretty uneventful. Cameron got back from NM Thursday, and only worked half a day on friday. We met his mom in Midland that afternoon and did a little shopping, well, big shopping, we got a new washing machine. Ours isn't just on its last leg, it's down to about 2 toes. Hopefully we'll get the dryer to match in a few weeks, but it's not a necessity, ours still works really well. Saturday we had a big breakfast and piddled around the house all day, and for supper, Cameron banished me from the kitchen and cooked me steak and mashed potatoes and a fudge cake thing that was terrible. To be fair, he didn't cook it himself, it was frozen from a box. We didn't do any presents this year, which really isn't any different from any other year, but this year we did it on purpose. Valentine's day, Cameron's birthday (this friday,) our anniversary (march 12,) and my birthday (march 17) all run really close together, so we decided this year we would skip presents for all 4 and buy what we actually need, i.e. the washing machine and the garage. So that was our valentine's, short and sweet and just the three of us, which is perfect. Cameron left this afternoon to back to NM for a few days, but he should be home by thursday or friday. At least I hope he is, we've got a very busy weekend coming up, plus I just hate for him to be out of town on his birthday.
As for the anniversary... On this day, 5 years ago, I met that lovely man. I can't believe it was half a decade ago. For those of you who don't know, here's how the luckiest day of Cameron's life played out;)
Cameron moved to San Angelo in the summer of '03 and started going to church at Southgate Church of Christ, where I grew up. I noticed him right away and was pretty impressed. Here was an apparently single guy, getting himself up and actually going to church without a mother or wife dragging him. Of course I noticed that he was mighty gorgeous in his wranglers, too. I also noticed, less enthusiastically, that he had grey hair and guessed he was much older than I was (19 at the time) I guessed he was around 25. Wrong! I finally got up the courage to ask Steve Sherrod, whom he usually sat by, about him and Steve told me his name, what he did, and that he was 28 years old. Way, WAY, older than me, so when Steve wanted to introduce us, I said no thanks. Several months passed and one fateful Sunday evening, my mother, sister and I happened to sit one pew behind him at the opposite end. I caught him looking at me a couple times during the service. Afterwards, I was talking to some folks when I felt a tap on my shoulder. There stood Steve and a pair of blue eyes staring at me. Steve introduced the two of us and then just walked away and left us standing there. I literally could not breathe. I am not kidding, I thought I was having an asthma attack, and I don't even have asthma! We chatted for a few minutes and he asked if I would like to go eat with him that night. I agreed, with out knowing that it would be the two of us, Cameron's sister-in-law and her kids, her sister and kids, and a family from church that they had grown up with, about 15 people total. Cameron and I might have gotten 10 words in to each other all through supper. Afterwards, we sat in the church parking lot next to my car for couple hours visiting, he got my number, and we went out the next night, and the next night, and pretty much every night since then. I knew about 2 hours into that first date that I could marry this man, and about 2 weeks in that I would marry him. 10 months later we were engaged, and about 9 weeks after that, Steve Sherrod married us in a beautiful wedding, if I do say so myself. I thank God every day that He brought Cameron into my life and allowed me to make a life with him. He is a terrific husband, an amazing father, and honestly, all cliche's aside, my absolute best friend. I miss him already:(
PS: Someday I'll have Cameron get on here and give his side of the story. We haven't really talked about it much, but his details are a little different. I always think it's funny to hear both sides of when couples meet, there always so different!

Can you hear me now?

Good!

Cameron has been working out of town for a few days. When he called this afternoon, D'Laney wanted to talk to her daddy, and talk she did!

PS: I'm not a huge fan of American Idol. I can enjoy an episode, or I can completely do without. However, there's nothing else on tonight, so I turned it on just in time to see the blind guy. He plays the piano so well and sings pretty well too. I was completely impressed, I might just watch a few episodes this year.

answers to Crystal's questions

Our friend Crystal Amthor had twin boys in December. This morning she posted this:

Here are some questions that I am curious to know the answers from all of you. Consider it a "tag" to all of the moms that could answer my questions. If you have a blog, you can post it on your blog like a regular "tag" or answer in the comment section. If you don't have a blog, please feel free to answer in the comments. I know all babies are different, I'm just curious as to where my boys stand and milestones I have to look forward to.

I've put my answers below, but if you want to head over to Crystal's blog and answer for yourself, I know she'd appreciate it. Of course, most of our answers are going to be a little different because we all had just one baby. But every little bit of advice helps!

1) Breastfeed, Formula, or both? I nursed until a year, when I wasn't producing enough milk anymore. We had to put D'Laney on formula for one month, and then went to whole milk.
2)If you used formula, what kind? Because we needed to bulk her up, we went on a similac preemie formula, not sure what it was called, but it was in a yellow can.
3) Breastfeed...how long? One year, but it was easier because I stay home with her. If I was working, I seriously doubt I would have gone that long
4) What kind of bottles did you use? Dr. Brown's
5) At what age did you introduce rice cereal? 7 months, I have serious food allergies, so we waited a long time
6) Did you put it in the bottle or just feed it with a spoon? spoon, my doctor was very very adamant about NOT putting it in the bottle, but each doctor and parent is different.
7) Did it help your child sleep through the night? no, but the stretches of sleep were longer
8) How old was your child when he/she finally slept through the night? over a year, but she was still nursing until then
9) What was the times? from _9____ to _4_____, then back to sleep until 8
10) How old was your child when you could put her in a Bumbo? as soon as she could hold her head up, she could sit in it well by 3 months
11) When did he first smile/laugh (not gas related)? around 8 weeks
12) Did your child have reflux? no
13) Did you have medicine for reflux? Did it help?
14) When did the reflux stop?
Thanks for your answers! I'm sure they will help all of the new mommies.I tag all the moms who read this blog.

I had a date this weekend!

Actually, it was more like 3 or 4 dates in one day!!
My mom called friday afternoon and asked if she could come get D'Laney for the weekend. So while she spent a few days in Angelo, Cameron and I had a whole weekend to ourselves with nothing planned. I don't think that has happened since D'Laney was born. Saturday morning, I was craving doughnuts, so we headed into Midland. After breakfast, we decided to go see a movie, but we couldn't agree on which one to see, so we said, let's just see both of them. We saw Taken, which was really good, and He's Just Not That Into You, which was OK. After the movies, we still didn't want to go home, so we played Putt Putt. I haven't played in like 15 years, but I still beat Cameron pretty bad, and he plays golf all the time! In all, we ate 3 meals that we didn't have to cook or clean, saw 2 movies, and had 1 riveting round of miniature golf, all in a single day. I haven't even tallied how much money we spent, I don't think I want to know. Sunday we got to sit through an entire sermon without being distracted or having to take the baby out, went to Olive Garden (!), and layed around for the rest of the day. My mom and dad brought D'Laney home around 5:30 and we had supper for my mom's birthday. And then it rained!! Praise the Lord, like all of Texas, we have desperately needed some moisture. All in all, a great weekend!!
This morning Cameron left for New Mexico and should be there about a week. Sometime in the next couple weeks, he'll be going to the Weatherford area for over a month, he's not sure exactly how long. D'Laney and I will go see him while he's there at some point, and hopefully go into Ft. Worth to the zoo and maybe the stockyards, a little mini vacation.
And to sum up this incredibly long winded post, my mom emailed me this video this morning...this is why I love boxers!!

Flashback Friday

This is a picture of my house the year it was built, 1907. I just had it retouched and blown up to about a 16"X26". It looks great. There is a garage next to our house that is falling down, so we're going to finish what nature has started and build a nice big garage/storage shed/patio in its place. I'm going to use some of the wood to build picture frames, one for this picture and a couple for a project I have in mind. I also stopped by the museum here in Stanton and found some pictures of the family that built the house. The last surviving member of that family lives in NC, and I got her address from them. I'm going to write her and see if she would mind letting me pick her brain about the history of the house, original layout, when certain renovations took place, etc. She owned the house until '92, when she sold it to the couple that we bought it from. It's pretty neat that a 102 year old house is only on its third owner.

so smart!!

My daughter just put a diaper on a doll, correctly. She then took the diaper off, and swaddled the doll in her little silkie, correctly, then rocked her and very gently laid the doll in a little cradle. I don't know of any time that she has seen that done. She's going to be a great helper if that day ever comes. My card was full after I took these, and by the time I went back and deleted a few pictures, she had already taken the doll out and thrown her across the room. We might have to keep a close eye on her around any babies for a little bit longer...

A couple weeks ago before church we were eating at Logan's and out of no where D'Laney starting this karate chop thing. She was so dramatic about it, moving her hands around really slow and then saying "ha-ya!" really loud and fast. Cameron spit tea out and I choked on my bread. It was so funny! She's done it some since then, but we always have to prod it out of her. I got a little of it on video the other night, but like always, she quit soon after I got the camera out.

PS: Cameron LOVES it when I put pictures of him on here in his pajamas!

Saving money

OK, today was really weird.
To start with, the economy sucks, it just does. We already felt the crunch once when Cameron got laid off, and although he now has a good job, they are slow and he's not getting the hours he will when they pick back up, which I'm sure they will. Until then, however, I've been trying to figure out how we can save money on a day to day basis. I've started the menu planning because that'll help, and I've started looking at what both Cameron and I spend daily and coming up with ways to save. When you just glance at our finances, we don't spend much. We have no credit card debt, both of our college bills are paid off, and we don't live extravagantly. I have pretty much the same wardrobe I've had for years, we don't have a boat or 4 wheelers or any "toys" and we don't travel much, just home to see our folks. So where does all our money go?! Well, here and there really add up, so I'm really working hard to fix that.
I was thinking just this morning that I need to treat what I do daily as a job. It's my job to keep the house clean, the kid fed, and save money. It's as simple as that. And honestly, I'm not very good at my job, but I'm getting better. So what was weird about today was after I put D'Laney down for a nap, I sat down to catch the last half of Oprah, and guess what today's topic was? Saving money. A lot of what they were saying we already do, but then the "Coupon Mom" came on. Have y'all seen this lady? She has coupons for everything. They sent her on a shopping experiment, and she got a $120 grocery bill, buying mostly sale items, down under $40!! She said that over the 15 years that she has been doing this, she has saved over $72,000... I was pretty impressed. However, I hate coupons. If my mom ever had one when we were little, I'd get so embarrassed. I'm not sure why, but I really hated it. It would hold up the line and people behind us would roll their eyes like, oh, she has coupons. But I think this lady has converted me. She has a website, www.couponmom.com, where you can register for free and they send you coupons and teach you how to do what it is that she does. I'm going to try it. It lends perfectly with the menu planning because I can sit with the sunday paper, see what's going to be for sale and what I'll have coupons for, and plan my meals accordingly. I'm actually pretty excited about it, we'll see how well it works. I've already printed some off the site and will use them when I go shopping tomorrow!